I am not overly familiar with George Weigel. Currently, I am reading his biography of JPII, Witness to Hope, which has provided me with a lot of insight into the man behind the vestments. Like his biography, George rarely focuses on the negatives. I was surprised at the optimism of his paper, although the subject does not convey images of puppies and bunnies. International politics (like domestic politics) is firmly entrenched in my mind for bastards and cut throats. Often they are e...

Link Link I am not defending every forey of Bishop's into politics. Yet, I think that the separation of church and state is generally a bad idea. The Church is often times the conscious of the government. Historically, church members have played this role. I am especially pleased though, that the Bishops are becoming more consistant with people who support the Sacrament of Abotion.

I have decided to rewrite my last article. I am doing this for three reasons: One, I added comments that distracted from the main point of my essay. Two, I oversimplified (and I hate when people do this) historical events, like the causes of WWII. Third, a friend of mine pointed out that I did not develop my arguments sufficiently. These three mistakes, plus my tendency to ramble about many things which leads to confusing posts, have led to rewrite my essay on Christians in the military. ...

Although this article could be included in many different sections, it is primarily about a topic dear to my heart: Catholicism. Basically, I wish to discuss the nature of what "being a Catholic" means, juxtaposed by how many Americans (and Canadians) choose to define it themselves. Now, I should precaution my readers in that I am a firm believer in objective definitions that have as little emotional attachments as possible. I do not like the words "fundamentalist, conservative, libera...

I spent my birthday in a rather ordinary manner. I got up around 9, read for an hour or so, showered, and went to Sunday Mass. Mass was all right, with a decent Homily and the extraordinary ordinariness of partaking of the Body of our Lord. As the Church teaches, the Eucharist is the highest for of worship in the Christian Faith, and it seems to be the most profound of my experiences in Mass. I stayed afterwards, first, to help sell some mother's day gifts for the local Parish Youth gro...

Canada has recently passed a new bill, labeled "C-250" which effectively makes the Bible "hate literature" because it condemns certain practices that are accepted today (i.e. homosexuality). This bill, which has been in parliament for 10 years or so, was first put forth by the openly-gay MP, Svend Robinson. To be fair, Robinson had no problem with a provision which allowed people to speak out against homosexuality on religious grounds. That would allow orthodox Jews, most Christians, and...

"I have to march, because my mother could not have an abortion". -- US Democrat Congress-rep Maxine Waters What can I say? I cannot make fun of this statement because it's humor is so obvious. I am certainly glad though, that my mother didn't choose to murder me in her womb. Thanks mom, for giving me the option of living, even if I make a complete mess of my life.

I don't know about other people, but do you ever have on of those days that you just feel like trash? Well, today is one of those days. Without getting into it, I think that its cause requires a visit to my Confessor. I'll leave it at that. Yet, I want to explore myself to discover the condition of my soul. In fact, I am sure that my soul is burdened by sin, and the is the cause of my malaise. It's so damn annoying too, because it is something I know I shouldn't do. As St. Paul sai...

Sounds academic, doesn't it? Well, I lied, it has nothing to do with music appreciation. This rant, brought to you by the good people at Time Warner, is about the bastardization of music by Time Warner and other companies. You may ask, why the hostility to Time Warner, and I would reply, because they're there! I don't even know if TW has a music division, although I suspect they do. My main complaint with music is that it sucks. I recognize that this is a pretty general statement,...

Link A pretty good discussion here. I suggest that readers to particularly pay attention to the responses of "Tarmac," with whom I have fairly good relations with. Although I do not support his complete pacifism, I cannot help but think that war, in most instances, is brought on by less than noble designs. I suggest people study Just War doctrine, specifically as outlined by St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas, and whatever other sources that are out there. I am more inclined to sti...

I was watching MSNBC just a few minutes ago and I noticed something that really pisses me off. They had Pat Buchannon (I know little about him, ergo, nothing wrong there) and some liberal guy whose name escapes me. Anyways, they were on for three or four minutes, with about only one minute devoted to each subject. Now, what really concerns me is the lack of nuance in the debate. I knew ole Pat is a Republican, so I almost could anticipate his responses, and to show that the show is "f...

Now, I know how everyone loves to bash Christian Fundamentalists for various reasons and, quite frankly, I get sick of it. There are a few reasons why I am sick of it, although it is debateable whether I will get into them in this article. First and foremost, I am not a Fundamentalist. Although (I use that word a lot) the term "Fundamentalist" is used for every religion and is hardly used in a positive way, I wish that society could separate the emotionally-laden term for a more obje...

The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity Philip Jenkins There is a two-fold purpose to this book. First, that in 2050, Christianity will still be the world’s largest religion. The book cover gives this statistic “in Africa alone, the number of Christians increased from ten million in 1900 to 360 million in 2000”. And the growth rates in Latin America are parallel, with large rates of conversion in Asia. His second thrust is that these church’s in the Global south a...

Link Go here, he's funny and he's a fan of Link therefore, he cannot be that bad. More power to you Mark! Continue to fight the good fight of faith; May you walk with God and love Men more each day.

Abstract Why is voter turnout declining in Canada? The answer to this question is crucial for the future of democracy in Canada. This report deals with voting trends in federal politics among people less then 25 years of age. It involves a literature review of sources, a survey of students less then 25 years of age at Loyalist College, Belleville, Ontario, and draws conclusions from these two resources on whether Loyalist College conforms to national surveys and possible methods to i...