Roman Catholic Blog

Jesuit Casuistry 101

If you want to see the modern incarnation of the disgusting Jesuit casuistry that led to the fall of the ancien regime and the Reign of Terror in France, look no farther than Jesuit Thomas Reese!

 

 

Notre Dame Right to Invite Obama

THIS CATHOLIC'S VIEW

By Thomas J. Reese

"Controversy over commencement speakers at Catholic universities pops up every spring along with the tulips. This year the controversy is over President Obama speaking at Notre Dame University May 17. Some have objected that this is a violation of the bishops' statement "Catholics in Political Life." This is absurd.

According to Catholics in Political Life, "The Catholic community and Catholic institutions should not honor those who act in defiance of our fundamental moral principles. They should not be given awards, honors or platforms which would suggest support for their actions."

I would argue that having Obama as a commencement speaker and giving him an honorary degree does not violate Catholics in Political Life because:

• In his personal life, Obama has never acted in defiance of the fundamental moral principle that abortion is wrong.

• Publicly, Obama has never spoken out against the fundamental moral principle that abortion is wrong.

• He supports legal restrictions on third trimester abortions with a health-of-the-mother exemption.

• Although he does not believe that other abortions can be made illegal, he supports programs to reduce the number of abortions.

• Notre Dame is not honoring Obama because of his views on abortion but because he is President of the United States, as has been made clear by the Rev. John Jenkins, Notre Dame's president.

Those wanting to read all of "Father" Reese's comments may do so at:

http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/georgetown/2009/03/notre_dame_right_to_invite_obama.html

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Jesuit casuistry is alive and well in America in 2009. Fr. Reese has "resurrected" (no pun intended) a variety of schewed moral logic that many thought dead.

 

The notion that a Roman Catholic priest of prominence, a member of a religious order founded on the principle of obedience to the Papacy!, can in a public forum engage in these moral "gymnastics" clearly points to the decrepit exercise of authority in the Roman Catholic Church.

To the extent that we "adopt" his moral logic to cloak gross immorality, that we embrace this brazen casuistry, we will suffer the same fate as those of the ancien regime who made the same mistake two hundred plus years ago.

Heart of a Lion?

Hat tip to Diane at the "Te Deum Ladamus" Blog.

(http://te-deum.blogspot.com/2009/03/bishop-salvatore-joseph-cordileone.html)

Bishop Salvatore Joseph Cordileone named Bishop of Oakland.

The Pope has named San Diego auxiliary bishop, Salvatore Joseph Cordileone to the Oakland, California diocese which recently became vacant when Archbishop Allen Vigneron was installed in Detroit a few months back.

The 52 year old has been an auxiliary bishop since 2002 for San Diego.

Diane opines that:

He is a canonist who worked in the curia at the Apostolic Signatura which is friend, Archbishop Raymond L. Burke now heads.

He is vocally pro-life, pro-family, and pro-marriage (in the Catholic sense)

He is strongly supportive of the traditional Latin Mass, celebrating the Requiem in EF for a priest who died in the diocese.

Related Links:

Pope Names Bishop for Oakland, CA (AP)

"Lion Heart" Meets "Space Egg" (Whispers in the Loggia)

Regrettably, he does not arrive in time to deal with the millions, tens of millions, hundreds on millions - specifically the $190,000,000.00 spent on the new Cathedral of Christ the Light by Archbishop Vigneron.

 

Archbishop Vigneron's predecessor, Bishop Cummins (who was Bishop of Oakland from 1977-2003)  said the $8 million it would cost to seismically retrofit old St. Frances De Sales Cathedral was too much... Here it is pictured in 1965 after it was "gutted" for the new liturgy.

 

Here it is in 1980...

 

While swaddled in neo-modernist claptrap, it's Gothic bones could not be hid.

What Mahoney did to old St. Vibiana, Cummins did to old St. Frances de Sales - albeit with the help of an earthquake.

Noetheless - good luck to the new Bishop of Oakland - Salvatore Joseph Cordileone.

Our Lady's University?

NOTRE DAME, Indiana, March 20, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - White House Secretary Robert Gibbs stated today that Obama will give the commencement address at Notre Dame University this year. The school confirmed the announcement, stating on its website that Obama will also receive an honorary doctor of laws degree at the University's 164th University Commencement Ceremony at 2 p.m. May 17 in the Joyce Center on campus. In 2004, the United States of Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) approved a policy statement called "Catholics in Political Life," which says, with reference to pro-abortion politicians, "They should not be given awards, honors or platforms which would suggest support for their actions."

President Obama has been called the "abortion president" by pro-life activists, and his appearance at the university would appear to violate the USCCB's policy against honoring pro-abortion politicians.

The "unseen" villian in all this is Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C., President of Notre Dame. (pic below)

 

His ND bio reads:

Rev. John Jenkins, C.S.C., professor of philosophy, presently serves as President of the University of Notre Dame. Areas of scholarly interest include medieval philosophy, particularly Aquinas and Augustine, philosophy of religion and epistemology. He received a B.A. and M.A. in philosophy from the University of Notre Dame (1976, 1978), a Licentiate in Sacred Theology from the Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley (1984) and a D.Phil. in philosophy from Oxford University (1989). He is th author of Knowledge and Faith in Thomas Aquinas (Cambridge University Press, 1997) and of articles which have appeared in The Journal of Philosophy, Medieval Philosophy and Theology, and Journal of Religious Ethics.

"Father" Jenkins can add inviting Obama to speak (and receive an honorary doctorate) to his list of infamy which includes his allowing the Notre Dame Queer Film Festival and the Vagina Monologues to be hosted on a campus supposedly dedicated to Our Lady!

Smell of Sulfur.

I thought I smelled a little sulfur in the air this morning in Fresno.

---

 

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-mahony17-2009mar17,0,5511858.story

From the Los Angeles Times

Cardinal Mahoney is expected to testify in a clergy abuse lawsuit in Fresno

Two brothers say they were molested by a priest for 14 years at a church in a small town north of Bakersfield. For part of that time, Mahony served as an administrator in the Fresno Diocese.

By Victoria Kim and Duke Helfand

March 17, 2009

Cardinal Roger Mahony is expected to testify in a clergy sexual abuse lawsuit in Fresno today, marking only the second time he has taken the witness stand to answer questions before jurors about alleged molestation by priests.

The Fresno lawsuit was brought by two brothers who say they were molested by a priest for 14 years at a church in Wasco, a small town north of Bakersfield. For part of the time, Mahony served in various high-level administrative positions in the Diocese of Fresno, which had jurisdiction over the parish, according to legal documents.

The brothers' lawsuit had initially been thrown out by a trial judge but was revived in May by state appellate judges, who seized on Mahony's own words. They said Mahony's testimony during a deposition could indicate that higher-ups in the Fresno Diocese had been alerted to the alleged abuse. Mahony, who is not a defendant in the case, has been subpoenaed as a trial witness.

Lawyers for the two plaintiffs, George and Howard Santillan, declined to comment. Attorneys for the Fresno Diocese did not respond to phone calls.

"Mahony is by far the highest-ranking U.S. Catholic official to testify at a civil trial," said Anne Barrett Doyle, co-director of BishopAccountability.org. "This is extremely rare."

Mahony last appeared in court in 1998 over allegations by two Stockton-area brothers that they were abused for years by a priest who was under Mahony's watch for some of the time.

The case resulted in a $30-million jury verdict, which was later reduced to $7 million in a settlement. Mahony, who was the bishop of Stockton from 1980 until 1985, said in his testimony that he was unaware of the alleged abuse.

Mahony's testimony this week comes amid a federal grand jury investigation into whether the cardinal or other church leaders committed fraud by failing to adequately deal with priests accused of sexual abuse in Los Angeles. Mahony has not given sworn testimony in any of hundreds of cases filed in Los Angeles, his attorney said.

The Santillan brothers allege that they were molested by a priest from 1959 to 1973. A part-time housekeeper let the boys into the priest's rectory bedroom and knew they were alone with him, the brothers alleged, according to court documents.

When confronted by the boys' mother years later, the housekeeper cried and apologized; she died before the brothers sued the diocese, according to the documents.

A Superior Court judge threw out the case, saying there was no evidence that the housekeeper ever reported her suspicions to church officials. In his deposition in the case, however, Mahony testified that he would have expected the housekeeper to tell "somebody" if she believed abuse had occurred. The appellate judges said that Mahony offered the only indication that the housekeeper had a duty to report the alleged incidents, and therefore that diocese officials might have been aware of them. They returned the case for trial in Fresno Superior Court.

The plaintiffs' attorneys sought to question Mahony about other instances of alleged abuse by priests, but Superior Court Judge Donald S. Black turned down the request.
________________

 

Deo Gratia - Cardinal Mahoney will turn 75 years of age on February 27, 2011. One hopes the remnant(s) of the Church in Southern California can hold out until his retirement!

Mumbling in Fresno.

This last Sunday I slept in. Not on purpose, but out of sloth.

I had set my alarm for 6:00 am, allotting myself enough time to get up, have a cup of coffee, bathe, dress, and make it to the 8:00 am mass at the Shrine of St. Therese just down the street from my house. (As a historic note - the shrine, pic below, was dedicated in 1919 and was the first church in the world dedicated to St. Therese)

Arising late, I drove over to my fiance's house where I was fed far too much good food for breakfast, and surprise - WANTED TO THEN TAKE A NAP! I didn't, but I wanted to.

She reminded me that we were supposed to go to a local club that evening to hear an "interpretative" music artist. She's into the "art" scene and I tag along as she humors me too in my esoteric tastes, albeit more classical than hers.

I give this background as I had to calculate when I would go to mass. No problem - St. Anthony of Padua Church in Fresno (pic below) has a 3:30pm Tridentine mass that I have always wanted to attend, but never had.

I have attended Tridentine masses in the past, and have always been struck by the completely different "aura" one feels when entering spaces where the usus antiquior is celebrated. I could write a point by point reflection on the "superior" aspects of this rite, but I want to focus on one of its great deficiencies, UNLESS THE PRIEST IS PROPERLY TRAINED - YOU CANNOT HEAR WHAT IS GOING ON.

 

The priest who said the Latin Mass at St. Anthony's yesterday was both old and foreign. I would guess Spanish by his accent. His Latin pronunciation was superb, when audible - which was regrettably not the case most of the time. Most of the time you could sense that someone was mumbling in front of the altar, but what was said - even from the limited angle of just trying to follow along in the missallette - was not possible.

Is there some rule against microphoning the old rite? I know that some of the prayers are actually titled "secret prayer," so maybe the microphone could be turned off at those times - but otherwise I don't see any harm in HEARING what is going on.

Have any of you had a similar experience?

In the eastern rite, and in Orthodox Churches, the priest is separated from the people by the iconostasis, but a deacon is left on the congregant side of that great divide to lead the faithful in prayers in singing.

I know that there has also been talk about restoration of the NOVUS ORDO being celebrated AD ORIENTEM, but even in those instances I think people will want to HEAR what the priest in praying (on their behalf) to G*d.

Miracle on the Potomac.

I just returned from a conference in Washington DC. I've attended this conference for almost each of the last ten years. This trip was unique in two ways:

1.) The "cult" of President Obama is alive and well in our nation's capital. I have NEVER, and I mean NEVER seen so overt a "cult of personality" as pertains to an elected official. Even in the museums; e.g., the Smithsonian, the National Portrait Gallery, he is omnipresent.

I don't mean the blasphemous Obama votive candles like those above. I actually didn't see any of these. Poor St. Martin de Porres, one wonders whether he's laughing or crying in heaven?

 

No, I mean these omnipresent Obama "hope" images liker this one below.

It triggered a memory in me of twenty five years ago, when still an undergraduate I had to switch trains in Berlin's Alexanderplatz station. At that time the leader of communist East Germany was Erich Hoenecker. His picture was everywhere in the DDR (East Germany).

 

In the midst of all this adulation, in Washington DC a morally "suspect" city irregardless of who is President, there exists an unbelievably vibrant liturgical life.

2.) If you want good liturgy go to DC. I had been familiar from past trips with the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, the largest Church in North America. (Pic below)

All day, every day, at multiple hours there are masses, confessions, adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, etc...  I got off a plane at 4:00pm, checked into my hotel, drove up to Catholic University (on whose grounds the Basilica is found) and voila - there was some form of devotion on-going. I needed to go to confession, and is normally the case found an incredibly erudite confessor (probably an academic at CUA).

The next day, which was Sunday, I decided to go to mass at the Cathedral of St. Matthew.(pic below) They offer a Novus Ordo Latin Mass at 10:00 am on Sundays. It was sublime. It was the best done mass I have attended outside of St. Michael's Abbey in Orange County.

 

My point is this, even in the midst of the ascension to power in the government of the United States of a President like Barak Obama, with the tide of secular humanism rising higher and higher, there exist pockets of grace - at places like The Basilica of the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception and at the Cathedral of St. Matthew.

If G*d initially spared Sodom because of a handful of righteous men, who knows the beneficial impact of good churches in staying G*d's hand from punishing our Republic?

Bride of which Christ?

Influential nun calls for 'non-violent resistance' against Vatican apostolic visitation

 

Mar. 4, 2009 (CWNews.com) -

An influential American nun has called for "non-violent resistance" against a Vatican investigation of women's religious orders. In an email message to colleagues that has now been published by the National Catholic Reporter, Sister Sandra Schneiders, who teaches at the Jesuit School of Theology in Berkeley, California, says that the apostolic visitation recently announced by the Vatican will be "aggressive and dishonest." She acknowledges that American religious orders cannot prevent the Vatican inquiry. However, she recommends:

But we can receive them, politely and kindly, for what they are, uninvited guests who should be received in the parlor, not given the run of the house. When people ask questions they shouldn't ask, the questions should be answered accordingly.

Sister Schneiders, a members of the Sisters Servants of the Immaculate Hear of Mary, argues that most women's religious orders have found an entirely new way of living their vocations since Vatican II. "So, let's be what we are," she writes: "Religious who are not cloistered and ministers who are not ordained." She rejects criticism that was aired last year at a seminar held at Stonehill College, at which Cardinal Franc Rodé-- the prefect of the Congregation for Religious-- warned that some orders seemed to "have simply acquiesced to the disappearance of religious life or at least of their communities." That conference, Sister Schneiders said, was "a pep rally for those convinced they are right and can only be right if people not like them are wrong."

__________________________________

Lord, rid your Church of this cancer!

Brave New World......Now?

"Designer Baby" battle

Published: 2009/03/02 10:17:50 GMT, BBC News

A US clinic has sparked controversy by offering would-be parents the chance to select traits like the eye and hair colour of their offspring.

The LA Fertility Institutes run by Dr Jeff Steinberg, a pioneer of IVF in the 1970s, expects a trait-selected baby to be born next year.

His clinic also offers sex selection.

UK fertility experts are angered that the service will distract attention from how the same technology can protect against inherited disease.

The science is based on a lab technique called preimplantation genetic diagnosis, or PGD.

This involves testing a cell taken from a very early embryo before it is put into the mother's womb.

Doctors then select an embryo free from rogue genes - or in this case an embryo with the desired physical traits such as blonde hair and blue eyes - to continue the pregnancy, and discard any others.

Dr Steinberg said couples might seek to use the clinic's services for both medical and cosmetic reasons.

For example, a couple might want to have a baby with a darker complexion to help guard against a skin cancer if they already had a child who had developed a melanoma. But others might just want a boy with blonde hair.

His clinic is offering this cosmetic selection to patients already having genetic screening for abnormal chromosome conditions in their embryos.

"Not all patients will qualify for these tests and we make NO guarantees as to 'perfect prediction' of things such as eye colour or hair colour," says the clinic's website.

Dr Steinberg said: "I would not say this is a dangerous road. It's an uncharted road."

He said the capability to offer such services had been around for years, but had been ignored by the medical community.

"It's time for everyone to pull their heads out of the sand."

Slippery slope

But Dr Gillian Lockwood, a UK fertility expert and member of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists' ethics committee, questioned whether is was morally right to be using the science in this way.

"If it gets to the point where we can decide which gene or combination of genes are responsible for blue eyes or blonde hair, what are you going to do with all those other embryos that turn out like me to be ginger with green eyes?"

She warned against "turning babies into commodities that you buy off the shelf."

Josephine Quintavalle of Comment on Reproductive Ethics said: "This is the inevitable slippery slope of a fertility process which results in many more embryos being created than can be implanted. Choices will always have to be made. Do you choose octuplets or the ones with the prettiest noses?"

In the UK, sex selection is banned and choices are currently permitted only in relationship to the baby's health.

Italian fertility law does not permit the creation of surplus embryos or selective testing. Ms Quintavalle said that was "one sure way to avoid the slippery slope".

Meanwhile, new legislation in the UK, due to come in on 6 April, will allow IVF mothers to name anyone as "father" on the birth certificate - even another woman.

The only restriction on naming a second parent will be if they are close blood relatives or if the second person does not agree.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7918296.stm