A Few Updates

Some updates...

* Good news: Anglicans entering the Catholic Church under the provisions of Anglicanorum Coetibus will reportedly celebrate Mass ad orientem [For a refresher related to this topic, see: Why Doesn't the Priest Face the People in the 'Tridentine' Mass? (Q & A)]

* The Phoenix bishop who threatened to revoke the Catholic status of a hospital that performed an abortion has extended the deadline until December 21 due to "ongoing communication and attempts to rectify the situation" [Refresher: Catholic teachings against abortion]

* NY's Archbishop Dolan has come to the defense the Catholic League's president. He asserted that the organization's leader "hardly needs me to defend him" and said that he's "glad to express [his] encouragement for the work he does", adding that "Some may take occasional issue with his style. Fair enough, and he’s open to such criticism. Some might even discuss whether the image is offensive. However, no one should doubt the high value and necessity of his efforts, or dismiss him in crude terms." "Keep at it...We need you!", he exclaimed. The prelate also said he "[looks] forward to the day when the work done by the Catholic League is no longer necessary", but notes that "as recent events have proven once again, that day still seems far in the future."

[12/17]

More News Highlights

Some more recent news highlights...

* Pope Benedict met with some 26 victims of the Baghdad cathedral attack who are being treated in Italy along with their relatives in a private audience

* Police are investigating a recent 'series of burglaries' in the Bronx, which have included Catholic schools & churches

* Una Voce recently published its report on the third anniversary of Summorum Pontificum. The report is dated 9/14/10 [Note: See highlights below]

* Under pressure, the Smithsonian pulled a vile video that outraged many Catholics (details of the disgusting video not repeated here). The Smithsonian receives funds from the federal government [That is, your taxpayer dollars]

* Cardinal Bertone recently charged that "Christians are the most persecuted and discriminated against religious group" in the world and he called on the international community to "combat intolerance and discrimination against Christians with the same determination that it battles hatred for members of other religious communities"

* More 'ecumenical craziness': Cardinal Bertone has reportedly given the schismatic Orthodox a relic of the Apostle St. Andrew [Related: Ecumenism (Q & A) | There once was a vacuum cleaner salesman...]

* Anglican update: The ordinariate in Australia reportedly 'may be' established by Easter or Pentecost in 2011. Also, a group of Anglicans in Canada have voted overwhelmingly (90%) to enter the Catholic Church under the provisions of Anglicanorum Coetibus

[12/1]

Some News Highlights

A few recent news highlights...

* Police have arrested a man who allegedly "donned a priest's robe to steal an undisclosed amount of parishioner donations" at a Jackson (MI) parish. The suspect was reportedly on parole at the time of the crime

* An infant was found in a church parking lot before Mass on Sunday. The baby girl - apparently born just a few hours previously - was left abandoned in the cold "for a few minutes" at a Springfield (VA) parish before being found. She is reportedly in "good condition". Authorities are searching for her mother

* Good news: Some 50 Anglican 'clergy'* are expected to enter the Catholic Church under the provisions of Anglicanorum Coetibus early next year. "Many more" Anglicans are expected to follow [*Reminder: Anglican 'clergy' are not true priests - their orders have been ruled invalid by the Church: "Wherefore, strictly adhering, in this matter, to the decrees of the pontiffs, our predecessors, and confirming them most fully, and, as it were, renewing them by our authority, of our own initiative and certain knowledge, we pronounce and declare that ordinations carried out according to the Anglican rite have been, and are, absolutely null and utterly void." (Pope Leo XIII, "Apostolicae Curae", 1896 A.D., emphasis added)]

* More good news: The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has reportedly contacted Fr. Owen O'Sullivan's superiors "with an instruction that he [is] no longer to write for publication without approval". The priest recently wrote an article questioning Church teachings regarding homosexuality [Note: This Fr. O'Sullivan should not be confused with the (non-dissenting) author Fr. Paul O'Sullivan]

[11/15]

Some More News Highlights

Some recent news highlights...

* With "overwhelming support", a group of Anglicans in Canada have voted to enter the Catholic Church under the provisions of Anglicanorum Coetibus

* Persons with an active arrest warrant in New Mexico can surrender at a Catholic parish in Las Cruces (Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church) until 7/31, between 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., in exchange for "favorable consideration" from the court

* Some controversy has erupted over payments pilgrims are expected to make in order to attend papal events during the Holy Father's U.K. trip this September. A Vatican spokesman has responded that the payments are "contributions" not fees and that payment will not be required for those who cannot afford to contribute. The contributions are needed to help cover costs associated with the papal visit

* Pro-lifers are planning to protest at a Catholic hospital in Durango, Colorado over the facility's keeping of a PP abortionist on staff. A pro-life representative noted that "Catholic parents...have a right to expect that their child will be received by the hands of a physician who holds all life sacred - not the hands that earlier that week held the instruments of abortion to destroy the life of some other innocent baby." The pro-lifers are calling for the abortionist to either resign from the hospital or stop performing abortions

* Two sisters of a deceased Catholic woman who suffered from cerebral palsy are suing organizers of a pilgrimage to Lourdes after the disabled woman fell from a hoist during a pilgrimage. The wheelchair-bound woman had hoped for a miraculous healing at Lourdes, but instead returned home with two broken legs after a fall of about four feet. She later died and her family now claims they are "trying to get justice." They claim the woman would still be alive if not for the fall. The matter is reportedly "in the hands of insurers"

* A federal judge has set a "very dangerous precedent" by ruling in favor of a public university which expelled a graduate student from a counseling program over the student's opposition to homosexuality. The Michigan based university claimed the student "violated school policy and the American Counseling Association code of ethics" by refusing to counsel homosexual clients ("the university determined that she would never change her behavior and would consistently refuse to counsel clients on matters with which she was personally opposed due to her religious beliefs – including homosexual relationships"). Some have called the case - which will be appealed - "a warning to Christians attending public schools" [Related: The End of Freedom in America?]

* Here we go again: A liberal 'Catholic' publication has published an article on the supposed "terrible position" of women religious who may fear "the likely possibility that religious life in the United States will be re-engineered in secret by the men in the Vatican" and that "the soul of a project rooted in and encouraged by the Second Vatican Council would be hollowed out." The article also refers to "an unthinking acquiescence to a male hierarchy" and references "battered wife syndrome." Liberal sisters in the U.S. - who have promoted dissent, radical feminism, anti-clericalism, paganism, New Age practices, witchcraft, and have talked of being "post-Christian" & "moving beyond the Church, even beyond Jesus" - have criticized the Vatican's (long overdue!) investigation of female religious, while orthodox, conservative sisters have embraced the investigation. While the article laments supposed "hypocrisy", "duplicity", "unseemly politics", and "a shameful betrayal of trust", no references were found concerning the necessity of Catholic female religious maintaining doctrinal orthodoxy or actually adhering to the Catholic faith. [Related: Rebellious Women Religious]

[7/28]

More News Highlights

Some more recent news highlights...

* A group of 'traditionalist' Anglican 'bishops'* have reportedly met at the Vatican and are prepared to convert under the terms of Anglicanorum Coetibus, bringing numerous 'clergy'* & followers with them (described as "an exodus", conversion "en masse") [* Reminder: Anglican 'clergy' are not true priests or bishops - their orders have been ruled invalid by the Church: "Wherefore, strictly adhering, in this matter, to the decrees of the pontiffs, our predecessors, and confirming them most fully, and, as it were, renewing them by our authority, of our own initiative and certain knowledge, we pronounce and declare that ordinations carried out according to the Anglican rite have been, and are, absolutely null and utterly void." (Pope Leo XIII, "Apostolicae Curae", 1896 A.D., emphasis added)]

* In another obvious demonstration of media bias, an AP article covering the Pope's visit to the Shroud bears the headline "Pope takes break from scandal, visits Turin Shroud"

* Michael Schiavo is reportedly considering suing over the use of Terri Schiavo's name by a foundation that presently assists disabled persons in need of medical care. He apparently believes he has legal "rights" to her name. [Commentary: Maybe he'd prefer this name...?: "Foundation to prevent adulterous husbands from killing their disabled wives through painful starvation & dehydration after their wives' money runs out"]

* This past weekend, the soon-to-be outgoing head of the Los Angeles Archdiocese, Cardinal Roger Mahony, attended an 'immigration rights' protest and thanked Arizona for the momentum. The notoriously liberal Cardinal Mahony, a known sympathizer for law-breaking immigrants, recently compared Arizona's new law allowing police to check the status of those suspected of being in the country illegally to Nazi Germany. [Commentary: Given instances of liturgical abuse in the L.A. diocese, could one be forgiven for suspecting the Cardinal has about as much respect for 'liturgical law' as he apparently does for civil law?] [Related: Civics 101: Breaking the law is not okay]

[5/3]

Anglicans entering the Catholic Church not really Anglicans?

According to the ever-ecumenical Cardinal Kasper, the group of Anglicans who have decided to enter the Catholic Church under the new provisions established by Pope Benedict are not technically Anglicans. He says that we "cannot close our eyes to the fact that they have not been in communion with Canterbury since 1992" so they are therefore "not technically leaving the Anglican Communion to join the Roman Catholic Church."

[11/16]

Vatican issues Apostolic Constitution

The promised Apostolic Constitution ("Anglicanorum Coetibus") designed to make it easier for Anglicans to enter the Catholic Church has been issued. As reported previously, the provisions allow married Anglican (so-called) 'priests'* to be ordained as Catholic priests on a "case-by-case" basis, however "The possibility envisioned by the Apostolic Constitution for some married clergy within the personal ordinariates does not signify any change in the Church's discipline of clerical celibacy", according to the Vatican.

* Reminder: Anglican 'clergy' are not true priests - their orders have been ruled invalid by the Church: "Wherefore, strictly adhering, in this matter, to the decrees of the pontiffs, our predecessors, and confirming them most fully, and, as it were, renewing them by our authority, of our own initiative and certain knowledge, we pronounce and declare that ordinations carried out according to the Anglican rite have been, and are, absolutely null and utterly void." (Pope Leo XIII, "Apostolicae Curae", 1896 A.D., emphasis added)

[Related Resource: Why Priestly Celibacy?]

[11/9]