Face of the New Atheism
Exclusive Interview With the Professor Who Profaned the Eucharist:
Exclusive Interview With the Professor Who Profaned the Eucharist:
Abortion is the greatest single scourge of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, claiming far more innocent lives than any other threat, including war, poverty, starvation and natural disasters. This grave moral evil is also the centerpiece of the contemporary culture wars which divide most Western nations, particularly the United States, which is split almost evenly.
The abortion problem has so many medical, psychological, political, economic, and cultural ramifications—including its contribution to a growing culture of death—that it is impossible to cover all important aspect of it in three documents. Still, it is wise to begin an examination of this question with a definition of abortion, including the distinction between direct and indirect abortion, and a clear statement of the Church’s unchanging moral position.
It is also necessary to understand that the evil of abortion can be known not only from Church teaching but from the natural law. In fact, the natural law provides all that we need to know to determine the immorality of direct abortion and the morality of indirect abortion in certain circumstances. Closely related to abortion in this regard are such matters as euthanasia, in vitro fertilization, embryonic stem cell research, and human cloning (which merit separate topics).
Some Catholic dissidents, who have been too influenced by the surrounding culture, have tried to justify abortion by arguing that the Catholic tradition on this issue is confused or unclear. A careful look at the history of the Church’s position easily refutes this claim, and is important for discussions within the Church herself.
Many other considerations are also very apt, making the “If you have more time” section unusually important in this case.
CATHOLIC CULTURE HAS A SUPERB LIBRARY OF INFORMATION CONCERNING THIS ABOMINATION OF THE MURDER OF GOD’S CHILDREN:
If you only have time to look at three things, LOOK AT THESE.
And if you’ve got more time…Abortion is closely related to sterilization and contraception; the psychological well-being of women, men and children; the health of the family; socio-economic patterns, materialism and consumerism; and of course politics. Here are four related documents which will provide brief orientations to several of these subsidiary topics:
Other areas which bear study include the general relationship between abortion and what Pope John Paul II called the “culture of death”, the question of whether pro-abortion politicians should be denied communion, the use of government funds for abortion, the West’s determination to export an abortion culture to the third world, and so on. Information on these related issues may be found by searching the library.
I was ordained a priest on May 23rd. My life now is now bound more intensely than ever to the central Mystery of our faith, the Presence of Christ in the Holy Eucharist. I never imagined that so soon in my priestly life would I see the Eucharist attacked so publicly. You may have seen these stories in the press. On June 29th, the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul, Webster Cook, a student and member of the student government at the University of Central Florida, took the Eucharist “hostage” in order to protest the use of University money to support religious organizations.
On July 8th Paul Zachary Myers, an assistant professor of biology at the University of Minnesota, entitled an entry on his blog: “It’s a Frackin Cracker!” Myers is upset at the outrage against the student who stole the Host. The student claimed to receive death threats. Death threats are not a Christian response. The Pastor at UCF, Fr. Gonzalez, spoke out of the Love that comes from his own celebration of the Eucharist:
“The whole community is going to turn to prayer. We’ll ask the Lord for pardon, forgiveness, peace, not only for the whole community affected by it, but also for [Cook], we offer prayers for him as well.”
Professor Myers has no such love. He cultivates hate and went on to invite others to help him desecrate that which is most sacred to Catholics:
(Warning, the following is outrageous)
http://www.godspy.com/opinion/christian-witness-in-the-aftermath-of-hate/