It is bad enough that in England that church attendance has been plummeting faster than the acute angle of a slippery slope. Yet now the Royal Shakespeare Company is in the words of Matthew Mehan in his article Strangling Shakespeare. I wonder if there is a connection?
Monthly Archives
August 2006
Last Friday Bishop Finn was on Catholic Answers which you can download as an mp3 here. I especially enjoyed his views on what the mission of a diocesan paper should be and which he put into practice when he dropped the column by Fr. MacBrien.
Fr. Rob has an interesting post called "Does the Vatican II Generation Have to Die For the Council to Be Implemented?" He makes some good points and it isn’t all pessimistic. Not surprising since historically the implementation of councils have always been turbulent.
A reader sent me the following article:
An attorney representing people who allege they were sexually abused by priests says Catholics in Eastern Washington can settle their church’s sex-abuse crisis and bankruptcy for $60 million — half of which he suggests could come from parishioners.
Bishop William Skylstad already has $30 million at his disposal from asset sales, insurance settlements and pledges from Catholic Charities and related organizations.
The remaining $30 million could be raised through what those involved in negotiations are calling the "latte-a-day" plan.
"We’re not asking for anything that can’t be done," said attorney Tim Kosnoff, who represents multiple sex-abuse victims.
Attorneys representing various parties in the bankruptcy are known to be considering the plan following the Bankruptcy Court’s rejection of an earlier settlement agreement proposed by Skylstad, which provided for $35 million in Spokane diocese funds and indicated parishioners might have to cover the balance.
Well in reality the concept is nothing new. When most large corporations get constantly sued they pass on the costs to the consumer via price increases. While I have great sympathy for the victims of sexual abuse and very little sympathy for those who have cooperated in by not taking immediate action, I also have little sympathy for these multi-million dollar suits. Demanding that parishioners who were not involved in these actions cough up money is not justice. It is like arresting a sexual predator in the park and then fining everybody who happened to also be in the same park or really any park in the county.
Exposing those who have abused or those who have enabled them is of prime importance. But bankrupting a diocese only causes further injustices. Lawyers seeking after alleged deep pockets don’t care if pro-life and apostolate for the poor don’t get funded. Cash remunerations do not correct injustices of bishops and others in a diocese involved in cover ups or just plain bad judgments, especially since it does not come out of their pockets. They just release "sorry about that" statements and pretty much except in the case of Cardinal Law go about their business. These lawyers are not seeking justice, just money. Unfortunately it also seems that all of these lawsuits is what was required in the first place to get the bishop’s attention.
Update: Dom also weighs in.
Rev. Rouville Fisher, a priest of the Diocese of St. Augustine, has been
formally excommunicated by Bishop Victor Galeone. Father Fisher was excommunicated because he has publicly joined the “Rent a Priest” organization and is offering his priestly services outside of, and apart from the Diocese of St.Augustine, and in violation of the directives of the Bishop. The faithful are advised that any knowing support of or participation in the schismatic ministry of Father Fisher is gravely sinful.
Bishop Victor Galeone [memo in the August 6, 2006 bulletin of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church, Palm Coast, FL]
[Via Christopher Blosser at Episcopal Spine Alert]
More reasons to love my own Bishop. I don’t know any of the details of this case other than that he was a Deacon just five years ago and was probably a late vocation priest judging by his pictures.
Religion reporting is often unintentionally funny and this article is no exception. Reporting on a San Diego woman having her first play-acting attempt at Mass.
A Roman Catholic canon says only baptized men may be ordained.
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has not taken a formal position on the issue, but three of the American women who say they are ordained priests received letters from diocese officials warning that they had chosen to excommunicate themselves.
Well I guess that they mean by "A Roman Catholic canon" is that canon law talks about baptize males when it come to ordination. Though of course this is not the source of the injunction.
I had a good laugh about the statement that the USCCB has not taken a formal position on the issue. As much as I might critique the Bishop’s conference from time to time this simply is not true. The idea that a bishop’s conference could come up with their own position on a now settled issue just proves the total ignorance of most religion reporting on the Catholic Church.
One of the sad thing about these women besides their confusion and misunderstanding of the Church is that they are going to end up depriving people of the sacraments. Those that attend their "masses" will not receive the Eucharist, will receive not blessing, and will basically be deprived of the source and summit of the Church – the Eucharist.
George Neumayr the new editor of Catholic World Report has more on San Francico’s Catholic Charities adoption scandal. Moral theologian Monsignor William Smith describes the decision as a "distinction without a difference." CWR found out that the two moral theologian in this case that Archbishop Niederauer relied upon are not exactly known for orthodoxy when it comes to homosexuality and provides examples of what they have said in the past. I just wish that some of this was surprising, but unless your name is Pollyanna you will probably find that it is not.
A reader sent me a NYT article "Some Scientists See Shift in Stem Cell Hopes"
In the five years since President Bush authorized and at the same time restricted research on human embryonic stem cells, a marked shift has taken place in some scientists’ views of how the research is likely to benefit medicine. Many no longer see cell therapy as the first goal of the research, parting company with those whose near-term expectations for cell therapy remain high.
Instead, these researchers envisage a longer-term program in which human embryonic cells would be a research tool to study the mechanisms of disease. From this, they say, many therapeutic benefits may emerge, like new drugs, which would probably be available at least as soon as any cell therapy treatment.
Yes that’s the ticket. With ESCR causing problems and not cures it is time to switch to a new tactic. And unlike The Who’s anthem readers of the NYT will be fooled again.
You can listen to the Pope’s interview with an English talkover here. Better yet if you subscribe to the Vatican Radio podcast you can get it as an MP3.
Since everybody is quoting from the Holy Father’s German Television interview.
Lanz: My question is linked to that of Father von Gemmingen. Throughout the world believers are waiting for the Catholic Church to answer the most urgent global problems, like AIDS and overpopulation. Why does the Catholic Church pay so much attention to moral issues rather than suggesting concrete solutions to these problems that are so crucial to humanity, in Africa, for example?
So that’s the problem: do we really pay so much attention to moral issues? I think — I am more and more convinced after my conversations with the African bishops — that the basic question, if we want to move ahead in this field, is about education, formation. Progress becomes true progress only if it serves the human person and if the human person grows: not only in terms of his or her technical power, but also in his or her moral awareness. I believe that the real problem of our historical moment lies in the imbalance between the incredibly fast growth of our technical power and that of our moral capacity, which has not grown in proportion. That’s why the formation of the human person is the true recipe, the key to it all, I would say, and this is what the Church proposes. Briefly speaking, this formation has a dual dimension: of course we have to learn, acquire knowledge, ability, know-how, as they say. In this sense Europe, and in the last decades America, have done a lot, and that’s important. But if we only teach know-how, if we only teach how to build and to use machines, and how to use contraceptives, then we shouldn’t be surprised when we find ourselves facing wars and AIDS epidemics. Because we need two dimensions: simultaneously we need the formation of the heart, if I can express myself in this way, with which the human person acquires points of reference and learns how to use the techniques correctly. And that’s what we try to do. Throughout Africa and in many countries in Asia, we have a vast network of every level of school where people can learn, form a true conscience and acquire professional ability which gives them autonomy and freedom. But in these schools we try to communicate more than know-how, rather to form human beings capable of reconciliation, who know that we must build and not destroy and who have the necessary references to be able to live together. In much of Africa, relations between Christians and Muslims are exemplary. The bishops have formed common commissions together with the Muslims to try and create peace in situations of conflict. This schools network, dedicated to human learning and formation, is very important. It’s completed by a network of hospitals and assistance centers that reach even the most remote villages. In many areas, following the destruction of war, the Church is the only structure that remains intact. This is a fact! We offer treatment, treatment to AIDS victims too, and we offer education, helping to establish good relationships with others. So I think we should correct that image that sees the Church as spreading severe "no’s." We work a lot in Africa so that the various dimensions of formation can be integrated and so that it becomes possible to overcome violence and epidemics, that includes malaria and tuberculosis as well.
Just when I think I couldn’t love the Holy Father even more he goes on to quote Chesterton.
Fuchs: Stories with humor in them too? In 1989 in Munich you were given the Karl Valentin Award. What role does humor play in the life of a pope?
I’m not a man who constantly thinks up jokes. But I think it’s very important to be able to see the funny side of life and its joyful dimension and not to take everything too tragically. I’d also say it’s necessary for my ministry. A writer once said that angels can fly because they don’t take themselves too seriously. Maybe we could also fly a bit if we didn’t think we were so important.