I watch television. I have friends who don't, and I applaud them for it. But I myself find that TV can be just as much as worth my time as good cinema can. At the same time, it's not hard to spot some of the more glaring trends that vex TV. Indeed, some of the more austere sects either prohibit or strongly discourage the viewing of TV. Chasidic Jews, Amish and Old Order Mennonites, and Lefebvrist Tertiaries don't.
The other day, I found myself watching an hour of According to Jim. It's a fairly standard domcom featuring Jim Belushi as the husband and father in a family. I found myself enjoying the fictional family's antics, and I suddenly realized why that was.
The characters of Jim and Cheryl don't hate each other. They often have the same petty conflicts that drive sitcoms, but it's always done in good humour. In this respect it's antithetical to Everybody Loves Raymond, which I hate, precisely because, well, everyone hates each other. The husband is a stock character of the thoughtless, self-centred, boorish husband. The wife is the nagging, hard-done-by crank. The mother-in-law is obnoxious, condescending, and domineering. To me, this is not a recipe for comedy. I can't laugh when all of the characters are so unsympathetic and angry. (Note that I don't say they aren't "nice" or "good people". That's not necessary - witness Arrested Development and Curb Your Enthusiasm).
Watching According to Jim, I'm not left wondering why the couple ever married in the first place, as I so often am with other television comedies. It this respect, it's like Family Guy, in which the heads of the family clearly love each other - even though Peter Griffin is in many ways a meta-joke about sitcom husbands.
How we portray people and institutions in popular media says something about our values. I remember watching comedies on TV while on holiday in Florida as a child, American programmes that we didn't get at home. My mother, I recall, glanced mournfully at the TV set and asked: "Why are all the Black characters stupid?"
It seems to me that it's worth asking the question of whether we value marriage as a society, and if so, why we seem to treat it with such scorn in our media. Judging from TV sitcoms and the monologues of stand-up comedians (who are even worse in this respect), it's a wonder to me that anyone chooses to be married at all. It's true that we only camp the things we love, but most such comedy isn't camp, and isn't loving in its treatment of marriage. Perhaps it's not surprising that the frequency of divorce is so high in a culture that views marriage as ours appears to.
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
May liturgies
1 (Ascension): High Mass at St Thomas's, Huron Street
3 (May Festival I): Sung Mass, Rosary, and Benediction at St Matthias, Bellwoods
4 (Sunday after the Ascension): Sung Eucharist and Ordination of Deacons at the Cathedral Church of St James
6 (St John the Evangelist): Sung Eucharist at St John's Convent
10 (May Festival II): High Mass at St Thomas's
18 (Trinity): Choral Mattins with the Monarchist League in attendance at Christ Church Deer Park; Solemn Evensong and Benediction at the Church of St Mary Magdalene
22 (Corpus Christi): High Mass, Procession of the Blessed Sacrament, and Benediction with Propitiation in attendance at St Bartholomew's, Regent Park
24 (May Festival III): Back at St Bart's for the May Festival. Details TBA.
25 (Corpus Christi [trans]): High Mass, (Outdoor?) Procession of the Blessed Sacrament, and Benediction at St Mary Mag
26 (St Philip Neri): Sung Mass at Holy Family, Toronto Oratory
31 (Visitation): High Mass and Outdoor Procession at St Mary Mag
3 (May Festival I): Sung Mass, Rosary, and Benediction at St Matthias, Bellwoods
4 (Sunday after the Ascension): Sung Eucharist and Ordination of Deacons at the Cathedral Church of St James
6 (St John the Evangelist): Sung Eucharist at St John's Convent
10 (May Festival II): High Mass at St Thomas's
18 (Trinity): Choral Mattins with the Monarchist League in attendance at Christ Church Deer Park; Solemn Evensong and Benediction at the Church of St Mary Magdalene
22 (Corpus Christi): High Mass, Procession of the Blessed Sacrament, and Benediction with Propitiation in attendance at St Bartholomew's, Regent Park
24 (May Festival III): Back at St Bart's for the May Festival. Details TBA.
25 (Corpus Christi [trans]): High Mass, (Outdoor?) Procession of the Blessed Sacrament, and Benediction at St Mary Mag
26 (St Philip Neri): Sung Mass at Holy Family, Toronto Oratory
31 (Visitation): High Mass and Outdoor Procession at St Mary Mag
Friday, April 11, 2008
Gender, sex, and the soul
A little while ago, I registered with "Yahoo! Answers," which allows individuals to post questions about a variety of subjects and see other people's answers (or vice versa). Since anyone can join, there's a very real element of caveat lector. I spend most of my time in the Religion and Spirituality section, trying to cut throught the venom, rhetoric, and misinformation that so many people seem to have about these topics.
Here is a post I recently made in response to someone who asked about the appropriateness of sex reassignment surgery.
As a Christian, I have problems with the idea that undergoing sex reassignment somehow thwarts God's will. Presumably, if one is a Christian, one believes that the body is not the be-all and end-all of our existence? Of course, problems arise, historically, when we undervalue the body. But there's more to us than that: we have souls. And it doesn't seem at all implausible to me that a person might be born in a body that doesn't match his or her soul. After all, many children are born with all sorts of congenital problems that we have no qualms about correcting - we don't, for instance, see operating on a cleft lip as frustrating God's purpose for that individual.
Sex and gender are related concepts, but don't necessarily correspond exactly to one another. Ultimately, I trust an individual's intuition about who they are better than the judgment of a third party. And I think it's just patronizing when people say things like: "You can have all the surgery you want, but you'll just be a mutilated man/woman." Since when do Christians put such stock in biological determinism? Why are we bound to say that a person is condemned to "be" whatever gender normally corresponds to their chromosomal sex? Why is it so incredible that someone's soul or psyche might not line up with his or her body? I simply cannot fathom the arrogance required to tell another person what gender they are.
Here is a post I recently made in response to someone who asked about the appropriateness of sex reassignment surgery.
As a Christian, I have problems with the idea that undergoing sex reassignment somehow thwarts God's will. Presumably, if one is a Christian, one believes that the body is not the be-all and end-all of our existence? Of course, problems arise, historically, when we undervalue the body. But there's more to us than that: we have souls. And it doesn't seem at all implausible to me that a person might be born in a body that doesn't match his or her soul. After all, many children are born with all sorts of congenital problems that we have no qualms about correcting - we don't, for instance, see operating on a cleft lip as frustrating God's purpose for that individual.
Sex and gender are related concepts, but don't necessarily correspond exactly to one another. Ultimately, I trust an individual's intuition about who they are better than the judgment of a third party. And I think it's just patronizing when people say things like: "You can have all the surgery you want, but you'll just be a mutilated man/woman." Since when do Christians put such stock in biological determinism? Why are we bound to say that a person is condemned to "be" whatever gender normally corresponds to their chromosomal sex? Why is it so incredible that someone's soul or psyche might not line up with his or her body? I simply cannot fathom the arrogance required to tell another person what gender they are.
Monday, April 7, 2008
Holy Week at Christminster
Christ the Saviour Monastery in Hamilton has released the Holy Week schedule for the Oratory of Our Lady of Glastonbury.
April 20
Palm Sunday
9am Blessing of Palms and Procession; Sung Mass with the Passion of St Matthew
April 23
Wednesday in Holy Week
7pm Stations of the Cross; Anointing Service
April 24
Maundy Thursday
8am Tenebrae (Matins and Lauds)
6pm Sung Mass and Stripping of the Altar
April 25
Good Friday
8am Tenebrae
12 noon Stations of the Cross
6pm Solemn Liturgy of the Pre-Sanctified
April 26
Holy Saturday
8am Tenebrae
7.30pm Great Vigil and First Mass of Easter
April 27
Easter Sunday
9am Morrow Mass of Easter
6pm Vespers and Benediction
Saturday, April 5, 2008
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Corrected Holy Week
A corrected Holy Week schedule for S. Clement's, from JDTreat.com
Palm Sunday
Matins and Lauds, 7:00 a.m.
Low Mass, 8.00 a.m.
Prime & Terce, 10:00 a.m.
Palm Ceremonies & High Mass 11.00 a.m.
Sext & None, 3:30 p.m.
Solemn Vespers & Benediction, 4.00 p.m.
Wednesday in Holy Week
Low Mass, 7:00 a.m.
Vespers, 5:30 p.m.
Tenebrae (recited), 6:30 p.m.
Maundy Thursday
Hours, 11:00 a.m.
Vespers, 5:30 p.m.
High Mass, Stripping of Altars, & the Maundy, 7.00 p.m.
Compline, 10:00 p.m.
Good Friday
Tenebrae (recited), 7:00 a.m.
Hours, 11:00 a.m.
Mass of the Pre-Sanctified and Veneration of the Relic of the True Cross, 12 Noon
Compline, 2:00 p.m.
Easter Even
Tenebrae (recited), 7:00 a.m.
Hours, 11:00 a.m.
Easter Vigil & First High Mass of Easter, 4.00 p.m.
Compline, 7:00 p.m.
Easter Day
Matins and Lauds, 7:00 a.m.
Hours, 9:30 a.m.
Low Mass, 8:00 a.m.
Procession & High Mass, 11 a.m
Vespers, 1:00 p.m.
Palm Sunday
Matins and Lauds, 7:00 a.m.
Low Mass, 8.00 a.m.
Prime & Terce, 10:00 a.m.
Palm Ceremonies & High Mass 11.00 a.m.
Sext & None, 3:30 p.m.
Solemn Vespers & Benediction, 4.00 p.m.
Wednesday in Holy Week
Low Mass, 7:00 a.m.
Vespers, 5:30 p.m.
Tenebrae (recited), 6:30 p.m.
Maundy Thursday
Hours, 11:00 a.m.
Vespers, 5:30 p.m.
High Mass, Stripping of Altars, & the Maundy, 7.00 p.m.
Compline, 10:00 p.m.
Good Friday
Tenebrae (recited), 7:00 a.m.
Hours, 11:00 a.m.
Mass of the Pre-Sanctified and Veneration of the Relic of the True Cross, 12 Noon
Compline, 2:00 p.m.
Easter Even
Tenebrae (recited), 7:00 a.m.
Hours, 11:00 a.m.
Easter Vigil & First High Mass of Easter, 4.00 p.m.
Compline, 7:00 p.m.
Easter Day
Matins and Lauds, 7:00 a.m.
Hours, 9:30 a.m.
Low Mass, 8:00 a.m.
Procession & High Mass, 11 a.m
Vespers, 1:00 p.m.
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