From the December 9-15 Issue of National Catholic Register

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What Not to Hope In
BY The Editors
Pope Benedict XVI’s new encyclical is Spe Salvi (On Christian Hope). It has a lot to say about what hope is, what the highest hope is, and how we can grow in the virtue of hope. But it also includes, along the way, a list of things that we should not put our hopes in.

Henry Hyde 1924-2007
BY SHEILA LIAUGMINAS
‘Illinois Gentleman’ May Have Saved 1 Million From Abortion

It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Less Like Christmas
BY TOM MCFEELY
... Last month, the Florida-based advocacy group Liberty Counsel released its “Naughty & Nice” checklist of major stores regarding Christmas retailing.

Among the retailers singled out as “naughty” for restricting or prohibiting references to Christmas are Home Depot, Lowe’s, Toys ‘R’ Us, Best Buy, Eddie Bauer, Gap and K-Mart.

The “nice” list of stores that are more accommodating to Christmas includes JC Penney, Kohl’s, Target and Wal-Mart.

“Every consumer should make a list and check it twice, stop patronizing retailers which are naughty and shop at those which are nice,” Mathew Staver, chairman of Liberty Counsel, the group’s founder and chairman, said in a press release...

U.S. Anticipates Papal Mission
BY EDWARD PENTIN
Benedict’s U.S. Trip Will Be Brief, but Busy

An Inconvenient Global Carbon Tax
BY Melinda Selmys
... Both the United Nations and the pundits who oppose it are abuzz with the possibility of global taxation — whether in the form of a direct carbon tax, a tax on fossil fuels or a tax on air travel. The United Nations, as the largest currently existing global body, would most likely be the beneficiary and administrator of any such plan, and would likely use the monies levied to fund U.N. “development” projects, and to reduce humanity’s “carbon footprint.”

The United Nations is at the forefront of many anti-population measures. Nearly every branch, from its Children’s Fund to its AIDS committee to its council on Discrimination Against Women, has been extensively involved in promoting sterilization, birth control and abortion. With major environmental groups already talking about population control as a significant, if not primary, measure to be used in the campaign against global warming, we can expect the United Nations to use anti-life measures to carry out its environmental goals...

Sterility and Fruitfulness
BY Mark Shea
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” If Jesus had not said it, I doubt most people in our culture would ever connect “purity” with “seeing God.” As we saw last time, a huge number of people in our culture, when the word “purity” is propounded to them in their simplicity, associate it with not seeing something: something icky, or salacious, or dirty.

Benedict to College Students: ‘Go Against the Tide’
... At the same time, study constitutes a providential opportunity to advance on the journey of faith, because a well-cultivated intelligence opens the heart of man to listen to the voice of God, emphasizing the importance of discernment and humility. I referred precisely to the value of humility at the recent Agorà [meeting] at Loreto, when I exhorted Italian youth not to follow the dictates of pride, but rather, the realistic sense of life open to the transcendent dimension...

Pernicious Prelude
BY Steven D. Greydanus
Sly and Subtle, The Golden Compass Slithers Into Cinemas

Midwestern Voice of the Church
BY Barbara Middleton

Archbishop Raymond Burke recently summoned some newly “ordained” women into his office.

They weren’t actually ordained, of course. But Archbishop Burke has taken steps to respond to the actions of “Roman Catholic Womenpriests,” whose latest “ordinations” took place in his archdiocese, the Archdiocese of St. Louis.

Archbishop Burke has been the ordinary there since 2004 and has earned a reputation as a staunch defender of Church doctrine and practice, whether it be by stating that he would refuse Communion to a Catholic pro-abortion political figure, condemning a Church charity’s function featuring pro-abortion singer Cheryl Crow or stating that the women seeking “ordination” risk excommunication.

He spoke recently with Register correspondent Barbara Middleton.