CY2k! Newsletter - December 2000 --------------------------------- Volume 1 - Issue 5 - 100% FREE! --------------------------------- *************************************************************** ...FROM THE EDITOR... Dear Readers, Little did anyone know that this election nonsense would still be going on by December.. I promise to be a good editor and not crack too many jokes :-) Once again, you will notice some slight changes in the newsletter. Because I have been working on other projects lately like a new Catholic Website (expected to be finished between Jan. 1 and Feb. 1). I do not have much more to say other than, Go Bush... and have a Merry Christmas! God Bless, Ash Lux --------------------------------- ADVERTISEMENT: GET CHEAP CATHOLIC RELIGIOUS BOOK OF ALL SORTS! *Apologetics to Catechisms to history and philosophy! http://ic.net/~erasmus/RAZ24.HTM --------------------------------- *************************************************************** =CONTENTS:= 1..NEWS: RECENT NETHERLANDS EUTHANASIA LAW PROMPTS PUSH IN CANADA 2..NEWS: SUDANESE PLANES ATTACK CATHOLIC SCHOOL 3..HOMELESS: THE SPIRITUAL JOURNEY 4..CHRISTMAS: MARY'S GIFT 5..BISHOPS CALL US TO NEW COMMITMENT TO LIFE 6..PAT BUCHANAN INTERVIEW *************************************************************** 1..NEWS: NETHERLANDS EUTHANASIA LAW PROMPTS EUTHANASIA PUSH IN CANADA OTTAWA, Dec. 1, 00 (CWNews.com/LSN.ca) - Following the news that the Netherlands had passed a law legalizing euthanasia, homosexual and euthanasia activist MP Svend Robinson (NDP) promised to push the issue again in Canada. In an interview with the Globe and Mail newspaper published on Wednesday, he said he will introduce a private member's bill early in the next Parliament calling on the House of Commons to "look at the recent developments in the Netherlands and also to look in depth at the whole issue of euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide and make recommendations to Canadian law." The Euthanasia Prevention Coalition of Ontario expressed concern at the new Dutch law, warning that "vulnerable Dutch citizens are threatened by legalized euthanasia." The group noted, "Holland is also renowned for the almost non-existence of hospice/palliative care. Proper pain and symptom management should be considered essential to the art of medicine, and yet due to the acceptance of euthanasia the Dutch have not developed the needed hospice and palliative care programs. The Dutch euthanasia program has turned killing into the only available 'caring' option." [reprinted with permission from Catholic World News Services Dec. 1, 2000] [please visit CWNews.com] *************************************************************** 2..NEWS: SUDANESE PLANES ATTACK CATHOLIC SCHOOL NAIROBI, Dec. 1, 00 (CWNews.com) - Sudanese air force planes conducted a bombing raid on a Catholic school in southern Sudan last Friday, according to the Diocese of El Obeid and aid agencies. Eyewitnesses said the military aircraft began their bombing runs over the village of Panlit, dropping 14 anti-personnel munitions on the Panlit Missionary School as over 700 students attended classes. At least one bomb directly hit the school, destroying two classrooms and sending hundreds of students fleeing. Diocesan sources said the probability of casualties is high, but that exact figures are not available. Many of the students on the school's rolls were still unaccounted for earlier this week. Church officials hope that the missing children may have returned to their villages. Other aerial raids took place the following day in the region. Shops were closed over the weekend to enable local people to devote themselves to locating the children of Panlit hiding in the surrounding bush. The Islamic government of Khartoum has repeatedly denied targeting civilian targets in southern Sudan in a series of air attacks in recent months that has left dozens dead and hundreds wounded. The government and rebels from the mainly Christian south have been engaged in a civil war for decades, leaving hundreds of thousands dead. The Panlit Missionary School was founded by exiled Bishop Macram Max Gassis of El Obeid diocese in central Sudan in the late 1990s to minister to Dinka women and children who had been abducted and enslaved by northern Sudanese raiders, and to serve the surrounding Dinka population which includes thousands of war refugees. The attack on Panlit school marks the fourth time in nine months that Khartoum forces have targeted Bishop Gassis's missions, and the second time this year that they have bombed one of his schools. Last February, Sudanese air force bombers attacked the diocese's Holy Cross School in Kauda, killing 19 students and a teacher. [reprinted with permission from Catholic World News Services Dec. 1, 2000] [please visit CWNews.com] *************************************************************** 3..HOMELESS: THE SPIRITUAL JOURNEY by Ash Lux (catholicyc@hotmail.com) As I stepped outside the old elementary school owned by the Diocese of Rome, who allowed pilgrims to use as housing during World Youth Day in August 2000, I was awed by the magnificent scene which appeared before my eyes. Although this was not the best scene of Vatican, I had already seen inside of Vatican’s walls, I was still overwhelmed that I was within blocks of Vatican walls and the Dome of St. Peter’s Basilica. The few open shops reminded me that Rome "shuts down" during the month of August for vacations due to extreme heat and lack of air condition. I felt nothing could let my spirits down being in the presence of the Holy City and our Holy Father. As if a test of my generosity, next to a closed store was a man holding a cardboard box and obviously homeless. Although I now regret not giving more to this man, I did hand over 2000 liras, which is about fifty cents in American money. When I was reading Lars Eighner’s "On Dumpster Diving," it reminded me of this and other experience I had while in Italy. I soon realized there is much debate over why the homeless are on the streets. While the blame for our homeless problem is pointed toward drug addictions and the government, probably the most unique, baffling, and interesting reason for homeless are those who willingly choose poverty over secured wealth. One of most well known homeless is St. Francis of Assisi. He was born 1226 to a wealthy and well-known family. When he was a teenager, he was a rebel constantly getting into trouble, which of course, deeply concerned his parents. In efforts to better his image, and with false perceptions of war’s glory, he entered the military and was soon captured by enemies for a long year. It seemed that being captured had little effect on his mind, heart, or soul and continued his troubled ways. Although not very religious, one day he passed a crumbling chapel and decided to enter. Strangely, Our Lord, on the San Damiano Crucifix, began to speak to St. Francis and told him to rebuild His church (little did St. Francis know, Christ meant the Catholic Church, not the chapel). St. Francis began to have a change of heart. St. Francis decided to take parts of Sacred Scripture strictly and to only have one staff, one cloak, and to get food and shelter from the generosity of those around him, hence, the start of the Franciscan Order. St. Francis choose poverty over wealth. Another more recent example of a person giving up wealth for poverty and even homelessness is St. Katherine Drexel, born 1858-1955. She should be easier for Americans to relate to because she was an American born in Philadelphia. Emma, Katherine’s stepmother, and Francis, Katherine’s father, died around 1880. As a result of their deaths, Katherine and her sister received an inheritance of $1,000 per day. Rather than use this money for any selfish purposes whatsoever, she used it to build schools in North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, California, Oregon, Oklahoma, and New Mexico. She entered the Sisters of Mercy and continued to build schools and missions including Xavier University. She vowed "to be the mother and servant of the Indians and Negro races according to the rule of the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament, and not to undertake any work that would lead to the neglect or abandonment of the Indian and the Colored races." With her vow of poverty, chastity, and obedience, she truly did give up wealth for poverty and became only the second native-born United States citizen to be declared a saint. As we approach Christmas and the New Year, let us keep these genereous people, including the religious living today – priests, nuns, ect., and continue to turn our life toward Christ. Let us not only be generious to the needy solely during this time of the year, but during the entire year. *************************************************************** 4..CHRISTMAS: MARY'S GIFT By Janelle Kroll As we approach another Christmas season, the season when children start asking for outrageous things, let's remember the first Christmas, the mother and child who gave so much. She did not ask for anything, and received much. Two gifts she received almost immediately: her pregnancy and Elizabeth's. With her "yes" she gained both deep joy and deep pain. What a privelage to be told that she was selected to be the mother of God!! She knew the agony that would accompany the pleasure and accepted whole-heartedly. The suffering of being pregnant out of marriage would have been hard enough that she could have said no, but she stood with God's plan and was greatly rewarded. It began with the angelic annunciation to Mary. The figure of this beautiful woman reminds me a phrase someone onced used a conference: "Jesus started with Mary, and we can't do much better than that." When we contemplate her role in Jesus' life, we learn how our role should be. It came time for the birth of our Lord. In the vast void of the night, a child was born. Mary and Joseph were impoverished. They completely relied on God to protect them and to keep His promise. This poverity directly led to the greater glory of God. How else could he have saved the world in one lifetime? He not only lowered himself to become human, but he became the lowest of humans by our standards showing that everyone, even the lowest of the low, could be saved. Lord, let me not be afraid, but be strong in You. *************************************************************** 5..BISHOPS CALL US TO NEW COMMITMENT TO LIFE It is a short statement, issued in a very ordinary way, but the power of the words spoken by the US Bishops in their recent statement, Abortion and the Supreme Court: Advancing the Culture of Death, is too great to be ignored. Meeting in Washington, DC for their semi-annual meeting in mid- November, the full body of bishops declared that the recent Supreme Court decision, Stenberg v. Carhart, which permitted partial-birth abortion to continue, "has brought our legal system to the brink of endorsing infanticide." This fact is evident in the statements of people like Peter Singer and Helga Kuhse, who have written, "The pro-life groups are right about one thing: the location of the baby inside or outside the womb cannot make such a crucial moral difference" ("On Letting Handicapped Babies Die"). According to Singer, there are "only two possibilities," namely, "oppose abortion, or allow infanticide" (Rethinking Life and Death, p.210) The bishops' statement reviews some of the "coarsening effects" that the Supreme Court's abortion decisions have had on our culture, and makes a point of mentioning the role of men in the abortion decision. A national policy which gives men no say as to whether their unborn child will be killed or protected "encourages many young men to feel no sense of responsibility to take care of the children they helped to create and no loyalty to their child's mother." In other words, the flip side of rights is responsibilities, and those who think that the abortion license empowers women need to think again. The bishops' statement, furthermore, points out the existence of what might be called a "consistent ethic of death." Because the Court essentially has expanded the "right to choose" to include children who are outside the womb, supporters of abortion can no longer take refuge in the assertion that they aren't sure when life begins. The bishops explain, "Ultimately this issue is not about "when life begins," or even exclusively about abortion. Modern medicine has brought us face-to-face with the continuum of human life from conception onwards, and the inescapable reality of human life in the womb. Yet our legal system, and thus our national culture, is being pressed to declare that human life has no inherent worth, that the value of human life can be assigned by the powerful and that the protection of the vulnerable is subject to the arbitrary choice of others. The lives of all who are marginalized by our society are endangered by such a trend." Abortion, in other words, is more than abortion. Anyone concerned about the protection of life and the advancement of human dignity in any circumstance needs to see legal abortion as a major obstacle to their goals. An attack on an innocent child is an attack on all of us, and a government that cannot protect such a child endangers the rest of us as well. Consistent with the stance of the Church from the days of the apostles, who declared, "We must obey God rather than men" (Acts 5:29), the bishops declare in their statement, "We know that no human government can legitimately deny the right to life or restrict it to certain classes of human beings. Therefore the Court's abortion decisions deserve only to be condemned, repudiated and ultimately reversed." Finally, the bishops point out that our pro-life task is far more than challenging government. It means prayer, education, and active service to those in need. The bishops deserve our gratitude for this statement, and even more, our faithfulness in carrying it out. For more information on this statement, visit our website at www.priestsforlife.org/magisterium/culture.htm [PROVIDED BY: http://www.priestsforlife.org/] *************************************************************** 6..PAT BUCHANAN INTERVIEW Reform Party Candidate, Pat Buchanan, the only Catholic in the 2000 Presidential, was interviewed soon after the election by Raymond Arroyo on the Catholic television show, The World Over. If you thought Pat was a bit phycho, which is how the Press presented him -- and so kindly ignored him, I strongly suggest you listen to this interview. To me, he made so much sense it was hardly funny... Trust me, he knows what he is talking about. In this interview, the talk about everything from the election in Florida, esspecially the Palm Beach stuff, abortion, rejection of the present idea of free trade, and limits to immigration. NOTICE: these two URLs must be on one line and you must have RealAudio to listen. LISTEN NOW WITH AUDIO STREAMING: http://www.ewtn.com/vondemand/audio/resolve.asp?rafile=wo111700.ra DOWNLOAD AND LISTEN AFTERWARDS: http://www.ewtn.com/vondemand/audio/dload1.asp?rafile=wo111700.ra& source=frmsearchprog.asp&T1=buchanan&NewList= [AUDIO PROVIDED BY ETERNAL WORLD NETWORK TELEVISION] *************************************************************** copyright (c) 2000 - Ash Lux and Catholic Youth Center ONLINE.