Archive for the ‘Roman Catholicism’ Category
No Rest In Peace For Cardinal Newman
In the late 19th century, Cardinal John Newman, a Roman Catholic convert, was buried in the same grave with his friend, Ambrose St. John. Cardinal John Newman called living with Ambrose St. John “his life under God for thirty two years”. The Worcestershire grave site of both men contains a dual memorial headstone that reads “Ex umbris et imaginibus in veritatem”, which translates as “Out of shadows and phantasms into the truth”.
Truth be damned. The light of judgement and homophobia is shining on Cardinal Newman as his body is exhumed and removed to a different location under the guise of beatification. Cardinal Newman’s body is being moved into a sarchophagus that will remove him from the person he loved.
Pope John Paul II writes on the second century anniversary of Cardinal Newman’s birth reflecting on Newman’s “turbulence of the soul.” Pope John Paul II puts a different spin on Newman’s words, calling Christ his truth. As a simple person, I think his phrase “Out of shadows and phantasms into the truth” is so much more deeper and reflects Newman’s pain about hiding his self, being with the omnicompassionate Christ now, who understands the true meaning of love. In the 12th century, another saint, possibly gay, St. Aelred of Rievaulx, Patron of Integrity wrote:
It is no small consolation in this life to have someone you can unite with you in an intimate affection and the embrace of a holy love, someone in whom your spirit can rest, to whom you can pour out your soul, to whose pleasant exchanges, as to soothing songs, you can fly in sorrow… with whose spiritual kisses, as with remedial salves, you may draw out all the weariness of your restless anxieties. A man who can shed tears with you in your worries, be happy with you when things go well, search out with you the answers to your problems, whom with the ties of charity you can lead into the depths of your heart; . . . where the sweetness of the Spirit flows between you, where you so join yourself and cleave to him that soul mingles with soul and two become one.
Not history revisionism just highlighting the need for open, honest, dialogue about the need for companionship. Loving someone is never wrong.
Catholics saints that could have been gay, bisexual, or transexual.
Scotland’s Catholic Leaders Block ‘Safe Sex’ Education
Thirty thousand Scottish school age girls will be innoculated for cervical cancer without receiving sexual education about safe sex in a compromise between Scotland’s health care officials and the Catholic Church.
12 and 13-year-old girls at all schools in the country will start receiving the jab in a bid to cut deaths from cervical cancer caused by the human papilloma virus (HPV), which can be passed on during sex.
The Catholic Church originally raised objections to the jab on the grounds it could encourage promiscuity, but has made a U-turn after reaching an agreement with health and education bosses.
The deal means girls getting the HPV jab will not receive any accompanying advice on the need to use condoms to protect themselves from other sexually transmitted diseases.
Cardinal Keith O’Brien raised concern that the pre-teens girls would receive mixed signals that they were being given a vaccine to allow them to have ‘safe sex.’
Do children get educational information about all the other vaccines required to keep them healthy? Yes, provide the medical information to the parents and allow the parents to reveal to their daughter what they want their child to learn.
In an increasingly Catholic country, Scotland’s secular socialists don’t want to innoculate the next generation from immature sexual decisions but force them to think about sex at younger ages.
Boston Ordains Catholic Women Priests
More Catholic women defying the Vatican in expressing their equal rights as humans with souls.
Church officials did not recognize the ordination, and the Vatican has previously warned that women taking part in ordination ceremonies will be excommunicated.
The group known as Roman Catholic Womenpriests held the ceremony at the Church of the Covenant, a Protestant Church in Boston.
The group said the three women—Gloria Carpeneto of Baltimore, Judy Lee of Fort Myers, Fla., and Gabriella Velardi Ward of New York City—are responding to a heartfelt call to serve the church as priests.
A fourth woman, Mary Ann McCarthy Schoettly of Newton, N.J., was ordained as a deacon, the group said.
The Archdiocese of Boston issued a statement decrying the ceremony.
Previous Sma’ Talk Posts:
What About The Women?
Only Fishermen,Tentmakers and Tax Collectors Are Worthy
Update on Women’s Ordinations.
Rumors Of Bush Catholic Conversion
RORATE CÆLI is posting the Italian weekly newspaper, Panorama murmurings in the loggias of President George Bush’s converting to Catholicism. More here from the Catholic News Agency.
A friend of President Bush, Fr. George William Rutler, who converted to Catholicism in 1979, stated that Bush respects how Catholicism was founded by Christ who appointed Peter as the first Pope. “I think what fascinates him about Catholicism is its historical plausibility,” said the priest. “He does appreciate the systematic theology of the church, its intellectual cogency and stability.” Fr. Rutler also mentioned that the president “is not unaware of how evangelicalism — by comparison with Catholicism — may seem more limited both theologically and historically.”
Although my major doubt with this story is that Mrs. Bush is a Methodist and does not show any signs of converting. In Tony Blair and Jeb Bush’s case, their wives were Catholic which as generally taken for granted, wives can be the reason for husband’s conversions. My Quaker Dad converted for my Catholic Mom.
Past Sma’ Talk Wi’ T posts:
Pope To Host Bush In Medieval Tower. – A Pope’s first meeting outside the Vatican in an intimate venue with a world leader.
George Bush A Closet Catholic.
Tony Blair’s Confirmation Of Becoming A Catholic.
More around the world:
Methodist Bush Converting To Catholicism?
George Bush Meets Pope Amid Claims He May Convert To Catholicism.
The two men have grown increasingly close in the past two years, and Mr Bush was overheard whispering: “What an honour, what an honour, what an honour!” as he ascended the steps to the tower.
After a stroll through the Vatican gardens, the men listened to a recital by the choir of the Sistine Chapel. However, Mr Bush did not, as expected, kneel in prayer before the Grotto of the Madonna of Lourdes. It was thought that he may have prayed with the pope in private. Mr Bush prayed with Benedict in the Oval Office during the Papal visit to the US in April.
Several Italian newspapers cited Vatican sources suggesting that Mr Bush may be prepared to convert. One source told Il Foglio, an authoritative newspaper, that “Anything is possible, especially for a born-again Christian such as Bush.”
He added that while the Holy See deplored the war in Iraq, “on ethical matters he has always had a line that is practically identical to that of the Vatican.” Mr Bush has spoken out against gay marriage, abortion and stem cell research. He proposed amending the US constitution to “fully protect marriage” as the “union of man and woman as husband and wife”.
He has repeatedly made clear his admiration for Benedict and has even claimed to have read some of the pope’s theological books.
A source close to the Vatican said that Mr Bush was the most “Catholic-minded” president since John F Kennedy, who famously played down his Catholicism. Mr Bush belongs to a Methodist church in Texas and prays at an Episcopal church in Washington.
Mr Bush has filled the White House with Catholic speech-writers and consultants and is also thought to have asked a Catholic priest to bless the West Wing.
Before he became president, Karl Rove, his former political adviser, invited Catholic intellectuals to Texas to lecture the candidate on the church’s teachings. Mr Bush appointed the Catholic judges Samuel Alito and John Roberts to the Supreme Court.
However, it is thought unlikely that Mr Bush would convert until after he has left office. Jeb Bush, the president’s brother, has already converted to Catholicism.Catholics have noted that during the contested election in 2000, Jeb Bush travelled to Mexico and prayed to the icon of Our Lady of Guadelupe. His victory was announced by the Supreme Court on December 12, the feast day of the Lady of Guadelupe.
Father Jonathan Morris: Don’t Tell Me How To Vote
Catholic expert and Fox spokesperson, Father Jonathan Morris’s column on the real criteria voters should evaluate when selecting a political candidate. Maybe Secularists, left and right wing seeking to silence the Moral Majority and devout Catholics, should realize that “What Would Jesus Do” is not necessarily the only question Christians should ask themselves.
Catholicism Once Again Majority In Scotland
Catholics have reclaimed the largest population base in Scotland since the early 16th century, but not because of the Scots. Polish immigrants have now boosted the Catholic percentage to the top in Scotland.
The change is due to the huge numbers of Catholic Polish immigrants who are boosting church attendance, raising numbers by some 50,000 people since the last time figures were published in 2002. A spokesman for the Catholic Church said: “There are now more masses being said in Polish than in Gaelic in Scotland. At St Mary’s Cathedral in Edinburgh, there are two Polish masses every Sunday. It has made a significant difference.”
He claimed that the Polish-inspired revival was now boosting the Church in other areas. “In terms of vocations to the priesthood, we hit rock bottom a few years ago when we had only about four or five men training to become priests. Now there are 15 or 16.”
200,000 Britons Leave A Year, 160,000 Immigrants Arrive
George Bush A Closet Catholic
John F Kennedy may have been Catholic only in name in the White House. Policies count more than a label. What will infuriate Catholic liberals more than anything else is to think of George Bush as having Catholic beliefs.
Recently from The Deacon’s Bench, Deacon Greg Kandra offers the opinion that President George Bush is a closet Catholic and he may be right.
When one of George Bush’s closest allies, British Prime Minister Tony Blair converted to Catholicism after leaving his post, you had to wonder if Blair and Bush talked about God during their many visits late at night.
Despite all the military and catastropic events during his term, President George Bush’s greatest conservative legacy may be his Supreme Court nominations of Catholics Sam Alito, and John Roberts.
“I don’t think there’s any question about it,” says Rick Santorum, former U.S. senator from Pennsylvania and a devout Catholic, who was the first to give Bush the “Catholic president” label. “He’s certainly much more Catholic than Kennedy.”
Bush attends an Episcopal church in Washington and belongs to a Methodist church in Texas, and his political base is solidly evangelical. Yet this Protestant president has surrounded himself with Roman Catholic intellectuals, speechwriters, professors, priests, bishops and politicians. These Catholics — and thus Catholic social teaching — have for the past eight years been shaping Bush’s speeches, policies and legacy to a degree perhaps unprecedented in U.S. history.
“I used to say that there are more Catholics on President Bush’s speechwriting team than on any Notre Dame starting lineup in the past half-century,” said former Bush scribe — and Catholic — William McGurn.
Bush has also placed Catholics in prominent roles in the federal government and relied on Catholic tradition to make a public case for everything from his faith-based initiative to antiabortion legislation. He has wedded Catholic intellectualism with evangelical political savvy to forge a powerful electoral coalition.
“There is an awareness in the White House that the rich Catholic intellectual tradition is a resource for making the links between Christian faith, religiously grounded moral judgments and public policy,” says Richard John Neuhaus, a Catholic priest and editor of the journal First Things who has tutored Bush in the church’s social doctrines for nearly a decade.
Interesting debate between scholars about the parallel between President George Bush’s Iraqi decision and 11th century Pope Urban II’s Crusades.
Read all of Greg Kandra’s column and you might end up agreeing with the Deacon. Or not. The Deacon’s Bench post comments are also telling in that it seems the disagreers are more motivated by politics than by religious fervor.
God Bless our President George Bush. The aftermath of 9-11 would have been far worse without him in the White House.
Thanks Dave for the heads up!
Valid Sacraments
Last night in a Catholic chat, there was a discussion of whether or not the sacrament of penance occurred if the wording was changed. The answer was no, the sacrament was not valid.
When, back on 2 December 2004, I blogged about “Brisbane’s Bad Baptisms”, I got an unusual number of nasty notes from folks who (assuming they agreed with my point that baptism in the name of the Creator, and of the Redeemer, and of the Sanctifier was invalid, and many did not agree), nevertheless took umbrage at my conclusion that those undergoing such rituals were not, in fact, any kind of Christian (pace the archbishop there), and that such persons, to be Christian, let alone Catholic, needed to be absolutely (not conditionally, pace 1983 CIC 869.1) baptized anew.
“It wasn’t their fault they were baptized invalidly,” wrote one unhappy reader, “how can you deny them the grace of God because of something they didn’t do?” Like, you know, I decide who gets God’s grace and who isn’t.
Defrock This…
Edward Peters, canon lawyer, enlightens Catholics once again about a commonly used phrase “defrocking” that isn’t accurate and doesn’t mean a thing.
Sma' Talk Wi' T 
