Some recent news highlights...
* In response to abuse scandals, Las Vegas bishop Joseph Pepe has decreed that all parish volunteers must be fingerprinted, regardless of the scope of their activities
* With the Holy Father's U.K. visit on the horizon, the BBC is reportedly planning a "90-minute drama which will take as its premise what would happen if the Pope were to go on trial for covering up" abuse by priests. Critics note the "general hostility" of British television towards the Pope
* The retired ("notoriously liberal") former Bishop of Sacramento, Francis Quinn, has called for 'Vatican III' to deal with matters of "human s*xuality''. He apparently is under the mistaken notion that the Church can change its teachings about what is sinful in order to better please 'modern man' [Reality check: "Do you not know that the unjust will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators nor idolaters nor adulterers nor boy prostitutes nor practicing homosexuals nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor robbers will inherit the kingdom of God." (St. Paul, 1 Cor. 6:9-10) | Can Dogmas Change? (click here)]
* An interview with Archbishop Samir Nassar of Damascus has highlighted the struggle Catholics face in this predominately Muslim area. The archbishop noted that Catholics "little by little they learn the Muslim more than their Christian faith" ("Little by little they get to know more about the Koran and Mohamed, more than Jesus Christ"), lamenting that "we don’t have enough local support to be together, to strengthen our faith, to teach our children and keep our children in our local churches." He also notes that a Catholic has to convert to marry a Muslim and that it is illegal for him to baptize a Muslim convert. He says Muslim coverts can be Christian "if they want in their hearts but they cannot show it." Amazingly, the archbishop speaks of "tolerance of Christians" and claims that he & Muslim leaders "are really one family"
* A security incident was apparently avoided on the Pope's recent trip to central Italy as an unauthorized man "was stopped by the pope's security guards as he was seeking to approach the stage where Benedict was celebrating Mass." The man was escorted away and reportedly "got nowhere near" the Holy Father
* Vandals have left "vulgar and sacrilegious graffiti" on the walls of a Carmichael, CA parish which has been described as a "hate crime". Sheriffs are seeking information about the perpetrators who are still at large. The offensive graffiti marked "at least the third time" the parish has been vandalized over the last couple years
* The British coordinator for the Holy Father's upcoming visit to the U.K. has indicated that he is determined to make the papal visit a success "not only out of respect for the Pope, not only out of determination to enhance the reputation of the United Kingdom, but because this will be an event followed by millions of people around the world." Also in the news are reports that costs for the trip have "soared"
* A 'Catholic' dissident group recently took out "lengthy" newspaper ad calling for "compassion" from Bishop Thomas Olmsted in the case of a religious sister who was instrumental in an abortion at a 'Catholic' hospital. The abortion was supposedly done to 'save the mother's life' (although medical personnel have disputed this allegation). The dissenting group said they "wanted to make a statement against the Bishop’s decision for excommunication". However, the truth is that the nun automatically excommunicated HERSELF under Canon Law. As Pope Paul II stated...
"[The 1983 Code of Canon Law] decrees that 'a person who actually procures an abortion incurs automatic (latae sententiae) excommunication'. The excommunication affects all those who commit this crime with knowledge of the penalty attached, and thus includes those accomplices without whose help the crime would not have been committed... I declare that direct abortion, that is, abortion willed as an end or as a means, always constitutes a grave moral disorder, since it is the deliberate killing of an innocent human being... No circumstance, no purpose, no law whatsoever can ever make licit an act which is intrinsically illicit, since it is contrary to the Law of God"
Unfortunately, the dissident group plans to run more ads in the future
* Holiness "never loses its power of attraction" according to Pope Benedict who spoke on his predecessor, Pope St. Celestine V...
"More than 800 years have passed since the birth of St. Peter Celestine V, but he remains in history on account of the notable events of his pontificate and, above all, because of his holiness. Holiness, in fact, never loses its own power of attraction, it is not forgotten, it never goes out of fashion, indeed, with the passage of time, it shines with ever greater luminosity, expressing man’s perennial longing for God."
The Holy Father also noted that...
"[His] discovery of God was not only the result of his effort but was made possible by the grace of God itself that came to him. What he had, what he was, did not come from him: it was granted to him, it was grace, and so it was also a responsibility before God and before others. Even if our life is very different from his, the same thing is also true for us: the entirety of what is essential in our existence was bestowed upon us without our intervention. The fact that I live does not depend on me; the fact that there were people who introduced me to life, that taught me what it means to live and be loved, who handed down the faith to me and opened my eyes to God: all of that is grace and not 'done by me.' We could have done nothing ourselves if it had not been given to us: God always anticipates us and in every individual life there is beauty and goodness that we can easily recognize as his grace, as a ray of the light of his goodness. Because of this we must be attentive, always keep our 'interior eyes' open, the eyes of our heart. And if we learn how to know God in his infinite goodness, then we will be able to see, with wonder, in our lives - as the saints did - the signs of that God, who is always near to us, who is always good to us, who says: 'Have faith in me!'"
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