We are pleased to present below all posts archived in 'July 2015'. If you still can't find what you are looking for, try using the search box.
One sometimes hears it said that in the Old Testament, God's laws were harsh and demanding, full of difficult works, in contrast to the New Testament, where things are much easier. Now, instead of bloody sacrifices and kosher food laws, all we have to do is love one another. As though that were easier.
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One of the numerous myths challenged in Pope Francis' encyclical Laudato Si' is the belief that population control is a key to halting climate change. This is a bit of hokum repeated so often that it has gained the status of an obvious truth. Yet this so-called truth is little more than an attempt to blame the poor for the ecological sins of the rich.
On June 18, Pope Francis' long awaited encyclical Laudato Si' was released. The buildup and public anticipation preceding the actual publication was unprecedented. The release date was advertised ahead of time. There was even the intrigue over the early publication of a leaked text. U.S. presidential candidates debated its message before they had even read it.
How many times have you pressed the "door close" arrow in an elevator? If, like me, your answer is several hundred times, then rest assured the exercise was futile. Government policy, especially as it relates to disability legislation, prescribes the unalterable length of time an elevator door must remain open. The button is there for emergency personnel and usually only works with a bypass key.
The content of Pope Francis's encyclical, Laudato Si, is so vast it would take up the entire length of this column just to deal with its main themes. I know the WCR will have plenty of coverage of this great document, which is a riveting challenge to global capitalism, so I want to concentrate here on how a Catholic politician ought to respond to papal social teaching – and how I myself handled these challenges.
My own faith began to spring to life when I studied St. Augustine's Confessions when I was 23 years old. I took a course on Augustine from a prof named Leo Ferrari to give a different dimension to my graduate program in philosophy which was limping badly. But then, it was more than just me and a book. Leo was a wild man with wild hair and beard who had an overwhelming sense of the mystery of life and the mystery of God.