Catholic Church is Leading the Way on Ethical Stem Cell Research and Regenerative Medicine

Deacon Keith Fournier discusses adult stem cell research at Catholic.org:

"VATICAN CITY (Catholic Online) - On Thursday April 11, 2013 an extraordinarily important conference began with the enthusiastic approval of the Vatican. The topic is stem cell research and regenerative medicine. In fact, the conference is entitled Regenerative medicine: A Fundamental Shift in Science and Culture and you can read much more about it here. The conference continues through Saturday, April 13, 2013 and is hosted by the Pontifical Council for Culture, STOQ International, NeoStem and the Stem for Life Foundation. The conference brings together medical researchers, politicians, Church leaders, scholars, scientists and students to educate the world and promote ongoing work in the use of adult stem cells."


He lists some of the many examples of stem cell breakthroughs, which he correctly points out are often mentioned in the press in a way that does not clarify they are adult stem cells:


"Back in May of 2011 Scientists from the Schepens Eye Research Institute in Boston, Massachusetts announced the they used stem cells which they derived from ADULT skin to re-grow areas of the retina and improve vision. Chinese researchers announced they have taken stem cells derived from ADULT skin and prompted them to become liver cells, thereby restoring a liver in a laboratory animal. That same month and year, the New England Journal of Medicine reported that scientists discovered that adults have stem cells within their lungs which are capable of being used to regenerate damaged lungs. They found "undifferentiated human lung stem cells nested in niches in the distal airways. These cells are self-renewing, clonogenic, and multipotent in vitro."

...

"In 2011 the first of these conferences supporting, promoting and endorsing was held in Vatican City. It was entitled  Adult Stem Cells: Science and the Future of Man and Culture It was sponsored by the same alliance including the Vatican. When it concluded Pope Benedict XVI made this observation: "the potential benefits of adult stem cell research are very considerable, since it opens up possibilities for healing chronic degenerative illnesses by repairing damaged tissue and restoring its capacity for regeneration. The improvement that such therapies promise would constitute a significant step forward in medical science, bringing fresh hope to sufferers and their families alike. For this reason, the Church naturally offers her encouragement to those who are engaged in conducting and supporting research of this kind, always with the proviso that it be carried out with due regard for the integral good of the human person and the common good of society."

Friday, April 3, 0033 @ 3 PM

Is this the exact date of Jesus' death?  See Jimmy Akin's explanation here.

10 Years Blogging!

I really have not blogged much lately except for pointing out some worthwhile events of interest to Catholics.  However, January 18, 2013 was my 10 year blogiversary.  I am going to try to blog more often and have done some housecleaning by eliminating defunct blogs and sites on the right.  I have also added a donation button for the first time (gotta start the kid's college fund sometime!). 

Catholic man removed from volunteer post at Oceanside parish

From PIX11:

Catholic church removes gay married man from his activities

"Nicholas Coppola’s faith means everything to him. His Long Island home  is full of religious books, pictures of cardinal timothy Dolan even the word, faith.

“Father Nick said I have to remove you from any public ministry, he said I have no choice,” said Coppola.

Coppola was teaching religious instruction, he was a Eucharistic minister and also a lector then in January, he got word from his church in oceanside he couldn’t do any of it anymore. He never thought marrying the love of his life a man would cost him that.

“What was pointed out, you made a very public statement getting married, I think the question was asked why, I said I got married like any other loving couple,” said Coppola.

The pastor of Saint Anthony’s Church in Oceanside told us “He’s always welcome to come to the church and receive the sacraments as far as I’m concerned.”

Pastor Nicholas Lombardi says the decision came from the Diocese of Rockville Center.

The Diocese received an anonymous letter complaining of Coppola’s marital status and sent a letter the parish. He showed us copies.

The Diocese of Rockville Center told us in a statement:

“Gay married people cannot be on staff in the position that he held, however the church is welcoming of all persuasions.”

Coppola just wants to get back to doing what he loved so much."

St. Anthony is a parish that is staffed by Jesuits. 

The Mystery of Matter and the Hunt for the God Particle

 This is an event of the Crossroads Cultural Center which was founded by members of Communion and Liberation.  They host many worthwhile presentations.

 

 A look at the fascinating discovery of the "God Particle" with Dr. Lucio ROSSI, physicist an High Luminosity LHC Project Leader at CERN and an introduction by Dr. Allan J. JACOBSON, Robert A. Welch Chair of Science and Director of the Texas Center for Superconductivity at the University of Houston

Presented by Crossroads Cultural Center

The recent announcement of the discovery of a Higgs-like particle at the Large Hadron Collider, the world’s largest and most powerful particle accelerator, has generated enormous shockwaves in the press. Some people call it The God Particle.
Why such an awesome name? Can it really be the key for unlocking some of the mysteries of the universe? Can it help us understand the origin of mass, for instance? Can it tell us anything about ourselves and our place in the universe?
In this talk, Prof. Lucio Rossi, a leading scientist from the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), will address the fundamental questions scientists are facing in the pursuit of the most fascinating scientific discovery of the century.

About this Event

Date: Tuesday, April 16, 2013
Time: 6:30 pm
Location: University of Houston - Athletics/Alumni Facility - Carl Lewis Auditorium
3100 Cullen Blvd. Houston, TX 77204
UH Entrance 15 off Cullen Blvd.
Open parking in Lots 16F, 16B and 16C.

About the Speakers

Lucio Rossi, PhD
High Luminosity LHC Project Leader, CERN, Geneva, Switzerland

  Allan J. Jacobson, PhD
Robert A. Welch Chair of Science and Director of Texas Center for Superconductivity, University of Houston, Houston, TX

Sports and the Culture

This opinion piece by former NBA player John Amaechi on the firing of Rutgers coach Mike Rice is a good take on the culture of coaching:

Rutgers coach and sports bully culture


"(CNN) -- Too often, it's tempting to view sports through rose-tinted glasses. We believe that coaches always have the best interests of our young people at heart and that everything they do on the side of that court, field, pool or track is for the long-term, holistic benefit of young people.

We even rationalize that coach-player interaction and athlete management behavior that makes us wince and avert our gaze somehow makes our children -- and even society -- stronger and our future elite athlete role models more humble and worthy.

Sadly, "it's character-building" is the rallying cry for dysfunction and another damaged generation. Even when we believe that a young person's sports experience is on the wrong track, we convince ourselves it can't have that much of an impact. I wish that were true, but medieval coaches, like the recently fired Mike Rice at Rutgers University, are a detriment to society, not just sport.

As a former basketball player at college and in the NBA, I know this coaching style firsthand."


Coaches can be a huge influence on athletes and what is considered acceptable behavior is way below what is expected of teachers.  Athletes and sports have a huge influence on the culture at large and vice versa. Catholics should have a good influence on both sports and culture especially since there are so many Catholic colleges, universities, high schools and elementary schools.

At The Deacons Bench there is an article linked that shows that people often choose sports for their children above going to Church on Sunday.  Chaminade High School has a good practice - an entire sports team attends Mass together on Sunday at each teammate's parish.

Reform of the Reform in the Diocese of Rockville Centre

 (This is an old post that I apparently saved as a draft and never posted)

I was checking Mass times for Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Lindenhurst when this note on the front page of their website struck me:

"Thanks be to God, the Blessed Sacrament is now back in the sanctuary "front and center". The focus is now where it ought to be... on Christ in the Eucharist and in our lives. - Father Anthony"

Right below are some pictures of their new altar and rearranged sanctuary.

As Fr. Z. says, Brick by Brick......

There was an idea pushed in the 1970's and 1980's within the Church: The tabernacle should be moved to a place set apart from the sanctuary. This, combined with a Church design that would allow people to sit closer to the altar and even face one another, would make Catholics focus on the Liturgical action taking place. It would emphasize the presence of Christ in fellow parishioners. It would end the assumed widespread problem of Catholics focusing on the Real Presence in the Eucharist during Mass. This idea, like the pet rock and bell bottom pants, was not so good and in many places is now falling out of favor. The results of these moves may not have been what was intended: people now feel free to talk loudly in Church - before, during and after Mass, the worst offenders are the elderly and the ushers. (Ironically another idea in the 70's and 80's was to expand or create large spaces in front of the main section of the Church to create a 'gathering space'. This was to encourage community and was a good idea and is where the meet and greets should be taking place.) There is very little to no prayer before or after Mass. Catholics have less of a belief in the Real Presence today and very little belief in the value of piety. Many people are returning the tabernacle to the traditional location and are pleased with the results.

Faith On Tap

I have not been to a Faith on Tap in quite awhile (which makes sense since I am no longer of the age group for this event), but hopefully I will stop by sometime because they were always interesting and fun.


"Being A Young Catholic in the 21st Century"

All Young Adults
You are invited to join us on
Monday, April 22 for our Next Faith on Tap

Join us on Monday, April 22, as Paul Morisi discusses the challenges that face young adults in the church.  Why do young adults leave the Catholic Church ... and why do others stay? What does the Church offer young adults in the 21st Century?  Come out and join us as we discuss these issues!


Faith on Tap will be held at the Wantagh Inn
3264 Railroad Avenue 
Across from the RR Station
Doors will open at7:00
Come out early ~ have dinner ~ meet new friends ~
re-connect with old friends
Talk begins at 7:30

Christian-Jewish Relations In the Middle Ages According to Primary Sources

At Seton Hall University in New Jersey:

The Department of Catholic Studies is pleased to present a lecture in its Medieval Catholicism Lecture Series, entitled "Christian-Jewish Relations in the Middle Ages according to Primary Sources: Nicolas Donin and the Paris Talmud Trial of 1240." The lecture will be presented by Piero Cappelli, Ph.D., Professor of Hebrew Language and Literature at Ca' Foscari University in Venice, Italy, and Visiting Professor of History at Johns Hopkins University.

The lecture will be held on Thursday, April 11 at 4 p.m. in The Walsh Library’s Beck Rooms A and B. This event is free of charge and open to the public. Light refreshments to follow.

About the Lecture

The thirteenth century marked a turning point in the relationship between Christians and Jews. In a single decade, from 1230-1240, the status of the Jews and Judaism in the Holy Roman Empire and in the other Christian kingdoms of Europe was transformed and defined for several centuries to come. These events can be viewed and understood through the prism of one man: Nicolas Donin, the convert from Judaism who acted as the prosecutor in the first public trial against the Talmud in Paris in 1240. This lecture will explain how and why Nicolas Donin stood at the crossroads of religious and political developments in his lifetime, according to primary sources. The lecture will expand the analysis from the intellectual discourse to its application in the 13th century politics.

About the Lecturer

Piero Capelli is an Associate Professor of Hebrew Language and Literature at Ca' Foscari University, Venice, Italy, and a Visiting Associate Professor of History at Johns Hopkins University. He is currently the Primo Levi Fellow at the Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. Professor Capelli's research interests are focused in the history of texts and ideas in late antiquity and medieval Judaism, especially in the Greek pseudepigrapha, in Hebrew and Aramaic rabbinic literature, and in medieval Jewish-Christian intellectual polemics. His most recent book is a history of the conceptual field of evil in Judaism from the Bible to early Qabbalah (Il male, Florence 2013). He is currently working on the first critical edition of the Hebrew account of the public trial held against the Talmud in Paris in 1240, which results he will share with us in this lecture.
 

Happy Easter!

It has been 22 months since I became a father and there has been little time for blogging.  I am going to try to do it more often now, as long as my son will allow me.  Happy Easter!

Seinfeld, Baldwins and the Orthodox

I grew up in Massapequa just like Jerry Seinfeld and those Baldwin guys.  I think within this classic American suburb you can see the 'signs of the times' regarding Christianity -

The Christian Science Reading Room that had been on Merrick Rd. for decades is now St. Peter's & St. Paul's Malankara Jacobite Syrian Orthodox Church.

What was once an Episcopal Church is now St. Gregory of Nyssa Orthodox Church.  (OK, technically this is Seaford but it still shows the Orthodox and Liturgically rich Churches are expanding)

Domus Porta Fidei

An interesting new community is being formed at the seminary of the Immaculate Conception in Huntington that is open to young lay people. 

Check it out at http://domusportafidei.org/community/

Another Long Islander becomes a Bishop:

"ROCKVILLE CENTRE, N.Y. – February 11, 2013 – Pope Benedict XVI has appointed Rev. Msgr. Robert J. Coyle, 48, to be an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of the Military.  Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, apostolic nuncio to the United States, made the announcement public earlier today in Washington, DC.  Bishop-Elect Coyle is a priest of the Diocese of Rockville Centre and currently serves as pastor of Corpus Christi parish, Mineola, New York.
Bishop-Elect Coyle will be ordained a bishop by His Excellency, the Most Reverend Timothy P. Broglio, J.C.D., Archbishop for the Military Services, at the Basilica Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, Washington, D.C. on April 25, 2013."

Pope Resigns

"Pope Benedict XVI told a gathering of cardinals Feb. 11 that he no longer has the strength to carry out ministry and will resign on Feb. 28.

“I have convoked you to this Consistory, not only for the three canonizations, but also to communicate to you a decision of great importance for the life of the Church.

“After having repeatedly examined my conscience before God, I have come to the certainty that my strengths, due to an advanced age, are no longer suited to an adequate exercise of the Petrine ministry,” Pope Benedict said."

Read more: http://www.ewtnnews.com/catholic-news/Vatican.php?id=6998#ixzz2KeADOdVf

For a completely stupid analysis see Bob Keeler's editorial in Newsday, which is not worth a link.   My own thoughts are as follows:

Pope John Paul II was a great man, a Pope who absolutely  was 'made' to be Pope.  He was an athletic and fit man before his assassination so he could handle the rigorous job, until he became very old and sick.  He was outgoing and thrived before crowds.  His personal history and personality fit the job as a great man on the world stage.  John Paul II will be known as JP the Great because his papacy had a profound mark on the world.  Pope Benedict XVI was introspective, a scholar, a humble and quiet man more suited to an office job or a library, as he himself would have preferred.    Benedict did some huge things within the Church but they did not affect the wider world much.  His was more of an 'inside baseball' Papacy and this was just as important and necessary to us Catholics as Pope JP II's was to the world.

I Am Still Here

I am just not able to spend anytime blogging or being as involved in the Catholic blog community as I used to be.  I recently came across a blog by several young contributors who, as it turns out, are mostly Long Islanders.  Check out Gaudium Dei.

Society of Catholic Social Scientists

 

Friday, October 26 & Saturday, October 27, 2012

at Kellenberg Memorial High School

1400 Glenn Curtiss Boulevard

Uniondale, New York 11553

(516)-292-0200  ext. 200 

Click here for more information

 

Votive Mass for Blessed Karl I of the House of Austria

I was alerted to this Mass by a reader:

Glen Cove (Long Island), New York

St. Patrick's Church
235 Glen Street
October 22,2012
6:30 p.m. Solemn Votive Mass of Blessed Karl of Austria

In the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite with music by Our Lady of the Angels Young Womens' Chorus. Canonry of Saint Leopold (Canons Regular of Saint Augustine)

The Very Rev'd Dom Daniel Stephen Nash, Can. Reg. Prior

For more information regarding Blessed Karl of Austria see the Beatification and Canonization Site.

East End church installed as basilica

 "Bishop Murphy said he asked that Pope Benedict grant this honor to Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary because of its beauty and significance as a center of worship for more than 100 years. Established for immigrant domestic workers who refused to come east to work for wealthy Protestant estate owners at the turn of the 20th century unless they had a place to worship, the parish has continued to grow with the community.

With the diocesan cathedral located in Rockville Centre, “some in Suffolk and especially the East End have felt distant from the diocese,” the bishop said in December, when he announced the pope’s decision to name Sacred Hearts a basilica. “I thought it would be a mark of recognition to the Catholics of the East End to have a parish with a distinguished history and a church building of remarkable beauty, well supported by a congregation of faith, receive this title.”

During the inauguration, Bishop Murphy blessed the traditional symbolic items granted use in a basilica – the “ombrellina,” an umbrella made in the papal colors of red and gold, and the “tintinnabulum” a miniature bell on a pole."

 

Murphy seeking Vatican OK for Latino auxiliary bishop

"Bishop William Murphy said Friday he is seeking Vatican approval for the first Latino auxiliary bishop in the Diocese of Rockville Centre to help serve the needs of Long Island's growing Hispanic population. Murphy said he made the request about two months ago, and that he could get an answer before the start of summer, though more likely it will come in the fall. He has submitted the names of three candidates, all from outside the diocese, whom he did not identify. "I would like that very much as a way to solidify the commitment of the church to the Hispanic population and give them at the highest level of our life as church a voice and presence that will confirm them and encourage them," Murphy said in an interview."


This makes a lot of sense considering how many Latinos are on Long Island.   Another Newsday article discusses the growing Latino population the Diocese:

Latino Catholics bring faith, fervor to Church

Canons Regular of Saint Augustine

Click the above link to check out the website of the canons in Glen Cove.  There are some great pictures - this looks like a great addition to our Diocese.