John Edwards' Bloggers Called Anti-Catholic'

"Called" is wrong--they either are or aren't--whatever happened to letting the facts dictate a story.

From the Spokesman Review:

Two bloggers hired recently by Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards were criticized Tuesday by a Catholic group for posts they had written elsewhere on the Internet.
Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, demanded that Edwards fire Amanda Marcotte and Melissa McEwan.
"John Edwards is a decent man who has had his campaign tarnished by two anti-Catholic, vulgar, trash-talking bigots," Donohue wrote in a statement.
The Edwards campaign declined to comment. McEwan and Marcotte did not respond to e-mails requesting a response.

Haggard Now "Completely Heterosexual"

From ABC News:

One of four ministers who oversaw three weeks of intensive counseling for the Rev. Ted Haggard said the disgraced minister emerged convinced that he is "completely heterosexual."
Haggard also said his sexual contact with men was limited to the former male prostitute who came forward with sexual allegations, the Rev. Tim Ralph of Larkspur told The Denver Post for a story in Tuesday's edition.
"He is completely heterosexual," Ralph said. "That is something he discovered. It was the acting-out situations where things took place. It wasn't a constant thing."

Nuncio Tells Bishop Gumbleton he Needs Permission?

To speak in another diocese?
This is Call to Action people reporting this, so that's why I have a question mark.

From The Arizona Republic:

Bishop Thomas Gumbleton of Detroit must seek permission from local bishops anywhere he wishes to speak, by order of the papal nuncio, the Vatican's ambassador to the United States, according to local leaders of Call to Action. The group has taken a variety of positions at odds with church policy.

Normally, Catholic clergy need permission only to conduct religious services. The Vatican has penalized dissident theologians in the past, but Robert Blair Kaiser, a Phoenix author who has covered the Vatican since 1962, said he had never heard of a nuncio restricting a bishop. advertisement

Ave Maria Law School Moving to Fort Wayne

And an association with Saint Francis University? Posted on an interesting blog dedicated to all things Fort Wayne.

Thrift Shopper Finds Stolen Crozier

In Mobile, AL Mobile thrift shopper finds purloined crosier

CDF Working on Documents on Life and Natural Law

Two New Documents in the Works: On Bioethics, and on Natural Law

Congratulations to Tony Dungy and the Colts

A good man who deserves to win the big game.

My team, the Jacksonville Jaguars beat the Super Bowl champions this year 44-17 two months ago--so it is rather remarkable that this Colts team made it all the way.

The Spiritual Life Set to Football

By former Bears Special Team Coach Danny Abramowicz:

"An Inconvenient Truth"-- It's -5 Degrees Here

Forecast high today: 3 degrees

It's 22 degrees and snowing where Al Gore lives or once lived (Nashville, TN)!

Bishop Trautmann's Red Herring

He continues his crusade against the new translation of the Mass, when ironically I would think he would defending and catechizing people on the necessity of it. But in the Tablet, a UK Catholic paper he presents this nugget:

While people need an understanding of the transcendence of God, the use of expressions not prevalent in the speech of the assembly and the use of archaic words defeat that purpose and make God remote. The new formalism in liturgicaltranslation will stifle authentic worship. For Christ's message can only be heard in the culture of the hearer. Liturgy does not take place in a cultural vacuum. If the liturgy of the Church is not celebrated in terms that resonate with the assembly, it will not be heard.

I find this a little disingenous, because quite frankly the liturgy(that word itself is archaic and hardly understood by the masses)is filled with words already that the majority of people in the congregation have no earthly idea of the meaning--and what is missing from this nugget is the sense that the liturgy is supposed to lift us out of this world (especially when the Eastern focus of liturg is emphasizd).

I have had great success with a book that I authored The How-To Book of the Mass: Everything You Need to Know but No One Ever Taught You, (which incidently is soon to be released in an expanded verion see Amazon)mainly because it defines a bunch of words that people hear at Mass (itself another archaic word, but one that is used in our culture in the context of Christmas)that are not part of our culture and quite foreign--think Eucharist!

One wonders what Bishop Truatmann hopes to accomplish with his crusade against the new translation?

The Book I Talked About on EWTN

On Bookmark last night.

Pope to Visit Tomb of Saint Augustine

In April.

Benedict XVI to visit tomb of St. Augustine

Vatican: Jesus Party Wig Blasphemus

Can be purchased right outside of Vatican City, from the UK Telegraph:

The "Jesus Party Wig", available across Italy to wear at the street festivities that precede Lent, costs €12 (£8) and comes complete with a flowing beard and a plastic crown of thorns.

Senior Vatican figures called it "blasphemous" and "shameful". One added that a similar Mohammed outfit would cause widespread outrage. "The vilifying of religion is a crime and this should be investigated by the police," said Bishop Velasio De Paolis, Secretary of the Apostolic Signature, the Vatican's Supreme Court.

Las Vegas Priest Caught in Arizona

Fugitive Priest Wanted for Attempted Murder Apprehended in Arizona

Was Priest Kidnapped by Diocese?

Members concerned about priest

No Shadow=Earlier Spring

With temperatures forecast to be no higher than the single digits over the next week, I guess we are going to pay for a short winter with an extremely cold one while it lasts.

More Ways to Procrastinate

And of course the #1 Book on Amazon today is:

Big Storm Heading Toward Florida This Weekend

The Problem "My" Versus "The Disciples of Christ"

I found this column interesting, because I think it once again shows forth the crux of the problem that we face as Catholics. Stephanie Salter aligns herself with the liberal end of the Catholic Church and distinguishes that Church as "My Catholic Church" over and against "The Disciples of Christ"--meaning those of us who believe in the sanctity of life. Bravo!!!!

Thank you, Stephanie for showing that there is the "gathering" of ego centered Catholics who focus on "My" as their operative word and then there are those who no less "ego centered" like "me" who strive to die to themselves and to be a student, a disciple of Jesus Christ. At least you don't put your group in that camp and I laud you for that!


Stephanie Salter: Remembering the greats of my Catholic Church

Thinking About Marrying a "Mother's Boy"?

Not a good idea...

From the Telegraph UK:

Being tied to your mother's apron strings is sufficent grounds to annul a marriage by the Vatican, it has emerged.

Officials ruled on several cases of men and women who were judged to be so dependent on a parent that they were unfit for marriage.

Judges on the Roman Rota, the top Catholic tribunal in the Vatican, agreed for an undisclosed number of marriages to be annulled on such grounds, according to a review of the judicial year.