No, I am not talking about a town or location filled with all sorts of toxic chemicals. It is about how one nun, seems to rejoice in her "freedom" but does not realize that she is really killing her community, just as many others are, with toxic thoughts and actions.
I take this story from Fr. Z's blog and write about it, only because it takes place in this Diocese. Some of you may know her. I don't but I feel sorry for her.
Confessions of a Modern Nun
The Vatican visitation prompts reflection on a religious divide.
Ilia Delio OCTOBER 12, 2009 (America Magazine)
Religious life among women is undergoing a massive evolutionary change that can only be described as cataclysmic. The Vatican’s apostolic visitation of congregations of women religious in the United States and the recent investigation of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious indicate that Rome is unhappy with so-called post-Vatican II nuns who have donned secular clothes and abandoned traditional community life. The current statistics show a trend. The number of religious sisters and cloistered nuns in the United States was almost 180,000 in 1965. In 2009 there are just over 59,000, according to the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University. A steady decline in the number of women religious, together with the fact that their median age is 75, is a sign that religious life in the United States is a dying institution. Yet new communities have sprouted up in which women religious don a traditional habit and follow a daily schedule of prayer and service. These communities are attracting youthful, vibrant vocations. On the surface, the future of religious life seems to be on their side.
To read more, go here.
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Catholic Standard Weekly Update
It is that time of the week for the review of My Catholic Standard, the official newspaper of the Archdiocese of Washington.
Our cover story deals with the confirmation of 78 teenagers and adults at St. Andrew Kim Parish in Olney. Congratulations to all.
Our Page 3 story covers an overview of how Catholic schools are planning to deal with the H1N1 flu. One way is to ensure that all schools put homework assignments and self study assignments on line. There are still schools which seem to resist this easy and basic step.
On the same page as the Bishop of Rockville Centre NY calling for healthcare for illegal immigrants, there is a CNS story about Bishop Martino of Scranton. The headline (from CNS) seems to imply that the bishop resigned due to the fact that he threatened to deny Communion to VP Biden during the last election. If yes, then it is a sad commentary on the Church when CNS seems to revel in this fact.
Page 6 brings us a request for assistance with BOAST.
Page 11 brings us a half page advertisement on the 17th International Week of Prayer and Fasting, which focuses on strengthening the pro-life movement but on Page 12 we see the Standard announce the SOAR dinner to honor pro-abortion and pro-homosexual marriage Cokie and Steve Roberts. Really guys, have you no shame.
We have a story of Fr. Leo Patalinghug who beats Bobby Flay in a “Throwdown.” If you don’t know what it is, check out the Food Network on cable television.
Elizabeth Ann Seton celebrates 50 years. Fr. Daly discusses the death of a friend. And there is a story about how humor is a necessary part of a healthy spiritual life.
The Standard remembers Sarah Forbes, wife of Deacon Rodney Forbes, who was remembered for sowing over 700 stoles for area deacons. Prayers to her and her family members.
There is still no story on the Archbishop’s honoring of John Sweeney. We also have no story on the fact that three of the DC Council members are Catholic and voting to recognize gay marriage. I guess there was not enough space in the Catholic Standard this week.
Our cover story deals with the confirmation of 78 teenagers and adults at St. Andrew Kim Parish in Olney. Congratulations to all.
Our Page 3 story covers an overview of how Catholic schools are planning to deal with the H1N1 flu. One way is to ensure that all schools put homework assignments and self study assignments on line. There are still schools which seem to resist this easy and basic step.
On the same page as the Bishop of Rockville Centre NY calling for healthcare for illegal immigrants, there is a CNS story about Bishop Martino of Scranton. The headline (from CNS) seems to imply that the bishop resigned due to the fact that he threatened to deny Communion to VP Biden during the last election. If yes, then it is a sad commentary on the Church when CNS seems to revel in this fact.
Page 6 brings us a request for assistance with BOAST.
Page 11 brings us a half page advertisement on the 17th International Week of Prayer and Fasting, which focuses on strengthening the pro-life movement but on Page 12 we see the Standard announce the SOAR dinner to honor pro-abortion and pro-homosexual marriage Cokie and Steve Roberts. Really guys, have you no shame.
We have a story of Fr. Leo Patalinghug who beats Bobby Flay in a “Throwdown.” If you don’t know what it is, check out the Food Network on cable television.
Elizabeth Ann Seton celebrates 50 years. Fr. Daly discusses the death of a friend. And there is a story about how humor is a necessary part of a healthy spiritual life.
The Standard remembers Sarah Forbes, wife of Deacon Rodney Forbes, who was remembered for sowing over 700 stoles for area deacons. Prayers to her and her family members.
There is still no story on the Archbishop’s honoring of John Sweeney. We also have no story on the fact that three of the DC Council members are Catholic and voting to recognize gay marriage. I guess there was not enough space in the Catholic Standard this week.
Friday, October 2, 2009
Two DC Stories - Schools and Gay Marriage
Yesterday, I happened to have CNN on and saw a commerial calling upon the Most Merciful, Lord High Barack Obama to support the DC Opportunity Scholarships. WOW.
Then, I saw this story a short time ago on the Washington Examiner:
Since earning passage in Congress in 2003, the program has granted federally funded vouchers for children to attend private school in the District. But this year, a Democratic Congress is less inclined to renew it.
Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., chairman of the appropriations subcommittee responsible for the vouchers' funding, has criticized the program for a lack of proof that students are doing any better in private schools than in public institutions.
U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan has recommended continued funding only until the 1,700 students currently enrolled have graduated.
But parents, students and teachers have consistently expressed enthusiastic support.
Wearing a yellow shirt emblazoned with "Put Kids First," Anacostia resident Virginia Thomas shouted support for the program that allows her to send two children to Academia de la Recta Porta International Christian Day School.
"They are excellent children, they are polite, they are mannerable, they don't fight, they don't cuss," she said, explaining that private school offers a more orderly environment than Anacostia's public options.
As she cheered, speakers not often in agreement took to the podium. D.C. Councilman Marion Barry, D-Ward 8, altered the words of the spiritual "Go Down Moses" to "Go down, Mr. President, go down to the Capitol and save D.C. schools."
Barry was followed by President George W. Bush's education secretary Margaret Spellings -- an advocate during her four years in office.
Father Stephen Carter, pastor at Shrine of the Sacred Heart in Mount Pleasant, made the trip with his students.
"There's a lot of praying going on," Carter said, dressed in the brown cloak of Franciscans. "You wait for a miracle. Because it's a long shot -- a very long shot."
According to the Examiner, D.C. Councilman David Catania said he will introduce legislation Tuesday that would legalize same-sex marriages in the nation’s capital.
DC has three Councilmembers who are Catholic. All have supported this effort.
Then, I saw this story a short time ago on the Washington Examiner:
Since earning passage in Congress in 2003, the program has granted federally funded vouchers for children to attend private school in the District. But this year, a Democratic Congress is less inclined to renew it.
Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., chairman of the appropriations subcommittee responsible for the vouchers' funding, has criticized the program for a lack of proof that students are doing any better in private schools than in public institutions.
U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan has recommended continued funding only until the 1,700 students currently enrolled have graduated.
But parents, students and teachers have consistently expressed enthusiastic support.
Wearing a yellow shirt emblazoned with "Put Kids First," Anacostia resident Virginia Thomas shouted support for the program that allows her to send two children to Academia de la Recta Porta International Christian Day School.
"They are excellent children, they are polite, they are mannerable, they don't fight, they don't cuss," she said, explaining that private school offers a more orderly environment than Anacostia's public options.
As she cheered, speakers not often in agreement took to the podium. D.C. Councilman Marion Barry, D-Ward 8, altered the words of the spiritual "Go Down Moses" to "Go down, Mr. President, go down to the Capitol and save D.C. schools."
Barry was followed by President George W. Bush's education secretary Margaret Spellings -- an advocate during her four years in office.
Father Stephen Carter, pastor at Shrine of the Sacred Heart in Mount Pleasant, made the trip with his students.
"There's a lot of praying going on," Carter said, dressed in the brown cloak of Franciscans. "You wait for a miracle. Because it's a long shot -- a very long shot."
According to the Examiner, D.C. Councilman David Catania said he will introduce legislation Tuesday that would legalize same-sex marriages in the nation’s capital.
DC has three Councilmembers who are Catholic. All have supported this effort.
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Sex Abuse in Catholic Church was Homosexual Problem
When the scandal broke, I attended my parish meeting. I was told in no uncertain terms by everyone that the scandal had nothing to do with homosexual priests. Something told me that this could not be quite right, since having sex w/ a 14 year old boy was not something that a pedophile would be after. They are usually after much younger victims. Well, my hunch was correct.
The sexual abuse crisis in the Catholic Church in the US and abroad was a matter of homosexuals preying on adolescent boys, not one of pedophilia, said the Vatican's representative at the UN in Geneva, Switzerland. It is "more correct," said Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, to speak of ephebophilia, a homosexual attraction to adolescent males, than pedophilia, in relation to the scandals.
"Of all priests involved in the abuses, 80 to 90 per cent belong to this sexual orientation minority which is sexually engaged with adolescent boys between the ages of 11 and 17," said Tomasi. His statement is backed up by a report commissioned by the US bishops that found that in the overwhelming majority of cases the clergy involved were homosexuals, with 81 percent of victims being adolescent males.
More from LifeSite News.
The sexual abuse crisis in the Catholic Church in the US and abroad was a matter of homosexuals preying on adolescent boys, not one of pedophilia, said the Vatican's representative at the UN in Geneva, Switzerland. It is "more correct," said Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, to speak of ephebophilia, a homosexual attraction to adolescent males, than pedophilia, in relation to the scandals.
"Of all priests involved in the abuses, 80 to 90 per cent belong to this sexual orientation minority which is sexually engaged with adolescent boys between the ages of 11 and 17," said Tomasi. His statement is backed up by a report commissioned by the US bishops that found that in the overwhelming majority of cases the clergy involved were homosexuals, with 81 percent of victims being adolescent males.
More from LifeSite News.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Archbishop Burke Speaks
Archbishop Raymond Leo Burke is the Archbishop Emeritus of Saint Louis and Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura. This article is adapted from remarks he delivered at InsideCatholic's 14th Annual Partnership Dinner, on September 18, 2009.
Regarding the faith and political life, there has developed in our nation the false notion that the Christian or any person of faith, in order to be a true American citizen, must bracket his faith life from his political life. According to such a notion, one ends up with Christians, for example, who claim personally to be faithful members of the Church and, therefore, to hold to the demands of the natural moral law, while they sustain and support the right to violate the moral law in its most fundamental tenets. We find self-professed Catholics, for example, who sustain and support the right of a woman to procure the death of the infant in her womb, or the right of two persons of the same sex to the recognition which the State gives to a man and a woman who have entered into marriage. It is not possible to be a practicing Catholic and to conduct oneself politically in this manner.
+++++
To ignore the fact that Catholics in public life, for example, who persistently violate the moral law regarding the inviolability of innocent human life or the integrity of the marital union, lead many into confusion or even error regarding the most fundamental teachings of the moral law, in fact, contributes to the confusion and error, redounding to the gravest harm to our brothers and sisters, and, therefore, to the whole nation. The perennial discipline of the Church, for that reason among other reasons, has prohibited the giving of Holy Communion and the granting of a Church funeral to those who persist, after admonition, in the grave violation of the moral law (Code of Canon Law, cann. 915; and 1184, § 1, 3ยบ).
++++
One of the ironies of the present situation is that the person who experiences scandal at the gravely sinful public actions of a fellow Catholic is accused of a lack of charity and of causing division within the unity of the Church. In a society whose thinking is governed by the "tyranny of relativism" and in which political correctness and human respect are the ultimate criteria of what is to be done and what is to be avoided, the notion of leading someone into moral error makes little sense. What causes wonderment in such a society is the fact that someone fails to observe political correctness and, thereby, seems to be disruptive of the so-called peace of society. Lying or failing to tell the truth, however, is never a sign of charity. A unity which is not founded on the truth of the moral law is not the unity of the Church. The Church's unity is founded on speaking the truth with love. The person who experiences scandal at public actions of Catholics, which are gravely contrary to the moral law, not only does not destroy unity but invites the Church to repair what is clearly a serious breach in Her life. Were he not to experience scandal at the public support of attacks on human life and the family, his conscience would be uninformed or dulled about the most sacred realities.
To all of the bishops, priests, deacons and religious in this Archdiocese, please listen. Be strong and stand up to those who continue to call themselves Catholics and yet, flaunt our teachings. Do not follow the Cardinal McCarrick and Archbishop Wuerl Doctrine. It has not worked for 30 years.
Regarding the faith and political life, there has developed in our nation the false notion that the Christian or any person of faith, in order to be a true American citizen, must bracket his faith life from his political life. According to such a notion, one ends up with Christians, for example, who claim personally to be faithful members of the Church and, therefore, to hold to the demands of the natural moral law, while they sustain and support the right to violate the moral law in its most fundamental tenets. We find self-professed Catholics, for example, who sustain and support the right of a woman to procure the death of the infant in her womb, or the right of two persons of the same sex to the recognition which the State gives to a man and a woman who have entered into marriage. It is not possible to be a practicing Catholic and to conduct oneself politically in this manner.
+++++
To ignore the fact that Catholics in public life, for example, who persistently violate the moral law regarding the inviolability of innocent human life or the integrity of the marital union, lead many into confusion or even error regarding the most fundamental teachings of the moral law, in fact, contributes to the confusion and error, redounding to the gravest harm to our brothers and sisters, and, therefore, to the whole nation. The perennial discipline of the Church, for that reason among other reasons, has prohibited the giving of Holy Communion and the granting of a Church funeral to those who persist, after admonition, in the grave violation of the moral law (Code of Canon Law, cann. 915; and 1184, § 1, 3ยบ).
++++
One of the ironies of the present situation is that the person who experiences scandal at the gravely sinful public actions of a fellow Catholic is accused of a lack of charity and of causing division within the unity of the Church. In a society whose thinking is governed by the "tyranny of relativism" and in which political correctness and human respect are the ultimate criteria of what is to be done and what is to be avoided, the notion of leading someone into moral error makes little sense. What causes wonderment in such a society is the fact that someone fails to observe political correctness and, thereby, seems to be disruptive of the so-called peace of society. Lying or failing to tell the truth, however, is never a sign of charity. A unity which is not founded on the truth of the moral law is not the unity of the Church. The Church's unity is founded on speaking the truth with love. The person who experiences scandal at public actions of Catholics, which are gravely contrary to the moral law, not only does not destroy unity but invites the Church to repair what is clearly a serious breach in Her life. Were he not to experience scandal at the public support of attacks on human life and the family, his conscience would be uninformed or dulled about the most sacred realities.
To all of the bishops, priests, deacons and religious in this Archdiocese, please listen. Be strong and stand up to those who continue to call themselves Catholics and yet, flaunt our teachings. Do not follow the Cardinal McCarrick and Archbishop Wuerl Doctrine. It has not worked for 30 years.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Shouldn't We Ensure that Social Security is okay?
As you know, Archbishop Wuerl has thrown his zucchetto into the health care debate by having an on-line "newspaper" publish his editorial on the subject.
Now, I know that I have been critical of him, but as an American and as the leader of Roman Catholic Church in Washington DC/Maryland, he has a right to do so. I would never, ever, take that away from him. Just as I would not take away David Catania's right to talk about homosexual marriage. He has the right to speak on it and advocate it, even though his is wrong.
However, we have problems brewing more and more with Social Security. You can read about it here. In fact, I found it interesting that
In 1940 there were 160 workers supporting each person on Social Security. By 2006 this number had fallen to 3.3 workers per pensioner. By 2034, there will be only 2.1 workers for each person collecting a government retirement check. (Source)
Now, some of you will say "but those people have paid into that." That is true, but what they have really done is get a promisary note -- they may not get their money back -- since there is no "lock box" or real trust fund. It is just a bunch of IOU's.
Don't you think that we should ensure that Social Security, which so many people rely upon, should be a priority to fix? Should not the Archbishop call for fixing Social Security and against any health care reform? Should not the Archbishop call for a fixing of Medicare and Medicaid first?
I think that we should fix what we have, before attempting socialized medicine.
+++++++++++++++++
I am calling on all Catholics, to request that the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD) be shut down. Not certain what I mean or why, then read this.
Now, I know that I have been critical of him, but as an American and as the leader of Roman Catholic Church in Washington DC/Maryland, he has a right to do so. I would never, ever, take that away from him. Just as I would not take away David Catania's right to talk about homosexual marriage. He has the right to speak on it and advocate it, even though his is wrong.
However, we have problems brewing more and more with Social Security. You can read about it here. In fact, I found it interesting that
In 1940 there were 160 workers supporting each person on Social Security. By 2006 this number had fallen to 3.3 workers per pensioner. By 2034, there will be only 2.1 workers for each person collecting a government retirement check. (Source)
Now, some of you will say "but those people have paid into that." That is true, but what they have really done is get a promisary note -- they may not get their money back -- since there is no "lock box" or real trust fund. It is just a bunch of IOU's.
Don't you think that we should ensure that Social Security, which so many people rely upon, should be a priority to fix? Should not the Archbishop call for fixing Social Security and against any health care reform? Should not the Archbishop call for a fixing of Medicare and Medicaid first?
I think that we should fix what we have, before attempting socialized medicine.
+++++++++++++++++
I am calling on all Catholics, to request that the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD) be shut down. Not certain what I mean or why, then read this.
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