My Take: Not In Defense of Martha's Activity

No doubt, ahem, if you went to Mass this past weekend, you heard a homily on the very powerful Gospel that was proclaimed--the story of Jesus' visit to the home of Martha and Mary. In the gospel, Martha complains to Jesus that Mary basically is doing nothing and leaving all the work to her--something evidently we all feel is our lot in the world (although I've known a ton of "Mary's", I've never heard of anyone who actually relates to her in this gospel passage). Which is why, I predict that you heard preached, something that is nowhere to be found in the gospel you heard--a defense of Martha.

Now what makes the Good News (the meaning of the word "gospel"), good news is that it is the message from the king (as Pope Benedict so eloquently brings out in his Jesus of Nazareth), yet when we hear the good news, I find that we almost always want to explain it away, rather than deal with the message being proclaimed. Martha is one of the best examples of this in the Gospels.

She raises her "works" issue with Jesus against the contemplative (listening to what Jesus is saying) Mary and she is essentially rebuked for it--with no apologies. So what are we to take from this?

That when it comes right down to it there is only one thing necessary. We clutter our lives with all kinds of activities that we think our necessary, but in fact as Jesus points out to Martha there is only one think necessary--to listen to God. Now What do you think Martha did when she heard this? Better, what do you do when you hear it?

Evidently when most of us hear it, we think it unjust and immediately go into defending Martha rather than imitating Mary and listening to Jesus--the "one thing necessary." In other words we reject the good news--the invitation to the kingdom and go back to our own little kingdoms where we rule and will our own lives. But such a rejection does not lead to eternal life.

It is ironic that this message of "listening to Jesus" above everything else is so soundly rejected in modern preaching. If I were to presume to guess what Martha's reaction to Jesus' word was--I would presume that she sat down and imitated Mary at that moment, because she knew the Lord loved her and if he was telling her this was what was really necessary, then she had better pay attention.

Hopefully that is what you and I will do also.

by Michael Dubruiel

Me as a Simpson

2007 Political Activity Guidelines for Catholic Organizations

From the USCCB, here is a sampling:

Columnists. Generally, the statements of columnists appearing in a Catholic organization periodical are attributable to the organization. Catholic organizations typically pay for columns that appear in their publications, either through salary or syndication payments. Even if a columnist is unpaid, the opinion expressed may nonetheless be attributed to the Catholic organization, especially if the columnist is a Church official, because the periodical constitutes an official publication of the Catholic organization and the organization exercises editorial control over its columnists. Opinion columns are not analogous to unsolicited letters to the editor (see below). Accordingly, prudence dictates that Catholic periodicals reject columns that endorse, support, or oppose candidates.

Photo Ops. It is not unusual, during the heat of a campaign, for a candidate or campaign organization to contact a Catholic organization requesting some accommodation, which might range from a photo opportunity at a Catholic school, health care facility or homeless shelter, a "meet and greet" with the bishop or pastor, an appearance at a sponsored event, to other forms of access to Catholic populations. It is difficult to generalize about the appropriateness of such requests from a section 501(c)(3) perspective. In addition, (arch)dioceses may have local policies regulating such access. A Catholic organization receiving an accommodation request should inform the candidate immediately of its status as a section 501(c)(3) organization, the limitations imposed by the political campaign intervention prohibition, and the need for further consultation. The organization should then contact the (arch)diocese concerning the existence of any local policy governing the request. If no local policy would bar the request, local legal counsel should be consulted to evaluate the applicability of the political campaign intervention prohibition.

Voter Guides -- Candidate Questionnaires. Candidate Questionnaires. Polling candidates or asking candidates to complete questionnaires designed to elicit their positions on various issues is a neutral activity, assuming that the questions themselves do not exhibit bias. It is only when the results are disseminated during an election campaign that the political campaign activity prohibition becomes a potential issue. IRS has identified the following criteria for determining whether publication or distribution of candidate questionnaire results violates the political campaign activity prohibition: (a) whether the questionnaire is sent to all candidates; (b) whether candidates are given a reasonable period of time to respond; (c) if given a limited choice of responses, whether candidates are also given a reasonable opportunity to offer explanations that are included in the voter guide; (d) whether all responses are published; (e) whether the questions indicate bias toward the sponsoring organization's preferred answer; (f) whether the responses are compared to the sponsoring organization's positions on the issues; (g) whether the responses are published as received, without editing by the sponsoring organization; and (h) whether a wide range of issues of interest to voters is covered. The range of issues criterion is contextual; it depends on the particular office being sought. Thus, candidates for local school board need not be queried on foreign policy. Rather, they can be questioned on a broad range of education issues relevant to school board office. [See: Rev. Rul. 2007-41 at 1421; Election Year Issues at 371-2; Rev. Rul. 78-248, 1978-1 C.B. 154, Situation 4.]

Cardinal Levada on Document and Motu Proprio

From The Weekly San Francisco:

During a July 17 interview while visiting the San Francisco Bay Area, Cardinal Levada commented on his congregation's work, Pope Benedict XVI's recent instruction on the Tridentine Latin Mass, themes of the young papacy, and challenges facing the universal Church today.

The cardinal was quick to describe as "purely coincidental" the fact that his congregation's document on the nature of the Church was made public only three days after the pope's announcement of his decision to allow broader use of the Tridentine liturgical rite.

Many commentaries have linked the two. "Many have tried to see it as some kind of one - two punch," Cardinal Levada laughed, "but the truth is that it is simply a coincidence that they were published in such proximity."

In restoring easier access "to the principal way of worship in the Church for more than 400 years," the pontiff "expressed a great generosity" toward persons intensely devoted to the Tridentine Latin Mass, the cardinal said.

The papal directive "was not primarily aimed at the United States," he said, adding that he feels it will have more impact in France, Germany and Switzerland and little effect in Latin America or Italy.


Turning to the doctrinal congregation's recent commentary, "Responses to Some Questions Regarding Certain Aspects of the Doctrine on the Church," the cardinal said it grew out of extensive conversation and collaboration with theological consultants to the CDF and others, as well as a broad review of published materials.

The document addresses five questions about the nature of the Church "and all five are a commentary on Vatican II documents," the cardinal said, adding, "It has the advantage of collecting all that has happened since Vatican II up to the present time" and explaining how Church articulation of its own nature as well as its views of other Christian communities have developed.

He said he has been "somewhat surprised" at the amount of "ecumenical commentary" the document has generated. "It is primarily a document addressed to Catholics as believers and teachers and is intended to clarify the teachings of the Second Vatican Council," he said, "especially the teaching on the nature of the Church."

That teaching, he said, has been skewed by those who argue "that the Church of Christ can subsist in churches outside the Catholic Church, but that is not the case."

Cardinal Zen Warns Against Confusion

Surrounding Pope's Letter to the Chinese Catholics, from Asia News Italy:

It is not true that the letter Pope Benedict XVI wrote to Chinese Catholics says that bishops from the underground Church can concelebrate services with “all” bishops from the official Church. It is not correct to claim that the letter says that there are no more reasons for the existence of the underground Church or that “underground” bishops are urged to seek recognition of state authorities. It is not true that there are no more canonical sanctions against unlawfully ordained bishops. This in a nutshell is the reply Card Joseph Zen Ze-kiun, bishop of Hong Kong, delivered to a July 6 article by Fr Jeroom Heyndrickx, head of the Ferdinand Verbiest Foundation at Leuven’s Catholic University (Belgium), that appeared in the UCA News agency (the cardinal’s reply was published on July 18 and Father Heyndrickx’s counter-reply on the 20).

Cardinal Zen does acknowledge that the Belgian sinologist loves China and “has done a lot of work” to bring together “the Chinese Catholic community with the universal Church.” However, he is concerned that the latter’s “every initiative needs the approval of Mr. Liu (Banian) of the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association (CCPA), and has to be carried out according to conditions imposed by him.” This is the same Mr Liu who is the CCPA deputy chairman and whose “enormous power . . . has allowed him to oppress and humiliate our bishops.

Fr. Z "I don’t think you will go to hell if you read Harry Potter."

Hard to figure why everyone gets so in a tither about Harry Potter. Nancy Brown has written an excelent Catholic Family Guide(notice it is a Catholic family guide...very nuanced in what she says--it would be wrong to characterize it as pro or con)...in which she deals with all the issue. Now the very orthodox Catholic priest, Father Z gives his take on it:

I will say, however, that this book is all about finding one’s way through loss, trying to find identity and peace when life has been so truncated at its very start. The loss of Harry’s parents while so young deals a profound wound which does not heal in him. He always looking for his father in father figures in the whole series and everyone of them is stripped away from him with violence. He finds surrogates and redemptive figures all along the way. He has close friends and even an adoptive family who shares his pains but only in part. He is always very much alone. The bildungsroman is always going to be popular, but with the fracturing of families today, the confusion and wounds and the never-healing loneliness many young people have grown up with over the last decades, I understand how these books have met with such success.

Rowlings has tapped a dark and bloody vein in our post-Christian psyche.

St. Bridget of Sweden

Today's feast, from her Revelations:

Now, however, I am totally forgotten, neglected and scorned, like a king cast out of his own kingdom in whose place a wicked thief has been elected and honored. 5 I wanted my kingdom to be within the human person, and by right I should be king and lord over him, since I made him and redeemed him. Now, however, he has broken and profaned the faith he promised me at baptism. He has violated and rejected the laws I set up for him. He loves his self-will and scornfully refuses to listen to me. Besides, he exalts that most wicked thief, the devil, above me and pledges him his faith. 6 The devil really is a thief, since, by evil temptations and false promises, he steals for himself the human soul that I redeemed with my own blood. It is not because he is more powerful, as it were, than I am that he is able to steal it, since I am so powerful that I can do all things by a single word, and I am so just that I would not commit the least injustice, not even if all the saints asked me to. However, since man, who has been given free will, voluntarily scorns my commandments and consents to the devil, then it is only just that he should also experience the devil's tyranny. 7 The devil was created good by me but fell through his own wicked will and has, as it were, become my servant for inflicting retribution on the wicked.[2] Although I am now so despised, nevertheless I am still so merciful that I will forgive the sins of any who ask for my mercy and who humble themselves, and I shall free them from the evil thief. 8 But I shall visit my justice upon those who persist in holding me in contempt, and hearing it they will tremble and those who experience it will say: 'Alas, that we were ever born or conceived, alas, that we ever provoked the Lord of majesty to wrath!'

Archbishop Bars Deacon from Preaching

The Deacon's Bench has the story.

Archbishop Bars Deacon from Preaching

The Deacon's Bench has the story.

Latin Professor, Fr. Reginal Foster, A Nudist?

From Matt Abbott: Nudist priest: Latin Mass 'useless'

Pope Calls for an End to All Wars (compare the two versions)

Perhaps a hint of the encyclical he is working on?

First from Asia News Italy:

“Never again war!”: from the mountains of Cadore, a place of great natural beauty that was transformed into a theatre of slaughter during the First World War, Benedict XVI launched an appeal that the path of peace and dialogue be chosen above conflict. The mountains around Lorenzago where the Pope is spending his vacation this year, still bear the scares of trenches and dig outs, built by the soldiers of the war. Recalling that “Great War” and the appeal launched by Benedict XVI, who in 1917 asked the world to stop the “senseless slaughter”, the Pope dedicated the words pronounced before the Angelus prayer in Piazza Calvi, of Lorenzago di Cadore, to the value of peace.

There to hear his words, among the festive crowds of faithful and tourists, was also the Patriarch of Venice, Cardinal Angelo Scola, the bishop of Hong Kong, Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun, who had travelled to Cadore with a group of deacons and their families, the president of the Italian bishops conference, Msgr. Angelo Bagnasco, the bishop of Belluno-Feltre, Msgr. Giuseppe Andrich, the bishop of Treviso, Msgr. Andrea Bruno Mazzocato, Edoardo Luciani, brother of John Paul I – whom the Pope described as “my great friend” - and representatives of the lay associations from the diocese of Belluno-Feltre, whom he greeted after the Marian prayer.

“In these days of rest, - said the Pope - I feel even more intensely the painful impact of the news I receive about bloody conflicts and violent events happening in so many parts of the world. This leads me to reflect once again on the dramatic situation of human freedom in the world. The beauty of nature reminds us that we were instructed by God to cultivate and keep this garden that is the earth (Gen 2, 8-17). If men lived in peace with God and with each other, the earth really would look like a 'heaven'”.

“Unfortunately sin has ruined this divine project – continued Benedict XVI – generating division and allowing death to enter this world. Thus men by succumbing to the temptations of Evil, make war with each other. The consequence is that in this stupendous garden which is the world, there is now room for hell. War, with its after effects of destruction and death, has always been rightly considered a calamity which contrasts God’s project, who created everything to give life and who wants to make mankind one family”.

The Pope therefore re-evoked the appeal launched by Benedict XV 90 years ago on August 1st 1917, when he asked the nations at war to put an end to that inhuman conflict which he had the courage to define as a “senseless slaughter”. “This expression of his – continued the Pope – is carved into history. It was justified by the concrete situation of the summer of 1917, especially by what was taking place on this North Italian front. But those words ‘senseless slaughter’, contain a greater more prophetic value and can be applied to the many other conflicts which have cruelly broken countless lives. This very land were we find ourselves, which emanates peace and harmony, was a theatre of the First World War, as many testimonies and some moving Alpine songs still recall today. These events must not be forgotten! We must treasure the negative experiences which our fathers unfortunately had to suffer, so they will never happen again. Pope Benedict XV’s Nota did not limit itself to condemning the war; it also indicated, along juridical lines, the ways to build a just and lasting peace: the moral force of law, balanced and controlled disarmament, arbitration in controversy, the freedom of the seas, the reciprocal remission of war costs, the restitution of seized lands and fair negotiations to resolve outstanding issues”.

“The Holy See proposal was directed towards the future of Europe and of the world, according to a project inspired by Christianity, but open to all because founded on the rights of the people. It is the same imposition which the Servants of God Paul Vi and John Paul II followed in their memorable addresses to the United Nations Assembly, repeating in the name of the Church: ‘Never again war!’. From this place of peace, in which the horrors of ‘senseless slaughter’ are amplified’, – ha concluded the Pope – I renew my appeal to tenaciously pursue the rule of law, to refute with determination any recourse to arms and the temptation to apply old systems to new realities”.

Then from the wire services as taken here from Forbes:

Pope Benedict XVI called Sunday for an end to all wars, saying they were "useless slaughters" that bring hell to paradise on Earth.

Benedict made the appeal in this small mountain town in Italy's Veneto region while on vacation. He recalled that 90 years ago - on Aug. 1, 1917 - predecessor Pope Benedict XV urged a similar end to the first World War, then ravaging this part of northern Italy.

"While this inhuman conflict raged, the pope had the courage to affirm that it was a 'useless slaughter,'" Benedict said. "These words - 'useless slaughter' - contained a fuller prophetic value that can be applied to so many other conflicts that have cut off countless human lives."

Benedict didn't cite any conflicts in particular in his comments to several hundred faithful gathered in the main piazza of Lorenzago di Cadore for his traditional Sunday blessing. Rather, he made a general appeal.

"From this place of peace, where one still senses how unacceptable the horrors of 'useless slaughters' are, I renew the appeal to pursue the path of rights, to strongly refuse the recourse to weapons and refuse to confront new situations with old systems," he said.

Notice the avoidance of real reporting in the second, while the search for a sensational headline.

Father Mark's Retreat to the Bridgettines in Darien

Nothing Happens Without Your Permitting It

Tammy Faye Messner Dies at 65

I met her once in July of 2003 in Orlando at the Christian Bookseller's Convention. Mentioned here and here.

Brownback Launches Catholic Coalition

From the Des Moines Register:

U.S. Sen. Sam Brownback today announced he's formed a coalition of Roman Catholics to build support for his presidential campaign and spread what he contends is the most authentic social-conservative message in the GOP race.

Brownback, of Kansas, unveiled the Iowa Catholics for Brownback Leadership Team at a midday news conference, flanked by conservative Catholics and members of his campaign. The 144-member group was created to organize conservatives as Brownback’s campaign braces for the Iowa GOP straw poll Aug. 11.

In an interview, Brownback said the campaign had singled out Catholics for the announcement to tap so-called values voters who are generally religious, opposed to abortion and against non-traditional forms of marriage.

The Pope on Vacation

Video of Pope in the mountains

Hat tip Father Z.

Pope to US in the Spring--Canada in June?

From Western Catholic Reporter:

A statement issued July 16 by Joseph Zwilling, New York archdiocesan communications director, was apparently the first official indication that such a visit would take place in the spring.

Zwilling told Catholic News Service July 16 that unnamed sources said the pope would visit in the spring instead of late September, when the new session of the UN General Assembly opens, because of next year's presidential elections. It would be Pope Benedict's first visit to the United Nations and his first visit as pope to the United States...

...The pope is also expected to come to Canada for the International Eucharistic Congress next June 15-22 in Quebec City.

Pope Benedict to Promote Women to Vatican Top Jobs

So says Cardinal Bertone...from Monsters and Critics:

'Everybody knows we are discussing new appointments at the Vatican,' said Tarcisio Bertone, who as its secretary of state is one of the Vatican's most influential figures after the pope, 'I certainly think some of these will be taken by women.'

Bertone singled out women's charisma, potential and sense of responsibility as qualities that could help them 'render great services' to the pope and the Church.

Sheila Rauch Kennedy on Annulments

Most Catholics don't know that they can appeal a decision rendered by a Diocesan tribunal in this country by going to the Vatican as she did...she muses on the whole annulment process and in the end suggest adopting the Orthodox model:

From the The 'loose canon' in the Catholic Church:

Perhaps an answer is closer than we think. The Catholic Church might look to its sister institution, the Orthodox Church, and to Catholic marriage rules in other situations for a solution to the divorce dilemma. In the Orthodox Church, marriages may be viewed as valid without being "sacramental," a distinction the Catholic Church currently makes when its members marry people who are not baptized Christians. In such cases, after pastoral counseling, the Catholic spouses are still welcomed to Communion and confession.

Such an approach may not be perfect, but it's preferable to the sham of easy annulment.

NY Times Book Review of Last Harry Potter Book

Obtained by a retailer who did not observe the embargo:

For Harry Potter, Good Old-Fashioned Closure

The Jewishness of the Roman Rite

From First Things:

In my experience, Catholics who have an affinity for the particularly Judaic character of their Christian faith are more likely to be drawn to the Tridentine Mass than are Catholics for whom Judaism is a category on the other side of a boundary they would consider it bad manners to try to cross. You might think that, while Reform Catholics were on the subject of Catholic liturgy and Judaism, they would ask what happened to the Church’s observance of the event that most vividly marks Jesus as Jewish. The establishment of the 1970 missal as normative was accompanied by a certain curious change in the liturgical calendar: The Feast of the Circumcision of Our Lord, on January 1, eight days after the celebration of his birth, wasn’t just moved. It was eliminated.

Of the criticisms that early Protestants leveled against Catholicism, the one that arguably cut deepest was that the Church presumed to revive the Levitical priesthood, which the spilling of Christ’s blood on Calvary now rendered obsolete. They inveighed passionately against the Mass, which they saw as overtly Judaic in its tone, structure, and purpose. (This Jewishness they objected to was largely a theological construct, not to be confused with the social and cultural construct of Judaism familiar to students of Jewish Studies departments at American universities.)

Protestants were correct that the Mass, in its aspect as a sacrifice, could not be fully understood outside the framework of pre-rabbinic Judaism. By the middle of the twentieth century, when Rome’s wish for some thaw in its cold war with Protestantism was in full bloom, it reformed the Mass such that the visible and audible distinctions between Mass and the worship services of the mainline Protestant churches were now greatly softened. Many Catholics saw it as an appropriate ecumenical gesture. So did many Protestants. Whether that step in the direction of Wittenberg and Geneva was deliberate or unconscious, what it was a step away from was Jerusalem, from the Temple and the daily sacrifice priests used to perform there.

E. Michael Jones

Papal Visit to US Could Come as Early as Spring 08

Strikes me they already know the date...from the New York Times in an otherwise ugly story:

“Practically the first thing Cardinal Egan did after Pope Benedict was elected was to invite him to New York,” Mr. Zwilling said, referring to Cardinal Edward M. Egan. “We had been hoping he would be willing to come. We first got word of this several months ago that the pope had accepted the invitation of Ban Ki-moon to address the United Nations. A few days later the Holy See made it clear it would not be in 2007, so from that point on we anticipated it would be in 2008.” Mr. Zwilling added that the visit to New York could occur as early as the spring, but cautioned that no firm date had been set.

Vatican City Web Site

Web Cams and info...Vatican City

New Bishop Named for Pittsburgh

Bishop David A. Zubik of Green Bay, WI

Pope Regularly Uses Older Rite?

Report from Catholic World News:

Informed sources at the Vatican have confirmed reports that the Holy Father regularly celebrates Mass using the 1962 Roman Missal.

In his motu proprio Summorum Pontificum the Pope says that the older form-- the form in universal use before the liturgical changes that followed Vatican II-- was never abrogated.

Since becoming Roman Pontiff, Benedict XVI has always used the new ritual-- which he identifies in Summorum Pontificum as the "ordinary form" of the Roman rite-- for public celebrations of the Eucharistic liturgy. However few people have witnessed the Pope celebrating his private daily Mass.

I'd like to spontaneously ask the Holy Father to be able to attend.

Happy Birthday!

Are You Ready for Some Football?

THE POPE TALKS LIKE A CATHOLIC: Why That's Good News to Protestants

CommentaryBy Canon Gary L'Hommedieu

Nazareth Wants World's Largest Cross

From the Jerusalem Post:


The world's largest cross will be built in the Israeli Arab town of Nazareth in an attempt to draw millions of Christian tourists to the boyhood town of Jesus, according to an initial private building plan under consideration, officials said Sunday.

The proposal, which is still in its planning stages, is being floated by a group of affluent Christian businessmen from Israel and abroad.

The massive cross, dubbed "The Nazareth Cross," would tower 60 meters high, and would be decorated by some 7.2 million brilliant mosaic tiles made of Nazareth stone, according to project adviser Ibrahim Boulous.

How to Apply the Second Vatican Council

To Liturgy and Ecumenism, from Sandro Magister:

Just a few months ago, the French bishops were extremely concerned about the news that Benedict XVI was preparing to liberalize the celebration of the Mass labeled as that of Pius V. “Such a decision endangers the Church’s unity,” wrote the most alarmed of them.

Benedict XVI shot straight from the hip, with the “motu proprio” released on July 7. But there was no reaction of rejection from the French bishops. Nor was there from the bishops of the touchiest countries: Switzerland, Germany, Great Britain. On the contrary, their most authoritative leaders hailed the pope’s decision with positive comments: from the German cardinal Karl Lehmann to the English cardinal Cormac Murphy O’Connor, both ranked among the progressives.

The same happened with the document released on July 10 by the congregation for the doctrine of the faith, which nails down some firm points of doctrine about the Church. There was no comparison with the criticisms that in the summer of 2000 were hurled – even by high-ranking churchmen – against the declaration “Dominus Iesus,” signed by then-cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, which to a great extent dealt with the same points of doctrine. Cardinal Walter Kasper, one of the critics back then, decisively supported the Vatican document this time: “Clearly stating one’s own positions does not limit ecumenical dialogue, but fosters it.” And from Moscow, metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk, president of the department for external relations at the Russian Orthodox patriarchate, described the text as “an honest declaration, because sincere dialogue requires a clear vision of the respective positions.”

Criticisms did arrive, naturally, against both of these promulgations, from within and outside of the Church, and especially from Protestants and Jews. But in the Catholic camp the protests were limited to confined sectors, mostly Italian: the sectors of the liturgists and of the intellectuals who interpret Vatican Council II as a “rupture” and a “new beginning.”

Among the liturgists, the one most pained in contesting the papal “motu proprio” was Luca Brandolini, bishop of Sora, Aquino, and Pontecorvo, and a member of the liturgical commission of the Italian bishops’ conference, in an interview with the newspaper “la Repubblica”:

“I cannot hold back my tears; I am living through the saddest moment of my life as a bishop and as a man. This is a day of mourning not only for me, but for the many who have lived and worked for Vatican Council II. What has been negated is a reform for which many worked at the cost of great sacrifices, motivated solely by the desire to renew the Church.”

Among the theorists of Vatican II as a “rupture” and a “new beginning,” the most explicit against the papal provisions were the founder and prior of the monastery of Bose, Enzo Bianchi, and the historian of Christianity Alberto Melloni, coauthor of the most widely read “History of Vatican Council II” in the world. For Melloni, the objective of pope Ratzinger is nothing less than that of “deriding” and “demolishing” Vatican Council II.

But instead it is known that Benedict XVI’s clear objective – plainly enunciated and argued in the memorable discourse to the Roman curia on December 22, 2005 – is that of freeing the Council from a particular interpretation: precisely the interpretation of “rupture” and “new beginning” dear to Bianchi and Melloni.

"The hermeneutic of discontinuity,” the pope said in this address, “risks ending in a split between the pre-conciliar Church and the post-conciliar Church".

While instead the correct interpretation of Vatican Council II, in the view of Benedict XVI, is this:

“... the hermeneutic of reform, of renewal in the continuity of the one subject-Church which the Lord has given to us. She is a subject which increases in time and develops, yet always remaining the same, the one subject of the journeying People of God.”

We Have a Pope!

Diocese welcomes formerly schismatic nuns back into church

Latin Leaves Priests at a Loss

From the Guardian:

In nomine Patris, et, er, ... thingummy.

Pope Benedict may want more of his flock to have the chance to hear mass in Latin. But there is a snag. Not many of his priests know enough of the language to hold a service in it. Even in Italy.

Yesterday the newspaper La Stampa reported on priests' reactions to the Pope's decision this month to extend the use of the old Latin-only rite. Their views ranged from embarrassment to downright anger.

Pope Hopes to Visit USA Next Year

Hopefully, more than just the UN. From USA Today:

Pope Benedict XVI has a heavy international travel schedule coming up, with plans to deliver an important speech to diplomats in Vienna in September and confirmed trips to the United Nations, Australia and Lourdes, France in 2008, the Vatican spokesman said Sunday.

The Rev. Federico Lombardi did not specify what the speech would cover during the pope's Sept. 7-9 trip to Austria, but Lombardi said Benedict would deliver an "internationally important" speech to diplomats accredited to international organizations.

He said early plans are underway for a papal trip next year to the shrine at Lourdes, to mark the 150th anniversary of the apparition of the Madonna. The trip will also be a significant emotional one, Lombardi said, since Pope John Paul II's last foreign trip was to Lourdes.

"We also hope to go to the United Nations," Lombardi said. No date for the trip has been set.

The archbishop of Boston, Cardinal Sean O'Malley, has invited Benedict to visit Boston next year, saying it would help mend wounds from the clergy sexual abuse scandal that erupted in Boston.

Why Feminists Hate Harry Potter

In the current edition of The Wanderer by Pete Vere:

Harry Potter Christian litera­ture? A number of Catholic com­mentators, including those who have previously been critical of the children’s series, are begin­ning to ask this question. One such author is Nancy Carpentier Brown, who is well known with­in Catholic home- schooling cir­cles as a writer who promotes Catholic orthodoxy.

Our Sunday Visitor has just published Brown’s The Mystery of Harry Potter— to read more...

Dr. Death and the U of Florida

Father Rob Johansen reports on the planned hosting of Dr. Jack Kevorkian and an organized move to protest that appearance and $50,000 payment!

The Media Just Doesn't Get It

Dave Hartline's got the goods...

My only comment is that it doesn't help that a good number of Catholic clergy, religious and laity don't get it either.

An Encyclical on Social Issues?

Something along those lines seems to be in the works, from the International Tribune:

Benedict said as he arrived in Lorenzago on Monday that he hoped to start writing the second volume of his book "Jesus of Nazareth" while on vacation. He also said he would begin writing an encyclical, which Lombardi said would be on a "social theme." News reports have suggested it would cover issues of globalization.

"There is also this idea about an encyclical, which, however, still seems to be at a very early stage, at the level of reflection on how it can be laid out, even though the social themes" are at the heart of it," Lombardi told RAI television. "It is still not at the level of production, of actual writing."

New Book Explores Soloviev's Views on a Modern Crisis

Enemies from the East?: V. S. Soloviev on Paganism, Asian Civilizations, and Islam (SRLT)

Gored!

Most viewed picture on Yahoo (not for the squeamish):

Pope's Vacation Angelus

Reflects on next year's World Youth Day in Austrailia and on his present vacation--from Asia News Italy:

“Before the wonder of these pastures, forests and summits which rise towards the heavens – continued the pontiff – the soul spontaneously rises in a song of praise to God for the wonders of his works, and our admiration of nature’s beauty is easily transformed into prayer”.

Benedict XVI then urged everyone to use this period of vacation “to rest the body and nourish the spirit through greater space for prayer and meditation, thus deepening our personal relationship with Christ and in turn increasing our understanding of his teachings”.

Note the "tree man" in the picture...Amy will understand why I find this interesting.

So You'd Like to Teach Catholic Adult Education...

Some of my ideas posted here.

Curious Boys

New Archbishop of Baltimore

Archbishop O'Brien...


The Holy Father appointed Archbishop Edwin Frederick O'Brien, military ordinary for the U.S.A., as metropolitan archbishop of Baltimore (area 12,430, population 3,055,477, Catholics 517,679, priests 545, permanent deacons 178, religious 1,380), U.S.A. He succeeds Cardinal William Henry Keeler, whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same archdiocese the Holy Father accepted, upon having reached the age limit.

Answers to Questions Catholics are Asking

Ever since the Second Vatican Council....from the Congregation of the Faith:

Introduction

The Second Vatican Council, with its Dogmatic Constitution "Lumen gentium," and its Decrees on Ecumenism (Unitatis redintegratio) and the Oriental Churches (Orientalium Ecclesiarum), has contributed in a decisive way to the renewal of Catholic ecclesiolgy. The Supreme Pontiffs have also contributed to this renewal by offering their own insights and orientations for praxis: Paul VI in his Encyclical Letter "Ecclesiam suam" (1964) and John Paul II in his Encyclical Letter "Ut unum sint" (1995). The consequent duty of theologians to expound with greater clarity the diverse aspects of ecclesiology has resulted in a flowering of writing in this field. In fact it has become evident that this theme is a most fruitful one which, however, has also at times required clarification by way of precise definition and correction, for instance in the declaration "Mysterium Ecclesiae" (1973), the Letter addressed to the Bishops of the Catholic Church "ommunionis notio" (1992), and the declaration "Dominus Iesus" (2000), all published by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. The vastness of the subject matter and the novelty of many of the themes involved continue to provoke theological reflection. Among the many new contributions to the field, some are not immune from erroneous interpretation which in turn give rise to confusion and doubt. A number of these interpretations have been referred to the attention of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Given the universality of Catholic doctrine on the Church, the Congregation wishes to respond to these questions by clarifying the authentic meaning of some ecclesiological expressions used by the magisterium which are open to misunderstanding in the theological debate.

RESPONSES TO THE QUESTIONS

First Question: Did the Second Vatican Council change the Catholic doctrine on the Church?

Response: The Second Vatican Council neither changed nor intended to change this doctrine, rather it developed, deepened and more fully explained it. This was exactly what John XXIII said at the beginning of the Council (1). Paul VI affirmed it (2) and commented in the act of promulgating the Constitution "Lumen gentium": "There is no better comment to make than to say that this promulgation really changes nothing of the traditional doctrine. What Christ willed, we also will. What was, still is. What the Church has taught down through the centuries, we also teach. In simple terms that which was assumed, is now explicit; that which was uncertain, is now clarified; that which was meditated upon, discussed and sometimes argued over, is now put together in one clear formulation" (3). The Bishops repeatedly expressed and fulfilled this intention (4).

Second Question: What is the meaning of the affirmation that the Church of Christ subsists in the Catholic Church?

Response: Christ "established here on earth" only one Church and instituted it as a "visible and spiritual community" (5), that from its beginning and throughout the centuries has always existed and will always exist, and in which alone are found all the elements that Christ himself instituted. (6) "This one Church of Christ, which we confess in the Creed as one, holy, catholic and apostolic […]. This Church, constituted and organised in this world as a society, subsists in the Catholic Church, governed by the successor of Peter and the Bishops in communion with him" (7). In number 8 of the Dogmatic Constitution "Lumen Gentium" ‘subsistence’ means this perduring, historical continuity and the permanence of all the elements instituted by Christ in the Catholic Church (8), in which the Church of Christ is concretely found on this earth. It is possible, according to Catholic doctrine, to affirm correctly that the Church of Christ is present and operative in the churches and ecclesial Communities not yet fully in communion with the Catholic Church, on account of the elements of sanctification and truth that are present in them. (9) Nevertheless, the word "subsists" can only be attributed to the Catholic Church alone precisely because it refers to the mark of unity that we profess in the symbols of the faith (I believe... in the "one" Church); and this "one" Church subsists in the Catholic Church. (10)

Third Question: Why was the expression "subsists in" adopted instead of the simple word "is"?

Response: The use of this expression, which indicates the full identity of the Church of Christ with the Catholic Church, does not change the doctrine on the Church. Rather, it comes from and brings out more clearly the fact that there are "numerous elements of sanctification and of truth" which are found outside her structure, but which "as gifts properly belonging to the Church of Christ, impel towards Catholic Unity" (11). "It follows that these separated churches and Communities, though we believe they suffer from defects, are deprived neither of significance nor importance in the mystery of salvation. In fact the Spirit of Christ has not refrained from using them as instruments of salvation, whose value derives from that fullness of grace and of truth which has been entrusted to the Catholic Church" (12).

Fourth Question: Why does the Second Vatican Council use the term "Church" in reference to the oriental Churches separated from full communion with the Catholic Church?

Response: The Council wanted to adopt the traditional use of the term. "Because these Churches, although separated, have true sacraments and above all – because of the apostolic succession – the priesthood and the Eucharist, by means of which they remain linked to us by very close bonds" (13), they merit the title of "particular or local Churches" (14), and are called sister Churches of the particular Catholic Churches (15). "It is through the celebration of the Eucharist of the Lord in each of these Churches that the Church of God is built up and grows in stature" (16). However, since communion with the Catholic Church, the visible head of which is the Bishop of Rome and the Successor of Peter, is not some external complement to a particular Church but rather one of its internal constitutive principles, these venerable Christian communities lack something in their condition as particular churches (17). On the other hand, because of the division between Christians, the fullness of universality, which is proper to the Church governed by the Successor of Peter and the Bishops in communion with him, is not fully realised in history (18).

Fifth Question: Why do the texts of the Council and those of the Magisterium since the Council not use the title of "Church" with regard to those Christian Communities born out of the Reformation of the sixteenth century?

Response: According to Catholic doctrine, these Communities do not enjoy apostolic succession in the sacrament of Orders, and are, therefore, deprived of a constitutive element of the Church. These ecclesial Communities which, specifically because of the absence of the sacramental priesthood, have not preserved the genuine and integral substance of the Eucharistic Mystery (19) cannot, according to Catholic doctrine, be called "Churches" in the proper sense (20).

The Supreme Pontiff Benedict XVI, at the Audience granted to the undersigned Cardinal Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, ratified and confirmed these Responses, adopted in the Plenary Session of the Congregation, and ordered their publication. Rome, from the Offices of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, June 29, 2007, the Solemnity of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul. William Cardinal Levada Prefect Angelo Amato, S.D.B., Titular Archbishop of Sila Secretary

Remember Who You Are

New Vatican document reasserts Catholic identity as stated by the Second Vatican Council....to promote true dialogue...

From Javno.com:

The document said the Council's opening to other faiths recognised there were "many elements of sanctification and truth" in other Christian denominations, but stressed only Catholicism had all the elements to be Christ's Church fully.
The text refers to "ecclesial communities originating from the Reformation", a term used to refer to Protestants and Anglicans. Father Augustine Di Noia, Under-Secretary for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, said the document did not alter the commitment for ecumenical dialogue, but aimed to assert Catholic identity in those talks.
"The Church is not backtracking on ecumenical commitment," Di Noia told Vatican radio.
"But, as you know, it is fundamental to any kind of dialogue that the participants are clear about their own identity. That is, dialogue cannot be an occasion to accommodate or soften what you actually understand yourself to be."

For Truth and Love of the Church in China

From Asia News Italy:

With the ‘Letter to Chinese Catholics’ published today, Benedict XVI launches the Church and society in China into the third millennium. Putting together “truth and love” the Pope accurately identifies the problems Christians and the Chinese state have to face and moves towards a solution that guarantees a fruitful future for China and the world.
Only the head of the Catholic Church could have written this kind of letter, touching every aspect of the Church’s life in China and its society, with sympathy and understanding even for its political leaders, but also with great clarity about what is necessary and indispensable for the Church, claiming independence in spiritual matters vis-à-vis the system, asking Chinese bishops, priests and faithful to preserve and pass on to the next generations the great treasure which the Catholic faith.
Thoughtfully and in cordial participation, Benedict XVI shares the cries and dismay of Christians “at God's silence in the face of the persecutions,” praising the fidelity of so many “witnesses of the faith, “ “the hope of the Church for the future!” At the same time he looks mercifully even upon those bishops and priests who are illegitimate and in ambiguous situations, urging everyone to live in open unity with the pontiff, to forgive one another, to pastorally work together for mission and the good of Chinese society.
In a loving and open attitude he demands in the name of the Catholic faith the right for the Holy See to appoint its bishops. He calls on underground bishops to seek official government recognition and on official bishops to overcome their fear and publicly acknowlede their ties with the Pope so that bishops and the faithful alike can become reconciled. He especially urges the Chinese Church as a whole to go beyond the defensive mode persecution imposed on it, and try instead evangelising Chinese society, Asia and the whole world by giving itself the necessary means—bishops’ conference, pastoral councils and diocesan administrations—that the task entails. This will mark as it were the end of the time of emergency, and allow the Church of China to become an integral and active part of the universal communion.

Pope Formally Announces Year of St. Paul 2008-2009

From CNS:

Pope Benedict XVI announced a special jubilee year dedicated to St. Paul, saying the church needs modern Christians who will imitate the apostle's missionary energy and spirit of sacrifice.

The pope said the Pauline year will run from June 28, 2008, to June 29, 2009, to mark the approximately 2,000th anniversary of the saint's birth.

He made the announcement while presiding over a vespers service at the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls in Rome June 28, the eve of the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul, patron saints of Rome.

"Dear brothers and sisters, as in the (church's) beginning, today, too, Christ needs apostles ready to sacrifice themselves. He needs witnesses and martyrs like St. Paul," the pope said.

The Pauline year will feature numerous special liturgies and events in Rome, the pope said, but should also be celebrated in local churches and in the sanctuaries, religious orders and other institutions that have a special link to St. Paul.

In a special way, the Pauline year will be ecumenical, reflecting the saint's commitment to the unity and harmony among all Christians, he said. The pope's announcement was met with applause in the crowded basilica.

Also see: Pope Benedict said to plan examination of St. Paul's Tomb

Letter to Catholic Chinese on Saturday

From The International Tribune:

Pope Benedict XVI's eagerly awaited letter to Roman Catholics in China will be released on Saturday, the Vatican said, the pontiff's latest effort to reach out to Beijing and bring all of China's faithful into the Vatican's fold.

A Vatican statement issued Friday said the pope's letter — addressed to bishops, priests and lay faithful in China — would be released at noon Saturday (1000 GMT).

New Bishop for Superior

Peter F. Christensen

Confirmation on the Motu Proprio from Vatican

Today's Vatican News Service confirms what many news agencies are reporting that the Secretary of State met with selected bishops from around the world to present the forthcoming Motu Proprio to them, along with the Holy Father's letter of explanation. In Italian:


Given below is the text of a communique released today by the Holy See Press Office concerning Benedict XVI's forthcoming "Motu Proprio" on the use of the Missal promulgated by Blessed John XXIII in 1962.

"Yesterday afternoon in the Vatican, a meeting was held under the presidency of the Cardinal Secretary of State in which the content and spirit of the Holy Father's forthcoming 'Motu Proprio' on the use of the Missal promulgated by John XXIII in 1962 was explained to representatives from various episcopal conferences. The Holy Father also arrived to greet those present, spending nearly an hour in deep conversation with them.

"The publication of the document - which will be accompanied by an extensive personal letter from the Holy Father to individual bishops - is expected within a few days, once the document itself has been sent to all the bishops with an indication of when it will come into effect."

Catholic News Site

Pew Sitter...sort of the way the Diocese Report used to be, although much more positive...

Pope: Avoiding the Temptation to Deny the Divinity of Jesus

By looking to St. Cyril...from Asia News Italy:

“Denying Christ’s divinity”, which was at the centre of Aryan heresy, “is still today a temptation for Christians”. In order to counter this “integral catechesis” is needed, through which the faithful can teach Christianity “which truly involves our entire existence and which makes us credible witnesses of Jesus Christ, truly God and truly man”. That was the objective which Saint Cyril of Jerusalem aimed to achieve in the IV century but which is still valid today, and which was also at the heart of the Pope’s reflection during his general audience today, centred on the figures of the early Church and the relevant aspects of their teachings in today’s world.

Cyril of Jerusalem, a fundamental figure above all for his catechesis, was the early father of the Church to whom Benedict XVI dedicated his one hundredth general audience of his pontificate. Encounters which have given him the opportunity to speak directly to 2, 280,100 people.

The over 10 thousand people, who took part in the audience, where spared the June heat and divided between St. Peter’s basilica and the Paul VI audience hall.

The Pope recalled that Cyril bishop of Jerusalem in the IV century, “against his will”, was involved in the “controversies” of the Eastern Church, but the Pope particularly underlined his work as a teacher of the faith, author of 24 catechesis, a true “introduction to Christianity” and “still today model of the journey to being Christian”.

Cyril, unjustly accused of Aryanism, while he was instead “a man full of faith”, met with exile three times before he was allowed to return for good to Jerusalem in 378 “bringing peace and unity once again among the faithful”.

His catechesis was not only intellectual but “a journey of learning how to live in the Christian community” and his teaching is “an integral catechesis which involves the body, soul and spirit, an emblem even for the Christians of today”. In short in his teaching “doctrine and life are not two distinct entities but one existential journey”. The objective which we must attempt to reach even today remains: “learning a Christianity that really involves our entire existence”.

Reshuffling the Curia/New Position for Archbishop Foley

- Accepted the resignation from the office of grand master of the Equestrian Order of the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem, presented by Cardinal Carlo Furno, upon having reached the age limit.
- Appointed Archbishop John Patrick Foley, president of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, as pro-grand master of the Equestrian Order of the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem.
- Appointed Archbishop Claudio Maria Celli, secretary of the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See (APSA), as president of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications.

Catholic Church in Manila Lays Down Dress Code for Mass

From Gulf News:

The Archdiocese of Manila has issued a dress code that calls on the faithful to present themselves in formal and more conservative attire when attending mass, a local paper said....

Male Catholics should wear "long-sleeved polo shirts, collared shirts, or t-shirts paired with either slacks or jeans", the circular directed, advising against wearing caps, basketball jerseys, tank tops, and shorts to church.

Women were told to stick to dresses, long gowns, or collared blouses as against spaghetti-strap tops, tank tops, short skirts, skimpy shorts and sleeveless shirts with plunging necklines, the MLA stipulated.

German Pastor Jailed for Abortion Comments

From Canada Free Press:

Last week, a German court sentenced a 55-year old Lutheran pastor to one year in jail for "Volksverhetzung" (incitement of the people) because he compared the killing of the unborn in contemporary Germany to the holocaust.

German Pastor Jailed for Abortion Comments

From Canada Free Press:

Last week, a German court sentenced a 55-year old Lutheran pastor to one year in jail for "Volksverhetzung" (incitement of the people) because he compared the killing of the unborn in contemporary Germany to the holocaust.

Motu Proprio Released on Papal Elections

Pope Benedict is reverting back to the pre-Pope John Paul II revisions...Father Z has the summary.

Also he notes that the release date for that "other" Motu Proprio is now July 6th

Vatican II According to McBrien

This stuff is so silly it defies belief. After Vatican II what people believe no longer center on truth according to Notre Dame's Fr. McBrien, from The Tidings:

There were always Protestants attracted to the Catholic Church in the pre-Vatican II era for biblical, theological or historical reasons, all of which were carefully laid out in Father John O'Brien's writings. With the Second Vatican Council, however, and with the ecumenical movement which the council and the popes had endorsed, it became practically impossible to present the Catholic Church any longer as "the one, true Church" and all other denominations as awash in error and falsehoods.

And so the traditional apologetical tactics --- "demonstrating" that Catholicism alone is right, while Protestantism is completely wrong --- were generally abandoned. If Protestants became Catholics in the late 1960s or in the '70s and early '80s, it was mainly for family reasons, or because they intended to marry a Catholic, or because they had grown familiar and spiritually comfortable with Catholic worship.

In the past two-and-half decades, however, we have seen something of a reversion to the pre-Vatican II approach. Many seeking entrance into the Catholic Church today do so as an act of rejecting their Protestant past and of embracing "the truth" found only in Catholicism.

Vatican II According to McBrien

This stuff is so silly it defies belief. After Vatican II what people believe no longer center on truth according to Notre Dame's Fr. McBrien, from The Tidings:

There were always Protestants attracted to the Catholic Church in the pre-Vatican II era for biblical, theological or historical reasons, all of which were carefully laid out in Father John O'Brien's writings. With the Second Vatican Council, however, and with the ecumenical movement which the council and the popes had endorsed, it became practically impossible to present the Catholic Church any longer as "the one, true Church" and all other denominations as awash in error and falsehoods.

And so the traditional apologetical tactics --- "demonstrating" that Catholicism alone is right, while Protestantism is completely wrong --- were generally abandoned. If Protestants became Catholics in the late 1960s or in the '70s and early '80s, it was mainly for family reasons, or because they intended to marry a Catholic, or because they had grown familiar and spiritually comfortable with Catholic worship.

In the past two-and-half decades, however, we have seen something of a reversion to the pre-Vatican II approach. Many seeking entrance into the Catholic Church today do so as an act of rejecting their Protestant past and of embracing "the truth" found only in Catholicism.

USA Today: Are There Really 69 Million Catholics?

Plus instructions on how to formally declare yourself a defector....

From USA Today:

Are there really more than 64 million U.S. Roman Catholics?

That's what the 2007 Official Catholic Directory, due out this week, will say. But what about the dead, the double-counted and the disgruntled ex-Catholics — all of whose names may still plump up parish rolls?

Yes, there are probably "ghosts" in the lists, says demographer Mary Gautier, senior researcher for the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate, in Washington, D.C. The center analyzes data for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

CARA's analysis counts 64.4 million Catholics in 2006, up from 63.9 million in 2005. (The directory's overall totals are higher because they include Puerto Rico, Guam and American protectorates.)

Totals are up, with minor fluctuations — 1% a year for the past 25 years, Gautier says. "But counting Catholics is more art than science."

And this:

Although no one knows how many global Catholics have discovered the forms and mailed exit letters to their priests, "we see a traffic spike every time the pope says something unpopular," site manager Raffaele Carcano told Wired.

No, they're not getting unbaptized. It's impossible.

"You may not practice, you may not believe. You may not belong to a parish. But technically, you're always a Catholic," says Monsignor Michael Servinsky, a canon law expert and the vicar general for the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown, Pa.

"We used to get letters all the time from Jehovah's Witnesses asking to be taken off the baptismal registry, but we never did it because you can't be unbaptized. We did make note in the registry and stop counting them as practicing Catholics," says Servinsky.

A 1983 revision of canon law for the first time permitted born Catholics and converts to formally leave the church. There tend to be three reasons why people want to leave, Servinsky says: conversion; a wish to marry a non-Catholic and still have the marriage recognized; and, in some European countries, a gambit for lowering income taxes by no longer having a percentage designated for the church.

But the Vatican found that the 1983 code didn't specify the exit process and it befuddled bishops, canon lawyers and judicial vicars. So in March, the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts elucidated a procedure for the Actus Formalis Defectionis Ab Ecclesia Catholica.

Motu Proprio Update

According to Father Z's sources it is being printed.

Motu Proprio Update

According to Father Z's sources it is being printed.

Cool Gadget

Want to map out your daily walk/run? Find out how far it is?
Or are you traveling and looking to map out a dialy job/walk?

This is way cool...Google Maps Pedometer

"A Life Completely Oriented Toward Christ"

In days where "orientation" often means something entirely different, the Pope on the Feast of the Birth of John the Baptist points out the orientation that all humans should share. From Asia News Italy:

An Angelus entirely dedicated to the figure of John the Baptist, “witness” of Christ and of the “truth without compromise”, was proclaimed by the pope today in St Peter’s Square, because he “knew how to remain faithful to Christ and to be a courageous witness of his truth and his love for all”.
Speaking to many pilgrims – some gathered with umbrellas and fans to find relief from the great heat – Benedict XVI underscored the value of John the Baptist “whose life was completely orientated on Christ, as was His mother, Mary”.
In fact of all the saints for whom the “dies natalis” (day of their death, that is their heavenly “birth”) is celebrated, the birthdays of John the Baptist and Mary are also celebrated
“By commemorating his birth – explained the pope – we are celebrating Christ, the realisation of all the promises made by the prophets, of which John the Baptist was the greatest, called to “prepare the way” for the Messiah ( Mth 11,9-10)”.
The pontiff recalled that “each of the Gospels begin narrating Christ’s public life with the story of his baptism in the river Jordan by John the Baptist” and he adds “My book Jesus of Nazareth also finds its source in Christ’s baptism in the river Jordan, an event of enormous resonance at the time”.
The event of Jesus’ baptism by John the Baptist, allowed the latter to know “the full reality of Jesus of Nazareth” and to “make him known to Israel’ (Jn 1,31), indicating him as the Son of God and mankind’s redeemer: ‘This is the lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world’ (Jn 1,29)”.
Another important element in the life of the Baptist is that he bore “witness to the truth without compromise”. And listing the many battles that the Church sustains in its defence of life, the family, religious freedom, human rights, Benedict XVI adds: He denounced the transgression of God’s commandments, even when the transgressors were powerful. Such as when he accused Herod and Erodiade of adultery, he paid with his life thus sealing with his martyrdom his service to Christ, who is Truth in person. We invoke his intercession together with the Virgin Mary, so that the Church of our times remains faithful to Christ and bears courageous witnesses of his truth and love for all”.

Humorous Take on the Commandments of the Road

From the Curt Jester:

The following are some of the highlights of the new document.

• If you are carjacked one mile, go with him two.
• If yor are hit, turn the other signal.
• Do not let your air bag become puffed up like the Pharisees
• Let not the sun go down on you road rage
• Carry your cross daily, or at least have one hanging from your rear view mirror.
• When you enter a freeway that is backed up, go and move to the lowest place and not try to merge into the front. For every one who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.
• Do not talk about your Honda so that it can be said of you "That he did not say it of his own Accord."
• Hydroplaning is not the same thing as walking on water, avoid it.
• Before Jesus peformed the miracle at Cana, he appointed a designated driver.
• Do not say "Are we there yet", but rather "It is good to be here."
  

In other news Sammy Hagar has been excommunicated for not being able to drive 55.

We can look forward to new documents in the future from the Pontifical Council for Transportation. Another document called "Sacrificial suffering and airline food" is rumored to be in the works.

Where is the Outrage from the Media?

Remember when the Taliban blew up the Budhist religious shrine? It made news everywhere. Now in China:

Henan government: destroy the sanctuary of Our Lady of Carmel in Tianjiajing

Faithful from the diocese of Anyang have launched an appeal through AsiaNews: “We ask all our brothers and sisters in the Lord – they say – to pray for us and spread our message to all the faithful of the world”.

Looking for Catholic News Everyday

New Advent Blog

The Catholic Report

New Oxford Review Newslink (only seems to be updated on weekdays)

Catholic World News (only seems to be updated on weekdays)

Spirit Daily

And where I get most of my linked news stories from iGoogle News which you can customize and use to gather news with keywords.

Catholic Tube

You got your Youtube....we've got our Catholic Tube

Video's of homilies, Fr. Stan Fortuna explaining the Mass, etc.

A Beatiful Meditation on the Symbolism of the "Apse" of a Church

From Vultus Christi:

An Opening Onto the Kingdom of God

It was only after several visits to the sanctuary of Our Mother of Perpetual Help that I looked, and saw, and understood the significance of the mosaic in the apse. The apse of a church generally symbolizes an opening onto the Kingdom of God. An apse is, in some way, more window than wall, even when it is solid. This explains the meaning of the images traditionally found in the apse of our churches: Christ in glory; Christ in majesty; Christ seated on a rainbow and on the clouds of heaven. Looking closely at the image in the Church of Sant'Alfonso, I see that, at the heart of the apse that symbolizes the inbreaking of the Kingdom of God, there is another opening: the wound in the Sacred Side of Christ.

Pilgrimage to the Heart of Christ

The iconography of the Church of Sant'Alfonso suggests that every pilgrimage to the image Our Mother of Perpetual Help becomes, by her maternal mediation, a pilgrimage to the wounded Side of Christ and — through the wound in His Side — into the Holy of Holies that is His Sacred Heart. I think that my Redemptorist friend, Father Scott, would agree.

The Open Side of Christ

The Child held fast in His Mother's embrace is the "Beautiful One" (Is 63:1) "clothed in a robe sprinkled with blood, and His Name is called the Word of God" (Ap 19:13). Just as His Mother's Heart was open to receive Him in His littleness and weakness, so is His wounded Side open to receive us in our littleness, in our weakness, and even in our sin. So is His Blood poured out to cleanse, to refresh, and to heal. The way to the Heart of Jesus passes through the Heart of His Mother.

The Answer to Bishop Trautmann's Concerns

About John and Mary Catholic's ability to comprehend the liturgical texts is answered by Father Z in an entertaining post, backed up with good research as usual (including pictures of baby food), read and enjoy.

Hacker With Harry Potter Ending Inspired by Pope Benedict?

Gives Pope Benedict XVI as his inspiration! If you are interested in a spoiler check here:

Yes, we did it. We did it by following the precious words of the great Pope Benedict XVI when he still was Cardinal Josepth Ratzinger.

For a Catholic guide to Harry Potter The Mystery of Harry Potter: A Catholic Family Guide:

Accidently Like a Catholic--The Warren Zevon Story

(Michael Dubruiel died less than 2 years after writing this post. See the sidebar on the right for more information.)

My introduction to Warren Zevon came in the early 1980's when I was in a record store in Gainesville, FL looking for a new album that had just came out (I don't remember what the album was). While in the store I was caught up with the album they were playing over the PA system..a singer was singing about being in Hawaii and abandoned by his girl to the "Hula, Hula" boys with a refrain in Hawain. It piqued my interest. I listened on to the next song which was about going to Memphis, Graceland to be exact and digging up the king and begging him to sing about those heavenly mansions Jesus mentioned and imagining him (Elvis) walking on the water with his diet pills.

I was hooked.

Who was the artist? I asked the guy at the counter.

Warren Zevon.

The album?

The Envoy Which only recently has been made availble on CD. Thus I was introduced to Warren Zevon.

I became a big fan, there is something about a certian class of artists, usually more know for their songwriting than their singing that has always categorized my favorite singers. People as diverse as Tom T. Hall, David Alan Coe, John Prine, Matraca Berg, Neil Young, Neil Diamond and Warren Zevon have long been my favorites. In some ways Zevon was the most diverse of all of them. One minute you were apt to hear a classical string piece introducing some twangy anthem to "playing that dead band's song...all night long" (the dead band referring to another of my long time favorites Lynyrd Skynrd's "Sweet Home Alabama" the next some hard rocking tune. Zevon in many ways defies definition.

I'll Sleep When I'm Dead: The Dirty Life and Times of Warren Zevon in some ways is just as quirky a biography as the singer was in life. When my copy first arrived I was disappointed, because it didn't seem like a biography at all, but rather a collection of interviews, journal entries, reminicences. But like the genius that the book is about, I soon found their was a genius to what Crystal Zevon (Warren's second ex-wife) had put together. Here is the gripping and moving tale of the real Warren Zevon told from every angle, by people who both loved and hated hiim. The details read like a life long confession--mostly of failures, but with glimmers of grace here and there. The stories behind many of the songs co-written by Warren Zevon are here and as this became my lunch time reading over the past month, I found myself going back and listening to the music from the different periods of his life.

I saw Warren perform live once, with Amy and a few friends at Clearwater Beach on the Fourth of July back in the 1990's. No band, just him in some bike shorts and his twelve string guitar belting out all the hits--no mention in the journal entries of that performance, but there are of many--many times revolving around the endless hook-ups with women that he had fleeting affairs with.

One of the most intriquing elements of the bio, that is very minor in the book but is there throughout his life is Zevon's fascination with the Catholic Church. In Spain he tries to convince then wife Crystal that they convert--she's reluctant, so nothing happens. Later when asked by someone what his religion he says, "Catholic." He attends Mass with a woman whom he sleeps with in the same apartment building, another time when troubled in Ireland he finds a Catholic Church and enters during Mass emerging afterwards and writing in his journal of the experience "Peace be with you" which seems to be something that eluded him throughout his life--hence the song title and book title "I"ll sleep when I'm dead." Perhaps the worst part of this flirtation with Catholicism happens when he is diagnosed with terminal cancer and given only three months to live and visits a Catholic priest with a friend only to be told that he does not have time enough to convert (for non-Catholics and Cathoilcs out there--this must be some reference to the RCIA process which normally takes about nine months to complete, but the priest was wrong to say this--but may not have understood the situation).

As a Warren Zevon fan I loved this book. As a Catholic I wished that Warren might have fell into the hands of a saintly priest or Catholic who might have given him the tools to redeem all of the demons that tormented his soul and kept him from committing to anything but death in his life. To paraphrase another author, we all are either living to sleep or sleeping to rise--unfortunately Warren was haunted by death (see the skulls that dominate his album art--complete with dangling cigarette), but somewhere in the midst of it all I think the grace that haunted him might have won out in the end.

Warning for the prudish--this book contains all the gore one might expect from someone involved in rock and roll--but in the midst there are glimmers of those heavenly mansion Jesus mentioned...

Priest and Companion Missing

From KNBC:

Police in Portland, Ore., asked for the public's help Wednesday in finding a Jesuit priest from Orange, Calif., and a traveling companion from Alameda County who were last seen while on vacation two weeks ago.

Neither the Rev. David Schwartz, 52, an associate director at the Loyola Institute for Spirituality, nor Cheryl Gibbs, 61, described as friends for 20 years, returned to their respective workplaces on Monday, triggering notice to police, said Portland police Sgt. Brian Schmautz.

Police went to a hotel on Thursday where the two were last seen on June 7 and searched. Schmautz did not disclose the name of the hotel.

The two are described as avid hikers and lovers of the outdoors.

"Most of the property was in the room," Schmautz said. The types of things that were taken were those for a day hike, including wallets and a maroon four-door 2005 Toyota Corolla with the California license plate No. 5MKN560, Schmautz said.

There was no evidence of foul play, but "what we believe is they found themselves in trouble" while on a day hike outside of Portland, Schmautz said.

Archaeologist Sparks Hunt for Holy Grail

From the Telegraph:

Alfredo Barbagallo, an Italian archaeologist, claims that it is buried in a chapel-like room underneath the Basilica of San Lorenzo Fuori le Mura, one of the seven churches which Christian pilgrims used to visit when they came to Rome.

Mr Barbagallo based his claim on two years spent studying mediaeval iconography inside the basilica and a description of a particular chamber, in a guide to the catacombs written in 1938 by a Capuchin friar named Giuseppe Da Bra.

The friar describes a room of about 20 square metres with a vaulted roof ceiling. "In the corner of a wall-seat there can be seen a terracotta funnel whose lower part opens out over the face of a skeleton," he wrote.

Pope's Catechesis: St. Athanasius

I watched it live on EWTN this morning at 5:00 a.m., no translation, so it was like being there.

From the Vatican Information Service:

Benedict XVI dedicated his catechesis during this morning's general audience to the figure of St. Athanasius of Alexandria (circa 300-373), calling him a "column of the Church," and a "model of orthodoxy in both East and West." Before the audience, which was held in the Paul VI Hall, the Pope visited the Vatican Basilica where he greeted faithful gathered there.

After noting how St. Athanasius' statue was placed by Bernini, alongside statues of other doctors of the Church (St. John Chrysostom, St. Ambrose and St. Augustine), around the cathedra of St. Peter in the apse of the Vatican Basilica, the Pope described the Alexandrian saint as a "passionate theologian of the incarnation of the 'Logos,' the Word of God," and "the most important and tenacious adversary of the Arian heresy which then threatened faith in Christ by minimizing His divinity, in keeping with a recurring historical tendency which is also evident in various ways today."

Athanasius participated in the Council of Nicaea, when bishops established "the symbol of faith ... which has remained in the tradition of the various Christian confessions and in the liturgy as the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed." There it is affirmed that "the Son is 'of one substance' with the Father, precisely in order to highlight His full divinity which was denied by the Arians. ... The fundamental idea behind St. Athanasius theological labors was precisely that God is accessible, ... and that though our communion with Christ we can truly unite ourselves to God."

Nonetheless, the Arian crisis did not end with the Council of Nicaea "and on five occasions over a period of 30 years, ... Athanasius [bishop of Alexandria from 328] was forced to abandon his city, spending 17 years in exile." In this way, however, "he was able to support and defend in the West ... the Nicene faith and the ideals of monasticism."

This saint's most famous work "is his treatise 'On the Incantation of the Word'," in which he affirms that the Word of God "was made man that we might be made God; and He manifested Himself by a body that we might receive the idea of the unseen Father; and He endured the insolence of men that we might inherit immortality."

Athanasius is also the author of meditations upon the Psalms and, above all, of one of the most popular works of ancient Christian literature, "the 'Life of St. Anthony,' the biography of St. Anthony Abbot which ... made a great contribution to the spread of monasticism in East and West."

The life of Athanasius, like that of St. Anthony, the Pope concluded, "shows us that 'those who draw near to God do not withdraw from men, but rather become truly close to them'."

English Translation?

Hat tip to Father Z who wonders if they are doing these translations on Babelfish....


From "GUIDELINES FOR THE PASTORAL CARE OF THE ROAD":

PART FOUR
THE PASTORAL CARE OF THE HOMELESS (Tramps)

Priest Plows into Restaurant

From KVUE:

Smithville's La Cabana restaurant hopes to attract drive-by traffic from Highway 71, but not drive-in traffic.

But Gina Chronis says that's exactly what happened Monday night when a truck driven by a 61-year-old Smithville priest made an unexpected entrance.

"They were panicking, shocked. And they were telling me what happened and asked for direction," said Chronis. "Instead of using the brakes, he used the accelerator as he was coming into the building."

Chronis says of the 13 people inside the dining area 6 people in had to be transported to the hospital.

Meanwhile the driver of the crash, father Karel Fink, was arrested on DWI charges.

He is the priest at St. Paul's Catholic Church in Smithville, which serves some 280 families.

The church declined comment but Austin bishop Gregory Aymond released a statement.

"My heartfelt concern and prayers are extended to those hurt by this accident and I am sorry for the incident."

It goes on to detail that father Karel "recently returned from treatment for alcoholism. Obviously he needs more treatment to continue his recovery," said Aymond.

Cardinal Keeler up and Walking After Brain Surgery

From the Baltimore Sun:

He walked in his hospital room several times yesterday, said Sean Caine, an archdiocese spokesman. The 76-year-old prelate also celebrated Mass in his room.

Surgeons inserted a shunt Monday to release excess cerebrospinal fluid that had built up in his brain's ventricles.

Bizare--Liturgical 'go-go' dancing?

From Matt C Abbot:

A reader sent me the following photos of three girls (I've omitted their faces) — dressed rather provocatively — who, er, danced at a recent Franciscan Jubilee Mass for a group of women religious at the cathedral in the Joliet, Ill., Catholic diocese.

Click on Matt's name for the rest.

Vatican Releases 10 Commandments for Drivers

From "GUIDELINES FOR THE PASTORAL CARE OF THE ROAD":

Resorting to our Heavenly Intercessors should not make us forget the importance of the sign of the cross, to be made before setting out on a journey. With this sign we put ourselves directly under the protection of the Holy Trinity. Indeed, this directs us above all to the Father, as origin and destination. In this regard, we recall the words of the psalm: “For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways” (Psalms 91 [90]:11).
The sign of the cross thus entrusts us to our guide, Jesus Christ (cf. John 8:12). The Emmaus encounter (cf. Luke 24:13-35) reassures us that the Lord meets everyone along the road, lodges in the houses of those who invite him, travels with us and sits beside us.
Finally, the sign of the cross takes us back to “the Holy Spirit, who is Lord and gives Life”[25]. To those who call on him, he illuminates the mind and grants the gift of prudence to reach one’s destination. This is confirmed by the hymn, Veni Creator: “Ductore sic te praevio, vitemus omne noxium” (“If you are the one who guides us, we will avoid anything that might harm us”).
60. During a journey it is also beneficial to pray vocally, especially taking turns with our fellow travellers in reciting the prayers, as when reciting the Rosary[26] which, due to its rhythm and gentle repetition, does not distract the driver’s attention. This will help to feel immersed in the presence of God, to stay under his protection, and may also give rise to a desire for communal or liturgical celebration, if possible at “spiritually strategic” points along the road or railway (shrines, churches and chapels, including mobile ones).
We have drawn up a special “decalogue” for them, in analogy with the Lord’s Ten Commandments. These are stated here below, as indications, considering that they may also be formulated differently.

I. You shall not kill.
II. The road shall be for you a means of communion between people and not of mortal harm.
III. Courtesy, uprightness and prudence will help you deal with unforeseen events.
IV. Be charitable and help your neighbour in need, especially victims of accidents.
V. Cars shall not be for you an expression of power and domination, and an occasion of sin.
VI. Charitably convince the young and not so young not to drive when they are not in a fitting condition to do so.
VII. Support the families of accident victims.
VIII.Bring guilty motorists and their victims together, at the appropriate time, so that they can undergo the liberating experience of forgiveness.
IX. On the road, protect the more vulnerable party.
X. Feel responsible towards others.