It's not that you feel that so-and-so has so much to offer, it's that homosexuals are forbidden from being ordained. Father Martin's own disinformation about there not being a link between homosexuality and pederasty (which he misnames pedophilia) completely misses the fact that over 80% of the victims of priests were post-pubescent males. Father Martin ignores Church law as well and publicly disagrees with the Church's teaching.
The real question is why is this man still in the Jesuits? In America Magazine on May 31st, where he's the editor, replacing someone else who questioned Church teaching too much, he commented on the New York Times article about the same subject.
Perhaps he's sad that one Jesuit Scholastic is no longer with the Oregon Province? Of course, Father Martin's apologia for sodomy was well addressed by Father Eutener. Now we hope someone else steps in and invites Father Martin to find employment with someone whose core philosophy doesn't contradict his own misconceptions and errors.
Today’s front-page story in The New York Times, "Prospective Catholic Priests Face Sexuality Hurdles," by Paul Vitello, about the exclusion and weeding out of gay men from seminaries and religious formation houses, made for depressing reading. Why depressing? Several reasons.
First, the article laid bare the cognitive dissonance that theatens a church that relies on celibate gay priests to carry out much of its ministerial work, and yet sets into place policies which would bar those same kinds of men from future ministry. One of Vitello’s sources, Mark D. Jordan, the R. R. Niebuhr professor at Harvard Divinity School, “who has studied homosexuality in the Catholic priesthood,” and has also written extensively on it, called it an “irony” that “these new regulations are being enforced in many cases by seminary directors who are themselves gay.” Yes, irony.
Second is the notion that the sexual abuse crisis was primarily a question of gays in the priesthood. For one thing, the conflation of homosexuality with pedophilia has been disproven by almost every psychiatrist and psychologist. The studies are too numerous to mention. It was rebutted even by the U.S. bishops own study. ("At this point, we do not find a connection between homosexual identity and the increased likelihood of subsequent abuse from the data that we have right now," said Margaret Smith of the John Jay College of Criminal Justice.) For another, the increasing number of gay priests entering ministry in the past few years, which critics point to as a stain on the priesthood, coincides with a diminution of sexual abuse cases in recent years. For another, the reason that you don’t see any public models of healthy, mature, celibate gay priests to counteract the stereotype of the pedophile gay priest, is that they are forbidden to speak out publicly. Or they are simply afraid.
Link to America...
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Good Jesuit, Bad Jesuit: A German Jesuit Priest Called Father Bertram
Father was a good one for corporal punishment and is very frank about it.
Good Jesuit, Bad Jesuit: A German Jesuit Priest Called Father Bertram
Good Jesuit, Bad Jesuit: A German Jesuit Priest Called Father Bertram
Another Heretical Social Justice Conference in Dallas
St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish in Plano, which hosted Joyce Rupp in February, is now hosting a conference on ‘Parish Social Ministry Training,’ on June 11-12 at the parish. The conference will host several speakers, the headliner being Dr. Arturo Chavez of the Mexican American Catholic College. Dr. Chavez is also a member of Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good, a PAC funded by socialist billionaire George Soros and an organization that frequently contradicts the clear doctrine of the Faith and the established authorities of the Church. Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good has repeatedly expressed a willingness to “exchange” expanded welfare funding for continuing or expanded access to abortion. Dr. Chavez was also named to a Faith Advisory Council by the Obama Administration.
Read further...
Another such conference, hosted by radio personality Garrison Keillor, was held in Minnesota earlier. It's very hard to see how they are able to hold these things without the approval of the ordinary. The conference in Minnesota wasn't stopped, although Archbishop Nienstedt did "object" to it going on.
Bishop Müller of Augsburg Decries SSPX Ordinations, Again
Regensburg's Bishop attempts to stir the pot on the SSPX's upcoming ordinations in Germany this year on June 26 in Zaitzkofen as announced on their website, here. The local ordinary, Bishop Gerhard Ludwig Müller, who undoubtedly has bigger fish to fry, wants to make trouble.
Bishop Gerhard Ludwig Müller speaks of a "provocation". One such demonstration could do possible damage the reconciliation of the Society of Saint Pius with the Catholic Church.
Zaitzkofen/Regensburg (kath.net/KNA) The traditional Society of Saint Pius propose the 26th of June to ordain three deacons to the Priesthood. The General head Bishop Bernard Fellay will confer the Sacrament by a Mass in the courtyard of the Seminary in the Upper-Pfalz town of Zaitzkofen, as explained by the internet site of the Society. The three candidates are a 62 year old from Sweden, a 37 year old from Czechia and a 28 year old from South Tirol.
The Regensburg Bishop Gerhard Ludwig Müller in whose Diocese Zaitzkofen sits, spoke on Monday of a "provocation". One such demonstration may damage the Society of Saint Pius' re-unification with the Catholic Church. At the same time he encourages the Society to forgo ordination till the status of their orders is clarified. Such events should "only be undertaken with the permission and knowledge of the Pope".
Already in the past year, Müller had criticized the then undertaken ordinations. He renews again his claim that it is an act of schism by the Society to ordain priests without the express authorization of the Pope and without the permission of the local Bishop. Whoever refuses to acknowledge the Second Vatican Council or parts thereof, may not have the full Communion of the Catholic Church.
Pope Benedict XVI. had lifted the excommunications of the four Bishops of the Society in January of 2009, including Fellay, in order to initiate a dialogue. Since then there have been talks in the Vatican with the Society to clarify points of contention in Doctrine.
The Society of Saint Pius X, founded in 1969 by Archbishop Lefebvre deny the central Church reforms of the 20th Century. They are not recognized by the Vatican. Unauthorized priestly ordinations by validly ordaiend Bishops are valid according to Catholic Church law even though they lack the permission of the Pope.
Photo: Diocese of Augsburg
The Architect as Totalitarian by Theodore Dalrymple, City Journal Autumn 2009
Theodore Dalrymple
[City] Le Corbusier was to architecture what Pol Pot was to social reform. In one sense, he had less excuse for his activities than Pol Pot: for unlike the Cambodian, he possessed great talent, even genius. Unfortunately, he turned his gifts to destructive ends, and it is no coincidence that he willingly served both Stalin and Vichy. Like Pol Pot, he wanted to start from Year Zero: before me, nothing; after me, everything. By their very presence, the raw-concrete-clad rectangular towers that obsessed him canceled out centuries of architecture. Hardly any town or city in Britain (to take just one nation) has not had its composition wrecked by architects and planners inspired by his ideas.
The Architect as Totalitarian by Theodore Dalrymple, City Journal Autumn 2009
German Liberal Archbishop Zollitsch Charged in Abuse
This must certainly be payback for stabbing Bishop Mixa of Augsburg in the back, or at least, this is well deserved; it's poetic justice. We certainly hope that the head of the German Bishop's Conference expresses remorse for letting Bishop Mixa go down over an empty accusation of sexual abuse and engaging in what was a number of years ago a normal way of educating students with corporal punishment.
You should also note the comparative kid gloves treatment being meted out to Cardinal Mahony in the United States, owing perhaps to Germany's traditional animus against the Catholic Church which criminals of ++Mahony's mind in Germany give provide them with ammunition.
Wednesday, 2 June 2010
[RTE] Germany's top Catholic bishop has been charged with aiding and abetting a known abuser by allowing him to get a new job in a German parish.
Robert Zollitsch, head of the German Bishops' Conference and archbishop of Freiburg, was accused by prosecutors in Freiburg in southwest Germany of permitting a priest accused of child abuse in the 1960s to be reappointed to a parish job in 1987.
However the Church in Freiburg accused the prosecutors and media of 'sensationalism' by talking of charges of 'aiding and abetting sexual abuse' against the 71-year-old archbishop and denied that the appointment was his direct responsibility.
Read further...
Archbishop Zollitsch, of course, for those who do not know has been explicitly hostile to Tradition, so his inevitable resignation won't be a sad thing, it won't be a bad thing, here at the Remnant by Michael Matt,
Never mind that the head of the German Bishops Conference, Bishop Zollitsch, recently told Meinhard Schmidt-Degenhard in an interview on German television that the death of Jesus Christ was not a redemptive act of God to liberate human beings from the bondage of sin. “Christ did not die,” argued the bishop “for the sins of the people as if God had provided a sacrificial offering, like a scapegoat.” No, Jesus offered only “solidarity” with the poor and suffering.
And here we all thought Christ was the sacrificial lamb, crucified on the altar of the Cross in order to redeem sinful men and reopen the gates of Heaven! What were we thinking?
Well, at least the bishop didn’t question the number of victims of the Holocaust or anything serious like that. Sure, back in February of 2008, he did claim that priestly celibacy should be voluntary and is not “theologically necessary”; and it’s true that he is in favor of homosexual civil unions; but the really important thing is that Bishop Zollitsch is in “full communion with Rome”. Right?
Of course, some of ++Zollitsch's concerns took place over problems with SSPX ordinations which were happening last year. One wonders if he won't be too preoccupied to take issue about them again this year; more later.
Catholic Bishop Murdered Thursday in Turkey
The Apostolic Vicar of Anatolia was stabbed to death by his driver named at this point as, A Murat. The man has a history of mental illness.
It is the most recent of many attacks in Turkey on Christians and this attack comes two days before Holy Father's visit to Turkish occupied Cyprus, which the Turkish government invaded in 1974.
Related links, Tornielli, here,
Background on the Turkish Invasion of 1974, here.
It is the most recent of many attacks in Turkey on Christians and this attack comes two days before Holy Father's visit to Turkish occupied Cyprus, which the Turkish government invaded in 1974.
Related links, Tornielli, here,
In 2007, a Roman Catholic priest in the western city of Izmir, Adriano Franchini, was stabbed and slightly wounded in the stomach by a 19-year-old man after Sunday Mass. The man was arrested.
The same year, a group of men entered a Bible-publishing house in the central Anatolian city of Malatya and killed three Christians, including a German national. The five alleged killers are now standing trial for murder.
The killings – in which the victims were tied up and had their throats slit – drew international condemnation and added to Western concerns about whether Turkey can protect its religious minorities.
In 2006, amid widespread anger in Islamic countries over the publication in European newspapers of caricatures of Islam's Prophet Muhammad, a 16-year-old boy shot dead a Catholic priest, Father Andrea Santoro, as he prayed in his church in the Black Sea city of Trabzon. The boy was convicted of murder and sentenced to 18 years in prison.
In a 2006 telephone interview with The Associated Press, following another knife attack that injured another priest, Padovese expressed concern over the safety of Catholics priests in Turkey.
"The climate has changed," he said. "It is the Catholic priests that are being targeted."
Background on the Turkish Invasion of 1974, here.
Prosecutor says insufficient evidence found to charge LA cardinal in clergy abuse scandal
Turning Cardinal Mahony over to the secular arm for punishment would solve so many problems.
They'd at least be better off charging him with heresy and letting him fend for himself on Social Security after they suspend him.
Of course, the California legal system stumbled and fell when it came to prosecuting Michael Jackson as well, who may not have been as prolific as Cardinal Mahony, but certainly acted with about as much impunity. At least mediaeval justice obtained a conviction against Gilles de Rais.
By GILLIAN FLACCUS , Associated Press
Last update: June 2, 2010 - 5:14 PM
"LOS ANGELES - An eight-year investigation into how the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles handled clergy abuse cases suggests "the possibility of criminal culpability" by members of the archdiocese leadership, but investigators don't have enough evidence to file charges, a lead prosecutor wrote in a memo provided Wednesday.
The investigation of alleged sex abuse by priests remains active, but a criminal conspiracy case against archdiocese officials was "more and more remote" because of the passage of time, Deputy District Attorney William Hodgman said in the May 26 memo.
Investigators have insufficient evidence to fill in a timeline stretching over 20 years and are hampered by the statute of limitations, wrote Hodgman, who did not name any church leaders by name in the sections of the three-page memo that were not redacted.
The district attorney's office subpoenaed documents from the archdiocese and hoped to use the material to build more cases, but the effort was stymied by reluctant victims and insufficient evidence to corroborate what was in the documents, the memo said. The memo was released in response to questions about District Attorney Steve Cooley's handling of the priest abuse investigation, which began in 2002. Cooley is in the final week of a campaign to become the Republican nominee for California attorney general.
Cardinal Roger Mahony has come under fire for his handling of several abusive priests during his tenure in the Los Angeles archdiocese and agreed to pay $660 million in 2007 to more than 500 alleged clergy abuse victims.
A federal grand jury is also probing the archdiocese's handling of the scandal and has subpoenaed a former Los Angeles priest convicted of child molestation and a monsignor who served as vicar for clergy under Mahony. Mahony's attorney Michael Hennigan has said the cardinal was not a target of the investigation. Hennigan did not immediately return a call Wednesday seeking comment.
Hodgman's memo only refers to the church hierarchy. It does not name Mahony as a subject of its investigation.
Archdiocese spokesman Tod Tamberg said he had not seen the memo. Still, any suggestion of criminal wrongdoing by Mahony or others in the church leadership was false, he said. "Our documents and actions have been scrutinized for nearly 10 years by judges and investigators, and numerous archdiocesan officials have spent hundreds of hours answering questions under oath," he said. "While Cardinal Mahony has said that mistakes were made in dealing with individual cases of abuse in past decades, no facts have established that these mistakes were anything other than mistakes," Tamberg said.
Prosecutors have won convictions against six priests since 2002 and were forced to dismiss 11 cases in 2003 after the U.S. Supreme Court found a law that extended the statute of limitations in some sex abuse cases was unconstitutional. Investigators are currently pursuing a case against another priest, the memo said.
Clergy abuse victims reacted angrily to Hodgman's findings and accused Cooley of not doing enough to crack down on the archdiocese and Mahony.
"We know church officials and church lawyers are extremely shrewd. Still, it's boggling that Cooley can't find a single member of the hundreds of the Los Angeles archdiocesan staff who can be charged," Barbara Dorris, outreach director of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests. said in a prepared statement.
Mahony, 74, will retire next year. His replacement, Archbishop Jose Gomez, was welcomed to the archdiocese in a special Mass last week and will serve alongside Mahony until his retirement."
Link to original...
Further Signs of Impending Demise for American Monasticism
It's a brief reprieve as one failed monastery goes to a failing monastery. The decline of liberal Catholic Monasteries is probably irreversible and in a decade or so, a very modern Monastery will go the way of the dodo. If the materialists are correct, then Monastic life is just one more organism which has seen its time come and gone. Perhaps it's more likely that the nuns, most of whom accept that thesis themselves, are simply participating in the demise of their own religious houses?
Sisterhood ends where it began for 2 merging nuns
By PATRICK CONDON (AP)
ST. JOSEPH, Minn. — Sister Mary David Olheiser and Sister Helenette Baltes professed their vows together in 1936 as two of the 21 new sisters to join the Sisters of the Order of St. Benedict that year. At the time, their central Minnesota Roman Catholic monastery was overflowing with youth and energy.
Sixty-two years later, the classmates and old friends are together again. St. Benedict is taking St. Bede back into its fold. The smaller group is facing demographic realities by closing its Wisconsin monastery and moving 29 remaining sisters back to Minnesota.
"It's just a blessing," said Helenette, 94, of her reunion with the 92-year-old Mary David.
It also reflects the massive changes in the lives of nuns in their lifetimes, as once-flourishing orders merge or close. A 2009 Georgetown University study for the National Religious Vocation Conference found the median age in Catholic women's orders to be in the mid 70s, and that 34 percent of religious women's orders surveyed had no new candidates for the sisterhood. About half of those orders with new candidates had at most one or two in the pipeline.
Fordham University, Fordham Observer - Fordham Faculty Wins Equal Benefits After Four-Year Fight
Fordham University, Fordham Observer - Fordham Faculty Wins Equal Benefits After Four-Year Fight
Arnaldo Cruz-Malavé has worked at Fordham University for 23 years as a professor of Spanish and comparative literature and is the chair of department of modern languages and literature. In those 23 years, his partner was not afforded the same benefits as the spouses of Cruz-Malavé’s heterosexual colleagues. But on April 30, the Rev. Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham, approved benefits that will provide Cruz-Malave’s partner with health insurance.
“For the first time... at Fordham I will be able to seek comfort in the fact that my partner of 33 years, now my spouse, will have guaranteed health insurance,” said Cruz-Malavé. Cruz-Malavé and his spouse are legally married in the state of Massachusetts.
Faculty members fought for four years to extend equal benefits for every member of the faculty, regardless of sexual orientation. Previously, legally domiciled adults (LDAs) were not recognized in the faculty’s benefits package. This means that same-sex marriages and partnerships, including relationships between two men, two women, or between an unmarried man and woman, were not afforded the same benefits as marriages between heterosexual individuals. LDA benefits also extend to faculty members who may be responsible for caring for an elderly parent or another dependent adult in their household.
The benefits package will be based on the model the University of San Francisco uses. The benefits include health care, access to Fordham facilities and tuition redemption. Each member of the faculty will be allowed to claim one individual for their LDA benefits. There are two classes of LDA benefits: one for domestic partners, the other for dependent adults. Each class includes various requirements and validation, but as Patrick Hornbeck, an asst. professor of theology and a member of the committee on salary and benefits, said, “It’s equality. Every member [of the faculty] gets the option.”
On the day McShane announced that LDA benefits were approved, those attending the meeting offered a standing ovation. Elizabeth Cooper, associate professor of law at Fordham University School of Law, said, “I thanked him from the bottom of my heart for taking this wonderful step. There are now people who are considering to work for Fordham, people considering to study at Fordham, who had not done so before. His mission is to improve the vegetation of this wonderful school and he took a very significant step in doing that.”
Multiple faculty members cited opposition by Timothy Dolan, the Archbishop of New York State, as the reason McShane refused to approved LDA benefits prior to the April 30 faculty senate meeting. It was speculated that Dolan did not agree that domestic partnerships should receive the same rights as traditional marriages.
However, Dolan was quoted in a Sept. 20, 2009 issue of New York Magazine in support of equal health benefits for all people. This raised the question of whether the waiting period prior to approval was the result of moral or financial debate.
Andrew Clark, associate professor of French and comparative literature and chair of the committee on salary and benefits for the faculty senate, said that McShane announced that he had informed Dolan of his decision, and McShane was willing to put LDA benefits in place for all faculty members.
“I’m very happy. I think we’re finally treating our community as a whole, and it means good things for Fordham,” Clark said. “The response of the faculty senate and the people in audience was one of joy and thanks and relief.”
Hornbeck said, “It’s a moment where we feel a lot of relief and joy and great deal of peace for an issue the faculty has been fighting for so long... It’s a remarkable sign of what the Fordham community can do when it puts its mind to doing important things for justice.”
There was unanimous faculty senate vote to extend LDA benefits in 2006. On Dec. 4, 2009, the faculty senate met with McShane to discuss LDA benefits with a presentation by Cooper.
Clark said, “[McShane] agreed to hear out our presentations, but he demanded that it be listening only and that he wouldn’t take questions or make a response.” The salary and benefits committee, in charge of creating the salary and benefits package for all faculty members in the University, decided to refuse to begin annual negotiations until LDA benefits were approved.
Prior to the approval of LDA benefits, Clark said, “We have refused to do any salary and benefits negotiations that don’t include LDA benefits. The University can’t fully function without a budget.”
“The benefits money is the faculty’s money. It comes out of our pot. The University can vote to give us a larger pot, but we always had the authority to divide the pot as we want. That’s why we decided to make the decision through salary and benefits because there was no movement anywhere else so we figured since we have the authority we would like to include LDA benefits into that,” Clark said.
Faculty members heard rumors the week prior to the LDA approval announcement. Hornbeck said, “It just happened that the day I learned that LDA benefits might happen was the day that my partner started his new job at Columbia. He had been job searching and the lack of benefits was a real concern for us. The fact that he took up a new position eased our immediate needs, but the campaign for LDA benefits was broader than that. It was about the principle that if we are all part of the Fordham family, all Fordham families deserve equal treatment.”
It will take a few months before LDA benefits are put into action. The companies that provide insurance coverage to the University must rewrite their packages, and Fordham must rewrite their statutes to extend the language beyond spouses to include LDAs. There’s an open enrollment in the fall, when Clark and Hornbeck said they would like to have the benefits in place. Clark said, “We hope to have the LDA benefits in place by Jan. 1, 2011, at the latest.”
“It’s very real. [A faculty member may] have a partner and they’ve been paying $1,600 out of pocket, and, now, they won’t be, and that’s huge,” Clark said. “The general feeling is one of happiness and great relief and a sense of peace at the University.”
Hornbeck said, “Walking into campus on Monday, I felt a sense of calm and welcome that I hadn’t quite felt in the same way before. I had previously had a nagging sense that spoke of inequality; this decision has gone a long way toward rectifying that... It puts us in a league of Jesuit institutions that say that social justice is not incompatible with Catholic identity.”
Cooper said, “I used to be embarrassed when people asked me does Fordham have LDA benefits, or partner benefits, and I would have to say we didn’t... I’m just so proud to say we do.”
Cruz-Malavé said, “It’s been a struggle, but what has been most rewarding and touching for me has been the way in which in these long five years so many of our colleagues and students have made our cause their cause and have insisted that there cannot be a Fordham that is fair, equitable and moral if LGBT colleagues and their families are not treated with equal dignity.”
Arnaldo Cruz-Malavé has worked at Fordham University for 23 years as a professor of Spanish and comparative literature and is the chair of department of modern languages and literature. In those 23 years, his partner was not afforded the same benefits as the spouses of Cruz-Malavé’s heterosexual colleagues. But on April 30, the Rev. Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham, approved benefits that will provide Cruz-Malave’s partner with health insurance.
“For the first time... at Fordham I will be able to seek comfort in the fact that my partner of 33 years, now my spouse, will have guaranteed health insurance,” said Cruz-Malavé. Cruz-Malavé and his spouse are legally married in the state of Massachusetts.
Faculty members fought for four years to extend equal benefits for every member of the faculty, regardless of sexual orientation. Previously, legally domiciled adults (LDAs) were not recognized in the faculty’s benefits package. This means that same-sex marriages and partnerships, including relationships between two men, two women, or between an unmarried man and woman, were not afforded the same benefits as marriages between heterosexual individuals. LDA benefits also extend to faculty members who may be responsible for caring for an elderly parent or another dependent adult in their household.
The benefits package will be based on the model the University of San Francisco uses. The benefits include health care, access to Fordham facilities and tuition redemption. Each member of the faculty will be allowed to claim one individual for their LDA benefits. There are two classes of LDA benefits: one for domestic partners, the other for dependent adults. Each class includes various requirements and validation, but as Patrick Hornbeck, an asst. professor of theology and a member of the committee on salary and benefits, said, “It’s equality. Every member [of the faculty] gets the option.”
On the day McShane announced that LDA benefits were approved, those attending the meeting offered a standing ovation. Elizabeth Cooper, associate professor of law at Fordham University School of Law, said, “I thanked him from the bottom of my heart for taking this wonderful step. There are now people who are considering to work for Fordham, people considering to study at Fordham, who had not done so before. His mission is to improve the vegetation of this wonderful school and he took a very significant step in doing that.”
Multiple faculty members cited opposition by Timothy Dolan, the Archbishop of New York State, as the reason McShane refused to approved LDA benefits prior to the April 30 faculty senate meeting. It was speculated that Dolan did not agree that domestic partnerships should receive the same rights as traditional marriages.
However, Dolan was quoted in a Sept. 20, 2009 issue of New York Magazine in support of equal health benefits for all people. This raised the question of whether the waiting period prior to approval was the result of moral or financial debate.
Andrew Clark, associate professor of French and comparative literature and chair of the committee on salary and benefits for the faculty senate, said that McShane announced that he had informed Dolan of his decision, and McShane was willing to put LDA benefits in place for all faculty members.
“I’m very happy. I think we’re finally treating our community as a whole, and it means good things for Fordham,” Clark said. “The response of the faculty senate and the people in audience was one of joy and thanks and relief.”
Hornbeck said, “It’s a moment where we feel a lot of relief and joy and great deal of peace for an issue the faculty has been fighting for so long... It’s a remarkable sign of what the Fordham community can do when it puts its mind to doing important things for justice.”
There was unanimous faculty senate vote to extend LDA benefits in 2006. On Dec. 4, 2009, the faculty senate met with McShane to discuss LDA benefits with a presentation by Cooper.
Clark said, “[McShane] agreed to hear out our presentations, but he demanded that it be listening only and that he wouldn’t take questions or make a response.” The salary and benefits committee, in charge of creating the salary and benefits package for all faculty members in the University, decided to refuse to begin annual negotiations until LDA benefits were approved.
Prior to the approval of LDA benefits, Clark said, “We have refused to do any salary and benefits negotiations that don’t include LDA benefits. The University can’t fully function without a budget.”
“The benefits money is the faculty’s money. It comes out of our pot. The University can vote to give us a larger pot, but we always had the authority to divide the pot as we want. That’s why we decided to make the decision through salary and benefits because there was no movement anywhere else so we figured since we have the authority we would like to include LDA benefits into that,” Clark said.
Faculty members heard rumors the week prior to the LDA approval announcement. Hornbeck said, “It just happened that the day I learned that LDA benefits might happen was the day that my partner started his new job at Columbia. He had been job searching and the lack of benefits was a real concern for us. The fact that he took up a new position eased our immediate needs, but the campaign for LDA benefits was broader than that. It was about the principle that if we are all part of the Fordham family, all Fordham families deserve equal treatment.”
It will take a few months before LDA benefits are put into action. The companies that provide insurance coverage to the University must rewrite their packages, and Fordham must rewrite their statutes to extend the language beyond spouses to include LDAs. There’s an open enrollment in the fall, when Clark and Hornbeck said they would like to have the benefits in place. Clark said, “We hope to have the LDA benefits in place by Jan. 1, 2011, at the latest.”
“It’s very real. [A faculty member may] have a partner and they’ve been paying $1,600 out of pocket, and, now, they won’t be, and that’s huge,” Clark said. “The general feeling is one of happiness and great relief and a sense of peace at the University.”
Hornbeck said, “Walking into campus on Monday, I felt a sense of calm and welcome that I hadn’t quite felt in the same way before. I had previously had a nagging sense that spoke of inequality; this decision has gone a long way toward rectifying that... It puts us in a league of Jesuit institutions that say that social justice is not incompatible with Catholic identity.”
Cooper said, “I used to be embarrassed when people asked me does Fordham have LDA benefits, or partner benefits, and I would have to say we didn’t... I’m just so proud to say we do.”
Cruz-Malavé said, “It’s been a struggle, but what has been most rewarding and touching for me has been the way in which in these long five years so many of our colleagues and students have made our cause their cause and have insisted that there cannot be a Fordham that is fair, equitable and moral if LGBT colleagues and their families are not treated with equal dignity.”
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
10 Other Nations Back up Italy on Crucifix Ruling: More Orthodox Cooperation
Catholic and Orthodox Join in Alliance
STRASBOURG, France, JUNE 1, 2010 (Zenit.org).- The "crucifix trial" in the European Court of Human Rights has given rise to an unprecedented intervention of 10 member States as third parties.
The European Centre for Law and Justice, which was also authorized to become a third party in the court hearing regarding the legitimacy of displaying crucifixes in Italian schools, reported today that ten other States will have this amicus curiae status in the "Lautsi vs. Italy" case.
This case was referred to the Grand Chamber when the Italian government appealed a decision issued by the Second Section of the court last November, which spoke against the presence of the crucifix in classrooms.
These States, all of which are supporting Italy in the desire to overturn last November's decision, include: Armenia, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Greece, Lithuania, Malta, Monaco, San-Marino, Romania, and The Russian Federation.
Read further...
STRASBOURG, France, JUNE 1, 2010 (Zenit.org).- The "crucifix trial" in the European Court of Human Rights has given rise to an unprecedented intervention of 10 member States as third parties.
The European Centre for Law and Justice, which was also authorized to become a third party in the court hearing regarding the legitimacy of displaying crucifixes in Italian schools, reported today that ten other States will have this amicus curiae status in the "Lautsi vs. Italy" case.
This case was referred to the Grand Chamber when the Italian government appealed a decision issued by the Second Section of the court last November, which spoke against the presence of the crucifix in classrooms.
These States, all of which are supporting Italy in the desire to overturn last November's decision, include: Armenia, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Greece, Lithuania, Malta, Monaco, San-Marino, Romania, and The Russian Federation.
Read further...
Liberal Archbishop of Freiburg Investigated for Sex Abuse Claims
Prosecutors say they are investigating the leader of Germany's Roman Catholic bishops on suspicion of aiding and abetting the sexual abuse of children.
Archbishop Robert Zollitsch of Freiburg is suspected of allowing the re-appointment of a priest accused of child abuse in 1987.
Archbishop Zollitsch was in charge of personnel in Freiburg at the time.
The archdiocese rejected the charge, accusing prosecutors and the media of "sensationalism".
Read further..,
Archbishop Robert Zollitsch of Freiburg is suspected of allowing the re-appointment of a priest accused of child abuse in 1987.
Archbishop Zollitsch was in charge of personnel in Freiburg at the time.
The archdiocese rejected the charge, accusing prosecutors and the media of "sensationalism".
Read further..,
Pink Slip from Rome: for Cardinal Schönborn
Pope Benedict should let the Vienna Archbishop, Cardinal Schönborn, in on his renewed astonishment.
[Kreuz.net] Benedict XVI has written the Archbishop of Vienna a letter.
The report is from Vaticanist, Andrew Tornielli on his BLOG, referring to the Italian paper, 'Il Foglio'.
The reason for the letter from Rome is the most recent attack of Cardinal Schönborn against his fellow Bishop, the Dean of the College of Cardinals, Cardinal Sodano.
The Vienese Cardinal had implicated him in an attempt to frustrate an investigation, which in was launched in the year 1995 against the then Vienese Cardinal Archbishop Hans Hermann Cardinal Groër (+2003).
In the most recent letter the Pope should express his astonishment at the declarations Cardinal Schönborn was to have expressed. This brought about a giant media uproar.
Tornielli wrote: "According to what I could say from experience, the letter was the second written because of the criticism against Cardinal Sodano, that the Pope had sent the Archbishop of Vienna, his friend and student."
And: "A first letter should have should have addressed the Medjugorje trip six months ago, and above all the explanations of Cardinal Schonborn once in Medjugorje.
Reader "Marco N' commented: "This 'fidgety', ubiquitous, inopportune in all of his inopportune comments and lover of orgiastic Homo-Painting should have earned a well-deserved telegram from the Pope."
Original article, here...
Cardinal Schonborn also missed a meeting with the Congregation of the Faith today with fifteen Cardinals three Archbishops and two Bishops. It's not considered a mark of trust and the local media are at a loss to explain the Cardinal's absence, except by pointing out that he has to attend a lecture given Canadian philosopher, Charles Taylor (78) on the theme "Leben wir in einem säkularen Zeitalter?"
[Kreuz.net] Benedict XVI has written the Archbishop of Vienna a letter.
The report is from Vaticanist, Andrew Tornielli on his BLOG, referring to the Italian paper, 'Il Foglio'.
The reason for the letter from Rome is the most recent attack of Cardinal Schönborn against his fellow Bishop, the Dean of the College of Cardinals, Cardinal Sodano.
The Vienese Cardinal had implicated him in an attempt to frustrate an investigation, which in was launched in the year 1995 against the then Vienese Cardinal Archbishop Hans Hermann Cardinal Groër (+2003).
In the most recent letter the Pope should express his astonishment at the declarations Cardinal Schönborn was to have expressed. This brought about a giant media uproar.
Tornielli wrote: "According to what I could say from experience, the letter was the second written because of the criticism against Cardinal Sodano, that the Pope had sent the Archbishop of Vienna, his friend and student."
And: "A first letter should have should have addressed the Medjugorje trip six months ago, and above all the explanations of Cardinal Schonborn once in Medjugorje.
Reader "Marco N' commented: "This 'fidgety', ubiquitous, inopportune in all of his inopportune comments and lover of orgiastic Homo-Painting should have earned a well-deserved telegram from the Pope."
Original article, here...
Cardinal Schonborn also missed a meeting with the Congregation of the Faith today with fifteen Cardinals three Archbishops and two Bishops. It's not considered a mark of trust and the local media are at a loss to explain the Cardinal's absence, except by pointing out that he has to attend a lecture given Canadian philosopher, Charles Taylor (78) on the theme "Leben wir in einem säkularen Zeitalter?"
London Oratory to dedicate side chapel to Cardinal Newman
By Anna Arco
22 January 2010
[The Catholic Herald] The London Oratory has announced that it will dedicate one of its chapels to Cardinal John Henry Newman to coincide with his beatification.
This is among the first chapels to be dedicated to the convert cardinal who is due to be beatified in September.
The Fathers of the London Oratory hope to have the chapel finished in time for the beatification. The news was announced at Mass last week. A copy of a 1881 famous portrait by the renowned pre-Raphaelite painter Sir John Everett Millais, which hangs in the National Portrait Gallery, will hang in the chapel. The chapel itself will take the place of the Cavalry chapel on the left side of the nave facing the altar, behind the statue of St Peter and next to the Lady Chapel.
John Henry Newman founded the first Oratory in Britain in Birmingham in 1849. Britain's other two Oratories, in London and in Oxford, were founded from Birmingham. Fr Wilfrid Faber, another convert from Anglicanism, who had joined the new Birmingham Oratory, eventually established the London Oratory in 1849.
Newman's Cause was opened in 1958 and the Congregation for the Causes of Saints declared him Venerable in 1991. The next step in the process required a miracle. Jack Sullivan, a deacon in Massachusetts, prayed for Cardinal Newman's intercession while suffering from a debilitating spinal disorder and was inexplicably cured in 2001.
Pope Benedict XVI approved the miracle in July last year, declaring the beatification imminent. It is likely to be the high point of the Pope's visit to Britain in September and Vatican watchers believe he will himself perform the beatification, departing from norms he set for beatifications in 2005.
Link to original.. Catholic Herald...
22 January 2010
[The Catholic Herald] The London Oratory has announced that it will dedicate one of its chapels to Cardinal John Henry Newman to coincide with his beatification.
This is among the first chapels to be dedicated to the convert cardinal who is due to be beatified in September.
The Fathers of the London Oratory hope to have the chapel finished in time for the beatification. The news was announced at Mass last week. A copy of a 1881 famous portrait by the renowned pre-Raphaelite painter Sir John Everett Millais, which hangs in the National Portrait Gallery, will hang in the chapel. The chapel itself will take the place of the Cavalry chapel on the left side of the nave facing the altar, behind the statue of St Peter and next to the Lady Chapel.
John Henry Newman founded the first Oratory in Britain in Birmingham in 1849. Britain's other two Oratories, in London and in Oxford, were founded from Birmingham. Fr Wilfrid Faber, another convert from Anglicanism, who had joined the new Birmingham Oratory, eventually established the London Oratory in 1849.
Newman's Cause was opened in 1958 and the Congregation for the Causes of Saints declared him Venerable in 1991. The next step in the process required a miracle. Jack Sullivan, a deacon in Massachusetts, prayed for Cardinal Newman's intercession while suffering from a debilitating spinal disorder and was inexplicably cured in 2001.
Pope Benedict XVI approved the miracle in July last year, declaring the beatification imminent. It is likely to be the high point of the Pope's visit to Britain in September and Vatican watchers believe he will himself perform the beatification, departing from norms he set for beatifications in 2005.
Link to original.. Catholic Herald...
Russia Wants to Make Abortion Illegal
Russia was one of the first countries to legalize abortion and may be one of the first modern countries to repeal it.
[Reuters] Analysts say reducing Russia's high abortion rate -- one of the world's highest -- could be one of the keys to saving the country from a demographic disaster.
Russia registered 1.2 million abortions and 1.7 million births last year, according to the Health Ministry.
Since the fall almost 20 years ago of the Soviet Union, which encouraged new births with prizes and money, Russia's population has steadily dropped. It shrunk by more than 12 million between 1992 and 2008.
Read further...
[Reuters] Analysts say reducing Russia's high abortion rate -- one of the world's highest -- could be one of the keys to saving the country from a demographic disaster.
Russia registered 1.2 million abortions and 1.7 million births last year, according to the Health Ministry.
Since the fall almost 20 years ago of the Soviet Union, which encouraged new births with prizes and money, Russia's population has steadily dropped. It shrunk by more than 12 million between 1992 and 2008.
Read further...
Cypriot Bishop is Unhappy with the Pope's Visit
Bishop of Limmosol Cyprus is ignoring his Archbishop's warnings by criticizing the Pope's visit and calling the Pope a "heretic". It's hard to believe that he wouldn't be aware of what his ordinary said in this regard, but he says he's unaware of this warning and insists that he is not outside of the Church.
NCR frequently gets things wrong and misquotes people while imposing their own strange perspectives on others. It may be true that Bishop Athanasios believes that the Pope is a heretic, he says as much, but he's not actually opposed to reaching out. He never said, "I am opposed to the Pope because he's reaching out to us." He actually said that he's not opposed to dialoguing with the Pope, but only putting him in the position of a student to learn Orthodoxy.
Here's what the Bishop actually said:
He was also scandalized by the Pope's half-million-dollar bulletproof car. Oh well.
Cf. Voices from Russia, here.
NCR frequently gets things wrong and misquotes people while imposing their own strange perspectives on others. It may be true that Bishop Athanasios believes that the Pope is a heretic, he says as much, but he's not actually opposed to reaching out. He never said, "I am opposed to the Pope because he's reaching out to us." He actually said that he's not opposed to dialoguing with the Pope, but only putting him in the position of a student to learn Orthodoxy.
One of the most prominent and vocal opponents is the Bishop of Limassol, Athanasios, who, in an interview a few days ago, called the Pope a “heretic” because of his willingness to reach out to the Orthodox. Bishop Athanasios was once tipped to become head of the Cypriot Orthodox church.
Here's what the Bishop actually said:
It can, if we do it properly and base it on the right presuppositions. Unfortunately, as it is carried out today, it does not produce results, and that is why they have carried on discussions for so many years without coming to any conclusions.
Frankly, and above all, I disagree with the coming of the Pope to Cyprus, and I say with my whole soul that the Pope is a heretic, he is not a bishop, he is not an Orthodox Christian, and this is what the Holy Fathers say. If I am wrong, I am ready to be corrected, but based on the Holy Fathers, not based on the mindset of globalisation. Just because I disagree does not mean that I am being disorderly and am outside the Church [as some have claimed].
The Pope always speaks in a formal manner, he says things which are customary [to his position], as he will say now that he will come to Cyprus, but he will do nothing of essence, because he is not the leader of the Church, but a political person, who cannot come into conflict with the political establishment and system. Did the Pope ever speak up for the Orthodox Church? … However, I am not going back [to a distant past]. The reasons I am reacting today are purely theological. When I was consecrated a bishop, I pledged to preserve the Orthodox Faith.
He was also scandalized by the Pope's half-million-dollar bulletproof car. Oh well.
Cf. Voices from Russia, here.
Sioux City Archdiocese Explains Firing of Atheist Teacher
[EWTN] On Tuesday, the Director of Communications for the Diocese of Sioux City, Kristie Arlt, defended the decision to release a diocesan teacher who made statements supporting atheism. In an interview with EWTN, Arlt explained the reasons behind her dismissal saying that parents send their children to Catholic schools with the expectations that they will be under the instruction of teachers who believe in God.
Arlt said that Abby Nurre, was fired from her position as an eighth-grade math teacher at St. Edmond Catholic School “due to the fact that she stated that she did not believe in God.” Arlt explained that all diocesan teachers are required by contract to uphold the teachings of Catholic faith, regardless of what subject they teach.
Nurre, who was hired last summer, participated in a Facebook poll in August that asked if she believed in God, miracles or heaven. She responded “no,” and her response was posted on her Facebook page, reported the Des Moines Register. While Nurre later testified that her Facebook page was accessible only to designated friends and not to students, Arlt told CNA that several children from the school were aware of the Facebook post and alerted faculty members to it.
Link to EWTN...
Arlt said that Abby Nurre, was fired from her position as an eighth-grade math teacher at St. Edmond Catholic School “due to the fact that she stated that she did not believe in God.” Arlt explained that all diocesan teachers are required by contract to uphold the teachings of Catholic faith, regardless of what subject they teach.
Nurre, who was hired last summer, participated in a Facebook poll in August that asked if she believed in God, miracles or heaven. She responded “no,” and her response was posted on her Facebook page, reported the Des Moines Register. While Nurre later testified that her Facebook page was accessible only to designated friends and not to students, Arlt told CNA that several children from the school were aware of the Facebook post and alerted faculty members to it.
Link to EWTN...
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Why Lutherans are Leaving the ELCA
After a number of ill-advised course deviations over the years, those at the helm of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) have piloted the denomination into a deadly collision with the same iceberg that has caused other Christian bodies to fracture and sink. For many, the Churchwide Assembly votes in August 2009 — to affirm same-sex unions and lower the sexual standards of clergy — will go down in history as the defining moment of impact.
But the real danger in hitting an iceberg is that only a small portion of it can be seen above the surface. The greater problem is what lies underneath and cannot easily be seen.
Read further...
But the real danger in hitting an iceberg is that only a small portion of it can be seen above the surface. The greater problem is what lies underneath and cannot easily be seen.
Read further...
The Soufflé of the Spirit at Clermont, France: Pentecost
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At the Diocese of Clermont, where once Pope Urban II preached to a multitude and inspired the Nation of France to take up the Cross and march in defense of the Holy Land, there's something different and strange afoot.
What is happening here is an event that was foretold in the work of the Sillon, and Eric Sagnier.
Related articles:
Here, at traditio.org, condemnation of Sillon by New Advent, here.
If you study the condemnation of the Sillon, you'll see certain features which are redolent of the kinds of displays we see below in the name of the principles the Sillon promotes.
Stealth Deaconesses?
The fourth back is the one we're referring to.
Bizarre Rites of a New Religion?
Forbidden Liturgical Dancing?
Baptist Church Caught in Sex Abuse Coverup
Maybe it's something about the Baptist culture of secrecy?
Police: Girl raped, then relocated | Concord Monitor
After being raped and impregnated by a fellow churchgoer more than twice her age, a 15-year-old Concord girl was forced by Trinity Baptist Church leaders to stand before the congregation to apologize before they helped whisk her out of state, according to the police.
While her pastor, Chuck Phelps, reported the alleged rape in 1997 to state youth officials, Concord police detectives were never able to find the victim. The victim said she was sent to another church member's home in Colorado, where she was home-schooled and not allowed to have contact with others her age. It wasn't until this past February that the victim, who is now 28, decided to come forward after reading about other similar cases, realizing for the first time it wasn't her fault that she had been raped, she told the police.
The police arrested Ernest Willis, 51, of Gilford, last week in connection with the case, accusing him of raping the girl twice - once in the back seat of a car he was teaching her to drive in and again after showing up at her Concord home while her parents were away. He was charged with four felonies - two counts of rape and two counts of having sex with a minor, court records show.
Police: Girl raped, then relocated | Concord Monitor
New York Archdiocese looks at Homosexuality in Seminarians
Every job interview has its awkward moments, but in recent years, the standard interview for men seeking a life in the Roman Catholic priesthood has made the awkward moment a requirement.
“When was the last time you had sex?” all candidates for the seminary are asked. (The preferred answer: not for three years or more.)
“What kind of sexual experiences have you had?” is another common question. “Do you like pornography?”
Read further...
“When was the last time you had sex?” all candidates for the seminary are asked. (The preferred answer: not for three years or more.)
“What kind of sexual experiences have you had?” is another common question. “Do you like pornography?”
Read further...
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...
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