Clipmarks | Catholic Clips

Vote to Decide on Lethal Meds for Dying Patients

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 23:06:05 GMT

clipped by: wiccantexan

The emotionally charged battle over end-of-life decisions has taken to the airwaves as Washington state voters decide whether to allow doctors to prescribe lethal medication to terminally ill patients.

Recent TV and radio ads by opponents feature actor Martin Sheen, who calls the measure a "dangerous idea" that could be used by the most vulnerable in society. Supporters are on TV with an ad spotlighting a widow who says it lets those who are suffering have control over their final days.

The measure would allow physicians in Washington state to help terminally ill patients end their lives. Oregon, where voters first approved the idea in 1994, is the only state with such a law.

"It really is a matter of personal decisions and having the freedom to make your own decisions about end-of-life care," said Anne Martens, spokeswoman for Yes on I-1000.

The measure is strongly opposed by religious groups, and Catholic church officials said their opposition shouldn't surprise anyone.

Tags: suicide, death, health, terminal illness, medical, law, legal

Barrack's Wife: Michelle Obama Plays It Cool.

Thu, 09 Oct 2008 14:06:57 GMT

clipped by: citizenbfk
clipper's remarks: These people, this campaign, is incredible. I have never seen nor could even have imagined such consistent brillance.

The more common reaction would be to toss insults back at McCain and instead she talks about respecting them and how Obama is going to need them!

One of Obama's clever message (and I believe it's also sincere) is how Democrats, Republicans and Independents have to work together (appealing to them all), and how there is no 'Red States,' of America, nor 'Blue States,' of America -- but the United States of America (appealing to us all).

Even direct enemies are invited in and it is another (I believe sincere) brilliant thing: It disarms the 'enemy,' and is a core of his political philosophy: Work Together: Consensus

This has actually worked to soften significant Catholic opposition (due to the abortion issue; most difficult). (/About 56% Catholic opposition would lose the election).

How? -- Allow abortions (regrettably) but work to build families; do adapti

Clip Source: thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com

Michelle Obama Dismisses Criticisms

She told Mr. King that she harbored no ill will toward Ms. Palin for saying recently that Mr. Obama was “someone who sees America as imperfect enough to pal around with terrorists who targeted their own country,” a reference to Bill Ayers, the 1960s radical.

“Most people really want to find solutions,” she told Mr. Stewart. “And they want leaders who are going to unite us around a set of solutions that are going to make sense.”

No matter who wins the election, Mrs. Obama said, there should be no hard feelings.

“You can’t tear up the game so much so that, you know, you don’t leave people something to come back to,” she said. “You know, we’re going to need John McCain, we’re going to need Cindy McCain, we’re going to need independents and Republicans working hard to fix this crisis.”

Tags: obama, michelle

Eating dark chocolate may keep heart healthy

Thu, 09 Oct 2008 01:38:51 GMT

clipped by: pancubano57

Clip Source: news.yahoo.com

Eating dark chocolate may keep heart healthy

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Eating dark chocolate regularly may help lower levels of inflammation, which is strongly associated with heart and blood vessel disease, Italian researchers report.

"In an apparently healthy population, even a small reduction of a low-grade inflammation such as that associated in this study with regular consumption of dark chocolate might have clinically relevant benefits in the primary prevention of cardiovascular disease," Dr. Romina di Giuseppe of Catholic University in Campobasso write in the current issue of The Journal of Nutrition.

The benefits were seen when people ate up to one 20-gram serving of dark chocolate every 3 days, but eating more chocolate wasn't more beneficial; in fact, effects on CRP levels "tended to disappear" at higher consumption levels, the researchers found.

Tags: nutrition, heart health, diet, chocolate, dark chocolate

Neo-conservatism, the Israeli Lobby, and other Power Relations

Wed, 08 Oct 2008 19:23:55 GMT

clipped by: Seosamh Dalzell

Clip Source: www.cassiopaea.org

The most appropriate way to view neoconservatism is as a "special interest" or "faction". Special interests are associations "representing the interests of their members to secure for themselves a privileged seat at the national decision-making table". MIT professor Gene Grossman defines them as "any minority group of voters that shares identifiable characteristics and similar concerns".[3] The neoconservative faction consists of intellectuals and elitists who tend to be of Jewish or Catholic background, many of whom seem to have lapsed to secular humanism.[4] The group has also been identified as "unipolarism", "democratic globalism", "neo-Manifest Destinarianism", "neo-imperialism", "Pax Americanism", "neo-Reaganism", and "liberal imperialism".[5]

Medical report confirms India nun’s rape by anti-Christian mob

Tue, 07 Oct 2008 05:12:06 GMT

clipped by: Efrain Alvarado

Clip Source: www.catholicnewsagency.com

Bhubneshwar, Oct 5, 2008 / 02:52 pm (CNA).- A recently publicized medical report supports the claim of a Catholic nun who said she was raped and then paraded naked in an anti-Christian attack by a Hindu mob in August in eastern India.

The nun said in her police complaint that she was raped when a large Hindu mob attacked a prayer hall in Orissa state’s Kandhamal district, where she worked.

She told the police she was paraded naked after the rape, Rao said.

Clashes between Hindu extremists and Christians in Kandhamal began August 24 following the killing of a Hindu religious leader. Police blamed Maoist rebels, but some Hindu groups blamed Christians and set fire to a Christian orphanage.

Relations between the religions are normally peaceful, but hard-line Hindu groups claim Christian missionaries are forcing or bribing people to convert to Christianity. Christian leaders deny the charges.

Tags: persecution, martyrdom, religion, christianity

Catholic Charities in San Francisco severs links to homosexual adoptions

Tue, 07 Oct 2008 05:07:43 GMT

clipped by: Efrain Alvarado

Clip Source: www.catholicnewsagency.com

San Francisco, Oct 5, 2008 / 01:18 am (CNA).- The cultural battle over the identity of the family is taking another turn in California as the Archdiocese of San Francisco's Catholic Charities plans to cut its relationship with an adoption agency that works to place children with homosexuals.

Catholic Charities San Francisco made the decision in July of 2006 to close its adoption services after receiving clarification from the Vatican that Catholic organizations should not take part in the adoption of children to homosexual couples. The archdiocese was then attacked by San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom, who threatened to pull public funding from Catholic Charities and questioned its status as a non-profit.

Tags: catholic, adoption

Pope: Church’s contraception teaching is only way to understand human sexuality

Tue, 07 Oct 2008 05:03:51 GMT

clipped by: Efrain Alvarado

Clip Source: www.catholicnewsagency.com

Vatican City, Oct 3, 2008 / 05:20 pm (CNA).- Marking the 40th anniversary of “Humane Vitae,” Pope Benedict XVI has sent a message to the president of the John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and the Family, in which he praises the Church’s teaching on contraception as the only way to understand the truth about human sexuality.

That important document, writes Pope Benedict, "deals with one of the essential aspects of the vocation of marriage, and of the specific path to sanctity deriving therefrom. In fact, the married couple, having received the gift of love, are called in their turn to give themselves to one another unreservedly."

Noting that the “possibility of procreating a new human life is inherent to the complete giving of the spouses," Pope Benedict explains that contraception seeks to “deny the intimate truth of married love."

Tags: catholic, church, contraceptive, pope, sex

Pope Benedict: unlike great banks, the Word of God doesn't fail

Tue, 07 Oct 2008 04:57:09 GMT

clipped by: Efrain Alvarado

Clip Source: www.catholicnewsagency.com

Vatican City, Oct 6, 2008 / 01:01 pm (CNA).- On Monday Pope Benedict XVI briefly remarked on the financial crisis during the opening of the first General Congregation of the Twelfth Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops. In the aftermath of the “fall of the great banks,” he reminded synod attendees that money is of “secondary importance” to the Word of God, which he called the “foundation of all reality.”

The Pope referenced Christ’s words at the close of the Sermon on the Mount in which he speaks of building one’s house’s foundation upon sand or upon rock.

“Those who build on sand do so only on visible and tangible things: on success, career and money,” the Pope explained.

“Only the Word of God is the foundation of all reality, stable like heaven. Therefore we must change our concept of reality. A realist is one who recognizes that the Word of God - this reality that appears so weak - is in fact the foundation of everything.”

Tags: word of god, catholic, church, pope

Hedonism's advocate

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 20:47:38 GMT

clipped by: sillysam

Clip Source: michaelmedved.townhall.com

Finally, Maher scrupulously avoids any honest examination of his own spiritual state or pursuit of happiness. At one point, he interacts with his mother and derisively recalls his Catholic upbringing, but there’s no hint as to whether his anti-religious path has led him to enlightenment and satisfaction or merely to bitter loneliness. Since Maher has established himself as a famous and rich comedian, we’re obviously meant to assume that he’s achieved some sort of happiness or fulfillment. But he never reflects on his own lack of a wife, children or family, or his comments elsewhere about his enthusiastic indulgence in drugs and hookers. A bit of honest self-examination might have helped shape a far richer, more provocative film, by undermining Maher’s pose of smug superiority in encountering religious people whose lives, by conventional standards, count as far more “together” and rewarding than his disconnected and decadent celebrity existence.

Obama the Community Organizer

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 19:43:44 GMT

clipped by: arnaz
clipper's remarks: It's old now but an important fact to keep in mind...

http://www.time-blog.com/swampland/2008/09/what_a_community_organizer_doe.html

Clip Source: www.time-blog.com

What a Community Organizer Does

In her acceptance speech, Ms. Palin said, "I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a community organizer, except that you have actual responsibilities." Community organizing is at the heart of Catholic Social Teaching to end poverty and promote social justice.

So here is what Giuliani and Palin didn't know: Obama was working for a group of churches that were concerned about their parishioners, many of whom had been laid off when the steel mills closed on the south side of Chicago. They hired Obama to help those stunned people recover and get the services they needed--job training, help with housing and so forth--from the local government. It was, dare I say it, the Lord's work--the sort of mission Jesus preached (as opposed to the war in Iraq, which Palin described as a "task from God.")

They were making fun of a young man's decision "to serve a cause greater than himself," in the words of John McCain.

Tags: obama, elections 08, mccain, palin

Catonsville protester dies

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 16:54:59 GMT

clipped by: hayesstw

Clip Source: www.baltimoresun.com

John Hogan had just returned after 15 years helping the poor in a tiny Guatemalan village when he learned about a protest against the Vietnam War planned by a group of Catholic activists.

Forty years ago last spring, Mr. Hogan and eight others seized hundreds of draft records from the Catonsville U.S. Selective Service office, doused them with homemade napalm in a parking lot and set them ablaze. The actions of the protesters, known as the Catonsville Nine, sparked a dramatic trial, inspired generations of activists and is remembered as one of the country's most famous acts of civil disobedience.

After being released from prison for his actions, Mr. Hogan worked as a carpenter and devoted himself to a life of quiet service. He died Friday of complications from a stroke at Yale New Haven Hospital near his home in Hamden, Conn. He was 73.

Tags: catonsville nine, vietnam war, catholic church, protest, anti-war

Spiritual surfers praise God for gnarly waves

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 03:37:30 GMT

clipped by: wiccantexan

Clip Source: www.msnbc.msn.com

So Sunday at dawn, on the white sands of the town where the U.S. Surfing Championships were born nearly a half-century ago, Munoz and some two dozen fellow wave riders paused to thank God for all the joy the oceans have provided them.

Then, after the surfer's ceremonial blowing of a conch shell for good luck, the pastor of Orange County's St. Irenaeus Catholic Church shouted out a hearty, "Let's surf!"

The occasion was the Blessing of the Waves, a spiritual — but at the same time decidedly lighthearted — event organized by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange.

Father Christian Mondor, helped kick off the proceedings by thanking God (or "The Big Kahuna," as he also addressed him) for righteous waves and a killer ride for all the surfer babes and dudes assembled before him.

"May they hang 10 on thy oceanic bounty and, if it be in accordance with thy gnarly plan, may they not wipe out," he concluded, reading from a tongue-in-cheek poem written by Los Angeles Times reporter Dana Parsons.

Tags: god, ocean, surfing, prayer

At a Boys’ Catholic School, Tradition Fuels Demand

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 03:12:18 GMT

clipped by: Efrain Alvarado

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

UNLIKE most Roman Catholic schools in the New York area, which embrace students regardless of their religion, Chaminade High School here requires a baptismal certificate to register.

“No exception,” said the Rev. James C. Williams, a cherub-faced priest who is the school’s president. “We advertise that pretty clearly because this is who we are. I don’t have room for all the Catholics who want to be here.”

As the school year began this month, Chaminade students bowed their heads for a 10-minute morning prayer, repeated in an abbreviated version before every class. “Here I Am, Lord,” drifted through the hallways as the glee club practiced for a school Mass. Shortly before noon, the chapel filled with teenagers for a lunchtime prayer service.

Enrollment at Long Island’s 11 Catholic high schools is up about 7 percent since 2002, to nearly 13,000 (though down about 20 percent at elementary schools), according to officials with the Rockville Centre Diocese, which covers Long Island.

Tags: catholic, school, education

Synod Asked to Restore Deleted Biblical Women

Sun, 05 Oct 2008 14:58:50 GMT

clipped by: ramsesemerson
clipper's remarks: ...I'm really not sure what to say about this, except that the Catholic Church is very far behind the times.

Clip Source: hnn.us

Nearly 20,000 Catholics from around the world have sent paper and electronic postcards to Vatican organizers of the Synod on the Word and to their Bishop delegates, asking them to restore women leaders such as Mary of Magdala and Phoebe to lectionary texts from which they have been deleted. The Synod begins October 5 in Rome, and will be in session until October 27.

Spearheaded by the Cleveland based FutureChurch, the two year project also asks synod leaders to invite women biblical scholars, devote greater pastoral attention to the inclusive practice of Jesus and St. Paul and expand preaching opportunities for women.

A fascinating 1996 analysis by Sr. Ruth Fox OSB found a disproportionate number of passages about women were deleted from the lectionary, a book of biblical passages carefully chosen for church proclamation.

Tags: religion, catholic church, synod on the word, women

Centuries old code survives in remote Albanian village

Sun, 05 Oct 2008 04:42:20 GMT

clipped by: tommy2balmy
clipper's remarks: The code covers everything from inheritances and the rights of the church to the treatment of livestock. In Theth, nobody will sell land to an outsider, or even to another villager. Brides must come from outside the valley, a tradition that follows along the lines of the Kanun's rule that marriage within the same clan is forbidden.

"The Kanun is the law. Just like the state law," explains Gjovalin Lokthi, 39, a gruff "kryeplak," or elected chief of the village.

Clip Source: www.latimes.com

Residents of Theth, a Catholic village in the remote Shala Valley, play soccer. Most residents leave during the harsh winter.

THETH, ALBANIA -- The "Accursed Mountains" tower high above the Shala Valley, snow clinging to their summits even in the summer.

For about half the year, Shala, a protected national park, is cut off by heavy snowfall that blocks access to the two rock-strewn dirt tracks snaking through the mountains. The only way in or out is a seven-hour trek by foot to the nearest road, if the snow is not too deep.

Many still live at least in part by the Kanun, a code handed down through the centuries in which "besa" -- loosely translated as word of honor or sacred promise -- is paramount. The code was adhered to by Albania's Muslim majority and Catholic and Orthodox Christian minorities.

Disobeying the Kanun could lead to harsh penalties that might include banishment or the transgressor's household being burned. A slight could lead to a blood feud that lasted for generations.

Tags: kanun code, code, albania, theth, odd