Drawing young people to vocations

The Telegraph

Facing a dramatic decline in the number of vocations, the Catholic Church in England and Wales is using the Japanese manga comic book art form to attract teenagers to the priesthood. Manga refers to a distinctive style of comic artwork from Japan featuring characters with large eyes, a small mouth and an "unreal" hair color. About 5,000 schools have been sent posters promoting a website that features a manga comic strip based on five young Catholic characters. The Church hopes that its comic, which shows nuns and monks playing pool and surfing the Internet, will show religious life as fulfilling.

Delivering us from 'evil'?

The New Republic (registration site)

After the Virginia Tech massacre, news media insisted on referring to the murders as a "shooting" and to Seung-Hui Cho as "the shooter," rather than murderer. A commentary in The New Republic points out that calling someone a "shooter" is to say he was holding a firearm that discharged, but to imply nothing about any moral choice involved or the fact that it's bad to aim a pistol at a helpless person and pull the trigger. According to the commentator, the use of the "shooter" reveals the Western press's rejection of the concept of evil and the fact that human wickedness causes terrible events.

Mexican Church fights law

The Washington Post

A week after Mexico City legalized abortion in the first trimester, the Mexican Church is urging doctors not to perform abortions. City officials have said doctors at city-run hospitals cannot refuse to perform them based on personal moral objections. A letter read Sunday by Cardinal Norberto Rivera said they could, The Associated Press reports. "We call on all of those of good conscience not to be responsible for the abominable act," the letter stated. "We remind the doctors, nurses, health care workers and all those affected by this unjust law, that they can invoke their human right to conscientious objection."