[Bishop Thomas Olmsted], the bishop of Phoenix has excommunicated another priest.Pray for the conversion of the heretics who repudiate Christ and His Church.
The Rev. Vernon Meyer, who had submitted his resignation to the bishop earlier this summer, becomes at least the fifth priest to be ousted from the church under Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted. He was not defrocked, which is a separate penalty...
Catholic News Service has long been viewed with a suspicious eye by "conservative" Catholic groups, but any perception that this wariness is confined to some traditionalist fringe, however, was officially put to rest earlier this year.More here:
By January 2009, CNS' failure to consistently apply reliably Catholic editorial standards had become so problematic that Archbishop Raymond Burke, Prefect of the Apostolic Signatura at the Vatican, was moved to take the extraordinarily bold step of criticizing CNS from Rome...
The latest issue of Christifidelis, from the St. Joseph Foundation, is out and it's a corker! The lead article by Philip Gray, J.C.L. is a great discussion on what obedience is and when a person is required to obey a lawful authority. Obedience is a subset of the cardinal virtue of justice which requires us to give to God and neighbor what is due to them. We owe absolute obedience to God, so all other laws are subservient to and subject to God's laws. When there's a conflict between God's law and a lower law, guess what we have to do? "We must obey the higher [law] lest we sin."Continued here
There are limits on human authority. "Directives that violate divine law must be ignored, and in many circumstances we have an obligation to resist them actively." Gray gives China's forced abortion laws as an example...
The escalating outcry over the invitation to President Obama to be the commencement speaker at Notre Dame - and the decision to bestow upon him the “Doctor of Law”- degree has an astonishing momentum.It is a act of public disobedience and a public scandal. Jenkins needs to go...and soon!
Two more Bishops and a Cardinal have spoken out. Bishop Thomas Olmsted of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix released his E-Mail letter to Father John Jenkins, the President of the University. The subject line summarized the strong concern “Saddened by your tragic decision”:...
I remember my dad saying forty years ago that "Notre Dame is the alma mater of every Catholic who never went to college." He was right.But all that's changed now - read more here
Forty years ago, most Catholics, like most Americans, had not been to college, though there was a growing sense that college was a good thing to do and thus a good thing to support. More importantly, forty years ago, Notre Dame's Catholicism was still recognizable by Catholics in the pews of America, so when Catholic parents dreamed of college for a son (and later, for a daughter), they dreamed of Notre Dame.
Pope Benedict XVI has dismissed Marek Bozek from the clerical state. Therefore, he may no longer function as a priest, with the exception of offering absolution to the dying. The dismissal from the clerical state focuses solely on Bozek, and does not address the status of the St. Stanislaus Kostka Corporation....What a piece of work this imposter is...Leading souls away from God and the Church. It just proves how a failure to act or acting carelessly in the beginning (by accelerating this moron's ordination by Bishop Leibrecht) leads to all sorts of problems later on...Someone chose to ignore the "check engine" light in this case! What fools people can be!
While we await the L'Osservatore Romano article that is to offer an account of how Pope Benedict XVI arrived at the decision to lift the excommunication imposed on the four priests who received episcopal orders illicitly (c. 1382) from Abp. Marcel Lefebvre in 1988, the materials now coming from the Society of St. Pius X continue, in my opinion, to add to the burden such an article must carry if the remission is to make sense to otherwise well-disposed outside observers.
In the meantime, those who would like to see some responses to the canonical arguments by which the SSPX claims that the 1988 excommunications were never incurred in first place, may consult my latest post: http://www.canonlaw.info/2009/01/why-original-sspx-excommunications-were.html
"The Virgin who is kneeling is Obedience;, she alone can give Me to drink because Obedience contains in itself the richness of the other virtues; true obedience must necessarily be the ensemble of all the virtues."And in tbe light of grace, the Saint saw how true it was.
"Teach me, as You taught St. Mechtilde, O Divine Master, the price and dignity of obedience. Show me that to practice obedience means to practice a multitude of other virtues, patience, humility, faith, confidence, docility--that it is to give to my religious life, its strength, its reward, its value._________________
"I do not want my taste for obedience to diminish, as I advance in years, but on the contrary I want it to become more entire, more universal, more intelligent, more supernatural.
"Grant, O Lord, that in all the difficult moments, when self love revolts, when I find reasons and pretexts, I remember the virgin with the golden cup who on her knees presents to You the perfume of the other virtues, that not a drop be lost; that all be gathered to honor You as You deserve.
"O God, Lover of obedience, make me obedient!"
ORLANDO, Fla. (CNS) -- Following a lively debate, the U.S. bishops left a 700-page translation of one section of the Roman Missal in limbo June 13 when it failed to obtain the number of votes needed to approve the text or to reject it.Spearheading the protest we see the name of a prominent leader of the dissenting faction - Bishop Trautman, whose opposition to faithful translations of the Latin texts is well known.
The translation of the proper prayers for Sundays and feast days during the liturgical year requires the approval of two-thirds of the 250 Latin-rite members of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. But after more than a dozen bishops spoke against the translation, results of the voting were inconclusive....
"John and Mary Catholic have the right to have prayers that are clear and understandable," said Bishop Donald W. Trautman of Erie, Pa., in speaking against the translation that had been in the works for more than two years.
Thousands of "leading Roman Catholics," says the UK Telegraph, are petitioning the Church to allow women and married men into the priesthood. How's that for thinking outside the box?"We believe that the Holy Spirit may be telling us that we are not sufficiently open to the emergence of new forms of relevant ministries."Right. Imagine how the life of the Church in the first world would be transformed if the petition were to succeed: instead of the typical monthly guitar Mass congregation consisting of the same two dozen 75-year-old liberals, you'd have a monthly guitar Mass congregation that included three or four 65-year-old liberals as well. Renewal!
BELLEVILLE, Ill. (AP) -- The Roman Catholic bishop of the Belleville diocese plans to begin meeting privately this summer with the diocese's priests in hopes of smoothing communication.Again, we should pray that much good will be the result of this endeavor to open up communication and understanding between the priests and the bishop.
Bishop Edward Braxton says in a letter to priests that the goal of the discussions is to improve dialogue and move beyond was has been contentious relations....
St. Louis, May 29, 2008 / 01:03 am (CNA).- The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has confirmed Archbishop of St. Louis Raymond Burke’s decree excommunicating the board of directors of a schismatic parish. Archbishop Burke had excommunicated the leaders of the breakaway ethnically Polish parish for hiring a suspended priest to celebrate the Sacraments and sacramentals.Bozek is already a "rent a priest" though he may not be a current member of that group. Unless he recants and submits to lawful authority, his days as a priest are numbered.
The priest could be defrocked for remaining in schism, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has warned.
According to Archbishop Burke’s May 30 column in the St. Louis Review, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has taken two actions. First, it has rejected the recourse (appeal) presented by the Board of Directors of Saint Stanislaus Kostka Corporation, including the recourse of suspended priest Reverend Marek B. Bozek.We should pray for these people, who have been without licit and/or valid sacraments for far too long because of the Board's actions.
[...]
Archbishop Burke said the Congregation gave two reasons for its decision. First, the board of directors did not observe the time limits set for recourses and neglected to fulfill the formal requirements for a recourse. Second, it said the members of the Board of Directors of Saint Stanislaus Kostka Corporation have committed schism and continue to persist in it.
The archbishop said that members of the church’s board of directors could appeal the Congregation’s decision to its Ordinary Session of the Cardinals and Bishops, or they could reconcile with the Church and “withdraw from the state of schism.” The Congregation’s letter said “reconciliation with the Church necessarily includes repentance for the grave harm which their schismatic actions have caused to individual souls and to the whole Church.”It's simply a matter of ridding oneself of the deadly sin of pride and
In a separate letter, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith addressed the case of Father Marek Bozek, saying he could be defrocked if he does not renounce his schismatic acts and continues to celebrate the sacraments illicitly. Unless the priest reconciles with the Church, the Congregation said it will “present his case to the Holy Father for his dismissal ex officio from the clerical state.”Time for reconciliation is running out for Marek Bozek...
Vatican, May. 28, 2008 (CWNews.com) - The Vatican has issued a new document underlining the importance of obedience in religious life.It's encouraging to see an Instruction on Obedience from the Holy See. Obedience to one's lawful superiors is something which has been sorely lacking for many years. We have witnessed flagrant disobedience so much over the last 40 years, it's amazing that the rebellion is not even more widespread than it is.
Entitled "The Service of Authority and Obedience," the 50-page document from the Congregation for Religious takes the form of an Instruction. It was presented to the superiors of male and female religious orders on May 28 at an assembly held in the Salesianum in Rome.
Obedience, the Vatican document says, should be understood by religious as "a way to help the community or institute to seek and achieve the will of God." The basis for religious obedience, the Instruction notes, is found "in that search for God and for his will which is particular to believers." In offering their obedience, religious imitate "the fundamental experience of Christ Who, out of love, was obedient unto his death on the Cross...."
BARRYS BAY, May 13, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The Archbishop of the Canadian capital city of Ottawa addressed the convocation of Our Lady Seat of Wisdom Academy in Barrys Bay Ontario last week, leaving attendees awestruck. The speech focused on Pope Paul VI's encyclical Humanae Vitae. Faithful Catholics leaving the event told LifeSiteNews.com "I've been waiting 35 years to hear that from a Canadian bishop."Humanae Vitae was one of the most prophetic and important documents in the Church during our lifetime, coming shortly after Vatican Council II, yet so many behave as if it never happened, and thus, everyone suffers because of open rebellion to this immutable teaching of the Church.
Archbishop Terrence Prendergast described for the graduates and their families the tumultuous times of the 60's when Humanae Vitae was published (July 25, 1968). He recalled that many expected a "green light" on contraception from the Vatican and were "thunderstruck" when the encyclical was published....
Lima, Mar 25, 2008 / 03:02 pm (CNA).- Bishop Kay Schmalhausen of Ayaviri in southern Peru said this week that the Church needs priests who are willingly obedient and have an intense spiritual life.Something a number of Belleville priests should consider. But, alas, it's probably too late for them. Nevertheless, we should continue to pray for priests.
During the Chrism Mass of Holy Week, the bishop reminded priests that their lives “should be oriented toward replicating the supreme model who is Jesus Christ. A priest does not live for himself, nor has he been consecrated to do his own will.”
Bishop Schmalhausen said obedience is a primary characteristic of the priestly life and that only by embracing it “will we be will authentically free, our ministry fruitful for the Kingdom and our priestly life happy and truly complete.”
[...]
Authentic obedience, he told priests, which frees the person from attachments, selfishness, pride and anger, springs forth from a heart “purified through an encounter with Jesus....”
In April, the Immaculate Heart Community in Los Angeles will host a lecture by a woman religious who, seven years ago, publicly ignored a Vatican disciplinary order.The Benedictines of Erie - just another dying order?
Sister Christine Vladimiroff, prioress of the Benedictine Sisters of Erie, Pennsylvania, will deliver an Anita Caspary Lecture in Los Angeles on April 13, reported the March 19 “Justice and Peace Newsblast” of the Los Angeles archdiocese’s Office of Justice and Peace.
[...]
In a 2001 letter to the Holy See, Vladimiroff noted that the Vatican saw Sister Joan Chittester’s attendance at the Women’s Ordination Worldwide Conference “to be in opposition to its decree (Ordinatio Sacerdotalis) that priestly ordination will never be conferred on women in the Roman Catholic Church and must therefore not be discussed.” Vladimiroff said that “after much deliberation and prayer” she decided to “decline the request of the Vatican” to forbid Sister Joan to attend. She did so “out of the Benedictine, or monastic, tradition of obedience.” .....
Omaha Archbishop Elden Curtiss has suspended from the ministry a former assistant pastor of St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church who has a federal lawsuit pending against the archdiocese.
The suspension means that the Rev. Ernest Ogugua, who now lives in New York, is temporarily banned from saying Mass or performing any other act of priestly ministry.
The suspension took effect Jan. 7, said the Rev. Joseph Taphorn, chancellor of the Omaha Archdiocese. An announcement by the archdiocese said Curtiss took the step because Ogugua failed to obey an order to return to meet with the archbishop....
