In an age of confusion, the needs of young adults often go unmet. Relationships begin and end with arbitrary ease, hearts are broken, and the most common piece of advice is the old adage, “Just do what feels right”.

It will be held at 32 Prince St at the outdoor setting at 7:30pm. In case of bad weather, we have a rain venue at 263 Mulberry st (just around the corner).

Bring friends and coworkers, it’ll be a great night out! We’ll also be heading after to a place nearby for food and drinks.

The 4th week for Love and Responsibility in NYC saw – again – well over 80+ people turn up for a fun and engaging discussion in SoHo under the stars!

Don’t miss out on next week’s social discussion forum, taking place at the same place at the outdoor setting at 32 Prince st at 7:30pm.

The reading for Tuesday, August 24, is “The Law of the Gift: Understanding the Two Sides of Love” and can be read here:

http://catholiceducation.org/articles/marriage/mf0072.html

Date: Tuesday, August 24
Time: 7:30pm
Place: 32 Prince st (b/w Mott and Mulberry St)
Reading: The Law of the Gift: Understanding the Two Sides of Love

*We’d encourage you to read this chapter in advance of our discussions. Copies will also be made available every week.

Source: CBCP

CAGAYAN DE ORO City, August 12, 2010—Archbishop Antonio J. Ledesma, S.J., D.D., said that legalizing divorce will destroy the moral fiber of society because “marriage itself is a social contract.”

Interviewed during a break in the “Peace and Reconciliation Workshop—Enhancing the Study and Practice of Catholic Peacebuilding in Mindanao” Thursday morning, Ledesma explained that divorce is immoral because it goes against the teaching of Christ that marriage is a lifelong commitment between two persons of the opposite sex.

According to Ledesma, legalizing divorce “is another way of saying that the lifelong commitment in marriage is no longer viable.”

“Divorce Bill” proponents Gabriela Rep. Luzviminda Ilagan and Rep. Emerenciana de Jesus claimed that legalizing divorce will help in putting an end of domestic violence still prevalent among married Filipino couples because it will give these couples “another legal remedy that they can resort to in addition to the country’s existing laws on legal separation and annulment.”

But Ledesma stressed that divorce will ultimately tear up society, adding that domestic violence

“Legalizing something that is immoral will not make it right but will make it worse,” he said.

Continue reading here.

Photo from the website of the Archdiocese of Naga http://www.caceres-naga.org/

MANILA, July 29, 2010— The Archdiocese of Caceres mourns the passing of 35-year old Rector of the Holy Rosary Preparatory Seminary and Archdiocesan Vocation Director Fr. Baltazar A. Acompanado, Jr.

In a statement released and signed by Archbishop Leonardo Z. Legazpi, O.P., D.D. today, it was learned Fr. Acompanado was found dead in his room at the Preparatory Seminary (High School), San Jose, Camarines Sur at about 9:30 A.M. Wednesday, July 28.

Archbishop Legazpi described Fr. Acompanado as “a good and dedicated priest.”

“There is an on-going process of verification as regards the particular circumstance of his demise,” the 75-year old prelate said.

The late seminary rector was first appointed Parochial Vicar of St. John the Evangelist church in Naga City on March 24, 2003 and Professor/Formator of the Holy Rosary Preparatory Seminary in San Jose, Camarines Sur on November 22, 2003, Assistant Coordinator of SPARC from May 15, 2004 until his appointment as Assistant Director of the Archdiocesan Office of Social Action on April 2, 2006.

He was named Professor and Formator of the Holy Rosary Major Seminary on April 2, 2006 and later Rector/Vocation Director of the Holy Rosary Preparatory Seminary last November 28, 2006.

His remains lie in sate at the Good Shepherd Chapel of the Holy Rosary Major Seminary, Naga City where a concelebrated funeral mass will be offered on Saturday, July 31, 2010 at 2:00 P.M.

Interment will follow at the Resurrection Garden, the burial ground for priests from the Archdiocese of Caceres. (Melo M. Acuna)

It is with deep sadness that we share the news of our dear friend, Joey Velasco’s recent passing. He suffered from a heart attack and seizures a few days ago. Kindly offer prayers for the eternal rest of his soul. May perpetual light shine upon him.  Let us derive comfort from Joey’s own words, and from the words that have inspired him…

Everyone knows he’s going to die, but nobody seems to be completely and absolutely prepared for it. Nobody lives each day ready to die; life should be lived to the full each day.  This is why I have nothing but respect and awe for the thoughts of Mahatma Gandhi:   ”Each night when I go to sleep, I die. And the next morning, when I wake up, I am reborn.”

p.20, “The Niche of Nene,” They Have Jesus by Joey A. Velasco

Here are other links about Joey Velasco.

http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/lifestyle/07/20/10/heartist-painter-velasco-passes-away

http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=536187&publicationSubCategoryId=70

http://showbizandstyle.inquirer.net/lifestyle/lifestyle/view/20080204-116572/Joey-Velascos-journey-in-art-and-life

Time has a list of 10 interesting facts about the world’s oldest Bible.

This is false and obsolete thinking.

Numerous economic studies have shown that there is no causal link or correlation between poverty and population growth. In the paper “A Primer on the proposed Reproductive Health, Responsible Parenthood, and Population Development Consolidated Bill,” Dr. Roberto de Vera cites Nobel Prize winner Simon Kuznets’ 1966 book, Modern Economic Growth: Rate, Structure and Spread, which concluded: “no clear association appears to exist in the present sample of countries, or is likely to exist in other developed countries, between rates of growth of population and of product per capita.”

More recent studies have supported Kuznets’ original conclusion and applied it to all nations in general. De Vera cites five more:

“(1) the 1992 Ross Levine and David Renelt study of the relationship between growth and its determinants found no significant effect of population growth on economic growth;

(2) the 1994 Jeff King and Lant Pritchett study arrived at a similar finding where they allowed the effect of population on economic growth to vary according to the level of development and resource scarcity;

(3) in a 1996 review of the population-growth-poverty relationship, Dennis Ahlburg points out that studies have shown population growth has little or no effect on poverty;

(4) in a 2004 study examining the determinants of long-term growth, Gernot Dopelhoffer, Ronald Miller, and Xavier Sala-I-Martin, found that average annual population growth from 1960-1990 was not robustly correlated with economic growth;

(5) the 2007 Eric Hanushek and Ludger Wommann study found that total fertility rates, which can be seen as an alternative measure of population growth, did not have a statistically significant association with population growth.”

Dr. De Vera goes on to say:

Similar conclusions have been arrived at by the US National Research Council in 1986 and in the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) Consultative Meeting of Economists in 1992.

Moreover, these studies support Kuznets’s explanation of why no direct relationship could be expected between population growth and economic growth. Population growth and economic growth are linked through a “common set of political and social institutions.” Thus, any “direct causal relation” between them “may be quite limited.” Moreover, any relationship that is measured cannot be used as a basis for managing population to affect economic growth.

It is important to note that even if there are recent econometric studies that show that population growth is negatively correlated with per capita income growth in the Philippine case (i.e. an increase in the population growth rate leads to decrease in the per capita income growth rate), these studies cannot conclude that higher population growth rates causes lower per capita income growth rates. It is more probable that there are intervening factors such as those mentioned by Kuznets that may cause economic growth. This these studies cannot serve as bases for a policy that aims to reduce population growth to raise per capita income growth.

For the Sun Star to say that population growth causes poverty is unscientific. Overpopulation is clearly a myth.

The real causes of poverty in the Philippines are massive corruption, bad governance, economic mismanagement, indiscriminate debt servicing, greed, and war (in Mindanao). The so-called “reproductive health” bill and its population control measures will not address these issues; but the Church’s social teaching — if put into practice — certainly will.

(NOTE: This post also appeared in my blog at http://mamador.wordpress.com/2010/07/15/obsolete-thinking-again/)

Archbishop Socrates Villegas plays “Paolo’s Journey.”

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) announced the launch of a new video game on Friday which has a “catechetical value” for kids. St. Paul is the protagonist in the three-dimensional game promoted by the bishops.

The introduction of the video game was so novel that even the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano picked up on the CBCPnews report announcing the initiative, which was created for the Filipino bishops’ Episcopal Commission on Catechesis and Catholic Education.  Continue reading here.

Rome Reports

MANILA, July 13, 2010— Pope Benedict XVI will be writing for the first handwritten Bible created by the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines-Episcopal Commission on Biblical Apostolate (CBCP-ECBA) in collaboration with the Philippine Bible Society (PBS).

The Holy Father will be writing verses of the first and last chapter of the Bible, that is Genesis 1.1 and Revelation 22.21.

The first handwritten Bible intends to create Bible responsiveness and to cultivate love for the Word of God among different sectors in the country.

Organizers said the creation of this Bible is a response to the12th Synod of Bishops and the forthcoming Apostolic Exhortation of Pope Benedict XVI.

The May They Be One handwritten Bible will be divided into two columns. The first column will be the English version while the second column will be in the vernacular. Eight native languages such as Tagalog, Ilocano, Pangasinan, Cebuano, Hiligayon, Samarenyo, Bicol and Pampango will be used in separate editions.

The 35,656 verses from the 78 books of the bible will be written by hand by representatives from various sectors such as the Church, urban/rural poor, OFWs, youth, farmers, government offices like Malacañang, Senate, and Congress; schools, indigenous people, and the fisher folks.

Meanwhile, Roman Catholic and Protestant Bishops will be tasked to author the passages of Genesis 1 and Revelation 22.

The English version of the handwritten passages will be based from the published Catholic editions of the Old and New Testaments while the different languages will be copied from the Popular Versions or the New Testament Books of the Philippine Bible Society (PBS). (Kate Laceda)