News Clips: April 2006 Archives

The Vatican is due to release a document covering condom use in the situation of sexually transmitted diseases such as AIDS. Pope Benedict requested the study.

Perhaps they'll point out that condoms are not something you'd want to bet your life on. I'm not even necessarily talking about the controversial question of whether an HIV virus can pass through a pore. Condoms break and must be used correctly. A government study notes "Meta-analysis of several studies showed an 85 percent decrease in risk of HIV transmission among consistent condom users versus non-users." That's a big 15% gap when you're talking life and death — especially a spouse that you will have sex with hundreds if not thousands of times.

There is a new case involving a "brain dead" patient, an 11 year-old girl, that almost had her nutrition and hydration removed. But her guardian decided to visit her and found her in much better shape than the doctors claimed — she was conscious and able to respond to requests.

This article notes that artificial nutrition and hydration (ANH) used to be something that could not be refused or withdrawn, but a recent change in law has made it so, just like any medication or treatment. As the article notes, "removing ANH has come to be seen widely in medicine and bioethics as an "ethical" way to end the lives of cognitively disabled "biologically tenacious" patients (as one prominent bioethicist once described disabled people like Terri Schiavo and Haleigh Poutre), without resorting to active euthanasia." While once removing ANH was reserved to cases where the patient was "beyond doubt" permanently unconscious, in 1994 "AMA proclaimed it 'not unethical' to withdraw ANH 'even if the patient is not terminally ill or permanently unconscious.' And that's where the matter stands today."

There is still a risk that this young girl could be deprived of ANH and killed, despite the fact that she is conscience and responsible. Let's keep a close eye on this case.

Some Christian churches have started to celebrate Earth Day Sunday this coming Sunday. Mostly it is a movement among mainstream Protestant churches, although in some Evangelical churches it is taking hold.

There are a couple of passages from the Catechism on this topic. "Man must therefore respect the particular goodness of every creature, to avoid any disordered use of things which would be in contempt of the Creator and would bring disastrous consequences for human beings and their environment." (#339) "The seventh commandment enjoins respect for the integrity of creation. Animals, like plants and inanimate beings, are by nature destined for the common good of past, present, and future humanity. Use of the mineral, vegetable, and animal resources of the universe cannot be divorced from respect for moral imperatives. Man's dominion over inanimate and other living beings granted by the Creator is not absolute; it is limited by concern for the quality of life of his neighbor, including generations to come; it requires a religious respect for the integrity of creation." (#2415)

So we share, to some degree, in these concerns. We have a responsibility for being good stewards of creation, though at the same time avoid giving creation more than its due. The article speaks of "revering" the earth, and I'm not convinced that's appropriate. The earth should not be revered as if it were superior to us or due some form of worship or veneration. Perhaps in a simple sense, it should be respected, in the sense that we should be aware of it, and how it works, and not trample upon it or abuse it.

Back in my Evangelical days I took a dim view of ecology, as was the fashion in my circles at the time. (To be honest I can't even remember the arguments against ecology anymore.) I even looked at recycling with suspicion, thinking it was a New Age plot. (I was big into New Age plots.) Now I'm a rather aggressive recycler, though more from a practical standpoint ("This stuff is perfectly useful if reused! Why waste it?") than from a stewardship perspective.

The other component has to do with consumption. The fact is that we in the West do consume a disproportionate share of natural resources. Anything we can do to not waste resources (he says, as he remembers his habit of leaving lights on all over the place, though that has its reason) is good.

But this Sunday is a bad Sunday for Earth Day Sunday; it conflicts with Mercy Sunday and Easter (Octave). I expect it's to coincide with Earth Day, although the official Earth Day site says it is on the vernal equinox. I suppose if you assume worst case that the Sunday following Earth Day is Easter, you can't have Earth Day Sunday on Easter, so they took the next available day, the Sunday after Easter. Oh well. Not that I think we should necessarily celebrate it. I'm not sure we should mix secular political causes into our calendar. But it is a subject at least worth bringing up, as long as it doesn't devolve into Gaia-worshipping. ("Oh Gaia — they treat you like dirt!" ;-))

Carlo Maria Cardinal Martini, every liberal journalist's papabile, is at it again. Now he is saying condoms are OK for preventing the spread of AIDS and legalized abortion is good. Vaguely, he says, "Certainly the use of condoms can, in certain circumstances, constitute a lesser evil." Maybe when raping someone but that's not how people are going to read that statement.

The article says, 'The 79-year-old Jesuit cardinal also said the legalisation of abortion was a "positive" development in the sense that it had "contributed to reducing and eliminating illegal abortions"'. Huh? Exactly how is that meritorious? He goes on to refer to "prevent[ing] a brutal, arbitrary situation". Yeah I tell you, I'd do anything, even kill a little innocent child, to prevent an "arbitrary" situation from developing. The occasional butchering of a woman during the age of illegal abortions was deplorable, but we're talking a small number of injured (ok, a few dead) women vs. millions of additional babies slaughtered by legalization of abortion. Hmmm, does it balance out?

He also says that it is a lesser evil to implant frozen embryos and bring them to term than to destroy the embryos. In this case I agree with him, as long as the in-vitro fertilization of those embryos is not tolerated. It's much like fornication: the act is immoral, but once the baby is conceived, we want to provide as much support as possible.

P.S. Does he look ominous or what?

The California Supreme Court has ruled that raunchy vulgarity does not necessarily constitute sexual harassment. The case involves a woman whose responsibility it was to take notes during brainstorming sessions for the show Friends. According to Warner Bros., "trash talk was part of the creative process and, therefore, the studio and its writers could not be sued for raunchy writers' meetings." Talk included references to writers' and actors' sexual exploits. The court noted that she was not singled out as the target of this kind of language; it was part of the environment. (And to be fair, she had been warned before being hired.)

I am in support of anyone who does not want to listen to raunchy language in the workplace. I don't mean an occasional "sh*t" here or "d*mn" there, but seriously raunchy language. I'm not sure if it should come under the rubric of sexual harassment, but I think people have a right not to be exposed to it.

A 50 year-old display of the Ten Commandments on a courthouse lawn in Ohio will get to stay, a federal judged ruled. His rational was that it was erected with secular intent, which is basically what the Supreme Court ruled in June (its main purpose must be honoring legal traditions).

Where are the brains of school administrators today?

Kid, a model student, goes to school day after using a pocketknife for craft purposes at home and realizes, once he gets there, that he forgot to take it out of his coat pocket. So immediately, without delay, he turns it into the office, which is the right thing to do, and what happens? He's not only suspended for the maximum sentence, but is recommended for expulsion by the principal!!

What is up with these people? This is not the first time I've heard of such nonsense from schools. Can they not think on their own? What goes on in those little minds of theirs? I can only be thankful that I'm not a parent in such a situation because I'd probably get arrested, I'd raise such a fuss.

This is my problem with zero-tolerance policies. They replace common sense and discretion with inflexible laws that do not serve anyone. They remove the judgment and replace it with slavish obedience to the law.

Are people's philosophies just corrupt? Have they not learned good judgment?

Makes you long for Jesus, the Just Judge.

I had previously reported that Notre Dame president Fr. John Jenkins had banned the Vagina Monologues and other offensive works from Notre Dame stages. But apparently he has caved,* and now declares "I see no reason to prohibit performances of 'The Vagina Monologues' on campus, and do not intend to do so."

Sad — there seemed so much hope for him. I thought Notre Dame now had an orthodox president, or at least one that followed orthopraxy. No such luck.

Here is a good quote:

The Rev. Bill Miscamble, a distinguished historian and former rector of the campus seminary, expressed the disappointment that many of us feel at Father Jenkins's decision. He suggested that it had "brought most joy to those who care least about Notre Dame's Catholic mission." He criticized Father Jenkins in an open letter to him: "You were called to be courageous and you settled for being popular."

Indeed it seems he is.

*Only available through next Thursday, 4/20.

Once it was the fashion to use the pelican as an image of Christ, because it was mistakenly believed that pelicans injured themselves to feed their young with their own blood. In fact I see this image in the Good Friday service books of a church I go to for that service. It even made it into a hymn by Thomas Aquinas.

Well it seems that there really is an animal that makes itself a living sacrifice for its offspring. It's a worm-like amphibian that lets its offspring feed on its own flesh. The skin gets doubly-thick and regenerates itself. Apparently the skin turns into some sort of milk-like (or milk-comparable) substance. It's the only animal known that does this.

I doubt this animal will turn into a popular image for Christ, though! First of all it's not cute and cuddly, second of all it's way too obscure. But it's an interesting study.

Francis Cardinal Arinze protested the used of "Do-It-Yourself" liturgies emphasizing that priests should not add or subtract from approved rites. "Liturgy", says Pope John Paul II, "is never anyone's private property."

In separate but related news, a Vatican commission was proposing the outlaw the use of drums and electric guitars in liturgies. I personally think that no drums would be a shame since I know some good worship music that drums is totally appropriate for. I was just reading some psalms which mentioned the use of drums in liturgical worship. But I'm all for ending experimentation and sticking to the rubrics.

The Diocese of Linz in Austria has decided to provide free ringtones for the faithful featuring the sound of bells tolling at three local parishes.

Do not ask for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.

Could be disconcerting taking a phone call, though, when all of a sudden in the middle of the meeting you hear bells tolling. Not your typical ringtone. Heck it could even be confused with real bells tolling.

Could be a nice conversation-starter, though.

Hillary Clinton is wooing Catholic voters, no doubt in preparation for a presidential run. (It makes my heart skip a beat just to think about President Hillary Clinton — or is that President Hillary Rodham Clinton? Oh well.) It notes that certain groups of people — Hispanics and married women in particular — caused the votes to swing uncomfortably close to the GOP in certain states. The article also makes an interesting observation: "Her problem regarding religion and the American electorate is not that she’s a heathen: In fact, she qualifies as one of the most overtly Christian politicians in the country. It’s just that, with conservative evangelical Protestants ascendant, she’s the wrong kind of Christian." I suppose that gets down to brass tacks.

Here is another article on polygamy (and polyamory), this one more or less an argument against them from a secular source. He says that essentially, did we not learn anything from the 60s and college that when everyone is having sex with everyone else, no one is happy? Interesting argument! He also argues that in polygamous societies, "there is a cohort of unmarried men, a breeding pool of idleness and frustration, as well as a cohort of multiply married men who are too accustomed to having their way." Maybe that's where are the Muslim terrorists are coming from!

High teen exposure to sex in the media causes earlier sexual activity — d'oh!!

Doesn't take a rocket scientist — or a sociologist — to figure that out.

Teens most exposed to sex were 2.2 times most likely to have intercourse as those least exposed to sex.

The Wall Street Journal has an interesting article* about Dr. D. Michael Quinn, one of the world's foremost authorities on the Mormon faith. Dr. Quinn's history tended toward dissent, frequently contradicting the church's traditional history. One topic he researched was polygamy, demonstrating that the church tolerated it after banning it in 1890. He publically criticized the church for limiting dissent, and wrote an article "maintaining that Joseph Smith treated Mormon women more equally than the church does today." In 1993 he was excommunicated, and has become unhireable since, even at secular universities. Why? Chairs for Mormon studies are generally funded by Mormon believers who would not take kindly to having an excommunicated professor. He's now reduced to living with his mother with no Internet or health insurance or money to pay for car repairs.

Interesting a similar incident occurred with respect to a Catholic chair at Emory University. The article writes: "In 1999, the Aquinas Center, a Roman Catholic organization affiliated with Emory, agreed to endow a new chair in Catholic studies. Emory selected Mark Jordan of the University of Notre Dame for the post. But the board of the Aquinas Center objected, according to Emory faculty members and Victor Kramer, a former Aquinas board member and executive director. Prof. Jordan is homosexual and wrote a critical history of Catholicism's attitude toward sodomy. Emory shifted Prof. Jordan to a university-funded position in religion that wasn't specific to Catholicism, according to Mr. Kramer and Barbara DeConcini, who headed the faculty search committee. Plans for the chair were shelved. An Emory spokeswoman says the center was concerned it might not be able to afford the gift."

Would that we could derail a dissenting professor by excommunicating him! (Would that we excommunicated more notorious heretics!)

I admire the Mormons for keeping the dissenters out of the universities. If only we could do the same.

*Expires around 4/13.

A judged ruled that a public high school must restore bricks with Christian messages in a walkway where bricks could be bought for a donation. The bricks had been removed over First Amendment issues, but apparently they didn't look deeply enough into the First Amendment. Isn't it always that way? The judge (wisely) ruled that the purchaser's free speech rights had been violated.

A Polish businessman bought John Paul II's childhood home and handed it over to the Polish Catholic Church. A happy ending for a historic place!

The Mass. Supreme Judicial Court (the high court in Mass.) ruled that people can't come to Massachusetts from other states simply to get married if their home states don't allow the marriage. This only makes sense as you don't want to subvert the laws of the home states. That was only that it was being used for, as a way of getting gay marriage in states that did not support it.

Hopefully someone won't try to repeal the law that imposes this restriction.

... they'll stop aborting their daughters!

Bet some fathers are kicking themselves right now.

Interesting to see the free market cause the downfall of some dubious traditions.