Carl E. Olson's Blog, page 196
September 13, 2012
Fr. Uwe Michael Lang's book, "The Voice of the Church at Prayer", reviewed...
... by Fr. Kenneth Baker, S.J., for Homiletic & Pastoral Review:
The Voice of the Church at Prayer: Reflections on Liturgy and
Language. By Uwe Michael Lang (Ignatius Press, San Francisco, 2012),
206 pp. PB $18.95.
It is well known that our current Holy Father, Benedict XVI, is
keenly interested in the liturgy, especially in the language of the
liturgy. Because of the hasty English translation of the Mass after
Vatican II, there were many errors and omissions in it, so that the
translation did not adequately convey the full meaning of the original
Latin text of the Mass. In order to remedy that defect, and after many
years of hard work, a new, more accurate translation was made. It has
become mandatory in all 
English-speaking countries, as of the first
Sunday of Advent 2011.
Father Lang’s book presents an analysis of sacred language, as found
in Holy Scripture, and in the liturgy of the Church. A helpful and
valuable aspect of this book is its analysis of the full meaning of the
Latin text of the traditional Mass, as found in the Missal of 1962, and
also in the Canon of the Mass for Eucharistic Prayer I, in the Novus Ordo Mass.
The author shows how artistically those prayers were put together,
and how full they are of meaning. Almost every word of it reflects some
aspect of Holy Scripture.
In the last chapter of the book, Fr. Lang contrasts the liturgical
Latin of the Church, and the vernacular translation. Here, he shows
clearly why a new translation had to be made to bring the English text
more into conformity with the original Latin. He also argues that there
should be more Latin used regularly in the worship of the Church. The
Fathers at Vatican II never intended that Latin should be totally
abandoned in favor of the vernacular.
The readings in the new Lectionary include much more from the Bible
than was present in the traditional Latin liturgy. But there is so much
in the three-year cycle that the faithful really never become very
familiar with it. In the Latin liturgy, the same readings were heard on
the same Sunday every year. In time, Catholics became familiar with
many key texts in the Bible, especially in the New Testament. I have
made this point before in HPR, and I am happy to see that Fr. Lang
agrees with me. Thus, he says on p. 148: “The stable order of readings
for each Sunday and feast day, which was repeated every year, meant that
the faithful became more easily familiar with the biblical passages in
the course of time.”
This is an important book, and is recommended for all who wish to acquire a better knowledge of the liturgy of the Church.
Fr. Kenneth Baker, S.J., Editor Emeritus
Tacoma, Washington
September 11, 2012
The New Man at the Helm of the Holy Office
The New Man at the Helm of the Holy Office | Michael J. Miller | Catholic World Report
What Catholics should know about the work and thought of Abp. Gerhard Ludwig Müller, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
In May of 2005, Archbishop
William Levada—who had headed the Archdioceses of Portland (Oregon) and San
Francisco—was appointed prefect of the
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. In July of 2011, having reached the
age of 75, Cardinal Levada duly submitted his resignation from that important curial
post. Almost a year later, on July 2, the Holy See announced that Levada’s
successor at the CDF would be Bishop Gerhard Ludwig Müller of Regensburg.
This widely
anticipated appointment was greeted by the liberal theological establishment in
Germany with howls of “Panzerkardinal!” (as
though Müller were so belligerently authoritarian that he would arrive in St.
Peter’s Square in an armored tank) and by ultra-conservative Catholics with the
equivalent of a negative ad campaign calling Müller’s orthodoxy into
question on the basis of a few passages from his voluminous writings.
To paraphrase a
remark that G.K. Chesterton once made about the contradictory accusations
leveled at the Catholic Church: Bishop
Müller must have done something right!
Biography
Gerhard Ludwig
Müller was born in Mainz-Finthen on December 31, 1947, one of four children of
a working-class family. He studied philosophy and theology in Mainz, Munich,
and Freiburg im Breisgau and in 1977 completed a dissertation on the subject of
Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s sacramental theology. His doctoral advisor was Professor
(now Cardinal) Karl Lehmann, who had earned his own doctorate under Karl
Rahner, SJ, an influential expert at Vatican II.
After his
ordination in 1978 Müller served as assistant priest in three parishes and
taught religious education in the secondary schools. In order to qualify as a professor
of theology, he wrote a second doctoral thesis in 1985 (again under Lehmann) on
Catholic devotion to the saints. He was appointed Professor of Catholic
Dogmatic Theology at the Ludwig-Maximilian University in Munich in 1986, a
position that he held for 16 years.
Sola Gratia: The “Prog” Foolishness of Neal Morse
Sola Gratia: The “Prog” Foolishness of Neal Morse | Bradley J. Birzer | Catholic World Report
How an angry young musician has become a committed Christian and influential artist
As progressive rock continues
to regain ground in terms of sales and respectability, Neal Morse’s name
simultaneously gains increasing recognition in our larger culture as well.
As well it should. Morse has
served as one of the most important figures in the current revival of the
progressive rock scene, which began to re-emerge nearly two decades ago, since
its recognized heyday of the early 1970s, prior to the rise of disco and punk.
Over the last two decades, a number of acts, including Big Big Train, Dream
Theater, Spock’s Beard, The Flower Kings, Porcupine Tree, Agents of Mercy,
Frost*, Gazpacho, Tin Spirits, Ayreon, the Fierce and the Dead, and Riverside
have produced albums every bit the equal of those by Yes, Genesis, Jethro Tull,
and Emerson, Lake, and Palmer in the early 1970s. For better or worse, prog
(as its followers call it) has been characterized by elaborate lyrics and
stories, long (rarely less than six minutes) songs, intricate time changes, and
immaculate audio production. Every aspect of the release matters for a prog
artist, and the genre tends to attract an inordinate number of perfectionists.
As a master of the style, Neal Morse's longest song is the baroque “The Whirlwind,”
written with his bandmates in Transatlantic, clocking in at just four seconds
shy of 78 minutes, the limit of music a CD can hold. It tells the story of a
modern culture willfully ignorant of Christianity. The New Jerusalem arrives,
catching most citizens of the Earth unaware. This is not just a song, it’s an
epic. And, as an epic, it needs to be 78 minutes long.
To make Morse and his
reputation even more interesting, he has become an important, if unusual,
Christian evangelist for our time. In that strange twilight realm where
Christian culture and secular culture awkwardly meet as suggested by the very
title of “The Whirlwind,” there stands Morse, beckoning anyone and everyone to
enter into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
God and 9/11
I hadn't planned on writing much, if anything, on the anniversary of the murderous attacks of September 11, 2001, if only because that event usually leaves me at loss for words. And what more can be said? It is an occasion, first of all, to pray for those who were murdered and for all those innocent—born and unborn, young and old—who are victims of violence and hatred each and every day.
But more can be said, even if with hesitation and some trepidation. For this is also an occasion to reflect and frankly consider our own mortality, the fragility of the flickering light called life that we each possess as a gift from God. What, then, is the point of it all? Why do we, as individuals and families and communities, come into existence and for what End were we created? Alas, those questions, unfortunately, apparently assume too much in this day and age, for it is not a given that those next to us in the workplace or in the schoolroom or on the street also believe in a loving God who "in a plan of sheer goodness freely created man to make him share in his own blessed life" (CCC, 1).
It's not so much that explicit forms of atheism have become increasingly popular (although they have), but more that we in the West live as practical atheists. When the rubber meets the road, it is on a secular wheel and it is facilitating the rapid movement of a materialist car driving towards a shimmering temporal goal, with little interest in acknowledging the life to come and the Life from which we come. Sure, we might give lip service to God, or some form of vague deity or life form or higher power, but it is often mere lip service, not the service of body, soul, and mind that finds completion in real worship. "Secularism, I submit", wrote the great Orthodox theologian, Fr. Alexander Schmemann, "is above all the negation of worship. I stress:—not of God's existence, not of some kind of transcendence and therefore of some kind of religion. If secularism in theological terms is a heresy, it is primarily a heresy about man. It is the negation of man as a worshiping being..." (For the Life of the World, 1965).
What does this have to do with the anniversary of "9/11"? Quite a bit. Actually, nearly everything. And I am quite certain that Pope Benedict XVI, in giving his address at Regensberg on September 12, 2006, was trying to get us to see fundamental connections between how we understand God and how we understand our place in this world—in other words, the relationship between faith and reason, an essential theme of his pontificate. Benedict stated:
Violence is incompatible with the nature of God and the nature of
the soul. "God", he says, "is not pleased by blood - and not acting reasonably (σὺν
λόγω) is contrary to God's nature. Faith is born of the soul, not the body. Whoever
would lead someone to faith needs the ability to speak well and to reason
properly, without violence and threats... To convince a reasonable soul, one
does not need a strong arm, or weapons of any kind, or any other means of
threatening a person with death...".
The decisive statement in this argument against violent conversion is this: not
to act in accordance with reason is contrary to God's nature
And, as we know, these remarks were soon followed by threats and acts of violence by those who were anged that they had been unfairly deemed prone to threats and acts of violence. But Benedict, in many ways, was simply elucidating a point made by his predecessor, Blessed John Paul II, who took on the question of reason and the nature of God in his encyclical Veritatis splendor, presented almost twenty years ago, in August 1993. Writing about the fall of Adam, John Paul II stated:
On Being Catholic American | By Joseph A. Varacalli
On Being Catholic American | By Joseph A. Varacalli
The United States of America needs the Catholic
worldview more than the Catholic faith requires the American experience.
To some significant degree, the overwhelming majority of Catholics who
live in the United States of America actively affirm and participate in
what may be termed a "cult of gratitude" for our nation. This
intense appreciation of America is, perhaps, especially acute for those
Catholics whose memories do not easily allow for one to "take for
granted" the opportunities that this country has afforded them. Two
groups come readily to mind. The first group consists of those Catholics,
at least within my age group of fifty-two, who remember more humble times
in terms of social and economic status. In this regard, I can vividly
recall the stories told to me by my parents, Joe "the shoemaker"
and Tessie "the hatmaker." They constantly extolled the virtues
of America and recounted the stories of hardship for their own parents
while living in, respectively, Calabria and the Naples region at the turn
of the twentieth century. The second group of those unlikely to take for
granted the blessings of this country consists of those recent Catholic
immigrants to American shores from what is now commonly referred to as
the "less developed" countries of the world who have no problem
whatsoever in recalling vividly the sting of overt and unrelenting
persecution and the various and obvious hardships associated with absolute
material poverty.
But even those more affluent generations of Catholics removed from the
immigrant and working class ethnic experience–like many suburbanized
Long Islanders–feel comfortable with the American experience if for
no other reason than that they have been so successfully and completely
socialized into it; sociologists like myself refer to this as but one
instance of a fundamental "ethnocentrism" that is both inevitable
and structured into human existence. Put another way, America is loved
by many Americans, in part, because it is simply "home" and
because it is the only thing that most of them know.
The purpose of my presentation is to provide a brief reflection, from
what I take to be an authentic Catholic sensibility, on how Catholics
ought to analyze their relationship to American society and culture.
Put another way, the following question might be posed: "What does
American patriotism mean to the serious and devout Catholic?" Or,
perhaps and more precisely, the question is: "How can American patriotism
be apprehended in a manner consistent with the tenets of the Catholic
faith?" I will attempt, in part, to address these questions by presenting
a series of twelve propositions and principles for consideration and reflection.
Propositions and Principles
Proposition One: Today patriotic sentiments primarily are realized
at the level of the nation; in a previous era, the relevant social construction
might have been the family, clan, village, or local region. To give an
example, for my southern Italian grandparents, their whole world was their
village; a world that was centered by the sound of the Church bell. Some
present-day utopians project (as well as advocate) that patriotism may
soon be mediated through an attachment to the "global community."
Examples of such utopians would be the more ideological supporters of
the United Nations and those various European elites who have given up
on a once Christian based Western civilization. Our concern in this presentation,
however, is restricted to the issue of a nationalistic patriotism. The
question here, again, is how Catholic citizens should relate to America.
Proposition Two: It is idolatrous to place the nation, any
nation, above the worship of the one, true God and the faithful practice
of the Catholic religion. The Catholic Church is a gift given to us from
God and is the Bride of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. For all of
its virtues, America is, at best, a means to some higher end such
as human liberty and, at worst, a means to attempt to satisfy the
baser preoccupations of the species though an all-consuming concern for
sexual gratification or the search for "ecstasy" through drug
experimentation.
Proposition Three: Whether patriotism is good or bad or ambivalent
depends on the values that the nation in question embodies. Put ever so
crudely, from a Catholic perspective, it is not legitimate to defend the
"patriotic Nazi" or "patriotic Communist" or any collective
form of human existence that does not work to enhance the fundamental
dignity of the person made in the image of God. Patriotism, in and by
itself, is neither good nor bad; the issue is the nature of what one is
patriotic towards.
Proposition Four: The culture of a nation is capable of changing
significantly over time. Such change is highly likely to occur in the
modern context given such factors as the influence of advanced science
and technology and increased communication, pluralism, and geographic
and social mobility. These factors tend to create new values (e.g., the
perceived need for "self-expression," a central concern for
"leisure," etc.) as well as modify and transform those values
historically rooted in the American experience. Put another way, American
society is constantly changing; that’s why sociologists like myself
find some utility in employing the concept of a "generation gap."
My parent’s social world is not mine and, God protect them, my world
is not the world that my sons and daughter, most likely, will have to
navigate through.
Proposition Five: The culture of American society today is
not the same as that of America at mid-century past. For all of America’s
undeniable material, technological, medical, and scientific progress over
the past fifty years, this nation has started to descend into what John
Paul II has termed a "culture of death." For some, the central
American value of individualism–thanks in part to an irresponsible
judiciary–has been shorn of any orientation to serve the public good.
Democracy has degenerated, for too many, into a procedural right substantially
devoid of ethical consideration. Material acquisition and possession has
been transformed, for a certain powerful sector of society, from a means
to empower the individual and family to live the good and moral, and perhaps
even holy, life to an end unto itself, i.e., to the absurd idea that one
can construct for oneself a this-worldly paradise that serves as the be
all and end all of human existence. While not defending everything associated
with the 1950s in this country or denying that we haven’t seen improvements
in some aspects of life, I basically believe that, all things considered,
this country was a better place to live in fifty years or so ago.
Proposition Six: From a Catholic perspective, contemporary
American society represents to its citizens a "mixed bag" of
cultural directives. On the positive side, America presents some wonderful
possibilities: in the freedom to chart one’s own destiny (at least
during our temporary existence in this "vale of tears"), in
the escape from absolute material and physical deprivation, and in the
enhanced dignity afforded some human categories (e.g., women, blacks,
and immigrant minorities). On the other hand, the latter movements have
been dramatically reversed in such developments as the acceptance of an
unlicensed freedom refusing to direct itself to the service of truth and
morality; in the entrapment of more and more individuals in the self-destruction
of the hedonistic lifestyle with all of its associated human depravities;
and in the examples of the widespread acceptance of the grotesque practice
of abortion and of other abominations both presently existing and lurking
ahead in the realm of biotechnology.
Proposition Seven: Fairness, realism, and the Catholic worldview,
then, should acknowledge the ambiguous cultural reality of the
present situation in the United States. This means rejecting both a
"knee-jerk," idolatrous worship and defense of things present-day
American as well as the invitation, offered from the secular and religious
radical left, to join the "America hating club." The former
denies the many failures of our civilization, past and present, while
the latter, conversely, studiously and quite consciously ignores this
country’s many undeniable accomplishments and virtues.
Proposition Eight: Within the deposit of the social doctrine
of the Catholic Church and within the tradition of natural law thinking
are to be found many ideas capable of enriching American civilization
for all of its citizens, both Catholic and non-Catholic. Put another way,
the possibility of reversing this society’s descent into the culture
of death or, conversely, building a society based on love and human solidarity
depends on the implementation in American society of ideas either derived
from, or consistent with, Catholic social teachings. The Catholic defense
of the fundamental dignity of all human life, including the unborn; its
positing of truth and the exercise of reason; its promotion of the intact,
nuclear, traditional family; its insistence that the purpose of government
is to serve the common good; its position that workers and employees have
the right to organize for a decent spiritual and material existence; its
claim that creative and dignified work is constitutive of the anthropology
of mankind; and its argument that the true development of nations and
individual lives involves the furthering of both body and soul, are just
a few examples of what I’ve referred to as the "bright promise"
contained within Catholic social thought and the natural law. Simply put,
the saving and further perfection of the American experiment lies primarily
with the ability of the Catholic Church to serve as a leaven for our society
and culture. Put another way, and translated into the central concern
of my presentation, a great way to be a patriotic American is to be a
serious, educated, and committed Catholic American.
Proposition Nine: The Catholic Church of the United States
is not, at least in its present condition, in a position to effectively
lead the restoration of American society and culture. As I’ve argued
in my book, Bright Promise, Failed Community: Catholics and the American
Public Order, the Catholic Church in the United States has suffered
a massive "secularization from within" during the post-Vatican
II era. Put another way, during this period, the institution has allowed
itself to be co-opted by corrupting secular influences, thus losing her
ability not only to serve as a leaven for our society and culture but
also her ability to evangelize her own community of slightly less than
twenty-five percent of the American population. Simply put, the Church
can’t save America if she can’t first save herself.
Proposition Ten: The first task for the Catholic Church, then,
is to restore integrity to the Catholic house through an intensive emphasis
on authentic Catholic evangelization, catechesis, socialization, and education.
In the language of sociology, the Catholic Church must rebuild its "plausibility
structure" or series of social institutions (e.g., parishes, seminaries,
schools, colleges, newspapers and book publishing outlets, hospitals,
and professional and academic organizations, etc.) that "stand between"
the individual and the powerful secular public institutions of government,
the corporations, Hollywood, the mass media and academia that have captured
the hearts, minds, and souls of the overwhelming majority of the once-Catholic
faithful as well as a significant sector of the remaining non—Catholic
population. An intact and authentic Catholic plausibility structure not
only constantly presents and reinforces the Catholic worldview in all
its comprehensiveness, sophistication, and splendor to the Catholic population
but also serves as an evangelizing and political force in the outer society.
In this regard, it is hard to overestimate the importance of institutions
like Kellenberg Memorial High School, which, in both its curricular and
extracurricular activities, has combined/synthesized so successfully the
Catholic religious tradition with the demands of both the intellect and
involvement in the world outside of the classroom.
Proposition Eleven: The keys to creating and sustaining an
orthodox Catholic institution capable both of socializing effectively
its members and evangelizing successfully outside its walls is the maintaining
of 1) the Catholic tradition in all its majesty and sophistication, 2)
high standards of professionalism and competence, and 3) constantly reinforcing
communication and social interaction. Regarding the latter, it is vitally
important that, in the present non-Catholic social context of American
life, Catholics spend more time in each other’s company, whether
in family gatherings, or formal and informal meetings of Catholic organizations
that range from those parish-affiliated to the Knights of Columbus hall
to the Catholic League regional chapter to professional associations of
doctors, lawyers, nurses, etc. to more ad hoc groups formed to step up
to the plate to help our Church and society in their specific moments
of need. This constant and mutually reinforcing communication and social
interaction creates the required "accent on reality" for the
Catholic religious worldview to become central in consciousness and subsequently
translated into concrete activity performed in support of the Catholic
mission to "restore all things in Christ." Simply put, invest
less time with American mass culture and more time in an authentically
Catholic milieu.
Proposition Twelve: In trying to make a distinctively Catholic
contribution to American society, especially in public life, it is important
to recall the biblical injunction to be as "innocent as a dove and
as wise as a serpent." This is important advice given that American
public life presently is hostile to any significant witness of the Catholic
or Christian faith. One should look, then, for role models who can show
us how one best can navigate the field of land mines "out there"
just waiting to blow up in the face of courageous Catholic Americans who
are untutored in the ways of public life. One such role model is Mel Gibson,
whose film, The Passion of the Christ, represents a major victory
for those who believe that Christians have a right to attempt to contribute
and shape the contours of our culture and society. In creating, adjusting,
and shepherding his production to completion, Mel Gibson has combined
courage with prudence, creativity with hard work, and fidelity to Jesus
Christ with technical competence. Mel Gibson is a Christian who has made
a difference in American public life by enriching it with the Gospel message.
He is a true American patriot and a true Christian American.
In reflecting on what it should mean to be a "Catholic American,"
it is important for Catholics in America to realize that they are heirs
to a two thousand year old tradition that, warts notwithstanding, can
be accurately described, along with Harry Crocker, as constituting a magnificent
"triumph," a triumph that is the product of God’s grace
in conjunction with human effort cooperating with God’s plan for
mankind. Too many contemporary Catholic Americans still accept a "minority
group" consciousness in this two hundred year old land once dominated
by Protestants and now by secularists of one sort or another. Catholics
must shed themselves of this self-effacing attitude and proudly and realistically
accept the responsibility that comes from representing a tradition unsurpassed
in the ability to present truth, holiness, beauty, and utility to the
world. While in a potentially mutually beneficial relationship, the simple
and stark fact is that United States of America needs the Catholic worldview
more than the Catholic faith requires the American experience. If this
county of ours, which we love so much and which has done so much good
for so many, is to escape further descent into the culture of death, it
will be because of the presence, witness, and actions of a revitalized
Catholic Church in the United States of America.
(This article originally appeared in the August/September 2004 issue of
Homiletic & Pastoral Review.)
Related Links:
• "The Mysterious,
Elusive Catholic Voter—Captured!" | George J. Marlin's The
American Catholic Voter
• "Can Catholics
Be 'Real Americans'?" | by Mark Brumley
• "What Is America?"
| by G. K. Chesterton
• A Perspective
From Across the Pond | A Conversation with Dwight Longenecker
• Discovering
the New Faithful | An interview with Colleen Carroll Campbell
Joseph A. Varacalli, Ph.D., is Professor of Sociology and Director for the
Center for Catholic Studies at Nassau Community College-S.U.N.Y.
This essay is based, in part, on his volume, Bright
Promise, Failed Community: Catholics and the American Public Order (Lexington Books, 1-800-462-6420;
www.lexingtonbooks.com
or www.barnesandnoble.com or www.amazon.com
The Theology of St. Paul
by Fr. Kenneth Baker, S.J. | Homiletic & Pastoral Review
St. Paul is the most important theologian in the history of the Church … since St. Paul first gave expression to many truths that are the basis of the Creed and the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
I have spent many hours preparing some homilies on the theology of
St. Paul. My guide in this was Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen who said that
he spent one hour of preparation for every minute of preaching. That
study was most rewarding and gave me a few valuable insights into the
thinking of St. Paul.
It is clear to me that St. Paul is the most important theologian in
the history of the Church—with the possible exception of St. John the
Evangelist, who was taught by Jesus himself—since St. Paul first gave
expression to many truths that are the basis of the Creed and the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
The key to the theology of St. Paul is his personal encounter with
the glorified Christ on his way to Damascus. That revelation, in which
he was blinded for three days, changed Paul into a new man. The
persecutor of Christ was changed into a zealous apostle to proclaim that
Jesus is the promised Messiah, the Christ, that he is Lord (Kyrios),
and the Son of God. Because he saw the glorified Christ, and listened
to him, he was transformed from a Jewish rabbi, to a Christian rabbi.
Paul saw Christ, he heard him, he was called by him, and he was sent by
him to convert the world. In carrying out his calling and sending, he
was destined to suffer much for the sake of Christ—rejection, hatred,
scourging, shipwreck, imprisonment and, finally, beheading by the
Romans.
Christ is the key to St. Paul. His theology is Christocentric. The
Gospel according to St. Paul is that the Son of God became man in Jesus
Christ, in order to reconcile all mankind to God the Father, by his
life, passion, death and resurrection. For Paul, Christ is the
glorified Christ, now reigning gloriously in heaven, and seated at the
right hand of the Father.
September 10, 2012
SNAP: Support for Abuse Victims or Anti-Catholic Politicking?
SNAP: Support for Abuse Victims or Anti-Catholic Politicking? | David F. Pierre, Jr. | Catholic World Report
Conference speakers indicate a larger political agenda.
Anyone who has watched the Catholic Church
abuse narrative unfold in the media over the past several years has likely
encountered SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, a body
which bills itself as the “largest, oldest, and most active support group” for
clergy abuse victims. The organization has been quite successful in building
its presence and influence in the media, as journalists and writers often turn
to the group when seeking a voice critical of the Church for its handling of
abuse cases.
Barbara Blaine, a woman who claims to have
been abused by a priest as a teenager, founded SNAP in 1988. The group convened
its first meeting in 1991, and David Clohessy, a Missouri man who has also
claimed abuse by a priest, joined the group in a leadership role a year later.
Prior to joining SNAP,
Clohessy worked for nearly a decade for the now-disgraced, radical activist
group ACORN.
However, while SNAP’s stated mission is “to provide
support for men and women who have been sexually victimized by members of the
clergy,” the group’s leadership has allied itself with a progressive social
agenda and a full-scale assault on the teaching authority of the Catholic
Church.
The real agenda at play?
This past March in Washington, DC, SNAP
President Blaine appeared as a featured guest at a high-voltage conference
called “Women Money Power,” hosted by Feminist Majority, a very influential
pro-abortion lobbying group. At the conference Blaine was joined noted
activists Eleanor Smeal, Sandra Fluke, and Dawn Laguens (a vice president at
Planned Parenthood) for a panel discussion titled “Bishops, Politicians, and
the War on Women’s Health.”
New: "For Greater Glory" DVD
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What price would you pay for freedom? In the exhilarating action epic For Greater Glory
an impassioned group of men and women each make the decision to risk it
all for family, faith and the very future of their country, as the
film's adventure unfolds against the long-hidden, true story of the
1920s Cristero War the daring people's revolt that rocked 20th Century
North America.
Academy Award® nominee Andy Garcia headlines an
acclaimed cast as General Gorostieta, the retired military man who at
first thinks he has nothing personal at stake as he and his wife (Golden
Globe winner Eva Longoria) watch Mexico fall into a
violent civil war. Yet the man who hesitates in joining the cause will
soon become the resistance's most inspiring and self-sacrificing leader,
as he begins to see the cost of religious persecution on his countrymen
. . . and transforms a rag-tag band of rebels into a heroic force to be
reckoned with. The General faces impossible odds against a powerful
and ruthless government. Yet it is those he meets on the journey;
youthful idealists, feisty renegades and, most of all, one remarkable
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forged even when justice seems lost.
Also starring Peter O'Toole, Eduardo Verastegui, Oscar Isaac and Santiago Cabrera in an all-star cast.
This film is rated: R
This DVD contains the following language options: English and dubbed Spanish with Spanish subtitles
This is a Region 1 DVD (playable ONLY in Bermuda, Canada, the Cayman Islands, United States and U.S. territories).
"For Greater Glory vividly depicts the difficult circumstances
in which Catholics of that time lived - and died for - their faith. It
is a top-flight production whose message of the importance of religious
freedom has particular resonance for us today. It is my earnest hope
that people of faith throughout our country will rally behind For Greater Glory and, in doing so, will highlight the importance of religious freedom in our society."
- Most Reverend Jose Gomez, Archbishop of Los Angeles
"For Greater Glory is an excellent film that has the courage to
tell a story that has been all but forgotten. The sacrifices and
hardships endured by those who would not renounce Christ helped preserve
the religious liberty of millions, and this film honors their memory in
a remarkable way. For Greater Glory also reminds us of how
much has been done to pass this liberty on to our generation by those
who came before us, and it makes clear the truth that Christ taught us -
that there is no greater love than to lay down one's life for a
friend."
- Most Rev. William E. Lori, Archbishop of Baltimore
"For Greater Glory is a passionate, true life story of a sad
period in history when believers were ruthlessly persecuted for their
faith. This is a heroic and inspiring story, all the more critical in
that it is so timely. A first rate production all around!"
- Fr. Robert Sirico, President, The Action Institute for the Study of Religion & Liberty
"Moving, powerful and inspiring! For Greater Glory includes
stunning cinematography, an all-star cast, and tells a historically
accurate story that most audiences will be unfamiliar with but need to
know. The film's high production values and respect for the source
material are exemplary. The movie grabs the viewer and doesn't let go.
The stirring story of freedom and heroism is one that audiences will
reflect upon long after the screen goes dark."
- Timothy Drake, National Catholic Register
“We have to go where the suffering and dying are”
“We have to go where the suffering and dying are” | Jim Graves | Catholic World Report
Military chaplains bring the light of Christ to some of the world’s darkest places.
On September 4, the
Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA honored one of its outstanding
military chaplains, Vietnam War hero and Medal of Honor recipient Father
Vincent R. Capodanno, MM, with a special memorial Mass in Washington, DC. Dubbed
“the Grunt Padre,” Father Capodanno was killed on a Vietnam battlefield in 1967
while administering to wounded and dying US Marines; he was officially
proclaimed a “Servant of God” in 2006 and his cause for beatification has been
initiated. Archbishop for the Military Services Timothy P. Broglio was the main
celebrant of the memorial Mass, which was held at the Basilica of the National
Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. During his homily he called on those
present to remember Father Capodanno’s sacrifice and to “continue his Maryknoll
missionary spirit, his Marine courage, and his absolute fidelity to his
ministry as a priest in service to all.”
As evidenced by
the example of Father Capodanno, military chaplains play a vital role in attending
to the spiritual needs of a unique community that often finds itself in adverse
circumstances. In 2010, Pope Benedict XVI described the role of a military
chaplain as bringing about “renewed adhesion to Christ,” setting the bar of
“holiness as the high measure of Christian life in response to the new pastoral
challenges.”
Catholic
chaplains must do their work despite dwindling numbers; in the last decade the
number of Catholic military chaplains has fallen from 400 to 260. CWR recently spoke with four military
chaplains, both active and retired, about their service.
September 9, 2012
Full and Active Participation: The Challenge of “Porta Fidei” and the Promise of Right Brain
Full and Active Participation: The Challenge of “Porta Fidei” and the Promise of Right Brain | Deacon Dominic Cerrato, Ph.D. and Charles T. Kenny, Ph.D. | HPR
To effectively promote Pope Benedict’s effort, the Year of Faith, with its associated catechetical programs, a new marketing approach needs to be crafted putting joy before the law … leading with the contagious love of Jesus Christ, demonstrating how, by attending these various efforts, the participants will share in that joy by experiencing that love.
Anyone who has run any kind of catechetical event knows the
difficulty in getting Catholics to attend. Amid the hustle and bustle
of life, Church, along with its related functions, weighs low on the
priority scale for many. Mass is often seen by some as a kind of
mechanical obligation to be fulfilled and, once fulfilled, nothing more
is required. This attitude is further entrenched by a view that
catechesis is exclusively for children. It is quite common to hear
parishioners boast that they had 12 years of Catholic education, as
though an adolescent faith is sufficient to carry them through life’s
remaining triumphs and tragedies. There is little sense among many of
the faithful that catechesis is a lifetime endeavor, the absence of
which restricts our ability to live the faith we profess and, more to
the point, love the God who loved us first. Even with the best
catechetical programs, even with the best advertising efforts, chairs
remain empty and the faithful remain uninformed.
Early in his pontificate, Pope John Paul II took up the essential
role of ongoing catechesis. In his 1979 Apostolic Exhortation, Catechesi Tradendae, he wrote, “catechesis is necessary both for the maturation of the faith of Christians, and for their witness in the world.” 1
Given the essential role of ongoing catechesis in the life of the
faithful, and the lack of participation in adult catechetical programs,
there exists a disparity of faith; a disparity that is symptomatic of an
ever-increasing secularism.
Speaking to the Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization
earlier this year, Pope Benedict XVI identified radical secularism as
one of the greatest threats to the core truths of the Catholic faith. A
consistent theme throughout his pontificate, the Holy Father explained
that: “The crisis currently being experienced brings with it traits of
the exclusion of God from people’s lives; a general indifference towards
the Christian faith; an attempt to marginalize it from public life.” 2
More recently, this theme was taken up again in an address to the
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF). Summing up his
thoughts, he said: “We are facing a profound crisis of faith, a loss of a
religious sense which represents one of the greatest challenges for the
Church today.” 3
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