Catholic TV Widget

Today I have added a widget in the left column to access a mini viewer of the Catholic TV channel out of Boston. I have been using videos found here with various parish groups to teach, inform or stimulate discussion.

The resouces on the channel are quite extensive and exceed those listed on the mini viewer list. Click on the "Catholic TV" icon at the upper right of the viewer to go to their full site. Alternatedly you can go there by clicking here:

http://www.catholictv.com/

Adult Stem Cell Research at Notre Dame

At a meeting of a parish group studying The Catechism of the Catholic Church a member of the group that is a graduate of Notre Dame mentioned the excellent videos available on the ND website about the various projects of the University. Here is one about adult stem cell research.

View the Notre Dame Info Page About Stem cell Research.

The Crucified Rabbi - A Review

About once a year I get motivated to post a book review. I should do it more often. Today I wish to recommend Taylor Marshall's new book, The Crucified Rabbi which became available two weeks ago.

The author was formerly the Assistant Director of the Catholic Information Center in Washington, D.C. and currently a Ph.D. student in Philosophy at the University of Dallas focusing on the Natural Law theory of Saint Thomas Aquinas.

The book is about the Jewish roots of Catholic Christianity and meets that description with outstanding clarity. Just this past Saturday in a discussion about the coming changes in text used in the Latin Rite Mass a question was raised about Jesus "descending into hell" phrase in the Apostles Creed. I was happy to refer the group to Taylor's discussion of this very subject.

Click here to to order the book. It appears to be only available in paperback. Much of his work at Catholic Information Center is available on Podcasts at their web site.

Review of Pope Benedict's New Encyclical

Carl Anderson, Supreme Knight of the Knights of Columbus, has provided an introduction to Pope Benedict's new Encyclical, "Caritas in Veritate" (Love in Truth). Here is a short quote from his article entitled "It's a Moral Document, Not a Political One".

"Long before there was a "left wing," or a "right wing," there was the Gospel, and long after these political labels have faded into oblivion, the Gospel will remain. In light of this, it is incredibly important that we come to Pope Benedict XVI's encyclical, "Caritas in Veritate," as a document that should inform our outlook.

We might sum up the Pope's thinking on the economy this way: Each of us must answer Christ’s question, "Who do you say that I am?" If we, with Peter, answer "The Messiah," then that should direct the axis of our life. Our most important reality must be the truth of our relationships. In this way, we can understand how the law and prophets could be summed up in Christ's two commandments: That we love God totally, and love our neighbors as ourselves. Thus we are able to speak of "caritas in veritate."
Once we accept Christ and these two commandments, we can no longer ask Cain's question: "Am I my brother’s keeper?" Instead, we must realize that our exercise of freedom cannot take the form of simply amassing the most wealth that we can. Rather, all that we do in freedom must reflect that reality and all our actions must take into account the effects of those actions on others. We need look no further than the first two words of the "Our Father," which Pope Benedict XVI quotes at the end of this document to see the common human family to which we belong."

Read Carl Anderson's entire article.

Read "Caritas In Veritate" in english.

Christopher West's Impact on Teens

In 2005 I had the opportunity to accompany a group of teens from one of my parishes to hear a Saturday morning talk by Christopher West. The teens were very moved by his ability to so clearly communicate Catholic teaching. I was so impressed with his talk and his ability to reach the teens that I promptly signed up to take his introductory Graduate course on Theology of the Body.

Below is a video from 2006 showing teens reacting to a West talk that was linked on Dawn Eden’s blog yesterday. I recall similar thoughts from the write-up done by our teens.



Apparently there is a controversy due to one of the students on this video saying that Christopher West blessed the students at the beginning of the session. Dawn Eden questions whether anyone other than a Priest, Deacon or Parent may offer a blessing. We are blessed with the Catechism of the Catholic Church and a lot of questions can be answered therein. Here is paragraph 1669 addressing this very question.

1669
Sacramentals derive from the baptismal priesthood: every baptized person is called to be a "blessing," and to bless. Hence lay people may preside at certain blessings; the more a blessing concerns ecclesial and sacramental life, the more is its administration reserved to the ordained ministry (bishops, priests, or deacons).

To read Dawn Eden’s whole posting click here.