The 12,000-member Philadelphia Bar Association will celebrate Law Week 2018 (Today, Monday, April 30 – Friday, May 4), with an array of free community service events coordinated by the Association’s Young Lawyers Division and presented by volunteer lawyers.
Lawyers will offer free legal advice for residents of Philadelphia and the surrounding counties, visit school classrooms, guide children on tours of the city's courtrooms and present mock criminal trials for grade school students during the week-long fest, one of the more ambitious public outreach efforts of its type in the nation. This year’s Law Week theme, as identified by the American Bar Association, is “Separation of Powers: Framework for Freedom.” The theme explores how power is shared in the government and how legal professionals can work together to preserve citizens’ liberties and advance their rights.
“This is the perfect opportunity to connect with the citizens of Philadelphia while demonstrating a sense of civic commitment by offering free services and education," said Vincent N. Barbera, chair of the Association's Young Lawyers Division. "With a different activity each day, this will be a rewarding experience not only for the young lawyers but also for students and citizens generally."
Law Week 2018 is co-chaired by Association Chancellor-Elect Rochelle M. Fedullo and Young Lawyers Division Chair-Elect Michaella Tassinari. Under their leadership, all Law Week activities are staffed by scores of lawyer-volunteers.
Lawyer in the Classroom: Monday, April 30 & Tuesday, May 1
The Lawyer in the Classroom program features lawyers visiting Philadelphia schools to address students' concerns about the law and the legal issues that affect them as they enter adulthood, as well as to answer questions about the legal profession. Lawyers will meet with students at A.M.Y. at James Martin School, Chester A. Arthur Elementary School, Girard Academic Music Program, Parkway West High School, Roman Catholic High School, The Philadelphia High School for Creative Performing Arts and Young Scholars Charter School.
Law Day Naturalization Ceremony: Tuesday, May 1
A Naturalization Ceremony welcoming dozens of new U.S. citizens will be held on Tuesday, May 1 at the United States Courthouse, 6th and Market St., at 10:30 a.m. Hon. Joel H. Slomsky will be presiding and remarks will be provided by Association Chancellor Mary F. Platt. At this event, the winner of the Edward F. Chacker Essay Contest – named after the former Association Chancellor, who will attend--will read aloud his or her essay on rights and responsibilities under the law. The winning Philadelphia high school junior or senior will be awarded a $1,000 college scholarship.
Legal Advice Live!: Wednesday, May 2
Dozens of Philadelphia attorneys will gather to provide free, in-person confidential legal advice to the public from 12 - 2 p.m. at five branches of the Free Library of Philadelphia: Central (1901 Vine St., Room 108); Ramonita de Rodriguez (600 W. Girard Ave.) where Spanish-speaking attorneys will be available; Haverford (5543 Haverford Ave.); Northeast Regional Library (2228 Cottman Ave.); and Thomas F. Donatucci Sr. (1935 Shunk St.). Attorneys will provide answers to legal questions on such topics as personal injury, medical malpractice, landlord/tenant law, divorce and child custody matters, wills and estate planning and employment law.
Legal Line P.M. Free Legal Advice Hotline: Wednesday, May 2
Volunteer attorneys will provide free legal advice to residents of Philadelphia and the surrounding counties who call the LegalLine P.M. hotline from 5 - 8 p.m. on Wednesday, May 2. Area residents can call lawyers at 215-238-6333 and have their legal questions answered confidentially and at no charge.
Lawyer for a Day: Thursday, May 3
Philadelphia Bar Association members will lead Philadelphia high school students to the city's courtrooms to witness live court proceedings at City Hall and in the Criminal Justice Center.
The event begins at 8:30 a.m. at Association offices, 1101 Market St., 11th Floor, where students will gather to embark on their courtroom tours at 9 a.m. The event concludes with a noon luncheon back at the Association, where Association Chancellor-Elect Rochelle M. Fedullo will welcome students.
‘Gold E. Locks and the Big Bad Wolf’ & ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’ Mock Trials:
Friday, May 4
Volunteer judges from the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas and Association lawyers dressed as fairytale characters, “Gold E. Locks and the Big Bad Wolf," and characters from "Jack and the Beanstalk" will gather on Friday, May 4 at City Hall, Ceremonial Courtroom at 9 a.m. Volunteers act out mock criminal trials based on the fairytales for approximately 270 elementary school children. Volunteers will fan out in City Hall courtrooms to act as prosecutors, defense attorneys and witnesses in the criminal trials that will include opening statements, examinations and cross-examinations of witnesses, closing arguments and instructions for the juries. At the conclusion of each trial, the students act as the jury and determine whether the characters are guilty of a crime.
Monday, April 30, 2018
A Very Clear Majority Now Says 'NO!'
Most voters think the government should stop the caravan of Central Americans now at the Mexican border from entering the United States. Even more say failing to stop them will lead to more illegal immigration.
Hundreds of people from Central America who have come across Mexico in a highly publicized group are threatening to enter the United States illegally any day now. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that 54% of Likely U.S. Voters believe the U.S. government should stop them all from entering. Thirty-seven percent (37%) disagree and say the government should allow them to enter this country temporarily until each of their cases can be individually reviewed. (To see survey question wording, click here.)
(Want a free daily e-mail update? If it's in the news, it's in Rasmussen polls). Rasmussen Reports updates are also available on Twitter or Facebook.
The survey of 1,000 Likely Voters was conducted on April 26 and 29, 2018 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.
Hundreds of people from Central America who have come across Mexico in a highly publicized group are threatening to enter the United States illegally any day now. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that 54% of Likely U.S. Voters believe the U.S. government should stop them all from entering. Thirty-seven percent (37%) disagree and say the government should allow them to enter this country temporarily until each of their cases can be individually reviewed. (To see survey question wording, click here.)
(Want a free daily e-mail update? If it's in the news, it's in Rasmussen polls). Rasmussen Reports updates are also available on Twitter or Facebook.
The survey of 1,000 Likely Voters was conducted on April 26 and 29, 2018 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.
WOW! What An Astounding Achievement!
On April 23rd, Pope John Paul II High School (PJP) senior, Monica Rapchinski recorded her 300th career goal as a women’s lacrosse player. She currently hold the record for career goals at PJP and stands at the top of her class academically. In her four years at PJP, she has shown outstanding commitment to her athletics as a three sport varsity player and to her academics, as she holds a 4.0 GPA. Monica will be attending Tufts University in the fall as a Biology major and as a lacrosse player.
"Monica is an exceptional example of what our student body represents. We are so very proud to have a student-athlete of her caliber to reach this unprecedented milestone,” says President Bozzone of PJP.
Since her freshman year, Monica has been an impressive standout on the lacrosse field. She is one of twenty-four student athletes at PJP that have committed to sports at the collegiate level, and is one of four talented seniors on the team.
“We are so lucky to have four incredible seniors this year that continue to break records. Monica Rapchinski just scored her 300th goal, which is simply amazing! Grace Cobaugh dominates the midfield and recently scored her 100th career goal. Julia Latoff keeps our team organized and acts as a ‘point guard’. Charlotte Williamson is the most experienced goalkeeper in the league with over 650 career saves,” says head coach Maureen Burger.
Notes: The mission of Pope John Paul II High School is to provide a Christ-centered educational environment in the Roman Catholic tradition that promotes academic excellence, nurtures faith development and fosters leadership among its students.
The PJP lacrosse team is coached by head coach, Maureen Burger and they currently hold an 8-4 record. The team will continue their season into the month of May with four more regular season games. For more information, please visit https://pjpgoldenpanthers.weebly.com/girls-lacrosse.html. Pictures of Monica and her teammates are attached.
For information about Catholic Schools in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, please visit http://www.aopcatholicschools.org/. For information about Faith in the Future, please visit www.faithinthefuture.com.
"Monica is an exceptional example of what our student body represents. We are so very proud to have a student-athlete of her caliber to reach this unprecedented milestone,” says President Bozzone of PJP.
Since her freshman year, Monica has been an impressive standout on the lacrosse field. She is one of twenty-four student athletes at PJP that have committed to sports at the collegiate level, and is one of four talented seniors on the team.
“We are so lucky to have four incredible seniors this year that continue to break records. Monica Rapchinski just scored her 300th goal, which is simply amazing! Grace Cobaugh dominates the midfield and recently scored her 100th career goal. Julia Latoff keeps our team organized and acts as a ‘point guard’. Charlotte Williamson is the most experienced goalkeeper in the league with over 650 career saves,” says head coach Maureen Burger.
Notes: The mission of Pope John Paul II High School is to provide a Christ-centered educational environment in the Roman Catholic tradition that promotes academic excellence, nurtures faith development and fosters leadership among its students.
The PJP lacrosse team is coached by head coach, Maureen Burger and they currently hold an 8-4 record. The team will continue their season into the month of May with four more regular season games. For more information, please visit https://pjpgoldenpanthers.weebly.com/girls-lacrosse.html. Pictures of Monica and her teammates are attached.
For information about Catholic Schools in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, please visit http://www.aopcatholicschools.org/. For information about Faith in the Future, please visit www.faithinthefuture.com.
This Dynamic Duo Is Rewriting The Book!
Spanning generations, Hope Horwitz and Sharla Feldscher are rewriting the book on marketing and public relations.
Their Philadelphia firm, Feldscher Horwitz Public Relations (fhpr) encompasses a wide array of clients nationwide, ranging from The Philly Pops to the Subaru Cherry Blossom Festival to Spring Hill Senior Communities.
On his new TV show, The Advocates, watch as Dan unlocks some of the secrets behind this award-winning enterprise.
Click here if you are unable to watch the show above.
Always, ALWAYS Looking For MORE Taxes!
Monday afternoon, Gov. Tom Wolf once again called for the passage of an economy-stifling natural gas severance tax.
In response, Pennsylvania Republican Party Chairman Val DiGiorgio made the following statement:
“In another futile attempt to quench his insatiable appetite for cradle-to-grave tax increases, Gov. Tom Wolf has once again chosen his ideology over pragmatism in calling for this economy-stifling natural gas severance tax.
“Pennsylvania’s natural gas industry is already struggling under Gov. Wolf’s onerous regulations. Now, by pushing for a potentially crippling severance tax, Gov. Wolf seeks to further harm an industry that has significantly lowered Pennsylvania families’ energy bills and has huge potential to create family sustaining jobs.
“Pennsylvania’s natural gas industry has generated over $3 billion in regular tax revenue to Pennsylvania since 2008 and nearly $1.5 billion in impact fee money since 2012, which largely goes to local communities in all of Pennsylvania’s counties.
“We ask Gov. Wolf to put pragmatism over politics and support our natural gas industry.”
In response, Pennsylvania Republican Party Chairman Val DiGiorgio made the following statement:
“In another futile attempt to quench his insatiable appetite for cradle-to-grave tax increases, Gov. Tom Wolf has once again chosen his ideology over pragmatism in calling for this economy-stifling natural gas severance tax.
“Pennsylvania’s natural gas industry is already struggling under Gov. Wolf’s onerous regulations. Now, by pushing for a potentially crippling severance tax, Gov. Wolf seeks to further harm an industry that has significantly lowered Pennsylvania families’ energy bills and has huge potential to create family sustaining jobs.
“Pennsylvania’s natural gas industry has generated over $3 billion in regular tax revenue to Pennsylvania since 2008 and nearly $1.5 billion in impact fee money since 2012, which largely goes to local communities in all of Pennsylvania’s counties.
“We ask Gov. Wolf to put pragmatism over politics and support our natural gas industry.”
Above All, This Really IS Unprecedented, Yes?
President Trump is a man who acts by a complicated combination of knowledge, experience, instinct, and bombast with a bit of brinksmanship thrown in from time to time.
There's a lot of theatricality adorning all this as well -- and it creates plenty of attention, lots of noise.
It seems the only president that he could be compared to is Teddy Roosevelt.
Trump has rewritten the political playbook several times over. He's a master of the modern day bully pulpit. He knows how to gain and keep the spotlight. He's keenly attuned to the popular culture because he himself is a product of that world.
He's an entertainer, an inspirer, an entrepreneur, a motivator, a provocateur, an instantaneous visionary, a consummate dazzler, a keen negotiator and a relentless salesman all rolled into one.
He can come across as a classicist (as in the above quote) one day and an iconoclast the next, while making it all appear to be wildly plausible.
Clearly, he's here to rattle his opponents and enthrall his followers.
Love him or hate him, you've got to admit we are living through one helluva fascinating time.
Yes, this truly is an incredible ride!
Sunday, April 29, 2018
It Wasn't Funny; It Was Just CRUEL And BORING!
The #WHCD was so boring & pathetic that I couldn’t keep my eyes open.— Terrence K. Williams (@w_terrence) April 29, 2018
Sarah Huckabee Sanders was a target
Is #MichelleWolf the white lady who was pretending to be black? Is this Rachel Dolezal sister ?https://t.co/Xlm9nUVAie pic.twitter.com/M5WH1q1Gki
This just about sums it up . . . it was certainly a new low and a pathetic moment for the media.
They See LESS, Not More Free Speech!
Several recent cases have challenged freedom of speech on college campuses across the United States. Nearly half of Americans think college students have less freedom of speech these days, and few think professors and administrators promote the free exchange of ideas.
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that 21% of American Adults believe there is more freedom of speech on U.S. college campuses today than there has been in the past. Forty-seven percent (47%) think there is less freedom of speech, while 25% believe the level of free speech is about the same. (To see survey question wording, click here.)
(Want a free daily e-mail update? If it's in the news, it's in Rasmussen polls). Rasmussen Reports updates are also available on Facebook.
The national survey of 1,000 Adults was conducted on April 22-23, 2018 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that 21% of American Adults believe there is more freedom of speech on U.S. college campuses today than there has been in the past. Forty-seven percent (47%) think there is less freedom of speech, while 25% believe the level of free speech is about the same. (To see survey question wording, click here.)
(Want a free daily e-mail update? If it's in the news, it's in Rasmussen polls). Rasmussen Reports updates are also available on Facebook.
The national survey of 1,000 Adults was conducted on April 22-23, 2018 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.
They're Leaving; And They've Leaving In Droves!
"Let the exodus begin... For the high tax states, it is a disaster. Would you move to, say, New York, to take a new job if you get hit with a tax hike? You will think twice. For years we've been seeing migration. Now get ready for mass migration." —Varney & Co.
Saturday, April 28, 2018
Yes, He's Been 'Severely Admonished' By Colleagues
From our friends at the Save Jersey blog:
Bob Menendez may have escaped criminal consequences for his shady behavior concerning a former donor and friend, but on Thursday, the U.S. Senate’s Select Committee On Ethics issued a formal admonition.
“The Committee has determined that this conduct violated Senate Rules, federal law, and applicable standards of conduct. Accordingly, the Committee issues you this Public Letter of Admonition, and also directs you to repay the fair market value of all impermissible gifts not already repaid,” read the letter signed by both Republican and Democrat members.
Click here to read the full letter.
Dr. Salomon Melgen of Florida, U.S. Senator Bob Menendez’s former co-defendant in a federal corruption indictment, received a 17-year sentence back in February and was ordered to pay $42.6 million in restitution for Medicare fraud.
Melgen and Menendez are old friends, and Melgen was also a Menendez donor who stood accused of bribing Menendez with gifts, including airplane flights, in a separate, highly-publicized case.
“[…] the Committee is aware that you have described Dr. Melgen as your closest friend and ‘brother,'” the Committee’s letter elaborated, “but this makes your assistance to him no less troubling. Your Senate office and its attendant resources and power are not personal to you. Senators must closely guard against even the appearance that their families or friends are entitled to use these resources and power for their own personal gain.”
Menendez is up for reelection in 2018. Notwithstanding the ethical cloud surrounding him, polls show him continuing to maintain a double-digit advantage over presumptive Republican challenger Bob Hugin, a former pharmaceutical executive.
Week's Prime News: Don't Miss These!
- The Washington Post
On Thursday, the Senate confirmed Mike Pompeo as America’s 70th Secretary of State. In a statement, President Donald J. Trump called Pompeo—who has served as Director of the CIA since last year—a “patriot” who has “immense talent, energy, and intellect.”
-------------------------
- Washington Examiner
President Trump directed the Department of Homeland Security this week to “block large groups of migrants who have begun to arrive at the U.S.-Mexico border and apply for asylum as refugees from Central America,” Anna Giaritelli reports.
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- CNBC
The first official state visit of the Trump Administration took place earlier this week at the White House. President Trump sat down with French President Emmanuel Macron over the course of several days to discuss trade, security, and a range of other bilateral issues.
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- CNN
“When President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump arrived on the White House South Lawn Tuesday morning to formally welcome French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife, Brigitte, one thing was clear,” Betsy Klein and Kate Bennett write. “The first lady commanded attention.”
-------------------------
- Bloomberg
Apple CEO Tim Cook met with President Trump in the Oval Office on Wednesday. “Looking forward to my meeting with Tim Cook of Apple,” the President tweeted before the two men sat down. “We will be talking about many things, including how the U.S. has been treated unfairly for many years, by many countries, on trade.”
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- CBS News
For the second year in a row, President Trump welcomed participants from the Wounded Warrior Project’s Soldier Ride to the White House on Thursday. The Soldier Ride brings together wounded veterans and service members for a four-day adaptive cycling program.
Friday, April 27, 2018
Right Now, Take These Words To Heart!
The above warning is from former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich.
A Tender, Loving, Just-What-We-Need Story!
Three baby bear cubs who were abandoned by their mother were rescued by Bulgarian environmental officials and are now receiving care at a bear sanctuary. https://t.co/0FHpbSgV0r pic.twitter.com/ZWGGXszTYK— ABC News (@ABC) April 27, 2018
Three baby bear cubs who were abandoned by their mother were rescued by Bulgarian environmental officials and are now receiving care at a bear sanctuary. H/T: ABC News
Here It Is -- And Now It's RED!
Buy iPhone 8 (PRODUCT)RED™ Special Edition.— Apple (@Apple) April 10, 2018
A 'Dramatic Infringement' On First Amendment
This week's column from Philadelphia Archbishop Charles J. Chaput:
I’ve been a lifelong fan of science fiction stories. Two of my favorites are classic novels by H.G. Wells (d. 1946), The War of the Worlds and The Time Machine. Both were twice produced as movies. Both make great reading even today. Not everything he wrote had such lasting success, though. Another Wells-inspired movie, Things to Come starring Raymond Massey in 1936, is far more obscure today. Yet I’ve always found it just as intriguing as his other work, for reasons that have nothing to do with Martians or underground monsters.
The film Things to Come is based on Wells’ 1933 novel – he called it a “future history” – entitled The Shape of Things to Come. The film version is mildly interesting. The original novel is massive, turgid, rambling, and in the end, mind-numbing. Both works imagine a future world-war that drags on catastrophically for decades, decimates the population, unleashes a terrifying plague, and results in the collapse of civilization and the rise of petty warlords. In the nick of time, amid the chaos, a community of advanced scientists emerges from a secret enclave to impose a benevolent dictatorship and lead humanity to an era of recovery, progress, unity, peace, and plenty, guided by science and technology.
The most interesting thing about the two works is a plot element missing from the film but quite central to the novel. To secure their utopia, the scientists in The Shape of Things to Come find it necessary to exterminate all religious leaders and stamp out organized religion, with the Catholic Church their last and most tenacious opponent. Only then in the novel, thanks to this regrettable mass murder, can mankind reach its full maturity and march into the sunlight of knowledge and freedom.
It’s a familiar kind of “ends justify the means” reasoning – in this case, on steroids.
Today, 85 years after the Wells novel first appeared, the world is both very different from, and uncomfortably similar to, the content of his imagination. In many places around the globe, religious faith is not just alive but growing rapidly. The great ideological dictator states are dead. Science and technology have brought about great improvements in the material quality of life and the reduction of disease and poverty.
But in the so-called developed nations, science and technology have also, too often, fostered an approach to life based on utility and efficiency, and a disdain for religious faith and believers. The calculations of a culture ruled by the computer leave little room for the heart – which is why the philosopher Augusto Del Noce saw technological civilization as dogged by a chronic temptation to totalitarianism. The math of microchips has no tolerance for error or imperfection, and that intolerance can easily transfer to a culture and spread like a virus.
That’s bad news for human beings, who are frequently neither useful nor efficient nor perfect, but rather weak, suffering, flawed and dependent. For Christians, this “weakness” subtracts nothing from their humanity. Such persons are brothers, not failures, and every needy person is a child of God worthy of love and support. That includes infants struggling to survive a life-threatening illness like Alfie Evans. As we see every day now in the news from Britain about baby Alfie Evans and the efforts by his parents to get him medical help outside the country, “civilized” courts of law can be utterly callous, stubborn, driven by utility, resistant to humanitarian appeals, and brutish in interfering with a child’s right to life and his parents’ right to fight for that life.
And before we applaud ourselves for how much better things are here in the United States, we may want to read David French’s April 23 coverage of the growing anti-religious nature of recent California proposed legislation. See it here: https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/california-bill-threatens-christian-books-and-booksellers/.
As French argues, elements of the California bill amount to a “dramatic infringement on First Amendment rights, rendered even more pernicious by [the bill’s] functional declaration of certain kinds of religious speech and argument as the equivalent of consumer fraud.”
Whether the California bill is as drastic in its implications as some critics claim is open to debate. But no one disputes that it’s just one more example of efforts to interfere with Christian belief, teaching and practice now being pursued around the country. There are many others.
The point of my column this week is simply this. The real “shape of things to come” is never completely in human hands. The future will be shaped by many different facts and forces, many of which we do not and cannot control, not least the will of God. But neither are we helpless. Quite the opposite: History is filled with the reality of one person or groups of persons fighting for what they believe, and thereby changing and channeling the course of events.
Our lives make a difference. We’re here for a purpose. That purpose includes defending the weak and the suffering, and also defending the freedom of the Church to preach, teach and speak the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This is a privilege, not a burden, and we need to treasure it for the sake of our own humanity and the humanity of those we love.
Note: Columns will be published each week on www.CatholicPhilly.com and can also be found at http://archphila.org/archbishop-chaput/statements/statements.php.
I’ve been a lifelong fan of science fiction stories. Two of my favorites are classic novels by H.G. Wells (d. 1946), The War of the Worlds and The Time Machine. Both were twice produced as movies. Both make great reading even today. Not everything he wrote had such lasting success, though. Another Wells-inspired movie, Things to Come starring Raymond Massey in 1936, is far more obscure today. Yet I’ve always found it just as intriguing as his other work, for reasons that have nothing to do with Martians or underground monsters.
The film Things to Come is based on Wells’ 1933 novel – he called it a “future history” – entitled The Shape of Things to Come. The film version is mildly interesting. The original novel is massive, turgid, rambling, and in the end, mind-numbing. Both works imagine a future world-war that drags on catastrophically for decades, decimates the population, unleashes a terrifying plague, and results in the collapse of civilization and the rise of petty warlords. In the nick of time, amid the chaos, a community of advanced scientists emerges from a secret enclave to impose a benevolent dictatorship and lead humanity to an era of recovery, progress, unity, peace, and plenty, guided by science and technology.
The most interesting thing about the two works is a plot element missing from the film but quite central to the novel. To secure their utopia, the scientists in The Shape of Things to Come find it necessary to exterminate all religious leaders and stamp out organized religion, with the Catholic Church their last and most tenacious opponent. Only then in the novel, thanks to this regrettable mass murder, can mankind reach its full maturity and march into the sunlight of knowledge and freedom.
It’s a familiar kind of “ends justify the means” reasoning – in this case, on steroids.
Today, 85 years after the Wells novel first appeared, the world is both very different from, and uncomfortably similar to, the content of his imagination. In many places around the globe, religious faith is not just alive but growing rapidly. The great ideological dictator states are dead. Science and technology have brought about great improvements in the material quality of life and the reduction of disease and poverty.
But in the so-called developed nations, science and technology have also, too often, fostered an approach to life based on utility and efficiency, and a disdain for religious faith and believers. The calculations of a culture ruled by the computer leave little room for the heart – which is why the philosopher Augusto Del Noce saw technological civilization as dogged by a chronic temptation to totalitarianism. The math of microchips has no tolerance for error or imperfection, and that intolerance can easily transfer to a culture and spread like a virus.
That’s bad news for human beings, who are frequently neither useful nor efficient nor perfect, but rather weak, suffering, flawed and dependent. For Christians, this “weakness” subtracts nothing from their humanity. Such persons are brothers, not failures, and every needy person is a child of God worthy of love and support. That includes infants struggling to survive a life-threatening illness like Alfie Evans. As we see every day now in the news from Britain about baby Alfie Evans and the efforts by his parents to get him medical help outside the country, “civilized” courts of law can be utterly callous, stubborn, driven by utility, resistant to humanitarian appeals, and brutish in interfering with a child’s right to life and his parents’ right to fight for that life.
And before we applaud ourselves for how much better things are here in the United States, we may want to read David French’s April 23 coverage of the growing anti-religious nature of recent California proposed legislation. See it here: https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/california-bill-threatens-christian-books-and-booksellers/.
As French argues, elements of the California bill amount to a “dramatic infringement on First Amendment rights, rendered even more pernicious by [the bill’s] functional declaration of certain kinds of religious speech and argument as the equivalent of consumer fraud.”
Whether the California bill is as drastic in its implications as some critics claim is open to debate. But no one disputes that it’s just one more example of efforts to interfere with Christian belief, teaching and practice now being pursued around the country. There are many others.
The point of my column this week is simply this. The real “shape of things to come” is never completely in human hands. The future will be shaped by many different facts and forces, many of which we do not and cannot control, not least the will of God. But neither are we helpless. Quite the opposite: History is filled with the reality of one person or groups of persons fighting for what they believe, and thereby changing and channeling the course of events.
Our lives make a difference. We’re here for a purpose. That purpose includes defending the weak and the suffering, and also defending the freedom of the Church to preach, teach and speak the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This is a privilege, not a burden, and we need to treasure it for the sake of our own humanity and the humanity of those we love.
Note: Columns will be published each week on www.CatholicPhilly.com and can also be found at http://archphila.org/archbishop-chaput/statements/statements.php.
Why The Governor's Hands Are 'Dirty' . . .
Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf announced Friday afternoon that he has vetoed Senate Bill 936, legislation that could help fight the opioid crisis and make alternative pain treatments more affordable.
An article in the Philadelphia Inquirer earlier this year exposed that Wolf’s campaign coffers are full of donations from a PAC funded largely by doctors and lawyers who own pharmacies that would benefit from this veto.
In response Pennsylvania Republican Party Chairman Val DiGiorgio made the following statement:
“The veto of this bill further dirties the hands of a Governor that has shown time and again that he will stand up for special interest donors instead of the welfare of Pennsylvanians.
“This bill had broad-based support from the medical community, treatment providers, and businesses across Pennsylvania and could have gone a long way to fight the opioid crisis.
“Instead of issuing an Executive Order on over-prescribing, which lacks the full force and effect of law, the Governor should have shown firm leadership by signing this bill.”
An article in the Philadelphia Inquirer earlier this year exposed that Wolf’s campaign coffers are full of donations from a PAC funded largely by doctors and lawyers who own pharmacies that would benefit from this veto.
In response Pennsylvania Republican Party Chairman Val DiGiorgio made the following statement:
“The veto of this bill further dirties the hands of a Governor that has shown time and again that he will stand up for special interest donors instead of the welfare of Pennsylvanians.
“This bill had broad-based support from the medical community, treatment providers, and businesses across Pennsylvania and could have gone a long way to fight the opioid crisis.
“Instead of issuing an Executive Order on over-prescribing, which lacks the full force and effect of law, the Governor should have shown firm leadership by signing this bill.”
Thursday, April 26, 2018
A Special Day For A Very Special Lady!
Happy Birthday to our beautiful, gracious, elegant First Lady!
Cent anni, Melania Trump!
A 'Channel Of Hope' For Tens Of Thousands!
The Archdiocese of Philadelphia’s Catholic Charities Appeal (CCA) will once again partner with the Philadelphia Phillies to host a night of family fun at Citizens Bank Park. A portion of the proceeds from each ticket purchased through a dedicated link will go directly to CCA.
CCA is the single most important annual fundraising initiative of the Archdiocese. This year’s Appeal will be a channel of hope for tens of thousands of people through countless organizations and ministries in the five-county Archdiocese. Programs receiving funding from CCA include housing for the homeless, community food cupboards, afterschool academic enrichment and recreational opportunities for youth, and family support services.
To purchases tickets for the game and to support the Catholic Charities Appeal, please visit www.phillies.com/catholiccharitiesnight.
If 500 tickets are sold, a CCA beneficiary will throw out the first pitch of the game. In addition, Our Lady of Calvary School’s Choir will sing the National Anthem. In 2017, this school participated in the Catholic School Students for the Catholic Charities Appeal fundraiser and raised over $5,000 for the Schools of Special Education.
Seating will be located in the Outfield (101-107) at $43 per ticket, Pavilion (201-205) at $34 per ticket and Pavilion Deck (301-305) at $23 per ticket.
Monday, June 25, 2018
7:05 p.m.
Philadelphia Phillies vs. New York Yankees
Citizens Bank Park
1 Citizens Bank Way
Philadelphia, PA 19148
7:05 p.m.
Philadelphia Phillies vs. New York Yankees
Citizens Bank Park
1 Citizens Bank Way
Philadelphia, PA 19148
CCA is the single most important annual fundraising initiative of the Archdiocese. This year’s Appeal will be a channel of hope for tens of thousands of people through countless organizations and ministries in the five-county Archdiocese. Programs receiving funding from CCA include housing for the homeless, community food cupboards, afterschool academic enrichment and recreational opportunities for youth, and family support services.
To purchases tickets for the game and to support the Catholic Charities Appeal, please visit www.phillies.com/catholiccharitiesnight.
If 500 tickets are sold, a CCA beneficiary will throw out the first pitch of the game. In addition, Our Lady of Calvary School’s Choir will sing the National Anthem. In 2017, this school participated in the Catholic School Students for the Catholic Charities Appeal fundraiser and raised over $5,000 for the Schools of Special Education.
Seating will be located in the Outfield (101-107) at $43 per ticket, Pavilion (201-205) at $34 per ticket and Pavilion Deck (301-305) at $23 per ticket.
Note: To learn more about the Catholic Charities Appeal, please visit http://catholiccharitiesappeal.org/.
Strengthening America's Screening And Vetting!
Driving the Day
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| President Donald J. Trump welcomed service members and veterans to the White House today for the 2018 Wounded Warrior Project Soldier Ride. |
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| In honor of Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day, Press Secretary Sarah Sanders held a mock briefing this morning with children of White House press corps members. |
What you need to know about entry restrictions
The Supreme Court heard arguments yesterday about President Trump’s proclamation to limit travel from countries that pose an elevated threat to the United States from terrorism. “This proclamation is about what it says it’s about: foreign policy and national security,” Solicitor General Noel J. Francisco told the justices.President Trump’s actions will strengthen America’s screening and vetting. Last September, the President placed entry restrictions on nationals from certain countries. The proclamation followed an extensive review that determined some countries were not adequately sharing information about their residents with the United States, or they presented other risk factors relevant to national security.
The President’s top priority is the safety of the American people. Sensible entry restrictions advance that priority. In fact, following President Trump’s actions, other countries have adopted new security measures that strengthen our ability to properly vet individuals seeking to enter the United States.
Welcoming our wounded warriors
Returning to civilian life can be difficult for veterans. Many of our heroes suffer from depression or post-traumatic stress disorder upon discharge—not to mention a variety of physical challenges that can accompany service in the Armed Forces. Resources for this community are essential.Fortunately, the Wounded Warrior Project (WWP) is here to help. WWP’s noble mission is to “honor and empower Wounded Warriors,” connecting them to peers and other opportunities that can smooth the transition from military service. Now in its 15th year, the Soldier Ride is one of WWP’s biggest events.
Today, President Trump welcomed some of these heroes to the White House. “Each of you has forged in battle the sacred bonds of loyalty that link our people together,” the President said during last year’s Soldier Ride. “Our country, our values, our very way of life, endures because of you, and it endures because brave Americans raise up in every generation.”
BRAVO: These Ladies Will Smack You Down!
Diamond and Silk will NOT be manipulated by Sheila Jackson lee and they will take no gruff from her or from anyone else. God bless 'em!
Wednesday, April 25, 2018
We'll, We're Guessing SHE Told Him, Right?
.@Acosta and Sanders spar over whether the Trump administration has championed the free press. (spoiler alert: they haven't) pic.twitter.com/KEVN53MCMX— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 25, 2018
And You Think Things Are Biting And Brazen NOW?
From May 4 through August 22, the Philadelphia Museum of Art presents Biting Wit and Brazen Folly, an exhibition featuring over sixty incisively drawn and brightly colored British caricatures. Produced in great numbers in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, these satirical prints captured British life during a time of great social change.
On view will be works by celebrated artists of the genre such as George Cruikshank, James Gillray, William Heath, and Thomas Rowlandson. Selected from the Museum’s large holding of British prints, the exhibition reveals the widespread appeal of graphic satire, and underscores the power of images to critique society and portray human folly and foibles.
Organized thematically, Biting Wit and Brazen Folly begins with lighthearted and humorous prints showing Londoners looking at art on the street, in galleries, and in the studio. Some images poke fun at their subjects with witty titles such as “A Cognoscenti Contemplating Ye Beauties of Ye Antique,” while another shows pickpockets stealing from unsuspecting people in a crowd.
The next section casts a skeptical eye on contemporary life in London. Caricaturists delighted in illustrating stereotypical characters such as the “coachman,” the “quack doctor,” the “modern woman,” the “mismatched couple” and the “fashionable dandy.” Representing stereotypes that everyone would recognize, they reflect the social strata and environment of London at the time: teeming, chaotic, and in a state of transformation.
Another section features exaggerated examples of contemporary London fashions, including oversized hats, cinched waists, high collars, and unruly beards and mustaches —common targets for mockery. Artists like James Gillray and William Heath relished Londoners’ persistent and, at times, comical efforts to keep up with the changing styles, lampooning the public’s blind acceptance of these fads. Other works show how blunt comparisons —old versus young, overweight versus thin, and modern versus antiquated —played into the humor of caricature.
Selections from the Museum’s large holdings of prints depicting medical subjects will be on display in the final section. The preoccupation with disease was an inevitable subject for artists, as illness was prevalent in a modernizing London where medical procedures were still primitive and people were understandably skeptical of the state of knowledge and skill of medical practitioners. James Gillray’s The Gout makes light of a common and very painful ailment, while Thomas Rowlandson’s Hypochondriac shows a darker side of living with mental distress.
Exhibition organizer Eileen Owens, Suzanne Andree Curatorial Fellow in the Museum’s Department of Prints, Drawings, and Photographs, said: “What made caricatures effective then is what makes them relevant now: they distill our everyday anxieties and joys into themes that are universal, authentic, and perpetually funny. It’s easy to compare them to digital memes and images on Instagram or our other social feeds. I hope that visitors will make connections between these satirical prints from 200 years ago and our own image-fueled culture today.”
The prints included in Biting Wit and Brazen Folly are now published on the Museum’s website. The majority of the works on view have not recently been on display.
Curator
Eileen Owens, Suzanne Andree Curatorial Fellow, with John Ittmann, The Kathy and Ted Fernberger Curator of Prints
Location
Korman Galleries 121–123
A Precipitous Drop Is Cause For Concern . . .
We hate to have to bring you the following excerpt but here it is from Life Site News:
The Catholic Church is seeing its biggest decline in Mass attendance in the U.S. in decades that started between the papacies of Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis, a new Gallup poll says.
"From 2014 to 2017, an average of 39% of Catholics reported attending church in the past seven days. This is down from an average of 45% from 2005 to 2008 and represents a steep decline from 75% in 1955," the poll found.Click here to read more from this story.
Francis became Pope in 2013.
Weekly Mass attendance among Catholics dropped six percentage points, the findings said, with fewer than four in 10 Catholics going to Mass in any given week.
In contrast, the survey said church attendance remained strong over the last decade with U.S. Protestants.
The number of weekly Mass-attending Catholics had leveled out at the 45 percent mark in the mid-2000s after dropping significantly during the time of the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) and its tumultuous aftermath.
The downhill shift in Mass attendance has picked back up under Francis with the biggest drop since the 1970s.
Are YOU Eligible For This Special Celebration?
Philadelphia Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, O.F.M. Cap. will be the main celebrant at the annual Wedding Anniversary Mass on Sunday, April 28th. The Mass is celebrated to pray for married couples in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.
For the first time this year, the Mass will now welcome couples who are married 1-5 years in addition to the couples who have been married 25 years or more and 50 years or more. Friends and family are also welcome and encouraged to attend.
To register, please visit https://form.jotform.us/72323671861154
Note: For more information about the Wedding Anniversary Mass, please contact the Office for Life and Family at 215-587-0500, or visit www.phillycatholiclife.org.
Saturday, April 28, 2018
5:15 p.m.
Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul
18th Street & Benjamin Franklin Parkway
Philadelphia, PA 19103
18th Street & Benjamin Franklin Parkway
Philadelphia, PA 19103
For the first time this year, the Mass will now welcome couples who are married 1-5 years in addition to the couples who have been married 25 years or more and 50 years or more. Friends and family are also welcome and encouraged to attend.
To register, please visit https://form.jotform.us/72323671861154