http://www.romereports.com/palio/aid-to-church-in-need-brings-in-100-million-dollars-in-2011-says-report-english-7252.html Amidst all the criticism of the actions of misguided priests, this larger picture is often overlooked, but it is not overlooked by the millions of people who get the help. It is happening everyday and overshadows the paltry work done by many mega political powers.
Tag: Christian
Caravaggio Discovery
http://www.romereports.com/palio/is-that-a-caravaggio-100-unpublished-drawings-could-be-the-work-of-the-late-artist-english-7230.html This one minute video shows some of the art work being expalined. Very Interesting.
Blacks told to Stay Angry and Vote Democratic
http://news.yahoo.com/democrats-blacks-stay-angry-vote-democratic-050210267.html Absolutely one of the best comments I have ever read.
Laura Bush is a Woman
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/kathleen-parker-laura-bushs-fight-for-women/2012/06/19/gJQA8v70oV_story.html?wpisrc=nl_opinions I am a man so I will not speak on specifically woman’s issues. However, I did enjoy reading this Washington Post Opinion piece about the former First Lady. It is a pleasant read and one which makes it’s point very well.
Pope to visit Philadelphia 2015
s: What’s at stake in Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to Philadelphia
Jun. 08, 2012
By David Gibson, Religion News Service
Pope Benedict XVI leaves his general audience Wednesday in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican. (CNS/Paul Haring)
Nearly lost amid ongoing reports about the Vatican leaks scandal, Rome’s battle with American nuns, the American bishops’ battle for religious freedom, and the priest on trial in Philadelphia, was the news that, by the way, Pope Benedict XVI plans to visit Philadelphia.
Benedict made the announcement at the end of his visit to Milan on Sunday for the church’s triennial World Meeting of Families. The next meeting would be in Philadelphia in 2015, he said, and he planned to be there, “God willing.”
True, the trip won’t happen until 2015, and it may well not happen at all — Benedict would be 88 by then. Even if there’s a new pope in 2015, the City of Brotherly Love is still almost assured of getting a papal visit — new popes like to underscore continuity, and respect the plans their predecessors had in place.
In a larger sense, the visit would be about more than promoting family life, and in many ways it’s related to other Catholic issues now dominating the headlines. Here’s why.
It’s practical
Benedict’s only other visit to the United States, in April 2008, was to New York and Washington. One might think that he would want to visit the South or West, where the Catholic flock is actually growing, and to give those folks there a chance to see the Holy Father.
But Philadelphia is on the Eastern seaboard, and about the closest point in the United States to Rome. That’s no small consideration for a pope who has never been terribly vigorous and who now suffers from a painful arthritis-like condition that drains his energy.
The pope likely will face intense lobbying from U.S. bishops who want him to visit their diocese, too. While papal aides will try to resist such entreaties, another logical stop would be Baltimore — the “mother church” of all U.S. dioceses — and now headed by Archbishop William Lori, who has no small amount of influence in the hierarchy these days.
It’s pastoral
Philadelphia’s Catholics have been rocked by years of increasingly horrific revelations about sexual abuse by clergy, and the former head of priest personnel, Monsignor William J. Lynn, is awaiting a jury’s verdict on whether he will be the first church official ever convicted for helping cover up for clergy molesters.
Moreover, the Philadelphia archdiocese — one of the most storied and solidly Catholic in the nation — faces an unprecedented wave of closures and mergers, as well as a sobering $12.3 million operating loss for the last fiscal year. Philadelphia’s new archbishop, Charles J. Chaput, warned that those money troubles would mean a significantly downsized event — a papal rally of just 60,000 to 80,000.
Chaput said Benedict still wanted to go because of what it could mean to the city’s Catholics. “Philadelphia is in the midst of a very difficult time and I hope that (the 2015 meeting) will be a way of celebrating our commitment to be a church of the new evangelization that looks forward to the future with confidence and joy,” Chaput said after he appeared with the pope in Milan.
It’s personal
Chaput has emerged in recent years as a leading champion of the Vatican’s “new evangelization” as he uses his bully pulpit to argue forcefully for a strong Catholic voice in the public square.
Chaput has also undertaken a number of sensitive missions for Rome: leading an investigation of an Australian bishop who was eventually sacked for his liberal views, and helping to clean up the conservative, scandal-plagued Legionaries of Christ order. This visit is a papal pat on the back for Chaput.
Will the visit help Chaput earn a cardinal’s red hat? There are no guarantees, but retired Philadelphia Cardinal Justin Rigali would be 80 in 2015, making Chaput eligible — and appealing.
It’s political
Even if the trip does not come off, the image of Benedict standing next to the Liberty Bell or other icons the city of America’s founding freedoms dovetail perfectly with the bishops’ campaign for religious freedom, which they say is threatened by government policies like the health insurance mandate for birth control coverage.
The bishops’ “Fortnight for Freedom,” which runs June 21 to July 4, consciously tries to link the Catholic faith with the American founding, and the prospect of a papal visit to Philadelphia drives the point home.
“It’s fitting that this gathering, which celebrates the cornerstone of society, will take place in America’s cradle of freedom,” Chaput said.
Pray the Rosary daily with Pope Benedict xvi
http://us.mg4.mail.yahoo.com/neo/launch?.rand=1382689498&action=showLetter&umid=2_0_0_1_23478741_AMANw0MAAN29T9UgIwhRVRhxHMM&box=Inbox In these our times of stress, uncertainty and turmoil, this is an invitation to meditation and prayer with the spiritual leader of the Roman Catholic church. The writer of this blog is a Lutheran but he has found that praying the Rosary is a powerful method of focused spiritual prayer.
George W. Bush is not President
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/george-w-bush-favorable-rating-lowest-living-president-100010623.html A piece of true trivia. He is not President any longer. He is retired and although I am sure he has influence, he has decided that the most important thing now is his Presidential Library. I liked the man and I approved of his Presidency and under normal circumstances I would enumerate why I feel that way, I will not. Why?, because the writers of articles like this and the survey behind them do not care to analyze the reasons for the respondent’s opinions. What do you like and what do you not like? Why do you like this or that? What actions or inactions did you approve or disapprove? All of these things are lost in this kind of report because CNN and the surveyors just measure popularity. Do you like him or not like him? Hey, let’s all be fair and admit that in our job or family or community or even church, that there are people who simply do not like us. They may not know us. They may not ever have spoken to us. They may not know anything about what we think and why we think it. But they do not like us. It is like when we were children and there were kids on the block that everybody knew were not likeable. And there were kids in the school playground that everybody knew were not to be played with. And in the classroom, everybody knew not to talk to this person or sit at the same table with that person. Childish? Obviously! Sadly, such things among children can lead to abuse and bullying. The young girl in South Hadley, Massachusetts, who committed suicide was a victim or being disliked because everybody knew that she was not to be liked. We reject such thinking as dangerous for children. Is it dangerous for a nation.
Belonging to an Organization on your own terms?
The Nuns agreed to belong to an organization ruled in a monarchial fashion by a top man and administered by his male agents. Their agreement to part of the Roman Catholic Church was not forced on them. It was part of their belief system. They trained not as Presbyterian or Lutheran Nuns but as Roman Catholic. They vowed faithfulness not to the magisterium of the Episcopal Church but to the Roman Catholic. That system has a very clearly defined and easily understood set of rules. These rules are not secret and they are not imposed on adherents by force. The key concept being that the Pope, his Cardinals, Archbishops and Bishops are the teachers of the Roman Catholic church and that these persons are entrusted with the duty and responsibility to teach and to protect the universally accepted doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church. When the Nuns and their leaders were accepted into the Order of the Church they willingly and publicly accepted this system, its procedures and the oversight of the Magisterial hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church. Now, in this last days, this magisterial hierarchy has examined the leadership of the Nuns and found it lacking. The Pope and his agents have conducted an open, transparent and public examination of the Leadership Conference and published its findings openly with a recommendation that the Leadership Conference accept a more direct management by a trio of bishops appointed by the President (Pope) of their organization. To this writer, the intention here is to right any wrongs and foster a more collegial decision-making process which by definition will be consonant with the Pope and the whole Church. In conclusion, this writer is not proposing that the Process, procedures or organizational structure of the Roman Catholic Church is the only right or good one. However, when a nun or any other person freely joins such an organization and additionally seeks to be a Nun- teacher of that organization then they should abide by the rules of oversight. Granted, that his Holiness and the bishops have invited a response, however, in the end, the nuns must decide if they will remain in the organization they love or chose to become members of one of the many Protestant organizations. However, it will be intellectually impossible to remain a Roman Catholic Nun in rebellion against the Church. Why? Because of their vows.
What’s With the Gay Thing?
http://news.yahoo.com/jim-parsons-gay-10-relationship-213706907.html First the disclaimer: I do not hate gays, actually, I try not to hate anyone. Second: I do not know the fellow featured in this article and I do not wish him any ill. Third: I do not care what his sexual habits are!
I titled this article as a question because I am getting confused as to the passionate desire of our culture to snoop into other people’s private lives. Why are we fixated on the bedroom? We are not fixated on the potty. At least I do not think we are interested in what this fellow uses to wipe his ass. If he or any heterosexual person engages in sex, I really do not care what lubricant they use or which brand of condom. Yet, we get all hyped up to know that any particular male person engages in anal sex or oral sex with another male and we are thrilled that it is a ten-year long process. At least that is the breathless way this article is written. I read it because I wanted to know what is the fuss? And reading it I felt dirty, as though I was peeking into their bedroom and watching them conjoin. As I write this, there are probably hundreds of people in my town engaging in various forms of sex. So what! I mean really, folks, this fixation with Gays is adolescent.
And just one more thing. Again, the disclaimer, ( it seems we always need to defend ourselves these day), I do not care about the sexual habits of others. Yet, I wonder what it is that our society and its voyeuristic culture wants to promote. You see, I am able to write this blog and this man is able to have a ten-year relationship with another man because we had a father and mother. We were not born because we had father and father. Females are absolutely essential for the continuation of the species. And although Hilary Clinton thinks that it takes a village to raise a child, it starts with sex between a man and women and then a family. Yes, the family is faulty but so is the community. It is time to stop acting like twelve-year-old with binoculars peering into this handsome man’ or that beautiful woman’s bedchamber. And in so doing, let’s get away from the grunt and sweat of sex and pay attention to things that enhance our communities, like Art, Science, Literature, and even Religion and Philosophy.
Roman Catholic Nuns May Not Want Jesus but They Want to Stay Roman Catholic !
http://www.gosanangelo.com/news/2012/may/04/tensions-building-between-liberal-nuns-vatican/?partner=yahoo_feeds The article cited here is the most recent indication of a societal opinion that does not make sense. The key paragraphs in the article are the following:
A pivotal moment came in 2007, when Dominican Sister Laurie Brink delivered the keynote address at a national LCWR assembly stating that it was time for some religious orders to enter an era of “sojourning” that would require “moving beyond the church, even beyond Jesus.”
With the emergence of the women’s movement and related forms of spirituality, many sisters would see “the divine within nature” and embrace an “emerging new cosmology” that would feed their souls, said Brink. For these sisters, the “Jesus narrative is not the only or the most important narrative. … Jesus is not the only son of God.”
A year later, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith opened its investigation of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious.
My understanding the word “sojourn” is that it means the same as to journey or to travel. So Sister Brink is saying that a person can be a Roman Catholic Nun but without the Roman Catholic Church and she can also be a Christian without believing that Jesus is the Son of God, the second person of the Holy Trinity and the Savior promised to the world by the Holy Bible.
The problem with this position is that it is non sensical. If sister Brink wants to say that an individual can regard themselves to be Christian but without Jesus that’s fine but that is not what she says nor wants. She wants the individual to be able to declare themselves an official Nun of the Roman Catholic Church without the Church or its approval. To cut the argument short, I ask, can someone declare themselves to be my child but without biological birth from my wife and myself? Well, they can declare themselves to be that but just declaring it does not make it true or factual. A person may feel within themselves that are one of my progeny but they cannot therefore move into my house, eat my food, take my money or represent themselves in legal proceedings as being my child.
I seem to remember this type of case happening before in the case of Father Hans Kung of Germany. He held the official chair of Roman Catholic theology at a German university. However, his teaching were not in consonance with the official teaching of that Church. When Pope John Paul removed him from his teaching position there was an outcry. Academics condemned Rome for suppressing freedom of speech. However, the Vatican was very clear. It said that Father Kung remained a priest of the Roman Catholic Church based upon the doctrine of “Character indelible” (A doctrine that declares when a priest is ordained he is ontologically differentiated and that differentiation cannot be undone by human action.) The Holy See also declared that Father Kung was allowed to write, speak and teach whatever he wanted, to whomever would listen and at any time and place. However, he was no longer regarded as a theologian of the Roman Catholic Church and his teaching should not be regarded as representing the official Roman Catholic theological position. Essentially this is analogous to President Obama dismissing his Press Secretary and saying that his views no longer represent the views of the Obama administration.
I will not labor the point of faith versus the Faith, except to declare that personal faith in “the divine within nature” and embracing an “emerging new cosmology” is most likely shared by thousands of Roman Catholic Christians, however such personally individual faith is not the same as the Faith and should not be deemed representative of Roman Catholic theology. Which is to say that persons can embrace such thinking, (whatever it means since it is very vague) but even as a lay catechist they cannot teach such. This is especially true in the light of the final quote in this report, namely, the “Jesus narrative is not the only or the most important narrative. … Jesus is not the only son of God.”
Why, because Christianity is essentially about Jesus. The three great ecumenical creeds clearly affirm Jesus as the “only begotten of the Father” and “In Jesus His (God’s) only Son our Lord. conceived by the Hoy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary.”
The Vatican is not declaring that the nuns are not people. It is not saying that their dedication to social work and community building is unworthy. It is not declaring that the personal private opinions of these woman is condemned. What the Vatican is saying is that if they want to be considered official representatives of the Roman Catholic Church then they are required to adhere to the teachings structures and procedures of that Church and that if they have issues with such items they can petition for redress of their complaints. However, they cannot unilaterally present their personal opinions, prejudices or stereotypes as being officially Roman Catholic. At least for this writer it is a no brainer.
How do you see the central issue? Are there other societal examples declaring something to be true which is obviously not true? What is the result when we accept that merely declaring something to be true makes it true? Has anyone read Animal Farm by George Orwell? Do the pigs practice “truth by definition?”. What does the horse think of it?
Progressive Politics 