An Inocuous Inoculation?

What do you do with a vaccine that was tested on “fewer than 1,200 girls under age 16”, and is potentially responsible for as many as 9,749 adverse reactions (in all age groups), including 20 deaths? If you’re the state of Virginia you make it mandatory that all 11- and 12-year-old girls receive it by Oct 1 or face removal from school. (http://ncregister.com/site/article/15691 - subscription required)

Gardasil “fights two strains of HPV [Human Papillomavirus] believed to cause 70% of cervical cancers”. But among those who have reservations about how quickly the vaccine is being dispensed is Dr. Diane Harper, HPV specialist and Dartmouth Medical School professor—who also just happens to be one of the vaccine’s developers. Harper acknowledges that nobody knows whether there will be other adverse effects because “’the vaccine hasn’t been studied long enough. Nor do we know whether these adverse effects will happen more frequently if more than one vaccine — for example, Menactra [for meningitis] and Gardasil — are given at the same office visit.’”

Harper also raises two other issues:

“’The vaccine has been tested for only six years. So we don’t know if it will protect an 11- or 12-year-old from cancer 25 years down the road.’”

The myth of the vaccine’s ineffectiveness with regards to sexually active girls: “’The studies show girls will be just as protected [from cervical cancer] if they get the shots at age 15, 18, 22, or 26 — even if they’ve been exposed to HPV. There’s no reason to push this on 12-year-olds.’”

Questions have also been raised as to whether this vaccine is necessary at any age given the numbers associated with HPV and cervical cancer. Although 6.2 million Americans are infected annually by this sexually-transmitted disease, “90% of the infections clear up without treatment. A rare few go on to trigger cervical cancer.”

4,000 American women die each year from cervical cancer. By comparison, according to Wikipedia.com over 5,000 people died in 2007 from motorcycle accidents. This is not making light of cervical cancer; it is just putting the statistics into perspective. We are not seeing an epidemic that needs to be attacked immediately.

Finally, there is the question of parental rights. Many parents believe it is inappropriate to introduce their children to human sexuality at the age of 11 or 12, particularly if it is under the circumstances of explaining a vaccine that protects against a sexually-transmitted disease. To many this is the government overstepping its boundaries and co-opting the role of parents.

So who is behind this mad rush to inject our daughters with Gardasil?

There are numerous “progressive” groups obsessed with making our children sexually active at younger and younger ages. Chances are their political clout has helped pressure the government into forcing this onto the American public.

But the biggest culprit in this is probably Merck, the vaccine’s manufacturer, which stands to reap a financial harvest from the Virginia legislation alone. The cost of the vaccine is “$500 for a series of three shots”. Multiply $500 times the number of 11- and 12-year-old girls in the Virginia school system and you are talking about a dollar figure with many zeros at the end of it. And let’s face it: pharmaceutical companies spend huge amounts of money each year lobbying government officials.

Dr. Harper asks, “’Why the rush to get everybody vaccinated?’” A good rule to live by when searching for motivations: Follow the Money



Donald Tremblay

You Will Be Hated By All

American Catholics battle daily against cultural forces antagonistic to Christ and his Church. But our disagreements with liberal politicians, the media, and “progressive” educators are nothing compared to the persecution suffered by our Christian brethren in other parts of the world. Case in point: Yesterday in India , in retaliation for the assassination of the World Hindu Council leader by suspected Maoists, Hindu extremists “set an orphanage on fire in Khuntapali village in Barhgarh district, burning a Catholic nun to death, according to the All India Christian Council.” (http://www.crosswalk.com/news/religiontoday/11580889/)

Throughout the world each day Christians risk martyrdom by their very existence. The website www.christianpersecition.info provides links to articles from around the world detailing the mistreatment of Christ’s followers. Here are just a few of the headlines:


· American Pastor Disappears In Beijing After ProtestAdded: Aug 25th, 2008 8:53 AM
· Yemen Detains Nine Ex-Muslims For Converting To ChristianityAdded: Aug 25th, 2008 4:42 AM
· Pastor Attacked, Churches Burned in Wake of Swami's Murder in Orissa, IndiaAdded: Aug 25th, 2008 4:37 AM
· Six Missionaries and a Bible College Student Beaten in UttarakhandAdded: Aug 21st, 2008 3:13 AM
· Indonesia: Muslim Mob Storms Church, Calls for BanAdded: Aug 21st, 2008 3:11 AM
· China: Religious Freedoms Threatened as Olympics Draw to CloseAdded: Aug 21st, 2008 3:09 AM
· Malaysia: Court Denies Woman's Appeal to Leave IslamAdded: Aug 18th, 2008 3:42 AM
· Nigeria: Islamist Group Attacking Christians in Kwara StateAdded: Aug 18th, 2008 3:39 AM
· Student Attacked Over Gospel TractAdded: Aug 18th, 2008 3:37 AM

Truly, Christ had these people in mind when he warned, “You will be hated by all because of my name”. (Mark 9:13)

Let us take a moment today to pray for our Christian brothers and sisters who risk their lives daily when they worship the Lord—something that we too often take for granted.

Our prayers are desperately needed.


Donald Tremblay

Why?

Sometimes you have to wonder what people are thinking.
Yesterday, Father Antonio Rungi of the Italian diocese of Modragone announced that he would hold a beauty pageant for nuns next month. (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/2615888/Beauty-pageant-for-Italian-nuns.html) Father Rungi expects about 1,000 nuns to compete for the title of “Miss Sister Italy” in a pageant that will be broadcast online. Why is he doing this? "’Nuns are above all women and beauty is a gift from God. . . . You really think all nuns are old, stunted and sad? This isn't the case any more, thanks to the arrival in our country of young and vital nuns,’ notably from Africa and Latin America , he added.” Sisters who would like to participate must answer profile forms and submit a photo. It is their option as to whether they’d like to compete wearing their habit or not.
One has to wonder whether Father Rungi has been over-indulging in the celebratory wine. Of what value could this spectacle possibly serve? The vanity of a beauty pageant is contrary to the selfless vows taken by nuns when they join a religious order. The self-sacrifice required to live this life is why many orders insist that their sisters wear the traditional habit. A habit submerges the ego and teaches an initiate that she is simply one member of a larger group whose single role is to serve Christ . . . even at the expense of her own desires.

What’s next? A swimsuit competition?


Donald Tremblay

Not Worth The Paper They Are Written On

Darwin, Marx, Lenin? Freud, Kinsley, Nietsche?

Who is the individual whose teachings/writings have most devastated civilization?

Benjamin Wiker has written 10 Books that Screwed Up the World: And 5 Others that Didn't Help to address this question. The Franciscan University of Steubenville philosophy professor tears into the above-mentioned historical figures and adds a few others as well. In his review on insidecatholic.com, columnist Logan Gage recommends that “whether you're looking for a quick course on the Great Books or to inoculate a child going off to college, this book is a must-read.” (http://insidecatholic.com/Joomla/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4333&Itemid=48)

According to Gage two primary criticisms are addressed by Wiker in the book: “Exposing our often blind worship of ‘Science’ and revealing the central mistake of the past several centuries of intellectual thought: the attempt to destroy and replace the West's traditional understanding of the human person and his place in the world.” Historically there have been many instances of blind worship of science, and one of the examples Wiker cites is the scientific community’s immediate and unquestioned acceptance of Margaret Mead’s biased anthropological account, Coming of Age in Samoa, which was later shown to be, in Gage’s words, “junk science”.

After emerging from the bloodiest century in human history, many historians, philosophers, and theologians attempted to explain the 20th century in the hopes of preventing a repeat. Pope John Paul II was among those who insisted that a faulty concept of the human person was a major cause in this unprecedented evil; in fact, the former pontiff argued that it was the cause of it. In Witness to Hope: The Biography of Pope John Paul II, author George Wiegel reports that “his [Pope John Paul II] fundamental conviction has remained constant: the horrors of late twentieth-century life, whether Nazi, communist, racist, nationalist, or utilitarian in expression, are the products of defective concepts of the human person.” (p. 8)

Wiker’s book sounds informative, and considering the number of zany philosophies Man has created since the dawn of civilization he deserves credit for finding a way to limit the damaging books to just ten.



Donald Tremblay

The New Atheism

Yesterday, the Union of Catholic Asian News posted an article about the Universal Solidarity Movement (USM). (http://www.ucanews.com/2008/08/20/mirror-room-helps-people-discover-divinity-within-themselves/) According to its website, the Indian spiritual group defines itself as a movement “based on the spiritual foundations of all the world religions,” and its vision statement “promotes a paradigm shift from a narrow understanding of religiosity to a broad and liberative spirituality.” (And no, I don’t know what that means.)

The UCAN article focused mainly on the movement’s Meditation Room, which has elicited surprise from many worshippers who enter it for the first time. The room is empty, except for a ceiling fan, an overhead light . . . and a full-length mirror. No crucifix or Marian statue. No menorahs or postings of the Ten Commandments. No prayer rugs or incense. Just a mirror. And above the mirror is a sign written in English and Sanskrit. The English says, “God Within”. The Sanskrit is “Aham brahmasmi,” translated as “I am God”.

That’s right. “I am God”.

According to USM’s founder, Varghese Alengaden, staring at ourselves in the mirror is an effective way to learn that we are “the image of God”. Sister C. Lissy says that after initially laughing while staring at her own reflection, she realized that “God is within me, not in a church. I also realized I was confronting myself and this helped me behave better with others." USM’s director says that after a week “people become aware of ‘a divine presence’ there, and this divinity is exuded by your reflection, which in a way is just another image of God’”.

Today’s New Age spiritualities are a form of inverted atheism. Whereas throughout history an atheist was defined as one who disbelieves in God’s existence; today’s inverted atheists believe it is “Man” who is God. Believing that God is nothing more than an infinite source of energy that we all possess is no different than denying the existence of the one true God. Any system that denies the “Creator-creature” distinction is atheistic. It is why Pope John Paul II was correct years ago when he referred to Buddhism as atheistic. Belief in God presupposes an acceptance of a “Supreme Being”.

New Agers believe in something . . . but it isn’t God.



Donald Tremblay

We are the Author of Our Sins

An adage that irks me is, “Hate the sin; Love the sinner”. The clear implication is that the sin is distinct from the sinner, which encourages people to “view the sinner as a victim of his sin, rather than the author of the sin he commits”. (“Hate the Sin but Love the Sinner': Not Scriptural, Not Catholic Doctrine” by Erven Park , New Oxford Review, June 2006) This is a dangerous concept with eternal repercussions.

Separating the sin from the sinner implies that the offender is not damaged by his wrongful action. For ex., the man who slanders another needs to worry only about how the victim is hurt by his act—as if he himself is not adversely affected by it.

Quite the contrary, it is only by recognizing the sinner as the source of his sin that we can understand Canon Ripley’s warning that “sin is disastrous for both the soul and the body.” (This is the Faith, p 57) And as the catechism explains it, sin is like a snowball rolling down a hill, gathering speed and size as it travels:

“Sin creates a proclivity to sin; it engenders vice by repetition of the same acts. This results in perverse inclinations which cloud conscience and corrupt the concrete judgment of good and evil. Thus sin tends to reproduce itself and reinforce itself, but it cannot destroy the moral sense at its root.” (The Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1865)

Only through penance (reconciliation) can the marred soul be healed. “Those who approach the sacrament of Penance obtain pardon from God's mercy for the offense committed against him, and are, at the same time, reconciled with the Church which they have wounded by their sins and which by charity, by example, and by prayer labors for their conversion." (Catechism, 1422)

How can we ask for pardon if we don’t recognize ourselves as authors of our sin?

The biblical account of the stoning of an adulterer offers testimony to the importance of recognizing sinners as the source of their sin. An angry mob is on the verge of stoning an adulterer when Christ instructs, “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.” (John 8:7) Shamed, the angry mob disperses. Christ informs the woman that since nobody remains to condemn her, then neither will he. But he adds these departing words:

“Go, and now sin no more.” (John 8:11)

Christ’s warning is clear. He is telling the woman, “You may go, but do not assume that my words to the crowd were approval of your actions. You have sinned and are responsible for it. Do not offend my Father again.”

If hating the sin were enough, there would have been no need for this final warning.

Donald Tremblay

The 21st Century Televangelist

The National Post, a Canadian newspaper, asks whether Oprah Winfrey is a talk-show host or a spiritual guru. (http://www.nationalpost.com/arts/story.html?id=729239) I’ve always considered Oprah to be more misguided than manipulative. She is the poster girl for today’s feel good, “it’s all about me” spirituality. The adage that seems to best apply to her New Age philosophies is, “The road to hell is paved with good intentions.” But after reading the above article, I am reconsidering my assessment of her as genuine.

Just what exactly is motivating Oprah? Is it simply an “enlightened” desire to see people happy and “fulfilled”? Not quite, according to Kathryn Lofton, assistant professor of religious studies at Yale University . The academic says to look no further than Oprah’s commercial empire for the real inspiration: “"Her imperative is not to save souls. Her imperative is to give you a line that makes you want to return and consume the product."

That’s awfully cynical, Prof Lofton. Are you saying that behind the spiritual guru is nothing more than an opportunistic entrepreneur? How about the Katrina rebuilding and the Angel network? “"I think there is a sincere desire to give back - and you can see it on the documentaries that you can buy on the website for $29.95."

Ouch.

Jokes aside Lofton makes a good argument. Oprah’s rallying cry does seem to focus around, as Lofton phrases it, “’Buy this product, and I'll change your life.'” Chicago actress Robyn Okrant can offer one example as to how her life has changed. Okrant started a blog, “LivingOprah.com, recording her year-long efforts to live as Oprah would have her live. She watches the program, tracks what products Oprah says she ‘must’ buy, she reads the magazines, makes the recipes, buys the Favorite Things.” Okrant reports that she has spent nearly $2,000 and was forced to move into a smaller apartment after her rent was increased. (It was either move or abandon the Oprah project.)

Perhaps Oprah is the 21st century televangelist. The 20th century televangelist was a smarmy Southern man who promised that if you gave him money he would heal you and bring God’s grace down upon you. Maybe the 21st century televangelist is an intelligent, wealthy woman from a major metropolitan city who will teach you the secrets of your divinity and how to empower yourself . . . if you send her your money.


Donald Tremblay