Law as Vocation (and Cross)
I've been thinking a lot lately about law as a vocation. Back in medieval times, there were three great professions: physician, lawyer and clergyman, and I always kind of wondered why there was so much prestige and honor tied up with these careers. One day it occurred to me that it might be because these professions are especially "vocational," as in, they are especially tied to ultimate servanthood. More than any other profession, these I think are bound up with the Cross in their very natures - one must unite the sacrifice of these careers with the Cross for them to make any sense.
I know we talk about NDLS and creating a "different kind of lawyer." I've decided that this slogan really finds its meaning in the Passion of the Christ. A different kind of lawyer is one that sees his or her profession as one that involves a total self-giving or selflessness. Without that insight, the profession hardly makes sense. It is so unbelievably hard, and so incredibly sacrificial that someone who goes in it for the money would have to be insane. Sadly, this is what many do, and I feel that this is the reason for high suicide and alcoholism rates among attorneys.
So the "great" professions are really those that involve sacrifices most akin to Christ's Passion and Death. I don't know....I just thought it would be good to reflect on the nature of the profession. Thoughts?
Coincidence? I think not...
Today's vote on the same-sex "marriage" legislation coincides with today's readings on....you guessed it...SODOM AND GOMORRAH! How creepy is that? The Catholic Church's daily Mass readings are set years in advance. The story of the punishment of Sodom and Gomorrah for sexual sins (especially homosexual sins) is also joined with the reading from Matthew about the storm when they were all in the boat and Jesus asked why they were so afraid.
This story talks about how we should still have hope. I guess my last post seems to be devoid of that, and I'm sorry. Our faith is one of hope, and an orthodox Canadian must be assured of the victory of Christ.
Canada needs our prayers...
Canadian Same-Sex Marriage Bill Passes
Here's the story. I think I've said it all already, so I'm almost speechless sitting here thinking about what's left to say about the present situation in Canada. I'm overcome with a deep sadness. I love my country, but this is too much to take. With this vote, Canada ensures its self-destruction, and the hope that I have for her prosperity diminishes. Marriage has already dwindled to mere nothingness in Quebec, without this further dilution of its former beauty. Our nation grows older, as cohabiting couples (both heterosexual and homosexual) wallow in their selfishness and 1/3 of my generation is murdered in the womb. The Pill is handed out to teens in the hallways at school and STDs run rampant. Child pornography is seen as "art."
Is it all connected? Most definitely. It all stems from a depraved notion of what human sexuality is, and what it means to be male and female. Tonight's vote is just a symptom of the greater disease that has spread across my nation. The source of it is a selfishness grown to cosmic proportions.
I am filled with the most tremendous grief for my dying country.
What would St. Thomas More Do?
Fr. Raymond de Souza, a Roman Catholic Priest/Journalist in Canada asks
this question in today's National Post. All of the House Members will have to vote Friday on the same-sex "marriage" legislation (Bill C-38). This article takes all the legislators to task and asks them to have just a tiny bit of the spine that St. Thomas More had when he stood up to King Henry VIII. St. Thomas More, pray for Canada!
My Birthday
So yeah...today's my birthday. More exciting, however, is the fact that I share my birthday with St. Thomas More's feast day. As it happens, he is the patron saint of lawyers and politicians and the patron saint of my law school.
If you want a story of Providence, when I decided to drop Sports Medicine and be an attorney, I didn't realize that I was born on St. Thomas More's feast day. I didn't find out until I was going through the application process for Notre Dame. God works in wonderful and mysterious ways. I guess I was marked as a lawyer a long time ago...
St. Thomas More, pray for us!
This Man is Sick
Not only did Michael Schiavo not inform Terri's parents of her burial, but he inscribed "I kept my promise" on the gravestone. To make things even more sick and depraved, the date listed as the "day she left this earth" was the day she collapsed in 1990. Read the full story
here.
The next time I see a handicapped person, remind me to tell them that I think they've "already left this earth." Mr. Schiavo should be locked up.
Misunderstanding about the "Right's" Opposition to Same-Sex "Marriage"
This NY Times article completely misconstrues the meaning behind the "marriage movement." he thinks that most people opposed to gay marriage think that homosexuality itself is a sin and a disease. I have only encountered one person in this battle who thinks that, and that one person was quickly chastised by the President of the Alliance Defense Fund, the biggest pro-family "conservative" legal organization in the country.
I mean, he's pretty honest, but then there's this quote:
"At its essence, then, the Christian conservative thinking about gay marriage runs this way. Homosexuality is not an innate, biological condition but a disease in society. Marriage is the healthy root of society. To put the two together is thus willfully to introduce disease to that root. It is society willing self-destruction, which is itself a symptom of a wider societal disease, that of secularism. "
I guess I would change the wording to "homosexual lifestyle." I don't care if homosexuality is genetic. Frankly, it makes no difference. Genetic predispositions can't make the action itself right or good. And how about this quote, saying the same sort of thing:
"For them, the issue isn't one of civil rights, because the term implies something inherent in the individual -- being black, say, or a woman -- and they deny that homosexuality is inherent. It can't be, because that would mean God had created some people who are damned from birth, morally blackened."
I do not think that those prone to homosexuality are any more "damned from birth" than I am. Who was this guy talking to, anyway?? I mean, he was right about some things, but I don't like the picture that this article painted of the pro-marriage activists. I welcome comments on this article...
Now This Makes me Mad...
Uganda was the one African country that had an AIDS prevention program actually work. Now it looks like the
Ugandan President has finally succombed to the pressure to use condoms in the battle against the spread of disease. Doesn't he get it?? The ABC (Abstinence, Be Faithful, Condoms) formula was the only one that worked! Why in the world would he change it???
One of my classmates this semester was a Ugandan priest, and he testified that the ABC program has helped Uganda fight this epidemic. And I can tell you that the UN and the rest of the promiscuity-loving, money-grubbing, Planned Parenthood-supporting world doesn't like it. What - getting rid of AIDS by telling teenagers to wait until marriage to have sex??? Inconceivable!! If people don't buy our condoms or abortions anymore then we won't make any money! Why, this means that being good moral citizens may actually stop an epidemic, and we can't just have the Christians being right about something like this!
University of Western Ontario Scandal
And I thought Notre Dame was bad about getting commencement speakers...
Check this out. UWO will award an honorary degree to Canada's most infamous abortion doctor. At least there are a good number of protestors - much to everyone's surprise (being that it's Canada and all).
Pope used a "Handy"
Cell phones in Germany are called "Handys," and today Pope Benedict used one to contact a terminally ill nun. Someone in the crowd handed it to him and urged him to speak with the nun, and he gladly complied. This was probably the first time a Pope has used a cell phone publicly!
To all my cell phone critic friends - see, they can be put to good use!
Thanks to Zenit for
the story.
Kempling Denied Rights (Again)
This is
the latest on my pet free speech case in Canada. This is the second time that Kempling has appealed his case to the BC Supreme Court and lost. He is the high school teacher who wrote a couple of letters about homosexuality to his local paper and was suspended by the British Columbia College of Teachers for discrimination against homosexuals. The absurdity of this case is astounding. If anyone wants a lesson on speech control gone out of hand, go to Canada. I've written a few controversial letters to the editor myself - glad I'm in the U.S. for now!
Canadian Bishop Makes his Case Against Gay "Marriage"
Why is it that non-Christians always assume that religious officials will argue certain moral issues from a purely theological perspective? Do they think them incapable of make arguments based on reason alone?
This Bishop continually attempted to use language that all people (no matter what their faith) could understand when he explained why the government should not support Bill C-38, the bill on legalizing homosexual unions. But MP Bill Siskay insisted on focusing on the stance of the Catholic Church regarding denying communion to certain "notorious and public sinners."
Gay marriage is not a "religious" issue. One can make arguments against it without turning to theology. In fact, if we feel it necessary to bring theology into the debate while speaking in the public square, we have disregarded the arguments that transcend the existence of Christianity and Scripture themselves. Scripture
presumes a natural law. I say we use it.
If all the logical and reasonable arguments in the world are labeled "religious" and thus removed from the public square, where does that leave our society? If every idea that is repugnant to the government is labeled "religious" and removed from the debate, where do we stand as human beings? Would we have any humanity left in us?
Brown to DC Court of Appeals
Oh it is a beautiful day. She is my favorite judge. Not only brilliant, but pro-life, AND a woman.
Justice Brown approved by the Senate!! It's a shame the media and the disgruntled Democratic Senators are trying to tell everyone that she "infuses" her judicial opinions with her political views. Nothing could be further from the truth. I've read her opinions - they're logical and follow the law to the letter. Nothing more, nothing less. Oh happy day!!
Pope Speaks Clearly about Gay Marriage
No ambiguity
here. Just clearly presenting the teaching of the Church on sex and marriage. (And with a little vigor, too - just the way I like it) This was his first statement on the issue since the beginning of his Papacy.
Human Cloning for Research?
Do
they really think they're being great moral thinkers by trying to draw a distinction between human cloning for research and human cloning for reproductive purposes?? Isn't a life lost either way? Why in the world would human cloning for reproductive purposes be so reprehensible, if there wasn't a human life at stake? If it's bad then, it's bad when you do research with it too.
It's not just the moral depravity of this legislative action, it's the total absence of any honest deliberation. They are so warped within this culture of death agenda that they can't even see how illogical it all is. *Sigh*
Massachusets is going to clone human beings everyone! Is anyone even paying attention?
