Faith of the Fathers

Thursday, September 06, 2012

The following excerpts are from CNA (Catholic News Agency):

Rome, Italy, Sep 6, 2012 / 01:12 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The Italian Jesuit who was exiled from Syria after criticizing President Bashar al-Assad says he is still hopeful for the country’s future despite its descent into war.
“I see hope in the fact that the Syrian people are very attached to their country, very attached to the fact that they are a mosaic country. People want to keep that. They are committed to pluralism,” said Jesuit Father Paolo Dall’Oglio in an interview with CNA.
Fr. Dall'Oglio spent over 30 years in Syria as part of the Deir Mar Musa Monastic Community. Throughout that time he was a champion for interfaith dialogue in the majority-Muslim country, where Christians make up around 10 percent of the population.
Since being exiled, he has watched in horror as fighting has spread throughout Syria.

The following excerpts are from Catholic Culture's Catholic World News:

Using unusually strong language, Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio of Buenos Aires has criticized Catholic pastors who refuse to baptize children born to single mothers.
The cardinal expressed his sympathy for a young woman who, after becoming pregnant, resists temptations to abortion and gives birth to the child. Then, he said, she finds herself “on a pilgrimage, going from parish to parish, trying to find someone who would baptize her child.”

The following excerpts are from LifeSiteNews.com:

CHARLOTTE, North Carolina, September 5, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) - After the Democratic party’s decision to remove the last reference to God in the party platform sparked negative media coverage this week, delegates at the Democratic National Convention passed a revised platform that included the Almighty - but not without considerable controversy.
A voice vote took place Wednesday evening on the updated platform, which also included new pro-Israel language; but when Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa of Los Angeles, the chair of the session, first called for the vote, he appeared confused when a considerable portion of the delegates shouted “nay,” making the vote inconclusive.
Villaraigosa then called for a second voice vote, which was also inconclusive. After calling for a third vote, which also appeared to have the delegates divided, Villaraigosa declared that the “ayes” had the needed two-thirds majority, a decision that was greeted with loud boos from those opposed to the revision.