TUESDAY July 11
FEAST OF SAINT BENEDICT
1 Maccabees, Chapter 7, Verse 30
When he became aware that Nicanor had come
to him with deceit in mind, Judas was afraid
of him and would not meet him again.
Have you ever had
someone you trusted betray you? We all have. In Maccabees 2 it is explained
that Nicanor and Judas become friends for a time. It seems Nicanor might have
come to Judea to work out a peace plan and it is rumored he even persuades
Judas to settle down and marry. Later the Hellenizing (progressive) party forces
Nicanor to betray Judas. Having been warned Judas avoids further contact with
Nicanor. Why was Judas afraid? He was a man of courage perhaps he now saw that
he may have to take the life of a friend. Is there any greater fear? Nicanor
eventually attacks Judas and indeed dies in the ensuing battle.[1]
Feast of Saint Benedict[2]
Today the progressives mark world
population day.
World Population Day History[3]
World
Population Day seeks to draw attention to issues related to a growing global
population. The world's population as of April 2016, is over 7.4 Billion.
The world's population is rapidly surging with birth rates on the rise
and life expectancy increases. Over the last century, between 1916 and
2012, global life expectancy more than doubled from 34 to 70 years while world
population has quintupled from 1.5 billion to 7.3 billion between 1900 and
2016. In 1989, the United
Nations designated July 11th as
World Population Day in an effort to garner attention for population issues and
crises such as displaced people, rights and needs of women and girls and population safety on a global
level. With an ever-growing world population, World Population Day serves to
highlight the challenges and opportunities of this growth and its impact on
planet sustainability, heavy urbanization, availability of health care and youth empowerment.
Catholic
Population Principles[4]
In order to provide a moral perspective, we affirm the following
principles derived from the social teaching of the Church.
1. Within the limits of their own competence, government officials have
rights and duties with regard to the population problems of their own
nations—for instance, in the matter of social legislation as it affects
families, of migration to cities, of information relative to the conditions and
needs of the nation. Government's positive role is to help bring about those
conditions in which married couples, without undue material, physical or
psychological pressure, may exercise responsible freedom in determining family
size.
2. Decisions about family size and the frequency of births belong to the
parents and cannot be left to public authorities. Such decisions depend on a
rightly formed conscience which respects the divine law and takes into
consideration the circumstances of the places and the time. In forming their
consciences, parents should take into account their responsibilities toward
God, themselves, the children they have already brought into the world and the
community to which they belong, "following the dictates of their
conscience instructed about the divine law authentically interpreted and
strengthened by confidence in God."
3. Public authorities can provide information and recommend policies
regarding population, provided these are in conformity with moral law and
respect the rightful freedom of married couples.
4. Men and women should be informed of scientific advances of methods of
family planning whose safety has been well proven and which are in accord with
the moral law.
5. Abortion, directly willed and procured, even if for therapeutic
reasons, is to be absolutely excluded as a licit means of regulating births.
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