Yesterday afternoon as I made dinner and cleaned up my house before my husband returned home, I listened to NPR’s Fresh Air and Terry Gross’ interview with Seymour Hersh regarding his article in The New Yorker about President Bush’s desire for war in Iran. It was so disturbing I had to listen to the full 44 minutes of it and then it was last night’s dinner topic.
Seymour reports that Democratic Congress gave Bush his requested funds for “covert operations” within Iran. These operations’ goal is to destabilize Iran’s government from within. According to Hersh’s New Yorker article Preparing the Battlefield he notes:
. . . Congress has been under Democratic control since the 2006 elections—were willing, in secret, to go along with the Administration in expanding covert activities directed at Iran, while the Party’s presumptive candidate for President, Barack Obama, has said that he favors direct talks and diplomacy. The request for funding came in the same period in which the Administration was coming to terms with a National Intelligence Estimate, released in December, that concluded that Iran had halted its work on nuclear weapons in 2003. The Administration downplayed the significance of the N.I.E., and, while saying that it was committed to diplomacy, continued to emphasize that urgent action was essential to counter the Iranian nuclear threat. President Bush questioned the N.I.E.’s conclusions, and senior national-security officials, including Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, made similar statements. (So did Senator John McCain, the presumptive Republican Presidential nominee.)
Does this sound familiar? Iraq anyone? Very very disturbing!
Recently, Ryan Anderson from First Things Blog defended President Bush’s pro-life record. Though he did not link to us, he mentioned that “several members of the blog Vox Nova” argue that Bush has not done too much against abortion. He links to Christopher Blosser from the Catholics in the Public Square blog to prove his point that many contributors from Vox Nova are ignoring the facts.
From reading both Ryan’s and Christoper’s points and the arguments being made by my fellow contributors– Henry, Morning’s Minion, Michael Iafrate, Nate Wildermuth, and Gerald Campbell–it is evident that pro-life success is defined quite differently depending on perspective.
Both Ryan and Christoper argue that pro-life success is equivalent to legislation. And if one accepts their definition of success, they are absolutely correct. Wow, President Bush has been the most successful president in US history regarding pro-life leadership and laws! The problem for both Anderson and Blosser is that none of our contributors look to legislation alone to draw their conclusions. They look to the numbers. And when the numbers are read, problems begin to emerge for many pro-lifers. The only organization that has thoroughly researched abortion is Planned Parenthood’s Alan Guttmacher Institute. And when we look at the research of the AGI we will notice a few significant points. First, abortion rates have steadily been declining since 1981. All of us should agree that any decline in abortion is a success. According to Anderson’s and Blosser’s logic one MAY conclude that anti-abortion LAWS affect abortion RATES, but if that is the case, then why was there a peak in abortions in 1989 under pro-life President Bush I and steep declines in abortion under pro-abortion President Clinton? Read the rest of this entry »
I didn’t want the massive flooding in Iowa and the storms in the Midwest to be ignored here at VN. We are praying for all those affected. Natural disasters are terrible in that so many are affected.
I have been reading extensively on Guatemalan history lately because I wanted to know why the Military/Government decided to kill Catholic Bishop Juan Gerardi in 1996. In 500 years of Central American history, a bishop had never been killed, yet in only 16 years time from 1980-1996, two Central American Bishops were martyred: El Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Romero and Guatemalan Bishop Gerardi.
I have read almost every book that exists on Romero. But I had never read anything on Gerardi. I had studied him somewhat when I worked in Costa Rica’s Caritas office, since Gerardi was exiled to CR in the early 80s. Honestly, I did not know much about him. So I read The Art of Political Murder: Who Killed the Bishop by Francisco Goldman. The book documents and proves who killed the Bishop and their motive for doing so. It is no secret that the US supported military dictatorships of the two countries were responsible for the Bishops’ murders. At this point, all of us should know this.
What I didn’t realize is that the spread of Evangelical Christianity was ALSO a method of the military dictatorships against the Catholic Church. Read the rest of this entry »
On a whim, I ordered this fictionalized Polish movie about a woman who was the inspiration for the Polish Solidarity Movement. I had always associated Lech Walesa with Solidarity, so imagine my surprise that there was a “mother” to the movement and her name is Agnieszka, a single mother who worked in the historic Lenin Shipyards and was known for standing up for workers’ rights.
This movie is outstanding. She is truly a heroic Polish woman and a heroic Catholic woman, called the Saint of the Workers. I cried with her when Pope John Paul II was named Pope. I winced with her as she was tortured and beaten up for standing up against the STATE and Oppression.
It was the dismissal of Agnieszka from her job that inspired the whole country to strike as an act of Solidarity with her. And when Lech Walsea accepted a deal from the Government for just their shipyard, it was Agnieszka who grabs the microphone and tells the shipyard that if their shipyard accepts the deal, other shipyards will suffer the consequences. She tells them that they have to stand together united to make change for everyone! And they listen to her and Lech Walsea listens to her. Their Solidarity Movement would defeat Communism by peaceful means.
If you don’t know who Agnieszka–a heroic single mother, fighter for justice, solid Catholic mama is–you should! Rent it today!
The other day I received a package in the mail from Amazon. I periodically receive these types of packages because I buy books. But this particular package was sent by my dear friend in Dallas who grew impatient that I had not seen her favorite movie, Bella. It took a few days for me to get around to watch it and when I finally did, I was sorry I had taken so long. Bella is truly what its name means in Spanish–beautiful. It is a beautiful story. I had not known much about Bella except that it was a Catholic pro-life movie. That is all I knew. But I don’t find those titles to reveal much. Yes, it is Catholic in a Flannery O’Connor sense of the word, and yes it is definitely pro-life but not in the typical sense of the word. It is more. For me Bella can be summed up with two words: family and food. Read the rest of this entry »
After reading Katerina’s post on Sex and the City and in honor of SATC’s opening debut today, I felt I had to give my two cents on why so many women will be flocking by the millions to see our favorite gals this evening and maybe throwing down a Cosmo afterwards.
I have not only read Candace Bushnell’s book which the TV series is very loosely based on, but I have watched every single episode twice of Sex and the City (thank you Netflix). I guess you could call me a fan.
If you don’t watch SATC because you like it, watch it because it will make you feel morally superior. I realized initially that is exactly why I was watching it. I got a real high–sitting on my sofa nursing my new baby for hours on end–watching shallow Carrie and egotistical Samantha make terrible relationship decisions and mistakes. Evidently I am not the only one who gets this joy. The comboxes are filled with “and that is what women get for living like immoral men.” Oh the joy I had comparing my life to their morally decrepit and emotionally vacant lives. Somewhere in the middle, though, I realized THAT was the point. Carrie gives us a clue in the very first episode that the dating scene in Manhattan is cynical and vicious. To each to their own and yet . . . that is not what SATC is all about. Read the rest of this entry »
The other day I happened upon Seattle based abortion clinic Feminist Women’s Health Center’s site. I browsed through their site and almost felt pretty good learning about all the different forms of birth control and abortions one can buy at this clinic. The site has the typical smiling, ethnically diverse women on their front page.
I decide to hit the “abortion” section and I happened upon the “Personal Experience” page. My favorite, is how the Header says “Many Voices, Many Choices” yet all of the voices and choices are only ONE–ABORTION. Now, one would THINK that at an abortion clinic would post “My abortion was the best thing I have ever done in my life.” Interestingly enough, the clinic doesn’t. As a matter of fact, this web page could honestly be a page for “My abortion devastated me!” There are common themes: 1)Coercion into abortion is evidently normal. Parents, husbands, boyfriends who tell women they better abort or else. 2) The feeling that they had “no choice.” So much for “pro-choice.” People who choose abortion choose it with despair.
Here are only a few snippets of stories; there are 500 in all.
Samantha’s story on page 2:
It’s just, going through the abortion, was hard for me. It was maybe one of the worst things I have ever experienced. Not so much the procedure itself, but that hurt feeling I felt inside for so long afterwards, the guilt. It’s something that I never again thought I would have to experience, but now I’m afraid I have to. It’s my only choice really. I don’t want to tell my boyfriend about it though, if at all possible. I know that I will have to, but I’m just not sure how he will react, I don’t want him to get angry. I don’t need anymore stress in my life right now. Read the rest of this entry »
Yesterday we celebrated my sister’s birthday and a friend’s birthday with a big family BBQ. As I looked around I realized how absolutely blessed I am that my family is present with me. My two brothers, who despite multiple tours to Iraq and Afghanistan, are home. My husband who was called up three times for duty in Iraq miraculously never had to go, due to what I consider answers to my prayers.
When you have a loved one in a war zone, you don’t focus on ethics or morality of war. You cannot. All you know is that you have a loved one in danger and your heart is sick.
When my brother Jake went in on his first tour into Iraq, NBC had an embedded reporter with his unit so that every night on the news hour his family could watch him get shot at. It literally made me sick to my stomach. This wasn’t drama. This was real and real people would die; both Americans AND Iraqis. When my brother John came home he had a video of what went down in the Battle of Fallujah. It was unedited, real deal, this is not Hollywood. And it made me deeply sad. I saw both Iraqis and Americans dying on the streets and all I could do was pray for their families as they grieved their losses.
So last night, as we all gathered around and sang, I thought of the men in my both brother’s units who did not get to come home and celebrate ever again. I thought about Medic Fralish, who will always be memorialized on my brother’s shoulder in the form of a huge tattoo. Fralish worked hard and succeeded in a saving a little Afghani girl’s life. I thought about PFC Bertalino. I thought about my brother’s drill instructor at the age of 26 who will never get to see his daughter grow up.
It is terrible that it is so easy for our country to send people to their deaths with no sacrifice from us required. The least we can do is bow our heads and pray for the dead today. And pray for our elected officials to use wisdom so that more people do not have to mourn.
We have not written too much about it, but May is Mary’s month and I have only recently decided to pray the Rosary in the morning before my kiddo wakes up. It is so soothing and sets the tone for the rest of my day.
I am interested to hear about who gave you your Rosary/or where you got it and what memories your Rosary elicits?
Two Stories:
1)My Rosary is from an old roommate. She is a Korean convert to Catholicism and has a deep love for Mary. She travels around the world and visits Marian shrines and she gave me a Rosary back from Medugorje.
2)A former student of mine was born with a heart defect. Her doctors thought she wouldn’t make it. Her parents, nominal Catholics, began to pray the Rosary and their daughter pulled through. The experience converted them into a living Faith and their daughter is one special kid.
This past weekend my husband & I sat down to watch the documentary film “The Conscientious Objector.” It was so outstanding, we made my entire family watch it at a family gathering yesterday. Here is a little unknown part of American history for you. Desmond Doss was the FIRST Conscientious Objector in American History who has won America’s highest honor She can possibly bestow; the Congressional Medal of Honor (the other one to receive the Medal of Honor was Tom Bennett during Vietnam). Read the rest of this entry »
These two news stories caught my eye this week. In a world where we are surrounded by natural catastrophes and terrible evil, these stories are a breath of God’s Grace in this fallen world.
The first story is out of Rwanda where a woman had her husband and five children hacked to death in front of her. The man most responsible for their deaths went to jail for 7 years and returned. Read about how she not only forgives the people who killed her family, but how she now works with them.
The second story is out of Britain, where a 16 year old boy chose martyrdom over violence (via Christ’s Rose).
Jimmy, a devout Catholic, declined a challenge to fight, his attacker smashed down the door of the Three Cooks Bakery and picked up an advertising board which he wielded inside. ..
And if we possibly wonder how a 16 year old boy could possibly find the courage to say “no” to violence, we receive our answer from his mother who has this to say:
Mrs Mizen, the mother of a further eight children, said that she refused to be bitter or filled with hate despite her son’s murder.
“People keep asking me ‘why are you not angry’, but there’s so much anger in this world. It’s anger that killed my son,” she said.
I am beginning to think that the State needs to get out of the marriage business and let the Churches decide what marriage is about. Our country is going in that direction anyway.
I live in earthquake territory. So when I read the news about a major earthquake and that cities the size of my city are reduced to rubble in China, I feel like their city could so easily be my city.
Right now, China needs our prayers for:
*Roadways to be cleared of debris so help can reach those currently cut off.
*Help for those buried and still alive under rubble.
Dear Mary, we ask for your powerful intercessory prayers in this terrible situation. Amen.
Fellow Vox Nova contributor, Soutenus, wrote a post on her blog about her experience with Adoration and her son.
I have been feeling the urge lately to add adoration into my life. Something about just having silence and quiet and being in Christ’s presence that pulls me.
I am interested to know, do you have Adoration stories to tell? How has Adoration changed your life? Your family’s life?
Dear Jesus, Have Mercy! Officials believe over 100,000 people are dead from the cyclone in Myanmar! For those wanting to help, donating to CRS is a very good way to go.
Today is the 5th of May. In Mexico it is any other day. But here in the US, Mexican-Americans and liquor companies decided to celebrate a little know battle between Mexico and France with some good Mariachi and Tequila.
Join the festivities by making your own home grown Margaritas, with a little chips and salsa, Americanized burritos, or throw some spicy Salsa on any home dish. Or you can just go to your favorite Restaurant and have them do it for you. For the more adventuresome types out there, order some REAL Mexican food, Pozole, Birria (Goat BBQ), Chilequiles, Menudo (tripe soup), Sesos (or brain tacos), or tamales, just to name a few. And, of course, don’t forget the Tequila.
Very awesome news today from a new study that shows 75% of this country’s women are nursing their children. Most encouraging was the increased rates among African-American women, who traditionally have not nursed their babies.
The question I have that is not addressed by the study is for how long? Any breast milk is better than no milk, but we know that babies need their mama’s milk for a minimum of one year. Still, it is a start and reflects changes within the culture to encourage women to nurse.
(edited one time by RCMfor stupid grammatical errors.)
My girlfriend sent this story to me that she heard on NPR. Evidently Alabama’s decade’s old law against marrying people who don’t have a social security card is now being enforced. This places the Catholic Church in a bind because according to Canon Law people have the right to access the Sacraments.
Yesterday I had to buy produce and fruit and some meat. I went to my local grocery store and at the checkout I commented on how expensive everything was. The clerk agreed with me. She told me that she just came back from a visit to the Philippines and she said she was shocked by what she saw. She said that people could not afford rice any more and so more and more people were having to dig in trash cans hoping to find just one bit of rice to take home to their children. But because there are more hungry people competing over the same trash cans there is little to go around. The clerk cried as she told me about what she had seen. She said people are actually starving. I told her about my time in Ecuador in 2000 when people were starving as well and how much the images still bother me.
I told the woman that while prices are increasing, it is not hurting us. As in, I am not being forced to make decisions like rent or food. But I know many people are having to make such decisions. I told her I didn’t know what I could do to help. She said she felt the same way. I told her the only thing we can do is pray and give to organizations that give to the poor.
As I walked away with my cart full of food, I thanked God for what I have and asked Him to show me what I can do for those who do not have.
United Nations funded RH Reality Check Blog writer, Louisa Pyle from Medical Students for Choice writes about an angle that has not been covered too much in pro-life circles in her essay The Abortion Curriculum Has Left the Classroom. She notes that more and more medical schools are NOT including abortion in their curriculum.
Abortion is a shadow that wisps in and out of medicine, much like the quiet shadow of abortion in many women’s lives, not addressed directly, not discussed in coffee shops or over family dinner.
Why is it not being taught? She notes her own experience in med school:
At one time at my medical school, a state institution of strong reputation in the Deep South, the physician responsible for the classroom teaching in women’s reproductive health, “Dr. L,” included a full hour lecture on the medicine and science of abortion care in the OB/Gyn curriculum. She included her own stories of patients, the hooks on which we medical students hang all this physiology and chemistry in our overtaxed memories. Even so, the students of this relatively conservative locale responded with powerfully reproachful marks on the course feedback forms. As student feedback influences not only the next year’s teaching of any course but also the tenure and performance assessment of the teachers, physicians, themselves, Dr. L. was forced to remove the lecture. (emphasis mine)Read the rest of this entry »
The Holy Father touched on many many issues while he was here. And one of those issues was immigration. Evidently he struck a nerve because Representative Tancredo of Colorado had this to say:
Accusing the pope of “faith-based marketing,” Mr. Tancredo said Benedict’s comments welcoming immigrants “may have less to do with spreading the Gospel than they do about recruiting new members of the Church.” Mr. Tancredo, a former Catholic who now attends an evangelical Christian church, said it was not in the pope’s “job description to engage in American politics.”
Keep in mind Tancredo was the one who ran this campaign advertisement that said “immigrants rape your children.”
The Pope had this to say:
The separation of families “is truly dangerous for the social, moral and human fabric” of Latin and Central American families, the pope told reporters aboard his plane. “The fundamental solution is that there should no longer be a need to emigrate, that there are enough jobs in the homeland, a sufficient social fabric,” he said. Short of that, families should be protected, not destroyed, he said. “As much as it can be done it should be done,” the pontiff said.
The pope did not just send a message to the president and the public, he spoke to the bishops. In his private meeting with them on Wednesday evening, he emphasized that recent newcomers to the United States are “people of faith, and we are here to welcome them,” Cardinal Mahony said.
Oklahoma City was devastated by a deadly bomb, placed there by hate filled individuals.
For those who continue to grieve, especially those parents who lost their babies we pray,
Hail Mary, Full of Grace
The Lord is With You
Blessed are you among women
And Blessed is the Fruit of your womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God,
Pray for us Sinners
Now and at the hour of our death. Amen.
I have been having a discussion on my own blog regarding the differences between NFP and Contraception and I thought Vox Nova readers may be interested in it.
Thanks to Melanie for telling me about this outstanding discussion on the struggles of NFP from a guy’s perspective. My husband read it and laughed.
One reader, Maria from the discussion wrote this and it is the best explanation I have found to date to explain WHY Catholics are against Contraception but NOT against NFP.
I have begun to find the use of the term “contraceptive mentality” with NFP rather annoying. It tends to betray a real lack of understanding of exactly WHY contraception is evil among even faithful Catholics. Catholics using this terminology seem to imply that contraception is wrong simply because it prevents conception. Contraception is an intrinsically evil act NOT because it prevents conception, but because it fundamentally alters the sexual act.
Obviously, the sexual act can be completely moral even if there is NO chance of conception, i.e. after menopause, within a couple which suffers from infertility, or during pregnancy. In these instances a woman cannot get conceive. Still, it would be intrinsically evil to use contraception, like a condom to prevent an STD, because it fundamentally alters the gift of self that occurs in the sexual act.Read the rest of this entry »
I posted the following on my personal blog and thought that you all might enjoy the story.
Back in October I asked my friend Celina to tell me her story because I find her so different from most people I know. I find her quite remarkable and thought you would enjoy her story as much as I.
Background: Celina is a military wife and a Catholic revert. She and her husband sterilized themselves before their reversion. After they realized Church teaching and read John Paul II for themselves, they realized what they had done and worked to reverse it. She and her husband Jason are the parents of 14 children, 5 living and 9 in Heaven. They are in their 30s. Here is their story.
How many miscarriages have you experienced?
We have lost 9 babies to miscarriage. 7 were quite early, only a few days after a positive pregnancy test and 2 were in the second trimester. All of them are mostly unexplained.
What is your Catholic background?
I am a revert to Catholicism, having been brought up cafeteria style :) I knew virtually nothing about the Church’s teachings on the sanctity of life. Well I knew the “what” but not the “why”. Jason was raised commercial, as we like to call it; Christmas = presents, Easter = chocolate candy, etc. Both of us from very abusive homes. When did you revert and how did you decide that NFP would work for your marriage?
When David was born, our older girls were starting to be school aged and we knew there was something missing in how they were being raised, though we are pretty sure that we weren’t doing too bad considering both of our upbringings. We had decided on sterilization shortly after David was born in 1998 (no miscarriages that I am aware of up to that point). We felt a bit railroaded into it since we had 3 children very close together and because Jason volunteered to be the one who underwent surgery, he was praised all around for being responsible and kind to his wife (so weird to think now how kindness and responsibility in involved with messing around with, well, THAT, you know?) Read the rest of this entry »
A big “Congratulations” from all of us here at Vox Nova on the engagement of Policraticus and Katerina. May God bless you with many happy years together!
Julio Diaz has a daily routine. Every night, the 31-year-old social worker ends his hour-long subway commute to the Bronx one stop early, just so he can eat at his favorite diner.But one night last month, as Diaz stepped off the No. 6 train and onto a nearly empty platform, his evening took an unexpected turn.
He was walking toward the stairs when a teenage boy approached and pulled out a knife.
“He wants my money, so I just gave him my wallet and told him, ‘Here you go,’” Diaz says.
As the teen began to walk away, Diaz told him, “Hey, wait a minute. You forgot something. If you’re going to be robbing people for the rest of the night, you might as well take my coat to keep you warm.”
The would-be robber looked at his would-be victim, “like what’s going on here?” Diaz says. “He asked me, ‘Why are you doing this?’”
Diaz replied: “If you’re willing to risk your freedom for a few dollars, then I guess you must really need the money. I mean, all I wanted to do was get dinner and if you really want to join me … hey, you’re more than welcome. Read the rest
I had never heard of Archbishop Oscar Romero until that day in March 1999. I was with the University of Dallas’ Alternative Spring Break program in Duran, Ecuador. We were hunkered down in the mission house because the whole country was exploding with protests. The poor were tired of being hungry. Tired of drinking sewage water from the river. Tired of being poor.
It was my first time out of the USA and I hadn’t even realized where Ecuador was on the map. I didn’t know anything about other countries and their political situations. I was a typical American girl. That night as the country exploded, the US Embassy closed its doors and evacuated, the Ecuadoran military was in the streets. The sole bridge from Duran to Guayaquil that could take us to the airport was closed. Ecuador’s President addressed the nation from his home in Miami, FL. So we listened to what he had to say and then we watched the movie “Romero.” And it was personal. We felt like we were in that movie. The poverty scenes looked exactly like where we were at. That movie and the situation we were in completely changed my life. That man and his courage and his conversion resonated deep within me and inspired me. I came home from Ecuador a changed woman. I read everything I could on Romero. I read his Pastoral Letters, I read every book written on him and wrote research papers on him for my Theology classes at UD. Read the rest of this entry »
Death, be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so;
For those whom thou think’st thou dost overthrow,
Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me.
From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be,
Much pleasure; then from thee much more must flow,
And soonest our best men with thee do go,
Rest of their bones, and soul’s delivery.
Thou art slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men,
And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell;
And poppy or charms can make us sleep as well
And better than thy stroke; why swell’st thou then?
One short sleep past, we wake eternally,
And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die.
Chiara Lubich, founder of the international Focolare movement of the Roman Catholic Church and one of the most influential women in modern Catholicism, died Friday, her movement said. She was 88.
Lubich died at her home south of Rome after being discharged from a hospital Thursday night, in line with her wishes. She had been in frail health for years and had recently had respiratory problems.
The Chaldean Catholic Archbishop who was kidnapped in Northern Iraq February 29 has been found dead. The whole story is so horrible. The Catholic community gained a new saint with this Archbishop’s refusal to leave even though his life had been threatened. May Archbishop Rahho pray for Iraq.
Note: Alexham or Feddie, wrote about this movie back in July 2007.
I watched it last night, finally. The 2007 Sundance Award winning movie is about former Marine Capt Brian Steidle’s work with the African Union’s cease fire monitoring in 2004 of the crisis in Sudan. His job was to go to Sudan with a camera, pen and paper and document any violations of the cease fire. He didn’t have a clue where Sudan was when he went and he didn’t know about Darfur, but he is there when the atrocities begin and for 6 months he documents babies being burned alive, children being shackled and then burned alive, women being systematically raped (and infected with HIV), and the overall genocide being committed there. As an observer, he spoke with the Jangiweed which translates to “The Devil on Horseback,” who are very clear with him about who is behind the killings (the Sudanese Arabic Government) and the goal of the killings–Genocide. Read the rest of this entry »
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Vox Nova
"In their patriotism and in their fidelity to their civic duties Catholics will feel themselves bound to promote the true common good; they will make the weight of their convictions so influential that as a result civil authority will be justly exercised and laws will accord with moral precepts and the common good."
Second Vatican Council, Apostolicam actuositatem 14
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On a whim, I ordered this fictionalized Polish movie about a woman who was the inspiration for the Polish Solidarity Movement. I had always associated Lech Walesa with Solidarity, so imagine my surprise that there was a “mother” to the movement and her name is Agnieszka, a single mother who worked in the historic Lenin Shipyards and was known for standing up for workers’ rights.