Media, Shmedia.

After watching 60 Minutes' interview with Abp. Dolan that aired last evening, I'm convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt that the mainstream media in this country is garbage. From badgering Dolan about the sex abuse scandal (which cannot be compared to the exponential number of abusers and their cohorts found in every walk of life in this country who continue to fly safely under the radar of mainstream media and the authorities) to inciting division by repeatedly mislabeling Dolan the "American Pope", Morley Safer proved to be once again nothing more than a secular propagandist.

His introduction: "The past decade has been devastating for the Catholic Church; seemingly endless cases of sexual abuse..." SEEMINGLY endless; seemingly, as opposed to reality; what's relative as opposed to what's true. Pay attention to the words, and to the lack of facts. He offends me, and should offend every Catholic in his attempt to speak for the faithful-the REAL faithful.

I will not criticize His Excellency for his laughter, his lightheartedness, and for not saying more than he did, as it was quite obvious by the abrupt cuts in the dialogue that many of Dolan's remarks in this interview were edited out. I also give the Archbishop two thumbs up for not giving them anything to spin.


He made it very clear: The Church will not bend on the "settled questions".  Period.

If you'd like to see just how anti-Catholic both the media and this nation are, pick up a copy of Double Standard: Abuse Scandals and the Attack on the Catholic Church. (I'll be reviewing it over the next few weeks.)  Also,  Click here for Abp. Dolan's commentary on the historical Anti-Catholic sentiment found in America, which I would like to see someone in the mainstream media further explore. The fight to which Safer referred was when His Excellency called the Times out for lambasting the Church and Pope Benedict XVI for not defrocking a priest found guilty of extensive abuse, but never reporting that the abuse took place in the 1970's and the priest has been dead since 1988.

A Lie of Omission

I have three email accounts and all three are a junk mail nightmare. I know why, too. I shop online, I read books and periodicals online, I watch television and movies online, I pay bills online, I blog, etc. All that exposure to the World Wide Web, you're bound to get some unsolicited emails.

Like the one I got this morning from a group called Catholics For Equality.

The bad feeling welled up about 2 seconds after the site loaded. It wasn't so much their agenda as the manner in which they twist Catholic teaching to mislead the public and advance their agenda that made my stomach churn. Here's an example. They list on their Website five "freedoms" to which the LGBT community is entitled: to work, to serve, to become American, to create family, and to marry. They provide a number of quotations to support their overall position.

One of their quotations comes from the Catechism of the Catholic Church:

The number of men and women who have deep-seated homosexual tendencies is not negligible. This inclination, which is objectively disordered, constitutes for most of them a trial. They must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided. These persons are called to fulfill God's will in their lives and, if they are Christians, to unite to the sacrifice of the Lord's Cross the difficulties they may encounter from their condition. (CCC, 2358)

It's no wonder recent polls show that a large number of Catholics support gay marriage. If this is what groups such as this tell Catholics that the Church teaches about homosexuality, then really, why is gay marriage such a big deal?

The problem is that they don't provide the entire teaching. In the Catechism, here's what appears before the aforementioned quotation:

Homosexuality refers to relations between men or between women who experience an exclusive or predominant sexual attraction toward persons of the same sex. It has taken a great variety of forms through the centuries and in different cultures. Its psychological genesis remains largely unexplained. Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity, tradition has always declared that "homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered." They are contrary to the natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved. (CCC, 2357)

...and here's what appears after:

Homosexual persons are called to chastity. By the virtues of self-mastery that teach them inner freedom, at times by the support of disinterested friendship, by prayer and sacramental grace, they can and should gradually and resolutely approach Christian perfection. (CCC, 2259)

All of this appears in a larger section under a heading titled "The Vocation To Chastity". (Funny, Catholics for Equality used "The Catechism of the Catholic Church, Article 6, The Sixth Commandment" as their little byline, but conveniently left off this heading, as well as the subheading "Chastity and Homosexuality") This entire section of the Catechism on the virtue chastity teaches about human integrity, self-mastery and the dignity with which all humans are created equally. So is it equality that Catholics For Equality is after; or is this group really trying to get some kind of preferential treatment?

Consider that of the five "freedoms" they've listed, two are diametrically opposed to the complete Catholic teaching on homosexuality. As Catholics, if we find ourselves in disagreement with the Church's teaching (which is the truth of Christ, by the way), then we prayerfully consider where we are going wrong by examining Her teachings and honestly looking at ourselves in Her light. We do not simply omit that which we find inconvenient. Truth is eternal and not subject to public opinion, and a lie of omission is a lie nonetheless.

The following video expresses the very heart of why Catholics really need to start earnestly learning their faith--NOW.



This program is from RealCatholicTV.com

Wednesday Morning Quiz

That the spirit of revolutionary change, which has long been disturbing the nations of the world, should have passed beyond the sphere of politics and made its influence felt in the cognate sphere of practical economics is not surprising. The elements of the conflict now raging are unmistakable, in the vast expansion of industrial pursuits and the marvelous discoveries of science;...in the enormous fortunes of some few individuals, and the utter poverty of the masses; the increased self reliance and closer mutual combination of the working classes; as also, finally, in the prevailing moral degeneracy. The momentous gravity of the state of things now obtaining fills every mind with painful apprehension; wise men are discussing it; practical men are proposing schemes; popular meetings, legislatures, and rulers of nations are all busied with it - actually there is no question which has taken deeper hold on the public mind.

In what year was this paragraph published?

A)1996
B)1891
C)1939
D)2009

Answer tomorrow...with commentary.

Meditation, TV and the Reptillian Brain

I've been meditating on the following excerpts of Interior Castle rather intently for the last few days:

8. I, myself, have sometimes been troubled by this turmoil of thoughts. I learnt by experience, but little more than four years ago, that our thoughts, or it is clearer to call it our imagination, are not the same thing as the understanding...As the understanding is one of the powers of the soul, it puzzled me to see it so sluggish at times, while, as a rule, the imagination takes flight at once, so that God alone can control it by so uniting us to Himself that we seem, in a manner, detached from our bodies. It puzzled me to see that while to all appearance the powers of the soul were occupied with God and recollected in Him, the imagination was wandering elsewhere.

10. Whilst writing this I am thinking of the loud noise in my head which I mentioned in the Introduction, and which has made it almost impossible to obey the command given me to write this. It sounds as if there were a number of rushing waterfalls within my brain, while in other parts, drowned by the sound of the waters, are the voices of birds singing and whistling. This tumult is not in my ears, but in the upper part of my head, where, they say, is placed the superior part of the soul. I have long thought that this must be so because the flight of the spirit seems to take place from this part with great velocity.

 --The 4th Mansion, Ch 1.
Emphasis mine.

Not too many years ago, when I first got into marketing, I had to learn what triggers potential interest in various products. This research led me to, of course, television.  If you want to research this on your own, simply go to your favorite search engine and type the words TELEVISION BRAIN.

The first thing I learned is that there are three areas of the human brain, and that these areas are responsible for different forms of brain activity:

Neocortex, the highest form of brain activity where intellect, reason and imagination reside.

Limbic, the secondary form of brain activity where our feelings and reactions are processed.

Reptillian, the most basic form of brain activity best described as "survival mode".

I hope anyone who is reading or has read Interior Castle just had an A-HA moment when they got to the word "Reptillian".  (Teresa repeatedly refers to creatures living within the castles who would lead us out of prayer as reptiles).

In advertising, the goal is to trigger need for any given product, and essentially it's most desireable to cut through the intellect and emotion and go straight to that Reptillian brain. Television, as it turns out, is a magnificent device for this very goal, because by design TV does exactly this. No joke. It's been studied extensively since the 1960s.

When we're plopped down in front of the old idiot box, we respond to what we see on a very base level. EEG monitoring of brain activity detects a shift of certain thought patterns into a more passive state while watching television, regardless the program.

Other studies theorize a three-view process by which television drills information into our reptillian minds. The first time we see a show, film or commercial, we have a strong physiological response. A second viewing elicits a lesser response, and a third none at all. The second and third viewings reinforce the original response, because we remember the reaction we had when first exposed to the image. With "survival mode" reinforced, we alter our behavior accordingly, often in spite of our intellect. Television, therefore, can play a substantial role in conditioning our actions, beliefs and attitudes. Advertisers have used these theories for years. It's why many of you believe an engagement ring is supposed to cost two months salary.

The neocortex is rarely, if ever, engaged while watching television.

There are other factors thought to be involved as well. The rise in endorphin levels while watching television are compared to those in runners. Next time you watch CSI: Miami or some action film, be mindful of your physiological responses. Migraines are thought to be withdrawl symptoms when TV viewing suddenly decreases. Excessive television viewing has been suggested as a link to the rise of ADD, ADHD, Autism and other neurological disorders. All this before factoring in television content, which is further believed to cause behavioral problems in children and adolescents (read from any of the articles listed here), and intensifies conditions ranging from chronic depression to anger management issues in adults.

(Note: I found only one document refuting commonly held findings regarding TV's effects on the human brain, and surprise, it was produced from within the television industry. The Children's Television Network document titled "Television and the Brain: A Review" by Katherine V. Fite, contains little more than glorified "nuh-uh's" and a few creative spins on EEG results. I also found it rather disturbing that Fite chose to cite findings on adult subjects to disprove television's negative effects on the still-developing minds of children.)

WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT TO MY SPIRITUALITY?

Review the excerpts from Interior Castle I posted at the beginning of this post. Teresa of Avila, Doctor of the Church, describes the mind in prayer as using imagination and very high thought. She even discusses the physical location of our soul's activity as being in the front of the brain, which is where we find the neocortex. Prayer and meditation in the Catholic sense requires our intellect, imagination and ability to reason. While praying a Rosary, for example, we meditate on the life of Christ: we recall specific events, think about corresponding Scripture, try to imagine the details, and find meaning in these events for our own lives. Another example is Lectio Divinia, where we meditate on the meaning of a word, sentence or section of Scripture in many contexts order to fully understand what we've read. This kind of meditation requires the activity of the neocortex.

What can happen to my ability to pray if I'm spending 4 to 6 hours in front of the television, not using my neocortex, the very part of the brain that St. Teresa relies upon in order to experience Sweetness in Prayer (the title, by the way, of the chapter I quoted above)?

Think again about television being a delivery method of information into our reptilian brain. What about programming that exaggerates problems, distorts facts or presents revisionist historical information about faith, religion, our Church, God, Christ, Mary, priests, nuns, Catholics, morality...?

What about other programming? Network TV constantly pushes the morality envelope with content; cable tore through that envelope from the the word go. If our reptilian brain is conditioned to stop reacting to the immoral behavior we're seeing on TV, what happens to our moral compass?

If we don't shut the TV off long enough to intellectually process what we've watched, what will we become?

My husband and I talked about drastically limiting our television viewing as a Lenten sacrifice. The more I process all this information through my neocortex apart from the tube, the more convinced I am that we're on the right track.

Silence vs. Stuff

"If you don't believe in something greater than yourself, you'll never do something greater than yourself."   (quote by one of the Domincan Sisters on The Oprah Winfrey Show: Nuns on the Importance of Silence and Reflection, and my new favorite quote ever)

For the last few days I've been pondering some of the points made by Cardinal Rode as presented in John Thavis' CNS article. The point with the most punch:  "Cardinal Rode said it was undoubtedly more difficult today for all religious orders to find young people who are willing to break away from the superficial contemporary culture and show a capacity for commitment and sacrifice."

The other day, The Oprah Show went inside a Dominican convent and spent some time discussing with the women their choices and experiences.  The most profound question Lisa Ling asked them? 

"What about your iPod?" 

I'm totally serious. This is an excellent question. Essentially, isn't she really asking them why the've rejected contemporary society?  Look at Cardinal Rode's observation again.  The first thing we need to come to grips with is the fact that too many elements of our culture are harmful to humanity on the most important level of our existence.  These elements--television, radio, video games, computers--create excessive stimuli that compete with our souls and win.

We don't discuss these elements much, either.  We don't discuss the social skills of adults and children alike declining as rapidly as texting and emailing becomes their primary form of communication. We don't discuss the deadening effect even one minute of television has on our brain, let alone 6-8 hours of it every day. We don't discuss the background noise of our stereos, CD players, iPods, or the alienating effects of their overuse.  We don't discuss the hours spent on the internet. We don't discuss the hours spent playing video games.  I rarely hear the content of any of these things, which ranges from the morally questionable to the downright immoral, discussed from the pulpit.

We don't discuss how working 40-60 hours a week so that we may fully participate in this aspect of our culture affects our relationships with God and with one another.

These sisters, though, addressed Lisa Ling's question quite directly, both with their astute verbal answers and with their wholehearted embrace of a cloistered lifestyle that has been criticized by the laity and religious alike as archaic. They talked about the voice of God calling out--screaming out, really--to a society literally hell-bent on drowing his voice out with all of this external stimulation. I went looking for the show online to post it here for you, but couldn't find it in its entirety.  I did, however, find a post-episode discussion with the sisters about the need for silence.  Watch it here.  Seriously, watch it (yes, I appreciate the irony).

One of the sisters commented in response to the constant stimuli that we're "creating the shell of a person".  I agree with her, and Cardinal Rode's observation as I quoted above is one of the more tragic bits of evidence to support her comment. Think about how all of this racket distracts us from our inner selves. I'm as guilty as the next person, and so is my husband (don't deny it, Eddie Ray)---we own a desktop computer, a netbook, TVs in every room of the house, a collection of DVDs & CDs, and we spend far too much time using all of them. We both have facebook accounts. We both have friends and family members with whom we only communicate using email and facebook. I daily plop down on the living room sofa to watch TV and surf the web at the same time, polluting my brain with too much information to process. My husband leaves TV's and radios on all over the place, including in the garage, polluting the house inside and out with noise. 

We're both very faithful Catholics; but we're also very easily distracted by all things noisy, shiny, flashy and pretty. My coworker's radio on low even competes with my ability to think clearly enough to write a few lines of copy for a mailer. If we're working to constantly upgrade our noisy, shiny, flashy, pretty things that continuously stimulate us from the outside, how will we ever truly hear the Lord calling us from within?  These sisters have truly inspired me.  With lent around the corner, maybe turing it all off is the best sacrifice I can make.