Church Witnesses Glorious Mystery

DETROIT FREE PRESS, Jan. 28 — St. Augustine-St. Monica Catholic Church was granted an unexpected grace when a treasured tabernacle that was stolen Jan. 10 was returned. Father Dan Trapp, the pastor, received the tabernacle after a Jan. 27 visit from someone the Detroit Free Press referred to as a “mystery man.”

The man told Father Trapp that two men and a woman had stolen the tabernacle because they thought it was a valuable safe. After discovering consecrated hosts instead of the expected treasure, they ate the hosts because they were starving. Afterward, they couldn’t sleep and told the “mystery man” about it. He couldn’t sleep either, according to the story, and approached Father Trapp.

“They realized this had something to do with God, and it had been messed with,” Father Trapp was quoted as saying. “We are grateful the hosts were consumed by people who were hungry, not for something wrong.”

Perhaps he was referring to the occasional practice of people coming to Communion, taking the consecrated host out of the church and desecrating it in some way, such as use in a satanic “black mass.”

The tabernacle now will be bolted into place.

Wal-Mart Acknowledges Same-Sex Partnerships

ASSOCIATED PRESS, Jan. 28 — Wal-Mart has revised its definition of “immediate family” in the company’s ethics policy to include same-sex partners.

 According to the Associated Press, the revisions deal with company ethics prohibiting employees from using confidential information to help themselves or their immediate family. The revisions also affect provisions preventing employees from contacting Wal-Mart suppliers about jobs for immediate family members.

 “We updated our statement of ethics,” said Wal-Mart spokesman Gus Whitcomb. “That brings us into compliance with state laws in terms of how they look at individuals with regard to policies” where a worker’s immediate family would be a factor.

Whitcomb would not say if the revisions will affect employee benefits or if they signal a Wal-Mart position on same-sex “marriage” and civil unions.

A spokesman for the Human Rights Campaign’s WorkNet, a national group that advocates in regards to homosexual issues, praised the revisions.

  Wal-Mart is the nation’s largest employer and the biggest retailer in the world.

Education Secretary Defends Critique of ‘Buster’

ASSOCIATED PRESS, Feb. 1 — The new U.S. secretary of education defended her criticism of a Public Broadcasting Service cartoon, saying it’s appropriate for parents to deal with “lifestyle issues” and “address those as they see fit, in their own way and in their own time,” the AP reported. 

Even before she was sworn in, Margaret Spellings told PBS she had grave concerns about an episode of “Postcards from Buster” that features families headed by lesbians. PBS decided not to distribute the show, but some affiliates went ahead with the broadcast. The program receives 63% of its $5 million in funding from a federal children’s education program.

“For the Department of Education or public broadcasting to get into things that are…in a grayer area, is just not something we need to do,” Spellings said.

Spellings, 47, is the first mother with school-age children to be education secretary. One of her daughters attends a Catholic high school; another is in public school.