CATHOLIC NEWS: March 25: The Feast of the Annunciation... PLUS 22 MORE

CATHOLIC NEWS: March 25: The Feast of the Annunciation... PLUS 22 MORE

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March 25: The Feast of the Annunciation

Posted: 24 Mar 2010 10:55 PM PDT

Today is the Feast of the Annunciation. The Catholic Encyclopedia explains: The Feast of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary (25 March), also called in old calendars : FESTUM INCARNATIONIS, INITIUM REDEMPTIONIS CONCEPTIO CHRISTI, ANNUNTIATIO CHRISTI, ANNUNTIATIO DOMINICA. In the Orient...

The Easter Bunny Must Die

Posted: 25 Mar 2010 07:53 AM PDT

Among the peeves I keep as pets, chief is my loathing of the Easter Bunny. There are many reasons to hate the Bunny. I will get into why in particular the Bunny, but first to some other pressing business. Why is it that religious holidays require mascots to make them palatable to secularists who otherwise wouldn't give a fig about the celebration?

QUAERITUR: How early can the Easter Vigil begin?

Posted: 24 Mar 2010 02:32 PM PDT

Here is an oldie but goodie. Updated for 2010. From a reader: There is a parish in our diocese that is advertising (in the bulletin and even in the diocesan paper) a 4:00 p.m. Easter Vigil. Are there ANY circumstances which allow for such an exception to the rule that the Easter Vigil may not begin until after sundown?

Can we lie to save lives?

Posted: 25 Mar 2010 06:28 AM PDT

One of the classic moral dilemmas of the 20th century was the case of hiding Jews during Nazi Germany. If a Nazi officer comes to the door asking if any Jews are in the house, are you morally permitted to lie to the officer in order to protect the lives of those Jews hiding within? Unfortunately, this is not just a theoretical or historical question...

Stupak voted to fund Planned Parenthood

Posted: 24 Mar 2010 08:46 PM PDT

From the Washington Times, March 23: Bart Stupak: ... I've done all I could as one member to protect the sanctity of life. Reporter Kelly Picket: Then how come you didn't vote for Pence's amendment to de-fund Planned Parenthood back in 2009 Bart Stupak: I don't think I ever voted to de-fund Planned Parenthood .

The Bronx Paradox

Posted: 25 Mar 2010 05:29 AM PDT

+AMDG+ I like cultural paradoxes. They often give us a keyhole view onto the vast room of the "unthought," i.e., those scarcely-noticed prejudices and instincts that color thought and action. So, in that voyeuristic spirit, I thought I would draw attention to the "Bronx Paradox,"

On-Demand from Disneyland: "Incredible Abundance"

Posted: 25 Mar 2010 08:43 AM PDT

On the 35th anniversary of his ordination as a bishop, Cardinal Roger Mahony opened his archdiocese's signature event by correcting unspecified reports on "some of the websites" that've described the Los Angeles Religious Education Congress as the largest event of its kind in the Stateside church. In reality, the LA prelate declared, the weekend's 40...

Genesis of a Crime. The Revolution of the 1960's

Posted: 24 Mar 2010 11:00 PM PDT

The scandal of pedophilia has always been there, but it was magnified by the cultural revolution of half a century ago. Benedict XVI makes the claim in his letter to the Catholics of Ireland. Two cardinals and a sociologist comment.

On Fixing a Dreadful Error And Taking a Graceful Bow

Posted: 24 Mar 2010 09:12 PM PDT

We are in the heart of Lent but for one day we step back into the Christmas cycle. It is nine months before Christmas and today we celebrate the true feast of the Incarnation. December 25 is the Lord's birth but today is His incarnation as he is conceived in his Mother's womb. TODAY the...

"Plan Now for Suicide" Australia's Dr. Death Encourages Elderly Irish

Posted: 23 Mar 2010 04:00 PM PDT

For over 7 years now, especially in my public lectures, I have been beating the drum about this, warning that what we now know as "The Right to Die" Movement is steadily morphing into what will soon become "The Obligation to Die" Movement. It's happening, folks. It's happening right before our eyes.

Unsuspecting Medjugorje devotees misled by deceptive translation?

Posted: 23 Mar 2010 07:14 AM PDT

That's the opinion of Medjugorje-watcher Diane Korzeniewski, who offers a line-by-line analysis of the original message of Archbishop Allessandro D'Errico, apostolic nuncio to Bosnia and Herzegovina, comparing it with a faulty translation of that message which was posted on a pro-Medjugorje website. It takes only two sentences...

As the signature dries…

Posted: 24 Mar 2010 02:04 PM PDT

As President Obama signed the healthcare bill into law, the USCCB released a statement from Cardinal Francis George, president of the USCCB. A few highlights: Why the bishops support reform of our healthcare system: "so that all may have access to the care that recognizes and affirms their human dignity." Why the Catholic bishops have opposed this...

Thanks to Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich

Posted: 24 Mar 2010 02:14 PM PDT

"On the day upon which the Church celebrates the feast, I had a vision of Mary's Annunciation." At daily Adoration I have been reading slowly The Life of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, the visions of German visionary and stigmatist Anne Catherine Emmerich (1774-1824). I opened the book today (volume one of four) and found that I had reached the Annunciation...

Sympathy For Bart Stupak

Posted: 24 Mar 2010 01:23 PM PDT

Here was a politician who embodies what a half-century ago would have been considered the sensible center in American politics — economically liberal, socially conservative — and whose politics represent a good faith effort to live out the social teaching of America's largest religious body, the Catholic Church. Yet who, in the political aren.

Italians painting Byzantine icons in Shanghai

Posted: 24 Mar 2010 01:17 PM PDT

Yesterday afternoon I was invited to visit the almost-completed new fresco in the 150-year-old Dongjiadu Catholic Church (aka, the Jesuit-built St. Xavier Church) in Shanghai. The church is 150 years old, and it's in the midst of what was once one of Shanghai's most Catholic neighborhoods (now, mostly demolished - more on that in the next day or so).

Bart Stupak: A Lesson in Human Frailty

Posted: 24 Mar 2010 01:15 PM PDT

Poor Bart Stupak. The man tried to be a hero for the unborn, and then, when all the power of the moment was in his frail human hands, he dropped the baby. He genuflected when he should have dug in his heels and gave it up for a meaningless executive order.

Social Science Proves Humanae Vitae

Posted: 24 Mar 2010 12:25 PM PDT

It is common to hear Humanae Vitae referred to as a "prophetic" document. This is because Pope Paul VI made several predictions as to what would happen to our society if contraception became the norm. He hit each one spot on. For a reminder of what Paul VI wrote, I will quote directly from Humanae Vitae, with emphasis added: 17.

Pope: Scientists also can arrive at sanctity

Posted: 24 Mar 2010 08:43 AM PDT

In today's general audience catechesis in St. Peter's Square, the Pope presented the figure of St. Albert the Great, thirteenth century German theologian and philosopher, teacher of St. Thomas Aquinas.

Pope accepts Bishop John Magee's resignation. Will Cardinal Sean Brady be next?

Posted: 24 Mar 2010 05:54 AM PDT

Pope Benedict XVI has accepted the resignation of Bishop John Magee, who stepped aside as Bishop of Cloyne a year ago after an independent report found he had failed to respond adequately to child abuse claims in Country Cork. It's a miserable end to the career of a man who was once private secretary to Popes...

Archdiocese of San Francisco Paper Drops a Bomb

Posted: 24 Mar 2010 12:20 PM PDT

George Wesolek is a friend and former colleague who serves as Director of the Office of Public Policy and Social Concerns for the Archdiocese of San Francisco. He is no conservative, but rather that type of thoroughgoing pro-life, Catholic social justice advocate that is much talked about but rarely evidenced. In a column today at my former paper...

The NET's latest catch: Rocco

Posted: 24 Mar 2010 12:39 PM PDT

This just in, from the Brooklyn Desk ...where the news release below just fluttered in over the transom. Some of you have undoubtedly seen Rocco here or here. Well, now you'll be able to see, and hear, more of him. Rocco Palmo Joins NET's Daily News Show "Currents" Brooklyn, NY, March 24...

The Guardian asks: Is the pope a reactionary or a prophet?

Posted: 24 Mar 2010 12:16 PM PDT

Pope Benedict XVI is shy, humble, a man of temperate habits with a love of cats and classical music. How does this square with his image as God's rottweiler? And why has he upset more people than any other pope?

"I Saw a Divine Being": The Near-Death Experience of Britain's Preeminent Atheist

Posted: 24 Mar 2010 11:15 AM PDT

On the day of that first "death" (the second and final one occurred eleven months later), Dr. George returned to Ayer's bedside. "I came back to talk to him later that evening," he told Cash. "Very discreetly, I asked him, as a philosopher, what was it like to have had a near-death experience? He suddenly looked rather sheepish.