New York Times publishes uncharacteristically bias-free report of the Vatican’s point of view–100% dissident free, so readers can draw their own conclusions without the rhetorical bias pressed from the reporter. oooh!
By RACHEL DONADIOPublished: November 9, 2009VATICAN CITY — The Vatican said on Monday that its new rules facilitating the conversion of Anglicans, including married Anglican priests, did not “signify any change” in its rules for priestly celibacy.
The announcement seemed aimed at dampening recent debate about whether in creating a new Anglican rite within the Roman Catholic Church, the Vatican had brought in a kind of Trojan horse — married former Anglican clergy — a practice that might someday normalize the acceptance of married Catholic priests…
On Monday, the Vatican released the rules governing the new structures. They uphold current practice, in which married Anglican priests can become Catholic priests only on “a case-by-case basis, according to objective criteria approved by the Holy See,” the rules say.
The new norm “does not signify any change in the church’s discipline of clerical celibacy,” the Vatican press office said in a statement.
It added that the new structure was “consistent” with the church’s “commitment to ecumenical dialogue.”
The Vatican has stressed that the new norms were not aimed at poaching Anglicans but were created in response to requests by traditionalist Anglicans. In its statement on Monday, the Vatican said the new structure was “a generous response from the Holy Father to the legitimate aspirations of these Anglican groups.”
…The new rules stipulate that men who were baptized as Catholics and subsequently become Anglicans cannot become priests. They also say that Anglican bishops who convert to Catholicism will remain priests but will lose the rank of bishop.
Called Personal Ordinariates, the new structures are akin to dioceses but without geographic bounds. They are to be overseen by bishops or priests chosen by the pope. The ordinariates will work in conjunction with local dioceses but will not answer to them, and will belong to the local bishops conference…
Boston Globe November 8, 2009
The Rev. Edward McCabe didn’t want to go to Fort Hood when the assignment came for the Army Reserves captain to become senior Catholic chaplain at the sprawling military post.
McCabe, a priest from Milton attached to the Archdiocese of Boston, had lived around water all his life, and a land-locked post in Texas offered no appeal.
But, he said, something called him to accept the post.
Two months after he arrived, when he was needed to pray for those felled by a gunman, McCabe came to understand why Fort Hood was where he needed to be.
After Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan allegedly went on a shooting rampage that left 13 dead and many more wounded, McCabe provided last rites to soldiers dying of gunshot wounds and prayed over the bodies of nine more who lay slain in a building on the post.
“In retrospect, I know why I came here,’’ McCabe said by phone last night from Texas, his voice hoarse, and nearly gone.
“A priest has to believe that the Holy Spirit is guiding you. I was led by the Spirit, and here I am,’’ he said…
On Thursday, McCabe was 10 minutes into a weekly chaplains’ meeting when reports came in about a gunman on the loose. He rushed to the post hospital, where a short time later, McCabe said, one of the wounded female soldiers died.
“It was chaos, because we had 15 to 18 wounded in and medical people trying to run around dealing with all of these injured, but I was able to bless her and anoint her,’’ he said.
An hour later, McCabe was taken to the Fort Hood Soldier Readiness Center, where the attack was centered. “I was able to enter the building,’’ he said. “In there, on the floor, there were nine dead. I was able to say some prayers over the dead.’’
Then, he was taken to an off-post hospital to anoint another soldier, minutes before he died from three chest wounds.
Then, it was back to the post to consult with military and religious leaders on how to deal with the living – both the physically injured and those touched emotionally by the death and violence. McCabe was on duty until about 3 a.m. Friday.
“Now we’re in healing mode, comforting soldiers who lost members of their units and making funeral arrangements,’’ he said. Several religious services have been held, and McCabe said Mass yesterday.
Chaplains are plentiful in the military and in police and fire departments across the country. A soldier on duty at Fort Hood said by phone yesterday that the post has dozens of clergy. Fort Hood had more than 33,000 residents in the 2000 Census. On such a sizable post, chaplains handle all matters of faith, including soldiers’ weddings and baptisms for their children.
Of the 13 people who died, McCabe blessed 11 of them.
So, what does the Times consider NOT fit to print?
Fr. George Rutler, pastor, Church of Our Savior, NYC
Fr. George Rutler of Church of Our Savior in New York City reacts to the New York Times rejection of Archbishop Timothy Dolan’s Op-Ed submission. Fr. Rutler sent his remarks via e-mail to subscribers today.
November 8, 2009
by Fr. George W. RutlerOne assumes that The New York Times would have been glad to receive an Op-Ed article from the new Archbishop of New York. The Archdiocese of New York is responsible for a very important part of the city’s educational, medical, and charitable life. The newspaper refused to print it. Such censorship only whets the appetite to know what was thought not fit to print. There are many items that the Times, which claims to publish everything that’s fit to print, has printed although they were not fit. There were, for instance, its mockery in 1920 of Goddard’s hypothesis that rocket propulsion can take place in a vacuum, a denial of Stalin’s forced famine in Ukraine and a whitewash of his show trials by its Moscow bureau chief Walter Duranty, its advocacy of Fidel Castro, and its benign regard for the Soviet spy Alger Hiss. So there had to be some journalistic equivalent of a cerebral stroke to make the editors of the Times unable to print Archbishop Dolan’s words.
The cause of the apoplexy was the Archbishop’s imputation of bigotry to the newspaper. His charge was not self-indulgent whining. He did not have to go back farther than a couple of weeks for examples. First, in reporting widespread child abuse in Brooklyn’s community of Orthodox Jews, there was not the “selective outrage” which animates The New York Times against criminous Catholic clerics, whose numbers are in fact proportionally much smaller than other religious and professional groups.
Then there was the sensational front-page publicity of a paternity suit involving a Franciscan friar, going back twenty-five years, and getting more space than the war in Afghanistan and genocide in Sudan. Headlines also claimed that the Pope was seeking to “lure” Anglicans into his fold, when in fact he was responding to a petition. Then a columnist invoked the Inquisition, portrayed the theology of priesthood as neurotic sexism, and even mocked the Pope’s haberdashery. The Archbishop said that her prejudice, “while maybe appropriate for the Know-Nothing newspaper of the 1850’s, the Menace, has no place in a major publication today.” While a free press is free to criticize, said the Archbishop, such criticism should be “fair, rational, and accurate.”
Hostility raised to such a pitch that journalistic standards are abandoned, is provoked by an awareness that the Catholic Church continues to be the substantial voice for classical moral standards and supernatural confidence amid the noise of a disintegrating behaviorist culture. A tabloid is still a tabloid even if its editors dress in tweeds. Churchill said, “No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism.” Not to worry. Christ promised that the gates of Hell will not prevail against his Church. He did not include The New York Times, 30% of whose work force has been laid off in the last year and a half.
Fr. Z is promoting a prayer project for this week focusing on the souls of deceased priests as a particular prayer intention during this Year for Priests. During this week of All Saints/Souls, he suggests a special effort of prayer for the souls of deceased priests on Thursday, November 5. An indulgence is in effect. Below is an excerpt of the details from his web site:
Pray for the souls of priests.
First, remember that you can gain indulgences on All Souls and the days following.
Second, 5 November is a first Thursday. You can gain a plenary indulgence during this year for Priests.
Third, would it not be a good idea in this Year for Priests, during the week after All Souls, for this 1st Thursday, to pray in a special way for the souls of deceased priests?Would you recommend this to your prayer groups, friends and family?
All through November, you can gain partial indulgence every day you visit the cemetery and pray for the dead.
Archbishop Timothy Dolan, Archdiocese of New York
You can read Archbishop Timothy Dolan’s blog piece here in its entirety, but I’m going to wing this and copy/paste it below because it’s that worthy of our attention. The New York Post dutifully ran its own coverage of its newspaper competitor to give us a bit more background.
Here is the Archbishop’s full piece:
October 29, 2009
The following article was submitted in a slightly shorter form to the New York Times as an op-ed article. The Times declined to publish it. I thought you might be interested in reading it.
FOUL BALL!
By Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan
Archbishop of New York
October is the month we relish the highpoint of our national pastime, especially when one of our own New York teams is in the World Series!
Sadly, America has another national pastime, this one not pleasant at all: anti-catholicism.
It is not hyperbole to call prejudice against the Catholic Church a national pastime. Scholars such as Arthur Schlesinger Sr. referred to it as “the deepest bias in the history of the American people,” while John Higham described it as “the most luxuriant, tenacious tradition of paranoiac agitation in American history.” “The anti-semitism of the left,” is how Paul Viereck reads it, and Professor Philip Jenkins sub-titles his book on the topic “the last acceptable prejudice.”
If you want recent evidence of this unfairness against the Catholic Church, look no further than a few of these following examples of occurrences over the last couple weeks:
- On October 14, in the pages of the New York Times, reporter Paul Vitello exposed the sad extent of child sexual abuse in Brooklyn’s Orthodox Jewish community. According to the article, there were forty cases of such abuse in this tiny community last year alone. Yet the Times did not demand what it has called for incessantly when addressing the same kind of abuse by a tiny minority of priests: release of names of abusers, rollback of statute of limitations, external investigations, release of all records, and total transparency. Instead, an attorney is quoted urging law enforcement officials to recognize “religious sensitivities,” and no criticism was offered of the DA’s office for allowing Orthodox rabbis to settle these cases “internally.” Given the Catholic Church’s own recent horrible experience, I am hardly in any position to criticize our Orthodox Jewish neighbors, and have no wish to do so . . . but I can criticize this kind of “selective outrage.”
Of course, this selective outrage probably should not surprise us at all, as we have seen many other examples of the phenomenon in recent years when it comes to the issue of sexual abuse. To cite but two: In 2004, Professor Carol Shakeshaft documented the wide-spread problem of sexual abuse of minors in our nation’s public schools (the study can be found here). In 2007, the Associated Press issued a series of investigative reports that also showed the numerous examples of sexual abuse by educators against public school students. Both the Shakeshaft study and the AP reports were essentially ignored, as papers such as the New York Times only seem to have priests in their crosshairs.
- On October 16, Laurie Goodstein of the Times offered a front page, above-the-fold story on the sad episode of a Franciscan priest who had fathered a child. Even taking into account that the relationship with the mother was consensual and between two adults, and that the Franciscans have attempted to deal justly with the errant priest’s responsibilities to his son, this action is still sinful, scandalous, and indefensible. However, one still has to wonder why a quarter-century old story of a sin by a priest is now suddenly more pressing and newsworthy than the war in Afghanistan, health care, and starvation–genocide in Sudan. No other cleric from religions other than Catholic ever seems to merit such attention.
- Five days later, October 21, the Times gave its major headline to the decision by the Vatican to welcome Anglicans who had requested union with Rome. Fair enough. Unfair, though, was the article’s observation that the Holy See lured and bid for the Anglicans. Of course, the reality is simply that for years thousands of Anglicans have been asking Rome to be accepted into the Catholic Church with a special sensitivity for their own tradition. As Cardinal Walter Kasper, the Vatican’s chief ecumenist, observed, “We are not fishing in the Anglican pond.” Not enough for the Times; for them, this was another case of the conniving Vatican luring and bidding unsuspecting, good people, greedily capitalizing on the current internal tensions in Anglicanism.
- Finally, the most combustible example of all came Sunday with an intemperate and scurrilous piece by Maureen Dowd on the opinion pages of the Times. In a diatribe that rightly never would have passed muster with the editors had it so criticized an Islamic, Jewish, or African-American religious issue, she digs deep into the nativist handbook to use every anti-Catholic caricature possible, from the Inquisition to the Holocaust, condoms, obsession with sex, pedophile priests, and oppression of women, all the while slashing Pope Benedict XVI for his shoes, his forced conscription — along with every other German teenage boy — into the German army, his outreach to former Catholics, and his recent welcome to Anglicans.
True enough, the matter that triggered her spasm — the current visitation of women religious by Vatican representatives — is well-worth discussing, and hardly exempt from legitimate questioning. But her prejudice, while maybe appropriate for the Know-Nothing newspaper of the 1850’s, the Menace, has no place in a major publication today.
I do not mean to suggest that anti-catholicism is confined to the pages New York Times. Unfortunately, abundant examples can be found in many different venues. I will not even begin to try and list the many cases of anti-catholicism in the so-called entertainment media, as they are so prevalent they sometimes seem almost routine and obligatory. Elsewhere, last week, Representative Patrick Kennedy made some incredibly inaccurate and uncalled-for remarks concerning the Catholic bishops, as mentioned in this blog on Monday. Also, the New York State Legislature has levied a special payroll tax to help the Metropolitan Transportation Authority fund its deficit. This legislation calls for the public schools to be reimbursed the cost of the tax; Catholic schools, and other private schools, will not receive the reimbursement, costing each of the schools thousands – in some cases tens of thousands – of dollars, money that the parents and schools can hardly afford. (Nor can the archdiocese, which already underwrites the schools by $30 million annually.) Is it not an issue of basic fairness for ALL school-children and their parents to be treated equally?
The Catholic Church is not above criticism. We Catholics do a fair amount of it ourselves. We welcome and expect it. All we ask is that such critique be fair, rational, and accurate, what we would expect for anybody. The suspicion and bias against the Church is a national pastime that should be “rained out” for good.
I guess my own background in American history should caution me not to hold my breath.
Then again, yesterday was the Feast of Saint Jude, the patron saint of impossible causes.
In light of the upcoming Apostolic Constitution making provisions for the integration of Anglicans and Anglican clergy into communion with the Catholic Church, we see lots of speculation out there about the ramifications on the celibacy rule for Catholic priests in general.
Wishful thinking on the part of folks who publish mere speculations without a hint of valid sourcing can be read here and here and here for examples. Of course, published reports point out, the celibacy issue is the reason for the delay of the Apostolic Constitution. The Holy See set this wishful thinking straight in its October 31st press release stating that the delays are technical. As for the speculation on the relaxation of celibacy norms, the press release states rather clearly,
“Unmarried ministers must submit to the norm of clerical celibacy of canon 277, para 1 of the Code of Canon Law…The Ordinary, in full observance of the discipline of celibate clergy in the Latin Church, as a rule (‘pro regula’) will admit only celibate men to the order of presbyter. He may also petition the Roman Pontiff, as a derogation from canon 277, para 1, for the admission of married men to the order of presbyter on a case by case basis, according to objective criteria approved by the Holy See.
“This article is to be understood as consistent with the current practice of the Church, in which married former Anglican ministers may be admitted to priestly ministry in the Catholic Church on a case by case basis. With regard to future seminarians, it was considered purely speculative whether there might be some cases in which a dispensation from the celibacy rule might be petitioned. For this reason, objective criteria about any such possibilities (e.g. married seminarians already in preparation) are to be developed jointly by the Personal Ordinariate and the Episcopal Conference, and submitted for approval of the Holy See.
Cardinal Levada said he anticipates the technical work on the Constitution and Norms will be completed by the end of the first week of November.”
Read entire press release here.
Canon lawyer, Edward N. Peters, explains that the Vatican’s note clarifies that there is “no change in the law of celibacy and no change in the process by which married candidates from Protestant denominations can petition for and, if selected for orders, be exempted from the law of celibacy…”
The Vatican press release specifies the reason for the delay in publishing the Apostolic Constitution: “The delay is purely technical in the sense of ensuring consistency in canonical language and references. The translation issues are secondary; the decision to delay publication in order to wait for the ‘official’ Latin text to be published in ‘Acta Apostolicae Sedis’ was made some time ago.”
[It is uncertain whether the absence of the Vatican's chief Latinist is the cause for the delay in the official Latin text.]
Despite what we viewed on the History Channel last night, both the Feast of All Saints and the Feast of All Souls evolved in the life of the Church independently of paganism and Halloween. That is the conclusion of the historical analysis from Fr. William Saunders who wrote about these feasts a few years ago in the Arlington Catholic Herald. His historical overview, reproduced by Catholic Education Resource Center, is worth a read to warm up for these two feast days in which he concedes that “elements of pagan practices were perhaps ‘baptized’ by some cultures or attached themselves to the celebration of All Saints and All Souls”–celebrations which clearly arose from a genuine Christian devotion.
A couple of sentences gleaned from this interesting historical analysis:
The designation of Nov. 1 as the Feast of All Saints occurred over time…we find the Church establishing a liturgical feast day in honor of the saints independent of any pagan influence.
During World War I, Pope Benedict XV, recognizing the number of war dead and the numerous Masses that could not be fulfilled because of destroyed Churches, granted all priests the privilege of offering three Masses on All Souls Day: one for the particular intention, one for all of the faithful departed, and one for the intentions of the Holy Father.
National Conference of Catholic Bishops’ press release.
Anglicans ponder: how many? Reuters
Some ask whether intercession of St. Therese of Lisieux was behind the Vatican’s move to provide a structure to welcome Anglicans into full communion. See: The Catholic Key Blog
Britan’s “Conservative” Anglicans are interviewed in the Los Angeles Times
- The worldwide Anglican communion numbers about 77 million people, including 2.4 million members of the Episcopal Church in the United States and 13.4 million Anglicans in Britain.
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Meanwhile, the National Catholic Register canvassed media coverage of the Catholic welcome mat extended to Anglicans. It uncovers “unsavory terms” used by the secular media to describe the Church’s actions. The article offers several links to read prime examples of this anti-Catholic bias in reporting.
While the media would like to see the Church as predator and the Anglicans as prey, there’s nothing of the sort here. In fact, the move, which has taken years to happen, occurred only because such a large number of Anglicans petitioned the Vatican to find a way to make it happen.
“This is a response to overtures that had already been made – it’s not as if the Catholic Church had gone ‘poaching’ or ‘fishing’ as some media may have claimed,” said Father Robert Imbelli, associate professor of theology at Boston College.
An Anglican’s view at National Catholic Register.
U.S. Canadian reaction noted at CNS.
Wall Street Journal looks at the challenges facing the Archbishop of Canterbury.
The Congregation for Divine Worship has completed a new volume, the Compendium Eucharisticum, designed to help priests celebrate Mass with proper reverence. The compendium, prepared at the request of Pope Benedict XVI, includes prayers, theological texts, and other study materials. Cardinal Antonio Canizares, the prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship, said the volume offers “everything that may be useful for the correct understanding, celebration, and adoration of the sacrament of the altar.” The text has been published in Italian; an English-language translation is forthcoming.
Fr. Z makes these important observations about the compendium:
Contrary to news reports the Compendium was published in Latin not Italian.
Also, …
- It is divided into 3 sections: doctrinal, liturgical, and devotional.
- It has number of appendices: Book IV of the Imitation; section of 1983 Latin Code; section of 1990 Eastern Code on the Eucharist.
- The preface is by the Prefect of the Cong. for Divine Worship, Card. Canizares. It clearly speaks of both forms of the Roman Rite being of equal importance.
- The doctrinal section contains excerpts from the the decree of the Council of Trent on the Eucharist; Vatican II; the Compendium of the Catechism on the Eucharist; a commentary on the Four Eucharist prayers.
- The liturgical section contains the Ordo Missae of the Novus Ordo; the Ordo Missae of the 1962 Missale Romanum; the Office of Corpus Christi from the Liturgia Horarum; the complete Office for Coprus Christi from the 1961 Breviarium Romanum; two Votive Masses of the Holy Eucharist; the Order of Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament; 7 Litanies; and a number of Eucharistic hymns.
The devotional part contains the prayers before Mass, the prayers after Mass, vesting prayers for the priest and for the bishop, and other devotional prayers.
Vatican Channel on YouTube–The Holy See has prepared a new canonical structure for Anglican clergy and faithful who wish to enter into the Catholic Church. The announcement was made by Cardinal Levada, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
“…the Apostolic Constitution seeks to balance on the one hand the concern to preserve the worthy Anglican liturgical and spiritual patrimony and, on the other hand, the concern that these groups and their clergy will be integrated into the Catholic Church.”
Note from Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
Pope Benedict is promulgating an apostolic constitution that will permit Anglican communities whose members wish to be received into the Catholic Church to do so as communities.
The papal document allows for the creation of “personal ordinariates” to be headed by formerly Anglican priests, providing a structure within the Catholic hierarchy to supervise the pastoral care of Anglicans who have become Catholics. These “personal ordinariates” would be integrated into national episcopal conferences, but encouraged to preserve the distinctive aspects of the Anglican tradition.
“In this Apostolic Constitution the Holy Father has introduced a canonical structure that provides for such corporate reunion by establishing Personal Ordinariates, which will allow former Anglicans to enter full communion with the Catholic Church while preserving elements of the distinctive Anglican spiritual and liturgical patrimony,” according to a note published by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. “Under the terms of the Apostolic Constitution, pastoral oversight and guidance will be provided for groups of former Anglicans through a Personal Ordinariate, whose Ordinary will usually be appointed from among former Anglican clergy.”
“The forthcoming Apostolic Constitution provides a reasonable and even necessary response to a world-wide phenomenon, by offering a single canonical model for the universal Church which is adaptable to various local situations and equitable to former Anglicans in its universal application,” the note continues. “It provides for the ordination as Catholic priests of married former Anglican clergy. Historical and ecumenical reasons preclude the ordination of married men as bishops in both the Catholic and Orthodox Churches. The Constitution therefore stipulates that the Ordinary can be either a priest or an unmarried bishop. The seminarians in the Ordinariate are to be prepared alongside other Catholic seminarians, though the Ordinariate may establish a house of formation to address the particular needs of formation in the Anglican patrimony. In this way, the Apostolic Constitution seeks to balance on the one hand the concern to preserve the worthy Anglican liturgical and spiritual patrimony and, on the other hand, the concern that these groups and their clergy will be integrated into the Catholic Church.”
Archbishop Vincent Nichols of Westminster and the Archbishop of Canterbury– Dr. Rowan Williams, the primate of the Anglican Communion– issued a joint statement in response to the announcement. Their joint statement said that the new apostolic constitution was the fruit of years of ecumenical dialogue, without which such a rapprochement would not be possible. Acknowledging that recent developments in the Anglican communion have complicated the quest for reunion with Rome, the joint statement nevertheless insists that both the Vatican and the Anglican communion remain committed to the ecumenical process.
Statement from Primate of the Traditional Anglican Communion, a network of mostly former Anglicans holding to a very traditional pattern of Anglican Faith and Worship–”May I firstly state that this is an act of great goodness on the part of the Holy Father. He has dedicated his pontificate to the cause of unity. It more than matches the dreams we dared to include in our petition of two years ago. It more than matches our prayers. In those two years, we have become very conscious of the prayers of our friends in the Catholic Church. Perhaps their prayers dared to ask even more than ours.”
Remarks of Archbishop of Canterbury–”…we don’t believe that there’s anything to be gained by trying to score points at each others’ expense or to work separately when we can work together…it does not disrupt business as usual in the relations between our communions…
What is to me very interesting about the constitution proposed and the ideas behind it is that it is itself also another kind of product of our years of conversation, prayer together…
So I think it’s very important for us in the Anglican communion to be grateful for what has been achieved…
I’ve been aware for a few years that there have been some groups approaching the Holy See to discuss the possibilities of what might roughly be called “group reunion”. Prominent among those for example has been the Traditional Anglican Communion…I know there have been some groups in the United States of America, similarly who made contact, and I know of course that there are some within the Anglican communion, as it now is, who have been – as you might put it – looking at their options should the Anglican communion take any further steps which they would regard as problematic. It’s no secret that in this country the ordination of women as bishops is one of those test issues. However, I don’t think that this constitution should be seen as, in any sense, a commentary on Anglican problems offered by the Vatican. It is, as has been said, a response to this range of requests and inquiries from a very very broad variety of people, either Anglicans or of Anglican heritage, as you might say. And in that sense it has no negative impact on the relation of the Communion as a whole, to the Roman Catholic Church as a whole.”
Guardian (U.K.) –“It creates not so much a church within a church as an enclave operating under the auspices of the Vatican or a safe haven for endangered Anglicans.”
Time Magazine
“For Anglican leaders, the Vatican announcement is the latest minefield to manage in their ongoing effort to avoid a full-fledged schism within their 80-million-strong church, which includes 2.2 million American Episcopalians.”
Daily Telegraph
“Pope Benedict XVI has paved the way for thousands of Anglicans who are disillusioned by the church’s stance on female clergy and homosexuality to convert to Roman Catholicism.”
Reuters
“The move comes after years of discontent in some sectors of the 77-million-strong worldwide Anglican community over the ordination of women priests and homosexual bishops.”
COMMENTARY
Fr. George Rutler, former Anglican priest [h/t Deacon's Bench]–”The Apostolic Constitution is not a retraction of ecumenical desires, but rather is the fulfillment of ecumenical aspirations, albeit not the way most Anglican leaders had envisioned it.”
Phil Lawler–”On one hand, the Anglicans coming home to full communion will be active in practice, theologically aware, and proportionately resistant to gay and feminist faddishness. On the other hand we have to admit that a sizable minority of (nominally) Catholic clergy envy the Church of England for precisely the reasons its orthodox are bolting. Who knows how many of our own ecclesiastics, even unindicted ones, are gazing wistfully at the lighted windows of Gene Robinson’s honeymoon suite while Rembert Weakland’s autobiography slumbers in their lap?”
Canon lawyer, Ed Peters‘, commentary with Fr. Z’s reactions in a simultaneous read. Fr. Z points to implications for the next round of talks with SSPX.
The board of the National Federation of Priests’ Councils, the voice of parish priests in the U.S., first declared Priesthood Sunday, but the event is now sponsored by USA Council of Serra International and is supported through the NCCS Vocations Committee, Worldwide Marriage Encounter and other Church vocation support organizations. Check out Serra Club’s Priesthood Sunday and WWME’s dedicated web page for ideas and planning guides.
Catholic League attacks bias in New York Times treatment of two stories in the same edition (October 16):
There is a reason why this story about an irresponsible priest and an irresponsible woman merited 2,424 words on p. 1, and the story about the irresponsible gay activist turned “Schools Czar” merited 488 words on p. 19: the lead story was about ginning up public sentiment against priestly celibacy.
Here’s the story about the Schools Czar (paraphrased by NewsBusters) that was downplayed in its treatment in the New York Times:
The Obama administration has appointed Kevin Jennings as a “czar” inside the Department of Education. In addition to being the founder of a group called the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), Jennings once wrote a foreword to a book called Queering Elementary Education. In that foreword, he wrote, “We must address antigay bigotry … as soon as students start going to school.” In addition, Jennings has admitted that, 21 years ago as a 24-year-old teacher at Concord Academy, he advised a gay student sophomore*, “I hope you knew to use a condom,” after the student confided he went home with a guy he had met the night before in a Boston restroom. Jennings has since admitted, “I can see how I should have handled the situation differently.” Other controversial episodes have been attributed to Jennings.
The story about the priest is below in a previous Priests’ Secretary post.
The Wisconsin diocese and the Franciscan Order had been following the sordid details of this priest’s soap opera for YEARS. Yesterday, the New York Times ran a photo of the priest baptizing his infant son as part of its page-one story that included not only the details of a Franciscan priests’ affair resulting in the birth of this child 22 years ago, but also the allegation that he had sexual relations with a minor. The Associated Press followed up on this story late Friday (see below). The priest was not adequately dealt with until yesterday when a survivors’ network of people abused by priests demanded his suspension. And guess what? The priests’ congregation applauded his extracurricular activities! Dr. Jeff Mirus’ commentary on the applause is here.
Full AP story is here. Excerpt is below:
ST. LOUIS — A Wisconsin diocese late Friday suspended a Roman Catholic priest who fathered a child during a five-year relationship in Illinois and may have been involved separately with a minor.
The Catholic Diocese of Superior said the Rev. Henry Willenborg has been suspended with pay.
The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests called for the move earlier Friday in St. Louis. The national support group for those hurt by religious authorities also said it wants church officials in Missouri and Wisconsin to help the mother and son, now 22, who has terminal cancer.
The suspension was effective immediately, Superior diocese spokesman Richard Lyons said.
“He is to step down from active ministry and any involvement in church events until we have a chance to clarify the information that was in the New York Times article today,” Lyons said.
SNAP’s demands also were in response to a Times story Friday about the Ashland, Wis., pastor, his former lover and their son, and claims by a second woman that she’d been involved with him as a high school student…
Pat Bond, now of O’Fallon, Mo., received about $100,000 in financial support from the Franciscans, Willenborg’s religious order. That included $85,000 in support for their son, Nathan, half of his tuition at the University of Missouri and 50 percent of extraordinary medical expenses.
The settlements were reached after legal battles on the condition she not disclose them publicly. Bond, who was in her 20s when the relationship with Willenborg began in Quincy, Ill., said she needs more financial assistance.
She said in a statement that SNAP released Friday that she was “finished begging the church to do the right thing” and would turn to others for help…
SNAP’s national director, David Clohessy, said Friday … it’s “inherently unhealthy, hurtful and wrong” for Roman Catholic priests to abuse their position of trust and authority over other Catholics.
But the St. Louis archdiocese said in a statement that a bishop has only limited jurisdiction over a priest not of his diocese such as Willenborg.
Lyons said Friday that Superior Bishop Peter Christensen first learned of Willenborg’s relationship and the child Sept. 17. He said Willenborg disclosed it to his congregation at Our Lady of the Lake Catholic Church in Ashland during Masses the following weekend, and “received a standing ovation.”…
The famous apparition of Our Lord to St. Margaret Mary, when He indicated that of all the saints after His Mother, St. Francis had most perfectly imitated His Most Sacred Heart. Saint Francis of Assisi is the friar in brown in the background with the angels.
St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, 1647 – 1690, was a nun in France who received profound revelations from Jesus Christ to found a new devotion in the Catholic Church called the Devotion to the Sacred Heart.
Four Great Apparitions
St. Margaret Mary experienced four great apparitions asking for the Devotion to the Sacred Heart to be founded and spread throughout the world. St. Margaret Mary summarized the 12 promises made by Jesus to her on behalf of all souls who would propagate, practice, further and pray this devotion in a letter to her spiritual director, Father Croiset and Father Rolin, on August 24th, 1685.
Promises of Jesus for those who Practice Devotion to the Sacred Heart
- I will give them all the graces necessary for their state of life.
- I will give peace in their families.
- I will console them in all their troubles.
- They shall find in My Heart an assured refuge during life and especially at the hour of death.
- I will pour abundant blessings on their undertakings.
- Sinners shall find in My Heart the source and infinite ocean of mercy.
- Tepid souls shall become fervent.
- Fervent souls shall speedily rise to great perfection.
- I will bless the homes in which the image of My Sacred Heart shall be exposed and honoured.
- I will give to priests the power to touch the most hardened hearts.
- Those who propagate this devotion shall have their name written in My Heart, and it shall never be effaced.
- The all-powerful love of My Heart will grant to all those who shall receive Communion on the First Friday of nine consecutive months the grace of final repentance; they shall not die under my displeasure, nor without receiving their Sacraments; My Heart shall be their assured refuge at that last hour.
Source: suite101
Thanks to Fr. Z for reminding us of this fascinating story about the famous Julian-to-Gregorian calendar do-si-do which resulted in St. Teresa of Avila’s feast day celebrated October 15. This is how God winks…
Today is the feast of St. Teresa of Avila.
There is an interesting story about the Teresa and our present, modern Julio-Gregorian calendar.
In 1582, the ancient Julian calendar (organized by, yes, Julius Caesar and still observed by many Orthodox Christians) officially was terminated on Thursday 4 October by the command of Gregory XIII (1572–1585, Ugo Boncompagni) via the papal bull Inter gravissimas.
At midnight of 3-4 October the calendar skipped automatically to a day named Friday 15 October.
The famed Jesuit mathematician Christopher Clavius (+1612) worked out the calculations for this change. He chose October for the moment of the jump because it had the fewest feast days. he also did his calculations without the use of the decimal point!
St. Teresa of Avila died on the very night on which His Holiness had commanded that the calendar shift from 4 October to 15 October, which is why her feast is celebrated on the 15th rather than the 3rd or 4th.
Vanessa Rousso and Team PokerStars.net Pro and four-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner Daniel Negreanu to win $100,000 and a chance to come back in December for a crack at the $1,000,000 grand prize.
Known as “Father Rambo” for his passionate paintball play, the poker priest pulled out all the stops, at one point holding rosary beads while in a big hand against Salley. Then after dispensing of the former Detroit Pistons Bad Boy, Trapp then shocked Rousso, before taking home the six-figure prize when poker star Negreanu misread the strength of Trapp’s cards.
Trapp immediately donated all of his winnings to the St. Michael’s Church in Garden City, SC, where he serves as associate pastor. His goal is to win the million dollar grand prize to help St. Michael’s build a new church, which is currently $1.5 million dollars short of its goal. (See Trapp’s entry video Here; footage of Trapp’s $100,000 victory can be seen Here).
The second episode of PokerStars.Net Million Dollar Challenge airs on Sunday, Oct. 18 at 4:30 ET/1:30 PT after NFL on FOX coverage.* Tune in as more online qualifiers from around the U.S. take aim at $1,000,000.
Updates on the theatrical movie release of The 13th Day
Simultaneous premiere of movie takes place in Fatima and across the USA on October 13
On 13 October 1917, the three young shepherds who reported seeing the Blessed Mother for the five months prior were joined by a crowd estimated at around 70,000 — many convinced, but just as many curious. While only the three visionaries were able to see the apparition, at its final occurrence the rest reported “that the sun spun about itself like a ring of fireworks, that it came down almost to the point of burning the Earth with its rays.”
Now known as the “Miracle of the Sun,” the occurrence put most doubts to the credibility of the visionaries’ claims to rest, and changed the landscape of the small farming town as, by the thousands, the pilgrims descended (the visitor-count now exceeds five million a year).
[h/t Wispers in the Loggia]
Message of Fatima –Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
A reminder of the real meaning and the authentic source of Peace
Excerpts from Mother Teresa’s acceptance speech 11 December 1979 :
Blessed Mother Teresa with Nobel Prize 1979
“He being God became man in all things like us except sin, and he proclaimed very clearly that he had come to give the good news. The news was peace to all of good will and this is something that we all want – the peace of heart – and God loved the world so much that he gave his son – it was a giving – it is as much as if to say it hurt God to give, because he loved the world so much that he gave his son, and he gave him to Virgin Mary, and what did she do with him? As soon as he came in her life – immediately she went in haste to give that good news, and as she came into the house of her cousin, the child – the unborn child – the child in the womb of Elizabeth, leapt with joy. He was that little unborn child, was the first messenger of peace. He recognised the Prince of Peace, he recognised that Christ has come to bring the good news for you and for me…
We are talking of peace. These are things that break peace, but I feel the greatest destroyer of peace today is abortion, because it is a direct war, a direct killing – direct murder by the mother herself. And we read in the Scripture, for God says very clearly: Even if a mother could forget her child – I will not forget you – I have carved you in the palm of my hand. We are carved in the palm of His hand, so close to Him that unborn child has been carved in the hand of God. And that is what strikes me most, the beginning of that sentence, that even if a mother could forget something impossible – but even if she could forget – I will not forget you. And today the greatest means – the greatest destroyer of peace is abortion.”
President Obama’s statements/voting record on abortion here.
Barack Obama’s speech to Planned Parenthood on 7/17/07
From video: “You know where I stand…There will always be people… who do not share my view on the issue of choice. On this fundamental issue, I will not yield and Planned Parenthood will not yield.”
Lamenting federal court restrictions on abortion funding and certain medical practices, he said, “It is time for a different attitude in the White House; it’s time for a different attitude in the Supreme Court…5 men don’t know what’s best for women’s health.”
I put Roe [vs. Wade] at the center of my lesson plan on reproductive freedom when I taught Constitutional law…Fought in Illinois state senate against restrictive choice legislation. Stood up for freedom of choice in the United States senate.”
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Fatima connection on eve of anniversary of the “Miracle of the Sun” in Fatima, Portugal– October 13, 1917…
An angel appeared to the three children of Fatima in Spring of 1916 as they were pasturing their sheep. The angel said, “Fear not, I am the Angel of Peace. Pray with me.” The angel knelt on the ground and recited this prayer three times as the children repeated it after him, “O my God, I believe, I adore, I hope and I love Thee. I ask pardon for those who do not believe, do not adore, do not hope and do not love Thee.”
Cardinal Francis George, president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, says he’s “been talking around these issues for a long time,” and now he’s written a book revealing his vision for the evangelization of contemporary American culture.
John Allen Jr., of the National Catholic Reporter sat down with Cardinal George to discuss The Difference God Makes: A Catholic Vision of Faith, Communion and Culture. The transcript of their conversation reveals noteworthy points of the cardinal’s vision of Church engaging culture. While Cardinal George covers a wide array of topics, Allen notes:
Perhaps the most intriguing thread running through the book, however, is George’s critique of both liberal and conservative Catholicism, especially as those groups have developed in the United States since the Second Vatican Council (1962-65)…
Says Cardinal George:
I think one [reason for tension between faith and culture] is the tendency to capture the church in national terms, and to see everything in terms of our political realities, [meaning] liberal and conservative. Those become the final terms of analysis, so that the church’s voice can’t be heard. The church is strangled by putting its voice into a system of communication that doesn’t understand her, and doesn’t want to understand her.
Francis Cardinal George-photo CNS
Other noteworthy Cardinal George quotes in the transcript to whet your appetite to read the interview and perhaps the book [with Preists' Secretary emphasis in bold]:
…you get the conservatives unhappy because bishops aren’t using power the way they’re supposed to, the way they want them to. You get liberals who are unhappy because [the bishops] have any power at all. Both of them are defining themselves vis-à-vis the bishops rather than vis-à-vis Christ, who uses the bishops to govern the church. It’s not a Christ-centered church, as it’s supposed to be, it’s a bishop-centered church.
On the Second Vatican Council presenting the truth of the Gospel to the world…
[The idea of was that] this is so beautiful that they will come along and accept it, but that’s not true. You have people who weren’t catechized – not because they weren’t told the truth, but because they weren’t told ‘this is not the truth, and here’s why.’ That’s why I write about putting apologetics back into catechesis.
The bishops did that same thing for a while. They explained the documents of the council, they talked about the beautiful vision of a united world coming out of the council. They didn’t pay attention to the fact that a lot of people, in order to understand, have to know not only the truth, but they have to know what’s false...
There’s something comparable that’s happened on the governmental level. The council was the time for mercy, not justice, the time for persuasion and not coercion. When they redid the Code of Canon Law, it was assumed that if you just show the good, it will be so beautiful that everybody will follow. They didn’t worry very much about what happens with people who don’t, who are still caught in original sin. You not only have to say ‘this is good,’ you also have to say, ‘this is bad, and if you do it here are the consequences.’ Well, the consequences are minimal in the new Code.
On the Code of Canon Law…
We have to govern by the Code, which is itself a contrarian sense of what the church is supposed to be in a Protestant culture. Luther burned the Code. Once you do away with Holy Orders, well then the visible government goes over to the Prince, and the church becomes a spiritual club. The teaching part of it goes over to the professor. The bishops are pastors but they’re not teachers and they don’t govern. Worship goes over to the laity. That’s the unraveling of the church, once you do away with the sacrament of Holy Orders. That was the primary challenge of the Reformation – it wasn’t the nature of faith, it was the nature of church governance, and therefore Holy Orders. All the Protestant churches did away with Holy Orders.
Read Fr. Z’s positive commentary on this interview along with his endorsement for the book.
“This Prayer Helps to Put Christ at the Center”
For the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, here is an excerpt from:
ADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI
Basilica of Saint Mary Major
Saturday, 3 May 2008
Today, together we confirm that the Holy Rosary is not a pious practice banished to the past, like prayers of other times thought of with nostalgia. Instead, the Rosary is experiencing a new Springtime. Without a doubt, this is one of the most eloquent signs of love that the young generation nourish for Jesus and his Mother, Mary. In the current world, so dispersive, this prayer helps to put Christ at the centre, as the Virgin did, who meditated within all that was said about her Son, and also what he did and said. When reciting the Rosary, the important and meaningful moments of salvation history are relived. The various steps of Christ’s mission are traced. With Mary the heart is oriented toward the mystery of Jesus. Christ is put at the centre of our life, of our time, of our city, through the contemplation and meditation of his holy mysteries of joy, light, sorrow and glory. May Mary help us to welcome within ourselves the grace emanating from these mysteries, so that through us we can “water” society, beginning with our daily relationships, and purifying them from so many negative forces, thus opening them to the newness of God. The Rosary, when it is prayed in an authentic way, not mechanical and superficial but profoundly, it brings, in fact, peace and reconciliation. It contains within itself the healing power of the Most Holy Name of Jesus, invoked with faith and love at the centre of each “Hail Mary”.
Pope Benedict XVI has awarded EWTN foundress, Mother Mary Angelica, and Deacon Bill Steltemeier, Chairman of EWTN’s Board of Governors, the Cross of Honor for distinguished service to the Church.
The foundress of the largest religious media network in the world was recently awarded the Pope’s highest honor, the Cross of Honor. You wouldn’t know this was a big deal judging from EWTN’s web site. At this posting time, a press release about this honor is buried amidst other links on its web site. Instead, the site is focused on tomorrow’s feast day, Our Lady of the Rosary. This is the EWTN most loyal viewers know: non-self-congratulatory and focused on more spiritual matters of relevance to our daily lives.
It is common knowledge that EWTN has had, at best, a contentious relationship with some in the American hierarchy since its founding in 1981. Lifesite.com addressed the Poor Clare nun’s orthodox vs. some American bishops’ unorthodox (“modernist”) vision for presenting the Catholic faith over the years as the vast television, radio, internet and print network grew. Its president and CEO, Michael P. Warsaw, stated in the press release that this papal honor, the highest granted to laity and religious, is “a clear sign of the importance of the Network’s mission for the Church and the Pope.”
In other words…Validation.
The Bishop of Birmingham conferred the awards in a brief ceremony following Sunday benediction at the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Hanceville, Alabama. See video here.
A comprehensive history of the network can be viewed here.
click book to order
Deacon’s Bench via McNamara’s Blog reminds us that on this day in 1948 Thomas Merton’s Seven Storey Mountain was published. This photo of the old cover was picked off McNamara’s site where it is noted via Wikipedia: “The Intercollegiate Studies Institute has it on their list of the 50 Best Books of the Twentieth Century and it was at #75 on National Review’s list of the 100 best non-fiction books of the century.” Countless conversions and religious vocations trace their inspiration from reading this autobiography.
“A good pastor, a pastor according to God’s heart, this is the greatest treasure that God may grant to a parish, and one of the most precious gifts of divine mercy.”
Saint Jean-Marie Vianney
Last week, Pope Benedict used this quote in his video message to priests attending the International Priest Retreat in Ars, France.
On eve of St. Faustina’s feast day…her Prayer for Priests
“O my Jesus, I beg You on behalf of the whole Church: Grant it love and the light of Your Spirit, and give power to the words of Priests so that hardened hearts might be brought to repentance and return to You, O Lord. Lord, give us holy Priests; You yourself maintain them in holiness. O Divine and Great High Priest, may the power of Your mercy accompany them everywhere and protect them from the devil’s traps and snares which are continually being set for the soul of Priests. May the power of Your mercy, O Lord, shatter and bring to naught all that might tarnish the sanctity of Priests, for You can do all things.” ~~St. Faustina’s Diary #1052
H/T 4Marks.com
