Sent: Monday, December 29, 2008 8:39 PM
Subject: Final Results
Sorry Seanie you never rose higher than 10th in points nor head to head but more than welcome back next year to try again--if you bring $100 to the draft like everyone else.
The Webb wins week 17--his first win of the season--I think he did the same last year as well.
Head to Head winner:
Sr Skinny $95
Animal Interiors $45
High Points:
1. AI 1792 $195
2. Pacman Boys 1718 $95
3. Senor Skinny 1708 $70
4. Steel Curtain 1680 $45
out of the money:
5. TI and M 1670
6. DT 1653
7. TW 1641
8 NILP 1599
9 J 1530
10. RTG 1504
Hold all scorecards--check them twice--if all holds this is end of season payouts:
TEAMS: Weeks 1&2 Wks 3&4 Wks 5&6 Wks 7&8 Wks 9&10 Wks 11&12 Wks 13&14 Wks 15-17 End of Year TOTAL
Seanie Boy $0.00 $0.00
Gerry $25.00 $25.00 $50.00 $240.00 $340.00
Mike $25.00 $25.00 $25.00 $25.00 $25.00 $95.00 $220.00
Ted $0.00 $0.00
JD $25.00 $0.00 $25.00
Jeff/ Max $25.00 $25.00 $0.00 $50.00
Wayne $0.00 $0.00
Jim Sr $25.00 $25.00 $25.00 $165.00 $240.00
Fitz $25.00 $45.00 $70.00
Erik $25.00 $0.00 $25.00
$0.00
$0.00
$0.00
$0.00
TOTAL: $50.00 $50.00 $50.00 $50.00 $50.00 $50.00 $50.00 $75.00 $545.00 $970.00
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!
Monday, December 29, 2008
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Christmas Greetings From Fr. Corapi
Sent: Wednesday, December 24, 2008 9:57 PM
Subject: Fw: Christmas Greetings From Fr. Corapi
A Christmas Greeting
The blessed and joyous time of Christmas is here again. So, I’ll just take the opportunity to thank all of our viewing and listening family for allowing us into your homes. I don’t take that for granted. I am honestly grateful to you for allowing us to serve you in that way.
As I look out the windows of my home in Montana it sure is “beginning to look a lot like Christmas.” We have about a foot of snow and it’s been below zero for about ten days. Two of my dogs are under my desk with their heads resting on my feet--looking like those big fuzzy slippers that little kids sometimes wear.
Christmas is, of course, the best time to recall that Jesus, the Son of God, in fact was born in a poor stable or cave on a cold night—“for us men, and for our salvation.” Amidst the escalating uncertainty and chaos of the modern world we must sit still for a moment and remember what really matters.
In recent years major corporations have been vaporized in the twinkling of an eye. It’s a sign of the times, but recall that what really matters is that it was the twinkling of a star that led shepherds and wise men to the One who is the Light of the world.
In recent years the biggest accounting firm in the world ceased to be over night. They don’t account for anything today, but it honestly doesn’t matter. What really matters is that on a cold night two millennia ago the God who loves us was born in Bethlehem and laid in a manger by the Mother who loves Him.
In recent years the unthinkable has happened--major banks and financial institutions have ceased to be. That doesn’t matter either because the truly unthinkable happened on the first Christmas Eve long ago when the God who always was and will never cease to be came to show us the depth and breadth of His love.
In recent years I have been accused of being a “prophet of doom, and a pessimist.” I can understand this criticism, but it really isn’t true. I am a realist, and as a priest and Catholic/Christian of necessity must share in the prophetic dimension of Christ. The United States, and the entire world for the most part, is in many ways precipitating its own demise. That matters, and we must do all we can to “fight the good fight,” but what truly matters is the state of your soul and mine because in the end that will determine how we live forever, and compared to that nothing else really matters.
Things may go from bad to worse. It may well go from uncomfortable to dangerous to live your Catholic/Christian faith in a world unraveling rapidly due to one bad moral choice after the other. Remember that it will not be the first time if Christians are persecuted, even imprisoned and executed. “The blood of martyrs is the seed of Christians.” The Western world is too fat and lazy, in the secular order and even in the religious. Perhaps a jolly good persecution may be what it takes for people to decide to live their faith, rather than go along with what they know to be a sick society.
In any event, don’t let it get you down. Whatever happens, stay close to Jesus and Mary. Remember that our God is not against you. He is for you, and He will be with you through all of the ups and downs of life. He will be with you in sickness and in health; in good times and in bad; and when death comes knocking at your door He will be there to comfort you and lead you safely home. Having fought the good fight and run the race to the finish line, you will surely hear those beautiful words:
“WELL DONE MY GOOD AND FAITHFUL SERVANT! NOW AT LAST ENTER INTO THE JOY OF YOUR MASTER’S HOUSE.”
A most blessed and merry Christmas and a holy, happy, and healthy New Year to each and all of you!
Fr. John Corapi
Subject: Fw: Christmas Greetings From Fr. Corapi
A Christmas Greeting
The blessed and joyous time of Christmas is here again. So, I’ll just take the opportunity to thank all of our viewing and listening family for allowing us into your homes. I don’t take that for granted. I am honestly grateful to you for allowing us to serve you in that way.
As I look out the windows of my home in Montana it sure is “beginning to look a lot like Christmas.” We have about a foot of snow and it’s been below zero for about ten days. Two of my dogs are under my desk with their heads resting on my feet--looking like those big fuzzy slippers that little kids sometimes wear.
Christmas is, of course, the best time to recall that Jesus, the Son of God, in fact was born in a poor stable or cave on a cold night—“for us men, and for our salvation.” Amidst the escalating uncertainty and chaos of the modern world we must sit still for a moment and remember what really matters.
In recent years major corporations have been vaporized in the twinkling of an eye. It’s a sign of the times, but recall that what really matters is that it was the twinkling of a star that led shepherds and wise men to the One who is the Light of the world.
In recent years the biggest accounting firm in the world ceased to be over night. They don’t account for anything today, but it honestly doesn’t matter. What really matters is that on a cold night two millennia ago the God who loves us was born in Bethlehem and laid in a manger by the Mother who loves Him.
In recent years the unthinkable has happened--major banks and financial institutions have ceased to be. That doesn’t matter either because the truly unthinkable happened on the first Christmas Eve long ago when the God who always was and will never cease to be came to show us the depth and breadth of His love.
In recent years I have been accused of being a “prophet of doom, and a pessimist.” I can understand this criticism, but it really isn’t true. I am a realist, and as a priest and Catholic/Christian of necessity must share in the prophetic dimension of Christ. The United States, and the entire world for the most part, is in many ways precipitating its own demise. That matters, and we must do all we can to “fight the good fight,” but what truly matters is the state of your soul and mine because in the end that will determine how we live forever, and compared to that nothing else really matters.
Things may go from bad to worse. It may well go from uncomfortable to dangerous to live your Catholic/Christian faith in a world unraveling rapidly due to one bad moral choice after the other. Remember that it will not be the first time if Christians are persecuted, even imprisoned and executed. “The blood of martyrs is the seed of Christians.” The Western world is too fat and lazy, in the secular order and even in the religious. Perhaps a jolly good persecution may be what it takes for people to decide to live their faith, rather than go along with what they know to be a sick society.
In any event, don’t let it get you down. Whatever happens, stay close to Jesus and Mary. Remember that our God is not against you. He is for you, and He will be with you through all of the ups and downs of life. He will be with you in sickness and in health; in good times and in bad; and when death comes knocking at your door He will be there to comfort you and lead you safely home. Having fought the good fight and run the race to the finish line, you will surely hear those beautiful words:
“WELL DONE MY GOOD AND FAITHFUL SERVANT! NOW AT LAST ENTER INTO THE JOY OF YOUR MASTER’S HOUSE.”
A most blessed and merry Christmas and a holy, happy, and healthy New Year to each and all of you!
Fr. John Corapi
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Eating Meat on Fridays
Sent: Saturday, December 20, 2008 11:54 AM
Subject: Eating Meat on Fridays | Catholic-Pages.com
I think sometimes you guys think I make this stuff up:
Meat on Fridays
Most Catholics think that Vatican II did away with the requirement of not eating meat on any Friday of the year. Most think it is now just Ash Wednesday and the Fridays of Lent that we cannot eat meat.
This is what the new Code of Canon Law brought out in 1983 says about the matter:
Canon 1251
Abstinence from meat, or from some other food as determined by the Episcopal Conference, is to be observed on all Fridays, unless a solemnity should fall on a Friday. Abstinence and fasting are to be observed on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.
Canon Law still requires that Catholics not eat meat on Fridays!
Of course, most Episcopal Conferences have determined that, instead of abstaining from meat, Catholics may perform an act of penance of their choosing. But, do you ever remember to abstain from a particular food or do some other penance on Fridays? And, at any rate, the main rule is still to abstain from meat on Fridays, the performance of another penance instead is an optional alternative.
It's very interesting to note that the National Conference of Catholic Bishops (the United States' Episcopal Conference) is currently debating whether to rescind the determination and require all Catholics to abstain from meat on all Fridays of the year. The Bishops are considering that a return to meatless Fridays for all Catholics would be of benefit because:
It is an expression of one's Catholicity; and
In reparation for the grave sin of abortion.
Subject: Eating Meat on Fridays | Catholic-Pages.com
I think sometimes you guys think I make this stuff up:
Meat on Fridays
Most Catholics think that Vatican II did away with the requirement of not eating meat on any Friday of the year. Most think it is now just Ash Wednesday and the Fridays of Lent that we cannot eat meat.
This is what the new Code of Canon Law brought out in 1983 says about the matter:
Canon 1251
Abstinence from meat, or from some other food as determined by the Episcopal Conference, is to be observed on all Fridays, unless a solemnity should fall on a Friday. Abstinence and fasting are to be observed on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.
Canon Law still requires that Catholics not eat meat on Fridays!
Of course, most Episcopal Conferences have determined that, instead of abstaining from meat, Catholics may perform an act of penance of their choosing. But, do you ever remember to abstain from a particular food or do some other penance on Fridays? And, at any rate, the main rule is still to abstain from meat on Fridays, the performance of another penance instead is an optional alternative.
It's very interesting to note that the National Conference of Catholic Bishops (the United States' Episcopal Conference) is currently debating whether to rescind the determination and require all Catholics to abstain from meat on all Fridays of the year. The Bishops are considering that a return to meatless Fridays for all Catholics would be of benefit because:
It is an expression of one's Catholicity; and
In reparation for the grave sin of abortion.
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Blessing the Babies
Sent: Sunday, December 14, 2008 2:55 PM
Subject: Whispers in the Loggia
At this morning's Angelus, turnout was even heavier than usual as the Pope continued the longstanding, beloved Roman tradition of blessing the Bambinelli -- the likenesses of the Christkindl brought by the city's children to St Peter's Square every Gaudete Sunday in advance of their arrival in the family creche come Christmas.
For the first time, as opposed to including the figures in the general blessing at the noontime prayer's end, B16 employed a special prayer for the rite. Lest anyone find it useful in coming days, here's a translation:
God our Father,
you loved man so much
to send us your only Son Jesus,
born of the Virgin Mary,
to save us and lead us back to you.
We pray that, with your blessing
these images of Jesus, soon to come among us,
might be, in our homes,
a sign of your presence and love.
Good Father,
give your blessing to us, too,
to our parents, our families and friends.
Open our hearts,
that we might know to receive Jesus in joy,
always do what he asks of us
and see him in all those
who need our love.
We ask this in the name of Jesus,
your beloved Son, who came to give peace to the world.
You who live and reign forever and ever.
Amen.
...and as a bonus, an especially-beloved Italian carol...
http://whispersintheloggia.blogspot.com/
Subject: Whispers in the Loggia
At this morning's Angelus, turnout was even heavier than usual as the Pope continued the longstanding, beloved Roman tradition of blessing the Bambinelli -- the likenesses of the Christkindl brought by the city's children to St Peter's Square every Gaudete Sunday in advance of their arrival in the family creche come Christmas.
For the first time, as opposed to including the figures in the general blessing at the noontime prayer's end, B16 employed a special prayer for the rite. Lest anyone find it useful in coming days, here's a translation:
God our Father,
you loved man so much
to send us your only Son Jesus,
born of the Virgin Mary,
to save us and lead us back to you.
We pray that, with your blessing
these images of Jesus, soon to come among us,
might be, in our homes,
a sign of your presence and love.
Good Father,
give your blessing to us, too,
to our parents, our families and friends.
Open our hearts,
that we might know to receive Jesus in joy,
always do what he asks of us
and see him in all those
who need our love.
We ask this in the name of Jesus,
your beloved Son, who came to give peace to the world.
You who live and reign forever and ever.
Amen.
...and as a bonus, an especially-beloved Italian carol...
http://whispersintheloggia.blogspot.com/
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Keep Christ in Christmas
Sent: Wednesday, December 10, 2008 8:31 PM
Subject: Re: Re:
> as far as I knew I thought we were Catholics celebrating the Lord's birthday
>
> Why a need to combine/ destroy CHRISTmas? People are trying to secularize
> Christmas and everything else sacred. They want culture of death not life.
>
> People can celebrate what they want--I am all for that but dont blur
> Christmas in with the other holidays which takes place now. Send Christmas
> cards to those celebrating Christmas and send Ramadan to those celebrating
> Ramadan--I have no idea who is celebrating Kwanza and ill end that there.
>
> Do people celebrating Ramadan, whatever else is being celebrated this month
> want polar bears, snowflakes, snowmen, or whatever that is supposed to
> represent a secular Christmas on there Ramadan card?
>
> It seems we dont want to offend the 10% of Americans not celebrating
> Christmas--so that is 90% of people here are celebrating Christmas in some
> fashion. Who are these with a war on Christmas? They dont want to be
> offended and thus want us to celebrate happy holiday or season greetings???
> I am insulted as a Catholic by people trying to remove Christ from
> Christmas.
>
> Keep Christ in Christmas
> Gerry
Subject: Re: Re:
> as far as I knew I thought we were Catholics celebrating the Lord's birthday
>
> Why a need to combine/ destroy CHRISTmas? People are trying to secularize
> Christmas and everything else sacred. They want culture of death not life.
>
> People can celebrate what they want--I am all for that but dont blur
> Christmas in with the other holidays which takes place now. Send Christmas
> cards to those celebrating Christmas and send Ramadan to those celebrating
> Ramadan--I have no idea who is celebrating Kwanza and ill end that there.
>
> Do people celebrating Ramadan, whatever else is being celebrated this month
> want polar bears, snowflakes, snowmen, or whatever that is supposed to
> represent a secular Christmas on there Ramadan card?
>
> It seems we dont want to offend the 10% of Americans not celebrating
> Christmas--so that is 90% of people here are celebrating Christmas in some
> fashion. Who are these with a war on Christmas? They dont want to be
> offended and thus want us to celebrate happy holiday or season greetings???
> I am insulted as a Catholic by people trying to remove Christ from
> Christmas.
>
> Keep Christ in Christmas
> Gerry
Friday, November 28, 2008
A Thanksgiving Message
Sent: Friday, November 28, 2008 9:47 AM
Subject: Fw: A Thanksgiving Message and 10% Off Coupon
Give Thanks to the Lord for He is Good
Every Thanksgiving we are reminded to do for at least one day what should be a constant dimension of our spiritual life: Give Thanks. The prayer of thanksgiving is one of the major forms of prayer, along with adoration, reparation, intercession, and impetration (asking for what we need) to name some of the major categories of prayer.
This year, as always, we should count our blessings whoever we are and wherever we are. In the United States of America we should carefully and clearly think of what makes this country great, the essentials that were there from the beginning and that define what we are. By the same token, we should carefully, clearly, and courageously define what is not part of the true fabric of our nation’s very essence. Things that have become an everyday part of American life threaten to destroy the real country, the one the Founding Fathers founded on Christian principles. Anti-human realities such as abortion, euthanasia, fetal stem cell research, human cloning, pornography, and homosexual sexual relations—all of these are foreign to what this country is about and always was about. We should thank God for this, for if this were not true we would have ceased to exist long ago. God has to be first in our lives, not economic prosperity. If you are right with God, the economic factor will fall into place. If not, then greed, fraud, deceit, and every vice under the sun will rule. No one will trust the government, the corporate world, the professions, etc. The moral unraveling precedes the ultimate unraveling of a nation or a world. Chaos is the inevitable result, and death follows close behind.
Immorality is un-American, and a threat to national security. I said that right after 911, and it is more true than ever. In my lifetime I have experienced the moral erosion of our national consciousness. It’s as if large segments of the population had some portion of their brain removed or their eyes blinded. We should recall that all of the “old ways” are not inferior to some of the “new ways.” We must likewise recall that “God’s ways are not our ways. God’s ways are as far above our ways as the heavens are above the earth.” God can’t indeed write straight with crooked lines. He can bring good out of the worst evil, not that the evil should be accepted or countenanced, but when we’ve done all we can do to fight the evil, know that we haven’t lost. Jesus Christ is the “Lamb of God,” and “Prince of Peace” to be sure, but don’t ever forget that He is also “the Lion of the Tribe of Judah.” The violence and power with which God himself will confront and destroy the evil that threatens us far surpasses anything we could do.
So, this Thanksgiving “thank God for God!” God is in charge! Don’t forget that. God is all-good, all-merciful, all-loving, and all-powerful. He will fight the enemies of what is true and good. “If God is for you, who can be against you!” Thank God for your faith and your family, your health and your wealth—no matter how large or small. The spirit of thanksgiving makes a heavy heart lighter. It’ll clear your head of a thousand worries and concerns. One thing alone is important: your personal relationship with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. If that is right you will be right. If that is right, the entire world can be sinking into hell under the weight of its sins and misery, you will fly above the turmoil, destined for the glory held in store for the sons and daughters of the Lord of the Universe.
Have a blessed and happy Thanksgiving!
Fr. John Corapi
Subject: Fw: A Thanksgiving Message and 10% Off Coupon
Give Thanks to the Lord for He is Good
Every Thanksgiving we are reminded to do for at least one day what should be a constant dimension of our spiritual life: Give Thanks. The prayer of thanksgiving is one of the major forms of prayer, along with adoration, reparation, intercession, and impetration (asking for what we need) to name some of the major categories of prayer.
This year, as always, we should count our blessings whoever we are and wherever we are. In the United States of America we should carefully and clearly think of what makes this country great, the essentials that were there from the beginning and that define what we are. By the same token, we should carefully, clearly, and courageously define what is not part of the true fabric of our nation’s very essence. Things that have become an everyday part of American life threaten to destroy the real country, the one the Founding Fathers founded on Christian principles. Anti-human realities such as abortion, euthanasia, fetal stem cell research, human cloning, pornography, and homosexual sexual relations—all of these are foreign to what this country is about and always was about. We should thank God for this, for if this were not true we would have ceased to exist long ago. God has to be first in our lives, not economic prosperity. If you are right with God, the economic factor will fall into place. If not, then greed, fraud, deceit, and every vice under the sun will rule. No one will trust the government, the corporate world, the professions, etc. The moral unraveling precedes the ultimate unraveling of a nation or a world. Chaos is the inevitable result, and death follows close behind.
Immorality is un-American, and a threat to national security. I said that right after 911, and it is more true than ever. In my lifetime I have experienced the moral erosion of our national consciousness. It’s as if large segments of the population had some portion of their brain removed or their eyes blinded. We should recall that all of the “old ways” are not inferior to some of the “new ways.” We must likewise recall that “God’s ways are not our ways. God’s ways are as far above our ways as the heavens are above the earth.” God can’t indeed write straight with crooked lines. He can bring good out of the worst evil, not that the evil should be accepted or countenanced, but when we’ve done all we can do to fight the evil, know that we haven’t lost. Jesus Christ is the “Lamb of God,” and “Prince of Peace” to be sure, but don’t ever forget that He is also “the Lion of the Tribe of Judah.” The violence and power with which God himself will confront and destroy the evil that threatens us far surpasses anything we could do.
So, this Thanksgiving “thank God for God!” God is in charge! Don’t forget that. God is all-good, all-merciful, all-loving, and all-powerful. He will fight the enemies of what is true and good. “If God is for you, who can be against you!” Thank God for your faith and your family, your health and your wealth—no matter how large or small. The spirit of thanksgiving makes a heavy heart lighter. It’ll clear your head of a thousand worries and concerns. One thing alone is important: your personal relationship with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. If that is right you will be right. If that is right, the entire world can be sinking into hell under the weight of its sins and misery, you will fly above the turmoil, destined for the glory held in store for the sons and daughters of the Lord of the Universe.
Have a blessed and happy Thanksgiving!
Fr. John Corapi
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Economy
Sent: Wednesday, November 26, 2008 3:00 PM
Subject: DickMorris.com
The subprime mortgage crisis is only the Sarajevo which caused the financial collapse. The real reason is the massive explosion of debt at all levels and in all forms that has engulfed the world. Since 1992, the total of debt in the world has gone from a level equal to global GDP to a level that is now 3.7 times as much as global GDP. This debt explosion, explained in Charles Morris’ book (no relation) The Trillion Dollar Meltdown, consists not only of mortgages, but bonds for corporations that can’t repay them, credit cards for consumers who are neck deep in debt, car loans for drivers who can’t meet the payments, student loans that are swamping young couples, and default insurance sold by companies that can’t make good on their commitments. This massive debt has to be sweated out of our global economic system like a heroin addiction.
Full Story
http://www.dickmorris.com/blog/
Subject: DickMorris.com
The subprime mortgage crisis is only the Sarajevo which caused the financial collapse. The real reason is the massive explosion of debt at all levels and in all forms that has engulfed the world. Since 1992, the total of debt in the world has gone from a level equal to global GDP to a level that is now 3.7 times as much as global GDP. This debt explosion, explained in Charles Morris’ book (no relation) The Trillion Dollar Meltdown, consists not only of mortgages, but bonds for corporations that can’t repay them, credit cards for consumers who are neck deep in debt, car loans for drivers who can’t meet the payments, student loans that are swamping young couples, and default insurance sold by companies that can’t make good on their commitments. This massive debt has to be sweated out of our global economic system like a heroin addiction.
Full Story
http://www.dickmorris.com/blog/
20 Tips For Making A Good Confession
Sent: Wednesday, November 26, 2008 10:59 AM
Subject: What Does The Prayer Really Say?
Fr. Z’s 20 Tips For Making A Good Confession o{]:¬)
We should…
1) ...examine our consciences regularly and thoroughly;
2) ...wait our turn in line patiently;
3) ...come at the time confessions are scheduled, not a few minutes before they are to end;
4) ...speak distinctly but never so loudly that we might be overheard;
5) ...state our sins clearly and briefly without rambling;
6) ...confess all mortal sins in number and kind;
7) ...listen carefully to the advice the priest gives;
8) ...confess our own sins and not someone else’s;
9) ...carefully listen to and remember the penance and be sure to understand it;
10) ...use a regular formula for confession so that it is familiar and comfortable;
11) ...never be afraid to say something "embarrassing"... just say it;
12) ...never worry that the priest thinks we are jerks…. he is usually impressed by our courage;
13) ...never fear that the priest will not keep our confession secret… he is bound by the Seal;
14) ...never confess "tendencies" or "struggles"... just sins;
15) ...never leave the confessional before the priest has finished giving absolution;
16) ...memorize an Act of Contrition;
17) ...answer the priest’s questions briefly if he asks for a clarification;
18) ...ask questions if we can’t understand what he means when he tells us something;
19) ...keep in mind that sometimes priests can have bad days just like we do;
20) ...remember that priests must go to confession too … they know what we are going through.
http://wdtprs.com/blog/
Subject: What Does The Prayer Really Say?
Fr. Z’s 20 Tips For Making A Good Confession o{]:¬)
We should…
1) ...examine our consciences regularly and thoroughly;
2) ...wait our turn in line patiently;
3) ...come at the time confessions are scheduled, not a few minutes before they are to end;
4) ...speak distinctly but never so loudly that we might be overheard;
5) ...state our sins clearly and briefly without rambling;
6) ...confess all mortal sins in number and kind;
7) ...listen carefully to the advice the priest gives;
8) ...confess our own sins and not someone else’s;
9) ...carefully listen to and remember the penance and be sure to understand it;
10) ...use a regular formula for confession so that it is familiar and comfortable;
11) ...never be afraid to say something "embarrassing"... just say it;
12) ...never worry that the priest thinks we are jerks…. he is usually impressed by our courage;
13) ...never fear that the priest will not keep our confession secret… he is bound by the Seal;
14) ...never confess "tendencies" or "struggles"... just sins;
15) ...never leave the confessional before the priest has finished giving absolution;
16) ...memorize an Act of Contrition;
17) ...answer the priest’s questions briefly if he asks for a clarification;
18) ...ask questions if we can’t understand what he means when he tells us something;
19) ...keep in mind that sometimes priests can have bad days just like we do;
20) ...remember that priests must go to confession too … they know what we are going through.
http://wdtprs.com/blog/
Friday, November 21, 2008
FOCA
Sent: Friday, November 21, 2008 1:47 PM
Subject: video
Getting catholics aware of whats about to come with the Freedom of Choice Act and how to fight it!
Category: News & Politics
Tags:
freedom choice act life Pro-life catholics evil abortion obama politics FOCA
http://i4.ytimg.com/vi/_cwYKnVgITs/default.jpg
Subject: video
Getting catholics aware of whats about to come with the Freedom of Choice Act and how to fight it!
Category: News & Politics
Tags:
freedom choice act life Pro-life catholics evil abortion obama politics FOCA
http://i4.ytimg.com/vi/_cwYKnVgITs/default.jpg
Catholic Culture
Sent: Friday, November 21, 2008 10:14 AM
Subject: Fw: Fr. Tom Euteneuer: Election Part II - Catholic Culture and theElection of Barack Obama
The degradation of Catholic culture is largely, but not exclusively, the fault of the clergy. For four decades in the Catholic Church in America we have seen:
Liturgical abuses run rampant, aided and abetted by those in charge
Two or three generations of Catholics left un-catechized or taught with flimsy, Protestantized fluff passed off as Catholic education
Sexual abuse by clergy excused and unaddressed by the hierarchy
A blind eye turned to high profile dissent and political class heretics
Wholesale attacks on sacred teachings that receive virtually no response from our pastors (and if it weren't for Catholic Answers, EWTN and the Catholic League we would have no defense whatsoever)
The succumbing of our Catholic institutions of higher education to the ravages of political correctness, and the list goes on.
In the face of all this, should we be surprised that 54% of "Catholics" voted for Barack? Hardly.
The battle for Catholic culture begins with us, and there is no time like the present to don the armor of spiritual warfare. We either believe and practice what the Church teaches or we live as part of the shadow church, falsely trading on the Name Catholic for its benefits without at the same time shouldering the crosses that this entails.
There is, however, great hope for the future because the battle has already been engaged: new Catholic colleges are springing up to replace the old decrepit houses of heresy, new religious orders with abundant vocations and orthodoxy have arisen, home schooling families and strong lay movements are abundant now. Only when we take back our beloved Church from the false Catholics and clerics will our Church be able to stand up and rebuke the storm winds of paganism that are building faster than we care to admit. This project is not without its price, however. The cost of being a true believer will undoubtedly be much higher than ever before in our lifetime. Starting now and into the next generation we as Catholics will have to show the world not only what we believe but that we are willing to lay down our lives for it as a witness to the truth.
SL Links
About the Author
SL Archives
Donate
Tell Us About Yourself
SL Action Items
Catholic bishops will fight Obama on abortion
Cardinal: Abortion undermines common good
Sincerely Yours in Christ,
Subject: Fw: Fr. Tom Euteneuer: Election Part II - Catholic Culture and theElection of Barack Obama
The degradation of Catholic culture is largely, but not exclusively, the fault of the clergy. For four decades in the Catholic Church in America we have seen:
Liturgical abuses run rampant, aided and abetted by those in charge
Two or three generations of Catholics left un-catechized or taught with flimsy, Protestantized fluff passed off as Catholic education
Sexual abuse by clergy excused and unaddressed by the hierarchy
A blind eye turned to high profile dissent and political class heretics
Wholesale attacks on sacred teachings that receive virtually no response from our pastors (and if it weren't for Catholic Answers, EWTN and the Catholic League we would have no defense whatsoever)
The succumbing of our Catholic institutions of higher education to the ravages of political correctness, and the list goes on.
In the face of all this, should we be surprised that 54% of "Catholics" voted for Barack? Hardly.
The battle for Catholic culture begins with us, and there is no time like the present to don the armor of spiritual warfare. We either believe and practice what the Church teaches or we live as part of the shadow church, falsely trading on the Name Catholic for its benefits without at the same time shouldering the crosses that this entails.
There is, however, great hope for the future because the battle has already been engaged: new Catholic colleges are springing up to replace the old decrepit houses of heresy, new religious orders with abundant vocations and orthodoxy have arisen, home schooling families and strong lay movements are abundant now. Only when we take back our beloved Church from the false Catholics and clerics will our Church be able to stand up and rebuke the storm winds of paganism that are building faster than we care to admit. This project is not without its price, however. The cost of being a true believer will undoubtedly be much higher than ever before in our lifetime. Starting now and into the next generation we as Catholics will have to show the world not only what we believe but that we are willing to lay down our lives for it as a witness to the truth.
SL Links
About the Author
SL Archives
Donate
Tell Us About Yourself
SL Action Items
Catholic bishops will fight Obama on abortion
Cardinal: Abortion undermines common good
Sincerely Yours in Christ,
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Big Three automakers
Sent: Tuesday, November 18, 2008 4:28 PM
Subject: Big Three automakers beg for $25 billion lifeline - Yahoo! News
When these companies were making there millions and enjoying big pay-outs for their executives--we weren't there with our hand-out looking for some of the reward--so why would be giving them money since the opposite is happening?? Makes no sense!
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/congress_autos
Subject: Big Three automakers beg for $25 billion lifeline - Yahoo! News
When these companies were making there millions and enjoying big pay-outs for their executives--we weren't there with our hand-out looking for some of the reward--so why would be giving them money since the opposite is happening?? Makes no sense!
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/congress_autos
For DC, Bishop Barry
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
For DC, Bishop Barry
Soon to receive a new president, this morning the nation's capital has a bishop-elect, to boot: Pope Benedict has named Washington's moderator of the curia, Msgr Barry Knestout, as an auxiliary of the archdiocese.
Ordained in 1989, the 46 year-old bishop-elect served as private secretary to the late Cardinal James Hickey from 1994 until his 2004 death; as Hickey's closest aide, Knestout succeeded now-Bishop William Lori of Bridgeport, to whom the younger cleric bears the most astonishing of resemblances. After a two-year stint as pastor of a parish in the 560,000-member archdiocese's Maryland suburbs, Archbishop Donald Wuerl recalled Knestout to the Pastoral Center, tapping him for the DC church's top administrative slot on Bishop Kevin Farrell's transfer to the helm of the diocese of Dallas last year.
Seven months following the papal visit to the capital, the new auxiliary is the first given it since Wuerl took the reins of the Washington church in June 2006. On a ceremonial note, the Pope assigned Knestout the titular see of Leavenworth, the mother-diocese of Kansas founded in 1877; its seat was moved to Kansas City seven decades later.
In accord with the norms of canon law, the bishop-elect must be ordained within four months of this morning's appointment. When the day comes, however, it'll be a family affair in more ways than one -- Knestout's younger brother, Fr Mark, will be the liturgy's chief planner in his capacity as head of the archdiocesan worship office.
As always, more to come.
SVILUPPO: Mark your calendars -- ordination scheduled for 29 December... and, later today, the traditional mid-morning presser has been called at the DC Pastoral Center.
-30-
posted by Rocco Palmo at 06:05
http://whispersintheloggia.blogspot.com/
For DC, Bishop Barry
Soon to receive a new president, this morning the nation's capital has a bishop-elect, to boot: Pope Benedict has named Washington's moderator of the curia, Msgr Barry Knestout, as an auxiliary of the archdiocese.
Ordained in 1989, the 46 year-old bishop-elect served as private secretary to the late Cardinal James Hickey from 1994 until his 2004 death; as Hickey's closest aide, Knestout succeeded now-Bishop William Lori of Bridgeport, to whom the younger cleric bears the most astonishing of resemblances. After a two-year stint as pastor of a parish in the 560,000-member archdiocese's Maryland suburbs, Archbishop Donald Wuerl recalled Knestout to the Pastoral Center, tapping him for the DC church's top administrative slot on Bishop Kevin Farrell's transfer to the helm of the diocese of Dallas last year.
Seven months following the papal visit to the capital, the new auxiliary is the first given it since Wuerl took the reins of the Washington church in June 2006. On a ceremonial note, the Pope assigned Knestout the titular see of Leavenworth, the mother-diocese of Kansas founded in 1877; its seat was moved to Kansas City seven decades later.
In accord with the norms of canon law, the bishop-elect must be ordained within four months of this morning's appointment. When the day comes, however, it'll be a family affair in more ways than one -- Knestout's younger brother, Fr Mark, will be the liturgy's chief planner in his capacity as head of the archdiocesan worship office.
As always, more to come.
SVILUPPO: Mark your calendars -- ordination scheduled for 29 December... and, later today, the traditional mid-morning presser has been called at the DC Pastoral Center.
-30-
posted by Rocco Palmo at 06:05
http://whispersintheloggia.blogspot.com/
Coffee and donuts at St. Joan’s
Sent: Tuesday, November 18, 2008 9:04 AM
Subject: I have heard about gum chewing during Mass but this would be ridiculous
Coffee and donuts at St. Joan’s in Minneapolis
CATEGORY: SESSIUNCULUM — Fr. John Zuhlsdorf @ 4:24 pm
I have on more than one occasion quipped that while many parishes have coffee and donuts on Sundays after Mass, St. Joan of Arc in my home town of Minneapolis was the only place I had ever seen coffee and donuts during Mass.
Now comes this from Fr. Jim DeBruycker, the pastor, writing to his flock in the Sunday bulletin of 16 Nov 2008.
Please read this while giving Father the benefit of the doubt, imagining what he has to contend with there, after all the years of looniness:
1. Using the Egan room as a hospitality room for coffee and cookies has become quite successful, too much so I fear. A number of people are bringing coffee and cookies to mass, which is not polite and is often messy, it makes it hard to sing and makes a mockery of the communion fast. Please no refreshments during the liturgy.
2. Intinction, dipping the host, is not part of the Latin rite. But what is bothering the communion distributors even more are people dipping their fingers in as well. I am ordering new chalices with wider brims. Please be careful and, when at all possible, drink from the cup.
3. Finally, the communion ministers who stand in front of the gym exit to the school building are complaining that they have to wrestle with parishioners leaving mass early. Communicants are being jostled out of line as early leavers try to reach the school doors. If you are leaving early, please leave by the parking lot doors. Thanks for your courtesy! – JRD
http://wdtprs.com/blog/
Subject: I have heard about gum chewing during Mass but this would be ridiculous
Coffee and donuts at St. Joan’s in Minneapolis
CATEGORY: SESSIUNCULUM — Fr. John Zuhlsdorf @ 4:24 pm
I have on more than one occasion quipped that while many parishes have coffee and donuts on Sundays after Mass, St. Joan of Arc in my home town of Minneapolis was the only place I had ever seen coffee and donuts during Mass.
Now comes this from Fr. Jim DeBruycker, the pastor, writing to his flock in the Sunday bulletin of 16 Nov 2008.
Please read this while giving Father the benefit of the doubt, imagining what he has to contend with there, after all the years of looniness:
1. Using the Egan room as a hospitality room for coffee and cookies has become quite successful, too much so I fear. A number of people are bringing coffee and cookies to mass, which is not polite and is often messy, it makes it hard to sing and makes a mockery of the communion fast. Please no refreshments during the liturgy.
2. Intinction, dipping the host, is not part of the Latin rite. But what is bothering the communion distributors even more are people dipping their fingers in as well. I am ordering new chalices with wider brims. Please be careful and, when at all possible, drink from the cup.
3. Finally, the communion ministers who stand in front of the gym exit to the school building are complaining that they have to wrestle with parishioners leaving mass early. Communicants are being jostled out of line as early leavers try to reach the school doors. If you are leaving early, please leave by the parking lot doors. Thanks for your courtesy! – JRD
http://wdtprs.com/blog/
Sunday, November 16, 2008
CHD
Sent: Sunday, November 16, 2008 12:26 PM
Subject: CHD
Which brings me, finally, to another and related matter that will surely be discussed in Baltimore and deserves to be on the agenda. The Campaign for Human Development (CHD) [BEWARE of CHD.] is an annual collection in parishes, usually on one of the last two Sundays in November. It used to be called the Catholic Campaign for Human Development but the Catholic was dropped, which is just as well since it has nothing to do with Catholicism, except that Catholics are asked to pay for it. Some bishops no longer allow the CHD collection in their dioceses, and more should not allow it. In fact, CHD, misbegotten in concept and corrupt in practice, [HEAR! HEAR!] should, at long last, be terminated.
Ten years ago, CHD was exposed as using the Catholic Church as a milk cow to fund organizations that frequently were actively working against the Church’s mission, especially in their support of pro-abortion activities and politicians. Now it turns out that CHD has long been a major funder of ACORN, a national community agitation organization in support of leftist causes, including the abortion license. ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now) is under criminal investigation in several states. In the last decade CHD gave ACORN well over seven million dollars, including more than a million in the past year. It is acknowledged that ACORN, with which Sen. Obama had a close connection over the years, was a major player in his presidential campaign. The bishops say they are investigating the connection between CHD and ACORN. They say they are worried that it might jeopardize the Church’s tax-exemption. No mention is made of abusing the trust of the Catholic faithful.
What most Catholics don’t know, and what would likely astonish them, is that CHD very explicitly does not fund Catholic institutions and apostolates that work with the poor. Part of the thinking when it was established in the ideological climate of the 1960s is that Catholic concern for the poor would not be perceived as credible if CHD funded Catholic organizations. Yes, that’s bizarre, but the history of CHD is bizarre. The bishops could really help poor people by promptly shutting down CHD and giving any remaining funds to, for instance, Catholic inner-city schools. In any event, if there is a collection at your parish this month, I suggest that you can return the envelope empty—and perhaps with a note of explanation—without the slightest moral hesitation.
After this week’s elections, we must brace ourselves for very difficult times, keeping in mind that difficult times can be bracing. As for the meeting of bishops next week: Let the Church be the Church, and let bishops be bishops.
Richard John Neuhaus is editor in chief of First Things.
Very well expressed. Kudos to Fr. Neuhaus.
http://wdtprs.com/blog/2008/11/fr-neuhaus-on-obama-and-the-bishops
Subject: CHD
Which brings me, finally, to another and related matter that will surely be discussed in Baltimore and deserves to be on the agenda. The Campaign for Human Development (CHD) [BEWARE of CHD.] is an annual collection in parishes, usually on one of the last two Sundays in November. It used to be called the Catholic Campaign for Human Development but the Catholic was dropped, which is just as well since it has nothing to do with Catholicism, except that Catholics are asked to pay for it. Some bishops no longer allow the CHD collection in their dioceses, and more should not allow it. In fact, CHD, misbegotten in concept and corrupt in practice, [HEAR! HEAR!] should, at long last, be terminated.
Ten years ago, CHD was exposed as using the Catholic Church as a milk cow to fund organizations that frequently were actively working against the Church’s mission, especially in their support of pro-abortion activities and politicians. Now it turns out that CHD has long been a major funder of ACORN, a national community agitation organization in support of leftist causes, including the abortion license. ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now) is under criminal investigation in several states. In the last decade CHD gave ACORN well over seven million dollars, including more than a million in the past year. It is acknowledged that ACORN, with which Sen. Obama had a close connection over the years, was a major player in his presidential campaign. The bishops say they are investigating the connection between CHD and ACORN. They say they are worried that it might jeopardize the Church’s tax-exemption. No mention is made of abusing the trust of the Catholic faithful.
What most Catholics don’t know, and what would likely astonish them, is that CHD very explicitly does not fund Catholic institutions and apostolates that work with the poor. Part of the thinking when it was established in the ideological climate of the 1960s is that Catholic concern for the poor would not be perceived as credible if CHD funded Catholic organizations. Yes, that’s bizarre, but the history of CHD is bizarre. The bishops could really help poor people by promptly shutting down CHD and giving any remaining funds to, for instance, Catholic inner-city schools. In any event, if there is a collection at your parish this month, I suggest that you can return the envelope empty—and perhaps with a note of explanation—without the slightest moral hesitation.
After this week’s elections, we must brace ourselves for very difficult times, keeping in mind that difficult times can be bracing. As for the meeting of bishops next week: Let the Church be the Church, and let bishops be bishops.
Richard John Neuhaus is editor in chief of First Things.
Very well expressed. Kudos to Fr. Neuhaus.
http://wdtprs.com/blog/2008/11/fr-neuhaus-on-obama-and-the-bishops
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Maryknoll Fr.has been threatened with excommunication
Sent: Wednesday, November 12, 2008 8:11 PM
Subject: What Does The Prayer Really Say?
My emphases and comments.
Roy Bourgeois threatened with excommunication [I am tempted simply to cite the Nike motto… but…]
By NCR Staff
Published:
November 11, 2008
Maryknoll Fr. Roy Bourgeois has been threatened with excommunication by the Vatican’s Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith for his support of women’s ordination, according to a letter made public today. [He has defied something definitively taught by the Church and done so publicly.]
The letter was written by Bourgeois and addressed to the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith. It was distributed via e-mail by Bill Quigley, a New Orleans lawyer who represents Bourgeois. [So, B. has decided to drag it all out into the public eye. Okay!]
According to Bourgeois’ letter, which is dated Nov. 7, the congregation has given him 30 days to recant his “belief and public statements that support the ordination of women in our Church, or (he) will be excommunicated.” [Anyone wanna give odds?]
The letter indicates that Bourgeois received notification from the congregation Oct. 21.
Bourgeois, a priest for 36 years, attended the ordination of Janice Sevre-Duszynska in Lexingon, Ky., Aug. 9 and preached a homily. [Attending is one thing. Preaching is another.]
If Bourgeois is excommunicated at the end of 30 days, it would come just before the mass rally and protest against the U.S. Army’s School of the Americas at Fort Benning, Ga., [yawn] that Bourgeois has organized for 19 years. In recent years, more than 15,000 people, many of them Catholic university students, have joined the three daylong rally and demonstration.
Bourgeois was not immediately available for comment. The text of Bourgeois’ letter follows.
———————————————————————————————————-
Rev. Roy Bourgeois, M.M.
PO Box 3330, Columbus, GA 31903
November 7, 2008
TO THE CONGREGATION FOR THE DOCTRINE OF THE FAITH, THE VATICAN
I was very saddened by your letter dated October 21, 2008, giving me 30 days to recant my belief and public statements that support the ordination of women in our Church, or I will be excommunicated.
I have been a Catholic priest for 36 years and have a deep love for my Church and ministry. [But, Roy, that doesn’t really make any difference when you have been a public heretic who won’t be corrected. It is perhaps because you have been a priest for a long time that the CDF has given you 30 days rather than 10 or 3.]
When I was a young man in the military, I felt God was calling me to the priesthood. I entered Maryknoll and was ordained in 1972.
Over the years I have met a number of women in our Church who, like me, feel called by God to the priesthood. You, our Church leaders at the Vatican, tell us that women cannot be ordained.
With all due respect, [Watch this: he corrects the CDF] I believe our Catholic Church’s teaching on this issue is wrong and does not stand up to scrutiny. [Now he instructs the CDF, in case they forgot about this stuff. But wait… he is really grandstanding … so never mind.] A 1976 report by the Pontifical Biblical Commission supports the research of Scripture scholars, canon lawyers and many faithful Catholics who have studied and pondered the Scriptures and have concluded that there is no justification in the Bible for excluding women from the priesthood.
As people of faith, [Used somewhat equivocally?] we profess that the invitation to the ministry of priesthood comes from God. We profess that God is the Source of life and created men and women of equal stature and dignity. [But clearly not with equal roles: cf. Genesis.] The current [current] Catholic Church doctrine on the ordination of women implies our loving and all-powerful God, Creator of heaven and earth, somehow cannot empower a woman to be a priest. [Lousy theology. The Church’s teaching does not imply any such thing. God cannot be limited. What he ignores is that God didin’t will to call women to the priesthood. This is what Holy Church tells us.]
Women in our Church are telling us that God is calling them to the priesthood. [So what? They are deluded.] Who are we, as men, to say to women, “Our call is valid, but yours is not.” Who are we to tamper with God’s call?
Sexism, like racism, is a sin. [No… uh uh… I’m sorry. Don’t give this guy 30 days. Would that we could excomm’ guys like this for being thick.] And no matter how hard or how long we may try to justify discrimination, in the end, it is always immoral.
Hundreds of Catholic churches in the U.S. are closing because of a shortage of priests. [There could be no priests anywhere. We still couldn’t ordain a woman.] Yet there are hundreds of committed and prophetic women telling us that God is calling them to serve our Church as priests. [THEY say so, after all.]
If we are to have a vibrant, healthy Church rooted in the teachings of our Savior, [What I find so offensive about this is the way he instrumentalized the Savior for the sake of weasely manipulation.] we need the faith, wisdom, experience, compassion and courage of women in the priesthood.
[NEWS FLASH….] Conscience is very sacred. Conscience gives us a sense of right and wrong and urges us to do the right thing. Conscience is what compelled Franz Jagerstatter, a humble Austrian farmer, husband and father of four young children, to refuse to join Hitler’s army, which led to his execution. [Can you believe this guy?] Conscience is what compelled Rosa Parks to say she could no longer sit in the back of the bus. [He is painting himself as a martyr and a prophet.] Conscience is what compels women in our Church to say they cannot be silent and deny their call from God to the priesthood. Conscience is what compelled my dear mother and father, now 95, to always strive to do the right things as faithful Catholics raising four children. And after much prayer, reflection and discernment, it is my conscience that compels me to do the right thing. I cannot recant my belief and public statements that support the ordination of women in our Church. [Okay. Then GET. OUT.]
Working and struggling for peace and justice are an integral part of our faith. For this reason, I speak out against the war in Iraq. And for the last eighteen years, I have been speaking out against the atrocities and suffering caused by the School of the Americas (SOA). Eight years ago, while in Rome for a conference on peace and justice, I was invited to speak about the SOA on Vatican Radio. [Yah… that tells us a lot about Vatican Radio back then too.] During the interview, I stated that I could not address the injustice of the SOA and remain silent about injustice in my Church. I ended the interview by saying, “There will never be justice in the Catholic Church until women can be ordained.” I remain committed to this belief today.
Having an all male clergy implies that men are worthy [Stupid. No one is worthy.] to be Catholic priests, but women are not.
According to USA TODAY [Another great source.] (Feb. 28, 2008) in the United States alone, nearly 5,000 Catholic priests have sexually abused more than 12,000 children. [What a slime this guy is.] Many bishops, aware of the abuse, remained silent. [So? That can’t justify another wrong, attempting to ordain a woman.] These priests and bishops were not excommunicated. Yet the women in our Church who are called by God and are ordained to serve God’s people, and the priests and bishops who support them, are excommunicated.
Silence is the voice of complicity. Therefore, I call on all Catholics, fellow priests, bishops, Pope Benedict XVI and all Church leaders at the Vatican, to speak loudly on this grave injustice of excluding women from the priesthood.
Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador was assassinated because of his defense of the oppressed. He said, “Let those who have a voice, speak out for the voiceless.”
Our loving God has given us a voice. Let us speak clearly and boldly and walk in solidarity as Jesus would, with the women in our Church who are being called by God to the priesthood.
In Peace and Justice,
Rev. Roy Bourgeois, M.M.
PO Box 3330, Columbus, GA 31903
Okay.
Sure… we have to pray for this deluded soul. That is all very pious and proper.
But at a certain point we have to say:
Roy…. GET. OUT. NOW.
There is a church ready made for you and your friends.
Go join the Anglicans.
http://wdtprs.com/blog/
Subject: What Does The Prayer Really Say?
My emphases and comments.
Roy Bourgeois threatened with excommunication [I am tempted simply to cite the Nike motto… but…]
By NCR Staff
Published:
November 11, 2008
Maryknoll Fr. Roy Bourgeois has been threatened with excommunication by the Vatican’s Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith for his support of women’s ordination, according to a letter made public today. [He has defied something definitively taught by the Church and done so publicly.]
The letter was written by Bourgeois and addressed to the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith. It was distributed via e-mail by Bill Quigley, a New Orleans lawyer who represents Bourgeois. [So, B. has decided to drag it all out into the public eye. Okay!]
According to Bourgeois’ letter, which is dated Nov. 7, the congregation has given him 30 days to recant his “belief and public statements that support the ordination of women in our Church, or (he) will be excommunicated.” [Anyone wanna give odds?]
The letter indicates that Bourgeois received notification from the congregation Oct. 21.
Bourgeois, a priest for 36 years, attended the ordination of Janice Sevre-Duszynska in Lexingon, Ky., Aug. 9 and preached a homily. [Attending is one thing. Preaching is another.]
If Bourgeois is excommunicated at the end of 30 days, it would come just before the mass rally and protest against the U.S. Army’s School of the Americas at Fort Benning, Ga., [yawn] that Bourgeois has organized for 19 years. In recent years, more than 15,000 people, many of them Catholic university students, have joined the three daylong rally and demonstration.
Bourgeois was not immediately available for comment. The text of Bourgeois’ letter follows.
———————————————————————————————————-
Rev. Roy Bourgeois, M.M.
PO Box 3330, Columbus, GA 31903
November 7, 2008
TO THE CONGREGATION FOR THE DOCTRINE OF THE FAITH, THE VATICAN
I was very saddened by your letter dated October 21, 2008, giving me 30 days to recant my belief and public statements that support the ordination of women in our Church, or I will be excommunicated.
I have been a Catholic priest for 36 years and have a deep love for my Church and ministry. [But, Roy, that doesn’t really make any difference when you have been a public heretic who won’t be corrected. It is perhaps because you have been a priest for a long time that the CDF has given you 30 days rather than 10 or 3.]
When I was a young man in the military, I felt God was calling me to the priesthood. I entered Maryknoll and was ordained in 1972.
Over the years I have met a number of women in our Church who, like me, feel called by God to the priesthood. You, our Church leaders at the Vatican, tell us that women cannot be ordained.
With all due respect, [Watch this: he corrects the CDF] I believe our Catholic Church’s teaching on this issue is wrong and does not stand up to scrutiny. [Now he instructs the CDF, in case they forgot about this stuff. But wait… he is really grandstanding … so never mind.] A 1976 report by the Pontifical Biblical Commission supports the research of Scripture scholars, canon lawyers and many faithful Catholics who have studied and pondered the Scriptures and have concluded that there is no justification in the Bible for excluding women from the priesthood.
As people of faith, [Used somewhat equivocally?] we profess that the invitation to the ministry of priesthood comes from God. We profess that God is the Source of life and created men and women of equal stature and dignity. [But clearly not with equal roles: cf. Genesis.] The current [current] Catholic Church doctrine on the ordination of women implies our loving and all-powerful God, Creator of heaven and earth, somehow cannot empower a woman to be a priest. [Lousy theology. The Church’s teaching does not imply any such thing. God cannot be limited. What he ignores is that God didin’t will to call women to the priesthood. This is what Holy Church tells us.]
Women in our Church are telling us that God is calling them to the priesthood. [So what? They are deluded.] Who are we, as men, to say to women, “Our call is valid, but yours is not.” Who are we to tamper with God’s call?
Sexism, like racism, is a sin. [No… uh uh… I’m sorry. Don’t give this guy 30 days. Would that we could excomm’ guys like this for being thick.] And no matter how hard or how long we may try to justify discrimination, in the end, it is always immoral.
Hundreds of Catholic churches in the U.S. are closing because of a shortage of priests. [There could be no priests anywhere. We still couldn’t ordain a woman.] Yet there are hundreds of committed and prophetic women telling us that God is calling them to serve our Church as priests. [THEY say so, after all.]
If we are to have a vibrant, healthy Church rooted in the teachings of our Savior, [What I find so offensive about this is the way he instrumentalized the Savior for the sake of weasely manipulation.] we need the faith, wisdom, experience, compassion and courage of women in the priesthood.
[NEWS FLASH….] Conscience is very sacred. Conscience gives us a sense of right and wrong and urges us to do the right thing. Conscience is what compelled Franz Jagerstatter, a humble Austrian farmer, husband and father of four young children, to refuse to join Hitler’s army, which led to his execution. [Can you believe this guy?] Conscience is what compelled Rosa Parks to say she could no longer sit in the back of the bus. [He is painting himself as a martyr and a prophet.] Conscience is what compels women in our Church to say they cannot be silent and deny their call from God to the priesthood. Conscience is what compelled my dear mother and father, now 95, to always strive to do the right things as faithful Catholics raising four children. And after much prayer, reflection and discernment, it is my conscience that compels me to do the right thing. I cannot recant my belief and public statements that support the ordination of women in our Church. [Okay. Then GET. OUT.]
Working and struggling for peace and justice are an integral part of our faith. For this reason, I speak out against the war in Iraq. And for the last eighteen years, I have been speaking out against the atrocities and suffering caused by the School of the Americas (SOA). Eight years ago, while in Rome for a conference on peace and justice, I was invited to speak about the SOA on Vatican Radio. [Yah… that tells us a lot about Vatican Radio back then too.] During the interview, I stated that I could not address the injustice of the SOA and remain silent about injustice in my Church. I ended the interview by saying, “There will never be justice in the Catholic Church until women can be ordained.” I remain committed to this belief today.
Having an all male clergy implies that men are worthy [Stupid. No one is worthy.] to be Catholic priests, but women are not.
According to USA TODAY [Another great source.] (Feb. 28, 2008) in the United States alone, nearly 5,000 Catholic priests have sexually abused more than 12,000 children. [What a slime this guy is.] Many bishops, aware of the abuse, remained silent. [So? That can’t justify another wrong, attempting to ordain a woman.] These priests and bishops were not excommunicated. Yet the women in our Church who are called by God and are ordained to serve God’s people, and the priests and bishops who support them, are excommunicated.
Silence is the voice of complicity. Therefore, I call on all Catholics, fellow priests, bishops, Pope Benedict XVI and all Church leaders at the Vatican, to speak loudly on this grave injustice of excluding women from the priesthood.
Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador was assassinated because of his defense of the oppressed. He said, “Let those who have a voice, speak out for the voiceless.”
Our loving God has given us a voice. Let us speak clearly and boldly and walk in solidarity as Jesus would, with the women in our Church who are being called by God to the priesthood.
In Peace and Justice,
Rev. Roy Bourgeois, M.M.
PO Box 3330, Columbus, GA 31903
Okay.
Sure… we have to pray for this deluded soul. That is all very pious and proper.
But at a certain point we have to say:
Roy…. GET. OUT. NOW.
There is a church ready made for you and your friends.
Go join the Anglicans.
http://wdtprs.com/blog/
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Catholic support for Obama
Sent: Tuesday, November 11, 2008 5:32 PM
Subject: Catholic support for Obama presents problems for church (OneNewsNow.com)
Catholic support for Obama presents problems for church
Rachel Zoll - Associated Press Writer - 11/11/2008 12:05:00 PM
BALTIMORE - U.S. Roman Catholic bishops, meeting a week after the election, are re-examining how they explain church teaching after President-elect Obama, who supports abortion rights, won a majority of Catholic votes.
During the campaign, many bishops had spoken out on abortion more forcefully than they had in 2004, telling Catholic politicians and voters that abortion should be the most important consideration in setting policy and deciding which candidate to back.
Yet, according to exit polls, 54 percent of Catholics chose Obama, who is Protestant, and Vice President-elect Biden, who is Catholic. Biden also thinks abortion should be legal.
Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio, of New York City, said that chairmen of the bishops' national committees met privately Monday morning to begin looking at the issue. A public discussion was set for Tuesday afternoon, the final open session of the bishops' fall meeting.
http://www.onenewsnow.com/Church/Default.aspx?id=315376
Subject: Catholic support for Obama presents problems for church (OneNewsNow.com)
Catholic support for Obama presents problems for church
Rachel Zoll - Associated Press Writer - 11/11/2008 12:05:00 PM
BALTIMORE - U.S. Roman Catholic bishops, meeting a week after the election, are re-examining how they explain church teaching after President-elect Obama, who supports abortion rights, won a majority of Catholic votes.
During the campaign, many bishops had spoken out on abortion more forcefully than they had in 2004, telling Catholic politicians and voters that abortion should be the most important consideration in setting policy and deciding which candidate to back.
Yet, according to exit polls, 54 percent of Catholics chose Obama, who is Protestant, and Vice President-elect Biden, who is Catholic. Biden also thinks abortion should be legal.
Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio, of New York City, said that chairmen of the bishops' national committees met privately Monday morning to begin looking at the issue. A public discussion was set for Tuesday afternoon, the final open session of the bishops' fall meeting.
http://www.onenewsnow.com/Church/Default.aspx?id=315376
Sunday, November 9, 2008
THERE IS STILL A GOD IN HEAVEN!
Sent: Sunday, November 09, 2008 8:46 PM
Subject: Re: Jan 20th
THERE IS STILL A GOD IN HEAVEN!
The American people have now made it abundantly clear who they want to lead them, and the policies and practices that this president-elect has represented for some time, they can now claim as their own. Actions have consequences, and I am sure God has duly noted what our priorities are in the US of A. Economic matters would seem to take precedence over moral matters; money more important than life itself to most people (I guess they don’t consider almost 50,000,000 innocent children murdered by abortion part of life).
Now we shall see what the fruit of such a tree will be. I predict that we won’t have to wait long. In recent months we have seen “corrections” in the stock market, housing market, and banking industries. Now we’ll see if God orchestrates a “correction” in a country and a world that has demonstrated quite clearly that it prefers convenience and wealth to life itself.
Regardless of whatever happens next, remember there is still a God in Heaven and He loves you. He is infinitely merciful—and He is infinitely just as well.
God Bless You
Fr. John Corapi
Subject: Re: Jan 20th
THERE IS STILL A GOD IN HEAVEN!
The American people have now made it abundantly clear who they want to lead them, and the policies and practices that this president-elect has represented for some time, they can now claim as their own. Actions have consequences, and I am sure God has duly noted what our priorities are in the US of A. Economic matters would seem to take precedence over moral matters; money more important than life itself to most people (I guess they don’t consider almost 50,000,000 innocent children murdered by abortion part of life).
Now we shall see what the fruit of such a tree will be. I predict that we won’t have to wait long. In recent months we have seen “corrections” in the stock market, housing market, and banking industries. Now we’ll see if God orchestrates a “correction” in a country and a world that has demonstrated quite clearly that it prefers convenience and wealth to life itself.
Regardless of whatever happens next, remember there is still a God in Heaven and He loves you. He is infinitely merciful—and He is infinitely just as well.
God Bless You
Fr. John Corapi
Monday, November 3, 2008
All Saints Day Masses
Sent: Monday, November 03, 2008 10:47 AM
Subject: Re:
100% with you in your sermon after Mass yesterday and always think back on what Mother Teresa said:
But I feel that the greatest destroyer of peace today is abortion, because it is a war against the child - a direct killing of the innocent child - murder by the mother herself. And if we accept that a mother can kill even her own child, how can we tell other people not to kill one another? Any country that accepts abortion is not teaching the people to love, but to use any violence to get what they want. That is why the greatest destroyer of love and peace is abortion.
Gerry
Subject: Re:
100% with you in your sermon after Mass yesterday and always think back on what Mother Teresa said:
But I feel that the greatest destroyer of peace today is abortion, because it is a war against the child - a direct killing of the innocent child - murder by the mother herself. And if we accept that a mother can kill even her own child, how can we tell other people not to kill one another? Any country that accepts abortion is not teaching the people to love, but to use any violence to get what they want. That is why the greatest destroyer of love and peace is abortion.
Gerry
Monday, October 20, 2008
Religious outcry sparks LittleBigRecall
Sent: Monday, October 20, 2008 9:30 AM
Subject: Marian Catholic Family Forum - Religious outcry sparks LittleBigRecall - Powered by ForumCo.com - The Forum Company
When I first saw the byline I thought when was last time a Christian group got someone to change something? A long time ago... I didnt read this closely but see it is a muslim group complaining about something--and if it is something that offends them they should complain and in this case it appears someone listened. Do groups/ companies still listen to Christian groups? I dont think so. Last week or so the kids were off for the two jewish holidays and they called them so--Do they mention the kids will later get leave because of Christmas or Easter? No (it is the winter and spring holiday) because it could offend the other religions or non-religions.
Gerry
“Everyone needs thirty minutes of personal prayer time each day, unless they are too busy to pray—in which case, they need an hour!”
Saint Francis de Sales
http://mariancatholicforum.forumco.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=1698
Subject: Marian Catholic Family Forum - Religious outcry sparks LittleBigRecall - Powered by ForumCo.com - The Forum Company
When I first saw the byline I thought when was last time a Christian group got someone to change something? A long time ago... I didnt read this closely but see it is a muslim group complaining about something--and if it is something that offends them they should complain and in this case it appears someone listened. Do groups/ companies still listen to Christian groups? I dont think so. Last week or so the kids were off for the two jewish holidays and they called them so--Do they mention the kids will later get leave because of Christmas or Easter? No (it is the winter and spring holiday) because it could offend the other religions or non-religions.
Gerry
“Everyone needs thirty minutes of personal prayer time each day, unless they are too busy to pray—in which case, they need an hour!”
Saint Francis de Sales
http://mariancatholicforum.forumco.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=1698
“Diogenes” take on the Al Smith Dinner
Sent: Monday, October 20, 2008 9:19 AM
Subject: Marian Catholic Family Forum - blog on Obama at Catholic event - Powered by ForumCo.com - The Forum Company
CATEGORY: SESSIUNCULUM — Fr. John Zuhlsdorf @ 6:21 pm
As you know, it is something of a tradition in election years now to invite the presidential candidates to the Al Smith Dinner, and annual event in the Archdiocese of New York to raise money for Catholic charity.
This year Sen. McCain (R-AZ) and Sen. Barak Obama (D-IL) were present, seated on either side of Card. Egan.
They both spoke.
Here is "Diogenes" take on the white-tie affair:
Off the Record
hey, lighten up!
Posted Oct. 17, 2008 10:14 AM by Diogenes
The American bishops have generally agreed that political candidates who favor unrestricted legal abortion should not be given opportunities to speak at Church-sponsored events.
* unless the events raise $5 million for Catholic Charities
* unless the events are hosted by the cardinal-archbishop of the nation’s most prominent city
* unless the events are covered by every imaginable major media outlet
* unless the events are light-hearted, humorous affairs.
Because under those circumstances, you see, the archdiocese isn’t endorsing the pro-abortion candidate. It’s just showing that someone can support the deliberate slaughter of unborn human beings and still be a heckuva fun guy.
http://wdtprs.com/blog/
Subject: Marian Catholic Family Forum - blog on Obama at Catholic event - Powered by ForumCo.com - The Forum Company
CATEGORY: SESSIUNCULUM — Fr. John Zuhlsdorf @ 6:21 pm
As you know, it is something of a tradition in election years now to invite the presidential candidates to the Al Smith Dinner, and annual event in the Archdiocese of New York to raise money for Catholic charity.
This year Sen. McCain (R-AZ) and Sen. Barak Obama (D-IL) were present, seated on either side of Card. Egan.
They both spoke.
Here is "Diogenes" take on the white-tie affair:
Off the Record
hey, lighten up!
Posted Oct. 17, 2008 10:14 AM by Diogenes
The American bishops have generally agreed that political candidates who favor unrestricted legal abortion should not be given opportunities to speak at Church-sponsored events.
* unless the events raise $5 million for Catholic Charities
* unless the events are hosted by the cardinal-archbishop of the nation’s most prominent city
* unless the events are covered by every imaginable major media outlet
* unless the events are light-hearted, humorous affairs.
Because under those circumstances, you see, the archdiocese isn’t endorsing the pro-abortion candidate. It’s just showing that someone can support the deliberate slaughter of unborn human beings and still be a heckuva fun guy.
http://wdtprs.com/blog/
Thursday, October 9, 2008
HBO: Real Time with Bill Maher: New Rules
Sent: Thursday, October 09, 2008 9:36 AM
Subject: HBO: Real Time with Bill Maher: New Rules: October 3, 2008
And --and finally, New Rule: You can't be president if you practice a violent Middle Eastern religion and worship a genocidal desert god. Which is why Sarah Palin can't be president.
Now, all the churches that Sarah Palin has attended --and she's been to almost as many churches as she has colleges--have one thing in common: a belief that the Bible is literally true. She's not "Country First," she's "Bible First." And not just the New Testament. That's the happy half of the Good Book: the baby in the manger, Jesus doing magic tricks, long, romantic walks on the water that turn into fishing trips with the guys. And a generally positive message. Jesus, after all, preached love and forgiveness, not shooting wolves from an airplane.
The problem is, "Governor Avon Lady" --she takes the Old Testament literally, too. And in that one, God is an insecure, rage-filled hybrid of Bobby Knight and Suge Knight. He's been alive forever and he has anger issues. He's like John McCain if McCain could fart hail.
He's pro-slavery, pro-polygamy, and homophobic, and he'll kill you for masturbating. More people get stoned in the Old Testament than in my Jacuzzi. Not that I have to tell you guys.
If there was --if there was a video of Barack Obama standing in front of his congregation being healed by a black witch doctor, this election would be over. But there is that video of Sarah Palin.
So, ask your witch doctor if exorcism is right for you.
And, I don't say "witch doctor" because he's black. I say it because when you're rebuking witches, you're a witch doctor. Witch doctor, folks! This is our country. We've got to get it back from the forces of organized superstition!
People like Bush and Palin simply cannot think clearly because they're in a big, scary, brainwashing cult, and it warps their thinking so much that they're actually horny for the end of the world. And that is not someone I want with the nuclear codes. So, remember that video, and remember that Sarah Palin said --and I quote --"I think I will see Jesus come back to earth in my lifetime."
To which I say, "Hasn't Jesus suffered enough?"
http://www.hbo.com/billmaher/new_rules/
Subject: HBO: Real Time with Bill Maher: New Rules: October 3, 2008
And --and finally, New Rule: You can't be president if you practice a violent Middle Eastern religion and worship a genocidal desert god. Which is why Sarah Palin can't be president.
Now, all the churches that Sarah Palin has attended --and she's been to almost as many churches as she has colleges--have one thing in common: a belief that the Bible is literally true. She's not "Country First," she's "Bible First." And not just the New Testament. That's the happy half of the Good Book: the baby in the manger, Jesus doing magic tricks, long, romantic walks on the water that turn into fishing trips with the guys. And a generally positive message. Jesus, after all, preached love and forgiveness, not shooting wolves from an airplane.
The problem is, "Governor Avon Lady" --she takes the Old Testament literally, too. And in that one, God is an insecure, rage-filled hybrid of Bobby Knight and Suge Knight. He's been alive forever and he has anger issues. He's like John McCain if McCain could fart hail.
He's pro-slavery, pro-polygamy, and homophobic, and he'll kill you for masturbating. More people get stoned in the Old Testament than in my Jacuzzi. Not that I have to tell you guys.
If there was --if there was a video of Barack Obama standing in front of his congregation being healed by a black witch doctor, this election would be over. But there is that video of Sarah Palin.
So, ask your witch doctor if exorcism is right for you.
And, I don't say "witch doctor" because he's black. I say it because when you're rebuking witches, you're a witch doctor. Witch doctor, folks! This is our country. We've got to get it back from the forces of organized superstition!
People like Bush and Palin simply cannot think clearly because they're in a big, scary, brainwashing cult, and it warps their thinking so much that they're actually horny for the end of the world. And that is not someone I want with the nuclear codes. So, remember that video, and remember that Sarah Palin said --and I quote --"I think I will see Jesus come back to earth in my lifetime."
To which I say, "Hasn't Jesus suffered enough?"
http://www.hbo.com/billmaher/new_rules/
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Pontiff: Synod to Tell World That God Is Not Dead
Pontiff: Synod to Tell World That God Is Not Dead
Says Church's 1st Task Is to Be Nourished by Scripture
ROME, OCT. 5, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI opened the world Synod of Bishops on the Word of God expressing the hope that it give birth to a new missionary dynamism in the regions of the world where it seems that “God is dead.”
Today the Pope presided over the inaugural Mass of the synod, which will end Oct. 26, at the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls. The synod's theme is “The Word of God in the Life and Mission of the Church.”
“Nations that at one time were rich with vocations are now losing their identity, under the deleterious and destructive influence of a certain modern culture,” the Holy Father noted in his homily.
“There are those who, having decided that ‘God is dead,’ declare themselves ‘god,’ taking themselves to be the singular artificers of their destiny, the absolute lord of the world," he continued. "Clearing God away and not awaiting salvation from him, man believes he can do as he pleases and poses himself as the sole measure of himself and his action.
“But when man eliminates God from his horizon, when he declares that God is ‘dead,’ is he truly more happy? Does he truly become free?
“When men proclaim themselves absolute owners of themselves and lords of creation, can they really build a society where freedom, justice and peace reign?”
Division and confusion
Benedict XVI answered the question in the negative, explaining that “the daily news amply shows” that with this vision “the will to power, egoistic interests, injustice and exploitation, violence in all its forms” spread. “The end of all this is that man finds himself alone and society more divided and confused."
The Pope said that with this synod the Church wants to show the world “that evil and death do not have the last word, but Christ is the victor in the end. Always!”
“The Church never tires of proclaiming these glad tidings, as she does today in this basilica dedicated to the Apostle of the Gentiles, the one who first spread the Gospel in vast regions of Asia Minor and Europe,” he said.
To accomplish this mission, the Pontiff added, the Church’s “primary and fundamental” mission is to nourish herself on the Word of God. “In fact, if the proclamation of the Gospel constitutes her reason for being and her mission, it is indispensable that the Church know and live that which she proclaims so that her preaching is credible, despite the weaknesses and poverty of the human beings who constitute her.”
Citing St. Jerome, he added: “Whoever does not know the Scriptures does not know the power of God nor his wisdom. Ignoring the Scriptures means ignoring Christ.”
The synod’s work will begin on Monday with a meditation offered by Benedict XVI.
© Innovative Media, Inc.
Reprinting ZENIT's articles requires written permission from the editor.
http://zenit.org/article-23820?l=english
Says Church's 1st Task Is to Be Nourished by Scripture
ROME, OCT. 5, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI opened the world Synod of Bishops on the Word of God expressing the hope that it give birth to a new missionary dynamism in the regions of the world where it seems that “God is dead.”
Today the Pope presided over the inaugural Mass of the synod, which will end Oct. 26, at the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls. The synod's theme is “The Word of God in the Life and Mission of the Church.”
“Nations that at one time were rich with vocations are now losing their identity, under the deleterious and destructive influence of a certain modern culture,” the Holy Father noted in his homily.
“There are those who, having decided that ‘God is dead,’ declare themselves ‘god,’ taking themselves to be the singular artificers of their destiny, the absolute lord of the world," he continued. "Clearing God away and not awaiting salvation from him, man believes he can do as he pleases and poses himself as the sole measure of himself and his action.
“But when man eliminates God from his horizon, when he declares that God is ‘dead,’ is he truly more happy? Does he truly become free?
“When men proclaim themselves absolute owners of themselves and lords of creation, can they really build a society where freedom, justice and peace reign?”
Division and confusion
Benedict XVI answered the question in the negative, explaining that “the daily news amply shows” that with this vision “the will to power, egoistic interests, injustice and exploitation, violence in all its forms” spread. “The end of all this is that man finds himself alone and society more divided and confused."
The Pope said that with this synod the Church wants to show the world “that evil and death do not have the last word, but Christ is the victor in the end. Always!”
“The Church never tires of proclaiming these glad tidings, as she does today in this basilica dedicated to the Apostle of the Gentiles, the one who first spread the Gospel in vast regions of Asia Minor and Europe,” he said.
To accomplish this mission, the Pontiff added, the Church’s “primary and fundamental” mission is to nourish herself on the Word of God. “In fact, if the proclamation of the Gospel constitutes her reason for being and her mission, it is indispensable that the Church know and live that which she proclaims so that her preaching is credible, despite the weaknesses and poverty of the human beings who constitute her.”
Citing St. Jerome, he added: “Whoever does not know the Scriptures does not know the power of God nor his wisdom. Ignoring the Scriptures means ignoring Christ.”
The synod’s work will begin on Monday with a meditation offered by Benedict XVI.
© Innovative Media, Inc.
Reprinting ZENIT's articles requires written permission from the editor.
http://zenit.org/article-23820?l=english
Monday, September 29, 2008
Burke on Democrat Party: risks becoming “party of death”
Archbp. Burke on Democrat Party: risks becoming “party of death”
CATEGORY: SESSIUNCULUM — Fr. John Zuhlsdorf @ 4:02 pm
When His Excellency Most Rev. Raymond Burke was moved from being Archbishop of St. Louis to Rome as the new Prefect of the Apostolic Segnatura, many people asked me if this was an example of promoveatur ut ammoveatur, that he was promoted to get him out of the USA before the American election cycle heated up.
I calmly responded "No, I don’t think so.
My less clam interior reaction was closer to: HA HAH HAHAHAHA! O HO HO HAHAHA!
In other words, it makes no difference on what side of the Atlantic he is working, Raymond Burke is a serious bishop, a man of integrity, who won’t be silent when called on to give his views on issues which Catholic bishops must speak about.
This is in from Catholic News Service:
U.S. archbishop at Vatican says Democrats becoming ‘party of death’
By Cindy Wooden
Catholic News Service
ROME (CNS)—The Democratic Party in the United States "risks transforming itself definitively into a ‘party of death,’" said U.S. Archbishop Raymond L. Burke, prefect of the Vatican’s highest court.
An interview with the former archbishop of St. Louis was published in the Sept. 27 edition of Avvenire, a daily Catholic newspaper sponsored by the Italian bishops’ conference.
The newspaper asked the archbishop, the new head of the Supreme Court of the Apostolic Signature, for his reaction to reports that his Vatican job was designed to get him away from St. Louis.
"I have too much respect for the pope to believe that in order to move someone away from a diocese he would nominate him to a very sensitive dicastery like this one," said the archbishop, whose office is in charge of ensuring that lower church courts correctly administer justice in accordance with canon law.
Archbishop Burke was asked if he knew that the August Democratic National Convention in Denver featured a guest appearance by Sheryl Crow, a musician whose performance at a 2007 benefit for a Catholic children’s hospital the archbishop had opposed because of her support for abortion and embryonic stem-cell research.
"That does not surprise me much," the archbishop said. "At this point the Democratic Party risks transforming itself definitely into a ‘party of death’ because of its choices on bioethical questions as Ramesh Ponnuru wrote in his book, ‘The Party of Death: The Democrats, the Media, the Courts and the Disregard for Human Life.‘"
Archbishop Burke said the Democratic Party once was "the party that helped our immigrant parents and grandparents better integrate and prosper in American society. But it is not the same anymore."
Pro-life Democrats are "rare, unfortunately," he said.
Archbishop Burke also was asked about being one of a few U.S. bishops to publicly ban Catholic politicians who hold positions contrary to church teaching from receiving Communion.
"Mine was not an isolated position," the archbishop said. "It was shared by Archbishop Charles J. Chaput of Denver, by Bishop Peter J. Jugis of Charlotte (N.C.) and by others."
"But it is true that the bishops’ conference has not taken this position, leaving each bishop free to act as he believes best. For my part, I always have maintained that there must be a united position in order to demonstrate the unity of the church in facing this serious question," he said. [Amen.]
"Recently, I have noticed that other bishops are coming to this position," he said, especially after Sen. Joseph Biden of Delaware, the Democratic vice-presidential candidate, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., "while presenting themselves as good Catholics, have represented church teaching on abortion in a false and tendentious manner."
Archbishop Burke said he is convinced that a 2004 letter from then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger to the U.S. bishops and canon law say "it is not licit to give holy Communion to one who is publicly and obstinately a sinner. And it is logical that one who publicly and obstinately acts in favor of procured abortion enters into this category."
The newspaper asked Archbishop Burke if he ever wondered why the issue of Communion for Catholic politicians was almost unheard of in Europe, where abortion is legal in most countries.
"I don’t know if Catholic politicians in Europe are more coherent, although I would have some doubts," he said.
However, he said, "I am convinced that the church must always be very clear on this point."
CATEGORY: SESSIUNCULUM — Fr. John Zuhlsdorf @ 4:02 pm
When His Excellency Most Rev. Raymond Burke was moved from being Archbishop of St. Louis to Rome as the new Prefect of the Apostolic Segnatura, many people asked me if this was an example of promoveatur ut ammoveatur, that he was promoted to get him out of the USA before the American election cycle heated up.
I calmly responded "No, I don’t think so.
My less clam interior reaction was closer to: HA HAH HAHAHAHA! O HO HO HAHAHA!
In other words, it makes no difference on what side of the Atlantic he is working, Raymond Burke is a serious bishop, a man of integrity, who won’t be silent when called on to give his views on issues which Catholic bishops must speak about.
This is in from Catholic News Service:
U.S. archbishop at Vatican says Democrats becoming ‘party of death’
By Cindy Wooden
Catholic News Service
ROME (CNS)—The Democratic Party in the United States "risks transforming itself definitively into a ‘party of death,’" said U.S. Archbishop Raymond L. Burke, prefect of the Vatican’s highest court.
An interview with the former archbishop of St. Louis was published in the Sept. 27 edition of Avvenire, a daily Catholic newspaper sponsored by the Italian bishops’ conference.
The newspaper asked the archbishop, the new head of the Supreme Court of the Apostolic Signature, for his reaction to reports that his Vatican job was designed to get him away from St. Louis.
"I have too much respect for the pope to believe that in order to move someone away from a diocese he would nominate him to a very sensitive dicastery like this one," said the archbishop, whose office is in charge of ensuring that lower church courts correctly administer justice in accordance with canon law.
Archbishop Burke was asked if he knew that the August Democratic National Convention in Denver featured a guest appearance by Sheryl Crow, a musician whose performance at a 2007 benefit for a Catholic children’s hospital the archbishop had opposed because of her support for abortion and embryonic stem-cell research.
"That does not surprise me much," the archbishop said. "At this point the Democratic Party risks transforming itself definitely into a ‘party of death’ because of its choices on bioethical questions as Ramesh Ponnuru wrote in his book, ‘The Party of Death: The Democrats, the Media, the Courts and the Disregard for Human Life.‘"
Archbishop Burke said the Democratic Party once was "the party that helped our immigrant parents and grandparents better integrate and prosper in American society. But it is not the same anymore."
Pro-life Democrats are "rare, unfortunately," he said.
Archbishop Burke also was asked about being one of a few U.S. bishops to publicly ban Catholic politicians who hold positions contrary to church teaching from receiving Communion.
"Mine was not an isolated position," the archbishop said. "It was shared by Archbishop Charles J. Chaput of Denver, by Bishop Peter J. Jugis of Charlotte (N.C.) and by others."
"But it is true that the bishops’ conference has not taken this position, leaving each bishop free to act as he believes best. For my part, I always have maintained that there must be a united position in order to demonstrate the unity of the church in facing this serious question," he said. [Amen.]
"Recently, I have noticed that other bishops are coming to this position," he said, especially after Sen. Joseph Biden of Delaware, the Democratic vice-presidential candidate, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., "while presenting themselves as good Catholics, have represented church teaching on abortion in a false and tendentious manner."
Archbishop Burke said he is convinced that a 2004 letter from then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger to the U.S. bishops and canon law say "it is not licit to give holy Communion to one who is publicly and obstinately a sinner. And it is logical that one who publicly and obstinately acts in favor of procured abortion enters into this category."
The newspaper asked Archbishop Burke if he ever wondered why the issue of Communion for Catholic politicians was almost unheard of in Europe, where abortion is legal in most countries.
"I don’t know if Catholic politicians in Europe are more coherent, although I would have some doubts," he said.
However, he said, "I am convinced that the church must always be very clear on this point."
We are blessed as a church
Sent: Monday, September 29, 2008 9:33 AM
Subject: bulletin-092808.pdf (application/pdf Object)
We are blessed as a church
with friends, great and small, like Archangels, Michael,
Gabriel and Raphael, Guardian Angels and St. Theresa of
the Child Jesus, the “Little Flower”, whose feasts we
celebrate this week. (The Archangels on Mon., St. Theresa
on Wed., and The Guardian Angels on Thurs.) They
inspire our parish to be ‘angels’ for others through caring
and comforting ministries. We are blessed as a church with
the Bible, the living Word of God, that we have through
the efforts of St. Jerome, whose feast we celebrate this
Tuesday. We are blessed as a parish with Bible studies and
small group sharing that help us deepen our knowledge
and love of God’s Word. We are blessed as a church with
the example of St. Francis of Assisi, whose feast we
celebrate next Saturday, and whose love of animals and
simply prayerfulness showed God’s power at work in
renewing the lives of Christians. We are blessed as a parish
with prayer groups and Adoration Guardians who help us
‘storm heaven’ for healing and o
http://www.ourladyofthefields.org/Bulletins/bulletin-092808.pdf
Subject: bulletin-092808.pdf (application/pdf Object)
We are blessed as a church
with friends, great and small, like Archangels, Michael,
Gabriel and Raphael, Guardian Angels and St. Theresa of
the Child Jesus, the “Little Flower”, whose feasts we
celebrate this week. (The Archangels on Mon., St. Theresa
on Wed., and The Guardian Angels on Thurs.) They
inspire our parish to be ‘angels’ for others through caring
and comforting ministries. We are blessed as a church with
the Bible, the living Word of God, that we have through
the efforts of St. Jerome, whose feast we celebrate this
Tuesday. We are blessed as a parish with Bible studies and
small group sharing that help us deepen our knowledge
and love of God’s Word. We are blessed as a church with
the example of St. Francis of Assisi, whose feast we
celebrate next Saturday, and whose love of animals and
simply prayerfulness showed God’s power at work in
renewing the lives of Christians. We are blessed as a parish
with prayer groups and Adoration Guardians who help us
‘storm heaven’ for healing and o
http://www.ourladyofthefields.org/Bulletins/bulletin-092808.pdf
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Yahoo news has it right
Yahoo news has it right
stock plunge
AIG bailout
US carmakers are next
BUT:
Brenda spills the identity of Kelly's baby's father on the new "90210." » Spoiler: It's Brandon or Dylan
http://www.yahoo.com/
stock plunge
AIG bailout
US carmakers are next
BUT:
Brenda spills the identity of Kelly's baby's father on the new "90210." » Spoiler: It's Brandon or Dylan
http://www.yahoo.com/
Friday, September 12, 2008
ON THE SEVENTH ANNIVERSARY OF 911
ON THE SEVENTH ANNIVERSARY OF 911
Today the world remembers the day of infamy that has come to be called 911. On September 11, 2001 the unthinkable happened—We were attacked by a hostile force deep within our own country. We were all shocked, many people were surprised, angry, saddened, or had their faith shaken.
Political correctness and genuine civility restrain us seven years later from saying much of what many of us think. We must love our country in season and out of season, convenient or inconvenient, whether the rest of the world does or not. That, however, does not mean we can’t correct ourselves, better ourselves. “Know thyself,” the Philosopher says.
Seven years later I admit that I am weary of the arguments at both extremes. At times the far left seems to truly despise the hand that feeds it. America bashing in some quarters has taken on the respectability of a rite of passage, if not a religion. You might expect it from some of the western European nations we have repeatedly bailed out of the hell visited on them by the Hitlers, Stalins, and other assorted thugs and mass murderers. It is shocking, however, when immigrants that have gone from relative rags to riches (most of us) hate themselves so venomously (We are the country after all).
On the other hand, there are those on the far right that seem to have a blind patriotism that discounts the evils this poor nation “under God” has subjugated itself to. We are in an economic crisis of unprecedented proportions, not just because of dependence on foreign oil, the housing crash, etc., but because of the crass negligence of the leaders we have voted into office—in both parties. Poor and weak leadership is punishment for sin. In an indirect way, so are all of the other evils that beset creation. An increasing number of countries hate us for various reasons. Terrorism has intruded itself into our daily life. We worry constantly about a host of evils. Why?
Do you suppose that a nation and the people that have democratically elected the leaders of that nation can be pleasing to God if they were guilty of the outrageous crime of genocide? If a nation legally and systematically had murdered 48,000,000 unwanted women over 60 years of age, would that nation be favored, blessed, and protected by God? Alright, change it to men under 30 years of age. Human beings are human beings.
We have under the specious pretext of law—the law of the highest Court in the land—murdered 48,000,000 innocent human beings through abortion in this country since that dark day Satan donned judicial robes and issued his decision in Roe v. Wade. The nation, and most of the world, is “bewitched” into thinking that this is somehow acceptable because a court of morally blind, if not insane, men said so. Hitler said many things, as did Stalin, and every other individual or institution living apart from God and His unalterable law. They are all gone. The immutable will of God and His truth still stand and always will.
As we recall the hell of 911 and pray for the victims, their families, and the nation in general, remember that God is not a fool, nor is He a disinterested party in the affairs of men. God knows every human being He created from all eternity by name. He loves each one as if they were His only child. How shall one nation under God answer God when He calls for an accounting for these beloved souls? Will we be protected from our enemies, from a never-ending cascade of natural disasters, from financial ruin?
May the Holy Spirit, Lord and Giver of Life, enlighten our minds and strengthen our wills to love the good and fight evil tirelessly; to defend the most innocent and helpless of our brothers and sisters—the unborn. The hour is late, darkness is falling, a day of reckoning is fast upon us. Now is the time to attack the evils of the day, abortion being the preeminent evil, for if the right to life is undermined, eroded, and ultimately destroyed, no other rights are relevant or meaningful.
God Bless You,
Father John Corapi
Today the world remembers the day of infamy that has come to be called 911. On September 11, 2001 the unthinkable happened—We were attacked by a hostile force deep within our own country. We were all shocked, many people were surprised, angry, saddened, or had their faith shaken.
Political correctness and genuine civility restrain us seven years later from saying much of what many of us think. We must love our country in season and out of season, convenient or inconvenient, whether the rest of the world does or not. That, however, does not mean we can’t correct ourselves, better ourselves. “Know thyself,” the Philosopher says.
Seven years later I admit that I am weary of the arguments at both extremes. At times the far left seems to truly despise the hand that feeds it. America bashing in some quarters has taken on the respectability of a rite of passage, if not a religion. You might expect it from some of the western European nations we have repeatedly bailed out of the hell visited on them by the Hitlers, Stalins, and other assorted thugs and mass murderers. It is shocking, however, when immigrants that have gone from relative rags to riches (most of us) hate themselves so venomously (We are the country after all).
On the other hand, there are those on the far right that seem to have a blind patriotism that discounts the evils this poor nation “under God” has subjugated itself to. We are in an economic crisis of unprecedented proportions, not just because of dependence on foreign oil, the housing crash, etc., but because of the crass negligence of the leaders we have voted into office—in both parties. Poor and weak leadership is punishment for sin. In an indirect way, so are all of the other evils that beset creation. An increasing number of countries hate us for various reasons. Terrorism has intruded itself into our daily life. We worry constantly about a host of evils. Why?
Do you suppose that a nation and the people that have democratically elected the leaders of that nation can be pleasing to God if they were guilty of the outrageous crime of genocide? If a nation legally and systematically had murdered 48,000,000 unwanted women over 60 years of age, would that nation be favored, blessed, and protected by God? Alright, change it to men under 30 years of age. Human beings are human beings.
We have under the specious pretext of law—the law of the highest Court in the land—murdered 48,000,000 innocent human beings through abortion in this country since that dark day Satan donned judicial robes and issued his decision in Roe v. Wade. The nation, and most of the world, is “bewitched” into thinking that this is somehow acceptable because a court of morally blind, if not insane, men said so. Hitler said many things, as did Stalin, and every other individual or institution living apart from God and His unalterable law. They are all gone. The immutable will of God and His truth still stand and always will.
As we recall the hell of 911 and pray for the victims, their families, and the nation in general, remember that God is not a fool, nor is He a disinterested party in the affairs of men. God knows every human being He created from all eternity by name. He loves each one as if they were His only child. How shall one nation under God answer God when He calls for an accounting for these beloved souls? Will we be protected from our enemies, from a never-ending cascade of natural disasters, from financial ruin?
May the Holy Spirit, Lord and Giver of Life, enlighten our minds and strengthen our wills to love the good and fight evil tirelessly; to defend the most innocent and helpless of our brothers and sisters—the unborn. The hour is late, darkness is falling, a day of reckoning is fast upon us. Now is the time to attack the evils of the day, abortion being the preeminent evil, for if the right to life is undermined, eroded, and ultimately destroyed, no other rights are relevant or meaningful.
God Bless You,
Father John Corapi
Bishops to Bush: Drop the Raids
Bishops to Bush: Drop the Raids
Within the hour, the following statement was released in Washington by the chair of the US Bishops' Committee on Migration, Bishop John Wester of Salt Lake City:
On behalf of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), I call upon the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and President Bush to reexamine the use of worksite enforcement raids as an immigration enforcement tool. The humanitarian costs of these raids are immeasurable and unacceptable in a civilized society.
In the absence of comprehensive immigration reform, we have sought to work collaboratively with DHS to ensure that raids are carried out humanely. It seems to us that DHS has attempted to abide by several humanitarian considerations in executing some of the workplace raids.
However, we believe that DHS has not gone far enough to ensure that human rights protections are consistently applied in all enforcement actions.
For over a year now, DHS has targeted employers who hire unauthorized workers by using force to enter worksites and arrest immigrant workers. During the process of these raids, U.S.-citizen children have been separated from their parents for days, if not longer; immigrants arrested have not been afforded the rights of due process; and local communities, including legal permanent residents and U.S. citizens, have been disrupted and dislocated. The sweeping nature of these raids---which often involve hundreds of law enforcement personnel with weapons---strike fear in immigrant communities and make it difficult for those arrested to secure basic due process protections, including legal counsel.
We have witnessed first-hand the suffering of immigrant families and are gravely concerned about the collateral human consequences of immigration enforcement raids on the family unit. Many of our local parishes have helped respond to human needs generated by these enforcement actions, providing counseling and legal services to parents and children and basic needs assistance to immigrant communities.
Raids strike immigrant communities unexpectedly, leaving the affected immigrant families to cope in their aftermath. Husbands are separated from their wives, and children are separated from their parents. Many families never recover; others never reunite.
As our government confronts the challenges of immigration, let it not forget one of its core duties: protecting the family unit as the fundamental institution upon which society and government itself depends.
While we do not question the right and duty of our government to enforce the law, we do question whether worksite enforcement raids are the most effective and humane method for performing this duty, particularly as they are presently being implemented. In this regard, we ask DHS to immediately pledge to take the following actions to mitigate the human costs of these raids:
DHS should refrain from enforcement activity in certain areas that provide humanitarian relief—churches, hospitals, community health centers, schools, food banks, and other community-based organizations that provide charitable services;
Primary, not simply sole, caregivers should be released following an enforcement action to care for their children. A variety of release mechanisms, including parole in the public interest, release on recognizance, bail, and alternatives to detention should be utilized for this purpose:
DHS should facilitate access to meaningful legal representation for arrested individuals so that they are aware of their legal rights and options;
Enforcement actions should be conducted in a manner which preserves basic human dignity: immigrants who are working to survive and support their families should not be treated like criminals.
Mechanisms should be instituted to allow family members to remain together and to locate each other during and following an enforcement action. Non-profit and community groups should be engaged in this effort.
Absent the effective and immediate implementation of these safeguards, we believe that these enforcement raids should be abandoned.
Immigration enforcement raids demonstrate politically the ability of the government to enforce the law. They do little, however, to solve the broader challenge of illegal immigration. They also reveal, sadly, the failure of a seriously flawed immigration system, which, as we have consistently stated, requires comprehensive reform.
As they begin their general election campaigns, we urge the two presidential candidates to engage the issue of immigration in a humane, thoughtful, and courageous manner.
We urge our elected and appointed officials to turn away from enforcement-only methods and direct their energy toward the adoption of comprehensive immigration reform legislation.
http://whispersintheloggia.blogspot.com/
Within the hour, the following statement was released in Washington by the chair of the US Bishops' Committee on Migration, Bishop John Wester of Salt Lake City:
On behalf of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), I call upon the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and President Bush to reexamine the use of worksite enforcement raids as an immigration enforcement tool. The humanitarian costs of these raids are immeasurable and unacceptable in a civilized society.
In the absence of comprehensive immigration reform, we have sought to work collaboratively with DHS to ensure that raids are carried out humanely. It seems to us that DHS has attempted to abide by several humanitarian considerations in executing some of the workplace raids.
However, we believe that DHS has not gone far enough to ensure that human rights protections are consistently applied in all enforcement actions.
For over a year now, DHS has targeted employers who hire unauthorized workers by using force to enter worksites and arrest immigrant workers. During the process of these raids, U.S.-citizen children have been separated from their parents for days, if not longer; immigrants arrested have not been afforded the rights of due process; and local communities, including legal permanent residents and U.S. citizens, have been disrupted and dislocated. The sweeping nature of these raids---which often involve hundreds of law enforcement personnel with weapons---strike fear in immigrant communities and make it difficult for those arrested to secure basic due process protections, including legal counsel.
We have witnessed first-hand the suffering of immigrant families and are gravely concerned about the collateral human consequences of immigration enforcement raids on the family unit. Many of our local parishes have helped respond to human needs generated by these enforcement actions, providing counseling and legal services to parents and children and basic needs assistance to immigrant communities.
Raids strike immigrant communities unexpectedly, leaving the affected immigrant families to cope in their aftermath. Husbands are separated from their wives, and children are separated from their parents. Many families never recover; others never reunite.
As our government confronts the challenges of immigration, let it not forget one of its core duties: protecting the family unit as the fundamental institution upon which society and government itself depends.
While we do not question the right and duty of our government to enforce the law, we do question whether worksite enforcement raids are the most effective and humane method for performing this duty, particularly as they are presently being implemented. In this regard, we ask DHS to immediately pledge to take the following actions to mitigate the human costs of these raids:
DHS should refrain from enforcement activity in certain areas that provide humanitarian relief—churches, hospitals, community health centers, schools, food banks, and other community-based organizations that provide charitable services;
Primary, not simply sole, caregivers should be released following an enforcement action to care for their children. A variety of release mechanisms, including parole in the public interest, release on recognizance, bail, and alternatives to detention should be utilized for this purpose:
DHS should facilitate access to meaningful legal representation for arrested individuals so that they are aware of their legal rights and options;
Enforcement actions should be conducted in a manner which preserves basic human dignity: immigrants who are working to survive and support their families should not be treated like criminals.
Mechanisms should be instituted to allow family members to remain together and to locate each other during and following an enforcement action. Non-profit and community groups should be engaged in this effort.
Absent the effective and immediate implementation of these safeguards, we believe that these enforcement raids should be abandoned.
Immigration enforcement raids demonstrate politically the ability of the government to enforce the law. They do little, however, to solve the broader challenge of illegal immigration. They also reveal, sadly, the failure of a seriously flawed immigration system, which, as we have consistently stated, requires comprehensive reform.
As they begin their general election campaigns, we urge the two presidential candidates to engage the issue of immigration in a humane, thoughtful, and courageous manner.
We urge our elected and appointed officials to turn away from enforcement-only methods and direct their energy toward the adoption of comprehensive immigration reform legislation.
http://whispersintheloggia.blogspot.com/
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Priority of Rejecting Intrinsic Evil
Sent: Thursday, September 11, 2008 8:10 PM
Subject: What Does The Prayer Really Say?
The Priority of Rejecting Intrinsic Evil
There are, however, some issues that always involve doing evil, such as legalized abortion, the promotion of same-sex unions and ‘marriages,’ repression of religious liberty, as well as public policies permitting euthanasia, racial discrimination or destructive human embryonic stem cell research. A properly formed conscience must give such issues priority even over other matters with important moral dimensions. To vote for a candidate who supports these intrinsic evils because he or she supports these evils is to participate in a grave moral evil. It can never be justified.
Even if we understand the moral dimensions of the full array of social issues and have correctly prioritized those involving intrinsic evils, we still must make prudential judgments in the selection of candidates. In an ideal situation, we may have a choice between two candidates who both oppose public policies that involve intrinsic evils. In such a case, we need to study their approach on all the other issues that involve the promotion of the dignity of the human person and prayerfully choose the best individual.
http://wdtprs.com/blog/
Subject: What Does The Prayer Really Say?
The Priority of Rejecting Intrinsic Evil
There are, however, some issues that always involve doing evil, such as legalized abortion, the promotion of same-sex unions and ‘marriages,’ repression of religious liberty, as well as public policies permitting euthanasia, racial discrimination or destructive human embryonic stem cell research. A properly formed conscience must give such issues priority even over other matters with important moral dimensions. To vote for a candidate who supports these intrinsic evils because he or she supports these evils is to participate in a grave moral evil. It can never be justified.
Even if we understand the moral dimensions of the full array of social issues and have correctly prioritized those involving intrinsic evils, we still must make prudential judgments in the selection of candidates. In an ideal situation, we may have a choice between two candidates who both oppose public policies that involve intrinsic evils. In such a case, we need to study their approach on all the other issues that involve the promotion of the dignity of the human person and prayerfully choose the best individual.
http://wdtprs.com/blog/
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Public Servants and Moral Reasoning:
Public Servants and Moral Reasoning:
A notice to the Catholic community in northern Colorado
To Catholics of the Archdiocese of Denver:
When Catholics serve on the national stage, their actions and words impact the faith of Catholics around the country. As a result, they open themselves to legitimate scrutiny by local Catholics and local bishops on matters of Catholic belief. In 2008, although NBC probably didn't intend it, Meet the Press has become a national window on the flawed moral reasoning of some Catholic public servants.
On August 24, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, describing herself as an ardent, practicing Catholic, misrepresented the overwhelming body of Catholic teaching against abortion to the show's nationwide audience, while defending her "pro-choice" abortion views. On September 7, Sen. Joseph Biden compounded the problem to the same Meet the Press audience.
Sen. Biden is a man of distinguished public service. That doesn't excuse poor logic or bad facts. Asked when life begins, Sen. Biden said that, "it's a personal and private issue." But in reality, modern biology knows exactly when human life begins: at the moment of conception. Religion has nothing to do with it. People might argue when human "personhood" begins - though that leads public policy in very dangerous directions - but no one can any longer claim that the beginning of life is a matter of religious opinion.
Sen. Biden also confused the nature of pluralism. Real pluralism thrives on healthy, non-violent disagreement; it requires an environment where people of conviction will struggle respectfully but vigorously to advance their beliefs. In his interview, the senator observed that other people with strong religious views disagree with the Catholic approach to abortion. It's certainly true that we need to acknowledge the views of other people and compromise whenever possible - but not at the expense of a developing child's right to life. Abortion is a foundational issue; it is not an issue like housing policy or the price of foreign oil. It always involves the intentional killing of an innocent life, and it is always, grievously wrong. If, as Sen. Biden said, "I'm prepared as a matter of faith [emphasis added] to accept that life begins at the moment of conception," then he is not merely wrong about the science of new life; he also fails to defend the innocent life he already knows is there.
As the senator said in his interview, he has opposed public funding for abortions. To his great credit, he also backed a successful ban on partial-birth abortions. But his strong support for the 1973 Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade and the false "right" to abortion it enshrines, can't be excused by any serious Catholic. Support for Roe and the "right to choose" an abortion simply masks what abortion is, and what abortion does. Roe is bad law. As long as it stands, it prevents returning the abortion issue to the states where it belongs, so that the American people can decide its future through fair debate and legislation.
In his Meet the Press interview, Sen. Biden used a morally exhausted argument that American Catholics have been hearing for 40 years: i.e., that Catholics can't "impose" their religiously based views on the rest of the country. But resistance to abortion is a matter of human rights, not religious opinion. And the senator knows very well as a lawmaker that all law involves the imposition of some people's convictions on everyone else. That is the nature of the law. American Catholics have allowed themselves to be bullied into accepting the destruction of more than a million developing unborn children a year. Other people have imposed their "pro-choice" beliefs on American society without any remorse for decades.
If we claim to be Catholic, then American Catholics, including public officials who describe themselvesas Catholic, need to act accordingly. We need to put an end to Roe and the industry of permissive abortion it enables. Otherwise all of us - from senators and members of Congress, to Catholic laypeople in the pews - fail not only as believers and disciples, but also as citizens.
Charles J. Chaput, O.F.M. Cap.
Archbishop of Denver
James D. Conley
Auxiliary Bishop of Denver
A notice to the Catholic community in northern Colorado
To Catholics of the Archdiocese of Denver:
When Catholics serve on the national stage, their actions and words impact the faith of Catholics around the country. As a result, they open themselves to legitimate scrutiny by local Catholics and local bishops on matters of Catholic belief. In 2008, although NBC probably didn't intend it, Meet the Press has become a national window on the flawed moral reasoning of some Catholic public servants.
On August 24, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, describing herself as an ardent, practicing Catholic, misrepresented the overwhelming body of Catholic teaching against abortion to the show's nationwide audience, while defending her "pro-choice" abortion views. On September 7, Sen. Joseph Biden compounded the problem to the same Meet the Press audience.
Sen. Biden is a man of distinguished public service. That doesn't excuse poor logic or bad facts. Asked when life begins, Sen. Biden said that, "it's a personal and private issue." But in reality, modern biology knows exactly when human life begins: at the moment of conception. Religion has nothing to do with it. People might argue when human "personhood" begins - though that leads public policy in very dangerous directions - but no one can any longer claim that the beginning of life is a matter of religious opinion.
Sen. Biden also confused the nature of pluralism. Real pluralism thrives on healthy, non-violent disagreement; it requires an environment where people of conviction will struggle respectfully but vigorously to advance their beliefs. In his interview, the senator observed that other people with strong religious views disagree with the Catholic approach to abortion. It's certainly true that we need to acknowledge the views of other people and compromise whenever possible - but not at the expense of a developing child's right to life. Abortion is a foundational issue; it is not an issue like housing policy or the price of foreign oil. It always involves the intentional killing of an innocent life, and it is always, grievously wrong. If, as Sen. Biden said, "I'm prepared as a matter of faith [emphasis added] to accept that life begins at the moment of conception," then he is not merely wrong about the science of new life; he also fails to defend the innocent life he already knows is there.
As the senator said in his interview, he has opposed public funding for abortions. To his great credit, he also backed a successful ban on partial-birth abortions. But his strong support for the 1973 Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade and the false "right" to abortion it enshrines, can't be excused by any serious Catholic. Support for Roe and the "right to choose" an abortion simply masks what abortion is, and what abortion does. Roe is bad law. As long as it stands, it prevents returning the abortion issue to the states where it belongs, so that the American people can decide its future through fair debate and legislation.
In his Meet the Press interview, Sen. Biden used a morally exhausted argument that American Catholics have been hearing for 40 years: i.e., that Catholics can't "impose" their religiously based views on the rest of the country. But resistance to abortion is a matter of human rights, not religious opinion. And the senator knows very well as a lawmaker that all law involves the imposition of some people's convictions on everyone else. That is the nature of the law. American Catholics have allowed themselves to be bullied into accepting the destruction of more than a million developing unborn children a year. Other people have imposed their "pro-choice" beliefs on American society without any remorse for decades.
If we claim to be Catholic, then American Catholics, including public officials who describe themselvesas Catholic, need to act accordingly. We need to put an end to Roe and the industry of permissive abortion it enables. Otherwise all of us - from senators and members of Congress, to Catholic laypeople in the pews - fail not only as believers and disciples, but also as citizens.
Charles J. Chaput, O.F.M. Cap.
Archbishop of Denver
James D. Conley
Auxiliary Bishop of Denver
Monday, September 8, 2008
What Does The Prayer Really Say?
Sent: Monday, September 08, 2008 9:24 AM
Subject: What Does The Prayer Really Say?»Blog Archive » QUAERITUR: priests not blessing children at Communion
Reverend Dear Fr Z,
The post by Gerry Scheid is spot on. The great Archbishop Chaput has written very sensitively but firmly on this same point. It is a pity that so many get carried away by “niceness” and “cuteness” at the expense of principle, which they are generally not accustomed to considering.
Comment by vexilla regis — 7 September 2008 @ 8:23 pm
http://wdtprs.com/blog/2008/09/quaeritur-priests-not-blessing-children-at-communion/#comments
Subject: What Does The Prayer Really Say?»Blog Archive » QUAERITUR: priests not blessing children at Communion
Reverend Dear Fr Z,
The post by Gerry Scheid is spot on. The great Archbishop Chaput has written very sensitively but firmly on this same point. It is a pity that so many get carried away by “niceness” and “cuteness” at the expense of principle, which they are generally not accustomed to considering.
Comment by vexilla regis — 7 September 2008 @ 8:23 pm
http://wdtprs.com/blog/2008/09/quaeritur-priests-not-blessing-children-at-communion/#comments
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Gov. Palin: ex-Catholic?
Sent: Sunday, September 07, 2008 8:45 AM
Subject: What Does The Prayer Really Say?
Gov. Palin: ex-Catholic? Stop bugging me about it
CATEGORY: SESSIUNCULUM — Fr. John Zuhlsdorf @ 4:56 pm
I am getting strange and even hysterical e-mail from quite a few people about VP candidate Sarah Palin being an "apostate Catholic".
"BUT FATHER! BUT FATHERFATHERFATHER! WHY aren’t YOU paying ATTENTION to THIS???!?".
Some e-mail is reasonable and mature. Some includes lots of SHOUTING and UNDERLINING.
Tip for the future: If you write e-mail like that to me, I delete it, mostly unread.
However, about Sarah Palin as "apostate", ...
To my knowledge Gov. Palin was baptized in the Catholic Church, but her parents left the Catholic Church for some Protestant sect when she was around 12 years old.
I don’t hold twelve-year-old children accountable for the actions of their parents.
Would that be even slightly rational?
I understand she attends a non-denominational Christian church of some sort.
"Apostasy" is accomplished by a formal act, not by being taken away from the Church as a child and then growing up in a Christian sect.
I wish she were a Catholic! I wish everyone were Catholic! But she’s not, and it seems not to be her fault.
Some who are Catholic really aren’t… and in the case of some politicians that is their fault.
Until it is revealed that Gov. Palin has made some sort of formal act of apostasy from the Catholic Church or done something anti-Catholic, I think you ought to breathe deeply and regularly, trying breathing into a paper bag, and maintain some control.
And stop shouting at me about it.
http://wdtprs.com/blog/
Subject: What Does The Prayer Really Say?
Gov. Palin: ex-Catholic? Stop bugging me about it
CATEGORY: SESSIUNCULUM — Fr. John Zuhlsdorf @ 4:56 pm
I am getting strange and even hysterical e-mail from quite a few people about VP candidate Sarah Palin being an "apostate Catholic".
"BUT FATHER! BUT FATHERFATHERFATHER! WHY aren’t YOU paying ATTENTION to THIS???!?".
Some e-mail is reasonable and mature. Some includes lots of SHOUTING and UNDERLINING.
Tip for the future: If you write e-mail like that to me, I delete it, mostly unread.
However, about Sarah Palin as "apostate", ...
To my knowledge Gov. Palin was baptized in the Catholic Church, but her parents left the Catholic Church for some Protestant sect when she was around 12 years old.
I don’t hold twelve-year-old children accountable for the actions of their parents.
Would that be even slightly rational?
I understand she attends a non-denominational Christian church of some sort.
"Apostasy" is accomplished by a formal act, not by being taken away from the Church as a child and then growing up in a Christian sect.
I wish she were a Catholic! I wish everyone were Catholic! But she’s not, and it seems not to be her fault.
Some who are Catholic really aren’t… and in the case of some politicians that is their fault.
Until it is revealed that Gov. Palin has made some sort of formal act of apostasy from the Catholic Church or done something anti-Catholic, I think you ought to breathe deeply and regularly, trying breathing into a paper bag, and maintain some control.
And stop shouting at me about it.
http://wdtprs.com/blog/
Saturday, September 6, 2008
the Delorius Passion?
Sent: Thursday, September 04, 2008 9:48 AM
Subject: Marian Catholic Family Forum - Olympics - Powered by ForumCo.com - The Forum Company
BTW... John is your quote from the Delorius Passion? Wasn't this book so problematic (the problems attributed to much creative elaboration on the part of the translator) set aside as unreliable? I'm no scholar on this (so please feel free to correct me), but I do not believe anything in the Delorius Passion is binding in anyway on the faithful.
http://mariancatholicforum.forumco.com/topic~TOPIC_ID~1575.asp
Subject: Marian Catholic Family Forum - Olympics - Powered by ForumCo.com - The Forum Company
BTW... John is your quote from the Delorius Passion? Wasn't this book so problematic (the problems attributed to much creative elaboration on the part of the translator) set aside as unreliable? I'm no scholar on this (so please feel free to correct me), but I do not believe anything in the Delorius Passion is binding in anyway on the faithful.
http://mariancatholicforum.forumco.com/topic~TOPIC_ID~1575.asp
The Precepts
The Precepts
You shall attend Mass on Sundays and on holy days of obligation and rest from servile labor.
We must "sanctify the day commemorating the Resurrection of the Lord" (Sunday), as well as the principal feast days, known as Catholic holy days of obligation. This requires attending Mass, "and by resting from those works and activities which could impede such a sanctification of these days."
You shall confess your sins at least once a year.
We must prepare for the Eucharist by means of the Sacrament of Reconciliation (Confession). This sacrament "continues Baptism's work of conversion and forgiveness."
You shall receive the sacrament of the Eucharist at least during the Easter season.
This "guarantees as a minimum the reception of the Lord's Body and Blood in connection with the Paschal feasts, the origin and center of the Christian liturgy."
You shall observe the days of fasting and abstinence established by the Church.
"The fourth precept ensures the times of ascesis and penance which prepare us for the liturgical feasts and help us acquire mastery over our instincts and freedom of heart." See below for more about fasting & abstinence.
You shall help to provide for the needs of the Church.
"The fifth precept means that the faithful are obliged to assist with the material needs of the Church, each according to his own ability."
(These quotations are from the Catechism of the Catholic Church, in its section about the Precepts of the Catholic Church (#2041-3).)
Note that these precepts of the Catholic Church are required, unless you have a legitimate reason for not meeting them. For example:
If you are sick, tending to a sick child, or camping in the wilderness on Sunday and cannot get to Mass, it is not a grave violation to miss Mass that day.
Children, the elderly, and pregnant or nursing women do not have to fast on normal fast days (Ash Wednesday and Good Friday).
Go beyond the minimum!
Always remember: the precepts of the Catholic Church are minimum levels of participation in the life of the Church. Out of love for Christ and a desire to advance in the spiritual life, you will normally try to do far more than they require.
Many people recommend that Catholics:
Attend Mass at least one more time a week. (Most Church parishes celebrate Mass every day of the year!)
Go to confession at least once a month, and find a regular confessor so he can give you better guidance.
Find a good spiritual director to give you sound guidance for growing in the spiritual life.
Receive the sacrament of the Eucharist at every Mass, if you meet the guidelines for reception (are free from mortal sin, etc.).
Make a habit of practicing penitential and charitable acts beyond those required by the precepts of the Catholic Church.
Contribute as much as possible to the material needs of the Church and the needy.
This brief article on the precepts of the Catholic Church is just one of a series of articles about Catholic morality. There are also more articles for the beginning Catholic available from our home page.
You shall attend Mass on Sundays and on holy days of obligation and rest from servile labor.
We must "sanctify the day commemorating the Resurrection of the Lord" (Sunday), as well as the principal feast days, known as Catholic holy days of obligation. This requires attending Mass, "and by resting from those works and activities which could impede such a sanctification of these days."
You shall confess your sins at least once a year.
We must prepare for the Eucharist by means of the Sacrament of Reconciliation (Confession). This sacrament "continues Baptism's work of conversion and forgiveness."
You shall receive the sacrament of the Eucharist at least during the Easter season.
This "guarantees as a minimum the reception of the Lord's Body and Blood in connection with the Paschal feasts, the origin and center of the Christian liturgy."
You shall observe the days of fasting and abstinence established by the Church.
"The fourth precept ensures the times of ascesis and penance which prepare us for the liturgical feasts and help us acquire mastery over our instincts and freedom of heart." See below for more about fasting & abstinence.
You shall help to provide for the needs of the Church.
"The fifth precept means that the faithful are obliged to assist with the material needs of the Church, each according to his own ability."
(These quotations are from the Catechism of the Catholic Church, in its section about the Precepts of the Catholic Church (#2041-3).)
Note that these precepts of the Catholic Church are required, unless you have a legitimate reason for not meeting them. For example:
If you are sick, tending to a sick child, or camping in the wilderness on Sunday and cannot get to Mass, it is not a grave violation to miss Mass that day.
Children, the elderly, and pregnant or nursing women do not have to fast on normal fast days (Ash Wednesday and Good Friday).
Go beyond the minimum!
Always remember: the precepts of the Catholic Church are minimum levels of participation in the life of the Church. Out of love for Christ and a desire to advance in the spiritual life, you will normally try to do far more than they require.
Many people recommend that Catholics:
Attend Mass at least one more time a week. (Most Church parishes celebrate Mass every day of the year!)
Go to confession at least once a month, and find a regular confessor so he can give you better guidance.
Find a good spiritual director to give you sound guidance for growing in the spiritual life.
Receive the sacrament of the Eucharist at every Mass, if you meet the guidelines for reception (are free from mortal sin, etc.).
Make a habit of practicing penitential and charitable acts beyond those required by the precepts of the Catholic Church.
Contribute as much as possible to the material needs of the Church and the needy.
This brief article on the precepts of the Catholic Church is just one of a series of articles about Catholic morality. There are also more articles for the beginning Catholic available from our home page.
Buying vs Renting
Buying vs. Renting
There are many considerations to weigh before purchasing a home
- Fri, Feb 22, 2008
Provided by Informa
A home is one of the most expensive purchases most of us will ever make during our lifetime. Whether you decide to rent or buy, either choice comes with its own rewards and risks. Homeownership offers many advantages over renting including:
Advantages of Buying versus Renting
Buying Renting
Tax write-off No tax write-off
You can upgrade your home as you see fit Need permission to make any changes
Build equity in your home as value appreciates Your money goes toward the landlords equity
Control of loan payment options Rent can increase periodically
Pride of homeownership You have no ownership
While owning your own home has many benefits, there are still risks to consider:
Disadvantages of Buying versus Renting
Buying Renting
You're responsible for property maintenance Your landlord or manager handles general repairs
Need to sell, rent or lease property in order to re-locate. May have to wait until market conditions are right Freedom to move once your lease expires
You pay for all your own utilities, property taxes and insurance May include utilities, property taxes, and property insurance
Home improvement upgrades can run into thousands of dollars You're not financially responsible for improvements
However, all things considered, homeownership is by far one of the best single investments you can make given the potential long-term benefits.
When does it make sense to buy?
People, who have generally rented their whole lives, purchase a home for various reasons. Owning something of value with a chance of watching their investment appreciate is one reason. Purchasing a home to save money over the long-term is another.
Example
Let's say you're currently renting a two-bedroom, two-bath apartment. Your monthly rent is $1,000. You find a two-bedroom, two-bath at a market price of $250,000 (roughly the national average.) You have $25,000 saved - enough for a 10 percent down payment. For the purpose of this example, you're looking to finance $225,000, which includes closing costs.
Using one of several mortgage calculators on the Internet, your monthly payment would be approximately $1,385 for a 30-year fixed loan at an APR of 6.20 percent (the national average). After taxes and appreciation in equity, your monthly payment over five years would average $499 per month.
Costs Savings of Buying versus Renting
Calculations Rent Purchase
Monthly rent/estimated mortgage payment $1,000 $1,385
Purchase price of home $250,000
Percentage of down payment 25,000
Length of loan term (years) 30
Interest rate 6.2%
Years you plan to stay in the home 5
Yearly property tax rate 1%
Yearly home value appreciation rate 4%
Results
Price of home after appreciation $304,163
Remaining balance after 5 years 209,887
Equity in house 94,276
Tax savings (28% bracket) 23,030
Avg. monthly payment over time 1,047 499
Total payments (over 5 years) $62,820 $29,973
Total savings if buying $32,847
Source: Ginniemae.gov. These calculations are estimates only. You should always seek the guidance of financial or tax experts before making any buying decisions.
The outcome could dramatically change should an unforeseen economic downturn or financial hardship occur (e.g., home improvement costs, catastrophic damage, etc.). While, no one can predict if home appreciation values will spiral downward, or if mortgage interest rates will rise, it's clear that under the right circumstances home ownership can be financially rewarding.
There are many considerations to weigh before purchasing a home
- Fri, Feb 22, 2008
Provided by Informa
A home is one of the most expensive purchases most of us will ever make during our lifetime. Whether you decide to rent or buy, either choice comes with its own rewards and risks. Homeownership offers many advantages over renting including:
Advantages of Buying versus Renting
Buying Renting
Tax write-off No tax write-off
You can upgrade your home as you see fit Need permission to make any changes
Build equity in your home as value appreciates Your money goes toward the landlords equity
Control of loan payment options Rent can increase periodically
Pride of homeownership You have no ownership
While owning your own home has many benefits, there are still risks to consider:
Disadvantages of Buying versus Renting
Buying Renting
You're responsible for property maintenance Your landlord or manager handles general repairs
Need to sell, rent or lease property in order to re-locate. May have to wait until market conditions are right Freedom to move once your lease expires
You pay for all your own utilities, property taxes and insurance May include utilities, property taxes, and property insurance
Home improvement upgrades can run into thousands of dollars You're not financially responsible for improvements
However, all things considered, homeownership is by far one of the best single investments you can make given the potential long-term benefits.
When does it make sense to buy?
People, who have generally rented their whole lives, purchase a home for various reasons. Owning something of value with a chance of watching their investment appreciate is one reason. Purchasing a home to save money over the long-term is another.
Example
Let's say you're currently renting a two-bedroom, two-bath apartment. Your monthly rent is $1,000. You find a two-bedroom, two-bath at a market price of $250,000 (roughly the national average.) You have $25,000 saved - enough for a 10 percent down payment. For the purpose of this example, you're looking to finance $225,000, which includes closing costs.
Using one of several mortgage calculators on the Internet, your monthly payment would be approximately $1,385 for a 30-year fixed loan at an APR of 6.20 percent (the national average). After taxes and appreciation in equity, your monthly payment over five years would average $499 per month.
Costs Savings of Buying versus Renting
Calculations Rent Purchase
Monthly rent/estimated mortgage payment $1,000 $1,385
Purchase price of home $250,000
Percentage of down payment 25,000
Length of loan term (years) 30
Interest rate 6.2%
Years you plan to stay in the home 5
Yearly property tax rate 1%
Yearly home value appreciation rate 4%
Results
Price of home after appreciation $304,163
Remaining balance after 5 years 209,887
Equity in house 94,276
Tax savings (28% bracket) 23,030
Avg. monthly payment over time 1,047 499
Total payments (over 5 years) $62,820 $29,973
Total savings if buying $32,847
Source: Ginniemae.gov. These calculations are estimates only. You should always seek the guidance of financial or tax experts before making any buying decisions.
The outcome could dramatically change should an unforeseen economic downturn or financial hardship occur (e.g., home improvement costs, catastrophic damage, etc.). While, no one can predict if home appreciation values will spiral downward, or if mortgage interest rates will rise, it's clear that under the right circumstances home ownership can be financially rewarding.
Friday, September 5, 2008
Mother Teresa
Sent: Friday, September 05, 2008 9:17 AM
Subject: "Give God Permission"
And so, on her feast-day, there's no better time for a brief compilation of Mother Teresims:
The dying, the cripple, the mental, the unwanted, the unloved -- they are Jesus in disguise.
Little things are indeed little, but to be faithful in little things is a great thing.
It is not how much we do, but how much love we put in the doing. It is not how much we give, but how much love we put in the giving.
Nakedness is not only for a piece of clothing; nakedness is lack of human dignity, and also that beautiful virtue of purity, and lack of that respect for each other.
There is a terrible hunger for love. We all experience that in our lives - the pain, the loneliness. We must have the courage to recognize it. The poor you may have right in your own family. Find them. Love them.
There is more hunger in the world for love and appreciation in this world than for bread.
Before you speak, it is necessary for you to listen, for God speaks in the silence of the heart.
Speak tenderly to them. Let there be kindness in your face, in your eyes, in your smile, in the warmth of your greeting. Always have a cheerful smile. Don't only give your care, but give your heart as well.
The more you have, the more you are occupied, the less you give. But the less you have the more free you are. Poverty for us is a freedom. It is not a mortification, a penance. It is joyful freedom. There is no television here, no this, no that. But we are perfectly happy.
If you are humble nothing will touch you, neither praise nor disgrace, because you know what you are.
Do not allow yourselves to be disheartened by any failure as long as you have done your best.
We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop.
There is only one God and He is God to all; therefore it is important that everyone is seen as equal before God. I've always said we should help a Hindu become a better Hindu, a Muslim become a better Muslim, a Catholic become a better Catholic.
If we really want to love we must learn how to forgive.
It is a poverty to decide that an unborn child must die so that you may live as you like.
If we pray, we will believe; If we believe, we will love; If we love, we will serve.
We can do no great things; only small things with great love.
You and I, we are the Church, no? We have to share with our people. Suffering today is because people are hoarding, not giving, not sharing. Jesus made it very clear: "Whatever you do to the least of my brethren, you do it to me. Give a glass of water, you give it to me. Receive a little child, you receive me." Clear.
I know God will not give me anything I can't handle. I just wish that He didn't trust me so much.
Only in heaven will we see how much we owe to the poor for helping us to love God better because of them.
I want you to be concerned about your next door neighbor. Do you know your next door neighbor?
Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless.
God doesn't require us to succeed; he only requires that you try.
Despite giving your best to the world, you may be kicked in the teeth. Give the best you've got anyway.
Make us worthy, Lord, to serve those people throughout the world who live and die in poverty and hunger. Give them through our hands, this day, their daily bread, and by our understanding love, give them peace and joy.
Let no one ever come to you without leaving better and happier. Be the living expression of God's kindness: kindness in your face, kindness in your eyes, kindness in your smile.
Well, let's do something beautiful for God.
http://whispersintheloggia.blogspot.com/
Subject: "Give God Permission"
And so, on her feast-day, there's no better time for a brief compilation of Mother Teresims:
The dying, the cripple, the mental, the unwanted, the unloved -- they are Jesus in disguise.
Little things are indeed little, but to be faithful in little things is a great thing.
It is not how much we do, but how much love we put in the doing. It is not how much we give, but how much love we put in the giving.
Nakedness is not only for a piece of clothing; nakedness is lack of human dignity, and also that beautiful virtue of purity, and lack of that respect for each other.
There is a terrible hunger for love. We all experience that in our lives - the pain, the loneliness. We must have the courage to recognize it. The poor you may have right in your own family. Find them. Love them.
There is more hunger in the world for love and appreciation in this world than for bread.
Before you speak, it is necessary for you to listen, for God speaks in the silence of the heart.
Speak tenderly to them. Let there be kindness in your face, in your eyes, in your smile, in the warmth of your greeting. Always have a cheerful smile. Don't only give your care, but give your heart as well.
The more you have, the more you are occupied, the less you give. But the less you have the more free you are. Poverty for us is a freedom. It is not a mortification, a penance. It is joyful freedom. There is no television here, no this, no that. But we are perfectly happy.
If you are humble nothing will touch you, neither praise nor disgrace, because you know what you are.
Do not allow yourselves to be disheartened by any failure as long as you have done your best.
We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop.
There is only one God and He is God to all; therefore it is important that everyone is seen as equal before God. I've always said we should help a Hindu become a better Hindu, a Muslim become a better Muslim, a Catholic become a better Catholic.
If we really want to love we must learn how to forgive.
It is a poverty to decide that an unborn child must die so that you may live as you like.
If we pray, we will believe; If we believe, we will love; If we love, we will serve.
We can do no great things; only small things with great love.
You and I, we are the Church, no? We have to share with our people. Suffering today is because people are hoarding, not giving, not sharing. Jesus made it very clear: "Whatever you do to the least of my brethren, you do it to me. Give a glass of water, you give it to me. Receive a little child, you receive me." Clear.
I know God will not give me anything I can't handle. I just wish that He didn't trust me so much.
Only in heaven will we see how much we owe to the poor for helping us to love God better because of them.
I want you to be concerned about your next door neighbor. Do you know your next door neighbor?
Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless.
God doesn't require us to succeed; he only requires that you try.
Despite giving your best to the world, you may be kicked in the teeth. Give the best you've got anyway.
Make us worthy, Lord, to serve those people throughout the world who live and die in poverty and hunger. Give them through our hands, this day, their daily bread, and by our understanding love, give them peace and joy.
Let no one ever come to you without leaving better and happier. Be the living expression of God's kindness: kindness in your face, kindness in your eyes, kindness in your smile.
Well, let's do something beautiful for God.
http://whispersintheloggia.blogspot.com/
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
STICK WITH SARAH, WHO ENGENDERS EMPATHY, INSPIRATION
STICK WITH SARAH, WHO ENGENDERS EMPATHY, INSPIRATION
By Dick Morris 09.3.2008 Published on TheHill.com on September 2, 2008
Sarah Palin’s selection will end up as a big win for John McCain. He has to stay with her and quell any talk of pulling an Eagleton (after the time when 1972 Democratic nominee George McGovern pulled the plug on Missouri Sen. Tom Eagleton, who had been his choice for vice president). McCain and Palin will confound their critics and gain good yardage in the presidential race.
None of the criticisms of Sarah Palin amount to any misconduct on her part. Her daughter got pregnant. Her husband had a DWI 20 years ago. Her sister married a bum — a state trooper — who admits he shot a Taser gun at his 11-year-old son to instill discipline, and a lot of her friends and family badgered his boss to discharge him. Palin, acting without explanation, but with ample justification and within her authority, fired the trooper’s boss. All this comes to a massive “So what?”
The important thing about Sarah Palin is her public life. She has rooted out corruption and triggered scandals — real financial scandals, not salacious personal gossip — that led to the resignations of the Alaska Republican Party chairman and the attorney general and the defeat of the governor. It is that commitment to exposing corruption, reforming ethics, cutting spending and smashing the insider lobbyist-legislator relationships that dominate Washington that will be on display when Palin speaks out on Wednesday. Voters, anxious to change Washington, will love every minute of it.
And then they will come to grasp the essential difference between McCain and Bush. McCain is an outsider and Bush, after three generations of Washington breeding, is an insider. McCain chose Palin. Bush chose Cheney.
The attacks on Palin mirror the problems that tens of millions of American women find in their everyday lives. To attack them would be to condemn themselves and their own choices in their own lives. Watching Palin standing strong and McCain backing her up will be inspiring to many of them. And the identification of the Democrats with the attacks on her will turn them off.
After Palin speaks, voters will give McCain huge credit for selecting her and standing by her despite the personal attacks. Women throughout the country will empathize with a person who has a difficult family. Single mothers will applaud her attitude toward her own daughter in distress. And the contrast between McCain’s toleration and understanding and Obama’s refusal even to consider nominating a woman will be apparent to female voters. McCain and Palin will get great credit for being outsiders, not cut from the plastic mold fashioned by political consultants.
Combined with the good public-sector performance in the face of Gustav — and the Republican willingness to suspend their convention while the battle raged — the Palin episode shows the best in the Republican Party and sends a signal that it is under new management.
The Republicans, McCain and Palin, will come through this crisis in great shape.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sep 3 2008 | Category: Dick's Articles | 1 Comment
By Dick Morris 09.3.2008 Published on TheHill.com on September 2, 2008
Sarah Palin’s selection will end up as a big win for John McCain. He has to stay with her and quell any talk of pulling an Eagleton (after the time when 1972 Democratic nominee George McGovern pulled the plug on Missouri Sen. Tom Eagleton, who had been his choice for vice president). McCain and Palin will confound their critics and gain good yardage in the presidential race.
None of the criticisms of Sarah Palin amount to any misconduct on her part. Her daughter got pregnant. Her husband had a DWI 20 years ago. Her sister married a bum — a state trooper — who admits he shot a Taser gun at his 11-year-old son to instill discipline, and a lot of her friends and family badgered his boss to discharge him. Palin, acting without explanation, but with ample justification and within her authority, fired the trooper’s boss. All this comes to a massive “So what?”
The important thing about Sarah Palin is her public life. She has rooted out corruption and triggered scandals — real financial scandals, not salacious personal gossip — that led to the resignations of the Alaska Republican Party chairman and the attorney general and the defeat of the governor. It is that commitment to exposing corruption, reforming ethics, cutting spending and smashing the insider lobbyist-legislator relationships that dominate Washington that will be on display when Palin speaks out on Wednesday. Voters, anxious to change Washington, will love every minute of it.
And then they will come to grasp the essential difference between McCain and Bush. McCain is an outsider and Bush, after three generations of Washington breeding, is an insider. McCain chose Palin. Bush chose Cheney.
The attacks on Palin mirror the problems that tens of millions of American women find in their everyday lives. To attack them would be to condemn themselves and their own choices in their own lives. Watching Palin standing strong and McCain backing her up will be inspiring to many of them. And the identification of the Democrats with the attacks on her will turn them off.
After Palin speaks, voters will give McCain huge credit for selecting her and standing by her despite the personal attacks. Women throughout the country will empathize with a person who has a difficult family. Single mothers will applaud her attitude toward her own daughter in distress. And the contrast between McCain’s toleration and understanding and Obama’s refusal even to consider nominating a woman will be apparent to female voters. McCain and Palin will get great credit for being outsiders, not cut from the plastic mold fashioned by political consultants.
Combined with the good public-sector performance in the face of Gustav — and the Republican willingness to suspend their convention while the battle raged — the Palin episode shows the best in the Republican Party and sends a signal that it is under new management.
The Republicans, McCain and Palin, will come through this crisis in great shape.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sep 3 2008 | Category: Dick's Articles | 1 Comment
Monday, September 1, 2008
Media obsession: 5 questions for Palin
Media obsession: 5 questions for Palin
By: John F. Harris
August 31, 2008 10:03 AM EST
If John McCain had picked Mitt Romney or Joe Lieberman to be his running mate, news organizations (Politico included) would have had profiles and analyses at the ready the instant the news went out.
Instead, McCain’s choice threw the chattering class for a loop, to put it mildly. And it turned political journalists into instant biographers who were scrambling frantically to learn the key political and personal details to answer the question of the moment: Who is Sarah Palin?
This is a fluid moment — and a hazardous one — for both Palin and McCain. The default assumption of many reporters and editors is that someone who was elected Alaska governor just two years ago can’t be remotely prepared to be president on Day One, should the need arise. Conservative activists, meanwhile, have found a new heroine (check out our e-mail if you have any doubt) who loves to hunt and who strongly opposes abortion rights.
See Also
McCain: I may postpone convention
Obama vs. his staff
Obama calls Palin ‘up and coming’
The truth is, neither skeptics nor boosters really know all that much about Palin. Over the next 72 hours, whether she becomes a new star of the GOP or an albatross will be determined in large part by a wave of second- and third-day news coverage about McCain’s unexpected running mate.
Naturally, there will be the usual articles about her record in passing bills in Alaska and her positions on certain hot-button issues. But the inquiries that have the most potential to explode will delve into more sensitive terrain.
Based on the experience of several election cycles and (firsthand) knowledge of the professional habits and assumptions of the news business, here are five questions about Palin that reporters and editors will try to answer before she addresses the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn., on Wednesday:
1. What’s in her passport?
The most intense doubts about Palin flow from a belief that the former mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, does not know enough to be an effective commander in chief.
How much her passport has been stamped does not necessarily speak to that. But if it turns out she has rarely traveled abroad — or has never been to any foreign country other than Canada — this will be seized upon instantly.
George W. Bush, for instance, had to swat away questions in 2000 about his thin travelogue.
Palin’s best hope on the sensitive point of her foreign policy credentials is that expectations for her in the Oct. 8 vice presidential debate in St. Louis against Joe Biden (chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee) are so low that Palin will be able to soar above them.
What we know so far
2. Who pays the bills?
This is a question that resonates especially with subjects who are not already on the national scene.
Most people who have been prominent on the Washington stage already faced extensive disclosure requirements and have seen or weathered financial controversies at close range. People who suddenly spring to fame, by contrast, are often unprepared for the onslaught of skeptical questions about their finances and business relationships.
Recall how the glow of history-making that accompanied Democrat Geraldine Ferraro’s selection as Walter Mondale’s running mate was soon overtaken by a furor over husband John Zaccaro’s business dealings.
What we know so far
3. Does she believe in evolution?
Palin was selected in part because she is a social conservative. And one complaint social conservatives have about the news media is largely true: Most reporters and editors are more secular in their outlook than the general public, according to a number of studies over the years.
This does not mean that Palin will receive biased coverage because of her religious views. But it does mean that many reporters trying to learn about her will be curious about the role religion plays in her life, whether she considers herself born again or evangelical, and whether she has espoused views that many journalists would consider exotic, such as a belief in creationism or prophecies of an eventual apocalypse.
What we know so far
4. What’s her family life like?
This is an especially sensitive one. But based on conversations with journalists, operatives and average voters, it is one that is on a lot of people’s minds: How does a mother of five children who are still at home, one of whom is an infant born with Down syndrome, plan to manage the demands of a national candidacy or the White House?
Is this a question that would be asked of a man? Certainly not in an earlier era, though cultural expectations about the role of fathers have changed enough that even a male politician might expect some questions on this score. And Palin supporters will surely, and perhaps legitimately, cry sexism if she is hazed about whether she is neglecting her family. But this is unquestionably a set of questions that Palin, as well as her husband, former high school boyfriend Todd Palin, can expect to face.
What we know so far
5. Has she been nice to people on the way up?
Big, nuanced biographical portraits of politicians take time. On the other hand, any good reporter can get a pretty fair quick sketch of a statehouse politician in a couple of days. Every one of the 50 state capitols has an in-crowd of legislators, political operatives and state reporters who love to gossip and are more than eager to share their thoughts with national reporters who ask: What’s your take on this person?
Whether the answers are favorable or damaging will depend less on Palin’s partisan leanings or her governing agenda than on how people who regularly deal with her find her at the personal level. Is she accessible to the press and does she answer questions straightforwardly? Is she vindictive to legislators who cross her? Does she have a sense of humor? Would you want to share a meal with her?
Politicians who are likable and have nurtured good personal relationships along the way find that their reputations are a lot sturdier when a hurricane of opposition researchers and reporters blows into town.
What we know so far
© 2008 Capitol News Company, LLC
By: John F. Harris
August 31, 2008 10:03 AM EST
If John McCain had picked Mitt Romney or Joe Lieberman to be his running mate, news organizations (Politico included) would have had profiles and analyses at the ready the instant the news went out.
Instead, McCain’s choice threw the chattering class for a loop, to put it mildly. And it turned political journalists into instant biographers who were scrambling frantically to learn the key political and personal details to answer the question of the moment: Who is Sarah Palin?
This is a fluid moment — and a hazardous one — for both Palin and McCain. The default assumption of many reporters and editors is that someone who was elected Alaska governor just two years ago can’t be remotely prepared to be president on Day One, should the need arise. Conservative activists, meanwhile, have found a new heroine (check out our e-mail if you have any doubt) who loves to hunt and who strongly opposes abortion rights.
See Also
McCain: I may postpone convention
Obama vs. his staff
Obama calls Palin ‘up and coming’
The truth is, neither skeptics nor boosters really know all that much about Palin. Over the next 72 hours, whether she becomes a new star of the GOP or an albatross will be determined in large part by a wave of second- and third-day news coverage about McCain’s unexpected running mate.
Naturally, there will be the usual articles about her record in passing bills in Alaska and her positions on certain hot-button issues. But the inquiries that have the most potential to explode will delve into more sensitive terrain.
Based on the experience of several election cycles and (firsthand) knowledge of the professional habits and assumptions of the news business, here are five questions about Palin that reporters and editors will try to answer before she addresses the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn., on Wednesday:
1. What’s in her passport?
The most intense doubts about Palin flow from a belief that the former mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, does not know enough to be an effective commander in chief.
How much her passport has been stamped does not necessarily speak to that. But if it turns out she has rarely traveled abroad — or has never been to any foreign country other than Canada — this will be seized upon instantly.
George W. Bush, for instance, had to swat away questions in 2000 about his thin travelogue.
Palin’s best hope on the sensitive point of her foreign policy credentials is that expectations for her in the Oct. 8 vice presidential debate in St. Louis against Joe Biden (chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee) are so low that Palin will be able to soar above them.
What we know so far
2. Who pays the bills?
This is a question that resonates especially with subjects who are not already on the national scene.
Most people who have been prominent on the Washington stage already faced extensive disclosure requirements and have seen or weathered financial controversies at close range. People who suddenly spring to fame, by contrast, are often unprepared for the onslaught of skeptical questions about their finances and business relationships.
Recall how the glow of history-making that accompanied Democrat Geraldine Ferraro’s selection as Walter Mondale’s running mate was soon overtaken by a furor over husband John Zaccaro’s business dealings.
What we know so far
3. Does she believe in evolution?
Palin was selected in part because she is a social conservative. And one complaint social conservatives have about the news media is largely true: Most reporters and editors are more secular in their outlook than the general public, according to a number of studies over the years.
This does not mean that Palin will receive biased coverage because of her religious views. But it does mean that many reporters trying to learn about her will be curious about the role religion plays in her life, whether she considers herself born again or evangelical, and whether she has espoused views that many journalists would consider exotic, such as a belief in creationism or prophecies of an eventual apocalypse.
What we know so far
4. What’s her family life like?
This is an especially sensitive one. But based on conversations with journalists, operatives and average voters, it is one that is on a lot of people’s minds: How does a mother of five children who are still at home, one of whom is an infant born with Down syndrome, plan to manage the demands of a national candidacy or the White House?
Is this a question that would be asked of a man? Certainly not in an earlier era, though cultural expectations about the role of fathers have changed enough that even a male politician might expect some questions on this score. And Palin supporters will surely, and perhaps legitimately, cry sexism if she is hazed about whether she is neglecting her family. But this is unquestionably a set of questions that Palin, as well as her husband, former high school boyfriend Todd Palin, can expect to face.
What we know so far
5. Has she been nice to people on the way up?
Big, nuanced biographical portraits of politicians take time. On the other hand, any good reporter can get a pretty fair quick sketch of a statehouse politician in a couple of days. Every one of the 50 state capitols has an in-crowd of legislators, political operatives and state reporters who love to gossip and are more than eager to share their thoughts with national reporters who ask: What’s your take on this person?
Whether the answers are favorable or damaging will depend less on Palin’s partisan leanings or her governing agenda than on how people who regularly deal with her find her at the personal level. Is she accessible to the press and does she answer questions straightforwardly? Is she vindictive to legislators who cross her? Does she have a sense of humor? Would you want to share a meal with her?
Politicians who are likable and have nurtured good personal relationships along the way find that their reputations are a lot sturdier when a hurricane of opposition researchers and reporters blows into town.
What we know so far
© 2008 Capitol News Company, LLC
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Baby girl Larissa
Hi gerry
Baby girl Larissa arrived last week. Mother and daugter doiing great.
Will send y a list by end of week
Kobus
Saturday, August 23, 2008
When priests don’t want to give Communion to those who kneel
When priests don’t want to give Communion to those who kneel - more thoughts
CATEGORY: SESSIUNCULUM — Fr. John Zuhlsdorf @ 11:38 am
I have gotten a lot of mail about how some priest harass people who kneel for Holy Communion.
The notes I have gotten break down in several categories.
First, there are those who think I somehow don’t know about this problem. They will write along the lines: "I assure you this really does happen! Don’t you care that they are trying to make us show disrespect to the Lord?"
To which I respond. Don’t be silly. Of course I know. And I care. Read the blog lately?
Second, there are those who urge me to do what I can to make "the Vatican" start to "punish" priests who do this.
To which I respond. If there are liturgical abuses of rights, then proofs must be gathered and sent to the proper authority. See this. But I would advise you to think a little less about "punishing" and more about "persuading". What is it with some people anyway? They leap to the "punishment" option so very eagerly.
Third, there are simply e-mails letting me know what experiences people have had.
Here is a typical note to exemplify what I mean (edited):
Dear Fr. Z,
Thank you for your blog and all that you do. I began grad school at the University of in mid June and have been attending daily Mass. I wear a mantilla to Mass and receive communion kneeling and until yesterday I had not encountered any opposition. However, yesterday, as I knelt, the priest (I believe the director of Campus Ministry) told me something along the lines of: "Don’t Kneel. You aren’t supposed to kneel. The Bishops say just to bow. Don’t kneel." Taken aback, I didn’t say anything but I also didn’t get up. He did give me Jesus, albeit reluctantly. Am I correct that a priest cannot deny someone communion for kneeling? I read in the GIRM that this is true, but I think it also says that the priest should explain to the person later why standing is the norm? Does this mean that if he were to talk to me later and give me some reasons why I’m supposed to stand that he does have the right to deny me communion in the future?
I respond saying that, yes, in the United States the Bishops have determined that the proper position to receive Communion is standing, with a gesture of reverence such as bowing before receiving. Sad but true. Still, its the law for the USA.
That said, in 2004 the Congregation for Divine Worship and Discipline of the Sacraments issued a very strong Instruction called Redemptionis Sacramentum. In this document we read:
[90.] “The faithful should receive Communion kneeling or standing, as the Conference of Bishops will have determined”, with its acts having received the recognitio of the Apostolic See. “However, if they receive Communion standing, it is recommended that they give due reverence before the reception of the Sacrament, as set forth in the same norms”.
[91.] In distributing Holy Communion it is to be remembered that “sacred ministers may not deny the sacraments to those who seek them in a reasonable manner, are rightly disposed, and are not prohibited by law from receiving them”. Hence any baptized Catholic who is not prevented by law must be admitted to Holy Communion. Therefore, it is not licit to deny Holy Communion to any of Christ’s faithful solely on the grounds, for example, that the person wishes to receive the Eucharist kneeling or standing.
[92.] Although each of the faithful always has the right to receive Holy Communion on the tongue, at his choice, if any communicant should wish to receive the Sacrament in the hand, in areas where the Bishops’ Conference with the recognitio of the Apostolic See has given permission, the sacred host is to be administered to him or her. However, special care should be taken to ensure that the host is consumed by the communicant in the presence of the minister, so that no one goes away carrying the Eucharistic species in his hand. If there is a risk of profanation, then Holy Communion should not be given in the hand to the faithful.
After several incidents of Hosts being taken this last year, such as was the case with a student in Florida and also with the idiot who stole the Host for the purpose of profanation by the idiot professor in Minnesota, I would say that the risk of profanation is much much higher than previously assumed and norms about Communion in the Hand should be rethought. There are also the well-thought through explanations by Archbp. Ranjith, Bp. Schneider, and others. But I digress.
You can kneel to receive Communion. If a priest upbraids or admonishes you, publicly, at the time of Communion, he has seriously violated both your rights as well as decorum.
You do have recourse if these things happen. If this goes on all the time, you have a duty to do something about it. Here again is Redemptionis Sacramentum:
6. Complaints Regarding Abuses in Liturgical Matters
[183.] In an altogether particular manner, let everyone do all that is in their power to ensure that the Most Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist will be protected from any and every irreverence or distortion and that all abuses be thoroughly corrected. This is a most serious duty incumbent upon each and every one, and all are bound to carry it out without any favouritism.
[184.] Any Catholic, whether Priest or Deacon or lay member of Christ’s faithful, has the right to lodge a complaint regarding a liturgical abuse to the diocesan Bishop or the competent Ordinary equivalent to him in law, or to the Apostolic See [important point] on account of the primacy of the Roman Pontiff. It is fitting, however, insofar as possible, that the report or complaint be submitted first to the diocesan Bishop. This is naturally to be done in truth and charity.
If you ever think you need to have recourse to higher authority because of liturgical abuses, etc., which are not corrected after you have calmly and charitably made your concerns known, here are some tips. I warmly suggest that you read and follow them if you are going to write to bishops or the Holy See.
Remember: if you tell a story, it is hearsay. It really helps to have proofs. If something happens to you personally, it would help your cause if other people also wrote letters in which they describe what they saw and heard. These would then be included with your own letter.
Vatican offices generally can’t do much more than make a simple inquiry unless they are presented with some sort of evidence. This also goes for writing to bishops, though in that case local bishops can more easily make inquiries.
This is why it is always good to work your way UP the chain of authority: pastor first, then bishop, and finally the Holy See, remember that every Catholic always and at any time has the right to go directly to the Holy See.
But if you work your way up the chain, you have more of a paper trail and, perhaps, more proofs to offer that the Holy See should take interest. This is common sense.
COMMENTS (46)
• • • • • •
21 August 2008
http://wdtprs.com/blog/
CATEGORY: SESSIUNCULUM — Fr. John Zuhlsdorf @ 11:38 am
I have gotten a lot of mail about how some priest harass people who kneel for Holy Communion.
The notes I have gotten break down in several categories.
First, there are those who think I somehow don’t know about this problem. They will write along the lines: "I assure you this really does happen! Don’t you care that they are trying to make us show disrespect to the Lord?"
To which I respond. Don’t be silly. Of course I know. And I care. Read the blog lately?
Second, there are those who urge me to do what I can to make "the Vatican" start to "punish" priests who do this.
To which I respond. If there are liturgical abuses of rights, then proofs must be gathered and sent to the proper authority. See this. But I would advise you to think a little less about "punishing" and more about "persuading". What is it with some people anyway? They leap to the "punishment" option so very eagerly.
Third, there are simply e-mails letting me know what experiences people have had.
Here is a typical note to exemplify what I mean (edited):
Dear Fr. Z,
Thank you for your blog and all that you do. I began grad school at the University of in mid June and have been attending daily Mass. I wear a mantilla to Mass and receive communion kneeling and until yesterday I had not encountered any opposition. However, yesterday, as I knelt, the priest (I believe the director of Campus Ministry) told me something along the lines of: "Don’t Kneel. You aren’t supposed to kneel. The Bishops say just to bow. Don’t kneel." Taken aback, I didn’t say anything but I also didn’t get up. He did give me Jesus, albeit reluctantly. Am I correct that a priest cannot deny someone communion for kneeling? I read in the GIRM that this is true, but I think it also says that the priest should explain to the person later why standing is the norm? Does this mean that if he were to talk to me later and give me some reasons why I’m supposed to stand that he does have the right to deny me communion in the future?
I respond saying that, yes, in the United States the Bishops have determined that the proper position to receive Communion is standing, with a gesture of reverence such as bowing before receiving. Sad but true. Still, its the law for the USA.
That said, in 2004 the Congregation for Divine Worship and Discipline of the Sacraments issued a very strong Instruction called Redemptionis Sacramentum. In this document we read:
[90.] “The faithful should receive Communion kneeling or standing, as the Conference of Bishops will have determined”, with its acts having received the recognitio of the Apostolic See. “However, if they receive Communion standing, it is recommended that they give due reverence before the reception of the Sacrament, as set forth in the same norms”.
[91.] In distributing Holy Communion it is to be remembered that “sacred ministers may not deny the sacraments to those who seek them in a reasonable manner, are rightly disposed, and are not prohibited by law from receiving them”. Hence any baptized Catholic who is not prevented by law must be admitted to Holy Communion. Therefore, it is not licit to deny Holy Communion to any of Christ’s faithful solely on the grounds, for example, that the person wishes to receive the Eucharist kneeling or standing.
[92.] Although each of the faithful always has the right to receive Holy Communion on the tongue, at his choice, if any communicant should wish to receive the Sacrament in the hand, in areas where the Bishops’ Conference with the recognitio of the Apostolic See has given permission, the sacred host is to be administered to him or her. However, special care should be taken to ensure that the host is consumed by the communicant in the presence of the minister, so that no one goes away carrying the Eucharistic species in his hand. If there is a risk of profanation, then Holy Communion should not be given in the hand to the faithful.
After several incidents of Hosts being taken this last year, such as was the case with a student in Florida and also with the idiot who stole the Host for the purpose of profanation by the idiot professor in Minnesota, I would say that the risk of profanation is much much higher than previously assumed and norms about Communion in the Hand should be rethought. There are also the well-thought through explanations by Archbp. Ranjith, Bp. Schneider, and others. But I digress.
You can kneel to receive Communion. If a priest upbraids or admonishes you, publicly, at the time of Communion, he has seriously violated both your rights as well as decorum.
You do have recourse if these things happen. If this goes on all the time, you have a duty to do something about it. Here again is Redemptionis Sacramentum:
6. Complaints Regarding Abuses in Liturgical Matters
[183.] In an altogether particular manner, let everyone do all that is in their power to ensure that the Most Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist will be protected from any and every irreverence or distortion and that all abuses be thoroughly corrected. This is a most serious duty incumbent upon each and every one, and all are bound to carry it out without any favouritism.
[184.] Any Catholic, whether Priest or Deacon or lay member of Christ’s faithful, has the right to lodge a complaint regarding a liturgical abuse to the diocesan Bishop or the competent Ordinary equivalent to him in law, or to the Apostolic See [important point] on account of the primacy of the Roman Pontiff. It is fitting, however, insofar as possible, that the report or complaint be submitted first to the diocesan Bishop. This is naturally to be done in truth and charity.
If you ever think you need to have recourse to higher authority because of liturgical abuses, etc., which are not corrected after you have calmly and charitably made your concerns known, here are some tips. I warmly suggest that you read and follow them if you are going to write to bishops or the Holy See.
Remember: if you tell a story, it is hearsay. It really helps to have proofs. If something happens to you personally, it would help your cause if other people also wrote letters in which they describe what they saw and heard. These would then be included with your own letter.
Vatican offices generally can’t do much more than make a simple inquiry unless they are presented with some sort of evidence. This also goes for writing to bishops, though in that case local bishops can more easily make inquiries.
This is why it is always good to work your way UP the chain of authority: pastor first, then bishop, and finally the Holy See, remember that every Catholic always and at any time has the right to go directly to the Holy See.
But if you work your way up the chain, you have more of a paper trail and, perhaps, more proofs to offer that the Holy See should take interest. This is common sense.
COMMENTS (46)
• • • • • •
21 August 2008
http://wdtprs.com/blog/
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
