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"Mid-Pregnancy Cotinine and Risks of Orofacial Clefts and Neural Tube Defects" by Shaw's California group along with colleagues from Norway, The Netherlands, and Texas, and made possible by the California Department of Public Health soon will be published in The Journal of Pediatrics. It is available Nov. 5th online DOI reference number: 10.1016/j.jpeds.2008.08.006.
The March of Dimes is the leading nonprofit organization for pregnancy and baby health. Its mission is to improve the health of babies by preventing birth defects, premature birth and infant mortality. For the latest resources and information, visit http://www.marchofdimes.com/ or http://www.nacersano.org/.
Lynch, Elizabeth. "Increased Risk Of Birth Defects Linked To Maternal Smoking." Medical News Today. MediLexicon, Intl., 5 Nov. 2008. Web.
In Texas, we try our damnedest to extend patio season beyond the boundaries of comfort. Even as temperatures start to creep into the triple digits, we are committed to finding a restaurant where we can dine and drink outdoors.
Reservation site OpenTable has capitalized on this seasonal concern by publishing the 2014 edition of the awkwardly phrased 100 Best Outdoor Dining Restaurants in America. Three Dallas-Fort Worth favorites were deemed worthy: Saint Ann Restaurant & Bar in Dallas, Woodshed Smokehouse in Fort Worth and Cafe Malaga in McKinney.
To determine the winners, OpenTable analyzed more than 5 million reviews of nearly 19,000 restaurants across the country. These establishments offer a mix of incredible views, great cuisine and, above all else, a noteworthy outdoor dining experience.
This time, we have to hand it to the OpenTable users, who got it right on all three counts.
Saint Ann does boast one of the more exceptional al fresco dining experiences in Dallas; in fact, it was a pick on our 2013 list of the best patios in Dallas. It's located in the Harwood District, an almost-private pocket of verdancy with trees and rolling patches of grass you wouldn't expect to find in the inner city. Indoor-outdoor bars and strings of lights create a sense of electricity and excitement.
Tim Love's Woodshed Smokehouse easily represents one of the top patios in Fort Worth; the entire focus here is outdoors. The L-shaped restaurant encloses an expansive good-time patio with picnic tables, community tables, cow statues, games for the kids and a live-music stage. The patio overlooks the Trinity River and is adjacent to the Trinity Trails, where joggers and bicyclists whiz by. All eyes are inevitably fixed outside (unless you're gawking at the animal-on-a-spit visible via a window into the kitchen).
Cafe Malaga brings Collin County and vintage flair into the mix. The Spanish-style tapas restaurant inhabits a 130-year-old house off McKinney's downtown square, with a sprawling outdoor courtyard-patio that feels like some rich aunt's backyard. Stone walkways wend their way through clusters of trees. Strings of lights criss-cross the area, creating a festive ambience, while a fountain in the center lends Old-World charm.
Overall, California had the greatest number of winning restaurants on this year's list, followed by Florida, Hawaii and Arizona. Texas had only one other noteworthy patio: Eden East in Austin.
Is Anthony Weiner Behind the Email Crisis?
The Wall Street Journal has up to date reporting on the mysteries surrounding Huma Abedin’s newly-discovered emails. The Journal’s account answers some questions, while raising others.
First, the “device” in question reportedly is a laptop that Huma Abedin considered to be Anthony Weiner’s. This makes sense: people like Abedin and Weiner don’t share laptops, any more than they share cell phones. They each have their own. Thus, when Huma testified under oath that she had turned over to her lawyers, for production, all of her devices that she thought could contain relevant information, it is likely that she was telling the truth. Reportedly, Abedin claims to be at a loss as to how her emails got onto Anthony’s laptop. That surprise could well be genuine.
Time out. Weiner’s laptop contains 650,000 emails? If he sent or received 200 emails a day, 365 days a year–a considerable number!–it would take 3,250 days, or just about nine years, to accumulate 650,000 on the laptop’s hard drive. It is not clear–to me, anyway–what would cause such a large number of emails to reside on the laptop, absent some sort of bulk downloads.
Metadata found on the laptop used by former Rep. Anthony Weiner and his estranged wife Huma Abedin, a close Clinton aide, suggests there may be thousands of emails sent to or from the private server that Mrs. Clinton used while she was secretary of state, according to people familiar with the matter.
The metadata would include the sender and recipient, the time and date, and the subject line, but not the content of the email. It makes sense that investigators looking for sexual communications with minors among hundreds of thousands of texts and emails would start by looking at metadata preserved on the laptop’s hard drive, and that such an examination would reveal the presence of thousands of emails to or from Hillary’s private server. Note, however, that several people, including Huma Abedin, had email accounts on clintonemail.com.
The FBI has had to await a court order to begin reviewing the emails, because they were uncovered in an unrelated probe of Mr. Weiner.
The Washington Post reports that the FBI has now obtained such a search warrant.
Of course, a warrant wouldn’t be necessary if Weiner gave the agency permission to review his entire hard drive. The New York Post raises the possibility that Weiner may be “cooperating with feds investigating his sexting scandal,” although this speculation is not, apparently, based on much evidence.
Still, the idea is intriguing. Why did Weiner have thousands of his wife’s emails on his laptop, likely without her knowledge? Huma has testified under oath that the only email account she had other than her official State Department and clintonemail.com accounts was on yahoo.com, an account which she described as personal, but on which she reportedly exchanged many communications with Hillary Clinton. What if Weiner knew the password to that account?
Let’s assume that Weiner could access Huma’s yahoo.com account. Yahoo is a web-based email service. Simply logging into her account would not put thousands of emails onto his computer. But if Weiner logged into Huma’s Yahoo account on his own laptop, all he needed to do was select all the items in Huma’s inbox, deleted emails, etc. (or, alternatively, do a search to identify those that included a clintonemail.com address). He could then move all of those emails–more than 10,000, we are told–in bulk to a folder that he created, and could later delete. He could then drag that folder to his desktop. Having tried this with my long-suffering wife’s yahoo.com account, I believe this will preserve the emails’ metadata. In the alternative, if he accessed the email account on his wife’s laptop, he could drag the folder to a flash drive and thus transfer it to his own computer.
Why would Weiner do that? His career is over, and he is a laughingstock. His wife, on the other hand, is just one degree of separation from great power, perhaps the next president. Do the math. And Weiner has had a lot of time on his hands lately. He may have thought that keeping a trove of communications between his wife and Hillary Clinton would afford him protection against criminal prosecution. Or he may have said to himself, if I am going down, I am taking Huma and her g*****n boss with me. Of course, that only works if he thinks there is something discreditable in those communications. He would know that better than we do.
This is all speculation, based on inadequate public information. But the possibility that Anthony Weiner could be the knowing agent of his wife’s and Hillary Clinton’s downfall is intriguing.
Metservice is warning people around the country to bundle up as a sudden cold snap hits NZ.
A wild dose of wintry weather is rocking the country, with 9500 lightning strikes overnight and heavy snowfalls in the South Island.
A brutally cold, southwesterly flow has moved in behind yesterday's front, bringing the threat of more rain, strong winds, thunderstorms and even more snow in the far south as low as 300m today.
Parts of the South Island dropped into the negatives this morning, with Alexandra sitting at a crisp -2.4C just before dawn.
Many of the South Island's alpine passes have seen more snowfall overnight, with the Crown Range Rd receiving a heavy dusting.
There’s ice on the Crown Range and this has been gritted - chains must be carried if you’re heading over the hill. Please keep your speeds down.
Black ice has been reported in the Cardrona Valley and over the Lindis pass. These areas have been gritted but please take care.
The southern skifields are celebrating the early arrival of winter.
Cardrona, Coronet Peak, the Remarkables and Mt Hutt are all reporting decent amounts of snowfall. By 4.30pm yesterday 40cm had already fallen at Cardrona.
Last night's thunderstorms were mostly concentrated around the country's western areas, MetService meteorologist Peter Little said.
A plane landing in Wellington last night was struck by lightning as part of a storm that caused heavy surface flooding in parts of the capital overnight.
Westland copped the most, with 845 strikes, Buller had 432, Taranaki 337, and Wellington, which covers a much smaller land mass, 132.
There were also brief but heavy downpours, which caused flooding in places, strong wind gusts and hail.
Mt Kaukau station in Wellington recorded a wind gust of 130km/h, and another station north of the city recorded a downpour of 20mm rain in an hour. Small hail was also reported in the capital, Little said.
Auckland escaped the worst of the weather, recording 22 thunderstorms in the past 24 hours, mostly in western areas.
Several short bursts of rain in the night caused some pooling around the city.
Little said the front was this morning east of Northland and moving towards the East Cape.
In its wake would be a bitterly cold, unsettled, southwesterly flow.
"We can expect further heavy showers, gusty winds and potentially some hail today. Thunderstorms could also still affect the Auckland region through the day."
Temperatures in the far south have already plummeted, and more snow is falling on the alpine passes overnight.
"There has been some more snow on the Crown Range Rd and near the Homer Tunnel on the Milford Rd."
Milford Rd (SH94) closed overnight because of snow. The road was likely to reopen by 10am today but significant snow was forecast for the area tomorrow, which could mean an all-day closure.
Road snow warnings also remain in place for Lewis Pass (SH7), Arthurs Pass (SH73) and Crown Range Rd.
A succession of large wave🌊packets will approach and impact the west coast of both islands, particularly the North Island, over the coming days.
Road users are being urged to take extreme care due to the icy conditions.
Queenstown Lakes District Council said "Jack Frost has been working his mischief" and there was a high chance of ice across roads in the district.
Black ice had been reported in the Cardrona Valley and over the Lindis Pass and ice on the Crown Range, which had been gritted.
Grit trucks had been busy across the rest of the district and had gritted roads from Arrowtown through to Queenstown, up Fernhill and on Glenorchy Rd.
NZTA has issued a caution notice for black ice on SH8 between Tarras and Omarama.
Alexandra was sitting at a crisp -2.4C at 5.30am under clear skies, and Gore and Invercargill were at 4C with heavy showers and brutal southwesterlies.
Invercargill and Dunedin are in for a day of sleety showers and highs of 7C and 8C respectively. Most of the South Island will spend the day in the low teens.
"The far south can expect more snow today to 300m in Southland, so a pretty cold day," Little said.
The North Island will be a few degrees warmer, but a sharp drop cooler than it has been, with temperatures mostly around the low to mid teens.
Auckland has a high of 17C, Hamilton 15C and Wellington 14C.
MetService meteorologist April Clark said snow showers down to 300m would continue in the far south this morning, but the weather was expected to clear this afternoon.
The showers would ease and the day would become fine with high cloud and strong, cold winds.
''Wind chill will be a factor. It's going to feel pretty blustery and cold.
''This is the first cold outbreak of the season. It's going to bring the lowest snow that we've seen so far.
Tomorrow was expected to bring periods of rain, heavy at times, and possibly more snow down to 500m, especially about coastal Southland, Clark said.
Most of the severe weather watches and warnings have now been lifted, as the front moves away from the country today, Little said.
"The weather is looking still fairly unsettled over the next few days though, with more showers and strong winds in the west, and some of it making it over to eastern areas."
By the weekend however a ridge of high pressure is forecast to build over the country.
Showers, some heavy with possible thunderstorms and hail. Strong southwesterlies. 17C high, 9C overnight.
Auckland Showers, some heavy with possible thunderstorms and hail. Strong southwesterlies. 17C high, 9C overnight.
Hamilton Showers, some heavy with possible thunderstorms and hail. Fresh southwesterlies. 15C high, 5C overnight.
Tauranga Showers, some possibly thundery with hail, becoming less frequent from afternoon. Strong southwest change late morning. 17C high, 6C overnight.
New Plymouth Showers, some heavy with possible thunderstorms and hail, easing late. Westerlies, strong at times. 16C high, 7C overnight.
Napier Mainly fine, but one or two showers from late afternoon as northwesterlies change southwest. 17C high, 4C overnight.
Wellington Mainly fine, but a few showers late afternoon with a southerly change. 14C high, 6C overnight.
Nelson A few morning showers, then fine. Southwesterlies becoming gusty in the afternoon. 13C high, 1C overnight.
Christchurch Mainly fine, but a few showers from afternoon. Southwesterlies. 11C high, -1C overnight.
Dunedin Sleety showers, becoming less frequent in the afternoon then clearing in the evening. Southwesterlies. 8C high, 3C overnight.
When protesters in Belgrade converged on the patriarchal headquarters of the Serbian Orthodox Church last April, they were angry about proposed liturgical reforms. The reforms included an instruction to priests to recite aloud some previously silent prayers and to leave the holy doors in the icon screen between the altar and the congregation open during the celebration of the Eucharist. A photograph in a Serbian newspaper showed an activist holding an icon of St. Sava, the most important national saint of the Serbian Orthodox Church, in one hand. In the other she held a placard: Master: Do not turn us into Roman Catholics!
What brought that Serbian to put Sharpie to cardboard was not a dispute over doctrine, but instead a fear of the invasion of a culture perceived as alien. Upon closer questioning, the protester might have argued, Catholics are heretics! For many Orthodox Christians, however, such a claim is a secondary argument shoring up the main point, which is that Roman Catholics and Orthodox are just different. For many Orthodox, Romes alleged heresies are inevitable because of differences in outlook and traditions. Even if theological issues could be settled, that deep sense of otherness would remain a serious obstacle to reunion.
It is not clear that many Catholics think this way about Orthodox Christians, however. Catholic attitudes likely reflect the casual assumptions typical of a dominant culture. In its recent document on the nature of the church, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith reasserted Catholic teaching that the Orthodox belong to real churches, lacking only communion with Rome to be complete. The external affairs spokesman for the Moscow Patriarchate, Metropolitan Kyril of Smolensk, responded to the document by stating, It helps us see how different we really are. Even when Rome tries to emphasize the close relationship between Orthodox and Catholics, its Eastern dialogue partners take these statements as a sign of distance.
Are Catholics and Orthodox truly that different? For half a century now the two sides have been referring to each other officially as sister churches. A list of theological sticking points looks relatively short, and the Catholic understanding of papal supremacy is generally agreed to be the greatest difficulty. Old disputes over the filioque clause in the Nicene Creed (the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son) and the modern Roman dogmas of the Immaculate Conception and Assumption, both about Mary, are usually agreed by ecumenical cognoscenti to be subspecies of the problem of papal assertions. No one thinks this division can be solved entirely on a theological level. There are political wounds to be healed as well, especially over perceived proselytism by Catholics, most notably in the case of the Uniate Eastern Catholic churches.
Such theological and political problems are the bread and butter of official ecumenical dialogues, but much more rarely discussed are the profound cultural differences of the kind the Serbian protester feared. I do not mean culture in an ethnic sense, but as shorthand to describe a mode of being Christian, and such differences are most profound on the level of ecclesial culture. Ecclesial cultures develop distinct theological ideas, but these theological aspects are not simply thought; they are also deeply felt at the level of popular piety and practice. Questions of ecclesial culture tend to be underweighted in ecumenical dialogue. Perhaps this is not surprising, since finding a theoretical common ground that is intellectually defensible may prove easier in practice than helping hundreds of millions of the faithful receive such a resolution.
Two major cultural differences can be detected in the way Orthodox and Catholics live out their visions of Christianity. The first includes attitudes toward liturgy, an area where differences are surprisingly difficult to define, because they go far beyond ritual variance. A common misunderstanding is that Orthodox value reverence more highly than Catholics in the contemporary West, but this is not necessarily true; a clown Mass is also reverent in its own way. It matters, though, precisely what is revered. We move closer to the truth if we say that the Orthodox see liturgy as the primary work of Christians, from which every other activity flows. Catholics, on the other hand, tend to see liturgy as one of many Christian labors; it is important and obligatory, but exists among many important works. While it is impossible to make such statements without employing massive generalizations, this difference between the two traditions is nevertheless a source of alienation.
One way the cultural difference manifests itself can be found in each traditions views of private prayer and asceticism. One can legitimately make the case that in Roman Catholicism these have undergone a considerable process of privatization. Orthodox churches, on the other hand, have retained a more profound sense that asceticism is a communal work. I have been told more than once by Orthodox priests who are otherwise quite ecumenically minded that they would be reluctant to support immediate reunion of the churches because of what seems to them to be a lack of respect for the discipline of fasting by Catholics. How, they ask, can they tell their people to fast from midnight on the night before they receive the Eucharist when they could go to a local Catholic Mass an hour after breakfast? At the root of such an attitude lies a fear that without proper protections Orthodoxy will succumb to the siren song of Western individualism.
Catholics of a conservative bent might take heart from this, thinking that in this respect they can count the Orthodox as allies in the battle against liberalism and secularism, but this is true only up to a point. Many conservative Catholics talk about offering up some ascetical act for victims of abortion or some other worthy goal. It is difficult to imagine that an Orthodox Christian would think that way, and the Orthodox/Catholic divide is far more complex than any internal conflicts within the Catholic Church. For many Orthodox, what today is called traditional Catholic piety may seem just as alien in some forms as are liberal expressions of the faith.
Another major difference between these ecclesial cultures can be summed up in the principle of oikonomia, from the Greek word for household rule or management, which is often used in relation to questions of church order and regulations. The concept is not entirely foreign to Catholics, especially those outside the more legalist Anglo-German traditions, but the principle of oikonomia colors Orthodox praxis in ways that many Catholics would find surprising, even disturbing. The principle of oikonomia, for example, can be used in Orthodox churches to answer not merely questions of church order, but even morality. Two examples of the practice can be found in controversies over remarriage after divorce and the use of artificial contraception, both of which Orthodoxy accommodates within its moral vision under certain circumstances. Millions of ordinary Catholics have been intimately affected by their churchs insistence on the absolute indissolubility of marriage (hence, no sacramental remarriage after a divorce) and the intrinsic evil of artificial birth control. From the Catholic perspective, then, what pastoral ingenuity would permit a reunion with a church that (as it would surely be seen) allows divorce and contraception?
The Orthodox churches, though, are well aware of the percentage of Catholic applications for annulments granted in Western countries. They are also not blind to the extent to which Catholic teaching on contraception is ignored. If Catholics were to insist that their teaching more faithfully adheres to Christs message, how could they persuade ordinary Orthodox Christians that the current annulment process is anything but an expensive, time-consuming and psychologically intrusive version of an ecclesiastical divorce? And why would Orthodox priests risk alienating their own faithful by interfering in matters of family planning?
How can a church call on others to reunite with it on the basis of practices and beliefs its own members treat with apparent contempt? The question cuts both ways, because Orthodoxys vaunted freedom and principle of oikonomia depend on the personal holiness of those managing the household of faith. Where sanctity and justice are lacking, the overshadowing chaos and venality may be all that Catholics or the Orthodox faithful will see. For either side to present a good case for its own ecclesial vision, it must live that vision, not merely argue it. A real key to ecumenical progressthe conversion of the otherbegins with conversion of the self.
The notion that personal conversion lies at the heart of the ecumenical enterprise is far from new. In its Decree on Ecumenism, the Second Vatican Council referred to change of heart and holiness of life as spiritual ecumenism, calling it the soul of the whole ecumenical movement. In A Handbook of Spiritual Ecumenism, Cardinal Walter Kasper wrote, only in the context of conversion and renewal of mind can the wounded bonds of communion be healed. This conversion, he continues, might best be fostered within communities of faith: parishes, prayer groups, religious houses, monasteries or youth organizations, where the organic link between personal holiness and ecumenism might be taught and expressed in practical ways. Only at the grass roots can Catholics or Orthodox begin that long, slow process of reacquaintance without which the most optimistic pronouncements of ecumenical dialogues will prove pointless.
I belong to an Eastern Church united with Rome, and believe that fundamentally the Catholic and Orthodox visions are capable of communion with each other. But as an Eastern Catholic, I can also speak with some authority on the tensions that arise when we try to make that communion a tangible reality. With respect to those tensions, the Catholic side is overly optimistic. The toxic reaction Eastern Catholics (especially in Eastern Europe) often provoke by their mere existence should alert our Roman brothers and sisters to a widespread sense among the Orthodox that the differences between us are too great to be papered over. Any attempt to do so may appear inauthentic and even mendacious. Even when Orthodox leaders attempt to give voice to this unease in more moderate ways, they tend to provoke ecumenically minded Catholics to anxious perplexity. A perfect example is the negative reaction that the Ecumenical Patriarch, Bartholomew I of Constantinople, received at Georgetown University in 1997 when he said of Orthodox and Catholics: The manner in which we exist has become ontologically different. Unless our ontological transfiguration and transformation toward one common model of life is achieved, not only in form but also in substance, unity and its accompanying realization become impossible.
That protester in Belgrade would have agreed wholeheartedly with the underlying sense that Catholics and Orthodox are different in fundamental ways. It is understandable that ecumenical theologians and ecclesiastical diplomats want to conduct ecumenism on the level of what unites us, but unfortunately our differences remain. In healing these divisions, especially those that exist on the cultural level, theologians and diplomats can do only so much. We spiritual ecumenists, faithful Christians, must do the rest.
I am familiar with monk Maximos and respect his thinking and ideas in other venues, and appreciate his dedication to renewed Orthodox and Catholic communion. I agree wholeheartedly with the general emphasis of his article and wish there was more time and space to spell out some of the truly vital pastoral distinctions. I would only take issue with monk Maximos for his very brief and easily misread assertion that a clown mass is reverent...leaving open only the question "reverent to what?" I tend to disagree that reverence is inherent to clowning, but rather, I believe that it is demonstrable that irreverence is the dominant theme. Clowns or fools are a part of pagan traditions that emerged from societal interactions where the gods were unapproachable and only the feeble minded and foolish dared to address them directly. In African cultures, for example, the original "clown" figure was indeed very often deficient mentally, or clearly and profoundly detatched from what was real to the rest of the village, and in so being was set aside from the community. They were cared for, in that they were seen to have a special relationship to the gods, which meant that their material needs were met but they lived in isolation from the group. Only later did the "mad" man or woman of the village become, in oral literature, one who was 'crazy like a fox' and from that image the court jester was born and comedy became a political artifice. So I think that the reference here is far too truncated and would not play well to any Orthodox audience for this article. Also it gives the wrong impression to Roman rite Catholics who have been taught that clowning is, at worst, harmless, and at best, a part of our shared religious traditions. But the fallacy in that impression lies in the fact that the village idiot communed with gods who were remote from ordinary life and often unapproachable except by the village intermediary. That is clearly NOT a part of Christian teaching with respect to the Indwelling Trinity.
Ironically enough, the "holy fool" is a part of Russian Orthodox Christianity. However, in Orthodoxy, the "holy fool" does not have a Liturgical function. So I agree with Ms. Lanser that the notion of a Clown Liturgy is, in itself, inappopriate for Christian worship.
Dear Joseph, Thank you for you comment. I did not introduce the Holy Fool immediately because I thought it was important to make my point about the origins, nature and purpose of clowns, without distraction. You are absolutely correct about the role of the Holy Fool in Christian life. The difference, of course, is that the fool is a Holy Christian and not just a Fool. The Holy Fool's genesis is inherently Christocentric. The singular focus of the Holy Fool is becoming one with the Incarnate Christ. There is no other purpose on earth for such a being. So it does not matter whether the Holy Fool has a liturgical function or not. The important point is that the clown, in its genesis, looks to remote and inaccessable gods. And also the clown is a category of or a type. So that a clown looks in the mirror and says "Ah...I am a clown!" because he recognizes and trys to become an archetype of that type. The person who leaves all earthly things behind and behaves uncharacteristically is one who loves Christ more than anything else and expresses that love in ways that make them look crazy or foolish to us. That person does not look in the mirror and say "Ah...I am a fool." No. That person has no identity save for his being and becoming in Christ. The Holy Fool is only a category because we name them so. So I am not negating your comments capriciously. There are critical differences between the clown-type and the Holy Fool that are far more indicative than whether or not either has any kind of liturgical meaning or function. Do you see what I am driving at?
Since I questioned any inherent link between clowning and reverence, since clowning's origins are based more in fear than in awe and since clowning evolved into a form of satire eventually, I think that I have a responsibility to also make note of the many positive points in Monk Maximos' article. The assertion that a "deep sense of otherness" would remain among the Orthodox faithful even if there is mutual resolution of the doctrinal issues is the most important statement that can be made, of the core difficulty in any resumption of communion between Orthodox faithful and Catholic faithful. The liturgical and devotional experiences and habits of both are exceptionally alien to one another. I can say this with some clarity because in my own life I have been immersed in the Roman rite Church of my baptism, and also in the Byzantine or eastern Catholic Church of my adoption, and for the past ten or eleven years have been emotionally and liturgically committed to an Orthodox parish. Just the other day I was out for an appointment and stopped for noon mass and to seek confession at a local Roman rite parish. It was the first Novus Ordo mass that I had experienced in two full years. The last one was my father's funeral mass and the one before that was at least three to four years prior. So I had experienced two Novus Ordo masses in a about a six year period. I have always defended the legitimacy of the Novus Ordo mass and the fact that there are many many faithful Catholics, that I can name, who are nourished by that liturgy. That is a clear part of my own experience in the Church as well. But I can also say that after six years or more of near total immersion in the divine liturgy of St. John Chrysostom and the fasting and devotional habits of Orthodoxy, that noon mass set off an emotional, intellectual and spiritual disconnect inside of me that felt physical in its impact. There were several times that my stomach muscles actually contracted as I anticipated more from the liturgy, and received less. I know these are generalizations that are difficult to describe in a brief moment here but there is such a difference between the liturgical experience of the ordinary Orthodox faithful and the ordinary Roman rite faithful that it would appear to be a decisive stumbling block. I'll give you one example in simple language. The Novus Ordo and the Divine Liturgy of St. John both share core structural parts, but in actual experience that seems to be only marginally demonstrable, or abstractly obvious to those who study liturgy. By analogy, the structural differences can be described as follows: The Novus Ordo is like a human skeleton with all the primary long bones, skull and pelvis in place, but missing all the joints and connective parts. The St. John Chrysostom liturgy is a full skeleton. I believe that as eastern Catholics, monk Maximos, myself and others have a responsibility to continue to try to put Orthodox-Catholic commonalities and differences into plain words and to encourage people to look beyond their own parochial experiences to see the larger Catholic world in all of her distinctive parts. We also have a responsibility to try to explain why it is not just a simple matter of 'getting along' that is required for communion. This article is a good start, but it is only a start and there's much more ink to be spilled and words to be crafted in order for true communion and communication and community to be forged among us down here on the ground... Ut Unum Sint. Thank you Father Maximos!
Why would I risk alienating my children by interfering in matters of playing in the middle of the street?
Catholics are often out playing in the middle of the street, according to their own Magisterium. So what? Are disciples of Christ shocked at weeds in the wheat?
As a matter of fact, a devout Orthodox Christian does indeed consult his priest if the matter of artificial oontraception comes us.
This article also appeared in print, under the headline "What Divides Orthodox and Catholics?," in the December 3, 2007 issue.
Hieromonk Maximos Davies is a monk of Holy Resurrection Monastery, an Eastern Catholic community within the Romanian Catholic Eparchy of St. George in Canton, Ohio.
The software giant sees a jump in profits from its server and tools business last quarter, while its desktop Windows and Office business posted slight declines in profits from a year earlier.

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