The Huffington Post, Catholicism, and Angry Comments

The Huffington Post is a well known as a liberal news and blogging site. It was recently purchased by AOL for $315 million, which many analysts felt was far too much. In any event, whenever this popular news source publishes articles on the Catholic Church, they are almost always negative.

So I was surprised to see an article quoted Pope Benedict where he said violence in religion or done in the name of God is the work of the antichrist. The article was straight-forward and did not add any twists or bring up any negatives about the Church. This was indeed a rare event.

I was interested to see how people would react to such an article in the comments. I glanced over some on the first page, and was shocked at the sheer negativity in them. To give you an unbiased sampling, I just randomly thought of some numbers and pages and from there I will take comments. I will also respond to them.

Here are the pre-selected numbers (from 23 pages):
Page 2: comments 3, 8
Page 4: comments 2, 7
Page 9: comments 1, 3
Page 15: comments 2, 5

So here they are (not including responses):

1. (2,3) Swell. Thanks for clearing that one up, Mr. Pope. I'm sure everything will be all peachy-kee­n now that you've figured it all out for us...

2. (2,8) This coming from a Pope who covered for pedophile priests for years? Was a member of the Nazi Youth program. Hmm. I pick door #2, CHENEY. Makes the Koch bros, Karl and Rupert, look like just spoiled brats.

3. (4,2) obviously this is turning a page in the history of the catholic church, but if you read between the lines he is not only condeming the use of religion in promoting violence, but also its past uses. many posts seem to sugest that you dont appreciate the gravity of this, and that perhaps the pope doesnt know the history of his own religion, and if this is so, perhaps you'd prefer if we continualy use religion to wage meaningles­s wars. I prefer to embrace this change in stance, and hope that other religious authoritie­s will support this move. when you look solely to the past than thats where you will live, in the mistakes of yesterday. however, if you embrace past and present as a means to the future, it begins to open up- and this is definately opening up a new future.

4. (4,7) Let's see...ther­e is only one God. You can't count the trinity because all three are only one. I think that's semantics, but I'll let them define their own words.

But, the Antichrist­? Is that another God? No, that would make two gods. You can't put the Antichrist into the Trinity because that would make God good and evil - - but if God were evil, why would I follow him.

I could go around a few more circles, but still won't be able to answer why evil is an equal force in our world, but there is only one God. Maybe the Pope could try to make some sense of that. But, why bother, most Catholice and many others, just accept the story without even trying to think about it.

The Pope desperatel­y wants us to believe this myth, but doesn't bother to make it logical.

Antichrist­, what a crock.

5. (9,1) ...And they're STILL refusing to take responsibi­lities for their actions or own up to their own autonomous behavior. Claiming the Devil did it or the Devil "made me do it" is an affront to reason, and more telling about their moral delusions and ethical ineptitude than anything else these superstiti­ous/supern­aturalist headcases might ever say.

6. (9,3) So the antichrist is here? Isn't that supposed to be big news?

7. (15, 2) My understand­ing the anti christ, wants to be worshiped as a God himself, bowed to, have a Kingdom, to become like God, but the opposite of all that God is. All told this world is not Kingdom, God's world will dwell on earth. We right now are to become light in darkness, till God comes, and the world of ungodly ones, unrighteou­s ones lawless ones, their world will end. Remember the evil one, was cast down here, with 1/3 of his angels. And know God has a family, his children are the image of God, what God's spiritual character is, they are one with God, their father. There also is many anti christ he has many children also. Told do not worry about the anit christ, rather worry more the anti christ does not enter you. I love all pray for all. I love all and pray for all, yes even my enemies I love and pray for.

8. (15, 5) Apparently he missed the chapter in his history book about the crusades. However, I love his ability to improvise. Like Jimi Hendrix, except for wackos.

Comments 1, 2, 5, 8 were clearly negative comments toward the Catholic Church.

#1 simply seems to take a mocking tone of the Pope, without specifying any beefs the user has with it.

#2 says the pope was in the Nazi youth and that he covered for pedophile priests. These two comments are irrelevant to the comments made by the pope at this time and represent the false logic of an "ad hominem" attack, meaning attacking the person rather than the idea. The pope was conscripted into the Nazi youth like all youth in Germany at the time. However, despite a possible penalty of death, the future pope risked his life to abandon his post. He was not directly involved in killing anyone. He and his family hated the Nazis and everything they stood for. As for pedophile priests, the pope has called them filth that must be removed from the Church. He has done a lot to make sure these priests are eliminated from ministry and that children are protected. But no matter what he does, people will continue to use this as an argument against the Church.

#3 seems to somewhat support the church. well at least the user is supporting the pope's comments, but he sees it as a change in policy of the church, implying that waging war used to be a legitimate part of Catholic teaching. this is probably the best of the random comments.

#4 discusses the idea of the anti-christ and basically tries to show that it is a contradiction. however, you could replace his comments about the anti-christ with comments about evil in general and he could use the same argument. he finishes his comments by saying the pope wants people to believe in a "myth", so I'm assuming he is atheist, and then says the idea of the antichrist is a "crock". I prepared an essay a while back about how everything God created was good, but he did not create evil, yet evil does exist. For that essay, click here.

#5 This user says the Church is refusing to take responsibility for unspecified "actions". He says the Church says the Devil made them do it, but no Church official has said that, so I'm not sure what he's referring to. He then claims the Church's teachings are contrary to reason and that it teaches superstition and stuff. Obviously this has nothing to do with the article and as happens many times, this user is just venting his frustration with religion in general under the guise of criticizing the Catholic Church.

#6 This is more of a comical statement.

#7 This is a general comment about the user's view of the antichrist.

#8 This one comments on the crusades. The implication is how could the pope be talking about not using violence if the Catholic Church went to Jerusalem and other places to fight the crusades. Although this may seem like a good point, if you think about it, is has the opposite effect. There were several crusades, the earliest was about a thousand years ago. There must not be many examples of Catholicism being associated with war, if the only example that comes to mind is from a millenium ago. Secondly, most people have a deficient view of the crusades, seeing it as a wholly offensive war, when in fact it was primarily defensive. Europe was being threatened by an Islamic conquest and the Byzantine Emperor requested the assistance of Western Europe to expel them. I agree that some people involved in the crusades were acting contrary to Catholic teaching by killing innocent people or looting areas, but it was not a directive of the Church to do this. You will not find a papal encyclical or pronouncement stating "Kill innocent people and steal their goods".

-------------------------------------

These comments were completely randomly chosen, and certainly not cherry-picked. There were dozens more, some probably much more vitriolic. To see for yourself what I am talking about, go to any news article on the Catholic Church from a main stream news or opinion outlet which allows comments and look at some of them. Often they will express very mean-spirited and nasty opinions which have absolutely nothing to do with the article at hand. Usually they will simply repeat old canards and well-worn ad hominem attacks. If you are Catholic, always try to post a comment presenting the Church in a true light.

3 Parents - 1 Child

Determined to destroy any semblance of ethical behavior, British doctors have pioneered a Frankensteinish procedure which creates embryos with genetic material from three parents. Not exactly like nature intended. The basic premise is that some couples' babies are at risk of having certain genetic illnesses. The scientists remove the risky genes and replace them with the genes from another donor egg. This presents medical, ethical, and moral concerns which cannot be overlooked.

1) Children with no background
What impact will it have on children who are born with genetic material from three parents? What will it be - mom, dad, and genetic mom? Children have a right (a real right, not some politically correct one) to know their parents and to be loved by them. This scenario creates mutant children with no 2 parents, but three parents. Who knows, maybe soon they will pioneer a technique for more than three parents. There is perfect complementarity with male and female, mother and father. Introducing another "parent" into this mix will have unknown and possibly devastating consequences.

Some may object by saying a couple can simply raise a child as their own, but this would be living a lie. This is not the child of two parents, but of three. The psychological issues experienced due to this knowledge is incalculable.

2) Child product of scientist's lab equipment, and not conjugal act of parents
A child has the right to be born in the loving embrace of his parents, not at the hands of a lab technician in a brightly lit room in a petri-dish. Children are not science experiments involving combining multiple eggs and sperm. Does anyone consider the rights of the child in these circumstances, or is it only the rights of the romantic couple that matters.

3) Genes from other animals?
What happens if this technique becomes more common? Will scientists then attempt to push the boundaries even further by introducing animal genes to human genetic makeup? With these crazy experiments, anything is possible. Rarely though does the pride of these "researchers" allow them to consider the possible negative impact of these activities.

4) Other ethical concerns
There are other ethical concerns which must be addressed. The male parent must masturbate to attain sperm. Oftentimes, especially in these types of new reproductive technologies, more embryos than are needed are created. This is of particular concern here because it is likely that more embryos than usual will be created given the uncertainty involved. It also raises issues of who the parents are of the children. Plus, potential long terms impacts of this technology, given that IVF is already very risky and those children are usually born with more issues than usual.


Children have no right to be treated like this. They are human beings and deserve respect!

To read more, please visit the following link:

BBC News - New fertility treatment to be assessed by regulator

Second Volume of Pope Benedict's Book Out Now

Yesterday, Pope Benedict's book has been officially published and is ready to purchase. The book it titled "Jesus of Nazareth" and is the second volume in the series. This second volume specifically concerns "Holy Week: From the Entrance Into Jerusalem To The Resurrection" Definitely should be a great read.

Click below to purchase your copy on Amazon.com

Small errors in Se7en

I just watched the movie Se7en. It's about two investigators (played by Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman) who are on the trail of a killer who murders people according to the seven deadly sins. One small error I noticed was Morgan Freeman contrasted the seven deadly sins with the cardinal virtues. However, the cardinal virtues make up only 4 of the 7 heavenly virtues (prudence, justice, temperance, fortitude), the other three are called theological virtues and include faith, hope, and charity.

Another small issue was when the detective described a type of contrition whereby the penitent is sorry for fear of hell. The detective called this "forced attrition". However, I've never come across this term. The term attrition is used however for this meaning, but adding "forced" is not usual. Attrition is also called "Imperfect contrition", which is contrasted with perfect contrition which is being sorry for ones sins out of love of God.

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Founders of Jesuits Canonized This Day in 1622

The founders of the Jesuits, Ignatius of Loyola and Francis Xavier, were canonized on this day in 1622 by Pope Gregory XV. Ignatius died in Rome of Roman Fever in 1556. Francis died in China, also from a fever, at the age of just 46, in 1552. Francis had traveled to India, Japan, China, and the Philippines.

Meat on Fridays During Lent in Canada

In the US, abstinence from meat is mandatory on Fridays of Lent and Ash Wednesday.

In Canada, the rule for meat on Friday is the same for the rest of the year. However, many people believe abstinence from meat was thrown out with Vatican II. Not so. After the Second Vatican Counctil, abstaining from meat could be substituted for another act of penance.

The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops puts it nicely:

Abstinence. This form of penance needs to be seen as a near cousin of fasting. We may give up meat or other desirable foods on one or two days a week during Lent, especially on Friday, the day of Christ’s saving death on the cross. Our abstinence is another way of sharing in Christ’s work of saving the world.

Throughout the year, every Friday is

day of abstinence from meat, obliging all Catholics who are 14 years or older.

We may also substitute other good actions for abstinence from meat. These could include special acts of charity (visiting the sick or aged, helping those in any need, contributing time or money to a work of charity) or other acts of piety (taking part in a service of worship with others, praying with our family, spending some extra time in personal prayer, especially with God’s holy word in the scriptures).

This is found in section 6 of "Living Lent", which can be found here.

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How the liturgy should look

I agree with Michael Voris in this video. An ongoing issue in the Church is the specifics of the liturgy, such as the singing, the homilies, the atmosphere, etc. I think Michael has made some great points in this video. The center of attention must be on Jesus Christ and his sacrifice. Not on the people or the choir or anything else. Michael's message gets quite strongly worded in the second half, perhaps more than I would have been, but overall I think the message is a good one.



Check out Cardinal Ratzinger's great book on the liturgy below:

Feds: Nun pleads guilty to embezzling $850,000

hmm, why is she so happy?

This is similar to a case in St. John's, Newfoundland where an office worker embezzled $500,000 from the archdiocese. This time a nun is implicated in this crime. Apparently the nun stole nearly a million dollars for her own personal use from Iona College, a Catholic school. It makes me wonder what a nun would need all that money for. The crime she has committed carries a maximum possible sentence of $250,000 in fines and up 10 years in prison.

It's sad that a woman who devoted her life to the Church ended up stealing from a Catholic college.

Let's pray for everyone involved here.

Feds: Nun pleads guilty to embezzling $850,000 - CNN.com

10 Youngest Catholic Bishops

Here is a Top 10 List of the Youngest Catholic Bishops in the World

There are about 5100 Catholic bishops in the world if you count those from both the Western (Latin or Roman) Rite of the Church and the Eastern Rites of the Church.

In order to become a Bishop, a man is required to be at least 35 years old and be ordained for at least 5 years. The man must also be very well educated and possess a doctorate or at least a licentiate in philosophy, theology, or canon law. But most of all, a bishop must possess good qualities such as piety, zeal, and love of the faith.

Although those named below are the youngest current bishops serving, they are not the youngest ever. For more on that, go to the bottom of this article.

Of the 5100 bishops in the world, here are the youngest:

[Sorry. No photo available.]	10. Charles Joseph Sampa Kasonde Bishop of Solwezi, Zambia Age 42.19 Born 14 Dec 1968
	9. Xavier Novell Gomá Bishop of Solsona, Spain Age 41.84 Born: 20 Apr 1969
	8. Bashar Matti Warda Archbishop of Arbil {Erbil} (Chaldean), Iraq Age 41.69 Born 15 Jun 1969
	7. Vasile Bizău Auxiliary Bishop of Făgăraş şi Alba Iulia (Romanian), Romania Born 14 Oct 1969 Age 41.36
	6. Stephen Dami Mamza Bishop of Yola, Nigeria Age 41.23 Born 30 Nov 1969
[Sorry. No Photo Available.]	5. Santo Loku Pio Doggale Auxiliary Bishop of Juba, Sudan Age 41.16 Born 28 Dec 1969
	4. Sviatoslav Shevchuk  Auxiliary Bishop of Santa María del Patrocinio en Buenos Aires (Ukrainian), Argentina Age 40.80 Born 5 May 1970
	3. Olivier Michel Marie Schmitthaeusler, M.E.P.  Bishop Vicar Apostolic of Phnom-Penh, Cambodia Age 40.66 Born 26 Jun 1970
	2. Anselm van der Linde, O. Cist.  Abbot of Wettingen-Mehrerau, Austria Age 40.42 Born 24 Sep 1970
	and the youngest Catholic bishop in the world is... Bishop Mihai Cătălin Frăţilă Auxiliary Bishop of Făgăraş şi Alba Iulia (Romanian), Romania Age 40.21 Born 10 Dec 1970

In the history of the Church there have been bishops who were under forty, by many years.

For example, in 1932, Raymond Augustine Kearney became the bishop of Brooklyn New York, at the age of 32. He possessed a doctorate in canon law, and had been a priest for about 7 years. He would not however meet the criteria for consecration to the episcopacy today.

Death Penalty for Miscarriage?

That's the absurd title of several articles about Georgia Lawmaker Bobby Franklin who has introduced a new anti-abortion bill. But the title is a little misleading. Don't get me wrong, I think Mr. Franklin is a pretty extreme guy, especially considering some of the bills he has tried to pass.

Anyway, what he is really saying is that abortion should carry the same penalty as murder. He goes on to say that women who have a miscarriage should be investigated to ensure they did not procure an abortion. What this investigation involves and when it is carried out is not specified.

Obviously Mr. Franklin is very pro-life. He is not however saying that all miscarriages should be penalized with the death penalty. He's just saying abortion should be prosecuted as such and he wants to make sure women are not getting abortions and then claiming they just had a miscarriage.

The problem I have with all this is that pro-abortion activists are trying to make Franklin look like a total nut and any time they mention him they say he's trying to make miscarriage a punishable offense, along with abortion. They want us to categorize miscarriages and abortion in the same way. So a legislator who opposes abortion is just as crazy as one that opposes miscarriages.

It seems like in several states, there are bills on the table which would render abortion an illegal activity. The pro-life community is certainly not unianimous when it comes to how cases should be treated. The most common proposal is that the abortion providers would be prosecuted, not the women having an abortion.

You can read more about this representative's proposal by clicking the link below. But also take a look at some of the ridiculous bills he has introduced.

Georgia Lawmaker's Anti-Abortion Proposal Could Punish Women for Miscarriages - FoxNews.com

Holy Spider Batman!

Latest Episode of Catholic Answers Live

Catholic Answers Live airs weekdays from 6-8 ET. Great show! Check out the latest episodes below:

Hour 1
Hour 2

Pope receives ashes too

Coptic Christians being attacked again in Egypt

In a conflict between Muslims and Coptic Christians in Egypt left 13 dead and 40 injured. The Copts claim that all the dead are Christian, but Muslims say they lost 5 people.

This comes after a church was burned down by Muslim extremists last week. In Egypt, it is extraordinarily difficult to build or repair a church and it takes a presidential decree to do so. This is common in many Muslim countries, however often it's much stricter. In many places, Christians are completely forbidden from building or repairing any existing churches, so people are forced to overfill delapedated churches. In some countries, such as Saudi Arabia, churches are banned outright and public Christian worship is forbidden. Ironically the situation in Egypt may not be as bad as it may become. Hosni Mubarak, when he was in power, maintained a secular government. The Copts fear a Muslim government will take over the reigns once hostilities have subsided and make being Christian, which represents 12% of the population, in that country even more difficult.

The protests are occurring in a part of Cairo known as Garbage City, where the mostly Christian residents eek out an existence by sorting through garbage and converting it to money by finding valuables.

Persecution of Christians in Egypt must end. A secular government is the only way to ensure their rights are not completely destroyed. Keep them in your prayers.

For more, go here.

Pope continues to be a trailblazer in using media

Pope Benedict XVI will answer questions on television from the public for a special program by RAI, an Italian station. The three questions will be on Jesus, and the answers will be pre-recorded. It will air on Good Friday at 3pm. This is a papal first. This coincides with Benedict's release of the second volume on his book on the life of Jesus called Jesus of Nazareth. The book recently captured headlines when the pope reiterated the Church's teaching that Jews as a whole are not responsible for deicide.

It's really wonderful that the pope is continuing to embrace new media. The Vatican has a Youtube channel and the Vatican.va website is a giant portal to all things Catholic, which is updated daily in many languages. The pope has continuously pledged for people to use new media to spread evangelization. I think though the pope must be careful to not try too hard to adapt to all media. Quotes, clips, and other forms of media can be distorted or taken out of context. An air of reverence must be maintained.

I think this is a great step overall.

For more on the story, see below:

Pope Benedict to answer Italian TV viewers' questions in papal first | World news | The Guardian

To purchase Benedict's new volume of his book Jesus of Nazareth, click the link below:

UK Court: Christian Households UNFIT for Children

A shjocking story has come out of the UK, where a Christian couple has been denied the ability to adopt a chidl because they are good Christians and opposed homosexual actions. The judge said that gay rights are more important than religious freedom in that country. In fact, the judge said, gay rights trump all others.

This story is not about whether or not these foster parents are correct. It is about the state intervening and declaring it to be illegal to teach your own adoptive children the morals and values of your faith. This is a complete outrage.

How long will it be before it becomes illegal for ANY parent to teach their children about proper sexual behavior? Soon enough, if parents teach Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, or Buddhist values concerning sexual matters, their household will be classified as a dangerous area for children and they will be removed by child services.

This is a complete infringement of rights. These good Christians have already raised 15 adoptive children and everyone who knows this couple say they are the best parents a child could ask for.

This case is primarily about destroying a parent's God-given right to teach their children proper morals and ethics.

It seems all too possible that soon enough there will be guidelines distributed by the government telling parents what they ought and ought not teach their children. These will not just be guidelines or suggestions, but rather they will be enforceable by law, with strict penalties attached to disobeying them.

Our rights are being trampled on more and more each day. We deride totalitarian regimes which force their citizens to behave and act a certain way. How is it any different in the UK or Canada where freedom of religion is at an all-time low?

For those who agree with homosexual actions and believe it should take precedence over all over human rights, how would you react if the government said rape was now legal and encouraged and that anyone who taught against it would not be allowed to adopt children? Rape and homosexuality both fall under the category of sexual morals. Homosexuality, as believed by all major religions, is sinful. It should not be illegal for a parent to teach his or her children their belief on the subject.

Goodbye freedom, welcome 1984.

Read more here.

Also, check out the book below for a good discussion of Catholic morals concerning homosexuality: