Seven signs to indicate that the international community is moving away from justice and charity.

-- The rise of nationalism, particularly with regard to opposition to immigration and to "tensions between protectionism and free trade."

-- A lack of cooperation between developed and developing countries, not only on an economic level, but also in the field of education.

-- Pervasive poverty, even in countries with fast-growing economies.

-- The weakness of international, multilateral institutions, including the United Nations.

-- Evidence that the international community will not be able to meet the Millennium Development Goals for reducing poverty.

-- Insufficient and inefficient international aid.

-- Terrorism and war.

Take a look see....

Whispers in the Loggia - "The US Bishops: Comings... Goings... and Not Goings"

Faith in Public Life - Evangelicals: "when you start talking about global warming, the minimum wage or the death penalty, the consensus breaks down"

Joseph Cella, Fidelis - crititical of Senator Reid - but gets Catholic Teaching wrong.

Joseph Cella of the Ultra Neo Conservative Group "Fidelis" like Dirty Deal Hudson, wants us to believe he is a expert Catholic Commentator....when in fact he is nothing more than a political hack for the GOP who uses Catholicism for political gain. (Cella is pictured to the right of his President at a recent breakfast for Neo Con Republican pseudo Catholics -we hope Cella went to confession after this photo op)

In a so called recent "press release" from "Fidelis" Joe states " Senator Reid’s sudden decision to invoke the moral authority of Pope Benedict on the subject of the Iraq War is wholly disingenuous and it is unfortunate that Senator Reid is using the Pope as a political football." Then he goes on to turn the release into a tirade on the recent Senate Stem Cell bill. Well if Senator Reid is playing "political football" with the Popes words, then Joseph Cella kicked off in the game. Fidelis is nothing more than a front for GOP operatives looking to co-opt the Catholic vote with divisive issues such as Stem Cell Research, while deflecting criticism from their boss - President Bush - on such as issues as the War in Iraq.

See our prior posts on the previous and current Popes statements on the war.

Pope Benedict XVl "nothing positive comes from Iraq"

IRAQ - 4 years of WAR - "This war is ... an offense against God."

What is it that Joseph Cella does not understand about the Vatican's opposition to the war and why is Fidelis avoiding the subject? If this organization ever wants credibility, they must accept all of our Churchs rich tradition and not just a few wedge issues they hope to use to get Republicans elected.

Here are Joseph Cella's GOP credentials: President of the ultra neo conservative group Fidelis, whose political action committee gave exclusively to Republican candidates in 2006, primarily Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania. Cella is a former member of the Ave Maria List political action committee, which contributed more than $50,000 in the 2002 and 2004 election cycles exclusively to Republican campaigns, including those of Saxby Chamblis, Wayne Allard, Norm Coleman, Jim Talent, Elizabeth Dole, and John Thune - all Pro Iraq War Republicans - the same war the Vatican HAS ALWAYS CONDEMMED.

Just Like Rabbits....

Some research to follow up on our recent abstinence post.

Abstinence students still having sex Study tracked 2,057 young people in government-funded programs

WASHINGTON - Students who participated in sexual abstinence programs were just as likely to have sex a few years later as those who did not, according to a long-awaited study mandated by Congress.

Also, those who attended one of the four abstinence classes reviewed reported having similar numbers of sexual partners as those who did not attend the classes, and they first had sex at about the same age as their control group counterparts — 14.9 years, according to Mathematica Policy Research Inc.

The federal government now spends about $176 million annually on abstinence-until-marriage education. Critics have repeatedly said they don’t believe the programs are working, and the study will give them reinforcement.

Read more...

Pope Benedict XVl "nothing positive comes from Iraq"

Pope: 'How much suffering' in the world

In his Easter message on Christianity's most joyous day, B16 decried suffering in the world, and spoke of the "continual slaughter" in Iraq and expressed his worry over unrest and instability in Afghanistan.

B16 told the tens of thousands of the faithful in St. Peters Square -"In the Middle East, besides some signs of hope in the dialogue between Israel and the Palestine Authority, nothing positive comes from Iraq, torn apart by continual slaughter as the civil population flees,"

He also spoke of what he called the "catastrophic, and sad to say, underestimated, humanitarian situation" in Darfur. He noted other hot spots on the African continent including violence and looting in Congo, fighting in Somalia -- which, he said, drove away the prospect of peace -- and the "grievous crisis" in Zimbabwe, marked by crackdowns on dissidents, a disastrous economy and severe corruption.

Benedict read out a litany of troubling current events, saying he was thinking of the "terrorism and kidnapping of people, of the thousand faces of violence which some people attempt to justify in the name of religion, of contempt for life, of the violation of human rights and the exploitation of persons."

Pope Benedict: Rich Nations Have 'Plundered' the Third World

Cross posted from "Catholics United for the Common Good.

In his new book, Jesus of Nazareth, Pope Benedict condemns the effects colonialism has had on Third-World countries, and especially throughout Africa. For the illusory benefits of power and profit, the pope writes, the world's rich nations have "plundered and sacked" Africa and other poor regions, equating the current situation to the parable of the Good Samaritan.

According to Reuters, the pope is calling wealthy nations to task for the current disparity between rich and poor, and says that they must work to rectify the situation and promote the justice and equality of all.

Pope Benedict's words should serve as a reminder to us all that historically speaking, our nation owes its prosperity to the hard work of others, and that before pointing fingers at the poor and dispossessed we must look at how our own lifestyles affect a troubled world. This is especially important when approaching situations in Iraq and Sudan, and the ongoing controversy in our own country over immigration.

lmerlini's blog Posted Thu, 2007-04-05 13:56.