Cardinal Schoenborn "Science Alone Cannot Explain Creation"

From SignonSanDiego.com:

The cardinal said he found it “amazing” that a U.S. federal court ruled in 2005 that the Dover, Pa., public school district could not teach the concept of “intelligent design” as part of its science class. The judge had said that the theory, which says an intelligent supernatural force explains the emergence of complex life forms, was creationism in disguise.
The cardinal said the Dover ruling meant that schoolchildren would only be taught a materialistic, atheistic view of the origin of universe, without considering the idea that God played a role.
“A truly liberal society would at least allow students to hear of the debate,” he said.
Schoenborn's comments came in a speech Wednesday night sponsored by the Homeland Foundation, a philanthropy that funds cultural and religious programs, many involving the Catholic Church.
It is the latest in a series of remarks he has made on the topic. The cardinal, who is close to Pope Benedict XVI, has said he wants to correct what he calls a widespread
misconception that the Catholic Church has given a blanket endorsement to
Darwin's theories.

In Italy New Mass Attendance Survey Released

The smartest people go to Mass regularly....

From Sandro Magister:

The responses to the survey provided results close to the national figures over the past thirty years: 26 percent said they went to Mass every Sunday, and another 16.5 percent said they went from one to three times a month. In total, attendance was shown as 42.5 percent of the population of the patriarchate. But markedly lower attendance figures were shown in the on-the-spot survey conducted in all the churches on November 13 and 14, 2004. Those who said they had gone to
Mass on all of the previous four Sundays were 15 percent of the population. And
those who said they had gone from one to three times were 7.7 percent. In total,
22.7 percent of the population. In both of the surveys, the women who practice
their faith are more numerous than the men, and Mass attendance increases with
higher age and education levels. Castegnaro and Dalla Zuanna comment on this in
their essay for “Polis”: “Our results show a churchgoing population that is much
better educated than could have been imagined, and these differences are more
intense among the young than among the old: among the regular churchgoers in
their thirties, one out of three is a college graduate, while among those in their thirties in the overall population, only one out of ten is a college graduate.” The most striking result is, nevertheless, the wide gap between Mass attendance as reported by the interviews and as gathered in the churches. Declared attendance is much higher than actual attendance. And those most likely to overstate their religious practice are the persons with the least education.

Pelosi Delivers Fr. Drinan Eulogy

She quotes his addresss to Georgetown law students:

‘As I look out at all of you with your new and expensive law school educations, I would urge you to go forth into society not as mere legal tradesman, but as moral architects. Design, create and build a better and more equitable society and use your skills to help those who are otherwise not being served.’

From California Catholic.

Why do they think it is okay to be "moral architects" in regard to many issues that the general public do not support, but feel their hands are tied when it comes to pro-life issues???

Early Happy Valentine's Day

From Yahoo News:

A pair of human skeletons lie in an eternal embrace at an Neolithic archaeological dig site near Mantova, Italy, in this photo released February 6, 2007. Archaeologists in northern Italy believe the couple was buried 5,000-6,000 years ago, their arms still wrapped around each other in a hug that has lasted millennia

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.