The See of Baltimore

Last Sunday, I took the train up to Baltimore for the afternoon. My thesis at Catholic University involves developing a design for a museum of American Catholicism. My site is currently in rural St. Mary's City, Maryland, the first place in the Colonies where Catholics were free to settle. It's beautiful, but it is far from DC and is quite remote. It was suggested to me during my final review for the semester that I consider a more urban site, given the largely urban nature of American Catholicism as a whole.

To that end, a visit to Baltimore was in order. Baltimore is the oldest diocese in the United States. Its first bishop, John Carroll, was a cousin to Charles Carroll of Carrollton, the only Catholic signer of the Declaration of Independence. During the 19th Century, Baltimore - like many American cities - swelled with Catholic immigrants from Europe, lending various layers of character to its many unique neighborhoods. In all, I am growing more convinced that an urban site for this museum makes more sense.

Below are a few photos of the magnificent old Cathedral of the Assumption, the first Cathedral in the United States. I thought it interesting that it was built in the Neoclassical style that was so often used for government buildings and Protestant churches. It was quite beautiful.

The eleven nations of North America

I've written before on various regional differences I've encountered by living in different places at different stages of my life. I've always puzzled over the pre-packaged "regional maps" that the Census Bureaus and other such agencies use to conveniently compartmentalize states. For instance, how do you define the Midwest? On the surface, I'd say you might first include all of the Great Lakes states, but then what? If you throw in Iowa, I'd say Nebraska, the Dakotas, and Kansas have to be included too. And if you add those four, do you include Missouri and Oklahoma because they are mostly agrarian states as well? Stopping there seems appropriate, but the result is a region so large as to be almost meaningless. Can we really compare the culture of metro Detroit with that of Wichita?

In the final analysis, our state borders usually do not encapsulate regional differences very well. In the Great Lakes region alone, I can think of a few microregions. Stretching from Buffalo through Cleveland, Toledo, South Bend, and Chicago, up to Milwaukee is a largely urbanized region commonly called the Rust Belt. A spur of this region reaches up through southeast Michigan to encompass Detroit, Flint, Saginaw, and Jackson. The midsections of Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio are rather Great Plains like in their history and settlement. The southern reaches of those same states are very much oriented toward the Ohio River and the cultural patterns found in Kentucky and West Virginia. Wisconsin, Minnesota, and northern Michigan form a Scandinavian bloc, in terms of ethnic makeup, culture, and even weather.

Enter Colin Woodard and his very enlightening book, American Nations. Woodard names and describes eleven distinct nations that each have distinct histories and cultures - all within the current borders of the United States. We must recall that nation and country are not synonyms, though they are often used interchangeable. A nation is a group of people who identify with one another and share a common history and culture. Sometimes nations have their own countries (the French have France), and sometimes nations find themselves without a country (think of the Kurds, the Palestinians, or the Basques). Woodard posits that there is no American nation like there is a French nation, but, instead, our country is made up of eleven, somewhat hidden, nations, whose particular values and worldviews continue to shape our politics.

When I opened the book and first saw this map, it was as though the scales fell from my eyes. No, not all of what I described above vis a vis the Midwest shows up perfectly, but it is a clarifying diagram regardless. I'd like to consider just a few interesting spots on the map.

Firstly, there is my current situation in Washington, DC. I'd say the District itself is rather a-regional, but it is situated at the nexus of three regions. To the north, encompassing the Maryland suburbs is the Midland nation, which has its origins in the pragmatic, pacifistic efforts of the Quakers and Germans in Pennsylvania. To the east and south is the aristocratic Tidewater nation, which was founded by the younger sons of English nobles as a manorial, class-based society built on the tobacco trade. And, finally, to the west, starting just past Arlington, is the Greater Appalachian nation. Originally a lawless and individualistic land, Appalachia was settled in the 17th Century by Scotch-Irish who had left behind their war-torn lands of Northern Ireland and the Scottish border.

In local terms, this means that there's quite a difference between Maryland and Virginia (beyond the fact that Marylanders are terrible drivers). Even closer to Washington itself, "national" differences can be felt. Alexandria and Georgetown, the oldest settlements in the area, were settled from the south, from the Tidewater culture. This can still be felt in the strong attention to social class still attached to these areas. Kennedy once called Washington the "city of Northern charm and Southern efficiency." I think this statement is essentially founded on the swirling of national cultures that exists in the Potomac lowlands.

The second interesting spot is Indiana. Indianapolis, Fort Wayne, and South Bend are all in different nations. I have always sort of suspected as much. South Bend is a Yankee city, aligned with the industrial, pro-government, pro-union sensibilities of the rest of Yankeedom - from Maine to Minnesota. Fort Wayne, though an industrial city, is definitely in the Midlands. There is a mind-your-own-business attitude throughout central Indiana, where government is often seen as more of a problem than a solution. This attitude has its roots in the Quakers and the German Protestants who founded the Midlands around Philadelphia as a refuge from repressive governments in Europe. Finally, southern Indiana (including, I think, most of Indianapolis) is definitely a part of Greater Appalachia, where there is a more intense reliance on family connections alongside a very intense suspicion of authority.

As for where the borders are, exactly, within Indiana, is a question unto itself. I'd say Indianapolis and south are Greater Appalachia. Muncie is a Midland city, as is Lafayette. The Region (the northwest three counties of Indiana) are definitely Yankee.

In any event, Woodard's analysis, though very interesting, leaves out a few considerations. While the historic narrative is well done, the author avoids the current urban/rural sociological differences. Additionally, Native Americans and African Americans are generally not a part of the conversation. While it's true that both groups have never had "nation" prominence in this country, they do influence the culture and society of the United States. In any event, it's a fascinating book.

Waterfalls of Stone

 There are two approaches to Yellowstone National Park from the northeast. The blue ribbon route is the dramatic Beartooth Highway, which makes a precipitous climb through the valley of Rock Creek and snakes its way up and over the Absaroka Mountains via the Beartooth Pass. The lesser-traveled route follows the Chief Joseph Highway on a mellower course through Dead Indian Pass and more gentle valleys. This route is not devoid of its drama, however. One of the most spectacular moments comes when the road crosses Clark's Fork Canyon, a chasm of sheer granite. It is worth the stop. This is a photo of mine when I passed that way in the summer of 2008.

Of Slovakia

I wrote a lengthy post the other day about some of my French Canadian and English Puritan ancestors and some of the intriguing portions of their lives. In fairness to my father's side of the family, I thought I'd post a little bit about my grandmother's Slovak roots. My grandmother's parents immigrated to these United States from the small village of Jakubany in eastern Slovakia (at that time a part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire). The village itself is nestled in the foothills of the Carpathian Mountains in a region historically contested among the Austrian, Prussian, and Russian forces.

Seems like a rather idyllic place to me. We have records of my grandmother's family living in this same village since the late 1600s. An interesting note is that they were all Greek Catholics - Christians whose liturgy reflects Eastern Orthodox traditions but who are in communion with the Pope. The only church in town (pictured above) is Sts. Peter and Paul Slovak Greek Catholic Church.

This is the interior of the church. Note the Eastern influences including the iconostasis (icon screen), and the rich iconography. My grandma's parents left Jakubany in 1913 and moved to Windber, Pennsylvania. My great-grandfather mined coal and my great-grandmother raised twelve children. When my great-grandfather died of the black lung, the family moved to Detroit, where some of the elder sons had already found jobs at Ford. When my grandma married my grandpa, she stopped attending Greek Catholic services in favor of his Roman Rite tradition.

Thoughts on Monarchy

Soon after the election results were in, I joked on my Facebook page that I was going to withdraw from American politics, help the French monarchists restore the King, get Quebec to secede from Canada and rejoin the reinvigorated French Empire, and then have them annex Michigan (and Ontario) so that I could live contentedly under a Catholic monarchy. Such fantastic (but far-fetched) scenarios aside, I do have a soft-spot for monarchical government, as understood in Medieval Christendom. Admittedly, there were defects, but in its idealized form all persons were equal before God and treated with dignity. The King administered God's justice and maintained a reflection of the divine order through his reign. The King was prevented from usurping too much power by the Church, who could pressure the King with various ecclesiastical actions (interdiction, excommunication, etc.). The Church also acted as the provider of community welfare through the various charitable efforts of monasteries and parishes, maintaining a level of political stability among the poor.

Monarchy obviously gets a bad name in the US, which was born of anti-Royal sentiment, yet there is something further to be said of the nature of leadership in a monarchy which is distinct from our current form of democracy. The monarch did not have to gain his power. He was born into it. He was groomed for it from a young age - a spirit of service to his subjects permeated his education. He did not have to sell his soul to corporations or special interests to gain power. He could devote himself to ideals shamelessly. He did not have to pander to various constituencies at the expense of others.

There were abuses of this power, but on the whole I think it may be a better system than our current plutocracy that goes to the polls every four years in order to claim legitimacy.

YOLO and the Wisdom of Solomon

I have written before on the stupidity of the word YOLO and the phrase it stands for (You Only Live Once, for those whose residence is beneath a rock). Of course, it's easy to just get flustered and rant about such philosophical silliness (and we often do), but it's much more important to look at such a phenomenon within the broader context of what ails modern society.

YOLO, whether spoken, tweeted, said in other words, or simply implied, now passes as a rationale for an action. Carpe Diem has apparently become passe, and we as a culture needed a new catchy saying to prop up our foolish spontaneous actions. Carpe Diem, YOLO, and whatever else we think of next, are quite simply indicative of a society obsessed with self and the flimsy psychological notion of self-fulfillment. In our post-Christian world, it is quite easy to convince ourselves that we can come to total fulfillment (whether spiritual or otherwise) through our own actions, independent of any other. This fits in nicely with our Americanized ideals of complete and utter autonomous individualism. But, like the bizarre Calvinism of Lady Gaga discussed in another post, this thought process is simply an old heresy dressed in new clothes.

In this case, we must draw a comparison to the Pelagians, the special nemeses of St. Augustine, who taught that man was born without Original Sin, and thus had the capacity to attain perfection without the grace of God, by simply following the good example of Christ. The not-so-subtle frame shift here is from God to humanity. We become the masters of our lives and set ourselves up as totally self-reliant and self-fulfilling. Echoes of this are heard in YOLO today: You only live once, so why not be reckless, stupid, lazy, lustful, begrudging, etc. You are the master of your life, after all. You are answerable to no one. Enjoy your total freedom!

The Wisdom of Solomon, one of my favorite books of the Bible (sorry Protestants, you're missing out!), opens with the author exhorting his readers to seek and follow the Spirit of Wisdom, which of course comes from God. In the second chapter, there are the following words which quite simply hit this nail squarely on the head.

"For they reasoned unsoundly, saying to themselves, ‘Short and sorrowful is our life, and there is no remedy when a life comes to its end, and no one has been known to return from Hades. For we were born by mere chance, and hereafter we shall be as though we had never been, for the breath in our nostrils is smoke, and reason is a spark kindled by the beating of our hearts; when it is extinguished, the body will turn to ashes, and the spirit will dissolve like empty air. Our name will be forgotten in time, and no one will remember our works; our life will pass away like the traces of a cloud, and be scattered like mist that is chased by the rays of the sun and overcome by its heat. For our allotted time is the passing of a shadow, and there is no return from our death, because it is sealed up and no one turns back.

‘Come, therefore, let us enjoy the good things that exist, and make use of the creation to the full as in youth. Let us take our fill of costly wine and perfumes, and let no flower of spring pass us by. Let us crown ourselves with rosebuds before they wither. Let none of us fail to share in our revelry; everywhere let us leave signs of enjoyment, because this is our portion, and this our lot. Let us oppress the righteous poor man; let us not spare the widow or regard the grey hairs of the aged. But let our might be our law of right, for what is weak proves itself to be useless.

‘Let us lie in wait for the righteous man, because he is inconvenient to us and opposes our actions; he reproaches us for sins against the law, and accuses us of sins against our training."- Wisdom 2:1-12

There's just so much to soak in from this passage. It's as though the author had some sort of privileged window on 21st Century America. It shows especially clearly a holistic view of how our current culture has "reasoned unsoundly" and found itself in a variety of philosophical predicaments. Let us progress through some of the more interesting points:

• Reason is a spark kindled by the beating of our hearts - Rather than seeing our reason as a faculty endowed to us by our creator, in union with certain universal absolutes, our culture tends to reason more from personal emotion and feeling, resulting in a bizarre relativism that says that two conflicting viewpoints can both be true.
• Make use of creation to the full as in youth - Disregard for our natural environment is symptomatic of a culture that is self-absorbed. 
• Let none of us fail to share in our revelry - Need I flick on the TV to Jersey Shore? Mindless revelry and a lifeless culture of meaningless relationships and substance abuse is a hallmark of a culture that has lost sight of virtue and fallen into fruitless self-satisfaction.
• Let us oppress the righteous poor man - The plight of the poor in our world is perhaps without equal in all of human history. 
• Let us not spare the widow or regard the grey hairs of the aged - This point has two related aspects - the physical and the mental. We have an increasing disregard for the old in our society. Euthanasia is on the rise because authentic care for the elderly is too difficult. On the other hand, as we continue to dismantle the traditions that bind us together, we insult the wisdom of all of those generations who came before us with a casual sweep of 21st Century pride.
• But let our might be our law of right, for what is weak proves itself to be useless - When might makes right, the weak suffer the most. The most glaring offense in this category is abortion, which perverts the relationship between mother and child into one of power and domination. 
• Let us lie in wait for the righteous man, because he is inconvenient to us - This is only becoming truer by the day. Christ and His Church are inconvenient to society because they often stand in direct opposition to the world and its ways.

Like I said - a lot of good stuff on which to reflect. YOLO is, as I said, a mere symptom of such a society envisioned by the second chapter of Wisdom. A society that has become so absorbed in self it has forgotten both God and neighbor in a whirlwind of revelry, worldly might, and contempt for the truth that sets us all free.

A Rare American Prophet

We are rather too neglectful of the American Presidency in this little corner of the web. We must confess this is at least partially due to our intense dislike for the last several occupants of the Oval Office, right on up to our current tyrant. Regardless of that trivia, previous Commanders-in-Chief were often also quite splendid orators who said what they meant and said it in style, as opposed to the current politically-correct espousal of topseyturveydom that belches forth from Washington. We are so accustomed to this deluge of nonsense that we regard it as normal and sometimes pay it lip-service praise. I even heard someone say that Obama's most recent State of the Union was great oratory! Yes, and Call Me Maybe is a great musical achievement.

I digress. In any event, I ask you, kind reader, to imagine any current American politician having the gall to speak the words below, spoken by Calvin Coolidge in Philadelphia on the occasion of the 150th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence:

"The things of the spirit come first. Unless we cling to that, all our material prosperity, overwhelming though it may appear, will turn to a barren scepter in our grasp. If we are to maintain the great heritage which has been bequeathed to us, we must be like-minded as the fathers who created it. We must not sink into a pagan materialism. We must cultivate the reverence which they had for the things that are holy. We must follow the spiritual and moral leadership which they showed. We must keep replenished, that they may glow with a more compelling flame, the altar fires before which they worshiped."

Wait, it's not all about money?! We're NOT to become pagan materialists?! Cultivate reverence... for HOLY things!? Spiritual and moral leadership? Our leaders can't be moral and spiritual leaders, there's a separation between church and state, remember?

To those who still claim that our society is on some constant noble march of blissful progress, I rest my case.

Mother Teresa and the March for Life

March for Life 2009, the last time I was able to attend

In the great Catholic moral tradition, taking of any innocent human life is an intrinsic evil. Each human is endowed with an immortal soul and is created in the image and likeness of God. This is the basis of our dignity as human persons. Whenever the source of that dignity is clouded or denied, humanity suffers. This is why I will be in Washington, DC this weekend, taking part in the March for Life. I will be there, alongside a crowd of 300,000 others, firmly witnessing by my presence that all life is sacred - from conception until natural death. We have a responsibility to show love and charity to all of our fellow men - especially the most innocent and helpless among us; the poor, the lonely, the elderly, the unborn. Consider these quotes from Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta on the matter:

‎"Human rights are not a privilege conferred by government. They are every human being's entitlement by virtue of his humanity. The right to life does not depend, and must not be declared to be contingent, on the pleasure of anyone else, not even a parent or a sovereign."

"America needs no words from me to see how your decision in Roe v. Wade has deformed a great nation. The so-called right to abortion has pitted mothers against their children and women against men. It has sown violence and discord at the heart of the most intimate human relationships. It has aggravated the derogation of the father's role in an increasingly fatherless society. It has portrayed the greatest of gifts -- a child -- as a competitor, an intrusion, and an inconvenience. It has nominally accorded mothers unfettered dominion over the independent lives of their physically dependent sons and daughters."

"What is taking place in America is a war against the child. And if we accept that the mother can kill her own child, how can we tell other people not to kill one another."

"It is a poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish."

Please keep me in your prayers, and say a little prayer for all of our brothers and sisters in Christ - even those yet unborn.

You are all fair, my love; there is no flaw in you

Today is the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, a holy day of obligation for all Catholics. It is on this day that we recall the conception of Mary without sin in the womb of her mother, Anne. God, in his mercy and providence, preserved Mary from all stain of sin from the moment of her conception onward, so that she would become a sanctified vessel for bearing Our Lord. 

Our Lady, under the title of her Immaculate Conception has been invoked as patroness of the United States since 1792, when John Carroll, the first bishop of Baltimore (and the first Catholic bishop in the United States), asked her special protection for the nation. Pope Pius IX formalized this act in 1847. It is to her, especially on this memorial of her conception, that we Americans should ask for her intercession before God's throne for the sake of our nation. 

Since Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception is our patroness, we have honored her in this country with the building of a spectacular church in our nation's capital. The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. is truly an architectural monument of great beauty. It is the largest Catholic church in the United States, the eighth largest religious structure in the world, and the tallest building in the District of Columbia. Construction began in 1920 and was completed in 1959, though interior decoration continues to this day, with the main dome's mosaics yet to be completed as planned.

I have had the great privilege of visiting this splendid basilica during the course of a high school trip to Washington to take part in the March for Life. It is truly an awe-inspiring and beautiful place. The architecture is a curious - but successful - mix of Byzantine and Romanesque motifs. One gets the feeling that the architects took the Basilica of St. Francis in Assisi, the Basilica of St. Mark in Venice, and the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul and melted them together. Marian symbols and quotations abound, and the crypt is lined with chapels devoted to Our Lady under her many titles. The crypt also displays several other pieces of interest, most interestingly the papal tiara of Pope Paul VI. 

The photo shows the high altar and the sanctuary decorated for Christmas. The mosaic in the apse (i.e. the background of the photo) is a particularly stern depiction of Jesus in majesty.

Disjointed Friday Thoughts

I've not had much work to do this week, interestingly, so I've been more caught up in the news than I have been recently. Consequently, I've been trying to digest a lot of information all at once. Mind you, not all of these are specific current events stories, but simply things that have been rolling around and echoing in my head.

• I do not understand Occupy Wall Street, and, though I know I am not the most perceptive person, I do not think this is because a deficiency in intellect on my own part. The logic of the "Occupation" seems to be ephemeral at best and nonexistent for the most part. The best line of reasoning I can discern is: I feel entitled to the same preference given to corporations, but without any preference given to corporations (plus some other wacky, economy-destroying idea like waving the magical political wand and forgiving everyone's debt). Oh, and I don't want to have to pay for it, even though my college education has already been subsidized by the taxpayer. I get that people are angry with the injustices done by many powerful people with government help, but I feel like demanding the government to get out of business and further into ordinary citizen's lives is deficient in reason. Frankly and completely honestly, it all seems whiny and a bit silly.
• There are two interesting currents fighting against each other right now in terms of the environment and the economy. One says that the economy needs to keep growing in order to produce more wealth for more people - a simple economic principle, I think. On the other hand, there is a widespread movement to reduce consumption, and invest in long-lasting onetime purchases. With the economists shouting "start spending to get our economy back on track" and the environmentalists shouting "stop spending money on more stuff and reduce your environmental impact" we seem to be in for an interesting show in the years ahead. My personal opinion is that unbridled capitalism in our current way of thinking is completely unsustainable and that eventually we will have to go through some sort of "Great Reset" and find a more equitable way of living on this planet.
• I am becoming increasingly disenchanted with any person with any pretensions of running for the Presidency of this country. I am bound by my conscience to not support our current president due to his unjust stances on religious liberty and practice, conscience protection, and abortion. His record in these areas is simply heinous. No matter the rest of his stances, I cannot vote for a man with such a record on things so foundational to our liberty as life and God. On the other hand, the Republican Party Presidential Primary Circus Incorporated is similarly disenchanting. None of the candidates (to my knowledge) have a realistic idea of how to deal with promoting environmental infrastructure in this country, nor do any have a convincing plan on reinvesting in this country and its future (in the economy, tax policy, and education).
• Speaking of religious liberty, this will be a contentious issue very soon I'm afraid. Conflicts have been flaring up between church and state across the country on a variety of issues. In a number of cases, Catholic institutions and ministries have been forced to close their doors rather than continue ministering (often to the poorest and most vulnerable in society) in violation of their conscience. Free exercise of religion, as protected in the First Amendment is quickly devolving into "free exercise of religion, as long as you don't actually attempt to act on religious principles anywhere near any other member of society."This is a sorry development in a country that was once upon a time a refuge where people of multiple religions could practice and operate according to their own principles without having to worry about rendering unto Caesar that which is God's.

That's all for now. In more personal news, I will be heading up to Notre Dame this weekend to visit friends. I always enjoy visits there, and I'm sure it will be a grand old time. Happy Friday!

An Errant Political Thought

Considering the recent juvenile production of Barack Obama and the Congressional Flying Circus that we as a country have been subjected to recently, I - unwisely - staggered once again into the realm of political thinking. It seems to me, in watching these plodding arguments about the debt (followed by the commentary ad nauseum from every conceivable media voice), that the chief trouble is re-election. How can both parties spin this near catastrophic disaster as a win for both of them? How can Obama make this a plus during the next campaign? How can Republicans make it look like the Democrats all wore hula skirts to the debt talks? Ok, I admit, that last one probably is not on the mind of many, but could nonetheless be achieved with a bit of Photoshop craftiness.

Point here is this: politicians are so damn concerned about getting re-elected that they forget their primary job, namely, governing. My solution to rid ourselves of this madness is to lengthen terms and set term limits to one. Everybody would get a decent shot at their office and wouldn't need to focus any of their midst-of-term energies on getting themselves reelected. Problem solved. Now somebody grab me the Constitution and a thick Sharpie.

Cathedral of St. Peter in Chains, Cincinnati

Lest anyone think that I harbor a grudge against any remotely modern church architecture, I submit to you these images of the Cathedral of St. Peter in Chains in Cincinnati, Ohio. It was remodeled in the 50s, I do believe, and the result is pleasing in my opinion. The mosaic/fresco/image behind the altar is a very nice piece of Art Deco design. The remodel was clearly a modernization, but it respected the history and iconography of the church, unlike many of the construction projects in the following decades. (Images taken from cincyimages.com)

Views from the French Quarter

Over spring break, a group of us went to New Orleans for the Mardi Gras celebrations there. We were of course overwhelmed, but nonetheless each of us found New Orleans to be a charming and beautiful city. I am eager to return at a less hectic time, but until then, enjoy these views of the French Quarter, the historic heart of a historic city.

Cathedral of St. Louis, King of France

Café du Monde, a New Orleans institution