Fairfield, a Jesuit University: Let’s Talk About Sex

Amplify’d from fairfieldmirror.com

Let’s Talk About Sex

By: Peter Caty, Annie Rooney, Dan Leitão and Elizabeth Connors

Decisions the Fairfield University administration makes are often done for appearance. Suddenly cutting off all ties with Doug Perlitz, supporting LGBTQ rights and purchasing a fleet of hybrid Public Safety vehicles all make the University appear to be a sensible and accepting place.

Fairfield, a Jesuit University, doesn’t allow for the sale or distribution of condoms on campus. While Jesuit are often known as one of the most liberal Catholic orders, the forbiddance of condoms on one of the ways this administration proves we are still Catholic.

Yet isn’t it time for administrators to open their eyes to the undisputable facts that are in plain sight?

Our survey this week was distributed to 145 Fairfield students in the campus center and its results speak for themselves.

75% of students on campus are sexually active.

96% of students want condoms on campus.

94% of students don’t believe condom usage is immoral.

These percentages should not be ignored.

Research has proven that condoms prevent the spread of STDs and HIV/AIDS, and now the Pope acknowledges the reality as well.

Now the Pope has given a semi-nod for gay male prostitutes to use condoms to stop the spread of sexual infections, but Fairfield still refuses to change its condom policy.

Fairfield has non-Catholic students who may not feel that condoms are immoral, yet we do not provide the option for those students who want to act responsibly to protect themselves and their partners by practicing safe sex.

It is fair to say that students who enrolled in this University were aware of the ideals and mission of the Jesuits upon applying to join the community. As students in a Jesuit community, we are familiar with the Christian practices of abstinence and making love only to procreate or to strengthen the bond of a married couple. Being a Christian-centered community, aspiring to educate the whole person- mind, body and spirit – Fairfield University’s goals are not specifically geared in catering to students sexual needs or protective measures.

So the University is not responsible for providing these contraceptives free of charge, but we don’t understand why they cannot be available for purchase at our bookstore. Enrolled as undergraduates, we are all adults who deserve the right to take responsibility for our actions. Students without cars however cannot act responsibly in sexual situations unless they have stocked up prior to their September arrival.

Which of these situations is worse: Having a rack of condoms available in the shelves of the bookstore, or inspecting a dorm room with a drawer packed of a condom collection?

Similar Posts: Read more at fairfieldmirror.com

Pope OKs Condoms, Fairfield Stays Stagnant Read more at fairfieldmirror.com

Condoms on campus: preaching safety or hypocrisy? Read more at fairfieldmirror.com

Vatican takes steps towards AIDS prevention Read more at fairfieldmirror.com

EDITORIAL: The reality of sex, the necessity of condoms Read more at fairfieldmirror.com

Condoms: When religion and reality collide Read more at fairfieldmirror.com

 

See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/h5ae

"Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests"

Judy Jones, SNAP Midwest Associate Director, 636-433-2511

snapjudy@gmail.com http://www.snapnetwork.org/

Amplify’d from www.timesleader.com

"Who to Call" ?? Not the diocese, Not the Maryland Province, We urge anyone who was injured by McLaughlin to call 'police officials', not church officials. Child sex crimes, however old, should be investigated by the independent professionals in law enforcement, not the biased amateurs in church offices If you were harmed by clergy, we hope you'll come forward, speak up, contact a therapist, or some independent, experienced source of help. You are not alone, and there is hope for healing. Judy Jones, SNAP Midwest Associate Director, 636-433-2511 snapjudy@gmail.com "Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests" http://www.snapnetwork.org/ Read more at www.timesleader.com

 

See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/h59w

Possible victims of priest sought

Diocese says woman has made “credible allegation” from 1963 against Neil McLaughlin.



Those with information about possible abuse by Neil McLaughlin are asked to call the Maryland Province at 443-921-1326.

Amplify’d from www.timesleader.com

Possible victims of priest sought

Diocese says woman has made “credible allegation” from 1963 against Neil McLaughlin.

By Mark Guydish mguydish@timesleader.com Education Reporter

SCRANTON – The Diocese of Scranton issued a notice Tuesday stating the Maryland Province of the Society of Jesus – the Jesuits – is seeking any information from possible victims abused as minors by one of the Society’s priests.

Jesuit priests who serve within the 11-county diocese do not answer to the bishop, but to their province. The priest in question, Neil McLaughlin, was ordained in 1959 and served in Scranton for much of his religious career. He taught at Scranton Preparatory School 1961-83 and 1985-86, and held several posts at The University of Scranton from 1985 through 2006. He also helped out at area churches when needed.

The diocesan notice said the Maryland Province has received “a credible allegation from an adult woman who contacted the Jesuits in 2008 regarding an abusive incident she suffered as a young girl in Scranton in 1963.”

Maureen Locher, from the Maryland Province, said McLaughlin, now 82, was removed from all ministries and barred from practicing or describing himself as a priest publicly in 2006, two years before the recent allegation.

That action was taken after the Province had reviewed McLaughlin’s record and discovered a much earlier allegation of sexual misconduct that apparently had not been acted on, Locher said. The entire first incident occurred before the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops issued its “Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People.”

The charter was a response to the priest sex abuse scandal that started in Boston and swept across the nation. Coupled with new mandates from the Vatican, it was designed in part as an answer to numerous allegations that bishops had concealed the problem by reassigning accused priests rather than removing them from duty.

Locher noted the Jesuits are technically not bound to the charter since they are not diocesan priests, but they follow it. One component of the charter called for all dioceses to review their records for cases of alleged abuse to make sure they were handled properly. Locher said that when the Diocese of Scranton did that, it also asked the Province to review the Jesuits in the diocese. That review uncovered the earlier allegation that sidelined McLaughlin in 2006.

Mark Guydish, a Times Leader staff writer, can be reached at 829-7161

Who to call

Those with information about possible abuse by Neil McLaughlin are asked to call the Maryland Province at 443-921-1326. Read more at www.timesleader.com

 

See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/h593

Amplify’d from www.commentarymagazine.com

Two Popes, One Holocaust

Kevin Madigan

During the first four years of his pontificate, Pope Benedict XVI put the beatification proceedings of the controversial World War II–era pope, Pius XII, in abeyance. It was, Benedict announced, a time for “reflection”—not yet the time to grant sainthood. At the end of last year, however, the pope apparently decided that the time for “reflection” should draw to a close. In a Mass commemorating the 50th anniversary of the wartime pontiff’s death, Benedict moved Pius XII closer to canonization by declaring him “blessed” and “venerable.” Born Eugenio Pacelli, Pius XII presided over the church from 1939 until his death in 1958. In the mysterious, intramural language of the Vatican, venerabilis is a posthumous recognition that designates one who, in his lifetime, achieved acts of heroic virtue. Yet even if one puts aside the contentious debate over what he did or did not do for Jews being deported during the war, Pius XII’s reign was, in fact, conspicuous for its lack of heroism. Seen in that light, Benedict’s declaration of Pius XII as venerable made one wonder how different, in his relationship with the Jewish community, Benedict XVI would be from his beloved predecessor John Paul II.

As it happens, there are interesting questions involving Pius XII and his immediate predecessor, Pius XI. Born Achille Ratti, the elder Pius served as pope from 1929 to 1939. New research by Father Hubert Wolf, a distinguished church historian at the University of Münster, in the Vatican Secret Archives and those of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith has cast new light on the two popes who found themselves having to cope with the rise of fascism in Western Europe and Marxism-Leninism to the East. These materials, released only in 2006 and described in Wolf’s Pope and Devil: The Vatican’s Archives and the Third Reich, are, as he observes, “informative particularly as they relate to the person of Eugenio Pacelli” both in his diplomatic and early papal offices. They also allow us to wonder whether the right Pope Pius is being considered for canonization.

About the Author Kevin J. Madigan is the Winn Professor of ­Ecclesiastical History at Harvard Divinity School and the co-author, with Jon D. Levenson, of Resurrection: The Power of God for Christians and Jews, published by Yale University Press. Read more at www.commentarymagazine.com

 

See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/h58p

Condom position a hypocrisy and contradictions of Catholic doctrine

Amplify’d from www.timesunion.com

Condom position a contradiction

I have long been profoundly dismayed by the Vatican's anti-condom position. Although I disavowed the hypocrisy and contradictions of Catholic doctrine in my teens, it held at the time that conception could be prevented intentionally through the "rhythm method" but not by the use of "artificial means." The intent is the same but both methods are not acceptable despite condoms being more dependable. No rational compassionate person wants to see an unwanted pregnancy or abortion, yet the use of condoms could go far in avoiding both. The biological purpose of sex is procreation but in the real world, it can be an expression of love or simply for physical pleasure. The Vatican needs to get into that world because that is not going to change. The Vatican says the use of condoms as it relates to HIV prevention is "still immoral" but is essentially condoning it because it will save lives. How do the Catholic faithful resolve that contradiction? Do those high-minded hypocrites in the Vatican not see that the use of condoms will do the same by preventing pregnancies which result in abortion? Does being immoral condemn the perpetrators to the hell which the Catholic hierarchy uses to create fear and conform behavior? The very concept of a posthumous existence of eternal damnation and suffering would be laughable if it did not so profoundly and negatively affect so many people. Harold Wagner Guilderland Read more at www.timesunion.com

 

See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/h58g

Amplify’d from www.adnkronos.com

Italy: Man 'commits suicide' after failing to become a priest

A 29-year-old man committed suicide by throwing himself from the city walls in the medieval central Italian city of Orvieto, apparently because the Vatican refused to ordain him as a priest.

Orvieto, 1 Dec. (AKI) - A 29-year-old man committed suicide by throwing himself from the city walls in the medieval central Italian city of Orvieto, apparently because the Vatican refused to ordain him as a priest. In a suicide note found in his room, typed on his computer, Luca Seidita, said he killed himself because the Vatican had blocked his ordination on 7 December. "I wanted to be a priest, and dedicated my whole life to this goal, but it was denied me," Seidita, who was from Lecce in southern Italy. Seidita, who was a deacon, took his own life late on Tuesday - after the Holy See intervened directly to stop his ordination from going ahead on 7 December. The body was found by an Orvieto resident walking his dog. His body showed injuries consistent with having fallen 30 metres, but no signs of foul play. Magistrates were due to decide on Wednesday whether to order an autopsy. The Vatican does not intend to comment on Seidita, its spokesman Federico Lombardi told Adnkronos. Nor does it intend to state why it blocked his ordination, Lombardi said. "We are talking about one of the sacraments and the Holy See cannot provide any explanations," he said. "We are not saying anything," he added. The diocese of Orvieto-Todi on Tuesday informed Seidita in writing that his ordination had been stopped "due to the direct intervention of the Holy See". "The reasons for this will soon be subject to clarification... we pray that don Luca may soon recover from this great test," the Orvieto-Todi diocese wrote. In November, a 51-year-old priest named in reports as S.R. committed suicide on a railway line near the northern city of Bergamo. He had been exposed by Italian investigative TV show 'Le Iene' in April over his alleged sexual abuse of young boys in the Bergamo area. The priest had been undergoing psychological and spiritual therapy after he was removed from his post by the bishop of Cremona. Read more at www.adnkronos.com

 

See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/h589

Amplify’d from www.popsci.com

Vatican Praises Genetically Modified Crops, While U.S. Judge Orders Their Destruction

By Rebecca Boyle

Sugar Beet Seedling

It’s been a strange few days in the world of genetically modified food. For the first time, a judge has ordered the destruction of a GMO crop, saying it was planted in violation of a previous ruling. Meanwhile, Vatican science advisers are urging support for GMO crops, saying scientists have a moral duty to help the world’s poor.

On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White ordered the removal of genetically modified sugar beet stecklings from hundreds of acres of farm fields, saying the U.S. Department of Agriculture improperly gave permission for their planting. Sugar beet stecklings are planted in the fall, uprooted during the winter, and replanted to produce seed.

Last fall, White ruled the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) had violated the National Environmental Policy Act by allowing the plantings without analyzing their potential impacts on the environment and human health. This August, he said no more GMO beets could be planted until a NEPA review was done. But some stecklings were still planted in Arizona and Oregon, prompting the environmental law group Earthjustice and the Center for Food Safety to file suit in September. White’s latest ruling answers that lawsuit and orders the GMO stecklings to be removed from the ground.

In 2010, 95 percent of the nation’s sugar beets were genetically modified to tolerate glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup weed killer developed by St. Louis-based Monsanto Co. Half the nation’s sugar comes from sugar beets, which are sliced and boiled into a syrupy mash. In January 2008, public interest groups sued to challenge the USDA’s deregulation of the crop, starting a cascade of legal action that led to Tuesday’s ruling.

Environmental groups note that the proliferation of herbicide-resistant plants has led to superweeds, that the use of chemicals can pollute land and water and that genetically modified crops have not been sufficiently studied. But Monsanto and other GM food advocates argue “Roundup Ready” beets and other crops allow farmers to avoid tilling their land to remove weeds, and that genetic modification in general can improve crop yields and provide tolerance to pests and drought. The Vatican is apparently on their side. In a statement (PDF) this week, Vatican science advisers said opposition to GM crops in developed countries is unjustified. The Pontifical Academy expressed provisional support for GM crops 10 years ago, and the statement is the result of a week-long meeting in May 2009 at the Vatican, convened by a Swiss scientist who helped develop vitamin A-enhanced golden rice. Academy member Peter Raven, immediate past president of the Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis (which has received funds from hometown firm Monsanto), told New Scientist although the global community will never have a unified official line on GM crops, “Our statement is about as close as you can get to one.” The 14-page document makes the case for GM crops as a way to feed the world, and says it’s no more dangerous than evolution: “The possible evolutionary risks of genetic engineering events cannot be greater than the risks of the natural process of biological evolution or of the application of chemical mutagenesis.” The academy even tackles the question of whether scientists are “playing God” by messing with nature, and the answer is no: “New human forms of intervention in the natural world should not be seen as contrary to the natural law that God has given to the Creation.” Vatican law or American law, this debate is far from over. Read more at www.popsci.com

 

See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/h57x

Christians most persecuted religious group, Vatican tells summit meeting

Yeah! and Catholicism is behind most of the persecution!

Amplify’d from www.catholicnewsagency.com

Christians most persecuted religious group, Vatican tells summit meeting

Astana, Kazakhstan, Dec 1, 2010 / 03:16 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Christians are the world’s most persecuted religious group, the Vatican’s top diplomat told a summit of international leaders meeting in Kazakhstan, Dec. 1.

On the first day of a two-day meeting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone urged member nations to fight anti-Christian discrimination in the same way that it fights discrimination against other religious groups.

The 56 member countries of the organization include the United States and Canada, as well as European nations, former Soviet bloc countries, and Turkey, among others. The meeting of heads of state is intended to address security questions. Topping the agenda were transnational threats such as terrorism and human trafficking, recent unrest in Kyrgyzstan and the ongoing tensions in Afghanistan.

Cardinal Bertone said that that worldwide more than 200 million Christians “live in difficult conditions” because of legal and cultural restrictions on worship and religious freedom. “It is well documented that Christians are the most discriminated and persecuted religious group,” he stated. Read more at www.catholicnewsagency.com

 

See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/h57n

Amplify’d from www.cbsnews.com

Female Police Chief Murdered in Mexico

by Susana Seijas

Mexican federal police officers man a roadblock in the town of Meoqui, state of Chihuahua, northern Mexico, Monday Nov. 29, 2010 after the police chief of the town was gunned down.

Hermila Garcia, 38, was shot on her way to work Monday by a convoy of gunmen. Garcia, a trained lawyer, took the job as police chief on Oct. 9 in the town of Meoqui, in drug violence-ridden Chihuahua state.

The assailants intercepted her in the town of Los Garcia, some 10 kilometers from Meoqui around 7:20 a.m. Monday. Garcia was in charge of up to 90 police agents in a mostly agricultural region of the Chihuahua state, some 70 kilometers south of Chihuahua City, the capital of the state.

"La Jefa," as she was known to her police agents, didn't carry weapons or have bodyguards.

"If you don't owe anything, you don't fear anything," she was fond of saying when asked why she didn't have security.

Mexican media reported that Garcia was single and lived with her parents, whom she supported financially.

Mexico's drug violence has claimed almost 30,000 lives since President Felipe Calderon took office in late 2006 and sent about 45,000 soldiers to fight the powerful drug cartels. In recent months, Meoqui had started to see some of this violence. A once peaceful town, the drug violence-related death tally has shot up to 40 deaths so far this year. Normally that death count would account for homicides over seven years.

Policing has become a job so dangerous that men are now shying away from such posts. Just last month, 20-year old mother and student Marisol Valles was appointed chief of police in Praxedis, in the Juarez valley, a key drug smuggling route just across the border from Texas also in Chihuahua state. Why did a 20-year-old mother accept the position? No one else would. Her predecessor was kidnapped more than a year ago. His head was deposited outside the police station a few days after he disappeared. After that, no one came forward to fill the police chief vacancy for more than a year -- until Valles was appointed top cop by the town's mayor.

Other women who have taken top policing jobs because no men would include two housewives: Ver?nica R?os Ontiveros and Olga Herrera Castillo, who took over policing jobs in El Vergel and Villa de Luz, both in Juarez, now known as the "murder capital" of the world due to its high murder rate. The Juarez valley has had more than 2,700 drug violence-related deaths this year. Read more at www.cbsnews.com

 

See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/gztz

Air Force Space Command Says Vandenberg Air Force Base Has Begun Landing Preparations for the Unmanned X-37B's Return

Amplify’d from www.cbsnews.com

Mystery Air Force Spacecraft to Return to Earth

Air Force Space Command Says Vandenberg Air Force Base Has Begun Landing Preparations for the Unmanned X-37B's Return

(AP)  An unmanned Air Force space plane that spent seven months in orbit is set to return to Earth. The X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle is scheduled to land at Vandenberg Air Force Base northwest of Los Angeles sometime between Friday and Monday, depending on the weather and other factors. The Air Force Space Command said in a statement Tuesday the base has begun preparations for the landing. The X-37B resembles a small space shuttle. Since it launched in April, space enthusiasts have speculated about its ultimate purpose. The Air Force has said the space plane was to serve as a test platform for unspecified experiments. Hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent on the X-37 program, but the current total hasn't been released. Read more at www.cbsnews.com

 

See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/gztg