April 13, 2014 Remembering Terri Schiavo: Bobby Schindler comments on Pope Francis, Bishop Robert Lynch, and working on behalf of the severely disabled By Matt C. Abbott The following is an email interview I recently conducted with Bobby Schindler, brother of the late Terri Schiavo, whose notorious murder by starvation and dehydration occurred in 2005. Mr. Schindler is the executive director of the Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network.
For the 2nd time in recent weeks, parents of students at a Catholic high school are protesting that a speaker’s presentation on Catholic morality was harsh and insensitive. Parents of students at the Prout School in Rhode Island have expressed outrage over an appearance by Father Francis (“Rocky”) Hoffman, the executive director of Relevant Radio, a network of 33 Catholic stations. Kathleen Schlenz, whose daughter attends the school and heard the lecture, said that the presentation was offensive “regarding divorce, homosexuality, and even adoption.” Father Hoffman, who was on retreat, was unavailable to comment. But David Carradini, the principal of the Prout School, apologized for the presentation and said that Father Hoffman’s answers to students’ questions “were not entirely representative…Continue Reading
Sarah Boesveld | April 12, 2014 When Leonard Baak’s son hit kindergarten age, his local public school in Stittsville, Ont., was so full it couldn’t even add any portables. So all the other parents in his neighbourhood did the natural thing and dusted off their Roman Catholic baptism certificates and got their children into the local Catholic school. Mr. Baak was a “churchgoing Christian” but not Catholic — which at least one parent needs to be if a child can be admitted to Catholic elementary. His only other choice was to put his four-year-old on a 45-minute bus ride or enroll him in private school at a hefty price. I pay as much tax as they do He tried everything to get…Continue Reading
By Phil Lawler April 10, 2014 5:05 PM Charlotte’s Bishop Peter Jugis has finally issued a statementregarding the unseemly controversy at Charlotte Catholic High School. In that statement the bishop clearly affirms the teachings of the Catholic Church. But he does not affirm Sister Jane Dominic Laurel, whose presentation of those teachings provoked so much bitter criticism. ”Different viewpoints regarding Sr. Jane Dominic Laurel’s presentation to students on March 21, 2014, have been discussed in a variety of venues,” the bishop says. He does not indicate what viewpoint, if any, he holds on that presentation. He does not even mention, anywhere in his statement, the subject matter of her presentation. If your only source of information about this affair is the bishop’s statement,…Continue Reading
by Hilary White, Rome Correspondent Fri Apr 11, 2014 08:11 EST VATICAN CITY, April 11, 2014 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Human life is “sacred and inviolable” and “every civil law is based on the recognition of the first and most fundamental right, the right to life,” Pope Francis told an Italian pro-life organization today. The pope thanked the Movimento per la Vita, one of Italy’s leading political pro-life groups, for their work, urging them to continue “with courage and love” for life “in all its phases.” “It is therefore necessary to reiterate the strongest opposition to any direct attack on life, especially innocent and defenseless, and her unborn child in the womb is the innocent par excellence,” the pope told the gathering…Continue Reading
By Jan Uebelherr of the Journal Sentinel The Rev. Cletus Healy warned about the evils of communism, presided over annual vigils at the gravesite of Sen. Joseph McCarthy and wrote “Stations of the Cross for the Victims of Abortion.” These were the passions of Healy, a Jesuit who — in an era of change that was troubling for some Catholics — emerged as a bastion of long-held conservative values. “He was a voice of reason, of continuity — a connection with the Vatican that was often blurred, especially through the ’60s and ’70s, when things were in such turmoil,” his friend Mary Lou Wirtz said of Healy, who died of congestive heart failure Monday at St. Camillus Jesuit Retirement Community in Wauwatosa. He was 96. The…Continue Reading
By Fr Dwight Longenecker 4/8/2014 Catholic Online (www.catholic.org) This is the frightful absurdity of evil. This absurdity and rage is the demonic poison of hatred and pride, and the only antidote, I have come to accept-the only antidote for which I plead- is the Divine Mercy. The devil is a liar, and because he lies all the time dealing with him is like walking on quicksand or dancing in a minefield. When dealing with evil in the personality we are constantly confronted with false images, false diagnoses, confusing signals, distractions, distortions and disturbing evidence.
BY KIRSTEN ANDERSEN Mon Apr 07, 2014 18:27 EST CHARLOTTE, NC, April 7, 2014 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The bishop of Charlotte is backing a Dominican nun who has been at the center of a fiery controversy since last month when she gave a speechpromoting Catholic teaching on sexuality to students at Charlotte Catholic High School. After a public meeting with diocesan and school officials turned ugly, with parents and students alike shouting at administrators over what they perceived as “hateful” remarks criticizing homosexual behavior, divorce and extra-marital sex, a spokesman for the diocese told LifeSiteNews that the nun in question, Sr. Jane Dominic Laurel, did nothing wrong and will be welcome to speak on the issue again if she chooses. “Nothing in Sister’s…Continue Reading
Moral certainties and uncertainty on parade. By Mark Tooley – 4.6.14 Last Tuesday some Catholic bishops hosted a mass at the Arizona border with Mexico that largely was a plea for legalizing the 11 million or so illegal immigrants in the U.S. They focused on illegal immigrants who perish while surreptitiously crossing the desert. Cardinal Sean O’Malley gave a moving homily. “We come to the desert today because it is the road to Jericho; it is traveled by many trying to reach the metropolis of Jerusalem,” O’Malley said. “We come here today to be a neighbor and to find a neighbor in each of the suffering people who risk their lives and at times lose their lives in the desert.” Recalling his own…Continue Reading
April 4, 2014 By Rebecca Hamilton There’s a new blacklist. Its members are anyone who dares to oppose gay marriage, or gay behavior of any sort. The punishment, even for icons of the tech industry, is to have their careers deep-sixed; all in the name of “inclusiveness” and “tolerance.” We have reached the point that these very fine words, inclusiveness and tolerance, have become the tools of a new totalitarianism that strikes at freedom of expression, freedom of political action and freedom of religion for every American. This blacklist is the opposite of freedom. It is absolute intolerance. It is the apogee of exclusiveness. It is bigoted, biased, hate-filled, discriminatory and totalitarian. It is the ghost of Jim Crow, the…Continue Reading