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| POPE PETITIONED TO BEATIFY PIUS XII Posted: Thu Nov 08, 2007 10:40 pm (GMT -5)  POPE PETITIONED TO BEATIFY PIUS XII Link to original November 8, 2007 Two national Catholic organizations, the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights and the Society of Catholic Social Scientists, are working in a joint effort to petition Pope Benedict XVI to expedite the cause for the beatification of Pope Pius XII. It is our strongly held conviction that Pope Pius XII has been unfairly portrayed as someone who stood silent during the Holocaust. Indeed, we know of no world leader who did more to resist the Nazis and rescue Jews than this great man. To depict him otherwise is to slander him, and this is not something Catholics will ever accept. Petition to His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI for the Beatification of Pope Pius XII With profound respect and sincere devotion, We, the undersigned, humbly request that the cause for the beatification of Pope Pius XII proceed without delay. Pius XII’s virtuous life speaks for itself and is supported by an abundance of incontestable documentary evidence. The truth regarding his service to the Church and the World, as a diplomat and during his pontificate, prior to and through the World War II period, is also historically established. He has been the victim of an unjust smear campaign for fifty years. Now, however, overwhelming evidence has been amassed that proves beyond doubt that he labored without pause for peace, that he sought to assist in every way possible the victims of war, especially Jews, hundreds of thousands of whom were spared through his efforts, and that he constantly warned the world of the horrors of Nazism and Communism. We urge that you honor this holy and brave Pontiff at the soonest possible date. To sign this petition, click here. | ||
| Priests in Israel continue facing obstacles to obtain visas Posted: Thu Nov 08, 2007 10:13 pm (GMT -5)  Priests and religious in Israel continue facing obstacles to obtain visas link to original Rome, Nov 8, 2007 / 02:43 pm (CNA).- Despite promises from the government, priests and religious who serve or should serve in Israel continue to face many obstacles in obtaining visas that allow them to remain legally in the country. Father David Maria Jaeger, spokesman for the Franciscans who govern the holy sites in Jerusalem and the surrounding area, said this week, “The delays and denials cause enormous problems in ministry and in the functioning of the Church.” “The real problem is that Israel does not have any norms for the issuing of entry and residency visas, beside what the official on duty tells you that day,” Father Jaeger said. “Instead of this there ought to be norms that allow the Church to reasonably plan something achievable.” “In the basic agreement signed with the Holy See in 1993, one of the tenets was the right of the Church to dispatch its own personnel in her own institutions,” he recalled. The norms governing this right were to have been nailed down in March of 1994, “but up to now that has not taken place,” he added. Father Jaeger pointed out that many priests have only been granted a one-year visa that allows only one entry. “If they have to leave the country for some reason they cannot re-enter, unless they apply again,” he said. | ||
| Catholic Bishop backs brothel regulation Posted: Thu Nov 08, 2007 8:42 pm (GMT -5)  Catholic Bishop backs brothel regulation Thu Nov 8, 2007 12:40pm GMT LONDON (Reuters) - A Roman Catholic bishop in the city of Portsmouth is backing a campaign to legalise brothels without in any way condoning them. The Right Reverend Crispian Hollis supported the local branch of the Women's Institute which wants to licence brothels. "If you are going to take a pragmatic view and say prostitution happens, I think there is a need to make sure it's as well regulated as possible for the health of people involved and for the safety of the ladies themselves," Hollis said. "That's not to say I approve of prostitution in any way. I would be very much happier if there was no prostitution in Portsmouth," he told The Portsmouth News. "But it's going to be there whatever we do and it has been from time immemorial. So I think that is something we have to be realistic about." His comments won praise from Rachel Frost, from the International Union for Sex Workers. "The bishop should be commended for having the guts to come out and say that," she said. _________________ http://www.geocities.com/demographic_crash | ||
| Quebec's abortion rate same as former Soviet-bloc countries Posted: Thu Nov 08, 2007 8:30 pm (GMT -5)  Quebec Enjoying "Mini-Baby Boom" but is it Enough to Halt Demographic Decline? Province's 38 per cent abortion rate is surpassed only by that of former Soviet-bloc countries By Hilary White MONTREAL, November 8, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) – After decades of suffering the lowest birth rate in North America, Quebec is enjoying a mini baby boom the Globe and Mail has reported. According to data from the province's Institute de la Statistique, Quebec has seen an increase in the birth rate of 9 per cent between 2005 and 2006. This year, the statistics show almost 1,000 more births between April and June 2007, than in the same period last year. It is not the first time that such increases have been recorded, however and Quebec's birth rate still remains well below replacement level. In 2001 a University of Toronto economist, Kevin Milligan, found that Quebec's birth rate rose during a nine-year baby bonus program that ended in 1997. He said the bonuses caused a 10 per cent increase in births by first-time mothers, 13 per cent for mothers who already had one child, and 25 per cent for those with two or more children. The program offered $500 for a first baby and up to $8,000 over five years for three or more births. But even with these increases, Quebec's birth rate in 1997 was one of the lowest in the world, at approximately 1.5 children per couple. Meanwhile, the number of abortions in Quebec doubled from 1980 to 2000. According to the most recent available statistics, Canada's overall fertility rate stands far below replacement level at 1.61 children born per woman. In 1998 the Institute de la Statistique showed 38 abortions per 100 live births in the province. Quebec's 38 per cent abortion rate is surpassed only by that of former Soviet-bloc countries where abortion is used as a method of contraception. The Globe and Mail quoted experts who said that two years is not enough to indicate a definite upward trend or a slowdown in Quebec's overall population decline. In the meantime, the Quebec government announced November 2 that it will increase the number of immigrants to the province over the next three years to attract 55,000 per year by 2010. The government admitted that the increase in immigration was to help meet a labour shortage caused by the low birth rate and aging population. Despite the province's historical focus on maintaining its French cultural heritage, an almost equal proportion of the hoped-for immigrants will be drawn from Africa (27 per cent), Asia (26 per cent), Europe (26 per cent) and the Americas (21 per cent). _________________ http://www.geocities.com/demographic_crash | ||
| Jesuit Priest "Comes Out" at Mass Posted: Thu Nov 08, 2007 7:21 pm (GMT -5) Link to original
_________________ Quid hoc ad aeternitatem? | ||
| Catholic Diocese announces layoffs Posted: Thu Nov 08, 2007 7:14 pm (GMT -5) Catholic Diocese announces layoffs Trevor Wilhelm Windsor Star Wednesday, November 07, 2007 http://www.canada.com/windsorstar/story.html?id=a721f83d-8940-478c-abec-884a6c9d4e69&k=82712  The wreckovated cathedral sanctuary with a stealth priestess at the ambo Sex abuse claims, outstanding debt from World Youth Day and restoration of a London cathedral have forced the Roman Catholic London Diocese to cut jobs and streamline operations to save $400,000 a year. "We cannot deny that there have been significant pressures on our finances in recent years," Bishop Ronald Fabbro wrote in a recent letter to the diocese. "These pressures have resulted from a significant contribution to support World Youth Day locally and nationally, from a substantial financial commitment to the restoration of our cathedral, and from lawsuits for sexual abuse and efforts to provide support and counselling for the victims. These expenses are nevertheless rooted in the demands of justice and compassion, and in our desire to share with others the riches we have received." Larry Brennan, the diocese's episcopal director of administrative services, said 22 out of 70 non-parish positions will be affected, but the aim is to shuffle about half of those displaced people into different jobs. He said four regional offices, including one in Windsor, will be closed. But Brennan said the establishment of the new St. Peter's Institute for Catholic Formation, which will have a presence in Windsor, will provide the services of the old offices and provide more. The diocese's outstanding debt includes half the projected $5.2-million cost of a restoration project for St. Peter's cathedral and $1.2 million for its contribution to the Pope's World Youth Day in Canada from 2002. At least 40 lawsuits have stemmed from the decades of abuse inflicted on young girls by the late Rev. Charles Sylvestre alone. The diocese has settled twelve lawsuits, according to its website. Brennan wouldn't reveal how much the lawsuits have cost, saying he was respecting the victims' right to privacy. He said insurance will pay for some of it. "It has exacerbated our financial situation," said Brennan. He said the lawsuits mean the diocese must funnel the proceeds from sales of excess property away from church work. The properties up for sale include Fabbro's nine-bedroom house. The asking price is $850,000. The diocese has already sold other properties, including a chunk of land near Brescia College in London and a house in Elginfield. Brennan stressed that only non-parish property is being sold to pay for sex abuse lawsuits. In his letter last month, Fabbro said several offices and ministries will be combined under a "new, more streamlined diocesan structure," to be more accountable and effective. He said a similar process has been undertaken in recent years at St. Peter's Seminary in London. "These changes attempt to mirror on the diocesan level the financial and personnel realities of our parishes," Fabbro wrote. The new Institute for Catholic Formation will offer already existing laity and deacon training, ongoing "in-service" faith formation for pastoral leaders and courses at sites across the diocese. "There has been a real hunger expressed for parishioners to learn more about their faith," said Brennan. "We realize the need to have offerings of programs across the diocese." | ||
| Child-molesting priest released from jail Posted: Thu Nov 08, 2007 7:05 pm (GMT -5) Child-molesting priest released from jail Chicago Sun Times November 8, 2007 http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/641209,CST-NWS-priest08.article A child-molesting priest, facing new charges, was released from a Wisconsin jail Wednesday after he cleared up a probation violation and was sent back to Illinois where he is free on bond. Father Donald McGuire, 77, who is facing dismissal from the Jesuits in Chicago, will be under house arrest in an Oak Lawn apartment -- where he has to wear an electronic monitor and not have any contact with children under 18. Also, two friends have pledged to a federal judge they will watch McGuire to ensure he abides by his bond conditions while awaiting trial. McGuire was given a bond this week despite the feds arguing he is a danger to children. | ||
| Automatic Excommunication for Women's Pretend Ordination Posted: Thu Nov 08, 2007 2:40 pm (GMT -5) Automatic Excommunication for Women's Pretend Ordination Based on Schism http://stlouiscatholic.blogspot.com/2007/11/automatic-excommunication-for-womens.html With the local news flurry lurching predictably forward in the advance of the purported ordination of two local women this Sunday ("Burke seeks to crush the spirits of two kindly grandmothers" and such rot), I have been trying to analyze the possible canonical penalties for such an outrage due to these women and those who actively assist them. While such a topic may be a little technical, it is interesting to note the Archbishop's approach. It differs somewhat from the infamous Danube Seven case in 2002, when Cardinal Ratzinger imposed ferendae setentiae excommunication. Such an excommunication is imposed by an appropriate authority after a warning, called a Monitum, has been issued pursuant to Canon 1347: Can. 1347 §1. A censure cannot be imposed validly unless the offender has been warned at least once beforehand to withdraw from contumacy and has been given a suitable time for repentance. §2. An offender who has truly repented of the delict and has also made suitable reparation for damages and scandal or at least has seriously promised to do so must be considered to have withdrawn from contumacy. This is precisely what happened in 2002. The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith issued a Monitum, which was not heeded. Pretend ordinations took place (in the traditional venue of a barge on the Danube river). Excommunication ferendae sententiae imposed. A key concept here is the term "imposed". But also noteworthy in the Monitum and the decree of excommunication was a reference to the pretend ordinations as a schismatic act-- "a grave offense to the Divine Constitution of the Church". In the current situation, His Grace, Raymond L. Burke, Archbishop of Saint Louis, has issued a warning to these ladies that they will incur automatic excommunication, latae sententiae, if they proceed with the pretend ordination. This is because of the canonical delict, or offense, of schism. The phrase "latae sententiae" means a judgment or sentence which has already been brought, in other words, a sentence or judgment which does not need a future additional judgment from someone in authority; it refers to a type of excommunication which is automatic. Such a sentence of excommunication is incurred "by the very commission of the offense," (CCC 2272) and does not require the future particular judgment of a case by competent authority. So, what is schism, exactly? St. Thomas Aquinas in the Summa Theologiae, 2nd, 2nd, Question 39, states as follows: Accordingly schismatics properly so called are those who, wilfully and intentionally separate themselves from the unity of the Church; for this is the chief unity, and the particular unity of several individuals among themselves is subordinate to the unity of the Church, even as the mutual adaptation of each member of a natural body is subordinate to the unity of the whole body. Now the unity of the Church consists in two things; namely, in the mutual connection or communion of the members of the Church, and again in the subordination of all the members of the Church to the one head...Now this Head is Christ Himself, Whose viceregent in the Church is the Sovereign Pontiff. Wherefore schismatics are those who refuse to submit to the Sovereign Pontiff, and to hold communion with those members of the Church who acknowledge his supremacy. Canon 751 states in relevant part: "...schism is the refusal of submission to the Supreme Pontiff or of communion with the members of the Church subject to him." By refusing to submit to the Supreme Pontiff and the Archbishop, and by displaying contempt for the magisterium that has definitively decreed that women's ordination is not possible, the pretend ordinands and the pretend Bishop who pretends to ordain them are guilty of schism. The penalty for schism is contained in Canon 1364 §1: "an apostate from the faith, a heretic, or a schismatic incurs a latae sententiae excommunication." That this consequence necessarily follows is bolstered by Canon 1379, which states in relevant part: "... a person who simulates the administration of a sacrament is to be punished with a just penalty." A just penalty for mere simulation of a sacrament could be an interdict, but in the case of a simulation of a sacrament that is a grave offense to the Divine Constitution of the Church, the just penalty is excommunication latae sententiae. This is the situation facing these women. They are choosing it, if they proceed, of their own free wills. As canon law shows, they are risking more than the embarrassment of changing their minds or losing the esteem of the womenpriest crowd-- they are risking something far weightier than that. Now, back to your regularly scheduled headlines: "Burke Threatens Kindly Grandmas with Weapons Purchased from St. Stan's Millions."[/b] _________________ Quid retribuam Domino pro omnibus quae retribuit mihi? | ||
| St. Louis Archbishop Burke warns women of excommunication if Posted: Thu Nov 08, 2007 2:33 pm (GMT -5)  Click Logo to Link Original Posted on Thu, Nov. 08, 2007 St. Louis Archbishop Burke warns women of excommunication if ordination proceeds Associated Press ST. LOUIS --St. Louis Archbishop Raymond Burke has warned two Roman Catholic women that they will be excommunicated if they proceed with a planned ordination Sunday. The two women -- Rose Marie Dunn Hudson of Festus and Elsie Hainz McGrath of St. Louis -- are set to be ordained as part of the Roman Catholic Womenpriests movement that began in 2002. Only men are ordained priests and deacons in the Catholic Church. The Womenpriests and the advocacy group, the Women's Ordination Conference, are among Catholics pressing to change that tradition. Both women said they will ignore Burke's warning. "It's a typically hierarchical form of intimidation, and we will not be intimidated," McGrath said. In letters delivered by courier to the women's homes Monday evening, Burke warned the women they would be committing a "grave error" and "act of schism" by trying to receive priestly ordination. He reminded them that the pope has stated infallibly that only men can receive a valid ordination. "Should you refuse to comply ... in order to protect the faithful from grave spiritual deception ... you will incur automatically ... the censure of excommunication," wrote Burke, who is also a church lawyer. He said "additional disciplinary measures will also have to be imposed." The archdiocese declined to comment about the letters. "What is he going to do, burn us at the stake or what?" Hudson asked. "We're going to just totally ignore it. This is not unexpected. We wondered why it took so long." Both women have graduate degrees in theology or pastoral studies and have been active in ministry for years. McGrath, 69, is the widow of a Roman Catholic deacon. She has worked for the archdiocese, for the theology department at Saint Louis University, has been a campus minister and edited for a religious publisher. She and her late husband were part of a national leadership team for marriage preparation and enrichment programs. Hudson, 67, is a retired teacher who has been active in parish life. She's done prison ministry for the last 15 years. Of the roughly 100 women who have been ordained as priests or deacons worldwide in the Womenpriests movement, including 37 in the U.S., only the first seven were officially excommunicated by the Vatican, said spokeswoman Bridget Mary Meehan. Others have received letters from their bishop like that sent by Burke, she said. "It means you are no longer a Catholic in good standing, that by your very own decision you have chosen to separate yourself from the church," Meehan said. "But we are disobeying an unjust law that discriminates against women. "Baptism makes us full members of the church for life." McGrath also was penalized by the Aquinas Institute of Theology in St. Louis, a Roman Catholic graduate school and seminary founded by the Dominican order. The school said she was asked to withdraw from a class she was auditing for "taking part in ordination, which "undermines and shows disrespect for Catholic Church teaching and practice." The service is taking place at Central Reform Congregation, a synagogue in St. Louis. In response, the archdiocese said on its Web site it would no longer partner with the congregation on any interfaith activities. Rabbi Susan Talve said she and the congregation's board agreed to allow the ordination in their sacred space. She said hospitality and providing sanctuary are among their core values. _________________ IN CORDIBUS JESU ET MARIÆ SECRETMAN | ||
| Tony Blair will become a Catholic 'within weeks' Posted: Thu Nov 08, 2007 2:27 pm (GMT -5)  Click Logo to Link Original Tony Blair will become a Catholic 'within weeks' Last updated at 14:15pm on 8th November 2007 Tony Blair is set to become a Roman Catholic within weeks, it emerged today. The former Prime Minister is likely to be received into his new church in a Mass at the private chapel of Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, the Archbishop of Westminster. His path to Rome will come as no surprise because his wife Cherie and four children are Catholics and the family have worshipped together for years. In one of his final acts as premier, Mr Blair met Pope Benedict XVI, and was believed to have told him of his determination to leave the Church of England. The imminent move was disclosed by the Catholic weekly The Tablet, which predicted that the service will be held this month. Mr Blair's spokesman did not deny the story, merely saying: "This is the same old speculation." But a friend said it was "not without substance". His conversion is likely to divide Catholics because as an MP Mr Blair voted for abortion at up to 24 weeks, a stance that drew a public rebuke from the late Cardinal Thomas Winning. All four of the Blair children were baptised as Catholics and the whole family used to attend Mass at St Joan of Arc Church in Islington when he was opposition leader in the mid-Nineties. To Mr Blair's dismay, after becoming Prime Minister in 1997 he was told to stop taking Holy Communion by the late Cardinal Hume, then leader of Catholics in England and Wales. He continued to attend private Masses with prominent Westminster priest Fr Michael Seed at Downing Street. Some friends thought Mr Blair privately wished to convert while he was prime minister but was nervous at the reaction. Some lawyers even argue that the 1829 Emancipation Act still bans a Catholic from becoming PM. All candidates for the Catholic Church must undergo a period of instruction in its rites and dogma, although the process can be swift for people, like Mr Blair, deemed to be well versed in the faith. He is thought to have been guided by former RAF chaplain Fr John Walsh, who gives Mass at Chequers, and Fr Mark O'Toole, the cardinal's secretary. The Tablet reported that Mr Blair was invited to be received into the Church in Rome but his advisers discouraged the idea, believing it might seem like Catholic triumphalism. To complete his conversion, Mr Blair must recite the Catholic creed and state: "I believe and profess all that the holy Catholic Church believes, teaches, and proclaims to be revealed by God." There is no shortage of Catholic friends to sponsor his conversion. As well as Cherie, his prominent Catholic friends include aide Ruth Turner, Cabinet ministers Ruth Kelly and Baroness Scotland, and Cabinet Secretary Sir Gus O'Donnell. _________________ IN CORDIBUS JESU ET MARIÆ SECRETMAN |
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