Europe Screening Out 'Imperfect' Children, Bioethicist Warns

EWTNNews.com

People with genetic diseases are disappearing in Europe because of genetic screening, abortion and attitudes that exclude them from social life, an Italian bioethicist has warned.

“We realize it when we look around. We no longer see ‘imperfect’ children who are marked by genetic disorders,” neonatologist Dr. Carlo Bellieni wrote in the Sept. 9 issue of the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano.

“In a scared and prejudiced world, the search for imperfection and the destruction of the ‘imperfect’ patient become a common well-known social norm: a banality of evil which does not seem to bother anyone,” said Bellieni, who is the secretary of the bioethics committee of the Italian Pediatrics Society and a member of the Pontifical Academy of Life.

“These children are censured by the media, sheltered by families from a society which does not accept them despite many claims, and above all (they) are victims of abortion.”

He recounted how abortion targets those with genetic conditions.

In France, 96 percent of fetuses with Down syndrome are aborted. One Parisian deputy asked why four percent still are not aborted.

The abortion rate of fetuses with Down syndrome is above 60 percent in the northern Italian province of Emilia Romagna, one of Italy’s few regions which keeps reliable statistics. More than 50 percent of unborn girls with Turner Syndrome, a condition which causes shortness and low fertility, are also aborted in the region.

“The first case involves delayed intellectual development and the second delays physical development,” Bellieni noted, asking how that could be “reason enough” to destroy the unborn.

Prenatal genetic screening, ultrasounds and other tests for Down syndrome and other diseases are increasing, he said.

Parents and doctors who believe in “the sacredness of the human person” should reflect on why there is time for an abortion but “absolutely no time for treatment.”

Bellieni also blamed the disappearance of the genetically disabled on both society’s inability to accept cultural difference and the “shame” of families who feel like “genetic outlaws” and keep their children inside.

He said that prenatal selection and social exclusion helps prevent research therapies from being developed.

“If economic investments were made to cure genetic disorders equal to those made to prevent sick children from being born, we would make notable progress,” he said.

While genetic disorders are undesirable, “they should not make the affected person undesirable.”

Though their victims may face a difficult life, he asked, “are they truly so unbearable as we are made to believe?”

Studies have shown that sick people with good external conditions rate their quality of life higher than their peers, whether they are adolescents with Spina Bifida or those with serious physical disabilities. Quality of life for those with Down syndrome is “much higher than the media illustrates.”

“The media traces a portrait of disability which rarely strays from sterile compassion,” Bellieni charged.

Letter from Pope Benedict XVI on September 11th Tenth Anniversary

Pope Benedict XVI has expressed his prayerful support of the United States on the 10th Anniversary of September 11th, in a letter sent to Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan, Archbishop of New York and President of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

In his letter, dated September 11, 2011, the Pope writes that, "On this day my thoughts turn to the somber events of September 11, 2001, when so many innocent lives were lost in the brutal assault on the twin towers of the World Trade Center and the further attacks in Washington D.C. and Pennsylvania. I join you in commending the thousands of victims to the infinite mercy of Almighty God and in asking our heavenly Father to continue to console those who mourn the loss of loved ones."

Pope Benedict also notes, "The American people are to be commended for the courage and generosity that they showed in the rescue operations and for their resilience in moving forward with hope and confidence."

9-11 Anniversary: Muslims Chant "Burn, Burn USA"

Cartoon of the Day - Post Mortem

Scottish cardinal: same-sex marriage a ‘grotesque subversion,’ a ‘great wrong’

Catholic World News

The bishops of Scotland have pledged their “strenuous opposition” as the Scottish government considers a proposal to legalize same-sex marriage.

Urging the government not to heed “a vociferous lobby group,” the bishops said on September 7 that “no government can rewrite human nature; the family and marriage existed before the State and are built on the union between a man and woman. Any attempt to redefine marriage is a direct attack on a foundational building block of society and will be strenuously opposed.” Cardinal Keith O’Brien repeated the words of the statement in a homily to Scottish politicians.

In a September 11 newspaper column, Cardinal O’Brien called same-sex marriage “madness” and a “grotesque subversion of a universal human right.”

“At the heart of this debate however there is one perspective which seems to be completely lost or ignored, it is the point of view of the child,” the cardinal wrote. “Same-sex marriage means same-sex parenting, and same-sex parenting means that our society deliberately chooses to deprive a child of either a mother or a father.”

Cardinal O’Brien added:

There is no question, that normalising gay marriage means normalising homosexual behaviour for public school children. In November 2003 after a court decision in Massachusetts to legalise gay marriage, school libraries were required to stock same-sex literature; primary school children were given homosexual fairy stories such as King & King; some high school students were even given an explicit manual of homosexual advocacy entitled “The Little Black Book: Queer in the 21st Century”, which the Massachusetts Department of Health helped develop. Education suddenly had to comply with what was now deemed “normal”.

Other dangers exist, if marriage can be redefined so that it no longer means a man and a woman but two men or two women, why stop there? Why not allow three men or a woman and two men to constitute a marriage, if they pledge their fidelity to one another? …

Disingenuously, the Government has suggested that same sex marriage wouldn’t be compulsory and churches could choose to opt out. This is quite staggering arrogance. Firstly, no Government has the moral authority to dismantle the universally understood meaning of marriage. Additionally, imagine for a moment that the Government had decided to legalise slavery but assured us that “no one will be forced to keep a slave” would such an assurance calm the fury we would all feel? Would it in any way justify the dismantling of a fundamental human right? Of course not. It would amount to nothing more than weasel words to mask a great wrong.

On September 12, Bishop Philip Tartaglia of Paisley issued his formal response to the government consultation.

“A Government which favours and allows for same sex ‘marriage’ does wrong. It fails in its duty to society,” he wrote. “It undermines the common good. It commits an act of cultural vandalism. Such a government does not deserve the trust which the nation, and including many in the Catholic community, has shown in it.”

"Government should not be persuaded by voices which declare that any opposition to same sex ‘marriage’ is the result of homophobic bigotry,” Bishop Tartaglia added. “This is not only false, but is itself an illiberal and undemocratic intolerance which only seeks to close down rational argument and to intimidate people into acquiescence.”

After America: Get Ready for Armageddon

Today on Kresta - September 12, 2011

Talking about the "things that matter most" on Sept. 9

KRESTA SPECIAL PRESENTATION

As we commemorate the 10th anniversary this weekend of the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, “Kresta in the Afternoon” has a special presentation today and Monday. We go back and look at the events, analysis, thoughts and predictions in the aftermath of 9/11. Questions about the nature of Islam, declaring war on a non-nation state, the future of American exceptionalism, protection of the homeland, anger and forgiveness, and much more. Today’s guests include Dr. Robert Fastiggi, Mrs. Anwar Sadat, Jimmy Akin, and Dr. George Braswell. It’s our presentation of “The Clash of Civilizations: Interviews from the days following Sept. 11, 2001.”

Ave Maria Radio marks 15 years

From the Michigan Catholic

September 8, 2011
By Robert Delaney

DETROIT — From a modest start in 1996, Ave Maria Radio has grown into the largest producer of Catholic radio programming in the United States.

As it celebrates its 15th anniversary, the Ann Arbor Township-based organization’s programs can not only be heard on the two radio stations it operates — WDEO (990 AM) Ypsilanti and WMAX (1440 AM) Saginaw – but nearly 160 other stations across the country carry at least some its shows.

With all of that, plus also EWTN Global Catholic Radio and Sirius Satellite Radio, Ave Maria Radio personalities such as Al Kresta, Teresa Tomeo and Dr. Ray Guarendi now have national, even international, recognition among listeners to Catholic radio.
Guiding that growth almost since the beginning has been Kresta, who besides being host of the popular “Kresta in the Afternoon” program (weekdays, 4-6 p.m.) is the organization’s president and CEO.

“It’s amazing,” Kresta says of Ave Maria Radio’s growth over the past decade-and-a-half. “When we started, there were only two or three other Catholic radio stations in the country.”

Domino’s Pizza founder Tom Monaghan founded Ave Maria Radio in 1996, when he bought a low-power radio station at 1290 on the AM dial. When Kresta joined the organization in January 1997, he quickly realized the station would have to have a better and more powerful signal if it was to have much impact, and engineered the acquisition of the former WCM Radio, an evangelical Protestant station broadcasting on 990 AM.

Kresta already had a solid decade of talk radio experience behind him, mostly on WMUZ-FM in Detroit, where he started doing his program as a Protestant pastor, and kept it up after returning to the Catholic Church in 1992.

But when Monaghan decided to put all his resources behind the development of Ave Maria University, he gave Kresta two years to build up sufficient financial support from listeners and corporate donors to make it self-sustaining, after which he would no longer subsidize it.

Kresta describes the question of whether listeners would come through with enough donations as “a real cliffhanger.”
“In the fall of 2002, we went to the listeners, and they responded beautifully,” he says.

And then, the following year, Kresta was stricken with necrotizing fasciitis, better known as “flesh-eating bacteria,” which caused him to lose his left leg.

With him out of the picture for a while, the organization had a weak pledge drive that again put its future in doubt, but Kresta was able to return and subsequent pledge drives have been successful.

Kresta sees Ave Maria Radio as part of the New Evangelization called for by Pope John Paul II – the reawakening and deepening of the faith of people already at least nominally Catholic.

Counting all the radio outlets that carry Ave Maria Radio programming, he says a conservative estimate is that about 800,000 people a week listen to at least some of the shows. And since Ave Maria Radio doesn’t charge other stations that carry its shows, Kresta says, “The whole Catholic radio world is being blessed by southeast Michigan listeners who donate.”

In addition, an average of 1,500 people download recordings of the show from http://www.avemariaradio.net/,each day

Broadcaster talks about his Catholic conversion

From the MI Observer and Eccentric

Al Kresta, president and CEO of Ave Maria Radio, will kick off St. Michael the Archangel Parish's third annual series, “Why Be Catholic?” at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 14, in the St. Michael School cafeteria, 11441 Hubbard, just south of Plymouth, between Farmington Road and Merriman, Livonia.

Kresta will tell the story of his journey from Catholicism to Evangelical pastor well-known in the Detroit area for his top-rated WMUZ Christian broadcast, “Talk From the Heart,” back to Catholicism. The questions he was forced to wrestle with as a pastor led him to return to the Catholic faith in a profoundly personal conversion that he has chronicled in his anthology, Surprised by Truth.

In 1997, Domino's Pizza founder Tom Monaghan recruited him to launch the media apostolate, Ave Maria Communications, and the rest is history. Kresta and his radio broadcast “Kresta in the Afternoon,” produced by Ave Maria and syndicated by EWTN, is heard daily on more than 160 radio stations around the US, Sirius Satellite, and numerous Web streams.

There is no charge or reservations required for Kresta's talk. All are welcome, regardless of religious affiliation. For more information, call the parish office at (734) 261-1455, Ext. 200, or see the parish website at http://www.livoniastmichael.org./

Today on Kresta - September 9, 2011

Talking about the "things that matter most" on Sept. 9

KRESTA SPECIAL PRESENTATION

As we commemorate the 10th anniversary this weekend of the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, “Kresta in the Afternoon” has a special presentation today and Monday. We go back and look at the events, analysis, thoughts and predictions in the aftermath of 9/11. Questions about the nature of Islam, declaring war on a non-nation state, the future of American exceptionalism, protection of the homeland, anger and forgiveness, and much more. Today’s guests include Scott Hahn, Mrs. Anwar Sadat, Geoffrey Wawro, and Jimmy Akin. It’s our presentation of “The Clash of Civilizations: Interviews from the days following Sept. 11, 2001.”

Today on Kresta - September 8, 2011

Talking about the "things that matter most" on Sept. 8

4:00 – What Conservative Women Know -- and Men Can't Say
What if everything you've been told about women in America is wrong? What if what your college professors taught you - along with television, movies, books, magazine articles, and even news reports - have all been lies or distortions? Since the 1960s, American feminists have set themselves up as the arbiters of all things female. Their policies have dominated the social and political landscape. The "spin sisters" in the media (aptly named by Myrna Blyth in her book of the same name) and their cohorts in academia are committed feminists. Consequently, everything Americans know -- or think they know -- about marriage, kids, sex, education, politics, gender roles, and work/family balance, has been filtered through a left-wing lens. But what if conservative women are in the best position to empower American women? Suzanne Venker is here to discuss it.

5:00 – The Blessed Virgin Mary 360°
Today is the feast of the Birth of Mary, one the few birthdays we celebrate as a feast day. The traditional date of the feast, September 8, falls exactly nine months after the feast of the Immaculate Conception of Mary. The Feast was celebrated at least by the sixth century, when St. Romanos the Melodist, an Eastern Christian who composed many of the hymns used in the Eastern Catholic and Eastern Orthodox liturgies, composed a hymn for the feast. The feast spread to Rome in the seventh century, but it was a couple more centuries before it was celebrated throughout the West. The source for the story of the birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary is the Protoevangelium of James, an apocryphal gospel written about A.D. 150. From it, we learn the names of Mary's parents, Joachim and Anna, as well as the tradition that the couple was childless until an angel appeared to Anna and told her that she would conceive. Apologist Steve Ray is here to take us deeper into this feast day.

Race, Segregation, and Heaven

By Dr. Gary Scott Smith

(WNS)--The new movie, “The Help,” based on Kathryn Stockett’s best-selling book by the same name, continues to lead ticket sales at the box office. Both dramatize the extent and tragedy of segregation and discrimination in the South during the early 1960s. Racism affected almost every area of Southern (and many areas of Northern) society before the changes brought by the Civil Rights movement and acts later in the decade. Several poignant scenes in the movie depict a campaign to prevent black domestic servants from using the toilets in white homes in which they worked.

As demeaning and tragic as such treatment was, it pales when compared to the dehumanization slavery entailed. Not satisfied with dominating blacks on earth, whites even depicted a heaven where blacks had second-class status. Masters and white ministers typically assigned blacks a subordinate place in heaven and warned them that their earthly obedience and work ethic would play a significant role in where they spent eternity. They either stated or implied that blacks would be inferior to whites in the afterlife because the concept of racial equality contradicted their contention that God sanctioned slavery. Instead, Southern whites usually portrayed a segregated heaven where blacks continued to serve whites. Sermons sometimes described blacks’ role in heaven as “working in God’s kitchen.” One white minister told slaves that heaven had a wall with holes in it that would separate them from their masters but permit blacks to see whites as they walked by.

By contrast, many blacks looked forward to heavenly bliss and compensation and divine retribution for their suffering. Convinced that this racist portrait of heaven could not be reconciled with a loving and just God who valued all human beings equally, they recast heaven and hell in light of their own experiences, values, and traditions as an exploited people. Their narratives, tales, songs, sermons, and prayers demonstrate that slaves rejected their masters’ conception of heaven where discrimination and subordination persisted and of a hell where disobedient, lazy slaves suffered for eternity.

Many slaves viewed heaven in the words of historian David Roediger as “the very negation of slavery.” Rather than offering compensatory hope, many Negro spirituals that celebrated the glories of heaven also either openly or subtly condemned the maltreatment of blacks on earth. Slave songs about “Going over Jordan” and “Canaan’s Happy Shore” often had a dual reference point: attaining freedom on earth and getting to heaven.

In many ways, slaves’ conception of heaven was the opposite of their everyday life, stressing the absence of earthly ordeals, suffering, and toil. In the next world “Dere’s no sun to burn you ... no hard trials ... no whips a-crackin’ ... no stormy weather... [and] no evil-doers.” In heaven, the oppressed would “lay down dat heavy load.” Slaves looked forward to living in “bright mansions above,” feasting with Jesus at His welcome table, singing and shouting, and never being forced to leave. And there would be no sadness, sorrow, parting, or quarreling. In heaven it would always be Sunday, the one day of the week that most slaves did not have to work and could visit with each other and hold their own worship services.

In the heaven slaves imagined, they would also experience the dignity and worth denied to them on earth. Admission to heaven would validate their humanity. Although masters and many other whites defined them as uncivilized brutes or mere commodities, in God’s eyes they were valuable, precious human beings for whom His Son died.

God’s justice was prominent in slaves’ portrait of heaven. Unfairness and discrimination prevailed in this world, but justice would triumph in the afterlife. Many black sermons and songs celebrated God’s eternal order of justice and love. Spirituals affirmed blacks’ belief that God’s righteousness would reign in heaven, which was a place of spiritual equality. One slave scoffed at the assumption of many whites that “when dey go to Heaven de colored folks would be dar to wait on ‘em.” A just God would not allow that.

Far from being a form of escape that led them to accept their plight passively, blacks’ hope in heaven motivated many of them to live courageously on earth. It helped inspire Gabriel Prosser, Denmark Vesey, and Nat Turner to instigate slave insurrections and Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman to escape to the North, denounce slavery, and work with the Underground Railroad. Their vision of heaven emboldened many others to rebel, run away, or challenge injustice.

Throughout history people’s conceptions of heaven have reflected their earthly circumstances and needs. While racial injustice still persists in American society, such blatantly discriminatory (and unbiblical) portraits of heaven thankfully have been largely rejected.

Dr. Gary Scott Smith chairs the history department at Grove City College. His most recent book is “Heaven in the American Imagination” (Oxford University Press, 2011).

Today on Kresta - September 7, 2011

Talking about the "things that matter most" on Sept. 7

4:00 – The Parable of Ground Zero
On the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, Fr. James Martin was working at his desk at America magazine in midtown Manhattan. Around 9 a.m., his mother called from Philadelphia to say that she had heard about a plane crashing into the World Trade Center. He thought it was odd that she would call; she knew that his office was uptown, not downtown. A few minutes later, he decided to turn on the television set. It was only then that he saw the unfolding tragedy. Fr. Martin is here to tell the rest of the story.

4:20 – September 11 and Hollywood: How Movies Can Help Make Our Past Real—Or Unreal
“It was just like a movie.” A cliché, yes, but as is often the case, that phrase became a cliché for a reason. The frequency with which those words were repeated in the weeks and months after September 11, 2001 was a striking testament to the role movies have come to play in how we process and interpret reality. A century ago, one might have heard remarks like “It was like a novel” or “It was like a play.” Imaginative scenarios have always been important to our efforts to understand and deal with the world we live in—particularly when reality outstrips our experiences. Film critic Steven Greydanus is here to discuss Hollywood and Sept. 11.

4:40 - World Youth Day 2011 – A Recap
After World Youth Day 2011 was in the history books, the Holy Father reflected on it as a “stupendous manifestation of faith” and a special occasion for young Catholics “to reflect, dialogue, exchange positive experiences and, especially, to pray together, and to renew their commitment to living their lives rooted in Christ, the faithful friend.” Former ABC Correspondent Peggy Stanton was there and joins us to recap the event and give us her impressions.

5:00 – Y Disciple: Evangelizing Teens
How to evangelize teens. It’s an issue the Church has been facing for many years, especially after a generation of poor catechesis of teens’ parents. A new program of the Augustine Institute called Y Disciple aims to form youth ministers and adults who can effectively “disciple” teens. Jim Beckman is here to look at what it means to evangelize teens and how it is best accomplish the task.

5:40 – Ten Years Since 9/11: Righteous Anger and Ultimate Forgiveness
The tenth anniversary of September 11th, 2001 falls on a Sunday and, providentially, the readings proposed for the Catholic liturgy that day have to do with forgiveness. This interesting confluence provides the occasion for reflecting on this complex and oft-misunderstood spiritual act. Were we and are we legitimately angry about September 11th? Absolutely. This is why the Bible coherently speaks of God's anger. But in contradistinction to legitimate anger, there is what the Catholic tradition calls the "deadly sin" of anger. We explore anger and forgiveness with Fr. Robert Barron.

Obama administration cracks down on abortion protesters

From Timothy Carney at the Washington Examiner:

In 1994, abortion-lobby champion Ted Kennedy passed the Free Access to Clinics Act (FACE), which imposes stricter limitations on peaceful protests of abortion clinics than any other peaceful protest.

This law, which strikes me as pretty darn unconstitutional, has never really been enforced. Tom McClusky at the Family Research Council says the decision to not enforce it was a "gentleman's agreement": "The story I normally got from Justice Department, Hill and real world lawyers on both sides of the aisle was that everyone understood the law was unconstitutional...."

But now, NPR reports, Obama is deciding to crack down on those protesting, conducting sidewalk counseling, or even praying for the mothers and their babies.

Here's NPR's report on one of the Obama Administration's targets:

A few blocks from the White House, outside a Planned Parenthood clinic in Washington, D.C., Dick Retta has reported for duty in a blue windbreaker, khaki pants belted high and brown shoes with thick soles. He's carrying rosary beads and a packet of brochures filled with information about the dangers of abortion.

"Please don't let them take your child's life. You don't have to. We can and will help you. Don't let them take your child's life. Let us help you," Retta says to a woman entering the clinic.

That front door shuts in his face. But Retta says he's not deterred by that, or by a civil lawsuit the Justice Department filed against him in July. Authorities claim Retta violated the FACE Act by blocking a patient early this year — following her for 35 feet and standing in front of the door.

Retta disputes the allegations.

"We don't block women from coming in. That's not our policy," he says. "I teach it. I teach what I'm doing ... and I say one thing: Never block the women from going in. Never."

Retta, who has seven children and 11 grandkids, says he is moved by his Catholic faith to do what he calls sidewalk counseling. Retta says he has gotten pushed around outside the clinic, too. He says he was standing by the gate and a woman sprayed him with pepper spray in July, putting him "out of commission" for a while.

None of this is surprising.

This President, as a State Senator, voted against a bill requiring doctors to care for babies born after failed abortions (and then misled the media on the matter). As a candidate, he promised his first act would be signing the sweeping "Freedom of Choice Act," which would wipe out nearly all limitations on abortion and abortion subsidies. And then during the budget debates we saw him draw nearly his only line in the sand over Planned Parenthood subsidies.

It's abortion absolutism. Everything else -- free assembly, free speech, conscience protection, and his party's other interests -- they all take a back seat to protecting abortion.

Rick Perry moves ahead of Mitt Romney in race for GOP nomination in new poll

Washington Post:

Aided by strong tea party support, Texas Gov. Rick Perry has surged in the race for the Republican presidential nomination, pushing former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney into second place and significantly diminishing the once-rising star of Rep. Michele Bachmann (Minn.), according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.

Perry, who announced his candidacy three weeks ago, is now perceived by Republicans as the best candidate to beat President Obama, a distinction that Romney previously held.

The findings come on the eve of the first presidential debate for the Texas governor and just ahead of Obama’s speech to a joint session of Congress on Thursday, which will feature proposals to create jobs and stimulate economic growth. The Republican candidates will debate on Wednesday night at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California, one of several debates over the next few weeks that could reshape the race.

Perry is enough of an untested national campaigner — and debater — that it may take weeks to determine his staying power as a candidate. But the new poll findings foreshadow a potentially fierce competition between the two top Republicans, a contest likely to highlight ideological and demographic divisions within the party.

Among all Republicans and GOP-leaning independents, Perry has edged ahead with 27 percent of the vote, followed by Romney with 22 percent, former Alaska governor Sarah Palin at 14 percent, Rep. Ron Paul (Tex.) with 8 percent and Bachmann at 6 percent.

Perry’s emergence has cut sharply into Bachmann’s support, putting her candidacy at risk. Her number of backers has been sliced in half, and she now scores significantly worse among those who backed her heading into last month’s big win at the Ames Straw Poll in Iowa.

Bachmann was the top vote-getter among “strong” tea party supporters in mid-July, but she has slipped to fourth place among these Republicans in the new poll. Among “very conservative” Republicans overall, her support has nearly evaporated, plunging from 21 percent to 1 percent. She has held up among GOP-leaning independents, but among rank-and-file Republicans, she has slid from 13 to 3 percent.

Palin — fresh off a widely publicized weekend speech in Iowa, followed by a trip to New Hampshire — remains a wild card. She has said that she will decide by the end of the month whether she will run.

Were Palin to stay on the sidelines, the GOP race would stay essentially the same. Perry would hold a small lead over Romney, Paul would be a distant third, and the rest would follow.

Should the race winnow to Perry vs. Romney, the contest would squarely pit the GOP’s tea party and establishment wings against each other, with tea party Republicans coming off big wins in 2010.

The survey asked Republicans to assess the candidates across a series of attributes. Palin and Perry top the list of who “best understands the problems of people like you,” with Romney not far behind. Perry leads on who is “closest to you on the issues,” followed by Romney and then Palin. Perry and Romney essentially tie on who best reflects “the core values” of the party, with Palin and Bachmann a notch below.

Joplin bishop sees grace at work in school's tornado recoverty

EWTN News:

Students of St. Mary's School in Joplin, Missouri are back in session, despite the loss of their school and parish in a tornado last May. Their local bishop says he sees God bringing good out of suffering.

“There is still much to be done, still great suffering and uncertainty in the lives of many citizens,” Bishop James V. Johnston of Springfield-Cape Girardeau wrote in a recent column for the diocese's weekly publication The Mirror. “Yet, there are also many signs of God’s grace at work, pointing to a future full of hope.”

St. Mary's lost three weeks of its 2011-2012 school year, as the Joplin Catholic Schools system worked to turn a former warehouse into a makeshift school building for 210 students. The three weeks were nothing compared to the loss of their building, leveled except for a single large cross that survived the storm.

Annette Taylor, a teacher at St. Mary's for nearly two decades, once told a young student she thought the cross could survive just such an onslaught.

“He said, 'Mrs. Taylor, do you think if there was a tornado this cross would still stand?' And I looked at him and said, 'if there was a tornado I'm sure it would stand; it's a strong cross,'” she told the local ABC affiliate KSPR.

Some elements of the new school were salvaged from the old building, including a statue of the Virgin Mary and some decorations found in a closet. But most of the converted warehouse's new furnishings have come from generous donors across the country.

Bishop Johnston gave thanks for the local and national responses to Joplin's losses in his diocesan newspaper column.

“It is inspiring and gratifying to witness such a generous and unselfish reaction and outpouring to this tragedy,” the Missouri bishop reflected, noting that people outside his state had come to Joplin's aid.

“I am especially grateful for each of them,” he wrote, “and for the generous support from our Catholic brothers and sisters in the state of Missouri.” He said the local community's “heartfelt responses” included financial donations, volunteer time, technical expertise, “and most importantly, prayers.”

For now, it is unclear whether or not that support will go toward rebuilding St. Mary's. The improvised facility has no gym, lunchroom, or library, and its future is unclear.

The school is also missing one girl who would have been in kindergarten this year. Harli Howard died in the tornado along with her father and baby brother, when all three were trapped inside a Home Depot during the storm.

The three family members were among more than 150 people who died from the tornado, which swept through 14 miles in the town of 50,000.

In his message to the community, Bishop Johnston stressed that “months and years” of recovery lay ahead, during which “we must continue to serve our friends in need with the heart of Jesus, facing the mystery of suffering with both faith and hope.”

India’s bishops brief Pope on persecution of Christians

CNA:

Vatican City, Sep 2, 2011 / 03:57 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The bishops of India briefed Pope Benedict XVI Sept. 2 on the level of anti-Christian persecution in their country.

“These have been a cause of worry and the Holy Father specifically asked also if there is violence,” said Cardinal Oswald Gracias of Mumbai in a Sept. 2 Vatican Radio interview.

Cardinal Gracias is in Rome as the Indian bishops conclude their 2011 “ad limina” visit to the Vatican in order to update the Pope on the health of the Church in India.

Today’s meeting involved the bishops from Karnataka in south-west India telling Pope Benedict about the continuing threat posed in their region by Hindu fundamentalists. Only last week, extremists attacked a church and threatened its pastor.

Cardinal Gracias said such fundamentalists want to create “animosity towards Christians and the Gospel” by making it appear as if “the whole of India is in danger because of the activities of the Christians and the missionaries.” But the cardinal dismissed that assertion as “not true at all.”

“The Gospel is a message of love and peace and joy and human growth which does not threaten anybody,” said Cardinal Gracias. The response to this message however has been mixed.

“It’s not all over India, it is only in certain pockets, but really, I would not be honest if I did not say that there is violence in parts of the country even today. But it is certainly much, much better than before.” 

The Bishops Conference of India is the fourth largest in the world and so their ad limina visit has to be staggered over four sessions.

“It was a very good meeting with the Pope. We spoke about the situation in India, the challenges we have, the good news we have and also about the hopes we have for the future,” said Cardinal Gracias, who is also president of the Bishops Conference of India.

“The Holy Father was very interested in knowing about the situation of how Indian Christians are treated, our efforts for inter-religious dialogue and also about how we go about our pastoral work.”

Although India is the second most populous country in the world, with over 1.18 billion people, only about two percent are Catholic. The Church, however, does play a significant role in providing health care, education and welfare services across the country.

Many Indian bishops hope this year’s ad limina will pave the way for Pope Benedict to visit their country. An invitation to the Pope was personally issued during a previous ad limina session in May. If the visit does happen, it will be the fourth by a Pope to India following trips by Pope Paul VI in 1964 and Pope John Paul II in 1986 and 1999.

Today on Kresta - September 6, 2011

Talking about the "things that matter most" on Sept. 5

4:00 – Attitudes Towards the War on Terror and the War in Afghanistan: A Ten-Year Review
American efforts to build a new intelligence and national security framework to combat terrorism after the September 11 terrorist attacks have been filled with controversy. For the past ten years, pollsters have tracked the opinions of Americans as they have wrestled with the difficult questions associated with the post-9/11 world. They have probed opinions on preemptive warfare, profiling, torture, assassination, domestic surveillance, and, of course, the war itself. We have reviewed more than a thousand of these questions for a new AEI Public Opinion Study. The author of that study, Karlyn Bowman shares our insights about the evolution of Americans’ opinions on the war and the way it has been conducted.

4:20 – After America: Get Ready for Armageddon
In his giant New York Times bestseller, America Alone: The End of the World as We Know It, Mark Steyn predicted collapse for the rest of the Western World. Now, he adds, America has caught up with Europe on the great rush to self-destruction. It’s not just our looming financial collapse; it’s not just a culture that seems on a fast track to perdition, full of hapless, indulgent, childish people who think government has the answer for every problem; it’s not just America’s potential eclipse as a world power because of the drunken sailor policymaking in Washington—no, it’s all this and more that spells one word for America: Armageddon. He makes his case.

5:00 - Direct to My Desk – Jesus: Lord Over All, Including Politics

Today on Kresta - September 1, 2011

Talking about the "things that matter most" on Sept. 1

4:00 – Inside the White House on 9/11
This past weekend the National Geographic Channel aired George W. Bush: The 9/11 Interview, a world premiere documentary that revealed exclusive, first-person insight into the former president's experience following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. In the most in-depth on-camera interview he has ever given on the subject, President Bush recalled what he was thinking and feeling and what drove the real-time, life-or-death decisions he faced in the first minutes, hours and days after the most lethal terrorist attacks ever on U.S. soil. We go over clips of the documentary with Matt Smith who served in the Bush White House and received the President’s Distinguished Service Award for actions on September 11th.

4:40 – Labor in the 21st Century
In earlier days Labor Day was celebrated as a tribute to laborers, the way we still pay homage to our troops and soldiers on Memorial Day. Economist David Peterson argues that in the 50's and 60's America was very pro-business and wealth oriented - as we are today. However, in mid century, our country benefited from the remaining Judeo-Christian tradition which emphasizes social justice. Unlike in present times, this tradition still acted as a strong counter weight to self-centered individualism and naked avarice. David joins us to look as “Labor in the 21st century” and why our attitudes are now so radically different.

5:00 - The Flipside of Feminism: What Conservative Women Know -- and Men Can't Say
What if everything you've been told about women in America is wrong? What if what your college professors taught you - along with television, movies, books, magazine articles, and even news reports - have all been lies or distortions? Since the 1960s, American feminists have set themselves up as the arbiters of all things female. Their policies have dominated the social and political landscape. The "spin sisters" in the media (aptly named by Myrna Blyth in her book of the same name) and their cohorts in academia are committed feminists. Consequently, everything Americans know -- or think they know -- about marriage, kids, sex, education, politics, gender roles, and work/family balance, has been filtered through a left-wing lens. But what if conservative women are in the best position to empower American women? Suzanne Venker is here to discuss it.

Breaking News

BREAKING NEWS:

President Obama has just confirmed that the DC earthquake occurred on a rare and obscure fault-line, apparently known as "Bush's Fault".

The President also announced that the Secret Service and Conresswoman Maxine Waters leader of the Congressional Black Caucus will continue an investigation of the quake's suspicious ties to the Tea Party Movement.

Glen Beck however claims to have proven that all the movement in the ground was caused by the founding fathers rolling over in their graves.