extreme Catholic

Mea Culpa, Mea Culpa, Mea Maxima Culpa Pope regretted not praying for Poland in Cup, says Boniek : Reuters

WARSAW, April 8 (Reuters) - The late Pope John Paul regretted not praying for his native Poland during the 1982 World Cup finals in Spain, according to former Poland and Juventus playmaker Zbigniew Boniek.
Boniek told the private television station Polsat that the Poland team met the Pontiff before the tournament and asked for his prayers. The Pope declined, saying "God does not have favourites in football", Boniek said.
Several months later, Boniek again visited the Vatican, this time with Juventus, when the Pope's personal secretary Stanislaw Dziwisz unexpectedly called him over.
"Father Dziwisz told me that if the Pope had known Poland would come in third place in the World Cup, he would have prayed," said Boniek, now a successful businessman.
Poland lost to eventual winners Italy 2-0 in the semi-finals.

Will St. Peter show his brother Bishop of Rome the red card for this?

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 6:56 PM Permalink

Casting Call

Your suggestions wanted for who will be cast as Pope John Paul II. (if you include a link I will update the blog.)

My suggestion: Ed Harris.

(Please pick an actor in age range 45-60.)

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 6:09 PM Permalink

For American Royal Watchers, Wink-Wink, Nudge-Nudge : New York Times

The future head of the Church of England has married a woman with whom he has acknowledged to have had an affair with before and during his marriage.

The first husband of Camillia Shand-Parker-Bowles Windsor is Andrew Parker Bowles and alive.

When a man marries his mistress, he creates a vacancy.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 1:05 PM Permalink

The battle to re-write the history of Terri Schiavo's history

The largest open encyclopedia project on the Internet is called the Wikipedia.

It looks like others who were advocates of the Culture of Life got burnt-out by the experience and now there are fewer of us to make sure this record is not distorted.

Discussion of the Wikipedia on Blogs for Terri

The article page Terri Schiavo

The discussion of editing the article page on Terri Schiavo.

If you know the facts of the case in depth, know HTML editing, and want to advance the Culture of Life, I invite you to become a wiki editor. If you are curious about how spin happens, it is worth a look.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 12:47 PM Permalink

Rudy Watch: Rudy gov run 'really unlikely' : New York Post

Rudy Giuliani's top aide says it's "really unlikely" the former mayor will run for governor next year, now that he's building a new law firm � but he left the door wide open to a 2008 presidential bid.
"In light of the new firm and his organizational obligations to Giuliani Partners, it's not likely," longtime Giuliani aide Tony Carbonetti told The Post.
"You never say never, but he's committed to building a really successful law firm."

Pataki is still undecided about a run for a fourth term as governor. Both Pataki and Rudy are likely to avoid a Senate run as well.

There are not only no potential statewide pro-life Republicans or Democrats, but the door appears to be barred to anyone who is pro-life from even being an intern or go-fer.

Rudy, likely to run for president in 2008, would be competitive against Hillary but there would be little difference between the two of the them on issues of concern to social conservatives.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 11:29 PM Permalink

More Masses than usual.

I went to the parish memorial Mass for the Holy Father. Thursday evening. To my surprise, the pastor in addition to thanking the cantor who came in on short notice, he thanked me for my production of a dozen photographs from the life of Pope John Paul II which were placed either in the sanctuary or vestible of the church for the week. I cranked it out on Friday 4/1. Thank you, Photoshop.

There was the funeral Mass in Rome which I saw first on Fox in High Definition and then again on EWTN for the commentary.

Then there was a school Mass in the parish I attended. Finally a memorial Mass on the anniversary of the death of my father-in-law.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 11:18 PM Permalink

"Santo Subito"

According to Fr. Neuhaus, it means "Quit stalling. Declare him a saint NOW!".

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 7:35 PM Permalink

Vidcaps from the EWTN Broadcast of the Papal Funeral

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 4:50 PM Permalink

Could the next Pope do it? Peds and Pods

Not ordain married men or women, but to take the steps necessary to restore order in the Church and, frankly, to put the hammer down on bishops who permitted sexual criminals to prey upon children ("the peds"), who were 82% adolescent boys, while excluding men who were "pious overly devotional" (i.e. the "pods") from ordination.

The model for this is Pope St Pius X. So many priests who became priests in the 1940's heard from the lips of priests still alive then. Their hatred for this saint who had lived through his pontificate 1903-1914 seems to outlived all of them.

Could the next Pope be bold enough to discipline dozens of bishops and remove several? And then go down the line to the religious, the theologians, the Catholic lay political leaders, etc.

I don't expect it but I pray for it.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 8:29 AM Permalink

Who's Exhausted? Not Me.

I'm not exhausted. I want to see intensive coverage of the mourning and funeral of Pope John Paul II, successor of St Peter and vicar of Christ.

Bring it on.

I think the media is struggling to push the Pope and the Church off the front page.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 5:02 PM Permalink

Categorizing the reactions of the the death of Pope John Paul II

Great. One more obstacle out of the way to re-configuring the Church the way I want to be. Married priests. Women priests -- wait -- no priests, have lay people lead the liturgy -- wait -- no liturgy, let each person choose where, how, and when to worship God -- wait, let's celebrate the goodness in ourselves and let's not obsess with this God stuff.
Woe is us. How can the greatest, holiest Pope who ever was or will be ever be replaced?
Pope John Paul II has returned to God. Let us look forward to the coming of the Kingdom and honor the memory of Pope John Paul II by striving to reverse the Culture of Death.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 12:38 PM Permalink

The Legacy of Pope John Paul II for Catholic-Jewish Relations : Beliefnet

John Paul II was truly a hero of Christian-Jewish reconciliation.
Forty years ago, the Second Vatican Council promulgated a document known as Nostra Aetate, which transformed Catholic attitudes and teaching toward Jews and Judaism.
This document declared that any attempt to present the Jews as rejected or cursed by God was wrong. It rejected the idea of Jewish guilt for the death of Jesus. It affirmed with the words of the Apostle Paul (Romans 9:4-5) that the divine covenant with the Jewish people has not been broken and is eternal. It condemned anti-Semitism and affirmed that the "spiritual patrimony common to Christians and Jews" should lead to "mutual understanding and respect".

My experience with Jewish friends and others I have spoken to. He exceeded expectations of people with respect to global Judaism. On the other hand, like so many others he viewed Arafat as a man seeking peace, so some in Israel were hoping he could do more to support a genuine peace there.

Even so, some Muslims have told me that their expectations for the next Pope are to bring about a reconciliation of relations between Muslims and Christians.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 10:53 PM Permalink

American Delegation Is Named : New York Times

The leaders of Congress completed the lists of their delegations to the funeral for Pope John Paul II on Tuesday evening, ending a scramble by members of the House and Senate for the limited spots.
Haggling over who would join the delegation, to be led by Senator Bill Frist of Tennessee, the Republican majority leader and a pro-life Protestant, continued until late Tuesday, when his office disclosed a bipartisan list of 13 Catholic senators who would accompany him. They include

Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr. Democrat of Delaware;
Senator Christopher J. Dodd, Democrat of Connecticut
Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts
Senator John Kerry, Democrat of Massachusetts
Senator Patrick J. Leahy, Democrat of Vermont
Senator Mel Martinez, Republican of Florida pro-life
Senator Rick Santorum, Republican of Pennsylvania. pro-life

Go to the link above for the House. No announcement yet on who Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Incorporated will be sending.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 10:41 PM Permalink

The appearance of the body of the Holy Father

Chicago's cardinal joins thousands paying respects : Chicago Sun-Times

George and a number of other cardinals from around the world spent an hour alone with the pope's body, praying the rosary and sitting in silent meditation, lost in their own thoughts and prayers, he said.
"You see him, you see the body, and in Italy they don't embalm in the same way we do, so you see the face of death more clearly. The person who is there looks like a dead person, and that's good, that's the reality of our future, but it's not the last word," he said. "This is a man for whom I am extremely grateful. I think we are extremely blessed to have lived during his pontificate."

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 9:59 PM Permalink

Remembering Terri Schiavo

Hundreds gather to remember Terri Schiavo : AP

GULFPORT, Fla. - Hundreds of mourners gathered Tuesday to remember Terri Schiavo at a funeral Mass arranged by her parents, while her husband held on to her cremated remains and planned a separate service.

Let's hope that Michael's service is not a Black Mass

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 9:20 PM Permalink

Pope's Mystery Cardinal Could Be Revealed : AP

VATICAN CITY (AP) -- What happens to the mystery cardinal the late Pope John Paul II selected in 2003 but never publicly identified?
Will the world ever find out who was picked?
Vatican watchers wondered Monday whether there was still a way in accordance with Church law for this unidentified "prince of the Church" to take his place among the cardinals and, if he is young enough, vote for the new pope.
When John Paul created new cardinals in 2003, he announced that he was keeping one name secret, or "in pectore," meaning "in the heart." This is a formula that has been used when the pope wants to name a cardinal in a country where the church is oppressed.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 10:41 AM Permalink

If he attends, connect his chair to 50,000 volts

Ali Agca has never told a consistent story about who ordered the assassination of the Pope, who supplied him with the documents, weapons, and details of how to obtain access to the Holy Father -- and none of his many stories name names, places, etc. that can be verified with the archives we have access to since the end of the Cold War.

According to Catholic World News, he even suggested that Vatican insiders assisted him.

But now according to the AP, he wants to attend the funeral.

Mehmet Ali Agca, who shot and seriously wounded Pope John Paul II in 1981, said from his Turkish prison yesterday that he was mourning the death of his "spiritual brother" and wanted to attend his funeral.

He just wants another minute on the clock of his 15 minutes of fame.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 9:57 AM Permalink

Disturbance at St Patrick's Cathedral : New York Post

A Rhode Island man was dragged out of St. Patrick's Cathedral last night during a Mass in memory of Pope John Paul II, after he stood and demanded Edward Cardinal Egan deliver a letter to the Vatican.
Russell Martinez, 41, of Warwick, stood on a pew, waved a manila envelope and shouted at Egan, cops said. Sources said the letter contained his thoughts on the pope's successor.

Waiting for the complaints on the infringment of Mr Martinez's free speech rights and the right to petition.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 9:15 AM Permalink

Why progressive Westerners never understood John Paul II : Mark Steyn : UK Telegraph

If I were Pope - and no, don't worry, I'm not planning a mid-life career change - but, if I were, I'd be a little irked at the secular media's inability to discuss religion except through the prism of their moral relativism. That's why last weekend's grand old man - James Callaghan - got a more sympathetic send-off than this weekend's.
The Guardian's headline writer billed Sunny Jim as a man "whose consensus politics were washed away in the late 1970s". Is it possible to have any meaningful "consensus" between, on the one hand, closed-shop council manual workers demanding a 40 per cent pay rise and, on the other, rational human beings?
What would the middle ground between the real world and Planet Zongo look like? A 30 per cent pay rise, rising to 40 per cent over 18 months or the next strike, whichever comes sooner? ...

This link should work without a registration.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 8:22 AM Permalink

George Wiegel in OpinionJournal.com

Thus the key to the freedom project in the 21st century, John Paul urged, lay in the realm of culture: in vibrant public moral cultures capable of disciplining and directing the tremendous energies--economic, political, aesthetic, and, yes, sexual--set loose in free societies. A vibrant public moral culture is essential for democracy and the market, for only such a culture can inculcate and affirm the virtues necessary to make freedom work. Democracy and the free economy, he taught in his 1991 encyclical Centesimus Annus, are goods; but they are not machines that can cheerfully run by themselves. Building the free society certainly involves getting the institutions right; beyond that, however, freedom's future depends on men and women of virtue, capable of knowing, and choosing, the genuinely good.

Also discussed on Bill Bennett's radio show Monday morning.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 12:21 AM Permalink

MSNBC Connected : information page on the Pope

Fr. Bryce Sibley's A Saintly Salmagundi is linked there and it links to the St Peters Square Panorama which is an awesom view of the scene at St. Peter's Square.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 12:02 AM Permalink

The Media Discovers a Billion Catholics

At long last, this week, we get to hear Catholics from all walks of life from Rod Dreher to Archbishop Charles Chaput OFM Cap to Pat Madrid to Fr George Rutler to Amy Welborn.

It's an awesome Catholic moment. If you are not Catholic now, you just may want to be one by the end of the week.

Please watch the coverage of this historic event and renew your faith.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 10:37 PM Permalink

Sean Hannity -- what a disappointment

His show has caller after caller and guest after guest on all of the stupid issues:

Will the next Pope allow birth control, abortion, married priests, women priests, end discrimination against homosexuals, etc.?

On the other hand, Laura Ingraham had Fr. Rutler and other intelligent guests and callers to talk about the legacy of the Pope and the current situation of the Church.

Laura Ingraham is a convert and humble about her knowledge of the faith.

Sean Hannity is arrogantly ignorant of the Catholic faith -- but on occaision says he went to "seminary" for years in order to claim some credentials for disputing an aspect of the Catholic faith with a caller. This was a St Pius X (Uniondale) a "seminary prep" school for grades 9-12, if he was paying attention, he learned about as much as anyone did about the Catholic faith in a Catholic high school 1974-79, which was very little.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 4:14 PM Permalink

Cardinal in petto

There's a cardinal out there who perhaps will not ever get a red hat, and for certain he does not get a vote in the conclave. His public identity died with the Holy Father. In the consistory of 2003, he announced the appointment of a cardinal in the breast.

I recalled that a blogger had researched three reasons for having a cardinal in petto. Turns out, it was me.

Extreme Catholic archive

Perhaps his identity was secretly disclosed, and perhaps a future pope will confirm the appointment (though he is not obligated to do so)

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 1:47 PM Permalink

PaddyPower.Com : Odds on the Next Pope There may be others, but this one is getting the media attention now.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 11:23 AM Permalink

China is blocking prayers, blessings, comments on the Pope : AFP

Catholic nuns pray during a requiem mass for Pope John Paul II in Beijing. China's web portals have blocked prayers, blessings and other comment on the death of the pope from being posted on the Internet, officials said.(AFP/Frederic J. Brown)

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 11:10 AM Permalink

Bill Bennett reflecting on the death of Terri Schiavo

A tearful caller to his program asked a question: Did the President and the Governor do all they could to save the life of Terri Schiavo?

Bill answered "No."

He said that they could have done more but failed to because on the conflicting advice that the would pay a huge political cost without a certainty of success in keeping Terri alive.

"Judge them on the totality of their lives" Bill added, also speculating that if they could do it over again, they might decide differently, mentioning Professor Robert P. George of Princeton.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 8:25 AM Permalink

Wedding Must Go On : AP

Prince Charles' wedding to Camilla Parker Bowles will go ahead Friday as planned, even if it clashes with the funeral of Pope John Paul II, the prince's office said Sunday.
The prince's Clarence House office said there were no plans to change the wedding date if the pope's funeral also was scheduled for Friday.

So much for the future Head of the Church of England, the Church of Scotland, and Defender of the Faith.

Update: Wedding has been pushed back a day to Saturday.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 8:17 AM Permalink

Soundbite

Over the next week the soundbites will move from our memories from the past 26 years to advice for the new Pope. I present mine:

The next Pope has a singular challenge, to confront the culture of death where it has deformed humanity on the globe but especially in the parts of the world which possess significant Catholic populations who fail to the respect life of the weak and helpless among us.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 8:09 AM Permalink

Pronunciation Guide

Dziwisz is pronounced "jee-vish" Final hours of the Pope : International Herald Tribune

They said they were personally summoned to the Vatican by Archbishop Stanislaw Dziwisz, John Paul's powerful personal secretary who has served him since his days as a young Polish bishop.
Dziwisz met them in the corridor outside the pope's bedroom. The archbishop quietly announced their presence to the pope as they were brought forward in ones or twos.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 1:04 AM Permalink

Kathryn Jean Lopez, Honorary Lepanto Group Member, reminds us in NRO...

THERE GOES THAT FR. MCBRIEN AGAIN
I just got chastised by my favorite Notre Dame professor for "conviently" forgetting that the pope condemned the war in Iraq�on a canned piece on ABC, he snidely noted "conservatives" selective memories re: PJPII, because we dig his sex talk (abortion, etc.) but ignore his war scolds.
I�ve of course been hearing this all day, that the pope adamantly disagreed with President Bush over Iraq, that he believed it to be an unjust war. Not so, though.
We�ve been through this before in The Corner. I refer you to a Peter Robinson-driven thread from December. The pope never condemned the war in Iraq. He said peace is a good thing. He said war should be a last resort. As any reasonable person would expect him to. He did not say, President Bush, you�re wrong.

As I documented, some newspapers went so far as to remove the name of the Vatican cardinal or archbishop who gave a statement of condemnation and replace it with the Pope's name.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 12:45 AM Permalink

Banal Question Watch:

Are you better off now than you were in 1978?
Is the Church better off now than in 1978?

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 11:13 PM Permalink

Getting it wrong (again) watch

Pope Leaves Behind Struggling U.S. Church : AP

For all of his inspiring qualities - personal charm, deep spirituality, acceptance of other faiths - Pope John Paul II's tight grip on church leadership and unwillingness to change unpopular teachings clashed with the more democratic approach that many of the 65 million U.S. Catholics favor.

"tight grip"?

In fact, the plea of many if not most Catholics was to take greater control of the crisis -- and discipline bishops who reassigned sexual predator priests.

Rod Dreher in an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal made the case for the Pope to take an "effective grip" -- holding the bishops accountable as only the Pope has the authority to do.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 10:59 PM Permalink

This surprised me in the television coverage of the Pope's death and this period of mourning

They emphasize that he was Polish. They show local Polish community leaders, people attending Mass in Polish. I don't know if this humanizes him or minimizes him.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 10:27 PM Permalink