Pope John Paul's only car, a 1975 Ford Escort, has sold for $680,000. The car, which was supposed to be sold earlier this year, was sold after a father-son spat involving the owner was resolved.
News Clips: October 2005 Archives
It hasn't quite yet come to that, but it is coming very close.
Universites such as the University of California are casting a jaudiced eye
In fact, a list of "helpful hints" the university provides to high schools, according to the article, "suggests stripping religion even out of the religion classes": "Religion and ethics courses are acceptable...as long as they… do not include among its [sic] primary goals the personal religious growth of the student." Well there you have it.
One Christian high school has had it and is filing a discrimination lawsuit. Good for them.
Maybe it's time to start writing the trustees of the University of California and bringing this blatant discrimination to their attention.
I already refuse to shop at Wal-Mart because the tactics they use against suppliers to force prices down is predatory towards the workers at the supplier, but I learned yet another reason to avoid them today: An internal memo proposes discouraging those with high health-care costs from applying for jobs.
UPDATE: Harriet Miers has asked to have her nomination withdrawn, and Bush has "reluctantly" accepted. I feel bad for the situation but I think it's for the best.
Concerned Women for America is calling for Harriet Miers' withdrawal on account of her on-the-record support for abortion in the past, in particular for women's "self-determination", a codeword for abortion rights.
At issue are two statements she made in a 1993 speech to the Executive Women of Dallas: "The ongoing debate continues surrounding the attempt to once again criminalize abortions or to once and for all guarantee the freedom of the individual woman's right to decide for herself whether she will have an abortion" and "The underlying theme in most of these cases is the insistence of more self-determination. The more I think about these issues, the more self-determination makes the most sense. Legislating religion or morality we gave up a long time ago."
These are rather troubling statements for a pro-life voter. They seem to reverse a stand she had in 1989 when she supported a constitutional amendment to ban abortion except for the life of the mother.
Ever wonder what the Amish are up to? As it turns out, a lot. They are debating cell phones and roller blades, and are facing women's issues, Wal-Marts, modern psychology, and other wrenching threats. This guy Joel Stein is a fantastic writer even though he looks sixteen years old, so check him out.
The pope's first encyclical is coming out in December. It will have to do with one's personal relationship with God, a topic that I am glad to hear addressed as not enough emphasis, to me, is placed in homilies on one's personal relationship with God. Perhaps he will use this as a welcome "introduction to the Gospel" and an opportunity to evangelize Catholics who have not yet been truly and effectively evangelized.
I admit though that I am somewhat surprised to hear that Benedict has chosen this topic, as he strikes me more as an academic than someone who would delve into more experiential issues such as one's personal relationship with God. Have I misjudged him, perhaps? We'll see. But according to Wikipedia, friendship with Jesus Christ is a theme of his preaching which is found in many of his homilies and his addresses. For example:
"Are we not perhaps all afraid in some way? If we let Christ enter fully into our lives, if we open ourselves totally to him, are we not afraid that He might take something away from us?...And once again the Pope said: No! If we let Christ into our lives, we lose nothing, nothing, absolutely nothing of what makes life free, beautiful and great. No! Only in this friendship do we experience beauty and liberation....When we give ourselves to him, we receive a hundredfold in return. Yes, open, open wide the doors to Christ — and you will find true life." [29]
In any case I am eager to read it.
The synod of bishops overwhelmingly reaffirmed the church's existing practice and teaching on matters such as celibacy and admitting remarried people to the Eucharist. What happens is that the bishops have voted on various positions and they are being sent to the Pope for confirmation.
Interestingly one protest group criticized the bishops for their "lack of courage." I find such language laughable — what, exactly, is courageous about giving in to pressure groups and indeed the relentless assault of what everyone else in the world seems to want? I think what they are doing is courageous, and I think we should applaud them.
This is so pathetic I don't even know where to start. We were just talking about judging people on their appearance (Sirach 11:2). Striving to be like the Beautiful People is based on a false judgement of ourselves: That somehow we are "less worthy" because we perceive ourselves to be less attractive.
I pray for people who are so jealous of celebrities and so unsatisfied with what God has given them that they seek out radical surgery as a cure. And for all those who place their trust in the power of plastic surgery, here is a warning of what can happen.
ZENIT has published a piece about an article that came out demonstrating that statistically, the most religious areas of the U.S. also have the highest incidences of homicide, mortality, STD, youth pregnancy, marital and related problems compared to more secular, "European" areas of the country. Not surprisingly, this provoked a flurry of articles excoriating religion and calling for further secularization. One commenter said "We shouldn't shy away from the possibility that too much religiosity may be socially dangerous." Another boldly charged, "If you want people to behave as Christians advocate, you should tell them that God does not exist." The problem is that the data is quite preliminary, it is not consistently true, it doesn't adequately take into account other possible factors and it suffers from the fallacy that correlation proves causality — always the bugaboo of statistical analysis.
The Vatican is teaching a class on exorcism. About 120 students are taking the four-month class at Pontifical Regina Apostolorum University in Rome. Of primary importance, they say, is distinguishing cases of demonic possession from psychological problems.
When so many have either minimized the role of demonic possession or ceased to believe in it entirely, attributing everything to psychology, it is refreshing to see the Vatican put new life into exorcisms. Demonic activity of this form is real, though rare. I've heard some amazing accounts in my years. Good proof that God exists.
Tired of the hustle and bustle of the world? Always longed for the contemplative peace of religious life but no religious order in their right mind would have you? Feel inspired by the Eastern Desert Fathers? Well now you, too, can rent your own cave for a mere $25/mo or $5/day. A man in Idaho has carved out caves in the course of his own eremetic life. (Hopefully he'd keep his distance — no word on how close together the caves are.)
(In case you're wondering, that's the Prophet Elijah.)
A woman in Little Rock has given birth to her sixteenth child. I say, bully for her! Not surprisingly they are people of faith. And they aren't even Catholics (they're Baptists).
The kids share three bedrooms (at least, at kid #13). They spent at that point $1,000 a month on food (this is from this article) and she goes every other day. They have one closet for clothes, plus two washers and three dryers. They joke that when it comes to sports, they have two teams.
I'll bet they get some rude comments. (My friend John gets rude comments with four.)
God bless their full quiver!
From Mike's List:
Agence France Presse published a photo of Katrina hurricane victim Latesha Vinette holding her new Red Cross debit card, a picture instantly redistributed on public wire service web sites. The balance on the card dropped to ZERO within minutes, as hundreds of fraudsters went on shopping sprees with the card number. A few hours later, Vinette was paged over the Reliant stadium speaker system to receive a call from Mastercard, which wanted to know about cash-advance requests totaling $65,237, and attempts to use the card to buy a Ferrari and hundreds of other goods on eBay.
I feel sorry for the woman, and hate to find this amusing, but I do, in a sort of twisted way.
Update: Snopes has the photo. Man, a lot of people made bad editorial decisions here.
Airlines can kick you out for a shirt they deem offensive. That's the lesson a woman learned the hard way after she wore a T-Shirt featuring an array of high-level presidential staff which said something resembling the title of the movie "Meet the Fockers". The article takes pains to point out that, lo and behold, First Amendment protections do not apply to private companies, only the government, something every schoolboy should be well aware of, no matter what First Amendment fundamentalists hue and cry about.
I've noticed before the proliferation of T-Shirts with language you can't put on TV and what makes me mad is that so many people would be patently inconsiderate of families with children they run into. Many parents (I hate the fact I have to qualify that) don't want their children exposed to language like this, and they have every right to expect that in public, they won't be. Whatever happened to common decency?
The woman still thinks she was wronged and is trying to get reimbursed for her trip home. I would tell her, look, the airline did nothing wrong. You were in the wrong, hence, you have to pay for your own trip (though I would refund her ticket).
All I have to say is bravo to Southwest Airlines. Maybe I'll write them and tell them how I feel.
Well things just seem to be shifting back and forth. The latest rumor about the upcoming document about homosexuals in the seminary says that it has been relaxed to say that those who have lived chastely for a least three years may become priests. I am somewhat skeptical of such a rather liberal policy but I suppose it's possible. We shall see when it comes out — whenever that is ("very soon" according to the article). Let's pray that the Lord's will be done.
The Catholic bishops of England and Wales have issued a documented called The Gift of Scripture which The Times of London at least is seizing on to claim we believe there are "untruths" in the Bible. The bishops say, “We should not expect total accuracy from the Bible in other, secular matters” and “We should not expect to find in Scripture full scientific accuracy or complete historical precision.” The article says that they "refute the apocalyptic prophecies of Revelation", but according to what they quote, the document merely puts Revelation in a symbolic context. The bishops also condemn fundamentalism for its “intransigent intolerance” and warn of “significant dangers” involved in a fundamentalist approach.
One example they of something which is not "historical" is Creation account in Genesis. But the point there is not that it is untrue (as the article implies, though not necessarily the bishops), but that it is truth expressed in the images of the age, which may or may not reflect a true scientific worldview. The key is that the intent of the text is true. While it is true that the science is bad, the intent of the text was not to express science.
An example I like to use is, suppose I told you, "The sun is rising." Suppose you refuted me, saying, "It is not; the sun is stationary and never moves." In reality you would have missed the point; my intent was not to say that the sun revolves around the earth, but to say that the sun is appearing on the horizon. Thus I can express a truth through something that is technically scientifically wrong.
The bishops, we are told, insist that these chapters of Genesis cannot be 'historical'; at most, they may contain 'historical traces'. I reply that it is indeed historical; perhaps not in the sense of the term that The Times is wont to use, but in the sense that a historical truth about how God created the world is being communicated, even if it is not necessarily scientifically precise.
I've been unable to find the actual document The Gift of Scripture online. If anyone finds it, let me know.
OhGizmo! reports on a new prayer mat for Muslims that has a built-in compass and glows brighter as you face Mecca. Just what a geek would love to have. Of course, there is no indication of what region of the world it's meant to be used in, since that would obviously affect the correct orientation ... But is this cool, or what??
Here is a sad case. A priest was determined by a judge, in an unusual judicial proceeding, to have killed a man who was going to expose him as a molester (plus an innocent bystander). The priest later committed suicide after being questioned by police. Man, talk about an apparent slam dunk for Hell (without judging his soul, of course).
