Catholic Interest

Interesting things Catholic

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    Saturday, March 31, 2007

    Pleasant memories



    Just take a minute to think back to grade school. Familiar ground no?

    What kind of progress can we blame for the conditions that have evolved over these passing years?

    From familiar to ugly to unbelievable. Thank goodness for Catholic Schools.

    link

    Two fifth-graders had sex on a classroom floor while two others fondled each other in the classroom, according to a teacher at Spearsville High School.

    Students at the kindergarten through 12th grade school are unruly, disrespectful and rarely disciplined, Walker said.


    "They cuss at the teachers and throw things at them, and nothing is done," Walker said. "There was even one student who grabbed a teacher in the butt and nothing was done. The students run the school."

    Walker said teachers learned Wednesday about the incident, which allegedly occurred during an assembly Tuesday to talk about a 15-year-old student accused of stabbing another student to death over the weekend.


    The assembly was for sixth- through 12th-grade students. Fifth-grade students were not told about it, he said. But one class of about 15 fifth-grade students that routinely moves from a portable building to a main building classroom during the second hour of the school day was unattended on Tuesday.


    "The teacher thought it was a normal day and sent the kids to second hour," he said. "She didn't know the teacher that would normally be in there was still at the assembly."


    The students were alone for about 30 minutes.

    A house unashamingly divided


    House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will visit Syria, a country President Bush has shunned as a sponsor of terrorism, despite being asked by the administration not to go.
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    Breaking apart with a proud smile. Sort of like the reformation.
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    Africa prayers


    God Our Father,
    You have given all peoples one common origin,
    And your will is to gather them as one family in yourself.
    Give compassion to our leaders, integrity to our citizens, and repentance to us all.
    Fill the hearts of all women and men with your love
    And the desire to ensure justice for all their brothers and sisters.
    By sharing the good things you give us
    May we ensure justice and equality for every human being,
    An end to all division, and a human society built on love,
    Lasting prosperity and peace for all.
    We ask this through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
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    Amen.
    ...
    Pastoral Letter by the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops' Conference on the Current Crisis of Our Country
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    ...
    The present crisis in our Country has its roots deep in colonial society.
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    Why was this done? Because soon after Independence, the power and wealth of the tiny white Rhodesian elite was appropriated by an equally exclusive black elite, some of whom have governed the country for the past 27 years through political patronage. Black Zimbabweans today fight for the same basic rights they fought for during the liberation struggle. It is the same conflict between those who possess power and wealth in abundance, and those who do not; between those who are determined to maintain their privileges of power and wealth at any cost, even at the cost of bloodshed, and those who demand their democratic rights and a share in the fruits of independence; between those who continue to benefit from the present system of inequality and injustice, because it favours them and enables them to maintain an exceptionally high standard of living, and those who go to bed hungry at night and wake up in the morning to another day without work and without income; between those who only know the language of violence and intimidation, and those who feel they have nothing more to lose because their Constitutional rights have been abrogated and their votes rigged. Many people in Zimbabwe are angry, and their anger is now erupting into open revolt in one township after another.
    ...
    Our crisis is not only political and economic but first and foremost a spiritual and moral crisis. As the young independent nation struggles to find its common national spirit, the people of Zimbabwe are reacting against the "structures of sin" in our society. Pope John Paul II says that the "structures of sin" are "rooted in personal sin, and thus always linked to the concrete acts of individuals who introduce these structures, consolidate them and make them difficult to remove. And thus they grow stronger, spread, and become the source of other sins, and so influence people's behaviour." [1] The Holy Father stresses that in order to understand the reality that confronts us, we must "give a name to the root of the evils which afflict us." [2] That is what we have done in this Pastoral Letter.
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    The Bible describes oppression in concrete and vivid terms: Oppression is the experience of being crushed, degraded, humiliated, exploited, impoverished, defrauded, deceived and enslaved. And the oppressors are described as cruel, ruthless, arrogant, greedy, violent and tyrannical; they are called 'the enemy'. Such words could only have been used by people who in their own lives and history had an immediate and personal experience of being oppressed. To them Yahweh revealed himself as the God of compassion who hears the cry of the oppressed and who liberates them from their oppressors. The God of the Bible is always on the side of the oppressed. He does not reconcile Moses and Pharaoh, or the Hebrew slaves with their Egyptian oppressors. Oppression is sin and cannot be compromised with. It must be overcome. God takes sides with the oppressed. As we read in Psalm 103:6: "God who does what is right, is always on the side of the oppressed". [4]
    ...

    When confronted with the politically powerful, Jesus speaks the language of the boldest among Israel's prophets. He calls Herod 'that fox' (Lk13:32) and courageously exposes the greed for money, power and adulation of the political elite. And he warns his disciples never to do likewise: "Among the gentiles it is the kings who lord it over them, and those who have authority over them are given the title Benefactor. With you this must not happen. No, the greatest among you must behave as if he were the youngest, the leader as if he were the one who serves" (Lk 22:25-27). And he warns Pilate in no uncertain terms that he will be held to account by God for his use of power over life and death (John 19:11).

    Wednesday, March 28, 2007

    Bullys



    What would school be without bullies? Kinda feminine I think.

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    Cuz there sure is going to be bullies out there in the real world. Running away is not going to work. Either is appealing to some kind of "policy" for protection.

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    There is a Christian response that works well, and of course there is always having enough balls to stand up to the bully which works every time.

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    Poor Britian. They passed a few too many laws it seems. Almost like they're kinda feminine.

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    link

    Catholic church-run schools have refused to implement British government guidelines on setting up anti-homophobic bullying policies, invoking anger from gay rights groups and MP’s.

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    Reacting to a House of Commons Select Committee report, published today, which shows that the Catholic Church is refusing to tackle homophobic bullying in its schools, Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association (GALHA) secretary George Broadhead said: "We've seen homophobia in Catholic circles rising at a terrifying rate over the past few months.”

    "Terrifying rate"... wow!

    "I hope the Archbishop will examine his conscience and put the welfare of children first," Mr Williams told pinknews.co.uk.“

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    All schools are required by law to have an anti-bullying policy, but many do not collate figures on how much bullying goes on. The committee expressed concern that this may be to protect the school's reputation.”

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    The committee heard evidence from charity Anti-Bullying Alliance that between 30-50% of young people in secondary schools attracted to people of the same sex will have directly experienced homophobic bullying compared to the 10-20% of young people who have experienced general bullying.

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    Last year Archbishop Vincent Nichols, who is head of the Catholic Education Service, told the education and skills select committee that specific issues of bullying should not be singled out.

    Tuesday, March 27, 2007

    the failure of our own existence


    As the Pope says, what would be the failure of our existence?
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    When we finally lie quiet and dead, what happens?
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    That failure would be a Judgement unto hell. Left up to us that would never happen. The polls show that we all think we're going to heaven. Could it be?
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    It could not. There is nothing Jesus has ever said about the whole crew coming along for the ride. The closest account we have is of the thief on the cross. Being crucified with Jesus and defending his innocence may be our ticket, but I think that opportunity has passed.
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    How about how really really nice we can be at times. Maybe that will do it.
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    Let's see what the Pope says...
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    The important thing is to understand that "the true enemy is attachment to sin, which can lead us to the failure of our own existence," he said.
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    That's troublesome for sure.
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    "Only God's love can change from within the existence of the person and, consequently, the existence of every society, because only his infinite love liberates from sin, the root of every evil," the pope said.
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    That same love is reflected in the sacrifice of Christ, who came with the concrete goal of saving souls, he said."Christ came to tell us that he desires all of us in heaven and that hell, which isn't spoken about much in our time, exists and is eternal for those who close their hearts to his love," the pope said.
    ...
    In "God and the World," a book-length interview in 2000, he said the church reminds people of heaven and hell in order to underline that "there is a responsibility before God, that there is a judgment, that human life can either turn out right or come to disaster."
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    The Catechism of the Catholic Church defines hell as "the state of definitive self-exclusion from communion with God and the blessed."

    If Europe is over, I guess it's USA then


    Let's say that Europe does become a memory. Let's say that it becomes muslim.
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    That won't be the end of Western Civilization. We still have the U.S.A. and Australia.
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    And religion is still important and all over the place here.
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    ...
    Pope Benedict said that the European Union today is built upon a cynical form of pragmatism that compromises on all principles, sacrificing fundamental ideals and undermining the dignity of human nature and freedom. If the Union is to have any lasting legal integrity, he said, it "must clearly recognize that human nature has something stable and permanent to it and that it is the source of common rights for all individuals, including even those who deny them."
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    And what does the Italian guy say? He says he can't hear.
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    Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi also addressed the COMECE conference. "I would have liked some mention of the Christian roots of Europe included in the European Union charter," the Italian premier said. Nonetheless, he said, "these are times in which it is necessary to close the past ,knowing that this common patrimony has become our way of daily life."
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    Bye bye now.

    Wednesday, March 14, 2007

    Leadership meltdown



    Wow, seems like all our leaders don't think homosexuality is immoral. Those Roman Senators of old would find many friends here today.

    I know there is a sizable proportion that think like that, but all of them?

    Not likely.

    link

    Poor General Pace. Within the military he is not used to lying because he doesn't have to. On the outside though, he is in big trouble speaking his mind.

    Pace told the Chicago Tribune on Monday he supports the "don't ask, don't tell" policy banning openly gay people from serving in the U.S. armed forces.

    "My upbringing is such that I believe that there are certain things, certain types of conduct that are immoral," Pace told the Tribune. "I believe that military members who sleep with other military members' wives are immoral in their conduct."


    Pace also told the paper, "I believe that homosexual acts between individuals are immoral, and that we should not condone immoral acts."

    Perhaps he has a solid picture in his head of the results of anus love and AIDS. He doesn't want to condone dirt. Seems plain to me.

    Where are his supporters? Not to be found in this election atmosphere. It seems all feel that to be successful they must either support abortion or anus love or both.

    Ha, they're only being practical. Not a leader to be found.

    Sen. Hillary Clinton sidestepped a question about whether she thinks homosexuality is immoral Wednesday, less than two weeks after telling gay-rights activists she was "proud" to stand by their side.


    Clinton was asked the question by ABC News, in the wake of Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Peter Pace's controversial comment that he believed homosexual acts were immoral.


    "Well, I'm going to leave that to others to conclude," she said.

    Other public figures have been more forceful in taking issue with Pace's comments, making Clinton's non-answer even more problematic.


    Sen. John Warner, a conservative Republican from Virginia, said, "I respectfully, but strongly, disagree with the chairman's view that homosexuality is immoral."


    John Edwards, one of Clinton's rivals for the Democratic presidential nomination, said, "I don't share that view," when asked about Pace's comments.

    Less than two weeks ago, Clinton received a standing ovation when she addressed the leadership of the Human Rights Campaign, a major gay-rights group.


    In her remarks, Clinton expressed strong support for a litany of gay-rights initiatives, including extending civil unions and domestic partnership benefits to same-sex couples and allowing them to adopt children. She said she would work to pass a federal law outlawing employment discrimination based on sexual orientation and propose another measure extending benefits to the partners of federal employees.

    God help us, there's that adopting children thing again. We have indeed lost our minds.


    Clinton also said she thinks the "don't ask, don't tell" policy, which keeps gay men and lesbians from serving in the military if they publicly acknowledge their sexual orientation, should be repealed. The policy was put in place in 1993 by her husband, former President Bill Clinton.

    The senator even said she "loved the fact" that she and Human Rights Campaign share the initials HRC.


    Noting her work with the HRC to defeat a federal constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage, Clinton said, "This is exactly the kind of partnership we will have when I am president."

    That's interesting indeed, and easy to remember too. HRC = HRC. I will let that fact influence my vote in 2008. But it looks like it doesn't matter. 2008 will be a practical election where the truth must take 2nd place.

    Better watch out though.. that's a hard habit to break.

    Thursday, March 08, 2007

    What's in your pocket?



    I ran into these folks before bragging about their support for Pride, or some such thing.

    Now I see they take things very seriously.

    Rob Keeling, Capital One's director of diversity, explains that the company's diversity plan includes targeted recruitment, development and advancement, communication and awareness, retention and accountability and rewards.

    A Director of Diversity... interesting. Rewards.. I don't want to know.

    "..women, African Americans, Asians, Hispanics and GLBT folks".

    Women have won their fight long ago, blacks also. Asians and spanish speaking folks are doing just fine on their own. It's just so cute to inculde gay-lesbian-bisexual-transwhatevers among these other legitimate diversities. Quite a party.. just look at the colors on the web page. Just proves very few things are black and white.. especially for the diversity crowd.

    What a riot. These companies and government awash in money look to the great value of diversity. OK.

    Companies struggling to survive abiding by capitalist rules look for performance or suffer the consequences. Folks floating in government, healthcare, or financial institution money tend to have room for the gentler care of diversity. It's a socialist thing. Or at least a social engineering thing. But not a natural thing.

    I hear the Dems are coming down rather hard on Credit Card companies and their pariah / loan shark practices. Good. I'm liking the Democrats more and more.

    Remember Capitol One.. and wonder what's in their pocket.

    link

    Things get better



    Attended yet another funeral where the Priest went on and on about the deceased's kind care of his family, his love for his wife, volunteer work, and something about life being changed not ended.

    All well and good but not great, and not very Catholic but much more Dr. Phil.

    Anyway, here's a nice sign again that we are all somewhere on our journey and regardless of our differences, it's where we end up that matters. Amazing Grace again.

    link

    Polls generally show that 50 percent to 60 percent of Roman Catholics in the United States believe that women should be eligible for the priesthood.


    Sister Sara Butler understands this impulse - because she once felt the same way. In 1978, she headed a task force of the Catholic Theological Society of America that came out in support of female priests.


    But as she continued her work as an increasingly prominent theologian, her thinking began to change. Now, in a new book - "The Catholic Priesthood and Women: A Guide to the Teaching of the Church" - she attempts to explain the underpinnings of the all-male priesthood to doubters and skeptics who think the way she used to.


    "The tradition is traced to the will of Christ, not to decisions made by the church," Butler said last night at St. Joseph's Seminary, where she has taught for four years.


    The church's teachings must be better explained, she said, because many Catholics see the all-male priesthood as a symbol of patriarchal power and sexism, and many more who stay silent are probably befuddled.


    "Their confidence in the church's teaching authority has been badly eroded," she said.
    Several hundred priests, nuns, seminarians and lay visitors greeted Butler with sustained applause, a measure of their respect for her and their approval of the church's position.


    Critics of the all-male priesthood were in short supply.

    Butler made Catholic history two years ago when she became one of the first two women appointed to the Vatican's International Theological Commission, an influential group that advises the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.


    "This appointment places Sister Sara among the highest-ranking women in our church today," Monsignor Peter Finn, rector of the seminary, said when introducing her.


    Butler made the case last night that the all-male priesthood is grounded in Jesus' choice of 12 male apostles and the Catholic Church's sustained understanding of what this meant for the priesthood.


    "The answer is discovered in a tradition of practice that is traced back to the Lord's choice of the 12," she said.


    To change the church's traditional understanding of the priesthood, she said, would be to change the priesthood itself and disconnect the church from the apostles, ending what Catholics believe to be their church's God-given power to teach.

    Tuesday, March 06, 2007

    Transfiguration



    I always wondered what they were talking about.

    link

    At the Transfiguration, the Pope recalled, “Jesus listens to the Law and the Prophets who speak to Him of his death and resurrection.” In response to that discussion, the Pope continued, “Christ enters more deeply into this mission, adhering with all of Himself to the will of the Father; and He shows us that true prayer consists in uniting our will to the will of God.”


    Jesus recognizes that “in order to reach glory He will have to pass through the Cross,” the Pope said. The Lord recognized that reality and accepted it. So too for Christ’s followers, "prayer does not mean evading reality and the responsibilities reality brings; rather it means a complete assumption of those responsibilities, trusting in the faithful and infinite love of the Lord.”


    In Christ, prayer is always effective, Pope Benedict continued. He noted that in the Garden of Gethsemane, Christ asked the Father to save Him from death.” That prayer was answered, the Pontiff reminded his listeners. “The proof of this is the Resurrection.”


    Union with Jesus in prayer is essential for all Christians, the Pope concluded “Only those who pray-- in other words those who entrust themselves to God with filial love-- can enter into eternal life, which is God Himself."

    Thursday, March 01, 2007

    Filthy animals



    Is there anything worse than a smoker if you are not one?

    Hard to imagine isn't it. Avert your eyes, make a wide arc so the exhale won't stick to your clothes.

    Listen to the highly suspicious reports about the thousand's dropping dead from something called second-hand smoke. An affect we somehow missed in all these past years. And don't forget the billions and billions spent trying to keep smokers alive those last few months. Better to burn them at the pyre.

    Well there's something even worse!

    Murders taking hostages for their smokes. Filthy dirty animals maximus.

    The good nanny government folks decided to make state buildings smoke free including the pen. No doubt to secure a nice long life for the inmates and the guards. Just what a prison needs.. nervous inmates and guards.

    Ha, the powers that be gave in to the demands for a carton of Winstons in trade for the guard hostage. Looks like there's room for negotiation after all.

    Lepers! Unclean!

    link

    Two inmates housed in a smoke-free prison traded a hostage for cigarettes after a six-hour standoff.

    "As the night progressed they started saying, 'Look, we'll give up if you let us have some tobacco. If you do that, we'll go back to our cell,"' Carlton said. "They got them some cigarettes, they smoked them and went back to their cell and locked themselves back in."

    Prisons across the state are instituting no-smoking policies after the Legislature passed a law banning smoking in state buildings.

    catholic interest.