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. Sample what you like - I'll serve up more next Friday...

Concerns for Civility: What Do The Scriptures Teach Us?  - "There’s been a lot of talk about 'civility' in the news. Unfortunately it is all wrapped up in politics and is currently being batted about as a thinly veiled political provocation."

Will “dialogue” end abortion – or just the abortion debate? - We should never be afraid to confront evil and we should be willing to stand for truth in every situation.


Bp Schneider calls on Pope for document condemning mistaken interpretations of Vatican II  - "There is the need for a new Syllabus, this time directed not so much against the errors coming from outside of the Church, but against the errors circulated within the Church by supporters of the thesis of discontinuity and rupture, with its doctrinal, liturgical, and pastoral application."

Holy See Statement on Creation of Ordinariate - "A Personal Ordinariate is a canonical structure that provides for corporate reunion in such a way that allows former Anglicans to enter full communion with the Catholic Church while preserving elements of their distinctive Anglican patrimony."

Three Ex-Bishops Defect To Catholicism - "The leader of Catholics in England and Wales welcomed them into the church and paid tribute to the 'sensitive' leadership of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams."

History overturned as Anglican bishops are ordained as Catholic priests - "...it was hard to avoid concluding that what this ceremony really signalled was an end to the search for the compromises that would reunite two distinctive churches, and its replacement by Rome's scheme to gather up so many Anglican converts that the Church of England simply withers on the vine. A takeover, not a merger." [This article is a bit harsh toward the catholic position in places, but is still worth the read.]

Newly appointed head of Anglican ordinariate outlines position, plans 

 

More Anglcan defections to Rome - "St James the Great, in the Albert Hill area of Darlington, has been an Anglo- Catholic church for more than 100 years. But its priest, Father Ian Grieves, said the church was looking to split, chiefly because of plans to ordain women bishops."

On the need for apologetics and sound argument - "I've discovered that there is a huge swath of Catholics who feel that offering up any arguments or defense in favor of Catholicism smacks of triumphalism and arrogance; such folks, when pressed, usually hold to a vaguely indifferent form of "faith" that is heavily reliant on secularized understandings of 'tolerance' and 'equality.'"

Behold the Lamb of God - "When it comes to personal Bible reading, Protestants often put Catholics to shame. But as far as Sunday worship goes, it is hard to find a more biblical service than the Mass."


Celebrating Dr. King: The Moral Authority of Law - "King defended the transcendent source of the law’s authority. In doing so he took a conservative Christian view of law. In fact, he was perhaps the most eloquent advocate of this viewpoint in his time, as, interestingly, Justice Clarence Thomas is today."

The President’s Speech; Why I Wasn’t Impressed - Bishop Thomas J. Tobin: "The problem, at least for me, is that President Obama’s persistent and willful promotion of abortion renders his compassionate gestures and soaring rhetoric completely disingenuous."

More than Half of the States Now Suing to Overturn Obamacare - "Our federal government is designed to be a government of limited, enumerated powers, and we do not believe it has the power to order citizens into commerce so it can then regulate their conduct under authority of the Commerce Clause. Whatever the merits or demerits of health care reform, the ends cannot justify the unconstitutional means." [Subsidiarity!]

Something about the Name Mary? - "The Social Security Administration maintains a website that tracks the names given to children in America." [This article offers some interesting charts showing the popularity of specific biblical names over the last century.]

Two great sources of Catholic news: 
NewAdvent.org
PewSitter.com