If you read this Action News Hotline before noon Saturday, you can still attend SpeakOut Illinois at Drury Lane Oakbrook, starting at 1 p.m. Sandy Rios of radio fame is MC. Cardinal Francis George was to open the conference but has been taken ill. The keynote speaker is Life Dynamics‘ Mark Crutcher on “Is the Pro-Life Movement Credible?” and talks by Fr. Tad Pacholczyk, Eric Scheidler, Akua Furlow, Paul Linton and Fr. Frank Pavone.
We are fortunate to have this annual coming together of thirty Pro-life organizations, to counter the evil attacks on human life through a highly educational and spiritual remedy like “Speak Out.”
Suicide = Control of One’s Destiny?
Outrage of the week: Media moguls and other societal leaders approving of the Supreme Court’s ruling that Assisted Suicide should remain legal in Oregon. These misguided souls have lost their compass. While 44 states outlaw assisted suicide, Chicago Sun-Times editors call the Court’s upholding “wise.”
So far 204 people in Oregon have taken advantage of the new law and let doctors procure lethal drugs for them so they can end their lives. Suicide, however, is an objective mortal sin. No unrepentant murderer goes to Heaven. Anyone assisting in the suicide is an accomplice. Doctors who make it available are accomplices i.e. murderers. They’ve lost their moral brearings.
“What [the law] hast has provided,” they write, is “a greater sense of control over one’s destiny.” What a control! What a destiny! The recent ruling is by Anthony Kennedy. Dissenters were Roberts, Scalia and Thomas.
Pro-Abort Marshall a Saint?
Will wonders never cease? Episcopalians in St. Augustine’s parish in Washington, D. C. want Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall canonized as a saint in the Episcopal Church. Marshall was a militant supporter of legal abortion and influenced other members of the court. A saint?
Benedict’s First Encyclical
We haven’t read it yet, but Pope Benedict XVI’s first encyclical, Deus Caritas Est (God Is Love ), is thought to be setting the theme of his papal reign. The encyclical concerns a fundamental truth, that God is all lovable and all loving, and would speak well for this pontificate.
Not only does the encyclical emphasize God’s great love for man, but it addresses all forms of love and the need for unconditional love in marriage and among family members and mankind in general. It says sex is often disguised as “love” but is only self-serving and not unconditional. During John Paul II’s papacy he published 14 encyclicals and his first, Redemptor Hominis , (The Redeemer of Man ), set the tone of his teachings on Catholic theology that proclaims Jesus Christ as the center of the universe and of all history. Pope Benedict also condemns Marxism and urges the Church to influence political leaders.
Notre Dame Acting—But Too Slowly
The headline in Wednesday’s Chicago Tribune says Notre Dame is reining in gay and women’s events on campus. But the story, while encouraging, has Notre Dame’s new President, Fr. John Jenkins, deciding to ease into removing gay and lesbian events on campus as well as the annual presentation of the disgusting “Monologues” perversion play.
“Limits,” the story says, “will be put on the campus’ two most controversial events, a queer film festival and the obscene play, but that Jenkins stopped short of canceling this year’s events. He wants to hear from students, faculty and alumni.
Call the university, 574-631-5000, and ask for the Office of the President, or send an e-mail. Leave your message that these events should be cancelled now. Why wait to do the right thing?
The play will be staged this year in a smaller lecture hall, and the film festival’s name will be changed. Fr. Jenkins told the students, that given the distinctive character and aspirations of Notre Dame, it may be necessary to establish certain boundaries, while defending the appropriate exercise of academic freedom, and that events should not be sponsored by the university when they are contrary to or inconsistent with the fundamental values of a Catholic university, or when it may appear the university endorses the content of the event.
