The human right to life is a fundamental principle of justice.'The inalienable rights of the person must be recognized and respected by civil society and the political authority. These human rights depend neither on single individuals nor on parents; nor do they represent a concession made by society and the state; they belong to human nature and are inherent in the person by virtue of the creative act from which the person took his origin. Among such fundamental rights one should mention in this regard every human being's right to life and physical integrity from the moment of conception until death.'
" 'The moment a positive law deprives a category of human beings of the protection which civil legislation ought to accord them, the state is denying the equality of all before the law. When the state does not place its power at the service of the rights of each citizen, and in particular of the more vulnerable, the very foundations of a state based on law are undermined. . . . As a consequence of the respect and protection which must be ensured for the unborn child from the moment of conception, the law must provide appropriate penal sanctions for every deliberate violation of the child's rights. ' " (CCC 2273)
A national coalition of women's groups called on CBS on Monday to scrap its plan to broadcast an ad during the Super Bowl featuring college football star Tim Tebow and his mother, which critics say is likely to convey an anti-abortion message.
"An ad that uses sports to divide rather than to unite has no place in the biggest national sports event of the year - an event designed to bring Americans together," said Jehmu Greene, president of the New York-based Women's Media Center.
Exactly. Super Bowl ads are supposed to be about beer and scantily clad women. Anything else is just un-American! The Tebow ad -- which the NOW president called "extraordinarily offensive and demeaning" -- sounds downright nefarious:
The ad - paid for by the conservative Christian group Focus on the Family - is expected to recount the story of Pam Tebow's pregnancy in 1987 with a theme of "Celebrate Family, Celebrate Life." After getting sick during a mission trip to the Philippines, she ignored a recommendation by doctors to abort her fifth child and gave birth to Tim, who went on to win the 2007 Heisman Trophy while helping his Florida team to two BCS championships.
CBS sports columnist Gregg Doyel puts it all in perspective:
"If you're a sports fan, and I am, that's the holiest day of the year," he wrote. "It's not a day to discuss abortion. For it, against it, I don't care what you are. On Super Sunday, I don't care what I am. Feb. 7 is simply not the day to have that discussion."
All kidding aside, this is likely to become more of an issue in the future. Last year, NBC rejected CatholicVote.org's mild "Life: Imagine the Potential" spot, but theirs wasn't the first "advocacy ad" to be turned down: In 2004, CBS nixed a spot from the United Church of Christ welcoming homosexuals (which some pro-life viewers may have been glad of). It's a knife that cuts both ways -- and as this door is opened, it might become increasingly difficult to turn down ads from either side of the aisle.
Cries that potato-chip-shoveling football fans (and make no mistake, come February 7, I plan to be one of them) will have their delicate sensibilities offended by this Tebow ad are rich. Still, it seems likely that the debate over whether "advocacy" ads have a place during these kinds of events is just heating up.
(AP Photo/Phil Sandlin)
Source: InsideCatholic
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He said he thought that the Scriptures, "Render unto Ceasar", teach that we should not talk in church about changing the laws, that when we ask Catholics to work to overthrow the laws that say an unborn child's life can be terminated, we are doing the work of the board of elections down the street and should mind our own business.
The 2010 World Day for Social Communications will take place on May 16 under the theme "The Priest and Pastoral Ministry in a Digital World: New Media at the Service of the Word." The Holy Father’s message was released today.
The aim of this year's message is to draw attention to the possibilities for priestly ministry offered within the "important and sensitive pastoral area of digital communications."
For every priest, states the Holy Father in the message, fulfilling the fundamental priority of building up God's communion "necessarily involves using new communications technologies."
"Priests stand at the threshold of a new era: as new technologies create deeper forms of relationship across greater distances, they are called to respond pastorally by putting the media ever more effectively at the service of the Word."
Pope Benedict emphasizes that "broad new vistas for dialogue, evangelization and catechesis" can be opened up in cyberspace with the presence of priests, living out their traditional role as community leaders in the world of digital communication.
With proper formation on how to use these technologies appropriately and competently, "shaped by sound theological insights and reflecting a strong priestly spirituality grounded in constant dialogue with the Lord" priests have the opportunity to "introduce people to the life of the Church and help our contemporaries to discover the face of Christ."
"Yet," cautions the Holy Father, "priests present in the world of digital communications should be less notable for their media savvy than for their priestly heart, their closeness to Christ."
With their wisdom and preparation, he continues, priests' presence online "will not only enliven their pastoral outreach, but also will give a 'soul' to the fabric of communications that makes up the 'Web’."
"A pastoral presence in the world of digital communications, precisely because it brings us into contact with the followers of other religions, non-believers and people of every culture, requires sensitivity to those who do not believe, the disheartened and those who have a deep, unarticulated desire for enduring truth and the absolute."
The Pope reiterates the essential quality of the priest's spiritual life and solid grounding in faith to his ministry through new technologies at the end of the message, saying that he "must always bear in mind that the ultimate fruitfulness of their ministry comes from Christ himself, encountered and listened to in prayer; proclaimed in preaching and lived witness; and known, loved and celebrated in the sacraments, especially the Holy Eucharist and Reconciliation."
The message ends with a renewed invitation to the clergy, "to make astute use of the unique possibilities offered by modern communications. May the Lord make all of you enthusiastic heralds of the Gospel in the new "agorà" (gathering place) which the current media are opening up."
((((..))))
I ran into a friend at the March for Life yesterday who collaborated with me on a conference in 1993 held to celebrate the 25th Anniversary of Humanae Vitae. He informed me that he has been uploading his videos of the conference to YouTube and I found some of those videos this morning.
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Thank you for your prayers.
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The news is still sinking in.
The people of Massachusetts ignited a political firestorm
on Tuesday by electing Scott Brown to the seat vacated by the late
Senator Kennedy.
CatholicVote did not endorse Brown, nor did we urge voters to elect
him. Instead we fired back at
Martha Coakleys assault on Catholic doctors and nurses with phone
calls to nearly 200,000 people in Massachusetts.
But many rightly are asking if Scott Brown supports abortion, is
CatholicVote happy that he was elected? Let me explain.
First, Senator-elect Scott Brown opposes using taxpayer funds
for abortion, opposes partial-birth abortion, and supports other laws
that would provide parents and women notice, counseling, and
information prior to an abortion. But his opponent Martha Coakley was
proudly 100% pro-abortion.
Scott Brown is certainly not an ideal candidate. After all, he
supports Roe v. Wade! So the question must be asked -- how should
faithful Catholics, Christians, and dedicated
activists that want to build a culture of life respond -- how do we fit in?
Do you remember the S word?
The s word is subsidiarity. And Scott Browns win was a victory for
subsidiarity a key principle of Catholic social doctrine, and a
foundational principle of American self-government.
The surge that propelled Scott Brown into office was argely
a response to Congress overreach on health care. Americans of both
political parties, and huge numbers of independents elected Scott
Brown because of what he represents a chance to stop the government
first reform crusade. And because Scott Brown was elected, the health
care reform debacle may finally be stopped.
To read the rest from brianburch@catholicvoteaction.org, please visit
CatholicVoteAction.org
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A prayer from Psalm 38 for those who feel embattled:
Those who seek my life set their traps,
those who would harm me talk of my ruin;
all day long they plot deception.
13 I am like a deaf man, who cannot hear,
like a mute, who cannot open his mouth;
14 I have become like a man who does not hear,
whose mouth can offer no reply.
15 I wait for you, O LORD;
you will answer, O Lord my God.
16 For I said, "Do not let them gloat
or exalt themselves over me when my foot slips."
17 For I am about to fall,
and my pain is ever with me.
18 I confess my iniquity;
I am troubled by my sin.
19 Many are those who are my vigorous enemies;
those who hate me without reason are numerous.
20 Those who repay my good with evil
slander me when I pursue what is good.
21 O LORD, do not forsake me;
be not far from me, O my God.
22 Come quickly to help me,
O Lord my Savior.
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For more on the acclaim and thanks that Pope Pius XII received for his work protecting and saving Jews during the Shoah, take a look at an essay: .
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In this undated photo released by the Vatican's L'Osservatore Romano newspaper Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2010 Pope Benedict XVI meets Archbishop Joseph Serge Miot in his private library at the Vatican. Archbishop Joseph Serge Miot, 63, was found dead in the ruins of his office in Pourt-Au Prince, Haiti, said the Rev. Pierre Le Beller of the Saint Jacques Missionary Center in Landivisiau, France. A powerful earthquake crushed Tuesday thousands of structures, from schools and shacks to the National Palace and the U.N. peacekeeping headquarters.(AP Photo/ L'Osservatore Romano, Ho)
Food For The Poor is responding to the devastation caused by yesterday's deadly earthquake, which hit about 10 miles outside of the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince. The earthquake had a preliminary magnitude of 7.0. We at Food For The Poor want to relay the following to our donors and to loved ones of those who may be affected:
Food For The Poor will continue to do everything we can to reach out to the suffering people of Haiti — and we’ll keep you updated as we learn new information. Thank you for your compassionate support.
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O Sacrament Most Holy, O Sacrament Divine,
all praise and all thanksgiving be every moment thine!
-- ((((..))))
“As long-time advocates of health care reform, the U.S. Catholic bishops continue to make the moral case that genuine health care reform must protect the life, dignity, consciences and health of all, especially the poor and vulnerable,” the insert says. “Health care reform should not advance a pro-abortion agenda in our country.”
As Congress negotiates a final health care bill, the insert encourages Catholics to contact their Senators and Representatives, urging them to keep longstanding restrictions against federal funding of abortion and full conscience protection in the legislation. If these criteria are not met, Catholics are asked to urge Congress to oppose the final bill.
The bulletin insert and pulpit announcement can be found in English and in Spanish at www.usccb.org/healthcare. Catholics can contact their legislators online by going to www.usccb.org/action.
Many years ago there was a joke doing the rounds of the pubs and clubs about two Irishmen on pilgrimage in Rome who ask at a bar near the Vatican what the Pope likes to drink. Upon being told he likes Crème de Menthe the two intrepid drinkers order two pints of the stuff.
Several hours and a lot of pints later both are lying comatose in the street. When they eventually come around one says to the other: "No wonder they carry him around in a chair!"
On a more serious note, the attack on Pope Benedict during the entrance procession of Midnight Mass by Susanna Maiolo, a mentally ill woman who once again, as she did last year, vaulted over the barriers before lunging at the Pope, poses serious questions about the Holy Father's safety.
Since 1970 alone there have been three documented attempted assassinations of the Pope. In 1970 Pope Paul VI was attacked by a man with a knife at Manila Airport, in 1981 there was the shooting of Pope John Paul II in St Peter's Square and only a year later, when the same Pope visited Fatima to give thanks for his survival, he was attacked yet again by a deranged knife-wielding priest.
Aside from Pope Benedict's annual Christmas encounters with Miss Maiolo there was the attempt by a German man to get into his Popemobile during an audience in 2007. After these incidents and the rise of Islamic terrorism since 9/11 there have been many noticeable changes to the security surrounding the Pontiff.
Long gone are the days when it was deemed enough for Archbishop Marcinkus to stand next to the Pope as a kind of clerical "heavy". On all his travels around the world now the Pope is accompanied by armed close-protection officers from the 130-strong Vatican Corps of Gendarmes who accompany him and work with the close-protection teams afforded by the Italian state and the particular host country. His Popemobile is fitted with bullet-resistant glass and his movements by limousine are handled in exactly the same way as any head of state, with armed officers travelling with him and in a support vehicle. When the Pope visited Turkey he was even asked to wear body armour under his overcoat.
At every papal ceremony in St Peter's when the Pope is required to walk through the crowded basilica to reach the sanctuary it is possible to see not only his personal protection officer Domenico Giani, (who has been Inspector General of the Corpo della Gendarmeria since 2006), walking nearby but also other black-suited, close-protection officers walking at the sides of the procession. Indeed, the Pope's close-protection team are to be congratulated that one of their number seized Miss Maiolo as she leapt the barrier but the distance between the barrier and the Pope was so small that, ironically, it was the force of this officer tackling her at the very moment she grabbed at the Pope's vestments that actually brought the Pontiff crashing to the floor.
For these protection officers the security of their principal can never be guaranteed particularly when, like the Pope, he wants to be visible to the crowds who have turned out to see him and a degree of compromise is always required. Unlike a president or prime minister whose close-protection officers are usually found within an arm's reach of their principal, as any press photograph taken during a walkabout will show, the Pope is frequently engaged in liturgical acts which have no rubrical provision for an armed suited man wearing an ear-piece to be in the midst of things. That said, as with much of this pontificate the answer to this particular problem might just be found from recovering something from the past.
One only has to look at old black and white footage of pontiffs prior to Paul VI to see how popes always used to enter the basilica being carried shoulder high in the sedia gestatoria. Not only that, but there was always a throng of people around the chair, not only the actual bearers but numerous chamberlains and nobility and a large number of guards: Swiss Guards, uniformed Gendarmes, the Palatine Guard and Noble Guard. These comprised the old papal court which Pope Paul VI abolished and which formed a kind of buffer zone between the Pope and the crowds, no doubt as much a practical defence measure as a piece of ceremony.
The use of the sedia continued until very recently and many are unaware that the last pope to use the sedia was actually Pope John Paul I. While the abolition of this ancient form of transport may have since been considered appropriate in the context of the late 20th century and the need to democratise the appearance of papal ceremonies, the reality has left the Pope an isolated and vulnerable figure separated from the deacons ahead and the MCs behind, one who appears all too often like the figure in the Third Secret of Fatima: a victim walking alone simply waiting to be attacked.
While there are bound to be some who would see the return of the sedia as yet another example of this Pope "turning the clock back", in fact not only would it save an elderly man's tired legs but it would allow more of the crowd to see him. Most importantly, it would actually insulate him from the kind of physical assault we saw at Christmas by virtue of the mob of people surrounding it (who could these days be swelled by Swiss Guards and the gendarme officers in suitably formal garb) to work alongside the suited officers at the perimeter.
Naturally, the risk of attack from a gunman or explosive device would still be present and indeed potentially magnified by the sedia but the use of X-ray machines at the entrance to the basilica and physical searches of congregants should by now be mandatory at such events to confront these risks which are no more heightened by the Pope presiding at Mass from an elevated platform, as he does, than from being carried in a chair.
It was being reported earlier in the year on several Catholic blogs that the Vatican was actively considering a return for the sedia gestatoria for ceremonies in St Peter's, more because of the Pope's age than as a protection against attack. Perhaps the latest incident will persuade them that what tradition hands down frequently has a practical origin beyond merely the visually impressive spectacle that to sceptical modern eyes it had appeared to have become.
Dominic Scarborough is a regular commentator in the press and internet on Catholic affairs. His company, Proteus Risk, advises companies on security issues
Source: The Catholic Herald
Every word Christ speaks is "full of grace". Christ speaks when His Word is proclaimed in the sacred liturgy of the Mass. Those who proclaim the Word, therefore, speak the very words of God, "graciousness is poured upon their lips".
Priests, deacons, lectors and all who have a role in supporting the ministry of the Word in the liturgies of the Church have the privilege and responsibility of ensuring that no one is denied the grace of hearing His Word which grants and nurtures Faith.
For these reasons undue haste, careless diction and insufficient volume must be avoided. Discernment as to whether one is called to be a lector must take these principles into account.
Thank you for your visit.
-- ((((..))))
Reverend Father Stephen Yim serves as assistant parish priest at the Catholic Church of Christ the King in Ang Mo Kio, Singapore.
