…that I hope will be useful. If you like intellectual debate – which, as experienced by most of us, is also known as brain-strain – you might be interested in a discussion of the death penalty instigated by Catholic philosopher Alexander Pruss at the Right Reason blog. Another contributor to that site, Lydia McGrew, carries the conversation over to Enchiridion Militis, where I also participate in as unobtrusive a manner as possible, along with a very sharp fellow known as Zippy who, in turn, maintains his own blog. I would recommend reading Pruss' post, and then the post and comments at Enchiridion.
Update: Our own Mary Kochan has pointed me to several items here at CE that also treat of the subject linked above. You can read the article, readers' letters, and the authors' responses by clicking on the following in the order given:
https://www.catholicexchange.com/vm/index.asp?vm_id=2&art_id=20566
http://www.catholicexchange.com/vm/index.asp?vm_id=62&art_id=20957
http://old.catholicexchange.com/vm/index.asp?vm_id=62&art_id=20957&sec_id=39839
At Video Meliora, you can listen to, and watch, a lovely rendition of the Ave Maria.
Something has lit a flame under Sparki. It concerns the so-called Ashley treatment, given to the "pillow angel" at her parents' behest, but to Sparki "…'pillow angel' sounds like a stuffed toy you buy at Hallmark. It's dehumanizing." She's not pleased with the treatment, either, which sounds like mutilation in the interest of some notion of mercy.
Peony, of Two Sleepy Mommies, is put out, Paul Cella is incensed, and President Bush is to blame. Hear their case.
And lastly, at the Summamamas, the one of those known as Smockmomma posts her thoughts on "cremains", provoked by an article in Touchstone Magazine. It's a topic that really burns some people up, but not me. I figure they'll be reading this at my funeral:
Here lies the fellow we once knew as Bill
Who left no instructions in his final will
As to how we should of his body dispose –
To pour him in a bottle or dress him in his clothes –
His wife seems to think he didn't much care
As long as they're serving Beck's Over There.
