Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Monday, September 20, 2010
Catholics and the Next America
Catholics and the Next America
Sep 17, 2010
Archbishop Charles J. Chaput
FirstThings.com
One of the key myths of the American Catholic imagination is this: After 200 years of fighting against public prejudice, Catholics finally broke through into America’s mainstream with the 1960 election of John F. Kennedy as president. It’s a happy thought, and not without grounding. Next to America’s broad collection of evangelical churches, baptized Catholics now make up the biggest religious community in the United States. They serve in large numbers in Congress. They have a majority on the Supreme Court. They play commanding roles in the professions and in business leadership. They’ve climbed, at long last, the Mt. Zion of social acceptance.
So goes the tale. What this has actually meant for the direction of American life, however, is another matter. Catholic statistics once seemed impressive. They filled many of us with tribal pride. But they didn’t stop a new and quite alien national landscape, a “next America,” from emerging right under our noses.
While both Barna Group and Pew Research Center data show that Americans remain a broadly Christian people, old religious loyalties are steadily softening. Overall, the number of Americans claiming no religious affiliation, about 16 percent, has doubled since 1990. One quarter of Americans aged 18-29 have no affiliation with any particular religion, and as the Barna Group noted in 2007, they “exhibit a greater degree of criticism toward Christianity than did previous generations when they were at the same stage of life. In fact, in just a decade . . . the Christian image [has] shifted substantially downward, fueled in part by a growing sense of disengagement and disillusionment among young people.”
Catholic losses have been masked by Latino immigration. But while 31 percent of Americans say they were raised in the Catholic faith, fewer than 24 percent of Americans now describe themselves as Catholic.
These facts have weight because, traditionally, religious faith has provided the basis for Americans’ moral consensus. And that moral consensus has informed American social policy and law. What people believe—or don’t believe—about God, helps to shape what they believe about men and women. And what they believe about men and women creates the framework for a nation’s public life.
Or to put it more plainly: In the coming decades Catholics will likely find it harder, not easier, to influence the course of American culture, or even to live their faith authentically. And the big difference between the “next America” and the old one will be that plenty of other committed religious believers may find themselves in the same unpleasant jam as their Catholic cousins.
At first hearing, this scenario might sound implausible; and for good reason. The roots of the American experience are deeply Protestant. They go back a very long way, to well before the nation’s founding. Whatever one thinks of the early Puritan colonists—and Catholics have few reasons to remember them fondly—no reader can study Gov. John Winthrop’s great 1630 homily before embarking for New England without being moved by the zeal and candor of the faith that produced it. In “A model of Christian charity,” he told his fellow colonists:
The Puritan habits of hard work, industry and faith branded themselves on the American personality. While Puritan influence later diluted in waves of immigrants from other Protestant traditions, it clearly helped shape the political beliefs of John Adams and many of the other American Founders. Adams and his colleagues were men who, as Daniel Boorstin once suggested, had minds that were a “miscellany and a museum;” men who could blend the old and the new, an earnest Christian faith and Enlightenment ideas, without destroying either.
But beginning in the nineteenth century, riding a crest of scientific and industrial change, a different view of the Puritans began to emerge. In the language of their critics, the Puritans were seen as intolerant, sexually repressed, narrow-minded witch-hunters who masked material greed with a veneer of Calvinist virtue. Cast as religious fanatics, the Puritans stood accused of planting the seed of nationalist messianism by portraying America as a New Jerusalem, a “city upon a hill” (from Winthrop’s homily), with a globally redemptive mission. H.L. Mencken—equally skilled as a writer, humorist and anti-religious bigot—famously described the Puritan as a man “with the haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy.”
In recent years, scholars like Christian Smith have shown how the intellectual weakness and fierce internal divisions of America’s Protestant establishment allowed “the secularization of modern public life as a kind of political revolution.” Carried out mainly between 1870 and 1930, this “rebel insurgency consisted of waves of networks of activists who were largely skeptical, freethinking, agnostic, atheist or theologically liberal; who were well educated and socially located mainly in the knowledge-production occupations, and who generally espoused materialism, naturalism, positivism and the privatization or extinction of religion.”
This insurgency could be ignored, or at least contained, for a long time. Why? Because America’s social consensus supported the country’s unofficial Christian assumptions, traditions and religion-friendly habits of thought and behavior. But law—even a constitutional guarantee—is only as strong as the popular belief that sustains it. That traditional consensus is now much weakened. Seventy years of soft atheism trickling down in a steady catechesis from our universities, social-science “helping professions,” and entertainment and news media, have eroded it.
Obviously many faith-friendly exceptions exist in each of these professional fields. And other culprits, not listed above, may also be responsible for our predicament. The late Christopher Lasch argued that modern consumer capitalism breeds and needs a “culture of narcissism”—i.e., a citizenry of weak, self-absorbed, needy personalities—in order to sustain itself. Christian Smith put it somewhat differently when he wrote that, in modern capitalism, labor “is mobile as needed, consumers purchase what is promoted, workers perform as demanded, managers execute as expected—and profits flow. And what the Torah, or the Pope, or Jesus may say in opposition is not relevant, because those are private matters” [emphasis in original].
My point here is neither to defend nor criticize our economic system. Others are much better equipped to do that than I am. My point is that “I shop, therefore I am” is not a good premise for life in a democratic society like the United States. Our country depends for its survival on an engaged, literate electorate gathered around commonly held ideals. But the practical, pastoral reality facing the Gospel in America today is a human landscape shaped by advertising, an industry Pascal Bruckner described so well as a “smiling form of sorcery”:
Continue reading here...
Sep 17, 2010
FirstThings.com
One of the key myths of the American Catholic imagination is this: After 200 years of fighting against public prejudice, Catholics finally broke through into America’s mainstream with the 1960 election of John F. Kennedy as president. It’s a happy thought, and not without grounding. Next to America’s broad collection of evangelical churches, baptized Catholics now make up the biggest religious community in the United States. They serve in large numbers in Congress. They have a majority on the Supreme Court. They play commanding roles in the professions and in business leadership. They’ve climbed, at long last, the Mt. Zion of social acceptance.
So goes the tale. What this has actually meant for the direction of American life, however, is another matter. Catholic statistics once seemed impressive. They filled many of us with tribal pride. But they didn’t stop a new and quite alien national landscape, a “next America,” from emerging right under our noses.
While both Barna Group and Pew Research Center data show that Americans remain a broadly Christian people, old religious loyalties are steadily softening. Overall, the number of Americans claiming no religious affiliation, about 16 percent, has doubled since 1990. One quarter of Americans aged 18-29 have no affiliation with any particular religion, and as the Barna Group noted in 2007, they “exhibit a greater degree of criticism toward Christianity than did previous generations when they were at the same stage of life. In fact, in just a decade . . . the Christian image [has] shifted substantially downward, fueled in part by a growing sense of disengagement and disillusionment among young people.”
Catholic losses have been masked by Latino immigration. But while 31 percent of Americans say they were raised in the Catholic faith, fewer than 24 percent of Americans now describe themselves as Catholic.
These facts have weight because, traditionally, religious faith has provided the basis for Americans’ moral consensus. And that moral consensus has informed American social policy and law. What people believe—or don’t believe—about God, helps to shape what they believe about men and women. And what they believe about men and women creates the framework for a nation’s public life.
Or to put it more plainly: In the coming decades Catholics will likely find it harder, not easier, to influence the course of American culture, or even to live their faith authentically. And the big difference between the “next America” and the old one will be that plenty of other committed religious believers may find themselves in the same unpleasant jam as their Catholic cousins.
At first hearing, this scenario might sound implausible; and for good reason. The roots of the American experience are deeply Protestant. They go back a very long way, to well before the nation’s founding. Whatever one thinks of the early Puritan colonists—and Catholics have few reasons to remember them fondly—no reader can study Gov. John Winthrop’s great 1630 homily before embarking for New England without being moved by the zeal and candor of the faith that produced it. In “A model of Christian charity,” he told his fellow colonists:
We are a company professing ourselves fellow members of Christ . . . That which the most in their churches maintain as truth in profession only, we must bring into familiar and constant practice; as in this duty of love, we must love brotherly without dissimulation, we must love one another with pure heart fervently. We must bear one another’s burdens. We must look not only on our own things, but also on the things of our brethren . . . We must be willing to abridge ourselves of our superfluities, for the supply of others’ necessities. We must uphold a familiar commerce together in all meekness, gentleness, patience and liberality. We must delight in each; make others’ conditions our own; rejoice together, mourn together, labor and suffer together, always having before our eyes our commission and community in the work, as members of the same body. So we will keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace.Not a bad summary of Christian discipleship, made urgent for Winthrop by the prospect of leading 700 souls on a hard, two-month voyage across the North Atlantic to an equally hard New World. What happened when they got there is a matter of historical record. And different agendas interpret the record differently.
The Puritan habits of hard work, industry and faith branded themselves on the American personality. While Puritan influence later diluted in waves of immigrants from other Protestant traditions, it clearly helped shape the political beliefs of John Adams and many of the other American Founders. Adams and his colleagues were men who, as Daniel Boorstin once suggested, had minds that were a “miscellany and a museum;” men who could blend the old and the new, an earnest Christian faith and Enlightenment ideas, without destroying either.
But beginning in the nineteenth century, riding a crest of scientific and industrial change, a different view of the Puritans began to emerge. In the language of their critics, the Puritans were seen as intolerant, sexually repressed, narrow-minded witch-hunters who masked material greed with a veneer of Calvinist virtue. Cast as religious fanatics, the Puritans stood accused of planting the seed of nationalist messianism by portraying America as a New Jerusalem, a “city upon a hill” (from Winthrop’s homily), with a globally redemptive mission. H.L. Mencken—equally skilled as a writer, humorist and anti-religious bigot—famously described the Puritan as a man “with the haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy.”
In recent years, scholars like Christian Smith have shown how the intellectual weakness and fierce internal divisions of America’s Protestant establishment allowed “the secularization of modern public life as a kind of political revolution.” Carried out mainly between 1870 and 1930, this “rebel insurgency consisted of waves of networks of activists who were largely skeptical, freethinking, agnostic, atheist or theologically liberal; who were well educated and socially located mainly in the knowledge-production occupations, and who generally espoused materialism, naturalism, positivism and the privatization or extinction of religion.”
This insurgency could be ignored, or at least contained, for a long time. Why? Because America’s social consensus supported the country’s unofficial Christian assumptions, traditions and religion-friendly habits of thought and behavior. But law—even a constitutional guarantee—is only as strong as the popular belief that sustains it. That traditional consensus is now much weakened. Seventy years of soft atheism trickling down in a steady catechesis from our universities, social-science “helping professions,” and entertainment and news media, have eroded it.
Obviously many faith-friendly exceptions exist in each of these professional fields. And other culprits, not listed above, may also be responsible for our predicament. The late Christopher Lasch argued that modern consumer capitalism breeds and needs a “culture of narcissism”—i.e., a citizenry of weak, self-absorbed, needy personalities—in order to sustain itself. Christian Smith put it somewhat differently when he wrote that, in modern capitalism, labor “is mobile as needed, consumers purchase what is promoted, workers perform as demanded, managers execute as expected—and profits flow. And what the Torah, or the Pope, or Jesus may say in opposition is not relevant, because those are private matters” [emphasis in original].
My point here is neither to defend nor criticize our economic system. Others are much better equipped to do that than I am. My point is that “I shop, therefore I am” is not a good premise for life in a democratic society like the United States. Our country depends for its survival on an engaged, literate electorate gathered around commonly held ideals. But the practical, pastoral reality facing the Gospel in America today is a human landscape shaped by advertising, an industry Pascal Bruckner described so well as a “smiling form of sorcery”:
The buyer’s fantastic freedom of choice supposedly encourages each of us to take ourselves in hand, to be responsible, to diversify our conduct and our tastes; and most important, supposedly protects us forever from fanaticism and from being taken in. In other words, four centuries of emancipation from dogmas, gods and tyrants has led to nothing more nor less than to the marvelous possibility of choosing between several brands of dish detergent, TV channels or styles of jeans. Pushing our cart down the aisle in a supermarket or frantically wielding our remote control, these are supposed to be ways of consciously working for harmony and democracy. One could hardly come up with a more masterful misinterpretation: for we consume in order to stop being individuals and citizens; rather, to escape for a moment from the heavy burden of having to make fundamental choices.Now, where do Catholics fit into this story?
Continue reading here...
Outrageous Statement of the Day
Film producer Michael Moore on Friday said the McDonald's that's two blocks from Ground Zero killed more people than the nineteen hijackers involved in the 9/11 attacks.
Pope Benedict's UK Visit: The News Everybody Missed
by Raymond Arroyo
The Pope saved the most important news of his visit to the United Kingdom for the end. Most people didn't even hear or see it. But I imagine Thomas More and John Henry Newman were smiling…
In November of 2009, Pope Benedict issued an extraordinary invitation to Anglicans disaffected by the changes taking place in their communion. The failure to affirm traditional Christian orthodoxy, the ordination of gays, the recent push to create female Anglican bishops have splintered the communion and caused heartbreak among both clergy and laity. Anglicans all over the world, parishes, and some dioceses had petitioned Rome to enter into full communion with the Catholic Church. As a "pastoral response" the Pope released his Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum Coetibus. It allows individual Anglicans, clergy, even whole dioceses to enter into full communion with the Catholic Church while retaining their traditions, devotions, and liturgical practices.
The Archbishop of Canterbury (according to a few Anglican officials I recently spoke with) felt "ambushed by the constitution" and was frustrated that there wasn't more "consultation" before its release. Standing shoulder to shoulder with the Archbishop of Canterbury at an ecumenical prayer service at Westminster Abbey last week, the Pope made the case for "Christian unity" while recalling the real world challenges that block the way. The Pope said "fidelity" which demands obedience to God's "true word" was needed: "an obedience which must be free of intellectual conformism or facile accommodation to the spirit of the age." The Pope was clearly referencing the recent actions by the Anglican church which had “accommodated the spirit of the age” and created lasting barriers to the goal of full unity. But the Pope was so genial, and his delivery so mild, that the tough talk received little coverage and was largely ignored.
Then came the last speech of the Pope's visit, a meeting with his Bishops of England, Scotland and Wales. Near the end of the address, Pope Benedict made his intentions plain, and cast new light on all that he had said and done since his arrival in Britain. He told his bishops:
“I asked you to be generous in implementing the Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum Coetibus. This should be seen as a prophetic gesture that can contribute positively to the developing relations between Anglicans and Catholics. It helps us to set our sights on the ultimate goal of all ecumenical activity: the restoration of full ecclesial communion in the context of which the mutual exchange of gifts from our respective spiritual patrimonies serves as an enrichment to us all. Let us continue to pray and work unceasingly in order to hasten the joyful day when that goal can be accomplished.”
In other words, the Pope sees his Anglican"fast pass" into the Catholic Church as the fruit of ecumenism—a chance for Anglicans to return to the faith of their fathers before the Reformation and to protect themselves from an insidious secularism that is plaguing society at large and their communion in particular.
With this understanding, the symbolic and stated message of Pope Benedict during his British sojourn comes into stark relief. His meeting with the Catholic and Anglican bishops at Lambeth Palace, the home of the Archbishop of Canterbury for 800 years (the first 70 Archbishops of Canterbury were Catholics), his visit to Westminster Abbey (built by the Catholic king, Henry III and home to Benedictine monks until the Reformation), his moving speech at Westminster Hall (where Catholic martyrs Thomas More, Edmund Campion, Bishop John Fisher and others were condemned to death for their refusal to disavow their faith), and finally his beatification of the 19th century Anglican convert to Catholicism, Blessed John Henry Newman suddenly all seems one piece. Benedict’s visit was a stand against relativism in the heart of Europe and a plea for Britain to return to herself—to return to her Catholic roots. In a visit worthy of his predecessor, Pope Benedict, with precise language and symbols, communicated a message that will long be felt in England. It was a message controversial and reasonable, bold, and utterly faithful—a simple call, really: England, come home to what you were meant to be, and truly are.
Let me know what you think at Raymond@raymondarroyo.com
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Friday, September 17, 2010
Bigotry on bigotry
Debra Saunders, a columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle, notes the double standard in the media’s treatment of the Ground Zero mosque and priest abuse scandal stories.
“In 2002, after the priest-child sex abuse scandal erupted, an ABC News/Washington Post poll found that 52% of Americans-- including three in 10 Catholics-- expressed an unfavorable opinion of the Roman Catholic Church,” she writes. “Now I don't recall pundits referring to the majority of Americans as anti-Catholic bigots who are too stupid to know that most priests are not pedophiles.”
Read the full commentary here...
London police arrest 5 men for plot against Pope
Police in London have arrested five men on terrorism charges in connection with a possible plot against Pope Benedict XVI. Father Federico Lombardi, the director of the Vatican press office, told reporters that Pope Benedict had been informed of the arrests. The Pope was not concerned, he said, and no changes were planned in schedule of events for the Pope’s visit to Great Britain.
“We have full confidence in the police,” Father Lombardi said. “There is no reason for concern and therefore no need to change our plans.”
Outrageous Statement of the Day
Barry Lynn of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State is more concerned about Christian fundamentalism than Islamic fundamentalism. "I worry about Islamic fundamentalism, there's fundamentalists in every religion, but I worry a lot more about the imminent return of Christian fundamentalism that will try to tell every single American how to live from the moment of conception until the moment of death."
Today on Kresta - September 17, 2010
Talking about the "things that matter most" on Sept. 17
4:00 - Pope Benedict XVI Arrives in Mainland England
Pope Benedict's much-debated visit in Britain began Thursday, and opened dramatically. The pope, in the words of The Guardian, "launched a blistering attack on ‘atheist extremism' and 'aggressive secularism,'" talking of the "damage that 'the exclusion of God, religion, and virtue from public life' had done in the last century.” We talk about the visit with our British Chaplain, Fr. Pat Egan.
4:20 – From Pro-Choice Atheist to Pro-Life Catholic
When she was 26, she had never once believed in God, not even as a child. She was a content atheist and thought it was simply obvious that God did not exist. She thought that religion and reason were incompatible, and was baffled by why anyone would believe in God. After a few years in the Bible Belt, she became vocally anti-Christian. Imagine the surprise to find her today, just a few years later, a practicing Catholic who loves her faith. Jennifer Fulwiler tells her story.
5:00 – Kresta Comments
5:20 - Finance Friday Part 2 of 10
Today we continue our 10-part series intended to fully explore the practical, political, moral and philosophical underpinnings of the financial meltdown of 2008. Our guide will be Dr. Max Torres and each “Financial Friday” we will be using as a base of discussion, one book written on an aspect of the financial crisis. Today, we look at Thomas Woods’ Meltdown: A Free-Market Look at Why the Stock Market Collapsed, the Economy Tanked, and Government Bailouts Will Make Things Worse.
4:00 - Pope Benedict XVI Arrives in Mainland England
Pope Benedict's much-debated visit in Britain began Thursday, and opened dramatically. The pope, in the words of The Guardian, "launched a blistering attack on ‘atheist extremism' and 'aggressive secularism,'" talking of the "damage that 'the exclusion of God, religion, and virtue from public life' had done in the last century.” We talk about the visit with our British Chaplain, Fr. Pat Egan.
4:20 – From Pro-Choice Atheist to Pro-Life Catholic
When she was 26, she had never once believed in God, not even as a child. She was a content atheist and thought it was simply obvious that God did not exist. She thought that religion and reason were incompatible, and was baffled by why anyone would believe in God. After a few years in the Bible Belt, she became vocally anti-Christian. Imagine the surprise to find her today, just a few years later, a practicing Catholic who loves her faith. Jennifer Fulwiler tells her story.
5:00 – Kresta Comments
5:20 - Finance Friday Part 2 of 10
Today we continue our 10-part series intended to fully explore the practical, political, moral and philosophical underpinnings of the financial meltdown of 2008. Our guide will be Dr. Max Torres and each “Financial Friday” we will be using as a base of discussion, one book written on an aspect of the financial crisis. Today, we look at Thomas Woods’ Meltdown: A Free-Market Look at Why the Stock Market Collapsed, the Economy Tanked, and Government Bailouts Will Make Things Worse.
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Outrage of the Day
On the 16 September 2010 edition of CNN's American Morning, correspondent Carol Costello decided to mark the Pope's UK visit by highlighting women "priests."
Today on Kresta - September 16, 2010
Talking about the "things that matter most" on Sept. 16
4:00 - The End and the Beginning: Pope John Paul II -- The Victory of Freedom, the Last Years, the Legacy
“As March gave way to April in the spring of 2005 and the world kept vigil outside the apostolic palace in Rome, the pontificate of Pope John Paul II, then drawing to a poignant end, was already being described as one of the most consequential in two millennia of Christian history.” With these words, world-renowned author and NBC Vatican analyst George Weigel begins his long-awaited sequel to the international bestseller Witness to Hope: The Biography of Pope John Paul II. More than ten years in the making, The End and the Beginning: Pope John Paul II—The Victory of Freedom, the Last Years, the Legacy tells the dramatic story of the Pope’s battle with communism in light of new and recently disclosed information and brings to a close Weigel’s landmark portrait of a man who not only left an indelible mark on the Catholic Church, but also changed the course of world history. George is here.
5:00 – Pope Benedict Meets with Queen Elizabeth – Headed to London
Pope Benedict XVI arrived in Edinburgh today at the start of his historic four-day state visit. The plane carrying the pontiff and his entourage touched down at Edinburgh airport at about 10:15 am, and flew the Union Jack flag and the yellow and white Vatican flag. It is the first ever state visit to Britain by a pope since English king Henry VIII broke with the Catholic Church in 1534 and founded the Church of England. The only other visit by a pope was made by John Paul II in 1982. The highlight of the trip will be the beatification of John Henry Cardinal Newman on Sunday in Birmingham. Vatican correspondent Joan Lewis is in London and is here to report on the preparations there.
5:20 - Pope Arrives in Scotland – Holds 1st Public Mass of UK Visit
Pope Benedict, the first pontiff to pay a State Visit to the UK, received a warm and heartfelt welcome to Scotland this morning by Queen Elizabeth II at Holywood House, her official residence in Edinburgh. Following a private meeting between the two, there were speeches by the Queen and the Pope, and a reception where 400 invited guests from civil and religious society mingled with Benedict XVI and Elizabeth II. In a speech many in the UK are calling “memorable” and “historic,” Pope Benedict stressed the “deep Christian roots” of the British monarchy and society, and the importance of the role of the United Kingdom on the international scene, mentioning in particular Northern Ireland. Northern Ireland reporter Gareth Peoples was in Scotland this morning covering the Pope and checks in with us.
5:30 - Embryonic Stem Cell Research Ruled to be Illegal – Where Does the Case Go From Here?
Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) is holding hearing today to discuss federal funding of embryonic stem cell research in the wake of a federal judge ruling embryonic stem cell research illegal last month. This controversial form of research is unnecessary, unethical, and illegal. Many embryos are being destroyed with little promise of scientific breakthrough. Dr. Theresa Deisher, one of the plaintiffs in the case is here to discuss it.
5:40 - Feast of Sts. Cornelius and Cyprian
Saint Cornelius was elected Pope in 251 during the persecutions of the Emperor Decius. His first challenge, besides the ever present threat of the Roman authorities, was to bring an end to the schism brought on by his rival, the first anti-pope Novatian. Saint Cyprian of Carthage is second in importance only to the great Saint Augustine as a figure and Father of the African church. He was a close friend of Pope Cornelius and supported him both against the anti-pope Novatian, and in his views concerning the re-admittance of apostates into the Church. Both were martyrs whose feast we celebrate today. Steve Ray is here to tell us more.
4:00 - The End and the Beginning: Pope John Paul II -- The Victory of Freedom, the Last Years, the Legacy
“As March gave way to April in the spring of 2005 and the world kept vigil outside the apostolic palace in Rome, the pontificate of Pope John Paul II, then drawing to a poignant end, was already being described as one of the most consequential in two millennia of Christian history.” With these words, world-renowned author and NBC Vatican analyst George Weigel begins his long-awaited sequel to the international bestseller Witness to Hope: The Biography of Pope John Paul II. More than ten years in the making, The End and the Beginning: Pope John Paul II—The Victory of Freedom, the Last Years, the Legacy tells the dramatic story of the Pope’s battle with communism in light of new and recently disclosed information and brings to a close Weigel’s landmark portrait of a man who not only left an indelible mark on the Catholic Church, but also changed the course of world history. George is here.
5:00 – Pope Benedict Meets with Queen Elizabeth – Headed to London
Pope Benedict XVI arrived in Edinburgh today at the start of his historic four-day state visit. The plane carrying the pontiff and his entourage touched down at Edinburgh airport at about 10:15 am, and flew the Union Jack flag and the yellow and white Vatican flag. It is the first ever state visit to Britain by a pope since English king Henry VIII broke with the Catholic Church in 1534 and founded the Church of England. The only other visit by a pope was made by John Paul II in 1982. The highlight of the trip will be the beatification of John Henry Cardinal Newman on Sunday in Birmingham. Vatican correspondent Joan Lewis is in London and is here to report on the preparations there.
5:20 - Pope Arrives in Scotland – Holds 1st Public Mass of UK Visit
Pope Benedict, the first pontiff to pay a State Visit to the UK, received a warm and heartfelt welcome to Scotland this morning by Queen Elizabeth II at Holywood House, her official residence in Edinburgh. Following a private meeting between the two, there were speeches by the Queen and the Pope, and a reception where 400 invited guests from civil and religious society mingled with Benedict XVI and Elizabeth II. In a speech many in the UK are calling “memorable” and “historic,” Pope Benedict stressed the “deep Christian roots” of the British monarchy and society, and the importance of the role of the United Kingdom on the international scene, mentioning in particular Northern Ireland. Northern Ireland reporter Gareth Peoples was in Scotland this morning covering the Pope and checks in with us.
5:30 - Embryonic Stem Cell Research Ruled to be Illegal – Where Does the Case Go From Here?
Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) is holding hearing today to discuss federal funding of embryonic stem cell research in the wake of a federal judge ruling embryonic stem cell research illegal last month. This controversial form of research is unnecessary, unethical, and illegal. Many embryos are being destroyed with little promise of scientific breakthrough. Dr. Theresa Deisher, one of the plaintiffs in the case is here to discuss it.
5:40 - Feast of Sts. Cornelius and Cyprian
Saint Cornelius was elected Pope in 251 during the persecutions of the Emperor Decius. His first challenge, besides the ever present threat of the Roman authorities, was to bring an end to the schism brought on by his rival, the first anti-pope Novatian. Saint Cyprian of Carthage is second in importance only to the great Saint Augustine as a figure and Father of the African church. He was a close friend of Pope Cornelius and supported him both against the anti-pope Novatian, and in his views concerning the re-admittance of apostates into the Church. Both were martyrs whose feast we celebrate today. Steve Ray is here to tell us more.
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Today on Kresta - September 15, 2010
Talking about the "things that matter most" on Sept. 15
4:00 - Amish Grace
Amish Grace is the powerful and moving film based on a true story about the aftermath that followed the 2006 schoolhouse shooting in the Amish community of Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania. The movie examines a mother’s personal journey in which she copes with the tragic loss of her daughter during the shooting and subsequent questioning of her faith. Based on the book Amish Grace: How Forgiveness Transcended Tragedy the film is now available on DVD and we talk to Catholic producer Larry Thompson.
4:20 – Stephen Hawking and More Tired Atheism
Fr. Robert Barron of Word on Fire Ministries and the Catholicism Project is here for his bi-monthly segment. Today he addresses Stephen Hawking and more tired atheism.
4:40 - Gardens for the Greater Glory of God
Celtic Gardens is a highly-acclaimed garden design and build firm specializing in beautiful, imaginative, and original gardens designed to complement their settings and realize their owners’ dreams. What is unique about Celtic Gardens is that owners John and Moira Cullen do not shy away from their Catholic faith when designing his show gardens. They have won international awards for gardens designed in honor of Our Lady, a Catholic community in Ireland, and will be presenting a St. Francis Garden at the end of the month. The Cullens are here to explain their work.
5:00 - Republican Primaries Continue to Surprise
Tea Party favorites won two primary elections over more mainstream Republicans last night, demonstrating again the clout of the conservative political movement on the political right. Now the question is whether the candidates can also defeat Democratic rivals in November's congressional elections, when the stakes are higher and the full electorate is deciding. We get analysis from Catholic politico Tom Pauken.
5:20 - Direct to my Desk
4:00 - Amish Grace
Amish Grace is the powerful and moving film based on a true story about the aftermath that followed the 2006 schoolhouse shooting in the Amish community of Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania. The movie examines a mother’s personal journey in which she copes with the tragic loss of her daughter during the shooting and subsequent questioning of her faith. Based on the book Amish Grace: How Forgiveness Transcended Tragedy the film is now available on DVD and we talk to Catholic producer Larry Thompson.
4:20 – Stephen Hawking and More Tired Atheism
Fr. Robert Barron of Word on Fire Ministries and the Catholicism Project is here for his bi-monthly segment. Today he addresses Stephen Hawking and more tired atheism.
4:40 - Gardens for the Greater Glory of God
Celtic Gardens is a highly-acclaimed garden design and build firm specializing in beautiful, imaginative, and original gardens designed to complement their settings and realize their owners’ dreams. What is unique about Celtic Gardens is that owners John and Moira Cullen do not shy away from their Catholic faith when designing his show gardens. They have won international awards for gardens designed in honor of Our Lady, a Catholic community in Ireland, and will be presenting a St. Francis Garden at the end of the month. The Cullens are here to explain their work.
5:00 - Republican Primaries Continue to Surprise
Tea Party favorites won two primary elections over more mainstream Republicans last night, demonstrating again the clout of the conservative political movement on the political right. Now the question is whether the candidates can also defeat Democratic rivals in November's congressional elections, when the stakes are higher and the full electorate is deciding. We get analysis from Catholic politico Tom Pauken.
5:20 - Direct to my Desk
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Religious respect and civility a 2-way street
By Jennifer Bryson and Robert George at the Philadelphia Inquirer
At the same time, it must be acknowledged that in various places across the country anti-Muslim sentiment has expressed itself in opposition to the building of mosques. Whatever one's final judgment of what President Obama has called the "wisdom" of building the proposed mosque near a site of 9/11 attacks, there are places where the sensitivities of families of terrorist victims are not what is driving opposition to mosques. Rather, it is an unwarranted fear of, or an unworthy hostility to, Muslims in general that is responsible. This is disturbing and threatens religious freedom not only for Muslims but for all.
We must avoid an attitude of "religious freedom for me but not for thee," for such a mentality rings a death knell for freedom itself and undermines the atmosphere of civility that makes social cooperation possible in a society as diverse and pluralistic as ours. It dishonors religious freedom and threatens the spirit of goodwill on which the great "American experiment in ordered liberty" rests.
In addition, such an attitude bespeaks a deep lack of prudence. There are those today, including some whose hands are on levers of cultural and political power, who have little regard for the religious freedom and rights of conscience of conservative Christians and traditional Jews. They would wield well-intentioned but easily abused antidiscrimination laws as weapons against religious organizations and people of faith who dissent from the liberal orthodoxy on same-sex marriage and sexual morality. They would compel pro-life physicians, nurses, and pharmacists of every tradition to violate their moral convictions by participating in or referring for abortions or dispensing abortifacient drugs, or abandon their professions. Weakening protection for religious freedom by targeting Muslim institutions will play into the hands of those who would run roughshod over the rights of Jews, Christians, and others.
To impede law-abiding citizens from building a house of worship out of animus toward them or their faith is to step onto a very slippery slope; it is an invitation for others to attack one's own religious freedom.
Moreover, the success of our religiously diverse society depends not only on the excellent framework of religious freedom bequeathed by our Founding Fathers, but also on a far-reaching capacity to handle discussions of difficult topics in the public square in a spirit of civility and mutual respect.
And this brings us back to New York City. Respect and civility need to go in both directions. Those proposing to build an Islamic center have expressed their intent to promote mutual understanding in society. That is good. But promoting authentic mutual understanding starts with a posture of listening to the concerns of others, for example, to those who fear an affront to the feelings of victims' families. The question is not whether Rauf has a right to build a mosque and community center near ground zero; clearly he does. The question is whether it is the right thing to do - especially for someone who insists that his sole aim is to promote goodwill and mutual understanding.
Achieving mutual understanding in the shadow of 9/11 will, to be sure, require non-Muslims in America to learn about the good character and honorable aspirations of the vast majority of their Muslim fellow citizens; but at the same time it will require Muslim leaders to heed the voices of their still grieving fellow citizens who speak out of wounds deeper than most of us can even begin to fathom.
Muslims are a growing segment of our population today. The vast majority seek to live in peace as good Americans in a nation "conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal." They are not terrorists or terrorist sympathizers, and they are as appalled as the rest of us by extremists who attack innocent people, execute apostates, engage in honor killings of allegedly wayward daughters, and the like. Most of them think like most of us: They believe in liberty, virtue, charity, self-discipline, personal responsibility, the sanctity of human life, and the importance of marriage and the family.
This is an important moment for Christians, Jews, and other non-Muslim Americans and for American Muslims. While fraught with dangers on all sides, it is also a time of opportunity. Non-Muslims can send to their Muslim fellow citizens the message that they are full participants in American democracy, enjoying on terms of equality the fundamental rights and liberties on which we pride ourselves as a nation. Muslims can send a message to their non-Muslim fellow citizens that they understand the sensitivities occasioned by the mass murder of Americans (including some Muslim Americans) committed by radicals in the name of the Islamic faith. On such a foundation, Americans of all faiths can build mutual respect.
Jennifer Bryson is a scholar in the Islam and Civil Society Project of the Witherspoon Institution in Princeton
Robert P. George is McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence and director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University
Many Americans, including liberals like Howard Dean and Harry Reid, as well as some prominent American Muslims, believe that a decent respect for the feelings of families of victims of terrorism carried out in the name of Islam should cause Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf and his supporters to reconsider the placement of their proposed Cordoba House. Some are also concerned that a new Islamic center near the site of a 9/11 terrorist attack would be treated by jihadist terrorists and their supporters as a symbol of victory. People who express these concerns are not bigots, as some in the media have claimed.
We must avoid an attitude of "religious freedom for me but not for thee," for such a mentality rings a death knell for freedom itself and undermines the atmosphere of civility that makes social cooperation possible in a society as diverse and pluralistic as ours. It dishonors religious freedom and threatens the spirit of goodwill on which the great "American experiment in ordered liberty" rests.
In addition, such an attitude bespeaks a deep lack of prudence. There are those today, including some whose hands are on levers of cultural and political power, who have little regard for the religious freedom and rights of conscience of conservative Christians and traditional Jews. They would wield well-intentioned but easily abused antidiscrimination laws as weapons against religious organizations and people of faith who dissent from the liberal orthodoxy on same-sex marriage and sexual morality. They would compel pro-life physicians, nurses, and pharmacists of every tradition to violate their moral convictions by participating in or referring for abortions or dispensing abortifacient drugs, or abandon their professions. Weakening protection for religious freedom by targeting Muslim institutions will play into the hands of those who would run roughshod over the rights of Jews, Christians, and others.
To impede law-abiding citizens from building a house of worship out of animus toward them or their faith is to step onto a very slippery slope; it is an invitation for others to attack one's own religious freedom.
Moreover, the success of our religiously diverse society depends not only on the excellent framework of religious freedom bequeathed by our Founding Fathers, but also on a far-reaching capacity to handle discussions of difficult topics in the public square in a spirit of civility and mutual respect.
And this brings us back to New York City. Respect and civility need to go in both directions. Those proposing to build an Islamic center have expressed their intent to promote mutual understanding in society. That is good. But promoting authentic mutual understanding starts with a posture of listening to the concerns of others, for example, to those who fear an affront to the feelings of victims' families. The question is not whether Rauf has a right to build a mosque and community center near ground zero; clearly he does. The question is whether it is the right thing to do - especially for someone who insists that his sole aim is to promote goodwill and mutual understanding.
Achieving mutual understanding in the shadow of 9/11 will, to be sure, require non-Muslims in America to learn about the good character and honorable aspirations of the vast majority of their Muslim fellow citizens; but at the same time it will require Muslim leaders to heed the voices of their still grieving fellow citizens who speak out of wounds deeper than most of us can even begin to fathom.
Muslims are a growing segment of our population today. The vast majority seek to live in peace as good Americans in a nation "conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal." They are not terrorists or terrorist sympathizers, and they are as appalled as the rest of us by extremists who attack innocent people, execute apostates, engage in honor killings of allegedly wayward daughters, and the like. Most of them think like most of us: They believe in liberty, virtue, charity, self-discipline, personal responsibility, the sanctity of human life, and the importance of marriage and the family.
This is an important moment for Christians, Jews, and other non-Muslim Americans and for American Muslims. While fraught with dangers on all sides, it is also a time of opportunity. Non-Muslims can send to their Muslim fellow citizens the message that they are full participants in American democracy, enjoying on terms of equality the fundamental rights and liberties on which we pride ourselves as a nation. Muslims can send a message to their non-Muslim fellow citizens that they understand the sensitivities occasioned by the mass murder of Americans (including some Muslim Americans) committed by radicals in the name of the Islamic faith. On such a foundation, Americans of all faiths can build mutual respect.
Jennifer Bryson is a scholar in the Islam and Civil Society Project of the Witherspoon Institution in Princeton
Robert P. George is McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence and director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University
John Paul II sports foundation to be launched during Pope’s UK trip
London, England, Sep 13, 2010 / 08:02 pm (CNA/EWTN News)During the papal trip to the U.K. this week, Pope Benedict XVI will launch a sports foundation in honor of the late John Paul II.
The Bishops' Conference of England and Wales announced Monday that on Sept. 16, the Holy Father will launch a sports legacy in honor of John Paul II at St Mary’s University College in Twickenham. The conference noted that 32 children who have excelled at sports in the U.K. have been selected from state, independent and special needs schools to participate with Pope Benedict.
The launch will take place during a school assembly that will be broadcast live to over 800,000 students across England, Scotland and Wales.
“With the Olympic Games less than two years away, we have a moment of opportunity and a whole process in which the aspirations of young people, the meanings of habit and routine in their lives, and the whole notion of achieving excellence can begin to be lifted up again,” said London Archbishop Vincent Nichols on the creation of the foundation.
Organizers for the John Paul II sports foundation in the U.K said that the purpose of the initiative is to draw on Catholic spirituality in imparting virtues, fitness and leadership among the youth. A similar effort was founded in Rome in 2008.
Professor Simon Lee, chair of the board for the John Paul II Foundation for Sport, said that through “this initiative, the Church is inviting all-comers to join in creating a joyful legacy for 2012 and beyond, in the spirit of John Paul II’s love of sport.”
“It is not only because of his personal interest that the Church sees value in sport properly understood and practiced. We are grateful to Pope Benedict XVI for generously launching this Foundation in honor of his predecessor and as a gift to wider society,” Lee noted. “As Pope Pius XII put it in 1945, 'How can the Church not be interested in sport?'”
“All who love sport are invited to join this new Foundation in promoting practical opportunities to share in its very best values.”
Today on Kresta - September 14, 2010
Talking about the "things that matter most" on Sept. 14
4:00 - 475 abuse allegations THIS YEAR in Belgium; Bishop goes into hiding
A commission established by the Church in Belgium to investigate clerical abuse issued its report on September 10, documenting 475 allegations received this year. “Almost every institution, every school, particularly boarding schools, at one time harbored abuse,” said the commission’s director. The report found that two thirds of the victims were male, that abuse peaked in the 1960s and 1970s, and that 13 abuse victims had committed suicide. On Sunday, Bishop Roger Vangheluwe, who has admitted he had abused his nephew, announced he would depart from a Trappist monastery where he had lived since his April resignation and go into hiding. It may be the most disturbing handling of sex abuse in the Church yet. We talk to Matthew Bunson, co-author of Pope Benedict XVI and the Sexual Abuse Crisis.
4:20 – The Making of an Atheist: How Immorality Leads to Unbelief
The new atheists are on the warpath. They come armed with arguments to show that belief in God is absurd and dangerous. In the name of societal progress, they promote purging the world of all religious practice. And they claim that people of faith are mentally ill. Some of the new atheists openly declare their hatred for the Judeo-Christian God. Christian apologists have been quick to respond to the new atheists’ arguments. But there is another dimension to the issue which begs to be addressed—the root causes of atheism. Where do atheists come from? How did such folks as Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, Daniel Dennett, and Christopher Hitchens become such ardent atheists? If we are to believe them, their flight from faith resulted from a dispassionate review of the evidence. Not enough rational grounds for belief in God, they tell us. But is this the whole story? James Spiegel is here to answer that question.
5:00 - The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius
Fr. Dennis Brown, OMV has a specialized ministry directing individuals through the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius which is the primary apostolate of his religious congregation, the Oblates of the Virgin Mary. In fact, he just finished directing several 30-day and 8-day exercises. He joins us in studio to discuss Ignatian retreats as well as his long, gradual conversion - from 60s hippy to at retreat-master priest.
5:40 - “The Church Up Close: Covering Catholicism in the Age of Benedict XVI”
A group of 30 journalists from around the world participated in a seminar entitled “The Church Up Close: Covering Catholicism in the Age of Benedict XVI” organized in Rome by the School of Church Communications at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross. First offered in 2008 and designed to provide journalists who write about religion with an array of tools to strengthen their coverage of today’s Roman Catholic Church, the seminar has drawn reporters from such media outlets as The New York Times, The Guardian, The Times, Il Corriere della Sera, El País, Le Monde, the BBC News Website (UK), The National Post (Canada), St. Louis Post-Dispatch (USA), The Witness (South Africa) and The Record (Australia). Also among them was Patrick Novecosky of Legatus. He is here to report on the conference.
4:00 - 475 abuse allegations THIS YEAR in Belgium; Bishop goes into hiding
A commission established by the Church in Belgium to investigate clerical abuse issued its report on September 10, documenting 475 allegations received this year. “Almost every institution, every school, particularly boarding schools, at one time harbored abuse,” said the commission’s director. The report found that two thirds of the victims were male, that abuse peaked in the 1960s and 1970s, and that 13 abuse victims had committed suicide. On Sunday, Bishop Roger Vangheluwe, who has admitted he had abused his nephew, announced he would depart from a Trappist monastery where he had lived since his April resignation and go into hiding. It may be the most disturbing handling of sex abuse in the Church yet. We talk to Matthew Bunson, co-author of Pope Benedict XVI and the Sexual Abuse Crisis.
4:20 – The Making of an Atheist: How Immorality Leads to Unbelief
The new atheists are on the warpath. They come armed with arguments to show that belief in God is absurd and dangerous. In the name of societal progress, they promote purging the world of all religious practice. And they claim that people of faith are mentally ill. Some of the new atheists openly declare their hatred for the Judeo-Christian God. Christian apologists have been quick to respond to the new atheists’ arguments. But there is another dimension to the issue which begs to be addressed—the root causes of atheism. Where do atheists come from? How did such folks as Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, Daniel Dennett, and Christopher Hitchens become such ardent atheists? If we are to believe them, their flight from faith resulted from a dispassionate review of the evidence. Not enough rational grounds for belief in God, they tell us. But is this the whole story? James Spiegel is here to answer that question.
5:00 - The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius
Fr. Dennis Brown, OMV has a specialized ministry directing individuals through the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius which is the primary apostolate of his religious congregation, the Oblates of the Virgin Mary. In fact, he just finished directing several 30-day and 8-day exercises. He joins us in studio to discuss Ignatian retreats as well as his long, gradual conversion - from 60s hippy to at retreat-master priest.
5:40 - “The Church Up Close: Covering Catholicism in the Age of Benedict XVI”
A group of 30 journalists from around the world participated in a seminar entitled “The Church Up Close: Covering Catholicism in the Age of Benedict XVI” organized in Rome by the School of Church Communications at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross. First offered in 2008 and designed to provide journalists who write about religion with an array of tools to strengthen their coverage of today’s Roman Catholic Church, the seminar has drawn reporters from such media outlets as The New York Times, The Guardian, The Times, Il Corriere della Sera, El País, Le Monde, the BBC News Website (UK), The National Post (Canada), St. Louis Post-Dispatch (USA), The Witness (South Africa) and The Record (Australia). Also among them was Patrick Novecosky of Legatus. He is here to report on the conference.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
