Milites Veritatis

The Dictatorship of Relativism in Canada: Human Rights Commission Accepts Complaint of Homosexual Man against the Bishop of Peterborough

2009-07-13T21:03:00.003-06:00

This is clear proof of the fierce war on the Catholic Church and the natural law in Canada, even from those within the Church herself. As the article states, this is the first case "to be accepted" by a human rights commission in Canada "that relates to the internal governance of the Church." The Ontario Human Rights Commission's acceptance of the complaint of Jim Corcoran, a homosexual man who was told by Bishop de Angelis of the Diocese of Peterborough not to altar serve at Mass, is an abuse of the power of the state and a flagrant violation of the divine rights of the Church established by Christ. Let us pray for Bishop de Angelis, that God grants him the courage to persevere against this onslaught of Marxist oppression.

Homosexual Ex-Altar Server Demands Bishop Apologize, Publicly Chastise Parishioners in Human Rights Complaint

By Patrick B. Craine

July 13, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - In what some critics of the embattled Canadian human rights commissions say could be the most intrusive human rights case in Canada thus far, the Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC) has accepted the complaint of a homosexual man who was dismissed by the Bishop of Peterborough as an altar server. While the bishop has refused to publicly comment on the matter, the complainant in the case says that the bishop asked him and his same-sex partner not to serve on the altar so as to avoid public scandal.

Jim Corcoran, the owner of one of Canada's most highly-rated spas, filed his complaint to the OHRC on June 17th against Bishop Nicola de Angelis and twelve of Corcoran's fellow parishioners at St. Michael's Parish in Cobourg, Ontario, who had jointly written a letter to Bishop De Angelis about the situation. (To read the complaint click here)

Human rights complaints have been brought against members of the Church in the past via Canada's HRCs, but this case is the first to be accepted by a Commission that relates to the internal governance of the Church, with the potential for unprecedented repercussions relating to the Church's freedom in Canada.

Corcoran, who was removed on April 20th, told LifeSiteNews.com (LSN) that he is homosexual, and that he is living with another man, but evaded questions about his roommate's sexual orientation. According to Michael Swan of the Catholic Register, however, Corcoran told him that he is living with another gay man. Without denying Swan's statement, Corcoran told LSN, "I didn't say that, Michael said that. I live in a house with my mother…, and I live with another man, who I don't have a sexual relationship with."

"I live a chaste lifestyle," said Corcoran, "so I'm not sure why the label is relevant at all."
Corcoran said the 12 parishioners who complained to the bishop had misinterpreted passages from his blog as meaning that he was in an open homosexual relationship. "They went on my blog," he said, "and in my blog I talk about my life, my work life, my family life, my thoughts, my aspirations, and apparently they printed out about 70 pages."

In Corcoran's complaint to the OHRC, however, which he supplied to LSN, he appears to be more frank about his relationship with his roommate. Corcoran specifically and repeatedly refers to his roommate as "my same sex partner." Further, responding to an allegation that he is "married" to his partner, Corcoran wrote, "I am not married to my same sex partner but I do not hide my sexual preference, or my relationship."

Corcoran told LSN that he ascribes to the Catholic teaching on marriage. "I believe that marriage is a sacrament between a man and a woman," he said. "I'm not one to trample on the rights of others, but … same-sex marriage, isn't something that I ascribe to, or have engaged in."

Gerry Lawless, one of the twelve parishioners named by Corcoran as respondents to his complaint, told LSN that the group of 12 did not mention marriage, and contests Corcoran's claim that they slandered him. "He charges us with slander," Lawless said, "but we feel that in order to slander a person, you have to mention their name. His name or his partner's has never been named in any correspondence, not by the twelve that he's after."

"There's no evidence at all to suggest that we were trying to be discriminatory or that we have some sort of distaste for people of same-sex orientation, or any of this," Lawless told Swan of the Catholic Register.

Lawless told LSN that they had been instructed to welcome homosexuals attending Mass and receiving Communion, but that open homosexuals should not be participating in the liturgy in a public position, as, say, a lector or an altar server. "We have not discriminated. We have simply asked the bishop to act on a situation which we had been informed on very good authority was in violation of church policy," he told the Catholic Register.

According to the Catholic Register, the two sides have agreed to mediation, which, if successful will keep the case from reaching a hearing. "At the moment we don't need a lawyer," Lawless said, pointing out that he was happy not to have to pay expensive legal fees for the time being.

Corcoran is seeking monetary damages of up to $25,000 from the bishop and $20,000 each from the 12 parishioners. But his primary interest is in restitution of a non-financial nature, he says. He states in his complaint that he wants the $20,000 from each of the parishioners to be allocated "towards a charity of my choosing." And the $25,000 from the diocese will be used to cover his legal expenses; but, he told LSN, he will be returning it through parish contributions.

He has also requested six other "remedies." First, he indicates that he "would like the group of 12 parishioners to be held accountable for their un-Christian actions, in front of their peers in a public forum, by the Bishop or the Bishop's superior." Second, he wants the Bishop to preach at his parish "on the consequences of practicing discrimination and the slanderous spreading of rumours, hate and innuendo."

Third, he wants to be restored as an altar server, and fourth, for the bishop to apologize for having removed him. Fifth, he wants the bishop to write an article for the diocesan newspaper "on the rights of persons with same sex attractions to practice their faith within the Catholic Church without fear of threats, recrimination or discrimination." And finally, sixth, he wants the diocese to develop policies "that support the human rights of all people within the church."

When asked whether he feels his complaint to the OHRC has placed him at odds with the Church, Corcoran told LSN, "I would hope that the bishop would not see it that way. … I'm still going to church, I'm still a very generous supporter of the Catholic Church, and he knows that, and I'm following his directive.

"He's asked me not to serve on the altar and I'm not," Corcoran said. "He's asked me to stay close to and support Fr. Hood, and I am. So I would hope that when he sits down with his legal counsel, he'll understand that this is really a struggle between me and the group of fellow parishioners, and Fr. Hood and the group of fellow parishioners."

Referring to the bishop's refusal to supply Corcoran with the twelve parishioners' letter, a key piece of evidence against them, Corcoran said, "Unfortunately, he passed on the opportunity to avoid being named as a respondent by not agreeing to cooperate at the outset."

According to Reg Ward, another of the 12, who spoke with Swan, the group's main concern in writing to Bishop De Angelis was to express concern about their pastor, Fr. Allan Hood. According to Ward, and confirmed by Corcoran in speaking with LSN, Corcoran and his partner were invited by Fr. Hood to serve on the altar at Masses. The complaint about Corcoran was one in a series of complaints to the bishop against the pastor.

"It was just one more way of Fr. Hood saying he's boss and to hell with everybody else, like what the church is saying and everybody else," said Ward.

Fr. Hood did not return calls from LSN by press time. LSN also left a message with the OHRC, but did not hear back.

LSN spoke with Bishop De Angelis, but he is not yet prepared to comment.

In a press release on Friday, the Catholic Civil Rights League came out strongly against the OHRC for accepting this case, saying the case is "not an OHRC matter."

"Without commenting on any individual personnel situation or personalities that are involved in this case," the release says, "the relationship between the Church and altar servers, in the League's opinion, has none of the attributes that would make it a subject for a complaint to the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal. No one serves on the altar as a right; it is at the discretion of the pastor, who in turn is at the service of his bishop. Mr. Corcoran's role was not unlike that of other liturgical servers, who are part of the overall presentation of the Mass."

"The decision about who can serve on the altar is a matter of Church governance," it continues. "While the Church is subject to human rights law when it employs people in a commercial relationship, the same cannot be said about decisions involving who is a member, or how they can best serve."

The Human Rights Tribunal, said the League, "should not place itself as an arbiter of canonical precepts."

See the Catholic Register report here

Caritas in Veritate: The Church Has a Mission of Truth

2009-07-12T21:51:00.005-06:00

From the Holy Father's New Social Encyclical Caritas in Veritate (On Integral Human Development in Charity and Truth):

"The Church does not have technical solutions to offer and does not claim 'to interfere in any way in the politics of States.' She does, however, have a mission of truth to accomplish, in every time and circumstance, for a society that is attuned to man, to his dignity, to his vocation. Without truth, it is easy to fall into an empiricist and sceptical view of life, incapable of rising to the level of praxis because of a lack of interest in grasping the values — sometimes even the meanings — with which to judge and direct it. Fidelity to man requires fidelity to the truth, which alone is the guarantee of freedom (cf. Jn 8:32) and of the possibility of integral human development. For this reason the Church searches for truth, proclaims it tirelessly and recognizes it wherever it is manifested. This mission of truth is something that the Church can never renounce. Her social doctrine is a particular dimension of this proclamation: it is a service to the truth which sets us free. Open to the truth, from whichever branch of knowledge it comes, the Church's social doctrine receives it, assembles into a unity the fragments in which it is often found, and mediates it within the constantly changing life-patterns of the society of peoples and nations."

Pope Benedict XVI on the Identity and "New Being" of the Priest

2009-07-03T22:07:00.002-06:00

Wednesday General Audience, July 1, 2009

"The mission of every priest depends, therefore, also and above all on the awareness of the sacramental reality of his 'new being.' The priest's renewed enthusiasm for his mission will always depend on the certainty of his personal identity, which is not artificially constructed, but rather given and received freely and divinely. What I have written in the encyclical 'Deus Caritas Est' is also true for priests: 'Being Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction' (No. 1)."

July 1, 2009 - Happy Dominion Day!

2009-07-01T16:40:00.003-06:00

The Chair of Peter on Canada

"Venerable Brethren, Health and Apostolic Benediction. We can scarcely address you, which we most willingly do from our heart, without remembering the mutual goodwill and that continuous interchange of good offices which have ever existed between the Apostolic See and the Canadian people. The love of the Catholic Church stood by the cradle of your State, and since the time when she received you into her maternal arms has never ceased to hold you in a close embrace, to foster you, and to load you with good things. The great works which that man of immortal memory, François de Montmorency Laval, wrought so successfully and so holily for the good of your country, of which your ancestors were witnesses, he accomplished through the support of the authority and favour of the Roman Pontiffs. And it was from no other source that the works of the Bishops who succeeded him, and who were men of such signal merits, took their origin and drew their hopes of success. It was under the inspiration and on the initiative of the Apostolic See that noble bands of missionaries journeyed to your country, carrying along with the light of Christian wisdom a more elevated culture and the first seeds of civilization. And it was by these seeds, which were gradually ripened by the arduous labour of these men, that the Canadian people won a place on a level with the most civilized and most glorious nations and thus became, though late in the field, their rival."

--Pope Leo XIII, Encyclical Letter Affari Vos on the Manitoba School Question

Pope: It is a Childish Faith to Oppose the Church Teaching on Life and Family

2009-06-29T21:45:00.003-06:00

By John-Henry Westen

ROME, June 29, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Closing the Year of St. Paul yesterday evening, Pope Benedict XVI reflected on the writings of the famed convert to Christianity. With reference to Paul's letter to the Ephesians (4:14), the Pope explained what Paul meant by his statement that Christians should not remain "children at the mercy of the waves, transported here and there by every wind of doctrine."

"Paul wants the Christian faith have a 'responsible', an 'adult faith," said the Holy Father. "The word 'adult faith' has in recent decades become a popular slogan. It is often used to refer to the attitude of those who no longer adhere to the Church and her pastors, but choose for themselves what they want to believe and not believe - a kind of do-it-yourself faith."

Benedict XVI continued: "Speaking against the Magisterium of the Church is presented as courageous. In reality, however, it does not take courage for this, since you can always be sure of audience applause."

"Rather it takes courage to adhere to the faith of the Church, even if it contradicts the 'scheme' of the contemporary world," said the Pope. "It is this non-conformism of the faith that Paul calls an 'adult faith.'"

The Holy Father gave two examples of an 'adult faith'. First, "to commit to the inviolability of human life from the very beginning, thus radically opposing the principle of violence, in defense of the most defenseless humans." And second, "to recognize marriage between a man and a woman for life as a law of the Creator, restored again by Christ."

For Paul, said Benedict XVI, "following the prevailing winds and currents of the day is childish."

See the full homily in Italian here:
http://212.77.1.245/news_services/bulletin/news/24071.php?index=24071&po_date=28.06.2009&lang=en

Pope Benedict XVI on the Close of the Year of St. Paul and the Beginning of the Year for Priests

2009-06-29T21:28:00.002-06:00

Angelus Address, June 28, 2009

"With the celebration of First Vespers for the solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul, over which I will preside this evening at the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls, the Pauline Year -- proclaimed for the bimillennium of the Apostle of the Gentiles' birth -- comes to a close. It has truly been a time of grace in which, through many pilgrimages, catecheses, numerous publications and other initiatives, the figure of St. Paul was put forward again in the whole Church, and his vibrant message has revived everywhere, in Christian communities, a passion for Christ and the Gospel. For this we give thanks to God for the Pauline Year and for all the spiritual gifts that it has brought to us.

"Divine Providence has arranged that a few days ago another special year -- the Year for Priests -- was inaugurated on June 19, the solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, marking the 150th anniversary of the death -- 'dies natalis' [heavenly day of birth] -- of John Mary Vianney, the holy Curé d'Ars. It is a further spiritual and pastoral impulse that -- I am certain -- will not fail to bring many benefits to the Christian people, and especially to the clergy."

BOSTON CARDINAL O'MALLEY WITHDRAWS CARITAS CHRISTI FROM POTENTIAL ABORTION SCANDAL

2009-06-28T21:41:00.002-06:00

MEDIA RELEASE
http://all.org/article.php?id=12006

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
26 June 2009
CONTACT: Katie Walker
540.659.4942 kwalker@all.org

BOSTON CARDINAL O'MALLEY WITHDRAWS CARITAS CHRISTI FROM POTENTIAL ABORTION SCANDAL

Washington, DC (26 June 2009) – The following is a statement from American Life League president Judie Brown regarding Boston Cardinal Sean O’Malley’s announcement that archdiocese-affiliated Caritas Christi Healthcare has withdrawn ownership of CeltiCare Health Plan. The announcement comes only two days after A.L.L. announced it would launch an investigation into the scandal.

“Praise God! After months of tireless effort from American Life League and pro-life heroes in Boston and around the country to expose a potential scandal only days away from becoming a tragic betrayal of Catholicism’s unwavering commitment to the dignity of the human person, Cardinal Sean O’Malley has heard our voices and will end the joint venture with abortion-providing Centene Corp!

We profoundly thank Cardinal O’Malley for his courage, leadership and pastoral concern for the health and well-being of those youngest members of his archdiocese. He has set a beautiful example of dedication and charity for those poorest of the poor – the preborn.

Cardinal O’Malley has answered our call and beat the clock as the minutes ticked away until the July 1 launch of the new CeltiCare Health Plan and the Catholic Church’s participation in the intrinsic evil of abortion.

Together with the thousands of American Life League supporters whose voices cried out in horror to the Cardinal at the thought of the Archdiocese of Boston supporting and promoting abortion, we congratulate Cardinal O’Malley on his commitment to the Faith – even during this time of severe financial crisis.

It has been American Life League’s privilege and honor to work alongside Massachusetts heroes Carol McKinley, C.J. Doyle of Catholic Action League and many other Boston pro-lifers in our effort to bring this potential scandal to light. Their constant vigilance and unwavering dedication to truth were a clear voice of conscience in Boston and the archdiocese is incredibly blessed to have such soldiers for Christ in their pews.

What happened in Boston will ring out far beyond the potential scandal that could have involved Caritas Christi and thereby the Archdiocese. Cardinal O'Malley's reaffirmation of the Faith, when it would have been all too easy to compromise, is a sign of the vitality of United States Catholics’ commitment to human life and personhood.

American Life League and our supporters are humbled to stand alongside Cardinal O’Malley as a sign of contradiction to the culture of death."

American Life League was cofounded in 1979 by Judie Brown. It is the largest grassroots Catholic pro-life organization in the United States and is committed to the protection of all innocent human beings from the moment of creation to natural death. For more information or press inquiries, please contact Katie Walker at 540.659.4942.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:
American Life League: ALL Promises Caritas Christi Investigation After July 1 (24 June 2009)
http://all.org/article.php?id=12001
Catholic Action League of Massachusetts:
http://www.catholicactionleague.org/
Boston Globe: Caritas Ends Venture Over Abortion Issue (26 June 2009)
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles_of_faith/2009/06/caritas_ends_ve.html

Prayer of St. Thomas More before Dying

2009-06-22T20:47:00.002-06:00

Today is the optional memorial of Sts. Thomas More and John Fisher in the calendar of the ordinary form of the Latin rite.

A DEVOUT PRAYER

MADE BY SIR THOMAS MORE, KNIGHT,
AFTER HE WAS CONDEMNED TO DIE AND
BEFORE HE WAS PUT TO DEATH, WHO
WAS CONDEMNED THE THURSDAY THE
FIRST DAY OF JULY IN THE YEAR OF OUR
LORD 1535 AND IN THE 27TH YEAR OF
THE REIGN OF KING HENRY VIII, AND
WAS BEHEADED AT THE TOWER HILL
AT LONDON, THE TUESDAY FOLLOWING

Pater Noster. Ave Maria. Credo.
O HOLY TRINITY, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, three equal and coeternal Persons, and one Almighty God, have mercy on me, vile, abject, abominable, sinful wretch: meekly knowledging before thine High Majesty my long-continued sinful life, even from my very childhood hitherto.

In my childhood, in this point and that point, etc. After my childhood in this point and that point, and so forth by every age, etc.

Now, good gracious Lord, as thou givest me thy grace to knowledge them, so give me thy grace, not in only word but in heart also with very sorrowful contrition to repent them and utterly to forsake them. And forgive me those sins also, in which by mine own default, through evil affections and evil custom, my reason is with sensuality so blinded that I cannot discern them for sin. And illumine, good Lord, mine heart, and give me thy grace to know them, and forgive me my sins negligently forgotten, and bring them to my mind with grace to be purely confessed of them.

Source: St. Thomas More Studies

The Holy Father's Letter for the Year for Priests

2009-06-20T21:35:00.002-06:00

Letter of His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI Proclaiming a Year for Priests on the 150th Anniversary of the "Dies Natalis" of the Curé of Ars

"The Curé of Ars was quite humble, yet as a priest he was conscious of being an immense gift to his people: 'A good shepherd, a pastor after God’s heart, is the greatest treasure which the good Lord can grant to a parish, and one of the most precious gifts of divine mercy'. He spoke of the priesthood as if incapable of fathoming the grandeur of the gift and task entrusted to a human creature: 'O, how great is the priest! … If he realized what he is, he would die… God obeys him: he utters a few words and the Lord descends from heaven at his voice, to be contained within a small host…'. Explaining to his parishioners the importance of the sacraments, he would say: 'Without the Sacrament of Holy Orders, we would not have the Lord. Who put him there in that tabernacle? The priest. Who welcomed your soul at the beginning of your life? The priest. Who feeds your soul and gives it strength for its journey? The priest. Who will prepare it to appear before God, bathing it one last time in the blood of Jesus Christ? The priest, always the priest. And if this soul should happen to die [as a result of sin], who will raise it up, who will restore its calm and peace? Again, the priest… After God, the priest is everything! … Only in heaven will he fully realize what he is'."

Pope Benedict XVI on Sts. Cyril and Methodius

2009-06-18T20:44:00.001-06:00

Wednesday General Audience, June 17, 2009

"While Cyril, the 'philosopher,' tended toward contemplation, he [Methodius] was directed more toward the active life. In this way, he was able to establish the foundations of the successive affirmation of what we could call the 'Cyril-Methodian idea,' which accompanied the Slavic peoples in the various historical periods, favoring cultural, national and religious development. Pope Pius XI already recognized this with the apostolic letter 'Quod Sanctum Cyrillum,' in which he classified the two brothers as 'sons of the East, Byzantines by their homeland, Greeks by origin, Romans by their mission, Slavs by their apostolic fruits' (AAS 19 [1927] 93-96). The historic role that they fulfilled was afterward officially proclaimed by Pope John Paul II who, with the apostolic letter 'Egregiae Virtutis Viri,' declared them co-patrons of Europe, together with St. Benedict (AAS 73 [1981] 258-262).

"Indeed, Cyril and Methodius are a classic example of what is today referred to with the term 'inculturation': Each people should make the revealed message penetrate into their own culture, and express the salvific truth with their own language. This implies a very exacting work of 'translation,' as it requires finding adequate terms to propose anew the richness of the revealed Word, without betraying it. The two brother saints have left in this sense a particularly significant testimony that the Church continues looking at today to be inspired and guided."

G.K. Chesterton on Courage

2009-06-15T22:37:00.001-06:00

"Alone of all creeds, Christianity has added courage to the virtues of the Creator. For the only courage worth calling courage must necessarily mean that the soul passes a breaking point and does not break." (Orthodoxy)

Source: www.chesterton.org

Pope Benedict XVI on John Scotus Erigena

2009-06-11T21:58:00.002-06:00

Wednesday General Audience, June 10, 2009

"In reality, all of the theological thought of John Scotus turns into the clearest demonstration of the attempt to express the explainable of the inexplicableness of God, basing itself solely on the mystery of the World made flesh in Jesus of Nazareth. The numerous metaphors used by him to indicate this ineffable reality show up to what point he is aware of the absolute incapacity of the terms with which we speak of these things. And, nevertheless, there remains this enchantment and this atmosphere of authentic mystical experience in his texts that sometimes can almost be tangibly felt.

"It is enough to cite, as proof, a page of the book 'On the Division of Nature,' which deeply touches our spirit as believers in the 21st century: 'The only thing that must be desired,' he writes, 'is the joy of the truth, which is Christ, and the only thing that must be avoided is the absence of him. It should be considered that this [absence] is the only cause of total and eternal sadness. Take Christ from me and no good whatsoever remains for me; there is nothing that terrifies me as much as his absence. The worst torment of a rational creature is the privation and the absence of him (V, PL 122, col 989a).'

"These are words that we can make our own, converting them into a prayer to him who also is the longing of our hearts."

"Alberta College of Physicians Approves "in Principle" the Denial of Doctors' Conscience LIFESITE NEWS

2009-06-11T06:50:00.002-06:00

Alberta College of Physicians Approves “in Principle” the Denial of Doctors’ Conscience
Rights

“The physician must ensure … access to available medical options,” document states regarding abortion and contraception.

By Patrick B. Craine

EDMONTON, Alberta, June 5, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta (CPSA) held a Council meeting on Friday where they “approved in principle” their new Standards of Practice. This document includes a controversial section that would require physicians who disagree with abortion and contraception to make referrals. These Standards would replace the existing policies and guidelines of the College; but before giving final approval, the Council is seeking legal advice.

The relevant portion of the document, section 8 on ‘Termination of Pregnancy and Birth Control’, would require physicians who disagree with abortion and contraception to ensure that patients who are interested obtain information about these “options,” and to ensure that they have access to them.

The section states: “Even if a physician’s religious or personal convictions prevent the physician from advising or offering care regarding birth control or termination of a pregnancy, the physician must ensure that the patient who seeks such advice or medical care is offered access to information and assistance in making an informed decision and access to available medical options.”

In response to these Standards, the Protection of Conscience Project, a non-denominational, non-profit organization that works for conscience legislation, challenged the CPSA with a submission in October 2008. “To demand that physicians provide or assist in the provision of procedures or services that they believe to be wrong,” states the submission, “is to treat them as means to an end and deprive them of their ‘essential humanity.’”

“While a patient’s reasonable request for a referral should normally be honoured,” says the Project later in the document, “it is not reasonable to demand a referral to other health care professionals for procedures or services the physician believes to be wrong. A physician’s refusal to do so should not be considered a breach of the Standards.”

“The requirement that a physician ‘ensure that the patient ... is offered access to available medical options’ is likely to be interpreted to impose a duty to refer for or otherwise facilitate procedures or services the physician believes to be wrong. Many objecting physicians would find this unacceptable.”

The conscience rights of health practitioners have been a major issue in North America recently. On his way out of office in January, President Bush enacted regulations ensuring that existing conscience protections were enforced; but President Obama has begun the process of repealing those regulations.

The changes in Alberta’s Standards happened after similar changes were proposed in Ontario’s code of conduct for physicians. The most controversial language was removed in Ontario’s case, however, although the Protection of Conscience Project still had concerns about the revised language.

See related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:

Alberta Considers Denying Physician Conscience Rights http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/mar/09031607.html

Ontario Physicians College Backs Away from Controversial Conscience-Restriction Policy http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/sep/08091809.html

Congressmen Challenge Obama to Follow Through on Notre Dame Statement, Stop Efforts to Repeal Conscience Regulation http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/may/09052005.html

Year for Priests - Letter from the Secretary of the Congregation for the Clergy

2009-06-07T13:47:00.003-06:00

Dear Priests!

In only about two weeks’ time, on the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Friday 19th June, we will experience an intense moment of faith, closely united with the Holy Father and amongst ourselves, when we shall begin the Year for Priests by celebrating First Vespers of the Feast in the Basilica of St. Peter at the Vatican.

Each day we are called to conversion, but we are called to it in a very particular way during this year, in union with all those who have received the gift of priestly ordination. Conversion to what? It is conversion to be ever more authentically that which we already are, conversion to our ecclesial identity of which our ministry is a necessary consequence, so that a renewed and joyous awareness of our “being” will determine our “acting”, or rather will create the space allowing Christ the Good Shepherd to live in us and to act through us.

Our spirituality must be nothing other than the spirituality of Christ himself, the one and only Supreme High Priest of the New Testament.

In this year, which the Holy Father has providentially announced, we will seek together to concentrate on the identity of Christ the Son of God, in communion with the Father and the Holy Spirit, who became man in the virginal womb of Mary, and on his mission to reveal the Father and His wondrous plan of salvation. This mission of Christ carries with it the building up of the Church: behold the Good Shepherd (Cf. Jn. 19:1-21) who gives his life for the Church (Cf. Eph. 5: 25).

Yes, conversion every day of our lives so that Christ’s manner of life may be the manner of life made ever more manifest in each one of us.

We must exist for others, we must undertake to live with the People in a union of holy and divine love (which clearly presupposes the richness of holy celibacy), which obliges us to live in authentic solidarity with those who suffer and who live in a great many types of poverty.

We must be labourers for the building up of the one Church of Christ, for which we must live purposefully and faithfully the communion of love with the Pope, with the Bishops, with our brother priests and with the Faithful. We must live this communion with the unbroken pilgrimage of the Church within the very sinews of the Mystical Body.

We should be able to run spiritually in this Year with a “wide open heart” so as to inwardly conform to our vocation the better to say, in truth “it is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me” (Gal. 2:20).

The holiness of priests redounds to the benefit of the entire ecclesial Body. Thus it would be most fitting for all of us, be that the ordained Faithful, seminarians, the male and female religious, and the lay Faithful, to find ourselves all together at the Vatican Basilica for the Vespers presided over by the Holy Father, which will be celebrated after welcoming the Reliquary of the heart of that most outstanding priestly model who is St. John Mary Vianney.

Those who are unable to be in City of Rome are encouraged to join themselves spiritually to the occasion.

- Entrance to the Basilica from 16.00
The welcoming of the Reliquary at 17.30, followed by the celebration of Vespers
Entrance Tickets must be requested by Fax (06-69885863) from the Prefecture of the Papal Household and may be collected the preceding day from the Bronze Doors, under the Colonnade to the side of the Basilica.

- Priests will wear their proper clerical attire, and religious the habit of the Institute to which they belong.

- The Year for Priests will conclude with an International Convention in Rome on the 9th, 10th and 11th of June 2010.
More detailed information concerning that event will be made available by this end of the current month of June.

Al those who are interested in taking part may refer to Opera Romana Pellegrinaggi (Via della Pigna 13/a, I-00186 Roma – tel. (0039)06-698961) to answer all questions of a practical nature.

Mauro Piacenza
Titular Archbishop of Vittoriana
Secretary

Pope Benedict XVI on Rabanus Maurus

2009-06-04T14:05:00.002-06:00

Wednesday General Audience of Pope Benedict XVI, June 3, 2009

"Our catechesis today deals with another great monastic figure of the High Middle Ages, Rabanus Maurus. Rabanus entered monastic life at a young age as an oblate, was trained in the liberal arts and received a broad formation in the Christian tradition.

"As the Abbot of Fulda and then as Archbishop of Mainz, he contributed through his vast learning and pastoral zeal to the unity of the Empire and the transmission of a Christian culture deeply nourished by the Scriptures and the Fathers of the Church. From his youth he wrote poetry, and he is probably the author of the famous hymn Veni Creator Spiritus.

"Indeed, his first theological work was a poem on the Holy Cross, in which the poetry was accompanied by an illuminated representation of the Crucified Christ. This medieval method of joining poetry to pictorial art sought to lift the whole person -- mind, heart and senses -- to the contemplation of the truth contained in God’s word. In the same spirit Rabanus sought to transmit the richness of the Christian cultural tradition through his prolific commentaries on the Scriptures, his explanations of the liturgy and his pastoral writings. This great man of the Church continues to inspire us by his example of an active ministry nourished by study, profound contemplation and constant prayer."

Apostolic Succession and Communion with the Successor of St. Peter

2009-06-02T21:08:00.003-06:00

"The Apostles handed on their powers to others by the laying on of hands. They did so because Christ wanted His Church to continue always under the guidance of the bishops as successors of the Apostles, under the Bishop of Rome, the successor of St. Peter.

"Consequently, all true successors of the Apostles are in communion with the bishop of Rome. Separated from him they can be validly consecrated bishops, but they do not share in the unique powers of the apostolic succession: that is, they do not have the light promised by Christ to teach the faithful, nor the right to command obedience of Christ's members unless they are united with the pope as the successor of St. Peter."

--Fr. John A. Hardon, S.J., Basic Catholic Catechism Course Manual (Bardstown, Kentucky: Eternal Life, 2003), p. 35

Annual Eucharistic Marian Conference 2009

2009-05-29T19:30:00.002-06:00

Mary's Project & Marytown Present:

2009 Annual Eucharistic Marian Conference:
Living the Eucharistic Mysteries with “Mary Woman of the Eucharist”

Corpus Christi Weekend

Featuring: Rev. Msgr. Charles M. Mangan, J.C.L.

PDF FLYER - Living the Eucharistic Mysteries with “Mary Woman of the Eucharist”

OVER 60,000 ROSARIES PRAYED FOR UNBORN BABIES

2009-05-25T14:02:00.001-06:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 18th, 2009
CONTACT: Patrick Benedict
PatrickBenedict@SaintMichaelTheArchangelOrganization.org

OVER 60,000 ROSARIES PRAYED
FOR UNBORN BABIES

MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE (May 18th, 2009) - People in more than 35 countries joined together May 1st - 3rd to pray over 60,000 Rosaries for an end to the surgical and non-surgical killing of unborn human persons. The pro-life prayer event, titled ONE MILLION ROSARIES FOR UNBORN BABIES, was coordinated by the Saint Michael the Archangel Organization of Memphis, Tennessee.

"I wish I could personally thank each person who prayed the Rosary as part of the ONE MILLION ROSARIES FOR UNBORN BABIES prayer event," said Patrick Benedict, President of the Saint Michael the Archangel Organization. "I wish I could also thank everyone who supported the prayer event in any way, including those who encouraged others to participate. True, the goal of "one million" was not met, but over 60,000 Rosaries were registered to be prayed.

"It was particularly gratifying to learn that many young people were to pray the Rosary for the unborn babies. And, I am very encouraged that there was such widespread support for the ONE MILLION ROSARIES FOR UNBORN BABIES prayer event. The Rosary was prayed in various countries, including Columbia, Canada, Portugal, Peru, South Africa, Honduras, Argentina, Sweden, France, Switzerland, U.S.A., India, England, Australia, Germany, and Poland," concluded Benedict.

The Saint Michael the Archangel Organization has already begun coordinating the 2nd annual WORLDWIDE ROSARY FOR UNBORN BABIES prayer event which is scheduled to happen October 16th - 18th, 2009(It is planned that information about this prayer event will be available in at least 12 languages). More information about this pro-life prayer event should be available at some time in June on the website www.SaintMichaelTheArchangelOrganization.org. Or, a person may write to the Saint Michael the Archangel Organization at P. O. Box 41257; Memphis, Tennessee 38174.

The Saint Michael the Archangel Organization encourages people to pray the Rosary at least once a week for the protection of unborn babies.

"The Dynamics of Celibacy" : Human Life International

2009-05-15T10:08:00.001-06:00

Spirit & Life®

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

Human Life International e-Newsletter

Volume 04, Number 18 Friday, May 15, 2009
..................................................................................
www.hli.org

The Dynamics of Celibacy

Some recent high-profile priest scandals have put celibacy back in the limelight as a topic for the pagan world to rage about, but rarely will you hear what the Catholic Church actually teaches about it. I hope that the following insights will be a short-course in the dynamics of a marvelous life of grace: namely, celibate chastity. The world needs to hear “the other side” of the story.
Number One: Celibacy is a gift to the world, not a rule imposed by the Church on a few seemingly-abnormal men. Celibacy initiates men into a life of spiritual fatherhood in a strikingly positive way for others. We are called “father” for a reason: we bring spiritual life to our people through the sacred mysteries which we handle, and they are drawn into a spiritual family thereby. A truly dedicated priest has thousands of spiritual children who sometimes make immense demands on him—I often wish I had only seven children like my father! In an age where men have massively renounced their sacred duty to generate, protect and nurture families, there are myriads of selfless, celibate men sacrificing themselves in a truly manly way for the sake of God’s family and, indeed, even for the sake of many individual families. The fact that some priests fail at it does not make the gift of celibacy anything less than a true blessing; in fact, its failures force us to reflect more deeply on its quiet successes. It’s hypocritical to think that we should throw away the gift of celibacy (i.e., make it “optional”) based upon a miniscule percentage of failures of its practitioners. We don’t say the same thing about the much higher percentage of failures in marriage. Should we allow polygamy just because some married men can’t stick to one woman? This is the time to reaffirm the genuine beauty and value of celibacy, not change this immense gift to us.

Number two: Celibacy is the personal renunciation of the legitimate goods of marriage and family as a fruitful sacrifice for the kingdom of God. The astonishment of this generation that a perfectly normal, red-blooded male could make that particular sacrifice is exactly the point of celibacy. The world needs to know that there are some men walking around who are not bound either by the expectations of society or by the terms of our fleshly human nature. They are bound by only one concern; that of a kingdom that is not of this world, and they are willing to sacrifice everything for it. The presence in society of men who make this sacrifice is profoundly challenging to a culture that wants to reduce everything in life to the pleasure principle. Such a total renunciation is truly counter cultural: it’s like choosing to live with a permanent wound in the heart that never heals but out of which flow “rivers of living water” (Jn 7:38) that heal countless others. Celibacy is not easy for anyone to live, in fact, it is a constant death to self; but it is enormously life-giving to others, and the Church has not lost sight of that for two thousand years.

Number three: vows are vows. Married men make vows and so do priests. A vow is a promise before God of fidelity to a particular person or state in life. From a spiritual point of view a vow in marriage has the same significance as a vow of celibate chastity: it is permanently binding on the individual and requires total fidelity. We all know that vows are broken by weak and fallible men, but we also know and have seen that vows can be repaired, sins repented of, amends made and forgiveness granted to those who have offended others. Who of us does not depend in some way on the Mercy of God and those we have hurt when we have fallen? The return to fidelity breaks our pride and chastens our passions. What we must never do is make excuses or justify our compromises with pop cultural moral relativism. For example, the fact of “falling in love” with someone is no more an excuse to abandon the celibate priesthood than it is to abandon a wife and family for another woman. I have known many married men who have had that experience and then, in a more rational moment, picked themselves up, dusted themselves off and returned to fidelity—sometimes at a great cost. Thankfully God gave us a rational will, in addition to our lower passions, so that we have something other than whimsical feelings to govern our actions. Fidelity is always possible for those who desire to return to their deepest commitments.Well, although a short article on celibacy is not enough to explain such a beautiful mystery, it is just enough to witness to a very dynamic way of life whose adherents have given life to millions throughout the centuries. In this time of great secular challenge to our faith, let us pray for the celibate men and women who have served us so well in this life and especially for those who are still trying to return to fidelity.

Sincerely,

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

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May 14 - Homily - Fr Bonaventure: The Calling of Mathias

2009-05-14T17:50:00.001-06:00

May 14 - Homily - Fr Bonaventure: The Calling of Mathias

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"Christopher West’s ideas on sexuality ignore ‘tremendous dangers,’ Alice von Hildebrand says"

2009-05-12T18:15:00.007-06:00

Please see: Catholic News Agency for this article.

THE TEACHINGS OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH - Archbishop Raymond Burke Keynote Address, National Catholic Prayer Breakfast

2009-05-09T16:53:00.002-06:00

Source: Lifesite News

THE TEACHINGS OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

WASHINGTON, D.C.
MAY 8, 2009
KEYNOTE ADDRESS

Introduction

1. I am deeply honored to give the Keynote Address at this annual gathering of Catholics to pray for our nation. I express my heartfelt esteem and gratitude to those who, each year, organize and support the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast.

2. The theme of this year's Breakfast is most fitting to the difficult time through which our nation is now passing. Before the fundamental and great challenges which we as a nation are facing, how better to express our patriotism than by celebrating the teachings of our Catholic faith. The most treasured gift which we as citizens of the United States of America can offer to our country is a faithful Catholic life. It is the gift which, even though it has often been misunderstood, has brought great strength to our nation, from the time of its founding. Today more than ever, our nation is in need of Catholics who know their faith deeply and express their faith, with integrity, by their daily living.

3. Although I no longer have my residence in our beloved nation, I am no less bound to practice the virtue of patriotism, taught and exemplified by Our Lord during His public ministry. It is Our Lord Who gives us, in the Church, the grace to practice patriotism as a fundamental expression of the bond of charity which we have, in Him, with our fellow citizens. From my earliest formation in the life of the faith, received at home from my parents and in the Catholic schools, it was clear to me that duty to one's nation, to one's fellow citizens, is integral to our life in Christ in the Church. In the Baltimore Catechism, the virtue of patriotism is joined with filial piety. These essentially connected virtues, in the words of the Catechism, dispose us to honor, love and respect our parents and our country (Revised Baltimore Catechism and Mass, No. 3, New York: Benziger Brothers, Inc., 1949, 1952, no. 135). Surely, the most fundamental expression of patriotism is daily prayer for our homeland, the United States of America, her citizens and her leaders. Our participation in the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast is, I trust, an extraordinary expression of the daily prayer which we all offer for our country, as good Catholics and, therefore, good citizens.

4. It pleases me that today's celebration included a presentation by Mother Shaun Vergauwen, Superior General of the Franciscan Sisters of the Eucharist. I have known Mother Shaun's religious congregation for all the years of my priestly life. The consecrated life of the Franciscan Sisters of the Eucharist is an inspired witness to the truths of our Catholic faith, especially what pertains to the Gospel of Life, and, therefore, also makes a strong contribution to the good of all citizens in our nation.

Growing Crisis in Our Nation

5. I come to you, this morning, with the deepest concern for our nation. I come to you, not as someone who stands outside of our nation but as a citizen who, with you as fellow citizens, takes responsibility for the state of our nation and, therefore, cannot remain indifferent and inactive about what most concerns the good of us all, especially those among us who are small, weak and defenseless.

6. Over the past several months, our nation has chosen a path which more completely denies any legal guarantee of the most fundamental human right, the right to life, to the innocent and defenseless unborn. Our nation, which had its beginning in the commitment to safeguard and promote the inalienable right to "Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness" for all, without boundary, is more and more setting arbitrary limits to her commitment (cf. The Declaration of Independence: Action of Second Continental Congress, 4 July 1776, in The Constitution of the United States with the Declaration of Independence and the Articles of Confederation, New York: Barnes and Noble Books, 2002, p. 81). Those in power now determine who will or will not be accorded the legal protection of the most fundamental right to life. First the legal protection of the right to life is denied to the unborn and, then, to those whose lives have become burdened by advanced years, special needs or serious illness, or whose lives are somehow judged to be unprofitable or unworthy.

7. What is more, those in power propose to force physicians and other healthcare professionals, in other words, those with a particular responsibility to protect and foster human life, to participate, contrary to what their conscience requires, in the destruction of unborn human lives, from the first or embryonic stage of development to the moment of birth. Our laws may soon force those who have dedicated themselves to the care of the sick and the promotion of good health to give up their noble life work, in order to be true to the most sacred dictate of their consciences. What is more, if our nation continues down the path it has taken, healthcare institutions operating in accord with the natural moral law, which teaches us that innocent human life is to be protected and fostered at all times and that it is always and everywhere evil to destroy an innocent human life, will be forced to close their doors.

8. At the same time, the fundamental society, that is, the family, upon which the life of our nation is founded and depends, is under attack by legislation which redefines marriage to include a relationship between two persons of the same sex and permits them to adopt children. In the same line, it is proposed to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act. At the root of the confusion and error about marriage is the contraceptive mentality - which would have us believe that the inherently procreative nature of the conjugal union can, in practice, be mechanically or chemically eliminated, while the marital act remains unitive. It cannot be so. With unparalleled arrogance, our nation is choosing to renounce its foundation upon the faithful, indissoluble, and inherently procreative love of a man and a woman in marriage, and, in violation of what nature itself teaches us, to replace it with a so-called marital relationship, according to the definition of those who exercise the greatest power in our society.

9. The path of violation of the most fundamental human rights and of the integrity of marriage and the family, which our nation is traveling, is not accidental. It is part of the program set forth by those whom we have freely chosen to lead our nation. The part of the program in question was not unknown to us; it was announced to us beforehand and a majority of our fellow citizens, including a majority of our fellow Catholics, chose the leadership which is now implementing it with determination. For example, I refer to our President's declared support of the Freedom of Choice Act, which would make illegal any legislation restricting procured abortion; his repeal of the Mexico City Policy, permitting U.S. funding of procured abortion in other nations, together with the grant of fifty million dollars to the United Nations Fund for Population Activities which, for example, supported the Republic of China's policy of one child per family by means of government-dictated sterilization and abortion; his proposal to rescind the regulations appended to the federal Conscience Clause, which assure that, not only physicians, but also all health-care workers may refuse to provide services, information or counsel to patients regarding medications and procedures which are contrary to their conscience; his removal of limitations on federal funding of embryonic-stem-cell research, involving the wholesale destruction of human life at the embryonic stage of development; and his choice of the members of his administration, who are remarkable for the number of major officials, including several Catholics, who favor the denial of the right to life to the unborn and the violation of the integrity of marriage and the family. These are only some examples of a consistent pattern of decisions by the leadership of our nation which is taking our nation down a path which denies the fundamental right to life to the innocent and defenseless unborn and violates the fundamental integrity of the marital union and the family.

10. As Catholics, we cannot fail to note, with the greatest sadness, the number of our fellow Catholics, elected or appointed by our President to public office, who cooperate fully in the advancement of a national agenda was is anti-life and anti-family. Most recently, the appointment of a Catholic as Secretary of Health and Human Services, who has openly and persistently cooperated with the industry of procured abortion in our nation, is necessarily a source of the deepest embarrassment to Catholics and a painful reminder of the most serious responsibility of Catholics to uphold the natural moral law, which is the irreplaceable foundation of just relationships among the citizens of our nation. It grieves me to say that the support of anti-life legislation by Catholics in public office is so common that those who are not Catholic have justifiably questioned whether the Church's teaching regarding the inviolable dignity of innocent human life is firm and unchanging. It gives the impression that the Church herself can change the law which God has written on every human heart from the beginning of time and has declared in the Fifth Commandment of the Decalogue: Thou shalt not kill.

11. As is clear, the anti-life and anti-family path down which our nation is being led has repercussions for many other peoples who rely upon the United States for aid or who are influenced by the international policies upon which our nation insists. The interest of so many nations in our recent presidential election is a clear sign of the world leadership which our national leadership exercises. What those who were so enthused about the strong message of change and hope in the United States, delivered during the last election campaign, are now discovering is a consistent implementation of policies and programs which confirm and advance the culture of death, which can only finally leave our world without the great hope, described by our Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI in these words:
Let us say once again: we need the greater and lesser hopes that keep us going day by day. But these are not enough without the great hope, which must surpass everything else. This great hope can only be God, who encompasses the whole of reality and who can bestow upon us what we, by ourselves, cannot attain. The fact that it comes to us as a gift is actually part of hope. God is the foundation of hope: not any god, but the God who has a human face and who has loved us to the end, each one of us and humanity in its entirety. His Kingdom is not an imaginary hereafter, situated in a future that will never arrive; his Kingdom is present wherever he is loved and wherever his love reaches us.
His love alone gives us the possibility of soberly persevering day by day, without ceasing to be spurred on by hope, in a world which by its very nature is imperfect. His love is at the same time our guarantee of the existence of what we only vaguely sense and which nevertheless, in our deepest self, we await: a life that is truly life (Pope Benedict XVI, Encyclical Letter Spe salvi, On Christian Hope, 30 November 2007, Acta Apostolicae Sedis no. 31).

The change which brings hope can only be the renewal of our nation in the divine love which respects the inviolable dignity of every human life, from the moment of its inception to the moment of natural death, and which creates and gives growth to new human life through the love of man and woman in marriage. Any hope which is incoherent with the great hope is truly illusory and can never bring forth justice and its fruit, peace, for our nation and world.

Addressing the Crisis

12. How can we as Catholics address effectively the critical situation of our nation in what pertains to the fundamental right to life and the integrity of the family? What does the virtue of patriotism, together with all of the virtues inspired by the Holy Spirit dwelling within us, require of us for the common good, for the good of the whole nation? First and foremost, it demands what we are doing this morning, that is, prayer, and the serious reflection which arises from our communion with God in prayer.

13. When Our Lord descended from the Mount of the Transfiguration, he found that his disciples had tried, without success, to help a boy afflicted by an unclean spirit. Our Lord then cast out the unclean spirit, prompting his disciples, when they were alone with Him, to ask why they had been unable to free the boy from his affliction. Our Lord responded with these words: This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer and fasting (Mk 9:29). Our Lord reminded them that the good which they wished to accomplish in the face of great evil could only be attained through prayer and fasting. In other words, evil cannot be overcome by our own forces alone, but by the grace of God which inspires and strengthens our thoughts and actions. It is Christ alone who has accomplished the victory over sin and its most evil fruit, eternal death, and it is Christ alone, in the Church, who continues to bring forth the fruits of His victory in our lives and in our world.

14. In the battle for the protection of the right to life and for the safeguarding of the integrity of marriage and the family in our nation, we are easily tempted to give way to discouragement. And it would be right to do so, if the outcome of the battle depended upon us alone. But it does not. Christ is with us always in the Church and, in a particular way, in the struggle to restore the respect for the right to life of all of our brothers and sisters, especially those who are helpless and who have the first title to our care, and to safeguard the integrity of marriage and the family. Christ Who is the Gospel of Life, encountered in prayer and through the Sacraments, will give us the strength to announce His word of life and to act upon His word of life, on behalf of all in our nation, especially those who depend upon us to care for them and protect their God-given rights.

15. If we are serious about our patriotic duty, then we must pray everyday for our leaders, especially our President, and our nation. We should also practice more fervently our fasting and abstinence for the conversion of our lives and the transformation of our society. If we want to act for the common good, the good of all, in our nation, then we will seek to convert our lives each day to Christ, especially through the Sacraments of Penance and the Holy Eucharist. Christ desires to announce the Gospel of Life and bring about its saving effects in our nation by the complete conversion of our lives to Him for the sake of all our brothers and sisters, without boundary, and for the sake of the preservation of the sanctuary of human life, marriage and the family.

16. At various times of great crisis in our nation and in the world, the Holy Father and our Bishops have called upon all Catholics to offer special prayers for the nation and for the world. I recall so well, from my youth, the Leonine Prayers offered at the conclusion of every Mass to address the growing threat of atheistic materialism in our world. Remember, too, how Pope Saint Pius V, in 1571, called upon the whole Church to pray, especially through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, when the Christian world was under attack by the Turks. After the victory of the Battle of Lepanto, on October 7, 1571, he established October 7th as an annual feast in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary and introduced the title of Mary Help of Christians into the Litany of Loreto. In the present crisis, praying daily the Rosary for our nation and invoking daily the intercession of Mary Help of Christians will be powerful forces for the victory of life and love.

17. At every Mass, we should offer special prayers for our nation and her leaders, in order that the culture of death may be overcome and a civilization of love may be steadfastly advanced. All Catholics throughout the nation should take part in Eucharistic adoration and in the praying of the Rosary for the restoration of the respect for human life and for the safeguarding of the integrity of the family. In our prayers, we should seek, above all, the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, under her title of the Immaculate Conception. Mary Immaculate is the patroness of our nation. In a most wonderful way, she appeared, on our continent, in what is present-day Mexico City, in 1531, as the Immaculate Mother of God, in order to manifest the all-merciful love of God toward His children of America. Through her example and intercession, the Native Americans and Europeans, who were on the brink of a most deadly conflict, were brought together to form one people under her maternal care, and the widespread practice of human sacrifice among the native people was brought to an end. In our time, in many parishes and dioceses there are campaigns of prayer for our nation and her leaders. May these powerful spiritual works continue and prosper, so that, through prayer and fasting, the grave evils of contraception, procured abortion, euthanasia, the experimentation on embryonic human life, and so-called same-sex marriage may be overcome in our nation.

18. Connected with our prayer must be the thoughtful and faithful reflection upon the Church's teaching on the respect for all human life and the integrity of the family. In our homes, in our Catholic schools and universities, in parish study groups, and in everyday conversations and discussions with our neighbors, we are called to give an uncompromising witness to the Gospel of Life. Parents, parish priests and institutions of Catholic education must be aware of the constant anti-life and anti-family messages which constantly bombard us and our young people. One has only to think, for example, of the corruption of the goodness of our youth by the multi-million dollar industry of pornography, especially on the Internet. Our reflection as individuals and groups must open our eyes to the gravity of the situation in our nation, lest we fail to take responsibility for the widespread attacks on human life and the family. Our reflection must help us all and, in a particular way, our young people to see the godless secularism and relativism which underly and justify our nation's anti-life and anti-family programs, policies and laws.

19. Our encounter with the world must be clear and uncompromising. Parents must reflect in their daily living the lifelong and rich fruit of the Gospel of Life, which they are called to teach to their children. Catholic educational institutions must devote themselves ever more strenuously to the study of the truths of the faith, addressing them to the moral challenges of our time. In a culture marked by widespread and grave confusion and error about the most fundamental teachings of the moral law, our Catholic schools and universities must be beacons of truth and right conduct. Clearly, the same is true of our Catholic charitable, missionary and healthcare institutions. There can be no place in them for teaching or activities which offend the moral law. Dialogue and respect for differences are not promoted by the compromise and even violation of the natural moral law. The profound granting of an honorary doctorate at Notre Dame University to our President who is as aggressively advancing an anti-life and anti-family agenda is a source of the gravest scandal. Catholic institutions cannot offer any platform to, let alone honor, those who teach and act publicly against the moral law. In a culture which embraces an agenda of death, Catholics and Catholic institutions are necessarily counter-cultural. If we as individuals or our Catholic institutions are not willing to accept the burdens and the suffering necessarily involved in calling our culture to reform, then we are not worthy of the name Catholic.

Catholics and Public Life

20. Our prayer and conversion of life, and the serious reflection upon and study of the truths of the moral life, both as individuals and in our Catholic institutions, require that we accept our responsibility as citizens to work tirelessly to change unjust programs, policies and laws. In a nation set so firmly on a path of violation of the most fundamental moral norms, Catholics and others who adhere to the natural moral law are pressured to think that their religious commitment to the moral law as the way of seeking the good of all is a merely confessional matter which cannot have any application in public life. Apparently, a number of Catholics in public life have been so convinced. How often do we hear Catholic legislators who vote in favor of anti-life and anti-family legislation claim that they are personally opposed to what the legislation protects and fosters, but that they as public officials may not allow religious beliefs to affect their support of such legislation? How often do we hear fellow Catholics supporting candidates for office, who are anti-life and anti-family, because of political-party loyalties or for reasons of other policies and programs supported by the candidate, which they deem to be good? How often is such thinking justified by the claim that religious faith is a purely private matter and has no place in the public forum? On the contrary, the common good depends upon the active engagement of religious faith in the public forum.

21. Addressing the role of the Church in the political order, Pope Benedict XVI reminds us:

- It must not be forgotten that, when Churches or ecclesial communities intervene in public debate, expressing reservations or recalling various principles, this does not constitute a form of intolerance or interference, since such interventions are aimed solely at enlightening consciences, enabling them to act freely and responsibly, according to the true demands of justice, even when this should conflict with situations of power and personal interest (Pope Benedict XVI, Ad Congressum a Populari Europae Faction provectum, Acta Apostolicae Sedis 98 [2006], 344)."

- In his Encyclical Letter Deus caritas est, our Holy Father reminded us of the great gift of our faith which enables reason to do its work more effectively and to see its proper object more clearly (Pope Benedict XVI, Encylical Letter Deus caritas est , On Christian Love, 25 December 2005, Acta Apostolicae Sedis 98 [2006], 239, no. 28). When the Church addresses her social teaching to issues of the common good, she has no intention of giving the Church power over the State or to impose on those who do not share the faith ways of thinking and modes of conduct proper to faith (Deus caritas est, no. 28). Her aim, which is our aim as patriotic Catholics, is simply to help purify reason and to contribute, here and now, to the acknowledgment and attainment of what is just (Deus caritas est, no. 28). In addressing the critical issues of our nation, the Church and we, as her faithful sons and daughters, intervene on the basis of reason and natural law, namely, on the basis of what is in accord with the nature of every human being (Deus caritas est, no. 28).

22. Our uncompromising commitment to protect the inviolable dignity of innocent human life and to safeguard the integrity of marriage and the family are not based on peculiar confessional beliefs or practices but on the natural moral law, written on every heart and, therefore, a fundamental part of the Church's moral teaching. At the same time, what is always and everywhere evil cannot be called good for the sake of accomplishing some other good end. All of us must be concerned about a wide range of goods which are important to the life of our nation, but the concern for those goods can never justify the betrayal of the fundamental goods of life itself and the family. We must take care to uproot from our moral thinking any form of relativism, consequentialism and proportionalism, which would lead us into the error of thinking that it is sometimes right to do what is always and everywhere evil.

23. An important part of our moral reflection must include a clear understanding of the principles regarding cooperation in evil, especially by the act of voting. Too often, in our time, our inability to accomplish all that we should for the sake of the defense of the right to life and of the protection of the integrity of the family is used to justify the direct choice of a political leader who espouses a position or positions in violation of the natural moral law. The Servant of God Pope John Paul II, in his Encyclical Letter Evangelium vitae, addresses at length the question of cooperation in evil which violates the dignity of innocent human life. He offers as an example the case of a legislator who has the possibility of voting for a law which would restrict the evil of procured abortion, even though it would not eradicate it completely. He concludes that the legislator could vote for the legislation, while his own opposition to procured abortion remains clear, for his vote does not in fact represent an illicit cooperation with an unjust law, but rather a legitimate and proper attempt to limit its evil aspects (Pope John Paul II, Encylical Letter Evangelium vitae , On the Good and Inviolability of Human Life, 25 March 1995, Acta Apostolicae Sedis 87 [1995], 487, no. 73). In an analogous manner, as voters, we are often faced with a choice among candidates who do not fully oppose unjust laws. In such a case, we must choose the candidate who will most limit the evil effects of unjust laws. But, there is no element of the common good, no morally good practice, which a candidate may promote and to which a voter may be dedicated, which could justify voting for a candidate who also endorses and supports the deliberate killing of the unborn, euthanasia or the recognition of a same-sex relationship as a legal marriage. The respect for the inviolable dignity of innocent human life and for the integrity of marriage and the family are so fundamental to the common good that they cannot be subordinated to any other cause, no matter how good it may be.

24. In the present situation of our nation, a serious question has arisen about the moral obligation of Catholics to work for the overturning of the Supreme Court decisions in Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton. There are those who would tell us that such work is futile and, therefore, is to be abandoned, so that we can devote ourselves to help prevent individuals from choosing abortion. As Catholics, we can never cease to work for the correction of gravely unjust laws. Law is a fundamental expression of our culture and implicitly teaches citizens what is morally acceptable. Our efforts to assist those who are tempted to do what is always and everywhere wrong or are suffering from the effects of having committed a gravely immoral act, which are essential expressions of the charity which unites us as citizens of the nation, ultimately make little sense, if we remain idle regarding unjust laws and decisions of the courts regarding the same intrinsic evils. We are never justified in abandoning the work of changing legislation and of reversing decisions of the courts which are anti-life and anti-family.

Conclusion

25. As we gather this morning to pray for our nation, let us draw courage and strength from the glorious pierced Heart of Our Lord Jesus. Let us not give way to discouragement in our exercise of patriotism but rather be confident of the essential contribution which our Catholic faith makes to the life of our nation.

26. May the courage and strength which comes to us from the Sacred Heart of Jesus enlighten our minds to see more clearly the gravity of the situation of our nation and inflame our hearts to do our part to transform the life of our nation, in accord with the natural moral law, that is, with what is just and serves the good of all. Let us draw courage and strength from the Sacred Heart of Jesus through prayer and the Sacraments, especially the Sacraments of Penance and the Holy Eucharist. May the courage and strength of Christ guide our reflection on the state of our nation and lead us to that just action, taught to us by our faith, which serves the good of all.

27. Invoking the intercession of Mary Immaculate, Our Lady of Guadalupe, Mother of America, let us pray today and everyday that we as Catholics, true to our faith and, therefore, patriotically devoted to our nation, may promote respect for all human life, safeguard the sanctity of marriage and the family, and, thereby, foster the good of all in the nation and in the world.

Thank you. God bless you.
(Most Rev.) Raymond L. Burke
Archbishop Emeritus of Saint Louis
Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura
God bless you.

(Most Rev.) Raymond L. Burke
Archbishop Emeritus of Saint Louis
Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura

Kyrie - Missa Papae Marcelli - Palestrina

2009-05-05T23:43:00.003-06:00

Message of Pope Benedict for the 46th World Day of Prayer for Vocations to the Priesthood and Consecrated Life: May 3, 2009

2009-05-02T19:19:00.003-06:00

"The vocation to the priesthood and to the consecrated life constitutes a special gift of God which becomes part of the great plan of love and salvation that God has for every man and woman and for the whole of humanity."

"An emblematic human response, full of trust in God’s initiative, is the generous and unmitigated “Amen” of the Virgin of Nazareth, uttered with humble and decisive adherence to the plan of the Most High announced to her by God’s messenger (cf. Lk 1:38). Her prompt “Yes” allowed Her to become the Mother of God, the Mother of our Saviour. Mary, after this first “fiat”, had to repeat it many times, even up to the culminating moment of the crucifixion of Jesus, when “standing by the cross of Jesus” as the Evangelist John notes, she participated in the dreadful suffering of her innocent Son. And it was from the cross, that Jesus, while dying, gave her to us as Mother and entrusted us to her as sons and daughters (cf. Jn 19:26-27); she is especially the Mother of priests and consecrated persons. I want to entrust to her all those who are aware of God’s call to set out on the road of the ministerial priesthood or consecrated life.

Dear friends, do not become discouraged in the face of difficulties and doubts; trust in God and follow Jesus faithfully and you will be witnesses of the joy that flows from intimate union with him. Imitating the Virgin Mary whom all generations proclaim as blessed because she believed (cf. Lk 1:48), commit yourselves with every spiritual energy, to realise the heavenly Father’s plan of salvation, cultivating in your heart, like her, the ability to be astonished and to adore him who is mighty and does “great things”, for Holy is his name (cf. Lk 1:49)."

Pope Benedict XVI, Message for 46th World Day for Vocations to the Priesthood and Consecrated Life, January 20, 2009

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Abtei Heiligenkreuz im Wienerwald

2009-04-28T23:14:00.000-06:00

http://stift-heiligenkreuz.org/English.kinder-und-jugendfuehrungen.0.html