Save the Date
2011 Canon Law Conference: August 9-10
Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe
La Crosse, Wisconsin
Host
Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke
Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura
Founder of the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe
Topics
Procedural Law, the Theory of Property in Canon Law, Natural Law vs. Positive Civil Law,
Penal Law, Fundamental Rights in Canon Law, and Matrimonial Law
Speakers
Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke, Reverend John J. Coughlin, O.F.M.,
Dr. Charles E. Rice and Dr. Edward Peters
Cost
Early Registration Fee (Before July 15): $250.00
Registration Fee (After July 15): $325.00
Cost includes six formal presentations, question and answer sessions following each presentation,
continental breakfast and lunch both days,
and dinner on August 9 with special guests and a panel discussion.
Online Registration
Online registration will be available in the coming weeks at
www.guadalupeshrine.org/canonlaw.asp
Contact
Eugene J. Diamond
Director of Communications and Development
[email protected]
(608) 782-5440
Here's law prof, Michael Helfand (Pepperdine) on an arbitration case out of the Florida that was the subject of some blogosphereic and talk-radio conversation:
For those still interested in this case from Florida, the judge issued an "opinion" today, which actually is intended just to give explain the facts and the procedural history giving rise to his original order: http://www.fljud13.org/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=Gou70XZCgII%3d&tabid=667&mid=1031.
It seems to me that there is a confusion in the opinion between two issues: (1) cases implicating the church autonomy doctrine and the constitutional protections afforded religious institutions to govern themselves and (2) religious arbitration cases where the parties have signed an arbitration agreement, thereby depriving a court of jurisdiction over a particular dispute (while still leaving a more limited role for the court in evaluating the arbitration on particular grounds). The two issues can intersect in interesting ways (e.g. the Establishment Clause may be implicated in both) but the two issues do not work in the same way.
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
A heavy topic, no doubt, and Cardinal Burke discusses it, here. A taste:
In my presentation tonight, I want to reflect with you on the crisis of Christian culture in the West and our call to build anew a strong Catholic culture, in fidelity to our vocation to give witness to Christ and, therefore, to be martyrs for the faith. First, I will set the context of the living of our Christian vocation in the present time, as presented to us by Pope Benedict XVI who urges us to study again, in particular, the moral teaching of His saintly predecessor, the Venerable, soon to be Blessed, Pope John Paul II. I will, then, present briefly the teaching of Pope John Paul II on holiness of life as the program of the new evangelization. Drawing upon the teaching of both Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI, I will give particular attention to the witness to the truth regarding human sexuality, as fundamental to holiness of life, and to the question of conscience as the irreplaceable and secure guide in the pursuit of holiness of life. The final part of my presentation is a reflection on witness as martyrdom and the various forms which it takes. . . .
Apparently, the census does not follow Super Bowl ads:
The population of Detroit has fallen back 100 years.
The flight of middle-class African-Americans to the suburbs fueled an exodus that cut Detroit's population 25% in the past decade to 713,777, according to Census Bureau data released Tuesday. That's the city's lowest population level since the 1910 census, when automobile mass production was making Detroit Detroit.
60 years ago, Detroit was America's 6th largest city. Of more parochial interest, perhaps, the Diocese of Detroit is older than the state of Michigan; it is home to approximately 300 parishes and missions, and 100 Catholic schools. But, again, it seems, as an urban community, to be imploding (or "dying"), in a way that (it strikes me) is unique in the United States today.
Why is this happening? Could it have been prevented? Can it be stopped, slowed, or reversed? Should we (i.e., people who are interested in what Catholic social theory and teaching has to say about the law's project of ordering human communities) care?
UPDATE: Here is an interesting post on the "sad Detroit census numbers" by a graduate of Notre Dame's Architecture school, who is currently studying urban policy and design.
At The New Republic, Michael Walzer makes a "case against our attack on Libya." (At the same time, Jack Goldsmith insists that -- just or not -- the attacks are constitutional, even if then-Sen. Obama seems not to have thought so, in 2007.) And, here is a link to Paul Ramsey's (I think) helpful book, "The Just War."
At Public Discourse, reviewing the new book by my friend Chris Kaczor (Philosophy, Loyola-LA), Raymond Hain brings us up to speed on the current state of the national abortion debate. A bit:
. . . Kaczor defends an endowment account of human personhood over against the performance accounts defended by Singer, Tooley, and others. A performance account of human personhood “holds that a being is to be accorded respect if and only if the being functions in a given way,” whereas an endowment account “holds that each human being has inherent moral worth simply by virtue of the kind of being it is.” And by “endowment” Kaczor means “an intrinsic, dynamic orientation towards self-expressive activity [like] . . . rationality, autonomy, and respect.” Are you a person because you are something that actually engages in rational and free conscious activity, or are you a person because you are the kind of thing that engages in rational and free conscious activity?
It is only, argues Kaczor, if we look to the kind of thing that you are rather than your actual activity that we will be able to escape many serious moral difficulties. . . .
