O'CONNOR TO BE REPLACED BY O'CONNOR?
TO GET SUED, QUOTE JW LITERATURE
COURAGE AND HOMOSEXUALS
Dear Friend of Catholic Answers:
The nomination of Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court has met with less than resounding enthusiasm from people who had been hoping for someone who could be expected to vote to overturn Roe v. Wade.
The appointment could have been worse. The President could have named Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, who is pro-abortion. Miss Miers (she never married) may be vaguely pro-life, but so far there is too little information about her to know.
Miers, a former Catholic, had been active in her Evangelical church in Texas, but her pastor said that in 25 years he and she never spoke about abortion.
Some conservative commentators are saying that this is a "crony appointment." Others are saying, "Trust the President." Still others note--I think they have a good point--that no one will be able to say with a straight face that Miers is clearly the best possible nominee.
Over the last few months several "originalist" jurists have been mentioned as possible replacements for Sandra Day O'Connor, each with more experience than Miers (she never has been a judge) and each with a more evident pro-life posture (if she has a pro-life posture, it has not been evident publicly).
John Roberts was credited, even by his foes, with a high degree of judicial professionalism and savvy. No one yet is talking that way about Miers.
While it may be unfair to call this a "crony appointment," I have to say that it does not appear to be one over which pro-lifers should exult. Quite possibly the successor to Sandra Day O'Connor will prove to be--another Sandra Day O'Connor.
ARE ABRAHAM, ISAAC, AND JACOB LIVING IN SAN DIEGO?
The leaders of the Jehovah's Witnesses are going to court to fight "embarrassment" caused them by a web site that quotes their own literature.
The web site, operated out of Canada, is:
http://quotes.watchtower.ca
Peter Mosier set up the site in 1998. On it he has published short extracts from official Watchtower publications, and he has let the extracts speak for themselves.
He explains that "in all cases, references are provided to the original work. All quotes can be verified by any interested person. The context of the quote has been preserved by including a reasonable amount of surrounding text." The quotations are grouped in several broad categories: "beliefs," "requirements," "medical & science," "publications," and "talks."
Mosier adds no commentary of his own. His site says, "If you are looking for criticism, critique, or editorial commentary regarding Jehovah's Witnesses, you have come to the wrong place. On the other hand, if you want to read the Society's own words, as provided by their publications, so you can study and research on your own without bias, then you have come to the right place."
On September 8 the Toronto resident was served with a lawsuit that seeks $100,000 in damages. The legal filings claim that Mosier is trying to embarrass the Watchtower Society and that his web site has resulted in "a loss of reputation and goodwill."
There is an element of truth here: What is found in many of the quotations really is embarrassing and in all likelihood will result in a diminution of the Watchtower's reputation. After all, what other result might one expect from a 1932 quotation in which the Watchtower claimed that the theory of gravity is wrong and that planets are held in place not by gravity but by electrical forces?
Then there are the prophecies. JW authorities wrote: "Therefore we may confidently expect that 1925 will mark the return of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and the faithful prophets of old, particularly those named by the Apostle in Hebrews chapter eleven, to the condition of human perfection."
You may have heard that things did not quite turn out that way.
The three patriarchs did not return to Earth in 1925 or at any later time, even though the Jehovah's Witnesses built a fine house for them in San Diego. The house was call Beth Sharim ("House of Princes") and today is occupied not by biblical personages but by a regular family. It was used, until his death in 1942, by Joseph Rutherford, one-time head of the Watchtower Society.
It was the Watchtower's string of false prophecies that induced Peter Mosier to leave the sect seven years ago. He set up his web site for those interested in learning more about the JWs than is told by the group's door-to-door evangelists.
The Watchtower Society claims that Mosier exceeds "fair dealing" provisions of Canada's copyright laws. (These are known as "fair use" provisions in the U.S.) Mosier's attorney says that the quotations amount to less than one-tenth of one percent of the source material that they are taken from, well within the proportions allowed by the "fair dealing" law.
"CORAGGIO, CORAGGIO!"
In one of his first public talks Pope John Paul II exhorted his listeners to have "Courage, courage!"
Many Catholics have that virtue, among them being many members of the group that conveniently is called Courage. Inspired by the late Terence Cardinal Cooke of New York and headed for many years by Fr. John Harvey, Courage helps Catholic homosexuals follow the Church's moral teachings.
The organization has five goals:
1. Chastity: "Live chaste lives in accordance with the Roman Catholic Church's teaching on homosexuality."
2. Prayer and dedication: "Dedicate one's life to Christ through service to others, spiritual reading, prayer, meditation, individual spiritual direction, frequent attendance at Mass, and the frequent reception of the sacraments of reconciliation and Holy Eucharist."
3. Fellowship: "Foster a spirit of fellowship in which all may share thoughts and experiences and so ensure that no one will have to face the problems of homosexuality alone."
4. Support: "Be mindful of the truth that chaste friendships are not only possible but necessary in a chaste Christian life and in doing so provide encouragement to one another in forming and sustaining them."
5. Good Example: "Live lives that may serve as good examples to others."
I have known Fr. Harvey for some years. He is solidly with the Church on the teaching regarding homosexuality, and Courage is too--unlike Dignity, a group that "affirms" homosexual Catholics in whatever lifestyle they lead.
In the U.S. Courage has about 100 chapters. This is good news and bad news. It is good that there are so many chapters. It is bad that there are so few. Only about half of the dioceses in the country have a chapter. Courage does not get remotely the support it should from officials in the Church.
Homosexuals may be a small part of the overall population (about two percent, many observers say), but the same can be said of other groups for which nearly every diocese has a ministry. Fr. Harvey's group deserves to be more widely known and more widely available.
If you know people who might benefit from Courage, share this link with them:
www.couragerc.net
p.s., If you have a comment about anything appearing in this E-Letter, please do not hit your Reply button. Instead, go to Catholic Answers' discussion forums at
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