Article by Weigel
Here's a good piece by
George Weigel talking about the election of Pope Benedict and its effect on the "progressive" wing of the Church.
Question of the progressives: How little can we follow while still being called Catholics?
The new (and better) question of the Church under the papacy of Benedict XVI: How much of this great tradition can I tap into? How much can I take in? How Christian can I be?
Thanks to Open Book for the link.
More Christian-bashing by the media
I guess I'm a
Dominionist, according to the author of Harper magazine's cover story for the May issue. And the persecution of orthodoxy continues...
More Liberal Government Chaos
According to
Stephen Harper, the leader of the opposition in Canada, the Liberal government is going down. He's going to try to get an election called as soon as Parliament convenes again. The Liberal government has struck a deal with the New Democratic Party that uses taxpayers' money for new social programs. The NDP promised to give their support if the Liberals spent money on these programs.
Is anyone else bothered by how much our government is willing to do to stay in power?
Are We Still a Catholic University?
The head of the Classics Department at Notre Dame told one of his Ph.D students this week that "praying before class was inappropriate" and that he shouldn't do it. This particular Ph.D led the Lord's Prayer in Latin before every one of his Latin classes this semester. How aggregious!!!
I have to ask: Does the administration care at all about the Catholic identity of this school? Why bother to hire professors who are openly hostile to the practice of Catholicism? Imagine! Praying before class at Our Lady's university! You know, if these people hate Christianity so much that they feel it necessary to prohibit short prayers at the beginning of class, maybe they should go somewhere else. They're certainly not doing this university any favors.
Quebec sinks further into depravity
The province with the highest teen suicide rate, the most abortions, the least children and the most civil unions (non-married couples) has made it legal for physicians and nurses to
distribute birth control to teens without parental consent. The justification is the prevention of "unwanted pregnancies." Of course, this doesn't come as a surprise, seeing that teen girls don't need parental consent to have an abortion either.
This is illogical for two reasons: first, it undermines legitimate parental authority over what prescriptions are given to their children and over their moral formation. Second, distribution of birth control undoubtedly leads to increased sexual activity, which leads to the spread of STDs.
"Progressive" indeed.
Teacher dismissed for writing letter to the editor
Read about my pet Canadian constitutional law case
here. Chris Kempling, a public high school teacher in British Columbia, was suspended for writing a letter to his local paper criticizing the Liberal government's stance on same-sex "marriage." In 2004, the BC Supreme Court said that the school board could reasonably infer from his off-duty comments that he would be unable to teach without discriminating against homosexual students. Makes me glad I'm in America.
The Divine Office
I've noticed over the years that my prayer life is always at its best when I'm praying the Liturgy of the Hours regularly. It's funny how the most spiritually beneficial things can be the hardest to do - rosary, confession, adoration. It's almost like Satan knows that these practices in particular will bring us closer to Christ, and therefore tries everything in his power to keep us from them. Maybe this is why priests are required to pray the Divine Office every day. It keeps Satan from getting a foothold.
A monk once told me that if religious brothers and sisters stop praying the Office, they set themselves up for bouts of depression and loneliness. In fact, I think he used the word "dangerous." He said that because of the sacrificial nature of the religious life, continual and persistant prayer through the reading of the psalms is absolutely essential.
The Liturgy of the Hours is the oldest prayer of the Church. It's never too late to start!
Thoughts...
These are some rather "apocolyptic" thoughts from a friend of mine, reflecting on the future of this country's perceived "wall" between Church and State. Thanks to Andrew Hiller for sending this to me. Feel free to comment...
(AP) April 22, 2025. A young catholic boy, a rabbi, and a Muslim professorfiled habeas petitions in federal court today challenging their confinementin religious believer concentration camps under the First, Fifth, &Fourteenth Amendments. The 14th Amendment claim was struck on the groundsthat it did not give rise to a claim, as the state governments to which itapplied have since been dissolved. The 1st Amendment claim was struckbecause judicial gloss has interpreted the injunction on laws prohibitingFree Exercise of Religion as actually stating "there must be a separation ofChurch & State" thereby mandating the camps. As per the Fifth Amendmentclaim, the judge looked to international law, where there is no 5thAmendment, to decide that it therefore lacked jurisdiction to provide dueprocess. When counsel at the last minute amended the complaint to state an8th Amendment claim, the court responded that there would be nothing "cruel"and it certainly wouldn't be "unusual" to discriminate against religiouspeople and marginalize religious rights.
Legal Orthodoxy from the 6th Century
"There is little point in knowing the law if one knows nothing about the persons for whom law exists." - Institutes of Justinian, 1.2.12 (ca. 535 A.D.)
Thanks to Paolo Carozza, my jurisprudence professor, for distributing this quote in class.
Wear Your Shirt
Today is National Pro-Life T-Shirt Day!
Emails to the Pope
Apparently Pope Benedict XVI received over 56,000 emails in the first 48 hours that his address was operational. Story here:
http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-vatican-popes-e-mail%2C0%2C7829224%2Cprint.storyIf you'd like to send your own email to Papa Ratzi, his address is: benedictxvi@vatican.va
The Pope has red shoes! Doesn't he look great?!?!?
Me looking out over the Grand Canyon
Same-sex "marriage" legislation in Canada
With the Liberal party dying quickly, surrounded by scandal, the bill that would legalize same-sex "marriage" for the whole country will not get through Parliament in time. An election is likely to be called in June, and according to polls the Conservative party will win easily. Scandal is never good, but I think God has answered the prayers of the Canadian faithful in a surprising way!
For the story:
http://www.365gay.com/newscon05/04//042305martin.htm
Pope garb
Git yer B16 shirts at this link:
http://www.cafepress.com/b_16This isn't the only one selling Pope paraphenalia, folks - I think only Americans could come up with a mass marketing scheme for the election of a new Supreme Pontiff.
Pope Benedict's Homily at Inauguration Mass
Here's the link to the English version of his homily. Well worth the read if you missed the Mass or don't speak Italian!
http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/homilies/documents/hf_ben-xvi_hom_20050424_inizio-pontificato_en.html
Musings of a Canadian Catholic Attorney-to-be
Welcome! Start-up will be slow due to the onslaught of law school exams. In the meantime - Habemus Papam!
