Monday, March 11, 2024

A Review of Cabrini: The Very Good, the Really Good, & the Not so Good

Double-click for trailer.

In case you missed it, there's a new movie released this month.  It's worth your time. Cabrini tells the true story of Saint Frances Cabrini who worked tirelessly for those poor and forgotten souls the city had forgotten.  Cabrini, an immigrant from Italy, arrived in New York on March 3, 1889 along with six of her fellow nuns.  Their intent was to simply start an orphanage with the blessing of Pope Leo XIII, but she ended up accomplishing so much more--from orphanages to modern hospitals.

Some have argued that this movie is dark or that it glorifies feminism.  I can understand the dark critique, but its subject matter is one of the darkness of the inner city, of inhumanity to man.  I avoid movies that are dark in tone without a larger purpose, but movies that contain dark imagery to underscore hard-fought battles won or for other legitimate purposes can serve a positive purpose in bringing us knowledge and understanding of those who have done good (or ill) for others under extraordinarily difficult circumstances--such as Cabrini.  Yes, if it's a Batman movie where you can hardly make out the characters due to the scenes being continually so dark simply for a glorification of violence, count me out, but this is something quite different.

Sculpture by my father-in-law of Cabrini.
 Another criticism of the movie is that it promotes feminism.  I think this is patently untrue.  Catholic tradition--and Italian culture in particular-- are full of strong women of faith.  Just because women can't be priests, of course, doesn't mean that they can't have other powerful and meaningful roles within the Church and their families.  Catholic teaching, after all, does contain a certain woman we think pretty highly of: Mary.  Mary wasn't afraid of saying yes to God and risk stoning for being with child before her marriage to Joseph.  She and Joseph further risked life and limb in their travels to Egypt.  Even being present at the foot of the holy cross may have placed her at risk--in addition to the agony of anguish.  God often calls incredibly strong and brave women, and this doesn't mean that we are arguing for feminism in some way.

I'm not always a fan of Angel Studios, however.  It's true that I think that Director Alejandro Gomez Monteverde hit this one out of the park, but I do think Angel Studios could improve their practices in a few ways.  First, the previews before the movie are repeated pleadings for advanced ticket sales for their upcoming motion pictures.  The movies featured immediately convey everything that is wrong with Christian film: stereotyped characters, overly sentimental scenes, preachy and political undertones, over the top plots, etc.  By showing the trashy stuff before a long film like Cabrini (almost 2 and a half hours), it lowers audience expectations and disrespects the audience as well.  As it was, for instance, one of our party had to leave just before the ending out of concern for an old pet in her home; it was l-o-n-g.  Add to this, Angel Studios is selling all manner of knock-offs from the movie on their site.  From tacky jewelry to other assorted nicknacks; it's tacky.  I love this movie, but it's like the production company needs to grow up a bit and stop behaving like a spoiled brat.


Double-click to go to a Cabrini photo site,


Sunday, February 4, 2024

Karl's Pacific Northwest Clam Chowder and Famous Pretzels


If there's one dish I enjoy, it's a good bowl of clam chowder. We've sampled clam chowder in fine restaurants from Victoria to Monteray, and I really can honestly say that our recipe is hard to beat. That said, my recipe owes a debt of gratitude to my own family. In fact, perhaps I should call it Eastern Washington Clam Chowder? No, I guess not.

Besides never scalding the milk, the central thing to bear in mind for this recipe is to keep experimenting and perfecting it. That's one aspect I enjoy--that each batch is slightly different than before. I usually add a one or two of a rotating list of seafood together with the clams: shrimp, crab, scallops, smoked salmon, etc. (Freshly caught seafood is particularly good, but make sure you have selected the right kind of clams if you've dug them yourself. Sadly...the Ericksons are not the best clam diggers; we buy them canned now.)

I also recommend making it correctly the first couple times before trying to concoct a healthy version. After all, this isn't a side dish, it's the meal. We almost never use real cream, for instance, but it does greatly improve the texture and flavor. You may notice I use the word about a number of times in the recipe. This is because either I have misplaced the precise measurements or I am encouraging some brave experimentation. (I'll let you decide which is the case.)




Chowder Ingredients


about five pounds of cut and peeled potatoes
about two cups of chicken broth
4-6 small cans of clams or 1 of the large can
3/4 to 1 stick of real butter
2 diced onions
1 diced stalk of celery
about a quart of whipping creme or half and half
four cups of whole milk
2-3 tbsp corn starch (optional)
half a carrot (optional)


Seasoning (to taste)

salt
cracked pepper
dried parsley
basil (fresh preferred)
oregano
Be creative!


At the same time you're boiling the potatoes in the chicken broth, begin to sauté the cut onions in a skillet with some butter or good olive oil. Once the potatoes are sufficiently tender, remove from the heat. Cook the onions until they begin to become translucent. Just before removing from the heat, add the celery. If the potatoes are too big, cut to smaller pieces. (You can cut them within the pot and save a little time.) Add sautéed onions to potatoes, followed by the rest of the seafood and any other desired ingredients. Don't add the milk or whipping creme yet!

Once everything has come to a gentle boil, add the milk and whipping creme last. Keep stirring and lower the heat. This prevents the milk from scalding. As the consistency will likely not be thick enough, withdraw half a cup of the liquid from the chowder and add two or three tablespoons of corn starch. Mix well before adding to the chowder. Bring to a boil again, stirring frequently, then remove from heat and serve hot.  (The corn starch thickening step is not always necessary.)

Everyone (except me) in my household likes ice cold peas dropped atop top the chowder to help cool it down at serving time. I still believe that this is a great affront to the chowder gods. Consequently, you will not see peas in my chowder--unless, of course, my wife Kimberly has prepared it. :)


Suggested toppings: crumbled pepper bacon or oyster crackers.


Bonus--Karl's Famous Pretzels





I’ve been perfecting this recipe for several years now, and I think you'll enjoy it--unless you're on a no gluten diet. One word of advice is not to skip the quick immersion in the boiling water! This step makes all the difference in their final texture, creating pretzels that are moist yet crisp. I don't go into a lot of detail here about forming the pretzels, but just do your best. It takes a little practice. Even if they look odd, they should still taste great!


Ingredients and Preparation

1 1/4 cup water or beer (1/4 cup of warm water for the yeast)
3 cups bread flour
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
about 1 1/2 tsp of dry yeast
2 tbsp softened butter (optional)
1-4 tbsp of sourdough sponge
1 egg (optional)

1 or two beaten eggs
course salt
sesame seeds
1/2 stick of butter


Activate the yeast separately by adding it to the water and sugar. If you have a bread machine, try using this to prepare and knead the dough. (It helps if you add the water first.) If it’s too large a batch for the machine, try cutting the recipe in half. Otherwise, prepare the dough as you would for an ordinary loaf of homemade bread.

Neither the butter nor the sourdough is a required ingredient, but I think both help make a better finished product. The sourdough enhances the depth and richness of flavor. The butter not only improves both the texture and flavor, but it also might help slightly when it comes time to form the pretzels. (You may also want to try adding one tablespoon corn meal and letting the bread "rest" before rising. Also, cooking sprays work well on one's hands.). Update: I think olive oil in the dough works better than anything else I have tried to help make the forming of the pretzels a little less messy.

Watch the dough’s progress in the bread machine (or food processor) carefully. It often requires a little fine-tuning with additional water and/or flour in order to achieve a proper ball of dough. You will want the dough to rise for several hours, and, depending on the size and habits of your bread machine, you may decide to transfer before long to a bread pan inside a barely heated oven and cover with a moist towel. (I pre-heat to a couple hundred degrees, put the bread in, then turn off the oven.) As an alternative, you may also want to form the pretzels now, then place in the oven under the towel to rise.

HINTS: Another alternative, recommended by my daughter, is to roll the dough into eight-inch ropes and let those rise before later forming the pretzels. You may also find it helpful to roll the pretzels on a floured cutting board.

When it looks like it’s done rising, it’s time to get everything else ready. Beat your eggs for the wash and set aside. Get a deep pan and fill it halfway with water and bring it to a boil. Begin forming the pretzels by making eight-inch ropes. Once they're formed into their classic shape, carefully pick each up and dip in the boiling water for ten seconds, or so, before returning to the greased baking sheet.

When this step is complete and they’ve all had their hot bath, then brush the egg wash over each and season with the course salt and sesame seeds. Bake until lightly browned for about 20 minutes at 450 degrees. Enjoy with melted butter.



Some Quick Pretzel History

Pretzels are said to have had their origin in Europe in the 600s, and were used by monks to reward children for memorizing their prayers and studies. The History of Science and Technology, by Bryan Bunch and Alexander Hellemans, describe their invention by a monk "...as a reward to children who learn their prayers. He calls the strips of baked dough, folded to resemble arms crossing the chest, 'pretiola' ("little rewards")". Pretzels were also used as a teaching tool for the mysterious three-in-one nature of the Holy Trinity.

New YouTube video of me endeavoring to cook...




Monday, January 1, 2024

A History of Israel at a Glance

A relative put this valuable and interesting resource together, and it was recently updated.   I've decided to share it "as is." It's an illuminating resource.  Note that Palestine did not even enter the picture until 135 AD.  Paul Johnson is a great source.  Modern Times is another excellent title of Mr. Johnson's.   




Friday, December 29, 2023

Reflections on Fiducia Supplicans


Fiducia Supplicans, the recent Vatican statement on blessings, has caused quite the stir in the Catholic Church. As it’s our spiritual home, and there is a great deal of confusion about what is said in this document and perhaps intended, I’m sharing several reflections here. I should preface this post with the fact that I have a pending article under consideration at a major Catholic publication on a tenuously associated topic; I’m not going into great depth at this time. Also, there is a tendency in some circles to pile on Pope Francis. While I have disagreement with his repeated tendency towards obfuscation on issues of doctrine of the Church, I don’t believe it’s my place to encourage or participate in behavior that crosses the line. (Any vitriolic comments concerning Pope Francis will be deleted by the moderator.)

The first thing I’d like to point out is that there are two dimensions to this document. There is the reading of the document itself, then there is the foreseeable application or implication in the real world. We have all seen, for instance, what has happened in the past to denominations that have endeavored to make a simultaneous peace with the world and their church; it fails. In the time of C.S. Lewis and England, it concerned the ordination of women in the Anglican Church. In his essay the “Fern-seed and Elephants” Lewis took a hard look at the implications of this move. (Writers like Joseph Pearce have argued that Lewis would likely not have remained Anglican much longer, but his death in late 1963 left this question unanswerable.) There is no reason to doubt similar negative prospects on a document of this nature, but let’s back up a step or two.

The supporters of Fiducia Supplicans like to suggest that those who oppose it fail to understand the described nuances (loopholes) in the blessing descriptions. That’s not quite right. If you read the document as purely an academic piece, the nuances might perhaps work. If you read it as a piece integral to witness and evangelization, it fails for the degree of ambiguity and confusion it contributes to in its real world application. As a further aside, the document implies that it’s not about blessing the couple at all. It suggests these are akin to ordinary blessings of individuals. Yet, it repeatedly uses the the word “couple” within the document, which lends further discord and confusion to the argument.


38. For this reason, one should neither provide for nor promote a ritual for the blessings of couples in an irregular situation. At the same time, one should not prevent or prohibit the Church’s closeness to people in every situation in which they might seek God’s help through a simple blessing. In a brief prayer preceding this spontaneous blessing, the ordained minister could ask that the individuals have peace, health, a spirit of patience, dialogue, and mutual assistance—but also God’s light and strength to be able to fulfill his will completely.


Not only is this likely going to cause yet more confusion among the faithful (particularly chaste homosexuals), but it puts a bullseye on the back of any priest who declines to perform such a blessing. 

Resources and Commentary at a Glance:



Thursday, November 30, 2023

Saying Goodbye to the Best Dog Ever

 

On November 22, the day before Thanksgiving, my wife and I made the terribly difficult decision that it was time to put our eleven-year-old Newfoundland, Chester to sleep.  I have to admit the last three or four years have been hard.  He was a medically challenging dog, but we provided the best vet care we could afford.  It was a lot of hard work at times--not to mention expense--but it was all worth it, of course.  Still, when that time came on the 22nd, I wasn't expecting such a deep level of grief for a...dog.  I thought his years of illness would subdue the sadness somewhat, make the good times seem more distant; I was dead wrong.  For the first few days after, I kept thinking I saw him in the house out of the corner of my eye, or I would forget and watch for him at night for a moment as I was navigating the dark bedroom.

Chester was a gentle giant of a dog.  He welcomed everyone warmly and didn’t have an aggressive bone in his body---unless one of his people was in potential danger.  When hikers would catch sight of him, they would frequently joke he looked like a bear.  On one particular hike where the trail wasn't particularly good, I remember he seemed to rotate somewhat from the front of our little group to the back, keeping a watch on everyone. When he was a puppy he didn’t care for playing fetch, but he did enjoy soccer.  He was incredibly loving towards all of us and would also instantly adapt his behavior (particularly when younger) to people with special needs.  

I’m grateful he survived long enough to meet our grandson James.  The baby really enjoyed meeting him.  He was quite the dog, and he is sorely missed by all of us.  

As I've written elsewhere, I'm a firm believer that good pets will be with believers in heaven.  I believe we'll see him again someday, and I am thankful for that.

Sunday, August 6, 2023

The UAP Question


Unfortunately, we have all been given the dubious blessing of living in interesting times.  Things seem to grow stranger and more bewildering with each passing day.  Whether it is the nonsensical gender identity/fluidity debate, Russia’s own hired mercenaries making a wild dash for Moscow, ridiculous conspiracy theories gaining traction, or Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAPs) swooping in and out of the news, there is a lot to process.  While Joel 2:30 and Matthew 24 point to signs in heaven as well as “wars and rumors of wars” that signal the onset of end times or tribulation, it can become harder to consistently focus upon Christ with these distractions pulling us ever further away.  This turmoil may lead some to a concern that the strange events themselves point to a chaotic and uncontrolled reality untouched today by the hand of God.  This, then may also lead to the misguided idea that perhaps perception is reality.  That is, for instance, why continue to oppose things such as gender identity or abortion, if everything is going crazy around us and God has supposedly exited stage right?  After all, wouldn’t it be easier to just give in and “make nice?”  Please allow me a personal example to begin this look as I focus here on the UAP question--as it intersects with a person of faith, in particular.

 

A number of years ago, we lived a half hour away in the town of Salem, Oregon.  We had a nice ranch style home in a great neighborhood, situated within just a few blocks of our church.  One activity I enjoyed was to stand on my expansive (greatly missed) back deck and stare up at the night sky to take in the stars.  It was not unusual for me to catch the distant streak of a meteor or unwavering glint of a satellite high above.  Something else caught my eye one particular evening.  It appeared from the north heading south overhead.  Its triangular or “V” shape was more inferred than seen, as the sky and stars were partially blotted out overhead by this large, unknown craft.  Everything around me was remarkably still; absolutely no sound came from the thing gliding south above me.  I attempted to take a photo with my phone, but, of course, it was just blackness.  Before I could call my wife, the object was gone into the night—still heading south, as last I could discern.  My mind went briefly to the Native American tales of the thunderbird, except this thing was clearly enormous and mechanical in nature.  When you have nothing on which to gauge or compare size or height precisely, it is difficult to estimate proportions, but it certainly appeared to dwarf any aircraft of which I am familiar, and the absolute silence made it highly unlikely to be…from around here.

 

Since I am the guy writing this, I might as well sheepishly confess that this wasn’t the only occurrence.  I also saw multiple lights come together and then speed apart at a high rate of speed across the night sky of the Yakima Valley when I was just a child.  I tried to explain what I saw, but the adults in my life at the time assumed that I had simply been watching too much television.  Time to limit those Star Trek episodes perhaps?  Many years later when I heard that the FBI had made some large freedom of information releases online, I decided to search for my hometown and “UFOs.”  While I recalled locating information in that particular database, it must have been elsewhere.  The information I did begin to uncover, however, suggested that there were numerous other substantiated reports of occurrences along these lines dating back at least to the early 1970s.  In January 2019. For example, the Yakima Herald Republic ran an article exploring some of these instances. 

 

Some look at the question of potential alien life—just like certain social issues—and decide that it undermines faith, demanding a new way of understanding the spiritual and physical world; they are viewed as mutually exclusive.  While alien life would require some spiritual retooling perhaps, it need not damage one’s faith.  It may surprise readers to learn that C.S. Lewis addressed the issue of alien life in one of his essays—as well as his last recorded interview.  

 

…usually, when the popular hubbub has subsided and the novelty has been chewed over by real theologians, real scientists and real philosophers, both sides 

find themselves pretty much where they were before. So it was with Copernican astronomy, with Darwinism, with Biblical Criticism, with the new psychology. So, I 

cannot help expecting, it will be with the discovery of "life on other planets" If that discovery is ever made. 

 

The supposed threat is clearly directed against the doctrine of the Incarnation, the belief that God of God "for us men and for our salvation came down from 

heaven and was . . . made man." Why for us men more than for others? If we find ourselves to be but one among a million races, scattered through a million spheres, how can we, without absurd arrogance, believe ourselves to have been uniquely favored? I admit that the question could become formidable. 

 

Lewis, CS.  “Religion and Rocketry,” The World’s Last Night

 

 

It’s important to make a brief digression here.  Some extremely intelligent Catholics are making the somewhat naïve argument that all UAPs originate with the devil as further distractions from what is good and true.  While the devil may indeed may play some role here, I’d like to respectfully remind these writers that it seems highly implausible that evil spirits can interfere with humanity to the degree that they are able/permitted to take a nuclear missile system offline as has been revealed took place at the Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota on October 24, 1966 or that they can be seen and recorded by pilots and radar installations around the world.  (The following is one written account of many available of the 1966 incident.  This particular best-seller by journalist Leslie Kean brings together former military, commercial pilot, and air traffic controller accounts of interactions with UAPs from over the last half century, or so, and it includes testimony from those hailing from multiple countries.)

 

 Something very extraordinary also occurred one year earlier at Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota: On October 24, 1966, the Minuteman missile system was adversely affected during an afternoon while UFOs were sighted from the ground by multiple observers at three separate missile sites for over three hours, and two objects were tracked on radar. Communications and radio transmissions between various facilities monitoring the events were disrupted by static when the UFO came close to the site. 

 

At 4:49 p.m. the outside and interior security alarms of safety for the Oscar 7 missile silo were activated at the control desk located sixteen kilometers (ten miles) away. A security team was dispatched and discovered that not only was the fence open but the horizontal door closing the missile silo was also open. This reinforced-concrete door weighed nearly twenty tons and there were no tire tracks nor any record of a visit that could account for this.

 

Kean, Leslie. UFOs (p. 139). Crown. Kindle Edition.

 

When one reads or hears first-person accounts from both military and commercial pilots, they do seem to carry more weight; these are people trained to observe and work under pressure.  More recently, UFO whistleblowers like retired Air Force Officer David Gruisch have also gone even further in expressing his concern as to what nefarious activities government may be involved in concerning these objects.

 

Be that as it may, what the issue really does come down to how Leslie Kean articulates this issue in the introduction.  

 

To approach UFOs rationally, we must maintain the agnostic position regarding their nature or origin, because we simply don’t know the answers yet. By being agnostics, we are taking a giant step forward. So often, the UFO debate fuels two polarities, both representing untenable positions. On one side, the “believers” proclaim that extraterrestrials have arrived from outer space and that we already know that UFOs are alien vehicles, and on the other, the “debunkers” argue with aggressive defensiveness that UFOs don’t exist at all. This counterproductive battle has unfortunately dominated public discourse for a long time, only heightening confusion and creating more distance from the scientific—the agnostic—approach.

 

Kean, Leslie. UFOs (pp. 12-13). Crown. Kindle Edition.

 

With the recent Committee on Oversight and Accountability hearing on UAPs, it’s abundantly clear that we can’t close our eyes to their reality.  Whatever these objects may prove be, they do appear to be part of our reality.  As such, it’s probably best that we begin to get our minds around that fact.  Yes, certainly some supposed interactions may be manifestations of the devil for purposes of deception, but spiritual entities don’t engage in dogfights with military jets or shutdown nuclear missile silos.  At any rate, I believe this is an important foundation to bear in mind, because confusion abounds when we over generalize about subject matter such as this.  The UAP issue is potentially so important, I believe, as perhaps another ringing sign that we may be approaching end times and serves as a gentle reminder to be vigilant.  (Bear in mind that that this is just my opinion, so feel free to take it with a couple grains of salt.)


Added a couple of my own astrophotography shots in early 2024.







 

 

Visiting "God's Thumb" (via the Knoll)

"God's Thumb" (Lincoln City, Oregon)

Did an interesting hike yesterday: "God's Thumb." (See AllTrails for the details.) It was a gorgeous hike, and the view at the end was magnificent...but I almost cashed in my chips. This hike had me feeling my age. If you're a young guy or an athletic older person, go for it, but my suggestion is take my short-cut route instead to Cascade Head.
I tried to capture the trail conditions and the steepness in some of my photographs, but it works about as well as photographing the giant trees on the Coast--proportions fail to really convey true nature. In case you're wondering, no, I did not venture onto God's "thumbnail," as the trail looked as safe as my first car navigating Queen Anne Blvd in Seattle; don't really care for heights. So, unless family members really want me to take them back for some mysterious reason, I think I'll stick to Cascade Head via the Hwy 101 short-cut.