Saturday, January 14, 2006

Mike Hayes, the Associate Director of BustedHalo.com thinks the Vatican should be protecting Pope John Paul II's assassin from danger -

"If the Vatican is not involved in securing his safety then maybe they should be. I think John Paul II would probably pick him up from the prison himself if he were alive today. And yet I believe unfortunately that Agca's life indeed will come to an end soon. Could the Vatican have prevented this loss of life? "


This is quite a stretch from saying the Pope forgave the man to saying the Vatican should be responsible for his safety.
Tommorrow's Hope Foundation

Bishop Murphy and Sr. Joanne Callahan started this foundation to support the Catholic elementary schools of the Diocese. Parishes will have a second collection on one Sunday a year and half the money will go to the Foundation and half will go to the parish or regional school. This is a good idea but one that is about 20 years late. Having bake sales and car washes to raise money does not cut it anymore when you are talking multi-million dollar budgets. I am a supporter of Catholic schools, but only when they actually teach the faith and when they are viable. Tommorrow's Hope will give out scholarships to students based on need, which is important since Catholic schools are no longer affordable for most. Since Long Island generally has good schools, the Catholic schools have to be very good to survive. I am sure many Catholics would love to send their kids to Catholic school but can't afford it. This Foundation should help.

The figures: 58 Catholic elementary schools

22,000+ students
GEN X Schält

La GEN X Invierte

La GEN X Retournent

La GEN X Ritorna

via Google Translate
Parents pledge fair play (Newsday article)

The article doesn't mention it but this event took place at Chaminade High School. All parishes in the Diocese of Rockville Centre have to abide by a new "Fair Play Agreement" for sports. This Fair Play Agreement sounded like a great idea when I first heard it, but this article makes it sound wimpy -

"If a parent got into a shoving match with a referee or another parent, for example, the fair play coordinator would diplomatically remind them of their pledge to uphold good sportsmanship.

In that case, the coordinator would hand the disgruntled parent a form to write his complaint, and the matter would be discussed at a later meeting. "

What??? Here is a better idea - if a parent got into a shoving match with anyone - the police are called and the parent is arrested. That parent would be banned for life from being anywhere within 500 feet of a Catholic Youth Organization event and would be forced to go to professional counseling. I mean the situation in school sports is already out of hand, and this is the land of the "Mepham High School Football Rapists" - Ken Carney, Phil Sofia, Rich Guccione, and Phil Diasparra in case anyone forgot. So, I think the approach should be much stronger to prevent any violence, or any silly behavior on the part of anyone around sports. Zero tolerance is good for child molesting priests, and it should be the idea in sports as well.
"Ayman al-Zawahiri -- Osama bin Laden's right-hand man in the al Qaeda terrorist network -- was the target of a CIA airstrike Friday in a remote Pakistani village and may have been among those killed, knowledgeable U.S. sources told CNN."

This would be good news. The war on terror must be fought in small battles like this, with the Just War Theory applying.