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An Interview with Cardinal Walter Kasper
During his first Angelus address, Pope Francis recommended a work of theology that "has done me so much good" because it "says that mercy changes everything; it changes the world by making it less cold and more fair." That book is Mercy: The Essence of the Gospel and the Key to Christian Life by Cardinal Walter Kasper, which was recently published in English by Paulist Press. Before serving as president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity (2001-2010), Kasper was bishop of Rottenburg-Stuttgart (1989-1999). He has taught theology at the University of Tubingen, the Westphalian University of Munster, and the Catholic University of America. Last week, associate editors Matthew Boudway and Grant Gallicho spoke with the cardinal in New York. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Commonweal: In your book Mercy, you argue that mercy is basic to God's nature. How is mercy key to understanding God?
Cardinal Walter Kasper: The doctrine on God was arrived at by ontological understanding—God is absolute being and so on—which is not wrong. But the biblical understanding is much deeper and more personal. God's relation to Moses in the Burning Bush is not "I am," but "I am with you. I am for you. I am going with you." In this context, mercy is already very fundamental in the Old Testament. The God of the Old Testament is not an angry God but a merciful God, if you read the Psalms. This ontological understanding of God was so strong that justice became the main attribute of God, not mercy. Thomas Aquinas clearly said that mercy is much more fundamental because God does not answer to the demands of our rules. Mercy is the faithfulness of God to his own being as love. Because God is love. And mercy is the love revealed to us in concrete deeds and words. So mercy becomes not only the central attribute of God, but also the key of Christian existence. Be merciful as God is merciful. We have to imitate God's mercy.
CWL: Why is it so necessary to retrieve that understanding today?
Kasper: The twentieth century was a very dark century, with two world wars, totalitarian systems, gulags, concentration camps, the Shoah, and so on. And the beginning of the twenty-first century is not much better. People need mercy. They need forgiveness. That's why Pope John XXIII wrote in his spiritual biography that mercy is the most beautiful attribute of God. In his famous speech at the opening of Vatican II, he said that the church has always resisted the errors of the day, often with great severity—but now we have to use the medicine of mercy. That was a major shift. John Paul II lived through the latter part of the Second World War and then Communism in Poland, and he saw all the suffering of his people and his own suffering. For him mercy was very important. Benedict XVI's first encyclical was God Is Love. And now Pope Francis, who has the experience of the southern hemisphere, where two-thirds of Catholics are living, many of them poor people—he has made mercy one of the central points of his pontificate. I think it's an answer to the signs of the times.
CWL: It was reported that Pope Francis asked a young Jesuit what he was working on, and when the man said he was studying fundamental theology, the pope joked, "I can't imagine anything more boring!" It seems that Francis wants to emphasize the role of pastoral theology. What does that mean for the practice of theology?
Kasper: I don't see a contradiction between dogmatic theology—which is what I studied—and pastoral theology. Theology without a pastoral dimension becomes an abstract ideology. It was always important during my time as an academic to visit parishes, hospitals, and so on. When I was responsible for Catholic relations with the Third World, I visited many slums in Africa, Latin America, and Asia. For me, those experiences were important because the word of God is not a doctrine. It's an address to people. Pastoral work without a certain doctrinal basis is not possible. It becomes arbitrary or just good-natured behavior. Therefore dogmatic theology and pastoral theology are interrelated; they need each other.
CWL: There's obviously a connection between mercy and forgiveness. Do you think that in the Christian understanding there can be forgiveness without reconciliation? Is forgiveness something that necessarily involves two parties—one to offer the gift and another to accept it? Or is it simply a matter of a readiness to forgive that does not depend on another person's willingness to accept forgiveness or acknowledge the need for it?
Kasper: You can start with the Latin term misericordia, which means mercy. Misericordia means having a heart for the poor—poor in a large sense, not only material poverty, but also relational poverty, spiritual poverty, cultural poverty, and so on. This is not only heart, not only an emotion, but also an active attitude—I have to change the situation of the other as much as I can. But mercy is also not opposed to justice. Justice is a minimum that we are obliged to do to the other to respect him as a human being—to give him what he must have. But mercy is the maximum—it goes beyond justice. Justice alone can be very cold. Mercy sees a concrete person. In the parable of the Good Samaritan, the neighbor was the person the Samaritan met in the street. He's not obliged to help. It's not a question of justice. But he goes beyond. He was moved in his heart. He bent down in the dirt and helped this man. That's mercy.
Mercy is the fulfillment of justice because what people need is not only formal recognition but love. You ask about forgiveness: mercy is also forgiveness, but it should not be reduced to forgiveness. It goes beyond forgiveness. Often my willingness to forgive is a condition for the other to open himself, but it is not in my hands. I can offer forgiveness, or I can ask, "Please forgive me," but I cannot do more. If his heart is closed, I cannot change it. I can pray for him, I can ask, I can show my good will. More I cannot do. Of course, without forgiveness, no reconciliation is possible. It's a condition of reconciliation. But the other has to accept it. It's a question of freedom. To forgive is my freedom, and the other is free to accept it or not.
CWL: In your book you refer to John Paul II's second encyclical, in which he writes that justice alone is not enough, and that sometimes the highest justice can end up becoming the highest injustice. Has that been the case inside the church itself, especially with respect to the way the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has dealt with certain theologians?
Kasper: Mercy concerns not only individuals. It is also an imperative for the church itself. The church defined itself at the Second Vatican Council as a sacrament of God's grace. How can the church be sacramental, a sign and instrument of mercy, when she herself doesn't live out mercy? So many people do not perceive the church as merciful. It's hard. John XXIII said that we must use the medicine of mercy within the church. Mercy is also a critical point for the church. She has to preach it. We have a sacrament of mercy—the sacrament of penance, but we have to reevaluate it, I think. And it has to be done in social behavior and in social works. Pope Francis has said we must become a poor church for the poor—that's his program. In this respect, he begins a new phase of the reception of the council.
CWL: You also note that mercy and justice cannot be finally established here on earth, and that whoever has tried to create heaven on earth has instead created hell on earth. You say that this is true of ecclesiastical perfectionists too—those who conceive of the church as a club for the pure. How dominant is that view among church leadership today?
Kasper: There are those who believe the church is for the pure. They forget that the church is also a church of sinners. We all are sinners. And I am happy that's true because if it were not then I would not belong to the church. It's a matter of humility. John Paul II offered his mea culpas—for the teaching office of the church, and also for other behaviors. I have the impression that this is very important for Pope Francis. He does not like the people in the church who are only condemning others.
When it comes to the CDF's criticisms of some theologians, there was not always due process. That's evident, and here we must change our measures. This is also a problem when it comes to the question of Communion for divorced and remarried people, which is now under consideration in preparation for the Synod of Bishops this autumn. On the other hand, we have positive signs of mercy within the church. We have the saints, Mother Teresa—there are many Mother Teresas. This is also a reality of the church.
CWL: In your speech to open the consistory in March [published in English as The Gospel of the Family], you noted that, for the sake of their children, many deserted partners are dependent on a new partnership, a civil marriage, which they cannot quit without new guilt. Later in your speech, you talk about the possibility that a divorced and remarried Catholic might, after a period of penance, receive Communion again. You say this would be a small number of people, the ones who really want the sacrament and who understand the reality of their situation and are responsive to the concerns that their pastor would have. Are you envisioning a situation in which a divorced and remarried Catholic—a Catholic with a new partnership and a civil marriage—could not live with his or her new partner "as brother and sister" without destroying that partnership, since the other partner might not allow the relationship to continue on those terms. Is that the kind of scenario you had in mind?
Kasper: The failure of a first marriage is not only related to bad sexual behavior. It can come from a failure to realize what was promised before God and before the other partner and the church. Therefore, it failed; there were shortcomings. This has to be confessed. But I cannot think of a situation in which a human being has fallen into a gap and there is no way out. Often he cannot return to the first marriage. If this is possible, there should be a reconciliation, but often that's not possible.
In the Creed we say we believe in the forgiveness of sin. If there was this shortcoming, and it has been repented for—is absolution not possible? My question goes through the sacrament of penance, through which we have access to Holy Communion. But penance is the most important thing—repentance of what went wrong, and a new orientation. The new quasi-family or the new partnership must be solid, lived in a Christian way. A time of new orientation—metanoia—would be necessary. Not punishing people but a new orientation because divorce is always a tragedy. It takes time to work it out and to find a new perspective. My question—not a solution, but a question—is this: Is absolution not possible in this case? And if absolution, then also Holy Communion? There are many themes, many arguments in our Catholic tradition that could allow this way forward.
To live together as brother and sister? Of course I have high respect for those who are doing this. But it's a heroic act, and heroism is not for the average Christian. That could also create new tensions. Adultery is not only wrong sexual behavior. It's to leave a familiaris consortio, a communion, and to establish a new one. But normally it's also the sexual relations in such a communion, so I can't say whether it's ongoing adultery. Therefore I would say, yes, absolution is possible. Mercy means God gives to everybody who converts and repents a new chance.
CWL: A defender of the church's current teaching and pastoral practice would say that absolution requires penance, and that entails a firm purpose of amendment—that is, that you do not intend to go back to the sinful situation as though nothing has changed. You intend not only not to sin anymore but to avoid "the near occasion of sin." The critics of your proposal would say, yes, we're all for absolution for people like that, but it may require what you describe as a heroic adjustment of their lives for them to be properly disposed to receive Communion.
Kasper: I have high respect for such people. But whether I can impose it is another question. But I would say that people must do what is possible in their situation. We cannot as human beings always do the ideal, the best. We must do the best possible in a given situation. A position between rigorism and laxism—laxism is not possible, of course, because it would be against the call to holiness of Jesus. But also rigorism is not the tradition of the church.
Alphonsus Liguori was a rigorist at the beginning. Then he worked with simple people near Naples and found out that it's not possible. And he was a confessor. Then he worked out this system of equiprobabalism—where there are arguments for and against, and in these cases you can choose. I'm very sympathetic to this. And of course Alphonsus Liguori is the patron of moral theology. We aren't in bad company if we rely on him. And Thomas Aquinas wrote on the virtue of prudence, which does not deny a common rule, but you have to apply it to a concrete and often very complex situation. So I think there are arguments from the tradition.
CWL: So, just to be clear, when you talk about a divorced and remarried Catholic not being able to fulfill the rigorist's requirements without incurring a new guilt, what would he or she be guilty of?
Kasper: The breakup of the second family. If there are children you cannot do it. If you're engaged to a new partner, you've given your word, and so it's not possible.
CWL: In your address to the consistory, you ask whether we can, "in the present situation, presuppose without further ado that the engaged couple shares the belief in the mystery that is signified by the sacrament and that they really understand and affirm the canonical conditions for the validity of the marriage." You ask whether the presumption of validity from which canon law proceeds is often "a legal fiction." But can the church afford not to make this presumption? How could the church continue to marry couples in good faith if it assumed that many of them were not really capable of entering into sacramental marriage because they were, as you put it somewhere else in your speech, "baptized pagans"?
Kasper: That's a real problem. I've spoken to the pope himself about this, and he said he believes that 50 percent of marriages are not valid. Marriage is a sacrament. A sacrament presupposes faith. And if the couple only want a bourgeois ceremony in a church because it's more beautiful, more romantic, than a civil ceremony, you have to ask whether there was faith, and whether they really accepted all the conditions of a valid sacramental marriage—that is, unity, exclusivity, and also indissolubility. The couples, when they get married, they want it because it's stable. But many think, "Well, if we fail, we have the right." And then already the principle is denied. Many canon lawyers tell me that today in our pluralistic situation we cannot presuppose that couples really assent to what the church requires. Often it is also ignorance. Therefore you have to emphasize and to strengthen prematrimonial catechesis. It's often done in a very bureaucratic way. No, we have to provide catechesis. I know some parishes in Rome where couples have to attend catechesis, and the pastor himself does it. We must do much more in prematrimonial catechesis and use pastoral work and so on because we cannot presuppose that everybody who is a formal Christian also has the faith. It wouldn't be realistic.
CWL: But you can imagine the outcry there would be if priests regularly told couples, "I can't marry you because I don't really think that you believe in the things people have to believe in order to get married."
Kasper: That's why there must be dialogue between the couple and the priest, who should teach them what it means to marry in the church. You can't presume that both partners know what they are doing.
CWL: You also talk about the difference between the Eastern Orthodox principle of oikonomia and the Western principle of epikeia. Could you explain the difference between those things, and how it's important in questions such as how the church treats divorced and remarried Catholics?
Kasper: The Orthodox have the principle of oikonomia, which allows them in concrete cases to dispense, as Catholics would say, the first marriage and to permit a second in the church. But they do not consider the second marriage a sacrament. That's important. They make that distinction (whether the people do is another question). I'm not sure whether we can adapt this tradition to our own, but we have similar elements. Epikeia says that a general rule must be applied to a particular situation—very often complex—taking into consideration all circumstances. We talk about jurisprudence, not jurisscience. The jurist must apply the general rule, taking account of all circumstances. For the great canonists of the Middle Ages, epikaia was justice sweetened with mercy. We can start there. We have our own resources for finding a solution.
CWL: Until recently you were president of the Pontifical Council on Promoting Christian Unity. How might this issue fit into ongoing ecumenical relations with the Eastern Orthodox. If there was a change in the way the Roman Catholic Church deals with remarried Catholics, would that make things much easier, or even a little easier, for rapprochement between the East and the West? Or no easier at all?
Kasper: It would be made easier. They have this old tradition, and their tradition was never condemned by an ecumenical council. The Council of Trent condemned the position of Luther, but did not discuss the Orthodox position. The council formulated the problem of the indissolubility in a very cautious way because Venice had some islands that were Orthodox but under the Latin hierarchy. They didn't want to lose those islands. So we did not talk about this problem. We had more fundamental problems with the Orthodox. But if we could find a new solution on the basis of our own Western tradition, I do think it would be easier to find a concrete solution to our problem with the Orthodox.
CWL: When it comes to the issue of Communion for divorced and remarried Catholics, you have your critics, some of whom have found outlets in the Italian press. Cardinal Carlo Caffarra, archbishop of Bologna, was given a great deal of space in Il Foglio to criticize your proposal. He has one question for you: "What happens to the first marriage?"
Kasper: The first marriage is indissoluble because marriage is not only a promise between the two partners; it's God's promise too, and what God does is done for all time. Therefore the bond of marriage remains. Of course, Christians who leave their first marriage have failed. That's clear. The problem is when there is no way out of such a situation. If we look to God's activity in salvation history, we see that God gives his people a new chance. That's mercy. God's love does not end because a human being has failed—if he repents. God provides a new chance—not by cancelling the demands of justice: God does not justify the sin. But he justifies the sinner. Many of my critics do not understand that distinction. They think, well, we want to justify their sin. No, nobody wants that. But God justifies the sinner who converts. This distinction appears already in Augustine.
I do not deny that the bond of marriage remains. But the fathers of the church had a wonderful image: If there is a shipwreck, you don't get a new ship to save you, but you get a plank so that you can survive. That's the mercy of God—to give us a plank so we can survive. That's my approach to the problem. I respect those who have a different position, but on the other hand, they must see what the concrete situation is today. How can we help the people who struggle in these situations? I know such people—often women. They are very engaged in parish life; they do all they can for their children. I know a woman who prepared her daughter for First Communion. The parish priest said the girl can go to Holy Communion, but not mama. I told the pope about this, and he said, "No, that's impossible."
The second marriage, of course, is not a marriage in our Christian sense. And I would be against celebrating it in church. But there are elements of a marriage. I would compare this to the way the Catholic Church views other churches. The Catholic Church is the true church of Christ, but there are other churches that have elements of the true church, and we recognize those elements. In a similar way, we can say, the true marriage is the sacramental marriage. And the second is not a marriage in the same sense, but there are elements of it—the partners take care of one another, they are exclusively bound to one another, there is an intention of permanence, they care for children, they lead a life of prayer, and so on. It's not the best situation. It's the best possible situation. Realistically, we should respect such situations, as we do with Protestants. We recognize them as Christians. We pray with them.
CWL: And we know that they don't consider their marriages a Catholic sacrament—
Kasper: There are other problems. We consider the civil marriage of Protestants as valid, indissoluble marriages. They don't believe in the sacramentality. There are also internal problems in the current canon law. How do you explain this to a Protestant—"it's a valid marriage for you, but for a Catholic it's not"? So we should to some degree reconsider the canonical regulations.
CWL: Is it fair to say that your critics think this is a disagreement about the indissolubility of marriage, but you're saying that the disagreement, such as it is, is about the purpose of the sacraments of reconciliation and the Eucharist?
Kasper: In no way do I deny the indissolubility of a sacramental marriage. That would be stupid. We must enforce it, and help people to understand it and to live it out. That's a task for the church. But we must recognize that Christians can fail, and then we have to help them. To those who say, "Well, they are in a sinful situation," I would say: Pope Benedict XVI has already said that such Catholics can receive spiritual communion. Spiritual communion is to be one with Christ. But if I am one with Christ, I cannot be in a situation of grave sin. So if they can receive spiritual communion, why not also sacramental Communion? I think there are also problems in the traditional position, and Pope Benedict reflected a lot about this, and he said that they must have means of salvation and spiritual communion. But spiritual communion goes very far: it's being one with Christ. Why should these people be excluded from the other Communion? Being in spiritual communion with Christ means God has forgiven this person. So the church, though the sacrament of forgiveness, should also be able to forgive if God does it. Otherwise there is an opposition between God and church—and that would be a great problem.
CWL: The pope has said that the church needs a better theology of women. You've said that we need to find a way to give women leadership roles inside Vatican offices. Do you see that happening any time soon, and how might that work?
Kasper: I'm not in favor of women's ordination. But there are offices in the Vatican that do not require ordination. In economic affairs, for example, there are professional women who could carry out such duties. Ordination is not required to lead the Pontifical Council for the Laity. Half of the laity are women. There is an office for laity and there are no women in leadership there. That's a problem. What about the Council for the Family? There's no family without women.
I have experience as a bishop. I appointed one woman to the bishop's advisory council. From that day on the whole atmosphere changed in our dialogue. She was a very courageous woman. Women bring a richness of vision and experience that men lack. At the Vatican, that could be helpful.
At the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, for example, ordination is required to lead. But the CDF has a group of consulting theologians. They do not decide; they consult. Today we have many women who are professors of theology. Why not include their voices? Something must be done about this. It would change a certain clericalistic atmosphere.
CWL: How would you describe the atmosphere at the Vatican right now? Is there a lot of nervousness, anticipation that changes are underway or will be soon, or is there a sense that a lot of the international media hype about the new papacy is sort of trivial and not closely related to the life of the church?
Kasper: The Vatican is a plurality of people, and they are different. At the Vatican there are many of us who are very much in favor of Pope Francis because we saw at the end of the last pontificate events like Vatileaks, so something went wrong. It wasn't functioning. Many people are in favor of some modifications, some changes—and the pope wants it. But of course to change is not easy. The Curia is the oldest continuously existing institution in Europe. Such an old institution has its ways of doing things, so it's not easy to change from one day to another. There is some resistance. And when you change something there's always a debate, pro and contra, which is happening at the Vatican. But I have the impression that Pope Francis is determined to make some changes. He's already made very important ones. I think there's already a point of no return. He made changes, for example, in financial and economic areas. He wants the church to have a more synodical structure. He wants the local churches to be taken more seriously—not in a way that denies the primacy of the universal church. Primacy and synodical structures are not opposed to each other. They are complementary, and Francis wants that. We're not having just one synod on marriage and the family—but we're going through a synodical process. Between the two sessions of the synod, this year and next, he goes back to the local church so this can be discussed at the parish level. He wants to bring in the voices of the faithful. These are changes that have met with some resistance, of course, but there are also many who are in favor of them. So the pope, very determined, goes on. If he's given a few years, he will do something.
CWL: The pope is seventy-seven years old. Given the fact that others will be responsible for carrying out his reforms—along with the institutional inertia that you just described—what are the prospects for success?
Kasper: Pope John XXIII only had five years, and he changed a lot. There was also a point of no return with Paul VI. Pope Francis cannot do everything by himself; he thinks in categories of process. He wants to initiate a process that continues beyond him. He will have the opportunity to appoint, I think, 40 percent of the cardinals, and they're the ones who will elect a new pope. In that way he's able to condition a new conclave.
Of course the Holy Spirit is also present. I wouldn't look at this only at the institutional level. The election of Pope Francis was a surprise—for us cardinals in the conclave too. This new pope is a surprise every day. During the conclave, I felt the Holy Spirit at work. So I trust more in this reality, in people. But Pope Francis's popularity is not only hype. Many pastors in Rome told me that last year and this year many more people went to confession at Eastertime—people who for years did not go to confession. If everybody who for years did not go to confession starts going again, then that's more than hype. That's a very deep personal decision. And these people returned, they said, because of the way the pope speaks about mercy. There is, I think, a deeper reality going on. And this deeper reality is, for me, very important.
[For more interviews from Commonweal, see our full list.]
This article is also part of a Commonweal reading list on Catholic marriage today.
About the Author
Matthew Boudway and Grant Gallicho are associate editors at Commonweal.
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Good Job!
Beautiful interview.
These comments really seem to come and go. I understood Commonweal to be a smart, liberal Catholic journal. What I have experienced is the uptight, unsophisticated Catholicism which has little relevance to the world and humanity. How anyone could elevate Mr Kasper to his exhulted post, and allow him to spout inanities about the state of marriage in a crumbling church is beyond me, and is frankly beyond hope.
I quit.
Lawrenece McDonald, if you are still with us: as a long-time reader and occasional contributor, it would be very helpful to know what exactly in the remarks of Cardinal Kasper so exasperated you. To imply that Commonweal should not interview Cardinal Kasper seems very odd. Who better to interview such an infleuntial personage in the Church than editors of "a smart, liberal Catholic journal?"
My problem with C. Kaspar's view is that in redefining "matrimony" (Christian marriage) he needs also to redefine either "adultery" or "indissoluble", and I don't see how he can redefine "adulter" so that the new definition is consistent with both the Church's traditional view and the ordinary meaning of the word.
I suspect that the solution will come with redefining "indissoluble" or at least admitting that some marriages have been "put assunder" not by human authority but by the authority of the Church ("whatever you shall bound on Earth...").
One wonders how many thousands of spouses have been killed by their mates throughout the ages simply because death in Catholic societies presents no permanent problems, but divorce inflicts a lifetime of never ending limitations and pain. Moral justice requires both ideals and mercy. I found the Cardinal's thoughtful analysis to offer a much needed way forward. - Larry Weisenthal/Huntington Beach CA
As someone with real experience at being married-divorced-married-divorced-married-divorced it was the uncahnging truth of Catholicism that caused me to change my life and turn back to God.Hey there are 50,000 Christian churches in America that wouldn't have a problem with the life I had been living. They also did not cause me to change my life and come home to the true family of God. You will really not be merciful to anyone by letting them receive communion in a state of sin. It is in God's mercy that as a Father he made the rules for life for His children. Quit looking at the 10 Comndments as chidren do as restrictions. Look at them as loving guides to happiness from your Father.
Hi Nancy. Firstly, you do relate a beautiful and inspiring first person story.
But your situation is nothing at all like that of the woman whom Pope Francis allegedly (and I stress allegedly) advised concerning communion. This woman wasn't a serial sinner. She is someone who fell in love as a young woman and got married to a previously divorced man. At the time, as is the case with so many young people, she didn't pay as much attention to the teachings of the Church as she should have. So she fell in love as a young woman and got married and had children. This is the sin which we are considering. And now she's been in a successful marriage for 17 years, with two children. And wishes to be in full communion with the Church.
Had the woman's husband murdered his first wife, instead of divorcing her, there would be absolutely no problem, with respect to the woman's status with the Church. Had the woman been a murderer herself, she could obtain absolution and full communion. But in her situation, there is presently no way out, except to try and come up with a contrived reason for a hypocritical annulment. Or to "live as brother and sister," which, as Cardinal Kaspar says, probably won't be acceptable to her husband, which would produce enormous disharmony and probable break up of the marriage, to the severe detriment of the children, who quite possibly would become estranged from the Church, because of their first hand experience with the cruel consequences of a rigid doctrine which I'm quite sure has been responsible for thousands of spousal murders throughought the last 2,000 years.
Read again Cardinal Kaspar's path forward. And remember that the Ten Commandments and Christ both said that adultery was a sin, but neither ever said that this sin should forever bar a believer from full communion with the Church, when the only remedy would result in harm to innocent children and where such a rigid rule would have the effect of actually leading to the greater sin of murder, in some cases.
- Larry Weisenthal/Huntington Beach CA
Kasper, in denying Exodus 3:14 by saying "God's relation to Moses in the Burning Bush is not 'I am,'" declares war against being and undermines Catholic theology and Thomism in one fell-swoop!
There are a lot of annulments whereby the church recognizes there was not real marriage. Their vows were just words. Marriage is a permanent covenant. To allow divorced people to recieve the sacrament only weakens people's understanding of marriage a a permanent covenant. If for a pastoral reason a bishop feels in a situation he is not compromising church teaching perhaps he can absolve a person but to allow everyone who is dovorced to receive communion is outright scandalous.
Hi Marian, I don't think the Cardinal or anyone else in this particular discussion suggested allowing "everyone who is divorced to receive communion." Both the situation of the woman allegedly counselled by the Pope and the type of situations outlined by the Cardinal above were/are special situations.
It is a fact that divorce and (successful) remarriage presents problems unique to this particular sin. All other sins may be easily absolved without utterly destroying the successful second marriage (which may include children). O.K. They sinned. Now they have the same remorse as any sincerely penitent sinner has. But the other sins, no matter how heinous, may be easily erased. Not so, in the unique case of this particular sin, where the remedies may well be, in reality, worse than preserving the status quo. I think that at least some high level Church authorities now feel that this is a problem which needs to be addressed, in some fashion.
I thought the church's mission is Mercy and Justice. I think it would be merciful and just to mark students' papers honestly and then we wouldn't have students in graduate courses expecting an A when their content and format is embarassing to read. I remember being told in 1976 that we were never to damage the self esteem of any of our students. That got turned into anything goes. Among other things we were advised not to mark wrong a paper that said 2+2=5 but to have a discussion with the student about how they arrived at that conclusion. I wonder how just and merciful teachers who took that approach and take it are to students. I have the book on order and will review it after I've read it thoroughly.
Catherine Berry Stidsen, Cayuga, Ontario, Canada
What Cardinal Kasper is saying is very traditional Catholic theology which ultimately is founded in the primacy of conscience. This is just the updated application of the Internal Forum Solution. A divorced Catholic seeking remarriage or a Catholic seeking to marry a divorced Christian and who is unable or has a good reason for not seeking an anullment to the first marriage, can after prayer and reflection remarry (not in a sacramental ceremony) if certain conditions are met. These include obligations to the spouse and/or children of the first marriage. Later interpretations included that the couple live as brother and sister but this is an addition by some clerics. Finally, the couple remarrying must not be a cause of scandal in the community. They could for instance receive eucharist at a community where their situation is unknown.
What is new is the reality that the sensus fidelium has changed. Now most catholics are scandalized by the harsh treatment of the divorced. Coming to grips with this would offer the possibility of returning to the Orthodox tradition of allowing non sacramental relationships.
As we sort this out intemperate remarks are not helpful.
I think a solution may be for the Church to recognize civil marriage as a marriage, but not a sacramental marriage. Many pastors come to the conculsion that it is best if many couples get married civilly first, and then after several years, if they feel ready for it, ask for the union to be blessed by the church and become a sacrimental marrage. Then, being married but not in a sacramental way would no longer be a sin and the divorced person would not be barred from communion. For people who are married sacramentally, and divorce, the Church does have the annulment process. The church recognizes that for some reason people with perhaps the best intentions were unable to fuillfill the requirements of the sacrament.
If we don't punish people for not living up to a very difficult standard for most in today's world, while still holding up the ideal for all to strive for, I think the church would be better off.
All this talk of the law--definitions, cases, precedent, interpreting texts--would that we were free of it. The Good News is, we are--accordin to ou Lord Jesu Christ and his best missionary, St. Paul. Lots of thought and time and effort is still going into setting up the right and just rules and laws, though, among us Christians, and I suppose it can't be avoided, people being what they are--"hard-headed" as Jesus says in explaining why Moses allowed divorce in one version of marriage laws. Jesus also tells us that a man who divorces and remarries commits adultery; in another place, that thinking lustful thoughts is also committing adultery--two statements that were probably equally startling to his hearers, and which also may be equally unsuitable to translating into laws. The problem of sin is a problem of the heart that may be ameliorated in different ways by laws but it will never be solved that way. How about more thought and time and effort--prayer, teaching, pastoral care--directed toward conversion--"Repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand"--in this area of life and in every other? Doesn't that seem like the Christain way? Perhaps this is what the Pope and Cardinal Kaspar have in mind, with a lot of legal claptrap to jiggle around and clear away before the shift can take place.
The issue of Eucharistic reception for the divorced and remarried is not surprising but a cause for much hope for Catholics worldwide. What Cardinal Kasper is doing, and by implication what Pope Francis agrees with, is not dissimilar to the pastoral practices of many priests today (not denying Holy Communion to the divorced and remarried who sincerely confess their sins and seek forgiveness). The book is not closed forever on such teachings but open to development, in particular in the pastoral application of the moral norm.
Cardinal Walter Kasper also gave another speech on this subject. Below is an portion of it. You can read the entire article at: http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/cardinal-kaspers-speech-on-divorce-....
"Noting that the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in 1994 wrote that those who are divorced and remarried can make an act of spiritual communion, he asked, "Why, then, can [such a person] not also receive sacramental Communion?"
He claimed that, in the early Church, when someone entered a new relationship even though their spouse was still alive, "after a period of penance, had available … a life raft through admission to Communion."
Suggesting a "way of conversion" involving the sacrament of confession, he asked, "Is it also the path that we could follow in the present question?"
When someone who is divorced and remarried "repents of his failure in the first marriage"; if he cannot return to the first marriage; if he "cannot abandon without further harm" the responsibilities of his second marriage; if "he is doing the best he can to live out the possibilities of the second marriage on the basis of the faith and to raise his children in the faith"; and if "he has a desire for the sacraments as a source of strength in his situation," Cardinal Kasper said, then "should we or can we deny him, after a period of time of a new orientation (metanoia), the sacrament of penance and then of Communion?"
He clarified that this is not "a general solution," but is "the narrow path of what is probably the smaller segment of the divorced and remarried, those sincerely interested in the sacraments."
"Life is not just black or white; there are, in fact, many nuances." Cardinal Kasper emphasized the need for "discretion, spiritual discernment, sagacity and pastoral wisdom" in these cases. "This discretion is not an easy compromise between the extremes of rigorism and laxity, but, as is every virtue, a perfection between these extremes."
1. What will be the moral rationale for classifying or reclassifying the sexual acts of the remarried, after the sacrament of reconciliation and Eucharist reception? The implication is that these sexual acts will not be considered adultery.
2. What will be the moral rationale for classifying or reclassifying the first marriage?
3. What will be the moral rationale for classifying or reclassifying the second marriage?
4. If the principle of graduation, given to habitual sinners in confession (such as those who practice contraception), is given to the divorced and remarried, should it be also given to other habitual sinners such as same-sex couplse and their sexual acts in a committed, faithful, loving and lifelong relationship?
Despite these questions, I agree that divorced and remarried Catholics, who sincerely seek Christ and and forgiveness, should be given access to the sacrament of reconciliation and Eucharistic reception.
In really think that we need to consider just what it was that Jesus condemned - he said Moses gave you divorce becase of youir hardness of heart - that's what was under the spotlight - hardness of heart. A call to coversion.
Rereading this interview after many months, a point in Mike Barberi's post above stands out:
He [Cardinal Kasper] clarified that this is not "a general solution," but is "the narrow path of what is probably the smaller segment of the divorced and remarried, those sincerely interested in the sacraments."
Two questions come to mind, how do we prevent communion for the divorced and remarried Catholics from becoming "a general solution? -- so general, in fact, that the indissolubility of marriage, surely a Jesus mandate, is made irrelevant and generally ignored? I believe it is possible, if it is truly throught that "narrow path" that the Cardinal envisions, that communion can be made available to a very few remarried Catholics whose first marriage could not be annulled, but the process of repentence, discernment -- on the part of the Church as well by each of the partners, and very possibly on the part of any children involved, and even the community-- would very probably make this a long and difficult road, surely as long and difficult, if not more so, than the annulment procedure. Would the Church open such a "narrow path," and keep it narrow? Or, will that narrow path widen quickly to the point that the concept of marriage indisolubilty is completely abandoned, with, I believe. very dire consequences for marriage, for the offspring of the married, and for society.
I would sincerely like to see such a "narrow path" proposed by Cardinal Kapser open; but, before the Church considers such an option a few concrete examples , perhaps of divorced and remarried Catholics of whom the Cardinal is persoanlly aware (who will remain, anonymous, of course) and the precise steps he would envision that would be taken in this narrow path should be made public and evaluated by the Church.
Com temor ao Senhor Deus,humildemente de alma contrita e humilhada na presença de Jesus Cristo Eucaristico: gostaria de dar um testemunho pessoal:alguns anos atras a 5 anos estou morando na mesma casa com um homem,que já foi casado na igreja de Cristo Senhor dos Senhores e Rei dos Reis,desde quando passei a pecar contra o templo de Deus,o meu corpo,tive que me afastar da Eucaristia Vida para minha Vida Alma para minha Alma,amados irmãos em Cristo,eu achava impossivel voltar a agradar a Deus,Viver focando o céu,decidir pela Santidade,progredir nas moradas interior do meu coração,eu tão limitada,jovem a todo vapor,entrei nesse relacionamento com 23 para 24 anos,hoje estou com 28,eu garanto a vcs bastou um sacerdote ter corajem de propor algo diferente e ao mesmo tempo antigo na igreja,a Castidade,esta santa e purissima virtude,confesso que levei um susto,este sacerdote tem um site e eu já vinha acompanhado alguns meses,pensei este vai me orientar de forma coerente,é bom lembrar que já tenho um filho de 4 anos,o pai do meu filho tem 38 anos e esta com proscesso de nulidade em andamento,antes mesmo de falar com o padre,a questão que o padre nos propos a alternativa de ao menos tentar e se esforçar em viver a Santidade de vida e a Castidade,pediu pra conversar com pai do meu filho,depois conversou com nós dois,e se colocou a disosição para nos acompanhar...eu fiquei surpresa,feliz e ao mesmo tempo temerosa,pois não sabia como seria o desenrolorar de tudo isso,então eu prescisava amadurecer espiritualmente,crescer no verdadeiro Amor,isso tudo o padre tem me ensinado no seu site e nas confissões e eu tenho buscado,até então rezamos,participavamos da missa,porém agora intensificamos nossa oraçao,vamos ha missa diaria sempre que possivel as 6horas da manha, antes de nossos afazeres ,durante o caminho rezamos o terço,meditamos a palavra de Deus nos momentos mais propicio,temos um momento com Deus antes de durmir,enfim aquilo que parecia impossivel e não realista em nossa vida,com a Graça e pela misericordia de Deus estamos vivendo hoje na pratica a castidade,dormimos em quarto separados,vivemos como irmão,entemos que é mais s e bonito um filho ver o empenho,esforço em agradar,consolar e Adorar a Deus de seus pais,filho vc é um fruto lindo que nasceu do nosso relacionamento,mas papai e mamae não são marido e mulher,mas irmãos em Cristo,estamos juntos rumo ao céu,pecadores que vivem nesse mundo,que erram,que tem pecados,ficam nervosos,tem impaciencia,agem errados,somos gulosos etc e tal,mas que de verdade querem agradar a Deus de verdade queremos o céu,nos arrependemos das nossas impaciencias e tudo o mais de coração,pedimos desculpas,perdão,reconhecemos nossos erros diante dos irmãos ,do filho,é uma luta, mas o nosso Deus fez jorrar agua da pedra,multiplicou os peixes e paes,nós somos a pedra,que Cristo esta trabalhando,dela está nascendo,nasce e nasce,jorra a agua de Cristo a cada dia em nós e de nossa parte bastou oferecermos o peixe e o pão da nossa decisão,da nossa vontade,de nossa parte,coube tentar,estamos nos esforçando e acreditando a cada dia por hoje o Senhor nos sustentara....obrigado é possivel,é natural,infelismente nossa sociedade e muitos da propria igreja nos faz desesperançosos e achar que a proposta de jesus,pesada de mais,falta muita formação para os que vão se casar,noivos,namorados,solteiros e para os casados e crianças,falta também nos levar a uma experiencia pessoal com Cristo só de forma espiritual entederemos as coisas espirituais,sem oração,confiança em Deus,sem fé,sem entrega,participação ativa rumo ao céu,uma decisão,dar passos na ´fé ai sim é impossivel.....abraços que Deus nos proteja.


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Top Definition
That bitch has ta tas off the chain fo sho
by Bean Flickers December 05, 2002
Trending Now
large tits on a womans chest...also a nickname...GOD DAMN YOU ike!
TATAS!!!-yells across room
by meee May 11, 2004
breasts, boobs, fun bags.
Jude's ta tas are absolutely perfect. I dream about them nightly.
by Bill Gray March 09, 2005
n the breasts, col; a slang term used to define the female mammary glands, often preceded with the term "bodacious" to indicate the breasts are in an excellent physical state, that is to say pleasant to the eye of the beholder, the correct collective noun of the tata is a "set"
viz she had a bodacious set of tatas, a great set of funbags, or simply tits to die for, (see Kate Richie) strictly speaking a bodacious set of tatas can never be achieved un-naturally, surgical enhancement ruins a set of tatas and therefore it is incorrect to use this definition in this circumstance, SEE Frankentits
by Bosombuddy June 01, 2006
Tits, usually of the big and bodacious variety. If they're pert, they're ta-tas.
Kerry Lynn has not only a great face, but bodacious ta-tas to boot.
by Sean Brian Kirby October 07, 2005

subset: commoncrawl


text:
6 Mistranslations That Changed The World
#3. The Word That Dropped the Atom Bomb
By July 1945, the Allies were ready to put the kibosh on the war in Japan. So they issued the Potsdam Declaration, demanding the unconditional surrender of Japan and threatening "utter destruction." Then the Allies waited like a sixth-grader waiting for his first "Do you like me?" response.
Aw, isn't that so sweet?
Unsurprisingly, Japanese reporters were pretty eager to find out what the official government response was going to be, and consequently they bugged Japanese Premier Kantaro Suzuki nonstop for a statement. Eventually, Suzuki caved in, called a news conference and said the equivalent of, "No comment. We're still thinking about it." The reporters had to go back unsatisfied, the Japanese government eventually came to a decision and told the U.S., and everything worked out fine.
Yep, everything's fine!
As you may have guessed, that isn't what happened, and it's all because Suzuki used the word "mokusatsu" as his "no comment" response. The problem is, "mokusatsu" can also mean "we're ignoring it in contempt," and that translation was what was relayed back to the American government. After the steam stopped coming out of Harry Truman's ears, the U.S. revealed the real reason it issued the Potsdam Declaration by dropping the atom bomb on Hiroshima 10 days after Suzuki's comment, and then again on Nagasaki three days later.
Via Wikimedia Commons
America doesn't sweat the details.
It's worth noting that if Suzuki had just fully explained himself and said, "Let me get back with you on that," none of this would have happened. But whether it's a politician's poor word choice or a translator's failure to read down to the alternate definitions of a word, the only translation the Americans got was, "Japan has just issued the most ill-advised 'Bring it on' ever made."
#2. Killer Medical Mistranslations
As part of our ongoing attempt to make you terrified of the people who want to save your life, we now turn our attention to the wacky world of medicine. The deal here is that in places with high ethnic diversity -- like, say, New York -- oftentimes the doctors don't speak the same language as their patients, and consequently they have to employ translators. Unfortunately, these translators are mostly just translators, not medical professionals, and that becomes a problem when they have to make snap judgments. One particularly dramatic example of the problem occurred when a young Hispanic man collapsed after complaining of feeling nauseated, or "intoxicado." The translator took this to mean "intoxicated" and assumed the guy was shitfaced, and consequently he was treated for an alcohol and drug overdose.
"You're sure he said his lungs are filled with penises?"
But it turned out that his nausea was actually due to a blood clot in his brain, which resulted in quadriplegia. If the translator had bothered to clarify that one ambiguous word, the doctors would have had more time to save the guy. But hey, how are American hospitals supposed to know what the word for "stomachache" is in an obscure language like Spanish, which is spoken only by 35 million U.S. residents?
Not all medical mistranslation mishaps happen in the emergency room, though -- in fact, the vast majority occur in pharmacies. Back in 2009, a whole bunch of states passed laws requiring pharmacies to provide translations of their prescriptions to people who need them. Since pharmacies, like most other businesses, are apparently run by cheap bastards, a whole lot of them just used computer programs to do the translations -- a study in the Bronx found that only three percent of pharmacies use professional translators.
"Your what are on fire? I'm sorry sir I don't know what pantalones are."
That same study tested the translation programs used by pharmacies and found that over half of the prescriptions produced contained serious errors. And these errors pop up on real prescriptions all the time: "By mouth" is changed to "by little," "two times" is changed to "two kiss," and in one spectacularly disquieting case, the instructions for blood pressure medicine caused a man to take it 11 times a day instead of once because "once" in Spanish is "11."
"Just take 416 of these and call me in 72 years."
One doctor studied the transcripts of 13 pediatric visits of Spanish-speaking patients, six of which involved official professional translators and seven of which involved "ad hoc" interpreters such as family members and nurses. Hope you're sitting down for the results:
The official interpreters made 231 errors; 53 percent of them were judged to have the potential to cause clinical problems. The ad hoc interpreters made 165 errors, and 77 percent of them were potentially dangerous.
The lesson here? If you speak only Spanish, for the love of God don't get sick.
#1. GAN4 Fucks Up China
You know Chinglish? The terribly-translated-from-Chinese-to-English signs that the Internet loves? Well, a good half of them can trace their origins to one character, GAN4:
This asshole.
To explain what went wrong here, we're going to have to back up and give you a quick crash course in Mandarin. As you may know, Mandarin Chinese is a ridiculously complicated language, with different characters for each and every word in the traditional written form. It also has a whole lot of homophones -- words that sound similar but have different meanings. There's even a poem called "Lion-Eating Poet" made up of nothing but 92 variations on the syllable "shi." But since this is all absurdly hard to learn, back in the mid-20th century an alternative called Pinyin was developed that simplified the written form by clumping together similar-sounding words into the same character.
Via Wikimedia commons
You see? Simple!
So what does that have to do with GAN4? Well, as you may have guessed, GAN4 isn't pronounced "ganfor" but is rather one of several Mandarin words represented by the sound "gan," and in Pinyin, all the GANs correspond to a single character. Which wouldn't be such a big deal, except GAN1 means "dry" and is commonly used in grocery stores, while GAN4 means "fuck." You can guess how that plays out:
Via languagelog
Plenty more can be found with a simple GIS search. The most plausible explanation here is that store owners are using a shitty translation program that automatically converts any GAN into "fuck," which seems like a pretty serious oversight to us -- it would be like if an English-to-Chinese converter constantly translated "runs" as the Chinese equivalent of "diarrhea," regardless of context.
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text:
It wasn't unlike 74-year-old Willie Lenwood Jones to help those in need, but this time unfortunately it cost him his life.
The icy roads caused a car to slip off of Bill Pedigo Rd. in Metcalfe County Friday morning.
"He was just a good samaritan, he really was. If he saw you on the side of the road he would help you out," says his son, Shawn Jones.
That's exactly what Jones, or Pete as everyone called him was needed for around 11:30 Friday morning.
A witness says the road was a sheet of ice when a mail truck slipped of the side.
The witness says she was not surprised when Pete drove over this hill with a tractor to pull the mailman out.
"He would do anything for you, take the shirt of his back to give it to you whatever you needed he was always there to help out," Pete's daughter, Michelle Blakey says.
But road conditions were terrible, and when a wrecker from the Edmonton Marathon came to help, police say Pete and the mailman were in the road.
The mailman moved out of the road, but Pete slipped, and the wrecker couldn't stop.
His son and daughter say they aren't surprised by their father's actions, but by the outcome of his good deed.
"I'm truly in shock and I hope the shock will wear off soon," Michelle says.
"You wonder why it happened. Here he was trying to help someone and of course he ends up getting hurt," says Shawn.
The Metcalfe County coroner pronounced Willie Lenwood "Pete" Jones dead at the scene of the accident.
And now, a family is left without their loved one.
"Dad was a great man and I'm going to miss him," Michelle says.
"You can tell by the community outcry just how great of a person he truly was," Shawn says.
Funeral arrangements have been set for Jones.
The visitation will be at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Edmonton on Tuesday.
The funeral will be Wednesday at the same location.
Follow the link for more information:


text:
And by "screw" I mean "forcibly reassign a subdomain," which is basically disemboweling a blogger's very soul because it changes his web address and renames him. Worse than the subdomain swap, however, is how childishly Tumblr handled it.
With some choice missteps from Tumblr Director of Operations Meaghan O'Connell (pictured above via), the usually user-friendly microblog platform is facing user insurrection. Here's how it went down:
- Pitchfork magazine decides it would like to own pitchfork.tumblr.com. Though the domain is already owned, it has not been active since November. Here's Pitchfork's explanation of what happened next:
Pitchfork emailed Tumblr the other day to ask how we would go about securing those URLs to use them for our publication. [...] Within 10 minutes, a tumblr representative responded: "Hi, Megan. Those URLs are now free. Please let me know if there's anything else I can help you with. Thanks for using Tumblr!"
- Meaghan celebrates Pitchfork's first post with a tweet.
- The person who ran the original pitchfork.tumblr.com discovers that he has been moved to pitchfork1.tumblr.com, and says the handful of posts he wrote are gone. He writes about it on a separate Tumblr account, where he goes by Tumbledore. The post receives 580 reblogs and "likes," which is the Tumblr equivalent of a Million Man March.
- The shitshow begins. Meaghan accuses Tumbledore of lying. She does line-by-line refutation of his claims.
Actually when Tumblr released the domain to Pitchfork Media, pitchfork.tumblr.com was completely dormant and empty. There were not "several posts," on that account, there were zero.
As per our policy, we emailed this account's address to inquire about the dormant account. After you failed to respond for 72 hours, we released the domain.
- Tumbledore accuses Meaghan of "libel" and posts an email correspondence with Tumblr Support that says "We didn't notify you."
- Pitchfork abandons ship, subtly laying the blame with Tumblr. In a post entitled "Dear Tumblr community," Pitchfork founder Ryan Schreiber says Tumblr handed over the subdomain in "10 minutes" (not 72+ hours) and posts a screenshot of Tumbledore's original pitchfork.tumblr.com posts. If we believe Schreiber, then Tumbledore is telling the truth and Meaghan is not."We'll be happy to surrender the URL and find a home elsewhere if the original register of the account wishes."
- Hipster underclass uprising: Tumblr's leadership is "full of shit" and "out to make a buck." Meaghan is "arrogant and rude." The final blow: Hipster Runoff says Tumblr is acting "like MySpace and Blogger." In other words: Corporate.
- Meaghan psychoanalyzes her detractors' "sense of loss" in a comment to The Rumpus. She alludes to "false information" but doesn't clarify who was wrong and when.
We asked Meaghan about Pitchforkgate's factual discrepancies, and she says she'll respond later, once she checks in with Tumblr. Pitchfork.tumblr.com currently remains in Pitchfork magazine's possession.


text:
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Use only a pure sine inverter, unless you only want to power a couple of lights. There's a lot of stuff that will not run with modified sine waves.
Get a lot of panels... More than I have. Get twice as much as you think you need. Charging is slow.
Incorporate wind. I can't speak from experience but I've read that they cost more for good reason. A wind turbine may be my next addition.
Use the heaviest wire you can, with the shortest possible run. It seems that every inch of extra wire = power loss.
True, but this is most critical in the high current parts of the system. My solar panels came with very thin wire, and I replaced the long run into the charge controller with 10 gauge speaker wire. For my battery bank I connected the batteries together with the heaviest gauge (lower number) battery wires I could buy at Walmart, and did the same to connect the batteries to the big inverter.
I figure that the watts should equal the amp hours, like in Bill's setup...
Another thing: I've never seen prices as low as right now on solar panels.Check out sunelec.com, where I bought most of mine.You can buy a pallet (22) of 280 watt panels for .89/watt. They say they'll break it up, but recommend buying an entire pallet and sharing with friends. I'm considering trying to put something like that together, if there is any interest around here. I'd want three for myself, leaving 19 for anybody else who was interested in a deal like this.
Started by jc
Equipment and Gear
Started by Bill Quick
Using Energy from the Sun
Started by TsMom
Using Energy from the Sun
Started by satantroll
Signs of Doom
Started by AuricTech
Using Energy from the Sun


text:
When I first saw
Pommes Frites I assumed the
es would be pronounced, but it mostly seems like speakers say:
pohm freet
Rather than my initial assumption of something like:
pohm-ez freet-z
Why are the
es on both words almost not pronounced?
When I first saw
Rather than my initial assumption of something like:
Why are the
Regional short forms are
the ~es is often emphasized. For entertainment purposes, you might google 'Imbißdeutsch at youtube', where you find a funny video about North German slang.


text:
How to Install OSQA Q and A application in Apache Server. I have mod_python installed but still I am not able to run OSQA. I could not find the easy instruction to install it.
OSQA is a Django application, so first you will need to install Django. You may also need to install other dependencies of the project. (I tried it and had to install html5lib, for example) Also, I would strongly recommend uninstalling mod_python (unless you really need it for something else) and installing mod_wsgi instead, since as far as I know mod_python is deprecated and on its way to being completely unmaintained.
Once you have mod_wsgi installed and enabled in the Apache configuration, you'll need to use the


text:
First, a bit of notation. If we have an arithmetic progression $a, a+k, a+2k, \ldots, a+(n-1)k$ we will call $k$ the distance, and $n$ the length.
While trying to find an example for a paper I'm writing in ring theory, I was led to ask the question: Is there a sequence of 0's and 1's for which if there is an arithmetic progression in the sequence which is constantly 0 (or 1), is there a bound for the length in terms of the distance?
I found that the answer is yes, and the Thue-Morse sequence works. Modifying the ideas of Corollary 2 in "Thue-Morse at multiples of an integer" (available here), we see that the length of a constant arithmetic progression on the Thue-Morse sequence of distance $k$ is bounded by $32k^3$.
So, here are my questions for you experts.
(1) Is there an easier sequence where one can prove this is true (possibly with citation in the literature)?
(2) If not, is there a straightforward citation for this fact for the Thue-Morse sequence? (The reference I gave above works for arithmetic progressions which start near the front of the sequence. But to get an arbitrary arithmetic progression, you need to increase the bound given in the paper a little, and also give a supplementary argument.)


text:
African American Studies
Librarian for African American Studies
Timothy Johnson
Librarian for Africana Studies, Anthropology and Food Studies
New York University
Bobst Library, Mezzanine
70 Washington Square So.
New York, NY 10012
Phone: (212) 998-2436
E-mail: email@example.com
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- African-American Literature
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- English and American Literature
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- Finding 18th- and 19th-Century Periodical Articles and Literature
- Anthropology, Ethnic, and Cultural Studies
- More related Research and Subject Guides
Research Assistance
How to Find Books in BobCat by Subject
BobCat can be searched for books and other materials in African American Studies with a subject search (s= ). Many subject headings in this field have the pattern: s= Afro-Americans--[Place name] --Subdivision--[Time period]. Place names can be names of countries, states, regions, or cities.
- s= Afro-Americans--Virginia--History--19th century
- s= Afro-Americans--Civil rights
Examples of other subdivisions: education, economic conditions, intellectual life, race identity, and social conditions. Other subject headings have the pattern s= Afro-American [...] -- [Place name]--[Time period].
- s= Afro-American families--Florida--History-- 20th century
- s= Afro-American actors
Other examples: Afro-American abolitionists, artists, authors, children, mass media, and veterans.
The third type of subject heading used for materials in this field is: s= Afro-Americans in ... (e.g., art, literature, mass media). For more information please consult the Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH). Copies of LCSH are available in all reference centers and the catalog area in the atrium.
- s= Afro-Americans--Virginia--History--19th century
Tutorials and Other Research Assistance
- NYU Libraries Tutorial: How to Find a Book
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- Locating Videos in Bobst Library
- Bibliographic and Footnote Style Guide
- Contact a Subject Specialist
The Harvard Guide to African-American History.
Call no.: REF1 E185.H326 2001 (1st floor)
The Harvard Guide to African-American History is a good place to start for research on all aspects African-American history and culture. It lists comprehensive bibliographies (lists of books, journal articles and other sources) on practically every aspect of African-American history and culture arranged chronologically by subject from 1492-1999. Some of the sources listed are available in the Bobst library. Coverage includes reference works, Internet resources, manuscript collections, primary sources on microform, newspapers and selected periodicals, government documents, oral history, art, music, photography, film and television.
Internet Links
Scholarly Internet Resources on African-American Life
- Davis, Nathaniel. Afro-American References: An Annotated Bibliography of Selected Resources, compiled and ed. by Nathaniel Davis. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1985.
Bobst Ref1 Z1361.N39D37 1985
- Includes author, title, and subject indexes.
- De Lerma, Dominique-Rene. Bibliography of Black Music. Foreword by Jessie Carney Smith. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1981-1984. 4 vols.
Bobst MusicRef ML128.B6D346 1981
- Gray, John. Blacks in Film and Television: A Pan-African Bibliography of Films, Filmmakers, and Performers. New York: Greenwood Press, c1990.
Bobst Ref1 Z5784.M9G72 1990
- Miller, Elizabeth W. The Negro in America: A Bibliography. 2nd ed., rev. and enl., compiled by Mary L. Fisher. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1970.
Bobst Ref1 Z1361.N39M5 1970
- Selectively annotated bibliography on African American history, culture, and politics in 20 chapters. Includes author index.
- Newman, Richard. Black Access: A Bibliography of Afro-American Bibliographies. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, c1984.
Bobst Ref1 Z1361.N39N578 1984
- Work, Monroe Nathan. A Bibliography of the Negro in Africa and America. NY: Octagon Books, 1965, [c1928].
Bobst Ref1 Z1361.N39W9 1965
- Lists over 17,000 books, pamphlets, and periodical articles. Covers mainly English publications. Pt. 1 relates to Africa; pt. 2 deals with America. Each part is subdivided by various topics. Includes index. Covers over 3,000 bibliographies. Includes chronological and subject indexes.
Research & Resource Guides
- The African-American Yellow Pages: A Comprehensive Resource Guide and Directory, ed. by Stanton F. Biddle. New York: H. Holt, 1996.
Bobst Ref1 E185.A2575 1996
- National directory of businesses, organizations, historic sites, publications, services, etc. that are of particular interest to African American studies. Under each of the 72 alphabetically organized categories, entries are listed by state, city, and name of organization. Includes subject and name indexes.
- Library of Congress. The African-American Mosaic: A Library of Congress Resource Guide for the Study of Black History and Culture, ed. by Debra Newman Ham; with contributions by Beverly Brannan et al. Washington: Library of Congress ; for sale by the Supt. of Docs., U.S. G.P.O., 1993.
Bobst Ref 1 Z1361.N39L47 1993
Bobst Z1361.N39L47 1993
- Discusses Library of Congress collections that relate to African American history and culture. Chronological arrangement. Includes index.
- Reference Library of Black America, ed. by Kenneth Estell. Detroit, MI: Gale Research ; distributed by Afro-American Press, c1994. 5 vols.
Bobst Ref1 E185.R435 1994
- Based upon the 6th ed. of The African-American Almanac which was first published as The Negro Almanac in 1967. 27 subject chapters, many of which open with an essay, followed by biographic profiles of selected individuals. Includes index.
Encyclopedias & Dictionaries
- Dictionary of Afro-American Slavery, ed. by Randall M. Miller and John David Smith. New York: Greenwood Press, 1988.
Bobst Ref1 E441.D53 1988
- Alphabetically arranged entries with bibliographical references. Includes index.
- Encyclopedia of African-American Civil Rights: From Emancipation to the Present, ed. by Charles D. Lowery and John F. Marszalek; foreword by David J. Garrow. New York: Greenwood Press, 1992.
Bobst Ref1 E185.61.E54 1992 Bobst E185.61.E54 1992
- Over 800 articles on individuals, organizations, events, and court cases with an emphasis on the period since emancipation. Alphabetically organized. Includes index.
- Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History, ed. by Jack Salman, David Lionel Smith, Cornel West. New York: Macmillan Library Reference USA; Simon & Schuster Macmillan; Simon & Schuster and Prentice Hall, c1996. 5 vols.
Bobst Ref1 E185.E54 1995
- Approximately two-thirds of the 2,200 entries are of biographical nature. The remaining entries are devoted to events, historical eras, legal cases, areas of cultural achievements, professions, sports, places and states. Arranged alphabetically. Extensive statistical appendix. Includes index.
- Encyclopedia of African American Religion, ed. by Larry G. Murphy, J. Gordon Melton, Gary L. Ward. New York: Garland, 1993.
Bobst Ref1 BR563.N4E53 1993
- Biographical entries, entries on each of the African American denominations and religious groups and on prominent religious organizations. Includes 3 introductory essays, a chronology of African American religion, a directory of African American churches, and an index.
- The Negro Almanac: A Reference Work on the African American, compiled and ed. by Harry A. Ploski and James Williams. 5th ed. Detroit: Gale Research, c1989.
Bobst Ref1 E185.N385 1989
- 35 chapters combining historical narrative, biographical sketches, as well as statistical tables and graphs. Focuses on the current situation of African Americans. Includes index.
- Puckett, Newbell Niles. Black Names in America: Origins & Usage, ed. by Muray Heller. MA: G.K. Hall, 1975.
Bobst Ref1 E185.89.N3P82
- Organized chronologically.
- Abajian, James. Blacks in Selected Newspapers, Censuses and Other Sources: An Index to Names and Subjects. Boston: G.K. Hall, 1977. 3 vols.
Bobst Ref1 Z1361.N39A28x
- Alphabetically arranged name and subject index.
- Ethnic NewsWatch.
Bobst Library Network
- Ethnic NewsWatch is a multicultural database containing articles published by the ethnic, minority and native presses in America. The database deals with issues of local, national and global importance to these groups. English/Spanish search option available.
- The Kaiser Index to Black Resources, 1948-1986: From the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture of the New York Public Library. Brooklyn, NY: Carlson, 1992. 5 vols.
Bobst Ref1 Z1361.N39K34 1992
- A bibliographic guide to periodical literature, articles and ephemera.
- Newman, Richard. Black Index: Afro-Americans in Selected Periodicals, 1907-1949. New York: Garland, 1981.
Bobst Ref1 Z1361.N39N58
- Author and subject guide to over 1,000 articles in more than 350 periodicals published in the U.S., Canada, and Great Britain during the first half of the 20th century.
- Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. Index to the Schomburg Clipping File. Cambridge: Chadwyck-Healey, c1986.
Bobst Ref1 Z1361.N39S373 1986
Bobst Ref6 Z1361.N39S373 1986
- Alphabetically arranged name and subject index. Includes microfiche serial numbers. Focuses on African Americans, but covers also to a limited extent other parts of the African Diaspora and Africa. Includes indexes.
- Stevenson, Rosemary M. Index to Afro-American Reference Resources. New York: Greenwood Press, 1988.
Bobst Ref1 Z1361.N39S77 1988
Bobst Z1361.N39S77 1988
- Black Americans: A Statistical Sourcebook. Boulder, CO: Numbers & Concepts, 1990.
Bobst Ref6 E185.86.B52 1990
- Demographics and characteristics of the population; vital statistics and health; education; government, elections, and public opinion; crime, law enforcement, and corrections; labor force, employment, and unemployment; earnings, income, poverty, and wealth; special topics. Includes index.
- United States. Bureau of the Census. Negro Population in the United States, 1790-1915. New York: Arno, 1968.
Bobst Ref6 HA205.A33 1968
- Growth and geographic distribution, 1790-1910; migratory displacement and segregation; physical characteristics; vital statistics; educational and social statistics; economic statistics; general tables.
See also: Federal depository resources collection in Ref6.
- Black Americans: A Statistical Sourcebook. Boulder, CO: Numbers & Concepts, 1990.
- African American Women: A Biographical Dictionary, ed. by Dorothy C. Salem. New York: Garland, 1993.
Bobst Ref1 E185.96A45 1993
- Nearly 300 summaries and analytical descriptions of individual African American women, their significance and their works. The appendix includes entries by career category and an index.
- Brignano, Russell C., Black Americans in Autobiography: An Annotated Bibliography of Autobiographies and Autobiographical Books Written since the Civil War. Rev. and expanded ed. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1984.
Bobst Ref1 Z1361.N39B67 1984
- Includes several indexes.
- Black Americans in Congress, ed. by Mark R. Salser. Portland, OR: National Book Co., c1991.
Bobst Ref6 E185.96.B524 1991
- Entries on 65 African American congressmen which are organized alphabetically under congress.
- Black Biography, 1790-1950: A Cumulative Index, ed. by Randall K. Burkett, Nancy Hall Burkett, Henry Louis Gates, Jr. Alexandria: Chadwyck-Healey, 1990. 3 vols.
Bobst Ref1 Z1361.N39B52 1990
- Index to the microfiche set, Black Biographical Dictionaries, which Bobst Library has in microform (MF 759).
- Bearden, Romare and Harry Henderson. A History of African- American Artists: From 1792 to the Present. New York: Pantheon, c1993.
Bobst Ref1 N6538.N5B38 1993
- Essays on the most prominent African American artists from 1792 to the present, divided into 6 periods. Includes index.
- Black Americans Information Directory. Detroit: Gale Research, c1990- . Biennial.
Bobst Ref1 E185.5.B513 Latest ed. only
- Guide to about 5,300 agencies, organizations, institutions, programs, and publications concerned with African American life and culture. Divided into 18 subject categories. Includes name and subject indexes.
- Black Women in America: An Historical Encyclopedia, ed. by Darlene Clark Hine; associate editors, Elsa Barkely Brown, Rosalyn Terborg-Penn. Brooklyn, NY: Carlson, 1993. 2 vols.
Bobst Ref1 E185.86.B542 1993
- Consists of 641 biographical entries on individual African American women, as well as 163 entries that are devoted to general topics and organizations. Includes a chronology of African American women, a classified list of biographical entries, and an index.
- D'Emilio, John. The Civil Rights Struggle: Leaders in Profile. New York: Facts on file, c1979.
Bobst Ref1 E185.96.D38
- Dictionary of American Negro Biography, ed. by Rayford W. Logan and Michael R. Winston. NY: Norton, c1982.
Bobst Ref1 E185.96.D53 1982
- Comprehensive dictionary of African American biography, excluding living persons.
- In Black and White: A Guide to Magazine Articles, Newspaper Articles, and Books Concerning more than 15,000 Black Individuals and Groups, ed. by Mary Mace Spradling. Detroit, MI: Gale Research Co., c1980- . 2 vols.
Bobst Ref1 Z1361.N39S655
- Biographical and bibliographical information on African American individuals and groups, arranged alphabetically. Includes occupation index.
- Joyce, Donald Franklin. Blacks in the Humanities, 1750-1984: A Selected Annotated Bibliography. New York: Greenwood Press, 1986.
Bobst Ref1 Z1361.N39J69 1986
- Organized into 12 chapters. Includes subject and author-title indexes.
- Notable Black American Women, ed. by Jessie Carney Smith. Detroit, MI: Gale Research, c1992.
Bobst Ref1 E185.96.N68 1992
- Approximately 500 entries which are arranged alphabetically by surname. Includes list by area of endeavor, as well as names, places, and events indexes.
- Who's Who among African Americans. 9th ed. Detroit, MI: Gale Research, c1996- . Biennial.
Bobst Ref1 E185.96.W52
- Guide to more than 20,000 prominent African Americans, arranged alphabetically. Includes geographic and occupation index. Continues Who's Who among Black Americans.
- Asante, Molefi K., Mark T. Mattson. The Historical and Cultural Atlas of African Americans. New York: Macmillan, c1991.
Bobst Ref1 E185.A8 1991
- Detailed maps and charts of information about events in African American history and culture which are integrated into narrative segments. Includes index.
- Cowan, Thomas Dale and Richard Newman. Timelines of African- American History: 500 Years of Black Achievement. New York: Berkeley, 1994.
Bobst Ref1 E185.C86 1994
Bobst E185.C86 1994
- Dates of major events in African American history from the 15th century to the present are highlighted. The events are divided into subject categories. Includes index.
- Grossman, Mark. The ABC-CLIO Companion to the Civil Rights Movement. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 1993.
Bobst Ref6 E185.61.G895 1993
- Entries are arranged in alphabetical order. Includes chronology, bibliography, and index.
- Harley, Sharon. The Timetables of African-American History: A Chronology of the Most Important People and Events in African- American History. New York: Simon & Schuster, c1995.
Bobst Ref1 E185.H295 1995
- Chronicle of significant events, figures, and movements in the African American experience from 1492 -1992 in the following categories: general history; education; laws and legal actions; religion; literature; publication and the African American press; the arts; science, technology, and medicine; sports. Includes index.
- Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, c1991.
Bobst Ref1 E185.H64 1991
- Subdivided into 11 eras, this reference book contains biographical information on representative African Americans, legislation, significant events, court decisions, programs, manifestos, and data on economic, political, social and educational events. Includes index.
- Murray, Paul T. The Civil Rights Movement: References and Resources. New York: Macmillan, c.1993.
Bobst Ref1 Z1361.N39M93 1993
- General works; collected works; states; civil rights organizations; the Federal Government; participants in the movement; phases of the movement; other topics. Includes author and subject indexes.
- Smith, Dwight L. Afro-American History: a Bibliography. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 1974- . 2 vols.
Bobst Ref1 Z1361.N39S56
- Annotated bibliography of periodical articles. Entries are arranged by chronological periods and thereunder by subject. Includes author and subject indexes.