NJ Governor will not receive Holy Communion in public

Gov. James E. McGreevey, continuing to clash with Roman Catholic Church leaders over his support for abortion rights, said yesterday he would comply with the wishes of Newark Archbishop John J. Myers and not seek Communion at public Masses.
...
McGreevey criticized the Newark archbishop's statement as the latest example of a Roman Catholic leader trying to force Catholic politicians to choose between their faith and the separation of church and state. He was unapologetic in his support for abortion rights.

"I will continue to go to Mass with my family. I will continue to practice my faith. It's a faith that I love. And I believe this is a false choice in America between one's faith and one's constitutional obligations," he said.

He added that, "A woman Sunday in church said, 'Well, ultimately, the faithful will save the church from the bishops.'"

Link to the story is here. The Archbishop's pastoral letter is here.

Karl Keating E-Letter for May 4

TOPICS:
A BISHOP CAUGHT IN AMBER
THE WORLD'S WORST INTERCESSORY PRAYERS

Dear Friend of Catholic Answers:

To the left-wing Catholic intelligentsia, Kenneth Untener was a model bishop. "Bishop Ken," as he liked to be called, favored all the trendy causes and appeared in all the trendy protests. His name was found frequently in the pages of the "National Catholic Reporter," where he was mentioned in hagiographic terms.

That was never more evident than in that paper's April 9 remembrance of him. Untener, not long retired as bishop of Saginaw, Michigan, died March 27 at the age of 63. He had led the diocese since 1980.

A VISIONARY BISHOP LOCKED IN TIME
The April 23 issue of the "Reporter" ran a surprising letter about the paper's eulogy of Untener--surprising in that it took the paper to task for its fawning description of the bishop. The letter was written by Bette Woods of Brighton, Michigan.

As Dr. Johnson noted, "In lapidary inscriptions a man is not upon oath." When eulogizing the dead we highlight their virtues and omit their failings, giving necessarily a skewed--but, for the moment, forgivable--impression. That is permissible at the funeral service and at the graveyard, but we expect a more considered treatment when the deceased is reflected upon in print.

Let me quote from Woods' letter:

"I am sadly amused, though not surprised, at the sappy over-eulogizing of the former bishop of Saginaw, Michigan, Kenneth Untener. May he rest in peace, but at least when speaking about him, we should be honest. And honestly, what is so humble about a man who refused to submit himself to the teaching and discipline of the church he promised to serve ... and what is so visionary about a man whose ideology and vision has [sic] not been replicated anywhere and will die with his generation because it is not being widely replicated with my generation?

"I understand that he is very popular with you older folks at NCR and Call to Action and the like, but the future of the Church is in us 'young fogeys,' as Fr. Andrew Greeley recently referred to our next generation of priests and Church professionals. You may not like that, but at least you should be honest about it.

"Every person I have every met, particularly in the field of Church work, who admires anything even close to Bishop Ken's vision is over 50. Young people, particularly young Catholic women--I am 24--are embracing a much more dynamic John Paul II-esque interpretation of Vatican II, which includes liturgical fidelity, attraction to Christ-centered (and habit-wearing) religious life, and not only an acceptance of but a love for the Church's teachings on the all-male priesthood and the immorality of contraception. And we are the ones graduating from theology schools to minister to youth, teach religion, and write textbooks.

"Bishop Ken may have been a well-meaning, nice man. I hope that God is as merciful to him as he will be to me when all the mistakes I have made in my ministry are before him. But to call him a 'visionary' seems both dishonest and blind when his vision did not capture the next generation!"

Woods makes several telling comments, but let me highlight two:

1. The Church in this country suffers from a "generation gap." When we hear that phrase, normally we think of the elders being conservative and the youth being liberal. Here it is the reverse. Young Catholics, if active in the Church, are almost universally orthodox, even if not yet well formed in their faith.

The most radicalized segment of the Church in America is populated by folks near or past retirement age. Sure, there are twentysomethings who admire what Kenneth Untener stood for, but they are so few that at meetings of Call to Action they are trotted before the audience to prove the organization is not yet moribund.

2. Dissident Catholics justify themselves by saying that their heroes are "visionaries," a visionary being someone who is leading you where you were going anyway. Throughout his long episcopal career Untener was described by his fans as a visionary. He stood up to Rome. He "did" theology and liturgy his own way. He represented the wave of the future.

The problem is that his wave turned out to be the wave of the past, the ecclesiastical equivalent of the leisure suit. Young Catholics such as Bette Woods see this. For some reason, the editors at the "Reporter" do not--or, if they do, they are not admitting it in print.

I wonder what the "Reporter" staffers do after an issue is put to bed. Do they gather at Clancy's Bar for a beer and marvel at how their brand of Catholicism is taking the country by storm? I doubt it, since they can't be subject to that much self-deception.

No, I see them huddled at a side table, cupping their drinks in their hands, eyes downcast, faces drawn, wishing for a return of the exuberance they felt in the 1970s, when things seemed to be going their way. Back then, they could not have imagined that the infants they saw in church would grow up to turn their backs on the "vision" they offered.

Last month it was a eulogy for Kenneth Untener. Soon enough it will be a eulogy for the kind of Catholicism he stood for.

EVEN YOUR PARISH DOESN'T HAVE IT THIS BAD
Perhaps you hear ill-formed or banal intercessory prayers during Mass at your parish. Many Catholics do. But cheer up--it could be far worse. Your priest could be selecting the prayers from "Prayers of the Faithful," edited by Fr. Henry Fehren and published by Liturgical Press.

Fehren is the author of seven books, has appeared in fifteen movies, and has written a regular column for "U.S. Catholic." Perhaps his best known book is "Good News for Alienated Catholics."

Here are samples of what you have been spared:

1. "For employers whose primary interest is in efficiency, self-confidence, and good appearance, that they will also hire the ugly ..."

2. "For a frost that will tarnish the value of gold and put sparkle into the dullness of life ..."

3. "For a society where we don't have to make a million dollars, run the 100 in ten seconds, invent a laser, or die in order to be believed ..."

4. "For soldiers who don't get mail, children who flunk, showgirls who grow old ..."

5. For put-down, stepped on, squelched children exiled to live in dark caverns ..."

6. "For the smell of new rain, for pumpkins and Snoopy, for the aroma of homemade bread, for cotton candy, for funny looking animals like giraffes and koalas and human beings ..."

7. "For dissenters and the right to dissent ..."

And my contribution:

"From all such silliness, good Lord deliver us!"

Until next time,
Karl

I would send these intercessory prayers to my parish, but I'm afraid that might really use them...In fact, maybe they do already - I would not know. I attend Sunday Mass at another parish to avoid the various liturgical abuses going on.

CAN's Letter to Archbishop Burke

A week or so ago, I was hopeful that someone would be able to get a copy of a letter to Archbishop Burke that was posted at St. Cronan's with a signature list. It was my understanding that this letter was composed by the 'Holy Families' group at St. Cronan's. It appears that it may have been a joint effort, but nevertheless, the letter has been posted on Catholic Action Network's web site.

This letter was composed by a member of our new working group, Holy Families, and sent to Archbishop Burke in late April.

An Open Letter to Archbishop Raymond Burke

GENUINE LOVE – VALUABLE FAMILIES

Most Reverend Archbishop,

In the summer of 2003, the Vatican issued a document called “Considerations Regarding Proposals to Give Legal Recognition to Unions Between Homosexual Persons” through the office of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. We are a small organization of homosexual and heterosexual Catholic men and women who, we believe, quietly represent the beliefs and frustrations of a much wider group of local Catholics and non-Catholics alike.

We have come to realize that committed same-sex unions are life-giving and loving, not “intrinsically disordered” nor “a serious depravity”. They should be recognized for the sacraments they are, not banned. While there is much other content in this document with which we intensely disagree, we cannot sit silently by and let pass the assertion put forth telling us and the world that allowing committed gay or lesbian couples to adopt children means doing violence to these children. With all due respect, we find this assertion to be totally unfounded in our experience, and completely unsupported by authoritative research. Our experience is that committed gay and lesbian parents are as capable and successful at parenting as their heterosexual counterparts. The Vatican “Considerations”, on the other hand, offers no documentation to the contrary.

Archbishop Burke, we urge you to get to know a few committed same-sex couples. Share meals with them. Get down onto the floor and play with their children. After this experience has convinced you of the presence of genuine love in these valuable families, we ask that you use all the weight of your office to convince your fellow Bishops, our Cardinals, and even our Pope, that there is no place in our Church for hatefulness and bigotry.

Yours in Christ,

As I understand it, there is no place in heaven for those who persist in denying God or His conditions for living according to His will. It is impossible to have supernatural life while continuing to live one's life in darkness and grave sin. We are called to Christian charity and chastity. Homosexuality is the egocentric practice of mutual masturbation.

Every sin against chastity, is a sin against charity.

The unnatural sins against chastity (masturbation, contraception, and homosexuality) are opposed to the divinely ordained nature of sexual intercourse, which is ordered to procreation. Homosexual activity is gravely sinful and has been explicitly condemned in Sacred Scripture. The deliberate practice of homosexuality is a mortal sin which deprives those who die in this state, estranged from God, of the beatific vision of God - heaven.

Those who refuse to bend their minds in the humble worship of God do not receive the grace to keep their passions under rational control. They will continue to see light as darkness and darkness as light.

Pray that their pastor may help them to see the joy of participating in the life of Christ by conforming their will to His will.

Link to the "Open Letter" is here.

A lack of courage

"Courage is almost a contradiction in terms: it means a strong desire to live taking the form of readiness to die." (G.K. CHesterton)

Patrick Leahy has no need to fear being denied Holy Communion by his bishop, despite the fact that he is a supporter of a woman's 'right' to choose to murder her unborn child and despite the fact that he is a member of American Life League's "Deadly Dozen".

Vermont's Bishop Kenneth Angell said this week that he wants to "establish and maintain open lines of communication" with politicians who may hold positions that differ with the church's.

He also said he is awaiting a review by a task force of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops about how the church should deal with Catholic elected officials who have dissenting views. The panel's chairman, Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, the archbishop of Washington, D.C., also opposes withholding communion from those officials.

Leahy said, "Religion is very, very meaningful to me and (his wife) Marcelle, but I have always kept it separate," he said in an interview. "I have no problem with the church stating its views and preaching to its members, but it has to understand that in the United States we have a separation of church and state. No religion is allowed to dictate the policies of the United States."

Article here.

A Pastoral Statement by The Most Reverend John J. Myers

Some excerpts from:

"A Time for Honesty"

“Although we must all follow our conscience, the task of conscience is not to create moral truth, but perceive it. It is quite possible for an individual to perceive the moral reality of a particular situation erroneously. Such a person may be sincere, but he or she is sincerely wrong.

“Catholics who publicly dissent from the Church’s teaching on the right to life of all unborn children should recognize that they have freely chosen by their own actions to separate themselves from what the Church believes and teaches. They have also separated themselves in a significant way from the Catholic community.

“The Church cannot force such people to change their position; but she can and does ask them honestly to admit in the public forum that they are not in full union with the Church.

“One who practices such dissent, even in the mistaken belief that it is permissible, may remain a Catholic in some sense, but has abandoned the full Catholic faith. For such a person to express ‘communion’ with Christ and His Church by the reception of the Sacrament of the Eucharist is objectively dishonest.”
...
Perhaps it is also time to remind ourselves of the meaning and purpose of communion. No one has an absolute right to the Eucharist. It is a gift given to us by a merciful and gracious God. In fact, the Eucharist is God’s gift of Himself to us.

But, receiving the Eucharist also means that one is in fact in full communion with Christ and His Church. To receive communion when one has, through public or private action, separated oneself from unity with Christ and His Church, is objectively dishonest. It is an expression of communion by one’s action that is objectively not in accordance with one’s heart, mind, and choices.

Because the Eucharist is the source and summit of our faith, the most sacred action of our Church, to misuse the Eucharistic symbol by reducing it to one’s private “feeling” of communion with Christ and His Church while objectively not being in such union is gravely disordered.

Perhaps Archbishop Myers will be the next to see that manifest grave public scandal of pro-abort politicians receiving Holy Communion will not be permitted in his archdiocese?

The full Pastoral Letter here.

Papal Nuncio in Spain needs Prayers and Enlightenment

The Pope's ambassador to one of Europe's leading Catholic countries has hinted that the church should "acknowledge" gay partnerships - a significant crack in the Vatican's resolute opposition to "evil and deviant" gay relationships.

Departing from his prepared speech, the papal nuncio added that although the law in Spain, and many other countries, defines marriage as the union of a man and a woman, "there are other forms of cohabitation and it is good that they be recognised".

Although he insisted that same-sex unions could not be regarded as marriages, the envoy implied that they were at least worthy of compassion.

The nuncio said gay couples should be given access to certain civil rights, including those within the social security system. He added: "The church can also help them in their spiritual life."

The remarks were in sharp contrast to last year's Vatican guidelines which called on Catholics to campaign against the legalisation of gay relationships, calling them evil, deviant and a grave threat to society.

The document said: "We must refrain from any formal cooperation with the promulgation or application of such seriously unjust laws and, as far as is possible, from any material cooperation in their application."

It added: "There are absolutely no grounds for considering homosexual unions to be in any way similar or even remotely analogous to God's plan for marriage and family. Marriage is holy while homosexual acts go against the natural moral law.

Insidious attacks on the Truth continue from inside the Church - both here and abroad. It will be interesting to see how this develops - if the Papal Nuncio is rquired to retract his statements and proclaim what the Church teaches.

Article here.

Cardinal Rigali to Take Possession of Titular Church

VATICAN CITY, MAY 4, 2004 (VIS) - At 11 a.m. on Sunday, May 9, Cardinal Justin Francis Rigali, metropolitan archbishop of Philadelphia, U.S.A., will take possession of the title of Santa Prisca in Via S. Prisca 11 in Rome, according to an announcement from the Office of Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff.

Link.

President's Bioethics Chairman Charges Recent Report was Misused

I received this email this morning.

Dear Colleague,

Proponents of embryonic cloning for experimental purposes claimed victory last month when the President's Council on Bioethics released its most recent recommendations. Some on the Commission are saying the report recommends experimental cloning up to 14 days of development. Leon Kass, the Chairman of the Council, said in an interview with FRC's Bill Saunders last week that this is simply not true.

Spread the word.

Yours sincerely,
Austin Ruse
President, Culture of Life Foundation

Action item: To read Bill Saunders' excellent interview with Leon Kass go to http://www.frc.org/get.cfm?i=AR04D03

Facing the Insurmountable with the Fatima Message

Where?
Maria Center
336 E. Ripa Ave.
St. Louis, MO 63215

When?
Sunday, May 23, 2004 at 2:00 PM.

Today's Catholics often face what seem to be insurmountable obstacles to the practice of their Faith. We live, for example, in a society that accepts and promotes abortion, immoral fashions and now same-sex marriage. Every family confronts the concrete difficulties of applying their Catholic principles to daily life. The Fatima Message teaches us how to face these difficulties with courage and strength. It also teaches us how to fight back with a spirit of Faith and confidence.

In this talk, we will discuss:
Historic examples similar to our own
Fighting back with less than ideal conditions
Invoking Our Lady's help
Dealing with the crisis inside the Church

This talk is one of a series of regularly held talks sponsored by the American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property (TFP) and its America Needs Fatima campaign.

American TFP member and director John W. Horvat II will speak on this timely topic and answer questions. He has spoken on numerous occasions in St. Louis.

A question and answer period will follow the presentation. Please join us for what promises to be a stimulating afternoon of Catholic conviviality, enlightening conversation, and hope for the future.

For additional information, contact Mark Serafino at (573) 459-5531.

Richard Doerflinger asks a pertinent 'Life' question of ethicists

Arthur Caplan, University of Pennsylvania bioethicist asks in his MSNBC commentary, “Must we all die with a feeding tube?”, conjured a “cruel” scenario where patients are “forced to endure medical treatment that they do not want.” He says the pope is attacking patient autonomy.

Even in the “tube feeding” cases that have divided families and sparked headlines, the patients generally said nothing clear in the matter; some family members want to continue their care while others want to let them die. Some relatives have said the patient is essentially already dead – an “empty shell” with no dignity.

What does this trend have to do with patient autonomy?

Not much.

If these patients had no human dignity, there would be no reason to respect their autonomy either.

Link.

What happens when one sees the reality of abortion?

Shocking film reignites abortion debate

THE bloody reality of abortion was brought into British living rooms (on April 21) in a world TV first that has inflamed emotions and revived old divisions.

My Foetus, a 60-minute documentary shown at 11pm on Britain's Channel 4, shows footage of a four-week-old fetus being vacuumed from its mother's womb.

The documentary also shows images of the dismembered remains of 10, 11 and 21-week fetuses, their broken limbs measured by a tape.
...
"When I interviewed a doctor about the unpleasantness of performing late abortions it was difficult to listen and not believe it was morally wrong.

"For many people there is no difference between me aborting my fetus at eight weeks and a woman aborting her fetus at 24 weeks, the legal limit for abortions in Britain.

"But for me, even after knowing the facts about abortion, there is a difference."

Journalist Lauren Booth, a pro-choicer who has also had an abortion, said she recoiled when watching the film's pivotal moment.

"My hand flew to my mouth in shock," she said.

"I swallowed. I didn't want to say it, but the word 'murder' came to my lips."

When will this be shown here in the U.S.? Or has it been outlawed as 'hate speech'?

Perhaps vivid reality is needed to help convert hearts and minds - rational 'dialogue' seems to fail too many times.

Article here.

Who's telling the truth here?

Some Catholic Republicans are telling their local priests and parishioners not to believe what the Missouri Catholic Conference — the church's lobbying arm in the state — says against GOP proposals to cut Medicaid spending and to support life sciences research.

The Republicans' anger is directed specifically at Larry Weber, executive director and chief lobbyist of the Missouri Catholic Conference.
...
“I'm beginning to understand that the lobbyist for the Catholic Conference does not always present things in a truthful fashion,” said Rep. Jodi Stefanick, a St. Louis County Republican and a Catholic who has spoken with her priest about Weber.

“If I had a bishop call me up and say, ‘I'd like to talk to you about this bill'— fantastic,” she said. “But I don't give any credibility to that lobbyist. He's proven himself wrong.”
...
Though Rep. Carl Bearden, a St. Charles Republican who leads the House Budget Committee, has worked with Weber in the past on pro-life issues, he recently barred Weber from his third-floor office in the Capitol.

Sounds pretty serious...

“I understand people have different viewpoints,” said Bearden, who tore into Weber during a recent speech on the House floor. “The problem comes when you start misrepresenting and flat-out lying.”

And then there is this:

Rep. Bill Deeken, a Jefferson City Republican, had similar thoughts. He recounted that at one point in the session, several groups of Catholic schoolchildren from around the state were brought to Jefferson City to lobby against the Medicaid cuts. Deeken and other Republican lawmakers were invited to a rally at a Catholic church across from the Capitol.

“We were asked to come to defend what we had done,” Deeken said. “They (groups of schoolchildren) were chanting, ‘Save the Kids,' and they had no idea what this bill was doing.”

Deeken said it bothered him that children were used as “pawns” by the church.

Story here.

Grave Public Scandal? Abortion? Let's talk about it.

Bishop Blase Cupich of the Catholic Diocese of Rapid City said church officials are not considering sanctions, such as the denial of Communion.

"This was no official pronouncement by this cardinal. He later clarified that he was not telling anybody how to do anything," Cupich said.

A domestic policy task force is working on recommendations of how to put into practice a Vatican document about how church officials should communicate with elected officials, Cupich said.

"Even in that, there is nothing said about sanctions," Cupich said.

Cupich said he believes church officials are right to give advice on politics but that it should not be limited to a single issue.

"We cannot cherry-pick particular issues. We have to be willing to talk about all issues. Our position begins with protecting the unborn, but it doesn't end there."

So it seems there will not be anything of substance coming from the 'task force'. As long as there is 'dialogue' (unilateral as it may be) everything will be OK.

Article here.

Pride: The reason we disobey higher authority

US Catholic Leaders Refuse Explicit Papal Directive on Nutrition and Hydration
Will "Study" Life and Death Issue for a Year

Last month Pope John Paul II stated unequivocally that a person who is ill always has the right to food and water, even if it must be administered to him through a feeding tube. The Pope made it clear that removal of nutrition and hydration from patients in a vegetative state who are not otherwise dying is "gravely immoral". In Catholic language that means it is unambiguously forbidden.

The reaction of some prominent Catholic ethicists has been a reflection of the divide in medical ethics between the teaching of the Church and modern bioethics. Father John Paris, bioethics professor at Boston College, in an incredibly blunt statement of defiance, said the pope's remarks will have little impact. "I think the best thing to do is ignore it, and it will go away," Paris said. "It's not an authoritative teaching statement."

Father John Strynkowski, executive director of the secretariat for doctrine and pastoral practices, said that the USCCB office will "study" the pope's statement, but until they have finished, no changes in practice will likely be made in Catholic hospitals.

The refusal to obey clear instructions from high authority in the Catholic hierarchy on key issues is not new to the Church in North America. Strynkowski's comments follow closely on the heels of the latest denial of official Vatican directives from Theodore Cardinal McCarrick. In response to high level directives on refusing pro-abortion politicians communion, McCarrick gave an almost identical comment to Fr. Paris' in an interview, "I don't think it was his eminence's (Arinze's) official opinion… this was not something that he reported as an official or even a personal statement."

Article here.

"The refusal to obey clear instructions from high authority in the Catholic hierarchy on key issues is not new to the Church in North America." This reminds me of the statement, "I will not serve."

Lessons in humility

This past Saturday Archbishop Burke was speaking about some of the tricky (difficult) questions in the Marian Catechist tests and he mentioned that some of them were intentional. Fr. John Hardon had used them as a means to teach humility to some of his Jesuit brothers who had become prideful of their knowledge. This is a good lesson for all of us. We all need to practice humility regardless of the extent of our knowledge.

He also mentioned something else which I understood as a problem about which I have been struggling for some time - that of being overly critical of many bishops and others for failing to act decisively as I believe I would if I were in their positions. Because of the Archbishop’s admonition and advice, I am making the effort to be more charitable in presenting facts and commentary. And hopefully, I will do this in a more prayerful manner.

And this brings up another instance which taught me another lesson in humility. A sentence in the paragraph above contains a subjunctive mood clause which my son ‘proved’ was a proper and correct usage, despite my many arguments against his.

One reason for this is my pride of thinking that my knowledge of English grammar was somewhat remarkable. It began over 40 years ago in 4th grade as I was taught English by a wonderful teacher, Sister Mary Selsus, a religious sister of Loretto. She taught us proper grammar by instilling in us the ability to truly understand the language and its rules. We began diagramming sentences in 4th grade, we learned the parts of speech, and we were ‘encouraged’ to memorize various rules, and other aspects of English. Because of her ability to impart knowledge of English, I was able to grasp other languages in my subsequent years much more easily.

Some forty plus years later, I know of two people who can recite an alphabetical list of 32 prepositions in under 10 seconds. I encountered the other person who remembered these things working at a local Catholic bookstore. We both reminisced about those ‘good old days’ while others around us must have thought we were somewhat ‘touched’ as we rattled off those prepositions and discussed the things we had learned at that time.

Another thing which is firmly engrained in my mind, are the rules for verbs (which is leading to the other point I want to make). For all verbs, we were to know the following: Principal Parts, Form, Use, Voice, Mode, Tense, Person, Number and the Rule: “A verb must agree with its subject in person and number”! These nine items, I still recall and use to this day and I am so grateful that I was fortunate enough to have had such good sisters teaching me and others in Catholic grade school.

Anyway, while I remembered the ‘Rule” above, my son showed me the exception to the rule this past weekend. “If I were so and so, I would do such and such.” ('I' is singular and 'were' is plural-therefore, it must be wrong) However, this is the only use of the subjunctive tense in the English language and it uses the first person singular while using a plural verb. I was certain that the proper way to write or express the phrase would be, “If I WAS so and so,…” I reluctantly admitted that I was wrong – thinking that the “Rule” was absolute without exception.

So I was blessed to have had a couple of lessons in humility over the weekend. I hope and pray that any future criticisms I have will be more charitable and intellectual rather than emotional.

Father Hardon was right. There is a certain joy in humiliation especially when one learns something from it. And it is from humiliation that one learns humility,

May 23 - Michael Rose in St. Louis, to speak on "Beyond Scandal"

Credo of the Catholic Laity is proud to present

Michael S. Rose

Speaking on the Topic “BEYOND SCANDAL”
Sunday May 23, 2004 6:00 p.m.

The Radisson Hotel
7750 Carondelet Blvd.
Clayton Mo.

Michael Rose needs no introduction to most of you. His book “Goodby Good Men” exposed the rampant homosexual penetration in many of our Catholic seminaries and was on the New York Times best seller list. His articles and editorials have appeared in such publications as the Wall Street Journal, NY News Day, The American Conservative, the Wanderer, The New Oxford Review, Latin Mass Magazine and the list goes on and on.

He has been interviewed on more than 150 radio and television programs including Crossfire, Rush Limbaugh, Alan Keyes, Sean Hannity and FoxNew’s Rita Crosby Live and many more.

His most recent book is entitled “Priests” in which he describes ten good priests serving the Church.

Another of Rose’s books is “Ugly as Sin”. This book describes why churches were designed as they were and some of the problems with many of the dysfunctional modern churches we have today.

Michael Rose will have a supply of his books for sale at this event.

Join us for a delicious dinner at the Radisson on Sunday May 23rd. The cost is $20.00 per person.

For more information call 314-894-0357.

Meditation...

''It is an act of charity to cry out against the wolf when he is among the sheep.''
(St. Francis de Sales, Introduction to the Devout Life).

A Photo Essay: The Abortion Movement's True Face

From Tradition, Family and Property.

300 worship with breakaway priest

'The greatest theology today will come from your experience of yourself'

The only reason for coming to church is to learn how to love," the Rev. Bill Hausen preached at Christ Hope Ecumenical Catholic Church, which met at the Sewickley Country Inn.

"God does not need praise. God has all the praise he needs. We don't have to love God, because God is love."

Many people said they were visiting out of curiosity or to show support for Hausen. Those included 18 Unitarians from Slippery Rock who had skipped their own service at Ginger Hill Unitarian-Universalist Church.

"We came to show support for a more liberal viewpoint," said Lois Ament, who said she was a former Catholic who had been outraged more than 40 years ago when she was not permitted to become an altar server.

Julianne Scimio of Hopewell said she had left the Catholic Church 25 years ago but never felt at home in other churches. "I want to come home, but I don't want to come back to the same church I walked away from," she said. "This feels like home. I just hope it turns out to be a home church."

Article here.

Pope's Statement on Food/Hydration must be studied (may take a year)

At the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, theologians and bishops will study the pope's words before the bishops decide whether any policies at Catholic hospitals, nursing homes and health care institutions should change, said Father John Strynkowski, executive director of the secretariat for doctrine and pastoral practices. About 625 Catholic hospitals are in the United States.

Link here.

And here is part of the Holy Father's speech:

I should like particularly to underline how the administration of water and food, even when provided by artificial means, always represents a natural means of preserving life, not a medical act. Its use, furthermore, should be considered, in principle, ordinary and proportionate, and as such morally obligatory, insofar as and until it is seen to have attained its proper finality, which in the present case consists in providing nourishment to the patient and alleviation of his suffering.
...
The obligation to provide the "normal care due to the sick in such cases" (Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Iura et Bona, p. IV) includes, in fact, the use of nutrition and hydration (cf. Pontifical Council "Cor Unum", Dans le Cadre, 2, 4, 4; Pontifical Council for Pastoral Assistance to Health Care Workers, Charter of Health Care Workers, n. 120). The evaluation of probabilities, founded on waning hopes for recovery when the vegetative state is prolonged beyond a year, cannot ethically justify the cessation or interruption of minimal care for the patient, including nutrition and hydration. Death by starvation or dehydration is, in fact, the only possible outcome as a result of their withdrawal. In this sense it ends up becoming, if done knowingly and willingly, true and proper euthanasia by omission.

The text of the Holy Father's speech.

Bishop Olmsted continues bold leadership in Phoenix

Some 4 1/2 months into his tenure, Bishop Thomas Olmsted has left no doubt that he is what the Vatican ordered when he was named to head the Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix.

A rapid series of recent diocesan actions underscores that Olmsted is a loyal and ardently faithful servant to Pope John Paul Il, with whom the bishop once regularly worked during assignments with the Curia in the early 1980s.

Some, however, are not too pleased with Bishop Olmsted. It should not be difficult to determine who those might be...

(Mary Jane) Benton, who serves on the national and Arizona boards of the Catholic reform group Called to Action, said Olmsted’s stance on such issues as the priests’ names on the gaysensitive declaration show more emphasis on legalism and rules than respect for the men’s freedom of conscience and the treatments of gays by society.

In a private "personal and confidential letter," Olmsted recently ordered nine priests — five from the East Valley — to remove their names from an interfaith clergy letter, the "Phoenix Declaration," which urges full acceptance of homosexuals in religious and community life.

On Thursday, the bishop suspended a popular longtime Gilbert priest, the Rev. John "Jack" Cunningham, for allegedly allowing a non-Catholic priest to participate in a Eucharist Mass during a recent wedding, in violation of Catholic teaching. The incident is under investigation by a diocesan team.

After years of turmoil and allegations of financial mismanagement in two Mesa parishes, Holy Cross and St. Bridget, Olmsted has looked into complaints there. He ordered the Holy Cross priest removed.

"I have never been so upset with a bishop" in a lifetime of being Catholic, said Ray Rafford of Mesa.

"What you are seeing is a move by the ultra-conservative branch of the Catholic Church to bring the parish priests in line to the bishop’s thinking," he said. "Father John has a history of reaching out to all religions in a spirit of the overall love of God."
...
Olmsted released a statement Friday in response to inquiries as to where he is taking the diocese.

Pray for Bishop Olmsted as he continues to fulfill his role as shepherd of the Phoenix diocese.

Article here.

Belleville diocese is fined in sex case

A circuit court judge in St. Clair County has fined the Belleville diocese for contempt of court for refusing to turn over the mental health records of a retired priest accused of child sexual abuse.

(One of the plaintiff's lawyers, Patrick) Noaker said it was "disheartening" to see the diocese headed by Bishop Wilton D. Gregory, the head of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, continue to use "hide the ball tactics" with legal records.

St Louis Post Dispatch Article.

Pro-Life Women Forcibly Dragged From John Kerry Abortion Rally

Five pro-life college students were forcibly removed from a pro-abortion rally held by presumptive Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry on Friday. The students were literally dragged off after they began leading a pro-life chant and one woman suffered injuries to her feet as a result.

With leaders of NARAL and Planned Parenthood at his side, Kerry held a rally on Friday to tout his pro-abortion position and Planned Parenthood's endorsement prior to Sunday's march for abortion.

Selective Diversity!

The Holy Father's general prayer intention for the month of May is:

"That the family - founded on the marriage of a man and a woman - may be recognized as the basic cell of human society."

Seminary Reform Needed in Wake of Sex Abuse Study

Dr. Rick Fitzgibbons Suggests Programs for Priests, Religious, Seminarians

You shall not speak any words of truth...

Arizona Employee Fired for Telling Subordinate "Homosexuality is a Sin"
Court rules firing her was Okay, not religious discrimination

PHOENIX, April 29, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) - An evangelical Christian, fired from her job for asking a subordinate to come to church with her, and for telling her that her homosexuality was a sin, has lost an appeal against her employer. Evelyn Bodett charged that her being fired was an act of religious discrimination; the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Monday in favor of the defendant, Cox Communications.

Cox said they fired Bodett for anti-homosexual harassment, which is against company policy. Bodett's subordinate, Kelly Carson, raised the issue after accepting a transfer to another city.

Article here.

Confused Catholics..

Tom Fox, publisher of the National (un)Catholic Reporter writes:

My father never envisioned a day when Roman Catholic bishops would intentionally try to harm the candidacy of a Catholic Democrat. Yet that's where the current presidential election is headed, unless church leaders — and the conservatives who now are gleefully piling on — are forcefully reminded that our country was built on the doctrine of the separation of church and state.

The problem for Kerry is that he is a pro-choice Democrat. But Catholic teaching holds that all human life must be protected. For three decades now, U.S. bishops have worked mightily with politicians and Catholic voters to outlaw abortion. Now some bishops are raising the political stakes. In a statement last summer, Archbishop Sean O'Malley of Boston, Kerry's archbishop, told individual Catholic elected officials that they should refrain from receiving Communion if they favor abortion rights.

Then days before the Missouri primary in February, St. Louis Archbishop Raymond Burke said that were Kerry to stand in his Communion line, he would bless him, but deny him the sacrament. Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz of Lincoln, Neb., joined the chorus.

As if to reaffirm, a top Vatican official in Rome last week said politicians who support abortion rights are "not fit" to receive the Eucharist.

Some people are confused because they do not understand the true meaning of Catholic. It is not signing up and joining a club - and it does not include choosing which 'rules' one wants to embrace. Membership in the Mystical Body of Christ, the Church, is much more.

When St. Robert Bellarmine speaks of the Mystical Body, he has in mind only the first of its three branches, the Church Militant—or, in other words, the visible organization of the Roman Catholic Church.

Thus, in treating the delicate question of occult infidels, he refutes the doctrine of Calvin who held that, if a baptized person has lost the virtue of faith, in spite of his external profession of belief and conformity with Christian practice he is no longer a member of the organic Body of Christ. “It is certainly true,” he admits, “that a sincere faith and not its mere external profession is required if we are to be internally united to the Body of Christ, which is the Church …. But even the man who makes only an outward profession along with the rest of the faithful is a true member, albeit a dry and dead member, of the Body of the Church.”

It follows, therefore, that the Mystical Body of Christ is the Roman Catholic Church, whose members are all those who have been baptized and who at least externally practice and profess the true faith. Commentators on the Mystici Corporis make special note of the fact that, after centuries of controversy on the subject, the Pope has authoritatively approved Bellarmine’s doctrine on the minimum essentials for membership in the Mystical Body—which reads like a paraphrase from the third book of St. Robert’s De Conciliis.

In the words of Pope Pius XII, “only those are really to be included as members of the Church who have been baptized and profess the true faith and have not unhappily withdrawn from Body-unity, or for grave faults been excluded by legitimate authority. For in one Spirit were we all baptized into one Body.”
(From the archives of Fr. John Hardon)

Tom Fox article here.

Interview with Cardinal Theodore McCarrick

Cardinal McCarrick translates what Cardinal Arinze really said when he stated that a politician who is unambiguously pro-abortion should be denied communion.

This interview is in the National (un)Catholic Reporter here.

Culture of Death on Catholic Campuses: A Five-Year Review

Cardinal Newman Society has issued a shocking new report on scandals at U.S. Catholic colleges and universities that is certain to reignite concerns about the colleges’ religious character.

The 56-page report, “The Culture of Death on Catholic Campuses: A Five-Year Review,” documents inroads made by advocates of abortion, contraception, premarital sexual activity and physician-assisted suicide onto Catholic college campuses since 1999. It is the most extensive evidence of problems in Catholic higher education ever compiled in a single source—and yet it only scratches the surface, relying primarily on media reports and college websites.

“‘Pro-choice’ is no choice for a Catholic institution, which by its Catholic mission must be courageously pro-life,” said Erin Butcher, lead researcher and co-author of the report. “Cardinal Newman Society has responded to scandal after scandal on Catholic campuses, but many Catholics still fail to appreciate the scope of the problem.”

The report identifies the problems and suggests solutions to ensure that Catholic colleges uphold their Catholic, pro-life mission.

The reports are here.

Can we safely assume that these same colleges and universities are those who refuse to require the 'mandatum' from their theology professors as required by "Ex Corde Ecclesiae"?

The Instructive Congregation And The Lull Before The Storm

A commentary on Redemptionis sacramentum by Fr. John T. Zuhlsdorf"

In this last section (Defects and Remedies), there are some important things to note. First, after describing the graviora delicta, all of them serious sins against the Eucharist, there is a list of "Grave Matters" which identifies as "grave matter" issues identified through a list of specific paragraphs within the Instruction itself. So, there is no doubt left that the Apostolic See considers certain things "grave matter" and instructs bishops to correct them. Then RS says that it is the bishop’s responsibility, "within the limits of his competence, to issue norms on liturgical matters by which all are bound" and that he "is bound to promote the discipline common to the entire Church and therefore to insist upon the observance of all ecclesiastical laws" and moreover, "be watchful lest abuses encroach upon ecclesiastical discipline, especially as regards the ministry of the Word, the celebration of the Sacraments and sacramentals, the worship of God and the veneration of the Saints" (177). Furthermore, and this is precise:

"Delicts against the faith as well as graviora delicta committed in the celebration of the Eucharist and the other Sacraments are to be referred without delay to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which ‘examines [them] and, if necessary, proceeds to the declaration or imposition of canonical sanctions according to the norm of common or proper law’" (179 — emphasis added).

This means that the CDF has competence regarding some doctrinal issues of the sacraments and only the CDF has the faculty, from the Pope, to absolve certain sanctions incurred from committing graviora delicta. Then the Instruction says what the job of the CDW is.

For those who want to understand exactly what is meant by the term 'Reprobated", Fr. Z explains it very well:

One of the most important things to take note of when reading RS is use of forms of the Latin word reprobare, "to reprobate," in the English version. You will see that word in the quotation from paragraph 185, emphasized above. "Reprobare . . . to reprobate" is a technical legal term in Church law. What "reprobating" something does is effectively outlaw a practice in such a way that it is completely excluded. That is, once something is officially reprobated, you cannot make an appeal to "custom," saying "this is how we have done it for years . . . there is a custom." Once something is explicitly reprobated, it is out for good. There are nine uses of a form of reprobare in the Latin text identifying specific things. Among the most salient for the English-speaking world:

"55. In some places there has existed an abuse by which the Priest breaks the host at the time of the consecration in the Holy Mass. This abuse is contrary to the tradition of the Church. It is reprobated and is to be corrected with haste.

"59. The reprobated practice by which Priests, Deacons or the faithful here and there alter or vary at will the texts of the Sacred Liturgy that they are charged to pronounce, must cease. For in doing thus, they render the celebration of the Sacred Liturgy unstable, and not infrequently distort the authentic meaning of the Liturgy.

"65. It should be borne in mind that any previous norm that may have admitted non-ordained faithful to give the homily during the eucharistic celebration is to be considered abrogated by the norm of canon 767 §1. This practice is reprobated, so that it cannot be permitted to attain the force of custom.

"117. . . . Reprobated, therefore, is any practice of using for the celebration of Mass common vessels, or others lacking in quality, or devoid of all artistic merit or which are mere containers, as also other vessels made from glass, earthenware, clay, or other materials that break easily. This norm is to be applied even as regards metals and other materials that easily rust or deteriorate.

"126. The abuse is reprobated whereby the sacred ministers celebrate Holy Mass or other rites without sacred vestments or with only a stole over the monastic cowl or the common habit of religious or ordinary clothes, contrary to the prescriptions of the liturgical books, even when there is only one minister participating. . . .

"157. . . . The practice of those Priests is reprobated who, even though present at the celebration, abstain from distributing Communion and hand this function over to laypersons."

Once reprobated, these abuses can never be considered licit through any claim of "custom" (e.g., "contra legem custom"). They must be corrected by the local bishops when encountered, for the sake of the salvation of souls (the motivating force of this Instruction). In addition to the things that are reprobated, there are also the graviora delicta and issues of grave matter.

A good read, highly recommended. Article is here.

Vatican says no to churches used as mosques

Can a Catholic Church be used as a mosque by Muslims?

From an interview with Archbishop Michael Fitzgerald, president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialog

The shared use of a building by various Churches is problematic. There are spaces dedicated to this purpose, for example, in airports. But they are not churches nor mosques. They are interfaith spaces, capable of being used by Jews, Christians, Muslims and persons of other faiths alike. But this is based on a type of agreement to allow for their shared use.

If it is a Catholic chapel with the Blessed Sacrament inside, it should not be used to for prayer services of another religious tradition.

Article here

Rites and Wrongs - Why John Kerry should not take communion.

Mr. Philip Lawler, editor of the monthly magazine Catholic World Report and of the Web site Catholic World News, has a great article in the Wall Street Journal Opinion Page.

Article here.

Bishop Galante will deny Holy Communion to N.J. governor

Another US Bishop has decided to put a stop to the scandal of pro-death politicians receiving Holy Communion.

Bishop Joseph Galante, incoming leader of the Camden Catholic diocese, said yesterday that he would deny communion to Gov. McGreevey if he sought it at Galante's installation Mass today.

"If he comes to communion, I'd give him a blessing," Galante told a news conference in Camden. "In his case, he can't go to communion."

Galante said he was taking the stance primarily because the divorced governor, who is Catholic, remarried without receiving a church annulment. Also, he said, McGreevey's record of "pushing" for legalized abortion, stem-cell research, and other positions the church views as immoral "is almost like he throws the gauntlet down."

Thanks be to God. At least it's a start...Now if only the U.S. bishops would act in unison.

Article here.

Priest loses faculties in the Archdiocese of Military Services

The U.S. Roman Catholic priest who has provided the most visible help to victims of clergy sex abuse (search) for the past 18 years has been fired by his archbishop and cannot celebrate public Masses.

Top House Dem Says She'll Take Communion

WASHINGTON - House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., like John Kerry (news - web sites) a Catholic who supports abortion rights, said Thursday she will continue to ask for Holy Communion in spite of Vatican (news - web sites) opposition to pro-choice Catholics doing so.

"I fully intend to receive Communion, one way or another. That's very important to me," Pelosi told reporters during her weekly press conference.

Great! Another fine example of scandal...This outright dissident speech and action should not be tolerated by the bishops or the faithful!

Story here.

The pursuit of personal holiness must be central to the life of bishops

Bishops from the ecclesiastical provinces of Baltimore and Washington in the United States were welcomed today by the Holy Father as they end their "ad limina" visit. The Pope noted that, in his meetings with U.S. prelates this year, he "is reflecting on the mystery of the Church and, in particular the exercise of the episcopal ministry."

John Paul II emphasized that "the challenge set before us (as bishops) and before the whole Church" is that "the life of every Christian and all the structures of the Church must be clearly ordered to the pursuit of holiness. . The pursuit of personal holiness must be central to the life and identity of every Bishop. He is to recognize his own need to be sanctified as he engages in the sanctification of others."

Vatican Information Service Article.

Authentic Translations cause John Page to complain

Speaking on an Australian radio program, the former executive secretary of the International Committee for English in the Liturgy (ICEL) sharply criticized new procedures for liturgical translations, charging that the Vatican has endorsed "a more secretive process and definitely a process that seems to be less open to the wider Church."

John Page resigned from his post at ICEL in 2002, after the Vatican revised procedures for liturgical translations into English, in response to widespread protests about the texts produced under ICEL's guidance.

Surely he is not bitter or upset that he was not consulted?

Link to CWNews article.

A draft translation of the new Mass in English

Take at look....with the Latin and English side by side...

44 pages - Jpeg scans.

Link is here.

Will the U.S. be next?

Canadian Parliament Passes Homosexual Hate Crime Bill Threatening Freedom of Speech

OTTAWA, April 28, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) - This afternoon the Canadian Senate voted 59-11 for final passage of homosexual hate crime Bill C-250 which places the undefined term "sexual orientation" into Canada's already contentious hate crime legislation. The vote was recorded and a list of those who voted for and against the bill will be available on Hansard. The new provision in the criminal code could readily open up prosecution of individuals and groups who express views considered by courts to be "publicly inciting hatred"

In order to be found guilty of an indictable offence under the code, which carries a penalty of up to two years in prison, a person must communicate statements, in a public place, which incite hatred against an identifiable group in such a way that there will likely be a breach of the peace. Legal experts consulted by LifeSiteNews.com confirmed that the language in the legislation is loose and open to widely varying interpretation.

The efforts to stifle the truth continue...Article here.

'Priests' Forum for Eucharist' calls for optional celibacy

Representatives of priests in at least nine dioceses, from Minneapolis-St. Paul to Long Island, have announced the birth of a new nationwide effort to allow married men in the Roman Catholic clergy.

"Priests' Forum for Eucharist sees that the Church law of mandatory celibacy is endangering the identity of the Catholic faithful as a people of the Eucharist," the organizers said. "They believe that making celibacy an option for those who wish to become priests or by ordaining those who are already married is an obvious and welcome way" to bolster those ranks.

The movement stems from a letter sent in August by 163 priests in the Milwaukee diocese urging the nation's bishops to make celibacy optional. Priest organizations in other dioceses began sending letters of support spontaneously, said Thomas McCabe, a married former priest.

A driving force in the forum is Voice of the Ordained, a recently organized group of priests in the Archdiocese of New York and dioceses of Brooklyn and Rockville Centre, which covers Long Island. The forum's coordinator is the Rev. Andrew P. Connolly, pastor of St. Frances de Sales parish of Patchogue, N.Y.

Sad. We need to pray for our priests and to pray those those who are confused.

Article here.

Illinois Catholic University 'Un-Invites' Commencement Speaker

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (AP) - The University of St. Francis has told former ABC News medical correspondent Dr. Nancy Snyderman that it no longer wants her as commencement speaker because of comments she made about abortion seven years ago.

The letter (faxed Tuesday to Snyderman) by Sister M. Elise Kriss, the university's president, said the school could not allow her to speak because her comments on abortion ``appear to be contrary to the teachings of the Catholic Church.''

Sister Kriss is to be commended and applauded for taking such action.

Article here

Kerry's Peeps Revile Priests at Pro-Abortion March

Another excerpt from FreeRepublic describing the insidious and demonic influence Satan has over those involved in offering human sacrifice to him. How he must delight knowing that he continues to get more and more people to follow him away from our Lord.

The best way I can explain what I witnessed at today's so-called March for Women's Lives is to reference the movie, The Exorcist. When the possessed child, Regan, is confronted by priests who have come to expel the evil spirit from her, she reacts in shockingly vulgar, profane ways.

That is how thousands of 'pro-choice' demonstrators reacted to the presence of a lone priest blessing and praying for them along the march route.

Father Reynolds stood for hours this afternoon on Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, in front of the Navy Memorial. Other members of the clergy and pro-life activists were spread out along the same block. Almost nonstop, he made the sign of the cross with his right arm while speaking to the marchers offering blessings and prayers.

The response was nothing short of satanic. Father Reynolds was cursed at and flipped off by hundreds of marchers, many of whom sported Kerry stickers. Many other marchers mocked the sign of the cross. Some denounced God while others denied His existence.

Marchers screamed at the top of their lungs against the priest. He was repeatedly accused of being a child molester by those who support the murder of children.

One woman walked up to the priest and stood just on the other side of the police-manned fence separating the sides. She made the sign of the cross, but finished by thrusting her hips forward at the priest while she dramatically grabbed her crotch.

All the while, 'pro-choice' marchers were walking behind our lines with the permission of police. This caused me and another man to stand guard by Father Reynolds because the 'pro-choice' marchers kept harassing him and the police were slow to intervene.

I was wishing I had a video camera to document this. To see Kerry supporters acting in such a revealing and demonic manner was unsettling. Hour after hour passed of this vile, contemptuous behavior toward the priest. No one on their side tried to rein in their evil behavior. It was the Democratic party at its most real.

The last group in the march was a bunch of homosexuals in drag who stopped and sang crude, profane songs meant to insult the clergy.

Father Reynolds blessed the men, as he had done thousands of others all afternoon. His faith was not shaken by the way he was treated today. He remained in good spirits throughout. His blessing arm was almost worn out, though :-)

Link.

Parishioners May Be Excommunicated If They Follow Hausen

A controversial new Catholic church in Sewickley will hold services for the first time this weekend.

The Rev. William Hausen established the Christ Hope Ecumenical Catholic Church.

Hausen left the Catholic Church after he asked the church to study birth control and the ordination of women and married men.

I don't believe it will be "Catholic"...The lead sentence is wrong and should be changed to read "A controversial new 'Protestant' church...."

By the way, the opening song will be "I did it my way"....

Article

To Pro-Aborts Kerry & others: Keep doing as you please...

Good news for John Kerry and the rest of the "Deadly Dozen" U.S. senators: A U.S. bishop in charge of enforcing church doctrine isn't up to the task.

Among possible "penalties" the comfort-seeking cardinal mentioned: no honorary degrees from Catholic universities, no honors from dioceses, or no invitations to speak from Catholic institutions.

Link here.

Sen. Rick Santorum knows his priorities

Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.), a pro-life Catholic, said that the church has the right to establish its own standards but that every bishop could “set the rules within the boundaries the Vatican has set forth.”

Santorum indicated that if he were denied communion because of a position he took as a senator, he would have to think seriously about the stance. “God comes first, then my family and then this job,” he said.

Article here.

An Obituary...rec'd this A.M.

Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend by the name of 'Common Sense' who has been with us for many years.

No one knows for sure how old he was since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape.

He will be remembered as having cultivated such value lessons as knowing when to come in out of the rain, why the early bird gets the worm and that life isn't always fair.

Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don't spend more than you earn) and reliable parenting strategies (adults, not kids, are in charge).

His health began to rapidly deteriorate when well intentioned but overbearing regulations were set in place.

Reports of a six-year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate; teens suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch; and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student, only worsened his condition.

It declined even further when schools were required to get parental consent to administer aspirin to a student; but, could not inform the parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have an abortion.

Finally, Common Sense lost the will to live as the Ten Commandments became contraband; churches became businesses; and criminals received better treatment than their victims.

Common Sense finally gave up the ghost after a woman failed to realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot, she spilled a bit in her lap, and was awarded a huge settlement.

Common Sense was preceded in death by his parents, Truth and Trust, his wife, Discretion; his daughter, Responsibility; and his son, Reason.

He is survived by two stepbrothers; My Rights and Ima Whiner.

Not many attended his funeral because so few realized he was gone.

If you still know him pass this on, if not join the majority and do nothing.

--------
"All that's necessary for the forces of evil to win in the world is for enough good men to do nothing."---Edmund Burke

McCarrick: Catholic pols backing abortion may face sanctions

Asked what sanctions the task force might recommend for politicians who stray from Catholic teachings, McCarrick said Catholic universities could deny honorary degrees, dioceses may withhold honors and Catholic institutions may not invite them to speak.

There will be a revolt if these kind of sanctions are imposed on our wonderful "Catholic" pols who do all they can to promote and encourage the murder of the innocent and deprive God of what is rightfully His and His alone.

McCarrick said the task force has sounded out all U.S. bishops, is questioning bishops' conferences in other countries and is getting "guidance" from the Vatican.

Uhhhh, OK, sure, if you say so. Why do I have difficulty believing him?

"They (the Vatican) are saying, 'Look at the documents, the documents are very clear.' The documents tell us what a Catholic in public life should be," McCarrick said during the interview at the North American College, the American seminary in Rome.

"The Church has been very clear on these issues. The Church has said what one should expect from anyone in politics, especially one who is Catholic."

McCarrick is in Rome for a periodic visit all bishops make every five years.

Yep, the Church is clear, but it seems some bishops here have a problem with 'clear'. BTW, is McCarrick really in Rome seeking a spine transplant or is that just some ugly rumor?

Article here.

Bishop Olmsted continues to straighten out the Phoenix Diocese

Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted privately has ordered nine Catholic priests to withdraw their support from an interfaith statement supporting gay rights.

Two of the nine priests who signed the Phoenix Declaration in January 2003 confirmed they received "personal and confidential" letters from the bishop last week. In the letter, Olmsted tells the priests and one religious brother to remove their names "under obedience" to him. No consequences are spelled out for those who decline.
...
Olmsted's predecessors, Bishop Thomas J. O'Brien and Archbishop Michael J. Sheehan, both knew of the declaration but declined to take action against the priests who signed it. O'Brien led a bishops committee in 1997 that drafted "Always Our Children," which before it was watered down by the Vatican was seen as the church's most progressive stance toward homosexuals.

Ah yes, "Always out Children" was 'watered' down by the Vatican - meaning the deficiencies in the document were removed or fixed...You can read what Bishop Bruskewitz thought of the document here and he was not the only one.

The Phoenix Declaration calls for "full acceptance" of gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgendered individuals in churches and in civic life. It calls for an end to "religious and civil discrimination" against those individuals.

Tom Donovan, 66, of Phoenix, who attends services at the Franciscan Renewal Center, said the bishop's action "creates an issue of conscience for those few priests who signed on, some of the finest clergy I know." Donovan added that concerns were raised among church liberals by the bishop's activism on the abortion issue, his reinstatement of the Latin Mass and other issues.

ALARM BELLS went off among the church liberals because of the Bishop's stand on abortion and his giving permission for a LATIN Mass...Sounds like too many buttons to me...

Story here...

Why Vatican Teachings Face a Tough Reception

Vatican directives on liturgical matters get a rocky reception because of three difficulties, says the secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

There are difficulties of assimilation because of "their number, their extent and the problem of communication through the media," according to Archbishop Angelo Amato.

And then we have those who proudly proclaim, "We don't have to listen to Rome!" or "We will not obey! (or serve)"...

Zenit article here.

Many factors make church leaders single out abortion as an issue

From Sunday's Post Dispatch...

...why has the stance of Roman Catholic politicians on abortion become a touchstone?

Because direct abortion is "intrinsically" evil.

Experts on Catholicism say the abortion focus is driven by a mixture of theology, internal church debates over what defines a true Catholic and an imperative to respond to the top public issues of the day.

Repeat...Because direct abortion is "intrinsically" evil.

"It is the direct taking of human life - direct, knowing, deliberate - and this is always and everywhere, in every circumstance, condemned by the church", said the Rev. Richard John Neuhaus, a Catholic priest and editor of First Things, a conservative magazine.

Catholic teaching is equally clear about euthanasia - it is never allowable...

Because it is "intrinsically" evil.

Article

Mainstream Christian Religions Backed Pro-Abortion March

This really should not come as any surprise to anyone who has witness the absolute inversion of the truth during the past few decades.

...some observers were saddened by the support of mainline Christian church denominations (or at least their leaders) for the anti-life march.

The Episcopal Church, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), United Methodist Board of Church and Society and the United Methodist Women's Division were all listed as endorsers of the march....Some march events are occurring in the United Methodist Building on Capitol Hill.

Link

Join the Scientific and Culture World to the Truth of the Faith

The Holy Father said that
"the modern snares of individualism, pragmatism and rationalism, which are present even in fields that are responsible for formation, are well known. .

"Teachers must never forget that teaching is inseparable from the duty to explore truth in depth, especially revealed truth.

"Therefore, they should not separate the rigor of their careers from humble openness to God's Word, written or transmitted, while always remembering that authentic interpretation of Revelation is entrusted 'only to the living Magisterium of the Church', which exercises this duty in the name of Jesus Christ."

Link

Update - Consultation on Catechism Compendium

VATICAN CITY, APR 27, 2004 (VIS) - Holy See Press Office Director Joaquin Navarro-Valls made the following statement this morning concerning the project of creating a compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church:

"April 30 marks the end of the consultation process of all cardinals and presidents of episcopal conferences on the project for a Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which has been prepared by the special cardinals' commission and the editing committee.

"In the preparations, an attempt was made to put into action what the Holy Father requested in his letter of February 2, 2003 to Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger: 'The Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church should contain, in a concise form, the essential and fundamental contents of the faith of the Church, respecting its completeness and doctrinal integrity, in such as a way as to develop a sort of 'vademecum' that allows people, believers and non-believers, to embrace, in a single, overall glance the entire panorama of the Catholic faith. It will have as its source, model and constant reference point the current Catechism of the Catholic Church which, in keeping intact its authoritativeness and importance, will be able to find, in such a synthesis, a stimulus to be better studied and, more in general, a further instrument of education to the faith'.

"The compendium project thus seeks to faithfully mirror the Catechism of the Catholic Church in its structure and in articulating both contents and language, as it must not be just any compendium of the Catholic faith but a compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

"The project sent for consultation is, in length, about a seventh of the original Catechism and has been edited in the form of a dialogue, with questions followed by synthetic answers. This literary style was preferred as it invites (the faithful) to a more frequent reading, setting up an ideal dialogue between the text and the reader.

"At the end of the project, several principal, common Christian prayers and several formulas of Catholic doctrine were added as an appendix."

Link

Egan, Kerry: No love feast?

Will Edward Cardinal Egan try to block Sen. John Kerry from the 59th Alfred E. Smith Dinner? The annual gathering, sponsored by the Archdiocese of New York, isn't until October, but organizers are already said to be worrying about whether Egan may take a hard-line against the Democratic candidate because he supports abortion rights.

"They're concerned that Egan may do something to win favor with the Pope," says a source. "Some people were nervous that the Cardinal wouldn't recognize a Catholic who is pro-choice."

Win favor with the Pope? Maybe Cardinal Egan will act to educate the faithful that public, manifest grave sin cannot be tolerated by those who claim to be Catholic. But he can still receive Holy Communion?

Link

Cleveland bishop bans reform group from church property

CLEVELAND - A group of liberal-minded Roman Catholic reformers has been banned from church property by Bishop Anthony M. Pilla, who said the organization backs positions inconsistent with church teaching.

FutureChurch, which claims more than 800 members in the eight-county Diocese of Cleveland, advocates allowing priests to marry and women to be ordained in order to ease clergy shortages.

Some members have urged the group's executive director, Sister Christine Schenk, to appeal directly to the Vatican to overturn the decision.

"We're puzzled and saddened by the description of us as not being in line with Catholic teaching," Schenk said. "We have some of the best Catholics in the diocese as members."

Story here

And on the same subject, there is a 'task force' to discuss this...

U.S. Bishops' Task Force to Discuss Pro-Abortion Politicians
In Wake of Cardinal Arinze's Comments

I will go to bed tonight feeling so much better just knowing that the bishops' "task force" has the situation in hand.

Bishop Wilton Gregory, president of the episcopal conference, announced the task force in the wake of a Vatican press conference last week in which Cardinal Francis Arinze said that politicians who support abortion must not go to Communion. He also said that priests must deny such politicians the sacrament.

....in the wake of Cardinal Arinze's comments? I thought this task force was started some time ago...?????

"To assist us in our common discernment, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has established a task force to discuss issues with regard to the participation of Catholics in political life, including reception of the sacraments, in the cases of those whose political advocacy is in direct contradiction to Church teaching," he said.

The establishment of this task force is a clear sign of the seriousness with which we take these issues and continue to consider how best to interpret and apply the norms of the Church in their regard," said the bishop of Belleville, Illinois.

What's to interpret? Ask Archbishop Burke how to do it - he has done the work for you - or Bishop Bruskewitz - he also knows how to deal with apostates and heretics. Cardinal Arinze has indictated that the time to act is now. Indecision and delay is not an option - we have waited 30 years for action!

I don't quite get it. The tedious work has been done from a canonical perspective. Oh wait...now I get it...It's going to be hard work - discussing scandal from a 'pastoral' position and actually making a decision on whether or how to make a decision.

Lord, I pray that You would grant these men fortitude to act as if they are Your shepherds and the successors of the Apostles who gave their lives for You. And I pray that You would give them the grace necessary to teach Your truth, whether convenient or inconvenient! And please grant me an increase of the virtue of patience, if it be Your will - especially when we must witness this scandal of inaction from an impotent USCCB!

Link here.

Why Communion Could Be Denied to Anti-Life Legislators

Interview With an American Theologian in Rome

ROME, APRIL 26, 2004 (Zenit.org).- Moves by the Church to deny Holy Communion to staunchly pro-abortion Catholic politicians are growing.

At a Vatican press conference last Friday, Cardinal Francis Arinze said that politicians who unambiguously support abortion must not go to Communion and priests must deny them the sacrament.

Last January, then Bishop Raymond Burke of La Crosse, Wisconsin, issued a decree forbidding Catholic legislators who support abortion or euthanasia from receiving Communion.

To learn more about the canonical and pastoral implications of these declarations, ZENIT interviewed American theologian Father Thomas Williams, dean of the School of Theology of the Regina Apostolorum Pontifical Athenaeum.

Q: Is the Church beginning to adopt a hard-line stance regarding the reception of Holy Communion?

Father Williams: The Church has always taken this issue seriously. In very strong terms St. Paul admonished the Church in Corinth: "Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a man examine himself, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup." That's in 1 Corinthians 11:27-28.

The 1983 Code of Canon Law, echoing the teaching of the Council of Trent, Canon 11, states that, without a very serious reason, a person who is aware of having committed a mortal sin should voluntarily abstain from Communion. "A person who is conscious of grave sin is not … to receive the Body of the Lord without prior sacramental confession," says Canon 916 of the 1983 code.

Q: So in the case of pro-abortion politicians we would be dealing with a situation of manifestly grave sin? What does this mean?

Father Williams: The technical language of the code which refers to those who "obstinately persist in manifest grave sin" must be carefully parsed.

Four essential elements come into play, all of which are necessary to fulfill the conditions laid out in Canon 915.

The first element is "gravi peccato," or grave sin. This can only be taken to refer to the matter of the action -- or omission -- without necessarily implying a judgment of subjective culpability. "Grave sin" in this case simply means objectively evil conduct of a serious nature.

The second requirement specified by Canon 915 refers to the "manifesto," or overt, character of the sin. This stipulation limits the sanction to sins of a public nature, and reiterates the public and ecclesial dimension of Holy Communion, which signifies moral, spiritual and doctrinal union with Christ and with his Church.

Thirdly, to be refused Communion a person must persist -- "perseverantes" -- in this openly sinful behavior. To say that a person persists in a public sin means that he somehow makes it known that he plans to continue engaging in his sinful behavior.

Finally, the code speaks of obstinate persistence. The Latin adverb "obstinate" here means that the person has been duly informed of the evil of his behavior but deliberately chooses to persist in it anyway.

There is such a thing as inculpable persistence in evildoing, when a person is unaware that a certain habitual activity is sinful. But once the evil of his actions has been brought to his attention, his persistence qualifies as obstinate.

Judging from the foregoing considerations, it seems clear that a politician who votes in a way that fails to defend innocent human life on a consistent basis and gives every indication of his intention to keep doing so despite warnings from ecclesiastical authorities can be said to obstinately persist in objectively evil behavior of a public nature. And in this regard he fulfills the requirements of Canon 915.

Full Zenit article here...

Abortion Rights Rally Pictures - A Free Republic Exclusive

You have got to see these pictures.

Great work!

Link is here.

Rocky Mountain News Editorial re: Archbishop Chaput

We're not about to join the local and national debate over whether a Catholic politician has an obligation to follow the church's moral teachings. Politicians can obviously belong to any religion or none, so when they ignore or bend the teachings of a particular faith that is a matter between them and that group of worshippers.

But we do take exception to what Attorney General Ken Salazar said the other day when he rebuked Archbishop Charles Chaput for his uncompromising comments regarding a Catholic politician's duty. Salazar said if the archbishop was trying to influence voter behavior, "he's gone beyond the line of what should not be breached in our American democracy, where we believe fundamentally in the separation of church and state."

Why aren't the majority of newspapers this level-headed? Link here.

Adoremus suggests "Dance" is out...

-- "[I]t is strictly to be considered an abuse to introduce into the celebration of Holy Mass elements that are contrary to the prescriptions of the liturgical books and taken from the rites of other religions". (RS 79)

This admonition would apparently prohibit practices such as ritual dances or ceremonies of non-Christian or neo-pagan religions, in accordance with the 1994 Instruction, Varietates Legitimae, on the subject of legitimate "inculturation".

Please, Lord, let it be so!

Link.

USCCB's 30 Questions on Redemptionis Sacramentum

First of all, the number 30 threw me a bit, particularly having just passed through the season of Lent and the Passion of our Lord.

Something which stood out in the very beginning of the instruction was the discussion of obedience - clarifying material and formal obedience:

"The observance of the norms published by the authority of the Church requires conformity of thought and of word, of external action and of the application of the heart. A merely external observation of norms would obviously be contrary to the nature of the Sacred Liturgy"... For this reason, external action must be illuminated by faith and charity, which unite us with Christ and with one another and engender love for the poor and the abandoned. The liturgical words and rites, moreover, are a faithful expression, matured over the centuries, of the understanding of Christ, and they teach us to think as he himself does;[13] by conforming our minds to these words, we raise our hearts to the Lord. (#5)

Anyway a couple of quotes:

10. The document states “sacred ministers may not deny the sacraments to those who seek them in a reasonable manner, are rightly disposed, and are not prohibited by law from receiving them.” Does this mean that politicians who hold positions antithetical to the church cannot be denied communion if they approach the altar?

Such matters are decided by the Diocesan Bishop in conformity with Canon Law and other documents of the Holy See.

24. What procedure is to be followed when more than one chalice is needed for the distribution of Holy Communion under both kinds?

When more than one chalice is needed for the distribution of Holy Communion under both kinds, several smaller chalices may be placed on the altar at the preparation of the gifts. The instruction prohibits the use of “flagons” or other such vessels from which the precious Blood is poured. While the use of flagons is a widespread practice in the United States, the instruction directs that they no longer be used in order to reduce the risk of spilling of the Precious Blood.

This is really widespread here. I have seen drops of the Precious Blood splash on the altar from inattentive or accidental pouring into other wine "glasses". This will, hopefully stop some from permitting lay people from participating in the 'Fractio Panis' as well.

28. Is it acceptable to genuflect before receiving Communion?

The Roman Missal directs that Bishops are to choose a sign of veneration for the faithful when they receive Holy Communion standing. While the sign of veneration chosen by the Bishops of the United States is a simple bow of head, no person should ever be denied Holy Communion because they have made a different gesture.

Who answers these questions? Actually, that is not correct. One should ask, "Who responds to the question", since the question was not answered. A simple Yes or No would certainly suffice as an answer.

LInk Here

USCCB President Wilton Gregory's Comments on Redemptionis Sacramentum

Some Excerpts:

WASHINGTON (April 23, 2004) — Belleville Bishop Wilton D. Gregory, president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), welcomed the Instruction “Redemptionis Sacramentum” issued today by the Holy See’s Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments.
...
In his statement Bishop Gregory said: “In response to our Holy Father’s mandate that bishops do all in their power to foster an appreciation of the inestimable treasure which is the Eucharistic mystery, the Congregation has provided us with a carefully developed tool to foster the authentic celebration of the Mass.”

I hope that this is a tool which will be used. I fear that this tool will be ignored in many places just like the 'tools' we have been given for 40 years.

The document addresses a wide range of abuses, or violations of liturgical law with respect to the celebration of Mass and the adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. Sections are devoted to such questions as who regulates the sacred liturgy, how the participation of the lay faithful can be encouraged, the way Mass is properly celebrated, and the distribution of Holy Communion.
...
The instruction notes that lay persons “rightly and laudably” serve in a variety of ministries at Mass, such as acolyte, lector, sacristan, and cantor. Like all ministries, these should be the subject of careful preparation and catechesis.

Wait! What about Ministry of Danced Prayer?"

It recalls that Diocesan Bishops may permit young people of both genders to serve at the altar, and says associations of altar servers should be fostered at the parish and diocesan levels.

I must have read a different version. What I read was that the associations are applicable to male altar servers. Basic grammar. It is only after associations are discussed that female altar servers are mentioned, as if in passing, for those places where few males live.

USCCB Link Here.

Actually, I prefer the Adoremus commentary here. A much better read.

You can be confident that he is speaking also for the Pope...

Cardinal Francis Arinze, a top Vatican official who said Friday that Roman Catholic lawmakers who support abortion rights should not receive Holy Communion, was speaking for the pope, local Catholic leaders said yesterday.

"He is the highest-ranking person in the whole chain under the pope with regard to the sacraments," said the Rev. Joseph Koterski, head of the philosophy department at Fordham University.

Pope John Paul II said virtually the same thing in an encyclical fairly recently, he added.

"You can be confident that he is speaking also for the pope" and about Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., said Jack Healey of Bronxville, the retired director of the Archbishop Hughes Institute for Religion and Culture at Fordham.

Article here

St. Stanislaus Kostka Parish in St. Louis - Update

Members of St. Stanislaus Kostka Parish in St. Louis sent a message to the archdiocese with a vote Sunday to change parish bylaws. The vote was 199-17.

One of the changes gives parishioners the right to decide what to do with the church's assets should its doors close, said Bob Zabielski, 64, of Chesterfield, a member of the parish's board of directors. He said members would choose a Roman Catholic parish or order that promotes Polish heritage - or perhaps the Archdiocese of St. Louis.

Members also voted to give the pastor a vote on the board of directors and limit board members' terms. They had served for life.

Zabielski said the parishioners were trying to preserve their Polish heritage while offering to work with the archdiocese.

Post-Dispatch Article Here.

Catholic priest planning to form "inclusive" splinter church

The Rev. Bill Hausen was transferred from a suburban parish back to the church where he grew up in Pittsburgh when he told parishioners in an Easter 2002 sermon that they should be "pissed off" about the Roman Catholic clergy sex scandal, and that married men and women should become priests.

But that pales to the excommunication Pittsburgh Bishop Donald Wuerl says Hausen faces if he leads his own church for Mass at a suburban hotel banquet room on May 2.

"I don't feel like I'm leaving the church or leading people out of the church - I'm leading them in. I'm inviting them inclusively," Hausen said. "I love the church ... it's the hierarchy I have a problem with."

It's all about ME! I am the new WAY, the new TRUTH, the new LIFE....Follow me!

We should pray for Bishop Wuerl and for these lost people.

Story here.

Protest at Vatican Embassy in Washington

Addressing the demonstration, Frances Kissling, president of Catholics for a Free Choices stated:

"Just yesterday, the Vatican again demonstrated that it is out of step with Catholic people as it used the sacrament of Holy Communion to push its political agenda. The Vatican has consistently shown itself to misunderstand the American principle of separation of church and state. This kind of blanket pronouncement will only lower the credibility of US Catholic bishops with ordinary Catholic people. It is time for church leaders to accept that Catholics in good faith disagree with the absolute prohibition of legal abortion demanded by the Vatican. It is time for church leaders to acknowledge that the threat of denying the sacraments to Catholics who disagree with their positions has no basis in church law. It is both bad politics and bad religion. "

Surely, Ms. Kissling is being misquoted...No doubt what she meant to say was:

"Just today, we heretics and apostates again demonstrated that we are out of step with Jesus Christ and the Catholic Church as we use the sacrament of Holy Communion to push our political agenda. We have consistently shown ourselves to misunderstand the American principle of separation of church and state.

"Our blanket pronouncements will only lower our credibility with all Christian people. It is time for Church leaders to excommunicate all of us who, in bad faith, disagree with the absolute prohibition of legal abortion as taught by the Church throughout history. It is time for Church leaders to acknowledge that the denying the sacraments to those of us who are heretics, apostates, and schismatics is a noble and proper course of action and is thoroughly based on Church law. It is both bad politics and bad religion when we are not punished for our offences and scandals. "

Link is here.

St Stanislaus update

On KTVI Channel 2 Local News this evening, a report was aired that parishioners of St. Stanislaus Church voted to change their bylaws today.

Parishioners voted to approve the bylaw changes 199-16. It would allow the parish to seek shelter with a religious order, such as the Jesuits, should the archdiocese remove any priests that are currently assigned there.

More upcoming tomorrow in the STL Post Dispatch, I'm sure.

Kerry Takes Communion After Vatican Edict

This should come as no surprise....Look where he goes to Mass

"We're following the directive of our archdiocese," said Father Joe Ciccone, who gave Kerry the Eucharist. "They have said we should give him communion."

The Paulist Center attracts Catholics uncomfortable with some of the Vatican's orthodox teachings or who otherwise feel alienated from the Roman Catholic Church.

The congregation includes gay couples, whose adopted children are baptized there, unlike in some other Boston parishes. In November, its leaders refused to read aloud during Mass from a letter opposing gay marriage, as requested by the Massachusetts bishops.

Article here.