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Showing posts from January, 2019

Expert sees Asia Bibi acquittal fueling push for 'rule of law' in Pakistan

Following Tuesday’s “definitive” acquittal of Asia Bibi, an illiterate Catholic mother of four who spent almost a decade on death row on blasphemy charges, one Asia expert says the next frontier for minorities in Pakistan is the press for full equality as citizens under the law. Expert sees Asia Bibi acquittal fueling push for 'rule of law' in Pakistan :

C. Matthew Hawkins: Encountering Christ; A Conspiracy of Love: Beale Street: Mid-70s African American Novel Gets 21st Century Cinematographic Treatment

Here's a blog post that's a review of a film currently playing in theatres titled 'Beale Street' written by a seminarian I've met here in Baltimore during my current sabbatical. Matt Hawkins is a man of tremendous passion, zeal, and intellect who has clearly dedicated his life to both promoting the Gospel of Christ and bettering the welfare of the greater American community. I suspect that we'll be hearing a great deal from this young man in the years to come within the American Church and beyond. Check out his blog and see there just a taste of what I believe he has to offer. It has been the opportunity to meet, discuss, and debate issues of theology and social justice that I count among the great gifts this time of study at St. Mary's Seminary and University here in Baltimore has afforded me. I am truly blessed. Here's hoping we all will continue to be blessed by reading more from this insightful Catholic: Matt Hawkins in the years to come. Well done

Who gets to decide when a 14-year-old wants to change gender? The child, the hospital, the battling parents?

Who gets to decide when a 14-year-old wants to change gender? The child, the hospital, the battling parents? | National Post : A B.C. case raises difficult questions about parental rights and about how young is too young to make medical decisions. The result is a messy ethical and legal tangle

Sojourner's Notes from a Sabbatical

Back in the day when I was still a young priest, I used to have the opportunity to augment my meagre clerical salary by filling in as a supply teacher at the local Catholic High School. One day a young lad, eager to establish his bona fides with his fellow ‘back of the classroom’ mates, decided to challenge me to prove that heaven and hell were realities we would face when we departed this mortal coil. “If they really exist” he asked, “tell me what they are really like.” After explaining that I had as yet no first hand experience of either eternal state I said that I could only answer his question by using earthly analogies that we both could relate to. “Hell” I said “was a never ending litany of wedding rehearsals while heaven was a library that held more interesting books than I could read in an eternity.” Using that paradigm, I am currently experiencing a taste of heaven as I enjoy a sabbatical at St. Mary’s Seminary and University in Baltimore, Maryland where I am spending many bli