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CERC WEEKLY UPDATE - February 4, 2010 NEW RESOURCES EDITORIALS OF INTEREST EDUCATION MATTERS Note from the Managing Editor:
Of any Christian writer today, Peter Kreeft seems gifted with a talent for expressing deep Christian truths simply and in a way that impacts powerfully with people, especially young people. Our feature article by Kreeft below is surely something of a masterpiece in this regard. It's an article—and a meditation—that could change, if not your life, at least the way you see yourself in your life.
When Father Neuhaus was with us it was often said that people read the journal First Things from back to front because Father's "The Public Square" section at the end of the journal was such a great read. The same might have been said about Crisis magazine, where Ralph McInerny charmed and enlightened us for years from the last page of that magazine. Ralph McInerny passed to his reward last Friday. One of the finest Thomistic scholars in the world, McInerny was also a successful mystery writer and a discerning commentator on all things Catholic. By all accounts he lived an exemplary and inspiring Christian life and I've posted two articles about him below. May he rest in peace and may we all see his face and feel his joy in heaven.
Father John Horgan of our executive board has produced a number of series for EWTN. His knowledge and insights into the faith and the rich smooth tone of his voice will be available through CERC from now into the foreseeable future. Father's Sunday homilies have been recorded by a parishioner at his own parish church, Sts. Peter and Paul in Vancouver, and the CDs of these have been selling briskly in the parish. We would like to make them available to a wider audience and will be offering them here every week. As soon as we have the technical aspects worked out, they will also be available for download to your MP3 player. For now, you can listen to Father Horgan's previous Sunday homily online each week from the CERC udpate. Finally, if you'd like to introduce your friends to CERC, our new brochure is online here. - J. Fraser Field This CERC Weekly Update is also available on our web site here.
• Britain's human rights policies violate natural law, Pope says - Times • Study Finds New Abstinence-Only Program Works - Fox News • Does abstinence cause pregnancy? The Times makes the argument - Catholic Culture • Crash Blossoms - New York Times • German home-schoolers granted asylum in US to escape 'persecution' - Catholic Culture • Why Are Graduation Rates So Low? - Minding the Campus • If Your Kids Are Awake, They're Probably Online - New York Times • Psychology Grounded in Catholic Thought - NCRegister The Twelve Most Profound Ideas I Have Ever Had - Peter Kreeft - excerpted from The God Who Loves You: Love Divine, All Loves Excelling Ideas are more precious than diamonds. The twelve most precious ideas I have ever discovered all concern the love of God.
Sketches of Ralph - Hadley Arkes - The Catholic Thing Ralph McInerny was outstanding in all the important roles of life: husband and father, friend and teacher, inspirer and witness, in love with God and truly loved by God. Has there ever been a happier man, a man more able to make all around him smile?
One of the marks of a virtuous character, according to Aristotle, is the performance of virtuous acts with ease and delight. On that basis, as well as others, Ralph McInerny was a remarkably virtuous man.
"Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in his own town."
Down but Not Out in Catholic Suburbia - William McGurn - Wall Street Journal Tim Busch has an answer to the epidemic of closing Catholic schools. And it has nothing to do with vouchers.
Why so many abortion workers have turned pro-life.
It is not always easy to live under Islamic rule, or even under Islamic "influence." Yet we share a planet, and with no other habitable planets within easy journey, we must find ways to get along.
The problem with being a prophet is that your powers are acknowledged only after it is too late.
Stunner! Pope Practiced Self-Mortification - Jimmy Akin - NCRegister blog So various circles have been atwitter about news reports that Pope John Paul II practiced certain forms of self-mortification or, in the immortal words of the Associated Press, "John Paul II used belt to whip himself."
Defining human dignity - Margaret Somerville - Montreal Gazette The concept of human dignity and what is required to respect it is at the centre of the euthanasia debate.
The Quiet Family Killer: Pornography and Marriage - Patrick F. Fagan - The Catholic Thing Most men, including doctors, have not the foggiest notion that the wives develop deep psychological wounds, commonly reporting feelings of betrayal, loss, mistrust, devastation, and anger at the discovery of their husbands' use of pornography, especially Internet use.
Britain's human rights policies violate natural law, Pope says - Times The Vatican condemned Britain's proposed equality law yesterday, complaining that legislation to give homosexual equal rights "violates natural law".
Pope Benedict Scores Victory in Britain - NCRegister Pope Benedict XVI has again shown just how necessary and effective it can be to speak out in the face of unjust legislation against the Church.
We are not amused - Telegraph The Queen of England is concerned about the pope's outreach to Anglicans.
Paradigm shift - Investor's Business Daily After much ballyhoo in 2004 over Proposition 71, California's "boom" in embryonic stem cell research has gone bust, and emphasis will now be on adult stem cells.
McInerny the journalist - Commonweal Herewith a brief footnote to Greg Wolfe's earlier post about the death of Ralph McInerny.
Ralph McInerny, Renaissance Man - Acton The Church and the world has lost an immense soul in the passing into eternity yesterday of Dr. Ralph McInerny, long time professor of philosophy at Notre Dame University.
Sex Ed in Washington - Ross Douthat - New York Times Liberals hated almost everything about George W. Bush's presidency, but they harbored a particular animus toward a minor domestic policy priority: abstinence-based sex education.
The Wolves Roamed Freely - Catholic World Report Recent judicial commission reports contain devastating findings about abuse and cover-up in the Irish Church.
The Tireless Preacher - Russia Profile The Patriarch's first year in office has laid the ground work for further reform.
Atheists attack Mother Teresa - WorldNetDaily A prominent atheist organization in America is attacking Mother Teresa as unworthy of being honored with a memorial stamp, as the U.S. Postal Service has announced.
Gays to serve - The Washington Times The Pentagon is moving ahead with plans to seek a repeal of the law that prohibits gays from serving openly in the U.S. military
The borrowers - Family Edge Money can be the hardest thing to give even to family members in need, but doesn't charity begin at home?
Reengineering the Family - NRO We can't yet know the full consequences of our institutionalized severing of biology from parenthood?
Polish Magazine Fined for Calling Abortion "Killing" becomes #1 Weekly - LifeSiteNews The Catholic weekly magazine Gosc Niedzielny (Sunday Visitor), published by the Archdiocese of Katowice in southern Poland, and which became famous last year after its editor was fined for calling abortion "killing," just became the country's best-selling weekly.
2009: The Year's Best Movies - NCRegister There are still many 2009 films I have yet to see, but below, in alphabetical order, are 10 of the films I have seen that I consider most deserving of special recognition, followed by 10 more that are also noteworthy.
Turning abortion into an online game show - Kathleen Parker - Washington Post At first glance, bump-the-show sounds like a reasonable response to "Bump," the show—a new, faux-reality Web-based docudrama featuring actors trying to decide whether to have an abortion.
A God who hates? - City Journal Two books argue that repression, cruelty, and fear are central to Islam.
Laughter is a universal language - Telegraph Laughter is universally associated with being tickled and reflects the feeling of enjoyment of physical play.
New Catholic Studies Program Unveiled - Prairie Business According to Prairie Business, Bismarck, North Dakota's University of Mary, plans to offer a Catholic Studies program beginning this fall. By doing so, it becomes one of fewer than 50 colleges and universities to offer such a program.
Study Finds New Abstinence-Only Program Works - Fox News An experimental abstinence-only program without a moralistic tone can delay young teens from having sex, a new study found.
Does abstinence cause pregnancy? The Times makes the argument - Catholic Culture The pregnancy rate among American teenagers (aged 15-19) rose in 2006—the last year for which statistics are available—after a decade of decline.
Crash Blossoms - New York Times Elizabeth Barrett Browning once gave the poetry of her husband, Robert, a harsh assessment, criticizing his habit of excessively paring down his syntax with opaque results. "You sometimes make a dust, a dark dust," she wrote him, "by sweeping away your little words."
German home-schoolers granted asylum in US to escape 'persecution' - Catholic Culture An American judge on Tuesday granted asylum to a German couple who wanted to homeschool their children, bringing international attention to the debate in Germany over the rights of parents to freely educate their children.
Why Are Graduation Rates So Low? - Minding the Campus Of every 100 kids who enter American high schools, only about 20 obtain a bachelor's degree within a decade.
If Your Kids Are Awake, They're Probably Online - New York Times The average young American now spends practically every waking minute—except for the time in school—using a smart phone, computer, television or other electronic device, according to a new study from the Kaiser Family Foundation.
Psychology Grounded in Catholic Thought - NCRegister The Catholic vision of the person joined with the best of psychology can point the way to healthy relationships, contend the staff and founders of the Institute for the Psychological Sciences.
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