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CERC WEEKLY UPDATE - January 28, 2010 NEW RESOURCES EDITORIALS OF INTEREST EDUCATION MATTERS Note from the Managing Editor:
Last month, the newspaper of record ran an article, "The Conservative-Christian Big Thinker", in which they described Princeton's Robert George as America's ". . . most influential conservative Christian thinker". The qualities of leadership and thinking that attracted the Times' attention last month were evident last Friday when Professor George gave the keynote address at the annual March for Life Convention dinner in Washington. It's an insightful and passionate state of the union address. Find it below. You'll also find Steve Malanga's City Journal piece, "Our Vanishing Ultimate Resource" which looks at the impact the population bust is having—and is destined to have increasingly—on economies around the world. Malanga doesn't attempt to detail the cultural and social implications of the problem. As just one example of those, I read the other day that China's one-child policy means that currently 122 boys are being born in China for every100 girls. It seems that if they can only have one child, many Chinese want that child to be a boy and will abort selectively to make sure that's what they end up raising. As if the fact of s-x selective abortion weren't horrendous enough, imagine a country where one-fifth of the male population is unable to find a marriage partner. - J. Fraser Field This CERC Weekly Update is also available on our web site here.
Quote of the Week: "Let no one ever come to you without leaving better and happier. Be the living expression of God's kindness: kindness in your face, kindness in your eyes, kindness in your smile." - Blessed Teresa of Calcutta
• Pope decries 'aversion' to Christians -Washington Post • Kids online every waking minute - Family Edge • The problem with "se-t" ed - National Post • Cardinal Schönborn's American Tour - NCRegister • The 3 Facebook Settings Every User Should Check Now - New York Times • Disabled have a dream, too - Washington Post Our Struggle for the Soul of the Nation - Robert P. George - Rose Dinner keynote address At the annual March for Life Rose Dinner, Robert George, with remarkable conviction, articulated a comprehensive, nuanced, eloquent, balanced and persuasive pro-life vision for America, and the world.
Hope in the Ruins of Haiti - Colleen Carroll Campbell - St. Louis Post-Dispatch America is rushing to rescue Haiti from collapse. But Haiti is rescuing America, too.
The Power of Intercession - Deacon Douglas McManaman - CERC "They have no wine"
If certain animals become persons, as some philosophers argue, human persons become animals, which has consequences for how we treat each other.
In the second week of October 1942, Stalingrad was still standing, if cruelly battered after 80 days of siege and starvation.
There was a time when Islam was an historical, literary, or cinematic curiosity with little or no purchase on the American imagination and no measurable impact on our lives.
Apologists and well-read Catholics can point to many priest-scientists and declare forcefully what Fr. Georges Lemaître--discoverer of the "Big Bang"--robustly proclaimed in 1933: "There is no conflict between religion and science."
Plummeting birthrates threaten prosperity worldwide. Can America buck the trend?
Stem Cell Ethics and the Things We Refuse to Do… - Father Tadeusz Pacholczyk - Making Sense Out of Bioethics In arguing for ethical science, those of us working to safeguard human life would do well to examine our premises carefully, so as to avoid weak or questionable assumptions that could undermine the thrust of our arguments.
America's Roman college at 150 - George Weigel - The Catholic Difference The Pontifical North American College, in its sesquicentennial year, is one of the finest houses of priestly formation in the world.
Pope decries 'aversion' to Christians - Washington Post Benedict XVI speaks frankly about the anti-Christian animus in the world.
Pope John Paul II practiced self-flagellation—book - Agence France-Presse Pope John Paul II practiced self-flagellation using a belt as a form of penance, according to a book on the Polish pontiff published in Italy on Wednesday.  JPII's quick pardon - New York Times/AP A new book indicates that, among other signs of his sanctity, John Paul II, immediately forgave Mehmet Ali Agca, the Turk who shot him in Saint Peter's Square.
First among patriarchs - Chiesa Express With Benedict XVI, for the first time in history, the Orthodox have agreed to discuss the primacy of the bishop of Rome, according to the model of the first millennium, when the Church was undivided.
New life for pro-life - Washington Post A skeptic learns lessons at the 2010 March for Life in Washington.
The bishops speak - USCCB The future of healthcare reform is uncertain, but America’s Catholic bishops have advice for Congress on how to proceed.
In Defense of Benedict XVI - Bernard-Henri Levy - Huffington Post It is time to put an end to the disingenuousness—the bias, in a word—and the disinformation concerning Benedict XVI.
"Even In Our Darkest Hour...." - Whispers With some attendees sitting in pews salvaged from the fallen cathedral a few yards away, this morning saw a funeral liturgy celebrated not just for Archbishop Joseph Serge Miot of Port-au-Prince and his vicar-general, but for all those lost in last week's quake, a count now estimated at around 100,000.
Rebecca Solnit: Covering Haiti: When the Media Is the Disaster - Guernica Soon after almost every disaster the crimes begin: ruthless, selfish, indifferent to human suffering, and generating far more suffering. I’m talking, of course, about those members of the mass media whose misrepresentation of what goes on in disaster often abets and justifies a second wave of disaster.
The Pro-Life Comeback of 2009 - NRO The health-care debate has shown the movement’s continuing strength.
A lapsed heretic - Beliefnet Britain's chief rabbi, once a skeptical philosopher, offers an incisive critique of secularism.
A Big Map That Shrank the World - New York Times A new exhibit at the Library of Congress displays Jesuit missionary Matteo Ricci's gifts of faith and reason.
Pope tells priests to get blogging - Telegraph Pope Benedict XVI urged priests to use the internet "astutely" and make the most of opportunities offered by modern technology.
Will the Tebow ad run? - CBS News Crossroads The network insists the pro-life spot will run during the Super Bowl, but, if so, it’ll be over the unprincipled objections of some women’s groups.
Company to Remove Bible References From Combat Rifles - FOX News/AP An arms company agrees to cease the practice of putting Bible citations on its rifle sights.
Ecology & man - David Warren Perhaps I am stupid—a number of my correspondents think this is the explanation—but I am frequently unable to make any sense at all of media reporting on religion.
The Populist Addiction - New York Times Politics, some believe, is the organization of hatreds.
Violence has won - Asia News In Vietnam, the Communist government "persuades and educates" people, and violently removes crosses they have set up.
Phoenix diocese adopts new policy to reverse ‘marital breakdown’ - CNA On Jan. 1 new marriage preparation guidelines went into effect in the Diocese of Phoenix. The guidelines are intended to address the problems facing marriage and to reverse “the tide of marital breakdown” by teaching the “Good News” of the Catholic understanding of matrimony.
NC public schools: Pro-life laws, like segregation, are examples of ‘oppressive government' - Catholic Culture New curricular guidelines drafted by North Carolina's Department of Public Instruction strongly encourage students to view pro-life legislation as an example of “oppressive government" akin to laws that permitted segregated public schools.
Kids online every waking minute - Family Edge Kaiser's 2009 study shows that young Americans between the ages of 8 and 18 spend more than 52 hours a week using electronic devices—and that's without counting the hour and a half they spend texting, or the half-hour they talk on their cellphones.
The problem with "se-t" ed - National Post "Se-ting" isn't a good idea.
Cardinal Schönborn's American Tour - NCRegister Fresh from his much-written about trip to Medjugorge, Vienna Cardinal Archbishop Christoph Schönborn will be presenting lectures at at least two Catholic universities during a trip to the U.S. over the next week.
The 3 Facebook Settings Every User Should Check Now - New York Times In December, Facebook made a series of bold and controversial changes regarding the nature of its users' privacy on the social networking site.
Disabled have a dream, too - Washington Post All it took to fill the gym on that cold January 4 night was the word from Coach Bill Gunn: "Chubbs Stillman is going to play." Subscribe/Unsubscribe |
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