“Pope Francis has asked the Vatican to study whether the Catholic Church should classify ‘spiritual abuse’ as a new crime in order to address cases where priests use purported mystical experiences as a pretext for harming others.
“A statement from the Vatican’s doctrinal office announcing the move did not name any specific cases of such abuse, but the Vatican has had to deal with several in recent years….”
After giving the Reuters article a quick read, I did what I usually do when this sort of thing happens: check out what the Church says it said.
Turns out, there’s a bit of a history there, starting with these items:
Pius XI (259th Pope of the Catholic Church) (February 6, 1922 – February 10, 1939)
“Mens Nostra“, on the promotion of the Spiritual Exercises (20 December 20, 1929)
A little more checking showed me that the phrase “false mysticism” has showed up before this year. The earliest one I found was in Pope Pius XI’s “Mens Nostra”, written in 1929.
Bear in mind that I didn’t spend much time looking: that’s just what was near the top in my search results. And I was only looking for documents in my native language, English.
Updating and Clarifying the Rules: Again
This month’s “‘Foglio’ for the…” is fairly short, but includes this bit of background:
“…However, in the new Norms for Proceeding in the Discernment of Alleged Supernatural Phenomena, the DDF specified that ‘the use of purported supernatural experiences or recognized mystical elements as a means of or a pretext for exerting control over people or carrying out abuses is to be considered of particular moral gravity’ (Art. 16). This consideration allows the situation described here to be evaluated as an aggravating circumstance if it occurs together with delicts….” (“‘Foglio’ for the Audience with the Holy Father: ‘False Mysticism and Spiritual Abuse’” (November 22, 2024))
As near as I can figure, what Reuters called a proposed “new Catholic crime” is more like a clarification of terms that we’ve been already been using.
Along with a strong recommendation that folks in the Dicastery for Legislative Texts study that part of our rules, and come up with specific ways they can be updated.
If this sounds like I’m not shocked, horrified, revolted, and ready to stop being a Catholic: that’s because I’m not.
First, I became a Catholic because I finally realized who’s got the authority our Lord gave Peter; and second — well, that’s pretty much it.
Besides, I know a little about our history.
We’ve been around for two millennia now.
Folks — clergy included — have misbehaved before. That doesn’t make it right: but it does take the edge off the blind panic I might feel, when I learn that another individual who should have known better acted badly.
And I’m well aware that we’ve been changing and clarifying the rules since day one. Good grief, some of that’s in the New Testament’s letters.
I’m just glad that, possibly because there’s so much post-election hysteria grabbing headlines, this “spiritual abuse” thing isn’t center stage at the moment.
Mentioning a Mystical Mistake
This month’s “Foglio” also mentions — and quotes — what Pope Pius XII said about another recurring problem we have.
This one isn’t so much about abuse, spiritual or otherwise, as it is about the squeamish notion that ‘spiritual’ folks shouldn’t — no, I’ll let Pope Pius XII say it:
“…It is wrong, therefore, to assert that the contemplation of the physical Heart of Jesus prevents an approach to a close love of God and holds back the soul on the way to the attainment of the highest virtues. This false mystical doctrine the Church emphatically rejects as, speaking through Our predecessor of happy memory, Innocent XI….” (“Haurietis Aquas“, on devotion to the Sacred Heart, Pope Pius XII (May 15, 1956))
Trying to believe that God made a horrible mistake when He created the physical world isn’t a problem with me.
No great virtue, that. I like being a spiritual/physical hybrid.
And anyway, there’s the matter of trying to believe that God makes any sort of mistake. The workaround for that is insisting that there are two gods: a good guy god and a bad guy god, which has been done: and that’s a whole mess of topics I won’t dive into today.
I’m taking A Catholic Citizen in America in a different direction, at least for a while. I’ll still post something each Saturday, but will be focusing on what I call ‘family stories’.
It’s not that I’ve lost interest in science, history, and all that. When there’s something more-than-usually exciting going on, I’ll write about that. But mostly, I’ll be sharing memories and thoughts of a distinctly less nerdy sort.
Why I’m Doing What I’m Doing: Converting Memories to Writing
I’m in my mid-70s. The good news is that now I’ve run across more ideas and lore than I had, back in my younger years. The occasionally-frustrating news is that I’m not as energetic as I was then.
Those ‘science’ and ‘history’ posts, the way I do them, take time. Particularly since I’m not an ‘expert’: so I verify what my memory tells me, and do research to fill in the blanks.
I’d like to try my hand at digital art again, and write stories that have been on back burners, both of which are time-intensive efforts. Getting caught up on my Sky & Telescope reading is a ‘to do’, too.
Finally and importantly, my oldest daughter said she’d like me to start recording or writing down ‘family stories’ — anecdotes I’ve shared over the decades. I got started on that last month.
It’s a matter of priorities and limitations. There’s a consensus here that writing down these ‘family stories’ is a good idea, and I agree. Plus, I’ve only got so much time and energy to work with.
So I’ll share some of what I wrote last month, and keep on converting parts of my memory to these written anecdotes. Being committed to having at least a few ready each Saturday should keep me on-task.
Hope you enjoy these. I’ll do what I can to make that possible.
Getting Started: Cats, Homes, and an Incendiary Stove
Our cats were ‘indoor cats’, but old Boots was with us when we lived at 818 (10th Street South, Moorhead). My folks and I called it “818”: “eight-eighteen”. Then, when we moved to 1010 South 16th Street, Moorhead, that house was “1010”: “ten-ten”.
Anyway, Boots is the first cat I have more than a single memory of.
My memory of Dusty, my mother’s cat — I think she had Dusty before she went to college. Dusty stayed with my Grandma and Grandpa Hovde in Hillsboro, and was back with my mother by the time we were in 818.
My mother and father lived in an apartment when they first came to Moorhead, a place where the landlord ‘saved money’ by putting pennies behind the fuses. That cut down on the cost of replacing fuses, and resulted in a spectacular but not catastrophic kitchen fire when the — I think it was the stove that shorted out.
At any rate, their next place was 1215, a house on the near south side of Moorhead. It might have been 1215 2nd Avenue South, but at this time of day: I don’t remember.
Where was I? Cats. Homes. Incendiary stoves. Right.
Racing Into a South Wind
I think I remember seeing Dusty’s legs, while someone was doing physical therapy with me on the dining room floor of 818. I’d have been — probably a toddler at that point. That’s the only memory of Dusty I have — a nice little grey cat, I understand.
Dusty went the way of all flesh. Poetic, that, but moving on. Then my folks decided they’d get a kitten, picked from a litter — I’m not sure where. They picked the liveliest of the bunch, a big little kitten: dark grey with white “boots”, belly, chin, and nose. After some discussion, which I remember being made part of, the name “Boots” was chosen.
Boots may, or may not, have been part Maine Coon cat. Whatever his ancestry, he grew into a big fellow: a longhair with the ‘majestic’ feline personality. We joked that he may have regarded himself as a human, or didn’t realize that he was a cat.
Boots was mostly an ‘indoor’ cat, but we let him out for part of each day. The signal that it was time to come home was a whistle: very high-pitched.
One day, it must have been summer, because I was walking home with Dad — I think it was around noon.
We were near the north end of the block where 818 was, walking south, when I heard the cat whistle blowing. Or, rather, heard the whistle being blown by my mother.
There was movement to my left, in the front yard of the house we were passing, just behind a low hedge or border planting.
Rapid movement: Boots, leaping over the hedge, diagonally, headed south. South-southwest at that moment, actually, his fur streaming in the south wind. And then he was on the sidewalk ahead of us, racing toward 818.
I treasure that memory.
Another Memory, and Distractions
I’ll wrap up this week’s post with the usual link list; this time another ‘family story’ post (“Sledding With My Dad: Good Memories” ), and a look at what’s been distracting me this year:
“A group of U.S. students has smashed a series of world records after launching a ‘homemade’ rocket farther and faster into space than any other amateur rocket. The student-made missile soared 90,000 feet (27,400 meters) beyond the previous record-holder — a Chinese rocket launched more than 20 years ago.
“The record-breaking rocket, named Aftershock II, was designed and built by students at the University of Southern California’s (USC) Rocket Propulsion Lab (RPL) — a group run entirely by undergraduate students….
“…The rocket’s apogee was around 470,000 feet (143,300 m) above Earth’s surface, which is ‘further into space than any non-governmental and non-commercial group has ever flown before,’ USC representatives wrote in a statement. The previous record of 380,000 feet (115,800 m) was set in 2004 by the GoFast rocket made by China’s Civilian Space Exploration Team….”
I could take many routes, talking about what that bunch of crazy college kids did yesterday (October 20, 2024) in the Black Rock Desert, Nevada.
Taking my cue from Sixties sensibilities that I still retain — to an extent — I could ponder the perils which their launch posed to the fragile desert biome. Or I could complain that they didn’t focus on some sorta-now, sorta-wow, social protest.
Instead, I’ll say that I thoroughly enjoyed watching 79 seconds of youngsters successfully launching a vehicle past the Kármán line. I hope that at least some of them get involved in what promises to be a very interesting era of space exploration.
I like seeing humanity — including folks from my country — doing what we’ve been doing for uncounted ages: seeing what’s over the next hill.
I’ve been watching NASASpaceflight’s YouTube channel’s coverage of the SpaceX Starship sixth test flight.
Maybe they don’t have the polish of old-school broadcast media, but I thoroughly enjoy what they do. That’s partly because they’re frankly nerdish. And partly because they actually know what they’re talking about.
Pre-launch preparations are going smoothly, so if this keeps up the Ship 31 upper stage and first stage Booster 13 will take off a little over four hours from now: about 4:00 p.m. here in central Minnesota.
Then, if all goes well, Booster 13 will land back at the SpaceX facility on the Gulf Coast. It’s another suborbital flight for this launch system, this time with an in-space relight for one of Ship 31’s Raptor engines, before ‘landing’ in the Indian Ocean.
I’m not as excited about this as I was, watching the Apollo missions. Or not excited in the same way, at any rate. That’s probably inevitable. I was in my teens then. Now I’m in my mid-70s.
But I am excited. And I think the SpaceX goal, “Service to Earth Orbit, Moon, Mars and Beyond”, makes sense. (spacex.com/vehicles/starship)
Mainly because I think humanity will keep doing what we’ve been doing for uncounted ages: wondering what’s over the next hill. And then wondering what’s over the new hills we found.
All that’s changed is that the new hills are now on other planets.
I’ve talked about this before. You’ll find links under My Favorite Posts: Science and technology in the sidebar.
About SpaceX, Starship, and humanity’s renewed interest in getting back to the Moon; I think that makes sense, too. And I’m glad folks from my country are involved:
Sooner or later, I figure someone will develop a spaceplane that takes off from places like Tampa International Airport, carries passengers and cargo to low Earth orbit, and flies back: either to the airport it came from, or the next stop in its flight schedule.
It might be a next-generation version of Dawn Aerospace’s Aurora, or an advanced Radian Aerospace model. But it won’t be Reaction Engines Limited’s Skylon. Developing their two-mode SABRE rocket engine ended up costing too much and taking too long.
I’ll take a quick look at Skylon. After that, I’ll take a longer look at Seattle-based Radian Aerospace’s PFV01 spaceplane.
PFV01, a prototype of Radian’s Aurora spaceplane, is the one that’s been making test flights near Abu Dhabi.
“Reaction Engines Ltd., a British company that has worked for decades on an air-breathing rocket engine for spaceplanes and other hypersonic vehicles, has filed for bankruptcy.
“The company formally entered administration, a process under United Kingdom law to allow for the restructuring or liquidation of companies in financial distress, on Oct. 31 after attempts to raise additional funding fell through. PricewaterhouseCoopers has been appointed as administrators of the company during the process, and under U.K. law has eight weeks to develop a plan to restructure or sell the company, or else liquidate its assets…” [emphasis mine]
Can’t say that I’m surprised, but I am disappointed.
This is not good news for the 200-some folks working for Reaction Engines Limited (REL).
In 1989, Alan Bond, John Scott-Scott, and Richard Varvill started REL with a good idea.
They would have built a spaceplane that takes cargo and passengers from conventional airports to low Earth orbit. Their spaceplane would have rocket engines that get their oxygen from the atmosphere during part of the ascent.
They had a bit of a head start. Two of them had been working on the earlier British HOTOL spaceplane, which would have done the same thing.
I’ve been following REL, off and on, for decades. I think their “Synergetic Air Breathing Rocket Engine (SABRE)” is a good idea.
But I know just enough about science and engineering to realize that developing a rocket motor that uses atmospheric oxygen at subsonic, supersonic, and hypersonic speeds — switching to its onboard supply of oxygen after that — is pretty much the opposite of easy.
I think someone will develop engines like SABRE. Someday. It’s a basically sound idea.
But making SABRE work was too expensive, and was taking too long.
The odds that Reaction Engines Limited will not be liquidated are pretty much zero.1
I’m not happy about that, but I am convinced that something like Skylon will fly. Eventually.
Meanwhile, other outfits have been working on their own spaceplanes.
Radian Aerospace PFV01: Another Step
Radian Aerospace photo of their exhibit at Global Aerospace Summit, Abu Dhabi. (2024)
“…The Seattle-based company announced Sept. 25 that it performed an initial series of taxi tests of a prototype flight vehicle it calls PFV01 at an unidentified airport in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates. The tests included what it called ‘short hops’ by the vehicle as it tested its handling characteristics for takeoff and landing. …”
I’m taking it easy this week, so I didn’t dig all that deeply into what Radian Aerospace has in mind. Instead, I’m taking excerpts from what Feff Foust of SpaceNews said.
Test Flights
One version of the Radian spaceplane, from a Radian Aerospace patent application.
“…PFV01 is designed to test the aerodynamics of the company’s proposed Radian One, a spaceplane that would take off horizontally using a rail sled system more than three kilometers long and reach orbit using rocket engines before returning to a runway landing. The vehicle, as currently designed, could carry up to five people and 2,270 kilograms of cargo to low Earth orbit and return with up to 4,540 kilograms of cargo….” (“Radian Aerospace begins tests of spaceplane prototype” , Jeff Foust, SpaceNews (September 25, 2024) [emphasis mine])
I get the impression that Radian’s spaceplane design isn’t as ambitious as REL’s.
For one thing, their Radian One’s cargo capacity is 2,270 kilograms, compared to Skylon’s planned 15,000. For another, Skylon could have carried 24 or more passengers, while Radian One’s current planned version has room for five.
On the other hand, Radian Aerospace is still in business. Plus, they’re doing test flights with their prototype. Assuming that they keep going in this direction, I figure they can scale their spaceplane up — if or when it’s ready.
Something I noticed about Radian Aerospace — it’s an American company, with headquarters in Seattle, Washington.2
Washington state isn’t renowned for having vast expanses of flat land. But the state, and my country, aren’t exactly lacking in places where flying experimental aircraft — or spacecraft — would be comparatively safe.
Living With and Working Around Rules
One version of a Radian Aerospace spaceplane’s flight deck.
I gather that Radian Aerospace ran the usual computer simulations before seeing what their scaled-down prototype can do.
Now, back to Jeff Foust’s article
“…The runway tests, he [Livingston Holder] said, confirmed those models. ‘It’s an important step,’ he said, ‘validating that the analytical models that we’re using match what we’re seeing in real life.’
“The company performed the tests in Abu Dhabi with the support of an unnamed partner there. The airfield where the tests took place was a ‘good, permissive environment,’ Holder said, that gave the company access daily….” (“Radian Aerospace begins tests of spaceplane prototype” , Jeff Foust, SpaceNews (September 25, 2024) [emphasis mine])
Again, I’m taking it easy this week, so I haven’t ferreted out where that airfield is.
But my guess is that it’s not in Abu Dhabi itself: “good, permissive environment” or not.
That phrase does, however, tell me why Radian Aerospace opted for doing their flight testing so far from Seattle. Particularly since their PFV01 prototype doesn’t, at this point, include sensitive technology.
“…Radian largely avoided export control issues with doing the tests there since PFV01, powered by two jet engines, did not contain any space-specific technologies like rocket engines that would have been in the purview of the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR). ‘We’re keeping this to the airplane side of things because the airplane part makes it easier from an ITAR standpoint,’ he [Livingston Holder] said of the tests….” (“Radian Aerospace begins tests of spaceplane prototype” , Jeff Foust, SpaceNews (September 25, 2024) [emphasis mine])
Now, I understand that rules and regulations can actually serve useful functions.
Regulations, for example, are supposed to keep manufacturers from selling airliners with pop-off panels — that pop off in flight.
I’m just glad that my country isn’t so overrun with regulators regulating regulations, that outfits like Radian Aerospace can’t legally develop new technologies. Even if, when it’s flight test time, our rules make getting “the support of an unnamed partner” and setting up operations overseas necessary.
Or, at least, make the folks at Radian Aerospace decide that they’ll save money by going abroad with their prototype. Despite having thousands of miles between their offices and the working area. And that’s another topic or two.
This is where I’d talk about authority, and how being both an American citizen and a Catholic affects me.3 But I’m keeping this post short. For me. Anyway, I mentioned the high points back in June:
“…Societies need folks with authority, legitimate authority. I’m obliged to show respect for the folks in charge. Those authorities should, in turn, show respect for the basic rights of the human person. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1897-1904, 1907, 1929-1933, and more)…” (“Truth, Beauty, and the Evening News” , (June 15, 2024) Freedom of Speech, Lèse-Majesté, and “The Apotheosis of Washington”)
After the Radian folks have done runway tests with their PFV01, Jeff Foust’s article says they’ll move to “another airfield in the region”.
That’ll give them a longer runway for longer flights, where they’ll see how well the prototype handles: or doesn’t.
Rocket Sled —
I’ve seen the Radian One spaceplane consistently described as a “single-stage-to-orbit” (SSTO) launch vehicle.
REL’s Skylon would definitely have been an SSTO system, taking off from a conventional runway, flying to orbit, then landing on a runway after reentry.
Radian One will, provided all goes well, do the same; but instead of taking off from a runway, the spaceplane will get launched from a rocket sled.
After that, the delta-winged spaceplane will fly to orbit and return as a single unit. I figure that’s why the company’s website title is “Radian Aerospace — World’s First Single-Stage-to-Orbit Spaceplane”. That, plus a mix of hopefulness and marketing savvy.
Radian Aerospace and a Wikipedia page both describe “single-stage-to-orbit” launch vehicles which would be launched from rocket sleds.
I think I see why they’re using the term, since the part of the vehicle which leaves the ground is a single stage. But to me, systems using rocket sleds look like multi-stage rockets, with the first stage doing its job while connected to rails or similar guideways.
I also think Radian Aerospace’s approach to developing a surface-to-orbit transportation system is smart. It reminds me of the step-by-step process Max Vallier described, a century ago.4
— To the Stars
Sierra Space Dream Chaser and Dawn Aerospace Mk-II Aurora were in the news recently, too:
Dream Chaser will ride to orbit on a Vulcan Centaur. I haven’t confirmed it, but I’m guessing that it also could be fitted on something like the SpaceX Falcon Heavy, which is at least partly reusable.
The good news here is that Dream Chaser spaceplanes can be reused.
Dawn Aerospace may eventually build a spaceplane that goes into orbit, but the Dawn Mk-II Aurora flights will be distinctly suborbital.
Still, they will go past the Kármán line — a conventional lower boundary for “space” — so the Dawn Mk-II Aurora is a spaceplane.5
An ‘up’ side for the Aurora spaceplanes is that they’re designed to take off from conventional runways: no special rocket sled tracks needed. It’s not the REL Skylon, but it’s a step in the right direction.
Something new each Saturday.
Life, the universe and my circumstances permitting. I'm focusing on 'family stories' at the moment. ("A Change of Pace: Family Stories" (11/23/2024))
I was born in 1951. I'm a husband, father and grandfather. One of the kids graduated from college in December, 2008, and is helping her husband run businesses and raise my granddaughter; another is a cartoonist and artist; #3 daughter is a writer; my son is developing a digital game with #3 and #1 daughters. I'm also a writer and artist.
I live in Minnesota, in America's Central Time Zone. This blog is on UTC/Greenwich time.
Support this Blog:
More Perspectives From the Catholic Laity:
Blog - David Torkington
Spiritual theologian, author and speaker, specializing in prayer, Christian spirituality and mystical theology [the kind that makes sense-BHG]
