LCWR Assembly Begins; Vatican representative told attendance 'would not be helpful'

"Assembly 2012" begins today in St Louis


Previously from Catholic Culture:

Archbishop J. Peter Sartain of Seattle, who has been charged by the Vatican with responsibility for supervising a reform of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR), has been told by the group’s leaders that his presence “would not be helpful” at the LCWR’s annual assembly this week.

As the LCWR prepared for the annual meeting, at which members will discuss the Vatican’s demand for reform, the group’s president, Sister Patricia Farrell, told reporters that the group would continue to question Church teachings. She expressed concern that in the Vatican’s eyes, “that questioning is seen as defiance.”

“I would also say that there are very few doctrines in the Church that are not discussable, that are absolutely infallible,” the LCWR president said. She voiced her conviction that the women religious of the LCWR would “continue raising and responding to questions, according to our own consciences and according to new information and questions that arise in our day.”...

The New Archbishop of San Francisco

The Holy Father named Bishop Salvatore Cordileone of Oakland to be the ninth Archbishop of San Francisco. A terrific appointment. More to follow as this surprise (to some) appointment--he moves across the Bay from Oakland to San Francisco--begins to hit the email stream. Although obviously there are plenty of details that soon-to-be Archbishop Cordileone needs to master, it is not exactly as if he comes to the appointment without a clear sense of the situation in the City of St. Francis. A press conference at 10 AM at the cathedral will be streamed here. Bishop Salvatore CordileoneYou can bet this will be seen and felt by some as the San Francisco Earthquake of 2012.

Here is the Vatican on the subject of the new Archbishop of San Francisco:

Read more at catholicworldreport.com

Cardinal Burke: Theologians’ Mandatum Should Be Required by Colleges, Disclosed to Students

Catholic families have a right to know which theology professors have the mandatum, and Catholic colleges and universities should require it as a condition for employment, affirmed the Vatican’s chief judge Cardinal Raymond Burke in a new report prompted by recent concerns from Pope Benedict XVI.

Cardinal Burke and several bishops, canon law experts, and theologians discussed the mandatum with The Cardinal Newman Society in an online report published today at http://www.cardinalnewmansociety.org/.

The report, titled “A Mandate for Fidelity,” follows upon a May 5th address by Pope Benedict to several American bishops during their ad limina visit to Rome. The Pope expressed concern that “much remains to be done” toward the renewal of Catholic identity in U.S. Catholic colleges and universities, “especially in such areas as compliance with the mandate laid down in Canon 812 for those who teach theological disciplines.”

...
Citing Pope Benedict’s description of the mandatum as “a tangible expression of ecclesial communion and solidarity,” Cardinal Burke said:

It’s tangible in the sense that it’s a public declaration, in writing, on the part of the ecclesiastical authority that a theologian is teaching in communion with the Church, and people have a right to know that so that if you, for instance, are at a Catholic university or parents are sending their children to the Catholic university, they know that the professors who are teaching theological disciplines at the university are teaching in communion with the Church. They are assured in that by the public declaration of the diocesan bishop.

“The fact that I teach in accord with the Magisterium is a public factor,” added Cardinal Burke. “That’s not some private, secret thing between myself and the Lord.”

More here: http://www.cardinalnewmansociety.org/Home/tabid/36/ctl/details/itemid/1585/mid/435/cardinal-burke-says-theologians-mandatum-should-be-required-by-colleges-disclos.aspx
  

Vatican removes titles “Pontifical” and “Catholic” from university name

The Holy See’s decision to remove the titles have caused an uproar and will have repercussions that stretch further than Peru’s academic environment
The moment of truth has come. The Holy See is to remove the titles “Pontifical” and “Catholic” from the name of the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru (PUCP). The controversial and unprecedented decision should be communicated Saturday 21 July if no last minute surprises. The Vatican had no other choice after years of disobedience from an institution which no longer seems to answer to the Holy See. . .

 More here: http://vaticaninsider.lastampa.it/en/homepage/the-vatican/detail/articolo/peru-peru-universita-cattolica-pucp-16946/

Dr Edward Peters: A good profile essay on almost-Cardinal Burke

Dr Peters writes:

Franz Klein of the Diocese of Lacrosse has a nice spread on Archbishop, and-one-day-shy-of-being-formally Cardinal, Burke in the on-line The Catholic Times (18 Nov. 2010, page 3B). Klein offers a good overview of Burke’s typical day at the Apostolic Signatura, and of the esteem in which he is held by those concerned for the proper coordination of law and theology. The essay even features a few quotes by yours truly. So enjoy!

It's been another good week for the Church: Abp. Dolan elected president of the USCCB, Abp. Burke, among others, elevated to the College of Cardinals. Let's just remember, though, the trials of the Church in places like China, where bishops faithful to the Holy See are being forced to attend on Saturday an episcopal ordination performed in violation of 1983 CIC 1382. Think of it as two strides forward, one shove back. Oremus pro invicem.

Speaking of cardinals, I have updated my list of Cardinal Electors.

Original post here.

Catholic Voters Get Guidance from Rome [Archbishop Burke]

Cardinal-designate Raymond Burke in exclusive new interview, "There is a discrimination which is perfectly good and just"

As Americans approach the eve of election week, U.S. Cardinal-designate Raymond Burke is reminding Catholics in an exclusive 25-minute video interview that they are bound in conscience to vote for political candidates who oppose aborting babies, embryonic stem cell experiments, euthanasia and so-called homosexual "marriage."

"Millions of Catholics have no idea it's a sin to vote for candidates who favor these grave evils, which attack the very foundations of society," said Thomas McKenna, President of Catholic Action for Faith and Family. "This matter-of-fact, pointed interview granted to me by Archbishop Raymond Burke in Rome last week makes it very clear what the responsibility of every American Catholic will be next Tuesday...

More here

See the Archbishop Burke videos here

It's Official: Raymond *CARDINAL* Burke!!!

Pope names 24 new cardinals

VATICAN CITY (AP) - Pope Benedict XVI has named 24 new cardinals, including a large number of Italians, two Americans and prelates for key posts in Europe, Latin America, Asia and Africa.

The new cardinals include Archbishop Donald Wuerl of Washington, D.C., and Archbishop Raymond Burke, formerly the La Crosse, Wis., bishop who now leads a Vatican court. Burke has been sharply critical of the Democratic Party in the United States for its support of abortion rights.

The pope made the announcement Wednesday, putting his mark on the body that will elect his successor.

Other key posts were Warsaw, Munich, Kinshasa, Quito, Lusaka, Zambia, and Sri Lanka.

Source

Congratulations and prayers to Archbishop Burke!

Read Archbishop Burke's statement on the announcement of the consistory for the creation of Cardinals here

Dr Edward Peters: Musings on the next Consistory

Dr Peters writes:

In the mood for some completely personal musings on an important topic that none of us have the slightest control over?

Okay, how about papal elections?

Setting aside a few variations in their modern structure, Consistories are chiefly important in that new cardinals are formally named thereat, and it's cardinals (under the age of 80) who elect popes. If Benedict XVI wants to impact the direction of the College of Cardinals, my guess is, he will do so at his next opportunity.

See why here.

Hitler learns that Gomez will succeed Mahony as Archbishop of LA

Another of a series of Hitler spoofs...HT to TM!

Satan behind media attacks on the Pope, asserts Italian exorcist

Rome, Italy, Mar 31, 2010 / 11:47 am (CNA).- Noted Italian exorcist Father Gabriele Amorth, commented this week that the recent defamatory reporting on Pope Benedict XVI, especially by the New York Times, was “prompted by the devil.”

Speaking to News Mediaset in Italy, the 85-year-old exorcist noted that the devil is behind “the recent attacks on Pope Benedict XVI regarding some pedophilia cases.”

“There is no doubt about it. Because he is a marvelous Pope and worthy successor to John Paul II, it is clear that the devil wants to ‘grab hold’ of him.”...

Continued here.

143 Years of Papal Documents in One Click [Chiesa]

The Vatican has put on the web the records of the Holy See from the past century and a half, including those on the second world war and on Pius XII and the Jews.
by Sandro Magister

ROME, March 27, 2010 – For two days now, all the official records of the Holy See from 1865 to 2007 have been freely available on the internet, in pdf format, on the Vatican website:

Acta Sanctae Sedis, 1865-1908

Acta Apostolicae Sedis, 1909-2007

Also available online are the twelve large volumes of the records and documents of the Holy See relative to the period of the second world war, from 1939 to 1945, the collection requested by Paul VI in 1964 and compiled between 1965 and 1981 by the Jesuit historians Pierre Blet, Angelo Martini, Burkhart Schneider and Robert A. Graham:

Actes et documents du Saint Siège relatifs à la Seconde Guerre Mondiale

A user's guide here.

News Updates, 3/22

Pope blasts Irish bishops, orders Vatican probe
'You must answer for it before God' and Church tribunals

Ottawa archbishop lays down law on kneeling
Orders all Catholics to conform during Mass

Sheikh incites Muslims to attack Christians in Egypt
Enraged mob attacks Coptic community, hurls rocks

Egyptian police arrest 13 victims of Muslim attack
Being charged with 'illegal religious assembly'

Dr. Death tells Irish patients how to end it all
Australian suicide promoter gives tips to terminally ill

Storm stirred up over Pope's alleged failure on abuse
Ratzinger was never part of 'magic circle' of bishops

Antoni Gaudi's vision left mark on Barcelona
Pope scheduled to consecrate Sagrada Familia this year

Remains of Italian teen believed found in church
Vanished from her home town of Potenza in 1993

Anger over freeing man convicted in bishop murder
Guatemalan human rights groups expresses outrage

Dr Edward Peters: Abps. Dolan and Listecki on Holy Communion for pro-aborts

Dr Peters writes:

Archbishops Dolan of New York and Listecki of Milwaukee recently came under fire for comments they made seeming to express reluctance to withhold holy Communion from Catholic politicians under various conditions. Particularly in open-forum comment boxes (always to be taken with shovel-fulls of salt, those!), there's a lot of sky-is-falling carping against the prelates for shirking their duties, abandoning babies, betraying Pope Benedict, and so on. Hogwash.

Read why here.

Chief exorcist Father Gabriele Amorth says Devil is in the Vatican

Sex abuse scandals in the Roman Catholic Church are proof that that "the Devil is at work inside the Vatican", according to the Holy See's chief exorcist.

Father Gabriele Amorth, 85, who has been the Vatican's chief exorcist for 25 years and says he has dealt with 70,000 cases of demonic possession, said that the consequences of satanic infiltration included power struggles at the Vatican as well as "cardinals who do not believe in Jesus, and bishops who are linked to the Demon".

He added: "When one speaks of 'the smoke of Satan' [a phrase coined by Pope Paul VI in 1972] in the holy rooms, it is all true – including these latest stories of violence and paedophilia." ...

More here.

Virtual Reality Tour of the Basilica of Saint John Lateran

This is really a MUST SEE.

Hold down the left mouse button to vove around (left, right, up, down).
Use your scroll wheel to view close-ups.

You will not be disappointed!

Lent 2010. Pope Benedict's Ash Wednesday (Chiesa)

His torment is the disappearance of faith. His program is to lead men to God. His preferred instrument is teaching. But the Vatican curia doesn't help him much. And sometimes it harms him...

Continued here

Catholic Relief Services Forms Partnership With Death Peddlers?

Unbelievable!!! But then, I not surprised at anything coming from the USCCB anymore...

 

The following was received via email from Randy Engel, Director, U.S. Coalition for Life:

___________________________________

 

The CCHD scandal is about the USCCB GIVING Money to the Death Peddlers
The CRS scandal is about the USCCB TAKING Money from the Death Peddlers

 

On Thursday, January 7, 2010, the following e-mail concerning the "partnership" of Catholic Relief Services (CRS) with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Howard G. Buffett Foundation was sent by the U.S. Coalition for Life to the Most Rev. Timothy Dolan, Archbishop of New York, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of CRS, and Thomas Price, CRS Senior Communications Manager: Can you tell me why Catholic Relief Services is in a partnership with two of the world's greatest promoters of abortion and population control? Why the glowing promotion of two of the world's most anti-life foundations? Randy Engel, Director, USCL

 

The next day, the USCL received a response from Mr. Price which reads in part:

Thank you for your letter of concern on the Gates Foundation and the Howard G. Buffett Foundation. As an official agency of the Catholic Church, Catholic Relief Services strictly adheres to the teaching of the Catholic Church and the policies of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB).  Our first Guiding Principle states that "all human life is sacred and possesses a dignity that comes directly from our creation and not from any action of our own, …" The Catholic Church often participates in humanitarian initiatives that include a large range of partners — and we do not always agree with everything they stand for. However, the work that is undertaken directly with any of our partners always strictly adheres to Church teaching. We do not provide or promote artificial birth control and would never accept funding from any donor that would compromise the agency's adherence to Catholic teaching. …" Sincerely, Tom Price

THE SIN OF COMISSION AND OF OMISSION

According to the CRS official website (www.crs.org), the Gates Foundation is "guided by the belief that every life has equal value." CRS praises the foundation's work "to help all people lead healthy, productive lives," and "to ensure that all people… have access to the opportunities they need to succeed in school and life. …"

In exchange for perpetuating this glorious deception and maintaining a silence on the Gates/Buffett world-wide killing machine, CRS has received in excess of $40 million for global and agricultural development and financial services for the poor from 2003 to 2009. Compared to the billions Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett and his family spend on their true passion – baby killing and. population control – it's a drop in the bucket, of course, but I'm sure they consider their money well spent.  

In reviewing the anti-life record of the Gateses and Buffetts, one they have successfully keep out of the public eye, thanks to organizations like CRS, it's difficult to avoid the conclusion that "they never met an anti-life, anti-family enterprise that they did not love (and eventually fund)."

A PROFILE OF THE DEATH PEDDLERS

Starting with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation directed by the Gateses and fellow billionaire Warren Buffett, father of Howard G. Buffett., here is a sampling of the anti-life organizations and activities it has supported, with a brief commentary on each:

·        International Planned Parenthood Federation – $41,876,150 since 1998. Supports a total anti-life agenda world-wide. Organizes massive anti-life initiatives the world over.

·        Planned Parenthood Federation of America – $12,984,000 since 1998. Does not include millions for PP abortion centers in Gates' home state of Washington and elsewhere. Performs over 200,000 surgical abortions per year and supports a full anti-life agenda including contraception, sterilization, abortifacients, live human embryo and fetal experimentation, sex education, divorce, fornication, infanticide, homosexuality, eugenics, infanticide, pornography, in vitro fertilization.

·        U.N. Fund for Population Activities and Americans for UNFPA – $56,681,272 in 2000. An indirect grant to UNFPA of $2,200,000,000 for "reproductive health" and mass population control programs.

·        Pathfinder International – $1,585,000 in 1999, 2009. Among top deadliest abortion providers, trains abortionists, procures abortion and sterilization equipment. Promotes "reproductive options" among adolescents.  

·        International Projects Assistance Services – Promotes "sexual and reproductive rights."

·        Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation's Urban Reproductive Health Initiative – Pushes population control in Africa and South Asia .

·        Bill and Melinda Gates Institute for Population and Reproductive Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health – $9,864,398 (2009-2011). Sponsors world-class population control conferences which push modern fertility control techniques, abortion and sterilization including female condoms, injectable abortifacients, and "menstrual regulation" kits.

·        Population Communications International – $3,775,000. Specializes in population control propaganda for mass media.

·        Family Health International – Specializes in mass sterilization and abortifacients and "menstrual regulation" kits.

·        Family Care International – $14,643,712. Seeks to promote and defend "abortion rights" and mass population control projects.

·        Stem Cell and Cloning Research – $400,000 donation for California campaign in favor  of state supported programs of human embryonic stem cell research and cloning projects

·        EPF: The Inter-European Parliamentary Forum on Population and Development – $1,598,245. To promote "reproductive health care" around the world. According to the EPF, "in February 2002 it signed up to the "See Change" campaign; an initiative started by Catholics For Free Choice with the objective of changing the status of the Vatican at the United Nations. Following this, the parliamentary groups in Sweden and Spain both held parliamentary hearings on the role of the Vatican City in UN decision-making and its obstruction of progress on reproductive health and rights issues."

As a member of the elite Club of Rome, Bill Gates is dedicated to the war against the proliferation of people, but he has other side interests as well include the promotion of the vice of homosexuality.  

In 1989, Microsoft was one of the first companies in the world to offer employee benefits to same-sex domestic partners and to include sexual orientation in its corporate nondiscrimination policy. The company has supported and sponsored pro-gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender issues activities and programs including GLEAM, an organized employee resource group for homosexuals, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender employees. As part of its Diversity Initiatives Program, GLEAM partners with Microsoft's executive leadership teams to define and implement corporate diversity initiatives companywide, such as the company's GLBT Pride Month celebration and GLBT-specific diversity training.

In July 2007, Bill Gates used part of his Microsoft fortune to purchase 56.3% of PlanetOut, a homosexual activist publishing company that runs a number of "gay" publications and services and is a major provider of hard core homosexual pornography.

Now, let's turn our attention to the anti-life organization, services and research funded with the Warren Buffett billions:

·        Buffett money has funded important clinical trials for RU-486, (Mifepristone/Mifeprex), the so-called "abortion pill," putting the lethal drug on the fast track in the U.S. and abroad.

·        Two million dollars to Family Health International helped finance mass experimental sterilization programs in third world countries using the dangerous chemical quinacrine hydrochloride. The drug is banned in the U.S. and Canada .

·        Population Communications International – Specializes in population control propaganda for mass media.

• German Foundation for World Population – Population control programs directed at youth "as agents of change."
• International Projects Assistance Services – Promotes sexual and reproductive rights. Buffett gave IPAS $20,000,000 for the manufacturer and distribution of manual abortion suction pumps for use in poor countries.

·        Population Council – $3,500,000. One of the oldest population control and abortion research agencies in the United States .

·        Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice – $700,000. Recruits and engages churches and clergy in supporting abortion rights.

·        NARAL – $1,500,000. A promoter of abortion rights in the United States .

·        Catholics for a Free Choice – $485,000. Money used to challenge and undermine Catholic opposition to abortion.

·        Center for Reproductive Rights – $737,000. Carries out pro-abortion litigation. Helped strike down Nebraska 's ban on partial-birth abortion/infanticide.

·        National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy – $250,000. A pro-abortion group that targets teens.

·        Family Health International – $20,000,000. Specializes in mass sterilization and abortifacients and "menstrual regulation" kits and abortion vacuum aspirators.

·        Family Care International – Promotes abortion and mass population control projects.

·        Pathfinder International – $582,000. Promotes abortion rights and services.

·        Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation – Provides millions of dollars for abortion rights groups including many of the above groups.

·        Access Project – $496,000. Promotes abortion rights and services.

·        GIRE – $485,000. Promotes abortion rights and services in Mexico .

The record is clear – the hands of Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett are soaked with the innocent blood of millions of unborn children. The only question that remains is  "Is the body count high enough for CRS to dump the death peddlers as donors?"            

THE TRAGEDY OF CATHOLIC RELIEF SERVICES

The objective of this mailing is to persuade the American Bishops, especially those who serve on the Board of Directors of CRS, to publicly reject any and all donations from the Gates and Buffett Foundations and any other corporation or government entity that funds and promotes anti-life, anti-family and anti-God programs, services, and research in the United States and abroad. The message is simple -  "Just say no"…. to the death peddlers.

As with the scandal-ridden Catholic Campaign for Human Development, Catholics should withhold all funding of Catholic Relief Services until this blatant injustice is publicly corrected.  The CRS National Diocesan Campaign is usually held on the 4^th Sunday of Lent. This will give CRS officials time to take action.           

Unlike the CCHD, which should be disbanded, CRS, founded in 1943, has a long history of legitimate service to the Church especially in regard to refugee settlement and emergency disaster relief programs. The tragedy is that it has become just another compromised entity of the American Bishops' national bureaucracy which systematically poisons everything it touches. The removal of the Bill and Melinda Gates and Buffett Foundations from the roster of CRS partners/donors list is important, but the problems with CRS run much deeper and are unlikely to be resolved by the liberal, leftist establishment and staff that runs and controls the USCCB.

 As things stands now, faithful Catholics need to look elsewhere for legitimate Catholic charities and missions to support.              

USCL Action Alert   Please send your letters, e-mails, and faxes asking Archbishop Timothy Dolan to take the lead in severing all CRS, and other USCCB agency ties with the Gates and Buffett Foundations. They are not the only anti-life partners that CRS has teamed up with, but they are the worst.   A list of bishops who serve on the Board of Directors of CRS is provided below. If your bishop is on that list, please make him your top priority. If not, please send your communication to Archbishop Dolan, 1011 First Avenue, New York , NY 10022.   Phone: 212-371-1000. CRS Board of Directors Most Rev. Timothy Dolan - Chairman Archbishop of New York Most Rev. J. Kevin Boland Bishop of Savannah Most Rev. Timothy Broglio Archbishop of Military Services Most Rev. Patrick R. Cooney Bishop of Gaylord Most Rev. Daniel Flores Aux. Bishop of Detroit Most Rev. Martin D. Holley Aux. Bishop of Washington , D.C. Most Rev. Joseph E. Kurtz Archbishop of Louisville , KY Most Rev. Denis J. Madden Auxiliary Bishop of Baltimore Theodore Cardinal McCarrick Archbishop Emeritus of Washington , DC Most Rev. Michael J. Sheehan Archbishop of Santa Fe Most Rev. George L. Thomas Bishop of Helena Most Rev. John Charles Wester Bishop of Salt Lake City

*The USCL wishes to express its appreciation to LifeSiteNews for their August 1, 2003 article "Buffett Foundation donations, 2001-02."   

** For additional information contact Randy Engel, Director, US CL at 724-327-7379 or rvte61@comcast.net.

###
End of Email

Dr Edward Peters: Canonical options in the Sr. Donna Quinn case

Dr Peters writes:

Frankly, chances are slim that the Sinsinawa Dominicans will do anything about their Sr. Donna Quinn who publicly and formally cooperates in the death of babies by abortion. Chances are slim that anything will be done about her because, well, such are the times we live in: a Catholic religious can act for years as an abortion clinic escort and cause barely a ripple in her religious community, the local church, or in Rome. History won't believe it.

But a slim chance is still some chance, and the moral poverty of the age is no bar to our doing what we can in response to such conduct. I can at least point out the possibility of canonical consequences for Sr. Donna.

Read more here.

Archbishop Burke offers 1st Tridentine High Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica in 40 years

Wonderful news!

Archbishop Raymond Burke, prefect of the Apostolic Signatura, has offered the first solemn High Mass in the extraordinary form of the Roman Rite in St. Peter’s Basilica since the promulgation of the ordinary form four decades ago. The Pontifical Mass took place in the Chapel of the Most Holy Sacrament...

Read more at Catholic Culture here

Dr Edward Peters: Fr. Edward Panlilio and Philippines political office

Dr Peters writes:

Al Kresta and I recently discussed the case of Philippine priest Edward Panlilio holding a governorship in, and now running for the presidency of, the Philippines. Those wishing more information on the matter can begin by consulting Canon 285 of the 1983 Code, and then reading my general comments on this sort of case in the 2007 CLSA Advisory Opinions at p. 60.

Read more here.