July 3, 2009 by Eugene Michael
Selected excerpts from George Neumayr’s editorial on Rembert Weakland in Catholic World Report:
It sounds like an over-the-top Tom Wolfe novel: a successor to the apostles conducts an affair with a male graduate student, is accused of “date rape” and emotional harm by said student, and raids the collection basket of the faithful to hush the student up, then, as the bishop settles into a cushy retirement, he pens a “coming out” memoir in praise of homosexual behavior, all the while retaining the canonical rights and privileges of a retired archbishop and receiving pats on the back from fellow clergy.
(Read more…)
July 3, 2009 by Eugene Michael
Bad news for some local Pius XII bashers:
The Vatican’s secret archives on Pius XII should be ready for opening in about five years and will clear him of accusations that he turned a blind eye to the Holocaust, the archives’ head said on Thursday.
“He was a great pope, who, as you know, is under attack for his presumed silence on the Shoah,” said Monsignor Sergio Pagano, using the Hebrew word for the Holocaust. “But in reality he did many things for Jews and for prisoners of World War Two”.
“There will be some nice surprises, even as far as the Jews are concerned,” Pagano said, adding that the pope did not remain inactive when Jews were rounded up for deportation on October, 1943.
“Pope Pius took great risks, even very great personal risks, to save Jews. I can’t say more now but whoever wants to open their eyes in five or six years will be able to open them,” he said. Reuters News Agency
July 3, 2009 by Eugene Michael
In an interview with Catholic journalists, Obama lends his support to the “seamless garment”:
“The president spoke about how during Cardinal Bernardin’s time the U.S. bishops spoke about the nuclear freeze, the sanctuary movement, immigration and the poor, but that later a decided change took place,” added Father Kearns. “He said that the responses to his administration mirror the tensions in the Church overall, but that Cardinal Bernardin was pro-life and never hesitated to make his views known, but he had a consistent ’seamless garment’ approach that emphasized the other issues, as well. The president said that that part of the Catholic tradition continues to inspire him. Those issues, he said, seemed to have gotten buried by the abortion debate.”
Obama’s statement should erase any doubts about the destructiveness of this non-dogmatic philosophy. Now if only more of our bishops and priests would wakeup to this fact.
July 1, 2009 by Eugene Michael
Father Corapi on the state of the Church (from an interview in Legatus Magazine):
I’ve been a harsh critic of ourselves, meaning the Church leadership - priests, bishops and theologians. I don’t think we’ve done a particularly good job in my lifetime. We’ve had great popes; the top of the hierarchy has always been fantastic. But we’ve had a serious problem with “middle management.” There has been a significant problem with bishops and priests. Although, it’s better now than it was 20 years ago. However, the vast majority of Catholics aren’t even going to Church, so we shouldn’t wonder that the Church has been losing its influence on an increasingly secularized society.
(Read more…)
June 30, 2009 by Eugene Michael
The Holy Father sets the dissidents straight (Lifesite News)
“Paul wants the Christian faith have a ‘responsible’, an ‘adult faith,” said the Holy Father. “The word ‘adult faith’ has in recent decades become a popular slogan. It is often used to refer to the attitude of those who no longer adhere to the Church and her pastors, but choose for themselves what they want to believe and not believe - a kind of do-it-yourself faith.”
(Read more…)
June 29, 2009 by Eugene Michael
The following is an excerpt from Father Kevin Murphy’s column in the June 28 bulletin for St. Louis Church in Pittsford:
I know to raise the issue of women and married men to be considered as priests is unacceptable for some among us…not for me…I pray that wherever priests come from that we as God’s family would be open to allow people to serve…if you feel only male celibates should be ordained, fine, encourage and pray for that…wherever the vocations come from, let us just pray and accept them to serve.
(Read more…)
June 28, 2009 by Eugene Michael
From Mark Hare’s column in this morning’s D&C:
Interfaith dialogue and tolerance will “be one of the leading issues of the 21st century,” says Nazareth College president Daan Braveman.
And next April 10-13, the college will host a national conference on interfaith understanding that will bring together 400 to 500 people, many of them religious leaders who work in interfaith organizations in their own communities.
(Read more…)
June 28, 2009 by Eugene Michael
From Phil Lawler at CatholicCulture.org:
More and more often, the charitable agencies run by American Catholic dioceses are doing business with the government, providing contract services to fill various social needs. The offices of Catholic Charities, at both the local and national levels, receive the lion’s share of their funding from government programs. They have become agencies of the welfare bureaucracy. The agencies themselves are no longer truly acting for the Church, carrying out the corporate charity of the faithful. They are now wards of the state.
(Read more…)
June 27, 2009 by Eugene Michael
From a press release by Judie Brown and the American Life League:
“Praise God! After months of tireless effort from American Life League and pro-life heroes in Boston and around the country to expose a potential scandal only days away from becoming a tragic betrayal of Catholicism’s unwavering commitment to the dignity of the human person, Cardinal Sean O’Malley has heard our voices and will end the joint venture with abortion-providing Centene Corp!
“Cardinal O’Malley has answered our call and beat the clock as the minutes ticked away until the July 1 launch of the new CeltiCare Health Plan and the Catholic Church’s participation in the intrinsic evil of abortion.
(Read more…)
June 26, 2009 by Eugene Michael
On Sunday, June 28, there will be an open house and book sale at St. Irenaeus Ministries from 2-4:30. All are welcome.
Irenaeus is located at 542 Blossom Rd. in Rochester. Please call 288-1618 for more information.
June 26, 2009 by Eugene Michael
Virginian Judge Harvie Wilkinson on partial birth abortion (LifeNews):
“The fact is that we-civilized people-are retreating to the haven of our Constitution to justify dismembering a partly born child and crushing its skull,” Wilkinson wrote. “Surely centuries hence, people will look back on this gruesome practice done in the name of fundamental law by a society of high achievement. And they will shudder.”
June 26, 2009 by Eugene Michael
From Robert Knight on the proposed “hate crime” legislation (Human Events):
The proposed federal hate crime law, like all hate crime laws, politicizes crime, leading to pressure on police and prosecutors to devote more of their limited resources to certain victims at the expense of others. For example, homosexual activist groups descended on Wyoming and created a media circus around the Matthew Shepard case, costing the state heavily for public relations. Meanwhile, the story of Kristin Lamb, an eight-year-old girl who a month before Shepard’s death was killed in Wyoming and her body thrown into a landfill, received virtually no news coverage or concerns about a possible “hate crime.”
(Read more…)
June 25, 2009 by Eugene Michael
Supposedly, 50 million Americans do not currently have health care insurance. Before Congress decides to create yet another government welfare program, I thought it would be helpful to scrutinize the financial status of those who are currently uninsured.
(Read more…)
June 25, 2009 by Eugene Michael
From a press release by the American Life League:
American Life League executive director Shaun Kenney announced a new campaign to investigate whether young mothers will be referred for abortions by Caritas Christi, the Boston Archdiocese-affiliated health-care provider, after its joint venture with CeltiCare goes into effect July 1.
(Read more…)
On Tuesday, July 14, St. Bernard’s Preaching Institute will be hosting a