tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-78407063685149453002024-03-13T20:58:24.605-07:00Word From WEORCWord From WEORChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17167683118293795402noreply@blogger.comBlogger114125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7840706368514945300.post-53270880343095878922015-03-12T20:47:00.000-07:002015-03-12T20:47:10.822-07:00James E. Wilbur, RIP
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLFN9eJuosCbix2HqxMMGJZCXAE-w2K_1CL3BozE-oC1-3D61eM7h9_6qlKnEc_Qgkrnh18E_nQCbLkFeDf2N-CG3UJL7hp09AOwQU5_g3OaINKxT2ZPz1h81bZlkGKba6PKmhi1-ecqw/s1600/wilbur.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLFN9eJuosCbix2HqxMMGJZCXAE-w2K_1CL3BozE-oC1-3D61eM7h9_6qlKnEc_Qgkrnh18E_nQCbLkFeDf2N-CG3UJL7hp09AOwQU5_g3OaINKxT2ZPz1h81bZlkGKba6PKmhi1-ecqw/s1600/wilbur.jpeg" height="138" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Joan and Jim Wilbur</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">It’s with great sadness that we report that one of WEORC’s founders, Jim
Wilbur (85), entered into eternal life two weeks ago. Jim was living at
Bethlehem Woods in La Grange with his dear wife, Joan (nee Johnson). Jim was a
long-time resident of Evanston.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Jim was ordained in<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>1956 for the
Chicago Archdiocese. Even when he did leave active ministry, his love for the
Liturgy and organization never left him. Eventually he became the editor-in-chief
at JS Paluch Company. He worked with Marty Hegarty in founding WEORC in the
late 1970’s and put together the first WEORC directory. He was a stalwart
presence in helping many transition from clerical and religious life to careers
in the secular world.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">His funeral Mass was held on Saturday, February 28, at the Congregation
of the Sisters of St. Joseph Chapel, 1515 W. Ogden Ave., LaGrange Park. Memorials
to Sheil Catholic Center at Northwestern University appreciated.</span></div>
Word From WEORChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17167683118293795402noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7840706368514945300.post-3212481952181771552014-12-29T12:21:00.003-08:002014-12-29T12:21:22.049-08:00Married Catholic Priest Replaces Priest Leaving the Catholic Church to get Married<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf35WzA1W4oNVLL68LWN8y0u2KPQlbnSUBcqRZY37mB6vhmXCc2WofkSRBU2MtLINm9d7F3zlKwYq-YnCggoVZl_27P5uahTe4waXDpkJusstyliEDdwMJFDV7tpG2FBEN61Efaw-tqfc/s1600/caketopper.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf35WzA1W4oNVLL68LWN8y0u2KPQlbnSUBcqRZY37mB6vhmXCc2WofkSRBU2MtLINm9d7F3zlKwYq-YnCggoVZl_27P5uahTe4waXDpkJusstyliEDdwMJFDV7tpG2FBEN61Efaw-tqfc/s1600/caketopper.jpg" height="200" width="126" /></a></div>
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Talk about a head-scratcher. I wonder if anyone in the <st1:country-region w:st="on">Vatican</st1:country-region>
recognizes the absurdity of all this?</div>
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Another case of a priest leaving to get married, being
replaced by a married priest – in this case, a former Anglican priest who with
his wife and family, entered the Catholic Church. There were several cases of
this in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">England</st1:place></st1:country-region>
when the Anglican Church started ordaining women. Full details can be found in
the Tablet article at… </div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="http://www.thetablet.co.uk/news/1516/0/married-priest-replaces-cleric-who-fell-in-love-with-parishioner">http://www.thetablet.co.uk/news/1516/0/married-priest-replaces-cleric-who-fell-in-love-with-parishioner</a>
</div>
Word From WEORChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17167683118293795402noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7840706368514945300.post-90058085947628809422014-06-05T13:22:00.003-07:002014-06-05T13:22:35.607-07:00Priest shortage here... and everywhere?<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><st1:city w:st="on">Chicago</st1:city>’s Cardinal George
ordained a dozen priests on May 17<sup>th</sup> – one of the largest ordination
classes in the <st1:country-region w:st="on">US</st1:country-region>
this year. However, that is a far cry from the 30 to 40 that were ordained
annually a few decades ago. And they can scarcely replace the 31 <st1:city w:st="on">Chicago</st1:city> priests that died
in 2013. The continued decline of traditional clergy was reiterated in the
recent newspaper article in <st1:state w:st="on">Florida</st1:state>.
Perhaps a new kind of priesthood is needed.</span></div>
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<h1 style="line-height: 25.5pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica;">U.S.</span></st1:country-region></st1:place><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica;"> Catholics face shortage of priests<o:p></o:p></span></h1>
<h1 style="line-height: 25.5pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica;"> </span><span class="asset-metabar-authorasset-metabar-item" style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22.399999618530273px;"><b><span style="font-size: 9.0pt;"><span itemprop="name" style="display: inline-block;">Dave
Breitenstein, The (<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Fort Myers</st1:city>,
<st1:state w:st="on">Fla.</st1:state></st1:place>) News-Press</span></span></b></span><span class="asset-metabar-timeasset-metabar-itemnobyline" style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22.399999618530273px;"><i><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #999999; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;"><span style="display: inline-block;">7:06 a.m. EDT May 25, 2014</span></span></i></span></h1>
<section class="storytopbar-bucket story-byline-module" id="module-position-NQDZvAHEbSc" style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22.399999618530273px;">
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial;"></span></div>
<section class="storymetadata-bucket expandable-photo-module" id="module-position-NQDZvAm6hYg"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt-5W7vwwbyt8EEOFh5yLurtxL3gO4KUmCMoyE9NSPd7HQZUAs-noZ8-OWAcNQZ-e913fuEgPOcdkCbVl6r5L8I2sPa8EvZbiuifDIhH3I3LV3gnwXMK1wqXClQ8aTprkiaWO0qPdrakM/s1600/New+Priest.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt-5W7vwwbyt8EEOFh5yLurtxL3gO4KUmCMoyE9NSPd7HQZUAs-noZ8-OWAcNQZ-e913fuEgPOcdkCbVl6r5L8I2sPa8EvZbiuifDIhH3I3LV3gnwXMK1wqXClQ8aTprkiaWO0qPdrakM/s1600/New+Priest.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
<aside class="single-photo expandable-collapsed" itemprop="associatedMedia" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/ImageObject" style="margin-bottom: 20px; position: relative; z-index: 100;"><br /><o:p></o:p><br />
<div class="image-credit-wrap" style="line-height: 12.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 4.5pt;">
<span class="credit"><i><span style="color: #646464; font-family: Arial; font-size: 8.5pt;">(Photo:
Jack Hardman, The (<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Fort Myers</st1:city>,
<st1:state w:st="on">Fla.</st1:state></st1:place>) News-Press)</span></i></span></div>
</aside></section><div style="line-height: 16.5pt; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<st1:city w:st="on"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt;">FORT MYERS</span></st1:city><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt;">, <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Fla.</st1:place></st1:state> -- Nationally, one in five Catholic
parishes does not have a resident priest.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 16.5pt; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt;">America</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt;">'s Catholic population
is rising by 1 percent annually, but seminary enrollment is flat. An inadequate
supply of priests already has forced hundreds of parishes to close or
consolidate.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 16.5pt; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt;">Priests aren't getting any younger, either. Their average age is
63.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 16.5pt; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt;">Something's got to give.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 16.5pt; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt;">"These people have served the church for 30, 40 or 50
years, and now they are retiring or dying and leaving the priesthood,"
said Mary Gautier, senior research associate with <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Georgetown</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">University</st1:placetype></st1:place>'s
Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 16.5pt; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt;">In the Diocese of Venice, Fla., though, Bishop Frank Dewane is
sitting comfortably for the 59 parishes from <st1:city w:st="on">Bradenton</st1:city>
to <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Marco</st1:placename> <st1:placename w:st="on">Island</st1:placename></st1:place>. Dewane has 111 diocesan priests
under his authority, along with 60 priests supplied by religious orders.
Additionally, between 10 and 70 outside priests, who often are retirees from
parishes up North, assist the diocese on a seasonal or part-time basis.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 16.5pt; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt;">Dewane's focus isn't covering next Sunday's Mass; he is charged
with building the next generation of religious leaders.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 16.5pt; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt;">"We're blessed right now, but we always have to look at
where are we in, say, 25 years or 50 years out," Dewane said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 16.5pt; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt;">In 1975, there were 58,909 priests in the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">United States</st1:place></st1:country-region>.
Today, <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Georgetown</st1:place></st1:city>'s
CARA puts the figure at 39,600, a 33 percent drop. Meanwhile, <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">America</st1:place></st1:country-region>'s Catholic
population rose from 54.5 million to 78.2 million, a 43 percent increase,
during the same period.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 16.5pt; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt;">Although the 39,600 priests seems plenty for <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">America</st1:place></st1:country-region>'s
17,413 parishes, it's not. Presiding over Mass is just one of a priest's
duties, along with hearing confessions, baptizing babies, officiating weddings,
counseling parishioners, conducting funerals, teaching schoolchildren, blessing
hospital patients, running missions and more. On Easter and Christmas, some
parishes in <st1:place w:st="on">Southwest Florida</st1:place> have a half-dozen
or more Masses, often simultaneously on church campuses, to accommodate
residents, tourists and seasonal residents.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 16.5pt; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt;">"I don't know of any bishop who believes he has too many
priests," said the Rev. John Guthrie, associate director for the
secretariat of clergy, consecrated life and vocations with the U.S. Conference
of Catholic Bishops.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 16.5pt; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt;">Nationally, Guthrie said, the ratio of priests to parishioners
in 1950 was 1 to 652, but that climbed to 1 to 1,653 by 2010. That doesn't
account for the millions of Catholics who are not registered with a parish or
regularly attend services.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 16.5pt; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt;">"There are fewer of us doing more and more work,"
Guthrie said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 16.5pt; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt;">When schoolteachers are sick or on vacation, a principal finds
substitute teachers. The same holds true for a church when priests are needed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 16.5pt; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt;">A long-term vacancy at school, however, poses more serious
problems: Who will teach students, and will their education suffer because of
instability and inconsistency? The same questions arise for a parish without a
resident priest: Who will provide spiritual guidance and manage the parish? In
some cases, the answer is no one.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 16.5pt; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt;">"There are places where they only hold Mass once a month
because that's the only time you can get a priest," Gautier said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 16.5pt; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt;">The recent sex abuse scandals certainly had an impact on the
priesthood, damaging the reputation of priests and possibly keeping some men
from considering the priesthood.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 16.5pt; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt;">"Did the scandals hurt? Yes they did," said the Rev.
Cory Mayer, vocations director for the Diocese of Venice and parish
administrator at Ave Maria. "There were victims, and justice needs to be
served. But the good young men see the scandal wasn't part of the church or its
teachings."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 16.5pt; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt;">The Rev. Rafal Ligenza, parochial vicar at St. William Parish in
<st1:city w:st="on">Naples</st1:city>, was raised in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Poland</st1:place></st1:country-region>, the homeland of Pope John
Paul II. Consequently, priests are among the most-respected professions for
Polish boys deciding what to do with their lives.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 16.5pt; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt;">"Here, it's being a doctor," said Ligenza, 32.
"There, it was being a priest."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 16.5pt; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt;">Mayer counsels youth and adults who are contemplating possible
roles within the church. The first and most important trait he seeks is a deep
love for God. Beyond that, a potential priest must be willing to give himself
to Christ, realize he will forever serve the church and be humble.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 16.5pt; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt;">"The worst thing we can have is an arrogant priest,"
Mayer said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 16.5pt; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt;">Beyond established religions with large, permanent church
buildings are a growing number of unofficial or unsanctioned religious
gatherings in parks, strip malls, beaches and schools.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 16.5pt; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt;">Deborah Rose-Milavec, executive director of Ohio-based
FutureChurch, said people still want to pray and religious leaders still want
to lead a congregation, but the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Vatican</st1:place></st1:country-region>
has steadfastly remained traditional and expressed no interest in allowing
married or female priests.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 16.5pt; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt;">"Church is happening, and it will continue to happen,"
Rose-Milavec said. "The big question is how will the official church
respond."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 16.5pt; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt;">FutureChurch's position is that the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Vatican</st1:place></st1:country-region> should consider married men
and all women for leadership positions, including ordination.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 16.5pt; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt;">"They could be brought into roles where they aren't just
making coffee, but making decisions," Rose-Milavec said of women.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 16.5pt; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt;">Pope Francis is at least willing to listen. In October, an advisory
board of bishops will gather in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Rome</st1:place></st1:city>
for a summit titled "The Pastoral Challenges of the Family in the Context
of Evangelization." There, Catholic leaders could discuss the issues of
marriage and women's roles within the Church, although change is not considered
imminent.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 16.5pt; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<st1:city w:st="on"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt;">Fort Myers</span></st1:city><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt;"> resident Gerry Mater,
74, said he's not opposed to the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Vatican</st1:place></st1:country-region> opening the priesthood to a
larger group.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div style="line-height: 16.5pt; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt;">"It's the work of the Holy Spirit that will decide that for
us," he said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2014/05/25/us-catholics-face-shortage-of-priests/9548931/">http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2014/05/25/us-catholics-face-shortage-of-priests/9548931/</a> </div>
Word From WEORChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17167683118293795402noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7840706368514945300.post-52424605579572453282014-02-03T11:12:00.000-08:002014-02-03T11:13:21.916-08:00Pope warns of future Roman Catholic priests becoming ‘little monsters’<style>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 1;">
<b><span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;">Making headlines again with some frank talk, a
couple months ago Pope Francis took on the clericalism of some priests who are
more concerned with their careers then serving people. This was not just about
clergy with aspirations to Vatican posts or episcopal positions, but also
parish priests set on becoming kings of their own parish fiefdoms.</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 1;">
<b><span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;">Though widely reported, this is an article from the
New York Daily News.</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">VATICAN CITY — <a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Pope+Francis" title="Pope Francis">Pope
Francis</a> has said men studying for the Roman Catholic priesthood should be
properly trained or the Church could risk "creating little monsters"
more concerned with their careers than serving people.</span><br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxXPy4xfK-WKzomWahmmw66CIkfHqfNSMGlv4rA1CoDKRoCFF8tzUvhvABpkyOSkIlIFclLFy6VxrZ1pYcwodAGpDnmwnzJaGs1wiM6Mp-VKR2iCN1ycGTiQgqywdXrCvSRmtUOdFeT9k/s1600/tumblr_m5en4z3MGc1rpnhnno1_500.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxXPy4xfK-WKzomWahmmw66CIkfHqfNSMGlv4rA1CoDKRoCFF8tzUvhvABpkyOSkIlIFclLFy6VxrZ1pYcwodAGpDnmwnzJaGs1wiM6Mp-VKR2iCN1ycGTiQgqywdXrCvSRmtUOdFeT9k/s1600/tumblr_m5en4z3MGc1rpnhnno1_500.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">In comments made in November but only
published on Friday, Francis also said priests should leave their comfort zone
and get out among people on the margins of society, otherwise they may turn
into "abstract ideologists".</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">The Italian Jesuit journal Civilta Cattolica
published an exclusive text of the comments, made in a three-hour, closed-door
meeting the Argentinian-born pontiff had in late November with heads of orders
of priests from around the world.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">"Formation (of future priests) is a work
of art, not a police action. We must form their hearts. Otherwise we are
creating little monsters. And then these little monsters mould the people of
God. This really gives me goose bumps," he said.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><b><span style="font-family: Times;"></span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Since his election in 2013 as the first
non-European pope in 1,300 years, Francis has been prodding priests, nuns and
bishops to think less about their careers in the Church and to listen more to
the needs of ordinary Catholics, especially the poor.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Taking over an institution reeling from child
sex abuse, financial and other scandals and losing members to other religions,
Francis has tried to refocus on the basic Christian teachings of compassion,
simplicity and humility.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">His conversation with the members of the
Union of Superiors General is important because they will transmit his wishes
directly to priests in their religious orders around the world.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Francis said men should not enter the
priesthood to seek a comfortable life or to rise up the clerical career ladder. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">"The ghost to fight against is the image
of religious life understood as an escape or hiding place in face of an
'external' difficult and complex world," he told them.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">He made a brief, indirect reference to the
sexual abuse crisis, saying a man who has been asked to leave one seminary
should not be admitted to another easily.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Francis said priests had to have "real
contact with the poor" and other marginalized members of society.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">"This is really very important to me:
the need to become acquainted with reality by experience, to spend time walking
on the periphery in order really to become acquainted with the reality and
life-experiences of people," he told them.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">"If this does not happen we then run the
risk of being abstract ideologists or fundamentalists, which is not
healthy."</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">The leader of the world's 1.2 billion Roman
Catholics has set a new tone in the Vatican, rejecting the lush papal residence
his predecessors used and opting for a small suite in a Vatican guest house,
where he eats in the common dining hall.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Civilta Cattolica is the same periodical that
ran a landmark interview with Francis in September in which he said the Church
must shake off an obsession with teachings on abortion, contraception and
homosexuality and become more merciful.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Francis, known as the "slum bishop"
in Argentina because of his work among the poor, said reaching out to
marginalized people was "the most concrete way of imitating Jesus".</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">His own first visits after moving to the
Vatican were to a jail for juveniles and to the southern Italian island of
Lampedusa to pay tribute to impoverished immigrants who have died trying to get
to Europe.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Francis has said several times since his
election that he feels the Vatican is too self-centered and needs to change.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">A committee of eight cardinals from around
the world that he has appointed to advise him on how to reform the central
Vatican administration, know as the Curia, is due to submit its recommendation.</span><br />
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br />
Read more: <a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/pope-warns-future-priests-monsters-article-1.1565639#ixzz2sHqdY2bt"><span style="color: #003399;">http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/pope-warns-future-priests-monsters-article-1.1565639#ixzz2sHqdY2bt</span></a></span></div>
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Word From WEORChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17167683118293795402noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7840706368514945300.post-3019098250605530082013-11-12T08:34:00.003-08:002013-11-12T08:35:59.277-08:00Et Cum Spiritu Tuo!<div class="MsoNormal">
This Advent we are coming
upon the second anniversary of the “new”, more traditional English liturgy/missal
that was foisted upon the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">American</st1:placename>
<st1:placetype w:st="on">Church</st1:placetype></st1:place>. If the <st1:country-region w:st="on">U.S.</st1:country-region> bishops had been less inclined to bend over
backwards to ingratiate themselves to the way the <st1:place w:st="on">Vatican</st1:place>
winds were blowing at that time, this “much ado about nothing” debacle would
never have happened. At weddings and funerals, there is still a discordant
cacophony to the invitation “The Lord be with You”, where less regular
Catholics and visiting Protestants still respond “And also with you.” The more
regular Sunday Catholic attendees have been trained to respond “And with your
Spirit”. They make this response, not because it makes sense, but because they
had been admonished to.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaD_tay8G9t3gH1KrMP0OUc9ZWIAzm4awmr4Mnyn9us0-LBn4CZlrhdDO16mO8XVyQs2gkFP80Q51H6W8SDZveBlmb9dfr97yPTuYrxKt5FlCehFCxi4aTo8i8K46QSaPwAdu1iSEna2Y/s1600/Roman-Missal.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="209" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaD_tay8G9t3gH1KrMP0OUc9ZWIAzm4awmr4Mnyn9us0-LBn4CZlrhdDO16mO8XVyQs2gkFP80Q51H6W8SDZveBlmb9dfr97yPTuYrxKt5FlCehFCxi4aTo8i8K46QSaPwAdu1iSEna2Y/s320/Roman-Missal.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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A similar “new” liturgy/missal
had been slated for implementation in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Germany</st1:place></st1:country-region>. But now, with the current
direction of the winds of <st1:city w:st="on">Rome</st1:city> (for pastoral
wisdom) German bishops have rejected changing the liturgy to placate some <st1:place w:st="on">Vatican</st1:place> commission at the expense of clarity and “the
language of the people”. A German publication declared that there would be no
new translation this Advent, nor will it be coming about in the foreseeable
future.” An article on the matter was recently published in the NCR. Full text
can be found at <a href="http://ncronline.org/news/global/new-german-missal-translation-runs-difficulties">http://ncronline.org/news/global/new-german-missal-translation-runs-difficulties</a> <span style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
Word From WEORChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17167683118293795402noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7840706368514945300.post-35176801312906734212013-09-26T13:50:00.002-07:002013-09-26T13:50:34.359-07:00The real test of Francis' reform...<i>The </i><em>National Catholic Reporter started a series of articles examining Pope Francis' recent
interviews. You can find this and the other following articles published on </em><strong>NCRonline.org</strong><em>.</em><br /><div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<o:p><span class="fieldfield-name-field-bylinefield-type-node-referencefield-label-hidden"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>The real test of Francis' reform: touching the spiritually poor</b></span></span></o:p></div>
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<o:p><span class="fieldfield-name-field-bylinefield-type-node-referencefield-label-hidden"><br /></span></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p><span class="fieldfield-name-field-bylinefield-type-node-referencefield-label-hidden">Hans Kung </span> | <span class="submitted">Sep. 23, 2013</span></o:p></div>
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<o:p><span class="submitted"><br /></span></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5-A622PxWZN6-zNAM0fbgyWtlrpAU_s9hRmmhyphenhyphenXSfhyt5v-5br48_ncFk6h4sZ17ME1H3fwmipJe5wZ24mcLmrKUAx1GnhPE4kLyWy4XJQDqcmhaNEBtFnFGvXi26NR-gxTOzHzFYYbI/s1600/HANS-K~1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5-A622PxWZN6-zNAM0fbgyWtlrpAU_s9hRmmhyphenhyphenXSfhyt5v-5br48_ncFk6h4sZ17ME1H3fwmipJe5wZ24mcLmrKUAx1GnhPE4kLyWy4XJQDqcmhaNEBtFnFGvXi26NR-gxTOzHzFYYbI/s200/HANS-K~1.JPG" width="148" /></a></div>
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Pope Francis shows courage: not
only in his brave appearance in the favelas of <st1:city w:st="on">Rio de Janeiro</st1:city>, but also by entering into an
open dialogue with critical nonbelievers. He has written an open letter to
leading Italian intellectual Eugenio Scalfari, founder and longtime editor in
chief of the major liberal Roman daily newspaper <em>La Repubblica</em>. These
are not papal instructions, but a friendly exchange of arguments on equal
levels.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Among the 12 questions from
Scalfari printed in <em>La Repubblica</em> Sept. 11, the fourth seems to me of
particular importance for a church leadership ready for reforms: Jesus
perceived his kingdom not to be of this world -- "Render to Caesar the
things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's" -- but the
Catholic church especially, writes Scalfari, all too often submits to the
temptations of worldly power and represses the spiritual dimension of the
church in favor of worldliness. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Scalfari's question: "Does
Pope Francis represent after all the priority of a poor and pastoral church
over an institutional and worldly church?"<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Let's focus on the facts:<o:p></o:p></div>
<ul type="disc">
<li class="MsoNormal">From the beginning,
Francis has dispensed with papal pomp and glory and engaged in <span class="object2"><a href="http://ncronline.org/news/vatican/real-test-francis-reform-touching-spiritually-poor" target="_blank">direct contact</a></span> with people. <o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal">In his words and
gestures, he has not presented himself as the spiritual lord of lords, but
rather as the "servant of the servants of God" (Gregory the
Great). <o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal">Facing numerous
financial scandals and the avarice of church leaders, he has initiated
decisive reforms of the <st1:place w:st="on">Vatican</st1:place> <span class="object2"><a href="http://ncronline.org/news/vatican/real-test-francis-reform-touching-spiritually-poor" target="_blank">bank</a></span> and the papal state and called for
transparent financial politics. <o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal">By establishing a
commission of eight cardinals from the different continents, he has
underlined the need for curial reforms and collegiality with the bishops.<o:p></o:p></li>
</ul>
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But he has not yet passed the
decisive test of his will to reform. It is understandable and pleasing that a
Latin American bishop puts the poor in the favelas of the great metropolises
first. But the pope of the Catholic church cannot lose sight the fact that
other groups of people in other countries suffer from other kinds of "poverty,"
and also yearn for the improvement of their situation. And these are people
whom the pope can support even more directly than he can those in the favelas,
for whom state organizations and society in general are primarily responsible.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The synoptic Gospels have
developed a broader notion of poverty. In the Gospel of Luke, the beatitude of
the poor refers without a doubt to the really poor, poor in a material sense.
But in Matthew's Gospel, this beatitude refers to the "poor in
spirit," the spiritually poor, who, as beggars before God, are aware of
their spiritual poverty. Thus, in line with the other beatitudes, it includes
not just the poor and hungry, but also those who cry, who are left out,
marginalized, neglected, excluded, exploited, desperate. Jesus calls both the
miserable and lost ones in a situation of extreme affliction (Luke) and those
in a situation of inner distress (Matthew), all those who are weary and
burdened, including those burdened by guilt.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
Thus the number of poor who need
support multiplies many times over. Support in particular from the pope, who
can help more than others, due to his office. Support from him as the
representative of the ecclesiastical institution and tradition means more than
just comforting and encouraging words; it means deeds of mercy and charity.
Offhand, three large groups of people come to mind who are "poor" in
the Catholic church.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
First, the divorced. From many
countries and counted in the millions, many are excluded from the sacraments of
the church for their <span class="object3"><a href="http://ncronline.org/news/vatican/real-test-francis-reform-touching-spiritually-poor" target="_blank">whole life</a></span> because they
have remarried. Today's greater social mobility, flexibility and liberality as
well as a noticeably longer life expectancy make greater demands on partners in
a lifelong relationship. Certainly, the pope will emphatically uphold the
necessary indissolubility of marriage even under these aggravating conditions.
But this commandment will not be understood as an apodictic condemnation of
those who fail and cannot expect forgiveness.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Rather, this commandment expresses
a goal that demands lifelong faithfulness, as it is lived by innumerous couples
already, but cannot be guaranteed. The mercy that Francis calls for would allow
the church to admit divorced and remarried persons to the sacraments if they
seriously wish it.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Second, women who are ostracized
in the church because of the ecclesiastical position regarding contraception,
artificial insemination and also abortion, and often find themselves in a
situation of spiritual distress. There are millions of them in the whole world.
Only a tiny minority of Catholic women obey the papal prohibition to practice
"artificial" contraception, and many with a good conscience use
artificial insemination. Abortion should not be banalized or even be used as a
means of birth control. But women who for serious reasons decided to have an
abortion, often experiencing great moral conflict, deserve understanding and
mercy.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Third, priests who had to leave
the priesthood because they married. Across the continents, they number in the
tens of thousands. Many suitable young men do not even become priests in the
first place because of the commandment of celibacy. Without doubt, voluntary
celibacy of priests will continue to have its place in the Catholic church. But
the legal commandment that church officials remain unmarried contradicts the
freedom guaranteed in the New Testament, the ecumenic tradition of the first
millennium and modern human rights. The abolition of mandatory celibacy would
represent the most effective means against the catastrophic shortage of priests
noticeable everywhere and the related collapse of pastoral care. Should the
church maintain mandatory celibacy, there is no thinking of the desirable
ordination of women into the priesthood.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
All these reforms are urgent and
should first be discussed in the summit of eight cardinals, which is to meet
Oct. 1-2. Francis faces important decisions here. He has already shown great
sensitivity and empathy with the hardships of people, and proved considerable
courage in various situations. These qualities enable him to make the necessary
and forward-looking decisions regarding these issues, some of which have been a
problem for centuries.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In his interview, published Sept.
20 in Jesuit journals worldwide, including <em>La Civiltà Cattolica </em>and <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on"><em>America</em></st1:place></st1:country-region>,
Francis recognizes the importance of questions such as contraception,
homosexuality and abortion. But he refuses to put these questions too much at the
center of the church's mission. He rightly calls for a "new balance"
between these moral issues and the essential impulses of the Gospel itself. But
this balance can only be reached when reforms that were postponed again and
again are realized, so that these fundamentally secondary moral issues will not
rob the proclamation of the Gospel of its "freshness and
attractiveness." This will be the great challenge for Francis.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
[Fr. Hans Ku<span style="font-family: Tahoma;">̈</span>ng,
Swiss citizen, is professor emeritus of ecumenical theology at <st1:placename w:st="on">Tübingen</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">University</st1:placetype>
in <st1:country-region w:st="on">Germany</st1:country-region>.
He is the honorary president of the Global Ethic Foundation (<span class="object3"><a href="http://www.weltethos.org/" target="_blank">www.weltethos.org</a></span> <span class="print-footnote">[1]</span>).<o:p></o:p></div>
Word From WEORChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17167683118293795402noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7840706368514945300.post-81429474236599191772013-09-19T13:22:00.001-07:002013-09-19T13:22:17.020-07:00Francis: Church should be "a home for all."<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN"><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Wonder how Conservative spinmeisters are going to try and spin this one? Pope Francis was critical of Ecclesial “purists” when he said </span><span lang="EN"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“This church with which we should be thinking is the home of all, not a small chapel that can hold only a small group of selected people</span><span style="font-family: Georgia;"><span style="font-size: 12px;">." A New York Times article follows...</span></span></span></i></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: 'Monotype Corsiva'; font-size: 26pt;">New York Times<br clear="all" />
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<span lang="EN" style="color: #a81817; font-family: Arial; font-size: 7.5pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">September 19, 2013<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<h1>
<nyt_headline type=" " version="1.0"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Pope Bluntly Faults Church’s Focus on
Gays and Abortion<o:p></o:p></span></nyt_headline></h1>
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<b><span lang="EN" style="color: grey; font-family: Arial; font-size: 7.5pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">By <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/g/laurie_goodstein/index.html" title="More Articles by LAURIE GOODSTEIN"><span itemid="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/g/laurie_goodstein/index.html" itemprop="author creator" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person"><span itemprop="name">LAURIE GOODSTEIN</span></span></a></span><o:p></o:p></b></h6>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh31lV5EXOsFc8q3eMj8EzAfnIZs_Zu8YbNyVKA7qZnSenaSSs6NtDKmDNxLCL5T27eCD3a9fTltjUPTq_cMz0b0J-dAv-sQg6NLTdIfgVPg3_DNAAW9vhkAyz_AXOPTTMlktt5H6vQS7Q/s1600/Francis.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh31lV5EXOsFc8q3eMj8EzAfnIZs_Zu8YbNyVKA7qZnSenaSSs6NtDKmDNxLCL5T27eCD3a9fTltjUPTq_cMz0b0J-dAv-sQg6NLTdIfgVPg3_DNAAW9vhkAyz_AXOPTTMlktt5H6vQS7Q/s320/Francis.jpg" width="239" /></a></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: Georgia;"><nyt_correction_top></nyt_correction_top>Pope
Francis, in the first extensive interview of his six-month-old papacy, said
that the Roman Catholic church had grown “obsessed” with preaching about
abortion, gay marriage and contraception, and that he has chosen not to speak
of those issues despite recriminations from some critics. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" itemprop="articleBody" style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: Georgia;">In remarkably blunt language, Francis sought
to set a new tone for the church, saying it should be a “home for all” and not
a “small chapel” focused on doctrine, orthodoxy and a limited agenda of moral
teachings. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" itemprop="articleBody" style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: Georgia;">“It is not necessary to talk about these
issues all the time,” the pope told the Rev. Antonio Spadaro, a fellow Jesuit
and editor in chief of <a href="http://www.laciviltacattolica.it/it/">La
Civiltà Cattolica</a>, the Italian Jesuit journal whose content is routinely
approved by the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Vatican</st1:place></st1:country-region>.
“The dogmatic and moral teachings of the church are not all equivalent. The
church’s pastoral ministry cannot be obsessed with the transmission of a
disjointed multitude of doctrines to be imposed insistently. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" itemprop="articleBody" style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: Georgia;">“We have to find a new balance,” the pope
continued, “otherwise even the moral edifice of the church is likely to fall
like a house of cards, losing the freshness and fragrance of the Gospel.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" itemprop="articleBody" style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: Georgia;">The interview was conducted in Italian during
three meetings in August in the pope’s spartan quarters in Casa Santa Marta,
the Vatican guesthouse, and translated into English by a team of translators.
Francis has chosen to live at Casa Santa Marta rather than in what he said were
more isolated quarters at the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Apostolic</st1:placename>
<st1:placetype w:st="on">Palace</st1:placetype></st1:place>, home to many of
his predecessors. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" itemprop="articleBody" style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: Georgia;">The interview was released simultaneously on
Thursday morning by 16 Jesuit journals around the world, and includes the
pope’s lengthy reflections on his identity as a Jesuit. Pope Francis personally
reviewed the transcript in Italian, said the Rev. James Martin, an
editor-at-large of <a href="http://www.americamagazine.org/">America</a>, the
Jesuit magazine in <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">New York</st1:place></st1:state>.
<st1:country-region w:st="on">America</st1:country-region> and La Civiltà
Cattolica together had asked Francis to grant <a href="http://www.americamagazine.org/pope-interview" title="Interview in America magazine">the interview</a>, which <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">America</st1:place></st1:country-region> is
publishing in its magazine and as an e-book. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" itemprop="articleBody" style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: Georgia;">“Some of the things in it really surprised
me,” Father Martin said. “He seems even more of a free-thinker than I thought —
creative, experimental, willing to live on the margins, push boundaries back a
little bit.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" itemprop="articleBody" style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: Georgia;">The new pope’s words are likely to have
repercussions in a church whose bishops and priests in many countries, including
the United States, often appeared to make combating abortion, gay marriage and
contraception their top public policy priorities. These teachings are “clear”
to him as “a son of the church,” he said, but they have to be taught in a
larger context. “The proclamation of the saving love of God comes before moral
and religious imperatives.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" itemprop="articleBody" style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: Georgia;">From the outset of his papacy in March,
Francis has chosen to use the global spotlight to focus instead on the church’s
mandate to serve the poor and marginalized. He has washed the feet of juvenile
prisoners, visited a center for refugees and hugged disabled pilgrims at his
audiences. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" itemprop="articleBody" style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: Georgia;">His pastoral presence and humble gestures
have made him wildly popular, according to recent surveys. But there has been a
low rumble of discontent from some Catholic advocacy groups, and even from some
bishops, who have taken note of his silence on abortion and gay marriage.
Earlier this month, Bishop Thomas Tobin of <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Providence</st1:city>, <st1:state w:st="on">R.I.</st1:state></st1:place>,
told his diocesan newspaper that he was “a little bit disappointed in Pope
Francis” because he had not spoken about abortion. “Many people have noticed
that,” the bishop was quoted as saying. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" itemprop="articleBody" style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: Georgia;">The interview is the first time Francis has
explained the reasoning behind both his actions and omissions. He also expanded
on the comments he made about homosexuality in July, on an airplane returning
to <st1:city w:st="on">Rome</st1:city> from <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Rio de Janeiro</st1:place></st1:city>, where he had celebrated World
Youth Day. In a remark then that produced headlines worldwide, the new pope
said, “<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/30/world/europe/pope-francis-gay-priests.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0" title="Times article.">Who am I to judge?</a>” At the time, some questioned
whether he was referring only to gays in the priesthood, but in this interview
he made clear that he had been speaking of gays and lesbians in general. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" itemprop="articleBody" style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: Georgia;">“A person once asked me, in a provocative
manner, if I approved of homosexuality,” he told Father Spadaro. “I replied
with another question: ‘Tell me: when God looks at a gay person, does he
endorse the existence of this person with love, or reject and condemn this
person?’ We must always consider the person.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" itemprop="articleBody" style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: Georgia;">The interview also serves to present the pope
as a human being, who loves Mozart and Dostoevsky and his grandmother, and
whose favorite film is Fellini’s “La Strada.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" itemprop="articleBody" style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: Georgia;">The 12,000-word interview ranges widely, and
may confirm what many Catholics already suspected: that the chameleon-like
Francis bears little resemblance to those on the church’s theological or
political right wing. He said some people had assumed he was an
“ultraconservative” because of his reputation when he served as the superior of
his Jesuit province in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Argentina</st1:place></st1:country-region>.
He pointed out that he was made superior at the “crazy” young age of 36, and
that his leadership style was too authoritarian. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" itemprop="articleBody" style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: Georgia;">“But I have never been a right-winger,” he
said. “It was my authoritarian way of making decisions that created problems.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" itemprop="articleBody" style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: Georgia;">Now, Francis said, he prefers a more
consultative leadership style. He has appointed an advisory group of eight
cardinals, a step he said was recommended by the cardinals at the consistory
that elected him. They were demanding reform of the <st1:place w:st="on">Vatican</st1:place>
bureaucracy, he said, adding that from the eight, “I want to see that this is a
real, not ceremonial consultation.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" itemprop="articleBody" style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: Georgia;">The pope said he has found it “amazing” to
see complaints about “lack of orthodoxy” flowing into the Vatican offices in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Rome</st1:place></st1:city> from conservative
Catholics around the world. They ask the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Vatican</st1:place></st1:country-region> to investigate or
discipline their priests, bishops or nuns. Such complaints, he said, “are
better dealt with locally,” or else the <st1:place w:st="on">Vatican</st1:place>
offices risk becoming “institutions of censorship.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" itemprop="articleBody" style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: Georgia;">Asked what it means for him to “think with
the church,” a phrase used by the Jesuit founder St. Ignatius, Francis said
that it did not mean “thinking with the hierarchy of the church.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" itemprop="articleBody" style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: Georgia;">He said he thinks of the church “as the
people of God, pastors and people together.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" itemprop="articleBody" style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: Georgia;">“The church is the totality of God’s people,”
he added, a notion popularized after the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s, which
Francis praised for making the Gospel relevant to modern life, an approach he
called “absolutely irreversible.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" itemprop="articleBody" style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: Georgia;">And while he agreed with the decision of his
predecessor, Pope Benedict, to allow the broader use of the traditional
Latin-language Tridentine Mass, he said that the more traditional Mass risked
becoming an ideology and that he was worried about its “exploitation.” Those
who seek a broad revival of the Tridentine Mass have been among Francis’s
harshest critics, and those remarks are not likely to comfort them. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" itemprop="articleBody" style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: Georgia;">In contrast to Benedict, who sometimes
envisioned a smaller but purer church — a “faithful fragment” — Francis
envisions the church as a big tent. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" itemprop="articleBody" style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: Georgia;">“This church with which we should be thinking
is the home of all, not a small chapel that can hold only a small group of
selected people,” he said. “We must not reduce the bosom of the universal
church to a nest protecting our mediocrity.” <span style="font-size: 9pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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Word From WEORChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17167683118293795402noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7840706368514945300.post-49708887847046836672013-08-15T11:40:00.002-07:002013-08-15T11:42:35.824-07:00When does our hope for Francis become denial?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKAUgUQiOw0VArXx6pye-rJPIQtkGaxJTllxy58PvfpLgJGh2t1JHCArfezLls6iEhmw91j17YBx5a1FLUbbzsxyRzE2wb0tGeliFWnl1MOhWsUePJCH0p86npkTbH-Mx6dcO4v4dwYks/s1600/Francis.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" ksa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKAUgUQiOw0VArXx6pye-rJPIQtkGaxJTllxy58PvfpLgJGh2t1JHCArfezLls6iEhmw91j17YBx5a1FLUbbzsxyRzE2wb0tGeliFWnl1MOhWsUePJCH0p86npkTbH-Mx6dcO4v4dwYks/s320/Francis.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
While some are hopeful, not everyone is enamored with the new pope. Some are among the established conservative, and others are among the “liberal” crowd who question any changes as perhaps style – not substance. This is picked up on by Jamie Manson in an NCR article.<br />
<br />
<br /><strong>When</strong> <strong>does</strong> <strong>our</strong> <strong>hope</strong> <strong>for</strong> <strong>Francis</strong> <strong>become</strong> <strong>denial</strong>?<br />
<br />Jamie Manson <br />
Jul. 31, 2013 Grace on the Margins<br />
<br />Full disclosure: I do not feel excited or hopeful about what Pope Francis said about women and gay priests [1] during his epic press conference on the way home to Rome.<br />
<br />Now, wait. Before you click me off as a hater or an incorrigible pessimist or an angry feminist lesbian or another choice label, please understand this: I don't dislike Pope Francis.<br />
<br />I think he has an authentic warmth. I appreciate his desire to be among the people. I laugh at some of his jokes, and there are themes in his sermons that genuinely move me. I share his desire to break down clericalism and the injustices of capitalism, and I believe wholeheartedly in his vision of ecological justice.<br />
<br />More substantively than even all of this, I share with him a deep passion for the poor and marginalized. Like Francis, I, too, have my most vivid encounters with Jesus among those who are homeless, mentally ill, incarcerated or suffering with addictions.<br />
<br />But Francis and I part ways on the topics of women's equality and the full inclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people in the church. The pope's statements on the plane only reinforced the depth of my disagreement with him.<br />
<br />An excessive amount of commentary has been launched into cyberspace since the news of the pope's comments on women and gay priests hit the Internet, so I'll attempt to give the short, bullet-point version of why I do not share in the hope or excitement of some of my colleagues and friends.<br />
<br />• In terms of his much-touted use of the word "gay," I believe he used it not so much as a sign of respect but because the word was being used in the context of the rumored "gay lobby." Few people still know what this mysterious lobby inside the Curia is or what precisely they are advocating for (clearly it isn't LGBT rights), but Francis was again clear he was not pleased with this lobby, saying he needed to distinguish whether a person was gay or part of the gay lobby. <br />
<br />• After Francis delivered his now-legendary "Who am I to judge?" line, he immediately reaffirmed the teaching of the catechism. He may not have used the "intrinsically disordered" phrase, but he did make it clear that "the tendency isn't the problem." Obviously, same-sex acts and same-sex marriage still are the problem. The real question I think he was asking was, "Who am I do judge a celibate gay person who seeks the Lord and is of goodwill?" <br />
<br />• While his words about a new approach to divorced and remarried Catholics were encouraging, they were couched in his mentioning that a new "pastoral care of marriage" was being developed. My sense is the main thrust of initiative will be to make the boldest Roman Catholic declaration yet that marriage is between one man and one woman. Remember that just two years ago, as Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, he called same-sex marriage an "anthropological setback," and on the plane, he affirmed the church's opposition to marriage equality. <br />
<br />• Pope Francis' words about women were spirit-breaking. The idea that we need a "deeper theology of women" is remarkable only because, for the past half-century, Catholic women theologians, many of them women religious, have been developing, writing and teaching a profound theology of women. Just because the hierarchy has not cared to read it doesn't mean it doesn't already exist. I shudder to think whom Francis would ask to formulate this "deeper theology." <br />
<br />• As a woman who has discerned a calling to the priesthood for more than 20 years, Francis' hiding behind John Paul II's theology and claiming that the "door is closed" on the ordination issue was profoundly painful. Hearing these words, I felt the same kind of humiliation I would have experienced if a door had literally been slammed in my face. <br />
<br />• Francis got some positive attention for saying women are more important than priests and bishops, even if they have no chance of being ordained. In essence, he said even though women will never have ecclesial decision-making power or the opportunity to exercise sacramental ministry, they are so much more special than the men who get to run and lead the church.<br />
<br />This last point raises an important question about the laity's response to Pope Francis: Who among progressive Catholics of the last two decades would have ever abided by such patronizing rhetoric? In previous papacies, this kind of a statement about women would have raised the ire of all progressive Catholics.<br />
<br />Francis locked the deadbolt on John Paul II's closed door to women, and he reaffirmed the church's woefully inadequate teaching on gays and lesbians as well as its ban on marriage equality. Yet we still hear that many progressive Catholics "cannot get enough" of the new pope.<br />
<br />I have even heard Catholic women who have been fierce fighters for the full inclusion of women in the church claim that they still feel hope and are excited about this pope and his proposed deeper theology of women.<br />
<br />Yes, Pope Francis is a warm pope of the people with a deep passion for many marginalized communities. But he is still advocating some very unjust, harmful doctrinal positions. So why do Catholics, especially many progressive Catholics, continue to give him a pass?<br />
<br />Francis is changing the tone in the hope that the church will be perceived in a better light, but there is little evidence to suggest he will or wants to make doctrinal changes on women's equality, same-sex relationships or contraception, and his response to the issue of clergy sex abuse has been underwhelming at best.<br />
<br />Have we gotten to the point where our desire to realize the church of our dreams and our insistence that Francis will be the man to make our dreams come true is clouding our perception of what Francis is really saying?<br />
<br />Recently, when I criticized the pope's words about the existence of a gay lobby, a friend chastised me, saying I had already decided I didn't like the pope, so there was nothing he could do that would please me.<br />
<br />I took the comment to heart, and I continue to use it as a litmus test for my own reactions to Francis. But I also turned the tables on my friend. Couldn't it also be argued that there are progressive Catholics who have decided they like this pope so much that they have practically given him immunity from any criticism?<br />
<br />Are we truly listening to the full context of what Francis is saying, or are we just hearing what our hearts most deeply want to hear? It is important to be people of hope, but at what point does being hopeful and optimistic slip into avoidance and denial of what this man truly believes?<br />
<br />I realize Catholics are starving for inspiring, authentic pastoral leadership, but honesty and solidarity demand that we speak out against unjust, spiritually harmful words, even if they are coming from a charismatic figure in whom we desperately want to believe and trust.<br />
<br />I want to be hopeful that Francis might have a transformation. Personally, my heart has a deep investment in it: I would love to be able to return to active Catholic ministry again, and I want all of the exceptional women and LGBT Catholics who have the ability to spiritually lead and inspire to be able to answer God's calling.<br />
<br />I want to believe real reforms are in the imminent future. Again, my heart is invested in this: I would love to have the opportunity to marry my partner in the church of my childhood, the church with the "sacramental view of the world" and the finest social justice teachings on the books. I want all LGBT couples to have the chance to marry in the church with which their hearts identify.<br />
<br />But there was nothing Francis said on that plane that leads me to think we are any closer to either of these possibilities. I remain hopeful justice will come someday, but I think it is important to accept the reality that the residual effects of a patriarchal, homophobic, clerical formation can still dwell within a man who is otherwise committed to justice and deeply pastoral.<br />
<br />For many progressive Catholics, the Benedict years were painful and divisive. But the upside of having a pope that was less pastoral and more rigidly orthodox was that it helped some Catholics break out of some of the trappings of our tradition: the passivity, the clericalism, the adulation of the papacy. Laypeople began to embrace the idea that God has infused all of God's people with deep sacramental power.<br />
<br />Since our new pope is so likeable and so obviously committed to justice for many marginalized groups, it appears that even some of the most liberal Catholics are gradually being lulled back into an odd, filial submission to Francis. Hearing so many English-speaking folk refer to him as "Papa" suggests this pope may even be fulfilling the need for a benevolent, spiritual father. I'm not sure how healthy this is spiritually or how helpful it is for the future of badly needed reforms in our church.<br />
<br />The response to the papal plane ride has set up an interesting challenging. How do we remain people of hope with a deep admiration for much of what the pope says and does while also not losing our prophetic edge in fighting for true justice for women, LGBT people, sexual abuse survivors and those suffering from lack of access to contraception?<br />
<br />If we cannot be honest about what this pope believes, and if we refuse to criticize him when criticism is justified, we could run the risk of giving the Vatican public relations machine exactly what it wants: a return to the days when the pope was an object of affection, adulation and unequivocal goodwill -- no questions asked.<br />
<br />[Jamie L. Manson is NCR books editor. She received her Master of Divinity degree from Yale Divinity School, where she studied Catholic theology and sexual ethics. Her NCR columns have won numerous awards, most recently second prize for Commentary of the Year from Religion Newswriters.]<br />
<br /><br />Word From WEORChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17167683118293795402noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7840706368514945300.post-39416408095671415852013-07-31T11:22:00.001-07:002013-07-31T11:22:25.841-07:00TWO PRIESTS, TWO POPES, HALF A CENTURY APART<i>Eugene Kennedy, a friend of WEORC, composed the following article and offered a treasured photo of himself and Hans Kung.</i><div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt;">TWO PRIESTS, TWO POPES, HALF A
CENTURY APART</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt;">By</span></b><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt;">EUGENE CULLEN KENNEDY</span></b><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt;"> </span></b><st1:country-region w:st="on"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt;">Austria</span></st1:country-region><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt;">’s Father Helmut
Schuller’s current Tipping Point Tour on which he is calling Catholicism’s
leaders and people back to the documents and spirit of renewal of Vatican II
follows by half a century Swiss theologian Hans Kung’s tour of <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">America</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
speaking on what then seemed a revolutionary idea, “The Church and Freedom.”</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0x4yzAJebYrFqyOVJJlXlj0NSN3E0LO6O19FqcIML-6Is4wxRfHXyVnQQZU01vQUKAYjo7BaMKetrCcVlNdLz4K8fWGp0a6elqGIcwAqwXmxB9snvqKZXilBsz4J7SBhpGHx89d8LrGg/s1600/Hans+Kung.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="199" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0x4yzAJebYrFqyOVJJlXlj0NSN3E0LO6O19FqcIML-6Is4wxRfHXyVnQQZU01vQUKAYjo7BaMKetrCcVlNdLz4K8fWGp0a6elqGIcwAqwXmxB9snvqKZXilBsz4J7SBhpGHx89d8LrGg/s320/Hans+Kung.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt;"> Anyone who was in the crowd that
packed <st1:street w:st="on"><st1:address w:st="on">McCormack Place</st1:address></st1:street>
to hear Kung, whose book on the Church and Reform, had ignited the imagination
of Catholics as it revealed the possibilities of the Council that was then in
session, will recall the electrical charge that exploded like a flash bulb in
the crowd’s response to his presentation.
Prominent layman Dan Herr had introduced him and said later that the
wave of enthusiasm that swept up from the crowd convinced him that the Church
was really ready for change.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt;"> Kung received at least half of the
back of the ecclesiastical hand that has slapped Father Schuller for his
prophet’s call to re-invigorate the Church by returning to the work of the
Council in which Kung had played such an important role. Kung received an interdict from the Catholic
University of America but an honorary degree from <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">St. Louis</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">University</st1:placetype></st1:place>. One of the first actions taken by Pope John
Paul II was to decree that Kung could no longer be regarded as a Catholic
theologian at the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placetype w:st="on">University</st1:placetype>
of <st1:placename w:st="on">Tubingen</st1:placename></st1:place> where, even
stripped of that credential, he has continued to be a leader in Church reform
and renewal.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt;"> Father Schuller has been denied
permission to speak in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Catholic</st1:placename>
<st1:placetype w:st="on">Churches</st1:placetype></st1:place> or schools by
bishops who, much as in Kung’s day, do not want to fail to ban a speaker or
silence a theologian if that looks like the pope’s wishes. Father Schuller enters the New Inquisition
Sweepstakes not riding a sleek thoroughbred bearing theological colors but on
the clerical Budweiser workhorse of hierarchical indenture, He has worked as a Church official and knows
that its stable of swayback horses desperately needs to be cleaned out or
burned down so that the Church can enter fully into the only race that counts,
the human race.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt;"> You won’t find irony as rich as that
associated with the punishment he received from the Austrian hierarchy. They told him that he was no longer a <i>monsignor</i>, a title out of medieval court
life, the loss of which turns out to be a tribute to Schuller who is committed
to bringing the Church as a Servant to humanity in the 21<sup>st</sup> century. Schuller is traveling on the energy generated
by Kung and the reformers of Vatican II, urging people and bishops to commit
themselves to the evangelization urged by that Council rather than the
evangelization, a return to the middle ages and monsignors, urged as a new
“interpretation” of Vatican II by those partners in retro-theology and Church
discipline, Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt;"> If Schuller and Kung, following the
same knight’s calling to retrieve the Holy Grail, might, in a sense, have been
separated at birth, so, too, the Popes, John XXIII and Francis, separated by
the same half century, nonetheless possess the same master pastoral gene. John XXIII expressed it in his bringing his
country roots with him into the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Vatican</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
breaking centuries of traditions, such as the pope’s eating alone, and, when
told that the workers would not come near him when he walked in the papal
gardens, asked, “Why not, I won’t harm them?”
He disdained the official papal footwear and had a pair of familiar
farmer’s boots modified for his many ambles around the <st1:country-region w:st="on">Vatican</st1:country-region> and occasionally into <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Rome</st1:place></st1:city> itself.
He laughed when he was told that the English journalists called him
“Johnny Walker.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt;"> Pope Francis seems to many nervous
Catholics too good to be true and they worry that this man who, in his
large-hearted simplicity and common sense, may somehow turn out to be different
than he has seemed, less like John in the long run and more like Benedict. Any pope who can say that having the previous
pope around is like having grandpa nearby does not seem likely to lose the
humanity that makes him so attractive. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt;"> When John XXIII was pope and had
broken down barriers by the kind of embrace that he gave the delegation of Jewish
officials, saying, “I am Joseph and you are my brothers,” prompted philosopher
Hannah Arendt, who had noted his work to save Jews during the war, to write,
:We have a Christian sitting on the throne of Peter.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt;"> She would write the same thing if she
heard of Pope Francis’s pastoral response when, on his plane returning from
World Youth Day in Rio, he was asked about homosexuals and he answered,
obviously from his heart, of their human goodness, of our need to support
rather than censure them, and, who was he to judge them is they were seeking
God in their own way? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt;"> The wonderful thing about these
words about homosexuals is that nobody – no speechwriter, advisor, or P.R.
expert, much less a curial official or a screenwriter – could have imagined the
saving simplicity of Francis’s profoundly Christian words. He speaks as John XXIII did when aked why he
called Vatican II into session. He did
not respond by saying that the Church had to tighten up but that it had to open
up, and his purpose was not to save monsignors or other trappings of the past,
but that he did it for the people, “so that the human sojourn on earth might be
less sad.” That, of course, is why
Francis urges bishops and priests to get out of the institution and into the
midst of their people. The Church is
indeed to make the journey of all people less sad. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt;"> So blessed are we that we have in
Father Schuller a priest who calls us back to Vatican II much as Hans Kung had
called us to it half a century ago.
Francis stands as unself-consciously as a pastoral pope as John XXIII
did in that same era. Father Schuller is
not just calling for healthy reforms, he is bringing back, as is Pope Francis,
the excitement that filled the Church at the time of Vatican II. While Benedict XVI worked hard to bring us
back to the 19<sup>th</sup> century of <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Vatican</st1:place></st1:country-region> I, Francis is gently
bidding us to rediscover the riches of that Council so that we may serve the
world better, so that, in fact, we may join in making the “human </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt;">sojourn on earth less sad.”</span></div>
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Word From WEORChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17167683118293795402noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7840706368514945300.post-1276313721960402722013-07-23T11:12:00.001-07:002013-07-23T11:12:16.629-07:00The Catholic Tipping Point: Conversations with Helmut SchüllerInternationally acclaimed Austrian priest activist,<br />
<br />
<br />
Fr. Helmut Schüller to tour 15 US cities - July 16-August 7<br />
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<br />
Fr. Helmut Schuller is the charismatic founder of the Austrian Priests’ Initiative, (Pfarrer-Initiative) organized in 2006 to address a deepening shortage of priests forcing many Austrian parishes to close. His work inspired the establishment of similar priest groups in Germany, Ireland, France, the United States and Australia.<br />
<br />
Schüller’s U.S. Tour comes in the midst of a steadily worsening priest shortage. A 2009 study from the National Federation of Priests’ Councils found that for every 100 U.S. priests who retire, only 30 are available to replace them.<br />
<br />
In June 2011, the Pfarrer-Initiative issued a “Call to Disobedience” calling for lay leadership and preaching in parishes without a priest, permitting divorced and remarried Catholics to receive sacraments and support for the ordination of women and married men.<br />
<br />
Fr. Schuller’s 15-city tour of the US is a result of an invitation by FutureChurch and the work of a coalition of nine church reform organizations*.<br />
<br />
His visit is being called Catholic Tipping Point because priests and people worldwide are creating a critical mass transforming the Church from the bottom up.<br />
<br />
From <a href="http://www.futurechurch.org/newsletter/events/helmut-schuller/">http://www.futurechurch.org/newsletter/events/helmut-schuller/</a><br />
<br />
<strong>Wed 7/24, Chicago Hosted by Call To Action,</strong> Theatre Building of UNO Rogers Park<br />
7400 Ridge Ave, Chicago (immediately south of St Scholastica Monastery<br />
Registration and Networking 6 pm - 7 pm<br />
<br />
Contacts:<br />Bob Heineman - bob@cta-usa.org - 847.682.1056Word From WEORChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17167683118293795402noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7840706368514945300.post-32015935268055692592013-06-13T13:59:00.000-07:002013-06-13T14:17:09.140-07:00Blackmail Vatican-Style: Gay Lobby?Various news sources report that Pope Francis recently has referred to a "Gay Lobby" in the Vatican. The alledged group(s) use blackmail or the threat of blackmail to influence decisions and wield power. It's not simply an issue of homosexuality. Here's the New York Times article...<br />
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">June 12, 2013</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">NEW YORK TIMES</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<h1>
<span style="font-size: medium;">Pope Is Quoted Referring to a </span><st1:country-region style="font-size: 14pt;" w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Vatican</st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="font-size: medium;"> ‘Gay
Lobby’</span><br /><span style="font-size: small;">By </span><span id="OBJ_PREFIX_DWT1038" style="font-size: small;"><span class="object2"><a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/people/d/rachel_donadio/index.html" target="_blank" title="More Articles by RACHEL DONADIO">RACHEL DONADIO</a></span></span></h1>
<st1:city w:st="on">ROME</st1:city>
— For years, perhaps even centuries, it has been an open secret in <st1:city w:st="on">Rome</st1:city>: That some prelates in the <st1:place w:st="on">Vatican</st1:place>
hierarchy are gay. But the whispers were amplified this week when
Pope Francis himself, in a private audience, appears to have acknowledged what
he called a “gay lobby” operating inside the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Vatican</st1:place></st1:country-region>, vying for power and
influence.<br />
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The remarks — which the Vatican spokesman did
not deny and the participants at the private audience confirmed — appeared to
be part of an effort by the pope to take on the entrenched interests in the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Vatican</st1:place></st1:country-region> that
many believe were a factor in why the previous pope, Benedict XVI, resigned
unexpectedly. They appear to underscore numerous reports in the prelude to the
election of the pope, that corruption, blackmail and violation of one of the
highest codes of Catholic conduct were part of the intrigue that scandalized
the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Vatican</st1:place></st1:country-region>
in recent years.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Francis, who portrays himself as a simple
pope of the people, has made it clear that one of his highest priorities is to
put the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Vatican</st1:place></st1:country-region>’s
house in order. He has appointed a group of eight cardinals to advise him on
how to overhaul the Vatican, and the head of the Vatican Bank has recently
given a series of interviews to journalists — an openness unheard of under his
predecessors.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
“It’s pretty incredible that the pope said
these things,” said Sandro Magister, a Vatican expert at the Italian weekly
L’Espresso. “I don’t think there’s any doubt on the foundation of the phrases
attributed to him. Otherwise they would have denied it.”<o:p></o:p><br />
The pope made the remarks at the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Vatican</st1:place></st1:country-region> on June
6, while speaking to a meeting of the Latin American and Caribbean
Confederation of Religious, the regional organization for priests and nuns of
religious orders.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
“In the Curia, there are also holy people,
really, there are holy people. But there also is a stream of corruption, there
is that as well, it is true,” he said in Spanish, <span id="OBJ_PREFIX_DWT1039"><span class="object3"><a href="http://www.reflexionyliberacion.cl/articulo/2729/papa-francisco-dialoga-como-un-hermano-mas-con-la-clar.html" target="_blank">according to a loose summary</a></span></span> of the
meeting posted on a Chilean Web site, Reflection and Liberation, and later
translated into English by the blog <span id="OBJ_PREFIX_DWT1040"><span class="object3"><a href="http://rorate-caeli.blogspot.com/2013/06/pope-to-latin-american-religious-full.html" target="_blank">Rorate Caeli</a></span></span>.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
“The ‘gay lobby’ is mentioned, and it is
true, it is there ... We need to see what we can do,” Francis continued, in the
document, produced here verbatim.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
On Tuesday, the Vatican spokesman, the Rev.
Federico Lombardi, did not deny the reports of Francis’s remarks, saying only
that he had no comment on a private meeting — a marked shift from past months,
in which the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Vatican</st1:place></st1:country-region> <span id="OBJ_PREFIX_DWT1041"><span class="object3"><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/24/world/europe/shadows-accompany-gathering-to-pick-pope.html" target="_blank">vehemently called such reports</a></span></span> “unverified,
unverifiable or completely false.”<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Also on Tuesday, the Latin American group,
known by its Spanish acronym CLAR, confirmed the remarks and issued an apology,
saying it was distressed that its summary had been published.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Long the subject of speculation in Vatican
circles, the term gay lobby had emerged most recently in juicy, unsourced
reports in the Italian daily newspaper La Repubblica and a news weekly,
Panorama, before the March conclave in which Francis, the former Cardinal Jorge
Mario Bergoglio of Buenos Aires, was elected.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Before his retirement on Feb. 28, the reports
said, Benedict had been worn down by corruption scandals — including what they
said was a network of gay priests inside the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Vatican</st1:place></st1:country-region> who used blackmail to gain
influence and trade in state secrets.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
A secret dossier compiled by three cardinals
Benedict had asked to investigate a leaks scandal at the <st1:country-region w:st="on">Vatican</st1:country-region> last year had revealed the network,
which also included lay people who were aware of gay clerics inside the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Vatican</st1:place></st1:country-region> and who
were in a position to blackmail them, the reports said.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Veteran watchers of the Roman Curia were
unfazed by Francis’ remarks. One <st1:place w:st="on">Vatican</st1:place>
official, speaking on the traditional condition of anonymity, said he was not
surprised that Francis had spoken of a gay lobby, but noted that the summary
lacked “context and tone.”<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
“If you have an institution as big as the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Vatican</st1:place></st1:country-region>, there
are some who will be homosexual, some maybe actively so,” the official said.
“But whether there’s collusion or internal cooperation, I’ve certainly not been
aware of it.”<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Others said that the remarks were in line
with the new pope’s emphasis on openness.<o:p></o:p><br />
“A lobby of those who blackmail each other
proliferates if you don’t talk about it, if there’s no air,” said Alberto
Melloni, a Vatican historian and director of the John XXIII Foundation for
Religious Studies in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Bologna</st1:place></st1:city>,
a liberal Catholic research institute. “He’s right to talk about it, it breaks
the mechanism in which omertà favors the use of blackmail. If no one talks
about it, it’s a powerful weapon. In that way, he’s cut the issue down to size
and conveys the sense that reforming the Curia is easy.”<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
“This is a question of blackmail and
blackmailability, not homosexuality,” he added.<o:p></o:p><br />
Two of the biggest internal threats to
Benedict’s papacy, including a scandal of leaked documents, were driven by
factions within the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Vatican</st1:place></st1:country-region>
who used leaked information to vie for power. Those scandals contributed to
Benedict’s decision to retire.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Writing in La Repubblica on Tuesday, the
Vatican expert Paolo Rodari said that Francis had also mentioned the gay lobby
in a meeting last month with bishops from <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Sicily</st1:place></st1:state>.<o:p></o:p><br />
In the summary of Francis’s remarks to the
Latin American group, the pope said that he was moving ahead with improving <st1:place w:st="on">Vatican</st1:place> governance, including with the committee of eight
cardinals that he named in April. “I am very disorganized, I have never been
good at this,” Francis is quoted as saying. “But the cardinals of the
commission will move it forward.”<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
In its statement, CLAR added that it had not
made a recording of Francis’s remarks, but that those present, a half-dozen men
and women, had written a summary of his points for their personal use. “It’s
clear that based on this, one cannot attribute with certainty to the Holy
Father singular expressions in the text, but just the general sense,” the
statement said.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
The summary also quoted the pope as saying
that he had not imagined he would be elected pope. He said he had come to <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Rome</st1:place></st1:city> “only with the
necessary clothes, I washed them at night, and suddenly this ... And I did not
have any chance!” the summary read. “In the <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">London</st1:place></st1:city> betting houses I was in 44th place,
look at that, the one who bet on me won a lot, of course...! This does not come
from me,” he added, indicating it had been God’s will.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Gaia Pianigiani contributed reporting.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
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Word From WEORChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17167683118293795402noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7840706368514945300.post-37734260928140379612013-06-05T13:18:00.001-07:002013-06-05T13:21:02.360-07:00Remembering Andy Greeley<h1>
<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;"><i><st1:city w:st="on">Chicago</st1:city> priest, Andrew Greeley, passed away last week at age 85 – five years are a debilitating accident. Eugene Kennedy, an inactive priest and friend of WEORC, paid Andrew a touching farewell in the weekend’s Chicago Tribune.</i></span></span></h1>
<h1>
<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">My brother Andrew<o:p></o:p></span></h1>
<h2>
<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">A friendship often tested, left to languish, and then<br />
rekindled<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5uYWADjf6vjHyIE0Rg1oNoLo2rusC0hnU_aFwUm_7DhuGkJV2mjKHoxY008Je075Lcnx53bCbnqXkwCGFOcA6zjcCx0MKeYsX5woJ-bGB_BQXDOUeQLJ0dXlZgu4k7ooUSVlteY4dQFg/s1600/Greeley.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5uYWADjf6vjHyIE0Rg1oNoLo2rusC0hnU_aFwUm_7DhuGkJV2mjKHoxY008Je075Lcnx53bCbnqXkwCGFOcA6zjcCx0MKeYsX5woJ-bGB_BQXDOUeQLJ0dXlZgu4k7ooUSVlteY4dQFg/s1600/Greeley.jpg" /></a></div>
<o:p></o:p></span></h2>
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<span class="pubdate"><span lang="EN" style="color: #666666; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">June 02, 2013</span></span><span class="separator2"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">|</span></span><span lang="EN" style="color: #666666; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">By Eugene Cullen Kennedy<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Andrew Greeley, who
was so deeply involved in the things of time, broke free of its shackles last
week to enter fully the eternity whose boundaries he had broken, as easily as a
champion miler does the tape, on almost every day of his long and remarkable
life.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><br /></span>
<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; mso-ansi-language: EN;">I knew Andrew for
half a century and, thinking of his quick smile and his twinkling eyes, I
recall him telling me once that he expected heaven to be a homecoming, the
scene of a family reunion whose joy is not threatened, as it is so often in
time, by the certainty that its magic and mystery will end with sundown.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<v:imagedata src="file:///C:\DOCUME~1\0k3987\LOCALS~1\Temp\msohtml1\01\clip_image001.gif"
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<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Although he led and
enjoyed a very public life in which he broke Teddy Roosevelt's mantra by
speaking loudly and carrying a big stick in confronting the injustices and
shortcomings he identified in the interlocking worlds of church and state, if,
in other words, he acted like the scrappy Irishman whose persona he at times
mischievously inhabited, I remember Andrew as a man who did not live nearly so
much as a Celtic battler as he did the contemplative life of a monk who wanted
to cast light on the depths of human existence.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><br /></span>
<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; mso-ansi-language: EN;">That is why, of all
his titles and degrees, he preferred that of priest and, through the many
talents with which he was gifted, he saw his first calling as a minister to the
needy and brokenhearted all around him. If that sometimes led him into places
and into people's lives in unexpected and sometimes uncalled for interventions,
he always entered with the heart of a priest who, in the words Pope John XXIII
used to explain why he convened Vatican Council II, wanted "to make the
human sojourn on Earth less sad."<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><br /></span>
<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; mso-ansi-language: EN;">It is no surprise
that he wrote a series of mystery novels featuring a hero based on his own
musings about himself, Father Blackie Ryan. These were really glints from his
preoccupation with and absorption in mystery with a capital M. That, as he
understood from the Catholic tradition, is, far more than religious practices
or even creedal statements, the core of real religion.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><br /></span>
<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; mso-ansi-language: EN;">That mystery includes
the things some people think incompatible with the existence of God, the storms
that strike haphazardly, the deaths of the innocent, the losses that pile up in
the lives of good people, the heartbreak that is often found in the heart of
the greatest of love stories. Andrew drew on these themes even in the novels
that Graham Greene would have classified as "entertainments." These
notions emerged as the fruit of the contemplation of the world to which, in
quieter and deeper times, he immersed himself unself-consciously. Unlike many
Christians, and even unlike many priests, he strove to practice what he
preached every day.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><br /></span>
<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; mso-ansi-language: EN;">We called each
other friends and counted on each other but our friendship had been tested by
times in which we drifted apart but could still hear each other's voices. Irish
brothers have a way of falling out and then finding each other again. In our
case, the cause of the falling out is complex and now irrelevant. The finding
of our friendship again was the important thing and it was all his doing.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><br /></span>
<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; mso-ansi-language: EN;">When I had cancer
surgery and was sitting quietly, sorting out the situation with my wife at
Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Andrew came through the door to bring me his
blessing, to cheer us up, and, in less than the time it takes to tell about it,
to restore our friendship. As he said to me later with a smile,
"Reconciliation is supposed to work that way." But he was the
architect of the renewal of our friendship for, as he also said to me later,
"I wasn't sure if you would throw me out of the hospital room."<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><br /></span>
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style='width:.75pt;height:.75pt'>
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</v:shape><![endif]--><!--[if !vml]--><img height="1" src="file:///C:\DOCUME~1\0k3987\LOCALS~1\Temp\msohtml1\01\clip_image001.gif" v:shapes="_x0000_i1027" width="1" /><!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; mso-ansi-language: EN;">That generous,
brave, big-hearted man is the one I remember, the priest caught up in
contemplating the mystery of our existence who in both word and deed lived by
it. Andrew was caught up in the mystery of suffering beyond our capacity to
understand it for the last five years of his life. His death has freed him from
the grip that time had placed on him and has now allowed him to enter, like a
pilgrim throwing his crutch away at Lourdes, the eternity whose depths were so
familiar to him.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><br /></span>
<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Remember him as you
will, as novelist, professor, or even as a general agitator for the good and
challenger of the bad, for all these are masks he wore at one time or another.
I will remember him as a friend who bridged the gap of estrangement, who made
our friendship whole again and did it by fully entering the mystery, even as he
hails us now to join him at the family reunion he foresaw at the end of time.</span><br />
<em><span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><br /></span></em>
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<a href="http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2013-06-02/site/ct-persepc-0602-greeley-20130602_1_mystery-novels-friendship-priest">http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2013-06-02/site/ct-persepc-0602-greeley-20130602_1_mystery-novels-friendship-priest</a>
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Word From WEORChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17167683118293795402noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7840706368514945300.post-66787643330968118682013-04-19T14:36:00.001-07:002013-04-19T14:36:17.566-07:00Will Things Be Different Under Pope Francis?<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia;">From the first days of the
new Pope’s reign things seemed different. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5A1aAxLbctjZ3woELVib-p4AxiNlL3Gut0l1QoexoIna4hOa4yuagzVkIOlYJnh6Vsr8k04MjilknOl1fyPNNkfGNKXacvwR-6xvicD65JCAdrBn8kIWyKq09olAK70sn6_dS062sHJw/s1600/Pope+Francis.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5A1aAxLbctjZ3woELVib-p4AxiNlL3Gut0l1QoexoIna4hOa4yuagzVkIOlYJnh6Vsr8k04MjilknOl1fyPNNkfGNKXacvwR-6xvicD65JCAdrBn8kIWyKq09olAK70sn6_dS062sHJw/s200/Pope+Francis.jpg" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: Georgia;">Traditionalists were aghast the
Francis didn’t wear an ermine cape when he first appeared on the balcony after
being elected. Then he washed the feet of women (gasp!) on Holy Thursday. One
can hope things are different…or perhaps the change is more in style than
substance. Instead of Benedict’s rule with an iron fist, is it now an iron fist
in a velvet glove? Reports are that Francis has already affirmed the
investigations into American nuns. Time will tell, but at least Maureen Fiedler
writing in the NCR questions this latest piece coming out of the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Vatican</st1:place></st1:country-region>.</span></div>
<h1>
<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt;">Did Pope Francis get enough information on the LCWR mandate?<o:p></o:p></span></h1>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="fieldfield-name-field-bylinefield-type-node-referencefield-label-hidden"><span style="font-family: Georgia;"><a href="http://ncronline.org/authors/maureen-fiedler">Maureen Fiedler</a> </span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia;"> |
<span class="submitted">Apr. 16, 2013</span> <span class="fieldfield-name-field-blog-columnfield-type-taxonomy-term-referencefield-label-hidden"><a href="http://ncronline.org/blogs/ncr-today">NCR Today</a> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><br />
<!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia;">The Leadership Conference of Women
Religious <a href="https://lcwr.org/media/news/lcwr-statement-meeting-cdf-0">has
posted a statement</a> from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in
which Archbishop Gerhard Müller of the doctrinal congregation said he talked to
Pope Francis about the LCWR mandate and claims the pope affirmed it.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia;"></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeZQObaT6B5_PMimrcjNj0D7CzwqStyUUPVZv0UFW_M-VBJYOkEy7d87XM4C-FC6bEt2ymaK2koecGyMuQYscxp2QRd-_1VTOMAFjeBcXOPOZmrDxMXZ6Zlz1zr7etxyjb7nNY0Ve5QgI/s1600/LCWR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="135" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeZQObaT6B5_PMimrcjNj0D7CzwqStyUUPVZv0UFW_M-VBJYOkEy7d87XM4C-FC6bEt2ymaK2koecGyMuQYscxp2QRd-_1VTOMAFjeBcXOPOZmrDxMXZ6Zlz1zr7etxyjb7nNY0Ve5QgI/s200/LCWR.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<o:p></o:p><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia;">I am frankly very skeptical of that
information. First, I doubt this issue is on the top of the new pope's agenda
or that he had much knowledge of this when he was an archbishop in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Argentina</st1:place></st1:country-region>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia;">And what does "affirm" mean? Affirm what? Some general,
vague report? Did Müller give him a full explanation, talk about the opposition
to it among U.S. Catholics or give him an outline of the actions proposed? Did
he talk about the accusation that says <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region> women religious spend too much
time on social justice and not enough on other issues? I frankly doubt the new
pope would "affirm" that.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia;">Did he even mention the questions
raised by LCWR at the meeting several months ago? I doubt he gave both sides.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia;">It could be a case of the "good
'ole boys" in the Curia wanting everything to remain the same and trying
to make the new pope go along on an issue about which he knows little.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia;">Two things: First, this is a wait-and-see situation. Second, LCWR
would be well-advised to seek a private audience with Pope Francis to explain
the full story.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Word From WEORChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17167683118293795402noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7840706368514945300.post-51385684163550678792013-02-14T14:26:00.000-08:002013-02-14T14:26:05.108-08:00The Vocation Overseas Pipeline<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
In a December blog it was noted
that there has been a slow-down in the number of ordinations in <st1:country-region w:st="on">Poland</st1:country-region>. That,
in turn, affects the recruitment of Polish priests and seminarians by US
dioceses’ (including Chicago) to bolster their own dwindling and graying
clergy. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh47xjWVw-rarz0LmMD1CWxTEbHipPs2WTUapmiUAfYoyNXtVkY3OsF82KKHR_7bdP3sZA6VWRj2Iu4jO2jjHNzGWJGKByrBEbz0EvnAc2hhHv5AMzKss_HxWoqvEoMN7JvNLemxlNcvus/s1600/african+priest2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh47xjWVw-rarz0LmMD1CWxTEbHipPs2WTUapmiUAfYoyNXtVkY3OsF82KKHR_7bdP3sZA6VWRj2Iu4jO2jjHNzGWJGKByrBEbz0EvnAc2hhHv5AMzKss_HxWoqvEoMN7JvNLemxlNcvus/s200/african+priest2.jpg" width="128" /></a>So from where do dioceses import
their priests now? Africa, and more specifically, <st1:place w:st="on">Nigeria</st1:place>. At least that’s <st1:city w:st="on">Chicago</st1:city>’s experience.
Spokesman Fr. Jerry Boland said there were currently 160 international priests
(ordained overseas) working in <st1:city w:st="on">Chicago</st1:city>. The largest single group is from <st1:country-region w:st="on">Nigeria</st1:country-region>. This
is not counting international religious-order priests or foreign-born
seminarians studying to be ordained for <st1:city w:st="on">Chicago</st1:city>.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Reports say the 24% of <st1:country-region w:st="on">US</st1:country-region> major
seminarians are foreign-born. Bishops counter complaints of some priests and
laity about the newcomer’s language and cultural difficulties, by pointing to the gift
of their valid and licit sacramental work. Other critics see the US Church
wielding economic enticements to deprive other countries of their native
vocations where the priest/parishioner ratio is often more desperate than in the <st1:country-region w:st="on">United States</st1:country-region>.<o:p></o:p></div>
Word From WEORChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17167683118293795402noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7840706368514945300.post-67478125926678298562013-02-03T17:59:00.004-08:002013-02-03T18:00:08.937-08:00Another Blow to Ecumenism?The Vatican's had some "success" with a special ordinate for disaffected Anglicans. Anglican bishops and priests were encouraged to "swim the Tiber" with their wives and congregations to become this special brand of Catholics and married Catholic priests. Now Rueters reports Roman ambitions to coax some Lutherans to defect to Rome.<br />
<h2>
Lutherans bristle at suggestion of joining Catholic Church</h2>
<div class="printtimestamp">
Tue, Jan 22 2013</div>
By <span class="Object" id="OBJ_PREFIX_DWT42"><a href="http://blogs.reuters.com/search/journalist.php?edition=us&n=Tom.Heneghan" target="_blank">Tom Heneghan</a></span>, Religion Editor<br />
<br />
PARIS (Reuters) - Two leading Lutheran clerics have rejected
suggestions from the Vatican that it could create a subdivision for
converted Lutherans similar to its structures for Anglicans who join the
Roman Catholic Church.<br />
<br />
The dispute, concerning tiny numbers of believers but major issues in
ecumenical relations, comes as the churches mark the annual Week of
Prayer for Christian Unity this week.<br />
<br />
Rev Martin Junge, the Chilean-born secretary general of the World
Lutheran Federation (WLF), said in a statement that the suggestion
caused great concern and would "send wrong signals to LWF member
churches around the world."<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsb0oxP-R6CgsY9Kd51XRfFN9S3HShsl5yzol5asXDsITkBA6uvh-5kKZAllE6s2moDG_ecpD9S5GFp9rcvHc2FLJC2k_CSu4SnNeZQ4Eq9g7uM6MDt0H4zKx0ol-BupOTc4-5HOl6pxg/s1600/-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsb0oxP-R6CgsY9Kd51XRfFN9S3HShsl5yzol5asXDsITkBA6uvh-5kKZAllE6s2moDG_ecpD9S5GFp9rcvHc2FLJC2k_CSu4SnNeZQ4Eq9g7uM6MDt0H4zKx0ol-BupOTc4-5HOl6pxg/s200/-1.jpg" width="136" /></a>Bishop Friedrich Weber, the German Lutheran liaison with the Catholic
Church, said the idea was unthinkable and amounted to "an unecumenical
incitement to switch sides."<br />
<br />
The Vatican announced special structures for disaffected Anglicans in
2009, creating a so-called ordinariate so conservatives opposed to
female and homosexual bishops could become Catholic while retaining some
of their traditions.<br />
<br />
Several thousand Anglicans, including dozens of priests and a few
bishops, have joined ordinariates established in England, Australia and
Canada. Married clergy are exempted from the obligatory celibacy of the
Catholic priesthood.<br />
<br />
Relations among Christian churches have improved greatly since the
1962-1965 Second Vatican Council and most now see each other more as
partners than as competitors. A Catholic bishop attended an ecumenical
service Weber celebrated last Sunday.<br />
<br />
But this Vatican welcome has raised suspicions among some Protestants
that the huge Catholic Church, which makes up half the world's 2.2
billion Christians, now wants to woo away believers from smaller
churches torn by internal debate.<br />
<br />
<span class="Object" id="OBJ_PREFIX_DWT43"><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/01/22/us-religion-lutheran-catholic-idUSBRE90L0HQ20130122" target="_blank">http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/01/22/us-religion-lutheran-catholic-idUSBRE90L0HQ20130122</a></span>Word From WEORChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17167683118293795402noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7840706368514945300.post-42561296637240698572012-12-21T07:43:00.003-08:002012-12-21T07:43:43.797-08:00Christmas Blessings<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOOpTEcGkxzFk5YTji2uYjU8orztyq16uwWJn_oFfylb0123xi6SxCjPgxXS2SsZWCtoacbOoQxHus9WWB2KKJX7ILV5PpESOdmV5hBjfw4NE2UoiLe7a0P9FwnP8PAfmDAGw9rCp1GdM/s1600/Christmas.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="478" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOOpTEcGkxzFk5YTji2uYjU8orztyq16uwWJn_oFfylb0123xi6SxCjPgxXS2SsZWCtoacbOoQxHus9WWB2KKJX7ILV5PpESOdmV5hBjfw4NE2UoiLe7a0P9FwnP8PAfmDAGw9rCp1GdM/s640/Christmas.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />Word From WEORChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17167683118293795402noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7840706368514945300.post-34361274917172376322012-12-20T12:26:00.000-08:002012-12-20T12:26:34.655-08:00Polish Vocations Dip<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEix5jwcuWBDZIriG-kFkEIqS5EV2zrIgKnOgM1OJxOPziTXdM9sOPNm4Uy_jVFt3dDhqgNdX_Txu4d8pJcUXxCWE3r_VUXfqFuDxpOQz46BMH_a13D2n9kJ6XnfZXXsQcnnHO_hRFplRVw/s1600/POLISH_PRIESTS.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="134" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEix5jwcuWBDZIriG-kFkEIqS5EV2zrIgKnOgM1OJxOPziTXdM9sOPNm4Uy_jVFt3dDhqgNdX_Txu4d8pJcUXxCWE3r_VUXfqFuDxpOQz46BMH_a13D2n9kJ6XnfZXXsQcnnHO_hRFplRVw/s200/POLISH_PRIESTS.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There was a kind of “golden age” for priest and religious vocations
in the United States during the 1950’s and 60’s. Seminaries were full and
record numbers were ordained. The turmoil of modern times shook that simpler
time, and the Catholic church was unable to evolve in a manner to address the
relevance of these traditional lifestyles and hierarchies to the questions of a
new age. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Rather than creatively deal with these questions raised, in
part by Vatican II, the bishops of JPII responded with a return to nostalgic traditionalism.
In the dearth of younger clergy, bishops replaced US vocations with men from 2<sup>nd</sup>
and 3<sup>rd</sup> world countries. Several of these countries were currently experiencing
their own “golden age of vocations.” These countries were often in isolated and
less affluent parts of the world that hadn’t yet “come of age.” Among these
countries was <st1:country-region w:st="on">Poland</st1:country-region>,
and for a decade many American dioceses relied on imported Polish priests and
seminarians. Though still significant, the numbers are slowing – perhaps because
Poland itself is changing, more-open to questioning the Church’s ultimate authority
in dictating social and political issues.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A recent report shows that Polish priesthood ordinations are
down one-third in the last decade, and new women aspirants to religious life is
down 66% since 2005. Here’s a link to an article for more information…</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://ncronline.org/news/global/secularizing-pressures-hit-polish-church">http://ncronline.org/news/global/secularizing-pressures-hit-polish-church</a>
</div>
Word From WEORChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17167683118293795402noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7840706368514945300.post-22374404505500648342012-12-14T13:02:00.000-08:002012-12-14T13:02:13.319-08:00A Few Words of Encouragement<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4FiQjzY8Hlcr7n5Ld_fOHCVdqIeEoN4ouj-CIi50zHI5TAQWWRqym1izbY_CETglHWKJ1X9x93cjr6oVp4LQ1LiJRnLcFIMRT7lEt6dBWr1KaAKiH93Lz6o2FF5OPqgs9Beu4okj88aY/s1600/Speak.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4FiQjzY8Hlcr7n5Ld_fOHCVdqIeEoN4ouj-CIi50zHI5TAQWWRqym1izbY_CETglHWKJ1X9x93cjr6oVp4LQ1LiJRnLcFIMRT7lEt6dBWr1KaAKiH93Lz6o2FF5OPqgs9Beu4okj88aY/s400/Speak.JPG" width="372" /></a></div>
<br />Word From WEORChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17167683118293795402noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7840706368514945300.post-35691056217411141812012-12-07T14:04:00.000-08:002012-12-07T14:08:08.446-08:0092 Year Old Priest a Threat to the Status Quo?<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-cGbOnrtjRT_TLpczswLgwWymu2OvNor7B-U3_aRJkuVmsETllSg6q8S2ohAamckM1A7snFpFjcJ7NOCxIm4JZheVQ9_rJCLCxjnv6XOOHeybIx92R8A-RXhR9poPp_TTdh945L5WY_s/s1600/Brennan+-+Jesuit.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br /><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-cGbOnrtjRT_TLpczswLgwWymu2OvNor7B-U3_aRJkuVmsETllSg6q8S2ohAamckM1A7snFpFjcJ7NOCxIm4JZheVQ9_rJCLCxjnv6XOOHeybIx92R8A-RXhR9poPp_TTdh945L5WY_s/s200/Brennan+-+Jesuit.jpg" width="175" /></a><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;"><span lang="EN">This picture
shows Fr. Brennan (age 90) with a friend, about the time he was arrested for protesting the
School of the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Americas</st1:place></st1:country-region>. The SOA os where the Department of Defense “allegedly” trains foreign operatives in
intelligence protest suppression and interrogation techniques. </span><span lang="EN">US officials state that even if
graduates commit <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_crime" title="War crime"><span style="color: black;">war crimes</span></a> after they return to their home country, the
school itself should not be held accountable for their actions.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;"><span lang="EN"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;"><span lang="EN"> </span><span lang="EN">Now the Wisconsin Jesuit is
being disciplined by Bishop Jerome Listecki and other Church authorities for participating in a Mass with an
ordained woman! Link to full article…. </span><span lang="EN"><a href="http://ncronline.org/news/people/jesuit-penalized-after-eucharistic-liturgy-woman-priest"><span style="border: none;">http://ncronline.org/news/people/jesuit-penalized-after-eucharistic-liturgy-woman-priest</span></a></span></span>Word From WEORChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17167683118293795402noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7840706368514945300.post-54704426619802339252012-11-16T11:16:00.000-08:002012-11-16T11:16:09.885-08:00WEORC on LinkedIn<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
As many of you know, LinkedIn is a popular networking
website for people in professional occupations. There is a good chance you may already
belong, given there are 175 million registered users.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR8BSRFT98Qu0NbWHO6WSEur7dON1vTGLsX31EWUNVEZb7w8yG57feJgYr2CWYgnE-6tQqyMjEpY2qMw7GX0_pDTpLQjgqAGnDTRtmV3MgNgGV6iH_RQ2W799UeOU96VppTOH-fsqUWZM/s1600/linkedin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="90" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR8BSRFT98Qu0NbWHO6WSEur7dON1vTGLsX31EWUNVEZb7w8yG57feJgYr2CWYgnE-6tQqyMjEpY2qMw7GX0_pDTpLQjgqAGnDTRtmV3MgNgGV6iH_RQ2W799UeOU96VppTOH-fsqUWZM/s320/linkedin.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Here at WEORC we are trying something new – the creation of
a private WEORC networking group within LinkedIn. It would be for networking
between resigned clergy and religious, and a resource for those currently
leaving active ministry or those finding themselves again in a job search. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When WEORC first started in the 1970's and 80's, Jim Wilbur and Marty Hegarty created and published some
directories of thousands of former priests and religious with listing s of
names, addresses, phone numbers, and secular careers. These were early
resources for what is now commonly called “networking”. WEORC members could
contact each other for encouragement, job leads, and industry and geographic
information.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Of course, one of the drawbacks of the directory books was
all the work and expense involved in collecting information and getting it
published. Then the information started getting outdated almost immediately. It
is hoped that by using the free resources of LinkedIn and a private networking
group, many of the previous shortcomings will be eliminated. </div>
Word From WEORChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17167683118293795402noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7840706368514945300.post-67554365348723149202012-11-09T12:56:00.000-08:002012-11-09T12:59:07.452-08:00Why Fortnight for Freedom fizzled among average Catholics<br />
By Fr. Peter Daly, Nov. 5, 2012 Parish Diary <br />
<br />
<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLajbkS6fhcgZYGRRYeDJzVMrdbSq3x4Tu4uo0BuWBNifaZqltIxIk5DoLJI53mfZVGrt-iSi6kme13Y-ZTm4DhzpS3LsNuTEV3x1D2UyXaiLrJemwrBBeC4yF_x0539Tr3f7OL5nocyU/s1600/PeterDaly.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" rea="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLajbkS6fhcgZYGRRYeDJzVMrdbSq3x4Tu4uo0BuWBNifaZqltIxIk5DoLJI53mfZVGrt-iSi6kme13Y-ZTm4DhzpS3LsNuTEV3x1D2UyXaiLrJemwrBBeC4yF_x0539Tr3f7OL5nocyU/s200/PeterDaly.jpg" width="136" /></a><em><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Fr. Peter Daly is a priest at the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C., and has been pastor of St. John Vianney parish in Prince Frederick, Md., since 1994.</span></em><br />
</div>
Our Catholic bishops started out leading a political parade in the spring. But when they looked behind them in the fall, they discovered that almost nobody was following. What happened?<br />
<br />
A few groups got in line. The Knights of Columbus were very active. EWTN had several programs devoted to Fortnight. There were some rallies around the country. A lot of money was spent on pamphlets and videos. There was an opening Mass in Baltimore and a closing Mass in Washington, D.C. But there was hardly any talk about it in the pews. The average Catholic hardly even noticed a Fortnight for Freedom was happening.<br />
<br />
Why didn't this movement catch fire? Four reasons, I think.<br />
<br />
First, perhaps some of our language was hyperbolic. When language is perceived as exaggerated, it is not taken seriously.<br />
<br />
Bishops and Catholic publications used words like "alarming," "unprecedented" and "unconscionable" about the HHS mandate. But most people did not see it as an existential threat to our religious liberty. They saw it as a disagreement over government policy.<br />
<br />
Everybody exaggerated, not just the church.<br />
<br />
Conservatives like newly minted Catholic Newt Gingrich accused the Obama administration of "waging war on religion." Liberals, like the talking heads on MSNBC, accused the Republican Party of waging "war on women." Neither side really believed its own rhetoric.<br />
<br />
Second, the statement that this was unprecedented was not historically accurate.<br />
<br />
Bishops said that never before had people been required to violate their religious conscience to comply with the law. But every day, we tax Quakers and other religious pacifists to support wars. Jehovah's Witnesses pay Medicare taxes for blood transfusions. Seventh-day Adventists in the military must report to duty on Saturdays. Mormons had to give up their cherished practice of polygamy as the price for bringing Utah into the Union. The fact is that religious liberty has never been absolute.<br />
<br />
Third, the Catholic church is not a convincing defender of religious liberty because of our own history.<br />
<br />
The church only very recently came to accept religious liberty. For most of its history, the Catholic church vigorously opposed freedom of religion. Pope Pius IX and his Syllabus of Errors, issued in 1859, condemned freedom of religion and said "error has no rights." That is why Protestants were so fearful at the prospect of the election of a Catholic in 1960. It was not until five years later, in 1965, that the church accepted religious liberty at the Second Vatican Council in its declaration Dignitatis Humanae. The church did an about-face and accepted what it had heretofore condemned.<br />
In recent years, Catholics have not been consistent defenders of the religious liberty. For example, when Muslims sought to build a recreation center with a mosque near ground zero in New York, we did not defend their right to do so. Cardinal Timothy Dolan suggested they move elsewhere.<br />
Fourth, the Fortnight for Freedom was perceived as a partisan effort to influence the election.<br />
The bishops, of course, did not intend to be partisan and vociferously denied that they were partisan, but both sides of the political equation perceived "Fortnight" as an effort to defeat President Barack Obama. I went to one Knights of Columbus meeting that ended with a blunt appeal to "get behind our bishops" and defeat the president.<br />
Although the many bishops were unified on "Fortnight," the faithful were not. Catholics simply don't agree on what policies we should follow. Witness the two vice presidential candidates, Joe Biden and Paul Ryan.<br />
In my parish, we held a discussion on five religious liberty issues: gay marriage; the HHS mandate and the definition of religious organizations; immigration; prayer in public forums; and abortion. We had about 100 people participate. We could not agree on a single public policy for any of the five issues. If Catholics talking among themselves cannot agree, how can we lead a political movement?<br />
The main issue was the HHS regulation's requirement that all insurance policies provided by private employers should cover contraception. The big problem was, and still is, that the religious exemption was too narrowly drawn. I spoke about the HHS mandate and unequivocally called upon the Obama administration to reverse its position. I got a fair amount of criticism from both sides. Some thought I did not hit hard enough; others thought I hit it too hard. Most said nothing. Obviously, we do not agree.<br />
Some people feel the problem is that many of our institutions are not really Catholic. Their religious identity is weak or gone.<br />
<br />
Many of our hospitals are now owned by large secular systems or even hedge funds. Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, D.C., for instance, is owned by a large secular chain, MedStar.<br />
Catholic Charities in most dioceses are principally funded by government contracts and grants, not by the church. It is Caesar's coin that pays the bills.<br />
Our universities and colleges rely on government grants and student loans, not the church. Most of our institutions of higher learning are only vestigially Catholic, as George Weigel once put it.<br />
What are the lessons learned from "Fortnight"? As a pastor, I can see three.<br />
First, let the laity lead. It is the laypeople who have competence in the secular world. That is the church's own teaching at Vatican II in Lumen Gentium, No. 33. Laypeople are the ones called to be salt of the earth and light for the world.<br />
<br />
Second, tone down the rhetoric a bit. Our policy disputes are not an existential threat to religion. Our statements have to be accurate and narrowly drawn.<br />
<br />
Third, educate the church first before you blow the bugle to line up the troops.Word From WEORChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17167683118293795402noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7840706368514945300.post-56001544322166152692012-11-02T14:50:00.002-07:002012-11-02T14:52:21.471-07:00Cardinal George and a nation state 'gone bad'<h4>
<span class="field field-name-field-byline field-type-node-reference field-label-hidden">Robert
McClory </span> | <span class="submitted">Oct. 31, 2012</span> <span class="field field-name-field-blog-column field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden">NCR
Today</span></h4>
Just about everyone knows that Chicago's Cardinal Francis George is battling
cancer and nearing retirement. It's understandable that he would be saddened
about these developments, but the nearly universal tone of negativity that he
projects is troublesome. The cardinal is obsessed with the idea that the
government is poised to trample on religious rights and turn this country over
to godless secularism. In <a href="http://www.catholicnewworld.com/cnwonline/2012/1021/cardinal.aspx">a
recent column</a> <span class="print-footnote">[1]</span> in the <em>Chicago New
World</em>, George stated his case.<br />
<div class="content clearfix">
<section class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden">
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGp6VANWI_31IMF0_VZUbH_dosQhulUSuK0dkA_kJHWCVLDGDyIaebyZwPaxPpfPQLc-obCjEdQzu173axBHn5imISiiFIoZ9IN-IZNa-X_XcuNiVzXHUC8-fDno0GWedItEWXccXVNIA/s1600/cardinalGeorge_ppt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGp6VANWI_31IMF0_VZUbH_dosQhulUSuK0dkA_kJHWCVLDGDyIaebyZwPaxPpfPQLc-obCjEdQzu173axBHn5imISiiFIoZ9IN-IZNa-X_XcuNiVzXHUC8-fDno0GWedItEWXccXVNIA/s1600/cardinalGeorge_ppt.jpg" /></a>"Communism imposed a total way of life based upon the belief that God does
not exist. Secularism is communism's better-scrubbed bedfellow," he wrote. "The
present political campaign has brought to the surface of our public life the
anti-religious sentiment, much of it explicitly anti-Catholic, that has been
growing in this country for several decades. The secularizing of our culture is
a much larger issue than political causes or the outcome of the current
electoral campaign."<br />
<br />
George reiterated a prophecy he shared with a group of priests several years
ago: "I was correctly quoted as saying that I expected to die in bed, my
successor will die in prison, and his successor will die a martyr in the public
square." And, he added, concerning the martyred bishop, "his successor will pick
up the shards of a ruined society and slowly help rebuild civilization as the
church has done so often in human history."<br />
<br />
George wrote that "the unofficial anthem of secularism today is John Lennon's
'Imagine,' in which we are encouraged to imagine a world without religion. We
don't have to imagine such a world: the 20th century has given us horrific
examples of such worlds. Instead of a world living in peace because it is
without religion, why not imagine a world without nation states?"<br />
<br />
It is nation states "gone bad," he said, that don't need religion as an
excuse for going to war. Every major war in the last 300 years has been fought
by nation states, not by the church ... The state apparatus for investigating
civilians now is more extensive than anything dreamed up by the Spanish
Inquisition, although both were created to serve the same purpose: to preserve a
government's public ideology and control of society."<br />
<br />
I find it difficult to think the so-called Obama mandate requiring the church
to provide its insured employees with access to contraceptives could alone
explain this declamation and others George has uttered on the subject in the
last year or two. It's unfortunate that in this year when the church should be
rejoicing in the achievements of Vatican II, we get consistent messages of gloom
and doom about our ailing culture and a government "gone bad."<br />
<br />
And of course, the cardinal is among leaders of the hierarchy who are
convinced that much of Vatican II has "gone bad" too, and are about the task of
reforming the Great Reform along more traditional lines.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
I can neither share nor comprehend this interpretation of our times.</section></div>
Word From WEORChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17167683118293795402noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7840706368514945300.post-77038595107750097882012-10-19T13:28:00.003-07:002012-10-19T13:28:28.077-07:00Under Currents at the Synod on Evangelization<br />
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><i>John L. Allen Jr. picked up a couple interesting tidbits about clergy vocations
from the Synod of Evangelization going on in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Rome</st1:place></st1:city>.<o:p></o:p></i></span><br />
<br />
<div style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><i><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Droid Serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Droid Serif";">1.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Draining foreign countries of priests to staff priest-empty parishes in the
<st1:country -region="-region" w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">USA</st1:place></st1:country>
is unjust.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><i><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Droid Serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Droid Serif";">2.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--></i><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><i>A Byzantine Archbishop said he has too many priests and no place to send them –
because they’re married. Though that is accepted by <st1:city w:st="on">Rome</st1:city>
for the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Byzantine</st1:placename>
<st1:placetype w:st="on">Church</st1:placetype></st1:place>, there are stringent
restrictions on ministry where celibate priests are the norm.</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">In Allen’s own text:<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">(Cardinal) Pengo (of Tanzania) noted that Africa today is dispatching
priests to the West, just as Western missionaries once came to them. That's a
good thing, Pengo said, but it also carries at least two risks:<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list .25in; text-indent: -.25in; vertical-align: baseline;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN" style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;">§<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Priests going abroad may be
"seeking in the first place material gain before genuine evangelization,
to the detriment of the church on either side."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list .25in; text-indent: -.25in; vertical-align: baseline;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN" style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;">§<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">The West may be fueling a
damaging brain drain at the expense of the developing world. "The church
in <st1:place w:st="on">Africa</st1:place> is deprived of its best qualified
evangelizers, while the materially rich Western church receives
evangelizers," Pengo said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="vertical-align: baseline;">
<br /></div>
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">That's a danger especially worth pondering given the realities of priest
distribution worldwide. In the States and Europe, the ratio of priests to
baptized Catholics is 1-to-1,300, while in <st1:place w:st="on">Africa</st1:place>
it's more than 1-to-5,000. Globally, two-thirds of the Catholic people are in
the southern hemisphere, but two-thirds of priests are in the north.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">At some stage, Pengo appeared to be suggesting, Western Catholics might
have to ask if their growing reliance on imported priests is actually an
injustice.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9jaFs5E-aT3V35FZZAoJaMMO3r1oaSHltYJ3azwBWggzP-wcK_U1pBR2qYWc72NF2HFE8WGiGp-JIuR8Gjcr1XF5Q5rY-rc01oiaONe9Fu9DXI_f1SdL4_CFBtk92zLlUl7S0253KBD0/s1600/greek-catholic-priest-and-wife.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="202" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9jaFs5E-aT3V35FZZAoJaMMO3r1oaSHltYJ3azwBWggzP-wcK_U1pBR2qYWc72NF2HFE8WGiGp-JIuR8Gjcr1XF5Q5rY-rc01oiaONe9Fu9DXI_f1SdL4_CFBtk92zLlUl7S0253KBD0/s320/greek-catholic-priest-and-wife.jpg" width="320" /></a><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;"> </span><br />
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Although a synod of bishops is hardly "Evening at the Improv,"
the priest shortage also occasioned an unintentional moment of comic relief
Thursday. It came as Byzantine Archbishop Ján Babjak of <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country -region="-region" w:st="on">Slovakia</st1:country></st1:place> described the unique
circumstances of his church, now experiencing a boom after long decades of
repression under Communism.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">"We are able to thank God for the abundance of priestly
vocations," Babjak said. "In the service of 250,000 faithful we have
more than 450 priests and approximately 90 seminarians in the seminary."<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">In fact, Babjak said, they're actually turning guys away: "We cannot
accept any more in the seminary because we have no more places to send them to
carry out their priestly service," he said. (In part, that's because
Eastern priests are often married, so there are restrictions on where they can
serve outside their own tradition.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><a href="http://www.ncronline.org/blogs/all-things-catholic/asian-plea-humility-synod-bishops">http://www.ncronline.org/blogs/all-things-catholic/asian-plea-humility-synod-bishops</a>
<o:p></o:p></span><br />
Word From WEORChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17167683118293795402noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7840706368514945300.post-83700174519208682472012-08-31T14:06:00.000-07:002012-08-31T14:06:13.796-07:00Archbishop-Elect: DUI<br />
SAN DIEGO — The Roman Catholic archbishop-elect of San Francisco was arrested
for investigation of driving under the influence, San Diego police said
Monday.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioMA2TOaJdfmwIX4_zzUWE1fQ8CB5O-4w1O02qEyNQicGARH3NM7aBIeBqvm3a0QLcnPh9uUNesEr_WJ3wKwmpLmktFfbYExDGuCHELs9K-PQu2IVbqhXEL04kcpgcwxMmg5RDMgx9jhM/s1600/Cordileone.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioMA2TOaJdfmwIX4_zzUWE1fQ8CB5O-4w1O02qEyNQicGARH3NM7aBIeBqvm3a0QLcnPh9uUNesEr_WJ3wKwmpLmktFfbYExDGuCHELs9K-PQu2IVbqhXEL04kcpgcwxMmg5RDMgx9jhM/s200/Cordileone.jpg" width="135" /></a>The Rev. Salvatore Cordileone, a vigorous supporter of California's same-sex
marriage ban, was taken into custody after being stopped early Saturday at a
police checkpoint near the San Diego State University campus, said Detective
Gary Hassen, a police spokesman. He declined to comment on whether Cordileone
took a sobriety test or reveal his blood-alcohol content.<br />
<br />
The stop was made at 12:26 a.m. on the outskirts of the campus, a residential
area of modest houses, apartment buildings and restaurants where college
students mix with the general population.<br />
<br />
Cordileone was booked into San Diego County jail two hours after being
stopped and then released at 11:59 a.m. Saturday on $2,500 bond, sheriff's
records show. He was ordered to appear in court Oct. 9.<br />
<br />
The San Diego city attorney's office, which prosecutes misdemeanor DUI
offenses, said it had not received a report on the arrest.<br />
<br />
The San Francisco archdiocese did not immediately respond to phone and email
messages seeking comment.<br />
<br />
Canon law experts said a criminal charge would not automatically prompt a
delay in Cordileone's installation as archbishop, which is scheduled to take
place at St. Mary's Cathedral on Oct. 4, the feast day of San Francisco's patron
saint, St. Francis of Assisi.<br />
<br />
Because Catholic bishops are answerable only to the pope, any potential
discipline would have to come from the Vatican, said Michael Ritty, a canon
lawyer in private practice in upstate New York.<br />
"If there was anything, it would be handled in Rome, most likely by the
Congregation for Bishops. Depending on the question or type of criminal charge,
it might go directly to the Pope or as directly as you can get," Ritty said.<br />
<br />
Cordileone, 56, is a native of San Diego, where he was raised and ordained as
a priest in 1982. In July, Pope Benedict XVI selected him to replace Archbishop
George Niederauer, who is retiring in October. Cordileone was most recently
bishop of Oakland and several years ago, he was an auxiliary bishop in San
Diego.<br />
<br />
While serving in San Diego four years ago, Cordileone was instrumental in
devising an initiative to strip same-sex couples of the right to wed in
California and then raising Catholic dollars to qualify it for the ballot. He
also was part of a statewide network of clergy that promoted the measure, known
as Proposition 8.<br />
<br />
Campaign finance records show he personally gave at least
$6,000 to back the voter-approved ban.<br />
Since last year, Cordileone has been chairman of the U.S. Conference of
Catholic Bishops' Subcommittee for the Promotion and Defense of Marriage.<br />
<br />
In an interview with the National Catholic Register last year, Cordileone
said that same-sex marriage is "a very serious social experiment that will have
dire consequences."<br />
<br />
At a news conference last month, he said he thought the Roman Catholic Church
had come a long way in addressing the issue of clergy sex abuse and reiterated
his opposition to gay marriage.<br />
"Marriage can only come about through the embrace of a man and a woman coming
together," he said. "I don't see how that is discriminatory against anyone."<br />
<br />
The archdiocese serves more than 400,000 Catholics in the city and
neighboring Marin and San Mateo counties. As archbishop, he will oversee the
bishops in Honolulu, Las Vegas, Oakland, Reno, Sacramento, Salt Lake City, San
Jose, Santa Rosa, and Stockton.<br />
____<br />
Associated Press writer Lisa Leff contributed to this report from San
Francisco.<br />
Word From WEORChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17167683118293795402noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7840706368514945300.post-28760471413594820222012-08-22T11:35:00.000-07:002012-08-22T11:35:37.455-07:00"An Unholy Mess"<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
The average Catholic parishioners love God and are looking
for a faith community that is caring and supportive. They are looking for
meaningful prayer that offers encouragement and spiritual growth. Although it might be
considered “good stewardship”, they never really know what happens to the money
that goes into the collection basket and to special appeals. They simply trust
that Father knows best and the Bishop knows better. What a recent article in
the <b>Economist</b> suggests is that across the country, finances in many parishes,
dioceses, and church organizations are an “Unholy Mess”. There is little
transparent accountability at any level, even the highest.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Any reigning bishop of a diocese can close a parish virtually
on a whim and use all funds in a discretionary manner. And it has happened more
often than one might think. Bishop Lennon of <st1:city w:st="on">Cleveland</st1:city> has himself “suppressed” at least a
couple dozen parishes and used their assets for other projects, possibly including
sexual-abuse payouts.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioVfiPSc61fbce816aP290So3leAbnOlMWMvOk2NA8T5O_J3dtjHH7V4dzUdZbZQVCkG1I3Twzc2kVW5a_UweS9BD3F4DmLQfepxX4hwowYXeRPej-n6P2G8hBRkqd-oaFPpgIjFydhG8/s1600/Cardinal+Dolan.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioVfiPSc61fbce816aP290So3leAbnOlMWMvOk2NA8T5O_J3dtjHH7V4dzUdZbZQVCkG1I3Twzc2kVW5a_UweS9BD3F4DmLQfepxX4hwowYXeRPej-n6P2G8hBRkqd-oaFPpgIjFydhG8/s320/Cardinal+Dolan.bmp" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This photo shows a tip of the hat from the one man who “owns”
more property in <st1:place w:st="on">Manhattan</st1:place>
than Donald Trump could ever dream of. This is because Cardinal Dolan is the “corporate
sole” of the New York Diocese.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The full article can be found at <a href="http://www.economist.com/node/21560536">http://www.economist.com/node/21560536</a> </div>
Word From WEORChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17167683118293795402noreply@blogger.com0