Let the Mindless Knee-Jerk Reactions begin! Vicar says women should "obey husbands."

Guardian

It's suffragette city after all and many women and their sycophantic male allies will be calling for further amendations of the already heavily amendated King James version of the Bible.

You'd think people would be familiar with (I Cor. 14:34) and (Eph. 5:22) and (1 Cor 11:2-16) for that matter, and they're fairly clear, but so many modern women have a very hard time abiding by these Pauline admonitions.

The most clear way of attack, and one of the more common if disignuous is a resort to the argument by way of historicist readings of the texts.

A vicar has caused outrage among his congregation after urging women to "be silent" and "submit" to their husbands.

Angus MacLeay, rector of St Nicholas Church in Sevenoaks, Kent, made the comments, which some parishioners thought were more in keeping with a sermon from the dark ages than the modern Church of England, in a leaflet entitled "The Role of Women in the Local Church".

In it, he said women should "not speak" if asked a question that could be answered by their husbands and should "submit to their husbands in everything".

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h/t: pewsitter

US Catholic is styling its USCCB Seamless Garment

US Catholic writer Bryan Cones is angry about Deal Hudson's attacks on the USCCB for its relentless pandering on behalf of liberal social and political agendas.

One thing Mr. Cones doesn't seem to understand is the idea that we may not participate in a moral evil that good may come of it, as we do in the case of working with Planned Parenthood, and the Catholic idea of subsidiarity, which gets completely lost in the USCCB's breathless and sycophantic support of the neo-Marxist ideas promoted by the Democratic Party.

This is a pretty good example of the seamless garment argument created by one of the most heterodox champions of modernism in the American Church. It basically entails the mistaken idea that you can work with one anti-Catholic agenda and ignore another anti-Catholic agenda (Abortion rights movement, or Pro-homosexual movement), while the former is deceptively camouflaged as a Catholic position: in this case, the idea that the Catholic Church should support wealth confiscation (theft and envy)and present it, deceptively, as Charity.

Of course, the ecclesiastical hissy fit usually flows from this erroneous position in the typical manly response that goes like this:

Can we just be honest here? Deal Hudson is a Republican. He thinks everyone should be a Republican, and he thinks if you're a Catholic, you should be a Republican because the only issues you should ever cast a vote on are abortion and gay marriage (as if the GOP is really pure in practice on either of those issues). Abortion and gay marriage are, after all, why Jesus came to earth. And Catholics aren't allowed to take political action on any other pressing social issues that cause human beings to suffer and die until (1) abortion is illegal and (2) gay people aren't permitted any recognition in civil law for their relationships or families. Catholics should just vote for the GOP candidate and write a check to Catholic Charities in the meantime to help care for all those people that are left behind while we work on abortion and gay marriage.

Read the whole thing....

No, it's a Liger. Pope Celebrates Chinese New Year

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI welcomed the lunar new year and praised the spiritual and moral values of the Asian people who celebrate it.

The new lunar Year of the Tiger began Feb. 14 with festivities including fireworks displays, colorful processions, traditional dances and holiday food in many countries across the world.

"In various parts of Asia -- I think of China and Vietnam, for example -- and in many communities throughout the world, the lunar new year is celebrated today," he said.

"These are festive days, celebrated by these populations as a privileged opportunity to strengthen family and generational bonds," the pope said at his noon blessing.

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Vatican official says religious orders are in modern 'crisis'

You might say that it's an obvious thing to say, but the important thing in this case isn't what's being said so much as who's saying it. We can rest assured that a response will be forthcoming similar to the responses to other problems we've been seeing in the recent past.

Of course, not only is the Vatican looking at the failures, but it will be looking at the successes. Places like Collegeville, St. Meinrad's, the entire Jesuit Order, many Mendicant houses will be judged as failures, no incoming vocations, little or no definitive Catholic witness, frequent liturgical abuses and problems with sex abuse and homosexuality. These will be contrasted by the success stories at the FSSP, Spanish Carmelites, SSPX, Solesme Congregation of Benedictines and what underlies that, just the exact opposite of what you'll find with the liberal houses.

People don't want a flabby, do-nothing Catholicism that is securely and hypocritically aligned alongside the Goliaths of modern politics and Education. They want an ever youthful, manly and vibrant Catholicism that aligns itself alongside the Davids of the fullness of Catholic Educational tradition, the unapologetic proclamation of the Truths of the Catholic Faith and a politics that doesn't play the lapdog to Big Government liberals.

By John Thavis
Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- A top Vatican official said religious orders today are in a "crisis" caused in part by the adoption of a secularist mentality and the abandonment of traditional practices.

Cardinal Franc Rode, prefect of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, said the problems go deeper than the drastic drop in the numbers of religious men and women.

"The crisis experienced by certain religious communities, especially in Western Europe and North America, reflects the more profound crisis of European and American society. All this has dried up the sources that for centuries have nourished consecrated and missionary life in the church," Cardinal Rode said in a talk delivered Feb. 3 in Naples, Italy.

"The secularized culture has penetrated into the minds and hearts of some consecrated persons and some communities, where it is seen as an opening to modernity and a way of approaching the contemporary world," he said.

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Vatican confirms freedom of priests to celebrate Extraordinary Form whenever they like – no need for 'stable group'

Vatican confirms freedom of priests to celebrate Extraordinary Form whenever they like – no need for 'stable group'

Spread the word.

Good news from Rome: the Vatican has further underlined the freedom of priests to celebrate Mass in the Extraordinary Form whenever they choose. Two important points have been clarified by Ecclesia Dei, which will make it more difficult for the English, Welsh and above all Scottish bishops to stall the implementation of Summorum Pontificum:

1. A priest does NOT have to be approached by a “stable group” of the faithful in order to schedule a PUBLIC celebration of the Extraordinary Form – he may choose to do so, for example, in order to introduce his parishioners to this ancient form of the Roman Rite. Or because it’s his aunt’s birthday. Any reason, really.

2. A Mass in the Extraordinary Form may replace a regularly scheduled Mass in the Ordinary Form.

You can find more details of the Ecclesia Dei ruling here, on the excellent New Liturgical Movement blog. I do hope that priests will be encouraged by this document to exercise their full rights under Summorum Pontificum. I know of several instances in which British bishops are trying to undermine the Pope’s wishes, though I’m not going to go public where it would make the situation worse. But it is common knowledge that the situation is particularly serious is Scotland, where EF Masses are extremely rare and official claims that there is no demand for them need to be scrutinised very carefully, shall we say. More on that later.

Meanwhile, traditionalist priests and seminarians should take heart. Your hour is coming.

French Traditionalist Catholics Deal with "Kiss-in" at Notre Dame in Paris

French homosexuals planned a "kiss-in" on the steps of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris and this is what happened to them.

The police asked the homosexual demonstrators to kiss someplace else, considering the large and menacing crowds opposed to them, but some insisted on carrying through with their plan. This provocation was dealt with accordingly and a few of the Catholic youth went to jail but were released by evening.

The Growing Power of the Orthodox

MOSCOW, Russia — Priests serving with military units, religious classes in public schools, even blessings at national hockey games — this is the face of the new Russian Orthodox Church.

Following years of steady post-communism revival, the church saw an explosive growth in its activities and state role last year. Now critics warn that the growth is coming at the expense of religious freedom in the country, with many faiths under attack.

In an annual report on religious freedom released in late January, the Moscow-based Liberty of Conscience Institute said the relationship between the church and the state had become “symbiotic,” violating the constitution and leading to widespread discrimination against religious minorities.

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Second Theological Meeting being Held in Rome with the SSPX: Dici

The second theological meeting between Rome’s theologians and those of the SSPX was held on January 18 at the Vatican in the offices of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. The two parties, one of the participants told I. Media News, “have begun studying in depth the themes on the agenda for the doctrinal discussions.” No press release was issued on the occasion of the latest working session, as there had been for the preceding session, which was held on October 26, 2009. The next meeting will take place during the second half of the month of March, I. Media was also told.

During the sermon he gave during the priestly ordinations at the Seminary of La Reja in Argentina last 19 December, Msgr. Alfonso de Galarreta, who heads the Society of St. Pius X’s delegation, listed the subjects to be discussed in the forthcoming meetings: “all the themes we have been critiquing for forty years, especially religious liberty, the modern liberties, freedom of conscience, the dignity of the human person–as they say–the rights of man, personalism, ecumenism, interreligious dialogue, inculturation, collegiality–the egalitarianism, democratism, and destruction of authority that have been introduced into the Church; as well as all the notions of ecclesiology which have totally changed what the Church is: the question of the “self-consciousness” of the Church, the Church as communion, the Church as sacrament, the Church as the People of God; and all these new ideas about the relation between the Church and the world. Then there is the question of the Mass, the new Mass, the new missal, the liturgical reform…, and still other themes.” (See DICI No. 208, Jan. 23, 2010, pp. 10-11) [LINK]

While receiving in audience the members of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith last January 15, Benedict XVI justified the gesture made towards the Society of St. Pius X, and expressed his desire to see “the remaining doctrinal problems overcome” thanks to the work of the Congregation.

(DICI No. 209, Feb. 6, 2010.—sources: I.Media/Apic/private sources)

Link to original...

Diocese’s annual financial data grim | The Times Leader, Wilkes-Barre, PA

Diocese’s annual financial data grim | The Times Leader, Wilkes-Barre, PA

Pax Christi Plans Peace "Mass" in London

The annual liturgy of Repentance and Resistance to nuclear war preparations will take place in London at 3pm on Ash Wednesday, 17 February.

The gathering will meet in Embankment Gardens and process to the Ministry of Defence, in Horseguards Avenue where a liturgy with prayers, songs and symbolic actions will take place, calling on the government to give up nuclear weapons.

In is address to the Diplomatic Corps last Thursday, Pope Benedict said: "One of the most serious challenges is increased military spending and the cost of maintaining and developing nuclear arsenals. Enormous resources are being consumed for these purposes, when they could be spent on the development of peoples, especially those who are poorest. For this reason I firmly hope that, during the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference to be held this May in New York, concrete decisions will be made towards progressive disarmament, with a view to freeing our planet from nuclear arms."

The day is supported by Catholic Peace Action, Christian CND and Pax Christi.

For more information contact Pax Christi: 0208 203 4884 or see: www.paxchristi.org.uk



Link to article...

Irish Catholic Primate Advances Economic "Reform"

The Irish Cardinal Primate is eager to hail the Devolution of police and justice powers from London to Ireland, but he is just as eager to use this as an opportunity to advance the cause of greater government control over the economy. We hear, repeatedly, the summons from both individual prelates and national Bishop's conferences to greater government control of the economy. Their cheerleading for more socialism is not accompanied by any explanations, we're simply told that things like Healthcare Reform and federal stimulus packages are a good thing. What's worse is that the Bishops often tell us that they are pursuing "social justice" and "human rights" by helping and encouraging legislators to put still more restrictive chains on human endeavor and enterprise. Ironically, these government stimulus packages actually make people poorer in the long run by their hobby of promoting creeping Socialism.

Cardinal Seán Brady, Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland, has issued the following statement in response to the announcement of an agreement on the Devolution of Policing and Justice Powers to the Northern Ireland Assembly.

I warmly welcome the news that agreement has been reached on the devolution of policing and justice powers to the Northern Ireland Assembly and on a range of other issues. As a wider consultation on the proposals begins, my prayer is that everyone in our society will reflect on what has been agreed today with a spirit of generosity and concern for the good of the whole community.

Local politicians are best placed to deal effectively with the issues that most affect the day to day life of people in Northern Ireland, especially the need for a shared approach to policing, security and justice. We need an urgent and united effort to stimulate economic recovery, address social need, to ensure the best possible education provision for children and to build on the vast improvement in community relations which has taken place in recent years. We need to show to each other the spirit of neighbourliness, welcome and generosity which others from outside so often see and celebrate in us. A local devolved Executive, working efficiently and in partnership for the good of everyone in our society remains the most effective way of achieving this.

I want to express my particular hope that efforts to address the issue of parades will be met with generosity, sensitivity and a willingness to go beyond old ways of approaching each other on all sides. Respectful dialogue and a willingness to treat each other with dignity and respect have been shown time and time again to be the most effective way of resolving the issues which challenge our society. This remains the only way forward and the most effective way of refuting those who would wish to bring us back to the futility of violence and division.

independant catholic news...

Filipine Bishop Encourages Astrology

The Diocesan Newspaper reports, unwittingly, some more heresy from the Filipines

MANILA, February 12, 2010—The fact that the Chinese Lunar New Year falls on Valentine’s Day this year should all the more remind Filipino-Chinese Catholics to integrate their faith and Christ’s Gospel values to their culture and tradition.

Abra Bishop Leopoldo Jaucian reminded the Filipino-Chinese Catholic Community that the gift of life and love should always be attributed to God as the ultimate source of all creation—a basic Catholic teaching that he said should not be compromised given the nature of Chinese culture.

He goes on to say:

“God is present in other religion and culture so the belief in Feng Shui, Astrology, and praying at Buddhist temples should be perceived as instruments that all draws us closer to God. As such, we discourage too much dependence on culture especially up to the point that faith in God is compromised,” he said.

Jaucian also urged Filipino Catholics to understand and respect the Chinese’s way of life, adding that their Catholic faith should keep them united amid cultural differences.

“We should respect each otheir’s culture. Let us extend respect, understanding and solidarity to our Chinoy brothers and sisters so we can live harmoniously with each other,” he added. (Kris Bayos)

There can be no Grace in false religions and certainly, practicing astrology which is the occult practice of divination, is also well outside of Catholic belief.


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New Romero Musical

Nothing is guaranteed to undermine a subject more than its adaptation as a musical, here.

Vatican’s Cardinal Castrillón Hoyos Will Celebrate the First TLM at Shrine in 45 Years

Washington, DC- The Paulus Institute announced today that on Saturday, April 24, 2010, at 1 p.m., the fifth anniversary of inauguration of Pope Benedict XVI will be commemorated in the Great Upper Church of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, Washington DC, by a Pontifical Solemn High Mass in the “Extraordinary form”—commonly known as the “Traditional Latin Mass” or “Tridentine Mass”—celebrated by the Vatican prelate Darío Cardinal Castrillón Hoyos of Colombia.

This will be the first such Mass said at the Shrine’s High Altar in nearly 45 years. All Catholics are invited, many of whom may never have another opportunity to attend such a Mass. Cardinal Castrillón is the President Emeritus of the Vatican’s Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei (Church of God), where he assisted Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI in facilitating this form of the Mass.

In July of 2007 Pope Benedict issued the apostolic (papal) Summorum Pontificum (of the Supreme Pontiff), in which he confirmed the permissibility this Mass. It is one of the two uses of the same rite of the Eucharistic Liturgy, along with the Missal of Pope Paul VI in 1970 (the “Ordinary” form). Evolving since the early days of the Christian Church, the Mass was essentially in place by the 6th Century during the papacy of Pope St. Gregory the Great and codified by Pope St. Pius V in the 16th Century. It was last changed by Pope John XXIII in 1962 and so used during the Second Vatican Council. In 1984 Pope John Paul II permitted use of the Missal of John XXIII, and further facilitated it in 1988 and 1992. Pope Benedict noted that the Latin liturgy of the Church in each century of the Christian era “has been a spur to the spiritual life of many saints and reinforced many peoples in the virtue of religion and [facilitated] their piety,” adding, “What earlier generations held as sacred remains sacred for us too.”

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Not guilty plea in Egypt Copt trial | DumbAgent.com - Current Events

Not guilty plea in Egypt Copt trial | DumbAgent.com - Current Events

Florida Womenpriests are Excommunicate

The Diocese of Venice, Florida has issued an official explanation on the need of the members of this organization for "repentence" here on, Fratres.

Those who take part within the ceremony in any manner, as an immediate and direct consequence of their own actions, separate themselves from the Catholic Church by automatic excommunication. Especially grave, and beyond the usual paths of public repentance, conversion and forgiveness, are those instances in which really bad and awkward liturgical dance is admitted causing further harm and division within the community and greater public scandal.

We can think of a few obvious examples related to this Diocesan statement and are cautiously optimistic.

Related Article:

Women priests will no longer be contained.

Orthodox Metropolitan in Rome Affirms Belief in Extra Ecclesiam Nulla Salus

He was speaking with me about 45 minutes back outside the Basilica of San Clemente,Rome.He was there to attend a religious service of the Orthodox Bulgarian community in a side altar of the Church.

From Eucharist and Mission...

This salutary Dogma was also affirmed by the Holy Father and Cardinal Law in Rome, here.

Pope tells Rome's seminarians to apply missionary ‘dynamism’ to faith life :: Catholic News Agency (CNA)

Pope tells Rome's seminarians to apply missionary ‘dynamism’ to faith life :: Catholic News Agency (CNA)

Pope picks once-jailed cleric for Prague post

(AP) – 17 hours ago

VATICAN CITY — Pope Benedict XVI has picked a Czech bishop once jailed and forced into factory work under Communism to lead the Prague archdiocese.

The Vatican said Saturday that Monsignor Dominik Duka will replace retiring Cardinal Miloslav Vlk.

In 1975, Communist rulers of Czechoslovakia revoked Duka's authorization to serve as a priest and made him work nearly 15 years at the Skoda factory in Plzen as a designer.

The Dominican cleric secretly carried out his ministry, instructing novices and teaching theology. He was jailed in 1981-82.

Pope John Paul II, who was a Communist-era cleric in Poland, made Duka a bishop in 1998. Duka led the Hradec Kralove diocese.

Prague archbishops traditionally are cardinals, making it likely Duka, 66, will become one, too.

Copyright © 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

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Biography on the "real" John Paul II

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- When it was unveiled in late January, the insider book about the "real" Pope John Paul II looked at first glance like the Vatican's own effort at a pre-beatification biography.

But as the fallout over the next two weeks made clear, the Vatican was not directly involved. Nor was everyone happy that the book was co-authored by the official postulator, or promoter, of Pope John Paul's sainthood cause, using information that is generally considered confidential.

In addition, several officials thought the book's simple presentation of the late pope's reported penitential practices, with little explanation or context, was unwise and counter-productive.

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Linz Communications Director Sacked

LINZ, Austria, February 12, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Ferdinand Kaineder, the former communications chief and spokesman of the diocese of Linz, Austria, has been sacked as part of an agreement reached between the diocese and a group of the faithful who have campaigned for reforms in the diocese. Kaineder has been the focus of criticism for some years as the spokesman for Linz, known internationally as the most liberal of the ultra-liberal European Catholic dioceses.

The “Church Faithful Prayer Initiative,” formed in October 2009, organized a boycott of funds, urging churchgoers to deposit their church tax contributions into a trust fund instead of putting them in collection baskets. Over a period of three years, about 350 parishioners placed 50,000 Euros (US $68,000) into an escrow account, while they demanded the resignation of Kaineder.

“The sacking of Mr. Kaineder was a minimal requirement that we have stated since the end of 2006,” said Gernot Steier, a spokesman for the group and an attorney in Neulengbach in Lower Austria. German media reports that the money has now been transferred to the diocese, with one third of 25,000 Euros reportedly donated to the pro-life movement, Human Life International, and Youth for Life.

In 2006 Kaineder brought down the ire of faithful Catholics when his communications office issued a CD for young people on sexuality, which included information on acquiring contraception and links to websites promoting abortion and the homosexualist agenda.

Kaineder was removed as spokesman for the diocese in July 2009, but was retained on the payroll as “emeritus” head of the communications department. Bishop Ludwig Schwarz was criticized for doing nothing about the Youth CD and for offering Kaineder other positions within the diocese.

Kaineder complained in the press of a “smear campaign” launched against him by “ultra-conservatives” in the diocese, including the internet group Kath.net, who he said has close ties to the Vatican.

“It was always known to me that they worked together,” Kaineder said. “It appeared to me that the information channels between Rome and kath.net functioned well. I believe also that these channels are responsible for my sacking.”

Now Bishop Schwarz is now being accused on the left of bowing to pressure from “ultra-conservatives” in the Church. The notoriously liberal international group We Are Church, said, “The Catholic Church is being held hostage by conservative forces.”

But the Church Faithful Prayer Initiative, the managers of the trust fund, defended their actions saying, “When the chief marketing officer of a company does not know his company’s own product, then he is not doing his duty. So too, if the head of communications of the diocese, which represents the teachings of the Catholic Church, is wrong.”

Link to original...

Bishops: Romero should [not] be canonised - Catholic Herald Online

Bishops: Romero should be canonised - Catholic Herald Online

Thousands of miles from El Salvador, fellow travellers in the British Hierarchy celebrate Masses in his honor and advocate for his canonization despite his controversial political views. Marxist political views which are as they were the day he died, irreconcileable with the Catholic Faith.

We don't see why a man who wanted to confiscate other people's money and spend it on ineffective social programs should enjoy the honor of being named a Saint. Unfortunately for exponents of this avid socialist, there are still a number of people who remember +Romero for what he was, a socialist agitator and a useful tool to Soviet interests.

Our Lady of the Annunciation in Clear Creek Elevated to an Abbey

Our Lady of the Annunciation in Clear Creek Elevated to an Abbey

Catholics in Costa Rica outraged by disrespect toward Eucharist :: Catholic News Agency (CNA)

Catholics in Costa Rica outraged by disrespect toward Eucharist :: Catholic News Agency (CNA)

Bishop Morin Honors Socialist Head of LA CCHD

Bishop Morin, subcommittee head of the USCCB organ overseeing the CCHD, who has been having a lot of problems with telling the truth lately, has honored "social justice" activist who is, coincidentally, the kind of person who takes Catholic's money to fund things that have almost nothing to do with Catholicism. The interfaith agendas she supports may advance Alinskyite social-justice and professional activists who are alien to and hostile to the Catholic Faith, but they are certainly dishonest.

If it weren't bad enough that Bishop Morin is honoring a woman who heads the CCHD in Cardinal Mahony's Archdiocese, but the Harper is herself an avid "Community Organizer" in the Alinksyite vein, and like Cesar Chavez, eager to champion the rights of oppressed workers. The benefit to the workers might be in question, but her political and religious allegiance is not.

For we can certainly question the wisdom of being involved in an labor dispute as part of a Union agenda where Harper was arrested at the Hilton Hotel worker's dispute in 2008, but Harper provided funds for CLUE (Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice), which is a "multi-faith" (you know what that means) organization headed by Rabbi Jonathan Klein who is a "community organizer" and is "passionate" about the environment. We think you all know what a "Community Organizer" is by now. You might ask yourself why Klein, whose pacifist anti-Catholic agenda the CCHD supports, is such an avid Obama supporter who craves after socialized medicine almost as much as the USCCB does.

Is it any suprise that Rabbi Klein is pro-homosexual as well? He writes in defense of homosexuality and attacking free speech in the following paragraph in 2006, here:

I cannot believe the audacity and harm imposed upon us by the Daily Trojan when the editors decided, in the name of a "free press," to print bigoted hate diatribes in the letters to the editor on Thursday. To add insult to injury, Friday's editorial defends that poor decision, arguing that it is legitimate to attack gays since millions of Americans are in their estimations anti-gay. Since many Americans consider a sexual orientation other than heterosexual as immoral, the Daily Trojan argues, it is just fine if a student writes that a gay man’s “lifestyle is sinful, unhealthy and unnatural.” Preposterous!

Like the Communists of old, Harper attacks her accusers with emotional arguments attempting to portray them as mean-spirited and out of touch, but unfortunately for her, their criticisms are quite apt in her case.

"God had a plan for me that didn't include the Peace Corps in Honduras as I thought at the ripe age of 31 but rather a wonderful marriage with three fantastic children," said Harper. "It is through [my husband's] love and the encouragement of my adult children that my ministry 'out there' becomes celebrated and nourished at home."

Acknowledging the pain generated by recent "vicious attacks" accusing CCHD of knowingly and willfully funding groups in opposition to Catholic teaching,[True and justified attacks] Harper commented: "I guess we can take some comfort in knowing that we are doing a good job --- we are ruffling feathers --- and therefore we must be effective. But that only slightly eases the pain of these lies and mis-truths."

"This award today," she said, "is really for all of us --- for our ministry, for our dedication, for staying in the struggle�. I thank God for all of you, knowing we walk this path together."

Link to The Tidings...

Reflections on the Liturgy

by Jonathan Bennett

The sacred mysteries on Earth are reflections, shadows of the ineffable mysteries of the faith, and allow the senses something of a taste of that which cannot truly be perceived by the senses- the incomprehensible is made comprehensible to the limited capacities of man's condition through the rites of the Church. Herein we encounter the commerce of Heaven and Earth, the natural and the supernatural, where, as God was made Man so that man might know God, the faith becomes manifest in tangible forms so we might know the faith.

The liturgy is meant to give a temporal vision of Heaven. How could the sublime and complex rites of the sacred ministers- clothed in sumptuous vestments, bathed in clouds of incense and illuminated by innumerable candles- as they attend to the altar amidst the celestial hosts brought forth in lavish iconography, to the voices of a multitude of choirboys raised in the ancient chants which echo the never-ending praise of the seraphim surrounding the Throne of God, not impose itself in a most magnificent way upon the mind and the senses? Is this not a foretaste-though still inadequate by far- of the Beatific Vision, of eternal contemplation of God?

What a difference then is the state of the liturgy in our own times. Even amongst many traditionalists the liturgy is the subject of much sad neglect. When the priest stomps about the sanctuary in muddy boots, vested in cheap polyester vestments, speeding through the Latin prayers and performing his sacred office in a manner so routine as to strip it of all outward dignity, within a church lacking in any beauty or adornment (or if there is an actual attempt at artwork and ornamentation it is gaudy and banal), the faithful may perhaps be excused for hearing Mass not out of piety but out of obligation, whilst the Divine Offices are relegated to the private prayers of the clergy (meant to sanctify every hour of the day, they are more often than not said all at once, or in two or three sittings at convenient times) and all but ignored by laity.

This of course is neglect in the extreme and not a general accusation, and in some cases more reflective of local conditions than intent, but serves to illustrate to what extent the liturgical patrimony of the Church may be diminished. In other cases it is most certainly intended (the author himself has heard, on no small number of occasions, diatribes against great solemnity and lavish ceremony, interestingly much akin to similar arguments from the Jansenists of previous centuries) and there are those who would pride themselves on the trappings of a persecuted sect- hurried Low Masses at ungodly hours of the day, in tiny isolated chapels, with plain vestments and vessels- out of choice rather than necessity. It might be well to recall the Curé D' Ars, the most austere of priests for whom the vestments could not be rich enough, nor the sacred vessels ornate enough for the service of the altar.

Perhaps what has suffered most from this liturgical minimalism is the Church's immense treasury of music. Not only is the full repertoire of Gregorian chant neglected- in efforts to maintain congregational singing, an early twentieth century novelty for most of the Latin Church, it is often the most simple chant settings which are employed- but choral and polyphonic compositions are regarded as too complex and time consuming for choirs to manage (in fact many Masses and individual pieces were written for a small number of voices for the very purpose of making them accessible to smaller choirs) while orchestral settings, such as those by Haydn, Mozart and Gounod, are unthinkable. Even organ preludes and interludes (not to mention the full organ Masses of the French tradition) are frowned upon in some locales, reputedly for "distracting" the faithful from prayer. Choirs themselves have long been bereft of their hierarchal structure and laicized (no longer even to be found in the actual 'choir' of the church, but in the loft), and in all but a precious few cases have abandoned the once-proud tradition of boy choristers in favor of women to provide the higher voices.

In a like manner has art and architecture declined. From the modernist extreme- that is, those churches of recent decades which on first glance would make one think an airplane crashed into a museum of modern art- many traditionalists have fled to another entirely, in the form of chapels better suited to the Amish than Catholics. Is the answer to near sacrilege (or worse, as exemplified by some of the recent additions to the Stephansdom in Vienna) really to be found in iconoclasm? Fortunately those who really believe so are likely a minority; unfortunately however the majority appears to find their answer deep in the tradition of that golden age of Elvis, poodle skirts and Americanism- the 1950s, from whence comes those almost-infuriatingly cutesy depictions of the Blessed Virgin and the saints, and statuary which resembles sugar candy. Your humble writer finds himself at loss as to whether or not he should concede the excuse that gaudy is better than nothing in that same capacity for which the Church was once the greatest patron of all the arts.

Of course such excuses hinge on two oft-spoken claims. First, that it is just not possible to have "nice things" in this day and age. Tasteful art, let alone entire churches, is a hefty expense and decent choirs demand an amount of time and effort nobody seems to have. That is to say, idealism be damned, it is just not practical to expect such things even if the faithful would treble their efforts should they be made to know just what might come it. Second, that doctrinal orthodoxy is superior to external form, and that this somehow justifies liturgical minimalism. To the former, the author answers that it is better to trust in Providence than to trust in fatalism. To the latter, that the faith cannot be made distinct from form and action- liturgical form is the faith made manifest and is inherently to doctrinal orthodoxy.

In bygone days it was a noted fact that even some of the worst of sinners and the most lacking in faith would attend the liturgy, if not for any remnant of pious inclinations then for the aesthetic beauty of the ritual. Contrary to the belief that the sacraments are rewards for the faithful and virtuous and that the Mass is the privilege of an initiate few, is it not to be hoped that simply being in the presence of the celebration of the sacred mysteries might produce medicinal effect and that these persons may receive even a small amount of grace? Though the very same may be said for all- truly blessed is he who has such faith that it does not need to be strengthened by anything external. Here we perhaps see a part of the motivation of our ancestors in all those centuries of building massive, opulent churches filled with imagery and statues and such things as to delight the mind and raise it from the drudgery of life to thoughts of the supernatural.

What this inadequate and humble writer dares to suggest is that crucial to restoring all things in Christ is the restoration of a liturgical spirituality which sees the august rites of the Church as the living manifestation, the resplendent garb of the Catholic faith and the theurgic act which elevates the mind and soul beyond this mortal coil and brings us into the very presence of God. This demands a perception of the liturgy as something no less than the centerpiece of a Christian society, the fountainhead of all art, the sanctifier of every aspect of earthly life and the means through which we may enter into eternal life, worthy of all the pomp and splendor it is possible to bestow upon it.

Posted on the Feast of the Seven Holy Founds of the Order of the Servants of the Blessed Virgin Mary, a.D. MMX

Catholic Church’s mission is to continue work of Jesus Christ, Archbishop Niendstedt explains :: Catholic News Agency (CNA)

Catholic Church’s mission is to continue work of Jesus Christ, Archbishop Niendstedt explains :: Catholic News Agency (CNA)

It's hard to tell whether or not Fr. Kung actually believes in the Resurrection or some kind of collective sense of the story's "truth" in a superhistorical sense. Kung denied biblical inerrancy before he wrote "The Church" and has often been a steadfast enemy of the Church, so in one sense it's suprising to hear the Archbishop cite him, however much we might agree with the sentences themselves, we should not overlook the fact that Kung himself was a modernist and liable not to attribute historicity to the Gospel narrative.

He quoted from “The Church,” a work of theologian Fr. Hans Kung authored before his more controversial writings:

“…without the raising of Jesus from the dead the community of believers, the Church, is meaningless. Only the certainty that the Crucified Christ lives on as the Risen Christ, glorified by God, gives us the solution to the riddle of Jesus as a person and makes the Church possible and real.”

The first Christian disciples’ affirmation of this faith gave birth to a new community which celebrated the “breaking of the bread” with “glad hearts,” Fr. Kung wrote, quoting Acts 2.

The theologian said this new group was an “eschatological community of salvation.” He used the theological word for “last things” such as heaven, hell, the general judgment of mankind by God, and the resurrection of the body.

Archbishop Nienstedt explained that the source of the Church’s mission is the conviction that Christ is risen and fully alive and present to the community of believing Christians

But he also says:

The prelate then cited Jesus’ words in Matthew 28: “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you, and behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.”

Pakistani Presbyterian bishop to help prosecute leading jurist for murder of Catholic girl :: Catholic News Agency (CNA)

Pakistani Presbyterian bishop to help prosecute leading jurist for murder of Catholic girl :: Catholic News Agency (CNA)

Millennial Catholics’ interest in religious education a good sign, survey suggests :: Catholic News Agency (CNA)

Millennial Catholics’ interest in religious education a good sign, survey suggests :: Catholic News Agency (CNA)

Patrick Kennedy will not run for Re-election.

Still another casualty of the Democratic effort to give us socialized medicine. Would that the USCCB would start dropping off like this and annoucing that they are retiring due to family commitments.

Remember, Kennedy was the one who got a catechism lesson from Bishop Tobin.

Conservative Episcopalians are Staying Put

Speaking at the Anglican Communion Institute's conference in Dallas, February 5-6, Bishop James Stanton, Dallas and Bishop Bruce McPherson, Western Louisiana, told delegates that they intended to remain in The Episcopal Church (TEC).

Despite disagreement with TEC over openly gay clergy, Stanton stated, "This diocese is not on the verge of leaving anything." However, the Dallas bishop admitted that "the bonds of communion have been stretched to breaking point" and that he was "concerned about the legal cases."

According to Stanton these are unjustified because TEC has no right to sue dioceses for acting independently. Quoting the Rt. Rev. Alexander Garrett, first Bishop of Dallas, Stanton said that a diocese is "an independent and sovereign state."

Read further....

George Weigel has a new Book: Reality

A new Bestseller from Papal biographer, George Weigel, a book, that gives an answer to critics with the 10 most important points of disagreement with the Church today.

[Linz] Does belief participiate in freedom? Do Catholics hate the body? Is the Church anti-Democratic? If the discussions around the Catholic Church happen, there are always the same arguments. George Weigel, who wrote the Papal Biography (Witness to Hope. John Paul II.) and most well known Catholic publicist in the USA, has developed responsees to the 10 most important questions. Without polemics he lays out the Catholic view of things. Thereby he shows: the Catholic Church doesn't live according to restrictions. On the contrary: It gives belief to true freedom. It's a book with good arguments for believers and skeptics alike.

Link to original at kathnet....

100s Show up to Celebrate Mandela's release with Marxist ANC

Thousands of South Africans were today marking the 20th anniversary of Nelson Mandela's walk to freedom after 27 years as the world’s most famous political prisoner.

Dozens of leading figures from the African National Congress (ANC) and liberation struggle stalwarts marched out of the gates of Victor Verster prison, since renamed the Drakenstein Correctional Centre, this morning in an emotional re-enactment of Mr Mandela’s march, which signalled the end of apartheid.

Mr Mandela, now a frail 91-year-old, did not attend the celebrations, although a huge bronze statue of him marching from jail, fist pumping the air, formed a fitting backdrop for the ANC figures to address the faithful.

Mr Mandela is expected to attend a session of parliament later today.

Link to original...

Please join us in a resounding chorus of "Kill the White People".

Catholicism is Scotland's Leading Religion

SCOTLAND has become more Roman Catholic than Protestant, with its congregations now outnumbering the Kirk for the first time since records began.

Figures compiled by the independent group Christian Research reveal that in 2005 the number of Catholics who went to Mass surpassed those who attended Church of Scotland services.

A total of 215,000 Catholics went to church, compared with only 20
ADVERTISEMENT8,400 attending the Church of Scotland.

Attendances at both churches – and all other Christian denominations – are falling however, and the group predicts that by 2010, the number of Scots going to church on a Sunday will fall below 10% of the population for the first time from 751,100 in 1990 to 457,600 in 2015.

The change is due to the huge numbers of Catholic Polish immigrants who are boosting church attendance, raising numbers by some 50,000 people since the last time figures were published in 2002.

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Father Fessio on Dr. McInerny

http://insightscoop.typepad.com/2004/2010/02/fr-joseph-fessio-on-dr-ralph-mcinerny.html

Western Civilization on Trial: Why We Should Be Watching Geert Wilders

Western Civilization on Trial: Why We Should Be Watching Geert Wilders

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Senator Wilson, Architect of the Afghan War is Dead, RIP

[Telegraph] Charlie Wilson, the Texan Democrat who championed covert CIA support for Afghan fighters battling Soviet troops in the 1980s and whose life was chronicled in a Hollywood film, has died. He was 76.

The controversial former congressman, known as “Good-time Charlie” for his hard-partying ways, died of a heart attack in a Texas hospital late yesterday. Mr Wilson died after having difficulty breathing after attending a meeting in the eastern Texas town where he lived, according to a hospital spokeswoman. He was pronounced dead on arrival, and the preliminary cause of death was cardiopulmonary arrest.

Mr Wilson served 12 consecutive terms in the House of Representatives, and was also known as the "Liberal from Lufkin," the town in mostly conservative east Texas where he lived.

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Photo: Marcy Nighswander/AP

Cardinal Mahony Blogs about New Missal

The Bishops of eleven English-speaking countries have completed a new English translation of the Latin Roman Missal, Editio tertia, and the new English Roman Missal is under final review at the Vatican.

The new Missal will be the first new translation since the current Missal was published in 1974 -- some 36 years ago.

It is anticipated that the new English Roman Missal will begin full use on the First Sunday of Advent, 2011 -- less than two years from now.

Since the 1974 version was translated in haste, there were many errors in the translation which rendered the Missal inaccurate in many places.

The Archdiocese of Los Angeles just completed a series of Workshops for all of our priests to inform them about the coming new Missal, reasons for changes, and a good grounding in the efforts taken to produce a Missal which is more theologically correct.

A whole series of Workshops are being planned for everyone involved in the planning and celebration of the Eucharist: permanent deacons, parish liturgy committees, members of the various ministries, and the like. As we get closer to the launch of the new Missal, we will have several weeks of catechesis for all our people about the new Missal and the changes which will affect them in their responses at Mass.

There are two websites which contain a lot of background and information on the new English Missal. I recommend these two:

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops:
www.usccb.org/romanmissal

The Federation of Diocesan Liturgical Commissions:
www.fdlc.org/roman_missal.htm

The coming months will be very important to the life of the Church in the English-speaking world, and I encourage all of us to become as informed as we can about the new English Roman Missal.

Linke to California Catholic...

Link to +Mahony blog, here.

At War with the USCCB Part II: Follow Up

Renew America

The following statement, provided to me by Stephen Phelan, communications director of Human Life International and spokesman for the Reform CCHD Now coalition, is a follow-up to my previous column.

'It is unfortunate that John Carr has publicly complained about how the coalition did not come to him first about the most recent charges, when, as Rob Gasper points out, he has to date refused to meet with us to discuss any of this. It is his (and other CCHD leadership's) intransigence which has forced this public and growing campaign. It is also unfortunate that he defends himself from a charge that we haven't made — that his pro-life beliefs are in question — while ignoring and leading others to ignore the actual, well-documented charges.

'Perhaps most troubling, however, is that while Mr. Carr and other defenders of the CCHD publicly complain that our charges are baseless and unfair, they and their partners silently 'scrub' their Web sites of the evidence which substantiates the charges. Since the last round of reports, several links in the reports now go to pages that are suddenly password-protected, or that go to pages other than ones originally linked.

'The opportunity for CCHD and USCCB executives to get out in front of this growing scandal and embrace renewal of this crucial Catholic program is still possible. We stand ready to support, as we have in the past, anyone who is doing the right thing, as several dioceses are now doing. There is real reform happening on the local level, but it's sad that these dioceses have had to distance themselves from the national CCHD in order to do this.

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Bishop Vasa Cautiously Critical of USCCB

WASHINGTON, D.C., February 10, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Bishop Robert Vasa of Baker, Oregon has cautiously expressed concern after reports this week that the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) is listed as a member of a coalition that promotes homosexual “rights” and access to abortion.

In a Monday article, Deal Hudson of Inside Catholic pointed out the USCCB's membership in the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights (LCCR), a coalition of nearly 200 national 'civil and human rights' organizations, founded in 1950, that coordinates national lobbying efforts for its members. The minimum annual dues to join LCCR is $1,000, though that grows with the size of the organization.

One of the coalition's focus issues is “LGBT rights”, and, as Hudson reveals, their website provides evidence of the organization's deliberate thwarting of pro-life efforts and their support for organizations and legislation that facilitate abortion.

Responding to the evidence, Bishop Vasa told LifeSiteNews: “I am not well enough versed in the 'politics' of such associations to make any criticism of the motives or justifications which might be provided but, on the face of it, I would have to agree that support of this organization and an active endorsement of its principles and purposes would appear to be problematic.”

As Hudson reported, Lisa Haywood, LCCR's membership services director, confirmed that members "must share LCCR's principles and purposes." These include recognizing “equal rights, equal opportunities and equal justice” based on a number of grounds, including “sexual orientation.”

Read further...

Church may split over women bishops and gay priests, warns Rowan Williams -Times Online

Church may split over women bishops and gay priests, warns Rowan Williams -Times Online

Pope extols St. Anthony of Padua's insights on prayer :: Catholic News Agency (CNA)

Pope extols St. Anthony of Padua's insights on prayer :: Catholic News Agency (CNA)

New President to Be Inaugurated at Thomas Aquinas Colege - Catholic Online

New President to Be Inaugurated at Thomas Aquinas Colege - Catholic Online

Cardinal George Denounces New Ways Ministry

Cardinal George Denounces “New Ways Ministry” as Pseudo-Catholic Organization

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Vatican Official Calls for 'Ecumenical Catechism'

A senior Vatican official called on Monday (Feb. 8) for "an ecumenical catechism" setting forth the common beliefs of the Catholic and major Protestant churches.

Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, announced the proposal at a Vatican symposium with representatives of the Anglican, Lutheran, Methodist and Reformed churches.

Citing the need for an "ecumenism of basics that identifies, reinforces and deepens the common foundation" of Christianity, Kasper said that the proposed catechism would be written "in consultation with our partners," according to a report by Catholic News Service


Link to original....

Costa Rican president-elect praises Catholic values and teachings :: Catholic News Agency (CNA)

If he keeps this up, he'll get assassinated.

Costa Rican president-elect praises Catholic values and teachings :: Catholic News Agency (CNA)

Distancing from an Attack on Carr

Renew America

Matt C.Abbott

Would it be best for the Catholic Church in the U.S. (and Rome, for that matter) if the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops were to be dismantled? I say yes, but more on that a bit later.

First, there have been a few interesting developments in the ongoing Catholic Campaign for Human Development controversy.

From a Feb. 5 LifeSiteNews.com story (excerpted; click here for the article in its entirety):

'Various offices of the U.S. Bishops Conference (USCCB) have reacted to the two new reports issued by the Reform CCHD Now coalition (RCN) this week, but the reactions, claims RCN, have not addressed the core message of their reports.

'While RCN has offered evidence that 31 CCHD grantees are partnered with a pro-abortion and homosexualist group, the Center for Community (CCC), and that two USCCB officials have served on the same group's board, the reactions have focused primarily on defending the pro-life beliefs of one of those officials — John Carr, who, as executive director of the USCCB's Department of Justice, Peace, and Human Development, oversees the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD).

'The report on Carr's involvement in CCC was received by some as questioning Carr's personal pro-life convictions. However, RCN says that the reports in question — one from American Life League (ALL) and another from the Bellarmine Veritas Ministry (BVM) — specified that they were not questioning Carr or any USCCB staffer's personal stance on pro-life.

'Immediately after the issuing of the reports Monday, a line supporting CCC was quietly removed from the CCHD Web site. Not so quiet, however, was the backlash against the perceived attack on Carr....

'While RCN coalition members said they were pleased to hear these affirmations of Carr's pro-life stance, they also said they were concerned with what they called 'false' accusations from other officials which, they said, led even bishops to misconstrue their actions and intentions....

'Michael Hichborn of RCN member ALL told LSN today that, 'We never once alleged that John Carr promotes abortion and homosexual agendas, and all of our public commentary verifies this.' Hitchborn added, 'In fact, in the initial report that I wrote, I specifically stated that we are not questioning the pro-life convictions of John Carr or anyone he works with.'

'In Carr's response to the RCN reports, he reiterated his pro-life convictions and accused RCN members of not contacting him prior to releasing their reports, saying that 'Neither the American Life League nor the Bellarmine Institute contacted me, CCHD or the bishops' conference before making these accusations.'

'But Hichborn claims that Carr's accusation is 'false.' Rob Gasper, head of RCN member BVM said, 'Carr has stated on multiple occasions that he will not meet or discuss issues with either ALL or [Human Life International].' Gasper added, 'The information in the BVM report should not have come as a surprise since it was primarily discussing information released well over two months ago'....'

Read further...

Vatican Consultant Responds to 'Completely Ignorant' IPPF Accusation

LONDON, UK, February 9, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A legal consultant to the Vatican has sharply criticized a recent report by the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) that takes aim at the Catholic Church's teaching on sexuality.

In a report entitled "Stand and Deliver," the international abortion giant attacks the influence of religious values on young peoples' attitude toward sexuality, saying such institutions "deny the pleasurable and positive aspects of sex" and block "information and services" about sex - presumably sex education, contraceptives, and abortion.

"Young people’s sexuality is still contentious for many religious institutions. Fundamentalist and other religious groups - the Catholic Church and madrasas (Islamic schools) for example - have imposed tremendous barriers that prevent young people, particularly, from obtaining information and services related to sex and reproduction," it states.

Link to original...

False Compassion Killing Children

ROME, February 9, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Catholic Church is suffering from one of the modern world’s most dangerous philosophical errors - that of false compassion, says Michel Schooyans, one of Europe’s leading philosophical minds.

In a new essay, Schooyans writes that the corruption of compassion has created a climate in which it is anathema to condemn the killing of children by abortion and, more recently, by post-natal infanticide. It also has led, he says, to the abolition of the traditional definition of marriage; the spread of AIDS through the “safe sex” doctrine; and a resurgence of the deadly eugenics policies of the early 20th century. (Read the complete essay here)

“Pseudo-compassion,” Schooyans writes, “leads to heresy and division within the Church, because it incites the faithful to deviate from a non-negotiable element of the doctrine of the Church: the duty to respect innocent life.

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Vatican Tempests. The Academy for Life Puts Its Neck on the Line

ROME, February 8, 2010 – In a few days, from February 11 to 13, a meeting will be held at the Vatican of the pontifical academy for life, the president of which is Archbishop Salvatore Fisichella (in the photo).

The meeting promises to be a stormy one. Some of the members of the academy are openly questioning whether Fisichella is fit to be president. Foremost among them is Monsignor Michel Schooyans, Belgian, professor emeritus of the Catholic University of Louvain, a respected specialist in anthropology, political philosophy, bioethics. He is a member of three pontifical academies: for social sciences, of Saint Thomas Aquinas, and – most relevant here – for life. Pope Joseph Ratzinger knows and admires him. In 1997, as cardinal prefect of the congregation for the doctrine of the faith, he wrote a preface to one of his books: "L'Évangile face au désordre mondial."

In view of the meeting, Schooyans has written a scathing critique of the "trap" into which he believes also Fisichella has fallen: the deceptive use of the concept of "compassion."

Link to original...

The Pope Says the Church will always Condemn Abuse

Pope Benedict XVI has condemned the abuse of children by priests, saying the church will never stop deploring such behaviour. For centuries, the Catholic Church has shown its commitment to loving and respecting children and ensuring their basic human rights are respected, Benedict told members of the Vatican's Pontifical Council for the Family.

"Unfortunately in some cases, some of its members - acting in contrast to this commitment - have violated these rights, a behaviour that the church hasn't, and won't ever stop deploring and condemning," he said on Monday.

http://www.theage.com.au/world/pope-benedict-xvi-condemns-child-abuse-by-priests-20100209-nnom.html
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

The Malthusian Ricky Gervais

Catholic News | Archbishop: Humanity Must Build Future 'Free of Nuclear Threat' | American Catholic

Catholic News | Archbishop: Humanity Must Build Future 'Free of Nuclear Threat' | American Catholic



More cold-war style agit-prop from the leftists in the Episcopacy. When will they stop using their offices to satisfy socialists and in this case, in a cause no one's cared about since Ronald Reagan was in office, and Blessed Rembert Weakland was heading the USCCB.

Catholic News | Albany Catholic Charities Launches Needle-exchange Program | American Catholic

Catholic News | Albany Catholic Charities Launches Needle-exchange Program | American Catholic

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Anglicans Going to Rome not Catholics. Really?

The Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, says those Anglicans who respond to Pope Benedict's invitation to join the Catholic Church under the provisions of the new Apostolic Constitution, would not be "proper Catholics". You can listen to the interview in full on this week's Sunday Sequence (Sunday, from 8.30am).

In the same interview, Dr Sentamu also called for the banning of the British National Party and says he is "surprised that Parliament doesn't want to do it." He also says he has "every hope" that [Robert] Mugabe will be gone very soon."

Here's part of the exchange I had with Dr Sentamu on this week's Sunday Sequence:

Read it...

USCCB Desperate In Face of Diocesan Catholic Appeal

Fr. Frank Pavone, Pro-life empire builder and establishment figure is eager and willing to step in on behalf of the beleaguered USCCB and their socialist engineering projects at the CCHD which use the monies they received to support aims and organizations hostile to the Catholic Faith. His comments are here, and line up squarely in defense of the homosexuality, anti-Catholic and abortion promoting John Carr. Is there any reason why the establishment Fr. Pavone is sticking his neck out for this man, despite the hand we see in the anti-Catholic cookie jar? Could it be that Fr. Frank Pavone can't really be trusted as credible? The USCCB has already attacked the attackers of Carr and their CCHD, calling its detractors "calumniators" while not giving a single shred of coherent argumentaition as to why it's the case. Actually, this is an effective tool to defuse legitimate criticism.

Like Notre Dame University, a Catholic name doesn't make it Catholic, and even a well-known allegedly pro-life Catholic Priest might not be trusted. Don't watch what these people say but watch what they DO. John Carr, despite telling Frank Pavone that he's solidly pro-life, hasn't been very good at actually defending innocent life, in fact, he's done the opposite as America's Independent Party page describes:

- Why over 50 CCHD supported organizations are in some capacity engaged in pro-abortion or pro-homosexual causes

- Why Tom Chabolla, associate director of programs for CCHD, replaced Carr on the CCC board while the CCC was heavily engaged in pro-abortion, pro-homosexual advocacy

- Why 31 CCHD grantees are "partners" with the CCC

- Why Ralph McCloud, CCHD executive director, spoke at a CCC-sponsored rally for Barack Obama. McCloud, referred to Obama’s election as, “a great day,” and proclaimed “very soon we will see a new Jerusalem”

- Why Carr’s USCCB bio omits his involvement with the CCC, while near word-for-word copies of his bio for outside activities include it

- If Carr didn’t know the direction the CCC was headed while chairing the board of the organization, how will he address, as the head of the CCHD, the ongoing problem of funding for radical pro-abortion, pro-homosexual groups

Strangely, even American Papist, although he feels the CCHD should be sidelined, balks at RealCatholicTV.com's description of the situation as "the smoke of Satan" quoting Paul VI's haunting statement about the corruption in the Church.

He still wants to drive a middle-line himself and wants to see the CCHD salvaged as does Reform the CCHD.

Nienstedt and Chaput defend CCHD, here

And even USCCB and +Mahony shill, Bill Donahue, wants to see this thing blow over.

The important thing to remember is that whoever steps up in defense of this socialist engineering garbage is himself either an unwitting tool of anti-Catholic agendas or an active enemy of the Catholic Faith and that includes, as we have seen time and time again, Bishops, priests, "trusted laypersons" and women in pantsuits who claim they're doing it for the kids.

Next week, if not in the coming Easter season, you have been asked by your Bishop to give generously (about 3% of your income) to the Catholic Appeal. We suggest that you take this money and give it to more worthy causes, like people you know and trust. None of your money goes specifically to CCHD, but your Diocese in many cases, with 6 or 7 exceptions nationwide has a CCHD office. We suggest you call your Archdiocese and find out how your Diocese spends the Catholic appeal and whether or not these programs are consistent with Catholic teaching, or hostile to it. In many cases, your Diocese may support a College which invariably as it is with Catholic education, is not consistent with Church teaching. Your charity should be prudent as much as it is given with love and compassion. As it is, if you give to your parish, or your Diocesan appeal, you are likely givingmoney to support anti-Catholic hate groups like ACORN or Planned Parenthood. Be a wise steward of your money.

Also, write or call your Bishop and tell them why you aren't giving any money to support abortion, homosexuality and anti-Catholic hate.









Deal at Inside Catholic takes another bite, here, asking "Why did the USCCB join this Civil Rights Organization?"

United Way Supports Catholic Charities

To The Editor:

We, at Catholic Charities, would like to thank the donors to the Greater Oneida United Way, Inc. During these difficult times, when the need is greater and resources fewer, we are most appreciative of the help we receive from our friends in the community.

All through the year, Catholic Charities of Madison-Oneida Counties provides services to hundreds of individuals and families through our local office, at 248 Main St. in Oneida, through our counseling program, adolescent parent program, crisis pregnancy counseling, adoption services, community assistance program, and, youth development programs. When you donate to the United Way of Greater Oneida, Inc., you are ensuring that we can continue these vital services in the Greater Oneida area.

Link to original...

Ruth Gledhill - Times Online - WBLG: Trads left in cold by plans for women bishops, Bishop to disclose.

Ruth Gledhill - Times Online - WBLG: Trads left in cold by plans for women bishops, Bishop to disclose.

The Wages of Sin is Death

HIV Rate Up Sharply in Minnesota

[Star Tribune, Minneapolis]The number of new HIV infections in Minnesota rose 13 percent in 2009, the biggest increase in 17 years, signaling the return of a health scourge that public health experts had hoped was under control.

After holding steady for several years, the number of new HIV cases in the state rose from 326 in 2008 to 368 last year.

The largest cluster of new cases was among gay and bisexual men aged 15 to 24 -- 77 cases, compared to 42 in the previous year.

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Bishop Fellay says, aggrement not possible "humanly" speaking

There is much talk about standing up to the modernist juggernaut, let's pray that these talks produce divine results. Rorate Caeli, here, reports on the recent statement of Bishop Fellay regarding the talks, They are sobering, also comments on ars orandi.

There is more at DICI (English), here.

For us, we must really see this opportunity for the discussions with Rome as truly a disposition of Divine Providence, as truly an amazing grace to be able to present to the highest authorities in the Church what that Church has always said and which, thanks be to God, we have kept; thus, to make it resound at the very top of the Church. To bear witness to the Faith is a great grace. And even at Rome, a certain number [of prelates] are expecting from these discussions—and it’s a direct quote— “very much good for the Church"...

...We cannot say that the pope has only to do this or that. It is every member of the Church who must, once again, at his place, according to his powers, according to the grace of the good Lord, do everything he can for the Church’s restoration. Everybody must contribute his efforts—everybody. So let us make this effort precisely by our prayers, by our sacrifices, by all the means that truly give life to the Church. The means that the good Lord commonly uses to restore and uplift the Church is called holiness.

Serbian Patriarch wants to meet to discuss end of Schism

In a development that may justly be called astounding, Patriarch Irinej Gavrilovic, the newly chosen head of the Serbian Orthodox Church, held a press conference on Jan. 28 to suggest that it was time the Pope and Orthodox leaders met to discuss ways of healing the longstanding schism with Rome.

He proposes that there be a grand summit in the year 2013 in the city of Nis, the birthplace of the Emperor Constantine, who issued the Edict of Milan in 313. The summit would also be a celebration of the 1700th anniversary of the edict that freed Christians from persecution for the practice of their religion in the Roman Empire. The patriarch envisions this meeting as a step toward full communion with the Holy See.

“This new path should be Christian and sincere with the desire of establishing one Church of Christ," he said.

The Vatican has responded favorably to the proposal. A pope has never visited Serbia, known as one of the Orthodox communions that has historically been most hostile to the Catholic Church.



http://www.fatima.org/news/newsviews/efnews020510.asp

Report: 94 Catholic sex abusers in Germany

The Associated Press
Saturday, February 6, 2010; 7:25 AM

BERLIN -- The German news magazine Der Spiegel reports that the number of sexual abuse cases in Germany by Catholic clerics and laymen is much higher than was previously thought.

According to a poll by Spiegel, answered by 27 Catholic dioceses in Germany, more than 94 clerics and laymen have been suspected of sexual abuse since 1995. Only 30 have been prosecuted, due to the statute of limitations.

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Msgr William Smith is Dead,RIP

Heaven is getting crowded these days! [...]


When Father Venditti redesigned Priestly Pugilist for the new year, he created a new color entry for obituaries; but I had no idea I'd be using it so often right off the bat. First it was Father Neuhaus, then Patricarch Stephanos; now, Monsignor William B. Smith, STD, professor of moral theology at St. Joseph's Seminary (Dunwoodie), Yonkers, New York.


If you're not up on your theological journals, you probably wouldn't recognize his name—unless you caught him on the Charlie Rose show or the odd episode of "Good Morning America"—; but, for those involved in the defense of Catholic doctrine, particular the Gospel of Life, he was a guiding light.



In the classroom, Father Smith (he wasn't a monsignor then) never made you learn; from him, you always wanted more. You left his class with the same feeling you had leaving the table after a good meal: looking forward to the next one after due digestion. And while the information came fast and furious, it was presented so simply and straightforwardly that, by the end of the class, all the questions you had jotted down to be asked when the lecture was over were already answered. Nor was there any tickery or attempts to show how clever he was—that perennial curse that infects so many academicians—; he wanted you to understand, and, if you didn't, he counted it a personal failure on his part, not yours. "This will be on the exam," he would often say; and there it was on exam day, in exactly the same words as in the lecture. You couldn't help but learn.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/bloggers/2171121/posts

Sexual abuse in Germany Deeper than Originally Thought

So much for Europeans being less litigious than Americans, of course, as in many things deleterious, the Jesuits are leading the way.



Press TV

Less than a week after a German Jesuit leader apologized over a deepening sexual abuse scandal at a prestigious Catholic institution, new reports paint a far grimmer picture of the crisis.

German media reported on Saturday that nearly 100 employees of the catholic Church have been suspected of involvement is sexual abuse over the past 15 years.

The new accusation comes after victims, who suffered abuse as students in four Jesuit-run schools in the 1970s and 80s came forward.

More than 20 of the victims assaulted at a Berlin school were between 13 and 14. A former Catholic priest admitted in early January to sexually abusing pupils in the 1970s and 1980s at a Berlin school where he taught.

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Catholic News | Austrian Cardinal Offers Ancient Lessons for Today's Church | American Catholic

Catholic News | Austrian Cardinal Offers Ancient Lessons for Today's Church | American Catholic

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A Byzantine church in North London

A Byzantine church in North London

Boring White People are Stereotyped at Afrocentric Mass

They look so uncomfortable and ill-at-ease.


How often are we confronted by unattractive stereotypes of non-practicing Catholics cramming into the Gathering Space to sing Eagle's Wings and attempt to show how tolerant they are of other cultures and sexual preferences?

These negative stereotypes of boring white people who are overly sensitive to other cultures are overrepresented at these events, especially at Black History Masses. It's so hard to live down those stereotypes created about us in the media.

Afro-centric Mass celebrated for Black History Month

Created as a way of welcoming Catholics of every persuasion, the Afro-Centric Mass at St. Mary's Catholic Church also has become a celebration of Black History Month.

Patsy Turner, who chairs the Multi-Cultural Committee at St. Mary's, said this is the 17th year for the Afro-Centric Mass, which will be held at 10:30 a.m. Sunday. A short performance by the St. Augustine Gospel Choir will precede the service, shortly after 10 a.m.

Jackson originally had two Catholic parishes, St. Mary's and St. Joseph's Catholic Church, a mostly African-American parish, Turner said. The bishop of the Memphis diocese closed St. Joseph's in the 1960s and expected those congregants to attend St. Mary's, Turner said.

"But they didn't feel welcome," she said. "In the early '90s, I began to look around and noticed virtually none from St. Joseph's were at Mass. So we decided to bring them back in a welcoming way with an Afro-Centric Mass."

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Archbishop Listeki Caught Lying to Judiciary Committee

Catholic Culture

February 05, 2010

The police chief of Eau Claire, Wisconsin, is alleging that Archbishop Jerome Listecki of Milwaukee spoke untruthfully to the state senate judiciary committee on January 12 about the Diocese of La Crosse’s abuse-reporting policy. The archbishop served as Bishop of La Crosse from 2004 to 2009.

Under the diocese’s abuse-reporting policy, which was reprinted in the diocesan newspaper in late January, victims are asked to report incidents of alleged abuse to the diocese, which in turn reports them to civil authorities. For over a year, Police Chief Jerry Matysik has asked the diocese to change its policy and urge victims to reports incidents directly to police.

On January 12, Archbishop Listecki told the state senate’s judiciary committee that the policy had been changed. “He either misunderstood the question or misled the committee,” said Matysik.

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Archbishop Listeki was active earlier in Jaunary telling the world that Archbishop Weakland was a "lightning rod", while going ahead and commemorating a vanity bronze of himself as a defender of Milwaukee's children.

USCCB's Emotional Appeal in its Own Defense

Despite support for the CCHD for allegedly conservative Bishops like Archbishop Nienstedt, there's a lot lining up against the USCCB and its usefulness as an organ of Catholic Truth. He's proven that he will take money from the liberal, socialist welfare Pohlad family

The USCCB calls the charges against it and the CCHD ridiculous, but what is the substance of their debate?

"I'm concerned about these attacks on John Carr and I know they are false and I think they are even calumnious," said Bishop Murphy, who chairs the USCCB Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, by telephone to CNS. "I am taking this to be a very sad, sad commentary on the honesty of some people in these pressure groups."

And Bishop Morin, who's lied before, calls the claims "ridiculous"

"I'm concerned about these attacks on John Carr and I know they are false and I think they are even calumnious," said Bishop Murphy, who chairs the USCCB Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, by telephone to CNS. "I am taking this to be a very sad, sad commentary on the honesty of some people in these pressure groups."

None of John Carr's sentimental affirmations address the charges brought against the systematic misapplication of Catholics' money going to support anti-Catholic causes. But we're aware of the sheer deception involved in the USCCB's flagrant support for these causes, covered by pewsitter, here.

The names of the 21,581 petitioners supporting the CBS decision to air the Tim Tebow ad have been sent by both mail and email to CBS. The first 15,000 names were sent earlier this week and the rest were sent today. Additional names received over the weekend will also be forwarded to CBS to confirm their right decision on this matter. Congratulations to all who responded! This has undoubtedly had an impact upon CBS.

President Obama is encountering yet another major setback with fading hopes for confirmation of his very radical nominee to head the Office of Legal Counsel.

Planned Parenthood's counter commercial to the Tim Tebow Super Bowl ad is glaringly missing mention of one crucial person. The unborn child does not exist for "pro-choicers", nor do the large numbers of women hurt from making this often coerced or and seriously uninformed and deadly "choice".

It is disturbing for us to report the offensive tactics being used in response to Reform CCHD Now's well researched and respectfully presented facts about CCHD funding of some pro-abortion and otherwise unworthy groups. It should be very concerning to all that some Church leaders seem compelled to unjustly malign the credibility and motivation of the whistle blowers and to misrepresent the concerns presented, rather than respond directly to the evidence of scandal. The similarity of these responses to the Canadian Development and Peace scandal revelations continue to amaze us.
Steve Jalsevac
LifeSiteNews.com

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Read, USCCB doesn't get it, here, for a daily rundown of their problems.

Chicoms Continue to Persecute Underground Church

Stamford, Connecticut, U.S.A. — Underground Catholic Bishop Leon Yao Liang 姚良主教, the auxiliary bishop of Xiwanzi 西灣子 in Hebei 河北, died on December 30, 2009. He was 87. We have not yet learned of any funeral arrangements for his burial because the news of his death appears to have been tightly controlled by the Chinese authority..

Bishop Yao was born in 1923 in Gonghui Village 公會村, Zhangbei County 張北縣 . He was ordained a priest in 1946. After ordination, he was assigned to various churches as assistant pastor. He was restricted in the region of Xiwanzi for his priestly duty by the Communist regime in the early 1950's, earning his livelihood from vegetable farming and from selling fire wood. In 1956, he was forced to enter labor camp, and in 1958, was sentenced to life imprisonment. His "crime" was to be in communion with the Pope and with the universal Catholic Church. He was finally released from the prison in 1984 after 28 years in labor camps and prison. He was ordained a bishop on February 19, 2002 under a mandate from the Vatican.



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Remembering Irving Kristol

The New Criterion

Over the past two years we have lost the two intellectual giants of modern conservatism: first, William F. Buckley in February 2008 and then Irving Kristol this past September. In between, other influential figures have fallen as well, including Jack Kemp, Richard John Neuhaus, Paul Weyrich, Robert Novak, and Samuel Huntington, to mention the most prominent of them. This is why hectoring declarations from some quarters about the “death of conservatism” right now cut rather too close to the bone.

Buckley and Kristol, in their ideas and personal styles, remind us of the variety and contradictions that give strength and broad appeal to American conservatism. Buckley was the father of modern conservatism, but Kristol its godfather. Buckley gave birth to a movement, but Kristol guided it into maturity and showed it how to win. Buckley was born to conservatism; Kristol fought through countless obstacles before arriving there. Buckley was aristocratic, Kristol relentlessly bourgeois. Buckley was Catholic, Kristol Jewish. Buckley went to Yale, Kristol to City College. Buckley was sui generis, Kristol was everyman. Buckley wrote books, many of them, and was even an accomplished novelist, while Kristol was an essayist of a high order. Buckley had a television program, a long-running one, Kristol a column in the Wall Street Journal. Buckley attacked the premises of modern liberalism while Kristol exposed its destructive consequences. They pursued a common goal, to keep America strong and vital, but sought to arrive there through widely divergent paths.

Both men founded magazines, created ancillary organizations to spread the conservative message, and recruited influential allies into the war of ideas. Buckley did it first in the 1950s when he founded National Review and Young Americans for Freedom, served as the first president of the Intercollegiate Studies Institute, and later added Firing Line to his stable of enterprises. Kristol followed suit in the 1960s and 1970s with The Public Interest, The National Interest, and the Institute for Educational Affairs. Kristol, of course, had also been active during the 1950s as the editor in London of Encounter magazine, although it was very far from being his own enterprise. Both men also had to raise money for their ventures, which brought them into contact with business leaders, potential investors, and philanthropic foundations.

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Cardinal Zen vs. Cardinal Bertone: The Struggle for China's Church

Chiesa

ROME, February 4, 2010 – Cardinal Joseph Zen Zekiun, bishop emeritus of Hong Kong and a passionate strategist of the Catholic Church in China, has never held back in his criticism of Vatican diplomacy, which he sees as too compliant toward the communist regime of Beijing, or of the Chinese priests and bishops he thinks are pushovers.

The most recent bone of contention – reported by www.chiesa in a previous article – was the matter of the coadjutor bishop of Baoding, Joseph An Shuxin, who was set free after ten years in prison and joined the government's Patriotic Association, an action that many interpreted as a surrender to the enemy.

In Cardinal Zen's view, the capitulation of the bishop of Baoding and of others like him has been wrongfully encouraged by Vatican authorities, according to whom the heroic season of the clandestine Church has ended, and its bishops and priests should all enter the official Church recognized by the regime.

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Chief Rabbi backs Pope’s condemnation of equality laws

Chief Rabbi backs Pope’s condemnation of equality laws

Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks has said Pope Benedict XVI’s attack on the Government’s equality legislation should be taken seriously.

Writing in The Times on Wednesday, Mr Sacks said: “We may not agree with the Vatican line on homosexuality. But the State is trampling on our rights as individuals.”

The Pope told bishops from England and Wales that the Government’s equality legislation had served to “impose unjust limitations on the freedom of religious communities to act in accordance with their beliefs”.

Alongside this, what we're seeing is increasing friendliness on the part of Israeli religious leaders, and journals to the Papacy, is a story about one German Catholic's friendship with a Jewish survivor of Auschwitz, here.