Pokankuni (e.v.)

What a Christian man can do

2010-10-25T23:36:00.000+02:00

Bocelli tells a beautiful story

2010-06-10T02:06:00.002+02:00

Me encanta...

2010-05-16T23:34:00.003+02:00

Found here (thanks to Saverio!).

Jesus Christ really did live

2010-03-31T07:25:00.000+02:00

In fact no Biblical expert worth the name doubts that Jesus lived, that He claimed to be The Messiah and that many who knew Him believed that claim. The idea that He was just a great moral teacher or that we can believe some but not all what He taught is, frankly, intellectually flabby. He claimed to be the Son of God. If He wasn't, He was lying or insane. Liars are not to be believed and madmen are not to be followed even in part.
This doesn't, of course, signify that we have to believe. Yet logic demands that if we don't we at least ask why those who knew Him were so willing to be martyred. People die for the wrong reasons, but they assume them to be the right ones. Important this. Men and women who knew Jesus, lived with Him, saw Him die and saw Him rise again, went to their deaths smiling.

Read the rest of the article: Jesus Christ really did live, the historic evidence is there despite Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens views.

The power of gratitude

2010-03-18T23:37:00.000+01:00

from The power of gratitude:

An emerging body of research is now showing that genuine expressions of gratitude can be tonic not just for the recipient, but for those who are saying “thank you” as well. Indeed, being grateful—and saying so—can change the very way we think about our closest relationships. (...)

The scientists believe that saying “thank you” sends a message not only to one’s partner but to oneself as well. It changes our self-perceptions. The very act of saying “thank you” reinforces one’s desire for a mutually supportive relationship and increases dependency, which triggers trust and in turn deepens a relationship. In this way, saying “thank you” initiates a spiral of kindness and appreciation in relationships. And what's more, it’s not complicated.

Of Fear and Faith

2010-02-22T22:36:00.002+01:00

We do not worship God without fear because we have been handed a world rendered safe since the coming of Christ. We worship him without fear because the worst thing that could ever happen in the entire universe — the murder of God — has already happened.

And that resulted in a resurrection so powerful that this fallen world cannot contain it: a resurrection that will one day be consummated in the New Heaven and the New Earth.

Read the wole Mark Shea's beautiful article here: Not a Fear in the World

The new toy

2010-01-27T22:03:00.002+01:00

Cartoon by Dave Walker. Find more cartoons you can freely re-use on your blog at We Blog Cartoons.

Are animals persons?

2010-01-26T13:55:00.000+01:00

If we grant personhood to some animals, we will end up withdrawing it from some human beings.
Anybody who sees the powerful and immensely distressing documentary, "The Cove", which testifies to the horrible slaughter of dolphins in Japan, should not be able to turn their backs on the brutal and cruel treatment of these animals to which it testifies. Likewise, Matthew Scully's book, Dominion, which documents the hell that "factory farmed" animals endure as well as a variety of other cruelties, elicits the same response -- that we must do whatever we can to stop these practices.

Some ethicists, philosophers and scientists have suggested that one remedial response would be to confer personhood on at least some animal species for the purpose of protecting them through ethics and law, including by attributing rights to them. Read more...

Biologist Lori Marino proposed this recently, citing philosopher- ethicist Thomas White's new book, In Defence of Dolphins. Princeton philosopher Peter Singer proposed the same in the early 1980s. While I strongly endorse their goal of preventing cruelty to all sentient creatures, and believe that we humans have obligations to protect them, I don't agree with trying to achieve that through making animals persons.

My reasons for rejecting personhood for animals include that it would undermine the idea that humans are "special" relative to other animals and, therefore, deserve "special respect."

Whether humans are "special" -- sometimes referred to as human exceptionalism or uniqueness -- is a controversial and central question in bioethics, and how we answer it will have a major impact on what we view as ethical or unethical with regard to our treatment of humans and of animals.

Currently, we use the word "person" as a synonym for human and to indicate, communicate and implement the concept that humans are different from other animals and "special." It can no longer fulfill that function if it does not refer exclusively to humans. In other words, if animals become persons, human persons become animals. The line between humans and other animals is blurred and the idea that humans are "special" and deserve "special respect" is eliminated.

That means that what we do or don't do to "animal persons" should be the same as we do or don't do to "human persons." So, for instance, if we have euthanasia for animals, we should, likewise, have it for humans. If we don't eat humans, we shouldn't eat animals.

This is Singer's approach. He argues that distinguishing humans from other animals and, as a result, treating them differently, is a form of wrongful discrimination he calls "speciesism." He rejects the stance that all human beings are persons and no animals are persons; rather, he argues some human beings are not persons and some animals are.

For Singer, personhood depends on being self aware, having a sense of one's history and, perhaps, of a future, and a capacity to relate to others. Consequently, he argues some seriously mentally disabled humans and babies are not persons and, therefore, do not have the protections personhood brings. Not being a person means that a baby, for instance, does not have a right to life and, therefore, the parents of a disabled baby could consent to her being euthanized.

In his book, Professor White takes a similar approach. He argues that dolphins should be regarded as non-human persons on the basis that they are self-conscious, intelligent, and have free will and emotions comparable to those of humans, which is at least partially correct. Note that this concept of non-human personhood makes "animal personhood" contingent on animal persons having certain characteristics or capacities to function in certain ways.

White also argues that judging non-human species using human characteristics or standards in order to judge their worth, and what we owe them ethically, is speciesism. To avoid this, he proposes, we should treat them as "alien beings" and judge whether or not they are persons on the basis of their own standards. In short, the word person no longer refers exclusively to humans or even its attribution judged by human standards. (I note in passing that this would respond to the objections of people who believe all animals need protection and it's ethically wrong to select just those we see as most like us.)

The feature of both the Singer and White approaches, however, is that whether or not a living being is a person depends on its measuring up to a certain standard, however that standard is set. This is an attribute approach to who or what is a person and, therefore, deserves the respect and protections that come with that characterization.

Applied to humans, this approach means that those who don't have a certain level of physical, mental or emotional functioning are not persons and, as a result, don't have the same rights as others. In short, it creates different categories of human beings and those in some categories are not regarded as persons.

The contrasting approach, which I believe is the one we should continue to uphold, is that all humans are persons (at least, as the law stands at present, those humans who have been born) and only humans are persons. This accounts for using the words "human being" and "person" interchangeably. Universal human personhood means that every human being has an "intrinsic dignity" that must be respected that comes simply with being human; having that dignity does not depend on having any other attribute or functional capacity. This is a status approach to who is a person.

The refusal of the courts to recognize unborn babies as persons, in order to allow abortion, shows the protective effect of the concept of personhood and that, unless expressly excluded, all human beings are persons. Currently, we also use the word person to distinguish humans from animals, in order to establish that every human deserves "special respect" as compared with animals.

We used to regard humans as special on the basis that they had a soul, a Divine spark, and animals did not. Far from everyone accepts that today. But most people at least act as though we humans have a "human spirit," a metaphysical, although not necessarily supernatural, element as part of the essence of our humanness. The beautiful Sanskrit farewell, loosely translated, "The Light in me recognizes the Light in you," captures this reality.

That all humans were seen as persons was not always the case. For instance, in Roman law free living, adult men were persons in the sense of having legal status, but slaves, like animals, were chattels, that is, property and not persons. Of course in Canada women were natural persons -- not property -- but they weren't legal persons until the Persons case of 1929.

There are also legal precedents for non-human personhood. The most common one is corporate entities -- companies -- who are referred to in the law as "non-natural persons." The reason they are deemed persons by the law is to give them standing to sue and be sued. Ships and aircraft can also sue and be sued -- that is, be named as plaintiffs and defendants -- and some legislation has conferred that possibility on other non-human entities in order to protect them, for instance a pristine Arctic environment. The questions of whether "rocks have rights" and "trees have standing" to sue, that is, be treated as legal persons, has also been explored in the environmental law literature.

The call for rights for animals, especially those we regard as most like us, the Great Apes, has been increasing, with some countries responding to it positively. For instance, New Zealand has implemented greater protections and more recently Spain. The issue is not whether animals should be protected from cruelty and have a right to some reasonable form of animal life -- they should. The issue is whether that should be done through personhood, which involves attributing rights to animals and, even, some scientists and philosophers argue, regarding them as moral agents -- that is, that apes have ethics. For the reasons I've explained, I do not believe we should do that.

We must have greater respect for all life, and I would add to that, in particular, human life. Restricting personhood to humans is one way we recognize and implement the latter. But that should not denigrate from our respect for all non-human life, and not just that which has high intelligence, self-awareness, an emotional life, ability to communicate, and so on, but all life.

What that respect requires will not be uniform for different forms of life, but asking ourselves what is required is always necessary, and respect certainly excludes wanton or reckless cruelty. Indeed, I've argued elsewhere that we will be unable to maintain respect for human life unless we implement respect for all life. And if we lose our respect for life, we lose our humanity.

Margaret Somerville is director of the Centre for Medicine, Ethics and Law at McGill University, and author of The Ethical Imagination: Journeys of the Human Spirit.

Copyright © Margaret Somerville. Published by MercatorNet.com.

Best wishes!

2009-12-25T00:20:00.000+01:00

Texas Planned Parenthood director has change of heart, becomes pro-life

2009-11-03T10:11:00.000+01:00

Texas Planned Parenthood director has change of heart, becomes pro-life: "College Station, Texas, Nov 2, 2009 / 10:51 pm (CNA).- A director of a Planned Parenthood affiliate in Texas has resigned after eight years with the organization because watching an ultrasound of an abortion triggered a 'massive' change of heart."

Listen

2009-10-28T17:32:00.006+01:00

Listen- originally by darrendraper

"I didn't know that"

2009-08-08T22:14:00.002+02:00

from the post "Au revoir, mes amis", in The Dawn Patrol

Last week, at the Envoy Institute Catholic apologetics conference, I was approached by a young man who told me he had been raised Catholic but was now attending a nondenominational Protestant church. He said he got a feeling out of the Protestant services that was greater than anything he had felt at a Catholic Mass.

"But you realize," I said, " that at the Catholic Mass, Jesus is really and truly present on the altar?"

I expected an argument. Perhaps the man would say, "He's present at my church just as much as He is in the Mass."

But he didn't. He looked at me innocently and said, "No. I didn't know that."

I told him what I could, and urged him to ask one of the priests present at the conference what was really happening during the Mass. He did end up speaking to a priest there -- for about nine hours, I am told, praise God.

Mike Scott for Iran protesters

2009-06-26T00:26:00.006+02:00

Mike Scott - Image via Wikipedia

Mike Scott, his wife Janette and Waterboys’ webmaster Ian Barratt have created a 3-minute video titled LET THE EARTH BEAR WITNESS in tribute to the Iranian protesters. The film shows fantastic images of the uprising in Iran to a soundtrack of a split-new Waterboys with a lyric by the great Irish poet WB Yeats. Says Mike: "Let The Earth Bear Witness is inspired by the amazing scenes of hundreds of thousands of Iranian people standing up for their rights and freedom. I took the words from two old Yeats poems, in which he was writing about Irish freedom fighters. But his words apply to any freedom fighters, anytime, anywhere in the world." The Waterboys' team is working on a version with subtitles in Farsi.

(news taken from here)

LET THE EARTH BEAR WITNESS words by W.B. Yeats

William Butler Yeats via last.fm

They shall be remembered for ever
They shall be alive for ever
They shall be speaking for ever
The people shall hear them for ever

Let the sea bear witness
Let the wind bear witness
Let the earth bear witness
Let the stars bear witness!

Joffé making movie about Opus Dei's early years

2009-06-09T12:06:00.008+02:00

Opus Dei founder gets 'The Mission' treatment, from America | The National Catholic Weekly - Remember The Mission, that great 1986 film about eighteenth-century Jesuits in the Paraguayan jungle, starring Robert de Niro and Jeremy Irons? Its British director, Roland Joffé, is making a new Catholic drama - about the early life of Opus Dei and its founder, St Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer.

There be dragons will benefit from Opus Dei collaboration, but it has not been commissioned or financed by the organisation. "The film team asked us for help in gathering information and we gave them access to the documentation. That's the beginning and end of our collaboration with this film," says Opus Dei's former information officer.

(...) "A drama of passion, betrayal, love and faith", say the production notes. "An action-packed story set at a murderous period in history, with lessons for the present in revealing the importance and eternal power of forgiveness.

Read the rest of the article here. Found through this blog (thanks!).

Wordless Saturday

2009-04-25T09:42:00.000+02:00

interlude experimental 28 by *BenoitPaille on deviant ART

Happy Easter!

2009-04-12T06:00:00.004+02:00

A very holy and joyful Easter to you all
and to all your families and friends!

fra Angelico, Resurrection, 1450. Thanks to Museum Syndicate. Click to view larger image.

Earthquake in Abruzzo

2009-04-07T08:25:00.003+02:00

from Il Sussidiario.net, April 6, 2009

The hours pass as they try to save as many survivors as possibile from the terrible earthquake that hit Abruzzo last night. Marco Gentile lives near Aquila and is one of tens of thousands of people who have had to leave their homes during these last hours. He tells Ilsussidiario.net what people are experiencing at this dramatic time.

Marco, how is the situation now?

The situation is very serious, especially because the center of the city of Aquila was destroyed, and many historic buildings collapsed there. Now no one can enter the city, so there is no access to relief services.

Outside of Aquila, how is the general situation?

In the suburbs around Aquila the general condition is very serious in many cases, especially in the direction of Pescara where the town of Paganica had about 80% of its homes destroyed.

What was your experience of the terrible moments this night?

I was sleeping, of course, when we heard this violent shock; I think it lasted about thirty seconds. We immediately jumped up and started running down the street, my wife and I and our two children. My house wasn’t badly damaged because it is a one-family house; some houses, especially the older ones, were completely destroyed.

And the historic buildings?

The facade of the Sant’Elia church of my suburban neighborhood collapsed. Almost all the churches were heavily damaged in Aquila. I spoke with a friend who is still in Aquila, and he said that all the churches, the Duomo, the Church of the Holy Souls, and San Marciano, are seriously damaged. Then the most serious thing is that the Students House collapsed, as well as even some new buildings. They tell me that the hotel Duca d'Abruzzi has collapsed, but I have no confirmation of this news.

Are the emergency services coming?

The relief situation seems good; they have already set up camp in the suburbs and are distributing meals. In general, I see that people are very scared, but not desperate; people are aware of what has happened and that everything possible is being done to remedy it. Several convoys are also on their way I just came from Aquila and passed several of them coming from both Rome and the Adriatic.

Some are already saying that the event should have been anticipated.

In fact, I know that a researcher from the National Laboratories of Gran Sasso, Giampaolo Giuliani, after the shock of last week said that it was necessary to evacuate the city: although he predicted this shock would occur in 24 hours, it happened after one week.

How do the next few days look?

It’s hard to say. Another serious thing is that the company I work for is closed now and for the next two or three weeks because the building was substantially damaged. This is also a problem: our area already has few industries, and these have been hard hit. It is a problem, especially in a very difficult economic time.

Today's Liturgy in Italian Art: Jesus enters Jerusalem

2009-04-05T08:01:00.000+02:00

This is in Cappella Palatina, Palermo. To enlarge the image, click on it.

Unexpected pro-life statement... from Iran

2009-04-04T10:11:00.002+02:00

Image by Jordan Lewin via Flickr

Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute - (NEW YORK – C-FAM) As the sun rose on the last day of negotiations at the Commission on Population and Development (CPD) at the United Nations (UN) today, delegations were still embroiled in a contentious debate over language concerning “sexual and reproductive health and rights,” which some radical NGOs and UN committees have interpreted and used to promote abortion. As UN member states came together at the closing meeting to adopt the document, delegations took the floor to define abortion out of the document.

Up until the eleventh hour, the contentious term “sexual and reproductive health and rights” remained in the draft document. Just prior to adoption, Iran took the floor to object to the phrase which has never before been included in any negotiated UN document. Iran stressed that the term remained problematic for a number of delegations and urged the Commission to revert back to previously agreed upon and carefully negotiated language from the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) Program of Action, which is understood not to create any right to abortion.

Continue to read the original article here.

Today's liturgy in italian art: Transfiguration of Christ

2009-03-08T22:42:00.001+01:00

by Beato Angelico, 1441. Click on the image to enlarge. Thanks to Museum Syndicate.

Wordless Saturday

2009-03-07T06:52:00.001+01:00

by clix

Faith Is a Blush

2009-03-05T07:01:00.001+01:00

God
is unwilling to be alone,
and man cannot forever remain impervious
to what He longs to show.
Those of us who cannot keep their striving back
find themselves at times
within the sight of the unseen
and become aglow with its rays.
Some of us blush,
others wear a mask.
Faith is a blush
in the presence of God.

by Abraham Heschel. Thank you, Suzanne.

Today's liturgy in italian art: the Temptations of Christ

2009-02-28T23:43:00.004+01:00

Beato Angelico. (click on the image for higher res. Thanks to the great Museum Syndicate website)

Wondering about the Wordless Days

2009-02-28T15:36:00.009+01:00

I'd like to refresh the habit of the wordless day, when I post just an image, as many other fellow bloggers do. But I started with a "Wordless Saturday" without checking if such thing existed at all.

That's why I made a little inquiry, google-ing (in blog search) "Worldless Monday" and so on, for each day of the week. It resulted that, apart from the overwhelming Wordless Wednesday (249,870 entries), all the others were much lower, spanning from 1213 entries (Thursday) to 158 (Saturday). Here's the situation:

Now, I'd like to know: why Wednesday?

Is it for the assonance of the initial "W"?

Is there a story about a special Wednesday that I never heard of?

Hints, anyone?

What should be the ideal Wordless Day of the week, in your opinion? and why?

Until I get to know a good reason to join the WW club, I'll keep posting Wordless Saturdays, thus reinforcing its poor statistics. :o)

Enough words for today.

photo twentyeight on flickr.

A ten year old can understand it

2009-02-26T15:41:00.000+01:00

I'm "stealing" this from the blog Our Lady's Little Scribe. Thank you Ouida!

"When Life Begins" from COME WHAT MAY movie from George Escobar on Vimeo.

Eluana has died

2009-02-09T23:42:00.002+01:00

Breaking: Italy's "Terri Schiavo" Dies Suddenly (LifeSiteNews.com) - By Matthew Cullinan Hofman - ROME, February 9, 2009 - Eluana Englaro, Italy's "Terri Schiavo," has died only four days after doctors began a "gradual" reduction in her food and water intake with the intent to cause her death.

The announcement was made by Italy's Health Minister on the floor of the Italian Senate, which was debating a bill that would have saved Englaro's life.

Although no cause of death has been announced, earlier news reports indicated that Englaro's intake of nutrients was being replaced with a heavy dose of sedatives. Palliative medication in high doses can cause a patient to die prematurely.

The news follows public statements by Englaro's physician that she has enjoyed almost perfect physical health during the 16 years following her car accident in 1992, which left her bedridden and in a minimal state of consciousness. She was 38 years old.

Although euthanasia is illegal in Italy and Englaro's body functions were not dependent on machines, her father received a decision from Italy's final appeals court in 2008 allowing him to remove hydration and nutrition in order to kill her. The ruling was based on the notion that food and water constitute “medical treatment,” which can be withheld at the patient's discretion.

Englaro's father claims that his daughter would not have wanted to live as a "vegetable."

The decision to allow Englaro's dehydration death was met with protests throughout Italy during the weekend, and over the past few weeks. The Italian government under Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi attempted to pass emergency legislation through the Italian Parliament to save Englaro's life after an earlier attempt was blocked by the country's president, a former communist. However, the legislation was still in process when Englaro's death was announced.

Bobby Schindler, the brother of Terri Schindler, commented to LifeSiteNews.com about Eluana’s death saying, "I’m very sad to hear about Eluana. Our family grieves for her." He added that he was "surprised at how quickly she has passed away."

Alex Schadenberg of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition International denounced Englaro's killing and expressed puzzlement at her quick death.

"To intentionally dehydrate a person to death dehumanizes them because it denies them the basic care due to a human person. We turn them into an object," he told LifeSiteNews. "Everybody deserves basic care, which includes food, fluid, and warmth as long as it is necessary to sustain life. This is not extraordinary treatment."

"We ask the question, how did she actually die? She wouldn’t have died in just a few days of dehydration," he added.

Eluana's last days

2009-02-03T21:55:00.003+01:00

Eluana Transferred Late Tuesday Night to Clinic for Death by Dehydration -By Hilary White - ROME, February 3, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Eluana Englaro, who is often referred to as “Italy’s Terri Schiavo,” was transferred late Tuesday night to a hospital that has agreed to participate in her killing by removal of her food and hydration tube. Television news coverage showed a group of pro-life activists gathered outside the clinic in Eluana’s home town of Lecco at about 1:30am, as an ambulance took her away, some shouting “Eluana, wake up!” and “Don’t kill her!”
Eluana Englaro, 38, suffered brain damage in a car accident in 1992 and has since been in a state of diminished consciousness. Eluana’s father, Beppino Englaro, who has been petitioning the courts for over a decade to euthanize his daughter, said her transfer to the new facility is “the first step... towards the liberation of my daughter. It seems we have finally succeeded.”

Beppino Englaro’s lawyer told media that La Quiete, a private clinic in the north eastern town of Undine, had agree to participate in her killing. Welfare Minister Maurizio Sacconi said the government is searching for a new way to prevent her death. The removal of Eluana’s food and hydration tube is set to be carried out in three days.

Death by dehydration has been described by medical authorities as “horrible” and “agonizing.” It was a common form of torture used by totalitarian states, including in well-documented cases by the Nazis in their death camps.

In cases of severe dehydration, toxins build up in the body and the body's chemical balances are disrupted. This disrupts the electrical system that triggers the action of muscles, including the heart. The tongue and lips crack and bleed. The eyes recede into their orbits. The skin becomes so sensitive it peels off upon firm contact. The lining of the nose can crack and bleed. Dried brain cells can cause convulsions. The mouth becomes dry and saliva thick, and there is cracking of the mucous membranes of the mouth and lips. The blood thickens, increasing the risk of stroke. As fluid decreases in the body, blood pressure drops and the heart rate increases, possibly causing shock and heart attack.

The move to kill Eluana has roused the ire of many in Italy, including Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragan, President of the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Pastoral Assistance to Health Care Workers, said on Tuesday, “Stop this murder!”

“To stop giving food and liquids to Eluana is equivalent to abominable murder and the Church will not cease to proclaim this loud and clear.” Interviewed by the Rome daily La Repubblica, the cardinal said that Eluana’s court-mandated death by dehydration “will represent a defeat for the respect of human life.” His comments come after Pope Benedict XVI spoke on Sunday against euthanasia, saying it is a false answer to suffering.

The consequences, both legal and moral, should Eluana Englaro be euthanized in a Catholic Country, will be dire, pro-life advocates have warned. Carlo Caffara, the archbishop of Bologna, said at Mass last weekend, “In the body of this woman, and in her fate, there is an image of the fate of the West.”

Eluana has become a “‘sign of contradiction’ between a culture of death and a culture of life,” he said. “Her martyred body has become the question addressed to every conscience that reflects on man's destiny: To whom does man belong? Who has dominion over man's life and death? Who owns man?”

“The spiritual event of the West has come to the end of the line: If the life of man does not belong to man but to God, no one has control over it for any reason, [but] if the life of man belongs to man, it is consistent to hypothesize circumstances in which everyone can do what he wants with his life or ask others to put an end to it,” Cardinal Caffara continued.

The killing of Eluana, said Msgr. Ignacio Barreiro, the director of the Rome office of Human Life International, is going to be disastrous for others in similar situations in Italy. Msgr. Barreiro said, “It would create a precedent whereby judges, against the law, can decide it's right to kill patients. We are not fighting for Eluana's life because she has limited signs of consciousness but because of her dignity as a human being.”

Pro-life legal experts have been especially concerned that should Eluana be “legally” killed by dehydration, it would create a “back door” through which euthanasia could be legalized. The government is considering legislation that would allow the creation of “living wills” that could specify the removal of food and hydration.

In November, health and welfare minister, Maurizio Sacconi, issued a statement that in Italy it is “illegal” to remove the food and hydration of helpless disabled patients with the purpose of ending their lives. Secretary of Welfare, Eugenia Roccella, also said that there is “no obligation” for government-funded health care facilities to implement the court’s decision that patients can be dehydrated to death.

In January, two pro-life advocates launched a legal challenge to the appeals court in Milan, arguing that the decision to allow Eluana’s killing had been made without sufficient medical examination to determine her condition. At that time, more than 700 Italian doctors had signed an open letter opposing the killing of Eluana, saying that such an action is an attack against the “basic rules of good medical practice as established in the declaration of Helsinki.”

EMBASSY OF ITALY IN THE UNITED STATES
3000 Whitehaven Street, NW - Washington, DC 20008
Tel (202) 612-4400 - Fax (202) 518-2154
Press and Public Affairs Office
Tel (202) 612-4444
Fax (202) 518-2154
e-mail: stampa.washington@esteri.it

Embassy of Italy in Ottawa
275 Slater Street, 21st Floor
Ottawa, Ontario K1P 5H9
CANADA
Tel +1.613.232.2401 - Fax +1.613.233.1484
ambasciata.ottawa@esteri.it
Press and Information
Tel: +1-613-232-2401
Fax: +1-613-233-1484
email: info.ottawa@esteri.it

EMBASSY OF ITALY IN LONDON
14, Three Kings Yard
London W1K 4EH
Tel.: +44 (0)20 73122200
Fax: +44 (0)20 73122230
ambasciata.londra@esteri.it
Gianluca Grandi, First Counsellor
Domestic Politics, EBRD
bers.amblondra@esteri.it

Other Italian Embassies:

http://www.esteri.it/MAE/Templates/SediTemplate.aspx?NRMODE=...

Read related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:

700 Italian Doctors ask that Eluana’s Life be Spared
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/jan/09011301.html

It is “Illegal” to Stop Food and Hydration of Vulnerable Patients: Top Italian Minister
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/dec/08121703.html

Wordless saturday

2009-01-03T00:07:00.003+01:00

Photo: "Zoe", by Robert Maschke.

I apologize

2009-01-02T10:06:00.002+01:00

Only ten minutes ago I realized that comments were blocked on this blog, I don't know since when! :o( Please believe me, this was not intentional at all - what's the point in blogging if you don't allow comments?!? I hope I have fixed this now. Sorry for the inconvenience. Sigh...

Happy New Year!

2009-01-01T22:10:00.003+01:00

A white New Year's Day here in Milan. Our neighborhood looks somewhat sweeter with some snow on it.

(I forgot! Photos were taken by my son, whose nickname is Eureka, who also blogs here)

All the best in 2009!

Best wishes!

2008-12-24T01:01:00.000+01:00

Namrata's Christmas

2008-12-20T22:07:00.001+01:00

(by Nirmala Carvalho, AsiaNews) Bangalore, India, 12/15/2008 15:25 - Namrata Nayak is a 10-year-old Dalit from the village of Sahi Panchayat, near Raikia (district of Kandhamal, Orissa). Three months ago, at the outbreak of violence against the Christians, the little girl's face was disfigured by a bomb thrown by Hindu extremists. After 45 days in the hospital, she has healed, and is happy. "Christmas is joy and peace," says Namrata, "and I am so happy here: so many people take care of us; so many are praying for us and for peace and justice in Kandhamal." Namrata, together with her mother Sudhamani and 20 other people, have gone to Bangalore from the refugee camps in Orissa, thanks to the efforts of the Global Council of Indian Christians.

The little girl was disfigured on August 26. When she arrived in the hospital of Berahampur, she had lesions on 40% of her body. Now she is practically healed. "For me," Namrita tells AsiaNews, "Christmas is a time to thank the Baby Jesus who saved me from the fire and saved my face, which was disfigured and wounded. I am one of the few fortunate ones who escaped death, although I had to spend a long time in the hospital. I feel very loved by the people of India, and by so many people in the world who have seen my photo and have prayed for me.

"In Kandhamal, there is so much pain and suffering, and I don't know how long the special forces will protect us. But Christmas is a time of gratitude. I am afraid that my people will still be attacked, but this is our life. If God has saved me, he can save other Christians too."

The radical Hindus have promised to organize another strike on Christmas, if those responsible for the killing of Hindu leader Swami Laxamananda Saraswati are not arrested. His assassination began the pogrom against Christians last August 23. The Churches are afraid that the gatherings of radical Hindus could break out into uncontrolled violence again. "Christmas is also a time of forgiveness," says Namrata, "and we forgive the Hindu radicals who attacked us, who burned our homes. They were out of their minds, they do not know the love of Jesus. For this reason, I now want to study so that when I am older I can tell everyone how much Jesus loves us. This is my future. The world has seen my face destroyed by the fire, now it must come to know my smile full of love and peace. I want to dedicate my life to spreading the Gospel."

Namrata's parents (Akhaya Kumar, 45, and Sudhamani, 38) are agricultural day laborers. Their three daughters and one son are students. In order to supplement the family's meager income, the oldest daughter, Trusita (18) also works as a maid in the home of a Hindu convert, Harihar Das. When the violence against Christians broke out, Akhaya and Sudhamani fled to the forest, sending their children to hide in the home of Harihar Das.

On the night of August 26, the Hindu radicals entered the house, breaking down the door and destroying and burning everything. The family of Harihar Das and Namrata and her sisters hid in a little bathroom. Before they left, the Hindu fanatics left a bomb in a dresser. After the attackers had gone, the occupants came out of the house, but little Namrata was curious and stayed behind to look at the damage. The bomb exploded, burning her face, while some of the shrapnel wounded her face, hands, and back.

Sudhamani continues the story: "The next day, I and my husband came out of the forest, running to the house of Harihar. We saw everything burned, and feared that everyone had died in the flames. Instead, thanks to God, everyone was safe. Only that my daughter had been wounded. But Jesus took care of her. We took her to the hospital in Berhampur, still unconscious and badly hurt. But after 45 days of care, she's well now."

"My hope," she tells AsiaNews, "is that we can still have a future in Raikia. We possess nothing, and we could still leave, but in Sahi Panchayat we have some relatives, and our neighbors. If we leave, we will be wanderers.

"Christmas brings hope, hope is our only treasure now: we were poor, and now even the little we had has been destroyed. But Christmas means that Christ is born, and every birth means a new life. Jesus came down from heaven to save us from this misery, from the pain, from abandonment, from our homelessness. His power fills us with hope, love, and forgiveness."

To help Namrata and her family, just go to http://www.asianews.it/donazione.php?l=en, fill the form to send the donation via credit card (or select other ways of payment) and write "India, Orissa, Namrata" in the space provided (bottom of the page).

Evidence for immortality of the soul

2008-12-07T16:39:00.003+01:00

To Eluana's father

2008-11-24T22:35:00.003+01:00

ROME, November 14, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) – (By Hilary White, Rome Correspondent) - The highest Italian court has cleared the way for a young disabled Italian woman to be dehydrated to death at the request of her father - the first decision of its kind in Italy. In a decision released last night, the Court of Cassation upheld the ruling of a lower court that the assisted food and hydration keeping Eluana Englaro alive may be removed, thereby ensuring Englaro’s death by dehydration and starvation.

Englaro, who is now 37 and is not on a ventilator, has been in a state of diminished consciousness since being in a car accident in 1992 at age 20. She has lived with the assistance of a feeding tube. Her father, Beppino Englaro, has been petitioning courts to remove his daughter's assisted nutrition and hydration since 1999.

In June this year, the lower court had ruled that doctors could withdraw food and water, a decision that was challenged by the state. Should Eluana die by court-ordered dehydration, this would be the first case of its kind in Italy. Legal experts have said that Eluana’s death would mark the first steps toward legalised assisted suicide and euthanasia in this once strongly Catholic country.

In the whole story about Eluana, that dramatically came up again on newspapers headlines and is igniting discussions, there are two things that strike me most.

First: mutual indignation. Those who defend Eluana's right to live - and I am among them - , and therefore are opposing to the interruption of food and hydration, and calling it a murder, are outraged. But, surprisingly, those who on the contrary are asking to give death as a "deliverance" to Eluana, are even more outraged: they are accusing us of being cruel and heartless. Both groups use almost the same words to invoke two diametrically different solutions: and those more "spiritually inspired" seem to be the euthanasia supporters, because they describe Eluana's body as a prison in which she is unfairly and painfully retained, as she was someone different from her body. But when that body will be dried out and destroyed for good, where will Eluana be? And if she simply ceases to be, what good will she get from her "deliverance"?

Second, and more important: her father's stance. I'm writing this post while being almost certain that he won't read it, becuase he is understandably fed up with following all these diatribes. A few weeks ago he declared that "he would now let everybody say what they want about his decision", as if to say that he was not going to listen anymore, or answer anymore, all the more so now that he feels he eventually won the best for her daughter. The best.

If he could read me, however, I'd like to tell him: you suffer more than her, and I have more compassion of you than of her. The pain you bear every day is certainly worse than what she will suffer while dying. You once said you have been living as in hell, and you are right, because hell is deprivation of love. Eluana is loved by many but not by you, although you would like to be able to love her. You can't, because your heart is devastated by her condition, so that you impose an absurd block to yourself: somewhere in your heart, you decided you could not give love to her anymore, not food and water anymore, not life anymore. You forbid yourself to love her! You gave life to her, years ago, and now you take it back, while being submerged in your harsh, constant pain.

Truth is, you don't want to see her anymore. Truth is, you hope that if she dies, she takes away with her that hell-like impossibility to love her that you have in your heart. But instead, she will go, and your ice-cold heart will not find peace.

During all this time I've been praying for you more than for her, and I will keep praying for you - no matter how this story goes - that you can really get out of your hell, and learn to love again.

Please, look at those who love Eluana. Not at us, comfortably sitting in front of our keyboards, and welcoming our perfectly healthy children as they get back home from their entertainments. Look at the nuns, who care about her, wash her, dress her, feed her every day, and who have been begging you to be able to keep doing so. Eluana does not freeze their hearts. They love her. They accept her as she is. You, I, we all in this world want to be loved exactly this way: just the way we are. Look at them. You see? It is possible to love Eluana. You can love her. She does not need the deliverance of death: she needs love, as everybody else does. Give her your love, too.

Siena, Tuscany, Italy

2008-09-18T11:24:00.000+02:00

Beautiful pictures of Siena, by a very special blogger and photographer, with a beautiful song by Enya as a background. Christian catholic culture and sensibility actually created and permeated those streets, buildings, works of art so evidently that they tell more about christianity than many books can explain.

China's Internet Users Surpass U.S.

2008-03-18T19:55:00.005+01:00

China's Internet Users Surpass U.S. - Recent research has placed the number of Internet users in China at 220 million, a few million more than the number of surfers in the U.S. (estimated at 217 million). Even if we quibble about the numbers, by the end of 2008 China is expected to have 280 million Internet users. With just over 300 million Americans in the total population, there's no way the country's Internet users could approach 280 million currently. The U.S. has held the number one spot (until now) since the development of the Net. - Friday March 14, 2008

This is a great responsibility for western world Catholics. Sometimes freedom will be given to Chinese people to access information as they like, and they will eagerly look for truth, and internet will be the main source of their research, together with books (Chinese people are strong readers too). Let's pray and prepare ourselves to do for them what st.Peter urges us to do: giving the reasons for our hope!

Saint Michael the Archangel Organization: Sign Up

2008-02-28T22:39:00.005+01:00

REGISTER AS A PARTICIPANT By clicking below on the word "here," you are indicating that you (or someone you know) plan to participate in the Saturday, May 3rd, 2008 ONE MILLION ROSARIES FOR UNBORN BABIES prayer event which means you will be praying the Rosary within a certain hour(see times below) for the following intention: FOR AN END TO THE SURGICAL AND NON-SURGICAL KILLING OF UNBORN BABIES

Click Here to register

From 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. for people in the Eastern Time Zone
From 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. for people in the Central Time Zone
From 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. for people in the Mountain Time Zone
From 6:00 a.m. to 7:00 a.m. for people in the Pacific Time Zone
From 5:00 a.m. to 6:00 a.m. for people in the Alaska Time Zone
From 4:00 a.m. to 5:00 a.m. for people in the Hawaii Time Zone

In love

2008-01-14T18:58:00.003+01:00

Science class, this morning. A couple of students - boy and girl, aged 14, he's in love with her - were presenting their poster research about the solar system. I added something about the way a star gets old, saying that when the sun is about to die, it will get bigger and bigger, swallowing the planets around it. Someone said "Let's hope we are not here anymore!" and I replied "Don't worry, in fact it will happen in 5 billion years, so by then we'll all be dead and turned into dust since a very very long time". And the boy said "No! How is it possible that such a beautiful girl dies?"
I just replied that we are all going to die for sure, sooner or later - rather predictably, I admit.
But later on, at home, I thought that the romantic pimply boy had said something deeply true. How is it that her fair, delicate girlfriend may die? His heart knows this is absurd.
A loving heart knows best. He can see that there is something deeply un-human in death. That we all are created to live, created for life.

Something about me - as a teacher

2008-01-09T11:59:00.004+01:00

I am 45 years old and I live in Milan, Italy. I have a degree in biology and a Ph.D. in molecular biology, because I wanted to be a researcher, but things went differently. Just when I finished my studies - and I had just got married - my husband fell ill and was not well for the following 8 years. Obviously I had to quit research, because that's a job that has no time table and no guaranteed income; at least in Italy things go this way.
I started teaching science in Samara, a small private school for teenage help-cooks-to-be (I have no idea of how to say it in english: they prepared to help professionally in cooking for restaurants, hospitals etc.) and it was a great teacher's training for me. Our girls used to choose that school exactly because they didn't like to study, and with that school they could start working after 2 years only. Well, I was in a team of teachers so enthusiastic and skilled that most girls decided to go on studying (in high school) after the second year! and they did very well afterwards.
My colleagues taught me to handle pupils one by one, to look at them straight in their eyes, to trust them, even if they seem they don't deserve it: they will, when they realize you count on them. These are still the basics of my method. They always work.
After 5 years' experience in Samara I felt ready for "real" public schools, and I started doing substitutions in high school, science classes. After 1 year of short substitutions, I spent 4 years more being exclusively a support teacher for special need students. Some of them were seriously disabled, and had severe psychiatric problems besides the physical ones. It was very hard work, though very beautiful. I came home exhausted every day, mostly emotionally. It resembled my childhood dramatically: I have only one sister, 1 year younger than me, who is disabled, and the first part of my life has been heavily conditioned by her presence. Everybody said that I was "instinctively" good at managing special need students, but I knew the reason... I had done that job since I was a toddler! And that had cost me a lot!
During the last 2 years I was back doing substitions on my subject, science, and that has been wonderful. I regularly fall in love with my class groups, and they rather like me in return. I have a great time teaching. Real fun. We laugh a lot, and still, we work really hard. I was very lucky, also, because I got very long substitutions, lasting almost the whole school year. The down part is that I change school every year, but that's not too bad. Different schools have different people, different methods, different perspectives. Big experience for me.
In the meanwhile I never got the opportunity to have my ABILITAZIONE, which is the piece of paper saying that you are officially a teacher and you can stop being a substitute. What's it called in english? Well, after a long wait , finally a course came out: I am currently attending it, with lessons, exams, thesis and everything... In march '08 I should get my ABILITAZIONE. Let's say that I could hopefully get a steady teaching job around 2012. By that time I will be 50...
Long story! But now you can understand that I really love my job, even if it wasn't what I had originally chosen. Now I think research was not good for me. But that's another story.

Happy new year!

2008-01-01T00:57:00.001+01:00

May 2008 bring good things to you all.

Welcome!

2007-12-29T16:51:00.003+01:00

This is the english version of my two italian blogs, the first - pokankuni.blogspot.com - about my faith and my life in general, and the second - chesifaprof.blogspot.com - about being a teacher. The photo is by Jamie84 on stoch.xchng, and I'm using it here to suggest my idea of a blog: a cozy, comfortable little place to meet your friends and share thoughts and feelings peacefully.