From the Wisconsin State Journal:
Bishop Robert Morlino says the legal circus being waged over Anna Nicole Smith can be laid at the steps of a state that "does not protect and reinforce the marriage bond and the true definition of marriage."
Morlino, the spiritual head of the quarter-million Christians in the Madison Catholic Diocese, wrote in Thursday's edition of the Catholic Herald that "when civil law opened the door to no-fault divorce and in- vitro fertilization, the civil law started down the slippery slope that led us to the present moment."
"Tinkering with the marriage bond and the definition of marriage empowers the courts to usurp decisions that belong to the traditional family and affords great wealth to eager litigators," the bishop continued. "The natural law is the guide both to freedom and to conscience in these very sensitive matters."
One of the many things I like about Morlino is his ability to make me look at the news in a way differently than I ordinarily would. And, as a columnist for his own newspaper, he certainly has as much right to capitalize on Anna Nicole as I do in this column.
He says he is "praying frequently for the respose and soul" of Smith, which, to be honest, makes him a far better man than I am.
Friday, February 23, 2007
Anti-Semitic Chants Seen as Chance to Educate
At a Bishop Sullivan Catholic School...from the Pilot Online:
Students at Bishop Sullivan Catholic High School will receive sensitivity training as a result of anti-Semitic chants and graffit i during a recent basketball game against rival Norfolk Academy.
Several Sullivan students met with Norfolk Academy's cultural diversity club Thursday as part of a series of events aimed at promoting tolerance, Sullivan Principal Dennis W. Price said.
"It is important that we work harder at having students leaving here who are tolerant and understand how serious these kinds of things are," he said.
Students at Bishop Sullivan Catholic High School will receive sensitivity training as a result of anti-Semitic chants and graffit i during a recent basketball game against rival Norfolk Academy.
Several Sullivan students met with Norfolk Academy's cultural diversity club Thursday as part of a series of events aimed at promoting tolerance, Sullivan Principal Dennis W. Price said.
"It is important that we work harder at having students leaving here who are tolerant and understand how serious these kinds of things are," he said.
Thursday, February 22, 2007
KFC Seeks Papal Blessing
Shouldn't it be KFF(ish)....
From Playfuls.com:
KFC President Gregg Dedrick said he sent a letter to Pope Benedict XVI asking him to bless KFC's Fish Snacker Sandwich, the company said in a news release.
From Playfuls.com:
KFC President Gregg Dedrick said he sent a letter to Pope Benedict XVI asking him to bless KFC's Fish Snacker Sandwich, the company said in a news release.
After Protests From Catholic Church
Telus Stops Selling Porn
From Bloomberg.com:
Telus Corp., Canada's second-biggest phone company, reversed its decision to sell pornography on mobile phones after customers including the Catholic Church threatened to cancel their service.
From Bloomberg.com:
Telus Corp., Canada's second-biggest phone company, reversed its decision to sell pornography on mobile phones after customers including the Catholic Church threatened to cancel their service.
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Pope Benedict's Ash Wednesday Homily
From Asia News Italy:
In his homily the Pope said that “with the penitential procession we have begun the austere period of Lent. Introducing ourselves in the Eucharistic celebration we have prayed that the Lord may help the Christian people to ‘begin a journey towards true conversion so as to victoriously confront with the weapons of penance the fight against the spirit of evil’ (Opening Prayer). In receiving the ashes on the forehead, we shall listen again to a clear invitation to convert that can be expressed in a dual formula: ‘Convert and believe in the Gospel’ or ‘Remember that we come from dust and that we return to dust’.”
Benedict XVI then emphasised that “today’s liturgy and its gestures form an ensemble that anticipates the whole Lenten period,” a time “to become reconciled with God in Jesus Christ.”
“For the liturgy of Ash Wednesday,” he said, “a heartfelt conversion to God is the fundamental trait aspect of the time of Lent. It is the quite suggestive reference that comes to us from the traditional ritual of the imposition of the ashes. This ritual has a double meaning. The first refers to an inner change, to conversion and penance, whilst the second refers to the precariousness of human existence easily seen in the two expressions that accompany the gesture.”
Now “we have 40 days to deepen this extraordinary ascetic and spiritual experience.” Jesus himself tells us what are “the useful instruments to achieve a true inner and communal renewal: charity (alms), prayer and penance (fasting). These are three fundamental practices that are also dear to the Jewish tradition because they contribute to the man’s purification before God (cf Mt 6, 1-6.16-18). Such external gestures, which must be performed to please God and not to get men’s approval and consensus, are acceptable to Him if they express the heart’s determination to serve Him only in simplicity and generosity.”
“Fasting, which the Church invites us to do during this demanding time, is certainly not motivated by physical or aesthetic reasons. It stems man’s need to purify himself from within and detoxify himself from sin and evil. It teaches him to accept the beneficial renunciatory practices that free the believer from the slavery of his own self. It makes him listen more attentively to God and more available to Him and to serve his brothers. For this reason fasting and other Lenten practices are seen in the Christian tradition as spiritual ‘weapons’ in the fight against evil, wicked passions and vices.”
In his homily the Pope said that “with the penitential procession we have begun the austere period of Lent. Introducing ourselves in the Eucharistic celebration we have prayed that the Lord may help the Christian people to ‘begin a journey towards true conversion so as to victoriously confront with the weapons of penance the fight against the spirit of evil’ (Opening Prayer). In receiving the ashes on the forehead, we shall listen again to a clear invitation to convert that can be expressed in a dual formula: ‘Convert and believe in the Gospel’ or ‘Remember that we come from dust and that we return to dust’.”
Benedict XVI then emphasised that “today’s liturgy and its gestures form an ensemble that anticipates the whole Lenten period,” a time “to become reconciled with God in Jesus Christ.”
“For the liturgy of Ash Wednesday,” he said, “a heartfelt conversion to God is the fundamental trait aspect of the time of Lent. It is the quite suggestive reference that comes to us from the traditional ritual of the imposition of the ashes. This ritual has a double meaning. The first refers to an inner change, to conversion and penance, whilst the second refers to the precariousness of human existence easily seen in the two expressions that accompany the gesture.”
Now “we have 40 days to deepen this extraordinary ascetic and spiritual experience.” Jesus himself tells us what are “the useful instruments to achieve a true inner and communal renewal: charity (alms), prayer and penance (fasting). These are three fundamental practices that are also dear to the Jewish tradition because they contribute to the man’s purification before God (cf Mt 6, 1-6.16-18). Such external gestures, which must be performed to please God and not to get men’s approval and consensus, are acceptable to Him if they express the heart’s determination to serve Him only in simplicity and generosity.”
“Fasting, which the Church invites us to do during this demanding time, is certainly not motivated by physical or aesthetic reasons. It stems man’s need to purify himself from within and detoxify himself from sin and evil. It teaches him to accept the beneficial renunciatory practices that free the believer from the slavery of his own self. It makes him listen more attentively to God and more available to Him and to serve his brothers. For this reason fasting and other Lenten practices are seen in the Christian tradition as spiritual ‘weapons’ in the fight against evil, wicked passions and vices.”
Lent Begins Today
I've written a Lenten devotional that you might find a great help this Lent: The Power of the Cross: Meditations for the Lenten Season
What is it?
Daily Meditations based on the Gospel Readings of the day from Ash Wednesday to Holy Saturday…
- For Use as a private Lenten Devotional or
- For Use as in a Group Bible Study
Praise for The Power of the Cross: Meditations for the Lenten Season
Weekly Book Pick February 2005
For launching into Lent, Clare Siobhan recommends "The Power of the Cross: Applying the Passion of Christ to Your Life" by Michael Dubruiel.
And from those who've used it in the parish as a small group devotional:
We just finished studying your book "The Power of the Cross: Meditations for the Lenten SeasonVickie Loftis, Women's Bible Study, San Juan Del Rio Catholic Church, Switzerland, FL
It was soooo Catholic and thank you for speaking the truth. We have a lot of Catholics out there (including myself) who missed these lessons over the last 20 years. We have made Catholicism what we wanted it to be. Not how is really is. I believe your book opened the eyes of a lot of the ladies in the group.
“The Power of the Cross” will be our text for adult education classes during Lent. Keep on writing!
Pastor, Saint Patrick Catholic Church, Sarasota, FL
Check inside the book on Amazon to sample what the book is like.
Ash Wednesday Thought From "God Alone Suffices"
From God Alone Suffices
:
"Though full of dignity, created in the image of God, and redeemed by the blood of the Redeemer, a person remains only ashes, and his body turns to dirt after death. If we would acknowledge this truth that permeated the lives of saints, even in a limited way, each one of us would have a deep awareness of our nothingness. We would acknowledge that we are a handful of ashes loved by God, dirt in which the Creator of the universe wants to dwell."
:"Though full of dignity, created in the image of God, and redeemed by the blood of the Redeemer, a person remains only ashes, and his body turns to dirt after death. If we would acknowledge this truth that permeated the lives of saints, even in a limited way, each one of us would have a deep awareness of our nothingness. We would acknowledge that we are a handful of ashes loved by God, dirt in which the Creator of the universe wants to dwell."
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