By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Writer
(June 24, 2008) Only a day after the divorced and remarried Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was told to ask a “higher power” about relaxing the rules preventing him from receiving Communion, Pope Benedict XVI boldly reiterated that only those Catholics in a state of grace can receive the Eucharist.
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By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Writer
(June 24, 2008) Newly released data from a Pew Forum research project reveals that 70 percent of Americans – including 79 percent of the Catholics polled – do not believe their religious tradition is the only way to eternal life, even if their churches teach otherwise.
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by Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Writer
(June 23, 2008) A grass roots effort by citizens against funding Planned Parenthood is being cited as the reason why lawmakers killed an amendment to the 2008 War Supplemental Bill that would have given Planned Parenthood facilities discounted drugs at taxpayer expense.
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by Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Writer
(June 23, 2008) While Americans may like to read about the rich and famous in the tabloids, most don’t define the American dream by those standards. When polled, three quarters of American adults say that being in good health, living a life of integrity and having one marriage partner for life is their idea of a wonderful life.
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by Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Writer
(June 23, 2008) During a homily broadcast live from Rome, Pope Benedict XVI told participants at the 49th International Eucharistic Congress that he hoped one outcome of the Congress would be to encourage a greater study of Church teaching on the Eucharist. “Study in groups or individually,” he said, “so that you can live this mystery more intensely.”
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By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Writer
(June 20, 2008) Parents using in vitro fertilization methods to conceive children in New Zealand may soon be given the right to choose the sex of their babies.
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by Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Writer
(June 20, 2008) Even though Catholic radio broadcasters often feel as if their message is lost amidst the competition of more powerful media, Pope Benedict XVI called these networks a “small but real echo” that helps the world open to the civilization of love.
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By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Writer
(June 20, 2008) Nine homosexual activist groups have made a copy of their battle plan for achieving same-sex marriage in America available to the public. Experts say it’s a “boil the frog in the water” plan meant to gradually desensitizes Americans to the idea so that one day they “simply wake up and same-sex ‘marriage’ has become commonplace.”
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By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Writer
(June 20, 2008) Glamorizing teen pregnancy in hit movies such as Juno and Knocked Up, broken families and directionless youth are being blamed for a “pregnancy pact” made by 17 girls who deliberately became pregnant at a high school in a Gloucester, Massachusetts. At least one baby is known to have been fathered by a 24 year old homeless man.
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by Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Writer
(June 19, 2008) An Ontario woman was shocked when school officials told her they had evidence her autistic daughter was being sexually abused. But her shock turned to outrage when they said their evidence was based on information given to a teacher’s aide by a local psychic.
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