I anticipated our Precepts group taking a hit in participation when the new members class began this month in the classroom next door with a John MacArthur study. I myself wanted a way to join it even. But I'm unable to determine any Precept regular missing ours to be in that.

Over the years, the morning has been structured more ... but lately, less. And, anyway, since Chris started school, I haven't been on time. So the worship that goes before - I would enjoy and have enjoyed - I can't make. This past week, our class was supposed to provide "snack" for both groups. A sign-up sheet was passed around and I nearly bought something to bring on the off chance Jeff could take the kids to school. But he said he couldn't. Then, as it turned out, up north got an ice storm so he was late to work anyway. Taking the kids wouldn't have cost him anything. One sees such alternatives only in hindsight.

At our mid-morning break, the facilitator of the other study told us all how horrified she was that there were no "snacks" available at the appropriate time. Our class had basically not met our obligation. That sort of occurrence always draws out the same question: is anyone interested in refreshments, coffee, fellowship, worship? I gave my reason for being late, so no matter how interested I am, I can't. I don't drink coffee. Most women bring their own, personal cups from home or bought on the way.

I understood that this hospitality is more for her new members class than for our staid Precepts group. We aren't going anywhere, but the new members? Well, the competition for pew-fillers is fierce. Consequently, I was surprised by the backlash I heard muttered around me, as if they didn't understand her mission of church growth. I wasn't personally offended by her address to us but others criticized her appeal to us "as Christians." They didn't like being shamed into it.

There are always plenty of people who are all business: only there to study the Bible, the most important thing. Not interested in fellowship or snack. But anyway, someone had the bright idea that, since most people eat breakfast at home, the snack may be made available, not first thing as that seems too difficult, but during the mid-morning break. My thought was whether we are kindergartners who can't get through the morning without a snack. We'll see whether that's the solution that is adopted in which case I could contribute a snack.

Just gotta have some Stewart/Capra corn:

Sunday Snippets - a Catholic carnival hosted by Rann at "This That and the Other Thing."

• My submission this week: "Matthew 12 & 13 at Bible study"

The lesson covered two chapters which I'm kinda grateful for because now the lesson number syncs up with the chapter number. But for how long?!

Cavins actually didn't do too well presenting two chapters in the same amount of time he usually allots to one chapter. He left too many verses unexplained. He said things like, "I'll come back to that in a minute," but then didn't. I hate it when Bible teachers structure their talks that way. Building suspense? They all do it.

The part that everyone - except me - liked was Cavins handling of Jonah. So Jesus says,

no sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale, so will the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

The men of Nin'eveh will arise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah ... Matt. 13:38-45, RSV.

The trouble starts in taking Jonah¹ as a typical prophet. Cavins describes Jonah as not willing to preach a prophetic message in Nineveh because Jonah is aware of Hosea's prophecy about God using Assyria to punish the Northern Kingdom. (Hos. 9:3, 11:5)

Now 2 Kings 14:23-28 says Jonah prophesied during the reign of Jeroboam II (782-753 BCE). My Precepts timeline places Jonah between 784 and 772. Hosea's ministry is placed, variously, ca. 750 to after 732 (NJBC), 755 to 714 (Precepts) and the text itself reads, in 1:1 -

The word of the LORD that came to Hose'a the son of Be-e'ri, in the days of Uzzi'ah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezeki'ah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jerobo'am the son of Jo'ash, king of Israel. (RSV)

Most people place Hosea towards the end of Uzziah's reign, so the dates don't work out for Jonah to be familiar with Hosea's prophecy.

Cavins reminded us of the totality of God's message to Nineveh through Jonah: "Yet forty days, and Nin'eveh shall be overthrown!" (Jon. 3:4, RSV).

I know there's controversy about how this prophecy was fulfilled. Was the Ninevites' repentance a form of divine "overthrow?" Or did God relent at their earnest conversion? Either way, within a generation, they were back to their old tricks.

Cavins said, "A day is a year and so, in forty years, Nineveh was overthrown by the Babylonians." Not quite. It's more like 150 years between when Jonah preached and Nineveh was destroyed by Nabopolassar, Nebuchadnezzar's dad. But the damage was done: the pat explanation was seared into everyone's brain. They loved the sentiment of it all: The Bible has come alive! But the numbers don't add up! No matter.

One lady whom I tried to set straight with little success has the Jerusalem Bible and I urged her to read the short book of Jonah. And told her that Tolkien did the translation. That thrilled her anew.

---

¹ [Fr. Boadt] called [Jonah] a short story that would have had its original readers rolling on the floor with laughter. She asked about the story's historicity. He said, "Well, let's start from the text and see what can be drawn. There was a city of Nineveh. There was a prophet Jonah ... and, and, we're starting to run out of facts. Do you see?" - previous post on the Book of Jonah.

No sleep, little aid: Salesian nun pleads for more help for Haitians - Catholic News Service, 1/29/10:

"We're a center of reference for the community, and people come to us for help in solving their problems. Our job is to find the resources and people to solve those problems."

"While the people are dying, the international organizations are passing their time in meetings, in studies and planning. People fly around in helicopters looking at us, making the houses shake once again. But while they're planning, the people are dying. We've now gone more than two weeks without any help, and they haven't contacted those of us who could be most helpful in organizing the people."

Archbishop prays new N.J. governor will have "wisdom of Solomon" - Catholic News Service, 1/27/10:

Archbishop Myers made reference to a passage in the First Book of Kings, when God engaged the young King Solomon, offering to give Solomon anything he wanted.

"Solomon responded to God: Give your servant an understanding heart to judge your people and to distinguish right from wrong," Archbishop Myers said.

We just covered the first eleven chapters of 1 Kings in the Timeline study yesterday.

And my thought was, with Genesis rather fresh in my mind, that Solomon is basically asking permission to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. (Gen. 2:17) Right?

I suppose I would have to retrieve this article to find out. And I imagine it touches upon Kabbalah and mysticism.

All the kids are swimming once a week after school. We are always scarce on towels, what with daily (or nearly daily) showers and baths. So I took advantage of a January white sale and bought four plain, white towels at Sears, two for $15. I thought it was a good price.

The two older boys use the boys' locker room on their own and I inventory their duffle bag when they come out to make sure they have everything. Before I adopted that habit, at least one towel had gotten left ... and a pair of goggles.

So, it occurred to me that all white towels can look alike. I called around for monogramming. The best quote was $10 per towel! She wasn't willing to negotiate. The towel itself only cost $7.50! This is why I don't do things like this; it's just too difficult.

I turned to Lands End which does monogramming for $5 per item. I found inexpensive white towels and requested the family name on them. The embroidery thread color is white which concerns me. How well will that show up, white on white? I don't want thick, thirsty towels because I can't afford to fill up a washing machine load with just four towels.

And the four towels that I got at Sears I can put in the hall linen clothes; we'll use 'em.

... there are times you might find yourself in a crisis of belief when you encounter concepts, ideas, statements that are in conflict with what you have believed or what you have been taught. ...

you are going to have to decide where your faith is going to rest: on what the Bible teaches, on what you believe and have experienced, or on what you have been taught or is commonly accepted ...

deciding whose word you are going to believe.

-- Genesis Part 2: The Fall, the Flood, and the Nations (Chapters 3-11), pg. 21.

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Lesson Two is about how evil came into the world.

Question 7 on page 25 asks who or what is specifically cursed in Genesis 3-4:

---

And I wrote, "the serpent, the ground and Cain." I thought two things: (1) Adam isn't cursed and (2) even if he was, his curse didn't automatically fall upon Cain who was cursed afresh or anew for his sin.

Question 8 instructs to write out Romans 5:12 -

Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned--

And Paul says that death reigned from Adam to Moses, even though the Law hadn't been given. Read Rev. 20:1-10 and 12:1-17 both of which refer to the red dragon as "the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan."

Question 5 on page 30 asks whether I saw anything about the serpent that I hadn't realized before and I said, "It eats dirt." Such information is helpful for reminding me that the serpent is an earth-dweller, an "inhabitant of the earth" (Rev., 6:10, 8:13, 11:10, 13:8, 13:12, 13:14, 17:2, 17:8), bound to this world.

I'm not finished with lesson two yet but I think the damage has already been done.

Sunday Snippets - a Catholic carnival hosted by Rann at "This That and the Other Thing."

My submission this week: "Matthew 8 at Great Adventure Bible study"

My niece, barrel racing:



She didn't knock any over. All videos.

Books of the Bible (mp3).

We have tickets for another Classic Albums Live shows at NJPAC next month. It's Led Zeppelin II which is so short that it constitutes the first set. Then, after intermission, they will play a second set of top requests, as submitted online (click list to make bigger):
Relatively-speaking, I was the non-Zeppelin fan in my immediate family growing up. My older sister came home with In Through the Out Door in its brown paper bag when it was released. My younger brothers played Zeppelin cassettes, to the extent that I didn't realize "Living Loving Maid" segues directly into "(She's Just a Woman)" (like anything from Side Two of Abbey Road) until we got the CD, because on the cassette, the songs are on different sides.

I picked songs from the list based on name only, then sampled my choices at Zeppelin's official site and was largely satisfied with them. It's almost hard to go wrong. "It's all good." I know that I don't know Zeppelin, in spite of the fact that I would never turn the radio dial and can mostly sing along. But ask me to match titles with tunes, I can't do it. Moreover, I think I'm too old to learn. Everything I know about pop music I learned when I was much younger.

Here's what I picked, in no particular order - throw your tomatoes:

Immigrant Song, Fool in the rain, Over the Hills and Far Away, Misty Mountain Hop, Houses of the Holy, Stairway to Heaven, When the Levee Breaks, Kashmir

"What's Happening to InterVarsity?" - 9Marks :

A recent Christianity Today article chronicles the pressure a group of InterVarsity students felt to include practicing Roman Catholics on their leadership team. When the students discovered that IV's new doctrinal statement allowed for Roman Catholics in good standing to sign on, they decided to separate from IV.

What's happening to InterVarsity? Has the fellowship become so thoughtless about its theology that it now rejects the solas of the Reformation? I understand that Catholics can be born again. [ ... ] But to partner with Roman Catholics in gospel outreach is a confusion of the gospel.

This statement ["Deeds, not Creeds"] stems from the idea, in part, that the words of Jesus have greater weight than the words of Paul. When some move to make the words of Jesus in the gospels greater than the words of Paul, the very authority of the Bible is at stake.

InterVarsity seems more and more willing to partner with churches that do not hold to the gospel, from liberal protestant churches to the Roman Catholic church. [ ... ] Yet N.T. Wright, who's [ sic ] book Justification opens the door for a quasi-Catholic view of justification, speaks regularly at IV conferences.

Doesn't it smack of pandering to the world? [ ... ] The kind of human thinking Jesus rebuked Peter for when Peter tried to steer Jesus away from the way of the cross?

liberal theology starts with culture and critiques the Bible (unlike the evangelical who starts with the Bible and critiques the culture)

via BHT.

Baltimore-based Catholic Relief Services, which is coordinating the church's relief and recovery efforts in Haiti, was able to get a jump-start on distributing aid because it already had warehouses filled with supplies in Haiti set up after the 2008 hurricanes in the region.

CRS volunteers and staff in the Dominican Republic were purchasing and assembling boxes of food, including sardines and peanut butter, to deliver to Port-au-Prince. The ultimate goal was to have enough boxes of prepared food to feed 50,000.

Karel Zelenka, CRS' country representative in Haiti, said in a report on the CRS Web site that staff arriving in Haiti will join the CRS staff sleeping outside, in tents or cars, as aftershocks continue in Port-au-Prince. CRS' Haiti headquarters building was damaged but did not collapse.

The agency has been working in Haiti for 55 years. Prior to the earthquake, more than 300 staffers were already in Haiti and more than 100 were based in Port-au-Prince.

CRS President Ken Hackett told CNN Jan. 13 said that the fact that Haiti is a predominantly Catholic country affects the agency's work there.

"It gives us a network of effective partners in the Catholic Church in their schools and their mission and their hospitals and their health centers, so that network in Port-au-Prince is what will be activated first," he said.

"CRS distributes food from Haitian warehouses, Dominican Republic" - Catholic News Service, 1/15/10.

I managed to read Matthew 8 and complete the questions last night for this morning. But there was no way I was going to be able to read all of Joshua after all that. I mean, I've never read it before so it would all be new to me. Therefore, that part I had to do cold ... and I wasn't brilliant.

In the Matthew material, then, I held out to do Question 6 during the small group discussion. A couple of women expressed relief that I volunteered. In verse 21, a would-be follower asks permission to bury his father first, and Jesus says,

"Leave the dead to bury their own dead."

We were instructed to read 1 Kings 19:19-21 and explain why Elijah was so generous in letting Elisha bid his parents goodbye before running off with an itinerant preacher and Jesus wasn't. Or something to that effect. I was very much taken with the contrast and didn't so much have a reason for it. Someone reminded us that the man's father in Matthew 8:21 may have years of life yet left before he's ready to be buried. I suppose it sounds less harsh if that's the case. I said that in offering his oxen, symbols of his former livelihood, Elisha makes it clear that he's committed to this new calling. That matched pretty closely with the proposed answer in the key.

The lady seated next to me asked the group why miracles as those described in Matthew 8 aren't so apparent these days. Then she quickly answered her own question with a self-deprecating, "Because we haven't enough faith," a comeback I didn't find particularly satisfying because Jesus often laments the lack of faith in his own times. I told her there are people who think that miracles of the caliber as recording in the Bible don't occur today because we have the Bible now so we can simply read about them with faith. That's not my position personally but it seems to work for some people. And then someone mentioned Fatima and Lourdes, with the crutches and the wheelchairs and I didn't say that some people think those places are devilish delusions.

In the video lecture, I was disappointed to hear Cavins refer to visions of four beasts coming out of the sea as being recorded in Daniel 8. He corrected himself later and was clearly confused between Matthew 8 and Daniel 7. After the video, I made sure that everyone was clear on where they could find the visions of the four beasts if they wanted to read on their own. And I hope they do. I was also disappointed to hear Cavins list the fourth empire as Rome instead of Greece.

I was thirty minutes late, as usual, so if they discussed Haiti, I missed it. This is Part II of Genesis, the Flood, the Tower and the Nations. It's a continuation of Part I from the Fall (the season, not, uh, you know). We had done an in-depth study of Joseph in between. I can't say I remember much of the preceding two Genesis studies.

Since the study plan covers Chapters 3-11, we reviewed Chapters 1 and 2 in close detail to set the scene. Answers to basic questions ("How long is a day?") were glossed over with a "As we learned this past fall, a day can be ..."

Now I try to take the text seriously without taking it literally but these women think intensely, like, to the point of wondering whether Adam had a scar on his chest from God opening him and removing a rib to make woman. "The world's first surgery! God can do anything, can't he perform surgery without scarring?!"

Getting a hold of the study resources has been contentious in recent years. The church used to have a book cart that we could buy from. Then they stopped that and the leader offered to buy them from the web site, so long as she was paid in advance. Cash was ok for a while, then checks became necessary because otherwise the money came out short. Then she told us to order our own books but someone offered to order for everyone to save on shipping. That's where we are now, and we still pay in advance.

So a lady I'd never seen before joined us this morning and was approached after the introductory sessions about paying for her book. She was frank and firm: she needed the $23 by the next session because she'd ordered the books more than a month ago (iow, the credit card bill was coming due).

I almost went in there with money in case anyone needed some and didn't have it, but that doesn't really help anything: they'd just feel obligated to pay me back. Why get involved? I'm really thinking that I'll go back to buying my own book online and paying the shipping and all that because there seems to be so much anxiety otherwise.

"True Story" - Commonweal blog about Robertson's remarks.

David Gibson comments,

Having grown up with so much of the “It’s God’s will” fatalism anytime anything happens, I get a little unnerved by such talk. “God’s will” now seems to be an excuse to do whatever we like doing, but not so much when disaster strikes. Trying to put aside my reflexive cringing at the likes of Steele and Palin’s God talk, there is something about God being as involved or responsible or consoling in an individual loss (or triumph, I suppose) as in a global disaster.

UPDATED: Michele posted on the ironic contrast between Robertson's folksy religion and the authentic faith of (at least some) Haitian people, as reported in the NYT.

As usual, I'd forgotten my lunch. Making four lunches is hard enough already without worrying about one for me. I knew I'd forget after such a long break. It almost seemed too soon to be starting up again. Someone else said that, but that once there, it felt right.

I sat for the meal even though I would have preferred to do what I normally do between sessions: work on next week's session. A woman shared her Saltines with me which was nice. So nice that I couldn't decline them. Most of the people are of Irish descent which shouldn't surprise anyone.

One guy told a "true story" about his Italian grandfather's trip to Ireland. He entered a public house and the proprietor greeted him with, "Eah, you're not from around here, are you?" He told him he's from Italy and after a long pause, he asked with considerable self-assurance, "You'd be a Catholic, then." And the point of the story was the supposed tendency of the Irish to find something in common with just about anybody. Some way to identify with people.

Well, I don't know about that.

You know how there are people from your past that you think about? Well, I keep a few in mind.

I'm old now; I have a long past. Most of these reminisces concern people from college. Time with them was so brief. There's the wish of having gotten to know them better and wondering how they turned out.

Facebook groups users not only by schools and graduation years but also according to college extracurriculars like, well, in my case, athletics and campus ministry. To the campus ministry group, someone posted a twenty-two year old wedding picture featuring many members of the ministry at the time. I recognized only one person, the woman I've been curious about since I joined Facebook. She was tagged in the photo.

My memory is foggy, but I began attending the evening meetings in late '87. I was placed in a very small discipling group, lead by the woman in the old wedding photo - she was an RA with a suite - and another woman whose father is (still) a pastor.

I remember only a couple of things about our discipling group: (1) feeling like a third wheel to the other two's partnership (sisterhood?) and (2) spending a few days (that is, nights) of a winter break in the RA's suite so I could attend track practice (twice a day) and work. I remember the preacher's kid telling me she found vigorous exercise, especially sweating, unfeminine. I don't remember her being a voice major, but here she is singing opera. I remember there being some discussion of whether a Christian could, in good conscience, participate in the performing arts. She hasn't performed in a few years but a review then praised her as being "visually a winner as the second, decidedly sluttier sweetheart, Dorabella."

The most shocking thing she ever mentioned was her father's instruction that Catholics aren't Christians. The most shocking thing I ever did was recite a memorized Romans 12; she didn't think I could.

I had a free day on Thursday so I spent a little time reading in the public library. I read John 12 according to the NIV with the help of Kostenberger's commentary.

There's a dinner at Bethany in Jesus' honor after the raising of Lazarus, a week before the Crucifixion. Mary anoints Jesus' feet with some costly perfume and "the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume." [John 12:3]

Judas objects to the waste and, Kostenberger observes that:

"Jesus' response is as startling (given the festive nature of the occasion) as it is firm. Clearly, Jesus' looming death weighs heavily on his mind." [p. 363]

Jesus' words in Matthew and Mark suggest that the anointing prepares his body for burial. (Matt. 26:12; Mk. 14:8).

Without questioning whether the anointing happened in history, I wondered whether the Evangelist might also be describing an experience of the eucharistic meal: the fragrance of Jesus' sacrificial death pervades ... the room, the elements, the assembly.

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return to Sunday Snippets

Sunday Snippets - a Catholic carnival hosted by Rann at "This That and the Other Thing."

• My submission this week: "John 12:3 at Bible study"

From the blog of a lady who also visits churches:

"A Stranger Every Sunday: Pearls before swine."

January status report (Kim @ Hiraeth)

Sitting... in the old wing chair.

Drinking… nothing.

Thinking… I need to do my Great Adventure lessons for tomorrow.

Loving… a quiet house.

Anticipating… Jeff coming home from work.

Dreading… kids' homework time.

Starting… to get hungry.

Reading… John 12 and one Hebrew proverb a day (the canonical ones).

Liking… the soft, white light in an otherwise dark room.

Ordering… flowers for a sick friend. Tulips.

Nervous… about getting back on schedule this week.

Planning… appointments for Ella, my car, my hair, besides swimming and Bible study.

Pouring… nothing.

Jeff wants to buy a bookshelf for the front room. He promises I can put my books in it. I'd be happy about that.

My books have been in boxes since the construction/remodel, more than two years now. I've rummaged through the storage containers many, many times, retrieving important or needed volumes and it's always fun, like "Christmas anytime." Like, "Oh, yeah, that book," or "Uh, I bought that one!" Alright, Christmas and a deficient memory.

Now, he's got impeccable taste in furniture, so he bought our bedroom stuff without much input from me. I saw the bed in a magazine ad. OK. He bought a lateral file cabinet for his office from Restoration Hardware, likes it, and wants to get the bookcase from them. I'm fine with the IKEA stuff we had in the old office. But not for downstairs, according to him.

So yesterday afternoon we drove over to the nearest Restoration Hardware showroom on Route 1 in Princeton. He was surprised that I knew how to get there. I drove straight there, no mis-turns, hesitations or assistance. Now the showroom is stunning. Everything looks good in there. They make bath towels look good, know what I mean?

He has a TV room to furnish, also, so he spent some time looking at the couches. He doesn't want leather. He wants "Army Duck" canvas. Probably in a mocha which is rather light. For mocha. Theirs was light.

While Jeff did that, I looked at foyer ceiling lights (or chandeliers). Since he's planning to take the floor lamps from the front room to his TV room, I'd replace them with something that coordinates with a new foyer light. But I didn't see anything I liked. And they didn't have much to choose from. I don't want fake candles or tiny shades. I gave up and Jeff showed me some bedroom furniture which had the same wood finish as the bookcase. The showroom didn't actually have any bookcases.

So, yeah, I liked it. He said the price was just marked down and he has a coupon. Of course, the front room isn't ready for it yet. We need to paint and change the carpet. And do something about the vaulted ceilings with molding. I hope he keeps the furniture that's in there because I like it. For sentimental reasons. But a comfortable chair would be a nice addition. This is the last room to do. It's funny because, when we moved in, I wanted to work on it first.

But I told him afterwards as we drove home, and I think he got mad at me, I told him that I couldn't see the people who could afford to shop in there actually bothering to shop in there. I suppose for one piece, like we're getting, it's alright. But I couldn't see doing an entire room. He probably thought to himself, "I just can't take her anywhere."

You have no idea how much I wanted to go to Barnegat on Saturday ... but I didn't know I was missing this:

"Barnegat Lighthouse historian tells its tale" - Asbury Park Press, 1/2/10.

The readings today fit well with Epiphany, I think.

Is. 60:1-6; Eph. 3:2-3a, 5-6; Mt. 2:1-12. We didn't do the psalm, Ps. 72:1-2, 7-8, 10-11, 12-13.

And the (alternative) opening prayer:

Father of light, unchanging God,
today you reveal to men of faith
the resplendent fact of the Word made flesh.
Your light is strong,
your love is near;
draw us beyond the limits which this world imposes,
to the life where your Spirit makes all life complete.

Just awesome.

"Behavior in church shows disrespect" - Asbury Park Press, Letter to the Editor, 1/3/10:

My family attends church regularly. My children know how to behave (for the most part) during Mass. It is not something you learn at secret meetings or that only "Catholic school" children know. It is respect, and it's either in your family or it's not. Those lacking it should stay out of church.

We went to 12 o'clock Mass at St. James Church in Red Bank on Christmas Day. We were told the church was full at 11:45 (with all the fake Catholics) and we had to go to the gym. I believe the true parishioners should receive tickets to enjoy Mass in their own church, and the fakes should be stuck in the gym. I'd even pay for the ticket if it meant enjoying the Mass.

I have no issues with babies crying, singing or talking in church. They are babies and their noise is innocent and beautiful. But I do have issues with the older children, young adults and their parents not knowing how to behave in church, let alone dress.

A couple of rows in front of me was a mother with her two boys (early and late teens). I won't be critical of the way they dressed, but they should have attempted to brush their hair. It was Christmas after all. My family and I watched as they blew bubbles with their gum, spit on each other and hit each other throughout the Mass. They went to receive Communion like they were going to a snack bar. No reverence, no grace. They probably weren't even sure why they were attending Mass. It was obvious they don't do it regularly.

They weren't the only ones. The Mass was full of strange faces, not knowing when to kneel or sit and not knowing the prayers. I don't know why people feel the need to invade our church two days out of the year. They should stay away all year long so they don't spoil it for the rest of us.

Lori Edgerly
EATONTOWN

If she lives in Eatontown, then St. James isn't her geography parish. Just sayin'.

"Pope sends his secretary to visit Christmas Eve attacker" - London Times Online, 1/3/10.

Sunday Snippets - a Catholic carnival hosted by Rann at "This That and the Other Thing."

• My submission this week: "John 11 at Bible study"

In reaction to this article, Prof. Kaveny put up this post at Commonweal.

In the comments to Prof. Kaveny's post, the former article is rightly called a case of blaming the victim.

After that, the comments digress into "best common practices" of security corps, with an epiphany about Pres. Obama's detail when he spoke at ND.