By Hilary White
ROME, January 12, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Catholic Church in France, among the places where the fashionable “liberalism” of the 1960s and ‘70s has most taken hold, is dying out, with Mass attendance, priestly vocations and seminarians at record lows. At the same time, the growth of the doctrinally and liturgically “traditional” movements, who tend to be strongly pro-life and pro-family, is continuing.
The Institut français d'opinion publique (IFOP Institute) has just issued its survey on the situation of the Church in France and reports that the French Catholic Church is in freefall. Between1965 and 2009, the number of French identifying themselves as Catholics fell from 81 per cent to 64 per cent. The number attending Mass once a week or more fell from 27 per cent to 4.5 per cent in the same period.
The statistics, published in the Catholic weekly La Croix, show the effects of institutionalized “liberalism” in Catholic teaching. Sixty-three per cent of those who still consider themselves Catholic believe that all religions are the same; 75 per cent asked for an “aggiornamento” in the Church to reconsider Catholic teaching forbidding artificial contraception, while 68 per cent said the same thing for abortion.
According to official Catholic Church statistics, the total number of Catholic marriages (-28.4%), baptisms (-19.1%), confirmations (-35.3%), as well as priests (-26.1%), and religious sisters (-23.4%), has continued to fall between 1996 and 2006.
Statistics compiled by the traditionalist Catholic group Paix Liturgique show that the decline is sharpest in the most doctrinally “liberal” dioceses with regard to priests and future ordinations. Due to the critical shortage of vocations to the priesthood, it is estimated that up to a third of the dioceses of the Catholic Church in France - some dating to the second century AD - will be forced to close or amalgamate by 2025.
In November last year, Paix Liturgique reported that only 9000 priests are serving the Catholic faithful in France. In 1990, the total number of ordinations in the country was 90. Paris had 10, with two for a local independent religious order. Seven are predicted for 2010, and four for 2011.
There are fewer than 750 seminarians currently studying for the priesthood, with about a hundred of these being for religious orders, not dioceses. The diocese of Pamiers, Belfort, Agen and Perpignan have no seminarians. The drop in vocations to the priesthood will result, the group said, in at least one third of French dioceses either effectively ceasing to exist or being forced to amalgamate over the next 15 years.
But in small pockets where traditional liturgical practice, combined with traditional moral doctrine, is encouraged, French Catholicism is flourishing. Two years ago, Pope Benedict issued the document “Summorum Pontificum,” allowing the use of the pre-Vatican II Mass in Latin. Despite it remaining a “taboo” subject to the liberal faction of the French episcopate, the older rite, what is now being called the Extraordinary Form, is acting as a catalyst for growth in the few areas where it has been accepted by bishops.
More than 14 per cent of ordinations in France were for the Extraordinary Form in 2009, according to Paix Liturgique, with 15 French priests ordained for it. Almost 20 per cent of seminarians, 160, are destined for the Extraordinary Form. The group notes that if the current trends continue, in a few more years more than a quarter of all French seminarians will be studying for the older form of the liturgy, a rite that naturally selects against doctrinal and moral “liberalism.”
According to a CSA poll taken in September 2008, a third of practicing Catholics in France said they would willingly attend a traditional Mass if it were available.
In September, Archbishop Dominique Rey of the southern diocese of Fréjus-Toulon, ordained two priests to his diocese in what is now being called the “Extraordinary Form.”
This move, though heavily criticized by many in the liberal factions of the French Church, followed the ordination of 14 priests and 11 deacons in the newer “Novus Ordo” form in June, demonstrating that the two forms can live side by side.
Paix Liturgique reports that the diocese of Fréjus-Toulon has about 80 seminarians in the only seminary in the world that trains priests in both the pre-Vatican II and the newer rite.
In July, Paix Liturgique reported significant growth in Mass attendance in areas that have allowed the use of the older form. In addition to the existing 132 “authorized” places of worship and 184 served by the canonically irregular Society of Saint Pius X, an additional 72 new chapels and churches have been allowed for the use of the Extraordinary Form. This represents an increase from 55 per cent in two years, compared to an increase of between 2 and 5 per cent between 1988 and 2007.
Even more unexpectedly, the requests to dioceses from the laity for the celebration of the Extraordinary Form, have also dramatically increased. Paix Liturgique reports that more than 350 groups of French Catholic families have formally requested the older form of the Mass from their dioceses all over France and more than 600 groups have formed to promote the older form and have asked for it informally, making direct requests to parish priests.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Pope Benedict focuses on renewal of society at audience :: Catholic News Agency (CNA)
Pope Benedict focuses on renewal of society at audience :: Catholic News Agency (CNA)
(CNA).- In today's Wednesday audience, Pope Benedict XVI spoke on the mendicant orders of the Middle Ages and explained how they were able to bring about the renewal of the Church and society.
"The saints," said the Pope, "guided by the light of God, are the true reformers of the life of the Church and society. Teachers by their words and witnesses by their example, they are able to promote stable and profound ecclesial renewal."
Holding up the Franciscans and Dominicans as prime examples, the Holy Father spoke of the lively debates which would take place in the universities, noting that the friars did not hesitate “to enter the universities themselves, as students and teachers, erecting study centers of their own and profoundly influencing the development of thought.”
The Pope said that these orders imparted to those around them “an 'intellectual charity,' that must be brought into play in order to illuminate minds and associate faith with culture.”
“The commitment shown by Franciscans and Dominicans in medieval universities is an invitation to us to remain present in the places where knowledge is produced in order to throw the light of the Gospel, with respect and with conviction, on the fundamental questions that concern man, his divinity and his eternal destiny,” continued the Holy Father.
He also mentioned that these orders gave religious instruction that dealt “with topics close to people's lives,” using “concrete and easily understood arguments.”
Pope Benedict continued to praise the orders' “complete adherence to Church teaching and authority” as well as their commitment to shun the materialism of their day by vows of poverty and community living. “Today too, though we live in a society in which 'having' often prevails over 'being', we are still receptive to examples of poverty and solidarity,” said Benedict XVI, who recalled the the words of Pope Paul VI, saying “the world is willing to listen to teachers when they are also witnesses.”
“There is a lesson that must never be forgotten in the work of spreading the Gospel: we must ourselves live what we announce, be mirrors of divine charity.”
Saints such as Francis of Assisi and Dominic de Guzman “were able to read the 'signs of the times' and discern the challenges the Church of their time had to face,” the Holy Father pointed out, which made them influential in the surrounding culture. Because of the importance of the mendicant orders, civil authorities and other lay institutions often consulted them, making the Franciscans and Dominicans “the spiritual animators of medieval cities...putting into effect a pastoral strategy that was adapted to the transformation of society.”
(CNA).- In today's Wednesday audience, Pope Benedict XVI spoke on the mendicant orders of the Middle Ages and explained how they were able to bring about the renewal of the Church and society.
"The saints," said the Pope, "guided by the light of God, are the true reformers of the life of the Church and society. Teachers by their words and witnesses by their example, they are able to promote stable and profound ecclesial renewal."
Holding up the Franciscans and Dominicans as prime examples, the Holy Father spoke of the lively debates which would take place in the universities, noting that the friars did not hesitate “to enter the universities themselves, as students and teachers, erecting study centers of their own and profoundly influencing the development of thought.”
The Pope said that these orders imparted to those around them “an 'intellectual charity,' that must be brought into play in order to illuminate minds and associate faith with culture.”
“The commitment shown by Franciscans and Dominicans in medieval universities is an invitation to us to remain present in the places where knowledge is produced in order to throw the light of the Gospel, with respect and with conviction, on the fundamental questions that concern man, his divinity and his eternal destiny,” continued the Holy Father.
He also mentioned that these orders gave religious instruction that dealt “with topics close to people's lives,” using “concrete and easily understood arguments.”
Pope Benedict continued to praise the orders' “complete adherence to Church teaching and authority” as well as their commitment to shun the materialism of their day by vows of poverty and community living. “Today too, though we live in a society in which 'having' often prevails over 'being', we are still receptive to examples of poverty and solidarity,” said Benedict XVI, who recalled the the words of Pope Paul VI, saying “the world is willing to listen to teachers when they are also witnesses.”
“There is a lesson that must never be forgotten in the work of spreading the Gospel: we must ourselves live what we announce, be mirrors of divine charity.”
Saints such as Francis of Assisi and Dominic de Guzman “were able to read the 'signs of the times' and discern the challenges the Church of their time had to face,” the Holy Father pointed out, which made them influential in the surrounding culture. Because of the importance of the mendicant orders, civil authorities and other lay institutions often consulted them, making the Franciscans and Dominicans “the spiritual animators of medieval cities...putting into effect a pastoral strategy that was adapted to the transformation of society.”
Sandro Magister Deals with Copenhagen Treaty with Style
At last these journalists are asking people who know what they're talking about instead of going to the usual baddies like Fr. McBrien, Bishop Gumbleton or Sister Joan Chittister.
eurofoot
Pope Benedict XVI has denounced the failure of world leaders to agree to a new climate change treaty in Copenhagen last month, saying that world peace depends on safeguarding God’s creation. He also criticised the “economic and political resistance” to fighting environmental degradation.
The statement came in an annual speech to ambassadors in which the pontiff reflects on issues the Vatican wants to highlight.
So what will the Vatican’s foreign policy be in 2010?
Paulo Alberto from Euronews talked to Alessandro Magister, a specialist on Vatican affairs, in Rome.
Paulo Alberto: So what has come out of this meeting? What will the Vatican’s foreign policy be in 2010?
Alessandro Magister: This year, the main issue is the environment, safeguarding “the creation”. But listen carefully because the Vatican has a unique take on this. As Benedict XVI said in his speech to the diplomats, the support that the Catholic Church wants to offer towards the global effort to save the environment is very particular. In the view of Benedict XVI, this is to understand and to demonstrate that there is an unbreakable link between “ecology” and “nature” and between “ecology” and “human beings”.
Paulo Alberto: From this idea, the Pope has outlined a number of problems; terrorism for instance. Is the church trying to affirm its commitment to peace via ecology?
Alessandro Magister: No, pacifism has no connection with the church’s activities in the world. Being pacifist concerns individuals, not a complex organisation like a State or a Church. As far as the Church’s doctrine goes, the State is obliged to protect the weak, those who have been victimised, even if it takes force to do so.
Paulo Alberto: So the Church is not pacifist?
Alessandro Magister: No, absolutely not! Even John Paul II – and everyone remembers how opposed he was to the war in Iraq – even he defined himself as a non-pacifist. He said, very clearly, “I am not a pacifist.” Remember that John Paul II asked for the use of force in situations like the ex-Yugoslavia, torn apart by civil and ethnic wars, and in Rwanda.
Paulo Alberto: Thank you.
Copyright © 2010 euronews
Tags: Benedict XVI, Copenhagen Climate conference
eurofoot
Pope Benedict XVI has denounced the failure of world leaders to agree to a new climate change treaty in Copenhagen last month, saying that world peace depends on safeguarding God’s creation. He also criticised the “economic and political resistance” to fighting environmental degradation.
The statement came in an annual speech to ambassadors in which the pontiff reflects on issues the Vatican wants to highlight.
So what will the Vatican’s foreign policy be in 2010?
Paulo Alberto from Euronews talked to Alessandro Magister, a specialist on Vatican affairs, in Rome.
Paulo Alberto: So what has come out of this meeting? What will the Vatican’s foreign policy be in 2010?
Alessandro Magister: This year, the main issue is the environment, safeguarding “the creation”. But listen carefully because the Vatican has a unique take on this. As Benedict XVI said in his speech to the diplomats, the support that the Catholic Church wants to offer towards the global effort to save the environment is very particular. In the view of Benedict XVI, this is to understand and to demonstrate that there is an unbreakable link between “ecology” and “nature” and between “ecology” and “human beings”.
Paulo Alberto: From this idea, the Pope has outlined a number of problems; terrorism for instance. Is the church trying to affirm its commitment to peace via ecology?
Alessandro Magister: No, pacifism has no connection with the church’s activities in the world. Being pacifist concerns individuals, not a complex organisation like a State or a Church. As far as the Church’s doctrine goes, the State is obliged to protect the weak, those who have been victimised, even if it takes force to do so.
Paulo Alberto: So the Church is not pacifist?
Alessandro Magister: No, absolutely not! Even John Paul II – and everyone remembers how opposed he was to the war in Iraq – even he defined himself as a non-pacifist. He said, very clearly, “I am not a pacifist.” Remember that John Paul II asked for the use of force in situations like the ex-Yugoslavia, torn apart by civil and ethnic wars, and in Rwanda.
Paulo Alberto: Thank you.
Copyright © 2010 euronews
Tags: Benedict XVI, Copenhagen Climate conference
Religion Clause: Bankruptcy Judge Orders Trial On Whether Parish Assets Are Shielded From Diocese Creditors
Religion Clause: Bankruptcy Judge Orders Trial On Whether Parish Assets Are Shielded From Diocese Creditors
One commenter responds:
They should sue the leftist organizations that have been destroying the moral fabric of this country, and definitely sue Catholic Charities for its gross and long-standing imposture as a Catholic organization. The entire problem with this issue is that the root causes of this aren't discussed because there are protected classes who cause the problem and don't get fingered and sent to jail where they belong, or on a scaffold.
They should be sued for misrepresentation when they take money from pewsitters and give it to murderering, malingering, malcontent anti-Catholics like the Catholic Campaign for Human Development does.
The entire Sex-abuse thing is a classic agit-prop campaign of world-wide scope and soul shattering urgency.
One commenter responds:
I've never liked the idea that alleged victims of priests' abuse could sue the whole church; its ministries like Catholic Charities should be untouchable. The church funds might pay for counseling --but if accusing a priest gives claimants a financial windfall, seems some people could be motivated to falsely claim abuse. If the abuse can be proven beyond a reasonable doubt, then sue the priest! not the church. But my kid learned in "justice class" in a local school that you "sue the deep pocket." Some justice!
They should sue the leftist organizations that have been destroying the moral fabric of this country, and definitely sue Catholic Charities for its gross and long-standing imposture as a Catholic organization. The entire problem with this issue is that the root causes of this aren't discussed because there are protected classes who cause the problem and don't get fingered and sent to jail where they belong, or on a scaffold.
They should be sued for misrepresentation when they take money from pewsitters and give it to murderering, malingering, malcontent anti-Catholics like the Catholic Campaign for Human Development does.
The entire Sex-abuse thing is a classic agit-prop campaign of world-wide scope and soul shattering urgency.
Pope to visit to synagogue Sunday, Patriarch of Jerusalem to join him :: Catholic News Agency (CNA)
How about cancelling that good-will trip to the synagogue?
Pope to visit to synagogue Sunday, Patriarch of Jerusalem to join him :: Catholic News Agency (CNA)
The Most Traditional Bishop in Belgium is Selected for Brussels
This just in from kreuz.net, 69 year old Bishop André-Mutien Léonard of Nur will be the new Archbishop of Brussels to the rejoicing of Traditionalists everywhere.
According to Tornielli, he is a friend of the Immemorial Mass of All Ages, strong in matters of pro-life and is an uncompromising conservative with a backround as a Moral Theologian.
He takes up the office to replace the now retiring Cardinal Daneels who is now 76, and Tornielli says he was "hand picked" by the Holy Father Himself.
Mr. Gillibrand at Catholic Conservation thinks it will infuriate Cardinal Daneels; we hope so.
Austrian Catholics Leave Church in Record Numbers
Jan 13, 2010, 11:00 GMT
Vienna - A record number of Austrians left the Catholic Church in 2009, disgruntled by the Vatican's controversial decision to readmit a bishop who questioned the Holocaust, local media reported Wednesday. Last year, some 53,200 people disengaged from the country's biggest religious grouping, 31 per cent more than in the previous year. The wave of exits started after the Vatican re-admitted four ultraconservative bishops early in 2009, including Bishop Richard Williamson, who is known for his revisionist views on the Holocaust, the daily Die Presse reported. This was followed by an uproar over Rome's decision to designate the conservative Gerhard Wagner as an auxiliary bishop. Wagner, who withdrew amid the protests, had linked the Harry Potter childrens' books with satanism and had said that homosexuality is curable. A significant portion of Austrian Catholics see themselves as more liberal than the Vatican, opposing Rome's views on abortion, homosexuality or the ban on married priests. Many believers see their exit as an act of self-defence,' the liberal reform movement We are Church; said in a statement. The group said that Catholics were reacting to repressive and undemocratic policies of the Vatican. But a spokesman of the Vienna Archdiocese said that the current economic situation was also one reason why more people renounced their faith, as the there is a growing reluctance to pay church tax. The share of Catholics among the population has sunk to around 66 per cent, from 89 per cent in 1961, according to government statistics. There were 5.53 million Catholics in Austria as of December 31.
Vienna - A record number of Austrians left the Catholic Church in 2009, disgruntled by the Vatican's controversial decision to readmit a bishop who questioned the Holocaust, local media reported Wednesday. Last year, some 53,200 people disengaged from the country's biggest religious grouping, 31 per cent more than in the previous year. The wave of exits started after the Vatican re-admitted four ultraconservative bishops early in 2009, including Bishop Richard Williamson, who is known for his revisionist views on the Holocaust, the daily Die Presse reported. This was followed by an uproar over Rome's decision to designate the conservative Gerhard Wagner as an auxiliary bishop. Wagner, who withdrew amid the protests, had linked the Harry Potter childrens' books with satanism and had said that homosexuality is curable. A significant portion of Austrian Catholics see themselves as more liberal than the Vatican, opposing Rome's views on abortion, homosexuality or the ban on married priests. Many believers see their exit as an act of self-defence,' the liberal reform movement We are Church; said in a statement. The group said that Catholics were reacting to repressive and undemocratic policies of the Vatican. But a spokesman of the Vienna Archdiocese said that the current economic situation was also one reason why more people renounced their faith, as the there is a growing reluctance to pay church tax. The share of Catholics among the population has sunk to around 66 per cent, from 89 per cent in 1961, according to government statistics. There were 5.53 million Catholics in Austria as of December 31.
Diocese head of schools on leave | The Times Leader, Wilkes-Barre, PA
This time it was a married layman. Considered that married folks are more likely to abuse, perhaps having a married clergy isn't such a grand idea after all, but you people, most of you, were probably smart enough to see through the hype.
Diocese head of schools on leave | The Times Leader, Wilkes-Barre, PA
But wait, there's another one, this time a Canadian, Anglican "priest" facing charges as well. Maybe it isn't just Christian clergypersons we should be hunting down, but the white male?
But we almost forgot to mention that strange case of Deacon Levine, who is currently on hold from becoming a priest, who is also under a pal of supsicion owning to his relationship witht he mostly discredited Society of Saint John.
Posted: Wed Jan 13, 2010 9:06 am Post subject:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On a related matter, Deacon Joseph Levine, originally superior of the disgraced Society of Saint John and unsuccessful candidate for the priesthood first for the Diocese of Scranton and then Paterson, New Jersey (see below), has resurfaced as a "patoral year seminarian/deacon" on the staff of St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Bend, Oregon, in the Diocese of Baker (http://www.stfrancisbend.org/parishfstaff.htm). If at first you don't suceed ...?
Ordination Permanently out for Former Local Deacon
A Deacon Formerly Associated with the Controversial Society of St. John Will Not Be a Priest in the Catholic Diocese of Paterson, N.J.
By David Singleton
The Times-Tribune [Scranton PA]
May 30, 2007
Deacon Joseph Levine is still a deacon in the diocese, but will not be ordained to the priesthood, Marianna Thompson, the diocesan communications director, said Tuesday.
The diocese announced late last week that Deacon Levine would not be ordained Saturday in Paterson as previously scheduled, but released no other details. Four other men were ordained.
Ms. Thompson confirmed Deacon Levine's ordination is off permanently, a result of the "discernment" process during which the deacon and church officials examined his call to the priesthood.
"As we deepened and widened our discernment process, we discerned not to ordain Mr. Levine," she said. "He will not serve as a priest in the Paterson diocese."
Deacon Levine is the former superior general of the Society of St. John, a clerical association once headquartered at a rural compound at Shohola in Pike County. Recognized by the Diocese of Scranton in 1998, the society was suppressed by Bishop Joseph F. Martino in 2004.
At the time of the group's suppression, two of the society's priests were the subject of a sexual abuse lawsuit filed by a former St. Gregory Academy student. The Diocese of Scranton settled the suit in 2005.
Diocese of Paterson officials acknowledged receiving questions about Deacon Levine's suitability for the priesthood. In an e-mail to the diocese last month, Society of St. John critic Jeffrey Bond, Ph.D., accused the deacon of covering up alleged sex abuse by society priests while superior general.
The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, which asked the diocese not to ordain Deacon Levine, applauded the decision.
"SNAP is very pleased that the Diocese of Paterson is taking a proactive stance in screening its candidates," said Father John P. Bambrick, outreach coordinator for the organization's New Jersey chapter.
David Clohessy, SNAP national director, said colleagues and supervisors who have knowledge of abuse by clergymen have a moral obligation to speak up, and there should be consequences for "secrecy and duplicity."
"We think the bishop should trumpet this far and wide," Mr. Clohessy said. [We think Clohessy should be hung along with the perps for being, at best, a Soviet patsy]
And don't forget another one-time inhabitant of Oregon who has since moved to good old Chicago, Cormac Brissett, for whom consent is the only criterion, as Mark Shea puts it so nicely, of the good whose own pederastic intrigues will no doubt earn him his spurs at the gay parnassus alongside names such as +Weakland, Shanley, Geoghan, +O'Brien, +Mahony, +Gumbleton, +Eidschenk, Liuzi and the once great but now failing Jesuit Order to which he now proudly belongs.
Here's the letter written to Mr. Levine from Dr. Bond's website in its entirety, which shows amply that Mr. Levine didn't do anything to correct the problems and simply hoped to stonewall till the thing blew over. It's amazing that there are still people like "Pat" writing in the comments below who want to defend these types:
Diocese head of schools on leave | The Times Leader, Wilkes-Barre, PA
But wait, there's another one, this time a Canadian, Anglican "priest" facing charges as well. Maybe it isn't just Christian clergypersons we should be hunting down, but the white male?
But we almost forgot to mention that strange case of Deacon Levine, who is currently on hold from becoming a priest, who is also under a pal of supsicion owning to his relationship witht he mostly discredited Society of Saint John.
Posted: Wed Jan 13, 2010 9:06 am Post subject:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On a related matter, Deacon Joseph Levine, originally superior of the disgraced Society of Saint John and unsuccessful candidate for the priesthood first for the Diocese of Scranton and then Paterson, New Jersey (see below), has resurfaced as a "patoral year seminarian/deacon" on the staff of St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Bend, Oregon, in the Diocese of Baker (http://www.stfrancisbend.org/parishfstaff.htm). If at first you don't suceed ...?
Ordination Permanently out for Former Local Deacon
A Deacon Formerly Associated with the Controversial Society of St. John Will Not Be a Priest in the Catholic Diocese of Paterson, N.J.
By David Singleton
The Times-Tribune [Scranton PA]
May 30, 2007
Deacon Joseph Levine is still a deacon in the diocese, but will not be ordained to the priesthood, Marianna Thompson, the diocesan communications director, said Tuesday.
The diocese announced late last week that Deacon Levine would not be ordained Saturday in Paterson as previously scheduled, but released no other details. Four other men were ordained.
Ms. Thompson confirmed Deacon Levine's ordination is off permanently, a result of the "discernment" process during which the deacon and church officials examined his call to the priesthood.
"As we deepened and widened our discernment process, we discerned not to ordain Mr. Levine," she said. "He will not serve as a priest in the Paterson diocese."
Deacon Levine is the former superior general of the Society of St. John, a clerical association once headquartered at a rural compound at Shohola in Pike County. Recognized by the Diocese of Scranton in 1998, the society was suppressed by Bishop Joseph F. Martino in 2004.
At the time of the group's suppression, two of the society's priests were the subject of a sexual abuse lawsuit filed by a former St. Gregory Academy student. The Diocese of Scranton settled the suit in 2005.
Diocese of Paterson officials acknowledged receiving questions about Deacon Levine's suitability for the priesthood. In an e-mail to the diocese last month, Society of St. John critic Jeffrey Bond, Ph.D., accused the deacon of covering up alleged sex abuse by society priests while superior general.
The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, which asked the diocese not to ordain Deacon Levine, applauded the decision.
"SNAP is very pleased that the Diocese of Paterson is taking a proactive stance in screening its candidates," said Father John P. Bambrick, outreach coordinator for the organization's New Jersey chapter.
David Clohessy, SNAP national director, said colleagues and supervisors who have knowledge of abuse by clergymen have a moral obligation to speak up, and there should be consequences for "secrecy and duplicity."
"We think the bishop should trumpet this far and wide," Mr. Clohessy said. [We think Clohessy should be hung along with the perps for being, at best, a Soviet patsy]
And don't forget another one-time inhabitant of Oregon who has since moved to good old Chicago, Cormac Brissett, for whom consent is the only criterion, as Mark Shea puts it so nicely, of the good whose own pederastic intrigues will no doubt earn him his spurs at the gay parnassus alongside names such as +Weakland, Shanley, Geoghan, +O'Brien, +Mahony, +Gumbleton, +Eidschenk, Liuzi and the once great but now failing Jesuit Order to which he now proudly belongs.
Here's the letter written to Mr. Levine from Dr. Bond's website in its entirety, which shows amply that Mr. Levine didn't do anything to correct the problems and simply hoped to stonewall till the thing blew over. It's amazing that there are still people like "Pat" writing in the comments below who want to defend these types:
An Open Letter to Deacon Joseph Levine, Superior General of the Society of St. John
Dear Deacon Levine,
When I first saw your picture on the front page of the Society of St. John's May 2002 Epistle, I thought for a brief moment that there might still be some hope for the SSJ with you as the new Superior General. I wondered if you might honestly address the former Superior General's betrayal of the SSJ's vision, and thus seek to make a new beginning. That faint hope was quickly dashed, however, when I read your unqualified and dishonest praise of Fr. Carlos Urrutigoity.
Fr. Urrutigoity, as you know well, has been accused of homosexual molestation by three different people from three different places: first, by Fr. Andres Morello, the former rector of the SSPX seminary in La Reja, Argentina, where Fr. Urrutigoity was a seminarian; second, by Bishop Fellay on behalf of a young seminarian who had left with Fr. Urrutigoity when he was expelled by Bishop Williamson from the SSPX seminary in Winona, Minnesota, where Fr. Urrutigoity was a professor; and third, by a graduate of St. Gregory's Academy in Elmhurst, Pennsylvania, where Fr. Urrutigoity was a chaplain. This most recent accusation was made in a federal lawsuit filed by the St. Gregory's graduate and his parents.
In addition to these three accusations, there is abundant testimony, including affidavits, establishing Fr. Urrutigoity's habit of sleeping in the same bed with young men and boys.
Despite the overwhelming evidence of the SSJ's sexual and financial misconduct, you boldly state in the May 2002 Epistle that the SSJ has "advanced under Fr. Urrutigoity's leadership from being a mere group of friends with a common idea to becoming a close-knit and disciplined religious community." While I am prepared to believe that the SSJ is "close-knit," I balk at the suggestion that it is a "disciplined religious community."
First and foremost it must be said that the SSJ is not, and never was, a "religious community." The portrayal of the SSJ as Benedictine has been part of the fraud initiated by Fr. Urrutigoity and now, sadly, perpetuated by you. As both Bishop Timlin and Bishop Dougherty made clear to Fr. Richard Munkelt and me, the SSJ is nothing more than a group of diocesan priests with permission to live together. Nevertheless, the SSJ literature has continually suggested otherwise to the detriment of many unsuspecting Catholic donors.
Bishop Dougherty was particularly insistent on this point, and he reported to Fr. Munkelt and me that he had stressed this when he reprimanded Fr. Urrutigoity, Fr. Eric Ensey, Fr. Daniel Fullerton, and Fr. Dominic O'Connor at a meeting on the Shohola property in September 2001. Bishop Dougherty was deeply concerned because, as he explained to Fr. Munkelt and me, the misuse of the trappings and titles of religious life is, more often than not, a cover for serious sin. How right he was! It should also be noted that Bishop Dougherty, troubled by the SSJ's excessive use of novenas for fundraising purposes, quipped to Fr. Munkelt and me that he was going to become a Lutheran if he saw any more advertisements for Society of St. John novenas.
How sad that Bishop Dougherty has not found the courage to stand for the truth he well knows. Instead, Bishop Dougherty is hiding behind a false notion of obedience to his superior, Bishop Timlin, who refuses to protect young souls from the sexual predations of Fr. Urrutigoity and Fr. Ensey. And you, Deacon Levine, appear to have chosen the same path as Bishop Dougherty. You are reputed to be one of the finest minds ever to graduate from Thomas Aquinas College—undoubtedly the best Catholic college in the country—and yet you refuse to face the truth. What is the value of being able to cite chapter and verse of St. Thomas' Treatise on Law if you cannot, or will not, recognize lawlessness when it is staring you in the face? Do you still believe, as you told me last summer, Fr. Urrutigoity is like St. Ignatius of Loyola insofar as he operates on a plane "above the realm of human reason and prudence"? Is this how you have justified to yourself Fr. Urrutigoity's habit of sleeping in the same bed with boys?
I would suggest you re-read St. Benedict's Rule, especially chapter 22 entitled "How the monks are to sleep." The first line of this chapter reads as follows: "All the monks shall sleep in separate beds." St. Benedict adds that all the monks are to sleep in one room, if possible. If not, then the monks are to be grouped in tens or twenties with a senior in charge of each group. A candle is to burn throughout the night. Finally, the younger brothers are not to sleep in beds next to each other, but interspersed with those of their elders. Now compare these balanced and prudent rules of St. Benedict with Fr. Fullerton's defense of Fr. Urrutigoity's habit of inviting young men to sleep with him in his private quarters. Fr. Fullerton had the audacity to argue that this was done because the SSJ wanted to follow the "Benedictine spirituality" of receiving all guests as Christ.
Read also chapter 35 of St. Benedict's Rule entitled "Weekly kitchen service." You will find nothing there about catered meals from gourmet restaurants.
While it is an outright deception to call the SSJ a "religious community," it is simply absurd to call it "disciplined." Even the SSJ's most loyal supporters, in moments of candor and frustration, have admitted that the SSJ priests, quite frankly, live and often behave like spoiled children. They expect nothing but the best—be it furniture, food, drink, or cigars—yet they squander and waste what they are given. Perhaps this explains why you, though only a deacon, were chosen to be Superior General rather than any of the SSJ priests.
If the SSJ is really the disciplined group you say it is, then please explain how the SSJ—just this past month—has been kicked out of yet another house where some of its members were living rent-free. This is the third house that the SSJ has been ordered to vacate after abusing the generous hospitality of the owner. I am amazed that even now, while the SSJ is under close scrutiny, your members could not at least pretend to be concerned about the property of others. Even naughty children know how to behave well under the threat of punishment, but not so the SSJ. Your "disciplined" group just expects that new living quarters and more money will be provided for them.
Furthermore, where is the discipline in allowing priests under your authority to continue to lie to Catholic donors about the scandal surrounding the SSJ? As the new Superior General, you are now responsible for the lies being told by your telemarketing priests, especially Fr. Dominic Carey who has been shameless in his willingness to deceive donors.
Finally, Deacon Levine, you yourself have not been honest and forthright in your letter about the status of the Catholic city the SSJ has proposed to build. You conclude your letter by exhorting your supporters to "persevere in charity" with respect to this "ambitious project" (that is, give more money), yet you are as silent as your predecessor in the face of the hard questions that must be answered: Is there really any hope of building on the Shohola property? Have you acquired a legitimate public access route yet? Or are you still secretly trying to sell the property? And how has the SSJ spent the five million dollars donated to build its city and the College of St. Justin Martyr?
As you exhort Catholic donors to trust you with even more money, I exhort you to put aside the purple prose of your first official letter and, instead, speak the plain truth about these weighty matters.
Sincerely,
Dr. Jeffrey M. Bond
President
The College of St. Justin Martyr
142 Market Road
Greeley, PA 18425
jmb3@ltis.net
www.saintjustinmartyr.org
Archbishop Listeki Would Rather Accentuate the Postitive
A public hearing on legislation that would eliminate the statute of limitations on civil actions against child sexual abusers turned into something more Tuesday at the Capitol. Milwaukee’s new Archbishop, Jerome Listecki, found himself on the hot seat, regarding one of his predecessors.
State Senator Glenn Grothman referred to former Archbishop Rembert Weakland as “a piece of work,” and pressed Listecki about why Weakland was allowed to attend Listecki’s recent installation Mass. “Isn’t it really a poke in the eye to all these people who’ve suffered so horribly, to continue, after the actions of this man, to give him a place of honor in ceremonies?” Grothman referred to church officials who allowed Weakland to attend the installation as “screwballs.”
Listecki admitted that Weakland is “a lightning rod” within the Archdiocese. “Having said that, you know you do talk to some people who talk about some of the good things that he has done. Now, certainly, those good things, a pall is cast upon them because of the direction and leadership he’s given in this area.”
Weakland served as Milwaukee Archbishop for twenty-five years and has been accused of returning priests accused of sexually abusing children to active duty. Grothman asked Listcki about Wealand’s current status. “Does he have any position of honor still in the church? Is he still over anybody or have any authority at all?” Listecki said no, that Weakland is “totally retired.”
Retired, but not without honor, according to Peter Isely, Midwest Director of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests. “He’s the emeritus Archbishop of Milwaukee, that is an honorary title. That title can be taken from him,” said Isely. “He can be removed from the board of the Catholic Conference. The pastoral center at the Cathedral is called the Weakland Center. Change the name.”
Link to Article...
The Mighty Weakland Comes to Bat...
State Senator Glenn Grothman referred to former Archbishop Rembert Weakland as “a piece of work,” and pressed Listecki about why Weakland was allowed to attend Listecki’s recent installation Mass. “Isn’t it really a poke in the eye to all these people who’ve suffered so horribly, to continue, after the actions of this man, to give him a place of honor in ceremonies?” Grothman referred to church officials who allowed Weakland to attend the installation as “screwballs.”
Listecki admitted that Weakland is “a lightning rod” within the Archdiocese. “Having said that, you know you do talk to some people who talk about some of the good things that he has done. Now, certainly, those good things, a pall is cast upon them because of the direction and leadership he’s given in this area.”
Weakland served as Milwaukee Archbishop for twenty-five years and has been accused of returning priests accused of sexually abusing children to active duty. Grothman asked Listcki about Wealand’s current status. “Does he have any position of honor still in the church? Is he still over anybody or have any authority at all?” Listecki said no, that Weakland is “totally retired.”
Retired, but not without honor, according to Peter Isely, Midwest Director of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests. “He’s the emeritus Archbishop of Milwaukee, that is an honorary title. That title can be taken from him,” said Isely. “He can be removed from the board of the Catholic Conference. The pastoral center at the Cathedral is called the Weakland Center. Change the name.”
Link to Article...
The Mighty Weakland Comes to Bat...
Voodoo Center of Caribbean hit by another Disaster
Yes, our sympathies go out to the Haitians, but...
An earthquake of magnitude seven would be devastating for any country. In the wake of such force, death and destruction is tragically inevitable. However, the repercussions for Haiti, this small ill-fated Caribbean country, will be worse than almost anywhere else in the world, because of the long-term political, economic and cultural context that surrounds today's natural disaster.
There is a story often told among Haitians that when the Spanish came to Hispanola (the small island shared between the Dominican Republic and Haiti) they surrendered Haiti to the devil in order to dedicate the Dominican Republic to God. When you consider their relative situations it is not hard to see why this myth is so commonly believed.
Read further...
An earthquake of magnitude seven would be devastating for any country. In the wake of such force, death and destruction is tragically inevitable. However, the repercussions for Haiti, this small ill-fated Caribbean country, will be worse than almost anywhere else in the world, because of the long-term political, economic and cultural context that surrounds today's natural disaster.
There is a story often told among Haitians that when the Spanish came to Hispanola (the small island shared between the Dominican Republic and Haiti) they surrendered Haiti to the devil in order to dedicate the Dominican Republic to God. When you consider their relative situations it is not hard to see why this myth is so commonly believed.
Read further...
"The Master" lectures on T.S. Elliot
Bishop Williamson has all of the urbanity, mystical wonder and startling uniqueness of St. Augustine and Albert Camus, but he also has the childlike simplicity of St. John Vianney. His discussions on art, poetry and popular culture resonate with the kind of urgency and appreciation that Archbishop Sheen once commanded on his radio shows so long ago. Like a rare and precious unrepeatable prodigy, Bishop Williamson is, dare we say it, like a gift from heaven, although we don't deserve it, of a great 19th Century mind, spanning the years to reach us with long discarded and forgotten treasures and graces.
As the apostasy of the nations in modern times takes the whole world further and further away from God, so there are ever fewer artists and writers who have kept any sense of the things of the human spirit. All that matters henceforth is things material, which is why poetry is widely despised, and serious art, literature and music are all dying or dead. In this land of the blind, the American-born poet, dramatist and critic, T.S.Eliot (1888-1965) is a seer, but his well-known poem, “Journey of the Magi”, shows how he too lost one eye in his struggle with the modern wasteland.
That struggle is reflected in the main event of his life: his move at the age of 26 from the United States where he was born and bred, to England where he was based for the remainder of his life, hardly re-visiting the land of his birth. He once said that while his poetry represented a combination of his being born in the USA with his staying in England, nevertheless “in its sources, in its emotional springs, it comes from America.” Surely what he meant was that the problem set for him in his early years by the materialism of modern civilisation remained the driving force of his writing, like the grain of sand by its irritation generates the pearl in the oyster, but it was his move back from the New World to the Old that enabled him to get a handle on the problem, and to express in his poetry an at least partial solution.
But the spiritual problem set by the mass of men giving themselves over to materialism runs deep, and that is why many of Eliot’s poems are not easy to understand. He would say that poetry in modern times “has to be difficult”, meaning no doubt that if it is easy, it can hardly be true to the world around us. Thus his first published poems, written around the time of the first World War, already so broke with the century-old tradition of Keatsian romanticism that they were accused by some critics of not being poetry at all ! See for instance in the “Journey” how there are no rhymes at all, nor regular length of lines, nor regular rhythm.
Yet it is enough to read the poem aloud to appreciate the approximate four beats to a line which do make the “Journey” a poem, as opposed to mere prose. The comparison with Matthew Arnold’s “Dover Beach” is interesting. Observably Arnold is already (1851) loosening classical poetic discipline as to rhyme and rhythm, and Eliot loosens it still further. But Eliot does still have discipline. Alas, successors of Eliot can pretend to be following him when they have no discipline at all !
However, if one stops to think about it, old-fashioned rhymes would be too pretty for the problematic monologue of Eliot’s Magus (singular of the Latin plural “Magi”), whose modernity in search of the Christ Child requires a re-working of the Gospel story, found in Matthew II, 1-12. Then the three Magi, or astrologers, Kings from the East, followed a miraculous star over a long distance to pay homage and bring precious gifts to the new-born King of Kings, still a little child in the arms of his blessed Mother. Now we have in Eliot’s “Journey” an old man (line 32) recalling from long ago neither star, nor gifts, nor Mother, but in the poem’s three sections only the painful travelling (l.1-20), the arrival (l. 21-31) and the huge question of what it all meant (l. 32-43). Eliot’s is no Christmas card poem, nor short cut to comfort !
The poem’s first section (1-20), easy enough to understand, recreates the physical discomfort of the long journey from the East to Bethlehem, not mentioned. Nor does Eliot suggest there were any of the spiritual consolations that no doubt sustained the three original Magi on their historic journey. On the contrary (l.19,20), their modern successor has only the voices singing in his ears to tell him that he is crazy to be making such a journey.
The poem’s middle section (l.21-31) is less easy to understand. As the journey draws to its close, so the scenery has more warmth and life (21,22). In the next six lines (23-28), the “three trees” evoke the three crosses on Calvary while the “pieces of silver” evoke Judas Iscariot. All other details, e.g. the stream, mill, horse, tavern and wineskins, no doubt had a particular significance for Eliot himself, so that they are somehow suggestive, but of exactly what, it is difficult to say. Together they create a surreal scene which serves as transition from the material discomfort of the first section to the mysterious discomfort of the last section, for (28-31) our modern Magus is not necessarily happy to have arrived at his destination – “you may say” the place was “satisfactory”, he himself seems not so sure…
Indeed, in the poem’s third section (32-43) the old man is sure that the journey was worth the trouble (32,33), but it left him nevertheless with a huge question mark (35-39): how could a scene of birth, the scene of a new-born child, have left him at the same time with such a sensation of death, of “hard and bitter agony” (39) ? Because when the Magus got back to his kingdom (40), he found he could no longer live as he had lived before. He found his own people now “alien” to him, clutching hold of the pagan gods of his old way of life, which could no longer satisfy him, because after meeting the Child he could no longer be a pagan. But he had gone through no rebirth of his own into any new dispensation, so that the whole experience felt only like death. In conclusion (43), he would not be unhappy to die.
Contrast the story of the Magi as told by St Matthew. The Magi make the journey, full of faith that the star will lead them to the Child they mean to adore. It disappears when they visit the court of the treacherous Herod, but when it appears to them again on their way to Bethlehem, “they rejoiced with exceeding great joy” (v.10). It stands to reason that their faith and perseverance were rewarded by the divine Child with a flood of light and joy. They died as Saints, and their sacred relics are honoured to this day in the great Cathedral of Cologne which is dedicated to them.
Why then does our modern poet present such a different version of their journey to find Christ ? Because he does not have the faith of the original three Kings. Experts in the life and works of T.S.Eliot are unanimous that the “Journey of the Magi” is a largely autobiographical poem, having been published in August of 1927, just two months after Eliot had converted at 39 years of age to Anglicanism (Episcopalianism in the USA). Let us illustrate the poem by the life.
Eliot had begun life immersed in the “old dispensation” of Protestant Mid-west America (188-1906), Calvinist Harvard (1906-1910; 1911-1914) and liberal Oxford (1914-1915) which he quit after a year – “It’s pretty”, he said, “but I don’t like to be dead”. In 1915 he made an unfortunate marriage which caused him untold stress until (and after) he and his wife separated in 1933. From 1917 to 1925 he worked in a London bank, during which penitential time he published in 1922 what was no doubt the single most influential poem in English of the entire 20th century, “The Wasteland”.
In this poem Eliot could not have given expression to so much of the disorder of an “old dispensation” dying unless he had sensed that disorder, and he could not have sensed that disorder had he not had within him a considerable sense of the order that was missing. This sense of that order he had from the past and its masters. The “Wasteland” is steeped in quotations from them, notably Dante and Shakespeare, Eliot’s two favourites. Scratching his way back to the source of their order, Eliot nearly converted to Catholicism, but he stopped short at Anglicanism, partly because of Pius XI’s controversial condemnation in 1926 of “Action Francaise”, partly because Eliot wished to remain loyal to the country of his adoption. Five months after joining the Anglican Church he took out British citizenship.
This was the same year in which he published “Journey”, and now we can understand why Eliot’s Magus was so lacking in joy. Full marks to Eliot for not contenting himself with the plentiful delights of the disintegrating West (l.10); full marks for persevering on the journey towards Christ (l.33); full marks for never again being “at ease” in the “old dispensation”; but – mystery of grace and free-will – Eliot never made it all the way to Christ in his one true Church, and that is surely why his Magus never “rejoiced with exceeding great joy”.
Yet “God writes straight with crooked lines”. Many readers today immerse themselves in Eliot and feed on his poetry because it grapples with, and grasps, their dying dispensation, without imposing on them any of the demands of Christ’s dispensation. In this way Eliot must have served as at least a first step towards order and salvation for many souls who might not have gone near him had he made himself openly and fully a “Papist”. The same applies to a number of writers and artists who combine a grasp of modern disorder with a more or less disguised conveyance of the values of Christian order. If we should be grateful for small mercies, we should certainly be grateful for a large mercy like the poems of T.S. Eliot even if they are not always easy.
Posted by Stephen Heiner at 7:08 PM
http://truerestoration.blogspot.com/2010/01/poetry-project-vi-journey-of-magi-by-ts.html
As the apostasy of the nations in modern times takes the whole world further and further away from God, so there are ever fewer artists and writers who have kept any sense of the things of the human spirit. All that matters henceforth is things material, which is why poetry is widely despised, and serious art, literature and music are all dying or dead. In this land of the blind, the American-born poet, dramatist and critic, T.S.Eliot (1888-1965) is a seer, but his well-known poem, “Journey of the Magi”, shows how he too lost one eye in his struggle with the modern wasteland.
That struggle is reflected in the main event of his life: his move at the age of 26 from the United States where he was born and bred, to England where he was based for the remainder of his life, hardly re-visiting the land of his birth. He once said that while his poetry represented a combination of his being born in the USA with his staying in England, nevertheless “in its sources, in its emotional springs, it comes from America.” Surely what he meant was that the problem set for him in his early years by the materialism of modern civilisation remained the driving force of his writing, like the grain of sand by its irritation generates the pearl in the oyster, but it was his move back from the New World to the Old that enabled him to get a handle on the problem, and to express in his poetry an at least partial solution.
But the spiritual problem set by the mass of men giving themselves over to materialism runs deep, and that is why many of Eliot’s poems are not easy to understand. He would say that poetry in modern times “has to be difficult”, meaning no doubt that if it is easy, it can hardly be true to the world around us. Thus his first published poems, written around the time of the first World War, already so broke with the century-old tradition of Keatsian romanticism that they were accused by some critics of not being poetry at all ! See for instance in the “Journey” how there are no rhymes at all, nor regular length of lines, nor regular rhythm.
Yet it is enough to read the poem aloud to appreciate the approximate four beats to a line which do make the “Journey” a poem, as opposed to mere prose. The comparison with Matthew Arnold’s “Dover Beach” is interesting. Observably Arnold is already (1851) loosening classical poetic discipline as to rhyme and rhythm, and Eliot loosens it still further. But Eliot does still have discipline. Alas, successors of Eliot can pretend to be following him when they have no discipline at all !
However, if one stops to think about it, old-fashioned rhymes would be too pretty for the problematic monologue of Eliot’s Magus (singular of the Latin plural “Magi”), whose modernity in search of the Christ Child requires a re-working of the Gospel story, found in Matthew II, 1-12. Then the three Magi, or astrologers, Kings from the East, followed a miraculous star over a long distance to pay homage and bring precious gifts to the new-born King of Kings, still a little child in the arms of his blessed Mother. Now we have in Eliot’s “Journey” an old man (line 32) recalling from long ago neither star, nor gifts, nor Mother, but in the poem’s three sections only the painful travelling (l.1-20), the arrival (l. 21-31) and the huge question of what it all meant (l. 32-43). Eliot’s is no Christmas card poem, nor short cut to comfort !
The poem’s first section (1-20), easy enough to understand, recreates the physical discomfort of the long journey from the East to Bethlehem, not mentioned. Nor does Eliot suggest there were any of the spiritual consolations that no doubt sustained the three original Magi on their historic journey. On the contrary (l.19,20), their modern successor has only the voices singing in his ears to tell him that he is crazy to be making such a journey.
The poem’s middle section (l.21-31) is less easy to understand. As the journey draws to its close, so the scenery has more warmth and life (21,22). In the next six lines (23-28), the “three trees” evoke the three crosses on Calvary while the “pieces of silver” evoke Judas Iscariot. All other details, e.g. the stream, mill, horse, tavern and wineskins, no doubt had a particular significance for Eliot himself, so that they are somehow suggestive, but of exactly what, it is difficult to say. Together they create a surreal scene which serves as transition from the material discomfort of the first section to the mysterious discomfort of the last section, for (28-31) our modern Magus is not necessarily happy to have arrived at his destination – “you may say” the place was “satisfactory”, he himself seems not so sure…
Indeed, in the poem’s third section (32-43) the old man is sure that the journey was worth the trouble (32,33), but it left him nevertheless with a huge question mark (35-39): how could a scene of birth, the scene of a new-born child, have left him at the same time with such a sensation of death, of “hard and bitter agony” (39) ? Because when the Magus got back to his kingdom (40), he found he could no longer live as he had lived before. He found his own people now “alien” to him, clutching hold of the pagan gods of his old way of life, which could no longer satisfy him, because after meeting the Child he could no longer be a pagan. But he had gone through no rebirth of his own into any new dispensation, so that the whole experience felt only like death. In conclusion (43), he would not be unhappy to die.
Contrast the story of the Magi as told by St Matthew. The Magi make the journey, full of faith that the star will lead them to the Child they mean to adore. It disappears when they visit the court of the treacherous Herod, but when it appears to them again on their way to Bethlehem, “they rejoiced with exceeding great joy” (v.10). It stands to reason that their faith and perseverance were rewarded by the divine Child with a flood of light and joy. They died as Saints, and their sacred relics are honoured to this day in the great Cathedral of Cologne which is dedicated to them.
Why then does our modern poet present such a different version of their journey to find Christ ? Because he does not have the faith of the original three Kings. Experts in the life and works of T.S.Eliot are unanimous that the “Journey of the Magi” is a largely autobiographical poem, having been published in August of 1927, just two months after Eliot had converted at 39 years of age to Anglicanism (Episcopalianism in the USA). Let us illustrate the poem by the life.
Eliot had begun life immersed in the “old dispensation” of Protestant Mid-west America (188-1906), Calvinist Harvard (1906-1910; 1911-1914) and liberal Oxford (1914-1915) which he quit after a year – “It’s pretty”, he said, “but I don’t like to be dead”. In 1915 he made an unfortunate marriage which caused him untold stress until (and after) he and his wife separated in 1933. From 1917 to 1925 he worked in a London bank, during which penitential time he published in 1922 what was no doubt the single most influential poem in English of the entire 20th century, “The Wasteland”.
In this poem Eliot could not have given expression to so much of the disorder of an “old dispensation” dying unless he had sensed that disorder, and he could not have sensed that disorder had he not had within him a considerable sense of the order that was missing. This sense of that order he had from the past and its masters. The “Wasteland” is steeped in quotations from them, notably Dante and Shakespeare, Eliot’s two favourites. Scratching his way back to the source of their order, Eliot nearly converted to Catholicism, but he stopped short at Anglicanism, partly because of Pius XI’s controversial condemnation in 1926 of “Action Francaise”, partly because Eliot wished to remain loyal to the country of his adoption. Five months after joining the Anglican Church he took out British citizenship.
This was the same year in which he published “Journey”, and now we can understand why Eliot’s Magus was so lacking in joy. Full marks to Eliot for not contenting himself with the plentiful delights of the disintegrating West (l.10); full marks for persevering on the journey towards Christ (l.33); full marks for never again being “at ease” in the “old dispensation”; but – mystery of grace and free-will – Eliot never made it all the way to Christ in his one true Church, and that is surely why his Magus never “rejoiced with exceeding great joy”.
Yet “God writes straight with crooked lines”. Many readers today immerse themselves in Eliot and feed on his poetry because it grapples with, and grasps, their dying dispensation, without imposing on them any of the demands of Christ’s dispensation. In this way Eliot must have served as at least a first step towards order and salvation for many souls who might not have gone near him had he made himself openly and fully a “Papist”. The same applies to a number of writers and artists who combine a grasp of modern disorder with a more or less disguised conveyance of the values of Christian order. If we should be grateful for small mercies, we should certainly be grateful for a large mercy like the poems of T.S. Eliot even if they are not always easy.
Posted by Stephen Heiner at 7:08 PM
http://truerestoration.blogspot.com/2010/01/poetry-project-vi-journey-of-magi-by-ts.html
Two Protected Classes Go to War
We're rooting for the Jews in this struggle and we think they'll win, much to the simmering and infeffectual hatred of their homosexual opponents.
“Tolerance” Panel Causes Uproar at Orthodox Jewish University
By Thaddeus M. Baklinski
NEW YORK, January 12, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A Canadian homosexual student at New York’s Yeshiva University has caused an uproar and precipitated a fierce backlash from students and school administration after he organized a panel discussion defending "tolerance" of homosexuals within the school and the wider Orthodox Jewish community.
According to the Yeshiva University student newspaper, The Commentator, the event was organized by the YU Tolerance Club, which was founded last year by Avi Kopstick of Toronto.
The panel discussion, titled “Being Gay in the Modern Orthodox World,” attracted about 700 supporters, many of whom, The Commentator reported, were from other universities, including NYU, Columbia, Queens College, and the University of Pennsylvania.
read further...
“Tolerance” Panel Causes Uproar at Orthodox Jewish University
By Thaddeus M. Baklinski
NEW YORK, January 12, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A Canadian homosexual student at New York’s Yeshiva University has caused an uproar and precipitated a fierce backlash from students and school administration after he organized a panel discussion defending "tolerance" of homosexuals within the school and the wider Orthodox Jewish community.
According to the Yeshiva University student newspaper, The Commentator, the event was organized by the YU Tolerance Club, which was founded last year by Avi Kopstick of Toronto.
The panel discussion, titled “Being Gay in the Modern Orthodox World,” attracted about 700 supporters, many of whom, The Commentator reported, were from other universities, including NYU, Columbia, Queens College, and the University of Pennsylvania.
read further...
Fatima Vandalized with Islamic Symbols
It is possible that Muslims didn't do this, but if they did, they should be expelled wholesale from Portugal. Pehraps they don't like the ugly architecture which is more reminscent of vandalism than anything that's been done so far, like the pagan Hindu ritual approved by the rector a while back.
Now, THIS is vandalism:
[Portugal] In a press release Monday, officials from the shrine announced that in the early hours of Sunday morning, four statutes on the sides of the church as well as the church itself were painted with graffiti.
In the John Paul II Plaza, statutes of Popes John Paul II and Paul VI were painted. In the Pius XII Plaza, statues of Pope Pius XII and Bishop José Alves Correia da Silva were painted.
The graffiti includes the words “Islam,” “moon,” “sun,” “Muslim” and “mosque.”
According to the statement from shrine officials, “the difficult work of cleaning” is under way.
The communiqué added: “In reporting what has happened and without knowing who has done this, the shrine [officials] confirm [our] sadness and assure that the issue has been reported to the police.”
h/t james mary evans.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Vietnamese Police Attack Priest, Journalist
Catholic Culture
Vietnamese police, joined by pro-government thugs, attacked a priest and a Catholic journalist in the village of Dong Hoi, about 40 miles south of Hanoi, on January 11. The priest, Father Nguyen Van Lien, was escorting Nguyen Huu Vinh on a tour of the village when the police stopped them, pulling the priest aside an clubbing the journalist into unconsciousness. The beating ended when the police took the journalist’s camera, leaving him bleeding on the road; he was diagnosed with a concussion.
Police in the region have accused Catholic priests of stirring up anti-government sentiments, and several Catholic residents have reported been roughed up by police officers and pro-government forces.
Link to original...
Vietnamese police, joined by pro-government thugs, attacked a priest and a Catholic journalist in the village of Dong Hoi, about 40 miles south of Hanoi, on January 11. The priest, Father Nguyen Van Lien, was escorting Nguyen Huu Vinh on a tour of the village when the police stopped them, pulling the priest aside an clubbing the journalist into unconsciousness. The beating ended when the police took the journalist’s camera, leaving him bleeding on the road; he was diagnosed with a concussion.
Police in the region have accused Catholic priests of stirring up anti-government sentiments, and several Catholic residents have reported been roughed up by police officers and pro-government forces.
Link to original...
Fr Kenneth Baker SJ to Retire from Homiletic and Pastoral Review
With Pope Benedict XVI continuity is in and discontinuity is out. In its 110 years of life, HPR has had a lot of continuity. Two great Dominicans, Fathers Callan and McHugh, edited it for forty years, from 1917 to 1956. Father Aidan Carr was at the helm for twelve years. This month, yours truly is beginning his fortieth year as editor. Much has changed in the Church and we have seen much turmoil since Vatican II. Through it all we have tried to steer a straight course for HPR, always in conformity with the doctrine and morals taught by the Holy Catholic Church, which is the one and only Church of Jesus Christ who is both God and man.
Ignatius Press, owner and publisher of HPR, thinks now is a good time to replace me with a young editor to direct the magazine well into the twenty-first century—and I agree. The new editor is a Jesuit friend and scholar, Father David Vincent Meconi. Currently he is teaching patrology at St. Louis University. Father Meconi will officially assume the editorship on January 15. From now on all articles, homilies, letters to the editor and other editorial materials should be sent to Father Meconi in St. Louis.
During the past ten years or more Father Meconi has written articles and book reviews for HPR, so he should be known to many of our readers. Recently he has also contributed to our homily section. He is totally committed to orthodoxy and support of the Magisterium, just as I have been.
This is not a swan song. I will still be taking an active part in the publication of the magazine. My responsibility will be for the book review section and I will also continue to write the monthly editorial on the last page. My new title is “Editor Emeritus.” I will also help in any other way I may be needed.
This is a difficult time for magazines and the print media generally. Several large newspapers and many magazines have been forced for financial reasons to cease publication. HPR also faces a difficult future. I recently learned from Ignatius Press that HPR lost over $100,000 last year. Obviously that cannot continue. Accordingly the price, which has not been raised since 1995, is being increased from $26 to $34. Even that is not enough to solve the problem. So when you renew your subscription this year please add a donation of $25 or more to help us balance our budget. If you can send $100, we will not object.
I have very much enjoyed editing this monthly magazine for busy priests. I am constantly amazed at the quality of the articles I receive. We receive many more than we can print. It averages out to about thirty each month, or one a day. Since so many articles come in unsolicited, it has not been necessary to seek articles. For example, when the Pope publishes a new encyclical letter, it is not necessary to solicit an article on it. I know from experience that shortly thereafter a few articles analyzing it will be sent to me.
I urge you to support Father Meconi just as you have supported me and encouraged me with your letters and phone calls. Since no two editors are exactly the same, his style will differ from mine but it will be in conformity and continuity with the Church.
As I mentioned above, Benedict XVI is keen on continuity. The appointment of Father Meconi as the new editor of HPR is a clear signal from Ignatius Press that HPR will continue to be a bastion of orthodoxy and continuity with its history of fidelity to the Catholic Church. HPR is by priests and for priests. It is here to help priests grow in knowledge and love of the Church and of their own priesthood. Our Holy Father has declared this to be the year for priests. HPR is honored to take part in that, not only this year but every year.
Link to article...
Cardinal Sean O'Malley is Euthanizing his Priests
While Boston College has been funding abortions and birth control, +Sean has been embracing the culture of death.
From "Throw the Bums Out", here, Cardinal O'Malley is moving some of the priests to a treatment facillity for pederasts, although their names have been cleared at a Diocesan tribunal.
Carol McKinley maintains that the six priests are "falsely" accused. Apparently they have been cleared of wrongdoing by the Diocese but are still being moved and having their benefits cut off.
According to an updated article, here, two of the priests, Father Tivnan and Father Plourde are actually missing somewhere between the Canada facillity which couldn't admit them and the home they left in Boston.
Of course, Cardinal Sean is already trimming priests' benefits to save archdiocese pension system.
From "Throw the Bums Out", here, Cardinal O'Malley is moving some of the priests to a treatment facillity for pederasts, although their names have been cleared at a Diocesan tribunal.
Carol McKinley maintains that the six priests are "falsely" accused. Apparently they have been cleared of wrongdoing by the Diocese but are still being moved and having their benefits cut off.
According to an updated article, here, two of the priests, Father Tivnan and Father Plourde are actually missing somewhere between the Canada facillity which couldn't admit them and the home they left in Boston.
Of course, Cardinal Sean is already trimming priests' benefits to save archdiocese pension system.
Dissidents Want to Immitate the Society of Pius X
Well, the Devil is God's ape.
This just in over at Catholic Media Coalition in an article aptly named "Katholic Carma" It features the American Catholic Council which aims to form its own organization called the Laical Society for Blessed John XXIII (LBJXXIII) much like the Society of Saint Pius X was formed, outside of the sphere of influence of the Vatican. One poster complained that she has to drive for many miles to find parishes that are committed to the "Spirit of Vatican II".
This just in over at Catholic Media Coalition in an article aptly named "Katholic Carma" It features the American Catholic Council which aims to form its own organization called the Laical Society for Blessed John XXIII (LBJXXIII) much like the Society of Saint Pius X was formed, outside of the sphere of influence of the Vatican. One poster complained that she has to drive for many miles to find parishes that are committed to the "Spirit of Vatican II".
Because we are “conservative” and “traditional” Roman Catholics (in the true sense of those words), we will be returning to some practices of the Early Church which have long been neglected, but which are in the Spirit of Vatican II. Among these practices are the election of bishops by the people, ordination without regard to marital status, gender, or sexual orientation, and ownership of property by the people rather than by the hierarchy.
Monday, January 11, 2010
Alaska's Episcopalians Prepare to Ordain another Woman Bishop!
Alaska's troubled Episcopal Church is getting ready to possibly ordain another woman Bishop. It will be good for Catholics if this happens, because it will give many Episcopalians a not-so-subtle reminder why they should leave.
The candidates are:
• The Rev. Canon Virginia Doctor, canon to the ordinary, Diocese of Alaska, and assisting vicar, St. James' Mission, Tanana.• The Very Rev. Mark Lattime, rector of St. Michael's Episcopal Church, Geneseo, New York (Diocese of Rochester)
• The Very Rev. Timothy W. Sexton, provost and canon administrator, Cathedral Church of St. Andrew, Honolulu (Diocese of Hawaii)
• The Rev. Suzanne Elizabeth Watson, congregational development officer, Episcopal Church Center, New York.
"We're thrilled, joyous and very excited about these candidates," said Dan Hall, the chair of the bishop's search committee. "We're satisfied that each is the kind of candidate we need to move the Diocese of Alaska forward," he added.
Hall said a previous bishop search ended without an election when "for various reasons and circumstances … we ended up with only one candidate and the standing committee decided not to go to an electing convention with just one person."
The Jan. 11 announcement also opens the way for a process by which clergy and laity in the diocese can nominate other candidates. The deadline for those nominations is Feb. 12, according to Stacy Thorpe, diocesan communications officer. Information about that process is available here.
The election will take place during an April 9-10 electing convention at the Meier Lake Conference Center in Wasilla, Alaska.
The person elected will succeed the Rt. Rev. Rustin Kimsey, who has served as interim bishop for three years, since Bishop Mark MacDonald left in 2007 to become the first indigenous bishop of the Anglican Church of Canada.
As Virtue Online reports, one homosexual Episcopal activist was arrested for offering his 5 year old son up to be abused. He was also a big fan of Gay Bishop Gene Robinson.
The candidates are:
• The Rev. Canon Virginia Doctor, canon to the ordinary, Diocese of Alaska, and assisting vicar, St. James' Mission, Tanana.• The Very Rev. Mark Lattime, rector of St. Michael's Episcopal Church, Geneseo, New York (Diocese of Rochester)
• The Very Rev. Timothy W. Sexton, provost and canon administrator, Cathedral Church of St. Andrew, Honolulu (Diocese of Hawaii)
• The Rev. Suzanne Elizabeth Watson, congregational development officer, Episcopal Church Center, New York.
"We're thrilled, joyous and very excited about these candidates," said Dan Hall, the chair of the bishop's search committee. "We're satisfied that each is the kind of candidate we need to move the Diocese of Alaska forward," he added.
Hall said a previous bishop search ended without an election when "for various reasons and circumstances … we ended up with only one candidate and the standing committee decided not to go to an electing convention with just one person."
The Jan. 11 announcement also opens the way for a process by which clergy and laity in the diocese can nominate other candidates. The deadline for those nominations is Feb. 12, according to Stacy Thorpe, diocesan communications officer. Information about that process is available here.
The election will take place during an April 9-10 electing convention at the Meier Lake Conference Center in Wasilla, Alaska.
The person elected will succeed the Rt. Rev. Rustin Kimsey, who has served as interim bishop for three years, since Bishop Mark MacDonald left in 2007 to become the first indigenous bishop of the Anglican Church of Canada.
As Virtue Online reports, one homosexual Episcopal activist was arrested for offering his 5 year old son up to be abused. He was also a big fan of Gay Bishop Gene Robinson.
Holy Father Castigates Homosexual Marriage Laws
Gene Robinson's Special Day
In a move that is ultimately calculated to be critical of Cardinal Fideles of Portuagal, Holy Father has applied some directive pressure to insure that the people of Portugal know that their Shepherd is with them. Could it be that mercenary shepherds like Cardinal Fideles are on their way out?
AFP
Pope Benedict XVI on Monday called laws ignoring the difference between the sexes an "attack" on creation just days after Portugal moved to legalise gay marriage.
Creatures, including humans, "can be protected or endangered", the pope, 82, told the Vatican diplomatic corps in a traditional January address focusing mainly on environmental issues.
"One such attack comes from laws or proposals which, in the name of fighting discrimination, strike at the biological basis of the difference between the sexes," he said, citing "certain countries in Europe or North and South America".
Portugal's parliament last Friday approved plans to legalise gay marriage, and a final vote could occur before a visit by the pope in May.
Also last week, two men became the first homosexual couple to legally marry in Latin America, in the southern Argentine province of Ushuaia.
"Freedom cannot be absolute," the pontiff said.
"For man, the path to be taken cannot be determined by caprice or wilfulness, but must rather correspond to the structure willed by the Creator," he said.
Mexican Church also under fire.
Pope condemns murder of Coptic Christians in Egypt
(AFP) – 1 day ago
VATICAN CITY — Pope Benedict XVI on Sunday condemned the murder of six Coptic Christians in a January 6 attack in Egypt, and denounced violence against Christians.
"The violence against Christians in certain countries has caused indignation among many people, among other reasons because it has manifested itself during the holiest days of the Christian tradition," the pope told pilgrims in St Peter's Square.
The drive-by shooting happened in the southern Egyptian town of Nagaa Hammadi as Copts celebrated their Christmas Eve along with other Orthodox communities.
"There can be no violence in the name of God," Benedict said.
Copyright © 2010 AFP. All rights reserved. More »
VATICAN CITY — Pope Benedict XVI on Sunday condemned the murder of six Coptic Christians in a January 6 attack in Egypt, and denounced violence against Christians.
"The violence against Christians in certain countries has caused indignation among many people, among other reasons because it has manifested itself during the holiest days of the Christian tradition," the pope told pilgrims in St Peter's Square.
The drive-by shooting happened in the southern Egyptian town of Nagaa Hammadi as Copts celebrated their Christmas Eve along with other Orthodox communities.
"There can be no violence in the name of God," Benedict said.
Copyright © 2010 AFP. All rights reserved. More »
Thiberville: Victoire!
It just got reported that after a talk with the Nuncio, Archbishop Ventura, the local ordinary of the Diocese, Bishop Norrichard is going to allow Father Michel to continue his ministry.
The uproard started when the liberal Bishop Norrichard wanted to stop the popular and traditional priest, Fr. Michel from continuing his ministry. He came to deliver this unhappy news in a homo colored rainbow chasuble and the people rebelled and went somewhere else for Mass.
The uproard started when the liberal Bishop Norrichard wanted to stop the popular and traditional priest, Fr. Michel from continuing his ministry. He came to deliver this unhappy news in a homo colored rainbow chasuble and the people rebelled and went somewhere else for Mass.
Monarchy is Nepal's Only Hope
Kamal Thapa, chairman of the Rastriya Prajatantra Party-Nepal has once again demanded referendum to decide the fate of Monarchy, Secularism and Federalism.
He said that his party will not accept the new constitution unless referendum was conducted to engage sovereign Nepali people to take decisions on the crucial but contentious issues.
Speaking at a program in Kathmandu organized by his party, Saturday January 9, 2010, Kamal Thapa also claimed that if Nepal adopts Federalism, the country will be divided into several pieces.
“To save the country from disintegration, restoration of monarchy was the best solution”, he also said.
http://www.telegraphnepal.com/news_det.php?news_id=6968
He said that his party will not accept the new constitution unless referendum was conducted to engage sovereign Nepali people to take decisions on the crucial but contentious issues.
Speaking at a program in Kathmandu organized by his party, Saturday January 9, 2010, Kamal Thapa also claimed that if Nepal adopts Federalism, the country will be divided into several pieces.
“To save the country from disintegration, restoration of monarchy was the best solution”, he also said.
http://www.telegraphnepal.com/news_det.php?news_id=6968
Father Schwartz's New Year's Book List at Our Lady of Grace
It was a quiet evening at the spirituality retreat offered at Our Lady of Grace in properous Edina, Minnesota, and Fr. Burke SJ, the homosexuality promoting speaker, welcomed and endorsed by Archbishop Nienstedt, came and went without too much of a fuss. Just from looking at that American colonial town hall, you wouldn't think anything insidious was going on, you'd think the Archdiocese was on a solid course. But there were books left behind, as if a GLBT Santa had left them in stockings on Epiphany, revealing a familiar agenda, given by some familiar authors whose homosexual advocacy of heresy often conflicts with their stated ministry as Catholic priests and religious. We know that homosexuals are not supposed to be ordained, but somehow, a few slipped thorugh, a few wrote some books too, books and ideas that are actually hostile to Catholicism but promote homosexuality. This is Father Bob Schwartz's reading list:
Father Richard Rohr OFM
Father Richard Rohr is the author of many best-selling self-help books, like Adam's Return, which is the book Fr. Bob has asked his flock to read. Fr. Rohr is a noted speaker and author who is beyond belief, beyond "good and bad". He says, incitefully, "belief systems ask nothing of you and hasn't led to praxis". This is simply heresy, but no one is asking us.
He appears at homosesxual events, eager to help out down in New Mexico at a Gay Spirituality retreat, but that's no reason why he can't be featured prominently in Fr. Bob's spirituality retreat as a suggested reading.
Blasphemous Cover Art
"Adam's Return"
Here are some citations from Father Richard Rohr's book:
"I believe that the truth is more likely to be found at the bottom and the edges of things than at the top or the center. The top or center always has too much to provea nd too much to protect. I learnd this by connecting the dots of Judeo-Christian Scriptures, from my Franciscan background -- the pedagogy of the oppressed and the continued testimony of the saints and mystics -- and from the first tep of Alchholics Anonymous. Final authority in the spiritual world does not tend to come from any agenda of success but from some form of suffering that always feels like the bottom. Insecurity and impermanence are the best spiritual teachers, as Alan Watts and so many others demonstrate. The good news is clearly not a winner's script, although the ego and even churches continually try to make it so.
Finally, I believe that our images and words for God matter deeply in the way we live our practical lives because we all become the God we worship. This has been a central breakthrough in awareness in recent decades, thanks largely to feminist theologians. I believe that God is the ultimate combination of whatever it means to be male and whatever it means to be female. [(She who i: The Mystery of God in Feminist Theological Discourse(New York : Crossroad, 1993), and Elizabeth Schuessler Forienza, In Memory of Her (New York: Crossroad, 1984) These two fine theolgians give feminism a very good name and give God a new chance.] [u]God is fully sexual in the deepest meaning of the term.[/u]
"... we must... find public ways to recovinize honor, and name the feminine nature of God, since we have overly limited our metaphors for God for centuries." (xiii)
Now we need enlightened and transformed magicians, lovers of life and beauty, and strong nonviolent warriors to produce truly big-picture men -- or kings. (P. 124)
The only religion that chews on the flesh of God has a very sensuous, sexual symbol for the transformation of the lover; we call it the Eucharist. Christianity says that God is Love but does not appear to really enjoy the lover. Despite all the BAch Masses, Baroque churches, incense, vestments, and luxriant art, we still made our religion into a moralistic matter instead of a mystical joy. .... the hot sins ofor the Baptists and Catholics are always associated with the body. This is no religion of incarnation. [!] (P. 130)
I will not eliminate or disallow all those wonderful sexually charged words for God -- such as Mother, Father, Son, Daughter, Bride, Bridegroom, friend, Guest Loveer, Jealous Lover, or even Seducer. Even more, I am not willing to eliminate the ntion of God, a relationship with God, or the very word "God" (even though I know that every name for God, including the word in itself, will always be a very limited metaphor and will carry a lot of baggage. (xiv)
In that sense God does save us, precisely by giving himself/herself to us and drawing us into the greater story. (xiv)
If there were any homophobic or emotionally wheitheld types among the twelve, I cannot imagine what they made of John with his head on the breast of Jesus during a proper reoligious ceremony. (P. 148)
Jesus was a layman (P. 149)
This was held on to for a long time with the Mass of the Catechumens, and people had to leave at a certain point because they were not ready to reeive the full gift yet. Now Eucharist has to do with achieving moral worthiness and passing ritual requirements instead of stirring holy desire. This unfortunately leaves most church rituals outside the realm of radical grace except fo rhose who have done their inner journey and personally experienced it elsewhere. (P. 175)
Father James Martin SJ,
Is the Jesuit editor of America, another author of the books which Fr. Bob recomends. He writes a troubling Op-ed piece for the New York Times in which he uses his homosexual friend's meeting with the Pope to highlight how homosexuals don't feel welcomed in the church. What with the predominence of homosexuals in the ministry, it's rather hard to come to that conclusion. Fr. Bob's selected Jesuit author here is problematic for a least three reasons:
1)He's not really pro-life: http://insightscoop.typepad.com/2004/2009/05/father-james-martin-sj-responds.html
2) Promotes Centering Prayer which Mitch Pacwa SJ warns against, and is heretical http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?id=6337&CFID=25108504&CFTOKEN=27120249
3) Teaches the Bible is in error, this is heresy: "There are some major continuity problems in the Gospels" in the his book, My Life with the Saints.
Father Ronald Rolheister OMI
Bio from his website: Ronald Rolheiser, a Roman Catholic priest and member of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate, is president of the Oblate School of Theology in San Antonio, Texas.
He is a community-builder, lecturer and writer. His books are popular throughout the English-speaking world and his weekly column is carried by more than ninety newspapers worldwide.
His book is Forgotten Among the Lilies,
The Catholicism I was raised in had, a fault, and it did, it was precisely that it did not allow for mistakes. It demanded that you get it right the first time. there was supposed to be no need for a second chance. If you made a mistake, you lived with it and, like the rich young man, were doomed to be sad, at least for the rest of your life. A seerious mistake was a permanent stigmaticzation, a markt hat you wore like Cain.
I have seen that mark in all kinds of people: divorcees, ex-priests, ex-religious, people who have had abortions, married people who have had affairs, people who have had children outside marriage, parents who have made serious mistake with their children, and countless others who have made serious mistakes
There was too little around to help them. We need a theology of brokenness." [so gay]( p 145)
On Women's Ordination
When you love someone, unless they actively reject that love, the are bound -- bound to the body of Christ, sustained in salvation." p 167"Superficially, one might conclude that their pain is most acute at Eucharist because a male presides there. This however, I submit, is a secondary explanation. Their pain touches on something deeper, that must send a signal to the whole church. Irerespective of the fact that it is mixed with other pains, they are experiencing the pain of the prophet. (P. 241)
Mentioned in Heresy Hunter: http://heresy-hunter.blogspot.com/2009/11/ron-rolheiser-borderline-dweller.html
Sister Joan Chittester:
Her recomended book was, The Gift of Years.
She has long been a very controversial and most heterodox speaker and author for the Benedictine order. We're sure that she has no business teaching at a Catholic faculty, but what rationale could Father Bob have for recomending her?
We would not recommend reading her book because it doesn't really deal with the spirtual problems of growing old and dying, something which we all must do, and preparing for death by ensuring that our souls are in a state of Sanctifying Grace. The disappointments of life are momentary, but the punishments and rewards for life are eternal.
Her own words:
Talking about Thomas Reese SJ who was forced to resign from America Magazine, she wrote, "He published articles in America that looked at both sides of the communion-for-politicians issue, at both sides of the gay marriage issue, at both sides of the role of Congregation of the Faith, at both sides of the church as institution and religion. " http://www.nationalcatholicreporter.org/fwis/fw051205.htm
Attacks Church teaching on Homosexuality: "I am completely commited to the achievement of full civil rights for gay and lesbian people. To deny these people rights in the name of morality is immoral. The Church is a human institution and it grows slowly." http://www.podcastdirectory.com/podshows/1007257
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Bad Jesuit!
On "Good Jesuit, Bad Jesuit" it looks like the Jesuits are engaging in some socially conscientious voting in the shareholder meeting to engage their Human Rights Concerns. This sort of thing is fairly common amongst Jesuits, but try finding one that has an understanding of and belief in personal sin.
On May 27, the Jesuit-led resolution will again be considered at Chevron’s annual shareholder meeting. In the weeks prior to the meeting, Chevron stockholders will be casting their votes regarding this resolution.
On May 27, the Jesuit-led resolution will again be considered at Chevron’s annual shareholder meeting. In the weeks prior to the meeting, Chevron stockholders will be casting their votes regarding this resolution.
Italy: Scientology cult sues Catholic author and publishing house
Italy: Scientology cult sues Catholic author and publishing house
Scientology is an even bigger crock than Medjugorje and its adherents are even more eager to sue than the American Civil Liberties Union.
Scientology is an even bigger crock than Medjugorje and its adherents are even more eager to sue than the American Civil Liberties Union.
Father Schmidberger of SSPX Criticizes Schismatic Germans
The Local [Germany]
Father Franz Schmidberger said members of country’s clergy had called into question Catholicism as the only true faith – which indirectly cast doubt on Christ’s divinity.
“A certain group of bishops isn’t primarily opposed to or critical of the priest brotherhood of St. Pius X – they actually have a disturbed relationship with the pope and the theology of the Church over the centuries,” Schmidberger said.
He said past statements by the head of the German Bishops’ Conference Archbishop Robert Zollitsch and his predecessor Karl Lehmann to back up his claims. The Bishops' Conference refused to comment on Schmidberger's remarks.
Here...
The rest of the article is mostly garbage and untrue, what it doesn't tell you is that Father Schmidberger is right. German Bishops have had a very strained relationship with the Papacy for 100s of years, and their complicity in the "spirit of Vatican II" is well documented in the book by Fr. Wiltgen, The Rhine Flows into the Tiber.
Father Franz Schmidberger said members of country’s clergy had called into question Catholicism as the only true faith – which indirectly cast doubt on Christ’s divinity.
“A certain group of bishops isn’t primarily opposed to or critical of the priest brotherhood of St. Pius X – they actually have a disturbed relationship with the pope and the theology of the Church over the centuries,” Schmidberger said.
He said past statements by the head of the German Bishops’ Conference Archbishop Robert Zollitsch and his predecessor Karl Lehmann to back up his claims. The Bishops' Conference refused to comment on Schmidberger's remarks.
Here...
The rest of the article is mostly garbage and untrue, what it doesn't tell you is that Father Schmidberger is right. German Bishops have had a very strained relationship with the Papacy for 100s of years, and their complicity in the "spirit of Vatican II" is well documented in the book by Fr. Wiltgen, The Rhine Flows into the Tiber.
Come, Drink the Coolaid at Medjugorje
In a testament to the persistence of false religious beliefs and the gullibility of mankind, Spirit Daily Drinks the coolaid at Medjugorje. They gloss over details like Medjugorje's heretical and modernist "locutions", of Cardinal Schönborn's rank infidelity to Catholic teaching, his snubbing of the Austrian Pro-Life movement, scandalous promotion of blasphemous art and worst of all his disloyalty to the Holy Father. We think there are two possible causes for this and one is financial and the other is psychological.
Spirit Daily
The rumors last autumn swirled. After long years of confusion among the flock, after virulent debate -- and diatribes, especially from those who opposed it -- and after periods of outright befuddlement, the Vatican was going to issue guidelines on the famous apparition site of Medjugorje, said the Cardinal of Sarajevo, with hints that those guidelines would not be interpreted as favorable. It would come, they said, by the end of the year.
"I don't think we must wait for a long time, I think it will be this year, but that is not clear... I am going to Rome in November and we must discuss this," said Cardinal Vinko Puljic last October.
Read further...
Incredibly, there is even another or related website out there endorsing the Cardinal thusly:
Spirit Daily
The rumors last autumn swirled. After long years of confusion among the flock, after virulent debate -- and diatribes, especially from those who opposed it -- and after periods of outright befuddlement, the Vatican was going to issue guidelines on the famous apparition site of Medjugorje, said the Cardinal of Sarajevo, with hints that those guidelines would not be interpreted as favorable. It would come, they said, by the end of the year.
"I don't think we must wait for a long time, I think it will be this year, but that is not clear... I am going to Rome in November and we must discuss this," said Cardinal Vinko Puljic last October.
Read further...
Incredibly, there is even another or related website out there endorsing the Cardinal thusly:
Cardinal Schonborn is a towering figure in the Catholic Church, a member of the powerful Roman Curial, he sits on the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith and is a close friend of Pope Benedict XVI. When he speaks people should listen but we are not sure the American Catholic press is really listening.
It's hard to see how he could be such a powerful figure in the curia at this point if he was so ill-informed about the meeting in Rome between the SSPX and the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith; probably because he was kept in the dark. Surely, these kinds of statements bespeak a certain kind of desperation on the part partizans of Medjugorje.
Saturday, January 9, 2010
Catholic bishops begin postcard campaign for immigration reform - San Bernardino County Sun
Catholic bishops begin postcard campaign for immigration reform - San Bernardino County Sun
Yes my Master. George Soros and company are working their magic charms on the USCCB.
A Tale of Two Bishops
Two Bishops have made the news over the last few weeks. Sex Abuse Archbishop Weakland of Milwaukee who paid half a million dollars in hush money to his boyfriend is going to further outrage the citizens of Milwaukee by appearing at a Mass alongside retired Archbishop Pilarczyk and incoming Archbishop Listeki; and Pro-Gay Marriage Cardinal Fideles is being silent about the "Gay Marriage" issue that is up in the Portuguese Parliament and became rather persnickety when a journalist pressed him as to why, according to Lifesite:
The meeting in Milwaukee of Catholic luminaries should provide adaquate fodder for those clamouring for more "transparency" and "democracy" in the Roman Catholic Church, hoping, who really knows why, that the Church will change her doctrines on Birth Control and Clerical Celibacy. If it's hard to see why people get worked up about it, perhaps it's because that, apart from a coterie of elitist scribblers at the big newspapers, most people don't really care. We think they'd rather that their local Bishops were the good men they are often portrayed to be. We think they'd rather, perhaps against the corrupt expectations of the liberal press corp, that the Catholic Church really were the organization it's portrayed as being in those old Bing Crosby movies.
Unfortunately, Archishop Listeki has really lost a golden opportunity to stand up against the tyrany of evil and to date, it seems that most Bishops would prefer to spend their treasure on their Public Image at the expense of their eternal souls.
On the other hand, in Portugal, the government, ever Masonic in its general lack of principles, is promoting Gay Marriage. Like the previous example-- there's what Noam Chomsky calls some manufactured going on-- most people don't approve of the Catholic Church harboring sex predators like Archbishop Weakland, and most of the Portuguese people despise the idea of gay marriage.
Here's a news story on the Bronzed Sex Abuse Archbishop and you can really read in the comments that they are angry that something they cherish has been tarnished by a vile predatory, homosexual Bishop.
And then there's an obituary for a recently deceased Anglican Bishop, who pounded on the door to the Catholic Church, sorry, we're not interested in converts was the reply, he was actually refused by the local Nuncio, but persisted till he was finally let in. Despite becoming a Catholic, he remained sceptical about the leadership (we wonder why), and wrote, according to Catholic Culture:
This really does give more lie to the leftists in the media who can only harp about same-sex marriage, married priests and other pet issues, when their criticisms are actually held by a small number of elitists in the Church, but are really quite irrelevant.
The cardinal, who openly supports legal privileges for same-sex couples in conflict with Vatican teaching, is also a close confidant of Portugal's socialist prime minister, Jose Socrates.
The meeting in Milwaukee of Catholic luminaries should provide adaquate fodder for those clamouring for more "transparency" and "democracy" in the Roman Catholic Church, hoping, who really knows why, that the Church will change her doctrines on Birth Control and Clerical Celibacy. If it's hard to see why people get worked up about it, perhaps it's because that, apart from a coterie of elitist scribblers at the big newspapers, most people don't really care. We think they'd rather that their local Bishops were the good men they are often portrayed to be. We think they'd rather, perhaps against the corrupt expectations of the liberal press corp, that the Catholic Church really were the organization it's portrayed as being in those old Bing Crosby movies.
Unfortunately, Archishop Listeki has really lost a golden opportunity to stand up against the tyrany of evil and to date, it seems that most Bishops would prefer to spend their treasure on their Public Image at the expense of their eternal souls.
On the other hand, in Portugal, the government, ever Masonic in its general lack of principles, is promoting Gay Marriage. Like the previous example-- there's what Noam Chomsky calls some manufactured going on-- most people don't approve of the Catholic Church harboring sex predators like Archbishop Weakland, and most of the Portuguese people despise the idea of gay marriage.
Here's a news story on the Bronzed Sex Abuse Archbishop and you can really read in the comments that they are angry that something they cherish has been tarnished by a vile predatory, homosexual Bishop.
And then there's an obituary for a recently deceased Anglican Bishop, who pounded on the door to the Catholic Church, sorry, we're not interested in converts was the reply, he was actually refused by the local Nuncio, but persisted till he was finally let in. Despite becoming a Catholic, he remained sceptical about the leadership (we wonder why), and wrote, according to Catholic Culture:
While certain that he had made the right decision in moving to Rome, he remained uneasy about the lack of rigour shown by the Catholic bishops on a range of issues, particularly their approach to ecumenicism.
This really does give more lie to the leftists in the media who can only harp about same-sex marriage, married priests and other pet issues, when their criticisms are actually held by a small number of elitists in the Church, but are really quite irrelevant.
Coalition of American Assyrians and Maronites Rebukes Arab American Institute
The Coalition of American Assyrians and Maronites (CAAM), which includes seven Assyrian and Maronite Organizations, has sent an official letter to the Arab American Institute, asking it to stop identifying Assyrians and Maronites as Arabs. CAAM represents over 2.2 million Assyrians and Maronites in the United States. The letter was also sent to President Bush, Vice President Cheney, all twelve Cabinet members, all members of the House and Senate, The Chicago Tribune, Time Magazine and Groliers Multimedia Encyclopedia.
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The World of GK Chesterton And What's Wrong With It
Guardian
This year is the centenary of one of Chesterton's oddest, but most intriguing, booksRenewal of interest in the work of GK Chesterton continues apace. The writer whose career began when he dictated his first story to his aunt Rose at the age of three started early and aimed high, and his intellectual development was among the more conspicuously interesting of the Edwardian age. His Orthodoxy of 1908 has become a sort of touchstone text during the present vogue for philosophical theology, much cited by the likes of Slavoj Zizek and the radical theologian John Milbank, while oddball novels such as The Napoleon of Notting Hill (1904) and The Man Who Was Thursday (1908) retain the power to entertain and bemuse in equal measure.This year, however, sees the centenary of one of his rather less high-profile publications. What's Wrong with the World represents an extrapolation of Chesterton's original response to a query posed in so many words by the Times to a selection of eminent writers and thinkers of the day. "Dear Sirs," ran GK's succinct rejoinder, "I am". The publication of the book suggested that, on reflection, there might have been more to say on the subject.The Chesterton offered us by his latter-day biographers and critics is a lost proto-radical, if we could but make him out as such. Along with his close friend Hilaire Belloc, he was the proponent of a species of Third Way politics avant la lettre, a plague-on-both-your-houses confutation of capitalism and socialism known as distributism. Drastically simplified, the vision was of an atomised entrepreneurialism in which as many individuals as possible pursued the goal of profit, so as to wrest capital accumulation from both a few vastly powerful interests (such as "Jewish banking families") and a monolithic socialist state.What's Wrong with the World opens with an analysis of the predicament of modern humanity, too obsessed in the great age of political idealism with visions of the future. Has the Enlightenment ideal of continual social progress been a reality, or has it all been a piece of western myth-making? "Are we still strong enough to spear mammoths, but now tender enough to spare them?" he wonders. But then again, "Does the cosmos contain any mammoth that we have either speared or spared?"What it does contain is the wreckage of half-realised ideals. There is a lack of conviction in attempts to enact the radical doctrines of Christianity or of political justice, and too often the espousal of great causes results in panic at the consequences of one's own actions. Where national leaders paid lip-service to such humanist ideals as egalitarianism, they came to rue their faith in humanity. "Joseph of Austria and Catherine of Russia quite agreed that the people should rule; what horrified them was that the people did."Much in the section on women would take a lot of swallowing today. Woman is naturally thrifty, as against the prodigality of man, "the aim of the good woman [being] to rummage in the dustbin". This is cognate with her moral inclination to chastity in the face of masculine concupiscence. There is scarcely any point in female suffrage (the burning question of the day) where it is so little wanted. The saving grace of not having the vote is that it allows a woman to remain above the level of the baying mob. What she really needs is liberation from drudgery. A paradise of domestic labour-saving devices will spread more spiritual freedom than would the vote. Where many saw the constitutional equality of the sexes as an ideal, meanwhile, Chesterton suspected only the urge to "plodding, elaborate, elephantine imitation" of the male by the female. "Boys play football, why shouldn't girls play football … boys go to Oxford, why shouldn't girls go to Oxford – in short, boys grow mustaches, why shouldn't girls grow mustaches[?]"The cumulative impact of the book is a little like reading a supremely elegant, aphoristic Nietzsche, but one domesticated for the English gentleman's study. There is the same vertiginous thrill at lurching from exemplary declarations of universalist ethics ("Men have never wearied of political justice; they have wearied of waiting for it") to the flared-nostrilled defence of Edwardian privilege, such as public schools. But for its sober humanism, as much as its infuriating patrician conservatism, it deserves to be read.
http://m.guardian.co.uk/?id=102202&story=http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2010/jan/08/gk-chesterton-world-whats-wrong
This year is the centenary of one of Chesterton's oddest, but most intriguing, booksRenewal of interest in the work of GK Chesterton continues apace. The writer whose career began when he dictated his first story to his aunt Rose at the age of three started early and aimed high, and his intellectual development was among the more conspicuously interesting of the Edwardian age. His Orthodoxy of 1908 has become a sort of touchstone text during the present vogue for philosophical theology, much cited by the likes of Slavoj Zizek and the radical theologian John Milbank, while oddball novels such as The Napoleon of Notting Hill (1904) and The Man Who Was Thursday (1908) retain the power to entertain and bemuse in equal measure.This year, however, sees the centenary of one of his rather less high-profile publications. What's Wrong with the World represents an extrapolation of Chesterton's original response to a query posed in so many words by the Times to a selection of eminent writers and thinkers of the day. "Dear Sirs," ran GK's succinct rejoinder, "I am". The publication of the book suggested that, on reflection, there might have been more to say on the subject.The Chesterton offered us by his latter-day biographers and critics is a lost proto-radical, if we could but make him out as such. Along with his close friend Hilaire Belloc, he was the proponent of a species of Third Way politics avant la lettre, a plague-on-both-your-houses confutation of capitalism and socialism known as distributism. Drastically simplified, the vision was of an atomised entrepreneurialism in which as many individuals as possible pursued the goal of profit, so as to wrest capital accumulation from both a few vastly powerful interests (such as "Jewish banking families") and a monolithic socialist state.What's Wrong with the World opens with an analysis of the predicament of modern humanity, too obsessed in the great age of political idealism with visions of the future. Has the Enlightenment ideal of continual social progress been a reality, or has it all been a piece of western myth-making? "Are we still strong enough to spear mammoths, but now tender enough to spare them?" he wonders. But then again, "Does the cosmos contain any mammoth that we have either speared or spared?"What it does contain is the wreckage of half-realised ideals. There is a lack of conviction in attempts to enact the radical doctrines of Christianity or of political justice, and too often the espousal of great causes results in panic at the consequences of one's own actions. Where national leaders paid lip-service to such humanist ideals as egalitarianism, they came to rue their faith in humanity. "Joseph of Austria and Catherine of Russia quite agreed that the people should rule; what horrified them was that the people did."Much in the section on women would take a lot of swallowing today. Woman is naturally thrifty, as against the prodigality of man, "the aim of the good woman [being] to rummage in the dustbin". This is cognate with her moral inclination to chastity in the face of masculine concupiscence. There is scarcely any point in female suffrage (the burning question of the day) where it is so little wanted. The saving grace of not having the vote is that it allows a woman to remain above the level of the baying mob. What she really needs is liberation from drudgery. A paradise of domestic labour-saving devices will spread more spiritual freedom than would the vote. Where many saw the constitutional equality of the sexes as an ideal, meanwhile, Chesterton suspected only the urge to "plodding, elaborate, elephantine imitation" of the male by the female. "Boys play football, why shouldn't girls play football … boys go to Oxford, why shouldn't girls go to Oxford – in short, boys grow mustaches, why shouldn't girls grow mustaches[?]"The cumulative impact of the book is a little like reading a supremely elegant, aphoristic Nietzsche, but one domesticated for the English gentleman's study. There is the same vertiginous thrill at lurching from exemplary declarations of universalist ethics ("Men have never wearied of political justice; they have wearied of waiting for it") to the flared-nostrilled defence of Edwardian privilege, such as public schools. But for its sober humanism, as much as its infuriating patrician conservatism, it deserves to be read.
http://m.guardian.co.uk/?id=102202&story=http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2010/jan/08/gk-chesterton-world-whats-wrong
Friday, January 8, 2010
Bombing In Thailand: Analysis of Islamist Presence There
By Martin Petty
BANGKOK, Jan 7 (Reuters) - Bombs killed one security officer and wounded another in Thailand's restive deep South on Thursday during a visit by Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva to promote an economic stimulus programme aimed at restoring peace.
The bombings underlined the failure of successive governments to tackle a separatist insurgency in the Malay Muslim-dominated region, which entered its sixth year on Monday with a death toll of nearly 4,000.
WHO IS BEHIND THE INSURGENCY?
No group has publicly come forward but most analysts believe the Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN) Coordinate is running the show, possibly in cooperation with remnants of the Patani United Liberation Front (PULO).
BRN is said to be a military offshoot of the Patani Malay National Revolutionary Front, a political movement established in the 1960s to seek independence, or at least autonomy, for the region's ethnic Malay Muslims.
The current leaders are unknown. The government believes they may be hiding in Malaysia, Indonesia or Europe. The authorities have long suspected prominent local politicians, religious leaders and Islamic teachers of involvement.
Link to original....
http://blogs.reuters.com/faithworld/2010/01/07/qa-whats-fuelling-insurgency-in-thailands-malay-muslim-south/
BANGKOK, Jan 7 (Reuters) - Bombs killed one security officer and wounded another in Thailand's restive deep South on Thursday during a visit by Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva to promote an economic stimulus programme aimed at restoring peace.
The bombings underlined the failure of successive governments to tackle a separatist insurgency in the Malay Muslim-dominated region, which entered its sixth year on Monday with a death toll of nearly 4,000.
WHO IS BEHIND THE INSURGENCY?
No group has publicly come forward but most analysts believe the Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN) Coordinate is running the show, possibly in cooperation with remnants of the Patani United Liberation Front (PULO).
BRN is said to be a military offshoot of the Patani Malay National Revolutionary Front, a political movement established in the 1960s to seek independence, or at least autonomy, for the region's ethnic Malay Muslims.
The current leaders are unknown. The government believes they may be hiding in Malaysia, Indonesia or Europe. The authorities have long suspected prominent local politicians, religious leaders and Islamic teachers of involvement.
Link to original....
http://blogs.reuters.com/faithworld/2010/01/07/qa-whats-fuelling-insurgency-in-thailands-malay-muslim-south/
He Knows His Neoconservative Bootlickers
Welcome to Vienna: If Cardinal Christoph Schönborn participates in the unrest of a foreign Diocese, then other Bishops may do the same in Vienna.
Kreuz.de Commentary
While photos are being published of the Vienese Cardinal in Medjugorje, there was a protest in Vienna.
It was directed against the honouring of a notorious child slaughterhouse by the unscrupulous Viennese blood-mayor.
The old liberal and politically devious Archbishop of Vienna, Christoph Cardinal Schönborn did everything in order to put stones in the way of the Catholic supervisors of the demonstration.
He even forbade admitting Salzburg's Bishop Andreas Laun to participate in the demonstration against the infamous commemoration.
In a private discussion the Cardinal explained himself in this way: „I won't permit in any event a bishop to drive here from three hundred kilometers away into my Diocese and blame the mayor.“
The Bishop obeyed.
Why, however, does Cardinal Schönborn travel 800 kilometers, in order to incite unrest in another Diocese: was it clear from the beginning that it would stir a wasp's nest?
The answer is found fast.
A goal of this exercise of the old liberal of a Cardinal was to pull disappointed neoconservative Catholics over the table.
Because in the meantime the most naive neoconservative truth denier must have recognized that Cardinal Schönborn works against the Church.
In December 2004 he stabbed the pro-life organization `Youth for Life' in the back, when it demonstrated against the introduction of the child slaughter at the Salzburg national hospital.
In October 2005 the sacrilegious pancake Consecration was effected by the Cardinal followed during one of his youth fairs.
In February 2006 Cardinal Schönborn permitted a homo-perverse mating in his Cathedral blessing.
In the December of the same year he defended deprivation of fluids and sustenance for the terminally ill.
When Catholics demonstrated in February 2007 before a child slaughterhouse in a Viennese shopping center, Cardinal Schönborn as expected, stabbed them into the back.
Then the inexpressible exhibition in the Viennese Cathedral museum in March 2008, which showed the Apostles as homo-perverse piglets and Christ as bound masochist with an erection.
Despite world-wide protests the Cardinal did not stop this outrage.
Besides he denied the Church's mission to convert the Jews in April 2008.
The award of the Papal Gregorian Medal followed to the baby-murdering, Viennese Ideologue, Comrade Renate Brown in June 2008.
As a Pope Benedikt XVI, highly regarded priest of Windischgarten, Mons. Gerhard Wagner, appointed to Linz Diocese, found Cardinal Schönborn in prominent place busily preventing his appointment.
In May 2009 the honoring of the Viennese Martyr Sister Restituta Kafka followed. You Cardinal, seemed to miss the demonic and bare breasted representation, which got the name in Vienna of "Prostituta".
But the Cardinal is smart enough, in order to know that its neoconservative bootlickers have a short memory and are stupid.
It is sufficient to throw to them a Medjugorje bone at his feet so that they forget the old liberal changes of the church in Austria, he has made.
After his Medjugorje journey the Viennese Cardinal can turn, therefore, again unimpaired to the cocktail parties with comrades and abortion politicians and work on the next plot against Catholics.
Because the neoconservative dullards are for a further seven years in the seventh Medjugorje heaven.
However, the resounding slap, which the Cardinal received after his Medjugorje visit from bishop Ratko Perić from Mostar Duvno, neither will resound for long:
"I regret it that the Cardinal with its visit, his appearance and his explanations added the present suffering of the local Church anew, which does not contribute to the necessary peace and to the Diocese.“
Cardinal Schoenborn plans to return to Medjugorje.
Despite actual Vatican condemnation of the priest chiefly associatd with this "Apparition", the Cardinal actually intends on creating quite a bit of a fuss. The Catholic Online report reads:
The Catholic Review Online, the Baltimore Diocesan Newpaper has this interesting piece of information to add to the rest, despite going on a bit about the good things that are attributed to the shrine, which may, it is not reported, have more to do with the intention of the pilgrims and the pre-existing shrine than the things that Fr. Vlasic and the Seers are up to.
Kreuz.de Commentary
While photos are being published of the Vienese Cardinal in Medjugorje, there was a protest in Vienna.
It was directed against the honouring of a notorious child slaughterhouse by the unscrupulous Viennese blood-mayor.
The old liberal and politically devious Archbishop of Vienna, Christoph Cardinal Schönborn did everything in order to put stones in the way of the Catholic supervisors of the demonstration.
He even forbade admitting Salzburg's Bishop Andreas Laun to participate in the demonstration against the infamous commemoration.
In a private discussion the Cardinal explained himself in this way: „I won't permit in any event a bishop to drive here from three hundred kilometers away into my Diocese and blame the mayor.“
The Bishop obeyed.
Why, however, does Cardinal Schönborn travel 800 kilometers, in order to incite unrest in another Diocese: was it clear from the beginning that it would stir a wasp's nest?
The answer is found fast.
A goal of this exercise of the old liberal of a Cardinal was to pull disappointed neoconservative Catholics over the table.
Because in the meantime the most naive neoconservative truth denier must have recognized that Cardinal Schönborn works against the Church.
In December 2004 he stabbed the pro-life organization `Youth for Life' in the back, when it demonstrated against the introduction of the child slaughter at the Salzburg national hospital.
In October 2005 the sacrilegious pancake Consecration was effected by the Cardinal followed during one of his youth fairs.
In February 2006 Cardinal Schönborn permitted a homo-perverse mating in his Cathedral blessing.
In the December of the same year he defended deprivation of fluids and sustenance for the terminally ill.
When Catholics demonstrated in February 2007 before a child slaughterhouse in a Viennese shopping center, Cardinal Schönborn as expected, stabbed them into the back.
Then the inexpressible exhibition in the Viennese Cathedral museum in March 2008, which showed the Apostles as homo-perverse piglets and Christ as bound masochist with an erection.
Despite world-wide protests the Cardinal did not stop this outrage.
Besides he denied the Church's mission to convert the Jews in April 2008.
The award of the Papal Gregorian Medal followed to the baby-murdering, Viennese Ideologue, Comrade Renate Brown in June 2008.
As a Pope Benedikt XVI, highly regarded priest of Windischgarten, Mons. Gerhard Wagner, appointed to Linz Diocese, found Cardinal Schönborn in prominent place busily preventing his appointment.
In May 2009 the honoring of the Viennese Martyr Sister Restituta Kafka followed. You Cardinal, seemed to miss the demonic and bare breasted representation, which got the name in Vienna of "Prostituta".
But the Cardinal is smart enough, in order to know that its neoconservative bootlickers have a short memory and are stupid.
It is sufficient to throw to them a Medjugorje bone at his feet so that they forget the old liberal changes of the church in Austria, he has made.
After his Medjugorje journey the Viennese Cardinal can turn, therefore, again unimpaired to the cocktail parties with comrades and abortion politicians and work on the next plot against Catholics.
Because the neoconservative dullards are for a further seven years in the seventh Medjugorje heaven.
However, the resounding slap, which the Cardinal received after his Medjugorje visit from bishop Ratko Perić from Mostar Duvno, neither will resound for long:
"I regret it that the Cardinal with its visit, his appearance and his explanations added the present suffering of the local Church anew, which does not contribute to the necessary peace and to the Diocese.“
Cardinal Schoenborn plans to return to Medjugorje.
Despite actual Vatican condemnation of the priest chiefly associatd with this "Apparition", the Cardinal actually intends on creating quite a bit of a fuss. The Catholic Online report reads:
In a statement posted on the website of the Diocese of Mostar-Duvno, Bishop Peric explained that Fr Vlasic has been reported to the CDF "for the diffusion of dubious doctrine, manipulation of consciences, suspicious mysticism, disobedience toward legitimately issued orders", and accusations of sexual immorality.
The Catholic Review Online, the Baltimore Diocesan Newpaper has this interesting piece of information to add to the rest, despite going on a bit about the good things that are attributed to the shrine, which may, it is not reported, have more to do with the intention of the pilgrims and the pre-existing shrine than the things that Fr. Vlasic and the Seers are up to.
Bishop Peric, who repeatedly has questioned the authenticity of the apparitions and struggled to limit the influence of religious living in the diocese without permission, issued a statement Jan. 2 saying that while he recognized the right of a cardinal to celebrate Mass anywhere in the world, “there also exists a certain etiquette in the church” that encourages a visiting cardinal to discuss a visit with the local bishop. He said neither the cardinal nor anyone from his office contacted him.
In addition, Cardinal Schonborn’s visits to unauthorized religious communities “could be interpreted as supportive,” Bishop Peric said.
Boston College Feminist Dies
Mary Daly was a force for changing attitudes and diminishing the importance of the Catholic Faith at this Jesuit school. The editorial remarks about her contribution to the "vibrant debate". It's difficult to surmise from reading the article or assessing some of her positions just how her contribution was "vibrant", but the article is correct in that it identifies her presence as a sign that Boston College is a liberal institution. How it is that a woman whose very presence championed the normalization of homosexuality at a Catholic institution is a very curious indicator, but that she did it is still further proof that this allegedly Catholic and Jesuit institution is far removed from the namesakes that inspired the brick and mortar to house generations of the surrounding flower of youth the Irish-Catholic community of Boston had to offer.
One Jesuit commenter, "aidan01" wrote:
It's hard to take seriously the author's previous statements about Daly being a "joke of a human being" and then going on to praise her for her talent as a scholar and her contribution, but it highlights the point of confusion. No doubt, despite the Jesuit's contention that Boston College did not damage his faith, he seems to suffer from that lack of integrity which comes as a result of not really believing in anything with any conviction. His attitude plays into the rationale that the presence of instructors like Daly enrich the experience in a spirited dialogue when most of the students graduating from Boston College don't have the fundamentals to know the Catholic Faith which is supposed to be the reason behind the College's existence in the first place.
Saying she was right about things doesn't address whether she should have been at a Catholic College in the first place, or whether or not she helps the students do anything more than realize the pure vanity of religion in the first place. The only thing we suspect she was right about was her opposition to the evils of co-education.
Requiem for a feminist - The Boston Globe
One Jesuit commenter, "aidan01" wrote:
As a male seminarian taking classes at B.C. in the eighties I recall that men were banned from Daly's class. Of course none of us were interested in trying to set up a private tutorial with her. We all thought Daly was a joke of a human being, and that B.C. had been corrupted by liberals and didn't have the spheres to boot her to the curb. Mary Daly was a sign of the decline of Boston College's standing in the Catholic World.
Years later, as a cynical move to impress a radical feminist professor, I cited one of Daly's works in a paper. To make sure the Prof. questioned my motives I also cited Mary Ann Glendon, the very conservative Harvard Professor, and former U.S. Ambassador to the Vatican. Interestingly, Daly and Glendon agreed completely in their blisteringly negative critiques of Shel Silverstein's "The Giving Tree", but Glendon was particularly cutting, and sounded even more "feminist" than Daly. Even the Professor was surprised by that. But, imagine my surprise when I couldn't put Daly's book down, even after writing the paper.
As strange and alienating as Mary Day was to many, she was a serious thinker and her ideas are worthy of consideration. [Really?] While reading her work did not push me to abandon my own thinking, or my faith, it did bring to light for me a perspective on the Church and Society that was illuminative and insightful. She was a very accomplished scholar, somewhat off the deep end, but she had insights that cannot be dismissed lightly, and she conveyed them with a wicked sense of humor. Mary was very funny, and when I think about her I have to smile because, although it kills me to admit it, her work contributed something significant and meaningful to my life.
It's hard to take seriously the author's previous statements about Daly being a "joke of a human being" and then going on to praise her for her talent as a scholar and her contribution, but it highlights the point of confusion. No doubt, despite the Jesuit's contention that Boston College did not damage his faith, he seems to suffer from that lack of integrity which comes as a result of not really believing in anything with any conviction. His attitude plays into the rationale that the presence of instructors like Daly enrich the experience in a spirited dialogue when most of the students graduating from Boston College don't have the fundamentals to know the Catholic Faith which is supposed to be the reason behind the College's existence in the first place.
Saying she was right about things doesn't address whether she should have been at a Catholic College in the first place, or whether or not she helps the students do anything more than realize the pure vanity of religion in the first place. The only thing we suspect she was right about was her opposition to the evils of co-education.
Requiem for a feminist - The Boston Globe
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Tea at Trianon: Cathar Country
A new book by Elena Maria Vida tells the story of the war against the Cathars.
The modern vampire fascination as with much else in Catharism also includes a radical connection to the dark and anarchic associations of witchcraft which have haunted Europe even before Simon Magus challenged St. Peter, the Priests of Baal tried to vie with Elija, or Moses set the power of God against the vain sorcery of Pharoh's priests. It's not suprising, as Tea at Trianon reports that there is a strange kind of fascination for the Cathars of the Languedoc who don't know the consolations of the Faith, but only the restless curiositas of frenetic modernity.
Tea at Trianon: Cathar Country
The modern vampire fascination as with much else in Catharism also includes a radical connection to the dark and anarchic associations of witchcraft which have haunted Europe even before Simon Magus challenged St. Peter, the Priests of Baal tried to vie with Elija, or Moses set the power of God against the vain sorcery of Pharoh's priests. It's not suprising, as Tea at Trianon reports that there is a strange kind of fascination for the Cathars of the Languedoc who don't know the consolations of the Faith, but only the restless curiositas of frenetic modernity.
Tea at Trianon: Cathar Country
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