The term "Mormon" is back in vogue among Mormons

I have studied Mormon theology and history for nearly 25 years now (yes, I know that's an uncommon hobby for a Catholic), during which time I've seen a marked shift in the attitudes of many Mormons toward the moniker "Mormon."

While it was for many decades a generally accepted name for members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (A.K.A. the Mormon Church), I recall meeting increasing resistance to the name from members of that Church. Many times I was gently admonished by them for calling them Mormons, rather than the preferred "Latter-day Saints" or, for short, "LDS."

Well, times they are a changin'. I was fascinated to read today about how the name "Mormon" is now back in vogue, mainly because the Mormon Church's study of search-engine data shows that, by far and away, more people search for "Mormon" than for any other variant.

The Salt Lake Tribune reports:

After a decadelong moratorium, Mormon is back. The name, that is. It will be on display everywhere this weekend as thousands gather for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' 180th Annual General Conference in Salt Lake City.

Where LDS leaders once were pushing members to call themselves Latter-day Saints, rather than Mormons, now the church-owned Deseret News has created the Mormon Times. "Mormon Messages" is on YouTube. The "Mormon Channel" is on the radio. And the faith's missionary Web site is mormon.org.

So what has changed for the nearly 14 million-member church? The Internet.

Last year, some 26.8. million people searched for the word "Mormon," 5.3 million hunted for "Mormons," and 1.3 million scouted for "Mormonism," noted Michael Otterson, managing director of LDS Public Affairs.

Although about 32 million searched for "LDS," church officials believe most of those were members. Few search for the official name.

"It's simply a reality that people think of Mormons, they don't think of Latter-day Saints," Otterson said Thursday. "Mormon is here to stay."

In fact, this weekend's two-day conference will be followed closely on blogs such as "Feminist Mormon Housewives," "Mormon Matters" and "Mormon Stories." (In the so-called bloggernacle, "Mormon" outpaces "LDS" in blog names by 3-to-1.)

Some wonder why the Utah-based church tried to jettison the nickname in the first place, especially after spending years and untold millions creating a "Mormon" brand. The tag line for its award-winning "Homefront" TV spots, for example, was, "Brought to you by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints -- the Mormons."

"Branding is a very difficult, lengthy and taxing process of attempting to influence the consumer mind at a basic level," said Kenneth Foster, a marketing research expert in Salt Lake City and a Mormon. "The church can't really back away from the use of the term Mormon, given the ingrained history of the term and resources the church used to establish it. A better strategy may be to embrace and revitalize it." . . . (continue reading)

Read my earlier blog posts about Mormons and Mormonism here.

Read various articles and essays I've written about Mormonism here.

Listen to an MP3 of my 1990 public debate with an official Mormon leader.

Listen to an MP3 of my 1992 public debate with an official Mormon leader.

Gerald Celente: What to do in a crisis

So these two chocolate rabbits walk into a bar . . .

What are these?

"They are the digital-age equivalent of crop circles -- mysterious patterns appearing on the Australian Bureau of Meteorology's national radar system without any explanation. UFOs, perhaps?

"And the random images, described as red stars, rings of fire and white doughnuts, are sending online conspiracy Web sites into meltdown. The anomalies first began on January 15 when an "iced doughnut" appeared over Kalgoorlie in Western Australia.

"Satellite imagery showed there was no cloud over the area at the time to explain the unusual phenomenon, but farmers' online comments claimed it was "unusually hot" all day. It was followed by a bizarre red star over Broome on January 22 and a sinister spiral burst over Melbourne described by amateur radar buffs as the Ring Of Fire Fault.

"The Bureau, which did not respond to repeated requests for comment, has acknowledged the anomalies on its popular Web site. It has posted a disclaimer above the national loop feed putting the images down to 'occasional interference to the radar data.'

"'If you notice any circular patterns or straight lines originating from the center of the radar location, this is due to occasional interference to the radar data. The Bureau is currently investigating ways to reduce these interferences.' the disclaimer said.

"Conspiracy Web sites, however, have lit up with dozens of breathless theories behind the strange anomalies from alien involvement, secret military testing to government weather modification. One theory gaining traction online is the belief the U.S. military has expanded its High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program. . . ." (continue reading)

A Catholic Actor Who Won't Compromise on Sex Scenes

Media pundit Nikki Finke points out an admirable and rare trait among modern-day Catholic actors: Courage to not abandon one's convictions in the face of worldly emoluments.

Neal McDonough is the actor in question. I very much enjoyed his portrayal of heroic WWII G.I. Buck Compton in Band of Brothers and, more recently, his role as Captain Dave Severance in "Flags of Our Fathers." I haven't seen any of the TV shows she mentions below, but I really appreciate the fact that Mr. McDonough won't cave when the temptation presents itself to go along to get along in Hollywood. God bless you, sir!

"[He] is a marvelous actor who elevates every role he plays, whether it's in Band of Brothers or Desperate Housewives.

"So when he was suddenly replaced with David James Elliott 3 days into the filming on ABC's new series Scoundrels earlier this week, there had to be a story behind the story. The move was officially explained as a casting change. But, in fact, McDonough was sacked because of his refusal to do some heated love scenes with babelicious star (and Botox pitchwoman) Virginia Madsen.

The reason?

He's a family man and a Catholic, and he's always made it clear that he won't do sex scenes. And ABC knew that. Because he also didn't get into action with Nicolette Sheridan on the network'sDesperate Housewives when he played her psycho husband during Season 5. And he also didn't do love scenes with his on-air girlfriend in his previous series, NBC's Boomtown, or that network's Medical Investigation.

"'It has cost him jobs, but the man is sticking to his principles,' a source explained to me. You can't help but admire McDonough for sticking to his beliefs, even if he's poised to lose as much as $1 million in paydays..." (continue reading)

Five for Ten

Five issues of Envoy Magazine for Just 10 bucks!

These are five of our classic, award-winning, paper-&-ink editions including:

Premiere issue: Is Our Number Up? You’d Better Not Pout by Curtis Martin • Apocalypse Again by Paul Thigpen • How I Solved the “Catholic Problem” by Kristine Franklin • The Knot That Can’t Be Tied by Mark Lowery

Vol. 1.1: The Devil Plans to Make You Do It. Apologetics Without Apology by Mark Brumley

Vol. 2.3: Too Many People? Divine Will Hunting by Fr. Terry Staples • Mything the Overpopulation Boat by Dr. Jacqueline Kasun • Tell Him It’s God Calling by Brother Stephen Fichter • From Utah with Love by Steve Clifford

Vol. 2.4: Who Is That Masked Man? “Ancient Baptists” and Other Myths by Fr. Hugh Barbour, O. Praem • Holy Osmosis by Sara McLaughlin • A Pro-Abortion Icon Comes to Life by Fr. Frank Pavone • Satan’s Battle Plan for the Third Millennium by Peter Kreeft • The Mouse That Roars by David Palm

Vol. 2.6: OOPS. Call to Faction by Alvaro Delgado • What Will You Do When the Chips Are Down? by Dave Palm

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The Updated Version of Aesop's "The Ant and the Grasshopper"

THE ANT & THE GRASSHOPPER (TRADITIONAL VERSION)

The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter. The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away.

Come winter, the ant is warm and well fed. The grasshopper has no food or shelter, so he dies out in the cold.

The End.

[MORAL OF THE STORY: Be responsible for yourself.]

* * * * *

THE ANT & THE GRASSHOPPER (MODERN VERSION)

The ant works hard in the withering heat and the rain all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter.

The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away.

When winter comes, the shivering grasshopper calls a press conference and demands to know why the ant should be allowed to be warm and well fed while he is cold and starving.

CBS, NBC , PBS, CNN, and ABC show up to provide pictures of the shivering grasshopper next to a video of the ant in his comfortable home with a table filled with food.

America is stunned by the sharp contrast.

How can this be, that in a country of such wealth, this poor grasshopper is allowed to suffer so?

Kermit the Frog appears on Oprah with the grasshopper and everybody cries when they sing, “It's Not Easy Being Green . . .”

ACORN stages a demonstration in front of the ant's house where the news stations film the group singing, “We shall overcome.” Then the Rev. Al Sharpton has the group kneel down to pray to God for the grasshopper's sake.

Dear Leader condemns the ant and blames President Bush, President Reagan, Christopher Columbus, and the Pope for the grasshopper's plight.

Nancy Pelosi & Harry Reid exclaim in an interview with Larry King that the ant has gotten rich off the back of the grasshopper, and both call for an immediate tax hike on the ant to make him pay his fair share.

Finally, the EEOC drafts the Economic Equity & Anti-Grasshopper Act retroactive to the beginning of the summer.

The ant is fined for failing to hire a proportionate number of green bugs and, having nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes, his home is confiscated by the Government Green Czar and given to the grasshopper.

The story ends as we see the grasshopper and his free-loading friends finishing up the last bits of the ant’s food while the government house he is in, which, as you recall, just happens to be the ant's old house, crumbles around them because the grasshopper doesn't maintain it.

The ant has disappeared in the snow, never to be seen again.

The grasshopper is found dead in a drug related incident, and the house, now abandoned, is taken over by a gang of spiders who terrorize the ramshackle, once prosperous and once peaceful, neighborhood.

The entire Nation collapses, dragging the rest of the free world with it.

The End.

[MORAL OF THE STORY: Be careful how you vote in 2010 and 2012.]

Author unknown.

De Profundis

By Jeremy A. Kaplan

- FOXNews.com

A submarine exploring the ocean's depths recently returned with an unexpected visitor: a crablike critter that has left many readers startled and horrified.

In a posting to social bookmarking site Reddit, a deep-sea technician detailed the finding, asking the site's readers to help identify what exactly the bizarre looking creature was.

The post reads, "I work for a Sub-sea Survey Company, recently this beast came up attached to one of our ROVs. It measures a wee bit over 2.5 feet head to tail, and we expect it latched onto the ROV at roughly 8,500 feet depth. Unfortunately, the e-mail that these pictures were attached to came from a contractor, and the ship he was operating from (and therefore location) is unknown, so I can't tell you what part of the Earth this beast was living."

The pictures reveal the creature to be a giant isopod, a large crustacean that dwells in deep Atlantic and Pacific waters. This particular creature is a Bathynomus giganteus, a deep-sea scavenger that feeds on dead whales, fish and squid. . . . (continue reading)

Hillary Clinton attacks Canadian PM Harper for not promoting abortion

That shrew.

Ottawa, Canada (LifeNews.com) -- After signing bills over the last two weeks that promote taxpayer funded abortions in a national health care program, the Obama administration is taking its promotion of abortion abroad. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton attacked Canada's Prime Minster for not promoting abortion at an upcoming conference.

At issue is the decision by Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who is promoting better maternal mortality as its signature initiative at the upcoming G8 summit Canada is hosting in June.

Harper was initially reluctant to include contraception in the centerpiece plan Canada is advocating, but he has ruled out including abortion.

That met with opposition from Clinton, a longtime abortion advocate and the top international official in the administration of pro-abortion President Barack Obama.

"You cannot have maternal health without reproductive health," Clinton said at a Tuesday news conference. "And reproductive health includes contraception and family planning and access to legal, safe abortion."

"I've also been very involved in promoting family planning and contraception as a way to prevent abortion. If you're concerned about abortion, then women should have access to family planning," Clinton added. "And finally, I do not think governments should be involved in making these decisions."

But research shows if the Obama administration and world governments want to lower maternal mortality, expanding abortion isn't the way to go.

A February study from the nation of Chile undercut claims by global abortion lobbyists that liberal abortion laws are necessary to reduce maternal mortality rates. . . . (continue reading)

A look at the unprecedented Medjugorje commission

I was one of several American Catholics interviewed recently for this Our Sunday Visitor newspaper article on the vexing subject of the alleged apparitions at Medjugorje.

Those who've read my previous comments about that on this blog or who have heard me discuss it on my radio show already know where I'm coming from. I consider myself an open-minded skeptic who is not only willing to be wrong about Medjugorje (though I don't think I am), but I sincerely do hope I am wrong and that it is an authentic Marian apparition. Good golly, do I ever hope I’m wrong about this.

Here's the article by Emily Stimpson:

Vatican panel to weigh authenticity of alleged Marian apparitions
in Bosnia-Herzegovina

For many, it was an announcement that seemed long overdue.

On March 17, the Vatican announced the formation of a commission to investigate the authenticity of the Marian apparitions centered in Medjugorje. The commission, requested by the bishops of Bosnia-Herzegovina, will take place under the auspices of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) and will begin work almost immediately. Its findings will be subject to the final authority of the CDF.

The announcement was, in many ways, unprecedented.

Franciscan University of Steubenville theology professor and mariologist Deacon Mark Miravalle noted it’s typically the local bishop or ecclesial conference that establishes these types of investigatory commissions.

It is possible for that call to come from the Vatican “if it’s not pleased with what takes place at the local level” or, if the Vatican “thinks things have not gone ideally, for the CDF to step in and take a more active role.”

But, Miravalle continued, it’s usually the local bishop who has the final say on the commission’s findings, not the CDF.

Fruits of visions

The announcement is unprecedented, but, in many ways, so is what’s taking place at Medjugorje.

It all began in 1981, when six Croatian teenagers, who lived in the small village in Bosnia-Herzegovina, reported that the Virgin Mary had appeared and given them a message to share with others. Nearly 30 years on, some of the visionaries still claim to see the Blessed Mother daily. The rest say she now appears to them only yearly.

For those inclined to accept the apparitions as true, the number of years Mary has appeared to the visionaries — 29 — as well as the number of messages received — upward of 30,000 — are signs that God is at work in Medjugorje.

“In 30 years you have no notable contradictions between the seers, and no observation — to my knowledge — that any of the messages are in any way off the beaten track in terms of faith and morals,” said Father Johann Roten, director of the University of Dayton’s Marian Library — International Marian Research Institute.

Father Roten pointed out that scientifically and medically the apparitions are among the most studied in Church history.

In addition to the messages themselves — which consist primarily of calls for repentance, conversion and peace — proponents also point to the tremendous fruits that the messages have born in the Church.

To date, more than 30 million men and women have visited Medjugorje, with countless conversions and vocations to the priesthood and religious life resulting from those visits.

“There seems to be an undeniable explosion of supernatural graces in Medjugorje,” Miravalle said.

‘Not good’ fruits

But there also seems to be an undeniable storm of contro-versy surrounding Medjugorje.

“The good fruits of Medjugorje are undeniable,” said Patrick Madrid, director of the Envoy Institute of Belmont Abbey College. “But we can’t disregard the fruits that aren’t good.”

Madrid, who calls himself “a skeptic, not a critic,” of Medjugorje, points to accounts of scandal surrounding several key figures as an example of those “not good” fruits.

He likewise finds fault in the very thing that so many proponents find good: the messages.

“From very early on, you see an incitement to disobedience in the messages,” Madrid said. “If this really is the Mother of God urging disobedience to the bishops, that seems at odds with her messages to people like St. Faustina, where she urged obedience even in the wake of disbelief and disapproval.”

Both proponents and skeptics have ample evidence to which they can point and ample arguments with which to respond to those who disagree with them. At this point, it can feel difficult, if not impossible, for faithful Catholics in the middle to know who’s right.

Up until now, however, the Church hierarchy has been almost as divided on the question as Catholics themselves. Both of Medjugorje’s local bishops took firm positions against the apparitions, while other bishops, such as Vienna’s Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, have caused a stir by making pilgrimages to the apparition site. . . . (continue reading)