extreme Catholic 

 
St. Paul's tomb believed found : Catholic World News

Vatican archeologists believe that they have identified the tomb of St. Paul in the Roman basilica that bears his name.

A sarcophagus which may contain the remains of St. Paul was identified in the basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls, reports Giorgio Filippi, a archeology specialist with the Vatican Museums. The sarcophagus was discovered during the excavations carried out in 2002 and 2003 around the basilica, which is located in the south of Rome. Having reached what they believe is a positive identification of the tomb, Vatican experts will soon make a public announcement of their discovery.

"The tomb that we discovered is the one that the popes and the Emperor Theodosius (379- 395) saved and presented to the whole world as being the tomb of the apostle," Filippi reports.

One of the challenges in communicating the truth of the Catholic faith is that people think it was all made up. People differ among themselves as to the point where the truth becomes a fable.

What's been remarkable abut the time that I've been alive is how much archeological and linguisitc research turns out to be support for revelation as we Catholics define it in Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition. Often debunked, the idea that both Sts. Peter and Paul were martyred in Rome has growing accumulation of evidence to sway the doubtful.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 11:08 PM   Permalink  

 
The Bishops take time to tell Congress what to do.

Catholic Bishops Urge Congress to Decide Budget on How It Enhances Lives, Dignity of Needy Here, Abroad : USCCB

The U.S. bishops have urged Congress to think of the needy here and abroad when they consider the national budget.

There's no need for act of individual alsmigiving when you have the power of the state to collect it. Why didn't Jesus think of this shortcut?

One of the basic functions of government is to raise sufficient resources so that it can undertake efforts to promote the common good.

What goverment on earth "raises"(?) "resources"(?)? The creation of wealth is a function of individuals and not the state.

I'm not going to drag Friedrich von Hayek, Milton Friedman, or Ayn Rand into this, but the "provision for the common good" ought to be the domain of individual initiative. The state's function is to do what can't be done by individuals.

The bishops have failed to remove priests from ministry when credible allegations of sexual abuse and other crimes are brought to their attention. This led to a financial collapse and bankruptcy in the diocese of the man honored with the presidency of the Conference, Bishop Skylstad.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 9:25 PM   Permalink  

 
The solution to Catholic Education...

Near term Pray for this miracle: Lots of funding from public and private sources with no strings attached. No compromise of the Catholic mission of Catholic schools. Children from families with low income can attend.

Long term Pray for this miracle: Vouchers for parrents for the education of their children which include eligible religiously-affiliated schools.

I attended Catholic schools from grades 1 through 12 — I don't think I've mentioned that. Also, my pastor who attended one of the schools of low enrollment and which now borders his parish and mine, recused himself from the decision regarding that school and our own parish school.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 6:13 PM   Permalink  

 
Bringing this story to my few readers Gawker: New York Post A Snake in Eden?

Looks at the case of Christian blogger Dawn Eden of The Dawn Patrol and false allegations made regarding the termination of her employment.

Her story of the smear is this post on her blog. Her profile in the New York Observer

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 11:53 PM   Permalink  

 
No magic money beans in Catholic Education

Making Catholic elementary education affordable to the working poor and offering a living wage to teachers who are not vowed to poverty requires money from some source.

When the school has a significant number of non-Catholic students, or students whose families are Catholic but not participating in the life of the parish, or a significant number of the teachers are non-Catholics, parishioners question if this is sustaining the Catholic life of these children at all or just running on inertia and nostalgia.

Education refomer Diane Ravitch begs : New York Daily News

A Call to Action

If the Diocese of Brooklyn and Queens closes 26 of its schools, it will be a loss for all New York City. The Catholic schools in this city have provided genuine choice for children from low-income and working-class families for more than 150 years. What is more, they have established a solid reputation for safety, academic standards and moral values. All of this has been supplied at a nominal cost to families and at no cost to taxpayers.

Any time the city loses even one good school, it is a cause for sadness. To lose 26 at one time, with more soon to follow, is catastrophic.

Now is the time for Caroline Kennedy, Mayor Bloomberg, former mayor Rudy Guiliani, Chancellor Joel Klein and the city's other leaders to step forward and help save these schools. Now is the time for major foundations, like the Ford Foundation, the Gates Foundation and the Broad Foundation, to rescue schools that have successfully served the children of hardworking families for generations.

On the contrary, they are leaping for joy at the Ford Foundation and Gates Foundation that there fewer alternatives to the monopoly of public education.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 11:18 PM   Permalink  

 
I was suprised that "Super-AIDS" wasn't a national story.

New York's first diagnosed case of highly drug-resistant HIV in a person never before treated for the virus is "a wake up call" to anyone who has unprotected sex, the city's health commissioner said Friday.

The patient, a man in his mid-40s who had unprotected sex with other men, contracted a strain of HIV that is "difficult or impossible to treat and which appears to progress rapidly to AIDS," said the Health Commissioner Dr. Thomas Frieden.

The diagnosis "is a wake up call to men who have sex with men," Frieden said at a news conference.

The commissioner said the city's health authorities are working with the federal Centers of Disease Control in Atlanta to find other possible cases of the drug-resistant HIV strain that quickly turns into AIDS.

"We are not aware of another case like this in the United States, or elsewhere," said Dr. Ron Valdiserri, deputy director of the CDC's National Center for HIV, STD, and TB Prevention.

New York health officials are now trying to locate the man's sex partners to offer them testing. The city has not released his name.

The man was first diagnosed in December 2004 at the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center on Manhattan's East Side. He apparently had been infected recently after years of what Frieden said was the riskiest sexual behavior — unprotected anal intercourse. The man developed AIDS as early as two or three months after diagnosis.

You know what they say: "education" is the cure for HIV/AIDS. They might find a way to connect this to the Catholic Church in time.

Another story:

Subway AIDS Prevention Posters Derailed By MTA

A plan to feature AIDS prevention posters on subways gets derailed by the MTA. The Gay Men's Health Crisis wanted to run an HIV prevention campaign featuring Manhattan draped in a condom.

But the MTA says the image is inappropriate, and may be offensive to straphangers.

However, Catholic groups were able to put up anti-condom posters in subways in the past.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 10:24 PM   Permalink  

 
Sr. Lucia has died.

Pope John Paul II meets Sister Santa Maria Lucia of the Immaculate Heart May 13 2000 in Fatima. Pope John Paul II is in Portugal for the beatification of the two dead shepherd children, Jacinta and Francisco Marto, who where witness of the Fatima miracle (the Virgin Mary was said to have appeared to the children and gave them three messages) in 1917 along with her cousin Lucia Dos Santos, who is now 93-year-old and lives as a nun under the name of Sister Santa Maria Lucia of the Immaculate Heart. jd/Photo by Artuto Mari REUTERS

Last witness of Fatima apparitions dies : ABC

Sister Lucia, the last survivor of the three shepherd children to whom the Virgin Mary is said to have made a series of apparitions in 1917, has died aged 97, state television RTP has reported

She had lived in virtual isolation since 1948 in an old convent in the central Portuguese city of Coimbra that houses the order of the Carmelita Sisters, where she dedicated her life to prayer and meditation.

Named Lucia de Jesus dos Santos when she was born on March 22, 1907, in recent years she suffered from blindness and deafness.

We pray for the repose of her soul, and that she may come to be in the compmany of Mary and her Son in eternity.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 10:10 PM   Permalink