From Catholic News Agency:

The Holy Father met this morning with priests from the Diocese of Albano, a diocese on the outskirts of Rome, speaking to them of the importance St. Francis’s conversion can play in the lives of young people. Pope Benedict also encouraged them to do a better job of explaining the Church’s understanding of the covenant of marriage to those who have divorced, APCom reports.

The Pope met with the priests in the Swiss Hall of his summer residence at Castelgandolfo.

According to Italian news agency ANSA, the Holy Father told the men that they should use the conversion story of St. Francis of Assisi as an example for young people in their diocese.

The Pope stressed that the young Saint’s conversion is his real significance for the Catholic Church.

Francis (1181-1226) was the son of a well-to-do merchant in the town of Assisi. Historians say that as a young man he lived a carefree and irresponsible life focused on pursuing the ideals of his day.

Young Francis was drawn by the “glamour” of the military life, but underwent a dramatic conversion during a year he spent as a prisoner of war in Perugia. Upon his return to Assisi he witnessed the terrible conditions in which beggars and lepers in his own city lived and renounced his former life.

Francis left his wealthy home to live as a hermit and devoted himself to looking after the sick and rebuilding decaying churches around Assisi. In 1209 he decided to live in total poverty and to spend his time preaching.

"First he was sort of playboy but then he felt that this was no longer sufficient," Benedict continued, according to ANSA.

Pope Benedict said the story was one which could "animate the young" and inspire them embrace the Church.

After almost two years (since December 29, 2004), Sioux Falls, South Dakota finally got a bishop this morning. The Holy Father appointed Msgr. Paul Swain, J.D. as its eighth bishop. There's nothing up on the diocesan website yet and there's nothing on the Madison website about him. No doubt there will be great coverage in the blogosphere today as everyone rejoices at the end of the vacancy in Sioux Falls!

I really stink at the Italian, but from what I can see, the bishop-elect will be 63 in September. He grew up as a Methodist and went on to earn his law degree from U.W.- Madison. He practiced law and also served in the Vietnam War as an army intelligence officer. He converted and was received into the Church in 1982 and started formation at John XXIII National Seminary in Weston, Massachusetts. He served at various capacities in the diocese. At his appointment he was Vicar General and Rector of the Cathedral.

For better info. visit his page at the Cathedral website which features a nice biography of him (didn't find this until after I'd muddled through the Italian!).

Bollettino
Sioux Falls at Catholic Hierarchy

This has been around the blogosphere the last few days:

It started in the UK Daily Mail:

Adolf Hitler and Russian leader Stalin were possessed by the Devil, the Vatican's chief exorcist has claimed.

Father Gabriele Amorth who is Pope Benedict XVI's 'caster out of demons' made his comments during an interview with Vatican Radio.

Father Amorth said: "Of course the Devil exists and he can not only possess a single person but also groups and entire populations.

"I am convinced that the Nazis were all possessed. All you have to do is think about what Hitler - and Stalin did. Almost certainly they were possessed by the Devil.

"You can tell by their behaviour and their actions, from the horrors they committed and the atrocities that were committed on their orders. That's why we need to defend society from demons."

Other Links:

Jimmy Akin's take

The Curt Jester

Dr. Peters' observations

Thomas at American Papist

Catholic Blog Search

The pope is preparing for his next foreign trip:

Holy See has indicated the twenty nine people who will form the Pope’s official entourage on his upcoming trip to Germany. Among those traveling with the Holy Father are his personal secretary, Monsignor Georg Ganswein and his personal physician, as well as technical staff, and security personnel.

The retinue also includes various bishops and three cardinals of the Roman Curia, the most notable of which will be Cardinal Angelo Sodano. The trip will be Sodano’s last in his official capacity as the Holy See’s Secretary of State. Sodano is set to retire on September 15th.

The Holy Father’s voyage to his homeland of Bavaria will take place from September 9th-14th.

As reported as a rumor on these pages not too long ago... the Bollettino is reporting that the Holy Father appointed Archbishop Angelo Bagnasco of the Italian military ordinate as Archbishop of Genoa to replace Tarcisio Bertone when he becomes the Secretary of State next month. This fulfills Pope Benedict's promise of an archbishop to the people of the archdiocese which he made in a letter he wrote to them upon nominating Bertone to be Secretary of State.

As far as I can see, not too many people posted about those rumors and I don't see this nomination posted anywhere yet. Could it be that I'm the first?

The Archbishop's page at Catholic Hierarchy

Fr. Reggie Foster would be so proud:

Latin is alive.

At least it is on Nantucket, where 18 teachers converged last week to immerse themselves in what most people consider a dead language, one taught to be read but not spoken by anyone other than specialists.

The teachers had signed up for a week of Latin classes, but what they got was Latin boot camp, in which they could speak only the language of Virgil and Ovid to each other and their teachers for seven full days, a pledge sealed by an oath they signed upon arriving . Their unusual enterprise, the first of its kind in New England, drew puzzled stares from sunbathers, store cashiers, and waiters.

Classics professors from the University of Massachusetts at Boston organized the conventiculum, or mini-convention, to help Latin teachers improve their command of the spoken language and, in doing so, find ways to add appeal and relevance to a language that students rarely hear.

From today's Globe:

Officials of the Christian Science Church are worried that the state's healthcare law will exclude faith healing as a recognized health benefit for its employees who do not receive traditional medical care because of their religious beliefs.

The church, based in Boston, holds that illnesses should be treated with prayer, but a draft version of the healthcare reform regulations specifies that employers must contribute to workers' medical insurance coverage to comply with the landmark law that takes effect next year. Those that do not will be assessed $295 per employee annually.

The law also requires Massachusetts residents to enroll in a health insurance plan or face penalties such as the loss of personal tax deductions. It exempts those who do not because of ``sincerely held religious beliefs," but there is no such provision for employers.

Church officials this month told the Division of Health Care Financing and Policy that the non medical insurance coverage it offers employees should qualify as healthcare. It wants the rules to require ``health care " without referring to ``medical services."

``The Church does not think it is the Commonwealth's intention to dictate the `methods' under which health and well-being are achieved" under healthcare reform, wrote Claire Waterson , a spokeswoman and registered lobbyist for the church, in formal comments submitted to the state. ``The Church provides its employees with a wide range of health care benefit options, and one of these options is a health plan for spiritual healing."

Ok, I have no problem with this... this is their faith, fine. But when the Globe writes about it, why is there no opposing view? When they write about Catholic belief, they have to find at least one person to disagree before the story is finished. If the Church opposes same-sex "marriage" then Arlene Isaacson of the Gay and Lesbian Caucus has to be quoted. If the Cardinal closes a church, then Peter Borre has to be quoted opposing it. But when Christian Scientists want to get an exception in the law, oh no problem, free ride. How many columnists will acerbically react to this? Probably none. How many columns, editorials, and letters to the editor will be run ridiculing their religious practices? Probably none. But there's no bias in Massachusetts. Thank the Lord.

I laughed out loud at this parody almost half a dozen times. Read the whole thing. There are even pictures and everything. You must check this out.

From the Curt Jester (here's a preview):

Rubric blindness, or rubric vision deficiency, in humans is the inability to perceive rubrics. It is some times of genetic nature, but may also occur because of eye, nerve, or brain damage, or due to exposure to certain liturgist and heterodox theologians. What normally happens is that this condition is not caught in seminary before they are ordained. The priest knows he is suppose to do something at these points but does not want to embarrass himself by saying he can't see them. They go on like people who are functionally illiterate and cope with the world around them. Unfortunately when they look around at other Masses to see what other priests are doing at these points in the liturgy they find no standards.

From dotCommonweal, the transcript of an interview between Richard Doerflinger and Dr. Robert Lanza of Advanced Cell Technology on the recent "advance" in the embryonic stem cell research:

RAY SUAREZ: Well, Richard Doerflinger, Dr. Lanza's group has maintained that this new procedure answers some of the ethical challenges posed by critics. Does it?

RICHARD DOERFLINGER, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops: Well, let me answer that in two steps. One is, would it answer it if it was actually what he described it as? And that's an interesting question. But, first, let's figure out what he really did.

They didn't do what he just described. They did not obtain one cell from each embryo and leave the embryo alive. In fact, they took 16 embryos, completely dismantled them, took four to seven cells from each and destroyed all of the 16 embryos. They ended up with 91 individual separated cells from those 16 embryos, and they could only get two cell lines out of that.

It was a very disruptive, very wasteful, very inefficient procedure, and it left all the old embryos dead, just like the old method did.

RAY SUAREZ: Is that the case, Dr. Lanza?

DR. ROBERT LANZA: Actually, that's a misrepresentation to some extent. We did this research in two stages. First, we developed a biopsy technique similar to that used in PGD. So, for instance, we started out with eight embryos. We removed one of these blasphemers exactly the same way as it would be done in the clinic, and we allowed all of those embryos to develop on.

And of those eight, six of those went on to become beautiful, hatching blastocysts, which we froze down and are still very viable. That's exactly the same success rate as we saw with non-biopsied embryos in our lab.

The second phase of the experiment was designed to say, "Now, if we remove that cell, can we turn that into an embryonic stem cell line?" Now, that was a scientific question that we didn't have the answer to. The question is, can that cell that's removed using this technique in the Petri dish then be turned into an embryonic stem cell line? And that is the purpose of this paper.

And in fact, in that paper, we did, in fact, create 19 embryonic stem cell outgrowths and two stable lines that have grown now for over eight months, and are genetically identical, and capable of turning into virtually all of the cell types in the body.

RICHARD DOERFLINGER: Out of 91 cells obtained from 16 embryos, which you destroyed. I'm just talking about the paper you published. Don't tell me about unpublished research you did somewhere else.

DR. ROBERT LANZA: Mr. Doerflinger...

RICHARD DOERFLINGER: That's not a misrepresentation of your paper.

DR. ROBERT LANZA: We have a...

RICHARD DOERFLINGER: I just described exactly what you did.

DR. ROBERT LANZA: We have a difference of philosophy. You think that these hundreds of thousands of...

RICHARD DOERFLINGER: We have a different relationship to the truth.

RAY SUAREZ: Let him finish.

DR. ROBERT LANZA: ... be discarded, you think that they should be thrown away or not used where as we think, as scientists, if those, instead of being thrown away, could be useful to help people with treatments and cures, there's a very real human tragedy out there. And as a scientist, I'm not taking sides in this religious debate. My goal is to help alleviate pain and suffering.

RAY SUAREZ: Go ahead, Mr. Doerflinger.

RICHARD DOERFLINGER: The tragedy is that scientists who should be devoted to the truth are lying. This experiment that you published in Nature killed all the 16 embryos.

Now, we can talk about, what if you had succeeded and could publish getting one cell line from one cell from an embryo? Then we'd talk about the dangers of the pre-implantation genetic diagnosis technique, which you're downplaying, but which the NIH and many other scientists have said is a very uncertain risk to the embryo.

The idea that the embryos that actually survived that technique can go on, may implant and be born, first of all, leaves out the fact that the only reason that biopsy is done is to detect and throw away the embryos that are found to have a genetic defect, the very embryos that would have needed a stem cell treatment. Only the ones found to have no genetic problem, some of them, a minority of them end up being born alive.

RAY SUAREZ: Well, let me ask you this...

RICHARD DOERFLINGER: It's a destructive procedure, as well.

Read the whole transcript of the interview. Notice that Lanza never answers Doerflinger's charge of destroying all the embryos in the study.

Diogenes also raises some ethical questions.

I knew about this guy before but I didn't know the whole story apparently. From All Things Catholic for this week (scroll down):

The Feast of the Assumption was Aug. 15, and to mark the occasion thousands of pilgrims gathered at the Sanctuary of the Holy Rosary of Pompei, one of the world's most famous Marian shrines. Among other things, the pilgrims celebrated the 100th anniversary of the gift of the shrine to the Holy See in 1906 by Blessed Bartolo Longo, its founder and a tireless advocate of the dogma of Mary's Assumption.

Beatifying Longo in 1980, John Paul II called him the "Man of Mary."

If every saint (and near-saint) has an interesting story, some are more interesting than others, and Longo's may be close to the most interesting of all. He holds the singular distinction that he was once a priest -- but not of the Catholic church, or even of the Christian God.

Improbably, Longo was a priest of Satan.

He grew up in a Catholic household, but fell in with a different crowd when he went to Naples for law school. Attracted to the 19th century "Spiritist" movement, he began attending séances, and eventually became involved in a Satanic cult. He was formally made a priest, and regularly conducted Black Masses and other Satanic rituals for the better part of a decade.

Eventually, however, Longo came under the influence of a Dominican who brought him back to Catholicism. Longo became a lay member of the Dominicans' Third Order, taking the name "Brother Rosary."

Longo organized a petition drive for world peace from 1896 to 1900, collecting more than four million signatures in dozens of countries. For his efforts, he was nominated for the 1902 Noble Peace Prize.

At the same time, Longo also led a petition drive supporting the dogma of Mary's Assumption. More than 120 bishops signed, and the petition was given to Pope Leo XIII. Some questioned the idea of a layperson meddling in theology, but Leo declared that the Holy Spirit can speak through any of the baptized.

Longo did not live to see the proclamation of the Assumption by Pius XII on Nov. 1, 1950. Forty years later, however, John Paul acknowledged him as the father of "the promotional movement of the definition of the dogma."

The moral of this story? If a former Satanist can become the architect of an infallible papal declaration, maybe there's hope for us all.

John Allen interviewed the head of an organization of Catholic intellectuals in Europe, Dominique Tassot. This interview was to discuss the upcoming Schulerkreis, the annual gathering of Pope Benedict with his former students which takes place at Castel Gondolfo next weekend. This gathering pre-dates his accession to the papacy and he has continued them. This year, as previously mentioned, the topic chosen by the Holy Father is creation and evolution. Although Tassot hasn't been invited to the gathering, he gave some interesting thoughts:

Have you communicated your views to Pope Benedict?
Through Bishop Henri Brincard of Le Puy-en-Velay, I was able to get a letter directly on the pope's desk.

What did you say?
First, I reminded him that Pius XII in Humani Generis in 1950 suggested a debate inside the Catholic church on evolutionary theory, but it has never happened. I said that it's now time to open the debate, because in each discipline we can find people on both sides, which was not the case in the 1950s.

Second, I said that the impact of this debate is not just scientific. In itself, evolution is a scientific question, but it has consequences on a much larger scale. It opens a possibility for the church to regain the initiative in the field of culture. Right now, Catholic intellectuals spend their time explaining that such-and-such a theory is or is not compatible with the faith, which means that the initiative is always coming from other groups or movements. … If you accept that only science gives the truth, inevitably intellectuals will move inside a scientific worldview which is actually foreign to Christianity.

What was the pope's response?
He responded very positively, offering a blessing for our members and encouraging us to continue our contacts with the scientific world. He didn't say anything about the idea of launching a debate.

What was your reaction to the piece by Cardinal Christoph Schönborn in the New York Times last July?
Schönborn didn't say that Darwin is or is not compatible with the Christian faith, but that Darwinism is wrong. From a theoretical point of view, that's quite different. He affirmed that it's possible for philosophy and theology to attain certainties which are higher than scientific certainties. That's something new from theologians. For three or four centuries, theologians have generally taken their lead from the sciences. This is a question of intellectual authority, and of course it stems from the Galileo case and so on. Little by little, authority has shifted from theologians to the scientists.

How should Benedict pursue the question?
I advised him that he should remain the master of this debate. By that I meant that he shouldn't delegate it to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, even though I couldn't quite say it that way.

What's wrong with the Pontifical Academy of Sciences?
It's not a Catholic academy. Instead, it's the place where the scientific worldview can enter inside the Catholic church. Two-thirds of its members are not Catholic. It's also the pontifical academy with the greatest number of Noble Prize winners, who are well known in their disciplines. I'm not questioning the quality of these people, but the meaning and use of this academy. … It exists almost by itself, and I'm not sure it's the tool for the pope that it should be.

Are you a 'creationist'?
No, because we arrived at our position before we even knew about creationists. Our position is different, first of all because we're Catholics. From what I can see, creationism is mainly a movement of evangelicals. … On scientific grounds, good relations with the creationists are possible, but it's a different position. We are not committed to a literal reading of the Bible. Catholics read the Bible in terms of church tradition, the fathers of the church, and so on.

You distinguish between 'micro-evolution' (development within a species) and 'macro-evolution' (development from one species to another), accepting the former but rejecting the latter.
This is what makes the book Truth and Tolerance (2003) by then-Cardinal Ratzinger so interesting, because he's one of the few theologians who understands this distinction.

In his New York Times piece, Schönborn said something fairly incredible about the 1996 statement of John Paul II, in which the pope termed evolution 'more than a hypothesis.' Schönborn called it 'rather vague and unimportant.' People were surprised to hear him talk about it that way, but it's actually easy to understand. 'Evolution' is never defined in John Paul's statement. In philosophy, we're supposed to define everything, but that was not the case. As such, it's meaningless. What does it mean, for example, to be 'more than a potato?'

Do you think Benedict XVI will make a formal statement on evolution?
I think it's too early. I think he's using the meeting of his Schülerkreis to give a broader extension to the debate. Even if he knows where he wants to go, and I believe he does, it will take time. Most Catholic intellectuals today are convinced that evolution is obviously true because most scientists say so. To show that debate is possible on scientific grounds, and also on philosophical and theological grounds, is more than a question of a few months.

Where do you think the pope wants to go?
In the past, Cardinal Ratzinger was convinced that evolution was true, and being an intelligent man, he devised a way to make it compatible with theological truth. Today I think his view is different. … He grasps that micro and macro-evolution are not the same, and I think he believes people accepted an atheistic world view in relation to evolution because they accepted the confusion between micro and macro-evolution. He wants people to understand this important truth.

The whole interview is here as a pdf.

In the Church aren't we supposed to be breathing with the two lungs of East and West?

Eastern-rite Catholics of the Syro-Malabar Church, who live in Latin-rite territories, say they face severe challenges in practicing their faith and traditions, reported UCA News.

About 400 people attended a global conference for the Syro-Malabar Church Aug. 18-20 in Kochi, Kerala, 2,595 kilometers south of New Delhi, to discuss challenges the community is facing.

The delegates called on their bishops to provide more pastoral care for diaspora communities. They also blamed Latin-rite Church leaders for suppressing and discriminating against Eastern-rite Catholics in their jurisdiction.

The delegates represented Syro-Malabar Church (SMC) communities in Australia, Canada, Germany, Persian Gulf nations, the United Kingdom and the United States, as well as in major Indian cities outside Kerala, the southern Indian state where the Eastern-rite Church is based.

The Latin-rite Catholics "want our donations, not us," said SMC member Michael Joseph, who lives in the territory of the Latin-rite Diocese of Baroda. "We are forced to adopt their liturgy and tradition," Joseph said, alleging that some Latin-rite priests are "dead against" SMC Catholics conducting Sunday Mass in their native language, reported UCA News.

Another delegate recounted the difficulty with which they finally received a Syro-Malabar priest and the many challenges he faced, from a lack of resources to accusations from Latin-rite priests that he was creating disunity among local Catholics for wanting to build a church for the SMC community.

Bishop Gregory Karotemprel of Rajkot, who organized the meeting, said the Indian Bishops would discuss these issues at their synod. The bishop said he has tried to sort out inter-rite issues but Latin-rite bishops have not responded to his letters and suggestions.

The Vatican made the SMC self-governing in 1992 but retained the right to decide on administrative matters for Syro-Malabar dioceses outside Kerala.

The Syro-Malabar Church traces its origins to Saint Thomas the Apostle, who landed in Kerala in the year 52. While Syro-Malabar Catholics are united to the Pope and are part of Catholic Church, their liturgy differs from that of the Roman Church. The essentials, however, remain the same as they are both based on a unified Apostolic tradition. The SMC has 13 dioceses in the state of Kerala and another 12 elsewhere in India. Its sole diocese outside India is based in Chicago and serves SMC Catholics in North America.

Most of the 158 Catholic dioceses in India belong to the Latin rite.

CNS interview with Bishop Fellay:

A year after his meeting with Pope Benedict XVI, the head of the Society of St. Pius X, Bishop Bernard Fellay, said there had been no substantial progress on reconciliation with the Vatican.

Bishop Fellay said that after the terms of a possible agreement were discussed by cardinals and Roman Curia officials in meetings last spring "there's been no development" on the issue.

When the SSPX is ready to display the same obedience they expect, then they can come back.

My view in one short paragraph: While the Novus Ordo has unfortunately been abused, the Tridentine Mass was given to extravagant displays that betrayed the noble simplicity inherent in the liturgy. To say that the Trid Mass is the only way to celebrate Mass is to betray 1,500 years of our history. While some elements have been introduced into the N.O. that do not flow from our tradition, the official Order and GIRM are well within the tradition of the Church and reflect organic development. (Sidebar: The only exception I can think of to this, again in my view, would be the multiplication of Eucharistic prayers, except for II, III, and IV which at least have some basis).

Now again this is my view that I am well aware is not shared by all. Let's not have vitriolic responses in the comboxes, please.

Mike (as usual) has some great information on the two martyrs who are commemorated today:

Today’s the feast of two martyrs named Genesius.

Our warm-up act is Genesius the Comedian (d. 286 or 303). With a name like that, who can resist? Genesius was the leader of a theatrical troupe in Rome, performing one day before the Emperor Diocletian The script called for these wise guys to make fun of the Christian rites, and Genesius was supposed to pretend to receive the Sacrament of Baptism. But a funny thing happened on the way to the punch line: When the water had been poured out on him, he proclaimed himself a Christian. Diocletian at first thought it was all part of the joke. But gradually it became clear that Genesius meant it. Suddenly, the emperor was not amused. For spoiling the party, Diocletian ordered the comedian to be tortured and then beheaded. Genesius must have had quite a following, though. We know that he was venerated at Rome as early as the fourth century: a church was built in his honor very early, and was repaired and beautified by Gregory III in 741.

And now for something completely different: Genesius of Arles was a notary martyred under Maximianus in 303 or 308. At first a soldier, this Genesius became known for his proficiency in writing, and was made secretary to the magistrate of Arles. While performing the duties of his office the decree of persecution against the Christians was read in his presence. As he himself was a catechumen, he was outraged at the injustice. He threw down his tablets at the feet of the magistrate and fled. He was captured and executed, and so received baptism in his own blood. His veneration must be very old, as his name is found in the ancient martyrology ascribed to St. Jerome. A church and altar dedicated to him at Arles were known in the fourth century.

The new head of the Vatican Observatory gave an interview to CNS:

As for his own views on evolution, Father Funes emphasized that he was an astronomer specializing in galaxies, not a biologist, and so did not plan to make statements about Darwinism and intelligent design.

He said the role of the observatory is first of all to "do good science in astronomy," and in this way favor the ongoing dialogue between faith and science.

Father Funes, who has taught an introductory course in astronomy at the University of Arizona, said he emphasizes to his students that science is about natural causes.

"I am for good science and good theology. No more than that," he said.

That is not to suggest that faith and science do not influence each other, he said.

"Sometimes science can lead us to believing God. Through reason, the study of the nature of the universe can be a way to arrive at knowledge of God. I would say that," he said.

"I don't see any contradictions between science and religion. What I see are tensions. But it is healthy to have tensions in life. Sometimes tensions allow us to mature," he said.

Father Funes' specific field is nearby galaxies, which he described as galaxies "only" 50 million or so light years from Earth.

As for his predecessor who made some controversial remarks about evolution:

Father Funes said he thought it would be an almost impossible mission to match the "wonderful work" of U.S. Jesuit Father George Coyne, 73, who was leaving as the observatory director after 26 years.

Father Funes dismissed speculation that Father Coyne had been forced out of the job because of his strong comments in support of evolution and criticism of the "intelligent design" movement.

"It's simply not true that this was the reason he left," Father Funes said. He said the appointment was a natural development after Father Coyne's long tenure and one of many personnel changes being made at the Vatican under the new pope.

Cardinal Schonborn on Darwinism:

Austrian Cardinal Christoph Schonborn of Vienna said he thought Darwin's theories on evolution deserve to be studied in schools, along with the scientific question marks that remain.

It is right to teach "the science of Darwin, not ideological Darwinism," Cardinal Schonborn said Aug. 23. He spoke at a meeting in Rimini sponsored by the Catholic lay movement Communion and Liberation, and his remarks were reported by Italian newspapers.

In 2005, Cardinal Schonborn helped fuel the debate over evolution and intelligent design when he wrote in The New York Times that science offers "overwhelming evidence for design in biology." He later said some scientists had turned Darwin's teachings into an ideological "dogma" that admitted no possibility of a divine design in the created world.

In Rimini, the cardinal said he did not regret writing The New York Times article, but said that in retrospect he might have been more nuanced.

"Perhaps it was too much crafted with a hatchet," he said.

This is all over today. I'll link to Jeff at Curt Jester as my source. This is the third bishop I've blogged on tonight. This post is about Abp. Dolan of Milwaukee. He wrote this letter to a dissenting professor at Marquette:

Dear Professor Maguire,

As the bishop of the archdiocese where you reside, I am obliged to reply to your circular form-letter, sent to the bishops of the country on June 19, 2006.

The opinions expressed in the two pamphlets enclosed in that correspondence are totally at odds with clear Church teaching. Sacred Scripture, the Magisterium, and Natural Law are consistent in opposition to abortion and so-called same-sex marriage.

You speak of your duty to dissent. Well, at least call it such. To claim that support for abortion and same-sex "marriage" is consonant with Catholic moral teaching is preposterous and disingenuous.

I, too, have a duty: to teach what the Church clearly believes. Your opinion on these two matters is contrary to the faith and morals of the Church.

Faithfully in Christ,

(Signed)

Most Reverend Timothy M. Dolan
Archbishop of Milwaukee

I can't seem to find the entire response anyplace but here's the beginning:

Dear Archbishop,

I have received your letter of July 13. I was pleased that you replied even though your message was not as gracious or as pastoral as that of the one other bishop who replied. Terms like "preposterous" and "disingenuous" (the usual code for mendacious) are not the words of a pastor so much as those of a scold. Some of my colleagues-too cynically I believe-said I should take no offense because the letter was obviously written not so much for me as for those with whom you shared it here and abroad. I don't believe that...not for a minute. I think that, in your fashion, your intentions were to help me in matters where you feel I am mistaken and that you wanted to do this for the good of the Church. Therefore, I will continue in the hope that even from such a caustic opener, some fruitful dialogue might commence.

I saw another paragraph of the response at Curt Jester, but it's not worth reproducing.

As in an earlier post today, I make this point again about truth in advertising: if you're going to call it Catholic, it should be Catholic. That's just fair to everyone. He puts himself out there as a Catholic authority, but he's really just perverting the beauty of the Church's teachings and he does his cause no good in the process. In the end, he looks like a washed-up academic who wants to get his name out there (whether he is or isn't I have no clue). It's too bad really, because he's using the gifts God has given him to tear down Christ's bride rather than to build her up. My only concern is for his students. Yikes!

Photo: Archdiocese of Milwaukee

Update: Thanks to Amy... here's all the details at religiousconsultation.org

Our neighbors to the North are on a roll:

Canada's Parliament made a “terrible mistake” when it redefined marriage last year, said Bishop Richard Smith of Pembroke, Ontario, to the 800 women present at the annual national convention of the Catholic Women’s League last week.

The bishop told the women in Halifax, August 15, that Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s promise of a Parliament vote in the fall on whether to reopen the same-sex marriage debate, offers “a rare second chance” to revisit the issue, Canadian Catholic News reported.

Bishop Smith, who is the CWL’s national spiritual advisor, urged the group’s 99,000 members across the country to get in touch with their members of Parliament and to address the marriage issue on the parish level. The bishop reportedly said he believed he could speak for all Canadian bishops when it came to the “incredibly important issue” of upholding marriage as the lifelong bond between a man and a woman.

From CNA:

Pope Benedict XVI will extend his planned trip to Turkey, from three days to four, in order to celebrate Mass with Turkish Catholics and pay a visit to Hagia Sophia, the former seat of the Church of Constantinople, which was transformed into a mosque and is now a Turkish Museum, Italian news service APCom has reported today.

Bishop Luigi Padovese, Apostolic Vicar of Anatolia Turkey, told APCom that, "The Pope has decided to remain an extra day, the first of December, to meet the Catholics of Turkey. It was becoming clear that the time was a little tight and there was not an encounter with the Catholics of the county in the program.”

Yeah, I'd say meeting with the Catholics there might not be such a bad idea!

This really made me shake my head.

First Bishop Bergie:

After receiving complaints from across Canada, Bishop Gerard Bergie, is encouraging Catholics to boycott an upcoming fundraiser at which former President Bill Clinton is speaking.

Bishop Bergie, who is an auxiliary bishop for the Diocese of Hamilton in Ontario, says that Clinton is an inappropriate guest speaker for a $500 per seat fundraiser being held by the Catholic Family Counseling Centre, The Kitchener Record reports.

But there's more to the story than that:

Cathy Brothers, the centre's executive director, told the Record that, “The decision to ask Clinton wasn't connected to the Catholic Church. Nothing that we're doing, with having Bill Clinton, is a comment at all on what we believe. It's not about our Catholicism."

Brothers also claims that despite their name, the organization is actually a non-denominational agency, saying, “We're a very diverse agency made up of people of all different backgrounds and faiths."

While the organization was founded by a priest in 1952, Brothers said that the center still calls itself Catholic, but only follows the portion of the Church’s teachings. “We see ourselves as having been committed to the social teachings of the Catholic Church around the importance of doing good works," Brothers said. "The name has always motivated us to try a little harder to make sure everything we do is based on love and compassion."

And a last little gem:

"Personally, I feel you can be faithful to your Catholic tradition and still be able to minister to the greater community," Bergie told the Record. "The greatest challenge is how to deal with that, especially when an organization wants to proceed in a way the diocese feels is not appropriate."

Where to go with this one? Perhaps Canon 216: "Since they participate in the mission of the Church, all the Christian faithful have the right to promote or sustain apostolic action even by their own undertakings, according to their own state and condition. Nevertheless, no undertaking is to claim the name Catholic without the consent of competent ecclesiastical authority."

The CLSA commentary says in part, "The use of the name "Catholic" could (at least) suggest that a specific effort represents the Church itself or is officially accepted by the Church." The commentary in no way ignores the obligation of the faithful by virtue of their baptism to carry out the work of the Gospel in the world.

Unfortunately this is not the only example of this naming problem nowadays (Catholics for a Free Choice, for example, is anything but Catholic). This is another one of those canons that makes perfect sense in order to preserve some sense of communio and also truth in advertising. Good work by the bishop exposing this organization.

Not to mention (as one of the commenters of the story noted) that our beloved former President commands quite a fee for an appearance. How can they afford him?

Sorry for my unannounced absence today. This is the fourth day I haven't been feeling well... nothing serious just headaches and now a nasty sore throat. Last time this happened I had strep and I didn't know and I didn't get it treated. Before I knew it I was in the happy land of bronchitis for the first time in my life.

I went to a clinic first thing this morning and it's just a viral infection that will clear up in a few days. Not much they can do, just over-the-counter stuff, which I have to admit is doing a pretty good job. I went to school for a while and cleaned my room out then I came back here to relax. I think I'm done with the relaxing now, although I've been playing piano and violin everyday so I'll probably head downstairs to unwind a bit before any heavy-duty work.

Hope everyone else is having a good day!

Apparent scientific advance in embryonic stem cell research. I hope it has the potential for assuaging ethical concerns down the line, but it apparently it doesn't yet:

Massachusetts scientists announced today that they have created the first human embryonic stem cells using a technique that does not require the destruction of an embryo. The procedure, they said, offers a potential way to end the bitter political standoff that has blocked most federal funding of research on the cells.

The new research, performed at the Worcester laboratories of the biotech firm Advanced Cell Technology, shows that a single cell from an early embryo can be used to generate embryonic stem cells. Fertility clinics routinely remove single cells to test an embryo without damaging it, and the team suggests this could be adapted to create embryonic stem cells.

The advance, reported in the journal Nature, directly addresses President Bush's reason for opposing most of the research -- that the destruction of an embryo is the equivalent of murder. In 2001, he ordered that federal money could be used for research only on the few batches of embryonic cells then in existence, and just last month Bush vetoed an attempt to lift that restriction. The new report is likely to revive debate over the policy, which scientists blame for holding back stem cell research.

"My hope is that this will jump start this field," said Robert Lanza, a scientist at Advanced Cell Technology who directed the research. "We really need to get past all of this politics."

Scientists called the work an important advance, but said other researchers must verify the findings and the technique must clear a range of scientific and ethical hurdles before it would constitute a solution for the political impasse.

Several fertility clinic scientists said clinics would be unlikely to offer the procedure without more information on its safety. And the new technique does not address all of the ethical concerns raised about embryonic stem cell research. The Catholic Church, for example, opposes the creation of embryos outside the human body, even as a part of fertility treatment.

"I don't think this represents any kind of ethical advance," said Rev. Tadeusz Pacholczyk, director of education for the National Catholic Bioethics Center in Philadelphia. "This only represents a decision to continue the exploitative and manipulative use of human embryos."

Pope Benedict's General Audience today featured a talk on the Apocalypse of John.

Teresa Benedetta has a translation up at the Papa Ratzinger Forum

News Coverage:
AsiaNews
Catholic News Agency
Catholic World News (for subscribers)

From the Vatican English Summary:

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Continuing our reflections on the teaching of the Apostle John, we now consider the Book of Revelation. The seer of Patmos, identified with the Apostle, is granted a series of visions meant to reassure the Christians of Asia amid the persecutions and trials of the end of the first century. John’s central vision is that of the Lamb once slain, who now stands victoriously before God’s throne, sharing in the Father’s kingship and power (5:6ff.). He alone is able to open the mysterious book closed with seven seals and to reveal, in the light of his own triumph over persecution and death, the ultimate meaning of history in God’s providential plan. The certain unfolding of God’s victory is seen in John’s visions of the Woman who gives birth to a Son destined to rule the nations (12:1ff.), the final defeat of the Dragon, and the heavenly Jerusalem, prepared as a bride adorned for the wedding feast (21:2ff.). As his book draws to an end, John invites Christians of every time and place to trust in the victory of the Lamb and to hope for the coming of God’s Kingdom: "Come, Lord Jesus!" (22:20).

I am happy to greet all the English-speaking visitors present at today’s Audience, including the pilgrims from Taiwan, Japan and the United States of America. May your visit to Rome renew your faith in the Church, the bride of Christ, and may the Lord’s definitive victory over all evil fill you with hope and courage. I invoke upon you God’s blessings of joy and peace.

This is strange. If there's any truth to the story, then we're all in for it. It will, unfortunately, lend credence to Brown's crazy theories.

From Catholic World News:

Vatican officials fear that the renegade Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo may join forces with Dan Brown, author of The Da Vinci Code, the Universe newspaper reports.

The troubled African prelate was reported to have reached a tentative agreement to assist Brown with a future novel about exorcism. According to the Universe story, the Vatican has warned of "serious consequences" if Archbishop Milingo goes through with the plan.

The Zambian prelate, who was appointed in 1969 to head the Lusaka diocese, first caused concern at the Vatican because of his unorthodox "healing services," at which he reported performing exorcisms as well as healing physical ailments.

From Universe [h/t Rocco]:

In addition his work with Brown on the new novel, Milingo is also reported to have reached an agreement to collaborate with Sony Pictures in the production of a film based on Brown’s earlier novel Angels and Demons. It seems though that the Zambian has not yet decided whether he will collaborate under his own name or as a behind-the-scenes advisor.

He is reported to have told Sony Pictures that the decision depends on what action the Vatican takes about him in the coming weeks.

New Policy: if you run a church/monastery/convent in Italy, be sure it's always clean because you never know when the Holy Father might stop in:

Pope Benedict XVI quietly slipped out of Castel Gandolfo on August 22, to make a private pilgrimage to a shrine in the nearby town of Nemi.

The Holy Father made the unannounced trip on Tuesday afternoon, leaving his summer residence with small police escort and making the 10-mile trip by car to Nemi, where the Santissimo Crocifisso (Most Holy Cross) shrine is located.

The Pope was accompanied by his brother, Msgr. Georg Ratzinger, and a few members of his staff, the I Media news agency reports. After praying before the Blessed Sacrament, they joined the Mercedarian priests who administer the shrine for Vespers.

Later the Pope visited the Mercedarian monastery. His stay in Nemi was about two hours.

From all indications, it appeared that the Pope had planned the visit so that his arrival would be unexpected. This was the second such pilgrimage of his summer stay at Castel Gandolfo; on August 8, he appeared unexpectedly at a convent outside Rome to pray privately for peace in the Middle East.

Everybody wants to know about Fr. Georg Ganswein, Pope Benedict's secretary! I posted earlier this month on an interview he gave on the occasion of his 50th birthday. Apparently, he makes the ladies swoon.

YouTube videos:

Lady Franca of Italy asks Pope Benedict about him

Some Italian talk show type gal loves him too

[First video via Amy]

I meant to blog this a few days ago then I forgot, so it's sort of old news, but in case you haven't seen it... from CNS:

As the 28th anniversary of Pope John Paul I's brief pontificate approached, one of the priests working on his sainthood cause said the paperwork would be sent to the Vatican by the end of the year.

Cardinal Albino Luciani of Venice, Italy, was elected Aug. 26, 1978, to succeed Pope Paul VI. As Pope John Paul I, he served just over a month, dying Sept. 28.

The diocesan phase of his cause for sainthood formally opened in 2003 in his home Diocese of Belluno and Feltre, Italy.

Vatican Radio reported that Msgr. Giorgio Lise, vice postulator of the cause, said Aug. 17 that 170 witnesses already had been interviewed about the late pope's life and ministry, and the last remaining interviews would be conducted by early November.

A formal biography and the witnesses' testimony will be sent to the Congregation for Saints' Causes by the end of the year, he said.

The postulators already had forwarded to the Vatican information about a southern Italian man who believes he was cured of cancer through the intervention of Pope John Paul, Msgr. Lise said.

This weekend is the national collection for the Archdiocese of New Orleans and the Diocese of Biloxi approved by the U.S. Bishops. There's information on that here.

Ahead of this weekend, CNS has a story about Archbishop Hughes. I hope it inspires you to be generous at your parish this weekend.

For New Orleans Archbishop Alfred C. Hughes, the first anniversary of Hurricane Katrina elicits tears and emotionally charged flashbacks.

The tears still come 12 months later when he speaks of encounters with Katrina survivors at a Baton Rouge shelter who shared with him their life-and-death stories, their enduring faith and their raw anger.

When Archbishop Hughes walked into the shelter two days after Katrina inundated 80 percent of the city of New Orleans, a Red Cross representative asked him to speak to an inconsolable Lower 9th Ward resident.

The man told the archbishop about rushing to his attic with his wife after the levee burst and hacking a hole in the roof to escape the surging tide. When the man tried to lift his wife, she became paralyzed with fear and slipped from his grasp into the water.

"I dove down and grabbed onto her shirt, and she slipped out of her shirt. That was the last I saw of her," he told the archbishop.

Archbishop Hughes said the man was "consumed with anger" and could not eat. "He had a hard time even talking," he said. "I just tried to listen and tried to incorporate into a prayer some of the depression and anger and confusion he obviously was feeling."

...

Katrina's devastation -- more than 1,500 deaths and the destruction of 200,000 homes in the metropolitan New Orleans area -- crossed all racial, ethnic and economic lines. The archdiocese sustained $225 million in damage to its properties -- $145 million in flood damage and $80 million in wind damage -- and $120 million of that was uninsured flood loss.

...

He also noted that the experience of Katrina deepened his faith. In the months following the storm, his prayers each day were often for the hurricane survivors.

"I cannot read the Scriptures without all kinds of imagery really taking on a richer meaning," he said. "There was a light and a darkness in what we went through; water is both destructive and then life-giving; the significance of the flood and the original flood; the meaning of exile and then return from exile."

He said after Katrina he would look at his calendar and see what he was expected to do and what he was actually doing and would say to himself, "What I'm involved in -- touching the lives of people -- is far more important. There is something freeing about that."

Thomas (as usual) has a great round-up of information on the President's approval of over-the-counter sales of the Plan B drug. Check out his coverage.

I know many people who enjoy some good old-fashioned satire about church affairs so here's a great example via the Curt Jester. It's about the recent Catholic Charities debacle in San Francisco.

Just weeks after San Francisco Catholic Charities announced that they had found a compromise in handling cases of adoption of children to homosexual partners, other San Francisco diocesan departments have decided to follow their example.

Brian Cahill, the head of the diocesan-funded Catholic Charities, announced that three staff members will be working with a non-profit adoption agency, California Kids Connection, that has no moral qualms about placing children in homosexual households.

Cahill said he believes this compromise with what the Vatican sees as a “grave evil” will be in keeping with Catholic directives not to be “directly involved in the placement” of a child in a gay household .

Now other diocesan departments have announced similar changes to the way they operate.

David Rankin, of the San Francisco diocesan Life and Family department, announced yesterday that “we obviously don’t refer women for abortions, as that would be gravely immoral, so from now on all women who come to us with a crisis pregnancy will be referred to the local Planned Parenthood clinic for counseling.”

Read the rest.

Catholic World News is reporting that according to Marco Tosatti in La Stampa, Cardinal Angelo Scola, the Patriarch of Venice, is the most likely candidate to become the new head of the Italian Episcopal Conference. The holder of this post is selected by the pope. Cardinal Dionigi Tettamanzi of Milan and Cardinal Carlo Caffarra of Bologna are the runners-up.

Tosatti also reports that Archbishop Angelo Bagnasco of the Italian military ordinariate will be named Archbishop of Genoa to replace Cardinal Bertone who becomes Secretary of State next month.

Cardinal Camillo Ruini who is the current head of the Conference and the Pope's Vicar for the Diocese of Rome, turned 75 in February, the mandatory age for bishops to submit their resignations.

CWN story (for subscribers)

Picture Source

From Catholic News Agency:

Cardinal Renato Martino, the President of the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace is to preside at the groundbreaking ceremony Aug. 24th Amarillo, Texas, for Priests for Life’s new international headquarters and formation house for the seminarians of the new the Missionaries of the Gospel of Life.

During the mass, Priests for Life national director Fr. Frank Pavone will become the first member of the Missionaries of the Gospel of Life and he will receive the promises of the first group of lay associates. The new priestly community was founded by Fr. Pavone.

Bishop John Yanta of Amarillo welcomed Priests for Life into his diocese and officially established its new community in December. The second group of seminarians for the society arrived Aug. 17.

“This is an historic day,” the bishop said, “and only God knows how significant it will prove to be for the pro-life movement in this country and around the world. Our diocese is proud to partner with Priests for Life in this work of the Holy Spirit.”

Last December, Cardinal Martino said the new community “may seem like a sign of contradiction—but it may just be what the world of today needs! The call to protect life is not only a foundation of our faith as Catholics, but it is the very basis of our recognition of human rights and the right to life.”

Fr. Pavone will also take this opportunity to convene a strategy meeting of priests who work full time on the pro-life cause and pro-life leaders.

Guests expected to attend the ceremony include: Dr. Alveda King, niece of Martin Luther King Jr. and a member of the Priests for Life pastoral team; Norma McCorvey, the former “Jane Roe” of Roe vs. Wade, whom Fr. Pavone received into the Catholic Church in 1998; Bob and Mary Schindler, the parents of Terri Schiavo; and Mary O’Connor Ward, the sister of Cardinal John O’Connor, who ordained Fr. Pavone and gave him permission in 1993 to lead Priests for Life.

I'm putting the finishing touches on my liturgical resources for the months of September, October, and November this week. If anyone has any events or ideas that they think should be incorporated, please let me know either as a comment or via email. I think I have most major Church events so far: Catechetical Sunday, World Mission Sunday, Priesthood Sunday, World Youth Day (USA), and the U.S. Bishops fall meeting.

Of course, all the liturgical celebrations are all set. Are there any other major events in these three months that deserve the attention of my readers? If you can think of any, please let me know soon. Look for the addition of these resources to the site next week.

Via Amy Welborn

An article in Christianity Today on the freedom of pharmacists to refuse to fill prescriptions that violate their consciences.

An update to the story the other day on drunk Brits in Lourdes [previous post]. Via Amy:

A report in this weekend’s Sunday Telegraph, suggested that British pilgrims were getting so out of hand that French riot police needed to be drafted in to curb the late night excesses of young pilgrims, adding that drunkenness and lewd behaviour from Brits were becoming an increasing problem.

However, Westminster Diocesan Pilgrimage Youth Director Bernard Lavery reacted angrily to the article saying that the article didn't paint the true picture of pilgrimages to Lourdes.

"There is a popular myth that a combination of young Brits, bars and rock music will automatically lead to drunken and loutish behaviour," he said.

"It is, after all, the picture which is reported in the media on a regular basis. To suggest that young people could gather in significant numbers with access to bars and rock music and especially in a foreign country and not create mayhem is, to many, unbelievable."

The Director of Tangney Tours John Tangney, who has overseen pilgrimages of over 10,000 British pilgrims to Lourdes this summer, also found the article wide of the mark.

"We take British Pilgrims to Lourdes from all parts of the UK and in the July/August Period carried some 10,000 people, a large number being young persons," said Mr Tangney.

"We have close links with the local authorities and are quickly advised if it’s needed that our clients are causing disturbance or offence. I can categorically state that we have not received any complaint or even comment regarding our young clients behaviour. This is not to say that on occasion a few drinks too many will be taken but never to an extent as is described in the article. [source]

Now here's my thing: the truth is probably in the middle as it often is. But I think the pendulum swings more toward the original report than this one. While I think a majority of Brits go to Lourdes for a true pilgrimage (sans drunken revelry), there's obviously a problem. The original article spoke of calling in riot police and they quoted several sources. I can't imagine all of it is made-up. Exaggerated, possibly, but not total fantasy. Not to mention that the original story featured a picture that told a different story from what this particular article is saying!

I've been on pilgrimages with youth and even the best group ends up taking a break from the heavy-duty prayer and gets a little crazy. Anyone who's been on a World Youth Day knows that a little sight-seeing breaks things up. Please don't misconstrue this as an excuse for what's going on at Lourdes, just an attempt at an explanation.

What we have to ultimately admit is that sin is going to play a role even at holy shrines. While the drunkenness saddens me, it doesn't surprise me. Welcome to our broken world!

This story has been around St. Blog's all day today: Eileen DiFranco simulated another Mass on Sunday. A whole 35 people showed up... how newsworthy (although I suppose only 12 were at the first one).

I appreciated Diogenes' comments on the whole affair:

One enthusiastic participant in the ceremony, speaking to Philadelphia's Channel 6 afterward, had a revealing way of expressing her support:

If Jesus were here on earth today, he probably would have been in the front pew, applauding her.

Notice that she puts Jesus in the congregation, not on the altar. But then at the same time she recognizes implicitly that Jesus was not on the altar. She speculates on what might have happened if He had appeared on earth that Sunday morning. At a real Catholic Mass, He does.

For those who click the link to Diogenes, show caution when reading his commenters in general. They are usually quite uncharitable and caustic in their remarks. Speaking the truth isn't license to be cruel. Not to mention that many of them are such Catholic snobs, they think they're more Catholic than the pope. In any case, they may make valid points, they just don't do it in a way that anyone's going to give them half a listen.

USA Today has a column today on US immigration and Catholicism. She starts with the naysayers:

• Rep. Pete King, R-N.Y., a Roman Catholic and chairman of the House of Representatives' Homeland Security Committee, told Fox's Bill O'Reilly earlier this year, "This has become the politically correct tune. ... Too many people in the Catholic Church have signed onto this. It's fashionable."

• Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., a leading opponent of illegal immigration, has blamed the church's stance on "left-leaning religious activists."

• CNN's Lou Dobbs has accused the church of avidly looking south of the border just "to add a few folks to those pews."

Then she moves on to explain why they're wrong:

For the church, the migrant's plight is a universal one tracing back to the Holy Family. Pope Pius XII, in 1952, declared the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph to be the archetype of every refugee family. He based this on their flight into Egypt, calling them "the models and protectors of every migrant, alien and refugee of whatever kind who, whether compelled by fear of persecution or by want, is forced to leave his native land, his beloved parents and relatives, his close friends, and to seek a foreign soil."

The church has emphasized the duty of Christians to "welcome the stranger," citing the commandment in the book of Leviticus that "you shall treat the stranger no differently than the natives born among you." The church also points to Jesus' description of the final judgment, when those who welcomed him in the form of a stranger inherit the kingdom of heaven.

"The biblical tradition puts the migrant and exile at the very center of concern. Therefore, we, as believers and followers of Jesus, can do no less," the USCCB's Franken told a Lutheran gathering in 2004.

Even the church's language is rooted in migration. The word "parishioner," for instance, is related to the Greek word paroikos, which means "wayfarer" or "sojourner." A parish, then, is a community of migrants, and migration itself is a metaphor for humanity, as all people pass through life on the way to their final destination back to God.

Consistent advocacy

The bishops' call for "just and humane" immigration reform is no different from what the church's leaders have advocated: from Pope John XXIII — who said, "Every human being has the right to freedom of movement" — to Pope John Paul II, who in an annual message for World Migration Day in 1995 said, "The illegal migrant comes before us like that 'stranger' in whom Jesus asks to be recognized," and Catholics must help these strangers "whatever their legal status with regard to state law."

If the Catholic Church has wound up on the politically correct side of today's debate, it certainly took a more principled and traditional route than its skeptics avow.

And they think that Catholics are inflexible:

The minister of a church that dismissed a female Sunday School teacher after adopting what it called a literal interpretation of the Bible says a woman can perform any job -- outside of the church.

The First Baptist Church dismissed Mary Lambert on August 9 with a letter explaining that the church had adopted an interpretation that prohibits women from teaching men. She had taught there for 54 years.

The letter quoted the first epistle to Timothy: "I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent."

The Rev. Timothy LaBouf, who also serves on the Watertown City Council, issued a statement saying his stance against women teaching men in Sunday school would not affect his decisions as a city leader in Watertown, where all five members of the council are men but the city manager who runs the city's day-to-day operations is a woman.

"I believe that a woman can perform any job and fulfill any responsibility that she desires to" outside of the church, LaBouf wrote Saturday.

Mayor Jeffrey Graham, however, was bothered by the reasons given Lambert's dismissal.

"If what's said in that letter reflects the councilman's views, those are disturbing remarks in this day and age," Graham said. "Maybe they wouldn't have been disturbing 500 years ago, but they are now."

Lambert has publicly criticized the decision, but the church did not publicly address the matter until Saturday, a day after its board met.

In a statement, the board said other issues were behind Lambert's dismissal, but it did not say what they were.

From Catholic World News:

Pope Benedict XVI has appealed for the release of a priest kidnapped in Iraq last week.

In a message to Chaldean Catholic Patriarch Emmanuel Delly, said that he was "deeply saddened" by the news of the abuduction of Father Hanna Saad Sirop, who was abducted by armed men on August 15 just after celebrating Mass for the feast of the Assumption.

In his message-- which was conveyed by Cardinal Angelo Sodano, the Vatican Secretary of State-- the Pope urged the kidnappers to release the Chaldean Catholic priest "so that he can return to the service of God, the Christian community and his countrymen.”

The Pope went on to condemn the practice of kidnapping, which has become an everyday occurrence in Iraq. The Pontiff said that he prays "this dreadful scourge, as well as the terrible daily bloodshed which delays the dawn of reconciliation and rebuilding will finally come to an end."

In his message to the Chaldean patriarch, which was composed in English, Pope Benedict encouraged the Catholics of Iraq to continue "to work together with all religious believers and people of good will towards a future of harmonious and respectful coexistence for the beloved nation of Iraq.” Father Saad Syrop is the head of the theology department at Babel College, the only Christian institution of higher learning remaining in Iraq.

From Catholic World News:

Ukrainian Cardinal Marian Jaworski celebrates his 80th birthday day-- August 21-- and thus becomes ineligible to participate in a future papal conclave.
...

There are now 190 members of the College of Cardinals, of whom 118 are eligible to vote in a papal election. Pope Paul VI set the maximum number of cardinal-electors at 120, although Pope John Paul II twice allowed the number to exceed that limit.

Several other cardinal-electors will reach the age limit before the end of this calendar year. Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger, former Archbishop of Paris, will turn 80 on September 17. He will be followed by Cardinal Ricardo Maria Carles Gordo, former Archbishop of Barcelona, on September 24; Cardinal William Baum, former Archbishop of Washington and head of the Apostolic Penitentiary, on November 21; Cardinal Emmanuel Wamala, who last week resigned his post as Archbishop of Kampala, Uganda, on December 15; and Cardinal Jorge Medina Estevez, the former prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship, on December 23.

This is interesting:

At the first consistory of his pontificate, Pope Benedict XVI named 12 cardinals less than 80 years old, bringing the number of cardinal-electors to exactly the statutory limit of 120. Vatican observers believe that Pope Benedict intends to hold consistories relatively often, naming a small number of new cardinals each time, to keep the number of electors close to 120.

I heard a program on Vatican Radio this week on dispensationalism, Christian Zionism, and the Left Behind series. It was very enlightening. The guy who gave the interview was involved with the website christianzionism.org which I just checked out this morning. Then I just ran into this article via Catholic Light:

As the camera pans over a smoldering representation of New York City, the booming voice says it all: "For those left behind, the apocalypse has just begun!"

That's the tail end of the promotional trailer for Left Behind: Eternal Forces, an upcoming computer game based on the best-selling book series by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins.

The "Left Behind" books, which center on Armageddon and the Second Coming of Jesus, have sold more than 70 million copies and are the basis of three movies, making the franchise overdue for a video game. The game, which will soon be marketed in churches and video game stores across the country, is due out in October.

In Eternal Forces, which is based on the first four books, the rapture has occurred and billions of people have disappeared from the planet. Players command the left-behind Tribulation Forces and battle the forces of the Antichrist, who happens to be employed as the head of a U.N.-like world government organization. The game's action takes place across 500 carefully re-created New York City blocks, stretching from Wall Street to Harlem.

The object of the game is to recruit the members of New York's remaining "neutral" population to the side of God during a seven-year reign of the Antichrist. Players have to win over the remaining agnostics and unbelievers of New York City or kill them -- either before or after they are pulled to the forces of evil.

...

Miami attorney Jack Thompson, already famous to a generation of Xbox and PlayStation owners for pitching campaigns against game companies, argues that games are rotting the minds of young people. But, as a practicing Christian, he says, he has more reasons than usual to dislike the latest target of his ire. The Eternal Forces game "breaks my heart," he said.

"The game is about killing people for their lack of faith in Jesus," he said. "The Gospel is not about killing people in the name of the Lord, and Jesus made that very clear."

Then there's this baloney answer to that:

But Lyndon claims that the game doesn't get into religious denominations.

"It doesn't say who you pray to," he said. "I don't think the word 'Christian' is anywhere in the game play."

OK, that may very well be, but when it's based off the Left Behind series, you don't have to call it Christian because everyone knows it is.

The fact that Catholics are picking this stuff up and reading it is scary. Especially since they don't know that it is not a properly Catholic eschatological view. I know there are lots of powerful Evangelical Christians in this country, but I'm hoping that the game tanks just as badly as the movie did.

I've had a headache all day but I generally enjoyed this nice light weekend. These two stories, however, made me a little nauseous.

From today's Boston Globe:

Donald Ward Cranley doesn’t need to look at the latest economic indicators to know how the real estate market is faring. He just checks the inventory in his shop, Ward’s Gifts, on High Street in Medford.

If sales of the beige, 5-inch St. Joseph statues are slow, it means the real estate market is strong. If sales are brisk, the market is weak. Lately, all signs point to a real estate meltdown: He’s selling 300 statues a month.

‘‘We can’t keep them in stock,’’ he said. ‘‘Everybody comes in here looking for them. Realtors are buying a dozen at a time.’’

St. Joseph statues have long been used by sellers to help move property. Tradition has it that if you bury a statue upside down and facing the property you are trying to sell, St. Joseph will direct a buyer your way.

When the market was hot a couple of years ago and bidding wars among buyers were the order of the day, Cranley was happy to sell a couple of statues a week. x No longer. So far this year, as housing sales have dropped, they have been his most popular item, outstripping all the other saints combined — not to mention Jesus and Mary. They’ve even earned a prominent place in the store’s window display.

...

In Lowell, at the St. Joseph the Worker Shrine gift shop, the statues are sold separately and in kits — though last week the singles had sold out. The kits include a printed card with ‘‘myths’’ and ‘‘truth.’’ Myth: The importance of the depth and direction of burial. Truth: ‘‘The power of St. Joseph is in the prayers and devotion to him. You can also increase your chance of selling your home by making sure it is good condition and by asking a realistic price.’’

OK I laughed at that. So they quote one religious store owner who said the practice is akin to voodoo and that she tries to catechize people about... that it's not about the statue, it's about faith and prayer. I can't believe the Globe even quoted her. Anything to make the Church look like it's full of loons.

From the Telegraph via Curt Jester

For millions of pilgrims, a visit to Lourdes to take its miraculous healing waters is an intensely spiritual experience. Since Bernadette Soubirous witnessed the first of 18 apparitions of the Virgin Mary almost 150 years ago, the shrine has become a place of quiet contemplation and religious devotion.

But now the town's peace is being shattered by thousands of British tourists whose behaviour has become so bad that officials have brought in riot police. The decision to deploy officers from the notorious Compagnies Républicaines de Sécurité (CRS) came after local gendarmes admitted that they were unable to cope with the nightly excesses of British visitors who, after going to the famous shrine, take to the town's bars and clubs.

...

In Lourdes's busy streets, there is plenty of evidence of alcohol-fuelled exuberance in the town's numerous bars and clubs.

At Bar Angelus, a few hundred yards from the shrine, bare-chested men, and women wearing skimpy tops and crucifixes, swayed to the blaring music including Madonna's Like A Virgin and Sympathy for the Devil by the Rolling Stones.

"We come here to party after being reverential all day," said Susan Clare, a 19-year-old student from south London.

"Some of the lads go a bit over-the-top, but none of us set out to cause trouble. It's just our way of letting off stream. It is worrying to see these elite police patrolling in their vans and on foot, but I suppose they have a job to do."

"We're just typical Brits enjoying ourselves," said Phil Cross, a 22-year-old from Manchester, who was accompanying a group of handicapped pilgrims.

"None of us mean any harm, but the situation can get a bit tense when the police take exception to what's going on. You do see a few of the older pilgrims who are still up late looking a bit worried by what's going on, but you're only young once."

Later, as the bars continued to serve cocktails at £2.50 a time, revellers were seen running across the roofs of parked cars, indulging in mock fights and vomiting into gutters. It is these types of crime, along with minor acts of vandalism and "lewd behaviour" between amorous young Roman Catholics, that dominate the nightly reports of CRS officers.

Where to start being sad over this one? The Madonna music or the name of the bar? The fact that this guy seemingly took off on the handicapped pilgrims to go out drinking? You'd think that be the icing on the cake. Oh, but you'd be wrong. From one of the officers:

"Last week a couple sneaked into the grounds of the Rose Basilica and became very amorous in a very holy place. It's not the kind of thing other pilgrims want to see."

The devil still dances at Lourdes.

I see that I got a shout-out over at the Shrine.

Welcome to people visiting from there and I hope you like the blog and the site!

Well, my last post was #250 so I think it's time for a vacation (actually I had one planned already!). Just going to Maine to see some friends for an overnight. I'll be back tomorrow. Even if they have internet access, I'm not blogging... it'll be good to take a day off. I'll catch up Sunday night with whatever's going on.

Enjoy the weekend!

From Catholic World News:

The Pontifical Academy for Life will organize an international conference on stem-cell research, the I Media news agency reports from Rome.

The conference, to be held September 14-16, will focus on the prospects for medical advances through stem-cell research, and the bioethical problems associated with those efforts. It will be co-sponsored by the International Federation of Catholic Medical Associations (FIAMC) and the Jerome Lejeune Foundation.

The conference will draw experts from German, England, Australia, Italy, the United States, and Portugal. Pope Benedict XVI will receive the participants in a private audience during their stay in Rome. The discussions will be held at the Augustinianum, near the Vatican, and will include lawmakers and health-care administrators as well as doctors and medical researchers.

The discussions will center on the clinical application of various advances in stem-cell research. The final day of the conference will be devoted to the ethical issues involved, particularly in the use of stem cells obtained from human embryos.

I love when people accuse the Church of not caring about science. It's stories like this that make me wonder why people are convinced the Church is so behind.

The Church is moving in to help:

Catholic Relief Services (CRS) announced plans for a $10-million emergency response and long-term reconstruction program for Gaza, northern Israel and Lebanon as a result of the one-month war between Israel and Hezbollah.

CRS is working with local partners, Caritas Lebanon and Caritas Jerusalem, to provide life-saving supplies for immediate needs and post-ceasefire recovery efforts. Caritas Lebanon has 36 offices, nine health centers and eight mobile medical clinics throughout the country, which are being manned by staff and 2,000 volunteers.

More from CRS itself including information on how to help.

This is all over the place today, but I'll quote CNA:

An article published in the Italian journal “Il Riformista” today provides a unique glimpse into the man Pope Benedict XVI chose to head what is arguably the most important dicastery of the Vatican. A surprising choice many Vatican insiders say, decided almost a year before it was announced.

The article characterizes Tarcisio Bertone as a man who, despite a great capacity for humor and jokes, prefers discretion and silence to “formal dinners, parlors, and idle chatter,” and therefore “fits well with the austerity of the German Pope.” The 71 year-old Italian Cardinal, who is scheduled to take the reigns at the Secretariat of State on September 15th, will be responsible not only for communications between the Holy See and other nations, but also for caring for the universal Church and dealing with the dicasteries of the Roman Curia.

...

Bertone worked through the late nineties as second in command to Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger when he was Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. It was through their work at the congregation that the two grew to understand and appreciate one another. And, many Vatican insiders say, it is this relationship that allowed Ratzinger to easily make the decision to call Bertone once again to his side, in replacement of the aging Cardinal Angelo Sodano.

But while the Holy Father quickly made up his mind as to who the new Secretary of State would be (some say with in the first two months of his pontificate) he waited to announce his surprising decision until June of this year.

The announcement continues to surprise many in the Secretariat of State, who expected Sodano’s successor to be someone from within their ranks. Most had presumed that Benedict would continue the practice, which had developed over the years, that the Vatican’s “prime minister” was someone groomed within the diplomatic corps and raised in the mindset of his predecessors. The choice of an outsider, in fact, led many to joke that Bertone was chosen because he was the only one who could decipher the Pope’s tiny handwriting.

In a way, they may be correct. It is not a hidden agenda of the current Pope to enact a reform of the Curia. Bertone seems to be a man of like-mind and heart with the Pontiff and one who Benedict knows will be an excellent partner in carrying out his plans to move the Church forward.

“The pontiff of great teaching and great action in contemporary society finds in Cardinal Bertone, who becomes again his first and closest collaborator, a faithful friend, in whom he shares intellectually the analyses and, therefore, will strive with tenacity and with motivated movement to act on his plan of operations,” Bishop Piacenza said. “The complementariness of their characters and the outspokenness of their relationship, in fact, will guarantee the effectiveness of the pastoral government of the universal Church.”

I won't post the whole article here, but the middle consists of interviews with people who know and work with the Cardinal and talk about how great he is and how perfect he is for the job.

Check out Rocco's for a few more thoughts

This seems like the most rational and logical thing in the world compared with the Gateses. From CNA:

Microsoft founder and philanthropist Bill Gates and his wife, Melinda, would be more effective in the fight against AIDS by speaking about their long and successful marriage rather than by promoting condom use, said a leading Ugandan AIDS activist.

“We don’t need more condoms from Bill and Melinda, but more hope and fidelity in marriage is a message of hope,” said Martin Sempa.

The Ugandan pastor is known as the “brains” behind the successful Ugandan educational campaign against AIDS, called the ABC program, which promotes abstinence and marital fidelity as the first two means of protection against the killer virus.

Sempa noted that Gates, who gave opening remarks at the Toronto International AIDS Conference this week, used the platform to promote the condoms approach to combating the disease. In fact, the crowd booed when he mentioned abstinence education and fidelity as approaches that are being used in some parts of the world.

“This [ABC] approach has saved many lives, and we should expand it,” he said to boos. The crowd began to cheer, however, when he spoke about the “limits” of such a program, and criticized abstinence and faithfulness as ultimately ineffective and unrealistic.

Sempa told LifeSiteNews.com that he avoided the Toronto conference because of the hostility he was likely to find to his message. The only trouble is, he said, the conference delegates are missing the basic fact that promiscuity is at the heart of the problem.

“The last gasp of life for a sexual revolution that has gone stale in the West is using the AIDS crisis as a means of keeping itself going,” Sempa told LifeSiteNews.com from Las Vegas, where he was giving a series of talks.

“Western experts, Bill Clinton, the UN, and the World Health Organization, look upon the AIDS problem as ‘not enough condoms’. We on the ground, those who actually live in the country, see that the problem is too much promiscuity,” he was quoted as saying.

Sempa also believes that the condom approach promotes a hatred and fear for abstinence and fidelity, which he calls “abstinophobia”, and a fear of marriage and motherhood, which he has dubbed “matriphobia”. The Toronto conference promotes both, he said, as well as loathing of traditional Christian values.

Sempa is a witness to the fact that the ABC program is extremely successful. In the 1980s, the rate of HIV/AIDS infection in Uganda was at 30 percent—in line with most African countries. Since the program was launched in 1987, the rate dropped to 6.2 per cent in 1994 and still remains among the lowest in Africa.

Furthermore, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Rwanda and Swaziland adopted the Ugandan program last year and are already seeing results.

Despite the success those at the Toronto conference slammed those who promote the program over the simple distribution of condoms. Gates’ wife, Melinda, went so far as to call into question the good will of people who oppose the condom approach, accusing them of having destructive ulterior motives. “If you oppose the distribution of condoms, something is more important to you than saving lives,” she reportedly said.

A wise blogger once said sarcastically, "The best way to get kids to stop smoking is to give away free cigarettes." Yeah, good luck with the condoms, Bill. When they fail to save Africa, call the Church and we'll bail you out.

Sorry for the lack of posting today. I woke up this morning at 5:53 and thought it was too early to get up. I didn't roll over again until 10:30! I guess I needed to catch up on some sleep!

I came home today to do some more packing. So I've been rather tied up all day.

For all the new people checking in here, welcome! I've submitted the site to a few search engines now that I've redesigned things and I'm actually pretty proud of this little site. I welcome all of your comments, criticisms, and suggestions. I'll post a little more about me and the purpose of this site next week. Until then, browse around and enjoy!

Rob

The USCCB has released a media advisory in advance of the possible FDA approval of over-the-counter sales of the "morning-after pill" known as Plan B.

The USCCB summarizes their opposition:

– the abortifacient potential of Plan B
– implications for informed consent (without medical supervision, many women will not be aware of its multiple actions)
– public health concerns (potential for “routine” use; higher risk of ectopic pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases);
– heightened potential for coercing pharmacists to provide the drug against their conscientious objection.

It also has several links to other information if you're interested.

A priest who ministered to Timothy McVeigh speaks out.

When he ministered to Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh, Divine Word Father Charles Smith found that his faith, instilled in him by loving parents despite the childhood pain of discrimination, enabled him to be Christ's representative even as the inmate verbally assaulted him.

"When I first came in (to see him) I thought 'God is the owner of my life,' and I went to him and he threw his feces on me and called me all types of names and said, 'You can't be a priest because I've never seen a you-know-what as a priest,'" Father Smith said Aug. 5. "The devil was messin' with me."

They had a rough start, but then:

But Father Smith persevered in his ministry to McVeigh and the convicted murderer, who was a baptized Catholic, began to repent. "He did a lot of things, but in the end we had confession, reconciliation. In the end he asked me a question a lot of people ask me. He asked, 'Father Charles, can I still get to heaven?'"

The priest said he responded, "I am not your judge," but reminded McVeigh that he had told him, "You must submit your will and ask God for true forgiveness. ... You knew there were a lot of innocent people and children in that building."

McVeigh asked Father Smith to walk with him to his June 11, 2001, execution. "And the tears came running down. He was crying, I was crying because he did something that changed my life, too.

"As a man it's hard to ask but for him to ask for God's love and God's grace, that did something to me," he recalled, reflecting on how God's grace can transform even the worst evil.

If that doesn't give you Catholic goosebumps...

I know some of you love philosophy so I'll post this [H/T to Ironic Catholic]:

Ninth Article

Is God made of soap?

We proceed thus to the Ninth Article:

Objection 1: It would seem that God is made of soap. For whatever is highest in a genus must be predicated of God. But the highest in the genus of cleanliness, which the Philosopher says is next to godliness, is soap.

Objection 2: Moreover, Scripture says, "Wash me, and I shall be clean indeed." But it belongs to soap to wash.

Objection 3: Furthermore, Dionysius says in On the Divine Names, "For the being of the Most High, being beyond Being, which is what is, can only be denied, as of foamy lather that surpasses even the most excellent conception." But the principle of foamy lather is soap, and where the effect is found, there must the principle be posited.

Read the rest.

An American has been named as the new nuncio to South Africa, Namibia, and as apostolic delegate to Botswana. He is James Green, the head of the English desk at the Secretariat of State. A rookie like me can hardly do the story justice so check out two posts from Rocco here and here for complete coverage.

According to Rocco, he will be ordained to the episcopacy on September 6 (not wasting any time) by Cardinal Sodano.

From CNA:

Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Pope Benedict XVI’s newly announced choice as the Secretary of State of the Holy See will be the subject of an in-depth article to be published by Northern Italian journal, “Il Riformista,” tomorrow.

The article also says that Bertone had been the Pope’s choice from the beginning. “Benedict XVI would already have chosen Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone as Secretary of State a few months after his election to the Pontifical Throne, even though the announcement was made only a few weeks ago,” the article says.

More news tomorrow apparently...

In the interest of full disclosure, I did my undergrad in Providence but Tobin wasn't the bishop yet. The first time I had contact with Bishop Tobin was at this year's priesthood ordinations in Providence. Seems like a great guy. His columns in the Providence Visitor are usually well worth a read. I thought this article was great. I like human and honest bishops!

From the ProJo:

You can count on the Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence to remain "firmly planted on the sidelines" as the debate rages over changing the state Constitution to allow the proposed Harrah's-Narragansett Indian casino, according to Bishop Thomas J. Tobin.

But in an attempt to provide some guidance to his flock -- and credibility to his arguments about the difference between large-scale, corporate-sponsored gambling and a "friendly" office football pool -- the bishop owned up.

From time to time, he gambles.

"In the interest of full disclosure it should be noted that Yours Truly has been known to participate in a little gambling on occasion," wrote the bishop in an article to be published today in the diocesan newspaper The Providence Visitor.

"I buy raffle tickets to support a local parish or school. I participate in friendly football pools. I've won and lost (usually lost) a few bucks on the golf course. And on a few occasions, I've even made a pilgrimage to Foxwoods, paying my tithe to the slot machines."

In "self-defense," he added: "In light of my Irish-German heritage and very frugal nature, both the time and money spent there are always strictly limited."

In an interview yesterday, the bishop said he opted for "full disclosure" because he "wanted people to know I am not a puritan or prude when it comes to these activities" and also to "humanize" his layered view of where the church stands on gambling, in general, and the "vague" casino proposal headed for the Nov. 7 ballot.

The bishop, a native of Pittsburgh and a huge Steelers fan who acknowledged betting "a few bucks a week" on football pools, said: "Gambling is a very sensitive topic for Catholics.

"We realize there are moral concerns about gambling, but still we play bingo, sell raffle tickets, have parish festivals with games of chance, and organize trips to Atlantic City and Las Vegas. Are sins being commited every time these activities take place? I don't think so."

The bishop said the church does not view all gambling as immoral, and only views it as such when it becomes a form of addiction, involves "excessive amounts of money," and leads to crime, corruption and "collateral damage to individuals, families or communities."

He likened the Catholic view of gambling to its take on alcohol: "While drinking alcohol is not evil in itself, the morality is found in the circumstances of its use or abuse.

"We should be very reluctant then to level a universal condemnation of gambling. There is no theology to support such a stance and we can easily be accused of being hypocritical on the issue," he wrote.

But don't think that's an endorsement of the referendum:

But he nonetheless urged the state's Catholics to reflect on the rapid and "troublesome" proliferation of gambling in society: "the fact that the culture of gambling is ensnaring many of our young people, including college and high school students," and the huge distinction between placing a wager on an office football pool and "large-scale, corporate, professional gambling such as that found in casinos."

"This form of gambling is far more dangerous to individuals, families and communities. More money is involved. It's more addictive. It's primary motive is profit, not charity," he said.

How should faithful Catholics weigh this decision?

He urged the state's 600,000-plus Catholics to "reflect upon a few questions." Among them:

"In light of the proximity of other casinos in our region, do we really need another one closer to home? Is corporate gambling the best we can do for economic development? Do the anticipated short-term benefits justify the potential long-term liabilities the gambling environment creates?

"Will a significant portion of the proceeds be dedicated to some redeeming social value, such as tax reduction, education or assistance to the poor? Are we sure that gambling will not engender other unsavory activities such as organized crime, prostitution or use of drugs?

"Does the current proposal meet these standards?" Bishop Tobin's answer: "Probably not."

But he said: "It's a practical, prudential judgment about which people of goodwill might come to different conclusions. . . . I suggest that you weigh the human, sociological, economic and political consequences and then vote your conscience."

Hmm. Sounds like the proper way to understand those terms, doesn't it? However, the bishop's honesty almost got himself in hot water as we read in the last paragraph:

For the record, Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch's spokesman Michael Healey said football pools are illegal in Rhode Island, but "It is not illegal to place a bet," only "to take a bet."

From the Dispatch:

Joseph H. Smith, chief financial officer for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Columbus, was indicted today on multiple federal charges of accepting kickbacks totaling nearly $800,000 while working for the Cleveland Catholic Diocese.

Gregory A. White, U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Ohio, announced the 23-count indictment against Smith, who lives in Dublin. A Cleveland-area businessman, Anton Zgoznik, was indicted on 15 counts in the case.

The two are accused of conspiring to defraud the Cleveland Diocese and the Internal Revenue Service.

Then-Columbus Bishop James A. Griffin hired Smith in August 2004 to oversee the Columbus Diocese's finances. Smith had resigned from the Cleveland Diocese in February that year after being accused of financial impropriety.

The Cleveland Diocese has said Griffin was told that Smith was under investigation at the time.

Now here's my question, why do you hire a guy for such an important job when you know he's under investigation? I emailed a couple of my Columbus friends to see if they can shed any light. I'll update when I hear from them. The whole thing just seems so avoidable to me and it's just more bad PR for the good guys.

Bishop Doran's latest column is... well, a stongly worded defense of the teachings of the Church in the face of contemporary American culture. Imagine a bishop going and doing that!

These paragraphs will get the most play today (although it's very good, it's not the most important in the column):

Many of the issues that confront us are serious, and we know by now that the political parties in our country are at loggerheads as to how to solve them. We know, for instance, that adherents of one political party would place us squarely on the road to suicide as a people.

The seven “sacraments” of their secular culture are abortion, buggery, contraception, divorce, euthanasia, feminism of the radical type, and genetic experimentation and mutilation. These things they unabashedly espouse, profess and promote. Their continuance in public office is a clear and present danger to our survival as a nation.

More important:

What we have to remember is that violence breeds violence. When we tolerate unjust attacks upon the tiniest innocents among us, we habituate ourselves to violence. And so we have allowed these barbaric practices to corrupt our laws, our medical practice, and even our ordinary lives. How accustomed we have become to the immense loss of life in our wars throughout the world! Those who have killed millions under their mother’s hearts cannot be expected to balk at a mere few thousand killed in Afghanistan, in Iraq, in Somalia, in Darfur, in Bosnia, in Madrid, in London, in Baghdad, in Beirut, in Washington, in New York. The violence of abortion coarsens the lives of all of us.

Once it was said, “... for all who take the sword will perish by the sword.” (Matthew 26:52) So we see the rise in the number of predations among youth, even among the youngest, the rise of domestic violence. We speak of road rage as a common thing. It is true what the theologians have said, that sin darkens the intellect, and weakens the will.

And:

The toleration of sexual perversions among inverts, widespread contraception, easy access to “no fault” divorce, the killing of the elderly, radical feminism, embryonic stem cell research — all of these things defile and debase our human nature and our human destiny. Should we cry out with the prophet “To the mountains, ‘Cover us,’ and to the hills, ‘Fall on us’” (Hosea: 10:8), lest other peoples see and, God forbid, imitate us?

I ran across, in one parish, prayers of the faithful with the intention that “we pray for those who work and demonstrate for the cause of life and the unborn, the aged and the defected, that they may persevere in spite of the ridicule they receive sometimes, even from pastors and priests.” I shudder to think that might be true. We know from the sad experience of recent years that some Catholics (even among priests) are so warped and perverted from their Catholic vocation, that they are capable of enormities. But, they should know that it was no prelate or bishop or pope that said, “Suffer the little children to come to me and do not hinder them” (Matthew 19:14). The Invisible Head of the Church will one day come to judge the living and the dead and the world by fire, particularly those who have either by acts of omission or commission, destroyed innocent human life.

Overall, it's worth a read. One thing that Americans don't get about the Church's teaching (in my opinion) is the idea that sin does something to us. We speak of white lies and little things that God obviously doesn't care about (which I think is a big contemporary heresy in and of itself but we'll save that for another day). What they don't see is that the little things do something to us: they make sin commonplace and "not a big deal."

Remember that the devil doesn't always tempt us to murder someone. There's a reason for that: his goals can be accomplished by convincing us to give in on the 'small' stuff (as if there's small stuff when it comes to sin, but you get my point). No doubt the sins of our nation have affected "our soul" or our ability to protect the innocent to take just one example. So kudos to Bishop Doran for getting that out there, although I doubt it will receive any major press.

To my good friends in Rockford: TD and Dcn. JL: you must be so proud!

I actually laughed at this story... we'll chalk that reaction up to the late-ish hour and that I should probably be heading to bed shortly.

From CNA:

During a gathering organized by the Conference of Religious Men and Women of Peru--the local branch of the Latin American Confederation of Religious Men and Women--several speakers participating in a Theological seminar launched an attack against the new movements and charisms in the Church.

The seminar entitled, “Religious Life in the Perspective of the Kingdom,” began on August 14th and featured a host of speakers including Dominican priest Father Gustavo Gutierrez, a renowned proponent of Marxist liberation theology, Marianist priest Father Jose Maria Arnaiz of Spain, who has written a book critical of Pope Benedict XVI, and Benedictine priest Father Simon Pedro Arnold, director of the “Institute of Aymaran Studies.”

During his remarks, Father Arnold, a promoter of what he calls the “re-founding of monastic life,” and the “re-founding of the Church,” criticized the new ecclesial movements, as well as Opus Dei, saying the alternative which they propose to the life of the Church is “distorted and erroneous.”

As a response to the crisis in religious life, he proposed “a re-founding of the religious congregations based on a theology of renewed liberation” that incorporates contemporary concerns “such as ecology.”

Marianist priest Father Arnaiz echoed the sentiments of Father Arnold, adding that while he admired the new movements for their “vitality,” he argued the “cultural view” they express “is not the answer to the needs of today.” He claimed that the Church needs a “re-founding of religious life” in order to confront the issues of the contemporary world, and he pointed to Father Pedro Arrupe, who was head of the Jesuit order immediately following Vatican II, as an example of the kind of “re-founders” the Church needs.

OK... not really sure where to start with this one. One place might be: by their fruits you shall know them. Fruits of contemporary religious life: for the most part, dying (some religious orders, of course we know, are thriving, but they are few in number). Ecclesial movements: blossoming with the support and watchful eye of the Church.

People like these who take "the spirit of Vatican II" as their mantra are rather choosey. As long as the "Spirit" blows in their direction, they're all for it. They're all about heeding what they see as the "signs of the times" as long as those signs are pointing in the direction they want. Coincidentally, those directions are usually NOT those pointed out by Christ and the Church, but that's another story.

Perish this thought: perhaps the Holy Spirit is blowing in this direction. Perhaps the signs are pointing to new ecclesial movements in the Church. Perhaps that's why the Church is supporting them and they are overwhelmed with new members.

They sound like sore losers if you ask me.

From the comment box at CNA:

To attempt to divide the Church into existing & new institutions means, with all due respect, that one has not a clue about the nature of the Church, let alone her history. Some of the negative aspects one notices in some new movements & communities have always been typical of nascent forms of Consecrated Life in particular. Perhaps one forgets the writings of St Thomas Aquinas in defence of the nascent 13th century Mendicant movement. Much abuse was hurled at the Friars Preachers & Friars Minor because their new mendicant lifestyle seemed at odds with that of the existing Ordo Monasticus. Did not Pope Paul III order the Jesuits to suppress some of the unique characteristics of the nascent Society of Jesus, precisely because those characteristics appeared, in the 16th century, too novel and threatening?

The “mistakes” or, better, “growing pains” which are typical of new institution or new movements will not be corrected by people who, imprisoned in their own habitus mentis, seek to stunt the growth of new ecclesial life. Moreover, an intelligent and serene concept of the Church can only view legitimate, new ecclesial forms in a complementary context, rather than in competition with existing forms; otherwise Divine Providence might have called St Thomas Aquinas to remain at Monte Cassino as a tranquil Benedictine abbot. A deep sense of the Church and knowledge of her history require as much as leads to an increase of intellectual honesty & ideological esprit de grandeur.

Well said.

For those interested in sacred music, the good people over at the Church Music Association of America has made their Summer 2006 issue of Sacred Music available for nothing online (before you click, it's a PDF).

It has a study on the teachings of JPII on sacred music. I haven't read it yet, but it's been in the pile all summer.

I'm a member of this particular bunch and they seem sincere in restoring some solemnity in sacred music, which I feel is critical at this point. Their quarterly publication is a good read.

Regarding the earlier inquiry into the "pro-choice" Saint Antoninus we have some information:

Thomas at American Papist (who originally asked around)

Amy Welborn

Not to worry, by the way, the good Antoninus was not pro-choice!

From CNA... Archbishop Chaput really lays the smackdown:

Denver Archbishop Charles Chaput spoke out this week against the promulgation of lies regarding the history of Christian-Muslim relations. In his weekly Denver Catholic Register column, Chaput said that recent fallacious statements by a Denver-area Islamic leader, who reportedly claimed that Muslims have never tried to force conversions to their faith, do nothing to advance the causes of peace or interreligious understanding.

Chaput said that the Muslim-Christian conflict has existed for centuries and is based upon “deep religious differences.” During centuries of fighting, both Christians and Muslims have acted in a sinful manner towards one another, he said, but it’s necessary to be honest about the sins both sides have committed in the past in order to bring about peace in the future.

He cites some examples:

The archbishop pointed out the “armed military expansion” of Islam which has occurred since the religion’s creation. On the other hand, he said, Christians struggled with the place of military force in its worldview for the first 300 years and had no “theology of Crusade” until the 11th Century. “In fact,” Chaput said, “the Christian Byzantine Empire had already been resisting Muslim expansion in the East for 400 years before Pope Urban II called the First Crusade – as a defensive response to generations of armed jihad.”

Chaput also pointed to the forced conversion of the once Christian Middle East. “Surviving Christian communities have endured centuries of marginalization, discrimination, violence, slavery and outright persecution – not always and not everywhere; but as a constant, recurring and central theme of Muslim domination,” he said.

“That same Christian suffering continues down to the present,” Chaput said.

In addition to mentioning the persecution of Christians in the Muslim Ottoman Empire of the early 1900’s, in Turkey, and in Egypt, Archbishop Chaput pointed to more recent reports of harassment and violence throughout the world, “from Bangladesh, Iran, Sudan, Pakistan and Iraq, to Nigeria, Indonesia and even Muslim-dominated areas of the heavily Catholic Philippines.”

“In Saudi Arabia,” the archbishop continued, “all public expressions of Christian faith are forbidden. The on-going Christian flight from Lebanon has helped to transform it, in just half a century, from a majority Christian Arab nation to a majority Muslim population.”

So he concludes that

“Especially in an era of religiously inspired terrorism and war in the Middle East,” the archbishop continued, “peace is not served by ignoring, subverting or rewriting history, but rather by facing it humbly as it really happened and healing its wounds.”

Good news via Thomas:

Looks like things are finally coming to fruition! The Hollywood Reporter spoke with producer Mark Johnson and confirmed that the next Narnia film, Prince Caspian, will begin filming in the forests of Europe in January 2007. The film will hit theatres in Summer 2008.

The magazine also added director Andrew Adamson and Johnson will produce the third filme, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, a year after Prince Caspian. Nice!

[source]

A letter to the editor in Philadelphia [via Curt Jester]:

The Inquirer's coverage of women claiming to have been ordained priests is unfortunate and unbalanced. The headlines for the ceremonies ("Act of defiance," Aug. 1, and "Female Catholic priest has first Mass," Aug. 7) were inaccurate and misleading. An "organization" may have "ordained" the women, but the church did not. A "female Catholic priest" is not a validly ordained Catholic priest. Whatever words may have been spoken, they did not constitute the celebration of a valid Mass.

The church encourages women and all the faithful to use their gifts for the good of the community. But the church is not authorized by Christ to confer holy orders upon women and cannot do so, no matter how ardent a person's desire may be.

While the former story was placed on Page One and the latter on the front of the B section, The Inquirer offered scant coverage for two significant events in the archdiocese. A mere six sentences were printed for the July 26 episcopal ordination Mass for Philadelphia native Bishop Daniel E. Thomas. Not a single word was printed for the July 28 emotional farewell service for Bishop Michael F. Burbidge prior to his installation as bishop of Raleigh, N.C.

The contrast between invalid ceremonies given strong emphasis and valid ones given little is an offense to faithful Catholics within the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.

Donna Farrell

Director of communications

Archdiocese of Philadelphia

[source]

I confess I'm a bit behind reading Rocco's posts this week. I noticed several interesting items:

First Item: While it was rumored that Cardinal Maida's retirement would be accepted before vacation season in Rome, it has not been. According to Rocco, the buzzmill's favorite is Archbishop Myers of Newark. It has also been buzzed that he was on the terna for Washington.

Second Item: Rocco mentions that Cardinal Dias has arrived in Rome to take charge of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples. Several names have been kicked around regarding his successor: his two auxiliaries and a former auxiliary who is now the Archbishop of Agra who is the second vice-chairman of the Vox Clara Commission. According to Rocco, with the seeming success of the commission, we may see more of its members moving on up in the years to come.

Third Item: From Saginaw, Bishop Carlson will be ordaining the first Permanent Deacon in the diocese for the past 25 years! Rocco also remarks that word has it that Carlson isn't going to be staying in Saginaw much longer, even though he's only been there for 18 months. Thomas speculates that Carlson will probably only move "up" and there are three archdiocese in the US looking for a new top gun: Detroit, Baltimore, and Louisville.

Fourth Item: Rocco points to an article in the Chicago Tribune about Fr. Myles Sheehan, the Jesuit priest/doctor who took care of Cardinal George during his recent hospitalization.

A couple of highlights:

On Tuesday, Cardinal George was released from the hospital after surgery to remove his bladder, prostate and part of his ureter. Sheehan, who cared for the cardinal during the 19-day hospitalization, said he felt both happiness and relief.

Sheehan even said--jokingly--that the cardinal was so excited to be leaving, he had printed T-shirts that said, "Free Francis!"

...

There are only 25 Jesuit priests in the nation who are also physicians, Sheehan said. And although both professions require some solemnity, Sheehan possesses an outrageous sense of humor.

Last week, for example, when an impatient George wondered why it was taking so long to recover, Sheehan answered: "It's the devil." The cardinal burst into laughter.

On another occasion, Sheehan said the cardinal asked if all the pain he was feeling was some Jesuit torture that was specially designed for the archbishop of Chicago.

No, Sheehan replied, the doctors use it on everyone.

Over at the First Things blog, Robert Miller criticizes a recent statement by Pope Benedict calling for an immediate ceasefire in the Middle East. He mentions that no good can come from war even to the victors and that Europe should no better after the two world wars. Miller responds:

I find it difficult to understand how the pope says this. Along with many others, I often invoke the Second World War as the paradigm example of a just war, of a case where morality not only permitted but required the use of armed force in order to combat evil. But here Benedict, expressly mentioning the world wars, says that they brought no good to anyone. No good to Elie Wiesel, and all the other prisoners liberated from Buchenwald? No good to the peoples of France, Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway, and others saved from Nazi domination? No good to the Poles and other Slavs, destined to slavery to support the Third Reich? No good to the young Joseph Ratzinger, who, freed from service in the Wehrmacht, was able to enter seminary, study theology, become a priest and a professor, and live to become pope?

As it stands, this statement from Benedict is unsupportable. All serious people know that war is a terrible reality to be avoided whenever possible, and Benedict should certainly say this. But he is also a great theologian, well able to make moral distinctions. He ought not make statements that can so easily be understood as endorsing a dangerously naive pacifism that is incompatible with the Catholic moral tradition.

Amy posts on a press release from Cardinal Rigali on one of his flock participating in the simulated ordination ritual in Pittsburgh. At the bottom is an interesting link to another story. No time to check it out now, but it looks juicy.

Joseph Pearce has some things to say about two movies: The Incredibles and Lord of the Rings, both of which may surprise you.

Amy mentions that Cardinal George has been released from the hospital.

On a personal note, I enjoyed some Taco Bell tonight in honor of the solemnity. I have a few stories I'm holding on to for tomorrow. Hope everyone's enjoying some kind of relaxation as the summer keeps on slipping by. Have a good night!

The Dr. Rice controversy has heated up again. The Dean of Ave Maria School of Law has decided not to reappoint him as a visiting professor. Well, after they forced him off the Board of Governors for daring to question the leadership or the decisions being made from the top in an open and honest manner, this is certainly the death blow.

This blog has copies of the correspondence that went back and forth.

One of the comments that caught my eye:

Prof. Rice is no mere professor of law, he is the patriarch of American Catholic Lawyers.

Is there another Catholic Lawyer of his generation who has done more to advance the integrity and meaning of being both a lawyer and Catholic in this country?

Those who know Prof. Rice, know a man whose integrity is beyond question and who is in a word saintly.

Another comment:

Rice is simply one of the best human beings I have had the pleasure of meeting. I once read a dedication in one of Peter Kreft's books to Fr. Scanlon, in it Kreft wrote "If there are thank you lines in heaven, yours will be among the longest." I know that for myself and the countless others that Rice has taken the time to mentor, ridicule, and befriend, that ourselves, our spouses, our children, and our grand children will hopefully be there, with our Lord, to greet Rice and thank him for all he has done.

And another:

Professor Rice is the epitome of a Catholic husband, father, grandfather, lawyer, professor and friend. In this imperfect world he will never get the accolades he truly deserves, but we can rest assured that Our Lord honors him. That is enough for us.

Lastly:

Professor Rice, more than any other professor we had, put his name on the line for us. Those of us with less stelar job prospects were welcomed to come into his office and meet with him and he would go through who he knew in our chosen destination and would allow us to use his name as a reference and introduction. I have no reason to think he considered me an excellent student or that he thought I had incredible potential. Nevertheless, he put his name on the line to help me make contacts.

Professor Rice was already a tenured professor from Notre Dame and had already established his credentials in ways most of us can only dream of, and yet he was willing to spend his time and reputation on us - an odd group who chose to attend an unknown, brand new law school.

Professor Rice, like so many of us, believed in the mission of the law school. He did not seek to achieve his own mission, but the mission that the law school made its foundation. His loss is a deep wound for the law school that should not be underestimated.

I had Dr. Rice's daughter for a course in graduate school and she and her family are in a word: amazing. I have nothing but respect for that family. In the end, AMSL is going to lose out. All I have to say is, Go Dr. Rice!

From today's Angelus:

The Blessed Virgin encourages the faithful to remain hopeful in the face of the inevitable problems of daily life, said Pope Benedict XVI today on the Feast of the Assumption of Mary.

Prior to praying the Angelus with the pilgrims at his summer residence in Castelgandolfo, the Pope said Mary offers support and an example of discipleship to all of the faithful.

“She assures us of her help and she reminds us that what is essential is to seek and to think about are the things of heaven, not those of this world,” the Pope said.

The 79-year-old pontiff told the crowd who gathered to pray that, taken up by daily preoccupations, the faithful risk thinking that the ultimate purpose of human existence is found in this passing world.

“Instead, heaven is the real goal of our earthly pilgrimage,” he stated. “How different our days would be if they were guided by this perspective! This is what it was for the saints. Their lives witnessed that when one lives with one’s heart constantly turned to heaven, earthly realities are lived in the proper proportion.”

The Pope entrusted the “anxieties of humanity” that are being experience in every part of the world that is racked by violence.

Benedict, who had celebrated Mass just prior to his address, said the Church was in communion with those Christian brothers and sisters who were gathered at Our Lady of Lebanon Sanctuary in Harissa, Lebanon, where Cardinal Roger Etchegaray was celebrating Mass for the Marian feast day. The cardinal was sent to the war-torn country as the Pope’s special envoy to bring comfort and solidarity to all victims of the conflict.

“We are also in communion with the pastors and faithful of the Church in the Holy Land, who have gathered in the Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth,” with the nuncio, Archbishop Antonio Franco, he said.

The Pope said his thoughts also went out to the people suffering from ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka and to those suffering in Iraq, “where the frightful and daily flow of blood makes the possibility of reconciliation and reconstruction more distant.”

After the Angelus, the Pope addressed the pilgrims in seven languages, urging them to turn to Mary with confidence in seeking God’s will and their source of joy.

English comments from the Vatican website:

I am happy to greet all the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors present for this Angelus. Today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary into Heaven. May the example of her life of obedience to the will of God, recognised by her exaltation into glory, be for all Christians a source of hope and inspiration! I wish you a blessed feast day, and a pleasant time in Castel Gandolfo and Rome!

Both Dom and Jeff have posted on this. I have to admit it made me a little sick. While I'm obviously quite sympathetic to the plight of the victims and their need for closure and justice, I just don't see how this plan fits either. Not to mention that these idiot lawyers are getting rich and famous over these cases.

The original story is here.

An attorney representing people who allege they were sexually abused by priests says Catholics in Eastern Washington can settle their church’s sex-abuse crisis and bankruptcy for $60 million—half of which he suggests could come from parishioners.

Bishop William Skylstad already has $30 million at his disposal from asset sales, insurance settlements and pledges from Catholic Charities and related organizations.

The remaining $30 million could be raised through what those involved in negotiations are calling the “latte-a-day” plan.

Here's their plan:

Numbers under the proposed plan might look like this: If just 20,000 of Eastern Washington’s 93,000 Catholics pitched in, the payment would be $2.05 per person per day for two years—less than the cost of a latte. If all 93,000 parishioners pay, the sum would be far less.

As has been suggested more than once in the comments at the Insurance Journal site, perhaps the lawyers wouldn't mind kicking in their 30% for the poor victims... probably not.

From Thomas at American Papist. Anyone know anything about this guy? He promises to look into it then post. If anyone has any info, email him.

The popes have taught that abortion is always forbidden, and the church hierarchy has held to a doctrine that strongly opposes it. Even so, grounds for permitting abortion exist in the Catholic tradition, and many Catholic theological authorities permit abortion in a variety of situations. There is even a pro-choice Catholic saint, the 15th century archbishop of Florence, St. Antoninus. He approved of early abortions when needed to save the life of the mother, a huge category in his day. There is thus no one Catholic view."

I've never heard of him.

The London's Daily Telegraph had an editorial yesterday stating that the pope should change the Church's teaching on the use of condoms for those with HIV/AIDS.

Diogenes responds:

In his next encyclical, the Pontiff should instruct Mafia button-men to purchase Kevlar vests for the members of rival gangs.

I'm told that some hard-line cardinals in the Vatican are holding out for a more traditional statement of moral principle, in which the Pope would tell the goons to stop shooting each other. That's unrealistic; they can't help it.

The way I see it, if you don't endorse bulletproof vests, you're endorsing murder.

Not such a stretch now is it? In the comments one person wrote:

My sophomores like to fight me when I ask them, "if your brother came home with a .22 and said he was going to knock over a convenience store, what would you think if your dad said, 'no, borrow my 9 mm because it's safer'"?

As expected, Mike Aquilina has a great post this morning.

I've compiled a reference list for information on Holy Days of Obligation. Let me know if you see any errors or omissions.

I hope everyone is able to enjoy at least some rest and relaxation today. I will post more on the Assumption later on today.

Amy posts a link to the video of the Pope's interview.

I also noticed that Vatican Radio has the interview for download. I only listened to the first couple of seconds but it sounds like Charles Collins does the translation. On this page is also the full transcript (presumably what Collins is reading). I've downloaded it to the iPod for later listening.

Sorry for the absence. I went to the Cape to visit a former classmate for a bit this morning and didn't feel that great this afternoon so I rested. I've also been trying to pack. Tonight I tackled the closet. So far I'm winning. Tomorrow I'll be heading to Springfield again for a few more days of work. I'll be going by the school for a while on Wednesday to drop off some paperwork and clean up my classroom.

I have much to blog on with such a long absence. I will do my best tonight. God bless!

Another post from Amy, this time on an article by Vittorio Messori (co-author of The Ratzinger Report). It's a piece on understanding the interview with Cardinal Bertone, but it's so much more. This man puts into nicer words what I've been ranting and raving about for a while now:

The future Benedict XVI told me that among the unforeseen and contradictory effects of Vatican-II was the diminution in the importance of bishops, which on the contrary, the Council wished to re-emphasize. In fact, however, the autonomy and the freedom itself of a bishop over his own diocese were caged in and coopted by the establishment of national bishops' conferences. These conferences, Ratzinger pointed out, have no theological basis; they are not part of the Church structure as are parishes, dioceses and the papacy. They are simply institutions, of recent origin, which were created for practical reasons but which have gradually created a weighty structure of their own, becoming in effect "little Vaticans."

Because these conferences are governed by majority rule, with the inevitable compromises, pressure groups and maneuverings in the 'corridors of power' associated with what amounts to 'parliamentary democracy'! This has ended up suffocating the power of the individual bishop, who, from teacher of the Faith and pastor of his flock, has been reduced to membership in commissions and participation in discussions which end up being dominated by organized and powerful lobbies.

From this point of view, if I understood Ratzinger well, a 'revolution' was necessary, which consists simply in returning to Tradition: to the universal Church, as an organic union and agreement of bishops, therefore of responsible autonomous individuals, rather than a federation of 'states' as constituted by the national bishops' conferences.

Not an easy task, Cardinal Ratzinger pointed out, in view of the expected resistance from powerful clerical groups who subscribe to political correctness, namely, elections, referenda, majority rule (to make decisions).

Thank you. So we'll dissolve the USCCB tomorrow then?

Amy has some excerpts from the Pope's recent interview.

On young people:

Young people are very generous but when they face the risk of a life-long commitment, be it marriage or a priestly vocation, they are afraid. The world is moving dramatically: nowadays I can continually do whatever I want with my life with all its unpredictable future events. By making a definitive decision am I myself not tying up my personal freedom and depriving myself of freedom of movement? Reawaken the courage to make definitive decisions: they are really the only ones that allow us to grow, to move ahead and to reach something great in life. They are the only decisions that do not destroy our freedom but offer to point us in the right direction. Risk making this leap, so to speak, towards the definitive and so embrace life fully: this is something I'd be happy to communicate to them.

I think this shines a light on Pope Benedict's philosophy in terms of dealing with those who dissent from Church teaching (or not dealing with those who dissent from Church teaching as many on the right see it):

On family and sexuality:

Gemmingen: The issue of the family. A month ago you were in Valencia for the World Meeting of Families. Anyone who was listening carefully, as we tried to do at Radio Vatican, noticed how you never mentioned the words "homosexual marriage," you never spoke about abortion, or about contraception. Careful observers thought that was very interesting. Clearly your idea is to go around the world preaching the faith rather than as an "apostle of morality." What are your comments?

Obviously, yes. Actually I should say I had only two opportunities to speak for 20 minutes. And when you have so little time you can't say everything you want to say about "no." Firstly you have to know what we really want, right? Christianity, Catholicism, isn't a collection of prohibitions: it's a positive option. It's very important that we look at it again because this idea has almost completely disappeared today. We've heard so much about what is not allowed that now it's time to say: we have a positive idea to offer, that man and woman are made for each other, that the scale of sexuality, eros, agape, indicates the level of love and it's in this way that marriage develops, first of all, as a joyful and blessing-filled encounter between a man and a woman, and then the family, that guarantees continuity among generations and through which generations are reconciled to each other and even cultures can meet. So, firstly it's important to stress what we want. Secondly, we can also see why we don't want something. I believe we need to see and reflect on the fact that it's not a Catholic invention that man and woman are made for each other, so that humanity can go on living: all cultures know this. As far as abortion is concerned, it's part of the fifth, not the sixth, commandment: "Thou shalt not kill!" We have to presume this is obvious and always stress that the human person begins in the mother's womb and remains a human person until his or her last breath. The human person must always be respected as a human person. But all this is clearer if you say it first in a positive way.

This is particularly personal:

Fuchs: Recently there's been talk of a new fascination with Catholicism. What is the attraction and the future of this ancient institution?

I'd say that the entire pontificate of John Paul II drew people's attention and brought them together. What happened at the time of his death remains something historically very special: how hundreds of thousands of people flowed towards St Peter's Square in an orderly fashion, stood for hours, and while they should have collapsed, they resisted as if moved by an inner strength. Then we relived the experience on the occasion of the inauguration of my pontificate and again in Cologne. It's very beautiful when the experience of community becomes an experience of faith at the same time. When the experience of community doesn't happen just anywhere but that this experience becomes more alive and gives to Catholicism its luminous intensity right there in the places of the faith. Of course, this has to continue in everyday life. The two must go together. On one hand, the great moments during which one feels how good it is to be there, that the Lord is present and that we form a great community reconciled beyond all boundaries. From here we get the impetus to resist during the tiring pilgrimage of everyday existence, to live starting from these bright points and turning towards them, knowing how to invite others to join our pilgrim community. I'd like to take this opportunity to say: I blush when I think of all the preparations that are made for my visit, for everything that people do. My house was freshly painted, a professional school redid the fence. The evangelical professor helped to do the fence. And these are just small details but they're a sign of the many things that are done. I find all of this extraordinary, and I don't think it's for me, but rather a sign of wanting to be part of this faith community and to serve one another. Demonstrating this solidarity means letting ourselves be inspired by the Lord. It's something that touches me and I'd like to express my gratitude with all my heart.

Full transcript here

Well I'm heading home after a few days of work at the new place in Springfield. Tonight is Stock Market night (so don't wait up)!

Thus blogging will be light to non-existent until Sunday afternoon.

Hope everyone enjoys the weekend. If you get bored, I posted plenty of things this past week to keep you busy.

God bless!

When I read about the Archdiocese of San Francisco's solution to the "problem" of gay adoptions, I couldn't believe it: it didn't seem like they were embracing the teaching of the Church at all; they were just looking for a convenient loophole.

CNA has an in-depth analysis of the situation and quotes from key players that support the thesis that SF Catholic Charities is happy as a pig in mud over the whole thing. This is well worth a click and a read:

Catholics in San Francisco and throughout the United States continue to be confused by the decision of San Francisco Catholic Charities to persist in facilitating adoptions to homosexual couples, an action which the Church has spoken out against.

In announcement made two weeks ago, San Francisco Catholic Charities decided that while it will close its own adoption services, it will continue to outsource personnel to an agency that facilitates adoptions in the area, including adoptions to homosexual couples.

...

While San Francisco Catholic Charities says its employees will not technically be placing children into the custody of homosexual couples, it would be promoting the services of Family Builders and guiding both homosexual couples and children in need of families into homosexual adoptions.

But Family Builders is not simply “open” to homosexual adoption. According to their website, Family Builders offers special support groups for gay and lesbian families, and says that they “are the only agency which has a program and a staff person devoted exclusively to outreach in the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender) community,” in order to encourage more adoptions by homosexual couples.

Their web site also claims that, “Family Builders has been in the forefront of advocating for public policy and practice changes in the adoption field to provide the opportunity for LGBT families to adopt. Family Builders is a lead partner in the newly formed Bay Area LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Questioning) Youth Task Force, along with Legal Services for Children, and The National Center for Lesbian Rights.”

Jill Jacobs, executive director of Family Builders, told the Bay Area Reporter yesterday that, “We're about the gayest adoption agency in the country."

The Bay Area Reporter said that Jacobs noted that it was important for her organization to make sure Catholic Charities "really knew who we were, and that in our own adoption program more than half the families we serve are LGBT families.”

...

Cahill, who was unavailable after repeated phone calls from CNA, told the Boston Globe last week that in his opinion, the only thing the Vatican was saying is that Catholics should not directly place children into the custody of homosexuals. Cahill said that the Catholic Charities staffers will assist any prospective foster or adoptive parents who approaches California Kids Connection, regardless of sexual orientation, and if that work leads to a match between a gay parent and a foster child, that is fine. "God loves them all," he said.

Cahill repeated his views in the Bay Area Reporter this week saying that adoption to homosexual couples has never been an issue for his staff. “It only came onto the radar after it became an issue in Rome,” he said.

“We should be praising (those adopting) regardless of sexual orientation and thanking them for what they are doing.”

Under the new agreement, Cahill said, his staff will, in the end, do more of what they want to do. “It's impossible not to use the word 'irony' in this situation,” he remarked, “Out of what could have been a crisis came a great opportunity. We actually are going to increase our role in adoptions. And working with Family Builders will actually help them double and triple the number of kids who are up on their Web site.”

The Catholic Charities partnership may even result in more LGBT families adopting children than before, the Bay Area Reporter said.

The article quotes Dr. William May who is of the opinion that this cannot be reconciled with Church teaching. I have a feeling this is not the last we've heard of this.

I'll admit that I sorta forgot about this when I said I would post more when I knew more. Well, checking in Rocco's archives, I found more:

We now have a better indication of the circumstances behind the resignation, accepted this morning, of the US-born Bishop Gordon Bennett, SJ of Mandeville, Jamaica.

I'm told that, indeed, the bishop -- who will be 60 in October -- stood down for reasons of health; primarily a stomach condition which has plagued him for some time, but also fatigue from the task from handling the daunting assignment of the violence-torn Jamaican interior. He is returning home to the Jesuits' California Province for a period of treatment and rest.

Meanwhile, the US bishops are already chomping at the bit -- and, likely, jumping in front of each other -- to welcome Bennett home and bring him to their dioceses, either for retreats or on a more stable basis.....

SVILUPPO: I had learned the following earlier but was asked not to post it in light of the sensitivity of the situation. CNS, however, has run with it:

Bishop Bennett, who will turn 60 in October, has headed the Mandeville Diocese since September 2004. The Vatican announced his resignation Aug. 8. Father John P. McGarry, provincial of the Jesuit California province, to which Bishop Bennett is attached, said in an e-mail to province members that Bishop Bennett "will be returning to California for medical assessment and treatment for fatigue and depression."

Please keep a place for Bishop Bennett, and all those suffering from depression and all other forms of mental illness, in your prayers.

I had never heard of such a thing.

From CNS:

Silently processing out of the sacristy of St. Peter's Basilica at 7 a.m. each day, the altar servers look like angels, but the women who cook and clean for them say they are normal boys.

Well, maybe not totally normal. After all, these 11- to 18-year-olds live at the Vatican during the school year.

During the 2005-06 academic year, 21 of them ate, slept, studied and occasionally created chaos at the St. Pius X Pre-seminary inside the Vatican walls.

Father Enrico Radice, rector of the pre-seminary, said four students graduated from high school in June, and three of them are entering diocesan seminaries in September.

This year's percentage of students going on to a full-fledged seminary is high, even by Vatican standards, he said. About 10 percent of the 700 boys who have lived at the pre-seminary in the past 50 years have become priests.

...

During the academic year, the students attend a Catholic middle school or high school near the Vatican. Their altar-serving lessons, prayer life and recreation are in the hands of the rector, another priest and a layman.

Two women run the kitchen and two others take care of the cleaning and laundry. But they also watch over the boys, listen to them, and cry when they leave.

Because St. Peter's Basilica needs altar servers year-round, the pre-seminary never closes its doors.

In the summer, it turns into something resembling an altar boy camp. Taking 20-day shifts, altar boys from all over Italy come to the Vatican to serve from late June to early August. Service for the remainder of August and early September is in the hands of a group of altar boys from Malta.

"We spend the first day teaching them everything they need to know" to serve Mass in St. Peter's, including where to enter the basilica, what vestments they need to wear and where the various altars are located, Father Radice said.

"Obviously, they speak Italian and know only the little bit of English or French they study at school, so unless the Mass is in Italian, they cannot respond. Although some of them know some of the responses in Latin," he said.

Usually after having written to reserve a chapel or an altar, bishops and priests from around the world arrive at St. Peter's between 7 and 8 a.m. to celebrate Mass in the world's largest church.

The altar boys from the pre-seminary lead the bishops and priests from the sacristy to their assigned altar and serve their Masses, unless another priest, deacon or altar server is with the visitor.

Father Radice said the pre-seminary purposely does not call itself a minor seminary; its primary function is not to prepare young men to enter a seminary.

All Things Catholic is up for this week. Allen spends quite a bit of it talking about the gathering in September that the Pope will host at Castel Gondolfo with his former students to discuss the topic "Creation and Evolution." I was more interested in his description of an interview with Cardinal Bertone, the soon-to-be Secretary of State:

Giovanni Cardinale of the Italian journal 30 Giorni is the reigning master of the Q&A format with senior church leaders. The latest case in point comes in his interview with Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone of Genoa, the incoming Secretary of State, in the July/August issue of 30 Giorni.

We learn that Bertone's mother Pierina was a follower of Don Luigi Sturzo and the Partito Popolare, the forerunner of the Christian Democratic Party. During the pontificate of Pius IX, Sturzo's desire to build a Christian presence in civil society was sometimes viewed as disloyal to the pope's rejection of a secular Italian state on principle. For Italians, the name "Sturzo" became synonymous with moderate reconciliation with modernity.

When Cardinale points out that the only other Secretary of State who belonged to a religious order was Cardinal Luigi Emmanuele Nicolò Lambruschini, from 1836-1846, Bertone brushes off the parallel.

"For goodness' sake, don't compare me with Lambruschini," Bertone responds. "He was a holy man, but politically he was a complete reactionary!"

Bertone is an expert in canon law who worked on the revision of the Code of Canon Law in 1983. In 1989, while serving as rector of the Salesian University, Bertone chaired a working group of rectors that prepared John Paul II's apostolic constitution on Catholic education, Ex Corde Ecclesiae. He was also asked to be part of the negotiations with traditionalist followers of the late French Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, which ultimately failed to avoid a schism in 1988 when Lefebvre consecrated bishops without the pope's approval.

"If there's a sincere desire to reenter into full communion with the Holy See on the part of the Lefebvrites, it won't be difficult to find adequate means of obtaining this result," he said.

Bertone has a well-known sense of humor; he once quipped that perhaps the Catholic Church should make an exception to its opposition to cloning in the case of Italian beauty Sophia Loren. It shines through in the 30 Giorni interview; when Cardinale notes that Bertone's appointment breaks the tradition of picking the Secretary of State from the Vatican diplomatic corps. Bertone quips that Benedict XVI does not feel bound by "traditions with a small 't'."

He goes on to talk about more substantial things later in the interview. This was interesting toward the end:

One challenge Bertone will face as the Vatican's voice on global affairs: he doesn't speak English, which today is the common language of diplomacy and the global press.

"I said this to the pope when he asked me to serve as Secretary of State," Bertone told Cardinale. "He encouraged me, saying that other important personalities, such as the great Chancellor Helmut Kohl of Germany, also didn't know English. Anyway, the Holy See has excellent interpreters at its service."

[H/T to Gerald]

Bishop Yanta of the Diocese of Amarillo on NFP:

As announced in my pastoral letter January 28, 2006: “The Diocese of Amarillo will be a natural family planning diocese: henceforth, all marriages (except for couples past the child bearing age) will be required to attend and complete an approved Natural Family Planning course in conjunction with an approved marriage preparation program. Effective date: July 25, 2006.

“July 25th is the date selected for implementation: July 25th is four (4) months after the Annunciation (March 25th) and five (5) months before the Nativity of Jesus. July 25th is also the feast of St. James, first bishop of Jerusalem.

“July 25th is also the 38th anniversary of Humanae Vitae (on artificial contraception) by Pope Paul VI. Copies of a simplified version by Msgr. Vincent Walsh are available from Key of David Publications, 204 Haverford Road, Wynnewood, PA 19006, 610-896-1970.

“Omnia parata” (All is ready) as Jesus said in the parable of the wedding feast. In all parts of the diocese we have teachers trained to give the Natural Family Planning instruction in both English and Spanish.

“I ask Almighty God to forgive me for waiting so long to implement Natural Family Planning as normative and as a requirement for a marriage to be witnessed by our priests and deacons in the Diocese of Amarillo.

“Every married couple has the right from the Church to continue on the road to sainthood begun in baptism by living as one joined to Christ: Natural Family Planning is God’s way to live responsible parenthood. Marriage and family are the pillars of the Church and society”.

What a kind and caring bishop! I know a couple of courageous bishops have mandated this over the past year or so (Olmsted in Phoenix, I believe) but would that more would follow in his footsteps!

A few interesting stories from CNA today:

Feminists in Argentina:

A group of 30 feminists led a march to the Catholic University of La Plata on Tuesday attacking it’s rector for offering to adopt a baby who was saved from abortion last week.

The march was the latest chapter in the case of a mentally handicapped woman who became pregnant supposedly through rape and whose parents asked the courts to allow her to obtain an abortion. After lower courts ruled against them, the Supreme Court of the Buenos Aires province granted the parents’ request. During the court hearings, several individuals offered to adopt the baby, including the rector of the Catholic University of La Plata, Ricardo de la Torre, who spoke out in defense of both the life of the baby and the mother.

EWTN's birthday party:

This weekend Catholic media giant, EWTN, will celebrate the last of a handful of events surrounding its 25th anniversary of service to the Church. The affair will take place at Birmingham, Alabama’s Jefferson Event Center.

The “Grand Finale” celebration will include talks from speakers such as Fr. Andrew Apostoli and Dr. Scott Hahn and will culminate in a Solemn Mass of Thanksgiving celebrated by Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo, President of the Pontifical Council for the Family. The events are free to the public.

The global Catholic media network, which now reaches 127 countries and more than 118 million households, began with the vision of a single nun.

And we all know who that is!

Booting the Knights:

The University of Wisconsin-Madison and the Knights of Columbus are attempting to work towards an agreement after the University abruptly announced that the Catholic fraternal organization would no longer be recognized on campus, due to the group’s faithfulness to their Catholic identity.

The university made its initial decision to de-recognize the Knights, according to Executive Assistant to the Chancellor, Casey Nagy, “because the group's policy limiting membership to Catholic men does not comply with state law prohibiting discrimination against students on the basis of religion.”

The decision would bar the student chapter of the Knights from using campus spaces for meetings or social events, recruiting students at UW-sponsored events, or even using the school's name in its title. Such unrecognized groups also cannot qualify for student fees, although the Knights of Columbus have never received funding from the school.

I hadn't posted on this at all even though it's been around for a week or so on other blogs because I didn't know it was going anywhere. The rest of the article describes efforts on the part of the university to come to an agreement with the Knights.

Diocesan Vocation site got some attention today:

Annual Seminarian Convocation

Annual Evening Prayer with the Bishop and Vocation Prayer Teams
Reflection by Fr. Bissinger

Summer Assignment in Nebraska
By David Deston

I've updated the seminaries and parishes of the sems for the new year but many have not updated their profiles unfortunately. I've tinkered with a few just to make them more manageable.

Seminarians 2006-2007

Other August updates that are coming:
September Prayer Calendar and Sample Intercessions
Scripture Reflection (with an audio version?)

Let me know what you think.

Dr. Peters weighs in on the "ordinations":

The pseudo-ordinations that a number of women around the world, and lately in the United States, have attempted are, to borrow Leo XIII's phrase, "absolutely null and utterly void". (See specifically John Paul II, Ordinatio sacerdotalis, n. 4). Last summer (scroll to 6 July 2005) I explained how such affronts to divine and canon law can and will result in excommunication, although, as I argued, not by the automatic process (1983 CIC 1314) that many simply assumed would apply to such cases. Here I need to make a different point.

To no one's great surprise, some of these women have gone on to attempt to celebrate the Eucharist. Canonically speaking, what they have done is to simulate the Mass, which action is a distinct crime under canon law (1983 CIC 1378 § 2, n. 1). Moreover, the penalty for Eucharistic simulation is automatic, specifically, interdict, which differs from excommunication in a few respects (1983 CIC 1332). The differences need not detain us, though, for 1983 CIC 1378 § 3 allows the penalty of interdict to be increased to excommunication in cases of simulation "according to the gravity of the delict." It should be obvious that the circumstances surrounding these simulated liturgies are quite sufficient to support the augmentation of the penalty.

The practical consequence is this: those women who, after undergoing pseudo-ordination, compound their canonical crimes by simulating Holy Mass, cannot be restored to full communion (basically per 1983 CIC 1347 and 1358) upon repentance from their attempted ordinations; they must also repent of their mockeries against the Mass.

I'll admit that I threw up a little bit when I read this:

Music ministers should focus on building bridges and creating unity, speakers said at the National Association of Pastoral Musicians' Western Regional Convention in Sacramento Aug. 1-4. The principle that all are one in the body of the Lord is more important than cultural, ideological, musical or liturgical differences, they said. "We need to resist going down the black hole of anger regarding how we translate our texts, what we will sing, or which musical styles are most appropriate for our Masses," said liturgical composer David Haas in an opening keynote Aug. 1. "We still have something wonderful to sing about: God is still here, calling all of us to receive what we have been given from God as gift and give it back lavishly in service to the Lord and one another," he added. About 600 people, mostly church musicians but some liturgists and clergy as well, attended the convention at the Sacramento Radisson Hotel. They came from California and more than 30 other states and several other nations.

Well, I would just say that there's a little text that is supposed to foster unity. It's called the General Instruction of the Roman Missal. If everyone's egos weren't getting in the way: priests celebrating Mass whatever way they want, lay people bopping around all over the sanctuary for no apparent reason, and 'music ministers' and 'liturgists' who are more concerned with what they want themselves than what is appropriate for the greatest event in the whole history of the world, THEN PERHAPS WE'LL HAVE UNITY.

Until then, Mr. Haas, don't hold your breath. Since you and your ilk are mostly responsible for these unfortunate incidents, I would just say: Physician, heal thyself.

Sorry for the venom, but I'm out of patience with this sort of stuff. I respect the guy because in his mind he's serving the Church, but I really think that in the end he's done a real disservice instead.

Sisters of Mercy praying for the cause of their foundress:

Mercy Sister Teresa Okonski has a special affection for the foundress of her religious community, Mother Catherine McAuley.

Recently, the Erie sister traveled to Dublin, Ireland, where Mother McAuley (1778-1841) started the Sisters of Mercy in 1831. There, she visited the House of Mercy that Mother McAuley built for poor women and children. Also, reflective moments at her grave provided Sister Teresa with a life-changing experience.

"I felt an awesome connection to her," she said. "I learned in a new way the tremendous generosity of this woman." That, she said, included Mother McAuley's use of her inheritance to build the House of Mercy for about $1 million.

"She was a woman who lived totally for God. It was because of her holiness that she was able to do so much in such a short period of time," Sister Teresa said.

OK so I could make a nasty comment between this beautiful description of Mother McAuley and the current lifestyle of her spiritual daughters, but I'll take the high road.

She did write a beautiful prayer that was set to music by a professor I know.

Suscipe of Catherine McAuley:
My God, I am yours for all time and eternity. Teach me to cast myself entirely into the arms of your loving providence, with most lively, unlimited confidence in your compassionate, tender pity. Grant me, O most merciful Redeemer, that whatever you ordain or permit may be acceptable to me. Take from my heart all painful anxiety; suffer nothing to sadden me but sin, nothing to delight me but the hope of coming to the possession of you, my God and my all, in your everlasting kingdom. Amen.

Ironic Catholic (who never fails to make me smile) starts a new series: the Top 100 Ironic Reasons to be Catholic. My favorites so far:

#98: When singing in the choir, it's helpful to remember that the people listening are ordered to forgiveness before receiving Eucharist.

#91: We've got theology; others have choir practice.

Joseph Pearce at the First Things blog on cohabitation:

Isn’t it funny how “experts” eventually discover what those with a modicum of common sense have known all along? The latest example of experts stating the obvious, having expended much time and money “proving” it, emerged from research published in the journal Demography last month. Apparently, cohabitation is only an “intense form of dating,” and the view that it is a stepping stone to marriage needs to be “seriously questioned.”

Research as part of a Cornell University study revealed that the average time couples spend “living together” is less than two years and that only 4 percent of cohabiting couples stay together for more than ten years. Half of all cohabiting “unions” end within a year, and 90 percent within five years. As ever, it is the children who suffer from this laissez-faire approach to relationships. Within five years of the birth of a child, 52 percent of cohabitants split up. This compares to 25 percent of those cohabiting couples who marry after the birth of the child, and only 8 percent of those couples who were already married when the child was born. Thus the experts have finally come to the earth-shattering (and earth-shatteringly obvious) conclusion that marriage is good for the stability of relationships and crucial to the well-being of children.

From CNA:

The Catholic University of America’s women’s lacrosse team will be walking on thin ice this season following a freshman initiation party involving a male stripper--something university officials are calling “contrary to the values” of the university.

The university opted to forfeit three games from last year’s season which occurred after the party and place the 2006-07 team on probation.

ESPN reported that photos from the off-campus party were posted on the internet under the heading “"Catholic University Women's Lacrosse Initiation Party 2006."

The school’s athletic director, Michael Allen said in a statement this week that "After interviewing members of the lacrosse team and carefully reviewing the facts, we have determined that team members engaged in regrettable activities that are contrary to the expectations we have for our students and to the values of the university."

From Catholic World News:

Pope Benedict XVI is sending Cardinal Roger Etchegaray as his personal emissary to visit Lebanon.

The former president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace will travel to Lebanon next week, on a visit that Vatican officials describe as "spiritual and humanitarian" rather than political. He plans to celebrate the feast of the Assumption, August 15, along with the embattled country's most prominent religious leader, Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Pierre Sfeir.

The AsiaNews service has reported that Cardinal Etchegaray planned to meet not only with Church leaders but also with ranking Lebanese political figures such as President Emile Lahoud and Prime Minister Fouad Siniora. However, the Roman news agency I Media said that the political meetings were no longer on the cardinal's schedule.

Cardinal Etchegaray will be traveling as a personal repesentative of the Pope, rather than as an official of the Holy See. That subtle distinction is intended to make it easier for the French prelate to maneuver quietly without affecting official Vatican policies.

From dotCommonweal:

Given the interest in Latin on this blog, I thought people would like to know that Reginald Foster, OCD, the well-known Vatican Latinist, will be speaking at Notre Dame soon.

Is Latin Really Dead?
Why the Academy and the Church Should Preserve the Latin Language

An informal conversation with
Reginald Foster, O.C.D.
Department of Latin Letters
Secretariat of State
The Vatican

Date: Thursday, August 24, 2006

Time: 4:30 p.m.

Place: Notre Dame Law School, Room 120

OK I think this guy is a riot. He does a segment on Vatican Radio every week and I think he's so funny. I've read a little bit about him and he certainly seems like a piece of work.

More about Fr. Foster from a former student here including some articles written about him.

From CNA:

On August 11th, David Thomas Dawson will be the first person to be put to death in the state of Montana in almost a decade. This week, Bishop George Leo Thomas of the Diocese of Helena spoke out against the impending execution calling for a dismantling of what he calls an obsolete system.

In 1987, Dawson was convicted of three counts of homicide and four counts of aggravated kidnapping in connection with the murders of David and Monica Rodstein and their 11-year-old son Andrew. A second child, 15-year old Amy, was kidnapped but survived.

Bishop Thomas said, in a letter published in the Helena Independent Record newspaper, that while Dawson’s crimes were unspeakably horrific, “The Gospel mandates that we ‘love our enemies and pray for those who have harmed us.’” He also cited the author C.S. Lewis, who once exclaimed, “If you want a religion that is really comfortable, I don’t recommend Christianity.”

Sorry for the third 9/11 post of the day but stories of where God was on that awful day are very encouraging to me. From CNA:

Will Jimeno, whose story of survival in the 9/11 attacks is retold in the new Oliver Stone movie “World Trade Center,” said this week his Catholic faith and an unexpected vision kept him alive during the long hours in which he was trapped under the rubble of the twin towers.

“What kept me going was the faith in God that my mother instilled in me as a Catholic. And, as the last Pope (John Paul II) said, we Hispanics have very great faith,” Jimeno told the EFE news agency in one of dozens of interviews he has granted.

“World Trade Center” recounts the story of Jimeno and John McLoughlin, two New York police officers who ran into the second tower to help rescue people. When the tower collapsed, all of their fellow officers were crushed to death. Jimeno and McLoughlin managed to survive 12 hours under the rubble, unable to see one another but at least able to communicate. Only 20 people were pulled from the rubble, alive - Jimeno was number 18 and McLoughlin number 19.

Another reason for the significance of September 11: the practice of Eucahristic Adoration began on that day!

I was preparing my liturgical notes and resources for the month of September and I came across this from Wikipedia.

The practice of adoration began in Avignon, France on September 11, 1226. To celebrate and give thanks for the victory over the Albigensians in the later battles of the Albigensian Crusade, King Louis VII asked that the sacrament be placed on display at the Chapel of the Holy Cross. The overwhelming number of adorers brought the local bishop, Pierre de Corbie, to suggest that the exposition be continued indefinitely. With the permission of Pope Honorius III, the idea was ratified and the adoration continued there practically uninterrupted until the chaos of the French Revolution halted it from 1792 until the efforts of the "Confraternity of Penitents-Gris" brought it back in 1829.

How accurate this is, I'm not sure. If I can think of a place to verify the date, I'll certainly do it. Interesting at least.

Another Wiki gem:

It has been suggested by Ernest L. Martin that Jesus of Nazareth was born on September 11 in 3 BC when the moon moved in a rare pattern with Venus generating the Star of Bethlehem.

Good morning!

I came back to Springfield last night for a few more days of organizing, sorting, doing work, and getting settled.

Today is the feast of Saint Lawrence, deacon and martyr. He's got a great story. Mike over at Way of the Fathers has a nice post. He calls St. Lawrence the first Catholic gridiron star... if you know his story you'll know why that's funny.

I really like the Catholic Culture page for today. It has a lot of details of his life.

So we remember in our prayers today all the deacons of the Church. May they always minister with the zeal of Saint Lawrence and imitate his commitment to the pope and to the poor.

Anthony Sacramone reviews Oliver Stone's new World Trade Center movie on the First Things blog:

“The whole frickin’ world is comin’ to an end today,” someone says in Oliver Stone’s new film World Trade Center. It didn’t. But Stone demonstrates quite convincingly why many could be forgiven for thinking it would.

Forget about JFK, Nixon, and Natural Born Killers. There are no conspiracy theories or bombastic tirades by antiheros championing peculiar ideologies. This amazing film—all the more amazing because of who is behind the camera—is a working-class view of what started out to be just another commute from Jersey and the Bronx and Staten Island into Port Authority police headquarters. A group of ordinary cops on a sunny day in September are told to keep an eye out for an 11-year-old runaway from Rhode Island. This was the pressing police matter on the morning of September 11.

The whole review is worth reading. I'm not sure I want to see it just yet. For me it's still too soon.

Maybe I'm wrong, but it seems rare to hear from the Camerlengo:

The Camarlengo of the Supreme Pontiff, Cardinal Eduardo Martinez Somalo, said this week Pope Benedict XVI continues to urge a ceasefire based on mercy, in order to bring about definitive solutions that will lead to reconciliation.

“The Pope asks us insistently to pray to the Lord, that He might have mercy on humanity so that it might live in peace,” the cardinal told reporters.

“The message being conveyed by the Holy Father, which other pontiffs have proclaimed as well, continues to be the same and equally urgent: there is nothing to lose with peace and everything to lose with war,” the cardinal stated.

Wikipedia kindly reminds us of what a camerlengo is.

Cardinal Martinez's Catholic Hierarchy entry.

Well, I think I'm done with moving everything over to the new system. If you encounter any broken links or if something just doesn't look right, please email me right away at thekeysaremightier [at] gmail.com. Don't assume someone else will send me a note about it. Once you see something wrong, let me know right away.

Of course, feedback is very important to me so please let me know what you think good or bad!

I haven't had a chance to run through them all yet, but Amy has posted a number of links on Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein) whose liturgical memorial is celebrated today. Based on the comments to her post, I'd say they all seem well worth a look today.

Mounties will be interested in this. An article in the Chicago Trib about Rob Spaulding, the sem who killed two of his classmates on the Mundelein campus when he was driving drunk last year. It was very well-written and quite heartfelt:

If forgiveness and redemption are the heart of the Gospel message, Rob Spaulding may be well-qualified to preach it. He has grown quite familiar with both.

Spaulding, then a seminarian at the University of St. Mary's of the Lake in Mundelein, was driving drunk and speeding through the wooded campus last September when the car crashed, killing passengers and fellow students Jared Cheek, 23, and Matthew "Matty" Molnar, 28. A fourth student broke an arm.

Spaulding was suspended from the seminary after the crash. He pleaded guilty in February and could have been imprisoned for 10 years. He was given probation and community service, thanks to pleas from the victims' mothers.

"I [did] not want him to go to jail, and Jared would not want him to go to jail," said Joan Magette, Cheek's mother, who told prosecutors of her wishes and his father's. She breathed a sigh of relief at Spaulding's May 2 sentencing. "We know that Jared is in a good place right now, so all of our worries are focused around Rob."

Spaulding, 28, still plans to become a priest, if the Catholic Church will let him. His future in the priesthood will be decided after he completes his court-ordered community service, perhaps by the end of the year.

He struggles with guilt but not his faith.

"I have experienced God's presence like never before, especially through the absolute forgiveness I have received" from Magette and Pam Molnar, Matty's mother, he said. Molnar's father died years ago.

OK I was absolutely floored by this news from Rocco: in today's Bollettino from the Holy See, it announced the resignation of Bishop Bennett, SJ of Mandeville, Jamaica. He's only 59 and he got there just two years ago after being a popular Baltimore auxiliary for six years.

He came to the Mount when I went to school there and gave us a five day retreat that was out of this world. I have the CDs of it and everything. He was also the commencement speaker that year.

Rocco promises more news when he gets it and I'll post it here once I see it. I'm sure the Mounties are interested in this one so I'll be sure to pass along info.

With all the talk of women's ordination in the news these last few weeks, Curt Jester brings up some interesting points about following through some of the logic applied in these cases.

This makes me sad:

Bishop Andreas Abouna, Auxiliary Bishop of Baghdad’s Chaldean Archdiocese, told the United Kingdom's branch of Aid to the Church in Need that the Church in Iraq is in serious trouble and is in desperate need of hope, as more and more Christians flee the county.

Bishop Abouna said that Christians in Iraq, who continue to suffer from the violence and fighting which afflicts the country, are fleeing in great numbers. While nearly 1.2 million Christians resided in the primarily Muslim country before the war, an estimated half of them, or 600,000 Christians to date, have sought refuge elsewhere.

In Baghdad itself, the bishop said, up to 75 percent of Christians have left, some of whom have remained in the country and sought refuge in the safer northern areas of Iraq. Many of those who have remained are simply too old or infirm to move.

I often wonder... what is the best thing for these people: should they leave or should they stay?

From Catholic News Agency:

Ignatius Press, a major Catholic publisher based in San Francisco has announced the launch of a new series--similar to the popular “Purpose Driven Life” series written by Evangelical leader Rick Warren--but focused on the particularly Catholic search for one’s life vocation.

The series, called “LifeWork,” is written by Rick Sarkisian, a vocational rehabilitation consultant who believes that society is sorely in need of what he calls a “culture of vocations.”

“Not only is there a shortage of priests and nuns” he says, “but also of Catholics in the broader Church community who have a true understanding of God’s calling to each of them…to a unique, unrepeatable plan for their lives.”

Via Catholic Light: The National Catholic Register and Faith & Family magazine got together to come up with the Top 100 Pro-Catholic Movies.

Here are the top 10:
1. The Passion of the Christ (2004)
2. The Sound of Music (1965)
3. A Man For All Seasons (1966)
4. The Song of Bernadette (1943)
5. It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)
6. The Ten Commandments (1956)
7. The Scarlet and the Black (1983)
8. Jesus of Nazareth (1977)
9. Schindler’s List (1993)
10. The Bells of St Mary’s (1945)

Don't worry everyone... Sister Act is #27.

CNA had a story on Friday about an interview given by Fr. Ganswein, the pope's secretary:

In an interview with Vatican Radio, Pope Benedict XVI’s personal secretary revealed that if there is any one thing that is present in all that the Holy Father says and does, it is his desire to show that only, “the faith makes living joyful and brings joy to life.”

Father Georg Gänswein was named personal secretary of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger in 2003 and has remained in the post as his papal secretary. On the occasion of his 50th birthday, he granted an interview to Vatican Radio in which he revealed that the daily life of the Holy Father is filled with work but that he always has time for prayer and meditation.

The German priest says that what has stood out most during the first year of Benedict XVI’s pontificate is his desire to show, both in word and in deed, that true joy in life comes from the faith. “This is present in everything he says…and this joy of the faith should infect us as well,” he said.

The Pope’s day begins with Mass at 7am, followed by Morning Prayer and a period of contemplation and silence before the Lord. Afterwards we eat breakfast together, and my day then begins with sorting through the correspondence, which arrives every day in considerable quantity. The day continues with a brief conversation with the Holy Father and then I accompany him, as is the custom, to the private audiences that take place before midday in the ‘Seconda Logia.’ Afterward we eat lunch together and then take a short walk before resting. The second half of our day begins with perusing correspondence again, and I present to the Pope that which is most important and which requires his signature, or his study and approval. Naturally there are a host of things that come to the attention of the Holy Father but that are not, as such, part of the ordinary routine and that are of a second, third or fourth order,” Father Georg explained. He added that one of his main tasks is to “protect the Holy Father from the enormous amount of mail, papers, and letters so that he can do what truly needs to be done, with due tranquility.”

Father Georg noted that there are, “some things that must be kept confidential and out of the public eye,” and consequently this responsibility, “is for me a sign of the trust the Holy Father has in me, and therefore in everything I do and say, and don’t say, I try to always remain worthy of this trust.”

Having known the Pope for eleven years, Father Georg says he sees no difference between Joseph Ratzinger the cardinal and Joseph Ratzinger the Pope. “Of course, the office accentuates certain characteristics, but his personality, his friendliness and his brilliance are the same as ever,” he noted.

Father Georg added that because he works closely with the pontiff every day he does not feel much nervousness. “But of course I know well who the Holy Father is and therefore when I am with him, I behave accordingly. Nevertheless, there are times when my heart does begin to pound a bit more than normal,” he joked.

From Catholic News Agency:

The Archdiocese of Chicago said yesterday, that while Cardinal Francis George remains in stable condition, he has been held in the Intensive Care Unit due to an, “episode of bleeding” on Saturday morning.

A press release on the 69-year old Archbishop of Chicago who is recovering from two surgeries to combat bladder cancer, said that his vital signs are normal, blood counts are stable, and he has no fever.

The cardinal is reportedly ready to get back to a more active life and had begun a solid food diet before bleeding was discovered on Saturday. The archdiocesean press release said that the Cardinal underwent two tests Saturday and that the “episode of bleeding experienced early Saturday morning was self-limited.”

Well, it's only the seventh day of the month and already I'm sick of it. I hate the lack of blog-worthy news during August. Of course, other bloggers are blogging away but I hate just repeating their stuff (not to mention that a lot of what's being posted is of very little interest to me... no offense to them, of course, that's the personal nature of blogging).

Well, I've been extremely productive today and I'm going to keep working until 8 then head home. I have over 70 stories and articles to catch up on so I'm sure I'll find some stuff to post in no time. Until then, let me know what's up in your neck of the woods: thekeysaremightier [at] gmail.com.

OK so it's been a long day. I went to the parish this morning for Mass and it was really nice. No one sang but the church was pretty packed. I talked to the pastor and one of the seniors afterwards and they were very welcoming.

I've spent the rest of the day setting up the wireless router and arranging my books. I also made my first trip to the Springfield Wal-Mart. Not exactly the best visit since there were quite a few people and not very many cashiers (and the few they had weren't exactly in a rush).

So my office at the house is all set-up including the fridge. The bedroom has all the furniture and I'll put stuff away in there tomorrow. I'm covering funerals back home for a few days and we have one on Tuesday so I'm going back tomorrow night. Another chance to do some packing and cleaning.

Now I'm trying to read up on everything I've been missing all weekend. I'll be posting quite a load tonight to catch up while I watch reruns of my shows.

To get started... I thought this was funny. From Kyle:

An undertaker with a rattlesnake problem

Just a quick post:

Bill was wondering why I hadn't blogged about Cardinal O'Malley's meeting with Voice of the Faithful yesterday. Well, I was all pumped to get a briefing in this morning's Globe, but when I read it, I was underwhelmed as you'll no doubt agree.

It was so boring that Michael Paulson didn't even write the article:

Cardinal Sean P. O'Malley met yesterday with local leaders of Voice of the Faithful, the first sit-down meeting he has had with the lay group since they were banned from meeting in parishes in 2002.

O'Malley and the Rev. Richard Erikson, vicar general and moderator of the curia, met with four representatives of the Voice of the Faithful, including Dorothy Kennedy, the group's spokeswoman.

``It was a good meeting," said Kennedy, who was reached by telephone moments after the meeting, which lasted an hour and a half. Kennedy declined to comment on what was discussed and whether future meetings were planned.

Last week, O'Malley's office downplayed the significance of the meeting and said the cardinal has not decided to revise the Boston Archdiocese's policy toward the group, including a ban imposed on the group by Cardinal Bernard F. Law.

Leaders of the group, which was formed in Wellesley at the height of the clergy sexual abuse crisis in February 2002, said the meeting symbolized O'Malley's willingness to talk with an organization that has been demonized by some in the church.

Voice of the Faithful, which says it has 30,000 members across the country, has had a three-point agenda since its founding: Support victims of abuse, support ``priests of integrity," and its most controversial goal, ``to shape structural change within the church."

While group leaders would not discuss yesterday's agenda, the Boston organization has advocated legislative changes to remove or modify statutes of limitations that make it difficult to bring legal charges in sexual abuse accusations dating from years ago, and the group has also been urging the archdiocese to publicly list names of abusive priests.

Terrence C. Donilon, spokesman for the archdiocese, described the meeting as ``a helpful conversation about important issues and the continued renewal of parish life in the archdiocese."

I'll check the blogosphere tomorrow for anyone else's take. Mine is zzzzzzzzzzz....

So hellllllo!

Long day today... funeral for a family friend this morning then packing at home. Then I drove to Manchester, NH for time with the extended family. Tonight I drove all the way out to Springfield where I just got in not too long ago. I plan to stay here until Monday night... first night in the new place!

I have tons of stuff to post but not the time to do it right now. I'm exhausted and I know that the best thing I can do right now is to lug my things in from the car, but do I really want to do that? I'll probably grab the TV and the violin at least. The fridge I should do now too just to get it out of the way. We'll see.

Tomorrow morning: I'm going to the parish of the school I'm working at for Sunday Mass to have myself a look around before anyone knows who I am. I'll let you know.

Well I'm here in Springfield and all is well. I've moved bunches of my things in and tried to settle a bit. I didn't manage to get all the books here but I did most. I have scads of lesson plans due "by today" so I'm going to get to some of that now. Blogging will probably be light until Sunday afternoon/evening.

More in a little bit...

Well, I'm up before 9 for the first time all week. Yay summer vacation.

I'm heading up to Springfield today with a carload. I have some things from when I was at PC for the summer in the car plus I'm trying to load all my books too. This is no small task. Not to mention that all the books have not ever been organized since I've always split my time and my stuff between school (wherever that may be at the time) and home. Now that I have a new "home" along with a real job, I'll be able to bring the books. Now, of course, I will be leaving a bookcase full behind at my parents, but other than that, all are going to Springfield.

So I'm already frustrated and annoyed by trying to get everything in the car. We'll see how this goes. Of course, the computer is coming, but internet access may not be possible so I may not blog until tonight. Hopefully that won't be the case.

Lata peeps.

This is utterly fascinating to me. Sandro Magister reported that the eminent theologian Alberto Bonandi just wrote an article opening up the idea of readmitting divorced and remarried Catholics to communion. I thought it was interesting.

Today on the First Things blog, Robert T. Miller responds quite candidly:

Novelty indeed. A moral theologian whose stature rather exceeds that of Fr. Bonandi, our Lord Jesus Christ, taught that, Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her, and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery (Mark 10:11). Another moral theologian of somewhat lesser stature, but still greater than Fr. Bonandi, St. Paul the Apostle, taught regarding admission to Communion that, Whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily sins against the body and blood of the Lord (1 Cor. 11:27). From apostolic times onward, therefore, the Church has not admitted to Communion those who—in the now quaint-sounding phrase—were living in sin.
...

I grow tired of famous theologians engaging in abject special pleading for sexual sins. Imagine, if you will, that the sin in question were not sexual but financial. We have not an adulterer but a thief who comes to the priest and says, “Father, I used to be an honest man, making a modest livelihood digging ditches, but that was a drag, so I became a professional thief. I do big heists now—artwork, jewelry, antiques. I’d like to be readmitted to Communion, but thievery is now the only livelihood I know. I’ve acquired special skills, formed business relationships with dealers in stolen property, have plans for big heists in the future. It’s just emotionally impossible for me to imagine living as an honest man. Besides, my wife and children are accustomed to the lifestyle thievery provides. If I had to repay all I stole, I’d have to liquidate my securities portfolio, sell my house, pull my kids from Catholic school, not buy them iPods for their birthdays, and so on. There are people depending on me, Father, and the only way I have to keep them in the material things they deserve is by stealing. So what do you say? If I do some penance and follow the Bonandi path, may I receive absolution and be readmitted to Communion, even though I’m going to continue stealing? After all, I wish I had never become a thief, but I did, and I can’t change that now. Can you help me out?”

Now suppose some silly theologian writes an article saying that we ought to absolve this man and readmit him to Communion, even though he’s going to continue thieving. Wouldn’t this be absolutely absurd? But let the sin be a sexual sin, and we’ll believe anything, publish anything, tolerate anything. No nonsense is too patent for us.

As for Fr. Bonandi, I suspect he simply lacks the moral courage to tell the man in his office that he has to do what Christian morality has always demanded. Bonandi seems to have forgotten that there’s an exact precedent for all this in the gospel. Left alone with the woman caught in adultery, Christ did not say to her, Do penance, then enjoy a healthy sexual relationship with your paramour. He said, rather, You may go, but from now on, avoid this sin (John 8:11). Fr. Bonandi should go and do likewise.

There are words in this article that are foreign to our language in this country like ethics and unborn child. Wow, our big, bad advanced country should take note.

An article about an Argentine woman who won a court battle to procure an abortion last week is now unable to get one:

The unborn child of handicapped woman who conceived through rape has been spared because he is too far developed for the abortion to be performed. The doctors who would have been tasked with administering the abortion refused to do so because technically it would have required "induced delivery."

The Health Minister of the Buenos Aires province, Claudio Mate, confirmed that since the mother was in her fifth month of pregnancy, "any kind of procedure carried out on her would no longer be an abortion but rather an induced delivery."

On Wednesday doctors at the San Martin Hospital-where the abortion was to take place-refused to carry out the procedure, after an ethics committee met to debate the length of gestation of the pregnancy. They warned of ethical and medical complications in administering abortion during the 19th week of development.

"In light of the advanced pregnancy of the young woman who is interned here, it is practically impossible to administer an abortion," Mate said, adding that "all of the parameters were determined and technically speaking any intervention we might carry out would no longer be an abortion but rather an induced delivery or mini-cesarean.

From Catholic World News:

Archbishop Gabriel Montalvo Higuera, who served as the Vatican's representative in Washington from 1998 to 2005, died in Rome on August 2 after a long illness.

The Colombian-born prelate, who served most of his priestly ministry in the Vatican diplomatic corps, retired in December 2005 from his last post, as apostolic nuncio in the US. He had previously been nuncio to Nicaragua, Honduras, Alergia, Tunisia, Libya, Yugoslavia, and Belarus. He was also the former president of the Pontifical Ecclesial Academy, the training ground for Vatican diplomacy.

Archbishop Montalvo was replaced in Washington by Archbishop Pietro Sambi, another veteran Vatican diplomat.

Archbishop Montalvo's page at Catholic Hierarchy

It would seem that the Boston Globe posted this story before the San Francisco Chronicle (nothing about it appears on their site):

Five months after Catholic Charities in Boston pulled out of the adoption business, its affiliated agency in San Francisco announced today it was ending its work as a full adoption agency because of the controversy over gay adoptions.

This is curious:

Cahill emphasized that his agency, which had been finalizing adoptions for nearly a century, would still be active in the preparatory and follow-up work related to adoption, though not directly in "individual home studies, specific family/child matching, adoptive placement or finalizations." He said three full-time staff members, whose paychecks will come from Catholic Charities, will be assigned to work in the offices of California Kids Connection, a nonprofit group that specializes in adoption information and referrals.

He said that the Catholic Charities staffers will assist any prospective foster or adoptive parents who approaches California Kids Connection, regardless of sexual orientation, and if that work leads to a match between a gay parent and a foster child, that is fine. "God loves them all," he said.

In any case:

Cahill said his understanding of Vatican teachings is that a Catholic agency cannot be "directly involved in the placement" of a child. He said his agency's plan has been approved by Archbishop George Niederauer, and Cahill said he understood that Niederauer consulted Vatican officials on this plan.

From Catholic News Agency on embryonic stem cells:

One week after the European Union voted to approve funding for embryonic stem-cell research through 2013, two leading British scientists say that any potential cures from embryonic stem cell research are many years away, if ever they occur, reported LifeNews. They say media and lawmakers, who want funding for the controversial research, have managed to distort public opinion.

Professor Colin McGuckin, a specialist in regenerative medicine at Newcastle University, says the potential for embryonic stem-cell research to cure diseases like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease had been exaggerated.

He also said funding is being mismanaged. He believes more funds should be directed for resolving basic health problems, such as infectious diseases which are killing millions of people in developing countries, rather than for speculative fields like embryonic stem-cell research.

Dr. Stephen Minger, director of the Stem Cell Biology Laboratory at King's College in London, has said people should not have false expectations that these therapies are just around the corner. In fact, he said much more "fundamental research" is needed before embryonic stem cells can ever come close to actually helping patients.

From Catholic World News:

Cardinal Johannes Willebrands, a leading Catholic figure in ecumenical affairs in the years after Vatican II, died August 1 at a nursing home in the Netherlands.

At the age of 96, Cardinal Willebrands had been the oldest living member of the College of Cardinals. (That distinction is now held by Cardinal Alfons Stickler, the retired Vatican archivist, whose 96th birthday will be August 23.)

Cardinal Willebrands had served for nearly 30 years in the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity. He was named secretary of that Council in 1960 when it was first established by Pope John XXIII, and promoted by Pope Paul VI to become the Council's president in 1969. He resigned that post in December 1989. He also served as Archbishop of Utrecht from 1975 to 1983. He was raised to the College of Cardinals by Pope Paul in 1975.

The Cardinal's page on Catholic Hierarchy.

As of 1:25pm ET, it is 97 degrees where I live and the heat index is 109...

And we don't have AC:

It is so hot in New England today that trains have been slowed out of fear that the metal rails may warp.

It’s so hot crews are looking for sagging power lines, which can stretch and droop at high temperatures and come too close to trees.

It is so hot that Kiki and the six other gorillas at the Franklin Park Zoo in Boston are slurping frozen fruit juice, while the four ostriches in the African Safari exhibit frolic in a spray of water from a garden hose.

“They are happy as clams,” said zoo spokeswoman Melissa Grossenbacher.

It is so hot, in fact, people aren’t eating ice cream.

“When it’s this hot, (business) drops off because no one goes outside,” said Chris Richardson, whose family runs Richardson's Ice Cream in Franklin. “The best time for ice cream is in the 80s. When it’s this hot, people stay home.”

Even the 400 cows in Richardson dairy farm which make the shop’s 78 flavors of ice cream have had enough, with milk production slowing to a crawl.

Forecaster are predicting a high of 101 degrees in Boston today, just one degree shy of the Aug. 2 record, set in 1975. The heat index – a combination of heat and humidity – could hit 115 degrees.

It is so hot that Suffolk Downs cancelled horse racing, and the Boston Public schools made summer school classes “optional.”

It is so hot the T in Boston has imposed a 40 miles per hour speed restriction on all subway lines, with a heat kink on the Red Line forcing a 10 mile per hour speed limit between Charles/MGH and Kendall.

It’s so hot that Fenway Park has set up misting machines at tonight’s game against Cleveland Indians to keep fans cool.

It’s so hot that the state Department of Correction has set up fans at the end of housing tiers at its intake center at MCI Concord to keep air flowing among the 1,300 inmates and cancelled all outside activities, said spokeswoman Diane Wiffin.

It’s so hot that power officials have predicted that New England will break its all-time record for power usage set on Tuesday, when it sucked 27,401 megawatts. ISO New England spokesman Ken McDonnell predicted that the six states combined may almost hit 28,500 megawatts mark by the time the heat breaks.

This is exciting:

Because of conflicts in the Catholic Church's liturgical calendar, the Vatican has decided that in 2008 the dates of the feasts of St. Joseph and of the Annunciation of the Lord will be moved.

Working a year and a half in advance to meet the needs of publishers of church calendars, the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments published its notification on the 2008 changes in mid-July.

In 2008, if the feast of St. Joseph were to be celebrated as usual on March 19, it would fall on the Wednesday of Holy Week and if the feast of the Annunciation of the Lord were to be celebrated March 25, it would fall on the Tuesday during the octave of Easter.

While the two feasts are among the 14 solemnities marked with special care in the Catholic Church, they do not take precedence over the commemoration of Christ's suffering, death and resurrection.

Therefore, the congregation said, in 2008 the feast of St. Joseph will be celebrated March 15, the day before Palm Sunday, and the feast of the Annunciation will be celebrated March 31, the Monday after the second Sunday of Easter, which also is Divine Mercy Sunday.

Test results look good for Cardinal George:

Cardinal Francis George’s pathology results indicate that there is no evidence of any cancer remaining in his body, announced his personal physician, Dr. Myles Sheehan.

Dr. Sheehan, who is also a Jesuit priest, shared the news with journalists yesterday at the Loyola University Medical Center, where the 69-year-old cardinal was operated upon and is convalescing.

Tests indicate that the tumor was, “contained within the bladder and ureters without evidence of extension or metastases,” said Dr. Sheehan. The cardinal does not currently require radiation or chemotherapy, but he will be monitored for recurrence.

“We do not know absolutely if the cardinal is cured nor can we say definitively that he is cancer-free. What we can say is that the cardinal is a cancer survivor with a good prognosis and that there is no evidence for any cancer remaining in his body,” he added.

News from Magister tomorrow... stay tuned:

In a column to be released this Wednesday, renowned Vatican analyst Sandro Magister of the Italian weekly “L’Espresso” says the Pope’s summer agenda at Castel Gandolfo will focus on Darwinism and Islam.

According to Magister, this summer the Pontiff will host another of his study circles with his former students that he began decades ago and which he has maintained during his pontificate. This time discussions will focus on “Christianity and Evolution,” although the subject of Islam, which was the focus last year, will also be on the agenda.

Magister will reveal in his column the name of the individual who will lead the discussion on evolution and which texts will be analyzed during this year’s sessions.

Source

I guess I was in the mood for a little history. Mike Aquilina has a post on Diocletian. I'm pretty sure I'd heard it all before but I forgotten most of it. Of course, keeping all the wannabe emperors straight at the time when Constantine was rising through the ranks is damn near impossible.

Check out the history:

Diocetian’s name turns up frequently on this blog. It was he, after all, who — more than any other Roman emperor — made martyrdom widely available to the greatest number of Christians. But pity the man, at least for a moment.

Diocletian saw the empire suffering repeated civil wars, and he knew that something was wrong in the basic structure of the Empire itself.

First of all, in order to restore the respect for the Emperor that had been tattered by the years of uprisings, he decided to imitate Eastern kings. Instead of presenting himself as one of the people, Diocletian magnified himself into a god, an awful figure who could be approached only with fear and trembling — and through a system of etiquette that was painfully complex. He wore splendid robes and surrounded himself with ceremony every hour of the day. He also made sure that the ancient Roman religion was restored to its former dignity — and unlike most upper-class Romans, he seems to have really believed in the old gods.

But restoring respect for the Emperor was only the beginning of his plan. Diocletian came up with a brilliant scheme to end the civil wars forever. The problem, as he saw it, was that there was no set way to choose an emperor. Usually whoever had the largest part of the army behind him became emperor, but often different emperors were proclaimed in different parts of the Empire, and civil war was the inevitable result.

So Diocletian decided to scrap the whole system and start over. Instead of one Emperor for the enormous Roman Empire, there would be four — two Augusti and two Caesars. Each Augustus would rule for twenty years and then retire. During those twenty years, he would choose his Caesar, someone whose ability he trusted, and when the Augustus retired the Caesar would become a new Augustus. The elder of the two Augusti would be the head of the whole Empire. This way, there would be no doubt about who was to become the next emperor. And an ambitious Caesar wouldn’t be tempted to rebel, because he knew he would become Augustus when the current Augustus retired. Diocletian picked his other Augustus and the first two Caesars carefully — they were men who had shown exceptional ability as military leaders, and they seemed to be loyal to him and to his dream of a restored Roman Empire. Diocletian installed himself in the city of Nicomedia, southeast of where Istanbul is now, and the other Emperors chose the capitals that seemed most convenient for administering their sections of the Empire.

Diocletian was quite tolerant of the Christians. In fact, some of his best friends were Christians — even his wife and daughter were at least Christian sympathizers. His court was filled with Christians, and he seemed to trust them more than he did anyone else except the pagan priests. For most of his reign, the Church was left at peace, and it continued to grow.

But the pagan priests saw the writing on the wall. If Christianity continued to flourish, they would all be out of jobs. Diocletian was completely devoted to their pagan superstitions. But Diocletian was getting to be an old man, and according to his own system he was scheduled to retire soon. Here was their last chance to get rid of the Christians before the Christians got rid of them.

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette story with video!

Amy's post

Rocco's post

Via Gerald: lyrics to the female ordination song (if you missed this yesterday)

I wouldn't be sad if this was the last post on this, but I'm not holding my breath.