Italian Police Eavesdrop on the Pope's Phone Calls

June 11, 2010 by Patrick Madrid
Filed under Patrick's Blog

Pope Benedict XVI has become the first Pope to be recorded during a corruption investigation by Italian police, it emerged yesterday.

The leader of the world’s two billion Roman Catholics was unwittingly recorded by officers who were listening in on a suspect’s mobile phone conversations.

The Pontiff made four telephone calls to Italy’s civil protection chief Guido Bertolaso following last year’s devastating earthquake in the centre of the country which left 300 people dead.

Bertolaso is at the centre of a corruption probe involving sexual favours and back handers for reconstruction projects in the L’Aquila region which was hit by the earthquake 14 months ago.

Pope Benedict is not suspected of any wrong doing – although Vatican officials are said to be furious that he was secretly taped – while it has also emerged that US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was also recorded speaking to Bertolaso.

Both had called Bertolaso to offer support and thanks for the efforts of his civil protection team who were providing rapid reaction relief in the devastated area.

Officers monitoring Bertolaso’s mobile telephone were stunned when they heard the Pope’s private secretary Georg Ganswein call and say: ‘Hello. I have His Holiness the Pope on the line for you.’

The details of Pope Benedict’s intercepted calls emerged in several Italian newspapers today/yesterday but the content was not reported although it is believed to have been fairly mundane and complimentary. . . . (continue reading)

Tags:

Report: Bishop Padovese canceled Cyprus trip to avoid assassination of Pope

June 9, 2010 by Patrick Madrid
Filed under Patrick's Blog

Here's one flight attendant who'll never forget this particular flight

June 8, 2010 by Patrick Madrid
Filed under Patrick's Blog

9 Comments

I just received the following note from Tom Peterson, president of CatholicsComeHome and Virtue Media. It’s a great reminder of how important it is for each of us (this means you) to live out the message of 1 Peter 3:15-16, all day, every day: “Always be reading to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope, but do it with gentleness and reverence.”

I want to share a personal story with you that happened a few weeks ago while on a flight. It inspired our entire Catholics Come Home team, and I hope it inspires you, too!

I boarded an early morning flight to return home, following a Catholics Come Home presentation in Wichita the night before.

After take-off and the beverage service, I took a second to thank the two hard-working flight attendants for their exceptional hospitality. A little later, one of the flight attendants stopped to tell me how much she appreciated and needed that kind word of affirmation at this time in her life.

Prior to landing, I felt led to take out one of our CatholicsComeHome.org evangelization cards. On the back of the card, I wrote, “The hope you are seeking can be found only in Jesus and His Church.” I signed my name and held the card in my hand, waiting for an opportunity to hand it to her, if it was meant to be.

As we began our descent into the Atlanta airport, that flight attendant stopped one last time to thank me as she headed to the back of the plane for landing. I took a leap of faith and handed her the CCH evangelization card and note, asking her to read it when she got home.

Thanks to God’s abundant grace, last week our office received a wonderful letter from that flight attendant! In it, she explained that she had suffered loneliness since her divorce a year ago, and she was looking for answers. She went on to say that she desperately needed that Catholics Come Home card and hopeful note on the back, and that she hadn’t stopped crying since she received the little card. Amazingly, she confided that she had been away from the Catholic Church and from God for many years. After receiving the Catholics Come Home card and note, she returned to Mass last week, and had finally found exactly what she had been looking for—God!

I wanted to share this story with you as a reminder that each of us is called to share the Good News of Jesus and His Church to a world in need of hope. As members of the Body of Christ, we are called to work passionately to bring souls home to Jesus and His holy Catholic Church. And, it’s always incredible to witness the fruit that comes from being obedient to the will of God.

Likely, someone out there is waiting for you to invite them home too, whether on a plane, at the store, or at your child’s swim meet. So when the opportunity arises, take the time to answer the Holy Spirit’s call, and help change someone’s life forever!

Your brother in Christ Jesus,

Tom Peterson

Tags:

Is it just me, or doesn't this kind of defeat the purpose of "purity laws"?

June 8, 2010 by Patrick Madrid
Filed under Patrick's Blog

1 Comment

Saudi Clerics Advocate Adult Breast-Feeding

Women in Saudi Arabia should give their breast milk to male colleagues and acquaintances in order to avoid breaking strict Islamic law forbidding mixing between the sexes, two powerful Saudi clerics have said. They are at odds, however, over precisely how the milk should be conveyed.

A fatwa issued recently about adult breast-feeding to establish “maternal relations” and preclude the possibility of sexual contact has resulted in a week’s worth of newspaper headlines in Saudi Arabia. Some have found the debate so bizarre that they’re calling for stricter regulations about how and when fatwas should be issued.

Sheikh Al Obeikan, an adviser to the royal court and consultant to the Ministry of Justice, set off a firestorm of controversy recently when he said on TV that women who come into regular contact with men who aren’t related to them ought to give them their breast milk so they will be considered relatives.

“The man should take the milk, but not directly from the breast of the woman,” Al Obeikan said, according to Gulf News. “He should drink it and then becomes a relative of the family, a fact that allows him to come in contact with the women without breaking Islam’s rules about mixing.”

Obeikan said the fatwa applied to men who live in the same house or come into contact with women on a regular basis, except for drivers.

Al Obeikan, who made the statement after being asked on TV about a 2007 fatwa issued by an Egyptian scholar about adult breast-feeding, said that the breast milk ought to be pumped out and given to men in a glass.

But his remarks were followed by an announcement by another high-profile sheik, Abi Ishaq Al Huwaini, who said that men should suckle the breast milk directly from a woman’s breast. . . .

The fatwa stems from the tenets of the strict Wahhabi version of Islam that governs modern Saudi Arabia and forbids women from mixing with men who are not relatives. They are also not allowed to vote, drive or even leave the country without the consent of a male “guardian.”

Under Islamic law, women are encouraged to breast-feed their children until the age of 2. It is not uncommon for sisters, for example, to breast-feed their nephews so they and their daughters will not have to cover their faces in front of them later in life. The custom is called being a “breast milk sibling.” . . . (continue reading)

Tags:

If I ran Microsoft, Windows would act more like this . . .

June 8, 2010 by Patrick Madrid
Filed under Patrick's Blog

2 Comments

Tags:

When a father comes home from war

June 7, 2010 by Patrick Madrid
Filed under Patrick's Blog

3 Comments

It’s a wonderful, joyful thing when any military man or woman returns home to family and friends after a long separation imposed by war — a brother, sister, son, daughter — but there is something ineffably unique when dad comes home from war. The emotions written on the faces of these children say it all.

I extend my heartfelt gratitude to all our military personnel and their families, for the sacrifices they make on our behalf. Enjoy this montage of homecomings.

Tags:

The Godless Delusion: A Catholic Challenge to Modern Atheism

June 3, 2010 by Patrick Madrid
Filed under Patrick's Blog

28 Comments

“The New Atheists came on the contemporary scene with an unprecedented mixture of confidence and scorn. And, sadly, most of the books written in response have conveyed an impression of ad hoc defensiveness. But not this one. The Godless Delusion, by Patrick Madrid and Kenneth Hensley, wages a full-scale frontal assault on the tallest turret of the New Atheists’ stronghold — the claim to moral and rational superiority. With remorseless logic, wit, skill, and boundless, joyful enthusiasm it lays waste that stronghold, routs the enemy, occupies the high ground for Christ their king, and dares anyone to retake it. Books on philosophical apologetics don’t get more exhilarating than this.”

— Ronald K. Tacelli, SJ, professor of philosophy, Boston College, co-author of Handbook of Christian Apologetics

Click the cover to see what others are saying about The Godless Delusion . . .

Coming soon to a bookstore near you, my new book on atheism (co-authored with Kenneth Hensley) is called The Godless Delusion: A Catholic Challenge to Modern Atheism and will be released in the next two weeks. Pre-order your signed copy today.

Tags:

If you ever shop anywhere, you should watch this

June 2, 2010 by Patrick Madrid
Filed under Patrick's Blog

7 Comments

I’ve seen some odd things at airports and other public places and, like most of the people simulated in this video, my first instinct was to report something suspicious to local security, but almost always, I’ve just suppressed it and said nothing. Twice that I can think of, however, I was bothered enough that I sheepishly followed through and sought out security to see if what bothered me should be checked out.

One time, I noticed two suspicious-acting young men waiting to board a flight. I suggested to the security folks that they give the pair a closer look, but they rather blandly declined to do anything. Nothing bad happened.

Another time, as I was washing my hands in the men’s room and I noticed a 30-ish man dressed in a coat (it was summer and quite warm that day) holding a black canvas gym bag. He had been loitering awhile (not in a Larry Craig kind of way, I should add), and that too stuck out as unusual. Practically everyone in an airport carries some kind of bag, so that in itself was not what caught my eye. Rather, it was the strange, grim look on his face that’s hard to describe. In any case, once again, I sheepishly approached a nearby security guard out in the terminal to explain what I had seen.

To my surprise, he said something like, “Yeah, another person reported that guy too, and we’re going to go take a look.” A minute or two later, three armed policemen and a couple of TSA-types walked into the restroom and questioned him. Whatever it was that they found was problematic enough that they arrested him and led him away in hand-cuffs. I have no idea what happened after that. This video reminded me of those incidents, and I wanted to share it with you.

So . . . .

Commentary below from Joe Larocca:

On Thursday, the Department of Homeland Security held a conference call asking the private sector to heighten its level of awareness and report anything suspicious to law enforcement immediately. Since theattempted bombing in Times Square earlier this month, there has been a flurry of alerts sent out from DHS regarding terrorist tactics and threats.

CNN published a story quoting one document saying that “the number and pace of attempted attacks against the United States over the past nine months have surpassed the number of attempts during any other previous one-year period.

According to DHS, businesses have to operate under the premise that other operatives are in the country and could advance plotting with little or no warning.” They also said U.S. officials “lack insights in specific details, timing and intended targets,” but trends indicate terrorists are looking for “smaller, more achievable attacks against easily accessible targets.”

Officials have repeatedly said that terrorists use explosive devices as one of their most common weapons. Unfortunately, criminals don’t have to look far to find out how to make explosive devices: the information is readily available in books and other information sources and the materials needed for an explosive device can be found in many places including variety, hardware and auto supply stores. Explosive devices are highly portable using vehicles and humans as a means of transport. They are easily detonated from remote locations or by suicide bombers.

Conventional bombs have been used to damage and destroy financial, political, social and religious institutions. Attacks have occurred in public places and on city streets with thousands of people around the world injured and killed.

During the call with business leaders, Homeland Security officials requested private sector companies to consider the following points:

Institute aggressive awareness campaigns.

Identify entrance areas where crowds will collect and common traffic choke points exist.

Pre-identify primary and secondary evacuation routes.

Look at how you asses unattended vehicles in your area.

Vary security patrol and surveillance routines.

Rely on the people working in your buildings and stores every day. These folks will be more aware of things out of place in their normal environment.

Remain alert for potential secondary devices. (In one case, small devices were used to force an evacuation, then larger devices were triggered to kill people.)

Tags:

Let's review what it is we celebrate on Trinity Sunday

May 30, 2010 by Patrick Madrid
Filed under Patrick's Blog

2 Comments

The following few paragraphs are drawn from Frank Sheed’s excellent introduction to the Catholic Faith, Theology for Beginners (Servant Books). Sheed had plenty more to say about the subject of the Blessed Trinity, both in this book and in his even more comprehensive Theology and Sanity (Ignatius Press), but this tasty soupçon will get you started.

I enthusiastically encourage all Catholics — indeed anybody of any background who wishes to better understand the Catholic Church’s doctrine of the Trinity — to read both these books. Reading them, you will discover that, as Sheed put it, “The rewards for persistence are immense.”

And for good measure, here is the old Catholic Encyclopedia‘s compact historical overview of the solemn feast day in honor of the Blessed Trinity:

Trinity Sunday

The first Sunday after Pentecost, instituted to honour the Most Holy Trinity. In the early Church no special Office or day was assigned for the Holy Trinity. When the Arian heresy was spreading the Fathers prepared an Office with canticles, responses, a Preface, and hymns, to be recited on Sundays.

In the Sacramentary of St. Gregory the Great (P.L., LXXVIII, 116) there are prayers and the Preface of the Trinity. The Micrologies (P.L., CLI, 1020), written during the pontificate of Gregory VII (Nilles, II, 460), call the Sunday after Pentecost a Dominica vacans, with no special office, but add that in some places they recited the Office of the Holy Tri
nity composed by Bishop Stephen of Liège (903-20). By others the Office was said on the Sunday before Advent.

Alexander II (1061-1073), not III (Nilles, 1. c.), refused a petition for a special feast on the plea, that such a feast was not customary in the Roman Church which daily honored the Holy Trinity by the Gloria, Patri, etc., but he did not forbid the celebration where it already existed.

John XXII (1316-1334) ordered the feast for the entire Church on the first Sunday after Pentecost. A new Office had been made by the Franciscan John Peckham, Canon of Lyons, later Archbishop of Canterbury (d. 1292).

The feast ranked as a double of the second class but was raised to the dignity of a primary of the first class, 24 July 1911, by Pius X (Acta Ap. Sedis, III, 351). The Greeks have no special feast. Since it was after the first great Pentecost that the doctrine of the Trinity was proclaimed to the world, the feast becomingly follows that of Pentecost.

Tags:

Pope Gregory the Great's Warning About Wicked Shepherds

May 30, 2010 by Patrick Madrid
Filed under Patrick's Blog

3 Comments

I read a mainstream media news report this morning about a recent gathering of priests and seminarians in Rome for the purpose of offering “prayers for the victims of clergy abuse and for the healing of the church’s wounds from the scandal over its concealment of abuse.” This is an exceedingly good thing to do, and I hope it will inspire diocesan bishops everywhere to gather their own presbyterates together and emulate this.

What caught my eye in was that article’s reference to a stern warning issued by Pope Gregory the Great (A.D. 540-604) regarding those woeful shepherds (i.e., priests and bishops) who are guilty of “evil living,” and acting “perversely.” He denounces those who make an outward show of piety and even sanctity and yet are, inwardly, chronically corrupt and perfidious.

We are and should be fervently grateful for the many excellent, dedicated, devout and, in some cases, truly holy priests and bishops with whom we have been blessed by the Lord. I am grateful to Him for them. And yet, as we all know, in recent decades, enormous, pestilential damage has been wreaked upon innumerable souls at the hands of a group of wicked shepherds in the Catholic Church. It is about them that Pope Gregory warns in words that are worthy of our reflection.

THERE ARE SOME ALSO who investigate spiritual precepts with cunning care, but what they penetrate with their understanding they trample on in their lives: all at once they teach the things which, not by practice but by study, they have learned; and what in words they preach, by their manners they impugn.

Whence it comes to pass that when the shepherd walks through steep places, the flock follows to the precipice.

Hence it is that the Lord through the prophet complains of the contemptible knowledge of shepherds, saying, When you yourselves had drunk most pure water, you fouled the residue with your feet; and My sheep fed on that which had been trodden by your feet, and drank that which your feet had fouled Ezekiel 34:18-19.

For indeed the shepherds drink most pure water, when with a right understanding they imbibe the streams of truth. But to foul the same water with their feet is to corrupt the studies of holy meditation by evil living. And verily the sheep drink the water fouled by their feet, when any of those subject to them follow not the words which they hear, but only imitate the bad examples which they see. Thirsting for the things said, but perverted by the works observed, they take in mud with their draughts, as from polluted fountains.

Hence also it is written through the prophet, A snare for the downfall of my people are evil priests (Hosea 5:1; 9:8). Hence again the Lord through the prophet says of the priests, They are made to be for a stumbling-block of iniquity to the house of Israel. For certainly no one does more harm in the Church than one who has the name and rank of sanctity, while he acts perversely. For him, when he transgresses, no one presumes to take to task; and the offense spreads forcibly for example, when out of reverence to his rank the sinner is honored.

But all who are unworthy would fly from the burden of so great guilt, if with the attentive ear of the heart they weighed the sentence of the Truth, Whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea (Matthew 18:6).

By the millstone is expressed the round and labor of worldly life, and by the depth of the sea is denoted final damnation.

Whosoever, then, having come to bear the outward show of sanctity, either by word or example destroys others, it had indeed been better for him that earthly deeds in open guise should press him down to death than that sacred offices should point him out to others as imitable in his wrong-doing; because, surely, if he fell alone, the pains of hell would torment him in [a] more tolerable degree (Regu
la Pastoralis, II).