Fr. John Paul Erickson to write Series to explain changes coming with new Roman Missal in the Catholic Spirit

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The following is the first in a series of articles regarding the new Roman Missal, which will be used in the United States beginning on Nov. 27, the first Sunday of Advent.

“Lift up your hearts!”

These are pivotal words in the Mass, words spoken by the celebrant to the congregation during what is referred to as the “preface dialogue.”

They are pivotal words not only be­cause they form an integral part of the liturgy, but also be­cause they encapsulate beautifully the meaning of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and serve as a clarion call to that full, active and conscious participation in the liturgy that is our delightful duty as believers.

We are summoned by Christ to offer up our hearts in union with his own sacrifice — a sacrifice made present on the altar.

They are words meant to prompt devotion, remind us of love and call us to communion. Let our response be bold and zealous: “We lift them up to the Lord!”

This call to communion, a summons to offer up our lives to the Father in union with the total gift of self offered by Christ on the altar, lies at the very heart of the meaning of the whole Mass.

This meaning has always been found at the foundation of the liturgy of the church and must be the rock upon which we build any authentic understanding of the church’s prayer.

On Nov. 27 this year (the First Sunday of Advent), many of the words used at Mass to summon, remind and form us will be changing, but the foundation remains the same, as it always will.

Education necessary

It would be difficult to overestimate the importance of good catechesis during the months ahead as we prepare for the reception and use of these new words at Mass.

This catechesis is important not only because we need to know what to say on Nov. 27 and why we say it, but also because every time these sorts of changes occur, it is a privileged time to re-examine the Mass and the liturgy as a whole and to take a serious look again at our own devotion to the Mass and to the sacraments.

Change is often difficult, but it can also be immensely fruitful. Indeed, change, even difficult change, is most often necessary for life and real growth.

Beginning with this edition of The Catholic Spirit and continuing until Nov. 27, I am pleased to announce that Catholic Spirit readers will be encouraged to get to know these new texts, the reasons behind them, and some of the history of the Mass itself through a series of articles composed by writers from around the archdiocese and the English-speaking Catholic world.

I hope and pray that all who read these articles will find them helpful and be encouraged to truly pray the Mass.

In addition to these articles, parishes and pastors will be receiving practical guidance from the Office of Worship as to how to implement and prepare for these changes in the many communities of faith throughout this local church.

Good resources

I encourage all who have not already done so to visit the website of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and to examine the page the conference has produced on the new texts (http://www.usccb.org/romanmissal).

Many marvelous resources are found there, and the common questions asked about the new texts are answered. The site is simply the best resource out there on the new texts.

May God bless us all during these months of preparation and waiting for the historic changes to the words of the Mass.

May the Blessed Mother, who is the image of the church and a model of prayer, intercede for us and teach us how to truly pray with mind and heart renewed.

And may we all, clergy and laity alike, take this opportunity to refocus on the immutable meaning of the Mass, a summons to communion with Christ in the sacrifice of our hearts to the Father of all.

Lift up your hearts!

Father John Paul Erickson is director of the archdiocesan Office of Worship.

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The series

» May 12: “Why a New Missal?” A brief background on where the new missal is coming from. We’ll trace its documentary history and its close connection to the reforms of the Second Vatican Council.

» May 26: “The New Translation is a Plus for Catholics.” An article explaining what will be gained in the new translation and the opportunity it affords us as praying Christians.

» June 9: “New Kids on the Block.” In addition to new words, the new missal brings with it the memorials of new saints.

» June 23: “The Lord be with you — and with your spirit.” Perhaps no other change has received more attention than this brief exchange. Why is it changing and what does the change mean?

» July 7: “The Act of Penitence.” Why is it important to acknowledge our sin as Mass begins? What is changing about the wording of this rite?

» July 21: “The Gloria.” It’s appropriate that our first liturgical exposure to this retranslated text will not be Nov. 27, but rather at the Vigil Mass of Christmas, when we will gather to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. Why? Because the new words sound an awful lot like the hymn of the angels at Bethlehem.

» Aug. 4: “The Creed, part 1.” Why does the Creed matter, and why is it changing from “We believe” to “I believe”?

» Aug. 18: “The Creed, part 2.”

» Sept. 1: “The Preface Dialogue.” It is right and just.

» Sept. 15: “The Roman Canon, part 1.” As a way of examining the Mass itself, we’ll explore the first Eucharistic Prayer, often called the Roman Canon. Many rich symbols and references are found within this ancient prayer, and by paying attention to the scriptural and traditional imagery, we can learn much about just what it is we are doing through, with and in Christ at the Mass.

» Sept. 29: “The Roman Canon, part 2.”

» Oct. 13: “The Roman Canon, part 3.”

» Oct. 27: “The Roman Canon, part 4.”

» Nov. 10: “Q&A.” As the implementation of the new missal becomes imminent, we will try to answer any remaining questions about the new texts and their use.

» Nov. 23: “Q&A, part 2.”

Catholic Spirit

Jennifer Roback Morse: Statement before the Minnesota Senate on the Marriage Amendment

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Jennifer Roback Morse is the President and Founder of the Ruth Institute, a project of the National Organization for Marriage^[1] for the promotion of heterosexual marriage and the opposition to same-sex marriage. The Institute's mission is to "make marriage cool" by promoting the idea of lifelong, committed marriage. She speaks on college campuses and at other venues around the country on issues concerning marriage. A PhD in economics, Morse is a former teacher of economics at both Yale University and George Mason University. She is now a part-time Research Fellow at the Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty.^[3]

Emphases and Comments are mine.

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Prepared remarks for the Judiciary Committee of the Minnesota State Senate, hearings on same sex marriage - April 29, 2011 St. Paul, Minnesota

We are here to consider giving the citizens of the State of Minnesota the opportunity to vote on a marriage amendment to their Constitution. The proposed amendment simply states "Only a union of one man and one woman shall be valid or recognized as a marriage in MN."

I am Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse, founder and president of the Ruth Institute, a project of the National Organization for Marriage. My doctorate is in economics, from the University of Rochester, in NY. I have taught at Yale and George Mason Universities. I have had fellowships with the University of Chicago, Cornell Law School, and the Hoover Institution at Stanford. I have written two books on the social purpose and significance of marriage. I am the mother of an adopted child and a birth child. My husband and I were foster parents in San Diego County for three years.

I urge you to allow the citizens of MN the opportunity to exercise their right to vote on the definition of marriage. Removing the requirement that spouses be of opposite sex is a redefinition of marriage. Redefining marriage redefines parenthood. Redefining marriage affects the balance of power between the state and civil society. The citizens of MN have the right to make up their own minds about these important issues.

The proposed amendment is nothing radical. The people of MN are entitled to say whether they want marriage to remain as the union of one man and one woman, or whether they want to take their chances with marriage being redefined by activist judges. Letting the citizens vote is just the decent thing to do.

The essential public purpose of marriage is to attach mothers and fathers to their children and to one another. We can see the importance of this purpose by taking the perspective of the child: What is owed to the child? Unlike adults, the child does not need autonomy or independence. The child is entitled to a relationship with and care from both of the people who brought him into being. Therefore, the child has a legitimate interest in the stability of his parents' union. But no child can defend these entitlements himself. Nor is it adequate to make restitution after these rights have been violated. The child's rights to care and relationship must be supported pro-actively, before harm is done, for those rights to be protected at all.

Marriage is adult society's institutional structure for protecting the legitimate interests of children. Without this public purpose, we would not need marriage as a distinct social institution.

We often hear the objection that some marriages don't have children. This is perfectly true. However, every child has parents. Depriving a child of relationships with his or her parents is an injustice to the child, and should not be done without some compelling or unavoidable reason. The objection that some marriages don't have children stands the rationale for marriage on its head. It views marriage strictly from the adult's perspective, instead of from the child's perspective.

Marriage is not simply a special case of the market, and family law is not simply a subset of property and contract law. Marriage exists to meet the social necessity of caring for helpless children, who are not and cannot be, contracting parties. Children are protected parties. And, marriage should protect the interests of both parents in pursuing their common project of rearing their children. If we replace this essential public purpose with inessential private purposes, marriage will not be able to do its job. But children will still need secure attachments to their mothers and fathers, a need which will go unfulfilled.

Same sex marriage redefines parenthood, as a side effect of redefining marriage. Up until now, marriage has made legal parenthood track biological parenthood, with adoption for exceptional situations. The legal presumption of paternity means that children born to a married woman are presumed to be the children of her husband. With this legal rule, and the social practice of sexual exclusivity, marriage attaches children to their biological parents.

Same sex couples of course, do not procreate together. So called Marriage Equality requires a dubious move from "presumption of paternity" to the gender neutral "presumption of parentage." This sleight of hand transforms the legal understanding of parenthood. The same sex partner of a biological parent is never the other biological parent. Rather than attaching children to their biological parents, same sex marriage is the vehicle that separates children from a parent.

No longer will the law hold that children need a mother and a father. In the wake of marriage redefinition in other states, courts are saying silly things like, "the traditional notion that children need a mother and a father to be raised into healthy, well-adjusted adults is based more on stereotype than anything else."[1]

This statement made by the Iowa Supreme Court in Varnum v Brien, is false as a general statement. Mountains of data show that children do need their mothers and their fathers,[2] and that children care deeply about biological connections.[3]

Please don't change the subject by saying that we already have lots of children unattached to their parents. We should be taking steps to place responsible limits on things like divorce, rather than careening headlong into further and more deeply entrenched institutionalized injustices to children.

Equating same sex parenting with opposite sex parenting will also marginalize men from the family. By legalizing same sex unions, the authority of the government declares that mothers and fathers are interchangeable. Society asserts that children do equally well with two mommies, two daddies or one of each. And when mothers and fathers are interchangeable, it is fathers who will be pushed aside.

In Canada, where same sex unions have been legal since 2005, the birth certificates reflect this marginalization of fathers. Each birth certificate in British Columbia has a place to mention the biological mother. The second parent is listed as "father or co-parent," and people check off whether the "other parent" is the father or co-parent. Fatherhood is officially reduced to a check-off box.

You might object that the birth certificates are purely symbolic, and that we could solve this symbolic problem of marginalizing men on the birth certificates by simply recording Parent A and Parent B. Very well. Suppose we do that. That must mean we would record two individuals as parents, without taking note of which one has any biological relationship to the child. The theory would be that the genetic connection between the child and one member of the lesbian couple for instance, cannot be permitted to "privilege" her in any way over the other member of the couple.

This suggestion makes plain how deeply same sex marriage will alter our social structure. The biological principle of determining parentage will have to be suppressed, and eventually replaced with another principle. That principle will be that the state will decide who counts as a parent.

We can already see this in disputed custody cases. Courts are awarding parenting rights to individuals who not related to the child, either through biology or adoption. Perfectly fit parents are having their parental rights diminished because they once had a sexual relationship with someone.[4] When courts 'eradicate the parent/non-parent dichotomy,' they must establish multi-part tests for determining whether a person warrants the status of "de facto parent." The court ends up scrutinizing the minutiae of family life.

Let us be clear: the alternative to the biological principle for determining parentage is the principle that the government decides who is a parent. Instead of simply recording parentage, the state will determine parentage, not in exceptional cases, but routinely. This is far too much discretion to allow the family courts. Those of you who think like libertarians should be particularly alarmed by this expansion of the state into the lives of ordinary citizens. This is what "getting the state out of the marriage business" will eventually come to mean.

In short, redefining marriage from the union of a man and a woman to the union of any two persons jettisons three foundational principles: first, the principle that children are entitled to a relationship with both parents, second, the biological principle for determining parentage, and third, the principle that the state recognizes parentage, but does not assign it.

I am often told I am on the "wrong side of History." The justice of "marriage equality" is overwhelming; the younger generation favors it; same sex marriage is inevitable. But there is ample reason to doubt this March of History storyline: we were told all these things about abortion too.

"You need to accept Roe v. Wade. Abortion is simple justice for women. Besides, the next generation will completely accept abortion. You are on the Wrong Side of History."

A funny thing happened on the way to History: the people did not perform as promised. In January 2010, I took a group of Ruth Institute students up to the West Coast Walk for Life in San Francisco. Official estimates place the attendance at over 35,000. But I wasn't counting. I was looking at the faces. I saw what anyone can see, if they care to look: the pro-life movement is a youth movement.

The average age of the walkers at the West Coast Walk for Life was probably around late twenties. Toward the front of the parade were the Berkeley Students for Life (yes, there is such a thing) and the Stanford pro-life club, (yes, they exist as well). Busloads of high school students, college students road-tripping in from all over the West Coast, families with small children, babies in arms, backpacks and strollers. The next generation is not going along quietly with the March of History.

And why should they?

It is the interests of children that the Abortion Regime sets aside in order to accommodate the desires of adults. And it is the interests of children that the redefinition of marriage will set aside as well. Remember the old pro-abortion slogan, "every child a wanted child?" Who can take that seriously today? Today's same sex marriage mantra, "Kids just need two adults who love them" will come to sound every bit as hollow.

Advocates of redefining marriage assure us that children will do fine, whatever the loving adults in their lives decide to do. IVF children will be so wanted by their legal parents that the lifetime separation from their natural parents will not trouble them. Children of unconventional family structures, held together by a series of contracts among adults,[5] those children will just have more adults to love them. Divorce, separation, complex custody quarrels, kids shuttling between four households with their sleeping bags and backpacks:[6] that's just anti-equality hysteria and will never happen.

But biology will reassert itself. Some women who have children with female partners will find that sharing the care of their children with another woman, is not as easy as sharing the care with the child's father. Some men who agree to be sperm donors as "friends" will find that they want more of a relationship with their own children than they had anticipated.[7] And some children are going to have feelings about their absent parents, uncomfortable questions about their origins, and complex emotions about being partially purchased.[8]

Advocates of so called marriage equality typically respond, "That's just biology," as if biology were nothing. They are asking people to set aside the natural attachment of parents to their own children, the natural difficulties of treating another person's child as if they were your own, the natural desires of children to know who they are and where they came from. Suppressing all these feelings in all these people will not be possible indefinitely. As time marches on, the brutality of the marriage "equality" regime will become just as obvious as the brutality of the abortion regime is today. Marriage is the right side of history.

And I don't think you can fall back on the idea that "nothing so terrible has happened in Massachusetts." Redefining marriage redefines the way generations relate to one another. It is foolishness to believe we would feel the full impact of such a profound change in a few years. It will take at least a generation, a full thirty years or more, before the full effects of redefining marriage work themselves out throughout the legal and social system.[9]

The only argument for redefining marriage is so-called "equality." Equality in this context takes a venerable American concept and twists it out of recognition. Equality used to mean limiting the power of the state to make irrelevant distinctions among citizens. But marriage equality is becoming a battering ram for smashing every aspect of social life that has any hint of sexual differentiation. No more mothers and fathers, only Parent 1 and Parent 2.

Let me remind you that a vast majority of African Americans completely reject same sex marriage. They are deeply offended by the high-jacking of the moral authority of their civil rights movement.

Previous generations of social experimenters have caused unimaginable misery for millions of people. Particular people advocated the policies that led to today's 50% divorce rate and 40% out of wedlock childbearing rate. None of these people has ever been held accountable.

The people of Minnesota are sensible mature people, who want to be accountable for what happens in their state. The people of Minnesota deserve a chance to vote. Redefining marriage will have far-reaching consequences that ought to be fully aired. Putting this amendment on the ballot will allow that discussion to take place. Something this significant should not be rammed down the throats of an unwilling citizenry by judges. Let the people vote.

http://traffic.libsyn.com/ruthinstitute/May03_11.mp3 Podcast

Cathy of Alexandria's Dad was admitted to the Emergency Room this evening

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I just received an email from Cathy (Janice LaDuke) who is on her way to Bemidji in northern Minnesota. Her Dad, a widower for a long time, Cath is his only living child, was taken to the Emergency Room in the hospital there about 6:30 this evening. He lives in Cass Lake, nearby.

Cathy popular blog is "Recovering Dissident Catholic."

Your prayers for both of them would be greatly appreciated. They are very close and he was just down visiting her for Easter.

That's probably got to be a five hour drive for her.

Cathy's user name on Facebook is Catherine Alexandria if you'd like to leave her a message.

Ray Marshall

Duluth's Bp. Paul Sirba testifies for defense of marriage amendment

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Bp. Sirba, formerly a priest of the Archdiocese of St.Paul-Minneapolis, testifies for defense of marriage amendment

Posted on 3 May 2011 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

The Catholic Spirit, Archdiocesan newspaper of my native place, has a piece about the testimony in defense of marriage given to the House Civil Law Committee of the Minnesota Legislature by His Excellency Most. Rev. Paul Sirba, Bishop of Duluth. For this statement he spoke for all the bishops of Minnesota.

From my personal experience, Bp. Sirba was one of the best priests I have ever known. I have known him for 30 years.
Emphases and [comments] by Father Z.

Bishop Paul Sirba of Duluth testified May 2 before the House Civil Law Committee in support of a bill (HF 1613) that would put a constitutional amendment on the ballot in 2012 to define marriage as a union between one man and one woman. [Make it so!]

“Based on God’s Word given in divine revelation, we believe that marriage creates a sacred bond between spouses,” said Bishop Sirba, speaking for the Catholic bishops of Minnesota. “We hold this to be true not only for ourselves, but for all humanity.” [And marriage can be defended also from the point of view of reason, without the reference to divine revelation.]

The church’s convictions about marriage “find ample support in principles which can be discovered by human reason and which have been reflected throughout human history,” he said.

The House bill, introduced by Rep. Steve Gottwalt (R-St. Cloud), was approved by the Civil Law Committee by a 10-7 vote. A companion bill in the Senate (SF 1308), authored by Sen. Warren Limmer (R-Maple Grove), was passed April 29 in the Senate Judiciary Committee, where Bishop John Quinn of Winona testified in support of the measure.

If both houses pass the measure, a question would be placed on the ballot in November 2012 asking voters: “Shall the Minnesota Constitution be amended to provide that only a union of one man and one woman shall be valid or recognized as a marriage in Minnesota?”

Bishop Sirba was the third of seven people to testify on behalf of the House bill. Hundreds of people were directed to a lower-level room to watch the proceedings via live broadcast, as only ticketed participants were allowed into the packed hearing room.

Testimony in support of the bill was also given by representatives from four other faith groups, University of St. Thomas School of Law professor Teresa Collett and Jennifer Roback Morse, founder and president of the Ruth Institute, [Participates at Acton Institute's summer university. Great speaker.] a project of the National Organization for Marriage. Amendment opponents also testified.

Bishop Sirba said “the committed relationship between one man and one woman calls forth the best of the spouses, not only for their own sake, but also for the well-being of their children and for the advancement of the common good.”

In defending the institution of marriage, he emphasized that “persons with same-sex attractions are our sisters and brothers, and should not be deprived of their authentic human rights, including the most fundamental rights of all — the right to life and the right to love.” [It is impossible for them to claim a right to marriage, which can only be between one man and one women.]

The Catholic Church opposes discrimination against any person based on a same-sex attraction, he said. “At the same time,” he added, “meeting authentic human needs does not require changing society’s definition of marriage.”

Bishop Sirba said the bishops believe the amendment is needed because several legislative proposals in the past few years have sought to “transform marriage from an institution focused on the needs of children into a totally new legal entity centered on the happiness of adults.” [Can we conclude from this that passage of legislation allowing same-sex couples to "marry" and then in some way adopt children, is a form of child abuse?]

To view the Minnesota Catholic Conference’s “Marriage Amendment Resource Page,” visit HERE.

WDTPRS kudos to Bp. Sirba.

New essay explains Church teaching on 'brain death,' organ donation

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“Moral certitude of death can be achieved using either cardio-pulmonary or neurological criteria, according to the magisterium of the Church. Catholics may in good conscience offer the gift of life through the donation of their organs after death based on neurological or cardio-pulmonary criteria according to current Church teaching. This does not mean that the teaching is irreformable. It may be modified on the basis of future scientific discoveries. However, it does mean that, at this point in time, the teaching can be followed with a clear conscience.”

Confusion about Catholic moral teaching on “brain death” may be leading some doctors and ethicists to forbid organ donations in cases where the Church would allow it.

Dr. John Haas, head of the National Catholic Bioethics Center says the confusion stems from new doubts about the medical criteria for determining “brain death.”

The issue is critical in cases where a patient’s organs are to be donated for transplant. In order to be effective, organs must be “harvested” as close to the time of death as possible.

Currently, the Church permits doctors to use “brain death” or “neurological criteria for determining death” in making end-of-life and organ donation decisions.

But recently some have suggested that these criteria are no longer acceptable. A recent book by a Catholic doctor even claims that doctors who use “brain death” criteria are committing murder.

Haas is worried that this thinking — which runs counter to Church teaching — is gaining influence and causing confusion.

In a new essay published exclusively on the website of the Catholic News Agency, Haas argues that patients and doctors can follow the Church’s teaching with a “clear conscience.”

“It is understandable that pro-life Catholics are going to be very sensitive to any possible violation of the human person’s fundamental right to life. However, on occasion some misunderstand Catholic teaching in their pro-life zeal and deny that certain actions are morally permissible,” he writes.

The issue of “brain death” remains hotly debated in some Catholic medical circles.

“The idea that neurological criteria are not a licit means of determining death prior to organ harvesting seems to be gaining ground in certain Catholic circles,” Haas told CNA.

Some Catholic theologians and medical ethicists now believe that new brain research has raised questions about previous Catholic moral conclusions. They say this new research suggests that brain death criteria don’t provide doctors with the certainty that a person is truly dead.

Haas pointed to a recent article by E. Christian Brugger, a moral theologian at Denver’s St. John Vianney Theological Seminary and a senior ethicist at the Washington-based Culture of Life Foundation.

Brugger said that research has shown that some patients who have been “rightly diagnosed” as brain dead sill show “integrative bodily unity to a fairly high degree.” He said the research “raises a reasonable doubt that excludes ‘moral certitude’ that ventilator-sustained brain dead bodies are corpses.”

Brugger’s views have been widely circulated on the internet since being published earlier this year by the Catholic news agency, Zenit.

Haas says that despite the good intentions of Bruggers and others, their arguments run “contrary to the moral guidance the Church has provided the faithful on a critical life and death issue.”

Haas expressed concern that given Brugger’s status as an archdiocesean seminary professor, his arguments “could well unsettle consciences.”

“I fear that some Catholics, after reading Brugger’s piece, would think they would be morally compelled to refuse an organ transplant if the donor were judged to be dead using neurological criteria,” Haas said.

He acknowledged that questions remain about the moment of death and the proper safeguards needed before organs can be removed for transplant.

But he said: “The Church has provided guidance to the faithful that they can confidently follow with clear consciences.”

In his essay, Haas critiques the arguments by Brugger and others. He also explains the authoritative teaching of Blessed Pope John Paul II, as well as the Pontifical Academy for Life, and other Catholic institutions.

He concludes: “Moral certitude of death can be achieved using either cardio-pulmonary or neurological criteria, according to the magisterium of the Church. Catholics may in good conscience offer the gift of life through the donation of their organs after death based on neurological or cardio-pulmonary criteria according to current Church teaching. This does not mean that the teaching is irreformable. It may be modified on the basis of future scientific discoveries. However, it does mean that, at this point in time, the teaching can be followed with a clear conscience.”

Haas’ essay can be found here: http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/column.php?n=1568
Catholic News Agency

Dr. John Haas Related articles:

Respect for Unborn Human Life: The Church’s Constant Teaching - US Bishops

Hearing on the Brain Science Behind Pornography Addiction

Catholic Church

The Catholic Church and Abortion

Karol Wojtyla Beatified. "They Will Look Upon Him Whom They Have Pierced"

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"However, [in 2000] he certainly never publicly asked forgiveness for the sexual abuse of children committed by priests. But there is also no record of anyone leaping up in 2000 to castigate him for this omission. The scandal was still not big enough, for the distracted masters of public opinion at the time. Now the same ones who were silent then [now] accuse him of that silence, they accuse him of letting himself be snared by the disgraced priest Marcial Maciel. But these are posthumous accusations that reek of hypocrisy."

Today almost everyone admires him. But in life he was opposed and mocked by many, even within the Church. His holiness is the same as that of the martyrs. His beatitude is the same as that of Jesus on the cross

by Sandro Magister

ROME, May 1, 2011 – In Polish, he used to say of himself in his last years: "I am a biedaczek, a wretch." A poor old man, sick and worn out. He, so athletic, had become the man of sorrows. And yet it was precisely then that his holiness began to shine, inside and outside of the Church.

Before that, instead, pope Karol Wojtyla was admired more as a hero than as a saint. His holiness began to conquer the minds and hearts of many men and women from all over the world when what Jesus had prophesied for the old age of the apostle Peter happened to him: "Amen, amen, I say to you, when you were younger, you used to dress yourself and go where you wanted; but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go."

Now that he has been proclaimed blessed, John Paul II is unveiling to the world the truth of the saying of Jesus: "Blessed are the poor, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."

He did not radiate holiness in the hour of his triumphs. Much of the acclaim that he received while he was traveling the world at a breathtaking pace was too biased and selective to be sincere. The pope who knocked down the iron curtain was a blessing in the eyes of the West. But when he fought in defense of the life of every man born upon the earth, in defense of the most fragile, smallest life, the life that has just been conceived but whose name is already written in heaven, then few listened to him and many shook their heads.

The story of his pontificate was for him a matter of lights and shadows, welcome and rejection, with strong opposition. But but his dominant profile, for many years, was not that of the saint, but of the combatant. When in 1981 he had a brush with death, shot for reasons still not entirely clear, the world bowed in reverence. It observed its minute of silence, and then went right back to the same old unfriendly song.

Many in the Church also distrusted him. For many, he was "the Polish pope," representing an antiquated, antimodern, populist Christianity. They looked not at his holiness but at his devotion, which wasn't a hit with those who were dreaming of an interior and "adult" Catholicism, so obligingly immersed in the world as to become invisible and silent.

And yet, little by little, from the crust of the pope as athlete, hero, fighter, devotee, his holiness also began to unveil itself.

The jubilee, the holy year of 2000, was the turning point. Pope Wojtyla wanted it to be a year of repentance and forgiveness. On the first Sunday of Lent that year, March 12, before the eyes of the world, he presided over an unprecedented penitential liturgy. Seven times, for the seven capital vices, he confessed the sins committed by Christians century after century, and asked God's forgiveness for all of them. Extermination of heretics, persecution of the Jews, wars of religion, humiliation of women... The pope's anguished face, already marked by illness, was the icon of that repentance. The world looked at him with respect. But also with derision. John Paul II exposed himself, defenseless, to blows and insults. He let himself be scourged. There were some who demanded more repentance each time, for yet more faults. And he beat his breast for all of it.

However, he certainly never publicly asked forgiveness for the sexual abuse of children committed by priests. But there is also no record of anyone leaping up in 2000 to castigate him for this omission. The scandal was still not big enough, for the distracted masters of public opinion at the time. Now the same ones who were silent then accuse him of that silence, they accuse him of letting himself be snared by the disgraced priest Marcial Maciel. But these are posthumous accusations that reek of hypocrisy.

The ones who understood what was true in the holiness of that pope were the millions and millions of men and women who bestowed on him the most grandiose collective "thank you" ever given to a man in the past century. The heads of state and government of almost two hundred countries who flocked to his funeral in Rome did so in part because they could not stay away from that wave of admiration that was sweeping over the world.

But John Paul II also wanted that jubilee of 2000 to be the year of the martyrs. The countless martyrs, many of them nameless, killed out of hatred for the faith in that "Dominus Iesus" whom the pope wanted to reaffirm as the only savior of the world, for the many who had forgotten about him.

And the world intuited this: that in the suffering figure of the pope was the beatitude that God had promised to the poor, to the afflicted, to those who hunger for justice, to the peacemakers, to the merciful. The pope mocked, opposed, suffering, the pope who was gradually losing the use of speech was sharing in the fate that Jesus had proclaimed to his disciples: "Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and utter every kind of evil against you falsely because of me."

The beatitudes are the biography of Jesus, and therefore of those who follow him with pure hearts. They are the image of the new world and of the new man that Jesus inaugurated, the overturning of worldly criteria.

"They will look upon him whom they have pierced." As beneath the cross, many today see in the beatified Karol Wojtyla an anticipation of paradise.


[This commentary was written by Sandro Magister for "La Tercera," the leading newspaper of Chile, and published on the day of the beatification of John Paul II, May 1, 2011]. Chiesa

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I wonder how many know that Mass is offered in French in Minneapolis!

St. Philip Parish in Minneapolis to close and merge with Ascension

French chaplaincy to be created in Ascension and St. William's in Fridley

St Paul, MN, April 30, 2011 - Members of St. Philip in Minneapolis are being welcomed at other parish communities, after parish leaders determined the current community of 250 registered households is not sustainable for the long term. On June 1, 2011, St. Philip will merge with Ascension parish, whose church is a little over a half mile down the street from the St. Philip building.

Earlier this year, the pastor, parish trustees and members of the pastoral and finance councils at St. Philip reported to the Archdiocese that the challenges of growing costs and changing demographics had become insurmountable. Parishioners at St. Philip have been engaged and remain informed of the challenges facing their parish.

On March 31st, parish leaders sent a letter to Archbishop John C. Nienstedt, noting that there were no feasible alternatives to the merger of St. Philip with another parish. Archbishop John C. Nienstedt concurred with the local leaders’ assessment of the situation at their parish. “When the Archdiocese launched its strategic planning process a little more than two years ago, it was our hope that St. Philip could stabilize financially and would be able to remain open,” said Archbishop Nienstedt. “Unfortunately, over the past several months, it has become clear that this is simply not possible. I offer my condolences and prayerful support to all those who are impacted by this decision.”

Ascension parish is ready to warmly welcome families from St. Philip into all aspects of parish life. Welcoming events are being planned now. Ascension pastor, Reverend Michael O’Connell says, “Ascension Parish welcomes parishioners from St. Philip's as together we look toward a future full of hope.”

Since his arrival at St. Philip several years ago, Rev. Omalanga has ministered to a growing community of immigrants from French-speaking African countries. It is very important to note that while St. Philip is merging with Ascension, ministry to these members of the French-speaking African community will continue to be offered through a chaplaincy being established for this purpose. After the merger on June 1, Fr. Omalanga will be assigned to this French-speaking chaplaincy which will be based at St. William in Fridley. The pastor at St. William, Reverend Joseph Whalen says the members of St. William are excited about the arrival of this community. “The Saint William family is very happy to open our arms to these French-speaking African Catholics,” said Father Whalen. “We are excited about the opportunity to learn from and share with one another.”

Because of urgent financial pressures, it has been determined that the St. Philip church building should close. Parish leaders are working to determine if the St. Phillip’s community outreach programs can continue.

On April 29, 2011, a formal decree of parish merger was issued, in keeping with Catholic Church law. Parishioners affected by this merger, who believe they are negatively impacted by the decision, have until May 11, 2011 to request in writing that the Archbishop reconsider the decision. More information about the appeal of a parish merger may be found in Appendix A to the Strategic Plan (pdf). Archdiocese of StP-M

Vatican Blognic: When in Rome, Tweet/Blog as the Romans Do (but in English, please)

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One of the many wonderful things that have happened under our most recent Popes has been the acknowledgment of the computer age, blogging and even Tweeting. Monday, May 2, the day after the Beatification of Blessed John Paul, the Vatican's Pontifical Council for Social Communications will be holding a "blognic" for 150 bloggers from around the world to discuss the Church in the Blog Age (or whatever else they feel like. The Pope is not scheduled to appear, or blog.

Two Minnesota bloggers, The Ironic Catholic (IC, to her pals), who blogs under that name out of St. Mary's University in Winona, where she is a Professor of Theology (and a mom of four), and Susan Vigilante (what a great last name!), who blogs as the Desperate Irish Housewife ("Desperate" to her pals) will be present and most assuredly will be reporting back via their blogs, and Twitter.

Also invited:

Elizabeth Scalia http://www.patheos.com/community/theanchoress/

Hilary White http://anglocath.blogspot.com/ Writer for LifeSiteNews.com
Joan Lewis http://www.ewtn.com/news/blog.asp?blog_ID=1 EWTN

Katrina Ebersole http://thecrescat.blogspot.com/

Rocco Palmo http://www.whispersintheloggia.blogspot.com/
Roderick Vonhögen http://sqpn.com/
Sandro Magister: http://www.chiesa.espressonline.it L'Espresso
Taylor Marshall http://www.cantuar.blogspot.com/
Thomas Peters http://www.americanpapist.com also CatholicVote.org
Tim Kelleher http://www.firstthings.com/

There will be a less formal gathering on May 3 and many Americans not invited to the formal event will be present for that.

IC posted this on her blog, today

When In Rome, tweet as the Romans do....

I'll be leaving Saturday from Minneapolis and arrive in Rome this Sunday, 8 am. I will be attempting to tweet through the experience, but we'll see how that works. And I'm not tweeting through masses, people. I'm actually a luddite at heart who became accustomed to social media largely through learning to teach hyper-wired college students, as well as through Sic's web development side work. But luddite or not, I will try my best to get a picture of the Crescat with a Swiss Guard. And perhaps talk her down. Although she is picturing Thelma and Louise, I'm afraid I'm more of an ironic Jiminy Cricket type.

If you want to follow me on Twitter, click here. If you like twitter, you can see what everyone is tweeting by searching through the term #vaticanblognic . If you don't do twitter and want to know what's going on, check the Twitter widget on the left sidebar of the IC website. And if I'm good, I may even blog a bit, and Sic (spouse of the Ironic Catholic, of course) has said he will try to post as well (although the man is watching our four young kids!).

Prayers appreciated. Thanks for all the good wishes and more--I've been mightily humbled by the positive response to it all. Easter peace everyone, and see you soon--virtually or in person!

p.s. big news when I get back about little Anthony, the boy with CP who needs a family--more on this later but you can preview it here!

Posted by The Ironic Catholic at 12:01 AM

Rosary-making ministry in Davenport touches Catholics worldwide

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At The Mustard Seed, a Catholic bookstore in Iowa City, Roy and Roberta Wilsons hold knotted cord rosaries they made.

In Rome in October 2002, while waiting with Catholics from around the world for a papal Mass to begin, Roy and Roberta Wilson believed they saw the Blessed Mother’s hand at work.

As the couple passed time by making knotted cord rosaries, nearby pilgrims showed interest. Members of St. Wenceslaus Parish in Iowa City, the Wilsons tried to teach rosary making to the Catholics, many of whom didn’t speak English.

“Amazingly, they learned the quickest of any group we’d ever taught,” Roberta said. Then, she learned why.

“A man three or four rows behind us said, ‘Praise to Our Lady of the Rosary!’ It was her feast day. So we had some help from her.”

The Wilsons believe Mary has guided them throughout the 14 years they’ve been making and donating knotted cord rosaries, which Roy said have gone to Catholics on six continents. The couple makes 1,200 to 1,300 of the devotional aids each year, and several Catholics who learned the art from the husband and wife also make and donate rosaries.

The ministry has spread further than the Wilsons imagined it would when Roy took up the craft in 1997.

That year he was on a retreat at which a fellow participant, who was often seen carrying cords, piqued his curiosity. “I had to ask, ‘What are you doing?’” The man showed Roy a rosary and asked, “Would you like to learn to make these?”

Roy, who works as a tile setter, learned. “When I got home, I had to make the rosaries; I didn’t know why. I think Our Lady was whacking me around a bit.”

As he continued crafting them, requests poured in from friends, family and fellow parishioners. Seeing he needed help fulfilling those requests, Roberta started making rosaries, too.

Since then rosaries have gone to hospitals, rest homes, mourners at funerals, residents of several foreign countries and, with the help of St. Wenceslaus’ Knights of Columbus, to U.S. troops overseas. The cord rosaries are hard to break, so they’re well suited for children and soldiers, said Roberta, a school teacher.

The most challenging request for rosaries came in 2008 from a Slovakian seminarian who met a friend of the Wilsons while in the United States. The seminarian, now Father Jan Dolny, asked for 600 rosaries for everyone who would attend his ordination Mass — just two months away. Friends and family of the Wilsons ended up helping the couple make 850 rosaries — while praying for each future recipient.

The agnostic boyfriend of one such recipient later went through the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults, Roberta said. “He was overwhelmed by the idea that someone in a different country was praying for him.”

Brother Erik Ross, a Dominican friar native to Wisconsin, also was moved by gifts of rosaries that the Wilsons sent his community in Poland in 2008. Many of the rosaries went to people whom missionary priests minister to in various countries, Br. Ross e-mailed the Wilsons. “Your generosity, and the generosity of your whole network of rosary-makers, is just astonishing… you are an example and witness to all of us,” he wrote.

Hearing such examples of how rosaries and prayers have touched people keeps the Wilsons going, Roberta said.

Roy agreed. “Realizing I can help promote the faith and bring people closer to God is my reward.”

Monica Hemingway feels similar benefits. She said that after taking a rosary-making class from the Wilsons about three years ago as she prepared for confirmation, she fell in love with the craft. “I like knowing my handiwork will be used by other people and they’ll be able to enjoy it,” said the 16-year-old member of St. Mary Parish in Iowa City. She has helped the Wilsons with rosary-making workshops at the Davenport Diocese’s youth rallies and given rosaries to family members, dinner guests and others. “It makes me feel closer to God and other people.”

At Our Lady of the River Parish in LeClaire, the rosary ministry has snowballed since the Wilsons taught a class there a couple years ago at parishioner Jennifer Hildebrand’s invitation, she said. Prayer partners for Catholics preparing for first Communion or confirmation pray with the knotted cord rosaries, then give the devotional aids to the parishioners when they receive the sacraments. Hildebrand estimates about 300 rosaries also have gone to residents of Grand Bois, Haiti, home to Our Lady of the River’s “sister parish” and where LeClaire parishioners have made mission trips.

For St. Wenceslaus parishioner Jan Dostal, knotted cord rosaries offer a way to reach out to an ill or injured Catholic. She takes them and Communion to patients at University of Iowa Hospitals. Lapsed Catholics there decline the Eucharist but seem happy to receive a rosary, she said.

She and her husband, Bill, have made the rosaries for at least a decade since taking a class from Roy. “As much as we try to pay him for his cord, he absolutely refuses,” Bill said. “He and Roberta are just so devoted to this. It‘s a wonderful cause.” Davenport Catholic Messenger

New St.Paul-Mpls center offers accounting services to churches, schools

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The newly opened Parish Accounting Service Center at the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis is helping to relieve some of the burden on pastors and parish leaders while providing a level of financial expertise many par­ishes cannot afford on their own.

A result of the archdiocesan Strategic Plan, the center offers participating parishes and schools comprehensive accounting and bookkeeping services, including bill paying, record keeping and financial reports. Participation is voluntary.

“If you’ve got any questions about the accuracy, the usefulness or the timeliness of your reporting, or if you’ve got better things for your [staff] to do than to be bookkeepers, we can take that burden off,” said John Bierbaum, archdiocesan chief financial officer.

Applying best practices

Bierbaum said the PASC applies best business practices to the church, a goal of the Strategic Plan.

“I was involved as the CFO of a multi-division public company, and that’s what we did there — create a centralized accounting system to accomplish exactly the same things: . . . drive some costs out of the system by essentially creating economies of scale,” Bierbaum said.

“[The PASC] enables us to assure some transparency in the numbers and some consistency between parishes as to how they report the numbers,” he added.

PASC employees all have accounting degrees and parish experience, said Mary Jo Jungwirth, PASC project manager. “I wanted to make sure [the employees] . . . really understand the environment in which they’re working,” she said.

After a parish contacts the PASC, whose offices are at the Chancery in St. Paul, employees visit the parish and work with key leadership to assess current operations, Jungwirth said.

“We do a lot of listening, then come back with a business plan based on how they operate and the funds that they’re bringing in,” she said. “Next, we talk through the business plan and come to an agreement. Then an accountant works with them to transition the parish to the service center.”

PASC employees work with parish leadership on an ongoing basis, offering reports they think might be helpful. However, the parish maintains full control of its financial decisions.

“Accounting is what we’re actually doing; that’s the product,” Jungwirth said. “But it’s about a systemized process of doing financial accounting and data collection and management. So it’s looking at the archdiocesan parish and the parish operations in a holistic way.”

Rates are determined based on parish size, and participating parishes are required to use the Logos Management Software System. The center will help parishes convert to Logos if they are not already using the software.

A ‘cost-effective’ solution

Business administrator Jon Jakoblich’s parish, Transfiguration in Oakdale, was one of the first to use the PASC’s serv­-ices.

“It’s certainly reduced a labor burden,” he said. “Now they’re generating monthly reports, like a balance sheet, a statement of activities and also cash flow projections. That’s the big one, . . . those cash flow projections. . . .

“Another way that they’ve helped us,” he said, “is by thoroughly analyzing all of our business practices, our internal controls, making sure all those are in place and they’re sound, quality practices.”

Jakoblich said he would recommend the PASC’s services to any parish.

“I think it’s a very cost-effective solution for what they’re able to provide us, which is a lot more financial analysis than I, as a very busy business administrator, could do on my own,” he said. “It’s an opportunity to partner with someone with some additional expertise and a lot more time on their hands to sit down and create these reports, analyze these things, and then hash things over with me. . . .

“It’s going to provide us with a much higher level of financial reporting and give us better information that’s going to enable us to make decisions — the right decisions — to keep our finances on track.” Catholic Spirit

Highland Park Planned Parenthood Good Friday Prayer Vigil Schedule 8:30-4:00 p.m.

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Pro-Life Action Ministry's annual all-day Good Friday Prayer Vigil is quickly approaching. This is one of the most moving events you could attend to commemorate the passion and death of our Lord Jesus. This event will bring for you a deepened awareness and spiritual understanding of Jesus' suffering and death which won our salvation. And it will greatly enhance the Good Friday services at your own church.

Please invite everyone you know to be a part of this vigil.

Archbishop Nienstedt: Opening Prayer, 8:30

Bishop Piche': 10:00

Fr. Randy Kasel, St. Charles, Bayport: 11:00 (he holds a prayer vigil most every Friday at 3:30 there also).

Fr. Humberto Palomino, St. Mark's, St. Paul, 12:30; He is an excellent homilist and obviously, bi-lingual.

Fr. Michael Becker, Rector, SJV Seminary, 1:30; He is also an excellent speaker. I heard him at the National Organization For Marriage rally at the State Capitol last Summer.

Fr. James Livingston, Chaplain, North Memorial Hospital, 3:00

GOOD FRIDAY

PRAYER VIGIL

All Day April 22, 2011

8:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.

Planned Parenthood Abortuary

1965 Ford Parkway, St. Paul, MN

Join with us to pray in front of Minnesota's highest volume abortuary on Good Friday. Fifteen area pastors will lead in scripture and prayer each half hour throughout the day. A life-sized cross will be our sign as we carry the cross of abortion. An area will be cordoned off for a family-safe day of prayer.

More than 2,000 Christians joined in prayer throughout the day at each of the last two Good Friday Vigils. Please come for an hour or two, half the day or the whole day.

Music in the morning by the Franciscan Brothers of Peace and for the remainder of the day, Richard Schettly and Company.

Thousands around the country will join Catholic Church at Easter

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A young adult raised in communist Cuba, an African woman who grew up as a Muslim, a marine being deployed in June, and a former abortion clinic administrator, along with tens of thousands others around the country, are joining the Catholic Church in the United States at Easter.

These catechumens, now known as “the elect,” and candidates for full communion have all participated in a process of conversion and study of the Catholic faith through Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA). The RCIA has several stages, the most important of which is the moment when they will receive or complete the sacraments of initiation, usually at the Easter Vigil. A catechumen is a person who has never been baptized; a candidate is someone who was baptized in a Christian tradition and now desires to enter into full communion with the Catholic Church. In some dioceses, the candidates also include baptized Catholics who never completed their sacraments of initiation and weren’t raised in the faith. . . .

In the Austin, Texas, area, Abby Johnson, a former Planned Parenthood clinic director and author of the bestselling book “Unplanned,” is getting ready for yet another “unplanned” conversion that will bring her into the Catholic Church. In September 2009, Johnson was asked to hold the ultrasound probe during an abortion. In the monitor, she saw the baby struggle to get away. This experience, and her unease with Planned Parenthood’s emphasis on increasing abortions, gave her the courage to leave her job and undertake a journey of conversion. She went to the Coalition for Life’s office down the street, a Christian pro-life organization whose members were a constant, prayerful and peaceful presence outside the clinic. There she received practical help as she navigated joblessness, legal problems with Planned Parenthood and broken friendships. Her pro-life advocacy also met the disapproval of her pro-choice church. Many of her new friends are Catholic, and through them she has learned about the faith. She and her family will join the Church at Easter, along with 911 others in the Austin Diocese. . . .

Young people whose parents are in the RCIA program or who are past the usual age for receiving the sacraments of initiation can join a special version of the RCIA for children. The Archdiocese of New Orleans reports that of the 132 catechumens entering the church at Easter, 48 are under age 18; and of the 150 candidates, 10 are children. Likewise, the Diocese of Toledo, Ohio, shows that 56 of the 206 catechumens and 28 of 366 candidates are children.

Though larger archdioceses usually boast the largest overall number of converts—New York (1,600), Philadelphia (811) Washington (1,100), Seattle (1,000+), Portland-in-Oregon (875), Cincinnati (1,100), Galveston-Houston (2,490), Atlanta (1,912), Louisville (504), Milwaukee (613), Saint Paul and Minneapolis (643) — the Diocese of San Diego, with 1,253 people (425 catechumens, 828 candidates) entering the Church at Easter, is proof that you don’t need to be large to show some very impressive numbers.

Comparatively smaller (in population) dioceses also report numbers that illustrate the vitality of the Catholic Church in the Midwest, South and Southeast of the United States. The Diocese Birmingham, Alabama, has 487 people joining the Church at Easter; the Diocese of Savannah, Georgia, 421 people; the Diocese of Jackson, Mississippi, 355 people. The Diocese of Arlington, Virginia, will add 800 new Catholics; the Diocese of Cleveland, 513; the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend, 450; the Diocese of Toledo, 572 people; and Grand Rapids, 568.

The Diocese of Allentown, Pennsylvania, will welcome 434 people (98 elect and 336 candidates). Over half (224) are Hispanic, the fastest growing ethnic group in the diocese.

Some rural dioceses, which encompass an entire state—such as the Diocese of Boise, Idaho, with 195 catechumens, and the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston, West Virginia, with 128 catechumens and 247 candidates, for a total of 375 soon-to-be new Catholics— also are signs of active and effective evangelizing faith communities. . . .

These numbers are based on participation in the Rite of Election and Call to Continuing Conversion, a part of the RCIA process usually conducted at the beginning of Lent. They do not include infant baptisms, which in 2010 totaled 857,410 according to the Official Catholic Directory (OCD). For 2010, OCD reported that there were 43,279 adult baptisms in the United States and 75,724 people received into full communion.

"Why I Love Jesus" Meme

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I got "tagged." Pal Cathy of Alexandria, aka Cranky Cathy, Queen of the Twin Cities Catholic Blogging Corps the Recovering Dissident Catholic megasite, must be mad at me. Someone tagged her and she dug up some old grudges and brought me into the recently resurrected meme culture.

A check of Stella's index tells me that I've been involved with a dozen or so memes in the past, but I have been thankful for the past year or so to think that this blog activity had ceased. Uh, uh. Now Cathy sez that I have to give you five reasons "Why I Love Jesus" (I hope I have more than that) and then tag I must tag five more folks to get them to do the same. So be nice to me today and tomorrow or else I might be choosing you.

#5 I Love Jesus because I was born into a good Catholic family, and while people who talk as much as we do occasionally get into arguments, we still talk to each other lo these many years down the line.

#4 I Love Jesus because even after I fell away from the Church as an adult, despite 12 years of elementary and secondary catechism and religion instruction, I still considered myself to be a Catholic, although a very bad one, and ultimately reverted and returned to the Church. I know Jesus had much to do with that. I sure wouldn't have had the discipline to do that myself. Thank you, Jesus.

#3 I Love Jesus because He accepts me despite my many faults. And he gives me the grace of the sacraments, especially Confession, and a loud conscience, that doesn't permit me to go long without retuning to the Confession box. And he has me living in an area where Confession 7/24 is readily available, in walking distance if need be.

#2 I Love Jesus because He keeps trying to improve me. Despite my resistance. A few years back I began to say the Rosary now and then but despite my half-hearted intentions, I was never able to say it seven days in a row. A few months ago, I broke though that "ceiling of sloth" and began to say the Rosary daily, to the point now that I feel guilty If I don't do it. Although I must admit that occasionally I have to revert to the "Emergency Rosary" to get it done within the time limit. [Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with Thee. Pray for me now and at the hour of my Death. Amen.]

#1 I Love Jesus because He does love me. For most of my life I could not understand the Second Great Commandment: "Love Your Neighbor as Yourself." If I didn't love myself, how was it possible for me to "love my neighbor?" Once I understood that Jesus did love me, I began to comprehend that I must be loveable if Jesus did love me, with all my faults. And therefor I should be loving myself, and loving my neighbor, too.


Most of you can start breathing now. Here are the people that I have chosen to play the "I Love Jesus" Meme: Laura, the Crazy Mama, the Ironic Catholic, Sanctus Belle, who blogs at Our Lady's Tears, the Badger Catholic, and Sancte Pater, the internet Photoshop whiz who designed my new header!

Michael Voris on Why He Was Banned from Speaking on Church Property in the Diocese of Scranton

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Click on bottom right arrows for full screen view!

R.I.P. Bishop William H. Bullock - St. Paul - Minneapolis, Des Moines, Madison

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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.

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William H. Bullock, bishop emeritus of Madison, Wis., whose service to the Roman Catholic Church began with parishes in Minneapolis and Edina, then as an educator at St. Thomas Academy, has died.

Bullock, 83, died Sunday of lung cancer at a pastoral center in Madison.

Bullock's 51 years of active service to the church culminated with his mandatory retirement in 2003 after 10 years as bishop of the Madison Diocese. Previously, he was bishop of the Des Moines Diocese for six years.

At the time of his 80th birthday, Bullock told the newspaper of the Madison Diocese: "The next big thing I will do in my life is die, and I want to do that well."

Among Bullock's defining moments in Madison were the creation of an office of Hispanic ministry and authorizing construction of a Catholic Multicultural Center, which provided social services for new immigrants and the poor. He also created a diocesan sexual abuse review board, made up mostly of laypeople.

"He wanted to make sure we were doing what the Lord calls us to do, which is greeting a stranger and making a guest feel welcome," Monsignor Daniel Ganshert, who served as Bullock's assistant, told the Wisconsin State Journal.

Bullock was born in 1927 on a family farm near Maple Lake, Minn., and he turned to his rural upbringing as an icebreaker during a one-on-meeting with Pope John Paul II.

Bullock recalled saying to the pontiff, " 'Holy Father, I am quite nervous here today -- I am a simple farm boy from Minnesota and here I am in the presence of the successor of St. Peter.'

"At that moment, the Holy Father took my hand and said, 'And I am a simple peasant pope from Poland, but God wanted to use us both.' With those kind words, I was then at ease in our visit."

Bullock graduated from Annandale High School during World War II and attended what is now the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul before serving in the Navy during the war.

After the war, he graduated from the University of Notre Dame with a degree in philosophy, then entered St. Paul Seminary. His post-graduate studies took him back to St. Thomas and Notre Dame.

Bullock was ordained in 1952 at St. Paul Cathedral, then was associate pastor at St. Stephen in Minneapolis (1952-55); Our Lady of Grace in Edina (1955-56); and Incarnation in Minneapolis (1956-57).

He entered education, teaching religion at St. Thomas Academy in Mendota Heights starting in 1957 and was its headmaster from 1967 until 1971.

He returned to parish work in 1971 as pastor of St. John the Baptist in Excelsior from 1971-1980 and Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Minneapolis in 1980.

In 1980, Bullock became an auxiliary bishop for the Twin Cities archdiocese, then was appointed bishop in Des Moines seven years later.

A citation accompanying an honorary degree in 2005 from the University of St. Thomas noted of Bullock: "Your life as a priest and as a leader of hundreds of thousands of Catholics in the Upper Midwest has served both as an inspiration and a lesson for us all."

In June 2006, Bullock had an audience at the Vatican and was thrilled by the "enormous privilege to be able to shake hands with Pope Benedict XVI," noting that they were born three days apart.

Bullock described Benedict as "a man of great clarity and precision in his teaching and consistent in the clarity with which he preaches."

Bullock is survived by two sisters, Adelaide "Addie" and Elizabeth "Betty" Bullock. A public funeral mass open to the public will be celebrated at 11 a.m. Thursday in Madison at Our Lady Queen of Peace Catholic Church, 401 S. Owen Dr. Interment will be in Resurrection Catholic Cemetery, Madison. In lieu of flowers, memorials are suggested to the Catholic Multicultural Center through Our Lady Queen of Peace. Star Tribune

Bishop William H. Bullock, Third Bishop of Madison, Dies The Diocese of Madison sadly announces the death of Most Reverend William H. Bullock, Bishop Emeritus of the Diocese of Madison

The Diocese of Madison sadly announces the death of Most Reverend William H. Bullock, Bishop Emeritus of the Diocese of Madison. Bishop Bullock died peacefully the afternoon of Sunday, April 3rd, at the age of 83 at his residence at the Bishop O’Connor Catholic Pastoral Center in Madison. In recent weeks, Catholics in the Diocese of Madison were asked to pray for Bishop Bullock, who had only recently been diagnosed with terminal cancer. Funeral provisions are pending and an update, regarding final arrangements, will be posted as soon as they are available.

Bishop Bullock was born on April 13, 1927, in Maple Lake, Minnesota. After serving in the United States Navy during World War II he completed seminary studies and was ordained a priest for the then-Archdiocese of Saint Paul in 1952. Father Bullock undertook three parochial assignments before being named an instructor and then headmaster at St. Thomas Academy, St. Paul. Concurrent with his duties at St. Thomas, Father Bullock completed an M.A. in Liturgy and Religious Education at The University of Notre Dame and an ED.S. at St. Thomas University. From 1971-1980 he served as Pastor of St. John the Baptist Parish in Excelsior, MN and in 1980 was named Auxiliary Bishop of Saint Paul and Minneapolis. On February 10, 1987 Bishop Bullock was named by Pope John Paul II Bishop of Des Moines and on April 13, 1993 was named the third Bishop of Madison. Serving past the age of retirement, Bishop Bullock began his service as an active Bishop Emeritus on May 23, 2003.

As shepherd of the Diocese of Madison for ten years, Bishop Bullock outlined his priorities early on: encouraging increased spirituality among the priests and laity of the diocese, evaluating ways to efficiently use buildings, programs and agencies, and to build a vision for the Diocese together. Bishop Bullock, at his installation in 2003, stressed the importance of Christian love in this vision, saying: “First, loving and trusting God and second, loving our neighbor generously and without resentment. If we continue to do that, nothing will be able to separate us from the love of Christ.”

During his years of leadership of, and service to, the Diocese, Bishop Bullock established the official archives of the diocese; established the thriving St. Thérèse of Lisieux Lecture Series, as an opportunity to experience that life giving presence of Catholic Tradition, to learn more about their faith and to live charity more authentically; led the Diocese of Madison in celebrating its 50th anniversary (1996), and gave the great work started by St. Martin House a real home through formally opening the Catholic Multicultural Center (2002). His vision at the CMC is continued through the generous leadership and work of Our Lady Queen of Peace Parish, in Madison.

Bishop Robert C. Morlino often said of Bishop Bullock in life, and repeats now in his passing, that “He was an ideal predecessor for me and I could not be more grateful for that. The impact of his labors here bears fruit to this day, and I’m thankful to have known and served with him. Please pray with me that he may be granted by the Almighty those gifts which served as his three-word Episcopal Motto: Grace, Mercy, Peace.”

In lieu of flowers, memorials to the Catholic Multicultural Center through Our Lady Queen of Peace Catholic Church would be appreciated. Eternal rest grant unto him O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him. May he rest in peace.

Archdiocese of St. Paul-Mpls: 33 priests accused but not named

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The archdiocese's list of those facing sex abuse allegations dealing with minors stays unpublished, counter to what others have done.

The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis has a list of 33 priests accused of sexual abuse involving minors. But unlike other Roman Catholic archdioceses that have published similar lists in recent years -- Milwaukee, Chicago and Baltimore, among others -- it has refused to do so.

The archdiocese's list has been around for nearly eight years and is the subject of at least one lawsuit filed by a man who says he was sexually abused as a teenager by a former Twin Cities area priest.

The question of whether to reveal the priests on the list came into question again this week when St. John's Abbey in Collegeville released the names of 17 monks who have faced credible allegations of sexual abuse or other misconduct. The disclosure was part of a settlement of lawsuits against the abbey.

St. Paul attorney Jeff Anderson, who has represented thousands of clergy sex abuse victims, and victims' rights advocates have pressed to make such lists public for years. Doing so helps victims heal, leads others to come forward and protects children from possible future abuse, they say.

"Until all the names of the all offenders become known and exposed ... other survivors will suffer in secrecy and silence and shame until they know they're not alone," Anderson said. "Kids remain at risk. Those offenders could be in schools, our neighborhoods; they could be in churches."

Archdiocese officials counter that releasing the list could subject someone who is innocent to false accusations. Andrew Eisenzimmer, legal counsel for the archdiocese, says at least eight of the 33 priests on the list are dead and the rest no longer are in the ministry.

So far, the courts have sided with the archdiocese and barred publication of the list. Mike Finnegan, an attorney with Anderson's law office, said the Diocese of Winona has a similar list with 13 alleged abusers from the clergy identified, but it too has been kept private by court order.

"I don't believe all of them [33 priests] have been credibly accused," Eisenzimmer said. "I'm largely basing this on what I know about each of those cases."

U.S. bishops commissioned the John Jay College of Law in New York to compile a nationwide statistical summary of the clergy abuse of minors not long after the church's clergy sex abuse scandal erupted in Boston in 2002. Dioceses were asked to review their records over the past 50 years and submit data for the study. Among the findings by the Twin Cities archdiocese: A total of 26 diocesan priests had been accused of sex abuse involving minors. If priests of other religious orders and other dioceses who had worked in the archdiocese were included, seven more priests, 33 in total, were known to have been accused of abusing minors.

Eisenzimmer said that that total hasn't increased since the information was submitted to the John Jay study almost eight years ago.

"We included people in the John Jay study that probably there's serious doubts about whether the allegations are true or not," he said. "The study asked us to identify allegations of sexual abuse. But it defined allegations quite broadly, as any accusation that's not implausible. To be ... as honest as we could, we put people in that category where there had never been a criminal proceeding to determine whether they had abused someone; there had never been a civil proceeding of any sort."

Terence McKiernan, president of BishopAccountability.org, which tracks Catholic clergy sex abuse cases, said he's aware of about 24 dioceses that have made public lists of clergy accused of sexual abuse involving minors.

Publication can help victims heal and encourage others to come forward, he said. They also can help prevent future abuse, he argues. Often, the listed priests have never been prosecuted or charged because the statute of limitations has run out.

"If the list isn't out there, survivors are going to suffer in silence," he said. "Until they know that someone else has suffered the same thing they did, they think they're the only one. Many of the priests on the lists are still alive. The question is, 'Who are they, and where are they?' Is one of those priests the kind gentleman that moved in next door and is very kind to your kids?"

Restoring trust in Milwaukee

Jerry Topczewski, chief of staff for the archbishop of Milwaukee, said that archdiocese began in 2004 to publish a list of "restricted" diocesan priests "due to substantiated reports of sexual abuse of a minor." At the time, victims' rights advocates and others were calling for such a list to be made public. The list is updated regularly online at the archdiocese's website, Topczewski said.

"We felt that in the climate in Milwaukee at the time ... that this was a good step in rebuilding trust, being transparent and providing information in a way that provided the assurances ... that we've done our due diligence in responding" to abuse reports, Topczewski said.

Eisenzimmer stressed that the Twin Cities archdiocese is in compliance with nationwide church regulations aimed at protecting children. By not publishing the list of the 33 accused priests, "we've taken a different approach, which I think is kind of a nuanced approach, and is respective of victims, it's respective of the parish community, it's respective of the leadership in that parish community," he said. Star Tribune