Pope: Spread the Word Using New Media
Benedict XVI is encouraging media professionals to take up the challenge to use the new technologies of the digital age to spread the word of God, while keeping the content unaltered.
The Pope said this upon receiving in audience participants in the plenary assembly of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, who met this week in Rome to work on a pastoral instruction that will demonstrate a willingness to dialogue with the "digital culture.
"The last document of pastoral guidance for the Church's communicative commitment -- "Aetatis Novae" -- was issued in 1992.
The plenary was the first one presided over by Archbishop Claudio Maria Celli, who was named president of the council in 2007.
"A genuine revolution is taking place in the realm of social communications," the Pontiff said to the participants in the assembly, "of which the Church is ever more responsibly conscious"
Read more here...
Friday, October 30, 2009
Today on Kresta - October 30, 2009
Talking about the "things that matter most" on Oct. 30
4:00 – Divorced from Reality: We’re from the Government, and We’re Here to End Your Marriage
The decline of the family has now reached critical and truly dangerous proportions. Family breakdown touches virtually every family and every American. It is not only the major source of social instability in the Western world today but also seriously threatens civic freedom and constitutional government. G. K. Chesterton once observed that the family serves as the principal check on government power, and he suggested that someday the family and the state would confront one another. According to our guest, that day has arrived. We talk with Stephen Baskerville about the government and its role in marriage.
4:20 – Be to Me a Father and a Priest
Fr. Peter Stravinskas says his priestly ministry has been far more challenging, interesting, and multi-faceted than he ever imagined when entering seminary. He says “Although teaching in, administering, and establishing Catholic schools (elementary, secondary, university, and seminary) have been a constant from my first days as a seminarian, I have also worn many other “hats”—from serving as a pastor, vocations director, and bishop’s secretary, to public relations work for the Church, to writing and lecturing on timely topics throughout the country and abroad, to founding a community of secular clergy devoted to the new evangelization, liturgical renewal, and Catholic education. He is here to look at the many ways in which he has been a priest, and his reflections on that vocation, without which the Church cannot exist.
5:00 – Will the Recession Doom the Last Sunday Blue Laws?
A handful of state legislatures have declared it's closing time for Sunday alcohol sales restrictions, saying an extra day of sales could give their foundering budgets a much-needed shot of revenue. Those states — Georgia, Connecticut, Texas, Alabama and Minnesota — enjoy overwhelming voter support for an extra day of sales, but face opposition from members of the Christian right, who support the few remaining Blue Laws still in effect in the U.S. Proponents of Sunday sales argue that state budgets are under plenty of pressure too and that by allowing people to buy beer, wine or liquor on Sunday at grocery or package stores, states could reap millions of dollars in tax revenue. Two years ago, Dan Hungerman, Professor of Economics at the University of Notre Dame, released a study that shows that both society and religion have been hurt by the repeal of blue laws. Has anything changed with the recession?
5:20 – Hiking the Camino: 500 Miles with Jesus
You might reasonably wonder why anyone would shoulder a heavy backpack, grab a walking stick and hike across Spain. Whatever happened to planes, trains and automobiles? But Father Dave Pivonka knew that the Camino—the ancient pilgrim path to the tomb of Saint James the Apostle in Santiago—offered an opportunity to focus on God in the stripped-down environment typical of the religious journey known as a pilgrimage. Fr. Dave takes us along with him, eager to show that God wants to take care of you whether or not you can see down the road or, if tired and sore, you're tempted to quit. His Camino hike holds real lessons for our own life's journey.
4:00 – Divorced from Reality: We’re from the Government, and We’re Here to End Your Marriage
The decline of the family has now reached critical and truly dangerous proportions. Family breakdown touches virtually every family and every American. It is not only the major source of social instability in the Western world today but also seriously threatens civic freedom and constitutional government. G. K. Chesterton once observed that the family serves as the principal check on government power, and he suggested that someday the family and the state would confront one another. According to our guest, that day has arrived. We talk with Stephen Baskerville about the government and its role in marriage.
4:20 – Be to Me a Father and a Priest
Fr. Peter Stravinskas says his priestly ministry has been far more challenging, interesting, and multi-faceted than he ever imagined when entering seminary. He says “Although teaching in, administering, and establishing Catholic schools (elementary, secondary, university, and seminary) have been a constant from my first days as a seminarian, I have also worn many other “hats”—from serving as a pastor, vocations director, and bishop’s secretary, to public relations work for the Church, to writing and lecturing on timely topics throughout the country and abroad, to founding a community of secular clergy devoted to the new evangelization, liturgical renewal, and Catholic education. He is here to look at the many ways in which he has been a priest, and his reflections on that vocation, without which the Church cannot exist.
5:00 – Will the Recession Doom the Last Sunday Blue Laws?
A handful of state legislatures have declared it's closing time for Sunday alcohol sales restrictions, saying an extra day of sales could give their foundering budgets a much-needed shot of revenue. Those states — Georgia, Connecticut, Texas, Alabama and Minnesota — enjoy overwhelming voter support for an extra day of sales, but face opposition from members of the Christian right, who support the few remaining Blue Laws still in effect in the U.S. Proponents of Sunday sales argue that state budgets are under plenty of pressure too and that by allowing people to buy beer, wine or liquor on Sunday at grocery or package stores, states could reap millions of dollars in tax revenue. Two years ago, Dan Hungerman, Professor of Economics at the University of Notre Dame, released a study that shows that both society and religion have been hurt by the repeal of blue laws. Has anything changed with the recession?
5:20 – Hiking the Camino: 500 Miles with Jesus
You might reasonably wonder why anyone would shoulder a heavy backpack, grab a walking stick and hike across Spain. Whatever happened to planes, trains and automobiles? But Father Dave Pivonka knew that the Camino—the ancient pilgrim path to the tomb of Saint James the Apostle in Santiago—offered an opportunity to focus on God in the stripped-down environment typical of the religious journey known as a pilgrimage. Fr. Dave takes us along with him, eager to show that God wants to take care of you whether or not you can see down the road or, if tired and sore, you're tempted to quit. His Camino hike holds real lessons for our own life's journey.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Today on Kresta - October 29, 2009
Talking about the "things that matter most" on Oct. 29
4:00 – 30 Ways in 30 Days to Save Your Family
In her new book, 30 Ways in 30 Days to Save Your Family, author Rebecca Hagelin lays out 30 simple and concrete actions that parents can implement-one day at a time-to reconnect with their children and restore peace in their home. As a mother of three, a syndicated columnist, and specialist on family, culture, and media issues, Rebecca understands the frustration parents feel. She designed this book with working parents and busy families in mind. Moms and dads can read a chapter at soccer practice or while waiting in carpool and come away with practical solutions to common parenting problems that can easily be put to use. She joins us.
4:40 – Spycraft: The Secret History of the CIA's Spytechs, from Communism to Al-Qaeda
Today's CIA is regularly criticized for emphasizing technology at the expense of human intelligence. In this history of the agency's Office of Technical Services, Robert Wallace, its former head, refutes the charge with exciting content and slam-bang style. From WWII through the Cold War and up to the present, he says, technical equipment—for clandestine audio surveillance, for example—has been an essential element of agent operations. In the post–Cold War information society, technology plays an even more significant role in fighting terrorism. Agents remain important, along with their traditional skills. Increasingly, however, they support clandestine technical operations, especially infiltrating and compromising computer networks. He is here to argue that employing and defending against sophisticated digital technology is the primary challenge facing U.S. intelligence in the 21st century.
5:00 – Religious Practice and Family Stability
Couples who are more religious tend to exhibit greater marital commitment than couples who are less religious. There is less likelihood of domestic violence among couples who attend church regularly than among those who do not. Communities with higher concentrations of various religious denominations tend to have a lower incidence of divorce. These are just a few of the findings of a recent Heritage Foundation study on Religious Practice and Family Stability. Jennifer Marshall, Heritage’s Director of Domestic Policy Studies is with us.
5:20 – Sports and the Catholic Family
Participation in athletic activities and playing on sports teams has been viewed as contributing in positive manner to the character development of children. However, a remarkable change has occurred over the past 20 years in regard to the degree of involvement on sports teams by children. Today, many children are under extreme pressures from both coaches and parents to commit themselves to give an unprecedented amount of time and effort to participation in team sports, including those teams which travel regularly on weekends and during the summer. One coach commented that some children now play up to 80 baseball games over the course of a summer, including playing in double headers and in repeated weekend tournaments. This significant change in regard to children's and families’ relationship with sports has damaged marriages, family life and the ability of a large number of children to enjoy sports as a pleasant, relaxing childhood activity. Psychiatrist Rick Fitzgibbons is here to address a number of issues related to this important area of child development and family life.
4:00 – 30 Ways in 30 Days to Save Your Family
In her new book, 30 Ways in 30 Days to Save Your Family, author Rebecca Hagelin lays out 30 simple and concrete actions that parents can implement-one day at a time-to reconnect with their children and restore peace in their home. As a mother of three, a syndicated columnist, and specialist on family, culture, and media issues, Rebecca understands the frustration parents feel. She designed this book with working parents and busy families in mind. Moms and dads can read a chapter at soccer practice or while waiting in carpool and come away with practical solutions to common parenting problems that can easily be put to use. She joins us.
4:40 – Spycraft: The Secret History of the CIA's Spytechs, from Communism to Al-Qaeda
Today's CIA is regularly criticized for emphasizing technology at the expense of human intelligence. In this history of the agency's Office of Technical Services, Robert Wallace, its former head, refutes the charge with exciting content and slam-bang style. From WWII through the Cold War and up to the present, he says, technical equipment—for clandestine audio surveillance, for example—has been an essential element of agent operations. In the post–Cold War information society, technology plays an even more significant role in fighting terrorism. Agents remain important, along with their traditional skills. Increasingly, however, they support clandestine technical operations, especially infiltrating and compromising computer networks. He is here to argue that employing and defending against sophisticated digital technology is the primary challenge facing U.S. intelligence in the 21st century.
5:00 – Religious Practice and Family Stability
Couples who are more religious tend to exhibit greater marital commitment than couples who are less religious. There is less likelihood of domestic violence among couples who attend church regularly than among those who do not. Communities with higher concentrations of various religious denominations tend to have a lower incidence of divorce. These are just a few of the findings of a recent Heritage Foundation study on Religious Practice and Family Stability. Jennifer Marshall, Heritage’s Director of Domestic Policy Studies is with us.
5:20 – Sports and the Catholic Family
Participation in athletic activities and playing on sports teams has been viewed as contributing in positive manner to the character development of children. However, a remarkable change has occurred over the past 20 years in regard to the degree of involvement on sports teams by children. Today, many children are under extreme pressures from both coaches and parents to commit themselves to give an unprecedented amount of time and effort to participation in team sports, including those teams which travel regularly on weekends and during the summer. One coach commented that some children now play up to 80 baseball games over the course of a summer, including playing in double headers and in repeated weekend tournaments. This significant change in regard to children's and families’ relationship with sports has damaged marriages, family life and the ability of a large number of children to enjoy sports as a pleasant, relaxing childhood activity. Psychiatrist Rick Fitzgibbons is here to address a number of issues related to this important area of child development and family life.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Five Myths about the Pope’s Anglican Ordinariates
On October 20, 2009, the Holy See made an unexpected announcement: the Holy Father will be issuing an Apostolic Constitution (the highest form of papal document) through which he will erect personal ordinariates for Anglican clergy and laity wishing to enter the Catholic Church. While rumors about this have been stirring since 2007, the recent decision came as a surprise to most Catholics and Anglicans.
Taylor Marshall at Catholic Online has written a fantastic analysis, dispelling 5 myths about the Vatican's move.
Taylor Marshall at Catholic Online has written a fantastic analysis, dispelling 5 myths about the Vatican's move.
Myth #1 The Pope is sheep-stealingRead more...
The Pope’s alleged “sheep-stealing” been the most popular subject within
the secular media. To them, the Holy Father has launched a media campaign to
kick the Anglican Communion while it’s down. The poor Archbishop of Canterbury
is struggling to keep things together and then “Bamm!” the Pope surprises
everyone with a bid for Anglican souls. However, we must remember that it was
Anglicans who pursued the matter with the Holy Father—and we’re not talking
about just one or two Anglicans. We are talking about thousands and thousands of
Anglicans: bishops, priests, deacons, and laity. Anglican bishops from several
nations have sent private letters to the Holy See. Much of this is confidential.
They want a way out. They want to become Catholic. The Pope is responding to
souls looking to him for guidance. The pope is not stealing sheep—He is holding
out his pastoral staff to those sheep looking for protection.
Myth #2 Rome is preparing the world for a general married
priesthood
The media also sunk its teeth into the fact that the new Anglican
ordinariates would preserve the already recognized discipline of allowing
married former-Anglican priests to be ordained as married Catholic priests. This
is nothing new.
Outrageous Statement of the Day
All hail the great Castro!!! ABC's Peter Jennings: Fidel Castro 'Has Delivered the Most to Those Who Had the Least'
Today on Kresta - Oct. 28, 2009
Talking about the "things that matter most" on Oct. 28
4:00 – Joker One: A Marine Platoon's Story of Courage, Leadership, and Brotherhood
Upon graduating from Princeton with high honors, Donovan Campbell joined the United States Marine Corps, despite pleas from friends and family to choose a safer, more lucrative profession. Campbell was inspired in large part by his Christian faith, which he believed called him to serve others and, in doing so, to live out the example of Jesus Christ. Campbell has served three combat tours and has become highly decorated in the process. Throughout his new book, Campbell describes how his Christian faith molded his concept of leadership. Believing that Jesus Christ’s willing sacrifice provided Christians with a strong servant-leadership model, Campbell sought to copy that model while leading his men. How can the Christ-like servant-leader model be applied in other areas of life? He’s here to tell us.
4:40 – Depression: Three Questions to Ask and Five Ways to Respond
The Church is God’s hospital. It has always been full of people on the mend. We should not be surprised then, that the depressed populate not only secular hospitals and clinics, but also our churches as well. Yet depression remains both familiar and mysterious to pastors and lay church leaders. Mark McMinn is here to look at depression. He has three questions to ask and five ways to respond.
5:00 – Is Stupid Making Us Google?
“Is Google Making Us Stupid?: What the Internet is doing to our brains” is a magazine article by technology writer Nicholas Carr highly critical of the Internet's effect on cognition. It was published last year in The Atlantic magazine as a six-page cover story. Carr's main argument is that the Internet might have detrimental effects on cognition that diminish the capacity for concentration and contemplation. James Bowman has a different take, and has published “Is Stupid Making Us Google?” We talk with him about which came first – the stupid or the google?
5:20 – Angels of God: The Bible, the Church and the Heavenly Hosts
Angels are everywhere. As a matter of fact, they are right at your side – right now. Forget the sweet-faced cherubs of popular culture, however, and brace yourself for a far more potent reality: powerful heavenly beings who play a significant role in the personal drama of daily life - your life. Drawing on Scripture (where angels appear often, carrying out crucial tasks), the words of the Saints and Church teaching, Mike Aquilina shows how developing our fellowship with the angels is not an ornament on our religion, it's a life skill.
4:00 – Joker One: A Marine Platoon's Story of Courage, Leadership, and Brotherhood
Upon graduating from Princeton with high honors, Donovan Campbell joined the United States Marine Corps, despite pleas from friends and family to choose a safer, more lucrative profession. Campbell was inspired in large part by his Christian faith, which he believed called him to serve others and, in doing so, to live out the example of Jesus Christ. Campbell has served three combat tours and has become highly decorated in the process. Throughout his new book, Campbell describes how his Christian faith molded his concept of leadership. Believing that Jesus Christ’s willing sacrifice provided Christians with a strong servant-leadership model, Campbell sought to copy that model while leading his men. How can the Christ-like servant-leader model be applied in other areas of life? He’s here to tell us.
4:40 – Depression: Three Questions to Ask and Five Ways to Respond
The Church is God’s hospital. It has always been full of people on the mend. We should not be surprised then, that the depressed populate not only secular hospitals and clinics, but also our churches as well. Yet depression remains both familiar and mysterious to pastors and lay church leaders. Mark McMinn is here to look at depression. He has three questions to ask and five ways to respond.
5:00 – Is Stupid Making Us Google?
“Is Google Making Us Stupid?: What the Internet is doing to our brains” is a magazine article by technology writer Nicholas Carr highly critical of the Internet's effect on cognition. It was published last year in The Atlantic magazine as a six-page cover story. Carr's main argument is that the Internet might have detrimental effects on cognition that diminish the capacity for concentration and contemplation. James Bowman has a different take, and has published “Is Stupid Making Us Google?” We talk with him about which came first – the stupid or the google?
5:20 – Angels of God: The Bible, the Church and the Heavenly Hosts
Angels are everywhere. As a matter of fact, they are right at your side – right now. Forget the sweet-faced cherubs of popular culture, however, and brace yourself for a far more potent reality: powerful heavenly beings who play a significant role in the personal drama of daily life - your life. Drawing on Scripture (where angels appear often, carrying out crucial tasks), the words of the Saints and Church teaching, Mike Aquilina shows how developing our fellowship with the angels is not an ornament on our religion, it's a life skill.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Today on Kresta - Oct. 27, 2009
Talking about the "things that matter most" on Oct. 27
4:00 – Surviving Hell: A POW's Journey
On April 19, 1967, Air Force Colonel Leo Thorsness was on a mission over North Vietnam when his wingman was shot down by an enemy MiG, which then lined up for a gunnery pass on the two American pilots who had bailed out. Although his F‑105 was not designed for aerial combat, Thorsness engaged the MiG and destroyed it. Spotting four more MiGs, he fought his way through a barrage of North Vietnamese SAMs to engage them too, shooting down one and driving off the others. For this action, Thorsness was awarded the Medal of Honor. But he didn’t learn about it until years later—by a “tap code” coming through prison walls—because on April 30, Thorsness was shot down, captured, and transported to the Hanoi Hilton. He is here to recount a six-year captivity marked by hours of brutal torture and days of agonizing boredom. He describes how he and other American POWs strove to keep their humanity and their faith.
4:40 – The Case for Early Marriage
Virginity pledges. Chastity balls. Courtship. Side hugs. Guarding your heart. Evangelical and Catholic discourse on sex is more conservative than ever. Parents and pastors and youth group leaders told us not to do it before we got married. Why? Because the Bible says so. Yet that simple message didn't go very far in shaping our sexual decision-making. Amid our purity pledges and attempts to make chastity hip, we forgot to teach young Christians how to tie the knot. We talk with Mark Regnerus about the case for early marriage.
5:00 – John Paul II: Confronting the Language Empowering the Culture of Death
We live not only in a time and place but also in the description of that time and place. William Brennan is here to expose how that description was twisted and deformed, and how John Paul the Great responded by teaching the world the language of the culture of life. He reveals how, through a discourse of truth-telling - calling things by their proper name - Pope John Paul II effectively exposed the corruption of language and thought fueling a death culture that is becoming increasingly embedded in medicine, human experimentation, commerce, law, and ideology.
5:40 – Grace Before Meals: Recipes for Family Life
Fr. Leo Patalinghug is the host of a PBS television show “Grace Before Meals”, in which Fr. Leo travels to homes and cooks for families to reinforce relationships through the power of sharing a meal together. He is also the author of a book by the same name that provides a resource for parents who want their children to know that they can always talk to their families. He is with us to talk about the fundamental concept that the simple act of creating and sharing a meal can strengthen all kinds of relationships. Fr. Leo will get busy families back on track by bringing them back to the table.
4:00 – Surviving Hell: A POW's Journey
On April 19, 1967, Air Force Colonel Leo Thorsness was on a mission over North Vietnam when his wingman was shot down by an enemy MiG, which then lined up for a gunnery pass on the two American pilots who had bailed out. Although his F‑105 was not designed for aerial combat, Thorsness engaged the MiG and destroyed it. Spotting four more MiGs, he fought his way through a barrage of North Vietnamese SAMs to engage them too, shooting down one and driving off the others. For this action, Thorsness was awarded the Medal of Honor. But he didn’t learn about it until years later—by a “tap code” coming through prison walls—because on April 30, Thorsness was shot down, captured, and transported to the Hanoi Hilton. He is here to recount a six-year captivity marked by hours of brutal torture and days of agonizing boredom. He describes how he and other American POWs strove to keep their humanity and their faith.
4:40 – The Case for Early Marriage
Virginity pledges. Chastity balls. Courtship. Side hugs. Guarding your heart. Evangelical and Catholic discourse on sex is more conservative than ever. Parents and pastors and youth group leaders told us not to do it before we got married. Why? Because the Bible says so. Yet that simple message didn't go very far in shaping our sexual decision-making. Amid our purity pledges and attempts to make chastity hip, we forgot to teach young Christians how to tie the knot. We talk with Mark Regnerus about the case for early marriage.
5:00 – John Paul II: Confronting the Language Empowering the Culture of Death
We live not only in a time and place but also in the description of that time and place. William Brennan is here to expose how that description was twisted and deformed, and how John Paul the Great responded by teaching the world the language of the culture of life. He reveals how, through a discourse of truth-telling - calling things by their proper name - Pope John Paul II effectively exposed the corruption of language and thought fueling a death culture that is becoming increasingly embedded in medicine, human experimentation, commerce, law, and ideology.
5:40 – Grace Before Meals: Recipes for Family Life
Fr. Leo Patalinghug is the host of a PBS television show “Grace Before Meals”, in which Fr. Leo travels to homes and cooks for families to reinforce relationships through the power of sharing a meal together. He is also the author of a book by the same name that provides a resource for parents who want their children to know that they can always talk to their families. He is with us to talk about the fundamental concept that the simple act of creating and sharing a meal can strengthen all kinds of relationships. Fr. Leo will get busy families back on track by bringing them back to the table.
Friday, October 23, 2009
Christopher West breaks his silence in Theology of the Body debate
Tip of the hat to Catholic News Agency for this story below. Stay tuned to Kresta in the Afternoon to hear Christopher on with Al, likely the week of Nov. 2.Christopher West issued his first reply to critics of his approach to teaching the Theology of the Body today, explaining that it is not a “point by point” answer and that his purpose is to focus on the “pivotal point of the conversation.” At the heart of the heated debate, West argues, is whether or not man can be sexually redeemed by God's grace in this life.
The at-times loud exchange over West's presentation of the Theology of the Body was first touched off by an appearance he made on ABC's show “Nightline” last May.
Responding to the interview, scholars who teach Pope John Paul II's Theology of the Body accused West of being imprudent in presenting the late Pope's message, while others lent him their support.
For his part, Christopher West remained silent until today, when the public relations firm, The Maximus Group, released his response titled, “The Theology of the Body Debate: The Pivotal Question.”
West began his four-page response by thanking those who came to his defense and offered him support, including Cardinal Justin Rigali and Bishop Kevin Rhoades. Speaking to his critics, he thanked those who “offered thoughtful critiques of my work and helpful suggestions on how to improve it, ” adding that he has “taken them to heart.”
However, West argued that “much of the criticism that appeared after the Nightline interview significantly misrepresented what I teach.” According to the speaker, “Rumors were repeated so often that subsequent commentators simply treated dubious accusations as fact.”
Instead of answering his opponents' charges “point by point,” West explained that his comments would be focused on the “pivotal” issue raised by the debate.
“The pivotal question as I see it is this: What does the grace of redemption offer us in this life with regard to our disordered sexual tendencies?” West wrote.
Acknowledging that man must always battle with his tendency to sin, West admitted that, “In some of my earliest lectures and tapes, I confess that I did not emphasize this important point clearly enough.” But, he also stated, by focusing on this limitation, his critics are limiting the power of Christ to transform people's disordered desires.
West also tied his efforts to the New Evangelization called for by the late Pontiff, writing, “John Paul II, it seems, was precisely the herald 'anointed by the Lord' to bring the good news of liberation to our sexually enslaved world.”
“'Do not empty the Cross of its power!' 'This,' he said, 'is the cry of the new evangelization,'” he added, quoting from John Paul II. At the end of his defense, West asserted that the “fundamental message of the TOB is nothing new. In essence, it’s what the saints and mystics have been telling us for centuries about the “great mystery” of Christ’s infinite love for his Bride, the Church. Yet John Paul II has penetrated that same Mystery with new clarity, new insight, new depth – giving us a new language with which to reach the modern world with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”
Urging Catholics to help spread the Theology of the Body, West said, “It is my hope that the Nightline interview and the spirited debate it triggered will spur us all on as Catholics to study the TOB more intently, 'receive' its contents more deeply, and share its liberating message more effectively.”
Christopher West's full response can be read here.
Outrageous Statement of the Day
Rep. Kennedy: Catholic Church Fanning 'Flames of Dissent and Discord' Over Health Bill
This isn't complicated Rep. Kennedy. Abortion is a non-negotiable. Catholics and other rational thinking people realize that you can't advocate or vote for something that allows for, pays for, and reinforces child murder. What if this bill were PERFECTLY in line with Church teaching in every way, except that it excluded blacks? What would Rep. Kennedy think of that?
Let's not forget the EXTREME generosity of the American Catholic Church toward the Kennedy family and especially in the wake of the death, Catholic funeral, and Catholic burial of Rep. Kennedy's uncle - Sen. Ted Kennedy. The Church bent over backwards (some would argue to a fault) to be as generous to the Kennedy's as possible with Sen. Kennedy's death. But some things, Rep. Kennedy, are not up for debate. And killing babies through health care legislation is one of them.
This isn't complicated Rep. Kennedy. Abortion is a non-negotiable. Catholics and other rational thinking people realize that you can't advocate or vote for something that allows for, pays for, and reinforces child murder. What if this bill were PERFECTLY in line with Church teaching in every way, except that it excluded blacks? What would Rep. Kennedy think of that?
Let's not forget the EXTREME generosity of the American Catholic Church toward the Kennedy family and especially in the wake of the death, Catholic funeral, and Catholic burial of Rep. Kennedy's uncle - Sen. Ted Kennedy. The Church bent over backwards (some would argue to a fault) to be as generous to the Kennedy's as possible with Sen. Kennedy's death. But some things, Rep. Kennedy, are not up for debate. And killing babies through health care legislation is one of them.
Today on Kresta - October 23, 2009
Talking about the "things that matter most" on Oct. 23
LIVE FROM THE STUDIOS OF KVSS IN OMAHA, NE
4:00 – Kresta Comments
4:20 – Rendezvous with Destiny: Ronald Reagan and the Campaign That Changed America
As late as Election Day, headlines across the county blared that the race was “too close to call.” Even on the verge of his historic triumph in the 1980 presidential election, political observers continued to underestimate Ronald Wilson Reagan. In Rendezvous with Destiny, the long-awaited follow-up to his widely praised account of Reagan’s insurgent campaign that nearly wrested the 1976 Republican nomination from President Gerald Ford, Craig Shirley tells the incredible behind-the-scenes story of Reagan’s improbable run to the White House in 1980—of how the “too close to call” election became a landslide victory over incumbent Jimmy Carter and independent candidate John Anderson. And this, Shirley shows, was no ordinary election. It dramatically altered the course of American—and world—history. Reagan’s victory gave rise to a new generation of conservatism, ended liberalism’s half-century reign of dominance, reversed the second-worst economic crisis in American history, and led to participation with Margaret Thatcher and Pope John Paul II in the demise of the mighty Soviet Union.
4:40 – Reconnect: When Your Kids Are Connected To Everything But You!
Cell phones, laptops, Facebook, Myspace, IPods, YouTube, texting, instant message, and more. Kids today are growing up in a very different world than that baby boomers did. What happens when your kids are connected to everything but you? Al Menconi has some advice.
5:00 – Marriage in the Lord
Deacon James Keating, Ph.D., explores the theological and spiritual meaning of the sacrament of marriage. Using the Catechism of the Catholic Church as a touchstone, Deacon Keating challenges listeners to go to the depths of what it means to be married in the Lord. Learn that Catholic marriage offers much more than simply the “spiritualization” of what the state calls legal marriage; Understand this sacrament carries the force of divine love; Experience the adventure of man and wife dying-to-self in the face of faithful love; Discover how two hearts are formed and made holy in the self-sacrifice that is their mutual self-giving in Christ; And much more!
5:20 – Anglicans, Come Home: Vatican Throws The Doors Wide Open
Pope Benedict is promulgating an apostolic constitution that will permit Anglican communities whose members wish to be received into the Catholic Church to do so as communities. The papal document allows for the creation of "personal ordinariates" to be headed by formerly Anglican priests, providing a structure within the Catholic hierarchy to supervise the pastoral care of Anglicans who have become Catholics. These "personal ordinariates" would be integrated into national episcopal conferences, but encouraged to preserve the distinctive aspects of the Anglican tradition. The response continues to pour in from around the world, and Fr. Christopher Phillips, pastor of one of the first “personal parishes” in the US, established primarily for former Episcopalians who converted to the Catholic Church, is here to weigh in.
5:40 – Amelia / Pope John Paul II Film Festival
At a glance, the festival selections include many titles that would be at home at, say, the Creation Film Festival or the Heartland Film Festival. There’s The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, a moral parable about the friendship of two boys on opposite sides of a Nazi camp fence. Bandslam, a Walden/Summit musical-comedy-romance. Bella, an award-winning tale about a crisis pregnancy produced by Catholics but popular with Christians of all stripes. But there’s also The 13th Day, a stylish Catholic-produced British indie about the 1917 Marian apparitions and “miracle of the sun” at Fatima, Portugal. It’s Miami’s brand-new John Paul II International Film Festival (October 27–November 7) and it aspires to be a festival with a difference. Film Critic Steven Greydanus is here to discuss it.
LIVE FROM THE STUDIOS OF KVSS IN OMAHA, NE
4:00 – Kresta Comments
4:20 – Rendezvous with Destiny: Ronald Reagan and the Campaign That Changed America
As late as Election Day, headlines across the county blared that the race was “too close to call.” Even on the verge of his historic triumph in the 1980 presidential election, political observers continued to underestimate Ronald Wilson Reagan. In Rendezvous with Destiny, the long-awaited follow-up to his widely praised account of Reagan’s insurgent campaign that nearly wrested the 1976 Republican nomination from President Gerald Ford, Craig Shirley tells the incredible behind-the-scenes story of Reagan’s improbable run to the White House in 1980—of how the “too close to call” election became a landslide victory over incumbent Jimmy Carter and independent candidate John Anderson. And this, Shirley shows, was no ordinary election. It dramatically altered the course of American—and world—history. Reagan’s victory gave rise to a new generation of conservatism, ended liberalism’s half-century reign of dominance, reversed the second-worst economic crisis in American history, and led to participation with Margaret Thatcher and Pope John Paul II in the demise of the mighty Soviet Union.
4:40 – Reconnect: When Your Kids Are Connected To Everything But You!
Cell phones, laptops, Facebook, Myspace, IPods, YouTube, texting, instant message, and more. Kids today are growing up in a very different world than that baby boomers did. What happens when your kids are connected to everything but you? Al Menconi has some advice.
5:00 – Marriage in the Lord
Deacon James Keating, Ph.D., explores the theological and spiritual meaning of the sacrament of marriage. Using the Catechism of the Catholic Church as a touchstone, Deacon Keating challenges listeners to go to the depths of what it means to be married in the Lord. Learn that Catholic marriage offers much more than simply the “spiritualization” of what the state calls legal marriage; Understand this sacrament carries the force of divine love; Experience the adventure of man and wife dying-to-self in the face of faithful love; Discover how two hearts are formed and made holy in the self-sacrifice that is their mutual self-giving in Christ; And much more!
5:20 – Anglicans, Come Home: Vatican Throws The Doors Wide Open
Pope Benedict is promulgating an apostolic constitution that will permit Anglican communities whose members wish to be received into the Catholic Church to do so as communities. The papal document allows for the creation of "personal ordinariates" to be headed by formerly Anglican priests, providing a structure within the Catholic hierarchy to supervise the pastoral care of Anglicans who have become Catholics. These "personal ordinariates" would be integrated into national episcopal conferences, but encouraged to preserve the distinctive aspects of the Anglican tradition. The response continues to pour in from around the world, and Fr. Christopher Phillips, pastor of one of the first “personal parishes” in the US, established primarily for former Episcopalians who converted to the Catholic Church, is here to weigh in.
5:40 – Amelia / Pope John Paul II Film Festival
At a glance, the festival selections include many titles that would be at home at, say, the Creation Film Festival or the Heartland Film Festival. There’s The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, a moral parable about the friendship of two boys on opposite sides of a Nazi camp fence. Bandslam, a Walden/Summit musical-comedy-romance. Bella, an award-winning tale about a crisis pregnancy produced by Catholics but popular with Christians of all stripes. But there’s also The 13th Day, a stylish Catholic-produced British indie about the 1917 Marian apparitions and “miracle of the sun” at Fatima, Portugal. It’s Miami’s brand-new John Paul II International Film Festival (October 27–November 7) and it aspires to be a festival with a difference. Film Critic Steven Greydanus is here to discuss it.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Weigel: New provision marks ‘end of an era’ in Anglican-Catholic relations
Catholic commentator George Weigel says that the Vatican’s announcement of a new provision for Anglican groups who desire to convert to Catholicism is an “end of an era” in Anglican-Catholic relations, showing a widening “theological gulf” between Anglican leadership and the Christian tradition.Writing in The Washington Post's "On Faith" blog, Weigel recounts how Anglican-Catholic relations reached a peak around the time of the Second Vatican Council.
However, in the following decades some Anglican leaders appeared to be distancing themselves from the apostolic tradition on the priesthood and the sacraments.
Weigel discusses an exchange of letters in the 1980s between Pope John Paul II, Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury Robert Runcie and Cardinal Johannes Willebrands, then the head of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.
Asked by the Catholic prelates to explain why parts of the Anglican Communion had decided to ordain women as priests, Weigel recalls that Archbishop Runcie replied in “largely sociological, rather than theological terms.” The then-senior prelate in the Church of England cited women’s changing roles in business, culture and politics as a justification for the novel practice.
When the exchange of letters ended in 1986, a “parting of the ways” had been reached. Catholic authorities believed that apostolic tradition precluded the ordination of women to the priesthood, while Archbishop Runcie and similarly-minded Anglicans, in Weigel’s view, believed that “contemporary human insights into gender roles trumped apostolic tradition and necessitated a development of both doctrine and practice.”
“Rome could not accept that as a legitimate development of Christian self-understanding,” Weigel explains, reporting that Catholic leaders feared the new Anglican approach would cause the revision of their teachings on many other issues, such as sexual morality.
With Pope Benedict’s announcement of a new Anglican provision, Weigel writes at On Faith, Anglicans have been offered a “path into full communion” with the Catholic Church that “honors the distinctiveness of their spiritual and liturgical traditions.”
Outrageous Statement of the Day
Limbaugh to NYTimes environment reporter Revkin: "Why don't you just go kill yourself"
Name That Quote
"Everyone can see today that humanity could destroy the foundation of its own existence, its earth, and therefore we can't simply do whatever we want with this earth that has been entrusted to us, what seems to us in a given moment useful or promising, but we have to respect the inner laws of creation, of this earth, we have to learn these laws and obey them if we want to survive. This obedience to the voice of the earth is more important for our future happiness than the voices of the moment, the desires of the moment. … Existence itself, our earth, speaks to us, and we have to learn to listen."
-- Pope Benedict XVI
Name That Quote
"Everyone can see today that humanity could destroy the foundation of its own existence, its earth, and therefore we can't simply do whatever we want with this earth that has been entrusted to us, what seems to us in a given moment useful or promising, but we have to respect the inner laws of creation, of this earth, we have to learn these laws and obey them if we want to survive. This obedience to the voice of the earth is more important for our future happiness than the voices of the moment, the desires of the moment. … Existence itself, our earth, speaks to us, and we have to learn to listen."
-- Pope Benedict XVI
Today on Kresta - October 22, 2009
Talking about the "things that matter most" on Oct. 22
4:00 – The Nude in Art and John Paul II’s Theology of the Body
The theme of the nude ought to manifest the wonder we feel before the mystery of the human personality. Even more, it ought to manifest the wonder and exultation felt by Adam, still innocent, when he found Eve a helper fit for him, and vice versa. We talk with Lawrence Feingold about the nude in art and Pope John Paul the Great’s Theology of the Body. Why is the image of the human person so brutalized, trivialized, or banalized in 20th Century art compared with the great works of the Western tradition? We find out.
4:40 – Shaky Economy Forces Parents to Change Priorities
In 7 Myths of Working Mothers, author Suzanne Venker dispels the notion that living on one income is designed for the truly fortunate. The recent economic downturn, however, has forced people to scale down their lifestyles. Suzanne is here to argue that living on one income is entirely possible for most families -- and offers suggestions for how to do so.
5:00 – Abortion Rites: A Social History of Abortion in America
In a remarkable and controversial work which goes back to 1992, Marvin Olasky wrote an in-depth analysis of the history of abortion in America. Part One describes the three groups of women who were having abortions through the mid-nineteenth century. Part Two examines the failures and limited successes of anti-abortion Americans as they tried to develop a societal mind-set in which abortion was condemned. And Part Three carries the story into the twentieth century, examining the moral transition among physicians and the impact of changing values and economic pressures. It is as relevant today as it ever was, and Marvin joins us to look at the social history of abortion in America.
5:40 – The Rise & Fall of the Sexual Constitution of Western Civilization
In the latest edition of the journal Touchstone, Allan Carlson, Founder and President of the Howard Center for Family, Religion & Society, published an article entitled “Meaningful Intercourse: The Rise and Fall of the Sexual Constitution of the West.” In it he draws the parallel between modern notions of sexuality and those of ancient Gnosticism. He points out the demise of our civilization is coming through the acceptance of contraception and the legitimating of illegitimacy. We discuss it.
4:00 – The Nude in Art and John Paul II’s Theology of the Body
The theme of the nude ought to manifest the wonder we feel before the mystery of the human personality. Even more, it ought to manifest the wonder and exultation felt by Adam, still innocent, when he found Eve a helper fit for him, and vice versa. We talk with Lawrence Feingold about the nude in art and Pope John Paul the Great’s Theology of the Body. Why is the image of the human person so brutalized, trivialized, or banalized in 20th Century art compared with the great works of the Western tradition? We find out.
4:40 – Shaky Economy Forces Parents to Change Priorities
In 7 Myths of Working Mothers, author Suzanne Venker dispels the notion that living on one income is designed for the truly fortunate. The recent economic downturn, however, has forced people to scale down their lifestyles. Suzanne is here to argue that living on one income is entirely possible for most families -- and offers suggestions for how to do so.
5:00 – Abortion Rites: A Social History of Abortion in America
In a remarkable and controversial work which goes back to 1992, Marvin Olasky wrote an in-depth analysis of the history of abortion in America. Part One describes the three groups of women who were having abortions through the mid-nineteenth century. Part Two examines the failures and limited successes of anti-abortion Americans as they tried to develop a societal mind-set in which abortion was condemned. And Part Three carries the story into the twentieth century, examining the moral transition among physicians and the impact of changing values and economic pressures. It is as relevant today as it ever was, and Marvin joins us to look at the social history of abortion in America.
5:40 – The Rise & Fall of the Sexual Constitution of Western Civilization
In the latest edition of the journal Touchstone, Allan Carlson, Founder and President of the Howard Center for Family, Religion & Society, published an article entitled “Meaningful Intercourse: The Rise and Fall of the Sexual Constitution of the West.” In it he draws the parallel between modern notions of sexuality and those of ancient Gnosticism. He points out the demise of our civilization is coming through the acceptance of contraception and the legitimating of illegitimacy. We discuss it.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Former FNC Lib: CNN and MSNBC Further Left Than Fox Is Right
Recently fired liberal Fox News contributor Marc Lamont Hill claimed Tuesday the White House attacks on his former employer reek of propaganda.
Speaking with WOR radio's Steve Malzberg, Hill also agreed that the two other cable news networks he used to contribute to, CNN and MSNBC, are far more to the left than Fox News is to the right.
These were fascinating comments from someone that was considered one of Fox's most liberal contributors prior to his recent termination from the network (14-minute audio available here, relevant section at 4:20):
Outrageous Statement of the Day
NBC's Chuck Todd served as a mouthpiece for self-serving rationale which painted Obama as a victim of an image of perfection: "One Democratic strategist said that part of the President's problem is simply his own expectations. Some of the rhetoric he said on the campaign trail made it seem as if he was coming into office in a clean white suit. So now any speck of mud...shows up a lot clearer..."
And the response of Traditional Anglicans is...
Archbishop John Hepworth, primate of the Traditional Anglican Communion, has issued a statement welcoming Pope Benedict’s decision to permit Anglican communities to join the Catholic Church as communities.
“We are profoundly moved by the generosity of the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI,” said Archbishop Hepworth. “May I firstly state that this is an act of great goodness on the part of the Holy Father. He has dedicated his pontificate to the cause of unity. It more than matches the dreams we dared to include in our petition of two years ago. It more than matches our prayers. In those two years, we have become very conscious of the prayers of our friends in the Catholic Church. Perhaps their prayers dared to ask even more than ours.”
Archbishop Hepworth continued:
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops also issued a statement welcoming the Vatican announcement.
“We are profoundly moved by the generosity of the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI,” said Archbishop Hepworth. “May I firstly state that this is an act of great goodness on the part of the Holy Father. He has dedicated his pontificate to the cause of unity. It more than matches the dreams we dared to include in our petition of two years ago. It more than matches our prayers. In those two years, we have become very conscious of the prayers of our friends in the Catholic Church. Perhaps their prayers dared to ask even more than ours.”
Archbishop Hepworth continued:
While we await the full text of the Apostolic Constitution, we are also
moved by the pastoral nature of the Notes issued today by the Congregation for
the Doctrine of the Faith. My fellow bishops have indeed signed the Catechism of
the Catholic Church and made a statement about the ministry of the Bishop of
Rome, reflecting the words of Pope John Paul II in his letter "Ut Unum Sint" …
Fortunately, the Statement issued by the Archbishop of Canterbury reflects
the understanding that we have gained from him that he does not stand in our
way, and understands the decisions that we have reached. Both his reaction and
our petition are fruits of a century of prayer for Christian unity, a cause that
many times must have seemed forlorn. We now express our gratitude to Archbishop
Williams, and have regularly assured him of our prayers. The See of Augustine
remains a focus of our pilgrim way, as it was in ages of faith in the past.
I have made a commitment to the Traditional Anglican Communion that the
response of the Holy See will be taken to each of our National Synods. They have
already endorsed our pathway. Now the Holy See challenges us to seek in the
specific structures that are now available the "full, visible unity, especially
Eucharistic communion", for which we have long prayed and about which we have
long dreamed. That process will begin at once.
In the Anglican Office of Morning Prayer, the great Hymn of Thanksgiving,
the Te Deum, is part of the daily Order. It is with heartfelt thanks to Almighty
God, the Lord and Source of all peace and unity, that the hymn is on our lips
today. This is a moment of grace, perhaps even a moment of history, not because
the past is undone, but because the past is transformed.
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops also issued a statement welcoming the Vatican announcement.
Today on Kresta - October 21, 2009
Talking about the "things that matter most" on Oct. 21
4:00 – An Economic Crash: One Year Later. What Have We Learned?
October 2008 was an extraordinary month for the stock market and an exhausting one for investors and traders, who had to stomach extreme market volatility nearly every day during the month. As a matter of fact, six of the Dow’s top ten point changes in 2008 were in October alone. One year after Wall Street teetered on the brink of collapse, seven out of 10 Americans lack confidence the federal government has taken safeguards to prevent another financial industry meltdown, according to a new Associated Press poll. Even more — 80 percent — rate the condition of the economy as poor and a majority worry about their own ability to make ends meet. George Schwartz has the analysis.
4:20 – Discerning the Will of God: An Ignatian Guide to Christian Decision Making
Drawing from the timeless methods of Saint Ignatius of Loyola, Fr. Timothy Gallagher offers a thoughtful meditation enriched with examples and stories that offer practical and profound wisdom for aligning personal desires and goals with God’s will. With guidance on recognizing God’s infinite love, opening the heart to what God wants, making use of silence, the Eucharist, scripture, spiritual direction, finding clarity, and understanding discernment as part of the overall spiritual life in Christ, this discussion addresses questions asked by many Christians throughout life, such as What does God want for my life? Is it time to change jobs? And Should I marry? Focusing on major life decisions such as marriage and career, these insights can be adapted to any of life's decisions, helping the thoughtful Christian find a spiritually inspired mission.
4:45 – Exploring the Ministry of Life
The Guadalupe Partners for Life invite you to an evening of dinner, prayer and reflection. Since the work of the Partners is trans-diocesan, the dinner will be graced by the presence of two bishops: Bishop Earl Boyea of the Lansing diocese, and Bishop Daniel Flores, auxiliary bishop of Detroit. The purpose of the evening is to simply show the pro-life movement a quiet yet near-miraculous method of rescue and transformation. Should the pro-life movement be more present to the poor? Should it be more active on the sidewalks? Is the struggle political or spiritual? These questions will be tackled and more. We hope you will be able to join us and perhaps help open a new window of possibility for the pro-life movement. Co-founders Edmund Miller and Alecia Wong join us.
5:00 – A Catholic View of Literary Classics – Part 5 of 10: King Lear
We continue our 10-week series examining Classic Literature from a Catholic perspective. Acclaimed literary biographer Joseph Pearce is the editor of the Ignatius Critical Editions and will be our guide. We will ensure that traditional moral readings of the works are given prominence, instead of the feminist or deconstructionist readings that often proliferate in other series of 'critical editions'. As such, they represent a genuine extension of consumer choice, enabling educators, students, and lovers of good literature to buy editions of classic literary works without having to 'buy into' the ideologies of secular fundamentalism. Today, we examine Shakespeare’s King Lear.
5:20 – Mary, Mother of the Son (Part 3 of 3)
Mary, Mother of the Son takes the reader on a tour de force exploration of the Marian dimension of Catholic thought, life, prayer, and practice. In Volume One: Modern Myths and Ancient Truth, we discover the fascinating way in which Mary emerges with profundity, beauty, and love from the pages of Scripture in the light of apostolic teaching. We probe how the gospel of Christ crowns and perfects, not only the Old Testament, but the deepest insights of the great non-Christian philosophies, religions, and myths. We learn how to read the Bible as the earliest Christians did and find out how Mary safeguards the deepest truths about Christ and his Church. Mark Shea, author of the trilogy is here for part three in our three-day series on Mary, Mother of the Son.
5:40 – The Vatican’s Investigation of Women Religious in America
In recent weeks, a number of angry voices have been raised to protest the Vatican’s initiative to investigate communities of American nuns. To give just one example, Chicago Sun-Times columnist Carol Marin strongly critiqued the move, arguing that it represents just another example of an out of touch, patriarchal church persecuting those who refuse to cooperate with it. “These investigations,” Marin argues, “are about dissent in the Catholic church and how to stop it.” Now, one could certainly argue that this represents only one person’s opinion. Perhaps, but Fr. Robert Barron thinks that’s precisely what the Vatican quite rightly wants to determine. He join s us.
4:00 – An Economic Crash: One Year Later. What Have We Learned?
October 2008 was an extraordinary month for the stock market and an exhausting one for investors and traders, who had to stomach extreme market volatility nearly every day during the month. As a matter of fact, six of the Dow’s top ten point changes in 2008 were in October alone. One year after Wall Street teetered on the brink of collapse, seven out of 10 Americans lack confidence the federal government has taken safeguards to prevent another financial industry meltdown, according to a new Associated Press poll. Even more — 80 percent — rate the condition of the economy as poor and a majority worry about their own ability to make ends meet. George Schwartz has the analysis.
4:20 – Discerning the Will of God: An Ignatian Guide to Christian Decision Making
Drawing from the timeless methods of Saint Ignatius of Loyola, Fr. Timothy Gallagher offers a thoughtful meditation enriched with examples and stories that offer practical and profound wisdom for aligning personal desires and goals with God’s will. With guidance on recognizing God’s infinite love, opening the heart to what God wants, making use of silence, the Eucharist, scripture, spiritual direction, finding clarity, and understanding discernment as part of the overall spiritual life in Christ, this discussion addresses questions asked by many Christians throughout life, such as What does God want for my life? Is it time to change jobs? And Should I marry? Focusing on major life decisions such as marriage and career, these insights can be adapted to any of life's decisions, helping the thoughtful Christian find a spiritually inspired mission.
4:45 – Exploring the Ministry of Life
The Guadalupe Partners for Life invite you to an evening of dinner, prayer and reflection. Since the work of the Partners is trans-diocesan, the dinner will be graced by the presence of two bishops: Bishop Earl Boyea of the Lansing diocese, and Bishop Daniel Flores, auxiliary bishop of Detroit. The purpose of the evening is to simply show the pro-life movement a quiet yet near-miraculous method of rescue and transformation. Should the pro-life movement be more present to the poor? Should it be more active on the sidewalks? Is the struggle political or spiritual? These questions will be tackled and more. We hope you will be able to join us and perhaps help open a new window of possibility for the pro-life movement. Co-founders Edmund Miller and Alecia Wong join us.
5:00 – A Catholic View of Literary Classics – Part 5 of 10: King Lear
We continue our 10-week series examining Classic Literature from a Catholic perspective. Acclaimed literary biographer Joseph Pearce is the editor of the Ignatius Critical Editions and will be our guide. We will ensure that traditional moral readings of the works are given prominence, instead of the feminist or deconstructionist readings that often proliferate in other series of 'critical editions'. As such, they represent a genuine extension of consumer choice, enabling educators, students, and lovers of good literature to buy editions of classic literary works without having to 'buy into' the ideologies of secular fundamentalism. Today, we examine Shakespeare’s King Lear.
5:20 – Mary, Mother of the Son (Part 3 of 3)
Mary, Mother of the Son takes the reader on a tour de force exploration of the Marian dimension of Catholic thought, life, prayer, and practice. In Volume One: Modern Myths and Ancient Truth, we discover the fascinating way in which Mary emerges with profundity, beauty, and love from the pages of Scripture in the light of apostolic teaching. We probe how the gospel of Christ crowns and perfects, not only the Old Testament, but the deepest insights of the great non-Christian philosophies, religions, and myths. We learn how to read the Bible as the earliest Christians did and find out how Mary safeguards the deepest truths about Christ and his Church. Mark Shea, author of the trilogy is here for part three in our three-day series on Mary, Mother of the Son.
5:40 – The Vatican’s Investigation of Women Religious in America
In recent weeks, a number of angry voices have been raised to protest the Vatican’s initiative to investigate communities of American nuns. To give just one example, Chicago Sun-Times columnist Carol Marin strongly critiqued the move, arguing that it represents just another example of an out of touch, patriarchal church persecuting those who refuse to cooperate with it. “These investigations,” Marin argues, “are about dissent in the Catholic church and how to stop it.” Now, one could certainly argue that this represents only one person’s opinion. Perhaps, but Fr. Robert Barron thinks that’s precisely what the Vatican quite rightly wants to determine. He join s us.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Outrageous Statement of the Day
Tucker Carlson claims Obama advisers "lie for a living". Now we all know that politicians tell a lot of lies and half-truths, but to say that all Obama advisers "lie for a living" is outrageous, un-Christian, and counter-productive.
Today on Kresta - Oct. 20, 2009
Talking about the "things that matter most" on Oct. 20
4:00 – Health Care Debate Hits 5th Gear – Will Babies and Consciences Be Protected?
The intricate process of turning two very different health care bills into one will continue tonight, as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid hosts Sens. Chris Dodd (D-CT), Max Baucus (D-MT), and a number of high-level White House officials in his offices tonight. What does the process of unifying these bills entail, and why is the process so secretive? US Rep. Thaddeus McCotter is here to answer these questions, as well as whether babies and consciences will be protected.
4:20 – Pontiff to permit Anglican communities to join Catholic Church
Pope Benedict is promulgating an apostolic constitution that will permit Anglican communities whose members wish to be received into the Catholic Church to do so as communities. The papal document allows for the creation of "personal ordinariates" to be headed by formerly Anglican priests, providing a structure within the Catholic hierarchy to supervise the pastoral care of Anglicans who have become Catholics. These "personal ordinariates" would be integrated into national episcopal conferences, but encouraged to preserve the distinctive aspects of the Anglican tradition. We talk with Damian Thompson of the London Daily Telegraph and Editor-in-chief of London’s Catholic Herald.
4:40 – The Marriage Index: A Proposal to Establish Leading Marriage Indicators
Family scholars from six major universities and four leading research institutes have launched a U.S. Marriage Index, the first attempt to track, with a clear, accessible measure, the health of marriage in America. The 2009 Index, based on five indicators—shows a dramatic decline in the health of marriage in recent decades, especially. We talk with David Lapp of the Institute for American Values.
5:00 – Kresta Comments
5:20 – Mary, Mother of the Son (Part 2 of 3)
Mary, Mother of the Son takes the reader on a tour de force exploration of the Marian dimension of Catholic thought, life, prayer, and practice. In Volume One: Modern Myths and Ancient Truth, we discover the fascinating way in which Mary emerges with profundity, beauty, and love from the pages of Scripture in the light of apostolic teaching. We probe how the gospel of Christ crowns and perfects, not only the Old Testament, but the deepest insights of the great non-Christian philosophies, religions, and myths. We learn how to read the Bible as the earliest Christians did and find out how Mary safeguards the deepest truths about Christ and his Church. Mark Shea, author of the trilogy is here for part two in our three-day series on Mary, Mother of the Son.
5:40 – Healthcare and Catholics: True and False Arguments
Healthcare reform – it’s one of those causes almost everyone favors, but which almost automatically produces sharp arguments when we ask what it means and how it might be realized. You would have had to be living in a cave for the past eight months to be unaware that Americans are deeply divided on this matter, and that the division runs clean through the middle of many communities. That includes Catholic America. Sam Gregg looks at healthcare and Catholics: true and false arguments.
4:00 – Health Care Debate Hits 5th Gear – Will Babies and Consciences Be Protected?
The intricate process of turning two very different health care bills into one will continue tonight, as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid hosts Sens. Chris Dodd (D-CT), Max Baucus (D-MT), and a number of high-level White House officials in his offices tonight. What does the process of unifying these bills entail, and why is the process so secretive? US Rep. Thaddeus McCotter is here to answer these questions, as well as whether babies and consciences will be protected.
4:20 – Pontiff to permit Anglican communities to join Catholic Church
Pope Benedict is promulgating an apostolic constitution that will permit Anglican communities whose members wish to be received into the Catholic Church to do so as communities. The papal document allows for the creation of "personal ordinariates" to be headed by formerly Anglican priests, providing a structure within the Catholic hierarchy to supervise the pastoral care of Anglicans who have become Catholics. These "personal ordinariates" would be integrated into national episcopal conferences, but encouraged to preserve the distinctive aspects of the Anglican tradition. We talk with Damian Thompson of the London Daily Telegraph and Editor-in-chief of London’s Catholic Herald.
4:40 – The Marriage Index: A Proposal to Establish Leading Marriage Indicators
Family scholars from six major universities and four leading research institutes have launched a U.S. Marriage Index, the first attempt to track, with a clear, accessible measure, the health of marriage in America. The 2009 Index, based on five indicators—shows a dramatic decline in the health of marriage in recent decades, especially. We talk with David Lapp of the Institute for American Values.
5:00 – Kresta Comments
5:20 – Mary, Mother of the Son (Part 2 of 3)
Mary, Mother of the Son takes the reader on a tour de force exploration of the Marian dimension of Catholic thought, life, prayer, and practice. In Volume One: Modern Myths and Ancient Truth, we discover the fascinating way in which Mary emerges with profundity, beauty, and love from the pages of Scripture in the light of apostolic teaching. We probe how the gospel of Christ crowns and perfects, not only the Old Testament, but the deepest insights of the great non-Christian philosophies, religions, and myths. We learn how to read the Bible as the earliest Christians did and find out how Mary safeguards the deepest truths about Christ and his Church. Mark Shea, author of the trilogy is here for part two in our three-day series on Mary, Mother of the Son.
5:40 – Healthcare and Catholics: True and False Arguments
Healthcare reform – it’s one of those causes almost everyone favors, but which almost automatically produces sharp arguments when we ask what it means and how it might be realized. You would have had to be living in a cave for the past eight months to be unaware that Americans are deeply divided on this matter, and that the division runs clean through the middle of many communities. That includes Catholic America. Sam Gregg looks at healthcare and Catholics: true and false arguments.
Monday, October 19, 2009
Outrageous Statement of the Day
In a sign of just how much the debate over Rush Limbaugh's NFL bid is roiling the racial landscape, after Juan Williams explained that Rush's "Barack the Magic Negro" parody was based on a column by an African-American author, a black radio talk show host told Williams to "go back to the porch."
The following day, after he was the recipient of the above racial slur on Thursday night, Juan Williams was the guest host of The "O'Reilly Factor" and delved further into the incredible statement made the night before.
The following day, after he was the recipient of the above racial slur on Thursday night, Juan Williams was the guest host of The "O'Reilly Factor" and delved further into the incredible statement made the night before.
Pro-Lifers Assaulted Outside CA Abortion Mill
On October 15th, Day 23 of the 40 Days for Life campaign, a pro-choice woman shouted obscenities at 40 Days volunteers in Fresno, CA, before attempting to break the event security camera and assaulting Victor Fierro, director of Latinos4Life. The attacker cut Fierro’s arm with an unknown object, drawing blood, and then stormed back to her car and fled the scene. Much of the encounter took place right behind the camera, but the audio was all captured, as well as her face and license plate number. Read more here. Watch the video below or here.
Today on Kresta - Oct. 19, 2009
Talking about the "things that matter most" on Oct. 19
4:00 – Kresta Comments
4:20 – Beyond the Final Score: There's More to Life Than the Game
From the vast farmlands of Nebraska to the halls of Congress to the Green Zone in Iraq, Tom Osborne has become a legend by serving those around him and by always putting his God first. Perhaps no college football program in history has seen as much success as Osborne's did under his watch (255 wins in 25 seasons). But there is much more to Tom Osborne. Beyond the Final Score chronicles his years as a congressman, educator, family man, mentor and now athletic director. It reveals the character, values and faith that have grounded him throughout his incredible journey.
4:40 – Orientalism and Islam: European Thinkers on Oriental Despotism in the Middle East and India
Through an historical analysis of the theme of Oriental despotism, Michael Curtis reveals the complex positive and negative interaction between Europe and the Orient. The book also criticizes the misconception that the Orient was the constant victim of Western imperialism and the view that Westerners cannot comment objectively on Eastern and Muslim societies. The book views the European concept of Oriental despotism as based not on arbitrary prejudicial observation, but rather on perceptions of real processes and behavior in Eastern systems of government.
5:00 – Kresta Comments
5:20 – Mary, Mother of the Son (Part 1 of 3)
Mary, Mother of the Son takes the reader on a tour de force exploration of the Marian dimension of Catholic thought, life, prayer, and practice. In Volume One: Modern Myths and Ancient Truth, we discover the fascinating way in which Mary emerges with profundity, beauty, and love from the pages of Scripture in the light of apostolic teaching. We probe how the gospel of Christ crowns and perfects, not only the Old Testament, but the deepest insights of the great non-Christian philosophies, religions, and myths. We learn how to read the Bible as the earliest Christians did and find out how Mary safeguards the deepest truths about Christ and his Church. Mark Shea, author of the trilogy is here for part one in our three-day series on Mary, Mother of the Son.
5:40 – Where the Wild Things Are
Where the Wild Things Are is one of those truly rare books that can be enjoyed equally by a child and a grown-up. If you disagree, then it's been too long since you've attended a wild rumpus. Max dons his wolf suit in pursuit of some mischief and gets sent to bed without supper. Fortuitously, a forest grows in his room, allowing his wild rampage to continue unimpaired. The classis children’s book has been adapted for the big screen and it opened #1 at the box office over the weekend. Steven Greydanus has the review.
4:00 – Kresta Comments
4:20 – Beyond the Final Score: There's More to Life Than the Game
From the vast farmlands of Nebraska to the halls of Congress to the Green Zone in Iraq, Tom Osborne has become a legend by serving those around him and by always putting his God first. Perhaps no college football program in history has seen as much success as Osborne's did under his watch (255 wins in 25 seasons). But there is much more to Tom Osborne. Beyond the Final Score chronicles his years as a congressman, educator, family man, mentor and now athletic director. It reveals the character, values and faith that have grounded him throughout his incredible journey.
4:40 – Orientalism and Islam: European Thinkers on Oriental Despotism in the Middle East and India
Through an historical analysis of the theme of Oriental despotism, Michael Curtis reveals the complex positive and negative interaction between Europe and the Orient. The book also criticizes the misconception that the Orient was the constant victim of Western imperialism and the view that Westerners cannot comment objectively on Eastern and Muslim societies. The book views the European concept of Oriental despotism as based not on arbitrary prejudicial observation, but rather on perceptions of real processes and behavior in Eastern systems of government.
5:00 – Kresta Comments
5:20 – Mary, Mother of the Son (Part 1 of 3)
Mary, Mother of the Son takes the reader on a tour de force exploration of the Marian dimension of Catholic thought, life, prayer, and practice. In Volume One: Modern Myths and Ancient Truth, we discover the fascinating way in which Mary emerges with profundity, beauty, and love from the pages of Scripture in the light of apostolic teaching. We probe how the gospel of Christ crowns and perfects, not only the Old Testament, but the deepest insights of the great non-Christian philosophies, religions, and myths. We learn how to read the Bible as the earliest Christians did and find out how Mary safeguards the deepest truths about Christ and his Church. Mark Shea, author of the trilogy is here for part one in our three-day series on Mary, Mother of the Son.
5:40 – Where the Wild Things Are
Where the Wild Things Are is one of those truly rare books that can be enjoyed equally by a child and a grown-up. If you disagree, then it's been too long since you've attended a wild rumpus. Max dons his wolf suit in pursuit of some mischief and gets sent to bed without supper. Fortuitously, a forest grows in his room, allowing his wild rampage to continue unimpaired. The classis children’s book has been adapted for the big screen and it opened #1 at the box office over the weekend. Steven Greydanus has the review.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Rifqa Bary: The Latest
A Florida judge on Tuesday said Rifqa Bary, 17, will be returned to Ohio once her parents meet two conditions. First, the Barys must they are in the U.S. legally. The judge said he asked the couple for their immigration papers three months ago and has only seen a partial VISA and an incomplete passport. The judge said a contempt of court charge is a possibility if he doesn't get the paperwork.
Watch this report for more...
Watch this report for more...
Today on Kresta - Oct. 14, 2009
Talking about the "things that matter most" on Oct. 14
Best of “Kresta in the Afternoon”
4:00 – Kresta Comments
4:20 – Newman Guide to Choosing a Catholic College: 2nd Edition
When Pope John Paul II issued Ex Corde Ecclesiae in 1990, he called for Catholic colleges and universities to renew their commitments to the doctrinal teachings and intellectual traditions of the Church. The response has been slow, leaving many Catholic families bewildered as to where to find the best of Catholic education. There are in fact a number of fine Catholic institutions of higher education in America—if one knows where, and how, to look for them. The recently updated Newman Guide to Choosing a Catholic College: What to Look For and Where to Find It is the first college guide to show students where they can learn and grow in a genuine Catholic environment without the nonsense that has overtaken even some of the most well-known Catholic universities. We discuss it. Patrick Reilly joins us.
4:40 – The Danger of Turning Religion into a “Toy”
Fr. Robert Barron is convinced that a very serious enemy to the Church is a current creeping take-it-or-leave-it indifference to religion. Not so much a hostility to religion as the weary, even bored, bracketing of those questions that, for centuries, have captivated the greatest minds and spirits of the human race. Where did the universe come from? What is the deepest purpose of my life? Where is reality ultimately tending? Is there a meaning inherent in the events of history and the movements of nature? We look at the danger of turning religion into a “toy”.
5:00 – Kresta Comments – Barak, the Bible, and the Nobel Prize
U.S. President Barack Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for offering the world hope and striving for nuclear disarmament in a surprise award that drew both warm praise and sharp criticism. The bestowal of one of the world's top accolades on a president less than nine months in office, who has yet to score a major foreign policy success, was greeted with gasps of astonishment from journalists at the announcement in Oslo. Al has a perspective as well.
5:20 – Can Catholics Solve the Middle East Conflict?
Morning headlines announce renewed violence and fresh calls for peace negotiations, while pundits on talk radio and cable TV shout conflicting opinions at anyone who will listen. Between perplexing contradictions and inflammatory rhetoric, it is often difficult to find out what’s really going on in the Middle East. Former TIME magazine Jerusalem bureau chief David Aikman, who has spent decades reporting on Mid-East issues, takes a sober, balanced look at a region aflame. He brings a journalist’s mind and a believer’s heart to his exploration of the political and religious factors in play, and goes beyond the media’s chronic over-simplification to carefully examine recent history and the leaders who have made that history. Discover the truth behind the headlines: God’s restoring hand is at work in a region of the world torn apart by centuries of strife.
5:40 – UNDER GOD: George Washington and the Question of Church and State
Candidate Barack Obama drew little attention during last year's presidential campaign when he ventured into the thorny territory of church and state. While President George W. Bush had expanded government contracts to faith-based groups, Obama promised to end that arrangement if the groups proselytized to the needy they served, or hired only members of that faith. According to our next guest, this perversion of the First Amendment would appall George Washington. Joseph Smith is the co-author of a ground-breaking book on Washington’s views on church and state show that the greatest Founding Father not only sanctioned the tax-payer support of religion, but he even permitted the federal funding of missionary efforts to Native Americans—what would the ACLU say to that!?
Best of “Kresta in the Afternoon”
4:00 – Kresta Comments
4:20 – Newman Guide to Choosing a Catholic College: 2nd Edition
When Pope John Paul II issued Ex Corde Ecclesiae in 1990, he called for Catholic colleges and universities to renew their commitments to the doctrinal teachings and intellectual traditions of the Church. The response has been slow, leaving many Catholic families bewildered as to where to find the best of Catholic education. There are in fact a number of fine Catholic institutions of higher education in America—if one knows where, and how, to look for them. The recently updated Newman Guide to Choosing a Catholic College: What to Look For and Where to Find It is the first college guide to show students where they can learn and grow in a genuine Catholic environment without the nonsense that has overtaken even some of the most well-known Catholic universities. We discuss it. Patrick Reilly joins us.
4:40 – The Danger of Turning Religion into a “Toy”
Fr. Robert Barron is convinced that a very serious enemy to the Church is a current creeping take-it-or-leave-it indifference to religion. Not so much a hostility to religion as the weary, even bored, bracketing of those questions that, for centuries, have captivated the greatest minds and spirits of the human race. Where did the universe come from? What is the deepest purpose of my life? Where is reality ultimately tending? Is there a meaning inherent in the events of history and the movements of nature? We look at the danger of turning religion into a “toy”.
5:00 – Kresta Comments – Barak, the Bible, and the Nobel Prize
U.S. President Barack Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for offering the world hope and striving for nuclear disarmament in a surprise award that drew both warm praise and sharp criticism. The bestowal of one of the world's top accolades on a president less than nine months in office, who has yet to score a major foreign policy success, was greeted with gasps of astonishment from journalists at the announcement in Oslo. Al has a perspective as well.
5:20 – Can Catholics Solve the Middle East Conflict?
Morning headlines announce renewed violence and fresh calls for peace negotiations, while pundits on talk radio and cable TV shout conflicting opinions at anyone who will listen. Between perplexing contradictions and inflammatory rhetoric, it is often difficult to find out what’s really going on in the Middle East. Former TIME magazine Jerusalem bureau chief David Aikman, who has spent decades reporting on Mid-East issues, takes a sober, balanced look at a region aflame. He brings a journalist’s mind and a believer’s heart to his exploration of the political and religious factors in play, and goes beyond the media’s chronic over-simplification to carefully examine recent history and the leaders who have made that history. Discover the truth behind the headlines: God’s restoring hand is at work in a region of the world torn apart by centuries of strife.
5:40 – UNDER GOD: George Washington and the Question of Church and State
Candidate Barack Obama drew little attention during last year's presidential campaign when he ventured into the thorny territory of church and state. While President George W. Bush had expanded government contracts to faith-based groups, Obama promised to end that arrangement if the groups proselytized to the needy they served, or hired only members of that faith. According to our next guest, this perversion of the First Amendment would appall George Washington. Joseph Smith is the co-author of a ground-breaking book on Washington’s views on church and state show that the greatest Founding Father not only sanctioned the tax-payer support of religion, but he even permitted the federal funding of missionary efforts to Native Americans—what would the ACLU say to that!?
Homosexualist Play To Be Performed at Four SF Catholic High Schools
Thanks to Larry at "Acts of the Apostasy" for this story. San Francisco Loses 4 Catholic High Schools. Should you find them, please return them to The Faith.
Four Catholic High Schools in the Archdiocese of San Francisco are
scheduled to host a performance of the condom-endorsing sex-education play
Secrets. The play was written by openly lesbian playwright Patricia Loughrey.
Secrets will be performed on October 14, 2009 at Sacred Heart Cathedral
Preparatory High School in San Francisco; on November 5, 2009 at Sacred Heart
High School in Atherton; on January 19, 2010 at Mercy High School in Burlingame,
and on February 9, 2010 at St. Ignatius College Preparatory High School in San
Francisco.
The play depicts a teenager who is HIV positive. Some content in Secrets
was considered, by the Fremont, California Unified School District, to be
sufficiently graphic to require that a permission slip be signed by parents
before their child would be allowed to see it. The Fremont Unified School
District also posts an online flyer (in English and Chinese) for parents,
informing them of the performance, and inviting them to watch a video of Secrets
before giving their permission. The flyer also describes two of the scenes: “A
character dumps dozens of brightly wrapped condoms on the floor with a
discussion about which type of condoms are the best to use and how to use them
effectively.” Another scene is a “Discussion about contraceptives and a visual
display of them.” The production of Secrets in the San Francisco Archdiocese is
sponsored by the Educational Theater Programs division of the Kaiser Permanente
HMO.
Read
more here...
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Church “on the ball” with preparations for World Cup 2010
As South Africa prepares for one of the biggest sports events of its history, the Church, too, is having a hand in the preparations for next year’s World Cup.
It’s called “Church on the Ball,” and it’s the Catholic church’s way of getting involved in next year’s games by welcoming thousands of people to the historic event.
Watch Below...
Notre Dame Pays Student Expenses to D.C. March for Gay "Marriage"
The University of Notre Dame gave financial assistance to five students to participate in Sunday’s national gay rights demonstration, which was organized in part to advocate homosexual “marriage,” a campus newspaper has reported.The “National Equality March” on Sunday, October 11, in Washington, D.C., was sponsored by Equality Across America, which aims to build a national grassroots network asserting homosexual couples’ “right to marry” as well as other demands. The Catholic Church believes that marriage is possible only between a man and a woman.
“Faithful Catholics will ask whether Notre Dame has learned its lesson from the scandalous commencement ceremony last spring,” said Patrick J. Reilly, President of The Cardinal Newman Society. “What university seeking to reassure families of its Catholic identity would pay for students to attack the family and oppose Catholic teachings on marriage?”
Students from Notre Dame’s Progressive Student Alliance (PSA) petitioned the Student Activities Office ad were granted funding to travel to and participate in the demonstration. The Notre Dame students marched two miles across D.C. and then joined gay rights activists for a Capitol Hill rally.
The president of the Progressive Students Alliance told The Observer, “The fact that we were University-approved was surprising but it was a wonderful surprise. The University hasn't always been entirely receptive in the past.”
Read The Observer’s article here.
"Catholic" Gay-Marriage Ad Running in Maine
Homosexual advocates have released a shameless new ad featuring a grandmother and two gay men urging Maine voters this November to approve same-sex "marriage." The grandmother in the new commercial speaks about her Catholic faith and the importance of the institution of marriage, but then urges voters to support same-sex "marriage."
CatholicVoteAction.org President Brian Burch said, “For decades gay and lesbian groups have attacked the Catholic Church for refusing to accept their skewed views on human sexuality and marriage. Having lost that battle, they have now launched this desperate and despicable attempt to curry favor with Catholics by pretending that the Catholic faith supports their radical agenda.”
Burch continued, “Gay marriage groups have lost virtually every ballot question put before the people for a vote, including a major defeat in California last November. They are no longer content to defend their radical beliefs on their own, and instead have stooped to lying about the Catholic Church and its teachings, proof that gay activists will stop at nothing to promote their agenda.”
“Everybody knows the Catholic Church is opposed to counterfeit marriages. The Church believes marriage is a natural institution, vindicated by common reason that serves both men and women, and the needs of children. The Church defends marriage as a civic institution believing marriage and family to be the fundamental unit of society,” explained Burch.
“For homosexual groups to suggest that the Catholic Church believes otherwise is disingenuous, dishonest, and an insult to the intelligence of Catholic voters in Maine,” said Burch.
“We call on Protect Maine Equality to stop lying about our faith and to immediately pull this ad from the airwaves and from YouTube,” said Burch
The ad, produced by Protect Maine Equality, can be viewed below http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKBkVF6aexA
CatholicVoteAction.org President Brian Burch said, “For decades gay and lesbian groups have attacked the Catholic Church for refusing to accept their skewed views on human sexuality and marriage. Having lost that battle, they have now launched this desperate and despicable attempt to curry favor with Catholics by pretending that the Catholic faith supports their radical agenda.”
Burch continued, “Gay marriage groups have lost virtually every ballot question put before the people for a vote, including a major defeat in California last November. They are no longer content to defend their radical beliefs on their own, and instead have stooped to lying about the Catholic Church and its teachings, proof that gay activists will stop at nothing to promote their agenda.”
“Everybody knows the Catholic Church is opposed to counterfeit marriages. The Church believes marriage is a natural institution, vindicated by common reason that serves both men and women, and the needs of children. The Church defends marriage as a civic institution believing marriage and family to be the fundamental unit of society,” explained Burch.
“For homosexual groups to suggest that the Catholic Church believes otherwise is disingenuous, dishonest, and an insult to the intelligence of Catholic voters in Maine,” said Burch.
“We call on Protect Maine Equality to stop lying about our faith and to immediately pull this ad from the airwaves and from YouTube,” said Burch
The ad, produced by Protect Maine Equality, can be viewed below http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKBkVF6aexA
Today on Kresta - Oct. 13, 2009
Talking about the "things that matter most" on Oct. 13
4:00 – Kresta Comments
4:20 – A Theology of Relics
The hosting of a relic of St. Damien of Molokai (1840-1889) in the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament, Detroit, Oct. 13-14 provides an opportunity for us to reflect on the meaning and purpose of relics within the Catholic faith. Relics, it seems, are still very much in the news. Recently, a thief stole a relic of the true cross from a monastery in Spain. In England, thousands of people - many of them unbelievers - turned out for a public tour of the relics of St. Thérèse of Lisieux . Why so much concern about the remains of the dead? Dr. Robert Fastiggi is here to explain.
4:40 – A Catholic View of Literary Classics – Part 4 of 10: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
We continue our 10-week series examining Classic Literature from a Catholic perspective. Acclaimed literary biographer Mary Reichardt is one of the editors of the Ignatius Critical Editions and will be our guide this week. We will ensure that traditional moral readings of the works are given prominence, instead of the feminist or deconstructionist readings that often proliferate in other series of 'critical editions'. As such, they represent a genuine extension of consumer choice, enabling educators, students, and lovers of good literature to buy editions of classic literary works without having to 'buy into' the ideologies of secular fundamentalism. Today, we examine The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
5:00 – The Abbess of Andalusia: Flannery O'Connor’s Spiritual Journey
Flannery O'Connor has been studied and lauded under many labels: the Southern author whose pen captured the soul of a proud region struggling to emerge out of racism and poverty, the female writer whose independent spirit and tragically short life inspired a generation of women, the Catholic artist whose fiction evokes themes of sin and damnation, mercy and redemption. Now, and for the first time, The Abbess of Andalusia affords us an in-depth look at Flannery O'Connor the believer. You will come to know Flannery O'Connor not only as a writer and an icon, but as a theologian and apologist; as a spiritual director and a student of prayer; as a suffering soul who learned obedience and merited grace through infirmity; and truly, as the Abbess of her own small, but significant, spiritual house. Lorraine Murray guides us.
5:40 – Kresta Comments
4:00 – Kresta Comments
4:20 – A Theology of Relics
The hosting of a relic of St. Damien of Molokai (1840-1889) in the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament, Detroit, Oct. 13-14 provides an opportunity for us to reflect on the meaning and purpose of relics within the Catholic faith. Relics, it seems, are still very much in the news. Recently, a thief stole a relic of the true cross from a monastery in Spain. In England, thousands of people - many of them unbelievers - turned out for a public tour of the relics of St. Thérèse of Lisieux . Why so much concern about the remains of the dead? Dr. Robert Fastiggi is here to explain.
4:40 – A Catholic View of Literary Classics – Part 4 of 10: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
We continue our 10-week series examining Classic Literature from a Catholic perspective. Acclaimed literary biographer Mary Reichardt is one of the editors of the Ignatius Critical Editions and will be our guide this week. We will ensure that traditional moral readings of the works are given prominence, instead of the feminist or deconstructionist readings that often proliferate in other series of 'critical editions'. As such, they represent a genuine extension of consumer choice, enabling educators, students, and lovers of good literature to buy editions of classic literary works without having to 'buy into' the ideologies of secular fundamentalism. Today, we examine The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
5:00 – The Abbess of Andalusia: Flannery O'Connor’s Spiritual Journey
Flannery O'Connor has been studied and lauded under many labels: the Southern author whose pen captured the soul of a proud region struggling to emerge out of racism and poverty, the female writer whose independent spirit and tragically short life inspired a generation of women, the Catholic artist whose fiction evokes themes of sin and damnation, mercy and redemption. Now, and for the first time, The Abbess of Andalusia affords us an in-depth look at Flannery O'Connor the believer. You will come to know Flannery O'Connor not only as a writer and an icon, but as a theologian and apologist; as a spiritual director and a student of prayer; as a suffering soul who learned obedience and merited grace through infirmity; and truly, as the Abbess of her own small, but significant, spiritual house. Lorraine Murray guides us.
5:40 – Kresta Comments
Monday, October 12, 2009
Today on Kresta - Oct. 12, 2009
Talking about the "things that matter most" on Oct. 12
4:00 – Kresta Comments
4:20 – Columbus Day: Christopher Columbus the Franciscan
He led four expeditions to the New World, but never accomplished his original goal--to find a western ocean route to Asia. Instead, Christopher Columbus ushered in a new era in world history by opening up the Americas to exploration. On this Columbus Day, we find out more about Christopher Columbus the Franciscan. Kay Brigham is our guide.
4:40 – Mother of Columbine Shooter Speaks
After the Columbine school massacre – the 1999 shooting that left more than a dozen students dead in their Colorado high school – we heard nothing from the parents of the shooters. Neither the Klebod nor Harris families wanted to speak about what their sons had done. Now, all these years later, the mother of Dylan Klebold, Susan Klebold, has written an essay for Oprah’s O Magazine. We talk with Columbine expert Dave Cullen.
5:00 – Kresta Comments
5:20 – Graphic Images of Abortion: A History and an Argument
Most abortion advocates decry the use of graphic abortion photos as unfair and manipulative. "Shock value" has no place in the abortion debate, they might argue. In reality, abortion images are no more shocking than the act of abortion itself. The pictures, in fact, are far less shocking than seeing an abortion take place in person. This topic got front page coverage in the New York Times over the weekend and the centerpiece of the interview, Dr. Monica Miller, is with us.
4:00 – Kresta Comments
4:20 – Columbus Day: Christopher Columbus the Franciscan
He led four expeditions to the New World, but never accomplished his original goal--to find a western ocean route to Asia. Instead, Christopher Columbus ushered in a new era in world history by opening up the Americas to exploration. On this Columbus Day, we find out more about Christopher Columbus the Franciscan. Kay Brigham is our guide.
4:40 – Mother of Columbine Shooter Speaks
After the Columbine school massacre – the 1999 shooting that left more than a dozen students dead in their Colorado high school – we heard nothing from the parents of the shooters. Neither the Klebod nor Harris families wanted to speak about what their sons had done. Now, all these years later, the mother of Dylan Klebold, Susan Klebold, has written an essay for Oprah’s O Magazine. We talk with Columbine expert Dave Cullen.
5:00 – Kresta Comments
5:20 – Graphic Images of Abortion: A History and an Argument
Most abortion advocates decry the use of graphic abortion photos as unfair and manipulative. "Shock value" has no place in the abortion debate, they might argue. In reality, abortion images are no more shocking than the act of abortion itself. The pictures, in fact, are far less shocking than seeing an abortion take place in person. This topic got front page coverage in the New York Times over the weekend and the centerpiece of the interview, Dr. Monica Miller, is with us.
Heckuva Job, Barack
Commentary below by ROSS DOUTHAT of the New York Times on Obama's Nobel win.This was Barack Obama’s chance.
Here was an opportunity to cut himself free, in a stroke, from the baggage that’s weighed his presidency down — the implausible expectations, the utopian dreams, the messianic hoo-ha.
Here was a place to draw a clean line between himself and all the overzealous Obamaphiles, at home and abroad, who poured their post-Christian, post-Marxist yearnings into the vessel of his 2008 campaign.
Here was an opportunity to cut himself free, in a stroke, from the baggage that’s weighed his presidency down — the implausible expectations, the utopian dreams, the messianic hoo-ha.
Here was a place to draw a clean line between himself and all the overzealous Obamaphiles, at home and abroad, who poured their post-Christian, post-Marxist yearnings into the vessel of his 2008 campaign.
Here was a chance to establish himself, definitively, as an American president — too self-confident to accept an unearned accolade, and too instinctively democratic to go along with European humbug.
He didn’t take it. Instead, he took the Nobel Peace Prize.
Big mistake.
People have argued that you can’t turn down a Nobel. Please. Of course you can. Obama is a gifted rhetorician with world-class speechwriters. All he would have needed was a simple, graceful statement emphasizing the impossibility of accepting such an honor during his first year in office, with America’s armed forces still deep in two unfinished wars.
Would the world have been offended? Well, to start with, the prize isn’t given out by an imaginary “world community.” It’s voted on and handed out by a committee of five obscure Norwegians. So turning it down would have been a slap in the face, yes, to Thorbjorn Jagland, Kaci Kullmann Five, Sissel Marie Ronbeck, Inger-Marie Ytterhorn and Agot Valle. But it wouldn’t have been a slap in the face to the Europeans or the Africans, to Moscow or Beijing, or to any other population or great power that an American president should fret about offending.
In any case, it will be far more offensive when Obama takes the stage in Oslo this November instead of Morgan Tsvangirai, Zimbabwe’s heroic opposition leader; or Thich Quang Do, the Buddhist monk and critic of Vietnam’s authoritarian regime; or Rebiya Kadeer, exiled from China for her labors on behalf of the oppressed Uighur minority; or anyone who has courted death this year protesting for democracy in the Islamic Republic of Iran.
True, Obama didn’t ask for this. It was obvious, from his halting delivery and slightly shamefaced air last Friday, that he wishes the Nobel committee hadn’t put him in this spot.
But he still wasn’t brave enough to tell it no.
Obama gains nothing from the prize. No domestic constituency will become more favorably disposed to him because five Norwegians think he’s already changed the world — and the Republicans were just handed the punch line for an easy recession-era attack ad. (To quote the Democratic strategist Joe Trippi, anticipating the 30-second spots to come: “He got a Nobel Prize. What did you get? A pink slip.”)
Overseas, there was nobody, from Paris to Peshawar, who woke up Friday more disposed to work with the United States because of the Nobel committee’s decision — and plenty of more seasoned statesman who woke up laughing. (Vladimir Putin probably hasn’t snickered this much since John McCain tried to persuade Americans that “we are all Georgians” during last year’s weeklong war.)
Meanwhile, the prize makes every foreign-policy problem Obama faces seem ever so slightly more burdensome. Now he’s the Nobel laureate who has to choose between escalating a counterinsurgency in Afghanistan or ceding ground to a theocratic mafia. He’s the Nobel laureate who’ll either have to authorize military strikes against Iran or construct an effective, cold-war-style deterrence system for the Middle East. He’s the Nobel laureate who’ll probably fail, like every U.S. president before him, to prod Israelis and Palestinians toward a comprehensive settlement.
At the same time, the prize leaves Obama more open to ridicule. It confirms, as a defining narrative of his presidency, the gap between his supporters’ cloud-cuckoo-land expectations and the inevitable disappointments of reality. It dovetails perfectly with the recent “Saturday Night Live” sketch in which he was depicted boasting about a year’s worth of nonaccomplishments. And it revives and ratifies John McCain’s only successful campaign gambit — his portrayal of Obama as “the world’s biggest celebrity,” famous more for being famous than for any concrete political accomplishment.
Great achievements may still await our Nobel president. If Obama goes from strength to strength, then this travesty will be remembered as a footnote to his administration, rather than a defining moment.
But by accepting the prize, he’s made failure, if and when it comes, that much more embarrassing and difficult to bear. What’s more, he’s etched in stone the phrase with which critics will dismiss his presidency.
Slick Willie. Tricky Dick. Jimmy “Malaise” Carter. Dubya the Incompetent.
And now Barack Obama, Nobel laureate.
Family values at Princeton?
Very encouraging commentary by Marcia Segelstein at the World Magazine Blog:There may be hope yet. Students at Princeton University have formed an organization called The Anscombe Society, which, according to the mission statement on its website, is “dedicated to affirming the importance of the family, marriage, and a proper understanding for the role of sex and
sexuality.”Its goal is to foster an environment that values traditional marriage and a “chaste lifestyle.” Yes, you read that correctly. Students at a secular Ivy League university have formed, of their own free will, a group promoting chastity!
The Anscrombe Society offers support for students who share those values, as well as opportunities for the wider university community to engage in discussions with them. Just a few days ago, The Anscrombe Society hosted an event called “Ask Anscrombe Anything.” People were encouraged to attend no matter what their views, as the website made clear: “If you find some of our positions reprehensible, then come and challenge us.”
How refreshing that such a group exists in the first place, and seems willing and eager to engage in difficult discussions with those who disagree.
The group’s website also includes a link to the Love and Fidelity Network for students on other campuses interested in forming similar organizations.
Princeton is already a bright spot when it comes to offering students a change from the leftist ideologies that dominate so many of America’s institutions of higher education. In 2000, Professor Robert George founded (and still directs) the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions, renowned for its traditional curriculum.
And next month, Princeton will play host to the second annual intercollegiate conference on “Sexuality, Integrity and the University,” designed to educate students in arguments that uphold traditional views of marriage, sex, and family. Professor George will be a featured speaker.
Marvin Olasky: The Nobel Farce
President Obama winning the Nobel Peace Prize for giving speeches? Former Sen. John Danforth of Missouri seemed rightly exasperated: “What has he done? It’s a joke.” I hope Jon Stewart and Saturday Night Live don’t chicken out on this one. Lech Walesa, the brave leader of Solidarity in Poland, who won the prize in 1983, said it well: Obama “has no contribution so far.”Theodore Roosevelt won the prize in 1906 for some action: mediating talks that ended the 1905 Russo-Japanese War. Woodrow Wilson’s post-World War I efforts contributed to the advent of World War II, but at least he won the prize in 1919 for some action, starting the League of Nations. One joke I heard: Obama will win the Heisman Trophy because he’s talked about setting up a college football playoff system.
The awards to Jimmy Carter in 2002, Al Gore in 2007, and Obama now have cheapened the Prize and exposed it for what it represents: the views of several left-wing Norwegian politicians. In any event, it will be interesting to see what Obama does with the $1 million award: With the hyperinflation his spending policies may bring, the award could be $1 trillion in 10 years.
Gasps as Obama awarded Nobel Peace Prize
The announcement drew gasps of surprise and cries of too much, too soon. Yet President Barack Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday because the judges found his promise of disarmament and diplomacy too good to ignore.The five-member Norwegian Nobel Committee - four of whom spoke to The Associated Press, said awarding Obama the peace prize could be seen as an early vote of confidence intended to build global support for the policies of his young administration.
They lauded the change in global mood wrought by Obama's calls for peace and cooperation, and praised his pledges to reduce the world stock of nuclear arms, ease U.S. conflicts with Muslim nations and strengthen its role in combating climate change.
"Some people say - and I understand it - 'Isn't it premature? Too early?' Well, I'd say then that it could be too late to respond three years from now," Thorbjoern Jagland, chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, told the AP. "It is now that we have the opportunity to respond - all of us."
Jagland said the committee whittled down a record pool of 205 nominations and had "several candidates until the last minute," but it became more obvious that "we couldn't get around these deep changes that are taking place" under Obama.
Obama said he was surprised and deeply humbled by the honor, and planned to travel to Oslo in December to accept the prize.
"Let me be clear: I do not view it as a recognition of my own accomplishments, but rather as an affirmation of American leadership on behalf of aspirations held by people in all nations," he said at the White House. "To be honest, I do not feel that I deserve to be in the company of so many of the transformative figures who've been honored by this prize."
Many were shocked by the unexpected choice so early in a presidency that began less than two weeks before the Feb. 1 nomination deadline for the prize and has yet to yield concrete achievements in peacemaking.
"So soon? Too early. He has no contribution so far. He is only beginning to act," said former Polish President Lech Walesa, who won the peace prize in 1983.
Aagot Valle, a lawmaker for the Socialist Left party who joined the Nobel committee this year, said she hoped the selection would be viewed as "support and a commitment for Obama."
"And I hope it will be an inspiration for all those that work with nuclear disarmament and disarmament," she told AP in a rare interview. Members of the committee usually speak only through its chairman.
The peace prize was created partly to encourage ongoing peace efforts, but Obama's efforts are at far earlier stages than those of past winners, and the committee acknowledged they may not bear fruit at all.
Republican Party Chairman Michael Steele said Obama won because of his "star power" rather than meaningful accomplishments.
"The real question Americans are asking is, 'What has President Obama actually accomplished?'" Steele said.
Drawing criticism from some on the left, Obama has been slow to bring troops home from Iraq and the real end of the U.S. military presence there won't come until at least 2012.
The Nobel committee said it paid special attention to Obama's vision of a nuclear-free world, laid out in a speech in Prague and in April and at the United Nations last month.
Unlike the other Nobel Prizes, which are awarded by Swedish institutions, the peace prize is given out by the five-member committee elected by the Norwegian Parliament. Like the Parliament, the panel has a leftist slant, with three members elected by left-of-center parties and two right-of-center members. Jagland said the decision to honor Obama was unanimous.
The secretive committee declined to say who nominated Obama. In Nobel tradition, nominations are kept secret for 50 years, unless those making the submissions go public about their picks.
This year's nominations included Colombian activist Piedad Cordoba, Afghan woman's rights activist Simi Samar and Denis Mukwege, a physician in war-torn Congo who opened a clinic to help rape victims.
Nominators for the prize are broad and include former laureates; current and former members of the committee and their staff; members of national governments and legislatures; university professors of law, theology, social sciences, history and philosophy; leaders of peace research and foreign affairs institutes; and members of international courts of law.
In his 1895 will, Alfred Nobel stipulated that the peace prize should go "to the person who shall have done (my emphasis) the most or the best work for fraternity between the nations and the abolition or reduction of standing armies and the formation and spreading of peace congresses."
Friday, October 9, 2009
Today on Kresta - Oct. 9, 2009
Talking about the "things that matter most" on Oct. 9
4:00 – Kresta Comments – Barak, the Bible, and the Nobel Prize
U.S. President Barack Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize today for offering the world hope and striving for nuclear disarmament in a surprise award that drew both warm praise and sharp criticism. The bestowal of one of the world's top accolades on a president less than nine months in office, who has yet to score a major foreign policy success, was greeted with gasps of astonishment from journalists at the announcement in Oslo. Al has a perspective as well.
4:20 – Can Catholics Solve the Middle East Conflict?
Morning headlines announce renewed violence and fresh calls for peace negotiations, while pundits on talk radio and cable TV shout conflicting opinions at anyone who will listen. Between perplexing contradictions and inflammatory rhetoric, it is often difficult to find out what’s really going on in the Middle East. Former TIME magazine Jerusalem bureau chief David Aikman, who has spent decades reporting on Mid-East issues, takes a sober, balanced look at a region aflame. He brings a journalist’s mind and a believer’s heart to his exploration of the political and religious factors in play, and goes beyond the media’s chronic over-simplification to carefully examine recent history and the leaders who have made that history. Discover the truth behind the headlines: God’s restoring hand is at work in a region of the world torn apart by centuries of strife.
4:40 – UNDER GOD: George Washington and the Question of Church and State
Candidate Barack Obama drew little attention during last year's presidential campaign when he ventured into the thorny territory of church and state. While President George W. Bush had expanded government contracts to faith-based groups, Obama promised to end that arrangement if the groups proselytized to the needy they served, or hired only members of that faith. According to our next guest, this perversion of the First Amendment would appall George Washington. Joseph Smith is the co-author of a ground-breaking book on Washington’s views on church and state show that the greatest Founding Father not only sanctioned the tax-payer support of religion, but he even permitted the federal funding of missionary efforts to Native Americans—what would the ACLU say to that!?
5:00 – Kresta Comments – Barak, the Bible, and the Nobel Prize
U.S. President Barack Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize today for offering the world hope and striving for nuclear disarmament in a surprise award that drew both warm praise and sharp criticism. The bestowal of one of the world's top accolades on a president less than nine months in office, who has yet to score a major foreign policy success, was greeted with gasps of astonishment from journalists at the announcement in Oslo. Al has a perspective as well.
5:20 – Has Evolution Been Turned on its Ear?
A new fossil find out of Ethiopia threatens to “turn evolution on its head” and disproves the “missing link” in the evolution of humans. Another in China claims to be another link in the evolutionary chain of the inner ear. But the real question is where did the information come from to build these creatures? Fossils are nice, but ultimately they do nothing to tell us how we got here. Need someone to help answer those questions? Dr. Stephen Meyer, author, scientist and Discovery Institute fellow, is available. Dr. Meyer is the author of Signature in a Cell: DNA and the Evidence for Intelligent Design.
5:40 – A Catholic View of Literary Classics – Part 3 of 10: Wuthering Heights
We continue our 10-week series examining Classic Literature from a Catholic perspective. Acclaimed literary biographer Joseph Pearce is the editor of the Ignatius Critical Editions and will be our guide. We will ensure that traditional moral readings of the works are given prominence, instead of the feminist or deconstructionist readings that often proliferate in other series of 'critical editions'. As such, they represent a genuine extension of consumer choice, enabling educators, students, and lovers of good literature to buy editions of classic literary works without having to 'buy into' the ideologies of secular fundamentalism. Today, we examine Shakespeare’s Wuthering Heights
4:00 – Kresta Comments – Barak, the Bible, and the Nobel Prize
U.S. President Barack Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize today for offering the world hope and striving for nuclear disarmament in a surprise award that drew both warm praise and sharp criticism. The bestowal of one of the world's top accolades on a president less than nine months in office, who has yet to score a major foreign policy success, was greeted with gasps of astonishment from journalists at the announcement in Oslo. Al has a perspective as well.
4:20 – Can Catholics Solve the Middle East Conflict?
Morning headlines announce renewed violence and fresh calls for peace negotiations, while pundits on talk radio and cable TV shout conflicting opinions at anyone who will listen. Between perplexing contradictions and inflammatory rhetoric, it is often difficult to find out what’s really going on in the Middle East. Former TIME magazine Jerusalem bureau chief David Aikman, who has spent decades reporting on Mid-East issues, takes a sober, balanced look at a region aflame. He brings a journalist’s mind and a believer’s heart to his exploration of the political and religious factors in play, and goes beyond the media’s chronic over-simplification to carefully examine recent history and the leaders who have made that history. Discover the truth behind the headlines: God’s restoring hand is at work in a region of the world torn apart by centuries of strife.
4:40 – UNDER GOD: George Washington and the Question of Church and State
Candidate Barack Obama drew little attention during last year's presidential campaign when he ventured into the thorny territory of church and state. While President George W. Bush had expanded government contracts to faith-based groups, Obama promised to end that arrangement if the groups proselytized to the needy they served, or hired only members of that faith. According to our next guest, this perversion of the First Amendment would appall George Washington. Joseph Smith is the co-author of a ground-breaking book on Washington’s views on church and state show that the greatest Founding Father not only sanctioned the tax-payer support of religion, but he even permitted the federal funding of missionary efforts to Native Americans—what would the ACLU say to that!?
5:00 – Kresta Comments – Barak, the Bible, and the Nobel Prize
U.S. President Barack Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize today for offering the world hope and striving for nuclear disarmament in a surprise award that drew both warm praise and sharp criticism. The bestowal of one of the world's top accolades on a president less than nine months in office, who has yet to score a major foreign policy success, was greeted with gasps of astonishment from journalists at the announcement in Oslo. Al has a perspective as well.
5:20 – Has Evolution Been Turned on its Ear?
A new fossil find out of Ethiopia threatens to “turn evolution on its head” and disproves the “missing link” in the evolution of humans. Another in China claims to be another link in the evolutionary chain of the inner ear. But the real question is where did the information come from to build these creatures? Fossils are nice, but ultimately they do nothing to tell us how we got here. Need someone to help answer those questions? Dr. Stephen Meyer, author, scientist and Discovery Institute fellow, is available. Dr. Meyer is the author of Signature in a Cell: DNA and the Evidence for Intelligent Design.
5:40 – A Catholic View of Literary Classics – Part 3 of 10: Wuthering Heights
We continue our 10-week series examining Classic Literature from a Catholic perspective. Acclaimed literary biographer Joseph Pearce is the editor of the Ignatius Critical Editions and will be our guide. We will ensure that traditional moral readings of the works are given prominence, instead of the feminist or deconstructionist readings that often proliferate in other series of 'critical editions'. As such, they represent a genuine extension of consumer choice, enabling educators, students, and lovers of good literature to buy editions of classic literary works without having to 'buy into' the ideologies of secular fundamentalism. Today, we examine Shakespeare’s Wuthering Heights