extreme Catholic 

Benedict XVI drops a traditional papal title : Catholic World News

Dropping papal title does not advance ties, Orthodox prelate says : Catholic World News

Pope Benedict drops one of his nine titles: Reuters

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Benedict has dropped one of his nine official titles, giving up "Patriarch of the West" in a discreet step apparently intended to help promote closer ties with the Orthodox churches of the East.

Benedict will retain titles such as Vicar of Jesus Christ and Servant of the Servants of God, but the patriarch title will not appear in the Vatican's annual directory due out later this month, Roman Catholic Church officials said on Wednesday.

The Pope has stressed his desire to improve ties with the Orthodox churches, which split from Rome in 1054, and a Vatican aide said scrapping the patriarch title was meant to help that.

"In the past, the patriarchate of the West was contrasted with that of the East," Cardinal Achille Silvestrini, former head of the Vatican office for eastern rite churches, told the Italian news agency ANSA.

"I think the Pope wanted to remove this sort of contrast and his act is intended as a spur to ecumenical progress."

Some Vatican observers were not so sure this would help.

The daily Corriere della Sera said the Orthodox churches "could see this papal innovation ... as an indirect affirmation of himself as a 'universal patriarch'."

Vatican relations with the Russian Orthodox Church, the largest of these churches, have been strained because the Moscow hierarchy suspects the Catholic Church of trying to win new members there following the fall of communism in 1991.

Orthodox leaders could see the move as a Vatican bid to ignore geography and rise above the ancient structure of Christianity as centred in the five main patriarchates of Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch and Jerusalem.

Rome is the centre of the Roman Catholic Church while Istanbul, the former Constantinople, is home of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, symbolic head of the Orthodox churches. The others play much lesser roles in Christian affairs.

Benedict will visit Bartholomew in Istanbul in November.

The Pope's remaining eight titles are Bishop of Rome, Vicar of Jesus Christ, Successor of the Prince of the Apostles, Supreme Pontiff of the Universal Church, Primate of Italy, Metropolitan Archbishop of the Roman Province, Sovereign of Vatican City and Servant of the Servants of God.

Perhaps it's a concession to feminists: "Down with Patriarchy!"

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 11:36 PM   Permalink  

Pope's Shooting Laid to Soviets by Italian Panel: New York Times

Citing new photographic analysis, an Italian parliamentary commission has concluded that top Soviet leaders were behind the failed plot to kill Pope John Paul II in 1981...

The new claim revolves largely around two new analyses of photographs of the crowds in St. Peter's Square that day. The analyses show decisively, the report says, that a Bulgarian, Sergei Ivanov Antonov, the former director of Balkan Air, was in the square at the time of the shooting and so had lied when he said that he was in his office at the time.

Mr. Antonov and two other Bulgarians were cleared by an Italian court in 1986 of accusations that they had hired the Turkish gunman, Mehmet Ali Agca, who was convicted of attempted murder and was imprisoned in Italy until 2000.

I've always thought the Italians were wrong to release him without a verifiable confession from Agca identifying and implicating the people who paid him, gave him phony id, weapons, etc.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 11:20 PM   Permalink  

Alms, Fasting, Abstinence, Flagellation

Today we practice voluntary acts of self-denial. The tradition of mortification of the flesh and flagellation has passed from the mainstream of Catholic culture.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 9:29 PM   Permalink  

Today was his funeral. He was my father's cousin and close to him in age. So, until today, he was always exactly 31 years minus 1 day older than me. It was somewhat strange to hear stories of his life in the last 30 years because that's when I knew him the least. He entered the Missionaries of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary in 1968 when I was 14. He was ordained when he was 48. At that age, some priests are celebrating the 25th anniversary of their ordination. He concelebrated at my wedding and at the funerals of my parents. His parents came over from Ireland right after World War I. My parents came over from Ireland right after World War II so his family was tasked with turning my parents into "Americans".

I didn't realize it at the time, but he was providing a model of faith for me when I was about 10 years old.

This is the obituary that appeared in the Press of Atlantic City

CAVANAUGH, FATHER JOHN J., M.SS.CC. 83 - of the Missionaries of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, in Linwood, died February 22, 2006 at Shore Memorial Hospital, Somers Point. Father was a native New Yorker and came to South Jersey in 1990. He was born in New York City the son of the late Patrick and Helen Cavanaugh. Father Cavanaugh entered the Congregation of the Missionaries of the Sacred Hearts in 1968 and was ordained to the priesthood in 1971.

Before his priesthood he was employed as a teacher and social worker in the State of New York and was a WW II Navy Veteran. Father served as Associate Pastor at St. Ignatius of Antioch, Yardley, PA, Fairfield, PA, Newark and New York City and was Chaplain at St. Joseph's Home for the Blind, Jersey City. Father had served as Chaplain at Our Lady's Residence, in Pleasantville, for many years and was an associate pastor at Our Lady of Fatima, Holy Name in Camden and Our Lady of Sorrows in Linwood. He was also Vocation Director for the Missionaries of the Sacred Hearts.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 10:40 PM   Permalink  

I got into blogging two years ago after reading Mark Shea's blog Catholic and Enjoying It for a few months and now he's got a new book. I've pre-ordered it.

I've got to get prepared for the anti-Catholic tsunami coming with the DaVinci Code and you should be as well.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 9:22 PM   Permalink  

There's a weird twist in this article on the celebration of New Orleans from ABC News

New Orleans celebrated the first masked Mardi Gras in 1837, and the first float parade in 1857. The Roman Catholic Church licensed Carnival, which translates "farewell to the flesh," as a celebration of indulgence before adherents begin the fasting of Lent.

With so many of the old citizens of New Orleans, gone and never to return, it seems strange that people from all over and going to this place where they behave badly, acting in drunkenness and lewdness. It's the urge to sin that can't be stopped.

Tourism to New Orleans this year takes on an notion of merit: I'm not merely having a good time, but "I'm bringing tourist dollars to this devastated area". I think it's really a donation to self-interest: If Mardi Gras was a financial failure this year, more carnival-related businesses would close and there would be less partying next year.

Meanwhile, thousands of families still are getting hotel vouchers, and when you divide the money spent by government on all levels by the number of people affected, it's approaching $100,000. For a family four, you can do the math.

Thousands of checks and $2,000 debit cards to people whose identities and claims FEMA never checked. (USA Today)

I don't have an issue with helping people after a disaster, but at this point for the Katrina victims, it's a case of charity fatigue.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 6:43 PM   Permalink