Al Kresta's Blog, page 345

Outrageous Statement of the Day

NPR chief Vivian Schiller Says NPR Has "No Particular Bias" and accusations of being Liberal is a "Perception Issue."

Cartoon of the Day - Two Wild and Crazy Guys

Today on Kresta - March 7, 2011

Talking about the "things that matter most" on March 7

4:00 – While the World Watched: A Birmingham Bombing Survivor Comes of Age during the Civil Rights Movement
The nation's collective memory of the civil rights movement depends largely on journalists and biographers who witnessed the snarling dogs and brutal racist tactics used to enforce and defend segregation in the South. In a more personal account, Carolyn McKinstry , a survivor of the Ku Klux Klan bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala., offers the rare perspective of both a child and an eyewitness to some of the most jarring aspects of blacks' fight for civil rights. Her tale of surviving the bombing, which killed four of her friends on September 15, 1963, vividly describes the force of water from fire hoses that left a hole in her sweater; the ominous call moments before the bomb exploded; and the clouds that formed in her mental sky when she realized that the childhood innocence her parents had relied on to shield her from racism was gone. She joins us to tell her story.

4:40 – Al on 40 Days for Life Speech
This evening Al will be speaking at the kick-off event for the Ann Arbor, MI 40 Days for Life. 40 Days for Life The mission of the campaign is to bring together the body of Christ in a spirit of unity during a focused 40 day campaign of prayer, fasting, and peaceful activism, with the purpose of repentance, to seek God's favor to turn hearts and minds from a culture of death to a culture of life, thus bringing an end to abortion in America. Al shares some of what he will be speaking on tonight.

5:00 – Anniversary of the Death of St. Thomas Aquinas
Saint Thomas Aquinas, was an Italian priest and an immensely influential philosopher and theologian. He was the foremost classical proponent of natural theology, and the father of the Thomistic school of philosophy and theology. His influence on Western thought is considerable, and much of modern philosophy was conceived as a reaction against, or as an agreement with, his ideas, particularly in the areas of ethics, natural law and political theory. One of the 33 Doctors of the Church, he is considered by many to be the Church's greatest theologian and philosopher. On this, the anniversary of his death, we discuss his life and contributions with Aquinas scholar, Dr. Roger Nutt of Ave Maria University

5:40 – Militants kill Christian minister in Pakistan
Militants gunned down the only Christian in Pakistan's government outside his widowed mother's home last week, the second assassination in two months of a high-profile opponent of laws that impose the death penalty for insulting Islam. Shahbaz Bhatti was aware of the danger he faced, saying in a videotaped message that he had received death threats from al-Qaida and the Taliban. In it, the 42-year-old Roman Catholic said he was "ready to die" for the country's often persecuted Christian and other non-Muslim minorities. Leonard Leo of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom joins us.

The Obama administration condemns the killing of a Pakistani Christian leader, but will it do more for religious freedom?

Eyes on WashingtonBy Emily BelzWorld News Service
On March 1, before the House Foreign Relations Committee, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton admitted that the Obama administration had not spoken out enough on behalf of religious minorities in the Middle East.

"This has not gotten the level of attention and concern that it should," she said, the first time the administration has acknowledged that shortcoming. "I think we need to do much more to stand up for the rights of religious minorities . . . we have to be speaking out more." In the same breath, she condemned countries using defamation laws to "execute and otherwise oppress religious minorities."

The next day, the Taliban assassinated one of the most visible religious minority figures, Shahbaz Bhatti, who fought for religious freedom in Pakistan. Bhatti, the only Christian member of Pakistan's Cabinet, had pushed for reforms to the country's blasphemy laws, which exact heavy punishment on those accused of defaming Islam.

A letter reportedly from the Taliban left at the scene of the crime condemned Bhatti's attempt to reform the defamation laws as "blasphemy." Two months ago, the bodyguard of Salman Taseer, the governor of the Punjab province, killed Taseer for opposing the defamation laws.

So far, Pakistan has declared three days of national mourning for Bhatti. The government has vowed to bring his killers to justice, but senior police official Muhammad Ishaq Warraich indicated that the Taliban's note at the scene claiming responsibility could be an "attempt to divert our investigations."

Both President Obama and Secretary Clinton released statements condemning Bhatti's murder.
"Minister Bhatti fought for and sacrificed his life for the universal values that Pakistanis, Americans, and people around the world hold dear—the right to speak one's mind, to practice one's religion as one chooses, and to be free from discrimination based on one's background or beliefs," Obama said. "He most courageously challenged the blasphemy laws of Pakistan under which individuals have been prosecuted for speaking their minds or practicing their own faiths."
Obama called for justice for Bhatti's killers and said Pakistanis desiring religious freedom must be able to "live free from fear."

Members of Congress and religious freedom advocates applauded the president, but went further.
Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., said Pakistan should give Bhatti a state funeral. Michael Horowitz, a religious freedom expert at the Hudson Institute, said President Obama should attend the funeral.
"If the only thing that comes out of this is just a bunch of statements, including the very strong one from the president, Pakistan will appease the extremists, and not just on religious issues, but on nuclear issues, on Indian relations issues, on everything," Horowitz said, adding that without concrete action, "We would have not only failed Bhatti, we would have failed to protect the national security of the United States."

Rep. Joe Pitts, R-Pa., called on the Pakistani government to "eliminate the blasphemy laws that target religious minorities."

Rabbi David Saperstein, head of the Religious Action Center for Reform Judaism, called the laws "a violation of human rights standards." Saperstein demanded that the Senate confirm Obama's nominee for ambassador for international religious freedom: "It's an embarrassment that we don't have that." The post has been vacant since the president took office.

A press conference at the U.S. Capitol became unusually emotional when lawmakers played a video of an interview with Bhatti recorded several months ago. "These Taliban threaten me," he said in the clip. "But I want to share that I believe in Jesus Christ who has given His own life for us. I know what is the meaning of cross, and I am following the cross. And I'm ready to die for a cause. I'm living for my community and suffering people, and I will die to defend their rights."

The executive director of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, Jackie Wolcott, a former ambassador to the United Nations Security Council, didn't give a statement, but she watched and her eyes reddened, then tears welled up and over.

Black Life Advocates Mourn Outside Gosnell's Clinic, Across the U.S.

Across the U.S., life advocates in the black community gathered outside abortion clinics Feb. 28 for the Day of Mourning, in remembrance of the tens of millions of babies who have been aborted.

In Philadelphia, they congregated outside the clinic of Kermit Gosnell, who is facing eight murder charges over late-term abortions. Many of Gosnell's patients — including a woman who died at the clinic — were minorities.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, almost half of pregnancies among African-American women end in abortion. In the overall population, the number is nearly 1 in 4.
Dr. Clenard Childress of the Life Education Action Resource Network (LEARN) said the black church no longer can be silent on abortion.

"If there's a devouring force that's decimating my community as a shepherd, I must respond with the truth and deliver the lamb with its young from the wolf and the devourer — and the devourer is the abortion industry," he told CBN News.

"The colored minister, the negro minister, the African-American minister is pivotal right now in addressing the abortion issue because we have been silent due to political ties and due to some misinformation."

Sen. Harry Reid Calls on Nevada Legislature to Close Brothels

Nevada should outlaw prostitution.

That's the message Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid sent the Legislature in his home state this week. He said the brothel industry is hurting the state's image.

"If we want to attract businesses to Nevada that puts people back to work, the time has come for us to outlaw prostitution," he said. "Nevada needs to be known as the first place for innovation and investment, not as the last place where prostitution is still legal."

Reid said he has talked to "parents who don't want their children to look out of a school bus and see a brothel or to live in a state with the wrong kind of red lights."

The junior senator from Nevada, John Ensign, said the issue should be decided at the county level. U.S. Rep. Shelley Berkley, Nevada, claimed it's not her job to tell county governments what to do. "As Nevadans, we are no strangers to criticism about what goes on in our state," she told the Las Vegas Review-Journal, "and this issue is no exception."

Jeff Johnston, social policy analyst at CitizenLink, pointed out that prostitution directly contradicts God's design for sex. "To treat sex as a business exchange devalues both participants and turns women into objects," he said. "That's not the message a state should be giving to its people. On this issue, the Nevada Legislature should listen to Senator Reid."

Congress Likely to Put Pro-Life Policies into Law

(WNS) The U.S. House of Representatives is one step closer to voting on a bill that would convert several pro-life policies -- also known as riders -- into law.

The House Judiciary Committee voted 23-14 on March 3 in favor of the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act, which was introduced by Reps. Chris Smith, R-N.J., and Dan Lipinski, D-Ill., and has close to 210 co-sponsors.

H.R. 3 would prohibit taxpayer funding for abortion in all federal programs; currently a patchwork of such policies must be approved annually. The bill also would codify conscience protections for health care workers who object to abortion and other actions.

Committee member Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, said: "While there are strong views on both sides of this issue, one thing is clear: The federal funding of abortion will lead to more abortions."

Douglas Johnston, legislative director for the National Right to Life Committee, called H.R. 3 "a clear, comprehensive, uniform policy to prevent federal subsidies for abortion."

"Anyone who advocates 'abortion reduction' — a goal to which even President Obama has given lip service — should embrace the Smith-Lipinski bill," he wrote.

The legislation eventually will reach the Senate. Until then, life advocates are calling on senators to put pro-life provisions into the current spending resolutions. "One of the easiest ways to save money would be to stop sending it to abortion sellers," said Ashley Horne, federal policy analyst at CitizenLink, which is associated with Focus on the Family.

TROUBLE at the University of Dallas?

By Patrick Fagan
TheCatholicThing.com

Depending on how the Board of the University of Dallas votes tonight I (proud father of five UD alumni children) may well be telling folks: "Don't send your kids to UD. It used to be great but now is a danger to their faith." At issue is the introduction of a curriculum of the School of Ministry for undergraduates.

In a newly released promotional video for the University of Dallas, the new president Thomas Keefe states unequivocally, "There isn't an institution that compares to the University of Dallas in its fidelity to the Church and its academic rigor." How brave he is in keeping it so will be clear tonight at the Board meeting.

The UD theology department gives undergraduates the real goods – the full faith and orthodoxy. Yet UD is poised to offer a new undergraduate major in pastoral theology next fall to be taught by the School of Ministry, not the current theology department. Unlike theology and the rest of UD's departments, this school is not well known and has had a rather separated existence, but is now about to become part of the UD mainstream.

Before voting the Board should conduct an open inquiry into the School of Ministry and, if it wants to retain the affections of its "faithful" Catholic base, make sure all faculty are behind the Church in all its teachings without equivocation. (Undergrads need clear doctrine, professional theologians can explore the edges.)

Take, for instance, Professor Jerome Walsh, who is currently teaching an Old Testament course to School of Ministry graduate students. Walsh's interests in the Old Testament include publication of a lengthy analysis of Leviticus in which he claims that Israel's holy law only ever meant to condemn the completed act of sodomy and that "other forms of male–male sexual encounter, encompassing the whole range of physical expressions of affection that do not entail penetration, are not envisaged in these laws" (see p. 209, warning: graphic content). Will this be taught to undergraduates?

Another cause for concern is Sr. Dorothy Joanitis, O.P., who has openly advocated for optional celibacy for priests, as well as for female ordination. While her SOM colleague Dr. Marti Jewell thinks lifting the ban on celibacy is a legitimate option, Sister Joanitis goes even further, presenting to a synod of bishops the following: "To alleviate the injustices imposed upon the People of God, we offer these practical solutions to you, the Synod of Bishops on the Eucharist. . . .allow women to be ordained" (blog link; the original website has been taken down).
Another SOM faculty member and a former Call to Action member, Dr. Scott Opperman, seems to be of the same mind. On a website designed to encourage new vocations, he co-wrote that "[r]eligious women and men aren't oddities; they mirror the rest of the church they serve: there are introverts and extroverts, tall and short, old and young, straight and gay, obese and skinny, crass and pious, humorous and serious, and everything in between." Does this pattern of dissent carry over into the classroom?

Dr. Opperman taught Moral Theology last fall. His syllabus included only two required texts. The first is Richard Gula's Reason Informed by Faith. Gula is a public advocate for euthanasia. The book is a prolonged defense of proportionalism, which denies the existence of intrinsically evil acts. Gula derides the Church's teachings on these acts as "classicist moral viewpoints" (p. 36). He wants his readers – Opperman's students – to disagree with the Catholic Catechism's teachings on fornication, homoeroticism, direct killing of the innocent, contraceptive intercourse, and the like. The book asks readers – again, Opperman's students – leading questions, ones that lead to serious error:

Take the case of the married couple who have all the children for whom they can care in a reasonable way. They cannot enlarge their family without compromising the well-being of their present children. At the same time, the couple feels that fairly regular sexual expression is necessary for the growth and development of their marriage. They do not feel that they can respond adequately to both values and follow the proscription of contraception in Humanae Vitae. What do they do? (p. 290)

The answer to Richard Gula's leading question is provided by Opperman's second required text, again by Richard Gula, this time his more applied Just Ministry. Gula's answer to Gula's question: "Pastoral moral guidance is the art of the possible. That is to say, it focuses on the person and what that person can do based on his or her capacity of knowledge, freedom, and emotion to appreciate and choose moral values enshrined in moral standards" (p. 231). Students in Opperman's Moral Theology class learn the moral world according to Gula: "[W]e are not to require a particular obligation in practice, however justifiable it may be theoretically, if the person, for good reason, cannot perform it. While everyone is required to do what he or she can, no one is ever required to do what is beyond his or her reach" (Just Ministry, p. 234). Given that he holds no act is intrinsically evil, then no act is always wrong. Therefore, all acts are permitted: it just depends on your situation.

And Dr. Opermann is not the only School of Ministry teacher limiting his students to the study of error and dissent. Mr. James McGill's 2010 ecclesiology course required only one book, entitled The Church: The Evolution of Catholicism. Most will recognize its author: the very liberal theologian, Fr. Richard McBrien was long-time chair of the Notre Dame theology department who recently added to his errors by opposing Eucharistic adoration. Why is this School of Ministry using McBrien as a sole required text?

This disturbing pattern has not gone unnoticed. In fact, the SOM has already raised eyebrows at UD and among the alumni for having invited questionable speakers like Gordon Greer, who sees no problem with ordaining homosexual priests. This past fall at its annual lecture, SOM brought Sister Barbara Reid, O.P., to campus. Her presentation was considered "disturbing" by theology faculty. A look at page one of Sister Reid's book on Amazon seems to show that, like SOM professor Sr. Joanitis, Reid advocates female priests and deacons: "It is my hope that this book will help both women and men, particularly those who preach and teach the Scriptures, to do so in a way that will promote a Church of equal disciples, where gender differences would no longer determine ministerial roles." Reid's erroneous opinions were immediately challenged on campus. The SOM faculty that invited her seems openly in support of her agenda, which is not at all in accord with the fidelity for which UD is known.

Dean Brian Schmisek has been responsible for the SOM since its beginning. However, in an interview with the National Catholic Register, admits:

No formal system exists at the School of Ministry for ensuring that faculty members teach in accord with the magisterium. Instead, Schmisek says, a rigorous pre-hire screening process weeds out professors who would compromise the school's authentic Catholic identity. "We do a pretty excellent job of fulfilling the mandate of Ex Corde Ecclesiae," he says.

Dean Schmisek himself, however, is not someone I would want teaching the Faith to my children. His book the Apostle's Creed, to my lay mind, must be exactly the sort of scholarship that prompted Pope Benedict to write Jesus of Nazareth. It seems to me to be much closer to the Jesus Seminar than to an inspiring affirmation of the Faith.

What is a rigorous prescreening process to Dean Schmisek seems like a net with very large holes in it to me.

It is beyond my competence to answer the questions raised here. But these are disturbing issues should be studied before the Board votes. If I am wrong no harm is done. If I am right in being concerned much harm is prevented.

Should the Board vote to go ahead without such prudent oversight being exercised I and many like me will be telling like-minded parents to send their children elsewhere. Their faith is too precious to entrust to faculty such as above. And there are now a number of wonderful schools vying to replace the University of Dallas as the best Catholic university in the country. May this disaster be averted.

Patrick Fagan is director of the Marriage and Religion Research Institute (MARRI) at Family Research Council whose project, Mapping America, charts these outcomes regularly.

UPDATE: The board of trustees of the University of Dallas unanimously approved the new undergraduate major in pastoral ministry Thursday night.

Day of prayer, fasting in Pakistan as assassinated cabinet minister buried

March 04, 2011
CWNews.com

Catholics and other Christians in Pakistan are holding three days of public mourning in memory of Shahbaz Bhatti, the Catholic cabinet minister assassinated for his opposition to the nation's blasphemy law. March 4, the day of his burial, is a special day of prayer and fasting, with bishops offering a memorial Mass in Islamabad and a funeral Mass in Faisalabad.

"Shahbaz Bhatti was a man who followed God's plan in his life," said Archbishop Anthony Rufin of Islamabad at the funeral for the slain Pakistani official.

Christians took to the streets in Islamabad, Lahore, Karachi, Multan, and Quetta to protest the "absence and inaction" of the nation's government, a local source told the Fides news agency. "He is a man who gave his life for the faith." The archbishop suggested that Bhatti might eventually be recognized as a martyr.

The funeral was held under tight security, and many Christians protested when they found themselves locked out of the church. Security officials closed the doors after Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani entered, and some mourners-- including a sister of the deceased-- were blocked from entering.

"If the country became a killing field of democratic and liberal people who exercise freedom of conscience and expression, it would legitimize the criminals trying to take over the country," Catholic and Protestant leaders said in joint statement.

It's healthy to forgive, psychologist says