extreme Catholic 

 
The daughter of the Devil and a mortal woman

Yes, it's another dripped in religion television series to outdo Buffy and with ex-Buffy people in the production team.

Point Pleasant

This is where my wife's family moved in the 1980's. It's where cute Kirsten Dunst was born and raised. It's a nice place that doesn't need the demonic association.

Updated for typo.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 11:50 PM   Permalink  

 
Veterinary Officials Probe Man's Death: Ireland News Letter

The mysterious death of a Fermanagh man caught up in a row over a grave yard plot was last night being investigated by veterinary officials.

Vincie O'Connor, 63, from Scardans, Upper Leggs PO, Fermanagh, died suddenly on Christmas Eve following a routine operation for a hernia at the Erne Hospital in Enniskillen.

His funeral attracted media attention when Belleek's Catholic clergyman the Rev Ben Hughes allegedly refused to say Requiem Mass and issued a court injunction on behalf of St Michael's Diocesan Trust to stop his widow, Teresa, and his brother Liam, from excavating a grave for the interment.

However, last night PSNI and veterinary officials were still conducting tests on cattle belonging to the dead man and checking his farm documents.

It is also understood everyone who visited him in hospital has been asked to make a statement to police.

His cattle, it is thought, may have contracted a form of pneumonia which may transfer to humans.

Last night, his nephew, Gabriel O'Connor, 40, said the distraught family said prayers and buried Mr O'Connor themselves in a plot dug before the injunction had been served.

The half-acre plot beside Mulleek Church had been left to Mulleek Parish by the late Kate McGarrigle for use as an extension to the existing graveyard, which is full to capacity, he claimed.

"We have no choice now, we have to fight on.

"My uncle is buried there and if his body is exhumed we have been told we will have to pay the costs.

"We are fighting against the might of the Roman Catholic Church.

"But it is a case of might against right. "Let them justify their actions - because we can justify ours," he said.

Fr Hughes was unavailable for comment and no one was available for comment at the offices of Bishop Joseph Duffy in Monaghan.

This news item is a bit off the track from other items here, but it combines some interesting elements: a pastor vs. parishioner conflict, a mysterious death, what looks like typical Irish stubbornness (with respect to the grave site), and its familiar geography: my mother grew up in this area near the border between Fermanagh and Monaghan, the border between the UK and Eire.

God bless Ireland and the Irish in 2005. Pray for the repose of the soul of Vincie O'Connor.

Update: A bit of explanation. The dispute with the priest, I gather from the story, is over the right of the family to use the site they picked for the grave. The priest or perhaps the diocese intends to use the plot of land for something other than a graveyard or to sell it to raise cash.

So the "fight" is over the disposition of the land, who decides for the parish, and if Kate McGarrigle's intention for the gift is a perpertuity. The mortal remains of Vincie O'Connor is the proxy.

The family's preemption of the priest is complicated by the veterinary officials desire to better determine the cause of death.

I hope that explains it.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 9:19 PM   Permalink  

 
Catholic World News corrects its mistranslation

The [linked story] is a corrected version of a story that appeared on CWNews.com earlier this week, in which a crucial error in translation caused a serious misinterpretation of the news. CWNews apologizes for the error.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 8:43 PM   Permalink  

 
Watch for what this man does or doesn't do.

George Soros raided the treasuries of Thailand and Malaysia in the 1990's. Their governments were thinking very short term and Soros exploited their lack of financial discipline.

He might use some of his personal wealth to rebuild these countries as so many others are doing.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 1:14 PM   Permalink  

 
For an insight into the Catholic Traditionalist Movement

Real Audio: Fr Paul Wickens explains his view of the Church (undated)

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 11:35 AM   Permalink  

 
Vatican hit by new row over war role: UK Guardian

The Vatican secretly issued instructions to the Catholic church in France not to return Jewish children to their families after the second world war, it emerged yesterday.

The children were entrusted to the church's care to save them from the death camps. But if the parents survived the war and came forward to reclaim their sons or daughters, the children were only to be returned "provided [they] have not received baptism", the Vatican ordered.

The instructions, contained in a letter dated October 20 1946, were sent by the Holy Office, the Vatican department responsible for church discipline, to the future Pope John XXIII, Angelo Roncalli, who at that time was the Holy See's envoy in Paris. The letter was published yesterday by the Italian daily Corriere della Sera.

The letter ends with the words: "Please note that this decision has been approved by the Holy Father." This may well have been a warning to the then Monsignor Roncalli, who, in his previous job as the pope's nuncio, or ambassador, in Istanbul, was suspected by some in the Vatican of an excessively pro-Jewish outlook.

The letter deals a new and crushing blow to the reputation of the wartime pope, Pius XII.

Update: I thought I had added my opinion earlier, but I had not. I am troubled by the emphasis on "baptism" in the instruction. It appears to me that the Church is asserting that it has a claim to these children by baptism alone -- apart from the fact that guardianship may or may not have a priority over other relatives (ie siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc.) let alone the parents.

The strange case of Edgardo Mortara who was kidnapped after being baptized by a Christian servant without the permission or knowledge of the parents is mentioned at Against the Grain. I regard Edgardo's baptism as valid but the assertion of a right by the Church to remove him from his parents as an affront to natural law, and clearly an imprudent decision.

Connecting this to the matter of the Jewist French children at the end of World War II, I believe that it would be a tragedy if, in fact, the Church used its influence to interfere with the reunion on families.

When I first heard of the story of Edgardo's baptism, I thought of the "baptisms" that we'd perform as a kid of 9 or 10 years old -- in public pools where if we knew another kid was not baptized -- we'd splash him real good and say "I baptize you N. in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit". Such baptisms unlike that given by Anna Morisi were invalid as I and my co-baptists lacked the proper intention.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 11:01 PM   Permalink  

 
News in the case of Terri Schiavo Schiavo's Parents Lose New Trial Bid: Tampa Bay Online

The U.S. Supreme Court may be the only hope left for Terri Schiavo's parents in their quest to keep her alive.

Without commenting, a state appeals court ruled that Bob and Mary Schindler are not entitled to a new trial over their daughter's fate based on statements made this year by Pope John Paul II.

Once the decision is finalized, which could happen in mid-January, there will be nothing to prevent Michael Schiavo from removing his brain-damaged wife's feeding tube over her family's objections, Schiavo's attorney said Wednesday.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 10:55 PM   Permalink  

 
Follow-up: The false story that Israel denied assistance to Sri Lanka published in L'Osservatore Romano

Israel Insider

The Jewish Week

FrontPage Magazine (scroll down)

Oops! I guess the Vatican doesn't take its mission to provide the Truth to the world too seriously these days. The blogosphere had the Sri Lanka/Israel story hours ago, another short-sighted and pointless example of Islamic anti-Semitism that hurts themselves more than it could ever hurt the Jews bearing the aid the Sri Lankans need. Instead of spending a few minutes getting their story straight, the Vatican mouthpiece wasted little time jumping to a conclusion that has to force Catholics around the world to question the Vatican's true attitude towards Israel and Jews.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 10:40 PM   Permalink  

 
Outstanding character actor Jerry Orbach is dead

but I can't get it out of my head that as Dr. Jake Houseman in Dirty Dancing was sympathetic to the abortion that starts the movie off. No character reacts to the knowledge that the unborn child was killed.

If only there were legal abortion (in 1963), so the story goes, the tragic near-death experience for Penny Johnson would not have taken place. Miss Johnson wanted to be a dancer and not a mother. (So this wasn't an abortion for rape, incest, or the mother's health.)

Like the more recent Million Dollar Baby it was a movie with a message.

Sorry about that drift off 1987, he will be remembered and should be remembered as Detective Leonard Briscoe.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 10:08 PM   Permalink  

 
In West Orange, a church divided : Newark Star Ledger

At the church founded by the late Rev. Paul Wickens, Mass is always said in Latin. Women still cover their heads, and people receive the host in their mouths from a priest, never touching it with their own hands.

To say that St. Anthony of Padua, the church Wickens started nine years ago, is a haven for traditionalists is an understatement. And with his death this year, the search for just the right successor to the old founder has split the parishioners of this unusual West Orange church.

At a time when they would rather rally around a new priest, hundreds have boycotted the chapel for makeshift Masses at a Ramada Inn in East Hanover and a VFW Post and the Wellesley Inn in Fairfield.

The schism opened soon after the July death of Wickens, whose opposition to the historic 1960s reforms of the Second Vatican Council attracted hundreds of other "traditionalist" Catholics who like him felt the changes sullied ancient Catholic traditions and practices.

Modern Catholics would find some practices at St. Anthony's obscure. But when Wickens died, parishioners wanted a replacement who shared their views. They also wanted the chapel kept separate from the Newark Archdiocese, which accepted the 1960s reforms and suspended Wickens after a 1980s dispute stemming from his opposition to Catholic sex education.

Wickens remained a vocal critic of the archdiocese, calling Archbishop John J. Myers too liberal even though Myers is generally known nationwide as a staunch conservative.

The current boycotters say they have nothing personal against Wickens' replacement, the Rev. John Perricone, a conservative Catholic in his own right who in many ways seems a perfect fit for St. Anthony's.

Perricone, who started at St. Anthony's Dec. 1, is founder of the group "Christifidelis," which is dedicated to the Latin Mass.

Still, many longtime St. Anthony's parishioners reject him because he is an archdiocese priest, officially placed on loan to the chapel by the archdiocese.

At his last archdiocese post, Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Orange, Perricone celebrated Mass in the modern way that traditionalists deplore, in English, facing the pews, and letting lay people touch the host.

"This Perricone, he's on both waters, he offers both Masses -- the Latin Mass and the modern Mass. And we do not accept that," said Elvira Valdez, who joined St. Anthony's in 1998 and has attended motel Masses.

"We only accept the ancient Mass, the old Mass, the Latin Mass. That's why Father Wickens stayed clear cut away from the archdiocese, because they would make him accept the modern Mass as equal to the old Mass."

Valdez and others say they fear that Perricone's hiring will lead to a full-scale takeover by the archdiocese, and that Mass in English may eventually be allowed there.

While reforms stemming from the Second Vatican Council are widely regarded as more inclusive of lay people, the members of St. Anthony's think they watered down the faith, and that translations from Latin are inadequate.

Since Perricone started, some longtime St. Anthony's churchgoers have traveled long distances to attend other traditionalist churches, such as St. Jude's in Eddystone, Pa.

Locally, the latest alternative Masses were at the VFW Post in Fairfield Saturday, for Christmas, and Sunday, drawing about 200.

DUELING SERMONS

A similar crowd attended a motel Mass in Fairfield earlier this month, where people knelt on the green patterned carpet of a kneeler-less conference room and received Communion from the Rev. John Fullerton, flown in for the occasion from Missouri.

Fullerton is with the Priestly Society of Saint Pius X, which was founded by French Bishop Marcel Lefebvre, who was excommunicated after refusing to the accept the 1960s reforms.

Attendance at St. Anthony's, meanwhile, has been lighter than before Wickens died, and Perricone's supporters hope he can draw back those who left.

"If the diocese leaves us alone, there'll be no problems here," said Bill Brooks of Pompton Plains. "And the people will hopefully come back. Father Perricone is a good priest."

In his first sermon at St. Anthony's, the Rev. Perricone left no doubt about his beliefs, praising Wickens, whose archdiocese suspension lasted until he died.

"I am privileged," Perricone said, "to be able to bring forward the sacred traditions that Father Wickens has ... preserved."

Yet many who stopped attending St. Anthony's feel the church's three board members, who approached the archdiocese about Perricone, disregarded Wickens' wishes by bringing in an archdiocese priest.

A week ago, a group of them filed suit in Essex County Chancery Court, saying the statute under which the church was incorporated lets all members, not just trustees, pick the priest.

On both sides of the St. Anthony's dispute, parishioners say the church should honor Wickens' wishes. But they relate different versions of what he wanted.

Some, allowing that Wickens praised Perricone, said he also thought Perricone's archdiocese ties tainted him. Others say Wickens wanted the church turned over to the Priestly Society of Saint Pius X.

DISPUTED TAPE

At a church meeting on Nov. 14, St. Anthony's board members -- Andrew Flock, Larry Small and Bob Ciuffreda, elected the day Wickens died in a previously scheduled election -- played a tape of Wickens praising Perricone shortly before his death.

But some who heard the tape at the meeting have complained it had only excerpts of the conversation. In what was played, Wickens did not address Perricone's archdiocese ties, a subject that surely was of interest to him, board critics said.

Asked about that, Al Wickens, the priest's brother, said that Paul Wickens never spoke about the archdiocese or the Society of Saint Pius X on June 24, the day he was taped.

"From that conversation, which was seven or eight minutes ... was a clear indication that if Father Perricone could possibly come, it would be a perfect fit for the chapel," said Al Wickens, who said he was present when the taping occurred.

While the arrangement with the archdiocese strikes many longtime St. Anthony's members as improper, to others it straddles the right side of a thin line. Archdiocese spokesman James Goodness said that while Perricone is considered "on loan" from the archdiocese, St. Anthony's is responsible for his salary, and the archdiocese does not receive a percentage of weekly collections.

Despite last-minute efforts to reconcile, the archdiocese never lifted its suspension of Wickens. It wanted him to sign a letter of obedience to Newark Archbishop Myers, which all pastors do when starting a new assignment, Goodness said. Wickens refused to do so, Goodness said.

Whether they attend a Latin Mass at St. Anthony's or elsewhere, the people drawn to it say they go for reasons other than merely hearing the words in Latin, though that is important.

"It's not just the Mass said in Latin. It's about the traditional faith. It requires the reverence that's there, the respect for the way the sacraments are done," said William Denk, who stopped attending St. Anthony's and now travels elsewhere for Mass.

"Many people have seen family members lose their faith. They've seen the breakdown in our culture and society. Now, when you've had Catholic bishops who have to debate whether a candidate who is pro-choice can remain Catholic, it shows exactly where (society) has gone to now."

Blogger Credit: Domenico Bettinelli who credits Matt Abott.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 9:26 PM   Permalink  

 
More on Fr. Perricone in a moment, but first this...

That Old-Time Religion. Danel Wakin : New York Times

RANGE, N.J., July 27 [2003] The Rev. John A. Perricone, an erudite Roman Catholic priest who uses Latin phrases and refers to T. S. Eliot in conversation, is known nationally as leading proponent of the centuries-old Latin Mass, which was banished in favor of a more accessible service by the Second Vatican Council in the 1960's.

This month, Father Perricone was called from his academic post as a professor of philosophy at St. Francis College in Brooklyn and assigned here as administrator of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, a working-class parish not far from Newark.

So far, the match has not gone well.

A group of parishioners is enraged that in their view, the priest is imposing on them aspects of the traditional Latin Mass, called the Tridentine Mass after the Council of Trent in the 16th century. Today, nearly three-dozen parishioners -- some carrying signs denouncing the priest ("Get Rid of John Perricone Now," read one) -- picketed Our Lady of Mount Carmel before and after the 10:30 a.m. service, which drew nearly 200 people. The Archdiocese of Newark, seeking to quiet the gathering storm, sent its spokesman, James Goodness, to speak to reporters, who had been alerted to the protest by Father Perricone's opponents.

One protester, Carmine Guerriero yelled, "Our people built this church!" He said his grandfather, a mason, had helped build the church, whose golden spire rises gleaming above Route 280. "He put his sweat and blood in this church, and his money," Mr. Guerriero said.

The tensions at the parish are not surprising, said the Rev. Thomas J. Reese, editor of the Catholic magazine America. The shortage of parish priests in the United States has led to a good deal of turnover as churches are closed or consolidated and priests are assigned to new communities. Although he was not familiar with the situation at Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Father Reese said, "If a new pastor is not sensitive to his people, they can experience whiplash, because they've gotten used to a certain way of being a parish."

The conflict at Our Lady is also an example of the struggle over the balance of power between priest and laity, with the parishioners accusing Father Perricone of being authoritarian and ignoring them.

"He came in with the attitude of, `I'm here; I'm going to rule; this is a dictatorship; if you don't like it, leave,' " said a protest organizer, John J. Sammaro, 38, whose great-grandparents belonged to the church. "He's not serving God and the people. He's serving himself."

Traditional Latin Masses have become something of a dividing line between conservative Catholics who are among their stronger supporters, and liberals, who often oppose them on the ground that they undermine the attempts by the Second Vatican Council to modernize the church and make it more accessible. They have grown increasingly common since 1988, when Pope John Paul II said special permission by bishops for the Masses should be "wide and generous" for worshipers who want them.

Parishes in more than 100 dioceses in the United States offer them regularly. Seven parishes in the Archdiocese of New York do so, Father Perricone said, as does one in the Archdiocese of Newark, Holy Rosary in Jersey City.

In an interview after the service, Father Perricone, who founded Christifideles, a group dedicated to promoting sanctity among Catholics through the Latin Mass, and who in 1996 arranged the first post-Vatican II Tridentine Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral, acknowledged that in a perfect world he would like to say the Latin Mass regularly at Our Lady of Mount Carmel. "But that's not the plan," he said.

He added that he was well within modern boundaries in using the Latin phrase "corpus Christi" instead of "body of Christ" when delivering the eucharist, despite parishioners' complaints.

"I guess if the people want to be captious, they will alight on anything," he said, adding that the complaints would have no effect on him. "I'm perfectly in conformity with the teachings of the church and the archbishop," he said, adding that the traditional Latin Mass is particularly popular among younger people engaged in a "cultural repudiation" of the excesses of the 1960's. "There's a sense of a right order in it," he said.

Father Perricone, 53, also denounced the criticism of his celebration of the Mass as either "lies" or the carping of some parishioners who simply do not like the fact that they have a new priest. "I can't imagine an instance where I showed insensitivity to anyone," he said.

He also said that it pained him to have to defend himself in a way that seemed self-serving and that he was much happier talking about the beauty of the Latin Mass, the "sense of awe" it produces and its liturgical and symbolic richness. "Granted, most of the people don't understand Latin," he said, "yet they understand its evocation of the transcendent."

The protesters, though, faulted the priest for using too many elements from the old-style Mass. They said that he faced the altar instead of the congregation when he prepared communion, did not allow communicants to drink from the chalice; did not speak out loud for the consecration of the host; and did not allow lay ministers to deliver communion. Little of that was in evidence today, but parishioners said that was because reporters were present.

After the Capuchin order withdrew from Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Archbishop John J. Myers of Newark called on Father Perricone, who had celebrated Mass regularly at St. Agnes Church in Manhattan, where he lived for 18 years, and at the Church of the Magdalen in Pocantico Hills, N.Y.

While the archdiosecan spokesman, Mr. Goodness, suggested that Father Perricone's troubles may stem from his inexperience at running a parish, some parishioners were not forgiving.

"I will not attend the Mass when this other lunatic is on the loose," said Ruth Finley. "That's why we have automobiles. If you're not happy, move on."

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 9:14 PM   Permalink  

 
Perhaps Rod Dreher has regrets about moving from Brooklyn to Dallas

First read this story from the files of the New York Post of Dec. 28, 2004

NYPD Blotter: NY Post

A motorist whose car broke down on the Verrazano Narrows Bridge early Christmas morning was charged with drunken driving and having no license after cops came to his assistance, law-enforcement sources said.

Galo Flores Gonzales, 32, was sitting behind the wheel of his 1990 Chevy van after it stalled in a westbound lane at 3:20 a.m.

When officers arrived to help him, they detected a strong smell of alcohol on his breath and that his eyes were watery and extremely bloodshot, the sources said.

They gave Gonzales a Breathalyzer test, and his blood-alcohol count was .329, a level that can cause unconsciousness or even death, authorities said.

Gonzales spent Christmas Day in jail and as of late yesterday had yet to be arraigned.

and then read Rod Dreher's experience

But I will say this: the Dallas Police Department is definitely off my Christmas card list. On Thursday, my car pooped out on Greenville, on the Northwest Highway Overpass. I called for assistance and stood in the far right lane, behind my kaput German auto, directing traffic around me as I waited. It was 32 degrees outside, and the wind was blowing, and I was a safety hazard as well as a miserable Popsicle.

Four different motorists stopped to offer assistance. God bless them. In the 35 minutes I waited, not one but two Dallas Police cruisers drove right by, and didn't even slow down. Maybe they didn't want to step out into the cold wind to help. You'd think that even if they didn't care about a motorist stranded on a busy street, they'd at least have a minimal sense of wanting to protect the public's safety, and would have stopped to light a flare or something. But no, they just drove by. Two different cars, 10 minutes apart.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 1:35 AM   Permalink  

 
Holy Innocents 2004 Edition

Dead Baby Found in Clothing Donor Truck: New York Post

A newborn boy was found dead yesterday by employees of a Long Island recycling company who were unloading a truck of donated clothing, household goods and toys, cops said.

The white full-term baby was naked, bloody and slightly scratched, police said. He was wrapped in cloth and placed in a white paper shopping bag.

"There was some minor trauma to the child," said Suffolk County Detective Sgt. Vincent Posillico. "Since these clothing bags aren't handled gently, it could've been blood from the transportation, but it may have been from the birth as well."

Employees at Eff-N-Bee, a recycling company in Amityville, made the grisly discovery as they began work yesterday morning.

Although Eff-N-Bee picks up clothing on Sundays, the truck was not unloaded until yesterday. Workers spotted the lifeless child in the bag about halfway through the unloading.

The Suffolk County medical examiner will do an autopsy today. Cops took the cloth and unmarked shopping bag away for testing.

Anyone with information about the crime can call Suffolk CrimeStoppers at (800) 220-TIPS.

I heard a follow-up in which the medical examiner confirmed that the baby boy was born alive and murdered.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 1:12 AM   Permalink  

 
Jesus spoke of this

Luke 13. Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. Jesus answered, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them - do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.”

Then he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree, planted in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it, but did not find any. So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, ‘For three years now I've been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven't found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?’”

“‘Sir,’ the man replied, ‘leave it alone for one more year, and I'll dig around it and fertilize it. If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.’”

Rather than this tragedy being the anticipation of the end times, it should be a recall of the start times. We celebrated the Birth of the Lord last week. Jesus came into the world to save the world. The world needed saving because of sin. A consequence of this sin is the disharmony of nature and man. As the Catechism puts it in para.. 400

visible creation has become alien and hostile to man.

Earth is not our true home. Our true home is with God in Heaven. Our time here is short. This is not written to minimize the sense of loss that we have for the thousands who have died but to understand that each moment of this life is a preparation for the next life.

When Jesus speaks of repentance, I think he's speaking not only about the sorrow we have for our sins but the positive obligation we have to undo the evil done by others by prayer and action. The Chaplet of Divine Mercy puts it "in atonement for our sins and the sins of the whole world".

As Fr.. Groeschel said today “I was at the edge of life and I looked over the edge ” We cannot know when the disharmony of nature will rise up against us. We're not in charge, neither do we know the hour of death which is why we need to heed the words of John the Baptist preaching "a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins", in terms of a practicing Catholic this means to prayer and the sacraments.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 11:11 PM   Permalink  

 
Who would try to exploit the human tragedy of the tsunami to make a transparently false allegation of evil on Israel?

• If you guessed Osama bin Laden. You're wrong.
• If you guessed Abu Musab al-Zarqaw. You're wrong.
• If you guessed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. You're wrong.

But if you guessed L'Osservatore Romano. You are correct.

The Jerusalem Post comments on the semi-official newspaper of the Holy See.

The Vatican newspaper has denounced what it called a decision by the IDF to deny emergency help to disaster victims in Sri Lanka.

Calling for "a radical and dramatic change of perspective" among people "too often preoccupied with making war," L'Osservatore Romano singled out Israeli military leaders for declining a request for emergency medical help.

Contrary to the Vatican report, an Israeli plane carrying 80 tons of food and medical supplies worth $100,000 was set to depart for Sri Lanka Wednesday morning. At the request of the Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry, a team of some 150 Israeli medical and security personnel aborted their planned trip to the island nation Tuesday night.

The Vatican paper observed that in what "should be a time for unconditional solidarity," some world leaders seem incapable of escaping a "small-minded approach that restricts their horizons."

The fact that the devastation swept across different societies, cultures, and nations should help to reinforce the universal perspective, the paper suggested. (Jerusalem Post staff and agencies)

See also Catholic World News

And Abe Foxman, director of the Anti-Defamation League just went to Italy got a medal and met with the Pope. It will be interesting to see if he or his organization has a comment on this false report.

UPDATE: CWN has removed the story from public access. The online LOR does not contain the accusation which CWN reported and perhaps I was wrong to believe that it was independently verified by the Jerusalem Post.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 10:06 PM   Permalink  

 
No end in sight for legal battle over brain-damaged Tampa woman: AP

...For now, Terri Schiavo lives under the protection of a Pinellas County Circuit Court stay that prevents her husband Michael from removing the feeding tube while appeals continue.

Meanwhile, the battle to sustain her life is being fought on two fronts: attorneys for Florida Gov. Jeb Bush have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene while her parents wage a separate campaign to prove their daughter does not want to die.

And how's this for twisted logic:

...A judge has ruled and appeals courts have upheld it was Terri Schiavo's wish not to be kept alive artificially. Whomever (sic) serves as guardian is now legally obligated to carry out the tube removal. Only a new trial which is what the Schindlers are seeking could create a new final judgment, Felos said.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 10:36 AM   Permalink  

 
The 2nd Greatest Scandal of the Catholic Church in the United States

New Church Creed: Thou Shalt Steal: New York Post

Nearly 2,000 churches across the nation are robbed each year, mainly by employees taking money — and churches are starting to take precautions.

In suburban Pittsburgh this month, a former housekeeper at St. Margaret of Scotland Catholic Church was charged with stealing more than $173,000.

Jeff Hanna, a police detective-turned-minister from Ohio, said churches must scrutinize those with access to donations.

Here's how the 2nd Scandal connects to the first: Everyone looks for something to hold over the pastor, principal, or other person in authority. If it's discovered that they are under-reporting the collection, they can make it known that they know and will keep it secret provided you keep my secret which may be pornography or illicit sexual relationships.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 9:04 PM   Permalink  

 
Why did Wisconsin priest commit suicide? : Matt Abbott

In the 1987 feature film The Rosary Murders, Father Bob Koesler (played by Donald Sutherland) hears the confession of a man who is killing priests and nuns of Detroit, Mich. The killer doesn't reveal his identity to Koesler, but does give him a clue as to why he is committing the murders. Koesler then begins his own clandestine investigation. Of course, the police get on his case once it becomes obvious he knows something about the killer, but, being bound by the seal of confession, cannot reveal anything to help their investigation.

Very little information is available in the public record, so Matt here connects the murders withthe suicide. I'm not going to comment further except to say that I will be watching this story closely for developments.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 8:43 PM   Permalink  

 

For the Feast of the Holy Innocents

Morning Prayer, The Liturgy of the Hours will be celebrated at 8.00 am followed by Mass Fr. Benedict Groeschel, CFR, homilist to be followed by prayerful street procession reciting the Holy Rosary concluding with Benediction and Eucharistic Adoration. Church of the Holy Innocents, 128 West 37th Street, West of Broadway, New York, NY

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 5:36 PM   Permalink  

 
With Fr. Groeschel CFR and Sisters at St. Patrick's Cathedral

Greeting the visitors to the Nativity scene at the Cathedral of St. Patrick

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 7:19 PM   Permalink