St. Cloud Times
College of St. Benedict/St. John’s University Fine Arts Programming is using the upcoming theater production of “The Trial of the Catonsville Nine” as an opportunity to reflect on a historic event that has close ties to the community.
“The Trial of the Catonsville Nine” follows the 1968 trial of two Catholic priests and seven fellow Catholic activists who committed an act of civil disobedience in protest of the war in Vietnam. The act galvanized the national protest movement.
The trial has close ties to the university through religion, and the Central Minnesota area has close ties to the trial through former St. Cloud resident George Mische, who was one of the nine and later a St. Cloud City Council member.
“Clearly the trial was born out of an anti-war statement and movement, but I think it’s too simple just to look at one side,” said Brian Jose, executive director of Fine Arts Programming. “I really want people to understand what was going on at the time.”
The Actors’ Gang, a Los Angeles-based theater company run by actor Tim Robbins, will perform “The Trial of the Catonsville Nine” at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday at the Stephen B. Humphrey Theater at St. John’s University, Collegeville.
For the week leading up to the production, Fine Arts Programming has organized a series of events and discussions to give students and community members a sense of what it was like to be on campus during the Vietnam War.
Sunday, January 24, 2010
The Best Mind of the 18th Century
January 24, 2010
The Best Mind of the 18th Century
by Benjamin D. Wiker
1/23/10
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God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything
Christopher Hitchens, Twelve Books, 307 pages, $24.99
One is tempted to quip that Christopher Hitchens is certainly one of the best minds of the 18th century, but that would be to give Hitchens too much credit as an equal to Voltaire in wit. He is not, and his God Is Not Great presents little of substance beyond what one would hear murmured in Enlightenment salons. Even more irritating, the style rarely rises above naughty school-boy sniggering. (One imagines him as a young boy penciling in a mustache on the Madonna in the town crèche at Christmas, much to the delight of his fellow rogues hidden in the bushes.)
Perhaps I am not being fair, or more likely, I have best-seller-atheist-book fatigue after reviewing Sam Harris and Richard Dawkins, and finding in Hitchens nothing new and a lot more of it. Given the tedious similarity of Harris's Letter to a Christian Nation, Dawkins's The God Delusion, and Hitchens's God Is Not Great, I'm beginning to think the triumvirate hatched its literary blitz after a club meeting and all used the same outline.
Well, weary or not, here we go. The most significant problem with Hitchens's argument is precisely that it does belong in the 18th century, that is, in a time when it was still possible to declaim upon How Religion Poisons Everything (the subtitle of Hitchens's book). In those heady days of overt deism and covert atheism, enemies of religion could gather together, exchange stories of religious hypocrisy and savagery, and imagine that once the poisoned barbs of Christianity were removed from innocent human flesh, and priests and kings were suitably strung up by each other's entrails, the world would breathe a long and peaceful sigh of relief.
That was before the French Revolution, before Stalin, before Hitler, before Mao, before Pol Pot; in short, before any actual attempt to politically eliminate either Christianity in particular or all religion in general, and set up a regime based entirely on secular foundations. Before it was ever tried in earnest, the intellectual atheist could wade through many a hypothetical reverie of the innocent and Edenic future of practical atheism.
That is the whole problem with Hitchens's book: He still thinks he has that enviable luxury. His finale -- a mere seven pages long -- is titled "The Need for a New Enlightenment," as if it hadn't been tried already and found woefully wanting. The ending appeal -- to "undreamed-of vistas inside our own evolving cortex," the "proper study of mankind" being "man, and woman," the idyllic "study of literature and poetry," "unfettered scientific inquiry," and certainly most of all, the long-awaited "divorce between the sexual life and fear, and the sexual life and disease, and the sexual life and tyranny" -- is so drippingly theatrical and naïve that the reader becomes embarrassed on Hitchens's behalf.
Of course, Hitchens realizes that his anti-religion must answer the obvious objection: "Is it not true that secular and atheist regimes have committed crimes and massacres that are, in the scale of things, at least as bad if not worse?" His mode of defense consists in (1) avoiding the issue by continuing to talk about all the bad things done in the name of religion or by anyone with a religious name; (2) admitting that some bad things were done by allegedly atheist regimes, but that when, say, communists were slaughtering people by the millions they were actually acting out of an as-yet-not-exorcised spirit of religion; (3) hinting that this spirit might be stitched into our genes by evolution, so that our genes unhappily deflect atheism from achieving its glorious potentialities; (4) deflecting consideration of Hitler by finger-pointing at popes and cardinals who allegedly supported Hitler; and (5) sidestepping the wickedness of Stalin by examining the banalities of his attempts to parrot religious ceremonies. All that allows Hitchens to say -- with an entirely straight face, as far as I can tell -- that "totalitarian systems, whatever outward form they may take, are fundamentalist and, as we would now say, 'faith-based.'"
Really? What if I cleverly disowned all the wickedness done in the name of Christianity by saying that all the evil perpetrated by so-called religious people was actually done out of a spirit of rebellion against God, and therefore true Christians are entirely innocent of any crimes?
That would not only be disingenuous, but unmanly. If I am to be a Christian, I must swallow hard, and look with a clear and humble eye at the sins of Christians, my own first and foremost. If Hitchens really wants to be an atheist, he should have girded his loins before taking up his pen, and taken a good, long, hard, sobering, honest look at the blood and darkness of the 20th century, almost all of it done in the name of unbelief.
If he had, he would have to conclude that it is not religion that poisons everything, but human beings that poison everything, including religion and atheism. They also poison garden clubs, baseball teams, industrial corporations, moose lodges, academic departments, and charitable trusts. In short, wherever one finds humanity, one also finds inhumanity. But that is a point for Christianity -- indeed, a point of doctrine. The doctrine of original sin, noted Chesterton, "is the only part of Christian theology which can really be proved."
For both believers and unbelievers, it is a sobering thought that the same kind of hypocrisy, cruelty, sloth, cowardice, pride, short-sightedness, shallowness, injustice, and greed is found among believers and unbelievers. The error of Hitchens is to assume that because he finds all these vices among believers, it is belief that causes vice -- even among unbelievers.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Benjamin D. Wiker is a senior fellow at the Discovery Institute and the author of the new book, The Darwin Myth: The Life and Lies of Charles Darwin (Regnery, 2009). This review originally appeared on September 20, 2007.
Link to original...
The Best Mind of the 18th Century
by Benjamin D. Wiker
1/23/10
Display Full Article/Printer Friendly | Send to a Friend
God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything
Christopher Hitchens, Twelve Books, 307 pages, $24.99
One is tempted to quip that Christopher Hitchens is certainly one of the best minds of the 18th century, but that would be to give Hitchens too much credit as an equal to Voltaire in wit. He is not, and his God Is Not Great presents little of substance beyond what one would hear murmured in Enlightenment salons. Even more irritating, the style rarely rises above naughty school-boy sniggering. (One imagines him as a young boy penciling in a mustache on the Madonna in the town crèche at Christmas, much to the delight of his fellow rogues hidden in the bushes.)
Perhaps I am not being fair, or more likely, I have best-seller-atheist-book fatigue after reviewing Sam Harris and Richard Dawkins, and finding in Hitchens nothing new and a lot more of it. Given the tedious similarity of Harris's Letter to a Christian Nation, Dawkins's The God Delusion, and Hitchens's God Is Not Great, I'm beginning to think the triumvirate hatched its literary blitz after a club meeting and all used the same outline.
Well, weary or not, here we go. The most significant problem with Hitchens's argument is precisely that it does belong in the 18th century, that is, in a time when it was still possible to declaim upon How Religion Poisons Everything (the subtitle of Hitchens's book). In those heady days of overt deism and covert atheism, enemies of religion could gather together, exchange stories of religious hypocrisy and savagery, and imagine that once the poisoned barbs of Christianity were removed from innocent human flesh, and priests and kings were suitably strung up by each other's entrails, the world would breathe a long and peaceful sigh of relief.
That was before the French Revolution, before Stalin, before Hitler, before Mao, before Pol Pot; in short, before any actual attempt to politically eliminate either Christianity in particular or all religion in general, and set up a regime based entirely on secular foundations. Before it was ever tried in earnest, the intellectual atheist could wade through many a hypothetical reverie of the innocent and Edenic future of practical atheism.
That is the whole problem with Hitchens's book: He still thinks he has that enviable luxury. His finale -- a mere seven pages long -- is titled "The Need for a New Enlightenment," as if it hadn't been tried already and found woefully wanting. The ending appeal -- to "undreamed-of vistas inside our own evolving cortex," the "proper study of mankind" being "man, and woman," the idyllic "study of literature and poetry," "unfettered scientific inquiry," and certainly most of all, the long-awaited "divorce between the sexual life and fear, and the sexual life and disease, and the sexual life and tyranny" -- is so drippingly theatrical and naïve that the reader becomes embarrassed on Hitchens's behalf.
Of course, Hitchens realizes that his anti-religion must answer the obvious objection: "Is it not true that secular and atheist regimes have committed crimes and massacres that are, in the scale of things, at least as bad if not worse?" His mode of defense consists in (1) avoiding the issue by continuing to talk about all the bad things done in the name of religion or by anyone with a religious name; (2) admitting that some bad things were done by allegedly atheist regimes, but that when, say, communists were slaughtering people by the millions they were actually acting out of an as-yet-not-exorcised spirit of religion; (3) hinting that this spirit might be stitched into our genes by evolution, so that our genes unhappily deflect atheism from achieving its glorious potentialities; (4) deflecting consideration of Hitler by finger-pointing at popes and cardinals who allegedly supported Hitler; and (5) sidestepping the wickedness of Stalin by examining the banalities of his attempts to parrot religious ceremonies. All that allows Hitchens to say -- with an entirely straight face, as far as I can tell -- that "totalitarian systems, whatever outward form they may take, are fundamentalist and, as we would now say, 'faith-based.'"
Really? What if I cleverly disowned all the wickedness done in the name of Christianity by saying that all the evil perpetrated by so-called religious people was actually done out of a spirit of rebellion against God, and therefore true Christians are entirely innocent of any crimes?
That would not only be disingenuous, but unmanly. If I am to be a Christian, I must swallow hard, and look with a clear and humble eye at the sins of Christians, my own first and foremost. If Hitchens really wants to be an atheist, he should have girded his loins before taking up his pen, and taken a good, long, hard, sobering, honest look at the blood and darkness of the 20th century, almost all of it done in the name of unbelief.
If he had, he would have to conclude that it is not religion that poisons everything, but human beings that poison everything, including religion and atheism. They also poison garden clubs, baseball teams, industrial corporations, moose lodges, academic departments, and charitable trusts. In short, wherever one finds humanity, one also finds inhumanity. But that is a point for Christianity -- indeed, a point of doctrine. The doctrine of original sin, noted Chesterton, "is the only part of Christian theology which can really be proved."
For both believers and unbelievers, it is a sobering thought that the same kind of hypocrisy, cruelty, sloth, cowardice, pride, short-sightedness, shallowness, injustice, and greed is found among believers and unbelievers. The error of Hitchens is to assume that because he finds all these vices among believers, it is belief that causes vice -- even among unbelievers.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Benjamin D. Wiker is a senior fellow at the Discovery Institute and the author of the new book, The Darwin Myth: The Life and Lies of Charles Darwin (Regnery, 2009). This review originally appeared on September 20, 2007.
Link to original...
Holy See-Israel Negotiation Moves Forward - Catholic Online
Holy See-Israel Negotiation Moves Forward - Catholic Online
Ed Burke wrote:
Ed Burke wrote:
What if the Catholic Church made the issues they have with Israel as well publicized, and supported as we do for abortion issues. The Israeli 'Lobby' in Washington, D.C. works 'hammer & tongs' at promoting their agenda. maybe it's time Catholics had a national agenda for dealing with the obstinate Israeli government. After all our National aid comes out of a lot of catholic taxpayers, we have every right to expect quid pro quo from Israel.
Arabic Masses at the "Bocca della Verita" (Church of Santa Maria in Cosmedin)
Rome (kath.net / CBA) On January 28th, 2010, at the old Roman church of Santa Maria in Cosmedin the Sacrifice of the Mass will be celebrated in Arabic. The initiative comes from the Greek Melkite community, which has been based in the church for 40 years, where the famed "Bocca della Verita" is located.
The community said they wanted to offer a Divine Liturgy for the Arabic speaking Catholics in the Italian capital, as well as for other people that might be interested, in an interview with Catholic News Agency last Thursday.
The Syrian clergy of Mtanious Haddad, Procurator in Italy for the Melkite Patriarch Gregoire III Laham, celebrate the Divine Liturgy according to the Byzantine Rite in Italy. So far, there have been liturgies in multiple languages - Greek, Italian, and Arabic. Celebrations only in Arabic, however, are a first for Rome.
(C) 2010 KNA Katholische Nachrichten-Agentur GmbH. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.
The One Year Anniversary of the Lifting of the Excommunications on the Four Bishops of the SSPX
It's been a great year and we've been astounded and shocked by the many things that Holy Father has done, even beyond many of our wildest expectations. We echo the sentiments of District Superior of the SSPX, Father Schidberger by saying, "Thank you, Holy Father, thank you."
Even Father Z. has taken it upon himself to say nice things about the SSPX this year; thanks in part to us.
Cardinal Schönborn attacks Father Gerhard Wagner
Kreuz.net, an internet periodical that reports on Austrian news continues to engage kath.net, a conservative periodical favorable to Medjugorje, for their interview with Cardinal Schönborn on his birthday.
While Cardinal Schönborn allows and participates in Discomasses in Vienna, featuring crispy pancake "hosts", and soft pedals his embarrassing media-fiasco in Medjugorje, he attacks without naming, the rejected Auxiliary Bishop of Linz, Father Wagner, whom he blames for the massive exodus of Catholics from the Church along with Bishop Williamson and the economy. (It's the economy stupid)
As Kreuz opines here, "Perhaps it's better to anger stupid Neo-conservatives who are powerless than to anger the "Old Liberals", who possess the amassed power of the world media establishment."
Kreuz mentions that there will be two Disco "Masses" this Sunday in Vienna with the theme, "chase out the gray".
While Cardinal Schönborn allows and participates in Discomasses in Vienna, featuring crispy pancake "hosts", and soft pedals his embarrassing media-fiasco in Medjugorje, he attacks without naming, the rejected Auxiliary Bishop of Linz, Father Wagner, whom he blames for the massive exodus of Catholics from the Church along with Bishop Williamson and the economy. (It's the economy stupid)
The Cardinal mentioned "ideological" conflicts about Episcopal appointments as well: "If someone has the reputation of being conservative, one can be fairly certain that there will be a media protest."
It is also, however, "often the person himself" -- the Cardinal renews his attack on Father Wagner.
"One can and should not avoid all conflicts, but some conflicts require firstly, that we question them. But here we must look to the individual case."
As Kreuz opines here, "Perhaps it's better to anger stupid Neo-conservatives who are powerless than to anger the "Old Liberals", who possess the amassed power of the world media establishment."
Kreuz mentions that there will be two Disco "Masses" this Sunday in Vienna with the theme, "chase out the gray".
Why the Weak were Corrupted and the Good Were Cast Out
The following article by Matt C. Abbott of "Renew America" highlights a chapter in a book that starkly illustrates a major component in the disintegration of Catholicism in America. In light of what has happened throughout the Catholic Church in the last half-century, almost nothing is so instructive as the unlawful and heretical intrusion of modern psychology, which often helped to encourage the feeble minded, the credulous, vulnerable and the malevolent among religious to abandon Church teachings on sexuality in favor of sexual liberation. The result was catastrophic for the Catholic Church, and the children who'd been put in its care. The prayerful atmosphere of religious houses suddenly turned noxious to those who did not embrace the new modes of self-expression so that most who did not collaborate with this new and vile spirit were thrown out into the street.
It's for this reason why we think that Women Religious are so reluctant to participate sincerely with a spirit of obedience in the visitation now investigating them. In this case, the patient does not want to be cured and is even adverse to holy things. Not only will not sound doctrine be tolerated in many Catholic religious communities in the United States, but Catholic sacramentals as well. Enter any so-called Catholic religious order's church and you will be hard pressed to find any visible Catholic sacramental presence.
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h/t: Sir Wolfram
It's for this reason why we think that Women Religious are so reluctant to participate sincerely with a spirit of obedience in the visitation now investigating them. In this case, the patient does not want to be cured and is even adverse to holy things. Not only will not sound doctrine be tolerated in many Catholic religious communities in the United States, but Catholic sacramentals as well. Enter any so-called Catholic religious order's church and you will be hard pressed to find any visible Catholic sacramental presence.
,%2520College%2520of%2520Saint%2520Benedict-small.jpg)
By Matt C. Abbott
The following is a lengthy excerpt from the book Sacrilege: Sexual Abuse in the Catholic Church, authored by Leon J. Podles, Ph.D. Many thanks to Mr. Podles and Charles Eby of the Crossland Foundation for allowing me to reprint this material. (Caution: contains disturbing descriptions.)
Read the entire article...
h/t: Sir Wolfram
Saturday, January 23, 2010
America Magazine Encourages Delinquency in US Women Religious
Like chronic alcoholics who've been confronted with a sudden dose of reality, America's religious are expected to submit to some questionnaires designed to address the extent and seriousness of their dysfunctional behaviors. Unfortunately, American Religious have bad friends like America Magazine who encourage them to continue merrily down the road of destruction.
Link to America...
Mother Mary Clare Millea, superior general of the Apostles of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and charged by the Vatican with directing a three-year study of U.S. women religious congregations, has sent letters to religious leaders asking once again for their full cooperation in filling out questionnaires, which are part of the process.
The questionnaires, sent last year to the heads of some 325 religious communities, were to have been returned by Nov. 20. A substantial number of the religious communities -- some women religious leaders saying the "vast majority" of the communities -- refused to comply with an initial Millea request to fill out all the questions on the questionnaire and instead filled out only some or none. A number of religious communities chose, instead, to return to Millea their order's Vatican approved constitutions.
Link to America...
Portugues Bishops' Spokesman says, "Same-sex marriage far from becoming law"
Portuguese bishops' spokesman: Same-sex marriage far from becoming law
TORONTO (CNS) -- Portuguese legislation that would allow gay couples to marry is still far from becoming the law of the land, said a spokesman for the Portuguese bishops' conference. The legislation "still has to be signed by the president, and also there is a question about it being unconstitutional," the spokesman, Father Manuel Morujao, told CNS in a telephone interview in mid-January. Whether Portugal's constitution allows a change in the definition of marriage is the current debate that President Anibal Cavaco Silva has been avoiding, said Father Morujao. Silva was quoted in the Portuguese press saying that he was unable to "say even one word" about the issue, pointing out that constitutional law is not the president's competency. Father Morujao said the nation's bishops had urged a referendum on gay marriage, and he said the issue has the potential to fracture Portuguese society. Canada, South Africa, Spain, Belgium, Netherlands, Norway and Sweden already have same-sex marriage.
Read further...
TORONTO (CNS) -- Portuguese legislation that would allow gay couples to marry is still far from becoming the law of the land, said a spokesman for the Portuguese bishops' conference. The legislation "still has to be signed by the president, and also there is a question about it being unconstitutional," the spokesman, Father Manuel Morujao, told CNS in a telephone interview in mid-January. Whether Portugal's constitution allows a change in the definition of marriage is the current debate that President Anibal Cavaco Silva has been avoiding, said Father Morujao. Silva was quoted in the Portuguese press saying that he was unable to "say even one word" about the issue, pointing out that constitutional law is not the president's competency. Father Morujao said the nation's bishops had urged a referendum on gay marriage, and he said the issue has the potential to fracture Portuguese society. Canada, South Africa, Spain, Belgium, Netherlands, Norway and Sweden already have same-sex marriage.
Read further...
Calgary Church Loses Charitable Status-- Against Homosexuality
CALGARY, Alberta, January 21, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) has revoked the charitable status of Kings Glory Fellowship (KGF), a Christian church in Calgary. CRA cites a number of issues with KGF's application, but the decision is based, in part, on the ground that certain KGF Board members have spoken out strongly against abortion, and other moral issues.
"The members of the Board of Directors espouse strong negative views about sensitive and controversial issues, which may also be viewed as political, such as abortion, homosexuality, divorce, etc.,” wrote CRA agent Dian Prodanov in an October 29th letter.
Read on the rest of the article on Lifesite...
"The members of the Board of Directors espouse strong negative views about sensitive and controversial issues, which may also be viewed as political, such as abortion, homosexuality, divorce, etc.,” wrote CRA agent Dian Prodanov in an October 29th letter.
Read on the rest of the article on Lifesite...
UK Bishops say Equality Bill still a threat
Guardian
The bishops have rejected Government concessions designed to allay fears over a Bill they say could force the churches to accept women, sexually active gays, and transsexuals into the priesthood.
Ministers refused repeated requests by the Catholic and Anglican bishops over a period of months to consider an amendment to the Equality Bill that would have been acceptable to them.
But they have decided to act in the face of a protracted battle in the Lords that could result in the Bill falling as it runs out of time. They have tabled an amendment designed to reassure the churches that the Bill does not represent a threat.
Read further at source...
The bishops have rejected Government concessions designed to allay fears over a Bill they say could force the churches to accept women, sexually active gays, and transsexuals into the priesthood.
Ministers refused repeated requests by the Catholic and Anglican bishops over a period of months to consider an amendment to the Equality Bill that would have been acceptable to them.
But they have decided to act in the face of a protracted battle in the Lords that could result in the Bill falling as it runs out of time. They have tabled an amendment designed to reassure the churches that the Bill does not represent a threat.
Read further at source...
St. John's Abbey and Planned Parenthood: Partners in Education
A home of peacenik activists, homosexual didacts, religious indifferentists and the most pernicious falsehoods of the modern age, this modernist Monastery, once one of the world's largest, shows its commitment to the spirit of the age by hosting Planned Parenthood to delude their students further than they already are. Actually, a quick poll would reveal that very few of the matriculants of this school are encumbered with the Catholic Faith, given that they hire actively homosexual faculty members and promote homosexuality, is it any wonder that it is by design that this is the case?
It's nice that even the Neo-cons at Catholic Culture are starting to take notice. It might suprise them that Father Marx and the Abbey's relationship wasn't a friendly one at a certain time:
Link to original at Catholic Culture...
It's nice that even the Neo-cons at Catholic Culture are starting to take notice. It might suprise them that Father Marx and the Abbey's relationship wasn't a friendly one at a certain time:
In 1972-- nine years before he founded Human Life International-- Father Paul Marx founded the Human Life Center at St. John’s University in Minnesota. Last year, the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University hosted “representatives from the Planned Parenthood clinic” to “discuss their HIV and STI [sexually-transmitted infection] services. They will also talk about high risk behavior, the testing process, and confidentiality.”
The event was sponsored by the schools’ Global AIDS Awareness Organization.
Founded in 1913 and 1857, the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University have 2,110 students (all undergraduates) and 2,063 students (1,938 undergraduate) respectively. [They also have a College Preparatory Highschool]
Link to original at Catholic Culture...
Yankee Bishop confused about the South
Someone needs to educate Bishop Taylor on the real history of Martin Luther King and the South. The War of Northern Aggression was not about slavery, which was on the way out, it was about States' Rights. I can't imagine how anyone could be so culturally insensitive to people who didn't grow up Yankee. Here is the pro-life talk he gave this week.
Here is a story which might help illuminate how Catholic Priests could resonate with the prevailing culture south of the Mason Dixon Line. It's the story of Father Bliemel, a German priest of Annunciation Parish in Nashville Tennessee, who ministered to the Conderate troops, indeed, ministered to both sides, during the war but was still a loyal son of the Confederacy. (it's in pdf)
By Bishop Anthony B. Taylor
Link to original...
Here is a story which might help illuminate how Catholic Priests could resonate with the prevailing culture south of the Mason Dixon Line. It's the story of Father Bliemel, a German priest of Annunciation Parish in Nashville Tennessee, who ministered to the Conderate troops, indeed, ministered to both sides, during the war but was still a loyal son of the Confederacy. (it's in pdf)
By Bishop Anthony B. Taylor
Can you imagine my astonishment upon learning that here in Arkansas we celebrate Robert E. Lee's birthday this weekend, in addition to that of Dr. Martin Luther King's? Why in the world would we ever want to do that? Can you imagine how many lives were lost because he took up arms against the United States in a Civil War on the side of those who sought to keep millions of people in bondage?
Part of Dr. King's true greatness lies in the fact that he used non-violent means to confront the very evils that General Lee had fought so hard to preserve! His only weapons were faith, hope and love -- in the form of marches, boycotts, civil disobedience and eloquent speeches. General Lee may have had many good qualities and can only be judged in the context of the world he lived in, but the bottom line is that his efforts served to promote the culture of death while Dr. King promoted the culture of life -- which is what we are gathered here to do today, especially regarding the evil of abortion which was still illegal when I was in high school and so that's what I'd like to talk about today.
Link to original...
City Doing Work on Mayor Daley's Parish: Chicago Corruption
(POSTED: 1/23/10) A high-ranking Daley administration official who was described at the Robert Sorich trial as a cog in the city's patronage hiring operation should be fired, a government watchdog is recommending.
But being part of a scheme to hire and promote politically connected employees wasn't Deputy Water Management Commissioner Tommie Talley's only alleged transgression.
Talley also dispatched city water department crews to work at private sites -- including Nativity of Our Lord Roman Catholic Church, the mayor's ancestral parish in Bridgeport, Chicago's inspector general found, according to city government sources.
Link to original...
But being part of a scheme to hire and promote politically connected employees wasn't Deputy Water Management Commissioner Tommie Talley's only alleged transgression.
Talley also dispatched city water department crews to work at private sites -- including Nativity of Our Lord Roman Catholic Church, the mayor's ancestral parish in Bridgeport, Chicago's inspector general found, according to city government sources.
Link to original...
Pope's Address to Doctrine Congregation
"Natural Moral Law Is Neither Exclusively Nor Mainly Confessional"
VATICAN CITY, JAN. 22, 2010 (Zenit.org).- Here is a Vatican translation of the address Benedict XVI delivered Jan. 15 upon receiving in audience members of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith at the end of the dicastery's four-day plenary assembly.
* * *
Your Eminences,
Venerable Brothers in the Episcopate and in the Priesthood,
Dear Faithful Collaborators,
It gives me great joy to meet you on the occasion of the Plenary Session and to express to you my sentiments of deep gratitude and cordial appreciation of the work you carry out at the service of the Successor of Peter in his ministry of strengthening his brethren in the faith (cf. Luke 22: 32).
I thank Cardinal William Joseph Levada for his greeting in which he recalled the topics that the Congregation is occupied at this time. He also recalled the new responsibilities that the Motu Proprio Ecclesiae Unitatem has entrusted to the Dicastery by closely joining with it the Ecclesia Dei Commission.
I would now like to reflect briefly on certain aspects that you, Your Eminence, have mentioned.
First of all I wish to emphasize that your Congregation participates in the ministry of unity that is entrusted to the Roman Pontiff in a special way, through his commitment to doctrinal fidelity. This unity, in fact, is primarily a unity of faith, supported by the sacred deposit whose main custodian and defender is the Successor of Peter.
Strengthening brothers and sisters in the faith, keeping them united in the confession of the Crucified and Risen Christ, is the first and fundamental task that Jesus conferred upon the one seated on the Chair of Peter. It is a binding service on which depends the effectiveness of the Church's evangelizing action to the end of time.
The Bishop of Rome, in whose "potestas docendi" your Congregation participates, is bound to proclaim ceaselessly: "Dominus Iesus" "Jesus is Lord". The "potestas docendi," in fact, entails obedience to the faith so that the Truth which is Christ may continue to shine out in its grandeur and resonate in its integrity and purity for all humankind, and thus that there may be one flock gathered round the one Pastor.
The achievement of the common witness to faith of all Christians therefore constitutes the priority of the Church of all time, in order to lead all people to the encounter with God. In this spirit I trust in particular in the Dicastery's commitment to overcome doctrinal problems that are still an obstacle to the achievement of full communion with the Church on the part of the Society of St Pius X.
I would also like to congratulate you on your commitment to fully integrating formerly Anglican groups and individual members of the faithful into the Church's life, in accordance with what is stipulated in the Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum Coetibus. The faithful adherence of these groups to the truth received from Christ and presented by the Magisterium of the Church is in no way contrary to the ecumenical movement but rather shows its ultimate purpose, which consists in the achievement of the full and visible communion of the Lord's disciples.
In recalling your invaluable service to the Vicar of Christ, I must also mention that in September 2008 the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith published the Instruction "Dignitas Personae" on Certain Bioethical Questions.
Following the Encyclical "Evangelium Vitae" by the Servant of God John Paul ii in March 1995 this doctrinal document, centered on the theme of the dignity of the person created in Christ and for Christ, is a new landmark in the proclamation of the Gospel in full continuity with the Instruction "Donum Vitae," published by this Dicastery in February 1987.
Concerning delicate and timely topics such as procreation and the new forms of treatment that involve the manipulation of embryos and the human genetic patrimony, the Instruction recalls that "the ethical value of biomedical science is gauged in reference to both the unconditional respect owed to every human being at every moment of his or her existence, and the defense of the specific character of the personal act which transmits life" ("Instruction Dignitas Personae," No. 10).
In this way the Magisterium of the Church wishes to make its own contribution to the formation of consciences, not only of believers but also of all who seek the truth and want to listen to arguments stemming not only from faith but also from reason. In fact the Church, in proposing moral evaluations for biomedical research on human life, draws on the light of both reason and faith (cf. ibid., No. 3), since she is convinced that "what is human is not only received and respected by faith, but is also purified, elevated and perfected" (ibid., No. 7).
In this context a response is likewise given to the widespread mentality that presents faith as an obstacle to scientific freedom and research, because it presumes that faith is made up of a pattern of prejudices that hinder the objective understanding of reality.
Faced with this attitude that strives to replace truth with a consensus that is fragile and easy to manipulate, the Christian faith, instead, makes a real contribution in the ethical and philosophical context. It does not provide pre-constituted solutions to concrete problems like bio-medical research and experimentation, but rather proposes reliable moral perspectives within which human reason can seek and find valid solutions.
There are in fact specific contents of Christian revelation that cast light on bioethical problems: the value of human life, the relational and social dimension of the person, the connection between the unitive and the procreative aspects of sexuality, and the centrality of the family founded on the marriage of a man and a woman. These matters engraved in the human heart are also rationally understandable as an element of natural moral law and can be accepted also by those who do not identify with the Christian faith.
The natural moral law is neither exclusively nor mainly confessional, even if the Christian Revelation and the fulfillment of Man in the mystery of Christ fully illumines and develops its doctrine. As the Catechism of the Catholic Church says, it "states the first and essential precepts which govern the moral life" (No. 1955).
Established in human nature itself and accessible to every rational creature, the natural moral law thus determines the basis for initiating dialogue with all who seek the truth and, more generally, with civil and secular society. This law, engraved in every human being's heart, touches on one of the essential problems of reflection on law and likewise challenges the conscience and responsibility of legislators.
As I encourage you to persevere in your demanding and important service, I would also like on this occasion to express my spiritual closeness to you, as a pledge of my affection and gratitude, as I warmly impart the Apostolic Blessing to you all.
© Copyright 2010 -- Libreria Editrice Vaticana
VATICAN CITY, JAN. 22, 2010 (Zenit.org).- Here is a Vatican translation of the address Benedict XVI delivered Jan. 15 upon receiving in audience members of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith at the end of the dicastery's four-day plenary assembly.
* * *
Your Eminences,
Venerable Brothers in the Episcopate and in the Priesthood,
Dear Faithful Collaborators,
It gives me great joy to meet you on the occasion of the Plenary Session and to express to you my sentiments of deep gratitude and cordial appreciation of the work you carry out at the service of the Successor of Peter in his ministry of strengthening his brethren in the faith (cf. Luke 22: 32).
I thank Cardinal William Joseph Levada for his greeting in which he recalled the topics that the Congregation is occupied at this time. He also recalled the new responsibilities that the Motu Proprio Ecclesiae Unitatem has entrusted to the Dicastery by closely joining with it the Ecclesia Dei Commission.
I would now like to reflect briefly on certain aspects that you, Your Eminence, have mentioned.
First of all I wish to emphasize that your Congregation participates in the ministry of unity that is entrusted to the Roman Pontiff in a special way, through his commitment to doctrinal fidelity. This unity, in fact, is primarily a unity of faith, supported by the sacred deposit whose main custodian and defender is the Successor of Peter.
Strengthening brothers and sisters in the faith, keeping them united in the confession of the Crucified and Risen Christ, is the first and fundamental task that Jesus conferred upon the one seated on the Chair of Peter. It is a binding service on which depends the effectiveness of the Church's evangelizing action to the end of time.
The Bishop of Rome, in whose "potestas docendi" your Congregation participates, is bound to proclaim ceaselessly: "Dominus Iesus" "Jesus is Lord". The "potestas docendi," in fact, entails obedience to the faith so that the Truth which is Christ may continue to shine out in its grandeur and resonate in its integrity and purity for all humankind, and thus that there may be one flock gathered round the one Pastor.
The achievement of the common witness to faith of all Christians therefore constitutes the priority of the Church of all time, in order to lead all people to the encounter with God. In this spirit I trust in particular in the Dicastery's commitment to overcome doctrinal problems that are still an obstacle to the achievement of full communion with the Church on the part of the Society of St Pius X.
I would also like to congratulate you on your commitment to fully integrating formerly Anglican groups and individual members of the faithful into the Church's life, in accordance with what is stipulated in the Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum Coetibus. The faithful adherence of these groups to the truth received from Christ and presented by the Magisterium of the Church is in no way contrary to the ecumenical movement but rather shows its ultimate purpose, which consists in the achievement of the full and visible communion of the Lord's disciples.
In recalling your invaluable service to the Vicar of Christ, I must also mention that in September 2008 the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith published the Instruction "Dignitas Personae" on Certain Bioethical Questions.
Following the Encyclical "Evangelium Vitae" by the Servant of God John Paul ii in March 1995 this doctrinal document, centered on the theme of the dignity of the person created in Christ and for Christ, is a new landmark in the proclamation of the Gospel in full continuity with the Instruction "Donum Vitae," published by this Dicastery in February 1987.
Concerning delicate and timely topics such as procreation and the new forms of treatment that involve the manipulation of embryos and the human genetic patrimony, the Instruction recalls that "the ethical value of biomedical science is gauged in reference to both the unconditional respect owed to every human being at every moment of his or her existence, and the defense of the specific character of the personal act which transmits life" ("Instruction Dignitas Personae," No. 10).
In this way the Magisterium of the Church wishes to make its own contribution to the formation of consciences, not only of believers but also of all who seek the truth and want to listen to arguments stemming not only from faith but also from reason. In fact the Church, in proposing moral evaluations for biomedical research on human life, draws on the light of both reason and faith (cf. ibid., No. 3), since she is convinced that "what is human is not only received and respected by faith, but is also purified, elevated and perfected" (ibid., No. 7).
In this context a response is likewise given to the widespread mentality that presents faith as an obstacle to scientific freedom and research, because it presumes that faith is made up of a pattern of prejudices that hinder the objective understanding of reality.
Faced with this attitude that strives to replace truth with a consensus that is fragile and easy to manipulate, the Christian faith, instead, makes a real contribution in the ethical and philosophical context. It does not provide pre-constituted solutions to concrete problems like bio-medical research and experimentation, but rather proposes reliable moral perspectives within which human reason can seek and find valid solutions.
There are in fact specific contents of Christian revelation that cast light on bioethical problems: the value of human life, the relational and social dimension of the person, the connection between the unitive and the procreative aspects of sexuality, and the centrality of the family founded on the marriage of a man and a woman. These matters engraved in the human heart are also rationally understandable as an element of natural moral law and can be accepted also by those who do not identify with the Christian faith.
The natural moral law is neither exclusively nor mainly confessional, even if the Christian Revelation and the fulfillment of Man in the mystery of Christ fully illumines and develops its doctrine. As the Catechism of the Catholic Church says, it "states the first and essential precepts which govern the moral life" (No. 1955).
Established in human nature itself and accessible to every rational creature, the natural moral law thus determines the basis for initiating dialogue with all who seek the truth and, more generally, with civil and secular society. This law, engraved in every human being's heart, touches on one of the essential problems of reflection on law and likewise challenges the conscience and responsibility of legislators.
As I encourage you to persevere in your demanding and important service, I would also like on this occasion to express my spiritual closeness to you, as a pledge of my affection and gratitude, as I warmly impart the Apostolic Blessing to you all.
© Copyright 2010 -- Libreria Editrice Vaticana
Friday, January 22, 2010
A's prospect leaving baseball for call of the priesthood
Incredible, he's going to be studying at the Cardinal Mahony's Seminary. Now that he's retiring and being replaced by a more conservative Bishop, and what with the Seminary faculty threatening to leave if this is the case, perhaps the baseball pro will stand a good chance of actually getting a priestly formation.
By 'Duk
Read further...
By 'Duk
Well, here's a story you don't see every day.
Grant Desme, a 23-year-old minor league outfielder in Oakland's system, is retiring from baseball to follow a calling into the Catholic priesthood.
The story was first reported by Fox Sports' Jon Paul Morosi — perhaps appropriately with that first name of his — and this isn't a case of a struggling player going through an early-life crisis. Desme was ranked the A's eighth-best prospect by Baseball America after hitting .288 with 31 home runs and 89 RBIs in A ball in 2009 and he was just named MVP of the Arizona Fall League.
Read further...
It's Open Season on RINOs in Arizona
PHOENIX – Former Arizona Congressman J.D. Hayworth says he's planning to run against John McCain for his U.S. Senate seat.
Hayworth told The Associated Press late Friday that he stepped down as host of his radio program on KFYI-AM, a conservative radio talk show in Phoenix. Legally, he wouldn't be able to host the program and be an active candidate.
Hayworth was ousted from his Congressional seat in 2007 after 12 years in office by Democrat Harry Mitchell, and has hosted the radio show for the past few years.
Hayworth says he's not formally announcing a run for the Senate seat, but that "we're moving forward to challenge John McCain."
He added that he's had a wonderful time at KFYI, but "it's time to enter public life again."
Link to original...
Hayworth told The Associated Press late Friday that he stepped down as host of his radio program on KFYI-AM, a conservative radio talk show in Phoenix. Legally, he wouldn't be able to host the program and be an active candidate.
Hayworth was ousted from his Congressional seat in 2007 after 12 years in office by Democrat Harry Mitchell, and has hosted the radio show for the past few years.
Hayworth says he's not formally announcing a run for the Senate seat, but that "we're moving forward to challenge John McCain."
He added that he's had a wonderful time at KFYI, but "it's time to enter public life again."
Link to original...
Revolt in Thiberville with English Subtitles
"While some priests labor to fill their churches, others labor to empty them."
Part I
If you can't see the subtitles, hit the up arrow in the lower part of your screen for closed captioning.
Part II
h/t: james mary evans
Part I
If you can't see the subtitles, hit the up arrow in the lower part of your screen for closed captioning.
Part II
h/t: james mary evans
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