Where the Rubber Hits the Road

More on the Vatican financial scandals

2012-01-27T11:55:00.001-05:00

The current nuncio to Washington cannot stand having been driven out of Rome. And he is reacting against his archenemy, Cardinal Bertone. He has many supporters in the curia. And the pope is getting caught in the fray

Vatican Diary / Viganò, the untouchable

BIG BLUE WAVE: Is is morally wrong to take a life? Not really, say two bioethicists

2012-01-27T09:34:00.000-05:00

BIG BLUE WAVE: Is is morally wrong to take a life? Not really, say two bioethicists

Ten Tips for Successful Catholic Blogging

2012-01-27T08:11:00.000-05:00

Shameless Popery: Ten Tips for Successful Catholic Blogging

Major victory for life in Europe: ‘Euthanasia must always be prohibited’ | LifeSiteNews.com

2012-01-27T08:10:00.001-05:00

Major victory for life in Europe: ‘Euthanasia must always be prohibited’ | LifeSiteNews.com

Thought Experiment | Blogs | NCRegister.com

2012-01-27T08:10:00.000-05:00

Thought Experiment | Blogs | NCRegister.com

And God saw that it was indeed very good....

2012-01-26T17:57:00.000-05:00

Blue Marble: See what NASA calls the 'most amazing high definition image of Earth' | News | National Post

The Madness of Abortion | CatholicVote.org

2012-01-26T10:49:00.000-05:00

The Madness of Abortion | CatholicVote.org

Former President John Tyler’s (1790-1862) grandchildren still alive | The Sideshow - Yahoo! News

2012-01-26T08:15:00.001-05:00

This is an argument in favor of the accuracy of the oral traditions that led to the writing of the Gospels as well as inspiring the early Church Fathers.

Former President John Tyler’s (1790-1862) grandchildren still alive | The Sideshow - Yahoo! News

Fr Dwight Longenecker on The New Radicals, the Young Pro-Life Advocates - U.s. - Catholic Online

2012-01-26T08:10:00.000-05:00

Fr Dwight Longenecker on The New Radicals, the Young Pro-Life Advocates - U.s. - Catholic Online

Ottawa Catholic churches pray new cash handling rules will be a blessing after scandal | Holy Post | National Post

2012-01-25T17:14:00.000-05:00

Ottawa Catholic churches pray new cash handling rules will be a blessing after scandal | Holy Post | National Post

Liam Neeson may become a Muslim, he says | Holy Post | National Post

2012-01-25T17:12:00.000-05:00

Liam Neeson may become a Muslim, he says | Holy Post | National Post

Interesting Abortion video

2012-01-25T13:24:00.001-05:00

You’re not as anonymous online as you think, privacy czar warns - The Globe and Mail

2012-01-25T13:00:00.001-05:00

This is a mixed blessing. On the one hand it is good to think that you can post or surf anonymously... but the fact that no one can actually makes it possible for me to eliminate comments from specific individuals and to protect from the blog from spam. It has helped me to weed out trolls like our old friend of this blog, 'Johnny Vo'. Once I had his IP address, he could no longer get his hatred published here... a blessing for all concerned!

You’re not as anonymous online as you think, privacy czar warns - The Globe and Mail

Invitation to a Dialogue - Research and Its Risks - NYTimes.com

2012-01-25T08:32:00.000-05:00

Invitation to a Dialogue - Research and Its Risks - NYTimes.com

Catholic Church Declares Support For Adult Stem Cell Research - Forbes

2012-01-24T09:11:00.000-05:00

Catholic Church Declares Support For Adult Stem Cell Research - Forbes

Two women injured in Alabama: run-down abortion clinic has no gurney access | LifeSiteNews.com

2012-01-24T09:10:00.000-05:00

Two women injured in Alabama: run-down abortion clinic has no gurney access | LifeSiteNews.com

Strongest solar storm since 2005 hitting Earth - The Globe and Mail

2012-01-24T08:58:00.002-05:00

Cool! If the earth is being hit with all this radiation, will we soon to the emergence of super-heroes on the planet? As a comedian once said 'It's been 25 years since the accident at Chernobyl. Is anyone else surprised? Still no super-heroes?"

Strongest solar storm since 2005 hitting Earth - The Globe and Mail

Welsh Christian leaders join in opposition to 'presumed consent' for organ donation : News Headlines - Catholic Culture

2012-01-24T07:57:00.000-05:00

It was not all that long ago that people being made to give up their heart, lung and kidney after registering as organ donors was fodder for improvisational comedy troupes like 'Second City'. 'Presumed consent' legislation put's some irony into the laughs they engender. Anything that brings that satirical scenario closer to reality is something that sends a chill down my spine.

-First, there was a strict prohibition on abortion. Then it was permitted in specific circumstances, before finally (through the fiat of the Supreme Court) any prohibition was legislatively erased.
-Gambling was illegal. The State introduced a 'one time only' Million Dollar' national lottery in support of the Montreal Olympics. Then every month... every week... every day... VLT's in towns and cities great and small.
-Sex was such a taboo subject that Dick van Dyck and Mary Tyler Moore slept in separate twin beds. Today sex on TV sells and is freely available everywhere.
-Divorces were rare and marriages were numerous. Today, marriages are becoming as rare as hen's teeth while divorce is widespread.

I am not arguing necessarily any of these made society better or worse. I only point to HOW each of these changes came about: incrementally but relentlessly, through an accumulation of small changes. Kind of like the piles of snow that are filling up our parish parking lot here in Mattawa. Think of it as a kind of chaos theory (butterfly cause hurricane, death and destruction) applied to societal conventions and structures.

Welsh Christian leaders join in opposition to 'presumed consent' for organ donation : News Headlines - Catholic Culture

Dissident Austrian priests plan to take 'Call to Disobedience' international : News Headlines - Catholic Culture

2012-01-23T15:23:00.000-05:00

Dissident Austrian priests plan to take 'Call to Disobedience' international : News Headlines - Catholic Culture

Why we march for life - Guest Voices - The Washington Post

2012-01-23T14:10:00.001-05:00

"An unborn baby’s heart begins beating 18 days after conception – a tiny heartbeat, a human heartbeat, and a vulnerable one. In 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court decision of Roe v. Wade made it legal to kill unborn human beings at any stage of development, at any time before birth, in all 50 states."

I appreciate that this is an American story, but the arguments it presents are equally valid in Canada too. It expresses as well what fires the passion of pro-life advocates world wide.

Why we march for life - Guest Voices - The Washington Post

Excellent short reflection on the subject of the Sacrament of Confession

2012-01-23T08:38:00.000-05:00

Hitting F5 on the Spiritual Life

Pope Reflects on Week of Prayer for Christian Unity | Daily News | NCRegister.com

2012-01-23T08:36:00.000-05:00

Pope Reflects on Week of Prayer for Christian Unity | Daily News | NCRegister.com

U.S. economy may never return to glory days: Carney | CTV News

2012-01-23T08:34:00.000-05:00

U.S. economy may never return to glory days: Carney | CTV News

Can Christians be nihilists? Not a chance!

2012-01-22T17:15:00.001-05:00

Many believers argue that atheism is nihilistic. Atheists respond to this contention as if it were a personal insult. This response naturally leads to an important question: What is Nihilism?

Existential nihilism is defined as "the notion that life has no intrinsic meaning or value, and it is, no doubt, the most commonly used and understood sense of the word today.” (Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy) Put simply, nihilists deny ‘absolutes’ exist, at least in the moral, political or social spheres.

Theists disagree. They propose that such social constructs should be oriented towards their particular end which reflects an absolute good. Believers cannot hold to the tenets of faith while accepting the proposition that a society can be fruitfully nurtured without moral absolutes. They are by their particular natures, mutually contradictory propositions. The denial of the existence of ‘absolutes’ would vitiate the truth of God and His influence in this world.

The dividing line between theists and nihilists is whether such a thing as ‘absolute’ right and wrong exists. Religions strive to make use of faith as a ‘compass’ by which to navigate cultures towards the ‘common good’ and to avoid the perils of ‘evil’. By what ‘standards’ do postmodern nihilists navigate turbulent waters? The solution offered is to say that we will ‘know’ what to do based upon the situation of the moment, guided by some innate collective consciousness of what constitutes right and wrong. Yet these human talents have failed societies and cultures time and time again.

When faced with the Holocaust, the Rwandan genocide, or ‘ethnic cleansing’, can one hold a belief in an innate, universal understanding of right and wrong to protect and guide humanity if one rejects a belief an 'ultimate' right and wrong? I realize that different participants in these slaughters claimed to be adherents of different religious faiths, but it was not religion that fired their conflict. It was ethnic and national passions that fueled these heinous crimes against humanity. Nihilists have nothing to offer in response to such barbarism.

Christians do. They believe that a ‘Natural Law’ which God imprinted upon creation and written within our hearts exists. It imposes a higher authority than the State or tribal loyalty. It calls them to oppose such evils because God demands it, not because of some collective human consciousness forces it. Sacred scriptures and corpus of theology provides a fount of wisdom and experience to assist believers in acting according to the prescripts of this natural law. It establishes that war can only be waged in defense of innocent life. It teaches that civilians are to be protected. It demonstrates that those whom the state describes as being the ‘enemy’ are actually our brothers and sisters, irrespective of any detail that places them outside of a tribal or national group.

Can all of these horrors be brought to the feet of atheists? Clearly not. Many who do not believe in God are as horrified when confronted with such human depravity as any believer. Nor can we say that all atheists are certainly knowing advocates of nihilism. Whether or not they accept the divine origins of the Natural Law, they are as capable as believers in accessing its knowledge and following its teachings. Neither can believers claim that they are immune from falling under the influence of propaganda the State wields when they try to whip up a society to attack another. But at least the teachings of faith offers a yardstick by which to measure the ‘rightness’ of such an act of war - a tool that is denied to those who do not hold to the existence of moral, political or social absolutes.

I Keep So Busy Workin’ for the Kingdom, I Ain’t Got Time to Die. A Meditation on the Readings for the Third Sunday of The Year | Archdiocese of Washington

2012-01-22T08:14:00.000-05:00

I Keep So Busy Workin’ for the Kingdom, I Ain’t Got Time to Die. A Meditation on the Readings for the Third Sunday of The Year | Archdiocese of Washington