29 Comments
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Michael Blissenbach's avatar

Great conversation, JD and Ed! I really hope the college of cardinals don’t elect Archbishop Hebda, though. We need him to continue bringing renewal here in Minnesota!

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James Germain's avatar

I don't think you need to worry too much about the College electing an American. Lol

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Alicia's avatar

Yes. We are so grateful for Archbishop Hebda

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Philip's avatar

"You can't improve moral by firing everyone"

-This echoes a common business methodology: "The beatings will continue until moral improves."

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KP's avatar

Or you can fire an idiotic c-suite, and morale improves greatly.

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James Germain's avatar

Great content as always!

Okay, I confess. I am Demos II.

What was up with Eds audio? His volume was all over the place.

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Philip's avatar

No, "I" am Demos II!

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Fr. N. Romero's avatar

I had that thought too. JD's audio is generally consistent, but anytime Ed said something quietly, I couldn't hear him.

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Evan Cowie's avatar

Will the real Demos II please stand up?

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Fr. Power's avatar

We clergy receive anonymous letters from time to time. It is universally accepted that anonymous letters belong in the trashcan.

I wonder if Cardinal Demos takes seriously the anonymous letters that he receives.

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Brian OP's avatar

My point exactly. Especially if it’s not really from a brother Cardinal. Into the trash it goes.

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Sue Korlan's avatar

When I took Italian in 1977 I was taught that when the country was unified, the powers that be decided that the language of Dante, Bocaccio, and I think Petrarch should be the language of the entire country.

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Brian OP's avatar

“La lingua toscana nella bocca romana”

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Sue Korlan's avatar

Exactly

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KP's avatar

Yes. The risgornimento decided that Dante, Petrarch and Boccaccio were the prophets of the enlightenment and were also very anticlerical. Drawing a cynical straight line from Dante’s and Petrach’s critiques of corrupt clerics and Boccaccio’s satirical religious characters to run of the mill post-revolution anticlericalism. In the process they have destroyed the heritage of much of Italy’s diverse language groups. One of my relatives was one of the last living speakers of Milanese. She died in the early outbreak of Covid. The only hint of dialect left in modern Italian speakers comes down through nursery rhymes and lullabies taught by grandmothers down to grandchildren.

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Sue Korlan's avatar

And it wasn't even the Tuscan which was spoken at the time, but from 100s of years earlier, so even the Tuscans had to learn a new language.

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KP's avatar

That’s a tidbit I did not know. I knew it wasn’t actual Dante’s actual florentine. That’s almost the equivalent of old English. I have a fun copy of the divine comedy with modern Italian and florentine. I guess that was the best compromise to avoid advantaging anyone…

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Brian OP's avatar

The choice isn’t between autocracy and democracy. The Church is a monarchy.

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Brian OP's avatar

Autocracy = self rule

Monarchy = led by one

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KP's avatar

Monarchs have a habit of behaving like autocrats, with a few saintly exceptions.

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Jeanatan C's avatar

Can we get "Hebda for Pope" totes in the merch store? Bonus points if it says "Bernie for Pope", to induce maximum confusion.

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Corbie's avatar

Ed’s audio went really low from time to time

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Jason Link's avatar

Do the cardinals have a group chat that the Pillar can get access to?

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Brian Svoboda's avatar

The conversation about Demos II (who, from the Compass's prologue, seems like he may be a committee of sorts, kind of like John LeCarre's Merlin) recalls JD's discussion in last week's "bonus episode" about the need to grant anonymity to ecclesial sources. In each case, the cause is the same: Demos and the sources all fear "unpleasant consequences" from attribution. But the deprivations to the reader seem different: one can evaluate an anonymous argument on its merits without knowing who the author is, but must make an act of faith in the journalist in order to accept an anonymously sourced statement of fact.

Ed makes an interesting point about Cardinal Pell's authorship of the first Demos letter. A reader can still reach a reasoned disagreement with an anonymous argument, but knowing the author's experience and perspective might help the reader understand why the author made that same argument in the first place.

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KP's avatar

When you have an institution that has deep cultural corruption, even by Italian standards, it takes decades if not a century or two to really change something like that. It also takes multiple generations of energetic and wise reformers to drive it.

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Joe A's avatar

Don't know about anyone else, but I felt like there was something going on with Ed's audio on this episode. Most of the time, it was fine, it from time to time, his voice really trailed off as though he turned away from the microphone or something.

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Bisbee's avatar

On Demos II, the comments,

"Candor is not welcome, and its consequences can be unpleasant." This sums up for some the whole papacy of Francis.

Our Holy Father's personal "candor" has confused many a normal Catholic

The vindictiveness, lack of compassion and the authentic, (not the elites) sensus fidelium of so many, many people is reviled and punished.

The cruelty of some of the things the current bishop of Rome says and does and there are hundreds of examples of out of bounds things that have come to pass.

Who would believe what we have seen from telling us that we "bless couples not relationships" (because most couples don't have relationships). We also have a banning the Old Rite and making it so difficult to attend that it might as well be banned.

Quite unpleasant for those who in vindictiveness so apparent in this papacy regarding those who offer constructive and loyal opinions regarding Church life.

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Deb Taylor's avatar

What was wrong with Ed’s sound? I was listening in the car and his commentary kept descending into low volume and unintelligible pearls of rant. It was like he was turning his head away from the mic.

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John Henry's avatar

(after an unfortunate bout with Autocorrect, which I lost, as I often do)

Demos and Deimos are two different words, and on the face of it, it would seem that the Condon pronunciation is the correct one.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deimos_(deity)

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