Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Did You Know (Gregorian calendar)

From Wikipedia

The Gregorian calendar is the internationally accepted civil calendar.[1][2][3] It was introduced by Pope Gregory XIII, after whom the calendar was named, by a decree signed on 24 February 1582, a papal bull known by its opening words Inter gravissimas.[4] The reformed calendar was adopted later that year by a handful of countries, with other countries adopting it over the following centuries. The need for the Gregorian reform stemmed from the fact that the Julian calendar system assumes time between vernal equinoxes is 365.25 days, when in fact it is about 11 minutes less. The accumulated error between these values was about 10 days when the reform was made, resulting in the equinox occurring on March 11 and moving steadily earlier in the calendar. Since the equinox was tied to the celebration of Easter, the reform in the calendar was undertaken by the Roman Catholic Church.

Continue reading at Wikipedia

Deceptive God, Incompetent Messiah: What Islam Really Teaches About Allah and Jesus

By David Wood via answering-islam.org

Image from Tinette.
For nearly two thousand years, Christians have proclaimed Jesus’ death and resurrection. Islam rejects both of these doctrines and offers a different account of what happened at the cross and afterwards. However, the Muslim explanation comes at a tremendous price: Their version of the story portrays God as a horrible deceiver, and Jesus as the most stupendous failure in the history of the prophets. Hence, while Muslims claim that “Allah is Truth”[1] and that Jesus is to be revered as one of Allah’s mightiest prophets, these claims are hollow, for Islamic dogma comes with a great deal of heresy.
Continue reading at Answering Islam.

Monday, June 28, 2010

Federal Appeals Court: Suit Against Government over Funding Embryonic Research can Proceed

26th June 2010

'The great irony of the guidelines is that research involving stem cells safely derived from human adults and other sources presents the same if not greater potential for medical breakthroughs, without any of the troubling legal and ethical issues related to embryonic stem-cell research.' 'The majority of the almost 50,000 comments that the NIH received were opposed to funding this research, and by its own admission, NIH totally ignored these comments'.

Continue reading at Catholic Online

Abortion 'triples breast cancer risk': Fourth study finds terminations linked to disease by Jill Stanek

By Jill Stanek –24th June 2010

The debate on the link between abortion and breast cancer continues.

Read at JillStanek.com

Saturday, June 26, 2010

Man contends priest touch him through his pants pocket in 1928 … and it’s Pope Benedict’s fault.

From the Catholic League - June 25, 2010
A lawsuit against the Vatican was filed yesterday in Louisville by attorney William McMurry seeking to depose Pope Benedict XVI. McMurry contends that officials of the Catholic Church in Rome, including the pope, knew about cases of priestly sexual abuse and then covered them up.
Responding is Catholic League president Bill Donohue:It is a staple of anti-Catholic thinking that every priest on the face of the globe takes his marching orders from the pope, and that every instance of priestly wrongdoing is known to the Holy Father and his inner circle. The fact is that the Catholic Church is among the most decentralized entities in the world, and it is positively preposterous to think that the pope sits around orchestrating coverups in places ranging from Louisville to London. McMurry knows this as well, but having creamed over $10 million for himself (out of a $25.7 million pot) from a settlement with the Archdiocese of Louisville in 2003, he can afford to be motivated more by ideology than greed at this point.
"I have yet to meet a Catholic, expert or otherwise," McMurry says, "who does not believe that the Holy See has the absolute right to control the day-to-day activities of a bishop's work." Yet when even parents cannot possibly control the day-to-day activities of their children, only someone who is hopelessly naïve—or malicious—would contend that the pope is tweeting the bishops all day long.
McMurry has three clients: one says he "thinks" the local bishop knew of his alleged abuse; another maintains that he was molested over three decades ago; and the third contends that a priest touched him through his pants pocket in 1928. If this is McMurry's best shot, then he is bound to fail. Besides, the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act makes it difficult to prosecute a head of state.
This lawsuit, then, is not driven by a noble pursuit of justice. It is driven by hate. As such, it deserves a quick death.
From the Catholic League: For Religious and Civil Rights


UPDATE 1.
Attorney William McMurry ends his pursuit of Pope Benedict. He can't find any more victims that haven't already been compensated.


UPDATE 2. An interesting twist.
James O’Bryan, the man allegedly touched by a priest through his pants pocket in 1928 and who tried to sue the Vatican 82 years later returns to the Church after dropping the lawsuit against the Vatican.

Explore the Sistine Chapel

Use your mouse to explore the Sistine Chapel

Wikipedia entry on the Sistine Chapel

Poor silly girls

So, a couple of girls decide to write about why their live-in boyfriends are just dreamy and how no stuffy old marriage business could possibly make their lives any better:

Continue reading at And Sometimes Tea

Why do film makers have to distort the history of Christianity?

By Michael Cook, MercatorNet, 24th June 2010
Is it a sign of exhausted creativity that anti-Christian film makers are exhuming Enlightenment myths? In the arthouses this summer are two films recycling tattered canards which have been mouldering in history books for centuries, repeatedly refuted and repeatedly revived.

Pope Joan (Die Päpstin) is a German production about a female Pope who — supposedly – was elected in 853. Mediaeval legends about the Popess are sketchy, but what legend leaves out, the imagination of the director, Sönke Wortmann, fills in. …

The other film, Agora, is a Spanish blockbuster by Alejandro Amenábar which takes place in Alexandria in 415. Its heroine is Hypatia, a young unmarried and virginal woman of genius who teaches philosophy and astronomy in the Agora, the ancient world’s version of a university.
Hypatia is a pagan, one of a declining minority in a city torn by feuds between Jews and fundamentalist Christians led by the scheming Patriarch Cyril. It is a tough time for lovers of the truth, especially when Christians destroy Alexandria’s rich library. When Hypatia refuses to recant her belief that the earth revolves around the Sun and then refuses to become a Christian, the mob seizes her. To spare her the agony of being stoned, one of her admirers euthanases her. (Amenábar also directed The Sea Inside, an award-winning film about euthanasia.)
Read more at MercatorNet.com


Wikipedia entry on Pope Joan

Wikipedia entry on Hypatia

Friday, June 25, 2010

Spirituality Without Spirits (I’m spiritual but not religious)

By David Mills - May 28, 2010 First Things.

Hedonistic Spirituality It’s a great and self-serving mess, this claim to be “spiritual but not religious,” which we hear from almost anyone who talks about religion in public, outside those the worldlings define as fundamentalist (me, probably you, Joseph Bottum, David Goldman, Benedict XVI, Hassidic Jews, devout Muslims, religious families with more than four children).

It’s one of those easily remembered phrases that work like a “get out of jail free” card for anyone who feels he has to explain his lack of religious practice, and as a claim to superiority for those who care about being superior to those who practice an established religion. It’s the religious equivalent of “I gave at the office” or “There’s a call on the other line” or “I don’t eat meat.”

So we find Lady Gaga, the pornographic songstress, telling a reporter for The Times that she has a new spirituality just before taking her out for a night at a Berlin sex club. Asked by the reporter, “You were raised a Catholic — so when you say ‘God,’ do you mean the Catholic God, or a different, perhaps more spiritual sense of God?”, she responded, “More spiritual. . . . There’s really no religion that doesn’t hate or condemn a certain kind of people, and I totally believe in all love and forgiveness, and excluding no one.”

You see what I mean. To be truly spiritual—on a scale on which “the Catholic God” seems stuck in the middle—apparently means indifferently inclusive or (what is another way of saying the same thing) undogmatic.

I don’t think Ms. Gaga or anyone else who talks like this has really thought it through. That God who forgives everyone and excludes no one doesn’t object to debauches in Berlin sex clubs. A point in his favor, from one point of view. But then he doesn’t object to murderers and torturers and corrupt bankers either. A point in his favor from no one’s point of view.

Continue reading at First Things

CHINA - VATICAN New bishop of Sanyuan, approved by the Vatican - Asia News

By Zhen Yuan - June 24th 2010

NEW BISHOP IN SANYUAN. China Sanyuan (AsiaNews) - Mgr Joseph Han Yingjin was ordained today, the Solemnity of St. John the Baptist, as the new bishop of Sanyuan (Shaanxi). His ordination was approved by the Holy See and took place in the church of the Sacred Heart in Yuanmenxiang. The Bishop, speaking to AsiaNews, said he wants to strengthen evangelization, faith formation and social services, as well as strengthen the bonds of communion among priests.

Bishop Han was the fourth Vatican approved bishop to be ordained in China since last April, after those of Hohhot, Haimen and Xiamen. Unlike what happened in the past, this time all the bishop concelebrants were in communion with the Holy See.

Continue reading at Asia News.

Vatican Official Meets With Cuban President Castro - ZENIT

 HAVANA, Cuba, JUNE 21, 2010 (Zenit.org).

A top official from the Vatican Secretariat of State ended his six-day visit to Cuba Sunday in a meeting with President Raúl Castro.
Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, secretary for relations with states, began his visit on June 15, marking the 75th anniversary of the establishment of relations between the Holy See and Cuba.
During the Sunday afternoon meeting with Castro, the officials highlighted the celebration of this anniversary.
The prelate and the president also spoke about other topics of the international scene, which were not specified to the public, reported the Cuban agency Prensa Latina.
Also present at the meeting was the apostolic nuncio in Cuba, Archbishop Giovanni Angelo Becciu, and the Cuban foreign relations minister, Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla.
Continue reading at ZENIT

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Vietnamese delegation for diplomatic relations with Vatican in Rome - Asia News

by Nguyen Hung, 21st June 2010

Hanoi (AsiaNews) – A Vietnamese government delegation is in Rome for the second meeting of the "Joint Working Group" between Vietnam and the Vatican, which has the official aim of continuing the process of normalization of diplomatic relations.
The delegation, says the government press, is led by deputy Foreign Minister Nguyen Thanh Son and includes officials from the Ministry for Public Security and the Committee for Religious Affairs.

Continue reading at Asia News.

Abortion provider Planned Parenthood missing millions - Washington Times

A new report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) on federal tax money funneled into Planned Parenthood and similar organizations raises more questions than it answers about the nation's largest abortion chain.
Planned Parenthood Federation of America's (PPFA) audits show the organization spent just $657.1 million between 2002 and 2008 from federal government grants and programs, but the abortion behemoth's own annual reports show that it took in $2.3 billion from government grants and programs during the same time period.
That's not pocket change. Why the discrepancy?
Continue reading at the Washington Times: Planned Parenthood's missing millions

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Lady Gaga's Misdirected Eros and Irresistible Beat

By Ellyn vonHuben at Word on Fire Blog.

lady_gaga_fame_monster It has been hinted, though no official statement has been issued, that the Madams of the Sacred Heart have been none too pleased with one of their alumnae, the cultural tour de force: Lady Gaga. (No mention is made of her Sacred Heart Passport being revoked.) Can we find anyone who hasn’t heard of her - or at least had some subliminal exposure to her work? I would have to guess that the Sisters’ primary quibble with Gaga is her salacious undulations, smutty lyricism and the attendant dubious publicity…and perhaps a bit of embarrassment over the discernible holes in her religious formation.

Continue reading at Word On Fire

Give Me That Old Time Atheism

By Fr. Robert Barron – Word on Fire Blog.

Recently, Chicago has been the target market for a campaign of billboards and bus placards sponsored by the Freedom From Religion Foundation which advocate a dismissal of all things religious. Father Barron offers his thoughts on this initiative here:

Atheist Bus Slogan I have no particular political objection to the recent advertising campaign launched by atheists and agnostics, which involves placards on the side of buses urging religious people to sleep in on Sunday morning and stop wasting their time going to church. I mean, it’s a free country, and people can express their views publicly, even on controversial matters. But what I object to is the stupidity of the view that’s being advocated.

Continue reading at Word On Fire

Pope Joan? Pioneer or Protestant plot - film revives debate about female pope

 From the Sydney Morning Herald
… a film, which last week reached the top 10 box office list in Italy, has revived the story of Pope Joan - an Englishwoman who, legend has it, disguised herself as a man and became the only female pontiff.
The film will fuel debate over whether Pope Joan really existed or whether, as the Catholic Church maintains, she was a mythical figure used by the early Protestants to discredit and embarrass Rome.
-----------------------------------
Given how gullible anti-Catholics seem to be I’m sure they’ll be flocking to see the movie.
Wikipedia provides some details as to why the “Pope Joan” story can’t be true:
"Between [Popes] Leo IV and Benedict III, where Martinus Polonus places her, she cannot be inserted, because Leo IV died 17 July 855, and immediately after his death Benedict III was elected by the clergy and people of Rome; but owing to the setting up of an Antipope, in the person of the deposed Cardinal Anastasius, he was not consecrated until 29 September. Coins exist which bear both the image of Benedict III and of Emperor Lothair I, who died 28 September 855; therefore Benedict must have been recognized as Pope before the last-mentioned date. On 7 October 855, Benedict III issued a charter for the Abbey of Corvey. Hincmar, Archbishop of Reims, informed Nicholas I that a messenger whom he had sent to Leo IV learned on his way of the death of this Pope, and therefore handed his petition to Benedict III, who decided it (Hincmar, ep. xl in P.L., CXXXVI, 85). All these witnesses prove the correctness of the dates given in the lives of Leo IV and Benedict III, and there was no interregnum between these two Popes, so that at this place there is no room for the alleged Popess."[6]

More at Patrick Madrid's Blog.

More at Catholic Encyclopedia.

Monday, June 21, 2010

The Pope speaks 'for the first time'-- yet again (NYT)

By Diogenes at Catholic Culture | June 11, 2010

"Addressing the sex abuse crisis for the first time from the seat of the Roman Catholic Church, Pope Benedict XVI begged forgiveness on Friday…"

That's the opening line of a New York Times report on the Pope's homily during the closing Mass of the Year for Priests. Did your jaw drop as you read it?

"Addressing the sex abuse crisis for the first time…"

What? What?!! How many times in the last several weeks has the Holy Father addressed this topic? How could the Times-- which has micro-analyzed every papal statement-- convey the notion that the June 11 remarks were his first? USA Today, reacting to the same remarks, accurately conveyed the idea that we've heard the apologies before-- many times-- with the headline query:

Will Pope Benedict's apologies for abuse crisis ever be enough?

Continue reading at Catholic Culture

Saturday, June 19, 2010

Hitch-22: Christopher Hitchens’ memoir

By Francis Phillips

Christopher Hitchens hardly needs an introduction; as a journalist, polemicist and “contrarian”, he appears to be a one-man road show in rusting armour, travelling the world to tilt at whatever windmills of folly provoke his wrath. Late in this often engaging, sometimes instructive and occasionally self-regarding memoir, he compiles “hate” and “love” lists: in the hate column he puts “dictatorship, religion, stupidity, demagogy, censorship, bullying and intimidation” while in the love column he has “literature, irony, humour, the individual, defence of free expression, friendship.” These lists sum up the passions and themes of this book.

Continue reading at MercatorNet

Daddy Was Only a Sperm Donor: A Troubling Report on Children Conceived by Single Mothers Who Chose Insemination. - WSJ.com

By Bradford Wilcox 

18th June 2010, The Wall Street Journal.

Seventy-one percent of the adult offspring of these single mothers agree that: "My sperm donor is half of who I am," and 78% wonder "what my sperm donor's family is like." Half report that they "feel sad" when they see "friends with their biological fathers and mothers." Donor offspring with single mothers also are much less likely to report that they can rely on their family. Fifty-six percent of these offspring said they depend more on friends than on family, compared to just 29% of young adults born to two biological parents.

Read in full at The Wall Street Journal.

Friday, June 18, 2010

LOUIS C.K.: "POPE FUCKS BOYS".

Catholic League: For Religious and Civil Rights
June 17, 2010

Hope and Freedom Tour comes to JBB On last night's Comedy Central program, "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart," comedian Louis C.K. concluded his interview by noting there were certain words that he could not utter on his new show on FX. After offering a few examples, he bleated out the following: "I was going to say that the pope f**** boys…." [The obscenity was bleeped.]
Here is the response by Catholic League president Bill Donohue:
It is a sign of cultural atrophy that so many of today's comedians cannot exhibit humor save by insulting someone or using vulgarities. Louis C.K. is a case in point. Absent real talent, he does what comes natural to him—he descends to the gutter for laughter. Now he has decided to accuse Pope Benedict XVI of child rape.
I appreciate debate with adults, but have no interest in debating adolescents. Which is why debating this guy would be a waste of time.
Not surprisingly, this gross offense was carried on a network known for two things: (a) trashing Christians and (b) censoring offenses against Muslims

------------------------

Image of Louis CK showing his adoring fans how he can make his belly-button into a vagina. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Saturday, June 12, 2010

Vatican communications official visits EWTN and Mother Angelica :: Catholic News Agency (CNA)

Irondale, Ala., Jun 11, 2010 / 08:15 pm

(CNA/EWTN News).- The president of the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Social Communications visited EWTN’s headquarters in Irondale, Alabama on June 1. He visited the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Hanceville, where he met with EWTN foundress Mother Angelica and gave her a rosary from the Pope.
Michael P. Warsaw, president and chief executive officer of the EWTN Global Catholic Network, told CNA that Archbishop Claudio Maria Celli’s visit was “certainly a great honor” and a “tremendous boost” to the broadcaster’s efforts.
He reported that the archbishop visited Mother Angelica and presented her with a rosary “as a personal gift from the Holy Father.”

Continue reading at Catholic News Agency (CNA)
-----------------------------------------
In Brisbane EWTN is rebroadcast on Channel 31: Mon – Fri 12:30pm – 1:30pm, and Sun 10am – 11am.
EWTN’s 24hour television is available free in Brisbane using a satellite dish. See here for details.
EWTN's television and radio can be seen and heard on the internet at ewtn.com

It should be noted that the views expressed on EWTN are not necessarily those of the Brisbane Archdiocese.

Lady Gaga dismissed as 'Madonna wannabe'. Catholic News Agency (CNA)

New York City, N.Y., Jun 12, 2010 / 12:43 pm (CNA).-

Lady Gaga Alejandro Catholic League president Bill Donohue dismissed pop sensation Lady Gaga in her recent controversial music video – which features highly sexualized images coupled with Catholic religious symbols – as a mediocre, “Madonna wannabe.”

The starlet's recent video for her hit song “Alejandro,” features the singer clad at various points in a red, latex nun's habit, swallowing a Rosary, and engaging in simulated erotic encounters with her male back up dancers.

“Lady Gaga is playing Madonna copy cat, squirming around half-naked with half-naked guys, abusing Catholic symbols – they're always Catholic symbols – while bleating out 'Alejandro' enough times to induce vomit,” wrote Donohue in a statement Friday

Continue reading at Catholic News Agency (CNA)

IS ATHEISM RATIONAL? IS RELIGION? - New Oxford Review

By Carl Sundell, May 2010.

Brights “… perhaps we might begin to suspect that the atheist's position is rooted not in the intellect but in the will. Is it possible that the atheist does not want God to exist, and that he therefore orders his intellect to supply the necessary objections? It certainly seems so. There isn't any reasonable argument why men should choose to live in a purposeless universe and be doomed to eternal death. It becomes all the less reasonable a choice when we remember that there is not and cannot be any shred of proof that God does not exist or that we exist without an ultimate purpose. Then why choose atheism? Why would anybody want God not to exist?”

Read full article at the New Oxford Review

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Time Magazine Launches a Snide Attack on the Pope - George Weigel

National Review Online, June 4 2010.

It’s not easy to understand the decision of Time’s editors to run the magazine’s current (June 7) cover story, with its cheesy title, “Why Being Pope Means Never Having to Say You’re Sorry.” The lengthy essay inside breaks no news; it recycles several lame charges against Benedict XVI that have been flatly denied or effectively rebutted; and it indulges an adolescent literary style (e.g., “mealymouthed declarations buttressed by arcane religious philosophy”) that makes one yearn and pine for the days of Henry Luce.
The lengthy story is also poorly sourced, relying (as many such exercises do) on alleged “Vatican insiders” and giving analytic pride of place to the Italian Church historian Alberto Melloni.

Continue reading at the National Review Online.

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Murdered Bishop Padovese canceled Cyprus trip to avoid assassination of Pope :: Catholic News Agency (CNA)

Rome, Italy, Jun 8, 2010 / 06:48 pm (CNA/EWTN News).

killed bishop An Italian Vatican expert is saying that Bishop Luigi Padovese, Apostolic Vicar of Anatolia and President of the Turkish Bishops’ Conference, canceled his trip to Cyprus because he feared that his driver –who later confessed to killing the bishop- might attempt an attack on Pope Benedict XVI during his stay on the island.
Analyst Fr. Fillippo di Giacomo, who writes for publications such as L’Unitá and La Stampa, revealed that “hours before Padovese was killed, the Turkish Government called him to say that his driver, who they themselves had put in his service four years before, had gotten out of hand. That is to say, he had embraced the fundamentalist cause.”

Continue reading at Catholic News Agency (CNA)

Does Being a Genius in Mathematics Make Hawking Wise?

 From the Catholic League:

HAWKING POSITS FALSE CONFLICT
June 8, 2010

Stephen Hawking. Wikimedia Commons In an interview last night with ABC-News reporter Diane Sawyer, scientist Stephen Hawking opined that human life is "insignificant in the universe," and then went on to say that "There is a fundamental difference between religion, which is based on authority, [and] science, which is based on observation and reason." He concluded by saying, "Science will win because it works."

Catholic League president Bill Donohue took exception to Hawking's views today:

How any rational person could belittle the pivotal role that human life plays in the universe is a wonder, but it is just as silly to say that all religions are marked by the absence of reason. While there are some religions which are devoid of reason, there are others, such as Roman Catholicism, which have long assigned it a special place.

It was the Catholic Church that created the first universities, and it was the Catholic Church that played a central role in the Scientific Revolution; these two historical contributions made possible Mr. Hawking's career.

Reason, in pursuit of truth, has been reiterated by the Church fathers for nearly two millennia. That is why Hawking posits a false conflict: in the annals of the Catholic Church, there is no inherent conflict between science and religion. Quite the contrary: science and religion, in Catholic thought, are complementary properties. Ergo, nothing is gained by alleging a "victory" of science over religion.

Religion without reason, Pope Benedict XVI instructed us in his Regensburg address in 2006, leads to fanaticism. That much Hawking seems to understand. What he doesn't get is its contra: science without faith also leads to disaster—the genocidal regimes in Germany, the Soviet Union, China and Cambodia being Exhibits A, B, C and D.

----------------------------------------------------------------

It’s not uncommon for Hawking to make some fairly bizarre comments:

On taking a weightless flight with Zero Gravity Corporation Hawking said:

“Many people have asked me why I am taking this flight. I am doing it for many reasons. First of all, I believe that life on Earth is at an ever-increasing risk of being wiped out by a disaster such as sudden nuclear war, a genetically engineered virus, or other dangers. I think the human race has no future if it doesn't go into space. I therefore want to encourage public interest in space.”

For a man who has relied so much on the help of other people to deal with his disability he certainly has an very low opinion of humanity. And if humanity is so rotten that they will destroy the Earth, won’t this same humanity just repeat that destruction in space? And which alien planet does Hawking want us to colonise? And how does one transport large numbers of people to this “New Earth”? Remembering how much fuel is required to lift just three men to the Moon.

Apollo 11 Apollo 11 using quite a lot of fuel to transport just 3 men to the moon.

Like Cosmologist Carl Sagan, Hawking seems to sometimes let his fantasies get in the way of facts.

Image of Steven Hawking courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Image of Apollo 11 courtesy of NASA.

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Another Response to Time Magazine’s Hit Job on Pope Benedict - Catholic Exchange

June 8th 2010. By Greg Eriandson.

It would probably be too much to ask that Time magazine run a cover story on the bold statements and concrete actions that Pope Benedict has taken to address the clergy sexual abuse crisis. No self-respecting journalistic enterprise wants to be separated from the pack when it comes to covering a controversial news story, which means it must always follow the herd, even when the evidence points elsewhere.

But the Time magazine June 7 cover story is a particularly frustrating example of a media enterprise playing to prejudices with half-truths even to the point of severely misrepresenting the story.

“Why Being Pope Means Never having To Say You’re Sorry: The sex abuse scandal and the limits of atonement” is the provocative headline splashed across the cover of Time and over an image of the back of Pope Benedict’s mitered head.

Lest we have any doubts where this is heading, the lead sentence of the story manages to drag in the Inquisition: “How do you atone for something terrible, like the Inquisition?”

Continue reading at Catholic Exchange

How serious is the 'predator priest' problem? - USATODAY.com

By Philip Jenkins

Fairness. Web Bryant, USA Today Why do we hear so much about Catholic [sex abuse] cases? What is different about the Catholic Church is the manner in which its problems have come to light, and this involves both the nature of the institution itself and the workings of the law. As a result, the church is much more open to civil litigation than any other institution. These lawsuits allow the exposure of numerous cases that would never have surfaced if the perpetrators were not priests.

Read full article at USATODAY.com

Image by Web Bryant, USA Today.

Monday, June 7, 2010

Andrea Bocelli praises mother’s choice not to abort him :: Catholic News Agency (CNA)

Rome, Italy, Jun 6, 2010 / 06:35 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Italian singer Andrea Bocelli has told the story of his mother’s pregnancy, during which doctors suggested that she abort him because he would be born with a disability. In a new video he praises his mother for making “the right choice,” saying other mothers should take encouragement from the story.
Continue reading at Catholic News Agency (CNA)

Twisted Thinking on Abortion » Bill Muehlenberg’s CultureWatch

Those who seek to defend the indefensible have to resort to increasingly bizarre argumentation and twisted thinking to make their case. A prime example of this is the attempt to justify the killing of unborn babies. Some of the most inane and vacuous reasoning can be found coming from the pro-abortionists.
Continue reading at Twisted Thinking on Abortion » Bill Muehlenberg’s CultureWatch

Above image of the feet of an unborn at 7 weeks gestation courtesy of Priests for Life.
If the deliberate terminating of the life of the unborn wasn't such a serious issue I wouldn't feel guilt at having a laugh:
Of course for Catholics guilt can be a good thing. It's a reminder that something is not right. Everyone Against Abortion Please Raise Their Hand:



Rachel's Vineyard (Australia)- Repairing hearts broken by abortion.

Saturday, June 5, 2010

Sex and the City 2- Past Their Prime

By Rozann Carter from Word on Fire Blog:

sex-and-the-city-2 The new Sex & the City movie has hit theaters in America. However, a review for a Catholic blog, it seemed to me, would likely devolve into cliché. With a title that practically speaks for itself, it might be redundant to give the family-film-critique on the portrayed pleasure-seeking, individualist, often brazenly inappropriate plotlines. Truly, we all know deep down what is lacking and what is excessive in the lives of Carrie, Samantha, Miranda, and Charlotte…even if we have never seen an episode of the series. While I am sure that the content of the film, which has the potential to desensitize an entire generation of American young women, likely deserves a harsher critique, I would like to look more closely at the mystery of the cult following of the series and the ironic statement made by Sex & the City2’s first weekend at the theater.

Continue reading at Fr. Robert Barron's Word On Fire

Friday, June 4, 2010

Holocaust Denial, Lifting of Excommunication, and the Media gets it Wrong Again.

From Pave the Way -

s-RICHARD-WILLIAMSON-large On the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council Pope Benedict XVI used this occasion to lift the ban of excommunication, which was generated when  Archbishop Lefebvre ordained four Bishops in direct violation to a papal order not to do so issued by Pope John Paul II. It was this act of defiance against the Papal order that generated the excommunication. After the announcement of the lifting of the ban was made on January 21, 2009  a video interview of one of the Bishops, Richard Williamson, surfaced where he quite plainly denied the holocaust impact on the Jewish people and stated that not one Jew perished in any gas chamber. This Holocaust denial set off a firestorm of protests and negative remarks, which created a temporary rift in Jewish Catholic relations.

Unlike  many of the interreligious organizations Pave the Way Foundation did not issue a protest or a press release of condemnation but instead set out to find out the truth of this action.

Continue reading at Pave the Way Foundation

Vatican paper publishes article on Pope's view of Vatican II :: Catholic News Agency (CNA)

Vatican paper publishes article on Pope's view of Vatican II :: Catholic News Agency (CNA)

Some how I don't think the views of Pope Benedict are going to change those ageing progressives who hold onto their "Spirit of Vatican II" beliefs. See below such progressives celebrating Mass at their "Call to Action" (USA) annual meeting 2008.

Thursday, June 3, 2010

The story we're not covering today...

By Diogenes at CatholicCulture.org
May 24, 2010 3:41 PM

... is a story about disruption of Pentecost Sunday Mass at the cathedral in Chicago. Because there wasn't a disruption.

Homosexual activists of the Rainbow Sash organization had threatened to confront Cardinal Francis George during the Mass. Instead, they claimed victory after they "entered" the cathedral. Which is not a terribly impressive achievement, nor even a propaganda victory, since the doors were open.

Time Magazine’s Rap On Pope Is Lousy Journalism, again.

 

From the Catholic League: For Religious and Civil Rights

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Are Sperm Donors Just Glorified Dead Beat Dads?

With the recent passing of legislation in Queensland that further liberalises artificial reproduction, the issue of using donor sperm/ova to produce other human beings needs to be discussed again.

Michael Cook at MercatorNet raises the issue again: Is it high-tech child abuse to rob children of their biological heritage?

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

TIME apparently doesn't have time...

... for anything resembling decent journalism or an interest in hiding its disdain for the Catholic Church and Pope Benedict XVI:
Continue reading at Insight Scoop | The Ignatius Press Blog: TIME apparently doesn't have time...

From Communism to Christianity

 By Thomas Basil at New Oxford Review

The Catholic Church is often portrayed as mankind's foremost oppressor. But all who level such accusations should make a secularist pilgrimage to Latvia's Museum of [Soviet and Nazi] Occupations in the capital city of Riga. The museum has been given a very conspicuous location in the heart of the city. Photos of foreign dignitary guests line the entrance. It looks like every political figure and popular entertainer who sets foot in Latvia is required to make a visit.
Pilgrims are recommended to meditate on Order No. 001223 given by the Soviet Deputy People's Commissar of Public Security. On the night of June 13, 1941, fifteen thousand Latvians were awakened in the night, given one hour to pack a suitcase, then forced into railway cattle cars to ride for weeks to Siberian gulags. Newspapers and police were silent. Relatives received no information. Train tracks were littered with desperate notes dropped by deportees, some now on display as faded testaments on the museum wall.

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