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Commentary and links to news of the wonderful, weird, interesting and cutting edge through the lens of our Catholic faith. Updated daily by Our Sunday Visitor staff. Email us with question or comments or link suggestions: feedback@osv.com.
No, it’s not OK to live together before marriage Washington Post (registration site) The Omaha Archdiocese has severed ties with a Jesuit-run Creighton University's family center after two researchers urged the Church to allow unmarried couples to live together and have sex and children as long as they are engaged. "The teaching of the Catholic Church about fornication is clear and unambiguous; it is always objectively a serious sin," Archbishop Elden Curtiss wrote in response (I’ll add the link here) the the archdiocese’s decision.
Doctor accused of violating late-term abortion law Los Angeles Times (registration site) A doctor who performs abortions was charged Thursday with violating Kansas law on late-term procedures, a surprise move from a Democratic attorney general who recently unseated a prominent antiabortion Republican. The abortions in question involved cases in which patients were more than 21 weeks pregnant and the fetuses were potentially able to survive outside the womb.
Internet inspiring suicide Economist One new trend that is clearly pushing the worldwide incidence of suicide up is the growing use of the Internet to learn about, plan or even encourage self-killing. Back in 1997, the Internet was used to publicize the effectiveness of charcoal-burning barbecues as a means of carbon-monoxide poisoning; the first recorded case of two or more people using the web to form a suicide pact was in Japan in 2000. Since then hundreds of people, if not more, have taken their lives this way, in countries from Australia to Spain.
No, it's not OK to live together before marriage Washington Post (registration site) The Omaha Archdiocese has severed ties with a Jesuit-run Creighton University's family center after two researchers urged the Church to allow unmarried couples to live together and have sex and children as long as they are engaged. "The teaching of the Catholic Church about fornication is clear and unambiguous; it is always objectively a serious sin," Archbishop Elden Curtiss wrote in response the the archdiocese's decision.
So, what’s Pope Benedict up to? Chiesa.org The last great reform of the Vatican curia was made by Pope Paul VI in the fifth year of his pontificate. Pope Benedict XVI is in his third year, but there’s nothing to indicate that he is preparing anything similar. The few appointments made in the curia so far by Pope Benedict, interpreted by almost everyone as the preannouncement of a systemic revolution, have remained what they were: few and isolated.
Keeping your chimera London Telegraph Under draft Government legislation to be debated by Parliament later this year, scientists will be given permission for the first time to create hybrid embryos for research as long as they destroy them within two weeks. But the Catholic bishops of England and Wales, in a submission to the Parliamentary joint committee scrutinizing the draft legislation, said that the genetic mothers of “chimeras” should be able to raise them as their own children if they wished. The bishops said that they did not see why these “interspecies” embryos should be treated any differently than others.
Conclave rules changed Catholic News Service Pope Benedict XVI stipulated yesterday that a two-thirds majority always is required to elect a new pope, undoing a more flexible procedure introduced by Pope John Paul II. In 1996, Pope John Paul introduced a change in the conclave procedure that allowed cardinal-electors to move to a simple majority after 13 days, when 33 or 34 ballots had been held. Pope Benedict said there had been significant requests for a return to the old rules, under which a two-thirds majority was always required.
Catholic condemned to death Indian Catholic An Indian Catholic man is condemned to death for allegedly speaking against the Koran. He’s sat in jail for two years being abused and tortured by guards while awaiting sentencing. Catholic Church and human rights bodies including the Catholic bishops' National Commission for Justice and Peace and the All Pakistan Minorities Alliance have condemned the case and asked the government to closely monitor it.
Faith-based initiatives secure CNN.com The Supreme Court Monday upheld the legality of an internal White House office that forcefully pushes federal aid for religious charities, a case with an unusual nexus of constitutional, financial and political implications. By a 5-4 vote, a conservative majority concluded taxpayers did not have "standing" to challenge in court the discretionary spending authority of the executive branch for its Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives.
Personally opposed, but... New York Times (registration site) Catholic Church leaders say they are frustrated by prominent Catholic politicians like Rudolph Giuliani who argue that while they are personally opposed to abortion, they do not want to impose their beliefs on others. Secular sources often criticize or misunderstand the sacredness of the Eucharist for Catholics. Most bishops who speak on this issue are trying to reinforce that sacredness for their faithful who misled the behavior of public figures.
Vietnamese president challenged about imprisoned priest Orange County Register Congress and the president met with Vietnam?s president Nguyen Minh Triet last week and focused on human-rights violations in the country. lawmakers repeatedly brought up the situations of Vietnamese dissidents arrested by the government. One such case was that of Catholic priest Father Nguyen Van Ly, recently sentenced to eight years in prison in what critics called a show trial. Catholic News Service reported in April that the Vatican was requesting clemency for the priest who has often struggled for more religious freedom in the communist country.
Making a difference on vacation MSNBC.com The caravan of do-gooders heading hither and yon on altruistic volunteer tourism (a.k.a. "voluntourism") programs has reached proportions that, if not biblical, are certainly large enough for the tourism industry to take notice. The percentage of travelers planning to volunteer during vacations in 2007 nearly doubled from the previous year, jumping from 6 percent to 11 percent in the latest poll by travel web site Travelocity.
God is missing Associated Press New dollar coins featuring John Adams are missing edge inscriptions including "In God We Trust," according to the Professional Coin Grading Service, a rare coin authentication company based in Newport Beach, Calif. The company said people have found hundreds of Adams dollar coins without the edge lettering, repeating a previous mistake. The U.S. Mint has no plans to remove this phrase from the coin.
Take care of refugees Yahoo.com Pope Benedict XVI urged world leaders on Wednesday to take in and care for refugees seeking asylum in their nations. Speaking on a day the United Nations sets aside as World Refugee Day, Pope Benedict said accepting refugees was a "dutiful gesture of human solidarity."
Did he find the Grail? London Telegraph An archaeologist has provoked new debate about the whereabouts of the Holy Grail, the cup used by Jesus at the First Eucharist on the night he was betrayed, which disappeared in the third century. He insists it is buried beneath a sixth-century church in Rome; previous claims have been made that the sacred relic can be found in Spain, Scotland or other sites.
Newton’s religious side Christian Post Three-century-old manuscripts by Isaac Newton calculating the exact date of the apocalypse, detailing the precise dimensions of the ancient temple in Jerusalem and interpreting passages of the Bible – exhibited this week at the Jewish National and University Library in Jerusalem for the first time – lay bare the little-known Jewish religious intensity of a man many consider history's greatest scientist.
Katrina euthanasia case takes step forward Times-Picayune New Orleans District Attorney Eddie Jordan has promised to drop the murder charges against two Memorial Medical Center nurses accused by Attorney General Charles Foti of helping Dr. Anna Pou euthanize four patients after Hurricane Katrina, instead seeking to compel their testimony to a grand jury, according to documents filed at the Louisiana Supreme Court. The Church is opposed to euthanasia because ?it contradicts the natural inclination of the human being to preserve and perpetuates life,? states the U.S. Catholic Catechism for Adults.
Parents willing to let embryonic children die for research CNN A majority of U.S. couples with stored embryos from fertility treatments say they would be willing to donate unused embryos for stem cell research, says a doctor who surveyed patients. "Large numbers of infertility patients ... support using embryos for research, and these are people who have invested emotionally and financially in these embryos," Dr. Anne Drapkin Lyerly of Duke University said in a telephone interview Wednesday. Use of stem cells derived from embryos is a moral issue that has troubled politicians, religious and medical leaders and couples with stored embryos. For Catholics, this research is unjust because obtaining stem cells kills the embryo, which is an affront to the beginning of life.
Re-evaluating same-sex marriage Los Angeles Times (registration site) The California Supreme Court on Wednesday asked lawyers clashing over same-sex marriage whether the state's domestic-partners law provides all the benefits of marriage, and whether the term "marriage" has special legal significance. The questions came in a request for supplemental briefings in legal challenges by the city of San Francisco and gay-rights advocates to the state law that limits marriage to a man and a woman. The questions seem to indicate the justices are trying to determine whether the domestic-partners law makes same-sex marriage unnecessary. The Catholic Church has consistently supported marriage as a union between a man and a w ...
Be like Jesus on the roads Catholic News Service The Vatican has issued a set of "Ten Commandments" for drivers, saying motor vehicles can be an "occasion of sin." A document titled "Guidelines for the Pastoral Care of the Road" said driving can unleash road rage and other immoral behavior, including excess speed, reckless passing, cursing and just plain rudeness. "Cars tend to bring out the 'primitive' side of human beings, thereby producing rather unpleasant results," the document said.
‘Evan’ tries to be reverent Los Angeles Times (registration site) When Hollywood finds religion, it usually runs away — declining to distribute "The Passion of the Christ" or playing down spiritual themes in "The Chronicles of Narnia." But on Friday, Universal Pictures will release "Evan Almighty," an overtly spiritual Noah's ark comedy squarely aimed at the nation's faithful. Universal is trying to convince audiences that "Evan Almighty" seeks to honor — rather than belittle — religious devotion.
Muslim, Episcopal and priest? WorldNetDaily Seattle University, a Catholic school, has accepted as a woman to teach classes on the New Testament who is an Episcopal priest who says she is Christian and Muslim. How can someone be both since while Christians consider Jesus Christ to be God, Muslims regard him as only a prophet?
Catholics attacked in Gaza Washington Post (registration site) A school and convent belonging to the Gaza Strip's tiny Roman Catholic community were ransacked, burned and looted during clashes around a major security headquarters, the head of the community said Monday. Crosses were broken, a statue of Jesus was damaged and prayer books were burnt at the Rosary Sisters School and nearby convent, said Father Manuel Musallem, head of Gaza's Latin church. Earlier this month, Pope Benedict XVI lamented the plight of Christians in the Middle East, and said he was praying that the ancient communities remain despite the "apparently unstoppable violence." Young priests want Latin Mass USNews USNews and World Report says there is a movement building at seminaries nationwide in favor of restoring the Latin mass and young priests are calling for greater devotion to the Virgin Mary, more frequent praying of the Rosary and priests turning away from the congregation as they once did. The movement is getting attention because Pope Benedict XVI is expected to release a motu proprio encouraging restoration of reverence for the Mass.
Muslim diplomats learn the Catholic way Chiesa.org For three weeks, at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, representatives of the Islamic states of the Mediterranean and the Middle East studied the Catholic Church and its international politics. And it will be repeated next year. The aim the session was that of presenting itself to the Muslim governments of the region and was sponsored by several Catholic organizations and institutions.
Year of St. Paul Web Resources»