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September 28, 2011
TORONTO - Critics often wonder how a Harvard-educated man like U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia can believe in God. Scalia answers that being a devout Catholic does not mean you forgo your intellect or reason. “A faith that has no reason is not sound,” Scalia said to a packed room of more than 200 lawyers and judges as keynote speaker following the 87th annual Red Mass on Sept. 22 at the King Edward Hotel in Toronto. “That is why I am not a Branch Davidian,” he joked, with chuckles from the audience. (The Branch Davidians are the infamous sect notorious for the 1993 siege in Waco, Texas, where more than 80 people died during a standoff with the FBI.)
TORONTO - Baby Joseph Maraachli, who had been at the centre of a legal battle between his parents and doctors, died on Sept. 27 surrounded by his family. Joseph's father, Moe, told The Catholic Register that the funeral for the 18-month old child was held Sept. 28. Br. Paul O'Donnell, Major Superior of the Minnesota-based Franciscan Brothers of Peace, announced the death on Facebook: "(Baby Joseph) passed away peacefully at home with his parents and family at his side. Praise God he had seven precious months with his family to be surrounded by love and was not put to death at the hands of doctors,” he wrote.
OTTAWA - International Planned Parenthood, which promotes and provides abortions, has received a federal grant under a G8 initiative that Prime Minister Stephen Harper said would not fund Third World abortions. Conservative MP Brad Trost calls the $6 million CIDA grant to Planned Parenthood a “slap in the face” to all social conservatives in Parliament and the Tory caucus. “I am very, very disappointed, very unhappy,” said Trost, the pro-life MP who campaigned last spring on getting Planned Parenthood de-funded.
September 29, 2011
The Catholic Register is launching a new feature this week. Here’s a clue: What’s a 15-letter term for cruciverbalist? If you answered a person who creates crossword puzzles you are absolutely correct — and can go to Page 26 to try out our new weekly feature, a Catholic crossword puzzle. The puzzles are designed to be fun and educational but not too difficult so they can be enjoyed by a broad cross section of readers. Each week will offer a different Church-based theme, such as Canadian saints, religious orders or holy days. - Click here to try out the first crossword. Check back next week for the solution.
VATICAN CITY - Pope Benedict XVI is asking media professionals and viewers, listeners and readers to set aside a bit of time for silence. Announcing that the pope had chosen "Silence and Word: Path of Evangelization" as the theme for World Communications Day 2012, the Vatican acknowledged it initially might appear strange to ask professional wordsmiths to focus on silence, but it said silence is essential for really processing the words people hear or read. The Catholic celebration of World Communications Day is marked in most dioceses on the Sunday before Pentecost, which in 2012 will be May 20. A papal message for the occasion usually is released on the feast of St. Francis de Sales, patron of writers, Jan. 24.
September 30, 2011
WARSAW, Poland - Russia's Catholic Church criticized the demolition of a hospice complex run by the Missionaries of Charity after a Moscow court ruled it was used illegally for charity work. In late September, Moscow city officials were preparing to bulldoze a second building operated by the order, founded by Blessed Mother Teresa. The first was destroyed Sept. 16 after a 2010 court ruling that claimed the sisters had legally rebuilt the complex but failed to register its "entry into use" two decades earlier. "Nothing like this has happened to these sisters before anywhere in the world — it sets an unfortunate precedent," said Fr. Igor Kovalevsky, secretary-general of the Russian bishops' conference.
VATICAN CITY - The Catholic Church's position on capital punishment has evolved considerably over the centuries. And as a result, "it is not a message that is immediately understood -- that there is no room for supporting the death penalty in today's world," said a Vatican's expert on capital punishment and arms control. Because the church has only in the past few decades begun closing the window -- if not shutting it completely -- on the permissibility of the death penalty, people who give just a partial reading of the church's teachings may still think the death penalty is acceptable today, said Tommaso Di Ruzza, desk officer at the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace. St. Thomas Aquinas equated a dangerous criminal to an infected limb thereby making it "praiseworthy and healthful" to kill the criminal in order to spare the spread of infection and safeguard the common good.
CAPE TOWN, South Africa - Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu might seek to turn off the spotlight that has shone on him for the past three decades, but as he approaches his 80th birthday Oct. 7, he has not been able to withdraw from public life completely. The former Anglican primate of southern Africa now lives with his wife in the middle-class Cape Town suburb of Milnerton. Neighbors are used to seeing the diminutive archbishop on his brisk morning walks. Their greetings are met with a friendly wave of the hand, but the archbishop does not stop for a chat. Extrovert as he appears in public, the private Archbishop Tutu is reserved and, indeed, shy. Once always available to the media, the archbishop now denies all interview requests. He still writes occasionally and speaks at selected public events. When he does so, his comments on current issues invariably make headlines. In this way, he still serves as the conscience of the nation.