by Geries Othman
Christian observers and ask that the investigators to delve deeper into the motives for the murder.. Several attacks against Christians in Turkey are the work of "young unbalanced men" The condolences of the Italian Bishops Conference and PIME. The funeral of Mgr. Padovese next week in Milan.
Iskenderun (AsiaNews) - The driver of Mgr. Luigi Padovese, killed yesterday in front of his house in Iskenderun has been formally charged with murder by a Turkish court. The police confirm that the man, who for over four years was a close collaborator of the slain bishop suffers from mental disorders. But some doubts remain surrounding his illness and there have been widespread calls on the authorities to deepen their investigations into the motives for the assassination.
Murat Altun, 26, was arrested yesterday, hours after the killing of the bishop. According to some witnesses the murderer was stilly carrying the knife with which he had butchered Mgr. Padovese. After hours of questioning, the police confirmed the insanity of Murat. AsiaNews sources had said yesterday that Murat was "depressed, violent, full of threats."
Read further...
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Friday, June 11, 2010
Act of Reparation to the Sacred Heart
We are now resolved to expiate each and every deplorable outrage committed against Thee; we are now determined to make amends... for the public crimes of nations who resist the rights and teaching authority of the Church which Thou hast founded.
In the immortal words of Pope Leo XIII:
The world has heard enough of the so-called rights of man. Let it hear something of the rights of God!
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Church Sales in Amsterdam, NY
AMSTERDAM - The Albany Roman Catholic Diocese has sold two churches in the city that it closed last winter.
World Peace and Health Organization purchased St. Michael's and St. Casimir's. The Buddhist organization is based at the Auriesville Shrine near Fultonville.
St. Michael's was sold for $100,000 and St. Casimir's for $150,000.
The diocese closed or consolidated 33 churches in the area.
Proceeds from the sale of the buildings will go to the successor parishes.
St. Mary's Church is the successor parish for St. Casimir's and Our Lady of Mount Carmel is the successor parish for St. Michael's.
From: The Leader-Herald
Jesuit Retreat Center being sold to Buddhists is the Shrine referred to.
h/t: Interstate Blog
A German Bishop has Good Relations with the Fraternity of Saint Peter
A German Bishop has said what few will admit: there is today in comparison with the number of practicing faithful, no fewer priests than in earlier times.
[Kreuznet, Essen] "In the our diocese those faithful who want to celebrate the Tridentine Rite should find room."
Bishop Franz-Josef Overbeck (45) of Essen said this in an interview with the German newspaper, 'Tagespost'.
To the question, if the old-believing Society of Saint Peter would get a parish he said, "I think its smart to proceed as previously."
Clearly the Bishop meant the integration of the Old Mass in the modern parishes.
The Bishop has good relations to the priests through Fr. Berhard Gerstle of the Society of Saint Peter.
Father Gerstle regularly hears confessions in Essen Cathedral and ministers clearly in unity with the Bishop.
Absence of Faith
In the interview Bishop Overbeck discussed a "sober view of the Priest shortage":
"One sees it at once in the viewpoint of the regular church attendees, where there's an approaching close relation as in the past between young priests and young consistent Mass goers.
"Won't jostle Celibacy"
Msgr Overbeck has directed "countless discussions" with his priests.
He wants to strengthen self-knowledge and spiritual.
The parishes in the Ruhr district are "unusually large". This doesn't make the life of the priest easier:
"I speak very clearly as Bishop: 'I will not jostle celibacy". It is the priet's proper way of life".
Upon learning that other Bishops jostle with the unmarried state of Priests, Msgr Overbeck said:
"That may be the opinion regarding my colleagues -- I have never participated nor will I participate in that."
The Young Priests are Traditional
Bishop Overbeck assessed in the Clergy also a difference between the generations:
"The generation of the Council and those that shortly before found their priestly vocation, often wonder critically, if they have found the right way.
"And not infrequently the older men are astonished at what the younger men are doing."
The younger in the meantime live a Tradition bound form of the priestly life. That is not actually valid for them all, but it is really true for a large part."
Had the younger priests today a completely different biographical and interior point of departure than their older colleagues in their 50s and 60s.
Today the younger priests must inure themselves to "prevail over many others".
Msgr Overbeck has made his mission known, "to encourage and strengthen priests."
Additionally the "vocabulary of the Eucharist" must be put back more in the middle.
To Defend the Teachings of the Church
He still absolves his appearance on a German talk show last April.
It belongs to his duty to publicly and substantially discuss.
The Bishop's statements enraged then the anger of shameless homosexuals. The Bishop bore it with equanimity:
"We learn to live with the reality that the Church and her teachings are not accepted any more.
And it is often then, when we directly step in the sense of moral theology, with these often bulky expressions of doctrine to the public, which not many agree with any more:
Even then we must stand for them.
It would have surely been more clear, if I had said in the broadcast with Anne Will: Homosexuality is not a sin in the sense of disposition, rather in the sense of an expressed homosexuality.
That is also in the Catechism -- but that can in a broadcast of this sort in any case, not so fast."
The Church must "defend the value of man in the will of God, there where he is on the ground."
The basic mission of the Church must remain clear: Sexuality, Partnership and love belong together.
Link to original...
Correction: error was made about Father Gerstle's membership in the SSPX. He actually belongs to the FSSP, thanks.
Prince Charles, Sword of the Prophet, Defender of Islam
Prince Charles yesterday urged the world to follow Islamic 'spiritual principles' in order to protect the environment.
In an hour-long speech, the heir to the throne argued that man's destruction of the world was contrary to the scriptures of all religions - but particularly those of Islam.
He said the current 'division' between man and nature had been caused not just by industrialisation, but also by our attitude to the environment - which goes against the grain of 'sacred traditions'
Link to Guardian...
In an hour-long speech, the heir to the throne argued that man's destruction of the world was contrary to the scriptures of all religions - but particularly those of Islam.
He said the current 'division' between man and nature had been caused not just by industrialisation, but also by our attitude to the environment - which goes against the grain of 'sacred traditions'
Link to Guardian...
Austrian Bishops Continue to Challenge Celibacy
The solution to the so-called vocations crisis is to adhere to liturgical, disciplinary norms, not crafting them to accommodate wordly concerns. Contrary to Bishop Iby's beliefs, other denominations do not enjoy any appreciable advantages for having married clergy.
For example, there's no vocations crisis in Bishop Bruskewitz's Nebraska. It is most certainly related to the fact that the Bishop is fairly traditional in his theology and emphasis on devotions to the Blessed Mother and as a result, refuses to allow altar girls.
Link to DICI...
For example, there's no vocations crisis in Bishop Bruskewitz's Nebraska. It is most certainly related to the fact that the Bishop is fairly traditional in his theology and emphasis on devotions to the Blessed Mother and as a result, refuses to allow altar girls.
[DICI]Assembled for a three-day congress around Ascension Thursday, the Austrian bishops opined that the Vatican should allow a debate on priestly celibacy. As cited by the French Press Agency (AFP), the Ordinary of Carinthia in the southern part of the country, Bishop Alois Schwarz, declared that “As bishops we hear talk about it and we are telling Rome that we have this problem.” He also underscored that this debate should not be ignored but rather “amplified” in the Catholic Church throughout the world.
Without explicitly mentioning the pedophilia scandals that are spattering the Church, the Austrian bishops called during their meeting for “major reforms” within the Church, in particular emphasizing the need to speak about the role of women. Several days earlier, in an interview with the daily Die Presse, the Ordinary of Eisenstadt, Bishop Paul Iby had said that he was in favor of abolishing priestly celibacy “so as to deal with the lack of vocations”. (Sources : AFP – DICI no. 216 dated June 5, 2010)
Link to DICI...
Cardinal Meisner urges More Penance on the Part of Priests
As part of the closing events of the Year for Priests, Cardinal Meisner, Archbishop of Cologne, gave a talk entitled “Conversion and Mission" at the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls where priests were able to venerate the apostle St. Paul. The subject of the lecture rounded on Penance, where Cardinal Meisner said that a priest has to spend more time receiving the Sacrament, spending more time on the other side of the confessionn screen.
Link to illigitimi non carbarundum...
Link to illigitimi non carbarundum...
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Saint John's Abbey Continues to Sandbag: Admits Errors in Handling of Predator
This is an attempt at damage control.
What they're not admitting is that Father Schulte in 2003 when Abbot John Klassen took him off restriction, has been given another position of trust, dealing with children. He hasn't been accountable even since he's been on restriction after fleeing to Rome in 1987.
The real story here is that the Monastery has claimed, as part of an ineffective settlement arrangement reached with some of their victims, that credibly accused monks would be kept on "restriction", kept away from certain areas on the St. John's University and Preparatory School campuses and closely supervised. The impression was that these monks would be in some kind of confinement, but the reality is quite different.
The accused monks actually have indeterminate restrictions, do travel quite frequently, unsupervised by anyone and even continue to make public statements, recognition [pdf], receive awards and honors.
The Monastery has even been destroying files related to the accused monks, here.
St. John's Abbey admits errors in priest statement - WQOW TV: Eau Claire, WI NEWS18 News, Weather, and Sports
What they're not admitting is that Father Schulte in 2003 when Abbot John Klassen took him off restriction, has been given another position of trust, dealing with children. He hasn't been accountable even since he's been on restriction after fleeing to Rome in 1987.
The real story here is that the Monastery has claimed, as part of an ineffective settlement arrangement reached with some of their victims, that credibly accused monks would be kept on "restriction", kept away from certain areas on the St. John's University and Preparatory School campuses and closely supervised. The impression was that these monks would be in some kind of confinement, but the reality is quite different.
The accused monks actually have indeterminate restrictions, do travel quite frequently, unsupervised by anyone and even continue to make public statements, recognition [pdf], receive awards and honors.
The Monastery has even been destroying files related to the accused monks, here.
St. John's Abbey admits errors in priest statement - WQOW TV: Eau Claire, WI NEWS18 News, Weather, and Sports
Australian State "Ethics" Classes Run in Opposition to Catholic Catechesis
Over 35,000 Catholics throughout NSW have signed a petition which states their support for the work of cathechists.
The petition is the latest feature of the campaign by the local Catholic Church against the State government’s suggestion that ethics class in public schools will be run in competition with traditional scriptural classes.
The Church is concerned that if the two classes are ran in competition with another, then Catholic students who chose to attend scripture would miss out on attending the ethics classes.
Jude Hennessy, the director of the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine for the Wollongong diocese and co-ordinator of the campaign said: ”It is not fair they should miss this opportunity. Nor is it fair their parents should be caught in a dilemma about whether to send them to formation in their faith tradition or to choose ethics…. If ethics classes are regarded as a valuable addition, they [should] be run at a time other than during SRE time.”
Read further...
The petition is the latest feature of the campaign by the local Catholic Church against the State government’s suggestion that ethics class in public schools will be run in competition with traditional scriptural classes.
The Church is concerned that if the two classes are ran in competition with another, then Catholic students who chose to attend scripture would miss out on attending the ethics classes.
Jude Hennessy, the director of the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine for the Wollongong diocese and co-ordinator of the campaign said: ”It is not fair they should miss this opportunity. Nor is it fair their parents should be caught in a dilemma about whether to send them to formation in their faith tradition or to choose ethics…. If ethics classes are regarded as a valuable addition, they [should] be run at a time other than during SRE time.”
Read further...
Orthodox Scholars Working on Reunification Statement
Catholic News Agency reports that a group of U.S. Catholic and Eastern Orthodox clergy and scholars are working on a statement regarding the prospects for reunification, nearly a thousand years after the Great Schism split the church into eastern and western bodies.
I have to do more research, but given what I already know from professional and personal experience, this is an incredibly unrealistic goal. The various branches of Orthodox churches (Greek, Russian, OCA) can't even agree to unite within America; there are separate groups within Russia and Greece, as well. There isn't even a shared date for Easter most years between and among Catholics and Orthodox Christians around the world. Plenty of traditional Orthodox Christians consider Catholics to be heretics, prompting some mild anxiety recently about how Pope Benedict would be received in Cyprus. Last but not least, hinted at by Gary Stern at Blogging Religiously, is simply that there are layers upon layers upon layers of bureaucratic and theological differences large and small that would have to be addressed, nevermind the highly emotional angles involving things like tradition, ethnic identity, etc.
All this leads me to believe that reunification isn't really the goal here -- perhaps this North American Orthodox-Catholic Theological Consultation just aims to keep the ecumenical dialogue moving forward, emphasizing what the groups have in common and encouraging the global warming of Catholic-Orthodox relations we've been seeing since the Cold War ended (particularly out of Russia).
Read more:
I have to do more research, but given what I already know from professional and personal experience, this is an incredibly unrealistic goal. The various branches of Orthodox churches (Greek, Russian, OCA) can't even agree to unite within America; there are separate groups within Russia and Greece, as well. There isn't even a shared date for Easter most years between and among Catholics and Orthodox Christians around the world. Plenty of traditional Orthodox Christians consider Catholics to be heretics, prompting some mild anxiety recently about how Pope Benedict would be received in Cyprus. Last but not least, hinted at by Gary Stern at Blogging Religiously, is simply that there are layers upon layers upon layers of bureaucratic and theological differences large and small that would have to be addressed, nevermind the highly emotional angles involving things like tradition, ethnic identity, etc.
All this leads me to believe that reunification isn't really the goal here -- perhaps this North American Orthodox-Catholic Theological Consultation just aims to keep the ecumenical dialogue moving forward, emphasizing what the groups have in common and encouraging the global warming of Catholic-Orthodox relations we've been seeing since the Cold War ended (particularly out of Russia).
Read more:
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
1000 Year Old Rose Blooms Again
Wild dog rose adorns the apse of the Hildesheim Cathedral -- The Legend of the Rose bush, a wild dogrose, goes back to the founding of the Diocese of Hildesheim in 815.
Hildesheim (kathnet) The 1000 year old rose bush at Hildesheim Cathedral has shown its first blumes. The main blooms have been expected for some days.
The legend of the rose bush, a wild dog rose, goes back to the founding of the Hildesheim Cathedral in 815. Written evidence for this goes back 400 years. Eight weeks after the complete destruction of the Hildescheim Cathedral in March 1945, at which the rose bush was also burned, 25 new roots sprouted up from the ruins.
The legend is held that Emperor Ludwig the Pious, a son of Blessed Charlemagne the Great, left his Palace in Elze. From there he went to hunt deer and arrived with his retinue in the area of modern Hildesheim, 18 km from the Elzer Palace. On a quarter of the wood after a successful hunting party, he struck up a tent and celebrated Mass. At that time a relic was taken from the village chapel and taken with. Upon returning to the Palace he remembered the village chaplain, that he had forgotten the reliquary in a nearby bush. He hurried back and found the priceless reliquary, from which, despite all of his efforts, could not take from the thick wild branches of the dog rose.
The Emperor recognized "clear divine will" and built on the place in honor of Our Lady, to build a chapel. He built the chapel amid the branches of the rosebush. Today this rose bush enraps the eastern apse of the Chathedral and has been famously known as the "Thousand Year Rose Bush" ever since. On the place where Ludwig the Pious built the Mary Chapel and where the Diocese of Hildesheim was found by Bishop Altfrid (851-874) in 852 was placed the keystone of the first Cathedral. After the destruction of the Cathedral by fire in year 1046, Bishop Hezilo (1054-1079) rebuilt and consecrated the second Cathedral in 1061. On 22 March 1945, this Cathedral was completely destroyed. The rose bush was unearthed from under deep rubble and began to bloom anew.
The 1000 Year old rose bush in Hildesheim belongs botanically to the local wild rose species canina L., is also not of the "historical roses" like rosa alba L. or rosa gallica L. It has tender rose blooms.
Link to original...
Egypt's Pope Defends Marriage
Pope Shenuda III says church does not accept judgements that go against Gospels, religious freedom.
CAIRO - Egypt's Coptic Orthodox pope on Tuesday urged a high court to review its decision to allow Coptic Christians to remarry following divorce, which is forbidden by the church.
"The decision must be reviewed, otherwise it would mean that Copts have been suffering and we are putting pressure on them through religion," Pope Shenuda III said.
"The church respects the law but it does not accept judgements that go against the Gospels and against religious freedom, which is guaranteed by the constitution," he told reporters.
"Marriage for us is sacred and a religious act, not a simple administrative act," he continued adding that church could "absolutely not apply" the court's decision.
Last month Egypt's High Administrative Court ordered the Coptic church to allow its faithful to remarry, quashing an appeal by Shenuda.
The ruling related to the case of Hani Wasfi, an Egyptian Copt who complained against the pope's refusal to let him remarry after having been divorced.
Divorce is forbidden by the Coptic church except in proven cases of adultery, or if a spouse converts to another religion or branch of Christianity. Civil marriage alone, without a religious ceremony, is not recognised in Egypt.
Asked if he would ask President Hosni Mubarak to intervene in the matter Shenuda said: "We could ask but we wouldn't want to embarrass him if he doesn't want to intervene in the judiciary's decisions."
"But he could intervene if he finds that the ruling has caused suffering for a large part of the population," he said.
Copts make up about 10 percent of the country's 80-million largely Muslim population, and are the Middle East's biggest Christian community.
Link to original...
CAIRO - Egypt's Coptic Orthodox pope on Tuesday urged a high court to review its decision to allow Coptic Christians to remarry following divorce, which is forbidden by the church.
"The decision must be reviewed, otherwise it would mean that Copts have been suffering and we are putting pressure on them through religion," Pope Shenuda III said.
"The church respects the law but it does not accept judgements that go against the Gospels and against religious freedom, which is guaranteed by the constitution," he told reporters.
"Marriage for us is sacred and a religious act, not a simple administrative act," he continued adding that church could "absolutely not apply" the court's decision.
Last month Egypt's High Administrative Court ordered the Coptic church to allow its faithful to remarry, quashing an appeal by Shenuda.
The ruling related to the case of Hani Wasfi, an Egyptian Copt who complained against the pope's refusal to let him remarry after having been divorced.
Divorce is forbidden by the Coptic church except in proven cases of adultery, or if a spouse converts to another religion or branch of Christianity. Civil marriage alone, without a religious ceremony, is not recognised in Egypt.
Asked if he would ask President Hosni Mubarak to intervene in the matter Shenuda said: "We could ask but we wouldn't want to embarrass him if he doesn't want to intervene in the judiciary's decisions."
"But he could intervene if he finds that the ruling has caused suffering for a large part of the population," he said.
Copts make up about 10 percent of the country's 80-million largely Muslim population, and are the Middle East's biggest Christian community.
Link to original...
The Battle over Cardinal Newman's Legacy Continues
Three members of the Birmingham Orator have been removed from their ordinary posts and been assigned to opposite ends of the country -- to pray.
There are various interesting discussions going on about it, here, here to name two. There are a lot of links and you can get an idea that the suggestion that the three Oratorians from Birmingham have been silenced because they are opposing the sex education policy of the Welsh and English Bishops as well as Tony Blair's understanding of Cardinal Newman.
Many of Cardinal Newman's disciples were problematic doctrinally speaking and we're working on a list. Seems that there aren't any similar battles going on for the legacies of various other great Catholic figures, but perhaps we'll see them over Archbishop Romero? What we have now, however, is a battle between Liberal or Progressive disciples who believe you can dissent on the Church's teachings on Birth Control, Sex Education, Abortion and the like, as Tony Blair and his wife do, and then there's the more Neo-Conservative side which thinks Cardinal Newman's legacy is one of Orthodoxy and obedience. Neither side represents another possibility which is that the Liberals are right about Cardinal Newman and that he ought not only be condemned for this, but certainly shouldn't be held up as an example to anyone, not least of all, the Progressives.
Anyhow, no one really seems to know why the Oratorians were reassigned. Perhaps it's best no one finds out?
There are various interesting discussions going on about it, here, here to name two. There are a lot of links and you can get an idea that the suggestion that the three Oratorians from Birmingham have been silenced because they are opposing the sex education policy of the Welsh and English Bishops as well as Tony Blair's understanding of Cardinal Newman.
Many of Cardinal Newman's disciples were problematic doctrinally speaking and we're working on a list. Seems that there aren't any similar battles going on for the legacies of various other great Catholic figures, but perhaps we'll see them over Archbishop Romero? What we have now, however, is a battle between Liberal or Progressive disciples who believe you can dissent on the Church's teachings on Birth Control, Sex Education, Abortion and the like, as Tony Blair and his wife do, and then there's the more Neo-Conservative side which thinks Cardinal Newman's legacy is one of Orthodoxy and obedience. Neither side represents another possibility which is that the Liberals are right about Cardinal Newman and that he ought not only be condemned for this, but certainly shouldn't be held up as an example to anyone, not least of all, the Progressives.
Anyhow, no one really seems to know why the Oratorians were reassigned. Perhaps it's best no one finds out?
Ever Ancient, Ever New
By George Neumayr | June 2010
[The Catholic World Report: Editorial] Pope Benedict’s critics had hoped Summorum Pontificum would disappear without a trace. It hasn’t. His apostolic constitution authorizing wider use of the Traditional Latin Mass continues to bear fruit, some of it annoyingly visible to these critics.
Far from just a sop thrown to aging traditionalists, as some liberal bishops cast it, Summorum Pontificum has proven popular with the young. As Pope Benedict noted in its accompanying letter, the Traditional Latin Mass is old in origin but new in appeal: “young persons too have discovered this liturgical form, felt its attraction, and found in it a form of encounter with the Mystery of the Most Holy Sacrifice particularly suited to them.”
An illustration of this appeared on April 24 in Washington, DC, when more than 3,500 people—many of them children, teens, college students, and young families—filed into the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception for a Pontifical Solemn High Mass that lasted two and a half hours. The Paulus Institute, which sponsored the event to mark the fifth anniversary of Benedict’s pontificate, said it was the first Traditional Latin Mass offered at the Shrine’s altar since 1965.
Read further...
[The Catholic World Report: Editorial] Pope Benedict’s critics had hoped Summorum Pontificum would disappear without a trace. It hasn’t. His apostolic constitution authorizing wider use of the Traditional Latin Mass continues to bear fruit, some of it annoyingly visible to these critics.
Far from just a sop thrown to aging traditionalists, as some liberal bishops cast it, Summorum Pontificum has proven popular with the young. As Pope Benedict noted in its accompanying letter, the Traditional Latin Mass is old in origin but new in appeal: “young persons too have discovered this liturgical form, felt its attraction, and found in it a form of encounter with the Mystery of the Most Holy Sacrifice particularly suited to them.”
An illustration of this appeared on April 24 in Washington, DC, when more than 3,500 people—many of them children, teens, college students, and young families—filed into the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception for a Pontifical Solemn High Mass that lasted two and a half hours. The Paulus Institute, which sponsored the event to mark the fifth anniversary of Benedict’s pontificate, said it was the first Traditional Latin Mass offered at the Shrine’s altar since 1965.
Read further...
Groups Protest In St. Peter’s Square Demanding Catholic Church Allow Women Priests - CityNews
Bellisima!
Note the enormous crowds behind the three women holding the purple banner!
Groups Protest In St. Peter’s Square Demanding Catholic Church Allow Women Priests - CityNews
ALBERTO PIZZOLI/AFP/Getty Images
More on Alleged Mistress Facebook Group
The State-run Goebels-media has found another story to capture the prurient interest of impudent and immodest women in the Western world.
Someone starts a facebook group in Italy and it's big news to an audience of educated women at National Public Radio. No doubt, they're primed for stories like this since they are silly and were raised on a diet of steady filth one can find on television and the occasional bad book.
If you want to know the failures of the world, just look at NPR's audience and the voyeuristic smug audience for the state funded propaganda organ.
These women are immodest and their sinful preoccupations makes them incapable of seeing the wickedness of their deeds.
Moreover, if you want to run a hit-piece on the Church, you can't do much better than Rome correspondent Sylvio Poggoli who's guaranteed to make sneering remarks about the Church's supposed backwardness, and leave her bigotted listership with a sense of having accomplished something; for all of that umbrage takes effort!
Someone starts a facebook group in Italy and it's big news to an audience of educated women at National Public Radio. No doubt, they're primed for stories like this since they are silly and were raised on a diet of steady filth one can find on television and the occasional bad book.
If you want to know the failures of the world, just look at NPR's audience and the voyeuristic smug audience for the state funded propaganda organ.
These women are immodest and their sinful preoccupations makes them incapable of seeing the wickedness of their deeds.
Moreover, if you want to run a hit-piece on the Church, you can't do much better than Rome correspondent Sylvio Poggoli who's guaranteed to make sneering remarks about the Church's supposed backwardness, and leave her bigotted listership with a sense of having accomplished something; for all of that umbrage takes effort!
Monday, June 7, 2010
World Market Favors Thailand's Yellow Shirts
Thailand's Yellow Shirted elite is back with a vengeance. Perhaps the single most significant indicator of the extent to which it feels it has won the war as well as the battle with the Red Shirts has been the behavior of the stock market, particularly over the two weeks since it opened following the violence in central Bangkok.
The market absorbed huge waves of foreign selling in the immediate aftermath of the troubles without losing a lot of ground and has since regained those losses. The buoyancy is entirely due to individual investors who have been massive net buyers, providing most of the offset to the foreign selling. Local institutions have also been net buyers, but on a relatively small scale.
Despite a year of political uncertainty culminating in the May violence, the Stock Exchange of Thailand index has outperformed not only most of the world over the past 12 months but even in the troubled past three months. The SET index is now up 6.8 percent over three months and 12 percent over six. Meanwhile the baht has been tending to appreciate against the US dollar and in line with the general Asian currency trend, reflecting overall trade and capital flows rather than the political situation.
Read further...
The market absorbed huge waves of foreign selling in the immediate aftermath of the troubles without losing a lot of ground and has since regained those losses. The buoyancy is entirely due to individual investors who have been massive net buyers, providing most of the offset to the foreign selling. Local institutions have also been net buyers, but on a relatively small scale.
Despite a year of political uncertainty culminating in the May violence, the Stock Exchange of Thailand index has outperformed not only most of the world over the past 12 months but even in the troubled past three months. The SET index is now up 6.8 percent over three months and 12 percent over six. Meanwhile the baht has been tending to appreciate against the US dollar and in line with the general Asian currency trend, reflecting overall trade and capital flows rather than the political situation.
Read further...
Bishop Addresses Competence of Communications Directors in Catholic Media
Most people in the Catholic Media have no sense of mission or even an rudimentary understanding of the Catholic Faith. Father McCloskey controls an expensive glossy magazine with a substantial readership of elderly Catholics who seem to be satisfied with a highly Americanized Catholicism.
He may not be interested in differentiating his message, whatever that might be, with that of the Methodists or other main-line protestant denominations, but he's really out of touch. Once again, there's a lack of accountability at the top.
But sometimes, Communications Directors, for all the money they're paid, don't know whose side they're on. In fact, in a lot of cases, they don't really seem to know what the Church teaches on any given issue during the day. It's unclear whether anyone cares though, because often, Communications Directors don't seem to be subject to the same levels of performance and accuracy that their counterparts in the corporate world normally would.
Read article...
He may not be interested in differentiating his message, whatever that might be, with that of the Methodists or other main-line protestant denominations, but he's really out of touch. Once again, there's a lack of accountability at the top.
Franciscan Father Pat McCloskey, editor of St. Anthony Messenger magazine, used coverage of health care reform as a case in point. He said many Catholic publications were criticized when they reported not just that the bishops had, in the end, rejected the reform over the abortion issue but also reported that the Catholic Health Association supported the reform measure. Can a "faithful" Catholic news organization cover both sides? he asked. [No]
"The answer is yes," Archbishop Aymond said. A Catholic publication must explore both sides "without bias," he said. [Whose side are you on, anyway?] However, rather than just report that one group is saying this and the other is saying that, he continued, the publication also has a duty to report why the church teaches what it teaches on a particular issue.
But sometimes, Communications Directors, for all the money they're paid, don't know whose side they're on. In fact, in a lot of cases, they don't really seem to know what the Church teaches on any given issue during the day. It's unclear whether anyone cares though, because often, Communications Directors don't seem to be subject to the same levels of performance and accuracy that their counterparts in the corporate world normally would.
The bishops agreed with that view of interdependence, with Bishop Herzog adding that bishops need to trust that their editors or communications directors are competent and are not going to undermine them. He added that in a smaller diocese, like his, which does not have the bureaucratic levels of large dioceses, it is easier to have a close relationship with his editor, not to oversee what goes into the paper but to keep communication lines open.
Read article...
Benedict takes on Islam and Israel
Pope Benedict XVI released recently a Vatican document that criticized Israel, Egypt, Islam and Christian fundamentalists.
The 46-page text, “The Catholic Church in the Middle East: Communion and Witness,” will serve as the working document for an October meeting at the Vatican about the Middle East, Fox News said.
Benedict held mass in a sports arena near the Cypriot capital where he prayed for the success of the October synod of Middle Eastern bishops, which will focus on the issues outlined in the document, according to the AFP.
Read further...
The 46-page text, “The Catholic Church in the Middle East: Communion and Witness,” will serve as the working document for an October meeting at the Vatican about the Middle East, Fox News said.
Benedict held mass in a sports arena near the Cypriot capital where he prayed for the success of the October synod of Middle Eastern bishops, which will focus on the issues outlined in the document, according to the AFP.
Read further...
Vatican to Clamp Down on Liberal Opinion
VATICAN [National News] investigators to Ireland appointed by Pope Benedict XVI are to clamp down on liberal secular opinion in an intensive drive to re-impose traditional respect for clergy, according to informed sources in the Catholic Church.
The nine-member team led by two cardinals will be instructed by the Vatican to restore a traditional sense of reverence among ordinary Catholics for their priests, the Irish Independent has learned.
Priests will be told not to question in public official church teaching on controversial issues such as the papal ban on birth control or the admission of divorced Catholics living with new partners to the sacraments -- especially Holy Communion.
Read further...
The nine-member team led by two cardinals will be instructed by the Vatican to restore a traditional sense of reverence among ordinary Catholics for their priests, the Irish Independent has learned.
Priests will be told not to question in public official church teaching on controversial issues such as the papal ban on birth control or the admission of divorced Catholics living with new partners to the sacraments -- especially Holy Communion.
Read further...
Sunday, June 6, 2010
Cardinal Lajolo Says Church's Mission to Spread Gospel
BringMeTheNews interview with Governor of Vatican City, Pt. 1 from bringmethenews.com on Vimeo.
See the rest of the interviews with Cardinal Lajolo, here.
He's the governor of the Vatican State, a member of the Knights of Malta and has a doctorate in Canon Law.
He will be saying Mass this morning at St. Mary's Basilica, a place that is known for heterodoxy and dissent. It's indisputable that Rome has known about the overt and abiding heresy of Americanism which dominates Catholic institutions in the United States. Despite this, he's insistent to insist on the idea that the Church is to make Jesus Christ present to the world, however, it's necessary to qualify what we mean when we say, "Christ". Are we talking about a vague abstraction, representative of a false Gospel of social justice, or are we talking about, or is He the living God who came to die for mankind and rose again from the dead? All too many priests in the Archdiocese of St. Paul are talking about the former. Some Catholics who are attent listeners will notice this and we hope that Rome will notice it as well and take increasing measures to correct this.
The Cardinal refered to the Church's missionary efforts and the Church's growth and "health" which he termed as "excellent" and praises the pastoral sense of the American Bishops.
On Sex Abuse:
Cardinal Lajolo said he was very uplifted by the lay people in the Catholic Church in this country who have supported the Church during what he referred to as the “matters of great sorrow and anguish” of the church, referring to the sex abuse scandals that have rocked the Church in the United States.
“We understand what we have to do. ... We don’t have to fear evil. We don’t have to be overcome by evil. We have strength – not our strength – but the strength of God to react and to overcome evil.”
We talked about the pope’s remark in Portugal last month that “the greatest persecution of the church doesn’t come from enemies on the outside, but is born from the sins within the church.”
Lajolo said, “That is right.” And said it is the way of the church to go from situations of sin to a new situation. “To have a new horizon, new goals. To find new ways in order to serve man and God.”
Link to Rick Kupchella, softball, interview...
Saturday, June 5, 2010
Cardinal Lajolo to Lecture at Minneapolis Institute of Arts
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) ―
[WCCO]The Catholic cardinal who oversees the Vatican's holdings in art and artifacts is in the Twin Cities this weekend for a lecture at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts and will celebrate mass at the Basilica of St. Mary.
Cardinal Giovanni Lajolo is president of the Vatican Museums.
Lajolo has been in Minnesota since Thursday where meeting with donors from Minnesota and North Dakota to the Vatican's art and artifact restoration efforts. On Saturday he is speaking on the importance of art in society and on the history and work of the Vatican Museums at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts.
He will celebrate mass at the Basilica at 9:30 a.m. Sunday.
Link to original...
[WCCO]The Catholic cardinal who oversees the Vatican's holdings in art and artifacts is in the Twin Cities this weekend for a lecture at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts and will celebrate mass at the Basilica of St. Mary.
Cardinal Giovanni Lajolo is president of the Vatican Museums.
Lajolo has been in Minnesota since Thursday where meeting with donors from Minnesota and North Dakota to the Vatican's art and artifact restoration efforts. On Saturday he is speaking on the importance of art in society and on the history and work of the Vatican Museums at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts.
He will celebrate mass at the Basilica at 9:30 a.m. Sunday.
Link to original...
Church cannot accept criminalization of immigrants, says Archbishop Marchetto :: Catholic News Agency (CNA)
It would be easier to believe the man if there weren't an obvious political motive at play, but when modern Catholic Bishops talk about charity, it's not what they mean. They're often talking about government imposed actions, or encourage inaction, as in the case of enforceable laws regarding illegal aliens. No one at Tikkon, Commonweal, or the Sun Times is complaining about the separation of Church and State at least in this case. As long as Catholic prelates support socialist agendas, propaganda organs are eager to offer a hand or remain silent.
If this Bishop's statement didn't do violence to Church law itself (Canon Law advises obedience to the Civil Law), it would be easier to accept, but again, reality intrudes to contravene a pretty ideological presupposition which is really about being generous with other people's resources, other people's livelihoods and other people's lives.
More Americans have been killed by illegals than have died in both Iraq and Afghanistan combined, here, here, here.
CNA article:
Church cannot accept criminalization of immigrants, says Archbishop Marchetto :: Catholic News Agency (CNA)
If this Bishop's statement didn't do violence to Church law itself (Canon Law advises obedience to the Civil Law), it would be easier to accept, but again, reality intrudes to contravene a pretty ideological presupposition which is really about being generous with other people's resources, other people's livelihoods and other people's lives.
More Americans have been killed by illegals than have died in both Iraq and Afghanistan combined, here, here, here.
CNA article:
Church cannot accept criminalization of immigrants, says Archbishop Marchetto :: Catholic News Agency (CNA)
FDA Wants to Drop Ban on Homosexuals Giving Blood
It's much harder to ignore reality when it comes to the undeniable results of immorality, and it's tragic that public health officials, infected with various false doctrines of liberalism, will make decisions effecting ordinary people.
There are prudential reasons for preventing homosexuals from entering the Priesthood, the Army and other positions of trust and there are prudential reasons that homosexuals should be prevented from donating blood. The most obvious of which is the greater likelihood of such individuals to suffer from incurable diseases like Hepatitis-C and, ideology to the contrary, again, the almost exclusively homosexual disease of AIDS (Unless you happen to get it from a blood transfusion).
Of course, there's also the public perception of trust in medical facilities to consider. Whatever propaganda occurs in the wake of this new effort to normalize something abnormal, people will undoubtedly view this for what it is: another attempt to force erroneous ideologies on ordinary people -- with the usual disastrous results.
Liberalism often ignores reality in obeisance to a gross error of one kind or another. In this case, the idea that homosexuality isn't immoral and punishable at least by nature if not by the civil law. There are diseases associated with homosexuality. This so happens because of nature, which liberals are at such pains to ignore in the service of their errors.
Read further...
There are prudential reasons for preventing homosexuals from entering the Priesthood, the Army and other positions of trust and there are prudential reasons that homosexuals should be prevented from donating blood. The most obvious of which is the greater likelihood of such individuals to suffer from incurable diseases like Hepatitis-C and, ideology to the contrary, again, the almost exclusively homosexual disease of AIDS (Unless you happen to get it from a blood transfusion).
Of course, there's also the public perception of trust in medical facilities to consider. Whatever propaganda occurs in the wake of this new effort to normalize something abnormal, people will undoubtedly view this for what it is: another attempt to force erroneous ideologies on ordinary people -- with the usual disastrous results.
Liberalism often ignores reality in obeisance to a gross error of one kind or another. In this case, the idea that homosexuality isn't immoral and punishable at least by nature if not by the civil law. There are diseases associated with homosexuality. This so happens because of nature, which liberals are at such pains to ignore in the service of their errors.
Gay men have not been allowed to donate since 1985
MINNEAPOLIS - Over 2,000 more pints of blood could be available each year if the federal government eases its restrictions on gay men donating blood. The FDA will reconsider the life long ban later this month.
When you go to donate blood you have to fill out a questionnaire. One of the question asked if you ever had sexual contact with a man, even once.
If you check yes, you can't donate blood, even if that contact was 10 years ago. Many people are calling this federal ban a form of discrimination and want the life long ban lifted.
Read further...
Blaspemous, homosexual play entitled "Corpus Christi" Canceled
STEPHENVILLE, Texas — [America Where Are You] The performance of a play that portrays Jesus as gay has been canceled at Tarleton State University amid what school officials say are “safety and security concerns.”
Critics say the Terrence McNally play “Corpus Christi,” which premiered in 1998 in New York, is blasphemous. But the Tarleton student who was directing the production said he chose it to help gay youths who may be struggling with their faith.
Security concerns were cited in prompting the university to initially change the start time and restrict attendance for Saturday’s production. Then, on Friday night, the school put a statement on its Web site saying the professor decided to cancel it due to safety and security concerns. The school said the production will not be rescheduled.
Stephenville is about 70 miles southwest of Fort Worth.
Link to original...
Critics say the Terrence McNally play “Corpus Christi,” which premiered in 1998 in New York, is blasphemous. But the Tarleton student who was directing the production said he chose it to help gay youths who may be struggling with their faith.
Security concerns were cited in prompting the university to initially change the start time and restrict attendance for Saturday’s production. Then, on Friday night, the school put a statement on its Web site saying the professor decided to cancel it due to safety and security concerns. The school said the production will not be rescheduled.
Stephenville is about 70 miles southwest of Fort Worth.
Link to original...
Friday, June 4, 2010
USA Today Says Catholics Want Nuns to Speak Out More
After asking the question, as to whether sisters need to speak out more, it got a result from a scanty population of 250 Catholics. What we get is a barely concealed bias rather than a conclusive appraisal of Catholics appreciation for the Bishops' authority.
In any event, perhaps the Sisters should speak out more. The more they speak, the more the laity should become aware just how far Dysfunctional Catholic Women Religious have become.
The survey of 250 Catholics has a margin of error of plus or minus 6 percentage points. Key findings...
St. Catherine and St. Thomas universities celebrate Archbishop Flynn's 50th ordination anniversary
Friday, June 4, 2010
Love, laughter and laudations filled Archbishop Harry Flynn’s golden jubilee celebration of his ordination to the priesthood.
flynn.reception.jpg
Applause greets Archbishop Harry Flynn, center, flanked by St. Catherine University president Sister Andrea Lee, IHM, and University of St. Thomas president Father Dennis Dease, as he joins the gathering for dinner in Henrietta Schmoll Rauenhorst Hall to celebrate his 50th jubilee on May 26. Rebecca Zenefski, courtesy of St. Catherine University
Liturgical dancers praised God as they moved to the beat of African, Spanish and Irish rhythms during the opening Mass May 26 in Our Lady of Victory Chapel at St. Catherine University, which planned and sponsored the celebration with the University of St. Thomas.
Led by the angelic voice of Mary True, St. Catherine’s liturgy and music director, the accompanying choir members and instrumentalists included students, alums, Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, composers David Haas and Father Jan Michael Joncas, a St. Thomas professor.
During the homily, Father Dennis Dease, St. Thomas president, cited three traits that come to his mind when speaking about Archbishop Flynn: “a man of prayer, a great preacher and a caring and courageous shepherd.”
His prayer life shows in “his charity toward all and his joyful demeanor,” he said. When preaching, the archbishop never tires of sharing Jesus’ message that “each and every one of us is genuinely and profoundly loved by God.”
Caring shepherd
Father Dease added that Archbishop Flynn, while serving as bishop in Lafayette, La., and then as archbishop of St. Paul and Minneapolis, was a courageous and caring shepherd who faced the challenges of racism, capital punishment and sexual abuse.
“He has never backed down when he knew what the Gospel demanded,” he said. Addressing Archbishop Flynn, he added, “You have said that the church must speak for the disenfranchised, or we are not doing what Christ wants.”
Father Dease closed the homily with an Irish proverb and blessing that prompted joyous laughter: “If your dog is fat, you aren’t getting enough exercise. May your dog be forever lean and fit and may you be always robust in reminding us that God loves each and every one of us and we need to embrace that love.”
The celebration continued with a dinner in Coeur de Catherine for about 300 people, as musicians played Irish tunes in honor of the archbishop’s heritage and guests shared stories about the man they came to honor.
Laura Nelson, a 2009 St. Kate’s alum who served as acolyte for the Mass, said she has never met a man like Archbishop Flynn, who is so interested in others.
“He does remember every face, every name, every story,” she said. “He’s only met me five or six times . . . and I walked in today and he said, ‘Hello Laura, it’s so nice to see you again, and how is your sister Sarah? She’s a student here right?’”
Premier Banks executive vice president Andrew Nath and his wife, Katie, said they respect the archbishop’s work and pastoral care for the archdiocese.
Katie said, “When I think of him, I think of the title of his [former column] in The Catholic Spirit, ‘Come Lord Jesus.’ It reminds us of what we need at the core of ourselves.”
Sister Andrea Lee, president of St. Catherine University, brought tears to many eyes as she took the podium to praise Archbishop Flynn’s leadership of both universities and his personal kindness to herself and her adopted son, Lahens Lee-St. Fleur, who was a principal liturgical dancer at the earlier Mass.
“Among many personal stories I could share, consider a tired archbishop,” she said. “That morning, home from a long trip and sleepless night, not only confirming my son that evening, but shopping and cooking and serving us and my son’s young family. Putting down . . . a resplendent feast, including a small homemade dish of mac and cheese, remembering, as he did, that a finicky 4-year-old would, tonight, be seated at the archbishop’s table.”
Sister Andrea — a member of the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary — said most of what she knows about picking her battles she learned from Archbishop Flynn.
He is an entertaining storyteller who laughs heartily at his own jokes, she added. He can cook for 15 people and still relax and have a drink with his guests.
“We could solve the financial problems of the archdiocese, as well as those of St. Thomas and St. Kate’s, if we could only get him his own show on the food network,” she quipped.
In honor of his 50th anniversary of ordination, both St. Kate’s and St. Thomas will designate a Flynn Scholar, a Catholic high school graduate with high academic ability and significant financial need to receive a full financial scholarship.
When the archbishop finally had an opportunity to speak, he said he wondered what Sister Andrea and Father Dease might do for his 25th anniversary as a bishop, which he will celebrate in 2011.
“You have another year to get ready,” he said to raucous laughter.
He reminisced about how he was a “bigoted New Yorker,” who refused to join the Franciscan order with three of his high school classmates because “they can send you anywhere.” So he became a diocesan priest in Albany, N.Y.
All three classmates never left New York, while Archbishop Flynn was sent to Mount St. Mary’s Seminary in Maryland, then back to Albany, then to Louisiana as bishop and to Minnesota as archbishop.
“We look at the hand of God in our lives and I was able to say to a gathering [of priests] that Archbishop [John] Nienstedt hosted after I retired: ‘I’ve fallen in love with all of you and . . . I know you have fallen in love with me,” Archbishop Flynn said.
“I can say that about God’s wonderful people, those at St. Catherine’s, those at St. Thomas, the wonderful Sisters of St. Joseph, I have been united with the Heart of Mary Sisters and I have fallen in love with all of you.” Catholic Spirit
h/t: Stella Borealis
Love, laughter and laudations filled Archbishop Harry Flynn’s golden jubilee celebration of his ordination to the priesthood.
flynn.reception.jpg
Applause greets Archbishop Harry Flynn, center, flanked by St. Catherine University president Sister Andrea Lee, IHM, and University of St. Thomas president Father Dennis Dease, as he joins the gathering for dinner in Henrietta Schmoll Rauenhorst Hall to celebrate his 50th jubilee on May 26. Rebecca Zenefski, courtesy of St. Catherine University
Liturgical dancers praised God as they moved to the beat of African, Spanish and Irish rhythms during the opening Mass May 26 in Our Lady of Victory Chapel at St. Catherine University, which planned and sponsored the celebration with the University of St. Thomas.
Led by the angelic voice of Mary True, St. Catherine’s liturgy and music director, the accompanying choir members and instrumentalists included students, alums, Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, composers David Haas and Father Jan Michael Joncas, a St. Thomas professor.
During the homily, Father Dennis Dease, St. Thomas president, cited three traits that come to his mind when speaking about Archbishop Flynn: “a man of prayer, a great preacher and a caring and courageous shepherd.”
His prayer life shows in “his charity toward all and his joyful demeanor,” he said. When preaching, the archbishop never tires of sharing Jesus’ message that “each and every one of us is genuinely and profoundly loved by God.”
Caring shepherd
Father Dease added that Archbishop Flynn, while serving as bishop in Lafayette, La., and then as archbishop of St. Paul and Minneapolis, was a courageous and caring shepherd who faced the challenges of racism, capital punishment and sexual abuse.
“He has never backed down when he knew what the Gospel demanded,” he said. Addressing Archbishop Flynn, he added, “You have said that the church must speak for the disenfranchised, or we are not doing what Christ wants.”
Father Dease closed the homily with an Irish proverb and blessing that prompted joyous laughter: “If your dog is fat, you aren’t getting enough exercise. May your dog be forever lean and fit and may you be always robust in reminding us that God loves each and every one of us and we need to embrace that love.”
The celebration continued with a dinner in Coeur de Catherine for about 300 people, as musicians played Irish tunes in honor of the archbishop’s heritage and guests shared stories about the man they came to honor.
Laura Nelson, a 2009 St. Kate’s alum who served as acolyte for the Mass, said she has never met a man like Archbishop Flynn, who is so interested in others.
“He does remember every face, every name, every story,” she said. “He’s only met me five or six times . . . and I walked in today and he said, ‘Hello Laura, it’s so nice to see you again, and how is your sister Sarah? She’s a student here right?’”
Premier Banks executive vice president Andrew Nath and his wife, Katie, said they respect the archbishop’s work and pastoral care for the archdiocese.
Katie said, “When I think of him, I think of the title of his [former column] in The Catholic Spirit, ‘Come Lord Jesus.’ It reminds us of what we need at the core of ourselves.”
Sister Andrea Lee, president of St. Catherine University, brought tears to many eyes as she took the podium to praise Archbishop Flynn’s leadership of both universities and his personal kindness to herself and her adopted son, Lahens Lee-St. Fleur, who was a principal liturgical dancer at the earlier Mass.
“Among many personal stories I could share, consider a tired archbishop,” she said. “That morning, home from a long trip and sleepless night, not only confirming my son that evening, but shopping and cooking and serving us and my son’s young family. Putting down . . . a resplendent feast, including a small homemade dish of mac and cheese, remembering, as he did, that a finicky 4-year-old would, tonight, be seated at the archbishop’s table.”
Sister Andrea — a member of the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary — said most of what she knows about picking her battles she learned from Archbishop Flynn.
He is an entertaining storyteller who laughs heartily at his own jokes, she added. He can cook for 15 people and still relax and have a drink with his guests.
“We could solve the financial problems of the archdiocese, as well as those of St. Thomas and St. Kate’s, if we could only get him his own show on the food network,” she quipped.
In honor of his 50th anniversary of ordination, both St. Kate’s and St. Thomas will designate a Flynn Scholar, a Catholic high school graduate with high academic ability and significant financial need to receive a full financial scholarship.
When the archbishop finally had an opportunity to speak, he said he wondered what Sister Andrea and Father Dease might do for his 25th anniversary as a bishop, which he will celebrate in 2011.
“You have another year to get ready,” he said to raucous laughter.
He reminisced about how he was a “bigoted New Yorker,” who refused to join the Franciscan order with three of his high school classmates because “they can send you anywhere.” So he became a diocesan priest in Albany, N.Y.
All three classmates never left New York, while Archbishop Flynn was sent to Mount St. Mary’s Seminary in Maryland, then back to Albany, then to Louisiana as bishop and to Minnesota as archbishop.
“We look at the hand of God in our lives and I was able to say to a gathering [of priests] that Archbishop [John] Nienstedt hosted after I retired: ‘I’ve fallen in love with all of you and . . . I know you have fallen in love with me,” Archbishop Flynn said.
“I can say that about God’s wonderful people, those at St. Catherine’s, those at St. Thomas, the wonderful Sisters of St. Joseph, I have been united with the Heart of Mary Sisters and I have fallen in love with all of you.” Catholic Spirit
h/t: Stella Borealis
Thursday, June 3, 2010
James Martin SJ Wants More Homosexuals in the Priesthood: Another Weird Article
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...
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...
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...
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