Is this a lack of integrity or is it wisdom and maturity that he waited this long?

Here is an article, reprinted in their entirety, for your perusal.

A NORTH-EAST priest who is a close friend of Tony Blair last night welcomed the former prime minister's conversion to Catholicism.

Mr Blair was welcomed into the Roman Catholic church on Friday night by the Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor - leader of the Roman Catholics in England and Wales - bringing to an end years of speculation that he would convert on leaving office.

Father John Caden first said Mass for Tony and Cherie Blair when Mr Blair came to Sedgefield, County Durham, as MP in 1983.

Since then he has baptised all four of the Blairs' children at St John Fisher Church, in Sedgefield.

Father Caden said last night: "After 24 years, we can finally welcome the decision. I am absolutely delighted.

"When Tony first came to Sedgefield as a young MP, he told me his wife was a devout Catholic and that he would like to bring her to church.

"From then, he didn't just come the odd time, he came every week, up until he became Prime Minister."

Father Caden said: "He was an Anglican who married a Catholic woman and vowed to bring up their children as Catholics, which he has done, but now it is wonderful that he has stepped all the way over."

Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor welcomed the decision, which culminated in a ceremony in the chapel of Archbishop's House, in Westminster.

He said: "My prayers are with him, his wife and family at this joyful moment in their journey of faith together."

Converting while in office could have caused the former premier problems with issues such as abortion, contraception, homosexuality and faith schools.

Mr Blair's former spokesman Alastair Campbell once famously told reporters: "We don't do God".

Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams wished the former prime minister well. He said: "A great Catholic writer of the last century said that the only reason for moving from one Christian family to another was to deepen one's relationship with God.

"I pray that this will be the result of Tony Blair's decision in his personal life."

However, The Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (Spuc) reacted with surprise to the news, citing in particular Mr Blair's views on abortion.

Tory MP Ann Widdecombe, who converted to Catholicism in 1993, said it was possible in her opinion to be a practising Catholic and Prime Minister.

She told Sky News: "I think the crucial thing to remember is at the point you are received (into the Catholic church) you have to say individually and out loud I believe everything the church teaches to be revealed truth.

"And that means, if you previously had any problems with church teaching, as Tony Blair obviously did over abortion, as he did again over Sunday trading, you would have to say you changed your mind."

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I know I haven't posted here in a while, but this article got my attention. What determination this author has......What agility.......to turn Mother Teresa into a sincere, but misguided missionary.

Since it began in 1952, nearly 85,000 people have found shelter and comfort here. And 35,000 of them left this place dead.

For someone so practical it is surprising that she never questioned the Catholic dogma.

The problem, some say, was how Mother Teresa viewed the inmates. For her, everyone at Nirmal Hriday was the sick, dying or abandoned Christ. Every sore that is cleaned and every hand that is held is in fact, his.

Her critics say she saw suffering as necessary to the salvation of the soul. The goal was not to put an end to the suffering but to help the suffer find joy in it.

"If people are sick on the streets, what they need is a hospital, they don't need a group of nuns praying for them or keeping them on a bad diet," says journalist and co-producer, Hell's Angel, Tariq Ali.

Mother Teresa's critics have often questioned the source of her funding. Among them - the right-wing dictator of Haiti, Jean-Claude Duvalier, Charles Keating, who stole $252 million in the 80s Saving and Loan scandal, and British publisher Robert Maxwell, who embezzled ?450 million from his employees' pension funds.

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China’s rulers will have to be dreadfully thick not to give a favorable response to the extraordinary letter of Pope Benedict XVI pleading for the unification of China’s underground Catholic churches - some of which recognize the authority of the Vatican - and the government-approved official churches, which do not. The pope is effectively conceding the main point of the half-century-old split.

The pope still insists on the right of the Vatican to appoint bishops. China’s government, however, does not permit it and has persecuted underground churches loyal to Rome while supporting churches that accept the government’s direction.

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Outraged Catholic lawmakers in Australia yesterday rebelled against threats of retribution by the church if they vote in favour of cloning human embryos for stem cell research.

...

“Maybe I’ll go to hell, but if I go to hell I’m going to do so by saving a lot of lives, because that’s what this bill is about,� Labour Party MP Tony Stewart said in a radio interview. “We don’t need a religious leader telling members of parliament what should be done.�

Lawmakers have been allowed a conscience vote free of party pressure on a bill to legalise therapeutic cloning in the state after the federal government overturned a ban on the controversial scientific procedure last year.

The new law would allow excess human embryos from in-vitro fertilisation treatment to be used to create stem cells for research into fighting debilitating diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and cystic fibrosis. “Cloning is not quite the same as abortion and the legislation for such a thing as cloning is different from actually performing cloning,� Pell said.

“But it is a serious moral matter and Catholic politicians who vote for this legislation must realise that their voting has consequences for their place in the life of the church.�

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We need to Pray for this guy.

An elderly bishop in China's underground Catholic church has been detained again by police, nine months after his release from their custody, a U.S.-based monitoring group said Thursday.

...

Jia, who was ordained in 1980, has been arrested at least 10 times since January 2004, according to the Kung Foundation. It said he looks after 100 handicapped orphans.

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In a sermon last week marking the 40th anniversary of the 1967 Abortion Act, he warned Catholic politicians of "the barrier such co-operation (on abortion) erects to receiving holy communion".

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Hundreds of thousands of Italians massed in Rome for a Family Day rally on May 12, demonstrating popular opposition to a government proposal that would offer legal recognition to same-sex civil unions.

Although organizers stressed that the day's rally was intended as an expression of support for the family, rather than a demonstration about any particular piece of legislation, the enormous crowd was seen-- by politicians, the media, and the participants themselves-- as a clear statement against the civil-union plan.

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Beyond mere policy, Catholic social doctrine seeks to clarify the proper order and harmony among societies, says a Catholic author and professor.

Russell Hittinger, the William K. Warren Professor of Catholic Studies and a research professor of law at the University of Tulsa, spoke Wednesday at the "Foundations of a Free Society" conference organized by the Acton Institute, held at the Pontifical Lateran University.

In this interview with ZENIT, Hittinger discusses the history of Catholic social doctrine, starting with Pope Leo XIII, up to Benedict XVI's most recent contribution to the body of knowledge in "Deus Caritas Est."

Hittinger's most recent book is "The First Grace: Rediscovering the Natural Law in a Post-Christian World."

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The effort to “bleach out God� from U.S. public life threatens to disconnect American society from its history and work against efforts to build the common good, said the Catholic archbishop of the nation’s capital.

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StBlogs.net would like to announce that it now offers Catholic blog hosting at no charge. Besides large storage limits and rapid, superior technical support, it prominently features content from its bloggers on its increasingly popular home page.

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Nowadays, you don't have to go to church to find a priest anymore.

You can find one, a click away.

"We are available to help people who reasonably request the sacraments," Reverend Jim Koerber told WTOC.

...

They all are resigned or retired from the Catholic church, and they are all married.

"It is not technically allowed, but it goes on regularly," Jim said." They are working actively in priestly ministry, just like me, and enjoying the heck out of it."recently, calling it a disorder that can be corrected or suppressed.

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Anti-Catholic Internet writings of two employees of former Sen. John Edwards' presidential campaign have triggered a firestorm in the online community, but the candidate said he would keep the women on his staff.

Here are some quotes from the blog entries from these two women:

Writing on the Pandagon blogsite, December 26, 2006, Amanda Marcotte wrote that "the Catholic church is not about to let something like compassion for girls get in the way of using the state as an instrument to force women to bear more tithing Catholics." On October 9, 2006, she said that "the Pope’s gotta tell women who give birth to stillborns that their babies are cast into Satan’s maw."

...or...

'On November 21, 2006, Melissa McEwan said on AlterNet that "some of Christianity’s most prominent leaders—including the Pope—regularly speak out against gay tolerance." On November 1, 2006, on her blogspot Shakespeare’s Sister, she referred to President Bush’s "wingnut Christofascist base" when lashing out against religious conservatives. On February 21, 2006, she attacked religious conservatives again, this time saying, "What don’t you lousy motherf---ers understand about keeping your noses out of our britches, our beds, and our families?"

There's more, but it gets kinda adult and graphic and there might be kids reading this entry, so if you are interested in reading more excerpts from this blog, click on the article below entitled "John Edwards Tolerates Anti-Catholic Bigotry and Vulgarity".

You can read Melissa McEwan's blog here.

You can read Amanda Marcotte's blog here.

Here is an article on this entitled "Presidential candidate Edwards retains staffers responsible for anti-Catholic blog writings"

Here is an article entitled "John Edwards Tolerates Anti-Catholic Bigotry and Vulgarity"

Samantha Devine, 13, was told to remove the crucifix and chain to comply with rules at the Robert Napier School, a non-denominational mixed school, in Gillingham, Kent. Her father, Danny Devine, 30, of Canterbury Street, Gillingham, told the Medway Messenger newspaper: "It's just political correctness gone absolutely mad. It's a harmless crucifix and she wears it as a symbol of her religion.

...

Deputy head teacher Paul Jackson defended the school's stance. He said: "The school has a policy of no jewellery to be worn by any students in years seven to 10. All parents and students are aware of this.

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Another Article on this same subject

Female victims of rape will not be offered any post-intercourse contraception if they are treated at a Catholic run hospital.

The Catholic Church currently owns and runs 70 hospitals throughout Australia, both private and public, and is running them under the 80-page ethics document which forbids abortion and the morning-after pill, even for rape victims.

The decision has cause concern for many medical professionals who see the decision and practice as negligent towards women who have been attacked.

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Barely half the French population describe themselves as Catholic, according to a poll released yesterday, sparking a leading religious publication to declare France "no longer a Catholic country".

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Scientists reported Sunday they had found a plentiful source of stem cells in the fluid that cushions babies in the womb.

The announcement may make it easier to sidestep the controversy over destroying embryos for research.

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The Christian fish symbol is an ancient and sacred symbol for the persecuted Christians in the 1st century, as well as contemporary believers in Christ. But that symbol which showed that Christians identified with each other in their obedience to follow Christ is taking on a whole new meaning. The Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles, as one of their ministries, ‘Ministry with Lesbians and Gay Catholics’ decided to make the sacred fish symbol into a rainbow fish symbol pin.

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Writing in his pastoral letter for the feast of the Epiphany, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor strongly encouraged people to return to the regular reception of the Sacrament of Reconciliation and to take part in Holy Hour prayer with Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament.

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Is contemporary just-war theory just? That's the question being asked by the Global Ethics and Religion Forum, which recently launched a study group dedicated to "Revising Just War Theory for the 21st Century." That's also the question being debated by bloggers, pundits and scholars from coast to coast as they evaluate the justness of the ongoing U.S. military presence in Iraq.

Just-war theory lays out the criteria for when (jus ad bellum) and how (jus in bello) secular rulers may appropriately use military force. Rooted in St. Augustine's theorizing over the nature of a rightly ordered state, and later refined by St. Thomas Aquinas and other natural law philosophers, just-war theory has shaped the way the church and many states evaluate armed conflict for more than a millennium.

But, with the onset of the "war on terror," a growing number of political scientists, theologians and philosophers now contend that classic just-war theory fails to account for the challenges of 21st-century warfare – challenges that include terrorism, child soldiers, torture and violence by independent militia.

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"We do it not because they're not Catholic. We do it because we are Catholic," he said.

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Ave Maria University leaders spoke out about same-sex attraction recently, calling it a disorder that can be corrected or suppressed.

Provost Joseph Fessio and President Nick Healy participated in the crafting of a statement outlining the Catholic church's teachings against same-sex attraction and sexual promiscuity during a leadership conference in Denver in October.

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A Catholic newspaper is calling for a boycott of Hell Pizza in response to a recent condom mail-out.

To promote its Lust pizza, Hell distributed 170,000 condoms, along with explicit instructions on their use, to letterboxes around the country.

This prompted hundreds of complaints to the Advertising Standards Authority, which ruled Hell breached standards of decency and social responsibility.

An editorial in the latest edition of NZ Catholic newspaper calls on readers to abstain from purchasing any of the items on the pizza delivery chain's menu.

The editorial said the promotion was more cynical and offensive than a TV campaign because it robbed parents of the chance to stop their children from being exposed by changing the channel.

...

"When we did research we found... it's people like the Catholic church who are giving people advice that condoms don't work in protecting you from sexual diseases and the best course is abstinence. That is a load of rubbish."

Mr MacGibbon said the company had a loyal customer base and sales wouldn't be affected by a Catholic boycott.

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The Catholic Church in Kenya will unveil a national policy on HIV/AIDS this week.

The Church policy, This We Teach and Do, will be launched on Thursday at Resurrection Garden, Nairobi, where the Catholic Bishops of Kenya are holding their plenary meeting.

...

"This We Teach and Do aims to encourage and fortify Kenyan Catholics, Christians and Muslims and believers from other faiths, to unite in the fight against HIV, the virus that causes AIDS," a statement from a task force that prepared the Church policy said.

The policy specifies the stand and role of the Church in dealing with HIV/Aids and gives details of those involved within the Church in fighting the pandemic, the statement said.

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Vatican and Roman Catholic officials said on Sunday that former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein should not be put to death even if he has committed crimes against humanity because every life is sacred.

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Dominus vobiscum and the Latin Mass are making a comeback.

The traditional Mass in the ancient language that once mesmerized Catholics and mystified non-Catholics may be easier to find on a Sunday morning under a ruling expected soon from Pope Benedict XVI.

The pope's "indult" would allow the Tridentine Mass, as the Latin Mass is called, to be celebrated without special permission.

Now, a bishop must approve use of the Latin Mass in public, although priests always could do it privately.

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What is the policy at US Hospitals?

Bishop Anthony Fisher, auxiliary bishop of the of Sydney, told a Senate committee on Friday that Catholic hospitals would not treat patients with cures derived from embryonic stem-cell research, a process that destroys human life.

Neither will they take part in the controversial research that necessitates the destruction of the embryo.

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The Catholic notion of "limbo" - that benign place where unbaptized babies and those born before the time of Jesus were once thought to spend eternity - appears headed for the dustbin of theology.

Pope Benedict XVI is expected to announce tomorrow that the Catholic Church is disavowing the 1,500-year-old concept of limbo, and that it trusts that God does not exclude unbaptized babies from heaven.

Benedict - who decades ago voiced doubts about what he called the limbo "hypothesis" - will be following the recommendation of a 30-member Vatican commission of theologians.

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Catholic pro-life groups are condemning what they call a phony voter guide put out by a Catholic organization with ties to abortion advocates. They say the guide from Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good (CACG) incorrectly suggests that support for pro-abortion politicians can be justified.

Joseph Cella, the president of Fidelis, a national Catholic-based advocacy group, told LifeNews.com that CACG is headed by Alexia Kelley, a former advisor to the John Kerry presidential campaign.

Kerry, a pro-abortion Massachusetts senator, lost to pro-life President George W. Bush in the 2004 elections.

"Following the 2004 elections, pro-abortion politicians recognized their vulnerability with Catholic voters and have been searching for ways to shrewdly package a convincing arguments that would appeal to morally conscious voters," Cella says about the mindset behind the voter's guide.

The CACG booklet argues “we often must vote for candidates who hold the ‘wrong’ Catholic positions on some issues in order to maximize the good our vote achieves in other areas.�

But the nation's Catholic bishops disagree, Cella explains, saying they made it clear that candidates who are wrong on abortion but hold Catholic views on other political issues don't deserve the votes of faithful Catholics.

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China's Catholic church announced the opening of the country's largest seminary in Beijing on Thursday.

"Under the joint leadership of the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association and the Chinese Catholic Bishops' Conference, the National Seminary of the Catholic Church in China aims to train priests with a sound Catholic theology to commit themselves wholly to the Holy Catholic Church and dedicate themselves to their ministry," said Liu Bainian, vice president of the association.

The government has provided 73.71 million yuan (9.2 million U.S. dollars) to help with the construction of the seminary.

"The seminary is the heart of Chinese Catholic church, the top advisory body in theological affairs of the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association and the Chinese Catholic Bishops Conference, and the base for the construction of China's theological thought," said Liu.

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While most reports surrounding Pope Benedict XVI have recently concentrated on the dramas following his now infamous Regensburg speech, revolutionary changes to Rome’s Curia deserve much more attention than they have received.

Pope Benedict xvi faces quite a task to unite the fractious nations of the European Union into a cohesive resurrection of the Holy Roman Empire. But he is well on course in his efforts to do so.

His strategy is twofold. First is simply to rally the leaders of these 25 disparate nations to turn their energies from squabbling with each other and direct them to make common cause against the spreading tide of Islam that threatens the very continuity of the EU. Second is to trim the fat of the Vatican bureaucracy to get it into battle format, gearing up for the crusade ahead.

It was thus most significant that, when the United Nations called for the EU to provide troops for an international peacekeeping force in Lebanon, following the Hezbollah/Israeli imbroglio earlier this year, that the papal newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano, publicly aired concern at the slowness with which nations responded. The papal organ called for nations to rally with a heightened sense of the urgency of the moment to the UN call.

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The archbishop of Washington spoke to a packed Alumni House Thursday about the Catholic Church and its views on stem-cell research, war and Islam.

The Newman Catholic Student Center invited the Rev. Donald Wuerl, who is a former college religion professor, to speak as part of a coffee house discussion series they host regularly called Theology on Tap.

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In response to the pope's controversial remarks about Islam and as a gesture of solidarity with the Muslim population, members of a national Catholic peace movement plan to fast alongside Muslims during the holy month of Ramadan.

Throughout Ramadan, Muslims fast from dawn to sunset as part of self-purification, worship and contemplation. This year, Ramadan starts today or Sunday, depending on the sighting of the crescent moon. (The Fiqh Council of North America, an association of 18 Muslim leaders who interpret a range of Islamic laws on this continent, set Ramadan's start at sunrise today.)

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Along Fremont's city limit, on 100 acres of rolling hills just off Interstate 680 and Sheridan Road, a group of Catholic lay parishioners plans to build a $20 million shrine and home for pregnant women, elderly and homeless people.

But its founder, Union City resident Thelma Orias, is keeping mum about the specifics. After numerous requests, she declined to comment, saying only that the project is "inspired by God."

The group, known as the Divine Mercy Eucharistic Society, was formed in 1990 and traces its roots to Saint Faustina Kowalska, an uneducated Polish nun. Kowalska saw a vision of Jesus with rays of light and received a series of revelations to spread throughout the world, according to her adorers.

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A recent statement by the Florida Catholic Conference asked Governor Jeb Bush to save death row inmate, Clarence Hill, convicted of shooting a police officer to death during a robbery of a Pensacola bank in 1982, from lethal injection and to stay his execution. The Florida Bishops state they are disheartened over this execution, as there are unresolved constitutional issues in regard to lethal injection. (Hill was executed Wednesday night.)

...

Where were the Florida Catholic Bishops' disheartened pleas for Terri Schiavo's life? Why did they not ask for a stay of her execution? Where was the Bishops' equal dismay over the unresolved states and constitutional issues permitting euthanasia in Terri's case?

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The Catholic Church cannot remain silent in the face of the moral and political crisis Hungary finds itself, said the country’s bishops in a declaration that came on the same day as prayers were offered by Pope Benedict XVI.

Thousands of protesters took to the streets in the Hungarian capital, Budapest, after Socialist Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany's admission that he lied about the country’s economy to win April's general election was leaked.

On Sept. 18, Hungary experienced its worst riots since its failed 1956 uprising against Soviet rule when thousands stormed the state television building. A reported hundreds of protesters and police were injured in three days of clashes.

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Pop singer Madonna on Thursday defended staging a mock crucifixion during her record-breaking "Confessions" world tour, saying it was not "anti-Christian, sacrilegious or blasphemous" -- but a plea for people to help one another.

What a crock....

...

A spokeswoman for NBC television said earlier this week that the General Electric Co.-owned unit had not yet decided whether to include the scene in its November special.

But TV Guide Magazine on Thursday quoted NBC entertainment chief Kevin Reilly as saying that it probably would be in the show because Madonna felt strongly about it.

NBC hasn't decided yet? If that is becuase this is such a "tough call", there is something really wrong here.

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Pope Benedict XVI spoke publicly last month of the Catholic Church's deep environmental concerns. In doing so he did more than pursue his predecessors' stance on the issue; he reiterated the church's teaching about life -- in all its forms and stages. Of course, some who cheer the church's work in ecological matters object when the basic environmental credo of "protecting life" is applied to a human embryo or fetus.

For the church, the demand for social justice (that is, human dignity) and the primacy of life underpins its work in the environmental movement. From the papal office to national organizations of bishops to local parish garden clubs, Catholics stand with other Christian traditions, and those of many faiths, in working to reverse, or at least call attention to, such realities as global climate change, the toxic effects of certain home and landscaping products, and the accelerating extinction of entire species.

This is not always recognized among secular environmentalists, who, upon realizing that they have an ally in the church, may well admit surprise. Having written a column for over three years on the Catholic perspective of ecology, I can attest to many occasions when an environmental advocate needed an explanation as to exactly why the Catholic press was writing about wind turbines, mercury poisoning or hybrid automobiles.

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“Even as a supporter of Roe v. Wade, I am compelled to acknowledge that the language both sides use on this subject can be, unfortunately, misleading and unconstructive,� said Kerry, who insisted, “Instead of making enemies, we need to make progress.� Kerry blamed “excessive language� for polarizing Americans over abortion, and postulated that both sides can come together about issues like tax credits for adoptive parents, more government aid for working mothers, and universal health insurance.

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You might want to reference this earlier post......

OPEN LETTER TO BOB CASEY, JR.

Dear Mr. Casey:

When I lived in Pittsburgh in the 1980s, I voted with enthusiasm for your father as governor of Pennsylvania. You are now in a campaign for a U.S. Senate seat, and as a pro-life Catholic you are in a position to maintain your father’s legacy. But in order for you to do so, you will have to cut your ties to an anti-Catholic and pro-abortion organization, MoveOn.org.

According to The American Spectator Online, MoveOn.org has reportedly given your campaign $168,591. This is the same organization which, in an attempt last year to protest Republican efforts to change the filibuster rules governing federal court appointees, posted a picture of a smiling Pope Benedict XVI holding a gavel outside the U.S. Supreme Court. Above the picture was the following inscription:

God Already has a Job!

He does not need one on the Supreme Court.

Protect the Supreme Court Rules

In addition to its anti-Catholic record, MoveOn.org funds pro-abortion groups like the Feminist Majority Foundation. Indeed, when Samuel Alito was being considered for the U.S. Supreme Court, the Feminist Majority Foundation publicly protested that if Alito gets on the bench, the majority of the Court would be Roman Catholics. Waving this red flag smacks of bigotry.

Justice demands that you follow the lead of other candidates for public office and return the money that MoveOn.org has contributed. If Senator Hillary Clinton was honest enough to return money donated by Wal-Mart because she disagrees with its worker benefits program, surely you are well poised to return the contributions of MoveOn.org

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Huh? What is this about? I think that if one looks at the histtory carefully, Franco's dictatorship was not "Church-Backed".....

In a surprise announcement, the Socialist government on Friday said it had reached a new accord on how the Roman Catholic Church in Spain will be financed.

...

The government had also announced that it would push for the Church to become far more self-financing. Both sides began talks on the issue in May following a call for a settlement from the justice minister in May last year.

Once a bastion of Roman Catholicism, Spain has become a predominantly lay society, particularly since the end of the Church-backed dictatorship of Gen. Francisco Franco in 1975.

The Spanish government separated formally from the Church under the 1978 Constitution, but it has nevertheless continued to finance the institution since 1979 under an agreement with the Vatican that allows taxpayers to contribute 0.52 percent of their income taxes if they choose.

Since 1989, however, these contributions have not matched church spending, and the government has made up the difference with an annual lump sum payment.

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I would love see some comments on this article.....

First things first: We support free expression. We believe that a wide variety of views that produce a wide variety of arguments is good for democracy and for our republic. We support the various lively but nonviolent ways in which those arguments occur.

This includes, for example, the decision of theater faculty at the University of Minnesota to stage the play "The Pope and the Witch" by Nobel Prize winner Dario Fo. It also includes the protesting of that decision by some Catholic organizations.

The competition of ideas is central to our faith in the U.S. system of governance. Ideas, and the institutions that embody them, should, over time, rise and fall on their merits.

By any measure, the Roman Catholic Church is one of the world's most enduring institutions. Not because it has always lived its highest ideals — like every other human institution, it hasn't — but because it has pursued them, and has competed effectively in the marketplace of human yearning. It has been both liberal and conservative, both liberating and constraining, in combinations that have sustained it.

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A Catholic lay chaplain who secretly helped an al-Qaeda terrorist suspect detained in a German prison was sentenced Tuesday to six months in jail for contempt of court.

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The man who shot Pope John Paul II in 1981 has warned current Pope Benedict XVI, whose remarks enraged Muslims last week, not to visit the predominantly Muslim and secular country in November, saying the pontiff's life could be in danger, the gunman's lawyer told AP.

"As a man who knows these things, I'm saying that your life is in danger; don't come to Turkey. I can't welcome you because I'm in prison," lawyer Mustafa Demirbag said Wednesday, quoting Mehmet Ali Agca, whose mental health has long been questioned.

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An Irish diplomat has been forced to flee Northern Ireland because of death threats from anti-Catholic extremists, the government said Wednesday.

Aine de Baroid was helping to build Irish government links with members of outlawed groups in Northern Ireland, particularly so-called "loyalist" paramilitary gangs rooted in the most impoverished Protestant districts of Belfast.

She fled Belfast in August after receiving death threats from members of the Ulster Defense Association, the largest paramilitary group in Northern Ireland with an estimated 3,000 members.

De Baroid was involved in developing contacts between the UDA and Irish President Mary McAleese, a Belfast-born Catholic who has made outreach to Northern Ireland's Protestant majority a central theme of her presidency. McAleese and her husband, Martin, have publicly befriended a senior UDA commander, Jackie McDonald, in hopes of encouraging the UDA to disarm and embrace politics as part of Northern Ireland's 1998 peace accord.

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Sister Leonella, a Catholic nun who devoted her life to helping the sick in Africa, used to joke there was a bullet with her name engraved on it in Somalia. When the bullet came, she used her last breaths to forgive those responsible.

"I forgive, I forgive," she whispered in her native Italian just before she died Sunday in Mogadishu, the Somali capital, Rev. Maloba Wesonga said at her memorial mass in Nairobi yesterday.

Sister Leonella's slaying, outside the hospital where she worked, raised concerns she and other foreigners killed in Somalia recently are victims of growing Islamic radicalism in the Horn of Africa country, where a hardline Muslim militia has been expanding its reach.

The shooting was not a random attack and could have been sparked by Muslim anger over recent remarks by Pope Benedict linking Islam and violence, said Willy Huber, regional head of the Austrian-financed hospital where the nun worked.

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Last week's lecture by Pope Benedict XVI that provoked angry protests in the Islamic world has also triggered a cry of protest in the arcane worlds of philosophy and theology. Former theology professor Joseph Ratzinger only mentioned Islam in passing in the lecture, which surveyed thousands of years of western thought and set out Benedict's views on rationalism in a debate that has been roiling Christianity for the past two centuries.

The pope quoted from both Byzantine emperor Manuel II and verses from the Koran as he explored the history of rationalism, and his audience understood this not as an insult to Islam, but rather as criticism of prevailing western views about liberty and reason.

Benedict's thesis about the relationship between faith and reason has its foundation in ancient Greek philosophy.

However, a sizeable number of Catholic and Protestant theologians argue that this so-called neo-Platonic perspective is inadequate for 21st century theology.

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Regarding your vocation as political leaders, Benedict writes: “The just ordering of society and the State is a central responsibility of politics� (no. 28a). He quotes St. Augustine, who suggests that “a state which is not governed according to justice would be just a bunch of thieves� (no. 28a). That’s pretty harsh language.

He goes on to say, “Politics is more than a mere mechanism for defining the rules of public life: its origin and its goal are found in justice, which by its very nature has to do with ethics� (no. 28a).

Pope Benedict is not naïve about the challenges faced by politicians. He acknowledges that achieving a just world requires asking: “What is justice?� Answering this question correctly is difficult because, in his words, our human reason is “never … completely free of the danger of a certain ethical blindness caused by the dazzling effect of power and special interests� (no. 28a). Here in the midst of political polarization and interest-group paralysis we know these dangers are not empty abstractions or distant fears.

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“There exists a real sense of duplicity with Casey speaking at a Catholic institution while accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars from radical left wing groups that attack the Church. Moreover, given Casey’s support of homosexual adoption, Plan B abortion drugs, and homosexual civil unions, it seems wholly inappropriate for him to deliver a lecture entitled ‘Restoring America’s Moral Compass,’� said Cella.

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Fidelis President Joseph Cella stated: “Bob Casey is shamelessly using the Catholic University of America to promote his campaign.�

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I bet this will be very interesting!

A group of prominent European Roman Catholics have been given the task of drafting a report on the common values of the EU countries.

The project was planned by the Commission of the Bishops' Conferences of the European Community, the EU Observer reported.

The European Union plans to issue a statement on common values on its 50th anniversary on March 25, 2007. The Catholic bishops hope to influence that process.

One controversial question is whether a constitution for the European Union should make reference to God or to Europe's Christian heritage. The constitution rejected by voters in France and The Netherlands last year included no reference to religion.

Philippe de Schoutheete, a member of the task force and former Belgian ambassador to the European Union, said that citizens of member countries tend to forget that the union is not just about economic policy.

"The EU process has clearly been based on a certain number of values, but in the course of the process they have been largely forgotten," he said.

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On June 6, Cheryl Smith took her last $600 and drove her teenage daughter from Baltimore to Severna Park to get an abortion. When they got there, a receptionist told them the clinic had changed hands. The abortion provider had moved a few miles away, she said, but the new clinic would offer a pregnancy test and sonogram for free.

The Smiths stayed. After they saw a picture of the fetus at 21 weeks with arms and legs and a face, their thoughts of termination were gone.

"As soon as I seen that, I was ready. It wasn't no joke. It was real," Makiba Smith, 16, said. "It was like, he's not born to the world yet, but he is inside of me growing."

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"I had an abortion," Ms. Magazine urges its readers to declare. How about "I wasn't aborted"?

The Web site of Ms. Magazine--yes, it still exists--is calling on readers to sign a petition: "I have had an abortion. I publicly join the millions of women in the United States who have had an abortion in demanding a repeal of laws that restrict women's reproductive freedom."

Well, so much for the right to privacy. If Ms. readers hadn't had so many abortions, there might be more Ms. readers. As for the rest of us, here's a petition we could all sign: "I wasn't aborted."

Having narrowly escaped being aborted, I'd be the first in line.

Like most Soviet-era fetuses conceived in Russia by couples who were already parents, I was scheduled for abortion as a matter of course. In a society where abortion was the only form of birth control, it wasn't uncommon to meet women who had double-digit abortion counts. Often a couple would schedule the appointment before they even stopped to remember that they wanted a second child.

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The church has a long tradition of social justice teaching. And one of the things we reflect on as a church -- and we've done this for years -- is the issue of immigration.

We believe that people have a right to a living wage in their own country. They have a right to have secure homes in the places where they live. But if people are unable to support themselves and their families, there's also a right to immigrate.

And we also believe that each country has a right to secure borders and to orderly immigration principles and policies, but making all that fit together is a difficult task that requires reflection. And we think a comprehensive approach to this is what's really important.

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This is a nice little article about the History of EWTN.

An Alabama nun transplanted from Ohio founded a TV channel offering nothing but Roman Catholic programming in 1981. She had little more than faith in God, $200 and a garage to use as a studio.

Mother Mary Angelica had a vision for Eternal Word Television Network back then, but she didn't have a plan. Today, it seems like somebody sure did.

Now available in 127 countries and more than 118 million households, EWTN Global Catholic Network marks its 25th anniversary this month. With viewers from Illinois to India, the satellite channel has grown to include radio, Internet and catalog sales, and it bills itself as the largest religious media network in the world.

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"This work is based on the material which he collected for his spiritual exhortations to his brethren, and published at the request of his superiors. Although the book thus written was primarily intended for the use of his religious brethren, yet he destined it also for the profit and edification of other religious and of laymen in the world. It is a book of practical instructions on all the virtues which go to make up the perfect Christian life, whether lived in the cloister or in the world."

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Officials from the Maryland-based Catholic Relief Services announced last week that they, along with their oversees partner Caritas Lebanon, are leading a massive effort to provide aid to the hundreds of thousands of Lebanese displaced or cut off by the ongoing battle between Israel and the Lebanon-based Hezbollah group.

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Catholics perplexed by actions of San Francisco Catholic Charities

Catholics in San Francisco and throughout the United States continue to be confused by the decision of San Francisco Catholic Charities to persist in facilitating adoptions to homosexual couples, an action which the Church has spoken out against.

In announcement made two weeks ago, San Francisco Catholic Charities decided that while it will close its own adoption services, it will continue to outsource personnel to an agency that facilitates adoptions in the area, including adoptions to homosexual couples.

Many claim that the motivating factor for Catholic Charities’ decision to change its policy on adoption is increasing pressure from the Vatican. In 2003, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), headed by then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, released a document entitled Considerations Regarding Proposals to Give Legal Recognition to Unions between Homosexual Persons. The CDF document makes clear that the Catholic Church does not approve of or wish to take part in the adoption of children by couples living an active homosexual lifestyle. Since the document’s release little visible action had taken place on the part of Catholic Charities, that is, until this year.

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"It is disrespectful, in bad taste and provocative," Father Manfredo Leone from Rome's Santa Maria Liberatrice church said late today about the star's latest stage stunt.

"Being raised on a cross with a crown of thorns like a modern Christ is absurd. Doing it in the cradle of Christianity comes close to blasphemy."

In an unusual show of religious solidarity, Muslim and Jewish leaders added their condemnation of the self-styled Queen of Pop, famous for peppering her concerts and videos with controversial religious and sexual imagery.

"I think her idea is in the worst taste and she'd do better to go home," Mario Scialoja, head of Italy's Muslim League said.

Riccardo Pacifici, spokesman and vice president of the Roman Jewish community, added Madonna should have pulled the routine considering where she was performing – a stadium a mile from the gates of Vatican City.

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Catholic publisher Silver Burdett Ginn Religion and Third Day Games, Inc. are partnering in a new series of educational computer games based on the Gospel readings. The new Gospel Champions series takes children back to biblical times by recreating Gospel stories in a state-of-the-art game that integrates action/adventure gameplay with sequenced elements of Bible stories.

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This is a great headline: Local Woman Becomes a Catholic Priest. Is this a result of media bias or ignornance?

A Philadelphia woman, who considers herself a Catholic priest, led services Sunday morning. Afterwards Eileen McCafferty DiFranco greeted the faithful as they left First United Methodist Church of Germantown.

DiFranco was ordained Monday by a group called Roman Catholic Women-Priests.

Catholic church leaders say she and the other women ordained in Pittsburgh by the women's group are not priests. The church only allows men to become priests.

DiFranco, a public school nurse and mother of 4, says it is a calling that Catholic women should be able to answer as well.

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Rev. Okorie, a priest of St. Mary's Catholic Church, Afikpo, according to reports was attacked in the night with multiple stabs and machete cuts inflicted on him.

He was later taken to a nearby hospital where he died.

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Catholic Charities San Francisco has followed the example of Catholic Charities Boston - no more adoptions (???).

By partnering with another adoption service, San Francisco's Catholic Charities will increase the number of children that find homes without directly placing kids with same-sex couples, said the agency's executive director, Brian Cahill.

California Kids Connection, a statewide adoption exchange set up by the Oakland-based nonprofit Family Builders by Adoption, features information on about 500 children on a Web site that prospective parents can browse.

Workers at the adoption service had to limit the number of children they work with because of limited staffing, but with the help of three Catholic Charities employees who will be placed there, they'll be able to handle more cases, said San Francisco Archbishop George Niederauer.

The Catholic Charities workers will refer prospective parents to agencies that can complete the adoption proceedings, Niederauer said.

"That's where we'll help," he said. "What we won't be doing ... is placement in homes. We can't be involved in that anymore."

...

Cahill emphasized that his agency would still help prospective adoptive parents, including gays and lesbians, with information and referral help through an alliance with another organization. Effective immediately, however, Catholic Charities of San Francisco will no longer handle ``individual home studies, specific family/child matching, adoptive placements, or finalizations," he said.

"It is disrespectful, in bad taste and provocative," Father Manfredo Leone from Rome's Santa Maria Liberatrice church said late today about the star's latest stage stunt.

"Being raised on a cross with a crown of thorns like a modern Christ is absurd. Doing it in the cradle of Christianity comes close to blasphemy."

In an unusual show of religious solidarity, Muslim and Jewish leaders added their condemnation of the self-styled Queen of Pop, famous for peppering her concerts and videos with controversial religious and sexual imagery.

"I think her idea is in the worst taste and she'd do better to go home," Mario Scialoja, head of Italy's Muslim League said.

Riccardo Pacifici, spokesman and vice president of the Roman Jewish community, added Madonna should have pulled the routine considering where she was performing � a stadium a mile from the gates of Vatican City.

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No mention in the headline that it is invalid...

But to the women, the ordinations are genuine, though they acknowledge the ordinations violate canon law. They say they are willing to risk excommunication in the hope of sparking a revolution of equality within an institution resistant to change.

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The governments of four Chinese provinces "have forbidden many Catholic youth from coming to Hong Kong for the Asian Youth Day" that for them is "an anti-China event", Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun said yesterday. The bishop of the territory was giving an address to inaugurate the event that brought together 1,000 Catholic youth from 20 countries across the continent.

"Many Chinese youth told us they wanted to come but they did not manage to get permission from the authorities," said the cardinal. He did not want to supply the names of the provinces implicated but said that around 60 youth had managed to come "disguised" as tourists.

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Priests have become a top "export product" as Poland, where the Catholic Church retains a vibrant strength lost in the rest of Europe, helps fill the dwindling ranks of clergy in the West.

"The Church is universal, not just Polish," said Father Marek Lesniak at the Krakow seminary, whose alumni man parishes of this large archdiocese and also work in Austria, Britain, Germany, Italy, Switzerland and the United States as well as Russia, Ukraine, Democratic Republic of Congo and Brazil.

"We are not a seminary for missionaries, but if someone has a calling for the missions, he can go," said the deputy director of the 600-year-old seminary where the late Pope John Paul - an inspiration for many of the young students here - once studied.

"We Franciscans want to join in the rechristianisation of Europe," said Father Jan-Marie Szewek of Krakow's Franciscan province, which has missionaries in Germany, Austria, Italy and the United States.

With vocations to the priesthood rising here and falling elsewhere, foreign bishops now buttonhole their Polish counterparts at Vatican meetings or write directly to Polish seminaries to ask if they can provide some extra manpower.

"I was in Cologne at the World Youth Day last year and we got lots of requests from bishops there from Greece, the Netherlands, Germany and France," said Lesniak, who celebrates Mass at the seminary in his fluent English, German and Italian in order to teach students to pray in a foreign language.

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Robert J. Smith, a Maryland transportation appointee who was fired June 15 for describing homosexuality as a "deviancy," is the victim of "heterophobia," according to a group that advocates for "ex-gays."

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"We know we're in trouble when homosexual politicians advocate tolerance and inclusion for their own but cannot respect the views of heterosexuals," Griggs said. "Let's remember that heterosexuals, including ex-gays, are also worthy of respect."

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Catholic counselors attend Billy Graham festival

The loud cheers and cries heard coming from Oriole Park at Camden Yards the weekend of July 7-9 were not directed toward at the Orioles. Instead they were shouts and songs unto the Lord.

The Metro Maryland Festival is an evangelical festival hosted by Billy and Franklin Graham in order to bring people back to the faith they lost or to find a new faith. The three-day, faith-filled extravaganza consisted of nightly messages from Franklin Graham, Christian rock and country artists and the highlight of the weekend, an address from 87-year-old Billy Graham.

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Father Erik Arnold, pastor of the Church of the Crucifixion, Glen Burnie, Md.,and archdiocesan liaison to the festival, and a group of trained counselors attended the festival in order to bring fallen away Catholics or those who aren’t attached to a church to experience the Catholic Church.

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A Catholic anti-abortion group, Catholic Answers, recently announced it will form a new organization, Catholic Answers Action, after a 2004 complaint filed with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) claimed its Voter's Guide for Serious Catholics was a partisan intervention in that year's election. The new group is a social welfare organization exempt under 501(c)(4) of the tax code, and is not subject to the ban on partisan activity that applies to charities and religious organizations under section 501(c)(3). It intends to publish a similar 2006 version of its voter guide.

...

Although he denied Catholic Answers had violated the ban on partisan activity, he said the group did not want to cope with the time and expense of further IRS complaints that the 2006 guide would likely generate. As a result, CAA was incorporated in January, with the same board of directors as Catholic Answers. However, Keating's letter notes the two groups have separate activities, funding, and accounting and publish separate e-newsletters. The two groups will share office space and staff.

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With muddled thinking like this, how is anybody supposed to be able to grow closer to God?

Why can’t I be a good Catholic and dissent? Apparently, being a dissenter and a good Catholic are mutually exclusive. Why can’t I be both? There is no “Thou shall not dissent� commandment. Yet today it appears that anyone who does not strictly follow or agree with the rules promulgated by Rome is considered to be a bad Catholic. And this to the point that Pope Benedict XVI is apparently saying good riddance—who needs them anyway—let them fall by the wayside: they are just weeds in the field.

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Here is some Catholic reading for anybody who is interested in this kind of stuff.

(And remmber, if you order from the Amazon search box on this page ,(here), Universal Call will recieve additional financial support.)

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A World War II Nazi ship has been donated to a Roman Catholic monastery by the Croatian government to be turned into a sailing church.

According to reports, the landing ship DTM-219 was used by Nazi Germany to transport tanks and infantry and was given to communist Yugoslavia after 1945 as part of war compensation.

The ship will be towed to the city of Sibenik in the central Adriatic from a Croatian navy port. It will then be adapted at a local shipyard.

The sailing church will be used by young people who can sail the Adriatic, pray and meditate as part of church-sponsored religious cruises.

Around 90 per cent of Croatia's 4.4 million people are Roman Catholics. The country gained independence from Yugoslavia in 1991 and hopes to join the EU by the end of this decade.

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While visiting with a delegation of Iraqi Muslims in 1999, Pope John Paul II surprised his guests and the world when he reverently placed his lips on the Islamic holy book of the Quran. It was a gesture typical of the pope – demonstrative, dramatic and eminently photographable. It was also one of the most controversial gestures of his papacy. And it is a gesture few Vatican watchers think his successor is likely to repeat.

"Anyone who knows Rome will tell you that today a more hawkish position is in ascendancy," said John Allen, Vatican correspondent and author of The Rise of Benedict XVI (Doubleday, $19.95). "Not that Pope Benedict doesn't want good relations with Muslims or that he wants to launch some kind of cultural crusade. Quite the contrary. He wants dialogue, but dialogue that has the self-confidence to be honest," Allen told Our Sunday Visitor.

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THE CATHOLIC CHURCH’S social teaching is summarized in the book, “Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church� which was requested for by Pope John Paul II. It was released for by Cardinal Martino’s council in October 2004 after six years of preparation.

...

The compendium was produced to serve as “an instrument for the moral and pastoral discernment of the complex events that mark our time� and be “a guide to inspire attitudes and choices that will permit all people to look to the future with greater trust and hope.�

...

The cardinal advised his listeners that “social doctrine is not mere theoretical knowledge, but is meant to be put into action.� Recalling Pope Benedict’s encyclical, “Deus Caritas Est�, he noted that the pope declares that the church’s task lies in building a social order to reawake spiritual and moral forces – “As citizens of the state, they (the laity) are called to take part in public life in a personal capacity.�

“This kind of spirituality builds up the world according to the Spirit of Jesus: It makes us capable of observing history without distancing ourselves from it; of nurturing a passionate love of God without looking away from our brothers and sisters, whom we are able to see instead as the Lord sees them and to love as he loves them.

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PARIS -- Al Fath Mosque is in a scruffy immigrant neighborhood not far from the neon-lit kitsch of the Pigalle district. On Friday afternoons, the mosque is jammed, and the overflow of worshippers spills into the streets.

Tourists who stumble on the scene reflexively reach for their cameras, struck by this unusual public manifestation of religiosity in a country where Christian belief has become passé.

In France and in almost every other European country, Christianity appears to be in a free fall. Although up to 88% of the French identify themselves as Catholic, only about 5% go to church on most Sundays; 60% say they "never" or "practically never" go.

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Some interesting statistics on people's belief in the historical accuracy of the Da Vinci Code:

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ANKARA, Turkey — A man stabbed a Roman Catholic priest Sunday in the Black Sea port of Samsun, a church official said, in the third attack against a Catholic cleric in Turkey in recent months.

The French priest, Pierre Brunissen, 74, was injured in the hip and leg and rushed to a hospital, Monsignor Luigi Padovese, the apostolic vicar for Anatolia, told The Associated Press by telephone from his church in Iskenderun, southern Turkey.

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Roman Catholic Archbishop of Kingston Rev Lawrence Burke has called on Christians to make a concerted effort to take steps to halt the rapid erosion of core family values.

According to Archbishop Burke, it was critical that families adopt the mode of going on retreats to strategise and refocus in much the same way businesses retreat to plan for the success of their enterprise. "We need to strengthen our family, we must consciously take time out to determine what we are going to do to strengthen our family."

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A leading Catholic Church spokesman says he worries that Catholic officials and other pro-life advocates who speak out against abortion may find themselves in legal trouble in the future. That concern is exacerbated by an Amnesty International survey of its members about whether it should change its position from neutrality to supporting abortion.

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The Catholic Church restated its opposition to embryonic stem cell research on Wednesday saying it plans to excommunicate scientists who conduct it because it involves the destruction of human life. Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo made the comments to an Italain Christian magazine.

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GLASGOW, Scotland (Catholic Online) – Teachers in Catholic schools need to embrace the faith in their thoughts, in their lives and in their teaching, a Scottish bishop told university graduating education students.

Speaking on behalf of the bishop of Scotland, Bishop Philip Tartaglia of Paisley made the remarks during a June 26, 2006, graduation Mass for the post-graduate degree Catholic students at University of Glasgow.

"It is important, in fact essential, for the authenticity of Catholic education, that you are Catholic to your fingertips in the way you think and in the way you live," he said.

"I hope you will not just be a teacher with a job in a Catholic school, but a Catholic teacher who teaches in a Catholic school,� Bishop Tartaglia said. “It is not enough to put on a Catholic facade when you walk through the doors of the school and to satisfy the demands of your contract."

Catholic schools, he said, have shown "time and time again… to bring out the very best in children and young people."

He urged the teachers to deepen their knowledge of the Catholic faith in order to "deliver the curriculum with full conviction, and indeed, where necessary, go beyond the curriculum and even make up for it where it may be lacking."

"Never be afraid to follow your instinct of faith as a Catholic," he added.

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Pope Benedict XVI is close to announcing that a 19th-century Indiana nun will become America's eighth Catholic saint, The Indianapolis Star reported.

The Vatican said Friday the Blessed Mother Theodore Guerin -- who founded the Sisters of Providence of St. Mary-of-the-Woods near Terre Haute -- is one of four people whose dates for canonization are expected to be announced when the pope meets with Roman cardinals July 1, the newspaper said.

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This is kinda long, but it is a pretty thorough analysis of the birth rates of various parts of the world. He uses a multi-disciplinary approach (from the economic to the anthropological) that explains why children are a blessing, way beyond the simple biblical injunction.

Right now, the answer, with a few exceptions, is no. The data Longman and Wattenberg present are compelling. Since the 1950’s, the total fertility rate (TFR) in Europe has fallen from 2.7 to 1.38—an astounding 34 percent below the replacement rate of 2.1, which is the average number of children per couple needed for a society to sustain itself. Japan’s fertility rate is 1.32, and its average age is already forty-two years and climbing. (The world average, by comparison, is in the mid-twenties.) A large number of nations, including Russia, Spain, Italy, South Korea, and the Czech Republic, have TFR’s between 1.0 and 1.3; some of these nations (most notably Russia) are already experiencing rapid population decline. Generations of children are growing up without brothers or sisters, and a sizable percentage of men and women in the most advanced nations will never have any children at all.

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The consequences of the birth dearth now worry people of every imaginable political, religious, and ideological stripe. One major set of worries is economic. In a 2004 study commissioned by the European Union, the Rand Corporation warned that “declines in human capital� are regularly accompanied by potential reductions in productivity, consequent burdens on “pension and social-insurance systems,� and, with smaller households, a decreasing ability “to care for the growing elderly population.� In other words: fewer workers, more retirees, and a fiscal crisis for the European welfare state.

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Other cultural dangers loom as well. Once today’s childless generations grow old, they will face the prospect of their own mortality without children to care for them, comfort them, and mourn them. As the personal freedom of the past ends in isolation, euthanasia may come to seem the most rational, or perhaps the only plausible, solution to the debilities of old age. Not only that, but the old will die with little assurance that the faith of their fathers will persist after them, from generation to generation.

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In the most modern parts of the modern world, however, three aspects of fertility do seem historically unprecedented and clearly important. First, there is no stigma attached to being childless; a woman’s worth, in this life or the next, is not judged adversely if she chooses never to have children. Second, children are no longer economic assets, as they generally were in rural and early industrial societies; rather, they are economic burdens, voracious consumers who produce virtually nothing until their late teens or early twenties. Third, fertility control is now both uneventful and virtually absolute. Those who want to avoid having children can easily do so—without restraining their natural sex drive, without putting themselves at physical risk, and without resorting to infanticide or abortion.

...

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The 25-year-old Indian Catholic youth still springs surprises as he tries to imitate his role model, Saint Francis of Assisi. Four months ago, he donned a long jute garment, which he wears even during hot summer days. He keeps only one change of clothing and goes around barefoot.

When UCA News spoke with D'Souza in late May, he explained he was trying "to do penance for his sins and the sins of his friends." On June 20, however, he spoke of a subsequent revelation that he should discard the "garment of distress" and put on the "garment of righteousness."

This revelation he interpreted as God telling him he should wear the sackcloth not as a sign of penance but as a sign of joy.

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The U.S. bishops reaffirmed the Catholic Church’s support for adult stem-cell research and opposition to research that destroys human life at a June 20, 2006, Capital Hill press conference here.

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Here is a great example a diocese promoting vocations:

All Catholic young men who are serious about their faith ask themselves at some point: Is God calling me to be a priest? They see in the priest one who has dedicated his life in a particular way to Christ and to the service of His People. The priesthood is Christ's gift to the world. Nothing is more natural than for a young man to think: Is Christ offering this gift to me?

The ministry of the priest in the Church is vital and irreplaceable. He preaches God�s word to the people of our time so that they may find true freedom in Christ. He offers the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass for the salvation of the world and gives to the faithful the Body and Blood of Christ to strengthen and heal them. He exercises leadership under the Bishop so that our communities may enjoy unity. He works with lay people, building them up through his ministry and in turn experiencing support from them.

A sign that God is calling a man to serve Him as a priest is that the thought keeps returning to his mind. This is because the Holy Spirit is at work within his depths, gently but urgently prompting him to discover God's will. These web pages are designed for men in the Diocese of Leeds who feel that God may be calling them in this way.

Click here to see this web page specifically designed for young men who think they may have a vocation to the Priesthood.

Thanks to A Penitent Blogger for the link.

Rev. Thomas Reese's track record is clear on one thing: he's for anything that makes Mass less reverent.

Roman Catholics nationwide could see some of the most sweeping changes to Mass in four decades under a proposal that goes before American bishops on Thursday.

At the behest of the Vatican, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops will vote on a new translation for the Order of the Mass that adheres more closely to the Latin version.

The new translation would the alter the wording of 12 of the 19 texts spoken by Catholics during worship, including the Nicene Creed, the Gloria, the Penitential Rite, the Sanctus and Communion.

All of a sudden, Bishop's who have wanted to change the church, are now arguing against changing the liturgy...

"My big concern is people are going to feel like they're being jerked around. They finally got used to the English translation and now they have to get used to another translation," said Rev. Thomas Reese, a senior fellow at the Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University and a Jesuit priest.

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Gates had been smoking marijuana all day, every day, since she was 15, but now at 29, she says she is finally clean and hoping to stay that way. And she says she has Catholic Social Services of Wayne County and its substance abuse program to thank.

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The Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights concludes, in their June issue of Catalyst, that there is no demographic group or profession in the United States today that has less of a problem with the sexual abuse of minors than the Catholic Church. The Catholic League reports that there were a total of only nine credible accusations for the entire year of 2005 and that only 0.02 percent of priests in 2005 had credible accusations.

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A federal appeals court has upheld the firing of a Catholic school teacher who publicly supported the Roe v. Wade decision in a newspaper ad.

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According to "The Qualifications of an Orangeman," the rules governing the all-male membership of the Orange Order, a member "should strenuously oppose the fatal errors and doctrines of the church of Rome and scrupulously avoid countenancing (by his presence or otherwise) any act of ceremony of popish worship; he should by all lawful means resist the ascendancy of that church, its encroachments and the extension of its power, ever abstaining from all uncharitable words, actions or sentiments, toward his Roman Catholic brethren."

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Very entertaining....

According to the account in the Christ Museum next to the tombs, Christ arrived in Japan at the age of 21 and learnt Japanese before returning to Judaea 12 years later to engage in his mission and preach about the “holy land of Japan�. The official Shingo history is that Jesus’s place on the Cross was “casually� taken by his brother, leaving Christ free to return to Japan. On his return he fell in love with Miyuko, a local girl, and lived happily with his family among the rice fields until dying aged 106.

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He prayed the Catholic movements would "grow ever more numerous," while ensuring the Gospel's wisdom was "brought in a mature way, not childishly or aggressively, to the world of culture and work, to the world of the media and politics, to the world of the family and social life."

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Tony Blair, his wife, Cherie, and their children will have an audience with Pope Benedict in the Vatican today, raising expectations that he will convert to the Roman Catholic faith when he stands down as Prime Minister.

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A federal judge has dismissed a Roman Catholic pharmacist's claim that he was fired by Wal-Mart Stores Inc for refusing to fill birth control prescriptions and that the dismissal violated his religious freedom.

The ruling Thursday said Wal-Mart had accommodated Neil Noesen's religious opposition to birth control by having other pharmacists fill prescriptions.

But US District Judge John Shabaz said Noesen went too far by putting customers who called about birth control on hold indefinitely and by refusing to get service for those who showed up in person.

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With the question in mind of what should be done during a war, let us consider the untraditional but very bloody war that is being waged today in Asia against unborn girls. The introduction of sonogram technology in Asia has resulted in the practice of aborting girls there en masse. In China, for example, recent statistics indicate that for every 100 girls that were born, 117 boys were born. It is said that if this disparity continues, by 2020 -- only 14 years from now -- there will be 40 million more men than women in China (which correlates to millions more girls than boys killed).

...

But what can feminists like Ms Clinton say about sex selection abortion given their commitment to the so-called “right to an abortion�? Some feminists on the left say, not very loudly, that sex selection abortion is wrong, and is permissible to outlaw, because it discriminates based on sex. However, they cannot vigorously assert this argument without jeopardising the “right to an abortion� because the logic of the argument completely undermines that so-called “right.� If an unborn girl has the right not to be discriminated against, she necessarily also has the more fundamental right to life. And if unborn girls have the right to life, it necessarily follows that all unborn children, whether male or female, have the same right.

...

Given the renowned commitment of pro-choice feminists to abortion and the far- reaching pro-life implications of any argument against sex selection abortion, it is sadly predictable that pro-choice feminists raise no loud protest against the extermination of the female gender in Asia. Men and women bear equal responsibility for ending this extermination (and all other abortion). But if feminism means anything it means protecting interests that are unique to the female gender. And what greater interest does the female gender uniquely have than that of being defended against systematic extermination? Incredible as it may seem, pro-choice feminists believe there is a greater interest and that that greater interest is abortion -- the very means by which the war of extermination against the female gender is being conducted. What other conclusion can be drawn from their silence concerning sex selection abortion? The practice of aborting girls in Asia supplements an older tradition of infanticide that for millennia was practiced against girls and disabled children. It is beyond ironic that there are feminists who aggressively support a means of extending and perpetuating this barbaric ancient tradition on a mass scale.

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Australia seems to generally be more disciplined than the US about Catholic stuff:

CATHOLIC politicians who vote in favour of abortion should not identify themselves as Catholics or go to Communion, according to Cardinal George Pell.

Cardinal Pell, the country's most senior Catholic, stopped short of endorsing some American bishops who said during the 2004 presidential election campaign that pro-abortion politicians should be refused the Eucharist.

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I think I will ask Dr. Paddy Jim Baggot, to comment on this. Stay Posted.

A British study suggests the Roman Catholic Church-approved "rhythm method" may kill more embryos than other methods of contraception.

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It's believed the method works by preventing conception from occurring. But Professor Luc Bovens of the London School of Economics says it may owe much of its success to the fact that embryos conceived on the fringes of the fertile period are less viable than those conceived toward the middle.

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It's hard to imagine contemporary society without Oedipus complexes, defence mechanisms, Freudian slips, and the psychiatrist's couch. But Dutch psychologist Gerard van den Aardweg is not cracking the champagne on Sigmund Freud's 150th birthday.

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Alfred Kinsey was the father of the sexual revolution, but Freud was its grandfather. Freud opened the discussion of sexual matters in public and treated the subject as a mere question of mental health. He let the genie out of the bottle. If morality was merely a matter of traffic rules and sexuality was dissociated from a higher order of values within the person, sexual naturalness was soon equated with freedom from so-called repression. So Freud prepared Kinsey, another man with dangerous psychological theories.

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Brown is clearly a good sport who knows perfectly well what he’s up to, and he can’t resist tipping his hand to let us in on the joke. So hats off to an author who’s not ashamed of coming across as a "pop schlockmeister looking for a quick buck" and, as we now know, finding it with a vengeance… literally.

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The clinic will not perform abortions. Instead, lotions, essential oils and decorative carrying cases for pills and condoms will beckon shoppers inside, where they can also get oral contraceptives, pregnancy tests and screening for HIV, chlamydia and gonorrhea — all in about 20 minutes. If customers are interested, the clinic may add massages and other spa services later, spokeswoman Marta Coursey said.

The convenience factor, combined with profitable body products, could make it work, said Bruce Kelley, a senior consultant with Watson Wyatt Worldwide, a benefits consulting firm. He said fast clinics in pharmacies and supermarkets are catching on and will keep multiplying.

Click here to see this in its natural habitat.

When cases arise that Catholic universities seem to stray from church teaching, many Catholics ask, "Why isn't the bishop shutting them down?" In reality, most diocesan bishops do not have any jurisdiction over universities or schools in their diocese.

Many are run by religious orders, like Notre Dame, which is run by the Holy Cross Fathers, so they answer ultimately to their orders who answer to the Holy See. But the bishops can always publicly protest the institution's actions, which many have done.

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Here are some quotes from some Da Vinci code reviews.

"You know a movie's a dud when even its self-flagellating albino killer monk isn't any fun. "

"A jumbled, joyless affair that neither entertains nor enlightens."

"As for the film's entertainment virtues, forget it. This is one of the most talky and pretentious major films in memory."

"Retarded, ridiculous and crushingly dull."

"The movie is woefully plotted and just flat-out, eye-crossingly dull."

"...overblown so-so suspense flick..."

"Part conspiracy thriller, part religious epic, part family melodrama, but not satisfying on any level, this vastly disappointing film will frustrate viewers who know the book and will bore those who don't due to the rambling and confusing storytelling."

"A jumble of historical myth, religious symbology and international thriller-action makes for an unwieldy, bloated melodrama."

"... it's not very good -- long (2hr.32min.) and mostly inert."

"Ron Howard and screenwriter Akiva Goldsman struggle mightily to cram as much as possible of Dan Brown's labyrinthine thriller into a 2-hour-28-minute running time, resulting in a movie both overstuffed and underwhelming."

Click Here to see the reviews in their natural habitat

This article describes how Opus Dei is handling the Da Vinci Code furor.

But Opus Dei has stayed positive, patient and polite. The word �attack� is never used. Sony�s intentions are never presumed. There is no ping-pong counterresponse to the corporation�s statements. There is barely indignation, let alone anger, in the letters and statements; no calls for boycotts or protests or threats to sue. There is none of the arrogance and defensiveness typical of religious groups deploring offensive books or films.

Contrast this approach with the speech given in Rome last week by Msgr. Angelo Amato, the number two at the Vatican�s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. He called on Catholics to boycott the film and organize protests. If �such lies and errors had been directed at the Koran or the Holocaust, they would have justly provoked a world uprising,� Amato said. �Instead, if they are directed against the Church and Christians, they remain unpunished.�

You hear this sentiment often on the lips of Christians: of course, if we were Muslims they would never dare� Not only does this cheer on violence, but it fails to recognize that the anger of the indignant victim quickly moves sympathy away from the victim�as the popular abhorrence of the Muslim protests showed.

This is what Mora has grasped. �Sony is King Kong,� he says. �I want to be cast as the blonde girl. If I�m the policeman who fires on King Kong, then sympathy will shift from the blonde girl to the beast.�

The brilliance of Opus Dei�s strategy is that it realizes the bind that Christians in the contemporary West are in. Muslims and Jews deserve respect for their beliefs because they are minorities, while Christians are seen�in spite of all the facts to the contrary�as a hegemonic body which it is therefore legitimate to denigrate. The presupposition of The Da Vinci Code is that the Church is powerful, secretive, misogynistic and violent, acting through history like a big, bad corporation. Ironically, this prejudice has been bolstered by secularization: the less contact people have with churches and Christians, the more inclined they are to believe damaging nonsense about them.

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Another reason to think the Tony Blair will convert (ref. our earliar post here):

May. 15 (CWNews.com) - Cherie Blair, the wife of British Prime Minister Tony Blair, told the London Times that the couple raised their children as Catholics in part so they would not become "simply part of the establishment."

Because she was raised as a Catholic herself, Cherie Blair told the Times magazine, she knew that being aligned with a religious minority "meant you were not part of the establishment." Since her children today "are having a pretty privileged life," she observed, she is grateful that they will have the same challenges.

The prime minister's wife said that she was attracted to Tony Blair because of their shared interest in spiritual matters. British reporters have shared rumors that the prime minister, who regularly attends Mass with his wife and children, may become a Catholic after resigning his current office.

Father Fessio is the reason I keep posting on the China bishop situation. During our interview, he identified China as the wildcard nation in the fight to keep Western Civilization alive. (The Muslim influence in Europe is very significant, and Muslims are not "western" in their ways. The US is closing in on a post-post Christian worldview.)

China installed a controversial new Catholic bishop on Sunday in a ceremony reflecting the split between the Vatican and the Chinese state-run church that divides villagers in a heavily Catholic corner of the country.

Zhan Silu presided over a Mass marking his appointment as bishop of Mindong Diocese in eastern China's Fujian province.

The cathedral in the small city of Ningde was crowded to overflowing with a mix of urban residents and farmers in frayed clothes, welcoming his formal elevation after years as second-string to an infirm bishop who died last year.

But like two other Chinese bishops appointed in past weeks, Bishop Zhan lacks the blessing of Pope Benedict, who sharply criticised China for the moves.

Priests in both the state-approved church and the "underground" church around Ningde told Reuters they were upset by Bishop Zhan's elevation, warning it may stoke tensions between Beijing and the Vatican, and between the two sides of China's divided church.

"We've been under heavy pressure to attend," said a local priest in the state-recognised church, who nonetheless believed the Vatican should choose bishops. He asked his name not be used.

China has some 10 million Catholics, but they are split between an "underground" church loyal to the Holy See alone, and a state-approved church, whose members respect the Pope but lack formal ties to the Vatican.

Bishop Zhan told Reuters that the underground church had boycotted the Mass, despite his invitation for representatives to attend.

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Perhaps the biggest problem with the Da Vinci Code is that it may act as a catalyst for all those "Catholics" who, by dint of improper formation like to denegate the Church.

I think the following article is a great example:

"Don't see the movie or else, Ernesto," I imagined the nuns admonishing me at the old All Saints-Cathedral Catholic School on South Sixth Avenue Downtown.

I can hear the voice of a priest at St. Augustine Cathedral warning me, "If you see the movie, Ernesto, you will be violating our guidelines."

Being the good Catholic I am, I plan to see the movie.

The first church rule I clearly remember ignoring was "don't drink the Mass wine."

I don't how old I was, but I was an altar boy at the cathedral when I took my maiden sip of altar wine from the bottle.

Whose fault is this? Is it the school's for employing a teacher for the parish's children that doesn't even know church teaching or the teacher for not taking a more aggressive role in understanding her own faith? Or perhaps both the school and the teacher for not ensuring the contract was better understood?

This teacher and her husband have decided to leave the church over this. No matter whose fault this is, it is tragic.

The couple were not prepared for what came next. When Kelly, a teacher at two Catholic schools in Wisconsin, told her bosses she had gotten pregnant through in vitro, they handed her a pink slip.

...

"I did not know what the Catholic doctrine stated against in vitro fertilization. Yes, I signed a contract, but the contract was vague in my opinion. I didn't know what I was doing as far as in vitro goes that went against doctrine. My understanding was it was the Ten Commandments."

...

Romenesko appealed to the school board, but it would not reinstate her. Now a state agency is looking into the case. Meanwhile, the Romeneskos have stopped practicing Catholicism.

Attention kids: Don't read this entry because it is about an adult issue.

Adults Only: Young college men are suffering from Erectile Dysfunction (Impotence) in record numbers. It seems that the college environment with its surplus of "sex, drugs, and alcohol" is bad for people. This may not be new information, but the manifestation of it may be.

Combine performance anxiety with binge drinking and the abuse of drugs on campus and it's no wonder that problems are showing up at college clinics in numbers that give the lie to the adage that impotence is reserved for the old (Bob Dole) or crazy (Jack Nicholson in "Carnal Knowledge"). The younger models who now appear in commercials for Viagra and its pharmaceutical clones reveal that the drug makers know (hope?) what the rest of us don't: Some members of the Game Boy generation are losing their game.

Click here to open the web page with the complete text of the article.

Several Catholic colleges and universities have invited pro-abortion commencement speakers and have been accused of violating guidelines set forth by the nation's Catholic bishops. The Catholic Church policies call on universities not giving a platform to pro-abortion politicians.

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Yeah, I know this isn't (explicitly) about the Universal Call to Holiness, but this insightful article about the looming was in Iraq entitled "The Noise Before the Storm" is something that everybody should read.

Today, safety and security are sought in gated communities and sturdier gas-guzzling SUVs. The former contribute to social divisiveness and the latter to the need for secure oil supplies, which contributes to US military involvement in the Middle East. Worried about attacks from “rogue states� the US administration has been pushing for a ballistic missile defence system. This again will involve huge costs and divert funds from social assistance, environmental initiatives, and other peace enhancing activities.

Under normal circumstances, bishops are named by the pope and run dioceses where the number of priests, nuns and baptized faithful is recorded and reported annually to the Vatican.

But things have not been normal in China for more than 50 years.

Some of the bishops are approved by the pope, some are approved by the government, but increasingly most are approved by both.

As for statistics, the estimated number of Catholics in China runs from about 8 million to as many as 16 million.

While the Vatican pays homage to Chinese Catholics who risk their freedom and even their lives to remain in full communion with the pope and universal church, it has allowed some compromises to ensure the ongoing survival of Catholicism in the country.

Until the mid-1980s, the only Catholic bishops in China recognized as legitimate by the Vatican were those chosen and ordained secretly by other bishops in the underground Catholic community, said Belgian Missionhurst Father Jeroom Heyndrickx, one of the most authoritative experts on Catholicism in China.

Click Here to Open the Web Page with the Complete Text of the Article

Cardinal George Pell, the archbishop of Sydney, told an audience of Catholic business leaders in Florida he believed it was vital to read the Koran, "because the challenge of Islam will be with us for the remainder of our lives."

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"In my own reading of the Koran, I began to note down invocations to violence," he said. "There are so many of them, however, that I abandoned this exercise after 50 or 60 or 70 pages."

"Considered strictly on its own terms, Islam is not a tolerant religion, and its capacity for far-reaching renovation is severely limited," Pell said. He added, however, that the human factor could also play a mitigating or exacerbating role, and he compared the situations in Indonesia and Pakistan.

But with about 15 of the diocese's 214 parishes sharing priests - a number expected to grow as more priests retire or die - the diocese is planning to lift some of the more earthly burdens from overtaxed clergy.

The Pittsburgh Diocese has become the first in the state to commit to hiring bishop-appointed deacons or members of the laity to direct parishes and supervise many day-to-day activities.

Two theology professors at Boston College don't think Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice deserves an honorary degree from the Catholic institution.

Rice's role in the Iraq war and foreign policy make her morally unfit for the honor, say professors Kenneth R. Himes, chair of the theology department, and David Hollenbach, according to an article Wednesday in the Boston Globe.

The two academics sent a letter, titled "Condoleezza Rice Does Not Deserve a Boston College Honorary Degree," to the entire faculty by e-mail on Tuesday.

The professors wrote that they strongly disagree with the university's decision to invite Rice to the May 22 commencement ceremony and asked their colleagues to sign on. About 100 faculty members had done so by Wednesday.

"On the levels of both moral principle and practical moral judgment, Secretary Rice's approach to international affairs is in fundamental conflict with Boston College's commitment to the values of the Catholic and Jesuit traditions and is inconsistent with the humanistic values that inspire the university's work," the letter said. It also noted that Pope John Paul II and the United States Catholic bishops opposed the Iraq war.

Rice earned a master's degree from the University of Notre Dame in 1975 and later served on its board of trustees. In 1995, she gave the Notre Dame commencement address and received an honorary degree.

She also attended Notre Dame's graduation in 2001, when her boss, President Bush, gave the commencement address and received an honorary degree.

If the American Bishops had been handling the molestation issues properly, issues like this would never even exist. Don't waste your time trying to figure who is doing the right thing here. We are in a part of the flow chart where there are no more "good" decisions to help us.

Vermont's Catholic church wants a judge to step down from a clergy sex abuse case.

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington said Judge Ben Joseph's decision to remove a gag order involving church paperwork in a recently settled case make it difficult for the church to have a fair trial.

David Cleary, the church's attorney, said lifting the gag order has led to widespread media coverage.

Brother Consolmagno argued that the Christian God was a supernatural one, a belief that had led the clergy in the past to become involved in science to seek natural reasons for phenomena such as thunder and lightning, which had been previously attributed to vengeful gods. "Knowledge is dangerous, but so is ignorance. That's why science and religion need to talk to each other," he said.

The Vatican said yesterday that two bishops ordained by China's government-controlled Catholic Church this week faced excommunication and warned that their elevation endangered a lengthy dialogue designed to restore Vatican relations with China and to regularize Catholic worship in the country.

Deep inside the Vatican, a white-haired nun dressed in a brown habit opens the door to a room full of computers. The whirring machines hold some of the mysteries of the Holy See, including photographs of the Vatican Secret Archives and of ancient illustrated manuscripts. No, this isn't a movie trailer for The Da Vinci Code. Our guide is Sister Judith Zoebelein, the editorial director of the Internet Office of the Holy See. She's showing off a small but potent Vatican data center, which bristles with servers and other high-tech gear.

The subtitle for this article is "The nun who launched the Vatican's Web site is at work on a MySpace for Catholics ", which implies that it could be retreat from the secular world. But what good will Catholics do in their own 'space'?

This is the problem: we are always retreating to our own worlds instead of interacting with the world at large. However, The article does say:

Collaboration is key, and that should differentiate the site from others in its genre. "People will be able to find each other and work together online, and then go back and use what they have learned or done in their own communities," says Sister Judith.

This will be interesting to follow.

Here is Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragán to clarify what it going on in the Vatican in regards the recent media circus about condoms and Church teaching:

(You can check out an earlier post on this subject here.)

The Holy See is preparing a "study" for internal dialogue, not a "document," on condoms and AIDS, says the president of the Pontifical Council for Health Care Workers.

...

The study responds first to the question: What guarantee exists to prevent infection with AIDS through a condom? A second question is: Is it morally licit to use a "technical" condom?

To respond to these two questions, the cardinal explained, "there are two important principles, which are the Sixth Commandment that says, 'You will not commit impure acts,' and the Fifth, which must always be taken into account: 'You shall not kill.'"

As many of our listeners/readers have noticed, there have been some articles in the news this weekend about condom use, the spread of Aids, and the Catholic Church.

The media seems to savor the "startling reversal of Church Doctrine" with bold proclamations like "shift in strategy", "updating their views", "Church hierarchy", "reversal of church doctrine" and "victory for reform-minded critics"......perhaps because the media thinks of the magisterium like they think of any other governing body.

There is no other organization in the world that produces as thoughtful and well reasoned responses to issues as the Vatican. I am not naive enough to believe that there are no politics at the Vatican, but one significant difference between the Vatican and other governing agencies (countries, companies, etc...) is that it is not only politics that inform their decisions.

Say what you want about the Church, but upon examination, one can always find caring motives.

This is so alien to most of the world, especially the media, that we can almost be guaranteed of slanted, shoddy reporting out of Rome.

Therefore, when it comes to the news that supposedly emanates from the Vatican, the "where there is smoke, there is fire" cliche doesn't always apply. This particular article is a case-in-point.

(Note: While I don't know much more than most about Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini, I doubt he heads the "Roman Catholic Church's Liberal Wing." I didn't know that the Roman Catholic Church had a "wing" devoted to the service of liberals. Furthermore, I didn't know that this "wing" had a head.)

A senior Italian cardinal who was one of the front-runners to become pope after the death of John Paul II, has said it is acceptable for Catholics to use condoms to prevent AIDS, a major break with the official position of the Vatican.

Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini, the former archbishop of Milan and the head of the Roman Catholic Church's liberal wing, said in an interview that legal abortions and the use of frozen embyros to produce children were also acceptable.

"Certainly the use of condoms can, in certain circumstances, constitute a lesser evil," Martini told weekly magazine L'Espresso, in reference to the dangers of contracting HIV/AIDS through sex.

"It is difficult for a modern state not to intervene, at least to prevent a brutal, arbitrary situation from developing," he said.

...

Cardinal Martini, who has often raised new ideas, is considered to be a free spirit within the Catholic Church hierarchy and does not hold any post of responsibility within the Vatican.

...

In L'Espresso he offered a nuanced view of scientific progress.

"While we can't stop it, we can help it become ever more responsible," he said.

He nevertheless stressed that the difference between the cardinal's views and the official positions of the Catholic Church was "a difference of tone".

"...Can't stop it..."?? I believe that if the quote was complete, we would find that perhaps the Cardinal was referring to the improper application of science, like using human embryos destructively in scientific research.

There are quotes out of context and incomplete information. I have read several Vatican articles/quotes/etc... about this. Yes, the Vatican is considering allowing condom use to slow the spread of HIV/AIDS with married couples where one partner has HIV/Aids and the other doesn't. This isn't new; I have been hearing about this for at least a year. In fact I remember reading about this when JPII was pope.

How is it that this important distinction isn't making it to the readers?

Here is another yellow article irresponsibly headlined: Catholic Church to Ease Ban on Condom Use.

One year after the election of Pope Benedict XVI, the Vatican, in a reversal of church doctrine, is prepared to allow the use of condoms to combat AIDS.

In a victory for reform-minded critics of the Vatican, Pope Benedict XVI has now reversed the Catholic Church's long-standing position with regard to the use of condoms to combat the spread of the HIV virus.

Only last week Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini, the highly influential former Archbishop of Milan, set a precedent by making a public appeal to at least permit condom use to prevent the transmission of deadly viruses.

Cardinal Martini, a Jesuit, is considered a moderate in the conclave that elected the then former Joseph Ratzinger from Germany as Pope last year following the death of John Paul II. Ratzinger, whom critics have dubbed "God's Rottweiler," was a protégé of the late pope. John Paul II took hard-line positions on the role of women in the Catholic Church and the treatment of homosexuals, as well as the condemnation of artificial birth control.

Though many German Catholics take pride that the pope is a fellow countryman, the reaction towards the pontiff has been mixed from progressive Catholics. However the easing of the church's absolutist position on the use of artificial means of birth control suggests Pope Benedict XVI could bring the church more in line with social realities and reformist views.

How often has the church based its doctrine on social trends in the past 2000 years? Which social reality is the writer referring to? The epidemic of promiscuity? Or maybe the Church is in line with the social reality that the family unit is the most important social group and that it is disintegrating. And that her doctrines exist to preserve the family.

Finally, here is an article that actually says something responsible:

Cardinal Barragan said: "This is a difficult and delicate subject that requires prudence. We are studying this closely with scientists and theologians."

Here is a rebuttal to those who are critical of President Jenkins' (of Notre Dame) in regard to the Vagina Monologues and Gay Pride issues: (See our earlier posts here and here.)

I am personally offended by the assertion that those who happen to agree with University President Father John Jenkins "are those who care least about Notre Dame's Catholic mission."

The Observer, an Independent Newspaper Serving Notre Dame and Saint Mary's" (according to their masthead), contains an open letter to the university community regarding the statement made by President Jenkins about the Vagina Monologues.

In was written by John C. Cavadini, Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Theology and the Director for the Institute for Church Life.

Rather, I am concerned with the rhetoric about the Catholic university in which the decision was framed and which is now becoming settled convention in articulating the character of our Catholic identity.

Notre Dame President Jenkins was much beloved when he shut down the Vagina Monoloques, but now he has changed his mind and the love is waning:

In explaining his decision to allow The Vagina Monologues, Jenkins cited the play's "laudable goals," including its celebration of the female body and women's sexuality, its encouragement of women to be proud of their sexual identity, and its aim of stopping violence against women. Monologues playwright Eve Ensler has frequently cited these goals when explaining her play's fixation on the female sexual organ (which is mentioned more than 100 times in the play) and her vulgar and explicit references to the sexual experiences of women and young girls.

The Ethics and Public Policy Center has an interesting take on this:

There is an antidote to the dehumanizing vision of The Vagina Monologues, and it is found in the very intellectual tradition that so many Catholic universities have abandoned. Based on Scripture, the thought of Jewish feminist and martyred Catholic saint Edith Stein, and the Theology of the Body of Pope John Paul II, the "new feminism" promoted by the late pope recognizes the beauty of sexuality, the goodness of the body, and the distinctiveness of women. It also celebrates the complementarity of the sexes and insists that true sexual fulfillment is found only in the context of committed, selfless, life-giving love -- the kind of love God has for each human person created in His image.

The US is considering legislation to make doctors tell women seeking an abortion it will cause the foetus pain.

It is also being suggested that, if the pregnancy is over 22 weeks, foetuses should be given pain-relieving drugs.

Just a quick question: Doesn't a decision to provide pain-relieving drugs to the soon-to-be-aborted baby imply that we have crossed over from "abortion" or "Women's Health" or "pro-choice" or "Fetus" to "baby" and, therfore, "murder"?

In his 1995 novel, The Last Coyote, Michael Connolly's battered and disillusioned detective Harry Bosch compared the public's pervasive indifference to little crimes, like prostitution and gambling, to the broken windows in an abandoned building. When we look the other way, he said, it weakens us all. While this principle has been primarily applied to cities, it also fits the Catholic Church.

...

Philosophy professor and one of the most powerful advocates of life in North America, Donald DeMarco, wrote that the dominant sin of our time is sloth or spiritual laziness.... Sloth often generates indifference, leading to more serious figurative cracks in the stained-glass windows of the Church. Since the early 1960s, most Catholics have not been that well versed in their faith. The average Catholic betrays a lack of interest in the salient issues of his Church and its relation to secular society. Challenge them on abortion, euthanasia, and stem cell research. Many Catholic laymen dissent from Rome and tend to be well versed in the critical arguments against the Church's teachings, in place of the rudiments of their faith.

Consequently, the Catholic in the pew has failed to recognize that his Church has been under attack for a half century. As St. Louis University History Professor James Hitchcock revealed in a radio interview for The Dangers of Apathy, Christianity is being assaulted from two different directions. It is being assaulted horizontally by those who say that there are many religions in the world and Christianity is only one of many religious choices, such as Buddhism and Hinduism. The vertical attack tells Catholics that they do not even have a true knowledge of their own religion.

This is an interesting interview with the producers of "God and the Girl":

I think that coming at it from a Jewish perspective was the best thing that could have happened to this show. We don’t have an agenda toward the Catholic Church. We could come at it objectively. Therefore, if it were done by Catholics, for example, the critics can’t say, “This was a love letter to the Catholic Church,� or if it were done by [evangelical] Christians, they can’t say, “This was an attempt to bash Catholics.� Everyone across the line feels that we told an honest story with no agenda. We feel you can see that when you watch the show. It makes the show that much more valid.

...

Until you see this project, from the sound of it being pitched, you don’t know what it’s going to look like. They weren’t really helpful. At one point, they were less than helpful. I understood their hesitation. We assured them that we weren’t out to do a hatchet job and kept in touch with them. We promised them that when the show was done, we would show it to them. I don’t think they believed us. In early March, we flew to Washington, D.C., and showed it to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. They were pleased, and their response was positive. The church didn’t have a say in the show. If they did, it would have discounted the whole thing.

You can click here to read the complete text.

Bishop Robert Morlino of Madison, Wisconsin defined the parameters of the "dictatorship of relativism" at the third annual National Catholic Prayer Breakfast, April 7. The annual event is an initiative of some faithful US lay Catholics after the model of the Protestant version that has been a feature of US presidential life for fifty years.

Bishop Morlino elaborated on the phrase made famous by then-Cardinal Ratzinger on the eve of his election as Pope Benedict XVI, "the dictatorship of relativism."

Morlino refrained from naming any political names as the "junta who govern this dictatorship" but did point the finger squarely at the mass media, who, he said, are "generally accomplices to those who govern the Dictatorship of Relativism."

A Catholic priest who was arrested in Saudi Arabia for saying Mass in a private apartment returned safely to his base in southern India April 9 after being deported by Saudi authorities.

Police arrested Father George Joshua Kanneeleth of Trivandrum Syro-Malankara Archdiocese April 5 in Riyadh, the Saudi capital, and kept him in custody until he was deported four days later, Trivandrum chancellor Father John Kochuthundiyil said.

You can click here to read the complete text

A priest of the Diocese of Peterborough who publicly supports women priests has been excommunicated after starting his own church, said Bishop Nicola De Angelis in a letter issued April 9 and read to his flock at Palm Sunday Masses.

Father Ed Cachia, already suspended for concelebrating Eucharist with women who said they were ordained as Catholic priests, began a new church on April 2, which he calls Christ the Servant Church. He is holding Masses in a hall in the small town of Coburg, Ont.

According to the Peterborough Examiner daily newspaper, some 300 people attended the first liturgy.

“In doing so, he acted entirely on his own initiative, and without the approval of the Holy Roman Catholic Church, and has incurred automatic excommunication by virtue of the law of the church,� the bishop wrote in his letter

.

You can click here to read the complete text

A recent "statement of principles" by 55 Catholic Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives has rekindled the debate over the responsibilities of Catholic politicians.

The signatories of the letter stated that "we seek the Church's guidance and assistance but believe also in the primacy of conscience."

But, according to Jesuit Father Joseph Koterski, professor of philosophy at Fordham University, the Catholic understanding of conscience requires a distinction. The crucial factor is not fidelity to one's chosen moral principles, but rather fidelity to moral principles given to us by God.

Father Koterski explained to ZENIT the importance for Catholic politicians to inform their conscience in accord with divine moral principles as mediated by the magisterium of the Church.

You can click here to read the complete text.

This from First Things:

When these holy days roll around, segments of the media, as reliably as clockwork, roll out the latest alleged debunkings of historically recognizable Christianity. There was, for instance, an item a few days ago about a climatologist who opined that back in the old days Galilee experienced cold snaps, so maybe Jesus didn’t walk on water but was standing on a block of ice. This, it is suggested, will force Christians to reconsider the foundations of their faith. It does raise a new question about why St. Peter stripped before jumping in to join his Lord on the ice.

But the big news this time around is the discovery of a fourth- or possibly fifth-century copy of what may be a second-century “Gospel of Judas.� Christians will be surprised, we are assured by the New York Times, that there are more than four gospels, and I suppose Christians who know little about the origins of Christianity will be surprised. The National Geographic Society disgraced itself by puffing this latest discovery. Elaine Pagels of Princeton, an advisor to NGS who has for years been touting sundry gnostic gospels, wrote an op-ed in the Times saying that the latest discovery will make her Easter ever so much more mysterious.

There will be more on the Gnostic Gospels in our podcast due to post on April 20th.

You can click here to read the complete text

Catholic university students in central Vietnam say they need more religious education as well as support from priests and Religious to help them overcome challenges in their faith life.

An educational psychology student wrote: "I feel I need to know more about my faith so as to deepen my faith life. I hope there will be more meetings between students and priests or Religious so that students have opportunities to enquire about their faith."

...

Another student, Nguyen, said his religious education stopped when he moved away from his home parish to study in the university. He said the catechism he received earlier "is not enough to help me to live my faith after I graduate." According to Nguyen, he joined a group of university students in Hue who are learning catechism from priests and Religious

.

A university freshman studying English said she felt embarrassed when she could not adequately answer questions her friends posed to her about her faith and ethics. She recalled that a friend had asked her to explain why Mary was still a virgin even though she had given birth to Jesus, and that she felt ashamed at not being able to give a proper explanation.

You can click here to read the complete text

A Catholic Indian priest was yesterday forced to leave Saudi Arabia. He was discovered by the religious police as he organized a prayer meeting in the lead-up to Easter. Arrested on 5 April, he remained in police custody for four days and on Saturday 8th April he left for India. The practice of any religion other than Islam is forbidden in Saudi Arabia. Meetings held privately in people’s homes, among friends, are also banned.

You can click here to read the complete text

Apr. 04 (CWNews.com) - The Thomas More Law Center has filed a federal lawsuit against the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, charging that the city officials engaged in an unconstitutional attack on the Catholic Church by condemning Church teaching on homosexuality.

The lawsuit-- filed on behalf of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights and two San Francisco Catholic citizens-- is a response to the resolution passed unanimously by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors on March 21, describing Church teachings as "hateful" and "absolutely unacceptable," and urging local Church officials to "defy" a Vatican directive forbidding Church involvement in adoption by same-sex couples.

That resolution, the lawsuit charges, was a “startling attack by government officials on the Catholic Church, Catholic moral teaching and beliefs, and those who adhere to the tenets of the Catholic faith, in violation of the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution.� That overt expression of hostility to Catholic teaching, the suit argues, "sends a clear message to Plaintiffs and others who are faithful adherents to the Catholic faith that they are outsiders, not full members of the political community and an accompanying message that those who oppose Catholic religious beliefs, particularly with regard to homosexual unions and adoptions by homosexual partners, are insiders, favored members of the political community.�

Richard Thompson, the president of the Thomas More Law Center, observed: “The demagoguery and virulent words of this resolution are reminiscent of the anti- Catholic bigotry of the Ku Klux Klan and the Know Nothings, which marred our Nation’s earlier history. San Francisco may as well have put up signs at the City limits: ‘Faithful Catholics Not Welcomed.’�

Access to the "morning-after pill" has become a political issue in the United States, and now a Catholic leader in Britain is taking a stand against government regulations requiring doctors who object to providing "reproductive services" to refer patients to another physician.

...

The cardinal is the patron of the hospital, which was established in 1856 to serve the sick and the dying "in accordance with the spiritual and ethical principles of Roman Catholic teaching and traditions." The hospital has become popular with some celebrities.

Murphy-O'Connor told the hospital to revise its code of ethics to make it clear that staff should neither recommend "unacceptable" procedures or treatments, nor arrange for them to be done elsewhere, nor do anything intended to set into motion a move to have them done elsewhere.

...

A new draft of the regulations, expected to be introduced soon, goes further, adding "where it is not practicable for a patient to make such arrangements themselves, you must ensure that arrangements are made for another suitably qualified colleague to take over your role so that the patient's care does not suffer."

The Franciscan friar who helped convert the Tory MP Ann Widdecombe to Catholicism is now holding private Mass for the Prime Minister at Downing Street.

Tony Blair has been attending private Roman Catholic Mass with Father Michael Seed, prompting speculation that he plans to become a Catholic when he leaves office.

You can click here to read the complete text

China's state-controlled Catholic Church will have to relinquish some of its control over Chinese Catholics if Sino-Vatican relations are to be established, Hong Kong's new cardinal said Saturday.

Cardinal Joseph Zen, an outspoken champion of religious freedom in China, said it was "unacceptable" for the official Patriotic Catholic Association to lead Chinese Catholics, who are barred from having contact with the Vatican.

You can click here to read the complete text

A growing number of states are considering laws that would require hospitals to provide emergency contraception to rape victims, drawing criticism from supporters of the Roman Catholic Church, which likens the morning-after pill to abortion.

...

The laws would include hospitals affiliated with the Catholic Church, which teaches that life begins at conception. Opponents say states are attempting to force those hospitals to go against their beliefs.

You can click here to read the complete text

The hunt for the great American Catholic voter of 2008 started in earnest last week, led by none other than New York’s junior Senator, Hillary Rodham Clinton.

...

Strategists have been saying for some time that Mrs. Clinton will use her re-election campaign in the heavily Catholic areas of upstate New York as a laboratory for her expected 2008 Presidential bid. “Her spin is, ‘Hey, look, I can win Catholic votes. If I can win the western tier of New York, I can win Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania,’� said veteran Democratic operative Hank Sheinkopf. If religion-tinged issues such as abortion and gay marriage can be neutralized in those areas, the Democrats can win on economic issues among hard-pressed Catholic men, Mr. Sheinkopf argues.

Pope Benedict XVI may visit China, depending on God's will, says the vicar general of Hong Kong, who greeted the holy father a few days after the pope created new cardinals.

...

Layperson Jimmy Lai Chi-ying, proprietor of a newspaper in Hong Kong, also asked the pope to come to China, and "bring us love and democracy." The holy father answered, "I will come," Lai told the press.

...

In another reported comment, Lee cited the gospel story of the blessed mother telling Jesus there was no wine at the wedding and asked the pope to please pray to Jesus because there is no freedom in China.

This is related to an earlier post about this that you can find here.

After days of international outcry, an Afghan court has dismissed the case against a man threatened with being put to death for having converted from Islam to Christianity, a court official said Sunday.

...

Many Afghans say that Rahman must pay the ultimate price for his renunciation of Islam, and have vowed to kill him themselves if he is released. Such high passions at home thrust the Afghan government into a difficult position, forced to weigh domestic pressures against the outrage of Western countries that have poured billions of dollars into rebuilding this war-torn nation.

Here's another article about this from a different perspective:

Muslim clerics have threatened to incite Afghans to kill Rahman if he is freed, saying that he is clearly guilty of apostasy and deserves to die.

[As] President Bush laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery, a self-declared witch embarked on a clandestine mission to mark a grave most dear to her.

...

Taking advantage of the attention turned elsewhere that day, Rosemary Kooiman affixed a vinyl pentacle - a five-pointed star within a circle - to the gravesite of her husband, a decorated World War II combat veteran.

This article highlights the pragmatism that underlies the political decision behind the Catholic democrats' statement:

55 American Congressmen and women have made a stand on religion, conscience and abortion. It may be smart politics, but it's sloppy thinking.

One politician standing firm on his conscience is a miracle. Fifty-five standing firm on their consciences is a publicity stunt. That may seem a bit harsh, but it is the only explanation for why 55 Catholic Democrats in the US House of Representatives have issued what they described as an historic statement of principles.

You can click here to read the complete text

North Korea has no people with physical disabilities because they are killed almost as soon as they are born, a physician who defected from the communist state said on Wednesday.

You can click here to read the complete text.

An Afghan man who allegedly converted from Islam to Christianity is being prosecuted in a Kabul court and could be sentenced to death, a judge said today.

You can click here to read the complete text

Two more women have died after using the abortion pill RU-486, federal health regulators said Friday, in warning doctors to watch for a rare but deadly infection implicated in earlier deaths.

At least seven U.S. women have died after taking the pill, sold since 2000. The Food and Drug Administration cannot prove the drug was to blame in any of the cases.

You can click here to read the complete text of an AP article.

You can click here to read the complete text from Wired.

In a ghastly incident that has shocked the Church in India, a Catholic priest in the Goa Archdiocese was found murdered on Saturday morning in the presbytery of the St. Francis Church in Macasana in South Goa.

You can click here to read the complete text

Article about San Francisco Catholic Charities and whether they will still place adoptive childrent with same-sex parents from ebar.com (serving the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender communities since 1971), the home of Bay Area Reporter:

Headline: Catholic group to halt adoptions in Boston – SanFrancisco next?
By Lisa Keen

In yet another confrontation between religious organizations and laws prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation, Catholic Charities of Boston, an organization of the Archdiocese of Boston, has decided to end its program of helping find homes for children with severe emotional and medical needs.

The decision sparked concern that San Francisco's Catholic Charities could end up in a similar situation with its adoption program and prompted San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom to decide against going to the Vatican next week for the installation of former San Francisco Archbishop William Levada, who now heads an influential Vatican post and was elevated to cardinal by Pope Benedict XVI.

Newsom's decision, first reported Monday in the online www.SanFranciscoSentinel.com was confirmed by mayoral spokeswoman Jennifer Petrucione Tuesday, March 14.

"He was considering going but had a number of commitments," Petrucione told the Bay Area Reporter . She added that last week's decision by Boston Catholic Charities and the reiteration by the Vatican against gays adopting children was a factor in Newsom's decision not to travel to Rome.

Newsom told the Sentinel that the Vatican's position on adoption is "divisive and wrong-headed."

Catholic Charities of Boston announced March 10 that it would not seek to renew its license in June with Massachusetts to provide adoption services. Boston Archbishop Sean O'Malley, who sought an exemption from the state's human rights law, said the group would end its program "in order to exercise the religious freedom." He and the state's three other bishops said the state human rights law's provision against sexual orientation discrimination violates the Vatican's 2003 edict that homosexuality is "gravely immoral."

The announcement triggered numerous resignations from the Boston Catholic Charities board. Seven members issued a joint statement saying they would not participate "in an effort to pursue legal permission to discriminate against Massachusetts citizens who want to play a part in building strong families."

Meanwhile, a spokesman for the Archdiocese of San Francisco told the Boston Globe that it is now reviewing its policy of allowing adoption placements with gay and lesbian families.

Maurice Healy, spokesman for the Archdiocese of San Francisco, said in an e-mail message this week that the archdiocese was reviewing its policy.

"There is nothing new to report," Healy said.

Debbie Weill, executive director of Dignity USA, a group for LGBT Catholics, called the actions in Boston "very alarming and reprehensible."

"We're extremely concerned and outraged that the Catholic Church could do such a thing," said Weill. "The church is just totally forgetting about the children. The choice these children have are either to be left with no parent or to be placed with same-sex couples who have been carefully screened by these Catholic agencies. ... It's outrageous that the church would act in such an un-Christ-like way."

Since 1987, the Catholic Charities group in Boston has had a contract with the state to help foster children with severe needs find homes, and the organization has obeyed the state human rights law. That law has included a prohibition on sexual orientation discrimination since 1989.

In October 2005, the Boston Globe ran an article noting that, of the 720 children the Boston-based organization has placed over the years, 13 were with gay and lesbian families.

Shortly after that article appeared, the four Catholic bishops in Massachusetts met and agreed that the placement of children with gay and lesbian families violated the Vatican's 2003 edict that homosexuality is "gravely immoral." But the Catholic Charities board voted unanimously in December to continue the placements in accordance with state law.

Following last Friday's announcement that the group would end its entire adoption program to avoid the state non-discrimination law, many of the Catholic Charities' board members resigned.

According to the Boston Herald, Catholic Charities received about $1 million from the state in fiscal year 2005 for its adoption work.

O'Malley has been aggressive in his actions against gays since taking over from his predecessor Cardinal Bernard Law in 2003 during the child molestation scandal that has rocked the archdiocese and the church globally. In February, Pope Benedict XVI honored O'Malley with a promotion to cardinal.

Brian Cahill, executive director of Catholic Charities in San Francisco, told the Boston Globe last week that, in five years, it had placed five of its 136 children with gay or lesbian parents. He said he is concerned that the Archdiocese of San Francisco may try to order his agency to stop placements with gays.

"I will consult with my archbishop," Cahill told the B.A.R. Monday, adding that such a discussion is likely to take place "sooner rather than later."

Such a meeting would be the first gay-related issue facing new San Francisco Archbishop George Niederauer, who was just installed last month.

Cahill called the situation in Boston "sad" and said that in his years at Catholic Charities the interests of the children come first.

"We always take into consideration the teachings of the church and the needs of the children," Cahill said, adding that 85 percent of the children adopted through Catholic Charities are "difficult to place." But he commended the gay and lesbian parents who have adopted children.

"Five kids were placed with highly qualified, loving parents," he said, referring to those placed in same-sex households, "and I commend them."

Children waiting for adoption sometimes spend years in the state's foster care program. "No one wants them," Cahill said.

Cahill noted that gay and lesbian couples "don't come through our doors" because of the church's position on homosexuality, but that county adoption officials will occasionally contact Catholic Charities when they think they've found a good family for a child. Sometimes, as in the five instances he mentioned, same-sex couples head those families.

According to the Boston Globe, Levada, who now holds a top position at the Vatican, acknowledged allowing three children to be placed with gay parents during his tenure. But Levada told the Globe that the 2003 edict from the Vatican concerning adoptions to gay families means that "Catholic agencies should not place children for adoption in homosexual households."

A spokesman for the Archdiocese of San Francisco initially defended its gay placements to the Globe but, after Levada's communication to the Globe , said it was reviewing the policy.

Equality California Executive Director Geoff Kors said, "Decisions regarding placing children in adoptive homes should be based on the best interest of the child, not prejudice against any particular group of people. Family courts and social service agencies, including Catholic Charities, best serve the needs of vulnerable children by considering all qualified parents in making adoption decisions."

In Massachusetts, Republican Governor Mitt Romney has indicated he will ask the state legislature to approve a bill to give Catholic Charities and other organizations run by organized religious groups an exemption to the state human rights law's prohibition of sexual orientation discrimination.

Cynthia Laird contributed to this report.

Headline: Creep of the Week: The Catholic Bishops of Massachusetts

By D'Anne Witkowski
Originally printed 3/16/2006 (Issue 1411 - Between The Lines News)

If the Catholic Church has proven anything over the past few years, it's that their number one priority is protecting children. They're, like, really good at it - much in the same way Tommy, your high school dropout neighbor, is, like, a really good tattoo artist. I mean, he doesn't have his license or anything and he works out of his garage, but he's almost professional.

And just like I wouldn't trust a kid who considers marijuana brownies a major food group to ink a snake on my bicep, neither would I trust the Catholic Church to say who should and who shouldn't be adoptive parents.

And yet, under pressure from the state's four bishops, the Boston Archdiocese's Catholic Charities said March 10 it would stop providing adoption services so that they didn't have to place children with gays. That's right. Because Massachusetts has a law allowing gays and lesbians to adopt, Catholic Charities, after providing adoption services for two decades, is halting ALL adoption services to keep kids out of the hands of homos.

"The world was very different when Charities began this ministry at the threshold of the 20th century," President of Catholic Charities Rev. J. Bryan Hehir said in a statement. "The world changed often and we adapted the ministry to meet changing times and needs. At all times we sought to place the welfare of children at the heart of our work."

Until now, that is.

The kicker is that Catholic Charities specialized in finding homes for kids with "severe emotional and physical needs." You know, the kids that have the hardest time finding adoptive parents.

Gov. Mitt Romney, who is seeking to exempt religious organizations from the state's anti-discrimination laws, had an especially inspired take on the situation. "This is a sad day for neglected and abandoned children," he said. "It's a mistake for our laws to put the rights of adults over the needs of children."

Uh, excuse me? What about putting the prejudices of adults over the needs of children?

But hey, according to the state's four Catholic bishops, this law threatens their religious freedom to discriminate. And you can't expect them to do something immoral.

So let me get this straight: placing at-risk kids in the stable homes of carefully screened same-sex couples who will love and take care of them is immoral, but telling those same kids to suck it up in the foster care system isn't. Maybe Tommy's been selling the bishops some of his brownies...

Leave it to Dan Savage to point out "the ultimate irony" of this whole situation. "This is the Catholic Church in freaking Boston, epicenter of the sex-abuse scandal," he wrote in a March 10 blog posting at TheStranger.com. "The same bishops who refused to protect children from rampaging pedophile priests are now 'protecting' children from qualified, screened, and thoroughly vetted adoptive parents who happen to be gay."

An Op-ed about the Boston Catholic Charities and Same Sex Parents:

It seems surprising that the state would want to put the Catholic Church out of the adoption business. Corporal works of mercy are no less important to the life of the Church than its sacramental ministry. Forbidding the Church to perform them is a serious blow to its religious liberty. Why would the government do that?

One reason is that the Church refused to go along with the effort, enshrined in these regulations and blessed in Goodridge v. Department of Public Health, to give gay families the same legal rights as straight families.

But Catholic Charities did not obstruct that effort; it only declined to assist it. Is our commitment to equality so strong that we are willing to put Catholic Charities out of business because it won't promote an agenda that it views as morally wrong?

Check here, here, here, here and here for our previous posts on this subject.

This from the DeoOmnisGloria blog:

Watch out, Planned Parenthood, there's a new abortion provider in town and they tend to be the biggest at everything they do: Wal-Mart. The world's largest seller of toys is getting into the abortion business by selling the Plan B abortion pill. And they are proudly proclaiming it on their website (see the link).

Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has asked his staff to draft a �very narrow� bill that would let Catholic Charities provide adoption services without serving gay couples.

The governor acknowledged that same-sex couples have a legitimate interest in adopting children, but he said the services Catholic Charities provides are more important than maintaining a faith-blind law.

Check here, here, here and here for our previous posts on this subject.

The Peoria Protocol is popular with bishops and Catholic hospital ethics committees who are under increasing pressure to find ways around the Catholic teaching. In a similar case in the 1990's, the German bishops were at odds with the Vatican for allowing their social service agencies to provide women seeking abortions with a government-approved certificate. In 1999, the bishops finally acquiesced and stopped the practice.

In Connecticut, the intervention is even more direct. Catholic hospitals in Hartford, Bridgeport, Waterbury and New Haven have been following the Peoria Protocol and said that not only do they give the woman a list of places to go, they will provide transportation as well.

The Peoria Protocol was developed by Dr. Gerald McShane and St Francis Medical Center Ethic's committee in Peoria, IL. It has been criticized by pro-life groups who see it as a means for Catholic hospitals to avoid applying Catholic teaching and medical evidence that life begins at the moment of conception.

You can click here to read an earlier post on the same subject.

You can click here to read the the article Connecticut Catholic Hospitals' Compromise Ends in Abortion Referrals.

Eight months ago, Hartford Archbishop Henry J. Mansell and Bridgeport Bishop William E. Lori wanted the four hospitals to follow the same protocol and turned to Catholic ethicists for help. They recommended what is known as the Peoria Protocol, named for a Catholic hospital in Peoria, Ill. that came up with a procedure for its emergency room physicians.

...and...

It requires that doctors attempt to determine through tests whether a woman has ovulated before giving her emergency contraception, also known as EC, "the morning after pill," or Plan B.

You can click here to read the complete text

I couldn't help but notice that all the "lay ministers" mentioned in this article are women. It seems that men always choose to avoid these roles.

According to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, there are more than 30,000 lay ministers working in paid positions across the country. This is double the number of lay ministers 15 years ago.

...and...

"It’s actually good that (today) many of the things priests once did can no longer be done by a priest," he added. "It compels people in the broader community to come forward and share their talents and viewpoints."

...and...

Jacques-Dow said she looks at herself and Father Kerper as partners. While she said no day is ever typical, her duties often involve visiting hospitals and nursing homes to talk with the sick and give them communion. She also helps plan liturgies, works with church committees, leads prayer services, and performs funeral services that do not include Mass.

You can click here to read the complete text

China's state-controlled Catholic church may invite Hong Kong's newly appointed cardinal, Joseph Zen, to visit the mainland in hopes of improving Sino-Vatican relations, a newspaper reported Sunday.

...and...

China forced its Roman Catholics to cut ties with the Vatican in 1951, shortly after the officially atheist Chinese Communist Party took power. People are only allowed to worship in government-controlled churches which recognize the pope as a spiritual leader but appoint their own priests and bishops.

But millions of Chinese belong to unofficial congregations loyal to Rome, and say they are frequently harassed, fined and sometimes sent to labor camps by authorities.

You can click here to read the complete text

Top U.S. Roman Catholic leaders told Democratic lawmakers yesterday that there is no wiggle room in church teaching on abortion and that they are duty-bound to work against "the destruction of unborn human life." The statement by three top leaders of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops is a response to 55 Catholic Democrats in the House who issued a public statement Feb. 28 asking for room to disagree on abortion.

You can click here to read the complete text

STATEMENT OF CATHOLIC CHARITIES, ARCHDIOCESE OF BOSTON ON ADOPTION PROGRAMS

Rev. J. Bryan Hehir, President

Mr. Jeffrey Kaneb, Chair of the Board of Trustees

March 10, 2006

Catholic Charities of Boston has been engaged in a ministry of adoptions for over a century. It was a work originally undertaken and carried forward by a commitment to the welfare of children in need. Both the legacy of this work and the remarkable accomplishments of Catholic Charities’ dedicated staff are a source of great pride to this agency.

The world was very different when Charities began this ministry at the threshold of the twentieth-century. The world changed often and we adapted the ministry to meet changing times and needs. At all times we sought to place the welfare of children at the heart of our work.

But now, we have encountered a dilemma we cannot resolve. In spite of much effort and analysis, Catholic Charities of Boston finds that it cannot reconcile the teaching of the Church, which guides our work, and the statutes and regulations of the Commonwealth. The issue is adoption to same-sex couples, and we realize that for many it is a sensitive, deeply felt issue of conscience.

We recognize the complexity of the issue, and we are aware of the debates which have swirled around it. As an agency, however, we simply must recognize that we cannot continue in this ministry. Therefore, we plan to begin discussions with appropriate agencies of the Commonwealth to end our work in adoptions. We will do this in an orderly, planned fashion so that the children we have been entrusted with will be cared for, supported and found permanent homes.

We use this opportunity to pay tribute to a dedicated, highly-qualified staff who have carried out this ministry often with great personal sacrifice. We also wish to thank all those who have supported our work in multiple ways over the past many years. This is an extremely sad decision for Catholic Charities, but our intent and commitment is to carry forward our mission and the other full-range of programs and services to children, teens, families and elders like the more than 200,000 that received services from us last year. Our goal continues to be to serve all those in need; we seek, as we have in the past, to serve the common good of our society.

You can click here to read an article about this from the AP.

You can click here to read an article about this from the Catholic World News.

The Roman Catholic pilgrimage shrine at Lourdes may introduce a kind of "miracle lite" category for sudden unexplained recoveries because modern medicine increasingly refuses to declare any disease incurable.

The shortage of priests threatens hierarchical control of the Catholic Church. There's little time or occasion for traditional instruction of the laity. Unlike their grandparents, many Catholics grow up seeing the church as an adjunct to their lives, not the center of their lives. They know a priest only as a presiding figure on Sundays. They don't steer their sons into the seminary or their daughters into the religious life.

A US state has signed into law a bill banning most abortions, in a move aimed to force the US Supreme Court to reconsider its key ruling on the issue.

The South Dakota law - approved by the governor on Monday - makes it a crime for doctors to perform terminations.

A near-total ban on abortions in South Dakota has been signed into law, a measure the governor called a “direct frontal assault� on the U.S. Supreme Court decision to legalize the practice 33 years ago.

You can click here to read the complete text.

You can click here for a list of more news on this subject.

Real Christianity is scary, but there is a there is always something encouraging about martyrdom:

"I am convinced Javed was targeted by the three extremists because of the solidity of his faith," said Sindhu. "Mgr Coutts, bishop of Faisalabad, told me that only a cross and a prayer book were found in his pockets when he died."

Because of the Church's teaching, Catholic agencies may not provide adoptions to same-sex couples. Hence we intend to seek relief from the regulatory requirements of the Commonwealth on this issue. We do this in the hope that we will be able to continue focusing our attention on serving children in need of adoption, and to do so in a way which does not conflict with Catholic teaching and practice. We are asking the Commonwealth to respect the Constitutional guarantee of religious freedom and allow the Catholic Church to continue serving children in need of adoption without violating the tenets of our faith.

You can click here to read the complete text

In the 2006 edition of the Vatican's official yearbook, the pope is no longer referred to with the title "patriarch of the West," a change with potential ecumenical implications.

Here is the conclusion to a burning hot issue

You can click here to read the complete text

If Catholic agencies in Massachusetts were required to facilitate adoptions by same-sex couples in violation of church teaching prohibiting the practice, it would present "a serious pastoral problem" and threaten religious freedom, according to the bishops of the state's four Catholic dioceses.

"We are asking the commonwealth to respect the constitutional guarantee of religious freedom and allow the Catholic Church to continue serving children in need of adoption without violating the tenets of our faith," the four said in a Feb. 28 statement.

A group of Catholic Democrats in Congress have released a "Statement of Principles" claiming to respect the sanctity of human life even though they support abortion. The move appears to be an attempt to respond to the nation's Catholic bishops, who have called on churches and colleges not to give a platform to pro-abortion politicians.

Korea’s second cardinal, Cheong Jin-suk, Monday suggested that Pope Benedict XVI would not visit North Korea as long as North Korea disallow dispatch of Catholic priests to the Communist nation.

A high-ranking government official who ran for re-election in northern Uganda ordered a Catholic-owned radio station to stop broadcasting election coverage during national elections on February 23, the Catholic News Service has reported.

You can click here to read the complete text

Bishop Robert F. Vasa of the Catholic diocese of Baker, Oregon, wrote in the Catholic Sentinel newspaper, “There is a point at which passive ‘tolerance’ allows misleading teachings to be spread and propagated, thus confusing or even misleading the faithful about the truths of the Church…There is a very strong word, which still exists in our Church, which most of us are too ‘gentle’ to use. The word is ‘heresy.’�

You can click here to read the complete text

Cardinal Zen told the press Feb. 23, the day after the pope named him one of 15 new cardinals, that he anticipated Beijing would "appreciate the goodwill of the holy father."

...Also in Beijing, Anthony Liu Bainian, vice chairman of the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association, told UCA News Feb. 23 that he thinks Bishop Zen's appointment as a cardinal shows the pope's concern for China.

However, he said the China Church hopes Cardinal-elect Zen will "render to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God," as Jesus says in the gospel of St. Matthew, since this would enhance the prosperity and stability of Hong Kong and help advance China-Vatican relations. He added that how much the cardinal-elect would be able to help toward the normalization of diplomatic ties "depends on how he acts in the future."

You can click here to read the complete text

Elias Shakur was formally elevated to a bishopric of the local Greek Catholic church yesterday, thereby becoming the first Israeli citizen ever to hold this post.

Shakur, 67, is an Arab Israeli born in the Galilee village of Biram.

Until now, the local Greek Catholic bishops have generally been citizens of Lebanon, Syria or Egypt. In 1999, Boutrous Mualem, who was also born in the Galilee, became a bishop, but Mualem spent most of life in Lebanon and South America. Shakur, in contrast, has lived most of his life here.

You can click here to read the complete text

Here is the Pope's a Lenten meditation for us:

Lent is a privileged time of interior pilgrimage towards Him Who is the fount of mercy. It is a pilgrimage in which He Himself accompanies us through the desert of our poverty, sustaining us on our way towards the intense joy of Easter. Even in the "valley of darkness" of which the Psalmist speaks (Ps 23:4), while the tempter prompts us to despair or to place a vain hope in the work of our own hands, God is there to guard us and sustain us. Yes, even today the Lord hears the cry of the multitudes longing for joy, peace, and love. As in every age, they feel abandoned. Yet, even in the desolation of misery, loneliness, violence and hunger that indiscriminately afflict children, adults, and the elderly, God does not allow darkness to prevail. In fact, in the words of my beloved Predecessor, Pope John Paul II, there is a "divine limit imposed upon evil", namely, mercy.

...The Church knows that if we are to promote development in its fulness, our own “gaze� upon mankind has to be measured against that of Christ. In fact, it is quite impossible to separate the response to people’s material and social needs from the fulfilment of the profound desires of their hearts.

After backing calls by Muslims for respect for their religion in the Mohammad cartoons row,the Vatican is now urging Islamic countries to reciprocate by showing more tolerance toward their Christian minorities...

..."If we tell our people they have no right to offend, we have to tell the others they have no right to destroy us," Cardinal Angelo Sodano, the Vatican's Secretary of State (prime minister), told journalists in Rome.

There has been a meeting with top Roman Curia officials that focused on a proposal to reconcile with followers of the late French Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre.

A Vatican source said the pope and other department heads listened as Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos outlined a possible solution to the 18-year-long impasse with the Society of St. Pius X, a self-styled traditionalist order founded by Archbishop Lefebvre. Its members reject modern liturgical practices and several teachings of the Second Vatican Council.

...the article quotes Cardinal Arinze later with a self-evident yet obligatory statement on the matter:

"(The pope) cannot disown Vatican II in order to make the Lefebvrites happy," Cardinal Arinze said.

You can click here to read the complete text.

At last, some articles about Opus Dei that have nothing to do with Da Vinci Code

'Your ordinary contact with God takes place where your fellow men, your yearnings, your work and your affections are. There you have your daily encounter with Christ. It is in the midst of the most material things of the earth that we must sanctify ourselves, serving God and all mankind. Far away on the horizon heaven seems to meet the earth. Do not forget that where heaven and earth really meet is in the heart of a child of God'

Opus Dei aims at fostering individual holiness in the world.

You can click here to read the complete text.

A new Opus Dei Projects to Benefit Four Nations

You can click here to read the complete text.

The Holy See is deeply concerned about the appointment of new bishops in China in the coming years because this will determine the course of China's Catholic Church for decades, according to a senior Vatican official.

You can click here to read the complete text.

Everybody pretty much knows about St. Valentine, but how many people are aware that today is also the feast of Saints Cyril and Methodius?

...These two Greek brothers ultimately became missionaries, teachers and patrons of the Slavic peoples.

Click here , here or here to read about Saint Valentine.

So I guess we have to wait until the Olympics come to my neighborhood before our churches open their doors for adoration...

An initiative of the Archdiocese of Turin, called "Heart to Heart," has opened three churches in the city for daily Eucharistic adoration.

This seems like a good topic for a future podcast. We will try to line something up for the end of March.

Portrayed in the best-selling novel The Da Vinci Code as a secretive cult willing to murder to defend a fictional 2000-year-old Catholic cover-up, Opus Dei is promoting its softer side before the movie of the book arrives in May.

"It's very sad that Opus Dei and the Catholic Church were portrayed unfairly in the novel," said Opus Dei spokesman Brian Finnerty. "What we're trying to do is take advantage of the interest to explain what the real Opus Dei is all about."

A crowd of Muslim women and a few men attacked a Catholic church in Pakistan's Punjab province recently, injuring two Christian women - one 70 years old - and vandalizing the building.

At least three men and 20 women attacked the Kawanlit village chapel on February 3, leaving 70-year-old Veero Mehnga Masih with broken legs and also injuring Saleema Mazir Masih, 50. The mob broke windows, smashed the altar and burned Bibles.

Here's an article at Forbes.com (from the AP) about the dialogue at Catholic Universities surrounding the production of the "Vagina Monologues":

It's a discussion more Catholic universities are having as "The Vagina Monologues" becomes a kind of unsolvable riddle for the schools. Allow the performance and they are criticized for going against church teachings. Ban the play and they're accused of stifling academic freedom.

This from Rev. Brian Shanley, Providence College's president:

"There's really not much you can work with in the play from a Catholic point of view," he said. "All the sex in the play is immoral. It's same-sex, it's autoerotic and extramarital. So it's not like it's a work of art that has the voice of the Catholic woman and her experience in sexuality."

Regina Bannan, an assistant professor of women studies at Temple University who has researched Catholic women, said the play helps spark important dialogue about women's sexuality.

"It takes a woman from an object position to a subject position, where the woman is actually expressing her own ideas about sexual experiences," she said.

"If the church hasn't learned anything the last three years about stifling discussion about sexuality, that's a shame," she added, referring to the clerical sex abuse crisis.

Here's a bit of a follow-up on an earliar post:

"We The Muslim Students Association of Australia, The Australian Fellowship of Evangelical Students and The Australian Catholic Students Association note the particular affect the availability of this drug will have on tertiary students. Many students have financial difficulties and other particular challenges when faced with pregnancy: taking a pill that may seriously damage the health of the mother is not a message that should be sent out to students, this is not a solution," the Statement said.

Click Here to see full text of article

In the forum, "The Catholic Church Response to HIV and AIDS" at the Manila Hotel yesterday, Fr. Robert Vitillo, special advisor on HIV and AIDS to Caritas Internationalis based in Geneva, Switzerland, said a number of studies made in various countries proved the preventive measures endorsed by the Catholic Church such as abstinence from sex and marital fidelity were very effective in curbing AIDS compared to other measures.

The teachings by the Catholic Church on marriage and family values are among the best ways to prevent the spread of the killer disease, he said.

The Compendium consists of 598 questions and answers, echoing to some degree the format of the very popular �Baltimore Catechism� which was a standard text in many Catholic parishes and schools from 1885 to the 1960s.

Click Here to see full text of article

In the Jan. 17, 2006, campaign letter for the majority leader position, Boehner referred to himself as "a lifelong Roman Catholic" and "a Catholic, pro-life legislator" who has "always believed that life begins at conception."

"This is not a political position I’ve adopted for the sake of expedience or convenience; it is a part of who I am and have always been, since long before the thought of running for office had ever entered my mind. It is a belief I feel passionately from deep within my soul."

Click here for the full text of the article

More on the Priest shot in Turkey from the "Hindu News":

Pope Benedict XVI's envoy in Ankara, Monsignor Antonio Lucibello, said he had spoken with a witness - an Italian woman who worked with the priest - who said Santoro had been killed while he was ``kneeling in the first row of the church'' and praying.

Click here for the full text of the article

"We condemn with hatred the fact that the murder was committed in a house of worship against a man of religion," said Justice Minister Cemil Cicek, the government spokesman. "It is not possible for our government or for the Turkish people to approve of any form of violence."

Click Here to see full text of article

"We condemn with hatred the fact that the murder was committed in a house of worship against a man of religion," said Justice Minister Cemil Cicek, the government spokesman. "It is not possible for our government or for the Turkish people to approve of any form of violence."

Click Here to see full text of article

From the New York Times:

...But a reorganization of the doctrinal teaching system within the Diocese of Rockville Centre on Long Island, which was announced last week, has raised concerns among some Roman Catholics. They believe it augurs a shift to pre-Vatican II conservatism, a diminished role for women in the church and a new authoritarian stamp on the way 1.4 million church members on Long Island learn what it means to be Catholic and interact with their church.

Click her for the full text

As a fan from birth, I am gratified by this profile of the Steelers owner:

Rooney says his lifestyle reflects the way he was brought up, and the way millions have grown up in Pittsburgh: Jesus first, football second.

"You're talking to me because my team's in the Super Bowl," Rooney said. "But I'm telling you that faith and religion are important to everyone, no matter what they're doing, whether they know that or not. We must be in relationship with the Lord at all times to get the most out of life."

Click here for the full text of article

Thanks to Open Book for the link.

I don't know what "LGBT Catholics" are but I can guess.

“I hope it’s not my last preaching,� he laughs. “It’s going to take a certain tact not to say something that would be totally contrary to the Catholic teachings, but challenging still.�

Click here for complete text

This from the "Courier-Mail" (Australia):

MORE than 200 Catholic doctors, all members of the Guild of St Luke, are set to resign from the Australian Medical Association and the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners over RU-486.....

....Not only does RU-486 always result in the death of an innocent human being, complications including maternal death make it totally unacceptable," Dr Kent said.

Click here for the full text.

Here is some commentary on the that has been made on (2) of the articles that I posted here previously:

As a theory, intelligent design probably doesn't deserve all the criticism that it draws, but the decision to prevent it from being taught in public science classrooms is a good one.

In fact, the only reason that this issue has survived in the public so long is that it has been hijacked by people on both sides with an agenda to push.

..............and...................

My concern here, however, is that some secular reactions to this controversy suggest that Darwinism is now a sacred cow — no criticism is allowed and people who have the temerity even to raise questions deserve to be slapped down by the coercive power of the state.

Strange things have been said in the course of this argument. Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson told us that demonstrating the existence of God is a "faithless pursuit." Imagine that! St. Thomas Aquinas in the 13th century famously proposed five rational proofs for the existence of God. One may or may not find them persuasive, but no one has ever seriously suggested that St. Thomas was not a man of faith.

Here are some of the earlier posts on the same subject: "Intelligent design" not science: Vatican paper and Science Does Not Need God. Or Does It? A Catholic Scientist Looks at Evolution

An ecouraging story about a young female Olympic skier who is a devout Catholic. She has a particular devotion to Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati

Rebecca Dussault, was born in Denver and is now a resident of Gunnison, Colorado in the Diocese of Pueblo. She is Eight Time U.S. National Cross Country Ski Champion and Top Ranked U.S. Women�s Nordic Skier. She will be representing our Nation at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin (a.k.a. Torino), Italy. She has named Pier Giorgio her �patron on the Journey to the Olympics.� When she competes she will have the name of our friend written on her skis, along with the Sign of the Cross with which she always marks them.

Click here to read the complete text of the article

Thanks to the Curt Jester for this link.

I ran accross this aricle last week, but the more I think about the more I wanted to post it:

The Catholic church will Sunday appoint two married laymen as permanent deacons - officials who perform rituals like baptism and marriage, hitherto a bastion of priests and bishops.

For the first time in the history of the church in India, laymen will be allowed to perform the functions of a full-fledged priest, except for conducting mass and hearing confessions.

"This step is a move to restore the role of the laity in the life and ministry of the Church," said Anthony Charanghat, spokesperson for the Cardinal Ivan Dias, archbishop of Mumbai.

Click here to read entire text

By Father George V. Coyne, SJ
1/30/2006

The following is the text of the talk to be delivered by Vatican Observatory Director Jesuit Father George V. Coyne, "Science Does Not Need God, or Does It? A Catholic Scientist Looks at Evolution" at Palm Beach Atlantic University in West Palm Beach, Fla., Jan. 31:

Abstract:

I would essentially like to share with you two convictions in this presentation: (1) that the Intelligent Design (ID) movement, while evoking a God of power and might, a designer God, actually belittles God, makes her/him too small and paltry; (2) that our scientific understanding of the universe, untainted by religious considerations, provides for those who believe in God a marvelous opportunity to reflect upon their beliefs. Please note carefully that I distinguish, and will continue to do so in this presentation, that science and religion are totally separate human pursuits. Science is completely neutral with respect to theistic or atheistic implications which may be drawn from scientific results.

Click here to read the complete text

By Father George V. Coyne, SJ
1/30/2006

The following is the text of the talk to be delivered by Vatican Observatory Director Jesuit Father George V. Coyne, "Science Does Not Need God, or Does It? A Catholic Scientist Looks at Evolution" at Palm Beach Atlantic University in West Palm Beach, Fla., Jan. 31:

Abstract:

I would essentially like to share with you two convictions in this presentation: (1) that the Intelligent Design (ID) movement, while evoking a God of power and might, a designer God, actually belittles God, makes her/him too small and paltry; (2) that our scientific understanding of the universe, untainted by religious considerations, provides for those who believe in God a marvelous opportunity to reflect upon their beliefs. Please note carefully that I distinguish, and will continue to do so in this presentation, that science and religion are totally separate human pursuits. Science is completely neutral with respect to theistic or atheistic implications which may be drawn from scientific results.

Click here to read the complete text

By MARTA FALCONI, Associated Press Writer

VITERBO, Italy - An Italian judge heard arguments Friday on whether a small-town parish priest should stand trial for asserting that Jesus Christ existed.

The priest's atheist accuser, Luigi Cascioli, says the Roman Catholic Church has been deceiving people for 2,000 years with a fable that Christ existed, and that the Rev. Enrico Righi violated two Italian laws by reasserting the claim.

Click here to view entire article

"Cor Unum" President Sees a Trend Toward Secularization

VATICAN CITY, JAN. 25, 2006 (Zenit.org).- Catholic charitable agencies that lack a solid theological basis run the risk of forgetting their relationship with the Church, warns a Vatican official.

Click here to view whole article

by Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse, Senior Fellow in Economics
Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty

When John Paul II published Centesimus Annus in 1991, the encyclical opened new vistas for the understanding the relationship between markets and morals, between respect for private property and consumer habits tempered by Christian moderation. He called for exploring new ways to combine the operation of the market with the support of the weak. John Paul’s challenge is even more urgent today when people understand that communism is not a viable strategy for achieving either economic growth or solidarity with the poor.

Now, the more urgent task is to show that Western European socialism has also failed. Although some aspects of the Western European model originally claimed Christian inspiration and objective, it is now clear that the modern Western European welfare-state is collapsing. And while many modern countries share some of the problems loosely categorized under the “European social model,� it is Europe that most desperately needs a genuinely Catholic alternative.

Click Here to view entire article

25 January, 2006
VATICAN
Deus caritas est: God's eros and agape, medicine for the world

by Bernardo Cervellera, AsiaNews

Benedict XVI's first encyclical is not only the program of his pontificate. It is also the Church's program for the third millennium...

Facing a globalization of the economy that creates enormous masses of impoverished people, states that seem like 'bunches of thieves' for their disregard for justice, the 'vanished illusion' of Marxism and a prevailing materialism that has turned man into a 'thing', the Pope invites Christians to be 'fountains of living water in the midst of a thirsting world' (n. 41).

In reading these pages teeming with culture, social analysis, faith and prayer, one has the sense of being at the start of a new era, of a new and determined way of looking at the problems of the world and at possible solutions. Here and there, the Pope refers various times to the question of a 'new humanism', of a 'true humanism', of a new 'image of man.'

The encyclical is really addressed to man, men and women, seen in their lively reaching out, their eros, their search for happiness and justice. The Pope calls upon this man not to disparage him or to judge him from above with the eye of a puritanical Pharisee, but to appreciate him with tenderness. In eros itself, it his richness and poverty, in his leaps and falls, beyond consumeristic manipulations, the Pope finds all the elements to show that God's eros and agape 'united' fulfill the very expectation of human eros toward fullness and eternity. From now on, thanks to this Pope, it will be possible to once again say 'I love you forever', 'I love you fully' with no need for a smile of irony or conceit. And it will be possible to think of marriage and even of indissolubility not as an 'order' or an external law, but as the fulfillment of a need found in eros itself.

Click here to read the complete text of the encyclical or here to read from the same article that I quoted above.

By JOHN L. ALLEN JR.
National Catholic Reporter

The Pope offered a foretaste of the contents:

"In this encyclical, I'd like to demonstrate the concept of love in its different dimensions. In today's terms, love appears very far from what a Christian thinks when speaking of charity. For my part, I'd like to demonstrate that it expresses one movement with different dimensions."

Click Here to view the whole article

...From Harper's Magazine...

From the transcript of radio communication among Israeli soldiers near Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip. The recording was submitted in January in the trial of the company commander, whose name has been withheld due to a military court order. He faces a maximum of three years in prison. Translated from the Hebrew by Nomi Friedman. Originally from Harper's Magazine, May 2005.

SENTRY: We spotted an Arab female about 100 meters below our emplacement, near the light armored vehicle gate.

HEADQUARTERS: Observation post “Spain,� do you see it?

OBSERVATION POST: Affirmative, it’s a young girl. She’s now running east.

HQ: What is her position?

OP: She’s currently north of the authorized zone.

SENTRY: Very inappropriate location.

[Gunfire]

OP: She’s now behind an embankment, 250 meters from the barracks. She keeps running east. The hits are right on her.

HQ: Are you talking about a girl under ten?

OP: Approximately a ten-year-old girl.

HQ: Roger.

OP: OP to HQ.

HQ: Receiving, over.

OP: She’s behind the embankment, dying of fear, the hits are right on her, a centimeter from her.

SENTRY: Our troops are storming toward her now. They are around 70 meters from her.

HQ: I understand that the company commander and his squad are out?

SENTRY: Affirmative, with a few more soldiers.

OP: Receive. Looks like one of the positions dropped her.

HQ: What, did you see the hit? Is she down?

OP: She’s down. Right now she isn’t moving.

COMPANY COMMANDER [to HQ]: Me and another soldier are going in. [To the squad] Forward, to confirm the kill!

CC [to HQ]: We fired and killed her. She has . . . wearing pants . . . jeans and a vest, shirt. Also she had a kaffiyeh on her head. I also confirmed the kill. Over.

HQ: Roger.

CC [on general communications band]: Any motion, anyone who moves in the zone, even if it’s a three-year-old, should be killed. Over.

Click here to see orginal source

Anglican Catholics contend that at the Reformation the Apostolic Succession was not lost within Anglican jurisdictions

by Fr Matthew Kirby Spero News

In the discussion of how to re-unite the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches the greatest stumbling block is the one least addressed. Ecumenically minded theologians on both sides, supported by their respective hierarchies, search for ways to harmonise Eastern and Western understandings of the Trinity, the Papacy, the Intermediate State and so on. And many of them do so in the belief or hope that apparent differences can be reconciled without either Church betraying its principles. But many would say that the most fundamental principle that each Church holds is that it and it alone is the One True Church and that those bodies outside its present communion are thus not so. Why? Because their confidence about their beliefs is founded on a confidence about who they are. And since both sides believe in the Unity and Unicity of the Church, it seems that this in combination with their self-identification as that Church leads logically to a perfectly symmetrical yet utterly irreconcilable understanding of the Church and the goal of ecumenism.

If this is true, it means that, whatever theological and doctrinal barriers are broken, the greatest hurdle that will have to be faced is answering the question �Who is coming back to whom?� In other words, who, if anybody, will admit they were wrong about their basic identity and accept that for centuries they have been outside the Una Sancta, the Catholic Church? Catholic ecumenism is a question then, not just of how to forge a common future, but how to interpret a divided past.

Click Here to view entire article

By Tom Heneghan, Religion Editor

PARIS (Reuters) - The Roman Catholic Church has restated its support for evolution with an article praising a U.S. court decision that rejects the "intelligent design" theory as non-scientific.

The Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano said that teaching intelligent design -- which argues that life is so complex that it needed a supernatural creator -- alongside Darwin's theory of evolution would only cause confusion.

Click here to read this article.

Pope Benedict XVI announces that next Wednesday he will release his new Encyclical, “Deus Caritas Est" ("God Is Love").

…The topic is not directly ecumenical, but the framework and background are ecumenical, as God and our love are the condition for the unity of Christians. They are the condition for peace in the world…

Click here to read the complete release from Zenit News Service

From Boston College to Georgetown University, Minors in Jewish Studies Take Root on Campus

By Jeri Zeder
Forward Association, Inc.

A cross balances atop the spire of Lyons Hall on Boston College's campus. But a hint of a Jewish presence - a small Israeli flag - is visible through one window of the Gothic-influenced building. That's the office of Maxim Shrayer, chair of the Slavic and Eastern languages department which is also the home of Boston College's new Jewish studies program.

Click here to see the rest of the article

By GINA HOLLAND, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court steered clear of a major ruling on abortion Wednesday, instead giving New Hampshire a chance to save its parental notification law.

Justices, in a rare unanimous abortion ruling, agreed that the New Hampshire law could make it too hard for some ill minors to get an abortion, but at the same time they were hesitant about stepping in to fix the statute. They told a lower court to reconsider whether the entire law is unconstitutional.

Click here to read Article

Race and Catholic Hierarchy Inflame Dispute in D.C. Parish

By Robert E. Pierre Washington Post Staff Writer Wednesday, January 18, 2006

The order from the archdiocese had been clear: Stop the accusations, the name-calling, the disobedience to the authority of the Catholic Church. But parishioner Bill Alston, bundled against the cold outside a church, didn't care as he passed out fliers alleging to his fellow Catholics that a leader at his nearby home congregation, Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Anacostia, was "disrespectful, insulting and profane" and that the diocese was sweeping it under the rug.

Click here to read the rest of the Article

Note: This is a long article, but you should read the whole article before drawing any conclusions.

What has clearly changed are the numbers and status of laity, religious, and clergy in the mystical Body of Christ. Related to this is the altered understanding of their roles in the Church

by Father John McCloskey

The Catholic Church in the United States is in a state of profound transition. A priest or layman transported through time from 1965 to 2005 would be astonished and most likely disconcerted by the dramatic changes that have taken place in the 40 years following the close of Vatican II.

Of course, the hierarchical and sacramental nature of the Church remains unchanged. What, however, has clearly changed are the numbers and status of laity, religious, and clergy in the mystical Body of Christ. Related to this is the altered understanding of their roles in the Church.

Click here to read the rest of the article

By MARGARET RAMIREZ and MANYA A. BRACHEAR Knight Ridder Tribune

“To the degree that justices do their job of applying the Constitution to cases, the religious makeup should make no difference. The real issue is how their faith shapes the way they interpret the Constitution.�

DAVID MACHACEK, associate professor of public policy at Trinity College in Hartford, Conn.

If Samuel Alito Jr. is elevated to the U.S. Supreme Court after this week’s hearings, he would become the fifth Roman Catholic justice on the bench, marking the first Catholic majority in history at a time of heightened debate on abortion, same-sex marriage and religious liberties.

Click Here for the rest of the Article

Article Here

Click here to read LA Times article

Click here to read full text of Bishops' statement

BOGOTA, Colombia (Reuters) - A western Columbian town has angered the influential Catholic Church with a novel scheme to cut AIDS infections, threatening males over age 14 with fines if they fail to carry a condom.

Click here to see article

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