News Clips: February 2005 Archives

Incense and candles are apparently carcinogenic.

If you ever needed an excuse to get out of that Latin Mass ...

Irish bookmakers bet on next pope

Arinze is 3-1 but not the most likely candidate (that's Dionigi Tattamanzi, Archbishop of Milan, 5-2).

Avant-garde artist bolts eyeglasses to nose to stop them from slipping.

It must hurt when you forget they're bolted on and try to remove them.

Prophetic stone says pope will live

(Pray for him anyway)
(Thanks, Shaun!)

Feeding tube can be removed at 1pm on March 18th.

Apparently the judge is tired of the case. Good enough reason to starve a woman to death.

This is an update from Brian St-Paul of Crisis Magazine on the Terry Schiavo situation.

Dear Friend,

This isn't the email I had intended to send you today, but
circumstances are such that I think it's necessary. As Christians, we
believe in the invincible power of prayer. And now, we have two vital
intentions.

First, as you know, the pope has been sick. He received a
tracheotomy to help him breath, and was on a respirator for a while.
He's now breathing on his own and doesn't appear to be in any
immediate danger. Nevertheless, we must face the reality that John
Paul II's days with us appear to be winding down. For many younger
Catholics, who know only his pontificate, his passing could be
devastating.

While it's tempting to ask God to give the Holy Father a few more
years with us, it seems to me a bit wrongheaded. God is sovereign and
knows best what His Church (and the world) needs. Let us then trust
Him, and ask that His will be done, and that we all have the grace to
accept it.

The second subject for our prayer should be the fate of Terri
Schiavo. Today at 5 pm, Florida Circuit Court Judge George Greer will
rule on whether to delay the removal of Teri's feeding tube until the
issues of her mental capacity can be cleared up.

Furthermore, the state's Department of Children and Families has
asked for a 60-day delay to investigate allegations of abuse against
Terri.

Father Rob Johansen, a past writer for Crisis Magazine, is a friend
of Bob and Mary Schindler (Terri's parents). Yesterday, before he
flew down to Florida to be with them, I was able to talk to him about
the situation.

After filling me in on the latest developments, I had the
opportunity to ask a question that's been on my mind for some time...

From CNN:

Leaders of the global Anglican Communion have declared that they want the U.S. Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Canada to withdraw from the communion's councils temporarily, and to explain their attitudes toward gays which have split the church.

Doctors performed a tracheotomy on the pope today (details). Here is a good article about his whole flu episode and how it has made him an icon of suffering, punctuating his pontificate.

Lord, give him strength! May he continue to be a witness to hope for you. Grant him many years. Blessed Teresa of Calcutta, pray for him!

A friend of mine started a discussion when he caught the Vatican officials lying about the health condition of the Pope. Apparently, there was an anouncement that Pope was undergoing surgery followed by a denial from a Vatican source close to the Pope who would obviously know the truth followed by an admission that in fact the Pope had undergone surgery. Now I don't know if these were official statements, but it doesn't really matter, and my friend rightly points out that since we believe that lying is morally wrong, what kind of example does this set? I had to agree with him: Lying is unacceptable, and it is deplorable that officials in the Vatican are engaged in it. It damages our witness and causes scandal.

Here are several petitions you can sign on behalf of Terri Schiavo.

By the way, a stay has been granted until Friday. Thanks be to God!

It amazes me how people just don't recognize that giving someone food and water by tube is not "life-support" and see no difference between turning off some equipment that keeps someone artificially alive and starving someone to death who would live just fine given nutrition.

I read an article that basically questioned whether her parents were using her to fulfill their own emotional needs. Funny, he never questioned the motives of Michael Schiavo which are a lot more dubious.

Today is a critical day for Terri Schiavo; please keep her in your prayers.

Drug Suspect Dressed as Bishop

No comments on this one! (St. Ignatius of Antioch, pray for me!)

Received this today from the American Family Association:

Bill Maher, host of HBO's Real Time With Bill Maher, says that all Christians are crazy and are unenlightened because of their faith. Maher made the comments on MSNBC's Scarborough Country.

Maher said: "We are a nation that is unenlightened because of religion…I think that religion stops people from thinking. I think it justifies crazies. I think that flying planes in a building was a faith-based initiative. I think religion is a neurological disorder. If you look at it logically, it's something that was drilled into your head when you were a small child."

"When you look at belief in such things--as do you go to heaven, is there a devil--we have more in common with (Muslin countries) Turkey and Iran and Syria than we do with European nations and Canada and nations that, yes, I would consider more enlightened that us."

Maher said he wasn't speaking only of evangelicals, but included all religious people. He said he agreed with Jesse Ventura "who had that quote about religion is a crutch for weak-minded people who need strength in numbers."

Because of their neurological disorder, he said Christians "do not believe in science and rationality." He went on to say the future does not belong to religion. One recalls the famous quote from the Beatles in the 60's that they "were more popular than Jesus."

According to Maher, the Bible is a book of fairy tales, calling the account of Jonah a fairy tale the same as Jack in the Beanstalk.

Had Maher said such things about homosexuals, he would have been immediately fired. But because he was speaking of Christians, his bigotry was acceptable to HBO, owned by Time Warner Inc.

Well Mr. Maher is not all that familiar with Christianity, is he? He doesn't seem to take into account converts (who didn't have religion "drilled into them as a child") nor does he take into account the hundreds of thousands of good scientists who are believers. Obviously a man unfamilar with St. Thomas Aquinas (quite a thinker). And a crutch? Give me a break. It's harder to believe than not to, to quote Steve Taylor. It's easy to do what you want, to follow your urges. It's hard to exercise self-control.

I suspect Mr. Maher doesn't have any Christian friends, and hasn't spent much time around Christians. If he did, I don't think he'd think the way he does.

The Passion: Recut, a softer, gentler version of The Passion of the Christ, is being released in theaters March 11th. If you or anyone you know opted not to see it because of its extreme violence, now is the chance to see it.

Apparently there is not a rating yet, but I'm guessing they are shooting for PG-13 since they are targeting a more sensitive audience.

Strip club skirts nudity law by invoking artistic license

Have to give them credit for creativity.

All charges dropped against Philadelphia protestors (a Christian group) who protested at a gay rights rally.

I've been watching this particular case. I noticed that the case wasn't as cut and dried as the Christian group portrayed it in drumming up support for their cause, and there was conflicting information about whether they were peacefully protesting along the edges or whether they interfered with what was going on onstage. It serves as a reminder that we always need to listen to all side of a story before passing judgment or rushing uncritically to support someone who asks for it.

I never drew any conclusions about what happened, but I am glad to see charges dropped at least. And glad to see that someone still recognizes that we have a right to voice our faith and make political statements, however unpopular.

A baby who survived repeated attempts to abort him is doing well as a two-year-old

"Praying to a statue of the Grim Reaper and collecting the faithful across the country, a small religious sect that worships death is now fighting the Mexican government for recognition."

They call it an "unofficial offshoot of Roman Catholicism". Oy! Can we call it a de facto heresy?

Otis Spunkmeyer names new flavor in their honor and offers them free cookie dough and oven.

Now that's what I like to see — kindness rewarded.

Meanwhile the old hag continues to receive due recompense for her crimes. And then some.

Requiescant in Pace

Catholic numbers grow rapidly in the South -- and guess what? They're orthodox!

(This was posted to Catholic Light. I normally avoid duplicating posts made elsewhere but I felt this merited an exception.)

One of our readers sent me this:

Today, Wednesday, February 9, is, among other things, the day in which a major series on slavery in America will start on many PBS stations. There are reviews and commentaries in many newspapers. Below is a letter I just sent to the New York Daily News. I suggest that all of you (in the United States) read your newspapers looking for comments about the treatment of slaves as less than human which you can use as a hook for sending similar letters making the connection with defining unborn children as less than human to justify abortion.

David Hinckley quotes historian Dr. James Oliver Horton, who helped create the new PBS series on slavery saying, "Here you had a country founded on freedom that was denying the same freedom to a whole group of its own people. So the solution was to redefine blacks as lesser people not deserving of those freedoms." We see the same thing today when supporters of legal abortion redefine unborn children as less than human to justify depriving them of their right to life.

Tiniest baby in world heads home

Born at just 8.6 ounces and the size of a soda can, Rumaisa Rahman was delivered at only 26 weeks gestation. That's the end of the second trimester, folks! Proof that an unborn child is viable even before the 3rd trimester.

I just got a news item about a short called "Dumplings" in a Chinese movie called "Three ... Extremes" (an Asian horror flick) that involves a woman dicing up — urk &mdash aborted children as an antidote to aging. Yikes!

This was also reported on News of the Weird.

The Suderium of Oviedo: A True Relic of Christ?

There is another relic of Christ gaining notice, this one is the "linen cloth, specifically mentioned in the Gospel of John (Chapter 20, among the burial cloths in the tomb), which was used to cover Christ’s head when He was taken down from the Cross. After the body was transferred to the tomb, the Sudarium was removed and Jesus’s body was wrapped in the Shroud."

Girls to Pay $900 for Delivering Cookies

Basically some neighborhood girls cooked some cookies and tried to surprise a neighbor. She was sufficiently startled to have to go to the hospital the next morning. The woman sued the girls.

Ford pulls lustful clergy ad
Lincoln Mercury unit will not air spot for new truck during Super Bowl after groups protest.
02/03/05 07:00 AM, EST
Ford Motor Co.'s Lincoln Mercury unit says it won't air a Super Bowl ad depicting a clergyman lusting after its latest truck following a protest that the spot made light of a church sex scandal.

(Personally, reading the article, I think the spot is funny, and even salutary, since it associates a desire for an SUV with lust.)

Update: The ad is available here, thanks to my friend Caleb