Getting to the soul of the matter

The story of South Korea attempting to reverse the culture of abortion and contraception is not unique. The same problem exists in Japan, China (particularly Shanghai), Germany, France, and other countries. Note that it isn't only that this generation is refusing to propagate life to the next generation. In many countries today, despite the wealth and relatively higher levels of comfort and safety, people are also giving up on their own lives. Not only is depression and suicide more common, there's the push for euthanasia, and many voices for the termination of the ill, the handicapped, etc.

It isn't something that incentives can help with. The soul, in this case, has been corrupted. The solution lies in cleansing the soul. But what is a government to do when they no longer believe in that?

Fascinating questions from my sons

have included these:

• Would we have been born if Adam and Eve had not sinned and been removed from Eden?
• Did it really take six days?
• Is what my teacher said true, that it doesn't matter if you believe in God or not, or what you believe?
• Why did God give me the gifts I got?

And the discussions we have had to have surrounding my answers were also quite interesting. I think it is these discussions that I enjoy the most in parenting.

Did Darwin kill God?

Sentire Cum Ecclesia blogger David writes about the so entitled interestingly balanced and informative (I though) tele-investigation documentary from (gasp) ABC. The video was still on the ABC website over the past hour or so. It's not bad at all.

An interesting musical project

Fighting the culture of death attacking the Philippines

The eggs were probably laid long before the 60s, and here comes the onslaught against life. The Philippines is yet another country whose life values are being attacked not only in the shadows through pop culture, but for a few years now, through legislation. The "Reproductive Health" lobby is being heavily funded by groups such as Planned Parenthood, whose agenda is probably both financial and ideological. This blog is dedicated to thwarting those efforts in the Philippines. Manny Amador's blog is also in the fight. Please pray for the Philippines and for Filipinos: may God send more workers in the vineyard to sow and harvest life, not death.

More threats to religious freedom in Australia?

Just when you thought it was over, well.. it isn't.

Catholics and Halloween

This is as much a note to myself as it is for others on the true history behind Halloween, by Mike Flynn.

Twenty Anglican Parishes Coming Home? Wow!

Alleluia!

ROME, November 6, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - In a move that is a surprise to no one, the UK branch of the Traditional Anglican Communion (TAC), the largest of the groups that broke away from the mainstream Anglican Church over the ordination of woman and the latter's support for active homosexuality, has been the first to formally accept the offer of Pope Benedict to enter into communion with the Catholic Church en masse. Although the TAC is not large, being made up of only 20 or so parishes, the vote by the group to accept the invitation is expected to be a strong symbolic blow to the mainstream Anglican Church in its motherland of Britain, where it has been a leader in the acceptance of woman clergy and homosexuality. It is widely acknowledged that the Vatican's decision to extend its hand to traditionalist Anglicans comes in response to repeated requests, made public last year, by the TAC.

Of course, now comes the hard part. But God bless them for this first and most difficult step. May they all find in the Catholic Church the Christ who calls them onward.

Two Lungs of the Church

This is an interesting site: 2Lungs.com, dedicated to all things concerning the hoped for unity between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church. With recent developments between the Catholic Church and the Anglicans, we can pray for similar developments with the Orthodox Church. God willing!

The Widow's Mite

The story of the widow who dropped two coins from all she had into the Temple treasury was made more interesting today in the light of what I heard from my son today. When asked how children show gratitude to their parents (don't ask why this was a topic), he said it was by enjoying what the parents give the kids. Which sounds nice but also sounded wrong. I have no idea where he got that from. It sounds like a very noble, self-sacrificing line that a parent might say, but something's wrong. One might go and say that he can show gratitude to the Australian government by simply enjoying what the government has to give. Something's wrong. I remember something about upholding the law and other civic duties in my citizenship oath. Gratitude is the stuff of breathing in and out, of receiving and giving back. I can imagine that one might suffocate from forgetting to breathe out from time to time.

What does this have to do with the widow that Jesus praised for her generosity? I think generosity comes from gratitude. I can't imagine how Jesus would have praised the widow if she had in her heart a notion of buying off God's favor. It's not for sale. He gives it as a gift -- and He takes the initiative. He gives so much to such undeserving creatures as us, and for us to realize that (not easy) makes it easier to respond with gratitude. It turns the relationship into a proper one: not a trader and a buyer, but a Father and His child. And if all goes well, day by day the child will come into his own and become as generous as his father, and pass that on to his children as well.

It's a tough act to follow -- but it becomes possible because there is help from the Father: the Helper, the Advocate. Perhaps it can all be generalized as a continuation of the obedience learned as a child so that the child becomes a father in the image of his father before him, in the same Holy Spirit, so in gratitude, he might also be generous and give from what he has, not from his excess.

Anglicans Come Home

LifeSiteNews reports that some consider this to be divisiveness. They conveniently forget that it was the Church of Rome that the Church of England decided to abandon all those centuries ago, which makes this an invitation to come home. How can that possibly sound like divisiveness? That's particularly funny coming from dissident Catholics.
I found this rather amusing:

The Guardian, the voice of liberalism in the UK, wrote that the decision means the Pope has "launched a small craft to ferry the disaffected back across the Tiber, a move to asset-strip the Anglican communion of those bits the Vatican might find useful." The move, the editorial said, "ride[s] roughshod over 40 years of ecumenical work."

Dear Guardian: it's worse than you think. The Catholic Church isn't after bits of this or that Church: we want them all. That's what the head of the Church wanted, praying fervently as reported in St. John's gospel (Jn 17), uttered repeatedly a few times in that prayer, and emphasized by Pope John Paul II in his encyclical Ut Unum Sint: that they may be one. Trust the mainstream media to miss the big picture when they don't do their homework diligently enough. This is really much bigger than they think, even against the backdrop of the Reformation. This mission of oneness in the people of God goes beyond just a couple of papacies. The Lord expressed his will on it, St. Paul emphasized it in his letters, as did St. John. Various Church Fathers from Clement onwards wrote about it. I mean, what does being consecrated mean anyway?