Here & There ...

• A former priest, who once dissented from Catholic teachings on reproduction and abortion, writes Fr. Thomas Euteneuer of Human Life International that he is now reconciled. Spero News. August 3, 2008.

• More than six thousand young people celebrated WYD in northern Iraq, reports the Catholic News Agency. July 24, 2008:

  Bishop Rabban Al-Qas of Amadiya of the Chaldeans told L’Osservatore Romano that more than one thousand young people carried a cross in procession to the town of Araden, the location of the “monastery of the Sultan Mahdokh, the Iraqi martyr who lived there in the fourth century. From there you could see the entire Sapna Valley as the young people sang the WYD songs. Their spirits were not dampened by fatigue and you could see the emotion in their faces throughout the long day.”

  At the end of the procession, the young people expressed their hope that “the next WYD would be celebrated ‘in the entire country’ and not just in the north, as in this case, ‘without any fear of violence’.”

• AsiaNews.it has a story on Eric Liddell, first "Chinese" Olympic champion -- He inspired the film "Chariots of Fire". He was born in Tianjin, China, the son of Scottish Presbyterian missionaries. He is known for his refusal to run his best event -- the 100 meter race -- on account that it was held on Sunday:

  According to some witnesses, it seems that the king of England himself tried to convince him to compete, in the name of "national pride", but he declined because "the commandments of God come before national honor. I will not run on Sunday".

  Liddell instead ran the 400 meter race, which he won with a record time of 47.6 seconds. He went on to receive a degree in science and returned to Tianjin as a missionary-schoolteacher, perishing in a Japanese prison camp in 1941.

• Benedict XVI is weaving together a mini-catechesis with a medium nearly any young person can relate to -- cell phone text messages:

  The Friday morning local time message to Youth Day pilgrims was a call to Christian love. "The spirit impels us 4ward 2wards others; the fire of his love makes us missionaries of God's charity. See u tomorrow nite - BXVI," it read. ...

  Before the Pope's boat-a-cade reached Sydney Harbor Thursday afternoon local time for his official arrival to World Youth Day, the Holy Father sent his third text message. That one said, "The Holy Spirit is the principal agent of salvation history: let him write your life-history 2 - BXVI."

  On Wednesday, after his encounter with typical Australian animals, including a koala bear and a carpet python, the Pontiff sent a text message reading, "The Holy Spirit gave the Apostles & gives u the power boldly 2 proclaim that Christ is risen! - BXVI."

  Pilgrims received their first text message from the Bishop of Rome on Monday. It said, "Young friend, God and his people expect much from u because u have within you the Fathers supreme gift: the Spirit of Jesus - BXVI."

  (Via the Cranky Conservative "Pope Benedict 4EVER!!!", who received it from his friend Eric, "who desperately wants to know that this story is not true.". (Yes, this is a joke right? ... Right?!?)

• Matthew Archbold (Creative Minority Report predicts the outcome of the forthcoming "Pope Joan" movie:

  And you know that when this trash hits the screens, there's going to be so many specials, documentaries, and promotional interviews about Pope Joan and female ordination. Fr. Richard McBrien will be quoted in the New York Times saying, "if it's not true it should be." Larry King will ask Bill Donahue what the female Pope might say about the Church if she were alive today and Donahue will actually exlode right there in front of the cameras. And Pope Joan will still be seen by many historically ignorant "Entertainment Tonight" watchers, not as a ridiculous movie but as a real biography of one of the first feminists who made it to the top of the all boy's Catholic Church.

• Ayn Rand, Crank - Maclin Horton reads Atlas Shrugged, speaks his mind and is set upon by proponents of Randian orthodoxy ("America is slowly dying," says one. "Only Rand provides the antidote"). UPDATE - Here is Maclin with "What Ayn Rand got right".

• August 8th was the Feast of St. Dominic - Jay Anderson (Pro Ecclesia) provides an excellent roundup.

• The Westminster Shorter Catechism, The Baltimore Catechism and Senator Barack Obama, on the meaning of "sin".