Thursday, December 30, 2010

Post #103

Excerpt from The Irish Times: Priests group welcomes dialogue aimed at renewal

by Patsy McGarry

THE ASSOCIATION of Catholic Priests has said its members “are more than willing” to be involved in a proposed “structured dialogue” within the Catholic Church in Ireland and “would hope for an early meeting with the hierarchy to begin the process” towards renewal of the church.  (See complete statement here)

It noted “with satisfaction” reference to the need for such dialogue by the Bishop of Ossory Séamus Freeman in last Tuesday’s Rite and Reason column in this newspaper, “but we agree that the dialogue needs to be conducted at all levels. The time may well be right for some form of assembly or synod of the Irish church.”

The association also agreed “the examination of the structures of the church must include dialogue in relation to sexuality, clerical celibacy and the exclusion of women”. It said many members believed church titles should be abolished.

The statement was issued in response to Bishop Freeman’s article which dealt with the frank responses of Irish Catholics to the Pope’s letter last March at meetings held since with bishops around Ireland.

It followed an invitation by Catholic primate Cardinal Seán Brady asking for responses. The association said it was delighted at Cardinal Brady’s initiative and “totally supportive of the views of the respondents, as reported by Bishop Freeman” last Tuesday.

“We agree that if the response to the issue of clerical sexual abuse is not seen in the broader context of the ‘shortcomings in structure and function in the church’, that it will be ultimately futile and that a great opportunity will be lost,” the association added.

“Bishop Freeman hopes that this process will be the beginning of a renewal of the church. This is our hope too.

“We believe that this renewal must include, as the survey indicated, a greater involvement of lay people, equality and compassion for all. It is our fervent wish that the church would have an open door for all who desire to belong and that no one should feel excluded for any reason.”

Sources include
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2010/1230/1224286489404.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patsy_McGarry
http://www.associationofcatholicpriests.ie/
http://www.associationofcatholicpriests.ie/2010/12/our-press-statement-in-response-to-bishop-freemans-article-in-irish-times-dec-28th/
http://www.ossory.ie/diocese/bishop-freeman/
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2010/1228/1224286363694.html
http://www.armagharchdiocese.org/cardinal

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Post #102

There are many priests in the Roman Catholic Church who suffer from severe psycho-sexual immaturity. They reach out for intimacy in ways that are often inappropriate but for which they have no life-experience to alert them to potential problems. It is in that context many of the scandals of the last fifty years or more have occurred. As more than one expert has said, many of the priests accused of sexual abuse had their psycho-sexual growth stunted around the same time as they reached puberty within a seminary formation system that chose sublimation of sexual urges over frank discussion.

In the seminaries, the situation regarding potential abuse was even worse than in public because, in the seminaries, the priests are the ultimate authorities as formation directors who can determine the future of a seminarian without much challenge from anyone. While there have been some changes in seminary administration, the contemporary seminarian is taught from the day he walks through the door that the correct answer is “how high Father”? For the young, impressionable seminarian who has been taught for most of his life that the priest is the spiritual authority, the opportunities for inappropriate behavior still exist.

A seminarian is unlikely to object to what might be an inappropriate touch or comment from a priest-formator because such an objection could mean the seminarian will be rejected by the seminary for reasons which may not always be valid. Similarly, inexperienced priest-formators without any training are being put in the position of determining the future of candidates for the priesthood while those same formators are still working out their own issues. There have been witnessed instances where priest-formators, supported by seminary rectors and disinterested bishops, have engaged in emotional and psychological abuse of seminarians. The bishops, who should be the final arbiter in such cases, are often so pre-occupied with their own personal issues and diocesan problems they are unable to effectively deal with such issues and abandon their authority to the seminaries.

Unfortunately, there is no incentive for change in the seminaries. Bishops and priests will tell you how glad they are to have “survived” the seminary and really don’t see a need for change. Priest-formators in seminaries are so comfortable in their authority structures that they reject any impetus for change and silence those who propose such change.

Dysfunction begets dysfunction.

Post #101

Excerpt from The New York Times: New York priest defrocked for abusing a seminarian

by Paul Vitello

A once-influential Roman Catholic monsignor who oversaw fund-raising for the Archdiocese of New York, running the annual Alfred E. Smith political dinner during the tenure of Cardinal John J. O’Connor, has been removed from the priesthood after an eight-year church review of sexual abuse accusations against him, the archdiocese announced on Friday.

The monsignor, Charles M. Kavanagh, 73, has denied the charges, which were brought against him by a former student at the former Cathedral Preparatory Seminary in Manhattan. The monsignor contested an archdiocesan review board’s finding of guilt in 2003, then asked the Vatican to authorize a formal trial by a tribunal of priests from another diocese. When that body also found him guilty, he sought an appeal from a second tribunal.

Nineteen priests in the archdiocese have been discharged from the priesthood since 2002, when a sexual abuse scandal shook the church nationwide, but Monsignor Kavanagh is the only one who has pursued the full complement of appeals available to him. He is also one of the highest-ranking local priests to have been caught up in the accusations.

Daniel Donohue, 46, the former seminarian who accused Monsignor Kavanagh of making unwanted advances and touching him inappropriately in the 1980s, said, “I’m glad for the validation of my credibility.” But he criticized the slowness and opacity of the church’s judicial process. “For eight years, I never knew where the process was,” he said by phone from Portland, Ore., where he lives with his wife and four children. “I have classmates who are going through similar processes. I just hope it doesn’t take eight years for them, too.”

Mr. Donohue first took his accusations to the archdiocese and the Manhattan district attorney’s office in 2002. Within months, following initial investigations by both authorities, the archdiocese ordered the monsignor to halt his active ministry. Throughout the process of review, trial and appeal, the archdiocese released no information about the case except to confirm that it was continuing.

Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan, a successor to Cardinal O’Connor, said: “I would like to take this occasion to renew our apologies to all those who have been harmed by the sin and crime of sexual abuse, and in particular to apologize to the gentleman who was the victim in this case.”

Sources include
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/18/nyregion/18priest.html
http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/people/v/paul_vitello/index.html
http://www.archny.org/news-events/news-press-releases/index.cfm?i=18597
http://www.cathedralprepseminary.com/
http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/bdolan.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/05/30/nyregion/ex-seminarian-details-account-of-contact-with-monsignor.html

Monday, December 27, 2010

Post #100

Excerpt from the National Catholic Reporter: What victims hear in pope's talk on sex abuse
by Fr. Thomas P. Doyle

Every time Pope Benedict XVI says something about the never-ending sex abuse nightmare, he inches closer and closer to the dark reality that has been like a black cloud over the church for more than two decades. And although he is slowly moving forward, he always stops short of the most important and no doubt for him, the most painful issue: the complicity of the world's cardinals and bishops.

With his talk to the assembled Vatican curia on Monday he showed courage in the presence of many who are still in denial, by admitting the extent of the violation of minors "to a degree we could not have imagined." I suspect that this admission was fueled in no small part by the explosive revelations in Europe especially the mishandling of a serious case during his very own watch as archbishop of Munich.

After that blunt admission Pope Benedict unfortunately retreated to the same set of excuses we have been hearing for years.

First, the focus is on the offending priests but never a word about the bishops whose culpability for the cover-up cannot be diminished because of a sexual disorder.

Second, he wondered what it was in the living out of the Christian life that allowed the plague to happen. It's not clear to me if he was referring to the clerical life or to the entire church. In either case his question is off base. He should have urged his audience and the hierarchy in general to ask what caused their understanding of the church to become so distanced from fundamental Christian values that bishops were willing to sacrifice the innocence of the most vulnerable for the protection of the institution. He could also have urged or better yet insisted that they all look long and hard into the style of episcopal governance that enabled hierarchs and priests to live under the delusion that because of their holy orders, they are above the law.

Third, he could have clarified that this is not a problem the responsibility for which rests on the entire church. It is not the laity's fault that priests abused and bishops enabled.

Fourth, the Holy Father should back off from persistently trying to attach some of the blame to secular society and what he sees as a perversion of morality. His statement that in the 1970s pedophilia "was theorized as something fully in conformity with man and even with children" is mind boggling. Whoever gave him that piece of nonsense should be fired. There have always been very small groups of people whose brains are so convoluted that they think sex with children is good for the children and good for society.
John Allen, in his response yesterday, "On the Crisis, does the pope have it right? " sums up the pope's theological argument: proportionalism. There surely was a lot of proportionalist thinking in the revolutionary '60s and '70s but it never surfaced as a reason why a priest or bishop systematically groomed and then seduced a victim. Why not try giving the proportionalist excuse another twist. If the morality of an action is never cut and dry but depends on the "good versus evil" of the circumstances, what can be said of those so-called church leaders who relativized the good or evil of disclosing a child rape by a priest against the good or evil of protecting the institutional church from a serious blight on its image?

Pope Benedict made another qualified breakthrough by actually thanking those who "stand alongside those who suffer and have been damaged." He singled out "the many good priests" but limited his gratitude to those who assist by helping victims restore their trust in the church and their "capacity to believe her message." I have tried to be a support for hundreds of victims over more than two decades … victims from several countries. Trying to reconcile men and women who have been raped or molested by priests, with the institutional church is nothing short of a particularly cruel form of re-victimization. The pope may have learned a lot about victims over the past few years but it's clear that he still needs to understand the profound nature of the spiritual damage done to them.

Benedict's praise for priests who have helped victims is an insult to the many priests, brothers, religious women and even bishops who have stood publicly with and for the victims and openly named the causes rather than sticking up for the institution. Every one of them has been either marginalized by the clerical culture, penalized by the system or as in the case of two bishops, forced from their positions by the Vatican.

Cheerleaders for the hierarchy lavish praise on the pope any time he speaks out about the sex abuse debacle. At the same time many of the same cheerleaders criticize victims and survivors who react with pessimism asking "will they ever be satisfied." These people need to know that the most important recipients of any papal message are the victims.

The pope's words must be seen from the perspective of the victims for to evaluate them from any other source of reference is to miss the point of why he is even addressing this topic in the first place. The credibility of any statement made by a pope or bishop stands or falls on the perception of those who have been devastated by abuse and those who have survived. In the beginning, and in the end, this is really only about them.

[Fr. Tom Doyle is a Dominican priest, canon lawyer, addictions therapist and long-time supporter of justice and compassion for clergy sex abuse victims.]

Sources include
http://ncronline.org/blogs/examining-crisis/what-victims-hear-popes-talk-sex-abuse
http://ncronline.org/news/accountability/church-must-repent-repair-damage-pope-says
http://www.erzbistum-muenchen.de/
http://ncronline.org/blogs/ncr-today/crisis-does-pope-have-it-right
http://www.sbs.com.au/dateline/story/transcript/id/600432/n/Interview-with-Father-Tom-Doyle

Saturday, December 25, 2010

Post #99

Full text of Benedict XVI’s Urbi et Orbi message
(CatholicHerald.co.uk)
Saturday, 25 December 2010

Verbum caro factum est” – “The Word became flesh” (Jn 1:14).

"Dear brothers and sisters listening to me here in Rome and throughout the world, I joyfully proclaim the message of Christmas: God became man; he came to dwell among us. God is not distant: he is “Emmanuel”, God-with-us. He is no stranger: he has a face, the face of Jesus.

This message is ever new, ever surprising, for it surpasses even our most daring hope. First of all, because it is not merely a proclamation: it is an event, a happening, which credible witnesses saw, heard and touched in the person of Jesus of Nazareth! Being in his presence, observing his works and hearing his words, they recognized in Jesus the Messiah; and seeing him risen, after his crucifixion, they were certain that he was true man and true God, the only-begotten Son come from the Father, full of grace and truth (cf. Jn 1:14).

“The Word became flesh”. Before this revelation we once more wonder: how can this be? The Word and the flesh are mutually opposed realities; how can the eternal and almighty Word become a frail and mortal man? There is only one answer: Love. Those who love desire to share with the beloved, they want to be one with the beloved, and Sacred Scripture shows us the great love story of God for his people which culminated in Jesus Christ.

God in fact does not change: he is faithful to himself. He who created the world is the same one who called Abraham and revealed his name to Moses: “I am who I am … the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob … a God merciful and gracious, abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness (cf. Ex 3:14-15; 34:6). God does not change; he is Love, ever and always. In himself he is communion, unity in Trinity, and all his words and works are directed to communion. The Incarnation is the culmination of creation. When Jesus, the Son of God incarnate, was formed in the womb of Mary by the will of the Father and the working of the Holy Spirit, creation reached its high point. The ordering principle of the universe, the Logos, began to exist in the world, in a certain time and space.

“The Word became flesh”. The light of this truth is revealed to those who receive it in faith, for it is a mystery of love. Only those who are open to love are enveloped in the light of Christmas. So it was on that night in Bethlehem, and so it is today. The Incarnation of the Son of God is an event which occurred within history, while at the same time transcending history. In the night of the world a new light was kindled, one which lets itself be seen by the simple eyes of faith, by the meek and humble hearts of those who await the Saviour. If the truth were a mere mathematical formula, in some sense it would impose itself by its own power. But if Truth is Love, it calls for faith, for the “yes” of our hearts.

And what do our hearts, in effect, seek, if not a Truth which is also Love? Children seek it with their questions, so disarming and stimulating; young people seek it in their eagerness to discover the deepest meaning of their life; adults seek it in order to guide and sustain their commitments in the family and the workplace; the elderly seek it in order to grant completion to their earthly existence.

“The Word became flesh”. The proclamation of Christmas is also a light for all peoples, for the collective journey of humanity. “Emmanuel”, God-with-us, has come as King of justice and peace. We know that his Kingdom is not of this world, and yet it is more important than all the kingdoms of this world. It is like the leaven of humanity: were it lacking, the energy to work for true development would flag: the impulse to work together for the common good, in the disinterested service of our neighbour, in the peaceful struggle for justice. Belief in the God who desired to share in our history constantly encourages us in our own commitment to that history, for all its contradictions. It is a source of hope for everyone whose dignity is offended and violated, since the one born in Bethlehem came to set every man and woman free from the source of all enslavement.

May the light of Christmas shine forth anew in the Land where Jesus was born, and inspire Israelis and Palestinians to strive for a just and peaceful coexistence. May the comforting message of the coming of Emmanuel ease the pain and bring consolation amid their trials to the beloved Christian communities in Iraq and throughout the Middle East; may it bring them comfort and hope for the future and bring the leaders of nations to show them effective solidarity. May it also be so for those in Haiti who still suffer in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake and the recent cholera epidemic. May the same hold true not only for those in Colombia and Venezuela, but also in Guatemala and Costa Rica, who recently suffered natural disasters.

May the birth of the Saviour open horizons of lasting peace and authentic progress for the peoples of Somalia, Darfur and Côte d’Ivoire; may it promote political and social stability in Madagascar; may it bring security and respect for human rights in Afghanistan and in Pakistan; may it encourage dialogue between Nicaragua and Costa Rica; and may it advance reconciliation on the Korean peninsula.

May the birth of the Saviour strengthen the spirit of faith, patience and courage of the faithful of the Church in mainland China, that they may not lose heart through the limitations imposed on their freedom of religion and conscience but, persevering in fidelity to Christ and his Church, may keep alive the flame of hope. May the love of “God-with-us” grant perseverance to all those Christian communities enduring discrimination and persecution, and inspire political and religious leaders to be committed to full respect for the religious freedom of all.

Dear brothers and sisters, “the Word became flesh”; he came to dwell among us; he is Emmanuel, the God who became close to us. Together let us contemplate this great mystery of love; let our hearts be filled with the light which shines in the stable of Bethlehem! To everyone, a Merry Christmas!"

http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/news/2010/12/25/full-text-of-benedict-xvis-urbi-et-orbi-message/

Post #98

Excerpt from BBC: Pope prays for peace at Christmas Eve Mass in Vatican

Pope Benedict has prayed for peace as he delivered his traditional Christmas Eve homily in Rome. At a Mass at St Peter's Basilica, the Pope prayed for God to "implant his peace in our hearts" but also to "break the rods of the oppressors". About 10,000 people attended the Mass.

In his Christmas homily, Pope Benedict said (in part): "The infinite distance between God and man is overcome. God has not only bent down, as we read in the Psalms; he has truly “come down”, he has come into the world, he has become one of us, in order to draw all of us to himself. This child is truly Emmanuel – God-with-us. His kingdom truly stretches to the ends of the earth. He has truly built islands of peace in the world-encompassing breadth of the holy Eucharist. Wherever it is celebrated, an island of peace arises, of God’s own peace. This child has ignited the light of goodness in men and has given them strength to overcome the tyranny of might. This child builds his kingdom in every generation from within, from the heart. But at the same time it is true that the “rod of his oppressor” is not yet broken, the boots of warriors continue to tramp and the “garment rolled in blood” (Is 9:4f) still remains.

So part of this night is simply joy at God’s closeness. We are grateful that God gives himself into our hands as a child, begging as it were for our love, implanting his peace in our hearts. But this joy is also a prayer: Lord, make your promise come fully true. Break the rods of the oppressors. Burn the tramping boots. Let the time of the garments rolled in blood come to an end. Fulfill the prophecy that “of peace there will be no end” (Is 9:7). We thank you for your goodness, but we also ask you to show forth your power. Establish the dominion of your truth and your love in the world – the “kingdom of righteousness, love and peace."

Earlier the Pope lit a candle in his window, which overlooks St Peter's Square, to open officially the Vatican's nativity scene.

Later today, the Pope will deliver his Christmas message to the city of Rome and the world. Then he will host a Christmas lunch in the Vatican's audience hall for 350 homeless people.

Friday, December 24, 2010

Post #97

Excerpt from the Associated Press: China says Vatican must repair rift over bishops

BEIJING (AP) — The Vatican bears responsibility for restoring dialogue with China's government-backed church after its criticism of leadership changes here frayed ties, a Chinese church official said Friday.  China's official Catholic church named new leaders at a conference not recognized by the Vatican, which last week condemned the election as a violation of religious freedom and human rights.  China on Wednesday called those comments harmful to the Catholic church's development in China. The exchange left Vatican-China relations at their lowest point in years.

Liu Bainian, the outgoing head of Beijing's powerful church oversight body the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association, said the Holy See had never before objected to the twice-a-decade conference and its unwelcome comments this time warranted a strong response.  "We can't just not hold the meeting because the Vatican opposes. People wouldn't accept it and it would be akin to turning China into a colony," Liu said at his office on Christmas Eve. His new role will be as honorary chairman of the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association that oversees the church in China.  Repairing ties that had been gradually improving in recent years was now the responsibility of officials in Rome, he said.  "It's not the Chinese government or the Chinese church that is affecting China-Vatican relations," Liu said. "I urge the Vatican to be proactive because it's they who created the problem."

China forced its Roman Catholics to cut ties with the Vatican in 1951 shortly after the communist seizure of power. Dialogue has been used to ease tensions, but a main sticking point has been the Chinese church's insistence that it — not Rome — has the right to appoint bishops.  The sides had come to a fragile accommodation in recent years whereby Rome tacitly approved the bishops nominated by Beijing. That appeared to break down last month when the Chinese church ordained a bishop who did not have the pope's approval, a move it said it was forced to take because of a lack of response from the Vatican.

The frictions worsened after this month's meeting of about 300 bishops, priests and laymen in Beijing, at which Bishop Ma Yinglin — who is not recognized by the Holy See — was chosen as head of the Bishops' Conference of the Catholic Church of China. Liu said the bishop's conference is purely an administrative organ and that no theological conflicts exist with the Holy See.  "The bishops are all clear. On matters of faith, God gives the right to the Pope. On matters of politics, God gives the right to each country's government," said Liu.

Despite China's lack of diplomatic ties with the Vatican, the Catholic church has thrived in China over recent decades alongside Protestant sects that are also closely regulated by the government.  Although only state-backed Catholic churches are recognized, millions of other Chinese belong to unofficial congregations loyal to Rome.  Officially, China has more than 6 million Catholics, up from just over 2 million before the 1949 revolution. About 100,000 join the church every year, Liu said, with Christmas being a particularly productive period for attracting converts.  "In the past, only Catholics and Protestants celebrated Christmas. Now many university students, young people and intellectuals have become interested and Christmas services are packed so tightly some churches have to issue tickets to attend," Liu said.  "So for China it is the best time to spread the good news."

Sources include
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jSbtPgFBCzUOQCd-vFGkSiRTzu9A?docId=5a772a9097944dcda357e40498510073   
http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/0701905.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Catholic_Patriotic_Association
http://wdtprs.com/blog/2007/07/card-zen-v-liu-bainian/ 

Post #96

Excerpt from The Washington Post: Abortion fight at Catholic hospital pushes ACLU to seek federal help

By Rob Stein
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, December 22, 2010; 10:41 PM

The American Civil Liberties Union on Wednesday asked federal health officials to ensure that Catholic hospitals provide emergency reproductive care to pregnant women, saying the refusal by religiously affiliated hospitals to provide abortion and other services was becoming an increasing problem.

In a letter to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the ACLU cited the case of St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center in Phoenix, which was stripped of its Catholic status Tuesday because doctors performed an abortion on a woman who had developed a life-threatening complication.

"We continue to applaud St. Joseph's for doing what is right by standing up for women's health and complying with federal law," five ACLU attorneys wrote in a letter to Donald Berwick, the CMS administrator, and his deputy, Marilyn Tavenner.

"But this confrontation never should have happened in the first place, because no hospital - religious or otherwise - should be prohibited from saving women's lives and from following federal law."

The letter was a follow-up to a complaint the ACLU sent to CMS in July asking for a federal investigation of similar problems at Catholic hospitals across the country, including refusals to provide emergency contraception to rape victims or perform abortions on women having miscarriages.

"The Bishop's drastic and heavy-handed actions send a chilling message to Catholic hospitals throughout the country, as well as their employees: If hospitals comply with federal law and provide emergency abortion care there will be consequences," the letter states. "The dioceses cannot be permitted to dictate who lives and who dies in Catholic-owned hospitals."

Ellen Griffith, a Medicare spokeswoman, said Wednesday that the ACLU's original complaint was still pending and that officials had not reviewed the latest letter.

Yolanda Gaskins, a spokeswoman for Holy Cross Hospital in Silver Spring, said, "In a tragic case where both the life of the mother and unborn baby are at risk, we would always attempt to save both lives - and if this were not possible, we would save the life we could."

Officials at Providence Hospital and Georgetown University Medical Center in the District said no one was immediately available to comment.

The Phoenix case centers on a woman in her 20s who was 11 weeks pregnant in November 2009 when she developed severe pulmonary hypertension, a life-threatening condition. Doctors concluded that they had no choice but to abort the pregnancy to save her life.

When Bishop Thomas Olmsted of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix learned of the abortion in May, he announced that a nun involved in the decision, Sister Margaret McBride, had been excommunicated because of her role. Olmsted cited a directive by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. Olmsted followed up that decision with a letter demanding that the hospital take a number of steps to ensure it was complying with church policy, which led to several months of negotiations between the hospital and the diocese.

In announcing the decision Tuesday, Olmsted said that "subsequent communications" with hospital officials "have only eroded my confidence about their commitment to the Church's ethical and religious directives for healthcare. They have not addressed in an adequate manner the scandal caused by the abortion."

In fact, Olmsted said he had "recently learned that many other violations . . . have been taking place at" facilities operated by Catholic Healthcare West, which owns St. Joseph's, including the provision of birth-control pills and other forms of contraception, sterilizations and abortions "due to the mental or physical health of the mother or when the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest."

"For seven years now, I have tried to work with CHW and St. Joseph's, and I have hoped and prayed that this day would not come, that this decree would not be needed; however, the faithful of the Diocese have a right to know whether institutions of this importance are indeed Catholic in identity and practice," he said.

The 670-bed hospital, established in 1895 by the Sisters of Mercy, does not receive any funding from the diocese and will not change its name. But the decision means that the hospital would have to remove the Blessed Sacrament from its chapel and will no longer celebrate Mass there.

"Though we are deeply disappointed, we will be steadfast in fulfilling our mission," Linda Hunt, St. Joseph's president, said in a statement. "Our caregivers deliver extraordinary medical care and share an unmatched commitment to the well-being of the communities they serve. Nothing has or will change in that regard."

Sources include
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/22/AR2010122206219.html
http://www.aclu.org/reproductive-freedom/aclu-sends-second-letter-asking-government-investigate-potential-denials-emerge
http://www.cms.gov/
http://www.stjosephs-phx.org/index.htm
http://www.holycrosshealth.org/
http://www.diocesephoenix.org/bishop/olmstedIndex.htm
http://www.diocesephoenix.org/
http://www.americamagazine.org/content/article.cfm?article_id=12348
http://www.nccbuscc.org/
http://www.chwhealth.org/index.htm

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Post #95

Excerpt from the National Catholic Reporter: Rome’s checkbook strategy on women religious


Seems the Vatican heard how Catholics are incensed over its inquisition of U.S. women religious. Some say Pope Benedict personally asked Archbishop Joseph Tobin, the new Secretary of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, to undo the mess caused by his Congregation’s Apostolic Visitation of U.S. women’s institutes.

Make no mistake; it’s not only 59,000 or so women religious watching this movie. It’s more like 69 million Catholics hanging on to their checkbooks, wondering what in the name of God is going on.

Now, taking direct aim at his foot, Tobin, a Redemptorist from Detroit, is quoted by NCR senior correspondent John Allen as saying there is “need for a strategy of reconciliation.”

A “strategy”? Now church officials use words owned by salesmen and the military?

As teenagers say (or text), OMG!

Now, I am sure Tobin is a fine man. Provincials and presidents of women’s institutes breathed a sigh of semi-relief when he became Cardinal Franc Rode’s number two.

Recall, within days of the January 2009 surprise drop of Shoe One in the widely-perceived game of “Get-the-Nuns,” photos of Rode in flowing robes with princely trains and surrounded by nubile boys raced around the Internet. The tag line: “And he is investigating us?”

Rode’s Apostolic Visitation left its chief investigator, Apostles of the Sacred Heart of Jesus Mother Mary Clare Millea, holding an empty bag. Go do it. By the way, get your own funding. She apparently pushed back.

The Knights of Columbus set up her website and her Facebook page, but Rode had to ask U.S. bishops to fund a study they did not ask for. Amazingly, one dicastery simultaneously insulted U.S. women religious, their bishops, and just about every Catholic who does not read The Wanderer.

So now there’s a “strategy of reconciliation”? Let’s not forget, later in 2009 the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith dropped Shoe Two: a doctrinal investigation of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious.

I think most Americans are wildly insulted by the Vatican’s implied criticism and perceived (if not real) threatening behavior toward women in general and women religious in particular. You have to wonder if the Vatican is now waking up to the fact that American women control the bulk of those millions of checkbooks.

It is no secret the strained relations between women religious and clerics on the local level are echoed by the lack of understanding in the cassock-filled halls of the Vatican. What does Rome want from its “strategy”? What’s the goal?

It’s not too cynical to answer: money. The U.S. church potentially plows millions into the Vatican, but American Catholics are just plain angry. U.S. women religious control huge properties and, in many cases, significant amounts of cash and securities. They’re not that thrilled with how they’ve been treated either.

Is this the clerical church’s plan: reconcile with the nuns and you also calm down U.S. Catholics?

A “strategy of reconciliation”? Sure. Make nice. Gain trust. Take the money. Run.

[Phyllis Zagano is senior research associate-in-residence at Hofstra University and author of several books in Catholic Studies. Her book Women & Catholicism will be published by Palgrave-Macmillan in 2011.]

Sources include
http://ncronline.org/blogs/just-catholic/rome%E2%80%99s-checkbook-strategy-women-religious
http://people.hofstra.edu/Phyllis_Zagano/
http://www.catholic.org/international/international_story.php?id=38102
http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/ccscrlife/documents/rc_con_ccscrlife_profile_en.html
http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/brode.html
http://www.apostolicvisitation.org/en/about/sistermaryclare.html
http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_pro_14071997_en.html

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Post #94

It’s hard to recall in recent time when the Vatican has had to issue multiple clarifications to set straight what it appears the Pope may or may not be saying. The most recent concerns the Pope’s comments about the use of condoms by male prostitutes. Perhaps it would help if they got it right the first time rather than having to issue so many explanations as to what the Pope *really* means.

Excerpt from the BBC: Vatican: Pope did not back condom contraception use

21 December 2010

The Vatican has clarified recent comments by Pope Benedict XVI on condoms, saying he did not mean they could be used to avoid pregnancy.

The Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith said some analysts had misunderstood the remarks, made by the Pope in recently published interviews.  He said condoms could reduce the risk of HIV infection in certain cases, such as for a male prostitute.  The interviews were published in a book entitled Light of the World.

The Church's hard-line stance over contraception has led to the Vatican being heavily criticised for its position on the global Aids crisis. Some commentators suggested the comments represented a softening of this stance.

'Taking responsibility'

The Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) is the Vatican's moral watchdog, which Cardinal Josef Ratzinger led before he was elected Pope in 2005.  It stressed the Pope's logic was "in full conformity with the moral theological tradition of the church".  In a statement, the CDF said that he had not been talking about sex between a married couple or using condoms as a form of contraception.  The Pope was not talking about condoms as a means of contraception

"The idea that anyone could deduce from the words of Benedict XVI that it is somehow legitimate, in certain situations, to use condoms to avoid an unwanted pregnancy is completely arbitrary and is in no way justified either by his words or in his thought," said the statement.  It confirmed that the Pope's attitude towards homosexuality and artificial contraception had not shifted; other passages in the book reaffirm the Vatican's opposition to both, the CDF said.  Reaffirming that the Church considered prostitution "gravely immoral", the statement continued: "However, those involved in prostitution who are HIV positive and who seek to diminish the risk of contagion by the use of a condom may be taking the first step in respecting the life of another even if the evil of prostitution remains in all its gravity."

In Light of the World, when asked whether the Catholic Church was not opposed in principle to the use of condoms, the Pope had replied: "She [the Catholic Church] of course does not regard it as a real or moral solution, but, in this or that case, there can be nonetheless, in the intention of reducing the risk of infection, a first step in a movement toward a different way, a more human way, of living sexuality."  He cited the example of the use of condoms by male prostitutes as "a first step towards moralisation", even though condoms are "not really the way to deal with the evil of HIV infection".

Veteran Vatican analyst John Allen said what was at issue was not abstract moral teaching, but rather concrete pastoral application to a specific set of facts.  "If someone were to ask a Catholic priest, 'Is it okay to use a condom?' the answer is still supposed to be 'No'," said Mr Allen, a senior correspondent for the US-based National Catholic Reporter.

Sources include
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-12053610
http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/index.htm
http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_pro_14071997_en.html
http://www.ignatius.com/Products/LIWO-H/light-of-the-world.aspx
http://ncronline.org/ 

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Post #93

Excerpt from the Irish Times: Murphy Commission requests 'offended' Vatican

Sat, Dec 11, 2010

Requests for information from the Murphy Commission “offended many in the Vatican” who felt that the Irish government had “failed to respect and protect Vatican sovereignty during the (Commission) investigations”, US embassy cables released by WikiLeaks have disclosed.

A cable entitled “Sex abuse scandal strains Irish-Vatican relations, shakes up Irish church, and poses challenges for the Holy See” claimed that Vatican officials also believed Irish opposition politicians were making political hay from the situation by publicly urging the government to demand a reply from the Vatican following publication of the Murphy report in November 2009.

In September 2006 the Murphy Commission, which was investigating the handling of clerical child sex abuse allegations in the Dublin archdiocese between 1975 and 2004, wrote to the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith seeking information on reports of clerical child sex abuse sent to it by Dublin archdiocese over the period.

It also sought information on the Church document ‘Crimen Solicitationis’, which deals with clerical sex abuse.

The congregation did not reply.

Similar requests by the Commission to the papal nuncio in Dublin were also ignored.

Instead, then Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, wrote to the Irish embassy, advising that any requests related to the investigation should come through diplomatic channels.

According to the cable Irish ambassador to the Holy See Noel Fahey told the US diplomat Julieta Valls Noyes that this was the most difficult crisis he had ever managed.

The Irish government wanted “to be seen as co-operating with the (Murphy) investigation” because its own education department was implicated, but politicians were reluctant to press Vatican officials to answer the investigators’ queries.

Mr Fahey’s deputy, Helena Keleher, the cable said, felt the Irish government acceded to Vatican pressure and granted them immunity from testifying. Officials understood that “foreign ambassadors are not required or expected to appear before national commissions”, but Keleher’s opinion was that by ignoring the commission’s requests the clergy had made the situation worse.

The ambassador reported that resentment towards the church in Rome remained very high in Ireland largely because of the institutionalised cover-up of abuse by the Catholic church hierarchy.

In a section of the cables titled “Some Lessons Learned, but Crisis Will Play Out for Years”, the ambassador related that his contacts at the Vatican and in Ireland expected the crisis in the Irish Catholic church to be protracted over several years, as the Murphy commission dealt only with allegations from the Dublin archdiocese.

They believed further investigations into other dioceses would lead, “officials in both states lament, to additional painful revelations”.

Sources include
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2010/1211/breaking3.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murphy_Report
http://ncronline.org/blogs/ncr-today/sex-abuse-crisis-vatican-pr-woes-figure-wikileaks-scoops
http://www.vatican.va/resources/resources_crimen-sollicitationis-1962_en.html
http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_pro_14071997_en.html
http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/bbertone.html
http://www.roscommonpeople.ie/pdf/RSP_1409_Ed1_005.pdf
http://www.thejournal.ie/the-vatican-and-ireland-the-wikileak-in-full-2010-12/

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Post #92

Excerpt from the Canadian Press: Calgary Anglican explains why parish wants to join Catholic church

For longtime Anglican Richard Harding, switching to the Catholic church feels like coming home.

Last month, Harding and other members of the St. John the Evangelist congregation in Calgary became the first Anglican parish in Canada to accept an offer from the Pope to rejoin the Catholic church.

Harding said they are excited about the change.

Only two members of the parish in Inglewood, one of the city's oldest neighbourhoods, voted against the move and a few others abstained.

"There is a bit of sadness. This is a very sobering step and is a serious step, but it is a positive one," said Harding, who has worshipped at St. John for more than 20 years. "Every new beginning is a goodbye to some of the past."

The congregation decided to leave a church that has been their spiritual home for all of their lives for varied and complex reasons.

Harding said the Pope's invitation, coupled with growing discomfort among some parishioners over the Anglican acceptance of women priests, gay clergy and same-sex marriage, was the catalyst for the move. Many parishioners feel the liberal innovations, even though they haven't been accepted by all Anglican diocese, are standing between the two denominations.

"They throw huge monkey wrenches into the unity of the church," Harding said. "It is a reflection that the bulk of the Anglican Church of Canada has dropped the conserving of the traditional liturgy, traditional worship and traditional values."

The vote by the St. John the Evangelist congregation doesn't automatically mean members will become Catholics. The parishioners must take some religious instruction before they will be allowed to officially make the switch, perhaps by Easter.

Sources include
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/life/home_family/calgary-anglican-explains-why-parish--wants-to-join-catholic-church-111470369.html
http://members.shaw.ca/stjohncalgary/
http://www.calgary.anglican.ca/Parishes/CalgaryStJohnEv.html
http://www.anglican.ca/index.php