Roman Catholic Blog

George Niederauer's Last Hurrah = the Death of Catholic Hospitals?

 

I used to think that when his tenure as Archbishop of San Francisco ended this year, that the greatest harm done to the Roman Catholic Church by George Niederauer would have been caused by his years as Rector at St. John’s Seminary in Camarillo.

In that capacity, he oversaw the indoctrination of an untold number of priests, albeit while in formation. The most serious forms of heresy have always had their origins with ill-trained or disobedient clergy. One has only to think of Audius, Arius, Donatus Magnus, Lucifer Calaritanus, Montanus, Pelagius, Priscillian, Valentinus, Apollonaris, Macedonius, Nestorius, Henry of Lausanne, Jan Hus, John Wycliffe, Martin Luther, John Calvin (seminarian), jansen, Zwingli, Knox, Loisy, Tyrrell, Hans Kung, etc…..

 

Nonetheless, with his 75^th birthday fast approaching and his departure as Archbishop of Babylon by the Bay imminent, George Niederauer has undertaken a decision of truly MOMENTOUS proportions.

 

(Hat tip to Cal Catholic Daily)

 Catholic Healthcare West becomes Dignity Health

By Andrew S. Ross

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

www.sfgate.com

You may have noticed in Tuesday's Chronicle three large display ads on separate pages headlined "Dignity is."

It's "something you are born with," one ad says. "Taking care of your body, mind and spirit," says another. And in the last one: "60,000 people committed to delivering superior care."

Those 60,000 people used to work for San Francisco-based Catholic Healthcare West, but as of Tuesday are employed by Dignity Health.

The new name is just one of the changes occurring at the not-for-profit hospital chain, the fifth largest in the country, with 40 full-service hospitals in California, Arizona and Nevada, and 150 ancillary clinics.

While continuing to focus on the needs of poor and underserved communities, the changes are intended to "position ourselves for growth in a changing health care environment," said a statement announcing the name change. "Growth plans anticipate expanded partnerships, which will include both Catholic and non-Catholic care centers.

Significantly, the new entity, which describes itself as nondenominational, is loosening its traditional ties to the Catholic Church.

A more secular board of directors - just two of the nine members are sisters of religious orders - replaces the more heavily Catholic layers of management under which CHW operated since its founding in 1986. Fifteen of its 40 hospitals are non-Catholic, a number likely to increase as the network expands.

"The new structure and name enable us to grow into a national system, welcoming both Catholic and non-Catholic care centers into the system, while respecting the identity and integrity of each," the statement said.

While the changes were made in consultation with the Catholic Church and approved by San Francisco Archbishop George Niederauer(above), the Catholic affiliation has in the past been an obstacle to making deals with potential partners.

Lloyd Dean, CEO of Catholic Healthcare West, and now Dignity Health, told Kaiser Health News: "One of the things when we get down to what I'll call the real discussions as they confer with their boards is, 'What does the future mean if we're a non-Catholic entity? Will we have to become Catholic? What will be the Catholic influence?' "

One thing that will not change: some of the services that are off-limits to both Catholic and non-Catholic facilities in the network. According to Dignity Health's Statement of Common Values, "direct abortion is not performed. Reproductive technologies in which conception occurs outside a woman's body will not be part of (the) services. This includes in vitro fertilization."

Given the major changes occurring in the U.S. health care system, however, we can expect to hear a lot more about Dignity Health's plans "for more integrated care to enhance quality and reduce costs."

"There's a lot of consolidation going on, both for efficiency gains, which the announcement emphasizes, but also to get more market power," said Colin Cameron, who teaches health economics at UC Davis. "It's not clear yet what going national does for them, but there should be some economies of scale."

Dignity Health, which as CHW recorded $10.6 billion in revenue in 2011 - has three hospitals in the Bay Area - St. Francis Memorial and St. Mary's Medical Center in San Francisco and Sequoia Hospital in Redwood City - and Dominican Hospital in Santa Cruz. It did not provide details of its expansion plans, except, in the words of a spokeswoman, "like many organizations nationwide, we are talking to a number of potential partners."

Dignity did announce a $1.8 million investment in electronic medical records over the next five years. Before the name change, it was one of 26 hospitals chosen by Medicare for a pilot program, funded by the Affordable Health Care Act, aimed at reducing the high rate of health complications and hospital readmissions among elderly patients.

While profitable, its "overall operations have been burdened" by the amount of Medicaid reimbursements it depends on, plus the low-cost or free medical services it provides, according to a recent Standard & Poor's report.

"CHW is an excellent hospital-operating company," said Walter Kopp, president of Medical Management Services, a consultancy in San Anselmo that works with hospitals and medical groups. "The changes could help it serve more people, and open doors to working with more doctors, which is just what the health care reform act wants hospitals to do."

"The manner in which health care is delivered and organized in the United States is changing," Dean said. "It is our intent to be a solution to the nation's health care crisis - regardless of the eventual outcome for the Affordable Care Act."

 

And the name, Dignity? "It reflects who we are and what we stand for," said Sister Judy Carle (pic above), vice chairwoman of Dignity Health's board of directors. "The value of dignity is embedded in our culture. Our mission, vision and values were all formed out of the recognition of the inherent integrity of each person."

 ___________________________________

The paragraph to “zero” in on is this:

"A more secular board of directors - just two of the nine members are sisters of religious orders - replaces the more heavily Catholic layers of management under which CHW operated since its founding in 1986. Fifteen of its 40 hospitals are non-Catholic, a number likely to increase as the network expands."

The question that must be asked is WHY? Why would a Board of Directors with “heavy Catholic layers of management” give up their power, or more properly delve their authority to a less catholic Board of Directors?

The news media has reported this as a business decision, claiming that money is the root of this evil.

 

I don’t know. This is all strangely reminiscent of the devolution of catholic universities in the late 1960s from real control by respective Catholic Religious orders to real control by lay boards of directors!

 A news release from Dignity claims that:

“Under the new governance structure, Dignity Health is a not-for-profit organization, rooted in the Catholic tradition, but is not an official ministry of the Catholic Church…”

 

Their use of the phrase “rooted in catholic tradition” is the same newspeak you will find in the mission statements of many “Catholic” colleges and universities.

The late Jesuit Father Vincent Miceli (pic above) once opined that the purposefully changed corporate nature of most Catholic Universities from control by religious orders to effectual secular control in the 1960s was the largest transfer of Church property to secular usage since the dissolution of monasteries in England under Tudor King Henry VIII in 1536.

If the transference of authority happening with Catholic Hospitals is in reality the first step to a much broader secularization effort,

 

then Archbishop Niederauer (pic above) will be remembered not as a

 

St. John Fisher or a St. Thomas More,

but rather like the heretic Thomas Cranmer.

Where is a Mary Tudor when you need her?

(figuratively speaking of course.)

 

Jimmy Fallon and the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

Hat tip to "The Chant Cafe," and in turn "San Antonio Catholic Beat."

Jimmy Fallon on His Catholicism

 

by Angela Santana on Dec 5, 2011 • 10:16 AM

 

“I grew up in an Irish Catholic family, and I think they force you to watch every James Cagney movie.”

That was Jimmy Fallon’s first mention of his Catholicism on his recent NPR Fresh Air interview. (He was explaining his first impersonation / impression: James Cagney as a two-year-old.) Later in the interview (listen here), he spoke with host Terri Gross about his Catholic upbringing…

GROSS: So you went to Catholic school when you were young.

Mr. FALLON: Oh yeah.

GROSS: Did you have…

Mr. FALLON: I wanted to be a priest.

GROSS: Did you really?

Mr. FALLON: Yeah. I loved it.

GROSS: Why?

Mr. FALLON: I just, I loved the church. I loved the idea of it. I loved the smell of the incense. I loved the feeling you get when you left church. I loved like how this priest can make people feel this good. I just thought it was – I loved the whole idea of it. My grandfather was very religious, so I used to go to Mass with him at like 6:45 in the morning, serve Mass. And then you made money, too, if you did weddings and funerals. You’d get like five bucks. And so I go ‘Okay, I can make money too.’ I go, ‘This could be a good deal for me.’ I thought I had the calling.

GROSS: Do you think part of that calling was really show business? ‘Cause – like the priest is the performer at church.

Mr. FALLON: Yeah. You know what – I, really Terry, I’m, I recently thought about this. [...] It’s my first experience on stage is as an altar boy. You’re on stage next to the priest, I’m a co-star.

(Laughter)

GROSS: ‘Also starring, Jimmy Fallon.’

(Laughter)

Mr. FALLON: Yeah, I have no lines but I ring bells. I ring bells and I swing the incense around. And you know, you are performing. You enter through a curtain, you exit through the, I mean you’re backstage. I mean, have you ever seen backstage behind an altar? It’s kind of fascinating.

GROSS: Right.

Mr. FALLON: So I think it was my first taste of show business – or acting or something.

GROSS: And there are comparisons, I think, between a theater and a church. They are just, kind of, places that are separated from outside reality.

Mr. FALLON: Yeah. And I remember I had a hard time keeping a straight face at church as well.

GROSS: Did you?

Mr. FALLON: Which – yeah…

GROSS: Did you do imitations of the priest?

(Laughter)

Mr. FALLON: Oh, of course. Yeah. I used to do Father McFadden all the time. He’s the fastest talking priest ever. He’s be like…

(Mumbling)

(Laughter)

Mr. FALLON: And then you leave and you go, ‘What was that?’

(Laughter)

Mr. FALLON: That guy’s the best. I mean, that was church? Sign me up! I’ll do church. I’ll do it 10 times a day if that’s church! He was great.

GROSS: Do you still go to church?

Mr. FALLON: I don’t go to – I tried to go back. When I was out in L.A. and I was kind of struggling for a bit. I went to church for a while, but it’s kind of, it’s gotten gigantic now for me. It’s like too… There’s a band. There’s a band there now, and you got to, you have to hold hands with people through the whole Mass now, and I don’t like doing that. You know, I mean, it used to be the shaking hands piece was the only time you touched each other.

GROSS: Mm-hmm.

Mr. FALLON: Now, I’m holding hands – now I’m lifting people. Like Simba.

(Laughter)

Mr. FALLON: I’m holding them (Singing) ha nah hey nah ho.

(Speaking) I’m doing too much. I don’t want – there’s Frisbees being thrown, there’s beach balls going around, people waving lighters, and I go, ‘This is too much for me.’ I want the old way. I want to hang out with the, you know, with the nuns, you know, that was my favorite type of Mass, and the grotto, and just like straight up, just Mass Mass.

Transcript adapted from NPR.org

My bold and underline added.

---

Fresno has a new bishop.

El Paso Bishop Ochoa named to lead

Fresno Diocese

The Fresno Bee

Thursday, Dec. 01, 2011 | 09:08 AM Modified Thu, Dec 01, 2011 09:26 AM

Pope Benedict XVI has named 68-year-old Bishop Armando X. Ochoa of El Paso, Texas, as Bishop of Fresno, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fresno reported on its website this morning.

Ochoa succeeds Bishop John Steinbock, who died Dec. 5.

Armando Ochoa was born April 9, 1943, in Oxnard. He studied at St. John’s Seminary in Camarillo, and was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles in 1970.

According to a Wikipedia entry about Ochoa, he served at three parishes in Los Angeles before becoming an administrator of Sacred Heart Parish in Lincoln Heights in 1984. He was named an auxiliary bishop for the Los Angeles archdiocese in 1987, and appointed bishop of the El Paso diocese in 1996.

________________

Bishop Ochoa at a "Mass at the Border."

_____________________

Question??? 

Does this mean we can foresee the establishment of a "Tepeyac Institute" in Fresno akin to what exists in the Diocese of El Paso?

Protestant Barn Triumphant! aka Bishop Brown's Revenge.

O.C. Catholic diocese to buy bankrupt Crystal Cathedral

A bankruptcy judge sides with the Crystal Cathedral's board in ruling that Orange County's Roman Catholic Diocese can buy the campus for $57.5 million.

By Nicole Santa Cruz, Ruben Vives and Mitchell Landsberg, Los Angeles Times

November 18, 2011

In the end, 2,000 years of tradition carried the day.

An Orange County bankruptcy judge ruled Thursday that the Crystal Cathedral, a monument to modernism in faith and architecture, will be sold for $57.5 million to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange, which plans to consecrate it as a Catholic cathedral.

The ruling was a blow to Chapman University, which had fought bitterly down to the final moments of the bankruptcy case for the right to buy the property as a satellite campus.

It also marked the end of a remarkable chapter in the history of American Christianity, one that was written in glass and steel by the Crystal Cathedral's founder and guiding light, the Rev. Robert H. Schuller.

In a day filled with drama and deep emotion, Chapman had pressed its case with a newly escalated bid of $59 million, only to complain that it had been blindsided by the Crystal Cathedral board, which came down firmly on the side of the Catholic Church.

In the end, Schuller himself gave his blessing to what once would have seemed unthinkable: the conversion of his sleekly modern masterpiece in Garden Grove, a place where fresh breezes blow through open walls and church services feature talk-show-style interviews, into a Catholic cathedral redolent of incense and ancient ritual.

In a letter to the court, the 85-year-old minister said he could not abide the thought that Chapman might someday use the cathedral for nonreligious purposes. Catholic leaders assured him, he said, that they would "take on your calling of proclaiming Christ's message to humanity" and "care for this campus like the treasure it is."

U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Robert Kwan issued his ruling shortly after 7 p.m. to the tears of members of the cathedral's congregation, who had sat through the long day in court.

"I only have one word to say and that's 'devastated,' " said the Rev. James Richards, who has volunteered at the Crystal Cathedral for 10 years. He said congregants want to continue to worship in their church.

Congregant Bob Canfield said he felt "thrown under the bus."

Under terms of the bid, the diocese will let the church lease back core buildings for three years, but then it has to find a new home. One possibility is St. Callistus Catholic Church nearby. Chapman had been willing to let the church stay on most of the property for as many as 20 years.

Bishop Tod D. Brown, who has been campaigning for years to build a cathedral, said he was moved, "painfully so," by testimony from congregants.

"I'm kind of drained," he said. "This is a bittersweet experience. I say this because I have the deepest respect for the Crystal Cathedral ministry."

Brown also said, without elaborating, that the inside of the cathedral will be renovated to accommodate Catholic worship.

He said that the diocese will pay for the cathedral with loans and the sale of other property, and that the diocese had met all of its obligations from sexual abuse cases. "I don't think we are neglecting victims or victim's claims," he said.

James L. Doti, president of Chapman University, said he was disappointed but thought the judge's decision was fair. "Oftentimes it's not the way you want it to go," he said, adding that there are no plans to appeal.

Among the questions is what will happen to the Crystal Cathedral ministry now led by Schuller's daughter, Sheila Schuller Coleman. The church has been in a downward slide for years, culminating in the Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing in October 2010, when it cited more than $50 million in debt.

The ensuing months saw a lot of on-again, off-again plans by which the church would sell to a real estate developer, the Catholic Church or Chapman, or dig itself out with a "miracle" fundraising campaign. The campaign raised only $173,000 by the end of September.

It didn't help that the Schullers appeared tone deaf at times to their own lives of apparent privilege, as when the church recently asked for food donations for Schuller's ailing wife — and said the items would be delivered to her in a limousine.

_________________________________________________________________

The reporters obviously don"t know Bishop Brown well when they write:

"the Crystal Cathedral, a monument to modernism in faith and architecture"

- the new cathedral may be a monument to "modernism" but it won't be the architectural style but rather the Modernism condemned in the "Syllabus of Errors!"

likewise when they write:

"the conversion of his sleekly modern masterpiece in Garden Grove, a place where fresh breezes blow through open walls and church services feature talk-show-style interviews, into a Catholic cathedral redolent of incense and ancient ritual."

Is any liturgy Bishop Brown controls "redolent of incense and ancient ritual?"

SSPX and continued Anti-Semitism

Bishop's blog raises tensions

between Jews and the Vatican

Richard Williamson, who has previously denied existence of gas chambers during Holocaust, accuses Jews of killing Jesus

Riazat Butt, religious affairs correspondent

The Guardian, Wednesday 19 October 2011

" Relations between Jews and Catholics are under immense strain after a bishop made controversial remarks on his blog.

Richard Williamson, who has previously denied the existence of gas chambers and the murder of 6 million Jews during the Holocaust, accused the Jews of killing Jesus, a charge that divided the two faiths for centuries until Pope Benedict XVI declared this year that Jews could not be held responsible for Jesus's death.

In his weekly post, Williamson wrote that "the killing of Jesus was truly 'deicide' " and that "only the Jews (leaders and people) were the prime agents of the deicide because it is obvious from the gospels that the gentile most involved, Pontius Pilate, … would never have condemned Jesus to death had not the Jewish leaders roused the Jewish people to clamour for his crucifixion."

His comments have angered Jewish leaders and Holocaust survivors, who are urging Rome to cease reconciliation talks with the ultra-traditionalist splinter group to which Williamson belongs, the Society of St Pius X. Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt of the European Council of Rabbis said: "We call upon the Catholic church to suspend negotiations with extremist Catholic tendencies until it is clear that these groups show a clear commitment to tackling antisemitism within their ranks."

Last month, Régis de Cacqueray,(pic above) the head of the French SSPX chapter, also accused Jews of deicide. To the despair of Jewish groups, there has been increased dialogue between the Vatican and SSPX.

Goldschmidt said: "Comments like these take us back decades to the dark days before there was a meaningful and mutually respectful dialogue between Jews and Roman Catholics. There must be no rapprochement within the Catholic church for those of its flock who seek to preach words of hate."

The Vatican has said SSPX will have to sign up to core teachings if they are to reintegrate, although it has not stated what these are. Four SSPX bishops, including Williamson, were excommunicated in 1988 when they were illegally ordained.

But the Vatican lifted Williamson's excommunication on the very day that his Holocaust-denying remarks were aired. The decision appalled Jewish leaders, with many suspending contact with the Vatican as a result. The Vatican said it did not know Williamson held such views.

Williamson has repeatedly ignored pleas to retract his remarks and not even the pope has managed to get the cleric to recant.

The fresh row will embarrass the pope, who is preparing to host a summit of world faith leaders in Assisi, Italy, next week as part of his interreligious outreach programme."

___________________________________________________________________________________

Twenty five plus years ago, as a young man exploring religious vocation I visited the SSPX Seminary in Ridgefield, CT. I arrived on a weekend, after being shown to my room, and having some time before communal prayer, I wandered about finding a bookstore run for families that attended the Tridentine mass at the seminary chapel. While perusing books at that bookstore I was horrified to find copies of the "Protocols ofthe Elders of Zion" on sale. I believe that Fr. Williamson was a superior there at that time. I immediately went back to my room, packed, called a taxi and got the heck out of there.

I have never been able to understand the rampant and vicious anti-Semitism that seems to imbue SOME (luckily a small number) traditional Catholics.

How can Benedict XVI have a doctrinal rapproachment with groups espousing such vile hatred and lies?

Benedict XVI at heresiarch Luther's Monastery - Irony or Insult?

Pope's trip to Germany to focus

on 500-year Christian split

 

By JEAN-BAPTISTE PIGGIN
Kansas City Star - www.kansascity.com

Posted on Mon, Sep. 19, 2011

Pope Benedict XVI has an appointment with history this week when he meets Protestant leaders at the place where Martin Luther first began thinking about the Reformation nearly 500 years ago.

The head of the Catholic Church is not expected to repeal Luther's 1521 excommunication. But Protestants will be listening to the pope's every word for some sign of detente.

During his four-day trip to Germany, Benedict will also be addressing the parliament in Berlin and will have the meetings with other faiths and sex-abuse victims that have become an obligatory part of so many of his trips abroad.

But the historic high point of the visit, from Thursday to Sunday, will be Friday's half-hour in a vaulted room in the former Augustinian Monastery, a hallowed site of Protestant history, in Erfurt, in central Germany.

Luther (1483-1546) entered this monastery in 1505 to become a Catholic monk, rejecting his father's wish to become a lawyer.

This was the place where, for three years, his conscience was first torn about how sin could be forgiven, leading to his radical break with Rome in 1517 at Wittenberg. The split in western Christendom soon spread to England and other nations.

The room to be used Friday, now restored to its 14th-century white and brown color scheme, was the sole place in the monastery in Luther's day where men could talk and debate freely.

Ecumenism, the idea of re-uniting Christianity, has hit hard times after a flowering four decades ago. Suspicion rules on both sides.

In the eyes of many senior Vatican officials, Germany is the homeland of the Protestant Reformation and still Lutheran territory.

Even German Catholics, who are a minority, sometimes sing Lutheran hymns in church and have a reputation for rebellion.

Lutherans are resentful that the Vatican does not describe them as a "church" and denies them communion if they visit a Catholic mass.

The welcome speeches by Germany's most senior Lutheran leaders, several of them women, and Benedict's reply, will be carefully scripted, and may turn out to be bland. Many say the simple fact that Benedict is entering a Lutheran sanctum as a guest is the message.

He will afterward pray at an ecumenical service in the site's chapel where Luther was ordained a Catholic priest.

Erfurt also marks another front line in history: the struggle behind the Iron Curtain between deeply religious people and Soviet-led communism.

Catholics living in the nearby countryside were the most stubborn in communist East Germany in resisting atheism. Benedict is to pray at one of their chapels of pilgrimage, at Etzelsbach, later on Friday.

The day will begin in Berlin with another closely watched meeting by the pope. A group of German Muslim leaders will call on him inside the apostolic nunciature, the Vatican embassy in Berlin.

Benedict's last visit to Germany, five years ago, strained Catholic-Islamic relations.

In a Sept. 12, 2006, lecture, Benedict argued that God never demand what is unreasonable, and quoted an unfavorable remark about Islam by a 14th-century Byzantine emperor. In Muslim nations, violent protesters wrecked churches and injured Christians in response.

The conflict had one positive outcome: Muslims and Christians became more polite to one another.

"There's been a relatively busy dialogue since," said Peter Huenseler, a Catholic official overseeing contact in Germany.

Although German by birth, Benedict, 84, cannot count on the easy reception that his predecessor John Paul II always had in his own homeland, Poland. The German Catholic Church is shrinking in size.

Of the 24.6 million registered German Catholics, only about one in eight attend Sunday Mass more than a couple of times a year.

Meanwhile, gay rights campaigners and anti-church groups plan to hold noisy demonstrations against the pope.

About 100 opposition politicians who object to Catholic teachings plan to boycott an address by the pope to the Bundestag, or parliament, on Thursday.

Parliamentary officials are inviting ex-members to attend and occupy the seats left empty.

On Saturday, the pope will fly to Freiburg, in Germany's south-western corner, where he will celebrate a large outdoor mass before returning home on Sunday.

Some 260,000 Catholics have tickets to hear the pope's masses in the three cities. Security is too tight to allow spontaneous attendance.

Since becoming pope, Benedict has visited his homeland twice in his capacity as a religious leader, but this time he will be honored as head of state of the Vatican, with the German government paying for the security and the church paying for venues and hospitality.

Pat Robertson's Un-Christian View of Marriage

Pat Robertson Says Alzheimer's Makes Divorce OK

www.abcnews.go.com

By Katie Mousse and Jessica Hopper

Sept. 15, 2011

"Religious broadcaster Pat Robertson stunned "700 Club" viewers Tuesday when he said divorcing a spouse with Alzheimer's disease was justified.

Robertson, chairman of the Christian Broadcasting Network and former Republican presidential candidate, said he wouldn't "put a guilt trip" on someone for divorcing a spouse with Alzheimer's disease, calling Alzheimer's itself "a kind of death."

The remarks sparked outrage throughout religious and medical communities.

"I'm just flabbergasted," said Joel Hunter, senior pastor of the 15,000 member Northland Church in Orlando, Fla. "I just don't know how anyone who is reading Scripture or is even familiar with the traditional wedding vows can come out with a statement like that. Obviously, we can all rationalize the legitimacy for our own comfort that would somehow make it OK to divorce our spouse if circumstances become very different or inconvenient. ... That's almost universal, but there's just no way you can get out of what Jesus says about marriage."

Hunter, who is also a presidential appointee to an advisory council on faith-based and neighborhood partnerships, said Robertson's words could lead people to interpret typical marital woes as proof that the spouse they married is symbolically dead, and they are therefore free to move on.

"Obviously, you could do this for anything. ... My husband watches and plays video games, and so he has left the marriage and it's kind of like a death," he said. "It's not death, and so we can't start describing things as death that are really not death, and we have to stop trying to mischaracterize what Scripture says for our own convenience."

Leith Anderson, president of the National Association of Evangelicals, said marriage is a lifelong commitment between a man and a woman that calls for faithfulness in the best of times and the worst of times. Quoting Corinthians, Anderson said, "The wife's body does not belong to her alone but also to her husband. In the same way, the husband's body does not belong to him alone but also to his wife. You can't quit your own body with Alzheimer's, so you shouldn't quit your husband's or wife's body either."

Doctors and social workers who work with families affected by Alzheimer's disease were similarly dismissive of Robertson's advice.

"To condone abandoning one's spouse in the throes of this mind-robbing illness is absurd," said Dr. Amanda Smith, medical director at the University of South Florida Health Alzheimer's Center in Tampa. "While Alzheimer's certainly affects the dynamic of relationships, marriage vows are taken in sickness and in health."

An estimated 5.4 million Americans have Alzheimer's disease – a figure expected to rise sharply as baby boomers enter their older years. And about 80 percent of Alzheimer patients who live at home are cared for by family members.

Robertson's comments came after a viewer asked what advice he should give a friend who had been seeing another woman since his wife had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's.

"I know it sounds cruel, but if he's going to do something, he should divorce her and start all over again, but make sure she has custodial care and somebody looking after her," Robertson said.

But the Rev. A.D. Baxter, a social worker with Cole Neuroscience Center at the University of Tennessee Medical Center, said care from a loved one is irreplaceable.

"When being cared for by a spouse, the love of that spouse is often what enables a person with Alzheimer's disease to continue on and not feel abandoned," said Baxter, adding that caregivers need support, too. "Many believe a true friend does not abandon in the time of need."

 

See the full story at:

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/AlzheimersCommunity/pat-robertson-alzheimers-makes-divorce/story?id=14526660

_______________________________

Isn't it grand when some of our Protestant brethren, supposedly anchored by their belief in SOLA SCRIPTURA, totally ignore the Gospel!?

"Every one who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and he who marries a woman divorced from her husband commits adultery." - Luke 16:18

"2 And Pharisees came up and in order to test him (Jesus) asked, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?" 3 He (Jesus) answered them, "What did Moses command you?" 4 They said, "Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of divorce, and to put her away." 5 But Jesus said to them, "For your hardness of heart he wrote you this commandment. 6 But from the beginning of creation, 'God made them male and female.' 7 'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, 8 and the two shall become one flesh.' So they are no longer two but one flesh. 9 What therefore God has joined together, let not man put asunder." 10 And in the house the disciples asked him again about this matter. 11 And he said to them, "Whoever divorces his wife and marries another, commits adultery against her; 12 and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery." - Mark 10:2-12

"3 And Pharisees came up to him(Jesus) and tested him by asking, "Is it lawful to divorce one's wife for any cause?" He answered, "Have you not read that he who made them from the beginning made them male and female, 5 and said, 'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh'? 6 So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man put asunder." 7 They said to him, "Why then did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce, and to put her away?" 8 He said to them, "For your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from beginning it was not so. 9 And I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, except for unchastity, and marries another, commits adultery." 10 The disciples said to him, "If such is the case of a man with his wife, it is not expedient to marry." - Matthew 19:3-10

And even here with Our Lord Jesus Christ's apparent allowance of divorce in cases of "adultery," the Greek word porneia translated as "adultery" really means a dislawful marriage akin to marrying one's own sister or cousin.

 

Fight On St. Xavier University! Fight On!

Now Obama's NLRB

 tells a church school

 it's not religious

 enough

By: Ken Klukowski | Special to The Washington Examiner | 08/29/11 8:05 PM

"It's not enough for President Obama's National Labor Relations Board to target the Boeing plant in South Carolina. Now the NLRB thinks it can tell a church school when it's not religious enough.

Most people have heard by now of NLRB's unprecedented decree that Boeing Co. cannot build a new airline production facility in South Carolina.

But Obama's NLRB is also claiming the authority to dictate labor policies and order union elections at Catholic universities if they are not religious enough.

St. Xavier University was founded in 1846, the oldest Catholic school in Illinois. Its corporate member is a Catholic body with the "powers for the governance of" St. Xavier, that "links the University to the [Catholic] Church and makes it an officially recognized member of the Church."

St. Xavier's Board of Trustees must have at least four nuns from the order (Sisters of Mercy) that founded the school, and, according to its bylaws, its governing body must "ensure [St. Xavier] continues its educational and religious mission."

After quoting these sources and many others, NLRB's regional director concluded in true Orwellian fashion that "the evidence establishes" that St. Xavier is "a secular educational institution or university."

To support this astounding conclusion flying in the face of the facts (not to mention common sense), NLRB claimed a 1979 Supreme Court affirms this authority.

Yet that case -- NLRB v. Catholic Bishop of Chicago -- actually says the complete opposite of what Obama's NLRB claims.

In an instance of deja vu, the Supreme Court in Catholic Bishop considered a challenge to an NLRB order asserting authority over lay teachers at Illinois Catholic high schools. (Sound familiar?)

NLRB claimed that it had no authority over a church but that it possessed power over church-related bodies that are not purely religious, such as schools. The court considered whether the National Labor Relations Act granted NLRB such power.

Noting the religious mission of Catholic schools, the Supreme Court declared, "Good intentions by government ... can surely no more avoid entanglement with the religious mission of a school" than legislation the court previously struck down as unconstitutional violations of religious liberty.

Turning to the facts of that case, the court reasoned, "The church-teacher relationship in a church-operated school differs from the employment relationship in a public ... school. There is no escape from conflicts flowing from [NLRB's] exercise of jurisdiction over teachers in church-operated schools and the consequent serious First Amendment questions that would follow."

The court then noted that nothing in the law's language suggested NLRB has power over any church-affiliated organizations. The court invoked one of the most basic principles of American law, that a federal statute "ought not to be construed to violate the Constitution if any other possible construction remains available."

Accordingly, the court held that federal law did not give NLRB the power it was claiming, so the court need not consider whether to strike down that provision. Instead, it held NLRB lacked any legal jurisdiction to judge the schools' religiosity, and vacated NLRB's order.

Far from authorizing NLRB's action against St. Xavier, the ruling does the opposite of affirming the government has no such power over church schools. NLRB's contrary assertion is a frightening power grab that must be taken to court.

So economic and social conservatives now have a common problem. Obama's NLRB is being wielded as an instrument of unfettered federal power. Congress and the courts must act to end this imperial overreach.

Examiner legal contributor Ken Klukowski is director of the Center for Religious Liberty at the Family Research Council and a member of the faculty at Liberty University School of Law."

Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/op-eds/2011/08/now-obamas-nlrb-tells-church-school-its-not-religious-enough#ixzz1WYFtCXtb

Power Granted to Lift Abortion Excommunications

World Youth Day priests granted power to lift abortion excommunications

by Patrick B. Craine

"Tue Aug 16 3:44 PM EST MADRID, Spain, August 16, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Cardinal Archbishop of Madrid, Antonio Maria Rouco Varela, has granted all of the 2,000 priests attending World Youth Day this week the special power to the lift the excommunication and to grant absolution in confession to those who have committed the sin of abortion.

According to the Catholic Church’s Code of Canon Law, any person who procures an abortion is automatically excommunicated from the Church (can. 1398). This penalty – the worst penalty there is under canon law - can only be lifted by the pope and bishops, as well as priests who have been given special permission by a bishop.

“Normally, only certain priests have the power to lift such an excommunication, but the local diocese has decided to give all the priests taking confession at the event this power,” said the pope’s spokesman, Father Federico Lombardi.

Priests hearing confessions at World Youth Day, however, will be granted special permission to deal with such cases from August 16-22.

The archdiocese said they hope that “all the faithful who attend the celebrations of World Youth Day can more easily access the fruits of divine grace, which opens the door to a new life for them,” according to EWTN News.

Madrid has been labeled the “abortion Mecca” of Europe by local pro-life leaders because of the skyrocketing rate of abortions, which grew from 51,000 in 1996 to 120,000 in 2007. As many as 1 out of 5 of its pregnancies now end in abortion. Last July, the country’s socialist government implemented a new abortion law allowing the deadly procedure on-demand for the first 14 weeks of pregnancy."

See:http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/world-youth-day-priests-granted-power-to-lift-abortion-excommunications

"Catholic" San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera attacks unborn life.

San Francisco Takes On 'Politically Motivated' Pregnancy Centers

Supervisor and city attorney say advertisements mislead women about abortion services

By Jamie Hansen on August 2, 2011 - 8:45 p.m. PDT

Source: The Bay Citizen

San Francisco leaders are launching a coordinated attack against what they call "one of the most serious threats to reproductive rights today" — so-called crisis pregnancy centers that advertise as though they provide abortions, but counsel against them.

In a joint press conference with Supervisor Malia Cohen, City Attorney Dennis Herrera said the "right-wing, politically motivated centers" use false advertisements to target vulnerable populations and can cost women valuable time as they decide whether or not to end a pregnancy.

"Women's reproductive rights are under assault," Herrera said.

The two officials both took action against the centers Tuesday: Cohen introduced legislation that would prohibit centers from making misleading statements about the services they provide, while Herrera took the first step toward legal action against a center he accused of doing just that.

New York City, Baltimore and Austin have passed laws barring such advertising. New York and Baltimore's measures have drawn lawsuits based on free speech arguments, and a judge last month blocked the New York law. New York City officials have appealed that decision.

Cohen says her legislation, the Pregnancy Information Disclosure and Protection Ordinance, is narrow enough to avoid similar legal challenges.

A group of people opposing abortion showed up at Tuesday's press conference to question the ordinance and learn more about it.

One of them was Chastidy Ronan, who directs the Alpha Pregnancy Center, an organization in San Francisco that provides Bible-based counseling for pregnant women. She said she didn't hear anything at the press conference that would put her center at risk, adding that the organization's policy is to be upfront about the nature of its services.

Cohen's bill, which was co-sponsored by supervisors David Chiu, Jane Kim and Scott Wiener, would give centers that use misleading advertisements 10 days to correct the problem. After that, the organizations would either be fined or given a court order requiring them to comply.

Also on Tuesday, Herrera sent a letter to First Resort, a San Francisco center whose advertising he described as "particularly egregious."

First Resort's sponsored advertisement appears in the results of a Google search for the terms "abortion" and "San Francisco". Click to view larger.

When women search for terms like "abortion" and "San Francisco," a Google ad sponsored by First Resort appears, even though the organization does not provide abortions or referrals for them, Herrera said.

The letter asks First Resort to change its advertisements and website by the end of August to clarify that it does not provide abortion services.

First Resort's CEO, Shari Plunkett, issued a statement denying that her organization's advertising misleads women.

"We treat women with dignity and respect and respect their right to choose," she said. "We look forward to a robust discussion about the appropriateness of this legislation and urge [Cohen and Herrera] not to test the constitutional boundaries of free speech."

___________________

This is the same Dennis Herrera who was the guest speaker of the St. Thomas More Society of San Francicso!

"May 26, 2011 at 12:00pm: Our luncheon speaker was San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera. Mr. Herrera, a graduate of Villanova law, is a Catholic who has headed what has been called one of the most aggressive and talented municipal law departments in the nation for nearly ten years."

...and was hob nobbing with Archbishop George Niederauer at the San Francisco CYO "Loaves and Fishes" dinner.

 

(I couldn't find a pic of Herrera and the Archbishop together at the event, but Herrera is in the bottom pic on the right.)

Sola Nonsensica

New Bible Aims for 'Common' Language, Gender Neutrality

By: Tim Newcomb, Time.com

"We didn't know Jesus being called the “Son of Man” was so confusing. But the publishers of the Common English Bible translation want to clear up anything and everything that can confuse those inclined to dive into the Bible, so “Son of Man” now reads “the Human One.” Not exactly poetic, but arguably modern.

In an effort not only to make the Bible more accessible to modern readers, but also to appease both conservative and liberal denominations, the multi-denomination publishers of the new Bible translation—the Common English Bible Committee, an alliance of five publishers—out digitally now and in print in the next few weeks didn't just toss together a few new catchy phrases, though. They took the task seriously.

With more than 200 biblical scholars and church leaders representing more than 20 denominations, the committee translated straight from the original Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek texts, says associate publisher Paul Franklyn. When field-testing showed passages appeared confusing, project staff worked in modern phrasing. USA Today notes the committee was made up of "a coalition of Protestant denominational publishing houses owned by the United Methodist Church, one of the nation's largest denominations, and the Disciples of Christ, Presbyterian Church U.S.A., Episcopal Church and the United Church of Christ."

Along with switching out Jesus' well-known descriptor, the new $3.5 million Bible translation that took four years to complete, also tossed out “alien” and “foreigner” in places (read Exodus 22:21) in lieu of “immigrant”; shifts toward a more gender-neutral approach (“brother or sister” versus just “brother” when Jesus teaches to “warn,” not “rebuke” in Luke 17:3-4); adds in plenty of contractions; uses words such as “insulted” instead of “defiled” (1 Samuel 17:45); and eases up the language of the Lord's Prayer (found in Matthew 6:9-13) by switching out “hallowed be thy name” for “uphold the holiness of your name,” among other shifts.

To help catch a few eyes along the way, the CEB includes maps from National Geographic. There must be some proven science showing everyone loves a great map.

All the academic work has the Christian community talking (and reading), as the Fuller Theological Seminary in May made the new translation required reading for its students. New copies of the paperback edition will come out in August.

While the vocabulary may deviate slightly, the meaning coming from the Son of Man or the Human One remains the same. Ultimately, it's all still the Bible.

Read more: http://newsfeed.time.com/2011/07/20/new-bible-translation-aims-for-common-language/#ixzz1SmLQNIeB

July 9, 1900 - China

An absolutely stirring article at Ignatius Press

on the Catholic Franciscan martyrs during the Boxer Rebellion.

 

 

 

 

 

Saint Gregorius Grassi, Bishop & Martyr

______________________

July 9, 1900: Remembering China's Franciscan Saints

by Anthony E. Clark, Ph.D. | Ignatius Insight | July 8, 2011

"July 9, 1900, near the end of the Qing dynasty:

After a long drought, a slight drizzle began to moisten the dry fields of Shanxi province. But it was too late. Local peasants had already spread rumors – the Christians were to blame for the long-term lack of rain. Banners had begun to appear throughout the region: "The skies won't rain, the earth is scorched, all because the churches have blocked the heavens" (Taiyuan jiaochu jianhua, 311).

Two Franciscan bishops, two priests, a brother, and seven nuns had prayed for rain, but when it had finally arrived they knew it could not stop the tide of violence. Chinese Christians all around them were already being captured, ordered to renounce their faith in God, and executed if they refused. By the summer of 1900 a group of anti-foreign and anti-Christian men and women had organized themselves into roaming bands of martial artists groups carrying long swords, spears, and halberds; they called themselves the Yihetuan, or the "Society of Righteous Harmony." Their duty, they asserted, was to support the ruling court and "annihilate all foreigners."

At 4 o'clock in the afternoon, the Franciscan bishops, priests, and nuns were reciting the Divine Office together with Chinese faithful in Taiyuan, the capital of Shanxi, when they heard the clamor of weapons approaching their small room. Instinctively knowing that they would soon be executed, those present all knelt before Bishop Gregorius Grassi, the ordinary of their remote Chinese diocese. Grassi trembled with emotion as he said to his fellow Christians, "The hour of death has come, my children: kneel down and I will give you holy absolution" (Franciscan Martyrs of the Boxer Rising, 14)."

For the full story see: http://www.ignatiusinsight.com/features2011/print2011/aclark_july091900martyrs_july2011.html

 

 

 

 

 

Saint Andreas Bauer - Friar & Martyr

 

 

 

 

 

 

Saint Theodoricus Balat - Priest & Martyr

 

 

 

 

 

Saint Elias Facchini - Priest & Martyr 

 
 

Saint Franciscus Fogolla - Bishop & Martyr

   

 
Saint Marie Hermine de Jesus, Sister & Martyr

 

 

 

 

Saint Maria della Pace - Sister & Martyr 





 

Saint Maria Chiara - Sister & Martyr

 
Saint Marie de Sainte Nathalie - Sister & Martyr

 
Saint Marie de Saint Just - Sister & Martyr

 
 Saint Marie Adolphine - Sister & Martyr

 
Saint Maria Amandina - Sister & Martyr

The Franciscan sisters pictured above were stripped to the waist and beheaded one by one by the Boxer "rebels" in front of the Chinese Imperial governor of the Province of Shanxi. They sang the Te Deum in thanksgiving to almighty God. The song ended with the execution of the last sister.

Bishop Tod Brown's Last Laugh?

 

Turning 75 this November, and that being the mandatory retirement age for a Roman Catholic Bishop - Bishop Brown doesn't have time to build his new multi-million dollar {Protestant Barn} Cathedral in Costa Mesa, perhaps Bishop Brown can just buy an existing Protestant Barn?

 

From the L.A. Times blog...

"O.C. diocese to explore purchase of Crystal Cathedral site

July 6, 2011 | 11:23 am

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange has expressed interest in the Crystal Cathedral property, a spokesman said Wednesday.

"We really have no sufficient space or a facility to accommodate the 1.2 million Catholics in Orange County," said Steve Bohannon, a diocese spokesman.

That coupled with Bishop Tod D. Brown's concern that the Garden Grove property could become anything else but a place of worship is why he has authorized a law firm and other advisers to look into the purchase of the property, Bohannon said. 

So far, two parties have offered to purchase the Crystal Cathedral property for $46 million. The first is Greenlaw Partners, an Orange County-based real estate developer, which would build apartments on the property. Chapman University filed an offer Tuesday, and would like to use the property as a health sciences center. Both offers allow the Crystal Cathedral Ministry to lease back core buildings, including the landmark cathedral.

The Crystal Cathedral filed for bankruptcy in October, citing more than $50 million in debt. Bohannon said no formal offers have been made, and the diocese is only looking at options regarding the property."

SEE: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2011/07/oc-archdiocese-to-explore-purchase-of-crystal-cathedral-site.html

Corapi is Guilty

How sad, very very sad.

 

Fr. Corapi's order finds him guilty 

Robstown, Texas, Jul 5, 2011 / 03:13 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Father John Corapi’s religious order has found him guilty of substance abuse, sexual activity and violating his promise of poverty.

A July 5 press release from the Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity (SOLT) said that while Fr. Corapi was involved in public ministry he had “sexual relations and years of cohabitation with a woman known to him, when the relationship began, as a prostitute.”

The investigative team also found that he “repeatedly abused alcohol and drugs,” “recently engaged in ‘sexting’ activity with one or more women in Montana,” and holds legal title “to over $1 million in real estate, numerous luxury vehicles, motorcycles, an ATV, a boat dock, and several motor boats.”

His religious order said it is concerned “Fr. Corapi is now misleading (many) individuals through his false statements and characterizations.”

“It is for these Catholics that SOLT, by means of this announcement, seeks to set the record straight.”

A fact-finding team created by the order “acquired information from Fr. Corapi’s emails, various witnesses and public sources,” in response to a signed letter from a woman who is well known to Fr. Corapi.

The Society said in the news release that Fr. Corapi, under his vow of obedience, has been ordered to “return home to the society’s regional office and take up residence there,” and to “dismiss the lawsuit he has filed against his accuser.”

The order added that its “prior direction to Father John Corapi not to engage in any preaching or teaching, the celebration of the sacraments or other public ministry continues.”

As the Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity sought to carry out its investigation into the allegations against Fr. Corapi, it found that its fact-finding team was hindered by a civil lawsuit the priest had filed and by sweeping non-disclosure agreements he had negotiated with his accuser and other witnesses.

The civil lawsuit argued that his principal accuser had committed slander and breach of contract.

Fr. Corapi refused to dismiss the lawsuit and the team discovered many other contracts that prevented “key witnesses” from speaking.

“Many of these witnesses likely had key information about the accusations being investigated and declined to answer questions and provide documents,” the order said.

The fact-finding team was composed of a priest-canonist, a psychiatrist and a lawyer, two of whom were members of religious orders and one a lay Catholic.

The statement notes that two were men and one was a woman, all with a “national reputation and substantial experience in ecclesiastical processes related to priest disciplinary issues.”

Fr. Corapi expressed his desire to leave the Society and the priesthood in a June 17 statement. He said he felt he was being “unjustly accused,” and that “(t)here are certain persons in authority in the Church that want me gone, and I shall be gone.”

Fr. Corapi has not yet been released from his vows.

“Catholics should understand that SOLT does not consider Father John Corapi as fit for ministry,” the statement concluded.

SEE: http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/fr.-corapis-order-finds-him-guilty/

Holy Mother Russia?

Russian Lawmakers Prepare

For Major Crackdown on Abortion

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia‘s Orthodox Church teamed with Conservative parliamentarians Monday to push legislation that would radically restrict abortions in a nation struggling to cope with one of the world’s lowest birthrates.

The legislation would ban free abortions at government-run clinics and prohibit the sale of the morning-after pill without a prescription, said Yelena Mizulina, who heads a parliamentary committee on families, women and children.

She added that abortion for a married woman would also require the permission of her spouse, while teenage girls would need their parents’ consent. If the legislation is passed, a week’s waiting period would also be introduced so women could consider their decision to terminate their pregnancy, Mizulina said.

During the time of the Soviet Union, abortion laws were liberal, and unrestricted termination of pregnancy became virtually the only method of family planning. Sex education was frowned upon.

Russia‘s abortion rates are still among the world’s highest, contributing to a fertility rate of only 1.4 children per woman – far below the 2.1 needed to maintain the existing population. The rate has become a serious concern for Russia as it fights to stem a steep population decline

Mizulina said she wants to see public debate on abortions before the bill is submitted to parliament, an apparent attempt to build support after similar legislation stalled last year.

A bill proposed in late 2010 called for the criminal prosecution of doctors who end late-term pregnancies, but it faced government opposition and was never put up for a vote.

 
(Patriarch Kirill Gundyaev of Moscow and all the Russias)

The effort to restrict abortions has strong backing from the Russian Orthodox Church, which has sought a more muscular role in society in recent years. It counts more than 100 million Russians in a population of 143 million as its congregation, although polls show that only about 5 percent of Russians are observant.

“I hope that very soon we will live in a Russia without abortions,” church spokesman Vsevolod Chaplin said at Monday’s presentation.

According to a United Nations survey in 2004, Russia had the world’s highest abortion rate: 53.7 per 100 women.

Figures from the Russian Health Ministry suggest the rate may have declined in recent years, though it remains high: In 2009, there were 74 abortions for every 100 births in Russia, a significant drop in comparison with 169 abortions per 100 births in 2000.

The total number of abortions recorded by the Health Ministry in 2009 reached nearly 1.3 million.

Mizulina claims that the official statistics do not include pregnancies terminated at private clinics, or those stopped by morning-after pills, and the true number might be closer to 6 million.

She also proposed that the law be changed to allow women to leave unwanted children at orphanages anonymously without risking criminal prosecution for child abandonment.

It was unclear how much support the anti-abortion measures would receive in parliament.

Natalya Karpovich, a lawmaker with the dominant pro-Kremlin party United Russia, who is expecting her fifth child, said she supported stricter regulation of abortions. But she said banning the procedure in Russia was unrealistic and would only lead to more children whose parents were unwilling or unable to care for them.

Weeding the Vineyard.

 
 

Vatican suppresses Cistercian abbey in Rome

www.catholicculture.org

23MAY2011

The Vatican has suppressed a Cistercian abbey in Rome.

The abbey of Santa Croce in Jerusalem, associated with the Roman basilica of the same name, was formally suppressed in March, by a decree from the Congregation for Religious, signed by the prefect, Archbishop Joao Braz de Aziz. The Cistercian monks living in the monastery were given two months to relocate to another abbey.

The Vatican has not made a public announcement of the unusual move, nor have officials of the Holy See offered an explanation for the decision. The suppression follows an apostolic visitation of the Cistercian community in Rome.

There had been reports of liturgical and doctrinal abuses at the Cistercian abbey, and the suppression of the venerable institution—established in Rome in 1651—appears to be the final outcome of a long conflict with the Vatican.

Blessed Georg Haefner

 

 

Priest who defied Nazis beatified

The Associated Press

Published Sunday, May. 15, 2011

BERLIN -- Germans in Pope Benedict XVI's home state of Bavaria celebrated Sunday the beatification ceremony of a priest who was honored for practicing his Roman Catholic faith in defiance of the Nazis.

The pope, who grew up in Bavaria, sent Cardinal Angelo Amato from the Vatican to celebrate the beatification Mass for Georg Haefner in Wuerzburg Cathedral, the DAPD news agency reported.

During his traditional Sunday greetings to pilgrims in St. Peter's Square, the pope, who grew up in Bavaria and was forced by the Nazis to serve as a teen in the Hitler Youth, praised Haefner.

"In the confusion of National Socialism, Georg Haefner was willing, as a faithful shepherd, to protect his flock and deliver the sacrament and the water of life to many people, until the end of his life," the pope said, speaking in German.

"He forgave those who wronged him and in a letter to his parents from prison, he wrote, 'We want to be at peace with everyone.'"

Haefner died of hunger and disease in Dachau concentration camp in 1942.

Friedhelm Hofmann, the bishop of Wuerzburg, said Haefner represented all members of the Catholic church who perished for their faith during the Nazi-era.

_____________

An even better article

Permalink: http://www.zenit.org/article-32539?l=english

WWII "Martyr of Reconciliation"

to Be Beatified

Carmelite Priest Aimed to Be Love, Reveal Love, Give Love

By Carmen Elena Villa

WURZBURG, Germany, MAY 10, 2011 (Zenit.org).- Carmelite Father Georg Häfner never had any intention to confront the Nazi regime head-on. But his quiet, daily fidelity to his priestly ministry landed him in Dachau. This Sunday he will be beatified.

Cardinal Angelo Amato, prefect of the Congregation for Saints' Causes, will represent the Pope at the beatification ceremony in Wurzburg.

"We do not want to condemn a human being, or sow rancor against anyone. Rather, we want to be good to all," said the priest before being killed in August 1942.

Georg Häfner was born in Wurzburg in 1900. At the end of World War I, after having done his military service for a year, he began to study theology and became a member of a Catholic student association.

Growing up in the shadows of a Carmelite monastery and participating in Mass as an altar server nourished the seed of his vocation. He was ordained a priest in 1924.

"His pastoral activities coincided with the period of the Nationalist dictatorship," noted Andrea Ambrossi, the postulator of his cause, in a statement to ZENIT.

In 1938 Father Häfner was visited by the bishop of his diocese, who was very pleased with the catechesis the priest imparted and noted in his report the good religious formation of the children of the parish.

"There are close to 700 faithful who receive Holy Communion and this is a reason for joy," the bishop wrote.

Father Häfner "dedicated himself seriously to his obligations and duties," Ambrossi said. "But it was inevitable that his pastoral zeal would put him in conflict with the Nationalists, to the point that, a priest as good and truly available to all as he was, became a political 'enemy.'"

The religious priest's pastoral initiatives annoyed the Nazi regime. On Oct. 3, 1941, he was detained briefly, and on the 31st of the same month, arrested and taken to Dachau concentration camp, where he was branded with the number 28 876.

Ambrossi observed that Father Häfner did not have "the intention to combat head-on the National Socialist regime."

"But," he continued, "the fact is that the complete observance of his priestly ministry led him inevitably to become a victim of the convictions of his conscience, that is, of his pastoral obligations."

Even in the concentration camp, Father Häfner said that in life there could be no enemies.

His aim was "to be love, to reveal love, to give love, so that men will have life and have it in abundance," the postulator said.

The Carmelite in Dachau showed a total abandonment to God, Ambrossi affirmed, such that "we are truly before a martyr of reconciliation, a priest soaked in a profound love of the cross, a most credible witness of the faith."

"Sort of God..."

Unbelievable.  Absolutely Unbelievable.

 

Newsweek Editor Evan Thomas (Pic below)

“Reagan [at the 1984 D-Day commemoration] was all about America, and you talked about it. Obama is, ‘We are above that now. We're not just parochial, we're not just chauvinistic, we're not just provincial. We stand for something.' I mean, in a way, Obama's standing above the country, above — above the world. He's sort of God. He's going to bring all different sides together.”

(Hat Tip to: http://weaselzippers.us/)

 

 

 

Everything old is new again

From the Washington Times

See:http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/apr/26/pruden-chinas-easter-offensive-against-the-churche/print/

China’s Easter offensive against the churches

The International Monetary Fund says the "Age of America" will end in the ash heap of history in 2016, give or take a year or so, to be replaced by the "Age of China."

That's when the value of the Chinese economy will reach $19 trillion annually, shading ours by a few billion in petty cash. A decade ago, the Chinese economy was only a fraction of the size of America's. That was before we shipped our factories to China and the Democrats and Republicans in Washington discovered they could borrow money with abandon from the Chinese to finance FDR's famous formula of "spend and spend, elect and elect."

This news of imminent Chinese economic superiority - the triumph of Adam Smith over Karl Marx - should arm the old men in Beijing with the confidence to tolerate the growth of religious faith in their midst. But on Easter Sunday, the government turned the observance of Easter into the Chinese fire drill of yore and lore.

The frightened old men of Beijing dispatched swarms of cops, with enough sirens, bells and whistles to answer a train wreck, to an evangelical congregation in Beijing to round up 40 men, women and children on their way to a park to lift their voices in song and praise to celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. No one can accuse the Chinese government of enforcing draconian law with a subtle hand. Subtlety is an ancient Chinese art as applied to Szechuan shredded chicken or pork with chef's garlic sauce, the artist's vision and the coinage of proverbs. But not to governing. "Peasants, like lobsters, release their essence only when heads are smashed." Or something like that. Some of the proverbs are subtle, too.

Kathy Lu, a member of the congregation at Shouwang Church, told a correspondent for the Voice of America that many members of the church were arrested. "Around 40 were taken away," she said. "Over 500 members were not allowed to leave their homes. One of the deacons returned to his home last Friday afternoon and the police came to ask him if he planned to attend the Easter Sunday service. He said yes, so the police said, 'From this moment you cannot leave this house.' "

China divides Christians into two categories, "official Christians" who worship unmolested in government-approved churches with government-approved theology, and "others." The official government statistics put the number of "official Christians" at 15 million, but the growth of Christianity in China is a phenomenon of the hounded and persecuted, which by some estimates number 100 million. Some of these congregations, such as Shouwang Church, independent of other Protestant denominations, openly defy the government.

"As Easter is very important to us we must stick to our decision to worship outdoors," Jin Tianming, the senior pastor of Shouwan Church, tells Agence France-Presse. "This is our uncompromising position and a matter of faith. If they arrest our followers, this is the price we are willing to pay." This infuriates the Communist leaders, whose contempt for faith allows no understanding of it. Pastor Tianming's remarks reflect the history of the Christian churches, which often — indeed, usually — thrive best in the face of official suppression. The old men of Beijing may soon be in a place to ask the ancient Romans about that.

The persecution of Christians, both Protestant and Roman Catholic, is growing as the evangelical churches grow ever more swiftly. "In the past five years, every year, the degree of persecution increased, of how many churches were persecuted, how many Christians were arrested, sentenced, abused or tortured," says Mark Shan, spokesman for China Aid, which tracks religious persecution in the Middle Kingdom. "It's a common phenomenon. Every year is like this."

The Chinese government targets any group, religious or not, that looks like it's growing. The persecution of Falun Gong, a spiritual movement emphasizing, among other things, calisthenics and deep breathing in pursuit of "morality and virtue," came to the attention of the world a decade or so ago. The Chinese ambassador to Washington invited me to lunch one day to make sure I understood how evil his government imagined Falun Gong to be. "Do you know," he asked, "that Falun Gong does not believe in the divinity of Jesus Christ?"

"Well," I asked, "is it now the policy of your government to recognize that Christ was divine?"

He answered with a rueful frown. "We will talk now of other things."

• Wesley Pruden is editor emeritus of The Washington Times

________________________

(Icon of "the Holy Chinese Martyrs of the Boxer Rebellion" courtesy of Holy Transfiguration Monastery.)

Prayer(s) for a Good Lent!

 

Almighty and Everlasting God,

You have given the human race

 
Jesus Christ our Savior

 

as a model of humility.

He fulfilled Your Will by becoming man

And giving His life on the Cross.

Help us to bear witness to You

By following His example of suffering

And make us worthy to share in His Resurrection.

We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son.

Amen.

___________________________________________________________________________

See you on the other side (that is in forty days).

Bye Bye Roger...

Cardinal Roger Mahony passes

leadership of L.A. Archdiocese

to Jose Gomez

At two Masses in the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, leadership of the largest archdiocese in the U.S. is transferred from Roger Mahony to Jose Gomez.

 

By Mitchell Landsberg, Los Angeles Times

February 28, 2011

"Cardinal Roger Mahony walked slowly across the sanctuary of the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, leaning softly on his shepherd's staff as he completed one of his last public acts as archbishop of Los Angeles. Passing the altar on one side and his assembled bishops on the other, he finally reached the man who was taking over his position as head of the nation's largest Roman Catholic archdiocese.

Mahony handed the crooked staff, known as a crosier, to Archbishop Jose Gomez, symbolizing one of the most ancient traditions of the church, the transfer of authority from one bishop to another."

See the full story at:http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-catholic-transition-20110228,0,6713493.story

__________________________________________________________________________________

The malignant impact of this prelate will regrettably take decades to be undone. His pernicious reach goes far beyond Los Angeles, in both other clerics he has helped into the episcopacy, but most of all in how he used St. John's Seminary in Camarillo as an "Incubator for Neo-Modernism." Given the number of dioceses who have had students at St. John's while Mahoney's minions ruled, the egregious harm he will continue to cause is almost incalculable.

He will most be remembered for his mishandling of pedophile priests. The untold physical and mental tribulation that Mahoney's actions (or inactions) caused are unspeakable. They can only be outdone by the spiritual cancer caused by his brand of post-conciliar syncretic catholicism. In this latter instance, he matches the ruined bodies and minds of abused children with the loss of countless souls, for eternity, because of his laxity in guarding the Deposit of the Faith.

We should all pray that before Cardinal Mahoney passes he realizes what he has done and seeks forgiveness from the Almighty!

Italy arrests 6 (Muslims) for stirring hate vs Pope

Italy arrests 6 for stirring hate vs Pope

Associated Press

Feb 25 08:10 AM US/Eastern

ROME (AP) - Italian police on Friday arrested six Moroccan men suspected of inciting hatred against Pope Benedict XVI for converting a Muslim journalist in Italy to Catholicism.

Stefano Fonsi, head of Brescia police's anti-terrorism squad in northern Italy, said the suspects allegedly banded together and met privately with the goal of stirring up religious hatred against non-Muslims, including the pope.

Investigators say they found literature exhorting Muslim immigrants against integrating into Italian society and saying the pope should be punished for having baptized the journalist during an Easter vigil ceremony in St. Peter's Basilica.

The investigation grew out of security checks ahead of a pastoral visit by Benedict to Brescia in 2009, but authorities insisted that their probe revealed no plot against the pontiff or other terrorism aims.

Brescia Prosecutor Fabio Salmone said there was "absolutely no" indication that the group had attacks in mind. "I rule that out," he told reporters. "There wasn't even a plan" to organize attacks, he said.

In 2008, Egyptian-born journalist Magdi Allam angered some Muslims by becoming a Catholic. After being baptized, he changed his name to Magdi Cristiano Allam. He had built a career in Italy as a newspaper commentator and author attacking Islamic extremism and supporting Israel.

Pray for New Zealand!

Blessed Sacrament Cathedral in Christchurch New Zealand before the earthquake.

The destruction after the earthquake.

Neomartyrs of Russia

Today our brethren in the Russian Orthodox Church celebrate the Feast of the Neomartyrs of Russia. These Neomartyrs being those Christians martyred by the Communists during and after the Bolshevik revolution.

Hat tip to the New Liturgical Movement blog.

See: http://www.newliturgicalmovement.org/2011/02/feast-of-all-neomartyrs-of-russia.html

Roma Locuta Est.... Sort of...

St. Stanislaus Kostka Church - Adams, MA

Exteior above and interior below

3 Mass. churches may remain open, Vatican rules

By Associated Press

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

http://www.bostonherald.com

CHICOPEE — The Vatican has ruled that three western Massachusetts churches closed by the Springfield Diocese should remain open, parishioners learned today, including one that parishioners have occupied in protest for two years.

The Vatican’s Congregation for the Clergy ruled that Bishop Timothy McDonnell didn’t justify closing St. Stanislaus Kostka church in Adams or two Chicopee churches, St. Patrick and St. George. That means the churches will remain open for worship, though it’s not clear to what extent they can be used.

Laurie Hass, a leader of the vigil at St. Stanisluas Kostka, called the decision "monumental."

"Everyone here in Adams is rejoicing and full of joy!" said Hass, whose church has been occupied by parishioners around the clock since December 2008.

With similar rulings on churches in the Allentown Diocese in Pennsylvania, the Massachusetts decisions could signal a new Vatican policy that makes it tougher for local bishops to close and sell church buildings, said Peter Borre of the Council of Parishes, a group formed to fight church closings.

Keeping churches open, even on a limited basis, is important because it continues the church’s vital evangelical mission where it otherwise might be lost, Borre said.

"The principal item in the job description of the bishop is the salvation of souls," Borre said. "And you do not achieve that by destroying the presence of the Catholic church in a diocese."

The Springfield Diocese can appeal to the Vatican’s high court, and it will have much to say about how the three churches should be used — conceivably for occasions as frequent as regular Mass to a more sporadically opened place to pray.

"This is not mission accomplished," Borre said.

A diocesan spokesman said he wouldn’t comment until the Vatican rulings have been closely reviewed.

In recent years, Roman Catholic dioceses around the country have closed dozens of parishes, citing falling attendance, a lack of priests and financial strain. In Boston, for instance, five churches have been occupied since a broad reconfiguration in 2004 reduced the number of parishes from 357 to 291 today.

The Congregation for the Clergy rulings, dated in late January, distinguishes between Roman Catholic parishes — which are territorial entities that include all of the Catholic buildings within them, such as rectories, schools and meeting halls — and the main church building within those parishes.

In their appeals, parishioners argued the bishop did not meet the high standard under canon law for shutting down those church buildings and converting them from holy to secular use. The Vatican agreed, saying McDonnell did not provide the "necessary grave motivations" for closing the churches.

Borre said similar appeals are pending at the Vatican from other regions, such as in Cleveland and in seven Boston-area churches.

At St. Patrick church on Tuesday, the front door was locked, but a side door opened to the brick church’s cool, well-kept interior. Scattered signs, including one that read, "Save Saint Patrick’s — Save Souls," made pleas for money and support in the fight to keep the parish open.

St. Patrick's - Chicopee

(Exterior above and interior below)

The decision was not a full win in any of the three cases — the Vatican upheld McDonnell’s decision to close the larger parishes. St. Patrick parishioner Margaret Page said she’s still hoping the entire St. Patrick Parish, which closed in 2009, will one day reopen. But, she added, "I’m very happy we got a positive decision."

Rachel Bradford was a lifelong parishioner at St. George before it closed in 2009, and drove to the church for weekly services throughout college, law school and even after she moved to northern Connecticut. Bradford, 28, said though the future of St. George was unclear, she was happy there was one.

"It’s partial win," she said, "and we’ll take it for now."

Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1317002

St. George's - Chicopee, MA

(Exterior above and interior below)

Regrettably the neo-modernists already got a hold of this interior. Of course we believe Christ is truly present in the Blessed Sacrament - body and soul, humanity and Divinity. That's why we put the tabernacle where He is physically present in transubstantiated form in the corner, otherwise it would distract us! Gads.

Below see how it was before the "Conciliar" changes.

One wonders how many parishioners were lost over the decades by the destruction of true houses of worship like this?

Can Bishop Tod Brown Be Stopped? at least for ten months?

 

I just ran across a story at OC Weekly from December about Bishop Tod Brown's continuing machinations to build a new "cathedral" in Costa Mesa.

It appears that the legal entity set up by Bishop Brown to receive contributions for his pyramid cathedral project has been suspended by the California Secretary of State. Here is the info as of 26JAN2011.

 

Entity Name:	CHRIST OUR SAVIOR CATHEDRAL FUND, INC.
Entity Number:	C2564295
Date Filed:	11/12/2003
Status:	SUSPENDED
Jurisdiction:	CALIFORNIA
Entity Address:	PO BOX 14195
Entity City, State, Zip:	ORANGE CA 92867-1595
Agent for Service of Process:	MARIA RULLO SCHINDERLE
Agent Address:	2811 E VILLA REAL DR
Agent City, State, Zip:	ORANGE CA 92867

This suspension occurred in May of 2010. Nonetheless, in July of 2010 the Diocese announced the selection of  Craig W. Hartman, FAIA, of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP (SOM) to design the new Cathedral of Christ the Savior.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s location is on a 15 acre parcel near the intersection of Bear St. and West MacArthur Blvd.

 

Mr. Hartman is an interesting guy. He was made a Papal Knight of St. Sylvester by Pope Benedict XVI in 2008.

Hartman is also the designer of the Cathedral of Christ the Light in Oakland (exterior and interior below).

 

I guess I am not as worried about Hartman as I am about Bishop Brown. He may want something akin to Cardinal Mahoney’s minimalist Protestant barn in downtown Los Angeles.

 

Here’s what a recent Diocese of Orange press release had to say:

"The Phase One challenge is to artfully create a new cathedral complex that will meet the present social and spiritual needs of the 1.2 million person diocesan community and to accommodate anticipated growth.  From the outset, Bishop Brown has emphasized the diocese has no interest in copying the past and will make every effort to develop a structure that respects the environment as much as it will its people. This new facility, as the focal point of Catholicism in Orange County will embody the church’s spiritual commitment to environmental stewardship. … The new Cathedral, the first true diocesan cathedral in the Diocese of Orange, will serve as a visible and central pastoral campus for generations to come. An important distinction for the new Cathedral is the long-range plan to make the complex serve ecumenical as well as parochial needs; and to become an important spiritual and cultural center for all of Orange County."

WOW!

1. No interest in copying the past…
2. Embody spiritual commitment to environmental stewardship…
3. Serve ecumenical needs…

In the hands of Bishop Tod Brown, under his leadership, this is neo-modernist “doublespeak” from a lost chapter of Orwell’s “1984.”

I take heart from one undeniable fact.

Bishop Brown was born on 15 NOV 1936.

On 15 NOV 2011 he turns 75.

For a Roman Catholic Bishop that means:

 

M  A  N  D  A  T  O  R  Y

R  E  T  I  R  E  M  E  N  T  !

 

Can the momentum of this juggernaut be stopped for 10 months?

The Culture of Death

 

Abortion doctor charged

with killing 7 babies

Prosecutors allege the babies were born alive

following illegal late-term abortions

and killed with scissors.

A Philadelphia abortion doctor has been charged with eight counts of murder in the deaths of a woman patient and seven babies that prosecutors say were born alive and then killed with scissors.

The charges against Dr. Kermit Gosnell follow a long grand jury investigation.

District Attorney Seth Williams said state regulators ignored complaints and failed to visit the clinic since 1993.

Williams said the women were subjected to squalid and barbaric conditions at Gosnell's Women's Medical Society, which was shut down last year.

Gosnell has been named in at least 10 malpractice suits, including one over the death of a woman who died of sepsis and a perforated uterus.

Late-term procedures
A local CBS station reported that Gosnell's wife and eight other people also were under arrest.

It said the deaths occurred following illegal late-term abortions.

The broadcaster said warrants were served late Tuesday or early Wednesday and all the suspects were being held in jail.

It said four of the suspects were facing multiple murder counts.

In addition, Gosnell was the subject of a federal grand jury investigation relating to the illegal prescribing of prescription drugs, CBS said.

Some $240,000 in cash had been found when his house was searched, the station said, citing investigators.

It added that Gosnell had previously insisted he was innocent of any crimes and predicted he would be acquitted if he was charged.

See:http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41154527/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts

Blessed Karol Wojtyła ?

Newsmax

Pope Benedict Set to Beatify John Paul II

Wednesday, January 12, 2011 02:44 PM

"By: VATICAN CITY, Jan 12 (Reuters) - Former Pope John Paul II will move a step closer to sainthood this week when his successor Pope Benedict approves the case for his beatification, Vatican sources said on Wednesday. In "a few days" the Vatican's Prefect for the Causes of Saints, Cardinal Angelo Amato, is expected present Benedict with the evidence that John Paul performed a miracle and should be beatified, one source said. At that point Benedict is expected to approve the recommendation and set a date for the ceremony less than six years after the death of the Polish pontiff. One miracle is needed for beatification, while two are required for sainthood. On Tuesday a Vatican commission of cardinals and bishops, members of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, approved medical and theological evidence that John Paul had miraculously cured a nun with Parkinson's disease, paving the way for the beatification request to be presented. The initial phases of a canonisation cause can usually take decades or, in some cases, hundreds of years. However in May 2005, a month after his death, Benedict put John Paul on the fast track by dispensing with Church rules that normally impose a five-year waiting period after a candidate's death before the procedure begins. Crowds at John Paul's funeral on April 8, 2005 chanted "santo subito" ("make him a saint now"). His 27-year papacy, which began in 1978, was one of the most historic and tumultuous of modern times. During his pontificate communism collapsed across eastern Europe, including in his native Poland. John Paul, the first non-Italian pope in 450 years, was seriously wounded in a 1981 assassination attempt. Sister Marie Simon-Pierre, a 47-year-old French nun diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, from which Pope John Paul himself suffered, said it inexplicably disappeared two months after his death after she and her fellow nuns prayed to him. "

The Prime Mover Moved First

 

 

God was behind Big Bang,

pope says

 'The universe is not the result of chance, as some would want to make us believe'

By Philip Pullella, Reuters

updated 1/6/2011 10:10:20 AM ET

"VATICAN CITY— God's mind was behind
complex scientific theories such as the Big
Bang, and Christians should reject the idea
that the universe came into being by accident,
Pope Benedict said Thursday.

"The universe is not the result of chance, as
some would want to make us believe,"
Benedict said on the day Christians mark the
Epiphany, the day the Bible says the three
kings reached the site where Jesus was born
by following a star.

"Contemplating it (the universe) we are invited

to read something profound into it: the
wisdom of the creator, the inexhaustible
creativity of God," he said in a sermon to some
10,000 people in St. Peter's Basilica on the
feast day.

While the pope has spoken before about
evolution, he has rarely delved back in time to
discuss specific concepts such as the Big
Bang, which scientists believe led to the
formation of the universe some 13.7 billion
years ago.

Researchers at CERN, the nuclear research
center in Geneva, have been smashing protons
together at near the speed of light to simulate
conditions that they believe brought into
existence the primordial universe from which
stars, planets and life on earth — and perhaps
elsewhere — eventually emerged.

Proof God doesn't exist?
Some atheists say science can prove that God
does not exist, but Benedict said that some
scientific theories were "mind limiting"
because "they only arrive at a certain point ...
and do not manage to explain the ultimate
sense of reality."

He said scientific theories on the origin and
development of the universe and humans,
while not in conflict with faith, left many
questions unanswered.

"In the beauty of the world, in its mystery, in
its greatness and in its rationality ... we can
only let ourselves be guided toward God,
creator of heaven and earth," he said.

Benedict and his predecessor John Paul have
been trying to shed the Church's image of
being anti-science, a label that stuck when it
condemned Galileo for teaching that the earth
revolves around the sun, challenging the
words of the Bible.

Galileo was rehabilitated and the Church now
also accepts evolution as a scientific theory
and sees no reason why God could not have
used a natural evolutionary process in the
forming of the human species.

The Catholic Church no longer teaches
creationism — the belief that God created the
world in six days as described in the Bible —
and says that the account in the book of
Genesis is an allegory for the way God created
the world.

But it objects to using evolution to back an
atheist philosophy that denies God's existence
or any divine role in creation. It also objects to
using Genesis as a scientific text."

 

Merry Christmas to All!

Dominus dixit ad me! -

The Lord hath said to me:

Thou art my son,

 

this day have I begotten thee.

In splendoribus sanctorum

ex utero ante luciferum genui te -

in the brightness of the Saints:

from the womb before the day star

I begot thee.