Yes, happy 4th of July! According to the calendar of the Church, July 4th’s real significance is that it is the feast day of St. Elizabeth of Portugal (1271-1336), a patron Saint of peacemakers. The sad fact, however, is that if you were to attend Mass on this day, the chances of your priest mentioning this feast are slim to none. Instead, you are likely to participate in a Eucharist which has been transformed into a syncretistic ritual of american... Read more
This is the slogan of the National Religious Campiagn Against Torture, an umbrella organization of religious groups dedicated to ending US-sponsored torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. Proclaiming that “torture violates the basic dignity of the human person that all religions, in their highest ideals, hold dear”, the campaign encompasses Catholics, evangelicals, other Protestants, Orthodox, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus and Sikhs. The US Catholic church has endorsed this campaign, and the USCCB has even issued its own study guide, entitled “Torture is a... Read more
We, therefore, the Representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and... Read more
Previous: Edmund Burke’s Anti-Ideology Edmund Burke wrote against three schools of thought embodied by the French Revolution: the rationalism of Enlightenment philosophers, the romantic sentimentalism of Rousseau and his disciples, and utilitarianism. He knew himself to be contending against a “spirit of innovation possessed by of a recognizable general character.” The innovative spirits were: if a divine authority existed, it differs sharply in its nature from the Christian conception of an active, personal God; abstract reasoning or idyllic imagination may... Read more
Morgentaler is a Holocaust survivor. After emigrating to Canada, he opened an illegal abortion clinic. He was imprisoned and fined for his abortion activities. Legal actions culiminated when the Supreme Court of Canada sided with him and asserted a right to abortion. He is now the proprietor of many abortion clinics throughout Canada. The Executive Director of the (Canadian) Catholic Civil Rights League sums up I think most rational people’s opinion of this: “We are shocked and disappointed that our... Read more
We’ve discussed before how incredibly awful the waterboarding torture technique truly is. As Malcolm Nance— former master instructor and chief of training at the U.S. Navy Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape School (SERE) in San Diego, California — noted: “Waterboarding is not a simulation. Unless you have been strapped down to the board, have endured the agonizing feeling of the water overpowering your gag reflex, and then feel your throat open and allow pint after pint of water to involuntarily... Read more
As someone who attempts to be a conscious consumer and avoids supporting clothing corporations that violate labor rights in their manufacturing facilities in the developing world, I am quite displeased–to say the least–with how the media has made fun of women from the FLDS community in the past couple of days. It turns out that the women from the FLDS community are making and selling clothes for children. You can find them at their website FLDSdress.com. They do have beautiful... Read more
We’ve been anticipating this one for awhile, but it bears repeating that Pope Benedict XVI’s next encyclical, Caritas in Veritate, is likely to be out this fall. The Vatican’s Secretary of State, Tarcisio Cardinal Bertone, suggests that the Pope will not merely reiterate Catholic social teaching, but expand it to include Catholic reaction to globalization, environmentalism, the global food crisis, and climate change. Apparently, Pope Benedict XVI is in close consultation with Renato Cardinal Martino and Bishop Giampaolo Crepaldi of... Read more
The priests of the Transalpine Redemptorists have been regularized. They are directly crediting the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum in aiding their reconciliation. Their offical website is here. (HT: WDTPRS) Read more
In response to a previous post about his book, author Mark Stricherz makes the following points about changes within the Democratic Party, discovered as he researched: (more…) Read more
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