Feast of St. Katharine Drexel

For a novena to her, check out my The Church's Most Powerful Novenas.

Cincinnati Catholic Men's Conference

Today...

I'm at the Our Sunday Visitor booth , along with Danny Abramowicz.

Archbishop Forte Says Discovery Is False

From Zenit:

"In fact, the thesis launched is that if Jesus is buried there with his family, then the resurrection would be no more than an invention of his disciples," he noted.

The archbishop continued: "However, leaving to one side the inconsistency of the archaeological proof, which has been utterly contested by Israeli archaeologists, the factual event of Jesus' resurrection is rigorously documented in the New Testament by the five accounts of the apparitions: four of the Gospels and St. Paul's."

"All critical studies in these two centuries have shown that in the profound truth of the accounts of the apparitions there is non-debatable historicity," he said.

A historical encounter Archbishop Forte said: "There is a vacuum between Good Friday, when the disciples abandoned Jesus, and Easter Sunday, when they became witnesses of the Risen One, with a drive and courage that impelled them to proclaim the good news to the ends of the earth, even to giving their lives for him.

"What happened? The profane historian cannot explain it. The Gospels imply it: There was an encounter that changed their lives. "And this encounter, recounted in the passages of the apparitions, is characterized by an essential fact: The initiative is not from the disciples, but from him who is alive, as the book of the Acts of the Apostles states."

"This means that it isn't something that happens in the disciples but something that happens to them," said Archbishop Forte.

"Beginning with this fact," he said, "in the course of history Christ has been proclaimed with a drive that has involved geniuses of thought, not visionaries, from Augustine of Hippo to Thomas Aquinas, down to Teresa of Calcutta, to give three examples."

Finally, Archbishop Forte asked: "Why is the media so interested in keeping Jesus in its sights?"

"Obviously because, in the depths of the West's culture, and not just of the West, Jesus is such a decisive and important point of reference, that everything that affects him affects us."

Antichrist is a Pacifist, Ecologist and Ecumenist

From Cardinal Biffi's preaching to Pope Benedict XVI on Soloviev's A Short Story on the Antichrist. The interesting thing is that what makes this the teaching of the anti-Christ versus the true Christ is the absence of Christ, the God man. For Soloviev the antichrist was not God made man, but rather a man who attempted to be god--who co-ops the message of Christ minus of course Christ. So it isn't that a true follower of Christ is a warmonger, destroyer of nature or hater of those who are different--not at all, but the follower of Christ, worships Him and inspired by the truth is all of the above but in a different way than the egoist whose true aim isn't the truth but a lie.
I think we all readily see that this has come to pass in a way that Soloviev's day (pre-1900) was only at its conception. One could add to this list, because it is in Soloviev's work that the antichrist is also a builder of community and tolerance (except for Christ as the Son of God). Much to reflect upon in this message.

Bishop on Nancy Pelosi

It's "Categorically Impossible" to be Catholic and Hold Abortion is "Just a Choice"

From Lifesite:

"It is categorically impossible for the same person to state that he or she believes simultaneously both what the Catholic Church teaches and that abortion is just a choice," says Bishop Robert Vasa in a column released today by the Catholic Sentinel, the diocesan newspaper of the Archdiocese of Portland and the Diocese of Baker.

Although Vasa, the Bishop of Baker, did not mention her by name, he was referring in his column to Democrat Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi specifically, and to all politicians of a similar ilk in general. "Some months ago a prominent Catholic public person," says Vasa, "described as faithful to the church, was asked if being pro-choice or pro-abortion was an issue which conflicted with the Catholic Faith."

He goes on to quote verbatim what Nancy Pelosi stated in a highly publicized interview with Newsweek in October last year. "To me it isn't even a question. God has given us a free will. We're all responsible for our actions. If you don't want an abortion, you don't believe in it, [then] don't have one. But don't tell somebody else what they can do in terms of honoring their responsibilities."

RIP: Brother Placid Stuckenschneider OSB

You may not recognize the name, but if you are Catholic, you know the artist that he was--there is no American Catholic, whose art dominated the post-Vatican II church more (in the U.S.) than Brother Placid's...

From St. John's Abbey:

Brother Placid began full time work at the Liturgical Press around 1965 as its primary illustrator. He designed layout and jackets for dozens of books, and produced hundreds of illustrations. His work appeared in the Bible and Liturgy Bulletin for 41 years. He spent 1970 on assignment in Puerto Rico while continuing to work for Liturgical Press by mail. Brother Placid employed a wide variety of media that included pen and wash, collage, watercolor, welded metal, wooden sculpture and photography.

After the Second Vatican Council, he accepted invitations from many parishes in the Upper Midwest to serve as a liturgical consultant. Parishes were renovating church sanctuaries and their furnishings. For eleven years he also provided art once a month for the diocesan newspaper, The St. Cloud Visitor.

Besides his time at Layton School of Art, Brother Placid also studied at the University of Notre Dame, the Blackhawk Mountain School of Art in Colorado, and the Sagrada Art Studio in Albuquerque. In 1974, at the Instituto San Miquel de Allende in Guanajusto, Mexico, he created depictions of St. Francis of Rome and St. Augustine of Hippo for chapels on the lower level of the Abbey Church.

Some of Brother Placid's more visible works include "The Four Evangelists," a metal sculpture on the façade of Liturgical Press, and the road signs on old Highway 52 that formerly greeted visitors to the university, prep school, and abbey.

Tortured Priest's Tenacity Exposes Betrayal in Church

From the Star Tribune:

Eighteen months ago, the Rev. Tadeusz Isakowicz-Zaleski, heard a startling report on the radio.

Communist-era files thought to have been destroyed years ago had in fact been preserved, the report said. They chronicled obsessive efforts by the SB, the regime's despised security police, to intimidate or compromise Roman Catholic clergy who were lending moral support to the Solidarity trade union movement.

One of the thickest files, according to the radio report, was Zaleski's.

Four days later, the priest went to the Institute of National Remembrance and asked to see his file. It was 500 pages long, and included a videotape of a 1985 torture session during which a gang of SB goons used cigarettes to tattoo a Solidarity "V" on Zaleski's chest. The SB apparently used the tape as a training tool.

Despite warnings from the church to let the matter rest, Zaleski continued to dig into the files. The result is a book to be published this week that will identify 39 clergymen in the Krakow archdiocese, including five bishops, who served as SB informants or collaborators.

Cardinal Biffi's Lenten Talk on the Antichrist

To the Pope, from Zenit, quoting Soloviev:

According to Vatican Radio's summary of his preaching, the cardinal explained that "the teaching that the great Russian philosopher left us is that Christianity cannot be reduced to a set of values. At the center of being a Christian is, in fact, the personal encounter with Jesus Christ."

Quoting the work "Three Dialogues on War, Progress and the End of History," Cardinal Biffi told his listeners that "the Antichrist presents himself as pacifist, ecologist and ecumenist."

"He will convoke an ecumenical council and will seek the consensus of all the Christian confessions, granting something to each one. The masses will follow him, with the exception of small groups of Catholics, Orthodox and Protestants," he said.

The cardinal added that Solovyov says in that work: "Days will come in Christianity in which they will try to reduce the salvific event to a mere series of values."

No cross

In his "Tale of the Antichrist" Solovyov foresees that a small group of Catholics, Orthodox and Protestants will resist and will say to the Antichrist: "You give us everything, except what interests us, Jesus Christ."

For Cardinal Biffi, this narrative is a warning: "Today, in fact, we run the risk of having a Christianity which puts aside Jesus with his cross and resurrection."

The 78-year-old cardinal said that if Christians "limited themselves to speaking of shared values they would be more accepted on television programs and in social groups. But in this way, they will have renounced Jesus, the overwhelming reality of the resurrection."

The cardinal said he believes that this is "the danger that Christians face in our days … the Son of God cannot be reduced to a series of good projects sanctioned by the prevailing worldly mentality."

However, "this does not mean a condemnation of values, but their careful discernment. There are absolute values, such as goodness, truth, beauty," Cardinal Biffi said. "Those who perceive and love them, also love Christ, even if they don't know it, because he is Truth, Beauty and Justice."

The preacher of the Spiritual Exercises added that "there are relative values, such as solidarity, love of peace and respect for nature. If these become absolute, uprooting or even opposing the proclamation of the event of salvation, then these values become an instigation to idolatry and obstacles on the way of salvation."

Cardinal Biffi affirmed that "if Christianity -- on opening itself to the world and dialoguing with all -- dilutes the salvific event, it closes itself to a personal relationship with Jesus and places itself on the side of the Antichrist."

"Who are you, Moses?

The quote is from Schindler's List. Now to my application of the Scriptures to the news of the day:

From Jude 1:9:

But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, disputed about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a reviling judgment upon him, but said, "The Lord rebuke you."

Playmate Burial Dispute Back in Court

Just bury the poor girl, stop fighting over the body!

This Lent, Empty Your Closets!

Then what?

Donations Central is an index of charities that accept clothing donations. Each charity profile contains a brief description and contact information. We aim to make it as easy as possible to find a group in need to donate your clothing.

What I'm Reading Now

Someone asked me, based on the post below, what in fact I am reading right now:


This is a series of lectures that Soloviev gave that read like Scripture. Tolstoy and Dostevyesky attended the lectures. They are amazing!



Essentially a work of moral theology/philosophy packed with great insights. I quote from this work in my Lenten Meditation for the First Sunday of Lent here:

Solovyov posits two rules in this regard:
"Have God in you." (God wants to be in communion with us. He wants to fulfill the desire He has placed in our hearts for Him.)
"Regard everything in God's way."(And here Solovyov means "everything," even evil, of which he says:"We must regard evil in God's way, i.e. without being indifferent to it, we must rise above absolute opposition to it and allow it--when it does not proceed from us--as means of perfection, in so far as a greater good can be derived from it. (The Justification of the Good" )



I've read about half of this so far, which actually is great Lented reading because the first half deals with Prayer, Alsmgiving and Fasting--the prayer chapter is masterfully done using the Lord's prayer which I think shows the genius of Soloviev--for when the disciples asked Jesus to teach them how to pray that is what he did and Soloviev shows how each petition of the Our Father teaches us how to pray to God.

All of Soloviev's writings make a great supplement to a modern writer who I've mentioned before on this blog, Fr. Tadeusz Dajczer. His: is a life changing book, read some of the comments on the Amazon page.

Cardinal Biffi's Talk on Soloviev

Currently, I'm reading three books by Vladimir Soloviev (is name is spelled differently in English in all three), this is a preliminary report on Cardinal Biffi's remarks, hopefully I'll find more posted later.

From Papa Ratzger Forum:

Today, it was that of the Russian philosopher Vladimir Sergeyevich Soloviev, who died on the threshold of the 20th century. It was a century whose viscissitudes and troubles he had prophesied, a century whose events and dominant ideologies contradicted all that was most relevant and original in his teachings.

The great theologian Hans Urs von Balthasar considered Soloviev's thinking "the most universal creative speculation of the modern era" and considered him on par with St. Thomas Aquinas.

Biffi recalled some of Soloviev's 'prophetic' visions, and said, that the prevalent attitudes today were farthest from Soloviev's vision of reality, even among Christians who work for and are acculturated to the Church.

He said these atttiudes ranged from selfish individualism to moral subjectivism, to pacifism and non-violence - confused with the Gospel ideals of peace and brotherhood - which leads to bowing down to the powerful, leaving the weak and the honest defenseless.

Of Soloviev, Biffi had written in a lecture celebrating the centenary of his birth: "A passionate defender of man, he was allergic to any philanthropy. He was an indefatigable apostle of peace, but an adversary of pacifism; advocate of unity among Christians but critical of any irenism; in love with nature but far from sharing today's ecological infatuation: in short, a friend of truth and an enemy of ideology. And today we have extreme need of men who can inspire and guide like Vladimir Soloviev."

The Pope's Lenten Retreat

By all accounts a great retreat. I would note that it seems taht Cardinal Biffi has really aimed this retreat at the pope, especially in the first conference where there seems to be a direct remark about what Cardinal Ratzinger had often said about the church being reduced to a "small flock." Read the summaries for your own mini-retreat.


How they are reporting about it in Italy....from the Papa Ratzinger Forum:

Here is a translation of how the Italian service of Vatican Radio reported on the first three meditations led by Cardinal Biffi:

• The existence of an invisible world, which implies the presence of divine creatures ignored and derided by the culture of positivist scientism,
• The need to convert hearts so they may consciously choose God rather than evil,
• And thus, in this context, the value of repentance with respect to the sense of sin, and the value of the life we live with the hope that there is something beyond rather than nothing -

These were some of the themes elaborated by Cardinal Giacomo Biffi, archbishop emeritus of Bologna, in the first three meditations he prepared for the Lenten spiritual exercises at the Vatican for the Pope and the Roman Curia. The exercises started yesterday afternoon at the Redemptoris Mater chapel of the Apostolic Palace.

Alessandro Caroli of Vatican Radio reports further:

By his very nature, man strives to conceive the existence of an 'invisible world', the hypothesis of 'another world' outside the perception of our senses, Biffi observed. To exclude prejudicially the existence of a beyond is an irrational attitude - because man, who is not omniscient, cannot presume to state with certainty what he can neither touch nor see, and and to exclude the idea of a beyond would mean, substantially, condemning himself to a life that has no sense. But even the believer, says Biffi, risks reducing the breadth of divine things to to the measure of his own misery. In summary, this was the premise for the first Lenten meditation proposed by Cardinal Biffi Sunday afternoon at the start of the annual Lenten retreat for the Pope and the Roman Curia. The sign that one takes the 'invisible world' seriously, he said,is if one takes the world of angels seriously. He stigmatized the mentality today for whom the hidden reality of angels is among the most derisive concepts, because that mentality is not inclined to think at all about 'higher things.' ['Things above' or 'Higher things' is the theme of this year's retreat.] But if one considers these 'higher realities', then, Cardinal Biffi says, the Christian will lose his fear that the Church is being reduced to a small flock compared to the forces that undermine it, because he will see the Church for what it is: part of a very crowded community that inhabits the space between earth and heaven.

In the two meditations on Monday morning, Cardinal Biffi dwelt on two aspects of the faith that call for particular reflection duting Lent; conversion - and therefore, the sense of sin and of redemptive repentance; and death itself as redemption. The liturgy of Lent, Biffi said, in the first of the Monday meditations, derives from a sentence that represents the opening of Jesus's public preaching, "Repent and believe in the Gospel." Therefore, he said, Lent is not the time for the believer to determine 'if' there is something he needs to change in himself, but rather 'what' he should change, or convert from a state of error to one of grace. And conversion - which is a change of direction in one's journey through life - starts from the heart, from internal repentance. If the disciple of Christ firmly renounces sin, it doesn't detract at all from the certainty of divine mercy, and authentic repentance will inevitably beer fruit in joy. Biffi noted that today, there is no sense of repentance because the sense of sin itself has been lost. But this is not really true, he said with some irony, because our era is marked by the continuous denunciation of wrongdoing in the media and public tribunals. Which means that the sense of sin exists, but a sense of the sins committed by others. Onthe contrary, he said, redemptive repentance lies in recognizing one's mistakes, because dissociating oneself from sin is in itself coming closer to God who is the antithesis of evil, and in doing so, we can better perceive the imminence of His kingdom.

Biffi's take-off for the third meditation was the imposition of ashes at the start of Lent - and the sentence that accompanies the rite ("Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return"). In a world that does not recognize the invisible world, he said, death is defeat. And a life which, according to that mentality, is destined to end in nothingness, also renders itself empty - because according to this vision, the most perverse existence and the most generous would both be rewarded smilarly, with nothingness. And so, that mentality almost denies death itself by not talking about it. The growing number of suicides, like the death of some teenagers who just came back from a discotheque [referring to some fresh news in Italy] are the tragic emblems of lives spent senselessly. But such a void, life without sense, is absurd for the human mind, Biffi said. And this is where the evangelical message makes a profound difference. The Christian does not censor the thought of death, he is not ashamed of feeling dismayed by the thought, because the Lord too felt all these apprehensions. Biffi said the ministers of the Church must be able to combat the conditioning that avoids a serious reflection on death. Man, he said, should be led to choose not between an unknown future and a present life of enjoyment, but between a life devoid of sense which ends in nothingness, or the hope of an event that will give us both a sense for our earthly life and a goal which is resurrection. The Resurrection of Christ is a reality that can be opposed to the ineluctable and experiential fact of death. And that is why, he said, ashes can never be dissociated from Easter. Ashes symbolize not so much what we will become, but what we could become if we do not open our hearts to the invisible world which encompasses the event of Salvation. And also, that life without God would be a flame that can only end in a handful of ashes.

An Inconvenient Truth for Al

Gore home's energy use: 20 times average

Titanic Stupidity

Mike Aquilina comments on Cameron's latest stupidity, while at the same time making mention of a short visit we had the other day. Mike's blog is an excellent resource as well as a timely place to check up on all things the early Fathers (and Mothers) of the Church.

The Future of the Catholic Church in the U.S.

Moving South...

For those who know their history, this is a case of "back to the future"--since the South was orignally a Catholic stronghold under the Spanish and French.

From The Daily Dispatch:

For every Boston, there is a Knoxville, Tenn. For every Philadelphia, there is a Savannah, Ga.

"The church is closing parishes in the Northeast, but Catholics are building them in the South and the Southwest," said Wagner. "We know that a lot of that is driven by immigration and population trends. ... So if you really want to know where Catholicism is alive and where it's struggling, you can't just look at membership statistics. You have to ask other questions."

New Padre Pio???

From Catholic News:

The British Daily Telegraph reports that like Padre Pio, who displayed stigmata for the last 50 years of his life, Br Elia, whose face, hands and feet appear covered in blood each Lent is revered by fans from the country's poorest to World Cup-winning footballer Francesco Totti.

Yesterday was supposed to be a chance for as many as 10,000 people, including visitors from Britain, to meet Br Elia, 45, at the headquarters of the Jesuit movement in Naples.

Now that Lent has begun, time is running out to see him before he takes to his bed over April to undergo his annual torment.Instead, his appearance was cancelled at the last minute by the Catholic Church, which is concerned about the rapid spread of Br Elia's fame.

The Vatican is reported to have asked Br Elia not to give interviews or to hold any public religious services until it has made up its mind on the veracity of his stigmata.

The Myth of Muslim Support for Terror

From The Christian Science Monitor:

Those who think that Muslim countries and pro-terrorist attitudes go hand-in-hand might be shocked by new polling research: Americans are more approving of terrorist attacks against civilians than any major Muslim country except for Nigeria.

The survey, conducted in December 2006 by the University of Maryland's prestigious Program on International Public Attitudes, shows that only 46 percent of Americans think that "bombing and other attacks intentionally aimed at civilians" are "never justified," while 24 percent believe these attacks are "often or sometimes justified."

Contrast those numbers with 2006 polling results from the world's most-populous Muslim countries – Indonesia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Nigeria. Terror Free Tomorrow, the organization I lead, found that 74 percent of respondents in Indonesia agreed that terrorist attacks are "never justified"; in Pakistan, that figure was 86 percent; in Bangladesh, 81 percent.

3,000 Celebrate 40th Anniversary of the Charismatic Renewal

In Detroit, from the Archdiocese of Detroit site:

Fr. Cantalamessa, 73, had his own Charismatic experience of being baptized in the Holy Spirit 30 years ago, and was appointed to his post with the Holy See in 1980 by Pope John Paul II, then reconfirmed in his position by Pope Benedict XVI.
He told the gathering the best way to prepare for a new Pentecost was to study the opening chapters of the Acts of the Apostles, in which the original Pentecost is described.
Traditional Western and Eastern depictions of that event at which the Holy Spirit descended on a rather sedate gathering of the Apostles do not seem to match the event as he understands it, Fr. Cantalamessa said.

More on the "Finding of Jesus' Tomb"

From the archeologist who oversaw the excavation of the tomb some twenty-seven years ago, as reported in Newsday:

But Bar-Ilan University Professor Amos Kloner, a Jerusalem archeologist who officially oversaw the work at the tomb in 1980 and has published detailed findings on its contents, dismissed the claims."It makes a great story for a TV film," he told The Jerusalem Post Saturday night.

"But it's impossible. It's nonsense," he said.