Time for some Friday morning links: A woman has been arrested in Colorado for attacking a blasphemous piece of art with a crowbar, saying that it “desecrate[d] my lord.” The artist responded to the attack by saying, “I don’t expect people to agree with me but let’s have a civil discussion, you know.” Somehow I’m … Read more
Following up on Wolfgang Grassl’s column this morning, where he argues that the picture of Christianity in Europe is not as bleak as it seems, comes this news story to remind me that it could be so, so much worse: Saudi police raided a secret Catholic mass in Riyadh last week and arrested a dozen … Read more
I don’t want to oversell this, but these Connecticut high school girls — protesting their cheerleading squad’s skimpy uniforms — give me hope for the future: A half-dozen upperclassmen on the team appeared before the city Board of Education this week asking its members how they’d feel if their daughters were dressed in something similar. “We ask with … Read more
The Nobel Prize in medicine this year has been awarded to Robert Edwards, the man responsible for developing in vitro fertilization. Scientifically, of course, IVF was a major development; morally, it has been disastrous. Reports estimate that around 4 million children have been born through IVF treatments since 1978 — but who knows how many millions … Read more
Time for some Friday morning links to get the day started: Scientists discover an effective alternative to embryonic stem cells that doesn’t require destroying embryos. What was that about necessity and invention…? Other exciting science news: “Roller-coaster rides can relieve symptoms of asthma, beards are a health hazard and randomly promoting workers creates more efficient … Read more
I couldn’t resist borrowing a meme from Matthew Archbold at Creative Minority Report: Songs that make men cry. Apparently, the UK Sun is reporting that the song most likely to make a grown man cry is… “Everybody Hurts” by REM. Archbold has some, er, choice words upon hearing that revelation: “Men are officially complete wusses.” … Read more
A big hat tip to the Deacon’s Bench for pointing out this video of Archbishop Timothy Dolan’s recent video to Haiti and its ravaged cathedral. As co-chair of the board of directors for Catholic Relief Services, Dolan went to Haiti in the immediate aftermath of the quake and attended the funeral of Haiti’s own Archbishop … Read more
InsideCatholic contributor Ron Rychlak has done yeoman’s work defending Pope Pius XII’s record during World War II against an ever-changing raft of accusations. First it was Pius’s supposed failure to act during the war; then it was what he supposedly failed to do after the war. With both of those charges handily debunked, critics have … Read more
In yesterday’s Washington Post, a column by Kwame Anthony Appiah asked, “What will future generations condemn us for?” We tend to marvel at the shortsightedness of our ancestors with respect to, say, slavery; Appiah argues that actions we unthinkingly accept today will be viewed with similar incomprehension somewhere down the line. He offers three criteria … Read more
Well this is interesting: First Lady Michelle Obama said last month that her husband “always carries a picture of Mary Help of Christians in his wallet.” She made her remarks while visiting a house of the Salesian community in Ronda, Spain. Under the title of Help of Christians, Our Lady is the patroness of the … Read more
Time for a few links to get the day rolling: Teresa Lewis was the first woman put to death in Virginia in almost 100 years today. At the National Catholic Register, Danielle Bean says her case doesn’t fit the Catechism’s guidelines of when the death penalty is acceptable. What do people think of the GOP’s … Read more
The Anchoress’s recent trip to Rome reminded her of how breathtakingly beautiful churches can be… and how churches in the States mostly aren’t. Visiting Rome’s splendid, often ancient, churches, my husband and I, who attend newish, barely-decorated, kind-of-ugly churches that are heavy on the felt banners, had not realized how much we’d been missing beauty … Read more
Bulgarian artist Yanko Tsvetkov is getting lots of attention for his “Mapping Stereotypes” project — various maps of Europe according to different countries’ real feelings about their neighbors. Here’s Europe according to the U.S.: Seems about right: What else is Ireland good for if not giving us St. Patrick? (Guinness, maybe.) And the further east … Read more
In Ross Douthat’s Sunday New York Times column, he explains why — despite the insistence that the Church today is irrelevant for failing to keep up with the times — hundreds of thousands of Catholics came out for the UK papal visit: [I]n turning out for their beleaguered pope, Britain’s Catholics acknowledged something essential about … Read more
Deacon Greg linked to an article in the Vancouver Sun this morning that wrapped up the pope’s UK visit, and I’m exasperated just from the title: Pope sheds ‘Vatican Rottweiler’ image on Britain trip Really? Are we still acting surprised when, once again, Pope Benedict turns out to be nothing like the angry caricature so … Read more
Last night’s Partnership Dinner was a great success — so successful, in fact, that we’re all going to be a little slow out of the gate this morning. So rather than the usual Friday round-up, I thought I’d share a few shots from the evening: Marjorie Dannenfelser, the president of the Susan B. Anthony List, … Read more
As Brian mentioned, all of us here at InsideCatholic are headed to our 15th annual Partnership Dinner tonight, where we’ll honor Bishop Vasa for his service to the Church. It’s a little hectic at IC headquarters today as a result, so in our absence, I’ll leave you with this, which had me totally mesmerized this … Read more
Benedict’s visit to the UK is already underway, and the coverage began on his flight over, with the pope’s customary habit of answering written questions from journalists — a practice that tends to set the tone for the first day of reporting. As with several of Benedict’s recent state visits, one of those questions dealt … Read more
Over at Catholic Culture, Phil Lawler offers five things we can expect from Benedict’s trip to the UK (which begins tomorrow). Among things like the “nasty rhetoric” and criticism of the organizers that we’ve already seen, one item stood out — and gave me hope for the visit: 4. Expect the unexpected Pope Benedict has … Read more
Last week at the National Catholic Reporter, John Allen Jr. took aim at the “religious illiteracy” that still reigns among his fellow journalists (h/t Get Religion): On Tuesday a piece in the U.K.-based Telegraph carried the following headline: “Muslims will become majority in Europe, senior Vatican official warns.” An alarmist subhead added: “European Christians must have more … Read more