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]

No More Ecclesia Dei

Pope Benedict's letter concerning the lifting of the SSPX excommunications has been released. In that document, written in the "highly unusual style of a heartfelt personal letter", the Pope states that it is his intention "to join the Pontifical Commission 'Ecclesia Dei'...to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith." This Commission had previously been where parishioners could go for recourse if their pastor & bishop did not facilitate their request for the Traditional Latin Mass. Also in the letter is the Pope's observation that "At times one gets the impression that our society needs to have at least one group to which no tolerance may be shown; which one can easily attack and hate. And should someone dare to approach them - in this case the Pope - he too loses any right to tolerance; he too can be treated hatefully, without misgiving or restraint." No doubt that many faithful Catholics are familiar with this unfortunate truth. [3/12]