For once, an exposé that helps the Vatican bank

• 
  "Earthquake at the Vatican Bank," a story in the Oct. 3 edition of l'Espresso

John L. Allen Jr. | Sep. 28, 2013

NCR Today

Rome

 

Steamy magazine exposés are rarely good news for the people or institutions featured in them. That's probably especially true for the troubled Vatican bank, which over the years has been the church's premier magnet for conspiracy theories and scandals of every imaginable sort.

On Friday, however, the bank finally caught a break.

There was yet another gossipy piece in an Italian newsmagazine, in this case l'Espresso, featuring ominous storm cloud art, which was full of unnamed sources describing an "earthquake" related to the bank. (The place is technically the "Institute for the Works of Religion," often referred to by the Italian acronym IOR.)

Immediately after it appeared, the piece had phone lines buzzing inside the Vatican, in part because after last summer's leaks scandal, the perception that insiders are spilling the beans to reporters usually means going to Defcon 1.

Yet despite the melodramatic flourishes in the piece, its overall effect is probably to burnish, rather than erode, the bank's new image. 

Explore our print edition, featuring our annual Health & Well Being special section.

That's because the "earthquake" to which the title refers is a growing sense of shock that bank officials aren't just talking about transparency, but actually implementing it – beginning with insisting that Vatican personnel, including those at the very top of the food chain, explain where the money they have parked at the bank comes from and what they're doing with it.

"In the Vatican, the unthinkable is happening," the article reports. "A deadly tightening up has been imposed … in the name of legality and absolute transparency."

For most outsiders, the application of tighter controls probably seems less unthinkable than long overdue. Aside from its checkered historical past, such as the celebrated scandals involving Roberto Calvi and the Banco Ambrosiano in the 1980s, the IOR has recently stumbled through a series of embarrassments:

Read the rest here: http://ncronline.org/blogs/ncr-today/once-expos-helps-vatican-bank

After Years of Decline, Catholics See Rise in Number of Future Priests

    

9:00AM EDT 9/27/2013   

Cathy Lynn Grossman /RNS
Charisma News

Faculty and candidates for graduation assemble in the Bruening-Marotta Library of Saint Mary Seminary in Wickliffe, Ohio, on May 8, 2013. (Photo by Renata M. Courey / courtesy Saint Mary Seminary and Graduate School of Theology and Diocese of Cleveland)

After decades of glum trends—fewer priests, fewer parishes—the Catholic Church in the United States has a new statistic to cheer: More men are now enrolled in graduate-level seminaries, the main pipeline to the priesthood, than in nearly two decades.

This year’s tally of 3,694 graduate theology students represents a 16 percent increase since 1995 and a 10 percent jump since 2005, according to Georgetown University’s Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA).

Seminary directors cite more encouragement from bishops and parishes, the draw of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI and the social-justice-minded Pope Francis, and a growing sense that the church is past the corrosive impact of the sexual abuse crisis that exploded in 2002.

Ultimately, it was “a calling in my heart,” says Kevin Fox.

He walked away from his electrical engineering degree and a job in his field, working with CT scanners, to enter St. Mary Seminary in Wickliffe, Ohio, in his home diocese, Cleveland, this fall.
“I always had an inkling that I might want to be a priest and my parish priest told me he thought I might be called,” said Fox, 24. “But I put it aside.”

With a fresh degree from Case Western Reserve and his first post-graduation job, Fox soon realized the secular path “wasn’t filling my soul with joy.”

Now, after years of pure science, Fox is immersed in pure theology–and loving it. The challenges of the culture, such as crude jokes from strangers about the abuse crisis, have not dissuaded him.

Read the rest here: http://www.charismanews.com/world/41158-after-years-of-decline-catholics-see-rise-in-number-of-future-priests

Today on "Kresta in the Afternoon" - September 30, 2013

Talking about the "things that matter most" on September 30

4:00 – Kresta Comments – Reza Aslan’s “Five Myths About Jesus”

4:20 – The Testimony and Writing of Elizabeth Ficocelli
Elizabeth Ficocelli is a best-selling, award-winning author of fourteen books for adults and young people, including Seven From Heaven: How Your Family Can Find Healing, Strength and Protection in the Sacraments; Lourdes: Font of Faith, Hope & Charity; Shower of Heavenly Roses: Stories of the Intercession of St. Thérèse of Lisieux; and The Imitation of Christ for Children. She here in Southeast MI today and stops into the studio to talk about her faith journey, her writing, and her passion for the Faith.

5:00 – Kresta Comments – Reza Aslan’s “Five Myths About Jesus”

5:20 – Kresta Comments – “Miss World” Pageant in Bali And The Muslim Reaction

5:40 – Partnering for Catholic Education in Kenya
Two schools - Embul-Bul Catholic Schools and St. Andrew Nkaimurunya are both located in the outskirts of Nairobi, Kenya where the unemployment rate is 40%, half of the population lives below the poverty line, life expectancy is just 63 years and infant mortality rate is 43 deaths  for every 1,000 births. Though Kenya offers free public education, in reality too few public schools exist — most are full and turn children away. They also turn away children who are academically behind for the ironic reason that they were previously unable to attend school. But Embul-Bul and St. Andrew welcome children off the streets and provide them with a quality education, daily nutritious lunches and a firm grounding in Catholic moral values. Jim Cavnar of Cross Catholic International Outreach is here to talk about their partnership with Ave Maria Radio to provide scholarships for Kenyan children.

Are We Obsessed?

     

September 25, 2013

Janet E. Smith

First Things     

A few passages from Pope Francis’ famous interview published in America have unsettled some people for many reasons. My reason for being unsettled is that it would not be a complete distortion to say that I have been “obsessed” with the issues of abortion, contraception, and homosexuality for nearly all of my professional life. I prefer the terms “dedicated” or “committed,” of course, but whatever word is appropriate, I have long thought that helping people understand why abortion, contraception, and homosexual acts are not in accord with God’s plans for human happiness is a very effective way of drawing people closer to the Lord and to the Church, and thus, more or less, most of my adult life, I have been evangelizing in this way.

Enough about me. Let me talk about the legions of pro-lifers who run pregnancy help centers (which outnumber abortion clinics), of those who host pro-life websites and give pro-life talks, of those who try to get pro-life politicians elected, of those who do the hard work of trying to find jobs, housing, and other kinds of support for single mothers, of those who provide healing ministries to women who have had abortions, such as Rachel Weeping. Let me talk about teachers of Natural Family Planning and the Theology of the Body and abstinence educators. Let me talk about those who work for and promote Courage, a compassionate ministry to those who experience same sex attraction and about those who against strangely strong odds make the case against same sex “marriages.” Let me talk about those who use Facebook, blogs, and comments on blogs to try to dialogue with those who reject and even despise Church teaching and those who defend it.

I know these people and most of them radiate the love for Christ and the Church that the Holy Father desires. They sacrifice their time, talent, and energy because they love Christ and those who hate Christ and those who don’t know Christ. Undoubtedly some pro-lifers and some opponents of contraception and some who crusade against the widespread acceptance of homosexuality are angry people ready to condemn others as unredeemable sinners, but I suspect they are few and far between in the US at least. Although I have seen rare postings on the internet, written by putative Christians that are very unchristian, I have not met any such individuals in “real life.”

In fact, I don’t think the Holy Father was speaking about my friends, when he states:

We cannot insist only on issues related to abortion, gay marriage and the use of contraceptive methods. This is not possible. I have not spoken much about these things, and I was reprimanded for that. But when we speak about these issues, we have to talk about them in a context.

My friends definitely talk about these issues “in context,” in fact in many contexts. Again, their reason for boldly and sacrificially and ardently addressing these issues is precisely because they love Christ and the Church and want others to do so. They are trying to save people, to save them from ignorance about Church teaching, to save them from serious sin, to save them from missing out on the great joys of accepting Christ as their savior and the Church as their home. And—praise God—sometimes they succeed. In fact, my own reversion to the Church was greatly facilitated by an anti-Catholic professor who patiently argued with students that truth exists. It pained him that many of his students converted to Catholicism, once they came to accept that truth exists, and even moral truths that require most students to change their behavior radically.

Do read the rest at: http://www.firstthings.com/onthesquare/2013/09/are-we-obsessed

BREAKING: Two Popes to Be Canonized on Divine Mercy Sunday

By Kathy Schiffer, Ave Maria Radio

It’s official!  Pope Francis has just announced that two former popes, Blessed John Paul II and Blessed John XXIII, will be made saints on April 27, 2014—Divine Mercy Sunday.

BLESSED POPE JOHN XXIII, born Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli, was affectionately known as the “Good Pope” (in Italian, “il Papa Buono”).  He led the Catholic Church from October 1958 to his death in 1963.

Pope John XXIII was 77 years old when elected to the papacy, and some first thought that he would be a “caretaker pope”—simply filling the Chair for a few years, but not really reshaping the Church during what was expected to be a short papacy.  Instead, he convened the historic Second Vatican Council (1962–1965). His feast day is not the day of his death, as is traditional, but rather the anniversary of the opening of the first session of Vatican II:  October 11.

BLESSED POPE JOHN PAUL II, born Karol Józef Wojtyła, was the second longest-serving pope in history, leading the Catholic Church from October 1978 until his death in 2005.

He is considered one of the most influential leaders of the 20^th century, recognized for his efforts to end Communist rule in his native Poland and all of Europe.  During his pontificate, he strengthened the Catholic Church’s relations with other religions including Judaism, Islam, the Eastern Orthodox Church, and the Anglican Communion.

During his long tenure, Pope John Paul II published many encyclicals pertaining to the role of the Church in the modern world, and promoted the Catechism of the Catholic Church and the new Code of Canon Law.  He defended Church teachings opposing contraception and the ordination of women, and he supported the reforms initiated during Vatican II.

A surprise, for your listening pleasure:  Here is a rendition of the Ave Maria sung by Karol Wojtyla, the future Pope John Paul II, in 1976.

Catholic Hospital in Dublin Will Begin Performing Abortions

Mater hospital to comply with legislation

Hospital says it has carefully considered Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act

Fr Kevin Doran, who sits on the Mater’s board of directors and the board of governors, would not comment on the hospital’s decision. Photograph: Eric Luke

Kitty Holland

Wed, Sep 25, 2013, 22:18

First published: Wed, Sep 25, 2013, 2013

The Irish Times

 

The Mater Hospital in Dublin has said it will comply with the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act 2013.

In a brief statement issued yesterday the hospital said it would comply with the Act, which sets out the circumstances where a termination of pregnancy may be performed.

The statement says: “The Mater Hospital has carefully considered the Act. The Hospital’s priority is to be at the frontier of compassion, concern and clinical care for all our patients. Having regard to that duty, the Hospital will comply with the law as provided for in the act.”

The hospital’s compliance with the legislation came into question during the summer when a member of its board of directors said it could “not comply” with the legislation as it ran counter to its Catholic ethos. Fr Kevin Doran, who sits on both the board of directors and the board of governors would not comment this afternoon on the hospital’s decision or his future involvement in it.

 

The Mater Misericordiae University Hospital is a Catholic voluntary hospital and was founded by the Sisters of Mercy in 1861. In its mission statement, the hospital says that by caring for the sick, “we participate in the healing ministry of Jesus Christ”.

 

Read the rest at: http://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/mater-hospital-to-comply-with-legislation-1.1539781

Hopeful News from the Marriage Front

September 18, 2013

by Rachel Lu
Crisis Magazine

America is a pro-marriage country. After debating the value of matrimony for several decades, Americans have come down firmly in favor of tying the knot. Cue the wedding bells.

 

Some readers may be scratching their heads at this point. That is understandable. No reasonable person could claim that the institution of marriage is healthy in America today. It has been declining for some time, particularly among the poor. Charles Murray has documented this quite dramatically in his recent bestseller, Coming Apart, which examines marital trends in America from 1960 through 2010. Murray’s analysis shows that wealthier and better-educated Americans became highly divorce-prone in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s. After that period, marriage made a modest recovery in this demographic, which gradually became less tolerant of divorce and cohabitation. Today marriage is still an institution of great social significance among the elite, and college-educated women who bear children overwhelmingly do so within the bonds of wedlock.

For the poor and less educated, the story is quite different. Among this demographic marriage declined in the 1970’s, and then declined further. There has been no recovery. We now live in a world in which approximately a third of prime-age working class men have never married, and women without a high school education are substantially more likely to have a child out of wedlock than in it.

The social consequences of this cultural shift have been grim, especially for children. As Murray points out, the children of married, biological parents who are living together have the best chance to thrive and succeed in life, according to virtually every measurable indicator. For poor children in America, the decline of marriage has been nothing short of catastrophic. Murray regards it as the single most significant dividing line between the privileged elite and the struggling underclass in an increasingly class-segregated United States.

These are sobering facts. Still, the social dissolution comes with a silver lining. Americans may be inept at making their marriages work, but most now agree that it is worth trying. This is particularly true among the rich and educated, who have the most influence on our cultural institutions. Far from sneering at marriage as a repressive and bourgeoisie institution, they have become enthusiastic advocates.

Read the rest at: http://www.crisismagazine.com/2013/hopeful-news-from-the-marriage-front?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed

What was there to debate at Providence?

September 24, 2013
In the Light of the Law  

Dr. Ed Peters' blog

From Providence College's website:
"The Catholic and Dominican character of Providence College precisely as a college is most evident in its approach to faith and reason."

About Drs. John Corvino and Dana Dillon, and about Providence College, I know next to nothing, and so can say next to nothing; about the ‘gay marriage’ debate—or at least about some Catholic principles applicable to the ‘gay marriage’ debate—I know something and so can say something.

Inviting a speaker to a college campus to address a volatile issue and offering (if belatedly) to provide a rebuttal speaker, but then cancelling the whole event apparently because management doesn’t like the views to be expressed by the original speaker, is the stuff of which higher education public relations disasters are made. But while Providence College works through its image problems (and, given the institutional identification with the Catholic Church, while the Church faces yet another PR mess not of her own making), it might help to step back and ask, what exactly was to be debated at the Providence ‘gay marriage’ debate in the first place?

Considering her age (+2,000 years), her membership (+1,000,000,000), and her range of concerns (eternal salvation and human civilization), the Catholic Church has a remarkably short list of non-negotiable assertions. Some of these non-negotiable assertions deal with dogma (e.g., Jesus is divine and human, or, there are exactly seven sacraments) and some of these non-negotiable assertions deal with doctrines (e.g., the Church has no power to ordain women to priesthood, or Thomas More is a saint) but in both cases, the assertion being made is, Catholics hold, being made with infallible certainty.

Now, among the assertions made by the Church with infallible certainty, I have argued, is this one: God made marriage to exist between one man and one woman. Catholics could debate, say, whether this assertion is a dogma to be believed or a doctrine to be held, or whether the assertion is knowable by reason alone or requires the gift of faith. Catholics could even debate whether civil unions of one sort or another between two persons of the same sex are good for society or bad. But Catholics cannot, I suggest, argue whether true marriage exists only between one man and one woman. To debate whether marriage can exist between two persons of the same sex is to imply that some Catholic non-negotiables can be negotiated by Catholics.


Dr. Ed Peters, canon lawyer

Read the rest here: http://canonlawblog.wordpress.com/2013/09/24/what-was-there-to-debate-at-providence/

Photo: Ted Cruz Kneels in Prayer Outside the White House

CBN News: The Brody File
Friday, September 27, 2013 1:00 PM

Here’s a shot of Sen. Ted Cruz praying in front of The White House yesterday.

No, he’s not praying that Barack Obama will overturn Obamacare and no, he’s not praying that he will occupy the presidency one day. Instead, he’s alongside Rev. Rob Schenck (from Faith and Action) and Rev. Frazier White (a Democrat and Obama supporter) praying for Saeed Abedini, who has been in an Iranian prison for one year. He is being persecuted for his faith to Jesus Christ.
Who says Ted Cruz isn’t bipartisan?

I have not only interviewed Ted Cruz many times, but I have spent time with him and his family. He is true Bible-believing Christian who is not ashamed of the Gospel. Of course the liberals don’t want to hear that nonsense. They’ll now be busy trying to figure out how to distort this picture in Adobe Photoshop.

Below are the words of Rev. Rob Schenck, the man who organized the prayer.

“In the image you see me at the center with my prayer stole as we intercede in Jesus’ name for our brother in Christ and imprisoned pastor, Saeed Abedini, who has suffered in an Iranian prison for one year because of his faithful witness to Christ. Kneeling with me on my left (the significance of the placement should be noted) is the U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, a tea party Republican from Texas. Sen. Cruz just made wall-to-wall headlines for his 20+ hour filibuster opposing Obamacare, the President’s signature legislative achievement.

On my right (again, note the orientation) is Rev. Frazier White, a Democrat community organizer from my neighborhood of Capitol Hill, and a huge supporter of President Obama. At the moment the photo was taken, though, the politically polar opposite positions of the Senator and the Pastor were irrelevant.

We were bowed before the Holy, the Supernal, the highest Lord in the universe, and the One and Only Eternal King. Everything else: party labels, policy positions, job descriptions, accents, zip codes, skin color, filibusters and organizing, were all utterly and completely dwarfed. In that moment of prayer–especially for a fellow Christian, a persecuted believer, whose circumstances are for most us unimaginable–our political and cultural squabbles seemed petty.

Pastor White, Sen. Cruz, Rev. Pat Mahoney, Jordan and Anna Sekulow, myself, and so many others, were there in front of the White House to do the really and truly important business of crying out to God for one of our own that was suffering for his faith.”

Source: http://blogs.cbn.com/thebrodyfile/archive/2013/09/27/photo-ted-cruz-kneels-in-prayer-outside-the-white-house.aspx

How Obamacare Will Subsidize Abortion

 

By Chuck Donovan

September 25, 2013 5:26 PM

National Review

 

With all the attention focused on Ted Cruz’s attempt to defund Obamacare in the continuing resolution, some of the law’s parade of horribles are momentarily out of view. Come October 1, those horribles will resume their onward march as the law’s impact on subsidizing elective abortion will begin to become clearer.

One area that deserves special scrutiny is the feature known as Multi-State Plans (MSPs). This provision of Obamacare represented a partial victory for progressive forces who favored a national, single-payer system. In its place they accepted a category of health-insurance plans managed by the Office of Personnel Management under contracts with private insurance companies. Unlike the federal employee health plans, which are available only to federal workers and their families, these MSPs are guaranteed a place on each state (and District of Columbia) health-care exchange and will therefore be available to every resident of the United States. By virtue of being offered on the exchanges, premiums paid to purchase these plans will be eligible for the generous scheme of subsidies created under Obamacare.

Passage of MSPs required one other major finesse from Democrats on the Hill. In order to deal with the abortion coverage MSPs might provide, the law stipulated that each state must have at least two MSPs and that at least one of them must be a plan that confines its abortion coverage to situations defined by the Hyde Amendment, which are, to simplify a bit, cases of rape, incest, or where the life of the mother is in danger. While the law provided no specific assurance that the other MSPs (one or possibly many more) would cover elective abortion, it has seemed clear from the start (and blisteringly obvious from observing its past patterns) that the Obama administration would ensure that abortion-covering state plans (let’s call them ASPs) would be available everywhere possible (especially inasmuch as the MSP program might ultimately prove a gateway to single-payer).

The only obstacle standing in the way of this is substantial, a separate provision of Obamacare that recognizes the right of the states to exclude ASPs from their exchanges. On the eve of opening the exchanges for consumers to choose a plan and gain a major tax break in 2014, where do MSPs stand?

Read the rest here: http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/359524/how-obamacare-will-subsidize-abortion-chuck-donovan

Music Video Showing Daughter Surviving Abortion Gets 100,000 Views in 5 Days

by Steven Ertelt, Brian Mayes | Washington, DC | LifeNews.com | 9/24/13 5:16 PM
The former lead singer of Kansas, whose amazing video for his new single tells the story of his adopted daughter’s birth and surviving an abortion, has gone viral.

Elefante released a music video for the song, “This Time,” which was inspired by his adopted daughter Sami’s birth. Posted to YouTube and announced on September 16th, the video quickly went viral, with more than 100,000 views in just the first five days.

The song’s lyrics are based
on the true story of what Sami’s 13-year old birth mother might have experienced as “she sat cold in a waiting room, frightened and all alone / knowing that her baby would soon be gone.” As the video unfolds, we see the dreams she had of a little girl celebrating her third birthday and growing into a woman through the years, and we hear the voice she heard telling her to “run away / you’re not taking her / this time.”

Read the rest at http://www.lifenews.com/2013/09/24/singers-music-video-shows-his-adopted-daughter-surviving-abortion-gets-10000-views-in-5-days/

40 Days for Life Pro-Life Prayer Event Begins Today, Changes Lives Forever

by Shawn Carney | Washington, DC | LifeNews.com | 9/25/13 10:40 AM

40 Days for Life has officially begun in 306 cities across America and around the globe!
I just spoke at a 40 Days for Life kickoff event in California, David Bereit, our national director, helped get things started in Birmingham, Alabama, Steve Karlen, our North American outreach director spoke at the Dallas, Texas kickoff event, and Robert Colquhoun, our international outreach director, is launching campaigns in London.

To celebrate the launch of this campaign, here’s a BRAND-NEW short video that shows what God is accomplishing through 40 Days for Life — and how YOU can make a lifesaving impact over these 40 days.
In this short video, you’ll meet people whose lives are forever changed … because of faithful, prayerful volunteers … during 40 Days for Life.

In the video, you’ll meet people whose lives have been forever changed … thanks to faithful 40 Days for Life volunteers.

You’ll hear from former Planned Parenthood managers — and a woman who chose life for her baby, simply because people were outside the abortion center praying for her … and her child.
Please share this video with everyone you know … so they can discover what 40 Days for Life is all about — and so they can join you in this worldwide movement to end the injustice of abortion!




Find out more at http://www.lifenews.com/2013/09/25/40-days-for-life-pro-life-prayer-event-begins-today-changes-lives-forever/

Vatican Official: Pelosi Shouldn’t Receive Communion

By Andrew Johnson

September 25, 2013 3:35 PM

National Review Online

Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke said that Nancy Pelosi should be denied communion because her support of abortion is in conflict of her Catholic faith. He took particular issue with the minority leader’s refusal to comment on abortionist and murderer Kermit Gosnell because she said “as a practicing and respectful Catholic, this is sacred ground” for her.

“To say that these are simply questions of Catholic faith which have no part in politics is just false and wrong,” Cardinal Burke said in an interview with The Wanderer, a Catholic newspaper. “This is a person who obstinately, after repeated admonitions, persists in a grave sin — cooperating with the crime of procured abortion.”



Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke

“For Catholic institutions or individuals to give recognition to such persons, to honor them in any way, is a source of grave scandal for which they are responsible,” he continued. “In a certain way, they contribute to the sinfulness of the individuals involved.”

The cardinal said he feared for Pelosi “if she does not come to understand how gravely in error she is” and called on her to look to St. Thomas More as inspiration; More was a 16th-century member of Parliament who was executed for defending his Catholic faith.

Read the rest here: http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/359511/vatican-official-pelosi-shouldnt-receive-communion-andrew-johnson

Little Sisters of the Poor sue over Obamacare fines, contraception requirement

By JOEL GEHRKE | SEPTEMBER 24, 2013 AT 6:47 PM

Washington Examiner

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius finalized a contraception mandate that ignores the fact groups like the Little Sisters of the Poor are religious organizations, according to a lawsuit filed to protect them against fines for refusing to comply with an Obamacare mandate.
"We cannot violate our vows by participating in the government's program to provide access to abortion-inducing drugs,” Sister Loraine Marie said of a class-action lawsuit filed against the mandate on behalf of multiple religious organizations that provide health benefits.



The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which represents the plaintiffs, filed the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado.

The choice of jurisdiction is critical: The Colorado district court falls under the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, and thus is governed by that court's precedent in most cases.

A 10th Circuit panel ruled earlier this year that the owners of Hobby Lobby did not have to comply with the HHS mandate (that lawsuit was also filed by the Becket Fund). President Obama's attorneys have asked the Supreme Court to overturn the 10th Circuit's ruling.

“The Sisters should obviously be exempted as ‘religious employers,’ but the government has refused to expand its definition,” Becket Fund senior counsel Mark Rienzi said.

“These women just want to take care of the elderly poor without being forced to violate the faith that animates their work. The money they collect should be used to care for the poor like it always has -- and not to pay the IRS,” he said.

Source: http://washingtonexaminer.com/little-sisters-of-the-poor-sue-over-obamacare-fines-contraception-requirement/article/2536338

Church dumps rebel priest

Victoria

September 21, 2013

(21)

 

Barney Zwartz

Religion editor, The Age

Father Greg Reynolds: Defrocked and excommunicated over his support for women priests and gays.
Photo: Angela Wylie

 

Dissident priest Greg Reynolds has been both defrocked and excommunicated over his support for women priests and gays - the first person ever excommunicated in Melbourne, he believes.
The order comes direct from the Vatican, not at the request of Melbourne Archbishop Denis Hart, and apparently follows a secret denunciation in the best traditions of the inquisition, according to Father Reynolds.

The excommunication document - written in Latin and giving no reason - was dated May 31, meaning it comes under the authority of Pope Francis who made headlines on Thursday calling for a less rule-obsessed church.

Father Reynolds, who resigned as a parish priest in 2011 and last year founded Inclusive Catholics, said he had expected to be laicised (defrocked), but not excommunicated. But it would make no difference to his ministry.

Let’s not just talk about sex -- what Pope Francis really said

By Kathryn Jean Lopez

Published September 19, 2013
Fox News

A faithful tosses in the air a jersey with the colors of the Argentine flag as Pope Francis greets faithful upon arrival for his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2013. (AP Photo/Riccardo De Luca) (THE ASSOCIATED PRESS2013)

Sept. 18, 2013: Pope Francis looks on during his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican. (AP)

Pope Francis waves as he boards the plane after a week-long trip to Brazil, on July 28, 2013. Pope Francis on Thursday lashed out at what he called the scandal of "airport bishops", urging his peers to remain rooted in their dioceses and spend less time seeking the spotlight. (AFP/File)

FoxNews.com

 

Not everything in the world is about sex and politics. That message may take the New York Times a few more homilies and interviews with Pope Francis to understand.

The Catholic Church – or at least those preachers and teachers who are outspoken on matters concerning human sexuality, especially when catechetical discussions are turned into clashes in the public square for political or cultural reasons – is often accused of being obsessed with sex. But the obsession might just be the media’s.

Consider, for instance the wide-ranging interview given by Pope Francis that has just been published in several Jesuit publications, including America magazine here in the United States. It is over 10,000 words. A few paragraphs involve homosexuality and abortion. And yet homosexuality and abortion were what the New York Times chose to lead their news report on the interview with.

The interview is Pope Francis’s first extensive public conversation since becoming pope about his own vocational call to serve God – for example, we are told that Jorge Mario Bergoglio considered joining the Dominicans, and why he needs the discipline of the religious life. He further explains why he as pope has chosen to live at the Vatican’s guest house: His desire for community. (He explains that the papal apartment is not luxurious, but it is isolated.)

The interview gives some context to his daily pleas to the faithful and, as we saw in his letter to the G-20 and four-hour prayer vigil for peace earlier this month, to every man and woman in the world. It is reintroducing what some refer to as the project of the New Evangelization, and with the most inviting, non-jargony language.

Francis talks about the Church as a “field hospital after battle.” He talks about the need for the church “to heal wounds and to warm the hearts of the faithful.” He says: “It is useless to ask a seriously injured person if he has high cholesterol and about the level of his blood sugars! You have to heal his wounds. Then we can talk about everything else. Heal the wounds, heal the wounds.... And you have to start from the ground up.”

Many people are interpretating this interview -- along with the interview the pope gave on his plane ride back to Rome from Rio after praying with some three million youth in Brazil -- as the pope hitting “reset.”

The metaphor works.


Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2013/09/19/lets-not-just-talk-about-sex-what-pope-francis-really-said-to-jesuit/#ixzz2fULkXcsx

The Christ-Centered Pope

September 20, 2013 12:00 AM

The Catholic Church and the world wrestle with an evangelical papacy.

 

By George Weigel
National Review Online

 

Perhaps the most revealing detail in Pope Francis’s lengthy interview, conducted by the Italian Jesuit Antonio Spadaro and published yesterday in English translation in the Jesuit journal America, is the pontiff’s reflection on one of his favorite Roman walks, prior to his election:



George Weigel 

When I had to come to to Rome, I always stayed in [the neighborhood of the] Via della Scrofa. From there I often visited the Church of St. Louis of France, and I went there to contemplate the painting of “The Calling of St. Matthew” by Caravaggio. That finger of Jesus, pointing at Matthew. That’s me. I feel like him. Like Matthew. . . . This is me, a sinner on whom the Lord has turned his gaze.
 

The Calling of St. Matthew is an extraordinary painting in many ways, including Caravaggio’s signature use of light and darkness to heighten the spiritual tension of a scene. In this case, though, the chiaroscuro setting is further intensified by a profoundly theological artistic device: The finger of Jesus, pointing at Matthew, seems deliberately to invoke the finger of God as rendered by Michelangelo on the Sistine Chapel ceiling. Thus Caravaggio, in depicting the summons of the tax collector, unites creation and redemption, God the Father and the incarnate Son, personal call and apostolic mission.

That is who Jorge Mario Bergoglio is: a radically converted Christian disciple who has felt the mercy of God in his own life and who describes himself, without intending any dramatic effect, as “a sinner whom the Lord has looked upon.” Having heard the call to conversion and responded to it, Bergoglio wants to facilitate others’ hearing of that call, which never ceases to come from God through Christ and the Church.

And that, Bergoglio insists, is what the Church is for: The Church is for evangelization and conversion.

Read the rest here: http://www.nationalreview.com/article/359042/christ-centered-pope-george-weigel

Poking the Pope

September 19, 2013 By Fr. Dwight Longenecker

Standing on My Head
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/standingonmyhead/2013/09/poking-the-pope.html

The Holy Father’s interview published today is the first time we’ve had a chance for an in depth look at the man. One of the frustrating things about his papacy so far is that it has been big on dramatic gestures and small on content. There’s not anything wrong with that. He clearly prefers the off the cuff remark and the spontaneous homily to the careful, well thought out theological treatise. It is also true that he has the style of a prophet, and prophets are good at preaching through dramatic gestures and actions as well as words.

His interview reveals a simple man of the poor–a compassionate and humble man who has people as the heart of his concern. He wishes for a church that is outgoing, creative and risk taking. He wants a gospel that is lived in a compassionate, forgiving and Christ-like manner. He pushes against a Catholicism that is legalistic, puritanical and condemnatory. He wants a church that reaches out to the poor, the rejected and the forgotten. He wants to show a church that loves the sinner.

All this is well and good, but I have some worries. Every pope is both empowered and limited by his own history and culture. Pope Francis is from a generation and a culture which is Catholic. For the most part everyone is Catholic. They understand the basics of Christian morality and the fundamentals of the Christian story and the basic elements of the Catholic faith. Too often, however, that Catholic culture was impeded by a Church that had become overly clericalized, legalistic, condemnatory and hide bound.

Francis’ message to that kind of Catholic culture and that kind of Catholic Church is sharp and necessary. It’s fresh, creative and powerful. He’s basically saying, “Get out of your churchiness and get into the streets. Be with the people and share your faith together and bring Christ to those who have forgotten how to find him in the church.” As such his message is relevant and vital for the Church in South America and Central America where Catholics are being wooed away by Evangelicals who do present a vital, relevant and compassionately involved message.”

Read the rest here: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/standingonmyhead/2013/09/poking-the-pope.html

It's a Great Time to be Catholic in America

Sept. 20, 2013

 

Dear friends,

 

Because I am on the road today, I wanted to post my continuing reflections on the Pope Francis interview. These are subject to revision but represent my punchiest thinking at the moment. On Monday I expect to have absorbed the interview more fully and will likely have more to say.

 

 

1    1. Read the interview and note the distortion. The only ones obsessed with sex and abortion are the NYT and Washington Post, etc.

 

2    2. We can understand the Pope’s remarks as his way of internalizing the criticisms of our opponents and mirroring them back to us. Why? So we are more diligent in making sure that our concerns about the moral consequences of the gospel are not perceived as above the gospel. 

 

3    3. However, opposition to abortion and homosexual marriage are not on a par with opposition to Pharisaical regulations. They aren’t arbitrary impositions of standards that can change tomorrow. They speak to violations of human nature, the human nature that Christ came to redeem.

 

4    4. These are not small things and those who have given their lives to combating these evils, often clearly in the spirit of Christ, are now feeling thrown under the bus, delegitimated, befuddled and ticked off while the champions of abortion and homosexual marriage are rejoicing in a new spirit in the Catholic Church. This is unfair to all involved. Unfair to the prolife activists because their chief coach seems to be dissing their work and unfair to the champions of these evils for false consolation.

 

5    5. Who the h*** is in charge at the Vatican Press Office? Where are American bishops? Who is going to correct these distortions? Why doesn’t Cardinal Dolan stand up and bellow, “If the Pope is saying what the New York Times is reporting, then the Pope is wrong.” This would precipitate a media crisis and force a closer look at the subtleties and nuances of Pope Francis’ remarks. The press may then be forced to report more accurately the subtleties and nuances of the Pope’s remarks.

 

6    6. I’ve always said that unless you are God, the burden of accurate communication rests with the communicator not the audience. I wish the Holy Father would shoulder this responsibility. But maybe that is what he is expecting us to do as lay apostles.

 

7    7. I’ve been reading the comboxes and seeing Catholics who claim to be homosexuals exulting in the Pope’s remarks and looking forward to a change in Church teaching. These poor souls are bound to be crushed. They are wickedly undercatechized and now are being caught in what they will see as a bait and switch game. They need our compassion and support not our accommodation to their sin.

 

8    8. This is a great time to be Catholic in America. Ignore the petty voices who are trying to drive a wedge between Francis and Benedict. In the interview, he makes it clear that there is no space between them. Use every opportunity to ask people to consider the Jesus of the New Testament. Remember even most of those attending religious services have not had an adult encounter with love of God in Christ. Mercy is an unknown quality to them. This is a time to make God’s unlimited mercy available and a time to make Christ visible.

 

Al Kresta
President, CEO
Ave Maria Radio