January 21, 2009 by Eugene Michael
Matthew 10:33: “But whoever denies me before others, I will deny before my heavenly Father”
Following is an account of the interfaith Obama prayer service that was held at the Cathedral on Monday night.
I was deeply disappointed in the event. It was held at Sacred Heart Cathedral, a Catholic Church and the home of Bishop Clark. It was called an ecumenical interfaith service. There was no professing of the Christian faith at all. During the event there was absolutely no reading of New Testament Scriptures by the Bishop. The name of Jesus Christ was never mentioned once. The phrase may Christ be with you was changed to “May truth and beauty be with you”. There was a program for the event, it had Barack Obama’s picture on it and again never mentions Christ…As billed, it was an interfaith service. Other religious leaders were comfortable reading from holy books. An old Testament Bible reading from Deuteronomy was read by Rabbi Laurence A Kotok of Temple B’rith Kodesh, We thank him for that. Iman Muhammad Shafig of the Islamic Center of Rochester read from the Qur’an. There was even a Sanskrit chant. However Bishop Clark, in his own church, chose not to read from the Testament of Jesus Christ! There was never a mention of the sanctity of life, opposition to abortion, death penalty or war. We might as well have been at a Democratic caucus meeting in the War Memorial. Most disappointing was no mention of Thursdays pro life march in Washington D.C. where 100s of clergy, including the Bishops from the Syracuse and Buffalo diocese, will attend. There will be an estimated crowd of 200,000 people. Bishop Clark will not attend. He has never attended in 20 years.
For some reason, especially in this area, interfaith events usually serve to diminish or implicitly deny Christ. This is bad enough when the event is held on neutral ground or in a non-Christian venue, but in our own Cathedral? Is this why the tabernacle was shuffled off to the side?
January 14, 2009 by Eugene Michael
Finally, some good news about the economy: It has been reported that the local Planned Parenthood abortuary on University Ave. will now be closed on Saturdays due to economic constraints. Our prayers are working.
A local group of pro-lifers will continue to gather in front of Planned Parenthood every Saturday morning for prayer. They will only stop gathering when the abortuary is closed all seven days of the week. In the meantime, continue with your prayers.
January 14, 2009 by Eugene Michael
Archangel School, in Irondequoit, is an independent Catholic school that is not under the governance of the rapidly failing diocesan school system in Rochester. Archangel was founded by a staunch Catholic layman, Mike Macaluso, in order to assure an authentic Catholic education for students in the greater Rochester area. The school is not subject to the whims of the foundering DOR, so it cannot be shuttered by an uncaring bureaucracy. It is, however, subject to the charitable support that is necessary in order to enable the school to sustain its mission.
(Read more…)
January 12, 2009 by Eugene Michael
The following is an excerpt from the letters to the editor page of the most recent Catholic Courier:
The article noted that in 85 nations, homosexuality is considered to be a criminal offense — the penalty can be death in Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Iran, Yemen, and Sudan. DEATH. It would seem that it’s preferable to let oppression rise to its ultimate expression rather than let the love of same-gendered persons challenge one’s world view. The Roman Catholic Church talks a lot about a consistent life ethic from cradle to grave — unless, apparently, that life is lived in a way contrary to their understanding of what’s worth saving.
Leave it to the Courier to give a platform to a dissident for him to attack the Church.
Perhaps the writer needs to be reminded that eternal spiritual death is a far greater threat to the active homosexual than physical death. Also, isn’t it ironic that the writer attacks the Catholic Church when the countries that prescribe the death penalty are predominantly Muslim.
It is unfortunate that the Courier apparently thinks it is doing a public service by letting writers in its publication undermine the Faith. Inclusiveness is a formula for confusion and religious confusion does not serve the will of God.
January 10, 2009 by Eugene Michael
The following are excerpts from Liberalism is a Sin:
Amongst Catholic Liberals many of them go to Mass, even make novenas, and yet when they come in contact with the world lead the lives of practical Liberals. They make it a rule “to live up to the times,” as they call it. The Church they believe to be somewhat out of date, an old fogy; that she is held back by a certain set of reactionaries, Ultramontane; but they have hopes that she will in the course of time catch up with the modern spirit of progress, of which they are the van. The barnacles of medievalism still encumber the bark of Peter, but time, they believe, will remedy this. The straw of medieval philosophy and theology they hope before long to thrash out by the introduction of the modern spirit into her schools. Then will a new theology be developed more in conformity with the needs of the times, more in harmony with the modern spirit which makes such large demands upon our “intellectual liberty.” So they believe (or imagine they believe) that all is well. Is their responsibility before God, therefore, lessened? Assuredly not. They sin directly in the light of faith. They are less excusable than those Liberals who have never been within the pale of the Church. In short they sin with their eyes open.
(Read more…)
January 10, 2009 by Eugene Michael
Bill Gertz’s latest book is mandatory reading for those who seek the truth about incompetent government officials who have undermined U.S. national security. Follow this link for more information.
January 9, 2009 by Eugene Michael
From Phil Lawler’s, The Faithful Departed (p. 253):
The entire massive structure of Catholicism totters along on borrowed time. But the trend is clear. That whole structure will come tumbling down, perhaps within the next generation, unless there is some dramatic change. Yet the Church establishment gives no sign off changing, or even seeking to change. Quite the contrary, pastors and bishops alike studiously ignore the handwriting on the wall and pretend to conduct business as usual.
January 8, 2009 by Eugene Michael
Dr. K, who posts on Rich Leonardi’s “Ten Reasons” web site, has come up with some interesting information regarding Mass attendance at Sacred Heart Cathedral. He estimates weekend Mass attendance at the Cathedral (five Masses in total) to be 470. He bases this on Mass counts that were provided to Rich Leonard’s blog by attendees at the Cathedral. He also factored in the weekly collection amount to come up with his estimate.
(Read more…)
January 5, 2009 by Eugene Michael
From the Commonweal web site
Jesuit theologian Roger Haight, whose writings on Christology, especially in his 1999 book “Jesus: Symbol of God,” led the Vatican to bar him from teaching in Catholic institutions, has received a further punishment: The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) has barred Haight from writing on theology (he may continue a work in progress on Ignatian spirituality) and he is forbidden to teach anywhere, even non-Catholic institutions. That means that at the end of the coming semester Haight, who resides at America House in New York, will stop teaching at Union Theological Seminary in Upper Manhattan.
Some of you may recall that Roger Haight was a guest speaker of the Newman Chair of Catholic Studies at the U of R in October of 2007. I suppose this means that he will be in even more demand as a speaker in the DOR.
January 3, 2009 by Eugene Michael
From the National Catholic Register:
“The single most important thing a member of the clergy can do is be on the front lines of the sidewalk,” says Reeves, who from the early 1980s was involved with Project Gabriel and Operation Rescue with Randall Terry. Now he is chairman of Corpus Christi’s Hope House, a place for unwed mothers and their children. “The presence of a Roman collar and rosary beads is probably the single most powerful message that a pastor could send to his parishioners about his dedication to life.”
Here’s hoping that in 2009 we see more of our Rochester clergy in the front lines of the abortion war. Time to put aside the secular left wing activism and engage in authentic Catholic Action. The babies don’t care about climate change and universal health care. They want to live.
January 2, 2009 by Eugene Michael
Phil Lawler’s book, The Faithful Departed, should be mandatory reading for all Catholics in the United States and beyond. Lawler ably documents the lying and corruption that pervaded the Church in America at the height of the sexual abuse crisis.
One sobering thought: Many of the same bishops who lied and ignored the complaints about abusive priests are still in power. This is instructive as these are the same bishops who routinely ignore complaints about liturgical abuse and heresy within their dioceses.
The Church in America would benefit greatly if many of the bishops who are currently in place would humbly tender their resignations. In particular, bishops of dioceses that have few vocations and are closing multiple churches and schools would be the the first in line.
Politically, the rallying cry for politics this year is “change”. Perhaps the spirit of change will also permeate the Church in America. The sooner the better.
