Here is Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragán to clarify what it going on in the Vatican in regards the recent media circus about condoms and Church teaching:

(You can check out an earlier post on this subject here.)

The Holy See is preparing a "study" for internal dialogue, not a "document," on condoms and AIDS, says the president of the Pontifical Council for Health Care Workers.

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The study responds first to the question: What guarantee exists to prevent infection with AIDS through a condom? A second question is: Is it morally licit to use a "technical" condom?

To respond to these two questions, the cardinal explained, "there are two important principles, which are the Sixth Commandment that says, 'You will not commit impure acts,' and the Fifth, which must always be taken into account: 'You shall not kill.'"

Mercator.net has an interview posted with Ramesh Ponnuru about his latest book, "The Party of Death: The Democrats, the Media, the Courts, and the Disregard for Human Life".

(Our thanks to the Curt Jester for turning us onto this link.)

Some Highlights:

Let's imagine someone who takes the view that the human embryo is a living human being with rights, but that women have a right to control their own bodies that justifies their ability to abort that embryo. You would expect that person to oppose embryo-destructive research since no woman's body is involved in that question. But almost nobody actually takes that view. They support abortion because they do not believe embryonic and foetal lives have moral worth, not because they place a high value on women's bodily autonomy. Indeed, they think that it's an issue of women's bodily autonomy because they have already decided that the foetus does not have the same right to life that you and I do.

...

A five-year-old has the same right to life that a six-year-old does. To make that argument, I don't need to invoke any religious authority: I just need to be able to explain why the five-year-old and the six-year-old do not differ in any way that could rationally justify recognizing the right to life of one but not the other. I argue, in the book, that human beings in the embryonic stage of development don't differ from five and six-year-olds in any way that could justify their killing. (Neither do people in a persistent vegetative state.) That argument doesn't depend on religious premises either.

You can click here to read this thoughtful interview.

As many of our listeners/readers have noticed, there have been some articles in the news this weekend about condom use, the spread of Aids, and the Catholic Church.

The media seems to savor the "startling reversal of Church Doctrine" with bold proclamations like "shift in strategy", "updating their views", "Church hierarchy", "reversal of church doctrine" and "victory for reform-minded critics"......perhaps because the media thinks of the magisterium like they think of any other governing body.

There is no other organization in the world that produces as thoughtful and well reasoned responses to issues as the Vatican. I am not naive enough to believe that there are no politics at the Vatican, but one significant difference between the Vatican and other governing agencies (countries, companies, etc...) is that it is not only politics that inform their decisions.

Say what you want about the Church, but upon examination, one can always find caring motives.

This is so alien to most of the world, especially the media, that we can almost be guaranteed of slanted, shoddy reporting out of Rome.

Therefore, when it comes to the news that supposedly emanates from the Vatican, the "where there is smoke, there is fire" cliche doesn't always apply. This particular article is a case-in-point.

(Note: While I don't know much more than most about Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini, I doubt he heads the "Roman Catholic Church's Liberal Wing." I didn't know that the Roman Catholic Church had a "wing" devoted to the service of liberals. Furthermore, I didn't know that this "wing" had a head.)

A senior Italian cardinal who was one of the front-runners to become pope after the death of John Paul II, has said it is acceptable for Catholics to use condoms to prevent AIDS, a major break with the official position of the Vatican.

Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini, the former archbishop of Milan and the head of the Roman Catholic Church's liberal wing, said in an interview that legal abortions and the use of frozen embyros to produce children were also acceptable.

"Certainly the use of condoms can, in certain circumstances, constitute a lesser evil," Martini told weekly magazine L'Espresso, in reference to the dangers of contracting HIV/AIDS through sex.

"It is difficult for a modern state not to intervene, at least to prevent a brutal, arbitrary situation from developing," he said.

...

Cardinal Martini, who has often raised new ideas, is considered to be a free spirit within the Catholic Church hierarchy and does not hold any post of responsibility within the Vatican.

...

In L'Espresso he offered a nuanced view of scientific progress.

"While we can't stop it, we can help it become ever more responsible," he said.

He nevertheless stressed that the difference between the cardinal's views and the official positions of the Catholic Church was "a difference of tone".

"...Can't stop it..."?? I believe that if the quote was complete, we would find that perhaps the Cardinal was referring to the improper application of science, like using human embryos destructively in scientific research.

There are quotes out of context and incomplete information. I have read several Vatican articles/quotes/etc... about this. Yes, the Vatican is considering allowing condom use to slow the spread of HIV/AIDS with married couples where one partner has HIV/Aids and the other doesn't. This isn't new; I have been hearing about this for at least a year. In fact I remember reading about this when JPII was pope.

How is it that this important distinction isn't making it to the readers?

Here is another yellow article irresponsibly headlined: Catholic Church to Ease Ban on Condom Use.

One year after the election of Pope Benedict XVI, the Vatican, in a reversal of church doctrine, is prepared to allow the use of condoms to combat AIDS.

In a victory for reform-minded critics of the Vatican, Pope Benedict XVI has now reversed the Catholic Church's long-standing position with regard to the use of condoms to combat the spread of the HIV virus.

Only last week Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini, the highly influential former Archbishop of Milan, set a precedent by making a public appeal to at least permit condom use to prevent the transmission of deadly viruses.

Cardinal Martini, a Jesuit, is considered a moderate in the conclave that elected the then former Joseph Ratzinger from Germany as Pope last year following the death of John Paul II. Ratzinger, whom critics have dubbed "God's Rottweiler," was a protégé of the late pope. John Paul II took hard-line positions on the role of women in the Catholic Church and the treatment of homosexuals, as well as the condemnation of artificial birth control.

Though many German Catholics take pride that the pope is a fellow countryman, the reaction towards the pontiff has been mixed from progressive Catholics. However the easing of the church's absolutist position on the use of artificial means of birth control suggests Pope Benedict XVI could bring the church more in line with social realities and reformist views.

How often has the church based its doctrine on social trends in the past 2000 years? Which social reality is the writer referring to? The epidemic of promiscuity? Or maybe the Church is in line with the social reality that the family unit is the most important social group and that it is disintegrating. And that her doctrines exist to preserve the family.

Finally, here is an article that actually says something responsible:

Cardinal Barragan said: "This is a difficult and delicate subject that requires prudence. We are studying this closely with scientists and theologians."

Here is a rebuttal to those who are critical of President Jenkins' (of Notre Dame) in regard to the Vagina Monologues and Gay Pride issues: (See our earlier posts here and here.)

I am personally offended by the assertion that those who happen to agree with University President Father John Jenkins "are those who care least about Notre Dame's Catholic mission."

This from Father John Wauck's "the Da Vinci Code and Opus Dei" weblog:

Yesterday, walking around Rome, I came across the Church of St.Pantaleone, which is between Piazza Navona and Campo de’ Fiori on one of the busiest streets in town, the Corso Vittorio Emmanuele. Work is being done on the facade, and the scaffolding is covered with a scrim which reproduces the look of the church’s facade and includes paid advertising. You’ll never guess what was being advertised.

• to read the blog entry
• see the photograph
• read a a great quote from Raniero Cantalamessa, the Capuchin priest who is the pope’s preacher.

Today we have a conversation with Father John Wauck on the Da Vinci Code and Opus Dei.

I discovered his web site, Opus Dei and the Da Vinci Code, and immediately wanted to interview him on this subject.

Father John Wauck is an American priest of Opus Dei. A native of Chicago, he studied Renaissance history and literature at Harvard University and philosophy at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome, where he has lived for the last ten years.

He teaches a course on literature and Christian faith at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross (in 2005, this course was aired as a 13-part television series, called "A Mirror of the Soul," on EWTN) and organizes an international seminar entitled Poetics and Christianity.

He has written for many publications, including The American Scholar, The Christian Science Monitor, and The New Criterion, and appeared frequently as a television commentator on matters dealing with the Catholic Church. Before his priestly ordination, he worked as an editor of The Human Life Review and as a speechwriter for the Attorney General of the United States, William Barr, and for the Democratic Governor of Pennsylvania, Robert P. Casey.

Ironically, we never really got to speaking about Da Vinci's Mona Lisa! We did cover several of the more controversial aspects with a slight emphasis on Opus Dei, considering he is a priest of Opus Dei.

Father Wauck Comments on...

• the Annunciation (includes the Gospel Reading from 03/25/06, Luke 1:26-38).
• What is it that makes the Da Vinci code compelling and popular with millions of people around the world.
• A person who reads this novel and treats it as "Fact" is making a huge error.
• Where we should start when evaluating the inaccuracies contained in the Da Vinci Code.
• The Gnostic Gospels. (The best "cure" for thinking the Gnostic Gospels have validity is read them!)
• The Council of Nicea: Who called it, why it was called, what was its purpose.
• There is no coherent theological system contain among the Gnostic Gospels.
• Why it is important for Catholics to believe that Jesus wasn't married.
• The role of women in the Catholic tradition is greater than that of any other religion that we know of.
• The "missing Mary" of the Da Vinci Code is not Mary Magdalene, it is the Blessed Virgin Mary.
• The definition of monk as a one who lives in a monastery
• The canonical status of Opus Dei as a personal prelature (not a sect or an order)
• The Priory of Sion was actually fabricated by a French fraud from the 1950's
• Dan Brown's gigantic exaggeration and narrow interpretation of the practice of corporal mortification
• Opus Dei is not a secretive organization
• The mission of Opus Dei is to promote holiness among lay Catholics, that every baptized person is called to be a saint and an apostle, to convert the "prose of everyday life into heroic verse"

The Observer, an Independent Newspaper Serving Notre Dame and Saint Mary's" (according to their masthead), contains an open letter to the university community regarding the statement made by President Jenkins about the Vagina Monologues.

In was written by John C. Cavadini, Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Theology and the Director for the Institute for Church Life.

Rather, I am concerned with the rhetoric about the Catholic university in which the decision was framed and which is now becoming settled convention in articulating the character of our Catholic identity.

Notre Dame President Jenkins was much beloved when he shut down the Vagina Monoloques, but now he has changed his mind and the love is waning:

In explaining his decision to allow The Vagina Monologues, Jenkins cited the play's "laudable goals," including its celebration of the female body and women's sexuality, its encouragement of women to be proud of their sexual identity, and its aim of stopping violence against women. Monologues playwright Eve Ensler has frequently cited these goals when explaining her play's fixation on the female sexual organ (which is mentioned more than 100 times in the play) and her vulgar and explicit references to the sexual experiences of women and young girls.

The Ethics and Public Policy Center has an interesting take on this:

There is an antidote to the dehumanizing vision of The Vagina Monologues, and it is found in the very intellectual tradition that so many Catholic universities have abandoned. Based on Scripture, the thought of Jewish feminist and martyred Catholic saint Edith Stein, and the Theology of the Body of Pope John Paul II, the "new feminism" promoted by the late pope recognizes the beauty of sexuality, the goodness of the body, and the distinctiveness of women. It also celebrates the complementarity of the sexes and insists that true sexual fulfillment is found only in the context of committed, selfless, life-giving love -- the kind of love God has for each human person created in His image.

The dynamism of our faith is apparent in these posts: An event 2 millenia ago on a hill in Calvary is informing our thoughts and actions today. Whether it be political (Abu Graib, Moussaoui), personal (Married Lutheran pastor becomes Catholic Priest), Literary (Da Vinci Code and St. Mary Magdelene) or spiritual (Holy Week), the Church Militant has an abundance of thoughtful soldiers.

Welcome to the website of Universal Call-the podcast that discusses the Universal call to Holiness. We are proud to host the Catholic Carnival this first week of Easter. The experience of hosting a "Catholic Carnival" has been very satisfying. If you haven't done one before, I highly recommend it.

Because our liturgical calendar plays such a significant part of our living faith this last week, I have organized the posts (largely) by their holy day application: Note: These links will all open up in their own browser window and this page will remain open in the background.

Lent

A very real perspective on Lent from Looking back to Lent and forward to Divine Mercy. Once again the wisdom of the Church is displayed by the timeliness of Divine Mercy Sunday (from AdoroTeDevote).

Holy Week

Our young pilgrim, on his journey to examine his vocation, shares his holy week with Bishop David Allen Zubik in Holy Week with the Bishop (from To Jesus through Mary.)

Holy Thursday

Holy Thursday: the Prayer that We Should have Said discusses the application of our faith, not just at Mass, not just applied to 'Churchy' things, but applied to our day-to-day activities (from Herb Ely).

Good Friday

"We need not be afraid" says A Penitent Blogger in the post Identified through suffering.

An account of a blogger's participation in the "Way of the Cross" through downtown Chicago. Making Christ's Love Visible is a description of the procession (from Integrity).

Saturday Vigil

This post, Jesus Christ is Risen, Alleluia!, is a celebration of the ongoing conversion of souls that is most clearly displayed at the Easter vigil (from A Catholic Life).

The soccer mom supplies an eyewitness and personal account of her husband's confirmation in At the Easter Vigil (from Ramblings of a GOP Soccer Mom).

Easter

My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? "With that cry, we can now know there's an Easter dawn that can follow such choking despair". This post-abortion blog draws a parallel between the Death and Resurrection of Christ and the pain of abortion (from After Abortion).

We have (2) thought provoking Easter poems in this weeks carnival: CHRISTIANS, TO THE PASCHAL VICTIM and Christus Triumphans (from Heart, Mind and Strength and The Blog from the Core, respectively).

Easter Greetings from around the world! is a compelling post that includes the Easter greeting cards from several notables. I found these fascinating. (from Pondering the Word).

Jay shares a pithy and moving St. Thomas Aquinas reflection in God has Saved Us (Or, Happy Easter) (from Living Catholicism).

The dynamics between humanity and Christ change after the Resurrection. This insightful reflection by Father Stephanos is entitled For Easter Sunday of the Resurrection of the Lord. I especially appreciate his post tiles as they manifest the preeminence of the liturgical calendar for this time of year (from One Monk of the Order of Saint Benedict).

OK, OK! I am Glad that Jesus died for me. I will not be stuck on the Good Friday side of the Cross! (From CowPi Journal).

Easter Monday

Another gem by Father Stephanos, once again using the liturgical calender for his blog entry title: For Easter Monday (from One Monk of the Order of Saint Benedict).

"Believe it deeply. Proclaim it boldly. And fear no lie." Persistent lies vs. the Power of Truth (from A Penitent Blogger).

Of course, with the movie release looming, we need to have a post on the Da Vinci Code:

Father John Wauck shares some thoughts about St. Mary Magdelene in Kneeling Before the Bones of Mary Magdalen, or "Been There, Done That" (BTW, he is the next guest for the Universal Call podcast which will be posted on 4/20.) (From Da Vinci Code and Opus Dei).

Lastly, in contrast to the earlier posts about the celebration of the Easter season, we have some posts that deal with the more wordly aspects of living our faith:

Any post that starts with "Ecclesial movements (e.g. Communion and Liberation, Focolare) are not essentially something complicated or an extra burden on the Christian life. Instead, for their members and those whom they touch, they are the rediscovery of the power of the Gospel." has got to be good. Christianity as a School in the Mission of Christ (from Deep Furrows).

Great information for anybody interested in the Death Penalty Debate: Should Moussaoui Die? (from ProfessorBainbridge.com).

Interesting take an the anti-america sentiment in international news. I wonder if they are seeing a lot more Abu Ghraib news overseas than we are in the States? Why is Abu Ghraib a cover story again, but not Darfur? (From the Atlantic Review).

Lutheran Minister becomes Catholic Priest - Frustrated with the ever-increasing liberalism in his denomination, he converts to Catholicism. (From DeoOmnisGloria.com).

Even through this post is pretty old, I don't remember seeing it on a previous carnival. I read this back when it was first posted and was engrossed with the question raised: Parish vs. Movements? (Why Movements At All?) What about the idea that everything we need to live a good holy life is at our parish? Why do we need more than that? But there is no denying that people can become holier as a result of these movements (from Integrity).

That's it for this week......thanks for stopping by!

The US is considering legislation to make doctors tell women seeking an abortion it will cause the foetus pain.

It is also being suggested that, if the pregnancy is over 22 weeks, foetuses should be given pain-relieving drugs.

Just a quick question: Doesn't a decision to provide pain-relieving drugs to the soon-to-be-aborted baby imply that we have crossed over from "abortion" or "Women's Health" or "pro-choice" or "Fetus" to "baby" and, therfore, "murder"?

In his 1995 novel, The Last Coyote, Michael Connolly's battered and disillusioned detective Harry Bosch compared the public's pervasive indifference to little crimes, like prostitution and gambling, to the broken windows in an abandoned building. When we look the other way, he said, it weakens us all. While this principle has been primarily applied to cities, it also fits the Catholic Church.

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Philosophy professor and one of the most powerful advocates of life in North America, Donald DeMarco, wrote that the dominant sin of our time is sloth or spiritual laziness.... Sloth often generates indifference, leading to more serious figurative cracks in the stained-glass windows of the Church. Since the early 1960s, most Catholics have not been that well versed in their faith. The average Catholic betrays a lack of interest in the salient issues of his Church and its relation to secular society. Challenge them on abortion, euthanasia, and stem cell research. Many Catholic laymen dissent from Rome and tend to be well versed in the critical arguments against the Church's teachings, in place of the rudiments of their faith.

Consequently, the Catholic in the pew has failed to recognize that his Church has been under attack for a half century. As St. Louis University History Professor James Hitchcock revealed in a radio interview for The Dangers of Apathy, Christianity is being assaulted from two different directions. It is being assaulted horizontally by those who say that there are many religions in the world and Christianity is only one of many religious choices, such as Buddhism and Hinduism. The vertical attack tells Catholics that they do not even have a true knowledge of their own religion.

This is an interesting interview with the producers of "God and the Girl":

I think that coming at it from a Jewish perspective was the best thing that could have happened to this show. We don’t have an agenda toward the Catholic Church. We could come at it objectively. Therefore, if it were done by Catholics, for example, the critics can’t say, “This was a love letter to the Catholic Church,� or if it were done by [evangelical] Christians, they can’t say, “This was an attempt to bash Catholics.� Everyone across the line feels that we told an honest story with no agenda. We feel you can see that when you watch the show. It makes the show that much more valid.

...

Until you see this project, from the sound of it being pitched, you don’t know what it’s going to look like. They weren’t really helpful. At one point, they were less than helpful. I understood their hesitation. We assured them that we weren’t out to do a hatchet job and kept in touch with them. We promised them that when the show was done, we would show it to them. I don’t think they believed us. In early March, we flew to Washington, D.C., and showed it to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. They were pleased, and their response was positive. The church didn’t have a say in the show. If they did, it would have discounted the whole thing.

You can click here to read the complete text.

Bishop Robert Morlino of Madison, Wisconsin defined the parameters of the "dictatorship of relativism" at the third annual National Catholic Prayer Breakfast, April 7. The annual event is an initiative of some faithful US lay Catholics after the model of the Protestant version that has been a feature of US presidential life for fifty years.

Bishop Morlino elaborated on the phrase made famous by then-Cardinal Ratzinger on the eve of his election as Pope Benedict XVI, "the dictatorship of relativism."

Morlino refrained from naming any political names as the "junta who govern this dictatorship" but did point the finger squarely at the mass media, who, he said, are "generally accomplices to those who govern the Dictatorship of Relativism."

A Catholic priest who was arrested in Saudi Arabia for saying Mass in a private apartment returned safely to his base in southern India April 9 after being deported by Saudi authorities.

Police arrested Father George Joshua Kanneeleth of Trivandrum Syro-Malankara Archdiocese April 5 in Riyadh, the Saudi capital, and kept him in custody until he was deported four days later, Trivandrum chancellor Father John Kochuthundiyil said.

You can click here to read the complete text

A priest of the Diocese of Peterborough who publicly supports women priests has been excommunicated after starting his own church, said Bishop Nicola De Angelis in a letter issued April 9 and read to his flock at Palm Sunday Masses.

Father Ed Cachia, already suspended for concelebrating Eucharist with women who said they were ordained as Catholic priests, began a new church on April 2, which he calls Christ the Servant Church. He is holding Masses in a hall in the small town of Coburg, Ont.

According to the Peterborough Examiner daily newspaper, some 300 people attended the first liturgy.

“In doing so, he acted entirely on his own initiative, and without the approval of the Holy Roman Catholic Church, and has incurred automatic excommunication by virtue of the law of the church,� the bishop wrote in his letter

.

You can click here to read the complete text

This Compendium of the Catholic Church takes the Catechism published in the early 90's and expresses many of the principles in a question and answer format. I have heard really good things about it and have ordered mine.

If you order one, please use the link below so that Universal Call can benifit from the commission.

A short description from the publisher....

This 200-page volume offers a quick synopsis of the essential contents of the faith as promulgated in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Like the 1992 Catechism, the Compendium has a four-part structure, and includes a section on common prayers and Catholic doctrinal formulas. Because of the question-and-answer format, catechetical leaders-parents, pastors, teachers, principals, and catechists-have a unique opportunity to dialogue with the faithful, and reinvigorate the Church's ongoing mission of evangelization and catechesis.

A recent "statement of principles" by 55 Catholic Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives has rekindled the debate over the responsibilities of Catholic politicians.

The signatories of the letter stated that "we seek the Church's guidance and assistance but believe also in the primacy of conscience."

But, according to Jesuit Father Joseph Koterski, professor of philosophy at Fordham University, the Catholic understanding of conscience requires a distinction. The crucial factor is not fidelity to one's chosen moral principles, but rather fidelity to moral principles given to us by God.

Father Koterski explained to ZENIT the importance for Catholic politicians to inform their conscience in accord with divine moral principles as mediated by the magisterium of the Church.

You can click here to read the complete text.

This from First Things:

When these holy days roll around, segments of the media, as reliably as clockwork, roll out the latest alleged debunkings of historically recognizable Christianity. There was, for instance, an item a few days ago about a climatologist who opined that back in the old days Galilee experienced cold snaps, so maybe Jesus didn’t walk on water but was standing on a block of ice. This, it is suggested, will force Christians to reconsider the foundations of their faith. It does raise a new question about why St. Peter stripped before jumping in to join his Lord on the ice.

But the big news this time around is the discovery of a fourth- or possibly fifth-century copy of what may be a second-century “Gospel of Judas.� Christians will be surprised, we are assured by the New York Times, that there are more than four gospels, and I suppose Christians who know little about the origins of Christianity will be surprised. The National Geographic Society disgraced itself by puffing this latest discovery. Elaine Pagels of Princeton, an advisor to NGS who has for years been touting sundry gnostic gospels, wrote an op-ed in the Times saying that the latest discovery will make her Easter ever so much more mysterious.

There will be more on the Gnostic Gospels in our podcast due to post on April 20th.

You can click here to read the complete text

Catholic university students in central Vietnam say they need more religious education as well as support from priests and Religious to help them overcome challenges in their faith life.

An educational psychology student wrote: "I feel I need to know more about my faith so as to deepen my faith life. I hope there will be more meetings between students and priests or Religious so that students have opportunities to enquire about their faith."

...

Another student, Nguyen, said his religious education stopped when he moved away from his home parish to study in the university. He said the catechism he received earlier "is not enough to help me to live my faith after I graduate." According to Nguyen, he joined a group of university students in Hue who are learning catechism from priests and Religious

.

A university freshman studying English said she felt embarrassed when she could not adequately answer questions her friends posed to her about her faith and ethics. She recalled that a friend had asked her to explain why Mary was still a virgin even though she had given birth to Jesus, and that she felt ashamed at not being able to give a proper explanation.

You can click here to read the complete text

A Catholic Indian priest was yesterday forced to leave Saudi Arabia. He was discovered by the religious police as he organized a prayer meeting in the lead-up to Easter. Arrested on 5 April, he remained in police custody for four days and on Saturday 8th April he left for India. The practice of any religion other than Islam is forbidden in Saudi Arabia. Meetings held privately in people’s homes, among friends, are also banned.

You can click here to read the complete text

Today we have a conversation with Bud Welch about the "Death Penalty".

On April 19, 1995, Bud Welch�s 23-year old daughter, Julie, and 167 others were killed in the bomb blast that destroyed the Alfred P. Murrah building in Oklahoma City.

Bud had always opposed the death penalty but Julie's death prompted bouts of anger, pain, hatred and revenge. He longed to see Timothy McVeigh (who was eventually tried and convicted of the bombing and executed) dead.

After months of agony Bud began to question his desire for revenge. He realized that nothing positive would arise from McVeigh's execution. "It was hatred and revenge that made me want to see him dead and those two things were the very reason that Julie and 167 others were dead," he says. He also remembered Julie's comments that executions were only teaching children to hate."

Topics that Bud Welch speaks on:

• Matthew 18:21-35
• His personal experience with the Death Penalty--losing his daughter at the Oklahoma City Bombing.
• His meeting with Bill McViegh (Timothy McVeiegh's Father)
• There is no peace for him, and for many of the other victim's families, as a result of Timothy McVeigh's execution.
• The Death Penalty seems to only apply to the poor. You never see rich people on Death Row
• Catholic Teaching on the Death Penalty, Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph's 2266-7
• The Death Penalty is not a deterrent. (Comparison between the US and other countries that do not have the Death Penalty).
• In 10 years, there will no longer a "death penalty".
• The comparison between the civil rights movement and the current death penalty abolition debate.
• The difference between "Restorative Justice" and "Retributive Justice".
• The relationship between Abortion and the Death Penalty
• Why the Abolition of the Death Penalty should be a priority for this country

The Catholic Carnival is now posted over at the "CowPi Journal" Blog. The Catholic Carnival, for those who are not familiar with it, is a collection of the best blog posts from Catholic-centric blogs.)

You can click here to read the Catholic Carnival.

Apr. 04 (CWNews.com) - The Thomas More Law Center has filed a federal lawsuit against the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, charging that the city officials engaged in an unconstitutional attack on the Catholic Church by condemning Church teaching on homosexuality.

The lawsuit-- filed on behalf of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights and two San Francisco Catholic citizens-- is a response to the resolution passed unanimously by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors on March 21, describing Church teachings as "hateful" and "absolutely unacceptable," and urging local Church officials to "defy" a Vatican directive forbidding Church involvement in adoption by same-sex couples.

That resolution, the lawsuit charges, was a “startling attack by government officials on the Catholic Church, Catholic moral teaching and beliefs, and those who adhere to the tenets of the Catholic faith, in violation of the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution.� That overt expression of hostility to Catholic teaching, the suit argues, "sends a clear message to Plaintiffs and others who are faithful adherents to the Catholic faith that they are outsiders, not full members of the political community and an accompanying message that those who oppose Catholic religious beliefs, particularly with regard to homosexual unions and adoptions by homosexual partners, are insiders, favored members of the political community.�

Richard Thompson, the president of the Thomas More Law Center, observed: “The demagoguery and virulent words of this resolution are reminiscent of the anti- Catholic bigotry of the Ku Klux Klan and the Know Nothings, which marred our Nation’s earlier history. San Francisco may as well have put up signs at the City limits: ‘Faithful Catholics Not Welcomed.’�

Access to the "morning-after pill" has become a political issue in the United States, and now a Catholic leader in Britain is taking a stand against government regulations requiring doctors who object to providing "reproductive services" to refer patients to another physician.

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The cardinal is the patron of the hospital, which was established in 1856 to serve the sick and the dying "in accordance with the spiritual and ethical principles of Roman Catholic teaching and traditions." The hospital has become popular with some celebrities.

Murphy-O'Connor told the hospital to revise its code of ethics to make it clear that staff should neither recommend "unacceptable" procedures or treatments, nor arrange for them to be done elsewhere, nor do anything intended to set into motion a move to have them done elsewhere.

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A new draft of the regulations, expected to be introduced soon, goes further, adding "where it is not practicable for a patient to make such arrangements themselves, you must ensure that arrangements are made for another suitably qualified colleague to take over your role so that the patient's care does not suffer."

The Franciscan friar who helped convert the Tory MP Ann Widdecombe to Catholicism is now holding private Mass for the Prime Minister at Downing Street.

Tony Blair has been attending private Roman Catholic Mass with Father Michael Seed, prompting speculation that he plans to become a Catholic when he leaves office.

You can click here to read the complete text

China's state-controlled Catholic Church will have to relinquish some of its control over Chinese Catholics if Sino-Vatican relations are to be established, Hong Kong's new cardinal said Saturday.

Cardinal Joseph Zen, an outspoken champion of religious freedom in China, said it was "unacceptable" for the official Patriotic Catholic Association to lead Chinese Catholics, who are barred from having contact with the Vatican.

You can click here to read the complete text