I was up bright and early on Wednesday morning to watch the announcement live myself. Here's John Allen's take on the new cardinals.

By the way, I made my cardinal countdown a couple weeks ago and posted it on the wall and it worked... when Cardinal Lara died last Tuesday, they asked why the number went down one. Then, when I told them about the consistory on Wednesday, they asked why I hadn't adjusted the number yet. Of course, they can't say I was boring them with trivial church matters because they were the ones who were asking!

Have you made yours yet?

Labels: Catholic education, international, Vatican

The very fact that this disgusting behavior continues should be a wake-up call to society to change the way we operate. It's not just priests, folks. Get this on the front page. As a teacher, I want this information out there to protect students. AP story (via Curt Jester):

The young teacher hung his head, avoiding eye contact. Yes, he had touched a fifth-grader's breast during recess. "I guess it was just lust of the flesh," he told his boss.

That got Gary C. Lindsey fired from his first teaching job in Oelwein, Iowa. But it didn't end his career. He taught for decades in Illinois and Iowa, fending off at least a half-dozen more abuse accusations.

When he finally surrendered his teaching license in 2004 - 40 years after that first little girl came forward - it wasn't a principal or a state agency that ended his career. It was one persistent victim and her parents.

Lindsey's case is just a small example of a widespread problem in American schools: sexual misconduct by the very teachers who are supposed to be nurturing the nation's children.

Students in America's schools are groped. They're raped. They're pursued, seduced and think they're in love.

An Associated Press investigation found more than 2,500 cases over five years in which educators were punished for actions from bizarre to sadistic.

There are 3 million public school teachers nationwide, most devoted to their work. Yet the number of abusive educators - nearly three for every school day - speaks to a much larger problem in a system that is stacked against victims.

Labels: education, news

I saw this in this week's bulletin of the parish where I teach:

A church-goer wrote a letter to the editor of a newspaper and complained that it made no sense to go to church every Sunday. "I've gone for 30 years now," he wrote, "and in that time I have heard something like 3,000 sermons. But for the life of me, I can't remember a single one of them. So, I think I'm wasting my time and the pastors are wasting theirs by giving sermons at all." This started a real controversy in the "Letters to the Editor" column, much to the delight of the editor. It went on for weeks until someone wrote the clincher: "I've been married for 30 years now. In that time my wife has cooked 32,000 meals. But for the life of me, I cannot recall the entire menu for a single one of those meals. But I do know this. They all nourished me and gave me the strength I needed to do my work. If my wife had not given me these meals, I would be physically dead today. Likewise, if I had not gone to church for nourishment, I would be spiritually dead today!" When you are down to nothing... God is up to something! Faith sees the invisible, believes the incredible, and receives the impossible! Thank God for his physical and spiritual nourishment!

Labels: Church humor, liturgy, spirituality

Ever notice that students couldn't care less about Church happenings?

How many of our students know what a cardinal does and other attributes about one of the most exclusive clubs on the planet? Here's something to get them interested.

With the current rumors that Pope Benedict will be naming new cardinals soon, make a cardinal display for the classroom. I suggest using dry erase paper so that you can add or subtract numbers easily. I haven't made mine yet, but I'm planning on using a long sheet of red construction paper with two squares of dry erase paper. On two strips of white paper I will print the following (probably from the computer so it's neat): Number of Cardinals Eligible to Vote in a Papal Conclave; Total Number of Cardinals. Then I'll write in the current numbers (104; 184) on the dry erase paper and change them as necessary.

I plan to just put it up and wait for the kids to ask about it. When I change the numbers, I plan to write them in a different color, that way they're more likely to notice there's been a change. This leads to a discussion (student-initiated) on the cardinal who just passed away or the one who just turned 80. When the rumored consistory happens next month, the kids will actually be interested in it and we can discuss it, show clips, and look at the new guys. Since Archbishop Wuerl is likely to get a red hat, they'll look forward to seeing him at the Youth Mass before the March for Life in January.

If Catholic identity is a concern among educators, and to me it should be, here's one way to bring them in on a uniquely Catholic phenomenon. Perhaps extra credit projects can include research on the new cardinals, the history of cardinals, or of the U.S. cardinals.

Labels: Catholic education, international, Pope Benedict, school, U.S. Bishops

Dom poses an interesting question:

Do pro-lifers picket IVF clinics? After all, there are many babies who are aborted in the process of in vitro fertilization. For every baby born, there are several more who die in the fertilization process or by “selective reduction”.

I suppose it may be due to the fact that the abortions—and let’s be honest here—take place so early. Heck, many Protestants who are ostensibly pro-life don’t view IVF as immoral. Plus, the goal is to make babies! Just not to let them all live, I guess.

Does it undermine our pro-life witness that we aren’t as vocal about the children who die in IVF as we are about kids who die in Planned Parenthood abortuaries? Those embryos are no less children and no less worthy of defense.

Labels: life issues