This Is Not News

The Archdiocese of Philadelphia has gotten permission to offer a “plenary indulgence” to Philadelphia-area Catholics who visit shrines or do other faith-affirming things. I admit, I went to a Catholic parish grade school in Philly, I went to a Catholic prep school in Philly, and then I went to a Jesuit university in New York, and I’ll be damned if I can figure out how this is supposed to work, despite the Inquirer writer’s valiant attempt to explain what a contemporary indulgence does and why Lutherans are still, let’s say, less than thrilled with the whole thing.

If I’m following this, the doctrine runs like so:

• When you commit a sin, you’re forgiven because of God’s grace, not because of any good work you perform. (The act of accepting Catholic/Christian doctrine, apparently, does not count here – that’s still faith, not a work that justifies oneself.)
• However, even though the sin is forgiven, you’re still gonna have to spend some time in purgatory to atone for it. (How one would perceive time after becoming an eternal being is a topic we’ll also leave to the side.)
• On special occasions, the Church can offer an indulgence, which reduces the aforementioned amount of time one’s now-eternal spirit must spend in purgatory before moving on to a presumably-infinite existence in Heaven.

I really wish I had seen a rate sheet while I was in school, so I would know how much time in purgatory I’ve racked up and whether or not these indulgences are worth the effort.

Of course, the somewhat mocking tone I’ve taken here has probably added some time to my sentence. But it does strike me that this story illustrates the major tension I’ve always felt running through Christian thought: on the one hand, there’s the notion that it’s all in God’s hands and we should trust that things happen for a reason and it will all work out. And on the other hand there’s the notion that what we do with our lives matters. Take that paradox, throw in a bureaucracy, and the result is me sitting here scratching my head

We attended the wedding of our friends Mike and Suzanne tonight, and had a great time. Congratulations and best wishes to both of them.

At the reception we got a reminder of how careful it pays to be with the language. You may be familiar with the wedding-DJ game of having people at a table pass a knight or a spoon or something from the table around while playing music, and then whoever has the item when the music stop has to perform some sort of task. Not everyone knows the game, however, so it’s important to explain the rules.

Well, the DJ instructed us as follows: “Everyone pick up an item at the table and pass it around.” So at our table eight utensils started making their way around, as we all looked at each other going :I don’t think this is how it’s supposed to work.” We had pared our way down to one spoon when the music stopped – and I got left holding the spoon – and the DJ announced that several tables had been passing multiple items around. (Including a candle in one case. It may be better to play this game earlier in the evening if there’s going to be an open bar.) So I was spared whatever task was assigned that round. Maybe next time preprinted diagrams are in order.

Barack Obama is definitely finishing a better week than the one he had last week, when a research memo criticizing Hillary Clinton managed to be personally insulting to both Clinton and many Indian-Americans. His speech at the Take Back America conference was well-received, and yesterday and today he’s been emphasizing good-government issues such as public disclosure of earmark requests and executive branch lobbying reform. After the Take Back America speech Andrew Golis at TPM Cafe did what I think is a good job of explaining why Obama and John Edwards seem to appeal to two different segments of the progressive movement, echoing an earlier post made by Ezra Klein. Edwards has taken the lead on making pretty bold policy proposals, and that tracks with what I remember of his 2004 campaign as well. Obama is talking more about the process of politics and the culture of government, but seems much quieter on the big policy moves. Golis says that Obama seems to be working from the idea that the policy changes progressives want won’t happen until the way we do politics changes – and when you think about how hard it is to get programs that many Americans agree with enacted into law, that seems a pretty strong argument. And the transparency/reform measures he’s pushed today fit there as well.

now, whether that’s a message that catches on enough to a) get him elected and b) give him a mandate to push through the kinds of changes he wants to make, I can tell you I have no idea.

Do you know what one of the best parts of my day is? My daughter says “Yippee!” In fact, she says it a lot.

“We’re going to the store.” “Yippee!”
“Here’s your milk.” “Yippeee!”
“Let’s go walk to school.” “Yippee!”

No big deal, just tosses it into the conversation and then skips along her merry way.

Now I sit here for a few minutes, thinking about how wonderful it is that someone can look out at the world and think it’s worth a “Yippee!” and have no reservations about sharing that feeling with the rest of the world. And after a moment or two of that, my brain moves on to “You know, maybe Ralph Waldo Emerson was on to something in ‘Self-Reliance’ when he says we should say what’s on our minds and not be concerned about how it affects other people or what they’ll think.” And it occurs to me that it wouldn’t be “Yippee!” all the time, but still, there’s something to be said for letting loose.

There’s also something to be said to harnessing the raw power of five year olds and solving the energy crisis, but that’s another point.

I have several ideas for longer posts marinating in my head, and a to-do list that ain’t getting any shorter. My sleep cycle has gotten totally thrown off track and I start teaching again in less than a week. There is a full case of Snapple and a full 2-liter bottle of Coke upstairs in the kitchen, and part of my brain is seriously considering attempting an all-nighter to catch up.

So when you see a post tomorrow that reads as nothing but a string of

‘ong’NB’BNI’ g9]JFwht]9-4TUgjgn;kg;G

you’ll know that I’ve decided to put my head into my writing in a whole new way.