From Reuters: Gunmen kidnapped the Chaldean Catholic archbishop of Mosul on Friday in the northern Iraqi city and killed his driver and two guards, police said. "He was kidnapped in the al-Nour district in eastern Mosul when he left a church. Gunmen opened fire on the car, killed the other three and kidnapped the archbishop," said provincial police spokesman Brigadier-General Khaled Abdul Sattar. An assistant to Cardinal Emmanuel III Delly, the Chaldean patriarch of Baghdad and spiritual leader of Iraq's Catholics, said they had heard three people were killed and they did not know the fate of the archbishop, Paulos Faraj Rahho. | Read more...
Friday, February 29, 2008
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Kansas City Catholic schools advised not to take children to see 'Bodies'
Matt Campbell in the Kansas City Star: Local Catholic officials say the “Bodies Revealed” exhibit opening Friday at Union Station is not appropriate for church school field trips. The statement (.pdf) was issued by Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann of the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas and Bishop Robert W. Finn of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph. The officials’ position is the same as that taken recently by the archbishop of Cincinnati, where another exhibit showing preserved human bodies is under way. Cincinnati Archbishop Daniel E. Pilarczyk called the exhibit “unseemly and inappropriate.” Cincinnati church leaders said the exhibit may have educational merit and the creators may be well-intentioned, but the use of the bodies does not respect the individuals involved. | Read more...
Related:
- In January, Pilarczyk told Cincinnati Catholic-school administrators, "It seems to me that the use of human bodies in this way fails to respect the persons involved. Therefore, I do not believe that this exhibit is an appropriate destination for field trips by our Catholic schools."
- In 2006, the Denver Museum of Natural History featured "Body Worlds 2," a different exhibit of plasticized bodies that was sponsored by a Catholic health care system. In a column in the archdiocesan newspaper, Archbishop Charles Chaput said the exhibit could be a Lenten meditation. "In every previous U.S. appearance of 'BodyWorlds 2,' Catholic moral theologians have been involved in reviewing the exhibition for the local Church and found it to be within acceptable ethical standards. In principle, the Church does not object to the respectful use of the deceased human body for scientific or educational purposes." (It's important to note that the individuals in the Denver exhibit donated their bodies specifically for museum display.)
Ireland running out of priests
David Sharrock in The Times of London: Ireland, a country that used to export its Catholic clergy around the world, is running out of priests at such a rate that their numbers will have dropped by two thirds in the next 20 years, leaving parishes up and down the land vacant. The decline of Catholic Ireland, for decades the Pope’s favorite bastion of faith in Europe, has been regularly predicted, as the economic successes of the Celtic Tiger brought growing secularisation. But new figures have starkly set out the fate of the Irish priesthood if action is not taken by the Church to reverse the trend. One-hundred and sixty priests died last year but only nine were ordained. Figures for nuns were even more dramatic, with the deaths of 228 nuns and only two taking final vows for service in religious life. | Read more...
Priest saluted for guiding young colleagues
Peter Smith in the Louisville Courier-Journal: It was challenging enough to recruit young men for the Roman Catholic priesthood at a time when few were heeding such a call. But the Rev. Ronald Knott's job with the Archdiocese of Louisville became nearly impossible when the crisis of sexual abuse by clergy and others in the church hit its peak in 2002 and 2003. The crisis also threw Knott into the lowest point of his career, a depression he said many priests experienced then. But it got him thinking deeply about how many priests are overworked, isolated from each other and their parishioners and — in the case of new priests — poorly prepared for the realities of life as a pastor. Knott has published a book on the subject that struck a chord among priests, and he has given talks around the country. This April, his work will be recognized with a top honor by the National Federation of Priests' Councils. | Read more...
Photo: Michael Clevenger, The Courier-Journal
U.S. Vatican envoy prepares way for the pope
Cathy Lynn Grossman in USA Today: Archbishop Pietro Sambi, the veteran Vatican diplomat who serves as the Holy See's U.S. ambassador, knows exactly why the world will see — but not hear — Pope Benedict XVI's visit to the bedrock at Ground Zero during the pope's first visit to the USA. The silence is Sambi's idea. "This will be a moment of solidarity with those who died and their families. He will walk alone to indicate the loneliness of those who went to their deaths and the loneliness of the survivors." It is Sambi's job to know what is required, spiritual or political or trivial, to make a success of the shy, scholarly pope's visit. | Read more...
Related:
- NY1's Shazia Khan: One of the most important visits the pope will make during his U.S. trip will be to St. Joseph's Seminary in Yonkers, N.Y., where he will conduct a rally for seminarians and youth — encouraging young people to seek vocations within the church.
Detroit auxiliary named new bishop of Lansing diocese
Kathleen Lavey in the Lansing State Journal: Diocese of Lansing, Mich., Bishop Carl Mengeling playfully handed his replacement a full ring of office keys to show how eager he is to retire. Bishop Earl Boyea, 56, auxiliary bishop of Detroit, replaces Mengeling as bishop of Lansing on April 29. "It's a relief not to be boss anymore," Mengeling said. Still, he added: "It's sort of a bittersweet day. I'm not going to give up the priesthood. I'm going to keep working." | Read more...
Related:
- The Lansing newspaper has a full package of articles on the changeover, including a report on the sustainability of the diocese's 97 parishes, a list of other challenges Boyea is likely to face, and photos and video of the announcement.
Arkansas Catholics asked to stop donations to breast cancer foundation
Jon Gambrel of the Associated Press: The Diocese of Little Rock is urging its members not to donate to a breast cancer foundation known for its fundraising races across the globe because the group supports Planned Parenthood. The diocese says the Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation, which has invested about $1 billion in cancer outreach and research, gives money to Planned Parenthood to hold breast exams and offer education to women in its clinics. | Read more...
Related:
- Last year, St. Louis Archbishop Raymond Burke criticized the Komen foundation for supporting Planned Parenthood and embryonic stem cell research just weeks before he resigned from the board of a second charity for similar reasons.
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Cardinal Bertone calls U.S. embargo of Cuba 'ethically unacceptable'
From Zenit: Benedict XVI's secretary of state has called the U.S. economic embargo against Cuba "ethically unacceptable." Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone reiterated Monday the opposition of the Holy See to the economic embargo against Cuba in a joint press conference with the country's Foreign Minister Felipe Pérez Roque. "The Holy See repeats the words of Pope John Paul II: The embargo is ethically unacceptable," said the Vatican representative. "It is an oppression for the Cuban people and it is not a means to help the Cuban people win their dignity and independence. It's a violation of the independence of the people." | Read more...
Related:
- When John Paul II denounced the embargo during his 1998 trip to Cuba, Rep. Lee Hamilton (D-Ind.) remarked, "This is a landmark event. The Pope's approach is the exact opposite of the American Government's. The Pope is trying to engage the Cuban people. The U.S. policy is to isolate the Cuban people. The contrast is apparent."
Pew study finds fluid religious life among Americans
Neela Banerjee in the New York Times: More than a quarter of adult Americans have left the faith of their childhood to join another religion or no religion, according to a survey of religious affiliation by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. The report, titled “U.S. Religious Landscape Survey,” depicts a highly fluid and diverse national religious life. If shifts among Protestant denominations are included, then it appears that 44 percent of Americans have switched religious affiliations. The study shows, for example, that every religion is losing and gaining members, but that the Roman Catholic Church “has experienced the greatest net losses as a result of affiliation changes.” The survey also indicates that the group that had the greatest net gain was the unaffiliated. Sixteen percent of American adults say they are not part of any organized faith, which makes the unaffiliated the country’s fourth-largest “religious group.” | Read more... | More from the L.A. Times...
Related:
- Based on interviews with more than 35,000 Americans age 18 and older, the extensive survey by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life details the religious affiliation of the American public. Their online section complements the full report.
- Terry Mattingly at GetReligion looks at the media's coverage of the report: "In recent years, the pollsters and journalists over at the Pew Forum have been downloading waves of data about into the minds of religion-beat professionals from sea to shining sea and beyond. There are other groups doing research into some of these topics — religion and politics, for example — but no one has been creating as many headlines as the Pew Forum."
- Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, while not referencing the Pew report directly, commented on the large numbers of Catholics leaving the Church for Protestantism: "Unfortunately, sects represent a phenomenon that not only afflicts the Latin American continent but North America and Europe as well," he said. "The problem -- and I always say this to bishops and priests -- is a problem of bishops and priests being able to welcome and listen to people."
William F. Buckley Jr. dies at 82
Douglas Martin in the New York Times:
William F. Buckley Jr., who marshaled polysyllabic exuberance, famously arched eyebrows and a refined, perspicacious mind to elevate conservatism to the center of American political discourse, died Wednesday at his home in Stamford, Conn. Mr Buckley, 82, suffered from diabetes and emphysema, his son Christopher said, although the exact cause of death was not immediately known. He was found at his desk in the study of his home, his son said. “He might have been working on a column,” Mr. Buckley said. | Read more...
Related:
- Jon Meacham, reviewing Buckley's latest collection of autobiographical stories in 2004, wrote: "Born in 1925, Buckley grew up at Great Elm, a huge house in Sharon, Conn., learned repartee at the family dinner table, was educated privately, went to Yale, served briefly in the Central Intelligence Agency and became one of the most celebrated -- deep breath here -- authors / editors / columnists / pundits / political activists / novelists / Catholic apologists / bons vivants of the American century."
Sunday, February 24, 2008
70-year-old chalice getting refinished for Pope's U.S. Masses
From the Associated Press: When Pope Benedict celebrates Mass on his trip to the United States in April, he's expected to use a chalice that is being refinished in Oklahoma. The gold-plated sterling silver chalice has been housed in the Papal Nunciature, the Vatican's embassy in Washington, D.C., since it was manufactured in London in the spring of 1938. | Read more...
Bertone, unveiling monument to John Paul II in Cuba, hints at papal visit
From the Associated Press: The Vatican's No. 2 official unveiled a statue here Saturday commemorating Pope John Paul II's historic trip to Cuba 10 years ago, after hinting that Pope Benedict XVI may make a visit of his own. Thousands attending an open-air Mass applauded as Roman Catholic Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican's secretary of state, pulled off a white cloth to reveal the bronze likeness of a smiling John Paul, waving his right hand and holding his papal staff in the other. The statue came from Rome as a gift from the Vatican and was placed in the central Cuban city of Santa Clara, the site of John Paul's first Mass during his January 1998 trip, the first papal visit to the island nation. | Read more...
Photo of the new monument to John Paul II: Enrique De La Osa/Reuters @ Yahoo!
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
At Chimayo, a pastor begs to differ with his flock on miracles
Erik Eckholm in the New York Times: “It’s not the dirt that makes the miracles!” the Rev. Casimiro Roca said with exasperation. True, discarded crutches line a wall inside the Santuario de Chimayo, a small adobe church in this village of northern New Mexico known as the Lourdes of America. Scores of people visit every day, many hoping to cure diseases or disabilities with prayer, holy water and, most famously, the healing dirt, which visitors collect from a hole in the floor inside the church. Some 50 years ago, Roca took over the abandoned, nearly ruined site of the church, which was first constructed in 1816. He oversaw the rebuilding of the sanctuary — holy hole included — into the spotless place it is today. | Read more...
Castro's resignation, cardinal's visit coincidence a 'great grace from God'
From Zenit: The Church in Cuba's main obstacle is a lack of staff, especially priests who are natives to the island nation, said Aid to the Church in Need's specialist on Cuba. Javier Legorreta and his aid organization have turned their attention to Cuba, as President Fidel Castro announced Tuesday that he will not seek or accept another term as president, and as the Pope's secretary of state is set to arrive to the island nation tonight. Though Cardinal Bertone's visit was not planned to coincide with Castro's resignation, and in fact marks the 10th anniversary of Pope John Paul II's visit to the nation, Legorreta called the coincidence "a great grace from God."
| Read more...
Related:
- Cardinal Bertone's schedule for his Cuba visit is detailed here.
- Pope John Paul II was greeted by a suit-clad Fidel Castro when the pontiff visited Cuba in January 1997. | Also: Excerpts from a homily delivered on the trip
This Week in Catholic Higher-Ed: Lockdown in NJ, ND mourns, and St. Thomas in Minn. gets a house
Oxford to launch $4M study on why we like God
From the Associated Press: University of Oxford researchers will spend nearly $4 million to study why mankind embraces God. The grant to the Ian Ramsey Center for Science and Religion will bring anthropologists, theologians, philosophers and other academics together for three years to study whether belief in a divine being is a basic part of mankind's makeup. "There are a lot of issues. What is it that is innate in human nature to believe in God, whether it is gods or something superhuman or supernatural?" said Roger Trigg, acting director of the center. | Read more...
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Welcome to Catholicana (as in "Americana"), a compendium of Catholic news, links, info and analysis, edited by Michael Lewis, C.S.C., a 
