Association Of Catholic Bloggers

I'll start with something that should be flamingly obvious. Murder is a bad idea and I shouldn't do it. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2268-2269) By murder, I mean deliberately killing an innocent person. Which is what someone who apparently expressed "ill will" against corporate America has been charged with. This isn't what I'll be talking about in my 'Saturday' post. But an insurance executive from Minnesota getting killed is still international news, and the situation touches on points I think are important. Some expert said the way folks are reacting is "deeply concerning". More at A Catholic Citizen in America . (The killer of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson has been praised. American healthcare has problems, but I see the killing and praise as bad ideas.)

A man asked Jesus "Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" in last Sunday's Gospel reading. That's what Fr. Greg talked about — our Lord's answer is simple, by the way, and can be boiled down to 'be prudent'. There's an election looming in our country, so Fr. Greg also talked about acting as if love matters, and making prudent choices. Then he shared a prayer that I've had in my daily routine for a while. But (more than) enough about me. Here's what Fr. Greg said: Eternal Life Definitions and Choosing Wisely Love, Choices, and Wisdom Prudence Judges, the Constitution, and Freedom A Wedding Cake Artificial Contraception Second Amendment and the Right to Defend Myself Abortion Choice: and Responsibility Bodies and Rights Roe v. Wade, the Constitution, and a Eureka Moment Let Love Choose Wisely Video: Gospel Reading and Homily at St. Paul's, Sauk Centre, MN; October 13, 2024 More at A Catholic Citizen in ...

I am not "political". I won't try convincing you that [party A] or [politico A] is to blame for everything you don't like — while [party B] or [politico B] will solve all your problems. But now and then I talk about something with a political angle: like the ongoing mess in the Middle East. And I'll admit to a bias.... More at A Catholic Citizen in America . (A brief, for me, response to news that six more hostages held by Hamas are dead: including Hersh Goldberg-Polin.)

There's more than sex change and gender theory in the Vatican's new "ethics document": assuming that what hit the fan this week is the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith's "Dignitas Infinita", on Human Dignity. "Dignitas Infinita", "Infinite Dignity", runs to a little over 12,600 words in my language. " Dignitas Infinita " on Human Dignity ("Infinite Dignity") Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (April 2, 2024) ( from https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/.../rc_ddf_doc_20240402_dignitas-infinita_en.html (April 10, 2024) ) I'll be taking a very, very quick look at it. But I'll get started with something Pope Francis said a month ago. Pope Francis, Gender Ideology, and Being Human Rules I Live With, and an Explanation New "Ethics Document", Old Ideas "Dignitas Infinita": "Balanced, Challenging" More at A Catholic Citizen in America . (Why a new ethics...

One, maybe two, articles by C. S. Lewis reappeared about a half-dozen years back. Not that they'd been invisible. Collectors had the articles in their copies of The Strand Magazine, but "A Christmas Sermon for Pagans" and "Cricketer's Progress" hadn't made it into lists of work by Lewis. Maybe it's just one new 'Lewis' article. "Cricketer's Progress: A Famous Reputation and What Became of It", was written by a "Clive Hamilton". Sure, Lewis published his first book under the Clive Hamilton pseudonym. But Lewis isn't known as a sports journalist. 1 And that's another topic. Anyway, I'll be talking about "A Christmas Sermon for Pagans" this week. Or, rather, I'm sharing a few excerpts; and talking about whatever comes to mind. "A Christmas Sermon for Pagans": No Longer Forgotten "... 'Objective' Right or Wrong...." "...Nature is ... A Kind of Machine fo...

Gene-editing rules showed up in my news feed last Monday. So, indirectly, did genetically-edited twins who, as far as I know, are still alive. If I'd known how little I'd be able to verify about Dr. He Jiankui's famous (or infamous) twins, maybe I'd have picked another topic. But I did find a fair amount of information about genetic editing technology, and a hint at why Dr. He's science project produced twins: Gene-Edited Twins At Least Two "World's First" Defining "First" Not-So-Good News CRISPR Technology and Surprisingly Long-Tongued Rabbits Procedures, Perspectives and People CCR5Δ32, Recent History and Speculation Chromosomes, Science and Twins TALEN and CRISPR: Repurposing Prokaryotic Molecules A Genomic Revolution: New(ish) Territory Louise Joy Brown, HEK 293 and Me Making Sense: It's an Option Bioethics, From a Former Lab Rat's Perspective More at A Catholic Citizen in America . (Genetically edite...

I enjoy reading. Some folks don't. I have no idea what fraction of readers boast of their bookish practices. Or how many non-readers argue that reading is a waste of time. Apart, perhaps, from their occasional dip into a how-2 article. Since there's little tumult and shouting on the reader/non-reader front, it's probably not among today's major issues.... More at A Catholic Citizen in America : A brief look at readers: avid, picky and practical. Fiction, ethics and making sense. Fashionable melancholy, the Great Commission and why I write.

The first shipments of COVID-19 mRNA vaccine arrived in America this week. Folks are getting immunized, including health care workers. I think that's good news.... As I see it, all that's good news. I'd prefer focusing exclusively on the 'up' side. But there's an ethical problem with the new vaccines. I'll be talking about that, and why getting immunized when it's my turn still makes sense. COVID-19 Vaccines and a Little History Ethical Concerns HEK 293 Donor: RIP Options and "The Mark of the Beast" Statistics and Death Love, Neighbors and the Common Good Remembering, and Learning From, Our Past First Vaccines Arrive: "...Healing is Coming" The Inevitable Link Lists (and resources, too) From the USCCB My stuff More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

I didn't feel all that sick Friday evening. That was August 21, 2020: 45 days ago. Online self-assessment guides from the Minnesota Department of Health and Mayo Clinic put me on the threshold of needing to call a doctor. My wife said calling the local hospital was a good idea. As it turns out, she was right.... More at A Catholic Citizen in America . Living in Room 20 Staph, Strep and Cellulitis Conspicuous by Their Absence A Century of Antibiotics Mice and a Man More Than You Need, Or Maybe Want, to Know About Penicillin Pandemic Precautions, Piety — and Prudence The "Source and Summit of the Christian Life" The Common Good Uncertainty Weirdness and Worship San Francisco's Rules It Could have been Worse Seating Capacity North Carolina in Cahoots with China?! New Lyrics, Old Song Sound, Fury and Making Sense Fear Appeal: Communist Agents, Tiny Cows and More Per...

BBC News posted what a scientist thinks about we've learned in the last hundred years. That's hardly news. What's remarkable is that he didn't go on to say that the sea will catch fire, or that if we don't recycle with greater zeal all the birds will die. In short, that we're doomed. Doomed! DOOMED, I TELL YOU!!!!! Not that BBC News goes in for that sort of thing. They're very British. Even so, an essentially upbeat look at a century of science and technology is somewhat remarkable. The way I see it, science and technology are tools. Whether we use them to help or hurt each other is up to us. More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

I'll be talking about scientific research that may not be "fake:" but isn't reliable, either. The good news is that many scientists want to fix the problem. I'll also take a look at truth, beauty, Copernicus, and how a science editor sees faith and science. Faith and science Truth and Beauty "...There Will be Babblers...." Being Scientific News and views... More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

Back in my 'good old days,' a half-century back, some claimed that science, technology, and a changing culture, made the 'outmoded morality' we'd been working with obsolete. Others apparently believed that moral decay was caused by newfangled gadgets like the telephone and television: and, of course, 'Satanic' rock music.... ...Folks who claimed that a changing world made 'conventional morality' obsolete were right: sort of. That may seem odd, coming from a Catholic who agrees with Fulton Sheen.... More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

A court in Argentina said that Sandra the orangutan is "una persona no humana (non-human person)" in 2014. 1 Or maybe 2015. I'll get back to that. Instead of going ape over that news, I learned a little about Sandra, the Buenos Aires Zoo, and the curious case of Tommy the chimp More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

Syn 3.0, developed by the Ventner Institute, has fewer genes than any 'wild' bacteria. The 'artificial' microcritter is another important step in understanding how life works. On the other side of the Atlantic, folks in the United Kingdom will be deciding what to do about a bureaucratic SNAFU and their national DNA database.... ...I've seen attitudes toward science and technology shift from silly optimism to equally-silly pessimism. I am reasonably certainly that mutant safflowers won't destroy civilization. On the other hand, ethics matter as much now as they ever did.... More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

On Wednesday, December 2, 2015, at about 6:59 p.m. UTC, 10:59 a.m. PST, two people killed 14 others at a holiday office party in San Bernardino, California. The killers were located and stopped a few hours later, and died during an armed confrontation with law enforcement. I put names of the dead, and a few links, at the end of this post. 1 I'm still experiencing anger, disgust, and several other emotions in connection with this latest mass murder. It's an unpleasant sensation, but I'd probably be more concerned if I didn't notice any emotional response. More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

We're years away from safe pig-to-human organ transplants: but scientists using CRISPR gene editing tech are working toward that goal. Other scientists are discovering a chapter of humanity's family history: Eurasian immigrants returning to Africa, when the Shang dynasty and Egyptian Empire collapsed. More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

The Armenian genocide 's start is rather arbitrarily set as April 24, 1915. That's when Ottoman authorities rounded up and arrested about 250 Armenian intellectuals and community leaders in Constantinople, and eventually got around to killing them. Armenians had been rounded up and butchered in odd lots before that, though. The Ottoman Empire 's 1915 ethnic cleansing wasn't limited to Armenians . The Ottoman government exterminated Assyrians and Greeks whose crime was living in Ottoman territory and having the 'wrong' ancestry or faith. It wasn't called a genocide at the time. That word first showed up in Raphael Lemkin 's book, "Axis Rule in Occupied Europe: Laws of Occupation - Analysis of Government - Proposals for Redress" (1944). He defined it as "the destruction of a nation or an ethnic group." ( Wikipedia ) More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

Once in a while I run into the notion that emotions, particularly strong or unpleasant ones like anger, are bad — or 'beastly,' not something people should experience. Reality check. Emotions are part of being human. There's something seriously wrong with someone who lacks emotions. It can be a sign of hebephrenia , or other serious disorders. We may seem less emotional as we mature: but that's because most of us learn how to manage our emotions. Or mismanage them.... More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

Where I grew up, on the Minnesota-North Dakota border, quite a few folks said "morality" when they were talking about about ethics and sex. Their "morality" apparently focused on some zipper issues, plus a few cultural values. That myopic view of morality helped inspire stories of Chickenman's battle against "crime and/or evil," and that's almost another topic. "Morality of the Passions" — Emotions, Ethics, and All That The Catechism of the Catholic Church doesn't have particularly catchy titles for the different sections. For example — Part Three, Life in Christ; Section One, Man's Vocation Life in the Spirit; Chapter One, The Dignity of the Human Person; Article 5; is is called Morality of the Passions . Some of these "passions" might involve sex: but what the word means here is "emotions:"... More at A Catholic Citizen in America .