Still Running Off at the Keyboard

NO MORE HARRY POTTER

Fox News reports:

A Catholic pastor at a Massachusetts parochial school has made all the Harry Potter books there disappear, saying they are spiritually dangerous for children and could encourage them to engage in witchcraft.

The Rev. Ron Barker of St. Joseph's School in Wakefield, Mass., said he stripped the library there of the fantasy series by British author J.K. Rowling in the last month after discovering the novels were among the 10,000 volumes on the shelves.

"This is a parochial school and I have the moral authority to do this," he said in an interview with FOXNews.com. "For some people, reading those books is a vehicle to become involved in the occult. ... My basic premise is for the spiritual protection of the children."

Continue reading...

MATT ABBOTT'S COLUMN

Over there he notes the passing of writer Gerald Renner, probably best known in Catholic circles for co-authoring VOWS OF SILENCE: THE ABUSE OF POWER IN THE PAPACY OF JOHN PAUL II which focuses on the cover-up of priestly sexual abuse. May Gerald Renner rest in peace.

Abbott also notes that Stephen Brady is out of the hospital and at home recovering from injuries received when colliding with a deer while riding his motorcycle.

A third item on Abbott's agenda is a blog by Gerald Augustinus of "The Cafeteria is Closed" in which Augustus attempts to show empathy for homosexuals. Abbott has requested Father Richard Perozich, pastor of St. Mary Catholic Church in Escondido, Calif., to comment on it. The bulk of Abbott's column is devoted to Father Perozich's response.

FROM THE EMAILBOX

Spirit & Life®
"The words I spoke to you are spirit and life." (Jn 6:63)

Human Life International e-Newsletter
Volume 01, Number 90 | Friday, October 26, 2007

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

www.hli.org

Fifty Years of Grace and Blessing

"Ask and you shall receive, that your joy may be full." (Jn 16:24)

I have a great joy to share with the world, a joy that by all accounts is undeserved. Tomorrow, October 26th, will mark the Golden Jubilee of my parents' wedding! Their children, grandchildren and great grandchildren will be gathered around them to share our deepest joy for their fifty years of grace and blessing! Our joy is full indeed.

Joseph Euteneuer and Mariann (pron. Mary Ann) Selter were married at St. John Berchmans Church in Detroit, Michigan in the year of the Sputnik launch when "Ike" was president and the US population was only 172 million. (Now it has surpassed the 300 million mark.) They hurriedly set about to increase the population with seven children of their own! Those were the days before the "overpopulation" crisis was manufactured and people actually wanted to bear children - in abundance. But it was not out of social conformity that my parents had seven children of their own. They gave life so generously because they love life! Specifically, they love being givers of life, a precious vocation that many are called to but few have the courage to embrace with the generosity of my parents. Due to Depression Era health problems, my father was an only child and my mother was one of just two, so their love of children was born out of an understanding of what a true gift a brother and sister can be to a child.

My father has spent the better part of forty years continuing to give life to young kids through scouting, helping to form them in one of the most family-friendly programs known to man. Countless generous hours are given each month to this work but not just in his retirement: I remember Dad telling me, during the busiest part of his life, that he worked his forty-hour job as an engineer and then volunteered another forty hours a week or so to the scouts so that his sons could participate in activities with their dad by their side. Scrap books full of pictures of Dad and us on camping trips are witness to the fact that we had a devoted and loving dad always present in our formative years.

Mom's vocation has been bound up with taking care of the most vulnerable of God's children. She nurtured not only her own seven children but has lived a life of total self-giving to the real needs of others. As a young nurse in labor and delivery, she held and loved the little ones that were her charge. As an experienced nurse, she cares for the dependent elderly whose needs are sometimes as critical as the babies'. I recall the many, many years when Mom worked the night shift, slept while we were at school, and took care of all our needs as if we were the only ones in her life who needed anything. Never a complaint was heard. Hers is a life of tangible love - good measure and flowing over, as they say.

For fifty years Mom and Dad have sowed and the rest of us reaped the benefit. Isn't that the way love works? Now it's time for us to give back. I tell people who are less than generous with their call to childbearing that you really only reap what you sow in life. "He who you sows sparingly will reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will reap bountifully," says St. Paul (2 Cor 9:6); and truly there is no greater return on investment than the willingness to sow bountifully the seed of children for God.

Dad has just passed the eight-decade mark and Mom is following along behind him in years, but it is a certifiable fact that this perennially-young couple will never be in need of anything even though the years advance. They have secured their future, at least temporally, by having kids. Their hope now is that they have given their children the proper moral and spiritual foundation to assure that they will have a group of loving little ones praying them into heaven on that day that they are called Home. It's a good bet in my book.

Oh, and by the way, if anyone ever asks me where I got my pro-life credentials, I don't try to explain myself. I just tell them that Dad stands out in front of the local Planned Parenthood in the hot Florida sun every week to remind the world that evil has its consequences; and nurse Mom still gives ultrasounds to women in crisis pregnancies at the Pregnancy Care Center that her priest-son founded across the street from an abortion mill.

The apple doesn't fall far from the tree, right?

Sincerely Yours in Christ,


Rev. Thomas J. Euteneuer,
President, Human Life International

THE MAKING OF A SAINT

Fr. William Saunders has posted the process at Free Republic. I see that the formal process of canonization dates back to 1234.

Simon of Trent was murdered or died in 1475, well after the process of canonization had been established.

CARDINAL BIFFI HAS RELEASED HIS AUTOBIOGRAPHY

From the book:

"We must look more at what unites us than at what divides." This statement, too - which today is often repeated and greatly appreciated, almost as the golden rule of "dialogue" - comes to us from the era of John XXIII, and communicates to us its atmosphere.

This is a practical principle of evident good sense, which should be kept in mind in situations of simple coexistence and for decisions on minor everyday matters.

But it becomes absurd and disastrous in its consequences if it is applied in the great issues of life, and especially in religious matters.

It is fitting, for example, that this aphorism should be used to preserve cordial relations in a shared dwelling, or rapid efficiency in a government office.

But woe to us if we let this inspire us in our evangelical testimony before the world, in our ecumenical efforts, in discussions with non-believers. In virtue of this principle, Christ could become the first and most illustrious victim of dialogue with the non-Christian religions. The Lord Jesus said of himself, in one of his remarks that we are inclined to censure: "I have come to bring division" (Luke 12:51).

In the questions that count, the rule can be none other than this: we must look above all at what is decisive, essential, true, whether it divides us or not.

And another excerpt:

"4. Finally, I would like to point out to the new pope the incredible phenomenon of 'Dominus Iesus': a document explicitly endorsed and publicly approved by John Paul II; a document for which I am pleased to express my vibrant gratitude to Cardinal Ratzinger. That Jesus is the only necessary Savior of all is a truth that for over twenty centuries - beginning with Peter's discourse after Pentecost - it was never felt necessity to restate. This truth is, so to speak, the minimum threshold of the faith; it is the primordial certitude, it is among believers the simple and most essential fact. In two thousand years this has never been brought into doubt, not even during the crisis of Arianism, and not even during the upheaval of the Protestant Reformation. The fact of needing to issue a reminder of this in our time tells us the extent of the gravity of the current situation. And yet this document, which recalls the most basic, most simple, most essential certitude, has been called into question. It has been contested at all levels: at all levels of pastoral action, of theological instruction, of the hierarchy.

"5. A good Catholic told me about asking his pastor to let him make a presentation of 'Dominus Iesus' to the parish community. The pastor (an otherwise excellent and well-intentioned priest) replied to him: 'Let it go. That's a document that divides.' What a discovery! Jesus himself said: 'I have come to bring division' (Luke 12:51). But too many of Jesus' words are today censured among Christians; or at least among the most vocal of them."


Read more...

BROWN IS BACK

Brace yourself for round two of Dan Brown Catholicism ala Angels and Demons, starring Tom Hanks, which is scheduled to start filming in January with a release date of December 2008.

GERMANY GOING MUSLIM ?

In Germany mosques are flourishing while the Christian population is allowing their churches to sit empty. Some of those churches have been sold to the Muslims, but there is opposition to these sales.

CATHOLIC PORN STAR

The distinctive school uniform of the New York Catholic Academy of Mount Saint Ursula turned up in a vivid porn video on the body of one of the school's students recently. The video was featured on a website devoted to hip-hop culture. The school's reaction according to the article: "Students, staff and even parents of the Academy of Mount Saint Ursula are under strict orders not to speak about the incident."

Read the story here.

CARDINAL PELL BUCKING THE TREND

An article at The Canberra Times describes Cardinal Pell's skepticism about human induced global warming and the opposition he faces in Australia.

BYZANTINE CATHOLIC SPIRITUALITY

There is an article at Spero News about a Byzantine retreat which a Roman Catholic priest and nun attended. In the preaching of Father Elias O'Brien, a chaplain of the University of York, England and former professor at the Byzantine Catholic seminary in Pittsburgh, he offered the following observation:

During his homily, Father O’Brien dispelled a common assumption that Mary’s parents, Joachim and Anna, were a perfect couple. In fact, their barrenness occasioned such strife in his priesthood and between wife and husband that Joachim left Anne for a while. Joachim went to a cave where an angel told him that they would bear a child. However contentious their marriage, the couple is a model for us of “praying our troubles.”

In another homily, Fr. O'Brien discussed

the problem of “clinging” and prayer. It is instinct, he said, to cling to God as a baby clings to any finger she touches. But we often cling instead to possessions, memories, complaints, pressure, ideas, anything other than God. Jesus came to free us from our burdens and cling to him. He invites us to join ourselves to him in unity with his Father and the Holy Spirit.

Good stuff to think about!

CAN'T RESIST A CHALLENGE

Especially not one involving poetry. It hangs around the corners of my mind until I finally give in and write the poem.

So, for what it's worth, which is probably not much, here is my contribution to the Margaret Sanger at the Ku Klux Klan Rally Art Contest.

CALIFORNIA FIRES

Have you been directly affected?

Do you think they could be terrorist activity?

Photos here are awesome. Click the pictures to bring them up.

PADRE PIO SAID TO HAVE BEEN FRAUD

The UK Independent reports:

Padre Pio, the friar with fingerless gloves whose image is found on a million Catholic key chains; who was canonised before 200,000 ecstatic pilgrims five years ago, was a charlatan who deliberately mutilated himself with acid to give the appearance of bearing the stigmata of Christ, according to evidence to be published next week.

The Italian historian Sergio Luzzatto will release Padre Pio, Miracles and politics in 20th century Italy – a book producing new evidence from Vatican archives, which he says proves that the charismatic friar secretly procured carbolic acid with which to burn his hands, feet and sides.

The allegations are not new: two successive popes regarded Padre Pio as a fraud. By 1920, when Pio was 33 and was already exhibiting his scars before masses of pilgrims, the church was worried that his cult was spinning out of control. Reports commissioned by the church claimed Pio regularly scourged himself with a metal-tipped whip, and had sex with women twice a week. For many years Pio was banned from celebrating mass in public.

Of particular concern to the church were the ugly, weeping wounds which Pio concealed under those fingerless gloves. The friar claimed that he had received the stigmata of Christ – wounds to his hands, feet and side like those suffered by Christ during his crucifixion – at the culmination of a mystical seizure.

A doctor sent by the Vatican to examine them concluded that the wounds were probably caused and maintained artificially. To test the hypothesis he bound the wounds and sealed the bandage to prevent it being tampered with. But on examination a month later the doctor was nonplussed to find that the wounds had failed to heal.

Yet now Mr Luzzatto claims to have unearthed documents that prove beyond reasonable doubt that the friar was a trickster.

Continue reading...

There is an interesting statement at the end. According to the article Luzzatto's claims took up a full page of Italy's best-selling daily. Pietro Siffi, President of the Catholic Anti-defamation League, claims these newly found proofs are false. "According to Catholic doctrine, canonization involves the infallibility of the pope." But of course we have already seen that a saint can be uncanonized. Presumably the canonization of St. Simon of Trent also involved the infallibility of a pope, but that didn't stop Rome from declaring his canonization a mistake.

HALOCAUST DENIER GETS TOP POLISH POSITION

WARSAW (Reuters) - A Polish senator who questioned the Nazi Holocaust has been given a top ceremonial role in parliament, drawing anger from the party that won Sunday's parliamentary election.

Senator Ryszard Bender was named by President Lech Kaczynski as "speaker senior," a post that will give him ceremonial duties at the re-opening of parliament on November 5. The president's office said Bender was named because he was the oldest senator.

Bender has said in the past that the Nazi extermination camp of Auschwitz was "not a death camp, it was a labor camp." More than 1 million people, mostly Jews, were killed by German occupiers at the camp in southern Poland.

"Someone like this should not have any political functions," said Stefan Niesiolowski, a senior official of the centre-right Civic Platform, which defeated the ruling party of Kaczynski and his twin brother the prime minister in the election.

"We do not want to start with boycotts and fights, but this is a scandal," Niesiolowski told reporters.

Continue reading...

THE CAMEL BACK BREAKER ?

The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence's latest stunt just might be the one that finally brings about some correction from Rome.

A World Net Daily story written from the point of view of Anthony Gonzales, chief of the St. Joseph's Men Society, the man who was responsible for getting the event filmed, and the man who is responsible for getting the pictures to Rome.

Gonzales says:

We can't even take our children to Mass anymore. We can't even go to our churches...We finally got to the point, and said 'Hey, look, we can't take this anymore'...This guy has to know he can't continue to get way [sic] with his actions. He's played dumb before,...He says he didn't recognize two gay men dressed in drag coming up to receive Communion in clown makeup!"

The article continues:

Gonzales and several other activists who contacted WND said such "incidents" long have been occurring at the church, and it's likely that the archbishop knew about them. So now is time for action...

In response to the claim of Archdiocesan spokesman Maurice Healy that Archbishop Niederauer wants to reach out to those people Gonzales replied:

They don't reach out to that community to call for repentance and healing and their reconciliation with Christ. They say, "This is your lifestyle and we are here to give you approbation."

Gonzales is forwarding to Rome a compilation of documentation and requesting that the group Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence be excommunicated along with San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi for public departure from Catholic doctrine on same-sex relationships and abortion.

The incident with the "Sisters" was just the final straw, Gonzales said. He said just last fall the pastor of Holy Redeemer gave the "Sisters" permission to run a bingo operation at the church hall. Healy said the archdiocese wasn't aware of what was going on, and when it found out, it ordered it stopped.

But other activists told WND they have been notifying the church archdiocese of their objections to such issues regularly. One such case was a recent "Drag Queen Calendar Nite" at the church. Those who objected notified the church office of their concerns before the event, but apparently were ignored since it was held anyway.

Read the whole article.

If Rome does not act, we must conclude that Rome approves. If Rome approves, the Church is imploding from the very top.

One aspect of this story is heartwarming...the men have stepped up to the plate. Glory be to God!

Thanks to a reader for the link.

Our Lady of Fatima, pray for Benedict!

PERPETUALLY JUVENILE

Cinnamon Stillwell's column at the San Francisco Chronicle website calls the stunt by the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence at Most Holy Redeemer "juvenile":

While the urge to mock tradition and make light of the Judeo-Christian foundations of Western civilization is strong among San Francisco's gay activists, little is said about a religion in which homosexuals are not only disapproved of, but actively oppressed. In Islamic societies such as Iran, Saudi Arabia, and, increasingly, the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, where Sharia law rules the day, gays are routinely arrested, tortured, subjected to lashings, stoned to death, hanged or beheaded.

Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's recent visit to Columbia University shed light on this sad state of affairs when he made the rather sinister claim that "In Iran, we don't have homosexuals, like in your country." (The two Iranian gay teenagers who found themselves on the receiving end of a public hanging in 2005 might have begged to differ had they been allowed the freedom of speech accorded their inhumane leader by the denizens of academia). The audience at Columbia responded with laughter and, indeed, Ahmadinejad came off as something of a rube in the process. But there are serious issues involved that needn't be swept aside in order to avoid giving offense.

What's more likely is that fear of incurring violence is at the heart of the matter. Gay activists need not worry that an archbishop or a nun is going to kidnap and behead them, even if they desecrate the Catholic Church. But were such an "infidel" to do the same in a mosque, it's more than likely that his life would be threatened from that point on, as has been the case with various reformers, critics, and simple satirists.

If groups such as the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence spent half as much time criticizing Islam for its abuses against gay rights as they do Catholicism, then perhaps their attempts at activism might be seen as truly groundbreaking. As it is, their juvenile behavior is redolent of a son desperately rebelling against his father, a teenage girl telling her mother she hates her because she can't stay out as late as she'd like, and other similarly adolescent expressions of fury.

When we start seeing sex toys with Muhammad's likeness on them being sold at the Folsom Street Fair or sisters infiltrating mosques in burqas, then perhaps we can call these activists and their supporters brave. Until then, perhaps it's time for the sisters to grow up.

Read all of the article...

Thanks to a reader for the link. Stillwell tells it like it is.

THE NEW "DIGNITY" OF THE OLD CATHEDRAL

NOR has linked an interesting story on the old Los Angeles Cathedral, St. Vibiana's.

Canon Law requires that former churches be sold to those who would use it for a dignified purpose. St. Vibiana's was sold to an arts organization. Today the church is being used for a fashion show that presents racy clothing fashioned to sell sex. Another show held at the former cathedral was a dance that involved "barely clad men and women" and which "emphasizes the erotic". Nice use for a former cathedral that still looks like a church in the picture at the website.

Meanwhile Los Angeles Catholics got the concrete box and are expected to be happy with it.

GETTING TOLERANCE RIGHT

Catholic News Service reports on a conference that put "a young rabbi and a young Catholic theology professor" together as they traveled to Rome, with the intent they should get to know each other's religion better. This young theology professor and young rabbi now hope to "launch a dialogue and joint social projects" between their two congregations.

Speaking of the conference, Gunther Lawrence who organized it said "It has been an unbelievable success. There has been great enthusiasm to expand this kind of dialogue." The hope is that this sort of dialogue will expand via local parishes and synagogues.

At the grass roots level the Catholic faith is not well known. I have been posting passages from Jewish writers that explain what the Jewish faith teaches. Its cosmology is quite different from Catholic cosmology. What is to be gained by confusing further Catholics who are not well grounded in their faith with ideas such as reincarnation and self-salvation?

The article indicates that

Jesuit-run Xavier University in Cincinnati sent six representatives to the conference, including a Catholic student and a Jewish student who were blogging about their experience.

Michael Loban, the Jewish student, posted the comments he made to the conference, including his view that "dialogue is not about trying to change the other side; it is about challenging your own views, taking in what others have to offer and using it to become wiser, to become a stronger, better character."

Maggie Meyer, the Catholic student, said she had told the conference that she hoped her peers would share her commitment to dialogue, which she believes is a natural expression of being a good neighbor, of "being loving, open-minded folks."

Christ told us to evangelize the world. Are these young people evangelizing when they believe that "dialogue is not about trying to change the other side"? Or are they practicing syncretism in believing that it is about "taking in what others have to offer and using it to become wiser"?

Do we believe that Jesus Christ provided the wisdom that we need to live as God wishes, or do we believe that we must borrow wisdom from other faiths?

Is this a program of tolerance to bring peace to the world or a program of syncretism? Before forming a conclusion, consider what I blogged yesterday about a Catholic who is finding good things in Rav Michael Laitman's Kabbalah courses.

When Christ returns, will there be any faith in the world?

Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us!

SELLING THE CHIP

Injecting identification chips into dogs and other animals is moving along without much objection. Attempts are being made to convince the caregivers of Alzheimer's patients to have them chipped as well, but there is a larger roadblock when it comes to people. There are too many voices talking about the "mark of the beast" where chips are concerned. Also there is too much fear about long-term consequences related to the security of the information.

Across the northern border a program called "No Child Without" is placing medical alert information on bracelet and necklace for children up to age 14, so that a quick response is possible in a medical emergency. The Catholic School Board in St. Catharines has just joined the program.

Students receive their choice of a bracelet or necklet listing their medical conditions, allergies and or medications with their identification number, a wallet card, access to the 24-hour emergency hotline, notification of personal emergency contacts at the time of emergency and a follow-up with parents after the emergency call is made to the hotline. Each year on their anniversary date MedicAlert sends a letter to participating parents reminding them to ensure their child's medical profile is up to date.

Realizing that they are not always available by phone on a moment's notice, parents, I suspect, will get comfortable with that. But we know how children behave. They take things off. They put it on somebody else's body. They leave it on their desk. They forget it on the dresser. They lose it. It gets tangled up with a tree branch and breaks off. It comes off in a wrestling match with a friend.

All we have to do to know the potential is consider what little boys look like at the end of lunch recess--shirt hanging out, hole in the knee of their pants, hair atumble. Think about the jewelry we buy for little girls. It lasts a day or two and then we find it in pieces laying around somewhere.

When parents have become comitted to the idea that it is necessary to have medical information about their child with them 24/7, and realize how many times they have had to replace the medical alert bracelet, the chip manufacturer will have an easy sell.

DEFENDING THE CATHOLIC POSITION

Just hours before the College of the Holy Cross hosted a conference on preventing teen pregnancy that includes workshops by organizations such as Planned Parenthood and NARAL and a presentation of an award to pro-abortion Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, The Cardinal Newman Society hosted a talk by Dawn Eden at the Worcester Cathedral in front of 150 people.

The event promoted the type of Catholic approach to the problem of teen pregnancy that Holy Cross might have chosen to remain faithful to its Catholic identity and was held in cooperation with the Worcester Diocese’s Respect Life Office and a broad coalition of Holy Cross alumni and supporters.

Miss Eden, Director of The Cardinal Newman Society’s Love & Responsibility program and author of The Thrill of the Chaste, delivered a speech entitled “Preventing Teen Pregnancy: The Catholic Approach.”

Read the rest...

One of the reasons I'm not more enthusiastic about efforts to stop abortion is that it looks to me like a band-aid solution--a large band-aid, I'll grant you.

Supporting efforts to encourage out-of-wedlock births does not address the larger picture of the breakdown of the culture to support those babies. The problem begins long before the pregnant teen arrives at the abortion clinic.

Telling our young people they should mess around and then should bear the consequences of that activity is a poor Catholic response to the crisis. The only thing that makes any sense is to live the Catholic morality right from the beginning.

The idea that sex is essential to happiness is the father of one tragedy after another. The crux of the matter is not keeping the babies alive once they are here, the crux is returning the activity that conceives them to a place where they can be nourished once they are here.

Sex is always about babies and family. You can't really separate it from its results. Every time we try to do that, somebody gets hurt.

THE G-LIST

New Oxford Review links this story:

ROME -- A high profile Vatican cleric suspended after he was shown on television making advances to a young man allegedly had a list of homosexual priests and bishops in the Roman Catholic Church's governing body, Italy's Panorama weekly reported Friday.

Father Tommaso Stenico, 60, had "a detailed dossier" of all the homosexual clerics at Vatican "with a list of names and circumstances implicating a certain number of priests and even bishops working at the Curia," Ignazio Ingrao, reporter for the conservative news weekly said.

Stenico also sent his superior Cardinal Claudio Hummes a report denouncing the moral degradation within the Curia, which could make the Vatican "tremble," Ingrao said.

According to Panorama, Stenico, who also worked for a Catholic television station Telepace and owns a white BMW car, also drew up the list out of resentment at having waited so long to be named a bishop.

Read more...

THAT'S ONE FOR THE BLOGOSPHERE

Robert and Carol Curoe were scheduled to give a talk about their book, "Are There Closets in Heaven? A Catholic Father and Lesbian Daughter Share Their Story," about a Catholic family coming to terms with their daughter's coming out. The announcement of the talk several weeks ago spawned discussion on Catholic blogs, and according to the archdiocese statement to the church, "the number and intensity" of phone calls and emails opposing the event led the archdiocese to ban the event.

The Catholic Pastoral Committee on Sexual Minorities (CPCSM) and Catholic Rainbow Parents had sponsored the talk at St. Frances Cabrini Church. "Obviously, we're disappointed, and we are still trying to understand it," said Carol Curoe in a statement Sunday. "Our book, Are There Closets in Heaven? talks about an 82 year-old, life-long Catholic father trying to understand and practice his faith within his church while also loving his daughter as he does her siblings. Neither our journey, nor writing the book, was an easy task."

Dennis McGrath, spokester for the Archdiocese of St. Paul/Minneapolis, said that because of Curoe's active lesbian lifestyle and the related content in the book, "the parish was asked not to hold the event." McGrath said, "We welcome gay and lesbian members into the church, but they have the same rules of the road as heterosexuals." Those rules dictate that there will be no sexual activity outside the bonds of marriage, he said.

Continue reading...

GAY ADOPTIONS MUST BE FACILITATED

Former Prime Minister Tony Blair said there would be no exemption from anti-discrimination regulations for Roman Catholic adoption agencies opposed to gay adoption.

He announced, however, that the Catholic agencies would be given 20 months to prepare for the implementation of the new rules. ...

Until the regulations are fully imposed on the Catholic adoption agencies, they have been given a “statutory duty” to refer gay couples to other organisations.

It was also announced that there would be a regular assessment by adoption and child welfare experts to measure the impact of the regulations and ensure that vital expertise is not lost, reports The Times.

The announcement follows a weekend of talks between Blair, Cabinet members and adoption agencies.

The regulations will now go before Parliament one final time for an “all-or-nothing” vote in November.

Continue reading...

If this legislation passes, the only ethical position the Church can take is to phase out of the adoption business. Will the bishops of England stand firm?

SYNCRETISM STEW

Mix together:

- A pope who promotes interreligious dialogue
- A parish where a Sedar meal is held in Holy Week
- The Luv Gospel
- The WWW
- Madonna's fascination with Kabbalah
- Rav Laitman/Bnei Baruch Center

Allow to simmer for 25 years, then serve.

I would suggest that an example of a person fed on this sort of stew can be found at Beulah's Insights: Kabbalah and Attaining God.

Beulah writes:

Full disclosure: I am a Roman Catholic - my confirmation name is Teresa, after Teresa of Avila - and among my favorite Catholics are Gary Wills, Thomas Aldworth, Erasmus, Father Thomas P. Doyle, Francis of Assisi and Madonna. I love my faith. However, I especially love those who aren't afraid to question the faith and try to elevate spirituality - independent thinkers who some Catholics and those of other denominations don't believe are true Christians. If you know these amazing people, you know that's not true.

Through my Jewish friends I have learned more about Kabbalah. Two weeks ago I began a Kabbalah class through Bnei Baruch. Kabbalah is not religion; instead, it teaches those who seek it how to attain God. I am enjoying my lessons and learning more about myself and the world I currently reside in. We can change the world by loving our neighbors as ourselves and becoming more tolerant.

SEXUAL ABUSE COVER-UP IN THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND

The Telegraph reports:

Child abuse has gone unchecked in the Church of England for decades amid a cover up by bishops, secret papers have revealed.
# Telegraph TV: Church child abuse 'unchecked'

Information that could have prevented abuse has been "lost or damaged", concerns about individuals have been ignored and allegations have not been recorded. It means that the Church has no idea how many paedophiles are in its midst.

Lawyers warned last night that the Church faces a crisis as catastrophic as the one that engulfed the Roman Catholic Church and cost it millions of pounds in damages.

Dr Williams: 'Every parish has got to have a child protection policy and it needs to work properly'

Richard Scorer, a solicitor who has specialised in child abuse cases, said that the Church of England's mistakes amounted to "an appalling, shocking level of negligence" that is likely to leave it open to claims from victims who have been too afraid to speak out in the past. The Church is to launch an urgent investigation on an unprecedented scale.

Continue reading...

Thanks to a reader for the link.

READY! SET ! CREATE !

The Defund Abortion Guy asked me to give his contest a little publicity. I don't know much about it, so I'll let him do the talking:

The 3rd Annual Margaret Sanger at the Ku Klux Klan Rally Art Contest is underway.

http://margaretsanger.blogspot.com/

Participants in this year's contest are encouraged to commemorate Sanger at the Klan rally in unique artistic ways. Drawings, cartoons, historical novels, haiku, dance, plays, videos, paintings, quilts, rap, puppetry, modern interpretations of Sanger speaking to the Klan, reenactments of the speech on YouTube, mime, audio recordings of actual Sanger quotes she may have reused when speaking to the Klan - - there is no limit to the artistic ways this historic event can be commemorated. Please note, this year we will not be accepting photoshopped entries.

for more info and rules visit:

http://margaretsanger.blogspot.com/2007/09/announcing-3rd-annual-margaret-sanger.html

For a moment I thought maybe a poem would be worth a try. Hmmm...Sanger...rhymes with hanger...and banger... It deteriorated further from there, so I think I'd better pass.

RAV MICHAEL LAITMAN

Returning to the subject of this teacher of Kabbalah, I discovered that Forbes has covered his speaking tour on their website. According to the article Rav Laitman can help you:

Find out about Kabbalah's dramatic growth and how many people practice Kabbalah in the U.S. and around the world. Worldwide, some 1.3 million people study and practice authentic Kabbalah through the Bnei Baruch Kabbalah Education & Research Institute, and from October 9-28, the world's leading authority on authentic Kabbalah will be traveling on a nine city tour of the US, speaking to audiences on this ancient science. Rav Michael Laitman, Ph.D., the founder and president of the Institute, will be available for interviews and can discuss the Kabbalist position on a host of current issues including terrorism, the Iraq War, the difference between celebrity and pop culture practices of Kabbalah and authentic Kabbalah, global warming, etc. At the conclusion of his US trip, he will travel to Monterrey, Mexico, where he will attend the World Wisdom Council and present at the 2007 Monterrey Forum.

There are a number of Bnei Baruch Kabbalah centers here in the U.S. located in Atlanta, Boston, Detroit, Chicago, New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, Washington, D.C. and St. Louis. Laitman's tour is scheduled to end in St. Louis. The center there is located at 33 North Skinker, Clayton, MO. They share the address with Unity Christ Church. Unity Church was founded by Charles and Myrtle Fillmore. Unity Church is the largest of the New Thought denominations according to Wikipedia. I have not yet been able to find a crossover point for these two organizations, but the teaching of each is similar in some ways.

In San Francisco, Bnei Baruch is located at the American West Learning Center, 22 Monterey Blvd. Perhaps you San Fran readers might be able to provide some on-site information for this address?

Rav Laitman's tour is scheduled to conclude at the World Wisdom Council being held in Monterrey, Mexico, where he is scheduled to speak at the Monterrey Forum. Members of the World Wisdom Council, including individuals and organizations, are listed here. It's a New Age Who's Who.

Laitman also attended the third World Wisdom Council Forum. A video of some of the other speakers, produced by Laitman's ARI films, can be seen here, including Mikhail Gorbachev. The Fourth World Wisdom Council World Spirit Forum at Laitman's website includes a video of his lecture.

SIR KNIGHT DARYL BREESE

Daryl Breese was knighted by Bishop John T. Steinbock, D.D., fourth bishop of the Diocese of Fresno, in a closed ceremony in Visalia, California, according to this press release. Visalia is located in the Diocese of Fresno according to the diocesan website.

I verified that information because of the reason Daryl Breese was knighted. According to the press release, he was knighted for the information contained in this book--specifically the information that proves that 666, the beast of Revelation, is the world wide web.

Breese lays out his claims and proof at his own website. There are several Catholic endorsements at the website. He is hoping to make a movie out of the book.

According to Breese's website:

The Clergy has told me this could be right. All the correct Academies and Pontifical Councils at the Vatican have this proof. Historically, the Church is slow to recognize new interpretations (Revelations). This does NOT point to "End Times", as understandingly, like other inventions (Archimeides screw, the sextant, boats), the Web will be with us for a very long time.

APOCALYPSE EXHIBIT

In an unusual exhibit, the Vatican Museums has assembled 100 art works inspired by the New Testament vision of the Apocalypse.

While the paintings, statues and engravings depict some catastrophic scenes, the emphasis is on hope and the victory of good over evil.

In that sense, the exhibit takes a page from Pope Benedict XVI's audience talks last year, in which he said the Book of Revelation -- also known as the Apocalypse -- should not be read as a frightening warning of imminent destruction, but as an encouraging Christian vision.

Read more...

IT'S THOSE BIG BAD NASTY BLOGGERS

Archbishop Niederauer thinks the problem at Most Holy Redeemer Parish isn't the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence who received communion from him, it's the videographers who caught it on tape and the bloggers who spread the news around the web:

The Archdiocese of San Francisco is finally speaking out about the debacle at Most Holy Redeemer where Archbishop George Niederauer gave Communion to two Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. The problem is, the Archbishop and priest of the diocese aren’t focusing their heat on MHR, they’re taking shots the people who caught the incident on video and who are writing about it on the internet. ...

Fr. Godfrey then went after the videographers by saying "I thought it was disrespectful for somebody to go to another church with the intention of filming it," he added, "without asking the pastor permission to do that and, second, with the intention of using that in a hostile way, without having a conversation first with the pastor. On the face of it, they were out to get the archbishop."

Read all of it at Spero News.

OLD TRUTHS STILL ATTRACT AN AUDIENCE

Yesterday at Mass Father gave a homily about prayer. He said all the familiar things about prayer using set formulas when people gather together to pray because the prayer would be chaotic otherwise, and about prayer simply being talking to God when we use our own words to pray silently.

He talked about the need to be persistent in prayer, asking for what we want over and over again as St. Monica did when she prayed for 17 years that her son Augustine would be baptized.

All of what he said was familiar to me. I think it was familiar to the rest of the congregation as well. These were not great revelations. They were not entertainment, either. They were an affirmation of the Catholic faith. Father didn't make any jokes or tell any funny stories. He stayed with the topic until his homily was finished, and he took his subject seriously.

The thing was, you could have heard a pin drop in church. No one was whispering. Very few people coughed. There were no sounds of shuffling around. I thought perhaps it was just me liking what he was saying and wanting to find some evidence that others did as well, so I asked my husband what he thought about the homily, and he thought you could have heard a pin drop as well.

THE POPE IS GOING TO ASSISI

to mark the 21st anniversary of the founding of the "Spirit of Assisi".

UPDATE

That should have read "THE POPE IS GOING TO NAPLES" since that's where he was today.

IF I WERE A BISHOP

In Matt Abbott's column, Father James Farfaglia explores the role of bishop from the vantage point of a parish priest. It's a radical overhaul:

First of all, in order to bring about any kind of serious reform in a diocese, the bishop has to have the support of his priests. Diocesan priests could be won over easily by a newly installed bishop by dramatically reducing the size of the chancery and allow the pastors and their assistants to do their job more effectively. Assessments on parish collections could be dramatically reduced or eliminated all together; the Bishop's Annual Appeal could be ended, and all past debt on unpaid assessments could be eliminated as well. Funds could be obtained by selling the chancery building(s) and moving the dramatically reduced offices to the facilities of the Cathedral where the bishop of any diocese should be in the first place. Further funds could be gained by selling the bishop's mansion (if he lives in one) and the newly installed bishop could live in the cathedral rectory and live with his priests.

As to what offices should actually exist in the chancery, thinking quickly, I would eliminate such offices as the Family Life Office, the Youth Office, and the Office for Evangelization. Are not the parish priests supposed to take care of their families? Are they not supposed to minister to their young people? Are they not supposed to be visiting the homes within their parish boundaries? And why do we need a diocesan newspaper when we have the Internet? I would say that all we really need in a chancery is a secretary for the bishop, one person to handle finances and properties, and someone to handle the tribunal. The new bishop would not be in the chancery like the CEO of a large corporation, rather he could spend time with his priests and seminarians, visit his parishes, visit the convents, visit the sick in the hospitals, and spend time at the abortion clinics.

If a new bishop were to do the things that I mentioned, he would have the support of the clergy. Once this took place, the new bishop could take the next step within this first priority.

Read the whole article.