Areopagus

    Felicitations, Fellow Philosophers!
              We have had some wonderful meetings these past few months.  Many thanks to our hosts for these months:  the Spankies, the Pilarskis, the Evards, and the Hastings!  I apologize for not posting these questions sooner.  At last night's meeting, we began with, instead of Cicero, the movie, "The Demographic Winter".  We will be watching this movie over the next few meetings in ten-minute parts at the beginning of each meeting.  Father Ward, before starting the movie, gave us a few questions to ponder and answer while watching the clip.  Afterwards, we discussed the part of the movie we watched, then moved onto the questions.

               Among those questions we have discussed the past few meetings were included:

•   What is the best way to deal with liturgical abuses?
•    In the Bible, there is a saying, "I desire mercy and not sacrifice" (somewhere along those lines).  What is meant by this?
•    If two mountain climbers were roped together and one slipped so they were both hanging, only supported by one guy, could he cut the other guy off his line?  Either both die, or one makes it.
• With school, I do not have enough time for leisure reading.  So for the summer I want to catch up on some leisure reading.  Do you have any suggestions? 
• Is it sinful for men to wear earrings?  
• I have a teacher who is obviously putting the Catholic Church in a bad light.  I try to block some of his attacks, but after this semester I can take another course with him.  Should I take another class under him to defend the Church, or should I avoid him?
• Do you have any recommendations for regaining chastity in a relationship that you do not want to simply abandon?  
• I know women cannot become priests, but I don't know exactly why.  Why can't women become priests?
• Is it uncharitable to not friend a relative on Facebook because they sometimes post things that go against your beliefs or are just plain annoying?
• Do you think that juveniles around 10-15 years old who have committed murder should be sentenced as adults or be treated differently, such as being counseled?
• A friend sent me an article saying, if you're asked to bake a cake for a same sex wedding, Jesus would say bake two, paraphrasing Matt 5:41, and adding Jesus would never exclude anyone. What can I say to that? 
• How does one adore Christ in daily prayer?  It's easy at Mass or at Eucharistic adoration, but how does one apply it to their prayer life?
• Does the Catholic Church do cremations now?
• What does it mean to defend traditional marriage?  What goal should we be pushing for?  Protection of conscience?  Preventing the civil approval of nontraditional marriages?
• What are the roles of nuns in the Church, and how did they first start?

               Our next meeting will be held on the FIRST Friday of the month, June 5th, at seven p.m.  More information will follow later this month.  Have a beautiful and blessed month of May!

                      In Christ,
                          Evelyn

Holy Mary, conceived without sin, Pray for us who have recourse to thee!