Roman Catholic Blog

Anathema Sit?

Hat tip to Fr. Z.

A reading from the 13th session of the Council of Trent:

“CANON XI.- If any one saith, that faith alone is a sufficient preparation for receiving the sacrament of the most holy Eucharist; let him be anathema. And for fear lest so great a sacrament may be received unworthily, and so unto death and condemnation, this holy Synod ordains and declares, that sacramental confession, when a confessor may be had, is of necessity to be made beforehand, by those whose conscience is burthened with mortal sin, how contrite even soever they may think themselves. But if any one shall presume to teach, preach, or obstinately to assert, or even in public disputation to defend the contrary, he shall be thereupon excommunicated.”

Render unto Caesar?

Pope Francis: "A Christian can never say, ‘I’ll make you pay for that.’ Never! That is not a Christian gesture. An offence is overcome with forgiveness, by living in peace with everyone."

From an article by Harriet Sherwood at the Guardian

"Pope Francis has made a thinly veiled criticism of the policies of Donald Trump, saying societies should build bridges not walls to encourage good relations among people.

The pontiff did not directly refer to the US president or his plan to build a fence along his country's border with Mexico.

But his statement at his weekly general audience at the Vatican that it was a Christian calling “to not raise walls but bridges, to not respond to evil with evil, to overcome evil with good” will be seen as an allusion to Trump’s plans and policies.

In improvised remarks, the pope appeared to further refer to Trump by saying: “A Christian can never say: ‘I’ll make you pay for that.’ Never! That is not a Christian gesture. An offense is overcome with forgiveness, by living in peace with everyone.”"

See the full story at: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/feb/08/pope-francis-walls-bridges-donald-trump

Suggestions for Lent

 

From an old priest who acted as my spiritual advisor at UCLA twenty five years ago.....

(No this is not him)

Suggestions for Lent: prayer, sacrifice and generous deeds.

 

1. Basic plan: “DPC”

D: Carry out the little duty of each moment, with faith (God sees and knows even our smallest acts) and love (because Love is the measure of all things).

“Do you really want to be a saint? Carry out the little duty of each moment: do what you ought and concentrate on what you are doing.” (St. Josemaria Escriva, The Way, n. 815)

 

P: Patience! With yourself, with others, with things and traffic, with work and delays; early in the morning and late at night and in all the moments in between!

“Let nothing disturb you. Let nothing frighten you.

All things pass. God never changes.

Patience wills all that it strives for.

He who has God finds that he lacks nothing.

God alone suffices!” (St. Teresa of Avila)

 

C: Do not complain: in the morning or in the afternoon or at night; to yourself or to others or about others; out loud or on the inside. One exception: you may complain to the Lord if you love him enough.

 

“You complain? And you tell me you have reason to complain: One pinprick after another!... But do you not realize that it is silly to be surprised at finding thorns among roses?

(St. Josemaria, Furrow 237)

“What a contrast between Our Lady's hope and our own impatience! So often we call upon God to reward us at once for any little good we have done. No sooner does the first difficulty appear than we start to complain. Often we are incapable of sustaining our efforts, of keeping our hope alive. Why? Because we lack faith.”

(St. Josemaria, Friends of God 286b)2.

 

2. Added points for Lent: DP DC

P: Pray better: concentrate on prayer. Pray your usual daily prayers but with greater attention and greater fervor. After all, prayer is talking to God! And listening to God!

Pray more during Lent: add what you will and, in any case, make sure you try to pray well!

 

DPC (as above)

 

3. More for Lent: MCM

M3: Make a mortification at mealtimes. We all enjoy our meals and snacks in between. During Lent: make some sacrifice in terms of food and drink. Best to give up something throughout the weeks of Lent… and then give thanks to Our Lord for all the good things you eat and drink.

 

C: Charity. We should never leave Charity in the last place. It should take the first place. Love God with your whole being. Show love for the others God has placed around you. Love is creative; you will find the way.

 

M: Me! I have to add something very personal to my Lenten sacrifices. Each of us should ask Our Lord, as St. Paul did: “What would you have me do, Lord?” (Acts 9:6)

  

"Sister" Carol Keehan - Grade 3 Cancer on the body politic of Holy Mother Church

Cancer can be classified into three different grades, per www.differencebetween.com.

Grade 1 is when cancer cells look alike like normal cells. In other words these are a slow growing cell which doesn’t show much symptoms of a cancer infection. A cancer infection if identified in this stage can be cured. This is also termed as early stage.

Grade 2 is when cancer cells start to appear different from normal cells. These are fast growing cells and are in the growing stage. If proper treatment is given at this stage, the disease can be cured. A cancer if unidentified in grade 2 could be termed as a stage where hope of curing is less or rare. A complete cure if guaranteed is only during the initial stages.

Grade 3 is when cancer cells are found to be immensely growing and is in the final stages of growth. This is when, the patient feels the pain in the parts of the body where cancer cell are grown. The pain will be severe and uncontrollable.

I see Sister Keehan as a Grade 3 cancer on the body politic of Holy Mother Church.

          "What Did CHA's Carol Keehan Know and When Did She Know It?

Register news analysis: As threats to religious liberty escalate, critics say it’s time to establish who truly speaks for the Church in the United States.

BY JOAN FRAWLEY DESMOND, National Catholic Register

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama on Feb. 10 confirmed that his administration was offering an “accommodation” to religious groups opposed to a controversial federal rule requiring private health plans to provide contraception and abortion services.

As reported in the media, church-affiliated employers would not have to directly cover those services; instead, their insurance plans would cover them.

The announcement prompted an expression of gratitude from Daughter of Charity Sister Carol Keehan, the president and CEO of the Catholic Health Association, and a polite, but wary response from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, which said they needed to study the proposed modification.

That evening, the bishops’ conference formally rejected the president’s “accommodation” as essentially meaningless.

For the rest of the weekend, amid a blur of news headlines and talking heads that offered conflicting judgments, the faithful in the pews struggled to determine what, if anything, had changed regarding the administration’s policy.

The contrasting responses from the CHA leader and the USCCB have left Catholics and the general public confused about who speaks for the Church on a matter of grave institutional concern and whether the Obama administration exploited a lack of clarity about that matter.

The dueling positions have fueled questions about the basis of Sister Carol’s endorsement: USCCB officials and health-care experts have since confirmed that the government has not issued any binding regulations that legally override the controversial contraception mandate finalized by the Department of Health and Human Services on Jan. 20.

Subsequent media coverage and interviews suggest that while the White House cleared its talking points with Sister Carol in advance of the president’s public address, the USCCB had been excluded from the administration’s deliberations.

..................................................

Who Speaks for the Church?

The confusion and possible institutional damage generated by Sister Carol’s public endorsement have led some Catholic experts in the health-care field to demand an accounting.

“On the basis of what information and what authority did she issue this endorsement? It’s embarrassing from a policy standpoint,” noted Paul Danello, an expert on civil and canon law issues in Catholic health care, who has received calls from Catholic hospitals worried about the implications of the HHS final rule.

“If the CHA board hasn’t authorized this, if she has no mandate from the USCCB, and if there are no legally binding documents, she is operating without any legal, governance or regulatory basis. That is a hell of a situation for a Roman Catholic nun that heads the Catholic Health Association to be in.”

.....

“It’s the right hand fighting against the left hand,” he said. “Who is speaking for the Church here? The Church needs to get its house in order.”"

For the full story please see:http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/what-did-catholic-health-associations-sister-carol-know-and-when-did-she-kn/

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Archbishop Nienstedt Holds the Line

Archbishop Nienstedt tells priests not to voice dissent

• Article by: ROSE FRENCH
• Star Tribune
• January 18, 2012 - 9:36 AM

Archbishop John Nienstedt is warning Catholic clergy across Minnesota that there should be no "open dissension" of the church's strong backing of a proposed amendment to the state Constitution that would define marriage as a union only between a man and woman.

In other early signs of the fervent campaign the church intends to wage for the amendment, which will be on every ballot in the state this fall, Nienstedt is appointing priests and married couples to visit archdiocesan high schools to talk about marriage. He has directed parishes to form committees to work for passage of the amendment. He also has warned a priest that he may be stripped of his ministry if he continues to disagree "with the church's teaching on marriage."

In a recent letter to priests and deacons, Nienstedt laid out why he believes it's important that the marriage amendment pass: "The endgame of those who oppose the marriage amendment that we support is not just to secure certain benefits for a particular minority, but, I believe, to eliminate the need for marriage altogether."

"As I see it, we have this one chance as Minnesotans to make things right," he said. "The stakes could not be higher."

With nearly 1.1 million Catholics in Minnesota, the church and its political arm, the Minnesota Catholic Conference, are likely to play a crucial role in whether the marriage amendment wins passage in November.

At the same time, other organizations such as Minnesotans United for All Families, a coalition that includes faith-based groups, are joining forces to defeat the amendment -- making it certain that Minnesota will be thrust into the growing national debate over whether states should sanction gay marriage.

Standoff emerging

Besides urging parish priests to form church committees to support the amendment, Nienstedt also wants Catholics to recite a special "marriage prayer" during mass that endorses marriage between a man and woman.

In the coming months, teams of a priest and a married couple are also set to talk to high school students in the archdiocese about why marriage should be a union between a man and woman.

David Meyer, principal of Hill-Murray School in Maplewood, said juniors and seniors are scheduled to hear a presentation by a team in April.

"We don't have a lot of details other than they're obviously going to be presenting the benefits of marriage," Meyer said. "I certainly support that."

But there is opposition to the church's strategy. One vocal critic of Nienstedt is the Rev. Mike Tegeder, who spoke against the amendment at a priests' meeting with Nienstedt in October.

In November, Tegeder received a letter stating that if he did not end his public opposition, Nienstedt would suspend his "faculties to exercise ministry" and remove him from his "ministerial assignments."

Marking the first clear standoff over the church's role in the amendment, Tegeder is not backing down.

He said he believes the church is being too political and contends that it's inappropriate for its leaders to campaign in support of the amendment.

"That's not the way to support marriage," said Tegeder, pastor at both St. Frances Cabrini and Gichitwaa Kateri churches in Minneapolis. "If we want to support marriage, there are wonderful things we can do as Catholic churches and ministers. We should not be focused on beating up a small number of people who have this desire to have committed relationships."

Some parishes are divided

Other priests in the Twin Cities metro area say many in their flocks believe the state's bishops are being too political.

One priest, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he fears censure by the archbishop, said he is not reciting the "marriage prayer" during mass. He also said that he has struggled to find volunteers to participate with the pro-amendment committee.

"Too many of us have a relative, a good friend, someone we know who's gay," he said. "A lot of churches are not doing the prayer. They're also appointing shell committees. Churches are creating them ... but there's really no true endorsement of the amendment."

Archdiocesan officials did not respond to a request for comment.

Jason Adkins, executive director of the Minnesota Catholic Conference, defends the campaign.

"We don't believe we're imposing anything on anybody in terms of ideas," he said. "We're simply training ... and working in educating and informing our citizens to go out and be good citizens in the public arena and explain to others why we think this is an important issue.

"People are free to object to that ... but we like everybody else have a responsibility and the freedom to participate in public debates."

Church more active here

The emerging campaign by Minnesota bishops is "very unusual,'' said John Green, a political science professor at the University of Akron who studies politics and religion.

"Churches are about spiritual things, and it's not that churches can't take positions on human behavior or sexuality,'' he said. "But the common complaint I've heard in many contexts is if the institution becomes politicized ... it can detract from the spiritual mission of the church because you'll have people having trouble praying with each other, who are going to feel uncomfortable coming to church."

It is also uncommon for bishops to suspend priests for failing to abide by Catholic teaching. Still, religious scholars say that priests have been suspended in recent decades for supporting the ordination of women and having differing views about church doctrine on birth control.

Rose French

The Return of Real Rubrics?

Something interesting is going on in the Diocese of Belleville in Illinois.

For the geographically challenged it's just East of St. Louis Missouri.

They've got a bishop in Belleville, Bishop Edward Braxton, who actually acts like Catholic Bishops used to act!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bishop Braxton actually expects his priests to celebrate the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass as it is written in the Roman Missal.

So much so that he just removed a priest (or rather accepted his resignation), Rev. William Rowe (pic below), for constantly changing the words of the Mass.

Here's the full story from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Illinois priest loses job after refusing to use new Catholic prayers

BY TIM TOWNSEND [email protected] > 314-340-8221 | Posted: Friday, February 3, 2012 12:05 am

For 18 years, the Rev. William Rowe has done a little improvising while celebrating Mass on Sunday mornings at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Mount Carmel, Ill.

Now those deviations have led to his resignation in an incident that may be tied to global changes to the Catholic liturgy.

Last Sunday, instead of saying "Lord our God that we may honor you with all our mind and love everyone in truth of heart," during the opening prayer, he altered the phrasing to better reflect the day's Gospel message, in which Jesus heals a man with a troubled spirit.

"We thank you, God, for giving us Jesus who helped us to be healed in mind and heart and proclaim his love to others," the 72-year-old priest prayed instead.

Three days later, Rowe received a letter from Bishop Edward Braxton accepting his resignation.

"The problem is that when I pray at Mass, I tend to change the words that are written in the book to match what I was talking about, or what a song is about," Rowe said in an interview.

The book in question is the Roman Missal, a book of prayers, chants and responses used during the Mass. Rowe has been saying some of those prayers in his own words for years.

But in December the Vatican-mandated adoption of a new English-language translation of the Missal may have given bishops an opportunity to rein in freewheeling priests who have been praying in their own words for decades.

"Since December when the new translation came out, no one has said what would happen to you if you changed stuff," said the Rev. John Foley, director of the Center for Liturgy at St. Louis University. "But I find it hard to believe a priest in Illinois would be forced to resign because he wasn't using the exact words from the translation. It's not a strong-enough offense for that."

In the wake of sweeping changes in the church as a result of the Second Vatican Council, some priests in the 1970s began using their own words and phrasing in place of the verbatim translations of the original Latin liturgy in the Missal, Foley said. He said there has never been an established penalty for improvising nonalterable prayers, and bishops have traditionally looked past an individual priest's extemporizing.

Monsignor Kevin Irwin, professor of liturgical studies at the Catholic University of America, said there are some prayers said by a priest at Mass in which he is "beholden to the structure not to the words."

But there are also prayers that priests are "duty bound to say," said the Rev. John Baldovin, professor of historical and liturgical theology at Boston College. Most of the prayers in the Missal, in fact, are not optional, he said.

Rowe said Belleville's previous bishop, Wilton Gregory, had discussed his off-the-cuff prayer habit with him, referring to the practice as "pushing the envelope." He said five years ago, Braxton also discussed the matter with him, and asked him to read directly from the Missal.

"I told him I couldn't do that," Rowe said. "That's how I pray."

Last summer, Rowe said, Braxton made it clear to his priests that "no priest may deviate from any wording in the official Missal."

In October, two months ahead of the introduction of the new Missal translation, Braxton said he couldn't permit Rowe to continue improvising, according to Rowe. The priest offered his resignation but didn't receive a response.

Braxton did not respond to a request for an interview with the Post-Dispatch.

On Monday, Braxton wrote Rowe a letter informing him that he'd accepted his resignation.

The action did not sit well with the nearly 500 families at St. Mary's, some of whom are contemplating a letter writing campaign to Braxton. "They're devastated," said Alice Worth, principal at St. Mary's School. "Father Bill is the backbone of our parish."

"The ways Father changed the Mass ritual with his words have only made it more meaningful to us as opposed to distancing us from the church," Worth said. "Everything he does is based on our faith, it's not just a whim. There's a reason for every word he prays."

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."

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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