Princess Caroline Condescends

1. Her Grace, Princess Caroline, is often touted for her noblesse oblige in working to raise money for the NYC schools system. Only problem -- nobody can remember her having done anything, or even having shown up in the office. Work? That's for the little people. Voting? For those who can spare the time from the social calendar. Her Grace has now condescended to give interviews, to apprise the peons of her "qualifications" and opinions. I won't link to the articles, since they mostly comprise of questions like "What's on your iPod?" You can always count on the star-struck press to give us the information we need. On the other hand, not all of the media is in the tank for Herself, thank God.

2. John Allen, the veteran Vatican reporter, offers his insights into the least-reported but most important Church stories of 2008. Articles like this are especially useful for their international perspective, since they remind us that, despite our innate parochialism, we're actually members of the Universal Church.

3. Last week Pope Benedict gave his annual address to the Curia, highlighting some important themes of his preaching, particularly the notion that there is an "ecology of man" -- "This has to do with faith in the Creator and listening to the language of creation, which, if disregarded, would be man's self-destruction and therefore a destruction of God's work itself." (summary here, unofficial translation here). The usual professional complainers from the "gay" community immediately denounced the Holy Father for "homophobia", based on an entirely false and tendentious reading of his speech. Here's the ringing defense of the Holy Father from the USCCB press office: . Oh, that's right, there wasn't one. Now, I realize it was Christmas week and all, and that we don't want to be Jacks-in-the-Box whenever somebody misrepresents the Church's teaching. But no response in a week? None?

4. Here's why the Establishment Clause of our Constitution makes so much sense -- so you won't have politicians meddle in the affairs of churches that receive tax support, as they are in Germany.

5. So now there's iBreviary, which allows you to download the Divine Office for your iPhone. "O God, come to my assistance, O Lord, make haste to recharge my battery"?

6. Blogged yesterday on "Why Elections Matter" on my official ArchNY blog -- some reflections on the agenda for the pro-abortion crowd in the new Administration.