The Pope's Anglican Proposal will draw at least 20-30 Bishops

The current initiative to invite Anglicans into the Catholic Church en masse was prompted by numerous requests. It is now clear that not just a few will be joining the Catholic Church throughout the world in response to these conservative Anglicans' increasing alienation in the Anglican Communion due to women's ordination and homosexuality; but quite a bit more outside of the Traditional Anglican Communion, numbering from 20-30 Bishops wishing direct communion to include individual groups constituting large numbers of prospective Catholics. What father would give his child a stone when he asked for bread?

However, there are conditions attached. Anglicans entering the fold must recognise the pope as the head of the church. The parishes would be led by former Anglican clergy who would be ordained as Catholic priests. “The ordinary,” who heads an ordinariate, can be either a celibate priest or an unmarried bishop, and “will usually be appointed from among former Anglican clergy,” the cardinal stated. While married Anglican priests may be ordained as Catholic priests, this does not apply to married Anglican bishops. As Africa's Newswatch Magazine reports:

Cardinal William Levada, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, CDF, announced this decision at a special international press briefing in the Vatican, October 20. Cardinal Levada said the Pope decided to establish this special structure in response to “the many requests” that were submitted to the Holy See over the past three years or more “from groups of Anglican clergy and faithful in different parts of the world who wish to enter into visible communion.” He announced that about “20 to 30 bishops” had submitted requests, while “hundreds of requests” had been received from large groups of people,” and not from just the Traditional Anglican Community which has 500,000 members worldwide. He said it was expected that the Pope would issue an apostolic constitution, a document to enact or promulgate laws, on this issue in a few weeks.

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Top Catholic bishops demand apology from Rep. Kennedy

By Michael O'Brien - 10/28/09 12:45 PM ET

Two top Catholic bishops have called on Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-R.I.) to apologize for remarks blasting the church's opposition to health reform legislation.

Archbishop Timothy Dolan, of the archdiocese of New York, and Bishop Thomas Tobin, who is Kennedy's bishop, called on the Catholic lawmaker's criticism of the church's opposition to healthcare reform, citing concerns over whether the bill would allow funding for abortions.

"I can’t understand for the life of me how the Catholic Church could be against the biggest social justice issue of our time, where the very dignity of the human person is being respected by the fact that we’re caring and giving health care to the human person," Kennedy said in an interview with the Catholic News Service.


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Muslims kill Christian over Nude Photos of Girlfriend in Egypt

By Michael Carl
© 2009 WorldNetDaily

Egypt

Tensions and the threat of confrontation remain high in the central Egyptian village of Dairut after Muslims killed a Christian man whose son had taken photos of a Muslim girl he was dating, fomenting Muslim rioting against Christian targets.

Police say they have arrested four men in connection with the shooting death of Henry Atallah, who was attacked allegedly because his son took "illicit" photos of a Muslim girl he was dating and distributed them with his cell phone.

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Related stories:

30 Arrested in Clash at Church Tower in Egypt.

Egypt is increasingly unsafe for Christians.

Monarchy threatened in Nepal by India and China

The following article appeared in the India Times and points to India's growing interest in the government of Nepal which it apparently seeks to destabilize by overthrowing the monarchy. Mr Prasai, quoted in the article, quite rightly identifies the historical consequences that invariably follow from the overthrow of monarchy, an anarchy from which the Indian government hopes it will benefit.

Here...

The writer Mr. Prasai with the former president of India-1987

It is true that there are many countries which do not have monarchy still they could remain independent and prosperous. But in a diverse country like Nepal, monarchy is the only basis of national unity and Nepal cannot be compared with other countries. Indian conspirators are taking some deviant leaders of the political parties on their shoulders with the sole aim that it will be easy for them to control Nepal if monarchy can be displaced. But such a situation will be a happy one for India also. Some communist parties take monarchy as the root cause of Nepal’s all woes. This is not correct. No Nepalese king has ever acted or walked on the path which is against Nepal’s national interest.

Many countries where monarchy was displaced have now ceased to exist and several other have fallen into anarchy and civil war. It will be totally inappropriate without knowing fully the ground realities. It was not for whether to keep monarchy or not. The Nepalese constituent assembly is just a representative organization to formulate a new constitution and it does not have any right to displace monarchy. Can the future of the country be decided just because so called big political parties ganged up together? Those powerful nations, who in the past shed blood in Vietnam, North and South Korea, East and West Germany, Cambodia, Afghanistan and Yugoslavia, are now trying to drag Nepal into a civil war. So, if the political leaders, including the Maoists, tried to trample on this truth, one should know that the existence of Nepal [is threatened?].

And as if to confirm it, the article appears here at Revolution in Asia blog.

The State Departement is Displeased with Bulgaria

Intolerance by Bulgarian local authorities of non-Orthodox Christian religious groups and anti-Semitic messages by Volen Siderov’s Ataka party are among issues raised in the US state department’s annual International Religious Freedom Report, released on October 26 2009.

The report said that Bulgaria’s constitution provides for freedom of religion and prohibits religious discrimination but designates Eastern Orthodox Christianity as the "traditional" religion.


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Pius V University Hosts Conference Refuting Darwinism

There are many things afoot lately which are challenging the characteristic and frankly slavish way we look at the world, whether it is in Rome, or closer to home with the usual blandishments that modern life deals out, but unexpectedly, the theory of evolution will be challenged in a conference at Pius V University in Rome.

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A Boost for Catholic-Anglican Dialogue

A response to So Long and Thanks for All the Priests in Monday's Guardian.

Cardinal Heenan, Archbishop of Westminster until 1975, used to get annoyed when Anglicans were offered communion in French Catholic churches and given a hearty Gallic welcome. French Catholics, understandably, couldn't see a lot of difference between Catholic Anglicans and English Roman Catholics. But Heenan was horrified. Once the two started being welcome in each others' churches, he warned, it was obvious what would happen: the Romans would all start to drift to the smart Anglican churches, with their robed choirs and Oxbridge clergy and their glimpse of a pre-Reformation English world.

And that's the reason why the pope's firecracker announcement last week of a legal space within the Catholic church for a corporate Anglican existence will have the effect of advancing Catholic-Anglican relations, not undermining them.

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Liberal Obfuscation at the Pope's Offer?

We're already aware that this offer of Benedict may be met with a lukewarm reception even among the disaffected Anglicans who don't see how they can possibly reconcile the new positions elucidated in the Covenant and biblical and doctrinal Christianity.

Father Z has warned of a Liberal meltdown in the wake of this announcement. There are already some reports that two disaffected Anglican Bishops are not necessarily coming over.

The following report in the Telegraph takes Bishop of Chichester to task for his unequal statements that he wanted to have in the agreement that his orders were always in effect. Well, in a sense they were, at least as regards Baptism. I'm sure that the Bishop baptised many new Christians, but that's not strictly speaking, always the role of the priest. This should be interesting to watch.

Disaffected Anglican bishops don't know if they're coming or going

Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali was at least clear on Saturday. He said: “I have to admit that Arcic and its work has been shot to pieces.” He went on to say that his hopes for unity with Rome had been destroyed

.

In fact, it seems that he is not becoming a Catholic because, despite his continual condemnation of homosexuality, he is at heart, an Anglican.

It's hard to understand what he's holding out for, because if Arcic has been shot to pieces, so has any semblance of continuity, save the most superficial, between historical Christianity and the Anglican Communion.

The Coronation Oath and The Crisis of the Church of England

The enclosed article by Tom Johnstone traces the history of the Coronation Oath taken by English Monarchs since the time of Archbishop Egbert of York to the modern time. What we see is a gradual transformation of the Oath to reflect the changing political and religious factors that were brought to England especially during the Penal times which saw the Oath linked with the established protestant Church, aligned eventually with the Test Act, which meant to exclude the possibility of Catholics from taking an active part in the Parliament.

"I ... do solemnly and sincerely, in the presence of God, profess, testify and declare that I do believe that in the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper there is not any transubstantiation of the elements of bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ at or after the consecration thereof by any person whatsoever: and that the invocation or adoration of the Virgin Mary or any other Saint and the sacrifice of the Mass, as they are now used in the Church of Rome, are superstitious and idolatrous."

What is certain from this excellent article by Mr. Johnstone is that the English State Church, linked as it is to the Crown and these oaths have been altered in response to growing concerns for religious toleration, and another historical concern for disestablishment.

Since many members of the Royal Family have renounced claims to the throne since marrying Catholics, the future looks bright for an alteration in the Coronation Oath to reflect the failure of the Church of England to respond effectively to liberalizing elements essentially making the English Church indistinguishable from the surrounding modern society and undercutting continuity with the perennial moral teachings common to all Christians before the modern age.

Queen Elizabeth has been quoted by "informants" recently in The Telegraph that she is appalled at the established church: yet it is clear, given her own points of concern in the past with the course of things in society, her sympathy to the Catholic Church and fondness for the Pope who is to stay at Buckingham Palace when he visits England next year, the precedent for changes in the Coronation Oath and the abrogation of the aforementioned Test Act, it is possible that her successor, if not herself, could become the first Catholic monarch of England since James II.

Swedish Lutheran Synod Allows Gay Weddings

Despite warnings by the Archbishop of Helsinki last week, the Swedish Synod of the Lutheran Church have ignored centuries of continuity and in a majority vote, decided to declare in favor of the spirit of the age.

Religious Intelligence quotes a discouraged and disheartening Pastor Kalin in what must be for him the end of a world,

In the Church of Sweden, “theology has been transformed into an ideology and the church’s own institutions happily provide theological post-constructions to the latest opinions and whims of the world,” he said.

Pastor Kalin said that “for the church, this is devastating” as the “faith, confession and teaching of the Church of Sweden” rested “on political majorities or on the currently fancy views of the world.”

The proposed changes will likely take the form of the modification of the marriage liturgy, replacing “man and wife” with “lawfully wedded spouses” for same-sex couples and follows upon the 2005 vote to amend the title of Chapter 23 of its prayer book, from “Marriage” to “Marriage and Blessings” to permit blessing of same-sex civil unions. Pastors will be permitted the option of refusing to perform same-sex marriages; however, traditionalists worry that this conscious clause will be abrogated in future sessions of the synod as past guarantees respecting the conscious of those opposed to women clergy were rescinded.

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The New Benedictines of Norcia

The New Benedictines of Norcia are restablishing a Monastic presence which has been absent for some time now. Founded in Rome in 1998, they reestablished themselves in the home of St. Benedict in Norcia in 2000. They have about ten men presently under the leadership of Massachusets born, Father Cassian. Most are Americans but they are hoping and praying for their first Italian vocation.

They only celebrate the Old Rite and live a very austere life. For more information and interest in vocations, contact:


By Mail Monastero di San Benedetto Via Reguardati, 22 06046 Norcia (PG) Italy
Tel: 39 0743 817125
Fax: 39 0743 828425
Email: monastero@osbnorcia.org

Please send all personal coorespondence directly to the monastery.
United States Foundation Address: SEDES SAPIENTIAE FOUNDATION 511 Kearsarge Mountain Road Warner, New Hampshire 03278 Telephone: (845) 633-2819

Link

Venezuelan Bishops' Council Appeals to Freedom of Religion

It's not wise to make concessions to these people, and appealing to freedom of religion is an unfortunate thing which basically concedes the point and will spell out the eventual destruction of Catholic education in Venezuela as it has been imperiled so many times before in other countries dominated by Marxist regimes. In contrast to earlier martyrs for Catholic education in Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Croatia, the Venezuelan bishop's committee on education seeks to make concessions the increasingly hostile government there. This will only temporarily forestall inevitable restrictions and attacks on the Catholic Church in Venezuela as reported by CNA today.

Cardinals Mindzenty of Hungary, Stepanic of Croatia and Frantisek of Bohemia were all charged with trumped up charges and in each of the nations in question, the issue was centered on education. The Communists were eager to get the Catholic Church out of education and none of these men were willing to relinquish that trust. While these Cardinals did invoke religious freedom, they were unwilling to compromise the point that the Communists or anyone else has the right to teach error. Venezuela's Bishops have unfortunately made this point.

The president of the Venezuelan bishops' committee on education,Bishop Jose Angel Divasson, said last week that the Catholic Church does not seek to impose Catholic education on schools but only asks that the religious dimension of each person be respected.

His preoccupation with religious freedom may be a necessary ploy in this game of survival, but it provides no lasting solution, or shield, to the continuing menace of Venezuela's government against Catholic Education. As the Bishop continues, the contrast between his compromise and the stolid resistance of his episcopal forebears is disappointing.

“We hope the government realizes this and seeks out alternatives that benefit all of Venezuela and not just a single group,” the bishop concluded.

"Ratzinger Blitzkriegs Protestants." Are you Sure?

It's so great that others are fully perceiving the greatness and decisiveness of this bold master stroke as Der Panzerpapst has effectively drawn attention to the teetering structure of Anglican Catholicism while opening a door to disaffected Traditional Anglicans who can no longer find a home in the toxic atmosphere of the CoE. This article by an writer at the Trumpet, however, is willing to view Cardinal Kasper's sidelining as an accidental oversight. It takes away the contrast between two respective and irreconcilable approaches to Ecumenism, one faltering and indecisive and the other reminiscent of the Great Commission.

Did Benedict’s seeming undue haste [He can't be bold and in undue haste at the same time] to make this announcement perhaps have bearing on the reason why the German Cardinal Kasper was in Cyprus? Was it timed to send a signal to the Eastern Orthodox hierarchy that the pope is ready to make similar concessions to the Orthodox community if they capitulate to Rome? After all, Kasper was Johnny on the spot to assess their reaction to this dramatic announcement to then be in a position to report that reaction firsthand to Benedict upon his return to Rome from Nicosia.

Everything else is idle speculation and definitely an indication that there was far more hope of re-union with the Traditional Anglicans than there is with the Orthodox who, while being positive to these overtures and willing to discuss, are far less sanguine to the ecumenicism of engagement and more hesitant to reunite.

The Trumpet, for those of you who might not know is a publication produced in Philadelphia by The Church of God.

Article Here...

Bishop Tobin Calls Congressman Kennedy a Disappointment

By David Waters

Confusion over whether and how government health-care reform will or should deal with abortion has resulted in an equally confusing war of words between Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy (D-R.I.) and Rhode Island Catholic Bishop Thomas J. Tobin.
In an interview last Friday, Kennedy -- a Roman Catholic and son of the late Sen. Edward Kennedy, who spent much of his career pushing for health-care reform -- called U.S. Catholic bishops' concerns about the abortion issue a "red herring" that fans "the flames of dissent and discord." Kennedy added: "If the church is pro-life, then they ought to be for health-care reform, because it's going to provide health care that are going to keep people alive."

In a sharply-worded response, Tobin called Kennedy's position on the matter "irresponsible and ignorant of the facts . . . Congressman Kennedy continues to be a disappointment to the Catholic Church and to
the citizens of the State of Rhode Island. I believe the Congressman owes us an apology for his irresponsible comments. It is my fervent hope and prayer that he will find a way to provide more effective and morally responsible leadership for our state."

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SSPX Bishop Williamson Fined €12,000 by German Court

A British bishop has been fined €12,000 after a German court found him guilty of denying the Holocaust.

Richard Williamson received a letter today from the court in the Bavarian city of Regensburg informing him that he was being fined for incitement over his claim on Swedish television that fewer than 300,000 Jews died in Nazi death camps.

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Cardinal George lauds appointment of N.Y. archbishop to Jewish Affairs post

Cardinal George lauds appointment of N.Y. archbishop to Jewish Affairs post

Just as a reminder, here is an article on Cardinal George's previous non-binding statement on Jewish-Catholic interaction and his aqcuiescence to their insistence that all references to "conversion" be removed.

- Curious Cardinal.

Third World Anglicans Demur from Pope's Offer

PARIS (Reuters) - Conservative bishops who say they represent almost half the world's Anglicans urged fellow believers on Sunday to reform the Anglican Communion rather than take up Pope Benedict's invitation to join the Roman Catholic Church.

The "Global South" group, which last year seemed close to quitting the Communion, said those opposed to gay clergy and other liberal reforms should "stand firm with us in cherishing the Anglican heritage (and) pursuing a common vocation."

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Anglican bishops may become Catholic

Anglican bishops may become Catholic

Benedict's Ecumenical Blitzkrieg

People might be willing to make comparisons to the Blitzkrieg, and others, especially partisans of the Holy Father might be offended, but how can you not compare this to a successful military operation involving complete secrecy beforehand, leaving the stunned defenders completely oblivious as they are surrounded and cut off in a daring pincer movement.

Gerard Warner at the Scotsman, borrowing unatributively from Ruth Gledhill at The Times described Williams waking up with tanks on his lawn. It's a nice image.

For face-saving reasons, Williams tried desperately to pretend that this Vatican initiative was the outcome of mutual consultation, when the reality was that he had wakened up that morning to find Ratzinger's tanks on his lawn.

He also makes mention of the fact that, as in a perfect offensive maneuver, even enemy spies were oblivious of the move as Cardinal Kasper was nowhere to be seen. [He was in Cyprus] This promises to proceed apace as a smooth and well-timed and executed military-like operation after years and years of ineffectual discussions while the Anglican Church drifted further and further away from sanity and orthodoxy on the seas of modernity.

The entire thing promises to work like a Catholic reconquista with Catholics finally regaining possession of church campuses and monasteries stolen from them by Henry VIII and now occasionally in the possession of rock stars and Anglicans.

School Janitor Charged with Murder of NJ Priest.

The School Janitor had been with the parish for 17 years and was the one who found the body. His daughter even graduated from the local school. This article from the NZ Herald.