Post #114

Excerpt from the National Catholic Reporter: Beatification of John Paul II leaves many Catholics cold by Eugene Kennedy

One of the most common metaphors applied to the soon-to-be-beatified Pope John Paul II tells us more than the hagiographic musings of such apologists as George Weigel, who, as a biographer with books to sell, has a conflict of interest as big as a redwood in his eye.

The late pope -- whose heroic stands as a cardinal archbishop against Polish Communism undoubtedly changed history by pulling the bricks out of the crumbling universe of the Soviet Union -- has been lionized as the coolest of cold warriors.

The metaphor that spontaneously arose to describe him as a pope, however, is “rock star.” Stand back as, like rock fans everywhere, John Paul II’s followers stampede for tickets to his beatification ceremony.

“Rock star” is also applied to former President Bill Clinton and to others who, by their demanding charismatic style, suck all the air out of any room or space that they enter. “Rock stars” need neither an introduction nor an opening act to prepare the audience for their appearance.

They are, however, a lot of work. You have to pay so much undivided attention to them while they are on stage that you may feel your own reserves of energy being drained away as you are called upon to fill and to re-fill the swimming pool-size tanks of the “rock stars’” own need.

What is that need exactly? It isn’t for you as a person, but for them as personalities that run on unquestioned loyalty and unconditional love. “Rock stars” gleam attractively, giving their audiences the equivalent of a double cheeseburger with fries on the side. But it won’t last for take-out; they have to eat it there.

Was John Paul II acclaimed as a “rock star” by accident or did it express the sensus fidelium, the natural judgment of believers, about this pope who stood so tall as he smiled so enigmatically at the crowds that stretched to the horizon about him?

The metaphor suggests other questions. If John Paul knew how to make himself -- or part of himself -- present to a crowd, how much of himself did he ever really reveal to anybody? How well did you know the real man, Karol Wojtyla?

Are there unanswered questions about this pope who may have dazzled but seemed to exude so little real warmth for the believers at whom, above his Slavic smile, he never seemed to look directly?

What was the inner man -- for this must be the testing point for the blessed -- like when, claiming to be a champion for personalism, he preached of human personality as divided rather than united? What was he like when, in his romantic but self-contained reflections on human sexuality, he spoke so abstractly but with such certainty that abstaining from sex was the highest ideal even for married couples?

Who was this man who sang the glories of the Blessed Mother but who kept real women beyond the end of his wagging finger and was determined, as if the fate of the world depended on it, to keep them out of the priesthood? Who was this man who always defended Paul VI’s Humanae Vitae, but who absented himself from the final vote of the Vatican II commission that recommended a broadening of the church’s position on birth control?

Who was this man who looked away from the burgeoning sex abuse scandal of his clergy while he sheltered and defended the godfather of all sex abusers, Marcial Maciel Degollado? Who was he when he welcomed Cardinal Law to a Roman sinecure after Law was forced to resign from the archbishopric of Boston for his manner of dealing with sex abusing priests?

There is no doubt that John Paul II was a great man, but he leaves too great a void of coolness about his personality to hurry his beatification. He probably ranks with such other great world saving figures of the 20th century as Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill, each of whom was a “rock star” in his own time.

The personality of each, as is true of many great men, bore a rich inlay of narcissism, marked by a self-absorption and need for constant adulation that exhausted everyone around them, including their families.

Perhaps Pope John Paul II leaves many cold because the elements of narcissism within his own personality telegraph themselves invisibly to others.

Should this keep him from being beatified? Probably not, but perhaps it should prompt second thoughts about fast tracking his canonization.

Pope Benedict might ponder his predecessor’s enormous self-absorption, his actor’s sense of timing and his arranging that nobody ever stood next to him when the picture was taken, and wonder why, great or not, he still leaves many Catholics cold.

Narcissists shine brightly but cast a cold shadow. Perhaps that is why so many believers ruefully conclude, “Johnny, we hardly knew ye.”

Sources include
http://ncronline.org/blogs/bulletins-human-side/beatification-john-paul-ii-leaves-many-catholics-cold
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_John_Paul_II
http://georgeweigel.blogspot.com/
http://www.ewtn.com/library/theology/wojtlahv.htm
http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/paul_vi/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-vi_enc_25071968_humanae-vitae_en.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_Francis_Law
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcissism

Post 113

Excerpt from National Catholic Reporter:  Vatican announces May 1 beatification for John Paul II

From a column written by John. L. Allen, Jr.

The miracle approved by Benedict XVI concerns a 49-year-old French nun, Sister Marie Simon-Pierre, who was diagnosed with an aggressive form of Parkinson’s disease in 2001 and whose order prayed to John Paul II after his death in 2005 for help. Reportedly, after writing the late pope’s name on a piece of paper one night in June 2005, Sister Marie-Simone awoke the next morning cured and was able to resume her work as a maternity nurse.

Earlier this year, media reports implied that the French sister had fallen ill again and that at least one physician questioned the diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease, suggesting it may have been some other nervous disorder. It would seem that the Vatican resolved those doubts to its satisfaction, however, as the miracle has been approved by both the Vatican’s medical and theological consulters, as well as the cardinals and bishops who make up the Congregation for the Causes of Saints and the pope himself.

Momentum to declare John Paul a saint began almost at the moment of his death.

In the run-up to the conclave that elected Benedict XVI to the papacy in April 2005, some cardinals signed a petition requesting that the next pope move immediately to opening a sainthood process for John Paul II. During his funeral Mass, mourners held signs and chanted “Santo Subito!”, meaning “Sainthood Now!”

Shortly after his election, Benedict waived the waiting period but otherwise held that the usual procedure should be followed.

Among church insiders, it’s taken for granted that John Paul II’s cause will not stall at beatification, but that he will fairly quickly also be canonized and declared a saint.

Given John Paul’s popularity and high public profile, news of his beatification is certain to be a major news event. There are, however, also three persistent strains of criticism likely to resurface in coming days.

First, some Catholic liberals who saw John Paul II as overly conservative have suggested that his cause is being fast-tracked in order to score political points in internal Catholic debates. This constituency has wondered, for example, why John Paul II is being beatified so quickly, when the late Pope John XXIII, who launched a period of reform in Catholicism by calling the Second Vatican Council (1962-65), has not yet been canonized following his own beatification in 2000.

Second, some traditional Catholics may object to the apparent haste in John Paul’s cause, arguing that it risks cheapening the canonization process if there’s a perception that a particular candidate is being moved forward too hastily. Perceptions that the usual process has been “short-circuited,” some warn, may suggest that other church teachings and disciplines can be massaged or set aside. They add that according to Catholic theology, the church has no power to “make” a saint – it can simply ratify that a particular figure is already in Heaven. By that logic, there’s no rush, since if John Paul is indeed a saint, formal beatification and canonization won’t add anything.

Third, some victims of clerical sexual abuse and their advocates believe that John Paul’s record on the crisis is not worthy of sainthood, or at least that beatifying him now risks giving offense to victims who associate the late pope with a mixed response to the crisis. Some have argued that the study of John Paul’s life and legacy as part of the sainthood process did not give sufficient weight to his handling of the sexual abuse crisis, such as the case of the late founder of the Legionaries of Christ, Mexican Fr. Marcial Maciel Degollado, a longtime favorite during John Paul’s papacy who was later disgraced as the Legionaries acknowledged he was guilty of various forms of sexual misconduct.

Even before the formal Vatican announcement, the Survivors’ Network of those Abused by Priests issued a statement asserting that the hierarchy is “rubbing more salt into the wounds” of victims with a “hasty drive to confer sainthood on the pontiff under whose reign most of the widely-documented clergy sex crimes and cover ups took place.”

Vatican officials did not offer any response to substantive criticism of John Paul II, but in past cases when popes have been moved along the sainthood track, they generally insist that beatifying or canonizing a pope is not tantamount to endorsing every policy choice of his pontificate. Instead, they say, it’s a declaration that this pope lived a holy life worthy of emulation, despite whatever failings may have occurred during his lifetime – including his reign as pope.

Sources include
http://ncronline.org/blogs/ncr-today/vatican-announces-may-1-beatification-john-paul-ii
http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/sister_marie_simonpierre_speaks_of_miraculous_cure_at_press_conference/
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/mar/05/nun-cured-pope-parkinsons-ill
http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/csaints/documents/rc_con_csaints_pro_20051996_en.html
http://www.vatican.va/news_services/liturgy/saints/ns_lit_doc_20000903_john-xxiii_en.html
http://www.snapnetwork.org/

Post #112

Excerpt from the Associated Press: Pope to Catholics online: It's not just about hits

January 24, 2011

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Benedict XVI told Catholic bloggers and Facebook and YouTube users Monday to be respectful of others when spreading the Gospel online and not to see their ultimate goal as getting as many online hits as possible.

Echoing concerns in the U.S. about the need to root out online vitriol, Benedict called for the faithful to adopt a "Christian style presence" online that is responsible, honest and discreet

"We must be aware that the truth which we long to share does not derive its worth from its 'popularity' or from the amount of attention it receives," Benedict wrote in his annual message for the church's World Day of Social Communications.

"The proclamation of the Gospel requires a communication which is at once respectful and sensitive."

Benedict didn't name names, but the head of the Vatican's social communications office, Archbishop Claudio Celli, said it was certainly correct to direct the pope's exhortation to some conservative Catholic blogs, YouTube channels and sites which, with some vehemence, criticize bishops, public officials and policies they consider not Catholic enough.

"The risk is there, there's no doubt," Celli said in response to a question. He confirmed that the Pontifical Council for Social Communications was working on a set of guidelines with recommendations for appropriate style and behavior for Catholics online.

"I don't love such things, but I think we can define some points of reference for behavior," he said, adding that he hoped such a document would come out as soon as possible.

The Vatican's concern comes at a time when incendiary rhetoric — in the media and online — has come under increasing fire; even U.S. President Barack Obama has urged greater civility in political discourse following the attempted assassination of a U.S. congresswoman.

In his message, Benedict echoed many of the same themes he has voiced in years past about the benefits and dangers of the digital age, saying social networks are a wonderful way to build relationships and community. But he warned against replacing real friendships with virtual ones and warned against the temptation to create artificial public profiles rather than authentic ones.

"There exists a Christian way of communication which is honest and open, responsible and respectful of others," he wrote. "To proclaim the Gospel through the new media means not only to insert expressly religious content into different media platforms, but also to witness consistently, in one's own digital profile and in the way one communicates choices, preference and judgments that are fully consistent with the Gospel."

The 83-year-old Benedict is no techno wizard: He writes longhand and has admitted to a certain lack of Internet savvy within the Vatican.

But under Benedict, the Holy See has greatly increased its presence online: It has a dedicated YouTube channel, and its Pope2You.net portal gives news on the pontiff's trips and speeches and features I-Phone and Facebook applications that allow users to send postcards with photos of Benedict and excerpts from his messages to their friends.

Celli said the Holy See was working on a new multimedia portal that would be the point of reference for the whole Vatican that he hoped would be operational by Easter. It would start out in English and Italian, with other languages added later.

Currently, the Vatican website http://www.vatican.va/ has links to the Vatican newspaper, the Vatican Museums and other Vatican departments, but it's clunky and out of date.

Celli acknowledged that the pope's annual message — which is full of technical jargon — is not his alone. Celli's office prepares a draft and the pope then makes changes. Celli said he didn't know if Benedict had ever been on Facebook, but said he expected one of his aides had probably shown him around.

Sources include
http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/078cb2e3ddf040899e2ea4ce560c257a/Article_2011-01-24-Vatican%20Social%20Networks/id-e6aeec02a13f48a7b8b6b1f1b32ad50c
http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/messages/communications/documents/hf_ben-xvi_mes_20110124_45th-world-communications-day_en.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claudio_Maria_Celli
http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/pccs/documents/rc_pc_pccs_pro_14101999_en.html
http://www.pope2you.net/
http://www.vatican.va/

Post #111

Excerpt from CBC News: Newfoundland, Canada church wants police probe of missing $500K

Monday, January 24, 2011

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. John's says it will ask the police to investigate the disappearance of more than $500,000.

The archdiocese alleges its own investigation found a former business manager paid the money to himself and his pension account.

"This review uncovered significant discrepancies in the operating account of the archdiocese," the archdiocese said in a news release Monday morning. "We determined that our former comptroller and business manager made unauthorized payments to himself, and to his pension account, throughout this period."

Archbishop Martin Currie told CBC News the archdiocese will ask the police Monday to investigate.

"It's a shock for everybody, because he's been with the archdiocese for roughly 38 years, and everybody had given him their complete trust. He was trusted fully you know, and he's broken that trust. That's what's saddest more than anything," Currie told CBC News.

"We have reason to believe that it may have started in 1997, because of payments having been made into other accounts."

The archdiocese said it hired an auditing company last year to review its books going back to 2003.

Bill Power, the archdiocese business manager, resigned from the church last fall.

Donated money is used to fund chaplaincy services in hospitals such as the Janeway, St. Clare's, the Health Sciences Centre, the Burin Peninsula Health Care Centre and the Miller Centre, and in seniors homes and long-term care facilities.

"We will pursue every appropriate means to recoup as much of the loss as possible, and thus to ensure that the pastoral services of this archdiocese may continue and, through them, that the most vulnerable of our church and society are served and assisted," the release said.

Last October, priests read a letter to parishioners at churches in eastern Newfoundland saying a business manager with the organization had resigned recently and an independent auditor had been hired to investigate the churches' finances.

Sources include
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/newfoundland-labrador/story/2011/01/24/nl-archdiocese-money-124.html#ixzz1BzkxGML2
http://www.thetelegram.com/News/Local/2011-01-24/article-2165404/RC-archdiocese-releases-details-of-unauthorized-payments/1
http://www.stjohnsarchdiocese.nf.ca/
http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/bcurrie.html

Post #110

Excerpt from National Catholic Reporter: King's 'Letter from Birmingham Jail' still challenges us

by Father John Dear SJ

Every year for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday, I reread his writings to glean insight, courage and strength for the year ahead.

This past week, while visiting Nags Head, North Carolina, I’ve been studying his famous 1963 “Letter from the Birmingham Jail.” It was written after his Good Friday arrest for marching to break unjust segregation laws without a permit.

One of the great documents in our history, this letter was composed in his darkest hour, just as the nonviolent movement for civil rights was on the verge of total collapse. And yet, the letter is filled with faith, hope, and love -- enough to enlighten us in our own dark times.

Exhortations on nonviolence and civil disobedience might be expected from King. But the remainder of the letter takes on a surprising topic: King’s deep disappointment with the church. Such talk is rare.

We know little of the disappointment of St. Francis, Franz Jagerstatter, Dorothy Day or Oscar Romero -- though they must have been profoundly hurt by the church leaders of their day. We can barely imagine Jesus’ anguished disappointment with the religious leaders of his day.

Like us, King had hoped that church leaders would lead the struggle for racial equality, justice and peace. He presumed that anyone who claimed to follow the nonviolent Jesus would seek the fullness of God’s reign, promote its consistent ethic of nonviolence, and advocate for the disenfranchized.

Alas, King learned the hard the way, as we are learning, that church leaders rarely join -- much less lead -- the struggle. Too often they stand in the way.

"I have been so greatly disappointed with the white church and its leadership. Of course, there are some notable exceptions, [but] I felt that the white ministers, priests and rabbis of the South would be some of our strongest allies. Instead, some have been outright opponents, refusing to understand the freedom movement and misrepresenting its leaders; all too many others have been more cautious than courageous and have remained silent behind the anesthetizing security of their stained-glass windows… So here we are moving toward the exit of the twentieth century with a religious community largely adjusted to the status quo, standing as a taillight behind other community agencies rather than a headlight leading people to higher levels of justice.

I have wept over the laxity of the church. But my tears have been tears of love. There can be no deep disappointment where there is not deep love…Yes, I see the church as the body of Christ, but oh! how we have blemished and scarred that body through social neglect and fear of being nonconformists.

The contemporary church is often a weak, ineffectual voice with an uncertain sound. It is so often the arch-supporter of the status quo. Far from being disturbed by the presence of the church, the power structure of the average community is consoled by the church’s silent and often vocal sanction of things as they are. But the judgment of God is upon the church as never before. If the church does not recapture the sacrificial spirit of the early church, it will lose its authentic ring, forfeit the loyalty of millions, and be dismissed as an irrelevant social club with no meaning for the twentieth century. I am meeting young people every day whose disappointment with the church has risen to outright disgust."

An irrelevant social club. Today millions dismiss our church leaders as far worse. Outright disgust is commonplace. Yet despite his disappointment, King remains in the struggle precisely as a church person.

Sources include
http://ncronline.org/blogs/road-peace/kings-letter-birmingham-jail-still-challenges-us
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Luther_King,_Jr.
http://www.fatherjohndear.org/

Post #109

Excerpt from the Globe & Mail: Halton Catholic School Board draws criticism for banning gay-straight alliances

by Kate Hammer

published Monday, Jan. 10, 2011

A decision to ban student gay-straight alliances earned strong criticism for the Halton Catholic District School Board days after the board’s chair defended the ban and listed Nazi groups as another example of groups not allowed in the district’s schools.

The chair, veteran trustee Alice Anne LeMay, apologized for her statement but said her words were taken out of context. She and her fellow trustees will reconsider the ban at a board policy committee meeting Tuesday evening.

Trustees voted in November to ban gay-straight alliances shortly after Ontario’s Ministry of Education introduced a new inclusion and equity policy that required school boards to create such clubs if requested by a student. Ms. LeMay defended the ban last week when speaking with Xtra!, a gay and lesbian newspaper.

“We don’t have Nazi groups either,” Ms. LeMay was quoted as saying. “Gay-straight alliances are banned because they are not within the teachings of the Catholic Church.”

Reached Monday evening Ms. LeMay said she didn’t know yet whether she would vote to support the ban or repeal it at Tuesday’s meeting. There are a number of new faces on the board who were elected in October and didn’t participate in the November vote, including an openly gay trustee, 22-year-old Paul Marai.

Mr. Marai called the ban a divisive “waste of time,” but also expressed his support for Ms. LeMay.

“I know her to be quite a tolerant and accepting individual,” he said.

Sources include
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/toronto/halton-catholic-school-board-draws-criticism-for-banning-gay-straight-alliances/article1864793/?cmpid=rss1
http://www.hcdsb.org/Pages/default.aspx
http://www.hcdsb.org/Board/Trustees/Pages/default.aspx
http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/
http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/literacynumeracy/pdfs/SimcoeMCCatholicValues_Virtues_BA.pdf
http://www.paulmarai.com/aboutpaul.html
http://www.paulmarai.com/aboutpaul.html

Post #108

Excerpt from National Catholic Reporter: Facing financial scandals, pope creates new Vatican watchdog

By John L Allen Jr

Against a backdrop of criminal probes related to alleged financial misconduct both in the Vatican Bank and at the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, the Vatican’s wealthy missionary department better known as “Propaganda Fide”, Pope Benedict XVI has created a new in-house watchdog to promote compliance with international rules against financing terrorism, money-laundering, insider trading and market abuse.

The move amounts to a potential sea change for the Vatican, where traditionally the various departments have been largely autonomous in their financial dealings, with only a loose coordination provided by the office of the Apostolic Patrimony of the Holy See (APSA). By pledging cooperation with international monitoring agencies, the new laws also mark a break with the Vatican’s traditional reluctance to open up its internal financial operations to outside scrutiny.

The Vatican spokesperson, Jesuit Fr. Federico Lombardi, described the new laws as “a step towards transparency and credibility” with “far-reaching moral and pastoral significance.”

The Vatican announced that Benedict has created a new department called the “Authority of Financial Information,” with the power to supervise all Vatican transactions, including those of both the Vatican Bank and Propaganda Fide.

The move comes as part of a package of four new laws designed to combat money-laundering and counterfeiting, the most complex of which is a “Law Concerning Prevention and Combating the Laundering of Revenue from Criminal Activity and the Financing of Terrorism,” elaborated in 43 articles. It specifies that the new Authority of Financial Information will have “full autonomy and independence,” including the right to examine the books of all Vatican departments.

In part, the law is designed to implement an agreement between the Vatican and the European Commission on fighting money-laundering signed in December 2009. In September, the Vatican also said it’s in talks with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development about getting on the Paris-based group’s so-called White List of nations that comply with global norms on financial transparency.

The new law establishes criminal penalties for violation of financial norms, including four to twelve years in prison and fines of almost $20,000. (Typically, enforcement of criminal laws at the Vatican, such as those against pickpocketing, is entrusted to the Italian penal system.)

The new law is to take effect on April 1, 2011.

Benedict’s new laws come amid the backdrop of two financial scandals that erupted in 2010, both of which are the subject of on-going civil investigations in Italy.

One is related to suspicions that the former prefect of Propaganda Fide, Naples Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe, gave sweetheart deals on Roman apartments owned by the congregation to Italian politicians in exchange for millions of Euros in public funds for construction and restoration, in some cases for work that was never completed.

The other is focused on the Vatican Bank, where some $30 million in assets was seized by civil authorities earlier this year for violations of European anti-money laundering laws.

An Italian judge recently ruled that those assets should remain frozen, and a November brief filed by prosecutors asserted that while the bank has expressed a “generic will” to conform to international standards, “there is no sign that the institutions of the Catholic church are moving in that direction.”

The package of new laws is, in part, designed to combat those impressions.

Sources include
http://ncronline.org/blogs/ncr-today/facing-financial-scandals-pope-creates-new-vatican-watchdog
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Institute_for_Works_of_Religion
http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cevang/documents/rc_con_cevang_20100524_profile_en.html
http://www.fides.org/index.php?lan=eng
http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/uffici/apsa/index_en.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federico_Lombardi
http://europa.eu/legislation_summaries/justice_freedom_security/fight_against_organised_crime/l24016a_en.htm
http://ec.europa.eu/index_en.htm
http://www.oecd.org/
http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/bsepe.html

Post #107

Excerpt from the Catholic News Agency: US lodges strong protest with Vietnam after beating of American diplomat

by Marianne Medlin, Staff Writer
Washington D.C., Jan 8, 2011

The U.S. State Department lodged a sharp protest with the Vietnamese government after a U.S. diplomat was beaten in the country for attempting to visit an ailing Catholic priest who is under house arrest.

The recent incident joins a string of human rights abuses involving Vietnamese police using violence against the country's inhabitants.

Radio Free Asia reported on Jan. 5 that the U.S. has lodged a "strong protest" with the Vietnamese government after local policemen attacked Christian Marchant – a political officer with the U.S. embassy in Hanoi – while he was trying to visit a Catholic priest.

Marchant, a practicing Mormon who lives in Hanoi, Vietnam with his wife and two children, was allegedly beaten outside a home for retired priests in Hue, where 63 year-old Father Nguyen Van Ly, a pro-democracy activist, is being held under house arrest. Father Ly was released from prison on medical parole last year. The diplomat had a pre-arranged meeting with Father Ly, who later told the RFA that he witnessed Marchant being wrestled to the ground, placed in a police vehicle and driven away. Police reportedly shut a car door numerous times on Marchant's legs.

“The United States Government, both here in Hanoi and in Washington, has lodged a strong, official protest with the Government of Vietnam,” said U.S. Ambassador Michael W. Michalak at a press conference concluding his three year term in the country on Jan. 6. “We are waiting for an official response from the Government of Vietnam.”

Mark Toner, a spokesman for the U.S. State Department, reported in a Jan. 6 briefing that although Marchant was “injured during that incident,” the diplomat was “up and walking around now.”

The U.S. State Department has summoned the Vietnamese ambassador in Washington to protest the incident, Toner said.

Officials from the Vietnamese embassy to the U.S. in Washington, D.C. did not respond to a request for comment from CNA.

Reports on human rights abuses in Vietnam – particularly against religious minorities such as Catholics – have caused an outcry among U.S. political leaders.

Beatings, Church raids, arrests – and even deaths – are some of the violent incidents that have been inflicted on Catholics by authorities in Vietnam over increased conflict related to property rights. Throughout the last several decades, in provinces throughout the country, tensions have mounted between the Communist government and local parishioners as officials have repeatedly attempted to claim land where Catholic churches and facilities are situated.

Sources include
http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/us-lodges-strong-protest-with-vietnam-after-beating-of-american-diplomat/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politics_of_Vietnam
http://www.fva.org/200107/story02.htm
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/biog/81626.htm
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/dpb/2011/01/154053.htm

Post #106

The following Christmas reflection by Toronto Bishop Bill McGrattan appeared on the Salt & Light Blog. It is worth repeating here because of the significance of his message.

Emmanuel: God With Us — An Advent/Christmas reflection

by Bishop William McGrattan

December 24th, 2010

In the Jubilee Year of 2000, John Paul II made a very insightful statement. He said: “Our Christian witness would be hopelessly inadequate if we ourselves had not first contemplated the face of the Lord.” The same might be said of our fully entering into the Christmas season. Christmas is a time in which we are invited to fix our gaze on Christ in a new and fresh way. It is a time of jubilee, of celebration and the challenge to renew our Christian witness in the mystery of the Incarnation. The Eternal Word, the Son of the Father took on flesh and came to dwell among us in time.

Have you noticed how natural it is for us to fix our gaze on the face of a newborn child? When they are awake or asleep there is a natural desire to look upon their face and to contemplate the very gift of humanity that is before our very eyes. There is also the opposite reaction when we witness the struggle and suffering of humanity on the faces of children and are moved with compassion.

I have also realized that in the many years of priestly ministry I have never failed to try and extend my hand and make the sign of the cross on the forehead of a young child. It is a sign of blessing from God who has made us in his image, secondly it is a reminder of the introductory ritual of baptism when the cross is traced on the forehead of the child by the priest, the parents, and the godparents as a sign that this child is being dedicated to Christ. It is also a sign of Christ’s love which has fully embraced our humanity through the sign of our redemption: the cross.

The celebration of the feast of Christmas recalls through faith the moment in history when the “The Word became flesh”. The Word who is the Son of God took on our humanity. This statement of faith we find in the opening Prologue of John’s Gospel on Christmas day.

The birth of Christ 2000 years ago invited the gaze of Mary, Joseph and the shepherds. However it was the angels who announced the true significance of this mystery:

“I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all people. For today in the city of David a saviour has been born for you who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.” (Luke 2:10-12)

From this moment in history, until the end of the ages this good news of great joy, is the fact that God is now present to us in a unique way, through his Incarnate Son, “God with us”, Emmanuel. God is no longer distant, revealing himself only through the signs and wonders of the Old Testament, or his Word being proclaimed by the prophets. With the Incarnation of Christ, he has taken on our humanity and entered the world. The mystery of the Trinity has come close to us so that we may contemplate His face through the mystery of the Incarnation.

The circumstances of the Incarnation, Christ’s birth in Bethlehem are significant. He was not born into a world of joy but one of suffering. Nor was he born into riches or security but into an experience of poverty and homelessness. In fact the circumstances in which we reflect on His Incarnation are no different even today from the squalor and poverty of Bethlehem. As one spiritual writer stated “there is Incarnation always, everywhere.” For Christians his Incarnation now in us finds its expression in a spirituality of communion and solidarity.

At the dawn of the millennium John Paul II invited the Church to be a home and school of communion. A spirituality of communion indicates above all the hearts contemplation of the mystery of the Trinity dwelling in us, and whose light we must also be able to see shining on the face of the brothers and sisters around us. A spirituality of communion also means an ability to think of our brothers and sisters in faith within the profound unity of the “Mystical Body” (the Church) and therefore as “those who are a part of me.” This makes us able to be in solidarity with them to share their joys and sufferings, to sense their desires and attend to their needs, to offer them deep and genuine friendship. A spirituality of communion implies also the ability to see what is positive in others, to welcome it and prize it as a gift from God: not only as a gift for the brother or sister who has received it directly, but also as a “gift for me”. Finally, a spirituality of communion means to know how to “make room” for our brother and sisters, bearing “each other’s burdens” and resisting the selfish temptations which constantly beset us and provoke competition, careerism, distrust and jealousy.

There is the burden of human need always and everywhere in our society. Yet during the season of Christmas it seems that we allow ourselves to become more aware of them and to be moved by them. The one challenge is to see the face of Christ always and everywhere in those we meet regardless of their life’s situation and to develop this spirituality of communion and solidarity.

As we contemplate the face of Christ, it is also essential and indispensable to affirm that the Word truly “became flesh” and took on every aspect of humanity except sin. Yet from another perspective the Incarnation of Christ is truly a kenosis – a “self-emptying” of the glory and divinity he possessed as the Son of God from all eternity. As John Paul II states, this truth may be more problematic for our own modern culture of rationalism as it has the tendency to deny the faith in the divinity of Christ.

The Incarnation of Christ, his becoming human, lays the foundation in our society for a vision of the human person which moves beyond the limitations and contradictions of this world and places us in relationship with God. This is another gift of the Incarnation. The gift of the human person created in the image of God and redeemed through Christ is the eternal message and gift of Christmas.

Pope Benedict XVI writes:

“Most of us in the world today live far from Jesus Christ, the incarnate God who came to dwell amongst us. We live our lives by philosophies, amid worldly affairs and occupations that totally absorb us and thus are a great distance from the manger. In all kinds of ways, God has to prod us and reach out to us again and again, so that we can manage to escape from the muddle of our thoughts and activities to discover the way that leads to him. God comes to us as man so that we might become truly human.”

I was reminded of this very truth in the context of a visit to grade one class in the days leading up to Christmas. When things got busy and hectic in the parish I had the habit of simply going over to the grade school to visit the kindergarten and grade one classes. This one day when I dropped into the grade one class the teacher had gathered the children to talk about Christmas and the gifts that each of them hoped to receive. She told the children that on her lap in a small chest there was a gift from Jesus for each of them. They could come up one by one and look inside but they could not tell the next classmate or speak about it until all of them had peered inside the chest to see the gift. So I watched this drama unfold, one by one the children came up to look inside and as they turned around with this look of excitement on their faces and heir hands over their mouth. I saw this repeated until the teacher motioned for me to come forward and look into the chest. To my amazement there was a mirror in the chest and I gazed on a reflection of my face. As I turned around there was giggling and excitement with the children. Then the teacher began to explain to them that the gift of Jesus for each of us at Christmas was that the Son of God became human like us that we might learn what it means to be human.

A simple way of teaching this profound mystery of the Incarnation, however, it is also a reminder of what the true gift of Christmas is and how we can live this mystery by accepting our humanity and living this gift in a spirit of communion and solidarity with others.

McGrattan, Auxiliary Bishop of Toronto, is the former rector of St. Peter's Seminary in London, Ontario.

Post #105

Excerpt from The New York Times: Poland, Bastion of Religion, Sees Rise in Secularism

By Michael Slackman

SWIEBODZIN, Poland — A statue of Jesus, one of the tallest in the world, stands on the flat frozen fields of this small western Poland town, its arms outstretched and gaze fixed straight ahead at a community trying to push back a rising tide of secularism.

The stark, white, 108-foot-high figure was erected last month in part to serve as sentry against a force already churning through Poland. “I hope this statue will become a remedy for this secularization,” said the Rev. Sylwester Zawadzki, the priest who inspired the construction of the figure, which rivals the height of Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro. “I hope it will have a religious mission and not just bring tourists.”

Poland is still an overwhelmingly Roman Catholic nation, still conservative and still religious, especially when compared with its European neighbors. But supporters and critics of the Roman Catholic Church all acknowledge that the society is changing. They agree that church representatives in Poland have lost authority and credibility, and that much of the population is moving toward a more secular view of life, one with a greater separation between church and state, and a rejection of church mandates on individual morality.

Church supporters said the trend was evident in the numbers: 95 percent of Poles identify themselves as Catholic, but only 41 percent attend Sunday Mass regularly. In the big cities of Warsaw and Krakow, only about 20 percent attend Mass regularly on Sundays, according to the Institute of Statistics of the Church. Supporters of the church also said that the numbers dropped far below the 41 percent when it came to accepting moral mandates about issues like divorce and in vitro fertilization, both of which the church opposes and a majority of people appear to support.

Poles cite a wide variety of reasons for the church’s declining influence. They say the dynamic gained momentum after the death in 2005 of the hugely popular Pope John Paul II, whose leadership is credited with helping bring down the Iron Curtain.

Church critics and supporters said that the trend was partly an expression of disgust with the clergy for taking sides in recent political battles, and partly the influence of thousands of Poles who had returned home after working and studying in the more secular societies in the West.

But they also said there was a strong anticlerical movement in Poland, one that was unique to this nation and not tied to the sex scandals that have rocked the Roman Catholic Church elsewhere. It is more closely linked to an almost genetic predisposition to rebel against authority, many people here said, as much as the church’s often heavy-handed intervention in national politics and debates over social issues, particularly in vitro fertilization.

The list of grievances against the church tends to be Polish specific: that it managed to recover its property after Communism, but that average people often could not; that it appeared to take sides in politics, supporting the more conservative and nationalistic Law and Justice party of former President Lech Kaczynski over the governing Civic Platform party; and that the church allowed Mr. Kaczynski and his wife, Maria, to be buried in the historic cemetery at Wawel Castle after they died in a plane crash in April, a decision now seen by many as partisan.

During the decades after World War II, when Poland was controlled by the Soviet Union, the church and its leaders were not allowed to have their hands — or their voices — involved in the temporal matters of government. Instead, the church served as a “moral leader,” said Witold Kawecki, a priest and the director of the new Institute for Studies of Culture at Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski University in Warsaw.

That became especially true in October 1978 when a Pole was selected as the next pope and then when that pope, John Paul II, visited Poland in 1979 and delivered his famous words — “Do not fear” — that are credited with helping to propel the Solidarity movement.

These days the church is involved in far more prosaic issues, like the matter of in vitro fertilization. The medical procedure has been practiced for years in Poland, but when Parliament recently decided that it needed to issue guidelines, the church called for the procedure to be banned. While supporters said it was time the church stepped into moral arguments, its actions engendered widespread anger, analysts said.

Antichurch sentiment has run so hot that one of the most popular politicians in the country, Janusz Palikot, started a political party based largely on an anticlerical platform. He said that the national divide tended to be generational, with older citizens more closely aligned with the church, but that it was impossible to discern distinct boundaries.

“I believe that those anticlerical and anti-Catholic feelings in society are deeper than it seems, especially in the little towns,” Mr. Palikot said. “People will not leave the church, but their tendency to disagree with the church has become more apparent.”

That, however, was not the case in this village, where the towering statue of Jesus is visible from nearly every corner. Father Zawadzki, the man who inspired its construction, said that his church was packed during each of the seven Masses he celebrated every Sunday.

“The Holy Bible holds lots of examples of miracles that brought people back to Christianity again,” he said. “This might happen again.”

Sources include
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/12/world/europe/12poland.html?_r=1&ref=romancatholicchurch
http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/people/s/michael_slackman/index.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C5%9Awiebodzin
http://www.copacabana.info/Christ-the-Redeemer-history.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_John_Paul_II
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lech_Kaczy%C5%84ski
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solidarity_(Polish_trade_union)

Post #104

Excerpt from BBC News Online: Pope Benedict XVI to hold religious peace summit

Pope Benedict XVI has said he will organise a summit in Assisi with religious heads to discuss how they can promote world peace.

In a New Year message, the Pope also condemned inter-religious violence, including attacks against Christians in the Middle East.

The summit in the Italian city will be held in October, 25 years after Pope John Paul organised a similar event.

His announcement came hours after a bomb went off at a church in Egypt.

At least 17 people died in the blast at the Coptic Christian Church in the northern Egyptian city of Alexandria, sparking a clash between Christians and Muslims.

'Discrimination'

Speaking in St Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, Pope Benedict said the aim of the summit would be to "to solemnly renew the effort of those with faith of all religions to live their faith as a service for the cause of peace".

"Facing the threatening tensions of the moment, especially discrimination, injustices and religious intolerance, which today strike Christians in a particular way, once again, I make a pressing appeal not to give in to discouragement and resignation," he said.

He said the summit would also "honour the memory of the historical event promoted by my predecessor".

Pope John Paul hosted a similar event in 1986, which was attended by leading Jews and Muslims, as well as the Dalai Lama and the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Pope Benedict has repeatedly denounced attacks on Christians in Iraq, including an assault on a Baghdad cathedral in October which killed at least 50 people. The Vatican fears that the violence is driving many Christians out of the region.

Sources include
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-12103186
http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/messages/peace/documents/hf_ben-xvi_mes_20101208_xliv-world-day-peace_en.html
http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/295959/pope-calls-solidarity-new-years-message
http://www.sacredheart.edu/pages/12205_day_of_prayer_for_peace_in_the_world_held_in_assisi.cfm
http://www.coptic.net/EncyclopediaCoptica/
http://saintpetersbasilica.org/
http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/meast/01/01/egypt.attack/index.html