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The hopes and fears of all the year

28 Dec 2008 - Preaching the News for Sunday

Nearly two years ago, in April 2007, an undergraduate art student at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago unveiled a papier-mache sculpture of Barack Obama as a messianic figure, titled "Blessing." David Cordero, 24, made the sculpture for his senior show after noticing all the attention Obama had received since first hinting he might run for the presidency. Run Obama did, and win he did, and his election was overwhelmingly voted the top news story of the year by U.S. editors and news directors polled by the Associated Press. But as we prepare to celebrate the Savior's birth, Obama must contend with the almost messianic-like hope that many people hold for his presidency. Artist Cordero's explanation for creating his sculpture may prove a healthy cautionary tale: "All of this is a response to what I've been witnessing and hearing, this idea that Barack is sort of a potential savior that might come and absolve the country of all its sins. In a lot of ways it's about caution in assigning all these inflated expectations on one individual, and expecting them to change something that many hands have shaped." As Obama prepares to take office in a few weeks, he inherits a number of daunting challenges not of his own creation, not least of which is the nation's financial meltdown-voted the number-two story of the year in the AP poll. Obama will also be handed the long-running war in Iraq, another top-ten story of the year, not to mention the even longer-running war in Afghanistan. If that were not enough, the U.S. as well as other nations face the ongoing threat of terrorism, as demonstrated by another top story, the recent terrorist attack in Mumbai, India that killed 164 people. The historic political campaigns of two women-Hilary Clinton and Sarah Palin-also made the list of top-ten news stories. Though their campaigns were not victorious, both women finished the year with their political futures intact-Clinton as Obama's choice for U.S. Secretary of State, and Palin as a leading light of the conservative wing of the Republican Party. China and Russia were home to top stories of the year as well. China made the list for a triumph, its largely successful hosting of the Beijing Olympics, as well as a tragedy, a powerful earthquake in May that left more than 70,000 dead and led to the collapse of about 7,000 classrooms in shoddily built schools. The five-day Russian-Georgian war in August rounds out the list, a further reminder that Obama will inherit a number of complex and potentially volatile foreign-relations concerns. Stories that almost made the top ten included Cyclone Nargis, which killed more than 84,000 people in Myanmar; Hurricanes Gustav and Ike, which wreaked deadly damage in the Caribbean and on the U.S. Gulf Coast; and the seesaw fate of same-sex marriage in California, where a court ruling approving it was later overturned by a ballot measure. Several write-in votes were cast for two developments that occurred too late to be included on the AP ballot: the indictment of Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich and the efforts of struggling U.S. automakers to get a federal bailout. The alleged financial scam involving Bernard Madoff also was revealed too late to make the ballot. Several of the editors who voted commented on how two transcendent developments dominated the news in 2008. "As far as I am concerned, there were only two stories this year," wrote Linda Grist Cunningham of the Rockford (Illinois) Register Star. "Global economy collapses (sending every country into financial, political, and personal chaos) and Obama elected U.S. president, changing the way the America does business-financial, political, and personal." Source: Articles by Joel Roberts and David Crary for the Associated Press

automakers russia beijing olympics georgia cyclone nargis myanmar hurricane gustav hurricane ike same-sex marriage california bailout bernard madoff china sarah palin hilary clinton rod blagojevich barack obama david cordero school of the art institute of chicago associated press savior iraq war afghanistan war top-ten news stories terrorism mumbai global economy
Eight is more than enough

08 Mar 2009 - Preaching the News for Sunday

God promises Abraham abundant descendants in this Sunday's reading from the Book of Genesis. The recent and widely reported birth of octuplets in California, however, is sparking concerns that fertility clinics nationwide may be ignoring federal guidelines with regard to embryo implants. The tabloid-friendly tale of Nadya Suleman, the so-called California "Octomom," continues to stir debate. Although the doctor who supervised in-vitro fertilization for Suleman, 33, is regarded by many in the field as having violated professional norms, U.S. health records indicate a large majority of fertility clinics disregarded implant guidelines in 2006, the Oakland (Calif.) Tribune reported. Citing data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the newspaper said 80 percent of U.S. fertility clinics in 2006--the most recent year for which records are available--did not follow embryo implant guidelines set in 1999 by the American Society for Reproductive Medicine. "Assisted reproduction is a multibillion-dollar business," Marcy Darnovsky of the Center for Genetics and Society in Oakland said. "Like other commercial enterprises, it needs rules." Along those lines, a Georgia state senator introduced legislation this week to limit the number of embryos that can be implanted in a woman's uterus during in-vitro fertilization procedures in that state. Sen. Ralph Hudgens said his legislation was inspired by Suleman, who gave birth to octuplets after reportedly being fertilized with six embryos. Suleman had six children at the time the procedure was performed. State lawmakers in Missouri are considering a similar bill. Source: Articles by United Press International and CNN

georgia missouri center for genetics and society marcy darnovsky us centers for disease control and prevention in-vitro fertilization nadya suleman embryo implants fertility clinics octuplets ralph hudgens
Winter Olympics open on sad note

21 Feb 2010 - Preaching the News for Sunday

We hear in the gospel this Sunday that when Jesus was led into the desert the devil tried to tempt him with promises of glory. This fortnight athletes from around the world compete for Olympic glory in Vancouver, Canada. Not all is triumph, however; before the Games opened, tragedy struck when a Georgian luger died during a training accident. Twenty-one-year-old Nodar Kumaritashvili lost control of his luge on the final turn of the course, the world’s fastest, and slammed into a steel support at 90 miles per hour shortly before the opening of the Vancouver Winter Olympics. Kumaritashvili had earlier called his father to say he was worried about the track. “He called me before the Olympics, three days ago, and he said, ‘Dad, I’m scared of one of the turns,’ ” said David Kumaritashvili in an interview at his house in the small mountain town of Bakuriani. The International Luge Federation has blamed the crash on the luger and not on any “deficiencies in the track,” saying that Kumaritashvili “did not compensate properly to make the correct entrance” into the curve where he slid off the track at the Whistler Sliding Centre. Despite those assertions, Olympic officials took unusual measures to slow the speeds, and they altered the run to keep lugers on the track should they crash. Josef Fendt, president of the luge federation, said that the track is safe but that it had turned out to be far faster than designers ever intended it to be. Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili expressed annoyance at the luge federation for saying Kumaritashvili died because of human error and said a new luge track would be built in Bakuriani and named in his honor. “I don’t claim to know all the technical details,” Saakashvili said, “but one thing I know for sure: No sports mistake is supposed to lead to a death.” An article by Samantha Shields for the Wall Street Journal

georgia olympics vancouver olympics luge nodar kumaritashvili international luge federation whistler sliding centre josef fendt mikheil saakashvili
Life and death struggle over capital punishment

25 Sep 2011 - Preaching the News for Sunday

Questions of life and death, virtue and iniquity, mercy and justice are raised in this Sunday’s readings. The case of Troy Davis has done the same. The condemned inmate, who convinced hundreds of thousands of people but not the justice system of his innocence, filed an 11th-hour plea Wednesday asking the U.S. Supreme Court to stop Georgia authorities from executing him for the 1989 murder of off-duty police officer Mark MacPhail, but the high court declined to do so and Davis was executed late Wednesday night. From the Book of Ezekiel we hear the argument: “When someone virtuous turns away from virtue to commit iniquity, and dies, it is because of the iniquity he committed that he must die. But if he turns from the wickedness he has committed, he does what is right and just, he shall preserve his life.” Though Davis' attorneys said seven of nine key witnesses against him disputed all or parts of their testimony, state and federal judges repeatedly ruled against granting him a new trial. “Remember your mercies,” urges the psalmist of the Lord this Sunday. Amnesty International says nearly 1 million people signed a petition on Davis' behalf. Supporters of a stay included Pope Benedict XVI, former President Jimmy Carter, a former FBI director, the NAACP, several conservative figures, and many celebrities. Davis' supporters staged vigils in the U.S. and Europe Wednesday, declaring "I am Troy Davis" on signs, T-shirts, and the Internet. "Troy Davis has impacted the world," his sister Martina Correia said at a news conference. "They say, 'I am Troy Davis,' in languages he can't speak." "He has had ample time to prove his innocence," said MacPhail's widow, Joan MacPhail-Harris. "And he is not innocent." Davis was not the only U.S. inmate scheduled to die Wednesday evening. In Texas white supremacist gang member Lawrence Russell Brewer headed to the death chamber for the 1998 dragging death of a black man, James Byrd, Jr., one of the most notorious hate-crime murders in recent U.S. history. In his encyclical The Gospel of Life Pope John Paul II said that “the dignity of human life must never be taken away, even in the case of someone who has done great evil. Modern society has the means of protecting itself, without definitively denying criminals the chance to reform.” In 2005 the Catholic bishops of the United States issued the document "A Culture of Life and the Penalty of Death" in which they called for an end to the use of the death penalty in the United States, stating “it is time for our nation to abandon the illusion that we can protect life by taking life.” Sources: Articles by Matthew Bigg for Reuters, Greg Bluestein for theAssociated Press, and “Backgrounder on the Death Penalty” at usccb.org

georgia texas lawrence russell troy davis capital punishment death penalty lawrence russell brewer