Carl E. Olson's Blog, page 282

Congress to investigate Planned Parenthood?

From LifeNews.com:

A Congressional committee has taken the first steps in investigating the Planned Parenthood abortion business over abuses ranging from financial disparities to its compliance with federal regulations on taxpayer funding to concerns that it is covering up cases of sex trafficking.

In a September 15 letter LifeNews.com obtained, Rep. Cliff Stearns, a Florida Republican who is the chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Investigations, writes to Cecile Richards, the president of Planned Parenthood.

"Pursuant to Rules X and XI of the United States House of Representatives, the Committee on Energy and Commerce is examining the institutional practices and policies of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) and its affiliates, and its handing of federal funding," Stearns writes. "That Committee has questions about the politics in place and actions undertaken by PPFA and its affiliates relating to its use of federal funding and its compliance with federal restrictions on the funding of abortion."

The letter asks Richards to comply with current federal regulations and legal obligations by providing Congress with a wide range of documents within two weeks of the date of the letter.

"Please provide all internal audit reports conducted by PPFA and its affiliates from 1998 to 2010. If not clearly indicated in the audit reports, please detail how much PPFA and each affiliate expended and received in Title XIX Medicaid funding, Title X family planning, and any other federal funding," the letter says.

Read the entire Life News report. Of course, you can expect that if there is a Congressional investigation, Planned Barrenhood will be given every sort of cover, aid and encouragement possible by those living and working in Media Land. As Michael New summarily notes in the opening sentence of an NRO post, "Tracking the Times's Commentary on Sanctity of Life Issues", the "mainstream media typically offers little in the way of interesting commentary on sanctity of life issues." He continues:

Sunday's New York Times editorial by Dorothy Samuels, a member of The New York Times editorial board and former executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, is certainly no exception. The whole commentary reads like a NARAL or Planned Parenthood press release. Throughout the editorial Samuels bemoans the incremental progress that pro-lifers have made at both state and federal level and encourages supporters of legal abortion to become more active.

In her op-ed, Samuels deems five particular pieces of pro-life legislation the "most harmful." These are 1) waiting periods, 2) informed consent laws,  3) parental involvement laws, 4) clinic safety regulations, and 5) prohibition of abortion coverage in insurance policies. One wonders why Samuels deemed these particular pieces of pro-life legislation the "most harmful." She never explains her methodology.

Read his entire post.

Fr. Pavone, John Wesley, and "particular churches"

Canon lawyer Dr. Ed Peters remarks upon a recent interview given by Fr. Frank Pavone with Al Kresta:

In his interview Pavone recounted for Kresta that, while he was a seminarian, he had on the wall of his dorm room a map of the world underneath which was written Methodist John Wesley's famous line "All the world is my parish" (Pt. I, 21:30 ff). Granted, a Catholic sense can be given Wesley's point, but such a slogan falls well short of the Catholic vision of pastoral organization, and its continued use by Pavone is telling.

Wesley's low ecclesiology let him see the world as a sort of parish, but Catholics can see more. We have "particular churches" known as dioceses (c. 368) under the direction of bishops (c. 381) who have the fullness of Orders, and it is within the context of the particular Church that most Catholic men ordained to diocesan priesthood are called for most of their lives to work out their salvation, yes, in fear and trembling. Pavone and many of his allies, however, are applying Wesley's model of the Church against Zurek.

Consider: However Methodism might expect its ministers to graduate from seminary and find communities to serve, diocesan Catholic priests such as Pavone are not ordained for at-large ministry wherever they decide to carry it on. Church law knows of extra-diocesan priestly work and makes certain provisions for it, but paradigmatic ordained Catholic ministry is generally offered, and will always be offered, by clergy working over extended periods in a specific place under a local ordinary. It is Pavone's style of national (for that matter, international) priestly ministry that needs special authorization, and not Zurek's exercise of authority that needs to be tailored to Pavone's perception of his mission.

Read the entire post on the "In the Light of the Law" blog. In addition to the Code of Canon Law, see paragraphs 813ff of the Catechism of the Catholic Church for important statements about "particular churches", the unity of the Church, and the authority of bishops.

"Why was there a need for the reform of the liturgy?"

Can you summarize it for me? Some say that the Council intended a radical break with the past to make the liturgy relevant; others claim that the Council's reform of the liturgy was the nefarious work of a few people determined to destroy the Church!"

This question, from a serious and well-informed Catholic, is representative of many similar questions we've encountered recently. It is a different question from "why do we need a new translation" — though it is not entirely unrelated to this significant change in the language of worship we are about to encounter.

More likely, such questions arise in the context of the recent change that permits the old form (vetus ordo) of the Mass to be celebrated side-by-side with the new (novus ordo). People who never experienced the pre-conciliar liturgy, and who have only known a wholly vernacular Mass that may vary widely from parish to parish — and especially those who are attracted to the solemnity and reverence characteristic of the "extraordinary form" of the Mass — are curious about why there ever should have been a liturgical reform. If Pope Benedict, in issuing Summorum Pontificum in 2007, intended to permit wider use of the "extraordinary form" alongside the "ordinary form", doesn't this suggest that the liturgical reform was not needed?

We, too, have read the extreme views of the liturgical reform that the letter-writer mentions. Though they reach polar opposite conclusions, both views have in common one basic assumption: that the Council's liturgical reforms represent a rupture, or "discontinuity" with the entire history of the Catholic Church's liturgy — and both views are equally and very seriously mistaken, as Pope Benedict has stressed repeatedly. The liturgical reforms of the Second Vatican Council are, truly, in continuity with the Church's history. And a liturgical reform was needed — and still is.

Here's an attempt to pack an eventful century into a very short space.

Read the entire essay, "Why the Liturgical Reform?" (or, "What if we just say no to any liturgical change?") by Helen Hull Hitchcock, from the September 2011 edition of Adoremus Bulletin. Hitchcock is the editor of the excellent collection of essays, Politics of Prayer: Feminist Language and the Worship of God (Ignatius Press, 1992).

Related on Ignatius Insight:

• Reform or Return? | An Interview with Rev. Thomas M. Kocik, author of The Reform of the Reform?
• • Foreword to U.M. Lang's Turning Towards the Lord: Orientation in Liturgical Prayer | Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger
• The Altar and the Direction of Liturgical Prayer | From The Spirit of the Liturgy | Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger
• The Mass of Vatican II | Fr. Joseph Fessio, S.J.
• Does Christianity Need A Liturgy? | From The Heresy of Formlessness: The Roman Liturgy and Its Enemy | Martin Mosebach
• Walking To Heaven Backward | Interview with Father Jonathan Robinson of the Oratory
• Rite and Liturgy | Denis Crouan, STD
• The Liturgy Lived: The Divinization of Man | Jean Corbon, OP

New: "Ida Elisabeth: A Novel", by Sigrid Undset

Now available from Ignatius Press:

 Ida Elisabeth: A Novel

by Sigrid Undset

• Also available in electronic book format

In this compelling drama about fidelity, sorrow and forgiveness, Nobel Prize-winning author Sigrid Undset tells the story of Ida Elisabeth, who marries her teenage sweetheart, Frithjof, in an effort to redeem her reputation. Early in their marriage, she realizes that her charming husband is incapable of supporting the family and she sews dresses to make ends meet. When Frithjof becomes involved with another woman, Ida Elisabeth leaves him and moves with her children to a small town.

Still young, the admirably hardworking Ida attracts the attention of a successful lawyer, who possesses the manly virtues that her husband lacked. As she contemplates marrying again, Frithjof, now gravely sick, re-enters her life.

Unlike Undset's famous historical novels, which are set in medieval Norway, the story of Ida Elisabeth opens in 1930. As in Undset's other fiction, however, Ida Elisabeth poignantly illustrates how poor choices affect the course of a person's life and how the suffering endured because of grievous mistakes can become the means by which a love is purified. 

With its setting in modern times, Ida Elisabeth examines the difficulties inherent in male-female relationships as they are experienced in contemporary society. Undset's descriptions of the Norwegian people and countryside coupled with her profound understanding of the human heart won her worldwide literary acclaim. Both are powerfully displayed in this moving story about fidelity and mercy.

"Undset is a realist in the truest sense of the word. She sees the real world in which people face the bitter consequences of selfish choices and in which suffering is unavoidable and yet potentially redemptive. In her acclaimed historical fiction, Undset shows us that the acceptance of suffering is the beginning of wisdom and also, paradoxically, the path to peace and lasting joy."
- Joseph Pearce, Author, The Quest for Shakespeare

"Undset's skillfully crafted novel explores with devastating simplicity and realism the quiet, hidden heartbreak experienced by a woman living with the consequences of a loveless marriage. The heroine's journey takes place within the evocative landscape of 1930s Norway but in many ways, it is a timeless portrait of the loneliness and guilt suffered by so many men and women when marriages break down. It will ring true with contemporary readers living at a time where marriage is so little appreciated and supported by society." 
-Fiorella de Maria, Author, Poor Banished Children

Sigrid Undset won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1928 for her epic work Kristin Lavransdatter. The Norwegian novelist is admired for her honest portrayals of male-female relationships, especially her descriptions of romantic love and marriage.

Praise for...

• ...  Extreme Makeover: Women Transformed by Christ, Not Conformed to the Culture, by Teresa Tomeo (available soon from Ignatius Press) from Cheryl Dickow on CatholicLane.com:

Just as she does on her daily EWTN talk show, Tomeo helps the reader (or listener) "connect the dots" in a way that the knowledge does become power and makes each of us better equipped to witness to our faith. Tomeo beats down the satan-like voices intent on destroying the gifts of love, forgiveness, and salvation we have in Christ. She fervently witnesses so that we, too, may embrace what has been offered to us as daughters of the King. It is always evident that Tomeo's love of her faith propels each word she puts on the page.

"The Abortion Distortion" is only one of the many wonderfully-crafted chapters of Extreme Makeover.  "Mirror, Mirror" reverberates with Tomeo's passion to explore and then conquer the low self-esteem problems faced by so many young girls and women today. (Mirror, Mirror on the Wall  is also the title of one of Tomeo's best-selling All Things Girl books devoted to tween girls.) "Extreme Media Makeover" examines the media's sloppy coverage of Pope Benedict's words on condom use and HIV; but because Tomeo never leaves the reader without resources, she also examines the ways in which our own excursion into social media can be used to defend and promote the teachings of the Catholic Church.

Tomeo's ability to draw together a myriad of resources — using excerpts from documents as profound as Humane Vitae, quotes from such figures as Bishop Aquila, statistics from the likes of American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, and references to the works of people such as Janet Smith — is an invaluable gift of edification to the reader, a gift that ignites and inspires the reader to love and share the precious gift of her Catholic faith.

Read the entire review.

• ... Fatima For Today: The Urgent Marian Message of Hope (Ignatius Press, 2011), by Fr. Andrew Apostoli, from Brandon Vogt:

That's the basic outline, but a new book by Fr. Andrew Apostoli titled Fatima for Today:The Urgent Marian Message of Hope (Ignatius Press, hardcover, 288 pages) goes much deeper and has positioned itself to be the best introduction to all things Fatima.

In the book, Apostoli breaks down each of Mary's messages and explores their significance for our own time. He also covers many different interpretations of the messages from popes, saints, and theologians over the past century. In fact, Pope Benedict XVI's own interpretation, which he wrote while heading the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, is included in the book's Appendix in full.

Interestingly, Fr. Apostoli is not only a Fatima expert but also the vice-postulator for the saintly Cause of Archbishop Fulton Sheen, one of my great heroes. In this book, Apostoli highlights many of Sheen's own thoughts on Fatima including one of his most insightful connections. ...

If you're interested in the Fatima visions, the controversial 'three secrets', or the significance and meaning of Mary's messages, Fatima for Today provides a great overview. It's very well-written and I recommend it as the premier one-stop guide to Fatima.

Read the entire review on the Thin Veil blog.

• ... "The Catholicism Project", by Fr. Robert Barron and the Word on Fire apostolate, from Kathryn Jean Lopez of NRO:

And yet, it's also the best sermon you've ever heard. The best class you've ever taken. Or the homily you've never heard and the classroom you never had available to you. ...

In a day when discussion of the Catholic Church often turns readily, and understandably, to scandal — "abusive priests, clueless bishops, corruption" — Father Barron has not forgotten that "the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us," in every tabernacle in the world. Or so he believes, teaches, and seeks to live, along with others who truly seek to live Catholicism. While absolutely in favor of addressing the penitential and ministerial difficulties of "the worst crisis of the Church in America," with Catholicism, Father Barron refuses to "surrender" to a "tendency to reduce the Catholic Church to our present difficulties."

The story he tells is this enduring belief, that "the Word of God — the mind by which the whole universe came to be — did not remain sequestered in heaven but rather entered into this ordinary world of bodies, this grubby arena of history, this compromised and tear-stained human condition of ours."

Catholicism is a crash course and, as the cover of the book depicts, an open door. Father Barron takes full advantage here, as he has done in his Word on Fire ministry, of the new schools of our new media. "It's a way in," he says.

Catholicism is classic, revolutionary, and plausibly — like the Gospels themselves — game-changing reality TV.

Read the entire review. The "Catholic Project" DVD set, book, and study guide are all available from Ignatius Press:

• " Catholicism": The ten-part series on DVD
• Catholicism: A Journey to the Heart of the Faith , by Fr. Robert Barron
• "Catholicism": Study Guide and Workbook

• ... the film, Padre Pio: MIracle Man ; on the Call to Holiness blog:

I have recently watched a movie called Padre Pio: Miracle Man  that was beautifully filmed, and it is a great biography of his holy and humble life devoted to Christ.  It is a long movie at 210 minutes, but well worth watching.  The acting and cinematography are first rate, as the filming takes place in the historic places around Italy that Padre Pio frequented.   One of the moving scenes is where a young Karol Wojtyła makes a pilgrimage to see Padre Pio and they pray together an entire evening.  A sceptic of Padre Pio, visited him nearing his death and to prove he was not a fraud, told him of the prediction that Karol Wojtyła would become a pope–indeed!!– Pope John Paul II who would make him a saint.  The movie can be watched in Italian with subtitles, or can be viewed with dubbing in either English or Spanish.  There is also a good booklet that offers more information about Saint Pio's life and has discussion questions and commentary.  This is a great movie that I highly recommend and will give you a deeper understanding of Saint Padre Pio.

 More about the movie, including a trailer.

Our Roman Missal Translation Special Pricing Extended

Our Roman Missal Translation  
  Special Pricing Extended!
This is your last chance to get the wonderful early bird pricing


Now you can be first to gain a better understanding of the New Roman Missal with our new online four lesson course created by My Catholic Faith Delivered with Midwest Theological Forum, the Archdiocese of Boston and Msgr. James Moroney Professor at St. John's seminary who has made presentations in 2000 parishes and 20,000 priests! You can easily reach hundreds in your parish with this interactive course.

- CONSIDER DONATING A COMMUNITY WIDE LICENSE TO YOUR PARISH -
What a great gift this would be to help every member in your parish be better prepared for the upcoming changes!



Benefits for Parishes
- Receive a parish wide access code based on the number of families (see pricing below)
- The course is complete with video, voiceovers, live links and prayer opportunities
- The entire congregation can use it anytime and anywhere with Internet access
- The course can be projected on screen for groups or classes
- The parish has access to the course for up to eighteen months!
- Progress can be tracked for each member of your community engaged in the Course


Benefits for  Individuals 
- Individual learners can sign up as well
- Great way to learn the translation and a better appreciation for our sacred liturgy
- Lessons can be completed at your own pace and have resources to explore further




Your Lessons Come With Free Pew Cards


Pew Cards that highlight the changes in the Mass are available from every screen of the lesson for free. Parishioners will be able to easily follow along and see the parts of the Mass that have changed. The 2 page Pew Cards are 8 1/2" x 11" so that they may be easily printed.

The Cards include: Greeting, Penitential Act Form A & B, Gloria, At the Gospel, Nicene Crede, Apostle's Creed, Suscipiat Dominus, Preface Dialogue, Sanctus, Mystery of Faith, Sign of Peace, Ecce Agnus Dei and Concluding Rites.

"'Martin Luther' is not a popular figure in most Catholic circles." ...

... Understandably so. Most Catholics who think about Luther at all, hold him responsible for the dividing of Christendom and the problem of ongoing Christian disunity. What's more, the pesky Fundamentalist missionary at the door, who attacks the Catholic Church as the"whore of Babylon", is seen, rightly or wrongly, as a direct spiritual descendant of the former German Augustinian monk.

But now here comes Pope Benedict XVI, a fellow German, visiting his homeland and speaking to German Evangelical Christians, i.e. Lutherans, as we call them here. The Holy Father seems comfortable talking about Luther with Lutherans, even talking with obvious regard and sympathy for Luther. Shocking?

Not to those who have followed the nuances of Catholic teaching on non-Catholic Christians as it has developed, especially as expressed in the teaching of the Second Vatican Council and in papal teaching since then. Not to those who are dissatisfied with a spiritual cold war among western Christians or who don't need to refight the battles of the 16th century in order confidently and placidly to affirm their Catholic faith. And not to those familiar with Benedict XVI, theologian and pastor.

What stands out about Pope Benedict's comments is how nonchalantly he talks positively about Luther, without betraying the slightest hint of a compromise regarding the fundamental issues dividing Catholics and Protestants. Someone might think, "Well, Pope Benedict knows this is not the 16th century. He knows that we should not treat Protestants today as if they were the original Protestants who broke with the Catholic Church."

True enough. But Luther was the original Protestant. Pope Benedict shows how a Catholic can have a certain sympathetic reading of Luther, notwithstanding the same Catholic's rejection of Luther's repudiation of the Catholic Church. In this way, a Catholic can see what is most important when it comes to assessing Luther—not denying the problems with him but also not overlooking what Luther got right or demonizing him.

Read Mark Brumley's entire essay, "The Pope, Martin Luther, and Our Time", on the Catholic World Report blog. Along similar lines, see my post, "Benedict, Luther, and the 'unity born of love'".

Benedict XVI: The Church finds her meaning "exclusively in being a tool of salvation"

From a wonderful address given by the Holy Father "a group of Catholics active in the Church and society gathered in the Konzerthaus": 

The Church's mission has its origins in the mystery of the triune God, in the mystery of his creative love. Love is not just somehow within God, he himself is love by nature. And divine love does not want to exist in isolation, it wants to pour itself out. It has come down to men in a particular way through the incarnation and self-offering of God's Son. He stepped outside the framework of his divinity, he took flesh and became man; and indeed his purpose was not merely to confirm the world in its worldliness and to be its companion, leaving it completely unchanged.

The Christ event includes the inconceivable fact of what the Church Fathers call a commercium, an exchange between God and man, in which the two parties – albeit in quite different ways – both give and take, bestow and receive. The Christian faith recognizes that God has given man a freedom in which he can truly be a partner to God, and can enter into exchange with him. At the same time it is clear to man that this exchange is only possible thanks to God's magnanimity in accepting the beggar's poverty as wealth, so as to make the divine gift acceptable, given that man has nothing of comparable worth to offer in return.

The Church likewise owes her whole being to this unequal exchange. She has nothing of her own to offer to him who founded her. She finds her meaning exclusively in being a tool of salvation, in filling the world with God's word and in transforming the world by bringing it into loving unity with God. The Church is fully immersed in the Redeemer's outreach to men. She herself is always on the move, she constantly has to place herself at the service of the mission that she has received from the Lord. The Church must always open up afresh to the cares of the world and give herself over to them, in order to make present and continue the holy exchange that began with the Incarnation.

In the concrete history of the Church, however, a contrary tendency is also manifested, namely that the Church becomes settled in this world, she becomes self-sufficient and adapts herself to the standards of the world. She gives greater weight to organization and institutionalization than to her vocation to openness.

In order to accomplish her true task adequately, the Church must constantly renew the effort to detach herself from the "worldliness" of the world. In this she follows the words of Jesus: "They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world" (Jn 17:16). One could almost say that history comes to the aid of the Church here through the various periods of secularization, which have contributed significantly to her purification and inner reform.

Secularizing trends – whether by expropriation of Church goods, or elimination of privileges or the like – have always meant a profound liberation of the Church from forms of worldliness, for in the process she has set aside her worldly wealth and has once again completely embraced her worldly poverty.

This approach, of course, is completely foreign to a worldly way of thinking. And when the Pope says, a bit later, "Once liberated from her material and political burdens, the Church can reach out more effectively and in a truly Christian way to the whole world, she can be truly open to the world", you can bet a few heads exploded—both inside and outside of the Church. And this is also powerful, challenging, demanding:

It is not a question here of finding a new strategy to relaunch the Church. Rather, it is a question of setting aside mere strategy and seeking total transparency, not bracketing or ignoring anything from the truth of our present situation, but living the faith fully here and now in the utterly sober light of day, appropriating it completely, and stripping away from it anything that only seems to belong to faith, but in truth is mere convention or habit.

To put it another way: for people of every era, not just our own, the Christian faith is a scandal. That the eternal God should know us and care about us, that the intangible should at a particular moment have become tangible, that he who is immortal should have suffered and died on the Cross, that we who are mortal should be given the promise of resurrection and eternal life – to believe all this is to posit something truly remarkable.

This scandal, which cannot be eliminated unless one were to eliminate Christianity itself, has unfortunately been overshadowed in recent times by other painful scandals on the part of the preachers of the faith. A dangerous situation arises when these scandals take the place of the primary skandalon of the Cross and in so doing they put it beyond reach, concealing the true demands of the Christian Gospel behind the unworthiness of those who proclaim it.

All the more, then, it is time once again for the Church resolutely to set aside her worldliness.

Read the entire address.

Pope exhorts Catholics to remain united to Christ, the Church, the Pope, one another

From Pope Benedict XVI's homily today Papal Mass near Freiburg:

The Gospel for this Sunday speaks of two sons, but behind them, in a mysterious way, there is a third son. The first son says "no," but does the father's will. The second son says "yes," but does not do what he was asked. The third son both says "yes" and does what he was asked. This third son is the Only-begotten Son of God, Jesus Christ, who has gathered us all here. Jesus, on entering the world, said: "Lo, I have come to do thy will, O God" (Heb 10:7). He not only said "yes", he acted on it. As the Christological hymn from the second reading says: "Though he was in the form of God, [Jesus] did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a Cross" (Phil. 2: 6-8). In humility and obedience, Jesus fulfilled the will of the Father and by dying on the Cross for his brothers and sisters, he saved us from our pride and obstinacy. Let us thank him for his sacrifice, let us bend our knees before his name and proclaim together with the disciples of the first generation: "Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father" (Phil 2:11).

The Christian life must continually measure itself by Christ: "Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus" (Phil 2:5), as Saint Paul says in the introduction to the Christological hymn. A few verses before, he exhorts his readers: "So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any incentive of love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind" (Phil 2:1-2). Just as Christ was totally united to the Father and obedient to him, so too the disciples must obey God and be of one mind among themselves. Dear friends, with Paul I dare to exhort you: complete my joy by being firmly united in Christ. The Church in Germany will overcome the great challenges of the present and future, and it will remain a leaven in society, if the priests, consecrated men and women, and the lay faithful, in fidelity to their respective vocations, work together in unity, if the parishes, communities, and movements support and enrich each other, if the baptized and confirmed, in union with their bishop, lift high the torch of untarnished faith and allow it to enlighten their abundant knowledge and skills. The Church in Germany will continue to be a blessing for the entire Catholic world: if she remains faithfully united with the Successors of Saint Peter and the Apostles, if she fosters cooperation in various ways with mission countries and allows herself to be "infected" by the joy that marks the faith of these young Churches.

To his exhortation to unity, Paul adds a call to humility: "Do nothing from selfishness or conceit, but in humility count others better than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others" (Phil 2:3-4). Christian life is a life for others: existing for others, humble service of neighbour and of the common good. Dear friends, humility is a virtue that does not enjoy great esteem today. But the Lord's disciples know that this virtue is, so to speak, the oil that makes the process of dialogue fruitful, cooperation simple and unity sincere. The Latin word for humility, humilitas, is derived from humus and indicates closeness to the earth. Those who are humble stand with their two feet on the ground, but above all they listen to Christ, the Word of God, who ceaselessly renews the Church and each of her members.

Let us ask God for the courage and the humility to walk the path of faith, to draw from the riches of his mercy, and to fix our gaze on Christ, the Word, who makes all things new and is for us "the way, the truth, and the life" (Jn 14:6): he is our future. Amen.

Read the entire homily on the Vatican Radio site.

This is how protected beliefs become prosecuted "bigotry"

Sister Mary Ann Walsh, director of media relations for the USCCB, wonders if "late night comics who mock the church ... have set the tone of the government's current salvos against religious freedom", and then warns:

In the effort to redefine marriage, we see the government threatening religious discrimination in the name of--you guessed it--preventing discrimination. The Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), passed by Congress and signed by President Clinton, declares that marriage is between one man and one woman. But the Department of Justice, which is charged with defending Acts of Congress like DOMA against constitutional challenge, declared in March that it would stop doing so. In July, Justice went further and started filing briefs that attack DOMA's constitutionality. Most disturbing in this flip-flop is its rationale: DOMA's definition of marriage must be abandoned and then attacked because it is motivated by bias and prejudice, comparable to racism. That is, the Justice Department simply writes off as bigots those with longstanding support for traditional marriage. And if the Justice Department gets its way in court, those considered bigots by the federal government will be marginalized with the full moral, economic and coercive power of the state.

For example, an employer who provides unique employment benefits to the actually married risks being disqualified from government funding - and most other government cooperation - and likely being sued for "discrimination." A government clerk who expresses a conscientious objection to cooperating with same-sex civil union ceremonies risks a pink slip.

In short, this is what happens when the view that marriage is between a man and a woman becomes a violation of the U.S. Constitution. And this is what the Justice Department urges--apparently forgetting that imposing special disabilities on people and groups because of their religious beliefs offends the First Amendment at its core.

Read her entire post, "Looks Like Leno, Letterman Setting Tone at HHS, Justice Department" (Sept. 22, 2011). What was it that Benedict XVI said, quoting St. Augustine, in his first address on his visit to Germany?

"Without justice – what else is the State but a great band of robbers?", as Saint Augustine once said (1). We Germans know from our own experience that these words are no empty spectre. We have seen how power became divorced from right, how power opposed right and crushed it, so that the State became an instrument for destroying right – a highly organized band of robbers, capable of threatening the whole world and driving it to the edge of the abyss.

It's an very bad thing to have your money and property stolen. It's even worse to have your rights stripped away in the name of "tolerance" and under the false pretense of "discrimination". Alas, it seems that the cynical promises of hope and change are proving to be half right and completely wrong.