Today on Kresta - Nov. 11, 2009

Talking about the "things that matter most" on Nov. 11

4:00 – Catholic Women’s Conference

4:20 – Apostolic Constitution on Anglicans Released
The apostolic constitution responding to Anglicans who wish communion with the Holy See opens "a new avenue for the promotion of Christian unity," the Vatican says. This evaluation was given in a statement from the Vatican announcing "Anglicanorum Coetibus," Benedict XVI's apostolic constitution that establishes personal ordinariates for Anglicans who want to enter the Catholic Church. Complementary norms and an official commentary were also published. The constitution "introduces a canonical structure that provides for such corporate reunion [...] which will allow the above mentioned groups to enter full communion with the Catholic Church while preserving elements of the distinctive Anglican spiritual and liturgical patrimony," the statement explained. We get analysis from Fr. Peter Stravinskas.

4:40 – Is American Exceptionalism a Thing of the Past?
When James K. Polk was elected president in 1844, the United States was locked in a bitter diplomatic struggle with Britain over the rich lands of the Oregon Territory, which included what is now Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. Texas, not yet part of the Union, was threatened by a more powerful Mexico. And the territories north and west of Texas -- what would become California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, and part of Colorado -- belonged to Mexico. When Polk relinquished office four years later, the country had grown by more than a third as all these lands were added. The continental United States, as we know it today, was established -- facing two oceans and positioned to dominate both. In a one-term presidency, Polk completed the story of America's Manifest Destiny -- extending its territory across the continent, from sea to sea. We look at the period of American exceptionalism and ask if it is a dead concept. Robert Merry is here.

5:00 – When Hell Was in Session
On this Veteran’s Day, Admiral Jeremiah Denton, the senior American officer to serve as a Vietnam POW, tells the amazing story of the almost eight years he survived as a POW in North Vietnam. In 1966, he appeared on a television interview from prison and blinked the word 'torture' in Morse Code, confirming for the world that atrocities were taking place in the Hanoi Hilton. And while in prison, he acted as the senior officer and looked after the morale of his troops at great risk to himself. After his release in 1973, Denton was promoted to rear admiral and in 1980 won election to the United States Senate where he worked with President Reagan to fight communism in Latin America. Admiral Denton tells his story.

5:30 – A Catholic View of Literary Classics – Part 7 of 10: Pride and Prejudice
We continue our 10-week series examining Classic Literature from a Catholic perspective. Acclaimed literary biographer Christopher Blum is one of the editors 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 Pride and Prejudice.