Bp. Andrus offers prayer of "Earth and Cosmos; Villanova Prof. Mocked Catholicism; Europe’s Anti-Semitism...more

Atty. Gen. Eric Holder to step down
Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. plans to resign, a White House official said Thursday..

Holder has served in President Obama’s Cabinet since the start of his presidency.

Holder had been rumored to be mulling an exit for months --and many expected him to have already departed -- but Obama, a longtime friend, reportedly made a personal appeal for him to stay on...

Incest a 'fundamental right', German committee says
Anti-incest laws in Germany could be scrapped after a government-backed group said relationships between brothers and sisters should be legal

Nigerian Army Says It Killed Man Acting as Boko Haram Leader ...The man, identified as Mohammed Bashir, died when government troops defending the northeastern town of Konduga killed some top Boko Haram commanders in an attack on a convoy of rebel vehicles on Sept. 17, Nigeria’s Defence Headquarters said late yesterday in an e-mailed statement...

Bishop Marc Andrus Offers Prayer of “Earth and Cosmos” at Climate March
Who calls the clouds of Monarch Butterflies to their annual 4,000-mile migration?”
“The Earth!”

“Who prompts the Arctic Tern in the air, and the Blue Whale in the Ocean to make their 12,000-mile migration?”
“The Earth!”

“Who starts the 500-mile Serengeti Migration, beginning with 250,000 Zebras, then 1.7 million Wildebeasts, and 400,000 Gazelles?”
“The Earth!”

Villanova Prof. Mocked Catholicism
A professor at Villanova University in a lecture that is ostensibly about the use of Native American sports mascots mocks the Catholic Church by swinging around a cross, tossing about pretend communion wafers, making jokes about a pregnant nun. And this is all in the first few minutes...

Ruth Bader Ginsburg: Poor People Should Have Abortions, Not Children
“It makes no sense as a national policy to promote birth only among poor people,” Ginsburg says.

Europe’s Anti-Semitism Comes Out of the Shadows
From the immigrant enclaves of the Parisian suburbs to the drizzly bureaucratic city of Brussels to the industrial heartland of Germany, Europe’s old demon returned this summer. “Death to the Jews!” shouted protesters at pro-Palestinian rallies in Belgium and France. “Gas the Jews!” yelled marchers at a similar protest in Germany.

The ugly threats were surpassed by uglier violence. Four people were fatally shot in May at the Jewish Museum in Brussels. A Jewish-owned pharmacy in this Paris suburb was destroyed in July by youths protesting Israel’s military campaign in Gaza. A synagogue in Wuppertal, Germany, was attacked with firebombs. A Swedish Jew was beaten with iron pipes. The list goes on.

 

The scattered attacks have raised alarm about how Europe is changing and whether it remains a safe place for Jews. An increasing number of Jews, if still relatively modest in total, are now migrating to Israel. Others describe “no go” zones in Muslim districts of many European cities where Jews dare not travel...