Al Kresta's Blog, page 330

Today on Kresta - April 20, 2011

Talking about the "things that matter most" on April 20

4:00 – Benedict XVI: Theologian of the Bible
Pope Benedict, a world-class biblical theologian, has recently published the second volume of his Jesus of Nazareth trilogy, Holy Week: From the Entrance Into Jerusalem to the Resurrection, and just last year promulgated the apostolic exhortation Verbum Domini, the most important Catholic document on the Bible since Vatican II's Dei Verbum. Father Joseph Lienhard is here to explore Benedict's dedication to the Sacred Scriptures as the touchstone for theology.

4:40 – Holy Thursday and St. John Vianney – Patron of Priests
Tomorrow, of course, is Holy Thursday, the start of the Solemn Triduum and the day on which we remember the Last Supper and the institution of the Eucharist and Priesthood. What better time to look at the patron of priests – St. John Vianney. For the 2010 "Year for Priests," Leonardo Defilippis created the one-man show "Vianney." The play focuses on the question, "What is a priest?" and tells the story of St. John Vianney, whose exemplary life was so remarkable that the Pope has named him the patron of the jubilee year for priests, declared him the patron of all the priests of the world. The drama, starring actor and film director Leonardo Defilippis , is playing for packed houses around the country and will be touring SE MI over the next few weeks. We talk with Leonardo.

5:00 – Holy Week: From the Entrance Into Jerusalem To The Resurrection
Jesus of Nazareth is the Son of God, and no myth, revolutionary, or misunderstood prophet, insists Benedict XVI. Indeed, Benedict maintains that the evidence, fairly considered, brings us face-to-face with the challenge of Jesus-a real man who taught and acted in ways that were tantamount to claims of divine authority, claims not easily dismissed as lunacy or deception. Jesus of Nazareth: Holy Week: From the Entrance Into Jerusalem To The Resurrection is Pope Benedict XVI's follow-up to Jesus of Nazareth: From the Baptism in the Jordon to the Transfiguration. As we go through this Holy Week, Fr. James Schall is here to take us deeper into the Pope's thoughts on this most sacred week of the year.

5:40 – Approaching the Triduum
On Palm Sunday, Matthew showed us that, as Jesus resolutely does his Father's will, myriad forms of human dysfunction--betrayal, sloth, stupidity, violence, scapegoating, corruption--break out around him. This is the salvation story: God's compassionate embrace of sinners. As we continue through Holy Week, Fr. Robert Barron is here to lead us into the Triduuim and toward the culmination of the Christian life at Easter.[image error]

Delaware officials continue probe of abortion clinic linked to Pa. doctor charged with murder

Delaware officials have reached a tentative agreement with an operator of a Delaware abortion clinic linked to a Philadelphia abortionist who is charged with murder.

The attorney general's office filed a complaint in February alleging that Atlantic Women's Medical Services owner Panzy Myrie had been advertising herself as a gynecologist, even though she does not have a medical license. By falsely holding herself out as a doctor, Myrie posed a "clear and present" danger to the public, according to the attorney general's office, which asked the medical licensing board to schedule an emergency hearing and to issue a cease and desist order.

The licensing board scheduled a hearing on Monday to discuss the complaint, but the meeting was postponed late Sunday after a consent agreement with Myrie was reached over the weekend. Further details were not immediately available.
"Both parties agreed to postpone today's hearing while an agreement is being finalized," Jason Miller, a spokesman for the attorney general's office, said in a prepared statement. "Since it has not been finalized, we cannot discuss it at this time."

An attorney representing the clinic did not immediately return a telephone message seeking comment.

Meanwhile, complaints filed against two doctors who worked at the Atlantic Women's clinic, Albert Dworkin and Arturo Apolinario, are still not resolved. The attorney general's office claims Apolinario and Dworkin failed to take steps to protect the public from Dr. Kermit Gosnell, who is charged in the deaths of seven babies and a patient at the Philadelphia clinic. Gosnell also worked at the Delaware clinic.

But last week, a medical licensing panel voted to lift an emergency license suspension that had been imposed on Dworkin at the request of the attorney general's office. Miller declined to comment on the panel's decision, saying it has not yet issued its report.

"We will review the report when we receive it," he said.

The attorney general's office contends that Dworkin was the obstetrician and gynecologist of record for the Philadelphia clinic and knew or should have known that Gosnell and his staff were engaged in unprofessional and criminal conduct, including "maintaining deplorable conditions" and "murdering babies born alive at the clinic."

Apolinario is described in the attorney general's complaint as the medical director of abortion clinics in Dover and Wilmington run by Atlantic Women's Medical Services, where authorities say Gosnell also practiced until his license was suspended in March 2010. The complaint accuses Apolinario of failing to report that Gosnell had removed and destroyed patient records. He was also accused of prescribing medicines after his controlled substances registration lapsed in June 2009 and before it was renewed this year.

Like Dworkin, Apolinario was the subject of an emergency license suspension. A licensing board panel convened a hearing last month to determine whether Apolinario's license should be permanently revoked, but attorneys asked that the hearing be continued at a later date because of new records that had surfaced, and because of what Apolinario's lawyer described as a legal issue.[image error]

British PM: End law against Catholic monarchs

Royal succession rules banning Roman Catholics from succeeding to the throne should be scrapped, the Prime Minister has said.

David Cameron said Catholics should be able to become King or Queen, or marry the heir to the throne, but warned that changing the 1701 Act of Settlement would take time.

He has said he would also like to scrap the law giving preference to male heirs, which has come under increased pressure with the upcoming wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton.

Mr Cameron and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg are in discussions with other Commonwealth leaders about how to secure a change across the nations where the Queen is the monarch.

He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "I think that it's right to discuss both sets of changes but I think we have to recognise that the Queen is not only the Queen of the United Kingdom but also many other jurisdictions as well.

"So discussions have to take place between the UK Government and other governments around the world and also with the Palace in order to bring this about."

He added: "In principle I think both changes should be made, in principle I'm of that view. But it will take time because it's not just our decision, it's the decision of others as well."[image error]

The ordinariate is really happening

The ordinariate is really happening. It really is. After a year and a half since the publication of the Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum coetibus which made establishing an ordinariate possible, and many earlier years of gestation, it is finally becoming real. Sure, it was established in January but until last night, the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham numbered fewer than 20 people.

Today its numbers have already more than doubled and by Easter morning its numbers will have swelled to close to a thousand members. These will not only include more than 60 members of clergy, but also very importantly, the committed lay people who have followed their pastors into full Communion with the Catholic Church.

I found it very moving to be at St George's Cathedral, Southwark last night to watch Mgr Keith Newton, the ordinariate's head, receive one of the first, first wave groups into the personal ordinariate. It was clearly a emotional experience for the people who were there with their families, some of whom were already Catholics, others who would not follow them and even others who were being received with their families.

Christopher Pearson, the former parish priest of St Agnes Kennington, led the group, which was mainly from the parish. The Catholic priest of the parish where the group had been receiving instruction took part in the ceremony as did Fr Mark Woodruff, the acting director of the Catholic League and Canon James Cronin. Another nice touch was the presence of Catholic lay people from the parish in the congregation who had come out in support.

The whole process of reception and confirmation, when Mgr Newton welcomed each new Catholic into the Church by name, called the Holy Spirit down on them and then anointed their foreheads with chrism, was incredible. It always is, but there was also the sense, last night, of a whole community coming into the Catholic Church together.

Mgr Newton also seemed moved by the celebration at St George's, which in effect marks the realisation of what he represents as ordinary. After the Mass he told the congregation and the new members of the ordinariate how delighted he was that they had come. He said that he had thought of himself as a leader of a flock when he had been an Anglican bishop. He said he had hoped people would follow his lead into the ordinariate but had been worried that he might turn around and find no one there and he thanked them for being there. (NB: This is a rough paraphrase as I had packed up pen and paper at this point).

The newly confirmed became members of the Ordinariate with their reception into the Catholic Church. Once the ordinariate has its mother church—Mgr Newton said that at the moment he is more concerned with finding housing for all his clergy than looking for the principal church—they will be registered there.[image error]

Filipino president: ready to risk excommunication birth-control bill

Philippine President Benigno Aquino said he is willing to risk excommunication from the Catholic Church rather than scrap the so-called Responsible Parenthood Bill, reported the Asian church news agency UCA News.

"I remain committed to pushing for the introduction of a law for responsible parenthood ... at risk of excommunication, it is my obligation as a leader," Aquino told graduates from the University of the Philippines.

"In the end I must listen to my conscience and do what is right," the president said. He said he cannot stand by and watch the cycle of poverty continue as unplanned births spiral.

The proposed legislation faces strong opposition from the Catholic Church because of provisions that allow the use of contraception.

UCA News reported that, earlier, church officials called for the scrapping of the Responsible Parenthood Bill and the Reproductive Health Bill, now pending in the Philippine Congress.

Aquino spokeswoman Abigail Valte said the Responsible Parenthood Bill will not favor the church's stand or the position of those supporting the Reproductive Health Bill.

"There is a need to revise, refocus and educate Filipino couples and provide them with all available information regarding natural and artificial methods of family planning, and for them to consult with the individual religious entities they belong to," Aquino said earlier.

New book takes a look at the messages left at the tomb of John Paul II

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Cartoon of the Day - Debt Ceiling

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Today on Kresta - April 19, 2011

Talking about the "things that matter most" on April 19

4:00 – The Invisible World: Understanding Angels, Demons, and the Spiritual Realities That Surround Us
Anthony DeStefano is here to explain the reality of the spiritual dimension that surrounds us. All aspects of the spiritual realm are discussed, including the existence of angels and demons, the whereabouts of loved ones who have passed, and even the presence and activity of God in our lives. The Invisible World demonstrates that nothing is more significant than to be reminded that no one is alone. Anthony joins us.

4:20 – Kresta Comments – The Oklahoma City Bombing, The Murder of George Tiller, and "Christian Terrorism"
It's been almost two years since the murder of late-term abortionist George Tiller and today is the 16th anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing. Both events are often pointed to as prime examples of "right-wing" or "Christian" terrorism. Case in point is a new book entitled "The Wichita Divide: The Murder of Dr. George Tiller and the Battle Over Abortion." Author Stephen Singular argues that Tiller's murder "can only be understood within the context of right-wing extremism that has become increasingly mainstream." Al responds to this assertion.

4:40 – Surge in New England Mass Attendance / Bill Maher Mocks "Catholics Come Home"
The notoriously anti-religious Bill Maher recently featured a three-minute segment on his show, slamming Catholicism, and in particular Catholic priests on Ash Wednesday. Maher specifically edited and perverted one of the highly-effective national commercials produced by the lay-Catholic charitable outreach organization, CatholicsComeHome.org. Meanwhile, this Lent, the Archdiocese of Boston, the Diocese of Manchester and seven other dioceses across the nation have partnered Catholics Come Home, to air the multimedia (TV and Internet) evangelization initiative inviting Catholics back to church – and the Bishops say it's working! Tom Peterson , Founder and President of Catholics Come Home, is here.

5:00 – Pope Benedict XVI and Jesus of Nazareth: Holy Week: From the Entrance Into Jerusalem To The Resurrection
Jesus of Nazareth is the Son of God, and no myth, revolutionary, or misunderstood prophet, insists Benedict XVI. Indeed, Benedict maintains that the evidence, fairly considered, brings us face-to-face with the challenge of Jesus-a real man who taught and acted in ways that were tantamount to claims of divine authority, claims not easily dismissed as lunacy or deception. Jesus of Nazareth: Holy Week: From the Entrance Into Jerusalem To The Resurrection is Pope Benedict XVI's follow-up to Jesus of Nazareth: From the Baptism in the Jordon to the Transfiguration. As we enter this Holy Week, Doug Bushman of the Institute for Pastoral Theology of Ave Maria University is here to take us deeper into the Pope's thoughts on this most sacred week of the year.

5:40 – The Case of Sr. Elizabeth Johnson
The USCCB's Committee on Doctrine has just issued a critique of a recent book by Elizabeth Johnson, a Professor of Theology at Fordham University. The book is Quest for the Living God: Mapping the Frontiers in the Theology of God. The Committee said that it finds that many of the book's conclusions "incompatible with Catholic teaching." The Committee asserts that the "basic problem with Quest for the Living God as a work of Catholic theology is that the book does not take the faith of the Church as its starting point. Instead, the author employs standards from outside the faith to criticize and to revise in a radical fashion the conception of God revealed in Scripture and taught by the Magisterium." Moral theologian Dr. Monica Miller is here to explain the issues with Elizabeth Johnson's theology.[image error]

Technology without God pulls humanity down, pope says on Palm Sunday

Celebrating Palm Sunday Mass at the Vatican, Pope Benedict XVI warned that technological progress must not lead people to think they can "become God."

About 50,000 faithful waved olive branches and palm fronds in St. Peter's Square April 17 at the start of the liturgy that commemorated Christ's triumphal entry into Jerusalem five days before his crucifixion.

The German pontiff, who celebrated his 84th birthday the day before, joined a procession that led to the Egyptian obelisk in the center of the square. He asked listeners to continue to prepare for Easter through penitence and acts of charity.

Holding a braided palm garland, he then rode in a jeep to the main altar for the two-and-a-half-hour Mass. It was the beginning of Holy Week, the busiest period of the year for the pope, with a demanding schedule of public appearances.

In his homily, Pope Benedict said the Palm Sunday procession must be understood as more than a "quaint custom." It represents the spiritual ascent that all Christians are called to make, a journey "along the high road that leads to the living God," he said.

Such an ascent is impossible without God's help, he said, although men and women have long attempted to "attain the heights of God by their own powers." All the inventions of the human spirit are ultimately an effort to become independent and completely free -- but without God, this effort is doomed to failure, he said.

"Mankind has managed to accomplish so many things: We can fly. We can see, hear and speak to one another from the farthest ends of the earth," he said.

"And yet the force of gravity which draws us down is powerful. With the increase of our abilities there has been an increase not only of good. Our possibilities for evil have increased and appear like menacing storms above history," he said.

The pope said that despite progress, human limitations have been evident in recent disasters that "have caused so much suffering for humanity."

He described people as caught between two "gravitational fields": the force of gravity that pulls people down toward selfishness, falsehood and evil, and the force of God's love that pulls people up.

The spiritual ascent to which Christians are called has some concrete elements, including purity, honesty and faith in God, he said.

"The great achievements of technology are liberating and contribute to the progress of mankind only if they are joined to these attitudes -- if our hands become clean and our hearts pure, if we seek truth, if we seek God and let ourselves be touched and challenged by his love," he said.

In the end, he said, a spiritual ascent is effective only if people humbly acknowledge that they need God and "abandon the pride of wanting to become God."

At the end of the Mass, the pope expressed greetings in seven languages to the thousands of young people in the square and said he was looking forward to the World Youth Day celebration in Madrid next August. The youths serenaded the pope with an abbreviated version of "Happy Birthday" in Italian.[image error]

Doug Kmiec Out As Ambassasdor to Malta

The U.S. ambassador to Malta, an important Roman Catholic supporter of President Barack Obama, said Sunday he would resign after a State Department report criticized him for spending too much time writing and speaking about his religious beliefs.

In letters to Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Douglas Kmiec said he would step down Aug. 15.
Kmiec was a well-known conservative law professor, commentator and regular guest on "Kresta in the Afternoon before being taking the job in 2009. But a report this month by the State Department's inspector general rebuked Kmiec for concentrating too much on issues such as abortion and his faith, while neglecting his ambassadorial duties

"I doubt very much whether one could ever spend too much time on this subject," Kmiec wrote Obama in his resignation letter.

The audit was the second critical assessment of a politically appointed ambassador this year and illustrates the pitfalls that presidents can face when they appoint noncareer diplomats to ambassadorships, often as a reward for their political support.

The audit of the U.S. Embassy in Malta said Kmiec's "outside activities have detracted from his attention to core mission goals" in the Mediterranean island nation, such as promoting maritime security and American business. It acknowledged the wide respect for Kmiec in the conservative, Roman Catholic country of Malta, but said his articles distracted him and embassy officials by forcing them to carefully review his writing. They upset administration officials in Washington, too, it noted.

Kmiec responded by describing the criticism of his religious views was "especially odd" because his friendship with Obama began out of a common view that "too much of politics had been used to divide us, sometimes by excluding people of faith."

The State Department declined comment on Kmiec's announcement.

The embassy in Malta has recently played an enhanced role as the nearest European country to Libya. More than 180 Americans were ferried to Malta when Moammar Gadhafi's forces violently cracked down on protesters seeking an end to his four-decade rule.[image error]