f/k/a archives . . . real opinions & real haiku

boundary dispute

the dead tree

still standing

 

 

 

 

a break in the weather

leaf bags

line the pavement

 

 

“tree B&w Small”

 

 

cloudless sky

a hairline crack

on the windshield

 

 

Yu Chang – Upstate Dim Sum (2003/II)

 

 

 

• 
  
  by dagosan:   

her thirty-year-old

photo — my nag finishes

out of the money

 

[Aug.4, 2005]  

        In a post titled “Roberts and Role Differentiation,” Brad Wendel at Legal Ethics Forum points to pro bono work done by young lawyer John Roberts as evidence Roberts can make a distinction between his role as lawyer or judge and his role as a member of a particular Faith.   The case involved gay rights. Brad concluded:

“I can live with a conservative nominee who is likely to make a good faith effort to decide cases impartially as a judge.  In fact, I think that’s the best anyone can hope for.” 

        “By its interventions in this area, the Church’s Magisterium does not wish to exercise political power or eliminate the freedom of opinion of Catholics regarding contingent questions. Instead, it intends – as is its proper function – to instruct and illuminate the consciences of the faithful, particularly those involved in political life, so that their actions may always serve the integral promotion of the human person and the common good. The social doctrine of the Church is not an intrusion into the government of individual countries. It is a question of the lay Catholic’s duty to be morally coherent, found within one’s conscience, which is one and indivisible. ‘There cannot be two parallel lives in their existence: on the one hand, the so-called ‘spiritual life’, with its values and demands; and on the other, the so-called ‘secular’ life, that is, life in a family, at work, in social responsibilities, in the responsibilities of public life and in culture.’  [emphasis added]

             “The branch, engrafted to the vine which is Christ, bears its fruit in every sphere of existence and activity. In fact, every area of the lay faithful’s lives, as different as they are, enters into the plan of God, who desires that these very areas be the ‘places in time’ where the love of Christ is revealed and realized for both the glory of the Father and service of others. Every activity, every situation, every precise responsibility – as, for example, skill and solidarity in work, love and dedication in the family and the education of children, service to society and public life and the promotion of truth in the area of culture – are the occasions ordained by providence for a ‘continuous exercise of faith, hope and charity’ (Apostolicam actuositatem). Living and acting in conformity with one’s own conscience on questions of politics is not slavish acceptance of positions alien to politics or some kind of confessionalism, but rather the way in which Christians offer their concrete contribution so that, through political life, society will become more just and more consistent with the dignity of the human person.”