This Week's Headlines

As another week comes to an end, this is your chance to top off your glass with a final helping of news, current events, and just plain interesting stuff that may not have made into the mainstream media. A chance to linger for a few more moments before we close the door on the week. Below are some links to articles, blogs, and miscellaneous happenings that caught my eye over the past few days. You can sample what you like - I'll serve up more next Friday...

Will the Real First Amendment Please Stand Up - "Thomas Jefferson wrote in a private letter of a “wall of separation” but, for the record, a private Letter of Jefferson is not the US Constitution and if Jefferson really intended a wall of separation then he never got his own memo."

What is This Wicked Capitaliam? -  "I’d like to address in this case the way in which opponents (particularly Christian opponents) of “capitalism” tend to address the object of their condemnation."

Archbishop Chaput  - The First Freedom: Religious liberty as the foundation of human liberty - "...many millions of Christians are now being persecuted or harassed for their faith around the world.  We need to pray for them.  And we also need to pray for ourselves.  Because we're not as securely free as we might like to think."

Pope Names 24 new Cardinals -  "...including two from the United States: Archbishop Raymond L. Burke, head of the Vatican's highest tribunal, and Archbishop Donald W. Wuerl of Washington."

Archbishop Raymond Burke, Critic of Obama and Pro-Choice Pols, Named a Cardinal - "Among those tapped is an American archbishop who has become one of the harshest critics of President Obama and pro-choice politicians -- and of bishops he feels are not sufficiently hard line."

Can a Catholic Accept Evolutionary Theory Uncritically? - "There are important insights of science in the matter of creation and the material world that Catholics are free to accept and wise to accept. The Catechism stakes out a middle ground wherein a Catholic may be able to accept certain aspects of evolutionary theory in terms of secondary causality. But this must always be balanced with a deep reverence for God as the first cause of all that is..."

Anglicans' Regret over Bishop's Conversion to Rome - "He intends joining the Roman Catholic Church because of his opposition to the way the Church of England plans to introduce women bishops."

Archbishop of Canterbury moves to flush out Anglicans plotting to defect to Rome - "In a surprise announcement, Dr Rowan Williams said he wanted to establish a new joint group of Roman Catholic and Church of England figures to oversee the conversion process."

Prank Calls and the Power of Humility - "The idea came to me to play the role of a religious zealot, to see if I could get the telemarketer to be the first one to hang up if I launched into a hellfire and brimstone lecture about how carpet cleaners were from the devil."

Gay Parents More Likely to Have Gay Kids - "...Walter Schumm knows he's about to become the next punching bag for the left. But this is where the study led him and he's sticking to the facts, and not heeding the politicized thuggery of the left."

What is a Cardinal and what is the purpose of the College of Cardinals? - "With the elevation of Archbishop Wuerl to the College of Cardinals, it might be good to spend a brief time reflecting on what a Cardinal is and how the College of Cardinals functions."