National View: S.C. Governor, GOP Activist Clash

John Rainey

South Carolina politics never fails to amuse.

A recent ethics imbroglio between Republican Gov. Nikki Haley and GOP activist John Rainey is a case in point.

The squabble would be of passing provincial interest if Haley weren’t a rising star often mentioned on lists of potential vice presidential candidates.

And had she not called Rainey, a nationally recognized philanthropist and community bridge-builder, a “racist, sexist bigot.”

Such charges deserve clarification and context.

Nikki Haley

Haley made the remarks during a state House Ethics Committee hearing that was prompted by a complaint Rainey filed alleging that Haley had lobbied illegally while she was a legislator. Haley has been cleared of any wrongdoing and there’s no need to re-litigate here, though Rainey promises that the issue is not dead.

Meanwhile, her invectives toward Rainey, though perhaps understandable given an exchange between them (about which more anon), are contradicted by his record. Rainey is anything but racist, sexist or bigoted.

Read the rest of this entry at the Duluth News Tribune >>

Taverner Choir and Consort - "Beatus Vir" - Claudio Monteverdi

The text of Monteverdi’s Beatus vir  is from the Latin Vulgate Bible.  The translation is from the Douay-Rheims Bible.

Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord: he shall delight exceedingly in his commandments.

His seed shall be mighty upon earth: the generation of the righteous shall be blessed.
 
Glory and wealth shall be in his house: and his justice remaineth for ever and ever.
 
To the righteous a light is risen up in darkness: he is merciful, and compassionate and just.
 
Acceptable is the man that showeth mercy and lendeth: he shall order his words with judgment:
 
because he shall not be moved for ever.
 
The just shall be in everlasting remembrance: he shall not hear the evil hearing. His heart is ready to hope in the Lord:
 
his heart is strengthened, he shall not be moved until he look over his enemies.
 
He hath distributed, he hath given to the poor: his justice remaineth for ever and ever: his horn shall be exalted in glory.
 
The wicked shall see, and shall be angry, he shall gnash with his teeth and pine away: the desire of the wicked shall perish.

The Ordinary Polish Catholics Who Brought Down Communism

Communism never inspired love in a deeply faithful people 

From Catholic Herald (UK)

By Father Alexander Lucie-Smith

 

Poles attend the installation of Pope John Paul II AP/Press Association Images

Every now and then you feel a sudden stab of sympathy for a group of people for whom, frankly, you never thought you would feel sorry. I was standing in front of a huge black and white photograph. It was taken from the tower of St Mary’s in the Market Square in Krakow; it showed a huge concourse of people in the square, about half a million of them, dressed in white. This was an event of which I had never heard – the “White March” of 17th May 1981. John Paul II had just survived the attempt on his life, and half a million people from his former diocese had walked through the city in solidarity with him, finishing their march in the square, where a mass was celebrated by Cardinal Macharski. (There are some pictures of it here.) 

Ecumenism in Action

 Anglican Choir Sings at Papal Mass

From L’Osservatore Romano

By Nigel Marcus Baker

The English essayist and poet, Joseph Addison (1672-1719), in his 1694 ‘A Song for St Cecilia’s Day’, called music: ‘the greatest good that mortals know / And all of heaven we have below.’ We have had a practical demonstration of that claim all last week, as Westminster Abbey Choir, singing either alone or alongside the Choir of the Sistine Chapel, have brought to us that ‘all of heaven’ in services and concerts in Santa Maria Maggiore, the Sistine Chapel, St Peter’s Basilica, and Santa Maria sopra Minerva.

Poland is Still the Land of Blessed John Paul II

Its people have confidence in themselves and the mission of the Church 

From The Catholic Herald (UK) 

By Father Alexander Lucie-Smith

Church of the Assumption of Virgin Mary, Krakow (AP)

I have just been to Poland, which is why I have been out of radio contact for the last week. I had been meaning to go for some time, feeling that this was a country that all Catholics should visit, and I come back with my suspicions fully confirmed.

First there are the churches. They are quite magnificent. The baroque splendours of many of Krakow’s churches survived the destruction of war, and several of them are easily equal to the churches of Rome. Unlike Rome they are set in a serene and largely traffic-free environment. Moreover, these churches all seem to be places of religious devotion; many of them have perpetual adoration, and there were people at prayer in all the ones I visited.

In Warsaw’s historic centre virtually every building was damaged beyond recognition, but there the churches have risen again from the rubble of war. Kudos to the people who saw to their rebuilding. In contrast to the British government after the war, the Poles restored what had been destroyed, rather than replacing them with something modern. This was clearly a matter of national pride. Ironic to think that these churches were rebuilt under the rule of the Polish United Workers (ie Communist) Party, just as Britain under both Labour and Tory governments was busily demolishing what the Luftwaffe had spared, all in the name of progress. Warsaw, as a result, is a charming and delightful city, unlike so many of our British urban spaces.

But it is not just churches, it is the people in them that count (though I do happen to think that architecture does matter too.) I was struck wherever I went by the huge amount of young nuns and priests I saw. The nuns were all in habits of the old-fashioned type – the sort that the late Alice Thomas Ellis found so beautiful. The priests were by and large wearing cassocks. The heat was fierce, up to 35 degrees, but although one or two priests had rolled up the sleeves of their cassocks, the nuns seemed quite unaffected by the heat. They were, I have to conclude, one bunch of tough Sisters.

But seriously, these were people who have not lost confidence in themselves and the mission of the Church. This was, and still is, the land of the Blessed John Paul, and his spirit was clearly not confined to himself. We have got a lot to learn from him, I think. From his place in Heaven, he teaches us still.

Why Are Anti-TEA Party Liberals Campaigning for Michigan Senate Candidate Pete Hoekstra?

Washington Examiner reports one of Hoekstra's top signature-gatherers is petitioning pro, convicted felon

DETROIT, MI - Republican U.S. Senate candidate Gary Glenn, whose candidacy is endorsed by a statewide coalition of over forty local TEA Parties in Michigan, Thursday advised TEA Party leaders that Teamster union president Jimmy Hoffa, Jr., is not the only anti-TEA Party liberal who has worked to help elect former nine-term Congressman Pete Hoekstra to political office.

Hoekstra's past campaigns, including his 2010 campaign for governor, have been endorsed and/or funded by the Teamsters and Hoffa, who famously said at an Obama campaign rally last year regarding TEA Party members, "Let's take these sons of b-----s out."

Gary Glenn

Glenn in an e-mail and Facebook message Thursday alerted TEA Party leaders that one of the top circulators this past spring of petitions to put Hoekstra on the August primary ballot was Keith Moore of Grand Rapids, who the Washington Examiner last month reported is a convicted felon who works as a professional petition circulator for PCI (Progressive Campaigns, Inc.) Consultants of Los Angeles.

According to a 2010 report by Mackinac Center for Public Policy's Michigan Capitol Confidential, PCI is the same firm that gathered signatures in an attempt to put a slate of alleged "TEA Party" candidates on the Michigan ballot that year. Democratic operatives recruited candidates to run on the new "TEA Party" ticket in hopes of peeling conservative votes away from Republican candidates in order to help elect Democrats.

Archbishop Chaput Concludes Fortnight for Freedom with Call for Heroism "In the Face of Suffering and Adversity"

Delivered during mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, Washington, DC, July 4th 2012.

Philadelphia is the place where both the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution were written. For more than two centuries, these documents have inspired people around the globe. So as we begin our reflection on today’s readings, I have the privilege of greeting everyone here today — and every person watching or listening from a distance — in the name of the Church of my home, the Church of Philadelphia, the cradle of our country’s liberty and the city of our nation’s founding. May God bless and guide all of us as we settle our hearts on the Word of God.