In the diocese of Norwich, CT, Bishop Michael Cote held a Holy Hour and Benediction for Nascent Human Life. It was well attended, and the Benediction hymns were enthusiastically sung in Latin. Some of the petitions were particularly touching, especially,
To yo do we entrust the cause of life. Look down, O Mother, upon the vast numbers of babies not allowed to be born, of the poor whose lives are made difficult, of men and women who are victims of brutal violence, of the elderly and the sick killed by indifference or out of misguided mercy.So the truth of the matter is that condoms have a much, much, higher failure rate than 15% during typical use. In dealing with the transmissibility of HIV, this is catastrophic.IF you really love someone; you abstain. Period.
"There may be a basis in the case of some individuals, as perhaps when a male prostitute uses a condom, where this can be a first step in the direction of a moralization, a first assumption of responsibility, on the way toward recovering an awareness that not everything is allowed and that one cannot do whatever one wants. But it is not really the way to deal with the evil of HIV infection. That can really lie only in a humanization of sexuality."
The interviewer asked the Pontiff, "Are you saying, then, that the Catholic Church is actually not opposed in principle to the use of condoms?"
The Holy Father replied, "She of course does not regard it as a real or moral solution, but, in this or that case, there can be nonetheless, in the intention of reducing the risk of infection, a first step in a movement toward a different way, a more human way, of living sexuality." (emphasis mine)
An analogy: If someone was going to rob a bank and was determined to use a gun, it would better for that person to use a gun that had no bullets in it. It would reduce the likelihood of fatal injuries. But it is not the task of the Church to instruct potential bank robbers how to rob banks more safely and certainly not the task of the Church to support programs of providing potential bank robbers with guns that could not use bullets.
Nonetheless, the intent of a bank robber to rob a bank in a way that is safer for the employees and customers of the bank may indicate an element of moral responsibility that could be a step towards eventual understanding of the immorality of bank robbing.
Pope John Paul in Familiaris Consortio spoke of incremental steps toward moral behavior:
What is needed is a continuous, permanent conversion which, while requiring an interior detachment from every evil and an adherence to good in its fullness, is brought about concretely in steps which lead us ever forward.(emphasis mine)In other words, it would be worse if a male prostitute would engage is homosexual acts knowing he could be giving HIV to his client. Showing a little concern is better than none, but it does not make the act itself morally acceptable, nor does it make condom use in other cases acceptable.The reports that condoms are OK'ed by the Pope show a lack of understanding of Church teaching. In a society where even Catholics do not understand the reasons behind the Church's prohibition of contraception, it is not a suprise that reporters would make the same mistake pursuing what seemed like a big news story.
Can you address health-care and the possible funding of abortion in the health-care reform bill?
I am highly appreciative of the summary that Cardinal Francis George gave yesterday, which was downright eloquent. I admired the way he handled it.
The bishops of the U.S. are in somewhat of a delicate position in that we have been promoting comprehensive health care, but it wasn’t comprehensive, in that a precious part of those deserving care — those being unborn babies — weren’t receiving it. The bishops were cogent in expressing that.
Cardinal George was so articulate — as was Pope John Paul II — in telling us that although we’re political in the best sense of the word, we’re not partisan. The bishops of the U.S. are not partisan; we are pastors and teachers.
It represents a seismic shift,” Palmo said. “Above all, it's an indication of everything Cardinal George has been and done over his tenure the last three years in really kind of raising the level of bishops' outspokenness in moral clarity and moral courage, especially in the health care fight.”
It's also an indication of Archbishop Dolan's rising position, he said. The New York archbishop “has been unstintingly strong in his defense of the Holy Father and the defense of the right of Catholics to be treated fairly in the press, as he sees it.”
“Literally, it feels like the world is watching,” Palmo added. “Word is already going around.”
It is the first time since the 1960s that a sitting vice president was on the ballot for president and lost. It follows protests by some conservative Catholics against the vice president, Tucson BishopGerald Kicanas….
Bishop Kicanas has not denied Communion to any Catholic politicians and rejected calls to punish the president of the University of Notre Dame for honoring President Obama, who supports abortion rights. Bishop Kicanas instead urged bishops and Catholic university presidents to start a discussion about their differences.
Partly because of Bishop Kicanas’ approach, he was pilloried in the days leading up to the vote by right-wing Catholic bloggers, who urged readers to send protest faxes and leave messages for bishops at the hotel where they are meeting….
At an event in Providence, R.I., she says, “they walked up to my kids and asked them, ‘Is Mommy raising you to be a good little bigot?’?” Yet she says she understands the frustration behind those remarks. “They believe in this as deeply as we do,” she says. “I see why we’d get under their skin.”I shared some of the ugly responses I receive each time I address the issue of same sex marriage here on Causa Nostrae Laetitiae, and Brian agreed the tone is more intense than what pro-life activists face. Yet, he and Susan maintain an admirable sense of balance, fueled no doubt by their fervent Catholicism, a supportive community behind them, and their strong family.
Brian Brown’s hate mail is divided into two categories: messages that go straight to the police and those he dumps into a growing computer file labeled OPPOSITION. One riled caller threatened to hang him from a tree “and burn you while your children watch”; someone else sent an e-mail offering to “donate” a pipe bomb to his office. The majority, however, simply vent frustration at Brown, who has emerged as the nation’s fiercest crusader against gay marriage.
"We hope that Catholics understand the historical significance of Pope Benedict's invitation," said Joseph Meaney, HLI's director of international coordination. "The Holy Father for the first time in history has asked the Universal Catholic Church to gather together in a common liturgical event and pray for our preborn brothers and sisters who are being slaughtered around the world by abortion and other attacks of the culture of death."
An ecumenical non-profit in England has come under fire for their upcoming Advent campaign designed to put Christ back into Christmas. Their crime? Creating billboards and posters that show a baby Jesus as an ultrasound, with a halo. The ads, created byChurchAds.net say: “He’s on His way. Christmas starts with Christ.”Read Tim Drake's entire post at the NC Register blog.
Mr. Obama will be coming with three Boeing 747 jumbo jets and two others will be coming before him with equipment. An advance team of U.S. officials is set to arrive here on Wednesday. The U.S. is spending about $200 million a day towards Mr. Obama’s visit, the official said on Tuesday.
Forty aircraft – including the Air Force One military plane – and six heavily armoured cars will follow the president around the country.
The huge security operation comes days after a suspected bomb was found on a cargo plane at East Midlands Airport.
The entourage will be the biggest ever in terms of logistics and manpower for any US president.
The president himself will be ferried around in a black Cadillac – dubbed ‘Barack Mobile’ – which has its own built in communications centre – to enable Obama to be in touch with the White House, US vice president and the US strategic command.
“It’s pretty clear that the American people want a smaller, less costly, more accountable government here in Washington,” Boehner said to reporters the day after Election Day.
Tom Schatz, the president of Citizens Against Government Waste, said that by cutting the paychecks of members, Boehner would send the right message to voters.
Schatz explained that Republican lawmakers coming into Congress for their first term would likely support the move.
“[A salary cut] would at least indicate some greater level of understanding of the suffering that people have been subject to during this recession,” said Schatz.
The murder of the handicapped was a precursor to the Holocaust. The killing centres to which the handicapped were transported were the antecedents of the extermination camps, and their organized transportation foreshadowed mass deportation. Some of the physicians who became specialists in the technology of cold-blooded murder in the late 1930s later staffed the death camps. They had long since lost all their moral, professional, and ethical inhibitions. |
According to Life News:Americans clearly preferred pro-life candidates on Tuesday when it came to the most hotly contested races for the Senate in the 2010 elections
The results make it so pro-life advocates will have an easier time stopping the advance of President Barack Obama’s pro-abortion agenda in terms of abortion funding and pro-abortion judicial nominees for the Supreme Court and other federal court appointments.
