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Inheritance And Transmission

October 21, 2018 Featured Today Comments Off on Inheritance And Transmission

By DONALD DeMARCO The notions of inheritance and transmission are, in a certain sense, opposites. Inheritance, such as our biological endowment, comes to us naturally and without any effort on our part. But what we inherit is undeveloped. The great lessons of history that we would like to transmit to the next generation represent highly developed accomplishments. Nonetheless, benefiting from them requires a great deal of personal effort. The incompleteness of inheritance was sharply expressed by novelist John Updike when he remarked: “The dwelling places of Europe have an air of inheritance, or cumulative possession — a hive occupied by generations of bees.” We want to be more than bees living in a hive; we want to be fully developed…Continue Reading

U.S. Congressional Report… Documents “Dire Human Rights Situation” In China

October 20, 2018 Featured Today Comments Off on U.S. Congressional Report… Documents “Dire Human Rights Situation” In China

WASHINGTON, D.C. (CNA) — A new congressional report slams China’s Communist Party for increasing its repressive control over many aspects of Chinese society, and for its numerous extreme and unprecedented human rights violations that may constitute crimes against humanity. The report states that it “highlights the dire human rights situation inside China and the continued downward trajectory by virtually every measure, since Xi Jinping” came to power, first as the Communist Party’s general secretary and now as its president. Published October 10, the report was prepared and released by the Congressional Executive Commission on China, which is chaired by Sen. Marco Rubio (R., Fla.) and co-chaired by Cong. Christopher Smith (R., N.J.). The commission was created in 2000 to monitor…Continue Reading

Pope Francis . . . Laicizes Two Chilean Bishops For Sexual Abuse Of Minors

October 19, 2018 Featured Today Comments Off on Pope Francis . . . Laicizes Two Chilean Bishops For Sexual Abuse Of Minors

VATICAN CITY (CNA) — Pope Francis has officially expelled two Chilean bishops from the clerical state. Both men were accused of sexual abuse of minors. The decision was issued without the possibility to appeal, the Vatican announced on Saturday, October 13. The Vatican announced that Francisco José Cox Huneeus, 84, archbishop emeritus of La Serena, Chile, and Marco Antonio Ordenes Fernandez, 53, bishop emeritus of Iquique, Chile, were removed from the clerical state “as a consequence of manifest abuse of minors.” Both former bishops have reportedly been living retired lives of prayer and penance for some years now. By Vatican order, Cox has been living at the institute of the Schoenstatt Fathers, of which order he is a member, in…Continue Reading

Pope Orders Investigation Of Vatican’s McCarrick Files

October 18, 2018 Featured Today Comments Off on Pope Orders Investigation Of Vatican’s McCarrick Files

By J.D. FLYNN VATICAN CITY (CNA) — The Vatican announced Saturday, October 6 that it would review its files pertaining to allegations of sexual misconduct on the part of Archbishop Theodore McCarrick, who has been accused in recent months of serially sexually abusing two teenage boys, and of sexually coercing and assaulting priests and seminarians during decades of ministry as a bishop. The Archdiocese of New York has already conducted a formal investigation into one allegation that McCarrick serially sexually abused a teenage boy in New York, and announced in June that the allegation had been found credible. In an October 6 statement, the Vatican said that Pope Francis has decided to combine the information from that investigation “with a…Continue Reading

After Holy See-China Agreement… Persecution Continues In Wenzhou, Henan, Hubei

October 17, 2018 Featured Today Comments Off on After Holy See-China Agreement… Persecution Continues In Wenzhou, Henan, Hubei

ROME (AsiaNews) — The “provisional” agreement between China and the Holy See, signed on September 22, does not seem to have stopped persecution and violence against Catholics. The morning of October 11 in Lingkun, in the district of Yongqiang, the cross that stood on the bell tower of the Catholic church was torn down; the perimeter wall in front of the sacred building was demolished as well. The church is part of the parish of Yongqiang, in the Diocese of Wenzhou (Zhejiang). The Catholic community of Wenzhou has about 130,000 faithful and is led by Bishop Peter Shao Zhumin, recognized by the Holy See, but not by the government. It is the first time that a Wenzhou church has been…Continue Reading

Bishops Of Ireland . . . Condemn Lack Of Safeguards In Irish Bill

October 16, 2018 Featured Today Comments Off on Bishops Of Ireland . . . Condemn Lack Of Safeguards In Irish Bill

DUBLIN (CNA/EWTN News) — The Irish bishops on October 5 lamented that the draft bill to legalize abortion in the Republic would require pro-life healthcare professionals to provide abortion referrals, calling the provision “an affront to conscience.” “The Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018 poses a very real practical and moral dilemma for healthcare professionals who believe in the fundamental human right to life and in their own responsibility to serve life,” read the statement from the Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference. They noted that the bill envisages that in the first 12 weeks, abortion will generally be chemically induced. “This presumes that pharmacists, whether in hospitals or in private practice, will routinely stock and dispense drugs whose specific…Continue Reading

Neither Left Nor Right, But Catholic . . . Truth: The Casualties In The Current Controversies

October 15, 2018 Featured Today Comments Off on Neither Left Nor Right, But Catholic . . . Truth: The Casualties In The Current Controversies

By STEPHEN M. KRASON (Editor’s Note: Stephen M. Krason’s Neither Left nor Right, but Catholic column appears monthly [sometimes bimonthly]. He is professor of political science and legal studies and associate director of the Veritas Center for Ethics in Public Life at Franciscan University of Steubenville. He is also co-founder and president of the Society of Catholic Social Scientists and a lawyer. (Among his books are: Abortion: Politics, Morality, and the Constitution; The Transformation of the American Democratic Republic; Catholicism and American Political Ideologies, and a Catholic political novel, American Cincinnatus. This column originally appeared in Crisismagazine.com. His views, of course, are his own. (This particular column was written and first published before the U.S. Senate vote confirming Brett Kavanaugh…Continue Reading

Setting Things Right

October 14, 2018 Featured Today Comments Off on Setting Things Right

By DONALD DeMARCO An ancient Chinese proverb reads as follows: “If there is righteousness in the heart, there will be beauty in the character. If there is beauty in the character, there will be harmony in the home. If there is harmony in the home, there will be order in the nation. When there is order in the nation, there will be peace in the world.” We could add to this kernel of wisdom St. Teresa of Calcutta’s “business card”: “The fruit of silence is prayer. The fruit of prayer is faith. The fruit of faith is love. The fruit of love is service. The fruit of service is peace.” We cannot choose peace directly, we must start with the…Continue Reading

Casualty Lists From The Kavanaugh Battle

October 13, 2018 Featured Today Comments Off on Casualty Lists From The Kavanaugh Battle

By PATRICK J. BUCHANAN After a 50-year siege, the great strategic fortress of liberalism has fallen. With the elevation of Judge Brett Kavanaugh, the Supreme Court seems secure for constitutionalism — perhaps for decades. The shrieks from the gallery of the Senate chamber as the vote came in on Saturday, October 4 and the sight of that bawling mob clawing at the doors of the Supreme Court as the new justice took his oath, confirm it. The Democratic Party has sustained a historic defeat. And the triumph is President Trump’s. To unite the party whose nomination he had won, Donald Trump pledged to select his High Court nominees from lists prepared by such judicial conservatives as the Federalist Society. He…Continue Reading

Cardinal Ezzati . . . Declines To Answer Questions In Chilean Abuse Probe

October 12, 2018 Featured Today Comments Off on Cardinal Ezzati . . . Declines To Answer Questions In Chilean Abuse Probe

SANTIAGO, Chile (CNA) — Ricardo Cardinal Ezzati of Santiago has exercised his legal right to silence after being summoned for questioning by a state prosecutor. The intended questioning was likely to be focused on what the cardinal knew about his former archdiocesan chancellor, Fr. Oscar Munoz Toledo, who was arrested July 12 following allegations he sexually abused seven minors. Munoz has already admitted to sexually abusing one minor, but investigators believe the archdiocese may have been aware of as many as four of his victims. Ezzati was called as prosecutors consider his involvement in a potential cover-up of Munoz’s crimes. Ezzati was scheduled to appear at the prosecutor’s office on August 21, but his defense team requested more time to…Continue Reading