Today on "Kresta in the Afternoon" - February 27, 2013

Talking about the "things that matter most" on Feb. 27

4:00 – Kresta Comments

4:20 – Papal Resignation a “Striking Example” of Personal Vocation
For the last several weeks Russell Shaw has been teaching an online course about the role of the Catholic laity. They had just gotten to the subject of personal vocation when the startling news came through: Benedict XVI was stepping down as pope. Posting a question that Monday morning to get his students' discussion rolling for the week, he began by remarking that Pope Benedict's action was "the most striking example of personal vocation that I've seen in a long time." The very first of them to respond said this: “Personal vocation is just that, personal. Not every man who is pope will retire as Benedict XVI just did. It is part of God's plan for this man, at this time, in this case.” Russell joins us to discuss personal vocation in light of the Holy Father’s decision.

5:00 – Kresta Comments

5:20 – The Morning-After Pill: What Does it Do?
On Feb. 21, the German Bishops' Conference announced that Catholic hospitals under their jurisdiction could prescribe the “morning-after pill” to rape victims, a policy shift that reflects the position of the U.S. bishops. The German bishops stated that Church health-care facilities could provide the medication as long as it would have “a preventive and not an abortive effect.” Hours after the news from Germany, some U.S. media cited the policy change as evidence that the Catholic Church no longer believed that Plan B acted as an abortifacient. Further, commentators suggested that the news raised questions about the Health and Human Services' mandate legal challenges filed by Christian business owners, who said they could not provide abortion-inducing drugs, like Plan B and “ella,” in their employee health plans. We sort this out with Fr. Tad Pacholczyk of the National Catholic Bioethics Center.

5:40 – Kresta Comments