This just in:
A brand new Vatican document, “‘Dignitas Personae’ (dignity of a person), an Instruction of Certain Bioethical Questions’ is an attempt to bring the Church up to date with recent [so-called] advances in science and medicine.”
“VATICAN CITY, Dec 12 (Reuters) - The Vatican on Friday said life was sacred at every stage of its existence and condemned artificial fertilisation, embryonic stem-cell research, human cloning and drugs which block pregnancy from taking hold…. [The] long-awaited document on bioethics by the Vatican's doctrinal body also said the so-called "morning after pill" and the drug RU-486, which blocks the action of hormones needed to keep a fertilised egg implanted in the uterus, fall "within the sin of abortion" and are gravely immoral…. It said most forms of artifical fertilisation "are to be excluded" because "they substitute for the conjugal act ... which alone is truly worthy of responsible procreation". It condemned in-vitro fertilisation, saying the techniques "proceed as if the human embryo were simply a mass of cells to be used, selected and discarded." The highly technical document said only adult stem cell research was moral because embryonic stem cell research involved the destruction of embryos.”
In short, the document confirms what Herbert Schwartz had occasion to say many times: “The only thing the average Catholic knows about love is how fast it can become a mortal sin.”
Another article, by Martin Lindstrom, the author of “Buyology: Truth and Lies About Why We Buy”, appearing almost simultaneously, fortuitously documented how counter-productive such anathemas are to eliminating the condemned behavior. This experiment was conducted to determine how effective fear-advertising is in getting people off cigarettes:
“Each subject lay in the scanner for about an hour while we projected on a small screen a series of cigarette package labels from various countries — including statements like ‘smoking kills’ and ‘smoking causes fatal lung cancers.’ We found that the warnings prompted no blood flow to the amygdala, the part of the brain that registers alarm, or to the part of the cortex that would be involved in any effort to register disapproval.
“To the contrary, the warning labels backfired: they stimulated the nucleus accumbens, sometimes called the ‘craving spot,’ which lights up on f.M.R.I. whenever a person craves something, whether it’s alcohol, drugs, tobacco or gambling.
“Further investigation is needed, but our study has already revealed an unintended consequence of antismoking health warnings. They appear to work mainly as a marketing tool to keep smokers smoking.”
Judging from what we see around us, I think it is safe to say the Vatican onslaughts elicit a like response.
Lindstrom noted that “Barack Obama has said he’s been using nicotine gum to fight his own cigarette habit. His new administration can help other smokers quit, too, by eliminating the government scare tactics that only increase people’s craving.”
However, help – and sanity! – is on the way.
Bush reflected on his own addiction to alcohol.
December 11, 2008
From CNN Correspondent Kathleen Koch
WASHINGTON (CNN) — President Bush reflected on his own struggle with alcohol in a White House meeting today to tout gains in the war on drug abuse.
CNN was the only media outlet invited to attend the entire meeting, which other reporters joined in the final minutes for remarks from the president.
The president told the group of fourteen, all leaders in drug prevention, treatment and interdiction programs around the country, that a new study shows teen drug abuse has dropped 25 percent since he took office in 2001.
"No question there's still work to do in America, but we are making progress," said Mr. Bush.
… He listened to participants' stories and shared some candid moments.
Professional baseball player Josh Hamilton, who once suffered from a debilitating drug addiction, talked about seeking help from eight different treatment centers. "They didn't work for me," he said. It wasn't until his grandmother confronted him while he was high on drugs that something clicked. "That moment cleared my mind, opened my heart, and that following night I committed my life to Christ," said Hamilton.
President Bush praised the effectiveness of the programs represented, most private and faith-based. "I'm a faith-based guy," explained Mr. Bush. "Sometimes to help change a person's behavior, you have to change their heart. Government's not really good at that."
Former New Orleans District Attorney Harry Connick Sr. talked about why he was motivated to launch a student drug testing program that has now spread to 20 city high schools. Over his nearly 30-year-career, Connick said, "I sent a lot of people to the penitentiary. But at one point I thought, this is not enough."
Lt. Mike Boudreaux of the Tulare County Sheriff's Department described his battle to eradicate marijuana fields on California public lands. "It's a daunting task," said Boudreaux of their efforts that often involve confronting dangerous Mexican drug dealers intent on protecting their hidden fields. Boudreaux added that his mother said to tell President Bush she prays for him.
"One of the most striking aspects of being president is the power of prayer in my life. I feel it," said Mr. Bush. "Some days are happy. Some days are not so happy. But every day is joyous."
Yes, every day can be joyous, as long as you don’t have Vatican watchdogs stirring their venom into the pot. The point to be made here is that the very title of the new document, Dignitas Personae’, which they translate “dignity of a person”, insures that all the rest will be hind-side-before.
I am going to paste in excerpts from something Herbert Schwartz - who rightly called himself “The Little Flower’s Theologian” - wrote. As so often with the Vatican, they canonized their saint – although belatedly – but to this day fail to understand and incorporate her message into their teachings. I mean, why does God raise up saints in the Church except to nourish the Church and correct her when she errs? And, I just ask you, brothers and sisters, after the exposure of the extent, and the barbarity, of the sexual abuse so rampant in the Catholic Church (I, myself, wrote Pope John Paul of it in my own area – we had only one priest who was not an abuser or alcoholic or both. One went to jail for abusing an altar boy over some years’ time, another was actually pimping for a “club” engaged in pedophilia-for-pay, etc., you can search press releases for tri-state, Pa, NY, NJ area for more details if you have the stomach for them. Yet, to the best of my knowledge, only the Archdiocese of California, led by Card. Roger Mahoney, has erected a shrine to the victims of this onslaught on all things good and holy and Godly. And Rome itself is still putting out the same perversely erroneous teaching – diametrically opposed not only to St. Therese, but to the Apostle Paul who most emphatically stresses that “I did not receive [this gospel] from man, nor was I taught it, but it came through a revelation of Jesus Christ.” Gal 1:12 Hence, he warns, “Even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to that which we preached to you, let him be accursed.” (v. 8) Take heed, Rome!
Instead of issuing a whole pack of anathemas to excommunicate sinners from the Church, driving them into despair – although, really, the Vatican scarcely needs to do that, Catholics are defecting in droves, as came out in the recent voting -- Herbert writes, communicating Jesus’ message to us:
“DO NOT, THEN ALLOW YOUR FEELINGS OF GUILT AND SHAME TO KEEP YOU FROM THIS MERCIFUL GOD. HE HAS PAID IN FULL FOR YOUR TRANSGRESSIONS - only that you might come to Him, quickly, ‘make haste’ (Is 55:1), for WHEN YOU WITHDRAW FROM HIM FOR JUST A LITTLE BIT, THE ENEMY IS QUICK TO PERSUADE YOU THAT THERE IS NO HOPE FOR YOU - AS INDEED THERE IS NOT, OUTSIDE OF JESUS.
And so of course Little Therese ‘will win in greater plenitude THE LOVE OF HIM WHO CAME NOT TO CALL THE JUST, BUT SINNERS’ (Mt 9:13, Lk 5:32) when she confides her infidelities to Him. That was why He permitted them, to convince us that there is no hope in ourselves, but only in Him: ‘DESTRUCTION IS THY OWN, O ISRAEL: THY HELP IS ONLY IN ME.’ (HOS 13:9) DO YOU UNDERSTAND, IT IS BY THE PURITY AND GOODNESS OF JESUS THAT WE ARE SAVED, NOT BY OUR OWN? That was WHY THE PHARISEES WERE GIVEN US IN THE GOSPEL, AS AN EXAMPLE OF WHAT NOT TO BE; FOR THE PHARISEES WERE JUSTIFIED BY THEIR OWN GOODNESS - THAT WAS WHY THEY COULD NOT UNDERSTAND HOW OUR LORD WOULD DINE WITH PUBLICANS AND SINNERS. (Mt 9:11)” (http://www.mamaleh-larisa.com/theo.html)
So it is understandable why there is a movement among Catholic biblical scholars to re-habilitate the Pharisees, although, again, this is hardly necessary, since, the Pharisee mentality is already the role model for the entire American Religious Right, currently intransigently led by 18 US Catholic bishops.
The point for us at this moment being that this “dignitas personae” is something Catholics make up out of whole cloth, because HUMAN PERSONS – CREATURES, DEPENDENT UPON THEIR CREATOR - DO NOT HAVE ANY SUCH DIGNITY IN THEMSELVES, BUT ONLY IN GOD, IN CHRIST HIS SON WHO WAS INCARNATE IN OUR HUMAN NATURE PRECISELY TO SHARE WITH US THE DIVINE, TRIUNE, DIGNITY OF THE GODHEAD ITSELF!
"Come over to Me, then, all ye who are burdened!" Mt. 11:28 Because only in Me will you be able to overcome your weakness; Come to Me first, right away, without any hesitation, because then you will be honoring Me with your confidence. Then, in contact with the Fire of My Love, you will gain the strength to overcome your weakness in the measure of My desire…. But BEWARE OF TRYING TO BE YOUR OWN REDEEMER! I AM YOUR REDEEMER. I HAVE PAID FOR ALL YOUR SINS AND FAULTS…. THAT WAS WHY MY PAUL REJOICED IN HIS WEAKNESS - CAN YOU NOT SEE IT? - BECAUSE HE WAS REJOICING WITH ME. AND WHY DO I REJOICE IN IT? BECAUSE IT IS THEN THAT I CAN GIVE YOU MY LOVE.”
Just give us a little time – and with Dubya in the vanguard – and we will show everyone how to address this problem, so that instead of wanting to murder their babies (look at Caylee’s mom – but the court has already said they will not seek the death penalty because she was under such pressures, it is doubtful she is fully responsible) – we will be hearing from more and more corners:
"One of the most striking aspects of being president is the power of prayer in my life. I feel it," said Mr. Bush. "Some days are happy. Some days are not so happy. But every day is joyous."
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