News

MOSUL, Iraq Relatives of an Orthodox priest who was kidnapped and found beheaded three days later said Thursday that his captors had demanded his church condemn the pope’s recent comments about Islam and pay a US$350,000 (€280,000) ransom.

More than 500 people attended a memorial service Thursday for father Amer Iskender in the northern city of Mosul after his decapitated body was found Wednesday evening in an industrial area of the city.

Iskender was a priest at the St. Ephrem Orthodox church in Mosul.

"He was a good man and we all shed tears for him," said Eman Saaur, a 45-year-old schoolteacher who said she attended Iskender’s church regularly. "He was a man of peace."

Relatives, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal, said the unidentified group that seized Iskender on Sunday had demanded a ransom and that his church condemn a statement made by Pope Benedict XVI last month that ignited a wave anger throughout the Muslim world. In a speech at a German university the pope quoted a medieval text that characterized some of the Prophet Muhammad’s teachings as "evil and inhuman," declaring Islam was a religion spread by the sword.

BRIGHTON, MA – Pope Benedict XVI has informed Cardinal Seán O’Malley that Reverend John A. Dooher, Pastor of St. Mary Parish in Dedham and Reverend Robert Hennessey, Pastor of Most Holy Redeemer in East Boston, have been named Auxiliary Bishops for the Archdiocese of Boston.

Cardinal Seán received this news with gratitude for the Holy Father’s pastoral care of the Archdiocese and has announced that bishop-elect Dooher will be assigned to the South region and bishop-elect Hennessey will be assigned to the Central region of the Archdiocese.

Pope Benedict XVI has also granted Bishop John Boles’ request for retirement – Bishop Boles currently serves as the Auxiliary for the Central region.

The Ordination of the two new Auxiliary Bishops will take place on December 12, 2006 at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross in Boston; details will be forthcoming. Bishops-elect Dooher and Hennessey will also continue in their current roles at their parishes until replacements are appointed.

Rocco is reporting "Mutiny in the Big Apple."

Long-simmering tensions among a broad cross-section of the archdiocese’s priests broke into the open today with the circulation of an anonymous letter under the authorship of a group calling itself "A Committee of Concerned Clergy for the Archdiocese of New York." Saying that, "At no time has the relationship between the Ordinary and the priests of the Archdiocese been so fractured and seemingly hopeless as it is now," the authors have urged their confreres to lodge "a formal vote of ‘NO Confidence’" (emphases original) in Cardinal Edward M. Egan, who became archbishop in 2000. Using strong language throughout the 950-word missive, the authors allege a widespread finding that Egan’s relationship with his priests has been "defined by dishonesty, deception, disinterest and disregard."

"Sadly, it is evident that this Cardinal is unable to deal with the complexities, problems and challenges of an Archdiocese of the magnitude and diversity of New York. For these reasons and more, the Priests of the Archdiocese of New York must express a vote of NO CONFIDENCE. Such a vote would encourage the Papal Nuncio and the Holy Father to strongly consider accepting the Cardinal’s resignation in April,2007, when he reaches the age of retirement, rather than at a future and uncertain date before his 80th birthday, as can often be the case with retiring Cardinals. The search for a new Archbishop should begin sooner rather than later."

I am not much of a fan of anonymous committees encouraging secretive votes against their bishop.

In other news a press release from Archdiocese of Boston announces.

Cardinal Seán O’Malley will host a press conference tomorrow morning to make a major announcement, sharing key news regarding an important step forward in the continued rebuilding and strengthening of the Church in Boston.

…Please Note: Immediately following Cardinal O’Malley’s press conference, all media are welcome to remain for a photo opportunity and to cover the procession of the sacred relic of the heart of St. John Vianney outside the grounds of St. John’s Seminary – located next to Peterson Hall – to a statue of St. John Vianney and to the entrance of St. John’s Seminary Chapel.

Interesting article on Phil McCord the currently non-Catholic whose miraculous healing of his eye is attributed to Blessed Mother Theodore Guerin and was used as proof for the second miracle leading to her canonization this Sunday.

He was the son of a Baptist lay minister and he worked for nuns, overseeing the facilities owned by the Sisters of Providence, composting and all.
McCord was never much of a praying man.

But concern for his eye and the notes from an organ brought him into the Church of the Immaculate Conception, the large, ornate church on the St. Mary-of-the-Woods campus.
He sat in a pew and offered up a silent prayer to God. And, almost as an afterthought, McCord thought of Blessed Mother Theodore Guerin. He took a chance on speaking to her. "If you have any influence with God," he recalled saying, "I would appreciate it if you would exercise it on my behalf and kind of help look out for me."

…McCord has tried to follow a just-the-facts approach to his story. He’s content to let others draw their own conclusions about whether this was a miracle. But he says Mother Theodore was known to provide medical care to the congregation’s employees and their families. It doesn’t seem to him like a stretch that she might do the same from heaven.
But has the experience brought him closer to God?

McCord says he is "more of a Catholic than anything" yet "not a very observant anything." Yet his ambivalence seems to be waning. He talks now about taking "the next step."
"
I’d be very comfortable with that decision," he said.

A vacation in Italy turned tragic for a local archbishop and two fellow priests over the weekend.

Baltimore’s Cardinal William Keeler is recovering in the hospital after getting in a car accident while vacationing outside of Rome.

The 75-year-old suffered a broken ankle when a car struck the passenger side of the car he was riding in with two other priests in the town of Terni.

Father Bernard Quinn, a retired priest from Pennsylvania, was killed in the crash. He was sitting in the backseat.

Monsignor Thomas Smith, pastor of a church in Pennsylvania, was driving the car. He broke several ribs.

The Catholic Church says both Keeler and Smith are making plans to return to Baltimore and Pennsylvania later this week. All three men were friends and often vacationed together.

Amy Welborn thought the "Pope tries to win hearts and minds by saving souls of unbaptised babies" was the worst headline ever. Well I think I have found a contender for that title in an AP story.

Woman Turns Down Sex for Jesus

Though the article itself is a nice one on a consecrated virgin.

She stood at the altar in a white gown and veil, but she was there for no earthly man. Lori Rose Cannizzaro was dedicating her virginity to Jesus.

Saturday’s rare Catholic ceremony, one her own pastor didn’t know existed, turned the 42-year-old into a ‘consecrated virgin.’ Fewer than 200 women in the United States and 2,000 worldwide have declared their perpetual virginity this way, according to U.S. Association of Consecrated Virgins.

‘There are people who think I’m nuts,’ Cannizzaro said.

The ceremony was a revival of one of the church’s oldest rituals.

The rite is available only to virgins, who agree to abstain from sex so they can dedicate their lives to Jesus Christ in what the association describes as a mystical marriage and a profound spiritual blessing. Each woman wears a band on her left ring finger as a symbol, much like a wedding band.

Cannizzaro, who is not a nun, will continue to live on her own and work as a cook at Christ the King Seminary in a Buffalo suburb.

She said she has plenty of support from family and friends.

‘It is a good and holy thing to want to be in a virginal state,’ she said.

Here is an interesting article on Phil Visher the creator of Veggie tales and his new project. The article includes the following:

One of the keys to his personal turnaround came when he read about the life of Mother Teresa.

“She fed the poor one at a time. She didn’t try to franchise her system for feeding the hungry. She didn’t try to become the Ray Kroc of world hunger. At first, that didn’t make sense to me. That’s not very efficient. Read some business books! Be more efficient! But then I realized she was doing what God called her to do, and that’s all that matters.”

Seem like he found out for himself this quote of Blessed Mother Teresa "God does not ask me to be successful, but to be faithful."

The Sisters of Providence of St. Mary-of-the-Woods have received word from Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels and the Indiana Department of Transportation that a section of U.S. 150 adjacent to the motherhouse grounds will be known as Saint Mother Theodore Guerin Memorial Highway.

Gov. Daniels is expected to make the formal announcement at 3 p.m. Tuesday in the Church of the Immaculate Conception at St. Mary-of-the-Woods.

Guerin will be canonized as a saint in the Roman Catholic Church on Oct. 15 at the Vatican. Pope Benedict XVI will preside. She came to the United States in 1840 and founded the Sisters of Providence.

There are 150 Psalms so U.S. 150 is a good choice to commemorate a saint.

This undated photo released by The Catholic Heart show the uncorrupted heart of St. John Vianney, who died 147 years ago in France is shown in its glass case. The The heart and Vianney’s chalice are being brought to the United States for the first time this weekend in what the pastor of Long Island’s Cur� of Ars church calls ‘an historical moment for our country, our diocese, our church.’ (AP Photo/The Catholic Heart)

Here is a strange story a reader sent me. A group of Carmelites bought some land for a new monastery from American Tower Corporation. This land had been on the market for a while when the Carmelites picked it up. When the company found out the land would be quite valuable as a windfarm they started delaying tactics to keep from selling it. The media is using David vs. Goliath as an analogy and I bet David would rather have faced Goliath any day then a flock of company lawyers.