The Absolute Catholic City

Here's something interesting to read:

The founder of Domino's Pizza is starting a Florida town where he will build a Catholic university -- and possibly keep out contraception.
[...]
He wants drugstores to keep birth control off their shelves, and the developer said it would favor pharmacies with such a policy, according to Newsweek. A clinic opening already has said it would refuse contraception to students.

Read more...

There are times when a couple needs to have safe s*x. If a pregnancy endangers a woman's life, then she should has access to birth control and other means to protect her health and life.

This is one example only. There are more complicated issues than this one; but I tried to address the obvious.
 

Joseph, Joseph

I'm tired of the latest news from Iraq. And, I really really really need to laugh for a change. Since Lent isn't that far, I thought to share this Catholic joke with you -- I hope you don't get offended by the joke:

Jesus Christ is on the cross and is obviously dying. He looks up and hoarsely calls, "“Joseph. Joseph."”

At the beckoning of his master, Joseph rushes to the foot of Jesus'’ cross. Just then, the Roman guards grab Joseph and cut off his legs and throw him into the crowd of onlookers.

Later, an exhausted Jesus looks around and again calls, "“Joseph. Joseph."”

Again at the beckoning of his master, Joseph crawls with just the use of his arms to the foot of JesusÂ’ cross. Again the Roman soldiers seize Joseph, cut off his arms and throw him into the gawking crowd.

Hours later, Jesus again looks over the city with a sense of bewilderment and calls, "“Joseph. Joseph."”

With super-human strength, Joseph musters his remaining energy to crawl inch-by-inch with the use of his chin alone to the foot of JesusÂ’ cross. Upon seeing this show of sheer devotion, the Roman guards allowed Joseph to speak to Jesus.

Joseph said, "“I am here for you my Lord."

Jesus said, "“Joseph?"”

Joseph said, "“Yes my Lord, I am here for you."”

Jesus said, "“Joseph, I can see your house from here."”

Have a nice Sunday everyone.
 

American Catholics and St. Patrick's Day

I haven't been in America long enough to take St. Patrick's Day seriously. I noticed American Catholics really love the festives associated with this day. This year St. Patrick's Day is on a Friday during Lent. So, Bishop Kmiec, bishop of Diocese of Buffalo has granted an exception to the Irish-American Catholics in Buffalo:

Danny Boy, please pass the cabbage. And don't forget the corned beef.

Bishop Edward U. Kmiec said it is OK to indulge in the traditional St. Patrick's Day meal - meat included - even though this year the Irish holiday is on a Friday during Lent.

Kmiec, the Diocese of Buffalo's first Polish-American bishop, granted a "general dispensation" to all Catholics from the duty to abstain from meat on March 17, St. Patrick's Day.

Normally, Catholics older than 14 are expected to avoid eating meat on Fridays during Lent, the six-week Christian season leading up to Easter.

Read more...

Does that mean we too can eat meat on St. Patrick's Day? Just joking. I can always find something to eat on Fridays during Lent.


© Mark M. Hancock

Is Iraq Heading Toward a Civil War?

I'm not sure what is the answer for this question. But, the bombing of Shia Al-Askariya Shrine in Samarra broke all doors to hell. The Shia militia retaliated by burning Sunni mosques and killing Sunni imams.

Where do Iraqi Christians stand? Iraqi Christians don't take sides. I wish there's a way to guarantee their safety. But, there isn't. They're part of the Iraqi society during the good and the bad times.

Why can't we all get along together? Why do we keep killing each other? Why is our Iraqi history filled with blood and murder? I really don't know.

Iraqi blogger Ali has a great analysis of the situation on the ground. It's a must-read post.

Please, keep Iraqis in your prayers.
 

The Line Between Good and Bad

Alexandr Solzhenitsyn, the 1970 Nobel Prize winner in literature once wrote:

I have learned one great lesson from my years in prison camps, I learned how a person becomes evil and how he becomes good.

When I was young, I thought I was infallible and, I was cruel to those under me. I was madly in love with power, and in exercising it. I was a murderer and an oppressor. Yet in my most evil moments I thought I was doing good, and I had plenty of arguments with which to justify my deeds.

It was only when things were reversed, when as a prisoner I lay on rotten straw, that I began to feel within myself the first stirring of good.

Gradually I came to realize that the line which separates good from evil passes not between states, or between classes, or between political parties, but right through every human heart.

Even in the hearts that are overwhelmed by evil, one small bridge head of good is retained. And in the best of all hearts, there remains an unrooted small corner for evil.

I thought it's a good way to start the week. I hope you didn't mind it.
 

Israeli Anti-Semitic Cartoon Contest

Yes, you read it correctly. Here's the announcement from the Israeli group's blog:

A Danish paper publishes a cartoon that mocks Muslims.
An Iranian paper responds with a Holocaust cartoons contest -
- Now a group of Israelis announce their own anti-Semitic cartoons contest!

Amitai Sandy (29), graphic artist and publisher of Dimona Comix Publishing, from Tel-Aviv, Israel, has followed the unfolding of the "“Muhammad cartoon-gate"” events in amazement, until finally he came up with the right answer to all this insanity - and so he announced today the launch of a new anti-Semitic cartoons contest - this time drawn by Jews themselves!

"“We'’ll show the world we can do the best, sharpest, most offensive Jew hating cartoons ever published!"” said Sandy "“No Iranian will beat us on our home turf!"”

Read more...

I hope this puts an end to the clash of religious and offending cartoons. I'm certain this contest has come as a shocker to the Iranian President.

The group will publish the accepted cartoons on their blog. So, make sure to check their site for updates.

---

UPDATE Feb. 18, 2006
Rabbi Marc Gellman wrote in a Newsweek magazine article about the cartoons:

Humor that is self-effacing is fine as long as the member is of the faith/race/ethnos, but when outsiders tell the joke, it is usually insulting or at least inappropriate. As a Jew, I can freely tell the joke about how the Yeshiva University crew team always lost to Harvard because the Harvard crew team had eight guys rowing and only one guy shouting (pause for laughter). If a gentile told that joke, I would … plotz (a Yiddish word meaning: to faint at a Jewish joke being told by a gentile). It is just not funny or in good taste or even in bad taste--it is just wrong--for anyone to insult other people's core identity and then hide behind freedom of the press. Yes, we in the West have the right to say any stupid thing we want, but when people get really pissed off about it, we can't hide or blame them because they can't take a joke.

Read more...

This is exactly what I tried to explain to my readers two weeks ago. But, it got lost in translation. Oh well, I can't change the world. But, It's good to know there are people who see things the way I do.
 

Late Pope JP II's Car Is For Sale

The Associated Press reported yesterday:

PARIS (AP) - Bidders at Christie's auction house offered up to $71,820 for a 1958 car that once belonged to the late Pope John Paul II, but the seller decided the sum was not enough.

The green, Polish-made FSO Warszawa M20 was pulled from the auction in Paris late Saturday after bidding failed to reach the minimum reserve price of euro200,000, Christie's said.

Read more...

If the car owner wants it sold for that much money, then he needs to put it on eBay.
 

The Cab Driver Goes to Heaven

Being someone who hired many taxis over the years, I understand the following joke so well:

A cab driver reaches the Pearly Gates and announces his presence to St. Peter, who looks him up in his Big Book. Upon reading the entry for the cabbie, St. Peter invites him to pick up a silk robe and a golden staff and to proceed into Heaven.

A preacher is next in line behind the cabby and has been watching these proceedings with interest. He announces himself to St. Peter. Upon scanning the preacher's entry in the Big Book, St. Peter furrows his brow and says, "Okay,we'll let you in, but take that cloth robe and wooden staff."

The preacher is astonished and replies, "But I am a man of the cloth. You gave that cab driver a gold staff and a silk robe. Surely I rate higher than a cabbie."

St. Peter responded, "matter-of-factly: this is heaven and, up here, we are interested in results. When you preached, people slept. When the cabbie drove his taxi, people prayed."

Source: Comedy Central

The worst is when the taxi driver doesn't know the way to your destination. That's when you really start praying, especially if you rent the taxi at night.
 

The Joy In Loving

Last night, I finished reading Mother Teresa's book "The Joy In Loving."I always enjoy reading her words. Here's a quote from the book:

Whether one is a Hindu or a Muslim or a Christian, how you live your life is a proof that you are or not fully His.

We cannot condemn or judge or pass words that will hurt people. We don't know in what way God is appearing to that soul and what God is drawing that soul to; therefore, who are we to condemn anybody?

-- Mother Teresa

And this one:

Humility is the mother of all virtue, purity, charity and obedience. It is in being humble that our love becomes real, devoted and ardent.

If you're humble, nothing will touch you, neither praise nor disgrace, because you know what you are. If you're blamed, you will not be discouraged. If they call you a saint, you will not put yourself on a pedestal.

-- Mother Teresa

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The Joy In Loving

My Stand On Religion

NOTE: This post was originally posted on my other blog on Nov. 29, 2003. That was before I started this blog. It's about time to move it here.

---

I received a sweet e-mail last week from a Jewish woman who lives in Israel and who is married to an Iraqi-Jew. I wanted to share part of her e-mail with my readers.

She wrote in part of her e-mail:

Never does that story my brother-in-law told me leave my head: in 1951 when there was some kind of uprising against the Jews in Baghdad - so many angry people were chasing him down the market. BUT : he came home, and who do you think helped the family hide from the angry mob? Their Muslim neighbours! I'm quite sure that people under each-other wouldn't have dragged on this bloody situation as long as it's dragging on now

I don't know if my Middle-Eastern readers have known any Jews during their lives. I did.

My mom's best friend in Basrah, Iraq was an Iraqi-Jew, who was married to an Iraqi-Muslim. My family had a close friendship with her and her family. Me and my siblings were brought up closely to the family. I was the youngest among the girls' and boys' big circle of friends from both families. So, I was the favorite cute-little-child to play with. She lost a son during the Iran-Iraq war. It was one of the saddest times for both families.

I believe she still lives in Iraq even though her husband died many years ago (if I'm not wrong). Everyone in town, who knew her, always respected and loved her. She had a very charming personality.

The same is true with many of the Jews whom I got to know through my work and social life in Australia and America.

For my Middle-Eastern readers who never got the chance to know a Jew personally, I say. "Hey, Jews are people and human just like us with our good and bad parts."

Now, I have to talk about my Muslim friends. Even though I'm a Catholic, most of my friends in Iraq, and whom I still consider as my best friends were Muslims. This is not because there weren't many Christians where I lived (I had Christian friends too), but because I choose my friends for their spirits and willingness to be good people as much as they could. I never paid attention to their religious beliefs. We always discussed our religious differences with respect and a few arguments from time to time, but that's how friends are.

I do believe we all can live together peacefully even if we have different beliefs. It all depends on us. We need to ask ourselves each time we meet someone who doesn't believe in what we believe, "Can I give this person my trust and understanding?" If we could understand, then we could trust. I hope we all would one day.
 

Nuns' Frozen Bank Account

The Tampa Tribune reported the following case, which is related to the Patriot Act:

ST. LEO - The nuns of the Holy Name Monastery say they have been swept into the net cast by the nation's antiterrorism laws.

The sisters say the monastery's main bank account was frozen without explanation in November, creating financial headaches and making the Benedictine nuns hopping mad. They were told the Patriot Act was the cause.
[...]
Abbott said she was told the troubles started because one 80-year-old nun who is a signatory to the account didn't have her Social Security number and photo ID on file.

"Clearly an international spy," Abbott said wryly.

None of the nuns has given the bank that information, Abbott said. "We've been in business 116 years. No one's ever asked."

Against the Patriot Act from the start, the sisters have members of Congress on speed dial, Abbott said. "They'll be hearing from us now that this is all settled."

Read more...

Most Catholics know the golden rule: Don't piss off any nuns.

I'm certain the folks in Washington will hear a lot from those nuns. Way to go sisters.
 

Michael Jackson and The Vatican

I read the following with disbelief:

SECRET discussions between the Roman Catholic Church and Michael Jackson to put the prayers of Pope John Paul II to music appeared to be in disarray last night after the singer fled members of the press who had got wind of the project.
[...]
Yesterday, Father Giuseppe Moscati, of the Millennium Music Society, which specialises in church music and organises musical events at the Vatican, reluctantly confirmed the details.

Fr Moscati said: "We have the rights for the 24 prayers written by Pope John Paul.

"We had hoped the fact that we have been in contact with Michael Jackson would remain a secret. But sadly it has leaked out ahead of time. We are in discussions and trying to sort it out.

Fr Moscati dismissed Jackson's controversial past and insisted it was no barrier to him working with the Catholic Church. The priest said: "He was cleared and found not guilty by a jury.

"Michael Jackson is very interested in this project - we shall see what happens."

Read more...

If this news is true, then What on earth is the Vatican thinking? What kind of messages are they sending the families of the boys and girls molested by the Catholic priests? I don't care what California's jury decision was. This deal is 100 percent wrong.
 

Fasting Of The Ninevites (Baoutha)

NOTE: This post was originally posted on my other blog two years ago. That was before I started this blog. I believe it has to be moved here so my Catholic readers can read it too.

Chaldeans and Assyrians in Iraq -- I believe the rest of Christian-Iraqi sectors do the same -- have a special fast, which starts three weeks before Lent. Its roots go back to pre-Christianity. If you have ever read the Book of Jonah (called Younan in Chaldean) from the Old Testament, then you'll know of which story I refer. It's a sweet and humorous story of Jonah from Israel who was sent by God to Nineveh city in Iraq to ask its people for repentance. To his surprise, the city listened to his message (I know, Iraqis are full of surprises). Everyone was required to fast including infants and animals. By the story's end, God shows Jonah His love for everyone, even the non-believers.

Christian-Iraqis fast every year for three days as a sign of thanksgiving to God. It starts on a Monday. People fast from midnight till midday and abstain from eating meat and all animal products during these three days. We keep our ancestors traditions, and this is one of my favorites.

Churches start mass before midday. Since it usually occurs during spring break in Iraq, churches are usually full with parishioners. Because we're social people in the Middle East, you may get invited to a friend's house, or you would invite friends to your house for lunch after church. The most popular food during the three-day fast is spinach, sabzi herb and onion soup made with sesame sauce. I have no idea how my mom makes this soup, but I LOVE IT. Other food would include fish, rice, falafel and vegetarian dolma made with rice, dill and olive oil. I love the food during these three days, it's the best.

In Basrah, we also make special sweet candies called "Halawat Khadr Alias." I can't remember if other parts of the country make this kind of sweets, I remember Basrah because it's one of these things you remember from your happy childhood days. Basrawi-Muslim shop owners don't ever miss Baoutha's date. They prepare the mixture for these candies on the second or third day of Baoutha. Christian women would buy kilos of the ready-made mixture from the shops. We usually add walnuts to the mixture and make it into small balls (the size of a small egg) then store them in big containers filled with flour to keep them moist. I miss these candies so much; I miss many things from my happy childhood in Iraq.

BTW, I do speak Chaldean-Aramaic language. My dad reads, writes and speaks Chaldean language. It's my first language. Arabic is my second language and English is my third language. I wonder if I'll have a fourth language sometime in the future.

I hope you enjoyed reading about this ancient Iraqi tradition.
 

Helping The Widow of Slained Iraqi Translator

NOTE:
This post will stay at the top until the end of this month. Please, scroll down for newer posts I publish this month.


UPDATE II
I received $1,500.00 from a donor who wishes to stay anonymous. Thank you anonymous for your generosity.


UPDATE I
I just received an e-mail from Lisa Ramaci to inform me that The Steven Vincent Foundation will donate $500.00 to Mrs. Enwiya. I'm speechless.

Lisa,
Thank you so much for your generosity. It means so much to all of us.


ORIGINAL POST Jan. 10, 2006
After a discussion with my friend Mad Canuck this morning, we decided to start a donation for the widow of murdered Iraqi translator Allan Enwiya.

Last Saturday, Allan was murdered in cold blood when Jill Carroll was kidnapped after leaving Al-Dulaimi office in Baghdad's suburb of Al-Adil. Allan was Jill Carroll's translator. He leaves behind a wife and very young children. You have no idea how hard it is for a young widow to raise children in Iraq.

The media will drop his name very soon and focus on Jill because she's the one in danger right now. We're all praying for her safety. But, we shouldn't forget about her translator who lost his life while trying to make a living for his young family.

I know you all have bills and credit cards to pay after the Christmas season. Still, I hope five or ten dollars won't harm your budget. It will definitely make a difference to Allan's widow.

I count on your generosity.


** List of donors.

NOTE: I put the PayPal donation button at the top of the sidebar.
 

The Pope Welcomes Divorced Catholics

UPDATE I - Jan. 28, 2006
There's an update on this subject that was published today. Newsday reports:

VATICAN CITY -- Pope Benedict XVI acknowledged concern about the plight of divorced Catholics, who are not permitted to receive Communion after remarriage, and appealed to a Vatican tribunal Saturday to issue "rapid" rulings on annulment requests.

He told the Roman Rota that its decisions should come quickly for the sake of the faithful, but he reminded church jurists that their paramount task in making a ruling was determining the "truth" about whether the marriage was valid.

An annulment means that the marriage was invalid, essentially concluding that the marriage never existed, leaving the faithful free to remarry and receive Communion.

Read more...

I hope they speed up the process for the sake of the faithful as the Pope stated in his new instructions.


ORIGINAL POST - Jul. 27, 2005
CathNews reported:

Pope Benedict XVI has said that divorced and civilly remarried Catholics who suffer because they cannot receive Communion must be welcomed in parishes as Catholics who witness to the importance of the Eucharist.

At the same time, he said, if a priest, acting out of compassion for their suffering, gives them the Eucharist, he risks undermining the dignity and indissolubility of the sacrament of marriage.

"We all know that this is a particularly painful situation," the pope said on Monday during a meeting with about 140 priests, religious and deacons from the Valle d'Aosta region where he was vacationing.

Catholic News Service reports that the pope added that he knew the issue could get complicated and said, "Given these people's situation of suffering it must be studied."

Read more...

I don't think divorced Catholics should be denied the Eucharist. You may never know how they ended up divorced. Maybe they were married to an abusive or cheating spouse. Should the church in that case punish them for not continuing in such a relationship?

In my opinion the answer is a simple no.
 

Defenders of The Church

The BBC reports:

They are known as the "Defenders of the Church" and this weekend the Vatican Swiss Guard celebrated 500 years of service.

In that time they have protected 42 successive popes, although more recently the Vatican has been guarded by Italian security forces and plainclothes police. But personal safety of the pope is still the guards' full responsibility.

The guards first arrived in Rome on 22 January 1506. At that time, Helvetian soldiers were employed as mercenaries, renowned for their courage and their loyalty.

There were many famous battles, but their most notable hour came in 1527, during the sack of Rome. Almost the entire guard was massacred by troops of the Holy Roman emperor Charles V on the steps of St Peter's Basilica.

Of 189 guards on duty only 42 survived, but their bravery ensured that Clement VII escaped to safety, down the "passeto", a secret corridor which still links the Vatican to Castel Sant' Angelo.

Read more...

According to National Geographic News, a guard has to meet the following criteria to qualify for the job:

They number only about 100, and to qualify, one must be Swiss, Catholic, and at least five feet eight inches (173 centimeters) tall.

Read more...

It sounds good to me.
 

The Vatican and Science

UPDATE I - Jan. 22, 2006
With the intelligent design debate still brewing in America, the Vatican newspaper published more on this subject:

VATICAN CITY -- The Vatican newspaper has published an article saying "intelligent design" is not science and that teaching it alongside evolutionary theory in school classrooms only creates confusion.

The article in Tuesday's editions of L'Osservatore Romano was the latest in a series of interventions by Vatican officials _ including the pope _ on the issue that has dominated headlines in the United States.

The author, Fiorenzo Facchini, a professor of evolutionary biology at the University of Bologna, laid out the scientific rationale for Darwin's theory of evolution, saying that in the scientific world, biological evolution "represents the interpretative key of the history of life on Earth."
...
"This isn't how science is done," he wrote. "If the model proposed by Darwin is deemed insufficient, one should look for another, but it's not correct from a methodological point of view to take oneself away from the scientific field pretending to do science."
...
Facchini said he recognized some Darwin proponents erroneously assume that evolution explains everything. "Better to recognize that the problem from the scientific point of view remains open," he said.

But he concluded: "In a vision that goes beyond the empirical horizon, we can say that we aren't men by chance or by necessity, and that the human experience has a sense and a direction signaled by a superior design."

Read more...

In a similar article on this subject, TIME magazine concludes:

The Pope himself entered the fray in November, when he used the words "intelligent project" to describe the origins of the universe. Camillo Cardinal Ruini, Benedict's Vicar of Rome and head of the Italian Bishops Conference, went the next step a few weeks later, explicitly endorsing intelligent design. But others have been less eager to jump on the bandwagon, including the Rev. George Coyne, head of the Vatican Observatory, who said, "Intelligent design isn't science, even though it pretends to be."

Does all this mean the Church is divided on the controversy? Not necessarily. It may just be that Catholic leaders will conclude that intelligent design makes for bad biology, but great theology.

Read more...

Exactly what I think of intelligent design.


ORIGINAL POST Nov. 5, 2005
It's was nice to read this report by the Associated Press:

VATICAN CITY -- A Vatican cardinal said Thursday the faithful should listen to what secular modern science has to offer, warning that religion risks turning into "fundamentalism" if it ignores scientific reason.

Cardinal Paul Poupard, who heads the Pontifical Council for Culture, made the comments at a news conference on a Vatican project to help end the "mutual prejudice" between religion and science that has long bedeviled the Roman Catholic Church and is part of the evolution debate in the United

The Vatican project was inspired by Pope John Paul II's 1992 declaration that the church's 17th-century denunciation of Galileo was an error resulting from "tragic mutual incomprehension." Galileo was condemned for supporting Nicolaus Copernicus' discovery that the Earth revolved around the sun; church teaching at the time placed Earth at the center of the universe.

"The permanent lesson that the Galileo case represents pushes us to keep alive the dialogue between the various disciplines, and in particular between theology and the natural sciences, if we want to prevent similar episodes from repeating themselves in the future," Poupard said.

Read more...

I'm glad the Vatican voiced its opinion publicly. I'm not thrilled with introducing the intelligent design concept into science classes. Even in the Middle East, we separate scientific facts from religious beliefs in our classrooms. The intelligent design concept is more suitable for religion classes than science classes.
 

What Were They Thinking?

Last week, when I read that Mehmet Ali Agca was released from prison, I couldn't believe the news.

This guy is very dangerous to any society. He killed a Turkish journalist in late 70s. He escaped from prison in 1979. He shot the Pope in 1981. While in jail for his attempt to kill the Pope, he made all kind of weird comments. All this and a Turkish court decided it's OK to release him from prison.

Well, it looks like the outrage in Turkey made the authorities change their mind. On Friday, he was arrested again and sent back to jail. The Associated Press reports:

Police took the man who shot Pope John Paul II back into custody Friday after an appeals court ordered him to return to prison to serve more time for killing a journalist and for other crimes in Turkey.

Mehmet Ali Agca did not resist and was being taken to police headquarters in Istanbul, eight days after he was released from prison, said Gov. Muammer Guler.

Agca served 19 years in prison in Italy for shooting the pope on May 13, 1981, and 5 1/2 years of a 10-year sentence in Turkey for the murder of journalist Abdi Ipekci in 1979.

In a decision that outraged many Turks, a local court had ordered his release from an Istanbul prison on Jan. 12, counting his time served in Italy as part of his sentence. Friday's ruling overturned that decision, saying there "is no legal basis" for deducting Agca's time served in Italy from his Turkish sentence.

It was up to the local court to decide how many more years Agca, 48, would have to serve. Reports suggested he could be imprisoned until 2014.

Read more...

I'd say leave him in jail for a long time. That way, he won't harm any people.
 

Jesus and Beer Ads

Here's some interesting news from Lithuania that was reported by the Sydney Morning News:

The Catholic Church in Lithuania today condemned beer-making company Kalnapilio-Tauro Grupe for using a picture of Jesus Christ wearing earphones to advertise its products.

"Many believers are hurt and outraged that the Saviour's image... was used for advertising beer," said archbishop Sigitas Tamkevicius in a statement.

"The use of Catholic symbols for commercial purposes and especially for advertising alcoholic beverages is absolutely unjustifiable," added Tamkevicius, who is chairman of the Lithuanian bishops' conference.

Read more...

Did they really need to use Jesus' image to promote their beer? I don't think so. People who like to drink beer don't need a holy figure to promote it to them. They'll buy it anyway.
 

A Nice Prayer

I came across a nice prayer the other day, and I thought to share it with you:

Dear Lord,

empty our world-weary hearts of all cynicism and pessimism so that we may embrace the new year with humility and hope.

The past, present, and the future are in your hands. We know that all things are possible in you. Guide our journey in these new days ahead.

Amen.