The National Catholic Register has a terrific article titled “New Malthusians Propose a Worldwide One-Child Policy” by Tim Drake. Also featured is this great YouTube video:

Andrew Tallman’s column on Townhall.com about government-run healthcare makes some great points:

When I argue that abortion under most circumstances should be illegal, I am charged with trying to legislate morality.

When I say divorce ought to be harder to obtain, not easier, I am accused of trying to legislate morality.

And when I say states should be free to make laws concerning adultery, homosexual behavior, contraception, or premarital sex, I am accused again of trying to legislate morality.

Yet when Barack Obama and the Democrats propose making it a crime to not carry health insurance, no one seems to notice that they are very aggressively trying to legislate morality.

…

So in the name of clarity and finality, I suggest we all admit one simple, obvious fact:

All laws legislate morality.

File this one in the “That’s Just Plain Wrong” category: votive candles featuring Obama as a saint.

Much has been in the news lately about Rick Warren being slated to deliver next week’s presidential inaugural invocation. As a result, interest in Pastor Warren’s best selling book The Purpose Driven Life is no doubt on the rise among Christians who may have not read the book when it debuted in 2002.

What is the Catholic view of this popular non-Catholic book? I’ve found two vantage points: one advising Catholics to avoid it altogether; the other suggesting that it can be advantageous provided there is Catholic pastoral guidance.

Don’t Go There

Catholic Answers’ This Rock magazine published a critique titled “Wrong Turn: The Purpose-Driven Life Gives Bad Directions” in its December 2005 issue. Written by Ronald J. Rychlak and Kyle Duncan, the article explains:

Warren is no anti-Catholic bigot. He accepts that Catholics are true believers, and he cites monks and nuns (including Mother Teresa) as Christian examples. …Nevertheless, Catholics should be aware that there are dangers on the Purpose-Driven road.

The article then points out several problems with The Purpose-Driven Life’s content, including Warren’s view of scripture, salvation, liturgy, sacraments and ecclesiology. The critique concludes with this advice to Catholics under the subhead “Don’t Go There”:

Whatever helpful personal encouragement Warren’s teaching might offer, the use of his books in any catechetical setting is a serious mistake. They are misleading and potentially profoundly confusing to poorly catechized Catholics. Moreover, while seeming to be ecumenical in approach, they actually undermine true ecumenism because they gloss over serious theological problems. …Catholics who follow the Purpose-Driven template are driving blind, and the road they follow is more likely to lead away from the Church than to a deeper practice of their faith.

More Agreement Than Disagreement

A second perspective on Warren’s book comes from Father Joseph M. Champlin, who penned a book called A Catholic Perspective on The Purpose Driven Life, published in 2006. The opening chapter begins:

Roman Catholic teaching and practice coincide with some parts of Pastor Rick Warren’s message in his book The Purpose Driven Life and clash with other points. There is, however, more agreement than disagreement. (p. 13)

Throughout the book, Father Champlin compares and contrasts the points in Warren’s book and Catholic teaching, to “affirm and enrich parts where the two seemingly coincide” and “explain and clarify points where the two apparently clash” (p. 13).

Having read Warren’s book when I was still a Protestant, I am finding Father Champlin’s book quite helpful (I’m about half way through its 106 pages). I think he does a fine job guiding Catholics who have read or are reading Warren’s book. In his Introduction, he explains that his book is ideally read alongside Warren’s:

For the most effective use of this study guide, I would suggest following Pastor Warren’s day-to-day approach for a particular section, then, after completing that portion, read the corresponding chapter in my book.

Although I’m not reading it in his recommended manner, I am finding it to be a worthwhile resource. Father Champlin is addressing the problem identified by the writers of the This Rock article: that poorly catechized Catholics could be confused and led astray by Warren’s book.

Catholic Writers May Be Better for You

If you are Catholic and are considering reading Rick Warren’s The Purpose-Driven Life, do so with caution and certainly with guidance. Father Champlin’s A Catholic Perspective on The Purpose-Driven Life is a highly recommended companion to Warren’s work.

However, instead of reading The Purpose-Driven Life, you may want to consider reading similar spiritual-growth books penned by Catholics. Matthew Kelly is one such writer, and you may find his books such as Perpetual Motivation, The Rhythm of Life, Rediscovering Catholicism, or Perfectly Yourself more enriching than any Protestant book.

Opportunity for Dialogue

Knowing how popular Rick Warren’s The Purpose-Driven Life has been over the past several years, I think that Catholics need to make themselves aware of the book’s messages in order to effectively dialogue with non-Catholic Christians.

Father Champlin’s work offers meaningful summaries of Warren’s points, and it provides appropriate Catholic insight, including references to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, scripture and noteworthy Catholic writers.

So, even if you never plan to read Warren’s book, Champlin’s A Catholic Perspective would be one way to equip yourself to charitably dialogue with those who have read The Purpose-Driven Life — and help show them that God’s plan for us all involves being part of the one, holy, Catholic and apostolic church that Jesus established.

Priests for Life issued the following press release today…

Latest Medical Breakthrough Further Validates Pro-Life Support for Adult Stem Cell Research Says Dr. Alveda King

November 24, 2008

Atlanta, GA – Dr. Alveda King, Pastoral Associate of Priests for Life and niece of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., said today that reports on the successful transplant of a windpipe grown from a patient’s own stem cells demonstrate the need for public and, perhaps, media education on stem cell research.

“It’s striking to me that almost every time I read about a new medical breakthrough using stem cells, I have to search well into the story before there’s mention that the stem cells were derived from adult humans or umbilical cords, not embryos,” said Dr. King. “Based on the news coverage of stem cell research I’ve read, it’s no surprise that the public, including some news reporters, are confused about stem cell experimentation.”

“Stem cell research using cells taken from adults or umbilical cords has resulted in over 70 successful medical treatments, the latest being an organ transplant,” added Dr. King. “Years of stem cell research using techniques that kill embryonic humans have led to nothing but dead ends because of tissue rejection and tumor growth. Absolutely all of the medical breakthroughs in stem cell research have come from using cells derived from sources other than human embryos. How many people know this? Further, how many people know that the pro-life movement has always endorsed this type of non-deadly stem cell research?”

“I respectfully call on the news media to accurately and truthfully distinguish between adult/umbilical stem cell research and embryonic stem cell experiments,” concluded Dr. King. “I also hope that the media will make clear that the pro-life movement enthusiastically supports stem cell research that does no harm to anyone, research that continues to blaze a path of new cures and treatments almost daily.”

Priests for Life is the nation’s largest Catholic pro-life organization dedicated to ending abortion and euthanasia. For more information, visit www.priestsforlife.org.

In follow up to yesterday’s post, here is a link to the full statement of the President of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops on the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA). In part it states:

The fundamental good is life itself, a gift from God and our parents. A good state protects the lives of all. Legal protection for those members of the human family waiting to be born in this country was removed when the Supreme Court decided Roe vs. Wade in 1973. This was bad law. The danger the Bishops see at this moment is that a bad court decision will be enshrined in bad legislation that is more radical than the 1973 Supreme Court decision itself.

…

The recent election was principally decided out of concern for the economy, for the loss of jobs and homes and financial security for families, here and around the world. If the election is misinterpreted ideologically as a referendum on abortion, the unity desired by President-elect Obama and all Americans at this moment of crisis will be impossible to achieve. Abortion kills not only unborn children; it destroys constitutional order and the common good, which is assured only when the life of every human being is legally protected.

Earlier this week, Cardinal Francis George, the Archbishop of Chicago, spoke out against Barack Obama’s position on abortion. According to one news report, the Cardinal said  that all Americans should “rejoice” that a country that once tolerated slavery had elected a black man as the 44th President of the United States. The article went on to say that the Cardinal “notched up the pressure on the pro-choice President-Elect by comparing the treatment of the unborn today with that of black slaves in pre-Civil War America.” Cardinal George said:

If the Supreme Court’s Dred Scott decision, that African Americans were other people’s property and somehow less than persons, were still settled constitutional law, Mr Obama would not be President of the United States

Today, as was the case 150 years ago, common ground cannot be found by destroying the common good. The common good can never be adequately incarnated in any society when those waiting to be born can be legally killed at choice.

Check out the full article on Catholic.org.

Stephen Kent of the Catholic News Service raised some great points in his recent column, published in the Georgia Bulletin. The word “Change” has been overused and poorly defined in recent political contexts. He writes:

It seems that what is sought is not so much change but conversion, a turning to something that enhances personal integrity and the good of the community.

Spiritual writers use a Greek word—“metanoia”—to denote a change of mind, a reorientation, a fundamental transformation of outlook, of a vision of the world and of self, and a new way of loving others and God.

There is some evidence that this desire for “metanoia” exists even if it is not yet recognized as such.

The column cites a pollster who thinks that “more and more Americans are rejecting the traditional American dream, which has been expressed in material terms, in terms of acquiring, and are moving toward wanting to lead a more genuine life, one that’s more fulfilling.”

Kent notes that this realization that materialistic pursuits don’t lead to true happiness is “what Catholic social teaching has said for years…A merger of spirituality and economy may be more than just change—it could be a conversion. Why settle for change when we could have conversion?”

Catholic apologist and author Patrick Madrid has a free video available on his website answering the question “Is it a sin to vote for a pro-abortion candidate?” The site’s promo:

In an effort to help raise awareness among Catholics and other Christians about the importance of voting pro-life, here is a 10 minute non-partisan discussion of key Scripture verses pertaining to abortion.

Download it here (WMV, 17.4MB)

Father William Maestri offers some great advice for Navigating the Political Season in the latest Georgia Bulletin.

…our Catholic faith, especially Catholic social teaching, calls for us to take seriously the responsibilities of citizenship. Participation is more than an exercise in civic virtue. It is a moral responsibility to promote the common good.