News

VATICAN CITY (Zenit.org) — Benedict XVI appointed Jesuit Father José Gabriel Funes as the new director of the Vatican Astronomical Observatory, replacing Jesuit Father George Coyne.

Father Coyne, a native of Baltimore, Maryland, had been director of the observatory since 1978.

The Vatican press office announced the new director on Saturday.

Father Funes, 43, is a native of Cordoba, Argentina. He earned a degree in astronomy from the University of Cordoba.

He studied theology in Rome at the Gregorian University, and earned a doctorate in astronomy from the University of Padua in 2000. Father Funes has done considerable research on disk galaxies.

Well this is going to mess up the media’s annual rediscovery and shock of the Vatican observatory and put it out of cycle. Starting earlier in the month the media once again started running articles on this subject.

"People often ask me: `Do you believe in the Big Bang or in creation by God?’" Stoeger said, "and my answer is, `Yes.’"

A website set up as a platform for Conservative Party supporters to debate Tory issues has found itself at the centre of a freedom of speech controversy.

A contributor has been suspended from his job as community affairs manager with the mobile phone company Orange after comments he made on the ConservativeHome website.

Inigo Wilson posted a "Lefty Lexicon" in which he defined "Islamophobic" as: "Anyone who objects to having their transport blown up on the way to work."

His definitions, which also include a description of Palestinians as "archetypal ‘victims’, no matter how many teenagers they murder in bars and fast-food outlets", led to a campaign on the forum website of the Muslim Public Affairs Committee encouraging people to complain to Mr Wilson’s employer, the Orange mobile phone company. Initially, Orange replied to complainants saying: "Though we respect the right of our employees to do so, Orange does not hold or express opinions on such matters, therefore the article you referenced does not in any way represent the views of our organisation."

But as the deluge of complaints continued, the company decided to suspend Mr Wilson. Orange said the suspension is a "neutral act that allows us to conduct a full investigation".

Obviously satire that strikes a never is true satire. It is the truth of the jab that annoys. This story is rather scary in how the intimidation tactic of going after some bodies employer instead of responding via an argument shows us how multiculturalism will be used by some to force one acceptable culture.

Congratulations to Fr. Roderick for his wins in the Podcast awards. He took a well deserved first place for Catholic Insider in the "Best Mobile Podcast" category which was set against totally secular podcasts and first place also for Daily Breakfast in the "Religion Inspiration" section.

Congratulations also to Greg and Jennifer of Rosary Army for their win in the General category.

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.

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.

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) _ Twin girls no taller than Jesus’ chest squeal with delight, fingers pointed at the figure of the Son of God being lashed by a Roman soldier a few feet away.

Across the dusty courtyard from Pontius Pilate’s administrative complex, Jesus crouches pathetically inside a minuscule prison cell. Elsewhere, Jesus is betrayed, crucified, condemned, worshipped. His head is crowned with thorns, his dead body cradled by the Virgin Mary. And twice every hour he is resurrected — all 50 feet of him.

At Tierra Santa, billed as ”Jerusalem in Buenos Aires,” Jesus is quite literally everywhere. And the faithful come in droves, with 10,000 visitors on Easter weekend alone and more than 2.5 million since the park opened in 1999.

It is a Holy Land made almost entirely of plastic, from the camels to the temples to Jesus himself. The effect approximates the original ”Batman” TV show, with the surf-rock theme replaced by choral music and Arab dirges blaring from speakers hidden in fake palm trees.

Costumed sentinels (security guards) mingle with tourists guided by robed men and women through the history of the savior’s days in Jerusalem. Arab vendors peddle keffiyehs and ceramics in the park’s souk.

From the top of Mount Olive, where Jesus is permanently nailed to the cross, you can glimpse a disused water park. Planes from the adjacent airport roar overhead every couple minutes, tactlessly reminding visitors which century they are in.

The latest Cardinal Arinze Podcast has a video Podcast with the subject being Pope John Paul II’s The Theology of the Body. If you don’t already subscribe to this podcast, I would recommend at least that you get this episode. Cardinal Arinze was recently in my city for a conference on this subject which I was unable to attend. He also said Mass at my parish church during his visit and unfortunately I missed that also.

I have also recently started listening to another of Familyland’s podcast called the Weekly Roman Observer has guests like Mike Aquilina to discuss weekly events and highlights of the L’Osservatore Romano. Highly recommended.

MUNICH – ­ Pope Benedict XVI is to give an unprecedented interview Saturday to four German TV journalists invited to his summer residence, Castel Gandolfo, with the discussion set to air worldwide on August 13.

The German-born pope has already given a couple of one-on-one television interviews in his year-long papacy, but no head of the Catholic church has ever gone before the cameras to handle a panel of questioners for a full hour.

"Nothing like this ever occurred with Pope John Paul II," recalls Father Eberhard von Gemmingen, head of the German section of Vatican Radio, who is to be one of the four interviewers.

SAN DIEGO —- Registration for this weekend’s Steubenville San Diego Youth Conference had to be closed off early this year when the numbers topped 4,200.

"We had to close it off 20 days after we opened," said Bob Schrimpf, chairman of the annual Roman Catholic youth conclave that has attracted more than 10,000 young people since it began four years ago.

High school students from throughout the nation were flocking into housing today through Sunday at San Diego State University, where the three-day program is being held, and at the University of San Diego.

The local gathering is one of a dozen held around the country every year for young people "to get rocked by God, to get serious about life in Christ and his church, and to learn the truth about the Gospel," according to organizers of a conference earlier this summer that drew more than 1,000 young people to Franciscan University of Steubenville, Ohio —- the birthplace, 30 years ago, of the Franciscan University Youth Conferences.

The mission of this outreach program is to "evangelize youth through large conferences and events … At the heart of the conference weekend are the sacraments, through which young people can receive the Father’s loving mercy, forgiveness and healing compassion."

These conferences have also become fertile ground for recruitment to the priesthood, said Schrimpf, who’s been a featured speaker at several events around the country over the years.

"It was edifying to hear the authentic conversions at all levels," said the Rev. Anthony Saroki, the San Diego Diocese vocational director. Last year’s conference was the first he attended, shortly after being ordained, he said.

He said this conference, "which is the biggest event of this kind of event in the region" is "fertile ground for planting the seeds for priesthood." He is scheduled to conduct breakout sessions to help young men heed the calling of priesthood.

Last year’s conference drew some 3,000 attendees.

The bells in the tower of St. John Cantius Church have rung over the Near West Side since they heralded the church’s opening on Dec. 11, 1898.

For more than 100 years, the three bells have been serving as a clock for the neighborhood’s residents, ringing six times in the morning and marking time on the quarter-hour until 11 every night.

Until now.

The residents of this tightly knit community will no longer know when it’s time to put down the book, turn off the lights and get to sleep. The church has given in to two neighbors, striking a compromise to silence the bells at 9 p.m. from now on.

According to the Rev. Al Tremari, two vociferous residents, who’ve lived in newly constructed town houses directly across from the church for about a year, recently filed a report with the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency claiming the bells are too loud.

After complaints from two neighbors, St. John Cantius Church, 825 N. Carpenter, agreed to silence the bells at 9 p.m.

‘No one’s ever complained’

"It’s the first time in the history of the church this has ever happened," Tremari said. "No one’s ever complained before."
[Via Vox Lauri]