Poster Boy John KerryWritten by Gary Shirley
Few election campaigns in recent memory have generated media feeding frenzy equaling that of presidential hopeful John Kerry. This is because John Kerry is both a Senator and a Catholic. Senator Kerry has compiled a rather consistent voting record against legislation that protects innocent human life. Despite such actions in Congress, he still routinely attends Mass and partakes of Eucharist. Taking cover under familiar "voting my conscience" defense, he contends that his actions are proper to his professed religion. Endless debates have erupted over whether his behavior constitutes grave scandal to American Catholics and, by extension, whole Church. His flagrant disdain for Church teaching forces question of whether he, and all Catholic politicians of similar ilk, should be refused Eucharist given perceived disgrace engendered by their participation. The Catechism of Catholic Church is very clear on sanctity of human life. It echoes position held by Christians throughout ages. In addition, two recent documents remind public officials of how they must carry out their duties in light of their Catholic faith. One is "Doctrinal Note on Some Questions Regarding Participation of Catholics in Political Life" issued by Vatican in 2002. The other is "Faithful Citizenship: A Catholic Call to Political Responsibility" issued by American bishops in 2003. Finally, Code of Canon Law (No.915) clearly asserts that those "...who obstinately persist in manifest grave sin are not to be admitted to Communion." Taken collectively, it is fair to say that Church has made itself quite clear with respect to value of life and role Catholics, elected or not, have in its protection. Many bishops and noteworthy members of laity have weighed in on this divisive issue. Some steadfastly contend that Eucharist must be protected from scandal and therefore refused to certain public figures. Others, however, say that Eucharist is not to be used as a weapon for behavior modification. Prayer, dialogue and proper catechesis should be employed to address problem, not Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Son of God. The furor continues. Observing this maelstrom prompts some reflection on its root cause. While storm rages in media, true instigator remains quietly under radar. I refer, of course, to contraception. Perhaps we have forgotten that contraception is bedrock of abortion. In America, contraception is mainstream doctrine. It is anchor of feel-good philosophies like choice, freedom and rights. Americans happily justify their use of contraceptive drugs or devices as part of life in a modern, enlightened age. We employ them without a second thought as to their sinister capabilities. Contraception laid groundwork for de-linking marriage and sexual intercourse. That done, sexual act was transformed. It was originally intended as a physical manifestation of marital love open to gift of life. It is now mindless recreation whose only end is pleasure. The natural outcome, a child, is simply a disposable commodity.
| | Angel to AngelWritten by Skye Thomas
Years ago, my minister spoke to us about how you could solicit help of your guardian angels to help with conflict resolution. She told us stories about how she and others had successfully asked their guardian angels to speak to enemy's guardian angel. The idea being that when you find yourself in an argumentative situation with someone, that you could request that your guardian angel talk angel to angel with their guardian angel about finding a win-win situation. She gave us examples of times when after asking for angels to help mediate problem, that other party suddenly softened and solutions began to easily show themselves. As she told stories of her successes with this approach to problem solving, I began to think about how to use it in my own life.I'm not much for praying in traditional down on your knees with templed hands approach. I can't concentrate like that. My knees hurt and I pay more attention to keeping my hands in that saintly position and forget to really connect with any form of a higher celestial type being. It works better for me to take out pen and paper and to hand write a letter to my angels. In really thinking through what I want to say in letter, I guess I end up sending out a prayer after all. It's just a different form of prayer. So, when I decided to use my minister's advice about requesting angel to angel intervention for my problems in life, I immediately started writing letters to my angels and sometimes I wrote letter directly to other person's angel if I could get a 'feel' for which angel was looking after them. It really worked very nicely. I don't usually have enemies per se, maybe just grumpy coworkers and such, but I did see a softening of spirit and things always got better. Yes, I admit softening may have come from me, but that's not what's important. What matters is that process served its purpose and peace and harmony was created much easier than before I had started writing to angels. So, if they can help us with bad relationships, then why can't they help us with good ones too? I started using letters to angels to help with my love life. I'm sorry to report that angels will NOT help your crush fall in love with you. Bah! But they will help someone who's a bit shy but interested feel more comfortable about taking that leap of faith and asking you out. Okay, fair enough. When you just can't find words to tell someone that you care about just how much they mean to you, then try writing it to your guardian angel and asking them to deliver message for you. Again, whether you pray to them or write to them, it forces you to find words to say exactly what it is you want to say. Perhaps that's where magic lies. I don't know, but when I just write to some vague nothingness in sky, then nothing happens. It only works when I'm writing to angels. Maybe they're real and maybe they're not, but believing they're real and that they'll help seems to work its magic on me and on my relationships.
|
