The Catholic Sun proudly presents this new Q&A feature designed to keep you, the readers, up to speed on matters that affect your faith.Nice addition to the Catholic Sun, the Diocesan Newspaper. Answers straight from the diocese.
This issue: The Catholic Sun responds to the many requests for information we’ve received regarding Fr. John Cunningham of St. Mary Magdalene Parish in Gilbert.
Fr. Timothy Davern, judicial vicar for the Phoenix Diocese, responds.
The pastoral care of homosexual personsArticle here.
Second in a Series
A few weeks ago, I sent a letter to some priests of the Diocese of Phoenix, asking them to withdraw their support from a public statement entitled “No Longer Silent Phoenix Declaration.” The letter was intended to be personal and confidential because I had hoped to engage these brother priests in a person-to-person conversation about the pastoral care of homosexual persons, without the distraction of publicity. To my disappointment, news of the letter was leaked to the press. While not making my fraternal dialogue with these priests impossible, the leak has made it more difficult.
Nonetheless, I have been able to engage the majority in substantial conversations about this important pastoral matter. And I am grateful that most, in accordance with my request, have withdrawn their support from the declaration. I continue to hope and pray that the others will do the same.
Since portions of my letter have become public, I have decided, for the sake of accuracy and fairness to all, to publish it in its entirety in this same issue of The Catholic Sun. I would like also, in this part of my series on the “Blessing of a Chaste Life,” to write about the pastoral care of homosexual persons: what not to do and what to do.
What not to do
Do not see those with homosexual inclinations as problems but as persons, persons whom Jesus redeemed by His Cross, persons called to holiness, persons with an inviolable dignity and an eternal destiny bestowed on them by God, persons like you and me, persons who have a welcome place in our Church.
Do not condone homosexual activity or fail to teach clearly that it, along with all sexual activity outside of marriage, is seriously wrong. We should not presume that others know that homosexual behavior is wrong. Our silence about it could reinforce that mistaken notion.
Do not support any group such as No Longer Silent or Dignity that fails to uphold clearly the teachings of the Bible and the Church on homosexual acts and homosexual persons. We cannot help one another along the path of conversion and union with Christ if we deny the truth.
What to do
Lend encouragement to groups like Courage that offer support to homosexual persons in their vocation to holiness, and who do this in full conformity with the teachings of the Church.
Be well informed about the teachings of our Catholic Christian faith on this topic. Read what the Catechism of the Catholic Church says about this topic (#2357-2359). Read the Letter of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to the Bishops of the Catholic Church on the Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons. Read good books on this topic such as those by Fr. John Harvey: e.g. “The Homosexual Person” and “Truth about Homosexuality.”
Should you be aware of persons who have homosexual inclinations, accept them as brothers and sisters in Christ and support them by authentic love and prayer.
Should persons you know be engaged in homosexual activity, look for an opportunity to invite them back to the faithful practice of a life of abstinence, assure them of the power of God’s mercy to forgive and to bring fresh hope, and pray for their conversion. Christ calls us all to on-going conversion of life; so our prayers for conversion encompass ourselves as well as others.
----------------
These are only a few of the do’s and don’ts of a full program of pastoral care of homosexual persons. The books and documents mentioned above can provide a more encompassing program. As I stated in my letter to my brother priests who signed the declaration, our relationship with homosexual persons needs to be that of Christ, one that offers full and fraternal acceptance of each person as made in the image of God and one that is animated by both truth and charity. When carried out with the help of the Holy Spirit, it can help us all to grow to full maturity in Christ.
Swiss bishops say they are disgusted by an open letter calling on Pope John Paul II to stand down.Could it be that these are the same individuals calling for women priestesses and for the elimination of all sexual 'sins'?
The publication of the letter – signed by more than 40 Catholic priests and lay people – coincided with the Pontiff’s 84th birthday on Tuesday.
The letter, which was delivered to the Bishops Conference on Friday, was signed by priests, theology professors, and Catholic lay people.
One Swiss bishop, Kurt Koch, said the decision to publish the letter as the Pope celebrated his birthday was "disgusting and disloyal".The Holy Father's abilities are in doubt and he is less credible? I think it is plain to see where the credibility problem is.
“As his age increases and his health deteriorates, his abilities are increasingly in doubt and the Pope is in some ways less credible. And we think it's important to tell him that, so that he gives some thought to standing down,” (Xavier) Pfister said., ( Pfister is the information officer for the Catholic Church in Basel).
The Holy Father said that in Psalm 31 we find the "personal testimony of a convert" who has committed "serious sins and does not have the courage to confess his sins to God. It is a terrible interior torment, described with strong images. . The convert feels the weight of the hand of God on him, conscious that God is not indifferent to the evil perpetrated by man, because He is the guardian of justice and truth."VIS article.
"Unable to go on in this way, the sinner decides to confess his sins with a courageous declaration which seems to foreshadow that of the prodigal son in Jesus' parable." God "responds right away with generous forgiveness. . For the faithful who repent and are forgiven, despite life's trials, a new horizon of safety, faith and peace" is opened up.
"We can apply this psalm," he concluded, "to the sacrament of confession..."
A prominent donor to the Colorado Springs Roman Catholic Diocese is leading a charge to revoke large gifts to the diocese unless the bishop reverses his Communion clampdown on Catholic voters.One supports those things in which one believes.
In a scathing "open letter" to Bishop Michael Sheridan, Parker lawyer and businessman Ric Kethcart says Sheridan's stance hearkens back to McCarthyism and threatens his flock more than the clergy abuse scandal.
Peter Howard, Sheridan's executive assistant, said the diocese is willing to sacrifice dollars to stake a moral claim. Already, some Catholics in the 10-county south-central Colorado diocese who support Sheridan's leadership have increased their giving, Howard said.
Pueblo Bishop Arthur Tafoya entered the debate raging over religion and politics, calling on Catholics to consider "peace and justice" issues along with abortion when they go to the polls.Link.
"Respect for life is also confronted by hunger and poverty, the death penalty, euthanasia, war and, as we see today, torture," Tafoya said in a statement.
Tafoya favors the "seamless garment" philosophy developed by the late Cardinal Joseph Bernardin of Chicago, said his spokesman, Larry Howe-Kerr. It says Catholics should be sensitive to a spectrum of life issues, from abortion to the death penalty. He would not refuse Communion to anyone, his spokesman said.
An Arvada priest lashed out Sunday at a message from Colorado Springs Bishop Michael Sheridan, prompting applause from his congregation.Article here.
"The applause caught me off guard," said the Rev. Bob Kinkel, pastor of Spirit of Christ Catholic Church, 7400 W. 80th Ave.
Standing before his congregation, Kinkel criticized a letter that Sheridan sent May 1 to Catholic voters.
Obliquely chastises some bishops for failure "to rebuke when necessary"Lifesite Article
ORLANDO, May 18, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Another US bishop has stepped up to the front lines of the battle in the US Catholic Church over the reception of communion by pro-abortion, dissenting Catholics. The coadjutor bishop of Orlando Florida, Thomas Wenski, has published a pastoral statement in which he calls pro-abortion Catholics who demand to receive communion "boorish and sacrilegious." He suggests that they are in a worse moral position than Pontius Pilate after his condemnation of Christ.
Bishop Wenski compares the failure to chastise pro-abortion politicians with the failure of the bishops in general to protect young people from predatory homosexuals in the priesthood. He writes, "But to fail to rebuke when necessary is to fail in the charity we owe our brethren. (And we bishops will be apologizing for a long time for the failure to rebuke and apply sanctions to those wayward priests who criminally sinned against young people and children.)"
40 years after the Second Vatican Council permitted greater use of the vernacular in Catholic liturgies, the Latin Liturgy Association will hold it's bienniel convention in Indianapolis to encourage Catholics to preserve their Latin liturgical heritage.Link here... or the Latin Liturgy Association Web Page here.
(PRWEB) May 15, 2004--The Latin Liturgy Association will hold its biennial Convention from Friday evening, June 25 through Sunday afternoon, June 27 in Indianapolis, Indiana. The Keynote talk will be given by Mr. James Likoudis entitled “The Latin Liturgy: Quo Vadis?” The weekend will include a Vatican II Rite Latin High Mass, a Tridentine Rite Solemn Pontifical Mass, Solemn Vespers in Latin, and nine stimulating talks and workshops.
Other talks will include topics such as “Gregorian Chant: Music for the Few or the Many” by Dr. Lucy Carroll, “An Illustrated Introduction to the Dominican Rite” by Rev. Father Dennis Duvelius, F.S.S.P., an examination of the training received by Seminarians in the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter, a look at how a small chapel in New Jersey has flourished by offering the Traditional Mass and much more!
Cost is only $60 if paid by June 4 ($75 after June 4), including lunches on Saturday and Sunday. The liturgies will be held at St. John’s Church, Holy Rosary Church and Sacred Heart Church, all in Indianapolis.
Our Friday evening workshop “Give Gregorian Chant a Chance in Your Parish”, which will be held from 7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at The Hampton Inn, 105 S. Meridian Street, Indianapolis. This Chant workshop will give you the practical skills and resources to bring back Chant to your parish!
The cost to attend just the Friday evening Chant Workshop is $10.00. Detailed information can be found at www.latinliturgy.com or call the Latin Liturgy Association at 718-979-6685 and a detailed brochure will be mailed or faxed to you promptly.
If you love the Latin Mass and Gregorian Chant, you will not want to miss this event!
Additional information about the Convention, or the work of the Latin Liturgy Association, can be obtained by calling the Association’s President, William J. Leininger at 718-979-6685.
Now that a veteran priest at a traditional Huntington Beach parish has retired, the diocese (or Orange, CA) is stamping out the Tridentine Mass at that location, forcing devotees to drive to the overcrowded Mission San Juan Capistrano, where it is still officially sanctioned."Ecclesia Dei" may need a wide and generous 'study' in the diocese to determine what it 'really' says.
Locally, Fr. Daniel Johnson, the kindly, traditionalist priest who led St. Mary's by the Sea for 25 years, has retired. His retirement, and the retirement of the Tridentine Mass with him, is heartbreaking news to St. Mary's parishioners.
This is standard fare, however, in the bitter war that is waged behind the scenes within the church. In reality, there are two churches co-existing uncomfortably together. There's the traditional Catholic Church, with its unwavering support for church traditions and theology.
As Catholic author Michael Rose argued in his blockbuster book, "Goodbye Good Men," the liberals gained control of many seminaries and kept tradition-minded men out of the priesthood. That's the root of the sexual-abuse scandal: The success of the left in driving out "good men" and replacing them with priests with different standards.
Now the diocese is taking away the Tridentine Mass at St. Mary's. In a letter to a parishioner, the diocese said the parishioners should accept the decision with an obedient heart. But given the Vatican has said dioceses should be generous in allowing such masses, a reasonable question is raised about who is not being obedient.
The Cardinal and the CanonsHere Dr. Peters reviews 4 points made the the cardinal from a Canon Law perspective...He concludes by saying:
Cardinal Roger Mahoney, amid a variety of interesting comments that I am sure will attract competent commentary from others, spoke inaccurately about certain canonical considerations surrounding pro-abortion Catholic politicians receiving Communion. Some of the most salient canonical assertions by the cardinal were:
Let's be clear about what Abp. Burke and others are doing: Their stance against pro-abortion Catholic politicians receiving the Eucharist is completely justified. In brief, their decisions are 1) made in the realm of sacramental discipline, not penal law; 2) meant to prevent serious scandal to the faithful, curb sacrilegious reception of Communion, and impress upon certain persons the gravity of their deeds; 3) binding on all ministers of the Eucharist in their jurisdictions; 4) illustrative for others who, someday, as will we all, have to account to Jesus for what they did with His Precious Body and Blood. I need hardly add that all that is necessary to secure one’s readmission to the Eucharist would be confession and firm purpose of amendment.Link is here.
I agree with His Eminence that we have had pro-abortion Catholic politicians receiving the Eucharist since 1973. What’s changed is that we now have bishops who are saying enough is enough. +++
The committee of U.S. Roman Catholic bishops that deals with sexual abuse reached an accord in Chicago Monday with a lay watchdog panel that monitors church reform policies, but details were not announced.Once again, it is better that I not comment on this if I cannot be charitable. One must wonder why there was so much whining the past few days from Anne Burke if something was being worked on?
Sister Mary Ann Walsh, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said in a telephone interview that the bishops' Ad Hoc Committee on Sexual Abuse and the lay National Review Board ``came together on a proposal'' and both sides are ``very pleased with it.''
Illinois Appellate Justice Anne Burke of Chicago, interim chair of the review board, said the agreement ``is in compliance with the charter'' the bishops issued to deal with the abuse scandal in 2002, but she, too, said no details will be released till the full body of bishops meets in Denver next month.
An angry dispute between the review board and certain bishops has threatened to disrupt reform policies. The review board insists that the 2002 charter requires audits of compliance in every U.S. diocese each year, but some bishops opposed audits in 2004 in order to discuss the whole procedure.
Phil Lawler, editor of the Boston based Catholic World News and author of five books and numerous articles, has responded to today's beginning of legally sanctioned homosexual unions in Massachusetts. In his Phil's Forum for today, Lawler lays out the case that Christians themselves are to a large degree responsible for this logical outcome of the acceptance of contraception.It is undeniable that the acceptance of contraception in Western societies has resulted in the abominations we witness today - abortion, euthanasia, rampant homosexuality.
Lawler writes, "The degradation of marriage did not begin with a Massachusetts court decision late last year. It began a few decades ago, when 'ordinary' married couples… began routinely using contraceptives. At that point, the typical American marriage-- which might have looked, from the outside, very much like that beautiful old union-- was itself based on acts of sexual perversion."
For an entire generation, Catholics in this country have not been taught the basics of the faith.Actually, it is more than a generation - it is nearly two generations of Catholics who have not been taught the fundamentals of the Catholic Faith.
In a powerful essay published in The Wanderer, a conservative Catholic newspaper, Father Joseph F. Wilson writes that this communion controversy is taking place as if the church in America has clearly and forcefully taught its people what the Eucharist is, and why abortion is so morally repugnant. Nonsense, says the Brooklyn priest, who argues that parishes have fed their people a steady diet of noncontroversial, content-free "mommy religion" for so long that nobody should be surprised that Catholics don't understand what the church teaches, and why.This is one reason why it is so important for the faithful to learn the faith and to teach others the truths of the faith. In far too many parishes, they will not learn the truth unless they learn from those who know and live it.
"They may come to Mass, but they are, sadly, never really fed, never really formed in the Catholic faith," the priest says. "And their attitudes and values morph into what we would expect of amiable pagans."
The Church teaches that respect for homosexual persons cannot lead in any way to approval of homosexual behaviour or to legal recognition of homosexual unions. The common good requires that laws recognize, promote and protect marriage as the basis of the family, the primary unit of society. Legal recognition of homosexual unions or placing them on the same level as marriage would mean not only the approval of deviant behaviour, with the consequence of making it a model in present-day society, but would also obscure basic values which belong to the common inheritance of humanity. The Church cannot fail to defend these values, for the good of men and women and for the good of society itself.We are called to be faithful, to know the truth, to live the truth, and to suffer for the truth. We must not shy away from the Truth, from Jesus Christ - we must, in all charity, present Him as HE is - the Way, the Truth, and the Life, even if we must suffer persecution.
VATICAN CITY, MAY 18, 2004 (VIS) - Today is Pope John Paul's 84th birthday. VIS subscribers who wish to e-mail birthday wishes to him may do so by clicking on the link below, and then clicking on the icon of the Pope where it says "Wishes to the Holy Father."Link.
Click here: http://www.vatican.va/phome_en.htm
"Arise, Let us be going," the latest book by Pope John Paul, was released today to coincide with the Pope's birthday. It contains reflections on his life as a bishop and on the ministry of every bishop. John Paul II was ordained a bishop on September 28, 1958.
The book is 178 pages long, has an introduction, six chapters, notes, a list of quotations from the Bible and the Magisterium and an index.
Holy See Press Office Director Joaquin Navarro-Valls, in a statement made this morning to journalists, said: "For the Holy Father today is an ordinary work day, above all one of thanksgiving. One special detail: the Holy Father has invited his closest collaborators in the Curia to lunch.
"Birthday wishes have arrived from around the world, and not just from Catholics, for John Paul II. They have come from heads of State and government, Church officials and people in the world of politics, business and the arts, but above all from single individuals who wish to express their affection and gratitude to the Pope."
(CNN's Anderson) COOPER: The district attorney in Denver was quoted, a Catholic was quoted as saying "I just think this is a tragic direction for the bishop to take and my great fear is that it will drive Catholics away from the church." Do you have that fear at all? I mean if you look at figures from 1972, 49 percent of Catholics reported attending church weekly. In 2000, only 26 percent do. Can the church afford this?The TRUTH is sometimes divisive...If fact, many hate the truth and they hate those who proclaim the truth:
(Bishop) SHERIDAN: I certainly don't want to drive any Catholic from the church. That's not my intention but the fact that is that the truth, and I believe I am speaking the truth of the church, the truth of God, the truth is sometimes divisive and it sometimes does leave people behind.
It's an unfortunate consequence, not one intended, but the alternative is to say nothing and, if I do that, then I jeopardize my own salvation I believe because as a bishop I have the mandate to speak the truth.
Jesus said to his disciples:Bishop Sheridan needs our prayers as he will also be attacked for speaking the truth.
"If the world hates you, realize that it hated me first.
If you belonged to the world, the world would love its own;
but because you do not belong to the world,
and I have chosen you out of the world,
the world hates you." (Jn 15)
"I think it's in God's hands and on each person's conscience whether or not he's taking communion," Ms. (Anne) Mayo-Mullen said. "We support stem-cell research because our daughter, Brooks, is diabetic. In the case of rape or incest, I was raised to believe that abortion is a personal choice."If she was taught this as a Catholic, it only demonstrates the depths of the abyss that catechesis has taken in some areas. The failure to fully explain the teachings of the Church and of moral theology has had a terrible impact and has corrupted many souls.
A UN official in charge of AIDS prevention has denied that the Catholic Church opposes the use of condoms. Taking the dissenting views of a small number of commentators as representative of official Catholic policy, he said that there is "hot debate" in the Vatican over the use of condoms.The only "hot debate" I ever see is that of dissenters trying to rationalize the use of condoms as a menas to prevent STDs...
May 14, 2004
St. Stanislaus Kostka Parish: Parish, diocese, universal Church
by Archbishop Raymond L. Burke
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Introduction
In recent weeks, there has been much conversation and publicity regarding my meetings with the board of directors of the civil corporation of St. Stanislaus Kostka Parish, with the priests assigned to the parish, with the parish Pastoral Council and with the parishioners. A number of the faithful of the archdiocese have written to me, expressing their concern about the situation as they perceive it. A common perception is that the archdiocese is demanding a change in the civil incorporation of the parish, in order to be in a position to suppress or close the parish and, then, to take the parish’s funds to use for other purposes. As you can imagine, such a perception is a source of scandal for the faithful.
In order that you have a correct perception of the situation, I offer a reflection on the situation itself, in the context of the Church’s understanding of the relationship of a parish to the diocese or archdiocese, and to the universal Church. The reflection both seeks to heal any scandal in the matter and provides us all a good occasion to reflect on the gift of our life in the Church at the parish, diocesan and universal levels.
Closing of Parishes and Parish Funds
To be clear, from the start, it is no part of my thinking or of the thinking of anyone who advises me that St. Stanislaus Kostka Parish should be closed. On the contrary, I have stated repeatedly, both in writing and orally, that I take great pride in St. Stanislaus Kostka Parish as a personal parish for Polish-speaking Catholics and Catholics of Polish heritage in the Archdiocese of St. Louis. I have thanked publicly those who have sacrificed so much to keep St. Stanislaus Kostka Parish active and strong. And I have confirmed publicly my intention to help the parish in every way possible, pledging that it will enjoy my fullest support. For example, even though the archdiocese anticipates having fewer priests to assign in the coming years, I have promised to St. Stanislaus Kostka Parish the service of both a priest of the archdiocese and a native Polish priest.
It is sometimes said to me that the archdiocese has never done anything for St. Stanislaus Kostka Parish, that the parishioners have built and maintained the parish on their own completely, without any encouragement or help from the archdiocese. My reading of the history of the archdiocese tells me otherwise. There is not sufficient space here to review the whole history of the relationship of the archdiocese to St. Stanislaus Kostka Parish, but I can offer an example of the recent solicitude of the archdiocese for the good of the parish. Cardinal Justin Rigali not only assigned Father Philip Bene, a priest of the archdiocese, to the parish, but also, working with the Bishop of Drohiczyn in Poland, he obtained the services of a native Polish priest for the parish. The archdiocese provided for the tuition, room and board of the Polish priest during his study of the English language at Sts. Cyril and Methodius Seminary in the Archdiocese of Detroit. Father Bene, who has some Polish heritage, also has been studying the Polish language. What is more, in order that having the services of two priests not be too burdensome for the parish, Father Bene’s compensation comes principally from the Archdiocesan Curia, in which he serves as a judge of the Matrimonial Tribunal.
Regarding parish funds, no bishop may confiscate the funds of any parish. Such action is directly forbidden by the Code of Canon Law. The ownership of goods acquired by a parish belongs to the parish and is governed by Church discipline (cf. Can. 1255-1257).
The bishop has the responsibility to supervise carefully the administration of the funds and other temporal goods of the parish, so that they serve the mission of the Church in the parish, but he may not take the temporal goods from the Parish (cf. Can. 1276). If a parish is closed — and I repeat that I have no idea of closing St. Stanislaus Kostka Parish — the funds of the parish are directed to the parishes in which the parishioners of the closed parish are then registered.
Also, the Code of Canon Law requires that the designation of gifts, given to the Church, be fully respected (cf. Can. 1284, §2,3º). There has been concern that the archdiocese will not respect funds that have been designated for the cultural center established at the parish. To be clear, the archdiocese is obligated to respect the designation of funds for special works or projects of the parish.
Civil Incorporation of Parishes
The present form of civil incorporation of St. Stanislaus Kostka Parish places complete authority for the administration of the parish in the hands of the board of directors, which operates according to its own bylaws. The bylaws previously permitted the parish priest or pastor to be present at meetings of the board, but he had no vote. Recently, the board of directors has proposed a change in the bylaws, which was subsequently approved at a meeting of some parish members, which would grant to the pastor a vote on the board of directors. In either case, the pastor remains subject to the authority of the board of directors, even though his appointment is made by the archbishop of St. Louis. In other words, the archbishop of St. Louis is asked to send a pastor to St. Stanislaus Kostka Parish in order that he serve under the direction of the board of directors of the parish.
Church law does not permit a parish to be civilly incorporated in this manner. The form of civil corporation must respect the nature of the Church, in which Christ has placed the Holy Father, Successor of St. Peter, and the College of Bishops, Successors to the Apostles, as true shepherds of the Father’s flock.
Priests are the co-workers of the bishop and carry out the mission of Christ the Good Shepherd in the parishes and other institutions to which the bishop sends them. As a true shepherd, the bishop, with the priests, has responsibility for both the pastoral care of the faithful and the administration of the temporal goods which support the pastoral care.
Temporal goods are buildings and grounds which are owned by the Church and are used to carry out the Church’s mission. They also include monies which are used to provide financial support of those who dedicate themselves to carrying out some part of the Church’s mission, and to maintain and develop the buildings and grounds. Because temporal goods are essential to the Church’s mission, the Code of Canon Law includes a special section which contains the discipline to be followed in their administration (cf. Can. 1254-1310).
The administration of temporal goods requires that the Church observe the local civil law and adopt the appropriate civil structures to make possible the fulfillment of her mission (cf. Can. 1284, §2, 2º-3º). The Church respects the civil law and provides for the civil incorporation of parishes and dioceses and other Church institutions and associations in order that the civil law be observed and the fitting protections of the civil law be assured. The parishes of the Archdiocese of St. Louis, with the exception of St. Stanislaus Kostka Parish, are presently structured in the form of unincorporated associations. At present, the archdiocese is studying a proposed revision of the form of civil law structure of parishes to nonprofit corporations that it may serve even better and more securely the work of the Church. Since my arrival as Archbishop, I have been studying the proposal and hope to finalize it, with the help of archdiocesan legal counsel and canonical counsel, within the coming weeks.
Nature of the Church
As is clear from the above, the civil structure of the incorporation of parishes and the archdiocese must respect the nature of the Church. If not, the right ordering of the Church is disturbed, and there is the strong danger of misunderstanding our life in the Church and failing to respect our distinct responsibilities in the Church. Such misunderstanding has led, in the past, to sad divisions in the Church.
The Church is God the Father’s gift to us. God the Father sent God the Son into the world, that He call the Church into being through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Throughout His public ministry, Christ was forming the Church, His disciples, and instructing them regarding the life of the Church. By His suffering, dying, rising from the dead, Ascension and sending of the Holy Spirit, Christ brought to completion the work of establishing the Church as His living Body, in which the members have communion with God, in Christ, and become co-workers with God, again in Christ, for the salvation of the world.
The Church is not an organization which we have formed and joined. No, it is God’s gift to us through our Baptism and Confirmation. The highest expression of God’s gift of the Church to us is the celebration of the holy Eucharist, through which He feeds us with the Body and Blood of Christ, His Son, nourishing the life of the Holy Spirit within us, drawing us closer to Himself and strengthening us to do His work in the world.
In calling the Church into being, Christ, at the very beginning of His public ministry, set apart certain of the disciples to carry out a distinctive service, the service of Shepherd and Head which belongs to Him alone but which He carries out through them. By the Sacrament of Holy Orders, Christ gives to bishops and priests the grace to act in His person as Shepherd and Head of God’s flock in every time and place. To be precise, by the grace of Holy Orders, the whole being of the bishop and priest is given over to Christ, so that He can act in them to teach us, to sanctify us and to guide and direct us.
In guiding and directing the life of the Church in every community, the bishop and priests enjoy the assistance of both pastoral councils and finance councils, composed of lay members of the faithful and consecrated persons. The diocesan or parish pastoral council helps the bishop or pastor to know as fully as possible the pastoral needs of the faithful and to use appropriate means to meet those needs. The diocesan or parish finance council assists the bishop or pastor in administering the Church’s temporal goods — buildings, grounds and money — so that these temporal goods serve as best as possible the teaching of the faith, the worship of God and the care of all who are in need.
Why now?
The question is frequently raised about my reason for addressing the civil corporate structure of St. Stanislaus Kostka Parish at the present time, especially so soon after beginning my service in the Archdiocese of St. Louis. First of all, my predecessor, Cardinal Rigali, had been working with the board of directors and the parishioners at St. Stanislaus Kostka Parish to correct its civil structure, in accord with Church discipline. He met with the board of directors of the present civil corporation on Sept. 30, 2003, to explain the steps necessary to bring the corporate structure of the parish into compliance with Church law.
Subsequent to Cardinal Rigali’s meeting with the board of directors, Father Bene, parochial administrator of the parish, wrote a lengthy letter to all of the parishioners on Nov. 14, 2003, explaining in detail the requirements of Church law and responding to questions about how making the necessary changes will effect parish life.
Before I came to the archdiocese, Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann, then archdiocesan administrator, provided me with the complete documentation in the matter. I studied it carefully and agreed completely with Cardinal Rigali’s actions to rectify the situation. It is important to note, however, that Cardinal John Glennon, who served as Archbishop of St. Louis from 1903 to 1946, made an initial effort to address the irregular corporate structure which exists at St. Stanislaus Kostka Parish. Cardinal Joseph Ritter did likewise during the time, from 1946 to 1967, when he served as Archbishop of St. Louis. Both of these initiatives are facts of history.
After I began my service in the archdiocese on Jan. 26, I met, on March 2, with the board of directors of the civil corporation, the members of the parish pastoral council, Father Bene and Father Adam Hurbanczuk, the priest of the Diocese of Drohiczyn in Poland, who assists Father Bene, to bring to a fruitful conclusion the work which Cardinal Rigali had begun. Then on March 19, I wrote to all of the parishioners, both in English and in Polish, to explain my decision in the matter. A copy of my letter is available to anyone who wishes it. If you wish a copy of the letter, please contact my office. Could I have let the situation continue as it is? Of course, I could have, but to have done so would have indicated that I did not believe that there was anything wrong. It would have been a lie, on my part. As a faithful Archbishop, I would be obliged to correct the matter eventually. Then, the question would logically be asked: Archbishop, if the corporate structure of the parish was all right with you in 2004, why is it not all right now? In any case, as Archbishop, in obedience to the discipline of the Church, I wish St. Stanislaus Kostka Parish to be constituted, also from the point of view of its civil structure, as a parish of the Archdiocese of St. Louis.
What next?
Once the final form has been given to the proposed revision of the civil law structure of the parishes of the archdiocese, St. Stanislaus Kostka Parish will be asked to accept the same civil structure as every other parish in the Archdiocese. If the board of directors refuses to revise the present structure of civil incorporation of the parish, I will be left with no other choice than to declare that the parish is no longer part of the archdiocese.
Because of my strong commitment to provide a personal parish for Polish-speaking Catholics and Catholics of Polish heritage, I commit myself to having a personal parish for Polish Catholics. It is my hope that St. Stanislaus Kostka Parish will remain the personal parish for Polish Catholics, but I cannot presume upon the decision of the board of directors and, therefore, will be prepared to provide immediately for the needs of the faithful who wish to belong to a parish for Polish Catholics.
Conclusion
I hope that the above will address the questions which the faithful of the archdiocese have raised in response to reports which they have received about the relationship of the archdiocese, and my relationship as Archbishop, with St. Stanislaus Kostka Parish and the faithful who are members of the parish. I hope also that my reflection on the situation has been the occasion for all of us to deepen our appreciation of God’s most wonderful gift to us, the gift of our life in Christ in the Church.
Please pray that the relationship of St. Stanislaus Kostka Parish with the Archdiocese of St. Louis may be reconciled in order that the fullness of the pastoral life of the Church may be available to the parishioners now and for the future. I ask the intercession of Our Lady of Czestochowa, Queen of Poland; St. Stanislaus Kostka; and Sts. Faustina Kowalska and Maximilian Kolbe for this intention.
When societies become exceptionally decadent, when decency is under attack and immorality defended, we naturally seek the source of such a nightmare. Certainly, evil cannot thrive without the cooperation of man. But what men are most culpable for our present decadence, the blatant instigators of the revolution against Our Lord, or the “silent majority”?There are so many of these "Ohwellians" who are 'professed' Catholics. I believe it is a flawed understanding of the Catholic Faith which has, effectively, neutered the faith of most of these people. Unable to defend the Church or her teachings from attacks from those outside the Church, they are even less able to do so from those who are within her walls. All who are truly faithful must continue to pray for and to teach those who are in need of catechesis. It is by hearing the truth that they will come to the truth, into the glorious light of Christ. This is our duty as baptized and confirmed Catholics and our mandate as expressed by the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council.
By silent majority it is meant those that look the other way in the presence of evil or sigh and say: “Oh well...”
There are those for instance, claiming to be Catholic, who when asked about abortion will reply with: “Oh well...it’s the law!” There are others, when faced with liturgical abuse will say: “Oh well... nothing stays the same. What’s wrong with change?” Finally, there is the now classic, out-of-context and simplistic rejoinder: “Oh well, we should not judge!”
What we lack today, with a few notable exceptions, is a combative Catholic spirit in the world.
But wouldn't you acknowledge that the scandal of clerical sexual abuse required some drastic response?And later on he had this to say:
Bruskewitz: My point, of course, would be that you don't cut off your head to cure a headache. Even if you have a tumor, that's not the correct therapy: to behead yourself in order to get rid of the brain tumor. I think that surely these crimes and sins and horrors of sexual misconduct--and perhaps also the guilt and cowardice and folly and the sloth of bishops who didn't properly address these issues--are horrible in themselves. But I don't think they are an excuse burn down the barn, just to get rid of the rats.
What would be the proper therapy?
Bruskewitz: Well, I think the proper therapy is to have adequate apostolic visitations, by competent people who are sent by the Holy See to check into the issues and the questions that are now being raised. In particular, the focus of this apostolic visitation should be to inspect seminaries, and to make certain that the homosexualization of the clergy (if that's what is going on) is arrested and excised.
I would say that would be the correct way to do it. It would be very important to have people involved who are competent and knowledgeable, and above all to have people involved who profess the Catholic faith. I think that it's downright bizarre to have people who are opposed to the doctrines and moral teachings of the Catholic Church acting as advisers to the bishops--or even worse, as they might understand themselves, controlling and punishing bishops--while at the same time they themselves remain outside the purview of the Church's doctrinal and moral teaching. Bishops who grossly fail in their episcopal duties need to be removed.
Homosexuals shouldn't be priests, any more than alcoholics should be bartenders, or pyromaniacs should be taking care of gasoline-storage facilities, or kleptomaniacs should be bank tellers. There are certain things that are excluded because of these aberrations. Whether or not a kleptomaniac is personally responsible for being a kleptomaniac is really beside the point. His proclivity for stealing things is a socially and a morally disordered inclination; he must be kept away from those situations where this inclination could be indulged. Similarly, the clergy is not a place for people who are homosexuals.This is a very good analysis by a very good bishop - I highly recommend that everyone read this. Link is here.
As Bishops you must be at the forefront of this spiritual journey of sanctification.Full text here.
The credibility of the Church’s proclamation of the Good News is intimately linked to the commitment of her members to personal sanctification.
The courage to face the crisis of the loss of the sense of sin...must be addressed today with particular urgency.
...the Bishop’s duty to indicate the sad and destructive presence of sin, both in individuals and in communities, is in fact a service of hope.
I particularly wish to encourage you in your promotion of the Sacrament of Penance.
Cardinal Newman Society, conducting its annual review of commencement speakers and honorees at Catholic colleges, has thus far identified 19 inappropriate invitations, many of them to public abortion-rights advocates.The Cardinal Newman Society lists 19 "Catholic" colleges/universities with inappropriate commencement speakers and honorees, and asks the presidents to withdraw invitations to these speakers when possible.
“When Catholic institutions honor well-known abortion advocates like Barbara Boxer and Chuck Schumer, they are being openly subversive,” said Cardinal Newman Society president Patrick J. Reilly. “Not only are they scandalizing students and impeding the Church’s aggressive efforts to end legalized abortion, but they are flaunting their nonconformity in a very public way.”
Groundbreaking for the blufftop, 450-seat church for the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in La Crosse went forward Thursday despite steady, pouring rain, crashing thunder and occasional flashes of lightning. Several hundred people huddled under umbrellas for the half-hour ceremony led by St. Louis Archbishop Raymond L. Burke, who founded the $30 million shrine project in 1999 when he was bishop of the Diocese of La Crosse.Link.
There must be no confusion in these matters. Any Catholic politicians who advocate for abortion, for illicit stem cell research or for any form of euthanasia ipso facto place themselves outside full communion with the Church and so jeopardize their salvation. Any Catholics who vote for candidates who stand for abortion, illicit stem cell research or euthanasia suffer the same fateful consequences.Link here.
It is for this reason that these Catholics, whether candidates for office or those who would vote for them, may not receive Holy Communion until they have recanted their positions and been reconciled with God and the Church in the Sacrament of Penance.
But last month, as six U.S. cardinals joined St. Paul-Minneapolis Archbishop Harry Flynn at a Mass in the Cathedral of St. Paul, about two dozen members of Rainbow Sash, Dignity, and Soulforce received Communion in their rainbow sashes, along with about 1,500 other Catholics.Cardinal McCarrick is 'uncomfortable' denying Holy Communion to Kerry and others who PUBLICLY promote or support the murder of the unborn, yet he is "comfortable" with denying the Blessed Sacrament to those who PUBLICLY show that they are practicing homosexuals.
The Mass was held in conjunction with a $1,000-a-plate banquet to raise funds for the Catholic University of America.
Gay activist Brian McNeill of Dignity Twin Cities told the Star Tribune April 24 that he and others were demonstrating because the Church’s official documents describe homosexual behavior as an "objective disorder." He acknowledged that Archbishop Flynn allows those wearing the rainbow sash to receive Communion, and he complained that Washington’s Theodore Cardinal McCarrick does not.
Chicago’s Francis Cardinal George, while he allows a special Mass for gays and lesbians at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, on the assumption — according to the Rainbow Sash Movement’s Chicago coordinator Joseph Murray — that all those attending are celibate, he has refused Communion to those demonstrating by wearing the Rainbow Sash.
Once again, "Catholic" homosexual activists intend to demonstrate their disagreement with Church teaching on homosexuality by receiving Communion on Pentecost Sunday in cathedrals and churches across the country, wearing their rainbow sashes.Paul Likoudis has the article "To Repeat Pentecost Sacrilege" at The Wanderer here.
"In wearing the Rainbow Sash we proclaim that we are Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender with our families, friends, and loved ones we witness and celebrate our sexuality as a sacred gift," declares a press release by the Rainbow Sash Movement
Archbishop John G. Vlazny, leader of 298,000 Roman Catholics in Western Oregon, has declared that any Catholic, politician or not, who is publicly at odds with serious church teaching should refrain from taking Holy Communion.Article here.
"Catholics who publicly disagree with serious church teaching on such matters as abortion or same-sex marriage should refrain from receiving Holy Communion," he wrote in his May 6 column. The phrase "publicly disagree" means just that he said, not speaking privately to family or friends.
"Catholics who are not in communion with the Church (for example, divorced and remarried Catholics who have not received annulments from previous Catholic marriages) must similarly refrain from receiving the Eucharist," he wrote. "All Catholics in the state of mortal sin who are unrepentant also should refrain from the reception of the Eucharist."
Should Catholics who choose to vote for pro-choice politicians refrain from reception of the Holy Communion? If they vote for them precisely because they are pro-choice, I believe they too should refrain from the reception of Holy Communion because they are not in communion with the Church on a serious matter. But if they are voting for that particular politician because, in their judgment, other candidates fail significantly in some matters of great importance, for example, war and peace, human rights and economic justice, then there is no evident stance of opposition to Church teaching and reception of Holy Communion seems both appropriate and beneficial.Is not the defense of INNOCENT life non-negotiable? Is it not confusing and scandalous to equate these other 'social justice' issues with the issue of abortion? Is it not a sin to vote for a pro-abortion politician?
This is a "defining moment" for the church, said Burke, an Illinois appellate judge, speaking to members of Voice of the Faithful, a lay reform lobby group.This is not the first time, if I recall, that Anne Burke has addressed the "Voice of the Faithful"...And the article does not tell the entire truth about the 'lay reform lobby group'.
AsiaNews/Ucan) Lahore - Outrage at the death of a Catholic boy forced to convert to Islam at the hands of torturous abductors has prompted the Pakistan Catholic Bishop's Commission of Justice and Peace, to take up the legal case. The Christian youth died of injuries inflicted by a teacher and students at an Islamic school. The National Commission for Justice and Peace declared May 4th that the incident reflects a worrying trend of forced conversions.This was forwarded to me a couple of days ago.
Javed Anjum, an 18-year-old commerce student, was seized by a teacher and students of Jamia Hassan bin Almurtaza Madrasa (an Islamic religious school) on April 17th when he stopped for a drink of water at a nearby tap in Toba Tek Singh, 310 kilometres south of Islamabad. For five days he was tortured until his condition became so serious that the abusers took him to a police station, stating that he had been attempting to steal an electric water pump, and filed a charge of robbery against him. The boy was kept in police custody until April 24th, when he was finally taken for medical treatment. By that time, according to the Bishop's Commission investigation, it was too late to save him. Anjum died May 2nd, in a nearby Faisalabad hospital, of "renal failure," having also suffered broken ribs and loss of eyesight.
According to the Bishop's Commission, police refused to investigate the cause of Anjum's injuries, or the allegation against him. Chairman of the Commission, Peter Jacob said on May 7th that officials at the Islamic school tried to create an impression that Anjum was a drug addict, and now local Muslim political leaders are supporting and protecting the school. "It only shows how desperate and aware the perpetrators are of their crime and what they had done, that they tried through various allegations to cover it up."
The Bishop's Commission claimed, "Religious intolerance and discrimination is the reason behind the recent incidents where young non-Muslims were forcibly converted and circumcised." In November, another Pakistani Catholic boy, 15-year-old Zeeshan Gill, was abducted by a Muslim classmate and forced to convert. He was threatened and beaten by Islamic clerics, and made to attend religious classes at Madrasa Jamia al Qasim al Aloom, an Islamic boarding school. He eventually escaped from his captors, but he and his mother and brother have since been in hiding for fear of death.
Beyond its concern for justice in Anjum's case, the Church's commission urged the government of the Punjab province to "take long-term steps to root out religious hatred and take timely action against the perpetrators of hate crimes in accordance with the law."
"We appeal to the federal government to ensure equality of rights and opportunities, which is the only way to build a society based on justice, peace and human rights," the commission's statement said.
The official teaching of Islam condemns forced conversions of others.
In a Feb. 2 letter, Cardinal Edward Egan of New York urged a delay in talks about the new audit until a November bishops' meeting. Egan was criticized in the 2003 audit for failing — in his former post as bishop of Bridgeport, Conn. — to remove a priest who faced accusations.Article here.
(Justice Anne) Burke said Egan's letter to Bishop Wilton D. Gregory, president of the bishops' conference, drew a sharp response from Cardinal Roger M. Mahony of Los Angeles, who opposed waiting until November.
Mahony warned that he and other California bishops would not attend a national meeting in June unless bishops took up the issue at that time, Burke said. Mahony was in Rome on Tuesday and could not be reached for comment. An aide in Los Angeles said staff would have to check with Mahony before commenting.
In obedience to Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted, two more priests have removed their names from the "Phoenix Declaration," signed by Arizona clergy calling for full inclusion of gays and lesbians in religious and community life.Article here.
The Rev. Vernon Meyer, pastor of St. Patrick’s Catholic Church in Scottsdale, and the Rev. Mathew Mampara, associate pastor of St. Mary Magdalene Catholic Church in Gilbert, notified No Longer Silent/Clergy For Justice this week they wanted their names taken off the support list. Meyer had served as spokesman for the priests who hesitated before relenting to the bishop.
No Longer Silent has been posting the words "name removed at request of signer in obedience to church hierarchy" in the place where the priests’ names previously had appeared on the signers list on the Web site.
East Valley priests who previously removed their names were: The Rev. Chris Carpenter, Christ the King Church in Mesa; the Rev. Scott Brubaker, St. Bridget in Mesa; and the Rev. John Cunningham of St. Mary Magdalene in Gilbert.
In an April 2 letter to Burke, Chaput and Gomez wrote that her letter "assumes the worst motives on the part of the bishops, despite the progress that has already been made. Your language is designed to offend and contains implicit threats that are, to put it mildly, inappropriate for anyone of your professional stature."But this is not all. Some time ago, Kathleen McChesney, executive director of the USCCB's National Office of Child and Youth Protection, indicated that they needed to audit some 19,000 parishes as well. Sounds like a lifetime career! And I have not yet touched on the promotion of 'sexual awareness' programs for children!
The Denver prelates noted the Dallas charter does not require an annual audit "and the expense, staff and structures that would involve." They suggested conducting one every three or four years instead.
"It is not the (lay review board's) duty to interpret the Charter," the letter says. "The (board) is an important advisory body at the service of the bishops. It does not and cannot have supervisory authority."
Outlining the growing shortage of priests and its negative impact on weekend Masses in parishes, the group said, "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." Members of the forum "believe that making celibacy an option for those who wish to become priests or by ordaining those who are already married is an obvious way to alleviate the problems" arising from the priest shortage, the news release said.Failure to recognize the problem is symptomatic of many. There are less men from which to draw due, in large part, to the bishops and priests of the Western world failing to address the intrinsic evil and seriousness of contraception.
Cardinal Mahony said he gave copies of the draft translation to members of his priests' council and asked them to "read it out loud" with members of their parish liturgy committees.Charity forbids me commenting too much on the cardinal's responses except to say that the implicit attitude of accepting and promoting willful disobedience is a disgrace.
Because the prayers are meant to be proclaimed, he said, "you can only capture whether it works or doesn't work in hearing it out loud."
"Most of the responses I got back were quite negative," Cardinal Mahony said.
The cardinal said there is an obvious "tension" between the principles enunciated in the 2001 Vatican document on translation and the needs of the priests and people.
"We simply cannot have a translation that is labored and is not easily proclaimed or understood," he said.
"The danger is that that kind of new Roman Missal, if it were approved in such a stilted fashion, would simply not be used," he said.
The cardinal said he was afraid that priests simply would continue using the old translation, "which, of course, is not helpful either."
Dear "Catholic Higher Education Alert" Subscriber:
The San Francisco mayor who violated California state law to marry homosexuals will give the commencement address at a Catholic university? If that isn't a blatant affront to the bishops and all faithful Catholics, I don't know what is. Please help, we need a full-court press on this!
So begins Part II of Friday's alert, as promised, including some updates,
a few action items, and catch-up on important developments about which we haven't yet reported.
Thanks to everyone who has contacted college presidents about inappropriate commencement speakers, and to those who plan to do so right away. The list is likely to expand as more speakers and honorees are announced, so you might check the list at www.cardinalnewmansociety.org every couple of days.
The condemnation of error is a rare occurrence within the documents of the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council. Pope John XXIII indicated in his opening speech that the Council was quite deliberately more concerned with affirming the truth of the Faith than condemning the errors opposed to it. When therefore errors are condemned, we should take notice. For despite its generally commendatory attitude, Gaudium et spes condemns what it considers to be "one of the graver errors of our age."Dr. Hippler's article can be read here.
What is this "graver error"? It is not liberal capitalism, nor atheist communism, nor any economic or social system. Rather, it is the root and principle of all social and economic errors. It is rather the divorce of the Catholic faith from secular life.
...This split between the faith which many profess and their daily lives deserves to be counted among the more serious errors of our age" (Gaudium et spes, n.43).
The Council Fathers make clear that this error is condemned in Holy Scripture: "Long since, the Prophets of the Old Testament fought vehemently against this scandal (cf. Is. 58:1-12) and even more so did Jesus Christ Himself in the New Testament threaten it with grave punishments (Cf. Mt. 23:3-33; Mk. 7:10-13).
"The Christian who neglects his temporal duties, neglects his duties toward his neighbor and even God, and jeopardizes his eternal salvation" (GS, n.43).
In one sense, the issue of Catholic pro-abortion politicians receiving Communion is artificially narrow, and the bishops’ reluctance to address it in a meaningful way may be reflective of a longtime habit of "grave dereliction of duty," according to one prominent pro-lifer who spoke with The Wanderer. She did not want her name revealed.Who else should be on the list if an "inclusive, seamless garment" approach were to be used?
"Just as a law is only good as long as it is enforced," she said, "a faith that is not enforced is rendered meaningless."
This pro-lifer also suggested that the best way for the bishops to resolve this highly controverted and contentious issue is with a "seamless garment" approach that includes a range of both issues and players.
"If some or all of the bishops are going to say that pro-abortion politicians cannot receive Communion, they should also say that pro-abortion, and/or pro-homosexual Catholic journalists cannot receive Communion.
"Prominent Catholic journalists such as Peter Steinfels, Anna Quindlen, and the late Mary McGrory are preachers from the printed page, and they often have as much, if not more, influence on forming public opinion than do politicians. It is a grave scandal that such dissenters are not rebuked and disciplined, especially in the case of Steinfels, who promotes dissent on a range of issues from contraception to women priests."
The list of those banned from Communion would also include bishops, priests, religious, moral theologians, Scripture scholars, chancery staff, and school teachers who create scandal by their public dissent from authoritative Church teaching on any issue, she concluded.This would be a great start since all of these are sources of "public" scandal...
Howard Hubbard is right to resist the trend of denying certain politicians Communion.Let's see if I have this right...Bishop Hubbard is 'enlightened' because he refuses to safeguard the Blessed Sacrament and would choose to allow manifest public scandal in the reception of the Holy Eucharist.
The thoughtful and progressive instincts and sensibilities of the Catholic diocese of Albany are at work in the decision to steer clear of the so-called Communion wars.
Frances Kissling of the Washington-based group Catholics for a Free Choice envisions that a ban on Communion to all who supported some form of abortion rights, not just politicians, could empty the churches.Kissling? Wonder woman of the new "Catholics"...?
The Rev. Kenneth Doyle, chancellor of the Albany diocese, correctly sees a nightmare in the making if a political scorecard stood in the way of the distribution of Communion. Both he and Bishop Howard Hubbard are admirably determined to maintain a more substantive dialogue about the church's teachings. Denying Communion distracts from such a discussion, the Rev. Doyle explains.
Although five Catholic priests have followed Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted's order that they remove their names, no other clergy member has withdrawn. On the contrary, the publicity surrounding the Catholic situation is resulting in additional signatures on the statement, said the Rev. David Felten, secretary of the No Longer Silent group that drafted the declaration last year.But four have, so far, not removed their names.
Los Angeles Cardinal Roger M. Mahony said he believes the church's efforts to educate people about the reality and immorality of abortion are more effective than imposing sanctions on politicians who support legal abortion.After 30 years of "education", why is it that so many still "fail" to understand, or even worse, outright reject the Church's teaching? I suppose one only has to consider the source of rhis profundity regarding education.
Archbishop Raymond L. Burke of St. Louis, who was La Crosse's bishop in 1994-2003 and now heads the St. Louis Archdiocese, was scheduled to break ground for the church May 13. "I have had a strong sense from the time I was ordained a bishop for the Diocese of La Crosse to foster the devotional life especially with the help of our Blessed Mother," Archbishop Burke said in an interview with The Catholic Times, the diocesan newspaper.CNS Link.
David Reimer committed suicide last week at the age of 38. Reimer's parents, after a botched circumcision, were convinced by a Johns Hopkins gender studies specialist to raise the boy as a girl. Dr. John Money believed that gender was a learned trait, and wanted to prove his theory with an ideal test subject: David was one of a set of identical twins. He was started on female hormone injections and raised as Brenda.LifeSite article here.
David's mother, Janet Reimer, said that he would still be alive had it not been for the gender experiment. She blames the doctor for talking them into the sex-change. She described his life: "They wouldn't let him use the boys' washroom or the girls. He had to go in the back alley," she said.
WASHINGTON, May 11 /U.S. Newswire/ -- American Life League's Crusade for Defense of Our Catholic Church is disappointed over recent statements by three high-ranking Catholic clerics. Bishops Howard Hubbard of Albany, N.Y.; Carl Mengeling of Lansing, Mich.; and Kenneth Angell of Burlington, Vt., have all been quoted in the media as saying they would not prevent pro-abortion "Catholic" politicians from receiving Holy Communion.American Life League article.
"Archbishop Raymond Burke set the standard while bishop of LaCrosse, Wis., when he canonically barred certain Catholic politicians from receiving Holy Communion until they publicly recanted their pro-abortion positions and repented," said Brown. "We pray that all of our bishops will use Archbishop Burke's actions as the template for ending this scandal. We also hope that more bishops will follow the example of Bishop Samuel J. Aquila of Fargo, N.D., who so compellingly stated that as successors of the Apostles, the bishops have an obligation to speak out against this outrage.
About 400 people turned out Monday night for a meeting called by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix to explain why a popular Gilbert priest was suspended on accusations he broke church law.A high-tech 'lynching' of liberal priests? It looks like Bishop wants to deal with dissenting and disobedient priests.
"This is a high-tech lynching," said Jerry McCarty, who attended to the meeting in defense of the Rev. John Cunningham. "They’re trying to silence the more liberal priests."
Cunningham was suspended April 30 from his job as pastor of the St. Mary Magdalene parish after accusations he broke church law by celebrating Mass with a non-Catholic clergyman during a wedding at St. Anne’s Catholic Parish, also in Gilbert.
Staff members at St. Anne’s filed a complaint with the diocese, claiming Cunningham allowed an Anglican priest to play a role reserved for practicing Catholics in the Eucharist, the part of Mass in which bread and wine are consecrated and consumed.
Father Cunningham was born in Phoenix in 1949 and grew up in the shadow of the State Capital, the sixth child of Irish immigrants. He attended St. Meinard Seminary in Indiana, where he earned his B.A. in Philosophy and Masters in Divinity. He was ordained a priest of the Diocese of Phoenix in 1974 and served in two urban parishes before become pastor in Tolleson, Arizona. He was diocesan vocation director for six years. An innovator who enjoys a new challenge, Fr. John founded St. Bridget Parish in 1985.
While still a pastor, Fr. John enrolled at ASU where he received an M.A. in Religious Studies in 1997. His thesis was entitled: Gender, Authority and the Gospel of Mary: A Feminist Critique. Our pastor has taught World Religions and other classes at Mesa and Scottsdale Community Colleges and ASU East. He also has an extensive background in Jungian psychology, having done a sabbatical at the Jung Institute in Zurich, and been actively involved for years with the Phoenix Friends of Jung. He is ready and eager to start Gilbert's second Catholic parish. He named it after St. Mary Magdalene in tribute to the devoted friend of Jesus, the first witness to the resurrection, the first evangelist, a perennially illustrious symbol of spiritual illumination, and , in our time, a popular icon of women's empowerment.
In the light of the last few days and all of the media coverage regarding John Kerry’s unambiguous support of abortion rights, his personal opposition to abortion, and his insistence on the separation of his Catholic faith from his professional life, I, as a successor of the apostles, cannot remain silent. I, as an apostle, must speak with the apostles and obey God rather than man and present to you the teaching of the Church on the proper relationship between our faith and professional life. Neither the media nor the theologians who support the separation will present the clear teaching of the Church. I have the responsibility and duty before God to teach and to present to you the teaching of the Church on the matter of living one’s faith in the world.
The grave error that has come about, the grave error that the Father of Lies has planted in the hearts of many is the lie of thinking that we can have one foot with God and one foot with the world. We are in the world, not of the world. We are in the world to transform the world. The only way that the world will ever have peace, the only way the world will ever live in the truth is if the world embraces Jesus Christ. While we may never impose the Gospel message or force someone to believe in Jesus Christ, we must always propose the truth. We cannot move into negotiation, ever, with evil.
Finally, I ask all of us to seek the intercession of Mary, the Mother of Truth, for she will lead us to the truth. She will always lead us to her Son, Jesus Christ, who is “the way, the truth, and the life (Jn 14, 6).” Mary’s intercession will grant to us every grace that we need to walk in Jesus’ steps and to follow in His light, to bring the truth to the world which so needs it today. May each of us grow in obedience to the will of the Father, and may we, too, respond with Peter to the Risen Christ’s question on love, with his words, “Lord, you know that I love you.”
..."getting it right" for a practicing Catholic means conforming oneself to the will of God as revealed to us through scripture and tradition and as definitely set forth by the teaching authority of the church. A practicing Catholic cannot invoke "conscience" to defy or disregard what the church definitely holds as true -- for a practicing Catholic doesn't create his own truth but forms his conscience according to the truth.Link to article here (may require registration)
Bishops as teachers of the faith have no special competencies in the world of business or politics -- and in those worlds we have no regulatory or legal powers. But precisely as teachers of the Catholic faith we do have competence to tell businessmen or politicians or anyone else for that matter what is required to be a Catholic. It is totally within our competence to say that one cannot be complicit in the injustice of denying the right to life of an unborn child or an invalid elder and still consider oneself a good Catholic.
The sacramental discipline of the Church in this country has largely broken down. Mass attendance in our Diocese of Brooklyn is 18%; in New York, 19%; in Chicago, 16% (those are pre-scandal figures). The Most Blessed Sacrament is so little valued among Catholics that the overwhelming majority of them are not faithful to Sunday Mass. I am sure, though, that most of those who only pop in occasionally have no hesitation about approaching for Communion.Read the article...You will find out what tomatoes are good for. God, help us and help our bishops and priests.
The Church’s catechetical program — a systematic, consistent method of passing on the faith that was Church-wide — was deliberately dismantled 40 years ago. Recently, a noted archbishop garnered attention because he told his peers that virtually all of the high school catechetical texts being used in our country are unsalvageable junk. There was much applause for his courage and insight; I choked over my coffee. Every one of the bishops knew this at least 30 years ago; dioceses were routinely marginalizing as kooks faithful Catholics who wrote letters protesting these developments.
Catholics routinely approach for Communion who are engaged in premarital sex, extramarital sex, masturbation, contraception, homosexuality. Public, nonchalant dissent from Church teaching in these areas is easy to find among Catholics — not just those in public positions, but among those on religious education staffs in parishes and schools. While mountains of postconciliar documents have been churned out on various crucial issues, they have minimal impact in parish ministry and family life. Indeed, we’re at the stage where cafeteria Catholicism, picking and choosing from among the teachings of our and other religious traditions, is regarded as a virtue.
We need to admit that we have strayed dangerously far from the path, as we look at our liturgy, catechesis, parish and rectory life, religious communities, seminaries, health care institutions, family life, moral theology. We’ve got to admit that there is something deeply wrong.
The clarion call needs to be sounded. One of our shepherds needs to stand up and challenge his brethren and all of us, needs to say, honestly, "Enough, dear God! We have been in a state of crisis for 40 years, and it gets worse by the day!" We need an Elijah. We need another Hilkiah, who found the forgotten Book of the Law in the Temple; another Josiah, the king who wept as he heard it read to him, and ordered a bright, fierce renewal (2 Chron. 34:19).
Sen. John Kerry plans to be in Denver next month. So will hundreds of Catholic bishops. The result could be a defining moment in the presidential campaign.Denver Post article here.
Kerry's anticipated fundraising stop will coincide with a retreat at which the bishops are expected to discuss whether to deny Communion to the Catholic presidential candidate because he supports abortion rights.
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The recent debate over liturgical abuses and reception of Communion by dissenting Catholics is about to be taken to a global level as the church prepares for the 2005 Synod of Bishops.This would be an interesting document to see.
The synod's topic is the Eucharist. In recent days, bishops around the world have received a Vatican-prepared thematic outline that focuses in large part on the rules that govern celebration of the Eucharist -- including who should and who should not receive Communion.
The 75-page outline, called the "lineamenta," has not been released publicly by the Vatican. Catholic News Service obtained a copy of the document in early May.
The outline emphasizes the sacramental and liturgical norms against shared Communion with most non-Catholics. It repeatedly makes the point that the church does not have the power to give Communion to Catholics living in grave sin, to those "teaching error" or to "persons living an immoral life."
A prominent pro-choice politician is quitting the Catholic Church after being told he would be denied Communion, it was reported yesterday.I will look for a "Christian" church that allows me to continue on my path to hell without any warnings whatsoever...
New Jersey Senate Majority Leader Bernard Kenny (D-Hoboken), a former altar boy, told the Philadelphia Inquirer he's leaving the church after 57 years.
"I will look for other options to express my faith and will probably join another Christian church," he said.
"If every faith starts trying to impose their rules on elected officials," Kenny said, "democracy is going to be factionalized along religious lines."
"Today, Christianity is seen as an old tradition, weighed down by old Commandments, something we already know which tells us nothing new; a strong institution, one of the great institutions that weigh on our shoulders," said the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.Zenit Article
"If we stay with this impression, we do not live the essence of Christianity, which is an ever new encounter, an event thanks to which we can encounter the God who speaks to us, who approaches us, who befriends us," the cardinal said in the latest issue of the Italian Catholic weekly Vita Trentina.
"It is critical to come to this fundamental point of a personal encounter with God, who also today makes himself present, and who is contemporary," he added.
"If one finds this essential center, one also understands all the other things," the cardinal said. "But if this encounter is not realized, which touches the heart, all the rest remains like a weight, almost like something absurd."
Bishop Howard Hubbard and other priests in the Albany Roman Catholic Diocese won't deny Communion to elected officials whose political beliefs conflict with the church's teachings on abortion, diocesan officials said Friday.Article.
...
Catholics who oppose abortion have tried for 20 years to get the Pope to deny Communion or even excommunicate policy-makers who back abortion rights, said Frances Kissling, the president of the Washington, D.C., group.
...
Only a few of the 300 U.S. bishops will deny the Eucharist to Catholic officials who back abortion rights, Kissling said.
"The remainder appear to be more prudent, understanding that Catholics have a right in canon law to receive the sacraments and that there is no infallible teaching on how to vote on either abortion or other controversial issues," she said.
FARGO, ND, May 7, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The scandal of U.S. Catholic pro-abortion politicians defying Catholic teaching and receiving Communion despite their grave sin of supporting abortion has caused several bishops to speak out forcefully on the issue. The latest is Fargo Bishop Samuel J. Aquila Bishop of the diocese of Fargo in North Dakota.Article...
Kerry and his wife, Teresa, took communion from Father Robert G. Duch at St. Scholastica Catholic Church in suburban Pittsburgh, where the presidential candidate often worships when staying here.Link
A gay couple in northern Minnesota is angry and upset over being told they no longer should take communion or sing in the choir at their church because of their lifestyle.Link...
