extreme Catholic 

If you want to be informed on what's going on in the Catholic Church, how the world is acting upon Catholic doctrine and moral teaching, then the source is the Catholic World News website. The Catholic World News is a independent news service, magazine, and website.

Years ago before I started this blog, I was a paid subscriber and as "extremecatholic" a frequent contributor on their feedback pages.

So I recommend that readers check out the free area of the site and consider subscribing.

In the unlikely event that I refer enough subscribers to win their incentive prize, I will donate it to Good Counsel Homes as I donate my Amazon.com referral fees.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 1:11 AM   Permalink  

Germany's Cardinal Karl Lehmann told a newspaper that he didn't think Christians and Muslims could engage in a productive dialogue. The Archbishop of Mainz said in the interview in Die Welt published on Thursday that Muslims do not consider Christians as equals and that Islam is a religion based on war and conquest.

From the Muslim point of view, religious tolerance in non-Muslim countries is a sign of weakness to exploit as a tactic to make a country Muslim by force or fertility.

There simply is no principle of religious freedom, or even individual rights "endowed by the Creator" in Islam.

Merely to point out that Muslims have no principle of religious freedom, only the status of dhimmi: a legal system established by the Muslim conquerors to rule those native non-Muslim populations is called prejudice.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 11:25 PM   Permalink  

Vandals Decapitate Jesus Statue At Church: NBC 17

An act of vandalism has shocked the congregation at the Saint Edmonds Roman Catholic Church in Rehoboth Beach, Del. People attending mass Wednesday night were stunned by what they saw.

The congregants were angry because vandals had taken the head off a statue of Jesus with two children at the church.

Father Ray Forester said the vandalism was discovered after Mass on Sunday, but he's not sure when the statue was defaced. The vandal also damaged the faces of two statues of children sitting on Jesus' lap.

For more than four decades, Mary, Joseph and the Baby Jesus have spent their Decembers tucked inside a Plexiglas case along Jericho Turnpike in Mineola, the holy family and their well-wishers forming a concrete homage to the Christmas season.

But on Tuesday, their silent night was shattered when police say an intoxicated man punched the Plexiglas, ripped open the case and threw several of the figurines onto Jericho Turnpike around 9:30 p.m.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 1:29 AM   Permalink  

An Italian school's substitution of a Nativity play with Little Red Riding Hood so as not to offend Muslim children has raised the Vatican ire and sparked debate on how much traditions should change to accommodate immigrants.

Actually, this insults Muslims. Here's why: They (or at least the ones I know) are not offended by the public expression of religious beliefs. They want religion to have a role in public life and are it's presumptive to believe they are offended.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 2:13 PM   Permalink  

St. Patrick's Cathedral (50th Street & Fifth Ave), New York

3.30 pm Carols, 4.00 pm Mass

If you want to meetup after the Mass, email me at extremecatholic@nyc.rr.com

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 10:54 AM   Permalink  

I think he's just into being controversial for its own sake

The context is Christian praise for The Passion of the Christ Boteach is still attacking the film, so popular and so successful that it doesn't need to win the The Oscar ®

Boteach might wonder if he's giving fuel to the fire of the Jewish conspiracy being discussed now in the Dallas Morning News blog most of the items are by Rod Dreher.

Credit The Laura Ingraham Show

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 10:30 AM   Permalink  

Cardinal George scores `hat trick': Chicago Tribune

CHICAGO -- Cardinal Francis George is on a winning streak these days.

Not only did America's Catholic bishops recently choose him to be their second in command, they also unanimously approved new Spanish language liturgies for nuptials, baptisms and blessings for a young woman's 15th birthday.

And as former chairman of the Bishops' Committee on Liturgy, George has labored over the Spanish language rites for years.

"That's what we call a hat trick," outgoing president--and former Chicago churchman--Bishop Wilton Gregory of Belleville told the cardinal.

The opportunity to present the new liturgies immediately followed George's election, prompting an eight-word acceptance speech that was lukewarm at best.

"I am grateful for the election--I suppose," said the cardinal when he stepped up to the podium.

Perhaps he was already trying to calculate when he would find time to do the job.

"Knowing his travel and speaking schedule both in the diocese and outside, one wonders," said archdiocese spokeswoman Dianne Dunagan.

But Dunagan's colleague Colleen Dolan said the cardinal already has it all figured out.

"He's not anxious about it," she said. "... He's very efficient."

Remember, it's all about fidelity to the Gospel.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 1:21 AM   Permalink  

First, if you want to catch up with the events of the past few months, this article in the Washington Times of November 15,2004 is a good place to start.

Matt Abbot: ChronWatch. The Catholic Church Sex Scandal: A Letter to Andrew Greeley discusses the past statements of Andrew Greeley on a group of homosexual priests (one of whom is now a bishop) based in Chicago, the Boys Club

Domenico Bettinelli heard a rumor that the bishop who managed to see that the bishops evaded responsibility for the coverup of criminal priests, Bishop Wilton Gregorgy might be given the Archdiocese of Atlanta. I echo Dom's challenge: "Show how Bishop Gregory handled the crisis well." Everything the episcopal hierarchy does is a reaction to some outside pressure, there's no desire for reform generated internally. Here's a version in print of the rumor Dom reported.

Bishop Gregory's term is ending: St Louis Dispatch

With all those qualities going for him, a generally well-respected term as president, a high profile in Rome and a media-friendly star quality, some think Gregory is a natural to move up the ranks - leaving Belleville, should the pope promote him, for a larger, metropolitan diocese. Some say Atlanta, where Archbishop John F. Donoghue, 76, has sent his resignation letter to Rome, would be ideal for Gregory.

"He'll be named within the next year to a major metropolitan diocese," said Chester Gillis, chairman of the theology department at Georgetown University.

Not everyone is so sure. "History's not on his side," said the Rev. Thomas Reese, editor of America magazine. "Most of the people who have been president of the bishops' conference have not been promoted afterward. His mentor, Cardinal Bernardin, was the only exception."

Bookmark this link to the Bradenton (FL) Herald when you hear someone talk about how careless bloggers are and how professional newspapers are:

Time and precedent, according to Gregory, were the most significant factors in dealing with the sexual abuse scandal during his term. The body of bishops, he said, often lean on the past when deciding how to respond to issues that affect the American church. make cuts and insert three subheds with coding below. Thanks, Charlie

XXXXXXX

Another great article on the Sexual Abuse Crisis

Justice for All: Law enforcement must not shield priests: Dallas Morning News

Self-interest explains why bishops would help priests accused of sexual abuse hide out from the law. But why would prosecutors, judges and police officers aid and abet their flight from justice?

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 11:19 PM   Permalink  

By becoming only the third diocese nationally to seek shelter in bankruptcy court, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Spokane is hoping the court will help provide a clearer picture of its financial liability in mounting sex-abuse lawsuits and goad its reluctant insurers into paying some of the claims.

Something is missing from the article, but I won't tease you: the article doesn't mention the name of Bishop William Skylstad.

The nightmare scenario I predicted hasn't happened. There's no been a flood of damaging and embarassing disclosures made in the course of determining the financial condition of the diocese.

I don't understand why the diocese thinks the bankruptcy court can do a better job of determining its liability -- that's the job for the trial court hearing the abuse cases.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 6:05 PM   Permalink  

No Joint Trial of Catholic Priest And Businessman: AllAfrica.com

Father Athanase Seromba, the first Catholic priest to be tried for genocide by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), will not have his trial joined to that of Gaspard Kanyarukiga, a former businessman in his parish.

Both men are accused of taking part in the massacres of Tutsi refugees at Nyange parish (Kibuye, western Rwanda) and Kanyarukiga had demanded a joint trial in the interest of justice.

Father Seromba was the priest in charge of the parish. When Seromba's trial opened September 20, 2004, many witnesses testified how the priest, in the presence of Kanyarukiga, had ordered the demolition of a church using a bulldozer. An estimated two thousand people were alleged to be in the church when it came crashing down on them.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 6:00 PM   Permalink  

Click on the link to find out who's who.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 5:55 PM   Permalink  

The Vatican is pressing the United Nations to recognise "Christianophobia" as an evil equal to that of anti-Semitism or "Islamophobia".

Archbishop Giovanni Lajolo, the Vatican's foreign minister, said anti-Christian feeling had increased, exacerbated by the war on terrorism.

He said Christianity was often mistakenly seen as being inextricably linked with Western political policy, and had suffered as a result in the backlash against the West.

His comments, at a conference in Rome, were primarily aimed at Middle Eastern countries such as Iraq, where insurgents have bombed a number of churches.

But he also echoed Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, a leading contender to be the next Pope, who said last month that parts of Europe were so now secular that Christianity was being pushed into the margins.

So what is it? A "feeling" or an "irrational fear"?

True Christianity wants to convert the world. In the ideological and theological realm, we are opposed by secularists and Islamists -- but that's a good thing. We're not suppposed to be likewarm.

I think it's a bit of psychobabble mixed with a little political correctness to not names the names of the people who want to suppress Christianity in Europe and Asia.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 4:20 PM   Permalink