Fulton J Sheen

'Nuff said!

A Thread for Weaving Joy

"A Thread for Weaving Joy" is the title of a talk given earlier this week by Philadelphia Archbishop Charles Chaput O.F.M. Cap. to some participants in the March for Life pro-life rally.

Imagine a bishop standing up and expounding Catholic teaching. Imagine a bishop talking about what is required to be a Catholic. The cheek of it!

Catholic public officials who take God seriously cannot support laws that attack human dignity without lying to themselves, misleading others and abusing the faith of their fellow Catholics.  God will demand an accounting.  Catholic doctors who take God seriously cannot do procedures, prescribe drugs or support health policies that attack the sanctity of unborn children or the elderly; or that undermine the dignity of human sexuality and the family.  God will demand an accounting.  And Catholic citizens who take God seriously cannot claim to love their Church, and then ignore her counsel on vital public issues that shape our nation’s life.  God will demand an accounting.

and then there is this:

Evil talks about tolerance only when it’s weak.  When it gains the upper hand, its vanity always requires the destruction of the good and the innocent, because the example of good and innocent lives is an ongoing witness against it.  So it always has been.  So it always will be.

While the speech is was delivered to an American audince, the points the Archbishop makes are equally valid on this side of the Atlantic.

Read the whole thing here.

Senseless and Backward Thinking

Here is the text of a letter that appeared in the official bi-monthly publication of the Diocese of Portsmouth, The Portsmouth People:

In 1984 the Church decided, after consultation, to encourage Catholics to become more autonomous and to take greater responsibility for the practice of their faith. This resulted in an individual, personal choice with regard to a Friday sacrifice and there is now a plethora of good practice that is positive and far more meaningful than the old meat abstention, for example the practice of partaking in a smaller meal with the savings going to Cafod's work with the hungry poor. I now understand that there is about to be a revival of the prescriptive meat-free Fridays. This is a retrograde step, a return to introverted pre-occupation rather than the healthier looking-outward to make our sacrifice helpful to others, whether on a Friday or another day of the week.

Many people wonder why the Church in this country is now trying to reestablish a practice that has long since been dead and buried - and walking backwards is always fraught with danger. People surely will no longer respond to a one-size-fits-all negative practice that the Church saw fit to abandon 27 years ago. Has there been any consultation with lay people this time? If so, I certainly missed it. Do the authorities remember that one of the reasons for abandoning this practice was the difficulty it could cause in inter-denominational or inter-faith marriages?

Catholics no longer want to put up with being treated as wayward infants in need of rules and regulations imposed from on high, a kind of ecclesiastical ‘elf and safety’. We are quite capable of finding ways to witness to our faith, depending on our own individual circumstances, be they within schools, parishes or other faith (and non-faith) communities.

Over the past 27 years we have been enriched by joining with other Christians so that together we can bear witness to our Christian identity. To our great benefit, we have become less defensive and much more proactive in going out to the world, as Jesus asked us to do: ‘Go out and bear fruit’.

The days are surely gone when we can in any way justify those small egocentric ‘holy huddles’ and esoteric practices whereby Catholics tried to defend themselves against the wicked world.

If we are not careful, we will be in danger of isolating and alienating ourselves once again under the doubtful notion of re-establishing ‘Catholic identity’. Let's think again because, at the end of the day, most of us won't take a blind bit of notice of such senseless and backward thinking.

The writer gives her name but I won't put that up here.

There is so much that is wrong in this letter there is no point in "fisking" it. A good riposte though is, I think, to call to mind the words of Pope Benedict in his address to the Bishops of England and Wales during their 2010 ad limina visit when he said:

In a social milieu that encourages the expression of a variety of opinions on every question that arises, it is important to recognize dissent for what it is, and not to mistake it for a mature contribution to a balanced and wide-ranging debate. It is the truth revealed through Scripture and Tradition and articulated by the Church’s Magisterium that sets us free.

Pity our bishops. How can they lead us towards a revitalised Catholic identity when we have a bossy laity with a "grown up" attitude like this?

PS: If there was one word you knew would be in this letter it is surely "Cafod"

Bishop Michael Evans - RIP

Bishop Michael Evans of East Anglia passed away on the evening of 11 July. Bishop Evans had been ill with cancer since November 2011. There is a good obituary at A Reluctant Sinner' s blog.

R.I.P.

New archbishop and bishop

After being sed vacante for just about a week longer than a year, my "home" diocese, the Archdiocese of Pretoria, South Africa has a new archbishop, William Slattery O.F.M.

Until now Archbishop elect Slattery has been the bishop of Kokstad, and the bio below comes from the website of that diocese.

Bishop William Slattery OFM was born in Tipperary , Ireland, 6 Sept 1943. He Studied secondary school with the Franciscans and then joined that Order in 1962 and made final vows in 1966. Studied for a B.A. at the National University of Ireland in Galway. Studied theology and got licence in S Th in Rome 1970. Came to South Africa in 1971. He worked in Sebokeng, Sharpeville, Boipatong in the Vaal Triangle of Johanessburg diocese.

Appointed novice master of the Franciscans and parish priest Besters 1975-1983, in the diocese of Dundee. Set up formation program in Malawi. Superior of the Franciscans in the Transvaal and then appointed by the Bishops' Conference as Rector of St John Vianney Seminary 1984-1991. General visitator of the Franciscans in East Africa. Postulant Master and parish priest in Amatikhulu\Gingindlovu in the diocese of Eshowe.

Returned to Besters 1993 and appointed Bishop of Kokstad Nov 1993, consecrated bishop Feb 19, 1994. On the Board of the SACBC 1997-2006 as Chair of the department of Seminaries and now 2006-2009 Head of Department of Evangelisation. Have published religious and spiritual books in Sotho, Zulu, Xhosa and Sepedi.

The Holy Father has also announced a new bishop for the Diocese of Kimberley, our old parish priest, Mgr Abel Gabuza, who has served as the Apostolic Administrator for Pretoria for the last year.

Oh dear!

Whenever I begin to moderate my feelings towards the Bishops Conference of England and Wales, they do something so spectacularly obtuse that it's back to square one. Every time. Without fail. This time it's a cracker.

The monstrosity that is the sanctuary for the beatification Mass for John Henry Card. Newman.

Shameful.

The Fishal website

The Pope's revenge!

I've just seen an article which appeared in The Telegraph this past Saturday, describing the appointment of ++ Jose Gomez as Coadjutor Archbishop of Los Angeles as "...the Pope's revenge on Hollywood for filming The Da Vinci Code."

While that really is a pretty cool thought, I suspect the Holy Father had deeper reasons for replacing Roger Cardinal Mahoney with an orthodox shepherd!

The orginal article is here with a h/t to Is Anybody There?

St Polycarp, Bishop and Martyr

 

23 February is the memorial of St Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna and Martyr.

The Breviary says about him: Polycarp was a disciple of the apostles and bishop of Smyrna, as well as a friend of St Ignatius of Antioch. He went to Rome to confer with Pope Anicetus about the celebration of Easter. He suffered martyrdom about the year 155 by being burnt to death in the city stadium.

Saint Timothy and Saint Titus

Saints Timothy and Titus where early bishops and today is their memorial.

The breviary says: Timothy and Titus were disciples and helpers of the apostle Paul, the former being placed in charge of the Church at Epheus, the latter the Church at Crete. Saint Paul wrote his pastoral epistles to them, containing much useful advice for the instruction of the clergy and people.