By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Journalist
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has launched a national program aimed at encouraging the faithful to take a stand against a recent decision by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to require all private health plans to include coverage for contraception, sterilization, and related "patient education and counseling" services for women.
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"As a tower defends a camp, so does humility of heart guard the chastity of the body."
St. Anthony of Padua
For Reflection:
St. Anthony of Padua lived in the 13th century. How did a tower defend a camp in that time? What image does this conjure in my imagination regarding humility and chastity? How am I working to cultivate the virtue of humility?
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Commentary by Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Journalist
When Pope Benedict XVI steps off a plane in his native Germany tomorrow morning, he will be embarking on what many say will be a difficult four-day visit to a land where Catholic teaching is mostly opposed or at least ignored and militant groups are planning large boycotts and protests.
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By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Journalist
The U.S. Supreme Court handed a major victory to a Catholic group at the University of Wisconsin when it determined that funding such groups does not violate the separation of church and state.
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By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Journalist
In a country that values religious freedom as much as the right to vote and bear arms, national outrage is growing over a California couple who was fined by the city of San Juan Capistrano for holding Bible studies and religious gatherings in their home.
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"Humility is the safeguard of chastity. In the matter of purity, there is no greater danger than not fearing danger. When a person puts himself in an occasion, saying 'I shall not fall' - it is an almost infallible sign that he will fall, and with great injury to his soul."
St. Philip Neri
For Reflection:
What do I see as the connection between purity and humility? Do I exhibit pride by placing myself in the near occasion of sin? In what ways? I will confess my pride at the next opportunity.
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By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Journalist
Researchers are reporting an increase in child abuse, mostly in infants, during the recession, which raises new concerns about the impact the nation's struggling economy is having on the population.
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By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Journalist
In response to bioethicists who are offering thousands of dollars in prize money to anyone who can prove the controversial Gardasil vaccine injures girls, a group of mothers whose daughters were injured by the vaccine are challenging the experts to "put your science where your wallet is."
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By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Journalist
During an appearance in Princeton, New Jersey last week, a 77 year-old Gloria Steinem told the audience “There is no organization in this country or the world that is more important than Planned Parenthood.”
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"There is no remedy so powerful against the heat of concupiscence as the remembrance of our Savior's Passion. In all my difficulties, I never found anything so efficacious as the wounds of Christ. In them I sleep secure. From them, I derive new life."
St. Augustine
For Reflection:
Which one wound of Our Lord speaks most to my heart? How can meditation on this wound help me to fight off all of the temptations that assail me?
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