Tracking Hurricane Gustav

We should keep the residents of the Louisiana coast in our prayers, as hurricane Gustav makes landfall.

We should also pray for Catholic governor Bobby Jindal, who faces his first large-scale preparations for a hurricane since taking office, that he competently oversees the complicated logistics.

Whatta Week!

It's been busy times here at AmP this week, with three major stories: Pelosi-Gate, Joe Biden & Sarah Palin.

Hopefully this weekend will be a breather where I can catch up on the non-urgent email tips I've received.

Photo Caption Call - 8/29/08

Today's Top Story: "McCain chooses pro-life Sarah Palin for veep"

(For all of today's blog topics: click here)

Winning Caption: "Hi, we're here to meet the Chair of Peter!" - Mark G.

[Source: Flickr user "Geert JM Vanderkelen's"]

View the winning caption from the last Photo Caption Call here.

"New Green Bay bishop sings 'Drop Kick Me, Jesus'"

A very "Friday"-feeling story. A bit more content here, then here. Some video here.

Pray for Christian victims of Hindu persecution in India

I would be gravely amiss if I did not mention this developing story.

John Allen has published an extensive, one-stop-read article on the topic:

Islamic radicalism is causing great consternation these days, and rightly so. Christopher Hitchens has said it represents "an intricate cultural and political challenge that will absorb all of our energies for the rest of our lives," and while other assertions from Hitchens may be open to debate, it's tough to take issue here.

One risk, however, is that the scramble to do something about Islam may obscure other important inter-religious challenges. Dramatic events in India this week illustrate just such a conundrum, one that deserves more attention than it seems to be getting: The worrying rise of Hindu extremism.

Allen goes on to detail what has happened, why it is happened, and why it is significant not only for the present and future of Catholics in India, but also for the universal Church.

On Tuesday, the Vatican issued a statement:

"In reference to the tragic news coming from India concerning violence against the faithful and the institutions of the Catholic church, the Holy See, while expressing solidarity with the local churches and religious congregations involved, condemns these acts that injure the dignity and liberty of persons and compromise peaceful civil co-existence. At the same time, it appeals to all parties so that, with a sense of responsibility, all oppression may be ended and a climate of dialogue and mutual respect may be restored."

Bottom line: The Vatican is watching, and isn't happy.

For those desiring more, breaking information there is a blog "Orissa Burning" which is cataloguing the atrocities. This post, in particular, is noteworthy:

"The Catholic Bishops' Conference of India on Thursday released the number of people killed and list of Christian churches and institutions attacked and destroyed in the continuing violence that started on Monday. [Read it here.]" (Ph/t: Amy.)

That should be something to get started. The story seems to be getting scant attention in the mainstream media.

Follow-up: Two good editorials on Pelosi-Gate

Not to be forgotton amidst today's big story, here aretwo good follow-up's to Pelosi-Gate. First, the Family Research Council blog asks a very valid question, regarding her use of Augustine to defend herself:

I'm now curious to know if Pelosi ascribes to all of Augustine's positions, or merely those that appear to be convenient to her. Is it wrong to cry over sad love stories? Must sex always have a reproductive intent? What's the moral status of concubinage? Is slavery always wrong?

Apparently Pelosi would rather base her political opinions on the natural philosophy of ancient Romans than on modern science. What's next, a Medicare Prescription Leach Bill? A Congressional task force ensuring that the American people have their humors in proper balance?

We can thank Pelosi for placing us in such anachronistic conundrums.

Also, Stephen Barr wants to see the correction take the next step:

To all appearances, Pelosi has publicly and pointedly denied a “truth of Catholic doctrine” that is “definitively to be held” (“definitive tenenda”) by “all believers”, and the denial of which renders them “no longer . . . in full communion with the Catholic Church.” Moreover, Pelosi simultaneously proclaims her right to do so because “many Catholics” agree with her. Clearly, this is a scandal in the original sense of the term.

What can the bishops do? There is something very simple they can do that would have an enormously salutary effect.

They can, in a public statement, explain the doctrinal situation and require Pelosi to respond to the following question: “Do you assent to the teaching of the Church that the direct and voluntary killing of an innocent human being at any stage after conception is gravely immoral?”

Her previous public statement makes it presumable that her answer is no. This presumption can only be removed by a clear affirmative answer. In light of the public nature and scandal caused by her earlier statement, she should be required to make a public assent to this Catholic teaching.

This is no longer a question of a politician claiming some kind of rights or leeway as a politician. It is a well-known Catholic very publicly explicitly rejecting a “truth of Catholic doctrine.”

Plenty to discuss here.

update: I really need to stop limiting myself to specific numbers ... Father Thomas Williams:

The most disturbing element of Speaker Pelosi’s comments, however, was not her historical fudging, her disingenuous misrepresentation of Catholic moral teaching or her implicit adoption of cafeteria Catholicism. It was her insouciant dismissal of the moral significance of abortion. She said that in the end, it didn’t matter when life begins anyway. Her exact words were: “The point is, is that it [when life begins] shouldn’t have an impact on the woman’s right to choose.” No matter when human life begins, a mother’s right trumps a baby’s, and that right includes the choice to destroy the child. This is irreconcilable not only with Catholic morality, but with the most basic natural ethics.

Pundits and liberal commentators have predictably accused the bishops of playing politics and using Speaker Pelosi’s comments to further the agenda of the Republican party. Any objective observer knows this is not the case. If Speaker Pelosi didn’t want a response, she should not have forced the bishops’ hands. And if the Democrats’ star running back steps out of bounds, it’s not the referees’ fault for calling it.

Speaker Pelosi can campaign for abortion all she likes, but to do so as an “ardent, practicing Catholic” is to invite a stiff correction. Americans still value truth in advertising, and know that words have meanings. “Catholic” means pro-life.

A little window into pro-abortion scare tactics

And how they are being used by national-level figures in the democratic party:

Attacking presumptive Republican presidential nominee, Sen. Barbara Boxer said that McCain has a rating of zero percent from NARAL and zero from Planned Parenthood.

“Now you have to be pretty radical to have a zero rating,” she claimed.

The California Senator then attacked McCain’s pledge to appoint Supreme Court justices similar to Justices John Roberts, Antonin Scalia, Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas, who are considered hostile to Roe v. Wade.

“They want to, essentially, make it illegal for us to have a right to choose, and to make us criminals, and to make doctors criminals!” she exclaimed.

Noting Barack Obama’s 100 percent rating from pro-abortion groups NARAL and Planned Parenthood, Boxer emphasized the slogan “He’s a hero, John McCain’s a zero!”

She received a standing ovation for the remark.

Boxer also claimed that McCain had voted against a program to help children who witness domestic violence.

Later in the caucus meeting, New York U.S. Representative Louise Slaughter warned the audience “we are in as much danger today… as we were almost when we first started here. There is so much at stake for women on this one issue, and it’s critical that we elect Barack Obama.” (CNA)

Stop Slaughter.

update: Carl adds his comments.

"Don't take "holy" water onto pope plane" warns Vatican

Duly noted:

The Vatican has warned journalists who will travel with Pope Benedict to Lourdes next month not to put the revered water from the shrine in their hand luggage on the papal plane or it may be confiscated.

... Security measures limiting liquids allowed in carry-on baggage have been in effect since 2006 when a plot to bring down planes with liquid explosives was discovered.

How is this important enough to merit a story? It provides useful information to about 50 people, tops!

"By 2015, deaths will surpass births in the EU, study reveals"

The suicide of the West.

McCain chooses pro-life Sarah Palin for veep

The Associated Press says its a lock (as does everyone):

John McCain tapped little-known Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin to be his vice presidential running mate, two senior campaign officials told The Associated Press on Friday.

A formal announcement was expected within a few hours at a campaign rally in swing-state Ohio.

Palin, 44, is a self-styled hockey mom and political reformer who has been governor of her state less than two years.

update: Some quick facts:

• She has an 80-90% approval rating in Alaska, the most popular governor in America
• She's been described as a "crackerjack governor, a strong fiscal conservative and a ferocious fighter of corruption, especially in her own party."
• A lifetime member of the NRA, she also has a son in the army
• She appears to be a "non-denominational protestant"
• She aimed "to reduce general fund spending by $150 million" in Alaska
• She belongs to Feminists for Life

And Palin is not just pro-life politically, she is also amazingly and joyfully pro-life personally, and not only because she has five kids (ph/t: SBA):

In April of this year, Sarah Palin give birth to her fifth child, Trig, who was born premature with Down Syndrome. Recent statistics show that in the U.S., approximately 90% of Down Syndrome diagnoses end with the mother choosing abortion. Palin on her family’s reaction to the diagnosis, in her own words:

“We knew through early testing he would face special challenges, and we feel privileged that God would entrust us with this gift and allow us unspeakable joy as he entered our lives. We have faith that every baby is created for good purpose and has potential to make this world a better place. We are truly blessed.” (April 18, 2008, Anchorage Daily News)

[Read more from the SBA statement.]

The "Draft Sarah Palin for VP" blog is going crazy. MM has a play-by-play.

update: some helpful links...

• John McCain's official press release
• Palin's Wiki Page
• Jack Kelly on why McCain Should Pick Sarah Palin for VP
• Deacon Keith Fournier on McCain's choice
• Fox News: Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the GOP's Newest Star
• Sarah Palin's On the Issues

update 3 (finally managed to get a photo of her family on the blog succesfully - sheesh!):

There's a huge glut of information flooding the net right now on Palin. Here's some of the best:

• Boston Globe Blog: Sarah Palin on faith, life and creation
• CNA: Conservative leaders react to McCain’s VP choice of pro-life Gov. Sarah Palin
• CNS Blog: Sarah Palin’s pro-life credentials
• Jill Stanek: McCain picks Palin!
• NewsBusters: Palin Might Neglect Her Disabled Infant? (rediculous)
• InsideCatholic: A question for the ladies
• Off the Record: Especially troublesome
• (CNN links to welcome outside visitors)

I thought this point especially good: "[Palin as VP] makes me trust McCain's judgment much more than I would have if he had gone for Romney, Ridge, or Lieberman. Brownback or Pawlentey would have signaled "more of the same." But Palin? That's "change." - Eric Pavlat

I'm also thrilled to see, based on the visitor count today, and the increased number of email tips and links I'm receiving (thank you!), as well as the record-high activity level in the comment boxes (awesome!) ... that papists and other readers are beginning to treat AmP as the one-stop newsblog where they can discuss and stay up-to-date on (usually up-to-the-minute) the most important stories in American politics, the Catholic faith, and the intersection of same.

Thank you, let's keep a good thing going, and get it better.

update 5: on the evangelical side...

• AP: McCain's VP Choice Reassures Evangelicals
• John Allen: McCain's choice a nod not only to women, but post-denominationalists

Photo Caption Call - 8/28/08

[For today's blog topics, click here.]

Look closely....

Winning Caption: "I find my lack of faith disturbing." - Colin Franklin

[Source: Flickr user "matildalaender"]

View the winning caption from the last Photo Caption Call here.

Video: Abp. Chaput appears on Fox News

update ... video:

Thanks to the readers who sent me links to the YouTube video.

Fr. Z has the audio, and summarizes:

Neil Cavuto of Fox News just interview[ed] the Archbishop of Denver, His Excellency Most Reverend Charles Chaput. He spoke about Rep. Nancy Pelosi’s serious errors about the beginning of human life made last Sunday on Meet The Press. He also clarified why pro-abortion Catholics are in serious error and should not receive Holy Communion.

Franciscan monks attacked "clockwork orange-style"

Where did this come from?

Italians have been left shocked by a ferocious assault on Franciscan monks by hooded thugs at a monastery in the foothills of the Alps, which has been compared to incidents seen in the film 'A Clockwork Orange'.

Father Sergio Baldin, 48, the guardian of the San Colombano Belmonte monastery near Turin, and three elderly monks from the Franciscan order of Friars Minor, were having their evening meal when they were attacked by three hooded men who gagged and bound them before punching, kicking and beating them with clubs.

... Cardinal Severino Poletto, the Archbishop of Turin, who visited the victims in hospital, said the attack was "beyond comprehension". The only possible explanation was that the assailants had been "either drugged or possessed, or both", he said. (UK Times)

Just evil.

Steve Skojec, who gets the hat tip for this story, adds:

I think it would be good to keep both the intentions of the victims and the conversion of the attackers in our prayers. It might also be worthwhile to enlist the aid of another Franciscan, St. Anthony of Padua, in finding the assailants and bringing them to justice.

Amen.

Photo: Italian museum defies pope over crucified frog exhibit

Reuters:

An Italian museum on Thursday defied Pope Benedict and refused to remove a modern art sculpture portraying a crucified green frog holding a beer mug and an egg that the Vatican had condemned as blasphemous.

The board of the Museion museum in the northern city of Bolzano decided by a majority vote that the frog was a work of art and would stay in place for the remainder of an exhibition.

The wooden sculpture by the late German artist Martin Kippenberger depicts a frog about 1 metre 30 cm (4 feet) high nailed to brown cross and holding a beer mug in one outstretched hand and an egg in another.

Called "Zuerst die Fuesse," (Feet First), it wears a green loin cloth and is nailed through the hands and the feet in the manner of Jesus Christ. Its green tongue hangs out of its mouth.

The claim that Pope Benedict has personally taken an interest in and spoken out about this exhibit raised my eyebrows. This claim originates from Franz Pahl, who has already been hospitalized over the exhibit after he went on a hunger strike to protest it:

Franz Pahl, a regional government official who has led a campaign to remove the work, told the Italian news agency ANSA Aug. 27 that he had received a letter of support from the Vatican Secretariat of State expressing the pope's sentiments.

According to Pahl, the letter said the pope believes the sculpture "has wounded the religious sentiment of the many people who see in the cross the symbol of God's love and our salvation."

A Vatican source confirmed that a letter was sent, but did not confirm the contents. (CNS)

So it's not entirely proven that Pope Benedict himself has spoken against the exhibit, which will eventually visit Los Angeles and New York. Can anyone remember if Pope Benedict has publicly (or has been proven to have spoken privately) about an offensive art exhibit before?

As for the museum/artist's defense:

Museum officials have defended the work, saying it was intended as a self-portrait showing the torment faced by the artist. The sculpture was made in 1990, and the artist, who was said to consider the frog his alter ego, created other variations on the same theme.

What are your thoughts?

Noted: McCain to announce veep pick at noon on Friday

Politico has the story and Todd M. Aglialoro has some useful odds listed for the top contenders.

update: Tim Pawlenty? Early word is that he's the pick, and a good one.

Abp. Chaput continues to steal spotlight from DNC

The Washington Times reports:

In retrospect, maybe the Democrats should have included Denver Archbishop Charles Chaput in their convention activities after all.

The party was accused of deliberately snubbing the outspoken archbishop by failing to invite him to lead prayers or participate on its religion panels. Archbishop Chaput is the leader of Denver´s estimated 385,000 Catholics, the area´s largest religious denomination.

But Archbishop Chaput may have gotten the last laugh. Democrats are doing a slow burn over the archbishop´s headline-grabbing criticism of party bigwigs and his decision to schedule major events this week during the convention´s prime-time speeches.

Gosh, the DNC organizers must be so annoyed.

Here's what Abp. Chaput has been up to ...

• The DNC schedules Clinton and Biden to speak on Wednesday night?

On the same night: "Archbishop Chaput drew hundreds to a signing of his newest book, “Render Unto Caesar: Serving the Nation by Living Our Catholic Beliefs in Political Life,” at a bookstore about 15 miles from the Pepsi Center."

• How about three nights ago, the debut night of the DNC rally?

"Archbishop Chaput led a pro-life rally and prayer march outside a Planned Parenthood office in north Denver that started at 7:30 MST, about the same time as Michelle Obama, wife of presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama, was speaking to the convention."

Now that's guts, and brains.

Reprogramming, not embryos, is the fast track to cures

An extremely significant medical breakthrough, reported many places, including the New York Times:

Biologists at Harvard have converted cells from a mouse’s pancreas into the insulin-producing cells that are destroyed in diabetes, suggesting that the natural barriers between the body’s cell types may not be as immutable as supposed.

"Money" second paragraph quote:

This and other recent experiments raise the possibility that a patient’s healthy cells might be transformed into the type lost to a disease far more simply and cheaply than in the cumbersome proposals involving stem cells.

Pause. When was the last time you can remember a mainstream article admitting that stem cell proposals are "cumbersome"? I thought they were the be-all & end-all of medical technology? And embryonic stem cell treatments are often even more cumbersome than adult stem cell therapies.

I'm not trying to make an argument against embryonic stem cell research because they are "cumbersome", sometimes cumbersome solutions are the only ones available. No, I'm saying that, pragmatically, it makes more sense to pursue reprogramming techniques like the one described above.

And no embryos have to die.

Noted: California Voters Oppose Ban on Gay 'Marriage'

Things aren't looking good for the upcoming November referendum:

A majority of California voters oppose a ballot initiative to ban gay "marriage," though they are evenly split on the practice itself, according to a poll released Wednesday.

The ballot question essentially will ask voters to prohibit the practice of same-sex "marriage," which was approved this year by the California Supreme Court.

... A majority of likely voters, 54 percent, oppose ending gay "marriage," compared with 40 percent who support it, the poll said. The result is similar to the findings of a Field Poll in July, which found that 51 percent of likely California voters opposed ending gay "marriage," while 42 percent said they supported it. (AP)

It's hard to give people reasons to vote for something they don't think directly effects their lives.

Catholic Nun invited to DNC doubts crucifixion story in talk

Quoted in full because Ryan Sayre Patrico doesn't waste words:

The Democrats didn’t invite Archbishop Charles Chaput to their convention in Denver this year, for understandable reasons. Instead, they invited Sr. Helen Prejean C.S.J. to speak at their interfaith gathering. If they were trying to avoid controversy and shore up support from religious party members, however, they were in for a disappointment:

COLORADO CONVENTION CENTER — Following the hot topic of abortion, Sister Helen Prejean tackled another: calling for abolition of the death penalty to raucous applause at the DNC’s interfaith gathering.

She received nothing but a stony silence, however, when she questioned the basis of the biblical crucifixion story as a “projection of our violent society.”

“Is this a God?” Prejeans asked about the belief that God allowed his son, Jesus, to be sacrificed for the sins of humanity. “Or is this an ogre?”

Just a little bit too left of left, I guess.

AP publishes amazingly objective Pelosi article

Again, an incredible development: the Associated Press has issued a surprisingly objective and balanced take on Pelosi-Gate, and the story has been picked up by the Drudge Report, so everyone will read it:

Pelosi gets unwanted lesson in Catholic theology

Politics can be treacherous. But House Speaker Nancy Pelosi walked on even riskier ground in a recent TV interview when she attempted a theological defense of her support for abortion rights.

Roman Catholic bishops consider her arguments on St. Augustine and free will so far out of line with church teaching that they have issued a steady stream of statements to correct her.

Loo