Catholic Fire

By Jean M. Heimann August 10 is the feast of St. Lawrence, deacon and martyr. Lawrence was one of the seven deacons of the Church of Rome. In 258, he was martyred along with Pope Sixtus II and other deacons. St. Lawrence was in charge of caring for the poor and had a great love for the destitute and the needy. He was the distributor of alms and “keeper of the treasures of the Church” during a time when Christianity was proclaimed illegal. The Prefect of Rome, a greedy pagan, thought the Church had a great fortune hidden away. So he ordered Lawrence to bring the Church's treasure to him. Lawrence distributed the material wealth of the Church before the Roman authorities could steal it. He gave it to the poor. When he returned in three days, he was accompanied by all the poor and sick people who were being maintained by the Church. He showed them to the Prefect, announcing: "This is the Church's treasure!" In great fury, the Prefect condemned Lawrence to a sl...

September 26, 2013. (Romereports.com) Back in 1983, Pope John Paul II authorized the Vatican to prepare a document that addressed the role of the family in modern society. After months of work, they came up with the Charter of the Rights of the Family.   Three decades later, the Pontifical Council for the Family is getting ready to mark the Charter's 30th anniversary, with a special presentation on how the document impacts women today. DR. HELEN ALVARÉ Professor of Family, Religion and Law (USA) “The Church has a credible witness in our charity, a credible witness in our words and a real balance between what women are actually demanding, between what they actually want, and between what women, children and the poor actually need.” The charter addresses individual rights like the freedom for a man and women to have a family through marriage, and to have children. But it also calls on societies to respect certain rights, like the protection of life from conception to natur...

Jan 29, 2013  (CNA/EWTN News).- Americans who wish to be truly pro-life must be willing to examine the philosophical and cultural implications of these views, said George Mason University law professor Helen Alvaré. Being involved in the pro-life movement, she said, “will lead you places where you’ll be surprised to go, because abortion is not a single issue.” Alvaré delivered the keynote address at the Cardinal O’Connor Conference on Life on Jan. 26, explaining to participants that if they want to “keep the integrity” of their positions, they must be willing to take action on social and philosophical issues connected to abortion. Hosted annually at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., the Cardinal O’Connor Conference for Life is the largest student-run pro-life conference in the United States. Alvaré, who was speaking at the conference for the third time since it began in 2000, told the 650 student participants that being pro-life may lead them to investigate the ...