|
|
CERC WEEKLY UPDATE - November 5, 2009 NEW RESOURCES EDITORIALS OF INTEREST EDUCATION MATTERS Note from the Managing Editor:
Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York put some manly virtues on display last week in an op-ed he submitted to the New York Times. In that article, His Grace poked the paper of record hard in the eye for her bias and the double standard she practices when reporting on the Catholic Church. The Times refused to publish the piece, but it's an important article to read and one which leads quite naturally into an article by Robert Royal in which he reflects on the growing tendency of bishops to go on the offensive. Another article I think you'll esteem is George Weigel's "Saint Jeanne Jugan". Sometimes the simple life and witness of saintly women religious just can't be surpassed for making a point. And finally, you'll appreciate the last two installments of Archbishop Michael Miller's summary of The Holy See's Teaching on Catholic Schools featured below. Bless you. - J. Fraser Field This CERC Weekly Update is also available on our web site here.
• The Benedict option - Beliefnet • The Research on Ideological Bias - The Chronicle • Raising kids makes married people happier - MercatorNet • Harvard's Medals of Honor - WSJ • Terrorised by toddlers - Times • The Holocaust is now on Facebook - JWR • Educational Pornography? - Breakpoint • Muhammad and Man At Yale - First Things Blog Shared Responsibilities - Archbishop J. Michael Miller, CSB - chapter two from "The Holy See's Teaching on Catholic Schools" The Church's clear teaching, constantly reiterated by the Holy See, affirms that parents are the first educators of their children.
Five Essential Marks of Catholic Schools - Archbishop J. Michael Miller, CSB - chapter three from "The Holy See's Teaching on Catholic Schools" Papal interventions and Roman documents repeatedly emphasize that certain characteristics must be present for a school to be considered authentically Catholic.
Born during the virulently anti-Catholic French Revolution, Jeanne Jugan learned early in her life that fidelity to Christ and his Church could be costly.
The following article was submitted in a slightly shorter form to the New York Times as an op-ed article. The Times declined to publish it. I thought you might be interested in reading it.
You won't hear much about it in the secular media, or find it characterized this way, but we are seeing a new generation of bishops with big enough shoulders not only to stand up for Catholicism but to try to move the ball forward in American culture.
I'll admit that I wasn't going to see Michael Moore's new movie Capitalism: A Love Story; but then a student of mine at the seminary drew my attention to a debate between Moore and the right-wing commentator Sean Hannity that was posted on YouTube.
I don't recall his source, but Thomist scholar Dr. F. F. Centore used to point out to us that according to Aquinas, women make better saints than men.
Fiction as Truth: The Fall and Purification of Pip - R. Kenton Craven - CERC My first most vivid and broad impression of the identity of things, seems to be to have been gained on a memorable raw afternoon towards evening.
The Vatican's man in Canada - Father Raymond J. de Souza - National Post Outgoing nuncio Luigi Ventura has revitalized the Catholic Church in Canada.
E. D. Hirsch's Curriculum for Democracy - Sol Stern - City Journal A content-rich pedagogy makes better citizens and smarter kids.
The Benedict option - Beliefnet The Holy Father is, not surprisingly, following his own good judgments and intuitions.
JPII to be beatified - Telegraph Sources in Rome say JPII will be beatified soon, in 2010 at the latest.  Science & faith: allies - USA Today A reminder that, historically, religion and science have been mostly interdependent, not antagonistic.
Catholic Medical Association Evaluates Health Care Reform Proposals - EWTN "Giving the federal government the power, and primary responsibility, to contain medical expenditures could threaten the provision of medical care to the most vulnerable, the elderly and the chronically ill." "Misguided legislation," the CMA argued, could only worsen health care.
A papal olive branch - London Times Pope Benedict XVI will be meeting with the Archbishop of Canterbury later this month.
Tyranny set in stone - New Criterion The enemies of freedom and the West are more numerous than ever. It is here that the two deepest lessons of the Berlin Wall lie. First, that tyranny frankly confronted can be defeated. But, second, that the victory of freedom is never final: it must always be renewed not only through our willingness to acknowledge and struggle against evil, but also through a forthright proclamation of our own founding principles.
Cathedrals – heavens on earth - Guardian Why visit an art gallery when you can visit a cathedral instead? Jonathan Jones takes a tour of our forgotten masterpieces.
Cellphones, Texts and Lovers - New York Times Since April 2007, New York magazine has posted online sex diaries.
No men OR women needed: Scientists create sperm and eggs from stem cells - Daily Mail Human eggs and sperm have been grown in the laboratory in research which could change the face of parenthood.
A Jesuit Mandarin - AsiaNews An exhibit commemorating the 400th anniversary of the death of pathbeaking Jesuit missionary to China Matteo Ricci has just opened in the Vatican.
Suicide tourism - New York Times People are traveling to Switzerland to kill themselves, causing the Swiss government to review its laws on assisted suicide.
On not tolerating intolerance - The Catholic Herald An Egyptian convert warns the West not to abandon its Judeo-Christian heritage.
The next generation of Catholic leaders - NCR This new generation seems ideally positioned to help us find the sane middle between two extremes: What George Weigel correctly calls "Catholicism lite," meaning a form of the faith sold out to secularism; and what I've termed "Taliban Catholicism," meaning an angry expression of Catholicism that knows only how to excoriate and condemn.
Healthcare hyperbole - Boston Globe Two things supporters of a government-run "public option" for health insurance know for sure may not be true.
Dowd: Which are miserable nuns? - The Anchoress The women religious who flourish do it because of submission.
Taking out abortion - USA Today The leader of Blue Dog Democrats explains what needs to be done to healthcare proposals to make them abortion neutral.
On Sisters' Visitation, Vatican Responds to Dowd - Whispers Three days after debuting a new push-back strategy on media reports it's deemed inaccurate or unfair, this morning the Vatican Press Office released a statement from the church's lead overseer of religious men and women.
GOP Set to Propose Its Own Health Bill - WSJ Republicans are preparing an alternative health-care bill to Democratic legislation, House Republican Leader John Boehner said, marking a shift in strategy as the full House is set to begin debate on the issue this week.
Democrats split on abortion - Washington Post Concerns of some pro-life Democrats may derail the healthcare bills.
Nancy Pelosi and the Claims of Conscience - George Weigel - The Catholic Difference On Sept. 28, a bipartisan group of 187 members of the U.S. House of Representatives, led by Michigan Democrat Bart Stupak and Pennsylvania Republican Joe Pitts, sent a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Rules Committee Chair Louise Slaughter. The key paragraphs follow:
Italians outraged as European court rules against crucifixes - CSM After a European court rules against crucifixes in Italian schoolrooms, Italians from across the political spectrum decry an assault on the country's Roman Catholic identity.
Challenging the EU crucifix ban - Times Italy says it will challenge a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights banning the display of a Catholic crucifix at a state school.
The Research on Ideological Bias - The Chronicle Some of the commenters on previous posts on ideological bias in higher education have asked for more research evidence on the issue.
Raising kids makes married people happier - MercatorNet Having children improves married peoples' life satisfaction and the more they have, the happier they are. For unmarried individuals, raising children has little or no positive effect.
Harvard's Medals of Honor - WSJ The university celebrates its history of valor.
Terrorised by toddlers - Times Schools now expel pupils as young as three. Are children so bad? No – it's adults' fault
The Holocaust is now on Facebook - JWR The memorial museum at Auschwitz has launched a Facebook page hoping that the popular social-neworking site will help it reach young people around the globe and engage them in discussions about the former Nazi death camp and the Holocaust.
Educational Pornography? - Breakpoint A Maryland state senator blocked the showing of an X-rated film at a state university. Predictably, the Washington Post ridiculed him for it. But what's really at stake here?
Muhammad and Man At Yale - First Things Blog A good cartoon ought to make its reader shake with laughter, but that was neither the intention nor the effect of the twelve cartoons depicting "the face of Muhammad," published by the Danish newspaper Jylsend-Posten in September 2005.
|
|
 |
 |
