Well, I hope you're all keeping track of Cardinal O'Malley's blog. It's been amazing so far. I had high expectations, but he's certainly gone beyond what I expected. He's even enabled comments. I read several dozen of them and I was floored. People from all over the world were saying things I've known all along: he's stinkin awesome!

Everytime he says "lol" I lose it! I wonder how that would sound in his voice if he said it out loud!

Check it out over there. It promises to be good all week.

Well, it seems our friend Cardinal Sean has shocked the world again. This time, he's starting a blog! From this morning's Globe:

Cardinal Sean P. O'Malley, who wears a friar's habit designed nearly 500 years ago and who eschews most material possessions, today is taking a giant leap into the 21st century: He is becoming a blogger.

Following the lead of numerous political, entertainment, and sports figures who are flirting with new communication media in an effort to reach the public, O'Malley is planning to file items at least once a day during a 10-day trip to Rome that begins today and will consider making the blog permanent, depending on how the experiment goes.

``I am . . . looking forward to a new opportunity to communicate directly with Catholics of the archdiocese through my own blog," O'Malley, the Roman Catholic archbishop of Boston, said in a statement yesterday. ``While this is a new venture for me and for the archdiocese, I am eager to take advantage of the latest technology and mode of communication to share with Catholics of the archdiocese my experiences as I return to Rome and, more importantly, to share with everyone a sense of what it is that Boston's archbishop does on business in Rome representing the people of the archdiocese."

O'Malley is traveling to Rome primarily for a ceremony associated with his new status as a cardinal: On Oct. 1, he will formally take possession of his titular church, Santa Maria della Vittoria in Rome. O'Malley will have nominal administrative and financial oversight of the church, which is famous as the home of a provocative Bernini statue and as the setting for a particularly gruesome scene in the Dan Brown novel, ``Angels and Demons."

O'Malley will also be presiding at a Mass on Sept. 23 in San Giovanni Rotondo, in southeastern Italy, honoring Padre Pio, an Italian saint who, like O'Malley, was a Capuchin Franciscan friar.

The link: www.cardinalseansblog.org.

You can bet I'll be a regular reader.

My new goal is to try to post something interesting everyday. Since many of my readers keep close watch of the major Catholic blogs, I'll try to find something unique that the others probably don't have. Hopefully this will include many of my own thoughts, because as any of the regulars here know, I'm brilliant.

Personal update: I will have quite a bit of papers to correct on Thursday so don't expect much here. The seniors are writing a two-page essay on the concept of "taboo" in the aboriginal religious tradition. Plus I'll have other stuff to correct that they don't know they're doing yet! So happy feast of Saint Matthew. It's going to be a busy weekend, but I should be around to blog.

By the way, email still works, folks.

Interesting editorial from the Pioneer Press on the upcoming play at the University of Minnesota:

First things first: We support free expression. We believe that a wide variety of views that produce a wide variety of arguments is good for democracy and for our republic. We support the various lively but nonviolent ways in which those arguments occur.

This includes, for example, the decision of theater faculty at the University of Minnesota to stage the play "The Pope and the Witch" by Nobel Prize winner Dario Fo. It also includes the protesting of that decision by some Catholic organizations.

The competition of ideas is central to our faith in the U.S. system of governance. Ideas, and the institutions that embody them, should, over time, rise and fall on their merits.

By any measure, the Roman Catholic Church is one of the world's most enduring institutions. Not because it has always lived its highest ideals — like every other human institution, it hasn't — but because it has pursued them, and has competed effectively in the marketplace of human yearning. It has been both liberal and conservative, both liberating and constraining, in combinations that have sustained it.

It takes a stand on many of society's most difficult issues. It is big and strong and demanding. Its strictures and role in shaping cultural boundaries are natural inspirations for artists of a rebellious spirit, many emerging from Catholic upbringings.

The church, therefore, becomes a target, sometimes fairly, sometimes unfairly.

It's not difficult to understand why some Catholic organizations don't like the idea of "The Pope and the Witch" — and the idea that a state-supported institution would stage it. Anti-Catholic sentiment (some of which the humans who run the church brought on themselves) is real. And the headlines are full of mortal conflict that purports to have religion at its core. In the competition of ideas, there is a great deal at stake.

Which is precisely why there's a better response to the play than trying to shut it down. It's why a stronger response would be to reaffirm faith in the church, to affirm its ability to tolerate criticism, to stand strongly for the church's best attributes.

In its protest of the play, the Catholic League argues that we, as a newspaper or as a society, would never countenance similar free expression if it instead targeted, say, blacks, gays, Jews or Muslims.

The fact is, we as a society do countenance such expression, or, at the least, tolerate it. It happens all the time. Public response to it is influenced partly by public perception of power: He who has more is in a better position to take a punch. It's that power that attracts artistic critique.

That's not an argument for or against "The Pope and the Witch." We can't vouch for its artistic merit, or the merit of its arguments.

But we have enough faith in our fellow citizens to believe that they will judge it fairly on those merits.

Whatever other challenges it may have, the Catholic Church is up to this one.

One glaring omission by the editorial writers: they don't name one example to back up an essential critique they're trying to refute, namely, that this wouldn't fly if it were about blacks, gays, Jews, or Muslims. When was the last time a state-sponsored institution put on a show that degraded one of these groups? If they did, the backlash would be enormous. Once again, it seems free speech is only a matter of convenience.

To go back to an earlier post: funny how Catholic clerics aren't calling for their flock to take up arms against those that have organized this. Gosh, we're such savages.

Good morning. The Boston Globe has weighed in on the Pope Benedict/Islam issue. While they don't think the reference was wise in the first place, they actually make some reasonably good points. It's called "Bad words, worse reaction."

This year in Afghanistan, by contrast, a convert to Christianity was saved from death by international pressure, including a letter from the pope. Today Muslims can freely worship throughout Europe, but Christians do not enjoy the same right in every Muslim land. Such treatment is why Pope Benedict became disenchanted with his predecessor's approach toward the Islamic world.

Last year, the pope urged Muslim leaders to condemn any connection between Islam and terror. If the murder of an Italian nun in Somalia Sunday was prompted by the pope's latest speech, it was an act of anti-Christian terror that deserves censure by Muslim leaders, as do attacks on churches in Palestinian lands.

There are endless links to analysis and commentary on the world's reaction to Pope Benedict's non-confrontation with Islam. I'm purposely not reading other bloggers too much on this one for the most part. I'll just link to a few I've read and you can choose what you like.

First, my thoughts. To begin, I think this is really a non-issue. If you read the entire statement, Pope Benedict said nothing inappropriate and the point he was trying to make is clear from the context. His thesis is crucial to the world and it's about time more people picked up on it: killing in the name of God or anyone else is unacceptable. Say what you want about Catholics (if another person brings up the Crusades in this whole mess again, I'm going to hurl) but today -- in 2006 -- we are not killing people for insulting Jesus or from converting out of the faith. In fact, some people make a pretty good living out of it.

I fully, with all my heart, believe that the real Islam of 2006 is peaceful. For example, American muslims are good Americans and so on. But I can't help but notice that many muslims in the rest of the world tend toward violence and oppression. I want to know where a Catholic can go to Mass in Saudi Arabia, for example.

I think the reaction to the story this weekend tells it all: a nun killed in Somalia, churches set ablaze in the Middle East, burning the pope in effigy, and violent protests. To radical muslims here's a tip: when you get mad because someone calls you violent, violence may not be the best way to convince them otherwise.

Some links:

Ginormous round-up of stories/commentaries

Wall Street Journal op/ed by Bret Stephens
"The Liberal War" (why do liberals in the U.S. defend radical Islam)

London Times editorial
The Pope and the Prophet

New York Times editorial
The Pope's Words

Vatican steps up security
Catholic World News

Pope speaks for muslims who reject violence
Catholic News Agency

Al-Jazeera Cartoon on the Pope
Closed Cafeteria

And, lastly, we're obviously the ones with the problem, right? From Curt Jester:

In the meantime the University of Minnesota is doing a play called the "Pope and the Witch" which has a heroin-addicted and paranoid Pope John Paul II in it. Now I don't worry about this play since I know some Catholic will either behead the people involved or blow themselves up in the audience. So why waste time critiquing this play. I know this to be true since Rosie O'Donnell recently said “Christian Fundamentalists are just as dangerous as Islamic Fundamentalists.” If the play was about Muhammad it would certainly incite violence either here or overseas. Maybe a riot will break out at anytime in St. Peter's Square. I am sure I saw someone outside of adoration recently with a sign that said "Behead those who insult Catholicism."

There are endless links to analysis and commentary on the world's reaction to Pope Benedict's non-confrontation with Islam. I'm purposely not reading other bloggers too much on this one for the most part. I'll just link to a few I've read and you can choose what you like.

First, my thoughts. To begin, I think this is really a non-issue. If you read the entire statement, Pope Benedict said nothing inappropriate and the point he was trying to make is clear from the context. His thesis is crucial to the world and it's about time more people picked up on it: killing in the name of God or anyone else is unacceptable. Say what you want about Catholics (if another person brings up the Crusades in this whole mess again, I'm going to hurl) but today -- in 2006 -- we are not killing people for insulting Jesus or from converting out of the faith. In fact, some people make a pretty good living out of it.

I fully, with all my heart, believe that the real Islam of 2006 is peaceful. For example, American muslims are good Americans and so on. But I can't help but notice that many muslims in the rest of the world tend toward violence and oppression. I want to know where a Catholic can go to Mass in Saudi Arabia, for example.

I think the reaction to the story this weekend tells it all: a nun killed in Somalia, churches set ablaze in the Middle East, burning the pope in effigy, and violent protests. To radical muslims here's a tip: when you get mad because someone calls you violent, violence may not be the best way to convince them otherwise.

Some links:

Ginormous round-up of stories/commentaries

Wall Street Journal op/ed by Bret Stephens
"The Liberal War" (why do liberals in the U.S. defend radical Islam)

London Times editorial
The Pope and the Prophet

New York Times editorial
The Pope's Words

Vatican steps up security
Catholic World News

Pope speaks for muslims who reject violence
Catholic News Agency

Al-Jazeera Cartoon on the Pope
Closed Cafeteria

And, lastly, we're obviously the ones with the problem, right? From Curt Jester:

In the meantime the University of Minnesota is doing a play called the "Pope and the Witch" which has a heroin-addicted and paranoid Pope John Paul II in it. Now I don't worry about this play since I know some Catholic will either behead the people involved or blow themselves up in the audience. So why waste time critiquing this play. I know this to be true since Rosie O'Donnell recently said “Christian Fundamentalists are just as dangerous as Islamic Fundamentalists.” If the play was about Muhammad it would certainly incite violence either here or overseas. Maybe a riot will break out at anytime in St. Peter's Square. I am sure I saw someone outside of adoration recently with a sign that said "Behead those who insult Catholicism."

Sorry to disappear for a week and a half. School is now in full swing. I am loving every minute of it.

I have 78 or so wonderful students and the other faculty members are very supportive. I've been going to soccer games after school a few days a week so I don't get home until after 6 sometimes, then by the time I make supper and eat, it's close to 8 and I have to finish my lesson plans and my grading so I can get to bed before 12 which is not always possible. This is the cause of my blogging absence.

But, of course, I'll try to keep up with things here. I feel like I'm living under a Catholic rock these days! There are so many things going on in the Church and I can't read too much about them or comment on them because of school. Don't take this as complaining, folks. I'd rather be working for my students all day than just sitting at my computer with little purpose. Just a change in priorities, I guess.

On a very happy note: yesterday was my first observation from Providence College. It went so well that I got an A! My period 4 kids really came through for me. Let me just say that 24 hours or so later, I'm still on cloud nine. My professor literally had no suggestions for improvement. The only unfortunate side effect of the observation was that I put all of my time into preparing that lesson for the seniors that I ended up teaching the most boring lesson in the entire world to the juniors! Oh well, I'll make it up to them somehow.

Thanks to all for your support and I'll be writing more this week... I promise. I just can't help but thank God for the blessing of this job and a group of students that I'm really growing to enjoy.

From Catholic News Service:

A German banker who used to chauffeur Pope Benedict XVI said he has been invited to spend the night in the Regensburg seminary with the pontiff during his Sept. 9-14 trip to Germany.

"I was very surprised and honored when I received a letter stating that I am to stay overnight at Regensburg," Thaddaeus Kuehnel, director of the Hauck and Aufhauser private bank in Munich, told Catholic News Service. "The request came from the Regensburg seminary, by letter."

Kuehnel said he did not know why he received an invitation when so many of the pope's other friends remain uncertain if they will have a chance to meet with him.

...

Kuehnel said he will discuss private matters with the pope when they meet at the seminary.

"One of the things that I have never spoken to him about," Kuehnel said, "but may take the opportunity of doing so now, when we see each other at Regensburg, is about Sister Iphigenia of Bad Adelholzen. She used to send the former Cardinal (Joseph) Ratzinger his beloved Adelholzener fruit juices and mineral waters to Rome. On her deathbed, she told me about a vision she had, that he was going to be pope one day. Maybe now is the time to let him know about this."

These are the things I like to read about:

In his work as a banker, Kuehnel said, he tries to apply his Catholic faith to his daily dealings with people.

"I want to prove that being a practicing Catholic is very much in accordance with success in the business world," he said. "And with our private bank, I think that we have shown this."

Kuehnel said he learned the attitude of actively living his faith from his friend, Joseph Ratzinger.

"He was always a kind and gentle man," he said, "long before he became pope. The former Cardinal Ratzinger's image as 'God's Rottweiler' was completely unfounded, because he was never that way. Those of us who knew him then, and who still know him now, can see that the only change to have taken place is that, finally, the world is starting to see him as he really is."

From their website:

The General Chapter of the Capuchin Order presently meeting in Rome has elected Bro. Mauro Jöhri, Provincial of the Capuchin Swiss Province, as their new Minister General. Mauro is the successor of the Canadian, Bro. John Corriveau, who has guided the Order for twelve years.

The Capuchin General Chapter has been meeting in Rome now for a week. One hundred and seventy four capitulars represent eleven thousand Capuchins throughout the world. The most important item in the order of the day to this point has been that of electing a new Minister General to guide the Order for the next six years in the steps of Bro John Corriveau. The present superior of the Swiss Capuchins, Bro Mauro Jöhri has been elected to this service. Bro Mauro was born on September 01, 1947 at Bivio in the Canton of the Grison, which explains his love for the mountains and for climbing. He is fluent in the four Swiss languages of Italian, Ladin, German and French. His first years in high school were in Faido (Ticino) and he entered the Capuchin Novitiate in 1964. He completed the first years of Theology in the Institute of the Order in Solothurn. After his priestly ordination in 1972, he continued his studies at the University of Fribourg (Switzerland) and at Tübingen, and then at the Theological Faculty of Lucerne, where he completed his theological studies with a doctorate in 1980. The theme of his doctorate was the Theology of the Cross in the works of Hans Urs von Balthasar. After his return to Southern Switzerland, he was Guardian in the Friary of Our Lady of Sasso near Locarno. He worked as a religion teacher in the state school of the town. For four years, he has been President of the Commission of Pastoral Planning of the Swiss Bishops’ Conference. He has taught dogmatic and fundamental theology for ten years at the Theological Faculty of Coira, and for some years has been appointed professor in the Theological Faculty of Locarno.

In 1989, the Capuchins elected him Superior of the Italian Region of Switzerland and in 1995 Provincial of the Swiss Capuchin Province. In this role he became President of the Union of Religious Superiors of Switzerland. On completing his provincialate, he continued his ongoing formation at the Institut de Formation Humaine Intégrale in Montréal, Canada. In 2005 the Swiss Capuchins elected him their Provincial again. This service finishes now before time because with his election as supreme guide of the international Capuchin Order, Bro. Mauro Jöhri will take up his new task immediately in the General Curia in Rome.

Also keep an eye here for more info.

Their first cardinal in half a century celebrated Mass for them last week.

This article is really interesting:

Neighbors of a home where Pope Benedict XVI once lived in Germany have shown this week that their friendship with the Pontiff does not have a price tag. Rupert Hofbauer and his wife rejected an offer of $128,000 to allow photographers to take pictures of the Pope during the only private day of his visit to the country.

The Pope has reserved September 13 to visit the home he lived in while a professor in Pentling in Bavaria. He intends to spend the day with this brother, Father Georg Ratzinger, and hopes to do so away from the media.

According to German state television, Hofbauer rejected “an offer of $128,000 dollars which a group of cameramen made in order to be allowed to take pictures from his house,” hoping to catch a shot of the Pope in the comfort of his former home.

Hofbauer is not only the Pope’s neighbor; he also happens to be the caretaker of the home where then Cardinal Ratzinger once lived. He said he rejected the offer out respect for their relationship. “I cannot fall out of graces with the Holy Father,” he explained.

So will this guy be rewarded for his loyalty:

“I hope they allow me to personally open the door,” Hofbauer said, adding with a smile, “The Pope holds the keys to the kingdom on his coat-of-arms, but he doesn’t have the keys to his own home.”

A bit more personal:

According to German television, Hofbauer and his wife are planting new flowers and plants in the Pope’s garden in preparation for his visit. “The one in charge of the arrangements is my wife, as she is very familiar with what the Holy Father likes,” he said.

A man from Pentling who used to be an altar boy for Cardinal Ratzinger recently painted the home and received a personal thank you from the Pontiff. Other preparations include a new gate, made by students from Weiden and Amberg, and the refinishing of the deck and the entrance.

Hofbauer has a special gift for the Pope, who has a weak spot for sweets. For several weeks he has collected over 35 pounds of honey from beehives in the garden.

Two other residents of the Pope’s home are anxious for his arrival: a golden retriever named Ingo and a cat named Chico. “In fact, the Pope misses his two pets,” Hofbauer said. “Every time someone from Bavaria visits him in Rome, he asks how is pets are doing.”

From Catholic News Agency:

Pope Benedict XVI has named Cardinal James Francis Stafford, Major Penitentiary of the Holy See, to represent him at the November inauguration of a new altar in the restored Basilica of the Assumption.

In his role as Major Penitentiary, Cardinal Stafford handles cases related to absolutions and dispensations reserved to the Holy See. He also issues decrees announcing the possibilities of indulgences. Prior to his role at the Tribunal, Stafford had served as President of the Pontifical Council for the Laity.

The cardinal, however, also has close ties to Baltimore, having been raised in the city. Stafford was ordained a priest for the archdiocese in 1957 and was named an Auxiliary Bishop of Baltimore in 1976.

The 200-year-old Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary was the first Roman Catholic cathedral in the United States. It will reopen for the Nov. 4-12 celebrations, after a two-year, $32-million restoration.

The restoration uncovered the cornerstone as well as a gallery for slaves, which had been built over in the 19th century. Four skylights in the cathedral's 87-foot-high (26-meter-high) dome were restored. Paintings of the four evangelists, which are 140 years old, were uncovered on the wall near the dome and also restored.

The cathedral was designed by Benjamin Henry Latrobe, architect of the U.S. Capitol.

When Pope Benedict was first elected, there were rumors he would come to Baltimore personally for this. I was in the Archdiocese at the time and there was quite a bit of buzz. Would have been nice for him to come to the States. Oh well.

Archbishop Dolan's column from August 24 is quite interesting:

“The church is alive!” Remember those bracing words of Pope Benedict XVI as he began his ministry as successor of St. Peter?

Today I want to share with you some great signs of hope and vitality in the archdiocese. But, before that, I need to speak with you about three unfortunate issues.

The first issue concerns Daniel Maguire, a professor at Marquette University. He has dramatically dissented from clear church teaching for decades. After my arrival here four years ago, I sought counsel as to whether or not I should publicly warn the faithful about his erroneous opinions. Voices I considered wise advised me that this was not necessary, since the great majority of our people already recognize his views as clearly inconsistent with legitimate Catholic teaching.

Regrettably, he recently has widely distributed two pamphlets claiming that, as preposterous as I know it sounds, abortion and same-sex marriage are consistent with Catholic teachings. Because of the response generated among shocked and thoughtful people in the archdiocese, I feel obliged to exercise my teaching responsibilities and say such positions are blatantly erroneous and contrary to the clear teaching of the church. To claim the acceptability of such opinions is simply wrong and disingenuous.

The second issue concerns the woman from our archdiocese who regrettably participated in a simulation of the sacrament of holy orders on a barge on a river in Pittsburgh. With the exception of a few inquiries from the media, the event has not generated a great deal of public comment, since most people seem to realize that her claims to ordination are groundless. People are saddened to see the sacraments, intended to be a source of unity, become an occasion for lobbying a personal agenda.

My duty was to notify the Apostolic See (the Vatican) of this episode. When another group staged a similar event about four years ago — an episode now for the most part forgotten — the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith declared the participants sadly to be separated juridically from the church.

The third issue has to do with the “Call to Action” conference scheduled for Milwaukee this November. As you may recall, this group, based in Chicago, has been meeting in Milwaukee for decades. This group was actually initiated by the bishops 30 years ago, and started off asking some legitimate questions.

But they have gotten way off track. In this case as well, I inquired some years ago what impact this annual meeting has on the archdiocese, and was told, almost none. Our Catholic people, I was advised, recognize that this is a group that has taken stands totally outside the bounds of church teaching.

Unfortunately, as stated in the official program of this year’s conference, the leadership of that group has decided to include in the program an invitation to invalidly ordained “priests and bishops” to “celebrate a liturgy.”

Here again it becomes my teaching responsibility to state clearly that such an action would make any claim of Catholic identity by the group to be misleading. Faithful Catholics attending these sessions would only promote division and disunity rather than genuine renewal in the church.

People ask why I “allow” Call to Action to meet in Milwaukee. This group, of course, hardly asks my permission, and pays little attention to what any bishop, including the Bishop of Rome, has to say.

Enough of this. Why do I write about it anyway? Because, too often, we are tempted to become myopic, with our only focus on juicy issues that disrupt and distract us from the mission of the Gospel. Don’t get me wrong, I am always open to dialog, and, as I have learned especially during these past four years as your archbishop, one’s temperament for patience grows as one’s leadership role expands.

He goes on to list many great things happening in the Archdiocese. What a great shepherd! [h/t to Gerald]

Could not resist:

the schizophrenic Zen Buddhist?
...He wishes to be at two with the universe.

Excuse me sir, is this seat saved?
...No, but I'm praying for it.

From I.C.

The Curt Jester posts on the plaza in front of Notre Dame Cathedral named after JP2:

French Archbishop of Paris Cardinal Andre Vingt-trois holds a copy of a street plate on the square in front of Notre Dame cathedral in central Paris September 3, 2006 after a ceremony to rename the esplanade after the late pope John Paul II. The decision was voted through the Paris council in June, and required a dispensation for the city's general rule that five years must pass after the death of prominent personalities before public places are named after them.

Note the mistake in the story: Andre XXIII is not a cardinal.