Abortion rights supporters say that Bishops don't speak for the majority of Catholics, but this article says that 68% of Catholic actually support the Stupak Amendment. The author of the following article says that the US Bishops have reached out in a very definitive way on the issue of abortion, more than would have been possible for various pro-life groups.
Boston Herald
WASHINGTON — For weeks, the Catholic Church has asked its parishioners to work toward ensuring tough language restricting federal funding of abortion is included in the federal health care overhaul.
The church has gone so far as to insert a prayer into the weekly bulletins in the pews of its dioceses across the country, one that implores Congress to "act to ensure that needed health care reform will truly protect the life, dignity and health care of all."
But while the church is trying to rally its forces outside of Congress, it is also using its leverage within.
Read further...
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Monday, November 16, 2009
Pope: Church exists to evangelize the whole World
VATICAN CITY, (VIS) - World Mission Day, which falls on the
third Sunday of October, provided the theme for the Pope's remarks before praying the Angelus on Sunday.
The Holy Father told the thousands of faithful gathered at noon in St. Peter's Square that World Mission Sunday represented, "for all ecclesial communities and for each Christian, a powerful call to commit themselves to announcing and bearing witness to the Gospel to everyone, especially to people who do not yet know it".
"It is the light of the Gospel that guides peoples on their journey and leads them towards the realisation of the one great family, in justice and peace, under the paternity of the one good and merciful God", he said. "The Church exists to announce this message of hope to all humankind which in our time 'has experienced marvelous achievements but which seems to have lost its sense of ultimate realities and of existence itself'".
On World Mission Sunday "the Universal Church places the spotlight on her own missionary vocation. Guided by the Holy Spirit she knows she is called to continue the work of Jesus Himself, announcing the Gospel of the Kingdom of God, which is 'righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit".
"This Kingdom is already present in the world as a force for love, freedom,solidarity, and respect for the dignity of all mankind; and the ecclesial community feels in its heart the urgent need to work so the sovereignty of Christ may be fully achieved".
Benedict XVI then went on to mention "the missionaries - priests,religious and lay volunteers - who consecrate their lives to taking the Gospel into the world, facing discomforts and difficulties, sometimes even full-on persecutions.
"My thoughts go out to, among others, Fr. Ruggero Ruvoletto, a 'fidei donum' priest killed recently in Brazil, and to Fr. Michael Sinnot, a religious kidnapped a few days ago in the Philippines. And how can we not think of what is emerging from the Synod of Bishops for Africa in terms of extreme sacrifice and love for Christ and for His Church?"
The Pope then thanked the Pontifical Missionary Works for their service "in encouraging and educating missionaries". And he concluded: "I invite all Christians to make a gesture of material and spiritual support to help the young Churches in the poorest countries".
- - -
Deacon Keith Fournier asks that you join with us and help in this vital mission by sending this article to your family, friends, and neighbors and adding our link (www.catholic.org) to your own website, blog or social network. Let us broadcast, we are PROUD TO BE CATHOLIC!
Link here...
third Sunday of October, provided the theme for the Pope's remarks before praying the Angelus on Sunday.
The Holy Father told the thousands of faithful gathered at noon in St. Peter's Square that World Mission Sunday represented, "for all ecclesial communities and for each Christian, a powerful call to commit themselves to announcing and bearing witness to the Gospel to everyone, especially to people who do not yet know it".
"It is the light of the Gospel that guides peoples on their journey and leads them towards the realisation of the one great family, in justice and peace, under the paternity of the one good and merciful God", he said. "The Church exists to announce this message of hope to all humankind which in our time 'has experienced marvelous achievements but which seems to have lost its sense of ultimate realities and of existence itself'".
On World Mission Sunday "the Universal Church places the spotlight on her own missionary vocation. Guided by the Holy Spirit she knows she is called to continue the work of Jesus Himself, announcing the Gospel of the Kingdom of God, which is 'righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit".
"This Kingdom is already present in the world as a force for love, freedom,solidarity, and respect for the dignity of all mankind; and the ecclesial community feels in its heart the urgent need to work so the sovereignty of Christ may be fully achieved".
Benedict XVI then went on to mention "the missionaries - priests,religious and lay volunteers - who consecrate their lives to taking the Gospel into the world, facing discomforts and difficulties, sometimes even full-on persecutions.
"My thoughts go out to, among others, Fr. Ruggero Ruvoletto, a 'fidei donum' priest killed recently in Brazil, and to Fr. Michael Sinnot, a religious kidnapped a few days ago in the Philippines. And how can we not think of what is emerging from the Synod of Bishops for Africa in terms of extreme sacrifice and love for Christ and for His Church?"
The Pope then thanked the Pontifical Missionary Works for their service "in encouraging and educating missionaries". And he concluded: "I invite all Christians to make a gesture of material and spiritual support to help the young Churches in the poorest countries".
- - -
Deacon Keith Fournier asks that you join with us and help in this vital mission by sending this article to your family, friends, and neighbors and adding our link (www.catholic.org) to your own website, blog or social network. Let us broadcast, we are PROUD TO BE CATHOLIC!
Link here...
Cardinal George advocates Medical Wealth confiscation
Cardinal George at CNS is quoted here describing the priest's role as a conduit for Democratic Party talking points and Socialist wealth redistribution programs. It's well nigh impossible to imagine what expertise this Cardinal has in the health care field, but he has a large captive audience and is good at uttering soothing words of encouragement. It would be understandable if not a few people are more confused than ever about the role of a priest.
Read entire article...
Recently, he noted, "we have tried to be such a leaven in the debate about health care. It is not for us to speak to a particular means of delivering health care; it is our responsibility, however, to insist, as a moral voice concerned with human solidarity, that everyone should be cared for and that no one should be deliberately killed."
Read entire article...
Oregon Province sexual abuse claims may reach 500
Number of victims alleging abuse exceeds expectations
[Seattle University Spectator]
By Joshua Lynch
Updated: Thursday, November 12, 2009
Attorneys representing victims of sexual abuse in a case against the Oregon Province of the Society of Jesus are finding they have more clients than they expected.
As a Nov. 30 deadline for filing claims against the Oregon Province approaches, some plaintiff’s attorneys are estimating that the total between several firms will reach 500 claims alleging abuse by as many as 80 Jesuits.
Read further...
Losing's a Habit and the Jesuits are Losing...
[Seattle University Spectator]
By Joshua Lynch
Updated: Thursday, November 12, 2009
Attorneys representing victims of sexual abuse in a case against the Oregon Province of the Society of Jesus are finding they have more clients than they expected.
As a Nov. 30 deadline for filing claims against the Oregon Province approaches, some plaintiff’s attorneys are estimating that the total between several firms will reach 500 claims alleging abuse by as many as 80 Jesuits.
Read further...
Losing's a Habit and the Jesuits are Losing...
A Questionable Champion of the Soviet "martyr" Jesuits: the infamous Bishop Hubbard
Catholic News service is eager to get the full service story about the USCCB which can't get its story straight about some revolutionary Jesuits who thought they knew better how El Salvadoran citizens should spend their money than they themselves knew, and promised us, that there was severe political repression without giving us any concrete examples or even a demonstrable understanding of economics. Unfortunately, the Salvadoran Army gave the Soviet interlopers in Central America something they could really use, "martyrs". Despite years of actual oppression by the Socialist regimes for whom they worked, Cuba and the Soviet Union, these Jesuits didn't and still don't have much to say about how they'd improve the lot of the ordinary Salvadoran; nothing workable, just pie in the sky penumbras. Maybe land reform would be the ticket? That didn't work either, and the El Salvadoran government the Communist rebels and their Jesuit allies were trying to topple actually enacted those reforms too.
But the USCCB, ever eager to show how it believes in Central Command Economy, has today stepped in to remind America about a few traitorous Jesuits who supported Communist insurgency in Central America and got in the line of fire for their troubles.
BALTIMORE (CNS) -- The U.S. bishops added their collective voice to those of others in honoring the memory of the six Salvadoran Jesuit priests, their housekeeper and her daughter, all of whom were assassinated 20 years ago by a Salvadoran death squad.
Bishop Howard J. Hubbard of Albany, N.Y., chairman of the bishops' Committee on International Justice and Peace, said in a statement issued Nov. 16 -- the anniversary date of the murders -- that the bishops joined many others in "commemorating the lives and work of the six Jesuits and their collaborators."
Remaining article...
For years we've been hearing about the shenanigans of the Jesuits. The morally and financially bankrupt Oregon Province, for example. So then, we have a credibly accused and maleficent Bishop who defends causes indicative of outright Marxism. That romantic worker's struggle in Central America. Despite all of the evidence that the Jesuits so engaged were at best fools and at worst scoundrels of the worst possible kind, these clerical men of the left insist we remember them as heroes. These leftists and their sordid connections and questionable associations, who say certain things and believe certain things or at least say they believe certain things.
His fascination with "No Nukes".
Then there's the suspicious suicide of one Bishop Hubbard's detractors, the conservative Father Minkler, just three days after he signed an affidavit denying that he'd written a 1995 letter to Cardinal O'Connor accusing Bishop Hubbard of homosexuality. Suspiciously, the autopsy took months to complete and was finally ruled a "suicide". In the wake of accusations, the Diocese hired an independant investigator, Mary Jo White to clear his name. According to John Aretakis, an attorney for many of the alleged victims of Bishop Hubbard and his priests, the cost went into the millions. Bishop Hubbard and his liberal Colleague, Bishop Mathew Clark both took lie detector tests but habitual liers can defeat them.
Link to another article by Matt C. Abbott in 2004...
And from Maurice Pinay about Bishop Hubbard's rabbinical associates also involved in pederasty and giving him some public good PR in the wake of the scandal, here.
Cardinal Schönborn is coming to Medjugorje Shrine
By the turn of the year, Cardinal Schönborn is coming to Medjugorje, says kathnet. He'll be meeting with the "Seer" and the Oratory of the Cenacle Society and Schwester Elvira as well as the local ordinary who is a Medjugorje-critic.
Speaking in glowing terms about the condemned apparition, the Cardinal insists that Our Lady has revealed herself to Her children in a "special way" at Medjugorje.
Link to article...
Speaking in glowing terms about the condemned apparition, the Cardinal insists that Our Lady has revealed herself to Her children in a "special way" at Medjugorje.
Link to article...
Committee for the release of Mohammad-Reza: Iran
The International Monarchist Conference (IMC), a confederal organization regrouping 64 monarchist organization representing 29 nations, protests against the pronounced death sentence against three Iranian monarchist activists, members of the Association of the Iranian Monarchy : Mohammad-Reza Ali Zamani, 37 years old, Hamed Rouhinejad, 24, and Arash Rahmanpour, only 20. Mohammad-Reza- Ali Zamani appeared last on August 8th, together with the French citizen Clothilde REISS, before the Tehran Revolutionary Court.All three men have just been sentenced to death becauseof the part they played in the protest movement that shook the Islamic Republic after the presidential elections last June.
Together, let us formulate the demand to release the political prisoners of Iran !
Anyhow, the date of November 3, has passed and we don't know what happened to the captured Monarchists, but we'll let you know as soon as we find out. In the meantime, check out the page here for some history on Iranian history and that of the Pahlavi royal family.
Link to English Language Version...
Together, let us formulate the demand to release the political prisoners of Iran !
Anyhow, the date of November 3, has passed and we don't know what happened to the captured Monarchists, but we'll let you know as soon as we find out. In the meantime, check out the page here for some history on Iranian history and that of the Pahlavi royal family.
Link to English Language Version...
America Magazine decries Catholicism in the USCCB
While the liberal establishment in the American Episcopacy is as old as the founding of the United States, America Magazine remains as predictable as ever, as their propaganda machine for the DNC at prayer attempts to broker liberalism and modernism as sensible and exclude actual Catholicism as mere political cynicism. One gets the feeling that you just know some of them are simmering about certain Catholic Dioceses' support for Defense of Marriage plebiscites in the last election. It's high time the USCCB shows some political independence from America's ruling elites, but the Jesuits don't think that deeply any more. Their old-style opposition to the liberalising power of the State is a long ways back in the mirror. You'd think their experience in the Spanish Civil War would give them a distaste of liberalism, but here they are.
The USCCB begins its annual plenary session today in Baltimore. On the formal agenda, the bishops will consider a proposed pastoral letter on marriage (which they should scrap and start over) and the final approval of Mass translations (some are good, some not so good but it is past time to fight over them anyway). Behind the scenes, the issue that dominates all the others is the polarization within the Conference, a polarization that seems to have been imported from the political world into the USCCB. [Modern Jesuits like to create equivalence between those who espouse Catholic points of view and political righists to delegitimize their positions] The most important thing for the bishops to do this week is to heed the voice of their president, Cardinal George, to resist the political categories of left and right and return to “simply Catholicism.”
Link here...
Indeed, the Jesuit commentator makes an attempt to salvage a bit, a situation that's looking increasingly tenuous for the modernist Jesuit.
Weak, Father Journalist, just because your boys were under suspicion of heresy, doesn't mean you won't be some day too.
Yes indeed, perhaps the days of going over to Fr. X. SJ's apartment, spinning Dylan records and the like are coming to an end. Seems like the Jesuits are a little more concerned these days. As their senses become enfeebled thanks to the windy decrepitude of icy old age, they're starting to find themselves outnumbered. They've always been outgunned, at least in this century, but now they have to worry that they're a minority and what's worse is that "witch-hunters" in the Church aren't too pleased with their frequent heterodox musings and crypto-Marxism.
More certainly of what the Jesuits are unhappy about these days are the calling into question of some of their fellow-traveller initiatives like ACORN and CCHD. These organizations have a lot in common with modern Jesuits, adjetives like "irrelavent", "obsolute", "Post-Marxist" and "effeminate" come to mind. But the worst of all for them is that the modern Jesuit is subject to the same kind of exposure for their charlatranry that ACORN was. Yes, you too can be held accountable by Dominican Inquisitors some day, God willing.
NCCB reports on ACORN....
The USCCB begins its annual plenary session today in Baltimore. On the formal agenda, the bishops will consider a proposed pastoral letter on marriage (which they should scrap and start over) and the final approval of Mass translations (some are good, some not so good but it is past time to fight over them anyway). Behind the scenes, the issue that dominates all the others is the polarization within the Conference, a polarization that seems to have been imported from the political world into the USCCB. [Modern Jesuits like to create equivalence between those who espouse Catholic points of view and political righists to delegitimize their positions] The most important thing for the bishops to do this week is to heed the voice of their president, Cardinal George, to resist the political categories of left and right and return to “simply Catholicism.”
Link here...
Indeed, the Jesuit commentator makes an attempt to salvage a bit, a situation that's looking increasingly tenuous for the modernist Jesuit.
As Pope Benedict made clear in his encyclical Caritas in Veritate, life issues are social justice issues and social justice issues are life issues. The Church’s teaching must be received, understood and accepted integrally. I know that integralism is a word with a sinister history, espoused by Catholic witch-hunters during the reign of Pius X and the last years of Pius XII to brand anyone who disagreed with them as heretics. Among those caught in the web of suspicion in the reign of Piux X were Giacomo della Chiesa and Angelo Roncalli, who became Pope Benedict XV and Pope John XXIII respectively. That is not the integralism Pope Benedict XVI calls for.
Weak, Father Journalist, just because your boys were under suspicion of heresy, doesn't mean you won't be some day too.
Yes indeed, perhaps the days of going over to Fr. X. SJ's apartment, spinning Dylan records and the like are coming to an end. Seems like the Jesuits are a little more concerned these days. As their senses become enfeebled thanks to the windy decrepitude of icy old age, they're starting to find themselves outnumbered. They've always been outgunned, at least in this century, but now they have to worry that they're a minority and what's worse is that "witch-hunters" in the Church aren't too pleased with their frequent heterodox musings and crypto-Marxism.
More certainly of what the Jesuits are unhappy about these days are the calling into question of some of their fellow-traveller initiatives like ACORN and CCHD. These organizations have a lot in common with modern Jesuits, adjetives like "irrelavent", "obsolute", "Post-Marxist" and "effeminate" come to mind. But the worst of all for them is that the modern Jesuit is subject to the same kind of exposure for their charlatranry that ACORN was. Yes, you too can be held accountable by Dominican Inquisitors some day, God willing.
NCCB reports on ACORN....
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Greek Orthodox solidarity in face of crucifix ban
The Turks were a good incentive for talks of reunion at the Council of Lyon in 1276 and at Ferrara-Florence in 1438. Now we together face both Islam and Secularism at the same time. Examples like this are further encouragements for those of us who are optomistic about an end to the Great Schism.
The Greek Orthodox Church is urging Christians across Europe to oppose a ban on crucifixes in classrooms in Italy. The ban came as a result of a November 3 ruling by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in France that the presence of crucifixes violated a child's right to freedom of religion. The European Court of Human Rights found that the compulsory display of crucifixes violated parents' rights to educate their children as they saw fit and restricted the right of children to believe or not to believe. Immediately after the ruling, Vatican spokesman Rev. Federico Lombardi said the crucifix was a fundamental sign of the importance of religious values in Italian history and culture and was a symbol of unity and welcoming for all of humanity — not one of exclusion.
Read Further...
The Greek Orthodox Church is urging Christians across Europe to oppose a ban on crucifixes in classrooms in Italy. The ban came as a result of a November 3 ruling by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in France that the presence of crucifixes violated a child's right to freedom of religion. The European Court of Human Rights found that the compulsory display of crucifixes violated parents' rights to educate their children as they saw fit and restricted the right of children to believe or not to believe. Immediately after the ruling, Vatican spokesman Rev. Federico Lombardi said the crucifix was a fundamental sign of the importance of religious values in Italian history and culture and was a symbol of unity and welcoming for all of humanity — not one of exclusion.
Read Further...
What happened to Msgr Dale Fuschek?
Diogenes knows.
Former Diocese of Phoenix priest Dale Fushek is the founder of LifeTeen ministries. In 2005 he was charged with ten misdemeanor counts of criminal sexual mischief, which included indecent exposure, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, and assault. One of the misdemeanors is alleged to have occurred in the hot tub of Fushek's parish rectory. I couldn't find the Sacerdotal Guidelines for Hot Tub Hospitality at the USCCB's website, but it would appear that Fushek would have failed in any case to abide by them.
Link to Diogenes...
Former Diocese of Phoenix priest Dale Fushek is the founder of LifeTeen ministries. In 2005 he was charged with ten misdemeanor counts of criminal sexual mischief, which included indecent exposure, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, and assault. One of the misdemeanors is alleged to have occurred in the hot tub of Fushek's parish rectory. I couldn't find the Sacerdotal Guidelines for Hot Tub Hospitality at the USCCB's website, but it would appear that Fushek would have failed in any case to abide by them.
Link to Diogenes...
Heretical Jesuits celebrate 20th Anniversary of Soviet "Martyrs"
Despite the established fact that the Salvadoran rebel FMLN was determined as the guerrilla force backed by Soviet military intervention by the State Department as early as 1981 [El Salvadoran Civil War, Globalsecurity.org], quite a few leftists within the Jesuit order are still prepared to defend their involvement on the losing side in the war, and they get to teach your children at places like Creighton, Gonzaga, Georgetown and Loyola, at high prices, indoctrinating them, or at least trying. One wonders how these tired fellow travellers keep doing what they do.
The Jesuits engaged in armed struggle while identifying their socialist struggle with "defending the rights of the poor against the rich". Jesuit priests gave aid and support to these revolutionary agents of the Soviet Union and this is something they won't be discussing tomorrow.
So many times, leftist sympathizers ignore the reality of the Soviet role played in the El Salvadoran civil war, and on November 16th, they are going to commemorate this deception by remembering the Liberation Theology Jesuits who got caught in the middle of the fighting where they occasionally took up arms on the wrong side and paid the ultimate price as men must do. Unfortunately, the word "martyr" is applied to these men, but a look at the individuals engaged in this mad adulation reveal a pedigree of dissent from Church teachings and active if not passive engagement with Marxist causes.
Even the Democratic Congress places itself under suspicion by its recent passage of a resolution to commemorate these communists.
See Jesuit website depicting Communists as "martyrs".
Related article... portraying the commemoration taking place in all Jesuit Colleges and Universities in the United States. One wonders if anyone will show up.
The Jesuits engaged in armed struggle while identifying their socialist struggle with "defending the rights of the poor against the rich". Jesuit priests gave aid and support to these revolutionary agents of the Soviet Union and this is something they won't be discussing tomorrow.
So many times, leftist sympathizers ignore the reality of the Soviet role played in the El Salvadoran civil war, and on November 16th, they are going to commemorate this deception by remembering the Liberation Theology Jesuits who got caught in the middle of the fighting where they occasionally took up arms on the wrong side and paid the ultimate price as men must do. Unfortunately, the word "martyr" is applied to these men, but a look at the individuals engaged in this mad adulation reveal a pedigree of dissent from Church teachings and active if not passive engagement with Marxist causes.
Even the Democratic Congress places itself under suspicion by its recent passage of a resolution to commemorate these communists.
H. Res. 761, remembering and commemorating the lives and work of the six Jesuit Fathers and two women on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of their deaths at the UCA in San Salvador on November 16, 1989. The United States House of Representatives is set to pass House Resolution 761.
See Jesuit website depicting Communists as "martyrs".
Related article... portraying the commemoration taking place in all Jesuit Colleges and Universities in the United States. One wonders if anyone will show up.
The head of the Serbian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Pavle, has died in Belgrade, the Church has announced.
The patriarch, 95, became leader of the Church in 1990. He was admitted to the city's military hospital two years ago.
Though he reportedly suffered from heart and lung conditions, the Church did not specify the cause of death.
Most of Serbia's population of seven million people are Orthodox Christians. President Boris Tadic said this was "an irredeemable death" for the nation.
"There are people who bond entire nations and Pavle was such a person," Mr Tadic said in a statement.
"His death is also my personal loss," the president said.
Bishop Amfilohije, who has served as acting head of the church during most of Pavle's illness, broke into tears as he held a prayer after announcing the death.
Serbs mourn. Bells tolled from Serbian churches, as the government announced three days of mourning, beginning on Monday.
Another bishop, Lavrentije, said the patriarch's death was no reason to be sad.
"The Serbian people now have someone to represent them before God better than anyone else," Lavrentije said.
The Church's highest body, the Holy Synod, may announce as early as Monday when a new patriarch will be chosen - usually after at least 40 days.
Serb interests
Pavle was a respected theologian and linguist, known for personal humility and modesty.
After the fall of communism and rise of Serb nationalism, the Church regained a leading role during his rule.
At the beginning of the Balkan wars that followed the dissolution of Yugoslavia in the early 1990s, Pavle said - according to Serbian state television: "It is our oath not to make a single child cry or sadden a single old woman because they are of another religion or nation."
But critics accused him of failing to contain hardline bishops and priests who supported Serb paramilitaries against Catholic Croats and Bosnian Muslims.
After those wars, Pavle became more directly involved - openly criticising Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic, after he lost Kosovo following Nato's intervention.
Since then, the Serbian Orthodox Church has strongly supported the Serbian government in its efforts to stop Kosovo's independence drive.
"Kosovo is not only a question of territory, it is a question of our spiritual being," he said after Kosovo's declaration of independence.
Link to article...
Argument of the Month Club Minnesota
Like the Theology on Tap, and its various iterations, the Argument of the Month, features monthly speakers throughout the fall and winter and is gaining in popularity. It's a place where men of all ages can get together and celebrate conformity and find some hope for the future as they struggle with the moral vacuity of the world while trying to raise families and protect them from without. The Star and Tribune gives a positive article. Here, Remnant Editor Michael Matt is debating the Headmaster, Dr. Kevin Ferdinandt of Providence Academy, a local Catholic K-12 on the merits and demerits of homeschooling.
There are two aspects of the Argument of the Month Club that you'll get no argument about: It's fun, and it's exploding in popularity.
The theological debates that began with six men at a back table in a St. Paul restaurant now are monthly meetings that routinely draw 300-plus people, some from as far away as Cambridge, St. Cloud and Wabasha.
"I came last month for the first time and it just blew me away," said Lyle Bowe, a West St. Paul resident who attended his second meeting Tuesday evening. "I've been telling everyone what a great evening it is. The food is great, the company is great, the arguing is great."
It's an all-male group, which is itself something of a phenomenon, said the Rev. John Echert, rector of St. Augustine Catholic Church in South St. Paul, which hosts the meetings in its basement.
"This is a very unique success story," he said. "Getting women's groups together in a church is often very easy, but getting men's groups together is tough. And to get this many men together. ... " He shook his head as he looked around the room before adding with a tinge of awe: "It's unprecedented."
It's happening almost completely by word-of-mouth. The club has a website (www.aotmclub.com) and sweatshirts (emblazoned with "What is truth?"). "That's it in terms of getting the word out," said Josh Teske, the club's webmaster. "We don't do any advertising."
The club was started by Roman Catholics and still focuses on issues that affect Catholics, but it's often done from a big-picture perspective that reaches beyond Catholicism and draws a broader crowd.
"We have people of all faiths here," Echert said, and, sometimes, even nonfaiths, he added, pointing to a debate in January between a religious studies professor and a representative of Minnesota Atheists. "He brought several of his atheist friends along for support, and we were glad to have them."
The group's growth has forced changes in format, but the basic approach remains the same, said Kent Wuchterl, the club's director and one of its half-dozen original members 10 years ago.
"We were all apologetics," he said in a reference to early Christians who defended their faith when they were criticized by outsiders. "We were looking for a way to defend our faith. So we took over a table at the St. Clair Broiler and started arguing."
Topics were picked in advance, with three men assigned to each side of the debate. Being at a restaurant, they also felt obligated to order something. Thus was set the format: food and a fight.
As the group grew, it had to keep moving to bigger venues and different approaches. Everyone was encouraged to join in the debate until attendance topped 80, at which point it became more chaotic than insightful.
The club started bringing in two speakers to hold a formal debate, which was then followed by an open-mike session in which club members could question the speakers. Once attendance reached 200, that also started getting unmanageable. Now the members submit written questions during the debate that are passed on to a moderator.
The meal is cooked by club members in St. Augustine's kitchen. It's a "manly" meal that consists heavily of meat -- heavy enough to challenge the strength of the paper plates -- followed by dessert. Tuesday's was a chocolate layer cake served in pieces only slightly smaller than a football. Even then, many went back for seconds of both courses. The cost is $12.
"Where else are you going to eat this well for $12?" Wuchterl asked. Or, he could have added, eat this much?
The crowd is eclectic. The meetings draw people as young as 8 (sons attending with their fathers) and as old as 90. Men in business suits pull up chairs next to guys in blue jeans. Their level of interest is apparent: In three hours, not a single cell phone rang, even though there were no signs asking members to turn them off.
The topics the club considers are not light; recent ones have included debates on what is a "just" war and end-of-life issues. Tuesday's debate on home schooling pitted Kevin Ferdinandt, director of Providence Academy's upper school, against Michael Matt, an ardent home schooler and the author of several books on Catholicism.
The debates can get heated, but Echert, who also serves as the de facto sergeant of arms, is ready to step in if things get nasty. That rarely happens.
"Sometimes we'll clearly line up behind one speaker or the other, but it's respectful," said Paul Notermann of Inver Grove Heights. Seated next to him was Terry Beaudry of Roseville, who added: "We're all here for a good time."
Echert estimates that about half of the regulars are there for the camaraderie and the other half for the debate. Andrew Lynch, in his third year of driving up from Owatonna for the meetings, clearly falls in the latter category. He often brings along a group of friends, and they continue the debate all the way home.
"I like to argue," he said. "I'll take either side, sometimes just to keep the discussion going. This is the highlight of my month. I wouldn't miss it."
If there's one concern for the club, it's what to do if it keeps growing. St. Augustine can handle about 100 more before the fire codes become a concern. Club officers have offered to help launch spinoff groups; a group from Alexandria came to observe an earlier meeting. Or they might have to start taking it on the road.
"We've talked about moving it around the Twin Cities, sort of a traveling argument," Wuchterl said. "I don't know what we'll do, but we'll work something out."
They can always argue about it later.
Jeff Strickler • 612-673-7392
Read further...
There are two aspects of the Argument of the Month Club that you'll get no argument about: It's fun, and it's exploding in popularity.
The theological debates that began with six men at a back table in a St. Paul restaurant now are monthly meetings that routinely draw 300-plus people, some from as far away as Cambridge, St. Cloud and Wabasha.
"I came last month for the first time and it just blew me away," said Lyle Bowe, a West St. Paul resident who attended his second meeting Tuesday evening. "I've been telling everyone what a great evening it is. The food is great, the company is great, the arguing is great."
It's an all-male group, which is itself something of a phenomenon, said the Rev. John Echert, rector of St. Augustine Catholic Church in South St. Paul, which hosts the meetings in its basement.
"This is a very unique success story," he said. "Getting women's groups together in a church is often very easy, but getting men's groups together is tough. And to get this many men together. ... " He shook his head as he looked around the room before adding with a tinge of awe: "It's unprecedented."
It's happening almost completely by word-of-mouth. The club has a website (www.aotmclub.com) and sweatshirts (emblazoned with "What is truth?"). "That's it in terms of getting the word out," said Josh Teske, the club's webmaster. "We don't do any advertising."
The club was started by Roman Catholics and still focuses on issues that affect Catholics, but it's often done from a big-picture perspective that reaches beyond Catholicism and draws a broader crowd.
"We have people of all faiths here," Echert said, and, sometimes, even nonfaiths, he added, pointing to a debate in January between a religious studies professor and a representative of Minnesota Atheists. "He brought several of his atheist friends along for support, and we were glad to have them."
The group's growth has forced changes in format, but the basic approach remains the same, said Kent Wuchterl, the club's director and one of its half-dozen original members 10 years ago.
"We were all apologetics," he said in a reference to early Christians who defended their faith when they were criticized by outsiders. "We were looking for a way to defend our faith. So we took over a table at the St. Clair Broiler and started arguing."
Topics were picked in advance, with three men assigned to each side of the debate. Being at a restaurant, they also felt obligated to order something. Thus was set the format: food and a fight.
As the group grew, it had to keep moving to bigger venues and different approaches. Everyone was encouraged to join in the debate until attendance topped 80, at which point it became more chaotic than insightful.
The club started bringing in two speakers to hold a formal debate, which was then followed by an open-mike session in which club members could question the speakers. Once attendance reached 200, that also started getting unmanageable. Now the members submit written questions during the debate that are passed on to a moderator.
The meal is cooked by club members in St. Augustine's kitchen. It's a "manly" meal that consists heavily of meat -- heavy enough to challenge the strength of the paper plates -- followed by dessert. Tuesday's was a chocolate layer cake served in pieces only slightly smaller than a football. Even then, many went back for seconds of both courses. The cost is $12.
"Where else are you going to eat this well for $12?" Wuchterl asked. Or, he could have added, eat this much?
The crowd is eclectic. The meetings draw people as young as 8 (sons attending with their fathers) and as old as 90. Men in business suits pull up chairs next to guys in blue jeans. Their level of interest is apparent: In three hours, not a single cell phone rang, even though there were no signs asking members to turn them off.
The topics the club considers are not light; recent ones have included debates on what is a "just" war and end-of-life issues. Tuesday's debate on home schooling pitted Kevin Ferdinandt, director of Providence Academy's upper school, against Michael Matt, an ardent home schooler and the author of several books on Catholicism.
The debates can get heated, but Echert, who also serves as the de facto sergeant of arms, is ready to step in if things get nasty. That rarely happens.
"Sometimes we'll clearly line up behind one speaker or the other, but it's respectful," said Paul Notermann of Inver Grove Heights. Seated next to him was Terry Beaudry of Roseville, who added: "We're all here for a good time."
Echert estimates that about half of the regulars are there for the camaraderie and the other half for the debate. Andrew Lynch, in his third year of driving up from Owatonna for the meetings, clearly falls in the latter category. He often brings along a group of friends, and they continue the debate all the way home.
"I like to argue," he said. "I'll take either side, sometimes just to keep the discussion going. This is the highlight of my month. I wouldn't miss it."
If there's one concern for the club, it's what to do if it keeps growing. St. Augustine can handle about 100 more before the fire codes become a concern. Club officers have offered to help launch spinoff groups; a group from Alexandria came to observe an earlier meeting. Or they might have to start taking it on the road.
"We've talked about moving it around the Twin Cities, sort of a traveling argument," Wuchterl said. "I don't know what we'll do, but we'll work something out."
They can always argue about it later.
Jeff Strickler • 612-673-7392
Read further...
Should the Archdiocese of DC bend to Liberal Pressure?
The following article and poll in Washington Post asks the question: should Washington D.C. be able to force the Catholic Archdiocese there to follow a law it considers immoral?
Read more at The American Catholic.
And here...
Read more at The American Catholic.
And here...
Friday, November 13, 2009
Pope approves Election of New Iraq Archbishop
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- More than 20 months after the body of kidnapped Chaldean Archbishop Paulos Faraj Rahho of Mosul, Iraq, was recovered, Pope Benedict XVI approved the election of a new archbishop for the city. The synod of bishops of the Chaldean Catholic Church elected Father Emil Shimoun Nona, an official of the Archdiocese of Alqosh, to succeed Archbishop Rahho. Pope Benedict gave his consent to the election, the Vatican announced Nov. 13. Archbishop Rahho was kidnapped Feb. 29, 2008, in an attack that left his driver and two bodyguards dead. Church leaders recovered the archbishop's body two weeks later after the kidnappers told them where they had buried him. Archbishop-elect Nona, who celebrated his 42nd birthday Nov. 1, was born in Alqosh, about 20 miles north of Mosul. Latest news briefs from Catholic News Service Posted: 11/13/2009
The Church reaches out to modern Art
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Once made in heaven, the marriage between art and the church has long been on the skids. "We are a bit like estranged relatives; there has been a divorce," said Archbishop Gianfranco Ravasi, president of the Pontifical Council for Culture. Much of contemporary art walked away from art's traditional vocation of representing the intangible and the mysterious, as well as pointing the way toward the greater meaning of life and what is good and beautiful, he said during a Vatican press conference Nov. 5. And the church has spent the past century "very often contenting itself with imitating models from the past," rarely asking itself whether there were religious "styles that could be an expression of modern times," he added. In an effort to "renew friendship and dialogue between the church and artists and to spark new opportunities for collaboration," he said, Pope Benedict XVI will be meeting more than 250 artists from around the world Nov. 21 inside one of the world's most stunning artistic treasures: the Sistine Chapel. Latest news briefs from Catholic News Service Posted: 11/13/2009
Thursday, November 12, 2009
John Allen uncages His Colours and opens Fire
John Allen of the liberal National Catholic Reporter usually tries to keep above the fray, often earning him the scorn of his fellows at NCR for being too conservative, but in yet another departure, he perhaps underscores the increasing desperation of the modernist editorial slant of NCR and their increasing desperation about Benedict's reforms which are increasingly showing their liturgical and doctrinal modernism in a bad light. We noted earlier the soft-ball interview he gave to Cardinal George, which didn't really ask any tough questions, venerating the seamless garment as it were.
National Catholic Reporter’s
John Allen
Makes Case for Secularism
by Edwin Faust
November 12, 2009
A wise man once remarked that logic and liberalism cannot co-exist in the same head. Illustrating this truth yet again is National Catholic Reporter’s John Allen, who chose to write Nov. 6 of Pope Benedict XVI’s supposed “lenience” for what Allen calls “cafeteria Catholicism” on the right.
The phrase has usually been applied to those who accept certain Catholic teachings and reject others, especially in the domain of marriage and sexual morality. The usual and more accurate term for such people is “heretics” or “Protestants.” Catholics come in only one flavor: traditional. There is no defined doctrine or immemorial custom that is optional for a Catholic.
Yet, Allen includes in his new category of cafeteria Catholics two disparate groups: The Society of St. Pius X and Anglicans wishing to return to the Church. His implication is that the SSPX remains outside the Church, despite magisterial pronouncements to the contrary. He equates the talks in Rome between representatives of the Pope and the SSPX with those between Rome and members of the Church of England: “...it’s not clear how many Lefebvrites or Anglicans will walk through the doors Rome has tried to open ...”
Precisely what defined doctrines the SSPX is supposed to have rejected are not specified. And, of course, such specification is impossible because the SSPX fully accepts every defined doctrine of the Catholic Faith. It is their unwavering orthodoxy that has caused their difficulties. The doctrinal talks in Rome are not about the SSPX’s dissent from articles of the faith, but about the post-Vatican II novelties of ecumenism, religious liberty and the New Mass, as the official communiqué from Rome following the initial talk has acknowledged.
Read more...
National Catholic Reporter’s
John Allen
Makes Case for Secularism
by Edwin Faust
November 12, 2009
A wise man once remarked that logic and liberalism cannot co-exist in the same head. Illustrating this truth yet again is National Catholic Reporter’s John Allen, who chose to write Nov. 6 of Pope Benedict XVI’s supposed “lenience” for what Allen calls “cafeteria Catholicism” on the right.
The phrase has usually been applied to those who accept certain Catholic teachings and reject others, especially in the domain of marriage and sexual morality. The usual and more accurate term for such people is “heretics” or “Protestants.” Catholics come in only one flavor: traditional. There is no defined doctrine or immemorial custom that is optional for a Catholic.
Yet, Allen includes in his new category of cafeteria Catholics two disparate groups: The Society of St. Pius X and Anglicans wishing to return to the Church. His implication is that the SSPX remains outside the Church, despite magisterial pronouncements to the contrary. He equates the talks in Rome between representatives of the Pope and the SSPX with those between Rome and members of the Church of England: “...it’s not clear how many Lefebvrites or Anglicans will walk through the doors Rome has tried to open ...”
Precisely what defined doctrines the SSPX is supposed to have rejected are not specified. And, of course, such specification is impossible because the SSPX fully accepts every defined doctrine of the Catholic Faith. It is their unwavering orthodoxy that has caused their difficulties. The doctrinal talks in Rome are not about the SSPX’s dissent from articles of the faith, but about the post-Vatican II novelties of ecumenism, religious liberty and the New Mass, as the official communiqué from Rome following the initial talk has acknowledged.
Read more...
Italian mayors respond to Strasbourg ruling by hanging more crucifixes in schools
No one tells the Italians what to do. Brussels sprouts bouncing all over the place on this one. Will they attempt to enforce this or their other attempt at lawmaking in Lithuania when the Brussels sprouts attempted to declare this law illegal in September?
Rome, Italy, Nov 12, 2009 / 01:49 pm (CNA).- A number of Italian officials have responded to the ruling by the European Human Rights Court that ordered schools in Italy to remove crucifixes from the classrooms by taking unprecedented measures to preserve the Christian symbol.
According to the Italian daily “Avvenire,” the mayor of Sezzadio, Pier Luigi Arnera, has leveled a fine of 500 euros against anyone who removes a crucifix from a public place.
Arnera explained that the displaying of the crucifix in “places other than churches does not affect the dignity of anyone, because it is one of our cultural references.”
Likewise in the cities of Sassuolo and Trapani, officials have acquired dozens more crucifixes to display them in public schools.
In Montegrotto Terme, digital billboards that normally are used to inform the public are now displaying the crucifix with the phrase, “We will not take it down.” The mayor of Assisi has ordered that Nativity scenes be displayed in addition to the crucifix in public offices.
In Varesotto a local contractor placed a 16-foot cross on his farm in order to express his indignation over the EU court ruling.
Article here...
Bishop Mixa of the Diocese of Augsburg and military chaplain of the Bundeswehr says the ban on the Crucifix will be easy to ignore according to kath.net. He points at the ridiculousness of the ban since many nations actually have a cross as part of their national colors.
Rome, Italy, Nov 12, 2009 / 01:49 pm (CNA).- A number of Italian officials have responded to the ruling by the European Human Rights Court that ordered schools in Italy to remove crucifixes from the classrooms by taking unprecedented measures to preserve the Christian symbol.
According to the Italian daily “Avvenire,” the mayor of Sezzadio, Pier Luigi Arnera, has leveled a fine of 500 euros against anyone who removes a crucifix from a public place.
Arnera explained that the displaying of the crucifix in “places other than churches does not affect the dignity of anyone, because it is one of our cultural references.”
Likewise in the cities of Sassuolo and Trapani, officials have acquired dozens more crucifixes to display them in public schools.
In Montegrotto Terme, digital billboards that normally are used to inform the public are now displaying the crucifix with the phrase, “We will not take it down.” The mayor of Assisi has ordered that Nativity scenes be displayed in addition to the crucifix in public offices.
In Varesotto a local contractor placed a 16-foot cross on his farm in order to express his indignation over the EU court ruling.
Article here...
Bishop Mixa of the Diocese of Augsburg and military chaplain of the Bundeswehr says the ban on the Crucifix will be easy to ignore according to kath.net. He points at the ridiculousness of the ban since many nations actually have a cross as part of their national colors.
A ‘Different Benedict is Here’: Benedict XVI and the New Missionary Age
In a subject dear to our hearts, the Holy Father is speaking about the Benedictine reform at the heart of his Papacy. Taking his cue from the great Benedictine House of Cluny, he traces its missionary importance as a great reforming movement aimed at carrying out the Great Commission.
It can and should be taken as a kind of manifesto and a call to men to consider an apostolic life in the Benedictine order energized by the great spirit of its founder at Nursia in the fifth Century.
This article by Deacon Keith Fournier understands that call and might serve to orient us prayerfully to pray for monks to lead us, as they always have, to lives of greater sanctity and Christian Hope.
The voices of those who wanted to place him in a terminological box have receded. This is a prophetic Pope with an inspired and historic mission that has only just begun.
Pope Benedict, like his namesake St. Benedict, has a vision for the Evangelization of Europe and the West. A 'different Benedict' is here and a new missionary age has begun.
CHESAPEAKE, Va. (Catholic Online) - History shows that the earliest days of a Papacy often send a signal for the watchful observer. We are told by some to pay attention to the name chosen by the new Pope and the content of their first messages. I vividly recall the first days of our current Pope’s service to the Church and the world. Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger chose the name Benedict. One of the young priests who commentated on this choice during the televised coverage of those extraordinary days noted that the new Pope had visited Subiaco before all the events even began. Subiaco is the home of the Benedictine monastic movement. It symbolizes the Christianization of Europe during the First Millennium.
Saint Benedict was born around the year 480 in Umbria, Italy. He is the father of Western Monasticism and co-patron of Europe (along with Saints Cyril and Methodius). As a young man, Benedict fled a decadent and declining Rome for further studies and deep prayer and reflection. He gave his life entirely to God as a son of the united Catholic Church. He traveled to Subiaco. That cave became his dwelling, the place where he communed deeply with God. It is now a shrine called "Sacro Speco" (The Holy Cave). It is still a sanctuary for pilgrims, including Pope Benedict XVI, who visited that very same place of prayer right before his election to the Chair of Peter.
Read further...
The new flowering of Cluny, auf Deutsch.
It can and should be taken as a kind of manifesto and a call to men to consider an apostolic life in the Benedictine order energized by the great spirit of its founder at Nursia in the fifth Century.
This article by Deacon Keith Fournier understands that call and might serve to orient us prayerfully to pray for monks to lead us, as they always have, to lives of greater sanctity and Christian Hope.
The voices of those who wanted to place him in a terminological box have receded. This is a prophetic Pope with an inspired and historic mission that has only just begun.
Pope Benedict, like his namesake St. Benedict, has a vision for the Evangelization of Europe and the West. A 'different Benedict' is here and a new missionary age has begun.
CHESAPEAKE, Va. (Catholic Online) - History shows that the earliest days of a Papacy often send a signal for the watchful observer. We are told by some to pay attention to the name chosen by the new Pope and the content of their first messages. I vividly recall the first days of our current Pope’s service to the Church and the world. Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger chose the name Benedict. One of the young priests who commentated on this choice during the televised coverage of those extraordinary days noted that the new Pope had visited Subiaco before all the events even began. Subiaco is the home of the Benedictine monastic movement. It symbolizes the Christianization of Europe during the First Millennium.
Saint Benedict was born around the year 480 in Umbria, Italy. He is the father of Western Monasticism and co-patron of Europe (along with Saints Cyril and Methodius). As a young man, Benedict fled a decadent and declining Rome for further studies and deep prayer and reflection. He gave his life entirely to God as a son of the united Catholic Church. He traveled to Subiaco. That cave became his dwelling, the place where he communed deeply with God. It is now a shrine called "Sacro Speco" (The Holy Cave). It is still a sanctuary for pilgrims, including Pope Benedict XVI, who visited that very same place of prayer right before his election to the Chair of Peter.
Read further...
The new flowering of Cluny, auf Deutsch.
George Soros is Funneling Funds to Liberal Catholic Organizations
A flock of carrion birds and packs of liberal Internet wolves, some in sheep's clothing have descended from the dark master's cavernous lair. The atheistic George Soros has been attempting to divide the American Catholic Church still further by relying on existing liberal organizations within the Church, like the USCCB, and the Catholic Campaign for Human Development to promote immorality and politically hamstring the Bishop's ability to preach the Catholic Faith.
Still more interesting in all of this is Soros' connection in this case to President Obama and the Saul Alinsky style community organizing that has been a real wet blanket at Diocesan Offices teaching the Catholic Faith. Sometimes the distinction between these charlatans and diocesan employees is completely blurred.
The critical role of the Catholic Church in passing national health care reform legislation is coming under serious media scrutiny. But the story has taken a strange turn. It has now been revealed that George Soros, the billionaire hedge fund operator and well-known atheist, has been pouring hundreds of thousands of dollars into "progressive" Catholic groups that are significant players in the national debates over health care and immigration.
On the surface, it would appear that Soros would be opposed to many positions of the Catholic Church.
A major financial backer of the ACLU, Soros supports such causes as drug legalization, the rights of "sex workers" and felons, euthanasia, radical feminism, abortion rights, and homosexual rights. He does all of this in the name of promoting an "open society."
But a review of the records of his Open Society Institute finds that a group calling itself
Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good (CACG) has received $200,000 from them over the last several years.
James Todd of Pewsitter.com, which represents traditional Catholics, calls such groups "CINOs," or Catholics In Name Only. He explains, "This group and several others have sprung up recently-I suspect purposely organized and funded-to counterbalance the growing influence of the faithful Catholics AND to try to deceive and mislead the middle of the road Catholics that have determined the last 13 Presidential elections."
Read further...
Pewsitter Blog.
Still more interesting in all of this is Soros' connection in this case to President Obama and the Saul Alinsky style community organizing that has been a real wet blanket at Diocesan Offices teaching the Catholic Faith. Sometimes the distinction between these charlatans and diocesan employees is completely blurred.
The critical role of the Catholic Church in passing national health care reform legislation is coming under serious media scrutiny. But the story has taken a strange turn. It has now been revealed that George Soros, the billionaire hedge fund operator and well-known atheist, has been pouring hundreds of thousands of dollars into "progressive" Catholic groups that are significant players in the national debates over health care and immigration.
On the surface, it would appear that Soros would be opposed to many positions of the Catholic Church.
A major financial backer of the ACLU, Soros supports such causes as drug legalization, the rights of "sex workers" and felons, euthanasia, radical feminism, abortion rights, and homosexual rights. He does all of this in the name of promoting an "open society."
But a review of the records of his Open Society Institute finds that a group calling itself
Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good (CACG) has received $200,000 from them over the last several years.
James Todd of Pewsitter.com, which represents traditional Catholics, calls such groups "CINOs," or Catholics In Name Only. He explains, "This group and several others have sprung up recently-I suspect purposely organized and funded-to counterbalance the growing influence of the faithful Catholics AND to try to deceive and mislead the middle of the road Catholics that have determined the last 13 Presidential elections."
Read further...
Pewsitter Blog.
Russian Church is to suspend its dialogue with German Lutherans
German Lutherans must not have much of a commitment to ecumenical dialogue if they're so insensitive as to ordain a female Bishop as they've done recently. It can't bode well either that the Swedish Lutheran Church has ordained a female homosexual either. Lines are being drawn in this battle, and it looks like dying protestant denominations are doing almost as much for the Catholic cause as Benedict by making an infernal marriage with the spirit of the post-modern age.
Moscow, November 12, Interfax – The Russian Orthodox Church is ready to suspend the dialogue with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Germany after woman bishop Margot Kaessmann has become its leader.
“We planned to celebrate the 50th anniversary of our dialogue with the Lutheran Church in Germany in late November or early December. The 50th anniversary of the dialogue will become the end of it,” head of the Moscow Patriarchate Department for External Church Relations Archbishop Hilarion of Volokolamsk was quoted as saying by the Kommersant daily on Thursday.
Archbishop Hilarion reminded that Orthodoxy did not accept female priesthood.
“We can develop the dialogue, but there raise lots of simple protocol questions. How will the Patriarch address her or meet with her?” the Russian Church representative said.
Kaessmann, 51, a divorced mother of four daughters, was elected head of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Germany, which unites over twenty Lutheran and Reformed Churches, during the Synod held on October 28.
Russian Lutherans supported the Moscow Patriarchate official’s statement and agreed that female episcopate is a sign of crisis in the Western society.
“We don’t have women bishops as introducing such an institute is not a Biblical action,” general secretary of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ingria (Russia) Fr. Alexander Prilutsky said.
Link to article...
Moscow, November 12, Interfax – The Russian Orthodox Church is ready to suspend the dialogue with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Germany after woman bishop Margot Kaessmann has become its leader.
“We planned to celebrate the 50th anniversary of our dialogue with the Lutheran Church in Germany in late November or early December. The 50th anniversary of the dialogue will become the end of it,” head of the Moscow Patriarchate Department for External Church Relations Archbishop Hilarion of Volokolamsk was quoted as saying by the Kommersant daily on Thursday.
Archbishop Hilarion reminded that Orthodoxy did not accept female priesthood.
“We can develop the dialogue, but there raise lots of simple protocol questions. How will the Patriarch address her or meet with her?” the Russian Church representative said.
Kaessmann, 51, a divorced mother of four daughters, was elected head of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Germany, which unites over twenty Lutheran and Reformed Churches, during the Synod held on October 28.
Russian Lutherans supported the Moscow Patriarchate official’s statement and agreed that female episcopate is a sign of crisis in the Western society.
“We don’t have women bishops as introducing such an institute is not a Biblical action,” general secretary of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ingria (Russia) Fr. Alexander Prilutsky said.
Link to article...
Meeting possible between Pope, Patriarch Kirill - Archbishop Hilarion
Moscow, November 12, Interfax - Relations between the Russian Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches are improving and a meeting between Pope Benedict XVI and the Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, may be on the cards, a Russian Orthodox bishop said.
"Today it can be said that we are moving to a moment when it becomes possible to prepare a meeting between the Pope and the Patriarch of Moscow," Archbishop Hilarion of Volokolamsk, the head of the Department for External Church Relations, told reporters in Moscow.
"There are no specific plans for the venue or timing of such a meeting but on both sides there is a desire to prepare it," the Archbishop said.
Preparations for such a meeting must involve finding "a common platform on all remaining points of dispute," the Archbishop said.
One such issue are relations between the Uniate community and Orthodox believers in Ukraine. In the early 1990s, "the fragile interdenominational balance was upset and a serious situation took shape that still exists," Archbishop Hilarion said.
At the same time, conversion of Orthodox believers into Catholicism is less of a problem today than it was a decade ago, he said.
Benedict XVI is "a very reserved, traditional man who does not seek the expansion of the Catholic Church to traditionally Orthodox regions," the Archbishop said.
When Benedict XVI, shortly after being elected Pope, met with Metropolitan Kirill (the present Russian Patriarch, then head of the DECR, a papal visit to Russia "was taken off the agenda as now it appears to us to be impossible," the bishop said.
After Metropolitan Kirill has been elected Patriarch, "one can hope for further steps" in Orthodox-Catholic dialogue because the Patriarch "will continue the line on relations with Christians of other denominations that he pursued as part of his former activities," the Archbishop said.
Link to article...
"Today it can be said that we are moving to a moment when it becomes possible to prepare a meeting between the Pope and the Patriarch of Moscow," Archbishop Hilarion of Volokolamsk, the head of the Department for External Church Relations, told reporters in Moscow.
"There are no specific plans for the venue or timing of such a meeting but on both sides there is a desire to prepare it," the Archbishop said.
Preparations for such a meeting must involve finding "a common platform on all remaining points of dispute," the Archbishop said.
One such issue are relations between the Uniate community and Orthodox believers in Ukraine. In the early 1990s, "the fragile interdenominational balance was upset and a serious situation took shape that still exists," Archbishop Hilarion said.
At the same time, conversion of Orthodox believers into Catholicism is less of a problem today than it was a decade ago, he said.
Benedict XVI is "a very reserved, traditional man who does not seek the expansion of the Catholic Church to traditionally Orthodox regions," the Archbishop said.
When Benedict XVI, shortly after being elected Pope, met with Metropolitan Kirill (the present Russian Patriarch, then head of the DECR, a papal visit to Russia "was taken off the agenda as now it appears to us to be impossible," the bishop said.
After Metropolitan Kirill has been elected Patriarch, "one can hope for further steps" in Orthodox-Catholic dialogue because the Patriarch "will continue the line on relations with Christians of other denominations that he pursued as part of his former activities," the Archbishop said.
Link to article...
Homosexual blog forecasts violence (OneNewsNow.com)
Homosexual blog forecasts violence (OneNewsNow.com)
The FBI is investigating terrorism threats posted on a homosexual blog that appear to be aimed at Christians.
Pro-family activists have drawn attention to a disturbing exchange on a homosexual blog run by Joe Jervis of New York. The exchange takes place between individuals named Fritz and Tex in the comment section of a blog discussing the Maine homosexual marriage defeat and pro-family activists Matt Barber of Liberty Counsel and Peter LaBarbera of Americans for Truth about Homosexuality. LaBarbera says the two commentators discussed carrying out acts of terrorism against Christians.
"One guy [Fritz] sort of raises [the concept] and says, 'well, if Obama doesn't give us what we want, you are going to see a very real potential for violence' -- to quote his words...and then he says, 'well, that is not a good thing,'" LaBarbera reports. "Then another activist comes back and says, 'Well what's wrong with that?'" (See sample of blog comments below)
The FBI is investigating terrorism threats posted on a homosexual blog that appear to be aimed at Christians.
Pro-family activists have drawn attention to a disturbing exchange on a homosexual blog run by Joe Jervis of New York. The exchange takes place between individuals named Fritz and Tex in the comment section of a blog discussing the Maine homosexual marriage defeat and pro-family activists Matt Barber of Liberty Counsel and Peter LaBarbera of Americans for Truth about Homosexuality. LaBarbera says the two commentators discussed carrying out acts of terrorism against Christians.
"One guy [Fritz] sort of raises [the concept] and says, 'well, if Obama doesn't give us what we want, you are going to see a very real potential for violence' -- to quote his words...and then he says, 'well, that is not a good thing,'" LaBarbera reports. "Then another activist comes back and says, 'Well what's wrong with that?'" (See sample of blog comments below)
German diocese creates ‘Santa-free zone’
German diocese creates ‘Santa-free zone’
Speyer, Germany, Nov 11, 2009 / 05:09 pm (CNA).- In an effort to encourage people to replace the commercialization of the Christmas season with a true devotion to Advent, Christmas and the “true Santa Claus,” several groups within the German Diocese of Speyer have initiated a “Santa-free campaign.”
The Federation of German Catholic Youth (BDKJ) of Speyer has partnered with other organizations to champion the cause of St. Nicholas of Myra, a friend and helper of children and those in trouble. St. Nicholas, whose feast is celebrated on December 6, represents the good side of man: selflessness, charity and selfless service, the campaign says.
Speyer, Germany, Nov 11, 2009 / 05:09 pm (CNA).- In an effort to encourage people to replace the commercialization of the Christmas season with a true devotion to Advent, Christmas and the “true Santa Claus,” several groups within the German Diocese of Speyer have initiated a “Santa-free campaign.”
The Federation of German Catholic Youth (BDKJ) of Speyer has partnered with other organizations to champion the cause of St. Nicholas of Myra, a friend and helper of children and those in trouble. St. Nicholas, whose feast is celebrated on December 6, represents the good side of man: selflessness, charity and selfless service, the campaign says.
Minnesota Churches contributed to Maine ballot Initiative
The audience to which they play are supposed to become irritated that tax exempt organizations are lobbying against something they want to see legitimized. The same people don't complain when the Church lobbies on behalf of illegal immigrants, however.
Posted at 5:51 PM on November 11, 2009 by Tom Scheck (1 Comments)
The campaign finance report for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland, Maine shows that four Minnesota area Catholic Dioceses contributed $6250 to a campaign to reject a law legalizing gay marriage in Maine. The ballot measure asked voters "Do you want to reject the new law that lets same-sex couples marry and allows individuals and religious groups to refuse to perform these marriages?"
The measure passed 53 percent to 47 percent in the November election. The Catholic Church considers homosexuality a sin and has worked actively to define marriage as between "one man and one woman" in states across the country.
The Diocese of Crookston donated $5,000 to the effort. The Diocese of Winona and the Diocese of La Crosse, WI gave $500 each. New Ulm's Bishop John Levoir gave $250.
Rose Hammes, spokeswoman for the Diocese of Winona, said the contribution was given because Winona Archbishop John Quinn felt it was important to help his colleagues in Maine:
"He made a contribution because they're in solidarity with all of the bishops in the country and I'm assuming that Bishop Quinn decided that that was important to be in solidarity with his brother bishops."
Posted at 5:51 PM on November 11, 2009 by Tom Scheck (1 Comments)
The campaign finance report for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland, Maine shows that four Minnesota area Catholic Dioceses contributed $6250 to a campaign to reject a law legalizing gay marriage in Maine. The ballot measure asked voters "Do you want to reject the new law that lets same-sex couples marry and allows individuals and religious groups to refuse to perform these marriages?"
The measure passed 53 percent to 47 percent in the November election. The Catholic Church considers homosexuality a sin and has worked actively to define marriage as between "one man and one woman" in states across the country.
The Diocese of Crookston donated $5,000 to the effort. The Diocese of Winona and the Diocese of La Crosse, WI gave $500 each. New Ulm's Bishop John Levoir gave $250.
Rose Hammes, spokeswoman for the Diocese of Winona, said the contribution was given because Winona Archbishop John Quinn felt it was important to help his colleagues in Maine:
"He made a contribution because they're in solidarity with all of the bishops in the country and I'm assuming that Bishop Quinn decided that that was important to be in solidarity with his brother bishops."
Catholic Church in D.C. threatens to close its Services over "Same-Sex" Marriage Law.
You can't make concessions to these people.
By Tim Craig and Michelle Boorstein
Thursday, November 12, 2009
The Catholic Archdiocese of Washington said Wednesday that it will be unable to continue the social service programs it runs for the District if the city doesn't change a proposed same-sex marriage law, a threat that could affect tens of thousands of people the church helps with adoption, homelessness and health care.
Under the bill, headed for a D.C. Council vote next month, religious organizations would not be required to perform or make space available for same-sex weddings. But they would have to obey city laws prohibiting discrimination against gay men and lesbians.
Fearful that they could be forced, among other things, to extend employee benefits to same-sex married couples, church officials said they would have no choice but to abandon their contracts with the city.
Read further...
By Tim Craig and Michelle Boorstein
Thursday, November 12, 2009
The Catholic Archdiocese of Washington said Wednesday that it will be unable to continue the social service programs it runs for the District if the city doesn't change a proposed same-sex marriage law, a threat that could affect tens of thousands of people the church helps with adoption, homelessness and health care.
Under the bill, headed for a D.C. Council vote next month, religious organizations would not be required to perform or make space available for same-sex weddings. But they would have to obey city laws prohibiting discrimination against gay men and lesbians.
Fearful that they could be forced, among other things, to extend employee benefits to same-sex married couples, church officials said they would have no choice but to abandon their contracts with the city.
Read further...
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Orthodoxy again becoming Russia's State Religion
by Christopher A. Ferrara
Two recent developments remind us of the centrality of Russia in the future of our troubled world. In the first, as reported by The New York Times in mid-August, Russian nuclear-powered submarines have been detected patrolling off the eastern seaboard of the United States, “a rare mission that has raised concerns inside the Pentagon and intelligence agencies about a more assertive stance by the Russian military… [and] has echoes of the cold war era, when the United States and the Soviet Union regularly parked submarines off each other’s coasts to steal military secrets, track the movements of their underwater fleets — and be poised for war.” (New York Times, 4 August 2009).
The Times, quoting a naval historian, notes that there had not been any Russian subs in that class off the United States coast for about fifteen years. “Anytime the Russian Navy does something so out of the ordinary it is cause for worry,” said a senior Defense Department official quoted in the piece. “We’re concerned just because they are there,” he added.
The second development, which has been underway since 2006, is that Russian pupils in the regions of Belgorod, Bryansk, Kaluga and Smolensk “will be taught the basics of Orthodox Christianity” in the classroom, and that the subject will also be included as an option “in the school curriculum in 11 other regions across the country.” (BBC, 31 August 2006). It seems that “lawmakers in the 15 regions backed the move” even though it would appear to contradict the requirement of state secularity in the Russian constitution. Russian Education Minister Andrei Fursenko is quoted as saying that “schoolchildren must know the history of religion and religious culture.”
What are we to make of these developments? On the human level, together they indicate a program already observed in this column: Putin’s harnessing of Russian Orthodoxy to nationalism in a rebirth of Russia as a dominant geopolitical player — a project that also includes the rehabilitation of Stalin as a “great leader.” The idea that Putin wants to convert Russia into a nation of pious and prayerful Orthodox is laughable. There is no sign that Russia has turned away from its binge of abortion, alcohol and divorce.
Then again, in God’s providence what is happening in the Russian schools and her military buildup could both be a material preparation — quite unintended by their proponents — for the true conversion of Russia and her reunion with Rome to save the West in the midst of some dire scenario like the one predicted by the Russian mystic and philosopher Vladimir Soloviev at the turn of the 20th Century.
All things work together in the divine plan, whether or not God’s rebellious subjects freely cooperate in it. Thus there is reason to hope that, whatever Putin intends, Russia is being prepared for its consecration and the consequent Triumph of the Immaculate Heart — an event that, as Antonio Socci has so eloquently put it, will mean “a radical and extraordinary change in the world, an overthrow of the mentality dominating modernity, probably following dramatic events for humanity.” Clearly, those dramatic events are very near.
Link to article...
Two recent developments remind us of the centrality of Russia in the future of our troubled world. In the first, as reported by The New York Times in mid-August, Russian nuclear-powered submarines have been detected patrolling off the eastern seaboard of the United States, “a rare mission that has raised concerns inside the Pentagon and intelligence agencies about a more assertive stance by the Russian military… [and] has echoes of the cold war era, when the United States and the Soviet Union regularly parked submarines off each other’s coasts to steal military secrets, track the movements of their underwater fleets — and be poised for war.” (New York Times, 4 August 2009).
The Times, quoting a naval historian, notes that there had not been any Russian subs in that class off the United States coast for about fifteen years. “Anytime the Russian Navy does something so out of the ordinary it is cause for worry,” said a senior Defense Department official quoted in the piece. “We’re concerned just because they are there,” he added.
The second development, which has been underway since 2006, is that Russian pupils in the regions of Belgorod, Bryansk, Kaluga and Smolensk “will be taught the basics of Orthodox Christianity” in the classroom, and that the subject will also be included as an option “in the school curriculum in 11 other regions across the country.” (BBC, 31 August 2006). It seems that “lawmakers in the 15 regions backed the move” even though it would appear to contradict the requirement of state secularity in the Russian constitution. Russian Education Minister Andrei Fursenko is quoted as saying that “schoolchildren must know the history of religion and religious culture.”
What are we to make of these developments? On the human level, together they indicate a program already observed in this column: Putin’s harnessing of Russian Orthodoxy to nationalism in a rebirth of Russia as a dominant geopolitical player — a project that also includes the rehabilitation of Stalin as a “great leader.” The idea that Putin wants to convert Russia into a nation of pious and prayerful Orthodox is laughable. There is no sign that Russia has turned away from its binge of abortion, alcohol and divorce.
Then again, in God’s providence what is happening in the Russian schools and her military buildup could both be a material preparation — quite unintended by their proponents — for the true conversion of Russia and her reunion with Rome to save the West in the midst of some dire scenario like the one predicted by the Russian mystic and philosopher Vladimir Soloviev at the turn of the 20th Century.
All things work together in the divine plan, whether or not God’s rebellious subjects freely cooperate in it. Thus there is reason to hope that, whatever Putin intends, Russia is being prepared for its consecration and the consequent Triumph of the Immaculate Heart — an event that, as Antonio Socci has so eloquently put it, will mean “a radical and extraordinary change in the world, an overthrow of the mentality dominating modernity, probably following dramatic events for humanity.” Clearly, those dramatic events are very near.
Link to article...
Swedish Lutherans Ordain First Female Sodomite Bishop
In a move that's guaranteed to anger Swedish conservative clergy, the Swedish Lutheran Church gives a whole new meaning to Sola Scriptura by legitimizing perversion earlier this month and then giving the go-ahead to bemitre a woman sodomite.
Swedes! Wake up, the Lutheran Church at which you had such fond memories at Christmastide is dead, if it was ever alive. Perhaps you will now reassess the evil legacy of Martin Luther and the unwisdom of leaving behind the true Church?
STOCKHOLM, November 11, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Sweden's Lutheran church announced it had ordained its first openly homosexual bishop on Sunday, less than a month after it gave its ministers the right to "marry" same-sex couples in church.
The Church of Sweden, which was the state church until 2000, had backed the parliament's adoption of the same-sex "marriage" law, which took effect on May 1. Its synod approved homosexual church "weddings" on October 22.
Eva Brunne, 55, was consecrated as the Bishop of Stockholm in a ceremony at Uppsala cathedral, just north of the Swedish capital, the Church of Sweden said in a statement.
Brunne is in a civil union partnership with another woman, Gunilla Lindén, who is a Church of Sweden pastor. Together they are the guardians of a three-year-old child.
"It is very positive that our church is setting an example here and is choosing me as bishop based on my qualifications, when they also know that they can meet resistance elsewhere," Brunne told the Associated Press.
Anglican bishops from England and Northern Ireland in fact refused to attend the ordination.
Five bishops from various levels within the Anglican Church, including Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, decided not to attend the November 8th ceremony, the Dagen newspaper reports.
"The Anglican Church has a moratorium right now concerning the ordination of bishops who live together with someone of the same sex," Alan Harper, a bishop from Armagh in Northern Ireland, told the newspaper.
Swedish Archbishop Anders Wejryd, who conducted the ordination of Brunne, disputed the claim that the Church of England was boycotting the ceremony.
"That's not true at all," he told the Kyrkans Tidning newspaper. "We send invitations to those with the highest rank. That's why the Archbishop of Canterbury received an invitation, but no one expected him to say yes."
According to Wejryd, the international invitees who declined to take part in the ordination included "many who generally never come."
Other invitees who declined to attend, according to Swedish news service The Local, were bishops from the Lutheran churches of Iceland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, as well as the World Lutheran Federation.
See related LSN coverage:
Catholics and Orthodox Express "Sadness" over Swedish Lutheran Decision to Embrace Homosexual "Marriage"
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/oct/09102701.html
Article here...
Swedes! Wake up, the Lutheran Church at which you had such fond memories at Christmastide is dead, if it was ever alive. Perhaps you will now reassess the evil legacy of Martin Luther and the unwisdom of leaving behind the true Church?
STOCKHOLM, November 11, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Sweden's Lutheran church announced it had ordained its first openly homosexual bishop on Sunday, less than a month after it gave its ministers the right to "marry" same-sex couples in church.
The Church of Sweden, which was the state church until 2000, had backed the parliament's adoption of the same-sex "marriage" law, which took effect on May 1. Its synod approved homosexual church "weddings" on October 22.
Eva Brunne, 55, was consecrated as the Bishop of Stockholm in a ceremony at Uppsala cathedral, just north of the Swedish capital, the Church of Sweden said in a statement.
Brunne is in a civil union partnership with another woman, Gunilla Lindén, who is a Church of Sweden pastor. Together they are the guardians of a three-year-old child.
"It is very positive that our church is setting an example here and is choosing me as bishop based on my qualifications, when they also know that they can meet resistance elsewhere," Brunne told the Associated Press.
Anglican bishops from England and Northern Ireland in fact refused to attend the ordination.
Five bishops from various levels within the Anglican Church, including Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, decided not to attend the November 8th ceremony, the Dagen newspaper reports.
"The Anglican Church has a moratorium right now concerning the ordination of bishops who live together with someone of the same sex," Alan Harper, a bishop from Armagh in Northern Ireland, told the newspaper.
Swedish Archbishop Anders Wejryd, who conducted the ordination of Brunne, disputed the claim that the Church of England was boycotting the ceremony.
"That's not true at all," he told the Kyrkans Tidning newspaper. "We send invitations to those with the highest rank. That's why the Archbishop of Canterbury received an invitation, but no one expected him to say yes."
According to Wejryd, the international invitees who declined to take part in the ordination included "many who generally never come."
Other invitees who declined to attend, according to Swedish news service The Local, were bishops from the Lutheran churches of Iceland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, as well as the World Lutheran Federation.
See related LSN coverage:
Catholics and Orthodox Express "Sadness" over Swedish Lutheran Decision to Embrace Homosexual "Marriage"
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/oct/09102701.html
Article here...
Kennedy gets Huffy with Bishop Tobin
Like an adolescent with a drug problem confronted by his parents, Patrick Kennedy says, "he won't even dignifiy that with an answer", referring to Bishop Tobin's stern lecture earlier this week. Considering the Kennedy clan's support for homo-perversion in US Schools, his hostillity becomes more understandable and his claims to be Catholic in good standing very dubious indeed. The family has in the past also put its loyalty to the United States on the shelf for some political support from the Soviet Union. What a family.
Providence, RI (LifeNews.com) -- Rep. Patrick Kennedy is swinging back at his Catholic bishop, who rebuked him for comments he made saying the Catholic Church is not pro-life because it opposes the health care bills over abortion funding. Bishop Thomas Tobin also criticized Kennedy for canceling a meeting to discuss the situation.
When Kennedy canceled, Bishop Tobin decided to write a letter for the local Catholic newspaper saying Kennedy's pro-abortion stance puts him at odds with the Catholic Church.
Kennedy said he was "not going to dignify with an answer" Tobin's assessment that Kennedy could not be a good Catholic and still support abortion.
In remarks to the Providence Journal newspaper, he called those comments "unfortunate," and said, "I'm not going to engage [in] this anymore."
He also said he found it "very disconcerting" that Bishop Tobin would not meet with him to have a private discussion of his pro-abortion views and Catholic faith, even though it appears Kennedy is the one to have postponed their planned meeting.
Kennedy tells the newspaper that he canceled the meeting because Tobin would not promise to keep any discussion of his views private.
"I had initially agreed to a meeting with him [Thursday], provided we would not debate this in public in terms of my personal faith, but unfortunately, he hasn't kept to that agreement, and that's very disconcerting to me," the congressman claimed.
Michael Guilfoyle, spokesman for the diocese, told the Journal that the meeting was postponed "by mutual agreement," but said Bishop Tobin would still welcome Kennedy.
"The bishop's schedule is still free on Thursday if the congressman would like to have that personal and pastoral meeting," he said.
Read entire...
Providence, RI (LifeNews.com) -- Rep. Patrick Kennedy is swinging back at his Catholic bishop, who rebuked him for comments he made saying the Catholic Church is not pro-life because it opposes the health care bills over abortion funding. Bishop Thomas Tobin also criticized Kennedy for canceling a meeting to discuss the situation.
When Kennedy canceled, Bishop Tobin decided to write a letter for the local Catholic newspaper saying Kennedy's pro-abortion stance puts him at odds with the Catholic Church.
Kennedy said he was "not going to dignify with an answer" Tobin's assessment that Kennedy could not be a good Catholic and still support abortion.
In remarks to the Providence Journal newspaper, he called those comments "unfortunate," and said, "I'm not going to engage [in] this anymore."
He also said he found it "very disconcerting" that Bishop Tobin would not meet with him to have a private discussion of his pro-abortion views and Catholic faith, even though it appears Kennedy is the one to have postponed their planned meeting.
Kennedy tells the newspaper that he canceled the meeting because Tobin would not promise to keep any discussion of his views private.
"I had initially agreed to a meeting with him [Thursday], provided we would not debate this in public in terms of my personal faith, but unfortunately, he hasn't kept to that agreement, and that's very disconcerting to me," the congressman claimed.
Michael Guilfoyle, spokesman for the diocese, told the Journal that the meeting was postponed "by mutual agreement," but said Bishop Tobin would still welcome Kennedy.
"The bishop's schedule is still free on Thursday if the congressman would like to have that personal and pastoral meeting," he said.
Read entire...
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
US Women Religious: Dysfunctional Family Values
Congregation heads no longer required to supply ownership, asset, age information
Women religious will still have to answer other questions related to how they conduct their ministries, but like alcoholics, the mentally ill and habitual miscreants, they don't like being held accountable, and perhaps, like an overly permissive parent, Sister Millea, who is overseeing the visitation has caved into the complaints requesting asset, age and ownership information.
It's hard to understand why they would object to such requests for this information, unless, contrary to popular belief, a life of poverty is out of the question.
U.S. women religious superiors will no longer have to supply to the Vatican some of the most controversial information it had requested as part of a three-year study of religious congregations.
Word of the change in procedures came in a letter dated Nov. 5 sent to the women religious superiors by Apostolic Visitator Mother Mary Clare Millea.
It's good to see, however, that there will still be other questions, like the following, still trying to hold rebellious nuns accountable for their manifest failure to follow the rules and live lives that have more than an impressionistic resemblance to the visions of the founders of their communities.
Part B involves some 60 subjective questions regarding vocations, governance, financial, liturgical and spiritual life within the congregations. For example, questions include the following:
How often is the Eucharist celebrated in primary houses of the unit whether a mother house, formation house, retirement facility, skilled-care facility, etc.?
Do your sisters participate in the Eucharistic liturgy according to approved liturgical norms? [We know that in most cases this is, "No"].
Despite having serious disciplinary, doctrinal, honesty and emotional problems, US Women religious have some pretty serious enablers in their corner who are willing to help them on the path of destruction, like liberal family member, Fr. McBrien of Notre Dame who teaches "theology" to unsuspecting students, who's willing to step in and give a defense of the US women religious which not surprisingly attacks the Church as "sexist". Of course, he begins his article by citing another article from a Sacred Heart Sister who teaches at Berkley. She doesn't believe that many people with an opinion have the back ground to make their judgements, she says, "too many critics of religious life in the United States "have no lived experience of or academic competence" in regard to it.
But she doesn't stop there. She wants to talk about religious habits and cloisters from a feminist perspective that boarders on the pathological. Her issues with religious habits and religious discipline are almost too stupid and inaccurate to mention, especially for someone who holds others to high standards when it comes to judging her and her consorors' work in the US, like a lot of charlatans, she tries to slither behind academic degrees and hope that she won't be challenged. It has often been the case that such women and men in the Church, like Fr. McBrien, have gone unchallenged. It's time that was ended. If you don't really believe the Church is good for humanity, why bother with it? Get out. Please.
It's typical for dysfunctional family members to cover for their relatives' sins and crimes. In this case, it seems clear that misrepresentation and malfeasance is one possible accusation and the natural tendency is to defend one's self or others who are guilty of the same crimes you are.
Well, now US Women Religious have to be held accountable because their decadence and dysfunctionality has grown to such catastrophic heights that you don't need to be a person with trained proficiency to know that US Women's Religious are in trouble. All you have to do is read one of Sister Joan Chittister's columns or take time to visit a nominally "Catholic" college where you can find Female Religious Professors who will admit to you that they want to destroy the Church.
Read the article here...
Evolution Theory getting rocked in Rome
by Edwin Faust
November 9, 2009
There is good news for the many informed Catholics and scientists who have been dismayed by the Church’s seeming surrender to Charles Darwin’s Theory of Evolution. His theory posits the gradual development and mutation of species through geological ages that span — according to his fantastic ideas — “millions of years”.
St. Pius V University in Rome is sponsoring a conference in November under the title: “The Scientific Impossibility of Evolution.”
This year marked the 150th anniversary of the publication of Darwin’s Origin of Species. This theory is arguably unequaled in the amount of harm it has worked on the general belief in God as Creator as infallibly taught by the Magisterium of the Catholic Church and shared by other religions.
The notion that life formed gradually in the course of countless millennia and that species are in a continual state of evolution is opposed to the biblical account of creation in Genesis. Darwin’s idea has virtually been unchallenged in recent decades. The result has been an undermined faith in Sacred Scripture and an ever increasing tendency to exclude God from natural phenomena which are alleged to have originated and to exist independently of an intelligent Creator.
The late John Paul II gave encouragement to evolution theorists by his remark that “evolution is more than a theory.” The late pontiff adduced no evidence to support his claim, nor did he have any standing as an authority in the scientific fields that bear on the question.
Now, his unfortunate statement appears about to be redressed by a conference set to begin Nov. 9 at St. Pius V University, according to a Remnant Press release. The conference will feature presentations by an international panel of experts in the fields of geology, genetics, physics and geophysics.
Recent discoveries in geology confirm that rocks and the fossils they contain were formed in a relatively short period of time – about 10,000 years – rather than the 10 million years required by evolution theory, according to U.S. biophysicist Dr. Dean Kenyon.
Evolution theory may soon go the way of the dinosaurs, so to speak.
Catholics who have stayed the course and held to the faith during this long siege by evolution theorists can take heart. Their long wait for vindication appears to be close at hand.
Our Lady of Fatima said that in the end Her Immaculate Heart would triumph. This means that truth, in all its clarity and beauty, will soon shine like the sun that once danced in the heavens.
Link to article...
November 9, 2009
There is good news for the many informed Catholics and scientists who have been dismayed by the Church’s seeming surrender to Charles Darwin’s Theory of Evolution. His theory posits the gradual development and mutation of species through geological ages that span — according to his fantastic ideas — “millions of years”.
St. Pius V University in Rome is sponsoring a conference in November under the title: “The Scientific Impossibility of Evolution.”
This year marked the 150th anniversary of the publication of Darwin’s Origin of Species. This theory is arguably unequaled in the amount of harm it has worked on the general belief in God as Creator as infallibly taught by the Magisterium of the Catholic Church and shared by other religions.
The notion that life formed gradually in the course of countless millennia and that species are in a continual state of evolution is opposed to the biblical account of creation in Genesis. Darwin’s idea has virtually been unchallenged in recent decades. The result has been an undermined faith in Sacred Scripture and an ever increasing tendency to exclude God from natural phenomena which are alleged to have originated and to exist independently of an intelligent Creator.
The late John Paul II gave encouragement to evolution theorists by his remark that “evolution is more than a theory.” The late pontiff adduced no evidence to support his claim, nor did he have any standing as an authority in the scientific fields that bear on the question.
Now, his unfortunate statement appears about to be redressed by a conference set to begin Nov. 9 at St. Pius V University, according to a Remnant Press release. The conference will feature presentations by an international panel of experts in the fields of geology, genetics, physics and geophysics.
Recent discoveries in geology confirm that rocks and the fossils they contain were formed in a relatively short period of time – about 10,000 years – rather than the 10 million years required by evolution theory, according to U.S. biophysicist Dr. Dean Kenyon.
Evolution theory may soon go the way of the dinosaurs, so to speak.
Catholics who have stayed the course and held to the faith during this long siege by evolution theorists can take heart. Their long wait for vindication appears to be close at hand.
Our Lady of Fatima said that in the end Her Immaculate Heart would triumph. This means that truth, in all its clarity and beauty, will soon shine like the sun that once danced in the heavens.
Link to article...
Why Australia (and Canada too) is better off with a Monarchy
This Essay was published earlier by Charles Coulombe and it contains an apologia for Monarchy. It attempts to awaken an appreciation for its deeper religious significance and therefore, it's importance for society as a whole, even a society dominated by republican sentiments and political mechanisms as the Commonwealth is.
By Charles Coulombe
The character of Kings is sacred: their persons are inviolable; they are the anointed of the Lord, if not with sacred oil, at least by virtue of their office. Their power is broad - based upon the Will of God, and not on the shifting sands of the people's Will ... They will be spoken of with becoming reverence, instead of being in public estimation fitting butts for all foul tongues. It becomes a sacrilege to violate their persons, and every indignity offered to them in word or act, becomes an indignity offered to God Himself. It is this view of Kingly rule that alone can keep alive in a scoffing and licentious age the spirit of ancient loyalty, that spirit begotten of faith, combining in itself obedience, reverence, and love for the majesty of Kings which was at once a bond of social union, an incentive to noble daring, and a salt to purify the heart from its grosser tendencies, preserving it from all that is mean, selfish, and contemptible. (P J Joyce, John Healy, pp 68-69).
Read further...
"Whereas the People of New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Queensland, and Tasmania, humbly relying on the blessing of Almighty God, have agreed to unite in one indissoluble Federal Commonwealth under the Crown of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and under the Constitution hereby established."
By Charles Coulombe
The character of Kings is sacred: their persons are inviolable; they are the anointed of the Lord, if not with sacred oil, at least by virtue of their office. Their power is broad - based upon the Will of God, and not on the shifting sands of the people's Will ... They will be spoken of with becoming reverence, instead of being in public estimation fitting butts for all foul tongues. It becomes a sacrilege to violate their persons, and every indignity offered to them in word or act, becomes an indignity offered to God Himself. It is this view of Kingly rule that alone can keep alive in a scoffing and licentious age the spirit of ancient loyalty, that spirit begotten of faith, combining in itself obedience, reverence, and love for the majesty of Kings which was at once a bond of social union, an incentive to noble daring, and a salt to purify the heart from its grosser tendencies, preserving it from all that is mean, selfish, and contemptible. (P J Joyce, John Healy, pp 68-69).
Read further...
Irish Bishops Conference gets Environmental
Wanting to engage the liberal politics of environmentalism, the Irish Bishops give a lending hand to the social engineering implicit in such arrangements. These environmental programs are of dubious value, but contain the seeds of increasing the power of central government and legistlating the false morality of collectivist progressivism. Just who's running these Bishop's conferences anyway?
Archbishop Dermot Clifford, Archbishop of Cashel and Emly, today launched The Cry of the Earth, a pastoral reflection on climate change from the Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference. The launch took place in St Francis of Assisi Primary School in Belmayne, Dublin, beside Father Collins Park, Ireland's first wholly sustainable park.
Launching The Cry of the Earth Archbishop Clifford said: “We are all stewards of God’s creation. As political leaders from around the globe meet in Copenhagen next month for the UN Framework Conference on Climate Change to decide on a new global climate change deal, the Bishops of Ireland wish to raise awareness of our vital responsibility toward sustaining the environment. We need to protect the environment today and on behalf of future generations. Our response needs to be at an individual, community and governmental level.
“The Cry of the Earth, with an accompanying DVD, has been sent to all parishes and is available on: www.catholicbishops.ie. It reflects on our Christian responsibility towards the environment and outlines the scientific analysis of climate change, the theological and ethical principles as to why we as Christians have a duty to respond, and practical advice as to how we can act now to sustain the environment.”
Archbishop Clifford continued: “When the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, published his encyclical Caritas in Veritate in July, he reminded us that the ‘environment is God’s gift to everyone, and in our use of it we have a responsibility towards the poor, towards future generations and towards humanity as a whole … The Church has a responsibility towards creation and she must assert this responsibility in the public sphere.’”
Read further...
Archbishop Dermot Clifford, Archbishop of Cashel and Emly, today launched The Cry of the Earth, a pastoral reflection on climate change from the Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference. The launch took place in St Francis of Assisi Primary School in Belmayne, Dublin, beside Father Collins Park, Ireland's first wholly sustainable park.
Launching The Cry of the Earth Archbishop Clifford said: “We are all stewards of God’s creation. As political leaders from around the globe meet in Copenhagen next month for the UN Framework Conference on Climate Change to decide on a new global climate change deal, the Bishops of Ireland wish to raise awareness of our vital responsibility toward sustaining the environment. We need to protect the environment today and on behalf of future generations. Our response needs to be at an individual, community and governmental level.
“The Cry of the Earth, with an accompanying DVD, has been sent to all parishes and is available on: www.catholicbishops.ie. It reflects on our Christian responsibility towards the environment and outlines the scientific analysis of climate change, the theological and ethical principles as to why we as Christians have a duty to respond, and practical advice as to how we can act now to sustain the environment.”
Archbishop Clifford continued: “When the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, published his encyclical Caritas in Veritate in July, he reminded us that the ‘environment is God’s gift to everyone, and in our use of it we have a responsibility towards the poor, towards future generations and towards humanity as a whole … The Church has a responsibility towards creation and she must assert this responsibility in the public sphere.’”
Read further...
Maoists Rally in Kathmandu
KATHMANDU (Reuters) - Nepal's former Maoist rebels, waving hammer-and-sickle flags, blocked roads to the capital on Tuesday in protest at the reinstatement of the army chief, the first time they have taken such action since the end of the civil war three years ago.
The Maoist-led government fired the army chief, General Rookmangud Kawatal, in May saying he had refused to take orders. But the move was reversed by the president, prompting the Maoists to quit the government and plunging the country into crisis.
Maoist activists danced on the roads, or sat in front of vehicles, in a protest that may damage the tourism-dependent economy and has raised fears about Nepal's fragile peace.
Read further...
The Maoist-led government fired the army chief, General Rookmangud Kawatal, in May saying he had refused to take orders. But the move was reversed by the president, prompting the Maoists to quit the government and plunging the country into crisis.
Maoist activists danced on the roads, or sat in front of vehicles, in a protest that may damage the tourism-dependent economy and has raised fears about Nepal's fragile peace.
Read further...
Monday, November 9, 2009
A royal chapel for Roman Catholics
Christopher Howse at the Guardian is hoping against hope, perhaps, that the next King and Queen of England will be Anglicans and that the Act of Settlement 1701 will be in place.
The Queen's Chapel is a mysterious place. To be sure, it is open for services, but these take place only on Sundays between Easter and the end of July. It is locked the rest of the time.
A remarkable claim in a new book by David Baldwin is that the monarch can turn it over to the ministrations of the Roman Catholic Church for any members of the Royal family who care to receive them.
One might have thought such provisions would have been quashed by the Act of Settlement of 1701, which forbade heirs to the Crown to marry Catholics. But in Royal Prayer (Continuum, £16.99), Mr Baldwin demonstrates that the Anglo-Portuguese Treaty of 1661 is still in force and kicking.
Read more...
More reading on the Coronation Oath, here.
The Queen's Chapel is a mysterious place. To be sure, it is open for services, but these take place only on Sundays between Easter and the end of July. It is locked the rest of the time.
A remarkable claim in a new book by David Baldwin is that the monarch can turn it over to the ministrations of the Roman Catholic Church for any members of the Royal family who care to receive them.
One might have thought such provisions would have been quashed by the Act of Settlement of 1701, which forbade heirs to the Crown to marry Catholics. But in Royal Prayer (Continuum, £16.99), Mr Baldwin demonstrates that the Anglo-Portuguese Treaty of 1661 is still in force and kicking.
Read more...
More reading on the Coronation Oath, here.
Kennedy gets Catechism Lesson after insulting Bishop Tobin.
By Richard C. Dujardin
link...
PROVIDENCE –– Even as they agreed to postpone a planned face-to-face meeting that had been set for Thursday, Roman Catholic Bishop Thomas J. Tobin turned up the heat Monday on U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedy over his “rejection” of church teaching on abortion, calling on him to enter into a process of conversion and repentance.
In a letter to Kennedy posted Monday on the Web site of the Diocese of Providence’s weekly newspaper, the bishop disputes Kennedy’s assertion that his disagreement with the hierarchy “on some issues” including abortion did not make him any less of a Catholic.
“Well, in fact, Congressman, in a way it does,” the bishop said in a letter issued just two days after Kennedy was among a group of minority lawmakers who attempted to block tough new restrictions on abortion that were added Saturday to the House’s health-care reform legislation.
“Although I wouldn’t chose those particular words, when someone rejects the teachings of the Church, especially on a grave matter, a life-and-death issue like abortion, it certainly does diminish their ecclesial communion,” the bishop declared.
Kennedy’s office did not respond yesterday to phone and e-mail requests for an interview on the bishop’s letter.
Bishop Tobin raised the question: What makes Kennedy think he’s Catholic? “Your baptism as an infant? Your family ties? Your cultural heritage?”
Being Catholic involves much more, he said, including acceptance of essential church teachings on matters of faith and morals, belonging to a parish community, weekly attendance at Mass and regular reception of the sacraments.
And support for abortion rights is not in the same category of those who struggle with sins of anger, pride, greed, impurity or dishonesty and then fail, the bishop declared.
“Your rejection of the Church’s teaching on abortion falls into a different category — it’s a deliberate and obstinate act of the will, a conscious decision that you’ve reaffirmed on many occasions. [wow]
“Sorry, you can’t chalk it up to ‘an imperfect humanity.’ Your position is unacceptable to the Church and scandalous to many of our members. It absolutely diminishes your communion with the church….
“I write these words not to embarrass you or to judge the state of your conscience or soul. That’s ultimately between you and God.
“But your description of your relationship with the Church is now a matter of public record and it needs to be challenged. I invite you, as your bishop and brother in Christ, to enter into a sincere process of discernment, conversion and repentance. It’s not too late to repair your relationship with the church, redeem your public image and emerge as an authentic ‘profile in courage,’ especially by defending the sanctity of human life for all people, including unborn children.”
Michael Guilfoyle, director of communications for the diocese, said the planned meeting between the bishop and congressman, originally set for Thursday, was postponed by mutual agreement after their staffs agreed that the meeting was not as urgent now that the House voted on the abortion provision in the health-care legislation. He said Bishop Tobin still looks forward to a meeting with Kennedy in the near future.
The abortion provision, which prohibits women insured under the public option or who obtain federal health insurance tax credits from purchasing abortion insurance, passed the House Saturday on a 240 to 194 vote. Rhode Island’s other Democratic congressman, U.S. Rep. James Langevin, voted for the amendment and Kennedy voted against it.
The health-care bill passed on a 220-215 vote.
rdujardi@projo.com
link...
PROVIDENCE –– Even as they agreed to postpone a planned face-to-face meeting that had been set for Thursday, Roman Catholic Bishop Thomas J. Tobin turned up the heat Monday on U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedy over his “rejection” of church teaching on abortion, calling on him to enter into a process of conversion and repentance.
In a letter to Kennedy posted Monday on the Web site of the Diocese of Providence’s weekly newspaper, the bishop disputes Kennedy’s assertion that his disagreement with the hierarchy “on some issues” including abortion did not make him any less of a Catholic.
“Well, in fact, Congressman, in a way it does,” the bishop said in a letter issued just two days after Kennedy was among a group of minority lawmakers who attempted to block tough new restrictions on abortion that were added Saturday to the House’s health-care reform legislation.
“Although I wouldn’t chose those particular words, when someone rejects the teachings of the Church, especially on a grave matter, a life-and-death issue like abortion, it certainly does diminish their ecclesial communion,” the bishop declared.
Kennedy’s office did not respond yesterday to phone and e-mail requests for an interview on the bishop’s letter.
Bishop Tobin raised the question: What makes Kennedy think he’s Catholic? “Your baptism as an infant? Your family ties? Your cultural heritage?”
Being Catholic involves much more, he said, including acceptance of essential church teachings on matters of faith and morals, belonging to a parish community, weekly attendance at Mass and regular reception of the sacraments.
And support for abortion rights is not in the same category of those who struggle with sins of anger, pride, greed, impurity or dishonesty and then fail, the bishop declared.
“Your rejection of the Church’s teaching on abortion falls into a different category — it’s a deliberate and obstinate act of the will, a conscious decision that you’ve reaffirmed on many occasions. [wow]
“Sorry, you can’t chalk it up to ‘an imperfect humanity.’ Your position is unacceptable to the Church and scandalous to many of our members. It absolutely diminishes your communion with the church….
“I write these words not to embarrass you or to judge the state of your conscience or soul. That’s ultimately between you and God.
“But your description of your relationship with the Church is now a matter of public record and it needs to be challenged. I invite you, as your bishop and brother in Christ, to enter into a sincere process of discernment, conversion and repentance. It’s not too late to repair your relationship with the church, redeem your public image and emerge as an authentic ‘profile in courage,’ especially by defending the sanctity of human life for all people, including unborn children.”
Michael Guilfoyle, director of communications for the diocese, said the planned meeting between the bishop and congressman, originally set for Thursday, was postponed by mutual agreement after their staffs agreed that the meeting was not as urgent now that the House voted on the abortion provision in the health-care legislation. He said Bishop Tobin still looks forward to a meeting with Kennedy in the near future.
The abortion provision, which prohibits women insured under the public option or who obtain federal health insurance tax credits from purchasing abortion insurance, passed the House Saturday on a 240 to 194 vote. Rhode Island’s other Democratic congressman, U.S. Rep. James Langevin, voted for the amendment and Kennedy voted against it.
The health-care bill passed on a 220-215 vote.
rdujardi@projo.com
Archbishop Burke's Influence set to Grow (NCR)
John Allen of NCR has just commented about Archbishop Burke's appointment. He is confirming speculation elsewhere that his appointment to Rome to the Apostolic Signatura, and now, to the Congregation of Bishops as the fifth American along with the likes of Cardinals Law, Francis Stafford, Justin Rigali and Levada will put him in a position to be very influential indeed, given time, when it comes to appointing new Bishops since his confreres are not typically conservative.
We've already noticed a conservative trend in the appointments of Bishops like the failed attempt to appoint Msgr Wagner of Linz, and two other conservative appointments like Bishop Sirba of Duluth, Minnesota and Bishop Lavoir to New Ulm, Minnesota much earlier this year.
Unfortunately, Archbishop Burke will have to contend with the Papal Nuncio, Cardinal Piero Sambi who has frowned himself on the Archbishop's pugnacious statements, according to Allen. Cardinal Samebi is problematic also for other reasons in that he has presided over many awful appointments in the past, relying not so much on knowledge and prudence so much as unduly trusting liberal prelates in the countries where he has worked as Nuncio, especially retarding Ecumenism in England by appointing Bishops especially hostile to an influx of conservative Anglicans by Bishop Hollis of Portmouth. (See, Bishops, Nuncios and Delators, Oxford Review) Fortunately, Arcbishop Samebi is due to submit his resignation in four years time when he reaches the age of 75.
We've already noticed a conservative trend in the appointments of Bishops like the failed attempt to appoint Msgr Wagner of Linz, and two other conservative appointments like Bishop Sirba of Duluth, Minnesota and Bishop Lavoir to New Ulm, Minnesota much earlier this year.
Unfortunately, Archbishop Burke will have to contend with the Papal Nuncio, Cardinal Piero Sambi who has frowned himself on the Archbishop's pugnacious statements, according to Allen. Cardinal Samebi is problematic also for other reasons in that he has presided over many awful appointments in the past, relying not so much on knowledge and prudence so much as unduly trusting liberal prelates in the countries where he has worked as Nuncio, especially retarding Ecumenism in England by appointing Bishops especially hostile to an influx of conservative Anglicans by Bishop Hollis of Portmouth. (See, Bishops, Nuncios and Delators, Oxford Review) Fortunately, Arcbishop Samebi is due to submit his resignation in four years time when he reaches the age of 75.
ANGLICANORUM COETIBUS for Anglicans has been Published
APOSTOLIC CONSTITUTION ANGLICANORUM COETIBUS PROVIDING FOR PERSONAL ORDINARIATES FOR ANGLICANS ENTERING INTO FULL COMMUNION WITH THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
Commentary from EWTN
The Vatican: Apostolic Constitution: Anglicanorum Coetibus
Monday, November 9, 2009 • 7:41 am
Damian Thompson, here.
Virtue Online, and Anglo-Catholic voice in Union with Rome, with exhaustive commentary, here.
Thinking Anglicans, here.
Whispers in the Loggia, here.
Catholic Online, here.
And don't we just know that the New York Times will have something to say, here.
New Architectural Appeal to the Holy Father
Appeal to His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI for the return to an authentically Catholic sacred Art
Veni, Creator Spiritus
mentes tuorum visita
Imple superna gratia
quae tu creasti pectora
Art is an inexhaustible and incredible treasure of catechesis. For us it is also a
duty to know and understand well. Not as sometimes art historians do,
interpreting it only formally, according to the artistic technique. Rather, we must
enter into the content and revive the content that inspired this great art. It seems
really a duty - also in the formation of future priests - to become familiar with
these treasures and have the ability to transform them into a living catechesis that
is present in them and speak to us today.
(Benedict XVI - Holy Father's meeting with the parish priests and
clergy of the Diocese of Rome - February 22nd 2007)
Hat tip to beloblog, Link with some commentary
The link to the proposal is here.
Veni, Creator Spiritus
mentes tuorum visita
Imple superna gratia
quae tu creasti pectora
Art is an inexhaustible and incredible treasure of catechesis. For us it is also a
duty to know and understand well. Not as sometimes art historians do,
interpreting it only formally, according to the artistic technique. Rather, we must
enter into the content and revive the content that inspired this great art. It seems
really a duty - also in the formation of future priests - to become familiar with
these treasures and have the ability to transform them into a living catechesis that
is present in them and speak to us today.
(Benedict XVI - Holy Father's meeting with the parish priests and
clergy of the Diocese of Rome - February 22nd 2007)
Hat tip to beloblog, Link with some commentary
The link to the proposal is here.
Vatican Holds Line of Celibacy for Anglican Rebels
by Ruth Gledhill
The Vatican today held the line on priestly celibacy as it published the document which opens the door for hundreds of thousands of disaffected Anglicans to become Roman Catholics.
Pope Benedict XVI has made it as easy as possible for traditional and “continuing” Anglicans to convert to Catholicism while retaining key elements of their ecclesiastical heritage, observers commented.
The Apostolic Constitution even allows for married Anglican bishops to be granted the status of retired Catholic bishops, to become members of the local Catholic bishops’ conference and to be granted permission to use the “insignia” of episcopal office, such as the mitre, pectoral cross and staff, by the Holy See in Rome.
But after a hard-fought battle within the Holy See former Catholic priests who left the Church to marry and subsequently became Anglican clergy will not be permitted to return.
Read further...
The Vatican today held the line on priestly celibacy as it published the document which opens the door for hundreds of thousands of disaffected Anglicans to become Roman Catholics.
Pope Benedict XVI has made it as easy as possible for traditional and “continuing” Anglicans to convert to Catholicism while retaining key elements of their ecclesiastical heritage, observers commented.
The Apostolic Constitution even allows for married Anglican bishops to be granted the status of retired Catholic bishops, to become members of the local Catholic bishops’ conference and to be granted permission to use the “insignia” of episcopal office, such as the mitre, pectoral cross and staff, by the Holy See in Rome.
But after a hard-fought battle within the Holy See former Catholic priests who left the Church to marry and subsequently became Anglican clergy will not be permitted to return.
Read further...
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Randall Balmer, Episcopalian, says Vatican "Opportunistic" (Poll)
| Randall Balmer, Episcopal priest, washingtonpost.com.
NO: The Vatican’s sudden overture to disaffected Anglicans strikes me as both cynical and opportunistic.
Cynical in that the concession to effectively allow congregations to continue using Anglican hymns and liturgies seems to undermine decades of ecumenical discussions. [Wow, sounds just like a Jesuit.]
The move is opportunistic in that Rome is making the overture at what might be viewed as a moment of crisis or weakness in the Anglican Communion. The Vatican apparently is seeking to harvest those disaffected by the ordination of women and gays and by support for same-sex unions. [No, they're doing their job.]
A cynical action calls for a cynical interpretation: [Sounds like projection to me. There's nothing about this that's cynical, unless you read into it things which aren't there and attribute wicked motives] Perhaps the Vatican is hoping to lure Anglican parishes — and their property — to compensate for its financial losses in the priestly pedophilia scandals. [Anglicans are actually worse on that score]
I have no doubt that some disaffected Anglicans will see this as an attractive offer. At the same time, I wasn’t aware that Christians opposed to homosexuality or to women’s ordination were underserved in the religious marketplace. [If it were a marketplace. I'm afraid you're the cynical one, sir.]
Read entire article...
NO: The Vatican’s sudden overture to disaffected Anglicans strikes me as both cynical and opportunistic.
Cynical in that the concession to effectively allow congregations to continue using Anglican hymns and liturgies seems to undermine decades of ecumenical discussions. [Wow, sounds just like a Jesuit.]
The move is opportunistic in that Rome is making the overture at what might be viewed as a moment of crisis or weakness in the Anglican Communion. The Vatican apparently is seeking to harvest those disaffected by the ordination of women and gays and by support for same-sex unions. [No, they're doing their job.]
A cynical action calls for a cynical interpretation: [Sounds like projection to me. There's nothing about this that's cynical, unless you read into it things which aren't there and attribute wicked motives] Perhaps the Vatican is hoping to lure Anglican parishes — and their property — to compensate for its financial losses in the priestly pedophilia scandals. [Anglicans are actually worse on that score]
I have no doubt that some disaffected Anglicans will see this as an attractive offer. At the same time, I wasn’t aware that Christians opposed to homosexuality or to women’s ordination were underserved in the religious marketplace. [If it were a marketplace. I'm afraid you're the cynical one, sir.]
Read entire article...
Cultural Marxist Theologian as America's Ambassador to the Vatican
An effeminate and slippery Miguel Diaz was chosen by the President to be America's ambassador to the Holy See. This was not a felicitous or friendly choice, perhaps more like sending David Duke to be our Ambassador to Israel. Miguel Diaz hails from one of the most theologically metastasizing institutions in the United States and it's a place that teaches that indeterminacy both moral and dogmatic, should reign to identify an all-inclusive, social justice Catholicism on one hand, and the neo-Marxism of the Democratic party on the other, while completely excluding the legitimate voice of Catholic tradition.
He bewails his role in dealing with conservative Catholics who have a voice in American politics over the issue of abortion, and insists, impossibly, that one can disagree or ignore the question and still call one's self a Catholic.
"As a person of faith, I am stunned by any effort that seeks to divide us," Diaz said in a phone interview from Rome with the Star Tribune. "One of the things I have embraced from this presidency is the effort to bring various persons together to engage in conversations even when we disagree."
It's part of the praxis of Marxism to engage in consensus building in order to forge an imaginary enclosure fit to include as many as possible in a misguided belief of the necessity for social engineering programs like "Health Care Reform" and "Global Warming". It's a dialogue designed to isolate dissenters and cement predesigned programs by, to borrow from Comrade Noam Chomsky, manufacturing consent, thereby undermining the significance of the individual and welding all into a slavish collectivist mentality.
George Weigel, correctly, is certain that this is an attempt to isolate conservative Catholics and drive a wedge in what he describes as the "Catholic Community" in the USA.
The Ambassador's home University at Collegeville is also the home of coven of pederasts, and is noted for the unexplained disappearance of a young, star student, Josh Guimond.
The Red Star article here...
The Scottish Bishops' New Website and Frankfurt School
Thanks to our confreres in Scotland at Catholic Truth, he invites comments on the new site of the Scotish Catholic Bishop's Conference. It's not very Catholic looking, the packaging is more redolent of car sales than of something distinctly Catholic. The content matches the packaging, unfortunately. Would that at least the content was Catholic.
In a related sense we bring you Eleison Comments, Bishop Williamson's blog which goes into the subject of the Frankfuhrt School which migrated to the United States and enjoyed a tremendous amount of sway and influence over Catholic education, eventually spilling over into things Catholic as well. We believe it's especially noticeable in the Scotish Conference's website.
In a related sense we bring you Eleison Comments, Bishop Williamson's blog which goes into the subject of the Frankfuhrt School which migrated to the United States and enjoyed a tremendous amount of sway and influence over Catholic education, eventually spilling over into things Catholic as well. We believe it's especially noticeable in the Scotish Conference's website.
By Bishop Richard Williamson
Valuable lessons for all friends or lovers of "Western civilisation" are to be culled from an analysis of the USA's leftwards lurch in the 1960's by a Californian Professor of Psychology, accessible at their website. Professor Kevin MacDonald is there reviewing the critique of mass culture in a book on "The Frankfurt School in Exile".
The Frankfurt School needs to be much better known. It was a small but highly influential group of non-Christian intellectuals who, when Hitler came to power, fled from Germany to the USA, where in conjunction with a like-minded group of New York Trotskyists they continued to exert an influence out of all proportion to their numbers. Feeling a profound alienation from the "traditional Anglo-American culture", says MacDonald, they made war on it by promoting the individual against the family, multi-culture against White leadership, and modernism against tradition in all domains, especially the arts. "Theodor Adorno's desire for a socialist revolution led him to favour Modernist music that left the listener feeling unsatisfied and dislocated - music that consciously avoided harmony and predictability". The Frankfurt School wanted "the end of the order that bore the sonata".
The Frankfurt School scorned the American people's lack of desire for Revolution, and they blamed it on the people's "passivity, escapism and conformism", says the Professor, and on "late capitalist" control of the mass culture by, for instance, conservative organisations imposing moral standards on Hollywood. Yet when in the 1960's they themselves gained control of the media, universities and politics, they exploited to the full the mass culture and Hollywood and the people's on-going sleep-like condition to swing them to the left. The Professor laments the resulting vicious attack upon "White interests", "White identity" and the "traditional people and culture of the West".
The Professor is right on several counts. For instance, the war is not mainly between capitalism and communism, as the leftists originally thought, and as many Americans still think. Material comfort has lulled the American people to sleep, after the 1960's as before them. Also, on or off the leash, Hollywood and culture play a huge part in moulding minds and masses (which is why "Eleison Comments" often treat of cultural topics). Also, there does exist a small group, conscious and resolute, of highly influential enemies of "traditional Western culture".
However, to defend "White interests" the Professor needs to go well beyond White interests as such. The real problem is religious. Why did White Europeans ever have so much to give ? Because for centuries and centuries they co-operated with God's grace to profit best by the Catholic Faith. Why does this small group of leftists so hate "Western culture" ? Because it is the lingering remains of that Faith. And why did the small group become so powerful from the 1960's onwards ? Because at Vatican II the same "Whites" were mainly responsible for the Catholic officials' betrayal of the Faith which took place at that Council. Today's triumph of the leftists is no more nor less than a just punishment from God.
Professor, you are not asleep. Now pick up a Rosary !
Kyrie eleison.
London, England
France's Institute of the Good Shepherd is coming to the USA
The Catholic Caveman says that the Institute of the Good Shepherd is thinking about sending priests to the United States.
According to their facebook site they say:
According to their facebook site they say:
After our third anniversary, the IGS is considering to send priests in the USA for apostolate. One of them Fr Beaugrand have made many contacts since he's frequently travelling to the USA but still looking for help!
Archbishop of Galveston thinks even less of Catholicism than of Jews
This Archbishop must think the Catholic laity is stupid and will simply keep on shelling out the contributions, supporting his liberal resolutions and even buying him dinner once in awhile for the sake of his jolly company.
Reminiscing like a battle hardened journalist, the Bishop of Galveston talks about how far we've come from those times when we actually thought the Catholic Church was important enough that we actually took the Gospels seriously when reading the Great Commission to go forth and make disciples of all nations (including the Jews). The Archbishop confidently contradicts all of this, heretically, and of course, since most people are aware that he knows his religious beliefs are tin plated but committed to the same ideas of liberalism he's committed to, they aren't going to be rude enough to point out to him that he's just contradicted the prophetic and integral portion of the Catholic religion.
We have no doubts he will never convert a Jew. Like Cardinal Cushing of Boston, he'll probably never convert anyone, because he has nothing to give.
Article here...
Reminiscing like a battle hardened journalist, the Bishop of Galveston talks about how far we've come from those times when we actually thought the Catholic Church was important enough that we actually took the Gospels seriously when reading the Great Commission to go forth and make disciples of all nations (including the Jews). The Archbishop confidently contradicts all of this, heretically, and of course, since most people are aware that he knows his religious beliefs are tin plated but committed to the same ideas of liberalism he's committed to, they aren't going to be rude enough to point out to him that he's just contradicted the prophetic and integral portion of the Catholic religion.
We have no doubts he will never convert a Jew. Like Cardinal Cushing of Boston, he'll probably never convert anyone, because he has nothing to give.
Nostra Aetate implicitly acknowledged that Israel remains in a covenant with God, and later Pope John Paul II made it explicit that Jews are “the people of God of the Old Covenant, never revoked by God.”
Article here...
Nuns Complain bitterly about Vatican Investigation
Liberal nuns make their thoughts known about the Vatican investigation. Some say that the Vatican is using it to cover up sex-abuse, another one is saying that surgery was banned by the Church.
Vatican investigation into compliance of U.S. Sisters to Catholic doctrine should not impact members of the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Agnes.
"And hopefully, it will not impact our university," said Sister Mary Mollison, acting president at Marian University.
She addressed Catholic religious women gathered Thursday at the Stayer Center about tension and rising polarization in the church.
Issues reportedly being investigated include the acceptance of gays and lesbians, the Catholic path as an exclusive path to redemption, and the return of habits. Vatican concerns have also focused on the declining numbers of religious vocations in Western cultures.
"Our freedom is part of the tension going on," Mollison confirmed.
Cardinal Franc Rode' said he requested the three-year study in response to concerns expressed by American Catholics — religious, laity, clergy and hierarchy — about the welfare of religious women and consecrated life in general, according to the National Catholic Reporter. Rhode heads the Vatican office overseeing religious orders.
Assessment of "women religious," as they are referred to in the Catholic Church, could include whether or not those speaking for an order support the idea of women priests, or gay marriage, or whether they believe there can be salvation outside the Catholic church, Mollison said.
Read further...
Vatican investigation into compliance of U.S. Sisters to Catholic doctrine should not impact members of the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Agnes.
"And hopefully, it will not impact our university," said Sister Mary Mollison, acting president at Marian University.
She addressed Catholic religious women gathered Thursday at the Stayer Center about tension and rising polarization in the church.
Issues reportedly being investigated include the acceptance of gays and lesbians, the Catholic path as an exclusive path to redemption, and the return of habits. Vatican concerns have also focused on the declining numbers of religious vocations in Western cultures.
"Our freedom is part of the tension going on," Mollison confirmed.
Cardinal Franc Rode' said he requested the three-year study in response to concerns expressed by American Catholics — religious, laity, clergy and hierarchy — about the welfare of religious women and consecrated life in general, according to the National Catholic Reporter. Rhode heads the Vatican office overseeing religious orders.
Assessment of "women religious," as they are referred to in the Catholic Church, could include whether or not those speaking for an order support the idea of women priests, or gay marriage, or whether they believe there can be salvation outside the Catholic church, Mollison said.
Read further...
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Leftists Gather to Comemorate Slain Jesuits from El Salvador
Six Jesuit priests killed in El Salvador are to be honored this November 16Th as the 20Th anniversary of their deaths at 28 Jesuit Colleges to include figures like Noam Chomsky, Liberation theologian Rodolfo Cardenal, pro-choice leftist Congressman from Massachusetts, James McGovern.
Link here...
Link here...
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