9-5-06
Greetings!
Each of us when we look into our hearts and even life experiences is capable of great good or great evil. And this evil has a certain "allure" to it.
St. Augustine captured this well in his "Confessions." He recalls an event from his youth when he stole from his neighbor's pear tree. He stole them, not because he was hungry, but because "our real pleasure consisted in doing something that was forbidden." "The evil that was in me was foul, but I loved it. I loved my own perdition and my own faults, not the things for which I committed wrong, but the wrong itself." Confessions Book II, 4.
Each one of us has that inside of himself. St. Paul understood this as well, hence his statement: "There but for the Grace of God go I"
I remember seeing the movie "Hotel Rwanda" It depicts the civil war between Hutus & Tutsis in Rwanda . They were formerly neighbors and yet ended up slaughtering each other. Similarly, last spring a 14 year old boy left school early for a doctor appointment. He was waiting for his bus to take him there. Some young people came upon him and beat him to death. And of course there is one of the greatest evils, the Nazi Holocaust.
These events all shock us. But why? We ask "how could anyone do that?" The truth is, we are all capable of such horrors apart from the Grace of God.
Phil's Tidbits:
Good thing this doesn't happen today…..ahem.
Via Crisis Magazine "The Weathercock And the Mystic" by Russell Shaw
"We shall find even Catholics who…gravely tell us that their religion has nothing to do with their politics; that is, their politics are independent of their religion; that is, again, politics are independent of God, and there is no God in the political order; as if a man could be an atheist in the state, and a devout Catholic in the church." –"Church and State" Orestes Brownson, 1870
Judie Brown with American Life League is usually right on target, and she doesn't pull punches.
Contraception is not the Answer Says U.S. Pro-Life Leader
Special to LifeSiteNews.com by American Life League President Judie Brown
By Judie Brown
August 24, 2006
As one who has fought on the front lines of the pro-life battle for much of my adult life, it's my perception that there is mass confusion in this nation about what it really means to be a man, or a woman – a member if you will of a specific gender.
In light of that reality, it has also been my experience that nothing in this life happens by accident...
The full text of the story is available at:
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2006/aug/06082406.html
And the effects of such a mentality:
So far, India is missing 5 to 10 million women, with a gender disparity
that is worsening every day. And that's 5 to 10 million young men who
will be unable to marry.
India has 927 girls under age six for every
1,000 boys. The world average is 1,050 girls for every 1,000 boys. In
Punjab state, there are only 798 girls for every 1,000 boys.
"In China, the birth ratio of boys to girls is now 12% above normal
levels," wrote Attané. "In India, it is 6%. . . . The demographic
implications of all this are immense because of the size of populations
involved. The first results will be felt around 2015, when huge numbers
of men reaching marriageable age will be unable to find a wife. The
imbalance in the Chinese marriage market will worsen after 2010, and by
2030 there will be a 20% surplus of men--every year 1.6 million will be
unable to find wives."
Historically, large numbers of unmarried men in a society has meant
destabilization and war. With so many potent powder kegs in Asia--Taiwan
and Kashmir are just the best-known--are massive wars in the continent's
near future?
Contrary to what one might think, the status of women does not seem to be
rising along with their increasing scarcity. Instead, trafficking in
women is on the tremendous increase across Asia
, with many reports of
women being kidnapped from cities in order to be sold to farmers in rural
areas. In some places, daughters are being hoarded and circumscribed like
stocks of gold--a trend that, looking on the bright side, could lead to
more female births as young women become more valuable to sell off as
wives.
The Chinese government has announced plans to crack down on sex-selective
abortion and promote the worth of raising girls. India
's prime minister
is concerned. Yet such efforts have failed in the past and are unlikely
to succeed in time to avert a major crisis, if it is not too late already.
The massive social changes underlying this trend--desire for small
families, the expense of raising children in the modern world, legal
discrimination against larger families, the easy availability and
acceptance of abortion--must be addressed.
Joseph A. D'Agostino is Vice President for Communications at the
Population Research Institute.
_________
PRI
P.O. Box 1559
Front Royal, Va. 22630
USA
Phone: (540) 622-5240 Fax: (540) 622-2728
Email: jad@pop.org
Media Contact: Joseph A. D'Agostino
(540) 622-5240, ext. 204
Website: www.pop.org
_________
(c) 2006 Population Research Institute. Permission to reprint granted.
Redistribute widely. Credit required.
Apart from the inanity of this situation, one feels for that precious little one in the midst of such madness.
Surrogate Madness: Five Would-Be-Parents Vying for Custody of Child
By Terry Vanderheyden
LAS VEGAS, July 31, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – An unfortunate toddler is the object of a legal battle with five adults vying for his custody: the homosexual father who paid a surrogate mother $23,000 to impregnate herself with his sperm, the homosexual's sister, the biological mother, and the boy's current foster parents.
Baby X, as identified by court documents, is currently in the care of foster parents who want legal custody of the child, after the surrogate mother, Rachel Sullivan, found it too taxing to care for him, reported the Globe and Mail on July 21 in a lengthy article detailing the case.
Sullivan was granted custody after the biological father, Canadian Arthuro Nuosci, was arrested for identity theft, mail and bank fraud. He is now serving time in a California prison, but wants his sister in Canada to care for the child until his pending release next year. The toddler turned two this month.
Sullivan is appealing an earlier decision that allowed a married Salt Lake City couple to have physical custody of the child. Despite the adoptive parents' desire to do so, the couple was not allowed to adopt after Judge Bruce Lubeck of Third District Court in Salt Lake City decided there was no basis in law for denying either of the child's natural parents parental rights.
According to the Globe and Mail, Sullivan says that the surrogacy arrangement was a "setup for heartbreak." "I want him to know that I was fighting for him, that I made a mistake and I'm doing my best to fix it," she said in a telephone interview with the Globe. "I want him to know that he was not abandoned."
Nuosci, the biological, imprisoned father, meanwhile, has given his sister Dolores Rizzi, who lives north of Toronto, power of attorney, authorizing her to make decisions about the boy in Nuosci's absence. "Not only is he my nephew, he's my godson," Rizzi told the Globe and Mail by phone from Woodbridge. "He's been baptized Catholic." Rizzi, who is divorced, says she is ready to accept responsibility for the child, who would live with her and her two children.
The Utah Court of Appeal decided not to hear the case this month, deciding rather that it merited deliberation by the state Supreme Court, who will hear the suit September 5. "The Supreme Court will issue a decision and it will be the final say," said Sullivan's lawyer, David Wilde. "I think they thought this was a unique case with some important legal issues."
Wilde summed up the unique complexities of the case, saying "we're kind of in this brave new world of surrogate parents. Up until a few years ago, you just never had them. This is one of the twists that come into the law."
When she considered the surrogacy, Sullivan said that at first it seemed like a good idea. "I view it so differently now," she admitted. " . . . If it was not my biological child, I would step back and take care of my kids. I'm very concerned about who is going to look after him. I don't ever want him to think that I didn't care."
"Don't buy anything that you would be embarrassed by if the Blessed Virgin Mary were standing behind you in the checkout line." –Steve Wood's advice to his daughters when clothes shopping. "Legacy"
God bless you!
Phil Lawson
For the latest info on St. Peter's, check out the parish website: www.saintpetercatholic.com
The Areopagus is a regular email for adults that includes various reflections, tidbits, news and events. Hope you find it fruitful!