Law

Update (Nov. 17): Italian Mayors Order Crucifixes Put in Classrooms in Revolt against European Court Ruling. Polish president and Greek Orthodox Church also hit out at decision against crucifixes in classrooms (Source: LifeSiteNews.com)
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From the Zenit news service:

ATHENS, Greece, NOV. 16, 2009 — The leader of the Greek Orthodox Church is ready to convoke an extraordinary synod to strategize how to combat a European Court of Human Rights decision that ruled crucifixes in schools are a violation of rights.

“Majorities also have rights,” Ieronymos II said in a statement that L’Osservatore Romano reported today. Continue reading →

An 1864 Mathew Brady photo depicts President Lincoln reading a book with his youngest son, Tad

Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman’s two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said “the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.”

Abraham Lincoln’s Second Second Inaugural Address
Saturday, March 4, 1865

The morning after, I awoke to hear that US House of Representatives had passed by a vote of 220 to 215 a bill authorizing a major reorganization by the Federal government of health care in America. My first thought was, “Oh well, I’ve always wanted to live in Europe.”

Along with others, I have grave reservations not about the need for health care reform in this country, but on the form that it seems likely to take under the twin auspices of the Democratic led Congress and the Obama administration. I worry about the intrusion of the government into what is not only a personal matter but also more than 15% of our economy. Even for one as irenic as I try to be, I fear that philanthropic rhetoric conceals and justifies an authoritarian urge. Continue reading →

I only recently heard about this case where a confession being heard by priest in a federal prison was recorded by authorities. It raises the most fundamental legal questions about Church and State separation.

Church and State Face Off in Court

By Annamarie Adkins

SALEM, Oregon, AUG. 26, 2009 (Zenit.org).- When Father Timothy Mockaitis heard inmate Conan Wayne Hale’s sacramental confession on April 22, 1996, he had no idea it was being recorded.

He also didn’t know that the event would spur an unprecedented legal case that attempted to demonstrate that a violation of the seal of the confessional was an infringement on the free exercise of religion guaranteed by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Father Mockaitis details these pivotal events in his new book, “The Seal: A Priest’s Story.” The pastor of Queen of Peace Catholic Church shared with ZENIT how this case involved not only canon law versus civil law, but also a threat to the long term viability of our Constitutional freedoms.

ZENIT: You filed a lawsuit to prevent disclosure of the contents of the confession. What were your legal claims?

Father Mockaitis: Our legal position was based essentially on First and Fourth Amendment violations, which concern religious freedom and protections against illegal search and seizure.

We also claimed civil rights violations against privacy. This was an offense against not only the Church, but against the penitent himself.

Read the entire article on the Zenit website.