Thursday, November 26, 2009

The Irish Church is in Trouble: Blame Liberals

The furor is broiling and the Bishop of Limmerick is being criticized and so is the Catholic Church by association, but is he criticized for the right reasons and is he held accountable for the things he claims to represent? One of the sad things about this entire issue is that while wrongdoers are punished from time to time for their crimes, the finger of public opinion isn't pointed at the evils of heresy and the fact that all too many of these men are not true to their promise to be Catholic prelates, priests and religious; no, the public would rather point their fingers at the things they mistakenly view as the source of the problem. Damien Thompson has narrowed the problem down to the heresy of Jansenism and we'd point out that some of the Church's most liberal influences came from the Jansenists, particularly at the Council of Pistoia.

Liberalism notwithstanding, since heresy is a common problem, and an ancient one, the sex- abuse problem can be traced from that, and the issue of Clerical abuse is, like the heresy of Modernism, as old as the pyramids of Egypt. Although the crime itself against children is not new, the high level of conspiracy between liberal Bishops and liberal governments is of fairly recent vintage, and the most recent of all is the way that clerical abusers are punished. In olden times, they weren't just arrested, they were often given painful deaths, for as Christ said,

But he that shall scandalize one of these little ones that believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone should be hanged about his neck, and that he should be drowned in the depth of the sea.


Yet the blame doesn't just stop there, governments, as in the times of Robespierre and Gilles de Rais,aren't blameless, in fact they aid and abet, as if they had a common interest in corrupting the youth. As the article in the Ireland Times mercifully mentions,

Ironically, the things the liberal abuse enablers in the Episcopacy, media experts and many government officials think will cure the Church are actually those same things that are generally embraced by the men who commit these crimes in the first place. No one talks about the abuse in governmental schools and compares it to the Church, much in the Church's favor.


No doubt, clerical pederasts and their Episcopal protectors are a cynical lot and men of this dark age. Secretly or openly, they often support the kinds of things which the Catholic Church has always opposed, or they support liberal causes which are in opposition to or at least are irrelevant to their mission in the first place, like the Irish Bishops Council's support for legislation addressing "Climate Change". In the meantime, while the public complains about the secrecy of the Church, its "outdated" rules and regulations, it is unwittingly gnawing and biting at the very thing that unequivocally condemns these personal sins in the first place, personal sins, frankly, that many liberals are unwilling to admit.

This was evident in the case of Roman Polanski who many liberals and media elites wanted to go on unpunished. It brings to mind that occasion, recounted by Simone de Beauvoir, when Sartre remitted Camus for having a mistress who'd collaborated with the Nazis, saying that all morality is collective, no doubt, he had his own Nazi collaboration in mind.

But never mind all that, no one's going to address the issue of personal sin, heresy and hypocrisy here, at least no one in the courts and the great majority of the victims, they've got their eyes on the wealth and spiritual power of the Church: the one they only dimly understand because they are materialists.

Link...

The Styrian Hands out Turkeys in Fresno

The worthy Styrian, Arnold Swarzenegger, in a gesture reminescent of the Hapsburgs of old, comes to hand out food to the poor at Catholic Charities with his encouraging peasant grin and kind words. Such displays are expected of public figures, but not all public gestures are heartless and cynical. Gifted, public men should set a good example by selfless, if public, acts of charity; still, we were really taken by the good natured, hearty magnanimity of the Styrian. He has always been a charming, sometimes kindly, if scandalous, presence in American life, but his kind gesture is a worthy immitation of better men whose legends he must have learned as a child living in the night time of the Kingdom of the Danube.

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Governor Schwarzenegger was back in the Valley to lend a hand at a holiday food giveaway the day before Thanksgiving.

His visit comes as the number of families in need of public assistance continues to grow. The number of Fresno County residents on food stamps has jumped 84-percent in the last four years.

Governor Schwarzenegger greeted families who patiently waited outside Catholic Charities on Wednesday. They carted off enough food for a holiday meal, including turkey and vegetables.

Balloons for the kids helped raised the spirits of families who face gloomy times.

Olivia Calistro of Fresno said, "There's not a lot of work. Me and my husband we're on a fixed income, whatever he brings in. All the holiday food helps."

The governor said, "They all know tomorrow will be a day of eating and they will not be left out."

Link to the original...

Stricter Guidelines for Catholic Speakers in Archdiocese of Saint Paul, USA

Minneapolis-St. Paul is a test market. It was a test market for Mass said versus populum in the 30s, for Communion in the hand, for female altar servers, and now, almost paradoxically, it is a test market for Ultramontanism and authoritarianism. How this happened is a mystery to us, but perhaps, wherever evil thrives, good abounds.

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Only individuals in good standing with the Catholic church can be invited to speak at churches or other Catholic venues or be considered for an award from the church, according to a new policy issued by the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.

"The speaker's writings and previous public presentations must also be in harmony with the teaching and discipline of the church," it said.

"A priest who left the ministerial priesthood without dispensation would not be eligible for consideration. Those in irregular marriages or those living a lifestyle at variance with church teaching would also not be eligible," it said.

Read further...

Women religious not complying with Vatican study | National Catholic Reporter

Women religious not complying with Vatican study | National Catholic Reporter

A related story, US Women Religious Dysfunctional Family Values, linked here.

Besides disobedience, US Women Religious bring other things to the table, like dissent, Women Religious Reshape the Divine.

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Brown Urges Overturn of Law Banning Catholics From Monarchy

Once again time proves us right. We knew this was an effective possibillity, it was only a matter of time really.

By Thomas Penny and Kitty Donaldson

Nov. 25 (Bloomberg) -- A ban on Roman Catholics becoming British monarchs and the precedence given to men over women in the succession to the throne needs to be overturned, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said today.

Changing the law, which would need the agreement of the 16 Commonwealth Realms where the queen is head of state, may be discussed in the margins of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting starting in Trinidad and Tobago on Nov. 27, Brown’s spokesman Simon Lewis said.

“The Act of Settlement is outdated and most people recognize the need for change,” Brown told lawmakers in the House of Commons today. “Change can only be brought about, not only by the United Kingdom, but all the realms where her majesty is queen.”

The 1701 Act of Settlement means any Catholic marrying into the royal family must make a choice between abandoning Catholicism in favor of their spouse’s right to the throne. The law also places the sons of a monarch ahead of their sisters in the line of succession.

The queen is monarch in 16 countries, including Australia, New Zealand and Canada, according to the British Monarchy Web site. All 16 are members of the Commonwealth and will be present at the heads of government meeting.

The law is “state-sponsored sectarianism,” said Peter Kearney, spokesman for the Roman Catholic Church in the U.K. “This conference provides an ideal forum for the prime minister to raise the issue and urge his colleagues from governments around the world to condemn, repeal.”

The former Autumn Kelly, the Canadian-born wife of Peter Phillips, the queen’s grandson, converted to the Church of England before their wedding last year so that he remained 11th in line to the throne. In 1978, the queen’s cousin Prince Michael of Kent was removed from the line of succession after marrying a Catholic.

To contact the reporters on this story: Thomas Penny in London at tpenny@bloomberg.net; Kitty Donaldson in London at kdonaldson1@bloomberg.net
Last Updated: November 25, 2009 12:59 EST


Read original...



Our related and prophetic article...

Orthodox Monastery at the End of the World



Antarctica has several religious buildings used for worship services: the Chapel of the Snows, Antarctica (a non-denominational Christian chapel at McMurdo Station), Trinity Church, Antarctica (a Russian Orthodox church at Bellingshausen Station), Santa Maria Reina de la Paz Church at the Villa Las Estrellas, and a permanent Catholic chapel made entirely of ice at Belgrano II Base. The Worldwide Antarctic Program proposes building a Catholic chapel at Mario Zucchelli Station, Terra Nova Bay, Antarctica; while the first Catholic chapel (named after Saint Francis of Assisi) was built in 1976 at the Argentine Esperanza Base. The southernmost Catholic chapel lies at the Argentine Belgrano II Base.

There are also churches on some of the Sub-Antarctic islands, including Grytviken on South Georgia; and Port-aux-Français on the main island of Kerguelen, and St. Ivan Rilski Chapel (a Bulgarian Orthodox chapel at St. Kliment Ohridski Base), San Francisco de Asis Chapel at Esperanza Base, South Shetland Islands.

Link to original...

Gay Governors Choose Wealth and Power Over Truth

Gay Governors usurp the teaching authority of the Church and become a Magisterium all of their own, but it proves that they are concerned about losing the Church's endorsement for their various governmental programs. The price for fighting the Church will be high both in this life and the next.

WJZ

RICHMOND, Va. (AP)The governors of Virginia and Maryland say it would be wrong for the Catholic Archdiocese of Washington to quit providing social services if the District of Columbia approves gay marriage.

Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine and Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley are both Catholics. They criticized the church's position on the district's gay marriage proposal Tuesday during a joint appearance on WTOP radio in Washington.

The D.C. council is expected to approve gay marriage next month. If that happens, the archdiocese says it may end contracts with the city to run homeless shelters and provide other social services.

Kaine and O'Malley both said they disagree with that response.
(© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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The Bishops Should Fight Obamacare With All Their Might

The first entry comes from Cardinal Rigali and shows some really decisive leadership.

The other entry by Father Robert Sirico at last asks the right questions and puts the social teachings of the Church in relation to her traditional role as the true source of Charity in her hospitals, orphanages, schools and soup kitchens. She has always fed and clothed the poor and this legistlation threatens what.


(CNSNews.com) - A top Roman Catholic cardinal told CNSNews.com that there is “no way” Catholic members of Congress can support the Senate health care reform bill as long as it includes a provision that allows tax dollars to go to insurance plans that cover abortion.

At the National Press Club on Nov. 20, CNSNews.com asked Cardinal Justin Rigali, the archbishop of Philadelphia: “The Senate health care bill that Majority Leader Reid released this week permits tax dollars to go to insurance plans which cover abortion. And my question is: Would it be a mortal sin for a Catholic member of Congress to vote for this bill knowing that this provision is in it?”

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.............................................................................

Powerblog

Posted by Rev. Robert Sirico

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

As the health care debate moves to the U.S. Senate, much of the focus has been on how the Catholic bishops’ support of the amendment by U.S. Rep. Bart Stupak, the Menominee Democrat, to prohibit the use of tax dollars to fund abortion was a major victory for the pro-life side. The bishops urged the House of Representatives, through local parishes and in a Nov. 6 letter, to ensure that “needed health care reform legislation truly protects the life, dignity, health and consciences of all.”

All people of good will, all those who value human life and dignity, should cheer this development.

But there’s more to this health care juggernaut that should give us reason to oppose it in its current form. We should first be concerned with the vast expansion of government reach into the private lives of millions of Americans.

This “reform” will create a system that will put bureaucrats in charge of personal health care decisions — not doctors. It will give the federal government an avenue to nationalize more than 15 percent of the U.S. economy, putting bureaucrats and elected officials in the role of manager and regulator — much as we’ve seen in banking and automobiles.

Amazingly, with the push for a $1 trillion-plus health care package and the attendant debt, we may soon see Canada with lower government spending (as a percent of gross domestic product) on heath care than the United States. All this, too, is a threat to human dignity.

Read further...

Related articles:

Recent news about the Baltimore Conference in Summary.

Bishop Bruskewitz mildly criticizes Bishop Morin regarding the CCHD.


Bishop Morin Equivocates about CCHD.

Christian Brothers Ordered to Pay 161m Euros

Rather than reorganizing or disbanding the order, the assets will be confiscated by the government. This is by far the most open admission of guilt on the part of a religious order that we've ever seen, unfortunately, the root problem of heterodoxy won't be addressed while the Church loses influence and property. Generally speaking, the Church has a better record in all of this than the Government, and things like this further push the Church out of Her role as the protector of the poor and the nursemaid of Christendom.

[BBC News] A Catholic religious order is to supply a 161m euros (£145m) package of measures as reparation for child abuse in Ireland.

The Christian Brothers said the decision had been taken in response to the Ryan report which revealed decades of abuse at religious institutions.

The report, published in May, laid out a picture of systematic abuse.

In a statement the order said its move followed its "shame and sorrow at the findings of the Ryan Report".

"We understand and regret that nothing we say or do can turn back the clock for those affected by abuse," the statement continued.

"Our fervent hope is that the initiatives now proposed will assist in the provision of support services to former residents of the institutions as well as the facilities, resources and scope to protect, cherish and educate present and future generations of children."

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Russian Atheists Want to Remove God from National Anthem

Moscow (AsiaNews) - The Communist Party of the Russian Federation (Kprf) wants to delete the reference to God from the text of the national anthem. Boris Kashin, of the Chamber of Deputies of Moscow (the Duma), has submitted a bill to replace the phrase of the anthem that says "protected by God as our beloved homeland," with "protected by us as our beloved homeland”.

For the Kprf deputy reference to God undermines national unity and disrupts the multi-ethnic society in Russia. Kashin complains that the anthem does not respect the various non-Christian religions recognized in the Federation and offends the feelings of atheists.

Already in 2005, Alexander Nikonov, president of the Atheist Society of Moscow, had stated that the offending sentence is inconsistent with the constitutional rights of citizens and had lodged a complaint with the Constitutional Court. Today, as then, no one believes that the anthem will be changed also because the Kashin proposal has not met the support of any political leader in Russia. However, the incident has reopened the controversy that emerges cyclically around the anthem and the summons of God

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"Peace and Justice" Group Organizes Protest at Catholic Charities



Bishop Zubik, sproting a really ugly stole, attempts to address the material needs of new arrivals from Myanmar who don't speak English. They were led to convene at the Catholic Charities office named after Bishop Zubic's mother by a "Peace and Justice" organization.

Refugees from Myanmar picketed the opening of a new welcome center for clients of Catholic Charities at its Downtown office yesterday.

Bishop David Zubik of Pittsburgh, who dedicated the Susan Zubik Welcome Center in honor of his late mother, went out to meet the protesters, who spoke little or no English. Counting children, they included more than 30 ethnic Karens, who carried handwritten signs such as, "We demand a professional translator who speaks our language."

The protest was organized by Three Rivers Coalition for Justice, a group with ties to organized labor that helps workers with problems such as evictions. It printed a leaflet claiming that Catholic Charities had assigned the Karens a Burmese translator who did not speak the Karen dialect and who treated them with contempt.

It claimed that a Karen refugee facing eviction had given $500 to a Catholic Charities caseworker to pay his rent, but eviction notices kept coming. It also said that refugees are placed in low-paying, dangerous jobs.



Read more:

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Bishop says Kennedy is 'erratic' and a Liar

Bishop Tobin is not only calling Kennedy a liar, but is saying he's mentally imbalanced as well. He's careful not to suggest that this reflects on his fitness for office and leaves that up to the voters, however.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. –– Roman Catholic Bishop Thomas J. Tobin on Monday said Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy has shown “increasingly erratic and unpredictable behavior” during their escalating dispute, but said he was “not at all” referring to the congressman’s well-publicized mental-health issues.

Kennedy
The bishop also said he was not suggesting that Kennedy was unfit for office. He said he was “not familiar” or only “generally familiar” with mental-health and drug-addiction problems Kennedy has openly acknowledged and sought treatment for — most recently four weeks of addiction treatment at a medical facility in June.

“His fitness for office is nothing that I would ever comment on,” said Bishop Tobin. “I think that’s up to the voters to make that decision. But I am concerned about his statements and his reactions to some of these recent events. No, I’m concerned about him and I’m praying for him. As I said before, my door is always open, and I hope we can bring a good reconciliation to all this.”


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Violence Ongoing in Egypt as Copts Plead for Help

Assyrian News Service

FARSHOOT, EGYPT (ANS) -- Since the early morning of November 21, the Upper Egyptian town of Farshoot has been the scene of ongoing Muslim mob violence against Coptic Christian residents. The violence has also extended to a number of neighboring villages.

According to the Assyrian International News Agency (AINA), the mob ramsacked and burnt Coptic property, while Copts hid indoors fearing to go outside. Reuters Cairo reported a witness said, "Chaos is overwhelming (in the city)."

The violence was prompted by reports of sexual abuse of a girl by 21 year-old Copt Guirgis Baroumi, from Kom Ahmar, on Nov. 18.

AINA said the 12-year-old Muslim girl has been identified as "Yousra." Baroumi is being detained by the police pending an ongoing investigations and forensic results. Many Copts believe that the rape incident is being used by Muslims as a pretext to start violence against them.

The violence is continuing. There are reports that seven Coptic women have been abducted.

Witnesses said nearly 3000 angry Muslims gathered in front of the Farshoot Police Headquarters. They were there, AINA reported, planning to kidnap and kill Baroumi while he was being transported to court.

Bishop Kirollos said it was agreed with Yousra's family to await the court decision, "but they did not wait for that."

AINA said Coptic priest Rev. Benjamin Noshi was driving his car when the mob stopped and assaulted him, fracturing his skull. He is currently in hospital.

By the evening, AINA reported, most Coptic businesses were looted and burnt. "They are destroying the Coptic economy in these areas," said Wagih Yacoub of Middle East Christian Association.

A witness said that some Coptic families were thrown out of their homes, which were occupied by Muslims.

Link to original...

Related Articles:

-November 21, Rioting.

-November 19, Egyptian Convert Writes Letter to Obama.

-October 28, Muslims kill Christian over Nude Photos

-October 5, Egyptian Security Arrests Copts in Home

Clergy are cafeteria Catholics too

The clergy are aware that people are angry about this and some of them are probably more forthright about it than others, but this priest isn't atypical in his response. Seems like there's a real crisis of confidence. It's as if he were uncertain as to why he became a priest in the first place.

By Dianne Skripek

As a Catholic I was stunned when after Holy Communion the Pastor announced how there wouldn't be (but would be) a Second Collection for the Catholic Campaign for Human Development last Sunday, November 22.

After offering a cursory, confusing explanation of the CCHD controversy, Father stated there wasn''t a collection in typical fashion of basket passing but designated baskets were available in the vestibule. If someone wanted to donate to CCHD, the parish office would send a check on contributors'' behalf. After googling for facts, I thanked God I don''t typically give to Second Collections unless it directly supports missionaries or the needy.


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Liberal Bill Donahue Decries 'Hate Crimes' Against the Catholic Church

Leave it to Bill Donahue to ride his Civil Rights advocacy group into the fray, using bad laws and their attendant errors to "defend" the Catholic Church.

The FBI issued its most recent statistics on hate crimes on Monday -- and they showed a slight uptick in hate crimes against religious groups in 2008.

Last year, there were 1,519 incidents against people based on their religion, a 9% increase from the year before.

While anti-Jewish attacks make up the bulk of the incidents -- one out of every six -- there was a spike in hate crimes against Catholics.

There were 75 incidents against Catholics, up from 61 the year before.


Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, says the Catholic Church has become more vocal on hot-button issues such as abortion and gay marriage. As the Catholic bishops take a stronger stance, he says, it filters down to the laity, and as more traditional Catholics become more vocal, they become targets for those who disagree with them.


"Unfortunately it spills over into violence," he says.

And Donohue thinks it's just going to get worse before it gets better.

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New Uzbek Moves against Soviet and Orthodox Symbols a Challenge for Russia

Georgia Daily

November 23, 2009
Paul Goble

Tashkent’s decision to remove monuments glorifying Soviet military achievements and to tear down a Russian Orthodox church there dating from 1898 in the first instance reflects the Uzbek government’s desire to take greater control over its own national destiny.

But the combination of these actions – one Moscow newspaper suggested today that they were “removing the traces of the USSR and of Orthodoxy” from that Central Asian republic – create more than usual problems for Russia because it raises questions about the relationship of the Soviet and Russian past in the future.

And that relationship is increasingly sensitive not only in the ethnically charged atmosphere in the Russian population but also as President Dmitry Medvedev seeks to maintain the former Soviet space as a Russian sphere of influence even while pursuing closer relations with the Western powers.

Over the weekend, “Komsomolskaya Pravda” reported today, the Uzbek authorities demolished or moved away monuments that formed part of the Park of Military Glory that the Soviet authorities had set up in 1973 and tore down an Orthodox church as part of a plan to build a new government administration building (kp.ru/daily/24398/575153/).

Link to original...

Monday, November 23, 2009

Let's Face it: Russia is Dying

Some of us look hopefully at a resurgence of the Orthodox Faith in Russia as part of the promise Our Lady has made to convert Russia, yet Russia is dying. No consecration of Russia has happened yet, but there are signs and expectations. What seems to be the case is that no one but Our Lady can save her.

Telegraph Blogs

The BBC reports that Mr Bill Browder, head of a company called Hermitage Capital and once the largest foreign investor in Russia, has now described that large and empty country as “essentially a criminal state”. One’s first reaction is that Mr Browder, who has had far better opportunities for observation than most of us, has taken rather a long time to realise this. But then none of us has been particularly quick off the mark in grasping what has been right in front of our noses for years. Their representatives are still polluting the G8, the Council of Europe and other supposedly civilised institutions. We still pretend politely to take Mr Vladimir Putin seriously.

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See especially Pat Buchanan's Death of the West.

Also see, St. Jean Raspail.

Catholic Insight Opposes Homosexual Office Seekers: Canada Elections

By Fr. Alphonse de Valk
Issue: November

The main Anglican community in the world continues to distance itself further from orthodox Christianity. During the last 40 years the idea, first of approving priestesses, contrary to the Scriptures and unheard of in the 2000- year history of Christianity, followed immediately by the instalment of female bishops, has created such an abyss between mainstream Anglicans on the one hand and Catholics and Eastern Orthodox on the other that formal theological discussions are no longer possible for the time being, or perhaps forever.

The situation is further aggravated by the Anglican community’s surrender to the western world’s abandonment of Christian morality, first contraception (1930), then abortion (1967), today especially the acceptance of homosexuality as a principle and as a church-approved way of life and agenda. While contraception and abortion remain mostly unheard and unseen as private family matters, homosexuality, in contrast, is loud, provocative, ugly, and eminently destructive of unity. Even the collapse of Canada’s largest Protestant community, the United Church of Canada, in its abandonment of both dogma and morality, seems to have left no impact on Canadians.

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Archbishop Nichols visits Europe's first traditional Hindu temple

After wagging an admonishing finger to the incoming Traditionalist Anglicans that they may not "pick and choose", Archbishop Nichols chooses to go to Europe's first Hindu temple to receive a pagan blessing.

Archbishop Nichols with the Temple's spiritual leader Yogvivek Swami


The Most Rev Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster and President of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales, has made an official visit to the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir, Europe's first traditional Hindu temple in Neasden, north London.

The visit took place on Saturday, 21 November during Interfaith Week and on the birth anniversary of the worldwide spiritual leader of the Hindus who pray at the Mandir (Hindu Temple) at Neasden, His Holiness Pramukhswamiji Maharaj.

Archbishop Nichols was greeted by the Mandir's spiritual leader, Yogvivek Swami, ( Head Sadhu, BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha (UK & Europe)) and the Trustees of the Mandir. He was welcomed in traditional Hindu style - with a red vermillion mark applied to the forehead and the tying of a sacred thread on the wrist, symbolising friendship and goodwill.

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31 CCHD-Funded Groups Supported, Trained by Pro-Abortion, Homosexual Marriage


31 CCHD-Funded Groups Supported, Trained by Pro-Abortion, Homosexual Marriage

The coalition's latest discovery exposes 31 organizations partnered with Center for Community Change. CCC is a politically radical, anti-life, pro-homosexualist organization whose board members include Heather Booth, former consultant for the National Organization for Women and Sara Gould, president and CEO of pro-abortion Ms. Foundation for Women.

community-controlled, self-help organizations and through transformative education," according to their web site.

Since the coalition began the investigation at least two dioceses, Allentown and Madison, have publicly announced they will not be participating in the Nov. 22 collection. Gamaliel, one of the CCHD grantees partnered with CCC, reports that five diocese have backed out of this year's CCHD collection.

Socialist roots of CCHD and Connections to Political struggles ongoing in relation to Healthcare Reform.

Defense by Archbishops Nienstedt and Chaput, although Archbishop Nienstedt suggests giving money to other worthy Catholic organizations instead.

Bishop Morin's equivocations on behalf of CCHD.

George Soros' support for Liberal causes within the Catholic Church, particularly the CCHD another dire portent of socialist infiltration.

Idealistic Young Priest Preached to Moscow's Muslim Immigrants

Voices From Russia

I last met with Fr Daniil just last week… I was going to write an article about his missionary school. He opened it two years ago at his parish, St Thomas church. Classes meet twice a week, the curriculum includes a comparative analysis of Islam and Orthodox Christianity, the strengths and weaknesses of each religion, and in-depth study of both the Koran and the Bible. Fr Daniil, himself half-Tatar in ancestry, was the only priest in Moscow who advocated preaching Orthodoxy amongst the migrants and guest workers. His clerical colleagues called him the “Orthodox Wahhabi” for the fire gleaming in his eyes and his passionate speeches.

Link to blog...

Breaking story...

Growing persecution of Copts in Egypt, here...

The Catholic Shrine in Africa, Sister to Lourdes

The Standard | Online Edition :: The Catholic shrine that knows no faith

Palestinian Nun raised to the Altars

AP) – 23 hours ago

NAZARETH, Israel — A Palestinian nun who co-founded a charity dedicated to educating Arab girls on Sunday took an important step toward sainthood.

Thousands of worshippers gathered in the biblical town of Nazareth to attend the beatification of the late Sister Maria Alfonsina Danil Ghattas.

Ghattas helped found the Sisters of the Most Holy Rosary of Jerusalem in the 1880s. The order, highly regarded in Palestinian communities, continues to run schools for Palestinian girls in Israel, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

Ghattas died in Jerusalem in 1927 at the age of 83.

During Sunday's ceremony, the church unveiled a portrait of Ghattas.

Pope Benedict XVI approved the beatification in July — the final step before sainthood.

"The beatification of such an important figure of a woman is a particular comfort for the Catholic community in the Holy Land," Benedict said during his traditional Sunday noon blessing in St. Peter's Square.


Article here...

Who was Sister Marie Alphonsine Ghatta?

On November 22, Sister Marie Alphonsine will be solemnly beatified in the Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth. This is an opportunity to reflect on the life of this girl from Jerusalem to whom the Holy Virgin inspired the founding of the Congregation of the Rosary Sisters , the only indigenous religious community in the Holy Land.
Sultanah Maria Ghattas was born in Jerusalem on the 4th of October, 1843, and baptized on the 19th of November the same year. On 18th July, 1852, she received the Sacrament of Confirmation from the hands of His Beatitude Giuseppe Valerga, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem.

At the age of 14, she joined the Congregation of St. Joseph of the Apparition as a Postulant. On the 30th of June, 1860, she received the Holy Habit of the Religious of St. Joseph of the Apparition. Two years later, in 1862, she pronounced her three vows. In Bethlehem where she was assigned, she was entrusted with the teaching of Catechism. Besides, she founded Confraternities and Associations and promoted the devotion to Our Lady through the prayer of the Rosary.

She was favored with several apparitions of Our Lady who revealed to Mother Marie Alphonsine Her desire to begin the Congregation of the Rosary. The Virgin Mary appointed Fr. Joseph Tannous as her Director to administer the Congregation of the Rosary.

Read further her story...

Sunday, November 22, 2009

John Paul II Used the Discipline (whipped himself)

Pope John Paul II regularly whipped himself in 'remorse for his sins', a nun has revealed.


Pope John Paul, who died in 2005, is being considered for sainthood by the Catholic Church - the ultimate accolade and a tribute to his holiness.


As part of the Vatican's investigation, thousands of documents have been collected and examined by officials from the Congregation for the Causes of Saints.

Among them is the testimony of Polish nun Tobiana Sobodka, of the Sacred Heart of Jesus order, who worked for Pope John Paul in his private Vatican apartments and at his summer residence in Castel Gandolfo near Rome.

Sister Sobodka said: 'Several times he (Pope John Paul) would put himself through bodily penance.

'We would hear it - we were in the next room at Castel Gandolfo. You could hear the sound of the blows when he flagellated himself. He did it when he was still capable of moving on his own.'

The flagellation is also confirmed by another bishop who has given testimony, Emery Kabongo, who for several years was a secretary for Pope John Paul.

He said: 'He would punish himself and in particular just before he ordained bishops and priests. Before passing on the sacraments he wanted to prepare himself.

'I never actually saw it myself but several people told me about it.'

Link here...

CCHD Provides an Opportunity for Liberal Socialists to Undercut and Distract during the Healthcare Debate

Words on the relative success or failure of CCHD will be interesting to read, possibly on Monday, but is seems safe to say that given the pre-emptive attempt to head off the criticism and disatisfaction they knew was brewing as a result of their tacit approval for the various anti-Catholic organizations they've been supporting with the Catholic Church's popular clout, for years.

We've known about this for years and years, and we're surprised that an issue is being made about it now, but we're not surprised that some Bishops are denying the fact they knew about it at all, or just as bad, that we should believe them that something effective will be done in the future.

Court Jester is looking for news on Dicoese that don't collect here...

More on Bishop Roger's equivocations here...


Raymond Arroy's credibillity has even been called into question by Bishop Morin. He's a bit like one of those villains in a melodrama, and it's as if this is the first time in throughout the years that we've known about this. In previous years not more than a few occasional boos emanated from various places against these villains. People almost seemed to take it for granted that Bishops didn't take their religion seriously. Why should they, no one else does. Just a few crazy "Lefebvrists" and " Catholics United for the Faith" type people.

Perhaps there is truth to the suspicion that the politicos are taking shots at the USCCB for their support of the Stupak Amendment. If that's the case, the Bishops have only themselves to blame for being as cynical as the Democrats who must surely be engineering this campaign against them, or perhaps, finally, Catholics are truly coming to their senses and might at any moment show up outside episcopal bungalos with pitchforks and burning torches.

Cuomo warns Bishops not to hurt Democrat's political Standing

NewsOK

NY's Cuomo no stranger to church-state friction


ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — Former New York Gov. Mario Cuomo said Sunday that church leaders should be cautious about pressuring Catholic politicians over issues such as abortion because people might not vote for someone they think is guided by religion
Cuomo's comments came as Rhode Island Rep. Patrick Kennedy sparred with a bishop over his public stance on moral issues including abortion. Kennedy said Bishop Thomas Tobin has asked him not to receive communion.

In a 1984 speech, Cuomo, a Catholic and Democrat who supported abortion rights and was at the time a leading potential presidential candidate, delivered a speech at the University of Notre Dame explaining that Catholic lawmakers shouldn't be pressured by church leaders to work for anti-abortion legislation.

Link to article...
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Bishop Tobin refuses Kennedy Communion

Stations: Please substitute the following for V3958, slugged RI Bishop-Kennedy, which moved at 5:05 a.m. Eastern time. The new version CORRECTS Kennedy not disclosing how bishop told him of ban sted in discussions.)

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Rep. Patrick Kennedy says Roman Catholic Bishop Thomas Tobin has barred him from receiving communion because of his support of abortion rights.

The Providence Journal reports on its Web site Sunday that Kennedy said in an interview that Tobin issued the order, further escalating a simmering ideological dispute between the two men.

Link to article...

Dallas Priest donates his Kidney

Dallas Morning News

Even with her puckish sense of humor, no one could doubt that Carrie Gehling has faced serious health issues.

On the eve of her transplant, Carrie Gehling replayed a voice mail from her priest telling her that he was a match. She lost both legs to a 40-year fight with diabetes and suffered four heart attacks, one of which left her clinically dead for 2 ½ minutes.

After years of dialysis, she needed a kidney transplant, but her medical history made her a high-risk candidate. Several hospitals had turned her down until Medical City Dallas Hospital earlier this year agreed to the procedure – with the provision that she find a live donor.

Read further...

Saturday, November 21, 2009

Holy Father Meets with Artists in the Vatican: You are the Custodians of Beauty

Holy Father met with hundreds of artists in the Vatican today in the Sistine Chapel. Here is his address in full.

Link here..

Sandro Magister's article here...

Inlaws Poisoned by Patrick Madrid

Inlaws of Traditionalist Catholic are reading Patrick Madrid's book, More Catholic than the Pope.

Link to Angelqueen.

New Bishop to Replace Bishop Raymond Lahey

By Charles Lewis, National Post

Pope Benedict has appointed a new bishop to replace Raymond Lahey, who left his diocese in Nova Scotia earlier this fall after being charged with possession of child pornography.

Brian Dunn, right, the present auxilliary Bishop of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., will be taking over at the Diocese of Antigonish, a part of the Catholic Church that has seen its share of troubles. It recently finalized, under Bishop Lahey, a $15-million settlement with those abused by parish priests. And then in September, the diocese was rocked again when Bishop Lahey was alleged to be carrying pornographic images of teens on his laptop while going through the Ottawa airport.


Read more:

Violence against Egypt's Coptic Population Continues

Assyrian International News Monitor

Farshoot, Egypt (AINA) -- Since early morning on Saturday, November 21, the Upper Egyptian town of Farshoot, as well as the neighboring villages of Kom Ahmar, Shakiki and Ezbet Waziri, has been the scene of ongoing Muslim mob violence against Coptic Christian inhabitants. The mob looted, vandalized and burnt Coptic property, while Copts hid indoors fearing to venture out. Reuters Cairo reported that a witness said "chaos is overwhelming (in the city)."

The Violence is still going on. There are reports that seven Coptic women have been abducted.

Read further...

Archbishops Nienstedt and Chaput defend the nefarious CCHD

We're surprised that Archbishop Nienstedt is openly supporting this intitiative. He must have been dragooned into doing so. When we asked a priest recently what he thought of it, he gave a very cautious answer. It seems that the Bishops are very solicitous of their programs which promote heresy, homosexuality, waste of government funds and socialism.


Minneapolis, Minn., Nov 21, 2009 / 04:50 am (CNA).- Responding to concerns about the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD), Archbishop John Nienstedt and Archbishop Charles J. Chaput have said the CCHD still does “much good,” despite several “disturbing” incidents and “mistakes” in which the campaign funded groups that worked against Catholic teachings.

In his Nov. 19 column Archbishop Nienstedt of St. Paul and Minneapolis called attention to the collection for the CCHD on the weekend of Nov. 21-22.

He said the Campaign aims to “break the cycle of poverty” for 40 million people in the U.S. by funding local “self-help, anti-poverty” organizations. Many of these are not under the auspices of the Church, but agree to follow guidelines which prevent them from violating Catholic teachings, the archbishop explained.

He then noted recent controversies in which the CCHD had to stop funding for three projects that violated those guidelines. He said CCHD funding was “immediately cut off” when violations were made known.

As an example, he referred to an immigrant workers’ rights group that began advocating against California’s Proposition 8 and for same-sex “marriage.” Such a position, Archbishop Nienstedt said, “obviously has nothing to do with the rights of immigrants.”

Link to... CNS

Archbishop Nichols warns against "pick and choose" approach to religion

Anglicans should not become Catholic to protest against female clergy or sexual ethics, the archbishop of Westminster said today, as he warned traditionalists against adopting a "pick and choose" approach to the religion.

The Most Rev Vincent Nichols, the most senior Catholic in England and Wales, was speaking ahead of tomorrow's meeting in Rome between Rowan Williams, the archbishop of Canterbury, and Pope Benedict XVI. The pair will discuss the recent initiative by the Vatican to allow Anglicans to become Catholics and retain parts of their spiritual heritage – set out in an apostolic constitution – as well as its impact on ecumenical relations.


Link to... Guardian.

Holy Father and Archbishop Rowan meet for 20 minutes today

Vatican City, Nov 21, 2009 / 12:36 pm (CNA).- Pope Benedict XVI and the Anglican Primate Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury, have agreed to maintain momentum in the ecumenical dialogue between the two churches despite the fact that the Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum Coetibus will imply the reception of some half a million Anglicans into the Catholic Church.

The Pope received Williams this Saturday morning, and according to a Vatican press release, "in the course of the cordial discussions attention turned to the challenges facing all Christian communities at the beginning of this millennium, and to the need to promote forms of collaboration and shared witness in facing these challenges."

http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=17791

Friday, November 20, 2009

Bacus Amendment provides $375 million for Sex-Ed

Catholic Family News

375 Million for Classroom Sex Instruction in Senate “Health Care Reform Bill” – SIECUS and Other Anti-life/Homosexual Groups Promoting “The Personal Responsibility Education for Adulthood Training” [Senate] and the Healthy Teen Initiative [House] Amendments.

Link to article...

Famous Orthodox Missionary Murdered by Masked Gunman in Moscow

Moskau (kath.net/RNA)

35 Year old priest Daniil Syssojew was one of the most active missionaries in the Russian Orthodox Church.

He was killed by numerous shots fired at him in his church along with another priest who was wounded. It is possible that he was murdered out of religious motivations, as Interfax Agency the reported on Friday. Accordingly, a masked man was seen bursting into the church that Thursday evening.

He fired on Syssojew and wounded also another priest. The state prosecuter suspects radical Islamists or sects of the crime had assaulted the priest

Link to article..

Interfax...

French Bishops Confronted with Vocations Crisis: Dici

Le Figaro, in its November 9 issue, related the disturbing discourses of some bishops during the assembly of the Episcopal Conference held in Lourdes from November 2 to 8. “When I ordain two priests per year, Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, Archbishop of Lyon, I bury twenty others…” “40% of people contributing to the “denier de l’Eglise” (a free donation given by Catholics to support the Church which receives no State subsidies in France, translator’s note) are over 80 years old,”Bishop Roland Minnerath, of Dijon admitted. So it is no surprise that confronted with such bleak prospects, Fr. Bernard Podvin, spokesman for the bishops, observed that “ a phenomenon of wearing down touches all states, priests, deacons, and committed lay people.”

Read further...Dici

Somalis are being recruited to Fight in Jihad in Minneapolis

A 24-year-old local Somali man has been indicted in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis on charges of conspiring to provide support to terrorists.

Omer Abdi Mohamed, an unemployed employment counselor and father of a 2-month-old boy, was indicted on charges of conspiracy to "kill, kidnap, maim or injure" people in foreign countries, according to an indictment filed Tuesday but made public Thursday.

Link to... Star

Bishop Morin's equivocations about the CCHD are starting to sound Pathological

Bishop Morin's denials of episcopal malfeasance are beginning to look very dodgy. What could be more encouraging to potential donors than the fact that CCHD draws its inspiration from the most anti-Catholic Robert Kennedy and offers an award named after a Cardinal who had masonic pallbearers and had the Windy City Gay Men's Chorus sing at his funeral.

Even if we didn't take into account his false and desperate claims about CCHD before the second collection this Sunday at Mass, we'd still be forced to look at how certain "Catholic" hospitals, Universities and Religious orders promote or dispense abortion and birth control.



Bishop Roger Morin of Biloxi, Mississippi, the chairman of the US bishops’ Subcommittee on the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD), has denounced recent criticism of the controversial anti-poverty effort as “outrageous” in a November 17 report at the US bishops’ meeting in Baltimore. At the same time, he lent credence to some of the criticism by reporting that CCHD has rescinded three grants in the past year because the organizations receiving the grants acted “in conflict with Catholic teaching.”

Link to ... Catholic Culture.

Results of study on Religious Orders is out.

The study by Brother Bednarczyk finds that religious orders have declined steeply in the past years since the Vatican Council. Yet there is success reported by a small but influential segment of those who have maintained a traditional response with respect to disciplines and teachings.

He noted that religious organisations with the most success in attracting new members have a more traditional style of religious life, in which members live in community, participate in daily Eucharist, pray the Divine Office and engage in devotional practices together. They also are more likely to wear a religious habit.


Link to article at... totalcatholic.com.

Archbishop Nienstedt dismisses USCCB Sex-Abuse Study

Archbishop Nienstedt says that he wouldn't put too much credence in the (Soviet?) USCCB 2 Million Dollar Sex-Abuse Study, but one has to wonder about David Clohessy of SNAP who is suggesting that the problem isn't seated in the problem with homosexuals in the first place. Everyone has an agenda, and sometimes it's only as long as the nose.

We were treated to a weird statement, however, from +Sean of Boston who said something about teasing the study. How about admitting that you got rooked and think about getting rid of the people who authorized people essentially hostile to the Church to make the study in the first place? Isn't this a bit like sending seminarians to hostile, atheistic psychologists to weigh the worthiness of their vocations? Why, oh why, won't the Bishops trust the counsels of Tradition in these matters. They worked for the Dominicans of old.

Link to related article...

George Weigel animus delendi against the SSPX and Tradition

Gregorian Rite

George Weigel thinks enough time has passed since the "red and gold" debacle that he can now re-enter the fray. As usual, it's against the SSPX.

In his column, The Catholic Difference, Weigel purports to tell us what is going on in the CDF-SSPX discussions. And it's no good for the SSPX.

Goto, Gregorian Rite for the rest of the article...

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Handbook for Tutors of Unchastity: Seminary Guide teaches Immorality

This book will contain some familiar bromides about rigidity, but it's hard to find. Fortunately, Father Habiger gave some inside baseball about the vile methodology of demoralization starting from seminary formation and naturally filtering into the pews where unsuspecting families would be subjected to the "homilies" and "spiritual advice" of men formed by the template of immorality in the following book. It's no wonder the USCCB is so confused about these issues since many of them probably ingested and internalized many of the principles and bromides of this book which was all part of the Trojan Horse.

CNA

Fr. Mathew Habiger
mhabiger@kansasmonks.org

In 1976 the Catholic Theological Society of America endorsed the publication of a book on Catholic sexual ethics, entitled HUMAN SEXUALITY: New Directions in American Catholic Thought. It was authored by Fr. Anthony Kosnik and several others. Many seminaries used this as a text for sexual ethics during the 1980s and 1990s. You still find copies of it in rectory libraries. Notice that it received the endorsement of the CTSA, and that was taken as sufficient justification for using it in major seminaries. It helps us understand why there is such a reluctance among many of the clergy today to preach on God’s plan for marriage and spousal love. Its way of explaining Catholic sexual ethics is at great variance with what the Church teaches in her major documents. Kosnik finds the norms given in Casti Connubii, Humanae Vitae and the Declaration on Certain Questions Concerning Sexual Ethics to be too rigid and oppressive. He thinks that the Magisterium places too much emphasis upon concrete individual human acts, instead of upon the overall intentions indicated by a whole spectrum of choices and acts. Instead of using HV’s norm for the spousal act (unitive and procreative), he replaces this with a more squishy and elastic norm (creative growth and integrative).

By using the greater elasticity provided by his new norms, Kosnik is able to justify instances of deviations from just about all of the norms of the traditional Catholic sexual ethic. This includes acts of contraception, sterilization, adultery, fornication, homosexual acts, and even bestiality!

Read further...

Htip, Semper Vita

Improved Leadership in St. Paul Archdioce USA

Gay activist Michael Bayly laments the change in management at the Cathedral. You know that things must be a lot better than they were 10 years ago, but much work has yet to be done. You also get a sense for how easy it was for American Catholic Bishops to throw money at anti-Catholic causes like sailors on liberty call.

"[Retired Archbishop] Harry Flynn came to us -- we didn't go to them, they came to us -- in the late 1990s and asked us to serve as resource people for the church," said Michael Bayly, executive coordinator of the Catholic Pastoral Committee on Sexual Minorities (CPCSM). "Then a new pope comes in. Now the archdiocese won't even take our phone calls."

Read further...

Rowan Williams encourages Rome to reconsider Female Bishops

The Guardian

The archbishop of Canterbury today pleaded with Roman Catholics to set aside their differences with Anglicans over the issue of female bishops, insisting there was more uniting the denominations than dividing them.

Rowan Williams was giving a lecture in Rome before Sunday's meeting with the pope, their first encounter since the Vatican's surprise announcement of a special institution for traditionalist Anglicans wanting to convert to Catholicism.

In his address at the Gregorian University, Williams said the Anglican communion was proof that churches could stay together in spite of their differences.

Link to article...

Rowan Williams caught between a Rock and a Hardplace, Chiesa.

Egyptian Convert to Christianity writes Letter to Obama

Religious Intelligence

By: A staff reporter.

A 15-year-old Egyptian girl, Dina el-Gowhary, who converted from Islam to Christianity, has sent a plea to President Obama, complaining of mistreatment by the Egyptian Government and asking for his mediation.

Read further...

African Jesuit implies Condom use is Acceptable

The Catholic Review Online

The Jesuit encouraged all his confreres in Africa to follow the recommendation of the recent Synod of Bishops for Africa when dealing with couples where one or both spouses are HIV-positive.

The synod said the work of church personnel is to provide the kind of pastoral support and moral guidance that would help such couples “choose what is right with full responsibility for the greater good of each other, their union and their family,” including whether or not to use condoms to prevent the spread of the HIV infection.

Link to article...

Europe's elite choose a new president

Catholic Culture

Phil Lawler

European leaders are meeting today to select a new president for the European Union. They will also choose an EU foreign minister.

With the final ratification of the Lisbon Treaty, the 27 member-states of the EU are now formed into a single entity, with a population of nearly 500 million and a GDP of over $18 trillion, wielding enormous economic and political influence. The president of this new federation will instantly become one of the most powerful figures in world affairs.

Read further...

Thanks to SBC for link.

Socialist Snakeoil in the CCHD

Capital Research Center

That’s not quite the way I see CCHD. The charity only reluctantly cut off ACORN last year and continues to fund the equally radical community organizing group Industrial Areas Foundation that was founded by Saul Alinsky himself. It also funds PICO, DART, and the Gamaliel Foundation.

The most noteworthy thing about this is the name Saul Alinsky, Hillary Clinton's mentor, who was one of the intellectual lights behind Cultural Marxism in the United States. Notworthy in all of this is the Bishop's tacit support for Marxist organizations that talk a good game about charity and fishing, are actually engaged in destablilizing what's best in the Republic and turning the Church into a government controlled Bureaucracy.

Link to CRC...

More 'Reform of the Reform' according to Ecclesia Dei

In an interview with the French journal L'Homme Nouveau, the secretary of the Ecclesia Dei commission has confirmed that the liturgical "reform of the reform" remains a high priority at the Vatican. Msgr. Guido Pozzo explained:

What is essential today is to recover the deeper sense of the Catholic liturgy, in the two uses of the Roman missal, in the sacred character of the liturgical action, in the centrality of the priest as mediator between God and the Christian people, in the sacrificial character of the Holy Mass as an essential dimension from which derives the dimension of communion.


Read further...

Priest Criticizes USCCB Study and the USCCB

The Post-Standard
November 19, 2009, 7:10AM
In today's Post-Standard, a Roman Catholic priest criticizes bishops' handling of reported sexual abuse by priests.

To the Editor:
As a Roman Catholic priest in good standing, I find myself in the midst of a great dilemma. Of which should I be more ashamed? The fact that less than 3 per cent of my priest brothers have been credibly accused of the sexual abuse of minors? Or the fact that 97 percent of the nation’s Roman Catholic bishops seem to be in a state of invincible denial?

The assertion that “homosexuality is no factor in abusive priests” (Post-Standard, Associated Press, Nov. 18) is so utterly absurd as to defy rational credibility. Fact: Ninety-five percent of all reported cases of sexual abuse by priests involved the homosexual predation of teenage boys! What was the bishops’ response as this crisis was festering for more than 50 years? Instead of reaching out in a pastorally responsible and sensitive manner to the victims and their parents, they called in their attorneys to protect their assets.

This adversarial relationship that the bishops themselves created exacerbated the problem to the point where it became completely unmanageable. They have destroyed the morale of many good and holy priests and have alienated the faithful to the point where no one now living will ever see the healing of the injuries caused by this unspeakable abuse of power.

Memo to bishops: “Denial” is not the name of a river in Egypt!


Rev. Eric K. Harer
Constantia

600,000 Serbs Mourn Patriarch Pavle at Holy Archangels Monastery near Belgrade


B92 News

The spiritual leader of the Serb Orthodox Christians was laid to rest this afternoon at the Monastery of the Holy Archangels in Rakovica, near Belgrade, next to Patriarch Dimitrije, who headed the Serb Church from 1920 until 1930.

The funeral service at the grave was served by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I and the keeper of the throne of the Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC) until a new patriarch has been elected, Metropolitan Amfilohije of Montenegro and Littoral.

A message from Russian Orthodox Church head Patriarch Kirill was also read.

Read further...

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

USCCB does not find that there is Intelligent Life at Commonweal

The USCCB is still ignoring the problem. In a usual pattern of deception, they seem bent on ignoring reality and their own canon law. By all appearances, they will most likely continue to ordain homosexuals in large numbers despite the danger they pose to the purity of boy chilren.

A preliminary report commissioned by the nation’s Roman Catholic bishops on the roots of the clergy sex-abuse scandal found no evidence that gay priests were more likely than heterosexual clergy to molest children, the study’s lead authors said yesterday.

First their title dishonestly implies that the USCCB states that "Homosexuality is not linked to sex-abuse, rather it's the other way around. Then another journalist steps in and sights a spurious study with some poorly reasoned arguments.

The full $2 million study by researchers at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice won’t be completed until the end of 2010. But the authors said their evidence to date found no data indicating that homosexuality was a predictor of abuse.

It's still amazing that the USCCB spent all that money to tell us that sodomites and criminality were at the heart of the problem.

UPDATE: Longer analysis by David Gibson over at Politics Daily.

“What we are suggesting is that the idea of sexual identity be separated from the problem of sexual abuse,” said Margaret Smith, a researcher from the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York, which is conducting an independent study of sexual abuse in the priesthood from 1950 up to 2002. “At this point, we do not find a connection between homosexual identity and an increased likelihood of sexual abuse.” [The Soviet Union made all kinds of "scientific" studies like this]

A second researcher, Karen Terry, also cautioned the bishops against making a correlation between homosexuality in the priesthood and the high incidence of abuse by priests against boys rather than girls — a ratio found to be about 80-20. [It's actually more than that]

“It’s important to separate the sexual identity and the behavior,” [But why?] Terry said. “Someone can commit sexual acts that might be of a homosexual nature but not have a homosexual identity.” [This is a false distinction and we don't in any case know what Terry means. Based on her special pleading, I doubt that it's very well defined.] Terry said factors such as greater access to boys is one reason for the skewed ratio. [Not really, priests have more freedom, and less accountability than average workers and can go anywhere they want. Fact of the matter is that they don't go after girls because most of them are homosexuals] Smith also raised the analogy of prison populations where homosexual behavior is common even though the prisoners are not necessarily homosexuals, or cultures where men are rigidly segregated from women until adulthood, and homosexual activity is accepted and then ceases after marriage. [Still reaching for an excuse. She's like he guardian of an alcoholic child who refuses to acknowledge reality.]

(…)

When asked by a bishop at Tuesday’s meeting whether homosexuality should be a factor in excluding men from the seminary, Smith responded, “If that exclusion were based on the fact that that person would be more probable than any other candidate to abuse, we do not find that at this time.”

Read at ... Commonweal.

Cardinal Schönborn’s visit to Medjugorje 'not a statement,' spokesman says

Cardinal Schönborn's masonic sympathies were well explained and demonstrated by Kreuz.net earlier this year when wrote about how he had attended his masonic father's masonic funeral and enjoys the good opinion of Masonic leaders in Austria today, leaders who are not quite so fond of some of his less correct brother Bishops. So, with these strong sympathies, it seems safe tocall them so, the Cardinal is attending another Masonic locale, Medjugorje.

However, his communications director, Father J. Fürnkranz indicates that this was not to be a public visitatio.


Cardinal Schönborn’s visit to Medjugorje 'not a statement,' spokesman says

Medjugorje, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Nov 16, 2009 / 02:55 pm (CNA).- Cardinal Christoph Schönborn will visit Medjugorje, the small town in Bosnia-Herzegovina where six young people have allegedly been witnesses of apparitions from the Virgin Mary. But according to the Archdiocese of Vienna, the trip is “completely private” and does not imply a statement from the cardinal on the veracity of the apparitions.

“It was supposed to be a completely private visit, it was not supposed to go out to the internet,” Fr. Johannes Fürnkranz, personal secretary to the Archbishop of Vienna, explained to CNA.

The cardinal’s visit will take place between December 8th and January 4th.

“The cardinal's visit was supposed to be absolutely personal and not public, but since it has been leaked, I can only confirm that it will take place. There is no statement whatsoever involved (in the visit),” Fr. Fürnkranz told CNA.

The local Church authorities, including Bishop Ratko Peric, whose diocese encompasses Medjugorje, have declared that the alleged apparitions are not to be published or promoted.

Story here...

800,000 Muslims Convert to Christianity in Sudan

Link at Catholic Answers forum....

Cloudy, USCCB Study on Clerical Sex Abuse

An impressionistic but very extensive and expensive study indicates that the abuse of [homosexual] clergy dropped off after 1985 and that it was most prevalent beginning with the Age of the Big Baby Boomer. It indirectly points the finger at that popular post-war generation, but shouldn't it also include "homosexuals"?

It's unclear why the Bishops had to spend all of this money to determine what the problem was. Referring to the historical nature of the problem, they would have disclosed that it was not foreign to the Middle Ages or the Ancient World and was often seated, along with homosexuality, in the actual practice of Witchcraft and the consequent diabolism or insanity, if you wish. The methods for dealing with these individuals, who in some cases murdered and raped children, as what the case with the a friend and companion of Joan of Arc, Baron Gilles de Rais and his friends, was burning at the stake.

Would that the Bishops would spend more time being environmentally as well as economically conscious and spare us the time of moving such individuals from parish to parish to escape the long arm of the law by simply handing them over to the secular arm for due punishment after an admissible ecclesiastical trial.

Strangely, the report also offers a solution, in terms of formation, related to a mysterious "human formation preparation". It sounds like something that might have caused the problem in the first place.

We don't know, but perhaps if they spent as much time affirming the truths of the Catholic Faith as they did avoiding it out of what, embarrassment (?), they might have an easier time helping people understand whether or not they're useful in the first place.

Link to spero article...

USCCB promises to set a new Course for Catholic Education

There was no mention of Land O'Lakes or the veritable wasteland that Catholic Education has become, but perhaps, putting an unimposing silk folding dividing screen with cranes and pastoral scenes from Chinese romances, between the laity and the public, the USCCB intends to "handle" the situation by waiting for the legion tenured heterodox to die and replacing them by enthusiastic orthodoxesque like Christopher West. Meanwhile, we perhaps can try to imagine ourselves in a kind of Gothic, ivy covered paradise where Dominicans sit with their students in gardens, explaining St. Thomas Aquinas without the usual attempts to bring things up to date with the latest in philosophical, post-post modernism.

Cardinal Newman Society

At a subsequent press conference, Cardinal George declined to name specific universities that the bishops have in mind, although he added “if any institution… calls itself Catholic,” it is the moral responsibility of a bishop to assure that it is Catholic, according to the National Catholic Reporter. Cardinal George said this offers the bishops “a chance to clarify the relationship” and see if the entity in question is operating within the bonds of Catholic communion. He said that it is the bishops’ responsibility, when institutions or organizations call themselves Catholic, to sort out what that means in each case.
Also highlighting their support for a university that became a model for reform, the bishops gave a standing ovation to Very Rev. David O’Connell, C.M., president of The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. Delivering a farewell report as he prepares to retire next year, Father O’Connell said that “the greatest progress the university has made in the past 12 years is in its Catholic identity.” He contrasted that to the “antagonism and cynicism that was present on the campus the day I arrived.”

Link to article...

Syrian Archbishop Al-Jamil addresses Christian Persecution in Iraq

In a talk sponsored by "Save the Monasteries" foundation, Archbishop Archbishop Al-Jamil, procurator of the Syrian-Catholic Patriarchate in Rome has given a talk about the perils and plights facing Catholics in Iraq who, despite having made significant contributions to Iraqi society in the past are now in danger of disappearing from the country entirely if the situation of current Muslim hostility is not addressed. Before the war, Christians were highly respected and considered an integral part of Iraq, but things have changed.

Link to article in Zenit...


Earlier discussion where Archbishop Al-Jamil addresses the question in 2007, link...

An independent Kurdistan...article.

Hugo Chavez wants a War against the Church and USA

Amid talks of a coup and doubts about Chavez's mental stabillity alongside the failed economic Marxist economic policies in an oil rich Venezuela, General Chavez is intent on sabre rattling, confiscating Venezuelan Coffee productio and has also set his greedy eyes on the property of the Venezuelan Church.

Link here...

He has also looked outside of Venezuela for a source of these problems and has found a handy scapegoat in the "gringo" as he seems poised for war, although like many drug addled and confused people, he will look for convenient excuses to explain away his mania.

Link here...

Don't support the Catholic Campaign for Human Development

California Daily

Editor: The following announcement comes from the website www.reformcchdnow.com.

Every year on the Sunday before Thanksgiving, many Catholic parishes take up a second collection for the Catholic Campaign for Human Development.

Recognize that organization? If you don’t, you should. Here’s why:

Until 2008, the campaign had been funding ACORN for several years, giving over $7 million to the corrupt organization. The same organization that is being investigated for voter fraud, embezzlement, and other wrongdoing was recently caught in undercover videos in recent months helping a pimp and prostitute set up a business and traffic underage girls for prostitution.

Read further...

Jesuit law Professors condemn Stupak Amendment

What's interesting about the Stupak amendment is that it would prohibit abortion coverage even by private insurance companies, but Brietta Clark and Karl Manheim professors of law at Loyola Law School, Los Angeles, think this is a bad thing.

Read more:

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Divisive Liberals over Celibate Priests


In what could be a scene from a Lasse Hallstrom film, a 50 year old Irish priest in an romantic locale, falls in love and tells his congregation who respond with a heartfelt standing-o. He breaks with tradition, like a man who turns his back on the tumult and chaos of a tired but loyal wife and riotous children for another woman, he's turned his back on the priesthood to which he was commited for 20 years.

It would be easy to spit on him in print. Could those who've met his departure with the cheers in the closing scene of an adolescent feel-good coming of age film really understand what this man has done? Do they understand the priesthood?

What is greater in scope in the treatment of this story is that there are others, mostly comfortable elitist journalists and liberal priests, who want to make this issue and others like it, with its subjective emotional mental states, self-realization and betrayals, into something else. These men, many of whom aren't actually Catholic, want to determine how the Church is run. Their spite is palpable and it's what has always given us an inkling of the truth of the Catholic Church's claims to be what She is, "One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic".

They say that celibacy is a ridiculous rule and that the new incoming Anglicans will call all of this into question. The only thing that's certain is that any avenue of attack will do. Like the crowd that mocked our Lord at Calvary, a diabolical tumult will sound from the electronic media whose malice and desire to corrupt can reach unto every hearth and twist men's minds and make them unwhole; make them unwholesome.


The decision of Londonde cleric Fr Sean McKenna to leave the priesthood because he is in a relationship with a woman has raised again the issue of celibacy within the Catholic Church. It is obvious from the reception given to Fr McKenna by his congregation when he broke the news to them on Sunday that he was much admired as a priest and that that admiration follows him into his life as a lay person. The sadness that many people feel is that he had to choose between his vocation and his new relationship.

The Catholic Church has for centuries held the view that priests must be celibate. That, like its strict views on issues such as abortion and divorce and the ordination of women, is one of the attractions of the Church to those seeking certainties in their lives. However, others see celibacy as an outmoded restriction on the lives of priests.

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Santo Subito! Report that Pope John Paul II Will Be Beatified - Catholic Online

Santo Subito! Report that Pope John Paul II Will Be Beatified - Catholic Online

"Who is a Neo-Conservative" an Interview with Michael Novak

Insidecatholic

Prominent writer, thinker, and Crisis Magazine co-founder Michael Novak sat down with Italian scholar Alia K. Nardini to discuss neoconservatism, Catholicism, and the future of the West.


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Alia K. Nardini: Professor Novak, generally people in Italy and the rest of Europe want to know how much American neoconservatives share with the Republican Party. However, I find that the most interesting question really concerns the relationship between neoconservatives and the Democratic Party, especially in terms of conceptual differences that developed during the 1960s and 1970s. What is your view on this?

Michael Novak: In the first generation, virtually all neo-conservatives -- Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Irving Kristol, Daniel Bell, Norman Podhoretz, Midge Decter, Richard John Neuhaus, George Weigel, and Paul Johnson in England -- were not only Democrats; we were on the left wing of the Democratic Party. We were Kennedy Democrats. But from about 1972, the Democratic Party, drawing the wrong lessons from the war in Vietnam, chose as its campaign slogan, "Come home, America!" and began retreating from the world and its international burdens. Then, after 1973, the Democratic Party increasingly became the party of abortion. It is still the party of abortion. From our point of view, we did not leave the Democratic Party, the party left us.

AKN: Is it true that the American public did not vote in favor of abortion, but that the Supreme Court, in effect, decreed it?

MN: Actually, prior to 1973, any time abortion had been put to a vote in the United States, it was overwhelmingly defeated. The American people prefer pro-life [legislation] by a good majority. But the Supreme Court stepped in, and in 1973 made a ruling that permitted abortion for almost any reason (in practice) and during all nine months of pregnancy. This was an illegitimate exercise of judicial power. It is not the business of the Court to make legislation. Legislation should be made only with the consent of the governed, through the Congress. The American people have never consented to this ruling, [which] has caused turmoil in our politics and culture for 34 years now, as nothing else has. Together with other factors, it brought a long series of defeats to the Democratic Party.

AKN: What other major issues made you move away from what was becoming the official position of the Democratic Party in the 1970s?

MN: Economics. Many of us once thought that socialism was basically a good idea, but socialists had not found a practical way to implement it successfully. Then we actually started to examine the many different national experiments in socialism -- almost 70. None of them worked. So socialism cannot be a good idea. Now, if you are on the Left and you cease being a socialist, what are you? If you do not take the state as the main engine of progress, where do you turn?

In these circumstances, and independently, several writers started re-examining the American founding. Irving Kristol in particular wrote a beautiful book about that, and discovered a new way of thinking about the future.

Like socialists, neoconservatives try to imagine, and to work toward, a better future. Unlike socialists, neoconservatives saw in a dynamic free economy a better way of breaking the chains of poverty than socialism ever discovered.


Again, at the time of the American founding, the term "republican" was much preferred to "democratic." The latter meant rule by the majority, but that has often proven dangerous and tyrannical. A "republic" places checks and balances on the majority through representative government and stresses the rule of law and the protection of the rights of the free.

Then there was this second discovery: not just that the American founding held a superior economic idea (which is why socialism never took root in the United States), but also that the American people, when given a free choice, would usually come down on the conservative side of most issues. Polls reveal that even in Europe the vast majority of people believe in capital punishment. It is the political class -- the elites -- that does not. The Left thinks it speaks for the people, but rarely does so.

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Official and underground priests in China ponder Card. Bertone’s letter

The document of the Vatican Secretary of State is "encouraging." Underground priests and nuns have begun to study the letter in groups. Others hope that the Vatican will give more precise information. A young bishop: We too need to be trained". Among the problems: priests too distracted by the Internet and a lack of educators in seminaries.

Beijing (AsiaNews) - The Letter of the card. Bertone to Chinese priests, published yesterday, was received and read carefully. Bishops and priests in China are convinced that the formation and spiritual growth of priests should be the first concern of the Church.

Marking the Year for the priesthood, the Vatican secretary of state, yesterday issued a letter to all priests in China, official and underground, calling for reconciliation and exhorting them to live out their vocation.

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Tufts Daily - ‘Popular Press’ creates caricature of French monarchy

Tufts Daily - ‘Popular Press’ creates caricature of French monarchy

Congressman Cao explains his Vote refers to Jesuit Training

America Magazine

National Jesuit News: As a Jesuit scholastic, you experienced the Spiritual Exercises, a foundational piece of Ignatian spirituality from Jesuit founder Ignatius Loyola. Now, as a congressman, do you find that you use the Ignatian principals of discernment as you reach your political decisions? Has a grounding in Ignatian spirituality helped shape your political decision making process?

Cao: I still use the Ignatian methods almost every day, from examination of conscience back to the methods of the 30 day retreat. I do that very often. Using the whole process of discernment to see where the Sprit is moving me has been extremely important, especially in my recent decision to support the health care reform plan. The Jesuit emphasis on social justice, the fact that we have to advocate for the poor, for the widow, for those who cannot help themselves, plays a very significant part. But at the end of the day, I believe that it’s up to, at least from my perspective, understanding what does my conscious say, how is the Spirit moving me. I use that almost every day in my decision making process. The issues that we contend with in Congress affect every single person here in the United States, so I want to make sure that my decisions are based on good principals and good morals.

For example, right before the [health care] vote, I actually went to Mass and I prayed. And the theme of the day was one of the readings from Isaiah. The priest gave the homily about be not afraid, so I really felt a personal touch during this homily, that this homily was meant for me. I was going through a lot of turmoil, debating on what was the right decision, knowing the fact that if I were to vote ‘yes’, I would be the most hated Republican in the country. [laughs]. So, it was a tough discernment process but I felt during the Mass that it was speaking directly to me. It gave me the strength to say ‘yes, you have to make the right decision’ and 'be not afraid’ to do it because ‘I will go before you’ so that is why I supported the bill knowing the fact that I would be the only one.

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The Queen a Parasite? No, a penny pinching paragon.

This morning, we will see the great, unwritten British constitution on display in all its glory — the Sovereign in her Crown and on her Throne, opening her democratically -elected Parliament.

At the same time, a promising political career lies in ruins for mocking it.

Until yesterday, Peter White was a young Labour activist seeking the first rung on the political ladder.

A former chairman of London Young Labour and former aide to a Labour Minister, he is a prospective candidate for Havering Council in East London.
Today, though, at 26, he finds himself sitting somewhere between Sir Fred Goodwin and swine flu in the court of public opinion.

Over the weekend, Mr White launched a vituperative personal broadside at the most popular and respected figure in British public life.
The cause of Mr White’s foam-flecked fury was a suggestion that there should be a public holiday for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee in 2012.

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Bishop of Blackburn says he will not convert to Rome

Religious Intelligence

Tuesday, 17th November 2009. 12:51pm

By: George Conger.

The Bishop of Blackburn will not be taking the Pope up on his offer of a home for disaffected Anglicans in the Roman Catholic Church.

In an interview given to the Lancashire Telegraph, the Rt Rev Nicholas Reade said “I am Bishop of Blackburn, and I will continue to be until the good Lord releases me from it.”

At a joint press conference in London held by the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Archbishop of Westminster plans for a “personal ordinariate” for Anglicans who sought to enter into full communion with the Roman Catholic Church, while maintaining some aspects of their Anglican identity were announced.

Bishop Reade said the Pope’s offer was “very generous” but “I would have to say I don’t expect many to go” over to Rome.

“The Church of England is a big tent and while there are boundaries to what Anglicans believe, we are a Church that makes room for everyone,” he said. The point of friction in the Church of England for Anglo-Catholics today was the issue of “whether we have women bishops. It’s not quite as simple as saying ‘we have women judges and a woman Prime Minister’. I would hope we could come up with a stance that’s able to appeal to both sides.”

Bishop Reade said he would not be going over to Rome. “I would want to see my time out as Bishop of Blackburn. In other words, I could only cease to be Bishop of Blackburn if ill health, death or retirement intervened.”

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Lottery System to choose next Serbian Patriarch

Faith World

If U.S. voters elected their president in the same way the Serbian Orthodox Church chooses it patriarch, they could have seen Ralph Nader, Ross Perot or other third place finishers taking up residence in the White House. That’s because the Church, in a move originally aimed at thwarting Communist authorities, uses a system that incorporates a lottery within the election by church elders to choose a leader.

The Holy Synod of Bishops, the Church’s top executive body, will use that system within the next three months to elect a successor to Patriarch Pavle, who died on Sunday. Pavle headed the Serbian Orthodox Church during the breakup of Yugoslavia in the 1990s as Serbs warred with neighbours of other faiths.

Pavle, 95, died at Belgrade’s Military Hospital where he had been treated since 2007 for various ailments. As his health deteriorated, although nominally still head of the church until death, Pavle had given up its day-to-day running in 2008 to Bishop Amfilohije, who is seen as a Serb nationalist on issues such as Kosovo.

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Iraqi Bishop Holds Catholic Mass at COB Adder

By: Sgt. Matthew E. Jones on: Sun Nov. 15, 2009
@WDTPRS

CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE ADDER, Iraq – The acting bishop of Basra held Catholic Mass here Nov. 7 in honor of the service members and civilians working toward a safer, more secure Iraq.

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Christmas could be killed off by Harman's Equality Bill, bishops warn

Mail Online
By Kirsty Walker

Harriet Harman's Equality Bill strengthens protection for minority groups by placing new equality duty on public bodies

Christmas celebrations could be banned under Harriet Harman's controversial Equality Bill, Catholic bishops warned yesterday.

The bishops said they feared that the complex legislation could have the 'chilling effect' of town halls and other organisations clamping down on Christian festivities.

Monsignor Andrew Summersgill, the general secretary of the Catholic Bishops' Conference, has written to MPs expressing his concerns about the new legislation.

His submission warns that the Equality Bill will fuel Britain's 'risk averse' culture.

The bishops pointed to bizarre decisions made in recent years to ban Christmas decorations for fear of offending other cultures.

Oxford city council last year provoked outrage by renaming the city's Christmas festival as the 'Winter Light Festival' to make it more inclusive.

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Cardinal George advocates strong Leadership

"Your submission to your bishop, who is in the place of Jesus Christ, shows me that you are not living as men usually do but in the manner of Jesus himself," Antioch wrote in a citation noted by Cardinal George.

That elevated view of the bishop's authority guided George's remarks. For example, he made it clear that even the recent years of crisis would not cow the bishops in their effort to reassert their authority and relevance.


This is good news that he wishes to affirm the role of Bishop quoting St. Ignatius of Antioch, but what does it mean? He makes it clear that he will not only attempt to quell the progressive voices, but also those that are more Ultramontane and Traditionalist. How often has anyone heard the familiar cliche about turning back the clock?

"There are some who would like to trap the church in historical events of ages long past, and there are others who would keep the bishops permanently imprisoned in the clerical sexual abuse scandal of recent years," George said. "The proper response to a crisis of governance, however, is not no governance but effective governance."

If Bishops were more about teaching the Catholic Faith rather than engaging in Inter-faith and social justice, they would have an easier time asserting their authority when it comes to those dissident liberal groups who undermine the Bishop's authority not infrequently and seem to feed at the trough of social justice and religious indifferentism. If Catholics are ignorant of their Faith, they are so because American Bishops have worked so hard in the past to minimize those things, like the authority of Bishops, in favor of liberal ideas like false ecumenism, religious liberty and indifferentism.

As it is, they are "prisoners of the sexual abuse scandal" because they recruited wicked men and women to run their schools, parishes and poor relief programs. Cardinal George still seems to have a problem with this himself. Despite talking tough about dealing with the problem, the Cardinal didn't follow through as this NPR report will indicate.

He also housed a priest from Delaware who had these problems and denied knowing anything about the man's problems and is accused of dishonesty by Justice Anne M. Burke of Illinois at NPR.

San Francisco Archbishop George Niederauer, chairman of the committee on Catholic media, told reporters after Monday's opening session that in recent years the political and media landscape has sprouted so many organizations and websites and lobbies using the Catholic label -- and advocating competing agendas -- that churchgoers are confused.

"Catholics will approach us, and approach their pastors in their church, and ask us, 'Well, I hear this outfit is called Catholic and it says this and another says this and another one something else. Can they all be Catholic and disagree so vehemently with each other?' That does challenge us to makes sense of it and to speak as bishops," said Niederauer, who is widely regarded as a media-savvy prelate with a moderate temperament.


This confusion is in no small part the responsibility of Bishops like Niederauer whose glowing admiration for the film "Brokeback Mountain" was evident, but he did after all, apologize for giving Holy Communion to the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence at Mass. All of this wouldn't have been possible without all of those "outfits" that reported the event on the internet. One wonders if anything would have been done at all if the story had only been aired in the centenarian publication, The Wanderer.


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