Papist Picture of the Day - 5/29/08

[For today's blog topics, click here.]

With Cardinal Pell acting as referee, Pope Benedict and Australian wiz kid Lleyton Hewitt square off for the final round of the hit TV show "So you think you're a theologian?".

[source: REUTERS/Daniel Munoz (AUSTRALIA)]

Pope Benedict to get his own TV show?

The rumor:

The Italian tabloid Chi reports that Pope Benedict XVI is considering a television program in which he would discuss the Bible.

The Chi story-- which the Vatican has not confirmed-- indicates that the Pontiff would appear on a program aired by Italy's national public-service broadcaster, Rai Uno, beginning in October of this year. (CWNews)

I'd hate to get into a ratings battle with the pope.

Meanwhile in Israel: New Testaments torched

CNN:

Police in Israel are investigating the burning of hundreds of New Testaments in a city near Tel Aviv, an incident that has alarmed advocates of religious freedom.

Investigators plan to review photographs and footage showing "a fairly large" number of New Testaments being torched this month in the city of Or-Yehuda, a police spokesman, Micky Rosenfeld, said Wednesday.

News accounts in Israel have quoted Uzi Aharon, the deputy mayor of Or-Yehuda, as saying he organized students who burned several hundred copies of the New Testament. The deputy mayor gave interviews to Israeli radio and television stations after word of the incident surfaced about two weeks ago.

.... The episode has worried defenders of Israel's minority population of Messianic Jews, who consider themselves Jewish but believe in the divinity of Jesus, as do Christians. It also has concerned evangelical Christians in North America, Europe and Asia, who visit Israel by the hundreds of thousands.

Just a minor incident it appears, but I wonder if this sort of thing happens elsewhere?

Now you can get emails from cardinals, too

Or at least the faithful of Boston can, from their Archbishop:

News from the Archdiocese of Boston and Cardinal Sean O'Malley can now be obtained just by opening your e-mail inbox.

The 63-year-old cardinal announced Saturday that the archdiocese is reaching out to the faithful through e-mail.

The "Weekly E-mail From Cardinal Sean & the Pilot" will include messages from the cardinal, notes from his blog, press releases from the archdiocese, and links to current stories from the archdiocesan paper.

"This weekly e-mail initiative will increase communication and connection among Catholics across the archdiocese," Cardinal O'Malley said. "As we celebrate our bicentennial year, we have been reminded how Catholics have innovated to ensure that the saving message of Jesus Christ reaches as many people as possible.

"We want to continue that spirit of innovation and evangelization by utilizing the many new communication tools made possible by the recent advances in technology. I encourage every Catholic of the archdiocese with an e-mail account to sign up."

Those wishing to receive the mail can do so at the archdiocese's bicentennial Web site, http://www.boston200.org/. (Zenit)

Okay, I don't get emails from cardinals ... yet.

Cardinal Bertone: New social encyclical as early as this fall

What he said:

A new social encyclical by Pope Benedict XVI will probably be entitled Caritas in Veritate, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone has revealed.

In an interview with the APCOM news agency, the Vatican Secretary of State disclosed that the Pope's next encyclical will not be ready for publication before the fall. "The encyclical is still being written," he said.

Cardinal Bertone said that Pope Benedict is also working on the second part of his book Jesus of Nazareth. The Pope typically devotes a substantial portion of his summer vacation to writing projects.

In his encyclical, the cardinal said, Pope Benedict "does not want to repeat obvious truths of Catholic social teaching," but will apply Church teachings to contemporary problems. "I am thinking of globalization and other problems, like the food crisis and climate change," Cardinal Bertone said.

Climate change? Oh boy.

Vatican issues document on obedience in religious life

Welcome:

The Vatican has issued a new document underlining the importance of obedience in religious life.

Entitled "The Service of Authority and Obedience," the 50-page document from the Congregation for Religious takes the form of an Instruction. It was presented to the superiors of male and female religious orders on May 28 at an assembly held in the Salesianum in Rome.

.... The document from the Congregation for Religious explicitly takes up the question of "difficult obedience," which arises when the individual religious finds the superior's directions "particularly hard to carry out." It also considers situations in which the superior's orders might cause conflicts in the individual's conscience.

Obedience can "give rise to difficult moments," the Vatican document acknowledges. Nevertheless the Instruction observes that religious should reflect on the fundamental role of obedience as a path to understanding God's will. The exercise of religious authority can also be difficult for the superior, the document notes. Everyone in religious life is called to embrace obedience "not just as a passive and irresponsible execution of orders, but as a conscious shouldering of commitments." (CWNews)

CNA has coverage here: "The Instruction seeks to recall, above all, that obedience in religious life can give rise to difficult moments, to situations of suffering in which it is necessary to refer back to the Obedient One par excellence, Christ."

Now there's an example for all of us.

Music: UK Superstars ColdPlay talk "Saint Peter" in latest CD

I don't often get a chance to review or talk about pop music, but this thread caught my eye. English rock superstar band Coldplay is releasing a new CD soon, and its subject matter is notable.

I'll get right to the interesting part of the first pre-review which appeared in the UK Sun:

"This latest album — much of which was recorded in churches in Spain and and Latin America — is full of religious references. It’s as heavy-going as the Bible but as ultimately as rewarding if that’s your bag."

British tabloid rhetoric aside, the lyrics of Coldplay's title-bearing song "Viva La Vida" don't dissapoint in terms of religious imagery. See what you think of them:

I used to rule the world
Seas would rise when I gave the word
Now in the morning I sleep alone
Sweep the streets I used to own

I used to roll the dice
Feel the fear in my enemy's eyes
Listen as the crowd would sing:
"Now the old king is dead! Long live the king!"

One minute I held the key
Next the walls were closed on me
And I discovered that my castles stand
Upon pillars of salt and pillars of sand

Chorus: I hear Jerusalem bells a ringing
Roman Cavalry choirs are singing
Be my mirror my sword and shield
My missionaries in a foreign field
For some reason I can't explain
Once you go there was never, never an honest word
That was when I ruled the world

It was the wicked and wild wind
Blew down the doors to let me in.
Shattered windows and the sound of drums
People couldn't believe what I'd become

Revolutionaries wait
For my head on a silver plate
Just a puppet on a lonely string
Oh who would ever want to be king?

Chorus: I hear Jerusalem bells a ringing
Roman Cavalry choirs are singing
Be my mirror my sword and shield
My missionaries in a foreign field
For some reason I can't explain
I know Saint Peter won't call my name
Never an honest word
But that was when I ruled the world

(Repeat Chorus)

This will probably be one of the most popular CDs released this year. I wonder what the other songs say.

Ph/t: Phatmass user "yndige23".

Papist Quote of the Day

Giuseppe De Carli on the pope's ability to act as an effective communicator:

"That secret, says Giuseppe De Carli, is the beauty "that convinces almost more than rational arguments: love, friendship with God, the joy of being Christian. ... Tell me that this is not a Pope who is happy to be Christian." (Zenit)

Picture: Latin Mass celebrated on a navy supercarrier

A late Memorial Day tribute:

Photo credit: "The extraordinary form of Holy Mass offered on board the USS Theodore Roosevelt. Courtesy of Chas. Johnson, Sac." - Meeting Christ in the Liturgy.

Ph/t: Phatmass user "KnightofChrist."

Report: Iran President Ahmadinejad demands meeting with pope

To wit:

Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad hopes to meet Pope Benedict XVI during a visit to Rome next week, according to the Italian daily La Repubblica.
The Vatican has not disclosed any plan for a meeting between the Pontiff and the controversial Iranian leader.

Citing an unidentified diplomatic source, La Repubblica said that Ahmadinejad wanted to brief the Pope on his government's position in current international disputes. The Iranian regime has made several efforts to enlist the help of the Holy See in its conflicts with the US and other Western powers.

The Italian paper said that Iran's ambassador to the Holy See has put in a request "repeatedly" for a papal meeting with Ahmadinejad. The Iranian leader will be in Rome to attend a meeting of the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization.

Should the pope accept or reject such a request? It seems he is rejecting it thus far.

Picture: Curt Jester's hilarious vocations poster

Better than the ones I'm used to seeing....

Go see the other ones (and complement him on his snazzy new template while you're at it!).

Papist Picture of the Day - 5/27/08

[For today's blog topics, click here.]

When not speaking ex cathedra, the pope uses the side window.

[source: REUTERS/Tony Gentile (VATICAN) ]

A great time to promote your Catholic service/product on AmP

I've dropped prices on the AmP sidebar ads to let some new products/services get a chance.

With summer upon me I'll have a chance to roll out some very interesting posts in the next weeks.

Video & Commentary: "Brideshead Reinterpreted"?

Evelyn Waugh's catholic novel Brideshead Revisited is one of my favorites. It was made into an excellent (11+ hour!) movie by Granada Films in 1982.

Awhile back I found out that the story was being retold in a theatrical release. A friend of mine put it best when he said the new telling reminded him more of a fan fiction movie with the original characters, than a dramatization of the actual storyline.

Josh Walsh of the Independent agrees with that assesment, and gives us the dissapointing details:

First, Sebastian and Julia appear to be conducting an incestuous relationship that becomes a ménage a trois with Charles. Second, Julia shows up, under a parasol, in the Venice scenes. Third, Lady Marchmain seems concerned only with marrying off her daughter to the cluelessly non-Catholic Rex. Fourth, there's a wildly misconceived strand of sexual intrigue, most fatuously when Lord Marchmain leans back on a sofa with one arm around a coquettish Julia and the other around a pouting Sebastian and twinkles at Charles with the words: "What a lot of temptation..." Fifth, the religious theme is hinted at only by a dropped crucifix. Sixth, Sebastian shouts: "You never wanted me – you used me to get to my sister!" (In the book, by the time Charles and Julia get it together at sea, Sebastian has vanished into alcoholism and a monastery in Morocco.)

All this is shocking for Waugh purists. The message board on the IMDb website is a-twitter with denunciations by Waugh fans. "Andrew Davies needs a reality check," reads one. "And a slap in the face like he's given to Evelyn Waugh by turning his masterpiece into a cheap romantic farce."

For the strong of stomach, here is the movie's theatrical trailer:



Really, Emma Thompson should know better than to involve herself in such a travesty.

Ph/t: Carl Olson at Ignatius Scoop.

3,000 Iraqis become Roman Catholics - showing Anglicans the way?

Damian Thompson (a UK journalist I'm starting to read closely), reports:

Three thousand Iraqi Christians living in America have become Roman Catholics together, in a deal with the Vatican that will spark the interest of traditionalist Anglicans who want to convert en masse without losing their cultural identity.

.... The lessons for English-speaking Christianity are almost too obvious to need pointing out. If the Catholic Church is prepared to demonstrate generosity in negotiable areas such as liturgical language and married priests, centuries of disunity can be overcome.

But, when it comes to Anglo-Catholics, that’s a big “if”. The Catholic ecumenical establishment – in Rome and, especially, in Westminster – is not keen on Anglican traditionalists, and recoils from the prospect of them worshipping together as Roman Catholics with their own communal identity.

The Iraqis in question are becoming Chaldean-rite Catholics. I studied with several Chaldean Catholic seminarians and have spoken to them about the persecution the Chaldean Catholic Church is undergoing in Iraq.

Papist Picture of the Day - 5/23/08

[For today's blog topics, click here.]

What's on your Christmas tree?

[source: AP Photo/Jens Meyer]

Pope plans limits to number of Mass concelebrants?

That's the word today:

Pope Benedict XVI plans to curtail the practice of organizing large-scale Eucharistic celebrations with hundreds of priests concelebrating the Mass, according to a report in Italy's Panorama magazine.

Panorama reports that the Holy Father has directed the Congregation for Divine Worship to study the question and prepare appropriate instructions. His objective, the Italian journal says, is to eliminate the concelebration of Mass by hundreds of priests at a time, with many of them standing at a distance from the altar.

The Vatican has not commented on the Panorama report.

If the story is accurate, the new liturgical guidelines could bring significant changes in liturgical celebrations at which the Pope himself presides, such as Masses attended by tens of thousands of people at World Youth Day or during papal trips abroad. (CWNews)

New Liturgical Movement translates the first couple paragraphs of the original article in Panorama.

Papist Picture of the Day - 5/22/08

[For today's blog topics, click here.]

The crowd waited in eager anticipation for the pope's legendary hand shadow act.

[source: REUTERS/Max Rossi/Files]

Bobby Jindal goes to Arizona - McCain VP chance?

Goodness. This is interesting:

Senator John McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, on Friday is scheduled to meet with two Republican governors who have been prominently mentioned as potential running mates, according to Republicans familiar with McCain's plan.

The two governors, Charlie Crist, of Florida, and Bobby Jindal, of Louisiana, have both accepted invitations to meet with McCain at his home in Arizona, according to Republican familiars with the decision. One Republican said that Mitt Romney, a former rival of McCain for the presidential nomination was also expected to visit him this weekend. Romney's advisers declined to comment.

McCain, after a week of campaigning, is heading home on Friday for three days without a public schedule. His campaign declined to comment on the meetings.

"We don't talk about the V.P. selection process," said Steve Schmidt, a senior adviser.

Still, the names of McCain's visitors and the timing — coming three weeks after the Arizona senator told reporters that he had a list of 20 potential running mates — strongly suggested that he was moving into an intensified phase in his search for a vice presidential candidate.

Everyone who I've talked to about Jindal as a potential republican VP this year has said it's too early and that he is too needed in Louisiana to clean up after Katrina.

But still, this report would seem to imply that he's on the shortlist. Perhaps his presence is intended as a nod to Katrina victims and McCain's desire to rebuild and avoid such future debacles. Mitt Romney will also be in attendance it is believed.

But back to Bobby. This is a nice opportunity to quote the article at length and thereby get a feel for what his reputation is like in the media:

Of all the names being mentioned as McCain's potential running mate, Piyush "Bobby" Jindal, the 36-year-old first-term governor of Louisiana, is not only the youngest and least experienced, but also the only one who is not white. Yet in a year in which Democratic voters have raised few objections to such traditional "obstacles," Jindal may be especially attractive as Republicans seek a way to offset the "post-racial" and youthful appeal of Senator Barack Obama.

Jindal, who was born in Baton Rouge to a family that had just arrived there from the Punjab area of India, took office in January after serving three years in the House of Representatives. In a race with four candidates, Jindal, who was born a Hindu but converted to Roman Catholicism as a teenager, won 54 percent of the vote after campaigning as a social conservative, opposing human embryonic stem cell research and abortion in any form and favoring teaching "intelligent design" in schools as an alternative to evolution.

But Jindal also has a reputation as a policy wonk, like the Clintons, with a specialty in health care issues. After graduating in 1991 from Brown University, where he majored in biology and public policy, and attending Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar, he worked for the management consulting firm McKinsey and Company and was executive director of the National Bipartisan Commission on the Future of Medicare. He later served as Secretary of the Louisiana state Department of Health and Hospitals and in the Bush Administration as Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services for planning and evaluation.

Why I am excited about Bobby:

• 25 Apr 2008 McCain-Jindal spotted in New Orleans, VP rumors denied
• 14 Mar 2008: LA Gov. Bobby Jindal for Republican VP?
• 22 Oct 2007: Keep your eye on Bobby Jindal, new Gov. of Louisiana

And while it's on topic: "Grants ensure future for two New Orleans Catholic landmarks" (CNS).

Catholic Facebook Drama

At least this time it's a minor one. Damien Thompson writes:

I accepted a Facebook friend request yesterday, and suddenly I noticed a familiar name in my new friend’s list – Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor! I wouldn’t presume to add myself as a friend of His Eminence, but I did post a nice message on his wall.

Back came the response (see above): “You do not have permission to write on this wall.”

That’s not very welcoming is it? Particularly when you consider what I’d written: “Many thanks, Your Eminence, for your tireless efforts to implement the Holy Father’s Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum.”

Who could object to that?

Of course, someone other than the Cardinal might have created the page.

While we're on the topic of Facebook, some folks in Lafayette, LA formed a group called "Facebook - stop removing Fr. from priests' names!":

Facebook is randomly removing the "Fr." prefix from priests' names and the "Sr." prefix from sisters' names but haven't done so for "Rev." and "Dr." Signup to join this group and we'll petition Facebook to reconsider what seems to be this anti-Catholic and more generally anti-Religious action.

I would say, however, that mosts the priests I'm friends with on Facebook do have their "Fr." titles retained.

President Bush to make fifth visit to Vatican this June

Details:

President Bush is to meet the Holy Father again in a few weeks, according to the White House. The President will be dropping in at the Vatican while on a European tour June 9-16.

It will essentially be a courtesy call, and will come just a couple of months after the President played host to Benedict XVI at the White House. It’s not clear exactly when Mr. Bush will come here, but sources say the meeting is likely to take place on June 13 – almost exactly a year since the President last visited the Pope.

It will be the third time the two men have met officially, and Mr. Bush’s fifth visit to the Vatican. That’s naturally led to speculation that the President, a Methodist, is considering becoming a Catholic, although there is no hard evidence to suggest that that’s true.

As long as his wife doesn't start writing books and giving interviews....