Doing God's Work

A woman who has dedicated her life to saving babies from infanticide wins $27 million in the California lottery.

All too often, the ring of Debi Faris-Cifelli's cell phone means there is another abandoned newborn at the morgue, another forsaken child for her to name and bury in a shoebox-size coffin under a white cross in the California desert.

"Maybe it's the children saying, 'Thank you' for taking care of them when nobody else would," Faris-Cifelli said, bubbling with laughter. "It's a gift and one for which we feel an awesome responsibility."

It's what they did next that sets the Cifellis apart.

"That's a lot of money to be responsible for. We want to be really good stewards of that money. We feel like it's a gift," said Debi.

"And the first thing we thought of was a scholarship fund," said Steve.

The Power of Ordination Belongs to State and Federal Judges

So effectively suggests a Connecticut defense attorney who believes that Catholic priests should unionize in order to protect their "careers" from "baseless allegations" of criminal misconduct.

Wonder where this yayhoo was on the day they taught the First Amendment in law school.

That Would Be "Aiya!"

Michelle Malkin posts a story about how Nike is apologizing for running an "offensive" commercial that has since been banned in China, and what China does to folks who dare to exhibit courage.

"Christophobia"

It appears the Vatican is pushing for an adoption of the term by the U.N.

Archbishop Giovanni Lajolo, the Vatican's foreign minister, said anti-Christian feeling had increased, exacerbated by the war on terrorism.

He said Christianity was often mistakenly seen as being inextricably linked with Western political policy, and had suffered as a result in the backlash against the West.

His comments, at a conference in Rome, were primarily aimed at Middle Eastern countries such as Iraq, where insurgents have bombed a number of churches.

But he also echoed Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, a leading contender to be the next Pope, who said last month that parts of Europe were so now secular that Christianity was being pushed into the margins.

A stupendously bad idea if you ask me. For one thing, a phobia is an irrational psychiactric fear, not an overt expression of ignorant hostility or hatred. Second, adopting this made up term only lends further credibility to ridiculous political words like "homophobia." Seems to me that if you want a word that adequately describes anti-Christianity, the word "anti-Christianity" should be used.

Maybe Target Did A Good Thing

In an unintentional fashion, the controversial decision by the Target Corporation to prohibit the Salvation Army from ringing bells (i.e., soliciting charitable donations) in front of their stores may very well be in the best interest for Catholics. (link via Amy Welborn)