Bloggers around the country were inspired by a call from Hugh Hewitt to "set a day for a unified blog beg" to help those effected by Hurricane Katrina and the resulting floods. Blogging ecosystem tracker NZBear has risen to the occasion and organized the Hurricane Katrina: Blog for Relief Day Weekend fundraiser for Thursday September 1, 2005 through Monday September 5, 2005. As of this writing, over 300 500 600 800 blogs are participating from three eight 11 countries, and each blogger is encouraged to adopt a charity. Self-reported contributions reach well into the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Over at The Black Republican, we've chosen to support the American Red Cross. But as a Catholic blog, it should be no surprise that The Black Madonna asks you to support Catholic Charities USA, which has dedicated a page just for information regarding their Katrina relief efforts.
As Hurricane Katrina continues to make her trek northward, Catholic Charities agencies from around the region, such as agencies in Florida and Baton Rouge, are poised to send technical assistance teams to help the local Catholic Charities in the impacted areas with their response efforts. Once the all clear is given that it is safe to return to those communities hit by the devastating hurricane, the damage and needs assessment will begin.To help out Catholic Charities USA, please mail checks to:While local agencies along the Gulf Coast anticipate that they will be provide some type of emergency assistance in their communities, Catholic Charities' niche in disaster relief is to provide long-term recovery work. In fact, Catholic Charities agencies in Florida are still providing services to help people recover from last year's devastating hurricanes.
Catholic Charities USA
2005 Hurricane Relief Fund
PO Box 25168
Alexandria, VA 22313-9788
or call (800) 919-9338. You can also use the link above to go directly to CatholicCharitiesUSA.org, where you can make a donation by credit card online.
If you'd rather donate to another organization, Glenn Reynolds has a comprehensive list of other charities you can choose from. If unable to provide financial assistance for Katrina victims, please consider giving blood at your local blood bank, or check with your local chapter of the St. Vincent de Paul Society.
Hugh Hewitt also made a specific plea for Catholics to support our sister parishes in the stricken area:
Longer term, I hope my own congregation finds a partner church with the idea of staying the rebuilding course with that church, offering much more personal care over the long haul, and that Catholic parishes from far off states do the same for Catholic parishes throughout the region, West LA synagogues for synagogues in the Gulf region hit by the storm, etc etc. The student body president of a Catholic high school wrote me last night to say that his school was hoping to partner with a Catholic high school they had identified but could not contact. From such connections long term commitments will spring.This is a great idea, and I encourage my fellow Catholic bloggers to get out there and make some connections between parishes. Any parishes sending information to me about needing or offering help will certainly be introduced to one another.
One last request: pray for the people in the Gulf States. Pray the Holy Rosary, especially. Catholics around America and all over the world should be praying daily, offering the fear and suffering to Jesus and asking Our Lady for her intercession in this most desperate hour for so many. Hard work and money are needed more than I can express, but only through prayer can we be sure that God will provide for all those who need the most help, and that everyone can come through this disaster with faith, hope, and love in tact.
*Updated 7:30am, 9/1
This entry originally appeared in The Black Republican.
Just yesterday I confused Steve for an entire lunch by trying to describe the contradictions of Liberation Theology. I should have waited a day and sent him to the Wall Street Journal.
And yes Steve, I see that "Father Aristide" was a Silesian, not a Jesuit. How could I tell with the hammer and sickle over his vestment? For the record, Fr. Sirico, the author of the op-ed, is apparently a Franciscan.
This entry originally appeared in The Black Republican.
I've come to a conclusion regarding The Passion: what anti-semitism is there can be a backhanded force for good.
At first, I didn't see any anti-Semitism in it at all. But after reading Krauthammer and now Claudia Rosett, I think Andrew Sullivan may have come closest to defining the film by calling it "pornography" - because like the old Supreme Court ruling-turned-joke, you know the anti-Semitism in the movie when you see it. But just because I don't see it does not mean I can't see where others could.
But that's not just the end of this. Where those who see hate in the film end their commentary (like Rosett, unable to return to the discussion after digressing to Auschwitz), I see yet more to say. Where they see nothing but hate for Jews, I see solidarity with Jews: in the blood-drenched cloth clenched in Mary's fingers, when Satan is passing through the crowds - but mirrored by Mary who is also passing through the same crowds, and the impassive face of Caiphas before the cross turns anguished when the temple is torn asunder.
The same goes for the reviewers. Most of those critical of the film say "anti-Semitism" as if Gibson is laying cement for the ovens at the next Auschwitz. But at a time when so many in the media and politics (and even in the Jewish community) are too ready to accept the idea of Israel giving land for peace, I see an invitation for more death and torment. But just when it becomes most inconvenient for the Palestinians to see Jewish spines stiffen, Mel Gibson produces a movie that allows everyone to discuss the Holocaust anew.
Jewish friends take heart: The Passion causes anti-Semites to go on defense, while giving Christians the opportunity to restate their solidarity with God's Chosen People. How we get the idea from a source that you find offensive will remain a mystery to you - but not to us.
This entry originally appeared in The Black Republican.
I've always had a link to Andrew Sullivan because I've respected his work during the war, and I've actually enjoyed the occasional piece about gays and gay marriage, in that I could see what some who aren't strict conservatives are saying about such issues. But recently I haven't seen anything that makes me want to applaud him, and he's become very strident on gay issues again. (Not that he ever probably slowed down off the website, but a man only has so much time in the day to write and we've had more important things to talk about lately). And add to this, he's now gone to such an extreme as quoting the "slavery" section of the Catholic Encyclopedia to support his case. That just about sent me into fits, so I've decided to remove his link. It's not that I've suddenly gone anti-Sullivan. I just don't care to associate myself that closely with him at the moment and imply endorsement of his entire agenda.
[Ed.: I should note that Andrew Sullivan's heresy was one of the main reasons I began posting heavily Catholic content on The Black Republican. In that respect, I like to think of Andrew as the inspiration for Ex parte Fide in a similar way that Trent Lott was the inspiration for The Black Republican. The Lord works in mysterious ways.]