Pope Francis drives a wedge between Catholic Church, GOP | TheHill

 

Pope Francis is increasingly driving a wedge between conservatives and the Catholic Church.


The magnetic pope has sparked new enthusiasm around the world for the church and has flexed his political muscles internationally, most recently by helping to engineer a new relationship between the United States and Cuba.



But Francis’s agenda, which also includes calls to address income inequality and limit climate change, is putting him at odds with Republicans, including GOP Catholics in the United States.


Hours after President Obama announced moves to ease trade and travel restrictions to Cuba, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), a practicing Catholic and potential 2016 presidential candidate, criticized the deal and Francis's role in it.

“I would also ask His Holiness to take up the cause of freedom and democracy, which is critical for a free people, for a people to truly be free,” Rubio told reporters.

Rubio said that Cubans “deserve the same chances to have democracy as the people of Argentina have had, where he comes from, as the people of Italy have, where he now lives.”

His office declined additional comment for this story.

Fellow Catholic Rep. Mario Diaz Balart (R-Fla.) said he wished Francis would stand up for the Cuban people "rather than their oppressors."

“Sadly, in the case of Cuba, the Catholic Church has not always applied its basic principles of human dignity and reverence for the God-given freedoms that belong to every soul. I was supremely disappointed by press reports that the Pope had a hand in urging President Obama to cede crucial leverage that could have been used to help the Cuban people become free,” Diaz Balart said.



It's not the first time Francis has clashed with conservatives.

Since his papal inauguration in March 2013, the pontiff has publicly made policy remarks about income inequality and the environment that many American Catholics weren't used to hearing coming from the Vatican, and not just from the pulpit.

“Inequality is the root of social evil,” Francis tweeted in March, after months earlier slamming “trickle-down” economics as a “crude and naïve” theory.

Next year, as part of a speech he’ll give to the U.N. General Assembly, Francis will issue an edict urging the world's 1.2 billion Catholics to do what they can to fight climate change.


“He's modeling the church as a place for open disagreement,” said Vincent J. Miller, who chairs the University of Dayton's Catholic theology program. “In that sense, one of the most important changes he's making is that conservative politicians are now openly disagreeing with him,” Miller said.

Catholics have long been considered an important voting block in American politics and have turned out for the winning presidential candidate in the last three cycles.

A closer look at the Catholic vote reveals that white Catholics have supported the Republican candidate in each of those elections, while Hispanic Catholics have supported the Democratic candidate, according to Pew Research polling.

According to Pew, Catholics made up 24 percent of the electorate in the 2014 cycle, voting for GOP House candidates over Democratic ones 54 percent to 45 percent.

Francis himself enjoys a high favorability rating of 78 percent among all Americans, with only 11 percent disapproving of him and the remaining having no opinion, according to a Dec. 11 poll from Pew. Among Catholics, his favorability spikes to 93 percent.

Miller said Republicans are no longer able to use issues like abortion and gay marriage as the defining issues for American Catholics.



But Mauricio Claver-Carone, director of the conservative U.S.-Cuba Democracy PAC, said that by injecting his beliefs, Francis has alienated Cuban-Americans who are deeply opposed to the communist Castro regime in Cuba.



“I don't want the pope running the foreign policy of the United States just as I don't think the president wants the Pope running the social policy of the United States,” said Claver-Carone, referencing the pope’s anti-abortion rights views.

Progressive Catholics, however, such as Sister Simone Campbell, executive director of NETWORK, a Catholic social justice organization, are cheering Francis on as he calls for the world's elite to do more to help the poor. 

“Oh my gloria, this is a definite change in tone from being a 'scolder-in-chief' to being the one who identifies with the pain in our world,” said Simone, who organized the “Nuns on a Bus” cross-country tours.

“Pope Francis's message and tone are making Catholic Republicans a little uncomfortable,” Simone said. “He's stirring the concern on issues like poverty and the economy.”

Pope Francis drives a wedge between Catholic Church, GOP | TheHill

We'd rather not hear from last year's bad newsmakers | Feature | The Pitch

 

A new year should be a new beginning. But 2014's baggage weighs heavy as we try to push into 2015.

So we've made a list — a special list, a wish list — of the people and organizations we'd love to leave in the past. It's not that the inept, the perverse and the just plain mean don't sometimes amuse us. And we aren't saying we'll never forgive certain corrupt or morally suspect people. It's just that we'd rather they went away and let the healing begin. We know that most of them won't oblige us, but we're determined to start 2015 fresh anyway by saying our own goodbyes to these 2014 bums and bummers.

---

Bishop Robert Finn

If you work for a Catholic institution in northwest Missouri, you report to the highest-ranking U.S. Catholic official to be convicted in a sex-abuse scandal: Bishop Robert Finn. This is a man who, when presented with evidence that a priest in his diocese had a laptop containing hundreds of pornographic images of underage girls, elected to reassign the priest to a convent rather than report his criminal behavior to authorities. When the truth came out, Finn was found guilty of a misdemeanor for failing to report child abuse and was sentenced to two years' probation.

It's shocking enough that a man who shielded a pedophile from the law could be in charge of any organization. But for Finn to still be leading the Diocese of Kansas City–St. Joseph — an entity already stained by decades of sexual-abuse allegations, for which it has paid out millions of dollars in settlements to victims — is mind-boggling.

And Finn is still doing terrible things. He fired Colleen Simon, a food-pantry coordinator at St. Francis Xavier Church, after a Kansas City Star story about Troost's revitalization mentioned in passing that Simon is a lesbian. (Simon has since filed a lawsuit against Finn and the diocese.)

There are indications that Finn may not last much longer at his post. The Vatican is reportedly conducting an internal investigation of Finn. Cardinal Sean O'Malley, a close aide to Pope Francis, appeared on 60 Minutes in November and declared that the Finn situation was something the Pope needed to "address urgently." Meanwhile, our hands are hovering over our keyboards, waiting to type the word "former" in front of "Bishop Robert Finn" someday.

Read about other issues in Missouri:  We'd rather not hear from last year's bad newsmakers | Feature | The Pitch

News on further construction of St. James Church

Collections for the weekend of December 21, 2014

Pope’s New Encyclical to Spark Controversy? - Aleteia

 

According to Vatican insiders, Francis is also expected to use his scheduled visit to the United Nations headquarters in New York in September to promote the themes raised in his encyclical.
The Pope’s encyclical is likely to garner widespread support, the Guardian says, but it speculates that Francis will encounter some stiff resistance within the Church. In particular, it points to Cardinal George Pell, prefect of the Secretariat on the Economy, who has long been a climate change sceptic.
The article also expects probable opposition from US evangelical groups, one of the most vocal critics of the science supporting climate change.

Read the entire article by clicking on the following:  Pope’s New Encyclical to Spark Controversy? - Aleteia

Man who tried to kill Pope John Paul II puts roses on his tomb - Yahoo News

 

Agca, 56, was pardoned by Italy in 2000 and extradited to Turkey where he was imprisoned for the 1979 murder of a journalist and other crimes. He was released from jail in 2010.

The attack against John Paul, who died in 2005, has remained clouded by unanswered questions over who may have been behind it. An Italian investigative parliamentary commission said in 2006 it was "beyond reasonable doubt" that it was masterminded by leaders of the former Soviet Union.

The Vatican on Saturday gave a cool response to Agca's request to meet with Pope Francis. "He has put his flowers on John Paul's tomb; I think that is enough," Vatican spokesman father Federico Lombardi told la Repubblica.

Read the entire article:  Man who tried to kill Pope John Paul II puts roses on his tomb - Yahoo News

Planning for the Pope’s trip to Philadelphia is well underway | Crux

 

By Natalie Pompilio

Associated Press December 26, 2014

A quick look at the to-do list of a city preparing for a papal visit:

• Design and print Mass booklets, about 2 million of them in multiple languages
• Solicit volunteers, at least 7,000 but as many as 10,000. Do background checks on each one.
• Stock up on Communion wafers. Again, millions.

Pope Francis’ scheduled trip to Philadelphia is still nine months away, but planning for his first US visit began months ago. Preparing for the event, predicted to draw more than 1 million people to the city, is an exhausting, multiagency effort.

“Over the last two months, I’ve probably averaged four hours of sleep a night,” said Helen Osman, communications secretary for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. “It’s a lot of coordinating and making sure everyone has everything they need, down to the minutia. The one thing you think doesn’t matter can create a domino effect and just cascade.”

The papal visit comes as part of the World Meeting of Families, a triennial event organized by the Pontifical Council for Families and to be held this year at the Pennsylvania Convention Center downtown from Sept. 22 to 27. Organizers said they plan to rely on donations for their $45 million budget, with about half of that amount raised by mid-December.

The pontiff is expected to arrive as the congress ends to take part in the main closing event, the Festival of Families. The next day, he will lead a public Mass on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, a main city thoroughfare that has hosted numerous outdoor concerts and events.

Organizers got a head start on planning before the pope officially announced his visit in November. The pope himself provided inside information when Gov. Tom Corbett attended a Vatican meeting in March, when he whispered in the governor’s ear: “I will come,” according to Susan Corbett, Pennsylvania’s first lady.

Planning for the Pope’s trip to Philadelphia is well underway | Crux

Woman intends to be Kansas City’s first female Catholic priest | The Kansas City Star

 

In a few days Georgia Walker, at age 67, intends to become a priest, at which point she will be excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church.

That doesn’t faze her.

“I don’t accept the legitimacy of that excommunication,” said Walker, who will be the first woman in Kansas City to defy the church and be ordained a priest.

The church in turn will not accept the legitimacy of her ordination because, under canon law, only men can be priests.

 

“That’s their problem,” Walker said of the church.

That steadfastness is a trait of the Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests, a growing movement of people who see the church as too authoritarian and unwilling to be inclusive. But instead of leaving the church, they hope to change it from within.

At other stages of her life, Walker has been a sociology professor at the University of Missouri, a financial officer and a hospital manager. In midlife she converted to Catholicism and became a Sister of St. Joseph, although she did not take final vows. She is working on a graduate degree in theology.

Walker also is a peace activist who has been convicted of trespassing at the Bannister Federal Complex in south Kansas City and at Whiteman Air Force Base near Knob Noster, Mo.

She now works with men and women coming out of prison to help them reintegrate with society.

As a priest, Walker wants to establish a regular schedule to visit prisons in the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph to bring the sacrament to inmates. She also wants to build a small community of worshipers while remaining a member of St. James Parish in Kansas City.

The church says no.

Canon Law 1024 of the Roman Catholic Church says that only baptized men may be ordained as priests. That is based on Jesus calling only men to be his disciples.

In 2004, Pope John Paul II issued an apostolic letter affirming that the priesthood was for men only.

Pope Francis had raised hopes that he would bring more flexibility to the church. But in July 2013, at a surprise news conference on the plane back to Rome after a visit to Brazil, he made clear that women cannot be priests.

“That door is closed,” he said.

Walker said those rules “have been made by men who seemingly forget that the first person that Jesus appeared to after his resurrection was a woman. Did he make a mistake? Mary Magdalene was the first one to see him. She was the first one to start spreading the good news of his resurrection.”

Women priests claim legitimacy through “apostolic succession,” which says the authority to ordain was passed from bishop to bishop going back to Peter. Proponents say the early church had many women priests and bishops, and only later did church leaders quash the practice.

The modern movement began with the ordination of seven women in 2002 on a boat in the Danube River. In 2008, the Vatican said any woman attempting to be ordained and anyone attempting to ordain a woman would be automatically excommunicated and could not receive the sacrament.

The Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph issued this statement: “Since this ‘ordination’ does not involve the participation of any validly ordained Catholic clergy, the diocese does not see a reason to comment any further.”

Walker said the diocese explicitly warned her she would be excommunicated if she continued with her plan. She said she was not dissuaded.

Walker’s ordination, scheduled for Jan. 3, will be performed by Bishop Bridget Mary Meehan, who travels the country ordaining women priests and deacons — 25 of them in 2014.

Walker’s ceremony will be held at 2 p.m. at St. Mark Hope and Peace Lutheran Church, 3800 Troost Ave.

Donna Simon, pastor at St. Mark, has no patience for the view that women cannot be priests.

“The logic for male (only) ordination is spurious,” she said. “Nowhere in the Bible does it say you may not ordain women. But because Jesus only called men, the church has leaned into this tradition that you can only call men. It hasn’t leaned into a tradition that you can only call Jewish men because all the men that Jesus called were Jewish. They just picked that one thing.”

Polls have shown that a majority of American Catholics support women as priests.

There are now nearly 200 women priests, with more than 150 in the United States.

The National Catholic Reporter said a survey by the Pew Research Center found that one in every 10 Americans is an ex-Catholic. Meehan says church doctrine is driving people away.

“There is a big spiritual chasm in the heart of the church that does not reflect the love and compassion of God,” she said. “Women priests are saying everyone is welcome. There are no outsiders in God’s family.”

Woman intends to be Kansas City’s first female Catholic priest | The Kansas City Star

Pope Francis’s edict on climate change will anger deniers and US churches | World news | The Guardian

 

Following a visit in March to Tacloban, the Philippine city devastated in 2012 by typhoon Haiyan, the pope will publish a rare encyclical on climate change and human ecology. Urging all Catholics to take action on moral and scientific grounds, the document will be sent to the world’s 5,000 Catholic bishops and 400,000 priests, who will distribute it to parishioners.

According to Vatican insiders, Francis will meet other faith leaders and lobby politicians at the general assembly in New York in September, when countries will sign up to new anti-poverty and environmental goals.

In recent months, the pope has argued for a radical new financial and economic system to avoid human inequality and ecological devastation. In October he told a meeting of Latin American and Asian landless peasants and other social movements: “An economic system centred on the god of money needs to plunder nature to sustain the frenetic rhythm of consumption that is inherent to it.

Read the entire article by clicking on the following:  Pope Francis’s edict on climate change will anger deniers and US churches | World news | The Guardian

Letter from Pastor’s Desk

Dear Parishioners of St. James:
Praised be Jesus Christ!
“The Almighty has done great things for me and
holy is His name.” We echo these words of Our Blessed
Mother these days after the dedication of our new church.
The Lord has truly done great things for us in giving us a
new church in which to worship Mary’s Child, Jesus.
I wanted to list some do’s and don’ts about the
new church so that we can take care of it properly after all
of the hard work we put into it:
-Please do not place keys on the pews because
keys will scratch them; rivets on jeans are not good for
pews, either (another reason not to wear jeans in church);
-Please do not chew gum in the Church because it
will inevitably find its way on the bottom of the pews on the
carpeting and on the concrete outside (all of which are difficult
places to remove gum;
-Please do not eat in the church. If parents want to
quiet their children with food Cherios are okay because
their crumbs are easy to clean;
-The northeast door (nearest to the Divine Mercy
Shrine) is for emergency exit only. The stairwell is steep
and made of deck boards that are slippery with rain and
snow.
-Per the order of the general contractor we must
not use salt on the new church entrance because the concrete
was poured very late in the year and will pock mark if
we use salt this winter. When it snows, the new main
entrance will be shoveled and sanded but not salted.
Please use the old church entrance or the new stair/
elevator tower when it snows (both are handicap accessible);
- The northwest door (closest to the Our Lady of
Guadalupe shrine) is for exit only. Entrance is available at
the other three locations. It is too distracting for entrance
at the front of the church when Mass is being offered;
- Please use the large narthex as a place for loud
children. Speakers allow the faithful to assist at Mass while
they watch their children. If your children need something
to play with consider a stuffed animal instead of your keys
or toy trucks. Children's bibles or holy cards can teach
them and keep them prayerful at the same time.
Please pray in our new, beautiful church. Respect it (and
yourselves) as God's house. Just as we do for newborn
babies at their Baptism, the Bishop exorcized the building,
washed it clean in water and anointed it with sacred chrism
to make it ready for divine worship. As we have consecrated
our new church in our 150th year as a parish,
may we preserve His temple for generations to
come who seek eternal life.
God bless you,
Fr. Geary

Collections for the weekend of December 14, 2014

Ten additional pledges;$6,780 additional pledged.

Third priest slain in region of Mexico’s Guerrero state dominated by drug cartels - The Washington Post

 

A missing priest was found dead, a gunshot wound to the head, in an area of southern Guerrero state dominated by drug cartels, his diocese said Friday. The slaying of the Rev. Gregorio Lopez Gorostieta is the latest in series of abductions, attacks and highway robberies against Roman Catholic clerics in the region.

He is the third Catholic priest to have been killed this year, and the first to die since the federal government launched a special, stepped-up security operation in the area following the disappearance of 43 teachers’ college students three months ago.

The motive in Lopez Gorostieta’s killing remains unclear; Bishop Maximino Martinez said a group had been seen lurking around the seminary where the priest taught on the outskirts of Ciudad Altamirano, Guerrero, on Sunday and Monday. Lopez Gorostieta was apparently kidnapped by the gang early Monday; his truck was found abandoned two days later.

Third priest slain in region of Mexico’s Guerrero state dominated by drug cartels - The Washington Post

Catholic Church Argues It Doesn't Have to Show Up in Court Because Religious Freedom | Mother Jones

 

On December 1, a three-judge panel from the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that religious freedom exemptions do not give the Fort Wayne-South Bend Diocese immunity from Emily Herx's sex-discrimination lawsuit. Herx's lawsuit can now go forward in US District Court.

When Emily Herx first took time off work for in vitro fertilization treatment, her boss offered what sounded like words of support: "You are in my prayers." Soon those words took on a more sinister meaning. The Indiana grade school where Herx was teaching English was Catholic. And after church officials were alerted that Herx was undergoing IVF—making her, in the words of one monsignor, "a grave, immoral sinner"—it took them less than two weeks to fire her.

Herx filed a discrimination lawsuit in 2012. In response, St. Vincent de Paul School and the Fort Wayne-South Bend Diocese, her former employers, countered with an argument used by a growing number of religious groups to justify firings related to IVF treatment or pregnancies outside of marriage: freedom of religion gives them the right to hire (or fire) whomever they choose. But in this case, the diocese took one big step further: It's arguing that religious liberty protects the school from having to go to court at all.

"I've never seen this before, and I couldn't find any other cases like it," says Brian Hauss, a staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union Center for Liberty. The group is not directly involved in the lawsuit but has filed amicus briefs supporting Herx. "What the diocese is saying is, 'We can fire anybody, and we have absolute immunity from even going to trial, as long as we think they're violating our religion. And to have civil authorities even look into what we're doing is a violation.'…It's astonishing."

"I've never seen this before, and I couldn't find any other cases like it."

The key legal question in Herx's case is whether she was fired for religious reasons or her firing was an illegal act of sex discriminations.

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act bans employers from discriminating on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, and national origin. An exemption in that law allows religious institutions to favor members of their own faith during the hiring process. But there's no religious exemption for sex discrimination—which is how Herx is framing her dismissal. As proof, she showed that the diocese had never fired a male teacher for using any type of infertility treatment. In response, the diocese asserted that it would fire a male teacher who underwent fertility treatments against church teachings—it just hasn't done so yet. In early September, a federal judge ruled that there was enough evidence on both sides of the dispute for a jury trial.

That's when the diocese launched its radical new legal strategy.

The diocese argued that a trial on this question would violate its freedom of religion and appealed the judge's decision to a three-judge panel on the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals. "[If] the diocese is required to go through a trial," attorneys for the diocese and school argued, it would "irrevocably" deny Fort Wayne-South Bend the benefits of religious protection. Herx's attorneys are fighting the appeal.

A spokesman for the diocese and an attorney and for the diocese and school both declined to comment.

"What the diocese is saying is, 'We can fire anybody, and we have absolute immunity from even going to trial.'"

"Employers try to appeal these decisions all the time. But this is unusual because of the incredibly broad claim to a religious exemption they're making," says Susan Deller Ross, a professor at the Georgetown University Law Center who has written about Title VII and worked on sex discrimination cases. Thomas Brejcha, the president of the Thomas More Society, a conservative religious liberty legal group, called the move "creative, venturesome, and unusual." He adds, "I'm very interested to see what happens."

Louise Melling, a deputy legal director at the ACLU, was more critical: "It's an unusual and extreme argument, to be saying the court doesn't even have the legal authority to ask whether this was, in fact, sex discrimination. I can't imagine they would prevail on that. It's too extreme."

Than again, Melling says she never would have predicted the recent wave of cases in which religious institutions asserted that they have an expansive right to discriminate. One of those cases was Burwell v. Hobby Lobby—the Supreme Court case that struck down the contraception mandate in the Affordable Care Act. The ACLU has also seen a climb in the number of Christian schools arguing that Title VII allows them to fire women who undergo IVF or become pregnant outside of marriage, or to fire employees who engage in same-sex relationships. "Hobby Lobby was just one case in this wave," Melling says.

Douglas Laycock, a professor at the University of Virginia Law School, says the diocese's assertion is a "perfectly sensible argument." Laycock, who has successfully argued numerous religious liberty cases before the Supreme Court, notes there is precedent for immunizing certain organizations from trial, although not necessarily under Title VII's religious protections. "I think it's going to be a hard sell," he says. "But I don't know that it's 'extreme.'"

"It all feels so medieval."

Eventually, a case like Herx's could reach the Supreme Court. There are at least four other high-profile lawsuits like Herx's under way at the federal level. Four women—Jennifer Maudlin, a former cook at an Ohio religious community center; Teri James, a former financial-aid specialist for San Diego Christian College; Shaela Evenson, a former Catholic school teacher with the Helena Diocese in Montana; and Shanna Daly, a former teacher with St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic School in Florida—are suing their former employers for firing them because they became pregnant outside of marriage. Daly claims she was fired because she refused to get married until the church annulled her previous marriage. Each of these women filed their cases within the last two years.

"It's striking that this is still an issue, that people are still firing women for getting IVF and being pregnant and unmarried," Melling says. "It all feels so medieval."

It is also hypocritical, according to Herx. Other teachers in the diocese, she claims, have undergone hysterectomies, vasectomies, and tubal ligations without any employment consequences, even though the church teaches that deliberate sterilization is immoral. Herx and her doctor made sure that none of the embryos created for her infertility treatment were intentionally destroyed. Herx's school principal approved sick days for her IVF treatment. And the diocese's health insurance plan, which the diocese directly administers without the help of a third party, paid for Herx's visits to the fertility doctor and the anesthesia she required.

Ross agrees that the appeals court is unlikely to buy into the diocese's argument. "That would have an extreme impact," she says. "But with law you can never say never."

Catholic Church Argues It Doesn't Have to Show Up in Court Because Religious Freedom | Mother Jones

'Urbi et Orbi': Full Text Of Pope Francis' Christmas Day Message

 

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Here is the official Vatican English-language translation of Pope Francis' "Urbi et Orbi' Christmas Day message, which he delivered in Italian from the central balcony of St. Peter's Basilica on Thursday:

Dear Brothers and Sisters, Happy Christmas!

Jesus, the Son of God, the Savior of the world, is born for us, born in Bethlehem of a Virgin, fulfilling the ancient prophecies. The Virgin's name is Mary, the wife of Joseph.

Humble people, full of hope in the goodness of God, are those who welcome Jesus and recognize him. And so the Holy Spirit enlightened the shepherds of Bethlehem, who hastened to the grotto and adored the Child. Then the Spirit led the elderly and humble couple Simeon and Anna into the temple of Jerusalem, and they recognized in Jesus the Messiah. "My eyes have seen your salvation", Simeon exclaimed, "the salvation prepared by God in the sight of all peoples" (Lk 2:30).

Yes, brothers and sisters, Jesus is the salvation for every person and for every people! Today I ask him, the Savior of the world, to look upon our brothers and sisters in Iraq and Syria, who for too long now have suffered the effects of ongoing conflict, and who, together with those belonging to other ethnic and religious groups, are suffering a brutal persecution. May Christmas bring them hope, as indeed also to the many displaced persons, exiles and refugees, children, adults and elderly, from this region and from the whole world. May indifference be changed into closeness and rejection into hospitality, so that all who now are suffering may receive the necessary humanitarian help to overcome the rigors of winter, return to their countries and live with dignity.

May the Lord open hearts to trust, and may he bestow his peace upon the whole Middle East, beginning with the land blessed by his birth, thereby sustaining the efforts of those committed effectively to dialogue between Israelis and Palestinians.

May Jesus, Savior of the world, protect all who suffer in Ukraine, and grant that their beloved land may overcome tensions, conquer hatred and violence, and set out on a new journey of fraternity and reconciliation.

May Christ the Savior give peace to Nigeria, where (even in these hours) more blood is being shed and too many people are unjustly deprived of their possessions, held as hostages or killed. I invoke peace also on the other parts of the African continent, thinking especially of Libya, South Sudan, the Central African Republic, and various regions of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. I beseech all who have political responsibility to commit themselves through dialogue to overcoming differences and to building a lasting, fraternal coexistence.

May Jesus save the vast numbers of children who are victims of violence, made objects of trade and trafficking, or forced to become soldiers; children, so many abused children. May he give comfort to the families of the children killed in Pakistan last week. May he be close to all who suffer from illness, especially the victims of the Ebola epidemic, above all in Liberia, in Sierra Leone and in Guinea. As I thank all who are courageously dedicated to assisting the sick and their family members, I once more make an urgent appeal that the necessary assistance and treatment be provided.

The Child Jesus. My thoughts turn to all those children today who are killed and ill-treated, be they infants killed in the womb, deprived of that generous love of their parents and then buried in the egoism of a culture that does not love life; be they children displaced due to war and persecution, abused and taken advantage of before our very eyes and our complicit silence.

I think also of those infants massacred in bomb attacks, also those where the Son of God was born. Even today, their impotent silence cries out under the sword of so many Herods. On their blood stands the shadow of contemporary Herods.

Truly there are so many tears this Christmas, together with the tears of the Infant Jesus.

Dear brothers and sisters, may the Holy Spirit today enlighten our hearts, that we may recognize in the Infant Jesus, born in Bethlehem of the Virgin Mary, the salvation given by God to each one of us, to each man and woman and to all the peoples of the earth.

May the power of Christ, which brings freedom and service, be felt in so many hearts afflicted by war, persecution and slavery. May this divine power, by its meekness, take away the hardness of heart of so many men and women immersed in worldliness and indifference, the globalization of indifference. May his redeeming strength transform arms into ploughshares, destruction into creativity, hatred into love and tenderness.

Then we will be able to cry out with joy: "Our eyes have seen your salvation".

With these thoughts I wish you all a Happy Christmas!

'Urbi et Orbi': Full Text Of Pope Francis' Christmas Day Message

Secure Mailbox

 

Secure Mailbox

Pope issues scathing critique of Vatican bureaucracy in pre-Christmas meeting | National Catholic Reporter

 

Joshua J. McElwee  |  Dec. 22, 2014

 

Pope Francis on Monday used an annual pre-Christmas meeting with the cardinals and bishops of the Vatican bureaucracy -- normally an exchange of good wishes and blessings -- to issue a scathing critique of them, warning against 15 separate "diseases" in their work and attitudes.

Saying he wanted to prepare them all -- including himself -- to make "a real examination of conscience" before Christmas, Francis said while the Vatican bureaucracy was called to "always improve and grow in communion," it was also prone to "disease, malfunction, and infirmity" like every human institution.

"I believe it will help us [to make] a 'catalog' of diseases ... to help us prepare for the sacrament of reconciliation, which will be a good step for all of us to prepare for Christmas," Francis said.

Many of the 15 diseases given by Francis were frank and blunt: a feeling of indispensability like a "rich fool"; of having a "spiritual Alzheimer's" that makes a person dependent on the present; of living an "existential schizophrenia" of double lives that create "parallel worlds"; and a "terrorism of gossip" that sows discord and that amounts to "cold-blooded murder" of friends and colleagues.

Before listing the diseases, Francis likened the Vatican bureaucracy, known as the Roman Curia, to the Catholic idea of the Mystical Body of Christ -- the notion that all Catholics are connected together through Jesus Christ as one body.

"The Curia is called to improve, to always improve and grow in communion, holiness and wisdom to fully realize its mission," he said. "Yet it, like every body, like every human body, is exposed to disease, malfunction, infirmity."

"Diseases are more frequent in our life of the Curia," he said. "They are diseases and temptations that weaken our service to the Lord."

Francis' speech to the Vatican bureaucracy comes as the pope has been preparing a reform of its functioning over the past months, appointing a Council of nine cardinals to advise him on how best to change the Curia. While that reform has yet to be announced, it seems to be drawing closer to fruition, with reports of coming mergers or downsizing of Vatican offices and staff.

The pope's list of diseases may show just how in need of reform the Vatican is. As long as it is colorful and frank, the list paints a picture of an institution full of gossip, backstabbing and lack of contact with the reality lived by most Catholics around the world.

Francis started his list of diseases Monday by criticizing those who feel immortal, immune or indispensible in their work. He said such people are like "the rich fool," the person mentioned in Jesus' parable in Luke's Gospel who stores grain but does not glorify God.

The feeling of indispensability, Francis said, "often stems from a pathology of power, the 'complex of the elect.' "

That disease, the pope said, "is the narcissism that looks passionately on its own image and does not see the image of God stamped on the face of others, especially the weakest and most in need."

"The antidote to this epidemic is the grace to feel as sinners and say with all the heart: 'We are useless servants. We have done how much we had to do,' " he said.

Identifying a disease of those who "possess a heart of stone," Francis said some "lose the inner serenity, vivacity and boldness and hide under papers becoming 'practical machines' and not 'men of God.' "

"It's dangerous to lose the human sensitivity necessary to make us weep with those who weep and rejoice with those who rejoice," he said. "It is the disease of those who lose 'the feelings of Jesus' because their hearts, with the passage of time, harden and become unable to unconditionally love the Father and the neighbor."

Moving next to warn against a "spiritual Alzheimer's," Francis said some forget the "story of salvation" and lose their personal history with the Lord, the "first love."

"It is a progressive decline of the spiritual faculties that in a longer or shorter period of time ... making them unable to carry out any independent activity, living a state of absolute dependence on his often imaginary views," said the pope.

"We see it in those who have lost the memory of their encounter with the Lord," he said. "In those who are completely dependent on their 'present' ... in those who build walls around themselves and habits becoming, more and more, slaves of idols that they have carved their own hands."

Identifying what he called an "existential schizophrenia," Francis then warned against those who "live a double life, the fruit of hypocrisy typical of the mediocre and the progressive spiritual vacuum that degrees or academic qualifications cannot fill."

"They create like this their own parallel world, where they put aside everything that they teach strictly to others and begin to live a hidden life," he said. "The conversion is urgent and indispensable for this very grave disease."

Labeling a disease of "chatter, murmurings and gossip," Francis said such a disease "starts simply, maybe just for a chat and takes hold of the person making him a 'sower of discord' [like Satan], and in many cases 'cold-blooded murderer' of the fame of their colleagues and confreres."

"It is the disease of cowardly people that not having the courage to speak directly talk behind their backs," Francis said. "Brothers, let us look out for the terrorism of gossip!"

Speaking of those who "deify superiors," Francis warned against officials who "are courting superiors, hoping to get their benevolence."

"They are victims of careerism and opportunism, they honor the people and not God," the pope said. "They are people who live the service thinking only what they need to get and not what they must give."

"This disease may also affect the superiors when courting some of their employees to get their submission, loyalty and psychological dependence, but the end result is a real complicity," he continued.

Warning against a "funereal face," Francis said some think that in order to be serious, "they need to paint the face of melancholy, severity and treat others -- especially those deemed inferior -- with stiffness, hardness and arrogance."

"In reality, the theatrical severity and sterile pessimism are often symptoms of fear and insecurity about himself," the pope said. "The apostle must strive to be a polite person, calm, enthusiastic and cheerful who conveys joy wherever he is. A heart full of God is a happy heart that radiates with joy and infects all who are around him. You can see it right away!"

"Don't lose that joyful spirit, full of humor, even self-deprecating, that makes us amiable people," said Francis, who said he says a prayer attributed to British St. Thomas More every day for this purpose.

Identifying "closed circles" in the Vatican, Francis said some create groups "where membership in the little group becomes stronger than that of the body and, in some situations, to Christ himself."

"Although this disease always begins with good intentions," said the pope, over time it "enslaves members becoming 'a cancer' that threatens the harmony of the body and causes so much harm -- scandals -- especially to our smallest brothers."

"The self-destruction or 'friendly fire' of fellow soldiers is the sneakiest danger," Francis said. "It is the evil that strikes from within, and as Christ says: 'Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation.' "

The rest of Francis' list of diseases:

• Being "excessively busy" and not taking time for rest;
• Excessive planning of functionalizing, or trying to "close or direct the freedom of the Holy Spirit";
• Bad coordination, like an orchestra that produces noise instead of music: "When the foot tells the hand, 'I don't need you,' or the hand tells the head 'I'm in charge' ";
• Rivalry and vainglory: "When one's appearance, the color of one's vestments or honorific titles become the primary objective of life";
• Indifference toward the needs of others: "When, out of jealousy or guile, you feel joy at seeing another fall rather than lifting them and encourage them";
• Accumulation: "When the apostle tries to fill an existential emptiness in his heart by accumulating material goods, not because he needs them but because he'll feel more secure";
• Worldly profit and exhibitionism: "It's the sickness of those who insatiably try to multiply their powers and to do so are capable of calumny, defamation and discrediting others, even in newspapers and magazines, naturally to show themselves as being more capable than others."

[Joshua J. McElwee is NCR Vatican correspondent.

Pope issues scathing critique of Vatican bureaucracy in pre-Christmas meeting | National Catholic Reporter

How American nuns prevailed over the Vatican | Analysis

 

The document released by Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life – a major Vatican office – drew on dozens of interviews in convents and religious houses which disproved allegations that caused Cardinal Franc Rodé, as prefect of the congregation in 2008, to order an investigation into “a certain secular mentality ... and perhaps also a certain ‘feminist’ spirit,” as Rodé told Vatican Radio at the time.

One of the more conservative cardinals in the Vatican, Rodé was not at the Tuesday press conference at which his successor, Brazilian Cardinal João Braz de Aviz, struck a tone of harmony with the nuns.

Within the politics of the Roman Curia, Braz de Abriz has also emerged as an ally of Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR), the American organization representing superiors of 80 percent of the orders of religious sisters. A separate Vatican office, Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, had imposed an overseer, Seattle Archbishop Peter Sartain, the vet the group’s speakers and publications.

“The Vatican realized they messed up this situation and they are trying to mend fences,” Sister Christine Schenk of Cleveland told The GroundTruth Project.

“They saw it very quickly because of public opinion. Benedict was quick to replace Rodé with someone more sympathetic of sisters, in Braz de Aviz. The backpedalling started with Benedict and accelerated with Francis.”

One spark of the investigation was a 2008 conference that Rodé attended on religious life at Stonehill College near Boston. Sister Elizabeth McDonough, a canon lawyer, accused the LCWR of creating “global-feminist-operated business corporations” and “controlling all structures and resources.”

Mother Mary Clare Millea, who drew the unenviable task of leading the investigation, or apostolic visitation, worked quietly in allaying concerns among the superiors and communities she visited, explaining that she was not there as an enemy.

 

The final report has no corroboration of Rodé’s charges nor does it suggest a feminist conspiracy.

As the investigation Rodé launched made news, Vatican officials saw the blowback in media coverage which cast the nuns, working on the margins with the poor, confronting cold male bureaucrats in Rome.

Rodé was an unstinting supporter of Father Marcial Maciel, a notorious pedophile and founder of the Legion of Christ, an order enmeshed in lawsuits in America for duplicitous fundraising.

As Rodé retired from his office, the second Vatican investigation, by Doctrine of the Faith, against the progressive superiors in LCWR provoked criticism in the Vatican from people with clout: big-ticket donors to Catholic groups and causes.

A prominent Catholic philanthropist who spoke to GroundTruth on condition of anonymity described the fallout: “A broad range of Catholic foundations privately expressed to bishops and cardinals their utter dismay and strong opposition to this wholly unnecessary investigation of women religious.”

The concerns of such donors quickened with news coverage of the questionnaire that the apostolic visitation sent to the religious orders which asked for sensitive internal data on assets, landholding and financial information that caused many superiors to submit incomplete questionnaires, withholding information on money.

This happened as many orders were selling properties to provide elder care for their rapidly aging communities. The idea of Vatican investigators probing the finances of convents hit a deep nerve in the philanthropic community.

Many foundations with Catholic roots have struggled with bishops and religious superiors, male and female, in addressing the massive costs of elder care for organizations that never invested in 401(k) plans, and in many instances, did not pay social security for the priests and nuns.

The Conrad N. Hilton Foundation recently awarded a $2.5 million grant to the National Religious Retirement Office to assist American religious communities on retirement-funding shortfalls and improved services.

Were all these philanthropists being duped by a radical feminist agenda?

As the complaints by major donors registered in Rome, Vatican officials found themselves in the embarrassing position of being seen as critics of religious women involved in church programs supported by thousands of parishes and prosperous donors.

“Many foundations have longstanding familial ties to women’s religious orders, having attended their schools and supported their ministries for decades,” the philanthropist continued. “They were completely outraged that in the wake of the clergy sexual abuse crisis, the nuns were being investigated.”

Kerry Alys Robinson, executive director of the National Leadership Roundtable on Church Management, referenced meetings in Rome that she and other donors had in an Oct. 24, 2013 American Magazine article, “Women in dialogue with the Vatican.”

“In our meetings with Vatican officials we have been impassioned advocates for women religious,” wrote Robinson. “Over the decades of our collective families’ philanthropy, it is women religious who have been center stage as part of the most compelling, courageous and effective ministries globally. Promoting, celebrating and expressing gratitude for their lives, leadership and example is right and just.”

Her group proposed a Vatican day care center for the children of lay staff members.

Cardinal Rodé, in an interview with this writer in his Vatican apartment two years ago, said that the call to investigate had come from Cardinal Bernard Law, who resigned as Boston archbishop in 2002 amid the abuse crisis, and soon found redemption in Rome as pastor of a great basilica. The other prelate behind the call, said Rodé, was Archbishop William Lori of Baltimore.

In 2003, Lori approved a $21 million abuse victims settlement involving several priests. Voice of the Faithful criticized him for allowing an accused monsignor to stay in his parish until he resigned, facing 2011 sex harassment allegations from a female church worker.

That double standard in leadership – bishops stained by scandal in the abuse cases, accusing nuns of bad faith – may be at its eclipse.

Pope Francis celebrated Mass with sisters involved in the apostolic visitation before the press conference Tuesday. Nothing has yet been reported to suggest the pope took a direct role in reversing the course of the investigation.

The more contentious problem of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith asserting control over the LCWR is still a work in progress. However Sister Sharon Holland, the new LCWR president, said at the press conference: “We’re moving toward resolution of that.”

"I don’t know what [Vatican officials] thought we were doing as women religious,” Sister Schenk in Cleveland said with a trace of exasperation.

“But from what Mother Mary Clare [Millea] said, in all the congregations, the vast majority have been diligent in managing finances, caring for senior sisters and working to promote vocations while attending to the normal things that sisters do, relating to prayer, spirituality and community living.”

Jason Berry achieved prominence for his reporting on the Catholic Church crisis in Lead Us Not Into Temptation (1992), a book used in many newsrooms. He has been widely interviewed in the national media, with many appearances on Nightline, Oprah, ABC and CNN. USA Today called Berry “the rare investigative reporter whose scholarship, compassion and ability to write with the poetic power of Robert Penn Warren are in perfect balance.”

 

 

How American nuns prevailed over the Vatican | Analysis

Hundreds gather at St. James Catholic Church in Belvidere for dedication - Entertainment & Life - Rockford Register Star - Rockford, IL

BELVIDERE — The newly expanded St. James Catholic Church opened for a dedication ceremony Thursday to more than 800 people eager to view its renovations.

St. James, which is celebrating its 150th anniversary,has been under construction for the past 49 weeks.

The $4.9 million expansion project, which began in January, nearly quadrupled the seating capacity and changed the interior orientation from east-west to north-south. More than 600 seats were added.

The dedication, led by Rockford Bishop David Malloy, was the renovated church’s inaugural service.

Parishioners celebrated Mass in the school gymnasium while work was underway at the church.

Malloy praised the beauty of the new design. He urged the congregation to maintain the building’s sanctity and use it as a reminder that “we, too, are to be a dwelling place of God.”

The physical structure of the old church was incorporated into its new design.

“It’s tying the old into the new,” said the Rev. Brian Geary, pastor.

Parishioners Andrew and Laura Greer love the renovations.

“I’m just awe-struck to be honest,” she said. “It’s just an honor to be in here.”

Ben Stanley: 815-987-1369; bstanley@rrstar.com;

Hundreds gather at St. James Catholic Church in Belvidere for dedication - Entertainment & Life - Rockford Register Star - Rockford, IL

Pope Francis, Peacemaker in Cuba and Beyond - Bloomberg View

 

Pope Francis, Peacemaker

Dec 19, 2014 12:58 PM EST

By Francis Barry

When Pope John Paul II arrived at the airport in Havana in 1998 for a first-ever papal visit, he said: “May Cuba, with all its magnificent potential, open itself up to the world, and may the world open itself up to Cuba.”

Sixteen years later, a new pope -- himself no stranger to repressive dictatorship, having lived through Argentina’s “Dirty War” -- has helped breathe new life into those aspirations, by prodding the U.S. and Cuba into normalizing diplomatic relations.

The agreement between the two old antagonists effectively ends one of the last battles of the Cold War. It also highlights what could prove to be the most historically consequential aspect of Francis’ papacy: His commitment to the work of healing old wounds -- within his flock, with other churches and governments, and among bitter enemies. It may be the most ambitious peacemaking agenda any pope has ever undertaken.

Francis's active role in brokering the U.S.-Cuba detente wasn’t his only foray into peacemaking this year. When he visited South Korea in August, the Vatican convinced Chinese officials to allow the papal plane to fly over Chinese airspace, a first. While over China, the pope sent a goodwill message to President Xi Jinping and the Chinese people. The ultimate goal: Restoring Vatican ties to China, where Catholics have long been forced to worship underground or in churches run by the government.

In April, after a visit to the Middle East, Francis invited the Israeli and Palestinian presidents to the Vatican for a prayer session. Both accepted, and while no breakthrough resulted (and none was expected), the gesture reflected Francis’ willingness to become personally involved in peacemaking efforts. It was the first time the Vatican had ever hosted such a gathering with Mideast leaders.

The chief purpose of Francis’ Middle East trip was a meeting with the Patriarch of the Eastern Orthodox Church marking the 50th anniversary of a meeting that ended hostilities between the two churches, which split in 1054. Relations have steadily improved in recent decades, and Francis has said he wants to restore the churches into communion with each other, a message he repeated last month while attending an Orthodox service with Patriarch Bartholomew I in Istanbul. If he succeeds, it would be a monumental achievement for Christian unity.

Other popes have cautiously waded into these conflicts. Francis has been diving in. And that is especially true of his approach to healing the divisions within the Catholic Church itself.

In October, when Francis convened a major conference on family life, he thrust into the center of it questions about how the church can build stronger bonds with those who have felt abandoned, including gays and lesbians and remarried couples. He warned the bishops against “hostile rigidity” in their thinking and all but invited them to challenge the church’s status quo, evoking the same spirit that inspired so many changes at the Second Vatican Council.

Some were unhappy about the new openness, but the talks achieved what Francis wanted: Forcing the cardinals to approach issues from a pastoral perspective, centered on the church’s obligation to embrace those most in need of healing. “The church is called to waste no time in seeking to bind up open wounds," Francis said afterward, "and to rekindle hope in so many people who have lost hope."

Francis’ efforts to bind up old wounds is taking many forms. Not all will succeed, and there is always the possibility that new wounds may open as a result; critics have been quick to suggest a possible schism between the church’s liberal and conservative wings. But we are learning that his papacy is best understood by reading the prayer of the saint whose name he took, which begins: “Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.”

That plea seems to be getting heard.

To contact the author on this story:
Francis Barry at fbarry5@bloomberg.net

Pope Francis, Peacemaker in Cuba and Beyond - Bloomberg View

Milwaukee archdiocese reaches $2.3M settlement with insurers; half proposed for abuse victims - Milwaukee - Milwaukee Business Journal

 

The latest settlement would bring to $5.15 million the total amount available to people who have sought compensation. The new settlement figure was included in a motion filed Wednesday and is subject to approval by U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Susan Kelley in Milwaukee.

"Our relentless pursuit of insurance carriers has brought $10 million into the (reorganization) plan," archdiocese spokesman Jerry Topczewski told the Milwaukee Business Journal Friday.

Lloyd's of London previously agreed to pay $8 million to the archdiocese with $4 million of that planned as payments to clergy abuse victims and $4 million to pay the administrative costs of the case. The new development involves a settlement with OneBeacon Insurance Co. and Stonewall Insurance Co.

The archdiocese reached the latest settlement after mediation with insurers including OneBeacon and Stonewall.

Kelley has scheduled a hearing on the archdiocese settlement motion for Feb. 10, 2015.

Read the entire article:  Milwaukee archdiocese reaches $2.3M settlement with insurers; half proposed for abuse victims - Milwaukee - Milwaukee Business Journal

Pope Francis Is Credited With a Crucial Role in U.S.-Cuba Agreement - NYTimes.com

 

The Vatican’s most senior official after the pope, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the secretary of state, moderated the October meeting after the two countries sought out the Vatican as a trusted broker near the conclusion of their negotiations.

For Francis, the breakthrough on Wednesday burnished his efforts to reposition the Vatican as a broker in global diplomacy. He has already waded into Middle East protests, hosting a prayer summit meeting between the Israeli and Palestinian presidents that bore few tangible results. Soon afterward, Israel began its military assault against Hamas, the Palestinian militant group, in Gaza.

But Francis has quickly become one of the world’s leading figures, and his role in the United States-Cuba breakthrough undoubtedly is tied to his status as the first Latin American pope of the Roman Catholic Church.

“He knows the Cuban situation by heart,” said Gianni La Bella, a professor of contemporary history and an expert in Latin American Catholicism, as well as a member of the Community of Sant’Egidio, a liberal Catholic group active in international affairs. “He visited when he was a cardinal and has a strong relationship with the archbishop of Havana, who is obviously a strategic player in this.”

In April, the Vatican and Cuba celebrated 79 years of diplomatic relations as they jointly staged a photography exhibition at a church in Rome. Although the Vatican has had problems with Havana, it steadfastly opposes the American embargo and has kept diplomatic lines open.

Fidel Castro visited the Vatican in 1996 and met with Pope John Paul II. Two years later, John Paul visited Cuba, where he criticized the embargo as causing hardship for ordinary people and called for it to be rescinded. His successor, Pope Benedict XVI, also visited Cuba, in 2012.

“I was in Cuba for almost two years, and I understand what this news means to the island,” said Msgr. Angelo Becciu, once the Vatican’s ambassador to Cuba. “It opens new scenarios and gives great hope to all Cuban people. The cease of the embargo will encourage and revitalize the island’s perspectives, as well as its economy.”

After he became pope in 2013, Francis was expected to revitalize the church in the Southern Hemisphere. But his background has also helped the Vatican reposition itself as an independent actor in diplomacy, less tethered to European or American worldviews than in the past.

Francis’s appointment of Cardinal Parolin as secretary of state was also significant. Long considered one of the Vatican’s most talented diplomats, Cardinal Parolin served as apostolic nuncio in Venezuela, one of Cuba’s closest allies. From that perch, Cardinal Parolin gained a sophisticated understanding of regional dynamics and the Cuban predicament, Professor La Bella said.

Pope Francis Is Credited With a Crucial Role in U.S.-Cuba Agreement - NYTimes.com

St. James Financials for FY 2014

In the past financial reporting for the parish was supplied in late September or October, this year this report was an insert to the December 14 weekend bulletin.

 

Prior years FY 2010 and FY 2012.

Prior Year balance sheets.

Weekly Contributions for the weekend of December 14, 2014

Ten additional families pledged to “Continue the Vision”, $6,780 additional pledges, $19,248.44 additional collected.

Vatican Offers Olive Branch to US Nuns - ABC News

 

A sweeping Vatican investigation into Roman Catholic nuns in the U.S. that began amid fears they had become too feminist and secular ended up praising the sisters for their selfless work caring for the poor ? a major shift in tone that reflected the social justice mindset of Pope Francis.

The overwhelmingly positive report Tuesday also promised to value their "feminine genius" more, while gently suggesting ways to serve the church faithfully and survive amid a steep drop in their numbers. It was cheered by the American sisters themselves, dozens of whom swarmed the Vatican news conference announcing the results in a rare occasion of women outnumbering men at the Vatican.

"There is an encouraging and realistic tone in this report," Sister Sharon Holland told reporters. "Challenges are understood, but it is not a document of blame, or of simplistic solutions. One can read the text and feel appreciated and trusted to carry on."

The report was most remarkable for what it didn't say, given the criticism of American religious life that prompted the Vatican under Pope Benedict XVI to launch the investigation in 2009.

There was no critique of the nuns, no demands that they shift their focus from social justice to emphasize Catholic teaching on abortion, no condemnation that a feminist, secular mentality had taken hold in their ranks.

Rather, while offering a sobering assessment of the difficult state of American congregations, the report praised the sisters' dedication and reaffirmed their calling in a reflection of the pastoral tone characteristic of history's first Jesuit pope.

It was a radically different message than that of another Vatican office that investigated an umbrella group of the sisters' leaders.

That investigation, conducted by the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, resulted in a Vatican takeover of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious in 2012. The doctrine office determined that the LCWR, which represents the leaders of 80 percent of U.S. nuns, took positions that undermined church teaching and promoted "radical feminist themes incompatible with the Catholic faith."

The Vatican's congregation for religious orders has long sought to distinguish its broad investigation into the quality of life of American sisters from the more narrow doctrinal assessment carried out by the orthodoxy office.

But both investigations began within months of one another and resulted in tremendous feelings of betrayal and insult from the sisters.

The probes also prompted an outpouring of support from rank-and-file American Catholics who viewed the investigations as a crackdown by a misogynistic, all-male Vatican hierarchy against the underpaid, underappreciated women who do the lion's share of work running Catholic hospitals, schools and services for the poor.

Theological conservatives have long complained that after the reforms of the 1960s Second Vatican Council, women's congregations in the U.S. became secular and political while abandoning traditional prayer life and faith. The nuns insisted that prayer and Christ were central to their work.

Holland, who heads the Leadership Conference, acknowledged that the investigation was initially met with apprehension and distrust, particularly among elderly sisters who "felt that their whole lives had been judged and found wanting."

But she said the results showed that the Vatican had listened and heard what the sisters had to say.

 

TO read more:  Vatican Offers Olive Branch to US Nuns - ABC News

China rules: Why the pope ducked meeting with Dalai Lama

 

The issue of how to handle Tibet is of strategic importance for the Vatican.

China is home to several million Catholics and Protestants, whose freedom of religion is heavily curtailed.

The establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the Vatican would allow Catholicism in the world's most populous nation to flourish.

Since becoming pope, Francis has given new impetus to the quiet discussions that have been ongoing between Rome and Beijing since the 1980s.

A meeting with the Dalai Lama could jeopardise that, given Beijing's known abhorrence of any gesture of solidarity towards Tibet by other powers.

Read all of the article;  China rules: Why the pope ducked meeting with Dalai Lama

Belvidere Daily Republican: St. James has a special reason to celebrate this season

 

Belvidere Daily Republican

St. James has a special reason to celebrate this season

By Tricia Goecks
Editor
After 49 long weeks of Mass in the gymnasium at St. James Catholic Church, the parishioners will finally have the opportunity to celebrate Mass inside the newl...y remodeled church at 5:30 p.m. on Dec. 18. Bishop David Molloy will celebrate the rededication of the church along with Father Brian Geary.
The Advent season is a joyous time of year for Christians as they prepare to celebrate Christ’s birth. And for the faithful at St. James, they will also celebrate the rebirth of their church during its sesquicentennial year.
“It will be a tremendous blessing. We set this hard date of Dec. 18 a couple of months ago and it looks like we are going to make it. We have been in this gym for 49 weeks. It is hard to worship in a gym. We couldn’t imagine missing Christmas in our church,” Geary said. “We worked very strenuously to finish the church before Christmas.”
Church leaders worked with Larson & Darby Architects to design the $6.4 million project. Rockford Structures was the contractor of the project. We worked with “Arrow Electric, Miller Engineering, Air Temp Services, Combined Painting and Taping, Packard Excavating, Jack Hall Contractor, M&R Millwork, Bossler Construction, Nelson Carlson Mechanical, Nelson Fire Protection, Northern Illinois Terrazzo and Tile, ARC Design, and Swanson Floor Covering,” project manager Rick Kluber from Rockford Structures said. “I am afraid I am missing somebody. There are a lot of people involved.”
“Rockford Structures has been excellent. Easy to work with and very professional,” Geary said.
Parishioners worked alongside the contractors to help with the construction. “The contractor owner (Nathan Heinrich) said he had never worked on a project where there were so many volunteers,” Geary said and described himself as being humbled by the generosity of the volunteers who toiled both in the construction as in the kitchen. “Sometimes you get some volunteers and they see the workers and they say ’you do it. It’s too much.’ They have worked tirelessly from January to today. Without our volunteers we could not have accomplished this.”
“There is a pride for the members in doing much of the work themselves,” Kluber added.
Through the construction project, the capacity of the church increased from 325 to over 800 people. Columns supporting the choir loft represent where the demolished wall once stood.
Parishioners removed the stained glass windows from the demolished wall and preserved them by removing the protective plexiglass covering and replacing it with a clear UV covering and replacing the frame. “The president of the contractor was impressed that people who are unskilled in stained glass artistry could do such a wonderful job. I cannot say enough about the Paul family,” Geary said. “They donated their time and love for the church in a most beautiful way of removing, restoring and securing in new framing of the stained glass windows for future generations of Catholics.”
“What will strike them most powerfully is the beautiful artwork inside,” Geary said. “The church has always been a patron of the arts. The church will have four original oil on canvas mural paintings.” “Beauty is one of God’s transcendental qualities. Beauty is something that should lead us to God. I think people will be awestruck with the beauty of this artwork. It should draw their hearts and minds to God.”
The focal point will be The Transfiguration. The 14’6” x 7’ mural was suggested by liturgical architect Joe Winkelmann from Larson & Darby. The mural was inspired by paintings by Raphael and Gustave Dore. “They are two of the most important pieces in the history of art of the Transfiguration,” Geary said.
In a city of murals, it is fitting that the centerpiece of the altar is a mural. The mural represents when Jesus took James, Peter and John to pray at Mount Tabor prior to his death. While Jesus prayed, his clothes turned a dazzling white and Moses and Elijah appeared and spoke to Jesus.
In Dore’s masterpiece, James is seen shielding his eyes from the brilliant light. “The artist recommended, with our direction, to lower James’ arm and turn his head to point to us that the transfigured Jesus that they saw on Tabor is now in the Tabernacle. We positioned the Tabernacle to find its end where James is pointing. He is also telling us the same transfigured Jesus he saw on the mountain is now in the Tabernacle,” Geary said. “That is where we can find our transfigured glory.”
Rays of light on the mural emanate from where the Tabernacle is located. “So it looks like James is being lit by the Tabernacle,” artist Craig Gallagher from Church Interiors added. Gallagher and Al Wormka have been responsible for the murals of The Transfiguration, Lady of Guadalupe and Divine Mercy, the stencil work as well as the faux stone work on the interior of the church.
The mural includes the symbols of Saints James, John the Evangelist and Peter. James includes both the shell and gourd. John includes the eagle, and Peter is depicted with keys. “The designer added these symbols to help tell the story,” Gallagher said.
Geary finds inspiration from the missionary story of Saint James who traveled to what Santiago de Compostela Spain in what was at that time considered to be the end of the earth. “He is associated with the pilgrim staff with a gourd. He was courageous in the midst of persecution and fearless in his love for Christ and one who had a missionary spirit which we need so desperately today,” Geary said. “Recent popes have said that mission fields are not somewhere across the world in Papua New Guinea or Calcutta. They are right here where vast numbers of believing Catholics are not practicing their faith.”
“James is our example to be a missionary again to realize that the mission that Christ trusted each of us is to make disciples. We need to bring people back to the faith.”
Among the changes to St. James church is the choir loft that can seat 175 people. With limited space in the gym during the past year, Masses at St. James have been without music. Geary looked forward to having music again with the liturgy. He recently announced that the church hired Christopher Aune as the musical director. Aune will begin in mid-January.
Parishioners will be relieved to know that among the changes at the church is the installation of a bathroom on the first floor. (No pun intended...just a fortunate coincidence.)
“It has been fun to see the church slowly take shape and come to life,” Gallagher said. “Now it feels like a sacred space.

Above is from Facebook:  (3) Belvidere Daily Republican

Pope Francis urges progress at Lima climate talks

 

Pope Francis has urged diplomats to agree on a strong deal to tackle climate change as UN negotiations draw to a close.

In a message to Peru’s environment minster Manuel Pulgar Vidal, who is leading the discussions in Lima, Francis warned that “the time to find global solutions is running out.”

Deep rifts remain between countries over how they should cut their greenhouse gas emissions with less than 24 hours to go until the deal is set to be signed.

Francis urged countries to overcome these divisions and work together. “We can find solutions only if we act together and agree,” he said.

The Pope has already made a name for himself as an environmentalist. He is said to be working an an encyclical about man’s relationship with nature that will be released ahead of the UN’s next climate summit in Paris next year…

Read more by clicking on the following:  Pope Francis urges progress at Lima climate talks

Gay music director fired after becoming ‘engaged’ to partner sues Catholic parish, pastor | News | LifeSite

 

The former choir director of a Chicago-area Catholic church is suing the parish and its pastor for firing him after learning he planned to participate in a homosexual “marriage.”

Colin Collette filed suit December 4 against Holy Family Parish in Inverness and Father Terry Keehan. The complaint was filed with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Cook County Commission on Human Rights.

"It saddens me to have this integral part of my life taken away because I have chosen to enter into a marriage, as is my right under Illinois law," Collette said.

In July of this year Holy Family Pastor Father Keehan asked Collette to resign after learning Colette had become “engaged” to his male partner. Collette refused and was subsequently fired.

Collette alleged at the time it was Cardinal Francis George, then archbishop of Chicago, who pressured Father Keehan to fire him, saying Father Keehan had been aware of his relationship and had been to dinner with him and his partner.

He subsequently requested to meet with Cardinal George. The two met September 9, and Collette described the meeting as “spiritual.”

“It was wonderful, he was very pastoral in this moment,” Collette told NBC Chicago. “The cardinal and I had a wonderful conversation, and a conversation that I hope will continue.”

Prior to the meeting Cardinal George had said of the matter, “It was his (Collette’s) decision that caused this crisis.”

The Archdiocese of Chicago told LifeSiteNews it has not seen the complaints that Collette has filed with civil authorities and so is unable to comment on them.

“We will respond to the complaints in the forums in which they are filed at the appropriate time,” Archdiocesan Media Relations Director Susan Burritt said.

At the time of Collette’s firing the archdiocese said that individuals involved in Church ministries are obliged to adhere to Church teaching in public.

“Those that serve as Ministers of the Church, including worship ministers, are expected to conform their lives publicly with the teachings of the Church,” the diocese said in a statement. “Pastors hire and dismiss all parish personnel and govern according to the teachings of the Church and Archdiocesan policies. This is a matter of personal integrity on their part."

Collette’s lawyer Kerry Lavelle said the courts will make the determination of whether Illinois’ 2013 homosexual marriage law would impact the Catholic Church.

Ranjit Hakim, executive director of the Cook County Human Rights Commission, told The Christian Post he could not comment on the case because of the commission’s role as a forum in which the case has been filed, but that that they "will conduct an independent investigation of the charges," as well as, "if necessary, hold an administrative hearing."

Collette’s firing is one of a few recent instances where local Church leadership has upheld Church teaching by removing employees living in contradiction of Catholic morals.

The Church teaches that “those with homosexual tendencies should be accepted with respect, compassion and sensitivity,” but also that, “under no circumstances” can homosexual acts be approved.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church states as well that “homosexual persons are called to chastity.”

Gay music director fired after becoming ‘engaged’ to partner sues Catholic parish, pastor | News | LifeSite

Letter from Father Geary to Parish

 

Dear Parishioners of St. James:
Praised be Jesus Christ!
After 49 weeks in the gymnasium we are days
away from entering our new church. God is so good to us!
The Scriptures remind us that God richly rewards perseverance
in faith.
We are happy to announce that St. James has a
new music director, Christopher Aune. He is accomplished
on the organ, piano and can direct choirs. Music will return
to our Masses! Combined with the new church and our
artwork it will surely be an upgrade from this past year.
Christopher will invite prospective cantors or choir members
to tryout once he starts in mid-January.
Our transition into our new church provides an opportunity
to enhance our experience of the Mass which the
Second Vatican Council called the "source and summit of
the Christian life." For far too many years we have
stretched thin ushers, lectors, Extraordinary Ministers of
Holy Communion, cantors/choirs, musicians, servers, sacristans
and priests to serve 8 Masses weekly. Now is an
historic opportunity to train and form our generous people
so that we might enhance the celebration of the Sacred
Mysteries.
I have scheduled a series of training sessions and/or tryouts
for various aspects of the Holy Mass. The days and
times are as follows:
Altar Servers: New and current altar servers must attend
training with Fr. Geary on Monday, December 22nd at 7:00
pm in the Church.
Sacristans: Anyone interested in being a sacristan will be
trained by Fr. Geary on Wednesday, December 23rd at
7:00 pm in the Church.
Lectors: New and current lector try outs with
Fr. Bartolomeo will be on Monday, December 29th at 7:00
pm in the Church.
Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion: Training
with Fr. Geary will be on Tuesday, December 30th at 7:00
pm in the Church.
You will not be scheduled for these ministries unless you
have been trained.
God Bless You
Fr. Geary

Weekly Contributions for the weekend of December 7, 2014

Format now includes number of families pledging on the second campaign.

 

Pope Cautions Against Media Interpreting His Words

 

Both Pope Francis and his predecessor, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, have shared frank remarks with major newspapers, each going some way to clearing the air on their approach toward current issues.

In his latest interview published Sunday in the Argentine daily La Nacion, Pope Francis affirmed he wishes to relax rules on Catholic remarried divorcees to further integrate them into the church. He also dismissed accusations that he demoted an American cardinal and said he is planning on visiting Africa next year, with a possible trip to Argentina in 2016.

Speaking for 50 minutes to Argentine journalist Elisabeth Piqué at his St. Martha residence Dec. 4, he gives some clues to his thinking and approach to the papacy: first, that he doesn’t want to change as Pope but remain as he’s always been because to change at his age “would be to make a fool of yourself.”

Second, he welcomes resistance to his leadership as it’s “very healthy” to have things “out into the open.” And third, when it comes to the effect of criticism on him, he said God has bestowed on him “a healthy dose of unawareness. I just do what I have to do".

The last comment is coherent with what has been said of Pope Francis: that he pays little or no attention to what the media say and rarely reads newspapers. He alludes to this in the interview, saying “in general people don’t read about what is going on” and he urges people to read his actual words rather than media interpretations. ….

Read the entire article by clicking on the following:  Pope Cautions Against Media Interpreting His Words