extreme Catholic 

How easy the media is to predict

Every German alive in 1945 and alive in 2005 is being asked now if young Joseph Ratzinger was a enthusiastic member of the Hitler Youth.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 6:37 PM   Permalink  

will constantly bring up the "big shoes" line that Pope Benedict XVI is not up to the filling them.

We've elected a Pope, not a celebrity. I think that it doesn't serve the Church to fix on comparisons between Pope Benedict and Pope John Paul.

I predict people are prepared to call him a failure based on the applause meter and the photographic crowd size estimates. I am not playing along at home.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 10:58 AM   Permalink  

How Ratzinger became pope; Conclave decided before voting began : Concord Monitor

As Ratzinger gathered momentum during the conclave, some holdouts changed their votes "for the unity of the church," British Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor said. The fourth ballot resulted in victory Tuesday afternoon, a speedy outcome that seemed to awe the new pope.

"When the majority of 77 or 78 was reached, there was a gasp," Murphy said. "Everyone clapped. He had his head down. He must have said a prayer. I didn't see his face. He must have been aware this could happen, but when it does, it is a very special moment."

It also seems to deny the presence of the Holy Spirit in the conclave but emphasizing this was a choice made by faillible men. It screams at you Yeah, Ratzinger got the votes but for the wrong reasons.

Please if you want to speak out, Preach the Gospel, end the gossip.

Google news on the conclave votes

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 10:30 AM   Permalink  

I think the conclave was not full of men who were as committed as Pope Benedict XVI to continuation of the moral teaching of Pope John Paul II.

Pope John Paul II at the end of his life was already being undermined in many respects by criticism inside the Church of his controversial teachings. I think the most headline-grabbing one was the concession that there could be a licit use of condoms.

I also think that the refusal of many of the Cardinals in the pre-conclave buzz to do the simple smackdown of the hot button issues of homosexuality and the ordination of women represented weakness on their part.

There comes a point where being nice is only going to seen as weakness. It's not that Jesus sought to make enemies, but he realized that it was inevitable that people would oppose his teaching. A cardinal-careerist who made his reputation avoiding confrontation and reluctantly (or not at all) taught what Jesus called "hard" could have been elected.

As Pope, Pope Benedict XVI is probably relieved to be free of the burden of coping with the confusion, doubt, and contradiction within the Church, and can look outward to engaging the world in an honest dialog on the Gospel.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 8:54 AM   Permalink  

The first hit on Google for "jesuit pope" history is atheism.com

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 8:34 AM   Permalink  

How crushed and confounded the enemies of Pope John Paul II are by his election.

The election of Pope John Paul I and Pope John Paul II in 1978 which I recall (being 24 at the time time) was held such great anxiety for the Church and in the world at large:

The disaster of the war in Vietnam, the advances of communism especially in Latin America, the United States seemed to have lost its way with its own president giving one pessimistic speech after another.

No one looked to a Cardinal who would continue in the framework of Pope Paul VI. The despairing Catholics looked upon the conclaves of 1978 as perhaps the last.

What changed? Hope in the future from a man born in 1911 and a man born in 1920. I can't help but link the successes of the 1980's to Pope John Paul II and Ronald Reagan.

2005 doesn't find the Church and the world in confusion about its enemies: terrorism and militant secularism. Pope Benedict XVI's election is as close to a continuation of the pontificate of Pope John Paul II as one could imagine.

I think Cardinal Ratzinger's statements and homilies relate a great humility: we all are in debt and stand in the shadow of the recently departed Pope.

On the other hand, the enemies of the Church might be emboldened to attack now while the vicar of Christ is not a person who have accumlated the awe, love, and respect that Pope John Paul did over the 26 years of his pontificate.

The initial treatment of Pope Benedict XVI reminds me of the paradox of the love of Jesus. Jesus, even though he was perfect in love, had enemies, and he warned his followers that they too would be persecuted.

So can we judge a person by his enemies?

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 9:50 PM   Permalink  

...on the part of the media is so evident by the numbers of stories which in introducing the His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI mention condoms.

Google News Search

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 3:34 PM   Permalink  

NYSE to Acquire Electronic Trader And Go Public : WSJ (paid subs. reqd.)

The New York Stock Exchange plans to acquire electronic-trading company Archipelago Holdings Inc. in a historic transaction that will turn the 212-year-old Big Board into a public company and help it expand electronic trading to compete with rival markets.

The proposed merger highlights tectonic shifts in the business of operating stock markets. With the nation's second-biggest market, the Nasdaq Stock Market, negotiating to buy Instinet Group Inc.'s electronic-trading business, the once fragmented U.S. marketplace is quickly consolidating.

Driving the mergers is the rise of cheaper, faster computer systems for electronically matching stock trades of investors like Archipelago's that have put tremendous pressure on traditional markets like the not-for-profit NYSE and the Nasdaq.

At the NYSE, traders buy and sell stock in open-outcry auctions held on the floor, and only about 10% of shares traded are matched electronically. Investors want the faster, cheaper execution of their trades, and that has enabled electronic upstarts like Archipelago to quickly build formidable market positions. After years of trying to fend off the electronic competitors, the big markets have now decided that owning them makes more sense.

This affects my world since many of the problems that remain in the processing of orders to buy and sell stocks are inconsistencies introduced by human discretion on the part of the specialists.

The claim made since the 1960's when other exchanges became automated was that the system of specialists and open outcry was necessary to achieve an orderly market. The academic literature is full of stories that this claim was overblown. The NYSE existed in its antiquated form for so long because it enriched insiders. The $193 million compensation package obtained by Richard Grasso for himself may have something to do with it.

Google News Search

USA Today on the New York Stock Exchange

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 8:47 AM   Permalink  

The Catholic Evidence Guild continues the tradition of public speaking on aspects of the Catholic faith. Radio Maria which has obtained time on WVOX for different Catholic groups, clergy, and lay people to produce programs.

Representing the CEG, I presented the basic doctrines of the papacy, a outline history of the papacy, and more biographical details of Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI.

When I got to the studio I saw new signs up: WVOX is now streaming their audio.

Radio Maria Catholic Hour is on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 7pm to 8pm. The program schedule in the web site is not accurate.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 10:57 PM   Permalink  

Reuters Photo

Bette Shober (L) and Joanne Vrablik (R) take a closer look at what people believe to be an image of the Virgin Mary under a freeway underpass in Chicago, April 18, 2005. Police said the image might have been caused by stains from road salt that dripped from the Kennedy expressway onto the wall, but hundreds of believers have been coming to the underpass to view the image and pray at the spot. REUTERS/John Gress

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 1:28 PM   Permalink  

I wish I didn't have a full-time job that requires me to program and monitor computers.

In the regular rotation of hosts for Radio Maria Catholic Hour on WVOX in Westschester, I am the host for the first program following the election of His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI. I've been spending my time preparing that show.

WVOX is heard in Westchester, Bronx, and the Greenwich area. It's on from 7 PM to 8 PM tonight. 1460 AM on the dial.

It's a call-in show, but in order to call in I want you to hear the show, so I am not going to post the phone number here.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 11:38 AM   Permalink  

Looking at my bookshelf, I have three books written by him.

The Ratzinger Report Long and detailed interviews with the Cardinal from 1985 conducted by Vittorio Messori.

Called to Communion Notes on Catholic ecclesiology from a course in 1990.

Many Religions - One Covenant Theological reflections on Israel, the Church, and the World. 1998

All published by Ignatius Press

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 7:39 PM   Permalink  

PanzerKardinal is now PanzerPapst

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 1:03 PM   Permalink  

Walk into Lori Devins' downtown shop and it's clear this isn't a typical Christian retail store. First of all, Extreme Christian Clothing features T-shirts. Then, there are the shirts' in-your-face messages.

Along with ones saying "Got Jesus?" and "Fear God" are shirts declaring, "Satan Sucks," "My God can kick your god's butt," and "To Hell with the Devil."

"Our shirts are a little extreme, but I think God is spreading the word and having the youngsters shout out their faith," Miss Devins said. "I think teenagers want to evoke a response."

How about In this sign, conquer.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 8:53 AM   Permalink  

Soul Searching : Islam's Global Gains Pressure Catholics To Rethink Strategy : Wall Street Journal (paid subs. reqd.)

Next Pope Could Lead Vatican To Adopt Tougher Stance; Mosque Returns to Granada Church's Lost 'Missionary Zeal' In 1492, Christian armies drove the last Muslim rulers out of the ancient hilltop city of Granada in a victory still celebrated as the birth of modern Spain. Now, Islam is back, this time making more peaceful inroads by adding adherents among the local immigrant population and also some Spaniards. Two years ago, a mosque, the first to stand in Granada in five centuries, was built on the site of a former Catholic church. "It's clear that Islam is eating into Catholic turf," says Malik Abderraman, the president of the foundation that runs the mosque and himself a Spanish convert to Islam. For more than 40 years, the Roman Catholic Church has embraced a seductive theory: By extending an olive branch, Christianity could lay to rest its 1,400-year history of conflict with Islam. The church created a new curial office dedicated to fostering a robust dialogue with Islam, as well as other world religions, with the goal of achieving mutual understanding and peace. It welcomed the building of mosques in Europe and spoke out against religious discrimination of Muslims. Now, as Catholic cardinals meet in the Vatican to choose the next pope, there is a growing feeling that these efforts to reach out to Islam have backfired. While some Muslims have embraced the call for dialogue, many Catholics now fret that the conciliatory approach has tied the church's hands, preventing it from keeping up with Islam's rapid growth, particularly in parts of the world once dominated by Catholicism. Some critics also believe the softer stance should be more contingent on a reciprocal tolerance of Catholics in the Muslim world. So we're back to a clash of civilizations, eh? The two challenges of the next century are a secularism - hostile to the idea of religion itself (the Reds), and the faith of Islam (the Greens). I pray that we are given by the Holy Spirit a Pope who has the faith, courage, and wisdom to be bring the good news of salvation in the name of Jesus to the world.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 8:27 AM   Permalink  

My one hour radio program is divided in three parts:

1. The life and legacy of Pope John Paul II (and commentary on how the media covered his funeral and days of mourning)

2. The history of the papacy and some of the details of the conclave (or a short bio of the new Pope if the election happens before air time)

3. Some doctrine and apologetics about the Pope, and in particular, what limits does the Pope have.

Any particular items in the above categories that haven't heard in the reporting even from EWTN that should be included?

The last pope with facial hair I believe is Innocent XII (1691-1700) That may be true but it isn't quite what I'm looking for.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 11:28 PM   Permalink  

They are going to start coverage of the conclave at 4 AM Eastern Time.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 11:25 PM   Permalink  

Avignon was the residence of the Pope, the Bishop of Rome during a period from 1305 to 1378 when seven French popes reigned. It is a sad period where there were several schisms and a loss of the independence of the papacy from kings and princes.

translated: Tours of the Papal Palace of Avignon.

I'm busy preparing class notes and a radio program on the papacy. Things will get back to normal here after Wednesday.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 9:47 PM   Permalink