tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-69341200882185925432024-03-14T00:08:43.500-05:00Diving With BearsA pro-life, conservative Catholic student's blogUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger16125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6934120088218592543.post-89929330536386646702012-04-11T20:01:00.001-05:002012-04-11T20:03:39.698-05:00How NPR Marks Holy Days<div><span >On Palm Sunday, NPR interviewed an atheist about the historicity of Jesus and told a story about how James Brown was "born dead and miraculously brought back to life". Super-classy.</span></div><div><span ><br /></span></div><div><span >http://newsbusters.org/blogs/tim-graham/2012/04/03/npr-anchor-lauds-atheist-author-palm-sunday-says-hes-bought-his-tapes-yo</span></div><div><span >http://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=149702511<br /><br />Thankfully they had the better taste to lay off of religion on Easter Sunday.</span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6934120088218592543.post-47262093354629301432012-02-01T19:16:00.006-06:002012-05-21T21:04:28.440-05:00Breast Cancer, Artificial Birth Control, and Procured Abortion<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal;"><b>Breast Cancer - Artificial Contraception Links</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="http://aje.oxfordjournals.org/content/169/4/473.abstract?ijkey=8a9407ee027d7bf1a1292f2381102d6b87171844&keytype2=tf_ipsecsha" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">A Case-Control Study of Oral Contraceptive Use and Incident Breast Cancer</a> (2008)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"These results suggest that [oral contraceptive] use is associated with an increased risk of breast cancer diagnosed in recent years."</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"After control for breast cancer risk factors, the multivariable odds ratio for 1 year or more of OC use, relative to less than 1 year of use, was 1.5[-fold]"</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="http://cebp.aacrjournals.org/content/18/4/1157.abstract" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Risk Factors for Triple-Negative Breast Cancer in Women Under the Age of 45 Years</a> (2009)<a href="http://cebp.aacrjournals.org/content/18/4/1157.abstract" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"><br /></a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Study found that of a pool of women afflicted with breast cancer, artificial birth control use appears to be linked to a much greater incidence of a deadlier form of the cancer:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"Oral contraceptive use ≥1 year was associated with a 2.5-fold increased risk for triple-negative breast cancer...Furthermore, the risk among oral contraceptive users conferred by longer oral contraceptive duration and by more recent use was significantly greater for triple-negative breast cancer than non-triple-negative breast"</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="http://cancerres.aacrjournals.org/content/early/2012/02/25/0008-5472.CAN-11-4064.abstract">Effect of [injected] depo-medroxyprogesterone acetate on breast cancer risk among women 20-44 years of age</a>"We found that recent DMPA use for 12 months or longer was associated with a 2.2-fold (95% CI: 1.2-4.2) increased risk of invasive breast cancer."</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Breast Cancer - Procured Abortion Links</span></b></div>
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<a href="http://www.abortionbreastcancer.com/press_releases/120515/index.htm"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Women With a Previous Induced Abortion Had a Significant Increased Risk of Breast Cancer</span></a><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Researchers led by Ai-Ren Jiang reported a statistically significant 1.52-fold elevation in risk for women with IAs [induced abortion] and a “significant dose-response relationship between (the risk) for breast cancer and number of (IAs),” meaning that risk climbed with number of IAs.</span><br />
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<a href="http://jech.bmj.com/content/50/5/481.short"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Induced abortion as an independent risk factor for breast cancer: a comprehensive review and meta-analysis.</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"The results support the inclusion of induced abortion among significant independent risk factors for breast cancer, regardless of parity or timing of abortion relative to the first term pregnancy. Although the increase in risk was relatively low, the high incidence of both breast cancer and induced abortion suggest a substantial impact of thousands of excess cases per year currently, and a potentially much greater impact in the next century, as the first cohort of women exposed to legal induced abortion continues to age."</span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6934120088218592543.post-48593475732997426322012-01-15T20:22:00.013-06:002012-04-04T20:40:24.549-05:00Defense of Pope Pius XII Against Charges of Anti-Semitism<div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; "><a href="http://moynihanreport.itvworking.com/contributer/545">Pope Pius XII: Friend and Rescuer of Jews</a> Praises the Jewish People</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; "><span>"Then Pope Pius XII said: ‘You have done well, my Jewish friend, to come to me and tell me what has happened down there in the Italian islands...You are Jewish. I know what that means in these times we live in. I do hope that you will always be proud to be a Jew!</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; "><span><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; "><span>And then the Pope raised his voice so that everybody in the room [where German officers were present] could hear it even more clearly: ‘My son, whether you are worthier than others, only the Lord knows, but believe me, you are at least as worthy as any other human being on our earth before the Lord. And now, my Jewish friend, go with the protection of the Lord Almighty, and never forget: Be always proud to be a Jew."</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; "><br /></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; "><span><div><a href="http://www.zenit.org/article-28937?l=english"></a><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); "><a href="http://www.zenit.org/article-28937?l=english"></a><a href="http://www.30giorni.it/articoli_id_4295_l3.htm">Those birthcries stronger than the bombs</a></div><div>"In the early months of 1944 the inhabitants of the Castelli Romani were worn out by the war. Pius XII lodged twelve thousand people in the papal Villa. Thirty six babies were born in the apartments of the pope in that period. We met two of them, the [Jewish] twins Eugenio Pio and Pio Eugenio Zevini" [named after Eugenio Pacelli: Pope Pius XII]</div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); "><br /></div><a href="http://www.zenit.org/article-28937?l=english">Archives Show Church Excommunicated Nazis</a></div><div>"The documents indicate that any Catholic who joined the Nazi party, wore the uniform or flew the swastika flag would no longer be able to receive the sacraments."</div></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; "><span><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; "><span><a href="http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/pius.html">Chief Rabbi Zolli of Rome Converted to Catholicism in Admiration and Gratitude of Pope's Protection of Jews</a>:</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; "><span>"Zolli devoted an entire chapter in his memoirs to the German occupation of Rome and praised the Pope's leadership: '... The people of Rome loathed the Nazis and had intense pity for the Jews. They willingly assisted in the evacuation of the Jewish population into remote villages, where they were concealed and protected by Christian families. Christian families in the heart of Rome accepted Jews. There was money in the treasury for the support of destitute refugees thus hidden. The Holy Father sent by hand a letter to the bishops instructing them to lift the enclosure from convents and monasteries, so that they could become refuges for the Jews. I know of one convent where the Sisters slept in the basement, giving up their beds to Jewish refugees. In face of this charity, the fate of so many of the persecuted is especially tragic.'"</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; "><span><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; "><span><a href="http://www.speroforum.com/site/article.asp?idCategory=33&idsub=124&id=56002&t=Israeli+diplomat+praises+Pope+Pius+XII+for+saving+thouands+of+Jews+during+the+Holocaust">Israeli diplomat praises Pope Pius XII for saving thousands of Jews during the Holocaust</a></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; "><span>"Apparently breaking with a taboo among critics of the Catholic Church and of Pope Pius XII – who reigned during the Second World War and the Holocaust – Israel’s ambassador to the Vatican has recognized that the pontiff did actually save thousands of Jews during the years of Nazi predation."<br /><br /><a href="http://saintpetersbasilica.org/Monuments/PiusXII/PiusXII.htm">Pius Protected Roman Synagogue under Papal coat of arms...</a><br />...to make it Vatican property and so to protect it from confiscation and desecration by the Germans.<br /><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; "><span><blockquote>In the words of Albert Einstein: Only the Church stood squarely across the path of Hitler's campaign for suppressing the truth. I never had any special interest in the Church before, but now I feel a great affection and admiration because the Church alone has had the courage and persistence to stand for intellectual truth and moral freedom. I am forced thus to confess that what I once despised, I now praise unreservedly. (Time Magazine, Dec. 1940)</blockquote></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; "><span><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; "><span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Myth-Hitlers-Pope-Against-Germany/dp/0895260344/">The Myth of Hitler's Pope: Pope Pius XII And His Secret War Against Nazi Germany</a> [Book]</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; "><span>"In Rabbi David G. Dalin's controversial [2005] book, he explodes the newly resurrected, widely accepted, yet utterly bankrupt smearing of Pope Pius XII, whom Jewish survivors of the Holocaust considered a righteous gentile...Rabbi Dalin explodes the myth of Hitler’s pope and condemns the myth-makers for not only rewriting history, but for denying the testimony of Holocaust survivors, hijacking the Holocaust for unseemly political ends, and ignoring the real threat to the Jewish people.</span><span style="font-size: medium; ">"</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; "><span style="font-size: medium; "><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; "><span><a href="http://catholiceducation.org/articles/history/world/wh0003.html">800,000 Saved by Pius XII’s [So-Called] ‘Silence’</a></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; "><span>"In reviewing the play in 1964, The New York Times stated that its 'facts may be in dispute; the history imperfect; the indictment too severe.' America condemned the play as 'an atrocious calumny against the memory of a good and courageous world leader occupying the Chair of Peter during one of the great crises of humanity.' Cardinal Francis Spellman called the play 'an outrageous desecration of the honour of a great and good man, and an affront to those who know his record as a humanitarian who love him and revere his memory:'"</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; "><span><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; "><span><span><a href="http://www.ptwf.org/Downloads/PR%20KRAISTALL_SAVING.pdf">Documents prove the Vatican’s actions to save Jews in 1938 triggered by Kristallnacht</a> </span><span style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); line-height: 24px; ">[PDF link]</span></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; "><span>"Renowned scholar Professor Ronald Rychla: The important aspect of this document is that it shows what many of us have been saying all along: efforts that appear to have been directed to protect only converted Jews <i>actually</i> protected Jews regardless of whether they had converted"</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; "><span><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; "><span><a href="http://www.catholicleague.org/the-definitive-work-on-pius-xii/">The Definitive Work on Pius XII: <i>Hitler, the War, and the Pope</i> by by Ronald J. Rychlak</a></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; "><span>"All of these allegations and others against the pope have now been carefully identified, dissected, and answered in this book by Professor Ronald Rychlak using citations, argumentation, and documentations which in the end are not just irrefutable but are overwhelming. It turns out that there never was any case against Pope Pius XII, none. "</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; "><span><br /></span></div><div><span><span ><a href="http://www.catholicleague.org/shoddy-scholarship-in-the-study-of-pope-pius-xii/">Shoddy Scholarship in the Study of Pope Pius XII</a> Suggests He Helped War Criminals</span></span></div><div><span><span >On the contrary, this is false and "Pius even provided evidence to use against Nazi defendants and assigned a Jesuit to assist the prosecution team."<br /></span><br /><br /></span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6934120088218592543.post-15744546909833452152010-05-09T22:04:00.002-05:002010-05-09T22:11:24.678-05:00The Eucharist as Medicine of Immortality<p class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;mso-add-space: auto;text-indent:.5in;line-height:200%"><span style="font-size:12.0pt; line-height:200%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; color:#333333">(Following is my term paper of Spring 2010. I may revisit the topic again at a higher level in the future. I've seen a number of opportunities for improvement when I have the opportunity to write with more specificity on the topic)</span></p><p class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;mso-add-space: auto;text-indent:.5in;line-height:200%"><span style="font-size:12.0pt; line-height:200%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; color:#333333"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;mso-add-space: auto;text-indent:.5in;line-height:200%"><span style="font-size:12.0pt; line-height:200%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; color:#333333">Since the second century, the Catholic Church has honored the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist under the title, “the medicine of immortality.”<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>This teaching that the Eucharist is </span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:200%; font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#333333">a medicine of immortality</span></span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:200%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:#333333"> has been obscured or omitted from most catechesis.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span></span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:200%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:#444444">The concept that the Eucharist is the "medicine of immortality" is a universal Christian teaching of Eastern Christian origin that is a necessary article of faith to fully understand Church teaching on the Eucharist.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Although the teaching has been officially taught by the teaching authority of the Church, it seldom percolates down to the laity.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Along with a fuller catechesis that teaches that the Eucharist is truly the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus, Catholics need this teaching of the “medicine of immortality” to form a more complete picture of the sacrament.</span><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;line-height:200%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";color:#333333"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent: .5in;line-height:200%"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:200%; font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; color:#444444"><o:p> In his original unveiling of the Sacrament of Holy Communion, Jesus told us that, "Anyone who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life and I will raise him up on the last day.” <span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>This is clearest teaching on the Eucharist as a “medicine of immortality”.<a style="mso-footnote-id:ftn1" href="file:///C:/Users/Geoff/Documents/Downloads/The+Eucharist+as+Medicine+of+Immortality%20(2).docx#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character:footnote"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; color:#444444;mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language:EN-US;mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">[1]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>To call this a simple explanation would be disingenuous, as many of his disciples left him over this teaching, despite the tremendous and gratuitous promise He gave to us. </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent: .5in;line-height:200%"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:200%; font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; color:#444444">Perhaps the earliest written presentation of the “medicine of immortality” concept is in St. Ignatius of Antioch's letter to the Ephesians, a non-canonical epistle. <span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>This letter is nonetheless of value to Catholics as part of a body of work that helps to interpret the Scriptures by illustrating certain teachings that follow an unbroken continuity back to the earliest Apostles. Ignatius was a “Church Father” who studied at the feet of St. John, the beloved apostle, who in turn had studied at the feet of Christ. Ignatius called the Eucharist a vital, universal part of the faith. He promised to write to the Ephesians a second time, but only, “…if the Lord make known to me that you come together man by man in common through grace, individually, in one faith...breaking one and the same bread, which is the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">medicine of immortality</i>, and the antidote to prevent us from dying, but [which causes] that we should live for ever in Jesus Christ.”<a style="mso-footnote-id:ftn2" href="file:///C:/Users/Geoff/Documents/Downloads/The+Eucharist+as+Medicine+of+Immortality%20(2).docx#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character:footnote"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; color:#444444;mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language:EN-US;mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">[2]</span></span></span></span></a> <span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>The breaking of this bread continues to be the most important act of worship in the Church. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent: .5in;line-height:200%"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:200%; font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; color:#444444">St. John's Gospel tells us that many things that Jesus did and said had to be left out of the book for brevity's sake, so it is conceivable that Christ himself might be the originator of the concept that His body and blood are the medicine of immortality given to us in the Eucharist.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Indeed, St. Luke (notably a physician) and St. Matthew both recount the anecdote of Jesus telling the Pharisees, “Those who are healthy do not need a physician, but the sick do.”<a style="mso-footnote-id: ftn3" href="file:///C:/Users/Geoff/Documents/Downloads/The+Eucharist+as+Medicine+of+Immortality%20(2).docx#_ftn3" name="_ftnref3" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character:footnote"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; color:#444444;mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language:EN-US;mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">[3]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Christ Himself is the Divine Physician who gives us a remedy for death, His Body and Blood to eat. He enables us to one day have eternal life.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>If we are sinners who are “sick” with sin, our Divine Physician’s medicine of choice has been identified by His earliest Apostles as the Holy Eucharist. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent: .5in;line-height:200%"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:200%; font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; color:#444444">Apocalyptic Scripture alludes to Christ providing a source of a medicine of great power. In the Bible, the prophet Ezekiel spoke of a temple, which we can presume to represent Christ, from whose side flowed water toward the east and then south.<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); "> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:0in; margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:200%"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:200%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:#444444">"This water flows into the eastern district down upon the Arabah...Wherever the river flows, every sort of living creature that can multiply shall live...Along both banks of the river, fruit trees of every kind shall grow; their leaves shall not fade, nor their fruit fail. Every month they shall bear fresh fruit, for they shall be watered by the flow from the sanctuary. <i>Their fruit shall serve for food, and their leaves for medicine.</i>"<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; color:#444444;mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language:EN-US;mso-bidi-language: AR-SA"><a style="mso-footnote-id: ftn4" href="file:///C:/Users/Geoff/Documents/Downloads/The+Eucharist+as+Medicine+of+Immortality%20(2).docx#_ftn4" name="_ftnref4" title="">[4]</a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 32px; "> </span></span></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent: .5in;line-height:200%"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:200%; font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; color:#444444">St. John tells us in his book of Revelation that he was shown by an angel a scene that was a clear parallel to this prophet's vision. John clearly identifies the source of the water:<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); "> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:0in; margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:200%"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:200%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:#444444">“Then the angel showed me the river of life-giving water, sparkling like crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of its street. On either side of the river grew the <i>tree of life that produces fruit twelve times a year</i>, once each month; <i>the leaves of the trees serve as medicine for the nations</i>. Nothing accursed will be found there anymore. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him.”<a style="mso-footnote-id:ftn5" href="file:///C:/Users/Geoff/Documents/Downloads/The+Eucharist+as+Medicine+of+Immortality%20(2).docx#_ftn5" name="_ftnref5" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character:footnote"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; color:#444444;mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language:EN-US;mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">[5]</span></span></span></span></a></span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:200%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:#333333"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: 200%"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:200%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:#333333"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent: .5in;line-height:200%"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:200%; font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; color:#444444">By the time these words were committed to the page, the apostles had already begun the evangelization of all peoples, bringing this Blessed Sacrament to the lips of all nations. This passage in Revelation has multiple beauties about it. When Christ's side and heart were pierced, blood and water flowed from the wound, becoming our Baptism and Eucharist. This vision of a throne issues water from its side, nourishing the tree of life, a clear illustration of how Christ’s grace provides us with the Holy Eucharist.<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); "> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent: .5in;line-height:200%"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:200%; font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; color:#444444">Christ's cross is the tree of life, the contrast to the tree in the Garden of Eden that brought death to mankind. The fruit and leaves of this tree of life are together the Eucharist that nourishes us and at the same time is our medicine for all nations. Among those who worship Christ it is a particular grace to be able to receive the produce of this tree with the opportunity to share in eternal life with Christ.</span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:200%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:#333333"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: 200%"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:200%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:#333333"><o:p> <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(68, 68, 68); ">As Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, Francis Cardinal Arinze remembered St. Ignatius’ words, giving us a rare exposition of the doctrine. He tells us simply that in the Eucharist, Christ gives us “a pledge of eternal life, of our bodily resurrection, since Jesus promised that those who so receive him in this sacrament have eternal life and he will raise them up at the last day. Therefore St. Ignatius of Antioch called Holy Communion ‘a medicine of immortality, and antidote of death.’”<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"> <a style="mso-footnote-id: ftn6" href="file:///C:/Users/Geoff/Documents/Downloads/The+Eucharist+as+Medicine+of+Immortality%20(2).docx#_ftn6" name="_ftnref6" title=""><span style="mso-special-character: footnote"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:#444444;mso-ansi-language:EN-US; mso-fareast-language:EN-US;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA">[6]</span></span></span></a></span> Arinze takes it as a given that the Eucharist is a medicine even while it is the sacrament of the altar. </span></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent: .5in;line-height:200%"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:200%; font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; color:#444444">The medicine of immortality analogy is still accepted today, having been listed in the Catechism parallel to other names for Holy Communion, “the bread of angels, bread from heaven, medicine of immortality, viaticum.”<a style="mso-footnote-id:ftn7" href="file:///C:/Users/Geoff/Documents/Downloads/The+Eucharist+as+Medicine+of+Immortality%20(2).docx#_ftn7" name="_ftnref7" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character:footnote"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; color:#444444;mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language:EN-US;mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">[7]</span></span></span></span></a> The medicine of immortality is also named in like manner in John Paul II's <i>Ecclesia De Eucharistia<a style="mso-footnote-id:ftn8" href="file:///C:/Users/Geoff/Documents/Downloads/The+Eucharist+as+Medicine+of+Immortality%20(2).docx#_ftn8" name="_ftnref8" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height: 115%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; color:#444444;mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language:EN-US;mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">[8]</span></b></span></span></span></a>.</i><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>For his part, Pope Benedict XVI sees an additional strong tie between the Eucharist and the sacrament of Anointing of the Sick.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>The latter is given to those in such circumstances as imminent death, along with <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">viaticum</i>, the Eucharist given as “bread for the journey” toward Heaven.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Benedict states in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Sacramentum Caritatis</i> that. “On their journey to the Father, communion in the Body and Blood of Christ appears as the seed of eternal life and the power of resurrection.” <span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; color:#444444;mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language:EN-US;mso-bidi-language: AR-SA"><a style="mso-footnote-id: ftn9" href="file:///C:/Users/Geoff/Documents/Downloads/The+Eucharist+as+Medicine+of+Immortality%20(2).docx#_ftn9" name="_ftnref9" title="">[9]</a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 32px; "> </span></span></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent: .5in;line-height:200%"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:200%; font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; color:#444444">The graces that we receive by taking and consuming the Eucharist are a medicine for the soul.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Just as a medicine conforms the body to health, the Eucharist conforms our fallen nature to Christ.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>It is the stronger substance that turns us into Christs; instead of just being consumed as normal bread, it acts on and consumes those who eat the Eucharist.<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); "> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent: .5in;line-height:200%"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:200%; font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; color:#444444">It is important for us to go to Christ the physician to be healed. Church discipline has long prescribed a period of fasting before receiving the Eucharist, just as a surgeon requires the same of his patient before surgery. Our fasting better prepares us by causing us to hunger for the Eucharist, allowing Christ's hands to work on our souls. Just as "God formed our inmost beings and knit us in the womb"<a style="mso-footnote-id:ftn10" href="file:///C:/Users/Geoff/Documents/Downloads/The+Eucharist+as+Medicine+of+Immortality%20(2).docx#_ftn10" name="_ftnref10" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character:footnote"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; color:#444444;mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language:EN-US;mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">[10]</span></span></span></span></a>, He also repairs our inmost beings through such means as this medicine of immortality. <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0); "> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent: .5in;line-height:200%"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:200%; font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; color:#444444">For those who revere Christ, there are practical benefits to receiving a medicine that brings us to eternal life.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>The benefits may not be recognized as immediate, but the effects are certainly lasting, indeed eternal.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>In the short term of mortal life, the availability of the Eucharist prepares us for Heaven and teaches us to avoid sin.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Like periodic Confession, frequent Communion encourages us to seek and to stay in a state of grace by avoiding sin and cultivating an active prayer life, which better disposes us to face our final judgment.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>So, just as His disciples asked Christ, “Sir, give us this bread always,”<a style="mso-footnote-id: ftn11" href="file:///C:/Users/Geoff/Documents/Downloads/The+Eucharist+as+Medicine+of+Immortality%20(2).docx#_ftn11" name="_ftnref11" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character:footnote"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; color:#444444;mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language:EN-US;mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">[11]</span></span></span></span></a> we must also ask our Lord to give us this same gift, this medicine of immortality in the Eucharist.<br /> <o:p></o:p></span></p> <div style="mso-element:footnote-list"><br /> <hr align="left" size="1" width="33%"> <div style="mso-element:footnote" id="ftn1"> <p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="text-indent:.5in"><a style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1" href="file:///C:/Users/Geoff/Documents/Downloads/The+Eucharist+as+Medicine+of+Immortality%20(2).docx#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin"><span style="mso-special-character:footnote"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language: EN-US;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA">[1]</span></span></span></span></span></a><span style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin"> John 6: 54 (NAB)<o:p></o:p></span></p> </div> <div style="mso-element:footnote" id="ftn2"> <p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="text-indent:.5in"><a style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2" href="file:///C:/Users/Geoff/Documents/Downloads/The+Eucharist+as+Medicine+of+Immortality%20(2).docx#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin"><span style="mso-special-character:footnote"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language: EN-US;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA">[2]</span></span></span></span></span></a><span style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin"> St. Ignatius of Antioch, “The Epistle of Ignatius to the Ephesians”, New Advent [website]; available from http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0104.htm (accessed 21 April, 2010).<o:p></o:p></span></p> </div> <div style="mso-element:footnote" id="ftn3"> <p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="text-indent:.5in"><a style="mso-footnote-id: ftn3" href="file:///C:/Users/Geoff/Documents/Downloads/The+Eucharist+as+Medicine+of+Immortality%20(2).docx#_ftnref3" name="_ftn3" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin"><span style="mso-special-character:footnote"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language: EN-US;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA">[3]</span></span></span></span></span></a><span style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin"> Luke 5:31 (NAB)<o:p></o:p></span></p> </div> <div style="mso-element:footnote" id="ftn4"> <p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="text-indent:.5in"><a style="mso-footnote-id: ftn4" href="file:///C:/Users/Geoff/Documents/Downloads/The+Eucharist+as+Medicine+of+Immortality%20(2).docx#_ftnref4" name="_ftn4" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin"><span style="mso-special-character:footnote"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language: EN-US;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA">[4]</span></span></span></span></span></a><span style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin"> Ezekiel 47: 9-12 (NAB)<o:p></o:p></span></p> </div> <div style="mso-element:footnote" id="ftn5"> <p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="text-indent:.5in"><a style="mso-footnote-id: ftn5" href="file:///C:/Users/Geoff/Documents/Downloads/The+Eucharist+as+Medicine+of+Immortality%20(2).docx#_ftnref5" name="_ftn5" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin"><span style="mso-special-character:footnote"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language: EN-US;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA">[5]</span></span></span></span></span></a><span style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin"> Revelation 22:1-3 (NAB)<o:p></o:p></span></p> </div> <div style="mso-element:footnote" id="ftn6"> <p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="text-indent:.5in"><a style="mso-footnote-id: ftn6" href="file:///C:/Users/Geoff/Documents/Downloads/The+Eucharist+as+Medicine+of+Immortality%20(2).docx#_ftnref6" name="_ftn6" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin"><span style="mso-special-character:footnote"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language: EN-US;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA">[6]</span></span></span></span></span></a><span style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin">Francis Cardinal Arinze. “The Holy Eucharist Unites Heaven and Earth,” September 25, 2004, USCCB, http://www.usccb.org/liturgy/arinze.shtml (accessed April 22, 2010).<o:p></o:p></span></p> </div> <div style="mso-element:footnote" id="ftn7"> <p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="text-indent:.5in"><a style="mso-footnote-id: ftn7" href="file:///C:/Users/Geoff/Documents/Downloads/The+Eucharist+as+Medicine+of+Immortality%20(2).docx#_ftnref7" name="_ftn7" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character:footnote"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi; mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language:EN-US;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA">[7]</span></span></span></span></a> <span style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin">Catechism of the Catholic Church Second Edition, Libreria Editrice Vaticana, (1997),<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;"><s> </s></span>1331.</span></p> </div> <div style="mso-element:footnote" id="ftn8"> <p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="text-indent:.5in"><a style="mso-footnote-id: ftn8" href="file:///C:/Users/Geoff/Documents/Downloads/The+Eucharist+as+Medicine+of+Immortality%20(2).docx#_ftnref8" name="_ftn8" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin"><span style="mso-special-character:footnote"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language: EN-US;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA">[8]</span></span></span></span></span></a><span style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin"> </span><span style="mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:#444444">John Paul II, <span style="mso-bidi-font-style:italic">Encyclical Letter <i>Church of the Eucharist (Ecclesia De Eucharistia)</i>, April 17, 2003, #18, </span></span><span style="mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:#444444;mso-bidi-font-style:italic">Vatican, </span>http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/special_features/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc</p> <p class="MsoFootnoteText">_20030417_ecclesia_eucharistia_en.html <span style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin">(accessed April 22, 2010).<o:p></o:p></span></p> </div> <div style="mso-element:footnote" id="ftn9"> <p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="text-indent:.5in"><a style="mso-footnote-id: ftn9" href="file:///C:/Users/Geoff/Documents/Downloads/The+Eucharist+as+Medicine+of+Immortality%20(2).docx#_ftnref9" name="_ftn9" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin"><span style="mso-special-character:footnote"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language: EN-US;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA">[9]</span></span></span></span></span></a><span style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin"> Benedict XVI, Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Sacrament of Charity (Sacramentum Caritatis)</i>, February 22, 2007, #22, Vatican, http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/apost_exhortations/documents/ hf_ben-xvi_exh_20070222_sacramentum-caritatis_en.html (accessed April 22, 2010).<i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal"><o:p></o:p></i></span></p> </div> <div style="mso-element:footnote" id="ftn10"> <p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="text-indent:.5in"><a style="mso-footnote-id: ftn10" href="file:///C:/Users/Geoff/Documents/Downloads/The+Eucharist+as+Medicine+of+Immortality%20(2).docx#_ftnref10" name="_ftn10" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin"><span style="mso-special-character:footnote"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language: EN-US;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA">[10]</span></span></span></span></span></a><span style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin"> Psalm 139:13 (NAB)<o:p></o:p></span></p> </div> <div style="mso-element:footnote" id="ftn11"> <p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="text-indent:.5in"><a style="mso-footnote-id: ftn11" href="file:///C:/Users/Geoff/Documents/Downloads/The+Eucharist+as+Medicine+of+Immortality%20(2).docx#_ftnref11" name="_ftn11" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin"><span style="mso-special-character:footnote"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language: EN-US;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA">[11]</span></span></span></span></span></a><span style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin"> John 6:34 (NAB)<o:p></o:p></span></p> </div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6934120088218592543.post-67932089993564354912010-05-07T14:26:00.004-05:002010-05-07T14:46:46.983-05:00Arizona Law on Illegal Immigration<div>Arizona has been given a really raw deal. Most of the fifty states don't have a border with Mexico, and none has the amount of crime, human trafficking, and drug smuggling that comes up through Arizona's border. It is WRONG for them to bear this alone, it defeats the purpose of being a part of the United States.</div><div><br /></div><div>We need a reconciliation and mutual cultural assimilation with the immigrants. The latter is how America is supposed to work. We're supposed to become one people with our immigrants. Assimilation can't happen with people who can't become a part of society. The Catholic Church says that immigrants are supposed to respect and accommodate the laws of their host. So many things have already gone wrong.</div><div><br /></div><div>I think this problem needs to be fixed soon and a solution needs to include equal measures of generosity and consequences for those who have entered the country illegally. There are some really dehumanizing aspects of this ongoing situation. I'm really tired of Congress failing to fix this decades old problem (but I also doubt that I would like any "solution" that this Congress would come to.)</div><div><br /></div><div>I fear that the Democrats will be tempted to give amnesty to a broad swath of the illegal immigrants in a naked attempt to buy votes, which would be good for exactly NOBODY. This really wouldn't help illegal immigrants or us because I think becoming documented would price most of them out of a job. (Considering minimum wage laws, historically pushed by Democrats) But I can't be sure of this because I haven't heard anyone make this argument. Certainly, I think there needs to be an expanded guest worker program, perhaps one where they are allowed to work below the minimum wage (as many currently do). </div><div><br /></div><div>I think some Catholic bishops are tacitly welcoming illegal immigration as part of an ongoing avoidance issue they have. The state of catechesis and the liturgy are pretty much in the crapper. American Catholics aren't passing the faith on to their children. They themselves don't even know what it is they have. The faith is often rendered so bland and inconsequential when Catholicism is rich and other-worldly in its natural form! Many bishops welcome these immigrants as a stop-gap solution to declining numbers of Americans in the pews, but they're going to see that if they don't fix their presentation of the faith, the immigrants' descendants will one day simply drop Catholicism, too.</div><div><br /></div><div>Back to politics, I really believe in state sovereignty, America's AND Mexico's. Mexico needs SERIOUS reform but I don't know what we can do to help them without reaching in and violating THEIR sovereignty just as individual citizens of their country regularly do to us. We can't unilaterally fix Mexico. It needs to be a country where its own citizens can thrive, instead it's becoming something that can be described as a kleptocracy, a narco-republic, etc.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6934120088218592543.post-2010333124103022122010-04-25T02:21:00.003-05:002010-04-25T02:49:01.610-05:00Greeley: Implementing a revolving door at the rectory<div>Fr. Andrew Greeley is at it again, or at least this week's reprinting of his article makes it look like he is. Apparently someone at "US Catholic" thinks his 2007 article is timely again. It is an argument for some sort of<a href="http://www.uscatholic.org/church/2010/04/lets-enlist-short-term-priests-long-term-solution#comment-7341"> </a><a href="http://www.uscatholic.org/church/2010/04/lets-enlist-short-term-priests-long-term-solution">short term priesthood</a>. And look who <a href="http://www.uscatholic.org/church/2010/04/lets-enlist-short-term-priests-long-term-solution#comment-7341">commented</a>!</div><div><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><i>By tour86rocker (not verified) on Sunday, April 25, 2010<br />Marriages and ordinations are more alike than people are saying here. Catholics can't divorce but they can separate for a good reason. They remain sacramentally married (unless they were never validly married in the first place). It's the same with priests, they can be separated from their ministry for a good reason but they remain ordained.<br /><br />It is unnatural for man and wife, who are one flesh, to be separated, but it can become necessary if the husband is abusive, for instance. If a priest's actions abuse or scandalize the faithful, he should be separated from his spouse (the Church) as well.<br /><br />It is unnatural for a sacramentally ordained priest to be separated from the ministry that his nature is indelibly ordered toward after ordination. Why on Earth should it ever become common to make temporary promises with your lips when your very soul makes a commitment for a lifetime? It's like the body speaking a lie against the soul.</i></span></blockquote></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="http://www.uscatholic.org/church/2010/04/lets-enlist-short-term-priests-long-term-solution#comment-7341"></a>I agree with my fellow critics, this is psychologically related to the male aversion to commitment in this culture. So many fathers are emotionally distant from their wives and children and are looking for an out. So many marriages end in divorce due to a privation of manhood! Apparently some priests are looking for an out, too.</div><div><br /></div><div>(Greeley's reference to monks and nuns who make temporary vows is a big, fat red herring intended to confuse those who don't understand the sacrament of Holy Orders. Religious sisters and brothers don't take part in any sacrament as a virtue of entering a religious order. The religious brothers and sisters are apples and the priest is an orange. Ask me why if you're wondering. It's just really unfortunate that Greeley lumps all forms of religious commitment together into one big ball of "stuff that keeps you from getting married". Religious life is supposed to be freely and joyfully chosen, not burdensome!)</div><div><br /></div><div> In short, we'd quickly see liturgical and catechetical horrors yet-unheard-of. And I, for one, have heard of too many already. <i>Implementing a revolving door at the rectory</i> is the surest way to keep our shepherds' memory of tradition very myopic and there would be no reason for them to be concerned with episcopal censure, after all, their swing at being a priest would be just a temporary volunteer position (albeit with a lot of educational prerequisites!) that they'd soon move on from. And don't forget, they'd probably move on to marriages with the same privation of commitment. If you thought you'd seen failed Catholic marriages before that day...</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6934120088218592543.post-11357598567893904242010-04-20T17:44:00.012-05:002010-04-25T20:51:48.826-05:00Honest Journalism on the Abuse Scandals and Journalism Scandal, A Short List<span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:arial;font-size:small;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal; "><div><b>Church is on the side of the victims, not the abusers:</b></div><div><b><span style="font-weight: normal; ">Tearful pope says church will better protect young: from <a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gTBsIVChMjmCnQyj1YYIJQwuhVagD9F5GNB80">Associated Press</a></span></b></div></span><div><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal; "><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal; "><div style="display: inline !important; "><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal; ">Cardinal Hummes: ‘Above all we are on the side of the victims’: from <a href="http://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=6050">Catholic World News</a></span></b></div></span></b></span></b></div><div><div style="display: inline !important; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">Abuse victim in Malta: Pope Benedict XVI is a 'saint': from <a href="http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/abuse_victim_in_malta_pope_benedict_xvi_is_a_saint/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+catholicnewsagency/dailynews+(CNA+Daily+News)">Catholic News Agency</a></span></div></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal; "><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal; "><div style="display: inline !important; "><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal; "><a href="http://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=6050"></a></span></b></div></span></b></span>Process to protect children is shown to have improved:</b></div><div><span style="font-weight: normal; ">Evidence of Renewal: from</span><b> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><a href="http://article.nationalreview.com/431755/evidence-of-renewal/kathryn-jean-lopez">National Review</a></span></b></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">U.S. bishops tracking foreign priest abuse complaints: from the <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/15/AR2010041502491.html">Washington Post</a></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">Bishop Wenski: "Crisis...has been surmounted": from <a href="http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/features-the-religion-world/2010/04/22/bishop-wenski-speaks-to-pedophile-scandal/">Orlando Sentinel</a></span></div><br />Pope was never personally responsible:</b></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:arial;font-size:small;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal; ">Fessio: Let's Get the Story Straight: Defrocking and Divorce: from <a href="http://insightscoop.typepad.com/2004/2010/04/lets-get-the-story-straight-defrocking-and-divorce-fr-joseph-fessio-sj.html">Insight Scoop</a></span><br /></b>The mob should lay off. The pope is completely innocent: from <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2010/apr/15/pope-mob-benedict-misreading-abuse">The Guardian (UK)</a><br />Abp Nichols: The Church is not trying to cover anything up: from <a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article7076344.ece">The Times (UK)</a><br /><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></b><div><b>Dishonest Journalism:</b><br />Journalists abandon standards to attack the Pope: from <a href="http://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/otn.cfm?ID=632">Catholic Culture</a><br />Ed Koch: Anti-Catholicism Evident in Media: from <a href="http://zenit.org/article-28877?l=english">Zenit</a></div><div><a href="http://zenit.org/article-28877?l=english"></a>Why is the unashamed child abuser Polanski lauded while the repentant Pope is vilified?: from <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-1268175/Why-unashamed-child-abuser-Polanski-lauded-repentant-Pope-vilified.html">Daily Mail (UK)</a><br /><br /><b>Defenders of Pope:</b><br />President of the Italian Senate condemns 'unmerited' attacks on Pope Benedict: from <a href="http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/president_of_the_italian_senate_condemns_attacks_on_pope_benedict/">Catholic News Agency</a><br /><br /><b>Figures about real abuse prevalence are lower than people think:</b></div><div><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">How Spotlights Leave Many Other Things in Darkness: from <a href="http://blog.adw.org/2010/04/is-the-sexual-abuse-a-catholic-problem-only-or-spotlights-leave-many-other-things-in-darkness/">Archdiocese of Washington blog</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></b>**Weigel: Scoundrel Time(s): from <a href="http://www.firstthings.com/onthesquare/2010/03/scoundrel-times">First Things</a><br />The media fires up its inquisition: from the <a href="http://www.startribune.com/opinion/commentary/90405449.html?elr=KArksc8P:Pc:U0ckkD:aEyKUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUU">Star Tribune</a><br />Forgotten Study: Abuse in School 100 Times Worse than by Priests: from <a href="http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2010/apr/10040101.html">Life Site News</a><br />Sex Abuse by Teachers Said Worse Than Catholic Church: from <a href="http://archive.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2004/4/5/01552.shtml">NewsMax</a></div><div><br /></div><div><b>Opportunities for improvement:</b></div><div>Prominent Chicago Catholic Calls On Pope For Tougher Action: from <a href="http://www.wbbm780.com/pages/6879700.php?">WBBM Chicago</a></div></span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6934120088218592543.post-40178208319623206852010-04-20T17:36:00.007-05:002010-04-20T18:01:43.877-05:00Voris: A Little Balance, Please!<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/p2y8fBZVeqU&hl=en_US&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/p2y8fBZVeqU&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object><br /><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); ">edit: <div id="text_expose_id_4bce31b7a490a59ec6538" class="comment_actual_text" style="display: inline; ">Nobody is comforted about the priest abuse scandal by learning that teachers abuse more, anyway. It's NOT a comfort and I think it makes us look bad to to lean heavily on such an argument.<br /><br />We should be saying instead that we're doing all that we can to kick out pedophiles and pederasts in the priesthood and screen them out before they make it into a seminary. <i> Our bishops have implemented reforms that have <b>reduced such new cases of such abuse</b> to approach the more acceptable level of <b>zero</b></i>.</div></span><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); "><div id="text_expose_id_4bce31b7a490a59ec6538" class="comment_actual_text" style="display: inline; "></div></span>Voris did an interesting thing here. At minute 3:00 he started to explain that there was a reason that there were more abuses by teachers than by Catholic priests: there are more OF them. Instead of doing the intellectually honest thing and calculating the abuses per teacher and abuses per priest, he just sort of CHANGES the subject. I didn't like that he did that. I believe that God is best served by truth.<br /><br />So I decided to calculate it myself. I had to listen to the video about three times to write down all of the number of abuses and then I looked up the number of priests and teachers (of minors) in the U.S.<br /><br />Voris (or Shakeshaft?) does us a disservice by giving us only apples to oranges comparisons of abuse figures. But for my calculation I'm accepting their average for the 1990's of 29,000 abuses per year by teachers and 220 per year by priests.<br /><br />According to US News & World Report, there were about 32,300 Catholic priests in the US in 1995. That makes it about <b>8 abuses per 1000 priest</b>s in 1995. <1><br /><br />Another article from the same periodical claims there were 2.5 million teachers in 1996, making it about <b>12 abuses per 1000 teachers </b>in 1996. <2><br /><br />These aren't the best data sources and I failed statistics twice, so I'm open to criticism. I'd say that although teachers appear to have abused more, the rate is too close to say which one abuses more in any given year. <b>And the abuse prevalence of priests and teachers is almost equally unlikely, to such an extent that neither group should be stereotyped by it! </b>I don't have the right data to compare apples to apples but the data I have would have to be off by magnitudes to make a difference, and I don't see any reason to assume that this is the case.<br /><br />1. <a href="http://www.usnews.com/articles/news/2008/04/18/what-to-do-about-the-priest-shortage.html">http://www.usnews.com/articles/news/2008/04/18/what-to-do-about-the-priest-shortage.html</a><br />2. <a href="http://landiss.com/teaching/why-teachers-dont-teach.htm">http://landiss.com/teaching/why-teachers-dont-teach.htm</a><br /><br />#2 is the best I could find after searching for an hour, an hour of my life that I'll never get back. We don't know what teachers that number includes or excludes, like preschool, special ed, private schools, parochial schools, etc. (or, where it overlaps with priest-teachers)</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6934120088218592543.post-91990664788003012592009-11-29T22:12:00.003-06:002009-11-29T22:19:30.558-06:00Western Catholics need to know their Eastern extended FamilyMy sister heard about someone with the same first and last name today and that totally weirds us both out. We have a pretty rare last name to start with. I'm used to having a very uncommon first AND last name. In my life I've fielded hundreds of comments about my first name, hopefully in a charitable manner.<br /><br />What is your reaction when you meet somebody with the same last name or even full name? When I hear of someone with the same last name, it makes me glad! I have lots of extended family, but only one living grandmother with my last name and I don't think anyone else outside of my immediate family. We didn't grow up with any extended family living in the same STATE and very few (I think less than a dozen) opportunities to go to Oregon meet extended family.<br /><br />It's my nature to see a tie between the way things make me feel. Maybe having very little family growing up is why I was so excited to learn about the Eastern Catholic churches when I was a high schooler. It was something I learned about on my own and it was like finding out I had long-lost family in my own city. Most Catholics are Roman, and most Romans never have an experience of the divine liturgy outside of their own parishes, or even know that the Roman Church is one of almost two dozen (much smaller) Churches in the Catholic Church, most of which were spin-offs from Orthodox Churches. They have distincive liturgical rites descending from about half a dozen non-Roman traditions, but all holding the same Catholic beliefs about what takes place in the Mass/Divine Liturgy.<br /><br />If you are Catholic, please check them out! Pope Benedict XVI is going down in history as the Pope of Christian Unity, and it really behooves us to be knowledgeable about Eastern Christianity in order to grow closer to the still-separated Eastern ORTHODOX by learning more about the Eastern CATHOLIC Churches that centuries ago came back to us from them. <br /><br />While we profess the same faith and doctrines, the Second Vatican Council urged Eastern Catholics to return to their distinctive traditions, as some had been coerced into adopting some Roman traditions. Roman rite Catholicism isn't supposed to become Eastern or vice versa in order for us to have more unity but it's good for us to know more about Eastern Catholicism, as they know a lot about their more widely known Roman sister church. It's only polite.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6934120088218592543.post-5065036272037067922009-03-19T10:30:00.002-05:002011-06-02T15:32:40.179-05:00When Lenten Penances Are Too LightFrom Matthew Kelly's book, "Rediscovering Catholicism":<br /><blockquote>The forty days of Lent are an ideal period for renewal. Lent is the perfect span of time to form new life-giving habits and abandon old self-destructive habits. But most of us just give up candy and, when Easter arrives, we are no further advanced spiritually than we were at the beginning of Lent.</blockquote>In the interest of full disclosure, my only formally avowed Lenten penance was to drive <span style="font-style: italic;">exactly</span> the speed limit. For some people, that might be huge, but for me, I already <span style="font-style: italic;">never drove more than 5 mph over</span>. Kudos to those who caught the faulty self-justification in my italicized words there. So anyway, my Lenten discipline brings me more peace on the road, but as I told some friends, I didn't feel that it was sufficiently "Lenty" enough when I resolved to do it.<br /><br />I post this quote because it hit be right between the eyes when I read it. If I'd had more presence of mind I'm sure I would have told myself "aw snap, me!" but as I said I was stunned, and thus introspective at that moment. Ah, opportunity: missed.<br /><br />My knee-jerk reflex when reading a passage like the Matthew Kelly above is to self-justify. Ex: Sure my Lenten discipline is meager but "I'm doing more spiritual reading this year" and "I'm planning on entering a theology undergraduate program" blah blah. But I do enough self-justifying...and it's endemic to the culture.<br /><br />Anyway, I love this book of his but I've been listening to some of his talks online and I don't like them at <span style="font-style: italic;">all</span>. It's really weird because the other day I just about came to blows (figuratively, internet-style) with somebody who was knocking this book. I took it as a personal affront. (The guy is <span style="font-style: italic;">clearly </span>still wrong, by the way :^)<br /><br />But I'm going to be honest, if I ever meet Mr. Kelly and he utters one of his buzz-phrases such as "best version of yourself" and "Spiritual North Star", I'd beg him to never, ever use those phrases ever again. I've become aware that I'm not the only one who finds his overuse of those phrases tiresome. For the love, Mr. Kelly, please: think of the <span style="font-style: italic;">children</span>.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6934120088218592543.post-22987401979447234932008-12-02T13:48:00.009-06:002011-06-02T15:36:16.941-05:00UK Bishops Begin Capitulation of Catholic Schoolsedit: I originally titled this: "Catholic Bishops of England Make Arrangements to Ease Cession of their Schools to Muslims in Coming Decades"<br /><br />Or, as the Daily Mail reports: <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1091218/Muslim-prayer-rooms-opened-Catholic-schools-say-church-leaders.html">Muslim prayer rooms should be opened in Catholic schools, say church leaders</a> Why did I title my post the way I did? Because Europe's native population is dwindling and being replaced by Muslims and because England in particular is making way for Islamic Sharia Law to hold court in their country. Apparently the English don't think that their own culture is worthwhile enough to reproduce or to hold on to what is authentically Christian, Catholic, or even English. 100 years down the road, will America even know the UK?<br /><br />Some English Bishops seem to be preparing for the rising Muslim population in their country to one day inherit their Catholic school system's facilities. Of course I'm being facetious there. But if the Telegraph's Damian Thompson is to be believed, the English Bishops are absolutely a mess. To me, it seems like many of them have no desire to shepherd their flock or see them bear enough fruit (spiritually or <i>otherwise</i>) to engender a subsequent generation. Either that, or they're all campaigning to instead become the next <i>Anglican</i> Archbishop of Canterbury.<br /><br />In the article, Daphne McLeod puts it well when she says, "If Muslim parents choose a Catholic school then they accept that it is going to be a Catholic school and there will not be facilities for ritual cleansing and prayer rooms" and "I don't think the bishops should go looking for problems. Where will it stop?" Although the news made Muslim parents of Catholic-schooled children "delighted", I think it really exposes the incorrect focus of Church leaders in a country (like ours) that has largely failed to inculcate the culture (or the faith) of Catholicism to its children, perhaps for decades.<br /><br />Pope Benedict XVI is deciding on a successor to shepherd the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archdiocese_of_Westminster#History_of_the_Archdiocese"> Catholic Archdiocese of Westminster</a>, whose bishop has served as a sort of leader for the rest of the English Bishops since some point after the time Catholic hierarchy were allowed back into England. Please pray, and pray hard that Benedict will once again give faithful Catholics cause to cheer! <br /><br />It's so sad that the bishops of a country that is known for St. Thomas More (!) and St. Edmund Campion bow down so reverently to the lukewarm current of public pressure. But I should really give those bishops more credit for their actions. After all, it takes their own "drive" to take the Catholic Church in England, given its history and martyrs, and make it less Catholic than "High Church" Anglicanism.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6934120088218592543.post-53526186679071953222008-11-20T14:12:00.007-06:002009-03-19T04:18:36.498-05:00Catholic Culture in Online MediaThe other day I examined a YouTube widget where you can choose channels of "YouTube Partners" that you're willing to have posted in the sidebar of your blog in exchange for ad revenue. While attempting to add channels that I like, it soon became obvious that the "Partners" are a more exclusive group than I thought. There is a difference between Partners and just any random person who posts a video (even if it's good).<br /><br />According to the site, "YouTube Partners" are those video makers who are paid by YouTube to keep making videos because they bring lots of traffic to YouTube. When adding this widget, there are categories to help you find videos that you think would fit with your site (e.g. Entertainment, Comedy, Sports) but no category for Religion. <br /><br />I'm not sure whether this means that religious videos aren't as valued or that religious videos don't bring in as many eyeballs to the site. Perhaps Catholics just don't patronize the companies who pay YouTube for those eyeballs. Who knows. You can go with whatever YouTube "thinks" goes with your site, but you don't know what you're getting. Perhaps something that would reflect poorly on you.<br /><br />There are (at least) dozens of very good Catholic videos on YouTube. Unfortunately, the keyword "Catholic" pulled up politically liberal channels (TheYoungTurks), atheist/anti-theist channels (TheAmazingAtheist), and the like because they were the only Partners to choose from who used the term Catholic as a tag, probably to ridicule them in a video. Who knows why, but at the moment when it comes to Partners' channels, you're more likely to get something anti-Catholic or just un-Catholic. <br /><br />So who cares. When my fellow conservatives analyze this last political election, they point to a need to change the culture and trust that people's hearts will follow. (I agree of course, but during and after that I think we need to push for a mechanism like Ranked Choice Voting or else the Republican Party is going to corner us conservatives every two to four years into a desperate, lesser-of-two-evils vote for their various "anybody but a Democrat!" candidates and then proceed to do very little or nothing to improve the situation of the innocent unborn.)<br /><br />So if we're going to spread Catholic culture, we need to first partake of Catholic culture. Now where to start? I'd say we should consume something Catholic and share it if we liked it. Ask for a recommendation from a priest or other spiritual advisor. Curtis Martin, the founder of <a href="http://www.focusonline.org">FOCUS</a> (the Fellowship of Catholic University Students) recommends never recommending a book that you haven't read. I suspect that his advice is spot on. Of these two choices, what makes a better gift when you're buying something for someone's Confirmation, conversion to the Catholic faith, etc.?<br /><br />A) a book that I "saw at the store and thought it might be good" <br />B) a book that I "also own myself and got a lot out of reading"<br /><br />By process of elimination, I think it's 'B'. I've gifted a good number of Catholic books that I hadn't read yet and nobody has ever mentioned the gift to me again, so 'A' is out.<br /><br />When it comes to online media, there's something there for people who don't have the time or fortitude to tackle extracurricular books. I would like to see real, orthodox Catholic channels like AscensionPress08(Christopher West) or wordonfirevideo (Fr. Barron) thrive and reach Partner status. There are probably a lot of young Catholics who use YouTube. Sign up for an account there and subscribe to channels like Christopher West's, and Fr. Barron's. Then share it. Thanks.<br /><br />Credit to <a href="http://marysaggies.blogspot.com/2008/11/fr-barron-on-culture.html">Marcel at Mary's Aggies"</a> for mentioning <a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/wordonfirevideo">Fr. Barron's channel</a> today.<br /><br />PS, if you can't be a "bookworm", be a "tapeworm". You can get a great 10-CD set of Christopher West Theology of the Body CD's at <a href="http://www.giftfoundation.org/naked_without_shame.htm">The Gift Foundation</a> for only US$4.90, down from the previous $10, which was also very cheap.<br /><br />Update: the "Naked Without Shame" series is now available for free online download!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6934120088218592543.post-24705402455084464382008-11-14T16:38:00.000-06:002008-11-14T16:38:00.443-06:00Ranked Choice Voting on YouTubeA visual explanation of one of the methods of Ranked Choice/Preferential voting! I love it. This video from FairVote.org makes a very good point for Dem and GOP supporters: Instant Runoff Voting would limit the effect of spoiler candidates. <br /> <br />If you are committed to staying with the Republican Party (as many of my friends are), watch the video, but consider Candidate 'A' to a Democrat, 'B' Republican, and 'C' Constitution Party (a conservative third party) as you watch.<br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/wqblOq8BmgM&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/wqblOq8BmgM&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br />Big party supporters might want to be considering this as well. According to the video, spoiler candidates today can have an even greater effect at a local level than they do on a national scale. Every politician starts somewhere, and many (most?) start in local elections. Most don't Schwarzenegger their way into a governorship. Remember how far Sarah Palin has come? Wasilla was a necessary step before her eventual Vice Presidential candidacy. Most major candidates have a longer journey before reaching that stage, though. Again, I re-iterate the Chinese axiom: "the journey of a thousand miles begins with one step." <br /><br />Perhaps my biggest reason to support Ranked Choice Voting is that I believe it would be a game changer for the political arena. Political parties would eventually be forced to court voters as independent candidates begin to claim seats as mayors, state legislators, and so on. I would be concerned, however, if it spawned a mess of flip-floppy mercenary candidates ready to run for whatever party will have them when they don't get the GOP nomination.<br /><br />Last thought: I, for one, helped vote G.W. Bush into a second term on an "anybody but John Kerry" platform in 2004. I KNOW I'm not alone. I don't regret it, but I wish I'd had another choice.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6934120088218592543.post-47035973265540305622008-11-06T18:15:00.000-06:002008-11-06T18:15:00.366-06:00Headline: More flies caught with honey than vinegarToday I read Dawn Eden's post about a young <a href="http://www.puduoverload.com">pro-choice student</a> (link STILL broken as of 11/6/08) who had blogged on her first experiences shadowing an abortionist as he carried out his deeds. The blog has since been taken down entirely, but the relevant post is reproduced on Dawn's blog <a href="http://dawneden.blogspot.com/2008/10/i-saw-some-things-i-cant-get-out-of-my.html">->here</a>. Unfortunately, the author claims that she was beset by pro-lifer hate-mail and was forced to take down her blog.<br /><br />Pro-lifer hate-mail? Shouldn't we pro-life proponents ALL be able to easily agree that the latter (hate-mail) should never come from the former (pro-lifers)? If we're truly echoing Christ in our defense of unborn life, we should be receiving hate-mail, never writing it.<br /><br />In the pro-life movement so much harm is done by Pharisees: those who profess right belief but do not evidence the fruits of the Holy Spirit in their words and lives. All the real good is done be the servants, the sidewalk counselor, the crisis pregnancy centers. As my newsflash says: more flies caught with honey than vinegar. Rational people will choose to side with the more compassionate, less bitter movement.<br /><br />I live in an area with a very strong Pro-life movement. While I've never fully involved myself, I support them, and I've never had cause to regret it because they're awesome. They protest abortion out of LOVE and they protest WITH love. Every experience I've had in front of a Planned Parenthood has been prayerful and peaceful, and a few have even been inspiring. <br /><br />I do understand that not all pro-life efforts are motivated by love and that's really a shame. It's unfortunate that they get so much press. They're the exception, not the rule! I think that as the culture war seethes, we have to point to unfair coverage of pro-life efforts as one of the accelerants of that fire. It's hard to convince people of our loving intent when we get conflated with arsonists and bombers.<br /><br /><i>edited 11/6/08</i>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6934120088218592543.post-88519509117510484182008-11-06T17:28:00.001-06:002008-11-06T17:28:01.020-06:00Ranked Voting Follow-upI want to thank those who have commented publicly and privately on <a href="http://tour86rocker.blogspot.com/2008/11/preferential-voting-could-save-pro-life.html">my post about Ranked Voting</a> I'm getting some objections more than once, which I want to address, just as my opinions, and I thank those who have shared theirs with me.<br /><br />One concern about advocating for ranked voting is that it's very long term. There's no perfect party waiting in the wings to take up the mantle that the GOP dropped. The best candidates to become that would be the Constitution Party, followers of Ron Paul, or more likely a new entity. In my opinion, the problem of how long it would take to get ranked voting is one reason to start pushing toward this <i>now</i>. <br /><br />As the Chinese axiom states, "the journey of a thousand miles begins with one step." For those who want to rankle the "Grand Old Party," we have to start somewhere to get to that goal. The bipartisan system is very entrenched, after all! The GOP would fight harder against the implementation of ranked voting once the heir apparent to the conservative throne is nipping at their heels. So it's best to start now.<br /><br />Another concern about ranked voting is that it could open a "Pandora's box," unleashing the left-wing radical parties out there, other non-conservative parties, and independent candidates. In fact, I would guess from my reading that ranked voting is more often advocated by such groups than by conservatives. I'm not worried, though.<br /><br />Remember that nobody's vote is wasted under this system and you don't have to rank candidates you wouldn't want your vote going to! Most people I know would have voted for John McCain first and nobody second. One physical therapist I know would have ranked Ron Paul first and McCain second (her vote would have gone to McCain anyway).<br /><br />I use presidential candidates for illustrative purposes only. Again, I think the first phase for conservatives would be to get some worthy third party candidates into State Congress and the U.S. House and work up from there, perhaps over the course of a decade. I know Americans (I'm one) often have short attention spans. I also re-emphasize "worthy" candidates! An eventual conservative third party shouldn't be change for change's sake! <br /><br />Continuing with the Pandora's box objection, I think the biggest loser would be the Democrat establishment. They'd hemorrhage state and U.S. House seats to the Green and Libertarian Parties, whose platforms aren't exactly the same as the Democrats'. The liberal third party gains would likely be minimal and at the expense of the DNC.<br /><br />Although conservative third party gains would be at the expense of the GOP, I anticipate that they would work toward many similar, deserving goals including smaller government, protection of the unborn from abortion(and now, the recently born from infanticide too), freeing the market, etc.<br /><br />Lastly, a concession. It's been suggested that Europe suffers from its multitude of parties. I'll just have to investigate that, then! Post-Christian Europe (or as I prefer to think of it: Pre-Re-Christian Europe) has many problems, biggest of which are their loss of the Christian faith and demographic collapse. I think this is more of a problem of the soul. We can probably agree that politics follow people's hearts and minds and not the other way around. I think religion (or its absence) moves the heart and culture forms based on many factors.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6934120088218592543.post-83433606936262099762008-11-04T22:09:00.005-06:002008-11-05T18:59:27.667-06:00Preferential Voting Could Save Pro-Life Voters in the Next Election<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDsLSM4_r0s9azZTaYWhES-XJc8qSMynHjhiOHpcRuDR83Wu3zYMxBky5l9IPawInRZfK_vdtuFHerg_sVPXaCbgw4L2z9Vv7PeE4Y066c_Oz0w5eYkFNnIjYHt8aE_apNSCXyHEy5rqA/s1600-h/Rankballotoval.gif"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 243px; height: 313px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDsLSM4_r0s9azZTaYWhES-XJc8qSMynHjhiOHpcRuDR83Wu3zYMxBky5l9IPawInRZfK_vdtuFHerg_sVPXaCbgw4L2z9Vv7PeE4Y066c_Oz0w5eYkFNnIjYHt8aE_apNSCXyHEy5rqA/s320/Rankballotoval.gif" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5265316687025440050" /></a><br /><br />I want to make a suggestion for a project for voting Catholics to work on for the next four years:<br /><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preferential_voting">Preferential (aka Ranked) Voting</a><br /><br />It's called "Ranked Voting" or "Preferential Voting". According to Mark Monmonier's <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Bushmanders-Bullwinkles-Politicians-Manipulate-Electronic/dp/0226534243/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1225927248&sr=8-1"><u>Bushmanders and Bullwinkles: How Politicians Manipulate Electronic Maps and Census Data to Win Elections</u></a> this practice is used in other parts of the world that don't suffer through a strict two-party system. Some of us who consider ourselves conservative pro-life Catholics and Christians of other stripes find ourselves grumbling about the current state of things, especially after this most recent electoral disappointment where we await the most liberal and pro-abortion President in American History. <br /><br />Some of us wonder if a third party could serve us better. I think it's premature for conservative Christians to push for the creation of a strong third party right now. A third party would be in big trouble in a hurry if it somehow materialized tomorrow.<br /><br />Ranked or Preferential Voting would ensure that in the future there WILL be room for more parties. Basically, it ENSURES that you never "throw your vote away", as some people claim third party voting does to one's vote. It does this by giving the voter that a single transferable vote that transfers to second and third choices as the voter's choices are knocked out, allowing us to vote for big party candidates as a contingency, but to show our support for a hypothetical third party of our choice first. And hopefully, we'd one day see a third party of more authentically pro-life representatives and senators in our States and in Washington D.C. I strongly believe that this won't come until preferential voting, or some other way of voting, comes first.<br /><br />Let's take an example that doesn't involve me suggesting the Constitution Party. Say you take a guy who, for God knows what reason, is voting in a Presidential election and he leans toward the Green Party, likes the Libertarian party a little less, but always ends up voting Democratic. In this previous election, his vote would be applied to Obama because in the first two rounds of processing, the Green and Libertarian candidates would be knocked out. Read the article cited for a better explanation. Again, I maintain that this would allow us to put a future, admittedly pie-in-the-sky-idealistic, third party candidate on the ballot. I just want to see that option!<br /><br />Many Pro-life Catholics tend to vote Republican either enthusiastically or with a grain of salt, and the GOP's policies could definitely be improved upon for our purposes. Even conservative pro-lifers working against abortion should also be working against the death penalty and unethical torture practices, and believers of Catholic just war doctrine have problems with pre-emptive war, all of which are baggage that the Republican party carries.<br /><br />According to one Steve Skojek (quoted <a href="http://insidecatholic.com/Joomla/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4829&Itemid=48">here</a>), <blockquote>"We've heard a lot of talk this election cycle (and the one before it . . . and the one before that . . .) about stopping a great evil by voting for a lesser one. And yet, the only certain outcome of constantly choosing the lesser of two evils is the <i>perpetuation of evil</i>."</blockquote> I agree, although I'm hesitant to call either party evil in and of itself. My own family fights over this: we're all pro-life and we hate having to choose parties right now; we're a house divided in this way.<br /><br />I would love to hear what people think about Preferential voting. I think it could lead to a lot of good and is the one thing that could finally shake the complacent bipartisan system and force the Republican party to compete for Pro-life votes by <b>producing more results</b>! Even better it could inaugurate another party, espousing better Catholic ideals that even Evangelicals and other people of faith could get behind. We need to use our current frustration and unleash it on some new goal to fix our country before it goes through a "parting of the ways", as Father Benedict Groeschel has speculated.<br /><br />Image Credit:<br /><br /> * Sample ballot image created in MSPaint by Tom Ruen (For public domain)<br /><br /><i>edits: bear with me, I'm improving my writing little by little</i>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2