[Not "neo-Catholic" enough to suit their "tastes"; his brother should resign in protest] Saying Goodbye To The National Catholic Register Posted by Patrick Archbold at 3/31/2015 www.creativeminorityreport.com/2015/03/saying-goodbye-to-national-catholic.html It is with some regret that I must inform you that my employment as a contributing blogger at the National Catholic Register has been terminated. Yup, they fired me. I am grateful for the five years I spent as a contributor to the Register, the online presence of which has grown immensely during my tenure and that of the other original group of contributors. There is a lot to be proud of there. I stuck with them in hard times even when they were completely broke and it looked like they would blink out of existence, only to be saved at the last minute. Alas and alack, our time together has come to an end. There are many things I could say about why this happened and how and maybe one day I will say more. But for now, suffice it to say that my particular contributions have not been well received over the last year or so and that has lead to increasing tension. I suppose that is plain to anyone with eyes to see. I will note that upon my departure, among the top 10 posts for the last 3 weeks, you will find three of my contributions. I am proud of my writing at the Register. I feel I have been consistent in my approach to writing and the topics I cover. I think I brought a viewpoint to the Register that is otherwise not well represented among their stable of good writers. The Church has been going through some tough times and as a consequence I have sometimes tried to tackle some tough issues. I have always tried to do so fairly and as a loyal son of the Church. I will leave it to others to decide whether the Register is better off without my writing or viewpoint. Most of all, I want to thank all of you that supported my writing there over the years by clicking on links from CMR. I will forever grateful for it and I hope you will continue to support my brother Matthew as he continues as a contributor there.

[British Call-to-Action group (ACTA) wraps itself in the mantle of the Francis-flag to criticize bishop-critic] 01 April 2015 by Joanna Moorhead From www.thetablet.co.uk/news/1940/0/bishops-shut-down-synod-debate-on-communion-for-divorced-and-remarried-in-media- Following news that the Bishop of Lancaster, Michael Campbell, had refused to meet diocesan members of Acta (A Call to Action), the head of the organisation issued a statement saying that she believed her group’s stance was “what Pope Francis wants”. “He told the Catholic youth in Brazil to ‘make a mess’ in their dioceses,” said Eileen Fitzpatrick, Acta’s national chair. “We hope the bishops of England and Wales will catch up with him if they haven’t already done so. Acta are not going away and if doors don’t open to us, we shall continue to knock.” She said Acta had about 2,000 members, with groups in each of the dioceses in England and Wales – and in about 10 areas groups had met with their bishops. But speaking on BBC Radio Lancashire, Alex Walker of Acta said Bishop Campbell had refused to meet with his group on many occasions. “It flies in the face of all that Pope Francis is saying about getting smelly with the sheep,” said Mr Walker. “We are smelly. Come and talk to us … listen to what we want to say.” What Pope Francis wanted the synod to do, said Mr Walker, was to get the Church to catch up with the modern face of the family, whose issues included gay marriage as well as divorce and remarriage. But Bishop Campbell, who was also interviewed, reacted angrily, saying he found Mr Walker’s comments “unacceptable … what [does] rile me … was to say I’m in disagreement with Pope Francis …[It is] absolutely appalling and unworthy … To say that a Catholic Bishop of Lancaster is not fully in agreement and communion with the Pope is quite false and quite offensive.”

US Archbishop Cordileone defends right to ban altar girls 01 April 2015 by Michael Sean Winters www.thetablet.co.uk/news/1941/0/us-archbishop-cordileone-defends-right-to-ban-altar-girls Controversy erupted at a mid-February meeting of the Priests’ Council in the Archdiocese of San Francisco, after a retired priest, Fr J Michael Strange, raised concerns about the decision by Fr Joseph Illo, pastor of Star of the Sea parish, to ban altar girls from his parish. The National Catholic Reporter obtained minutes of the meeting. According to the minutes, Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone argued that a little diversity was no bad thing. “There are some people in the archdiocese that like worshipping in this way, they like seeing only altar boys on the altar, and [Cordileone] wonders why we can’t have one or two parishes … with this practice, so the lay faithful with this preference have a space to go,” the minutes report the archbishop as saying. “The Archbishop does not want to impose a policy that would restrict a pastor from exercising pastoral discretion in situations where the Church allows such discretion.”

[NOT an April Fool's Day Joke; just an April 1st day story] Italy: Diary of a Wimpy Kid translated into Latin By News from Elsewhere… …as found by BBC Monitoring 4/1/15 www.bbc.com/news/blogs-news-from-elsewhere-32144886 The best-selling children’s book Diary of a Wimpy Kid has been translated into Latin by a Vatican official. The book, about the school-day struggles of a boy named Greg, is the first in a series written by American author Jeff Kinney, which has sold more than 150m copies worldwide. It’s been translated by Monsignor Daniel B Gallagher, a Latin specialist who also curates the Pope’s Twitter feed in the ancient language. Commentarii de Inepto Puero, as the new version is titled, will be published in Italy on 6 May, with releases in Europe and the rest of the world planned for later in the year. The Latin book cover The Latin version will be published in May “It was really fun writing more than 140 characters in Latin,” Monsignor Gallagher tells the Ansa news agency, referring to the limited length of a tweet. Translating modern fiction into a 2,000-year-old language has its challenges, though. Some words and concepts just didn’t exist in Roman times. “There is no equivalent for the phrase ‘cross your fingers’ in Latin,” he explains. To convey the idea he had to be more descriptive and “explain the superstition in another way”. Author Kinney says he hopes the new version is a “more attractive way than others” of approaching Latin. And one of the initial 10,000 copies being printed may even end up in the hands of Pope Francis. “His Latin is very good and he will certainly enjoy it,” Monsignor Gallagher says.

BREAKING NEWS! Cardinal Nichols Changes His Tone! Posted by Maximilian Hanlon 4/1/15 eponymousflower.blogspot.com/2015/04/breaking-news-cardinal-nichols-changes.html As many of our readers know, Cardinal Nichols of Westminster isn’t always the most honest, tasteful, or concise member of the College of Cardinals, and recently many of his priests have offered him a vote of no confidence by publishing a letter in which they demand that the next Synod in Rome remain firm on doctrine. Such a response is not surprising insofar as the Holy Father has now opened the floodgates for public debate and thereby granted conservatives and traditionalists license to imitate their liberal brethren by publicly airing their minds. Happily, it happens that Cardinal Nichols has now himself learnt a lesson from the priests of his diocese who were bold enough to sign the letter and has in fact changed his tone. In October last year, Nichols published a pastoral letter in which he speaks of the Synod approvingly and with relish. Now it seems his Eminence has learnt something of the preconciliar art of concision, precision, and brevity, and publicly changed his mind by publishing a revision, which may be read below. The full, revised text of Cardinal Vincent Nichols’ Pastoral Letter is as follows: To all our brethren and spiritual subjects in Christ, both laics and clerks: During this season of Lent wherein our holy Mother the Church ever exhorts her children unto increased vigilance, prayer, and penance, our grief and sadness compel us to make known unto you, dear brethren, the machinations of the recent Extraordinary Synod of Bishops held in Rome on the theme of the tribulations afflicted upon the family in these foul days of ours. Although fain would we have abstained from such a conventicle of many who have fallen from the sweetness of truth, duty bade us stay and offer unto God the sacrifices of a heart contrite and pierced by the infidelity of so many of our fellow churchmen. As you have heard or read, many of the Synod fathers were intent upon changing the teaching of the Church (which God forbid!) on marriage and family life. Such, alas, is the case. Superficially, the enemies of truth discussed questions of ‘pastoral care’ that the Church with maternal solicitude ever owes to repentant sinners. Such was all for the good. The primal error afflicting nearly all, however, was the intentionally willed ambiguity whereby almost none distinguished between the repentant and the unrepentant. Whereas the Church must always offer care for the sick of soul, that she might cure the spiritually infirm all the more, from time to time she must rebuke the proud and prod the unrepentant to turn and believe. The universal call to repentance was, we must report, sadly lacking from the Synod Fathers, especially those from Germany. Such widespread lack of faith, is especially disheartening as we consider the ever increasing number of listless souls for whom Christ died, yet who know him not; or who know him, yet love him not. You may Continue Reading

Pope Benedict to end retirement? Catholic World News – April 01, 2015 Pope Benedict XVI has decided to emerge from retirement and resume his role as Sovereign Pontiff, Vatican insiders report. Pope Francis has tentatively agreed to a power-sharing arrangement, with details still being negotiated. A formal Vatican announcement of the unprecedented change is anticipated on Wednesday, April 1. That date coincides with… April Fool’s Day

[NOT an April Fool's Day Joke; just an April 1st day story] Women to get an Abbey welcome at famous monks’ abbey in Moray A mediaeval Scots abbey – the home to the only order of Benedictine monks in the country – is to undergo a £4 ($6) million restoration which will allow women to stay there for the first time ever. published Wednesday 01 April 2015 www.scotsman.com/news/scotland/top-stories/women-to-get-an-abbey-welcome-at-famous-monks-abbey-in-moray-1-3735611 Pluscarden Abbey, which dates back to 1230, is a major tourist attraction in Moray and previously only male visitors have been allowed to stay within the abbey, and even dine with the monks. But women who visit have had to stay in a guest house some distance from the abbey, and were not allowed to dine within the building. That will all change with the renovation plans, which also include a new library, and it has been described as “a historic event” by Lord Lieutenant of Moray, Lieutenant Colonel Granville Johnston, who is chairing a fundraising committee for the abbey. The monks hope the investment will improve their hospitality, without compromising the seclusion the require for a life of prayer. Father Abbot Anselm Atkinson said: “Our policy hitherto has been that the male guests, whose guest house is part of the abbey building, take their meals with the monks, while the women guests, who are accommodated some distance from the abbey, prepare meals for themselves. “We decided that we should find a way of providing meals for our women guests at the abbey. “At the same time, we did not want to change our traditional practice of enclosure, part of which is that normally only male guests eat in the monastic refectory. “We thought the best compromise would be to have a dining for female guests adjacent to the monastic kitchen, so that from one kitchen we could provide meals for two separate dining areas. “In this way our women guests will have easy access to the church and to dining facilities at the abbey like the men have always enjoyed.” The monks hope to restore the fourth wing of the abbey to provide the accommodation for female guests. A new library is also planned for the second floor of the proposed south wing extension. The existing women’s guest house outside the abbey gates would be converted into a visitor centre. Brother Michael de Klerk added: “A preliminary estimate of the project puts the total cost at about £4 ($6) million. “This may seem a daunting figure, but we can assure you that it seems no less daunting to the monks. “However, there are grounds for hope that public funding might be available for a work such as this, which would clearly be of public benefit.” Pluscarden Abbey is the home of a community of Catholic Benedictine monks. It is the only medieval monastery in Britain still inhabited by monks and being used for its original purpose. The Order of St Benedict, first established in the sixth century, was the most widespread Continue Reading

Source: Crux SYNOD OF BISHOPS Cardinal Burke denies rift with pope, warns of ‘gay agenda’ for Synod By Inés San Martín Vatican correspondent April 1, 2015 ROME — American Cardinal Raymond Burke, popularly seen as a leader of conservative backlash against Pope Francis, insists in a new interview that he’s not opposed to the pontiff because he “hasn’t done anything that contradicts [Church] teaching.” Burke also warns that unnamed individuals are “pushing a gay agenda” ahead of the upcoming Synod of Bishops on the family, a Vatican summit set for Oct. 4-25. Speaking to the online Italian publication La Nuova Bussola Quotidiana, Burke said it is “evident that there are forces pushing” the Church toward finding positive elements in sexual relations outside of marriage, including gay relationships. Burke complained that those forces “want to discredit us who are trying to defend the Church’s teaching.” Regarding last October’s synod on family issues, Burke said he and other prelates decided that the question of what pastoral approach to gays and lesbians is best had nothing to do with the family, and that a “special synod on the issue could be summoned to discuss it.” On the rumors of a “conspiracy against the pope”, Burke told La Nuova Bussola Quotidiana that “they are absurd.” “How is it possible to make accusations of a conspiracy against the pope led by those who present that which the Church has always taught and practiced on marriage and Communion?” he’s quoted as saying. Burke complained that there are individuals who try to neutralize him by making him an enemy of the pontiff, or by claiming he’s ready to lead a schism. “I’m not resisting Pope Francis, because he’s done nothing against doctrine,” Burke said. “I don’t see myself at all in a fight against the pope. As a cardinal, I just try to be a teacher of the faith.” Talking about an alleged tension between doctrine and mercy, which emerged as a fault line during the last synod, Burke said any such contrast is inadmissible. “Whoever supports the thesis of Cardinal [Walter] Kasper,” he said, referring to a proposal to allow divorced and remarried Catholics to return to Communion, “should explain how this could be possible.” Burke argued that if the Church gives Communion to someone considered still married to one person but living with another, it would be abetting adultery. “How can you then say that marriage is indissoluble?” he asked. Perceptions of a rift between the American cardinal and the Argentine pontiff are partly based on the fact that Francis has twice taken steps perceived as demotions. In December 2013, Francis took Burke off the powerful Congregation for Bishops, and in November 2014, he removed Burke as head of the Vatican’s Supreme Court to name him to a largely ceremonial post as patron of the Order of the Knights of Malta. On the latter move, Burke said the pontiff explained it in an interview with the Argentinian newspaper La Nación, saying that “the pope never told me, nor has he given me the impression, of Continue Reading

[Are apologies in order to her (including from me), or is she saying the right things to please them and us?] Prominent CEO Carolyn Woo Speaks Out for Faithful Catholic Education April 1, 2015 | By Justin Petrisek | www.cardinalnewmansociety.org/CatholicEducationDaily/DetailsPage/tabid/102/ArticleID/4107/Prominent-CEO-Carolyn-Woo-Speaks-Out-for-Faithful-Catholic-Education.aspx “When salt loses its flavor, what does it become?” That’s the question that Dr. Carolyn Woo asks of Catholic colleges, echoing Christ’s warning to believers who allow their faith to become stale. Woo isn’t one of them. Recently, she has had all the zeal of an apostle for faithful Catholic education. The accomplished educator and nonprofit leader took to the pages of America magazine a few weeks ago to urge the University of Notre Dame to retain its theology requirements for undergraduates, which may be threatened by proposals under consideration as part of the University’s 10-year curriculum review. “To form leaders of faith, to be the places where the Church does her thinking, to fight against the caricature of God proposed by our secular culture, Catholic universities must offer more than ‘Theology Lite,’” Woo wrote. “In all the efforts to define learning goals for a Catholic university, how about ‘to know God’ as a starter?” It’s a powerful argument, especially from a Catholic leader who is so widely respected. Woo was dean of Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business from 1997 to 2011, which earned the top ranking among U.S. business schools during her tenure, and she previously was associate executive vice president for academic affairs at Purdue University. She was the first female to chair the national accrediting association for business schools and has served on numerous corporate and nonprofit boards. Since 2012, Woo has been CEO of Catholic Relief Services (CRS), earning admiration for taking steps to strengthen the agency’s Catholic identity amid concerns from pro-life and Catholic organizations. Students and faculty at Notre Dame credit Woo with similarly strengthening the Catholic character of the business school, but her America article seemed to take things further in terms of public advocacy for faithful education. So The Cardinal Newman Society reached out to Woo and obtained an exclusive interview this week. She spoke with candor and shared definite ideas regarding what a Catholic college should be—and what it shouldn’t be. The primary task of a Catholic college is to help students come to know God, Woo said. This means that colleges must not stop at simply “hiring for mission”—requiring support for the mission of the college as a condition for employment. Even more, she said, Catholic colleges must strive to be places of genuine Catholic culture where the Catholic identity is woven into the very life of the institution. “I think hiring for mission is necessary and it means more than just hiring Catholics, as many may not practice nor are committed to mission,” she said. “Hiring for mission means recruiting those who share the commitment to mission and have the ability to contribute to the foundations of faith as a daily, integral institutional reality.” An integrated Catholic identity Continue Reading

Ottawa 11-year-olds awarded for starting Canada’s first gay club in a Catholic elementary school Pete Baklinski www.lifesitenews.com/news/ottawa-11-year-olds-awarded-for-starting-canadas-first-gay-club-in-a-cathol OTTAWA, April 1, 2015 (LifeSiteNews.com) — Two eleven-year-old girls will receive an award from a pro-homosexual organization for starting Canada’s first “gay-straight alliance” (GSA) club in their JK-8 Ottawa Catholic elementary school. This comes after the girls’ successfully brought the Ottawa Catholic School Board to its knees four months ago over their successful campaign to present a social justice project on “gay rights.” Quinn Maloney-Tavares and Polly Hamilton, students at Ottawa’s St. George Catholic School, will receive the award April 8 at the Ottawa Pink Gala organized by the Canadian Centre for Gender and Sexual Diversity (CCGSD), formerly Jer’s Vision. The award is presented to “leaders from across Canada who have gone above and beyond in the fight against bullying and discrimination,” the Day of Pink states on its website. Past recipients include Rick Mercer, Jack Layton, and Stephen Lewis. Homosexual activist Jeremy Dias, the founder of the organization awarding the girls, had lunch with the girls in an Ottawa-area restaurant two days after the school board reversed the Catholic school’s decision to bar the girls’ project, which had provoked national scrutiny. Dias told LifeSiteNews the girls were nominated for the award for starting “Canada’s first Gay-Straight Alliance in a Catholic elementary school.” “Any initiative to address discrimination or oppression by individuals is a remarkable act. These two young girls are trying to challenge what they see as disrespectful and derogatory language, actions and behaviors in their schools. I think it’s important to celebrate the initiative of youth to make the world a better place.” Dias, who says he is gay and has a male partner, sees himself as a practicing Catholic who takes his faith seriously. He told LifeSiteNews that he goes to church every Sunday at St. Theresa’s in Ottawa. He called Catholic teaching on homosexuality “complex and varied.” When asked if he thinks the Catholic Church is ‘homophobic’ for calling homosexual acts “intrinsically disordered” and the same-sex inclination itself “objectively disordered,” Dias said he prefers to use the terms “heterosexist” or “unaware.” “In listening to Pope Francis, in listening to Catholic educators across our province and across our country, and in listening to students, I think people are changing their ideas and beliefs,” he said. “I think as we grow and as we learn, we change our attitudes. But I would never call anyone, especially not my church, homophobic.” “The evolution of language in my Church, even as far as I can remember, around these issues has changed dramatically. I notice that in my church, or even when I go to the basilica, or when I go to the Vatican, the ideas around these issues are really interesting and thing are changing and evolving.” “When we talk about LGTBQ issues, if we’re really Catholic, which I claim to be, then we help those who are struggling, and we support those who need help the most,” he said. “I think it’s Continue Reading

Hundreds march to protest San Francisco archbishop’s plan to uphold Catholic identity in schools Lisa Bourne www.lifesitenews.com/news/hundreds-march-to-protest-san-francisco-archbishops-plan-to-uphold-catholic SAN FRANCISCO, CA, April 1, 2015 (LifeSiteNews.com) — Hundreds of protesters marched in San Francisco Monday night in opposition to their archbishop’s efforts to preserve Catholic principles in archdiocesan high schools. Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone has been under attack since his February move to ensure faculty and staff help maintain the schools’ Catholic identity, part of which entails them not publicly violating Church teaching. The same protest group behind Monday’s demonstration also held a March 16 forum in opposition to the archbishop’s defense of Catholic principles at the University of San Francisco, a Jesuit institution, featuring several speakers who publicly dispute Church teaching. Many Catholics in the March 30 group of San Francisco marchers claim their opposition to the archbishop’s plans squares with Catholic teaching, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. The expectation for Catholic teachers and staff to uphold and not publicly violate Church teaching has been long-established. The proposed additions, announced February 3, were simply an effort to clear up any ambiguity. Archbishop Cordileone stated explicitly then and since that more clarity was needed on Church teaching in today’s climate. The issues driving the pushback against the archbishop center on homosexual “marriage,” abortion, contraceptives, and artificial insemination. Some of the protesters said the archbishop’s plans go against the spirit and teaching of Jesus. “At the core of the religion is love, acceptance, respect and dignity,” said one senior student. “Whatever the archbishop is doing is completely contrary to that.” “I can be a Catholic and a follower of Jesus without accepting what the hierarchy says, but accepting what I think Jesus would have said,” one female Catholic parishioner who entered into a homosexual “marriage” this month told the Chronicle. The protest consisted of a group calling itself Parents and Teachers: Teach Acceptance. One of its organizers is a retired Catholic school teacher who was among the March 16 forum speakers, and the leader is a teacher from the archdiocese’s cathedral school. “Who am I to judge?” was among the slogans on the signs donned by protesters, borrowing from popular misapplication of the words of Pope Francis. The messages “Love one another” and “Support our LGBT youth” were also displayed, along with a lattice work cross decorated with flowers. Jesuit Father Donal Godfrey, campus minister at the University of San Francisco, also employed Pope Francis’ words as he took part in the protest. “In San Francisco, if you’re going to smell like sheep, you’re going to welcome and accept the LGBT community,” he said. The protesters left a petition at the Cathedral of St. Mary, with signatures opposing the archbishop’s proposals. The archbishop has been clear since the February 3 announcement there is no requirement for teachers in the archdiocese to be Catholic, and also on the fact that no one will be targeted by the clarification on Church morals. “We’re not on a witch hunt,” Archbishop Cordileone told the New York Times Continue Reading

Decade after John Paul II’s death, Polish church adrift Agence France-Presse on Apr 1, 2015 A decade after his death, John Paul II is still revered in his native Poland with billboards, CDs and other collectibles underscoring his popularity, but experts say the church here is struggling without him. During his epic 26-year pontificate the only Polish-born pontiff became a pillar of national unity in his homeland and reinforced the Church’s role in the overwhelmingly Catholic nation. As pontiff, John Paul II was the de facto leader of the Polish Church. But now without his firm hand, divisions abound., “The Polish Church is divided into several streams and has never been so lacking in strong leadership,” Marcin Przeciszewski, editor-in-chief of the Catholic news agency KAI, told AFP. Despite the crisis in its leadership, Poland’s church is popular compared to elsewhere in Europe, says Przeciszewski, noting that social secularisation has not taken the high toll it has exacted in other European countries such as France. Many of Poland’s 30,000 priests were inspired to take their vows by John Paul’s pontificate. Even a decade after his death, Poland is still known as a leading global “exporter” of clergy. Eighty percent of Poland’s 38 million citizens identify themselves as Catholic. Although Sunday mass attendance fell to an historic low of 39.1 percent in 2013, the figure is still sky high compared to the Czech Republic or France, where it hovers around five percent, according to the church’s Statistical Institute in Warsaw. The current Polish figure is down considerably from the 57 percent high recorded in 1982 at a time when Poles saw the church as a bulwark against the then communist regime that collapsed peacefully seven years later. “There hasn’t been a sudden plunge in attendance but rather a steady decline over the years,” church statistician Father Wojciech Sadlon told AFP. - Anticlerical movements – Anticlerical movements aimed at curbing the influence of the Church have been on the rise in Poland in recent years. Vodka baron Janusz Palikot, who launched his eponymous political party in 2011, steered it into third spot in parliament with a campaign highly critical of generous tax breaks for the church. During his papacy, Karol Wojtyla’s moral authority went virtually unquestioned in Poland, even among non-believers. After his death the church “felt threatened and became radicalised”, according to Jozefa Hennelowa, 90, a friend of the late and a journalist of Poland’s Tygodnik Powszechny, a liberal Catholic weekly. Radio Maryja, a fundamentalist Catholic broadcaster with a strong following has spearheaded a campaign for the further tightening of Poland’s already restrictive abortion law and a total ban on test-tube babies. Polish bishops warned members of parliament this week they could be denied communion if they endorse draft legislation permitting in vitro fertilisation (IVF). The Vatican opposes the method due to its risk of destroying embryos. Meanwhile several recent high-profile cases of paedophilia among clergy have compromised the credibility of the Polish Church like never before. Priest paedophilia has long been Continue Reading

Bishop O’Donoghue: I was baffled by lack of support from fellow bishops Retired Bishop of Lancaster was recalling row with Labour MP over Fit for Mission document by Staff Reporter posted Thursday, 2 Apr 2015 www.catholicherald.co.uk/news/2015/04/02/bishop-odonoghue-i-was-baffled-by-lack-of-support-from-fellow-bishops/ A retired bishop who was accused of being a “fundamentalist” during a row over Catholic education has said he is “still baffled” by a lack of public support from his fellow bishops at the time. In 2007 Emeritus Bishop Patrick O’Donoghue of Lancaster was accused of taking a fundamentalist line by Labour MP Barry Sheerman, then chairman of the Commons select committee on education. The remark came after the publication of the bishop’s landmark document “Fit for Mission? Schools”, which urged schools to be more faithful to their Catholic identity. In an interview with Oremus, the Westminster Cathedral magazine, published this month, Bishop O’Donoghue said: “I was disappointed that none of my bishops publicly defended me … I’m still baffled as to why my brother bishops didn’t support me. “However, looking back, what is uppermost in my mind is the prompt and unequivocal support I received from many dicasteries of the Holy See and from hundreds of ordinary Catholics around the world,” the bishop said. He cited support he received from his secretary at the time, Fr Robert Billing, and Deacon Nick Donnelly. His education document, which called for a greater focus on the catechism, crucifixes in every classroom and for every student to participate in Mass, was praised by several Vatican officials, including Cardinal William Levada, then prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Mr Sheerman said: “A group of bishops appear to be taking a much firmer line and I think it would be useful to call representatives of the Catholic church in front of the committee to find out what is going on. “It seems to me that faith education works all right as long as people are not that serious about their faith. But as soon as there is a more doctrinaire attitude questions have to be asked. It does become worrying when you get a new push from more fundamentalist bishops. This is taxpayers’ money after all,” the MP said. Bishop O’Donoghue was subsequently questioned by the Commons committee led by Mr Sheerman. “I was a wonderful opportunity to defend on the national stage the right of our Catholic schools to be truly Catholic,” he told Oremus. He cited Pope Francis saying we must “defend our schools from ‘ideological colonisation’”, and suggested that compulsory sex education could be a “Trojan horse” to impose “gender ideology and sexual permissiveness on Catholic children from an early age”.

To be said 33 times for each intention: especially between 12-3pm O my sweet Jesus, I humbly beseech Thee by the merits of Thy Most Precious Blood, by Thy Divine Heart, by the intercession of Thy Cruel Death, to assist me in my pressing necessity. Amen

No comment needed here, folks, as we today celebrate the Institution of the Eucharist by which Jesus did not leave us orphans. In commemoration thereof, we present the following image taken from: 2.bp.blogspot.com/-kkO478rXF3U/T32WbOnbuAI/AAAAAAAAClI/OEnMsRyINYs/s1600/laundry+lint.jpg

Religion at the United Nations By Austin Ruse | April 2, 2015 c-fam.org/friday_fax/religion-at-the-united-nations/ NEW YORK, April 3 (C-Fam) Two things likely strike anyone walking into the UN Meditation Room for the first time — a welcoming silence and an unwelcome strangeness. Strangeness would strike any orthodox believer first and hardest. A decided new age feeling fills the tiny room that is oddly shaped, with indirect lighting illuminating an enormous altar in the center. A large and dated abstract painting takes up one wall. There are no chairs, only benches. The first UN Secretary General Dag Hammarskjöld, a Swede who died in a mysterious plane crash in Africa, inspired the room. In the UN Oral History Collection, journalist Pauline Frederick says, “He said that ‘this house’ – which he referred to the UN frequently – this house must have one room dedicated to silence.” The altar is very much the center of the room, six and a half tons of raw iron ore with a polished top; it was a gift of the King of Sweden and a Swedish mining company. Hammarskjold described the altar as “a meeting of the light, of the sky, and the earth . . . it is the altar to the God of all . . . we want this massive altar to give the impression of something more than temporary . . .” A hand-out distributed to visitors quotes Hammarskjöld. “But the stone in the middle of the room has more to tell us. We may see it as an altar, empty not because there is no God, not because it is an altar to an unknown god, but because it is dedicated to the God whom man worships under many names and in many forms. “There is an ancient saying that the sense of a vessel is not in its shell but in the void. So it is with this room. It is for those who come here to fill the void with what they find in their center of stillness.” It is not entirely surprising the room is little used by UN officials. Tourists come inside, pivot and exit confused and maybe even annoyed because it seems so strange. Wild rumors circulate about the UN Meditation Room. At least one conspiratorial site says Pope Paul VI participated in some Masonic ceremony in it after his General Assembly talk and before his Mass at Yankee Stadium. Pope Benedict prayed outside the Meditation Room in 2008 for the victims of the Baghdad bombing memorialized by a flag draped on the wall outside the Meditation room. The UN is the site of quite a bit of religious and anti-religious fervor. Billionaire Ted Turner once gave a speech in the UN denouncing his childhood Christianity. He received a thunderous standing ovation. Faithful Christians do not feel entirely welcome inside the UN. European delegates and UN bureaucrats frequently denounce the influence of faith on UN proceedings. Catholics have walked the halls sprinkling holy water; others have secretly distributed Continue Reading

The USA is no place for believing Christians anymore April 2, 2015 Posted by Tantumblogo veneremurcernui.wordpress.com/2015/04/02/the-usa-is-no-place-for-believing-christians-anymore/ I have been observing the hysteria regarding Indiana’s recently enacted Religious Freedom Restoration Act – an act which mirrors that approved at the federal level over 20 years ago and which exist in 19 other states (including, thankfully, Texas) – with growing dismay. Indiana, you probably now know, is going to cave to the inconceivably hostile reaction of the cultural/political left and the corporate entities they dominate. There are so many factors that are just amazing regarding the practically pants-wetting reaction of the left to the really very mild protections such acts, including the Indiana one, provide to religious groups. I cannot begin to describe the vitriol I have seen in comments on even conservative-leaning news sites. The most vehement anti-Christian statements I have ever seen are being made in response to this mediocre law, which the media, of course, has painted as ushering in a practical theocracy, which is utterly ludicrous. But never before have I seen comment after comment, dozens if not hundreds of them, coming from leftists calling for Christians to be slaughtered en masse, or culled into prison camps, or denied jobs and income. These are no idle threats. A poor Christian pizza shop owner has had their life ruined by the leftist mob with their shop closed, numerous death threats, and the family basically in hiding. I’ve been saying for quite some time that a wicked persecution was brewing. Anyone with eyes to see could discern this. Many good priests and even a few bishops have warned us to gird our loins in preparation for some really dark times to come. Well, it seems these dark times are here, as noted by Catholic blog Sardonic Ex Curia below: The Indiana RFRA is welcome. But it is weak, and will fall in front of the storm. As predicted by a friend in a recent Facebook post, at some point in the near future, within 1 – 5 years by my own reckoning, the RFRA laws, federal and state, will be overthrown in a Supreme Court decision. This will surprise only those who have lived with their heads under rocks, for it will be the logical outcome of the Court’s long jurisprudence of sexual individualism. We are at war. It is a war we did not wish, but it is thrust upon us. And the sooner we realize it, the sooner we can raise the barricades. We must take every opportunity in law to argue against the eventuality. But we should not expect the law to do much for us any longer Quite the contrary, we should expect the full force of the law to come upon us for having the temerity to apostasize from sexular paganism. Rod Dreher quotes Alistair McIntyre, from over 30 years ago, noting een then that all the cultural markers indicated that Christians would hae to go underground again, to save what they could of the Continue Reading

“I Thirst” Regis Martin 4/3/15 www.crisismagazine.com/2015/thirst “But suppose God didn’t quite finish by closing time of the afternoon of the sixth day? …Suppose that Creation, the process of replacing chaos with order, were still going on. What would that mean? In the biblical metaphor of the six days of Creation, we would find ourselves somewhere in the middle of Friday afternoon. Man was just created a few ‘hours’ ago.” — Harold Kushner, When Bad Things Happen to Good People The belief that it was an infinite and necessary God who created this finite and contingent universe, and not some stray spark igniting the primeval sludge, is not to say that the entire evolutionary process is bogus. Why can’t the one be the catalyst for the other? Why must they always remain at sword’s point? But while the two are perfectly harmonious, they each raise a very different question. What various theories of evolution seek to tell us is how the world was made, whereas the act and initiative of creation itself has to do with why it was made. Concerning which no science is competent enough to provide an answer. That is because the answer stands essentially outside the whole time/space continuum. Indeed, the answer to the why of the world can only come from a point outside the world. “From nothing to being,” the philosopher William James tells us, “there is no logical bridge.” Only the Creator himself can satisfy on the score of why there is a world. And let’s not have any nonsense about whether or not there is a world. That particular silliness was wonderfully squashed over a century ago by Thomas Carlyle, who, on hearing that New England Transcendentalist twit Margaret Fuller exclaim once too often, “I accept the universe!” responded, “Gad, she’d better!” All right, so there’s a world out there. The question is—Why does it exist? “What is it that breathes fire” as Stephen Hawking would say, juggling his clever equations in the air, “into the equations themselves, and makes a universe for them to describe? Why does the universe go through all the bother of existing?” And while it may be that we’re still a half-dozen Einsteins away from answering the question, perhaps I might, in the meantime, make my own modest suggestion. Which may prove so spellbindingly simple that even non-Einsteins will grasp the point. It is, quite simply, that God was in love and, not being able to keep the secret, went ahead and made a world, filling it with impossible people like you and me. We are the story God is telling. And the thing that drives the tale is nothing other than thirst. God is thirsting for us and—amid the “parched eviscerate soil” (T.S. Eliot) in which we live and move—we are thirsting for God. As a deer pants for flowing streams, So pants my soul for you, O God (Psalm 42). Of course, if it weren’t for Holy Week, none of us would know this. Or, put Continue Reading

The Body Forever Unbroken By Fulton J. Sheen Friday, April 3 2015 www.thecatholicthing.org/2015/04/03/the-body-forever-unbroken/ When Our Savior breathed His last, the bones of the thieves were crushed to hasten their death. The Law had commanded that the body of one who was crucified, and therefore accursed of God, should not remain on the cross during the night. Furthermore, with the Sabbath of Paschal week nigh, it was urgent upon the followers of the Law to kill the thieves and bury all who were crucified. But there was a prophecy yet to be fulfilled concerning the Messias. The fulfillment came when: “One of the soldiers opened His Side with a spear; And immediately blood and water flowed out.” (Jn. 19:13) The Divine Miser had hoarded up a few precious drops of His Blood to pour forth after He gave up His spirit, to show that His love was stronger than death. Blood and water came forth; Blood, the price of Redemption and the symbol of the Eucharist; water, the symbol of regeneration and baptism. St. John, who witnessed the scene of the soldier piercing the Heart of Christ, wrote about it later: “He it is, Jesus Christ, Whose coming Has been made known to us by water and blood; Water and blood as well, not water only.” (1 Jn. 5:6) There was something more than a natural phenomenon here inasmuch as John gave it a mysterious and sacramental significance. Water stood at the beginning of Our Lord’s ministry when He was baptized, Blood stood at the close of it when He offered Himself as a spotless oblation. Both became the ground of faith, for at the baptism, the Father declared Him to be His Son, and the Resurrection witnessed again to His Divinity. The messenger from the Father was impaled with the message of love written on His Own Heart. The thrust of the lance was the last profanation of God’s Good Shepherd. Though He was spared the brutality that was arbitrary, such as the breaking of His legs, nevertheless, there was some mysterious Divine purpose in the opening of the Sacred Heart of God. John, who leaned on His breast the night of the Last Supper, fittingly recorded the opening of the Heart. “Crucifixion” by Bronzino (Agnolo di Cosimo), 1545 [Musée des Beaux-Arts, Nice] At the Deluge Noah made a door in the side of the ark, by which the animals entered, that they might escape the flood; now a new door is opened into the heart of God into which men might escape the flood of sin. When Adam slept, Eve was taken from his side and was called the mother of all living. Now as the second Adam inclined His head and slept on the Cross, under the figure of Blood and water there came from His side His bride, the Church. The open heart fulfilled His words: “I am the door; a man will find salvation If he makes his way in through Me.” (Jn. 10:9) St. Augustine Continue Reading

Saying Goodbye To The National Catholic Register

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US Archbishop Cordileone defends right to ban altar girls

Diary of a Wimpy Kid translated into Latin

Cardinal Nichols Changes His Tone!

Pope Benedict to end retirement?

Women to get an Abbey welcome at famous monks’ abbey in Moray

Cardinal Burke: “I’m not resisting Pope Francis, because he’s done nothing against doctrine,”

Prominent CEO Carolyn Woo Speaks Out for Faithful Catholic Education

Ottawa 11-year-olds awarded for starting Canada’s first gay club in a Catholic elementary school

Hundreds march to protest San Francisco archbishop’s plan to uphold Catholic identity in schools

Decade after John Paul II’s death, Polish church adrift

Bishop O’Donoghue: I was baffled by lack of support from fellow bishops

Good Friday Prayer (April 3)

Holy Thursday – He Did Not Leave Us Orphans!

Religion at the United Nations

The USA is no place for believing Christians anymore

“Better Marry Than Burn.” In Second Marriages, Too

“I Thirst”

The Body Forever Unbroken