Monday Matters #27

Pope: Kids need values, hope from teachers; teachers need better pay

http://www.catholicnews.com/data/briefs/cns/20150316.htm#head9

A strong proponent of social welfare, Pope Francis recently said in an interview that teachers, are tools to which students excel in life. 

Teachers do a lot of things, and they give their students values. 

No one is like a teacher, who constantly gives as much love, and compassion towards their students. 

For this, they should be getting payed better. 

Monday Matters #26

http://news.stanford.edu/news/2015/february/stabat-mater-memchu-022515.html

Stanford students discover an 18th-century music treasure in Green Library

How fascinating!! This article tells of the first performance in over 300 years of Durante's edition of the Stabat Mater. 

There have been many editions of it by Palestrina, Monteverdi, and Haydn. It was performed on Thursday February 26 at Memorial church. 

This is very historic because Durante was very very popular during his time, yet his student, Pergolesi, was the one whose Stabat Mater gained popularity. 

Monday Matters #25

Massive Improvement in the Sistine Chapel Choir


In the past few years, many recordings have come out of the Sistine Chapel Choir, which has always been the choir to sing at Papal Masses. One would expect the Catholic Church's Choir to be an amazing, angelic choir, but unfortunately, the lower male voices have been too operatic at Mass, which is suppose to be a solemn liturgy.

Singing Renaissance Polyphony is very hard to do, because it requires an angelic, smooth voice, not annoying and overly operatic.

Something happened recently, where the sound has been improving a lot!! Nobody knows why!! But it surely is giving a smile to those music critics listening to the Papal Musical tradition that has been going on since the early Renaissance!!

http://www.chantcafe.com/2015/02/massive-improvement-from-sistine-chapel.html

Monday Matters #24

In the issue concerning Islam, and the whole ISIS conundrum, I am leaning towards the more conservative side. I understand that not all Muslims are bad, and a few are nice people, but I have seen writings in the Quaran that command the killing of infidels, calling them pigs. The media, actually is not making fun of the Muslim Faith, because they know Muslims will fight about it and will do something about it. The media, in fact, is NOT afraid to talk garbage about the Catholic Church, because they know Catholics will not get violent about it. I feel that the media in general, Conservative or Liberal, hates Catholicism because of its morals, and that it seems too "mean", and "unmerciful". 

Monday Matters #23

Which is more factual?

Many of us might either lean to the left or right of the American political spectrum, but both sides seem to exaggerate their own opinions on certain issues.

In the conservative news, muslims are seen as a dangerous religion, in which tolerance and a resolution is almost impossible. This might be more opinionated more than usual. But one has to admit that Islam has not been a peaceful faith as a whole for the past 1500 years.

The liberal media seems to defend the 'peaceful' Islam as a separate faith from the ISIS extremist Islam. They mention scripture from the Q'uaran, and show how unfaithful ISIS is acting.

However, both sides are flawed. Not all muslims are bad. And no, there are a lot of books in the Koran that say it is ok to 'cleanse' the infidels. So ultimately, none are more factual!! 

Monday Matters #22

Islam not compatible with ISIS actions

• ISIS, a Muslim extremist group, recently burned a Jordanian pilot alive
• According to Islamic scholars, burning is wrong in the Quaran
• ISIS gave a counter video, showing Muslims where it says it is ok to burn. 
• The official Islamic Scholars Association, has made a statement where according to Muslim teaching, it is unlawful to burn someone, or even cremate one after death. 
• ISIS is clearly widening the gap between true Islam and extremist barbarianism. 
• This is hurting Muslims.
• Which is a religion of peace 

Monday Matters #21

The mainstream media's reporting of Muslim Extremism

• Most of the media has a liberal bias
• Catholics are being talked about negatively
• Three reasons media hates the Church
• It is against Abortion
• It is against gay rights
• It is against women priests
• Liberals try to find every opportunity to bash on the Church
• While Islam, is shown as the victim in America. 
• The liberal media portrays America as the bad oppressor of muslims. 
• In general, Islam is a very intolerant religion. 

http://www.foxnews.com/transcript/2015/01/13/mainstream-media-reporting-islamic-extremism/