It’s been a blistering and draining week with the Komen story. As tomorrow’s Gospel tells us, Jesus often withdrew to prayer and solitude, and so am I today. Time for a retreat weekend. Here is an outstanding homily given by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger on the eve of his election to the Chair of Peter. It [...]
Archive for the ‘Dignity’ Category
Retreating from Komen with Cardinal Ratzinger
Posted in Bishops, Dignity, tagged Dictatorship of Relativism, Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, Komen on February 4, 2012 | 2 Comments »
First Annual Conference on Poor Prenatal Diagnoses and Therapeutic Interventions
Posted in Abortion, Biomedical Ethics, Dignity, Eugenics, tagged Poor Prenatal Diagnoses on January 17, 2012 | 8 Comments »
Late last Spring I became increasingly convinced that a major area not tackled by the pro-life movement in any coordinated fashion is the new eugenics movement in fetal medicine. Specifically, increasing numbers of physicians are advising, demanding, and even coercing women to abort babies diagnosed with what have become known collectively as “Poor Prenatal Diagnoses.” [...]
From Pretty to Slavery
Posted in Dignity, tagged Death of Pretty, national catholic register, olivia newton john, Pat Archbold on December 30, 2011 | 12 Comments »
Pat Archbold at the National Catholic Register writes on the Death of Pretty: This post is intended as a lament of sorts, a lament for something in the culture that is dying and may never been seen again. Pretty, pretty is dying. People will define pretty differently. For the purposes of this piece, I define [...]
Major Conscience Protections Victory: UMDNJ Nurses Don’t Have to Perform Abortions
Posted in Dignity, tagged Alliance Defense Fund, Bioethics Defense Fund, Conscience Protections, Dorinda Bordlee, Matt Bowman, Natural Law, Nkolas Nikas, Nuremberg, Nurses, UMDNJ on December 23, 2011 | 3 Comments »
A major victory yesterday for conscience protections. From LifeSite News: Thu Dec 22 7:53 PM EST NEWARK, New Jersey, December 22, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) – In a triumph for conscience protections, a New Jersey hospital agreed that nurses will not have to assist with abortions if doing so would violate their moral or religious views. Twelve [...]
Incest Principal: ‘No Children Complained’
Posted in Dignity, tagged Incest, Pep Rally, Rosemount High, Wallersheim on December 18, 2011 | 13 Comments »
Further thoughts on the incest-as-entertainment at Rosemount High that I blogged on earlier. The AP has a report on the incident with some pretty disturbing quotes from Principal Wallersheim, whose staff planned the event: “This activity was intended to be fun, but some found it offensive,” he wrote. “We apologize to anyone who was offended [...]
Abortion, IVF, and School-Sponsored Incest
Posted in Biomedical Ethics, Dignity, tagged Incest, Pep Rally, Rosemount High School, Wollersheim on December 18, 2011 | 24 Comments »
Please bear with me on this one. It comes with a warning. This is gut-wrenching and nauseating, but needs to be aired. After having worked for seven years with teen prostitutes at Covenant House in the 1980′s, I honestly thought that I had seen it all. It’s tough to live with the memories of all [...]
Christopher Hitchens: Free At Last
Posted in Dignity, tagged anthropological perspectives, christian apologists, Christopher Hitchens, human civilization, navy commander, raid on dieppe, totalitarian belief on December 16, 2011 | 5 Comments »
Yesterday, Christopher Hitchens entered into eternity at age 62. The celebrated atheist succumbed to pneumonia, which was a complication associated with his esophageal cancer. If Hitchens did great harm by his atheism, it is also certainly true that his atheism was the rhetorical wet stone used by a generation of Christian apologists. Among the positions [...]
Sebelius’ Sensible Decision
Posted in Abortion, Birth Control, Dignity, tagged Family Health International, FDA, NPR, Plan B, Sebelius on December 9, 2011 | 4 Comments »
The recent overruling of the FDA decision to sell Plan B over the counter (OTC) to children as young as eleven years of age has engendered no small amount of outrage by proponents of the FDA plan, and HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius has come in for severe criticism from women’s health and advocacy groups. Setting [...]
Newt Clears the Air
Posted in Abortion, Dignity on December 6, 2011 | 13 Comments »
This evening, I received the following communication from Newt Gingrich’s communications director, which I believe clears the air and provides Mr. Gingrich with a way forward: Hi Gerard, Dan forwarded me your email. To be clear, Newt believes that human life begins at conception, that is, at the moment of fertilization. Does this help clarify? [...]
The Gingrich Campaign’s Reply
Posted in Abortion, Dignity, tagged Life, Newt Gingrich on December 5, 2011 | 13 Comments »
Last week, presidential candidate Newt Gingrich made the following statement in an interview with Jake Tapper: “I think that if you take a position when a woman has fertilized egg and that’s been successfully implanted that now you’re dealing with life,” he added. “Because otherwise you’re going to open up an extraordinary range of very [...]
Does Conception Begin at Life?
Posted in Abortion, Dignity on December 3, 2011 | 5 Comments »
UPDATE 12/5/11: The Gingrich Campaign responded. I’m not entirely sold on the response. Check it out. That title isn’t a mistake. It’s the question that Newt Gingrich’s comments to Jake Tapper have brought into sharp relief. When the Speaker said that we have life at implantation, he stepped on a land mine. I’m awaiting his [...]
Newt Gingrich’s Mistaken Notion: Life Begins at Implantation
Posted in Biomedical Ethics, Dignity, tagged Implantation, IVF, Newt Gingrich on December 2, 2011 | 14 Comments »
UPDATE 12/5/11: The Gingrich Campaign responded. I’m not entirely sold on the response. Check it out. News today that presidential candidate and former Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich believes that life begins at implantation does not come as a great surprise. Other pro-life denizens of Capitol Hill, such as Senators Connie Mack and Orin [...]
Book Review: A Special Mother Is Born
Posted in Dignity, Uncategorized, tagged A Special Mother Is Born, Book Review, Leticia Velasquez on November 6, 2011 | 4 Comments »
Over a year ago, friend, Catholic blogger and co-founder of KIDS (Keep Infants with Down Syndrome), Leticia Velasquez asked if I would be interested in contributing a chapter to an anthology of stories by parents of special needs children, A Special Mother Is Born. It was a book a couple of years in the making, [...]
Homily for Respect Life Sunday
Posted in Dignity on October 1, 2011 | 16 Comments »
Normally, Deacon Greg Kandra’s homilies are superb, but this one has left me speechless. I believe he has said it all right here. Visit his blog, The Deacon’s Bench, for a daily dose of clarity, balance, and unsurpassed wisdom. Here’s Deacon Kandra: Since this is Respect Life Sunday, and the beginning of Respect Life month, [...]
Natural Disasters: God’s Permissive Will
Posted in Dignity on August 27, 2011 | 8 Comments »
As hurricane Irene bears down upon us, Mass was packed at 5 P.M. with those who know that Irene will prevent anyone from going tomorrow. The question on everyone’s lips, as many in my parish were mandatorily evacuated from their homes, was “WHY?” Why does God permit these things to happen? Why the destruction, the [...]
