Today on Kresta - October 21, 2011

KRESTA SPECIAL BROADCAST

Today on “Kresta in the Afternoon” we share a special presentation of a tribute to the pro-life work of Joseph Scheidler. In April, more than 30 pro-life leaders from around the country gathered together in Chicago for a banquet and evening of tribute to one of the giants of the pro-life movement. Joe has devoted his life and all of his being to the lives of the unborn. He has been called the father of direct action, he has served jail time for his ministry, he was the primary defendant in one of the most high-profile abortion-related cases in history attaining victory in the US Supreme Court and much more. Ave Maria Radio was a sponsor of the event and recorded the program. Today we hear many of the testimonies given that night by people such as Al Kresta, David Bereit, Jenn Giroux, Tom Brejcha, Troy Newman, Peggy Hamill, Janet Morana, Monica Miller, Lynn Mills, Eric Scheidler, Doug Scott, Jim Sedlak, John Jakubczyk, Patricia Bambrage and Joe Scheidler himself.

Santorum Says Cain is Not Fully Pro-Life

Watch the interview below and decide for yourself. It seems as though Cain has a clarification to make because some of his statements are a bit confusing.

Today on Kresta - October 20, 2011

Talking about the "things that matter most" on Oct. 20

4:00 - Pope Declares a “Year of Faith”
Pope Benedict XVI has announced a special “Year of Faith,” dedicated to rousing a “new impetus to the mission of the whole Church to lead men out of the desert in which they often find themselves, to the place of life, of friendship with Christ.” The Year of Faith will begin on October 11, 2012: a date that marks the 50th anniversary of the opening of Vatican II. Pope Benedict notes that the date is also the 20th anniversary of the publication of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which he describes as “a precious and indispensable tool” for the task of evangelization. Matthew Bunson is here to discuss this major announcement.

4:20 – AP: “Challenges loom as world population about to hit 7 billion” Really?
As of Oct. 31, according to the U.N. Population Fund, there will be 7 billion people inhabiting the earth. The Associated Press reports it this way: “Is catastrophe inevitable? Not necessarily. But experts say most of Africa - and other high-growth developing nations such as Afghanistan and Pakistan - will be hard-pressed to furnish enough food, water and jobs for their people, especially without major new family-planning initiatives.” The executive director of the U.N. Population Fund, says “There are 215 million women worldwide who need family planning and don't get it. If we can change that, and these women can take charge of their lives, we'll have a better world." Steve Mosher of the Population Research Institute has a different view.

4:40 – Qaddafi Dead: What Comes Next?
Two months ago we talked with Dr. Walid Phares about an article he wrote entitled “After Qaddafi-- Insurgency, Democracy or Jihad?” Muammar Qaddafi is now dead and the question is even more germane. What happens now? Dr. Phares joins us again.

5:00 – Extreme Makeover: Women Transformed By Christ And Not Conformed To The Culture
Teresa Tomeo knows from experience that the self-image of American women is being distorted by pop culture. With its emphasis on youth, physical beauty, and sexuality, the secular media is encouraging women--and girls--to see themselves primarily as sex objects. Teresa has pulled together the latest research on social behavior and trends in order to demonstrate that women are harming themselves and their chances for true happiness by adopting the thoroughly modern, sexually liberated lifestyle portrayed in magazines and movies. Teresa joins us to show us that women can shed the toxic messages that objectify and enslave them and embrace the truth about being a beloved daughter of God.

GOP front-runners hit hard in debate

By Seth McLaughlin
The Washington Times

LAS VEGAS — Republican presidential candidates sharpened their attacks on the front-runners as they took the stage Tuesday for the latest GOP debate, taking turns slamming Herman Cain's "9-9-9" tax-reform plan and calling former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney's health care reform the model for the Obama administration's Affordable Care Act.

The former Godfather's Pizza CEO came under fire minutes into the debate with Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota warning that under a liberal Congress and liberal president, Mr. Cain's proposed 9 percent sales tax could jump to 90 percent. "Any time you give the Congress a brand-new tax, it doesn't go away," she said.

"Herman, I love you brother," Texas Gov. Rick Perry said to Mr. Cain, "but you don't have to have a big analysis to figure this thing out.

"It's not going to fly," he said, adding that voters in states such as New Hampshire, where there is no sales tax, have no appetite for a federal sales tax.

Former Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania cited a new analysis, released earlier in the day by the independent Tax Policy Center, that found taxes would go up for 84 percent of the nation's households under 9-9-9.

Mr. Cain stayed relatively poised, countering that the criticisms were "knee-jerk reactions" and that his rivals were comparing apples — state sales taxes — with oranges — his proposal for a new 9 percent national sales tax on new goods.

"The reason that our plan is being attacked so much is because lobbyists, accountants, politicians, they don't want to throw out the current tax code and put in something that's simple and fair," he said, responding to the barrage. "They want to continue to be able to manipulate the American people with a 10-million-word mess. Let's throw out the 10-million-word mess and put in our plan, which will liberate the American workers and liberate American businesses."

Mr. Romney pounced on Mr. Cain's characterization, saying, "I am going to be getting a bushel basket that has apples and oranges in it, because I'm going to pay both taxes."

The field then quickly turned its attention to Mr. Romney's vow to repeal the president's health care law, with Mr. Santorum saying that Mr. Romney doesn't have "credibility" on the issue because "your plan was the basis for 'Obamacare.'"

"There's a lot of big government behind 'Romneycare' — not as much as 'Obamacare,' but a heck of a lot more than your campaign is admitting," Newt Gingrich said, although the former House Speaker admitted that he supported an individual mandate in the past.

The event at times appeared to devolve into a rhetorical food fight, with the candidates shouting over one another in an attempt to paint the other in a poor light.

Mr. Santorum took on the role of moderator at one point, telling Mr. Romney that he'd run out of time, while Mr. Romney scolded Mr. Santorum and Mr. Perry on several occasions for interrupting him.

"Are you just going to keep talking?" an exasperated Mr. Romney said at one point to the energized Texas governor, who seemed clearly more combative than in previous debates. "You have a problem with allowing someone to finish speaking. I would suggest, if you want to become president of the United States, you have to let people finish speaking."

The remarks came after Mr. Perry rehashed old allegations that surfaced in the 2008 presidential campaign that Mr. Romney hired illegal immigrants to work at his home.

"The idea that you stand here before us and talk about that you're strong on immigration is, on its face, the height of hypocrisy," Mr. Perry said.

In response, Mr. Romney acknowledged that he hired a lawn company that had illegal immigrants working on the crew and "when that was pointed out to us, we let them go."

Then he tried to turn the table on Mr. Perry, highlighting his support of in-state tuition for some children of illegal immigrants and a controversial report from the Center for Immigration Studies that suggested 40 percent of all the new jobs created in Texas went to illegal immigrants — a charge Mr. Perry called "a falsehood on its face."

At one point, Mr. Romney put his hand on Mr. Perry's shoulder, saying: "It's been a tough couple of debates for Rick. And I understand that so you're going to get testy."

Topics in the fifth debate in six weeks ranged from questions about the candidates' personal faith and the Wall Street bailout to the Occupy Wall Street protests and the call to build a border fence.

Mr. Paul questioned how candidates who support a border fence, including Mr. Cain, Mrs. Bachmann and Mr. Romney, would pay for it. Mr. Paul later suggested that the nation could free up money to bolster the southern border by ending assistance to foreign countries and bring the troops home from overseas.

"I want to hear somebody up here willing to cut something — something real," he said.

Mr. Cain found himself backtracking on two other issues during the two-hour debate.

He backed away from earlier comments about building a lethal electric fence on the Mexico border and also said he wouldn't be willing to negotiate with terrorists, even though he suggested earlier in the day that he would be open to such a decision.

With all the fire trained on one another, the Republicans' big target, President Obama, was left relatively unscathed.

Mr. Gingrich tried to steer the conversation back to the incumbent and voiced concerns that the intraparty squabbling will hurt the GOP's nominee in the long run.

"Let me just point out a second that maximizing bickering is probably not the road to the White House," Mr. Gingrich said.

Former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman skipped the debate, part of the CNN/Western Republican Leadership Conference, in protest of the Nevada GOP's decision to move its caucus date up to Jan. 14. That move has threatened to upend the rest of the primary schedule, with New Hampshire's secretary of state warning he might push the first-in-the-nation primary to early December.

Last week, several of the candidates, including Mr. Gingrich and Mr. Cain, said they will join Mr. Huntsman and boycott Nevada's caucus if the state party refuses to push it back three days, as requested by New Hampshire.

Some see the boycott effort as an attempt by cash-strapped candidates to devalue Nevada's contest in the face of strong support here for Mr. Romney, though an uproar from some elected leaders in the Granite State and editorial in the influential New Hampshire Union Leader could turn up the political heat on the Romney camp.

EU court bans patents on stem cell medical treatments involving destroyed embryos

Cardinal Zen on hunger strike to defend Catholic schools in China

Today on Kresta - October 19, 2011

Talking about the "things that matter most" on Oct. 19

4:00 – 6:00 - Direct to My Desk
The topic is open. The floor is yours. We take your questions and raise the topics that are “the things that matter most” to YOU. From apologetics to current news, you can call 877-573-7825 and set the agenda for today’s program.

Obama alienates Catholics

By Colleen Carroll-Campbell

Catholics make up about a quarter of the American electorate and have backed the popular-vote winner in every presidential election since 1972.

That track record continued through 2008: While weekly churchgoing Catholics slightly favored Sen. John McCain, Catholics as a whole backed President Barack Obama by a margin of 54 to 45 percent.

Given the role Catholics played in Obama's 2008 victory and their habit of picking presidential winners, you might think that an embattled president with a 40-percent approval rating would be working overtime to solidify his support among this crucial voting bloc. Instead, Obama seems intent on convincing Catholics that their faith in him was unwarranted.

While other voters have been disappointed by Obama's economic failures and arrogant, ham-handed approach to everything from health care reform to the Solyndra scandal, swing-voting Catholics have special reason to feel betrayed. A candidate who won their support by pledging to respect the religiously grounded views of those with whom he disagrees has morphed into a president whose administration relentlessly attacks religious liberty.

In the past year, Obama's Justice Department has argued in court that defenders of traditional marriage – the most visible segment of which are observant Catholics and bishops – should be regarded in law as the equivalent of racists. His National Labor Relations Board has issued rulings against two Catholic schools, St. Xavier University in Chicago and Manhattan College in New York, saying that they are not sufficiently Catholic to warrant religious exemptions from federal labor law – a stunning breach of the precedent in which religious bodies, not government officials, decide who qualifies as a member of a particular church. Those rulings followed on the heels of a highly publicized crusade by Obama's Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to punish North Carolina's Belmont Abbey College for removing contraception coverage from its employee health plans, a move the Catholic school made to conform to church doctrine.

And just last week, Obama's Justice Department argued before the Supreme Court for the effective gutting of the longstanding "ministerial exception" that allows religious bodies to hire and fire employees without government interference. The administration's extreme position has drawn criticism from nearly every major religious organization in the country, from the liberal National Council of Churches to the conservative National Association of Evangelicals, all of whom fear that their churches could be the next targets of an overzealous, First-Amendment-trampling Uncle Sam.

Among Catholics, the most egregious example of Obama's broken promise of religious tolerance is the one dominating diocesan headlines now: His administration's push for a mandate that would require Catholic institutions to violate the teachings of their church by covering contraceptives in their health care plans – including sterilization and drugs that induce abortions.

The mandate would be controversial even if accompanied by the standard religious exemption that allows faith-based organizations to opt out of government regulations that violate their religious beliefs. But the Obama administration has gone a step further, by crafting a religious exemption for the mandate so narrow that it excludes nearly all Catholic hospitals, elementary and secondary schools, colleges and universities and charitable organizations – virtually everyone, it seems, except Catholic parishes and religious orders. The upshot: Catholic colleges that teach abortion is evil must pay for abortifacient drugs for their students and Catholic hospitals that refuse to sterilize patients must subsidize sterilization for their employees.

The mandate and its lack of conscience protection is a blatant attack on religious freedom and a far cry from the promise Obama made at the University of Notre Dame in 2009. Back then, when the president was peddling his health care plan and pledging to seek "common ground" with pro-life Catholics, he vowed to "honor the conscience of those who disagree with abortion, and draft a sensible conscience clause." Now that Obamacare has passed, the president and his surrogates are singing a different tune.

The president's hard-line, anti-freedom stance threatens to alienate millions of Catholics, including many who disagree with their church's teachings but resent the prospect of government officials dictating which doctrines Catholic institutions may follow and which ones they must violate.

"We are in a war," Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius told a NARAL Pro-Choice America crowd in Chicago last week.

Sebelius followed her martial rhetoric with a sarcastic swipe at pro-lifers who fail to see church-funded
contraception as a cure-all for America's astronomical abortion rates. Apparently, the secretary has not read the 2011 Guttmacher Institute report that found a majority of women who abort their babies were using contraception the month they conceived.

Obama displays a similarly dismissive attitude toward his pro-life and Catholic critics. At a fundraiser here in St. Louis last week, he offered a flippant "darn tooting" rejoinder to an audience member who called out support for his unyielding enforcement of the contraceptive mandate. He answered a recent invitation to dialogue from U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops President and New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan with stony silence. And he has ignored pleas for compromise from the likes of Notre Dame President Rev. John Jenkins and Catholic Health Association President Sr. Carol Keehan, two former Obama cheerleaders who now look like Obama's dupes.

Colleen Carroll Campbell. "Obama is alienating Catholic voters." St. Louis Post-Dispatch (October 13, 2011).


Colleen Carroll Campbell is a St. Louis-based author, former presidential speechwriter and television and radio host of "Faith & Culture" on EWTN. Her website is www.colleen-campbell.com.

Reforms coming for Regnum Christi

The Vatican is planning a thorough reform of Regnum Christi, the lay arm of the Legion of Christ.

Cardinal Velasio De Paolis, who is acting as the Pope’s delegate in supervising reform within the Legion, disclosed on October 17 that an investigation of Regnum Christi uncovered a series of concerns, which would require rewriting the group’s norms. Vatican officials expressed concern that the consecrated members of Regnum Christi were subject to strict discipline, but had no clear definition of their own rights within the Church.

Cardinal De Paolis said that “the issues regarding personal and community life that have emerged from this same visitation on an institutional level initially appear to be many and challenging.” He indicated, however, that Regnum Christi would continue its affiliation with the Legion of Christ.

The AP reported under the blunt headline "Vatican weighs in on cult-like group in Legion"

The Vatican has proposed giving hundreds of women who live like nuns within the troubled Legion of Christ order greater autonomy after a Holy See investigation found serious problems in their regimented communities.

The pope's delegate running the Legion, Cardinal Velasio De Paolis, said in a letter published Monday that the problems of the consecrated women of the Legion's lay branch were "many and challenging." Of particular concern is that they have no legal status in the church.

In a 2010 Associated Press expose, former consecrated women spoke of the cult-like conditions they lived in, with rules dictating nearly every minute of their day — from how they ate to what they watched on TV — all in the name of God's will.

The women described emotional and spiritual abuse they suffered if they questioned their vocation, and of how they would be cast aside if their spiritual directors no longer had any need for them.

The Vatican ordered the investigation after word of the abuses emerged during a broader Vatican probe into the Legion, a conservative order founded in Mexico in 1941 by the late Rev. Marciel Maciel.

After decades of denying allegations Maciel was a pedophile, the Legion in 2009 began admitting to his double life: that he sexually abused seminarians and had fathered at least three children with two women.

The revelations have put the Legion in a tailspin and cast a shadow over the Vatican since Pope John Paul II had held Maciel up as a model for his orthodoxy and ability to attract new priests and donations.

Maciel had created the consecrated branch of the Legion's lay movement Regnum Christi primarily as a fundraising tool and to provide unpaid teachers for Legion-owned schools. The consecrated women also run youth programs and work to recruit new members.

The members, who at their height numbered about 900 women and a few dozen men, make promises of poverty, chastity and obedience like nuns do, though they enjoy none of the legal protections nuns have that make it difficult for their orders to kick them out.

One of the great scandals about the consecrated women is that they were told the Vatican in 2004 had approved a set of over 1,000 rules dictating how they were to behave when, in fact, the Vatican approved only about 150 general norms.

Read more here...

No inter-religious prayer at Assisi peace pilgrimage

CWNews.com

More than 200 representatives of various religious faiths, from 50 different countries, will participate in the pilgrimage for peace at Assisi on October 27. However, there will be no inter-religious prayer service at the event.

"The emphasis is on the pilgrimage, not on the common prayer," said Cardinal Peter Kodwo Turkson, the president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, at a Vatican press conference on October 18. He said that Pope Benedict conceived the event as a pilgrimage, “which implies asceticism, purification, convergence towards a more exalted place, and taking on a community responsibility.”

The cardinal explained that any attempt at joint prayer would require an effort to ignore the serious differences among religions in their professions of faith and their modes of prayer. Any such watering-down of religious identity would defeat the purpose of the event, Cardinal Turkson said. "It's an exercise of dialogue, and dialogue always respects the specific identity of the people, of individuals," he said.

The Assisi event, which was announced by Pope Benedict XVI on January 1, will mark the 25th anniversary of the first such event, organized by Blessed John Paul II in 1986. That initial inter-faith service did include attempts at common prayer, which provoked concerns among some Catholics—notably including then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger—that Christians were being asked to give their assent to prayers that were incompatible with their faith.

At this year’s event, participants will be asked to pray silently, according to their own beliefs and practices, during a pilgrimage to the famous basilica of Assisi. There will also be rooms set aside for different faith groups for communal prayer.

Baha'i, Buddhists, Confucians, Hindus, Jains, Jews, Musims, Sikhs, Taoists, and Zoroastrians, have already announced their plans to participate in the event, along with at least 100 leaders of various Christian groups, the Vatican announced at the October 18 briefing. In a new development, some professed atheists have agreed to join in the pilgrimage.

A few prominent religious leaders have refused to join in the pilgrimage. The Al Azhar university in Cairo, the leading institution of Sunni Islam, has said that it will boycott the event, in accordance with its recent decision to halt all talks with the Vatican. The Dalai Lama announced that he would be unable to attend because of a prior commitment, but voiced his support for the initiative and will send a representative.

Pro-Life Student Advocate Jon Scharfenberger Passes Away

Jon Scharfenberger, a field director for Students for Life of America, passed away Tuesday morning from complications suffered after a tragic automobile accident that also claimed the lives of Kortney Blythe Gordon and her unborn baby Sophy.

Gordon, Scharfenberger and two pro-life students were driving back from the Students for Life of America Georgia conference when their vehicle was struck by another head on in a massive collision. The driver of the other vehicle was reportedly speeding and passing cars on a two-lane road. Gordon and her unborn child, Sophy, were immediately killed upon impact and Scharfenberger was in critical condition following the accident.

“The team at SFLA is beyond saddened by the news that Jon Scharfenberger, Pregnant on Campus Coordinator and Campus Support Coordinator for Students for Life of America, passed away this morning due to complications from injuries he sustained from the same car accident that claimed the life of SFLA leader Kortney Blythe Gordon and her pre-born daughter, Sophy, on October 8th,” SFLA said in a statement.

“Jon had many successes in his short time with us at SFLA, including establishing a pro-life campus group at Florida International University that was successful in saving the life of a pre-born baby, a mere one week after its creation,” SFLA said. “We continue to offer prayers of support for Jon’s family and friends and grieve during this incredibly difficult time for our organization and mission.”

“Because of your outpouring, the team at SFLA was able to pay Kortney and Sophy’s burial costs 100%. We encourage all of our supporters to donate to help pay for Jon’s burial costs as well. All proceeds are tax-deductible and 100% of gifts received through this page or otherwise noted will be donated to the Scharfenberger family,” SFLA said. “All of our love and prayers to Jon, Kortney, Sophy, and the Scharfenberger, Blythe, and Gordon families.”

A native of Warwick, New York, Jon graduated with a BA in Philosophy from Ave Maria University in the spring of 2011. He served as President of AMU Students for Life where he led many successful pro-life initiatives. In his years as President, he helped fundraise over $30,000 for the club and committed membership soared from 30 members to over 150 by his final year. In September, 2009 he organized a successful overnight prayer vigil to protest the opening of a new Planned Parenthood, which gained widespread media coverage.

He interned for SFLA in the summer of 2010 and also gained experience on Capitol Hill as an intern for Senator Sam Brownback (R-KS.) Jon joined SFLA in the summer of 2011 to continue to train and equip the next generation of pro-life leaders. Jon also interned at the National Right to Life Committee.

"The Way"

By Robert Royal
From thecatholicthing.com

I don’t consider films – even the few not merely silly or decadent – major cultural events, and have always been puzzled by people who do. Movies play a prominent role in our ever-churning, media-driven culture. But it’s the rapid change itself that’s significant, much more than any particular element within it.

Whenever you see some recent release described as “A brilliant, beautiful masterpiece” (Black Swan), or “Changes everything” (Avatar), or “Redefines a genre” (Pulp Fiction), you can be sure that the cultural “sell-by date” is short indeed.

A Casablanca or The Godfather (Part I) or Lord of the Rings, even religious films like Jesus of Nazareth and The Passion of the Christ, can lay down a long-term marker. But such rare works struggle against the seemingly limitless appetite for diversion (in Pascal’s sense of soul-killing divertissement) that engulfs us all.

Despite all of which, I found myself intrigued by The Way, the new film starring Martin Sheen and his son Emilio Estevez, who wrote and directed the film, a modest but genuine story about the walking pilgrimage from France to the shrine of St. James of Compostela in Spain.

Personally, I am a relentless walker, through everything from city centers to – when I can get there – forests and mountain. Decades ago, I began to be gripped by a need to walk through places – not ride – the way that human beings have for ages.

Long walks undertaken for spiritual purposes put body and soul, together, on a true journey. Charles Péguy, the brilliant French writer (and great walker), single-handedly founded the walking pilgrimage between Notre Dame de Paris and Chartres. As he put it, “the whole problem of the soul opens up before you on the road.”

The Way does not attempt anything so grandiose, and that is one of its strengths. Four people make the month-long pilgrimage to Compostela. Martin Sheen sets out because his son died in an accident on pilgrimage. A Canadian woman claims she’s trying to quit smoking, but we learn she had an abortion and hears the dead child’s voice. A jovial Dutchman says he’s trying to lose weight before a wedding, and an Irishman has writer’s block. In short, a collection of typical modern maladies – concealing spiritual problems.

There are two main types of Christian pilgrimages. One is the Itinerarium mentis in Deum, the soul’s journey into God, involving calibrated stages and the ultimate destination. The other is like The Canterbury Tales, a motley company of pilgrims whose stories mirror human messiness and only achieve partial or indirect resolution.

The Way is definitely in the second category and has drawn some criticism because none of the characters undergoes spectacular transformation. But I think this criticism is misdirected, and not only for The Way. It’s very difficult to portray holiness at any time. The considerable distance between our popular culture and the very notion of holiness makes it even more so.

And is that really what we want from most cultural artifacts anyway? It’s only during the high holy days of mind and spirit that we can really absorb transcendent stories like The Divine Comedy. Most of the time, as Cardinal Newman took pains to explain, we are dealing with artworks by sinful men about sinful men.

And that is a good thing. Why? The reasons are many and complex, but they come down to basically three.

First, few people can do complex philosophy or theology, as Aquinas notes in several places. We can wish it otherwise, but it’s the human situation. The Bible itself is mostly a collection of stories about imperfect people. God Himself seems to think that best conveys the truths needed for salvation.

Second, while lives of the saints and other edifying works are useful and even necessary, they’re usually dreadfully written, hard to read, and only helpful for people who are already well along the road.

And finally, when people’s imaginations have been stunted and their intellects limited by the thought that blocks thought about ultimate questions, it’s only by subtle and indirect routes that we reach the heart.

By taking that path, The Way is quite effective. All the characters change palpably, though in the end they’re still on the way. In a nice touch, a priest on pilgrimage gives Sheen a rosary. He protests that he’s not very religious, but days later, meeting the priest again, he whispers that, several times, it came in handy. “It usually does,” the priest laughs. A spiritual tactfulness marks the story.

There’s one sour note. The conclusion comes, not at Compostela, moving as that scene is, but on the Atlantic coast at Finisterre, a day’s further walk. A gypsy the pilgrims had met (implausibly inflated by political correctness into a voice of ancient wisdom) advises Sheen to scatter his son’s ashes in the ocean: “It has nothing to do with religion.”

But anyone who believes in a Creator (Sheen and the gypsy do) knows there is nothing untouched by God. This unfortunate postscript, I fear, is a bow to the modern cultural assumption that a pilgrimage is a nice spiritual experience, but that in the end we come down to reality: father, son, and the random forces of nature.

Still, we could use more such films. We aren’t likely to have a culture hospitable to religion anytime soon. For that, we’d need many more people whose souls are open and who simultaneously know how to let the swift cultural flow pass by without disturbing the permanent things. And who still recognize that they are on the way. In short, we need a new cultural spirituality. And we won’t get it by argument alone.

Cardinal Newman had written on his tomb: Ex umbris et imaginibus in veritatem. It’s usually translated “Out of shadows and images into truth,” as if we get to truth by leaving the images of things. But it just may be that, in our circumstances, we will find truth only after we have better images in mind.

Robert Royal is editor-in-chief of The Catholic Thing, and president of the Faith & Reason Institute in Washington, D.C. His most recent book is The God That Did Not Fail: How Religion Built and Sustains the West, now available in paperback from Encounter Books.

Justice Dept.: school should have permitted teacher to make Mecca pilgrimage

The United States Department of Justice has announced that a suburban Chicago school district must pay $75,000 to settle a religious discrimination lawsuit filed by a Muslim teacher.

On September 11, 2008, Safoorah Khan requested three weeks of unpaid leave time to make a hajj, or pilgrimage to Mecca. “It’s required once in our lifetime at the earliest opportunity you can get,” she said. After her request was denied, she resigned and made the pilgrimage.

“I’m glad that we settled and I hope this does set a precedent,” she added. “I hope they realize that hajj means a lot to Muslims and there will be more and more people taking the trip. I hope this helps people and their employers to accommodate Muslims and their requests.”

In addition to paying Khan $75,000, the school district must provide training on religious accommodations to supervisors and board members.

Harry Belafonte Falls Asleep On Live TV

Catroon of the Day - The ninety-nine percent

Today on Kresta - October 18, 2011

Talking about the "things that matter most" on Oct. 18

4:00 – Founder of the Servants of Charity to be officially proclaimed a Saint on Sunday

Blessed Louis Guanella, the founder of the Servants of Charity, the Daughters of St. Mary of Providence and the Pious Union of St. Joseph, will be officially proclaimed a Saint by Pope Benedict XVI this Sunday. This “Saint of Charity” who lived an exemplary life of Providence believed that each person has a God-given right of "dignity and love." Fr. Guanella created orphanages and homes for the people he considered the “poorest of the poor,” and cared the most for persons with disabilities and the frail elderly. His charism and congregations spread throughout Italy, Europe, S. America, N. America, and now exist in twenty-two countries; including the Philippines and India. We talk with Fr. Joseph Rinaldo, a priest of the order and Joe Yekulis, Director of PR for the Order.

4:20 – Shirt of Flame: A Year with St. Therese of Lisieux

If you have not read Heather King before, her honesty may shock you. In a remarkable memoir, you will see how a convert with a checkered past spends a year reflecting upon St. Thérèse of Lisieux—and discovers the radical faith, true love, and abundant life of a cloistered 19th-century French nun. Heather joins us in this month in which we celebrate the feast of St. Therese.

5:00 – A Testimony of Tithing / A Scriptural Basis for Tithing

Scripture teaches us that that the goods of the earth are meant for all mankind, not just for those who can afford them.  The Catechism of the Catholic Church says that the, “goods of creation are destined for the whole human race.” This doesn't necessarily mean that people are called to give away all that they have.  It means that people who have been blessed have a moral obligation to use their treasures for the betterment of those around them. We talk stewardship and tithing with Gary Morgan and Al has a commentary on the Scriptural basis for tithing.

5:40 – Kresta Comments: Susan Sarandan Calls the Pope a “Nazi” – The Myth Continues

During an interview with filmmaker Bob Balaban this weekend at the Hamptons film festival, the actress mentioned she had sent the Holy Father a copy of Sister Helen Prejean's Dead Men Walking, which inspired the 1995 film for which she won an Oscar. "The last [pope]," she clarified, referring to Pope John Paul II. "Not this Nazi one we have now." After Balaban's shocked response, Sarandon simply repeated the remark, drawing some laughs from their audience at the Bay Street Theater. We talk about Sarandan’s ill-informed statement and set the record straight on this myth of Pope Benedict and WWII.

Susan Sarandon Calls the Pope a Nazi

Susan Sarandon's never been one to stay mum about politics—or other hot-button issues. But after referring to the pope as a Nazi, the outspoken actress has found herself in the hot seat.

"She's a despicable person to make these kinds of despicable remarks," Bill Donohue, the president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights says. So what led her to diss the pontiff—not once but twice?

During an interview with fellow actor and filmmaker Bob Balaban in the Hamptons Saturday, per Newsday, the actress mentioned she had sent the pontiff a copy of Sister Helen Prejean's Dead Men Walking, which inspired the 1995 film for which she won an Oscar.

"The last [pope]," she clarified, referring to Pope John Paul II. "Not this Nazi one we have now."

After Balaban's shocked response, Sarandon simply repeated the remark, drawing some laughs from their audience at the Bay Street Theater.

Not laughing is the Catholic League's Donohue, who, in addition to calling the actress "despicable," said, "it is very hard to find someone dumber than [Sarandon]."

"He deserted the Hitler Youth at the first moment," Donohue said. "[Sarandon] doesn't know what she's talking about...To blame him for something that he was never responsible for; he was forced to join as every boy his age was. Unlike the others, he deserted."

Donohue said he won't even seek an apology from the "hard-core leftist" actress because "she is ignorant and full of hatred to the Catholic Church."

Sarandon has not issued an apology for her remarks as of yet. Maybe she is following the lead of fellow filmmaker Lars von Trier, who is avoiding the press since his jokes at the Cannes Film Festival about being a Nazi and understanding Hitler.

Vatican police block backers of women's ordination

Vatican police detained a small group of demonstrators calling for the ordination of women in St. Peter’s Square, turning the group away from the Vatican basilica on October 17.

The protest was led by Father Roy Bourgeois, an American priest who has accepted excommunication and dismissal from the Maryknoll religious order because of his continuing participation in the women’s-ordination movement. The caption on an AP photo accompanying the report from the Vatican identified another demonstrator as “Janice Sevre,” without noting that the woman claims to be a Catholic priest.

The Vatican police routinely block demonstrations in St. Peter's Square.

Vatican: no comment on indictment of Bishop Finn

The Vatican has “no intention” of becoming involved in the case of Kansas City’s Bishop Robert Finn, who has been indicted for his alleged failure to report a priest’s possession of child pornography.

“Any intervention could be interpreted as interference,” noted Father Federico Lombardi, the director of the Vatican press office. Because a legal process is underway, he said, the Vatican will not issue comments.

Bishop Robert Finn of Kansas City has become the first American bishop to face prosecution in connection with his handling of the sex-abuse scandal.

He entered a not-guilty plea on October 14, after a Jackson County grand jury indicted both the bishop and the diocese on misdemeanor charges. Lawyers representing the diocese also entered a not-guilty plea.

Bishop Finn has acknowledged that he was aware in December 2010 that child pornography had been discovered on the computer of a diocesan priest, Father Shawn Ratigan. But he did not inform police about the photos until May. Father Ratigan now faces his own trial on child-pornography charges.

While he has apologized for mishandling the case, Bishop Finn has denied criminal wrongdoing and insists that he has cooperated fully with law-enforcement officials. His lawyer promised a vigorous defense against the criminal charge.

Jackson County prosecutor Jean Peters Baker argued that after learning of the files on Father Ratigan’s computer, the bishop had probable cause to believe that children had been abused, and was therefore legally obligated to report to police. He said the criminal charge is a bid “to ensure there are not future failures to report, resulting in other unsuspecting victims.”

Pope Declares a "Year of Faith"