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Compiled by Steve Jalsevac
Retired general to review religion at Air Force Academy – Seattle Times
Religious awakening in Japan, wounded by the disaster: impact on society for the future – Fides
Ayn Rand’s Attack on Christian Morality – Ignatius Insight
Rand’s views on organized religion, making it the major villain of history, gives pause to many religious conservatives. Her diatribes against religion often border on the delirious.
Nevertheless, Rand’s devastating critique of altruism serves to help clarify the nature of true charity: It is not required, but it is still good. Rand is not that far off base after all.
Spanish Showdown – George Weigel
In March, dozens of secularist student gangsters, armed with a megaphone and defamatory posters, crashed into the chapel of Madrid’s Complutense University while Catholic students were at prayer. The radicals shouted deprecations of the Church, Pope Benedict, and the Catholic clergy; several of their number, women, stood on the altar and undressed from the waste up; two of the striptease artists boasted of their lesbianism. This obscene spectacle in the Spanish capital came shortly after several Spanish churches throughout the country had been trashed. All of which suggests that Spain is now Ground Zero in the European contest between Catholicism and the dictatorship of relativism.
What does it say when a pro-abortion politician is more willing to upset ordinary Americans in his support for Planned Parenthood than Catholics are in taking a stand for their belief in the Holy Eucharist? I’m very glad to see Cardinal DiNardo state, “Whether to fund the largest abortion network in the country is not one of those hard choices.” Personally, I believe that whether or not to allow pro-abortion politicians to receive Holy Communion in this country is also not a hard choice.
Suprise, Suprise CCHD, Continues funding leftist political groups
CCHD Continues to Fund Alinsky Organizing with Donations from Patsies in the Pew
The Bishops Organization has posted its 2010-2011 CCHD (Catholic Campaign for Human Development) grants and surprise, surprise they are once again going in large numbers to Saul Alinsky community organizing groups that agitate for more government funding.
Michael Voris Kerfuffle
Unbowed, conservative Catholic speaker will speak at Wilkes-Barre hotel
A conservative Catholic speaker whose events were canceled by Marywood University and the Diocese of Scranton last week will give his talk at a secular site on Saturday. Michael Voris is scheduled to speak at the Best Western Genetti Hotel and Conference Center in Wilkes-Barre at 6:30 p.m.
Should there be a Guild of Catholic Bloggers? And would it be dominated by ‘Taliban Catholics’? Yes, there should: but let’s knock this ‘Taliban’ stuff on the head
The Voris Kerfuffle – Creative Minority Report
I am perplexed. Some of my blogging confreres are a in such a tizzy over the latest missive from the baron of bombast, the kaiser of choleric, Michael Voris. (Apologies to Bill Donohue). Voris pointed out that global warming is a scam (check) by the forces of population control (check) to encourage people to contracept and abort their way to a greener planet (check).
Voris noted that all of this is in direct contradiction to the teaching of the Church. Check again. He goes on to say that Catholics should abandon a Church that promotes such anti-Christian nonsense for the simple reason that this Church is not Catholic in any meaningful way. While I do not entirely embrace Mr. Voris’ remedy, I think he makes some really valid points. So what is all the hubbub about?
Catholic Sexual Abuse Scandals
Abuse allegations: true, false and truthy
21 Philadelphia priests were recently stood down, even though most of them are clearly not abusers. What is going on?
Abuse scandal’s total cost: $2.34 billion since 2004
The report found that 428 new credible allegations of child sexual abuse were lodged against 345 diocesan priests or deacons in 2010. Of the 428 new credible allegations, 82% involved male victims, and only 20% of victims were under the age of ten. Characterizations of the abuse scandal as predominantly one of pedophilia rather than homosexual activity are thus inaccurate.
“The moral collapse of our time cannot be fought unless the fog of banality is lifted, unless evil is called evil, felt as evil, and fought as evil.”
Look at the latest official figures on the cost of the sex-abuse scandal, and what do you see?For every dollar spent last year on therapy for the victims of priestly abuse, American dioceses have spent $5.29 on lawyers’ fees. For every dollar spent on therapy for the victims, another $1.54 was devoted to support for their priests (or, in many cases, ex-priests) who molested them.
When you consider that the plaintiffs’ lawyers took their fees out of the settlement awards, it seems likely that in the final analysis, the total sum that went into lawyers’ accounts probably rivaled the amount that actually found its way to the abuse victims. Lawler notes, “The sex-abuse crisis erupted in the US because American bishops shirked their responsibility to discipline priests.”
Belgian Bishop Admits Abusing Second Nephew – New York Times
He called 13 years of sexual abuse of one nephew which started at age 5 as no more than “a little piece of intimacy.” He said the abuse of a second nephew was very short.