Parents Television Council — The 2012 Teen Choice Awards will air this Sunday night, July 22nd, at 8:00 p.m. ET on Fox broadcast network. In theory, at least, the Teen Choice Awards are an opportunity for young fans to honor their favorite singers, actors, movies and other entertainment. The reality is quite different.
As noted in my post about Middle Eastern Christian identity, cultural identity can be an aid to help lift hearts to God. Any identity that is not in contradiction to our identity in Christ can be helpful in allowing us to recognize God’s glory. So it is with Native American identity.
Secretary of State Cesar Perales is supposed to greet the roughly 1,000 Roman Catholic Native Americans from across the country assemblying in Albany starting today for a conference and celebration of the sainthood of Kateri Tekakwitha.
The 17th Century woman of Mohawk blood is to be officially named a saint this fall by Pope Benedict XVI. Kateri, known as the Lily of the Mohawks, lived in New York and died at age 20.
All things about Native American identity that are in keeping with identity in Christ are well and good.
The celebration of the liturgy, therefore, should correspond to the genius and culture of the different peoples. In order that the mystery of Christ be “made known to all the nations . . . to bring about the obedience of faith,” it must be proclaimed, celebrated, and lived in all cultures in such a way that they themselves are not abolished by it, but redeemed and fulfilled: It is with and through their own human culture, assumed and transfigured by Christ, that the multitude of God’s children has access to the Father, in order to glorify him in the one Spirit. — CCC 1204
Let us offer to God everything that we have to offer.
St. Kateri, pray for us, that we may find our identity in God’s will for us so that all division will be healed with His love.
Mitt Romney needs to step up his game a bit more.
.@MittRomney gained 3,748 new followers, 19,106 mentions, 2,933 retweets in past 24hrs. Via 2012twit.com
— Election Analysis (@2012twit) July 19, 2012
.@BarackObama gained 35,589 new followers, 27,369 mentions, 8,103 retweets in past 24hrs. Via 2012twit.com
— Election Analysis (@2012twit) July 19, 2012
The president’s birth certificate? Hey, it’s yet another identity issue. My cup of tea.
Catholic Online posted an article on the news that Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s posse has determined that the long-form birth certificate of Barack Obama that was provided by the White House to the public is fraudulent. The article includes quotes from officials in Hawaii who maintain that Obama was born in Hawaii.
Here’s what I think. I am assuming that both the Arizona officials and the officials in Hawaii are telling the truth and are competent. Based on this assumption, it would mean that the White House intentionally posted a fraudulent document in order to keep the birth certificate controversy going. The controversy does not damage the president politically. It helps him politically. Politically, it is in his best interest to keep this controversy alive. If both Arizona officials and Hawaii officials are being honest and competent, the answer to the question is that the White House decided to throw fuel on the fire to help the president politically by creating a blatantly fraudulent document for the public.
I’m open to alternative explanations.
Another merger proposal involving a Catholic health system has failed to go through due to the institution’s stand to preserve Catholic identity. Holy Redeemer Health System will not merge with Abington Memorial Hospital because Abington wants to continue in its slaughter of the innocents.
The backlash against Abington Memorial Hospital’s plan to stop providing abortions in creating a joint venture with Holy Redeemer Health System appears to have scuttled the plan.
And…
Finding a middle ground would not have been easy. In responding to a question, Holy Redeemer said in a July 13 email, “In order to preserve Holy Redeemer’s Catholic identity, Holy Redeemer must remain completely under the mandates of the Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services, which means that direct abortions may not be performed at any hospital in the new regional health system.”
Unfortunately, it seems Holy Redeemer may have more to do in the area of Catholic identity.
HRHS did not respond to a follow-up question as to whether the other reproductive services AMH promised to continue, such as contraception and IVF, would fall within those directives.
The directives are available online (.pdf) and are very clear. If HRHS approves of contraception or IVF then they are in violation of the directives and don’t have Catholic identity. If they do not approve of contraception or IVF, then they are in accordance with the directives and do have Catholic identity in those areas.
Living in a society that has embraced the contraceptive mentality, it appears that the Church and her institutions need to focus more on being salt and light and less on being popular.
I noticed this ad for salt showed up when I searched “Holy Redeemer Health System” at YouTube. How appropriate.
UPDATE: According to the New York Times, the ruling by the judge indicates that the organizations did not prove “direct and immediate harm” because the mandate does not go into force until August 2013. In other words, because it’s being delayed until after the election, the judge believes the Church can’t claim Obama is forcing them. They can’t make that claim until well after the election. I think any reasonable person could gather from this that the judge has decided to protect the president politically by holding off until after the election. The New York Times calls this “A Ruling Protecting Women’s Health” but it is a ruling protecting the president from political ramifications for his decision to oppress the Church. Having said that, please read my original post below with that understanding, which is now more clear to me than it was when I wrote the original.
This is rather intriguing. According to the Associated Press, a judge has dismissed a lawsuit against the HHS mandate because, he says, there is no mandate in the law.
Urbom said Catholic groups that joined the lawsuit failed to show that a religious exemption written into the rule wouldn’t apply to them. He also noted that Obama’s administration has agreed to work with religious groups.
“In short, the individual plaintiffs have not shown that their current health plans will be required to cover contraception-related services under the Rule, and therefore their claims must be dismissed,” Urbom wrote.
So, even though the claims were dismissed, they were dismissed based on the judge’s view that there is no mandate forcing these institutions to cover contraception-related services. If he’s right, then it seems that all Catholic organizations can now just refuse to cover anything that would violate the Catholic conscience.
I mean, one can’t have it both ways. One can’t dismiss the case for that reason and then force Catholic institutions to cover contraception…right?
If I don’t have that straight, let me know, but that appears to be the logic to me.
This is wonderful…and it’s a very important message from Apostleship of Prayer.
