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...

On Truth and Trade: Economics and the Catholic Vision of the Good Life - [Two great essays explaining the benefits of capitalism versus distributism from a Catholic perspective.]


World Youth Day: Pope talks profits and people - "The real challenge for economists and policy makers is how do we move from the good intentions of providing ever-increasing, ethically-sound prosperity for all to actual results."

Why the Assumption of Mary into heaven began in the Garden of Eden - "The spirituality of a woman is rooted in the fact that she is the heart of love and through her special and unique relationship with the Holy Spirit (as one who gives life), a woman is truly the example of what it means to be fully human."

Ordination, Equality, and Natural Law - "Natural law defines the distinction between genders in the functions of parenthood, even on a biological level.  Divine law, through the Magisterium of the Church, defines, by gender, and by many other factors, distinctions in ministerial roles and functions."

Homosexual Leaven in the Liturgical Lump - "The male who suffers with deep-seated homosexuality has difficulty in being Christ visible in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass for a number of reasons..." [This article gives a compelling argument in favor of a return to ad orientem worship.]

British Leaders Talk Moral Collapse - "Moral decline and bad behavior is not limited to a few of the poorest parts of our society. In the highest offices, the plushest boardrooms, the most influential jobs, we need to think about the example we are setting..."

Children of divorce are born ‘losers’ claims bishop - "This is not to say that children cannot thrive outside of the marital family but if we really value childhood, then we must do what we can to try and ensure that children are raised by the fathers and mothers who bring them into the world."
 
Moments After America - "...what is a daily reality in Britain will soon be America’s reality, too, unless the country reverses its embrace of the social and economic policies that are bankrupting Europe and bringing its society to its collective knees."
 
External Markers of Our Faith - [From Archbishop Dolan of New York] "Scholars of religion–all religions, not just Catholic–tell us that an essential of a vibrant, sustained, attractive, meaningful life of faith in a given creed is external markers."


Archbp. Dolan on meatless Fridays and external signs of our Catholic identity - [A reply from Father Z. to the above posted article.] [See also this survey by Father Z. on the issue of meatless Fridays.]
 

Young religious find older garb habit-forming - "Among the few young women choosing religious life today, the most popular orders are those that wear a habit."

Big Picture at World Youth Day: 'It’s the Evangelicals, stupid!' - "For today’s younger Catholics, it’s more a matter of generational experience. They didn’t grow up in a stuffy, all-controlling church, so they’re not rebelling against it. Instead, they’re rebelling against a rootless secular world, making them eager to embrace clear markers of identity and sources of meaning."

World Youth Day priests granted power to lift abortion excommunications - "The archdiocese said they hope that “all the faithful who attend the celebrations of World Youth Day can more easily access the fruits of divine grace, which opens the door to a new life for them."

Making Poor People Pray - "Whether you’re poor because of bad luck and tough circumstances, or because of laziness and stupidity, being poor doesn’t make you sub-human.  It shouldn’t give other people an excuse to treat you like a child, even if they’re helping you."

Of Cassocks and Demons - "We knew it was a Catholic priest who would know what to do about demons and all that stuff."

Quote of the Week

"It is absurd for the Evolutionist to complain that it is unthinkable for an admittedly unthinkable God to make everything out of nothing, and then pretend that it is more thinkable that nothing should turn itself into everything." (G. K. Chesterton)

Monday Musings

A few random thoughts and ponderings to start the week...

Today is the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. In light of that, here is a link explaining the event that is celebrated on this important Holy Day:

The Feast of the Assumption

And here's one that I found particularly interesting:

A Woman For All Seasons

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With school starting, I have had several conversations with friends about homeschooling versus public school versus Catholic school. Our kids attend public school for several reasons including financial. But I see the benefit of both the parochial and homeschooling options. From a religious point of view, homeschooling certainly allows a parent to instill a strong faith in their children and to be directly active in their education. Likewise, Catholic schools provide an opportunity for children to learn their faith and to share it with others who are also Catholic. But I think public school offers a unique opportunity for a Catholic child to become a “light” to others. Surrounded as they are with secular ideas and non-religious peers, they have a chance to become a “voice in the wilderness.” Too often, the public schools are without such a faith perspective. A solidly Catholic family can be a strong witness in such a setting. Although it does require that parents be particularly diligent about instilling a firm foundation of faith in their child before sending them into this secular school system, the payoff can be twofold – a child can learn confidence in defending and explaining their faith, and other children may benefit from witnessing an authentic Catholic life.

The bottom line is: Each of these schooling options is a valid choice for parents depending on their circumstances and their child’s personality. Too often we divide into camps, trying to tout the benefits of our own schooling choice. But I think each family is called to live out their own vocation in their own unique way.

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I came across and interesting insight recently: When we pray as Christians we often end our prayers with the words, “…through Jesus Christ, our Lord.” We do this because we recognize Jesus as our mediator between God and humanity. But we must also realize that we are all members of the Christ’s Body. If we truly believe that our prayers will be answered “through Christ,” then we must understand that this will often require effort on our part. As the Body of Christ we will be called upon to bear part of His burden. We cannot sit idly by, expecting God to hand us our heart’s desire or to solve our problems with no cooperation from us. As the Body of Christ, we must be fully engaged in bringing about God’s Will on earth. When we pray that God’s Will be done, we are active participants in making that a reality.

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...

Rick Perry, Rick Santorum, the Meaning of Marriage and Political 'Conservatism'   - "Along with solidarity, which confirms the truth that we truly are our brother/sister's keeper, we must always keep in mind the importance of subsidiarity. Subsidiarity is a social ordering principle which respects the proper role of the family and the mediating instituions as the first place where governing should occur. It is about much more than federalism and it certainly is not satisfied with a misguided "States Rights" approach to issues such as Life and marriage."
 

Do Wisconsin Unions Reflect Catholic Social Doctrine? - While Mr. Winters has a point that the Church has been in support of unions, what he and many others fail to note are the parameters which the Holy Fathers have given for that support. There are limits, and these limits are almost always ignored.


Whatever Happened to Stem Cell Research? - "Often, a lack of rules results in wider chaos while narrow rules result in greater creativity – and even beauty. That is Bush’s great contribution. He encouraged scientists – and gave them room – to catch up to the ethics."
 
Years of liberal dogma have spawned a generation of amoral, uneducated, welfare dependent, brutalised youngsters - "They are products of a culture which gives them so much unconditionally that they are let off learning how to become human beings. My dogs are better behaved and subscribe to a higher code of values than the young rioters of Tottenham, Hackney, Clapham and Birmingham."

Why didn’t the looters’ parents know where they were? Why didn’t they teach them about right and wrong? Answer: society has undermined the family - "There is no ultimate answer without God..."
 

Can We Stop Telling God What To Do? - It’s not only that I don’t want to be in the theologically awkward position of telling God what to do, it’s also the case that I don’t want to be in the socially awkward (and politically annoying) position of being assaulted in Mass with the latest politically-correct fad dressed up as a prayer.

We Ignore the Roots of Scandal If We Only Protest Abortion  - "Just like a weed isn't really gone until the root is pulled up, only protesting abortion -  when Catholic hospitals all over the country offer IVF, embryo cryo-preservation, sterilization and contraception - isn't really addressing the deeper issue either."
 

Orthodoxy Is In the Balance - "...orthodoxy is about balance. Heresy is about picking and choosing. Some heretics pick one Bible verse or concept and make it the whole thing. But orthodoxy is about the whole range of truths held in proper balance and proportion."

 

Shaw: Polls, presidential hopefuls and religious convictions - "Kennedy’s privatizing of religion has borne much bitter fruit in the past half-century. Among other things, it’s been extended — in line with secularist thinking — to imply that citizens shouldn’t be influenced by their religiously grounded values in deciding how to vote."

Younger Christians More Likely to See Abortion as Important - "Almost three quarters (69%) of young people surveyed believe abortion to be very important compared to just 31% of those over 65."

Soon to be Extinct: Down Syndrome Kids - "Supporters of public funding argue that it is cheaper to offer subsidized prenatal testing and abortions than to pay the medical bills of a child with Down syndrome."

QUAERITUR: Woman ‘priests’ are inevitable? Fr. Z rants - "This is the irreformable doctrine of the Church which all Catholic are bound to accept as definitive, even as infallible as the CDF made plain.   This teaching is not merely a law or, as liberals like to call it, 'policy'."

Catholic Courtesy: Who Greets Whom and Holy Matrimony - "At least among ourselves, we Catholics should strive to enshrine common courtesies. The old Catholic courtesies were built around the mysteries of the Sacred Scriptures."

Have any other links of interest? Feel free to post in the comments section below...

Quote of the Week

"All the good works in the world are not equal to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, because they are only the works of men, but the Mass is the work of God. Martyrdom is nothing in comparison, for it is but the sacrifice of man to God, but in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, it is the sacrifice of God to man." (St. John Vianney)

Monday Musings

A few random thoughts to start the week...

I had a discussion recently with a non-Catholic Christian friend regarding evolution and the story of Creation in Genesis. Someday I will write more on this subject, but I challenge anyone who takes the Biblical account literally to read the first two chapters of Genesis and then tell me how the two stories of creation can both be true at the same time. Yes… there are TWO stories of creation found in Genesis, and the order of creation is different in each. They cannot BOTH be LITERALLY true. Maybe you can play around with the details to make it work out, but in doing so you have to regard some of the passages as non-literal, and that point you open up a the possibility that other parts may also be non-literal. You can’t have it any other way.

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I was listening in at another blog on a discussion concerning women priests in the Anglican/Episcopalian churches. It was stated that the New Testament gives examples of women in leadership roles (even as deacons) in the early Church, and that women instructed their male counterparts in the faith. I jumped in with the following comment:

“…I would point out that there are other passages in the New Testament which imply that women are called to a different kind of ministry within the Church than that to which men are called. For instance, Paul says that ‘women are to remain silent in the churches.’ (1 Corinthians 14:33-35) The ministry of public preaching does not seem to fit with this clear command from Scripture. Any instruction (or prophesying or leadership) a woman might provide to her fellow Christians must be apart from the formal/public ministry (the ordained priesthood) within the Church. If it really were common practice to have female preachers in the New Testament Church (as you seem to say), then why does Paul speak out against it?


“I would also suggest that the term ‘deacon’ was used rather loosely in New Testament times. This terminology was not yet fixed in the First Century. (This is true also of the presbyterate and the episcopate.) So to say that women served as ‘deacons’ in the early Church is a bit misleading since the exact understanding of ‘ordination’ and the ‘diaconate’ had not yet been solidified. If you trace the development of the diaconate you will see that it is male only when referring to sacramental ordination. Also 1 Timothy 3:8-13 describes the qualifications of a deacon and he refers specifically to a ‘man’ fulfilling this role.


“So in the end, the New Testament is rather unclear about what a ‘deacon’ is (this is a part of later development), but it is very clear that women should not preach in Church.


“Having said that… My main point is that women’s ordination is clearly a break with Tradition. Whatever the role of women in the historical Church, it was never one of public, hierarchical ministry (or priesthood) until very recently, and then only in certain denominations. So when I hear about denominations that struggle with this issue, and they try to make room for differing opinions in the hope of greater Christian unity, I am left puzzled. By allowing women’s ordination, they actually take a step away from traditional, biblical Christian teaching and in the long run that does not unify Christians, it only separates us further.”

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It seems that there are only two paths for Protestants to take... One leads further and further away from Traditional Christian teaching; the other leads back to Rome. I have been engaged in more than one discussion similar to the one I mentioned above, and I am always lead to the same conclusion, that Protestantism (and Sola Scriptura, specifically) is a self-defeating proposition. The Protestant Revolt began with the intention of restoring Christianity to its roots. But the result has been the opposite. There seems to be no end to the heresies that can be derived from Protestantism.

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...

  
A Dictatorship of Sentimentalism - "I wonder if the dictatorship of relativism would be so comfortably entrenched within our society, were it not resting upon a bed of snuggly sentimentalism weaved through prosperity and mindless ingratitude."

The Good Samaritan Didn’t Use a Government Credit Card - "...our duty as people of faith is to advocate for just policies that advance human thriving. We believe this means advancing liberty and opportunity through a culture of free enterprise."
Obama administration approves no-cost birth control, including ‘morning after’ pill - "Pro-lifers are horrified at the announcement Monday that the Obama administration has approved a recommendation from the Institute of Medicine (IOM) to guarantee full health insurance coverage for birth control, including the so-called “morning-after” pill, under the Affordable Care Act."

Contraception mandate tramples religious freedom, US bishops say - "The U.S. bishops spoke out on August 1 against federal rules requiring nearly all new health plans, including those of most religious agencies, to cover all government-approved methods of contraception as well as surgical sterilization."

The Contraceptive Gateway to AIDS - "Statistics gathered over the past 20 years reveal a parallel between an increase in contraceptive drug use and an increase in HIV-1 infections in women. Several epidemiological studies over the same period also seem to demonstrate a link."

What Would Orwell Say? - "It’s a terrible spectacle — watching your own government lie, while claiming that it’s for the good of the citizenry."

Being a Christian Ain't What It Used to Be - "The Left couldn’t find the Christian jihadist that they have been searching for. So they invented him."

 

The Importance of the Eucharistic Prayer - "The simple fact is that while some people come to mass mainly for the homily, and others for communion, in reality we come fundamentally for the Eucharistic prayer."

What Every Catholic Needs to Know about witnessing your faith at work - "...our Lord has commanded each of his followers to share their faith with others, and this command doesn’t exclude our co-workers. We, therefore, must navigate the dangers of workplace evangelization in order to bring the saving message of Jesus Christ to those people whom God has placed in our lives."

If the Protestant canon were always true... - "...why wasn’t there an uproar when Augustine changed it?"

Catholic bloggers, this one's for you! - "Fellow Catholic bloggers: If you have ever thought of giving up your blog in frustration, there are some pretty important people who think you should keep going."