She's Out There… Somewhere

QUICK! What would you do in this situation? You are a marine biologist in charge of a large commercial marine aquarium. A six-foot captive Great White Shark that has lived in the aquarium for the last six months has become aggressive and killed at least two of the other sharks in your care. People are beginning to talk.

If you guessed "release it just off the coast near a densely populated metropolis" you are correct! If you also guessed that "just before sunrise" would be an opportune time to pull this off, give yourself bonus points!

GET THE STORY.

She’s Out There… Somewhere

QUICK! What would you do in this situation? You are a marine biologist in charge of a large commercial marine aquarium. A six-foot captive Great White Shark that has lived in the aquarium for the last six months has become aggressive and killed at least two of the other sharks in your care. People are beginning to talk.

If you guessed "release it just off the coast near a densely populated metropolis" you are correct! If you also guessed that "just before sunrise" would be an opportune time to pull this off, give yourself bonus points!

GET THE STORY.

Appearance on "Future Tense"

There a Minnesota Public Radio show (aired in the U.S. and Canada) called "Future Tense," which appears to have nothing to do with a forthcoming proliferation of caffeinated beverages.

Instead, it’s about technology.

Yesterday (which I suppose would be "Past Tense" from a "Present Tense" point of view), "Future Tense" interviewed me about how the death of John Paul II is being received in cyberspace and, in particular, on the catholic.com web forums.

Now that "Future Tense" is "Present Tense" (or something like that), they tell me the show should be posted for you listening pleasure to their website

WHICH IS HERE.

You can also

CHECK OUT THE JOHN PAUL II FORUM AT CATHOLIC.COM.

Appearance on “Future Tense”

There a Minnesota Public Radio show (aired in the U.S. and Canada) called "Future Tense," which appears to have nothing to do with a forthcoming proliferation of caffeinated beverages.

Instead, it’s about technology.

Yesterday (which I suppose would be "Past Tense" from a "Present Tense" point of view), "Future Tense" interviewed me about how the death of John Paul II is being received in cyberspace and, in particular, on the catholic.com web forums.

Now that "Future Tense" is "Present Tense" (or something like that), they tell me the show should be posted for you listening pleasure to their website

WHICH IS HERE.

You can also

CHECK OUT THE JOHN PAUL II FORUM AT CATHOLIC.COM.

Missing Books

A reader writes:

As a Catholic I understand there are 7 books in the Catholic Bible that are not in Non-Catholic Bibles. Would you please be able to tell me the names and what 7 books those are, so I can discuss this with a non Catholic friend?

Actually, these books are missing from Protestant Bibles. They do tend to be in the Bibles of Eastern Christians.

The books are:

  1. Tobit
  2. Judith
  3. 1 Maccabees
  4. 2 Maccabees
  5. Sirach
  6. Wisdom
  7. Baruch

There are also parts of two others that are missing in Protestant Bibles:

  • Daniel
  • Esther

MORE INFO HERE.

AND HERE.

Who Can Be Pope?

A reader writes:

I don’t know much about the Eastern Catholic Rites. Are there Eastern Cardinals? Are they eligable to become Pope? Would they then switch to the Latin Rite? If not, what would it mean for the Church?

In order: There are Eastern Cardinals. They are eligible to become Pope. What would happen regarding the different churches sui iuris within the Catholic Church if one were elected pope is unknown. Most likely the gentleman would maintain membership in two of the Churches sui iuris: his own and the Latin church.

It is unthinkable that he would quit his own and join the Latin church. The election of such a cardinal would be the finest moment of his native church, and it would be inconceivable for him to say "Now that I’m pope, I’m outta here. See ya later. I’m a Latin now."

Another reader writes:

I have heerd that a lay man can be elected Pope…Is this true or was it ever true?

You heerd right! In principle, a layman can be elected pope. Canon law requires that if the person elected pope is not yet a bishop that he be consecrated a bishop immediately, upon which he becomes pope (him having already accepted his election to the papacy prior to being consecrated a bishop).

The odds of this happening are about three billion to one.

Vasectomy Question

A reader writes:

Thank you for your website. I have a question – I’m Catholic, my husband is not. 4 years ago, I talked him out of a vasectomy after the birth of our 2nd daughter, and convinced him that we could use NFP to not conceive (I wanted more children, he didn’t, I can provide more details if needed). Recently, I discovered I am pregnant. My husband was, surprisingly, happy, said he knew it could happen, that this was obviously God’s will, and that he’s going to get a vasectomy. I again voiced all my objections to it, and he, knowing that I am completely opposed to it, is going to go ahead with the vasectomy.

My question is, if I have intercourse with my husband after he has the vasectomy am I committing a sin? My brother-in-law pointed out that it is grounds for annulment, and made a comment that sounded like he assumed I wouldn’t be having intercourse with my husband after the vasectomy.

Your brother-in-law is mistaken in regarding this situation, as tragic as it is, as grounds for an annulment. (It is not.) He is also mistaken in (apparently) regarding continued conjugal relations with your husband as sinful.

Here is what the Church’s Vademecum for Confessors has to say regarding this kind of situation:

13. Special difficulties are presented by cases of cooperation in the sin of a spouse who voluntarily renders the unitive act infecund [i.e., who use contraception or who have themselves sterilized]. In the first place, it is necessary to distinguish cooperation in the proper sense, from violence or unjust imposition on the part of one of the spouses, which the other spouse in fact cannot resist. This cooperation [i.e., continuing to have relations]can be licit when the three following conditions are jointly met:

    1. when the action of the cooperating spouse is not already illicit in itself;
    2. when proportionally grave reasons exist for cooperating in the sin of the other spouse;
    3. when one is seeking to help the other spouse to desist from such conduct (patiently, with prayer, charity and dialogue; although not necessarily in that moment, nor on every single occasion).

In your case, condition (1) is fulfilled because you, the cooperating spouse, are not being asked to do anything illicit in itself (e.g., you are not being asked to use contraception). Condition (2) is presumably fulfilled since it would likely do grave harm to your marriage if you permanently stopped conjugal relations. And condition (3) is presumably fulfilled since you will presumably over the course of time encourage your husband to repent of his action (though this may not mean a reversal of the vasectomy; just a repentence of having done it).

Assuming matter are as just described, it would appear that continuing conjugal relations with your husband after his vasectomy would be morally licit.

I hope, however, that you will be able to dissuade him from this course of action. You might try asking him to put it off for a while since it will obviously be a while before the new child is born and you are fertile again. This would give him time to think over the matter in more depth.

Hope this helps, and God bless!

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