This story from Catholic News Service bears the headline: Cardinal praises expanded health care but fears remain on abortion The cardinal in question is Cardinal George of Chicago, the president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. He gave an interview to Nancy Frazier O’Brien and said the following, which prompted the headline: We … Read more
Year: 2010
Wow, This Headline Tells a Story…
This story from Catholic News Service bears the headline: Cardinal praises expanded health care but fears remain on abortion The cardinal in question is Cardinal George of Chicago, the president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. He gave an interview to Nancy Frazier O’Brien and said the following, which prompted the headline: We … Read more
Celebrating ‘The Emperor,’ 100 Years Later
Yesterday marked the 100’s anniversary of the birth of the man considered by many to be the greatest, most influential film director of all time: Akira Kurosawa. Affectionately (or fearfully, perhaps) known as “The Emperor” on his sets, his visual style, thematic ideas, and absolute mastery of the medium profoundly influenced countless generations of filmmakers. Spielberg once referred to … Read more
Pass the Soylent Green
This weekend, millions of Americans marked the passage of the health-care bill the only way they could: by reverently retiring the Stars and Stripes that fly at their homes and running up the Maple Leaf. That’s unfair to Canada, but since when have we Yanks felt bad about that? The Canadian and European single-payer health-care … Read more
The Canucks just LOVE Ann Coulter
I wasn’t surprised to hear that Ann Coulter’s speech at the University of Ottawa was cancelled last night. Two thousand students showed up to protest her appearance and authorities were afraid rioting would break out, so they canned her: “What Ann Coulter is practicing is not free speech, it’s hate speech,” [one student] said. “She’s … Read more
A Lenten Pilgrimage Online
A huge hat-tip to our friend Lizzie Scalia for posting a link to this 360 virtual tour of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. As someone who has never been to the Holy Land (and has no immediate hope of going), I find this totally mesmerizing, and moving. A nice way to gear up for … Read more
Inclusive Language and the Liturgy
I belong to a relatively liberal congregation. For instance, the former pastor often applied St. Paul’s admonition about “freedom from the law” to Vatican “laws,” and asked for and received an exemption from the 2002 reemphasis by our bishop on kneeling after the Sanctus; and the present pastor, before the last election, mentioned in a … Read more
They Just Don’t Make Laws Like They Used To
As part of my continuing efforts to avoid thinking about this law for as long as possible, I happened across an article that made about as much sense to me as the 2,500+ page behemoth signed earlier today, only without any of the damaging long-term implications of H.R. 3590: Action still resulted in an equal and … Read more
Got an illness? Needles may help.
Acupuncture… I swear by it, and I know many others who do, too. Back when it was considered mere quackery in the West, my physician father was studying it and even practiced it on his college football injuries to decrease inflammation and help with pain. Yesterday, Wall Street Journal health columnist Melinda Beck reported on … Read more
Super-Sizing the Last Supper
According to a panel of obesity experts, the Last Supper has been getting super-sized in artistic representations through the years: The Cornell University team studied 52 of the most famous paintings of the Biblical scene over the millennium and scrutinised the size of the feast. They found the main courses, bread and plates put before … Read more
Pompeii snack bar reopens for business
Good news for the hungry tourists of Pompeii: Vetutius Placidus’ snack bar is reopening after extensive renovations. This being Italy, the work took almost 1900 years. Three hundred specially invited guests are to taste the delights of Roman fast food in the thermopolium (that’s snack bar to you and me) in a special ceremony to … Read more
Now and at the Hour of Our Death
I once read an interview with Garrison Keillor in which he recounted going to a funeral. During the final prayers, the minister prayed for the deceased — “and for the next person here who is going to die.” He said that most of the guests were outraged and offended, but that he was moved and … Read more
The World’s Largest Photo (Currently)
In the wake of yesterday’s demoralizing — (how I wish that word were not quite so appropriate) — events, I, like Margaret, have sought for ways to distract myself from the draining aftermath of the health-care debate. And I find myself taking some comfort in the fact that we’ll always have Paris: Harmonizing the 17 rows and … Read more
1942: Complicated Loyalties
On November 17, 1942, the Catholic publisher Wilfred Meynell celebrated his 90th birthday in Greatham, southwest of London. He would live another six years and, with the noise of RAF fighter planes a familiar sound daily, he could boast that he was born the year the Duke of Wellington died. Henry Edward Cardinal Manning … Read more
‘Life’ Goes On
It’s raining here in Baltimore today, and the mood on the Web is similarly bleak, so I thought we could all use a little reprieve from the doom and gloom — hence, the awesomeness in the trailer below for the Discovery Channel’s Life series. I managed to catch the premiere on TV last night, and … Read more
Did Bart Stupak “limit the harm”?
Not every pro-life opponent of the healthcare reform bill is infuriated with Rep. Bart Stupak. Over at Catholic Online, our good friend Deacon Keith Fournier, while greatly disappointed with Stupak’s decision, nevertheless defends him against some of the harsher critics. [Stupak] seems to honestly believe that with this Executive Order, the current Hyde Amendment language … Read more
The Sabbath Manifesto
There’s a new movement afoot to restore the Sabbath, and it’s coming from a group of Jewish artists. A think tank called Reboot is behind the “Sabbath Manifesto,” a campaign encouraging people to take the seventh day of the week as a day of rest: Way back when, God said, “On the seventh day thou … Read more
Euthanasia in the Great White North
I know most of the talk today is probably going to be about the health care bill. But I wanted to share a gem of an article written by David Warren, a contributing writer here at IC. Mr. Warren takes up the topic of the euthanasia bill that is being debated in Ottowa’s House of … Read more
Bart Stupak Failed Us
We are the hollow men We are the stuffed men The evening the Stupak-Pitts Amendment passed, I expressed the hope that a new era of pro-life politics had begun. For the first time in a long time, the Democratic Party had an advocate for the unborn around whom others could rally. That was four months … Read more
Bart Stupak (D-MI) was becoming a hero to pro-lifers all around the nation with his steadfast refusal to bend under the pressure of Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the White House. Instead, Stupak has become a hero to the other side — an hour ago, he announced his decision to vote FOR the Senate version of … Read more