Vatican road rules; Rushdie, a conventless nun and more

Last updated on: March 17, 2017 at 6:46 pm by Elizabeth Scalia

Vatican road rules; Rushdie, a conventless nun and more 2017-03-17T18:46:02+00:00 Elizabeth Scalia

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Just yesterday I dared to confess my miserable mutterings as I drive:

Driving this morning I saw the usual really bad, inattentive sort of driving one sees in a day, and spent my time behind the wheel muttering, “come on, ye bastid, drive like you mean it! Which lane do you want, sweetie, do you know? Why are you driving like you’re in a coma?”

Yes, I’m distressingly bitchy, lately. But apparently I am not alone. Reader Kia kindly referred me to the Vatican’s “Guidelines for the Pastoral Care of the Road” a sort of 10 commandments of road rage, that are not so bad, actually. A few bits culled from both articles:

“Cars tend to bring out the ‘primitive’ side of human beings, thereby producing rather unpleasant results,” the document said.

It appealed to what it called the “noble tendencies” of the human spirit, urging responsibility and self-control to prevent the “psychological regression” often associated with driving.
[…]
It urged readers not to behave in an “unsatisfactory and even barely human manner” when driving and to avoid what it called “unbalanced behaviour… impoliteness, rude gestures, cursing, blasphemy”.
[…]
It called for drivers to obey speed limits and to exercise a host of Christian virtues: charity to fellow drivers, prudence on the roads, hope of arriving safely and justice in the event of crashes.

And it suggested prayer might come in handy…The rosary was particularly well suited to recitation by all in the car since its “rhythm and gentle repetition does not distract the driver’s attention.”

I used to know that. I’ll have to start praying the rosary while driving, once again. Anything is better than this new habit of driving while grinding my teeth.

I would be really, really interested to know what the Episcopal Priest/Muslim Woman I wrote about here, who claims she is both 100% Christian and 100% Muslim is thinking re the problem of Salman Rushdie, about whom radical Islamists again have their buzzsaws in an uproar.

Too bad Rushdie didn’t write a book about some Catholic saint or Father of the Church, or a book about Jesus. He could be knighted and remain perfectly safe. Flemming Rose writes about the latest dustup over Rushdie, the UN’s inexorable move toward criminalizing any criticism of Islam, and what it is all going to mean down the road.

“…insult, blasphemy, respect for religion, those words are being repeated over and over again as justification for violent attacks and death threats. By the Iranian government, by the chairman of the Muslim Council of Britain, and by leading politicians and opinion makers in the West.

And they have made their way into the United Nation’s Human Rights Council…On March 30 it passed a scandalous resolution condoning state punishment of speech that governments deems as insulting for religion.

“The resolution is based in the expectation that it will compel the international community to acknowledge and address the disturbing phenomenon of the defamation of religions, especially Islam,” said Pakistan, speaking on behalf of the Organization of the Islamic Conference.

What does this mean? Well, it means that the UN is encouraging every dictatorship to pass laws that make criticism of Islam a crime. The UN Human Rights Council legitimizes the criminal persecution of sir Salman Rushdie for having insulted people’s religious sensibilities. Beautiful, isn’t it?

I wonder if Queen Elizabeth II and her advisers had thought she would be burned in effigy and her move considered a completely religious issue, especially given her role as Defender of the Faith and Head of the Church of England? They should have thought of it. This is perhaps why it is good to not be both Queen and Church Lady.

Ah, well…it’s a truth that extremists of all stripes – both religious and secular – do more harm than good in the name of their causes. My Auntie Lillie, who was nobody’s fool, always said one should beware the zealot – in zealotry there be dragons.

I like Churchill’s take on fanatics, too: “a fanatic is one who cannot change his mind and won’t change the subject!”

There is a difference between fanaticism, for example, or zealotry, and simple, profound and quiet fidelity to what one believes and espouses:

IVANOVKA, Kazakhstan (UCAN) – Sister Vladislava Veslavska, 73, has spent the past 30 years here, but few if any other residents besides her sister know she is a Catholic nun.

Wearing a simple blue dress with a white kerchief around her head, she looks like any other elderly woman in Ivanovka, about 1,000 kilometers (about 620 miles) south of Astana, the Kazakh capital.

The 30 years she has spent apart from her Sacred Heart of Mary community in Ukraine followed an almost equal span of time during which she and the other nuns could meet only furtively and did not live together.

Now, close to 60 years since she took her vows as a religious, Sister Veslavska has an opportunity to live in a convent for the first time.

“I’m a Catholic nun, but I’ve never lived in a convent because the communists didn’t allow me to do it,” she told UCA News in May. “Only now, when Incarnate Word nuns are to open a community (in Kazakhstan), do I have a chance to openly join a religious congregation.”

Imagine that – 60 years spent unable to be who you are, living undercover and underground, as it were, alone and without spiritual support. That’s not fanaticism. That is faithfulness in love.

I wonder if the zealots of Islamic Jihad, or the extremists of any religion, or the fanatics on the secular/political left and right (I define them as anyone who thinks you should not have the freedom to express yourself because it goes against their preferred narrative…you could also call them fascists, if you like) would be able to sustain themselves and their ideas and beliefs for 60 years if they had to do it alone, without the mob they’ve gathered behind them to give them momentum and keep their rants alive. Zealots always need a mob, and they’re brilliant at assembling them. Mobs are easy. Singularity of purpose – even in the face of enormous and rabid opposition – is more difficult and therefore heroic.

Of course, the good news is – according to Isaac Newton, anyway – the world’s going to end in 2060 or thereabouts…which is, oddly enough, along the same timeline Frank Tipler is coming up with in his book The Physics of Christianity.

Well…in heaven at least we’ll be allowed to watch a Yankee Game over CNN. And we won’t have such mishaps as these to mortify us.

On a serious note, let us pray on the passing of 9 courageous firefighters – they are the best people in the world, bar none – lost in a terrible blaze in SC, for their families, their fellow firefighters. Eternal Rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let your perpetual light shine on them…may their souls and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.

Previous Post

June 18, 2007

Housecleaning, driving, Potts and Christian Islamists?

Next Post

June 20, 2007 Sorry so quiet...

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category "Remaking" Ourselves 'Remaking' America 9/10 Mindset 9/11 trials Abortion ACORN Adoration Advent Advent 2008 Advent 2009 Advent 2010 Alternative Energy Alternative Media America American Catholic Church American Church American Genius Ameridolatry ANCHORESS BOOKSHELF Anglican-Roman Reconciliation Answers & Questions Anti_Semitism Archbishop Hilarion Ayn Rand Bad Mass Barack Obama Baseball Benedict Benedict & Islam Benedict in UK Benedict XVI Benedictine Bill Whittle Birth Control Blogs and Blogging Blogs and Blogging Bloodless Coup Bobby Jindal Bookchat Breitbart Bride at every wedding... Bride at every wedding... Buckley Bullies Bush Bad? Bush Good Buster Capitalism Catholic Fiction Catholic Vocations Catholicism Celibacy Chaput Charitable Stuff Chesterton Chile Chris Christie Christians in Exile Christine O' Donnell Christmas Christmas Gift Ideas Church Hates Science? Church hates women Communion of Saints Compline Conclave 2013 Confession Constitutional Stuff Conversion Crisis & Opportunity Critical Thinking Crooks and Liars Crucible of Faith Cuba Culture of Life Culture of Life/Death Culture of Treason? Dancing Death Dialogue re Islam Dick Meyer Divorce and Remarriage DOJ Domestic Terrorism Dominican Order Don't try me too high Dowd Dumb Democrat moves Dumb GOP moves Economic woe Education Egregious Harry Reid Elder Son Elder Son's Sweet Girlfriend Elderly Election '10 Election '12 Election '16 Election 2004 Election 2006 Election 2008 Election 2010 Election 2016 Elena Kagan Elitism Embryonic Stem Cell Research End Times? English language Enhanced Interrogation Erosion of Rights Eucharist Euthanasia Exorcism Extraordinary Synod Facebook Faith Faith and Reason Faith Friday Faith Perspective Faithful Friday Fascism Again Fascism in America Fatima FCC Feminism Film First Things Forgiveness Fr. James Martin Francis and Islam Francis in America Frassati Fred Thompson Free Speech? Freedom of Worship FutureChurch Global Pandemic GOP Congress Haiti Head Covering Health Care Here and Queer Hermits Heroes Hitchens Holy Spirit Holy Week '09 Holy Week '10 Hoo-Hah & BS Hoo-Hah & BS Icons Illegal Immigration In The Arena Interviews Interwebz Iran Uprising Iraqi Christians ISIL ISIS Islamic State Islamification/Islamofascism Islamification/Islamofascism Isra-El It's all about me! Me! ME! James Burke Jerry Lewis Jesus Christ Joblessness John Boehner John McCain John Paul II John XXIII Juan Williams Just Words Katrina/Rita King is a Fink Latin Mass Leadership Lectio Divina Lent Lent '08 Lent '09 Lent 2010 Lent 2011 Limbaugh Listen to Lizzie Litigious Society Liturgy Liturgy of the Hours Mainstream Media Manliness Marriage Mary Media Excess Medical Merton Michelle Obama Mighty John O' Connor Misc. Miss Ella Missionaries Mitt Romney Monasticism My brother S My Irish Aunties Mystic Monks Nanny Statism Nature NEA Neri New Media Newman Noonan Notre Dame NPR Stuff Nun News Obama Bad? Obama Good? Obama White House Oil Spill Online Retreat '08 Online Retreat Days Oratory Orthodoxy Our Hillary! Parenting Passionists Patheos Patheos Book Club Patrons Paul Ryan Penance Penn Jillette Philosophy PJTV Podcasts Poetry Politics-free zone Pop Culture Pope Emeritus Pope Francis Prayer Predictions Priesthood Pro-Life Public Sector Unions Purgatory Questions about Catholicism Quotes of the Day Quoting the News Race in America rants Recipes Remarried Catholics Reposts by request Retreat thoughts Rome Rudy Giuliani Russia Saints Sarah Palin Scandal Scott Brown SCOTUS Scriptural stuff Secularism Send in the clowns Serving up hot links Sexuality Sherrod Shroud of Turin Sisters and Nuns Social Entrepreneurship Social Media Social Security Socialism doesn't work Sports and Faith Stem Cells Strange Gods Suffering Synod Tea Parties Tea Party Terri Schiavo The 9/11 Commission The Catholic Answer The Constitution The Desert The Fourth Estate The Pelosi The Perpetual Adolescents The Rosary Third Party? Timothy Dolan Touch of evil TSA Tsunami TV/Pop Culture/Music TV/Pop Culture/Music Twitter Uncategorized Unemployment Unintended Consequences US Military Vaginal Musings Vatican Vespers video faves Vile Joe Biden Voter Fraud War by Litigation War on Terror War, What it good for? Why can't weeee be ... World Youth Days Year of Faith Year of the Priest

Select a Month August 2016 July 2016 April 2016 March 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 August 2004

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Which parable teaches about praying persistently, like a widow before a judge?

Select your answer to see how you score.

The Talents The Sower The Persistent Widow The Mustard Seed