extreme Catholic 

 
Essay Questions for my Class:

1. A person says: If God is everywhere then I can pray to God anywhere and anytime. As Catholics we should go to Mass each Sunday and pray to God there. Give three reasons why: (for extra credit, give more than three reasons)

2. A person says that the Bible was written thousands of years ago what can be in the Bible that is worth reading about today? Give three reasons: (for extra credit, give more than three reasons)

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 9:35 AM   Permalink  

 
Washington Times: Judicial filibuster rule change faces high hurdle in Senate

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist yesterday proposed changing Senate rules for filibusters of presidential nominees before the chamber to allow a simple majority to override such obstructions.

The filibusters Democrats have against two of President Bush's judicial nominees are "unfair to the nominees, unfair to the president and unfair to the majority of senators who stand ready to confirm them," Mr. Frist, Tennessee Republican, said on the Senate floor.

Rodger Hedgecock subbing for Rush Limbaugh called the next steps in the Estrada nomination process "Domestic Shock and Awe".

The Democrats now have 2 filibusters going on judicial nominations, and more threatened. The consent of the Senate is constitutionally a majority and not 60% or 66% or 100%. (Article 2 Section 2)

The Senate unlimited rule applies to legislative debates (and not other matters). The rule can be changed by a majority. The strategies proposed by Frist, if successful, pave the way for the Supreme Court nominations.

I'm still looking for a reason why they don't end this by making it a real 24 x 7 filibuster with tag-team speeches and cots on the Senate floor.

It's a phony filibuster.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 9:29 AM   Permalink  

 
Arizona Republic: Ex-Vatican powerbroker living in Sun City

The most powerful and controversial American priest ever to work in the Vatican now plays golf and celebrates Mass in the Phoenix Diocese.

Paul Casimir Marcinkus, a 6-foot-4 native of Cicero, Ill., was a personal bodyguard to Pope Paul VI and earned the nickname "Gorilla" by the Italian media for his fierceness in stepping in when a Bolivian artist tried to stab the pope at the Manila airport in the Philippines in 1970.

Marcinkus is titual archbishop of Orta. The only Orta I know of a is an Xbox game Panzer Dragoon Orta

If you are saying now: "Who is Archbishop Marcinkus?" -- you ought to click on the link and find out. It's a fascinating story.

This is a perfect extremeCatholic story -- obscure enough to be ignored by the mainstream Catholic News sources -- but interesting to the people whose interest in the Catholic Church is, well, extreme.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 11:49 PM   Permalink  

 
NY1: Four Queens High School Students May Be Cleared Of Rape Charges

Rape charges may be dismissed against four former Christ the King High School students. The four are accused of forcing a 15-year-old former classmate to have sex at a party last Halloween. Defense lawyers have insisted the sex was voluntary. A deal was reached Thursday calling for the charges to be dismissed in six months if the four stay out of trouble. However, they must perform community service. The girl has an order of protection against the boys in place until the case is dismissed. The teens were kicked out of Christ the King after the incident. There is no word yet on whether or not they'll be allowed to return to school.

This story doesn't get the same press as the Massapequa High School baseball players who went to a strip club. The above link connects to a video report.

I suppose it is the nightmare of every principal of a school to have crimes like that associated with the name of the school. Christ the King High School is about 3 miles from me in Queens.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 11:35 PM   Permalink  

 
AP: Killer of New York abortion doctor gets maximum 25 years to life sentence

James Kopp, the sniper who shot and killed an abortion doctor in his home five years ago, refused to apologize Friday as he was sentenced to the maximum sentence of 25 years to life in prison.

For those of you outside of New York, a 25-to-life sentence at a jury trial is rare here. Much more common is a 20-25 year sentence. In real terms -- parole happens in as little at 10 years but given the publicity of Kopp's case - I suspect he will serve a full sentence with only the earned "good behavior" time diminishing his sentence.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 3:17 PM   Permalink  

 
Catholic World News: Orthodox Leader Backs Moscow against Vatican

The Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople has taken the side of Russian Orthodox Patriarch Alexei II in his dispute with the Holy See.

Patriarch Bartholomew I, the acknowledged "first among equals" in the Orthodox world, said that his fellow Orthodox prelate is "justified" in his complaints against the Catholic Church. He said that the Catholic Church has been guilty of "profiting from the weakness of a wounded Russian Church."

The reasons for the division no longer exist. These men are old, newer men will come to see that this is an opportune time to restore the unity of the Church.

There seems to be come confusion among the Orthodox regarding what we Catholics are guilty of:

• The Western Church never (as in 1600 years ago) had the authority to change the liturgy.
• The Western Church is in heresy for adding filioque
• The Western Church has exaggerated beyond the bounds of Sacred Scripture and Tradition the role of the Bishop of Rome

Choose one, choose them all.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 12:31 AM   Permalink  

 
AP: Court Rules Fetus is Body Part

May 8, 2003 -- HARTFORD - Angering both sides of the abortion debate, the Connecticut Supreme Court ruled yesterday that a fetus is a body part, akin to teeth or skin.

The ruling unanimously upheld the conviction of a man who tried to induce a miscarriage by slipping his girlfriend labor-inducing drugs, and argued he could not be charged with aggravated assault because the fetus was the target, not the mother. Chief Justice William J. Sullivan issued a separate concurring opinion saying a fetus "may be its own individual being."

Yeah, I'm angry. Is this body part legally like a strand of hair or like the heart?

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 11:46 AM   Permalink  

 
Boston Globe: Personal records barred in church abuse case

A state Superior Court judge has rejected as ''intrusive'' a motion by the Archdiocese of Boston to obtain the medical, psychological, and employment records of Paula and Rodney Ford, the parents of a Newton man who says he was sexually abused as a boy by the Rev. Paul R. Shanley, court documents show.

And I bet you thought that the Archdiocese's legal tactics had softened a bit.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 11:19 AM   Permalink  

 
Boston Globe: Priest group official pans abuse policy

Guilty priests should never be allowed to return to public ministry, but neither should they be removed from the priesthood [said Fr. Bob Silva of Stockton CA]

Silva also spoke out in favor of the efforts by Cardinal Roger M. Mahony of Los Angeles to withhold some documents from prosecutors

Imagine that, dioceses where 40 or 50 percent of the priests are still drawing salary, benefits, food and housing allowances, and are not in public ministry because of a sexual abuse conviction.

If child rape isn't something the Fr. Silva thinks should be a reason to return a man to the status of laity, I wonder what would be.

Of course, when it comes to the career, comfort, and financial security of a priest, nothing should stand in the way, not even a conviction for child rape.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 11:04 AM   Permalink  

 

Tefillin or Night-Vision Goggles -- you be the judge!

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 12:22 AM   Permalink  

 
Newsday: High School Players Visit Strip Club, Get Suspended

A late-night journey to a Florida strip club during a spring break trip has cost 15 varsity baseball players at Massapequa High School the remainder of their season and the school suspended two coaches yesterday because of the incident, officials said.

Assistant coach Tom Sheedy said he and longtime head coach Bob Dell, who were suspended, said the players were taken to the strip club by a parent, and that he and Dell did not learn of it until two days later. Dell could not be reached for comment last night.

The allegation is a parent did it, and the coaches knew. In a local television news segment on this, some of the parents wanted "no punishment" for anyone involved because it would mar the record of the students involved.

I think the parent who organized this trip should face abuse charges. Local geography note: Massapequa is an affluent town.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 12:07 AM   Permalink  

 
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Suspended teacher's aide sues employer over wearing cross on necklace

A teacher's aide in Indiana County filed a federal civil rights lawsuit yesterday against her employer, saying she was unfairly suspended from her job for a year without pay for refusing to remove a small cross she wears on a necklace.

Brenda Nichol tells reporters yesterday how much she misses her students. The teacher's aide from Indiana County was in Pittsburgh to file suit after her employer suspended her for a year for wearing a cross on her necklace. (John Beale, Post-Gazette)

Brenda Nichol, 43, of Glen Campbell, said school officials violated her rights to freedom of speech and religion.

Blogger credit to Kevin Miller

I think this is be a slam-dunk for the religious freedom legal foundations. (St. Thomas More is the one I contribute to). I recall a similar story about a suspension of a teacher for merely keeping a bible somewhere in her classroom.

Around these parts (New York City) the wearing of a cross is more of a fashion statement than a statement of faith. Certainly I see more crosses worn by the local Goths (fans of Gothic/vampire themed fiction) than I do Christians.

The hostility to religion represented by this is sort of a canary in a coal mine -- waning of support for any visibility of religion in public.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 4:07 PM   Permalink  

 
Diogenes: Pilot Error

Boston's archdiocesan newspaper, the Pilot, has been a staunch defender of the bishops' conduct in the sex-abuse scandal, and a vociferous critic of the bishops' critics. Fair enough. But when a Pilot editorial suggests that other American institutions need to learn from the bishops' example, things are getting ridiculous.

Diogenes is very much on-target here. Sorry if sounds like it's "beat up on bishops" day here at XC.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 3:49 PM   Permalink  

 
Beliefnet: America's Worst [Catholic] Bishops

The very solid and good work that has been accomplished by the majority of bishops in their dioceses has been completely overshadowed by the imprudent decisions of a number of bishops during the past ten years," said Bishop Wilton Gregory, the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops during their historic meeting in Dallas earlier this month.

This is from Summer 2002 and my pre-blog-writing days, so all you folks might have already discovered it and read it, but it's new to me and maybe new to you.

In the past, I've found Beliefnet rather superficial on its coverage of Catholicism, but this article pulls in a lot of facts into one place, as well as responses by the bishops named as "bad". I just may go back to Beliefnet.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 2:01 PM   Permalink  

 
John Leo: Taking it off the streets

If you are worried about the state of free speech in America, consider the case of longtime protester Brett Bursey. Last October the 54-year-old Bursey, carrying an antiwar sign, was arrested at Columbia Metropolitan Airport in South Carolina during a visit by President Bush. He was on public property at the time but was charged with trespassing because he was outside the zone established for demonstrators that day. The zone was on the edge of a highway, a half-mile away from the president, where neither Bush nor the media were likely to notice

John Leo misses the point-slash-irony. The radical left has no one but themselves to blame.

The radical-left in the days of the Vietnam War believed that protest could take place in any public place. But as peaceful protests arose at abortion clinics the idea became fashionable among the radical left that this was a conflict with the privacy rights of the employees and victims - excuse me - "consumers" of their deadly services.

You've made this dung pile of the Constitutions right of the people peaceably to assemble. Now we share the misery.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 1:45 PM   Permalink  

 
Dallas Morning News: Lay woman runs parishes

KOSCIUSKO, Miss. - [Barbara] Sturbaum visits the sick, teaches the faith and prepares couples for marriage. She provides counseling and spiritual guidance. She advises each congregation's parish council and oversees the parishes' finances.

But she can't lead Mass, marry couples, baptize, hear confessions or anoint the sick -- sacraments central to Catholic life -- because she isn't a priest.

So she depends on priests more than 35 miles away, who come once a week to preside at Mass. The diocese calls the priests sacramental ministers, not pastors, since they have no role in the day-to-day affairs of the parishes.

Her official title is resident pastoral minister. When parishioners at first addressed her as ``Sister,'' she insisted they call her by her first name. She's single, but not a nun. Sturbaum draws a nun's salary, between $15,000 and $20,000.

A lot to ponder here. The resident part I get. The "pastoral" part and the "minister" part I don't. The article leaves so much out: what is her background to take on this role? Her formation? How does she see herself as an employee of the bishop, or as a parish priest without the formal status of being a priest?

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 10:59 PM   Permalink  

 

Senator Joseph McCarthy

He belongs now to history.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 12:26 PM   Permalink  

 
CNN has put the story of Dominican Sister Maryanne Pierre on its home page
posted by Patrick Sweeney at 12:13 PM   Permalink  

 
Reuters: Saint's Town Up in Arms Over Vatican Move

ROME (Reuters) - The small Italian town where the world famous mystic monk Padre Pio is buried was up in arms on Monday after the Vatican (news - web sites) named a commissioner to oversee his shrine that generates hundreds of millions of dollars.

People in the southern town of San Giovanni Rotondo took to the streets in solidarity with Capuchin monks, whose leader accused the Vatican of instigating a "climate of persecution" by stripping them of effective control of the shrine.

I wonder if this sort of thing happens in Linz

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 12:02 PM   Permalink  

 
Family Research Council: Gambling is not a virtue

Mr. Bennett has simply shown himself to have feet of clay. We are, after all, made of dust. Christians are called upon to be good stewards of God's blessings. Mr. Bennett has apparently reflected on the quality of his stewardship and issued the following statement late today: "I have done too much gambling, and this is not an example I wish to set...Therefore, my gambling days are over." Good for Mr. Bennett. It's what a man of virtue would do.

Best comment I've seen so far on the matter. For the record, I don't gamble.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 11:34 AM   Permalink  

 
Who are you going to believe, me or your lying eyes?

Oh, how I love that Groucho Marx line. It got me to thinking how in spiritual matters our eyes, and, in fact, all our senses lie to us.

I remember a nun telling me that if you could really see a human soul in mortal sin, you'd die of fright and terror, If you could really see a human soul in the state of grace, you'd be knocked unconcious in shock and awe of it.

All the senses fool us into think what's bad for us is really good. Eve, of course, stands at the head of the list The woman saw that the tree was good for food, pleasing to the eyes, and desirable for gaining wisdom.

So I told my 6th grade class, When the devil comes, he or she won't be ugly. The devil will look like the best things your eyes have ever see. That's why tell call it temptation. You are drawn to it.

That's what we call a spiritual reality

Another spiritual reality is how common stuff like bread, water, and wine becomes the reality, the substance, of the Body and Blood of Our Lord. You see and taste bread but what do you believe?

It wasn't Groucho Marx but that other famous philosopher, St. Thomas who said that faith supplies all that the senses fail to deliver. With five senses, we are still incomplete humans. Faith completes us.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 8:58 AM   Permalink  

 
How? How could I possibly guess that, in the end, she would choose abortion over adoption?

The show (which I've never seen is called Everwood). This is from CNN description:

Brown advises the woman to wait three days and consider adoption or giving birth. After the wait, she chooses to end the pregnancy

I don't think there's ever been a TV or Hollywood movie that showed that giving birth to such a child would be the happy ending .

Sometimes I think the person who said that abortion is their sacrament, got it right.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 4:35 PM   Permalink  

 
Jonah Goldberg of National Review Online agrees with me on the case of William Bennett.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 12:03 PM   Permalink  

 
Boston Globe: Matthews puts Holy Cross in hot seat

A high-profile graduate of the College of the Holy Cross is protesting the college's decision to grant an honorary degree to its commencement speaker, television commentator Chris Matthews, because he says Matthews's prochoice views contradict the school's Catholic principles.

Charles Millard, a former trustees chairman who received an honorary degree from the college in 1999, says Matthews's support of abortion rights contradicts the teachings of the church and of the college, which issued a statement against abortion in 1991.

At Holy Cross, a 2,800-student college in Worcester that was founded by a Jesuit priest in 1843 to educate Catholics and train priests, the tension between the college's intellectual pursuits and religious identity has existed for years.

While other Catholic blogs discuss the above -- here's the extreme critique of the Jesuits -- they are not human.

BLACK JESUIT ORDER OF LIZARDS: the photographic evidence.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 11:39 AM   Permalink  

 
What's Going on with Mainline Protestant Religions?

Westchester Journal-News: Mainline Protestants being left behind

They sit stately and unadorned in every community, churches of stone or white clapboard that link today's frenetic culture to a pious, inconceivably mannered past. It is easy to drive by these old-time Protestant churches, where generations of immigrants thanked God for their lot, and assume they will anchor the culture forever.

But scores of churches across greater New York that are part of the "mainline" Protestant tradition are now gasping for life. Aging congregations of only a few dozen people have become commonplace, presenting the possibility that many churches will close over the next decade or so.

In Scarsdale, Yonkers, churches try new approach

Ezequiel Herrera-Rodriguez, 33 years old and Dominican born, is trying to spread the word, or at least a softer version. He is Calvin's man in Yonkers.

"I'm Pastor Ezequiel, and I'm from that church up there," he says in Spanish or English to everyone he meets: laborers looking for work, women pushing strollers, teenagers spending a weekday morning standing around. He points up to Good Shepherd Presbyterian Church, a brick castle behind iron gates.

If you have an interest in the "big but getting smaller" five: Episcopal, Presbyterian, Lutheran, Methodist, and United Church of Christ -- then these are articles you should read. Geographic references: Scarsdale is upper-middle class, the archtype of the New York City suburb. Yonkers is much more a combination of the underclass and working class.

The numbers are astounding: these demoninations as a group have an average of 330 members per church. Catholics on the other hand have 8,000 members per church. I know the participation rates are different but even given that, this means that many of these churches are basically abandoned.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 9:32 AM   Permalink  

 
Oregonian: Dioceses nationwide wait on Bend case

05/05/03 Carol McGraw

BEND -- In a case with broad financial implications for the U.S. Roman Catholic Church, a judge in Bend will decide this week whether the local diocese will become the first in the nation to have its assets frozen because of pending sexual abuse cases.

Eighteen men who claim they were abused by a priest more than 30 years ago are asking a Deschutes County judge to forbid the Catholic Diocese of Baker from transferring money and property to its 34 parishes until a $60 million lawsuit is settled.

The plaintiffs maintain such transfers are fraudulent during litigation and could deplete diocesan coffers, preventing them from recovering civil damages for suffering and sexual battery if the church is found negligent.

The point the article misses is that the corporation law that determines the legal form of the Catholic Church is determined by the state. I don't know how the judge will decide, but I do have predictions:

• If the Diocese is allowed to divest and shield liability with corporate shells, expect an explosion of corporate shells all over the place -- we might even have "off-shore" Catholic dioceses -- Archdiocese of Baltimore (a Bermuda LLC), Diocese of Galveston (incorporated in Grand Cayman)
• If the Diocese is not allowed to divest, expect appeals up to the United States Supreme Court.

Actually, I tend to doubt that the assets are being transferred to parishes. What is a "parish"? Around these parts they (i.e. the bishop and his staff) open, merge, divide, move boundaries, close parishes all the time. To me a parish looks more like a "chattel" than it does an entity exercising independed judgment acting in its own self-interest.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 9:09 AM   Permalink  

 
Catholic World News:A Church Musician's Lament, Michael Olbash

In a typical American parish, the selection of music betrays--and reinforces--an irreverent approach to the Mass.

Since my graduation from high school just ten short years ago, I have held "Director of Music" positions in eight separate parishes, with my terms of employment ranging in duration from six months to two years. I can't seem to hold down a job. Sooner or later--usually sooner--I come to blows with the pastor or a group of influential parishioners over the selection of liturgical music.

Here's another item with a personal connection. Michael's first parish was my own: St. Sebastian, Woodside, Diocese of Brooklyn-Queens.

This is a very good article. He names names.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 11:44 PM   Permalink  

 
Captain Louis Renault of the Gendamerie in film Casablanca announces he is closing Rick's. I'm shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here! and then he is handed his winnings.

I thought of that when I read these two stories today.

Guardian: Big Macs replace loaves and fishes at Pope's pray-in

Giles Tremlett in Madrid Monday April 28, 2003 The Guardian

It is, perhaps, a divine coming together of global brands. Several hundred thousand young Spaniards will be welcomed to Madrid this week by, on the one hand, McDonald's, the legendary and controversial provider of fast food to the world, and on the other, Pope John Paul II, source of spiritual sustenance to some of it.

The tie-in between the globetrotting Pope and the global leader in burgers, fries and gherkins comes as the Spanish church seeks a way to fund yet another official visit from John Paul - his fifth so far.

Hard-pressed Spanish bishops have decided to run the £1m visit on ruthlessly commercial lines. So, while a rich man's chances of entering the kingdom of God still remain reduced, his chances of making it into the Madrid aerodrome where the Pope is to lead a pray-in for young Spaniards on Sunday are greatly increased.

Catholic News Service: Pope says globalization must be regulated by international consensus

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- If globalization is to benefit all the world's inhabitants, it must be directed and regulated with international consensus, Pope John Paul II said.

When the forces of a market economy and special interests are the only things guiding the international exchange of capital, goods and information, the weakest members of society have no guarantee of benefit and risk greater exploitation, the pope said May 2.

"Globalization itself is not the problem; rather, difficulties arise from the lack of effective mechanisms for giving it proper direction," he told members of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences beginning a five-day plenary session focused on "the governance of globalization."

The pope seems to have picked up Democratic Party talking points by talking about special interests.

Suspicion of free markets and the desire to control them is quite common in history.

The whole idea of free markets is that they are "directed and regulated" by the people involved in making the buying and selling decisions. The market is directed and regulated by a third party whether it is a Communist central planning committee or "international consensus" is no longer a free market.

I'm shocked, shocked to find globalization in the retail food industry. Here, Holy Father, are the one million hamburgers you ordered. Thanks.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 9:41 PM   Permalink  

 
Catholic News Service: Bishop lifts ban on Voice of the Faithful meetings on church grounds

BROOKLYN, NY. (CNS) -- Bishop Thomas V. Daily of Brooklyn has lifted his ban on the use of church property for meetings of the Voice of the Faithful lay group. Bishop Daily said he made the decision based on the recommendations of a diocesan committee, headed by Auxiliary Bishop Ignatius A. Catanello, which met with Voice of the Faithful leaders.

The diocesan Presbyteral Council also recommended a relaxation of the ban.

"I am happy to report that the meetings that the committee has held with the leaders of VOTF in the Diocese of Brooklyn have been most fruitful," said Bishop Daily. "In lengthy sessions, marked on both sides by openness, communication and most of all the spirit of charity and a deep love for the church, they have addressed my concerns regarding the group, and have reported back to me the results of their constructive dialogue." Bishop Daily said he has found "that a number of good and dedicated members of the diocese, who were members of VOTF, were truly desirous to prayerfully reflect on our present ecclesial concerns and collaborate in strengthening the unity of our church."

The bishop said he initially had concerns "about the purpose of the group, and the danger that individuals with other agendas -- some of them contrary to the teachings and discipline of the church -- might use these well-intended members of our loyal faithful as unsuspecting vehicles for the promotion of their plans."

Bishop Thomas Daily turned 75 in September 2003. We have expected his replacement to be appointed any day now since then.

Blogger Credit: Dominico Bettinelli

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 7:41 PM   Permalink  

 
secular values

Reuters: France likely to pass law against Muslim scarf in school

French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin, faced with a rise in radical Islam in schools, has said his government could act to give teachers formal legal power to expel students who flaunt their religion.

The wearing of the traditional Muslim headscarf, in particular, triggers heated debate in France, a secular state with a Roman Catholic majority. In comments likely to fuel the debate, Raffarin said teachers would take a hard line with pupils who display religious allegiance in defiance of France’s secular tradition.

"It must be stated clearly that secular values must be respected," Raffarin told Europe 1 Radio on Sunday ahead of his first anniversary in power.

"The teacher, the school principal or the university rector must have the power to force them to obey the rules, or expel them. But secular values should be strong enough not to need a law to be respected. If necessary, there will be a law," he said.

The government fears that Islamic activism in schools may be feeding into a rise in anti-Semitism fuelled by opposition to Israel's handling of the Palestinian uprising. (Reuters)

Anti-headscarf legislation would never be constitutional in the United States. In my neighborhood in Queens / New York City, one can see the headscarfs on mothers. The unmarried women don't wear it.

I think the French will shortly go into a panic over losing their own country. It won't require a Muslim majority, it will only take an indifferent French majority.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 6:45 PM   Permalink