A Response to Daniel Bornstein's Comments

The Catholic Faith is a package deal and cannot be picked and chosen from, since to do this would inherently be heretical. The word, at its root, is heresy, which is taken from the Greek word ‘hairesis’ meaning “a taking or choosing.”

The Catholic Faith is not something to be arbitrarily toyed with. Rather, we Catholics are called to learn and grown in our knowledge of this great faith. Mr. Bornstein’s claim that “many Catholics” have a ‘liberal’ ideology is flawed because the Catholic Faith itself resoundingly calls for a definite Culture of Life in ALL respects. The Faith isn’t changed on political whims as the secular world is. John Paul II still is morally correct in erring on the side of Life.

It is a matter of sexual ethics that every person must be held responsible for their own actions, and we as a world have grown to treat sex as a trivial thing. This is the primary cause of the secular world’s Culture of Death, NOT John Paul’s stance on contraceptives and abortion.

The Battalion should have balanced Bornstein’s views with that of actual local Catholic leaders who are more knowledgeable in the Catholic Faith than he.

John Book
Class of 2007

Habemus papam! The Election of Pope Benedict XVI

So quickly the Papal Conclave comes to a close. In one of the quickest conclaves, they have elected the German, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, as our next pope, Pope Benedict XVI. I had a pretty good feeling from the onset of the Conclave of two things:

1) The Conclave would be at least as long as John Paul II's one, 3 days, or quicker. Which in the end, it was...and in that it surprised me a little this afternoon.

2) It felt as if Cardinal Ratzinger was the natural choice to become the next pontiff. Like many have been saying, he was close to John Paul II and share many of his ideological stances on Church policy, which I am in total agreement with. Furthermore, his choice was logical after he gave the funeral homily for John Paul II. It at least cemented in my mind that he was my favorite. However, that being said, I would have accepted with full grace if it was to have been another person.

Many around the world are upset for one reason or another...liberal Catholics here in America because he is conservative, Latinos in South America and Africans in Africa because their regional favorite did not become pontiff, or secularists in Europe because his call for an end to relativism in the Church. Of the last, I am glad he came out in beginning swinging on this issue against the relativism in the world today...there are absolute truths and we as a world must see and accept them for what they are....ABSOLUTE.

In the end, we as Catholics, must not complain about our new pope because he hasn't even been given a chance to do any good yet. Time is needed and those dissenters should unite under our one catholic (universal) Church. As a prominent Nigerian priest in the capital Abuja, Matthew Hassan Kukah, said, "This is not the finals of the World Cup. The sentiments are understandable, but this is the Catholic Church. We give thanks to God."

Rightly so, Father. And I give thanks to God for our new pope, Benedict XVI. Viva Benedict XVI!

Fighting the Adversities, Fighting the Good Fight

Friendships are born in face of great adversities. I can guarantee you no less. It is when the greatest of odds and the greatest of challenges do friendships truly and so evidently show themselves than at any other time that one's actions might even seem fool-hearted in nature. It is not the best of times you find your true friends, but it is in the absolute worst of times. It is like when Christ was crucified, all those many years ago, that He saw who his true friends were. It was not Peter, nor any of the other disciples, but that of His Blessed Mother, who stood through it all to be by His side until death and beyond.

So it was similarly this past week, in the student body elections here on campus. The allegations and arguments spewed forth well before the start of the week and grew to be tantamount to a feverish torrent of twisted lies and charges to defame the integrity and honor of a good and well-deserving person. Well before the start of last week, with the student judicial hearings but a week ago to the day, I joined her cause, Marcella Colbert's cause to clear her name. It was in finding that I sought her out, and with questions she in turn sought me out for my concerns. This encounter made a lasting impression on me, for her genuineness in her cause and in her general ethics of conducting herself. I needed no panel of student justices to prove to me, those three and a half days earlier, that she had conducted and continues to conduct herself with "the utmost integrity."

Still today I know she did the right thing in every manner, and I did the right thing to help her cause. Unfortunately, however, the student body did not give her a chance to lead, voting in a 3 to 1 favor of the other candidate, Jim Carlson. I find that her grace through it all has been the best thing to come out of the entire ordeal. It matters not that she won the contest now but that, in the end, she cleared her name, in spite of all odds and in spite of all enemies that have arisen. She's fought the good fight, and that is what matters most of all.

In that, I have found a good friend that I know I can trust.

Dona Nobis Pacem

Dominus exaudi nos
Dominus misrere
Dona nobis pacem
Sanctus, Gloria
dona nobis pacem
e dona eis requiem
inter ovas locum
voca me cum benedictis
pie jesu domine, dona eis requiem
dominus deus, Sanctus, Gloria

The Passing of Pope John Paul II

Today we have lost a great man, a great theologian, a great writer, a great thinker, a great communicator, a great man of peace. Thus I, as a Catholic, must mourn the passing of a great moral and political leader of the world and of a great leader of our Church. In his 26 years as Pope, he helped change this world, filled with so many maladies and so much strife, for the better and helped achieve peace in so many places and in so many lives. All know of him, and all will greatly miss him.

May God have mercy on his soul, and may Perpetual Light shine upon him. Dona nobis pacem. Amen.

"Have no fear of moving into the unknown. Simply step out fearlessly knowing that I am with you, therefore no harm can befall you; all is very, very well. Do this in complete faith and confidence." - Pope John Paul II