News Updates, 6/17

Notre Dame ‘Betrayed’ Catholic Identity with Obama Speech, Says Vatican Leader
(CNSNews.com) – The University of Notre Dame betrayed its Catholic identity by inviting President Barack Obama to give the commencement speech and receive an honorary degree from the school in May, said Archbishop Raymond Burke, prefect of the Apostolic Signatura, the highest court at the Vatican...

More Proof of Hitler's Plan to Kill Pius XII
New evidence published today by the newspaper of the Italian bishops gives more credence to the belief that Adolf Hitler had planned to either kidnap or kill Pope Pius XII...

Pope discusses Austria's church scandals
Pope Benedict XVI met Tuesday for a second day with Austrian clergy to discuss the bungled appointment of an ultraconservative priest and a sex scandal - two events that have shaken the country's Catholic church.

Catholic bishops focusing on liturgy (USCCB Semiannual Meeting)
To some Catholics, U.S. bishops have chartered the correct course by focusing on liturgical matters at their three-day spring meeting, which begins today in San Antonio. More than 150 bishops from across the nation will fine-tune the English translation of the Mass to conform more closely to its Latin original. They'll seek more effective ways to spread their stated-but-little-known ministry goals. And they'll approve a new Mass of Thanksgiving.

U.S. Anglican convent converts to Rome en masse
Order of nuns to be received in the Catholic Church

Archbishop 'couldn't keep reading' abuse details
'It can't be hidden and it shouldn't be hidden'

Priest and seminarians gunned down in Mexico
Vehicle hit 20 times by rounds from assault rifles

Catholic lawyer accused of treasonous acts
Vietnam charges him with trying to overthrown gov't

New evidence says Pope Pius XII helped Jews
More than 2,300 pages of original documents corroborate

UK bishops fear bill will nix school crucifixes
Religious icons may offend atheist janitors

Hong Kong cardinal says stop accepting compromise
Urges Pope's letter on religious freedom to be followed

UK lesbians offered 'fertility' deal in Spain
Travel agent offering artificial insemination tour

Catholics angry at hurricane aid redirection plan
Archdiocese of New Orleans seeks to divert $11 million

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Other Issues
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Bernanke invited to testify on Merrill deal
A key congressional panel is inviting Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke to testify on June 25 about allegations by Bank of America Chief Executive Kenneth Lewis that government officials pressed him to buy Merrill Lynch & Co. after he became aware of major losses at the investment bank...

Brazil finds new strain of Swine Flu virus
Brazilian scientists have identified a new strain of the H1N1 virus after examining samples from a patient in Sao Paulo, their institute said Tuesday.

Chairman Obama Predicts Unemployment Will Hit 10% This Year
Jake Tapper and Karen Travers report: In an interview with Bloomberg News’ Al Hunt today, B. Hussein Obama says he thinks unemployment will hit 10% this year...
[How about before the end of summer? Praying that the narcissist thug is one of those!]

Obama Says ‘Robust’ Growth Will Prevent Tax Increases
B. Hussein Obama said he is “confident” that he won’t have to raise taxes on most Americans to close the budget deficit as long as the economy picks up steam...
[What's this clown smoking, anyway? - "Robust growth" with 10+% unemployment?]

Western states want reins on federal power
An expanded federal role prompts declarations of state sovereignty. Montana goes further with a gun bill defying U.S. firearm restrictions. The goal: Keep Washington on its side of the fence...In just the last few months, legislatures in five states -- Alaska, Idaho, North Dakota, Oklahoma and South Dakota -- have passed resolutions asserting their sovereignty and asking the federal government to "cease and desist" from meddling in their business. Similar measures are pending in about two dozen other states, including seven out West.

Equality or Payback? Is Judge Sotomayor someone in payback mode?(Thomas Sowell)
When it comes to subjecting other people to the same treatment in a later era, some have no real problem with that. They see it as payback. One of the many problems of the payback approach is that many of the people who most deserve retribution are no longer alive. You can take symbolic revenge on people who look like them, but this removes the whole moral element. If it is all right to discriminate today against individuals who have done you no harm, then why was it wrong to discriminate against you in the past?

One Man’s Constitution is Another Man’s Toilet Paper
For almost two and a half centuries, countless Americans have voluntarily served and died to uphold and defend the principles of the US Constitution...It is because of their continued sacrifice that our constitutional republic is the envy of the entire world, notwithstanding liberal Baby-Boomers, who, along with terrorists and rogue dictatorships, have grown up to hate it...