Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Scandal in Archbishop Dolan's See: Jesuits Again
In the video above, you should see a political opportunist, who's using the Church to promote things hostile to Her.
Kennedy is very excited about "social justice", likes Sister Joan Chittister, and is frustrated with the Bishops and the Pope, but can downplay her disagreements with core doctrines because it enhances book sales and political presence.
Kennedy's daughter asks pre-masticated questions like, "Why are we saying Father and not Mother?", suggesting that her daughter's entertainment of vicarious doubts is a positive thing.
Kerry Kennedy is still scheduled to speak at this New York parish.
You can contact the parish at: 212.627.2100 x 216 Layspirits@gmail.com
Archdiocesan Website, here.
Contact the Archdiocese:
Archbishop's Office
* 1011 First Ave
* New York,
NY 10022
* Contact: Archbishop Timothy Dolan
* Phone: 212-371-1000
How to Train Catolic Citizens to Vote for Morally-Perverted Catholic Politicians
Not to pick on the Indiana Catholic Action Network (I-CAN) – because they aren’t the only ones generating moral confusion about social matters and the proper Catholic response – but an examination of its 2010 public policy positions is instructive. These auxiliary Church bodies unwittingly have done a lot of damage, such as helping to elect morally-perverted Catholic politicians with grave disdain for Church teaching.
A recent I-CAN email alert expressed irritation over Senate legislation to increase border enforcement rather than “Comprehensive Immigration Reform” (code word alert: emphasis and capitalization are in the original, to indicate that the term “Comprehensive Immigration Reform” means something very specific), urging its contacts to set their senators straight.
I-CAN is a function of the Indiana Catholic Conference (ICC), which calls itself “the public policy voice of the Catholic Church in Indiana” and, like all other state Catholic Conferences, includes the full quiver of Indiana’s acting bishops. ICC’s website insists it’s “not trying to form a religious voting block...nor tell people how to vote,” despite making recommendations for specific actions, such as “Ask Your Senator to Oppose Enforcement Only Measures.” However, “it is analyzing political issues from a social and moral point of view…. [and] through the Indiana Catholic Action Network (ICAN), you and other Catholics can have a direct impact on legislative action.”
Read further...
A recent I-CAN email alert expressed irritation over Senate legislation to increase border enforcement rather than “Comprehensive Immigration Reform” (code word alert: emphasis and capitalization are in the original, to indicate that the term “Comprehensive Immigration Reform” means something very specific), urging its contacts to set their senators straight.
I-CAN is a function of the Indiana Catholic Conference (ICC), which calls itself “the public policy voice of the Catholic Church in Indiana” and, like all other state Catholic Conferences, includes the full quiver of Indiana’s acting bishops. ICC’s website insists it’s “not trying to form a religious voting block...nor tell people how to vote,” despite making recommendations for specific actions, such as “Ask Your Senator to Oppose Enforcement Only Measures.” However, “it is analyzing political issues from a social and moral point of view…. [and] through the Indiana Catholic Action Network (ICAN), you and other Catholics can have a direct impact on legislative action.”
Read further...
Tensions between Israel and Turkey will not Prevent Pope's Cyprus Trip
VATICAN CITY, Jun 01, 2010 (AFP) - Israel's deadly commando raid on a Gaza-bound humanitarian aid flotilla "will not influence" Pope Benedict XVI's trip to Cyprus at the weekend, the Vatican spokesman said Tuesday.
Monday's raid was "a very sad and distressing event for the general climate" in the Middle East, but it will not affect the pontiff's three-day visit beginning on Friday, Federico Lombardi told a news conference unveiling the pope's programme.
The flotilla headed for Gaza from a mustering point in international waters off Cyprus on Sunday.
Israeli commandos boarded one of the aid ships in a pre-dawn raid on Monday that left at least nine passengers dead and sparked global outrage. Hundreds of pro-Palestinian activists were also arrested.
The Israeli military accused activists aboard the ship of provoking the bloodshed by attacking its soldiers as they boarded the vessel.
Cyprus has been the jumping-off point for a series of bids to run the Israeli blockade of Gaza since it was imposed in 2007.
cj/dbr/gd/lt
Read further...
Monday's raid was "a very sad and distressing event for the general climate" in the Middle East, but it will not affect the pontiff's three-day visit beginning on Friday, Federico Lombardi told a news conference unveiling the pope's programme.
The flotilla headed for Gaza from a mustering point in international waters off Cyprus on Sunday.
Israeli commandos boarded one of the aid ships in a pre-dawn raid on Monday that left at least nine passengers dead and sparked global outrage. Hundreds of pro-Palestinian activists were also arrested.
The Israeli military accused activists aboard the ship of provoking the bloodshed by attacking its soldiers as they boarded the vessel.
Cyprus has been the jumping-off point for a series of bids to run the Israeli blockade of Gaza since it was imposed in 2007.
cj/dbr/gd/lt
Read further...
New English Film has Powerful Reactionary Message: Mr. Brown
This film has been out in England since 2009 and it must have played a role in people's perceptions of the Labour Party as the old Death Wish films did for the Democrats before Ronald Reagan swept into the White House 20 years ago.
Michael Caine plays the highly decorated Royal Marine, Harry Brown with great subtlety and feeling in a film set in horrific tenements called, with certain irony, The Estates. It brings to mind Kubrik's flashy Clockwork Orange, with hints of social drama and a political message, but from a different and more reactionary and refreshing perspective.
Caine's menacing presence grows as the body count rises, and is subtly offset by a religious sentiment, piety for his wife and love for his friend and chess partner. This character will resonate with people possessed of sensible moral and political views, and may provide less thoughtful characters with some much needed introspection, indeed, repentance.
This gritty, trainspotting-like production resembles certain other American films and marks a growing cultural shift in the way many in the UK are viewing social problems and the role of certain political viewpoints have played in them.
Supporting actress, Emily Mortimer plays a powerful supporting role as an earnest but ineffectual female detective out of her depth who has been tasked with solving the murder of Harry Brown's murdered friend and proves incapable of confronting the evil (Yes, there is good and evil in this film too) gang members who are behind the murder in the film's rousing denouement.
The film pits an isolated but religious hero against a socialist dystopia whose agents do more harm to him than good, for while the Labour Government created the lawless conditions and social disconnection of the Estates by its policies, its agents and police are also unable to deal with problems. Problems only solveable by strong families and morality.
As Detective Emily Mortimer censures Mr. Brown sanctimoniously, reminding him that he is not in war-torn Ulster any longer, his retort is a well-deserved condemnation of Socialism and its brooding criminality, because the violent adolescents who are rioting, murdering and looting are not motivated by high ideals and a cause as his Sinn Fein antagonists once were, they are out for "entertainment".
Monday, May 31, 2010
Pope on Higher Biblical Criticism: The Bible is a true story, not a myth
Dear Brothers and Sisters, the work for my book on Jesus offers ample occasion to see all the good that can come from modern exegesis, but also to recognize the problems and risks in it. Dei Verbum 12 offers two methodological indications for suitable exegetic work. In the first place, it confirms the need to use the historical-critical method, briefly describing the essential The historical fact is a constitutive dimension of Christian faith. The history of salvation is not a myth, but a true story and therefore to be studied with the same methods as serious historical research.
However, this history has another dimension, that of divine action. Because of this Dei Verbum mentions a second methodological level necessary for the correct interpretation of the words, which are at the same time human words and divine Word. The Council says, following a fundamental rule for any interpretation of a literary text, that Scripture must be interpreted in the same spirit in which it was written and thereby indicates three fundamental methodological elements to bear in mind the divine dimension, the pneumatology of the Bible: one must, that is, 1) interpret the text bearing in mind the unity of the entire Scripture; today this is called canonical exegesis; at the time of the Council this term had not been created, but the Council says the same thing: one must bear in mind the unity of all of Scripture; 2) one must then bear in mind the living tradition of the whole Church, and finally 3) observe the analogy of faith.
Only where the two methodological levels, the historical-critical and the theological one, are observed, can one speak about theological exegesis — of an exegesis suitable for this Book. While at the first level, today’s academic exegesis works on a very high level and truly gives us help, the same cannot be said about the other level. Often this second level, the level constituted of the three theological elements indicated by Dei Verbum seems to be almost absent. And this has rather serious consequences.
The first consequence of the absence of this second methodological level is that the Bible becomes a book only about the past. Moral consequences can be drawn from it, one can learn about history, but the Book only speaks about the past and its exegesis is no longer truly theological, becoming historiography, the history of literature. This is the first consequence: the Bible remains in the past, speaks only of the past.
There is also a second even more serious consequence: where the hermeneutics of faith, indicated by Dei Verbum, disappear, another type of hermeneutics appears of necessity, a secularized, positivistic hermeneutics, whose fundamental key is the certitude that the Divine does not appear in human history. According to this hermeneutic, when there seems to be a divine element, one must explain where it came from and bring it to the human element completely. Because of this, interpretations that deny the historicity of divine elements emerge. Today, the so-called “mainstream” of exegesis in Germany denies, for example, that the Lord instituted the Holy Eucharist and says that Jesus’ corpse stayed in the tomb. The Resurrection would not be an historical event, but a theological vision. This occurs because the hermeneutic of faith is missing: therefore a profane philosophical hermeneutic is stated, which denies the possibility both of the entrance and the real presence of the Divine in history. The consequence of the absence of the second methodological level is that a deep chasm was created between scientific exegesis and lectio divina. This, at times, gives rise to a form of perplexity even in the preparation of homilies.
Where exegesis is not theology, Scripture cannot be the soul of theology and, vice versa, when theology is not essentially the interpretation of the Scripture in the Church, this theology has no foundation anymore.
Therefore for the life and the mission of the Church, for the future of faith, this dualism between exegesis and theology must be overcome. Biblical theology and systematic theology are two dimensions of the one reality, what we call Theology.
Due to this, I would hope that in one of the propositions the need to bear in mind the two methodological levels indicated in Dei Verbum 12 be mentioned, where the need to develop an exegesis not only on the historical level, but also on the theological level is needed. Therefore, widening the formation of future exegetes in this sense is necessary, to truly open the treasures of the Scripture to today’s world and to all of us.
Read further at Rorate Coeli...
However, this history has another dimension, that of divine action. Because of this Dei Verbum mentions a second methodological level necessary for the correct interpretation of the words, which are at the same time human words and divine Word. The Council says, following a fundamental rule for any interpretation of a literary text, that Scripture must be interpreted in the same spirit in which it was written and thereby indicates three fundamental methodological elements to bear in mind the divine dimension, the pneumatology of the Bible: one must, that is, 1) interpret the text bearing in mind the unity of the entire Scripture; today this is called canonical exegesis; at the time of the Council this term had not been created, but the Council says the same thing: one must bear in mind the unity of all of Scripture; 2) one must then bear in mind the living tradition of the whole Church, and finally 3) observe the analogy of faith.
Only where the two methodological levels, the historical-critical and the theological one, are observed, can one speak about theological exegesis — of an exegesis suitable for this Book. While at the first level, today’s academic exegesis works on a very high level and truly gives us help, the same cannot be said about the other level. Often this second level, the level constituted of the three theological elements indicated by Dei Verbum seems to be almost absent. And this has rather serious consequences.
The first consequence of the absence of this second methodological level is that the Bible becomes a book only about the past. Moral consequences can be drawn from it, one can learn about history, but the Book only speaks about the past and its exegesis is no longer truly theological, becoming historiography, the history of literature. This is the first consequence: the Bible remains in the past, speaks only of the past.
There is also a second even more serious consequence: where the hermeneutics of faith, indicated by Dei Verbum, disappear, another type of hermeneutics appears of necessity, a secularized, positivistic hermeneutics, whose fundamental key is the certitude that the Divine does not appear in human history. According to this hermeneutic, when there seems to be a divine element, one must explain where it came from and bring it to the human element completely. Because of this, interpretations that deny the historicity of divine elements emerge. Today, the so-called “mainstream” of exegesis in Germany denies, for example, that the Lord instituted the Holy Eucharist and says that Jesus’ corpse stayed in the tomb. The Resurrection would not be an historical event, but a theological vision. This occurs because the hermeneutic of faith is missing: therefore a profane philosophical hermeneutic is stated, which denies the possibility both of the entrance and the real presence of the Divine in history. The consequence of the absence of the second methodological level is that a deep chasm was created between scientific exegesis and lectio divina. This, at times, gives rise to a form of perplexity even in the preparation of homilies.
Where exegesis is not theology, Scripture cannot be the soul of theology and, vice versa, when theology is not essentially the interpretation of the Scripture in the Church, this theology has no foundation anymore.
Therefore for the life and the mission of the Church, for the future of faith, this dualism between exegesis and theology must be overcome. Biblical theology and systematic theology are two dimensions of the one reality, what we call Theology.
Due to this, I would hope that in one of the propositions the need to bear in mind the two methodological levels indicated in Dei Verbum 12 be mentioned, where the need to develop an exegesis not only on the historical level, but also on the theological level is needed. Therefore, widening the formation of future exegetes in this sense is necessary, to truly open the treasures of the Scripture to today’s world and to all of us.
Read further at Rorate Coeli...
Boston Cardinal Assigned to Address Dublin's Abuse Issues
Will ++Sean help Irish Pro-Abortion politicians feel at home in Catholic churches in Ireland as well as he did for Ted Kennedy and Barrack Obama?
There have already been concerns that Cardinal Brady of Dublin would be resigning and this might be the beginning of the end for him.
Read further...
There have already been concerns that Cardinal Brady of Dublin would be resigning and this might be the beginning of the end for him.
Pope Benedict XVI today named Cardinal Sean P. O'Malley of Boston to assist the Archdiocese of Dublin, which is the largest of several Irish dioceses reeling from a clergy sexual abuse crisis.
O'Malley will remain the archbishop of Boston, but will also have new duties as an "apostolic visitor" to the Dublin archdiocese, a job that will require him to "explore more deeply questions concerning the handling of cases of abuse and the assistance owed to the victims,'' according to a statement issued by the Vatican press office. He will also be asked to "monitor the effectiveness of and seek possible improvements to the current procedures for preventing abuse.''
The new assignment marks the fourth time in his career that O'Malley, 65, has been asked to intervene in a diocese that had been seriously damaged by clergy sexual abuse. In 1992 he was named the bishop of Fall River, a diocese roiled by the serial pedophilia of the Rev. James R. Porter; in 2002 he was named bishop of Palm Beach, where the two previous bishops had acknowledged sexually abusing minors; and in 2003 he was named archbishop of Boston, replacing Cardinal Bernard F. Law, who resigned over criticism of his failure to remove multiple sexually abusive priests from ministry.
Read further...
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Iraqi Christians face Up to a Bloody End
By John Pontifex
www.catholicherald.co.uk
It was a day that started like any other. But what happened that spring morning will never be forgotten by those who experienced it.
On Sunday, May 2, 18 buses packed with 1,300 mostly Christian students made their way from Qaraqosh, in Iraq's Nineveh plain, to their university in the major city of Mosul.
As the buses passed through the various security checkpoints on their way into Mosul, there were two explosions. Improvised car bombs charged with deadly explosives were detonated causing serious damage to several of the buses. Inside, many of the students lay injured.
Initial reports stated that one person had died and 80 were injured but in the coming days the total number of wounded rose to nearly 200. Of those, at least 25 students were very seriously injured and had to be airlifted to hospital in Turkey.
Iraqi Christians are sadly no strangers to bomb blasts and other atrocities. Indeed, killings, kidnappings, threatening letters and other hostile actions have become a near permanent feature of everyday life for a section of society now increasingly set apart because of their religious beliefs.
But the bus blast took the intimidation to an altogether more serious level. That such a large-scale attack should take take place in a confined area between checkpoints was cause for alarm in itself. But add to it the number of indisputably innocent people involved and the incident suggests that the region is now just too dangerous for Christians. The attack bore the hallmarks of a well-organised operation, clear in its objectives to target Christians and certain of the resources necessary to do maximum damage.
The demonstrations in Christians towns outside Mosul made clear that the general population was only too aware of the gravity of the crisis it faces.
For Iraqi Christian leaders, meanwhile, the immediate aftermath of the tragedy was taken up with measures to ensure the injured received care and that relatives and friends received the support they needed.
In an emotional encounter just a few days after the attack a delegation of seven bishops from across the different Christian denominations and rites met 300 of the students, many of them with faces and limbs bandaged.
In an interview with Aid to the Church in Need a day later one of the bishops present, Chaldean Archbishop Louis Sako of Kirkuk, told me: "When we met the students, we were very moved. There was crying and a lot of sadness. One student told us it is a miracle that only one person is dead."
But beyond bringing the present crisis under control, the bishops clearly need several miracles to solve the deeper problems that threaten the long-term survival of the Church in this ancient land of Christianity.
The most immediate concern of the students was to press for the establishment of a college in Qaraqosh. As a majority Christian town, they argued, it was safer to be there than take the daily risk of driving into Mosul, where for years now terrorists have sought to undermine the Catholic and Orthodox presence by any means possible, including violence. The bishops agreed to pursue this plan as a possibility.
For years now crisis management has been the order of the day, especially in Mosul where a series of violent outbreaks against Christians sparked a mass exodus prompting Aid to the Church in Need to send emergency aid to help senior clergy leading a relief operation for people taking shelter not only in Qaraqosh but also in other neighbouring Christian towns including Alqosh, Caramles and Telskuf.
But the underlying concern of the students that day when they met the bishops was renewed action to step up the safety of the Christians. And here the bishops have hit a brick wall.
The evidence of various campaigns of intimidation against Christians in Mosul strongly suggests that the city is heavily infiltrated by Islamist insurgents with access to hi-tech weapons and intelligence. In September 2008, when much of the city's Christian population fled following the killing of a dozen faithful, many (largely unsubstantiated) reports began to circulate about collusion between the insurgents and politicians.
It is not clear whether the objective is primarily political - to force Christians out of Mosul into the neighbouring Nineveh plains - or is purely an act motivated by religious bigotry. What is beyond dispute, however, is that Church leaders see a strong government as a pre-requisite for reducing the security risk.
The inconclusive results of the general election of March 7 created a drama out of a crisis by leaving no clear winner able to take power. Almost three months later, and although Iraq's electoral commission was able to declare that no electoral malpractice or fraud had taken place, the results of a re-count had still yet to be announced. Hence there was no breakthrough in the deadlock between former premier Nouri al-Maliki's State of Law Coalition party and Ayad Allawi of al-Iraqiyya, who won the most parliamentary seats but not enough to form an administration.
Fearing that extremist elements were benefiting from the political impasse Mosul's Syrian Catholic Archbishop Georges Casmoussa responded to the bus attack by calling for UN intervention. Pointing out that there was a muted response from politicians following the attack and few expressions of sympathy, he told ACN: "We're not asking for an armed response from the United Nations. The UN should push the central authorities to find out who are the real murderers and stop them."
Other bishops argue that UN intervention would only cause the anti-Christian attacks to escalate amid claims - comprehensively rejected - that the faithful are "agents of the West" and are as implacably opposed to Islam as their Crusader co-religionists of old.
What they all agree on is the need for strong government and the bishops who met the survivors of the bus bomb blasts concluded their meeting by agreeing to a joint statement calling for a swift resolution of the post-election chaos.
Few feel the heat of the moment more than Chaldean Archbishop Amil Nona of Mosul. Installed in January at the age of 42, he became the world's youngest Catholic Archbishop. In a recent interview with ACN he explained that Christian numbers in Mosul had plummeted from up to 30,000 before 2004 to barely 5,000 today.
Times of persecution are bringing forth people of exemplary courage and faith. Those who have stayed in Mosul thus far are, by and large, committed to the cause of Christianity's survival. In a statement to ACN Archbishop Nona explained: "What I want to do is to serve, to give the people who are suffering a sense of hope, a reason for believing that a better future is possible. This can be achieved through good planning based on a realistic assessment of our difficult circumstances."
But the threat posed by the current political crisis may indicate that the only "realistic assessment" possible is for Christians to leave Mosul for good.
Indeed, if law and order does not return soon, Christianity in and around Mosul - if not elsewhere - could soon be a thing of the past.
John Pontifex is head of press and information for Aid to the Church in Need (UK).
Source: http://www.aina.org/news/20100528185708.htm
www.catholicherald.co.uk
It was a day that started like any other. But what happened that spring morning will never be forgotten by those who experienced it.
On Sunday, May 2, 18 buses packed with 1,300 mostly Christian students made their way from Qaraqosh, in Iraq's Nineveh plain, to their university in the major city of Mosul.
As the buses passed through the various security checkpoints on their way into Mosul, there were two explosions. Improvised car bombs charged with deadly explosives were detonated causing serious damage to several of the buses. Inside, many of the students lay injured.
Initial reports stated that one person had died and 80 were injured but in the coming days the total number of wounded rose to nearly 200. Of those, at least 25 students were very seriously injured and had to be airlifted to hospital in Turkey.
Iraqi Christians are sadly no strangers to bomb blasts and other atrocities. Indeed, killings, kidnappings, threatening letters and other hostile actions have become a near permanent feature of everyday life for a section of society now increasingly set apart because of their religious beliefs.
But the bus blast took the intimidation to an altogether more serious level. That such a large-scale attack should take take place in a confined area between checkpoints was cause for alarm in itself. But add to it the number of indisputably innocent people involved and the incident suggests that the region is now just too dangerous for Christians. The attack bore the hallmarks of a well-organised operation, clear in its objectives to target Christians and certain of the resources necessary to do maximum damage.
The demonstrations in Christians towns outside Mosul made clear that the general population was only too aware of the gravity of the crisis it faces.
For Iraqi Christian leaders, meanwhile, the immediate aftermath of the tragedy was taken up with measures to ensure the injured received care and that relatives and friends received the support they needed.
In an emotional encounter just a few days after the attack a delegation of seven bishops from across the different Christian denominations and rites met 300 of the students, many of them with faces and limbs bandaged.
In an interview with Aid to the Church in Need a day later one of the bishops present, Chaldean Archbishop Louis Sako of Kirkuk, told me: "When we met the students, we were very moved. There was crying and a lot of sadness. One student told us it is a miracle that only one person is dead."
But beyond bringing the present crisis under control, the bishops clearly need several miracles to solve the deeper problems that threaten the long-term survival of the Church in this ancient land of Christianity.
The most immediate concern of the students was to press for the establishment of a college in Qaraqosh. As a majority Christian town, they argued, it was safer to be there than take the daily risk of driving into Mosul, where for years now terrorists have sought to undermine the Catholic and Orthodox presence by any means possible, including violence. The bishops agreed to pursue this plan as a possibility.
For years now crisis management has been the order of the day, especially in Mosul where a series of violent outbreaks against Christians sparked a mass exodus prompting Aid to the Church in Need to send emergency aid to help senior clergy leading a relief operation for people taking shelter not only in Qaraqosh but also in other neighbouring Christian towns including Alqosh, Caramles and Telskuf.
But the underlying concern of the students that day when they met the bishops was renewed action to step up the safety of the Christians. And here the bishops have hit a brick wall.
The evidence of various campaigns of intimidation against Christians in Mosul strongly suggests that the city is heavily infiltrated by Islamist insurgents with access to hi-tech weapons and intelligence. In September 2008, when much of the city's Christian population fled following the killing of a dozen faithful, many (largely unsubstantiated) reports began to circulate about collusion between the insurgents and politicians.
It is not clear whether the objective is primarily political - to force Christians out of Mosul into the neighbouring Nineveh plains - or is purely an act motivated by religious bigotry. What is beyond dispute, however, is that Church leaders see a strong government as a pre-requisite for reducing the security risk.
The inconclusive results of the general election of March 7 created a drama out of a crisis by leaving no clear winner able to take power. Almost three months later, and although Iraq's electoral commission was able to declare that no electoral malpractice or fraud had taken place, the results of a re-count had still yet to be announced. Hence there was no breakthrough in the deadlock between former premier Nouri al-Maliki's State of Law Coalition party and Ayad Allawi of al-Iraqiyya, who won the most parliamentary seats but not enough to form an administration.
Fearing that extremist elements were benefiting from the political impasse Mosul's Syrian Catholic Archbishop Georges Casmoussa responded to the bus attack by calling for UN intervention. Pointing out that there was a muted response from politicians following the attack and few expressions of sympathy, he told ACN: "We're not asking for an armed response from the United Nations. The UN should push the central authorities to find out who are the real murderers and stop them."
Other bishops argue that UN intervention would only cause the anti-Christian attacks to escalate amid claims - comprehensively rejected - that the faithful are "agents of the West" and are as implacably opposed to Islam as their Crusader co-religionists of old.
What they all agree on is the need for strong government and the bishops who met the survivors of the bus bomb blasts concluded their meeting by agreeing to a joint statement calling for a swift resolution of the post-election chaos.
Few feel the heat of the moment more than Chaldean Archbishop Amil Nona of Mosul. Installed in January at the age of 42, he became the world's youngest Catholic Archbishop. In a recent interview with ACN he explained that Christian numbers in Mosul had plummeted from up to 30,000 before 2004 to barely 5,000 today.
Times of persecution are bringing forth people of exemplary courage and faith. Those who have stayed in Mosul thus far are, by and large, committed to the cause of Christianity's survival. In a statement to ACN Archbishop Nona explained: "What I want to do is to serve, to give the people who are suffering a sense of hope, a reason for believing that a better future is possible. This can be achieved through good planning based on a realistic assessment of our difficult circumstances."
But the threat posed by the current political crisis may indicate that the only "realistic assessment" possible is for Christians to leave Mosul for good.
Indeed, if law and order does not return soon, Christianity in and around Mosul - if not elsewhere - could soon be a thing of the past.
John Pontifex is head of press and information for Aid to the Church in Need (UK).
Source: http://www.aina.org/news/20100528185708.htm
Iraqi Christians face Up to a Bloody End
By John Pontifex
www.catholicherald.co.uk
It was a day that started like any other. But what happened that spring morning will never be forgotten by those who experienced it.
On Sunday, May 2, 18 buses packed with 1,300 mostly Christian students made their way from Qaraqosh, in Iraq's Nineveh plain, to their university in the major city of Mosul.
As the buses passed through the various security checkpoints on their way into Mosul, there were two explosions. Improvised car bombs charged with deadly explosives were detonated causing serious damage to several of the buses. Inside, many of the students lay injured.
Initial reports stated that one person had died and 80 were injured but in the coming days the total number of wounded rose to nearly 200. Of those, at least 25 students were very seriously injured and had to be airlifted to hospital in Turkey.
Iraqi Christians are sadly no strangers to bomb blasts and other atrocities. Indeed, killings, kidnappings, threatening letters and other hostile actions have become a near permanent feature of everyday life for a section of society now increasingly set apart because of their religious beliefs.
But the bus blast took the intimidation to an altogether more serious level. That such a large-scale attack should take take place in a confined area between checkpoints was cause for alarm in itself. But add to it the number of indisputably innocent people involved and the incident suggests that the region is now just too dangerous for Christians. The attack bore the hallmarks of a well-organised operation, clear in its objectives to target Christians and certain of the resources necessary to do maximum damage.
The demonstrations in Christians towns outside Mosul made clear that the general population was only too aware of the gravity of the crisis it faces.
For Iraqi Christian leaders, meanwhile, the immediate aftermath of the tragedy was taken up with measures to ensure the injured received care and that relatives and friends received the support they needed.
In an emotional encounter just a few days after the attack a delegation of seven bishops from across the different Christian denominations and rites met 300 of the students, many of them with faces and limbs bandaged.
In an interview with Aid to the Church in Need a day later one of the bishops present, Chaldean Archbishop Louis Sako of Kirkuk, told me: "When we met the students, we were very moved. There was crying and a lot of sadness. One student told us it is a miracle that only one person is dead."
But beyond bringing the present crisis under control, the bishops clearly need several miracles to solve the deeper problems that threaten the long-term survival of the Church in this ancient land of Christianity.
The most immediate concern of the students was to press for the establishment of a college in Qaraqosh. As a majority Christian town, they argued, it was safer to be there than take the daily risk of driving into Mosul, where for years now terrorists have sought to undermine the Catholic and Orthodox presence by any means possible, including violence. The bishops agreed to pursue this plan as a possibility.
For years now crisis management has been the order of the day, especially in Mosul where a series of violent outbreaks against Christians sparked a mass exodus prompting Aid to the Church in Need to send emergency aid to help senior clergy leading a relief operation for people taking shelter not only in Qaraqosh but also in other neighbouring Christian towns including Alqosh, Caramles and Telskuf.
But the underlying concern of the students that day when they met the bishops was renewed action to step up the safety of the Christians. And here the bishops have hit a brick wall.
The evidence of various campaigns of intimidation against Christians in Mosul strongly suggests that the city is heavily infiltrated by Islamist insurgents with access to hi-tech weapons and intelligence. In September 2008, when much of the city's Christian population fled following the killing of a dozen faithful, many (largely unsubstantiated) reports began to circulate about collusion between the insurgents and politicians.
It is not clear whether the objective is primarily political - to force Christians out of Mosul into the neighbouring Nineveh plains - or is purely an act motivated by religious bigotry. What is beyond dispute, however, is that Church leaders see a strong government as a pre-requisite for reducing the security risk.
The inconclusive results of the general election of March 7 created a drama out of a crisis by leaving no clear winner able to take power. Almost three months later, and although Iraq's electoral commission was able to declare that no electoral malpractice or fraud had taken place, the results of a re-count had still yet to be announced. Hence there was no breakthrough in the deadlock between former premier Nouri al-Maliki's State of Law Coalition party and Ayad Allawi of al-Iraqiyya, who won the most parliamentary seats but not enough to form an administration.
Fearing that extremist elements were benefiting from the political impasse Mosul's Syrian Catholic Archbishop Georges Casmoussa responded to the bus attack by calling for UN intervention. Pointing out that there was a muted response from politicians following the attack and few expressions of sympathy, he told ACN: "We're not asking for an armed response from the United Nations. The UN should push the central authorities to find out who are the real murderers and stop them."
Other bishops argue that UN intervention would only cause the anti-Christian attacks to escalate amid claims - comprehensively rejected - that the faithful are "agents of the West" and are as implacably opposed to Islam as their Crusader co-religionists of old.
What they all agree on is the need for strong government and the bishops who met the survivors of the bus bomb blasts concluded their meeting by agreeing to a joint statement calling for a swift resolution of the post-election chaos.
Few feel the heat of the moment more than Chaldean Archbishop Amil Nona of Mosul. Installed in January at the age of 42, he became the world's youngest Catholic Archbishop. In a recent interview with ACN he explained that Christian numbers in Mosul had plummeted from up to 30,000 before 2004 to barely 5,000 today.
Times of persecution are bringing forth people of exemplary courage and faith. Those who have stayed in Mosul thus far are, by and large, committed to the cause of Christianity's survival. In a statement to ACN Archbishop Nona explained: "What I want to do is to serve, to give the people who are suffering a sense of hope, a reason for believing that a better future is possible. This can be achieved through good planning based on a realistic assessment of our difficult circumstances."
But the threat posed by the current political crisis may indicate that the only "realistic assessment" possible is for Christians to leave Mosul for good.
Indeed, if law and order does not return soon, Christianity in and around Mosul - if not elsewhere - could soon be a thing of the past.
John Pontifex is head of press and information for Aid to the Church in Need (UK).
Source: http://www.aina.org/news/20100528185708.htm
www.catholicherald.co.uk
It was a day that started like any other. But what happened that spring morning will never be forgotten by those who experienced it.
On Sunday, May 2, 18 buses packed with 1,300 mostly Christian students made their way from Qaraqosh, in Iraq's Nineveh plain, to their university in the major city of Mosul.
As the buses passed through the various security checkpoints on their way into Mosul, there were two explosions. Improvised car bombs charged with deadly explosives were detonated causing serious damage to several of the buses. Inside, many of the students lay injured.
Initial reports stated that one person had died and 80 were injured but in the coming days the total number of wounded rose to nearly 200. Of those, at least 25 students were very seriously injured and had to be airlifted to hospital in Turkey.
Iraqi Christians are sadly no strangers to bomb blasts and other atrocities. Indeed, killings, kidnappings, threatening letters and other hostile actions have become a near permanent feature of everyday life for a section of society now increasingly set apart because of their religious beliefs.
But the bus blast took the intimidation to an altogether more serious level. That such a large-scale attack should take take place in a confined area between checkpoints was cause for alarm in itself. But add to it the number of indisputably innocent people involved and the incident suggests that the region is now just too dangerous for Christians. The attack bore the hallmarks of a well-organised operation, clear in its objectives to target Christians and certain of the resources necessary to do maximum damage.
The demonstrations in Christians towns outside Mosul made clear that the general population was only too aware of the gravity of the crisis it faces.
For Iraqi Christian leaders, meanwhile, the immediate aftermath of the tragedy was taken up with measures to ensure the injured received care and that relatives and friends received the support they needed.
In an emotional encounter just a few days after the attack a delegation of seven bishops from across the different Christian denominations and rites met 300 of the students, many of them with faces and limbs bandaged.
In an interview with Aid to the Church in Need a day later one of the bishops present, Chaldean Archbishop Louis Sako of Kirkuk, told me: "When we met the students, we were very moved. There was crying and a lot of sadness. One student told us it is a miracle that only one person is dead."
But beyond bringing the present crisis under control, the bishops clearly need several miracles to solve the deeper problems that threaten the long-term survival of the Church in this ancient land of Christianity.
The most immediate concern of the students was to press for the establishment of a college in Qaraqosh. As a majority Christian town, they argued, it was safer to be there than take the daily risk of driving into Mosul, where for years now terrorists have sought to undermine the Catholic and Orthodox presence by any means possible, including violence. The bishops agreed to pursue this plan as a possibility.
For years now crisis management has been the order of the day, especially in Mosul where a series of violent outbreaks against Christians sparked a mass exodus prompting Aid to the Church in Need to send emergency aid to help senior clergy leading a relief operation for people taking shelter not only in Qaraqosh but also in other neighbouring Christian towns including Alqosh, Caramles and Telskuf.
But the underlying concern of the students that day when they met the bishops was renewed action to step up the safety of the Christians. And here the bishops have hit a brick wall.
The evidence of various campaigns of intimidation against Christians in Mosul strongly suggests that the city is heavily infiltrated by Islamist insurgents with access to hi-tech weapons and intelligence. In September 2008, when much of the city's Christian population fled following the killing of a dozen faithful, many (largely unsubstantiated) reports began to circulate about collusion between the insurgents and politicians.
It is not clear whether the objective is primarily political - to force Christians out of Mosul into the neighbouring Nineveh plains - or is purely an act motivated by religious bigotry. What is beyond dispute, however, is that Church leaders see a strong government as a pre-requisite for reducing the security risk.
The inconclusive results of the general election of March 7 created a drama out of a crisis by leaving no clear winner able to take power. Almost three months later, and although Iraq's electoral commission was able to declare that no electoral malpractice or fraud had taken place, the results of a re-count had still yet to be announced. Hence there was no breakthrough in the deadlock between former premier Nouri al-Maliki's State of Law Coalition party and Ayad Allawi of al-Iraqiyya, who won the most parliamentary seats but not enough to form an administration.
Fearing that extremist elements were benefiting from the political impasse Mosul's Syrian Catholic Archbishop Georges Casmoussa responded to the bus attack by calling for UN intervention. Pointing out that there was a muted response from politicians following the attack and few expressions of sympathy, he told ACN: "We're not asking for an armed response from the United Nations. The UN should push the central authorities to find out who are the real murderers and stop them."
Other bishops argue that UN intervention would only cause the anti-Christian attacks to escalate amid claims - comprehensively rejected - that the faithful are "agents of the West" and are as implacably opposed to Islam as their Crusader co-religionists of old.
What they all agree on is the need for strong government and the bishops who met the survivors of the bus bomb blasts concluded their meeting by agreeing to a joint statement calling for a swift resolution of the post-election chaos.
Few feel the heat of the moment more than Chaldean Archbishop Amil Nona of Mosul. Installed in January at the age of 42, he became the world's youngest Catholic Archbishop. In a recent interview with ACN he explained that Christian numbers in Mosul had plummeted from up to 30,000 before 2004 to barely 5,000 today.
Times of persecution are bringing forth people of exemplary courage and faith. Those who have stayed in Mosul thus far are, by and large, committed to the cause of Christianity's survival. In a statement to ACN Archbishop Nona explained: "What I want to do is to serve, to give the people who are suffering a sense of hope, a reason for believing that a better future is possible. This can be achieved through good planning based on a realistic assessment of our difficult circumstances."
But the threat posed by the current political crisis may indicate that the only "realistic assessment" possible is for Christians to leave Mosul for good.
Indeed, if law and order does not return soon, Christianity in and around Mosul - if not elsewhere - could soon be a thing of the past.
John Pontifex is head of press and information for Aid to the Church in Need (UK).
Source: http://www.aina.org/news/20100528185708.htm
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Vatican: China: Pope: Matteo Ricci brought the Gospel to China and therefore dialogue between cultures
Vatican City [Spero News]- Fr Ricci was primarily a missionary, who went to China to bring the Gospel". And in doing so he formed an important "dialogue between cultures, between China and the West”. This is what Benedict XVI said today to a Paul VI Hall packed with thousands of pilgrims from Macerata, birthplace of Matteo Ricci, and Marche, on the occasion of the fourth centenary of the death of the great Jesuit missionary.
Welcoming the bishops and the faithful, the pope also greeted the Chinese with a resounding "Nimen hao" (how are you?).
After noting that Ricci is still held in high esteem in China today, the pontiff said that missionary’s work "must not be separated" from his commitment to "Chinese inculturation of the Gospel Message and his introduction of Western culture and science to China”.
Read further...
Welcoming the bishops and the faithful, the pope also greeted the Chinese with a resounding "Nimen hao" (how are you?).
After noting that Ricci is still held in high esteem in China today, the pontiff said that missionary’s work "must not be separated" from his commitment to "Chinese inculturation of the Gospel Message and his introduction of Western culture and science to China”.
Read further...
God is Not Sophistitcated Enough
The author sure has a weird idea of "traditional Catholic". +Romero wasn't speaking for Christ, he spoke for the Communist Party.
by Elizabeth Scalia
There is a quote from Archbishop Oscar Romero that both traditional and progressive Catholics love to latch onto, because each feels Romero was speaking for them:
A church that doesn’t provoke any crisis, a gospel that doesn’t unsettle, a Word of God that doesn’t get under anyone’s skin, what kind of gospel is that? Preachers who avoid every thorny matter so as not to be harassed do not light up the world!
In truth, Romero was speaking for Christ. His words are a challenge to all of us, from the happy-clappy-God-is-Love-so-let’s-not-judge mushes to the stern God-is-Justice-and-you’re-going-to-hell prunes. It is a challenge to look past our own comfortable and self-righteous sense that God thinks just as we do, and to let the Word dwell within us, shake us, unsettle us until it has reformed us–re-formed–in the image of God; holy as he is holy, perfect as he is perfect.
Link to the Anchoress, here.
Music for the Beatification Mass: from the ridiculous to the sublime
Another bad omen for the coming beatification of Cardinal Newman. Can't we just call the whole thing off?
Music for the Beatification Mass: from the ridiculous to the sublime
Music for the Beatification Mass: from the ridiculous to the sublime
Vatican Prosecutor says Hell awaits Abusers
VATICAN CITY — The Vatican prosecutor of clerical sex abuse warned perpetrators on Saturday that they would suffer damnation in hell that would be worse than the death penalty.
The Rev. Charles Scicluna, a Maltese priest who is a top official at the Vatican's morality office, led a special "make amends" prayer service in St. Peter's Basilica. The service grew out of a desire by some seminarians in Rome for a day of prayers for the victims of clergy abuse and for the healing of the church's wounds from the scandal over its concealment of abuse.
"It would be really better" for priests who sexually abuse minors that their crimes "cause them death" because for them, "damnation will be more terrible" in hell, Il Sole 24 Ore online news reported.
Read further...
The Rev. Charles Scicluna, a Maltese priest who is a top official at the Vatican's morality office, led a special "make amends" prayer service in St. Peter's Basilica. The service grew out of a desire by some seminarians in Rome for a day of prayers for the victims of clergy abuse and for the healing of the church's wounds from the scandal over its concealment of abuse.
"It would be really better" for priests who sexually abuse minors that their crimes "cause them death" because for them, "damnation will be more terrible" in hell, Il Sole 24 Ore online news reported.
Read further...
Friday, May 28, 2010
George Weigel to Youth: Defend Religious Freedom
It remains to be seen whether or not George Weigel has any kind of youth following, but one thing is sure, whatever his appeal with the kids, he's going to try to enlist the Natural Law to defend something which is against the Natural Law, religious liberty.
There is nothing in the Natural Law which can be enlisted to defend anyone's right to hold an erroneous opinion.
Moreover, hitching the pro-life movement to the Civil Rights Movement isn't a good idea. It's just more proof that George Weigel isn't a trustworthy expositor of Catholic truth, but he's certainly a well paid one.
Says Pro-Life Cause Is Successor to Civil Rights Movement
Read further...
There is nothing in the Natural Law which can be enlisted to defend anyone's right to hold an erroneous opinion.
Moreover, hitching the pro-life movement to the Civil Rights Movement isn't a good idea. It's just more proof that George Weigel isn't a trustworthy expositor of Catholic truth, but he's certainly a well paid one.
Says Pro-Life Cause Is Successor to Civil Rights Movement
MERRIMACK, New Hampshire, MAY 28, 2010 (Zenit.org).- Catholic theologian and author George Weigel is urging college graduates to base themselves firmly in natural law in order to make a good defense of religious freedom in society today.
The author of Pope John Paul II's biography "Witness to Hope" made this appeal at the May 16 graduation ceremony of the Thomas More College of Liberal Arts, in which he was awarded an honorary doctorate and gave the commencement address.
"One of the great challenges of the younger generation of Catholics will be to rise to the defense of religious freedom in full," Weigel said.
Read further...
Great Catholic Renaisance in Ukraine is under Threat
by John L Allen Jr on May. 28, 2010
On any countdown of terrific Catholic stories over the last twenty years, the renaissance of the Greek Catholic Church in Ukraine would have to be near the top of the list. Numbering some five million faithful, about ten percent of the Ukrainian population, Greek Catholics follow Orthodox liturgical and spiritual traditions but have been in full union with Rome since the 16th century.
Under the Soviets, the Greek Catholic Church in Ukraine was the largest illegal religious body in the world, and one of the most persecuted. The legendary Ukrainian Cardinal Josef Slipyi, who spent two decades in the gulags, once said that his church had been buried under "mountains of corpses and rivers of blood." During his 2001 visit to Ukraine, John Paul II beatified 27 Greek Catholic martyrs under the Soviets -- one of whom had been boiled alive, another crucified in prison, and a third bricked into a wall.
Given that history, the church's recovery in the short span of time since the Soviet Union imploded has been nothing short of miraculous. In 1939, the Greek Catholics boasted 2,500 priests; by 1989, the number had fallen to just 300. Today it's back up to 2,500, with 800 seminarians in the pipeline. Greek Catholics played key roles in the "Orange Revolution" of 2004/05, which for a brief, shining moment, promised to bring democracy and the rule of law to Ukraine.
Read further...
On any countdown of terrific Catholic stories over the last twenty years, the renaissance of the Greek Catholic Church in Ukraine would have to be near the top of the list. Numbering some five million faithful, about ten percent of the Ukrainian population, Greek Catholics follow Orthodox liturgical and spiritual traditions but have been in full union with Rome since the 16th century.
Under the Soviets, the Greek Catholic Church in Ukraine was the largest illegal religious body in the world, and one of the most persecuted. The legendary Ukrainian Cardinal Josef Slipyi, who spent two decades in the gulags, once said that his church had been buried under "mountains of corpses and rivers of blood." During his 2001 visit to Ukraine, John Paul II beatified 27 Greek Catholic martyrs under the Soviets -- one of whom had been boiled alive, another crucified in prison, and a third bricked into a wall.
Given that history, the church's recovery in the short span of time since the Soviet Union imploded has been nothing short of miraculous. In 1939, the Greek Catholics boasted 2,500 priests; by 1989, the number had fallen to just 300. Today it's back up to 2,500, with 800 seminarians in the pipeline. Greek Catholics played key roles in the "Orange Revolution" of 2004/05, which for a brief, shining moment, promised to bring democracy and the rule of law to Ukraine.
Read further...
Jesuit Parish Hosting Pro-Abort Kennedy Speaker in New York
An evening with Kerry Kennedy author of Being Catholic Now.
Wednesday, June 2nd 7:00 PM Main Church
Her life has been devoted to the vindication of equal justice, to the promotion and protection of basic rights, and to the preservation of the rule of law. At a time of diminished idealism and growing cynicism about public service, her life and lectures are testaments to the commitment to the basic values of human rights.
* For more information: 212.627.2100 x 216 Layspirits@gmail.com
* Suggested Donation $15.00
Link to original...
Wednesday, June 2nd 7:00 PM Main Church
Her life has been devoted to the vindication of equal justice, to the promotion and protection of basic rights, and to the preservation of the rule of law. At a time of diminished idealism and growing cynicism about public service, her life and lectures are testaments to the commitment to the basic values of human rights.
* For more information: 212.627.2100 x 216 Layspirits@gmail.com
* Suggested Donation $15.00
Link to original...
Scholars to Convene on Beatification of Cardinal John Newman
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Scholars to Convene on Beatification of Cardinal John Newman
Most Significant Convert to Catholicism in Modern Religious History
Guest Homilist Jack Sullivan is Newman’s First Miracle
Conference Precedes Beatification by Pope Benedict XVI in U.K.
PITTSBURGH, May 4, 2010 – A month before Pope Benedict XVI beatifies 19th century Roman Catholic Cardinal, philosopher and educator John Henry Newman, several hundred scholars and guests will convene in Pittsburgh to present their works on the life and influence of John Henry Cardinal Newman. Pittsburgh-based National Institute for Newman Studies will host the 2010 conference of the Newman Association of America, August 5 -7.
The conference theme is appropriately titled, “A Reflection on the Life, Work and Spirituality of John Henry Newman in Celebration of His Beatification.”
Over 25 speakers will deliver papers on such varied topics as “Principles of Newman's Theological Reading of the Fathers,” “Newman and Twentieth-Century Literary Converts: Lowell, Merton, and Day,” and “Holiness in the Parochial and Plain Sermons: Its Nature, Aids, and Obstacles.” Keynote addresses will be given by Fr. Ian Ker, of Oxford University, Dr. Terrence Merrigan, of the Catholic University of Leuven, and Dr. Cyril O’Regan of the University of Notre Dame.
“This annual event holds even greater importance this year in that it will celebrate the pending beatification by Pope Benedict XVI of Cardinal Newman in September during his trip to England,” said Father Drew Morgan, program chair of the 2010 National Newman Conference and director of the National Institute for Newman Studies. “We are blessed for this momentous opportunity to host this conference and to advance Newman’s cause for canonization,” he added.
The three-day gathering will generate much discussion on Newman’s life, thought, and spirituality. Conference registration is currently underway and online at www.newmanassociationofamerica.org. Registration for the conference will close on July 1. For questions about the Conference, please call (412)681-4375.
Public Invited to Special Opening Mass
The August 5 conference opening Mass at St. Paul Cathedral in Pittsburgh is a public event and will be celebrated by its Bishop David Zubik. Guest homilist for this opening Mass will be Deacon Jack Sullivan, the Massachusetts man who was healed from a serious illness through the intercession of Cardinal Newman, representing the first miracle in the road to his canonization.
Plans are underway for a special celebration of Cardinal Newman’s beatification on Sunday, September 19, at St. Paul’s Cathedral in Pittsburgh. The National Institute for Newman Studies will host this Mass on the same day of Cardinal Newman’s beatification by Pope Benedict XVI in Coventry, England, Newman’s hometown.
Read further...
Scholars to Convene on Beatification of Cardinal John Newman
Most Significant Convert to Catholicism in Modern Religious History
Guest Homilist Jack Sullivan is Newman’s First Miracle
Conference Precedes Beatification by Pope Benedict XVI in U.K.
PITTSBURGH, May 4, 2010 – A month before Pope Benedict XVI beatifies 19th century Roman Catholic Cardinal, philosopher and educator John Henry Newman, several hundred scholars and guests will convene in Pittsburgh to present their works on the life and influence of John Henry Cardinal Newman. Pittsburgh-based National Institute for Newman Studies will host the 2010 conference of the Newman Association of America, August 5 -7.
The conference theme is appropriately titled, “A Reflection on the Life, Work and Spirituality of John Henry Newman in Celebration of His Beatification.”
Over 25 speakers will deliver papers on such varied topics as “Principles of Newman's Theological Reading of the Fathers,” “Newman and Twentieth-Century Literary Converts: Lowell, Merton, and Day,” and “Holiness in the Parochial and Plain Sermons: Its Nature, Aids, and Obstacles.” Keynote addresses will be given by Fr. Ian Ker, of Oxford University, Dr. Terrence Merrigan, of the Catholic University of Leuven, and Dr. Cyril O’Regan of the University of Notre Dame.
“This annual event holds even greater importance this year in that it will celebrate the pending beatification by Pope Benedict XVI of Cardinal Newman in September during his trip to England,” said Father Drew Morgan, program chair of the 2010 National Newman Conference and director of the National Institute for Newman Studies. “We are blessed for this momentous opportunity to host this conference and to advance Newman’s cause for canonization,” he added.
The three-day gathering will generate much discussion on Newman’s life, thought, and spirituality. Conference registration is currently underway and online at www.newmanassociationofamerica.org. Registration for the conference will close on July 1. For questions about the Conference, please call (412)681-4375.
Public Invited to Special Opening Mass
The August 5 conference opening Mass at St. Paul Cathedral in Pittsburgh is a public event and will be celebrated by its Bishop David Zubik. Guest homilist for this opening Mass will be Deacon Jack Sullivan, the Massachusetts man who was healed from a serious illness through the intercession of Cardinal Newman, representing the first miracle in the road to his canonization.
Plans are underway for a special celebration of Cardinal Newman’s beatification on Sunday, September 19, at St. Paul’s Cathedral in Pittsburgh. The National Institute for Newman Studies will host this Mass on the same day of Cardinal Newman’s beatification by Pope Benedict XVI in Coventry, England, Newman’s hometown.
Read further...
Remember Bishop Pates: Confused Atheist Schoolteacher Fired on his Watch
Bishop Pates was sent to Des Moines Iowa and was very controversial as an Auxiliary Bishop in St. Paul, Minnesota, here,
To date Saint Joan of Arc still holds meetings and hosts events that either explicitly or implicitly attack Catholic teaching, here.
Despite his earlier career as a serious wreckovator at St. Ambrose in Eagan, Minnesota and at Resurrection Parish in South Minneapolis, he's forging a new role for himself. He's already dealt with unruly teachers before, here. Iowa, being a home of much liberal judicial activism is a challenging place, an interesting place to test the Church's strength against the unwieldy and oppressive power of the state.
Despite Bishop Pates earlier reticence to defend Catholic teaching, indeed, his efforts to undermine it, he is now acting in an unaccustomed role as a defender of Catholic Truth:
A week after the Fox visit, Auxiliary Bishop Richard Pates visited St. Joan of Arc to formally install Fr. DeBruycker as pastor. According to The Wanderer, Bishop Pates assured parishioners that “Fr. DeBruycker has the full support of Archbishop Flynn.” In confirmation of this, Archbishop Flynn himself (along with Bishop Pates) paid a visit to St. Joan of Arc on May 24, 2006, to preside at the funeral Mass for Fr. Harvey Egan, former pastor of St. Joan’s. Fr. Egan is the founder of their famous and controversial “gym Mass.”
To date Saint Joan of Arc still holds meetings and hosts events that either explicitly or implicitly attack Catholic teaching, here.
Despite his earlier career as a serious wreckovator at St. Ambrose in Eagan, Minnesota and at Resurrection Parish in South Minneapolis, he's forging a new role for himself. He's already dealt with unruly teachers before, here. Iowa, being a home of much liberal judicial activism is a challenging place, an interesting place to test the Church's strength against the unwieldy and oppressive power of the state.
Despite Bishop Pates earlier reticence to defend Catholic teaching, indeed, his efforts to undermine it, he is now acting in an unaccustomed role as a defender of Catholic Truth:
A Catholic teacher from Fort Dodge has been fired because of a Facebook survey in which she said she did not believe in God.
Abby Nurre, 27, was hired last summer as an eighth- grade math teacher at St. Edmond Catholic School. In August, she responded to a Facebook members' poll in which she was asked whether she believed in God, miracles or heaven.
In response, Nurre answered, "No." Her answers then became part of her Facebook autobiography page, which was accessible only to her designated "friends."
‘Gay’ Ex-Altar Server Drops Human Rights Case against Bishop
PETERBOROUGH, Ontario, May 27, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The human rights complaint filed against Bishop Nicola De Angelis of Peterborough, Ontario over his decision to disallow an open homosexual from acting as an altar server in the diocese has been dropped without conditions.
The bishop met with the complainant Jim Corcoran, “in the spirit of peace and reconciliation,” in the bishop’s chancery office on May 21. According to the diocesan bulletin, “As a result of this meeting Mr. Corcoran has withdrawn his Human Rights application with no terms or conditions being requested or imposed on anyone.”
Throughout the public scrutiny of the case, which gained international attention, the bishop remained firm in his resolve not to permit the human rights mechanism to interfere in Church matters.
Read further...
The bishop met with the complainant Jim Corcoran, “in the spirit of peace and reconciliation,” in the bishop’s chancery office on May 21. According to the diocesan bulletin, “As a result of this meeting Mr. Corcoran has withdrawn his Human Rights application with no terms or conditions being requested or imposed on anyone.”
Throughout the public scrutiny of the case, which gained international attention, the bishop remained firm in his resolve not to permit the human rights mechanism to interfere in Church matters.
Read further...
Cardinal laments Italy’s ‘demographic suicide’
Catholic World News
May 28, 2010
In a May 25 address to his fellow Italian bishops, Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, president of the Italian episcopal conference, lamented his nation’s “slow demographic suicide.” “Over 50% of families today are without children,” he said; another quarter have only one child, while just 5.1% have three or more.
Source(s): •A Nation's Suicide (Zenit)
May 28, 2010
In a May 25 address to his fellow Italian bishops, Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, president of the Italian episcopal conference, lamented his nation’s “slow demographic suicide.” “Over 50% of families today are without children,” he said; another quarter have only one child, while just 5.1% have three or more.
Source(s): •A Nation's Suicide (Zenit)
Sandro Magister is taking Cardinal Schönborn to task as well
Eunuchs for the Kingdom of Heaven. The Argument over Celibacy
Cardinal Schönborn proposes "rethinking" this obligation for the Catholic clergy. And so do other bishops. Benedict XVI, however, wants to strengthen it. In support he has the whole history of the Church, since the time of the apostles
by Sandro Magister
http://chiesa.espresso.repubblica.it/articolo/1343466?eng=y
ROME, May 28, 2010 – Benedict XVI is preparing to conclude the Year for Priests, which he called in order to restore spiritual vigor to Catholic priests at a difficult time for the entire Church.
Meanwhile, however, one famous cardinal among those closest to the pope, Vienna archbishop Christoph Schönborn continues to beat the drum of a "rethinking" of the discipline of celibacy among the Latin clergy.
Schönborn is a well-educated man, a former student of Joseph Ratzinger when he was a professor of theology. In the 1980's, he collaborated in the writing of the catechism of the Catholic Church. But as a man of command, since he has been at the head of a Church so off-kilter as the Austrian Church is, he has shown himself more attentive to the pressure of public opinion than to his leadership duties.
In mid-May, as soon as one of his fellow Austrian bishops, Paul Iby of Eisenstadt, said that "priests should be free to decide whether to marry or not" and that "the Holy See is too timid on this question," Cardinal Schönborn quickly commented: "The concerns expressed by Bishop Iby are the concerns of us all."
Read further...
Cardinal Schönborn proposes "rethinking" this obligation for the Catholic clergy. And so do other bishops. Benedict XVI, however, wants to strengthen it. In support he has the whole history of the Church, since the time of the apostles
by Sandro Magister
http://chiesa.espresso.repubblica.it/articolo/1343466?eng=y
ROME, May 28, 2010 – Benedict XVI is preparing to conclude the Year for Priests, which he called in order to restore spiritual vigor to Catholic priests at a difficult time for the entire Church.
Meanwhile, however, one famous cardinal among those closest to the pope, Vienna archbishop Christoph Schönborn continues to beat the drum of a "rethinking" of the discipline of celibacy among the Latin clergy.
Schönborn is a well-educated man, a former student of Joseph Ratzinger when he was a professor of theology. In the 1980's, he collaborated in the writing of the catechism of the Catholic Church. But as a man of command, since he has been at the head of a Church so off-kilter as the Austrian Church is, he has shown himself more attentive to the pressure of public opinion than to his leadership duties.
In mid-May, as soon as one of his fellow Austrian bishops, Paul Iby of Eisenstadt, said that "priests should be free to decide whether to marry or not" and that "the Holy See is too timid on this question," Cardinal Schönborn quickly commented: "The concerns expressed by Bishop Iby are the concerns of us all."
Read further...
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Pope Benedict: The Church must learn again to Show Penance
Some people are saying that he is the Pope of "unity" and that's pretty good, but Pope of Penitance sound a lot better.
At the same time the Pope encouraged the renewed efforts of the Italian Bishops in Education and Formation. Even in Italy, there are signs of a "cultural crisis". As an example he named the uncertainties about moral values as well as the difficulties of many adults, their duties in raising the next generation.
This cultural crisis is "even as serious as the economic"
Benedict XVI. said it is "illusory" to believe, that only the economic crisis should be challenged, while the cultural is ignored. Facing the danger, that the great Traditions would become dead letter, must strengthen the Church's efforts in Christian education and upbringing. The family plays an indispensable role.
Link to original...
Benedict XVI on his address to the Italian Bishops: The Church must learn again to show penance and to accept purification. Not only forgiveness is necessary, rather also righteousness.
Vatican City (kath.net/KNA) Pope Benedict XVI. had invited the Italian Bishops to an open discussion about the Abuse Scandal. "the will to a new age of Evangelization does not preclude wounds, from which the Church suffers on the part of its weakness and sins of some of its members," he said on Thursday before the Italian Bishop's Conference in the Vatican. This "pious and painful understanding" may not be forgotten because there is the example of countless faithful and priests.
Benedict XVI said, the Church must learn again, to show penance and accept purification. Forgiveness is not only necessary, rather also righteousness, said the head of the Church. the Italian Bishops Conference held from Monday to Friday their early year gathering in the Vatican.
At the same time the Pope encouraged the renewed efforts of the Italian Bishops in Education and Formation. Even in Italy, there are signs of a "cultural crisis". As an example he named the uncertainties about moral values as well as the difficulties of many adults, their duties in raising the next generation.
This cultural crisis is "even as serious as the economic"
Benedict XVI. said it is "illusory" to believe, that only the economic crisis should be challenged, while the cultural is ignored. Facing the danger, that the great Traditions would become dead letter, must strengthen the Church's efforts in Christian education and upbringing. The family plays an indispensable role.
Link to original...
Eucharistic Adoration in Rome in Reparation for Abuse
VATICAN CITY — The Vatican is hosting two hours of eucharistic adoration “in reparation for abuses committed by priests and for the healing of this wound within the church.”
The service in St. Peter’s Basilica this Saturday will feature an hour of silent adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, an hour of prayer and meditation, and a solemn blessing at the end.
The unusual initiative was organized by Catholic university students in Rome. Sources said the event was originally planned for the small Church of St. Anne inside Vatican City, but that it was moved to St. Peter’s at the suggestion of Cardinal Angelo Comastri, who is archpriest of the basilica.
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The service in St. Peter’s Basilica this Saturday will feature an hour of silent adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, an hour of prayer and meditation, and a solemn blessing at the end.
The unusual initiative was organized by Catholic university students in Rome. Sources said the event was originally planned for the small Church of St. Anne inside Vatican City, but that it was moved to St. Peter’s at the suggestion of Cardinal Angelo Comastri, who is archpriest of the basilica.
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Pope compares Moral Crisis to the Economic One
EDUCATION: HELPING NEW GENERATIONS RELATE TO THE WORLD
VATICAN CITY, 27 MAY 2010 (VIS) - Today in the Vatican's Synod Hall, the Holy Father met with participants in the general assembly of the Italian Episcopal Conference (CEI), who are meeting from 24 to 28 May to consider their general pastoral guidelines for the period 2010 - 2020.
"The Holy Spirit guides the Church in the world and in history", said the Pope. "Thanks to this gift from the Risen One, the Lord remains present in midst of historical events. It is through the Spirit that we can recognise the meaning of human vicissitudes in Christ".
"Supported by the Spirit and continuing down the path shown us by Vatican Council II, in particular with the pastoral guidelines of the last decade, you have chosen to adopt education as the principal theme for the next ten years. This temporal horizon is proportioned to the importance and breadth of educational requirements, which call on us to take responsibility for the new generations with a united, integral and harmonious witness which helps us to think, propose and live the truth, beauty and goodness of the Christian experience".
Benedict XVI went on to speak of modern culture, where sometimes "the dignity of the person, the value of life, and the very meaning of truth and goodness" are placed in doubt, and where "nothing beyond the individual is recognised as definitive". In this situation "it becomes arduous and difficult to present new generations with the 'bread' of truth' for which it is worth spending one's life and accepting, when necessary, the rigour of discipline and the fatigue of commitment.
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VATICAN CITY, 27 MAY 2010 (VIS) - Today in the Vatican's Synod Hall, the Holy Father met with participants in the general assembly of the Italian Episcopal Conference (CEI), who are meeting from 24 to 28 May to consider their general pastoral guidelines for the period 2010 - 2020.
"The Holy Spirit guides the Church in the world and in history", said the Pope. "Thanks to this gift from the Risen One, the Lord remains present in midst of historical events. It is through the Spirit that we can recognise the meaning of human vicissitudes in Christ".
"Supported by the Spirit and continuing down the path shown us by Vatican Council II, in particular with the pastoral guidelines of the last decade, you have chosen to adopt education as the principal theme for the next ten years. This temporal horizon is proportioned to the importance and breadth of educational requirements, which call on us to take responsibility for the new generations with a united, integral and harmonious witness which helps us to think, propose and live the truth, beauty and goodness of the Christian experience".
Benedict XVI went on to speak of modern culture, where sometimes "the dignity of the person, the value of life, and the very meaning of truth and goodness" are placed in doubt, and where "nothing beyond the individual is recognised as definitive". In this situation "it becomes arduous and difficult to present new generations with the 'bread' of truth' for which it is worth spending one's life and accepting, when necessary, the rigour of discipline and the fatigue of commitment.
Read further...
Immodest Italian Women want Celibacy Laws to Change
It's one of those situations where a certain kind of man will shrug his shoulders and say something crass, even deliberately crass to offend the sensibility of an antagonistic leftist female.
What had Berlusconi done to arouse the ire of some leftists in Italian society who've made the issue into a cause célèbre? Well, he accused a certain woman of being more beautiful than intelligent, "hey, did I say something wrong?" This happened in 2009 and Berlusconi wasn't too noticeably effected and has been more popular than ever.
About 97,000 Italian women have signed the "Women offended by the premier" appeal after Berlusconi told the matronly, bespectacled leftist Rosy Bindi that she was "more beautiful than intelligent" in a swipe at both her looks and brains.
Facebook girly protest notwithstanding, Berlusconi is still in power.
Feminist political agendas are waged with greater zeal when their object is conservative. Many people were eager to believe Anita Hill who'd accused the black and conservative Catholic, Justice Clarance Thomas of sexually harassing her, but those same women who "believed Anita Hill" were mysteriously silent as the que of Bill Clinton's accusers grew.
It brings to mind a similar but unrelated legal ruling in Italy when female politicians protested outside Parliament with Jeans on in 1999, including Benito Mussolini's granddaughter. The defense was subsequently overturned, but there's definitely a change in Italian society, here. I can't help but feel that the Jeans defense for alleged rapists was somehow the Italian legal system's attempt to punish bad attire.
There are women who are easily offended, especially women of left sensibilities of which there is never a shortage, alas, and leftists are sure to bank on this, because women are a very important economic and moral force in Italian society, any society, but often, women expend their efforts on causes that raise an eyebrow with a hint of sauciness, but have a certain questionable validity, and even more questionable outcomes. The following Guardian Report that tells of a facebook group of former mistresses of priests who are urging the Church to changes its rules on celibacy.
Now, aside from the prurient interest, is this really newsworthy? More importantly, does it help us see women in a positive light?
Dozens of Italian women who have had relationships with Roman Catholic priests or lay monks have endorsed an open letter to the pope that calls for the abolition of the celibacy rule. The letter, thought by one signatory to be unprecedented, argues that a priest "needs to live with his fellow human beings, experience feelings, love and be loved".
It also pleads for understanding of those who "live out in secrecy those few moments the priest manages to grant [us] and experience on a daily basis the doubts, fears and insecurities of our men".
You should notice also that none of their arguments are based on actuality. They're based exclusively on sentiment, and perhaps a hint of malice and prurience.
Read further...
Two of the offensive parties have facebook accounts, like this one here:
Photo Credit: Reuters
The Waltz of the Cardinal: ++Schönborn's fickle Allegiance
The Italian journalist Bruno Volpe has commentated on the most recent clarifications by Christoph Cardinal Schönborn of Vienna about his predecessor, Hans-Herman Cardinal Groër (+2003)
Volpe is the producer of the famous Italian website, 'pontifex.roma.it".
On the end of march Cardinal Schönborn attacked the former Secretary of State Cardinal Sodano and implicated him in preventing an investigative commission on accusations against Cardinal Groër which then Cardinal Ratzinger was to have had undertaken.
Indeed, Volpe has brought "a few clarifications" on this situation.
He recalled on an activity of the Congregation of the Faith that occurred at Castle Laxenburg near Vienna, at the end of 1989.
Cardinal Ratzinger explained this opportunity to journalists, that the naming of Cardinal Groër as Archbishop of Vienna had been "very well considered".
Pope John Paul II named the Benedictine in July 1986 as Archbishop of Vienna and in June h1988 he made him Cardinal.
Volpe knows still more.
in March 1995 the supposed abuse-afflicted and socially maligned Joseph Hartman attacked the former Cardinal of Vienna in the scandal magazine 'profil'.
He accused the Cardinal of sexual abuse, which he was supposed to have committed in the years 1972 and 1976.
Volpe then explained that many defended Cardinal Groër. The journalist named the then Bishop of Sankt Polten, Msgr Kurt Krenn, the former Chairman of the 'Freedom Party', Jorg Haider, and the former Viennese Auxiliary Bishop Christoph Cardinal Schönborn.
Volpe also made the comparison of "the attack against Groër with a Church persecution, which would be similar to the Nazi Regime."
Volpe points out, that Msgr Schönborn altered his tactics once Cardinal Groër had fallen from grace. He suddenly made aggressively critical statements in public.
The Guild of journalists: "Cardinal Schönborn has a line on the day, which stands in the best tradition of Viennese waltzers."
Because: "First Cardinal Groër was a victim of anti-Catholic Fascism, then he was accused and perhaps even discovered:
Where here the truth is, might the Bishop of Vienna explain. We will be very thankful and say God Bless you" - said Volpe.
Link to original...
Volpe is the producer of the famous Italian website, 'pontifex.roma.it".
On the end of march Cardinal Schönborn attacked the former Secretary of State Cardinal Sodano and implicated him in preventing an investigative commission on accusations against Cardinal Groër which then Cardinal Ratzinger was to have had undertaken.
Indeed, Volpe has brought "a few clarifications" on this situation.
He recalled on an activity of the Congregation of the Faith that occurred at Castle Laxenburg near Vienna, at the end of 1989.
Cardinal Ratzinger explained this opportunity to journalists, that the naming of Cardinal Groër as Archbishop of Vienna had been "very well considered".
Pope John Paul II named the Benedictine in July 1986 as Archbishop of Vienna and in June h1988 he made him Cardinal.
Volpe knows still more.
in March 1995 the supposed abuse-afflicted and socially maligned Joseph Hartman attacked the former Cardinal of Vienna in the scandal magazine 'profil'.
He accused the Cardinal of sexual abuse, which he was supposed to have committed in the years 1972 and 1976.
Volpe then explained that many defended Cardinal Groër. The journalist named the then Bishop of Sankt Polten, Msgr Kurt Krenn, the former Chairman of the 'Freedom Party', Jorg Haider, and the former Viennese Auxiliary Bishop Christoph Cardinal Schönborn.
Volpe also made the comparison of "the attack against Groër with a Church persecution, which would be similar to the Nazi Regime."
Volpe points out, that Msgr Schönborn altered his tactics once Cardinal Groër had fallen from grace. He suddenly made aggressively critical statements in public.
The Guild of journalists: "Cardinal Schönborn has a line on the day, which stands in the best tradition of Viennese waltzers."
Because: "First Cardinal Groër was a victim of anti-Catholic Fascism, then he was accused and perhaps even discovered:
Where here the truth is, might the Bishop of Vienna explain. We will be very thankful and say God Bless you" - said Volpe.
Link to original...
South African Anglican Bishops engage in Pro-Homosexual Activism
The Bishops of the Anglican Church in South Africa are calling on President Jacob Zuma and South African government to take measures to secure the release of Steven Monjeza and Tiwonge Chimbalanga, a gay couple who were recently sentenced to 14 years’ hard labour after they staged a traditional engagement ceremony.
“We urge them to press for the swift release of these two individuals, who have committed no act of violence or harm against anyone; for the quashing of the sentence against them; and for the repeal of this repressive legislation,” the Synod of Bishops of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa said in a May 26 statement made available to Nyasa Times.
Monjeza and Chimbalanga were given the maximum sentence following a May 20 verdict from a Magistrates’ Court in Malawi, where same-sex relationships are illegal. The two men were arrested on December 28 after their engagement ceremony.
Read further...
“We urge them to press for the swift release of these two individuals, who have committed no act of violence or harm against anyone; for the quashing of the sentence against them; and for the repeal of this repressive legislation,” the Synod of Bishops of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa said in a May 26 statement made available to Nyasa Times.
Monjeza and Chimbalanga were given the maximum sentence following a May 20 verdict from a Magistrates’ Court in Malawi, where same-sex relationships are illegal. The two men were arrested on December 28 after their engagement ceremony.
Read further...
New Legal Venues for ACLU Legal Activist
He's on his way to change the way the Catholic Church works by attacking it with lawsuits. In the meantime, he's found a new potentially lucrative venue. By suing the multiple users of child pornography on the internet, he stands to keep his warchest full as he Crusades against the Catholic Church.
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ST. PAUL — An attorney who has spent years going after priests accused of sexual abuse is now taking on people who download child pornography.
Jeffrey Anderson filed a lawsuit today in federal court that he says will help track people who make, download or possess abusive images..
The lawsuit is filed on behalf of a boy who was 9 when images of him were taken.
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Nungate Continues: Will Leftist Poser Nuns be held Accountable at Last?
Progressive Adrian Nuns under Vatican Scrutiny
They've taught legions of Detroit-area Catholics. They've taken on major corporations. They are watchdog nuns who have urged U.S. companies to be socially responsible.
But to the Vatican, the Adrian Dominican congregation of 850 progressive nuns may be a problem, especially under the conservative papacy of Pope Benedict XVI.
For five days this spring, a Vatican-backed team studied the Adrian Dominicans at their motherhouse in Lenawee County. They are among at least 19 sister congregations being investigated under a process called the Apostolic Visitation.
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Thousands attend Ceremony for next Cardinal
They came from everywhere: cardinals in red skullcaps from the Vatican and Philadelphia, priests and parishioners from Newbury Park, Camarillo and Ventura who battled motion sickness on commuter trains or prayed for parking.
Juan Cano, a 27-year-old Camarillo seminarian, stood outside the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in Los Angeles on Wednesday, his tie rippling in the breeze, for the same reason as the 4,000 others:
History.
He came to watch Coadjutor Archbishop José H. Gomez welcomed to the Archdiocese of Los Angeles in a ritual-filled Mass that marked the beginning of a path that will make him the leader of the nation’s largest archdiocese.
Gomez, 58, will succeed Cardinal Roger Mahony, who will retire Feb. 27 on his 75th birthday after more than 25 years as the archdiocese’s leader. Until then, Gomez will serve as second-in-command.
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Juan Cano, a 27-year-old Camarillo seminarian, stood outside the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in Los Angeles on Wednesday, his tie rippling in the breeze, for the same reason as the 4,000 others:
History.
He came to watch Coadjutor Archbishop José H. Gomez welcomed to the Archdiocese of Los Angeles in a ritual-filled Mass that marked the beginning of a path that will make him the leader of the nation’s largest archdiocese.
Gomez, 58, will succeed Cardinal Roger Mahony, who will retire Feb. 27 on his 75th birthday after more than 25 years as the archdiocese’s leader. Until then, Gomez will serve as second-in-command.
Read further...
Homosexuals are Three Times More Likely to Commit Sexual Assualt in Military
WASHINGTON, D.C., May 26, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) - An analysis of publicly available documents indicates that homosexuals in the military are three times more likely to commit sexual assaults than heterosexuals, relative to their numbers, announced the Family Research Council Wednesday.
The release comes on the heels of news that Democrat U.S. senators on the Armed Services Committee seek to attach a repeal of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" rule banning open homosexuals from the military to an essential defense spending bill. Although Pentagon officials had begun a year-long review of the possible repercussions of repealing the ban, homosexual activists hope to squeeze the controversial overturn through before November elections - when several Democrats are expected to lose their seats - before the results of the Pentagon study are in.
The FRC analysis released Wednesday demonstrates one of the main causes of alarm for supporters of the ban: a review of the "case synopses" of all 1,643 reports of sexual assault reported by the four branches of the military for Fiscal Year 2009 (October 1, 2008 through September 30, 2009) found that over eight percent (8.2%) of all military sexual assault cases were homosexual in nature. Yet homosexual activist groups themselves have stated that less than three percent of Americans (2.8% of men and 1.4% of women) are homosexual or bisexual.
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The release comes on the heels of news that Democrat U.S. senators on the Armed Services Committee seek to attach a repeal of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" rule banning open homosexuals from the military to an essential defense spending bill. Although Pentagon officials had begun a year-long review of the possible repercussions of repealing the ban, homosexual activists hope to squeeze the controversial overturn through before November elections - when several Democrats are expected to lose their seats - before the results of the Pentagon study are in.
The FRC analysis released Wednesday demonstrates one of the main causes of alarm for supporters of the ban: a review of the "case synopses" of all 1,643 reports of sexual assault reported by the four branches of the military for Fiscal Year 2009 (October 1, 2008 through September 30, 2009) found that over eight percent (8.2%) of all military sexual assault cases were homosexual in nature. Yet homosexual activist groups themselves have stated that less than three percent of Americans (2.8% of men and 1.4% of women) are homosexual or bisexual.
Read further...
Catholic Hospital Closings Plague the Northeast
NEW YORK CITY – On April 30, the third oldest hospital in New York City closed its doors after 160 years of service.
As the result of years of financial struggle, St. Vincent’s Hospital in Manhattan filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection leaving not a single Catholic medical center in the area.
Only two years ago, in March 2008, Cabrini Medical Center in Manhattan, also closed and then filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy in July 2009.
The list of Catholic hospital closings expands into boroughs of Manhattan.
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Marquette Faculty shows Church who's Boss
By James Tillman
MILWAUKEE, Wisconsin, May 13, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) -- An uproar among homosexualist forces has ensued after Marquette University President Father Robert Wild withdrew a job offered to an openly lesbian professor, citing her academic writings' sexually explicit content as out of line with Catholic teaching. According to some reports, Milwaukee Archbishop Jerome Listecki's input on the matter was a key influence his decision to withdraw the offer.
Jodi O'Brien, who is currently a Sociology professor at Seattle University, which is also a Jesuit Catholic Institution, had been offered the job of dean of the Marquette College of Arts and Sciences, before Marquette University rescinded the offer Thursday.
An examination of O'Brien's writings - with such titles as "Wrestling the Angel of Contradiction: Queer Christian Identities" - quickly reveals matierial in dramatic conflict with the Catholic character of a Jesuit university.
In her 1996 article "Changing the Subject," published in Woman and Performance: A Journal of Feminist Theory, O'Brien discusses multiple sexual encounters, such as a lesbian who uses a sex toy to have sex with a gay man, in obscene detail. "What have they just done?" she goes on to wonder. "Is she having sex as a woman with a man? Is she having sex as a woman-man with a man-woman?"
Link to original...
MILWAUKEE, Wisconsin, May 13, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) -- An uproar among homosexualist forces has ensued after Marquette University President Father Robert Wild withdrew a job offered to an openly lesbian professor, citing her academic writings' sexually explicit content as out of line with Catholic teaching. According to some reports, Milwaukee Archbishop Jerome Listecki's input on the matter was a key influence his decision to withdraw the offer.
Jodi O'Brien, who is currently a Sociology professor at Seattle University, which is also a Jesuit Catholic Institution, had been offered the job of dean of the Marquette College of Arts and Sciences, before Marquette University rescinded the offer Thursday.
An examination of O'Brien's writings - with such titles as "Wrestling the Angel of Contradiction: Queer Christian Identities" - quickly reveals matierial in dramatic conflict with the Catholic character of a Jesuit university.
In her 1996 article "Changing the Subject," published in Woman and Performance: A Journal of Feminist Theory, O'Brien discusses multiple sexual encounters, such as a lesbian who uses a sex toy to have sex with a gay man, in obscene detail. "What have they just done?" she goes on to wonder. "Is she having sex as a woman with a man? Is she having sex as a woman-man with a man-woman?"
Link to original...
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Baptist Minister Murdered in St. Petersburg
In St. Petersburg, Russia, friends and family are mourning the loss of Pastor Yuri Golovin after he was beaten to death, reports MNN.
Slavic Gospel Association and the Russian Union of Evangelical Christians-Baptists (UECB) reported that 76-year-old Golovin was on his way to pay a visit to an elderly church member when unknown assailants attacked the Central Baptist Church pastor outside the home.
After the attack, Golovin was able to get the attention of the church member, who called an ambulance. However, Golovin later died at the hospital from his injuries.
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Slavic Gospel Association and the Russian Union of Evangelical Christians-Baptists (UECB) reported that 76-year-old Golovin was on his way to pay a visit to an elderly church member when unknown assailants attacked the Central Baptist Church pastor outside the home.
After the attack, Golovin was able to get the attention of the church member, who called an ambulance. However, Golovin later died at the hospital from his injuries.
Read further...
Archbishop Chaput says it's too hard to correct Abuses
He hopes people will believe him when he says that he does what he has to do, and that he just can't correct every single abuse out there, much less those that happen in other Archdiocese. What is meant to sound reasonable actually comes off as shirking.
We can see how the Archbishop would think that he really has limited options, since so many of the people he's allowed to be appointed aren't demonstrably Catholic-- why would it surprise him when they aren't pliable to direction. Since his own record in this regard of dealing with abuses and scandals has been a bit spotty, like when he allowed a Mass to be said in his own See for the benefit of the Pro-Abortion Governor, here.
But there are even still some people who will remember the Archbishop's endorsement of Stations of the Cross like these, here, when a woman took the part of Christ in a very strange portrayal of the Stations of the Cross indeed.
In the organizational structure of the Catholic Church in America, the Province of Denver includes the dioceses of Pueblo and Colorado Springs in Colorado, the Diocese of Cheyenne in Wyoming, and the province’s metropolitan (or senior) see, the Archdiocese of Denver. That makes Denver’s bishop an archbishop. As that archbishop, I rarely see a year go by without at least two or three unhappy parishioners assuming I have the authority to “straighten out” their liturgists and principals and pastors or some other problem in their local parish—within the province but outside my own diocese.
They tend to get even more annoyed when they learn that I have neither the authority nor the foolishness to meddle in the life of a sister diocese. Nor will I intrude on the ministry of a brother bishop. The title archbishop does entail some rights and duties in the life of a province, but these are strictly limited.
In reality, each diocese is a separate, autonomous community of believers. Each bishop in a province is an equal. Each is a successor of the apostles. And each is the chief teaching and governing authority in his own local church. Of course, the bishop of Rome, who is also the pope, is uniquely different: He is first among brothers, and yet he also has real authority as pastor of the whole Church. But he is not a global CEO, and Catholic bishops are not—and never have been—his agents or employees.
We can see how the Archbishop would think that he really has limited options, since so many of the people he's allowed to be appointed aren't demonstrably Catholic-- why would it surprise him when they aren't pliable to direction. Since his own record in this regard of dealing with abuses and scandals has been a bit spotty, like when he allowed a Mass to be said in his own See for the benefit of the Pro-Abortion Governor, here.
But there are even still some people who will remember the Archbishop's endorsement of Stations of the Cross like these, here, when a woman took the part of Christ in a very strange portrayal of the Stations of the Cross indeed.
Pope Denounces Abuses of Authority, even those by a Pope Himself
(26 May 10 – RV) “Not even the Pope can do what he wants, on the contrary the Pope is the guardian of obedience to Christ, to his Word" who " must precede in obedience to Christ and his Church. " "Outside of a clearly and explicitly supernatural vision the priests own duty to govern is incomprehensible. Instead it is supported by true love for the salvation of every believer, it is particularly precious and necessary in our time".
This was Pope Benedict XVI’s message at the heart of his Wednesday audience delivered to thousands in St Peter’s Square. With little over two week to the conclusion of the Year for Priests (June 11th) the Holy Father delivered the third in a series of lessons on the duties of the priestly ministry. The first two were dedicated to the priests duty to educate and sanctify the People of God, the third task, as outlined by the Pope, is to exercise authority in the Lord’s name:
“Authority, in the Christian understanding, is a service to the true, ultimate good of the person, which is our salvation in Christ; exercised in the Lord’s name, it is an expression of the constant presence and care of the Good Shepherd. The spiritual authority conferred in Holy Orders should be matched by the priest’s interior fidelity to his pastoral mission and his personal readiness to follow obediently the lead of Christ. Understood in the light of faith, this authority, while involving the exercise of power, remains a service to the building up of the Church in holiness, unity and truth. Christ’s power was expressed in the washing of feet, and his kingship by the wood of the Cross; so too, the priestly ministry of governance must be expressed in pastoral charity.”
.Read further..
This was Pope Benedict XVI’s message at the heart of his Wednesday audience delivered to thousands in St Peter’s Square. With little over two week to the conclusion of the Year for Priests (June 11th) the Holy Father delivered the third in a series of lessons on the duties of the priestly ministry. The first two were dedicated to the priests duty to educate and sanctify the People of God, the third task, as outlined by the Pope, is to exercise authority in the Lord’s name:
“Authority, in the Christian understanding, is a service to the true, ultimate good of the person, which is our salvation in Christ; exercised in the Lord’s name, it is an expression of the constant presence and care of the Good Shepherd. The spiritual authority conferred in Holy Orders should be matched by the priest’s interior fidelity to his pastoral mission and his personal readiness to follow obediently the lead of Christ. Understood in the light of faith, this authority, while involving the exercise of power, remains a service to the building up of the Church in holiness, unity and truth. Christ’s power was expressed in the washing of feet, and his kingship by the wood of the Cross; so too, the priestly ministry of governance must be expressed in pastoral charity.”
.Read further..
Priest who opposed Papal teaching arrested for Sex Abuse
It's not really the people who accept the truth of the Catholic Church's teachings, believe in the moral law, fear the judgements of God who are the problem.
It's liberals you have to watch out for, and liberals who are clever enough to pretend to be real Catholics.
Link here...
It's liberals you have to watch out for, and liberals who are clever enough to pretend to be real Catholics.
Of course, the recent John Jay misinformation study, made up of analytically-challenged dataticians with a predetermined agenda, has enlightened us that there is no convincing evidence that sexual abuse of boys is a predominately homosexual crime.
Much as I am disgusted by so many abuse cases involving priests, and I usually avoid reporting them, there is another study that, in their determination to blacklist the Catholic priesthood, is ignored completely by the anti-Catholic media. Mind you, these analysts had no predetermined agenda other than identifying behavioral abnormalities of teachers. Clip: “But according to Charol Shakeshaft, the researcher of a little-remembered 2004 study prepared for the U.S. Department of Education, ‘the physical sexual abuse of students in schools is likely more than 100 times the abuse by priests.’” (my emphasis)
Catholic Culture reports: A 73-year-old Italian priest who has long been a critic of Catholic teaching that homosexual inclinations are objectively disordered was arrested on May 24 on charges of abusing a teenage boy. Father Domenico Pezzini, who has led gay Catholic organizations, is also a medievalist and translator who recently retired from his faculty position at the University of Verona. More here.
Link here...
No Homosexual Parade in Moscow this Year Either
MOSCOW, May 25, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) - For the fifth year in a row, the government of the city of Moscow has defied the international homosexual lobby and has refused to issue a permit for a "gay pride" parade.
Nokolai Alexeiv, the organizer of the event, said that the permit had been denied because of risks to public order, as well as security concerns.
Gay pride marches are often scenes of public lewdness, in which participants violate nudity laws and engage in simulated and even real sex acts in public. The mayor's office has denounced homosexual behavior as "satanic" and said that it spreads disease.
Read further...
Related article, here.
Signals of closer relations between Rome and Moscow, here.
Nokolai Alexeiv, the organizer of the event, said that the permit had been denied because of risks to public order, as well as security concerns.
Gay pride marches are often scenes of public lewdness, in which participants violate nudity laws and engage in simulated and even real sex acts in public. The mayor's office has denounced homosexual behavior as "satanic" and said that it spreads disease.
Read further...
Related article, here.
Signals of closer relations between Rome and Moscow, here.
An outpouring of Support and Love for Cardinal Ouellet
OTTAWA, Ontario, May 25, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Despite the beating he took in the Quebec and national media last week, Cardinal Marc Ouellet, archbishop of Quebec City and primate of Canada, is “buoyant, joyful, brimming with love,” reports journalist Deborah Gyapong.
Cardinal Ouellet was attacked by the mainstream press, politicians, and even some clergy after he made comments just over a week ago in which he affirmed the teaching of the Catholic Church against abortion in all cases, including rape.
“The child is not responsible for how he was conceived, it is the aggressor who is responsible,” he told reporters. “We can see him (the child) as another victim.”
Link to original...
Cardinal Ouellet was attacked by the mainstream press, politicians, and even some clergy after he made comments just over a week ago in which he affirmed the teaching of the Catholic Church against abortion in all cases, including rape.
“The child is not responsible for how he was conceived, it is the aggressor who is responsible,” he told reporters. “We can see him (the child) as another victim.”
Link to original...
Heretical Jesuit Pretends to be Physicist and gets Owned
Jesuits are great pretenders.
Read full article, here.
[First Thoughts] Catholic World News reports that Fr. Michael Kelly, S.J. the CEO of the Asian Catholic News agency, finds the Catholic doctrine of “transubstantiation” meaningless in this “post-Newtonian world of quantum physics”. Since I use quantum mechanics every day in my work, I think I can match my understanding of this post-Newtonian world of quantum physics against Fr. Kelly’s, and I do not find the doctrine “meaningless”.
Read full article, here.
Deacon arrested for Simony in Greece
ATHENS, Greece -- Police arrested an orthodox deacon on Monday (May 24th) who allegedly sold human bones to a Swiss man, claiming they are holy relics. The priest, 24, was detained in the town of Sidirokastro, near the Bulgarian border. A total of 505 human bone fragments, 15 skulls, icons and Byzantine coins were found in his home. The bones were labelled with the names of various saints. Police also arrested the Swiss national, Stephan Meyer, 43, at the airport in Thessaloniki from where he was awaiting a flight to Germany. Skulls and nearly 200 bone fragments in his luggage were allegedly to be delivered to a representative of the Russian Orthodox Church in Germany. (AP, Telegraph - 24/05/10)
Link, here.
Link, here.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Culture and Civilzation at War
Alice von Hildebrand
God gave Adam and Eve dominion over the earth. This mission was confided to them, not to let it become stale but to make it bear fruit. They were called to take care of it, to tend it, and to develop it. Nature was the material, and man was to foster its development and to beautify it. If one compares a virgin forest with a Tuscan or Umbrian landscape, it is obvious that men have taken this mission seriously and fulfilled it lovingly.
Man's intervention can take two different forms: Following my late husband Dietrich's terminology, I will call one of them "civilization" and the other "culture."
By civilization, I mean human achievements aimed at making life easier, more practical, and more convenient. Transportation comes to mind: It is a field in which technology has worked "miracles." Walking has -- in due time -- been replaced by buggies, which, in turn, have been replaced by bicycles, cars, ships, and airplanes. Man can now crisscross the world in a matter of hours, whereas at the time of Columbus, reaching the American continent was a slow and dangerous enterprise. We have even landed on the moon, and soon we can hope to conquer other planets.
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God gave Adam and Eve dominion over the earth. This mission was confided to them, not to let it become stale but to make it bear fruit. They were called to take care of it, to tend it, and to develop it. Nature was the material, and man was to foster its development and to beautify it. If one compares a virgin forest with a Tuscan or Umbrian landscape, it is obvious that men have taken this mission seriously and fulfilled it lovingly.
Man's intervention can take two different forms: Following my late husband Dietrich's terminology, I will call one of them "civilization" and the other "culture."
By civilization, I mean human achievements aimed at making life easier, more practical, and more convenient. Transportation comes to mind: It is a field in which technology has worked "miracles." Walking has -- in due time -- been replaced by buggies, which, in turn, have been replaced by bicycles, cars, ships, and airplanes. Man can now crisscross the world in a matter of hours, whereas at the time of Columbus, reaching the American continent was a slow and dangerous enterprise. We have even landed on the moon, and soon we can hope to conquer other planets.
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Cardinal Newman's Legacy is at Brompton Oratory where there's Trouble
No doubt, there's already a lot of rumpus about just how much a strong advocate the great Cardinal Newman was to the cause of belle lettres and literary genius. A Los Angeles Priest has tried to do his part to exonerate the beleaguered cause of Sainthood. Cardinal Newman's contemporaries weren't quite as keen about his Orthodoxy as are Cardinal Newman's latter day would-be hagiographers. Even Lord Acton, whose liberal Catholicism the Cardinal stood in good stead, found his personal orthodoxy suspect, perhaps even, distasteful.
Even a mix-up at Brompton Oratory won't put a damper on this.
Can a man about whom, for those who really know anything about him, be described as anything but catty, vengeful and petty? Many people look at Cardinal Newman as a herald of Vatican II. He certainly set an example for others of his Liberal set; we've got too many of his type already in the clerical state and we need more Cardinal Mannings.
Just how much will get out about the Cardinal's personal Orthodoxy remains to be seen, but perhaps there is something to the genius of the Papacy that perceives things as they are but not as they seem. Cardinal Newman, his literary genius notwithstanding, might not have been the most friendly and gregarious of men, but perhaps he was more than that, a Saint perhaps?
Hopefully, the Cardinal will have better defenders than he has opponents, because he really needs strong advocates to defend his honor and the honor of the Church.
So far, owing to the prurient interest of our modern world, the question of Cardinal Newman's sexuality far outweighs any considerations of his orthodoxy.
Even a mix-up at Brompton Oratory won't put a damper on this.
Can a man about whom, for those who really know anything about him, be described as anything but catty, vengeful and petty? Many people look at Cardinal Newman as a herald of Vatican II. He certainly set an example for others of his Liberal set; we've got too many of his type already in the clerical state and we need more Cardinal Mannings.
Just how much will get out about the Cardinal's personal Orthodoxy remains to be seen, but perhaps there is something to the genius of the Papacy that perceives things as they are but not as they seem. Cardinal Newman, his literary genius notwithstanding, might not have been the most friendly and gregarious of men, but perhaps he was more than that, a Saint perhaps?
Hopefully, the Cardinal will have better defenders than he has opponents, because he really needs strong advocates to defend his honor and the honor of the Church.
So far, owing to the prurient interest of our modern world, the question of Cardinal Newman's sexuality far outweighs any considerations of his orthodoxy.
Franciscan University Graduates its Fourth Largest Class Ever
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STEUBENVILLE, OH—Franciscan University of Steubenville sent the largest graduating class in the University's history into the world on Saturday, May 8, at the 62nd commencement exercises.
The 707 graduates of the Class of 2010 represent 11 countries and 46 states, with Ohio, Pennsylvania, California, Virginia, and New York leading the way. This year's class also included the first-ever graduates from the sacred music and international business programs.
"Congratulations on graduating from one of the finest Catholic universities, not only in the United States, but in the world," His Eminence John Cardinal Foley told the graduates gathered in Finnegan Fieldhouse for the Baccalaureate Mass on Friday, May 7.
Delivering his homily "from the chair," Cardinal Foley linked the graduates to centuries of Catholic tradition while exhorting them to take the fervor of their faith with them into the world.
About Franciscan
ACLU attacks Sheriff for Refusing to Drive someone to Abortion
By James Tillman
WEATHERFORD, Texas, May 24, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) -- The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has threatened legal action against a Texas sheriff, claiming he violated an inmate's constitutional "right" to an abortion by refusing to transport her to an abortion clinic.
Sheriff Larry Fowler, however, said he would not use taxpayer funds to facilitate the deed.
"My personal feeling is I don't feel like the taxpayers of Parker County would think much of their sheriff spending taxpayer money to take people to abortion clinics," Fowler told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
"I don't think they would want me to even entertain that notion."
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WEATHERFORD, Texas, May 24, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) -- The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has threatened legal action against a Texas sheriff, claiming he violated an inmate's constitutional "right" to an abortion by refusing to transport her to an abortion clinic.
Sheriff Larry Fowler, however, said he would not use taxpayer funds to facilitate the deed.
"My personal feeling is I don't feel like the taxpayers of Parker County would think much of their sheriff spending taxpayer money to take people to abortion clinics," Fowler told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
"I don't think they would want me to even entertain that notion."
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Anxieties over the Papal visit to Britain
Damian cites one person's concern that Susan Boyle's singing is intended to "keep bums on seats". The concern is that not enough people will show up.
Anxieties over the Papal visit to Britain
Anxieties over the Papal visit to Britain
Dispute over Prague Cathedral Ends
[Czechia/Kreuz], The Church has capitulated in its year-long legal battle over the Cathedral which was robbed by the Communists in 1953. On Monday President Vaclav Klaus and Archbishop Dominic Duka (67) signed the agreement. The Church therein repudiates its rights of ownership. Msgr Duka is in his first month in office. His predecessor Miloslav Cardinal Vlk, wanted to make a constitutional appeal and if necessary to go before the European Human Rights Court, against the refusal to return the Cathedral.
Since the Cathedral had been stolen from the Church by the Communists, many years have come and gone.
[Czech News]Klaus said the disputes about the cathedral had thereby ended and that the state and the Catholic Church would take care of the cathedral jointly.
Under the agreement, the Prague Castle Administration is to provide the real estate, two buildings in the Castle complex, necessary for the church to use the cathedral and the Prague Castle will keep looking after the real estate.
"The court dispute about the cathedral and some other real estate at Prague Castle has been terminated by the declaration we have just signed. As it has been for long past centuries, the state and the Catholic Church will by joint forces take care of the cathedral that they together consider an exceptional national symbol in its historical, spiritual and cultural sense," Klaus said after signing the declaration this afternoon.
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New Chaldean Archbishop in Iraq
The Chaldean Diocese of Erbil (Iraq) has a new bishop. The new bishop, who will replace Msgr. Rabban Alqas who since 2007 held the patriarchal diocese as administrator is, as rumored since the last synod of the Chaldean church, Father Bashar Warda CSsR, rector of St. Peter Chaldean Seminary in Ankawa.
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Where did She go Wrong?
At Notre Dame I majored in theology and held an office in the campus prolife group. As a student there I had my world expanded exponentially, albeit still within the Catholic bubble. At Notre Dame I came across more permutations of Catholicity than I had ever imagined existed. On or near or passing through campus was a dizzying array of personalities and schools of thought and service groups and periodicals. Focolare, Opus Dei, Lawrence Cunningham, Jean Porter, Richard McBrien, Michael Buckley, Alasdair MacIntyre, Michael Waldstein, CILA, the Thomas More Society, Crisis, NCR, the National Catholic Register, Commonweal, Lefebvrists, Marianists, millenialists, Lonerganians, Thomists, Balthasarians, the Theology of the Body, Feminists for Life, Comunione e Liberazione, Community of Sant’Egidio, Holy Cross Associates, High Mass in the Basilica, Wednesday night Masses in the chapel of Farley Hall...like I said, dizzying. One Thursday night I would be out to a fondue dinner with a friend and her father and a conference-attending Joseph Fessio, SJ (who fixed his traditionalist gaze on me and said, “So, just how bad is the Theology Department these days?”). The next morning might find me crashing a professional conference on medical ethics—sitting in the back row, taking it all in—before heading off to hear a speaker on liberation theology over at the Center for Social Concerns. During my time at Notre Dame a professor I asked to be my confessor steadily tried to bring me along from a stunted spirituality centered on self-discipline (I was very, very good at that) to a more expansive and far more challenging spirituality centered on the daunting gospel command to love—really love—God and neighbor. I left campus with my diploma and a handful of awards, one of them for being the top theology student. I hated leaving, and told everyone I felt like I had just started getting to the good stuff.
After a couple of weeks I drove my fondue friend to an order of female hermits in New York whom she was considering joining, and headed to the L’Arche community in Toronto, Canada, to live and work among the developmentally disabled. Daily Mass was again part of the mix, this time with Henri Nouwen as celebrant. When Henri was gone a few of us tried our hand at lay preaching. I’d like to think I did a passable job. After two years at L’Arche, not able to shake that “but I was just getting to the good stuff” feeling, I requested a deferral of admission to law school in order to continue theology studies. Fellowship in hand, I relocated to Boston and found my intellectual home in the work of Karl Rahner. Two years of studying theology and nothing but theology—and getting paid for it!—well, that was as sweet a deal as I had ever come across.
During my years in Boston I dated a couple of guys, one of them a former seminarian and fellow theology student. He and I attended a talk by Andrew Sullivan, then the editor of the New Republic and an out gay Catholic. I sat and listened, and knew for the first time with a semblance of peace what I had come to know in recent years in more conflicted fashion: that I was, and would always be, a gay Catholic.
I met my future partner some years later at a party thrown by a priest. The months that followed were excruciatingly difficult. It is one thing to be a gay Catholic, another to take the step of dating. I realized I would never have an answer for those who say, “God will give you the strength to bear whatever burden you have. He will give you the grace to be a faithful, celibate, gay woman. You need only pray and fast.” If I protest and say that I have prayed, I did fast (every Wednesday, for years!), my continued existence as an unrepentant gay Catholic simply provides them with their own ready answer: “You need only pray and fast more.” And who can disagree with that? I am reminded of the words of Rahner as he pondered embarking on the writing of his massive tome Foundations of Christian Faith:
Link to Commonweal...
Another Heretical Jesuit denies Transubstantiation
[Catholic Culture] Stating that “Catholics can become fanatical about one form of the Body of Christ in the bread of the Eucharist as the REAL presence of Christ,” Father Michael Kelly, the Jesuit CEO of the Asian Catholic news agency UCA News, criticized the doctrine of transubstantiation in a May 24 column.
In his column-- a critique of the new, more accurate liturgical translations that reflect the content and dignity of the original Latin-- Father Kelly writes:
Link to Catholic Culture...
In his column-- a critique of the new, more accurate liturgical translations that reflect the content and dignity of the original Latin-- Father Kelly writes:
Regrettably, all too frequently, the only Presence focused on is Christ’s presence in the elements of bread and wine. Inadequately described as the change of the “substance” (not the “accidents”) of bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ, the mystery of the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist carries the intellectual baggage of a physics no one accepts. Aristotelian physics makes such nice, however implausible and now unintelligible, distinctions. They are meaningless in the post-Newtonian world of quantum physics, which is the scientific context we live in today.
Link to Catholic Culture...
Monday, May 24, 2010
Obama Administration Attempting to Protect the Vatican
[Catholic Culture] The Obama administration has weighed in strongly against efforts by abuse victims to bring suit against the Vatican.
In a brief filed with the US Supreme Court, the Justice Department asked for a reversal of a federal district court ruling that allowed the Vatican to be listed as a defendant in an Oregon case.
The brief does not directly address the questions that have been raised in a more recent case in Kentucky, in which plaintiffs argue that American bishops are in effect employees of the Holy See. In the Oregon case the Solicitor General argues that the plaintiffs have failed to match the standards required for bringing suit in US courts against another sovereign power.
Link to Catholic Culture...
Spokane Diocese To Hold C.C.H.D. Collection Despite Funding Of Pro-Abortion, Same-Sex Marriage Groups
Monday, May 24, 2010
Note the parallel between the U.S. Catholic Campaign for Human Development and the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace. Both of these so-called Catholic organizations fund groups which promote ideologies that contradict Catholic teaching. Both of them receive money from diocesan collections in their respective countries.
MEDIA RELEASE
http://all.org/article.php?id=12782
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
14 May 2010
CONTACT: Katie Walker
540.659.4942 kwalker@all.org
Read further at Milites Veritatis...
Note the parallel between the U.S. Catholic Campaign for Human Development and the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace. Both of these so-called Catholic organizations fund groups which promote ideologies that contradict Catholic teaching. Both of them receive money from diocesan collections in their respective countries.
MEDIA RELEASE
http://all.org/article.php?id=12782
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
14 May 2010
CONTACT: Katie Walker
540.659.4942 kwalker@all.org
Read further at Milites Veritatis...
Catholic Priest rejects Pope, 2,000 Years of Catholicism: Examiner slams Liberal Priest
In a paper not known for its friendliness to Catholicism, the San Francisco Examiner, Kevin Whiteman takes a liberal priest to task for liberal honesty and makes some interesting but oft omitted citations when it comes to liberal news media reporting.
Catholic Priest rejects Pope, 2,000 Years of Catholicism
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According to 'Index of Leading Catholic Indicators: The Church Since Vatican II' by Kenneth C. Jones, here are just a few examples of the grand and sweeping changes that have come about since the Second Vatican Council;
* Mass Attendence. In A 1958 Gallup Poll reported that 75% of Catholics attended church on Sundays. A recent study by the University of Notre Dame found that only 25% now attend.
* Priests. While the number of priests in the United States more than doubled to 58,000, between 1930 and 1965, since then that number has fallen to 45,000. By 2020, there will be only 31,000 priests left, and more than half of these priests will be over 70.
* Ordinations. In 1965, 1,575 new priests were ordained in the United States. In 2002, the number was 450. In 1965, only 1% of U.S. parishes were without a priest. Today, there are 3,000 priestless parishes, 15% of all U.S. parishes.
* Nuns. In 1965, there were 104,000 teaching nuns. Today, there are 8,200, a decline of 94% since the end of Vatican II.
Catholic Priest rejects Pope, 2,000 Years of Catholicism
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FSSP Priestly Ordinations
From Una Voce Carmel:
On the 22nd of May in the year of Our Lord 2010 at 10:00 am at the Cathedral of the Risen Christ in Lincoln Nebraska. His Ecellency Fabian Bruskewitz, Bishop of Lincoln, will confer Priestly Ordinations for the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter. The following Deacons will be ordained to the Sacred Priesthood.
Rev. Mr. Peter Bauknect, FSSP
Rev. Mr. Simon Harkins, FSSP
Rev. Mr. Garrick Huang, FSSP
Rev. Mr. Rhone Lillard, FSSP
Rev. Mr. John Rickert, FSSP
Rev. Mr. John Shannon, FSSP
Please pray for the Deacons as they ascend to the Altar of Our Lord.
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Ordinations in Scotland and Ireland, here.
Here's the FSSP homepage, not seeing any photos, but keep checking back, here.
Check out Our Lady of Guadalupe website, the photos are here.
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