Daily Archives: May 22, 2012

Gay Marriage—Nothing New Under the Sun Gay marriage and homosexuality were part of the moral landscape faced by the first Christians in Ancient Rome. By Benjamin Wiker Tuesday, May 22, 2012 www.catholicworldreport.com/Item/1367/gay_marriagenothing_new_under_the_sun.aspx Given that the gay marriage agenda will be increasingly pressed upon Catholics by the state, we should be much more aware of what history has to teach us about gay marriage—given that we don’t want to be among Read more [...]

The SSPX, Rome and Armchair Negotiatiators By Dr. Jeff Mirus | May 22, 2012 www.catholicculture.org/commentary/otc.cfm?id=967 Having seen the news conference and read the reports of the unveiling of a new book on Pope Benedict’s keys to the interpretation of Vatican II, we can now breathe a collective sigh of relief that the negotiations between the SSPX and the Holy See are not in the hands of the books’ authors. In the same rhetorical breath Cardinal Walter Brandmuller, one Read more [...]

US Franciscan statement on climate change CWN – May 22, 2012 The largest province of Franciscan (OFM) friars in the United States has issued a statement on climate change. “As we reflect on the signs of the times, we may realize that the edifice of the dominant worldview is beginning to crumble,” Holy Name Province said in its statement.” It is a worldview in which human beings have seen themselves as separated from the rest of God’s creation and free to pursue the dream of unlimited Read more [...]

Italian teen abducted for sex exploitation, says Rome’s former exorcist CWN – May 22, 2012 The former official exorcist of the Diocese of Rome has advanced the theory that Emanuela Orlandi, whose disappearance in 1983 has never been explained, was abducted for sexual exploitation. Father Gabriel Amorth, who has gained international notice with his books about exorcism and his controversial statements on topics such as the influence of the Harry Potter novels, told the Italian daily La Read more [...]

Jerusalem Patriarch sees continuing ‘hemorrhage’ of Christians leaving Holy Land CWN – May 22, 2012 “The exit of Christians from the Holy Land can be described as a real human hemorrhage,” according to the Latin-rite Catholic Patriarch of Jerusalem. In an interview with the Zenit news agency during a trip to Italy, Archbishop Fouad Twai said that the continuing fight of Christians from the Holy Land can be attributed to “the occupation, to the political situation, to the difficult Read more [...]

Pray for China, Pope asks faithful CWN – May 21, 2012 Pope Benedict XVI asked for special prayers for the Catholics of China during his public audience on May 20. The Pope remarked that on May 24–dedicated to the Virgin Mary, Help of Christians–many Chinese Catholics will join in pilgrimage to the shrine of Our Lady of Sheshan in Shanghai. The Holy Father asked all Catholics to “join in prayer with all Catholics who are in China, so that they may announce with humility and joy the Risen Read more [...]

Chinese authorities discourage pilgrimages to Marian shrine CWN – May 22, 2012 Chinese government officials are discouraging pilgrims from participating in a May 24 pilgrimage to the shrine of Our Lady of Sheshan. But while citing “security reasons” to keep Catholics away, the government is encouraging tourists to visit the same area. At his public audience on Sunday, May 20, Pope Benedict XVI urged all Catholics around the world to join in prayer for the Church in China on May 24, Read more [...]

What about the president of Notre Dame, Fr. Jenkins, who previously had Obama as commencement speaker and honorary doctorate receipient but who joined in the lawsuits: Is he also a Republican? Chris Matthews Claims Lawsuits Mean Catholic Bishops are Republican by Noel Sheppard | Washington, DC | LifeNews.com | 5/22/12 www.lifenews.com/2012/05/22/chris-matthews-claims-lawsuits-mean-catholic-bishops-are-republican/ The University of Notre Dame along with dozens of other Catholic institutions Read more [...]

ABC News Ignores Catholic Lawsuits Against HHS Mandate by Scott Whitlock | Washington, DC | LifeNews.com | 5/22/12 www.lifenews.com/2012/05/22/abc-news-ignores-catholic-lawsuits-against-hhs-mandate/ ABC on Monday and Tuesday completely ignored 12 major lawsuits filed by Catholic groups over the Obama-imposed birth control mandate. NBC allowed a mere 20 seconds to the topic. CBS This Morning, however, was the only show on the networks to devote a full report to the lawsuits. Co-host Read more [...]

Poll: Majority of Americans Oppose Obama HHS Mandate by Steven Ertelt | Washington, DC | LifeNews.com | 5/22/12 www.lifenews.com/2012/05/22/poll-majority-of-americans-oppose-obama-hhs-mandate/ A new poll conducted by Marist College and released by the Knights of Columbus, a Catholic organization, shows a majority of Americans oppose the controversial Obama HHS mandate that forces religious groups to pay for drugs that may cause abortions. “As America’s bishops and Catholic Read more [...]

Obama Loses 14 Points with Catholic Voters Over HHS Mandate by Steven Ertelt | Washington, DC | LifeNews.com | 5/22/12 www.lifenews.com/2012/05/22/obama-loses-14-points-with-catholic-voters-over-hhs-mandate/ As more than 40 Catholic groups file suit against the Obama administration over its HHS mandate forcing them to pay for birth control and abortion-causing drugs for employees, new poling data shows President Barack Obama is tanking with Catholic voters. Ashley McGuire, Senior Read more [...]

Free birth control for beneficiaries Author: Claire Trevett and Herald Online staff Source: NZ Herald online Published: May 8, 2012 Full source article: www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10804206   “Women on benefits – including teenagers and the daughters of beneficiaries – will be offered free long-term contraception as part of a $287.5 million Budget package for the Government’s welfare reforms. But critics say the measure borders on state Read more [...]

CBS News May 22, 2011 Link to original (CBS News) The spat between Catholic leaders and the Obama administration over its contraception policies is heating up again, with one of the nation’s most prominent Catholic leaders charging that the White House is “strangling” the church over the matter. Cardinal Timothy Dolan told “CBS This Morning” Tuesday that the compromise reached earlier this year is not sufficient because the exemptions made for churches are too restrictive. “They tell Read more [...]

Martyrology-May 24th Roman Martyrology-May 24th- on this date in various years- At Antioch, the birthday of St. Manahen, foster-brother of Herod the Tetrach. He was a doctor and prophet under the grace of the New Testament, and his remains now lie in the city of Antioch. Also, blessed Joanna, wife of Chuza, Herod’s steward, mentioned by the evangelist St. Luke. At Porto, the birthday of St. Vincent, martyr. At Nantes in Brittany, in the time of Emperor Diocletian, the blessed martyrs Read more [...]

Fordham to Honor Geraldine Ferraro blog.cardinalnewmansociety.org/2012/05/22/fordham-to-honor-geraldine-ferraro/ Geraldine Ferraro, the 1984 candidate for the vice presidency whose position on abortion repeatedly put her at odds with New York’s late John Cardinal O’Connor, will soon be memorialized at Fordham Law School, according to a report in Fordham magazine. Ferraro’s husband, John Zaccaro Sr., and their son, John Zaccaro Jr., who are pictured in the magazine, recently Read more [...]

A Tale of Two Colleges [in Worcester, Massachusetts] blog.cardinalnewmansociety.org/2012/05/22/a-tale-of-two-colleges/ After being disinvited to commencement day ceremonies by Anna Maria College, Worcester Bishop Robert J. McManus was not only welcomed but awarded an honorary degree by Assumption College. Because of Bishop McManus’ concerns, Anna Maria dropped “pro-choice” Catholic Victoria Reggie Kennedy, widow of Senator Edward M. Kennedy, as a commencement. But then Read more [...]

Jesuit: The Withering of the Catholic Soul at Georgetown blog.cardinalnewmansociety.org/2012/05/22/jesuit-the-withering-of-the-catholic-soul-at-georgetown/ Robert John Araujo, SJ, a graduate of Georgetown University, writes a very powerful piece at the Mirror of Justice blog, saying that the time is running short before the Jesuit university will have completely separated itself from the Catholic Church. Clearly, Georgetown’s invitation to pro-abortion rights HHS Secretary Kathleen Read more [...]

Vatican rules on aparitions and revelations A crucial document on apparitions prepared by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith is now available in five languages Andrés Beltramo Alvarez vatican city 5/22/2102 vaticaninsider.lastampa.it/en/homepage/the-vatican/detail/articolo/apparizioni-mariane-apariciones-mariane-apparition-marians-medjugorje-15293/ Visions, revelations, divine messages: The history of the Church is riddled with mystical events. Since the apparitions Read more [...]

Legion No. 1 admits he knew of priest’s kid in ’05 By NICOLE WINFIELD, Associated Press – 5/22/12 VATICAN CITY (AP) — The head of the embattled Legion of Christ religious order admitted Tuesday to covering up news that his most prominent priest had fathered a child and announced a review of all past allegations of sexual abuse against Legion priests amid a growing scandal at the order. The Rev. Alvaro Corcuera wrote a letter to all Legion members in which he admitted he had heard Read more [...]

Mary Ann Glendon: The Attack on Religious Liberty is the Point blog.cardinalnewmansociety.org/2012/05/22/mary-ann-glendon-the-attack-on-religious-liberty-is-the-point/ Mary Ann Glendon, Harvard Law School professor and former U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See, writes in The Wall Street Journal this morning that the infringement of religious liberty isn’t just an unhappy consequence of the HHS contraceptive mandate that could have such a profound impact on Catholic institutions of higher Read more [...]

Loving the Lost Cause Posted By Brother André Marie On May 21, 2012 Within the last fortnight, I finished reading The Pope’s Legion [1], Charles Coulombe’s book on the Papal Zouaves [2]. Besides being intelligently written and enjoyable, the book inspires because the subject matter is itself edifying. The Pontifical Zouaves were Blessed Pius IX’s foreign legion, who fought to defend the Papal States from the anticlericals and revolutionaries that united the Italian peninsula along the Read more [...]

Traditional Anglican Communion suspends [Archbishop and Primate] John Hepworth CWN – May 22, 2012 The Traditional Anglican Communion has suspended Archbishop John Hepworth, the Anglican prelate whose desire for full communion with the Holy See helped occasion Pope Benedict’s 2009 apostolic constitution on Anglican ordinariates. Hepworth, a former Catholic priest who subsequently married, divorced, and remarried, served as primate of the Traditional Anglican Communion from 2002 until Read more [...]

‘Artist’ claims to make popsicles from Precious Blood CWN – May 22, 2012 An artist and designer who lives in Brooklyn made 100 popsicles out of wine that he claims had been “inadvertently blessed by the priest while turning wine into the blood of Christ during the Eucharist.” Chilean-born Sebastian Errazuriz, 35, said last week that he planned to hand out the “Christian popsicles” on May 19 during an exhibit at Gallery R’Pure in Manhattan. “It’s not that I purposely want Read more [...]

Notre Dame Law Prof Wants to Know If You Listened to Obama blog.cardinalnewmansociety.org/2012/05/22/notre-dame-law-prof-wants-to-know-if-you-listened-to-obama/ Gerald Bradley, Professor at the University of Notre Dame Law School, wants to know if you listened to what President Barack Obama said when he spoke there in 2009. Really listened. Bradley argues that, if you did, you shouldn’t be surprised at all by what’s happened since. President Obama’s main theme in Read more [...]

Philippines to recognize Islamic law in Mindanao province [under the guise of "religious liberty"]? CWN – May 21, 2012 The government of the Philippines is apparently prepared to recognize the authority of shari’a law in the southern Mindanao province. Government representatives have signed a joint declaration with leaders of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), calling for an autonomous government in Mindanao. The declaration would furnish the basis for a peace agreement, ending Read more [...]

Liberal Catholicism: Requiescat in pace by Samuel Gregg 5/22/12 www.crisismagazine.com/2012/liberal-catholicism-requiescat-in-pace With the dust settling on the uproar which followed the Vatican’s April intervention into the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR), it’s possible to put this and other emerging trends into a longer-term perspective. The blustering reaction of the LCWR and supporters such as the New York Times’ Nicholas Kristof (whose grasp of rudimentary Read more [...]

[Catholic pastor does NOT oppose Obama on "gay marriage"] The insatiable need: Gilroy pastors speak on gay marriage 5/22/12 www.calcatholic.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?id=1a194f9a-166b-4e45-a81a-76db59629613 The following excerpt comes from a May 17 story in the Gilroy Dispatch. President Barack Obama stirred a heated national debate when he became the first American president to publicly endorse gay marriage May 9, invoking mixed reactions from religious leaders in Gilroy and Read more [...]