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Commentary and links to news of the wonderful, weird, interesting and cutting edge through the lens of our Catholic faith. Updated daily by Our Sunday Visitor staff. Email us with question or comments or link suggestions: feedback@osv.com.
Reuters
Pope Benedict XVI called for Christian unity as he launch a year dedicated to St. Paul on Saturday at the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls in Rome. The jubilee year will run until June 29, 2009. (For OSV resources on the Year of St. Paul, click here.) The pontiff was joined by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, the spiritual head of worldwide Orthodoxy, which split from the Roman Catholic Church in 1054. More info here>>
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Archbishop Raymond Burke, who up until Friday headed the Archdiocese of St. Louis, has been named to the Vatican’s highest judicial court — Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura. He is the second American prelate picked by Pope Benedict XVI to help govern the Church. In 2005, the pope named Archbishop William Levada of San Francisco to head the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and then elevated him to cardinal. More info here>>
MercatorNet
In this essay, commentator Jennifer Roback Morse reports on the efforts in Canada and Britain to make fatherhood redundant. In the UK, Parliament revoked a rule requiring fertility clinics to consider a child’s need for a father before inseminating unmarried women. In British Columbia, birth certificates have spaces for the biological mother, but not for the father. Rather, the documents lists “other parent.” Making same-sex parenting equally acc ...
The New York Times
For Iraqi Christians who have stayed in their country during the years of violence and persecution, paying protection money has become a matter of life and death. The death of Archbishop Paulos Faraj Rahho last February is a high-profile example of the desperate measures Iraqi Christians have had to take to stay alive. Archbishop Rahho used collection money to pay a man who threatened to kill him and his congregation. After he stopped paying the money last year, he was kidnapped and his body was found in a shallow grave outside Mosul. Officials say the demands of Iraqi Christians could be hundreds of dollars a month per male member of a household. In many cases, Christian families drained their life savings and went into debt to make the payments. Insurgents also raised money by kidnapping priests. The ransoms, often paid by the congregations, typically ran as high as $150,000, several priests and lay Christians said. More info here>>
Catholic News Agency
Pope Benedict’s new Master of Pontifical Liturgical Celebrations, Msgr. Guido Marini, has been quoted in L’Osservatore Romano, as saying that people receiving Communion kneeling and on the tongue will become common practice at the Vatican. Pope Benedict distributed Communion in that manner during his visit to Brindisi, Italy, last week. "In this regard it is necessary not to forget the fact that the distribution of Communion on the hand remains, up to now, from the juridical standpoint, an exception (indult) to the universal law, conceded by the Holy See to those bishops' conferences who requested it,” Msgr. Marini told the newspaper. More info here>>
The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
Bishop David A. Zubik ...
U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops
U.S. bishops agree with the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion and Public Life study that found that faith is an important part of Americans' lives and see in it the call to ongoing religious education. According to the survey, which was released Monday, 92 percent of American adults say they believe in God or a “universal spirit.” Archbishop of Washington Donald Wuerl said of the study: “At every juncture of our past, Americans have called upon God for guidance, protection, and direction. There is a clear identification with religion in America which, for Catholics, reflects the dedicated efforts of priests, catechists and teachers in our history.” More info here>>
The Wall Street Journal
Planned Parenthood affiliates nationwide are aggressively expanding their reach, seeking to woo more affluent patients with a network of suburban clinics and huge new health centers that project a decidedly upscale image. The reason? Opening up new avenues of revenue and increasing the organization’s political clout, says a report in the Wall Street Journal. Last spring, the nonprofit — which has 882 clinics nationwide — dropped its crusading mission statement setting out the rights of all individuals, no matter their income, to “reproductive self-determination.” In its place, Planned Parenthood adopted a crisp pledge to "leverage strength through our affiliated structure to be the nation's most trusted provider of sexual and reproductive health care." More info here>>
The St. Paul Pioneer Press
The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis’ decision to to prohibit a Minneapolis gay pride prayer service has many in the homosexual community up in arms, leading activists to call the action a troubling and telling sign from the Twin Cities' new archbi ...
The International Herald Tribune
After taking on Italy's prosecutors and far-left politicians, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s latest crusade is to make it possible for divorced, remarried Catholics like himself to receive Communion. However, if the message Pope Benedict XVI sent to the International Eucharistic Congress in Canada is any indication, that won’t be happening anytime soon. "We must do all in our power to receive (Communion) with a pure heart," the pope told the congress participants. He appeared to refer to the plight of remarried-divorced Catholics when he added: "Those who cannot have Communion due to their situation will nonetheless find strength" in their desire for it and by going to Mass. More info here>>
In the long-running culture war between evolution and creationism, Philadelphia is firing the latest shot. Nine academic, scientific and cultural institutions around the city are holding a Year of Evolution, a series of exhibitions, seminars and lectures to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin next February, and the 150th anniversary of the publication of his seminal work, “The Origin of Species.” More info here>>
The Washington Post
Despite the economic downturn, U.S. philanthropic giving rose to a record level in 2007, surpassing $300 billion for the first time. Del Martin, chairwoman of the Giving USA Foundation, which compiles the annual survey, said the modest growth encouraged her. But she said many charities surveyed, particularly those with small endowments, were worried about this year's fundraising totals. In overall U.S. charitable giving, religious cong ...
Should medical workers be forced to provide treatments that go against their religious beliefs? That is what the California State Court is deciding in a case of a lesbian who sued two doctors and their medical group who refused to give her fertility treatments because it is against their Christian beliefs to perform insemination on unwed women, whether heterosexual or lesbian.More info here>>
AsiaNews.it
China’s Diocese of Chengdu — where 14 of the diocese’s 56 churches had partially or completely collapsed and 27 were severely damaged in last month’s powerful earthquake — has set up a Rehabilitation Office to handle reconstruction work. Meanwhile Catholic volunteers from various parts of China continue their work helping survivors and raising funds to help affected dioceses in the Sichuan province. More info here>>
LifeSiteNews.com
The Diocese of Richmond, Va., is caught in the middle of a controversy surrounding workers at Commonwealth Catholic Charity, who helped procure an abortion for a 16-year-old girl from Guatemala. The workers signed a parental consent form, leading to a federal investigation of the case because Virginia law states only a parent, grandparent or adult sibling can sign the form. Richmond Bishop Francis X. DiLorenzo, as well as two other bishops, wrote a letter to the 350 bishops nationwide addressing the situation, in which they indicated that the workers have since been fired. More info here>>
CNS
In his homily at journalist Tim Russert's funeral Mass, Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick, retired archbishop of Washington, praised the “Meet the Press” moderator’s work ethic, love for his family and — most of all — his faith and love for the Good Shepherd. "The man of faith knows who his Redeemer is -- and so did Tim,” McCarrick said. “And God always took care of him -- as we believe he took care of him last Friday when he reached out and called him home." Among those in attendance at the Mass were presumptive presidential nominees Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama. More info here>>
BBC News
New figures from England and Wales reveal a disturbing trend — an increasing number of girls under 16 are having abortions. The number of abortions rose by 10 percent to 4,376 in 2007, while abortions for girls younger than 14 rose 21 percent from 135 in 2006 to 163 in 2007. Claire Curtis Thomas MP, a member of the All-Party Parliamentary Pro-Life Group, called for tightening up the laws regarding abortion in the United Kingdom. "We should be putting all our effort into reducing these numbers through sensible precautions such as offering a full range of information to women considering abortion," she said. More info here>>
The popular works of a Turkish author who professes to be a Muslim creationist and who predicts the return of Jesus Christ as a Muslim are causing controversy in the Western world. Adnan Oktar’s books preach that Islam is the one true faith and Darwinism, by undermining religious belief, has led to the discord, atheism, terrorism and extreme political ideologies plaguing the world. Oktar, who uses the pen name of Harun Yahya, has given away thousands of copies of his 768-page “Atlas of Creation” and has let readers download much of his work from his websites for free. The flood of free bo ...
A new survey finds that Catholic support is about evenly split between the Republican and Democratic presidential candidates in the upcoming election. Looking at the results of the poll, which was commissioned by the Paul B. Henry Institute for the Study of Christianity and Politics at Calvin College, it appears that non-Hispanic Catholics are considered to be “up for grabs” in the 2008 election, while Latino Catholics overwhelmingly identify themselves as Democrats. More info here>>
The Chicago Tribune
This week, Chicago’s Our Lady of Sorrows Basilica is marking the 775th anniversary of the Servite religious order, which founded and still runs the church. The Servite order, which has a large presence in Chicago, is one of the original five mendicant Catholic orders — those that rely on charity to operate. Events will also take place in California, as well as Denver and St. Louis this year. More info here>>
With the presidential election less than five months away, there’s been much talk about issues, including the economy, health care and the war in Iraq. This commentary focuses on one issue that’s not getting much, if any, attention this campaign season — the family. Writer Carolyn Moynihan ponders whether or not Barack Obama and John McCain realize how important it is for the health and prosperity of America to support the domestic unit founded on marriage and open to the generation of children.More info here>>
Pro-life activists in Kansas have found a new way to challenge a notorious doctor known for performing late-term abortions. They are using a state statute, adopted in the 19th century, that allows ordinary citizens who gather enough signatures on a petition to demand that a grand jury investigate an alleged crime, a decision usually left to a prosecutor. A grand jury in convening to deliberate on whether or not Dr. Tiller’s clinic has illegally performed second- and third-term abortions. Unsurprisingly, some oppose the move. However, David Gittrich of Kansas for Life told The New York Times: “This is a measure for the people to get some justice if law enforcement doesn’t do its job, and that’s exactly what we’re doing.” Kansans for Life was involved in grand jury petitions involving Dr. Tiller and helped collect nearly 7,000 verified signatures, more than double the required number, for the current investigation. More info here>>
Zenit.org
During his meeting Monday with Cameroon’s new ambassador, Pope Benedict XVI appealed to arms dealers to examine their consciences and called for micro-projects in developing countries to make individuals responsible for the common good. The pontiff also reminded political leaders of their duty “to provide harmony for their countrymen and a peaceful social situation, making efforts to put an end to tensions and unrest, which regularly cause conflicts, and to make prevail dialogue and respect for legitimate cultural diversity between social and ethnic groups, in order to build and unify the nation.” More info here>>
A new House Caucus has formed to promote the causes of homosexuals. The bipar ...
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Whether John McCain or Barack Obama moves into the White House in January, opponents of embryonic stem cell research will be out in the cold for the first time in nearly a decade as both candidates support federal funding for the morally objectionable practice. On Friday, at their annual spring meeting in Orlando, the nation's Catholic bishops voted to approve their first formal statement reaffirming their opposition to embryonic stem cell research, which is not in line with Church teaching. Archbishop Timothy Dolan of Milwaukee said influencing the presidential campaigns was not the bishops' goal but could be a secondary effect. "We're not doing this as a political tool, or to appeal to the candidates, but to teach the people and let them take that teaching to the marketplace," Bishop Dolan said. More info here>>
Newsweek
Newseek’s John Meachem, himself Episcopalian, writes of the deep influence the Catholic faith had on “Meet the Press” moderator Tim Russert. Russert, who died suddenly last Friday, “was a man of faith, cheerfully professing the civic virtues of post-World War II America.” More info here>>
The Modesto Bee
Father John McLaughlin has recently become the first-ever national vocations director at the Archdiocese of the Military in Washington. Father McLaughlin, who recently left his position as pastor of St. Monica’s Parish in Metheun, Mass., will travel the country, speaking to troops about following a commitment to their country with commitment to their faith. Military chaplains are sorely needed, with the U.S. Army having just 100 priests to serve more ...
The Associated Press
During his visit in April, Pope Benedict urged his brother bishops to offer support to priests, many of whom have suffered pain over the clergy sex-abuse scandal. The U.S. bishops appear to have taken his words to heart. Gathered for their spring meeting in Orlando, Fla., the bishops discussed how they can repair relations with priests. "We haven't spent enough time acknowledging the yeoman's work the priests are doing," said Bishop William Lori of the Diocese of Bridgeport, Conn. More info here>>
ABC News
In the first nationwide study looking at how states oversee individual health coverage, the consumer group Families USA has found that states don’t have adequate laws to protect people who are self-employed or ineligible for group health insurance. More info here>>
Young theology students from a host of Christian denominations — from Catholic to Unitarian Universality — are attending a weeklong conference in Atlanta aimed at reversing a trend of young people shying away from the gaps in churches nationwide left by retiring baby-boomer ministers. Many seminaries are seeing increased enrollment of students under the age of 30, but a growing number of those graduates aren't looking to lead a church. More info here>>