Malek el Khazen: Institution of marriage should be reserved for Christians
Dear Editor: As a Catholic I consider marriage a holy matrimony, by which a man and a woman establish between them a partnership of the whole of life and a religious institution. As a champion for equal rights, I consider the state should not be in the business of marriage or defining marriage.
For the agnostics, atheists and people from different background that would not like to take part of a religious marriage, it is necessary for the state to ratify the laws and allow a “civil union” between a man and woman. But it should not be called a “marriage,” it should be referred to as a “civil union.”
The duty of the state is to represent all its population. So it is unjust for few to allow the meaning of marriage to change from a divine sacrament to just a piece of “contract” completed by the state government. The marriage is a Christian concept. Yes for “civil union” by the state and no to “civil marriage” — because there is no such thing as civil in marriage.
Denver, Colo., Mar 10, 2013 / 06:07 am (CNA/EWTN News).- A courageous leader of the Jerusalem Church during the Islamic conquests of the seventh century, Patriarch Saint Sophronius I has his liturgical memorial on March 11. Though he is acknowledged and celebrated as a saint in the Roman Catholic Church, St. Sophronius is more commonly venerated among Eastern Catholics and within the Eastern Orthodox churches. All of these traditions commemorate him on the same date, the purported date of his death in 638.
Born in Damascus, Syria, around the year 560, Sophronius came from an esteemed family and received a deep philosophical education. His early devotion to God grew into an inclination toward monastic life, and while still young he entered a monastery in Palestine. He became a friend and student of John Moschus, his fellow monk who would become an important spiritual writer in the Eastern Christian tradition. The Zoroastrian Persians – long-standing military rivals of the Byzantine Empire, hailing from present-day Iran – invaded Palestine in 605. As a result the two monks fled first to Antioch and then Egypt. But their flight became a spiritual quest, taking John and Sophronius to many monasteries throughout the Middle East. Moschus’ memoir of their travels, entitled “The Spiritual Meadow,” survives and is still read in the Church to this day.
Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg appeared on "60 Minutes" tonight to explain her controversial views on women in the workplace.
Sandberg insists that one reason there are fewer woman in top leadership roles then men is because women hold themselves back.
Here are the most in-your-face statements she made:
"Men still run the world."
"Women attribute their success to working hard, luck and help from other people. Men will attribute that same success to their own core skills."
Women hurt themselves by "leaning back. They say, I'm busy or I want to have a child one day, I couldn't possibly take on any more. Or I'm still learning on my current job. I've never had a man say that to me.
"I'm not suggesting women aren't ambitious ... but when it comes to ambition to lead, to be the leader of whatever you are doing, men/boys outnumber girls women."