THE TAOS TATLER.

“He’s had it coming, the big meanie!”

WASHINGTON, D.C.—After being denied communion in her home city of San Francisco, House Speaker Pelosi has retaliated against the insult by introducing articles of impeachment against Pope Francis.

“Denying me the Eucharist is a high crime. It’s not even the Pope’s job to deny communion to anyone,” said Pelosi to gathered reporters in Washington. “Who does he think he is? He’s gone mad with power! It is, therefore, my solemn Constitutional duty to draft articles of impeachment to be sent to the Senate so Pope Francis can be tried for his crimes.”

Well worth reading it all, from America’s most reliable newspaper.

Doing bad by doing good.

IQ-challenged Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, whose life long ambition is to be clever, had another crack at it today, this time concerning the latest slaughter in a public school.

Regrettably, Ocasio-Cortez fails to specify the laws permitting children and others be shot, a pity as your Tatler would love to have a look at them. One wonders though how such draconian laws might possibly survive the scrutiny of the courts: 5th Amendment problems to begin with, e.g., deprivation of liberty, due process and all that. We’ll just have to pass on that claim without further details.

We’ll also have to pass on the expression, “idolatry of violence.” Not quite understanding the meaning of it, your correspondent did some Internet research and found its earliest appearance was in 2012 and apparently is used exclusively by gun-control advocates, including bishops of the Episcopal Church. Unfortunately, none of the advocates explain just what the expression means, though it certainly sounds catchy. We’ll have to pass on that as well.

Since however Ocasio-Cortez, like so many on the left, is prone to using tropes, your Tatler will use one too, one he has used many times over the years. The Texas school where the carnage took place yesterday was subject to the Federal Gun-Free Zone Act, which prohibits students, administrators and security personnel from carrying guns in a public school and within 1000 feet of it. Such was the case yesterday at the Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas and the law was, in a way, a brilliant success; among the 500 pupils, dozens of teachers, staffers and security guards, just one person was carrying a gun. Of course, if adherence to the law had lapsed only a little yesterday, and but one teacher, staffer or security guard had also been carrying, we might not today be reading of the heartbreaking carnage.

Sacrilege the polite way.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi presented herself today for communion at the 9 am mass at Holy Trinity Church in Washington, DC. Deeply moved by the announcement made by Archbishop, Cordileoni of San Francisco she would be denied communion in his bishopric because of her active support of abortion, she instead quietly received at a local church in Georgetown, Holy Trinity. The church’s pastor, a Jesuit, has proudly stated in the past he will more or less administer the host to anyone who has, or had, a pulse. By way of example, President Biden also receives at Holy Trinity.

There were reports a tear was seen rolling down the Speaker’s cheek while receiving, but she dismissed them, saying: “Good God, why should I cry at such a fab event? This is a time for celebration. Let’s party!”

A much needed, but loving emendation.

Noted theologian Whoopi Goldberg, ThD, censured His Grace Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone yesterday for his decision denying House Speaker Nancy Pelosi the sacrament of Holy Communion, this because of her unrepentant support of abortion. Dr Goldberg, in her typically articulate manner, expressed this dissent in the academic forum known as The View.

The archbishop of San Francisco is calling for speaker Nancy Pelosi to be denied receiving Communion because of her pro-choice stance . . . this is not your job, dude! You can’t — that is not up to you to make that decision. You know, what is the saying? It’s kind of amazing.

Goldberg, in a softer tone, reminded the Archbishop of the Church’s teachings on Communion.

But, you know, what is the point of communion, right? It’s for sinners. It’s for sinners. It’s the reward of saints, but the bread of sinners. How dare you?

The Archbishop, upset apparently at the reprimand from the distinguished theologian, has reportedly gone into seclusion, taking with him only a copy of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, with the intention of reading it again from cover to cover, in hopes he may uncover other errors that may have crept into his understanding of Church teachings.

Once again, what used to be bad for you is now good.

Who among us, save those with naturally occurring skin protection, hasn’t been warned as a child or adult to avoid overexposure to the sun, the “expert” consensus being that “healthy look” could lead to melanoma? As there have been several upticks in in that unpleasant ailment over the years, overdosing on sun tanning has been cited as one of the causes.

Certainly, those of us in your Tatler’s family had those warnings into drilled into us growing up and though this writer paid them no attention whatsoever, another member of the family heeded the warnings and for years eschewed direct exposure to the sun whenever possible, giving him the pallor of bleached flour and earning him gentle (sort of) ribbing from his siblings.

Now, it turns out, another crop of experts has claimed for several years the opposite of those warnings, that is, under exposure to sunlight is likelier to cause melanoma than over exposure, which to this non-expert makes more sense and of course is especially welcome, given that that Taos gets around 300 days a year of sunshine. (Your Tatler’s person-of-pallor sibling has been alerted to this newish finding and seems pleased to have learned of it.)

Personally, your correspondent believes the best policy, when it comes to matters like these, is to heed the timeless advice of the playwright Plautus (ca. 250-184): Modus omninibus in rebus, moderation in all things.

Always present, but so far avoiding us.

Some good reporting, in a feature from a New Mexico website, describes the devastation to centuries-old customs in the tiny mountainous villages dotting this region, the result of the terrible fires nearby.

Some excerpts:

The little town of Mora, nestled in a green river valley between forested mountains, is usually a serene place. But with the area hit hard by the Calf Canyon/Hermits Peak fire, the high school has become a distribution center where local volunteers give out donated food, water and animal feed.

. . .

In this rural area, New Mexico’s largest-ever fire has destroyed homes and crops. Power and water are still mostly out. Although the area was in an evacuation zone, anecdotally people say maybe a quarter of about 4,500 residents of the county stayed to feed livestock and fight spot fires on their property.

. . .

As well as making a living from forestry and agriculture, they take pride in traditions like maintaining the Spanish-style ditches called acequias for irrigation. State Representative Roger Montoya says even the Spanish spoken here is influenced by old dialects and indigenous languages.

“It was a beautiful mixture that is very unique worldwide,” he said. “And it’s emblematic of the kind of isolation that these communities have maintained in a certain way even today. They are insular, they are quite happy. They are rich culturally and historically.”

Much more here and well worth reading: the author is Alice Fordham, a transplanted Brit reporting for the website of KUNM.

So far, here in Taos, we have been spared  the fires’ devastation, in fact our little town has become a temporary home for refugees. One of the reasons may be, while Taos is nestled in the most mountainous region of New Mexico, the town itself lies on a plane, popularly described as “high desert,” but likely more accurately, “alpine.” There are a few trees to provide fuel for the raging fires in the mountains nearby. Additionally, prevailing winds this time of year blow from the southwest or northwest, thus keeping the conflagration away from us.

Still, Taoseños all are on the alert. Over the last few weeks your Tatler’s phone has let out several ear-shattering  shrieks, followed by the announcing of mandatory evacuations for towns nearby. Deo volente there will not be one for us.

Just Say No, Your Honor.

Comes word New York City’s new mayor Eric Adams is already hankering for a better job. The New York Post reports an “insider” tells them: “Eric has told me repeatedly that he thinks that he has a platform to run for national office, for president in 2024. He has said that repeatedly.”

Mayor Adams might want to crack the history books. Four, count ’em, four of his predecessors, in reverse order, de Blasio, Bloomberg, Giuliani and Lindsay had a go at the presidency and the campaigns of every one of them were dismal failures. Americans apparently don’t want New York mayors in the White House.

Adams, from this great distance at least, has achieved zero significant accomplishments, and while accomplishing nothing hardly precludes a presidential run, e.g., de Blasio, Hilary Clinton and Joe Biden, it is your Tatler’s belief the majority of our populace these days is wary buying another political pig in a poke.

Stick to running the City, Your Honor. There are myriad problems enough to keep you plenty occupied the next four years.

Delightful music, off the beaten track.

Your Tatler, who claims fair knowledge of the classical repertoire, confesses he had never heard these charming pieces, nor any others by their estimable composer, until today. While Emile Jaques-Dalcroze has a decent biographical entry in Wikipedia (which is usually reliable so long as the subject cannot possibly support a left-wing interpretation), but it covers only one aspect of Dalcroze: his pioneering efforts in eurhythmics, which later influenced composer Carl Orff, of Carmina Burana fame.* There is no mention of the fairly large body of music he composed.

This recording, just released, is a worthy addition to the relatively meager discography of Jaques-Dalcroze and consists solely of music for the ‘cello and piano. There is no need to go into detailed description of the music, just listen and be charmed. If there were Les belles-lettres of music, these little pieces would certainly qualify. An example can be heard here.

Jaques-Dalcroze: Music for Violincello & Piano
Pi-Chin Chien, ‘Cello
Bernhard Parz, Piano
TYXart (C) 2022

*Your Tatler’s esteem for Carl Orff lessened considerably upon learning he accepted a commission from the mayor of Frankfurt to compose new incidental music for A Midsummer Night’s Dream; this after the incomparable version by Mendelssohn, as close to perfection to be found in music, was banned by the Nazis because he was a Jew.

After 35 years.

Well, isn’t this a fine how-do-you-do for liberal Catholic-Episcopalian wannabees? Doddering Nancy Pelosi, after 35 years enthusiastically supporting the killing of babies in the womb, in direct violation of Catholic teachings (CCC 2270-75), has finally been banned by Archbishop Cordileone of San Francisco from receiving at mass. The howls of the wounded will soon be heard.

Some are noting His Grace’s finally taking action may have had something to do with the premature release of the Supreme Court decision, which, possibly, throws out Roe v. Wade. Apparently not. In an interview with America Magazine(!), the Archbishop says the Supreme Court decision jettisoning Roe (maybe) in no way influenced his decision to take action against Pelosi, that he has tried for years to discuss the matter with her, but has apparently been rebuffed every time. Only after noting her views on Roe becoming ever more more extreme lately did he finally decide to do something about it.

Though long overdue, Pelosi’s excommunication is still wonderful news. Of course, it will have little effect on leftist extremists, even those who consider themselves Catholic, but it will certainly give a lift to those beneficent souls who for years have been campaigning, often at risk to their personal safety, against this horrendous sin. Even Catholics merely ambivalent about abortion may be inclined to re-examine the matter.

Perhaps most significant, Archbishop Cordileone’s bold action might persuade the all-too-many wishy-washy members of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, who chatter aplenty about the evils of abortion, but do little else (Archbishop Wester of the Diocese of Santa Fe comes to mind). Who knows? They might even start growing spines of their own and excommunicate prominent abortion proponents in their own dioceses, thus sending the clear message to the laity there is no gray area when it comes to the subject, that even just voicing support for it is a grave sin, separating the soul from Christ.

UPDATE: Well glory be, it seems other bishops are indeed following suit.

Bishop Robert Vasa of the Diocese of Santa Rosa [where the Pelosis have a summer house] told The Pillar May 20 he has instructed priests to observe the decision of Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone when Pelosi attends Mass at the parish nearby her Napa Valley vacation home and vineyard. 

“I have visited with the pastor at [Pelosi’s parish] and informed him that if the Archbishop prohibited someone from receiving Holy Communion then that restriction followed the person and that the pastor was not free to ignore it,” Vasa said in a statement provided to The Pillar by the Santa Rosa diocese.

Now, other bishops are speaking out, saying the decision is correct because it was Pelosi’s decision to extricate herself from communion with the Catholic Church by virtue of her aggressive pro-abortion agenda.

Bishop Donald Hying of Wisconsin . . . backs the decision to deny Nancy Pelosi communion, saying “Pelosi has persistently taken public positions in support of legal abortion, contrary to her professed Catholic faith, choosing to separate herself from full communion with the Catholic Church.”

Other bishops are also joining in. Let us pray it doesn’t stop with Pelosi, but that other prominent Catholics, especially those in politics, including the present occupant of White House, are at last brought to account for supporting abortion. It is long overdue.

*UPDATE 2: Professor William Tighe points out (see comment below) Pelosi has not actually been excommunicated, rather found, in the often arcane language of canon law, to be “obstinately persevering in manifest grave sin” (canon 915). Quite so, your Tatler stands corrected. Pelosi still however has been ordered by the archbishop not to receive because of this finding and we may presume if she defies that order, she will indeed be excommunicated.

Far more on this matter may be found here.