A movement is afoot in Anchorage as homelessness and the those experiencing it are increasingly on our minds. It could be because their numbers are higher or that they’re more visible, but it feels like more than that. It feels like people are noticing; people are concerned and standing up to say, “This must change!”
And our use of the world’s resources also reflects our relationship to others: when most of the commercial chocolate available is produced by slave labor, often by exploited children, do I have a responsibility to drive across town and buy the cocoa which is in my cupboard now? The one that’s labeled “Equal Exchange, Fairly Traded, Small Farmer Grown” and is much more costly than the kind at the grocery store?
CatholicAnchor.org The Alaska Legislature will now hear public testimony at 3:30 p.m. on March 15 on a bill to restrict Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers from teaching or distributing materials in Alaska’s public schools. Introduced by Senator Mike Dunleavy, Senate Bill 191 will provide for civil penalties and the revocation or suspension of teacher…
stones have been an integral part of planetary existence since Neolithic times, the late stone age, when Stone fragments were used as household grinding implements, weapons of attack, articles of defense or punishment. In short, for millennia stones have served, whether for good or ill, as a means of survival or instruments of vengeance.
In the midst of a secular society that preaches its doctrines from modern university classrooms and secular media platforms, we need to represent Christianity not as merely a good option, but the very best option for human flourishing and happiness.
While the homebound ministers bring the Eucharist to all who make the request, the visits require meeting the recipients on their own terms. It’s wise to call ahead of a visit, the ministers note, and logistics of a visit can include negotiating icy driveways, yapping dogs and other obstacles. Inside the home, however, an underlying protocol of reverence applies.
Defiant Requiem tells the story of the performance of Verdi’s funeral Mass by 150 prisoners at Terezin, also known as Theresienstadt, a camp in Czechoslovakia where Jewish artists and intellectuals were imprisoned. Dr. Grant Cochran, conductor of the Anchorage Concert Chorus, said the compelling story is what led his group to endeavor to bring the performance to Anchorage’s Performing Arts Center.
The group exists to give Catholic women of the country a common voice and an instrument for unified action in matters affecting Catholic or national welfare; to ensure proper recognition of Catholic principles in national committees and national movements affecting the religious, moral and material well-being of the country. The group aims to support the work of existing Catholic women’s organizations in meeting the needs of modern culture.
Father Mark Francis has first hand experience of people confessing abortion in the confessional.
“The times that I’ve had a penitent come to confession and acknowledge an abortion, it’s usually after a very long time,” he said. “I immediately think to myself, ‘God be praised that this person has responded to the grace, that nudging, however long it took, and the person is seeking God, seeking forgiveness.’”
“By ‘long time,’ I mean years,” he explained. “At least a year. I can hear the physical sigh or tears beginning. A huge weight is gone.
The Catholic Church’s stance against artificial birth control is widely known. Perhaps less commonly known is the church’s position on artificial reproductive technology, particularly in vitro fertilization (IVF). On Feb. 10, about 50 people gathered at St. Andrew Church in Eagle River to hear internationally acclaimed bioethicist Father Tadeusz Pacholczyk present the church’s position on in vitro fertilization, its ramifications and some of the alternatives and counsel that may be offered to couples struggling with infertility.