Ender's Shadow

Well, here's a book I didn't think I'd end up saying anything about on here because it's not Catholic, not written by a Catholic, written a decade ago, and a mainstream sci-fi novel, but it surprised me. Ender's Shadow is a companion novel by Orson Scott Card to his best-selling and widely acclaimed Ender's Game, that is to say it takes place at the same time. Let me start by saying Ender's Game is brilliant and I highly recommend it but while reading it I didn't get smacked in the proverbial face by the religious imagery and references like I did with Ender's Shadow. I love finding these kinds of things in unexpected places (like in science fiction novels) rather than in books that are obviously about religious topics or take place in a real time in history where we have a reference point for what is happening with the Church and the world.

As I said before, Ender's Shadow occurs at the same time as the events in Ender's Game and you could read either one first. Ender is the title character in Game and his "shadow" is a very brilliant and very young boy named Bean. Both books take place in the future after a failed invasion by an alien species. Earth is preparing for a second invasion by rounding up all the world's best young minds to train them to fight and lead the forthcoming battle.

It's in this setting that young Bean is cast as a destitute toddler in the seedy streets of Rotterdam. Without giving too much away he is eventually discovered and recruited by none other than a Catholic nun, Sister Carlotta. And we have a very positive impression of her! She exudes compassion, love, and concern. No knuckle rapping with rulers at all! Here's my favorite exchange from her (Carlotta speaks first):

"Do you know why Satan is so angry all the time? Because whenever he works a particularly clever bit of mischief, God uses it to serve his own righteous purposes." 

"So God uses wicked people as his tools." 

"God gives us the freedom to do great evil, if we choose. Then he uses his own freedom to create goodness out of that evil, for that is what he chooses."

"So in the long run, God always wins."

"Yes." 

"In the short run, though, it can be uncomfortable." 

Throughout the book are subtle (and not so subtle) moral questions that arise, some of which include cloning, the rights of parents, the role of the state, limiting the number of children a family can have, war, abortion, the good of the few versus the good of the many, and whether we should be morally concerned about the possible eradication of an alien species.

Card even sprinkles Scripture throughout the book. Not always quoting it, but referring to it and to the stories in it. But my favorite instance is when Bean is about to make a very tough and horrible decision. He paraphrases 2 Samuel 19:1 which reads, "My son Absalom! My son, my son Absalom! If only I had died instead of you, Absalom, my son, my son!" (NAB). There's a lot of good context there, too, so don't read too much of that Bible passage if you want to avoid some spoilers in Ender's Shadow.


Card himself is not Catholic (he is a practicing Mormon), but the content in this novel is great. I love the story and the moral questions and I applaud the use of Scripture and the characterization of a Catholic nun who is actually Christ-like. Nowadays we see all to often the Church being the scapegoat for evil, a wolf in sheep's clothing. It goes to show that sometimes you find God in the most unexpected places.

Update: Legal Religious Discrimination

Here's an update on an earlier post.

From the Associated Press:

PORTLAND, Ore. – An Oregon legislative leader plans to introduce a bill to repeal a 1923 state law that bans teachers from wearing religious garb.

House Speaker Dave Hunt, D-Gladstone, said he will push to "allow teachers to have the same religious free exercise rights as every other Oregonian" when legislators meet in February.

Labor Commissioner Brad Avakian and state schools Superintendent Susan Castillo, who recently sent letters to every lawmaker asking them to drop the ban, also support such a proposal.

The Legislature passed a law this year allowing all workers except teachers to wear religious dress at work in most instances. Its passage led to questions about why the law remains on the books, given that Oregon is one of only three states with such a ban.

The law, which was aimed at keeping Catholics out of public schools, has not been tested in court since the Eugene School District won a 1986 Oregon Supreme Court case that upheld its firing of a Sikh teacher for wearing a turban.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Oregon, which has long supported the ban, said the Legislature should not end it without enacting additional protections for Oregon students. The Oregon Education Association has not taken a position on the issue, a spokeswoman said.

Legal Religious Discrimination

According to this article from the Associated Press, Oregon has a law that forbids public school teachers from wearing religious clothing. A law that was backed by the Ku Klux Klan to keep Catholics out of schools.

Oregon's law, originally aimed at priest collars and nun habits, survived a legal challenge in the 1980s by a Sikh convert who wanted to wear her turban in the classroom and was recently upheld by the state's Legislature.

Now, Oregon is supposed to be all liberal and progressive, but apparently not when it comes to the religious. Oh, that's right, progressive means getting rid of that old out-dated belief in God. Nonetheless, Gov. Kulongoski did sign the Workplace Religious Freedom Act in July that allows workers to wear religious clothing on the job. So what gives? Well, bet you can guess who is behind this:

the did law did not change the ban for teachers enacted in the 1920s, after that portion was opposed by the Oregon chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union on the grounds that impressionable children should not feel indoctrinated by their teachers.

Congratulations, ACLU, you agree with the KKK! Apparently the ACLU is only interested in protecting the civil liberties of certain Americans in this case, namely the irreligious. And what liberty is that, exactly? The liberty to not look at the way someone dresses?

Mona Elgindy, a Muslim law student at Loyola University in Chicago (A Jesuit Catholic school) and a former teacher, wrote a paper on the issue of religious clothing laws. She points out that it's not the students or parents that invoke the laws but that "the recent legal history has been created by teachers trying to keep their jobs after administrators confronted them."

Rajdeep Singh Jolly, legal director for the Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund, has asked the Justice Department to investigate. He suggests "the best way to deal with any problem involving religion in classrooms is to discipline teachers if they try to proselytize students or advocate favoring a particular religion, not for the way they dress."

"I think it's perfectly reasonable to expect that teachers will not talk about their religion in the classroom," Jolly said.

But when it comes to a Sikh turban or other clothing, he asked: "Why should I have to surrender something that is such an integral part of my life in order to pursue a career? It just doesn't make sense."

But that's exactly what proponents of these laws want the religious to do - give up their religious beliefs for secularism.

Catholic Church's Woes In Asia

Looks like Asia is actually having similar issues as America. Most notably inter-faith marriages, the secularization of society, fewer children, and materialistic tendencies.

MANILA (AFP) – Mixed marriages, dwindling entrants to the priesthood and violence against its members are among problems facing the Catholic church in Asia, bishops said at a conference here Saturday.

Inter-religious marriages have helped the number of Catholics to fall even further, Philippine Archbishop Orlando Quevedo told a meeting of the Federation of Asian Bishops Conferences (FABC) being held Manila this weekend.

Catholics who marry outside the church in countries where they were part of a minority often converted to their spouse's religion, said Quevedo, secretary-general of the FABC.

Many bishops also said there was difficulty attracting young men to the priesthood because of poverty and the secularisation of society.

Poverty meant that many parents found it "a big sacrifice to give up their young son" to a seminary, Pakistani Archbishop John Saldanha said.

"More girls are joining the convents now than the boys entering the seminaries," he added.

"The number of vocations is going down. The Christian families have fewer children and the reason is secularisation of the society," Cardinal Oswald Gracias of India said.

Hong Kong Bishop John Tong said "materialistic tendencies" were also an obstacle, but remarked that there had been an increase in the territory's seminarians, to 15 this year from 10 last year.

Sources who asked not to be identified also said that the bishops discussed the issue of Asian governments who did not do enough to protect Christian minorities under attack in their countries.

Quevedo said the FABC was preparing a document that "will mention endemic corruption in countries in Asia, not just the Philippines but corruption in most of the governments of Asia."

The FABC represents dioceses from across Asia, including Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Japan, Kazakhstan, Korea, Laos, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Myanmar, Pakistan, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.

Let's not forget the outright hostility that many Asian governments hold towards Christianity in general and Catholicism specifically. Attacks in these countries don't just come from non-Christian citizens, it comes from the State itself. Whether the atheistic government of China or the blasphemy laws in Pakistan.

Original link here.

Nuns Help Catch Armed Burglar

Now, this is just cool.

INDEPENDENCE, Mo. -- A man who robbed a house and ran near an Independence convent was chased from the building by one of the nuns Thursday morning, police said.Police said the man took a shotgun and other items form a house and then ran near the Sisters of St. Francis convent. Sisters Connie and Catarina said they saw a suspicious man walking in a bean field behind the convent.At first the sisters thought he may have been a hunter, which they said is illegal. The two nuns said they approached the man and saw that he had a shotgun in one hand, boxing gloves and other items in the other hand. They said when they began to question the man, he ran into a nearby wooded area.Sister Catarina chased the man when he started to run until police arrived.

Yes, that's right. A 50 year old nun in full habit chased him!

"Knowing Sister Catarina, I thought she might have caught him and tackled him," Sister Connie said."I reacted because that was our property," Sister Catarina said. "We want to know who's coming here, why he is here."

Congratulations, Sisters of St Francis! See, people, there are no excuses not to wear habits. You can even run through a field after a suspected criminal. Something most of us wouldn't do in a track suit, this sister does in a habit and flip-flops.

Original link here.