Pope Calls for Rehabilitation of Prisoners, Rejects Torture

Last updated on: September 7, 2007 at 3:42 pm By Morning's Minion

From his address to participants at a world congress on pastoral care in prisons: Judicial and penal institutions play a fundamental role in protecting citizens and safeguarding the common good (cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2266). At the same time, they are to aid in rebuilding “social relationships disrupted by the criminal act committed” (cf. “Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church,” 403). By their very nature, therefore, these institutions must contribute to the rehabilitation of offenders, facilitating... Read more

Vatican approves gender-inclusive language for Canadian Church

Last updated on: September 7, 2007 at 2:08 pm By Policraticus

The Catholic Register reports that the Vatican has given its recognitio to the NRSV lectionary used in Canada, which contains inclusive language. The masculine pronoun “He” refers to God in the lectionary, but inclusive language is used in passages that refer to the people. Here’s a section of The Catholic Register‘s article: (more…) Read more

Air Force flies weapons of mass destruction across U.S.

Last updated on: September 7, 2007 at 1:04 pm By Iafrate Michael

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Democracy Now! reports: Military officials have revealed the Air Force mistakenly flew a B-52 bomber loaded with five nuclear warheads across part of the country last week. Each of the five nuclear warheads has about 10 times the destructive force of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima. The B-52 took off from the Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota and landed at Barksdale Air Force base in Louisiana. It took the military hours to realize the nuclear weapons were... Read more

My Day with the Legion

Last updated on: September 6, 2007 at 8:26 pm By Policraticus

Today I had the privilege of attending Mass and having lunch with Fr. Álvaro Corcuera, L.C., the worldwide General Director of the Legion of Christ and the successor of Fr. Marcial Maciel, the order’s founder. Fr. Álvaro is a gracious and personable priest, and I think he is a very positive presence for the Legion during these trying times for the order. He spent more time greeting and chatting with the students and faculty of our school after Mass than... Read more

Al Qaeda (Not) in Iraq

Last updated on: September 6, 2007 at 4:55 pm By Morning's Minion

As we all know so very well, the administration likes to trumpet the notion that its actions in Iraq are part of the same “war on terror” that began on 9/11. Despite the massive volumes of evidence to the contrary, they like to point to the fact that there is a group called “Al Qaeda in Iraq” that must be stopped at all costs. But how significant is this group, in reality? Not very, according to a recent study. As... Read more

One More Example How Anti-Family Our Culture Is

Last updated on: September 6, 2007 at 4:54 pm By Radical Catholic Mom

We keep hearing about it. Breast is best, try to breastfeed. We know all the studies that show children will be healthier than their formula fed counterparts. Yet in our country, working moms rarely are supported in their quest to pump their breast-milk, or liquid gold. Moms are routinely harassed when they nurse their hungry kiddos in public. Oh, breast is ONLY best when it is done in a closet, away from other people, or under blankets. By the way,... Read more

Luciano Pavarotti Dies

Last updated on: September 6, 2007 at 1:23 pm By voxnovablog

One of the greatest voices of our time was silenced earlier today. Luciano Pavarotti suffered from pancreatic cancer and passed away at age 71. His personal life was controversial and his charisma was sometimes hardly popular; however, one cannot deny the effect this man had on our spirits–how they were elevated at the sound of his bright and soft voice. I am an opera geek thanks to Pavarotti and especially after I heard him interpreting the Nessun Dorma Aria from... Read more

Usury

Last updated on: September 6, 2007 at 1:10 pm By M.Z.

Not much thought is given to usury now a day. We pretty much accept that money has a time value. I’m testing this at the moment considering that I have 10 minutes of library computer time remaining. In looking at the present sub-prime mortgage crisis, we see that it is predominately present in the East Coast, Southeast, and West Coast. Sub-prime in many cases is just another word for usurious. So as to be clear, I’ll define usury rather conservatively... Read more

How Voodoo Became Mainstream

Last updated on: September 5, 2007 at 7:30 pm By Morning's Minion

The always reliable Jonathan Chait has a new book, provocatively titled The Big Con: The True Story of How Washington Got Hoodwinked and Hijacked by Crackpot Economics. His focus is on supply-side economics, and how it went from a fringe crackpot theory to the dominant mode of thinking on the American right. Of course, the theory never ceased to be a crackpot theory, and the elder Bush’s castigation of “voodoo economics” holds true today as much as yesterday. What happened... Read more