Daily Archives: July 16, 2012

Father Walter Ciszek, Warrior for Christ in Atheist Russia Posted By Eleonore Villarrubia On July 16, 2012 “I was born stubborn.” “…I was tough, not in the polite sense of the word, but in the sense our neighbors used to use the word those days in Shenandoah, Pennsylvania, when they shook their heads and called me ‘a tough.’” “I was a bully, the leader of a gang, a street fighter – and most of the fights I picked on purpose – just for devilment.” Thusly does Father Read more [...]

[Irish] bishop warns on secular(izing) [Catholic] schools plan PATSY McARDLE 7/16/12 www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2012/0716/1224320204130.html A CATHOLIC bishop has warned Minister for Education Ruairí Quinn not to rush plans to put primary schools under “secular” control. Bishop Leo O’Reilly of Kilmore said it would be “extremely unwise” for Mr Quinn to try and bulldoze change in the sector or ram it through quickly. A former chairman of the Bishops’ Commission Read more [...]

Irish government barred military from involvement in Eucharistic Congress CWN – July 16, 2012 Irish defense minister Alan Shatter refused to allow the army to play any official part in the Eucharistic Congress that was held in Dublin in June, the Irish Catholic has revealed. Organizers of the Eucharistic Congress has asked for a military honor guard to take part in a procession through the city. Although similar requests have been routinely granted in the past, this year the government Read more [...]

Vietnamese Catholics demonstrate despite government threats CWN – July 16, 2012 Thousands of Catholics joined in public demonstrations in the Vinh diocese on July 15, protesting government-sponsored violence against Catholics and the desecration of a church. The demonstrators in Vinh went forward with their plans despite overt efforts by local authorities to intimidate them. Armored vehicles were deployed outside the bishop’s residence, menacing gangs patrolled around churches, transportation Read more [...]

Hong Kong cardinal decries illicit Chinese ordinations CWN – July 16, 2012 Cardinal John Tong Hon of Hong Kong has said that Chinese authorities must stop ordaining new bishops without approval from Rome, and engage in open negotiations with the Holy See, to resolve the crisis within the Church in China. Cardinal Tong has monitored developments in the Church on mainland China for decades, since his appointment in 1980 to lead the Holy Spirit Study Centre in Hong Kong, an institution that Read more [...]

Russian Orthodox, Polish Catholic leaders push for reconciliation between nations CWN – July 16, 2012 Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill dedicated a church at the site of the Katyn massacre on July 15, saying that with the acknowledgment of the Soviet execution of thousands of Poles, “finally, the truth prevailed over lies.” In 1940, on orders approved by Stalin, Soviet troops shot many thousands of unarmed Polish military officers and civilians—the exact number is in dispute—and Read more [...]

Pope, Italy’s President Napolitano, see music as a path to peace CWN – July 12, 2012 Italy’s President Giorgio Napolitano visited with Pope Benedict XVI on July 11, at the papal summer residence in Castel Gandolfo. After an informal conversation, the Italian leader joined the Pontiff at a concert, featuring the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra under the direction of Daniel Barenboim. Barenboim assembled the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, including young musicians from Israel, Palestine, and Read more [...]

Liberal Christian denominations putting themselves out of business, warns Times columnist CWN – July 16, 2012 New York Times columnist Ross Douthat argues that by adapting themselves to the liberal secular culture, liberal Christian denominations have been making themselves irrelevant, since if you’re looking for secular liberalism you don’t need to go to church to find it. As a result, Douthat notes, the liberal denominations are hemorrhaging members, and may cease to exist. Exhibit Read more [...]

Interview with Bishop Bernard Fellay on the occasion of the General Chapter (July 16, 2012) 16-07-2012 Filed under From Tradition, News Doctrinal mutism is not the answer to the “silent apostasy” DICI : How did the General Chapter go? How was the mood of the meeting? Bishop Fellay : It took place in a rather hot atmosphere, since July is a particularly hot month in the Valais! But in a very busy schedule, where the members of the Chapter were able to freely exchange ideas, as it befits Read more [...]

Bishop “Milktoast” and the Diocese of Scranton 7/15/12 non-faithfulcatholicschools.blogspot.com/2012/07/bishop-milktoast-and-diocese-of.html For those of you who don’t know off whom I speak, his name is Bambera…he was appointed by the now gone-and-resigned-in disgrace “Cardinal Rigali”. I guess I don’t have to say anymore, but those of you who know me realize that “just ain’t so”. Bishop Martino, who was basically fired from his job for actually doing his job had gone after the Read more [...]

Anti-Catholic Catholic Professors Are Out to Destroy Catholicism on Campus blog.cardinalnewmansociety.org/2012/07/16/anti-catholic-catholic-professors-are-out-to-destroy-catholicism-on-campus/ In a stunning piece that cuts quickly to the heart of the problem at so many Catholic colleges, Randall Smith, associate professor of theology at the University of St. Thomas in Houston, writes that anti-Catholic Catholics and former Catholics are out to destroy Catholic colleges. From within. Read more [...]

Theologians to Speak at VOTF Conference blog.cardinalnewmansociety.org/2012/07/16/theologians-to-speak-at-votf-conference/ The dissident Catholic group Voice of the Faithful will be hosting their tenth annual meeting this fall, and two prominent theologians from Catholic colleges will be featured as speakers. VOTF arose in protest against the burgeoning sex abuse scandal but has sadly since morphed into what some bishops have called “anti-Church and, ultimately, anti-Catholic.” Read more [...]

English court ruling seen a danger to Church freedom CWN – July 13, 2012 Father Alexander Lucie-Smith writes in London’s Catholic Herald that this week’s appeals court ruling, holding the Portsmouth diocese liable for sexual abuse by a priest there, endangers religious liberty. The appeals court ruled that a priest’s relationship with his bishop is akin to that of an employee to an employer. The problem with that finding, Father Lucie-Smith argues, is that it opens up many other questions Read more [...]

[Gallup] Poll: [Only] 46% of Catholics have ‘a lot’ of confidence in Church CWN – July 16, 2012 A newly-released Gallup survey has found that 46% of Catholics have “a great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in the Church and organized religion – down from 73% in 1975 and 52% in 2011, but up from 39% in 2007. 56% of Protestant have “a great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in organized religion. Only 44% of Americans overall have the same degree of confidence Read more [...]

Prelate urges Clinton to speak out against Levy Report’s recommendations on Israeli settlements CWN – July 16, 2012 The chairman of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on International Justice and Peace is urging Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to “reinforce strongly the unequivocal opposition of the United States to the recommendations of the Levy Commission Report in all contacts with the government of Israel.” Clinton is visiting Israel on July 16 and Read more [...]

How the Church Would Rule the World by Peter Freeman 7/16/12 www.crisismagazine.com/2012/how-the-church-would-rule-the-world In his 1911 preface to Dawn of All, Robert Hughes Benson proposes: to sketch—again in parable—the kind of developments, about sixty years hence which, I think, may reasonably be expected should the opposite process begin, and ancient thought (which has stood the test of centuries, and is, in a very remarkable manner, being “rediscovered” by persons Read more [...]

[Frisco] Archdiocese restores office of marriage and family life Sacramental marriages fell almost 60 percent July 15, 2012 cal-catholic.com/wordpress/2012/07/15/archdiocese-restores-office-of-marriage-and-family-life/ The following comes from a July 13 story in Catholic San Francisco. The Office of Marriage and Family Life, closed by the Archdiocese of San Francisco in a cost-cutting move in 2005, has been restored in the fiscal year budget that began July 1, the need for it Read more [...]

[Papal] Secretaries of State Compared. Low Marks for Casaroli, Too In his new biography of John Paul II, George Weigel shows all of the limitations of the cardinal who was his first collaborator. But with him, the Vatican curia still functioned. The disaster came with his two successors by Sandro Magister chiesa.espresso.repubblica.it/articolo/1350288?eng=y ROME, July 16, 2012 – In a Church ever more impatient over the mismanagement of the Vatican curia, the natural regret of many Read more [...]

By Michael Potemra National Review Online July 15, 2012 9:00 P.M. Link to original Rumors were circulating earlier this weekend that the traditionalist Society of St. Pius X would issue a definitive “No” on Sunday to the latest Vatican offer of a regularized position in the Catholic Church. That didn’t happen — and a source friendly to the SSPX writes that the group has not given up on the Vatican yet. That was the message I got, today, too: I attended an SSPX Mass in Manhattan, Read more [...]