SACNS News & Analysis. Marc Evan Aupiais' Substantive Accurate Concise Nuanced Select.
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"In this case in which a 14-year-old girl said she had become pregnant after being raped by her friend's father, the Attorney General of Ireland had enjoined the girl and her parents from traveling to England for an abortion. A psychologist had testified that in her present state of mind, the girl was suicidal. The Supreme Court of Ireland held that the right to life supersedes all other rights, including the right to travel. However, if there is a real and substantial risk to the life of the mother which can only be avoided by termination of the pregnancy, then an abortion is permissible. The Court determined that the girl's risk of suicide satisfied this condition, and therefore the girl was allowed to terminate her pregnancy."
U.S. National Library of MedicineIr Law Rep Mon. 1992 Mar 5;12(47):401-80.
National Institutes of Health (US Government)
"The judges lambasted Ireland's defense claiming that the woman should have petitioned the Irish High Court for the right to have an abortion in Ireland. They said Irish doctors must be given clear legal guidance on the eligibility rules for abortions.
Health Minister Mary Harney said she was confident that Ireland would draft legislation to bring the country's laws into line with its own Supreme Court — but said the step would have to wait for the next government. Ireland faces an unscheduled national election in the spring.
"Clearly we have to legislate, there's no doubt about that," Harney said. "But I don't think we have the capacity to bring forward proposals in a matter of weeks."
Harney noted that the government twice tried to resolve the issue with referendums in 1992 and 2001, but voters on both sides of the abortion argument rejected that constitutional amendment. In both cases, the government sought to limit the right to legal abortion only to cases where the woman was at risk of death — but excluding suicide threats.
She said lawmakers would face a "highly sensitive and complex" debate over what specific definitions should apply for life-threatening conditions. She said pregnant women suffering from cervical cancer, exceptionally high blood pressure or ectopic pregnancies already were receiving abortions in Irish hospitals.
The vast majority of nations in the 47-member Council of Europe permit broad access to abortion, most recently Spain, which legalized first-trimester abortions in July. Only Malta and Vatican City ban the practice outright, while several others seek to limit it to exceptional cases including rape and fetal abnormalities.
European Court of Human Rights judgments are legally binding but difficult to enforce. Council of Europe nations often take years to enact the legal reforms ordered. An offending nation that refuses to observe a court order could be expelled from the Council of Europe, but this has never happened."
Associated Press (American based; Secular special interests; non-governmental; story hosted by Yahoo)December 16 / 2010
"It thus seems that the third applicant (and, following her, the Court) completely distorted and confused the facts of the case. Had the applicant been in need of another cycle of chemotherapy, she would (also under current Irish law) have been entitled to receive it. Indeed, withholding such treatment from her would certainly have raised an issue under Article 2 of the Convention (i.e., the third applicant’s Right to Life). But this does not seem to have been the case. (Yet again, we notice how regrettable it is that the Court made this judgment without ascertaining the facts…) No chemotherapy was withheld from the applicant, nor was the loss of the unborn child caused by any chemotherapy or other treatment. Instead, the woman’s decision to have abortion was based on the irrational and unfounded assumption that the pregnancy might cause her cancer to recommence. This irrational thought would never have sufficed as a ground for “legal” abortion – especially not in a system where, as the ECtHR requests, the eligibility of a woman for having recourse to abortion on grounds of a risk for her life must be ascertained on the basis of objective criteria. One does not see, therefore, how the existence of such a system would ever have resulted in the applicant having access to a “lawful” abortion in Ireland…."
C-Fam (American based; Independent of the State; UN, EU and European and American legal coverage; Catholic, family, human rights and other special interests coverage)December 16 / 2010
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Below is another article used with permission from a Greek Orthodox friend of mine and fellow law student Mari Kalabakas, much wisdom to be read here:
"who is man's best friend?
by Marianna Irene Kalabakas — Leave a comment
December 12, 2010
We all spend our lives looking for someone to understand us. A lover, a friend, a helping hand- someone. We watch the movies, we read the books…so we look for a relationship that will mimic it.
We spend our lives trying to be understood, by someone. Aristotle once said "a friend is a single soul dwelling in 2 bodies." I have to disagree. There are something's you cannot tell your friend. Some friends steal your partners. Some friends use you when they need you. How about all the times you tell them something in confidence and the whole world finds out about it a few hours later. Therefore, you cannot share everything with your friends, it would just be- impossible!
I might disagree with sharing a soul with your friend, but I do believe friends come into our lives at different times and in different forms. We have our pets, that rely on us, that are there for us, when the world turns its back on us. We have our parents or guardians that are also there for us no matter what we do. We might find someone accidentally, someone we have never met before, someone who has so much in common with us, we instantly feel a connection to. We feel as if we've known them for years. Although you've never met, you can tell them your innermost thoughts and feelings.
Then we have the people we have known for years. The people we grew up with, we know they not the most trustworthy, yet we appreciate them and socialize with them in a way that makes you almost friends.
Then we have the friends that have been there for you through everything. The friends you have been there for too. Those are your true friends. The ones you will never forget and will never forget you. The ones that will always be just a phone call away. That person who loves and respects you for who you are.
We might be looking for that fairy tale friendship and miss out on the ones that are most important. We might lose friends, but we had them at times when we or they needed help the most. That will keep the friendship bond alive, no matter what happens in the future."
(A South African Greek Orthodox blog)
http://marikalabakas.wordpress.com/2010/12/12/who-is-mans-best-friend/
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A good friend of mine, and fellow law student has a fascinating op-ed on doubts as to why the Johannesburg Greek Orthodox archbishop was shipped off to Africa.
She has permitted myself to republish her work for the SACNS which I believe benefits.
The Greek Orthodox church while being Apostolic- and having valid bishops and priests is not currently in communion with Rome due to differences on some important theological matters. It is greatly respected by Rome among the churches not in communion.
Below is the fascinating analysis of someone who has had much contact with a bishop of the Greek Orthodox church, who wonders if he was ousted for political reasons:
"Politics seem to be EVERYWHERE!
by Marianna Irene Kalabakas
December 12, 2010
I might not be the most reliable source to comment on this, but, the following is my opinions on the removal of the Greek Orthodox Archbishop Seraphim in South Africa.
I knew Archbishop Seraphim, from my school years. He was always at school plays, christmas parties and whenever in church, would ask my parents how I am! Fantastic man he really is!
I will personally admit, as church gatherings at "panigiria," he would annoy me because I would want to have holy communion because I would fast from the night before and would be hungry by 1 o'clock, when communion would be given! The reason for my annoyance was because the service would stop for about 3 hours in which certificates of thanks would be given to numerous people, both dead and alive. But you ended up living with these long processes.
I'm not sure what happened and they removed him from our post. But after the community started being run by a new committee they removed him and a few other priests and sent them to various African countries and one was sent to Cyprus.
Today was the day the new Archbishop Damaskinos was enthroned as the new Archbishop of Johannesburg and Pretoria. To be honest, the church was empty considering, all the Orthodox churches throughout Gauteng where closed. Seraphim, is Cypriot and the Cypriots form a large part of the community down here. The majority of the Cypriots where not even present at this gathering. Personally speaking, I assume they where boycotting this new enthronement.
During the enthronement, the Patriarchi of Africa, did not refer to Seraphim at all, just once. The only person he spoke of was the late Archbishop Peter who passed away many years ago. This conduct, made me wonder whether he had anything to do with Seraphim's removal?
That is a question that I doubt will be answered."
(Greek Orthodox South African blog by a friend of the Editor)
http://marikalabakas.wordpress.com/2010/12/12/politics-seem-to-be-everywhere/
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Sadly South Africa has little if any orthodox Catholic universities (or seminaries), and I have not heard good things yet about Saint Augustine's either. But America is fighting for God in education.
Cardinal Newman's sidekicks sent out this message:
"Most Rev. Joseph Martino Bishop Emeritus, Diocese of Scranton December 7, 2010 Second Week of Advent My dear friend in Christ, I write to you today with great pastoral concern for the young people in Catholic education, and on behalf of my friends at The Cardinal Newman Society. Did you know that nearly 1-in-8 Catholics will leave the Faith while attending a Catholic college? On many of our Catholic campuses, there is a crisis that imperils the souls of tens of thousands of the Church's sons and daughters, grandsons and granddaughters, brothers and sisters, and nieces and nephews. This Advent season, I am asking you to join The Cardinal Newman Society, which has tirelessly worked to end this crisis for more than 17 years. Today's Gospel reads: "If a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them should go astray: doth he not leave the ninety-nine in the mountains, and go to seek that which is gone astray?... [I]t is not the will of your Father, who is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish." My friend, Scripture here reminds us of why we must be vigilant in protecting the faith of every son and daughter. We also must fight for a return to the flock of those colleges that are, perhaps unwittingly, teaching false theology and condoning promiscuous student life. This is the work of The Cardinal Newman Society. And it is why I hope that you will join me in supporting their work during this Advent season. Because while 1-in-8 Catholic students at Catholic colleges abandon the Faith, we have disturbing clues as to why it happens. A recent Cardinal Newman Society survey found that:• 27% of students at Catholic colleges view pornography.
• 59% say their friends regularly use drugs.
• Nearly 1-in-5 know a student who had or paid for an abortion.
• 61%
disagree with the Church's infallible teaching on the male priesthood.
• 60% think that abortion should be legal (and even 50% of those who attend Mass weekly!).
• 60% think that premarital sex with someone you care about is not a sin.
• 78%
disagree that using a condom is a serious sin.
• 58% support "gay marriage".
If we cannot do better than that at a Catholic college, what will happen to our culture?
This is a terrible crisis and we all need to do our part. The future of the Church and our nation is at risk, as are the souls of our young Catholic men and women.
I am so very thankful that The Cardinal Newman Society remains steadfast in its commitment to our Faith.
I support their mission to prod wayward Catholic colleges to embrace the richness that is genuine Catholic education. It is a cause that is near to the hearts of Pope Benedict and his venerable predecessor, Pope John Paul II.
Please stand with them in this important fight. I know from experience how difficult it can be to stand alone, crying in the wilderness for fidelity.
I have had a close relationship with The Cardinal Newman Society and am grateful that they are on the job:
• alerting the faithful to scandal on Catholic campuses,
• working with college leaders to improve policies and programs,
• helping Catholic families in their search for good colleges,
• promoting Eucharistic Adoration on campuses,
• helping colleges defend their religious liberty from secularism,
• and much more!
They seek to renew Catholic colleges campus by campus, until the graduates of these colleges are strong in their faith and lead the New Evangelization.
Already The Cardinal Newman Society works with a small but exciting group of faithful Catholic colleges, that embrace their Catholic identity and each year turn out a small army of well educated and faithful students prepared to evangelize the world.
We all need to do our part to renew our Catholic colleges -- and they are truly "ours," since they rightly belong to the universal Church.
One way you can help is to encourage your family and friends to send their children to the strong, faithful Catholic colleges recommended in the Society's Newman Guide to Choosing a Catholic College (which is in print and on the Internet).
Another way is to
become a member of The Cardinal Newman Society, standing in solidarity with our Holy Father and Catholic families across the nation for authentic Catholic higher education.
My friend,
please also remember to pray that we may continue to fight the good fight... and only with God before us!
May God bless you this Advent -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit!
Sincerely yours in the Risen Christ,
+ Joseph Martino
P.S. Please join with me in prayer, and
become a member of The Cardinal Newman Society today. It is an easy and effective way to stand for strong Catholic identity."
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Apple computers a.k.a. Evil Empire 2.0, has deemed the Manhattan Declaration- that marriage is between one man and one woman to be offensive, and removed it.
Other content removed by Apple in the past includes pornography. The removing of a Christian pro-family application, followed complaints by homosexual marriage special interest campaigners. Catholic press has collectively labelled the move religious persecution, bigotry and a threat to free speech and freedom of political conscience and free market.
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NASA scientists have discovered a bacteria which has replaced one of the 6 elements of organic life with a usually poisonous substance. All other known life only is made of the 6 elements.
C.f.
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AIDS and the Ideological Barrier: The Threat to "Sexual Liberation"
By Douglas A. Sylva, Ph.D.
Published in December 2008 Volume 33, Number 12 edition of the Ethics & Medics, a National Catholic Bioethics Center publication.
There are the ordinary ideological influences on public health campaigns, and then there are the extraordinary ones. The international response to the AIDS epidemic has been hampered by both, making it the most ideologically tainted campaign in modern history.
The most ordinary, in fact commonplace, influence is the desire to place one's chosen cause above others by exaggerating the dimensions of the crisis. A representative statement in this vein comes from Dr. Peter Piot, head of the United Nation's specialized agency on AIDS, UNAIDS, who has said that the "the pandemic and its toll are outstripping the worst predictions."(1)
However, the agency's numbers belie its leader's claims. Only one year after Piot made his dire claim, UNAIDS announced that there were thirty-three rather than forty million people infected worldwide, and that the number of new infections had peaked almost ten years earlier.(2)
According to the UN, this enormous revision was akin to a simple bookkeeping adjustment. Perhaps. But the studies UNAIDS conducted over the years to establish their estimates were plainly flawed. The UN tested patients at urban sexual health clinics—people who had reason to fear that they were infected—and then extrapolated the findings to the general population.(3) This would be like estimating a nation's lung cancer rate by testing only chain smokers. Of course the numbers would be too high.
There were a few people who knew this all along and spoke up, including Harvard University scientist Edward Green. In 2003, Green accused the UN of attempting to create an impression of worldwide catastrophe in order to keep the funding flowing (the UN administers about ten billion dollars a year on AIDS). By now, Green's point is becoming more widely accepted; last year the New York Times admitted that, "in the past, global health officials have treated the epidemic as a cyclone spiraling ever upward with no end to new infections in sight."(4)
But this is just the start; this ordinary deviation from sound thinking in the case of AIDS is joined by the extraordinary: AIDS is unique because, as a deadly pandemic spread mainly through promiscuous sexual activity, it threatens some of the most cherished modern norms concerning sexual liberation. So to promote the most obvious response to such a pandemic—do not engage in promiscuous sexual activity—would in essence be a capitulation, an admission that the dream of consequence-free sexual activity was not only impossible, but perhaps at least partly responsible for the scourge.(5)
Condom as Technological Solution
Enter the lowly condom. As an alternative to a sound and sensible risk avoidance strategy, the international community found the only readily available device that held out some promise of risk reduction, of lessening the risk of infection caused by promiscuous sexual activity. The United Nations launched a massive, worldwide, comprehensive sex education and condom distribution campaign. It has been joined by just about every other institution involved in international development: the European Union, individual nations, foundations, and nongovernmental organizations. This, despite the fact that any significant level of protection would require condoms to be available in their billions, at all possible times and at all possible places, to be used 100 percent of the time, and to be used correctly 100 percent of the time. Nonetheless, condoms and their many imperfections were sold to the people of the developing world as "safe sex."(6) The nations that embraced this program most emphatically, such as South Africa, saw infection rates continue to soar.
At the same time, a few nations promoted traditional sexual morality—abstinence and fidelity—and they succeeded. These success stories were in turn undermined by the very international AIDS community charged with ridding the world of the disease. The victory in the Philippines, for example, was acknowledged by UNAIDS' own research: "The Philippines remains a low HIV prevalence country [0.01 percent]. ... The number of HIV/AIDS cases is not expected to increase substantially over the next few years" (emphasis added).(7) The New York Times even admitted that the victory was because of traditional sexual morality: in the Philippines, "a very low rate of condom use and a very low rate of HIV infection seem to be going hand in hand. AIDS-prevention efforts often focus on condoms, but they are not widely available here—and are mostly shunned—in this conservative Roman Catholic country."(8)"
Read on:
http://www.c-fam.org/publications/id.952/pub_detail.asp#turnred
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Turtle Bay and Beyond has reported on the pope's prayer for unborn life, and his clear opposition to population control measures pushed by the Philippine government- including pushing of birth control and abortion. America and abortion providers have consistently been pushing for population control in the Philippines. Previous research on the matter also saw US government involvement.
According to article 2 section d of the UN declaration on Genocide- attempting to destroy part or whole of a population is genocide. The document cannot be read without inclusion of future population members. In America which has legal abortion, most women are murdered during pregnancy.
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According to a secular report, 7 leading Vatican scientists have made a statement supporting GM foods, and asking that safety regulations be relaxed significantly.
Ironically, the scientists along with 33 others, site lack of harm (under the current regulations) to human beings and the environment to justify their stance.
The Pontifical Academy for Science has not officially endorsed their recent stance. Catholics are not morally or doctrinally obligated to accept ordinary pronouncements from the Vatican's academies. Even if the pontifical academy accepted the stance that GM regulations be scrapped, Catholics could still oppose or prevent this move with a clean, responsible conscience.
C.f. Secular source of news:
Ht to ApostolicPalace
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Turtle Bay and Beyond, a human rights organisation connected with C-Fam has reported on a document posted by the European Union online, noting that ACP countries have together asked that development aid needed to save lives, not be connected to their laws on promotion of homosexuality. They believe the EU policy has violated their sovereignty and seek the ability to enact the laws their citizens voted them in to enact.
Many western nations tie much needed aid to promotion of pro- abortionist, pro-homosexualist policies.
While 90 percent of South Africans oppose abortion, 80 percent believe homosexual acts always wrong: both abortion and de jure homosexual "civil unions" (with the legal privileges of marriage) are legal in South Africa.
On the EU issue c.f.
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With their official paper promoting legal abortion, homosexuality, condoms, and attacking pro-lifers, the Vatican and orthodox bishops, while giving voice to dissidents, one need not expect much from the Southern African Catholic Bishops' Conference. After all- they said none of the politicians who voted to legalise abortion in RSA should be punished- even though the ANC put one Christian up for discipline by a Catholic- for voting against abortion.
Rather than teaching the dogma of 2 000 years and noted by the pope- that condoms are never a moral or real solution to HIV / AIDS (based on the bible which forbids spilling outside the womb) and therefore not to ever be endorsed or used by Catholics, the SACBC has used this as an opportunity to condemn souls while getting "good" "pr".
- the SACBC whose information officer, Chris Townsend informed SACNS we should subscribe to a pro-condom IRIN for our information on HIV / AIDS (he said he did),
- and whose information officer tried to silence a report on a Catholic service promoting abortion,
- and who's information officer is the Bishop's representative on the pro-homosexualist, pro-abortionist, pro-condoms, anti-new-mass Southern Cross,
Has emphasised they take no position on condom use in marriage (despite dogma forbidding it in all circumstances), and have promoted "fidelity"- seen by many as simply only being with one's girlfriend etc.
Napier- quoted- told our service the Southern Cross was anti-magisterial (anti-Vatican/pope/dogma) but that he refused to stop supporting it.
SACBC to their mailing list:
(Ps marriage was incorrectly spelt and encouraged was also- we fixed these errors. We verify this is from and to their official mailing list)
"1 December 2010World HIV & AIDS Daydream Friends,
HIV & AIDS will never be defeated by rhetoric or grandstanding. Our simple daily actions and choices will have far greater impact than showing off. HIV & AIDS is about people - sick, getting healthier, sad, happy, trying, failing, responsible and irresponsible.
There has been much speculation in the media over comments made by Pope Benedict XVI about Condoms. I include a clarification offered by Cardinal Napier on behalf of the Bishops below. I also include a comment by Sr Alison Munro who is the director of the AIDS Office of the SACBC. Please excuse the delay in getting this out as a general mailing- Cardinal Napier and I were in Australia.
1 -
Cardinal Napier's Clarification: (23 November 2010)
In response to questions submitted to the Southern African Catholic Bishops' Conference concerning Pope Benedict XVI's recent reported comments on condom usage, we restate our position on the primacy of an informed conscience as stated in our 2001 'Message of Hope':
"Where one spouse is infected with HIV/AIDS they must listen to their consciences. They are the only ones who can choose the appropriate means, in order to defend themselves against the infection. Both husband and wife should make decisions of such an intimate nature as equal and loving partners" (SACBC: Message of Hope: 2001)
The formation of conscience is a gradual development, allowing for a ever deepening sense of responsibility. Moral decisions should be made with an informed conscience and Pope Benedict's remarks remind us that conscience is always developing a more complete understanding of the complex situations in which we find ourselves.
The Southern African Catholic Bishops' Conference manage one of the largest HIV & AIDS interventions in Botswana, South Africa and Swaziland, the epicenter of the HIV & AIDS pandemic.
Ends>
2 - SACBC AIDS Office responses SACBC AIDS Office and its partner organisations provide accurate information on the Church's teaching on sexuality regarding abstinence before marriage and fidelity within marriage.
Accurate information on the use of condoms as a means of prevention of HIV infection for those engaging in possible unsafe sexual practices is promoted.
People are encouraged to make their own decisions on condom use from the position of an informed conscience.
Sr Alison Munro
Ends>
Let's keep the infected, the affected, the sick, the sad, the dying, carers and medical professionals in our prayers.
Fr Chris Townsend
Information Officer"
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The New York Times, in a piece admits to an editorial bias in what is said and how, and what is published. The New York Times also admit to have gained the Wikileaks documents without Wikileaks' permission- from the guardian paper. They admit the founders of the US strongly opposed big government, even though they often promote it. They admit that the Obama administration, though not Wikileaks (claiming this would be a conflict of interests) were given access to what they had to say. They are also publishing only 100 of the documents with justification according to the New York Times.
From SACNS some context based on Wikileaks accusations not in dispute by the US government: America has abused the location of the UN and their power- to get their diplomats, really spies to spy on important players, steal finger prints and bank account details- of top ranking UN officials.
According to Wikileaks- the US government had full knowledge of a Georgian attempt of Genocide before it happened, and still allowed Russia to be blamed for attempting to stop ethnic cleansing (RT reports).
It is American policy to use human rights only as an excuse and to only pursue its own agendas- against human rights.
The Arab nations around Iran have all asked America to invade their neighbour (anyone who like me monitors military spending and equipment could say this anyway).
America has shown a direct interest in who and what has power in foreign governments, called the French President The Naked Emperor, claimed Putin saw himself as Alpha Dog, the new head of Russian government was Robin to his Batman, called Merkel of Germany Teflon, and insulted foreign officials all around.
Massive human rights abuses and conflicts of interest from America have appeared in previous releases.
In contrast to their care for a Democratic Party president and his administration, the New York Times, did not even fact check claims against the Roman Catholic Church.
SACNS believes the Wikileaks organisation claims are almost certainly accurate.
See what the New York Times said
http://mobile.nytimes.com/article?a=706025&single=1&f=20
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While reading through one of my daily news aggregates (e-mail me with request if you want access to some of our specialist custom made sources) I came across the publishers of the pope's new book once again desperately opposing the portrayal secular media has given their book. This argument the quote says that condom use is always in ever circumstance only intrinsically evil and a grave mortal sin. Theologically speaking I agree- I personally have concluded from dogma that it is far more moral though illicit to have extra-marital sex without a condom than with one. Because use of a condom is blasphemy against the holy spirit given that sex is the best representation of the Holy Trinity on earth: hence marriage as a sacrament. Further, statistics have shown that condom use and education generally increases both abortions and HIV infections in a community (while testing with promise of ARV's decreases infection, as with promotion of fidelity and combating of homosexuality and polygamy- both the major spread machines of HIV. New research has found a pill which if taken perfectly could do away with infection altogether according to researchers after initial tests using HIV danger group- homosexual men):
"One of the most thoughtful and rigorous pieces of analysis written so far...Posted: 25 Nov 2010 09:51 AM PST
... about the Holy Father's remarks about condoms and the resulting conversation/furor, is a post on the "end of the modern world, etc." blog, written by
Dr. Steven A. Long, professor of theology at Ave Maria University. Here is an excerpt:
[Original had blockquote covering the rest]
This is often portrayed as though the Pope is saying that the disordered sexual act of sodomy is morally bad, but condom use, as something incipiently responsible and moral, is nonetheless good. That is precisely what the Pope is not saying. That is why he says the Church does not regard it as a moral solution. He well realizes that condom use introduces no new species in a homosexual act, because no contraception takes place. Rather, the condom use is wholly predicated upon, and willed as a function of, the intention of sodomy, and condom used participates the species of the sodomitic act. Hence the condom use is morally evil, and indeed gravely evil. Janet Smith, who has written penetratingly about this, notes that all that condom use does is make an already gravely evil act slightly less evil, but that the Church is not in the business of directing people to perform grave evils in a slightly better way.
But what, then, of the papal language? Can a gravely evil act really be such that "there can be nonetheless, in the intention of reducing the risk of infection, a first step in a movement towards a different way, a more human way, of living sexuality"? Certainly in the epistemic order, a person who is morally coarse and living sinfully, may in beginning to reflect on the consequences of his action for others and beginning to take responsibility for these, move in such a way that were it to continue he would eventually enter into genuinely moral considerations. If this is what the Pope means, then it is surely defensible, although the language even so seems somewhat rhetorically over-freighted: simply doing an evil act in a way that prevents infection does not necessarily suggest anything other than that the homosexual prostitute does not wish his customer to die, which frankly could be from venal or vicious motives; and if it is from a better motive, the act is still similar to a strangler who gives all his victims the opportunity to make a good act of contrition, and whom he calms and kills in as gentle a fashion as possible: all of which hardly seems to count as "a first step in a movement towards a different way, a more human way" of living. The Church is not in the business of endorsing grave evils when they are "lesser"--because grave moral evil may never rightly be done by anyone. The rhetoric of "first step" towards "a more human" sexuality makes the epistemic motion seem more proximate to the good of a more human sexuality than in fact it is. The "first step" is, in the epistemic order, toward a moral awareness generally speaking, which must be developed and enriched far more in order to constitute any specific movement in the practical moral order toward a "more human" sexuality.
Nonetheless one must give due credit to the "can" of the Pope's formulation--something that expresses raw possibility. And it is true that those who do move from moral evil to moral good, must epistemically at some point begin to be aware of their responsibility, and such a beginning might be found in someone who before had cavalierly exposed others to infection whilst sodomizing, who then tries to minimize the occasion for giving infection. But "first step"? Normally the first step toward a purpose partakes of the genus of that purpose. If the end is genuinely moral, then the use of the condom is not a "first step" any more than the gentler strangler is taking a first step toward a moral way of living and honoring the good of life. The "first step" of the Pope's example must be understood as nakedly epistemic, not in the least moral, but with the possibility that it could lead at some point to the genuinely moral. All the efforts to speak of the instance to which the pope refers as an exceptional case or circumstance for which the Holy Father has distilled the right moral theological understanding seems thus utterly wrong, because the Pope is not saying that condom use is morally good.
Given the refined nature of these reflections, one may also think that the Holy Father perhaps placed too great a weight upon a fragile medium which cannot sustain it--but from the best of motives, the desire to manifest the true nature of the papal service to the world, and openly to engage common questions and inquiries. Further, his words appear far better than Lombardi's explanation of them, which tries to render the entire matter a function of moral theology, whereas part of the Holy Father's treatment is simply and purely epistemic, something that the media probably will never be able to grasp"
Read more
http://insightscoop.typepad.com/2004/2010/11/one-of-the-most-thoughtful-and-rigorous-pieces-of-analysis-written-so-far.html
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For a long time, she thought she would find it in the bottom of a shopping bag. Or in a fancy restaurant. Or a beautifully decorated home.
She had married a wonderful man and had three beautiful daughters…still, she felt empty, and was constantly seeking to fill that void with something outside of herself. It never worked.
The coming Christmas Season only seemed to heighten this feeling, and so she worked feverishly, from the beginning of November, to fill the family home with the smells, sights and sounds of Christmas.
The artificial tree was assembled on November 1st and by the 5th was completely decorated. Each room was filled with images of Santa Claus and angels, jingle bells and reindeer…the entire home had become a reflection of the secularist view of the "holiday" season. There was a Nativity…in the corner of the living room on a small table and for the most part it was neglected. The Advent Wreath was placed on the dining room table, its candles only rarely lit, and by the time she realized that Advent had passed, she would notice that two of the candles had never even been lit. She just didn't understand the necessity. There was so much to do to get ready for Christmas! Cookies to bake, shopping and wrapping. No time to pray, just time to work. Work, work, work. She sadly noticed that the Christmas tree and all the decorations had already gathered a layer of dust…things were beginning to look a bit worn, a bit shabby. It took all her energy to hold everything together for 60 days of festivity. The excitement had long ago vanished for her, but the show had to go on…
Christmas Day and the frenzy began. Midnight Mass had been skipped because the wrapping and baking wasn't quite finished. She awoke the following morning, up hours before her girls to set up the video camera and placed herself, like the consummate actress she had become, in the appropriate location to experience her children's joy. There was a flurry of excitement as mountains of gifts were unwrapped, pictures snapped, videos recorded…Mom and Dad both privately calculated with growing dismay just how much this "joy" would cost in the coming year.
By the New Year, the tree was down. The decorations were packed away and many of the toys and baubles had already lost their newness. The house, once again returned to the ordinary, seemed to reflect her heart. It was neat. It was tidy. Everything was where it should be…and yet something…something was horribly wrong.
SOMEONE, not SOMETHING, was missing…
She felt like a princess, kept prisoner in a very beautiful castle. Although she was surrounded by everything she loved and had everything she wanted, she one day realized that the castle was really a dungeon of her own making.
One day, the Prince of Peace came and kissed the poor, sleeping princess and awoke her from her slumber. He showed her a Manger. A Star. A Woman. He told her about a Promise and showed her the ultimate gift…the Wounds of Love's making.
Her heart aflame, she disposed of her worldly approach to the Season of Wait. Her husband and children began to notice a subtle change. The prized Santa collection no longer dominated the mantel piece…the Nativity, empty and waiting for its special Guests, took center stage. The artificial tree was discarded in favor of a live tree, which would not be set up until just a very few days before the beginning…the BEGINNING of the Christmas Season, which is the Day, itself. The Advent Wreath was placed on the center of the coffee table, and after prayers, candle lighting and singing, it would be placed in a prominent window for the world passing by to see the Light…"
Read on
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Posted: 25 Nov 2010 09:00 PM PST
St. Edmund's College, a small Catholic boarding school in Ware, England, is full of history. Not the usual type of history at the usual high school. St. Edmund's actually traces its history back to 1586 and the founding of the English College at Douay, France. Cardinal William Allen started the college in order to educate young Catholics not allowed to exercise their religion under the harsh laws of Elizabeth I, who reigned from 1558 to 1603.
English Catholics who hid priests from authorities, who desired to practice their faith, or who simply bought Catholic books smuggled into the country, faced severe punishments, including fines, imprisonment, and even death. For Elizabethan Catholics, faith was hazardous to one's health. Yet Catholics remained faithful in large numbers and the English Church, although heavily persecuted, never succumbed. The English College at Douay flourished during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and sent scores of priests into England as missionaries.
With the beginning of the French Revolution in 1789, it once again became rather dangerous to be an English Catholic, this time for a different set of political reasons. The Catholic Church was one of the primary targets of the revolutionaries' violence. With few options available and in the face of imminent destruction, Douay College moved from France back into England and became St. Edmund's College in 1793.
Now over two hundred years old, St. Edmund's College educates more than five hundred students each year. Church history and institutional history saturate St. Edmund's in manifold ways. Pictures of every English bishop beginning from 1793 hang in a row on the way to the dining hall. Original buildings from 1793 are still in use today. Amazingly, archivists know the names of all 12,100 students and teachers who have studied and taught at the College from its founding in 1568.
The Witness of English Martyrs Born under dire circumstances, the Douay College at St. Edmund's also preserves the story of martyrdom. Few American Catholics, of course, fully appreciate martyrdom. Although anti-Catholicism is as American as apple pie (especially entrenched in Hollywood and secular universities), religious freedom remains the law of the land. We do not and have not had to die for our faith.
English Catholics, on the other hand, count forty martyrs from the reign of Elizabeth I alone. For them, the altar is stained with the blood of ancestors. This reality manifests itself in a variety of ways. At St. Edmund's, the living tradition of martyrdom envelops the entire school. Perhaps largely unnoticed or quietly assimilated by the students and faculty, this sense of martyrdom is, to the outsider, both disturbing and awe-inspiring, both shocking and spiritually edifying.
I didn't travel to St. Edmund's looking for martyrs. I am, by training, a university professor, and my research interests include Shakespeare and sixteenth-century books. St. Edmund's houses a spectacular collection of Catholic books from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, so my trip had everything to do with this collection, the remnants of the library from the English College at Douay."
Dad; Husband; Christian (Catholic); Irish. — News; Business; History; Civilizations; The Western World; Speech; Culture; Law. (Pronounced: Aw-Pea-Air.)
Dad; Husband; Christian (Catholic); Irish. — News; Business; History; Civilizations; The Western World; Speech; Culture; Law. (Pronounced: Aw-Pea-Air.)
Due to the as ever sensationalist and irresponsible journalism of Vatican based but not Vatican vetted paper L'Osservatore Romano- which heroised the Beatles for saying they were more popular than God, U2's Bono who spent just 200 000 of over ten million raised by his organisation One on the poor- for praying in public for his own agenda, and promoted a pro-abortionist stance in the Recife issue, we once again have to clarify their inexcusable hell-worthy errors, which have been aplenty since their new editor somehow got the job:
"Fortunately, now you can read the full text of the Pope's remarks.
Also, in anticipation of the controversy that these statement would produce, Dr. Janet Smith has prepared a helpful guide to what the Pope did and did not say.
Let's look at the Pope's remarks and see what he actually said.
Seewald: . . . In Africa you stated that the Church's traditional teaching has proven to be the only sure way to stop the spread of HIV. Critics, including critics from the Church's own ranks, object that it is madness to forbid a high-risk population to use condoms.
Benedict: . . . In my remarks I was not making a general statement about the condom issue, but merely said, and this is what caused such great offense, that we cannot solve the problem by distributing condoms. [EMPHASIS ADDED] Much more needs to be done. We must stand close to the people, we must guide and help them; and we must do this both before and after they contract the disease.
As a matter of fact, you know, people can get condoms when they want them anyway. But this just goes to show that condoms alone do not resolve the question itself. More needs to happen. Meanwhile, the secular realm itself has developed the so-called ABC Theory: Abstinence-Be Faithful-Condom, where the condom is understood only as a last resort, when the other two points fail to work. This means that the sheer fixation on the condom implies a banalization of sexuality, which, after all, is precisely the dangerous source of the attitude of no longer seeing sexuality as the expression of love, but only a sort of drug that people administer to themselves. This is why the fight against the banalization of sexuality is also a part of the struggle to ensure that sexuality is treated as a positive value and to enable it to have a positive effect on the whole of man's being.
Note that the Pope's overall argument is that condoms will not solve the problem of AIDS. In support of this, he makes several arguments:
1) People can already get condoms, yet it clearly hasn't solved the problem.
2) The secular realm has proposed the ABC program, where a condom is used only if the first two, truly effective procedures (abstinence and fidelity) have been rejected. Thus even the secular ABC proposal recognizes that condoms are not the unique solution. They don't work as well as abstinence and fidelity. The first two are better.
3) The fixation on condom use represents a banalization (trivialization) of sexuality that turns the act from being one of love to one of selfishness. For sex to have the positive role it is meant to play, this trivialization of sex—and thus the fixation on condoms—needs to be resisted.
So that's the background to the statement that the press seized on:
There may be a basis in the case of some individuals, as perhaps when a male prostitute uses a condom, where this can be a first step in the direction of a moralization, a first assumption of responsibility, on the way toward recovering an awareness that not everything is allowed and that one cannot do whatever one wants. But it is not really the way to deal with the evil of HIV infection. That can really lie only in a humanization of sexuality. [EMPHASIS ADDED]
There are several things to note here: First, note that the Pope says that "there may be a basis in the case of some individuals," not that there is a basis. This is the language of speculation. But what is the Pope speculating about? That condom use is morally justified? No, that's not what he's said: that there may be cases "where this [condom use] can be a first step in the direction of a moralization, a first assumption of responsibility, on the way to recovering an awareness that not everything is allowed."
In other words, as Janet Smith puts it,
The Holy Father is simply observing that for some homosexual prostitutes the use of a condom may indicate an awakening of a moral sense; an awakening that sexual pleasure is not the highest value, but that we must take care that we harm no one with our choices. He is not speaking to the morality of the use of a condom, but to something that may be true about the psychological state of those who use them. If such individuals are using condoms to avoid harming another, they may eventually realize that sexual acts between members of the same sex are inherently harmful since they are not in accord with human nature.
At least this is the most one can reasonably infer from the Pope's remarks, which could be phrased more clearly (and I expect the Vatican will be issuing a clarification quite soon).
Second, note that the Pope immediately follows his statement regarding homosexual prostitutes using condoms with the statement, "But it is not really the way to deal with the evil of HIV infection. That can really lie only in a humanization of sexuality."
By "a humanization of sexuality," the Pope means recognizing the truth about human sexuality—that it must be exercised in a loving, faithful way between a man and a woman united in matrimony. That is the real solution, not putting on a condom and engaging in promiscuous sex with those infected with a deadly virus.
At this point in the interview, Seewald asks a follow-up question, and it is truly criminal that L'Osservatore Romano did not print this part:
Seewald: Are you saying, then, that the Catholic Church is actually not opposed in principle to the use of condoms?
Benedict: She of course does not regard it as a real or moral solution, but, in this or that case, there can be nonetheless, in the intention of reducing the risk of infection, a first step in a movement toward a different way, a more human way, of living sexuality."
Jimmy Akin
National Catholic Register
(Catholic special interests coverage; American Based; Independent of the United States government and USCCB official hierarchy of the USA Catholic Church)
Dad; Husband; Christian (Catholic); Irish. — News; Business; History; Civilizations; The Western World; Speech; Culture; Law. (Pronounced: Aw-Pea-Air.)
Dad; Husband; Christian (Catholic); Irish. — News; Business; History; Civilizations; The Western World; Speech; Culture; Law. (Pronounced: Aw-Pea-Air.)
The liberal Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Helen Zille has alleged serious media bias in covering "service delivery protests", where terror tactics were used.
Our service is quite familiar with the unfortunate ability certain local media houses have for misportraying facts- at times given the same information as these and yet seeing it portrayed very oddly!
Our service is familiar with allegations of ANC interference with local communities. The allegations here by Helen Zille are very likely entirely accurate.
[The Scripturelink Vote service has seriously considered removing the DA from our clean conscience vote list.]
"Truth is the first casualty Anyone who follows the news will have read and heard about the recent series of 'service delivery protests' around the country, including in the Western Cape. Most casual observers believe these protests signal a groundswell of dissatisfaction with 'service delivery' – because that is how they have been reported in the press.
Sometimes this is true. But sometimes it isn't. Each 'service delivery' protest takes place in a specific context, and is driven by different agendas.
Last week, three vehicles were burnt during a so-called 'service delivery' protest in Khayelitsha. Ironically, each of these vehicles was busy delivering a service to the community. One was delivering matric exam scripts to the marking centre. Another was fetching disabled people (for whom the City provides a special, subsidized transport system). A third was transporting children to a camp for abused children. The fourth vehicle escaped the blaze, but was stoned. It was an ambulance responding to an emergency call in the community.
It is beyond irony that services are destroyed in the name of service delivery protests.
In the television footage of these protests, further evidence of service delivery to the area was abundantly clear: tarred roads, storm water systems, overhead electricity wires, refuse bags awaiting collection (although their contents had been strewn across the street by protestors). And in Khayelitsha's TR section (from which most of the protestors allegedly came) construction workers were being prevented from going onto site to build houses the people were supposedly demanding. In a nearby settlement, where an electricity sub-station was recently built, the local community is refusing to allow the electricity servitude to cross their land, thus preventing the City from supplying electricity to the surrounding shack settlements.
Service delivery is by no means perfect in Khayelitsha. But one thing is certain: there would be far more of it, if it were not for 'service delivery protests'. Various forms of community conflict are the main reason that delivery is held up for years. That is one of the key reasons why it is far easier and much quicker to build a stadium than upgrade an informal settlement. The latter is wracked by community conflict, which usually turns violent, about who should benefit, who should move to make way for installation of underground services, who should get work on the project etc. etc. etc. Almost every issue results in conflict which takes months to resolve and adds hugely to the cost.
And every time there is a so-called 'service delivery' protest in an area, more resources are used up to prevent wanton injury and crime caused by people with other agendas. The massive redeployment of scarce police manpower and vehicles to riot scenes means that other areas across the City are deprived of their services.
But in the present situation there is an additional dimension. Local government elections are due in about six months, and hundreds of local activists are competing with each other to be the chosen candidate for their ward, or to secure a place on the list. Building a following and a public profile through protest action is certainly one way of promoting your candidacy.
In the ANC-dominated wards of Cape Town, there is yet another dimension at play because the ANC is determined to do whatever it takes to unseat the DA-led coalition in the City. Their agenda is to create the illusion of spontaneous community anger at lack of service delivery, to reinforce their lie that the DA does not care about the poor.
This contextual analysis of the reasons for some 'service delivery' protests is usually met with a combination of cynicism and derision by most journalists and commentators. They tend to believe that this is an excuse politicians use to disguise government failures. And we accept: there is always room for improvement, especially after a decade of massive urbanization in Cape Town which shows no sign of slowing down.
But this time, we do not need to make any deductions or inferences about the cause of the "service delivery" protests. Because, believe it or not, the ANC Youth League (ANCYL) called a press conference to announce their strategy publicly.
On November 12 they issued a press statement announcing a 14-day period of "non-stop serious protest" – while at the same time demanding that the Education Department compensate for the fact that students' exam scripts had been burnt.
Calling on people to "know that their comfort depends on government," the ANCYL said it "associated itself with the revolutionary ideas that are aimed in improving the living conditions of our people".
This comes after repeated calls by ANCYL Khayelitsha leaders Andile Lili and Loyiso Nkohla, to make Cape Town "ungovernable". And after Julius Malema's call to drive the DA "cockroaches" out of the Western Cape with "Doom".
Is anyone out there joining the dots?
Not long ago, a newspaper group ran a series of full-page advertisements with headlines such as "Why Standing for the Truth Means Never Standing Down". The advert promised the reader that "we won't rest in our relentless mission to always bring you the truth because ultimately, that's what separates good journalism from bad".
We agree. We also know it is difficult, if not impossible, for anyone to get to the full truth of any situation. But, in the context of "service delivery protests" appropriate coverage of the ANCYL's press conference, where they voluntarily exposed their real agenda, would have been an important step in getting closer to the truth.
Far too many reporters base their articles on a pre-conceived template. Government is the villain, protestors are dependent victims. This template, unthinkingly super-imposed on every riot that happens in the name of 'service delivery' does more to disguise than reveal the truth."
Helen Zille SA Today
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