US Bishops' Study on Conditiion of Seminaries Released (No details)

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(CWNews.com) - A Vatican investigation into American seminarians, undertaken in a response to the sex-abuse scandal, has given the institutions a passing grade but taken note of many difficulties. . . .

While concluding that “in the great majority of diocesan seminaries, the doctrine on the priesthood is well taught,” the report nonetheless noted in some seminaries, students have an “insufficient grasp” of Catholic teaching and the distinction between the common priesthood of the faithful and the hierarchal priesthood is blurred. Some religious institutes speak primarily of “ministry” rather than the priesthood in a “mistaken attempt” not to offend opponents of Catholic teaching on women’s ordination.

While praising bishops and major superiors for being “interested in and supportive of” seminaries, the report urged each bishop to make the seminary “the object of his most intense and assiduous pastoral care.” Although the majority of seminary rectors are “good and holy men,” not all are leaders who are “comfortable making difficult decisions.“ Rectors need to spend more time at the seminary, while frequent personnel changes among seminary faculty need to end. Praising “most diocesan seminaries” for the unity of their faculty with the magisterium, the report nonetheless noted the presence of some faculty members who dissent from magisterial teaching; such dissenters are “out of kilter with the rest of the faculty and with the seminarians themselves.”

“Quite often,” the visitors found faculty who mocked magisterial teaching without “speaking openly against Church teaching.”

“More widespread dissent” exists in other places, “particularly in institutes run by religious,” and in these places, “there can be no possibility of a unity in direction.” Dissenting superiors and faculty members, the report observed diplomatically, need to be removed.

The report also observed that the formation of laity “really ought to take place elsewhere” than at a seminary, which exists for the formation of candidates to the priesthood. If lay formation must take place there, laity should not “routinely be admitted” to certain areas.

Praising the criteria of admission of seminary candidates, the report nonetheless found grave deficiencies in seminary formation before the four years of theology formation. “Almost nowhere” has a propadeutic year before the two years of philosophical formation been implemented. While most college seminaries-- in which students receive philosophical formation-- are “good,” seminarians, before the four years of theology formation, are at times not formed with adequate oversight and are even not looked upon fully as seminarians. The report urged bishops to take a greater role in the acceptance or rejection of priestly formation candidates and noted that in some institutes, “lack of vocations has caused a lowering of standards,” with “possible wretched consequences.”

The report took special note of moral problems, primarily associated with homosexual behavior, in some US seminaries. While the situation has improved because of “better superiors (especially rectors),” there are “still some places-- usually centers of formation for religious-- where “ambiguity vis-à-vis homosexuality persists," the document said. Commenting on the report, the Congregation for Catholic Education urges American Church leaders to pay special attention to the 2005 document from the same dicastery on criteria for admission to seminaries-- a document which states homosexual men are not appropriate candidates for priestly training. The report on the Apostolic Visitation does not take into account the public statements from several American seminary officials who, in response to the 2005 directive, announced that they would continue to accept candidates with homosexual inclinations.

The report also noted many seminaries’ “laxity of discipline” over students’ off-campus activities-- a problem avoided by Neocatechumenal Way seminaries. In some seminaries, “formation advisers” and psychologists delve into seminarians’ spiritual lives, while ascetic rules are lacking.

The heart of seminary formation, the report continued, is prayer. “In the diocesan seminaries, the liturgical norms are generally obeyed, but this is not always the case” in religious institutes. Despite this general fidelity, some of the report‘s strongest criticisms come in the area of spiritual formation. “Regrettably, very few seminaries fix periods of time for prayer,” and “some seminaries” need to do more to introduce students to classical Catholic spirituality. The report exhorted seminaries to celebrate Mass, Lauds, and Vespers every day, including on weekends. “A great many seminaries” need to introduce seminarians to the Rosary, novenas, litanies, and Stations of the Cross-- otherwise, the seminarians “will be unprepared for ministry in the Church, which greatly treasures these practices.” The report also noted faculty members who criticize the discipline of clerical celibacy.

While praising the intellectual formation seminaries offer in philosophy and theology-- with some seminaries being “truly remarkable”-- the report condemned the practice of sending students to community colleges for their philosophy classes. Criticizing widespread weaknesses in the study of Mariology, patristics, and Latin, the report noted that “even in the best seminaries,” some faculty members dissent from Catholic teaching on moral theology and the ordination of women. Dissent is widespread at some seminaries, “particularly in some schools of theology run by religious.”

Offering strong general praise for seminaries’ pastoral formation programs, the report noted that in some places, bishops ordain men against the advice of rectors, while in “a few places,” the evaluation process was suspect-- with the non-ordained, and even non-Catholics, voting whether candidates should be ordained. “Such practices are to cease.”

The report’s generally positive conclusion noted that seminary formation has gradually improved since the 1990s-- “at least in diocesan seminaries”-- because of the appointment of “wise and faithful” rectors. The bottom line, according to the Apostolic Visitation: “The diocesan seminaries are, in general, healthy.”

Schuler Trust awards 90 seminarians $300 to $500

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More than $37,000 was distributed during 2008 to 90 seminarians studying for 12 dioceses in the upper Midwest.

The Catholic Aid Association’s Rev. Msgr. Richard J. Schuler Seminarian Charitable Trust distributed grants to 24 men studying for the priesthood for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.

Grants of $500 were given to 51 major seminarians and $300 grants were given to 39 minor seminarians.

The grants help the men with small day-to-day expenses, such as going to a movie, paying a medical co-pay or having some work done on a vehicle. Because of their rigorous schedules, it is almost impossible for seminarians to earn an income during their years of formation to the priesthood.

Paul Naumann, executive director of the trust, said that two large donations totaling $42,000 this year helped to make the grants possible.

The Schuler Trust has met its mission of assisting men on the path to priesthood thanks to donations from 1,545 individuals, totaling $534,878.

The fund was endowed in 1996 to honor Msgr. Schuler, the late pastor of St. Agnes in St. Paul, for his longtime re­cruitment of men to the priesthood. The trust began offering grants in 1998.

Since then, 527 men have received $221,350.

To learn more about the Schuler Trust, call (877) 275-7145, or visit www.catholicaid.org.
Catholic Spirit

Fr. Richard John Neuhaus on "homophobia" as "fear"

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It turns out that Fr. Richard John Neuhaus addressed the slurs of Andrew Sullivan and Co. nearly nineteen years ago, in a May 1990 review of Homosexuality in the Priesthood and the Religious Life (edited by Jeannine Gramic, Crossroad) [Ignatius Insight Scoop]:

• In addition to being insensitive and unfeeling toward non-homosexuals who are coping with sexuality and its discontents, the activist literature is typically cruel and slanderous in its explanation of why most people have negative views of homosexuality. Anything other than the “correct” view of homosexuality is attributed to “homophobia,” which is consistently described as the result of bigotry, ignorance, and the fear of one’s own sexuality. If it is an instance of homophobia that parents earnestly hope that their children will not turn out to be homosexual, then almost every parent in the world is homophobic. Books such as Homosexuality, which incessantly talk about the fears, frustrations, angers, and depressions involved in being homosexual, inadvertently reinforce the reasons why parents hope their children will not be homosexual. The dramatically higher incidence among homosexuals of suicide, psychological disorder, and sexually related disease (frequently lethal) suggests that homosexuality is anything but gay. Of course the activists blame these pathologies on society’s intolerance, but it is not intolerance that produces another and very basic reason why people hope their children will not be homosexual. Whatever its alleged merits, homosexuality is sterile. Few things are more fundamental to societal interest and parental desire than the hope for children and grandchildren, for successor generations that will carry on our communal stories. The society’s “failure” to put homosexuality on a moral par with heterosexuality is not a result of homophobia, as that term is now recklessly used, but of a human refusal to accept the end of history.

See also George Weigel's column on Father Neuhaus in Newsweek magazine.

Watch "Catholics Come Home" founder on Marcus Grodi's EWTN program Monday Jan 12- 7:00 p.m. Central

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Watch Catholics Come Home Program Founder Tom Peterson, Live tonight on EWTN's "'The Journey Home" hosted by Marcus Grodi

Tune-in to EWTN 8:00pm EST (5pm Pacific) tonight (January 12th). They will be discussing Tom's spiritual journey that lead to the launch of VirtueMedia.org and CatholicsComeHome.org .

Encores:
Tuesday (January 13th) - 1:00 & 10:00 AM EST
Wednesday (January 14th) - 1:00 PM EST
Saturday (January 15th) - 11:00 PM EST

*Don't Have EWTN?

Click here to watch LIVE online through the EWTN website

Don't blame it all on Vatican II

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Statistics leave no doubt that the number of women religious has dropped sharply over the last 50 years, but there is an ongoing debate over the reasons for the decline.

The question surfaced recently when L'Osservatore Romano, the Vatican newspaper, asked one priest to review another priest's book about the phenomenon.

Italian Claretian Father Angelo Pardilla, author of "Religious Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow," said the principal cause for the decline was that many religious misunderstood the teaching of the Second Vatican Council and lost a sense of their identity.

He cited as proof the fact that the number of vowed religious – both men and women – has dropped sharply since Vatican II, except in the contemplative orders that still wear habits and live with a regimented community life.

But Father Giancarlo Rocca, a scholar of the history of religious orders, questioned Father Pardilla's thesis in the review he wrote for the Vatican newspaper.

Father Rocca agreed with Father Pardilla that factors contributing to the decline include materialism, secularism, the anti-authority movement of the late 1960s and declining family size.

But he said a misreading of the Second Vatican Council could not be the prime culprit, because in many places the numbers began to drop in the 1930s, long before the council opened in 1962.

For Father Rocca, the key is the emancipation of women.

Previously, he said, the socially approved options for women were either to marry and have children or join a religious order. He said it was no surprise that the orders hardest hit were those founded to teach or to nurse – two professions previously open only to unmarried women.

Sister Carol Regan, the superior general of the Holy Union of the Sacred Hearts and a member of the executive council of the International Union of Superiors General, said, "It is too facile to attribute it (falling numbers) solely to a misreading of Vatican II."

For the Holy Union, which was particularly strong in France and Belgium, "the drop-off of new entrants began in the 1950s, perhaps even the late 1940s, in other words, after World War II with all the horror that brought to continental Europe," she said. The women's movement and the broader choices it gave women also obviously contributed to changed attitudes about religious life, she said.

Sister Regan said her order has about half the members it had in 1965, but is growing in Africa, especially in Cameroon and Tanzania.

"Our congregation leadership will come soon, very soon, from the Southern Hemisphere and all of us have to be prepared to welcome that," she said.

The shift also poses financial challenges, Sister Regan said, because the growth is taking place in parts of the world where resources are lacking.

"Naturally, there is sadness where diminishment is sharpest, excitement where growth is clear and evident," she said.

Sister Christine Anderson, a Scottish member of the Faithful Companions of Jesus, runs a leadership program in Rome for religious superiors and members of general councils, and has facilitated dozens of meetings of religious orders of men and women.

She described as "rubbish" the idea that religious do not know who they are today.

"I think those who hung in there in religious life know why they are there," she said. "The doors are wide open and they can walk out. Either you say they hung in because they are too scared to move – and that could be true in a few cases – but the majority have hung in because they are on this love quest," a quest to find God and give themselves completely to him by serving the church and the poor.

The sisters may not be wearing a habit, but things have not changed as much as many people think, Sister Anderson said.

"People joined religious life because they were caught by God; they were grasped by God; they were seeking God in their own lives," she said.

The seeking continues through hours of solitary prayer, reciting the Liturgy of the Hours together, going to daily Mass, making an annual retreat and carrying out their work as a service to God and to others, she said.

If there is any confusion over the identity of religious, it exists among laypeople, Sister Anderson said, admitting that religious have had a difficult time explaining who they are in a language people today understand.

From her work with the leaders of religious orders grappling with the future, Sister Anderson said the most common attitude she sees is "outrageous hope."

"They have an ability to live with uncertainty. Like Abraham, they have set out and they do not know exactly where they are going, but there is this sense of faith and hope that God is with us and God will be faithful," she said. Catholic News Service

I wonder how many sisters stayed in their order after Vatican II because incorrect interpretations of the Council suggested to them that they could expect that they could become a priest.

Father Richard John Neuhaus, R.I.P.

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Father Richard John Neuhaus died a few days ago. He was an important man among the voices of the American Church and I shall miss him, as will many others. Father Raymond de Souza, who considered Father Neuhaus to be a real father to him, wrote this testamonial, posted by Rocco. You can read the entire post here.

Unlike no man I have ever met, he was utterly at ease discussing the most serious things; not so much this or that influential book, but struggles in the life of virtue, mysteries in theology, the great questions of my life and his: What does the Lord want of me?

That his preferred method of doing so was after evening prayers had been said, with a drink in one hand and a cigar in the other, was the practical affirmation of his theological conviction that to rejoice in the Lord's gifts was an obligation of gratitude.

It is also true that the long-faced saint is a poor evangelist, and nearly everything in Fr. Neuhaus' life was aimed at preaching the Gospel in one way or another.

He had many gifts and did not pretend otherwise. Yet he knew that to whom much is given, much is demanded, and he filled his life with so much reading, writing, preaching and launching of new ventures that one suspected that he knew that a great deal would be demanded of him indeed.

He once began a conversation with me by asking, even before the first sip of the pre-prandial drink: "How are you managing your ego?"

When I choked on my own drink at that conversation starter, he chided me for pretending to false modesty. The point was not to pretend that gifts hadn't been given, but use all of them for God's glory, for which purpose they were given.

Then, as always, he gave the Christian lesson. This time it was from 1 Corinthians 4:5: "Do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then every man will receive his commendation from God."

The Christian task is to do our best with what God has given us, and to rejoice along the way. Whether accolades or criticism comes-- and Fr. Neuhaus knew both -- let no one judge before the time. It is only for us to be grateful; to be faithful. The time has now come for Fr. Neuhaus; his gifts were many and as he goes to glory, his many sons pray the Lord to grant him his commendation.

Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord
and let perpetual light shine upon him;
may his soul, and all the souls of the faithful departed,
through the Mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.

Meet Sister Neva, O.S.B!

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Sister Mary Gibson (r), who last Tuesday received her habit as a postulant in the order of the Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles, also received her new religious name: Sister Maria de la Neva (Sister Mary of the Snow, or, Sister Neva for short). Being a "cheesehead" who got her degree from St. Thomas, that's a pretty fitting name. Thanks to her proud Dad, Jack Gibson for the information.

The first step of formation is admittance as a postulant. The word postulant comes from postulare, to ask or to demand a chance. The aspirant requests admittance as such, and begins to live with the community. She receives a Miraculous Medal, which continues to be worn through each stage of our life, wears a black dress with a leather belt, and a short veil during postulancy. No commitments are exchanged. She is given a course in basic spiritual and doctrinal principles, and learns the ropes of day-to-day living. The postulant is asking God and asking the community to receive her into this particular family. If, after several months she has discerned that she “belongs,” she may ask to be clothed in the habit and be admitted as a novice. Her petition having been accepted, the postulant approaches her clothing day, or “Investiture.” St. Gertrude called the day of her Investiture the beginning of her conversion, and rightly so. Here, a decisive break from the world occurs, though prudence and Canon Law prohibit vows until the candidate has proved herself. The postulant dons a wedding gown to embark upon the long journey of her final and resolute espousal to Christ. She declares her intention before the community, her family and the Church. Her hair is cut as a sign of her renunciation of self, and she retires to replace her wedding gown with a long, black tunic. Each additional part of the habit is given to her with a prayer, including the white veil. Finally, as a sign of the new life which she has begun (hence the word “novice”) she is given a lit candle and her new name. Two years of intense prayer and preparation, with more detailed studies and formation in the monastic virtues follow. When her time of novitiate is complete, the novice prostrates before the community to ask our prayers and permission to make her vows to God and before her Prioress for a period of three years, hence, the term "triennial vows". If accepted, the novice processes into Mass on the day of her First Profession with a lit candle, just as she exited her Investiture with one. Her profession by which she vows Obedience, Stability and Conversion of Life is within the context of a very symbolic and very rich, traditional ceremony before the Offertory verse of the Mass. As it is too long to describe, you are encouraged to request of us copies of the Mass and ceremony for your enjoyment. She receives a black veil as a symbol of her death to the world and her candle is offered to the Bishop as a symbol of her oblation. The three-year period is to ratify with time, the earnestness of the Benedictine. It is a measure of prudence the Church requires as a confirmation of a genuine vocation. The intention of one who makes First Profession is always to be able to persevere unto Final, or Solemn Profession. She continues her studies and formation. In fact, Benedictines are always studying and being formed one way or the other! Web Page The Stella Borealis post on her investiture may be found here.

Campbell's Soup refuses to remain neutral, joins gay activists in the culture war

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According to an article by Erik Sass in the Dec. 24 edition of the Media Daily News, Campbell's Soup will not be neutral in the culture war. The Media Daily News reports that Campbell's will continue to use its advertising dollars to support homosexual publications pushing the homosexual agenda and same-sex marriage. AFA had asked the company to remain neutral in the culture war.

The company sponsored two pages of ads in both the December 2008 and January 2009 issues of The Advocate, the nation’s largest homosexual magazine. The ads featured the company's Swanson line of broth.

The Media Daily News article said the soup company will continue to support the homosexual agenda: "A Campbell spokesman was quoted as saying, 'Our plans for the Swanson brand include additional placements in The Advocate'."

To show their commitment to same-sex marriage, Campbell's featured two "married" lesbians and their son in one of the ads. American Family Association

Take Action!

Send an e-mail to Campbell Soup Company President Douglas Conant. Tell him you are disappointed that Campbell's Soup has decided to support the homosexual agenda in the culture war. After sending your e-mail, please call Campbell Soup Company (1-800-257-8443) and their Swanson division (1-800-442-7684) and express your disappointment that Campbell's is supporting same-sex marriage.

Campbell's Brands

Campbell's

Pace sauces

Pepperidge Farm

Prego

Swanson

V-8

Hawthorne Dominican sisters to leave Our Lady of Good Counsel Home

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Franciscan Health Community to assume operation of St. Paul cancer home pending Vatican approval

After 67 years of providing free care for terminal cancer patients at Our Lady of Good Counsel Home in St. Paul, the Dominican Sisters of Haw­thorne are turning over leadership of the cancer home, according to a Jan. 6 press release.

Franciscan Health Community in St. Paul will assume operation of Our Lady of Good Counsel Home, pending approval by the Vatican, the release said.

Franciscan Health Community provides senior housing and services, including skilled nursing care, home health care, transitional care, meal delivery and hospice. It is an affiliate of Catholic Senior Services, the outreach program created by the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Min­nea­polis to meet the growing need for quality senior housing and services.

Joe Stanislav, president and CEO of Franciscan Health Community, said he began negotiations with the archdiocese about six months ago.

“Our goal is as much as possible to try to follow [the sisters’] legacy there,” Stanislav said in a phone interview. “There will probably be some minor changes, but all in all we think the care and the reputation of the home have been so wonderful all these years. We really thought, as an organization, that we’d love to see that continue, and we feel like we have the means to do that.”

Stanislav said under his organization’s leadership, Our Lady of Good Counsel Home will continue to provide free care for patients and their families.

Our Lady of Good Counsel opened on Pearl Harbor Day, Dec. 7, 1941, with five sisters. Over the years, the home has served nearly 10,000 patients, according to Kay O’Keefe, OLGC chair­person.

In his column in this issue of The Catholic Spirit (see page 2), Archbishop John Nien­stedt said that the order’s provincial informed him of the decision to leave Our Lady of Good Counsel last May due to declining membership in the order, reducing the number of cancer homes the sisters run in the United States and Africa to four. In recent years, the order has closed two cancer homes — in Ohio and Massachusetts.

The six Hawthorne Dominican sisters currently serving at Our Lady of Good Counsel Home will return to their motherhouse in New York.

When Joan Decker, who began volunteering at Our Lady of Good Coun­sel Home 28 years ago, learned that the sisters would be leaving St. Paul, she said, “It broke my heart.”

Over the years, the junior-high religion teacher at St. Agnes School in St. Paul has volunteered at Our Lady of Good Counsel in different capacities, such as ironing the sisters’ habits and or­ga­nizing a softball tournament to raise money for their ministry.

The sisters are like part of her family, said Decker, whose son, Dominic, 21, is named after the sisters’ order; her son, Patrick, is named after the late Sister Mary Patrick, with whom Decker was especially close.

The sisters attended important family functions, such as graduations and first Communions, and also cared for Decker’s father in his final days before he died from lung cancer in 2004.

“On any given day, you’d see the sisters rubbing the backs of the patients and just comforting them in their final hours and treating them just like they were our Lord,” said Decker. “Their love for their patients, just to help them pass to eternal life, was always so beautiful to me.

“I’d say to them, ‘How can you do this day in and day out and be so joyful?’” Decker added. “And they’d say, ‘Because we’re helping people get to heaven.’”

The sisters declined to comment on the transition until the Vatican gives them permission. Catholic Spirit


Archbishop John Nienstedt devoted his Spirit column to the the Hawthorne Sisters and their work at their free cancer home.

Ministering to the sick The Dominican Sisters of Haw­thorne ministered for 67 years here at Our Lady of Good Counsel Free Cancer Home on St. Anthony Ave­nue in St. Paul, near Cretin Avenue and I-94. Their religious community was founded in 1900 by a Catholic convert, Rose Haw­thorne, who vowed that she and her sisters would dedicate themselves to serving the incurably sick. She was also determined not to take any money from her patients, their families or the government. She would simply rely on the charity of outsiders. And that is indeed how her sisters have ministered here for these many years. I first entered Our Lady of Good Counsel a short time after my installation as bishop of New Ulm in August 2001. Bishop Raymond Lucker, my predecessor, had fallen in his room at the Leo C. Byrne Residence and had voluntarily entered the home for hospice care. He received excellent attention and care there. The patient rooms, the hallways and the bathrooms were immaculate. Nurses were on constant call and responded immediately to every need. Bishop Lucker’s death was made so much easier by the sisters and staff who stood vigil by his bedside, praying him through his passage from this world to the next. For 67 years, the Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne ministered at Our Lady of Good Counsel Free Cancer Home in St. Paul Subsequently, Father Ed Wojto­wiez took sick and was given the same room as the late bishop. He, too, met his death with great dignity due, in large part, to the marvelous ministry of the sisters and their staff. Recently, the provincial council for the sisters evaluated their service at all their locations around the country and noted that more and more members of their community were functioning in “administrative roles” rather than “hands-on” nursing care with patients. A number of new vocations has not been forthcoming and their ranks are aging. In fidelity to their charism, they made the difficult decision to call their sisters back to New York. When the provincial met with me last May to discuss the decision, she informed me that an an­nouncement to leave would be made the next day. I pleaded with her for one week’s time to see if we could ask another Catholic health care system to replace them. I am pleased to say that, pending the approval of the Holy See, the Franciscan Health Community has agreed to take over the administration of Our Lady of Good Counsel so that it might continue to be a strong Catholic presence in this local church. This arrangement was facilitated by our new Catholic Senior Ser­vices. I believe we are all indebted to Franciscan Health for their generous willingness to do so. Offering thanks On Friday, Nov. 21, 2008, I celebrated a Mass of Thanksgiving for the sisters, staff, volunteers, benefactors and friends at the Church of St. Mark in St. Paul. The church was nearly full at 2:30 p.m. That turn­out said more than words could express as to how much the sisters are appreciated and loved. I assured these good sisters of our continuing support in friendship and prayer. Their witness to serving Jesus in the suffering and dying lies at the heart of our Catholic faith. Farewell, good sisters. We will miss the presence of your dedicated witness! God love you!

Father Richard Hogan to serve Dakota County parishes

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Father Richard Hogan was named to serve as parochial administrator, which is another term for pastor, at St. Mathias in Hampton and St. Mary in New Trier, effective Jan. 1.

Father Hogan

Since 1994, after serving four years as pastor of Blessed Sacrament in St. Paul, Father Ho­gan has served with Priests for Life and National [sic Natural?] Family Planning Outreach. Since his ordination in 1981, he has served as an associate pastor at St. Raphael in Crystal, St. Vincent de Paul in Brooklyn Park, St. John Vianney and St. Augustine, both in South St. Paul. Catholic Spirit

Father Hogan is the nephew of the late Monsignor Richard Schuler, longtime pastor and music director of St. Agnes parish in St. Paul who died in 2007. Hampton and New Trier are in Dakota County down by Farmington.

Sister Mary Gibson receives her habit as a postulant in the order of the Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles

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Mary Gibson, now Sister Mary Gibson, UST graduate, formerly a Minnesota blogger who achieved worldwide fame as the "Roamin' Roman" in her last year of college and as "Veritatis Splendor", formally received her habit as a postulant in the order of the Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles. She joined the order last Summer. The blogs will remain active for viewing for the forseeable future.

Four new "Brides of Christ" took part in the ceremonies that took place on the traditional feast of the Epiphany, Tuesday, January 6 (not the Sunday celebration), in Kansas City, Missouri, presided over by Bishop Robert Finn. A fifth sister made her first profession of solemn vows at the same ceremony. The Kansas Catholic blog has more detail and pictures, here and here [and Jan 12, here, too]

(click to enlarge)

Wouldn't you just kinda figure that these Benedictines have more young sisters, novices and postulants than most "progressive" orders all put together?

Is anybody paying attention in those dying progressive orders?


Pray for Sister Mary and all of them.
This is a contemplative order and
their particular apostolate is to pray for our priests.

Anti-abortion postcard stirs up Minnesota Catholics

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Anti-abortion postcard stirs up Minnesota Catholics

One Catholic Blogger called for his excommunication

Roman Catholic bishops throughout the United States are planning a massive postcard campaign days after the inauguration as part of an attempt to block the Freedom of Choice Act, known as FOCA, a reproductive health initiative supported by President-elect Barack Obama. But one Minnesota priest is breaking ranks with the national campaign, raising the ire of local and national pro-life Catholics, including some who are calling for his excommunication from the church.

“Our nation and new president will be challenged by ongoing wars, an economy in severe recession, ballooning deficits, high unemployment and an environment and health care system in crisis,” wrote the Rev. Michael Tegeder of St. Edward’s Church in Bloomington. “Yet at this very moment the Catholic bishops have declared that they have this more pressing need.”

That need is to organize a postcard campaign targeting legislators and Obama over abortion legislation.

FOCA will stir a heated debate in upcoming months. Obama pledged to sign it if Congress passes it. “The first thing I’d do, as president, is sign the Freedom of Choice Act. That’s the first thing that I’d do,” he told Planned Parenthood supporters at a campaign event in 2007.

FOCA would essentially codify the reproductive rights that were interpreted by the U.S. Supreme Court in Roe v. Wade.

The bill reads:

“A government may not deny or interfere with a woman’s right to choose to bear a child, to terminate a pregnancy prior to viability, or to terminate a pregnancy after viability where termination is necessary to protect the life or health of the woman; or discriminate against the exercise of the rights set forth in paragraph in the regulation or provision of benefits, facilities, services, or information.”

Tegeder penned his opinion in a letter to the Star Tribune, targeting the bishops’ intent to pressure Obama on FOCA. Tegeder said that among the many problems with the postcard campaign, the bishops are attacking Obama instead of finding common ground.

“We can do many positive things. Indeed, Obama has stated that he wants to reduce the number of abortions. We should work with him on doing this,” Tegeder wrote. “During this season of goodwill, let us offer our new president some and hold back on the confrontation. And to the bishops: Your Graces, remember grace.”

Tegeder’s words directly confront his boss, the Archbishop of St. Paul and Minneapolis, John Neinstedt.

“When I signed up 35 years ago to be a priest, little did I realize that postcards would be an essential tool of ministry in the Catholic Church,” said Tegeder. He pointed to Neinstedt and his postcard campaigns pushing a Republican-led same-sex marriage ban several years ago.

“To someone who did not see this as necessary, it seemed a waste of time and money. It also generated some unnecessary ill will,” wrote Tegeder.

Neinstedt recently weighed in on the FOCA debate and seems to be enthusiastically in support of stopping the legislation. “In effect, FOCA would certainly be a boon to the abortion industry with the government forced to condone and promote such procedures,” Neinstedt wrote on the Archdiocese Web site. “It is hard to imagine a more radical piece of pro-abortion legislation.”

While the Archdiocese hasn’t publicly commented on Tegeder’s letter, members of the laity have. One Catholic blogger called for his excommunication.

Another is initiating a postcard campaign of her own, directed at Tegeder. “Reducing abortions is not an acceptable goal. Stopping abortion entirely is,” wrote a St. Paul Catholic blogger. “Education is a large part of the effort. Father [Tegeder] may need some help understanding this.”

Another Minnesota Catholic blog wrote that Tegeder “not only endangers his own immortal soul, but also those of his parishioners.”

Tegeder has been a controversial member of Minnesota’s Catholic hierarchy. He has supported moves toward inclusion of gays and lesbians in the church, opposes the church ban on priests marrying, and once called Neinstedt “self-righteous” and “a bully.” The Minnesota Independent

Bakersfield, CA, pastor marries 40 couples in a single day

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Bakersfield pastor solves mystery of why parishioners wouldn’t take Communion, marries 40 couples in a single day

Not long after Fr. Miguel Flores became pastor of St. Joseph Catholic Church in Bakersfield about a year ago, he began to notice a curious phenomenon. While his mostly Latino parishioners at the nearly 3000-family, 100-year-old parish faithfully attended Mass on Sundays, it was mainly their children who received Communion. Many parents opted not to take the Blessed Sacrament.

Fr. Flores decided to investigate. What he found, according to the Bakersfield Californian, was that a good number of the moms and dads were not married, either civilly or sacramentally. “The reason, Flores said, was that many of them -- the majority are farmworkers -- are undocumented and fear deportation if they petition to be married by the state,” the Californian reported. “The church assuaged their fears and provided a marriage preparation course that included a retreat and answered all their questions.”

On Saturday, Dec. 20, Fr. Flores rectified the situation for 40 such couples in a single, super-wedding at St. Joseph’s. “The idea is to have them be able to come to church proudly, with their head held high, feeling that both the Church and state support them,” Flores told the Californian.

In Mexico, the home country of many of the couples involved, the state does not recognize marriages performed by the Church, and the Church does not recognize civil marriages, so it is typical for faithful Catholics to get married twice – once by the Church, once by the state.

Fr. Flores told the newspaper that only around a third of the couples who were married at the parish on Dec. 20 had been united previously in a civil wedding, while the rest had lived as husband and wife without benefit of marriage by Church or state.

The community wedding, Fr. Flores told the Californian, had straightened out “the civil and ecclesiastical state of their unions.” California Catholic Daily

What's Missing Here? Time Magazine's Top Ten Medical Breakthroughs of 2008

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1. First Neurons Created from ALS Patients

President-elect Obama has pledged to lift the seven-year ban on federal funding for embryonic stem-cell research — a boon for the field. But for some scientists, it almost doesn't matter. Researchers at Harvard and Columbia reported a milestone experiment in July, using a new method — one that doesn't require embryos at all — to generate the first motor neurons from stem cells in two elderly women with Lou Gehrig's disease, or ALS. The technique, developed by Kyoto University scientist Shinya Yamanaka in 2006, involves reprogramming a patient's ordinary skin cells to behave like stem cells, then coaxing them into the desired tissue-specific cells. Using the motor neurons created from ALS patients, scientists can now study the progress of the disease as the affected cells develop, degenerate and die in a dish — something researchers could never do before for such slow-moving conditions. Once scientists understand the development of ALS, they may be able to create more effective treatments, or perhaps even a cure.

2. Inflammation vs. Cholesterol

3. Scarless Surgery

4. Genomes for the Masses

5. New Genes for Alzheimer's

6. A Five-in-One Vaccine

7. Gene Screens for Breast Cancer

8. Blood Test for Down Syndrome

9. Seasick Patch for Cancer Patients

10. Stem-Cell Trachea Transplant

In a transplant first, doctors in Spain gave Claudia Lorena Castillo Sanchez, 30, a new windpipe, constructed from a donor trachea lined with Sanchez's own stem cells. It's the first time a patient's adult stem cells, extracted from bone marrow, have been used to seed a new tissue or organ for transplant. Because the donor trachea was stripped of cells that could cause rejection, Sanchez, who suffered from tuberculosis and lost function of one branch of her trachea, avoided having to take the powerful immunosuppressant drugs that transplant patients normally require. Doctors expect that this type of transplant, which is still experimental, will need several more years of study before it becomes widely used. But Sanchez, for one, is happy she didn't have to wait that long; the mother of two is already back to work and enjoying dancing six months after her operation.

Notice that two of the top ten medical breakthroughs for 2008 involved wonderful advances in the use of adult stem cells from the patient's own body. Notice also that despite the hundreds of millions of dollars that has been spent on "embryonic stem cell research" that involves destroying human embryos, live human beings, no breakthroughs at all have yet been made.

At the same time, hundreds of advances have been made using adult stem cells. Obviously arrogance and money ("if we just spend enough we can make it work") seem to be the determining factor as to why embryonic stem cell research has not been completely abandoned. Not science and medicine.

One imagines that when Lister told doctors to wash their hands, when Pasteur prescribed vaccinations and when Madame Sklodowska Curie explained X-Rays, the medical establishment resisted because they had faith in cures that were much more complicated (and profitable for them).

Chesterton Academy Entrance Exam

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The entrance exam for prospective students of Chesterton Academy will be Saturday, January 17, 2009 at 10:00am. The test will be administered at Chesterton Academy, Eliot Community Center, 6800 Cedar Lake Road, St. Louis Park, MN 55426.

The test is part of the application process for admission. For more information, please contact Headmaster John DeJak at john.m.dejak@gmail.com or call 612.619.0039.

Family starts nonprofit to promote Catholic school inclusion of children with disabilities

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Monica and Patrick Duffy of Columbia Heights had hoped their three children, Kevin, Colleen and Rachel, could go to their parish school, St. Charles Borromeo in St. Anthony, but it hasn't worked out.

Colleen, 7, their middle child, has Down syndrome, and the school said it wasn't able to provide the special support she needs.

The school told her that children with special needs have certain rights, including having the needed services identified in an Individual Education Plan, or IEP. In Colleen's case, that included speech therapy, adaptive gym and one-on-one help. Catholic schools have limited resources, Monica said. The school would get into trouble if it enrolled her and didn't meet her IEP, and it couldn't.-

When Monica got the news that her daughter couldn't attend St. Charles, she almost felt worse for the principal and staff. ("I gave them a lot of credit. They really tried," she said.") Still, the decision was devastating.

"It is heartbreaking for people to be turned away from anywhere because of disability," she said. "But when you are turned away from a place of faith, it is that much more painful. That is where people seek solace and peace."

A nonprofit is born
That difficult experience led Monica and Patrick to start asking questions. They found that other states have organizations that help children with disabilities to attend Catholic schools. In particular, they got interested in the Kansas City, Mo.-based Foundation for Inclusive Religious Education (FIRE). The foundation provides financial grants to schools within the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph to subsidize special education in parish schools.

Last summer, the Duffys started a nonprofit called Exceptional Catholic Minnesota. They hope to replicate FIRE's model.

So far, Exceptional Catholic is an all-volunteer effort. The Duffy's have invested $3,000 to $4,000 out of pocket and launched a website. They are working to get 501(c)3 status so they can accept tax-deductible gifts. They also have expanded the mission — to connect people with disabilities and those who care about them with faith-based resources, such as accessible churches and prayer groups.

Exceptional Catholic has begun to survey Catholic churches to find what accessible features they have. It posts information on individual churches on its website, such as "elevator to the choir loft," "wheelchair accessible," "large-print missals," or "interpreter for hearing impaired."

The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis has more than 200 churches, Monica said. The survey is about 25 percent complete.

Archdiocese: 'We wish them well'

Promoting Catholic school inclusion remains a long-term goal for Exceptional Catholic.

Catholic and other private schools could offer special education services if they choose, but they are not obligated to do so, according to staff at the PACER Center, which provides information and training to families with children with disabilities. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), the federal special education law, covers public schools, not private schools, it said.

Asked about Catholic school inclusion, the archdiocese reiterated what Monica already had heard. It said in a written statement that Catholic schools work diligently to accommodate physically challenged children and children with learning differences. However, it noted, non-publicly funded schools have financial limits.

Regarding the Duffys and Exceptional Catholic, it wrote: "We value and commend their commitment to Catholic education and we wish them well with their endeavor while recognizing the enormous financial resources that would be required to make this possible on a system-wide basis."

The Duffys are pushing ahead. As Monica sees it, inclusion would improve the learning experience. "Children with disAbilities bring much to the classroom including giving the other students opportunities to grow in patience, grace and virtue," she wrote. "These things are essential in a faith-based school."

Seeking other parents
Exceptional Catholic is in the early stages of trying to build a parent network. Monica said: "Believe it or not, this sounds really wacky — the most difficult problem I have encountered is finding other moms and dads like me and Pat," families that have children with disabilities and who want them to attend Catholic school.

Exceptional Catholic needs a critical mass of people before launching a fundraising effort similar to FIRE.

"First and foremost, we have to increase awareness that inclusive Catholic education for children with disAbilities is a possibility," Monica wrote. MinnPost

In a tough economy, the Catholic Community Foundation stays the course

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If you are fortunate enough to have surplus funds that you would like to invest in a foundation or a trust fund, perhaps you would like to contact the locally based Catholic Community Foundation in our Archdiocese of St Paul and Minneapolis.


Parishes and organizations that have investments with the Catholic Community Foundation are concerned but not panicking about their funds’ falling stock market value.

“Like everyone else, we’re concerned about our investments,” said John Joslin, director of parish development and planned giving at Our Lady of Grace in Edina. But “CCF has excellent people. We’re very confident in what they are doing.”

About half of the 220 parishes in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis invest or endow funds through CCF, according to the organization. Founded in 1992, CCF creates endowments and invests funds to help sustain archdiocesan Catholic parishes, schools and other nonprofit organizations, such as Catholic Charities.

In an effort to educate its clients about its investment strategies and the economy, CCF hosted a presentation by Kathleen Taylor Dec. 11 at St. Therese in Deephaven.

Taylor is a senior vice president and principal at LCG Associates, Inc., an independent consulting firm that advises the Catholic Community Foundation. She was speaking to priests, business administrators and other parish, school and nonprofit organization leaders who have investments through CCF.

The decision to host Taylor was part of CCF’s commitment to open communication with its clients and not a response to investors’ requests, said Anne Rodenberg, CCF’s communications and marketing director.

“Given the economy, and given the markets, we thought it would be better to provide as much information as possible,” Rodenberg said.

‘Be bullish,’ despite bear

Don’t panic. Keep investing. And “be bullish” despite the bear market, Taylor told about 60 people who gathered for her presentation.

“With stocks down about 50 percent from a recent peak and bonds also suffering, no investor has been able to escape the downturn,” she said.

CCF’s investment pools are performing in line with benchmarks and peers, she said.

Dan Garry, parish administrator at Holy Name of Jesus in Wayzata, said he’s been concerned about the value of his parish’s CCF investments compared to those in the rest of the market. After listening to Taylor’s presentation, he expects them to be similar, he said.

The parish has a small endowment for its K-6 school and a fund to help the poor, he said.

The recession hasn’t dramatically affected how the parish invests its money yet, he noted. The parish still plans to invest funds received from a current fund campaign with CCF.

After providing an overview of the U.S. economic situation, Taylor gave advice for how to deal with the current bear market. A “bull market” refers to the market when securities or commodities are persistently rising; a “bear” market is when they are persistently declining.

Taylor encouraged them to keep their CCF investments. “By remaining in stocks, investors won’t miss out on significant growth opportunities over the long term,” she said. Although it’s tempting to cash out during a recession, it’s a bad idea, she added.
The presentation reinforced CCF’s belief that it is very difficult for anyone to time the market to their advantage, said Jim Mullin, CCF chief investment officer.

“Overall, the foundation is maintaining its long-term investment philosophy, as advised by LCG, and is taking care to monitor performance and rebalance funds to compensate for short-term fluctuations,” he said. “This philosophy has not changed given the current market conditions.”

Cheri Dixon, business administrator at St. Thomas Aquinas in St. Paul Park, said her parish plans to “hang tight,” with their investments. Its investments with CCF have decreased in value, “but considering the world, I thought [they were] pretty good,” she said.

The parish’s most recent report on its CCF investments’ value is from September, and Dixon expects the current financial quarter, which ended Dec. 31, to be worse, she said.

Optimism looking forward

Like many parishes, Lumen Christi in St. Paul had its eye on Christmas donations, said financial administrator Bill Elmquist.
“The largest contribution time is during the holiday season,” he said. “People are pretty dedicated to their parish, and we look forward to the continued support of our parishioners during this difficult economic time.”

Lumen Christi has several investments in CCF to protect the parish’s viability, he said. It has not had to dip into them, despite lower parishioner contributions than budgeted. The parish has changed its investment strategy with other accounts, but not with CCF, Elmquist said.

Neither has Our Lady of Grace, which still plans to add $3.5 million from its current campaign to an endowment for its K-8 school, Joslin said.

Holy Name of Jesus withdrew some of its more conservatively invested funds to help meet the increasing needs of the poor because of the recession, Garry said.

“I’m optimistic in looking forward,” he said, adding he thinks LCG offers a dynamic investment strategy which will bring better returns in the long run. The Catholic Spirit

Archbishop Jean Jadot, former Nuncio to the U.S. was Proud Of Bishops He Gave us. (2002 interview)

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From The Wanderer, September 26, 2002

The author of this article, Paul Likoudis, is a very conservative Catholic and all might not agree with his portrayal of the bishops mentioned in this article. But I'm glad the article has been republished on the internet.

Archbishop Jean Jadot, Pope Paul VI's apostolic delegate to the United States from 1973-1980, has no regrets about the spate of bad bishops he inflicted on the Catholics of this country. [The archbishop turned 99 last November. He has been retired since 1984.]

And, if veteran Vatican reporter Robert Blair Kaiser, who recently interviewed Jadot at his home in Belgium, can be believed, Jadot is still proud of some of his most notorious picks, such as Bishop Walter Sullivan of Richmond, Va., Archbishop Jean Jadot, Pope Paul VI's apostolic delegate to the United States from 1973-1980, has no regrets about the spate of bad bishops he infficted on the Catholics of this country. And, if veteran Vatican reporter Robert Blair Kaiser, who recently interviewed Jadot at his home in Belgium, can be believed, Jadot is still proud of some of his most notorious picks, such as Bishop Walter Sullivan of Richmond, Va., Archbishop Rembert Weakland of Milwaukee, and Roger Cardinal Mahony of Los Angeles - to name but a few, many of whom are known more for their advocacy of homosexual rights, their protection of pederast priests, and their conunitment to modernism than to their commitment to the Church's doctrines.

Other men who became bishops during Jadot's tenure in the United States include Rochester Bishop Matthew Clark; Albany's Howard Hubbard; former Santa Fe Archbishop Roberto Sanchez, who resigned in a sex scandal; former San Jose Bishop Pierre DuMaine; former Honolulu Bishop Joseph Ferrario; San Antonio Archbishop Patrick Flores; former Newark Archbishop Peter Gerety; Joliet, Ill., Bishop Joseph Imesch; Louisille Archbishop Thomas C. Kelly, O.P., a former staffer at the apostolic nuncio under Jadot; Bernard Cardinal Law of Boston (whom Jadot selected as bishop for Springfield-Cape Girardeau, Mo.), Cincinnati Archbishop Daniel Pilarczyk; Saginaw, Mich., Bishop Kenneth Untener - to name a few more - all of whom, supposedly, mirrored his own progressive image as a "man of the people."

Each of these prelates has been a strong advocate of the pro-homosexual agenda in the U.S. Church, ordaining homosexuals, imposing pro-homosexual education on Catholic schools, aiding and abetting special rights legislation in the civil realm for homosexuals, and giving free rein to homosexuals and lesbians in religious orders which operated schools, universities, parishes, seminaries, and retreat houses in their dioceses and archdioceses.

Kaiser, who covered the Second Vatican Council for Time magazine and recently wrote a book, Clerical Error: A True Story, asserting, he was cuckolded by the late Malachi Martin, recently met Jadot in Belgium, and published the interview for The London Tablet, September 7, under the headline, "Where's the Red Hat?"

Kaiser wonders why, when both Jadot's predecessor and successor as papal delegates to the U.S. received the red hat of a cardinal, Jadot never received one in recognition of his work here. [He is still only an archbishop at 99.]

"When Jean Jadot left his native Belgium to become a papal diplomat in 1968, he took his instructions from Pope Paul VI, who saw an evolving role for his nuncios after Vatican 11 - not to be the Pope's eyes and ears, but his heart," Kaiser opened. "Nuncios should travel, Paul VI said, not so much as the representatives of Rome to secular governments, or even as legates between Rome and the world's bishops. They should 'how the Pope's concern for the poor, the forgotten, the ignored.'

"Paul VI, of course, was still on a conciliar high," continued Kaiser. "He had seen the Church through three stormy sessions of the council launched by his predecessor, John XXIII, to a glorious end with the Promulgation of the council's crowning charter document, Gaudium et Spes, which was designed to set the Church on a new course - caring less about itself as an institution, caring more about working for justice and peace. Jadot sought to run that course - first in the Far East, then in Africa, then, from 1973 to 1980, in the United States, where he identified episcopal candidates among the American priests who were in line with the ideas of Paul VI.

"Soon after the Pope's death, however, he was yanked from his post, brought back to the Vatican, told not to concern himself any longer with anything American, and put in charge of an ill-defined bureau, the Pontifical Council for Non-Christians. Jean Jadot's predecessor received a red hat; so did Jadot's successor. Jadot never did. In fact, he is the only Vatican diplomat assigned to the United States who was never made a cardinal.

"What harm had he done?

"In the United States today, that all depends on one's point of view. An American priest who is second in command of his ancient religious order in Rome says Jadot was 'the best man we ever had.' The reason: 'For seven years, Jadot helped pick our very best bishops.' He instanced Ted McCarrick, now the cardinal archbishop of Washington, D.C., and Roger Mahony, the cardinal archbishop of Los Angeles, two of a very small group inside the College of Cardinals who could be called Progressives. (Jadot also plucked a priest out of the Diocese of Jackson, Miss., and had him made bishop of Springfield, Mo. He is now the embattled cardinal archbishop of Boston, Mass., Bernard Law. But that's another story.) [Cardinal Law resigned as Archbishop of Boston in 2002 and was appointed archpriest of the Basilica of St. Mary Major in Rome in 2004.]

"If, however, you were to ask a conservative like Cardinal Edward Egan, archbishop of New York, he would say Jadot hurt the Church in the United States by picking the ‘very worst' bishops. This is because John Paul II had changed the criteria. It was part of his plan to bring a runaway, postconciliar Church back to its senses."

Most of Kaiser's interview with Jadot focused on such issues as how bishops are selected when a vacancy arises, and whether or not the current system - of selecting three names and forwarding them to Rome - works, or whether or not there should be popular election of bishops. Jadot thinks the current system works, though not as well as it might.

Kaiser then focused on the old prelate, reviewing his career in the Church, and the obvious satisfaction he feels from a long life's work.

"The Jadot I found in Brussels," Kaiser wrote, "did not strike me as a man who was nursing any grievances. He knew he had done a fine job - for Paul VI and for the Church. He refused to speculate about why he did or did not become a cardinal, and had good words, moreover, for some in the Roman Curia. He said he liked Cardinal Gianbattista Re. 'I trust him very much. He's in the category of honest people.'

"I asked him how many cardinals he put in that category.

"Jadot hesitated, then laughed. 'I don't know all the cardinals,' he said.

"When I asked Jadot what qualities he would like to see in the next Pope, he said: 'I would like, to see a Pope who is ready to listen."

Kaiser also provides some insights into Jadot's family, which remains one of the wealthiest in Europe. His father, Lambert, was an engineer who "built the electrical system and streetcar network in Tientsin, China, the harbor city for Peking, and later managed the building of a railroad through the Congo."

The family became enormously wealthy by developing "the largest [gold - editor] mining center in the country, one that produced more than half of the Congo's income, . . . Jadotville," but Jadot, after studies at Louvain and the Institut Cathohque in Paris, became an anti-colonialist, and advocated "a progressive handover of administration and government to the African community. He helped the local Church adapt, to history by freeing itself of colonial influences over its catechesis and its liturgy....

"From 1952 to 1960," Kaiser continued, "Jadot was chief chaplain to the colonial forces in the Belgian Congo, and found himself engaged for the most part in trying to conciliate the Belgian colonialists and the Congolese.... During the 1960s, Jadot was a cheerleader in Belgium for a number of his friends from Louvain University who helped run Vatican II. One was Dom Lambert Beauduin, the Benedictine from Chevetogne who, in 1945, planted the idea in the mind of a papal diplomat in Paris named Angelo Roncalli [the future Pope John XXIII] that the Church needed a council.

"In 1960, Jadot was appointed national director of the Pontifical Society for the Propagation of the Faith as a public relations man and fund-raiser for the missions. The job put him in close contact with a number of cardinals in Rome. One of them, Sergio Pignedoli [d. 1980], recruited him into the papal diplomatic corps. In 1968, he was made a titular bishop and sent as a papal legate to Bangkok.

"On December 3, 1968, attending a conference of Catholic and Buddhist monks, Jadot had an hour's fascinating conversation with Thomas Merton, the Trappist poet and author who had become a peace activist. Two hours later, Rembert Weakland, the abbot primate of the Benedictines (who was also attending the conference), rushed to Jadot's room to tell him Merton had just been electrocuted in his bath. Together, Jadot and Weakland negotiated the release of Merton's body with the Thai government and arranged for its transfer to the United States. [Weakland became the Archbishop of Milwaukee in 1977 and resigned under pressure in 2002]

"When Jadot got the word on the Internet in May of Weakland's resignation in yet another sex scandal, he e-mailed him. 'I am your friend. I will always be your friend. Sed libera nos a mato'." ["malo"?]

Besides Weakland, another of the "good bishops" Jadot identified for Pope Paul VI, wrote Kaiser, was a young labor priest from Fresno, Calif., Roger Mahony, now cardinal archbishop of Los Angeles [since 1985].

Jadot was struck by Mahony's advocacy for migrant grape pickers and his close involvement with Cesar Chavez. According to Kaiser, "Mahony was a man of the people, who had grown up shoveling manure on his father's chicken ranch in the San Fernando Valley. It was 'no surprise' to Jadot when Mahony was finally appointed archbishop of Los Angeles in 1985.

"Walter Sullivan, soon to retire as bishop of Richmond, Va. Kaiser continued, "was another of Jadot's choices. He turned out to be a pastor who included everyone, even gay Catholics on the margin of the Church.... He naturally became the target of a whispering campaign for more than 20 years by some of those who think they can be more Catholic by being less-catholic. The whispers went all the way to the Roman Curia, which sent an investigator to Richmond more than a dozen years ago to look into Sullivan's heresies. Sullivan was exonerated." trosch.org

Argument of the Month Club, Jan 13: "Morality and God (or His Non-Existance)"

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Bring your Verbal Side-Arms, Catholics; the Debate this month is with an atheist!

Morality and God?

January 13th 2009, at St. Augustine Church in South St. Paul, the AOTM drops it’s hottest debate ever on the Twin Cities. Dr. Aurthur Hippler will debate George Kane from the “Minnesota Atheists” organization. A local atheist organization that is very active here in the twin cities.

The topic for debate has not formally been picked. However I think it is safe to say the debate will center around morality and God (or the absence of God). I promise this will be an intense and informative debate. I will post more details as they become available.

Dr. Arthur Hippler is the former Director of the Office of Justice and Peace for the Diocese of La Cross. He is the author of Citizens of the Heavenly City and has written for the newspaper The Wanderer. Dr. Hippler received his P.H.D. in philosophy from Boston College and currently teaches at Providence Academy, in Plymouth MN.

George Kane graduated with a degree in philosophy from the University of California at Berkeley in 1970. He joined Minnesota Atheists in 1997, and has served on the Board of Directors for ten years. During that time he has been President, Chair and Editor of the organization’s newsletter. He is currently the Secretary, and an interviewer on Minnesota Atheists’ radio and cable TV programs. In addition to his work with Minnesota Atheists, he has earned three Distinguished Toastmaster Awards.

The AOTM would like to thank Fr. Echert and David Mathis for a fantastic debate at the last forum on November 11th. Everyone who attended the Forum that evening said that it was a dynamic debate. The evening was a huge success. We hosted 250 men that night, which is up from last month where we hosted 186 men. The AOTM appreciates such fine speakers like Fr. Echert and David Mathis (David was a very good sport by the way) that help us reach so many men. David loved his experience with AOTM and asked if he could come again. We said yes of course and we hope that he and his friends will come and join us often. We also thank those who spread the word and consistently encourage others to come. Men like you enable this apostolate to further it’s mission. Thank you.

Last month’s debate will be available, on CD, at the next forum, January 13th. You can buy it at the check in table. You may also order it by contacting www.twinheartsmedia.org. Soon all of our previous forums will be in mp-3 format and available to everyone via this web-page. Please be patient.

AOTM EVENING SCHEDULE -FYI- Many of our Catholic participants start the evening by attending Mass first at Holy Trinity Parish, located at 749 Sixth Street South St. Paul Minnesota 55075, which is just south of St. Augustine on Sixth Avenue. 5:15 p.m. on Tuesdays.

You may join us at any point during the evening.

- 6:00pm Social Hour and Appetizers
- 7:00pm Dinner
- 7:30pm Main Presentation
- 8:15pm Dessert
- 8:30pm Q&A

For Just $12 at the door (The total cost for the night) you will get great appetizers (check menu), beverages, and hear a challenging debate while you listen and enjoy a fabulous “Manly Meal” (check menu). Prepare yourself to challenge or simply question the debators during the Q&A after dessert. Men of all creeds and ages are welcome to join in the good humor, food and fellowship. Priests and seminarians get in free, but will not be shown partiality in debate. Fathers are encouraged to bring their sons.

AOTM Menu: AOTM Goes Italian January 13th:

All AOTM Forums are served buffet style. It is all you can eat and drink.

• Appetizer: Artichoke dip- This dip is a blend of two types of cheese, marinated olives, artichokes, roasted garlic and spices. Then we top it off with another layer of cheese and bake it until golden brown.
• Dinner: Caesar Salad- A terrific blend of leafy lettuce, vegetables, fresh basil and toasted garlic croutons. We then cover it with a terrific creamy Caesar dressing and toss it with black pepper. Roasted Garlic Alfredo over Tortellini- Our vegetables and portobello mushrooms are basted with olive oil, roasted, then folded into a rich Alfredo sauce made with cream cheese, smoked Gouda, roasted garlic and rosemary. A deluge of this sauce is then laid over a bed of tortellini. Spicy Robust Red over Angel Hair- This spicy and very robust tomato sauce is bursting with sausage onions, bell peppers, portobello mushrooms and brought to perfection with a little red wine. Served over a bed of angel hair pasta. Cheese Covered Garlic Herb Bread
• Dessert: Our dessert will be white and chocolate marbled cake, with expresso filling and chocolate frosting from the “Baker’s Wife Bakery” in South Minneapolis. 4200 28th Avenue S; 612-729-6898.