Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi received Communion at the Papal inaugural Mass. I don't care if it WASN'T Pope Francis distributing Communion, they should not have received it? When will we actually start applying Canon 915? Everybody knows they support abortion. So long as they continue receiving Communion, it will appear to be okay to do this.They will continue to think of themselves as good Catholics. Meanwhile, millions of divorced-and-remarried Nobodies are denied Communion. I have no problem with that, but it seems to me that the clergy are being "respecter of persons" by denying them Communion, but not to the powerful.
Edward Peters says Nancy Pelosi is America's problem. No, sorry, that's a cop out. She is the problem of the priest whose celebrating the Mass she attends.
Creative Minority said Pope Francis might finally be the pope to put the left in its place, re: pro-abort politicians and communion. Well, he didn't. Neither did any other pope, as far as I know. Why are we deluding ourselves? Until such people are denied communion by the pope, they and millions of Catholics will get the message it's okay to support abortion. Pope Francis talks a good game, and that's important, but words lose their impact if they are not shored up by action.
A story about Pope Francis' beginnings as a slum priest and bishop.
What It's Like to Be Pope Francis' Social Media Intern.
Mashable suggests 10 Dos and Don't for Pope Francis on Social Media. The Vatican might consider getting involved on Tumblr or Instagram. The nice things about images is that you don't need to translate them. Imagine if the pope's personal photographer had uploaded a picture of him kissing that disabled man in the crowd. That's viral gold.
I also like their idea of Online Sunday School. That has so many possibilities, especially if they make it interesting for kids. And by "interesting" I don't mean "dumb it down". I mean eye-catching. My girls would like learning more about their faith on a website. It would by-pass a lot of bad catechesis in the parishes and schools, wouldn't it? Heck, they might even use it.
A human interest story about San Lorenzo, the Pope's favourite soccer team. It was founded by a priest who was trying to keep youths away from moral danger.
Edward Peters has a short blogpost about violating conclave secrecy. It happens at every conclave. And of course, nothing happens. Why do we have rules in this church that are virtually unenforced?
The good news is that means that pro-lifers have attained their goal of convincing people that little human beings exist in the womb.
The bad news is that people don’t care.
I think "losing" is a bit of a harsh word, but yeah, progress is slow for sure. We've argued for the humanity of the unborn on the assumption that people accepted the intrinsic worth of a human being. Which they now don't, because belief in God is waning. There is no way to argue the intrinsic worth of a human being without reference to God. We have a big problem and we need to confront it, pro-lifers.
Police fine elderly pro-life activist $200 for peaceful protest: activist files assault charges.
I was curious about the City of Ottawa by-laws relating to demonstrations. Here they are.
Question: does a lone man holding a sign constitute a demonstration?
I find some of those by-laws dubious. For instance "Police supervision is required for a demonstration.". Does a demonstration of less than, say, ten people really need police supervision?
As far as I'm concerned, if you don't block traffic, and you follow all other applicable laws, your demo should be allowed without police supervision.