BBC Documentary: A Renaissance Education

SC Attorney General Announces Plans for Public Integrity Unit

Attorney General Discusses Collaborative Initiative across the State Today

 

COLUMBIA– South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson announced plans for a major initiative among state agencies to combat corruption and protect public integrity in Charleston this morning. 

“The Public Integrity Unit is a partnership, not another agency. It will be a collaborative alliance of different agencies working together from day one. The mission of the Public Integrity Unit will be to increase confidence in both state and local government, deter corruption, better protect the public trust, and enforce ethics laws to the fullest extent,” stated Wilson. “The Attorney General’s office, members of the General Assembly, and members of various state agencies will continue to work together on this collaborative effort.”

“Today is just a starting point. We all agree comprehensive ethics reform is sorely needed,” Wilson continued. “It is going to take both parties, both houses of the legislature, and the executive branch of state government to come together to make this happen. I look forward to working with all parties and all South Carolinians to bring much needed improvements to our ethics laws.”

The Attorney General’s Public Integrity Unit will bring together dedicated resources and expertise to more efficiently and effectively investigate and prosecute criminal violations of the public trust. The partnership will include the Attorney General’s office, the State Law Enforcement Division, the Department of Revenue, the State Ethics Commission, and the Inspector General’s office.

Feast of the Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary

The Queen who serves

 

From L'Osservatore Romano

AQueen at the service of humanity who walks beside us every day, who loves us, listens to us and intercedes for us. In this way Benedict XVI explained the meaning of the queenship of the Virgin Mary, reminding the faithful present at Castel Gandolfo for the General Audience this morning, Wednesday, 22 August, of her liturgical Memorial. The Pope reaffirmed what he said last 15 August, on the day of the Assumption, when in his Homily at the Mass he celebrated in the Pontifical Parish of San Tommaso da Villanovo at Castel Gandolfo, he reflected on the meaning of the Virgin Mary's closeness to people in our day. It was not by chance that this morning he mentioned the post-conciliar reform of the liturgical calendar, which set the Memorial of the queenship of Mary eight days after the Solemnity of the Assumption. This stresses, the Pope pointed out, “the close link between Mary’s  royal nature and her glorification in body and soul beside her Son”; and also her closeness to God, her participation  “in God’s responsibility for the world and in God’s love for the world”.  The queenship of Mary, like the kingship of Jesus, Benedict XVI explained, “has nothing to do with that of the powerful of this earth”; it is a royalty that  “serves his servants”. In this sense Mary “ is Queen”, the Pope explained further, “in her service to God and to humanity, she is a Queen of love who lives the gift of herself to God so as to enter into the plan of man’s salvation”.

The New World Disorder

By Patrick J. Buchanan

After his great victory in Desert Storm, George H.W. Bush went before the United Nations to declare the coming of a New World Order.

The Cold War was yesterday. Communism was in its death throes. The Soviet Empire had crumbled.

The Soviet Union was disintegrating. Francis Fukuyama was writing of "The End of History." Savants trilled about the inevitable triumph of democratic capitalism.

May I Just Vote for This One?

Ryan: "I have a bust of Winston Churchill in my office."

The Great Bi-Polar Catholicism

From Real Clear Religion

By Father Robert Barron

"The principle of subsidiarity must remain closely linked to the principle of solidarity and vice versa, since the former without the latter gives way to social privatism, while the latter without the former gives way to paternalist social assistance that is demeaning to those in need."

-Benedict XVI,  Caritas in Veritate, (no. 58)

For many on the left, Paul Ryan is a menace, the very embodiment of cold, indifferent Republicanism, and for many on the right, he is a knight in shining armor, a God-fearing advocate of a principled conservatism.

Mitt Romney's choice of Ryan as running mate has already triggered the worst kind of exaggerated hoo-hah on both sides of the political debate. What is most interesting, from my perspective, is that Ryan, a devout Catholic, has claimed the social doctrine of the Church as the principal inspiration for his policies. Whether you stand with First Things and affirm that such a claim is coherent or with Commonweal and affirm that it is absurd, Ryan's assertion prompts a healthy thinking-through of Catholic social teaching in the present economic and political context.

Charlotte Cathedral to Host Eucharistic Vigil for Liberty During Democratic National Convention

From Catholic World News

The Cathedral of St. Patrick, Diocese of Charlotte

The cathedral church of the Diocese of Charlotte is hosting a continuous Eucharistic vigil for liberty during the Democratic National Convention, which will take place in Charlotte from September 3-6. 

“This time of adoration and prayer will focus on petitions for our country, our leaders, and ourselves in atonement for our sins and for the future of our nation,” according to an event announcement. “Among these petitions are the right to live, unthreatened by government mandate, from natural conception to natural death, and for the freedom of conscience and the unhindered worship of our Lord Jesus Christ.”