Catholics to get DVDs opposing gay marriage

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click for KSTP video

Critics say the mailing, from state bishops, is aimed at November voters. [Aren't we allowed to vote?]

More than 400,000 DVDs are being mailed to the homes of Minnesota Catholics on Wednesday, courtesy of Catholic bishops in the state who want to stop the campaign to legalize same-sex marriage in its tracks.

The 18-minute DVD includes an appearance from St. Paul and Minneapolis Archbishop John Nienstedt in which he says it is time for Minnesotans -- not the "ruling elite" of legislators and judges -- to vote on a constitutional amendment defining marriage as between one man and one woman. Thirty-one states have passed such an amendment.

"It is the people themselves and not politicians or judges who should make this decision," Nienstedt says on the DVD. "This is the only way to put the one man, one woman definition of marriage beyond the reach of the courts and politicians."

Gay advocates who have worked to change the Catholic Church's stand on same-sex marriage said that coming six weeks before the November general election, the DVD distribution is aimed squarely at voters.

"It's an effort to have Catholics vote the way the bishops want them to vote, but by and large Catholic voters are well-educated and they are independent-minded," said Brian McNeill, president of Dignity Twin Cities. The group for gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people works to change what it calls the "antiquated sexual theology" of the church. "We would like to talk to the archbishop about it, but he won't talk to us," McNeill said.

Michael Bayly, executive coordinator of the Twin Cities-based Catholic Pastoral Committee on Sexual Minorities, said that because gubernatorial candidates Mark Dayton of the DFL and Tom Horner of the Independence Party support same-sex marriage, the chances are great that Minnesota could have a governor who supports what Bayly calls "marriage equality." He called the DVD "almost a last-ditch effort to try and influence Catholics to turn the election to ensure that doesn't happen."

"It would be really tragic if they succeeded, but I don't think they will," Bayly said.

The "educational packet" produced by the Minnesota Catholic Conference, which represents bishops covering the state, includes the DVD and an introductory letter from each local bishop. The video includes Nienstedt's six-minute appearance and a 12-minute video produced by the Knights of Columbus, a Catholic fraternal organization, warning of the damage that same-sex marriage will do to families, especially children.

The Knights of Columbus video includes appearances by a civil rights advocate who quotes the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and a Princeton University professor who says that the well-being of kids is threatened when they don't grow up in a traditional family. The video warns that if same-sex marriage becomes the law, public schools would teach that same-sex marriage is OK regardless of what parents think and that the religious liberty of Catholics and others would be threatened. It says that people who oppose same-sex marriage would be seen as bigots who could be prosecuted and that the accreditation of parochial schools and tax-exempt status of those schools and churches would be threatened.

Similar DVDs have been sent out in other states, including California and Maine, said Dennis McGrath, spokesman for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. He said it was his understanding that the bishops jointly decided to send out the packets here.

"I think they felt the situation had gotten to the point that they had to do something," McGrath said. "They couldn't stand by and let this thing go any further. The same-sex marriage train was chugging ahead."

State Sen. John Marty, a Roseville DFLer who has authored proposals to make Minnesota's marriage laws gender-neutral, said Tuesday that he will renew those efforts if he wins reelection this fall. He said the bishops are free to express their opinions but that he believes that shifting public attitudes about same-sex marriage and gay rights have moved Minnesotans past the debate the bishops seem to want to create.

"I think the constitutional amendment push died about four or five years ago," Marty said. "Even the strongest proponents realize that it's time has passed, and it's not going to happen. Times are changing."

The church mailings were paid for with a private donation, McGrath said. StarTribune

Crusade against the pope: an Inquisition-in-Reverse The campaigners against the pope’s visit have more in common with the fanatical Inquisitors of ol

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Frank Furedi, Spiked-online.com

spiked is an independent online phenomenon dedicated to raising the horizons of humanity by waging a culture war of words against misanthropy, priggishness, prejudice, luddism, illiberalism and irrationalism in all their ancient and modern forms. spiked is endorsed by free-thinkers such as John Stuart Mill and Karl Marx, and hated by the narrow-minded such as Torquemada and Stalin. Or it would be, if they were lucky enough to be around to read it.

Crusade against the pope: an Inquisition-in-Reverse

The campaigners against the pope’s visit have more in common with the fanatical Inquisitors of old than with Enlightened liberal humanists.

Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to Britain, which starts today, has provided much of the British cultural elite with a figure that it is okay to hate. Indeed, anti-Catholic prejudice is one of the main themes of today’s increasingly conformist imagination. It has reached a level where anyone who doesn’t possess a strong feeling of animosity towards the pope and his visit is viewed as a hopeless apologist for the abusive authority of theocratic despots.

The current display of anti-papal prejudice is not only conformist. Worse than that, it is the kind of conformism that is usually seen amongst children who, under peer pressure, compete to see who can come up with the meanest phrase to castigate the playground scapegoat.

Consider the infantile exchange between anti-papal zealots who were recently asked what they would say to the pope if they met him. ‘Go home to your tinpot Mussolini-concocted principality, and don’t come back’, said the Grand Inquisitor of the new atheist sandbox, Richard Dawkins, who refers to the pope as ‘Mr Ratzinger’ and describes him as the ‘head of the world’s second most evil religion’. Not to be outdone, the journalist Johann Hari imagines that he is a policeman and declares to a pretend pope: ‘I am placing you under arrest for conspiracy to pervert the course of justice, and for your central role in the systematic cover-up of the rape of children across five continents.’ Francis Wheen would also like to don a policeman’s helmet: ‘You’re nicked’ is what he would say to the pope. Such role-playing is an endearing aspect of childhood; but when grown-ups behave like aggressive four-year-olds, publicly fantasising about throwing spiteful insults at another person, they are simply adopting the immature mannerisms of attention-seeking toddlers.

If all the extravagant accusations thrown at Benedict are true, then it seems he bears responsibility for virtually every evil afflicting the modern world. When he is not busy covering up the deeds of child molesters, he is sabotaging the work of embryonic-stem-cell researchers. He is apparently totalitarian, a manipulative homophobe, an enemy of women.

The promotion material for Peter Tatchell’s tendentious TV programme – titled The Trouble with the Pope and shown on Channel 4 on Monday – informs us that the pope is ‘manipulating and distorting’ the image of Cardinal Newman to ‘serve his own autocratic, homophobic leadership’ (the pope is in Britain primarily to beatify Newman). According to Tatchell’s programme, Benedict’s teachings are also directly responsible for large numbers of unwanted children. The press release tells us that Tatchell heard ‘from a poor Filipino family, headed by Wilma and Ramon, whose following of papal teaching against birth control has resulted in them having more children than they can care for adequately’. Oh, and Benedict also refuses to take a stand against the legacy of Nazism. ‘I am shocked that he has embraced Catholics accused of being soft on Nazism’, says Tatchell. Getting carried away with his melodrama, Tatchell warns: ‘This is a pope to fear.’

Tatchell has indicted the pope on the grounds that he is out of touch with British public opinion, is doctrinaire and believes in traditional conservative values. Consequently, the world would be a better place without him. Back in the seventeenth century, a French Catholic political theorist expressed a similar form of bigoted intolerance by stating: ‘I have the right to persecute you because I am right and you are wrong.’ That is more or less the message of the contemporary anti-pope crusade. The principal hallmark of today’s new breed of secular moraliser is unabashed intolerance, and a demand that everyone conform to their zero-tolerance values.

Historically, religious intolerance was focused on denouncing deviant theological beliefs – for example the heresy of Pelagianism or Tritheism. Of course we still have this form of traditional intolerance today, but we now also have to contend with its younger cousin: intolerance towards religion. Increasingly, religion is indicted for taking its own doctrines too seriously – that is, for being a religion. Today’s opportunistic atheists even take it upon themselves to get stuck into the theological controversies of religions that they actually despise. So critics who claim to hate the pope go out of their way to reassure ordinary, genuine Catholics that they are only targeting Catholic leaders who force their traditional dogma on the church. Emulating the cavalier manner in which Western politicians explain to their Muslim constituents what true Islam means, anti-papal crusaders tell ordinary Catholics that they are on the same side and should all join in the battle against the forces of evil.

But of course, these secular moralisers are not really interested in the intricacies of theological disputes; they merely want to exploit them. Their mission is to call into question the moral integrity of their opponents, by depicting them as a malevolent force that violates the elementary norms of contemporary society. This is not theological criticism – instead the Catholic Church is denounced for the alleged threat that it poses to morality and health. So celibacy is attacked because it is deemed so unnatural that it makes priests suffer profound psychological distress, leading them to countenance suicide or paedophilia. The pope’s criticism of contraception is denounced because it encourages unprotected sex, leading to the spread of AIDS. In other words, Catholicism represents a health problem; it leads to the moral pollution of the innocent.

This is what Tatchell meant when he said in his televised hatchet job on Benedict that ‘the pope’s dogma is literally putting lives at risk’. This is about stigmatising the pope through pathologising the religious imagination itself. When the Guardian columnist Polly Toynbee declares that ‘sex and death lie at the poisoned heart of religion’, she is betraying her own passionate hatred for those who can still be inspired by something higher than reacting to the MPs’ expenses scandal.

Typically, these moralisers find it difficult to acknowledge their inner insatiable appetite for a secular Antichrist that they can rail against, so instead they tend to masquerade as ‘secular humanists’ or ‘concerned democrats’. However, liberal humanism has traditionally distanced itself from the venomous rhetoric of intolerance and from conspiratorial thinking. No doubt some of the opponents of the pope’s British visit mistakenly believe that they are acting from a liberal humanist perspective. But one of the main features of liberal humanism was its refusal to accommodate to the intolerance of minority opinions. Liberal thinkers such as John Stuart Mill recognised that social or cultural intolerance was no more acceptable than state intolerance. So when Tatchell argues that ‘the trouble with the pope’ is that his views do not reflect the opinions of the British public, he is really arguing for the silencing of a minority outlook. It’s worth noting that back in the Eighties, when Tatchell’s views on gay and lesbian rights were very much in a minority, he was forced to tackle precisely the kind of cultural intolerance that he now advocates against the pope.

The seventeenth-century liberal philosopher John Locke, in A Letter Concerning Toleration (1689), put forward the first serious critique of religious intolerance. He argued that while it was legitimate for the state to curb people’s actions and behaviour, it was wrong for the state to interfere in our religions and beliefs. His argument that no double standards should be applied against people with the ‘wrong’ beliefs had a great influence on liberal humanism in subsequent centuries. He would have strongly objected to the illiberal outpourings of Polly Toynbee, who asked this week: ‘Why invite the pope on a state visit – at a cost of millions in a time of cutbacks – when the vast majority are secular?’ Of course Locke would have had no problem with cancelling state visits on the basis that the government might need the cash for more worthy purposes – but he would have objected to justifying a cancellation on the grounds that the visitor possessed ideas and religious beliefs that ran counter to those of the majority. Intolerance comes in many shapes and forms. Do not be misled into thinking that the current crusade against the pope has anything to do with liberal humanism, at least in the way that liberal humanism was classically understood.

Intolerance has always been fuelled by an irrational and visceral sense of existential disgust, leading to moral disorientation. In line with this, consider the words of the former agony aunt Claire Rayner, as she attempts to describe her feelings for the pope. ‘In all my years as a campaigner I have never felt such animus against any individual as I do against this creature’, she says, stripping this personification of evil of any human qualities. It is not really surprising that she casually concludes ‘that the only thing to do is to get rid of him’. The phrase ‘get rid of him’ is not a slip of the tongue, either – from the standpoint of a seemingly hi-tech but actually medieval moral crusade against the pope, getting rid of ‘evil’ is its own justification.

It is almost as if the current anti-pope crusade represents an unconscious mimicking of the Catholic Church’s Inquisition. Inquisitors are not interested in rational argument or a free debate. And the vitriolic invective hurled at the ‘second most evil religion’, as Richard Dawkins describes Catholicism, is similar to the passions of the old fanatical Inquisitors. Like the Spanish Inquisition, anti-religious fanatics are constantly on the lookout for secret conspiracies and plots. Johann Hari condemns the pope for orchestrating an ‘international conspiracy of silence’ in relation to clerical child abuse. And apparently that is only ‘one of Ratzinger’s crimes’. He is also responsible for the spread of AIDS in Africa because he says that wearing a condom is a sin.

There is of course an honourable tradition of fighting against papal authority in the interests of freedom and liberty. For example, in the fourteenth century, the conciliar movement rejected the attempt by the papacy to dominate both religious and political life in Europe. The move to subordinate both secular rulers and lower clergy to papal authority was contested by philosophers and theologians, who were concerned about the expansion of papal power. One of the clearest statements of this standpoint came from Marsilius of Padua. In his Defensor Pacis (1324), he questioned the idea of the papal fullness of power, and argued that the pope was not the source of secular power. He also claimed that the authority of the Catholic Church, which was principally concerned with doctrinal authority, was not the provenance of the pope but of the church’s council. Similar sentiments were expressed by William of Ockham and others involved in the conciliar movement.

The conciliar movement argued that the authority of the council of the church took precedence over the authority of the pope. This questioning of the church hierarchy can be seen as a very early attempt to curb the power of despotic authority. The fundamental idea behind the conciliar movement was that authority should be based on the principle of consent. The anti-authoritarian implication of this avowal of consent was not lost on the church hierarchy, which regarded the conciliar movement as a direct threat to its survival. Later, some of the ideas first raised by the conciliar movement were adopted by secular leaders who also wished to assert their independence vis a vis Rome. The conciliar movement’s ‘principle of consent of the governed’ inspired future generations of thinkers to develop and push forward ideas about liberty.

It is important to note the fundamental difference between the progressive demand for the institutionalisation of consent and the infantile gestures made by today’s anti-pope crusaders, who are actually demanding conformism. It is perfectly legitimate to criticise church doctrine on a variety of social and moral issues; no institution or individual should claim immunity from questioning and criticism. But adopting the ideology of ‘evil’ to dehumanise an individual and to pathologise his religion represents a form of Inquisition-in-Reverse.

It took many centuries for Locke’s idea of religious tolerance to gain influence, and to assume a genuinely liberal and open-minded form. Tolerance is too precious an idea to squander through childish displays of anger. The pope may be wrong on contraception, abortion, stem-cell research, sexual orientation and many other things. But the errors of his critics touch on a more fundamental question of our age: the question of tolerating people’s beliefs.

Frank Furedi’s latest book, Wasted: Why Education Isn’t Educating, is published by Continuum Press. (Buy this book from Amazon(UK).) Visit Furedi’s website here.

Are church closures coming?

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On Saturday, May 24, 2008, parishioners at Holy Redeemer in Maplewood celebrated their final liturgy in the building that had housed their weddings, meetings and Masses since 1970.

At the end of the Mass, Larry Mc­Carthy, 64, and another longtime parishioner John Miller, 74, pushed the altar into a cubby designed for its storage, and they shut the door.

“It was like closing the lid on a coffin,” McCarthy said.

The parish was merging with St. Peter in North St. Paul in an effort to use the area’s Catholic resources more efficiently. But most Holy Redeemer parishioners felt their parish was closing. Under the merger, Holy Redeemer’s church building would not be used.

In this case, Holy Redeemer parishioners had little warning and little time to grieve. Many felt as if the transition was imposed on them and that they had no voice in the matter, said Larry’s wife, Peggy, 61.

Today, the McCarthys are involved in St. Peter’s parish life, but they still struggle with the heartbreak of losing their church and former parish community, they said.

Learning from mistakes

Throughout the archdiocesan Strategic Planning Process for Parishes and Schools, church leaders have been deliberate in avoiding the mistakes made in the Holy Redeemer-St. Peter merger, said Jim Lundholm-Eades, a strategic planning task force member.

In that case, he admitted, things could have been done better.

The process was insufficient in hindsight, he said.

In contrast, engaging local Catholics has been central to the current archdiocesan planning process, which began in March 2009.

With the help of the archdiocesan Parish Services Team, a 16-member task force collected data and input from Catholics from every part of the archdiocese regarding how better to serve local Catholics and use parish resources.

The task force presented their recommendations to Archbishop John Nienstedt in July.

The long process has allowed the task force to hear from all who wanted to share their hopes or concerns and to craft a comprehensive plan, Lundholm-Eades said.

When the Strategic Plan for Parishes is announced on Oct. 16-17, Catholics should have had time to prepare for the announcement. Adequate time will also be given to implement all changes the plan proposes, Lundholm-Eades added.

Parishes and ‘suppression’

Canon law requires that a diocese be divided into distinct parts known as parishes. This community is entrusted to a pastor’s care. Only a bishop of a diocese, or archbishop of an archdiocese, can decide to change a parish in any way — including the closing of a parish, which canon law calls “suppression.”

Suppression, however, is less common than other parish reconfigurations. A parish is suppressed when there is no longer any Catholic community in its territory, or when no pastoral activity has taken place for 100 years.

Instead of suppression, it is more common for parishes to merge, as in the cases of Holy Redeemer and St. Peter, and with St. Gregory, St. Therese and St. Leo, which merged to form Lumen Christi in 2006. Sometimes the merged parish uses more than one physical location, worship site, or administrative center for a period of time or permanently. In other cases, the merged parish may close a building in order to use its resources ef­fectively.

“A merger is a merger of people that also involves closing or repurposing a building in many cases,” Lundholm-Eades said.

Closing church buildings

The archdiocese is developing a re­source manual to guide parishes through restructuring, including church closings. It will contain information on creating inventories of sacred objects and artistically or architecturally significant works and options for their reuse, which includes incorporation into the new church’s space.

Church buildings cannot be legally sold for any use that would contradict church teaching.

Sometimes, they are sold to other Christian denominations, as was the case for Holy Redeemer’s church building. The parish sold it to the Twin Cities Bible Church in February 2008 for $2 million.

In the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, the parish community — not the archdiocese — receives the assets of the church building at its sale, Lundholm-Eades said.

However, the archdiocese does have to approve the alienation of property, which would include selling a church building. Each case would be treated individually, he added.

In the past 10 years, 80 percent of U.S. dioceses and archdioceses have undergone some kind of restructuring process similar to what the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis is undergoing, Lundholm-Eades said. Of those, 67 percent have merged significant numbers of parishes.

Honoring a legacy

Last spring, the Parish Services Team met with parish leaders to explain the planning process’ status. It urged leaders to reflect on their parishes’ strengths and the unique traditions they would want to take into the future. Vestiges of Holy Redeemer are present now at St. Peter.

In December 2006, Archbishop Harry Flynn assigned Father Daniel Griffith, St. Peter’s pastor, to Holy Redeemer as well. The two parishes held seven Masses each weekend between them. Their merger was announced in April 2007, and they merged in July 2007.

At the time of the Holy Redeemer-St. Peter merger, St. Peter was in the midst of a church renovation. The merger was expedited partly because Father Griffith wanted parishioners from both parishes to move into the new space together, he said.

He emphasized that the church renovation and expansion was long needed, and that it would have gone forward even if St. Peter never merged with Holy Redeemer, despite rumors speculating otherwise.

As part of the renovation, the architects designed a daily Mass chapel in the nave of the original church. The parish named it Holy Redeemer Chapel to honor the parish and its former pastor, Father Austin Ward, who died in 2003. The parish has also used Holy Redeemer’s processional cross at Mass, and it recently installed another cross from Holy Redeemer’s garden.

About 75 of the 225 families who previously attended Holy Redeemer joined St. Peter, he said. Because Holy Redeemer drew members from 27 ZIP codes, some of its parishioners went to parishes nearer to home. Others joined nearby St. Jerome in Maplewood, or St. Cecilia in St. Paul, which reminded them of Holy Redeemer. Some left the church completely, Father Griffith said.

Of those who did join St. Peter, many have taken integral roles in parish life, he said. They’ve become greeters, lectors and extraordinary ministers of the Eucharist.

Today, Father Griffith doesn’t automatically distinguish a parishioner as originating from Holy Redeemer or St. Peter, he said. Yet, he is aware of the hurt and in some cases, anger, which former Holy Redeemer parishioners still feel, and he is mindful to invite them to serve in parish ministries.

“I was . . . moved when I saw these people from Holy Redeemer take this leap of faith and come over to the new parish even though they were coming from a smaller parish,” he said. “What a great statement about their faith and the type of charity in their heart, that they’re willing to take that risk and get involved.” The Catholic Spirit

Did Catholic priests really rape 10,000 children over the past 50 years, as respectable media outlets claim? No, they didn't.

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How the New Atheists are abusing the truth

Brendan O’Neill is editor of spiked. Visit his personal website here.
reprinted from: http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php/site/article/9548/

Spiked is a left-wing journal written by atheists and former Marxists whose primary dedication is to "truth." Stella Borealis has printed several of their articles in the past that have come to the defense of the Catholic Church. Many more could have been printed here.

"Why humanists shouldn't join in this Catholic-bashing" March 29, 2010

"Not all Atheists are pathological bigots and publicity seekers like P.Z. Myers" August 1, 2008

"Is environmentalism the opiate of the liberals?" April 28, 2008

Today, Slate blasts the media in the United Kingdom and the United States for fraudulently exaggerating the child abuse offenses of priests of the Catholic Church.

Apparently the British state is about to roll out the red carpet for a seriously evil rape facilitator. Pope Benedict XVI is the boss of a church that acts as a ‘patron, protector and financier of child rape’, says one secularist writer. Last week the UK Independent reported that in America, ‘over 10,000 people have come forward to say they were raped as part of this misery-go-round’ overseen by His Holiness and His Lackeys. In Ireland alone, a tiny country of 4.5million people, ‘Thousands were raped in reform schools’, said a British broadsheet headline last year, ramming home the ugly truth of how many kids have been raped by the Catholic Church’s army of paedophile priests.

But how true is this ugly truth? Were 10,000 children in America and thousands more in Ireland really raped by Catholic priests? In a word, no. Instead, what has happened is that in the increasingly caliginous, almost Inquisitorial mindset of sections of the New Atheist anti-pope lobby, every allegation of abuse against a Catholic priest - whether it involved sex talk or fondling or actual penile penetration - has been lumped together under the heading of ‘rape’, and every allegation has been described as an actual proven ‘rape’ regardless of whether it resulted in a legal trial, never mind a conviction.

The term ‘paedophile priest’ has become such a part of everyday cultural lingo that most people, when they read in last week’s relatively respectable UK Independent that ‘over 10,000 children have come forward to say they were raped [by Catholic priests]’, would probably think, ‘Yeah, that’s possible’. But it isn’t true. The Independent was referring to a study commissioned in 2002 by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, which was published in 2004 under the heading ‘The Nature and Scope of the Problem of Sexual Abuse of Minors by Catholic Priests and Deacons in the United States’. This study covered the period of 1950 to 2002, and it did indeed find that 10,000 individuals in the US - 10,667, to be precise - had made allegations of sexual abuse against priests (against 4,392 priests in total, around four per cent of the 109,694 Catholic priests active in the US between 1950 and 2002). But this doesn’t mean that these 10,000 ‘[came] forward to say they were raped’.

The 10,667 made various allegations, ranging from verbal abuse (being forced to indulge in sex talk) to being shown pornography to being touched by a priest over or under their clothing. Then there were the more serious allegations, which included being coerced into mutual masturbation, oral sex and, in some instances, rape. Yet where 3,553 of the individuals claimed to have been touched over their clothing and 3,981 to have been touched under their clothing, a smaller number claimed to have been subjected to what is described in the report as ‘penile penetration or attempted penile penetration’, that is rape or attempted rape; 990 boys and 213 girls made this allegation – a total of 1,203 individuals, not 10,000.

Moreover, if we are serious about such Enlightened ideals as justice and equality before the law, then we have to accept the fact that not all of these allegations were ultimately proven to be true. Out of the 10,000-plus allegations made against priests in America, 3,300 were not investigated at all because they were made after the accused priest had died (surely even the most riled anti-pope commentator accepts that a man who is no longer around to defend himself cannot be convicted of a crime). Of the 4,392 priests in America who were accused of sexual abuse in the period of 1950 to 2002, 1,021 were investigated by the police, and of these, 384 were charged, of whom 252 were convicted. So around six per cent of all American priests who had allegations made against them were finally convicted. (Of course there are many reasons for this relatively tiny number of convictions: some alleged victims were pressured to keep quiet; some (25 per cent in the US) didn’t make their allegations for more than 30 years after the alleged incident occurred; and in some instances there was just a lack of evidence.)

So nothing like 10,000 individuals in America ‘say they were raped’ by Catholic priests. In truth, 1,203 made this allegation. And not all of them resulted in a conviction. Every allegation of rape should be treated seriously, of course, but what happened to the idea of innocent until proven guilty? How did a complex US report about all manner of allegations against priests come to be translated in the words of the Independent into the idea that ‘over 10,000 people have come forward to say they were raped [by priests]’? Because in the outlook of certain sections of the intolerant New Atheist lobby, everything from sex talk to fondling to being shown a porn flick is ‘rape’ - if it’s done by a priest, that is - and every priest is guilty of what he is accused of despite the question of whether or not he was convicted in a court of law.

A similarly warped conflation has been made in relation to Ireland, now widely looked upon as a country where crazy priests spent most of their days handing out communion wafers and/or raping children. When the report of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse was published in May 2009 - with its analysis of accusations of abuse made by individuals who had attended Irish reform schools between 1940 and 1999 - the media reported it as if it had uncovered apocalyptic, Caligulan levels of sexual depravity. ‘Thousands were raped in Irish reform schools’, said the Independent. ‘Thousands raped in Ireland’s Christian Brothers schools’, said the Belfast Telegraph. ‘Thousands raped and abused in Catholic schools in Ireland’, said the Guardian.

So were thousands of children - in particular boys, the main focus of the media reports - raped in Irish reform schools? No - 68 were, allegedly. Two-hundred-and-forty-two male witnesses made 253 reports of sexual abuse against the staff of Irish reform schools at the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse - and of these, 68 claim to have been raped. Once again, not all of the allegations resulted in convictions. Some witness reports involved priests who had died, and out of the 253 male reports of sexual abuse, 207 related to the period of 1969 or earlier; 46 related to the 1970s and 1980s. How did 68 claims of anal rape made against the staff of Irish reform schools over a 59-year period translate into headlines about thousands being raped? Because once again, everything from being neglected to being smacked to being emotionally abused - which thousands of Irish reform-school kids were subjected to - was lumped together with being raped, creating a warped image of a religious institution that rapes children on an almost daily basis. (If it were true that 10,000 Americans had claimed to have been raped by priests between 1950 and 2002, that would have amounted to more than one alleged priest-rape every two days.)

Why is it worth pointing out these basic facts? Not in order to defend the Catholic Church, which clearly has a sexual abuse problem, or to minimise the suffering of those individuals who ‘only’ suffered being verbally abused, shown dirty photos or fondled over their clothing by Catholic priests - all of those acts are abhorrent and potentially punishable in a court of law. No, it is worth pointing out the reality of the extent of allegations against the Catholic Church in order to expose the non-rationalist, anti-humanist underpinnings of the current fashion for Catholic-baiting amongst the liberal, opinion-forming classes in the US and the UK. The wildly inaccurate claim about thousands of children being raped by the representatives of an institution which actively ‘protected and financed child rape’ suggests that modern-day atheism, this New Atheism, has zero interest in applying the tools of rational investigation and critical questioning to the problem of certain religions’ infrastructure, and instead is hellbent on using the politics of fear to invent a fantastical rape-happy ogre, in contrast to which it can pose as the pure defender of childlike innocence and societal integrity.

The irony is almost too much. For in the past, of course, it was the Catholic Church, especially during the period of the Inquisition, which viewed being accused as the same thing as being guilty, and which demonsied its enemies, on the basis of questionable evidence, as depraved perverts whose mad habits posed a threat to morality and stability. Now, somehow, bizarrely, worryingly, the so-called New Atheists have adopted these very tactics in their drive to depict religion as the greatest evil of our age.

THIS WEEK: On 16 September, as the pope arrives in Britain, spiked will be publishing a special on religion, atheism and tolerance in the twenty-first century. Don’t miss it! www.spiked-online.com

Unique urban Visitation Monastery in Minneapolis seeking new vocations

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As the seven sisters of the Visitation Monastery of Minneapolis began the last part of Wednesday evening prayer, a tall, gangly young man in a blue shirt and jeans stuck his head in the door.

From left, Visitation Sisters Karen Mohan and Katherine Mullin give food to Brenda, a single mother in the neighborhood, at their monastery in North Minneapolis where they lead lives of prayer and outreach to the poor and needy. Photo by Dave Hrbacek / The Catholic Spirit

“I want to pray for my mother-in-law,” he said, explaining that his girlfriend’s mother was suffering from kidney and liver problems.

Without any interruption in the flow of their prayer, the sisters prayed a Hail Mary for his intention.

His name was Randall, he said, shaking the sisters’ hands. “You’ll remember me as the black guy with the green eyes,” he said.

The sisters’ words conveyed warmth and hospitality, even though he appeared to be high. They promised to pray for him, and soon Randall left, walking out into the North Minneapolis neighborhood — a neighborhood known for poverty, drugs and violence. More than half of Minneapolis’ 33 murders this year have been in North Minneapolis.

The sisters are a beacon of light in the troubled neighborhood, and they’ve launched a vocations campaign with the hope that more women will join them.

Continuing a legacy

Four hundred years ago, in 1610, Sts. Francis de Sales and Jane de Chantal founded the Visitation order in Annecy, France. Their work focused on caring for the the poor and ill, and was rooted in the welcome Elizabeth showed Mary during the Visitation. As the order grew, it became contemplative and cared for the poor in prayer.

Today, seven Visitation sisters in Minneapolis are seeking women to continue the legacy in what is likely the order’s most unique monastery.

The U.S. Visitation Federation founded its “urban monastery” in 1989 in a response to the church’s call to care for the poor. Established communities of Visitation sisters released seven sisters to start the new monastery, which is housed in two old houses that sit about a block apart.

On Jan. 24, the feast of St. Francis de Sales, the sisters launched an effort to find seven more women to join their community and continue the legacy that they — and the order’s patrons — established.

Six of the seven sisters are older than 60, including two in their 80s. Sister Joanna O’Meara, is 36 and has taken temporary vows.

The sisters are focusing less on reaching college-age women and more on women like Sister Joanna, who worked for several years at a nonprofit in her hometown of Wolverhampton, England, and then joined the Catholic Charities Volunteer Corps in the Twin Cities.

“Our target market is . . . the older 20s, 30s and into their 40s. That’s a whole different thing that they’re looking for. Like, ‘Hmm, maybe this career is not exactly what I thought it would be. What more might there be?’” said Sister Katherine Mullin.

The sisters trust that the Holy Spirit will lead women to their community, but they’re working to increase their visibility beyond the North Minneapolis neighborhood.

Getting the word out

In addition to word of mouth, they’re using Facebook, YouTube, a website, blogs and a database tool that matches those interested in a religious vocation with a fitting community.

They hope to visit parishes and college campuses to talk to young women about their way of life.

They’re inviting women to spend an evening or make a retreat with their community and discern whether they belong there, too.

And women have shown interest. Letters have arrived, asking for more information.

One woman studies at the University of California, Berkeley. Another is from Kentucky. Another who’s known the sisters for a long time told them she’s interested in joining after college.

The sisters are monastic, and their day includes praying the Liturgy of the Hours, sharing meals and spending hours each day with spiritual reading and prayer. Rather than hold jobs, they live on alms.

Their ministry is one of prayer, presence and hospitality to the Minneapolis neighborhood.

They see their share of heartbreak, but they are also inspired by the men and women who demonstrate faith and love despite their tough situations.

“Our mission is to be like Mary and Elizabeth,” Sister Karen Mohan said, pointing to a contemporary painting of the cousins embracing in the Visitation that hangs in the living room. “It’s to be in relationship with people, living the Gospel, bringing Jesus to life.

“Our motto is, ‘live Jesus,’ and that’s what we want to have continue.”

Discerning a vocation is worth taking the leap of faith, no matter the outcome, Sister Joanna said.

“In the end, it is all about discerning God’s will for you in your life.

“And wherever that is, God desires your happiness.

“It’s a wonderful kind of adventure experience to be part of a community and doing that,” she said.

Could this be your calling?

Want to learn more about the Visitation Monastery of Minneapolis? Visit their website, or call Sister Katherine Mullin or Sister Joanna O’Connor at (612) 521-6113.

The Catholic Spirit

Catholic Programming for Sacrament-Starved Troops

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Catholic Content for Sacrament-Starved Troops

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National Catholic Register

Lance Cpl. James Harris, with the 2nd Battalion 2nd Marines from Camp Lejeune, N.C., is silhouetted at dawn during an operation in the Garmsir district of Helmand Province, Afghanistan, Dec. 23.

When radio-show host Cheri Lomonte heard that some American Catholic troops went months without the Eucharist, she was not only appalled — she was energized.

“I just couldn’t believe, at this crucial time, they wouldn’t have a priest,” said Lomonte, who hosts “Mary’s Touch,” heard on more than 80 stations in the U.S. “There are over 300,000 Catholics serving in the U.S. armed forces and just 280 chaplains. Some of them, especially those serving in the field, have little to no access to a priest, the sacraments or even the understanding and support of fellow Catholics.”

Putting her media smarts and contacts to work, the Lakeway, Texas, mother of six put together a package of Catholic programming for MP3 players that soldiers could carry with them. She launched an organization, Frontline Faith, to raise funds and produced the first run of 1,000 MP3 players to go into the hands of Catholics in hospitals and those awaiting deployment.

Supporting her is the Archdiocese for the Military Services, which serves Catholic servicemen and women, their families and Catholic chaplains. Its archbishop, Timothy Broglio, is on the MP3 twice, celebrating Mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., and, later in the program, preaching at the same place.

Partnering with Frontline Faith in distribution is the Our Lady of Lourdes Hospitality North American Volunteers, which assists Catholic pilgrims, including wounded or disabled military personnel, in traveling to Lourdes, France.

Strong Marian Flavor

There is a strong Marian flavor to the enterprise: “Mary’s Touch,” the radio program, features interviews with people claiming the intercession of Mary in their lives. Frontline Faith continues the tradition with 11 stories of American combatants aided in their travails over the years by the Mother of God.

Theologian Marcellino D’Ambrosio, for example, recounts how his father ditched his B-24 in the English Channel after a mission over Berlin in the Second World War, staying afloat several minutes beyond expectations — long enough for his father to escape into an inflatable dinghy after his prayer to Mary.

The MP3 player also contains nine thank-you letters from students at the Cathedral School of St. Mary in Austin, Texas; a sermon preached by Bishop Fulton Sheen to soldiers of an earlier era urging them to be “centurions of Rome”; a sermon from Father Larry Richards on the meaning of the Mass; the Sorrowful Mysteries prayed aloud, and several hymns and meditations.

Lomonte reports that she has already received 3,000 requests for the MP3 players and is busy raising the funds to expand the project. Each player costs $24. Distribution will be handled by chaplains.

Strong Faith Helps Ease Stress

There is no question, says one expert on post-traumatic stress syndrome, that a strong faith will help deal with the stress of combat.

“The trauma of war bends people out of shape,” said Dr. Frank Ochberg, a Fulbright Scholar and recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies. “The adrenaline rush, the horrible images, the closest of friends destroyed in your presence. It helps deal with these horrifying experiences if you have something to cling to: symbols, ideas, images.”

Ochberg says that while religious faith is an asset for soldiers facing severe stress, he warns against preaching to the unconverted. “They don’t want to be pushing a point of view at people at a particularly vulnerable time for them.”

Chaplain Shortage

But as Christine Rodda, a spokeswoman for the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, says, “We have no problem with what Frontline Faith is doing, because they are only reaching out to Catholics.” Rodda says it is generally known that there is a shortage of Catholic chaplains “and a lot of Catholics without access to priests and the sacraments.”

Rodda’s organization has never had a complaint about Catholic proselytizing, but has fielded “thousands” of calls from Catholics complaining about fundamentalist Protestant chaplains proselytizing them.

Rodda says Catholics should push for the Armed Forces Network to broadcast a Mass each Sunday, whereas now it shows four fundamentalist Protestant programs and no Catholic ones.

In the meantime, Frontline Faith’s MP3 players can help fill a void. National Catholic Register

St. Paul Seminary School of Divinity welcomes largest enrollment in nearly three decades

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St. Paul Seminary School of Divinity welcomes largest enrollment in nearly three decades

Ceremonies marking the start of a new school year will be held Wednesday afternoon, Sept. 8

St. Paul, Minn. -- When seminarians from the St. Paul Seminary School of Divinity of the University of St. Thomas gather for their annual group photo at the start of the school year on Wednesday afternoon, Sept. 8, it will be the largest such gathering since 1981.

The seminary is welcoming 33 new seminarians this fall, bringing the total number of men studying for the priesthood to 92. The residence hall there is at full capacity.

The seminarians come from 14 dioceses in the United States, and from Ghana, Uganda and Peru. Forty of the men are preparing to serve as priests of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.

“Our strong enrollment reflects the growing number of men who are answering God’s call to the priesthood,” said Msgr. Aloysius Callaghan, rector of the St. Paul Seminary School of Divinity. “Their witness offers hope for the future of our Church.”

In addition, 62 lay people and members of religious communities are studying in the School of Divinity for their master’s degrees in theology.

The traditional group photo will be taken at 4:15 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 8, on the seminary’s campus at the western end of St. Paul’s Summit Avenue. Archbishop John Nienstedt of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis will celebrate Mass with the seminary community at 5 p.m. that day in St. Mary’s Chapel.

It's been 20 years

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by moderator Carla

It has been 20 years since I walked into Meadowbrook Clinic in Minneapolis, MN. I longed to see the screaming “protesters” or anyone who could offer me anything other than what I had scheduled. I did not want an abortion but was all alone and too scared and confused to think rationally.

I had no idea what an abortion would be like and wasn’t told anything about it. I had no idea what it meant for my life and how it would affect me and I was not told a thing about that either.

I have walked this road of abortion recovery long enough to know that abortion isn’t simple or easy or painless. In my darkest moments I tried to take my own life over what I had done. The truth of my responsibility in the killing of my first child has been hard to bear. I named my daughter Aubrey.

My love for her fuels any and all of the work I do in the pro-life movement.

I am running a triathlon again this year in hopes of raising awareness of the pain that abortion causes and abortion recovery services. I am also raising funds for the pregnancy care center nearest me, The River Falls Pregnancy Helpline offers help, hope and support to women in unplanned pregnancies.

They offer everything I wanted for myself 20 years ago.

If you would like to donate please see the link on my Outcry Wisconsin blog, and find more information on my Facebook events page.

You can also send a direct donation here:

River Falls Helpline
514 North Main Street
River Falls, WI 54022

Last year I raised close to $1400. This year my goal is $2000!! JillStanek.com

In Shakopee: Tri-parish faith formation: More resources, volunteers, funding

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On most Wednesday nights during the school year, kids from first to 10th grade from three parishes meet at the Shakopee Catholic Education Center for faith formation classes.

A parishioner at St. Mark in Shakopee, Doug Schleif teaches faith formation in the program his parish shares with nearby St. Mary in Shakopee and St. Mary of the Purification in Marystown.

The parishes — St. Mark and St. Mary in Shakopee and St. Mary of the Purification in Marystown — are among several in the archdiocese that are not all clustered but share a program.

St. Mary and St. Mary of the Purification are clustered; St. Mark is not.

Yet, the three Shakopee parishes have been sharing a faith formation program for so long that the collaboration doesn’t feel unusual, parishioners say. It’s all most of them have ever known, and they’ve known it to work well.

“There are a wealth of gifts out there when consolidating, and when merging, and when sharing,” said Janelle Heikkila, the program’s director.

After the announcement of the Strategic Plan for Parishes Oct. 16-17, all parishes will be encouraged to find new ways to collaborate, including on faith formation and other programing, said Jim Lundholm-Eades, a member of the task force which crafted plan recommendations for Archbishop John Nienstedt.

More to offer

Before any of the three parishes shared a pastor, St. Mark, St. Mary and St. Mary of the Purification united their schools in 1970 to conserve resources and better serve the community. The faith formation program followed the school’s lead and consolidated five years later. In 2004, the parishes constructed a new building for the school and faith formation programs.

St. Mary and St. Mark are located in the heart of Shakopee. St. Mary of the Purification is a few miles away in rural Marystown.

The program’s 35-year success is aided by the fact that all the parishes are basically in the same city, said Father Peter Wittman, pastor of St. Mary in Shakopee and St. Mary of the Purification in Marystown. People who are members of the three different parishes could live on the same block, he added.

The Shakopee Catholic Education Center offers three different times for faith formation on Wednesday evenings: 4:30 p.m. for grades 1 through 5; 6 p.m. for grades 7 and 8; and 7:30 p.m. for students in grades 9 and 10, who are preparing for confirmation.

In an effort to meet parishioners’ needs, classes are also offered on Sunday evenings, or on a twice-monthly (opposed to weekly) schedule.

About 500 kids participate in the program, Heikkila said. Most of them attend the area’s public schools, like Pearson Elementary, where St. Mark parishioner Doug Schleif, 49, is principal.

Schleif has taught in the faith formation program for five years, and the volunteer work has been a “natural fit,” he said.

Schleif likes the shared faith formation program, he said, naming better funding and volunteer resources as important benefits.

It also allows the program to survive, he said. “I don’t think one [Shakopee] parish is big enough to support a program,” he said.

In Shakopee’s case, this is due in part to large enrollment at Shakopee Area Catholic School, whose students attend faith formation classes in school and generally do not participate in the faith formation programs until they’re preparing for confirmation.

“[With] any community the size of Shakopee that has a Catholic school, it’s hard to keep that . . . faith formation component thriving,” Schleif said.

Large, and growing

But thrive it has. The number of students enrolled in the program is growing, Heikkila said.

The program itself is also expanding. Two years ago, the parishes revived summer Bible school for pre-kindergarten to fourth-grade children. The first year drew 60 children; this year drew 150. The parishes had been without a program for about 10 years, said St. Mark parishioner Jennifer Klecker.

Klecker, 37, tried for several years to revive the summer Bible school before she was successful, she said. Without a program in Shakopee, she drove her two daughters to Pax Christi in Eden Prairie to attend Bible school.

“I thought it was ridiculous that we had three parishes and nothing was happening here in town,” she said.

After first trying to start something at her own parish, Klecker sought support from the tri-parish faith formation program, which led to its 2009 launch.

“There’s a wealth of information when you have so many people together,” she said. “[There’s] fun and excitement in the community coming together.”

Klecker also teaches second-grade faith formation with her husband Jeff. Together, they prepare eight to 10 students for the sacraments of reconciliation and first Communion.

Teaching students from the three parishes provides an opportunity to talk about the different ways parishes might do things within their liturgies, she said.

Dave Siwek, 47, teaches a confirmation class, and he’s glad to see students from different parishes in the same classroom, he said. He likens it to the 1985 movie “The Breakfast Club,” in which students who otherwise wouldn’t socialize with one another form new relationships.

Forming community

The tri-parishes’ confirmation students engage in conversation and work on projects together that they likely would not otherwise, said Siwek, who attends St. Mark.

“The idea of what Shakopee is, and [what] the faith formation program and the confirmation program is, [is] to be part of the community,” he said.

The shared program also eases scheduling and allows the parishes to share staff, Siwek added. And with two priests in the three parishes, one is usually available to attend an event, which isn’t always the case in a single parish with a single priest, he added.

Still, communication and resistance to change continue to be challenges to the tri-parish faith formation program, Schleif said.

As a remedy, it helps to have the parishes’ pastors and leadership agree on what faith formation is and should look like before a program gets underway, Heikkila said. In this consolidation, Father Wittman oversees the school, and Father Tim Norris, St. Mark’s pastor, oversees faith formation.

It may be difficult for parishes facing a similar program consolidation to let go of control, especially if one parish’s program is well run, and people are wary of the unknown, Father Wittman said.

“I think you’ve got to keep an open mind,” Schleif said. “[Sharing a program] can strengthen your faith because of the strong collaboration that can take place during that time. It’s a nice way to reflect on your own values, and what’s really important, and what you can give up.”

Transition is easier when everyone keeps in mind that faith formation and other parish programs are about bringing people closer to Jesus, Heikkila said.

“It’s not a territory, it’s a ministry,” she said. Catholic Spirit

Hungry for Deeper Faith: 37 suggestions for making your Catholic faith a bigger part of your daily life

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Feast on Feasts
Talk about readings at Sunday brunch
Say your bedtime prayers
Learn about each day's saint
Follow the liturgical seasons
Greet the day? “This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it.” Oh!!!
Pray the Rosary
Hang your crucifixes
Attend a funeral
Have your home blessed
Make a pilgrimage
Recite the Angelus
Bless your door
Thank your priest
Pray before car rides
Attending religious education classes
Give/Offer something up
Mail a holy card
Read a religious book
Open your Bible
Attend a daily Mass
Look at religious art
Eat one meal together (It might have to be breakfast!)
Pray for the Pope's intentions (they change monthly; check out www.Vatican.va)
Pray for the Pope
Volunteer for a cause
Talk about God
Memorize a Psalm (117 is the shortest, followed by 119, the longest!)
Visit an empty church
List your prayer intentions; and use them daily!
Plant a garden
Be grateful
Light a candle for your prayer sessions
Try Adoration of the Holy Eucharist at a parish near you
Leave out your Nativity set all year
Make a Confession
Schedule (and attend) a retreat

For details relating to these recommendations, see The Catholic Spirit

Your Great Catholic Minnesota Road Trip #4: Fort St. Charles, Lake of the Woods

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It is possible to be north of International Falls and still be in Minnesota!

Fort St. Charles

Magnuson’s Island, Lake of the Woods

Located in Minnesota’s Northwest Angle — that piece of land in that funny geographic knob at the top of the state — Fort St. Charles has been called the resting place of “Minnesota’s forgotten martyr.” In 1736, Sioux American Indians beheaded missionary Jesuit priest Jean Pierre Aulneau and the 19 men he accompanied. They are buried at the fort. In 1949-51, the Knights of Columbus built a shrine for the priest.

Did you know? Built in 1732 (the same year George Washington was born), the site’s importance as a fur trading post extends beyond Father Aulneau. Fort St. Charles is also only one of three French forts found in Minnesota established before 1763, when Spain received the Louisiana Territory from the French after the French and Indian War. (France got the territory back in 1800.) Catholic Spirit

Why Catholic Teaching on Homosexuality Isn’t Bigoted

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Msgr. Stuart Swetland, the Most Reverend Harry J. Flynn Professor of Christian Ethics [!!!] at Mount St. Mary’s University in Emmitsburg, Md., served as director of the St. John’s Catholic Newman Center at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign from 1997 to 2006. In 1998, he hired Kenneth Howell as the John Henry Newman Scholar in Residence. Msgr. Swetland and Howell taught courses on Catholicism at the university.

This June, Howell was informed that he would not be teaching Catholic courses this fall because the university disapproved of his teaching of the Catholic doctrine on homosexual sex.

In late July, the university decided that Howell could resume his teaching of Catholicism (see related articles here and here) and that his course salary would be paid by the University of Illinois; the Newman Center is paying him for his work for the Newman Center. As Howell says in his latest update on the “Save Dr. Ken” Facebook page, there’s “more to this than appears, but, for now, we move on.”

In July, Register correspondent Bryan Berry interviewed Msgr. Swetland about the situation.

In your view, why was homosexual sex the issue that the University of Illinois attacked Dr. Howell over?

If you look nationwide, this issue is contentious to the point where many people are confusing sincerely held beliefs with bigotry, which is not the same thing.

Recently, a federal court judge in Massachusetts ruled that the Defense of Marriage Act was motivated by “irrational prejudice.” In 2003, another judge in Massachusetts ruled that the state had “arbitrarily deprived” homosexuals of marriage. How do you respond to this view that Catholic teaching on homosexuality is bigoted or arbitrary or culturally bound?

Catholicism is not the only religion that holds this position. Devout Muslims, evangelical Protestant Christians, many religious traditions, hold this position.

What is bothersome to many individuals is that the Catholic Church doesn’t just hold it on religious grounds. The Church’s position is that this isn’t something that is known to us just based on revelation, based on what our revealed Scriptures say. The Catholic position — and this is where Dr. Howell was specific in his teaching — is that this is something that is based on what the moral/natural-law tradition calls right reason.

How do you respond to people who say that’s bigotry, pure and simple?

Well, many would argue that the tradition of natural law is the basis of the founding of our country. An interpretation of natural law is that you can know moral truth through reason alone. Throughout human history, most people have come to understand that there is a purpose and meaning for sexual union.

The problem is that the other side thinks that any opposition to same-sex sexual union means being opposed to those individual persons, judging those individual persons.

The student who wrote the e-mail to Religion Department head Robert McKim complaining about Dr. Howell’s teaching called it “hate speech.”

I didn’t think we’d ever be up against this, because, from a teacher’s point of view, there was always an acceptance of the idea that there was a distinction between disagreeing with the morality of an act and not judging [specific] persons.
Let’s take it off homosexuality for a minute. I personally believe that divorce and remarriage is wrong. I also believe that you can know that, through reason alone, that the vows that one agrees to when he or she enters into a marital union mean what they say: “until death do us part.”
So, for a valid, consummated marriage, I don’t believe that divorce and remarriage is legitimate if they’re in a valid first marriage.
We’ve taught that for 2,000 years. But no one has ever accused us of being bigoted toward divorced people because we teach that. There’s no clamoring in any course I’ve ever taught, rallying groups of people who find themselves to be divorced, or the children of divorced people, who are wanting us fired because we’re teaching about the sanctity of marriage when it comes to divorce and remarriage. Because they understand totally that you can disagree with someone’s actions without being bigoted towards them.

This is something completely new and very recent, where any opposition, expressed in any way, to those particular [homosexual] sexual acts becomes, in the minds of those who don’t agree with us, tantamount to bigotry.

But that position seems so illogical, that one has to question whether they really believe it.

Well, that’s what we’re up against as far as the intellectual climate goes, that people can’t make a distinction. We’re trying to find moral truth; we think we have found moral truth about how best humans should use their sexual powers and gifts, and to put forward a position, which isn’t a new position but one that has been held for a long time and has the test of time behind it as well as everything else.

But to put forward that position, they can’t see it as anything but condemning — not just that we disagree about the purpose and meaning of sexuality — but condemning a whole group of people.
To put traditional Catholic teaching in that category [of bigoted, unacceptable ideas] is quite unfortunate for the university. Think of all the contributions that Catholic ideas have made to intellectual tradition in the sciences, law, political science. I used to teach the just-war tradition at UI. The just-war tradition began in the West with the thinking of Augustine and Ambrose and in the East with people like Basil and Chrysostom. You’re dealing with intellectual traditions that are hundreds or thousands of years old and that are part of the intellectual heritage that the university is now saying is no longer acceptable at the university.

Some think that this struggle is more difficult than the struggle over abortion, because a lot of people know homosexuals and don’t want to offend them, whereas the unborn are silent.

It’s true that when a lot of people think about this issue they’ll immediately personalize it to a friend or a family member they know. And they think that any condemnation of the act is condemning the person or friend or relative they know. But that’s not what’s going on, and that’s just a problem of rhetoric.

If I have a relative who’s struggling with alcohol or drugs, I wouldn’t say that it’s condemning of my cousin on drugs if I favor enforcement of drug laws. I want what’s best for my cousin, and what’s best for my cousin is that he get sober. But that’s hard for people to see; that’s a hard distinction to make.

People have forgotten that there’s such a thing as weakness in human persons. We’re all weak; we all sin; we all fall short of the goal. We keep our goals high, knowing we’re going to fall short of them, but we continue to be the best we can be.

Yes, the Church’s teaching on everything — from how we are to take care of the poor, how we are to deal with people who hate us, how we are to deal with our sexual powers, everything — the Church’s teachings are very precise and very demanding.

There is a reason for that. God calls us to a certain perfection — knowing that we’re going to fall short — and that’s why we have confessionals in every church and chapel. We recognize that we’re in need of healing. National Catholic Register

Catholic High Schools and the Parish, Part I: A Few Random Questions to Get the Discussion Going

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from Transfiguration Today by Fr. Bill Baer

This week, I will be examining some aspects of the relationship between a Catholic parish and the Catholic high schools where that parish's young people are enrolled.

First of all, is there a relationship? As I begin my assignment this summer as Pastor of Transfiguration Parish in Oakdale, Minnesota, I am eager for a most active relationship with Hill-Murray School, Cretin-Derham Hall High School, Saint Agnes High School, and the other Catholic high schools attended by Transfiguration's youth. Read the rest!

Keeee-rash!

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My Windows program got corrupted somehow, (a mortal sin?) and I just got my computer back. It just kept locking up and then I got the "black screen of death." Unfortunately, opening in "safe mode" or using a "restore point" was not possible.

I guess most of my data is OK because the hard drive and memory tested OK. And I had my "My Documents" backed up. But I haven't contacted my back up service (Qwest) to see if they really did it. Holding my breath, mostly on my genealogical stuff that I have been collecting for 35 years.

What they had to do was install a second hard drive and now I have to transfer my documents to the new drive. Not all were saved it seems, but I can't tell until I look at each directory.

I guess I'll just transfer only when I need to, pending contact with Qwest probably not til Monday.

And now my DVD drive door won't open so I can't re-install my major programs like Word and Outlook.

So I have to take the computer back this morning to have them fix that; they must have messed it up when they installed the new hard drive.

This is the first really major loss that I have had in 20+ years of having a computer. So I've been lucky.

I drove by my local Target store today

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Coasted right by the front door on my way to my local dollar store at the other end of the mall to pick up a dozen replacement reading glasses. They don't last long with me.

But I don't think that I have ever seen a larger crowd at Tarzhay, as we used to call it when I shopped in their designer aisles. But the customers today looked a lot less hip, much more frumpy and somewhat pleasingly plump, too. But they were all carrying stuffed shopping bags in both hands.

Maybe when the neurotically fastidious and demanding set makes room for the real shoppers, it will turn out to be a bonanza for Bullseye the Dog's masters.

Superior's Bishop Peter Christensen on "Why the Silence" on abuse accuations?

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Bishop Peter Christensen,
former Pastor of Nativity of Our Lord parish in St. Paul

[Stella Borealis emphases] In a recent conversation a friend of mine was commenting on the sizeable number of secular newspaper articles that center on the topic of sexual abuse by clergy. He was perplexed by the fact that there have not been more responses made by the Church in regard to some of the assumptions made by the papers that he knows to be either exaggerated or false. Well aware of his frustration, which is shared by many, I began to explain the reasons for the absence of rebuttals to the media as I see it.

First of all, doing so makes the Church look either defensive or calloused, as if the leadership of the Church is out to protect itself. There is no question that there have been priests who have sexually abused minors. Many innocent victims and their families have been directly or indirectly wounded and scarred by such behavior. There is no denying this fact. In response to the damaging actions of some of the clergy, since the Charter for the Protection of Children was established in 2002, the Catholic Church has gone well beyond any other institution in setting up safe-guards to protect our young from such horrendous, sinful behavior.

What we often fail to remember is that the Church, like the rest of society, in regard to the disciplinary action of its members was motivated by the social beliefs and sciences of its time. Up until the 1980s it was believed that pedophiles (pre-pubescent) and ephebophiles (post-pubescent) could be rehabilitated and reinstated into the institutions they served. This was true not only for ministers of other Christian and non-Christian denominations, but also for secular institutions, such as teachers in our public school systems. As I have often heard it said and know it to be true, the framework in which we were making judgments was based on the knowledge of the time we made them. As an example of context, it would be like someone suing the Ford Motor Company today for a wrongful death of a grandfather when his airbag failed to deploy 70 years ago. The knowledge gained and serving us today in the realm of psychosexual sciences is far more understood than it was even twenty years ago. That which is sometimes referred to as “cover up” by the Church was nothing more than a lack of knowledge of what dangers were being done and what treatments could or could not be administered for rehabilitation.

Another reason for the lack of response to the secular press could be caused by a misguided prejudice against the Catholic Church for whatever reason. There is no doubt that the Catholic Church makes the front-page headlines in this regard. A while back, when I asked a prominent reporter from CNN, why he thought this was the case, he stated it is so because we are such a large institution. I said that I believe it is the case because we are the only institution in the entire world that can speak with one voice on issues of faith and morals. No other institution in the world can offer teaching and guidance with the authority of the Catholic Church. And no other institution in the world has the ability to speak with such a unified voice. As I said to the reporter, not everyone likes such a voice, to be reminded of the existence of God or to have his or her conscience tweaked. If you can silence the voice by destroying the Church’s credibility it would serve as a relief for some.

At the end of our conversation I thanked the CNN reporter for the attention given to these matters. It may sound strange, but in many ways when there is credibility of abuse, the reporting reminds us of the contrast of what is expected by the Church. We should be shocked by such contrary behavior to our beliefs. The day that reporting such information is not seen as horror will be the day that the Church has lost its message of the Gospel. It is newsworthy because it is scandalous behavior and always will stand in contradiction to the belief of our Catholic Church.

What I find difficult is when our local paper misquotes or exaggerates information. This frustration is exasperated when they are unwilling to make corrections and print the facts. Recently, our diocesan office responded to misinformation printed in our local Duluth paper. The paper made no corrections or points of clarifications. They stated that the Diocese of Superior had paid out nearly 3 million dollars in one settlement in 1989. I know differently. Since 1950, there have been 546 priests serving in our Diocese. Tragically, 12 of these priests during the past 60 years have what seem to be credible allegations of pedophilia or ephebophilia. That is 2.2 percent of our priest population in the Superior Diocese which is well below the national average of males who sexually abuse children. Eight of these priests are now deceased and the other four are no longer serving in active ministry. During this same period of time, the Diocese of Superior has been responsible for making settlements on 4 cases, paying a total of $135,000 from our own diocesan funds directly to victims. Our insurance companies covered other costs. This is nowhere near the amount as reported in the paper.

The third reason that the Church oftentimes seems silent in offering corrections or rebuttals to the media is because those who have been abused by priests have asked that their names and cases never be mentioned to others. These are legal agreements, set up by the Church and to be honored by the Church as requested by those abused. These confidentiality agreements are put in place in order to protect the good names and reputations of those abused. Unfortunately not all reporters or advocate groups appreciate this fact. Sometimes these groups, although they speak in terms of reconciliation, are more interested in retaliation against the Church in general.

All this being said, as Catholics we are meeting the situation of our times for our own institution, while the sexual abuse of minors is running rampant throughout society. As the Church grows stronger in the knowledge and care of the young, its leaders and congregations will better serve as educators and reconcilers for our religious and civic communities. This is not a pleasant journey, but to help expose and heal the sin of sexual abuse throughout our society is what we are called to do at this time in our history.

And at times, although we may be seemingly silent in response to the media, we as a Church are doing all that we can to correct our faults and to help others in society to deal with their similar issues in this regard. May Our Lord bless all who suffer from abuse with his healing presence, and strengthen all the faithful to serve as ministers of his pure love.
Superior Catholic Herald

Tip O the Hat to the Badger Catholic

New Translation of US Ordinary Form Missal Implementation Set for Advent 2011

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You can better believe that there will be lots of sneak previews all over the country on this one. And the complaints of people not sticking to the Ordinary Form General Instructions of the Roman Missal (the GIRM) will be coming from those improvisers and extemporizers who have been wreaking havoc on the GIRM for 40 years.


To the surprise of no one, the following announcement is fresh from the Mothership:

Cardinal Francis George, OMI, Archbishop of Chicago and President of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), has announced that the full text of the English-language translation of the Roman Missal, Third Edition, has been issued for the dioceses of the United States of America.

The text was approved by the Vatican, and the approval was accompanied by a June 23 letter from Cardinal Llovera Antonio Cañizares, Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments. The Congregation also provided guidelines for publication.

In addition, on July 24, the Vatican gave approval for several adaptations, including additional prayers for the Penitential Act at Mass and the Renewal of Baptismal Promises on Easter Sunday. Also approved are texts of prayers for feasts specific to the United States such as Thanksgiving, Independence Day and the observances of feasts for saints such as Damien of Molokai, Katharine Drexel, and Elizabeth Ann Seton. The Vatican also approved the Mass for Giving Thanks to God for the Gift of Human Life, which can be celebrated on January 22.

Cardinal George announced receipt of the documents in an August 20 letter to the U.S. Bishops and issued a decree of proclamation that states that “The use of the third edition of the Roman Missal enters into use in the dioceses of the United States of America as of the First Sunday of Advent, November 27, 2011. From that date forward, no other edition of the Roman Missal may be used in the dioceses of the United States of America.”

The date of implementation was chosen to allow publishers time to prepare texts and parishes and dioceses to educate parishioners.

“We can now move forward and continue with our important catechetical efforts as we prepare the text for publication,” Cardinal George said.

In the coming weeks, staff of the bishops’ Secretariat of Divine Worship will prepare the text for publication and collaborate with the staff of the International Commission on English in the Liturgy (ICEL), which will assist Bishops’ Conferences in bringing the text to publication. In particular, ICEL has been preparing the chant settings of the texts of the Missal for use in the celebration of the Mass. Once all necessary elements have been incorporated into the text and the preliminary layout is complete, the final text will go to the publishers to produce the ritual text, catechetical resources and participation aids for use in the Liturgy.

Receipt of the text marks the start of proximate preparation for Roman Missal implementation. Before first use of the new text in Advent 2011, pastors are urged to use resources available to prepare parishioners. Some already have been in use; others are being released now. They include the Parish Guide for the Implementation of the Roman Missal, Third Edition, and Become One Body, One Spirit in Christ, a multi-media DVD resource produced by ICEL in collaboration with English-language Conferences of Bishops. Both will be available from the USCCB. Information on resources can be found at www.usccb.org/romanmissal

Bishop Arthur Serratelli of Paterson, New Jersey, Chair of the Bishops’ Committee on Divine Worship, voiced gratitude for the approval.

“I am happy that after years of preparation, we now have a text that, when introduced late next year, will enable the ongoing renewal of the celebration of the Sacred Liturgy in our parishes,” he said. Msgr. Anthony Sherman, Director of the Secretariat for Divine Worship of the USCCB noted, “A great effort to produce the new Roman Missal for the United States, along with the other necessary resources, has begun. Even as that work is underway a full–scale catechesis about the Liturgy and the new Roman Missal should be taking place in parishes, so that when the time comes, everyone will be ready.” Whispers in the Loggia

Shrine/Cathedral of Saint Paul to host events honoring 100th anniversary of Blessed Teresa's birth Aug 26

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• The Cathedral of Saint Paul will host the following events in honor of the 100th anniversary of Blessed Teresa of Calcutta's birth.

• Thursday, August 26
  Mass at 5:15 p.m.
  In honor of Blessed Teresa of Calcutta followed by Eucharistic Adoration with meditations from her writings until Benediction at 7:00 p.m.

  Monday, August 30
  7:00 p.m.
  Showing of Academy Award-winning documentary "Mother Teresa"
  Cathedral - Hayden Hall

  Tuesday, August 31
  7:00 p.m.
  Showing of Academy Award-winning documentary "Mother Teresa"
  Cathedral - Hayden Hall

Videos of Harvest Mass (homily to come) at Winona last weekend

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Tip O' the Hat to Badger Catholic

Click on image

Penitence Within the Mass

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. . . Some Catholics, including those with liturgical duties, seem reluctant to allow the Penitential Rite at the beginning of every Mass to make its presence known and felt. In particular, the Confiteor prayer ("I confess to Almighty God, and to you, my brothers and sisters...") is often left out. Granted, within the Penitential Rite, the Confiteor is not required, but why would we skip it? Because our parishioners don't need it? Because they only need it during Lent? Because penitence mars the proper spirit of the Liturgy. . . .? Father Bill Baer at Transfiguration Today