This Week's Headlines

As another week comes to an end, this is your chance to top off your glass with a final helping of news, current events, and just plain interesting stuff that may not have made into the mainstream media. A chance to linger for a few more moments before we close the door on the week. Below are some links to articles, blogs, and miscellaneous happenings that caught my eye over the past few days. Sample what you like - I'll serve up more next Friday...

[Yes, I know...I've been lazy again this week. I haven't posted anything. I blame it on those long hot days of summer.Maybe next week I'll be more productive.]

Social Justice = Socialism? - "Even if Catholics vote for legislation that forces charity (twisted and presented as 'wealth redistribution') upon all in the nation, they are not following the spirit of God’s law. The spirit of God’s law is always of love freely given, never forced."

Rules for Good Catholic Social Teaching - "Last year’s convention of the Fellowship of Catholic Scholars was devoted to 'Catholic Social Teaching and Economics'. The proceedings have just been published, and the lead essay (originally a 'paper' read at the Convention), by Notre Dame professor Gerard V. Bradley" [is summarized in this article.]

The Golden Age Cometh - "Increasingly, the Catholic Church is the only option for serious Christians here. Traditional Protestant denominations are shrinking and Evangelical Christians in many cases are attracted to the sacramental system of the Church and its authoritative teachings. We get their best, and they get our worst..."


Does Quantum Physics Make it Easier to Believe in God? - "...it does so indirectly, by providing an argument against the philosophy called materialism (or 'physicalism'), which is the main intellectual opponent of belief in God in today’s world."

John Paul I, Paul VI Beatifications Possible During Year of Faith - "Pope Benedict’s Year of Faith is slated to begin on Oct. 11 and will serve to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council."

The Many Disguises of Satan - "Beware, Satan has many disguises and he seldom presents as he really is."

Freedom of Worship’s Assault on Freedom of Religion - "Here's the bottom line. If the freedom of worship assault against freedom of religion succeeds, creed-motivated philanthropic and service organizations...and religiously sponsored schools, hospitals, nursing homes, pregnancy counseling centers, etc., will be forced to choose between acting contrary to their faith and closing their doors."


Catholics and Modernity - "The problem, of course, is that the cowboys-Indians/left-right optic is incapable of grappling with the fact that the Catholic Church is about true-and-false, not liberal-and-conservative." [It's George Weigel - of course it's an awesome article!]

Does it really make no difference if your parents are straight or gay? - "...two studies published online this week in the July issue of the peer-reviewed journal, Social Science Research, put a large question mark over that view of the subject."

Does the Church Hate Persons With Same-Sex Attraction? - "Father Check, a priest of the Diocese of Bridgeport, Conn., became director of Courage in 2008, succeeding the late Father John Harvey, who directed the ministry since its founding."

Revision of English “Liturgy of the Hours” to begin

Cardinal Burke cautions against over-use of concelebration - "Cardinal Raymond L. Burke believes that the 'excessive' use of concelebration – the practice of priests saying Mass collectively – can result in their unique role in the sacred liturgy being obscured."

Dead Cardinal Meets White Dove - [Now this is just cool!]

By now, most Catholics who are in-the-know have heard the news that Archbishop Fulton Sheen has been declared "venerable" by the Church. The miracle that made this possible can be read about here. And my wife has pointed out to me that the mother of the child who received this miracle has her own blog 9which my wife now enjoys reading). I highly recommend it. Click here to visit her site.

This Week's Headlines

As another week comes to an end, this is your chance to top off your glass with a final helping of news, current events, and just plain interesting stuff that may not have made into the mainstream media. A chance to linger for a few more moments before we close the door on the week. Below are some links to articles, blogs, and miscellaneous happenings that caught my eye over the past few days. Sample what you like - I'll serve up more next Friday... 

The the Fourth of July landing squarely in the middle of the week, and other family activities keeping me busy, I seem to have a much shorter list than usual this week. If you find any interesting headlines, please add them to the comments of this post...

At Fortnight's Close, "We Belong to God, And Only to God" - [Homily given by Archbishop Chaput.]

Beyond Fortnight for Freedom - "...whatever happens in November, the Fortnight for Freedom ought to have demonstrated that the Catholic Church in the United States is in the fight for religious liberty for the long haul..."

Are We Creatures of the State or Created for Freedom? - "...in the final analysis, protecting our rights and honoring our responsibilities as creations lies in our hands.  No document can magically limit the power of the government unless we insist that the government obey its provisions."

Beware the Habit of Irony - "I believe that the generations about to reach adulthood have become so saturated in irony -- they have become so accustomed to treating their intentions as if they're entirely independent of their actual actions -- that literally anything is permissible."

Why Not Beautiful Churches? - "...struggling people don’t want everyday things like straw baskets to be used at communion, because they use everyday things, every day. At Mass, Jesus deserves beauty and they want to engage him in beauty."

Paint-by-Number Hymns - "We do have a rich treasury of hymn-poems to read, to sing, and to keep close to the heart.  Some of them are almost as old as Christianity itself."

False Religion and the Olympics - "If it was the bones of St Theresa in procession or the heart of St John Vianney, no doubt the media and sadly many within the Church would complain of reviving medieval superstition for the  gawping masses of the uneducated.  But coming out to line the streets to see a tawdry over-sized cigarette lighter being hailed as the beacon of hope is great community building exercise..."

Monday Musings

A few random thoughts and ponderings to start the week...

Prayers going out to the people affected by the wildfires in Colorado, and to the firefighters who risk their lives there and everywhere to save lives and property in harms way. 

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I've been thinking a lot lately about the theology of the priesthood. Having recently read some comments from Protestants about women's ordination, I'm planning to write a few posts that tackle the issue of the male-only priesthood and the Church's insistence that this teaching is a part of the Apostolic faith. I may begin with a brief post I wrote a few months ago (but have not yet published) explaining why Catholic use the title "Father" for priests. I'm not sure when the other posts about male priesthood will be finished, but they are in the works. 

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Happy Fourth of July! (a couple of days early)
 
Don't forget to continue the Fortnight for Freedom prayer which ends on July 4. Read more here.

This Week's Headlines

As another week comes to an end, this is your chance to top off your glass with a final helping of news, current events, and just plain interesting stuff that may not have made into the mainstream media. A chance to linger for a few more moments before we close the door on the week. Below are some links to articles, blogs, and miscellaneous happenings that caught my eye over the past few days. Sample what you like - I'll serve up more next Friday...

 

Supreme Court Ruling on Obamacare - [Entire document in PDF format]

Supreme Court Upholds Health-Care Law, Stage Set for First Amendment Showdown - "Indeed, while the ruling did not address the constitutionality of the contraception mandate, legal experts believe two passages signal that the court might be open to First Amendment concerns."

Archbishop Chaput: 'It's Going to Be a Long Fight' - "There are many ways of approaching health care, and I think it’s very important for Catholics to understand the fact that the Church, seeing health care as a basic human right, does not mean [to say] there’s a particular method of obtaining that [right that’s] better than another."

Robert's Opinion: It's Not All Bad - "...it’s really not all bad. It’s not what we wanted, but then – as I suspect Obama will learn in the coming months – we must remember to be careful what we wish for."

What the Court Said About Obamacare - "...the only way left to overturn PPACA is for the new Congress to repeal it. That is only possible if Romney is elected president..."

Court ruling allows religious freedom lawsuits to proceed with hope - "The direct mention of religious freedom as a reason to find such a mandate unconstitutional is a hopeful sign in the battle over the contraception requirement..."

Pallium Eve - "Every year on the vigil of Saints Peter and Paul, the year's freshly-woven batch of the pallium -- the symbol worn by metropolitan archbishops within their provinces to signify 'the fullness of the episcopal office' -- are placed in the gilt casket shown above, to spend this night in the tomb of the First Apostle."

Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen Declared 'Venerable' - [Great news!! I've been following his cause for awhile. Glad to read this.]

The Aborted - "We do not recognize that 'the aborted' represent a significant part of the human race, that part which is killed by our choice not to have them among us. But who are they? Both the aborted and those who manage to be born have the same ultimate origin."

Catholic, Gay, and Feeling Fine - "I have heard a lot about how mean the Church is, and how bigoted, because she opposes gay marriage. How badly she misunderstands gay people, and how hostile she is towards us. My gut reaction to such things is: Are you freaking kidding me? Are we even talking about the same church?"

Children Reared by 'Mom and Dad' Are Better Off ThanThose Reared by Homosexuals - "In this month’s Social Science Research, University of Texas sociologist Mark Regnerus reports that Americans ages 18 to 39 who grew up in families where either parent had a same-sex romance fared significantly worse on 25 of 40 measures."

A response to Evangelical calls to disengage from the political fight - "Progress can be slow. That does not mean it is unimportant or that noble efforts should be discarded. It means thinking tactically and strategically, persuading and voting and running for office and putting up yard signs and a thousand other large and small political tasks."

Why Memorized Prayer? - "...in the Office of Readings for yesterday, I read a great explanation of why we're called to pray memorized prayers: it's so that the Body of Christ can pray as one. "

The case for a boys-only policy for altar servers - "According to the Communications Office of the Diocese of Phoenix, there is growing evidence to support the claim that where altar service is limited to boys, priestly vocations increase.  The best example is the Diocese of Lincoln Nebraska, the envy of all dioceses when it comes to vocations."

A priest who won’t prevent self-intinction - [Fr. Z tellin' it like it is.] "We read about intinction in the document Redemptionis Sacramentum: [104.] The communicant must not be permitted to intinct the host himself in the chalice, nor to receive the intincted host in the hand."

Why Don't We Dress Up Anymore? - "I don't think that the social principle that you should dress up for what's important to you has changed since the 1950s; I think there's simply not that much that's important to us anymore."

Tattoos are a matter of taste, not morality - "The Catholic view of tattoos is surely more nuanced, as no Catholic moralist argues, as far as I am aware, that tattoos are per se immoral. It might be right to have a tattoo for a good purpose. But what that good purpose might be, I wonder…"

Renewal or wreckovation? The renovation of the Cathedral of St. Jude the Apostle in St. Petersburg, FL - [I've posted some links here before about some great church renovations and new builds that give me a positive outlook for the future of church architecture. But i must say that I have some mixed feelings about this one.]

This Road Goes Nowhere - [A movie review about a film I had not heard of previously - "Seeking a Friend for the End of the World' - and what a sad commentary this movie is for our society.]

Quote of the Week

"The modern mind will accept nothing on authority, but will accept anything on no authority. Say that the Bible or the Pope says so and it will be dismissed without further examination. But preface your remark with 'I think I heard somewhere,' or, try but fail to remember the name of some professor who might have said 'such-and-such,' and it will be immediately accepted as an unshakable fact."

- G. K. Chesterton

Monday Musings

A few random thoughts and ponderings to start the week...

I finally bought a new edition of the Roman Missal. I purchased the New Saint Joseph Sunday Missal, which is the same publication I previously owned before the updated translation was released. The basic layout of this new missal is exactly the same as the older version. However there are some new illustrations incorporated into the text that look less "dated" than the older illustrations. I much prefer the style of these newer drawings. The full-color reproductions of artwork scattered throughout the book are exactly the same as before.

I must say that the most noticeable difference is that the overall quality of the binding is much improved. The older edition I owned was hard-bound and held up well enough, but the texture of the cover seemed cheap and showed a lot of wear from years of handling. This new cover is also hard and sturdy, but seems more durable and has a nice "leather" texture that was missing on the old one. It just seems to be a more solid construction.

I have read that the publishers producing missals after the new translation came out had taken this opportunity to put more care into the construction of these sacred books. A greater effort was made in selecting materials and ensuring a quality product for use in worship. It seems that this effort has paid off. I'm impressed.
 

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Incidentally, if you have a missal and you find it difficult to quickly turn to the correct Eucharistic Prayer (or other portion of the Mass) without fumbling with page markers or ribbons, I suggest using removable tabs which stick on like Post-It notes without damaging the page or leaving behind a residue. (Follow this link to see what I mean.) They can be peeled off and repositioned several times without loosing their stickiness, and they come in many colors, so you can color-code different sections of the missal. But they are delicate enough that they do not damage the thin paper used in missals. I highly recommend them.
 

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Obviously I'm back from vacation. It was restful...if short. Hopefully I can get back into blogging with some enthusiasm. We shall see.

Oh, and don't forget to continue with the Fortnight for Freedom prayer. See this post for more details.

Fortnight for Freedom

I'm on vacation this week...that means lot's of time spent with the family - not much time in front of the computer. So expect little or no activity here on the blog. In the meantime, don't forget that the "Fortnight for Freedom" begins this Thursday - tomorrow!

In case you haven't heard about this event, the U. S. Conference of Catholic Bishop (USCCB) describes it at their website: "The fourteen days from June 21—the vigil of the Feasts of St. John Fisher and St. Thomas More—to July 4, Independence Day, are dedicated to this 'fortnight for freedom'—a great hymn of prayer for our country. Our liturgical calendar celebrates a series of great martyrs who remained faithful in the face of persecution by political power—St. John Fisher and St. Thomas More, St. John the Baptist, SS. Peter and Paul, and the First Martyrs of the Church of Rome.  Culminating on Independence Day, this special period of prayer, study, catechesis, and public action will emphasize both our Christian and American heritage of liberty. Dioceses and parishes around the country have scheduled special events that support a great national campaign of teaching and witness for religious liberty."

This is an important opportunity to pray in union with our bishops and the whole Catholic Church in America in support of the cause of freedom during this challenging time of persecution for our Christian faith. As a family, we intend to pray the following prayer, together with our whole parish and other parishes across the country:

O God our Creator,
from your provident hand we have received
our right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
You have called us as your people and given us
the right and the duty to worship you, the only true God,
and your Son, Jesus Christ.
Through the power and working of your Holy Spirit,
you call us to live out our faith in the midst of the world,
bringing the light and the saving truth of the Gospel
to every corner of society.
We ask you to bless us
in our vigilance for the gift of religious liberty.
Give us the strength of mind and heart
to readily defend our freedoms when they are threatened;
give us courage in making our voices heard
on behalf of the rights of your Church
and the freedom of conscience of all people of faith.
Grant, we pray, O heavenly Father,
a clear and united voice to all your sons and daughters
gathered in your Church
in this decisive hour in the history of our nation,
so that, with every trial withstood
and every danger overcome—
for the sake of our children, our grandchildren,
and all who come after us—
this great land will always be “one nation, under God,
indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”
We ask this through Christ our Lord.
Amen.

Every day during this "Fortnight of Freedom," take some time to pray this prayer and join your voice to those of fellow Catholics in the cause of religious freedom.

 

Also, the U. S. Conference of Catholic Bishops provides this Litany in pdf format at their site:

Litany for Liberty

In addition, the USCCB lists a series of reflection for each day of Fortnight for Freedom (also in pdf):

Fortnight for Freedom: Reflections

Please join other Catholics in this effort, not only with prayer, but by speaking out in support of religious liberty and against unjust laws.