 |
2009 Opinion Archive
Is our reverence for life diminishing?Posted: 11.17.09 Over the past several months, our U.S. bishops have reviewed the health care reform bill and fought openly and aggressively for two most important rights — the right to life and the right to health care for the poor. Oftentimes they have been ridiculed and misunderstood. • • • Abortion and health reform: Time to clear the airPosted: 11.16.09 It’s time to clear the air in the current debate over whether proposed health care legislation covers abortion. What’s the truth? NO. 1 ISSUE: WHETHER THE HYDE AMENDMENT APPLIES NOW • • • Cardinal: Health reform an issue of respect for lifePosted: 10.07.09 Respect Life Sunday marks the start of the observance of October as Respect Life Month. The following is an abridged version of the statement released Sept. 29 for the occasion by Cardinal Justin F. Rigali, chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Pro-life Activities. • • • Innocent man’s execution shows shame of death penaltyPosted: 09.23.09 The death penalty may have finally crossed a shameful line that, if there is any sense of reason or justice in American society, should bring the practice to a swift and final end. The state of Texas, despite all of the safeguards that proponents of the death penalty claim would prevent this from happening, may have executed an innocent man. • • • Catholic health care for a broken arm: a cast and new shoesPosted: 08.25.09 A broken arm gets you a cast – and a new pair of shoes. A pain in your right side leads to an appendectomy – and a new shirt. That’s at Providence Hospital in Washington, D.C., where the homeless find quality care in the medical units and practical assistance at the Sister’s Clothes Closet. • • • Detraction, rash judgment modern pitfallsPosted: 07.23.09 When I give talks on Catholic teaching about journalism, one of my favorite moments is when I discuss the sin of detraction. Detraction is the sin by which one, “without objectively valid reason, discloses another’s faults and failings to persons who did not know them,” in the words of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. • • • Innovation, generosity can keep Florida’s Catholic schools strongThe economic recession is squeezing public and private schools alike. Public school systems around the state have cut budgets for the 2009-2010 school year, many laying off teachers and closing schools. The Florida Legislature also offered public schools the option of temporarily increasing property taxes by 25 cents per $1,000 of taxable value to further close budget gaps and help the schools make it through the economic hard times. Many of the state’s 67 county school districts were considering the offer in late June, and some have accepted it. • • • Faithful can play role in health reformEarly this month – as the Obama administration rolled out its ideas for reforming the nation’s health care system and the Congress prepared to begin debating legislation – organizations representing both the Florida and U.S. bishops sent e-mails urging the Catholic faithful to make their voices on the topic heard in Washington. • • • Technology is neutral, but communication is priority for Church“Communication is an absolute priority for the Church,” Msgr. Paul Tighe, secretary of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications at the Vatican told an audience of Catholic media professionals last week. • • • Death penalty debate may come down to money, innocenceFor years, Florida’s bishops, as well as the bishops of the United States, have appealed for an end to the use of the death penalty on moral grounds. Many others – including a good number of Catholics – have decried the death penalty as a violation of the dignity of life. • • • Benedict visits Middle East as pilgrim and pastorPope Benedict begins a weeklong trip to Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian territories May 8. It may well be his most difficult foreign trip yet. The complexities of the political and religious relationships in those lands are a challenge for anyone. • • • Prime-time life won’t help families in realityThe “octomom,” Nadya Suleman has said she wants to do a reality show about her family’s life. The mother of 14 (the eight newborns and six other children, including three with disabilities) has no husband and has been living with her parents. It’s pretty accurate to say her life since the babies were born has already been a media circus. • • • ‘Sweet glow of mercy’ comes from a loving GodSome 15 years ago, singer-songwriter Gary Chapman brought a message about the “Sweet Glow of Mercy” to a contemporary Christian music audience. “I’ve seen the darkness / And it saw me. / But here in the light, / Where the dark can’t see, / There is a sweet glow of mercy / that covers me.” • • • Conscience clauses provide real choicePro-choice. Pro-choice. Pro-choice. We get a little tired of hearing that moniker for the abortion-rights movement, since it isn’t very accurate. Those who promote and support abortion on demand, especially those who actively oppose any and all restrictions to it, don’t want to hear about informed choices. • • • What’s keeping you from the cross this Lent?Some Italian bishops have asked their flocks to give up cell-phone texting or drinking bottled water during Lent. The archbishop who called for a “fast” on text messages – at least on the Fridays of Lent – wants his flock to focus on fewer words and less food, drink and games so they can instead strengthen their relationship with God and those around them. • • • Value of Catholic press highlighted by Baby Shanice storyIf you read the heart-rending story of the 2006 death of Baby Shanice in the Florida Catholic Miami edition or online, you know the mother went to a Hialeah abortion clinic when she was 23 weeks pregnant. In an abortion process that went bizarrely awry, the baby was born alive, but died when the clinic staff stuffed her into a plastic bag. Eventually, police found the rotting corpse in a cardboard box in a closet at the clinic a week later. • • • Life times eight: train wreck or pro-life kudos?This guest editorial was first published by the editorial board of Our Sunday Visitor, a national Catholic newsweekly. Human train wreck or pro-life emblem? The convoluted story of Nadya Suleman, the 33-year-old unmarried mother who recently gave birth to octuplets in California, is a mixed bag of messages. Good thing that we as Catholics have a multimillennia tradition on human dignity and family to help sort it out. Because judging by some of the news stories and Internet discussions we’ve seen, most Americans are flummoxed. • • • Abortion fight more specific in new eraA college student best summed up the mood of the day. On the Metro, Washington’s subway system, a small group of University of Notre Dame students headed back to the parish in Virginia where they spent the nights before and after the March for Life. They seemed energized by the march, but concerned. One young man noted that in past years, when President George W. Bush would call in to the gathering with a message in support of the cause, it was enough for the marchers to focus on simply overturning Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision that essentially legalized abortion on demand through all nine months of pregnancy. • • • A smaller crowd hopes to make a differenceMillions of people will be in Washington, D.C., Jan. 20 for the inauguration of the 44th president of the United States. Estimates range from 2 million to 4 million or more attendees at the Capitol, on the National Mall and along the parade route. A lot of people want to witness the historic event when Barack Obama takes the oath of office. • • • Newspaper celebrates 70 yearsBack in 1939 when the Florida Catholic newspaper was started, if anyone on the staff talked about “the net” they likely meant the kind one might use to snag a catch out of the Intracoastal Waterway or the waters off the Keys. Now, the Florida Catholic staff uses the Internet every day to gather and disseminate news from around the state and around the world.
|
Advertisement
|