Milites Veritatis

One Million Rosaries for Unborn Babies Set for May 4th - 6th

2012-01-25T11:08:00.000-07:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 25th, 2012
Contact: Patrick Benedict

PatrickBenedict@SaintMichaelTheArchangelOrganization.org

ONE MILLION ROSARIES FOR UNBORN BABIES SET FOR MAY 4th - 6th

MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE [U.S.A.] - (January 25th, 2012) - The multinational ONE MILLION ROSARIES FOR UNBORN BABIES prayer event is scheduled to happen May 4th - 6th, 2012. The Saint Michael the Archangel Organization, coordinator of this pro-life prayer event, is asking persons to pray at least one Rosary for an end to the surgical and non-surgical killing of unborn human persons. The website www.SaintMichaelTheArchangelOrganization.org has information about registering, downloading a bulletin insert, promoting the prayer event, etc. (One may also receive information by sending a self-addressed envelope to: Saint Michael the Archangel Organization; P. O. Box 41257; Memphis, Tennessee 38174; U.S.A.)

For the 2011 ONE MILLION ROSARIES FOR UNBORN BABIES, persons from more than 30 nations registered, but the goal of one million Rosaries was not met.

"The May 4th date is a Friday which gives schools the opportunity to invite students to assemble and pray the Rosary," said Patrick Benedict, spokesman for the Saint Michael the Archangel Organization. " On Saturday, May 5th persons may meet at an abortion facility to pray the Rosary. And, for Sunday (May 6th), it is hoped many priests will lead the Rosary either before or after Mass (or Masses).

"It is so very important that the Rosary be prayed for the unborn babies. The ONE MILLION ROSARIES FOR UNBORN BABIES prayer event gives us the opportunity to unite with people throughout the world to do exactly that," concluded Benedict.

Pro-Life Novena for Unborn Babies: September 29th - October 7th

2011-09-13T22:26:00.001-06:00

SAINT MICHAEL THE ARCHANGEL ORGANIZATION

P. O. Box 41257 • Memphis, Tennessee 38174 • U.S.A.
PatrickBenedict@SaintMichaelTheArchangelOrganization.org
www.SaintMichaelTheArchangelOrganization.org

"I encourage the faithful to seek the intercession of Our Lady of Guadalupe...by praying the Rosary for the protection of unborn human life through the campaign of the Saint Michael the Archangel Organization." - Cardinal Raymond Burke (2008)

September 13th, 2011

Dear Supporter of the Saint Michael the Archangel Organization,

We are about 2 weeks away from the start of the September 29th - October 7th, 2011 PRO-LIFE NOVENA FOR UNBORN BABIES.

During this Novena, it is hoped that many Masses will be offered and many Rosaries will be prayed for the following intention: For the protection of unborn human persons.

How can you be a part of this?

1) If you have not already scheduled to have a Mass offered for the unborn babies during the PRO-LIFE NOVENA FOR UNBORN BABIES, I hope you will do so very soon.

You may simply want to call your parish and ask what needs to be done to have the

Holy Sacrifice of the Mass offered for the following intention: For the protection of unborn human persons.

[ Please note: The Mass(or Masses) you schedule should be offered during the Novena (September 29th, 30th; October 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th). ]

2) If you have not already done so, please plan on praying one Rosary on each day of the Novena for the protection of unborn human persons.

(There is no requirement to register Masses or Rosaries, but you are welcome to do so. Registration information, as well as other information about the PRO-LIFE NOVENA FOR UNBORN BABIES, is at www.SaintMichaelTheArchangelOrganization.org.

Also, please consider letting others know about the PRO-LIFE NOVENA FOR UNBORN BABIES. Priests you know as well as other people may enjoy receiving a copy of the information page which can be found by going to the above-listed website or by clicking on www.SaintMichaelTheArchangelOrganization.org/poster.pdf (This may take a minute or so to download.) Other ideas about promoting the PRO-LIFE NOVENA FOR UNBORN BABIES can be found at the website www.SaintMichaelTheArchangelOrganization.org.

Please contact me if you need to.

Sincerely,

Patrick Benedict
Saint Michael the Archangel Organization

Leader of the New Democratic Party, Jack Layton, dead

2011-08-28T15:12:00.000-06:00

While Layton's life and legacy are celebrated at a state funeral ordered by the Prime Minister, Fr. Alphonse de Valk discusses what Layton's legacy really consists in.

Pope Benedict's Address to Young University Professors: World Youth Day Madrid

2011-08-23T10:54:00.000-06:00

"The theme of the present World Youth Day – “Rooted and Built Up in Christ, and Firm in the Faith” (cf. Col 2:7) can also shed light on your efforts to understand more clearly your own identity and what you are called to do. As I wrote in my Message to Young People in preparation for these days, the terms “rooted, built up and firm” all point to solid foundations on which we can construct our lives (cf. No. 2).

But where will young people encounter those reference points in a society which is increasingly confused and unstable? At times one has the idea that the mission of a university professor nowadays is exclusively that of forming competent and efficient professionals capable of satisfying the demand for labor at any given time. One also hears it said that the only thing that matters at the present moment is pure technical ability. This sort of utilitarian approach to education is in fact becoming more widespread, even at the university level, promoted especially by sectors outside the University. All the same, you who, like myself, have had an experience of the University, and now are members of the teaching staff, surely are looking for something more lofty and capable of embracing the full measure of what it is to be human. We know that when mere utility and pure pragmatism become the principal criteria, much is lost and the results can be tragic: from the abuses associated with a science which acknowledges no limits beyond itself, to the political totalitarianism which easily arises when one eliminates any higher reference than the mere calculus of power. The authentic idea of the University, on the other hand, is precisely what saves us from this reductionist and curtailed vision of humanity.

In truth, the University has always been, and is always called to be, the “house” where one seeks the truth proper to the human person. Consequently it was not by accident that the Church promoted the universities, for Christian faith speaks to us of Christ as the Word through whom all things were made (cf. Jn 1:3) and of men and women as made in the image and likeness of God. The Gospel message perceives a rationality inherent in creation and considers man as a creature participating in, and capable of attaining to, an understanding of this rationality. The University thus embodies an ideal which must not be attenuated or compromised, whether by ideologies closed to reasoned dialogue or by truckling to a purely utilitarian and economic conception which would view man solely as a consumer."

Read the entire address at: http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/speeches/2011/august/documents/hf_ben-xvi_spe_20110819_docenti-el-escorial_en.html

World Youth Day 2011 Madrid

2011-08-14T11:31:00.000-06:00

World Youth Day 2011 (Vatican Website)

No Bull in Madrid

The Martyrs of the Spanish Civil War and Repercussions on the Missionary World

"The Contraception Deception" Real Catholic T.V. July 25, 2011

2011-08-10T09:39:00.001-06:00

"Recovering Humanae Vitae in Canada" by Monsignor Vincent Foy

2011-03-13T14:42:00.001-06:00

The "restoration of Humanae Vitae" is "the most important need of the Church in Canada."

This critical truth is the reason for a new article by Msgr. Vincent Foy entitled "Recovering Humanae Vitae in Canada." Noting in response to the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops' 2008 pastoral letter on Humanae Vitae, "Liberating Potential", that "[n]ot only must truth be affirmed, but error must be refuted," Msgr. Foy calls for a retraction of the errors concerning the evil of contraception in the Church in Canada. In particular, he calls for a retraction of the dissident and destructive Winnipeg Statement, the 1968 response of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops to Humanae Vitae. Msgr. Foy also treats of such matters as the role of spiritual means in restoring Humanae Vitae in Canada, the reform of Catholic hospitals, the connection between the use of contraceptives by Catholics and sacrilegious Holy Communions, and the necessity of orthodox teaching on contraception in the seminaries. This is an extremely important article which should be read by every Catholic in Canada.

Monsignor Foy is a priest and canon lawyer of the Archdiocese of Toronto, a one-time head of the archdiocesan marriage tribunal, and a founder and Honorary Member of the Canadian Canon Law Society. He is the oldest priest in his Archdiocese and the only surviving priest of the class of 1939 of St. Augustine's Seminary. For more than forty years, Msgr. Foy has fearlessly promoted and defended the teachings of the Church's Magisterium in a time of moral and doctrinal chaos in the Church in Canada. In particular, in the face of numerous obstacles and persecutions, Msgr. Foy has promoted and defended the teachings of the encyclical Humanae Vitae, teachings absolutely critical the "creation of a truly human civilization" (Pope Paul VI, Humanae Vitae, 18).

authored by Derek Remus

Note: Please see the sidebar for other articles by Monsignor Foy.

***

Recovering Humanae Vitae in Canada

by Monsignor Vincent Foy

Table of Contents

1.   Introduction
2.   The Primary Importance of Restoring Humanae Vitae
3.   Dissent
4.   Contraception and Civil Law
5.   The Winnipeg Statement
6.   Double Talk or Double Think
7.   The CCCB Working Papers on Marriage and the Family
8.   Spiritual Means
9.   Catholic Hospitals
10. The Homily
11. The Prenuptial Questionnaire
12. Catholic Groups and Societies
13. Sacrilegious Holy Communions
14. Seminaries
15. Bishops
16. End Note

***

Part 1: "Introduction" to "Contraception and Civil Law"

At the conclusion of their 2008 plenary assembly, which took place at Cornwall from the 22nd to the 26th of September, the Canadian bishops issued a pastoral letter called “Liberating Potential.” In it all the faithful are invited to discover or rediscover the encyclical Humanae Vitae issued by Pope Paul VI in July of 1968.

This was a giant step towards undoing the rampant dissent from the encyclical which has ravaged the Church in Canada for over forty years and left our Church in suicidal mode. The contraceptive mentality has so devastated the Church that we are reminded forcefully of the truth expressed by Francis Thompson in his poem “The Hound of Heaven.” He puts in the mouth of Christ these words:

“All things betrayeth thee
Who betrayest Me.”

The pastoral “Liberating Potential” is only the first step. Not only must truth be affirmed, but error must be refuted. Dietrich von Hildebrand, called by Pope Pius XII “The 20th century doctor of the Church,” has this to say in this context: “It does not suffice to present the true position on any matter: one must also refute the errors” (cf. “The Charitable Anathema” Dietrich von Hildebrand published by Alice von Hildebrand, 1993, p. 81).

The Primary Importance of Restoring Humanae Vitae

Few Canadian Bishops have prioritized the restoration of Humanae Vitae. Yet it surely is the most important need of the Church in Canada. Paragraph 17 of Humanae Vitae details the consequences of artificial methods of contraception. It opens the way to marital infidelity and a general lowering of moral standards. Woman is reduced to an instrument for the satisfaction of lust. It places a dangerous weapon in the state’s hands, with the possibility of forcible population control and genetic engineering.

It would take a lengthy article to detail the evil fruits of rejecting the charter of life and love called Humanae Vitae. Contraception is anti-God, anti-Church, anti-society, anti-family, anti-spousal and anti-self.
Charles Rice, formerly Professor of Law at Notre Dame University, gives this assessment: “Contraception is the defining evil of our time. Its legitimization leads inevitably, not only to abortion and euthanasia, but to a host of evils including promiscuity, divorce, pornography, and homosexuality. The contraceptionist denies to God the right to be God. In this light, the contraceptive movement is diabolic, a replay of the original script.”

We read that “Of the multitude of side effects noted over almost forty years of experience with OC (oral contraceptives), five very serious risks are associated with OC use: increased incidence of sexually transmitted diseases, pelvic inflammatory disease; infertility; cervical and breast cancer; and ectopic pregnancy” (“Abortifacient Drugs and Devices: A Short Review” by Bogomir M Kuhar, PharmD, Eternal Life, 902W. Stephen Foster Ave., Bardstown, KY, 40004 USA; 1 for $2US).

We learn from Dr. Bogomir that there are approximately six times as many infant homicides through OC as there are surgical abortions.

Given the horrendous effects of contraception and its potential to destroy the Church, surely its rejection should be a priority in all pastoral initiatives.

Dissent

The contraceptive mentality did not spring up over night like a mushroom. It was the bad result of several years in which many Canadian bishops listened to dissident theologians rather than the Magisterium of the Church.

In 1964 a book was published by Herder and Herder called “Contraception and Holiness.” It was presented as a “balanced and perceptive declaration of Christian dissent.” Among the contributors were three professors of St. Michael’s College in Toronto: Gregory Baum, OSA, Stanley Kutz, CBS, and Leslie Dewart. There was no condemnation of this book from our bishops.

The Toronto Globe and Mail printed an interview with Gregory Baum on April 9, 1966. It was entitled “Catholics May Use Contraceptives Now”. He asserted that the traditional norm has become doubtful and therefore could not be imposed. His views got widespread coverage (e.g. Time Magazine, April 22, 1966). Letters of support were printed from Leslie Dewart, Mark McGuigan, Cecilia Wallace and others. I spoke to Archbishop Pocock but he saw no need to respond. Unchecked, a year later, Gregory Baum was saying that even if the Pope came out against artificial contraception, his decision would be irrelevant (The Globe and Mail, April 12, 1967).

After the encyclical was published on July 29, 1968, dissent in Canada began on July 30th. Like termites, dissenters began destroying Church teaching from within. Father Edward Sheridan, SJ, said the encyclical “did not necessarily demand absolute obedience.” Gregory Baum said Catholics had the right to dissent. Father Walter Principe, CSB, wrote “I hope that they (the Canadian Bishops) will make clear to all that one who dissents with a well-informed and well-formed conscience is still a loyal Catholic in good standing” (The Globe and Mail, Aug. 9, 1968).

On a CBC coast to coast television program on August 18, Fr. Edward Sheridan SJ, Father Edward Crooker CSB, and Father Walter Principe CSB, attacked the encyclical. Pressure groups sprang up. Among those calling for “freedom of conscience” were the Western Canadian Conference of Priests, the Catholic Physicians Guild of Manitoba, Catholics in Dialogue and fifty-eight “intellectuals” of St. Francis Xavier University (the “cream of Antigonish” their Bishop said). Most significant was that fifteen Directors of the departments at the Canadian Catholic Conference signed a statement calling for a “Vatican II” approach. They said a larger number of Canadian priests were agonizing in acute crises of conscience “because of the apparent directives of Humanae Vitae”. Even the Christian Family Movement, formerly so devoted to implementing Church teaching on marriage, signed a protest against Humanae Vitae addressed to Archbishop Pocock of Toronto. It had come under the influence of Gregory Baum.

Many bishops, priests and people had been seduced by Gregory Baum’s claim that the period before Humanae Vitae was one of doubt and that a doubtful law did not oblige. Pope Paul VI had reaffirmed the teaching of the Church in 1964 and 1966, calling it a time of study and not of doubt.

The Winnipeg meeting of the CCCB was loaded with “periti” who were dissenters. There were Fr. Edward Sheridan SJ, professor at Regis College, Toronto, Fr. Andre Naud, president of the Canadian Institute of Theology, Fr. Charles St. Ange, director of the French section of the CCC Family Life Bureau, Fr. Ora McManus of the Western Canadian Conference of Priests, and Bernard Daly, director of the English CCC Family Life Bureau, came to present petitions. They were asked to remain and were brought into the consultation process.

Already many Canadian bishops had given in to the cries of dissenters rather than the voice of the Pope invoking the authority of Christ (Humanae Vitae n. 6). Cardinal Leger at Vatican II, on Oct. 29, 1964, advocated that fecundity should be a duty pertaining to the state of matrimony as a whole rather than to an individual act. He said “Confessors are assailed by doubts. They no longer know what to answer.” In some dioceses, as in Toronto, in 1964, confessional norms were given contrary to Church teaching. In London in 1967 priests were told “if doctors can be confused about the scientific aspect of the Pill, then priests should be confused about the morality of the use of the Pill.” Pope Pius XII had condemned the contraceptive use of the Pill on Sept. 22, 1958.

In Canada dissent remains widespread and rarely checked. Note that Sister Joan Chittister OSB, who had rejected magisterial teaching on many issues, was a speaker on the National Catholic Mission for 2010. The rejection of dissent by the competent authority is essential to the recovery of Humanae Vitae in Canada.

Contraception and Civil Law

On September 9, 1966, the CCCB submitted to the Canadian House of Commons Committee on Health and Welfare a document on the proposed change in the law on contraception. Until that time, it was a punishable crime to give information about or to distribute the means of preventing conception.

Incredibly, the Canadian bishops did not oppose the legislation although the prohibition of contraception is a moral absolute, binding all, Catholic and non-Catholic. They said that the good of public peace “might well be lost by attempts to oppose it” i.e. attempts to oppose the new legislation. They embraced the error of relativism when they said: “A large number of our fellow citizens believe that this law (the present legislation) violates their rights to be informed and helped towards responsible parenthood in accordance with their personal beliefs.” They went so far as to say “We would easily envisage an active cooperation and even leadership on the part of lay Catholics to change a law which under present conditions they might well judge to be harmful to public order and the common good.”

So, our Canadian Bishops became complicit in infant homicides through contraceptives and the prevention of millions of persons who should have been and never will be. This betrayal of Catholic doctrine deserves an apology and correction from our bishops.

Part 2: "The Winnipeg Statement" to "Spiritual Means"

Part 3: "Catholic Hospitals" to "End Note"

Printed with permission from Msgr. Vincent Foy

Holy See Declaration on the Assasination of Pakistani Minister Bhatti

2011-03-02T17:47:00.002-07:00

DECLARATION ON ASSASSINATION OF PAKISTANI MINISTER BHATTI

VATICAN CITY, 2 MAR 2011 (VIS) - Given below is the text of a declaration made this morning by Holy See Press Office Director Fr. Federico Lombardi S.J. concerning the assassination of Shabbaz Bhatti, the Pakistani minister for minorities.

"The assassination of Shabbaz Bhatti, Pakistani minister for minorities, is another terrible episode of violence. It shows how right the Pope is in his persistent remarks concerning violence against Christians and against religious freedom in general.

"Bhatti was the first Catholic to hold such an office. We recall how he was received by the Holy Father in September last year, and how he bore witness to his own commitment to peaceful coexistence among the religious communities of his country.

"Our prayers for the victim, our condemnation for this unspeakable act of violence, our closeness to Pakistani Christians who suffer hatred, are accompanied by an appeal that everyone many become aware of the urgent importance of defending both religious freedom and Christians who are subject to violence and persecution".

OP/ VIS 20110302 (180)

+++

For more information on this terrible crime, please see:
http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Shahbaz-Bhatti,-the-Pakistani-minister-who-defended-Asia-Bibi,-is-assassinated-20914.html

Posted by M. R.

Canadian Parliament Passes Transgender Bill

2011-02-10T18:14:00.003-07:00

http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/canadas-house-of-commons-passes-transgender-bill

This Bill will now go to the Senate. Please contact your Senator to indicate him or her to Vote No on the Bill. Contact information for Senators: http://www.parl.gc.ca/common/senmemb/senate/isenator.asp

+++

See Dr. Douglas Farrow's, Professor of Christian Thought, McGill University, analysis of the ramifications of this Bill:

http://www.lifesitenews.com/images/pdfs/Farrow_Letter.pdf

McGill Prof: Canadian transgender bill a ‘Trojan horse’ to ‘reorganize’ society’s view of sex | LifeSiteNews.com

2010-12-02T19:37:00.000-07:00

McGill Prof: Canadian transgender bill a ‘Trojan horse’ to ‘reorganize’ society’s view of sex LifeSiteNews.com

Pope Benedict announces Worldwide Prayer Vigil for Nascent Human Life, November 27th, 2010

2010-11-16T22:36:00.000-07:00

Join the Prayer Vigil here at Yes! for Benedict.

See here for more information.

Catholic Canada

Iraqi Christians Mourn After Baghad Church Attack

2010-11-03T23:11:00.002-06:00

Pope Benedict prays for the victims of the attack in Baghdad Cathedral

2010-11-03T23:10:00.000-06:00

"I pray for the victims of this absurd violence, all the more ferocious because it targeted defenceless people gathered in the house of God, which is a house of love and reconciliation. I express my affectionate closeness to the Christian community, which has been struck once again, and encourage pastors and faithful to be strong and united in hope. In the face of such cruel episodes of violence, which continue to afflict the people of the Middle East, I would like to renew my heartfelt appeal for peace. Peace is a gift of God, but also the result of the efforts of men and women of goodwill, of national and international institutions. May everyone unite their efforts to put an end to all violence".

Pope Benedict's Address to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences: October 28, 2010

2010-10-30T17:08:00.001-06:00

ADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI
TO PARTICIPANTS IN THE PLENARY SESSION
OF THE PONTIFICAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

Clementine Hall

Thursday, 28 October 2010

Your Excellencies,

Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am pleased to greet all of you here present as the Pontifical Academy of Sciences gathers for its Plenary Session to reflect on ‘The Scientific Legacy of the Twentieth Century’. I greet in particular Bishop Marcelo Sánchez Sorondo, Chancellor of the Academy. I also take this opportunity to recall with affection and gratitude Professor Nicola Cabibbo, your late president. With all of you, I prayerfully commend his noble soul to God the Father of mercies.

The history of science in the twentieth century is one of undoubted achievement and major advances. Unfortunately, the popular image of twentieth-century science is sometimes characterized otherwise, in two extreme ways. On the one hand, science is posited by some as a panacea, proven by its notable achievements in the last century. Its innumerable advances were in fact so encompassing and so rapid that they seemed to confirm the point of view that science might answer all the questions of man’s existence, and even of his highest aspirations. On the other hand, there are those who fear science and who distance themselves from it, because of sobering developments such as the construction and terrifying use of nuclear weapons.

Science, of course, is not defined by either of these extremes. Its task was and remains a patient yet passionate search for the truth about the cosmos, about nature and about the constitution of the human being. In this search, there have been many successes and failures, triumphs and setbacks. The developments of science have been both uplifting, as when the complexity of nature and its phenomena were discovered, exceeding our expectations, and humbling, as when some of the theories we thought might have explained those phenomena once and for all proved only partial. Nonetheless, even provisional results constitute a real contribution to unveiling the correspondence between the intellect and natural realities, on which later generations may build further.

The progress made in scientific knowledge in the twentieth century, in all its various disciplines, has led to a greatly improved awareness of the place that man and this planet occupy in the universe. In all sciences, the common denominator continues to be the notion of experimentation as an organized method for observing nature. In the last century, man certainly made more progress – if not always in his knowledge of himself and of God, then certainly in his knowledge of the macro- and microcosms – than in the entire previous history of humanity. Our meeting here today, dear friends, is a proof of the Church’s esteem for ongoing scientific research and of her gratitude for scientific endeavour, which she both encourages and benefits from. In our own day, scientists themselves appreciate more and more the need to be open to philosophy if they are to discover the logical and epistemological foundation for their methodology and their conclusions. For her part, the Church is convinced that scientific activity ultimately benefits from the recognition of man’s spiritual dimension and his quest for ultimate answers that allow for the acknowledgement of a world existing independently from us, which we do not fully understand and which we can only comprehend in so far as we grasp its inherent logic. Scientists do not create the world; they learn about it and attempt to imitate it, following the laws and intelligibility that nature manifests to us. The scientist’s experience as a human being is therefore that of perceiving a constant, a law, a logos that he has not created but that he has instead observed: in fact, it leads us to admit the existence of an all-powerful Reason, which is other than that of man, and which sustains the world. This is the meeting point between the natural sciences and religion. As a result, science becomes a place of dialogue, a meeting between man and nature and, potentially, even between man and his Creator.

As we look to the twenty-first century, I would like to propose two thoughts for further reflection. First, as increasing accomplishments of the sciences deepen our wonder of the complexity of nature, the need for an interdisciplinary approach tied with philosophical reflection leading to a synthesis is more and more perceived. Secondly, scientific achievement in this new century should always be informed by the imperatives of fraternity and peace, helping to solve the great problems of humanity, and directing everyone’s efforts towards the true good of man and the integral development of the peoples of the world. The positive outcome of twenty-first century science will surely depend in large measure on the scientist’s ability to search for truth and apply discoveries in a way that goes hand in hand with the search for what is just and good.

With these sentiments, I invite you to direct your gaze toward Christ, the uncreated Wisdom, and to recognize in His face, the Logos of the Creator of all things. Renewing my good wishes for your work, I willingly impart my Apostolic Blessing.

© Copyright 2010 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana

Canonization of Blessed Andre Bessette Pope Benedict XVI

2010-10-23T08:34:00.000-06:00

"Bro. André Bessette, a native of Quebec in Canada, and a religious of the Congregation of the Holy Cross, experienced suffering and poverty at a very early age. They led him to have recourse to God through prayer and an intense inner life. As porter of the College of Notre Dame in Montreal, he demonstrated boundless charity and strove to relieve the distress of those who came to confide in him. With very little education, he had nevertheless understood where the essential of his faith was situated. For him, believing meant submitting freely and through love to the divine will. Wholly inhabited by the mystery of Jesus, he lived the beatitude of pure of heart, that of personal rectitude. It is thanks to this simplicity that he enabled many people to see God. He had built the Oratory of St Joseph of Mount Royal, whose faithful custodian he remained until his death in 1937. He was the witness of innumerable cures and conversions. "Do not seek to have your trials removed", he said, "ask rather for the grace to bear them well". For him, everything spoke of God and of God's presence. May we, in his footsteps, seek God with simplicity in order to discover him ever present in the heart of our life! May the example of Bro. André inspire Canadian Christian life!"

Homily of His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI, Canonization Mass of New Saints, October 17, 2010, St. Peter's Square

Recovering Humanae Vitae in Canada (Part 2) by Msgr. Vincent Foy

2010-09-12T21:53:00.002-06:00

Here is the second part of Msgr. Vincent Foy's new article "Recovering Humanae Vitae in Canada." (See the first part here.) In the first part, Msgr. Foy explained the "primary importance of restoring Humanae Vitae" in Canada and gave an account of the dissent in the Canadian Church leading up to the Winnipeg Statement. In the second part, he exposes the heterodox nature and double speak of the Winnipeg Statement and the perpetuation of its errors in the CCCB Working Papers on Marriage and Family. He also treats of the spiritual means necessary to exterminate the "contraceptive mentality underlying the culture of death."

Note: Please see the sidebar for other articles by Msgr. Foy.

***

Recovering Humanae Vitae in Canada

by Msgr. Vincent Foy

Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. The Primary Importance of Restoring Humanae Vitae
3. Dissent

4. Contraception and Civil Law

5. The Winnipeg Statement

6. Double Talk or Double Think
7. The CCCB Working Papers on Marriage and the Family
8. Spiritual Means

9. Catholic Hospitals
10. The Homily
11. The Prenuptial Questionnaire
12. Catholic Groups and Societies
13. Sacrilegious Holy Communions
14. Seminaries
15. Bishops
16. End Note

***

Recovering Humanae Vitae in Canada

Part 2: "The Winnipeg Statement" to "Spiritual Means"

by Msgr. Vincent Foy

The Winnipeg Statement

If Canada is to recover the truth of Humanae Vitae, our bishops must reject the Winnipeg Statement of September 27, 1968. This was the Canadian Bishops’ response to the request of the Holy See to stand firm with the Pope on his presentation of the Church’s teaching and “to explain and justify the reason for it.” Winnipeg was a grand opportunity to stop the errors already widespread in seminaries, colleges, pulpits and confessionals. Instead, it was an affirmation and confirmation of all the dissent which preceded it.

The full analysis of the errors, double-talk and dissent of the Winnipeg Statement has yet to be written. The worst paragraph is n. 26. When I met Cardinal Pignedoli, former Apostolic delegate to Canada on September 27, 1968, he said to me “Do you not think paragraph 26 is the worst?” Indeed, it was. Here is the text: “Counsellors meet others who, accepting the teaching of the Holy Father, find that because of particular circumstances they are involved in what seems to them a clear conflict of duties, e.g. the reconciling of conjugal love and responsible parenthood with the education of children already born or with the health of the mother. In accord with the accepted principles or moral theology, if these persons have tried sincerely, but without success to pursue a line of conduct in keeping with the given directives, they may be safely assured that whoever chooses that course which seems right to him does so in good conscience.” Thousands of times, couples have used this “killer paragraph” to justify their use of contraceptive Pills and devices, whether abortifacient or non-abortifacient.”

It is not surprising that Bishop Alexander Carter, President of the CCCB, admitted that the Statement was not a formal endorsement of the encyclical. Father Edward Sheridan SJ, one of the “periti” at Winnipeg, wrote: “The Statement contained no general profession of assent to the whole teaching of Human life; and nothing that could be interpreted as adding the local authority of the Canadian Hierarchy to that of the encyclical in general.” (Canadian Bishops on “Of Human Life”, by Rev. Edward Sheridan SJ, America, Oct, 19, 1968, p. 349). No wonder Douglas Roche wrote in the Western Catholic Reporter (Oct. 2, 1968): “The issue is over in Canada. Catholics are free to use contraceptives if their informed conscience so prompts them.”

Cardinal Eduard Gagnon, P.S.S., (1918-2007), one-time head of the Committee of the Family and later President of the Council for the Family, expressed more than once the opinion that those Canadian bishops who supported the Winnipeg Statement were in schism. In truth, by the Winnipeg Statement, Canadian bishops became promoters of mass murder and complicit in turning thousand of sewers into tombs.

Double Talk or Double Think

Double talk is the affirmation of two contradictory positions. It is a destroyer of the truth. It was used in the Winnipeg Statement itself and subsequent Statements to permit contraception.

Many persons saw the double talk in the Winnipeg Statement. One wrote me: “The Bishops are talking out of both sides of their mouth at once.” Another wrote: “The whole section (par. 17 of the Statement) is a prime example of double-think, which is the ability to hold two diametrically opposed views in one’s mind at the same time and believe both of them” (John C. Caines, BC Catholic, Oct 17, 1968).

In the wake of much criticism of the Winnipeg Statement the CCCB (Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops) set up a special “ad hoc” committee to reply to this criticism. Its purpose was “to follow up the Canadian Bishops September 1968 Statement on Humanae Vitae.” The report of the Committee was adapted by the General Assembly of Canadian Bishops on April 18, 1969. In part, it read “Nothing could be gained and much lost to rephrase what we have said in Winnipeg. We stand squarely behind our position but we feel it our duty to insist on a proper interpretation of that position.” At the same time they said “We wish to reiterate our positive conviction that a Catholic Christian is not free to form his conscience without consideration of the magisterium, in the particular instance exercised by the Holy Father in an encyclical letter.” They omit to say that there is an obligation not only to consider the Church’s magisterium, but to conform to it (cf. Vatican II, The Church in the Modern World, n. 50). This double-talk led to the widespread acceptance of the death-dealing paragraph 26 of the Winnipeg Statement.

In December of 1973, the Canadian Bishops published a lengthy “Statement on the Formation of Conscience.” It was a good Statement. The late Msgr. William Smith, a much respected moral theologian and professor at Dunwoodie Seminary, told me that it was likely the response to a request from the Holy See. The problem was that, though it spoke of moral absolutes and the obligation of conforming one’s conscience to the magisterium of the Church, it made no reference to the Winnipeg Statement or contraception. It had no appreciable effect in correcting the Winnipeg error. The main writer of the Statement continued to support the Winnipeg Statement. After that Statement, an Archbishop wrote to me that he did not waver in his support of the Winnipeg Statement, but hoped that would not affect our friendship. In effect, this Statement on Conscience became nothing more than double talk.

The Ontario Conference of Catholic Bishops issued “Guidelines for Family Life Education” on May 11, 1977. It repeated paragraph 26 of the Winnipeg Statement. We are told, “This Statement cannot be understood as lessening the full force of the Church’s teaching against artificial contraception” (p.11). How else could it be understood? On November 1, 1983, the Bishops of Ontario issued guidelines. Again they reaffirmed par. 26 of the Winnipeg Statement. Once more, we have double-talk.

There has been much double-talk in Marriage Preparation courses. One, called Mosaic, published by Novalis (1980, 1986), calls the teaching of Humanae Vitae an “ideal” and “views.” It is replete with other double-talk, including par. 26 of the Winnipeg Statement.

In 1978, Father Dennis Murphy, General Secretary of the CCCB, announced that the theme of Christian Family Life would be the future work of the Canadian Conference. He described the plight of the family in Canadian as extremely serious (Catholic Register, July 22, 1978).

The first step in this recovery of the family was a CCCB Working Paper on “Marriage and the Family.” It was a text of 190 pages. Amazingly, there is no mention of Humanae Vitae. It relies largely on theological opinion, including that of Schillebeecks, Rahner, Fuchs, Boff and others. It talks of “A New Style of Church.” It criticizes those who “Continue to stress the clerical character of the Church. It confirms the MeansWinnipeg Statement by recommending gravely defective marriage preparation courses such as “Projet Mariage” and “Mosaic”.

A second working paper called “Responsible Procreation” was issued in 1983. It was part of a kit called “Responsible Parenting.” It was Canada’s response to the Synod on the Family, but refers to Familaris Consortio only once. It follows the syncretic approach of quoting from dissenting hierarchies and dissenting theologians e.g. Curran, Rahner, Shannon, Haring, was well as some orthodox sources. It creates an impression of uncertainty and confusion. It concludes, “To state that it is possible for everyone to carry out this law (against contraception) would risk creating in the faithful a feeling of despair and guilt” (p. 52).

These disastrous working papers did nothing to stop the deterioration of family life in Canada. Are Catholics not entitled to an orthodox correction of errors? Should there not be an investigation by the CCCB on how these anti-magisterial views could be presented as truth to the Canadian people?The CCCB Working Papers on Marriage and the Family

Spiritual Means

The contraceptive mentality underlying the culture of death is first of all a spiritual problem and the extermination of this spiritual plague demands a spiritual solution.

Our primary source of grace is the Eucharist. Of immense value are Masses for Life. Bishops could order or request archdiocesan programs of Masses for Life. Priests in their parishes could have Masses for Life. The laity could offer Masses for Life. A multitude of Masses for Life, against abortion and contraceptive practice would bring a multitude of blessings.

Next come Holy Communions for life: for children in the womb, for pregnant women, for those who have had abortions, for broken families, for those preparing for marriage, for the courage to have large families, for the grace to forego contraception. These are some of the intentions for which Holy Communion could be offered.

During World War II, many bishops ordered an extra prayer at Mass for peace. It was called an “oratio imperata”. Such an “ordered prayer” could be added to every Mass – for the end of abortion. It should be remembered that more lives have been lost through abortifacient contraception and surgical abortions than by all the wars of history.

Next come sacramentals: means instituted by the Church to bring Grace. There could be Rosaries, Signs of the Cross with Holy Water, candles lighted, Statues honoured, Relics venerated, Stations of the Cross made, Medals worn, Scapulars and many more – all for the Cause of Life.

No prayer is unanswered. St. Alphonsus said that the difference between a soul that is saved and one that is lost is that one prayed and the other did not. Prayer can mean the difference between a culture of life and a culture of death. Prayer for Life is a major armour in the present great cause: personal prayer, Novenas and Rosaries for Life; informal prayers and prayers from prayer cards. Every individual can participate in the Great Prayer Crusade. A morning offering can transform every good action during the day into a life-saving prayer.

Mortification, sacrifices and suffering have their important role. Sickness and infirmities are spiritual gold, to be offered for the Life cause.

Almsgiving brings its own graces. Nearly everyone in a small or large way can contribute to the great glorious struggle for the recovery of Humanae Vitae in Canada.

So, by all these and other spiritual ways the great spiritual arms of the People of God can and must be enlisted in stopping the slaughter of the innocent.

Part 1: "Introduction" to "Contraception and Civil Law"

Part 3: "Catholic Hospitals" to "End Note"

Recovering Humanae Vitae in Canada (Part 3) by Msgr. Vincent Foy

2010-08-10T21:46:00.003-06:00

Here is the third and final part of Msgr. Vincent Foy's new article "Recovering Humanae Vitae in Canada." In this part, in the context of the recovery of Humanae Vitae in Canada, Msgr. Foy discusses the reform of Catholic hospitals, the homily, the prenuptial questionnaire, Catholic groups and societies, sacrilegious Holy Communions, seminaries, and bishops.

Note: Please see the sidebar for other articles by Msgr. Foy.

***

Recovering Humanae Vitae in Canada

by Msgr. Vincent Foy

Table of Contents

1. Introduction

2. The Primary Importance of Restoring Humanae Vitae

3. Dissent

4. Contraception and Civil Law

5. The Winnipeg Statement

6. Double Talk or Double Think

7. The CCCB Working Papers on Marriage and the Family

8. Spiritual Means

9. Catholic Hospitals

10. The Homily

11. The Prenuptial Questionnaire

12. Catholic Groups and Societies

13. Sacrilegious Holy Communions

14. Seminaries

15. Bishops

16. End Note

***

Recovering Humanae Vitae in Canada

Part 3: "Catholic Hospitals" to "End Note"

by Msgr. Vincent Foy

Catholic Hospitals

An essential factor in the recovery of Humanae Vitae in Canada is the reform of Catholic Hospitals.

In 1970, a Medico-Morals Guide was approved by the Canadian bishops for use in Catholic Hospitals. While it opposed contraception (article 19) and sterilization as a means of contraception (article 18) it included the addendum: “Reference should be made to the Canadian bishops’ documents on the practical application of this general directive.” This double-talk was the death-knell for our Catholic Hospitals. Soon they went the Winnipeg way.

My own introduction to what was happening came in the Fall of 1972. A distraught husband came to me to complain that his wife was going to be sterilized in a Catholic hospital. It seemed quite incredible. I contacted the doctor in person and went over with him the Church’s teachings. He listened politely and said: “You should not be talking to me but to your Archbishop.” I visited the Superior of the hospital, a widely respected religious. Her reply was, “Whom should I follow: you or the Archbishop? The Archbishop tells me that what we are doing is in accord with the thinking of the Canadian bishops.” I said I thought the hospital should follow the teaching of the Church. I wrote my Archbishop but knew from the reply that nothing would be done.

Among other fruitless efforts, about 1991, I visited the head of the Cardinal Carter Bioethics Institute, who had some influence on hospital ethics. He did not know of the decree of the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith of March 13, 1975, forbidding contraceptive sterilization in Catholic Hospitals, and asked where it might be found. Again, no results. A letter to Cardinal Carter elicited surprise at the situation, but on the advice of his public relations consultant, nothing was done.

We now have a situation in Catholic hospitals inconceivable before the Winnipeg Statement. A Catholic doctor, now deceased, told me that he was ridiculed for refusing to perform, or to assist, at direct sterilizations in St. Michael’s hospital.

St. Michael’s hospital is one example of the practice of moral relativism. Others could be named. Nurses have been pressured to assist at immoral procedures. In Quebec, statistics affirm that one-third of women of marriageable age have been sterilized by tubal ligation.

With the loss of integrity, has gone the joy and pride of practising medicine according to the mind of Christ the Great Physician.

It is obvious that to recover Humanae Vitae in Canada there should be a survey of Catholic hospitals. Their reform is the responsibility of our Bishops. If that cannot be done, the hospitals should be declared no longer Catholic and the reasons given. We have as an example Bishop Robert Vasa of Baker, Oregon. In The Catholic World Report of April 2010 we read that the diocese of Baker is ending its sponsorship of St. Charles Medical Centre Bend because the hospital persists in performing tubal ligations. The bishop said: “It is my responsibility to ensure the hospital is following Catholic principles in name and in fact.”

The Homily

Since Humanae Vitae and the Winnipeg Statement, the pulpits in Canada have, in the main, been silent about the great evil of contraception. In some dioceses, condemnation of the subjective conscience was met with reprisals. I could give details of how a pastor lost his parish when he publicly corrected his assistant, who told the congregation that the Canadian bishops, gave Catholics the freedom to decide for themselves whether to use contraceptives. The associate pastor was promoted to a larger parish. In another instance, a priest preached that the Church was like a mother: we loved her but we could differ with her, as in the case of contraception. I reported this to a bishop and was told, “I support the Winnipeg Statement.”

A great step forward would be made if more homilies were given on the prophetic truths of Humanae Vitae. A correspondent to the Homiletic and Pastoral Review (Feb. 2009) wrote, “Until priests preach the eternal problems that result from the ugly sin of contraception things are not going to get better.”

Before the dissent following the discovery of the contraceptive Pill, homilies were regular and faithful to the truth. Even during the Depression when non-Catholic denominations gradually followed the Anglicans in permitting contraception, Catholics in the great majority remained faithful and family life flourished. There was no double-talk. Consider this admirable excerpt of a Pastoral letter of Archbishop (later Cardinal) Hayes given on Christian Family Life in 1921: “Heinous is the sin committed against the creative act of God, Who through the marriage contract invites man and women to cooperate with Him in the propagation of the human family. To take life after its inception is a horrible crime; but to prevent human life that the Creator is about to bring into being, is satanic. In the first instance, the body is killed, while the soul lives on; in the latter, not only a body but an immortal soul is denied existence in time and eternity. It has been reserved to our day to see advocated shamelessly the legalizing of such a diabolical thing.” Cardinal Hayes could not visualise that one day Canadian Bishops would offer to assist in the legalization of contraception, rightly called a diabolical thing.

While all those who preach may expound the multiple evils of contraception and the multiple blessings following the observance of God’s law of life, diocesan instruction on this matter would be of considerable help.

The Prenuptial Questionnaire

Prenuptial questionnaires must be filled out before every marriage. The purpose of the prenuptial investigation is primarily to determine whether there is any impediment to the marriage. The questions are approved by the local bishops.

Until Humanae Vitae, it was customary to inquire whether the couple intended to abide by the teaching of the Church regarding birth control. This gave the priest the opportunity to explain that teaching. If the answer was in the negative, pastoral care required counselling and to obtain enough information to determine whether the intention was illicit or invalidating. If the latter, of course, the priest could not assist at the marriage.

In later years in many dioceses, the question asked is, “Do you intend to have children of your marriage?” If the answer is yes no further question is asked. Yet even though the answer is yes, the intention could be either sinful or invalidating. The priest must determine whether the intention was either an abuse of the marriage, or an intention to exclude the right to offspring. The exclusion of the right to have children, unilateral or bilateral, for always, or for a time, would invalidate marriage consent.

The restoration of the Culture of Life in Canada requires a careful review of the pre-nuptial questionnaire, and questions to be asked, to determine the validity of the consent and the pastoral advice to be given.

Catholic Groups and Societies

Every Catholic group and society should be marshalled in the struggle for life. Primary are groups whose main purpose is to re-establish a culture of life. We are fortunate in having Sisters of Life in Canada. They deserve the support of bishops, priests and laity. Like support should be given Priests for Life, in their noble pursuit of pro-life values. There are other commendable groups like Campaign Life. Every Catholic society should be involved in the struggle for life through many and varied projects. The Catholic Womens League, Knights of Columbus and many others can all do their share.

The Catholic press and media should give primary place to the promotion, spread and catechesis of every conceivable means to build up pro-life values and defeat anti-life policies and groups.

So, step by step society will be permeated with the noble projects and efforts to restore to Canada its divine call to support Family and Life and Love.

Sacrilegious Holy Communions

Statistics vary slightly on the percentage of Catholics of child-bearing age using contraceptives. The percentage is in the neighbourhood of 80%. Although many have lost their Faith, many contracept and receive Holy Communion sacrilegiously. This spiritual evil is a significant factor in the decline of the Church in Canada. A number of American Bishops have asked that those using contraceptives not receive Holy Communion. The caution should be announced in every diocese and every parish. This caution would be a factor leading some to repentance and to the valid reception of the Sacrament of Reconciliation. An end or near end to sacrilegious Holy Communions is an imperative to the spiritual life of Canada.

Seminaries

Many older priests were taught by seminary professors infected by the Winnipeg Statement. When Fathers D’Amico and Daly were expelled from St. John Vianney Seminary in Buffalo for dissenting from Humanae Vitae, they were welcomed to Toronto and taught at St. Augustine’s Seminary. When I was pastor of St. John’s parish in Toronto (1966-1973), a seminarian came to me and asked where he could find a good seminary. He said that a professor professed not to accept Humanae Vitae but asked that his views remain private.

When I was on a bus with priests and seminarians returning ciboria of Hosts after the Mass celebrated by Pope John Paul II in Toronto in 1984, I was seated next to a senior seminarian. I asked him about the teaching on Humanae Vitae. He said they were told it was a wonderful ideal but of course one could not insist on it in the confessional: penitents had a right to freedom of conscience.

For many years, seminarians at St. Peter’s Seminary in London were taught that the Winnipeg Statement was both magisterial and collegial, when it was neither. They were taught that Humanae Vitae could be changed, when three Popes had declared that the law against contraception could not be changed because it is divine natural law.

Many persons over the years have told me that priests in the confessional have told them that for sufficient reasons they could use the Pill.

In the Winnipeg Statement we read: “The difficulties of this instruction have been felt by the priests of the Church, and by many others. We have been requested to provide guidelines to assist them, thus we will endeavour to accomplish in a subsequent document” (n. 19). That document was never written. It would seem important for bishops to ensure that the present teaching in our seminaries is orthodox.

It is important to note that I am not here imputing the present teaching in our seminaries. I simply do not know what is being taught. I have reason to believe that there is excellent leadership and guidance at St. Augustine’s Seminary in Toronto. I suggest only that the importance of educating seminarians to become good confessors merits a serious review.

Bishops

To our bishops, our chief shepherds, our own successors to the apostles, belongs the arduous task of restoring Humanae Vitae to Canada. To them Pope Paul VI addressed these words in the encyclical:

“We implore you to give a lead to your priests who assist you in the sacred ministry, and to the faithful of your diocese, and to devote yourselves with all zeal and without delay to safeguarding the holiness of marriage, in order to guide married life to its full human and Christian Perfection. Consider this mission as one of your most urgent responsibilities at the present time.” (n. 30)

Tragically, Canadian bishops as a group betrayed God, Church and family in their Winnipeg Statement and in other ways. The individuals responsible have gone to face God in judgment. Now we are fortunate in having many ardent faithful pro-life bishops. It is for them to undo as far as possible the errors of the past.

We ought to support with prayers and thanks every pro-life word and action of our bishops. May they be faithful to the admonition of St. Paul to Timothy as they “impart the Word of truth without deviation” (Second Letter of Paul to Timothy 2:15). As I wrote on the twentieth Anniversary of Humanae Vitae: “Those bishops who withdraw the Winnipeg Statement and replace it with the life-giving, grace-giving and peace-giving teaching of the Church will be forever honoured.”

End Note

This article is not a complete analysis of the Canadian tragedy. There are many other factors which brought the culture of death to Canada. Catechesis in general has been defective. Children in grade school learned of all the means of contraception. Dissent has been rampant in Catholic schools and colleges. For years errors were sold in Catholic Churches through the dissenting Catholic New Times and some Catholic newspapers. Conferences sometimes featured dissenting speakers. Arch-heretic Gregory Baum was invited to speak in Catholic Colleges. Marriage preparation courses have been defective. Hundreds of thousands of texts supporting the Winnipeg Statement were sold in Canada, the US and even Australia. My aim has been to write an introduction to a great tragedy and to suggest some of the means of restoring the truth about Life and Love given to us through the Church with the authority of Christ (Humanae Vitae, n. 6).

June 2010

Part 1: "Introduction" to "Contraception and Civil Law"

Part 2: "The Winnipeg Statement" to "Spiritual Means"

Characteristics of Youth

2010-07-16T08:37:00.002-06:00

Pope John Paul II March 7, 1981

What are the characteristics of youth today? It is not difficult for you who are young and always live in the midst of the young to note the spiritual aspects that characterize it:

—it is a critical youth which, having considerably increased its cultural assets, is logically led to think more, to reflect, to judge;

—it is a demanding youth which, though it may sometimes exaggerate and succumb to personal selfishness, wants and claims honesty, truthfulness, justice and consistency;

—it is a youth that suffers from the contradictory nature of the ideologies that impinge upon it, and from the continual emptying of ideals which it witnesses;

—it is a questioning youth which wants to account for what is happening, which looks for the meaning of its own life and the significance of the history of man and of the whole universe, which invokes certainty and clarity on its own destiny and with regard to its own conduct;

—it is a youth anxious for truth, ideals for which to live, responsibility, moral beauty, innocence and joy.

Well, beloved young people, it is the youth of this generation that you must approach, get to know, love and enlighten; it is with this youth that you must continue along the way of the search for truth! Clearly and confidently!

In whatever environment you find yourselves, always advocate in the first place the validity of the search for truth, in order to combat that sense of scepticism and absolute incertitude, which eliminates all desire for investigation, and which may easily penetrate into the youthful spirit. In the second place, make sure of the serious nature of the search, in order never to cast doubt on the fundamental truths concerning rational certainty about God, the message of Christ and the authentic teaching of the Church. And finally, bear witness to the efficacy of the search for salvific truth with Christian joy, living the Beatitudes and sustaining spiritual life with the Eucharist and prayer.

To the young who ask themselves with anguish and distress: “What is truth? Does truth exist?” you will reply with courageous conviction: “Of course! Christ is the truth and only he has words of eternal life!” To the young who are thirsty for joy, beauty and love, you will reply with St. Augustine: “Only truth brings happiness.” “Happiness is to enjoy truth. This is, therefore, joy of Thee, who are Truth, O God, my light, my salvation, O my God. This is the happiness for which everyone longs, and this is the only happy life that everyone wants, this is the joy that everyone desires: the joy of truth” (Confessions).

St. Michael the Archangel Organization Multinational PRO-LIFE NOVENA FOR UNBORN BABIES

2010-07-09T15:39:00.002-06:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 8th, 2010
Contact: Patrick Benedict
PatrickBenedict@SaintMichaelTheArchangelOrganization.org

MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE (July 8th, 2010) - The Saint Michael the Archangel Organization has begun coordinating a multinational PRO-LIFE NOVENA FOR UNBORN BABIES. This September 29th - October 7th, 2010 Novena consists of the 10,000 Masses for Unborn Babies Novena and the 10,000 Rosary Novenas for Unborn Babies. All Masses and Rosaries will be offered for one intention: For the protection of unborn human persons.

A person may be a participant in the PRO-LIFE NOVENA FOR UNBORN BABIES by doing one or both of the following:

1) Schedule to have the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass offered on at least one of the 9 days of the Novena(Each Mass should be offered for the protection of unborn human persons);

2) Pray the Rosary on each day of the Novena(Each Rosary should be prayed for the protection of unborn human persons).

The website www.SaintMichaelTheArchangelOrganization.org has much information about the Novena, including: 1) How to register; 2) Two counters on the homepage showing the number of Masses and Rosaries that have been registered; 3) Ideas for promoting the Novena(this includes downloading and making copies of the "Bulletin Insert/Poster" which can be found at www.SaintMichaelTheArchangelOrganization.org/BulletinInsert.pdf

A person may also register and/or request information by writing to: Saint Michael the Archangel Organization; P. O. Box 41257; Memphis, Tennessee 38174; U.S.A. (If a person requests printed information, it is asked that a stamped, self-addressed envelope be enclosed.)

The Saint Michael the Archangel Organization recently coordinated the May 7th - 9th ONE MILLION ROSARIES FOR UNBORN BABIES prayer event in which people from over 40 nations registered more than 42,000 Rosaries that were to be prayed for an end to the surgical and non-surgical killing of unborn human persons.

St. Maria Goretti (1890 - 1902) Virgin, Martyr

2010-07-06T14:39:00.004-06:00

From the Homily of Pope Pius XII at the Canonization of St. Maria Goretti:

"During the past fifty years, coupled with what was often a weak reaction on the part of decent people, there has been a conspiracy of evil practices, propagating themselves in books and illustrations, in theaters and radio programs, in styles and clubs and on the beaches, trying to work their way into the hearts of the family and society, and doing their worst damage among the youth, even among those of the tenderest years in whom the possession of virtue is a natural inheritance.

"Dearly beloved youth, young men and women, who are the special object of the love of Jesus and of us, tell me, are you resolved to resist firmly, with the help of divine grace, against every attempt made to violate your chastity.

"You fathers and mothers, tell me—in the presence of this vast multitude, and before the image of this young virgin who by her inviolate candor has stolen you hearts...in the presence of her mother who educated her to martyrdom and who, as much as she felt the bitterness of the outrage, is now moved with emotion as she invokes her tell me, are you ready to assume the solemn duty laid upon you to watch, as far as in you lies, over your sons and daughters, to preserve and defend them against so many dangers that surround them, and to keep them always far away from places where they might learn the practices of impiety and of moral perversion?

"Finally, all of you who are intently listening to our words, know that above the unhealthy marshes and filth of the world, stretches an immense heaven of beauty. It is the heaven which fascinated little Maria; the heaven to which she longed to ascend by the only road that leads there, which is, religion, the love of Christ, and the heroic observance of his Commandments.

"We greet you, O beautiful and lovable saint! Martyr on earth and angel in heaven, look down from your glory on this people, which loves you, which venerates, glorifies and exalts you. On your forehead you bear the full brilliant and victorious name of Christ. In your virginal countenance may be read the strength of your love and the constancy of your fidelity to your Divine Spouse. As his bride espoused in blood, you have traced in yourself His own image. To you, therefore, powerful intercessor with the Lamb of God, we entrust these our sons and daughters who are present here, and those countless others who are united with us in spirit. For while they admire our heroism, they are even more desirous of imitating your strength of faith and your inviolate purity of conduct. Fathers and mothers have recourse to you, asking you to help them in their task of education. In you, through our hand, the children and the young people will find a safe refuge, trusting that they shall be protected from every contamination, and be able to walk the highways of life with that serenity of spirit and deep joy which is the heritage of those who are pure of heart. Amen."

Source: A Saint to Emulate: St. Maria Goretti by Margaret M. Breiling (EWTN)

The Fundamentals of Morality and the Chair of Peter

2010-06-29T22:08:00.003-06:00

"The denial of the fundamentals of morality had its origin, in Europe, in the abandonment of that Christian teaching of which the Chair of Peter is the depository and exponent. That teaching had once given spiritual cohesion to a Europe which, educated, ennobled and civilized by the Cross, had reached such a degree of civil progress as to become the teacher of other peoples, of other continents. But, cut off from the infallible teaching authority of the Church, not a few separated brethren have gone so far as to overthrow the central dogma of Christianity, the Divinity of the Savior, and have hastened thereby the progress of spiritual decay."

--Pope Pius XII, Summi Pontificatus (On the Unity of Human Society), 20 October 1939

Pope Benedict's Text of Message to Belgian Bishops Vatican Information Service

2010-06-28T07:58:00.003-06:00

BENEDICT XVI'S SOLIDARITY WITH BISHOPS OF BELGIUM

VATICAN CITY, 27 JUN 2010 (VIS) - Given below is the text of a message, made public today Sunday, sent by the Pope to Archbishop Andre-Mutien Leonard of Mechelen-Brussels, president of the Belgian Episcopal Conference, following the search of the cathedral of Mechelen and of the archbishopric which was conducted on 24 June.

"At this sad time I wish to express my special closeness and solidarity to you, dear brother in the episcopate, and to all the bishops of the Church in Belgium, for the surprising and deplorable manner in which searches were carried out at the cathedral of Mechelen and at the site where the Belgian episcopate was gathered in a plenary assembly which, among other things, also intended to consider questions associated with the abuse of minors by members of the clergy. On a number of occasions I myself have highlighted how these serious matters should be dealt with by both civil law and canon law, while respecting the specific nature and autonomy of each. In this context, I trust that justice may run its course in order to guarantee the fundamental rights of persons and of institutions, at the same time respecting victims, showing unconditional recognition for those who undertake to collaborate, and rejecting everything that obscures the noble goal with which justice is assigned.

"While assuring you that I accompany the progress of your Church with my daily prayers, I willingly impart an affectionate apostolic blessing".

+++

COMMUNIQUE CONCERNING SEARCH OF BRUSSELS ARCHBISHOPRIC
VATICAN CITY, 26 JUN 2010 (VIS) -

Given below is the text of a communique issued yesterday afternoon by the Secretariat of State concerning the search of the archbishopric of Mechelen-Brussels, Belgium, which was conducted on 24 June.

"The bishops of Belgium were gathered at the archbishopric of Mechelen- Brussels at about 10.30 a.m. for the monthly meeting of the episcopal conference. At about that time, police and court officials entered and announced that the archbishopric would be searched, following complaints of sexual abuse within the territory of the archdiocese. No other explanation was given, but all documents and mobile phones were confiscated and it was explained that nobody could leave the building. This situation lasted until approximately 7.30 p.m.

"Everyone was interrogated, both members of the episcopal conference and staff. It was not a pleasant experience, but everything was done correctly. The bishops have always affirmed their trust in justice and its work, and this search is being greeted with the same confidence; therefore, for the moment, the [bishops] shall refrain from making further comments.

"However they, along with Professor Peter Adriaensses, chairman of the committee for handling sexual abuse within a pastoral framework, regret the fact that during another search all the files of this committee were seized. This goes against the right to privacy which victims who have chosen to turn to this committee should enjoy, and gravely affects the committee's much- needed and excellent work".

"Eric de Beukelaer, spokesman for the Episcopal Conference.

"In publishing this statement, the Secretariat of State reiterates its firm condemnation of all sinful and criminal acts of abuse of minors by members of the Church, as well as the need to repair and confront such acts in accordance with the requirements of justice and the teachings of the Gospel. It is in the light of these needs that the Secretariat of State also expresses great surprise at how some searches were conducted yesterday by the Belgian judicial authorities, and its indignation at the fact that the tombs of Cardinals Jozef-Ernest Van Roey and Leon-Joseph Suenens, deceased archbishops of Mechelen-Brussels, were violated. The dismay felt over those actions, is compounded by regret for some breaches of confidentiality, owed to those very victims for whom the searches were conducted.

"These feelings were expressed personally by Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, secretary for Relations with States, to Charles Ghislain, Belgian ambassador to the Holy See". SS/VIS 20100628 (410)

V.I.S. -Vatican Information Service. www.visnews.org

Pro-Life Talking Points Human Life International

2010-06-26T10:45:00.000-06:00

Pro-Life Talking Points

June 22 - St. John Fisher and St. Thomas More

2010-06-22T19:58:00.003-06:00

"Let us note this all-important matter, which is the very core of his [Thomas More's] great sacrifice: he acted in complete isolation, and he laid down his life for one small strict point of Catholic doctrine only; and, what is more, a point of doctrine on which he had himself long doubted. He was not supported by the military spirit, the combative energy which delights in challenge and in counter-affirmation. He was not supported by any sympathy for himself even among his nearest. He was not supported by the nature of his own mind, which had been hesitant and, even in essential matters, changeable. He gave himself up as a victim in spite of all those things which would make nine hundred and ninety-nine men out of a thousand deceive themselves that they might be doing right in yielding.

"This is the heroic and almost unique quality in More."

--Hilaire Belloc, Characters of the Reformation (Rockford, Illinois: TAN BOOKS AND PUBLISHERS, INC., 1992), p. 61

St. Aloysius Gonzaga - Jesuit Saint, Father John Hardon, S.J.

2010-06-21T18:07:00.002-06:00

The Real Presence Association

What the Prolife Movement has not recognized; its "greatest mistake"

2010-06-17T22:15:00.013-06:00

"A major factor in the Way Back is the pro-life movement. As Dr. Charles Rice, professor of Notre Dame, said twenty years ago, the greatest mistake of the pro-life movement was to more or less ignore the contraceptive mentality. All the marches, conferences, books and articles of the pro-life apostolate are barren exercises unless the evil of contraception is confronted and overcome. This is not to say that the attack on abortion is to be neglected but that the cause of abortion be clearly recognized.

"This does not mean that non-Catholics are to be excluded from the pro-life movement in Canada. It does mean that all pro-life fruitful members be opposed to contraception and sterilization. It must be recognized that contraception is not a Catholic evil but a universal evil, an intrinsic evil, and a violation of divine natural law to which all owe obedience. Abortion is a death-dealing symptom, the contraception mentality the cause. Death from the Pill or scalpel is the ultimate contraception. We note that Humanae Vitae is not addressed only to Catholics but to all of good will."

Monsignor Vincent Foy, Humanae Vitae and Canada: Forty Years After, June 2008

Pope Benedict: Catechesis on Thomas Aquinas: Wednesday General Audience

2010-06-16T21:50:00.003-06:00

“All men, whether they are believers or not, are called to recognise the needs of human nature as expressed by natural law, and find inspiration in it when they formulate positive legislation, i.e. the laws that civil and political authorities issue to regulate human relations.”

“When natural law and the responsibilities it implies are denied,” the Pope insists, “the path is opened wide towards ethical relativism at the individual level and state totalitarianism at the political level. The defence of man’s universal rights and the affirmation of human dignity require a foundation. Is natural law not that foundation with the non-negotiable values that it entails?”

Source: AsiaNews.it

"Thousands of Clergy at Prayer Vigil for Year for Priests" VIS

2010-06-11T12:47:00.001-06:00

THOUSANDS OF CLERGY AT PRAYER VIGIL FOR YEAR FOR PRIESTS

VATICAN CITY, 11 JUN 2010 (VIS) - A prayer vigil was held yesterday evening in St. Peter's Square for the close of the Year for Priests. The event was attended by some fifteen thousand priests from ninety-seven countries.

During the first part of the vigil, live television linkups enabled those present in St. Peter's Square to share the witness and experiences of a German family with six children, a deacon, an Argentinean priest who works in a poor neighbourhood, a pastor from Hollywood, U.S.A., and a cloistered nun.

The second part of the vigil began with the Pope's arrival in St. Peter's Square by popemobile. Cardinal Claudio Hummes O.F.M., prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy, greeted the Holy Father noting how this Year for Priests has served "to promote commitment to interior renewal among all clergy, for an evangelical witness that is more powerful and incisive in the modern world".

Cardinal Hummes continued his remarks: "We would like the Year for Priests never to end; that is, we would like our striving towards sanctity, each in his own identity, never to end, and that on this journey (which must begin in the seminary and last all our earthly lives as a single formative process) we may always be comforted and supported, as we have been in this Year, by the ceaseless prayer of the Church, by the warmth and spiritual support of all the faithful".

Cardinal Hummes thanked the Pope "for everything you have done, are doing and will continue to do for all priests, even those who have lost their way. We know that Your Holiness has already forgiven and will always forgive the suffering some of them have caused you".

A passage from the Gospel was then read out, after which the Pope responded to questions put to him by five priests, representing the five continents.

After praying the Lord's Prayer, the Blessed Sacrament was borne in procession from the Bronze Door to the altar positioned in front of the Vatican Basilica. Following a moment of silent adoration, the Pope read out the prayer of the Year for Priests.

The vigil came to an end at 11.15 p.m. with the Eucharistic blessing and the singing of the "Salve Regina".

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Father Popieluszko, Polish Priest, Martyr Beatified

2010-06-07T23:14:00.005-06:00

“For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake” (Phil 1:29)

John Paul II, Homily at Mass, June 7, 1999

+ + +

Martyred Polish priest beatified at Mass in Warsaw in front of 140,000

Homily of Father Jerzy Popieluszko, May 1982

+ + +

Quebec Priest Once Again Rebukes Canada's Catholic Primate

2010-06-03T20:58:00.003-06:00

Quebec Priest Once Again Rebukes Canada's Catholic Primate
Despite frequent public denunciations of Church moral teachings Fr. Gravel still retains priestly faculties

By Patrick B. Craine

QUEBEC, June 1, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Notoriously dissident Catholic priest Fr. Raymond Gravel has again publicly criticized Cardinal Marc Ouellet, Archbishop of Quebec City and Primate of Canada, following the Cardinal's strong defense of unborn life in recent weeks.

In a Monday op-ed for Le Trait D'Union, Fr. Gravel notes that a recent survey showed 94% of Quebeckers disagreeing with Cardinal Ouellet's call for the recriminalization of abortion. "Since it is not the first time that Monsignor Ouellet has been almost unanimously opposed," the priest writes, "may we remind him that his role as bishop is one of a pastor that gathers and unifies rather than one that judges, condemns, divides and excludes?"

Fr. Gravel goes on to declare that "it is high time that we stop entrenching ourselves into one of two extreme options that have been confronting each other over the last forty years: pro-lifers and pro-choicers."

"The Church's deep conviction about life is well known, but it is not shared by the whole of Quebec society," the priest observes. "Which is why, as a Church, we ought not to impose our conception of life under penalty of excommunication or of exclusion."

This is at least the third time Fr. Gravel has publicly denounced Cardinal Ouellet, the highest Catholic prelate in Canada.

In a September 2006 letter to the editor for the Quebec newsweekly Actualité, Fr. Gravel wrote that "Cardinal Ouellet is not a true Catholic, that he is not representative of Quebec Catholics, and that, indeed, he is against the Gospel."

He condemned the prelate again two weeks ago after Cardinal Ouellet sparked a frenzy in Quebec by simply reiterating the Church's teaching of the immorality of abortion in all cases, including rape. The Cardinal told a reporter, after speaking at a pro-life conference in Quebec City: "The child is not responsible for how he was conceived, it is the aggressor who is responsible. We can see him (the child) as another victim."

Fr. Gravel reacted by saying it is "deplorable that a man who is a cardinal, archbishop of Quebec, would hold views like these."

"It's as if women were nothing and what is important is to save their fetus, however it was conceived," he told Radio-Canada. "We are dealing with rape here."

These attacks on Cardinal Ouellet by Fr. Gravel are only the latest in a series of public statements and actions he has made in direct disobedience to the Church and her teachings on life and family.

In 2003, Fr. Gravel wrote an article criticizing the Vatican's stance on homosexuality.

In 2004, he told Radio-Canada that he would not stop receiving Communion despite his support for abortion.

In 2006, he led a group of 19 Quebecois priests in signing a letter condemning the Church's teachings on homosexuality.

Again in 2006, he defied Vatican directives by taking up a position as Member of Parliament for Repentigny, Quebec.

As MP in 2007, he opposed the Unborn Victims of Crime Act, stating that he feared it would "open the door to a re-criminalization of women who have abortions, and that's not to be desired."

Finally, in 2008, he backed the decision to award infamous abortionist Henry Morgentaler the Order of Canada, and criticized the Canadian bishops for their opposition.

There are growing concerns among Canadian Catholics regarding the fact that Gravel, who has so often publicly opposed essential Catholic teachings, somehow still manages to retain his priestly faculties.

To sign a petition in support of Cardinal Ouellet, click here.

Find full LifeSiteNews.com coverage of Fr. Raymond Gravel click here.

Contact Information:

Most Rev. Gilles Lussier (Gravel's bishop)
Bishop of Joliette
2, rue Saint-Charles-Borromée Nord
C.P. 470
Joliette, Québec
J6E 6H6
Tel: (450) 753-7596
Fax: (450) 759-0929
E-mail: chancel@diocesedejoliette.org

Archbishop Pedro López Quintana, Apostolic Nuncio to Canada
724 Manor Avenue
Ottawa, ON
KIM OE3,
Phone: (613) 746-4914
Fax: (613) 746-4786

William Cardinal Levada
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
Piazza del S. Uffizio, 11, 00193 Roma, Italy
Fax: 06.69.88.34.09
E-mail: cdf@cfaith.va
(Mail or fax is most effective.)

See related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:

Pro-Gay Priest Condemns Canadian Cardinal for Remarks on Abortion/Rape http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2010/may/10051807.html

Cardinal Ouellet Clarifies: Church Still Asks States 'To Penalize the Practice of Abortion' http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2010/may/10052710.html

Cardinal Ouellet and Ottawa Archbishop: "The Abortion Debate is on" http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2010/may/10052609.html

SPOKANE DIOCESE TO HOLD C.C.H.D. COLLECTION DESPITE FUNDING OF PRO-ABORTION, SAME-SEX MARRIAGE GROUPS

2010-05-24T11:09:00.005-06:00

Note the parallel between the U.S. Catholic Campaign for Human Development and the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace. Both of these so-called Catholic organizations fund groups which promote ideologies that contradict Catholic teaching. Both of them receive money from diocesan collections in their respective countries.

MEDIA RELEASE
http://all.org/article.php?id=12782

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
14 May 2010
CONTACT: Katie Walker
540.659.4942 kwalker@all.org

SPOKANE DIOCESE TO HOLD C.C.H.D. COLLECTION DESPITE FUNDING OF PRO-ABORTION, SAME-SEX MARRIAGE GROUPS

Washington, DC (14 May 2010) – Judie Brown, president of American Life League, expressed dismay after the Diocese of Spokane, Washington, informed ALL that it will participate in the Catholic Campaign for Human Development’s annual collection, following six months of continuing revelations that the CCHD is funding organizations that promote contraception, abortion and/or same-sex “marriage.”

Brown said, “When such egregious violations of Catholic doctrine have been verified and exposed, it is the bishop’s responsibility to protect his flock from scandal.”

Last November, ALL and the Reform CCHD Now Coalition revealed that nearly 50 organizations receiving funds from the CCHD were advocating ideologies that directly contradict the Catholic Church’s teaching.

Michael Hichborn, ALL’s lead researcher on the CCHD, said, ”It’s disheartening to hear that Bishop William Skylstad will not be joining his 10 brother bishops who have announced that their dioceses will not take up the CCHD’s annual collection this year because of its history of funding such organizations.”

Bishops are free to decide whether or not their dioceses will participate in the annual nationwide collection in November. Those that do participate send 75 percent of the collection to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in Washington, D.C. The remaining 25 percent is used for local CCHD initiatives.

ALL and the Reform CCHD Now coalition have released detailed reports on one-fifth of last year’s CCHD grantees and recently revealed a version of the Stations of the Cross produced by the CCHD that highlighted grantees advocating ideologies that violate Church teaching.

“We hope that the Catholics of the Spokane diocese will read our reports and write on the CCHD collection envelope, ‘No funds for CCHD,’ and we continue to call on Catholics throughout the country to withhold donations to the CCHD until it is thoroughly investigated and reformed,” said Hichborn.

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:

Reform CCHD Now:
http://reformcchdnow.com/

American Life League: CCHD
http://www.all.org/cchd

LifeSiteNews: Two More Bishops Cut CCHD Collection (27 April 2010)http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2010/apr/10042708.html

What is the conscience?

2010-05-08T21:23:00.003-06:00

The definiton of conscience is from the Modern Catholic Dictionary, by Father John Hardon, S.J.. This resource can be found at The Real Presence Eucharistic and Adoration Association.

CONSCIENCE. The judgment of the practical intellect deciding, from general principles of faith and reason, the goodness or badness of a way of acting that a person now faces.
It is an operation of the intellect and not of the feelings or even of the will. An action is right or wrong because of objective principles to which the mind must subscribe, not because a person subjectively feels that way or because his will wants it that way.
Conscience, therefore, is a specific act of the mind applying its knowledge to a concrete moral situation. What the mind decides in a given case depends on principles already in the mind.
These principles are presupposed as known to the mind, either from the light of natural reason reflecting on the data of creation, or from divine faith responding to God's supernatural revelation. Conscience does not produce these principles; it accepts them. Nor does conscience pass judgment on the truths of reason and divine faith; it uses them as the premises from which to conclude whether something should be done (or should have been done) because it is good, or should be omitted (or should have been omitted) because it is bad. Its conclusions also apply to situations where the mind decides that something is permissible or preferable but not obligatory.
Always the role of conscience is to decide subjectively on the ethical propriety of a specific action, here and now, for this person, in these circumstances. But always, too, the decision is a mental conclusion derived from objective norms that conscience does not determine on its own, receiving it as given by the Author of nature and divine grace.

Modern Catholic Dictionary by Fr. John A. Hardon, S.J., copyright Intermirifica

Support Priests, Especially in Moments of Difficulty

2010-05-07T22:45:00.003-06:00

VATICAN CITY, 5 MAY 2010 (VIS) - In today's general audience, which was celebrated in St. Peter's Square, the Pope focused his remarks on the priest's mission to sanctify humankind.
"Sanctifying a person means putting that person in contact with God", said the Pope, noting how "an essential part of a priest's grace is his gift, his task to establish such contact. This comes about through the announcement of the Word of God, ... and particularly intensely in the Sacraments".

"Over recent decades", he went on, "various schools of thought have tried to make the aspect of announcement prevail in the priest's mission and identity, separating it from sanctification. It has often been affirmed that there is a need to go beyond merely sacramental pastoral care".
"Ordained ministers", the Pope explained, "represent Christ, God's envoy, they ... continue His mission through the 'Word' and the 'Sacrament', which are the two main pillars of priestly service". In this context he identified the need "to reflect whether, in certain cases, having undervalued the faithful exercise of 'munus sanctificandi' has not perhaps led to a weakening of faith in the salvific effectiveness of the Sacraments and, in the final analysis, in the real action of Christ and His Spirit, through the Church, in the world".

"It is, therefore, important to promote appropriate catechesis in order to help the faithful understand the value of the Sacraments. But it is equally necessary, following the example of the saintly 'Cure of Ars', to be willing, generous and attentive in giving the faithful the treasures of grace that God has placed in our hands, treasures of which we are not masters but custodians and administrators. Especially in our own time - in which on the one hand, the faith seems to be weakening and, on the other, there is a profound need and widespread search for spirituality - it is necessary for each priest to remember that ... missionary announcement and worship are never separate, and that he must promote a healthy sacramental pastoral care in order to form the People of God and help them to fully experience the liturgy ... and the Sacraments as gratuitous gifts of God, free and effective aspects of His action of salvation".

The Pope went on to highlight how "each priest knows he is a tool necessary for God's salvific action, but nonetheless just a tool. This awareness must make him humble and generous in administering the Sacraments, respecting the canonical norms but also profoundly convinced that his mission is to ensure that mankind, united to Christ, can offer itself to God as a living and holy sacrifice acceptable to Him".

Addressing himself directly to priests the Holy Father encouraged them "to practice liturgy and worship with joy and love". He also renewed his call "to return to the confessional, as a place in which to celebrate the Sacrament of Reconciliation, but also as a place in which 'to dwell' more frequently, that the faithful may find mercy, counsel and comfort, feel themselves to be loved and understood by God, and experience the presence of Divine Mercy alongside the real presence in the Eucharist".

"I would also like to invite each priest to celebrate and to live the Eucharist intensely", said Benedict XVI. Priests "are called to be ministers of this great Mystery, in the Sacrament and in life".

Likewise, "it is indispensable to strive after the moral perfection which must dwell in each authentically priestly heart", because "there is an example of faith and a witness of sanctity that the People of God expect from their pastors".

Pope Benedict concluded by calling on the faithful "to be aware of the great gift that priests represent for the Church and the world. Through their ministry the Lord continues to save mankind, to make Himself present, to sanctify. Give thanks to God and above all remain close to your priests with prayer and support, especially in moments of difficulty, that they may increasingly become pastors in keeping with God's heart".

2010-05-07T22:30:00.002-06:00

"The martyrs by their meek constancy vanquished the fiercest tyrants, and haughty lords of the world; they struck with a secret awe those who tormented them, whose obstinancy, malice, and love of the world still shut their hearts to the truth."

Butlers Lives of the Saints, Martyrs, and Other Saints, St. Eusubius, page 122, volume iii

Pope: The fullness of life lies in radical choices

2010-05-03T22:33:00.000-06:00

Pope: The fullness of life lies in radical choices

One Million Rosaries for Unborn Babies May 7th - May 9th: St. Michael the Archangel Organization

2010-05-02T10:25:00.002-06:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 30th, 2010
CONTACT: Patrick Benedict

PatrickBenedict@SaintMichaelTheArchangelOrganization.org

PERSONS FROM 34 NATIONS REGISTER
FOR MAY 7th - 9th PRO-LIFE ROSARY

MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE (April 30th, 2010) - In what may become the most widely supported pro-life prayer event of its kind, the May 7th - 9th ONE MILLION ROSARIES FOR UNBORN BABIES now has registrants from the following 34 nations: Zambia, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, England, Philippines, Chile, India, Singapore, South Africa, Nigeria, Lithuania, Netherlands, Ivory Coast, Latvia, Israel, United Arab Emirates, Belgium, U.S.A., Peru, Uruguay, Malaysia, Vietnam, Ireland, Germany, Panama, Columbia, Spain, Italy, Sri Lanka, Portugal, Slovakia, Romania, and Mexico.

Currently, more than 16,000 Rosaries are scheduled to be prayed May 7th - 9th for the following intention: For an end to the surgical and non-surgical killing of unborn human persons. A wide range of people will be participating, including nuns, members of families, prayer group members, students, parishioners, priests, etc.

Persons who want to be a part of the ONE MILLION ROSARIES FOR UNBORN BABIES prayer event may register at www.SaintMichaelTheArchangelOrganization.org.

In addition to registering, persons are also encouraged to let other people know about the May 7th - 9th(Friday - Sunday) Rosary prayer event. [The above-listed website has a section concerning ways to promote the prayer event]. Persons without access to a computer may write to: P.O. Box 41257; Memphis, Tennessee 38174; U.S.A.

This is the third year the Saint Michael the Archangel Organization has attempted to get one million Rosaries prayed for unborn babies. Within that time span, the ONE MILLION ROSARIES FOR UNBORN BABIES prayer event has been supported by many people, including Cardinal Francis Arinze and Archbishop Raymond L. Burke

General Audience May 1, 2002 John Paul II: St. Joseph the Worker

2010-05-01T13:27:00.003-06:00

Pray the Rosary daily for the gift of peace

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

1. Today, on the first of May, we observe Labour Day. We Christians place the celebration under the patronage of St Joseph the Worker. We observe such an important day with initiatives that tend to emphasize the importance and value of the work by which the human person, transforming nature and adapting it to his needs, realizes himself as a human being.

The Lord's invitation to subdue the earth (cf. Gn 2,28), that we find at the beginning of the history of salvation, holds a definitive and contemporary importance. Creation is a gift that God entrusts to the human being so that by carefully cultivating and safeguarding it, it can supply his needs. From our work comes the "daily bread" that we pray for in the Our Father. One can say that through his work the human person becomes more human. This is why industriousness is a virtue. For industriousness effectively to permit the person to become more human, it must always be joined with the social disposition of work. Only in this way will we protect the inalienable dignity of the person and the human and social value of the work that is done. To the watchful protection of St Joseph the Worker we entrust those who belong to the great family of work in every place in the world.

2. Today we begin the month dedicated to Our Lady a favourite of popular devotion. In accord with a longstanding tradition of devotion, parishes and families continue to make the month of May a "Marian" month, celebrating it with many devout liturgical, catechetical and pastoral initiatives! May it really be a month of intense prayer with Mary! This is the wish I wholeheartedly formulate for each of you, Brothers and Sisters, recommending to you once again the daily prayer of the Rosary. It is a simple and repetitive prayer but very profitable for drawing us into the mysteries of Christ and of his and our Mother. It is also a way of praying that the Church knows is pleasing to Our Lady. We are invited to make use of it, especially in the more difficult moments of our earthly pilgrimage.

3. Beginning the month of Mary, I invite all of you to join with me in praying for workers, especially those who experience difficulties in the workplace. We also need to intensify our confident and unceasing prayer for peace in the Holy Land where we hope that the Israeli and Palestinian peoples, who are so dear to me, will come to live in security and serenity. May the intercession of Our Lady and of St Joseph, her Spouse and the Guardian of the Redeemer, obtain it for us.

His Holiness John Paul II, General Audience, Wednesday, May 1, 2002

"Quebec Parents to Take Mandatory Relavtivistic Ethics Course to Supreme Court" LifeSite News.com

2010-04-29T22:19:00.002-06:00

MONTREAL, Quebec, April 29, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Drummondville couple who requested that their children be exempted from Quebec's new program in relativism, Ethics and Religious Culture (ERC), have decided to take their case to the Supreme Court of Canada following the February decision of the Quebec Court of Appeal to deny their appeal.

The parents are being supported in this effort by the Coalition for Freedom in Education (CLE), who praised the family Wednesday for their “principled and courageous” fight for the authentic education of children. Sylvain Lamontagne, CLE's president, declared that "as far as the parents are concerned, this curriculum trivializes their religion and moral values and treat[s] them as no more important or true as any other.”

“Some sociologists have even publicly qualified it as indoctrination,” he added.
A study released at the end of 2009 by sociologist Joelle Querin found that the program teaches children that the values their parents espouse at home "are relative and that they are free to develop their own ethical life."

Richard Décarie, a spokesman for CLE, said that "imposing this curriculum to all children is a serious onslaught on parental rights and freedom of conscience, so much so that even the United States government is closely monitoring the situation.”

Décarie was referring to a 2009 report on religious freedom throughout the world from the U.S. State Department that included a paragraph on the Drummondville parents' case, which was before the Quebec Superior Court at the time.

The parents had requested an exemption to the course from the Ministry of Education on the basis that it violated their religious beliefs, but were denied. They took the Ministry to the Quebec Superior Court in the spring of 2009, which ruled in favor of the Ministry in August.
In a press release today, CLE pointed out that no exemptions at all have been granted to the ERC program. The loss of the fundamental right for parents to choose the moral and religious education of their children at school is currently limited to Québec, they said, but they warned that if this encroachment by the state goes unchallenged, it may set a precedent and encourage other provinces in Canada to follow Québec's lead.

The Québec family's appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada is supported by various associations, such as the 104,000-strong Knights of Columbus of Québec. The Québec population is also strongly committed to freedom of choice in moral and religious education, according to two successive Leger Marketing polls. In May 2009 they found that 76% of parents thought parents should be able to choose between ERC and a denominational religious education program. That was up from October 2008, when 72 percent favored such a choice.

See related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:
Quebec Family's Appeal Rejected for Exemption from Mandatory Relativism Course http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2010/feb/10022610.html
New Study Rips Into Quebec Relativism Course http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/dec/09121606.html

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"St. Louis de Montfort, Apostle of Mary for Today" by Father John Hardon, S.J.

2010-04-28T22:25:00.006-06:00

Article may be found here at The Real Presence Association.

+++

A quote from St. Louis de Montfort, Apostle of Mary for Today, by Father John Hardon, S.J.:

"On the occasion of the second millennium of Mary's birth, Pope John Paul II emphasized the importance of a true devotion to the Blessed Virgin. He singled out St. Louis de Montfort as a prime example of what this means.

He proposes consecration to Christ through the hands of Mary, as an effective means for Christians to live faithfully their baptismal commitments. I am pleased to note that in our own time, too, many manifestations of this spirituality and devotion are not lacking.

If there is one feature of the present Pope's pontificate, it is his emphasis on the need for devotion to the Blessed Virgin to stem the tide of global secularism in the modern world. It is easy to dismiss the Pope's Marian spirituality as a pious eccentricity. But Pope John Paul II is too intelligent and too experienced not to know that only supernatural means can halt the advance of unbelief in what he calls "the materially super-developed nations" in Western society. In one conference after another, in one document after another, the Pope insists: only a renaissance of Mariology in thought and practice can restore once Christian nations to their original commitment to the Son of Mary."

World Day of Vocations: April 25th, Message of the Holy Father, Pope Benedict

2010-04-24T22:23:00.003-06:00

Here is an excerpt from the Holy Father's address. The full text can be found here.

"Every priest, every consecrated person, faithful to his or her vocation, radiates the joy of serving Christ and draws all Christians to respond to the universal call to holiness. Consequently, in order to foster vocations to the ministerial priesthood and the consecrated life, and to be more effective in promoting the discernment of vocations, we cannot do without the example of those who have already said “yes” to God and to his plan for the life of each individual. Personal witness, in the form of concrete existential choices, will encourage young people for their part to make demanding decisions affecting their future. Those who would assist them need to have the skills for encounter and dialogue which are capable of enlightening and accompanying them, above all through the example of life lived as a vocation. This was what the holy Curé of Ars did: always in close contact with his parishioners, he taught them “primarily by the witness of his life. It was from his example that the faithful learned to pray” (Letter Proclaiming the Year for Priests, 16 June 2009).

May this World Day once again offer many young people a precious opportunity to reflect on their own vocation and to be faithful to it in simplicity, trust and complete openness. May the Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church, watch over each tiny seed of a vocation in the hearts of those whom the Lord calls to follow him more closely, may she help it to grow into a mature tree, bearing much good fruit for the Church and for all humanity. With this prayer, to all of you I impart my Apostolic Blessing."

His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI Meeting with Young People in Malta

2010-04-23T16:07:00.002-06:00

An excerpt, with the full address here at the Vatican website:

"Saint John tells us that perfect love casts out fear (cf. 1 Jn 4:18). And so I say to all of you, “Do not be afraid!” How many times we hear those words in the Scriptures! They are addressed by the angel to Mary at the Annunciation, by Jesus to Peter when calling him to be a disciple, and by the angel to Paul on the eve of his shipwreck. To all of you who wish to follow Christ, as married couples, as parents, as priests, as religious, as lay faithful bringing the message of the Gospel to the world, I say, do not be afraid! You may well encounter opposition to the Gospel message. Today’s culture, like every culture, promotes ideas and values that are sometimes at variance with those lived and preached by our Lord Jesus Christ. Often they are presented with great persuasive power, reinforced by the media and by social pressure from groups hostile to the Christian faith. It is easy, when we are young and impressionable, to be swayed by our peers to accept ideas and values that we know are not what the Lord truly wants for us. That is why I say to you: do not be afraid, but rejoice in his love for you; trust him, answer his call to discipleship, and find nourishment and spiritual healing in the sacraments of the Church.

Here in Malta, you live in a society that is steeped in Christian faith and values. You should be proud that your country both defends the unborn and promotes stable family life by saying no to abortion and divorce. I urge you to maintain this courageous witness to the sanctity of life and the centrality of marriage and family life for a healthy society. In Malta and Gozo, families know how to value and care for their elderly and infirm members, and they welcome children as gifts from God. Other nations can learn from your Christian example. In the context of European society, Gospel values are once again becoming counter-cultural, just as they were at the time of Saint Paul.

In this Year for Priests, I ask you to be open to the possibility that the Lord may be calling some of you to give yourselves totally to the service of his people in the priesthood or the consecrated life. Your country has given many fine priests and religious to the Church. Be inspired by their example, and recognize the profound joy that comes from dedicating one’s life to spreading the message of God’s love for all people, without exception. "

Pope Benedict, Meeting with Young People, Third Sunday of Easter, April 18, 2010, Malta

To be Catholic is to always defend the authority of the Pope

2010-04-22T21:58:00.004-06:00

"There is no other possible attitude for a Catholic: we have to defend the authority of the Pope always, and to be ready always to correct our own views with docility, in line with the teaching authority of the Church."

St Josemaria Escriva, #581, The Forge

Statement by Canadian Catholic Conference of Bishops that "Catholics for a Free Choice" is not Catholic

2010-04-21T12:40:00.003-06:00

See the statement at the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishop's website.

A New Article by Monsignor Vincent Foy: "The Betrayal of Homosexuals"

2010-04-19T08:00:00.007-06:00

Thank you to Monsignor Vincent Foy for sending a new article entitled "The Betrayal of Homosexuals," in which he expounds the truth about homosexuality and about homosexuals as well as the betrayal of homosexuals from outside and inside the Church.

One of the greatest heroes in the Catholic Church in Canada is without doubt Monsignor Vincent N. Foy. Monsignor Foy is a priest and canon lawyer of the Archdiocese of Toronto, a one-time head of the archdiocesan marriage tribunal, and a founder and Honorary Member of the Canadian Canon Law Society. He is the oldest priest in his Archdiocese and the only surviving priest of the class of 1939 of St. Augustine's Seminary. For more than forty years, Monsignor Foy has fearlessly promoted and defended the teachings of the Church's Magisterium in a time of moral and doctrinal chaos in the Church in Canada. In particular, in the face of numerous obstacles and persecutions, Monsignor Foy has promoted and defended the teachings of the encyclical Humanae Vitae, teachings absolutely critical the "creation of a truly human civilization" (Pope Paul VI, Humanae Vitae, 18). In carrying out this task, Monsignor Foy has been the number one voice in Canada calling for the revocal of the erroneous Winnipeg Statement, the Canadian Catholic Conference of Bishops' response to Humanae Vitae, which said that the Successor of St. Peter was wrong about the regulation of birth and that Catholics could practice contraception if their consciences told them so.

Note: Please see the sidebar for articles by Monsignor Foy

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The Betrayal of Homosexuals

by

Msgr. Vincent Foy

On January 12, 2010, Archbishop Raymond Burke, former Archbishop of St. Louis, Missouri, and now Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signature, gave the homily at the annual Red Mass of Saint Mary’s Basilica, Diocese of Phoenix. He said “We see before our eyes the evil fruits of life in a society which pretends to take the place of God in making its laws and in giving its judgments, in a society in which those in power decide what is right and just, according to their desires and convenience, even at the cost of perpetrating the gravest harm upon their neighbour.”

Among the evil fruits of this decadent age there is an unparalleled betrayal of homosexuals. That evil fruit we consider here briefly, emphasizing the betrayal as the rejection of justice and charity towards a significant number of God’s sons and daughters.

To reach right conclusions and point the way to undoing the betrayal it is essential to consider the truth about homosexuality and the truth about homosexuals.

The Truth About Homosexuality

First, we ought to have a clear notion of the nature of homosexuality. This is given in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (n. 2357). We are told that Sacred Scripture inspired by God, describes homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity, that tradition has always declared homosexual acts as gravely disordered and contrary to natural law.

Many passages of Scripture could be quoted (e.g. 1Cor. 6:10; 1Tim. 1:10). Sufficient for here is a quotation from St. Paul’s Letter to the Romans (1: 26-27): “For this reason God gave them up to dishonourable passions. Their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in their own persons the due penalty for their error.”

This same judgment is confirmed by many Christian writers of the first centuries (e.g. St. Polycarp; St. Justin Martyr; Athenagoras.) Sodomy was considered one of the frightful sins .which cry to Heaven for vengeance. An ancient adage declared: “Clamat ad coelem vox sanguinis et sodomorum, vox oppressorum, merces detenta laborum” A free translation is “The voice of blood (murder) and of sodomy, of the oppressed and of those labourers deprived of their wages cry out to Heaven.”

The evaluation of homosexual activity as a grave moral evil was not exclusively Christian. All major religions and societies until this age have condemned it.

Reason also confirms Scripture and Tradition. Human anatomy proclaims sodomy unnatural. The complementarity of man and woman, physically, psychologically and emotionally, declare it (cf. Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, June 3, 2003: “Considerations Regarding Proposals to Give Legal Recognition to Unions Between Homosexual Persons”). The very body cries out against homosexual activity. Disease is more readily contracted through sodomy then through natural relations.

The Truth About Homosexuals

Homosexuals enjoy all the rights inherent in their human state. The words of Christ “Love your neighbor as yourself” apply to all in their attitude towards homosexuals. Like all, they are called to chastity and holiness and we owe our cooperation in this magnificent vocation. It has been said that the only real tragedy in life is not to become a saint. Certainly the only true tragedy is not to die in God’s love and grace.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church tells us that men and women who have homosexual tendencies should be accepted with “respect, compassion and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination should be avoided” (n. 2358). In justice we must condemn all violence against them, avoid all derogatory remarks and labels. An excellent document on this matter is entitled “And the Truth Will Make you Free” a Letter to Bishops of the Catholic Church on the Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons (Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, October 1, 1986).

To sum up, Truth demands that homosexual persons be accorded all rights which follow from their humanity as persons created in the image and likeness of God.

Betrayal

Under the guise of liberalism, freedom of choice, conscience rights and a host of other masks we see at present the most widespread and prevalent betrayal of homosexuals in the history of the world. We consider this betrayal in its various sources sometimes against justice, sometimes against charity, and always against the truth.

This betrayal is sometimes self-inflicted, sometimes from outside the Church and sometimes from within the Church.

Self-Inflicted Betrayal

Whether it is due to misguided background, wrong education or self-deception or other reasons, homosexuals often deceive and therefore betray themselves.

An example of this is a recent demonstration in which homosexuals waved a banner which declared “Proudly Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered and Proudly Catholic.” Dignity groups foster a similar self-deception. Gregory Baum, primary perverter of Catholic Truth in Canada, advises homosexuals to remain in the Church and labour to change its teaching from within. On February 5, 2010 Cardinal George, President of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, condemned “New Ways Ministry” which describes itself as “gay-positive ministry of advocacy and justice for lesbian and gay Catholics.” The Cardinal said; “I wish to make it clear that, like other groups that claim to be Catholic but deny central aspects of Church teaching, New Ways ministry has no approval or recognition from the Catholic Church and that they cannot speak on behalf of the Church and that they cannot speak on behalf of the Catholic faithful in the United States.”

May other examples of self-inflicted betrayal of Truth could be cited.

Betrayal from Outside the Church

The betrayal of homosexuals comes mostly from outside the Church, from a culture saturated with secularism, paganism and atheism. They are betrayed by civil laws which proclaim the lie that homosexuals have a right to marriage. They are betrayed by so-called human rights tribunals which penalize the critics of homosexual behaviour. They are betrayed by school boards which order the teaching that homosexual activity is a legitimate life-style which must be respected. They are betrayed by some politicians, judges and governments. They are betrayed by the mumbo jumbo of pseudo-science concerning the compulsion to perverse behaviour.

Betrayal comes via movies, periodicals, television and all the media means.

For a time non-Catholic Christian denominations held to the traditional truth of the grave moral evil of homosexual behavior. Now, that unity in truth has crumbled. Now some non-Catholic denominations have homosexual pastors, lesbians, “priestesses” and Bishops. An example is Gwynne Guibord, lesbian Episcopal “priestess,” credited with getting the American National Council of Churches to scrap an endorsement of traditional marriage in 2000. In June 2005 Canada became the fourth country in the world to legalize same-sex “marriage. Soon there was a proliferation of non-Catholic churches allowing this mockery of marriage. At hand is a notice of the “Packet and Times of Orillia”, November 2, 2009. It records that the congregation at St. Paul’s United Church, Orillia, voted in favour of same-sex “marriage” at that church. Church members high-school age and up voted on this matter. “Overwhelmingly, the congregation voted Yes to the motion.” So God’s Law was falsely subjected to human endorsement.

Betrayal from Within the Church

From within the Catholic Church betrayal of homosexuals is varied and widespread.

The Ontario English Catholic Teachers Association, OECTA, reacted favourably to the new Ontario legislation by which school children are to be taught that they should have a positive attitude towards the homosexual lifestyle.

For many years the now happily defunct Catholic New Times newspaper encouraged homosexuals to remain in the Church and work towards Church approval of homosexual conduct. Gregory Baum, still invited to speak at nominally Catholic Colleges, has been a constant supporter of this approach.

St Michael’s Hospital in Toronto is a supporter of the Gay Pride Parade.

So-called Catholic colleges like St. Michael’s in Toronto, support student “Rainbow groups” which condone homosexual activity.

In a major editorial in the Tablet (Feb. 6, 2010), England’s nominally Catholic periodical, there is a call for the Church to change her attitude towards homosexuality. We are told that the Catholic Church should facilitate greater acceptance of the homosexual lifestyle or risk losing public approval. The evil and error of this betrayal of homosexuals is described in Lifesite News in a report dated Feb. 11, 2010. The Tablet, often deviating from Catholic doctrine, is sold widely in the Catholic churches of Great Britain despite the prohibition of Canon Law. “Books or other written material dealing with religion or morals may not be displayed, sold or given away in Churches or oratories, unless they were published with the permission of the competent ecclesiastical authority or were subsequently approved by that authority.” (Canon 827.4)

Frequently speakers at Catholic events or institutions betray homosexuals. Perhaps the most influential of such events is the Religious Education Congress under the approval of Cardinal Mahony of Los Angeles. It was scheduled for March 18-21, 2010. It has been described as the largest dissent-fest of all time, with 40,000 expected to attend, tens of thousands of them religious education teachers from the USA and other countries. Many of their speakers are promoters of the so-called gay lifestyle. Among the 188 speakers are Fr. James Martin S.J., who says we need “public models of gay priests for Catholics to reflect on, to counter the stereotype of the gay priest as child abuser”; Rev. Bryan Massingale from Marquette University, opposed Wisconsin’s Marriage Protection Act which would ban “gay marriage” and “civil unions”; Fr. Richard Rohr, once reprimanded for presiding at a lesbian “wedding”; Sr. Fran Ferder, who rejects the Church’s teaching against non-marital sex; Fr. John Heagle, who says moral theologians should listen to the “love stories of the gay and lesbian community”; Fr. Michael Crosby who criticizes the “unequal power between homosexual and heterosexual people”; Dr. Richard Gaillardetz, (who incidentally was a guest speaker at the CCCB conference in Cornwall in the Fall of 2009), who undermines Church teaching on sodomy, contraception and women’s ordination. There are many other dissenting speakers.

The above are only a sampling of numerous betrayals of homosexuals.

Righting the Betrayal

So widespread is the betrayal of homosexuals that we can only hope to curb it, not eliminate it.

Bishops have the power and duty to demand that all Catholic schools, colleges and institutions within their jurisdiction be faithful to Catholic Truth.

Priests through counseling, homilies, in the confessional, and catechesis can help homosexuals, often one by one.

The laity can encourage homosexuals and support the various organizations which promote chastity and holiness for homosexuals, for example “Courage” founded by Fr. John Harvey. In the U.S. there is Concerned Roman Catholics of America and other groups.

We can do what we can politically to defeat candidates who would promote the life of homosexual “marriage” or would permit homosexuals to adopt children. We can protest by letter or other means every attempt in schools to present homosexual activity as legitimate.

We can encourage Catholic groups like the Catholic Women’s League and the Knights of Columbus to engage activity in the struggle against the betrayal of homosexuals.

All can pray for homosexuals; we should never deviate from charity towards them while never condoning homosexual activity.

We can give homosexuals the example of lives lived in chastity and goodness.
To all homosexuals we say: Peace, Hope, and Joy in your daily pursuit of chastity and holiness. God be with you! May you always keep in your hearts the words of St. Paul “You are not called to immorality but to holiness.”

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Bill C-384 Canada: legalizing the murder of those who are experiencing severe physical or mental pain and those who are terminally ill

2010-04-17T15:28:00.005-06:00

See the text of the Bill here at the Government of Canada's website.

What you can do: Information at Priests for Life Canada.

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Commentary on euthanasia at Biblia Clerus here.

From the Catechism of the Catholic Church:

Euthanasia

2276 Those whose lives are diminished or weakened deserve special respect. Sick or handicapped persons should be helped to lead lives as normal as possible.

2277 Whatever its motives and means, direct euthanasia consists in putting an end to the lives of handicapped, sick, or dying persons. It is morally unacceptable.
Thus an act or omission which, of itself or by intention, causes death in order to eliminate suffering constitutes a murder gravely contrary to the dignity of the human person and to the respect due to the living God, his Creator. The error of judgment into which one can fall in good faith does not change the nature of this murderous act, which must always be forbidden and excluded.

2278 Discontinuing medical procedures that are burdensome, dangerous, extraordinary, or disproportionate to the expected outcome can be legitimate; it is the refusal of "over-zealous" treatment. Here one does not will to cause death; one's inability to impede it is merely accepted. The decisions should be made by the patient if he is competent and able or, if not, by those legally entitled to act for the patient, whose reasonable will and legitimate interests must always be respected.

2279 Even if death is thought imminent, the ordinary care owed to a sick person cannot be legitimately interrupted. The use of painkillers to alleviate the sufferings of the dying, even at the risk of shortening their days, can be morally in conformity with human dignity if death is not willed as either an end or a means, but only foreseen and tolerated as inevitable Palliative care is a special form of disinterested charity. As such it should be encouraged.

Source: Catechism of the Catholic Church

Definition of Calumny

2010-04-16T16:47:00.010-06:00

Just as our Lord suffered calumnies, so does the Holy Father. Those in the media in the West are not interested in Truth, but their intention is to "crucify" the Holy Father. The persecution and oppression of the Catholic Church over the past two thousand years is a sure sign of her divine origin. If it was founded by a mere man, it would have been destroyed by now.

Here is the defintion of calumny:

"Injuring another person's good name by lying. It is doubly sinful, in unjustly depriving another of his good name and in telling an untruth. Since calumny violates justice, it involves the duty of making reparation for the foreseen injury inflicted. Hence the calumniator must try, not only to repair the harm done to another's good name, but also to make up for any foreseen temporal loss that resulted from the calumny, for example, loss of employment or customers.

(Etym. Latin calumnia, a false accusation, malicious charge; from calvi, to deceive)

From: Modern Catholic Dictionary, John A. Hardon, SJ., Copyright 1999 Inter Mirifica, Reprinted and Published by: Eternal LIfe

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"Let us therefore lie in wait for the just, becasue he is not for our turn, and he is contrary to our doings, and upbraideth us with transgressions of the law, and divulgeth against us the sins of our way of life.

He is become a censurer of our thoughts.He is grevious unto us, even to behold: for his life is not like other men's and his ways are very different.

Let us see then if his words be true, and let us prove what shall happen to him: and we shall know what his end will be.

Let us examine him by outrages and tortures, that we may know his meekness and try his patience.

Let us condemn him to a most shameful death: for there shall be respect had unto him by his words.

These things they thought, and were deceived: for their own malice blinded them.

And they knew not the secrets of God, nor hoped for the wages of justice, nor esteemed the honour of holy souls.

For God created man incorruptible, and to the image of his own likeness he made him.

But, by the envy of the devil, death came into the world: And they follow him that are of his side."

Wisdom 2: 12, 14, 15, 17, 19 -25

Message for the Conclusion of the Year for Priests from the Prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy

2010-04-15T11:37:00.003-06:00

THE CONCLUSION OF THE YEAR FOR PRIESTS

Dear Priests,

The Year for Priests brings great joy to the Church and she thanks the Lord for having inspired the Holy Father to announce it. All the information which is presented here in Rome concerning the numerous initiatives taken by the local Churches throughout the world, in order to put this special year into effect, are proof of how this Year has been so well received and – we can add – how it has responded to a true and deep longing of priests and the entire People of God. It was time to give special attention, acknowledgement and commitment to the great, hardworking and irreplaceable presbyterium, and to each individual priest of the Church.

It is true that, albeit proportionately small in number, some priests have committed horrible and most serious crimes of sexual abuse upon minors, deeds that we must condemn and rebuke in an absolute and uncompromising manner. Those individuals must answer for their actions before God and before tribunals, including the civil courts. Nevertheless, we also pray that they might achieve spiritual conversion and receive pardon from God. The Church, for her part, is determined neither to hide nor to minimize such crimes. Above all we are on the side of the victims and want to support their recovery and their offended rights.

On the other hand, it is absolutely unacceptable to use the crimes of the few in order to sully the entire ecclesial body of priests. Those who do so commit a profound injustice. In the course the Year for Priests, the Church seeks to say this to human society. Anyone possessed of common sense and good will knows it to be the truth.

That being necessarily said, we turn now to you, dear priests. We want to repeat to you, yet again, that we recognise that which you are and that which you do in the Church and in society. The Church loves you, admires you and respects you. You are, moreover, a joy for our Catholic people throughout the world and it welcomes you and supports you, especially in theses times of suffering.

Within two months we will have reached the conclusion of the Year for Priests. The Pope, dear priests, invites you from the heart to come to Rome from every part of the world for this conclusion, on the 9th, 10th and 11th June next. From every country in the world! Shouldn’t we expect many thousands of them from the countries nearest Rome? Do not, then, hesitate to respond to the heartfelt and cordial invitation of the Holy Father. Come to Rome and God will bless you. The Pope wants to confirm the priests of the Church. Their presence in large numbers in St. Peter’s Square will be a proactive and responsible way for priests to show themselves ready and unintimidated for the service of the humanity entrusted to them by Jesus Christ. Their visibility in the Square, before the modern world, will be a proclamation of their being sent not to condemn the world, but to save it (cf. Jn. 3: 17 and 12: 47). In such a context even a large number will have a special significance.

There is yet another particular motivation for the presence in Rome of numerous priests for the conclusion of the Year for Priests, which is found at the heart of the Church today. One speaks of offering to our beloved Pope Benedict XVI our solidarity, our support, our confidence, and our unconditional communion, in the face of the frequent attacks direct towards Him, at this moment of time, in the field of his decisions with regard to clerics involved in crimes of the sexual abuse of minors. The accusations directed towards Him are obviously unjust, and it has been shown that no one has done as much as Benedict XVI to condemn and to combat properly such crimes. Therefore, the large presence of priests in the Square with Him will be a determined rejection of the unjust attacks of which he is a victim. So then, come as well to publicly support the Holy Father.

The conclusion of the Year for Priests will not be, properly speaking, a conclusion, but a new beginning. We, the People of God and its shepherds, want to thank the Lord for this privileged period of prayer and reflection on the priesthood. At the same time we want to be alert to what the Holy Spirit wants to say to us. Meanwhile we will return to the exercise of our mission in the Church and in the world with renewed joy and with the conviction that God, the Lord of history, remains with us, both in crises and in new times.

May the Virgin Mary, Mother and Queen of Priests, intercede for us and inspire us in the following of her Son Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Rome, 12th April 2010

Cardinal Claudio Hummes

Archbishop Emeritus of São Paulo
Prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy

Prime Minister Stephen Harper announces National Day of Mourning for President of Poland

2010-04-13T13:34:00.006-06:00

Prime Minister Stephen Harper announces national day of mourning for President of Poland

A Tribute to the Fallen Warsaw Business Journal ( in English)

Archdiocese of Warsaw, Poland

"Polish Primate seeks answers, Pope sends condolescences after crash"

Poland begins week of mourning

Pope's Condolescences

VATICAN CITY, 11 APR 2010 (VIS) - After the prayer of Regina Coeli in the Apostolic Palace of Castelgandolfo, the Pope expressed his condolences to the Polish nation for the tragic plane accident of Saturday, in which the President Lech Kaczynski, his wife and other high officials of the State and the military, lost their lives.

Then, addressing the Polish pilgrims present, the Holy Father said that they "perished during a journey to Katyn, the place where thousands of Polish military officers were tortured seventy years ago".

He said, "I entrust all the victims to the goodness of the Lord of Life. I do this in union with the pilgrims congregated in the Sanctuary of Lagiewniki and all those devoted to the Mercy of God in the whole world".

Saturday, Benedict XVI sent a telegram to the President of the Parliament of the Republic of Poland, Bronislaw Komorowski, in which he stated "I entrust the victims of this dramatic accident - the parliamentarians, the politicians, the representatives of the army and the families of Katyn, as well as all the other persons - to the goodness of the merciful God. May he welcome them in his glory. To the families of those that perished and to all the Polish people, I wish to offer my most sincere condolences, assuring them of my spiritual closeness. During this difficult moment, I beg the almighty God for a special blessing for the Polish People".
TGR/ VIS 20100412 (240)

Divine Mercy and where the greatest miracles take place

2010-04-11T22:14:00.005-06:00

From Divine Mercy in My Soul, Diary; Sister M. Faustina Kowalska:

"Today, the Lord gave me knowledge of His anger toward mankind which deserves to have its days shortened because of it's sins. But I learned that the world's existance is maintained by chosen souls; that is, the religious orders. Woe to the world when there will be a lack of religious orders!"

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"Oh, how good it is that Jesus will judge us according to our conscience and not according to people's talk and judgements."

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The Lord to St. Faustina:

"Tell souls where they are to look for solace; that is, in the Tribunal of Mercy [the Sacrament of Reconcilliation]. There the greatest miracles take place [and] are incessantly repeated. To avail oneself of this miracle, it is not necessary to go on a great pilgrimage or to carry out some external ceremony; it suffices to come with faith to the feet of My representative and to reveal to him one's misery, and the miracle of Divine Mercy will be fully demonstrated. Were a soul a decaying corpse so that from a human standpoint, there would be no [hope of] restoration and everything would already be lost, it is not so with God. The miracle of Divine Mercy restores that soul in full. Oh, how miserable are those who do not take advantage of the miracle of God's mercy! You will call out in vain, but it will be too late."

"Bishop of Vietnam in support of the Pope against "spirit of evil and lies" Asia News.it

2010-04-10T19:45:00.006-06:00

See the Bishop's excellent article here... a work of the Spirit of Truth!

It is very probable that we will not hear this message of Truth from anyone in the West.

"The Mystical Body of Satan"

2010-04-09T23:16:00.003-06:00

"The enemies of God and of his Church, manipulated by the devil's unremitting hatred, are relentless in their activities and organization.

With "exemplary" constancy they prepare cadres, run schools, appoint leaders, and deploy agitators. In an undercover way --- but very effectively --- they spread their ideas and sow, in homes and places of work, a seed which is destructive of any religious ideology.

What is there that we Christians should not be ready to do in order to serve our God, of course always with truth?"

St. Josemaria Escrivea, #466, The Forge

"Victory"

2010-04-08T22:46:00.002-06:00

"Since you call yourself a Christian, you have to live the Sacred Liturgy of the Church, putting genuine care into your prayer and mortifications for priests ---especially for new priests --- on the days marked out for this intention, and when you know that they are to receive the Sacrament of Order."

St. Josemaria Escriva, #646 The Forge

St. John Baptist de la Salle, Priest, 1651 -1719

2010-04-07T19:47:00.002-06:00

Here is an account at Catholic Founders of St. John Baptist de la Salle and his founding of the Christian Brothers.

On the main page of the website is found an explanation of aspects common to the persecution of founders of some religious orders.

The Evil Tongues

2010-04-07T16:52:00.003-06:00

by St. Jean Vianney

The Evil Tongues Sermons of the Cure of Ars

There are some who, through envy, for that is what it amounts to, belittle and slander others, especially those in the same business or profession as their own, in order to draw business to themselves. They will say such evil things as "their merchandise is worthless" or "they cheat"; that they have nothing at home and that it would be impossible to give goods away at such a price; that there have been many complaints about these goods; that they will give no value or wear or whatever it is, or even that it is short weight, or not the right length, and so on. A workman will say that another man is not a good worker, that he is always changing his job, that people are not satisfied with him, or that he does no work, that he only puts in his time, or perhaps that he does not know how to work.

"What I was telling you there," they will then add, "it would be better to say nothing about it. He might lose by it, you know."

"Is that so?" you answer." It would have been better if you yourself had said nothing. That would have been the thing to do."

A farmer will observe that his neighbour's property is doing better than his own. This makes him very angry so he will speak evil of him. There are others who slander their neighbours from motives of vengeance. If you do or say something to help someone, even through reasons of duty or of charity, they will then look for opportunities to decry you, to think up things which will harm you, in order to revenge themselves. If their neighbour is well spoken of, they will be very annoyed and will tell you: "He is just like everyone else. He has his own faults. He has done this, he has said that. You didn't know that? Ah, that is because you have never had anything to do with him."

A great many people slander others because of pride. They think that by depreciating others they will increase their own worth. They want to make the most of their own alleged good qualities. Everything they say and do will be good, and everything that others say and do will be wrong.

But the great bulk of malicious talk is done by people who are simply irresponsible, who have an itch to chatter about others without feeling any need to discover whether what they are saying is true or false. They just have to talk. Yet, although these latter are less guilty than the others -- that is to say, than those who slander and backbite through hatred or envy or revenge -- yet they are not free from sin. Whatever the motive that prompts them, they should not sully the reputation of their neighbour.

It is my belief that the sin of scandalmongering includes all that is most evil and wicked. Yes, my dear brethren, this sin includes the poison of all the vices -- the meanness of vanity, the venom of jealousy, the bitterness of anger, the malice of hatred, and the flightiness and irresponsibility so unworthy of a Christian.... Is it not, in fact, scandalmongering which sows almost all discord and disunity, which breaks up friendships and hinders enemies from reconciling their quarrels, which disturbs the peace of homes, which turns brother against brother, husband against wife, daughter-in-law against mother-in-law and son-in-law against father-in-law? How many united households have been turned upside down by one evil tongue, so that their members could not bear to see or to speak to one another? And one malicious tongue, belonging to a neighbour, man or woman, can be the cause of all this misery....

Yes, my dear brethren, the evil tongue of one scandalmonger poisons all the virtues and engenders all the vices. It is from that malicious tongue that a stain is spread so many times through a whole family, a stain which passes from fathers to children, from one generation to the next, and which perhaps is never effaced. The malicious tongue will follow the dead into the grave; it will disturb the remains of these unfortunates by making live again the faults which were buried with them in that resting place. What a foul crime, my dear brethren! Would you not be filled with fiery indignation if you were to see some vindictive wretch rounding upon a corpse and tearing it into a thousand pieces? Such a sight would make you cry out in horror and compassion. And yet the crime of continuing to talk of the faults of the dead is much greater. A great many people habitually speak of someone who has died something after this fashion: "Ah, he did very well in his time! He was a seasoned drinker.

He was as cute as a fox. He was no better than he should have been." But perhaps, my friend, you are mistaken, and although everything may have been exactly as you have said, perhaps he is already in Heaven, perhaps God has pardoned him. But, in the meantime, where is your charity?

Thomas Aquinas College: "Interactive Panoramic Campus Tour"

2010-04-07T11:03:00.002-06:00

"Verum - Bonum - Pulchrum - The True - The Good - The Beautiful"

"Celibacy and the Catholic Priest"

2010-04-05T20:10:00.002-06:00

by Servant of God, Father John Hardon, S.J.

"The imitation of Christ is the first and fundamental reason for priestly celibacy."

See the whole article here at The Real Presence Association.

2010-04-04T23:36:00.001-06:00

"If you don't have the highest reverence for the priesthood and for the religious state, you certainly don't love God's Church."

St. Josemaria Escriva, #526, The Way

The Way of the Cross at the Colosseum: Led by His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI ; Good Friday

2010-04-02T11:14:00.002-06:00

MEDITATIONS AND PRAYERS BY

His Eminence Cardinal CAMILLO RUINI

Vicar General Emeritus of His Holiness for the Diocese of Rome

"It is to ourselves, then, that we must look: to the evil and the sin which dwell within us and which all too often we pretend to ignore. Yet all the more should we turn our eyes to the God who is rich in mercy, and who has called us his friends (cf. Jn 15:15). Thus the Way of the Cross and the entire journey of our life becomes a way of penance, pain and conversion, but also of gratitude, faith and joy."

Cardinal Camillo Ruini

"Piercing the Darkness: Good Friday" Human Life International

2010-04-02T10:09:00.002-06:00

Spirit & Life®

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

Human Life International e-NewsletterVolume 05, Number 13 Friday, April 2, 2010
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www.hli.org

Piercing the Darkness
Good Friday

Even a casual observer of American society can tell that there is a certain sinister chaos spreading throughout every aspect of public life these days. Naturally, as it filters through society it finds its way into our homes, families and personal lives as well. The reports of monumental breakups and takeovers, meltdowns, dysfunctions, cutbacks, disasters, protests, catastrophic events, scandals, and just plain moral chaos are, shall we say, legion, and it does not look like there will be any let up in the dismantling of our formerly decent society any time soon. Public officials and the movers-and-shakers of social communications long ago divorced American culture from authentic Christian values, and the result is that modern America has found itself first wandering then running down a very slippery slope to moral and social anarchy. The darkness has settled upon us.

This idea came home to me this week when I attended the 5th Anniversary Mass of Terri Schindler Schiavo at Ave Maria University in FL. How well I remember the horrible killing scene in Pinellas Park, FL in 2005 when the combined efforts of pro-lifers and some political allies were not able to stop the forward motion of such raw evil. From the Florida circuit courts all the way up to the US Supreme Court, the corrupt judiciaries refused to intervene and even ordered her killing, with impunity. The US Congress was almost laughably powerless to help. The utter uselessness of the bishop and clergy in the diocese where Terri was murdered was a microcosm of the Church Impotent rather than the Church Militant. The thousands of calls that the Terri Schindler Schiavo Foundation now gets in their attempt to stop other similar killings are an indication that this same darkness is now penetrating our society at an alarming level.

Every aspect of American society is touched by this chaos: the pervasive and unstoppable corruption in government, the major media, Hollywood, academia, healthcare, and even within our own churches! All of this corruption is multiplying the shadows over our society and penetrating into every aspect of personal and family life as we speak.

What I find most alarming, as an exorcist, is the spread of truly occult phenomena in our youth culture. It used to be that vampires had to go back into their coffins with the first streaks of dawn. Now handsome young vampires are sullying the covers of every gossip magazine and tantalizing prime time audiences with their evil - and teenage girls are just swooning for them.... Don't be fooled: the vampire culture is the spawn of the Harry Potter culture that has washed over our youth for a decade and still seduces parents into thinking it is all just "harmless entertainment." Kids dressing up as sorcerers, blogging about vampires, dabbling in Wicca - it's just plain seductive and evil. Our Baptismal Promises demand that we "reject Satan and all his works and all his empty promises," and that includes demons, witches and vampires!

If I were anything other than a Christian, I would probably despair of the status of the culture all around us. Yes, there are movements fighting to take the culture and politics back, but most of these are just about political power and, if they have an effect at all, they will just install another version of corruption in place of the political devils they cast out.

The reason I don't despair in the face of all this darkness, though, is because I remember that once-upon-a-time Evil had its Hour. I am not talking about sixty-minutes of willowy darkness. I am talking about the worst crime ever committed in history, the blackest deed ever known to man: the killing of the Son of God on Calvary. The corrupt politicians, clergy and laity of the day were all implicated in the crime. Worst of all, the devil was sitting back gloating at his masterpiece of evil.

But much to the devil's surprise, evil did not win the Day...because at that very moment of deepest darkness, the Son of God did something utterly unforeseen and caught the whole wicked world unaware: He shattered the darkness and rose from the dead! Who would have imagined!

Ever after, those who persevere through Good Friday looking toward the joy of Easter Sunday find themselves immersed in the same eternal mystery of Light. Christ has pierced the darkness and given us Hope! We can sing the great "Te Deum" hymn with the greatest fervor now in every dark hour of our lives: "In you Lord is our hope - and we shall never hope in vain!"

Sincerely,

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

Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord: "The Feast of Vocations" Msgr. Charles M. Mangan

2010-03-25T22:46:00.006-06:00

"Not only is the Annunciation about Mary’s humility and openness to God and his designs, but it is also a tribute to the Son of God’s willingness to become man. The Second Person of the Blessed Trinity—the Logos—became incarnate at the moment of Mary’s “yes” so that we might achieve victory over sin and death."

Monsignor Charles M. Mangan

See the rest of this article on the "Feast of Vocations" here andwhich has been previously published on this blogsite.

Text of Holy Father's Pastoral Letter to the Catholics of Ireland

2010-03-20T18:58:00.003-06:00

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Summary of the Holy Father's Pastoral Letter to the Catholics of Ireland

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HOLY FATHER'S PASTORAL LETTER TO THE CATHOLICS OF IRELAND

VATICAN CITY, 20 MAR 2010 (VIS) - Given below is the complete text of the Holy Father's Pastoral Letter of The Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI to the Catholics of Ireland:

1. Dear brothers and sisters of the Church in Ireland, it is with great concern that I write to you as Pastor of the universal Church. Like yourselves, I have been deeply disturbed by the information which has come to light regarding the abuse of children and vulnerable young people by members of the Church in Ireland, particularly by priests and religious. I can only share in the dismay and the sense of betrayal that so many of you have experienced on learning of these sinful and criminal acts and the way Church authorities in Ireland dealt with them.

As you know, I recently invited the Irish bishops to a meeting here in Rome to give an account of their handling of these matters in the past and to outline the steps they have taken to respond to this grave situation. Together with senior officials of the Roman Curia, I listened to what they had to say, both individually and as a group, as they offered an analysis of mistakes made and lessons learned, and a description of the programmes and protocols now in place. Our discussions were frank and constructive. I am confident that, as a result, the bishops will now be in a stronger position to carry forward the work of repairing past injustices and confronting the broader issues associated with the abuse of minors in a way consonant with the demands of justice and the teachings of the Gospel.

2. For my part, considering the gravity of these offences, and the often inadequate response to them on the part of the ecclesiastical authorities in your country, I have decided to write this Pastoral Letter to express my closeness to you and to propose a path of healing, renewal and reparation.

It is true, as many in your country have pointed out, that the problem of child abuse is peculiar neither to Ireland nor to the Church. Nevertheless, the task you now face is to address the problem of abuse that has occurred within the Irish Catholic community, and to do so with courage and determination. No one imagines that this painful situation will be resolved swiftly. Real progress has been made, yet much more remains to be done. Perseverance and prayer are needed, with great trust in the healing power of God's grace.

At the same time, I must also express my conviction that, in order to recover from this grievous wound, the Church in Ireland must first acknowledge before the Lord and before others the serious sins committed against defenceless children. Such an acknowledgement, accompanied by sincere sorrow for the damage caused to these victims and their families, must lead to a concerted effort to ensure the protection of children from similar crimes in the future.

As you take up the challenges of this hour, I ask you to remember "the rock from which you were hewn". Reflect upon the generous, often heroic, contributions made by past generations of Irish men and women to the Church and to humanity as a whole, and let this provide the impetus for honest self-examination and a committed programme of ecclesial and individual renewal. It is my prayer that, assisted by the intercession of her many saints and purified through penance, the Church in Ireland will overcome the present crisis and become once more a convincing witness to the truth and the goodness of Almighty God, made manifest in His Son Jesus Christ.

3. Historically, the Catholics of Ireland have proved an enormous force for good at home and abroad. Celtic monks like St. Columbanus spread the Gospel in Western Europe and laid the foundations of mediaeval monastic culture. The ideals of holiness, charity and transcendent wisdom born of the Christian faith found expression in the building of churches and monasteries and the establishment of schools, libraries and hospitals, all of which helped to consolidate the spiritual identity of Europe. Those Irish missionaries drew their strength and inspiration from the firm faith, strong leadership and upright morals of the Church in their native land.

From the sixteenth century on, Catholics in Ireland endured a long period of persecution, during which they struggled to keep the flame of faith alive in dangerous and difficult circumstances. St. Oliver Plunkett, the martyred archbishop of Armagh, is the most famous example of a host of courageous sons and daughters of Ireland who were willing to lay down their lives out of fidelity to the Gospel. After Catholic Emancipation, the Church was free to grow once more. Families and countless individuals who had preserved the faith in times of trial became the catalyst for the great resurgence of Irish Catholicism in the nineteenth century. The Church provided education, especially for the poor, and this was to make a major contribution to Irish society. Among the fruits of the new Catholic schools was a rise in vocations: generations of missionary priests, sisters and brothers left their homeland to serve in every continent, especially in the English-speaking world. They were remarkable not only for their great numbers, but for the strength of their faith and the steadfastness of their pastoral commitment. Many dioceses, especially in Africa, America and Australia, benefited from the presence of Irish clergy and religious who preached the Gospel and established parishes, schools and universities, clinics and hospitals that served both Catholics and the community at large, with particular attention to the needs of the poor.

In almost every family in Ireland, there has been someone - a son or a daughter, an aunt or an uncle - who has given his or her life to the Church. Irish families rightly esteem and cherish their loved ones who have dedicated their lives to Christ, sharing the gift of faith with others, and putting that faith into action in loving service of God and neighbour.

4. In recent decades, however, the Church in your country has had to confront new and serious challenges to the faith arising from the rapid transformation and secularisation of Irish society. Fast-paced social change has occurred, often adversely affecting people's traditional adherence to Catholic teaching and values. All too often, the sacramental and devotional practices that sustain faith and enable it to grow, such as frequent confession, daily prayer and annual retreats, were neglected. Significant too was the tendency during this period, also on the part of priests and religious, to adopt ways of thinking and assessing secular realities without sufficient reference to the Gospel. The programme of renewal proposed by the Vatican Council II was sometimes misinterpreted and indeed, in the light of the profound social changes that were taking place, it was far from easy to know how best to implement it. In particular, there was a well-intentioned but misguided tendency to avoid penal approaches to canonically irregular situations. It is in this overall context that we must try to understand the disturbing problem of child sexual abuse, which has contributed in no small measure to the weakening of faith and the loss of respect for the Church and her teachings.

Only by examining carefully the many elements that gave rise to the present crisis can a clear-sighted diagnosis of its causes be undertaken and effective remedies be found. Certainly, among the contributing factors we can include: inadequate procedures for determining the suitability of candidates for the priesthood and the religious life; insufficient human, moral, intellectual and spiritual formation in seminaries and novitiates; a tendency in society to favour the clergy and other authority figures; and a misplaced concern for the reputation of the Church and the avoidance of scandal, resulting in failure to apply existing canonical penalties and to safeguard the dignity of every person. Urgent action is needed to address these factors, which have had such tragic consequences in the lives of victims and their families, and have obscured the light of the Gospel to a degree that not even centuries of persecution succeeded in doing.

5. On several occasions since my election to the See of Peter, I have met with victims of sexual abuse, as indeed I am ready to do in the future. I have sat with them, I have listened to their stories, I have acknowledged their suffering, and I have prayed with them and for them. Earlier in my pontificate, in my concern to address this matter, I asked the bishops of Ireland, "to establish the truth of what happened in the past, to take whatever steps are necessary to prevent it from occurring again, to ensure that the principles of justice are fully respected, and above all, to bring healing to the victims and to all those affected by these egregious crimes".

With this Letter, I wish to exhort all of you, as God's people in Ireland, to reflect on the wounds inflicted on Christ's body, the sometimes painful remedies needed to bind and heal them, and the need for unity, charity and mutual support in the long-term process of restoration and ecclesial renewal. I now turn to you with words that come from my heart, and I wish to speak to each of you individually and to all of you as brothers and sisters in the Lord.

6. To the victims of abuse and their families

You have suffered grievously and I am truly sorry. I know that nothing can undo the wrong you have endured. Your trust has been betrayed and your dignity has been violated. Many of you found that, when you were courageous enough to speak of what happened to you, no one would listen. Those of you who were abused in residential institutions must have felt that there was no escape from your sufferings. It is understandable that you find it hard to forgive or be reconciled with the Church. In her name, I openly express the shame and remorse that we all feel. At the same time, I ask you not to lose hope. It is in the communion of the Church that we encounter the person of Jesus Christ, who was Himself a victim of injustice and sin. Like you, He still bears the wounds of His own unjust suffering. He understands the depths of your pain and its enduring effect upon your lives and your relationships, including your relationship with the Church.

I know some of you find it difficult even to enter the doors of a church after all that has occurred. Yet Christ's own wounds, transformed by His redemptive sufferings, are the very means by which the power of evil is broken and we are reborn to life and hope. I believe deeply in the healing power of his self-sacrificing love - even in the darkest and most hopeless situations - to bring liberation and the promise of a new beginning.

Speaking to you as a pastor concerned for the good of all God's children, I humbly ask you to consider what I have said. I pray that, by drawing nearer to Christ and by participating in the life of His Church - a Church purified by penance and renewed in pastoral charity - you will come to rediscover Christ's infinite love for each one of you. I am confident that in this way you will be able to find reconciliation, deep inner healing and peace.

7. To priests and religious who have abused children

You betrayed the trust that was placed in you by innocent young people and their parents, and you must answer for it before Almighty God and before properly constituted tribunals. You have forfeited the esteem of the people of Ireland and brought shame and dishonour upon your confreres. Those of you who are priests violated the sanctity of the sacrament of Holy Orders in which Christ makes Himself present in us and in our actions. Together with the immense harm done to victims, great damage has been done to the Church and to the public perception of the priesthood and religious life.

I urge you to examine your conscience, take responsibility for the sins you have committed, and humbly express your sorrow. Sincere repentance opens the door to God's forgiveness and the grace of true amendment.

By offering prayers and penances for those you have wronged, you should seek to atone personally for your actions. Christ's redeeming sacrifice has the power to forgive even the gravest of sins, and to bring forth good from even the most terrible evil. At the same time, God's justice summons us to give an account of our actions and to conceal nothing. Openly acknowledge your guilt, submit yourselves to the demands of justice, but do not despair of God's mercy.

8. To parents

You have been deeply shocked to learn of the terrible things that took place in what ought to be the safest and most secure environment of all. In today's world it is not easy to build a home and to bring up children. They deserve to grow up in security, loved and cherished, with a strong sense of their identity and worth. They have a right to be educated in authentic moral values rooted in the dignity of the human person, to be inspired by the truth of our Catholic faith and to learn ways of behaving and acting that lead to healthy self-esteem and lasting happiness. This noble but demanding task is entrusted in the first place to you, their parents. I urge you to play your part in ensuring the best possible care of children, both at home and in society as a whole, while the Church, for her part, continues to implement the measures adopted in recent years to protect young people in parish and school environments. As you carry out your vital responsibilities, be assured that I remain close to you and I offer you the support of my prayers.

9. To the children and young people of Ireland

I wish to offer you a particular word of encouragement. Your experience of the Church is very different from that of your parents and grandparents. The world has changed greatly since they were your age. Yet all people, in every generation, are called to travel the same path through life, whatever their circumstances may be. We are all scandalised by the sins and failures of some of the Church's members, particularly those who were chosen especially to guide and serve young people. But it is in the Church that you will find Jesus Christ, Who is the same yesterday, today and for ever. He loves you and He has offered himself on the cross for you. Seek a personal relationship with Him within the communion of His Church, for He will never betray your trust! He alone can satisfy your deepest longings and give your lives their fullest meaning by directing them to the service of others. Keep your eyes fixed on Jesus and His goodness, and shelter the flame of faith in your heart. Together with your fellow Catholics in Ireland, I look to you to be faithful disciples of our Lord and to bring your much-needed enthusiasm and idealism to the rebuilding and renewal of our beloved Church.

10. To the priests and religious of Ireland

All of us are suffering as a result of the sins of our confreres who betrayed a sacred trust or failed to deal justly and responsibly with allegations of abuse. In view of the outrage and indignation which this has provoked, not only among the lay faithful but among yourselves and your religious communities, many of you feel personally discouraged, even abandoned. I am also aware that in some people's eyes you are tainted by association, and viewed as if you were somehow responsible for the misdeeds of others. At this painful time, I want to acknowledge the dedication of your priestly and religious lives and apostolates, and I invite you to reaffirm your faith in Christ, your love of His Church and your confidence in the Gospel's promise of redemption, forgiveness and interior renewal. In this way, you will demonstrate for all to see that where sin abounds, grace abounds all the more.

I know that many of you are disappointed, bewildered and angered by the way these matters have been handled by some of your superiors. Yet, it is essential that you co-operate closely with those in authority and help to ensure that the measures adopted to respond to the crisis will be truly evangelical, just and effective. Above all, I urge you to become ever more clearly men and women of prayer, courageously following the path of conversion, purification and reconciliation. In this way, the Church in Ireland will draw new life and vitality from your witness to the Lord's redeeming power made visible in your lives.

11. To my brother bishops

It cannot be denied that some of you and your predecessors failed, at times grievously, to apply the long-established norms of canon law to the crime of child abuse. Serious mistakes were made in responding to allegations. I recognise how difficult it was to grasp the extent and complexity of the problem, to obtain reliable information and to make the right decisions in the light of conflicting expert advice. Nevertheless, it must be admitted that grave errors of judgement were made and failures of leadership occurred. All this has seriously undermined your credibility and effectiveness. I appreciate the efforts you have made to remedy past mistakes and to guarantee that they do not happen again. Besides fully implementing the norms of canon law in addressing cases of child abuse, continue to co-operate with the civil authorities in their area of competence. Clearly, religious superiors should do likewise. They too have taken part in recent discussions here in Rome with a view to establishing a clear and consistent approach to these matters. It is imperative that the child safety norms of the Church in Ireland be continually revised and updated and that they be applied fully and impartially in conformity with canon law.

Only decisive action carried out with complete honesty and transparency will restore the respect and good will of the Irish people towards the Church to which we have consecrated our lives. This must arise, first and foremost, from your own self-examination, inner purification and spiritual renewal. The Irish people rightly expect you to be men of God, to be holy, to live simply, to pursue personal conversion daily. For them, in the words of St. Augustine, you are a bishop; yet with them you are called to be a follower of Christ. I therefore exhort you to renew your sense of accountability before God, to grow in solidarity with your people and to deepen your pastoral concern for all the members of your flock. In particular, I ask you to be attentive to the spiritual and moral lives of each one of your priests. Set them an example by your own lives, be close to them, listen to their concerns, offer them encouragement at this difficult time and stir up the flame of their love for Christ and their commitment to the service of their brothers and sisters.

The lay faithful, too, should be encouraged to play their proper part in the life of the Church. See that they are formed in such a way that they can offer an articulate and convincing account of the Gospel in the midst of modern society and cooperate more fully in the Church's life and mission. This in turn will help you once again become credible leaders and witnesses to the redeeming truth of Christ.

12. To all the faithful of Ireland

A young person's experience of the Church should always bear fruit in a personal and life-giving encounter with Jesus Christ within a loving, nourishing community. In this environment, young people should be encouraged to grow to their full human and spiritual stature, to aspire to high ideals of holiness, charity and truth, and to draw inspiration from the riches of a great religious and cultural tradition. In our increasingly secularised society, where even we Christians often find it difficult to speak of the transcendent dimension of our existence, we need to find new ways to pass on to young people the beauty and richness of friendship with Jesus Christ in the communion of His Church. In confronting the present crisis, measures to deal justly with individual crimes are essential, yet on their own they are not enough: a new vision is needed, to inspire present and future generations to treasure the gift of our common faith. By treading the path marked out by the Gospel, by observing the commandments and by conforming your lives ever more closely to the figure of Jesus Christ, you will surely experience the profound renewal that is so urgently needed at this time. I invite you all to persevere along this path.

13. Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, it is out of deep concern for all of you at this painful time in which the fragility of the human condition has been so starkly revealed that I have wished to offer these words of encouragement and support. I hope that you will receive them as a sign of my spiritual closeness and my confidence in your ability to respond to the challenges of the present hour by drawing renewed inspiration and strength from Ireland's noble traditions of fidelity to the Gospel, perseverance in the faith and steadfastness in the pursuit of holiness. In solidarity with all of you, I am praying earnestly that, by God's grace, the wounds afflicting so many individuals and families may be healed and that the Church in Ireland may experience a season of rebirth and spiritual renewal.

14. I now wish to propose to you some concrete initiatives to address the situation.

At the conclusion of my meeting with the Irish bishops, I asked that Lent this year be set aside as a time to pray for an outpouring of God's mercy and the Holy Spirit's gifts of holiness and strength upon the Church in your country. I now invite all of you to devote your Friday penances, for a period of one year, between now and Easter 2011, to this intention. I ask you to offer up your fasting, your prayer, your reading of Scripture and your works of mercy in order to obtain the grace of healing and renewal for the Church in Ireland. I encourage you to discover anew the Sacrament of Reconciliation and to avail yourselves more frequently of the transforming power of its grace.

Particular attention should also be given to Eucharistic adoration, and in every diocese there should be churches or chapels specifically devoted to this purpose. I ask parishes, seminaries, religious houses and monasteries to organise periods of Eucharistic adoration, so that all have an opportunity to take part. Through intense prayer before the real presence of the Lord, you can make reparation for the sins of abuse that have done so much harm, at the same time imploring the grace of renewed strength and a deeper sense of mission on the part of all bishops, priests, religious and lay faithful.

I am confident that this programme will lead to a rebirth of the Church in Ireland in the fullness of God's own truth, for it is the truth that sets us free.

Furthermore, having consulted and prayed about the matter, I intend to hold an Apostolic Visitation of certain dioceses in Ireland, as well as seminaries and religious congregations. Arrangements for the Visitation, which is intended to assist the local Church on her path of renewal, will be made in co-operation with the competent offices of the Roman Curia and the Irish Episcopal Conference. The details will be announced in due course.

I also propose that a nationwide Mission be held for all bishops, priests and religious. It is my hope that, by drawing on the expertise of experienced preachers and retreat-givers from Ireland and from elsewhere, and by exploring anew the conciliar documents, the liturgical rites of ordination and profession, and recent pontifical teaching, you will come to a more profound appreciation of your respective vocations, so as to rediscover the roots of your faith in Jesus Christ and to drink deeply from the springs of living water that he offers you through His Church.

In this Year for Priests, I commend to you most particularly the figure of St. John Mary Vianney, who had such a rich understanding of the mystery of the priesthood. "The priest", he wrote, "holds the key to the treasures of heaven: it is he who opens the door: he is the steward of the good Lord; the administrator of His goods". The Cure d'Ars understood well how greatly blessed a community is when served by a good and holy priest: "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". Through the intercession of St. John Mary Vianney, may the priesthood in Ireland be revitalised, and may the whole Church in Ireland grow in appreciation for the great gift of the priestly ministry.

I take this opportunity to thank in anticipation all those who will be involved in the work of organising the Apostolic Visitation and the Mission, as well as the many men and women throughout Ireland already working for the safety of children in church environments. Since the time when the gravity and extent of the problem of child sexual abuse in Catholic institutions first began to be fully grasped, the Church has done an immense amount of work in many parts of the world in order to address and remedy it. While no effort should be spared in improving and updating existing procedures, I am encouraged by the fact that the current safeguarding practices adopted by local Churches are being seen, in some parts of the world, as a model for other institutions to follow.

I wish to conclude this Letter with a special Prayer for the Church in Ireland, which I send to you with the care of a father for his children and with the affection of a fellow Christian, scandalised and hurt by what has occurred in our beloved Church. As you make use of this prayer in your families, parishes and communities, may the Blessed Virgin Mary protect and guide each of you to a closer union with her Son, crucified and risen. With great affection and unswerving confidence in God's promises, I cordially impart to all of you my Apostolic Blessing as a pledge of strength and peace in the Lord.

From the Vatican, 19 March 2010, on the Solemnity of St. Joseph

Prayer for the Church in Ireland

God of our fathers,
renew us in the faith which is our life and salvation,
the hope which promises forgiveness and interior renewal,
the charity which purifies and opens our hearts
to love you, and in you, each of our brothers and sisters.

Lord Jesus Christ,
may the Church in Ireland renew her age-old commitment
to the education of our young people in the way of truth and goodness, holiness and generous service to society.

Holy Spirit, comforter, advocate and guide,
inspire a new springtime of holiness and apostolic zeal
for the Church in Ireland.

May our sorrow and our tears,
our sincere effort to redress past wrongs,
and our firm purpose of amendment
bear an abundant harvest of grace
for the deepening of the faith
in our families, parishes, schools and communities,
for the spiritual progress of Irish society,
and the growth of charity, justice, joy and peace
within the whole human family.

To you, Triune God,
confident in the loving protection of Mary,
Queen of Ireland, our Mother,
and of St. Patrick, St. Brigid and all the saints,
do we entrust ourselves, our children,
and the needs of the Church in Ireland.

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Bill C-384: The Bill which would legalize the killing of those considered no longer "useful" to society

2010-03-19T15:22:00.013-06:00

Solemnity of St. Joseph, Patron of the Universal Church, Patron of Canada Pray for Us

" I recommend every day that we pray for the grace of a happy death, that like St. Joseph, as tradition tells us, we too, like him, may die in the arms of Jesus and Mary.
St. Joseph, patron of the universal Church; Joseph most prudent; Joseph most loyal; Joseph the great lover of Jesus and Mary, obtain for us the greatest grace we need; the grace to die in the company, in the arms of Jesus and Mary. Amen."

Servant of God, Father John Hardon, S.J.

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Parliament is presently debating Bill C-384, Bloc Quebecois MP Francine Lalonde's Private Member's Bill which would legalize the killing of those persons who are no longer considered "useful" to society.

Pope Benedict has stated that euthanasia " is a false solution to the drama of suffering, a solution unworthy of man".

Let us ask St. Joseph to pray for all those who support euthanasia that they will "see" that in the words of Pope Benedict "the true response [to suffering] cannot be to put someone to death, however "kindly", but rather to witness to the love that helps people to face their pain and agony in a human way. We can be certain that no tear, neither of those who are suffering nor of those who are close to them, is lost before God. "

Here are two excerpts from a homily given by Father Alfred Delp, S.J., a priest martyred in the Nazi extermination camps, and in which he addresses the "outrage" of euthanasia.

"A community that gets rid of someone—a community that is allowed to, and can, and wants to get rid of someone when he no longer is able to run around as the same attractive or useful member—has thoroughly misunderstood itself. Even if all of a person's organs have given out, and he no longer can speak for himself, he nevertheless remains a human being. Moreover, to those who live around him, he remains an ongoing appeal to their inner nobility, to their inner capacity to love, and to their sacrificial strength. Take away people's capacity to care for their sick and to heal them, and you make the human being into a predator, an egotistical predator that really only thinks of his own nice existence. "

"Because one is fleeing from what is hard, one takes away a human being's last chance of maturing, of persevering, of proving himself. That is why the whole thing is not only a lie and an escape. It is a rebellion. It is an outrage. It is an encroachment on rights that must stand inviolable if the entire cosmos is not to fall apart. It is an outrage against the Kyrios, the one and only Lord of life. Where God, the Lord, has not set aside the right to existence, that right stands inviolably under His love, under His fidelity, and under His punishment. A nation that lets a human being die, even a human being in the most extreme situation, will die itself. It is an outrage against the human being who, through his birth and his existence alone, already has rights that no one can take from him, and that no one can touch without disgracing humanity, and disgracing himself, and despising himself."

You can read Father Delp's entire homily at Ignatius Insight.

For a commentary on Bill C-384 go here.

"Establishment of International Commission on Medjugorge" Vatian Information Service

2010-03-18T13:02:00.001-06:00

ESTABLISHMENT OF INTERNATIONAL COMMISSION ON MEDJUGORJE

VATICAN CITY, 17 MAR 2010 (VIS) - The Holy See Press Office today published the following communique:

"An international investigative commission on Medjugorje has been constituted, under the presidency of Cardinal Camillo Ruini and dependent upon the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Said commission - made up of cardinals, bishops, specialists and experts - will work privately, submitting the results of its work to the authority of the dicastery".

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Feast of St. Patrick

2010-03-17T21:52:00.003-06:00

"In the light, therefore, of our faith in the Trinity I must make a choice, regardless of danger I must make known the gift of God and everlasting consolation, without fear and frankly I must spread everywhere the name of God so that after my decease I may leave a bequest to my brethern and sons whom I have baptized in the Lord -- so many thousands of people."

St. Patrick (c. 389 - c.461)

From the Confession of St. Patrick : The Treasury of Catholic Wisdom, Father John Hardon, S.J.: Ignatius Press

More on St. Patrick at The Real Presence Association

What is envy? What are it's consequences?

2010-03-15T19:46:00.007-06:00

Below is an excerpt from "The Ten Commandments and Christian Sanctity", by Father John Hardon, S.J. The full article may be found at The Real Presence Association.

V. Commandment: Envy

We are reflecting on the Fifth Commandment of the
Decalogue, which in the text of the Old Testament simply is “You shall to kill.”
We saw in our last meditation that Christ elevated the Old Testament
understanding of this precept by going to the root of homicide.
Homicide has
two roots. They are anger and envy.
Anger we saw is the inordinate desire of
revenge. Someone hurts us, offends us, causes us suffering, humiliation or pain
- and our instinctive urge is to somehow “pay back,” “lash back,” “strike back.”

But there is a second root to homicide and that is envy.

Our
present meditation, therefore, will be on envy, from the Latin word invidia, for
which we have the English equivalent invidious, or the more prosaic word
envious.

We ask ourselves the following questions:
What is Christ’s
teaching on envy?
What is envy?
What are some of the consequences of
envy?
What are some remedies for the vice of envy?

Christ's
Teaching

Although implied in much of Christ’s
teaching, His most detailed explanation and condemnation of envy occurs almost
at the end of His public ministry.
This teaching comes in the form of a
parable. It is the parable of the laborers in the vineyard. Specifically it is
in Mt. 20:1-16.
Because of its critical importance in our lives, it is worth
quoting the parable in full: “The kingdom of Heaven is like…
What is Christ
telling us in this parable?
The owner of the vineyard hires laborers at
different times of the day
Early in the morning
At the third hour
At
the fifth hour
At the ninth hour
At the eleventh hour, just before
nightfall.
Each of the five groups of laborers receives the same wage: a
denarius.
But the owner starts to pay those who worked only one hour. He
gives them one denarius.
When the owner comes to pay those who had bee
working all day, to be exact eight hours, and they too received only one
denarius, they complained, “How come, we who sweated all day, are getting only
as much as the latecomers who put in just one hours work?”
The response of
the owner was: “Are you envious because I am generous?”

Results of Envy

The results of envy are past counting. They are
practically a summation of all evils in revealed history.
It was envy of God
that caused the fall of the angels. The devils came into existence through envy!
It was envy that brought on the fall of our first parents. The devil envied
their happiness, tempted Eve, who tempted Adam, who brought sin into the human
race.

I like St. Vincent Ferrer’s contrast between
Christ’s identification of His followers, and the devil’s identification of his
followers:
Says Christ, “By this shall all men know that you are my
disciples, if you have love for one another.”
The devil says, “By this shall
all men know that you are my disciples, if you envy one another as I have envied
you.
It was envy that caused Saul to want to murder David, because David was
so popular and successful.
It was envy that caused the Scribes and Pharisees
to persecute Christ, have Him condemned, and finally had Him crucified on
Calvary.
So the litany of the results of envy reads on.

In summary,
there are five principal consequences of envy.
Hatred of the person envied.
Criticism of the person envied.
Detraction of the envied person’s
character.
Resentment of the envied person’s prosperity, praise, and
achievement.
Joy that the envied person has some misfortune or adversity.

Remedies
In our next meditation, we shall consider
the nature and practice of charity. Charity, in the last analysis, is the remedy
for envy.
But concretely, to cure ourselves of envy, the masters of the
spiritual life recommend the following:
Think kindly of the person you are
tempted to envy.
Act kindly to the person you are tempted to envy.
Do
good to the person you are tempted to envy.
Pray for the person you are
tempted to envy.
There is a double crown, says St. John Chrysostom for those
who conquer the demon of envy.
First the crown of victory over envy.
Then the crown of the practice of charity.

2010-03-14T22:20:00.006-06:00

Please read this excellent article, "Standing Up for Priests in the Abuse Crisis" at the National Catholic Register.

"Note Issued by Holy See Press Office Director" March 13, 2010

2010-03-14T16:43:00.003-06:00

NOTE ISSUED BY HOLY SEE PRESS OFFICE DIRECTOR

VATICAN CITY, 13 MAR 2010 (VIS) - Holy See Press Office Director Fr. Federico Lombardi S.J. today issued a note entitled "A clear route through stormy waters".

"At the end of a week in which a large part of the attention of the European media has been focused on the question of sexual abuses committed by people in institutions of the Catholic Church, we would like to make three observations:

"Firstly, the line being taken by the German Episcopal Conference has shown itself to be the right way to face the problem in its various aspects. The declarations of the president of that conference, Archbishop Zollitsch, following his meeting with the Holy Father, recap the strategy laid down in the conference's recent assembly and reiterate its essential operational aspects: recognition of the truth and help for victims, reinforcement of preventative measures and constructive collaboration with the authorities (including the judicial authorities of State) for the common good of society. Archbishop Zollitsch also unequivocally reiterated the opinion of experts according to whom the question of celibacy should in no way be confused with that of paedophilia. The Holy Father has encouraged the line being followed by the German bishops which - even taking account of the specific context of their own county - may be considered as a useful and inspiring model for other episcopal conferences that find themselves facing similar problems.

"Furthermore, an important and wide-ranging interview given by Msgr. Charles J. Scicluna, promoter of justice of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, gives a detailed explanation of the significance of the specific canonical norms established by the Church over the years to judge the heinous crimes of sexual abuse of minors by members of the clergy. It is absolutely clear that these norms did not seek, and have not favoured, any kind of cover-up of such crimes; quite the contrary, they initiated intense activities to confront, judge and adequately punish the crimes in the context of ecclesiastical legislation. And it must be remembered that all this was planned and set in motion when Cardinal Ratzinger was prefect of the Congregation. The line he followed was always one of rigour and coherence in dealing with even the most difficult situations.

"Finally, the archdiocese of Munich has replied, with a long and detailed communique, to questions concerning the case of a priest who moved from Essen to Munich at the time in which Cardinal Ratzinger was archbishop of that city, a priest who subsequently committed abuses. The communique highlights how the then archbishop was completely unconnected with the decisions in the wake of which the abuses took place. Rather, it is evident that over recent days some people have sought - with considerable persistence, in Regensburg and Munich - elements that could personally involve the Holy Father in questions of abuse. To any objective observer, it is clear that these efforts have failed.

"Despite the storm, the Church clearly sees the route she must follow, under the sure and rigorous guidance of the Holy Father. As we have already had occasion to observe, it is our hope that this torment may, in the end, help society as a whole to show ever greater concern for the protection and formation of children and adolescents".
OP/SEXUAL ABUSE/LOMBARDI VIS 100313 (560)

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Interview with the Promoter of Justice at the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, Monsignor Charle J. Scicluna, Regarding Clerical Sexual Abuse Cases

"Hannity and Repentance" Human Life International, Father Euteneuer

2010-03-12T19:49:00.002-07:00

Spirit & Life®

"The words I spoke to you are spirit and life." (Jn 6:63)
Human Life International e-Newsletter
Volume 05, Number 09 Friday, March 12, 2010
..................................................................................
www.hli.org

Hannity and Repentance

It was three years ago this week that I sat before the Secular Tribunal of Mr. Sean Hannity in a Fox News interview and inadvertently became the whipping boy for the Catholic Church's teaching on contraception. In times past, the enemies of the Church would whip and hang a faithful Catholic from a platform with a piece of cord before an angry mob. Nowadays, the whiplashing is more like a tongue-lashing and is carried out on an electronic stage with an audience of millions.

I am so happy to prove my love for the Church, though, by getting whipped for the Faith - and I would do it again without hesitation!Despite the overwhelming attention that I received as a result, this was never about me, nor Mr. Hannity. It was and is about the basic honesty of Catholics with regard to their own Faith and the responsibility of priests (every last one of us!) to teach, uphold, and defend that Faith until our dying breath! Fidelity to the teachings of the Church is nothing less than fidelity to Christ. We are not free as Catholics to just pick and choose what parts of Christ's teaching we want to adhere to and which ones we want to ignore, cast aside, or - as in the case of Mr. Hannity - to mock and dismiss as outdated and impractical. We are free to leave the Church, though, if we disagree with its teachings. That would be the honest thing to do. What is intolerable to faithful Catholics is the disingenuousness of those who enjoy all the privileges of being Catholic, but who feel no obligation to embrace the responsibilities of our Faith. This was what the Hannity interview highlighted, and it is an endemic problem in our Church.

Generations of martyrs made a much greater sacrifice for their beliefs than those who are inconvenienced by the prohibition on contraception. As the English martyr, St. John Noughton, stood at the gallows with the rope around his neck, he said, "I am bound in conscience and am ready and willing to suffer every kind of torture rather than deny a doctrine of the Church." Wow! That is Catholic fidelity and integrity to the limit.

Perhaps better known is the story of his fellow martyr, St. Thomas More, who died essentially because the pope wouldn't issue an annulment to the murderous Henry VIII. The issue of who exactly would control the Church in England was based on Henry's adamant rejection of the Church's - that is, Christ's - teaching on marriage. Less than five hundred years later, Henry's Anglican church is in utter disarray on all the issues of marriage and human sexuality precisely because of the original dishonesty upon which it was founded. Such chaos is the inevitable result of any church's betrayal of Christ's teaching.

This same rejection of centuries-old, well-articulated, infallible teaching is what we are faced with in modern America. We have to admit that the failure of millions of Catholics to uphold and live according to the truths of our Faith has led us down the heinous path of rampant promiscuity and institutionalized child-killing. "You are the salt of the earth and the light of the world," said the Lord and added, rhetorically, "but what if salt goes flat?" That's a good question! If Catholics alone would have been strictly faithful to our own doctrine in the last half century, we would have preserved our society from the degraded culture of promiscuity and death that we lament today. Alas, Catholics who preserve themselves from childbearing rather than preserve the moral integrity of our society have betrayed Christ in His deepest agony since the Garden. Because we let the pagans break down the walls of faith and morality, all families in our country, our own included, are rendered vulnerable to the pernicious culture of death. We did it to ourselves.

Perhaps the most disappointing part of that Hannity interview was the way in which Fr. Jonathan Morris, Fox News priest advisor, defended Mr. Hannity in his dissent against a Catholic priest who was actually defending the orthodox teaching of the Church. The priestly sell-out on contraception and church discipline is a painful corollary to Hannity's lay dissent. The shameful silence of the clergy on the issue of Catholic morality in the era when it has been most needed is an insufferable failure of those responsible for being its guardians. We will be for generations digging ourselves out of this clerical mess, and although the tides are indeed turning toward greater orthodoxy in the clergy, the damage has been done, and priests bear the lion's share of the blame for the degradation of the moral fabric of our world.

As the years go on, and especially during this Lenten season, I hope that the Hannity interview will be a clarion call to Catholics urging them on to greater fidelity to Christ. And, no, Mr. Hannity did not respond to my request to meet after the interview, nor has he revisited the issue in any way since that time. I still pray for him and hope for his conversion. What I hope and pray for even more is a total return to fidelity of all Catholics to the Truth on the critical issues of life, marriage and family, and the sacrificial commitment that alone will bring America out of its moral decay.

Sincerely,

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

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Note by Vatican Press Office Director on Cases of Sexual Abuse

2010-03-11T15:46:00.003-07:00

"These events mobilise the Church to find appropriate responses and should be placed in a more wide-ranging context that concerns the protection of children and young people from sexual abuse in society as a whole. Certainly, the errors committed in ecclesiastical institutions and by Church figures are particularly reprehensible because of the Church's educational and moral responsibility, but all objective and well-informed people know that the question is much broader, and concentrating accusations against the Church alone gives a false perspective. By way of example, recent data supplied by the competent authorities in Austria shows that, over the same period of time, the number of proven cases in Church institutions was 17, while there were 510 other cases in other areas. It would be as well to concern ourselves also with them. "

See the whole statement here.

The reasonings of the wicked and their persecution of the virtuous man

2010-03-08T20:21:00.003-07:00

"Let us therefore lie in wait for the just, becasue he is not for our turn, and he is contrary to our doings, and upbraideth us with transgressions of the law, and divulgeth against us the sins of our way of life.

He is become a censurer of our thoughts.

He is grevious unto us, even to behold: for his life is not like other men's and his ways are very different.

Let us see then if his words be true, and let us prove what shall happen to him: and we shall know what his end will be."

Let us examine him by outrages and tortures, that we may know his meekness and try his patience."

Let us condemn him to a most shameful death: for there shall be respect had unto him by his words.

These things they thought, and were deceived: for their own malice blinded them.

And they knew not the secrets of God, nor hoped for the wages of justice, nor esteemed the honour of holy souls.

For God created man incorruptible, and to the image of his own likeness he made him.

But, by the envy of the devil, death came into the world:

And they follow him that are of his side."

Wisdom 2: 12, 14, 15, 17, 19 -25

"Eucharistic Adoration and Political Responsibility" J. Augustine Di Noia, O. P.

2010-03-05T22:59:00.002-07:00

This article may be read at Catholic Culture:

http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?recnum=9265

"The Need for Annual Confession" ZENIT Daily Dispatch

2010-02-27T18:14:00.003-07:00

The faithful are obligated to confess their sins annually in the Sacrament of Penance. Here is an explanation of this teaching: http://www.ewtn.com/library/Liturgy/zlitur304.htm

Pope Benedict announces Blessed Andre's canonization to be October 17: Prime Minister Harper's Statement

2010-02-19T18:00:00.008-07:00

Crédit photo: Les Archives de l'Oratoire Saint-Joseph

Pope Benedict's announcement: Canonization - St. Joseph's Oratory

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From LifeSiteNews.com :

Canadian Prime Minister Praises Sainthood Announcement for Quebec's Brother Andre

February 19, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Prime Minister Stephen Harper today issued the following statement, welcoming the Vatican’s announcement that Blessed André, born Alfred Bessette, will be canonized on October 17:

“I join Catholics in Canada, as well as Quebecers and all Canadians, in welcoming the news that Brother André will be officially declared a saint. His canonization confirms the devotion of the countless people who came to him for help during his life, the million who attended his funeral and the two million who visit St. Joseph’s Oratory every year.

“Brother André’s life shows us the power of faith and the importance of concern for the sick and others in need. In this solemn act, the Roman Catholic Church is honouring a Canadian who achieved greatness through humility, determination and service to others.

“Brother André’s devotion to St. Joseph, the patron saint of Canada, led to the building of the magnificent Oratory on Mount Royal. Today’s news heightens the inspiration we feel on seeing that religious landmark, a symbol and centre of faith in Montreal and all of Canada.”

LifeSiteNews.Com Copyright © LifeSiteNews.com. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivatives License. You may republish this article or portions of it without request provided the content is not altered and it is clearly attributed to "LifeSiteNews.com". Any website publishing of complete or large portions of original LifeSiteNews articles MUST additionally include a live link to www.LifeSiteNews.com. The link is not required for excerpts. Republishing of articles on LifeSiteNews.com from other sources as noted is subject to the conditions of those sources.

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‘Miracle Man’ to Be Canonized
Montreal’s Blessed André Built St. Joseph’s Oratory

By Gail Besse
National Catholic Register Correspondent

Transcript of LIFESITE NEWS Interview with Sister Joan Chittister

2010-02-16T23:31:00.005-07:00

From LIFESITE NEWS

Dissident Nun Sister Joan Chittister – The LifeSiteNews Interview

(Editor’s note: The following is the full interview with Sister Joan Chittister who is to deliver a Lenten mission for the Canada’s National Catholic Broadcasting Council (NCBC), which airs the daily Mass on Vision TV. LifeSiteNews reported on the upcoming on the mission here)

LSN: It's been reported that you hold positions that are divergent from Catholic magisterial teaching. Would you say that's correct?

JC: Well, yes, I guess it is correct. It's not an opposition position. It is a position of query, of theological and scriptural commitment and search. I'm asking the question, for instance, how do we understand God if God made women inferior to men, incapable of functioning as full adults, full moral agents, in a society. What makes God a sexist? And if God is not a sexist, when are we going to discuss this question as a Church? The way we treat women is a result of our theology. What we keep them out of, what we allow them to do, what we respect in them. It emerged out of making a statement some years ago that I felt that the question of the role and place of women in the Church was a necessary discussion, and that it stood on strong theological concerns.

LSN: How do you see the Church being sexist, as you said. In what particular ways do you see that happening?

JC: Well, I think it's pretty obvious. It's not going to take a rocket scientist to figure it out. For instance, we have always had marital instructions for women that their role was submission to the husband. Now when we see that on television, and we see it in China, or Japan, or Islam, we think it's terrible. But it was our operational theology for years and years. And even now we claim that there's very strong separate roles for women. We argue that they are not – not only are they not fit matter to be ordained, as if Jesus came to earth to be male instead of flesh, but we don't even see women as fit matter to have their feet washed in a church on Holy Thursday. Now, we have a double standard, and we have had it for a long long time. It needs to be reviewed. We have a Church that is based, like the rest of society, admittedly, on a patriarchal system – men are at the top, men are the last word, men are the first authority in everything. The problem is - it seems to me, as a follower of Jesus, when I look at Jesus and the way Jesus dealt with men and women in his society and I look at the way the Church excludes women from the heart of the system, both in the Vatican, and in chanceries, and in dioceses, and in seminaries everywhere, that I have to wonder how it is that secular institutions are leading the development of women in society, rather than churches. I think that's shameful.

LSN: Would say that the Church's teaching on contraception would enter into this as well?

JC: Well, the Church teachings on anything that separates a woman as a moral agent, or keeps women out of the discussions, the theological discussions and decisions that determine those questions – I have never ever made a pronouncement on the answers, but I am steadfastly committed to the fact that in the light of the continuing development of science and the social status of women everywhere, that these questions, whatever they are, about women in the Church, have to have women in the Church as part of the participating seekers and answerers of those questions. In other words, it's a matter of saying, you know, everything written about us is written without us. If a woman is a full moral agent, then she should be part of the decision making process on those questions.

LSN: Okay. So you don't have a stand on contraception?

JC: Well, I'm a nun. And I, I mean, I believe that – in the first place, the Church is not opposed to birth control. The Church is great on arithmetic, they just have a problem with chemistry. That's a whole question about the manner in which a family is planned. But that there should be, can be, must be, will be family planning is a pretty, I think that's taken for granted. But, yes, we have questions there about how that's done, but I think they properly belong to people who are married.

LSN: Okay. Where do you stand on something like the woman's right to choose?

JC: I believe that that's – let's put it this way. I'm opposed to abortion. I have no problem with that whatsoever. I would never see abortion as a birth control method of choice. But having said that, I would never condemn a woman who finds herself in the position where she believes that, or her doctor believes that, abortion is the only answer for her at that moment. My problem lies in the fact that we make it an absolute. We say that we can never, under any circumstances whatsoever allow abortion, and yet we allow death – men, men can kill for a number of reasons. Men can kill to defend themselves, men can kill to defend the country, men can kill to punish the people that they believe should be killed. And we never call those deaths absolute. We allow men to sit down at a table and plan the destruction of the globe and we never ever say that that is totally, absolutely, gravely immoral and sinful. But in abortion, we allow no discussion whatsoever of possible times when it would not be a matter. That just seems to me to be anti-Catholic. In every other dimension of moral, of the moral life, we recognize grades and degrees of innocence and guilt. This is the one place where we say there are no grades or degrees of innocence. There's only total absolute evil and sin. I don't understand that. I'm raising the question. How do we explain that? Am I opposed to abortion? Get it straight. As a birth control method of choice, I certainly am. My major question is: why is this the one ... issue in which we never see any moment when it may not be as grave an issue as it might be under other circumstances?

LSN: Okay. So are you questioning whether there shouldn't be grey areas in terms of other kinds of deaths, or are you saying there should be grey areas in terms of abortion?

JC: I'm saying we should be theologically consistent. I'm just simply saying that these are questions. They're obviously questions, and I think they need to be treated by the Church as if they were questions.

LSN: Would you think with the positions that you are questioning Church teaching on, do you think that the fact that you are questioning Church teaching on these things, would that present a problem for you presenting on a Catholic program?

JC: Well, you see, I'm more concerned about your questions than I am about my presentation. Because you're obviously not – you aren't even interested in the program. What you're trying to do is to create some situation where a program on spiritual development in the 21st century is questionable. And I'm not happy about that at this moment. I consider it bad journalism in the first place, because you didn't call about the program. So I don't know how to answer you, Pat. I just think it's irresponsible. If I said to you, now you're a journalist ... The reason I want to know that is you’re a journalist, and can you really present those questions objectively if you're writing a story? Now, I think that would be unfair, and I think what you're doing is unfair. To say, do I believe that there are theological questions in this culture and this century that we haven't faced before that we need to face? I think that's fair game. But then to say to me, if you have questions, do you qualify to give a presentation in a Catholic Church? I mean, who are you representing? ... For whom do you work? ... I really think you ought to stick to the news at hand. I don't mean to be unhelpful, on the contrary. But I don't like being manipulated.

JC: Now we're into infallibility. We have two infallible teachings in the Church.

LSN: Okay. Which teachings are those?

JC: Well, I expect you to know because you're the one asking the question. And this doesn't fall in either of those.

LSN: Okay. Well that would be somewhere where we differ in our opinion.

JC: Is this infallible?

LSN: What?

JC: I don't know. Whatever you're talking about. What are the infallible teachings in question?

LSN: Well, the question about women's “ordination”, contraception...

JC: Ordination is a question of infallibility?

LSN: Absolutely.

JC: Oh, well then what happened to Peter and his mother-in-law?

LSN: What do you mean?

JC: Well, Peter had a mother-in-law.

LSN: Yes?

JC: Well, was Peter allowed to be a priest? What are we doing here?

LSN: Yes.

JC: We had married priests all the way to the 13th century. None of them were priests?

LSN: I'm not talking about married ordination. I'm talking about women's ordination.

JC: Ah. Women's ordination. I see. That's your problem. Women, right.

LSN: My problem isn't with women. My problem is with women's “ordination”.

JC: But women couldn't be ordained. But you do know that men could be ordained, right? So it's only women?

LSN: Yes.

JC: Ah. And on what do you base that?

LSN: On the teaching of the Church and the will of Christ.

JC: No, no, no. What's it based on?

LSN: The idea that only men can be ordained?

JC: Yeah.

LSN: It's based on the fact that that's the way Christ ordained it.

JC: Christ didn't ordain anybody, Patrick.

LSN: Christ decided that men were to be ordained.

JC: No, Christ didn't decide that men would be ordained. You have to have a little more theology before you begin to ask questions, Patrick. You can't overlay it with another whole theology that is your own. You're either asking questions because you're interested in the answers, which is a good journalistic question, or you're asking questions because you want to shape them one way or another. I really think – I'm happy to come to Canada. I think this is a great program that they're doing, allowing, they're enabling a wonder reflection on life for a Lenten season for the entire Church. I think it's phenomenal, and I think that to try to upset that in any way outside of or because of your own personal questions or in order to, somehow or other, mix those questions at this time, I think that's a journalistic disservice.

Message for Lent, 2010 Pope Benedict

2010-02-14T12:38:00.005-07:00

"Conversion to Christ, believing in the Gospel, ultimately means this: to exit the illusion of self-sufficiency in order to discover and accept one’s own need – the need of others and God, the need of His forgiveness and His friendship. So we understand how faith is altogether different from a natural, good-feeling, obvious fact: humility is required to accept that I need Another to free me from “what is mine,” to give me gratuitously “what is His.” This happens especially in the sacraments of Reconciliation and the Eucharist. Thanks to Christ’s action, we may enter into the “greatest” justice, which is that of love (cf. Rm 13, 8-10), the justice that recognises itself in every case more a debtor than a creditor, because it has received more than could ever have been expected. Strengthened by this very experience, the Christian is moved to contribute to creating just societies, where all receive what is necessary to live according to the dignity proper to the human person and where justice is enlivened by love."

His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI, Message for Lent, 2010

Dissenting Nun, Sister Joan Chittister, to address Canada's Televised Catholic Lenten Mission

2010-02-13T09:18:00.009-07:00

From: LIFESITE NEWS

Dissident Nun Set to Address Canada's Televised Catholic Lenten Mission

By Patrick B. Craine

TORONTO, Ontario, February 12, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The National Catholic Broadcasting Council (NCBC), which airs the daily Mass on Vision TV, has announced that they will be hosting a religious sister on their annual televised Lenten mission. But the nun in question, Sr. Joan Chittister, is renowned for promoting positions contrary to Christian teaching, including on the issues of abortion, contraception and women's “ordination.”
Sr. Joan Chittister will address this year's mission, which is set for March 29-30 on Vision TV with the theme “A God for All Seasons.” Sr. Chittister told LifeSiteNews.com (LSN) that her talk focuses on the “spirituality of aging,” but, she said, she is “more inclined to call it a lifestyle for the 21st century.”

Sr. Chittister also admitted to LSN that she holds positions diverging from Catholic teaching. “It's not an opposition position,” she explained. “It is a position of query, of theological and scriptural commitment and search.”

For example, she said, “I felt that the question of the role and place of women in the Church was a necessary discussion, and that it stood on strong theological concerns.”

“We argue that [women] are not – not only are they not fit matter to be ordained, as if Jesus came to earth to be male instead of flesh, but we don't even see women as fit matter to have their feet washed in a church on Holy Thursday,” she offered as one example of the Church's 'sexism'. “Now, we have a double standard, and we have had it for a long long time. It needs to be reviewed.”

In addition to her advocacy of women's ordination, Sr. Chittister has also taken positions contrary to Church teaching on life and family issues, such as those regarding abortion, contraception, and homosexuality.

In her interview with LSN, she insisted that she opposes abortion “as a birth control method of choice.”

However, “my problem lies in the fact that we make it an absolute,” she added. “We say that we can never, under any circumstances whatsoever, allow abortion, and yet we allow death.
“Men, men can kill for a number of reasons,” she continued. “Men can kill to defend themselves, men can kill to defend the country, men can kill to punish the people that they believe should be killed. And we never call those deaths absolute. ... But in abortion, we allow no discussion whatsoever of possible times when it would not be a matter.”

Several bishops have taken action to prevent the dissemination of Sr. Chittister's views in the past.

In 2007, Bishop Barry Jones of Christchurch, New Zealand, decried her speaking engagement in his diocese, making it clear that she was neither welcome nor authorized to speak. "The point is that silence generates the misunderstanding that this is all approved, when it's not. I have made my position clear to the priests," Bishop Jones said. "I don't see how I, as a bishop, can advance the teachings of the Catholic Church by appearing to condone other views."

In 2001, the dioceses of Pittsburgh and Peoria opted out of the National Catholic Education Association convocation, citing Sr. Chittister's presence there as a speaker.
The National Catholic Broadcasting Council (NCBC) has come under scrutiny in the past because of its relationship with Vision TV, which has manifested a strong and enduring anti-Catholic bias, and has even given abortionist Henry Morgentaler a platform. LSN reported in 2005 that NCBC was paying Vision TV over $700,000 per year to air its programming.

LSN spoke with the National Catholic Broadcasting Council on Thursday and was told a spokesperson would return the call. After that, repeated calls over two days were not returned.
The Archdiocese of Toronto, where NCBC is based and which lists NCBC as a “media partner” on its website, did not wish to comment.

Contact Information:

National Catholic Broadcasting Council 21 Dunlop Street Richmond Hill, Ontario, L4C 2M6 Toll Free: 1-888-383-6277 Local: 905-884-6899 Fax: 905-884-5164
E-mail: b-mcmanus@rogers.com

Archbishop Thomas Collins
Archdiocese of Toronto Catholic Pastoral Centre
1155 Yonge Street Toronto, Ontario, M4T 1W2
Telephone: (416) 934-0606, ext. 609 Fax: (416) 934-3452
E-mail: archbishop@archtoronto.org

See related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:
New Zealand Bishop Speaks Out Against Visit of Pro-Abortion Nun http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/jul/07070302.html

DIOCESES REJECT NATIONAL CATHOLIC EDUCATION CONVENTION DUE TO DISSIDENT SPEAKER http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2001/feb/01020702.html

Catholic-Supported Canadian TV Station Attacking Church Yet Again http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/feb/06020203.html

Vision TV Moving toward More Openly Anti-Catholic Bias http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/jan/06010905.html

Over $700,000 Catholic Church Funds to Canadian Anti-Catholic TV Network Questioned http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/oct/05102402.html Back to Top Print this Story Email to a Friend View Story on LifeSiteNews.com

"Imposing Homosexuality in Canada" Catholic Insight Magazine - Father Alphonse de Valk

2010-02-11T16:27:00.002-07:00

" 'Boards prepare for new equity strategy'

That was the title of an article by Sheila Dabu in Toronto’s Catholic Register, Jan. 3, 2010. The “Boards” referred to in the article are the school boards of Ontario, and, one supposes, with such a title most people would have glanced at it and passed on to something more exciting. So what is this “equity strategy?”

It turns out that “equity strategy” means that the homosexual lifestyle is to be taught and promoted in all Ontario schools, including all Catholic schools. In other words, the title borrowed from the Ministry of Education did its work even in a Catholic weekly: it disguised the revolutionary nature of the government’s plan."

Read Father De Valk's entire editorial here at Catholic Insight Magazine.

A Public Plague

2010-02-09T09:39:00.001-07:00

A Public Plague

Source: The Cukierski Family Apostolate

The West: A "Perishing Society"

2010-02-06T16:35:00.003-07:00

"A fact which cannot be disputed is the weakening of human beings in the West while in the East they are becoming firmer and stronger. Six decades for our people and three decades for the people of Eastern Europe; during that time we have been through a spiritual training far in advance of Western experience. Life's complexity and mortal weight have produced stronger, deeper and more interesting characters than those produced by standardized Western well-being. Therefore if our society were to be transformed into yours, it would mean an improvement in certain aspects, but also a change for the worse on some particularly significant scores. It is true, no doubt, that a society cannot remain in an abyss of lawlessness, as is the case in our country. But it is also demeaning for it to elect such mechanical legalistic smoothness as you have. After the suffering of decades of violence and oppression, the human soul longs for things higher, warmer and purer than those offered by today's mass living habits, introduced by the revolting invasion of publicity, by TV stupor and by intolerable music.

All this is visible to observers from all the worlds of our planet. The Western way of life is less and less likely to become the leading model.

There are meaningful warnings that history gives a threatened or perishing society. Such are, for instance, the decadence of art, or a lack of great statesmen. There are open and evident warnings, too. The center of your democracy and of your culture is left without electric power for a few hours only, and all of a sudden crowds of American citizens start looting and creating havoc. The smooth surface film must be very thin, then, the social system quite unstable and unhealthy.

But the fight for our planet, physical and spiritual, a fight of cosmic proportions, is not a vague matter of the future; it has already started. The forces of Evil have begun their decisive offensive, you can feel their pressure, and yet your screens and publications are full of prescribed smiles and raised glasses. What is the joy about? "

Alexander Solzhenitsyn, From: A World Split Apart. Addresss given at Harvard University, June 8, 1978

Statment from Archbishop Thomas Collins on Liberal Leader, Michael Ignatieff's G8 Proposal on Maternal and Child Health - contraception and abortion

2010-02-04T16:51:00.005-07:00

Thank you Archbishop Thomas Collins.

______________________________________

From the Archdiocese of Toronto website:

Statement from Archbishop Thomas Collins

Re: G8 Proposal on Maternal & Child Health

February 4, 2010

In light of the many positive contributions that Canada can make to the
improvement of maternal and child health, it is astonishing that the Leader of the
Opposition, Mr. Michael Ignatieff, has issued an official statement advocating
contraception and abortion as fundamental elements in addressing this important issue.
There are many fruitful ways to improve maternal and child health, and the
discussion should centre on the most effective strategies for doing this. We all await with
keen interest the tangible measures that the Prime Minister will propose.
Certainly the provision of clean water, the expansion of immunization, and the
assurance of a supply of adequate food are among the ways in which the goal of
improved health can be attained.

Even those who think that abortion should be allowed do not, however, propose it
as a positive contribution to the good of society.

When there are so many obvious practical steps that can be taken to promote
maternal and child health throughout the world, it is sad to see Mr. Ignatieff introduce
into the discussion this negative proposal, which in no way serves to improve the health
of mothers or children, but which rather imperils the most vulnerable among us.

______________________________________

Opposition Liberal Leader, Michael Ignatieff's, anti-life comments....read article here.

Ralph McInerny 1929 - 2010 : Requiescat In Pace

2010-01-30T08:14:00.005-07:00

Ralph McInerny 1929 - 2010

********************************************************

Recalling the Age of Reason, An Interview with Ralph McInerny: Thomas Aquinas College Newsletter, Spring 2009

Ralph McInerny on a Forgotten Thomist : Calls Charles De Koninck a Man of Faith, Philosopher of Science. Interview : Zenit News

The Writings of Charles De Koninck, Vol. 1: Charles De Koninck (author), Ralph McInerny (Editor, Translator)

"Bishops, dissenters of Humanae Vitae, July 1968, close of the Council" Father John Hardon, S.J.

2010-01-29T16:17:00.009-07:00

How to Preserve the Catholic Faith: The Family
Bishops, dissenters of Humane Vitae, July 1968, close of the Council

by Fr. John A. Hardon, S.J.

Dissenters, as they piously called themselves, dissenters from the Church's teaching, erroneously used the council to support the idea of bishops being independent of the pope, and the single main reason for the wide spread dissent of bishops from the Vicar of Christ is contraception. When Humane Vitae was published the Bishops conference in most countries throughout the world met to vote either pro or con the bishop of Rome. About half the Bishops of the Catholic Church supported the Vicar of Christ, the other half did not, including the Bishops of the United States and Canada. Inevitably, the faithful in large parts of the Catholic world were confused. What a mild adjective, confused. All of this is part of the history of what we are calling the contraceptive mentality.

Copyright © 2003 by Inter Mirifica

From The Real Presence Association

_____________________

For a history of the dissent in Canada from Humanae Vitae, please see Monsignor Vincent Foy's articles in the sidebar of this blog.

Feast of St. Thomas Aquinas

2010-01-28T18:00:00.002-07:00

Triumph of St. Thomas Aquinas Over the Heretics

Filippino Lippi, 1489-91

Homily of Archbishop Raymond Burke at Annual Red Mass, Diocese of Phoenix, Arizona, St. Mary's Basilica, January 12, 2010

2010-01-28T16:03:00.006-07:00

SAINT MARY’S BASILICA, PHOENIX, ARIZONA
ANNUAL RED MASS, DIOCESE OF PHOENIX
TUESDAY OF THE FIRST WEEK OF THE YEAR

JANUARY 12, 2010
Is 11:1-4
Ps 104
1 Cor 12:4-13
Mt 25:14-30

HOMILY

Praised be Jesus Christ, now and forever. Amen.

1. The tradition of celebrating annually the Red Mass to invoke the inspiration and strength of God the Holy Spirit upon those charged with the administration of justice in society comes to us from the Middle Ages. In that time of the Church’s life, during which there was a clear and strong understanding of the essential unity of reason and faith, the celebration of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass at the beginning of the new judicial year pointed to the irreplaceable foundation of the service of pronouncing the just and the right on behalf of one’s brothers and sisters. Judges, attorneys and other servants of justice in a Christian society understand that the solid rock upon which the administration of justice rests is obedience to the law of God, which is written upon every human heart and which is the precondition of good order and peace. It is the law which God teaches us both by reason and by faith.

2. God the Father pours forth the Holy Spirit upon the ministers of justice for the sake of His people. As our Lord teaches us in today’s parable, God the Father entrusts to them the gift of administering His justice, so that they, His "good and faithful" servants, may bring forth an abundant harvest of good order and peace in society (Gospel). In the context of the celebration of the Red Mass, the Gospel parable calls to mind the heroic life of Saint Thomas More, patron saint of all ministers of justice, who, when he, as the chief minister of justice in the land, was about to be executed for refusing to violate a most sacred tenet of his conscience, declared: "I die the king’s good servant, and God’s first" (A Thomas More Source Book, ed. Gerald B. Wegemer and Stephen W. Smith, Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press, 2004, p. 357). Saint Thomas More understood that there could be no contradiction between his service of his nation and his service of God, and that, in fact, he could only serve his nation truly and faithfully by his true and faithful service of God.

3. At the beginning of a new judicial year, the ministers of justice call upon the help of God the Holy Spirit dwelling within them, both revealing God’s law, His justice to them, and strengthening them to obey His law, to do what is right and just on behalf of their neighbor, without boundary or exception, to be good servants of the nation by being God’s good servants. Celebrating the annual Red Mass calls to mind the truth that the service of judges, attorneys and other legal professionals has its ultimate source in God Who alone is just and Who alone teaches us, in the intimacy of our hearts, how to act justly for the sake of our brothers and sisters, for the
sake of our society and, indeed, our world. According to the traditional formulation of a definitive sentence, the judge, in giving the final disposition of the sentence, always first declared: "Having God only before my eyes."

4. The red of the Mass vestments, which was also the red of the judge’s robes in medieval times, reminds us of the perfect obedience of our Lord Jesus Christ, God the Son made man, to the prompting of the Holy Spirit, the obedience which led our Lord to pour out His very lifeblood for our eternal salvation. Through His Passion and Death, our Lord fulfilled the prophecy about His vocation and mission:

The spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him.... Not by appearance shall he judge, nor by hearsay shall he decide. But he shall judge the poor with justice, and decide aright for the land’s afflicted (Reading I).

God’s ultimate pronouncement of justice on our behalf was the offering of the Body and Blood of His only-begotten on Calvary for our eternal salvation, the Sacrifice made present for us in the Holy Mass we now celebrate (cf. Jn 12:31-33). For the ministers of justice, participation in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass always gives them new inspiration and new strength for their necessary and most challenging service. Through the Eucharistic Sacrifice, the Holy Spirit is poured forth into their souls from the glorious pierced Heart of Jesus, in order that they may serve justice in society and, thereby, serve the good of all their brothers and sisters.

5. The red of today’s vestments points to both the outpouring of the Blood of Christ from His glorious pierced Heart and to its fruit, the outpouring of our lives in obedience to God’s law, in the service of justice on behalf of all other brothers and sisters, which is the first and most fundamental expression of Christlike love. The minister of justice bears a most heavy burden, the burden of emptying himself of himself, in order to have God alone before His eyes, in declaring what is just and right on behalf of his fellow citizens. At the same time, he enjoys the grace of the Holy Spirit for the carrying out of his service which is the foundation of peace in the lives of individuals and in the life of society. To administer justice is indeed a spiritual gift, a manifestation of the Holy Spirit at work in the world for the sake of the whole Body of Christ, for the sake of all for whom Christ has poured out His life on the Cross (Reading II).

6. As we fervently pray for the abundant outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon all who have the responsibility for the administration of justice in our society, we are deeply conscious of the critical situation in which the ministry of justice finds itself in our nation. More and more, we witness the violation of the most fundamental norms of divine natural law in the policies and laws of our nation, and in the judgments given by her courts. Justice founded on obedience to the prompting of the Holy Spirit, first of all, must safeguard and defend the inviolability of innocent human life from the moment of conception to the moment of natural death, and the integrity of the faithful and indissoluble union of man and woman in marriage through which spouses, in cooperation with God, create and nurture new human life. At the same time, the law more and more dares to force those with the sacred trust of caring for the health of their brothers and sisters to violate the most sacred tenets of their consciences, and to force individuals and institutions to cooperate in egregious violations of the natural moral law. The reality of the situation is cloaked in a false garment of justice, for example, the direct taking of human life at its very earliest stages of development and the direct abortion of infants in their mother’s wombs is justified as the research necessary to find cures for dread diseases or as necessary for "reproductive health," and the violation of the integrity of the marital union is justified as the practice of tolerance.

7. The present situation of our nation is the source of our deepest concern as we pray for the ministers of justice. In our nation, the lives of millions of our unborn brothers and sisters have been and continue to be legally destroyed through embryonic stem-cell research and procured abortion; the lives of those who have the first title to our respect and care – the seriously ill, those with special needs and the advanced in years – are increasingly viewed as a burden to be eliminated from society; our laws presume to redefine marriage and the family, the first cell of the life of our society, in defiance of the law of nature; and the freedom of conscience is denied to individuals, even taxpayers in general, and to institutions by policies and laws which force cooperation in acts which are always and everywhere evil.

8. We see before our eyes the evil fruits of life in a society which pretends to take the place of God in making its laws and in giving its judgments, in a society in which those in power decide what is right and just, according to their desires and convenience, even at the cost of perpetrating the gravest harm upon their neighbor. We see before our eyes the evil fruits of life in a society in which a right conscience no longer guides those who make laws and give judgments, in which those in power no longer have "God alone before their eyes." In such a society, the administration of justice is no longer a participation in the justice of God, an obedient response to the prompting of the Holy Spirit, but a façade cloaking our own selfishness and refusal to give our lives for the sake of the good of all our brothers and sisters. It is the kind of society which we, as Americans, have rightly deplored and against which we have so often fought at the greatest human and material cost to our nation. It is a society which is abandoning its Judeo-Christian foundations, the fundamental obedience to God’s law which safeguards the common good, and is embracing a totalitarianism which masks itself as the "hope," the "future," of our nation. Reason and faith teaches us that such a society can only produce violence and death and in the end destroy itself.

9. The situation of our nation, profoundly disturbing as it is, cannot be for us a cause of discouragement, let alone abandonment of the ministry of the justice which comes from God and, therefore, serves the good of all without boundary or condition. Uniting ourselves to Christ in His Eucharistic Sacrifice, we accept not only our portion of His suffering for the sake of justice but are also filled with confidence in His victory over sin and the forces of evil. Praying for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the ministers of justice in our society from the glorious pierced Heart of Jesus, His Eucharistic Heart, we must be completely realistic about what the prompting of the Holy Spirit will demand of them in our time. At the same time, we must be confident that the Holy Spirit will give them the wisdom and courage to declare what is just and right on behalf of their brothers and sisters. If we are tempted by doubts of faith, we should contemplate again the work of the Holy Spirit in the life of our brother in the Communion of Saints, Saint Thomas More. Even as the Holy Spirit inspired and strengthened Saint Thomas More to be true to his conscience, not only for the sake of the salvation of his own soul but for the good of the people he had been called to serve, even so the Holy Spirit will produce the same holiness of life in our ministers of justice, so that they will be able to declare at all times: "I am the king’s good servant, and God’s first."

10. My brothers and sisters who are the ministers of justice, all of us depend upon you to speak what is just and right on our behalf and on behalf of all our brothers and sisters, especially those whose lives are in any way threatened. Conscious of the heavy burden which you carry, especially in the present situation of our nation, we beg God, today, to pour forth upon you in abundance the gift of the Holy Spirit, so that you, in Christ, will judge "[n]ot by appearance ... nor by hearsay" but with the justice which has its foundation in obedience to the law of God. We thank God for your presence with us today, as we offer the Sacrifice of the Mass, giving thanks to God for your service on behalf of us all and petitioning an abundance of God’s grace for the fulfillment of your most fundamental and noble service of us all. In a special way, we pray that you may never give way to discouragement or to the abandonment of the demands of your conscience, but may enjoy always the comfort and strength of the Holy Spirit dwelling within your souls.

11. Christ now makes present for us the immeasurable and unceasing outpouring of His love on the Cross. From His glorious pierced Heart, he pours out upon us all the healing and strength of the Holy Spirit. Let us lift up our hearts to His Eucharistic Heart, let us be one with Him in the Eucharistic Sacrifice, so that we may live in justice and peace with one another. Let us lift up to the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus those charged with the administration of justice on our behalf, imploring for them the gift of the Holy Spirit to inspire and strengthen them in declaring what is just and right on behalf of all our brothers and sisters, especially those who are in most need.

O Sacred Heart of Jesus, abode of justice and love, have mercy on us.
O Blessed Virgin Mary, Mirror of Justice, pray for us.
Saint Thomas More, pray for us.

(Most Rev.) Raymond L. Burke

Archbishop Emeritus of Saint Louis

Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura

The Dignity of the Priesthood

2010-01-24T19:47:00.002-07:00

“Almighty Father, grant to these servants of yours the dignity of the priesthood. Renew within them the Spirit of holiness. As co-workers with the order of bishops may they be faithful to the ministry that they receive from you, Lord God, and be to others a model of right conduct.”

Romanum: De Ordinatione Episcopi, presbyterorum et diaconorum,

Edition typical, Typis Polyglottis Vaticanis 1990)

From the Vatican, 15th January 2010

Dear Brothers in the Priesthood,

A central part of the prayer of ordination recalls how the Priest is essentially a gift, and, exactly in view of that “supernatural gift”, he carries himself with a dignity which everyone, clergy and lay faithful, are called to recognise. One has in mind a dignity which is not the work of man but which is the pure gift of grace, to which one is called and which no one can demand as a right. The dignity of the priesthood, bestowed by the “Almighty Father”, must be evident in the life of priests: in their sanctity, in their welcoming humanity full of humility and pastoral charity, in the clarity of their faithfulness to the Gospel and the doctrine of the Church, in the sobriety and solemnity of their celebration of the divine mysteries, in their ecclesiastical garb. Everything in the priest must lead him to recall, to himself and to the world, that he is the object of an unmerited gift beyond any merit of his, which makes him an efficacious presence of the Absolute in the world for the salvation of men. The Spirit of holiness, which one begs might be poured forth anew, is the guarantee to be able to live the vocation one has received in “holiness” and, at the same time, the condition of the very possibility to be “faithful to the ministry”. Faithfulness is the wonderful meeting of the faithful freedom of God and the created but wounded freedom of man, which, however, through the power of the Spirit, becomes sacramentally capable “to be to others a model of right conduct”. Far from reducing the ministerial priesthood to a moralistic category, such an exhortation shows the “fullness” of life: a life which is really thus is a life that is integrally Christian.

The Priest, clothed with the Spirit of the Almighty Father, is called to “guide” the journey of sanctification of the people entrusted to him by teaching and the celebration of the sacraments and, above all, with his own life, with the certainty that this is the only end for which the priest himself exists: Paradise!

The gift of the Father makes of the “sons-priests” his beloved; a portio electa populi Dei, which is called to “be chosen” and also to gleam by the holiness of life and the witness of faith.
May the memory of the gift received, always renewed by the Spirit and the protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Handmaid of the Lord and Tabernacle of the Holy Spirit, allow each Priest to “faithfully fulfil” his mission in the world, in joyful expectation of the heavenly reward kept safe for the chosen sons, who are also heirs.

+ Mauro Piacenza

Titular Archbishop of Vittoriana

Secretary

Papal Appeal Following Earthquake in Haiti VIS

2010-01-13T13:45:00.004-07:00

PAPAL APPEAL FOLLOWING EARTHQUAKE IN HAITI

VATICAN CITY, 13 JAN 2010 (VIS) - At the end of today's general audience, held in the Paul VI Hall, the Pope launched an appeal "for the dramatic situation currently being experienced in Haiti".

"My thoughts go in particular to the population hit just a few hours ago by a devastating earthquake which has caused serious loss of human life, large numbers of homeless and missing people, and vast material damage.

"I invite everyone to join my prayers to the Lord for the victims of this catastrophe and for those who mourn their loss. I give assurances of my spiritual closeness to people who have lost their homes and to everyone who, in various ways, has been affected by this terrible calamity, imploring God to bring them consolation and relief in their suffering.

"I appeal to the generosity of all people so that these our brothers and sisters who are experiencing a moment of need and suffering may not lack our concrete solidarity and the effective support of the international community. The Catholic Church will not fail to move immediately, through her charitable institutions, to meet the most immediate needs of the population".

_________________________________________

Caritas is accepting donations for Haiti.

St. Marguerite Bourgeoy: Canada's first woman saint

2010-01-12T12:35:00.002-07:00

Marguerite Bourgeoy: Foundress of the Sisters of the Congregation of Notre-Dame

"In order to encourage the colonists in their faith expression, she arranged for the restoration of the Cross on Mount Royal after it has been destroyed by hostile Indians, and she undertook the construction of a chapel dedicated to Notre-Dame de Bon Secours. Convinced of the importance of the family in the building of this new country, and perceiving the significance of the role to be exercised by women, she devoted herself to the task of preparing those whose vocation it would be to preside in a home. "

Born Troyes, France, April 17, 1620, Good Friday
Died, Montreal, January 12, 1700
Beatified, November 12, 1950 by Pope Pius XII
Canonized October 31, 1982 by Pope John Paul II

Read more about St. Marguerite Bourgeoy at the Vatican website.

"The Catholic Family in the Modern World" Father John Hardon, S.J.

2010-01-10T13:07:00.002-07:00

"The Incarnation took place at the peak of Roman imperial history. As St. Luke tells us, it was in obedience to a decree of the Emperor Caesar Augustus that Mary and Joseph went to Bethlehem to be registered by the Roman officials. It was the Roman Procurator, Pontius Pilate, who finally condemned Jesus to death on Calvary. It was under the Roman emperor Nero that Saints Peter and Paul were martyred in Rome and it was the Roman Emperors, one after another, who for the first three centuries of the Church’s existence persecuted the Christians, beheaded them, threw them to the lions in the Coliseum and aimed to wipe out the very name of Christian from the Roman vocabulary.

Pre-Christian Paganism
What was the condition of marriage and the family in the Roman Empire at the dawn of Christianity? It was pagan, thoroughly pagan in every sense of the word. Contraception was so widely practiced that, we can say, it was universal in the Roman Empire. A Roman writer has one of his woman characters say, “what need have I of children? I live well, happily, peacefully doing as I please.” Unquote a matron from the first century A. D.

Contraception goes back to the earliest days of recorded history. Historians of contraception trace its practice to as early as 2800 B.C. By the end of the first century B.C., the Greeks and Romans had become masters of the art of contraception. However, they never really distinguished between contraception and abortion. The drugs that a woman used were calculated to not only avoid conception, but to destroy whatever conception in the womb may have taken place.

Abortion was correspondingly widespread in the Roman Empire. There were no laws prohibiting abortion. The one “effective control” was to allow the husband to impose the death penalty on his wife if she aborted a child without his permission. Every husband had the right to order his wife to abort if he did not want the child. The father had a legal right to demand that his wife abort if he told her to, and Roman law backed him in insisting that his wife abort the unborn child.

Familia was the Latin word for “family.” But familia did not mean what family came to mean with the evangelization of the Roman world. Among the ancient Romans , famulus was a servant and familia was a household of servants. In the classical Roman usage, the “family” hardly included the parents or children. It should be re-emphasized that the pagan family meant everybody in a given household which could include not only the servants, but the slaves, and the whole harem of women subject to the male head of the household.

No single word in the western world took on a more changed meaning than the word “family.” Certainly, Christianity adopted much of the vocabulary of the Greek and Roman society into which Jesus was born. But Christ changed the meaning of this vocabulary. In doing so, He did more than change the meaning of words; He elevated these words to a sublimity they had never known before. "

Read the whole article at The Real Presence Association.

Feast of St Basil and St Gregory Nazianzus

2010-01-02T19:27:00.003-07:00

Pope Benedict's General Audiences on:

St. Basil (1)
St. Basil (2)

St Gregory of Nazianzus (1)
St. Gregory of Nazianzus (2)

Feast of the Holy Innocents

2009-12-28T11:25:00.003-07:00

"Herod, in a blind rage when at last it was clear to him that the magi were not coming back, decided to kill every male baby under two in Bethlehem. As he did not know that an angel had warned Joseph (he probably did not believe in angels anyhow, certainly none of his intellectual friends did), it seemed to him that his plan was foolproof. He would have killed every newborn baby in the danger zone: by extending slaughter to all boys born within the previous two years, he would ensure that no child would remain who could possibly be pointed at alter as the one the magi meant...

"On December 28, three days after Christmas, we celebrate the feast of the slain children as martyrs. One thing they alone among martyrs have, they died to save God from men who would slay him."

--Frank Sheed, To Know Christ Jesus (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1992), pp. 60-61

Byzantine Hymn of the Nativity

2009-12-25T14:47:00.003-07:00

Pope Benedict confirms miracle due to Canada's Blessed Andre Bessette's intercession

2009-12-23T10:43:00.002-07:00

For more information, please see:

Cause for Canonization of Blessed Andre Bessette

Homily, Pope Benedict XVI, Holy Mass with members of the Interntional Theological Commission:

2009-12-19T18:46:00.003-07:00

Pauline Chapel, December 1, 2009

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

The Lord's words that we have just heard in the Gospel passage challenge us as theologians or, perhaps better, invite us to make an examination of conscience. What is theology? What is our role as theologians? How can theology be done well? We have heard that our Lord praises the Father because he concealed the great mystery of the Son the Trinitarian mystery, the Christological mystery from the wise and the learned, from those who did not recognize him. Instead he revealed it to children, the nèpioi, to those who are not learned, who are not very cultured. It was to them that this great mystery was revealed.

With these words the Lord describes in simple terms an episode in his life that already began at the time of his birth, when the Magi from the East ask those who are competent the scribes, the exegetes where the birthplace of the Saviour, of the King of Israel, is located. The scribes know because they are great specialists; they can say immediately where the Messiah is born: in Bethlehem! But they do not feel it concerns them. For them it remains academic knowledge that does not affect their lives; they stay away. They can provide information, but they do not assimilate it and it has no part in the formation of their own lives.

Then throughout the Lord's public life we encounter the same thing. It is beyond the learned to comprehend that this man, a Galilean who is not educated, can truly be the Son of God. It is unacceptable to them that God the great, the one, the God of Heaven and earth could be present in this man. They know everything, they know all of the great prophecies; they even know Isaiah 53, but the mystery remains hidden to them. Instead it is revealed to the lowly, starting from Our Lady to the fishermen of the Sea of Galilee. They know, just as the Roman centurion beneath the Cross knew: this is the Son of God.

The basic events of Jesus' life do not only belong to the past but are also present in various ways to all generations. And thus also in our time in the past 200 years we see the same thing. There have been great scholars, great experts, great theologians, teachers of faith who have taught us many things. They have gone into the details of Sacred Scripture, of the history of salvation but have been unable to see the mystery itself, its central nucleus: that Jesus was really the Son of God, that at a given moment in history the Trinitarian God entered our history, as a man like us. The essential has remained hidden! One could easily mention the great names in the history of theology over the past 200 years from whom we have learned much; but the eyes of their hearts were not open to the mystery.

On the other hand, in our time there have also been "little ones" who have understood this mystery. Let us think of St Bernadette Soubirous; of St Thérèse of Lisieux, with her new interpretation of the Bible that is "non-scientific" but goes to the heart of Sacred Scripture; of the saints and blessed of our time: St Josephine Bakhita, Bl. Teresa of Calcutta and St Damien de Veuster. We could list so many!

But from all this the question arises: "Why should this be so?". Is Christianity the religion of the foolish, of people with no culture or who are uneducated? Is faith extinguished where reason is kindled? How can this be explained? Perhaps we should take another look at history. What Jesus said, what can be noted in all the centuries, is true. Nevertheless, there is a "type" of lowly person who is also learned. Our Lady stood beneath the Cross, the humble handmaid of the Lord and the great woman illumined by God. And John was there too, a fisherman from the Sea of Galilee. He is the John whom the Church was rightly to call "the theologian", for he was really able to see the mystery of God and proclaim it: eagled-eyed he entered into the inaccessible light of the divine mystery. So it was too that after his Resurrection, the Lord, on the road to Damascus, touches the heart of Saul, one of those learned people who cannot see. He himself, in his First Letter to Timothy, writes that he was "acting ignorantly" at that time, despite his knowledge. But the Risen One touches him: he is blinded. Yet at the same time, he truly gains sight; he begins to see. The great scholar becomes a "little one" and for this very reason perceives the folly of God as wisdom, a wisdom far greater than all human wisdom.

We could continue to interpret the holy story in this way. Just one more observation. These erudite terms, sofòi and sinetòi, in the First Reading are used in a different way. Here sofia and sìnesis are gifts of the Holy Spirit which descend upon the Messiah, upon Christ. What does this mean? It turns out that there is a dual use of reason and a dual way of being either wise or little. In the whole range of sciences, starting with the natural sciences, where a suitable method for the research of matter is universalized, there is a way of using reason that is autonomous, that places itself above God. God has no part in this method, so God does not exist. And, in the end, this is so in theology too: one fishes in the waters of Sacred Scripture using a net in which only fish of a certain size may be caught. Therefore a fish exceeding this size is too big for the net and hence cannot exist. It is in this way that the great mystery of Jesus, the Son made Man, is reduced to a historical Jesus: a tragic figure; a ghost, not of flesh and blood; a man who stays in the tomb, whose body is corrupt and who is truly dead. The method is able to "catch" certain fish but the great mystery eludes it, because the human being himself established the measure. He takes pride in this which is the same time great foolishness, because it renders absolute certain methods that are unsuitable for treating the great realities. He enters into this academic spirit that we have seen in the scribes, who answered the Magi Kings: it does not concern me. I remain closed into my own life that will not be affected. It is a specialization that sees all the details but can no longer discern the whole.

Then there is the other way of using reason, of being wise that of the man who recognizes who he is; he recognizes the proper measure and greatness of God, opening himself in humility to the newness of God's action. It is in this way, precisely by accepting his own smallness, making himself little as he really is, that he arrives at the truth. Thus reason too can express all its possibilities; it is not extinguished but rather grows and becomes greater. Sofìa and sìnesis in this context do not exclude one from the mystery that is real communion with the Lord, in whom reside wisdom and knowledge and their truth.

Let us now pray that the Lord will give us true humility. May he give us the grace of being little in order to be truly wise; may he illumine us, enable us to see his mystery in the joy of the Holy Spirit. May he help us to be true theologians who can proclaim his mystery because we are touched in the depths of our hearts, of our very existence. Amen.

© Copyright 2009 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana

Pope Benedict, December 9th Wednesday General Audience: Rupert of Deutz

2009-12-17T13:38:00.002-07:00

"Rupert teaches us that when controversies arise in the Church the reference to the Petrine ministry guarantees fidelity to sound doctrine and is a source of serenity and inner freedom."

Pope Benedict XVI, December 9th 2009, General Audience, Paul VI Audience Hall