Faith of the Fathers

Monday, October 15, 2012

The following excerpts are from National Catholic Register:

WASHINGTON — U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia looks around the packed room in the Catholic Information Center (CIC) as if to estimate its temper.
He begins his address quoting a Frenchman: “‘France is a country …’” A faint anticipatory chuckle ripples over the crowd, spilling out into the doorway where the late-comers stand.
The justice corrects himself and adopts the appropriate accent. “‘Frahhhnce eez a cohhntry with two religions and three hondred cheeses. The United States eez a country with three hondred religions and two cheeses.’” He pauses for a moment and resumes his native inflection. “I always have trouble remembering the second cheese.”
The crowd laughs — neither for the first nor for the last time that evening.
Justice Scalia knows how to amuse his audience, even from behind the intimidating height of the Supreme Court bench. The atmosphere at the CIC on a Wednesday night in October is more relaxed and intimate than that of the court (despite the wire-eared security terriers present for Scalia’s protection), but the subject is as serious as any the court rules on: the separation of church and state.

O Most Holy Virgin Mary,

Queen of the most holy Rosary,

you were pleased to appear to the children of Fatima

and reveal a glorious message.

We implore you,

inspire in our hearts a fervent love

for the recitation of the Rosary.

By meditating on the mysteries of the redemption

that are recalled therein

may we obtain the graces and virtues that we ask,

through the merits of Jesus Christ,

our Lord and Redeemer.

Amen

The following excerpt is from ACLJ:

The Iranian lawyer who successfully represented Christian Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani in court, leading to his eventual release and acquittal of apostasy, has been detained and ordered to serve a lengthy prison sentence in one of Iran’s most dangerous prisons.