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Posted:

Fri Nov 23, 2007 2:38 pm (GMT -5)

Cardinals discuss Pentecostal threats

Yahoo! News
By NICOLE WINFIELD, Associated Press Writer
November 23, 2007
Link to original

VATICAN CITY - The Roman Catholic Church must figure out what it is doing wrong in the battle for souls, because so many Catholics are leaving the church to join Pentecostal and other evangelical movements, a top Vatican cardinal said Friday.

Cardinal Walter Kasper, who heads the Vatican's office for relations with other Christians, told a meeting of the world's cardinals that the church must undergo a "self-critical pastoral examination of conscience" to confront the "exponential" rise of Pentecostal movements.

"We shouldn't begin by asking ourselves what is wrong with the Pentecostals, but what our own pastoral shortcomings are," Kasper told the gathering, noting that such evangelical and charismatic groups count 400 million faithful around the world.

The Vatican has been increasingly lamenting the rise of Protestant evangelical communities, which it describes as "sects," in Latin America, Africa and elsewhere, and the resulting flight of Catholics. In Brazil alone, Roman Catholics used to account for about 90 percent of the population in the 1960s; by 2005, it was down to 67 percent.

Kasper's comments came on the eve of Saturday's ceremony to elevate 23 new cardinals. As he did during his first consistory in 2006, Pope Benedict XVI asked the world's cardinals to come to Rome early for a meeting to discuss church concerns.

This year, Kasper briefed the cardinals on relations with other Christians, focusing on the church's relations with the Orthodox, Protestants and Pentecostal movements.

Kasper said the rise of independent, often "aggressive" evangelical movements in Africa and elsewhere had complicated the church's ecumenical task. Nevertheless, Kasper told reporters that "ecumenism is not an option but an obligation."

Kasper opened his remarks by updating the cardinals and cardinal-designates on an important new document approved by a Vatican-Orthodox theological commission that has been working to heal the 1,000-year schism between the Catholic and Orthodox churches.

In the document, Catholic and Orthodox representatives both agreed that the pope has primacy over all bishops — although they disagreed over just what authority that primacy gives him.

The development is significant since the Great Schism of 1054 — which split the Catholic and Orthodox churches — was precipitated largely by disagreements over the primacy of the pope.

Kasper told the cardinals that the document was an "important turning point," since it marked the first time that Orthodox churches had agreed there is a universal level of the church, that it has a primate, and that according to ancient church practice, that primate is the bishop of Rome — the pope.

Kasper said that the Vatican's relations with the Russian Orthodox Church, in particular, had become "significantly smoother" in recent years.

"We can say there's no longer a freeze but a thaw," Kasper said.

Tensions between the two churches have been strained over Orthodox accusations that the Vatican is seeking converts on traditionally Orthodox territories, particularly in eastern Europe — charges that Rome denies.

The rift has precluded a meeting between a pope and Patriarch Alexy II, long sought by Pope John Paul II and pursued by Benedict.

Kasper noted that Moscow had "never categorically excluded" such an encounter.

___

Associated Press Writer Daniela Petroff contributed to this report.
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O Crux, Ave, Spes Unica!

Minnesota Priest of New Ulm Diocese calls Celibacy a Myth

Posted:

Fri Nov 23, 2007 2:19 pm (GMT -5)

Minn. priest: 'celibacy is largely a myth'

Matt C. Abbott
November 23, 2007

I received the following (edited) e-mail from Father Jack Nordick, of the New Ulm, Minn., Catholic diocese:

"What we need to consider is that priests are as human as all the rest of you, and indeed subject to the same foibles. That means that celibacy is largely a myth, with perhaps no more that 15 percent of all priests actually maintaining celibacy throughout their entire careers. As Jesus himself noted, (Mathew 19; 8-12) celibacy is not something that can be imposed but is a gift given to few. Considering other life situations, one wonders why celibacy for priests matters so much.

"As such, those of us who, at least up to now, have succeeded in keeping our promise of celibacy should not think of that as something we did on our own or a reason for greater honor. It is only a gift, and as all gifts, one that still needs to be cherished and honored. That doesn't make me a prude, or perfect, or without sexual interest or reactions. Only that somehow, and not because of some greater will power, I have never found myself in a situation where I could not say no. I do not regard as inferior, those who responded to life's urges in a different way.

"[This is] considering the high sexual charge in our social environment; and the lack of concern for every kind of heterosexual dalliance; and the lack of reprimand for those bishops who had oversight for the passing around of known pedophile priests.

"Our Church and our society have a long way to go before we can point fingers at priests who fall in love. But if we would deny communion to bishops who passed around pedophile priests, now that would be something."

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nemo se tradere tenetur

Catholic University severs ties with Archdiocese

Posted:

Fri Nov 23, 2007 1:49 pm (GMT -5)

Catholic St. Thomas University Votes to Sever Historic Ties with St. Paul Archdiocese

Local Catholics stunned by move that appears designed to limit influence of new, faithful Archbishop

by Hilary White

ST. PAUL, Minnesota, November 21, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Minnesota's St. Thomas University has voted to remove the bylaw that maintained the sitting archbishop of St. Paul-Minneapolis as the Vicar General and Priest President of the University. The board of directors voted unanimously to change the university's bylaw and install soon-to-retire Archbishop Harry Flynn as chairman for a five year term. The move is feared to be an effort by the university to override the authority of and possible reforms by Archbishop John Nienstedt, Flynn's more orthodox Catholic coadjutor bishop who will fully succeed him as head of the archdiocese next year.

The surprise move has alarmed some Catholics who attend St. Thomas, the only Catholic university in the US founded directly by a bishop, who fear that the break with its historic ties to the archdiocese presages the "complete secularization" of the university, widely known as one of the US' more doctrinally liberal Catholic schools.

A memo from the board of directors said, "Implementing a process the Board Affairs Committee began last February, the board also elected Archbishop Flynn to a five-year term as chairman of the board after making appropriate changes to the university's bylaws which heretofore had stipulated that the ordinary (head) of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis serve ex officio as chairman."

Archbishop Flynn is due to offer his retirement to the Vatican next year when he turns 75, and his coadjutor bishop, John Nienstedt, is known to be a strong supporter of Catholic moral teaching and an opponent of the homosexual political movement and dissenting trends in the Church.

The university describes itself in its recently revised mission statement as "inspired by Catholic intellectual tradition," and was founded in 1885 as a Catholic seminary by Archbishop John Ireland. St. Thomas currently enrols more than 11,000 students, making it Minnesota's largest independent university.

At a meeting following the decision, about a hundred concerned students vowed to petition the university to reverse the decision. A student organiser wrote in a circular email to supporters, "By removing the ex officio position of the Archbishop, the University largely purges itself of a continual, institutionalized connection with the Church."

"With the ecclesial connection lost, we lose the presence of a continual conscience of the Board, and we can be confident of rapid secularization over a number of years," he added.

Archbishop Flynn retires after years of complaints by faithful Catholics over his handling of a host of scandals involving homosexual activists both within and without the archdiocesan administration.

Under his rule, a notoriously pro-homosexual parish, St. Joan of Arc, was allowed to continue in open support of the Gay Pride parades and homosexual lifestyle. The parish's opposition to Catholic teaching was so brazen that it resulted in 2004 in a rare direct intervention by the Vatican.

Flynn was named by homosexual political activists as one of the US's four most "gay friendly" bishops. When he publicly supported the orthodox Catholic teaching on marriage, gay activists in the Rainbow Sash Movement were furious at what they saw as a betrayal by a friend of their cause.

Nienstedt, who came to St. Paul-Minneapolis this year from the diocese of New Ulm, is well established as a defender of orthodox Catholic teachings in his diocese, especially on homosexuality. He supported the Minnesota constitutional amendment banning same-sex "marriage" and in 2004, joined the eight other Catholic bishops in spearheading a campaign for a constitutional amendment defining marriage strictly as between a man and a woman.

Contact:
University President
Father Dennis Dease
2115 Summit Ave.
St. Paul, MN 55105

DJDEASE@stthomas.edu

See list of Board of Trustees
http://www.stthomas.edu/administration/board/default.html

Read related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:

Archdiocese of St. Paul claims no "Subculture of Homosexual Priests" Here
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2006/mar/06032801.html

Prominent Minneapolis-St. Paul Priest a Leader in National Homosexual Lobby Group
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2006/mar/06032009.html

New Society of Faithful Catholics Forms to Confront Priestly Sexual Abuse
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2006/mar/06031311.html

Gay-Friendly U.S. Bishops Outed by Homosexual Activist 'Catholic' Group
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2004/nov/04111108.html

Bishop Silences Faithful Priest for Objecting to Graphic Sex-Ed Program
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2006/mar/06030602.html

Vatican Intervenes in Minneapolis Catholic "Gay Pride" Parish
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2004/oct/04102806.html

New Catholic Bishop Expected to Bring Orthodoxy and Opposition to Homosexual Agenda to Minneapolis
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2007/jun/07060507.html
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nemo se tradere tenetur

Priest who founded Life Teen Mass is back

Posted:

Fri Nov 23, 2007 8:52 am (GMT -5)
Indicted Mesa priest starts new ministry

Christina Vanoverbeke
East Valley Tribune
November 23, 2007
http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/story/102549

Dale Fushek, the former pastor of Mesa's St. Timothy's Catholic Community, who was indicted on sexually-related misdemeanor charges in November 2005, was back before a congregation Thursday for the first time in three years.

Although he sent out no invitations, instead letting supporters spread news of his return, more than 550 people attended the first service of the nondenominational Praise and Worship Center at the downtown Mesa Marriott hotel.

Mesa resident Elizabeth Culverson trembled with tears while she lingered in line to hug Fushek after the service. She said she had waited a long time to hear him preach again and felt blessed to be in the audience.

"God gave us a great gift today," she said.

Fushek, who is resigning from the priesthood, is awaiting a hearing by the Arizona Supreme Court to determine whether he has a legal right to a jury trial for seven charges filed against him.

He faces one count of assault, five counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and one count of indecent exposure. He is accused of engaging in sexually related discussions with teenagers during confessions and exposing himself to teens as he got into his hot tub.

Fushek has said he is innocent of all charges.

Known as "Monsignor Dale" at St. Timothy's, where he served as pastor for 20 years, Fushek co-founded the national Life Teen program and served as vicar general of the Catholic Diocese of Phoenix.

On Thanksgiving Day, he said he was happy to be back before a group of worshippers.

"I feel alive again," he said after the two-hour service Thursday morning. "This was inspiring and beautiful. I thought there was a really good spirit among the people here."

Pam Davis of Mesa said she thought having the first service take place on Thanksgiving was appropriate.

"It's called 'Praise and Worship,' and how could you not on Thanksgiving?" she said, adding that the service will complement her regular church attendance.

Fushek said he started the center not as competition to the church but as a place where people can come to worship between regular services.

"This is not a church. It is not intended to draw people away from their denominations," he said.

The Praise and Worship Center will meet periodically, to start, Fushek said, but he hopes to raise enough money and interest to meet every week starting next year.

The next service is scheduled for 9 a.m. Dec. 23 at the Mesa Convention Center, 200 N. Centennial Way.

Former priest Mark Dippre, who is running the center with Fushek, said they are hoping to offer an alternate place of worship that is more accepting than some churches in the East Valley.

People in attendance at the first service waited in long lines to personally thank Fushek for starting the center.

As the service ended Thursday, the people in the audience raised their voices to sing "Blessed Be Your Name."

Fushek joined in, his arms raised toward the ceiling, his eyes closed tight.

"Happy Thanksgiving. I love you," he said, in closing. "I thank you so much, and it won't be three more years until I see you again. I hope to see you every week soon."

For more information about the Praise and Worship Center, go to www.praiseandworshipcenter.net

The Bigger View

Saturday, November 24, 2007

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