(Catholic Online) – There has been a lot of brouhaha surrounding the 2012 Democratic Party platform and the removal of any reference to God from it.  Following the politically-embarrassing revelation in the media, and the clear hay the Republicans were making from it, the Democrat leadership engaged in damage control.

The effort was, like most democratic things, a little messy.  After Ted Strickland (OH) moved to change the platform language, there came the embarrassing vote on the floor, and the forced and plainly heavy-handed tactics of Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa who was chairing the convention. The vote to change the platform was thrice put to a voice vote, and three times to any objective observer there was a more-or-less even call of "Ayes" and "Nos."   A two thirds majority of "Ayes" was required for the platform to be amended, and–when it was apparent that it was not forthcoming–Villaraigosa exclaimed that, in the "opinion of the chair," two thirds had voted "Aye," and the motion carried. 

Whether Villaraigosa’s defective hearing was the result of deafness or was result-driven, only he knows; but were I a betting man, I would say it was plainly the latter.  There were audible boos, cat-calls, and groans from the crowd.  Whether these were because of the amendment itself or the way the amendment was undemocratically foisted upon the Democratic convention, it is hard to tell.  Whether the complaints were more of Jerusalem being declared the capital of Israel or human potential being declared "God-given," it is hard also to tell.  Probably, what we witnessed was a combination of all these things. But as one might expect, the Republicans interpreted the booing as evidence of Democratic apostasy so they could capitalize on it.  If this be apostasy, I imagine they are thinking, make the most of it. 

  Prime Minister Najib Mikati Friday announced that next Saturday, Sept. 15, will be an official holiday in honor of Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to Lebanon. In a statement, Mikati said all public administration branches, public institutions, municipalities, schools and private and public universities will close Saturday. The pope arrives next Friday, and Mikati’s statement said […]

  Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi is scheduled to visit the northern city of Tripoli on the first week of November, Tripoli Mufti Sheikh Malek al-Shaar said. Al-Shaar said that he held talks with al-Rahi in Diman on Wednesday. The patriarch postponed a visit to Tripoli last February over bloody clashes between two rival neighborhoods. The majority Sunni neighborhood […]

Kirkuk, Iraq, Sep 7, 2012 / 04:01 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Iraqi Archbishop Louis Sako of Kirkuk has asked the Catholic patriarchs and bishops of the Middle East to speak with Pope Benedict XVI about their fears that the survival of Christianity in the region is at risk.

“The patriarchs and the bishops should go beyond the formalities to speak directly and openly with him about their fears and concerns. We should make clear our worries and the challenges ahead,” the archbishop told Aid to the Church in Need on Sept. 4.

Christian leaders will meet with the Pope in Lebanon during his Sept. 14-16 visit.

“The rise of political Islam is a matter of worry,” he said. “We Christians are a minority and there is no prospect of us gaining equal citizenship in the concrete reality of day-to-day life and there is no vision of a better future.”

“Everyone is speaking of democracy and freedom but the reality on the ground is different,” he explained.

The archbishop said “sectarianism” is rising and the majority population is not caring for minority groups.

There are “real fears” that more Christians will leave, he reported. The Christian exodus shows no signs of stopping in Iraq, where more than half of the Christian population has left. The trend of Christians leaving their homes has spread to other countries in the Middle East like Syria.

The archbishop recounted the violence against Christians in Iraq, which peaked after the U.S. overthrow of President Saddam Hussein’s government in 2003. Dozens of churches have been bombed in the country, while Christians have been targeted for kidnapping and murder.

He said it is difficult for him to encourage the faithful in his diocese to stay. There are “few” families left.

“I am doing my best to keep them, defend them and encourage them. That has limited the problem but it is sad to see them leaving for good,” he wrote. “As a pastor, I feel bad.”

  Whatever the outcome of the Syrian uprising, the regime of Bashar al-Assad will not have the same grip over Lebanon’s politics as before. While the government in Damascus fights against the rebels, Beirut’s political landscape is also at a crossroads, as the two main Lebanese political blocs, March 8 and March 14, still base […]

  Security forces have been placed on alert ahead of Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to Lebanon, the visit’s coordinator said on Wednesday. "All Lebanese security organizations are on a state of alert poised to protect His Holiness the Pope," who will travel to Lebanon September 14-16, said Father Abdo Abou Kasm. Referring to what he said was […]

• By Andrew M. Greenwell, Esq.
• 9/5/2012
• Catholic Online

It is in the area of intrinsic evils where the comparison of Ryan and Biden as a ‘tale of two Catholics’, falls apart.

Given Joe Biden’s support for what his Church has identified as intrinsic evils – and thereby persistently against the common good – and given Paul Ryan’s position consistent with the indisputable and unchangeable teachings of his Church on these issues, it seems that what is involved is not a "Tale of Two Catholics" but rather a tale of one Catholic and one . . . well, whatever we call him, it is something considerably less than Catholic. An intrinsic evil is always against the common good, regardless of the circumstances.  No Catholic politician can advance an intrinsic evil.

CORPUS CHRISTI, TX (Catholic Online) – This election season we are presented with some fundamental contrasts on a whole series of levels, politics, economy, health care, and so forth.  But perhaps no contrast is more interesting than the contrast between two supposedly Catholic vice presidential candidates, the Republican Representative Paul Ryan and the current Vice President, the Democrat Joe Biden. 

Numerous articles have been written on the face-off between these two under the title, "A Tale of Two Catholics," for example, the Huffington Post, the Washington Post, the Underground, and CBN News.

Now political differences are political differences, and they ordinarily do not touch on fundamental matters of faith and morals.  This is because politics, which has classically been defined as the art of the possible, is, in the main, involved in prudential decisions. 

Jerusalem Sep 5, 2012 / 03:44 pm (CNA).- Vandals set fire to the door of the Latroun Monastery near Jerusalem on the morning of Sept. 4 and spray painted the walls with blasphemous phrases in Hebrew.

The monks at the monastery were awakened in the early morning hours and found the front door on fire and their outside wall spray painted with the phrases, “Jesus is a monkey” and “Ramat Migron.” The second phrase was an apparent reference to the illegal Jewish settlement in the Palestinian West Bank, which was dismantled by Israeli authorities on Sunday.

The BBC reported that Israeli police have launched an investigation into the attack on the monastery, which is located in Palestinian territory just 15 kilometers from Jerusalem.  They said the attack may have been committed by pro-settlement Jewish extremists as revenge for the eviction of 300 Israelis from Ramat Migron, which has become a symbol for hard-line groups that oppose any withdrawal from the West Bank.

In a Sept. 4 statement, the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem said it was “indignant” over the “disgraceful and hideous” attacks which “dishonor Christian sites in Israel and attack the person of Christ, Son of this Holy Land.” The patriarchate oversees all Roman Catholic churches in the Holy Land.

The patriarchate also condemned any attempt to “create divisions between the communities” and called for tolerance and values that “bear witness to human greatness.”

The Assembly of Catholic Ordinaries of the Holy Land issued its own statement asking, “Why are Christians still in the crosshairs?

“What is happening in Israeli society to the point that Christians are the sacrificial lambs of such violence?” 

  President Michel Suleiman praised on Monday the army on its efforts in defending Lebanon and maintaining civil peace. He stressed on the anniversary of the end of the Nahr al-Bared clashes the “importance of internal unity and national will in allowing the security forces and army in fulfilling their duties towards the nation and people.” He […]

  It’s an overused and oft abused metaphor that Beirut is the Paris of the Middle East,  but the phrase seemed to ring true Sunday – at least in a section of Ashrafieh. With pedestrianized streets, people cycling everywhere, and art littering the sidewalks, all part of the Ashrafieh 2020 initiative, the area seemed positively […]