Carl E. Olson's Blog, page 151
May 22, 2013
Catholic Radio: Faithful, Interactive, and Growing
Catholic Radio: Faithful, Interactive, and Growing | Jim Graves | Catholic World Report
Solid programming and improved technology have spurred the growth of Catholic radio networks
Catholic radio has had a slow start in the United States in comparison to the
success of non-Catholic Christians on the airwaves, but in recent years it has
come on strong with solid programming and improved technology which has enabled
the message of the Gospel to reach throughout the globe.
In a previous article, “Proclaiming
Christ Through Catholic Radio” (May 9, 2013), CWR interviewed Steve
Gajdosik, president of the Catholic Radio Association.
In this second article on Catholic radio, CWR spoke to several people involved in the industry to share their
reflections on working with Catholic radio.
Mike Kendall is chief programming officer for Relevant Radio (www.relevantradio.com). Relevant Radio
is headquartered in Green Bay, Wisconsin, produces its own programming, and
airs it through 13 stations it owns and 20 with which it is affiliated. Most of
its stations are in the Midwest, including Chicago. Through a contract with
Arbitron, “the gold standard in measuring a radio audience,” Kendall believes
its weekly Chicago audience is in the 60,000-70,000 range, and total audience
150,000-200,000.
“Our audience is engaged, and we’re a part of their daily lives,” Kendall said.
“Our audience might be small compared to commercial radio stations, but they’re
very committed. In fact, over 80% say Relevant Radio is their first choice in
radio listening.”
Relevant Radio is funded primarily by donations, mostly smaller donors, and
some traditional advertising. Their spring 2013 pledge raised $1.3 million,
more than expected.
Listeners can hear programs on AM-FM stations in some markets, as well as
through the Relevant Radio website or by downloading their free mobile app
through any iPhone or Android device. Kendall noted that listeners from all
over the world had reached out to the network to let them know they were
listening.
Some of Relevant Radio’s most popular programs include Morning Air with Sean
Herriott, The Drew Mariani Show and Go Ask Your Father (featuring different priests answering questions
about the Faith). The network offers ten hours of live, interactive programming
during weekdays.
“We find we’re successful when we address topics that impact the everyday lives
of our listeners,” Kendall commented. “Radio’s strength is that it is live,
interactive and ‘in the moment.’ We act as the town square where people can
call in and express their opinions.”
Continue reading on the CWR site.
Solid programming and improved technology have spurred the growth of Catholic radio networks
May 21, 2013
Episcopalian leader Schori bashes on St. Paul, opposition to homosexual relationships
by Carl E. Olson | CWR Blog
The Anglican Ink site reports:
The Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church has denounced the
Apostle Paul as mean-spirited and bigoted for having released a slave
girl from demonic bondage as reported in Acts 16:16-34 .
In her sermon delivered
at All Saints Church in Curaçao in the diocese of Venezuela, Bishop
Katharine Jefferts Schori condemned those who did not share her views as
enemies of the Holy Spirit.
The presiding bishop opened her remarks with an observation on the
Dutch slave past. “The history of this place tells some tragic stories
about the inability of some to see the beauty in other skin colors or
the treasure of cultures they didn’t value or understand,” she said.
She continued stating: “Human beings have a long history of
discounting and devaluing difference, finding it offensive or even
evil. That kind of blindness is what leads to oppression, slavery, and
often, war. Yet there remains a holier impulse in human life toward
freedom, dignity, and the full flourishing of those who have been kept
apart or on the margins of human communities.”
Schori then states:
We live with the continuing tension between holier impulses that
encourage us to see the image of God in all human beings and the reality
that some of us choose not to see that glimpse of the divine, and
instead use other people as means to an end. We’re seeing something
similar right now in the changing attitudes and laws about same-sex
relationships, as many people come to recognize that different is not the same thing as wrong.
For many people, it can be difficult to see God at work in the world
around us, particularly if God is doing something unexpected.
But if different is not the same thing as wrong, then how can views that are different from hers be wrong? Come to think of it, how can anything be wrong if it can simply be described as "different"? One might be taken aback at Schori's grasp of both epistemology and moral theology, but one is surely not impressed. The same holds for her exegetical skills, which are unleashed upon Acts 16:16ff:
May 20, 2013
New: "Pope Francis: His Life in His Own Words"
Pope Francis: His Life in His Own Words
by Francesca Ambrogetti and Sergio Rubin
On March 13, 2013, the former Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, longtime
Archbishop of Buenos Aires, now Pope Francis, was elected to succeed
Pope Benedict. He is the
first Latin American pope, the first Jesuit pope, and the first to take
the name Francis, after St. Francis Assisi, the 13th century monk known
for his charity and
kindness.
Elected in one of the shortest conclaves in history, the former
Archbishop Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina reveals, in a series of
extensive interviews conducted
over the course of two years, the very image of a humble priest,
inspired teacher, and wise and adroit cardinal. What emerges is a
portrait of a man more interested
in substance over style, a compassionate cleric and teacher who has
shunned the spotlight. In spontaneous, intimate terms, Archbishop
Bergoglio, now Pope Francis,
covers topics as wide-ranging as his childhood, family life, and the
importance of his first job to discovering his calling and his early
days in the seminary.
The former archbishop was a teacher of psychology and literature until
John Paul II consecrated him as a cardinal. He befriended writers like
Jorge Luis
Borges and cites Homer, Cervantes, and German and Italian poets with
ease and offers nuanced thoughts about teaching. Thoughtful,
intelligent, and even witty,
he names Babette's Feast as his favorite movie and Marc Chagall as his
favorite painter.
A learned and introspective man, he does not avoid the uncomfortable
subjects: the declining numbers of priests and nuns; celibacy; the
sexual abuse scandals that
have rocked the Church; and his opinions about and experience with the
military dictatorship of his own crisis-riddled country. It also
discusses the incredible role
he played in the last conclave, where he is said to have been tied with
Ratzinger in the second of three votes, and asked that the votes for him
be transferred to
Ratzinger.
Through his own words, we come to know a man whose actions and words
reflect his deeply-rooted humility. The book concludes with the Pope's
own writings and
reflections, full of wisdom and inspiration.
Sergio Rubin was born in Santa Fe, Argentina. He is an
award-winning author, journalist, and is currently chief of religious
news for the Clarín
newspaper as well as editor of the supplement Valores Religiosos (Religious Values). He covered over a dozen of John Paul II's trips, his funeral, and the
election of Pope Benedict XVI. Among many international figures, he has interviewed Mother Teresa.
Francesca Ambrogetti was born in Rome. She is a journalist and
social psychologist, and currently teaches journalism. In 1982 she
headed the Association for
Foreign Press in Argentina and from 2000 to 2003, the Association of
Foreign Correspondents. She collaborates with the international media
such as the Vatican Radio.
The Charismatic Renewal and the Catholic Church
The Charismatic Renewal and the Catholic Church | Alessandra Nucci | Catholic World Report
A look at the history and future of the sometimes-controversial movement
When the newly elected Pope Francis appeared at the window before the cheering crowd in St Peter’s Square, and promptly bowed down asking the people to pray for him, most of the public at large was charmed, but puzzled. Pope Benedict too had asked the people to pray for him from the outset, but without the bowed head. To some spectators, however—including the members of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal and their counterparts in the Protestant and Orthodox worlds—the gesture came as something surprisingly familiar. In the “charismatic” galaxy, prayer is offered and asked for in this way by people of all levels—specifically, prayer for a renewed outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
There is a photograph available on the Internet that shows Pope Francis, while still archbishop of Buenos Aires, on his knees with head bowed as a group of evangelical pastors and Catholic priests and laymen pray over him. As Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, the Pope would celebrate Mass on a monthly basis for the Charismatic Renewal of Buenos Aires. And despite the conflicts between Catholics and Pentecostals in Latin America, word has it that Pentecostal pastors rejoiced at the election of the new Catholic pope.
Pope Francis’ frequent mentions of the Holy Spirit—whom he has described as someone who “annoys us” and “moves us, makes us walk, pushes the Church to move forward”—as well as his unprecedentedly frequent references to the devil (rather than to a generic “evil”), indicate his affinity for the Charismatic Renewal. The election of such a back-to-basics man as Supreme Pontiff provides us with an opportunity to look at the road traveled by the Charismatic Renewal and to “hold on to what is good” (1 Thess 5:21).
Despite the openness of its approach, for many the Charismatic Renewal is either undecipherable or a clear-cut deviation into “modernism.” Having made its appearance in the Catholic world after Vatican Council II, with spectacular aspects such as prophecies and miracle-healings, it was obviously lumped in with the many other challenging and controversial novelties that surfaced at the time under the banner of “renewal.” Yet the Charismatic Renewal in its Catholic expression is generally painstaking in its strict adherence to the Church and to Catholic doctrine, a fact which, in itself, can cause controversy and sometimes alienates Pentecostal, Evangelical, non-denominational, or other ecumenical counterparts.
May 18, 2013
Three Births and the Third Person of the Trinity
Readings:
• Acts 2:1-11
• Ps 104:1, 24, 29-30, 31, 34
• 1 Cor 12:3b-7, 12-13 or Rom 8:8-17
• Jn 20:19-23 or Jn 14:15-16, 23b-26
He is silent, yet sounds like rushing wind; he is invisible,
but appears as tongues of fire; he is constantly working and giving, but is
often overlooked and underappreciated.
He is the Holy Spirit, the Lord and giver of Life, the third Person of the
Trinity. He has many names in Scripture, including Advocate, Comforter, the
Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of adoption, the Spirit of
grace.
In the second chapter of the Acts of Apostle, the coming of the Holy Spirit is
described as “a noise like a strong driving wind” and his presence as “tongues
as of fire.” Notice how elusive the language is: the Holy Spirit is not a
driving wind, but is like such a wind;
he is not a tongue of fire, but appears as one. There is a paradox here, which is so often the case with the
Holy Spirit: he is both very elusive and yet constantly active. It’s as though
you see something or someone out of the corner of your eye, but no matter how
quickly you turn, they are gone.
Isn’t this the sense conveyed by Jesus, who said to
Nicodemus, “The wind blows where it wills, and you hear the sound of it, but
you do not know whence it comes or whither it goes; so it is with every one who
is born of the Spirit” (Jn. 3:8)? The word “born” is deeply significant for
there are three very important births, or creations, described in Scripture in
which the Holy Spirit moves and acts, giving life.
These three births are closely connected. First, there is
the birth of the cosmos and the creation of the world: “The earth was without
form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the Spirit of
God was moving over the face of the waters” (Gen. 1:2). There it is again: the
Spirit was moving. Pope John Paul II, in
his encyclical on the Holy Spirit, Dominum et vivificantem (Pentecost, 1986), further notes that the presence
of the Spirit in creation not only pertains, of course, to the cosmos, but also
to “man, who has been created in the image and likeness of God: ‘Let us make man in our image, after our
likeness.’” (par. 12).
The second instance is the conception of the God-man, Jesus
Christ. What did the angel say to Mary? “The Holy Spirit will come upon you,
and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be
born will be called holy, the Son of God” (Lk. 1:35). Once again, the Holy
Spirit is active; he is coming with power. Once again, he is intimately
involved in bringing about a man. In the first creation it was Adam; now, the
new Adam.
The third birth, or creation, took place at Pentecost, fifty
days after the death and resurrection of Christ. “The time of the Church
began,” wrote John Paul II, “at the moment when the promises and predictions that
so explicitly referred to the Counselor, the Spirit of truth, began to be
fulfilled in complete power and clarity upon the Apostles, thus determining the
birth of the Church” (DV, 25). At Pentecost, the Church—the family of God and
the mystical body of Christ—is birthed by the Holy Spirit. And he is the soul
of the Church. “What the soul is to the human body,” wrote St. Augustine, “the
Holy Spirit is to the Body of Christ, which is the Church” (Catechism of the
Catholic Church, 797).
Emile Mersch, S.J., in The Theology of the Mystical Body (Herder, 1952), wrote: “The Holy Spirit is
continually being sent, and Pentecost never comes to an end.” The Acts of the
Apostles reveals the Holy Spirit “ceaselessly coming down into the world, no
longer under the form of fiery tongues, but through the intermediary of the
apostles and their preaching.”
He is still coming, filling, moving, and giving life. Let’s
pay attention!
(This "Opening the Word" column originally appeared in the May 23, 2010, edition of Our Sunday Visitor newspaper.)
May 17, 2013
Falsely Accused, Wrongly Imprisoned, Truly Set Free
Falsely Accused, Wrongly Imprisoned, Truly Set Free | CWR Staff | Catholic World Report
An interview with author, apologist, evangelist, convert,
and former prisoner Russell Ford
Russell Ford’s
testimony is captivating, surprising, sobering, and, at times, rather humorous. The following interview is much longer than most CWR features, but we think readers will find his story, perspective, and insights both challenging and encouraging. Also, Russell's recent appearance on EWTN's "The Journey Home" can be viewed on the EWTN website.
CWR: For those who might not be familiar with your background,
let’s go back to the mid-1980s. Prior to going to prison, were you a
Catholic? What were you doing prior to being imprisoned?
Ford: No, I wasn’t
a Catholic. I hunted bounty after I got out of the army. Between my time in
the military and as a bounty hunter (the more politically correct term these
days being “independent fugitive recovery agent”), I was shot twice, stabbed
twice, poisoned, run over by a car, fell off the side of a car at 70 miles
per hour, and beaten almost to death. So when I got tired of being other
people’s punching bag, I left bounty work to get into the slower life of
business. I eventually made some major errors, because I’d gotten too big for
my britches, and lost everything. I decided to go to Alabama, where I’d done
part of my military training, because I recalled how well I was treated
there. I came to realize quickly, however, that I’d been treated well before because
I was in the military. What I discovered was that anyone who was from any
place other than Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, or Louisiana was considered
to be a Yankee… and Yankees are hated there. I’d only lived in Alabama for a
few months when I found myself in a mess of trouble.
CWR: Why
were you arrested and sentenced to prison? And when were you released from
prison? How did that come about?
Ford: This series
of questions are considered a major social blunder in the joint. Indeed, for
a convict to ask these questions it is potentially deadly. You never ask a
convict why he’s in prison, how much time he has to build, or when he gets
out. However, this may be an opportunity to finally explain things fully and
correctly.
The Cardinal and the Taoiseach
The Cardinal and the Taoiseach | Michael Coren | CWR
Cardinal O’Malley’s boycott of Boston College’s graduation is both welcome and momentous.
By the grace of God, the recent
decision by Cardinal SeÁn Patrick O'Malley could be a turning point in Catholic
history, a collective epiphany on the road to Boston College. He has made it
entirely clear that he will not be attending the university’s annual
commencement, at which Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny will be speaking. Boston
College’s decision to invite the Taoiseach was provocative and was supposed to
be so. Frankly, it’s a childish and petty thing to have done but entirely in
character with the modern approach of liberal or even post-Catholic
institutions of higher education. Give a metaphorical finger to those horrible
old grassroots Catholics who still believe in the faith, and to the Magisterium
and episcopacy who insist on making it difficult for teachers from Boston
College or Notre Dame or Georgetown to be invited onto talk shows and to
fashionable dinner parties.
Ireland is in the midst of a
culture war. It is the country that in spite of—perhaps even because
of—occupation, oppression, starvation, and dispersion, remained true to the
Church. It was the epicenter for English-speaking Catholics and Catholicism,
and Irish Catholics fuelled English and Scottish Catholicism and became the
beating heart of the Church in the United States.
Today the kulturkampf concerns a triumphant secular and modernist government
declaring virtual war on Church prestige and standing, and challenging Catholic
teaching on life, sexuality, and morality. Kenny wants to change Ireland’s
abortion laws. He claims it is a minor reform, but he knows that is not the
case; the legislation is not only in itself a major departure, but will open a
door to a room full of frightful eugenics. If you don’t believe me, read the
editorials and columns from his supporters in the Irish media.
None of us were sure what
Cardinal O’Malley would do. He is an orthodox man, of course, and a fine and
good Catholic priest and bishop, but he had assisted at the funeral mass of
Sen. Ted Kennedy, an individual with a worrying personal record, and an
execrable public one. Kennedy had opposed the Church on most of its moral
teaching around life issues, often leading campaigns to introduce and extend
abortion, same-sex marriage, and other related subjects. O’Malley led a prayer
at the Mass, explaining, “as archbishop of Boston, I considered it appropriate
to represent the Church at this liturgy out of respect for the Senator, his
family, those who attended the Mass and all those who were praying for the
Senator and his family at this difficult time.”
This time, however, the reaction
was fundamentally different.
May 16, 2013
"Morning after" pills and the loss of moral bearings
by Russell Shaw | Catholic World Report
"Is Traditional Marriage Toast?" That question
recently caught my attention as the heading of an article in the
neo-conservative Weekly Standard. The
answer was either "very possibly" (a subhead attached to the piece)
or "probably not" (an objective reading would suggest that). Take
your pick.
Be
not afraid. Marriage and family life won't vanish, given that they correspond
to fundamental human interests and needs. But marriage and family are indeed in
serious trouble in America. And many--most?--public policy solutions to this
crisis are wrongheaded, to say the least.
Repeatedly operative here is an
unarticulated value system that concerned Americans have a right to insist be
brought to light and debated. Take the current dispute over whether to give
very young teenagers unrestricted access to morning-after pills. Partisans on
both sides of this argument evidently take for granted (and some perhaps even
welcome) a degree of social breakdown that their preferred policy approaches
would not just confirm but make worse.
After
all, wouldn't sensible policy-makers go after the root of the problem--teenage
sexual activity, that is? Foolish ones water the roots. Which, to change the
metaphor, is like trying to fix a cracked teacup by banging on it with a
hammer.
In
April, a federal district judge held that the government should allow children
of any age to buy so-called emergency contraceptives without a prescription.
The Obama administration has ordered the Justice Department to appeal this
ruling on the grounds that the judge exceeded his competence. Meanwhile, the
Food and Drug Administration has reacted by setting 15 as the earliest age for
over-the-counter purchases.
May 15, 2013
Eigtht new book reviews from HPR
Reviews for the following books are now available on the Homiletic & Pastoral Review site:
A SCHOOL OF PRAYER. The Saints Show Us How to Pray. By Pope
Benedict XVI (Ignatius Press, San Francisco, 2012), 282 pp. HB $17.95.
(Reviewed by Fr. Kenneth Baker, S.J.)
__________
IGNATIUS OF LOYOLA SPEAKS. By Fr. Karl Rahner, S.J. (St.
Augustine’s Press, South Bend, Indiana 2013), xvi + 75 pp. PB $13.00.
(Reviewed by Fr. Kenneth Baker, S.J.)
__________
STRENGTHEN YOUR BROTHERS. Letters of Encouragement from an Archbishop to His Priests. By Archbishop J. Peter Sartain (Liturgical Press, Collegeville, MN 2012), xx +167pp. HB $19.95. (Reviewed by Fr. Kenneth Baker, S.J.)
__________
ATHEISM TODAY: A CHRISTIAN RESPONSE. By Fr.
Bernard Tyrrell, S.J., and Fr. John Navone, S.J. (Ithaca Press, Ithaca,
NY 2012), 256 pp. $22.00. Order at Amazon.com or call Ithaca Press at
607-273-2870. (Reviewed by Father Patrick J. Hartin)
_________
THE TUMBLER OF GOD: CHESTERTON AS MYSTIC. By Fr. Robert Wild.
(Ontario: Justin Press, 2012, 278 pages). (Reviewed by Kenneth
Colston)
__________
ON THE UNSERIOUSNESS OF HUMAN AFFAIRS. By James V. Schall, S.J. (ISI Books, Wilmington 2012), 189 pp. PB $18. (Reviewed by Mr. Sean M. Salai, S.J.)
________
BENEDICT XVI AND BEAUTY IN SACRED ART AND ARCHITECTURE. Eds. Vincent Twomey, SVD, and Janet Rutherford (Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2011) (Reviewed by Rev. John J. Conley, S.J.)
________
THE SCOPE OF PHILOSOPHY. By John Young. (Leominster: Gracewing, 2010.) (Reviewed by Rev. John J. Conley, S.J.)
May 14, 2013
What is Social Justice? (Part Two)
What is Social Justice? (Part Two) | J. J. Ziegler | Catholic World Report
The teachings of Vatican II, Paul VI, John Paul II, and the Catechism of the Catholic Church
“Social justice,” a term coined by
the Italian Jesuit Father Luigi Taparelli D’Azeglio (1793-1862), appeared in an
1894 curial document and a 1904 encyclical. Later, Pope Pius XI (1922-39) made
it part and parcel of Catholic social doctrine.
In perhaps the most succinct
description of the virtue, Pope Pius wrote in 1937 that “it is [the essence] of
social justice to demand from individuals everything that is necessary for the
common good.” Venerable Pius XII (1939-58) and Blessed John XXIII (1958-63)
made Pope Pius XI’s teaching their own as they urged Catholics to cultivate the
virtue of social justice. The former wrote in 1952 that society “ought to be
renewed according to principles of charity and social justice,” while the
latter prayed in 1960 that Christians might “offer to fellow citizens examples
of all virtues, in the first place social justice and charity.”
The three decades following John
XXIII’s death witnessed further developments in Catholic teaching on social
justice. In 1992, Catholic doctrine on social justice was set forth with
particular authority when Blessed John Paul II promulgated the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
Vatican II
The term “social justice” appeared
three times in the documents of the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council
(1962-65). In Nostra
Aetate (1965), the Declaration on the Relation of the Church
with Non-Christian Religions, the Council Fathers exhorted Christians and
Muslims to “preserve as well as to promote together for the benefit of all
mankind social justice and moral welfare, as well as peace and freedom” (no.
3).
Six weeks later, in the Pastoral
Constitution on the Church in the Modern World (Gaudium
et Spes), the Council Fathers observed that “excessive economic
and social differences between the members of the one human family or population
groups cause scandal and militate against social justice, equity, the dignity
of the human person, as well as social and international peace” (no. 29). The
Council Fathers called for the creation of an “organism of the universal
Church” whose role would be “to stimulate the Catholic community to promote
progress in needy regions and international social justice”—in the original
Latin, “social justice among nations.” Venerable Paul VI established that
organism, the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, in 1967.
The three conciliar references to
social justice use the term in the context of “all mankind,” the “one human
family,” and “among nations.”
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