Last Tuesday Teresa and I completed our adoption of little baby Asya, who came to use through the Fairfax County Foster Care and Adoption program in August of 2006. Asya was baptised Mary Anastasya Schultz this year on the solemnity of the Baptism of the Lord. She just turned 2 on June 11th.
One of these days I will post the complete story of how she became part of our family. For now, I will say that God listens to all our prayers and grants great graces to His little children. Little Asya is the greatest gift God has given Teresa and me.
Our celebration of Steve's ordination was cut short when we found out that Teresa's brother had died. Fred was kind-hearted, actively involved in great charities like Birth Mothers, and was so happy to see Teresa and I adopting our little baby. We will miss quiet dinners at his house, his enthusiasm for doing good and his great love. Please keep Fred in your prayers.
Past visitors to this blog may remember my twin brother Steve. He is now Rev. Mr. Schultz, with the photo in the Arlington Catholic Herald to prove it! Go ahead and click on that link and you'll see one happy Deacon.
RC was kind enough to make the journey from the Great Temperate North to bask in the 100+ degree weather we had that weekend.
Our whole family is overjoyed that Steve has made it to this point in pursuing his vocation. He keeps telling me he is proving that homilies don't have to be long to be boring, but I say he's his own worst critic. His first homily was outstanding.
Please keep Steve and all other seminarians in your prayers!
Here's a case study in How To Miss An Opportunity.
On June 6, Archbishop Edwin O'Brien of Baltimore wrote a letter to the Superior General of the Legion of Christ, imposing restrictions on the ministry of that religious institute and of the lay institute Regnum Christi within his diocese.
This is an unusual step for any bishop to take, and Abp. O'Brien was characteristically forthright about the reasons that brought him to the decision -- reasons which almost brought him to banning the two organizations outright. He and the pastors of his diocese repeatedly found themselves surprised by the two groups' activities among the faithful of Baltimore and particularly among young people. Pastors, who are responsible for the spiritual wellbeing of the faithful, do not like such surprises.
In the left-wing NC Reporter, John Allen reported on the event June 12 and interviewed the Archbishop. The reliably orthodox Catholic World News reported on the event on June 11 and cited the Archbishop's letter to the Legion; and then followed up.
The Rome-based press outlet ZENIT, however, which is "promoted by" the Legion, and includes Legion priests among its writers, and is directed by members of Regnum Christi, doesn't appear to have reported on the story at all in its daily news digests.
Now that is the missed opportunity I'm writing about. When a vigorous, orthodox religious community and a vigorous, orthodox lay institute come under the suspicion of a stalwart bishop who holds the primatial see of the United States (in case anyone didn't notice the point), and are placed under restrictions by that same bishop, that's a news event. To say nothing about it in ZENIT's daily news only reinforces the suspicion that the Legion and Regnum have garnered, suspicion which inescapably adheres to ZENIT.
And it's one reason why I am deleting and ignoring the almost daily fundraising e-mails from ZENIT.
For those who have been following Canada's human rights tribunals and their decisions against Christians who express moral opposition to homosexual activism and same-sex marriage, the name Stephen Boissoin should be familiar to you. I won't go into the whole history of his case, however, the Alberta Human Rights Tribunal recently ordered him to stop talking about homosexuality from the perspective of his evangelical Christian faith. Moreover, the government tribunal ordered him to apologize for his previous expressions on this topic as a Christian, and has prohibited him from criticizing the government process to which he had been subjected.
Admittedly, given the stridency of his letter that brought about the original complaint, as well as the way he was characterized in the mainstream media, I expected a sort of Fred Phelps light.
This impression was wrong.
I realized how wrong it was within seconds of speaking to him last week for the first time.
Stephen struck me as anything but hateful. He came across as gentle, albeit fervent like most evangelicals (although he doesn't admit the label, calling himself a simple Bible Christian). Moreover, he expressed genuinely felt concern for the emotional, spiritual and physical welfare of those who practice the homosexual lifestyle. I think part of the problem was the fact that the theological vocabulary between Catholics and Protestants has evolved differently since the Reformation. So quite often things that are understood or interpreted one way by one, are misinterpreted another way by the other.
However, there is one thing Catholics and evangelicals share besides their faith in Jesus Christ as the Son of God. And that is a 100 percent conviction rate before Canada's human rights tribunals on Section 13.1 cases. The legal persecution makes no distinction among Christians.
Which is why I felt it important that others see this side of Stephen Boissoin - the side many have neither seen nor heard because their impressions of him are drawn from secondary sources. These sources are not always sympathetic or balanced. I am grateful to Stephen for graciously accepting the invitation for an audio interview and podcast.
It lasted for a little over half-an-hour. I am currently breaking it down to four parts, converting to video so that I can upload it to YouTube, and will be posting it to Catholic Light as it is uploaded.
This morning's Catholic Exchange carries a story about the recent Alberta Human Rights Commission (AHRC) decision against Stephen Boissoin, an evangelical youth minister who during Canada's debate over same-sex marriage wrote a strongly-worded letter to the editor denouncing homosexuality.
For this he was ordered to pay a $5,000 fine to the complainant, never again speak about the subject, and apologize. This last requirement is chilling when one considers that not even Canada's most notorious serial murderer-rapists, Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka, were ordered to apologize to the families of their teenage victims. You can read the whole story here.
I would not be surprised if this case will be used as a precedent in the Fr. de Valk case, which is still being investigated. You can read more about Father's case here and here.
Additionally, today's Washington Times reports on last week's provincial human rights tribunal hearing against Maclean's magazine for having published an excerpt from Mark Steyn's America Alone. You can read that story here and here.
Many Americans are familiar with Mark Steyn's current run-in with the British Columbia Human Rights Commission. One of the most fascinating commentators on this controversy has been Tarek Fatah, a Muslim-Canadian author, activist and one of the founders of the Muslim Canadian Congress. He is well-known to Canadians who follow this controversy as a civil libertarian and a leading voice of Muslim moderates in Canada. He is also known to journalists as a candid interview.
Fatah's position on the Steyn case is unique to many who have expressed strong opinions. He disagrees vehemently with Steyn and his book America Alone, against which the Muslim author has leveled some pointed criticisms. However, Fatah also publicly defends Steyn's right to voice his opinions. As a best-selling Canadian author himself, Fatah has spared no criticism of the Muslim activists who denounced Steyn before the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal.
While I may not agree with everything Fatah says in this interview, I felt it was important to offer his words unedited (except for a brief exchange in the middle, where a friend or family member chances in on the interview without realizing it). He offers some excellent insights and definitely lives up to his reputation for candor. That, and a fine sense of humor as he compares Canada's human rights commissioners to angry mall cops and dares Canadian Islam's more fundamentalist elements to drag him before the tribunal.
Please note that while the following is audio only.
Only in Canada would a internationally-renown political writer like Mark Steyn be investigated for alleged hate speech because of a third-party posting on what appears to be the Catholic Answers web forum:
The debate over denial of Communion to pro-choice Roman Catholic politicians was rekindled last month when Bishop Joseph F. Naumann of Kansas City, Kan., told Gov. Kathleen Sebelius to refrain from partaking in the sacrament.
Similar actions by Catholic bishops in the past have led to strong debate among canon lawyers - those who function within the church's internal legal system.
As Bishop Naumann joins the chorus of American bishops refusing Communion to wayward politicians, a new consensus is emerging among canon lawyers on the topic, which reached a boiling point four years ago surrounding Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry. Mrs. Sebelius, a Democrat, has been the subject of much speculation as a potential vice-presidential pick for Sen. Barack Obama.
"Eight or 10 years ago, when people first started advocating on this, they were voices crying in the wilderness," says the Rev. Francis G. Morrisey, a retired professor of canon law at St. Paul University and one of the most respected canon lawyers in North America. "What we're seeing is a consensus emerge; it's more of a discussion now than a debate."
Father Morrisey, who long had been among the most vocal opponents of denying Communion to politicians, admits that his thinking on the subject has shifted substantially, although he still does not think Communion should be denied in every case.
"It is very rare that truth is in the extremes," he says. "We have to look at the individual conscience of each politician, and just when a person has overstepped the line."
The Eurovision international song contest for 2008 was held a few weeks ago, and while many of the songs in the competition were forgettable pop numbers or lame jokes, a few stood out in an interesting way. The beautiful, impassioned entry from Portugal, while not exactly a religious song, could only have been created in a Catholic culture.
Call me Savonarola, but the 
