Papist Picture of the Day - 5/29/08
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?".Labels: PPOTD
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Pa•pist: n. A Catholic who is a strong advocate of the papacy.
"Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them." - Ephesians 5:11 |
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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?".Labels: PPOTD
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)
Labels: church rumors, Offbeat, Pope Benedict XVI
Just a minor incident it appears, but I wonder if this sort of thing happens elsewhere?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.
Labels: jewish-christian relations
Okay, I don't get emails from cardinals ... yet.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)
Labels: catholic media, internet news
Climate change? Oh boy.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.
Labels: Catholic documents, church rumors, encyclicals
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."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)
Labels: religious orders, vatican speaks
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."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."
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)
Labels: music, papist plotting, pop culture
"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)
Labels: liturgy, photopost, prayer requests
Should the pope accept or reject such a request? It seems he is rejecting it thus far.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.
Labels: iran, vatican diplomacy, world events
Go see the other ones (and complement him on his snazzy new template while you're at it!).
When not speaking ex cathedra, the pope uses the side window.Labels: PPOTD
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.For the strong of stomach, here is the movie's theatrical trailer: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."
Labels: Movies, secular culture
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.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.
Labels: anglican communion, conversion, dialogue, world trends
New Liturgical Movement translates the first couple paragraphs of the original article in Panorama.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)
Labels: church rumors, liturgy, vatican affairs
Goodness. This is interesting: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.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.
Why I am excited about Bobby: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.
And while it's on topic: "Grants ensure future for two New Orleans Catholic landmarks" (CNS).
Labels: 2008 presidential race, bobby jindal, catholicism and politics, john mccain
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.
Labels: catholic media, facebook, web tools
As long as his wife doesn't start writing books and giving interviews....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.
Labels: catholicism and politics, vatican affairs
"Needy survivors" who need .... condoms?! "Struggling survivors" who struggle ... to maintain their family planning?! How does this sort of decision make any sort of sense in even a secular perspective?220 000 condoms off to Myanmar
Bangkok - The United Nations will send nearly a quarter of a million condoms into cyclone-hit Myanmar to help needy survivors with no access to contraceptives, a UN official says.
So far, the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) said it had sent 72 800 condoms to survivors struggling to maintain their family planning after the storm hit in early May.
A total of 218 400 condoms would be delivered, UNFPA aid advisor Chaiyos Kunanusont said.
"We don't want regular use of contraception disrupted. An emergency usually damages the health system, so people don't have access to condoms and contraceptives," said Chaiyos.
Labels: contraception, outrageous, world events, world trends
Get ready for it.Democrat Barack Obama has opened an 8-point national lead on Republican John McCain as the U.S. presidential rivals turn their focus to a general election race, according to a Reuters/Zogby poll released on Wednesday.
Obama, who was tied with McCain in a hypothetical head-to-head matchup last month, moved to a 48 percent to 40 percent lead over the Arizona senator in May as he took command of his grueling Democratic presidential duel with rival Hillary Clinton. (Reuters)
Labels: 2008 presidential race, barack obama, hillary clinton, john mccain
A brief dip into the UK tabloids, where Catholic Cherie Blair defends her use of contraception. Local press thinks she's talking about this sort of stuff to sell her recently released memoirs.Former British prime minister Tony Blair's wife Cherie has defended her use of contraception despite calling herself a "good Catholic girl".Spare me. This is a classic example of the "it's just common sense" defense of contraception.
Mrs Blair, whose husband coverted to Catholicism after leaving office last June, made the comments after she revealed in a new book how her fourth child was conceived accidentally, during a holiday with teh Queen.
"People seem to be quite shocked that perhaps a Catholic girl even uses contraception,'' she told GMTV television.
"But it is really an important thing for women .. One of the reasons women's lives have changed is that they have been able to control their fertility, it is an important issue."
In her just-published autobiography, Speaking for Myself, Mrs Blair describes how the birth of the couple's last child Leo followed a visit to the queen's Balmoral Scottish residence in 1999.
She tells how she had not packed her "contraceptive equipment'' because the previous year it had embarrassingly been discovered, unpacked along with a "range of unmentionables''.
"As usual up there, it had been bitterly cold, and what with one thing and another... but then, I thought, I can't be. I'm too old. It must be the menopause,'' she said. (source)
Labels: catholic controversy, contraception, england
Wonders never cease, and I'm glad they don't.How Cardinal Mahony handled it:Cardinal Roger Mahony has denied an Australian bishop permission to speak in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles after the Australian Catholic Bishops’ Conference issued a statement warning of “doctrinal difficulties” present in the bishop’s writings. (CNA)
Archbishop of Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony in a May 9 letter asked Bishop Robinson not to speak in his archdiocese.
Saying he was “once again” writing regarding Bishop Robinson’s scheduled June 12 speaking engagement in the archdiocese, Cardinal Mahony said, “Your letter informing me of your coming appearance made it clear that you were not seeking my permission or approval, that you were planning to come regardless.”
In his letter, Cardinal Mahony said he had recently learned of the Australian bishops’ statement about the bishop’s book. He also said he had learned that Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, the Prefect for the Congregation of Bishops, has urged Bishop Robinson to cancel his U.S. visit.
Cardinal Mahony requested Bishop Robinson to cancel his visit, citing Canon 763 of Canon Law. The canon pertains to a bishop’s duty to safeguard the teachings of the Church in his diocese.
“Under the provisions of Canon 763, I hereby deny you permission to speak in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles,” the cardinal wrote. He also urged Bishop Robinson to cancel his entire speaking tour and to work with the Australian bishops’ conference, saying he would expect him to “follow exactly” their recommendations.
[update: here is a link with the original full text of the Cardinal's letter.]
Let's ponder what this means: Cardinal Mahony has chosen to use his authority as a bishop under canon law to "safeguard the teachings of the Church in his diocese" when a dissenting bishop was invited to speak by a (dissenting) private Catholic group.Bishop Robinson is also scheduled to speak in Seattle, San Diego and Boston. It is possible to predict situation where Cardinal Mahony will end up acting with greater integrity than Cardinal O'Malley.Dan Bartley, president of Voice of the Faithful, criticized Cardinal Mahony’s refusal of permission to Bishop Robinson’s Los Angeles lecture.
“Why is a loyal Catholic bishop prevented from asking honest questions in his search for the truth in the aftermath of the worst scandal in the modern Church?” Bartley said.
A statement from Voice of the Faithful said the ban would harm the Church, saying Bishop Robinson “obviously loves the Church.” The statement suggested that the Australian bishops’ statement was questionable in its conclusions about Bishop Robinson’s doctrinal stands.
Labels: catholic controversy, commentary, disciplinary issues, mahony, renegade bishops
The bill does not rule out, however, the creation of "'true hybrids' made by fertilising an animal egg with human sperm, or vice-versa." This is another step beyond the previous permissions given.The main type of admixed embryo permitted by the Bill are “cytoplasmic hybrids” or “cybrids”, made by moving a human nucleus into an empty animal egg. These are genetically 99.9 per cent human. As well as true hybrids, it also allows chimeras that combine human and animal cells and transgenic human embryos that include a little animal DNA.
The most immediate implication of the Commons vote will be to allow teams at the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne and King’s College, London, who already hold licences to create a particular type of admixed embryo, to continue their research.
I don't have time at the present to see if the local Catholic bishops have said anything about this development, but I'll try to find that out this evening if I get the chance.
Labels: bioethics, breaking news, medical ethics
Okay, I guess I have nothing to complain about either."Dear young people, unfortunately, the rain followed me in these days," said Pope Benedict XVI Sunday in Genoa, "but let us take it as a sign of blessing, fertility for the land, even as a symbol of the Holy Spirit who comes and renews the earth, the dry earth of our souls."
Labels: papist quote of the day
Labels: American Papist
More from the LA Times here.The California Supreme Court has overturned a gay marriage ban in a ruling that would make the nation's largest state the second one to allow gay and lesbian weddings.
The justices' 4-3 decision Thursday says domestic partnerships are not a good enough substitute for marriage. Chief Justice Ron George wrote the opinion.
....
California already offers same-sex couples who register as domestic partners the same legal rights and responsibilities as married spouses, including the right to divorce and to sue for child support. It's therefore unclear what additional relief state lawmakers could offer short of marriage if the court renders the existing ban unconstitutional.
A coalition of religious and social conservative groups is attempting to put a measure on the November ballot that would enshrine California's current laws banning gay marriage in the state constitution.
Your thoughts?Today the California Supreme Court imposed, through judicial fiat, so-called same-sex marriage on Californians, thus totally disregarding the sanctity of marriage and the will of the people. In 2000, Californians adopted Proposition 22 to protect marriage and maintain its definition as a union between one man and one woman, and expressly prohibiting the state from recognizing same sex marriages.
To ensure that marriage is protected and the voice of the people is heard, a constitutional marriage amendment must be placed on the November ballot and national efforts need to be made to generate a federal constitutional marriage amendment. The decision must be removed from the hands of judicial activists and returned to the rightful hands of the people.
... "On a positive note, the Court's decision today will likely serve as a wake-up call to both Californians and their fellow Americans across the country. I'm certain this decision will help fuel a California marriage amendment and re-ignite debate over a federal amendment which would protect marriage as between one man and one woman."
Labels: homosexual lobby, marriage legislation
Fr. Roderick translates the portions of the article that treat the implications of extraterrestial life:The Director of the Vatican's Observatory, Fr. José Gabriel Funes, said in an interview with the Vatican daily, L'Osservatore Romano, that believing in the possible existence of extraterrestrial life is not opposed to Catholic doctrine.
.... The astronomer began the interview titled, "The Alien is my Brother," by saying that, "Astronomy has a profound human value. It is a science that opens the heart and the mind. It helps us to put our lives, our hopes, our problems in the right perspective. In this regard, and here I speak as a priest and a Jesuit, it is an apostolic instrument that can bring us closer to God", said Fr. Funes in the interview.
I think Curt Jester has the perfect response to this .... "The Star Wars Ewok Gospel":Do you refer also to beings similar to us, or even more evolved?
It’s possible. However, so far we haven’t got any proof. But in such a big universe, this hypothesis can’t be excluded.
And that wouldn’t be a problem for our faith?
I don’t think so. Just like there is an abundance of creatures on earth, there could also be other beings, even intelligent ones, that were created by God. That doesn’t contradict our faith, because we cannot put boundaries to God’s creative freedom. As saint Francis would say, when we consider the earthly creatures to be our “brothers” and “sisters”, why couldn’t we also talk about a “extraterrestrial brother”? He would still be part of creation.
And what about redemption?
Let’s borrow the image from the gospel about the lost sheep. The shepherd leaves the 99 of the sheepfold to search for the one that got lost. Let’s imagine that in this universe there are 100 sheep, corresponding to the different forms of creatures. We who belong to the human race, could very well be the lost sheep, the sinners that need the shepherd. Got has become man in Jesus to save us. In that way, even when other intelligent beings exist, it’s not said that they would need redemption. They might have stayed in full friendship with their Creator.
I insist: when they would, on the contrary, be sinners, would redemption also be possible for them?
Jesus incarnated once and for all. The incarnation is a unique and non-repeatable event. However, I am certain that they too, in one way or another, would have the possibility to experience God’s mercy, just like we men have.
Labels: catholic oddly-enough, news of the strange, Offbeat
Labels: sexual morality, technology, world trends
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Okay, so actually this is a CNS concept photo, but you get the idea.
Also cool? The surfer cross. Yeah.
Ph/t: Pope2008.
Labels: catholic media, cool, world youth day 2008, wyd
And he shows her the clear way back into the fold:Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City has announced that Governor Kathleen Sebelius should not receive Communion because of her support for legal abortion.
In a column appearing on May 9 in the archdiocesan newspaper, The Leaven, the archbishop said that Governor Sebelius has sent a "spiritually lethal message" by implying that she could remain a Catholic in good standing while supporting abortion on demand.
.... He reported that he had met with her "several times over many months to discuss with her the grave spiritual and moral consequences of her public actions." Because the governor has now rejected his pleas and her public stand constitutes a scandal to the faithful, the archbishop said that he has now directed her to refrain from receiving Communion.
The governor will be welcomed back to Communion, the archbishop wrote, if she acknowledges her error, goes to Confession, and makes "a public repudiation of her previous efforts and actions in support of laws and policies sanctioning abortion."You can read the Archbishop's full, original column here.
On the day of my return (Monday, April 21) from the exhilarating experience of participating in Pope Benedict’s pastoral visit to the United States, I learned that Governor Kathleen Sebelius had vetoed the Comprehensive Abortion Reform Act....Pope Benedict's words put into immediate action. It's a beautiful thing.
Commonweal focuses on political ramifications:Sebelius spokeswoman Nicole Corcoran said the governor had not seen the [archbishop's] column, but said “receiving Communion has not been a problem in the past for her.”
... Speaking about the debate in 2004, Bishop Raymond J. Boland of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph told a Star columnist, “I don’t think I have any right to invade another person’s conscience when they come to me.”
... Forcing priests to refrain from giving the governor Communion would be one option, but one not being considered by the archbishop. Instead, he said he puts the burden on Sebelius to do the “right thing” and heal the fracture her actions have caused the church.
T he Kansan controversy could have implications for the presidential race. Gov. Sebelius has endorsed Barack Obama, who has Kansas roots, and is being mentioned here and there as a possible vice-presidential candidate. Her father, John Gilligan, was governor of swing-state Ohio in the 1970s, making them the only father-daughter governors in U.S. history. And she’s been successful in getting votes in a heavily Republican state. And she would conceivably help Obama by connecting with women and Catholics.Political considerations such as those above, however, are purely secondary to the core issues involved with this pro-abortion governor and her bishop.
Related links:
Labels: bishop backbone, catholic controversy, pro-abort politicians
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Labels: American Papist
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One could dispute his historical claim, but let's move on for the moment with what he says (underlining mine):Vatican II meant even more to a generation of devout but restless young people in the U.S. Rather than a course correction, Terrence Tilley, now head of the Fordham University's theology department, wrote recently, his generation perceived "an interruption of history, a divine typhoon that left only the keel and structure of the church unchanged."
They discerned in the Council a call to greater church democracy, and an assertion of individual conscience that could stand up to the authority of even the Pope. So, they battled the Vatican's birth-control ban, its rejection of female priests and insistence on celibacy, and its authoritarianism.
To some extent, liberal Catholicism has been a victim of its own success. Its positions on sex and gender issues have become commonplace in the American Church, diminishing the distinctiveness of the progressives. More importantly, they failed to transform the main body of the Church: John Paul II, a charismatic conservative, enjoyed the third-longest papacy in church history, and refused to budge on the left's demands; instead, he eventually swept away liberal bishops. The heads at Call to Action grayed, and by the late 1990s, Vatican II progressivism began to look like a self-limited Boomer moment.I would argue that what the liberals most faileded to transform was the next generation of the youth - the "JP2 generation" which followed the pope that Biema mentions. And not only did the heads at Call to Action gray, at the same time no young heads of hair were to be seen interning in the cubicles.
Reese makes his point negatively, but I think it is more accurate to say that many young Catholics simply "agree with the bishops." It's not an issue of "not disagreeing with the bishops", as Reese claims. Young Catholics are active and passionate, and when they stay in the Church, they stay because they want to, because certainly they must resist a great deal of external pressure nowadays if they do.The familiar progressives-versus-Vatican paradigm seems almost certain to be undone by a looming demographic tsunami. Almost everyone agrees that the "millennial generation," born in 1980 or later, while sharing liberal views on many issues, has no desire to mount the barricades.
Notes Reese, "Younger Catholics don't argue with the bishops; they simply do what they want or shop for another church." And Hispanic Catholics, who may be the U.S. majority by 2020, don't see this as their battle. "I'm sure they're happy that the celebration of the Eucharist is in the vernacular," says Tilley, "but they don't have significant issues connected to Vatican II."
That underlined sentence is what got me to write this post. Why, exactly, does Biema feel the need to claim that the young Catholic Right is "overhyped", I wondered? Frankly, I think it's underhyped.And so, unless Benedict contradicts in Rome what he said in New York, the Church may have reached a tipping point. This is not to say that the (overhyped) young Catholic Right will swing into lay dominance. Nor will liberal single-issue groups simply evaporate. But if they cohere again, it will be around different defining issues.
"It's a new ball game," admits Steinfels. As Tilley wrote recently in Commonweal regarding his fellow theologians, "A new generation has neither the baggage nor the ballast of mine. Theirs is the future. Let's hope they remember the Council as the most important event in twentieth-century Catholicism."
“I want nothing of this world. I belong to God and I live for God. If I die I will be totally God’s in heaven, and if I don’t die, I want to be a priest. We need saints!”Now that doesn't need any hype.
Labels: catholic youth, commentary
Of note:In an effort to block posthumous rebaptisms by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Catholic dioceses throughout the world have been directed by the Vatican not to give information in parish registers to the Mormons' Genealogical Society of Utah.
An April 5 letter from the Vatican Congregation for Clergy, obtained by Catholic News Service in late April, asks episcopal conferences to direct all bishops to keep the Latter-day Saints from microfilming and digitizing information contained in those registers.
The order came in light of "grave reservations" expressed in a Jan. 29 letter from the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the clergy congregation's letter said.
Father James Massa, executive director of the U.S. bishops' Secretariat of Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs, said the step was taken to prevent the Latter-day Saints from using records -- such as baptismal documentation -- to posthumously baptize by proxy the ancestors of church members.
Posthumous baptisms by proxy have been a common practice for the Latter-day Saints -- commonly known as Mormons -- for more than a century, allowing the church's faithful to have their ancestors baptized into their faith so they may be united in the afterlife, said Mike Otterson, a spokesman in the church's Salt Lake City headquarters
The letter is dated 10 days before Pope Benedict XVI's April 15-20 U.S. visit, during which he presided over an ecumenical prayer service attended by two Mormon leaders. It marked the first time Mormons had participated in a papal prayer service.I don't think one need take their inclusion as any sort of endorsement. This was an ecumenical dialogue, not an inter-christian summit. Mormon baptism is invalid, which renders them non-christian.
Labels: doctrine, mormons, vatican speaks
On the funny side, today's article by the Onion (a satirical newspaper):
On the substantive side, Donald Devine talks about the "Internationalist Pope":In an unprecedented breach of national security, Pope Benedict XVI, leader of the international organization known as "the Roman Catholic Church," has infiltrated the highest levels of the U.S. government and devised a wide-ranging plan to destroy the entire country.
... "We normally do not allow anyone to view top secret documents, but with the miter and the robe and everything, it was difficult to say no," said one Department of Energy official, who allowed Benedict to view plans for a proposed warhead delivery system, and detailed maps of the nation's nuclear power plants. "He said he wanted to bless the documents, which he did. Unfortunately, we now believe that the ring he wears is a miniaturized digital camera." (More)
Was Lou Dobbs right that “the pope is blasting our society; here he is, I guess, in many ways insulting our country, talking about the need to be welcoming, taking up the issue of illegal immigration without any comparison to the rest of the world?” Congressman Tom Tancredo criticized him too. Are conservatives right to be concerned about Benedict XVI’s “welcoming internationalism”?
... While he may have criticized the U.N.’s ruling body, it is clear Benedict thinks collective rather than nation-state action alone is necessary to promote a just world order. On the other hand, he also said that “Every State has the primary duty to protect its own population from grave and sustained violations of human rights, as well as from the consequences of humanitarian crises, whether natural or man-made.” So the nation-state comes first but “If States are unable to guarantee such protection, the international community must intervene with the juridical means provided in the United Nations Charter and in other international instruments.” (More)
Labels: catholicism and politics, current events, humor, Pope Benedict XVI
Rocco reports that "other sources held out the possibility that the onetime provincial of the Divine Word Fathers could return to ministry following the end of his five-year term in office."Fernando Lugo asked forgiveness particularly to Benedict XVI on Monday after having been elected Sunday as Paraguay's next president. "If my attitude and my disobedience of canon law caused sorrow, I sincerely ask forgiveness to the people of the Church. In particular, I ask pardon to Pope Benedict XVI," Lugo said on the radio channel Fe y Alegria (Faith and Joy). According to canon law, clerics cannot run for political offices.
Lugo told the radio station that he is ready to dialogue to find a "satisfactory solution" for himself and the Church. Sources in the Holy See confirmed that the unique situation is being studied, though time is needed. (Zenit)
If Lugo wants to return to ministry, he needs to give up his political office first. It's hard to argue that he is truly contrite and obedient to the discipline of Rome if he is only willing to give it up the presidency when it is taken from him by the next election process years down the road.Lugo was named a bishop in 1994. He had since asked Benedict XVI to be able to "renounce his ecclesial ministry […] to take up again the condition of a layperson in the Church."
The petition was not accepted because, as Cardinal Re noted, "the episcopacy is a service accepted freely forever."
Labels: disciplinary issues, renegade bishops, south america
Labels: 2008 presidential race, barack obama, hillary clinton
Labels: get involved, liturgical abuse, oddly-enough, videos
An Anglican-Catholic reunion looked far more likely before Anglicans decided to start ordaining women, etc.The Vatican said last night that the time has come for the Anglican Church to choose between Protestantism and the ancient sacramental Churches of Rome and Orthodoxy.
Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity, told the Catholic Herald that the Anglican Communion must “clarify its identity” and stop hovering between the Catholic and Protestant traditions.
... The cardinal [Kasper] is clearly hoping for some sort of breakthrough – or break-up? – at this summer’s Lambeth Conference, which already promises to be a spectacular disaster. But I don’t think we should jump to the conclusion that his views represent those of Pope Benedict.
Labels: anglican communion, dialogue, england
Labels: catholic media, catholic youth, world youth day 2008
Labels: PPOTD
"Archbishop Wuerl says politicians’ support for abortion is wrong"... and thought to myself "well sure, but that's not what we're discussing here."
Labels: canon law, catholic controversy, liturgy, local church, pro-abort politicians
Sensationalist headlines and mounting figures aside, we should be praying sincerely for the victims.
update: and thanks, Al Gore, for blaming this disaster as a consequence of global warming.
Labels: current events, prayer requests, world events
Labels: American Papist
Iron Man is currently the most popular movie in America, and opened to rave reviews. Even Rotten Tomatoes (my go-to source for movies) gives it an unheard-of 93% rating.Labels: amp movie review, pop culture
In second place, this picture from the Chartres pilgrimage (which I narrowly missed attending when I was in Europe the summer of 2003). Also see the breathtaking photopost on English rood screens.
update: and for good measure, Damian Thompson on the Latin Mass in England:
...Interestingly, [a Cardinal] added that the Pope wants this Mass to become normal in parishes, so that ‘young communities can also become familiar with this rite’.”
[Damian Thompson:] "The idea of young people discovering the ancient Mass, said entirely in Latin with zero opportunity for congregational showing-off, will truly horrify with-it bishops and their Sandalista worship leaders. And what will Bobbie (“Cry me a river”) Mickens have to say?
I do wonder, however, whether the Pope realises that if he wants the classical Mass celebrated widely in this country he will have to make one extra provision. New bishops. Lots of them. And fast."
Of course, canon law is not equivalent to "Catholic Doctrine", as the article claims.The Catholic Church's decision to grant Steven Sueppel a funeral at St. Mary's Church after he killed his wife and four children on Easter night has left behind an emotional debate among Iowa City-area Catholics and Catholic scholars.
Edward Peters, a professor of Catholic doctrine, or canon law, at Sacred Heart Seminary in Detroit, says Sueppel should not have been given a Catholic funeral.
Sueppel would be what canon law calls a "manifest sinner" because he murdered his wife and four young children before killing himself, Peters said.
He said his interpretation of canon law leads him to conclude that Sueppel should not have been granted a Catholic funeral because doing so creates a "scandal for the faithful."
Labels: canon law, catholic controversy, current events
Lambeth, eh?Dr Williams is in Rome this week for the 7th 'Building Bridges' seminar of Christian and Muslim scholars to be held this year at the English college retreat house 'Palazzola' overlooking Lake Albano in the Roman Hills.
On his way to the Vatican he told Philippa Hitchen what he hoped to discuss the Pope:
"Well it’ll be a fairly informal and low key meeting: I hope to bring him up to date on our plans about the Lambeth conference, perhaps to discuss with him a little what’s going to be happening at the conference this week at Palazzola and just touch base with him about China, the initiatives we’re involved in with regard to the churches in China.
... The full length interview with Dr. Williams is available on our English Feature Programme.
Labels: anglican communion, dialogue, ecumenism
Dominicans and pints. Good times! Details: Monday, May 5, 2008 // Talk 7:30 p.m., followed by Q&A at 8p.m. // Come for food and drink before. // Pat Troy's in Alexandria //111 North Pitt Street; Alexandria, VA.One of our brightest young Dominicans is featured tonight at Arlington's Theology on Tap. Br. Thomas Joseph White, a good friend and an insightful theologian (and soon-to-be priest!) will be speaking on "Did Jesus Know He was God?".
I am planning to go with him to root him on. I think he'll be getting there around 6:30; I'll probably arrive about 7pm. I think the plan is to eat dinner there starting before the talk, and then to hang out for a beer or two afterwards. I hope you can make it!
Labels: DC Catholic events
Lucky guy. Flora and fauna - what's not to love about that?!Pope Benedict XVI will holiday at a secret location in Australia before World Youth Day in Sydney in July, event organisers said Friday.
Sydney Archbishop George Pell said the pope would arrive in Australia on July 13 and leave on July 21, taking three days vacation before attending World Youth Day.
Event organisers said the 81-year-old pontiff "has decided to spend several days preparing for his encounter with young people" following the lengthy flight to Australia from Rome."The trip to Australia will be the longest journey the Holy Father has ever undertaken," World Youth Day coordinator Anthony Fisher said, adding organisers had selected a holiday destination for the Pope that was "beautiful and suitable for the leader of the world's Catholics."
"He will have the opportunity to see some of Australia's beautiful flora and fauna," Fisher said.
"We cannot, of course, disclose the location; he is a head of state seeking private time and has asked that that privacy be respected." (AFP)
Labels: catholic youth, Offbeat, pope benedict trip, world youth day 2008
When contacted for additional comment by CNA, Susan Gibbs, Director of Communications for the Archdiocese of Washington, said that she would not provide a statement. The reasons she gave for not providing a statement were that she doesn't consider CNA worthy of a statement and that she is "not interested" in providing one.Now of course, as cited above, that's quite a statement for an archdiocesan communications director to make.
Okay, there's a lot in this response. Let's break it down:CNA unfortunately did not share with you the entire story. We have had a number of experiences where CNA has printed erroneous and non-sourced information in the past, which is not consistent with standard journalistic practices.
As I told them when they called (multiple times in one hour, when I was involved with other meetings), until they could account for why false information about the archdiocese (unrelated to politicians) and other concerns were addressed, we could not help them. They actually later told me they recorded our conversation secretly. While I stand by my concerns, the recording actually was illegal and a serious ethics violation under journalistic standards. It is very difficult in today's electronic world for visitors to a website to know whether a site is legitimate and it can be a challenge to verify or correct information. For example, blogs regularly repeat and change information and a lot that is out there is wrong. That misleads people.
The editor is now trying to address some of the issues I raised, but has not fully yet. We continue to work towards a solution.Thank you.
My take:
Like most disagreements, there's probably blame on both sides here, I grant that. Could CNA have been too pushy? That's a possibility. Could Susan Gibbs have overreacted? That's also a possibility.
More importantly: was it needlessly provocative for CNA to publish the supposed contempt shown to them by Susan Gibbs? Yes. Does the reply published above (if it is indeed her, and it seems legitimate), reveal Susan Gibbs is rather unfairly treating CNA? Yes.
I'm not trying to take sides here. But I would say that I've been reading CNA closely for years and have never caught them twisting facts or being wilfully negligent in their reporting. But it doesn't surprise me that an issue as volitile as this one might cause tempers to flare where otherwise they haven't before.
But, you know, don't listed to me - I'm just a blogger.
Labels: catholic controversy, catholic media, local church
Labels: humor, stephen colbert, videos
The message of the "Matthew 25 Project" is, Iraq, health care, the economy, optimism, and hope. It's not a good sign for a candidate when an issue package has so little coherence. But no one should underestimate the impact of these efforts -- the Obama religious outreach is not going to leave any clubs in the bag.Meanwhile, Hillary persistently attempts to bring her alternate reality into our world. The next primary is this coming Tuesday in Indiana, and then West Virginia the week after. Obama's had a difficult month.
Labels: 2008 presidential race, barack obama
Officially "super cool":My personal piece of papal visit paraphernalia?Flemington Department Store co-owner Ted Resnick always thought the ultimate job would be working with the pope. After several meetings with the Archdiocese of New York, he got his wish.
His store provided 20,000 square feet of white and yellow carpet for the pope to walk on at two of his recent appearances in the United States.
And now he's giving it away.
Store workers are giving away 1-foot-by-1-foot sections of the carpet that Pope Benedict XVI walked on during his recent American visit. The white carpet sections are from his April 20 Mass at Yankee Stadium; the yellow pieces are from his April 19 visit to St. Joseph's Seminary in Yonkers.
....
For more information contact the department store at 1-888-877-2192.
Labels: catholic tips, cool
“Their life is centered on iPods, and it's a problem all over the world,” he said.Looks like he can sling zingers.
Labels: Offbeat, papist quote of the day, random