The Vatican on Sept. 17 released a detailed account of the final hours of Pope John Paul II, clarifying what his last words were. It also details his medical condition.
It's the first official narrative of a pope's death.
According to the Vatican, the 84 year old's last words, mumbled weakly in Polish, was: “Let me go to the house of the Father.” He then lapsed into a coma and died later.
The account fits with previous reports that he had said that he wanted to “go to the house of the Lord.”
It also dovetails with reports that his final words were part of a prayer to the Holy Spirit that he learned from his own father. Pope John Paul II was often seen praying with a Polish prayer book he had owned since childhood.
Since he had stipulated that he not be taken to the hospital, he remained in bed in his apartment and on April 2 at 3:30 p.m. he whispered his final words to a nun who was looking after him.
The Pope's secretary, Archbishop Stanislaw Dziwisz, has reportedly said that the last words he personally heard from the Pope earlier were directed to Mary: “Totus Tuus.”
Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger's homily at the Pope's funeral, consciously or not, echoed John Paul's last words.
“None of us can ever forget how in that last Easter Sunday of his life, the Holy Father, marked by suffering, came once more to the window of the Apostolic Palace and one last time gave his blessing urbi et orbi,” said the man who would soon become Pope Benedict XVI. “We can be sure that our beloved Pope is standing today at the window of the Father's house, that he sees us and blesses us.”
The Acta Apostolicae Sedis, the Vatican's official journal, published the report which is a chronological account starting on Jan. 21 when it was announced that his audiences were being suspended because he had flu.
The report covers two stays in the hospital, including one where he had surgery to insert a tube into his throat to allow him to breathe.
His decline was marked by “very difficult swallowing, laborious attempts to speak, nutritional deficit and marked weakness.”
His last public appearance took place on March 30 at the window of his Vatican apartment. He tried to say a few words to the crowds outside, but grimaced in pain and was unable to speak.
The next day his health became markedly worse during Mass in his private chapel.
Following a Polish tradition, a small candle was burning in his room and visitors prayed as the Pope lay dying.
The Pope died at 9:37 p.m.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- KEYWORDS: News -------- TITLE: Let the Roses Fall DATE: 09/25/2005 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: September 25-Oct. 1, 2005 ----- BODY:Few modern-day saints are as well known — or as widely beloved — as the “Little Flower,” otherwise known as St. Therese of Lisieux.
Which makes it all the more ironic that, at the time of her death in 1897 at the age of 24, she was virtually unknown to the world outside of her Carmelite convent.
When her writings began to circulate, however, people all over the world became familiar with her “Little Way” of achieving holiness by offering small sacrifices in the humdrum of daily life instead of setting out to perform great deeds.
Therese's simple spirituality appealed to many Catholics who were striving for holiness through ordinary living, and her fame grew. In 1925 she was canonized and, in 1997, Pope John Paul II declared her a Doctor of the Church.
The Church celebrates her feast day Oct. 1.
Before her death, St. Therese promised the following: “My mission — to make God loved — will begin after my death. I will spend my heaven doing good on earth. I will let fall a shower of roses.”
A Convert's Account
Leslie Suppan of Ottawa, Ill., firmly believes that she has been one of the many beneficiaries of St. Therese's “shower of roses.”
As a young college student years ago, Suppan longed for a greater sense of purpose in her life. Having no real formation of faith, she experimented a bit with New Age spirituality and the pagan religion of Wicca. These, however, offered her no real satisfaction.
“Wicca is an arrogant and self-centered religion that stresses bending and shaping the universe and everyone around you to get all of the things you want, material and spiritual,” she explains. “To be honest, I could never take it that seriously. It all seemed rather silly and juvenile, and as I got more involved I began to see the emptiness of it all.”
It was at this critical point of disillusionment that a friend lent her a copy of a Catholic magazine with an article about St. Therese of Lisieux. Suppan was immediately attracted by the young saint's simple path to happiness.
“It was beginning to appear to me that I would not be able to do all of the exciting things that I wanted with my life,” recalls Suppan. “I felt like, if I was to find any happiness, I would have to accept my life as it was and find joy in that. And there was St. Therese, showing me the way.”
This initial interest led Suppan to research the Catholic faith and what she learned inspired her to join the Church.
This meant a radical change in lifestyle and the abandonment of many friends.
Finding herself lonely with her newfound religion, Suppan decided to pray a novena to her favorite saint, asking for help in finding a good Catholic husband. On the last day of the novena, a friend brought her an unexpected gift of a rose — which Suppan saw as a sign that her prayers to St. Therese had been heard.
“[My friend] said she didn't know why but she saw the rose in the grocery store and had the urge to buy it for me,” says Suppan. “I was so thrilled because I had the feeling deep inside that something wonderful was on the verge of happening to me.”
That “something wonderful” turned out to be meeting the Catholic man who would become her husband. The two have now been married for 10 years.
Shaking Skepticism
Apparently, St. Therese can be persuaded to answer even the prayers of a skeptic. When she first read the life story of St. Therese, Salvatrice Murphy of Silver Spring, Md., had little admiration for the saint.
“Being the oldest of 11 children myself, I felt it was her sisters who were saints, thank you very much,” she explains. “But then I went on a Carmelite retreat that was centered on the Little Flower. In the end I certainly felt more kindly toward her, but still somewhat cynical.”
Murphy didn't hold back from expressing that cynicism in prayer, either. At the end of the retreat, she decided to pray to St. Therese about her sister's upcoming wedding. The groom's sister did not approve of the marriage and had declared that under no circumstances would she attend the wedding. Her bitterness was causing Murphy's sister a great deal of heartache and the situation looked hopeless.
“Just before I left the retreat house I made a last visit to the chapel. There I said quietly, but aloud, ‘Okay, Therese, if you're so great, get [the sister] to that wedding.’ I left there a little amazed at my own audacity,” she recalls.
To everyone's astonishment, less than a week later, the sister of the groom did attend the wedding and — even more miraculously — all family members were reconciled.
“I no longer underestimate Therese,” says Murphy, who now holds the saint in high esteem. “She has certainly demonstrated her intercessory power.”
Praying in Color
“I love that little saint!” says Janice Detherage of Louisville, Ky., a Catholic wife and mother who has always had a special devotion to St. Therese.
She relates the story of one particularly memorable novena she prayed to St. Therese several years ago. At the time, her autistic daughter was eligible for a program that was extremely difficult to get into, and Detherage held out hope that St. Therese might pull some strings to get her daughter admitted.
“Person after person told me that I was wasting my time,” she says. “But I forged ahead and decided to do a novena to St. Therese asking her for her very powerful intercessory prayers.”
The prayer she used was printed on a holy card that featured a picture of Therese holding a bouquet of roses. When Detherage studied the picture, she noticed that one of the roses was a most unusual color:
“It wasn't quite pink and it wasn't quite peach,” she explains. “I had never seen roses that color. Then I remembered different stories about people who had had glimpses of heaven and how they said the colors in heaven are not like the colors here on earth. That's it, I thought. St. Therese was holding one of her ‘heavenly’ roses.”
On the sixth day of the novena, Detherage's husband, who had no idea she was praying the novena, brought her roses as a surprise gift.
“Before I could say a word he said, ‘I want you to look at the color of these roses. I have never seen a color like this before. They are so pretty.’ Well, you guessed it. They were the color of the one I had admired on the prayer card.”
With renewed confidence, Detherage continued to pray. In the end, her daughter was admitted to the “impossible” program.
“St. Therese's prayers are so very powerful before the throne of God,” she says. “We are so blessed in our Catholic Church to call on the intercessory prayers of the saints in heaven.”
Danielle Bean writes from Belknap, New Hampshire.
----- EXCERPT: Watching for St. Therese's intercessions ----- EXTENDED BODY: Danielle Bean ----- KEYWORDS: Culture of Life -------- TITLE: Soul Study DATE: 09/25/2005 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: September 25-Oct. 1, 2005 ----- BODY:When I first entered the realm of academia four years ago, I felt confident that I had the essence of college all figured out.
After four years of basking under the mellow glow of Catholic intellectualism at Gonzaga University, I would emerge older and smarter, but mostly unchanged. The classroom was to be my battlefield; I was to stalk from subject to subject like Achilles amidst the Trojans, conquering the last remaining pockets of my ignorance.
Needless to say, I had it all wrong. My education and formation did not come in the form of acquiring knowledge or in a completely Catholic context. Nor, for that matter, did most of it take place in the classroom at all. Of course, I took classes aplenty, graduating last spring with a double major in English and philosophy. But from a post-baccalaureate perspective, it's apparent that much of what I learned in classes was promptly forgotten.
Furthermore, having come from strong Catholic and intellectual family and a high-school program of a rigorous classical bent, I think in some ways I'm no more theologically or mentally adept than when I left high school. I certainly don't feel that I have anything approaching a complete education.
But all was not lost — far from it. Going on half a year since graduation, I now realize that I grew immensely while at college. It has been the most valuable experience of my life so far, involving the development of my whole person and orienting of my self to the world.
But this intellectual and spiritual formation has been as much a process of subtraction as addition — the age-old “testing to see what will endure.” Of course, colleges are notorious for being hotbeds of competing ideologies, rampant temptations and fringe elements. However, at Gonzaga (and, one hopes, at Catholic colleges in general), these factors are tempered and counter-balanced by a nurturing Catholic presence and community.
In my case, a life focused on the sacraments was facilitated by opportunities such as a student-friendly 10 p.m. daily Mass, frequently offered reconciliation and a weekly Rosary for Life. My spiritual life was shaped not by theology classes, but through being part of a close-knit Catholic community, through the restorative and re-centering effect of frequent Mass and confession, through the example of priests who took an active role in my life and, especially, through having to stake my faith as my own.
College is a controlled, artificial environment. As a student you're bombarded by competing philosophies, interests and diversions. It was through dealing with this, through the choosing of one thing and concomitant rejection of others that I grew and flourished.
In Centesimus Annus, Pope John Paul II wrote: “For an adequate formation of a culture, the involvement of the whole person is required, whereby one exercises one's creativity intelligence, and knowledge of the world and of people.”
Going forward from here, I hope that, in encountering the “real world,” I will be able to draw on and bridge from these different experiences — to find ways to bring the Gospel to people “where they are.”
My education will never really be complete. But I think I now have the means and the motivation to apply my whole person to helping evangelize the culture. I think that's a pretty good return on a four-year investment.
Iain Bernhoft writes from Spokane, Washington.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: Iain Bernhoft ----- KEYWORDS: Travel -------- TITLE: Knights Pledge to Take 'Under God' To High Court DATE: 09/25/2005 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: September 25-Oct. 1, 2005 ----- BODY:SACRAMENTO, Calif. —Another judge has ruled that saying the Pledge of Allegiance in public schools is unconstitutional.
U.S. District Judge Lawrence Karlton ruled Sept. 14 that publicly reciting the pledge calling America “one nation under God” violates a student's right to be “free from a coercive requirement to affirm God.”
One of the plaintiffs in the case is Michael Newdow, a Sacramento atheist, battled against the phrase “under God” last year. The U.S. Supreme Court rejected his appeal on procedural grounds.
In his decision, Karlton said he was bound by precedent to a previous decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit in San Francisco. The court found that a school, by scheduling a public recitation of the pledge — even a voluntary one — “places students in the untenable position of choosing between participating in an exercise with religious content or protesting.”
Judge Karlton acknowledged that his ruling “will satisfy no one involved in [this] debate,” but his decision paves the way for an injunction to bar students from within the school districts named in the lawsuit from reciting the pledge. The students affected are those within the Elk Grove Unified School District, the Elverta Joint Elementary School District and the Rio Linda Union School District.
Newdow filed the lawsuit on behalf of himself and two families with children who attend Sacramento-area schools. In their lawsuit, they declared that they “absolutely deny the existence of any God and find belief in such an entity to be a significantly distasteful notion.”
Newdow said he prefers the way the Pledge of Allegiance used to be recited, before “under God” was added in 1954.
The Knights of Columbus, the Catholic fraternal organization that spearheaded the effort to add the phrase “under God,” was quick to answer. Supreme Knight Carl Anderson said freedom of religion is at stake.
“If freedom of religion in America means anything at all,” Anderson said, “it means that it's just as constitutional to recite the Pledge of Allegiance — complete with the words “under God” — as it is to read aloud the Declaration of Independence. They both express the same truth: that our fundamental rights come from God, our Creator, and not from government. To suggest that the language of the First Amendment prohibits the simple statement of that truth is to stand the Constitution on its head.”
Those battling for the pledge vowed to appeal the judge's decision.
“We will be taking the appeal as quickly as we can,” said Derek Gaubatz, director of litigation for the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which represents the Knights of Columbus and a group of California school children and their parents.
Meanwhile, in a case that was similar to the one brought by Newdow, a federal appeals court in Virginia in August upheld a state law requiring public school students to recite the pledge daily, saying that the pledge is a patriotic activity.
A New Religion?
The First Amendment of the Constitution says: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.”
Bernard Dobranski, dean of the Ave Maria Law School, said that he cannot envision how reciting “under God” is actually trying to create a new religion. “There's no reasonable way one can take the phrase ‘under God’ and establish a religion in a way that the First Amendment prohibits,” Dobranski said. “It's not an establishment of a religion.
It's nothing more than affirming that this nation has its roots in a Supreme Being.”
Dobranski added that the upcoming change in the make-up of the U.S. Supreme Court — with the likely confirmation of Judge John Roberts as chief justice — will be a plus for those who advocate that “under God” remain as part of the pledge.
Dobranski said Roberts “is likely to be a voice, along with those of Justices [Antonin] Scalia and [Clarence] Thomas, who will make more rational sense in this area.”
Call to Action
For those who side with Newdow, the judge's decision was a victory for religious diversity.
“America is a very diverse nation,” said Americans United for Separation of Church and State Legal Director Ayesha Khan. “We have some 2,000 different denominations and faith groups, as well as many Americans who choose no religious path at all. It is wrong for public schools to ask students to affirm a religious belief in order to express their patriotism.”
Although the religious issue is a key one, patriotism is also important to those who want to keep the pledge in the public schools.
“As an immigrant to America, one of the proudest days of my life was when I became a citizen of the United States,” California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said in a statement.
“Reciting the Pledge of Allegiance always reminds me of the history of our nation's founding, the principles of our great democracy and the many sacrifices Americans have made to protect our country.”
William Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, issued “a call to action” to California public school teachers after hearing about Judge Karlton's decision.
“The time has come for patriotic teachers in those schools to practice civil disobedience,” Donohue said. “They need to lead their students in the pledge, bellowing the dreaded words ‘under God.’ But nothing should be done until the television cameras are in place. The sight of teachers being handcuffed by the police would be an invaluable teaching moment. Settling this issue in court is fine, but it is inadequate: It's time to shock the conscience of the nation by bringing this matter directly into their living rooms.”
Carlos Briceño is based in Seminole, Florida.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: Carlos BriceņO ----- KEYWORDS: News -------- TITLE: Campus Culture DATE: 09/25/2005 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: September 25-Oct. 1, 2005 ----- BODY:How Catholic are Catholic universities? The Register surveyed colleges to find out how they rate on several objective criteria (see page 2).
But what about information not covered by the survey? Here's a glimpse of how the “Catholic culture” looks at those schools which responded:
Aquinas College
Nashville, Tenn.
Regular Mass schedule during the fall and spring semesters, and the chapel is open daily from 7:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Ave Maria College
Ypsilanti, Mich.
Mass, Rosary and Eucharistic adoration are offered. The Regina Coeli Coffeehouse provides students with an informal gathering place on campus with free coffee, tea, and hot chocolate. Student organizations include Students for Life.
Ave Maria University
Naples, Fla.
Ave Maria University plans to move to a permanent campus in Fall 2006, some 26 miles from its interim Naples campus. Mass, Rosary and Eucharistic adoration are offered.
Belmont Abbey College
Belmont, N.C.
On-campus devotional activities include Eucharistic liturgies, reconciliation, adult initiation and other prayer experiences. Belmont Abbey students participate in annual trips to the March for Life in Washington, D.C.
Benedictine College
Atchison, Kansas Student Masses take place daily. There is confession 30 minutes prior to every student Mass. The campus ministry sponsors several devotions and groups. Students participate in the annual March for Life conference.
The Catholic University of America
Washington, D.C.
Mass takes place every weekday (along with a weekly “house Mass”) and on Sunday. Eucharistic adoration occurs two nights a week. Confessions are heard weekly as well as twice annually in each of the student dorms on campus. The Students for Life group is very active in overseeing Catholic University's involvement in the yearly March for Life.
Christendom College
Front Royal, Va.
Two daily Masses on weekdays, one a day on weekends. Daily Rosary and adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. Many students engage in pro-life activities such as Shield of Roses, which sponsors weekly prayer vigils at abortion sites in the Washington, D.C., area.
Franciscan University of Steubenville
Steubenville, Ohio
Devotional activities include three Masses daily, a monthly Spanish Mass, perpetual Eucharistic adoration during semesters, holy hours, Bible studies, retreats, lectures, and festivals of praise scheduled throughout the semester. Households — groups of five to 20 students who share, support and pray with one another — form the basis for campus life. Students for Life organizes the university's Pro-life Memorial Service and participation in the March for Life.
Magdalen College
Warner, N.H.
The College offers Mass daily, Rosary, and confession, Eucharistic adoration every Friday, and on Sundays the community participates in Benediction and adoration. Each dorm has a chapel with the Blessed Sacrament is present. Annually the student body attends the local March for Life.
St. Gregory's University
Shawnee, Okla.
The Center for Spiritual Development is a focal point of campus life that promotes services to parishes and Oklahoma's Catholic youth. The university offers weekly Eucharistic celebrations, retreats spiritual direction, prayer services, and vocational discernment.
St. Joseph's College of Maine
Standish, Maine From the website: “Spiritual growth opportunities: Sunday Mass, daily Mass or communion service, interfaith services, Journey in Faith, Bible study, recitation of the Rosary, adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, individual spiritual direction, spiritual retreats.” The school also offers volunteer service opportunities and justice and peace initiatives.
COLLEGE OF SAINT THOMAS MORE
Fort Worth, Texas From the website: “Sponsored College activities include daily Mass; lunches; weekly lectures and student seminars … May Crowning. The conduct of students and their guests at these functions is governed by … the character of the College as a Catholic institution, and general standards of civil behavior.”
Southern Catholic College
Dawsonville, Ga.
From the website: “Daily Mass is offered, and significant feast days celebrated, as part of the college calendar. Confession will be offered regularly. Other devotions, including Eucharistic adoration and the holy Rosary, will be available as part of daily college life.”
Thomas Aquinas College
Santa Paula, Calif.
Mass is offered three times daily in the college chapel. Confessions are heard after every Mass and at other times throughout the week. Eucharistic adoration takes place several hours each day. Students travel weekly to abortion businesses in the area to counsel and pray.
Thomas More College of Liberal Arts
Merrimack, N.H.
The “order of the day” at Thomas More includes time for Mass, special programs, days of recollection, and retreats. The sophomore class spends the spring semester in Rome.
University of St. Thomas
Houston, Texas
Mass takes place daily. The “Sunday Nites at Nine” features a series of homilies on contemporary issues. The Catholic Intellectual Tradition Lecture Series has featured Peter Kreeft, George Weigel, and Cardinal Avery Dulles.
UNIVERSITY OF SACRAMENTO
Sacramento, Calif.
At this new school, Mass, confession and Eucharistic adoration are offered in the chapel of the downtown Sacramento campus.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- KEYWORDS: News -------- TITLE: Campus Watch DATE: 09/25/2005 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: September 25-Oct. 1, 2005 ----- BODY:On a Roll
CATHOLIC NEWS AGENCY, Sept. 2 — Two Catholic colleges known for careful fidelity to Church teaching — and to their Catholic identify — reported record enrollments for this year's incoming freshman classes.
Christendom College announced last week that it recently welcomed its largest freshman class, 379 students, to its rural campus near the Shenandoah National Park in Front Royal, Va.
These and other colleges “are all bursting at the seams with students wanting to study in the light of the 2,000-year-old Catholic faith,” reported CNA.
Is This Balance?
However, in a step that many may find strange for a college sponsored by the Diocese of Helena, Trebon also asked Eric Schiedermayer of the Montana Catholic Conference to also stay away from the conference.
This “was done in an effort to maintain balance,” reported the newspaper.
Religion Eliminated
In 1997, Quebec enacted a constitutional amendment that eliminated denominational religious schools while allowing religious instruction to continue within the public school system — until now.
In its story on the change, Catholic News Agency reported that there were no press releases from the Ministry of Education on the decision, nor were there any reports in the secular English press.
Intelligent Australia
AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORP., Aug. 29 — Australian Federal Education Minister Brendan Nelson has given conditional support to the teaching of intelligent design theory alongside Darwinism in the nation's schools, especially if that is what is desired locally.
ABC and the rest of the mainstream Australian media treated the announcement with derision, rarely including favorable comment about the theory that the complexity of the universe points to the likelihood of an “intelligent design” over the random selection of Darwinism.
Honor Roll
For Catholic identity, the institute takes account, among other things, of how often the schools make Mass and confession available to the students, and the availability of priests.
Honor Roll schools range from the 24-student Holy Rosary Academy in Anchorage, Alaska, to St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., with more than 2,100 students. Schools from 21 states made the Honor Roll led by Florida with seven schools selected.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- KEYWORDS: Education -------- TITLE: Catholic College Survey '05 DATE: 09/25/2005 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: September 25-Oct. 1, 2005 ----- BODY:For this special guide, the Register and Faith & Family magazine put tough questions to Catholic colleges to find out what parents want to know.
Parents looking to send their children off to authentically Catholic universities and colleges may feel confused about which institutions are truly Catholic — and not just Catholic in name only.
After all, recent studies show that students are, if anything, more likely to lose their faith at Catholic universities than at secular ones.
In 2003, Catholic World Report and the Cardinal Newman Society commissioned a report on students at 38 Catholic colleges from the Higher Education Research Institute at the University of California-Los Angeles. The Institute analyzed data on students who were surveyed in both 1997 as freshman and in 2001 upon graduation.
In 1997, 45% of incoming freshmen at Catholic colleges said they supported keeping abortion legal, with 55% opposed. After four years at Catholic colleges, the numbers switch sides: 57% were pro-abortion, 43% pro-life. Student support for homosexual “marriage” went from 55% to 71%. Approval of casual sex increased from 30% to 49%.
In 1997, more than two-thirds of Catholic freshmen at Catholic colleges attended religious services frequently, while the remaining third attended occasionally. By senior year, 13% stopped attending services altogether, and nearly half attended only occasionally. (See the full article at www.CardinalNewmanSociety.org)
No parent wants to spend a lot of money at a school that could have disastrous consequences for a child. So we sent a survey to colleges to find out.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- KEYWORDS: News -------- TITLE: Hitler's Mufti, not Hitler's Pope DATE: 09/25/2005 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: September 25-Oct. 1, 2005 ----- BODY:Many readers of The New York Times no doubt believe that Pope Pius XII was Hitler's Pope.
John Cornwell's bestselling book told them that, and it's been reaffirmed by Garry Wills, Daniel Goldhagen and other writers since. It's been said so often in fact that most well-read Church bashers know it for a certainty. The only trouble is: It isn't true.
Not only does it contradict the words of Holocaust survivors, the founders of Israel, and the contemporary record of The New York Times, but even Cornwell, the originator of the moniker “Hitler's Pope,” has recanted it saying that he was wrong to have ascribed evil motives to Pius and now found it “impossible to judge” the wartime Pope.
But there's something else that has been ignored nearly altogether. Precisely at the moment when Pope Pius XII and the Catholic Church in Rome (and throughout Europe) were saving thousands of Jewish lives, Hitler had a cleric broadcasting from Berlin who called for the extermination of the Jews.
He was Hajj Amin al-Husseini, the viciously anti-Semitic grand mufti of Jerusalem, who resided in Berlin as a welcome guest and ally of the Nazis throughout the years of the Holocaust.
As I point out in my book, The Myth of Hitler's Pope, the outrageous calumny directed against Pope Pius XII has not only besmirched the reputation of a man who did more than any other religious leader to save Jewish lives, it has deflected attention from the horrible truth of Hajj Amin al-Husseini— who continues to be a revered figure in the Muslim world.
It is possible to trace modern Islamic anti-Semitism back along a number of different historical and intellectual threads, but no matter which one you choose, they all seem to pass, at one point or another, through the hands of Hajj Amin al-Husseini —Hitler's mufti.
In late March 1933, al-Husseini contacted the German consul general in Jerusalem and requested German help in eliminating Jewish settlements in Palestine — offering, in exchange, a pan-Islamic jihad in alliance with Germany against Jews around the world. It was not until 1938, in the aftermath of British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain's infamous capitulation to Hitler at Munich, that al-Husseini's overtures to Nazi Germany were officially reciprocated. But by then the influence of Nazi ideology had already grown significantly throughout the Arab Middle East.
Several of the Arab political parties founded during the 1930s were modeled after the Nazi party, including the Syrian Popular Party and the Young Egypt Society, which were explicitly anti-Semitic in their ideology and programs. The leader of Syria's Socialist Nationalist Party, Anton Sa'ada, imagined himself an Arab Hitler and placed a swastika on his party's banner.
Though he was the grand mufti of Jerusalem, al-Husseini moved his base of operations (and pro-Nazi propaganda) to Lebanon in 1938, to Iraq in 1939 (where he helped establish the strongly pro-German Rashid Ali al-Gaylani as prime minister), and then to Berlin in 1941.
Adolf Eichmann's deputy, Dieter Wisliceny, testified at the Nuremberg Trials that al-Husseini “was one of the initiators of the systematic extermination of European Jewry and had been a collaborator and adviser of Eichmann and Himmler in the execution of this plan. He was one of Eichmann's best friends and had constantly incited him to accelerate the extermination measures.” At Auschwitz, al-Husseini reportedly “admonished the guards running the gas chambers to work more diligently.”
After the defeat of the Axis powers, al-Husseini escaped indictment as a war criminal at Nuremberg by fleeing to Egypt, where he received political asylum and where he met the young Yasser Arafat, his distant cousin, who became a devoted protégé — to the point that the Palestinian Liberation Organization recruited former Nazis as terrorist instructors. Up until the time of his death, Arafat continued to pay homage to the mufti as his hero and mentor.
This unholy legacy continues. Hajj Amin al-Husseini has inspired two generations of radical Islamic leaders to carry on Hitler's war against the Jews, which is why today, as was true 60 years ago it is not the Catholic Church that is the great threat to the survival of the Jewish people, it is Islamofascism.
Rabbi David G. Dalin is a professor of history and political science at Ave Maria University and is the author of thenewly released book The Myth of Hitler's Pope.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: Rabbi David G. Dalin ----- KEYWORDS: Commentary -------- TITLE: A Cardinal Virtue DATE: 09/25/2005 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: September 25-Oct. 1, 2005 ----- BODY:What do you do when you are locked out of your campus dormitory and it is midnight and raining, and your wife is not feeling good and all of the motels and hotels in the area are filled because it is a graduation weekend?
The dormitory in this instance was really an expertly converted barn over which St. Barnabas had been asked to preside. A weary Mary and Joseph, who could find no room in the inn, at least gained easy entrance to their barn.
What I did, in the absence of a doorbell, was rattle the outside door for a few minutes until a figure appeared on the second floor and slowly descended to my level, and unlocked the door that had been our final barrier to a good night's rest.
“I'm sorry the door was locked,” he said. Judging from his attire and his tired look, I thought I surely must have wakened him, and duly apologized.
He politely brushed the matter aside. Then I asked him, in the most respectful tone I could muster under the circumstances, “Are you Peter Cardinal Turkson?” He nodded meekly. We shook hands and he asked if he could help me with my baggage.
In our world where it is customary for people to scramble to the top so they can belong to an increasingly exclusive club, the virtue of graciousness takes on added luster. The gracious person, no matter what his title or station, never behaves as if he were higher than anyone else.
Pope Gregory the Great coined the expression Servus servorum Dei (servants of the servants of God) to indicate that the Church hierarchy is really an inverted pyramid. The pope, unlike the tycoon, is servant even to other servants.
A prince of the Church, the archbishop of Cape Coast, Ghana, Cardinal Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson, was gracious enough to descend two flights of stairs, unlock the door for me, offer a humble apology, and help me with my luggage. This is how Christ would have responded.
While CEOs of major corporations regard it as their hard-earned right not to return telephone calls or to be polite to strangers, Christ not only answers our prayers, but makes house calls — indeed, house calls to tabernacle in our heart.
In this, the Year of the Eucharist, a passage from a hymn by Charles Gounod came to mind: “Jusqu'à moi vous pouvez descendre, humilité de mon Sauveur!” (All the way to me, you have descended; such is the humility of my Savior.)
This same passage was a particular favorite of the great French novelist and Nobel laureate, François Mauriac, who repeated it many times since he made his first Communion May 12, 1896. At the time he disclosed this to his readers in What I Believe, Mauriac was regarded as the world's greatest living Catholic writer.
St. Augustine once said that the three most important factors in religion are humility, humility and humility. The virtue of humility, indispensable for graciousness, is an attribute of God and an imitable characteristic of Christ.
Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Benedict XVI, in his Introduction to Christianity, cites a remark of the poet Hölderlin to capture the Christian image of the true greatness of God: “Non coerceri maximo, contineri tamen a minimo, divinum est” (Not to be encompassed by the greatest, but to let oneself be encompassed by the smallest — that is divine).
For God, nothing is too small. As Cardinal Ratzinger stated, “Precisely this overstepping of the greatest and reaching down into the smallest is the true nature of absolute spirit.” Teilhard de Chardin wrote poetically and rhapsodically about the cosmic Christ. Yet Christ is best understood not in relation to his cosmic grandeur or creative omnipotence, but in relation to his regard for the least of his little ones.
Christ in the Eucharist and a cardinal in the flesh make their descent, unlock doors and carry away baggage. The Greek gods met on lofty Olympus. The Titans plotted to punish Prometheus.
Aristotle's deity was wrapped in self-contemplation as a “thought thinking a thought.”
The “rat race” produces the “top dog.” The corporate ladder is used exclusively for “climbing,” never for descending. Christianity is the great exception: No one is all-important and no one is unimportant.
The mystical body and the communion of saints attest to this. Graciousness gives it a personal touch. There is no moral distance between the prince and the pauper.
The next morning, after Mass, the cardinal and I met over brunch. I was wearing a Fall River (Mass.) hat that my father had recently given me.
It was cardinal red. I asked the cardinal if he liked my hat. He laughed as he removed his scarlet zucchetto and pretended for a brief moment that he was exchanging hats with me. The gesture was humorous and profoundly Christian.
No one's head should be bigger than anyone else's — one size hat fits all.
Donald DeMarco is adjunct professor at Holy Apostles College and Seminary in Cromwell, Connecticut.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: Donald Demarco ----- KEYWORDS: Commentary -------- TITLE: Inaugural Catholic College Survey DATE: 09/25/2005 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: September 25-Oct. 1, 2005 ----- BODY:NORTH HAVEN, Conn. — Catholic parents, students, board members, alumni and donors want to know: Is this expensive Catholic university Catholic in name only? Will it help or hurt my child's faith?
They now have a new tool to help them.
In a special supplement this week, the Register is publishing the first-of-its-kind Catholic College Guide designed to help parents find colleges that conform to canon law requirements and Catholic moral norms.
The guide, which also appears in the fall issue of the Register's sister publication, Faith & Family magazine, is the result of a survey sent to the nation's Catholic institutions of higher education.
“Only 17 colleges responded,” said Register publisher and editor-in-chief Father Owen Kearns. “If parents have questions about schools that aren't on our list, they can send our survey to the school and urge them to respond. We've provided a copy.”
Concerned students and parents welcome the guide. They see it as a lens that allows them to see Catholic colleges and universities with greater transparency.
Archbishop Timothy Dolan of Milwaukee, Wis., said he gets questions about schools from parents all the time.
“I would find some type of tool or gauge that parents could use helpful. When you have a report card some schools will do better than others,” he said. The tool should inform students and parents about the theology department, the devotional life on campus, apostolic activities, and the campus' Catholic culture.
“Tools often focus only on one, often the first,” he said. “To leave the other three out would make a tool less than helpful.”
Catholics like Diane and Linus Drouhard of Prairie Village, Kan., welcome the Register's guide. The Drouhards' son is looking for a college, and so they have been sifting through schools trying to find one that upholds the teachings of the Church. Little information is available.
“I wish that these schools would be more forthright,” said Diane. “Even those schools that have received the mandatum, for example, don't want it known.”
The mandatum is a recognition by the local bishop of a Catholic theologian's intent to teach in communion with the magisterium.
In July, Archbishop J. Michael Miller, secretary of the Vatican's Congregation for Education, spoke of the need for an instrument to serve these families by providing “benchmarks of Catholicity.”
“If, at one institution, kids say they don't pray or go to Mass, and another place the weekly Mass attendance rate is 70%, that's probably an indicator of something,” Archbishop Miller told Vatican reporter and author John Allen.
Archbishop Miller said that such benchmarks could include sacramental and devotional life; percentage of Catholics among faculty, trustees and staff; concern for social justice; religious and doctrinal attitudes of students over time; practice of the faith, and whether theology and the Christian tradition are core elements in the curriculum.
He went on to say that he hoped that the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities or other groups could develop a “Catholic identity” instrument for the nation's 235 Catholic colleges and universities.
The Register's guide is one contribution to the development of that instrument.
As any college graduate can attest, campus life is fraught with peril for both the mind and the soul.
“Why send your children 500 miles away to lose their faith, their belief in truth, their chastity, and their innocence?” asked Dave Sloan, an Atlanta-based Catholic speaker on love and relationships who has given seminars on dozens of secular and Catholic college campuses. “The enemy is undermining their minds in the classroom and their souls and spirits elsewhere.”
The Register's survey asked each college and university 10 questions regarding the institution's conformity Pope John Paul's 1990 Apostolic Constitution for Higher Education, Ex Corde Ecclesiae (From the Heart of the Church), and Catholic moral and sacramental life. Only a Yes or No answer was allowed.
Included among the questions were whether the president takes an oath of fidelity, if the majority of faculty is Catholic, if the head of campus ministry is Catholic, whether the school excludes pro-abortion commencement speakers, if the campus excludes co-ed dormitories, and whether the school publicly requires all Catholic theology professors to have the mandatum.
Those schools that responded Yes to each question most closely conform to the guidelines set forth in Ex Corde Ecclesiae. The guide includes such schools as Franciscan University of Steubenville, Ohio, Thomas More College of Liberal Arts in Merrimack, N.H., University of Sacramento and Atlanta's Southern Catholic College.
Whereas many of the nation's older Catholic colleges seem intent on hiding the status of their theologians' reception of the canon-law mandatum, for example, the newer Catholic colleges are demonstrating a fervent desire to publicly proclaim their adherence to the Church's teachings, often incorporating such requirements directly into the school's bylaws.
“We developed a board of fellows. Its task, and only task, is to look after the school's Catholicity,” said Jeremiah Ashcroft, president of Southern Catholic, Georgia's first Catholic college. “The board of fellows can veto the selection of either a president or a chaplain.
“In the bylaws we stated that we would be in accordance with Ex Corde, and that our theology faculty would have the mandatum,” said Ashcroft. “That immediately identified the direction of the college and separated us from many others.”
Ashcroft said that the school's adherence to the Church has attracted a solid group of students. Southern Catholic opened this fall with a freshman class of 74 students from 15 states.
“Our initial students are looking for this kind of institution,” said Ashcroft. “They are spiritual, and their parents are highly spiritual. They were trying to discern among colleges among the type that would meet both their spiritual and academic needs.”
Catholic universities' adherence to what they have been called to be is vital for discerning students such as Richard Grebenc of Cleveland, Ohio. Grebenc has been trying to determine where to obtain a master's degree in theology.
“There is definitely a need for a guide,” said Grebenc. “I want to make sure that when I go to one of these institutions, I can rely on receiving orthodox Catholic teaching. If a school says that all of its teachers have signed off on the mandatum, then I can believe that the teaching I am receiving is reliable. That's key for me in selecting an institution.”
Those working for the reform of the nation's colleges have also attested to the need for such a guide.
“There absolutely does need to be this focus,” said Patrick Reilly, founder of the 16,000-member Cardinal Newman Society, whose mission is dedicated to the renewal of Catholic identity at Catholic colleges and universities in the United States.
The Manassas, Va.-based Cardinal Newman Society is in the process of publishing a comprehensive college guide that examines Catholic identity on campus. Over the past year, the organization has surveyed all of the nation's Catholic colleges. According to Reilly, only about 20% of the nation's Catholic colleges have responded to the three separate requests that the society has mailed out.
The society's survey asked questions related to 30 indicators of Catholic identity. Fifteen of the questions dealt with requirements of Ex Corde Ecclesiae. The other 15 were related to curriculum and student life.
Reilly hopes the guide will be published prior to the beginning of college next year.
“Catholic colleges and universities are heavily focused on process — academic freedom concerns, providing tenure to professors, and selecting the most academically qualified faculty members,” Reilly said. “But they have lost their concern for what type of students they are turning out in regards to morals, theology and the things that carry students through life.”
Tim Drake is based in St. Joseph, Minnesota.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: Tim Drake ----- KEYWORDS: News -------- TITLE: How to Choose a Catholic University DATE: 09/25/2005 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: September 25-Oct. 1, 2005 ----- BODY:Archbishop Timothy Dolan knows something about higher education.
He has served as rector of the Pontifical North American College in Rome; professor of Church history at the Pontifical Gregorian University; vice rector of Kenrick-Glennon seminary in St. Louis, and theology professor at Saint Louis University.
Since 2002, he has been archbishop of Milwaukee, Wis., where several Catholic universities are located, including Marquette.
Archbishop Dolan spoke with Register staff writer Tim Drake on Sept. 15 from Baltimore.
Do parents ever come to you expressing the difficulty that they have in choosing a Catholic college or university?
Yes, parents and students, often juniors and seniors, will ask me about particular schools. Sometimes they will ask, “Do you know about this school?”
When they are doing so, they aren't asking me about the food or the athletics. They are asking me about the Catholicity of the school, and I am delighted that they do.
Sometimes they will ask me which schools I would recommend. I get those questions often, and am moved and inspired by the number of parents that want to find out the integrity of a Catholic college's integration of the Church's teachings. That's a good thing.
Is there anything that you recommend discerning parents should do?
There seem to be a couple of things that parents can do. They can scrutinize what the institution puts out and ask whether something is as valid as it should be, but that can be pretty self-serving.
Word of mouth and anecdotal evidence is often very helpful. If a parent asks me about a particular school, I will say, “Why don't you call so and so.” Parents can also go to the school. They should not be afraid to ask pointed questions.
When parents ask me about the Catholic identity of an institution, I encourage them to be broad-minded in the best sense of the word. Sometimes when they speak of an institution, they may have a particular theologian in mind. We have to be rather inclusive. When you talk about the validity of the Catholicity of a college we need to look at several things.
What would those be?
First, look at the theology department. Look at the syllabus. Ask about the mandatum. See if they teach the essentials of the Catholic faith.
Secondly, I'm surprised by the number of parents who don't look at the availability of the sacraments and the devotional life on campus. Make sure that it is there. Look at the student chaplaincy. You might have a campus where a theology department looks excellent, but where Sunday Mass isn't held on campus some Sundays.
Third, we are training character and apostles, so look for works of justice and mercy. Is there a pro-life movement on campus? Does the school offer outreach to the poor? Is there sensitivity to social-justice issues?
Fourthly, and this one is the most nebulous and hits a chord in most parents: Get your radar out early on the Catholic ethos on campus. Can you sense a climate? Will it be a kind of campus that is supportive of your child's faith? Is it a place where a child will grow in their faith and their character? Is it a college where they will find support rather than ridicule? You can sense that.
When you're on campus, are there religious signs? Is the chapel visible? Are there Catholic books in the bookstore? Are there religious events advertised on campus? Are Mass times displayed publicly?
People might complain, for instance, about a particular professor at Notre Dame, but I have never heard anyone deny that there is a tangible Catholic ethos on the campus of Notre Dame University. You know when you're at a Catholic place. There are other places where you would not sense that.
Do you think that a tool would be useful to help discerning parents?
I would find some type of tool or gauge that parents could use helpful. When you have a report card, some schools will do better than others. I would find a tool helpful if it took those four things into consideration: Look for a theology department that is faithful. Look for an active sacramental and devotional life. Look for opportunities for apostolic life, and a tangible, evident Catholic culture.
Tools often focus only on one, often the first. To leave the other three out would make a tool less than helpful.
Tim Drake writes from St. Joseph, Minnesota.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: Tim Drake ----- KEYWORDS: Inperson -------- TITLE: What Did Mother Teresa Mean? DATE: 09/25/2005 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: September 25-Oct. 1, 2005 ----- BODY:A REVOLUTION OF LOVE: THE MEANING OF MOTHER TERESA by David Scott Loyola Press, 2005
160 pages, $18.95
Just when you think you know all there is to know about Mother Teresa, along comes a short book to shed new light on her much-observed life and work. David Scott's slender biography provides fresh insights and reveals some hidden facets of the nun who set out to serve “the poorest of the poor.”
Offering neither an exhaustive chronicle nor a broad outline, Scott works from previously published resources to interpret what Mother Teresa's Christian witness meant to the world, given the time and place in which she lived.
The book begins by revealing how little we really know about Mother's early life. Scott then proposes that having the Iron Curtain descend around her homeland, Albania, made her “transparent”: In the end, he points out, all we were left to see was Jesus in the visage of a tiny, old nun.
Scott is one of the first Mother Teresa biographers to take into account the mystical revelations that came to light prior to her 2003 beatification.
Reading from her personal letters, we come to realize that Mother Teresa encountered a voice she believed to be that of Jesus Christ — not only during her famous 1946 train ride from Calcutta to Darjeeling, but also in countless episodes that followed. Gradually these mystical encounters led her to leave her convent to start an order devoted to serving the poorest of the poor.
Yet, soon after, she was thrust into an interior darkness. For the next 50 years, she suffered terrible dryness and heard no more from her Lord. “Mother Teresa carried this all of her life,” writes Scott, “yet all we saw was her smile.”
One of Scott's most memorable sections deals with Mother Teresa's outspokenness on abortion. He writes about the “God-incidence” of Mother Teresa's last-stop hospice launching right next door to a Hindu shrine to Kali — the goddess of destruction.
“For Mother Teresa, abortion represented nothing less than the abolition of man, the denial of the God-given destiny of each human person,” writes Scott. “In putting enmity between mothers and their babies, abortion made the living the enemy of the not-yet-born, and the present the enemy of the future. By abortion, we who were created to be our brothers' and sisters' keepers had been transformed into their willing executioners.”
Comparing her to her namesake, Therese of Lisieux, who lived during days when mass faithlessness found a foothold in the Western world, Scott notes that the history of Mother Teresa's century “reads for many like expert testimony that her God, if he ever really existed, was asleep at the switch or had recused himself from the affairs of his children.”
But that was never so, says Scott.
Look with eyes of faith at the 20th century — a century of widespread war, genocide and abortion — and you can see that God was raising up a generation of great saints to counter the darkness. Exhibit A: Mother Teresa of Calcutta.
Register staff writer Tim Drake is based in St. Joseph, Minnesota.
----- EXCERPT: Weekly Book Pick ----- EXTENDED BODY: Tim Drake ----- KEYWORDS: Education -------- TITLE: The Careful Lawyer DATE: 09/25/2005 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: September 25-Oct. 1, 2005 ----- BODY:EDITORIAL
Who is John Roberts?
After days of Senate hearings and as the Senate votes on whether to appoint him to be one of the youngest chief justices in Supreme Court history, that's the question many are still asking.
If he is confirmed, as seems likely (we go to press before the vote), he will be in a position to make a decisive mark on the Supreme Court in our lifetime. And that means he will have as great an impact on our nation's laws as any other public official.
What will that mark be? Register columnist Mark Shea, in a mock headline on his website (markshea.blogspot.com), summed up the feelings many of us had as we watched the hearings:
“Mysterious Man Makes Ambiguous Remarks About Roe v. Wade.”
Trying to parse Roberts' statements in the hearings was enough to make your head spin. The attempt strikes you with three thoughts. First, that Roberts is extremely bright. Second, that he is keeping his cards close to his vest. And third, that he has given both sides in the abortion debate reasons to hope.
The unspoken question at the heart of much of the grilling of Judge Roberts was this: Would you favor overturning the Court's Roe v. Wade decision, which legalized abortion in all 50 states at any time in an unborn child's development?
That was what was really at issue in the protracted discussion of stare decisis (Latin for “to stand by that which was decided”), the judicial principle that precedent decisions are to be followed by the courts.
When does Roberts think a precedent can be overturned?
The guidelines he gave are the same ones that are commonly given in legal textbooks. Here's how Roberts put it: “If particular precedents have proven to be unworkable — they don't lead to predictable results; they're difficult to apply — that's one factor supporting reconsideration. If the bases of the precedent have been eroded — in other words, if the Court decides a case saying, ‘Because of these three precedents, we reach this result,’ and in the intervening years, two of those are overruled — that's another basis for reconsidering the precedent.”
How does this apply to Roe? Let's look at his “workability” rule first. The good news: At one point in the hearing, Roberts acknowledged that even Clinton appointee Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg has said that Roe v. Wade is a weak and confusing decision.
The bad news: He also said that the Supreme Court, in Pennsylvania v. Casey, itself explained that Roe v. Wade is workable.
Said Roberts: “[I]n its decision in Casey, the Court specifically affirmed the doctrine of stare decisis, as it applies to Roe. The Court reviewed prudential and pragmatic considerations to gauge the respective costs of reaffirming and overruling a case, that case. In doing so, the Court unambiguously concluded that Roe has in no sense proven unworkable.”
Later, he added, “That determination in Casey becomes one of the precedents of the Court, entitled to respect like any other precedent of the Court, under principles of stare decisis.”
What about the principle dealing with previous precedents? What does Roberts think of the precedents that Roe is based on?
The good news: Roberts said, “I do think that the framers' intent is the guiding principle that should apply” in questions of any question of interpreting the constitution. The Constitution is the mother of all precedents, and the framers of the Constitution certainly did not intend to legalize abortion.
The bad news: Roberts had high praise for the specific precedent on which Roe is based: Griswold vs. Connecticut, the 1965 case legalizing contraception.
“I agree with the Griswold court's conclusion that marital privacy extends to contraception and availability of that,” said Roberts. “The Court, since Griswold, has grounded the privacy right discussed in that case in the liberty interest protected under the due process clause.”
So, would Roberts overturn Roe v. Wade or not? As Roberts himself pointed out, that's like the question that was put to Lincoln in the famous Lincoln-Douglas debates. Everyone wanted to know if, when elected to the senate, Lincoln would uphold the pro-slavery Dred Scott decision.
Roberts said, “Lincoln was a very careful lawyer in his responses.” Maybe Roberts thought he was imitating Lincoln and being a very careful lawyer in his own responses.
But he should also remember the clarity with which Lincoln zinged Douglas in the debates. Lincoln said Douglas was too clever on the topic. “This man sticks to a decision which forbids the people of a territory from excluding slavery, and he does so not because he says it is right in itself — he does not give any opinion on that — but because it has been decided by the Court,” said Lincoln. “A decision of the Court is to him a ‘Thus saith the Lord.’”
America doesn't need another Stephen Douglas right now.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- KEYWORDS: Opinion -------- TITLE: Protective Pets DATE: 09/25/2005 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: September 25-Oct. 1, 2005 ----- BODY:FACTS OF LIFE
It's already been established that children with pets do better socially and health-wise than those with none. Now comes evidence that adults benefit, too. One study found that heart-attack victims who had dogs were less likely to die within a year than those who didn't. And the cholesterol level of people who own pets came in around 2% lower than that of non-pet owners.
Source: The Scotsman, Aug. 12 Illustration by Tim Rauch
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: Tim Rauch ----- KEYWORDS: Culture of Life -------- TITLE: Baby Susan Torres Mourned 6 Weeks After Her Mother DATE: 09/25/2005 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: September 25-Oct. 1, 2005 ----- BODY:ALEXANDRIA, Va. — The efforts to sustain a mother's dying body to save the life of her unborn child — only to see that baby die too — may seem a waste. But to those who can see through faith-filled eyes, the ultimate victory has been attained, said Father Paul Scalia.
“No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us,” the priest said, quoting St. Paul at the funeral Mass of 5-week, 5-day-old Susan Anne Catherine Torres. The baby was born two months prematurely to Susan Rollin Torres, a woman who was kept on life support for three months in order to give her child a chance to be born.
“Susan was kept alive,” said Father Scalia, associate pastor of St. Rita's Church in Alexandria, “not so that the baby could grow up and attend Harvard University or become a world-renowned tennis pro, but so that the baby could become a child of God.”
Father Scalia baptized baby Susan immediately after she was born Aug. 2 at 1 pound, 13 ounces. Susan Rollin Torres was then taken off life support and died. She was buried Aug. 6.
Shortly before baby Susan died on Sept. 11, Father Denis Donohue, pastor of St. Rita's, blessed her with a relic of St. Teresa of Avila. The baby did not receive the anointing of the sick because the sacrament is not required for children under the age of reason, since they're incapable of committing mortal sin. Baby Susan was buried on Sept. 15, the feast of Our Lady of Sorrows.
Her birth had been carefully timed — late enough so she would be viable outside the womb, but before her mother's spreading cancer could affect her. She escaped the melanoma that killed her mother, and baby Susan seemed to thrive after her birth, giving the Torres family optimism that she would one day celebrate a homecoming in which she would join her father, Jason, and 2-year-old brother, Peter.
But in the early morning hours of Sept. 10, her condition declined suddenly and rapidly due to necrotizing enterocolitis, a common complication of prematurity that essentially causes the tissues of the digestive tract to die. The condition also caused an infection and intestinal perforations. She was transferred to Children's National Medical Center in Washington, D.C., where specialists went to work on her tiny body.
“The team initially tried to medically stabilize her, but ultimately performed two surgeries. Unfortunately, she was too sick and fragile to recover, and we were unable to save her,” said a hospital statement.
When it became evident that there was no way to save baby Susan's life, she was disconnected from all medical means of support and placed into the arms of her father, Jason Torres, where she died peacefully at 12:01 a.m. Sept. 11.
“This is shocking, really shocking,” said Justin Torres, Jason's brother. “At 6 p.m. Friday, she seemed to be doing just great. By 3 a.m. Saturday, the entire picture had changed and by Sunday morning she was gone.”
‘Be Faithful’
The unexpected grief of baby Susan's death is still not enough to shake the conviction of the Torres family that all life is worth fighting for regardless of its length or the odds against it.
“Obviously, we regret the outcome. But we don't regret trying [to save baby Susan's life]. We would have done exactly the same thing even if we had known the outcome ahead of time. We wouldn't have done a single thing different in retrospect,” Justin Torres said.
On May 7, Susan Torres, a 26-year-old researcher at the National Institutes of Health, collapsed in her Arlington home after a metastasized melanoma had spread to her brain, causing a stroke that left her without brain function. She was 15 weeks pregnant at the time, and doctors believed she had little chance of survival. Her husband decided to try to keep her body alive with life support systems so that the baby could survive.
Having quit his job as a commercial printing salesman in order to stay by his wife's side, Jason appealed to the national media for help raising the more than $400,000 in medical costs that would be left uncovered by insurance. The Susan M. Torres Fund was established by the local council of the Knights of Columbus (of which Jason is a member) and the website www.susantorresfund.org was launched.
The family's story gained worldwide attention, and donations, letters, packages, e-mails and prayers flowed in from around the globe.
“A life like this can have an impact on all our lives,” said Mercy Schlapp, a long-time family friend. “The outpouring of love and generosity from throughout the world testifies to that.
The Torres family's faith, devotion to family, and their selfless love of both Susan and the baby have affected all of us. The message that they share is God's message that every life is so important and precious that we do everything we can to save it.”
A statement on the Susan M. Torres Fund website said, “With great sadness, we are asking for your prayers for the repose of the soul of 5-week-old baby Susan Anne Torres. She passed away last night after surgery for a perforated intestine. Please include in your prayers a request for the peace and comfort of her family, especially Jason Torres, who has had a very difficult past several months.”
During the homily at the funeral Mass for Susan Rollin Torres, Father Scalia, son of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, quoted Blessed Teresa of Calcutta: “God does not ask us to be successful; he asks us to be faithful.”
“In the case of Susan Torres and her baby,” he said, “we were both.”
Baby Susan was buried next to her mother. The family declined to disclose the location.
Marge Fenelon is based in Cudahy, Wisconsin.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: Marge Fenelon ----- KEYWORDS: News -------- TITLE: Bush Taps Catholic Bioethics Battler DATE: 09/25/2005 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: September 25-Oct. 1, 2005 ----- BODY:WASHINGTON — Getting to the top of his field is not something Dr. Edmund Pellegrino takes for granted.
Pellegrino, 85, a Catholic physician who is an undisputed giant in bioethics, was named chairman of the President's Council on Bioethics on Sept. 8.
Ironically, he was almost not admitted to any medical school in the early 1940s, when he was a senior at St. John's University in New York City — in spite of his excellent grades.
One Ivy League school told Pellegrino he would be happier with “his own kind.” His academic adviser explained that Italians were no more welcome than Jews in major medical schools, and he would do well to change his last name. Pellegrino refused.
His father, a wholesale food salesman in New York, approached a client who owned a restaurant near New York University. The senior Pellegrino asked to be introduced to one of the regular customers — the dean of New York University Medical School.
Pellegrino went on to become a passionate and prolific spokesman in the field of ethics in the medical profession. He is known worldwide in the field which is now called bioethics. His philosophy is centered on a few basic principles, including the view that medicine is by its very nature a moral endeavor, which is based on the covenant of the doctor-patient relationship.
Pellegrino has spent his entire life sustaining this thesis in hundreds of writings, research and clinical teachings, as well as in the care of his own patients.
His ideas are in sharp contrast to those who argue that medicine is a business subject to market forces, and that the doctor-patient relationship can be replaced by other models.
The people who know and work with him are struck by his devotion to the dignity of all human life.
“One of his fundamental principles is respect for the intrinsic dignity of every human being,” said Dominican Brother Ignatius Perkins, a nurse who studied under Pellegrino in Georgetown's Center for Clinical Bioethics.
“You find this theme continuously throughout his writings,” added Brother Perkins, who is also the head of a new center being developed by the Dominicans to expand their hospital chaplaincy of four major hospitals in New York City to include health care ethics services for doctors. The center will be called the Dominican Medical Services Campus Ministries.
‘Healing Relationship’
Pellegrino, 85, is also known for having developed “the healing relationship model.” This was designed for physicians and nurses who work with patients. It enables them to work through the patient's illness towards recovery.
“The reason it was so attractive to me was: How do you approach a person who is terminally ill?” said Perkins. “The tendency is to give up. But with this model, even if you can't heal, you must reestablish their personhood, their dignity. This model is about a relationship between two people. Two people are being healed: the doctor and the patient. The doctor feels powerless and broken in the face of terminal illness. But with this model — and I have had the opportunity to test the model in research — it works perfectly. It is a very interesting phenomenon.”
Added Edward Furton, ethicist at the National Catholic Bioethics Center: “Dr. Pellegrino is the most distinguished Catholic bio-ethicist today. He has always been interested in the human dimension, the one-on-one. He is very focused on the patient. And the center he founded at Georgetown has become one of that university's great institutions.”
A former president of The Catholic University of America, Pellegrino will replace Leon Kass, who has chaired the President's Council on Bioethics since 2001. Kass, a Jewish bioethicist from the University of Chicago, will step down Oct. 1 but will remain a member of the council. He is considered very strong in his defense of the dignity of human life.
“Pellegrino comes from the same school of virtue-based ethics as Kass, which believes that medicine is inherently a noble work,” said Brother Perkins. “This is opposed to utilitarian-based models. In the virtue-based approach, the clinician must enter into the dynamic of the patient's experience of human suffering to some degree.”
Pellegrino's personal approach to treating patients is well-known among his colleagues.
“Having the opportunity to work with him was extraordinary,” the Dominican said. “Every person mattered to him. It did not matter the race or creed. Whenever he would see a patient his first question was always, ‘How can I help you?’ This was very important — to understand that he, the physician, must help the person in search of hope.”
One of Pellegrino's major concerns has been the current direction of healthcare. When he was appointed chairman of the President's Council, he told Catholic News Service that among the topics he plans to address are greater access to health care and issues involved in end-of-life care.
In a 2004 speech to the council, he said that bioethical discussions need to focus on the central issue of “what it means to be human.” Without an understanding of what humanity is, it is hard to ethically analyze the positive and negative advances in medicine, he said.
Given the lack of agreement on what it means to be human, an interdisciplinary dialogue is needed involving science and the humanities with philosophy having the key role in analyzing the ethical dimensions of the discussions, he added.
Commenting on Pellegrino's contributions, Brother Perkins said: “We have alienated the person, and worship at the altar of technology. Are we really concerned about a patient who happens to be sick and how can I help them? Or is it the alternative — do I approach the patient in terms of what disease do they have first?
“Because of pressure and finances, people come in and out of hospitals,” he said. “Patients are statistics instead of real lives.”
The President's Council on Bioethics was created in 2001 to keep the president and the country abreast of new developments in the field of bioethics. It deals with a wide range of bioethical issues, such as embryo and stem-cell research, assisted reproduction, cloning, uses of knowledge derived from human genetics, and end-of-life issues.
Pellegrino's appointment has left his collaborators ecstatic.
“It is absolutely phenomenal that he was chosen,” said Brother Perkins. “He's not afraid to argue his position, and he does it without making people angry. He can speak to any major issue in healthcare. His Catholic background is who he is. He has the ability to deal with radically different people but won't dismiss the person. He's a consummate gracious gentleman.”
Throughout his career, Pellegrino has continued to practice medicine: seeing patients, teaching medical students, and doing research. He has also been a strong promoter of improvements in palliative health care.
Since his retirement five years ago, he has remained at Georgetown. He continues to write, teach medicine and bioethics, and participate in clinical attending services.
“I'm certainly delighted,” said Franciscan Brother Daniel Sulmasy, a doctor who is chairman of ethics at St. Vincent's Hospital in New York City. “Dr. Pellegrino was my mentor and boss at Georgetown. He is a wonderful human being who is incredibly intelligent. I hope he won't be subjected to the cruel attacks by the press and mainstream bioethicists” as Kass was.
“Ed Pellegrino has been a leader in shaping both the principles and the applications of bioethics in the U.S. and the world for decades,” said Dr. Stuart Bondurant, interim executive vice president for health sciences at Georgetown University. “Rooted in principle and informed by vast personal and clinical experience, his perspectives will enrich the work of this committee.”
Sabrina Arena Ferrisi is based in Jersey City, New Jersey.
A Life in Medicine and Ethics
Dr. Edmund Pellegrino has served as director of the Center for Clinical Bioethics at Georgetown University; head of the Kennedy Institute of Ethics and director of the Center for the Advanced Study of Ethics at Georgetown; president of The Catholic University of America; president and chairman of the Yale-New Haven Medical Center; chancellor and vice president of Health Affairs at the University of Tennessee; founding chairman of the Department of Medicine at the University of Kentucky; dean of the School of Medicine at the State University of New York, Stony Brook, and founder of the Health Sciences Center there, where he oversaw six schools of health sciences and the hospital.
He has authored or co-authored 20 books and more than 550 published articles. He is founding editor of the Journal of Medicine and Philosophy. In 2004, Pellegrino was named to the International Bioethics Committee of the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco), the only advisory body within the United Nations engaged in bioethics analysis.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: Sabrina Arena Ferrisi ----- KEYWORDS: News -------- TITLE: Roberts vs. Senate: Faith Questions, Careful Answers DATE: 09/25/2005 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: September 25-Oct. 1, 2005 ----- BODY:WASHINGTON — President Bush's nominee for the position of chief justice of the United States was cautious and reserved in his answers to the Senate Judiciary Committee this month.
But Judge John Roberts revealed his storied intellect and legal mind as he discussed cases and legal theories.
As 2 1/2 days of questioning wrapped up Sept. 15, the assessment of most in Washington, D.C., was that Roberts was a shoo-in for confirmation.
On the first day of the hearings, Sept. 12, Roberts sat by as all 18 senators on the committee and three others gave opening statements for the hearings. Democrats mostly upbraided Roberts, warning him to be candid and answer all questions.
A few senators — notably John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Sam Brownback, R-Kan. — went on the offensive, stating the need to reform a judiciary that has handed down very political decisions in recent years on abortion, sodomy and child pornography. But most Republicans simply urged Roberts not to answer questions about specific cases, thus shielding him from Democrats' attempts to extract specific answers.
“Some have said that nominees who do not spill their guts about whatever a senator wants to know are hiding something from the American people,” said Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah.
“That notion misleads the American people about what judges do. … Nominees may not be able to answer questions that seek hints, forecasts, or previews about how they would rule on particular issues.”
Roberts appeared to follow these warnings on the succeeding days as he avoided giving his own views on specific cases — and where he did, he was as vague as possible.
When asked about the controversial Roe v. Wade abortion decision, he remarked that the case is “a precedent of the Court entitled to respect under principles of stare decisis” — the Latin term referring to the notion that prior Supreme Court rulings should be given extra weight. Still, Roberts did not commit to upholding or to reversing Roe.
Most senators used their questioning time to give speeches more than to ask questions. Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., a colorful character and a possible presidential candidate for 2008, put on a show for spectators in his opening statement as he discussed Roberts' love of baseball and condemned his political opponents for “judicial activism.”
“Those elected officials on the far right, such as [House Majority Leader Tom] DeLay [R-Texas] and others — all of them good patriotic Americans — have been unsuccessful at implementing their radical agenda in the elected branches,” said Biden. “So they pour their energy and resources into trying to change the Court's view of the Constitution.”
Religion's Role
Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., shrugged off Biden's comments, disputing the notion that Republicans have been making political advances through the judiciary.
“I noted that he did that without blushing,” Sessions told the Register, pointing to recent elections that favored Republicans and recent Supreme Court decisions that have promoted sodomy, unrestricted abortion, and the removal of religious references from the public square. “His implication is that church people and conservatives, through the Court, are imposing their social political and religious views that could not pass at the ballot box. Really, though, it's the liberal agenda that has been pushed on the court by a host of very liberal interest groups.”
Among the highlights of Roberts's confirmation hearings was Sen. Dianne Feinstein's questioning of Roberts, in which the California Democrat brought up his Catholic faith as an issue.
“In 1960, there was much debate about President John F. Kennedy's faith and what role Catholicism would play in his administration,” said Feinstein. “At that time, he pledged to address the issues of conscience out of a focus on the national interests, not out of adherence to the dictates of one's religion. He even said, ‘I believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute.’ My question is, do you?”
Roberts answered Feinstein's question by disputing the notion of an “absolute” separation, noting the Supreme Court's recent decision to allow a Ten Commandments monument on the grounds of a Texas state building.
Joe Cella, president of the Catholic political organization Fidelis, objected to Feinstein's line of questioning.
“It's unfortunate and sad that Sen. Feinstein and others are trying to turn back the clock to days when Catholics faced brutal attacks that inspired the ‘religious test clause’ in the Constitution,” said Cella.
Cella downplayed one comment by Roberts that concerned some Catholics, in which he told Feinstein, “My faith and my religious beliefs do not play a role in judging. I look to the law. I do not look to the Bible or any other religious source.”
“I think that Judge Roberts answered appropriately on how our legal system works,” said Cella. “With a judge of any faith, you would hope they wouldn't use the tenets of the faith they hold to be the basis of the facts they judge. You would want the Constitution to be the basis of their judgment.
Another important event intervened as the hearings were being conducted. In what could be considered round two of a five-year-old legal battle, U.S. District Judge Lawrence Karlton in San Francisco ruled it unconstitutional for children to recite the Pledge of Allegiance at public schools because the pledge contains the words, “under God.”
The Supreme Court ducked this issue last year on technical grounds. Because the issue is likely to reach the high court once more, last week's ruling will probably have an impact on upcoming judicial confirmations, Cella said.
“I think it probably has zero effect on [Roberts'] nomination and his ability to be confirmed,” said Cella of the new ruling on the pledge. “But the effect it can have is for the political dynamics surrounding the next nominee. Those that are attacking Judge Roberts will attack this next nominee even more; they will appear to be far out of the mainstream, because their liberal agenda advocates for such decisions.”
With Roberts's confirmation imminent — the final vote on the Senate floor will likely take place before the Supreme Court begins its new term Oct. 3 — President Bush will probably act quickly in nominating a replacement for Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. This second round of hearings will be far more contentious, as Democrats will be loath to replace O'Connor with a justice more opposed to their aims. Roberts was originally intended to replace O'Connor before the recent death of Chief Justice William Rehnquist.
Bush is reportedly eyeing two women for O'Connor's post — Fifth Circuit Judge Priscilla Owen, whose nomination was held up for years by Senate Democrats, and Michigan Supreme Court Justice Maura Corrigan. Both women are more comparable to Scalia and Thomas than any of the other justices.
David Freddoso writes from Washington, D.C.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: David Freddoso ----- KEYWORDS: News -------- TITLE: Letters to the Editor DATE: 09/25/2005 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: September 25-Oct. 1, 2005 ----- BODY:Where Are the Women?
In your August 14-20 issue there are two articles that go together. The first is the article “China Is Becoming Mostly Male.” This points out that, because of China's one-child policy and estimated 25 million young men might remain single for life. The second, “Church Spearheads Fight Against Sex-Selective Abortions,” has to do with sex-selective abortions in India where because of preference for male children, female children are being aborted.
In the article on India, it is said that the ratio in 2001 was 1,000 men to 929 women. This means that, for every 1,929 people there will be 71 men who might remain single for life. If my math is correct, if we divide 1,929 people into the 1 billion people in India and multiply it by 71, we will come up with a figure of approximately 36.7 million men who might remain single for life.
It would seem to me that, in addition to the Church and female organizations fighting this injustice, they should enlist the aid of men by publishing the fact that so many of them will never have the opportunity to get married, raise a family and have a son to perform his last rites.
GERARD P. MCEVOY
Coram, New York
A Matter of Degree?
I am confused by the editorial “Guarding the Flock” (Sept. 4-10), as to what the policy of the Church is, or should be, regarding ordaining homosexuals to the priesthood.
You write that psychologists say that there are two types of men with homosexual feelings: those with “transient” experiences of homosexual feelings and “men who have a much stronger inclination.”
Are there only two types of homosexual inclinations — “transient” and “strong”? No weak or moderate homosexual inclinations? Your editorial reads as though you equated a “strong” homosexual with one who participates in “Gay-Pride” marches. What would you call homosexuals who don't participate in those degrading marches?
Does being “transient” at some point in one's life mean that they will never have “strong” or “transient” homosexual inclinations again?
One of the reasons for the Church's sex-abuse scandal was that bishops put aside their common sense and believed psychologists that they had cured priests who had sexually abused young boys, only to find the “cured” priests repeated their sexual abuse. Certainly those with strong homosexual inclinations should not be ordained — but what about those homosexuals who have less than strong inclinations?
We need to use common sense in “guarding the flock,” not the latest musings of psychologists, nor the overindulgent impractical charity of some of the hierarchy. Parents are not going to expose their children to priests with any hint of homosexuality. If bishops persist in ordaining homosexuals, they will drive Mass attendance even lower.
JOHN NAUGHTON
Silver Spring, Maryland
Catholics Playing Catch-Up
In Father Anthony Zimmerman's letter of Sept 4-10 (“God's Hand and Evolution”), he rightly points out that there is no scientific proof that life has evolved from non-living matter. Unfortunately, he admits at the end of his letter that he accepts evolution himself, with certain qualifications to allow for God's intervention. This is basically the theory of theistic evolution.
But there is no scientific proof whatever for any sort of evolution, which after all these years is still just a theory. It has never been demonstrated that one species has evolved from another species. There is absolutely no fossil evidence for any of the “missing links” in either plant or animal life. God created each plant and animal “according to its kind.”
Nowhere in Scripture does it say or imply that God employed survival of the fittest, death, violence and natural selection in order to create us by some kind of evolutionary process.
We in the Catholic Church are so afraid of another “Galileo incident” that we are bending over backwards to accommodate evolution to Christianity. For this reason it is our Protestant brethren who are in the forefront of the creationism and intelligent-design movements, much to the shame of Catholic scholarship.
FRANK M. REGA
Millsboro, Delaware
Navigating New Mexico
I have just read “Radio Wired In to the New Evangelization” by Tim Drake (Aug. 21-27). While it was a good article, there was a glaring error when he mentioned that “Immaculate Heart Radio … will be launching its newest station in the Diocese of Albuquerque in September.”
There is no “Diocese of Albuquerque.” The city of Albuquerque is in the Archdiocese of Santa Fe (even though Albuquerque is the larger of the two cities).
Thank you for your wonderful paper. I do enjoy it every week. As a matter of fact, as I read the above article, our diocesan newspaper, The West Texas Catholic, was announcing the buying of a radio station for Amarillo, Texas (Diocese of Amarillo) that will be broadcasting as a Catholic station.
MSGR. JOE E. BIXENMAN
Immaculate Conception Church
Perryton, Texas
Rare Reasoning
The CNS article “Pro-Lifers Confer on Death Penalty” in the (Aug. 21-27) could lead people to believe that the Church condemns the use of capital punishment in all circumstances. The following from the Catechism of the Catholic Church clearly states that this is not the case:
No. 2267: “Assuming that the guilty party's identity and responsibility have been fully determined, the traditional teaching of the Church does not exclude recourse to the death penalty, if this is the only possible way of effectively defending human lives against the unjust aggressor.
“If however, non lethal means are sufficient to defend and protect people's safety from the aggressor, authority will limit itself to such means, as these are more in keeping with the concrete conditions of the common good and more in conformity with the dignity of the human person.
“Today, in fact, as a consequence of the possibilities which the state has for effectively preventing crime, by rendering one who has committed an offense incapable of doing harm — without definitely taking away from him the possibility of redeeming himself — the cases in which the execution of the offender is an absolute necessity ‘are very rare, if not practically non-existent.’”
JOSEPH A. HAHN
Hampshire, Illinois
Straddling Silliness
The Aug. 7-13 commentary by Catherine and Michael Pakaluk, “Effects of Hiroshima and Nagasaki Still Being Felt,” bordered on being silly. The “blame America first” people seem to overlook the good coming from America, only to dwell on the “sins” of America.
And when they support people in elections who place politics before the Word of God, they encourage abortion, phony marriages and a plethora of sins against all of humanity as well as God. If you check the numbers, many more humans were killed by abortion than by any bomb. This is the great sin.
When checking the Bible, I could not find the “Book of Trade-offs.”
JIM BARTOSCH
Scottsdale, Arizona
Let Repentance Begin With Me
I was reading the Aug. 21-27 issue of the Register. I would like to applaud your courage with the editorial about the atomic bomb, naming it a sin (“After Hiroshima”). Thank you for letting us know how the popes have condemned the use of the bomb and all wanton destruction of civilians
To those angry readers I would suggest that loving a person or a country does not negate but, in fact, requires holding them to account. Do you correct your own spouse or someone else's spouse? Does it make sense for me to chide another country's president or my own? If we can criticize them about abortion, why not about immoral weapons?
I don't think the point is to make people feel guilty, but to keep such horrors as Hiroshima and Nagasaki from happening again. And also perhaps to call us all, me included, to repentance for hateful and vengeful thoughts in our hearts.
Responding to “Atonement and the A-Bomb” (multiple letters, Aug. 21-27): Jesus himself did talk about judgment against the cities of Bethsaida and Chorazin (see Matthew 11:20-24), and of whom did he approve? Not the towns of his people, but of Nineveh, whose citizens repented en masse in sackcloth and ashes.
VICKIE HOFFMANN
Bethesda, Maryland
Slow Bombs Away
Pertinent to “After Hiroshima” (Aug. 21-27):
Consider this: Population control worldwide effectively constitutes a huge, slow-action, death-ray neutron bomb — one that eliminates people through attrition while leaving property and infrastructure intact.
The wholesale destruction of cities during World War II was but the prelude to the unimaginable scale of violence happening today.
A psychological and semantic chasm has opened between those of us sanctioning the wholesale elimination of the “unwanted,” unborn and those being “terminated” either chemically or in clinics.
We have met the enemy, and he is us as we muffle the silent screams of those millions slain in the womb.
ROBERT J. BONSIGNORE
Brooklyn, New York
FACTS OF LIFE
I'm at my wit's end trying to get my husband to finish repairs around the house. He doesn't want me to call a repairman, because he says he'll “get around to it,” but he never does. What can I do to motivate him, without endlessly nagging him?
This is touchy for many men. When your husband says to you that he'll get to it, let's give him the benefit of the doubt. Perhaps at the time he sincerely intends to deal with the constantly running toilet in the near future. But, after the conversation, it slips his mind until three days later, when you mention it to him again. Again, he answers sincerely when he says that he'll take care of it. And, once again, it slips his mind.
Finally, after the umpteenth time you've brought it up, he snaps at you, telling you to stop nagging him. This is where it gets ugly: No wife wants to be accused of nagging. In your mind, you aren't nagging; you're simply trying to get him to follow up on what he has promised to do. Yet, because he's hearing what sounds like nagging, he may dig in his heels subconsciously — and delay the project even more just to prove he can't be nagged into doing something. And so the downward spiral of negativity continues.
How can you break this pattern? A simple formula may help. First, don't let your husband off the hook the first time with a vague, noncommittal answer. Many men respond better to deadlines.
When he says he'll “get to it,” pin down a specific time frame. Not necessarily the exact day and hour he plans to do the work; rather, when he will have it done by. Ask him to agree that if he does not have it done within the specified reasonable amount of time, the next step will be for you to call a repairman, or, if money is an issue, an expert relative or friend for help.
This is not to punish your husband, but to offer him support. If he is so busy that he hasn't found the time by the deadline he set for himself, then you are going to help him out by calling somebody else.
You will find out something rather quickly: Either he really is too busy, and so the help is actually necessary, or he will finally find the time to do it himself.
Be careful, however. Be sure to work out this agreement ahead of time. Don't spring a surprise visit from a repairman on your husband — you don't want him to feel snookered in any way. Ask him to agree to this arrangement beforehand; this gives him a chance to make good on his word to you.
As a result of this method, you cannot be accused of nagging. You've had the conversation about the toilet exactly once in this scenario, and a repair time frame has been set. Chances are he'll rise to the occasion.
The McDonalds, family-life coordinators for the Diocese of Mobile, Alabama, came through Hurricane Katrina with their loved ones safe and their home intact.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: Tom ... Caroline McDonald ----- KEYWORDS: Culture of Life -------- TITLE: National Media Watch DATE: 09/25/2005 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: September 25-Oct. 1, 2005 ----- BODY:Priesthood Is on the Rebound
“Priests today have higher morale than even 15 years ago, when we did the last survey,” Hoge said.
Priests, the survey indicated, have found great comfort in the support of their parishioners.
Another of the survey's findings is that priests most appreciate being relieved of parish administrative duties.
In related news, Milwaukee Archbishop Timothy Dolan told a priest's symposium that the priesthood is “on the brink of a genuine renewal.”
New York Judge Takes Leave From Diaconate
Deacon Devlin, who was appointed a judge this spring, is running for a 10-year term. He has been a deacon at the church since 2000.
Cardinal Egan, the archbishop of New York, became the first U.S. bishop to apply a prohibition against Catholic clergymen holding public office to deacons.
“The new [canon] law created a very difficult and conflicted situation, because of my ministry and my desire to be a judge,” Deacon Devlin said. His leave will allow him to remain a deacon in good standing, so that he will be able to resume his service as a deacon once his judicial term ends.
Cardinal Egan is considering exemptions from the ban on a case-by-case basis. One exemption he granted has allowed a deacon at St. Anthony's in Nanuet, N.Y., to run for a ninth term on the Clarkstown Town Board.
9/11 Firefighter Finally Laid to Rest
A memorial service had been held for Baptiste Nov. 16, 2001. Baptiste's remains were identified earlier this year, making a Sept. 7 funeral at St. Patrick's Cathedral possible. Lt. Bob LaRocco, Baptiste's supervisor, hoped that the funeral would help Baptiste's family take another step toward moving on.
Baptiste was one of four firefighters from Ladder Co. 9 who perished. He reportedly died on the 33rd floor of the north tower while helping rush people to safety.
“He was driven,” said Mayor Michael Bloomberg, “by an unbridled passion to help others.”
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- KEYWORDS: News -------- TITLE: 'I Don't Feel Your Pain' DATE: 09/25/2005 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: September 25-Oct. 1, 2005 ----- BODY:Call it the Golden Retriever Rule: “Do unto others, as you would do unto your pet.” It's a fairly minimal standard of morality, to treat other human beings the way we treat an animal. And yet that is all that is required by the proposed Unborn Child Pain Awareness Act, sponsored at the federal level by Sen. Brownback, R-Kan., and similar legislation that has already been passed in a handful of states.
Such legislation requires that when a woman seeks an abortion after 20 weeks gestation, she be told that her unborn child might feel pain, and that anesthesia is available. In a late-term abortion, the living unborn child is torn limb from limb. If it were legal to do this to a pet — which it isn't — at least the pet would be anesthetized first.
Someone might object: How do we know that an unborn child at 20 weeks feels pain? We don't know this. In fact, we never really know that someone else is in pain. But the unborn child possibly feels pain, and, when it comes to feeling pain, the benefit of the doubt has to go to the being that might suffer it. It's more humane to be safe than sorry.
Yet how do we know that it is even possible that the unborn child feels pain? From analogies and external signs. The unborn child is a living animal, and other living animals experience pain. Also, the unborn child can move, and thus she presumably has some kind of rudimentary sense of touch; but feelings of touch imply the possibility of feeling pain. Moreover, mothers develop a bond with the child in their womb, but how could a relationship develop if there were no sharing of experiences — if the unborn child were merely a kind of robot?
These commonsense inferences are supported by recent scientific discoveries. For instance, at 20 weeks the developing child withdraws from noxious stimuli; she shows an elevated heart rate and quicker breathing; she furrows her brow and grimaces; she shows a hormonal response similar to how we respond when in pain. The eminent specialist on fetal pain, Dr. K.S. Anand, speaks of “a converging series of considerations” which, in his view, indicate that an unborn child feels pain perhaps as early as 16 weeks after gestation.
But, again, it is more humane to be safe than sorry, and therefore the burden of proof is surely on those who claim that the unborn child feels no pain.
This is the context in which we must place the recent article on fetal pain, published in the prestigious Journal of the American Medical Association — not a new study, but a “review of the literature,” which aims to summarize previous studies.
The authors wonder how physicians should view Unborn Child Pain Awareness legislation. After a review of the medical literature, they claim that “pain perception before 29 weeks' gestation is unlikely.” And, in light of this, they oppose Unborn Child Pain Awareness legislation: “Because pain perception,” they write, “probably does not function before the third trimester, discussions of fetal pain for abortions performed before the end of the second trimester should be non-compulsory.”
Responses to the article tracked the red state / blue state cultural divide.
The mainstream media interpreted the article as yet another example of how “science” contradicts the moralism of “anti-abortion” activists. The alternative media dismissed the article as pro-abortion propaganda, especially after it became known that two of the authors had not properly disclosed their ties to the abortion industry.
It turned out that one author, Eleanor Drey, directs the largest abortion clinic in San Francisco, specializing in late-term abortions. The article's lead author, Susan Lee, had previously worked as an attorney for the National Abortion Rights Action League (Naral), writing amicus curiae briefs which challenged laws against partial-birth abortion.
But everyone neglected the arguments of the article. When the abortion-industry ties of the authors became known, the Journal's editor, Catherine DeAngelis, stood by the article nonetheless, saying that it had survived peer review and therefore met high standards of scientific rigor.
But was this so? Pro-lifers need to ask this, since the Journal article will certainly be cited as debate over Brownback's legislation heats up.
A review article is only as good as its method of analysis. In fact, the review in the Journal of the American Medical Association is unsound because it uses a faulty premise and a poor method; it neglects some of the most important evidence; and its conclusions are illogical.
Faulty assumption
The article uses a criterion of pain perception which is appropriate, if at all, to a mature human being, and then it assumes, without justification, that this should be the standard as well for a developing human being.
In a mature human being, the article claims, pain perception requires the functioning of a fully developed, direct neural connection between pain receptors and the sensory cortex of the brain; because this kind of connection is not in place until 29 weeks, an unborn child cannot feel pain before then.
But it is far from clear that this sort of connection is necessary for pain perception, even in mature adults. The article's authors assert this premise uncritically. But other brain structures are strongly activated by pain and perhaps make an independent contribution to conscious awareness of pain — as is commonly seen in stroke victims, who can experience pain even without any sensory cortex.
Yet even if such a connection were necessary for pain perception in a mature adult, it would be hazardous to apply the same criterion to an unborn child, because the same biological function can be carried out by different physiological means at different stages of development.
For instance, in a mature human being, a heart must have four chambers to pump blood well. But when the heart first appears, at 21 days after conception, it has only one chamber. It would be absurd to argue that, in spite of appearances, the heart is not pumping, because it lacks four chambers.
The same principle presumably holds for pain perception. Generally, in embryonic development, more primitive functions arise before higher functions. Pain seems to be a relatively primitive function because it is a constant throughout the animal kingdom and is seen in animals without a developed cortex, such as reptiles. It would not be surprising if, early in development, an unborn child could sense pain in a manner roughly analogous to that of non-human animals lacking a developed cortex.
Dr. Anand speaks of a series of “converging” arguments which, taken together, suggest that the unborn child feels pain. The Journal authors, in contrast, adopt an inappropriate “divide-and-conquer” strategy. They point out, correctly, that sometimes a child withdraws from a painful stimulus as a mere reflex; therefore, they argue, when the unborn child withdraws from a noxious stimulus, this is not proof of pain.
Sometimes hormone levels increase in the absence of pain: Therefore, they say, increased levels are not proof of pain. Sometimes a child grimaces spontaneously: Therefore a grimace is not proof of pain. And so on.
But in medical science, it is inappropriate to reason in this way. The various signs need to be considered together. A physician might just as well argue that it is “unlikely” that a patient presenting with fever, a cough, chest pain, loss of appetite and exhaustion has pneumonia, because each of these can occur in the absence of pneumonia.
Incomplete evidence
Perhaps the most relevant data, involving babies prematurely born before 29 weeks' gestation, was not considered in the article. It is obvious to medical personnel working in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), that these infants do experience pain, and lots of it. Researchers have even devised pain scales in studies of pain management in these babies. And yet the Journal authors neglect this data — not surprising, perhaps, for an analysis carried out by persons who believe that a baby before birth is a non-entity compared with a born baby, and who stand to profit from this belief.
Unjustified conclusions
Even if the evidence were inconclusive, the most that the Journal authors could reasonably conclude was that “we don't know” whether unborn children can feel pain before 29
weeks. Their conclusion, that “pain perception is unlikely,” is completely unjustified. “Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence,” as scientists say.
The article's political conclusion similarly does not follow: “Discussions of fetal pain for abortions performed before the end of the second trimester should be non-compulsory.”
Suppose your dentist says, “It is unlikely that you will feel pain during this procedure; only one in four patients does.” Would it follow that you shouldn't request Novocain, or that he shouldn't discuss pain with you?
In the same way, even if pain were “unlikely” before 29 weeks, the Unborn Child Pain Awareness act would still be humane and ethical.
Since we can't rule out pain, the benefit of the doubt should go to the unborn child who might have to suffer it.
Michael Pakaluk, Ph.D. is an associate professor of philosophy at Clark University. Peter Morin, MD. Ph.D. is a researcher and neurologist at Boston University School of Medicine.
----- EXCERPT: One wouldn't expect abortionists to be sympathetic to fetal pain ----- EXTENDED BODY: Michael Pakaluk and Peter Morin ----- KEYWORDS: Commentary -------- TITLE: All Eyes on the Eucharist DATE: 09/25/2005 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: September 25-Oct. 1, 2005 ----- BODY:VATICAN CITY — This October is Synod Month in Rome: From Oct. 2-23, 250 bishops and clergy from around the world will participate in a three-week meeting to address how to keep the Eucharist at the center of the life of the Church.
The 11th Synod of Bishops, themed The Eucharist: Source and Summit of the Life and Mission of the Church, will address a number of areas of particular concern: neglect of Sunday Mass, a weakening of the sense of mystery that in turn leads to liturgical abuses, and a lack of preparation before receiving holy Communion.
By dealing with these issues, the bishops hope to better equip the Church to teach Catholics about the centrality of the Eucharist to their faith.
Addressing pilgrims Sept. 4, Pope Benedict XVI said the meeting — convened by Pope John Paul II in 2004 to conclude the Year of the Eucharist — would highlight the importance of the Eucharist as “the true treasure of the Church.”
“I'm afraid in some countries there's been some diminishing of the real presence of the Eucharist,” Cardinal Edmund Szoka told the Register Sept. 14. “Some think it's just a symbol or reminder of Christ, but this is Christ, his real body and blood, it's the whole Christ that is there.”
The American cardinal, who is president of the office governing Vatican City State, was recently appointed by Pope Benedict, along with 34 other bishops and cardinals (including four Chinese bishops), to participate in the meeting.
Sense of Mystery
The issues before the participating bishops are clearly spelled out in the synod's Instrumentum Laboris, the working document issued in July. The document asserts that “intensive catechesis” to participate in Sunday Mass “needs to be encouraged,” and it recommends “people ought clearly to be taught” that the mystery of the Eucharist “depends on a liturgical celebration which is done with dignity, due preparation and, above all, faith in the mystery itself.”
Drawing on passages from John Paul II's 2003 encyclical Ecclesia de Eucharistia, the 2004 Vatican instruction Redemptionis Sacramentum and John Paul II's 2004 apostolic letter Mane Vobiscum Domine, the working document cites “an increasingly secularized society” as the main culprit for the erosion of the sense of mystery among Catholics. The weakening of that understanding, it says, “can threaten faith in the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist.”
There is broad agreement among synodal participants this deficiency needs to be tackled head-on.
“It has to be cleared up, people need to realize why this is so important,” said one consultant speaking on condition of anonymity. “Even some bishops don't always see why there is a problem here.”
Along with problems with the Eucharist itself, a related concern Cardinal Szoka expressed regarding another sacrament was the failure of many communicants to receive absolution beforehand.
“You see lots of people receiving holy Communion but not going to confession,” the cardinal noted. “We have to explain the conditions for receiving holy Communion worthily, that they have to have the faith and be in a state of grace.”
Courtesy of another synodal document, known as a lineamenta, synod participants have a solid picture of the problems surrounding the Eucharist in different dioceses. The detailed questionnaire traditionally circulated a year or so before a synod, collated a broad range of observations and reactions regarding the topic under discussion.
From the responses received, it is apparent that the Eucharist as “gift and mystery” is not accurately perceived in many countries, especially wealthy ones. The problem is particularly acute in countries like the United States and Germany where Catholics are a large minority in a predominantly Protestant culture, resulting in exposure to a wide variety of other-denominational influences.
For some Vatican officials, the hope is that laws and regulations surrounding the Eucharist stated in recent documents will be “tightened down” in areas such as the liturgy and inter-communion in the context of ecumenical dialogue. They would like to clear up confusion over what it means to be in full communion with the Church — a requirement before a Christian can receive the Eucharist — and reach a consensus on the touch issue of how to deal with pro-abortion politicians receiving holy Communion.
“Matters need to be taken in hand,” said one official. “It's not the synod's role, but it could serve to bring these matters to the fore.”
Back to Basics
Most participants, however, will keep their focus on how Eucharist worship and devotion can be “re-launched,” rather than stressing selected abuses or seeking to make doctrinal contributions. Existing Church documents, they believe, are sufficiently clear on how the Eucharist should be celebrated and administered.
The intention is to find means to promote is a return to appropriate Christian practices and to communicate the Church's teachings more effectively. “If they can manage that,” said the consultant, “it would be an incredible fruit of their discussions.”
Cardinal Szoka agreed that on key issues, such as recognizing the Real Presence and proper preparation for holy Communion, what is most needed is a return to fundamentals.
Said Cardinal Szoka, “These are basic pastoral things, but very important nonetheless, and I'm sure the participants will discuss them.”
Edward Pentin writes from Rome.
----- EXCERPT: Synod zeroes in on Church's 'source and summit' ----- EXTENDED BODY: Edward Pentin ----- KEYWORDS: Vatican -------- TITLE: Prolife Victories DATE: 09/25/2005 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: September 25-Oct. 1, 2005 ----- BODY:Stem Cells With Heart
ASSOCIATED PRESS, Sept. 8 — Japanese researchers have discovered stem cells in human heart tissue, a development that could lead to improved treatments for heart disease and reduce the need for transplants, a Japanese newspaper reported.
The breakthrough came by a team of scientists at Kyoto University.
The researchers gathered heart tissue from 50 patients suffering heart disease and were able to culture stem cells from the samples that developed into different types of cells, including heart muscle cells, blood cells and neurons, the report said.
Injections of the cells into a mouse that had suffered an embolism helped the animal regenerate damaged heart muscle and blood vessels.
Similar tests are planned on dogs and pigs before conducting clinical tests on humans as early as next spring, said the Associated Press.
Drug Use Down
CBS NEWS, Sept. 8 — Teen use of marijuana, cocaine and other illicit drugs was down 9% in 2004, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Teen cigarette smoking also fell. But underage drinking didn't improve, according to the 2004 National Survey on Drug Use and Health.
Trends for young adults (aged 18-25) included a continued drop in tobacco use and a rise in non-medical use of some pain relievers for young adults.
In an earlier story on positive trends for teenagers — including a decline in teenage deaths due to drunk driving — The New York Times reported that “discipline” in the form of harsher penalties for drunken driving and other behaviors has played a positive role.
India Steps Up for Life
ASIANEWS.IT (Italy), Sept. 1 — The central Indian state of Chattisgarh has announced that it will not enforce the controversial two-children-per-family norm designed to curb the nation's population growth.
The change of heart by state leaders is a response to sharp criticism of the two-child norm by federal government leaders, who have objected to policies that use coercion or quotas to curb population growth.
Several Indian states have enacted laws that bar families with more than 2 children from receiving housing loans, holding government jobs, or gaining admission to public schools.
Brits Favor Abortion Limits
Fifty-eight percent favored a 20-week restriction and 33% of women favored a limit of 12 weeks or less.
The survey also found that 48% said abortion should not be free on demand and 60% were opposed to cloning human beings while 77% said parents should not be allowed to select the sex of their own children.
Morning After
Pharmacists Luke Vander Bleek and Glenn Kosirog, who are being assisted by lawyers from the Americans United for Life, claim the rule violates their rights under the Illinois Health Care Right of Conscience Act, which permits health-care personnel to refuse to “act contrary to their conscience.”
“[Pharmacy is] a profession I entered to ease suffering and pain,” Vander Bleek said. “I really don't see a place for … giving out abortifacients.”
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- KEYWORDS: Culture of Life -------- TITLE: Apostolate Urging Worldwide Prayers for Life DATE: 09/25/2005 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: September 25-Oct. 1, 2005 ----- BODY:WASHINGTON, N.J. — The World Apostolate of Fatima hopes to have huge numbers of people praying worldwide Sunday, Oct. 2 for one intention — the sanctity of life. In fact, the apostolate hopes that some records might be broken.
“When we send over 100 million prayers to heaven on one day it will be the largest organized day of prayer ever,” Michael La Corte contended. He's the executive director of the World Apostolate of Fatima/Blue Army USA in Washington, N.J.
But numbers alone aren't the aim. The event, called the Worldwide Fatima Sanctity of Life Day, coincides with the U.S. Bishops' Respect Life Sunday.
“We do need prayer,” Franciscan Friar of the Renewal Father Andrew Apostoli pointed out, “as the first means to stop the culture of death, the destruction of life, and the de-sanctification of life.”
He observed that in the encyclical Evangelium Vitae (The Gospel of Life), Pope John Paul II said that a great prayer for life is urgently needed, a prayer that will rise up throughout the world.
Father Apostoli said this sanctity of life day of prayer may see the greatest number of people joining together for a single intention in the world's history.
“The greater number of people who pray with great trust in God will add to the efficacy of the intention of that day,” Father Apostoli said, “namely, to rekindle in the minds of people the sacredness of all human life and the willingness to do something to safeguard life where it is under attack.”
La Corte said that hopes are already high that this event will far exceed the goal of 100 million prayers.
“Just about everyone who hears about it knows intuitively or spiritually we need to pray and ask for divine intervention if we are to move forward on these issues,” he said. “Jesus said, ‘Ask and you shall receive; seek and you shall find.’”
According to Americo Lopez-Ortiz, international president of the World Apostolate of Fatima, also known as the Blue Army of Our Lady of Fatima, people from 40 countries are planning to participate in Worldwide Fatima Sanctity of Life Day. Lopez-Ortiz is also executive director of Catholic Charities in Puerto Rico and director of Caritas for the Caribbean.
He said there will be individuals praying on their own as well as organized events in countries like the Philippines, with more than 1 million Blue Army members, Puerto Rico with 50,000, Mexico with 250,000, and India with 400,000.
‘Recapture Civilization’
La Corte emphasized that this isn't a members-only prayer event. Catholics worldwide are being invited to pray — even at home with family and friends — for 20 minutes for the sanctity for life. Especially important prayer is the Rosary that focuses on the life of Jesus and Mary.
When Father Apostoli hosted EWTN's “Father Groeschel Live” show Sept. 18, he invited the millions of viewers to join in the prayers.
Linda Manuel of Chalfont, Pa., who isn't a Blue Army member, will go with her husband and children to the Blue Army shrine Oct. 2 to take part in the event and pray the Rosary. She knows well the need to pray to end abortion and to help promote the sanctity of life.
“Terri Schiavo was from the area and went to the high school I went to,” Manuel said. “That hit us hard. There was a lot of prayer going around in this area for her.”
Lopez-Ortiz saw excellent opportunities to grow in faith from this international effort.
“We have to recapture the essence of our Christian civilization, which is the defense of life,” he said, making clear the new mission of the World Apostolate of Fatima is to evangelize using the message of Fatima.
“In other words,” he said, “we are instruments of the New Evangelization proposed by the Holy Father, and this is our mission now, our charism.”
The idea for the day of prayer was born at the Blue Army's Our Lady of Fatima shrine in Washington, N.J., with a new statue of Mary sculpted by Joe DeVito.
Called “Mary, Mother of the Life Within,” this life-like statue, rich in symbolism, depicts Mary holding the Child Jesus. Bishop Paul Bootkoski of Metuchen, N.J., spiritual director of the Blue Army, will dedicate it on Oct. 2 during the daylong event.
The celebration will feature talks by Father Apostoli and Alan Keyes. Tony Melendez will sing, and Ana Reis, related to Fatima seers Blessed Jacinta and Blessed Francisco Marto, will share family stories about the apparitions.
Father Apostoli noted the important connection between Our Lady of Fatima and the sanctity of life. First, Our Lady of Fatima warned about the possibility of a terrible war.
“War is the worst enemy of life, the greatest form of destruction of human life,” he said. “By warning us against war, she was warning us against any other thing that leads to war such as abortion.”
Second, Our Lady warned that communism would spread errors around the world. “Communism was intent on destroying the foundation of the Christian family and destroying the moral fiber of countries so as to break them down and make them easier to conquer,” Father Apostoli explained.
“Russia was the first civilized country in the world to permit abortion,” he continued. “Many of the facets of the culture of death today are traceable back to the influences that communists may have had on Western society in bringing about a negative view of life and undermining the morality that defended the sacredness of life.”
La Corte is also calling on all non-Catholics to join the 20 minutes of prayer for sanctity of life on Oct. 2.
“This day of prayer crosses all faiths,” he said. “We all suffer the same problems and want the same results. We all believe prayer is important. So it's truly an ecumenical effort to get the world praying for the sanctity of life.”
Joseph Pronechen is based in Trumbull, Connecticut.
Information
Bluearmy.com
(908) 689-1701
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: Joseph Pronechen ----- KEYWORDS: News -------- TITLE: The Catechism and the Campus DATE: 09/25/2005 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: September 25-Oct. 1, 2005 ----- BODY:“We have more students studying theology and catechetics than any other major on campus,” says Ron Bolster, the new head of the Ohio school's catechetics office. He recently replaced Barbara Morgan, the now-retired founder of the program.
“These students have fallen in love with the faith and with God,” Bolster adds. “They've had a conversion experience, and they want to do something for the Church.”
Indeed. This is the best year yet for the catechetics specialization offered by the school's theology department. More than 120 students expressed interest in the major for this semester and nearly 90 have joined the program.
Is this growing interest in the nuts and bolts of the Catholic faith a sign of things to come for the larger Church? Some close observers think so — and their number includes students themselves.
Steubenville Senior Philip Smith is one of them. Seeing so many peers discouraged with the state of the culture, he says, prompted his choice.
“They're looking for something more,” Smith adds. “If we have good catechesis, it's going to be effective because they're hungering for something.
“In my experience of high-school religious class,” he continues, “I had teachers who taught me the faith in such a way it's made a difference in my life.”
Thus inspired to pass along the truth and beauty of the Catholic faith to the generation coming up behind him, he found Franciscan's catechetics program a natural fit.
Along with its content emphasis on Scripture, the Catechism and papal documents, Steubenville's catechetics curriculum also includes components for tailoring classroom methodologies to best reach various audiences, supervising people and managing administrative duties.
“We study John Paul II's writings in our courses,” says Bolster. “One of them is Catechesis in Our Times. But our students are not just looking at official Church writings as something they have to force themselves through. The Holy Father speaks to them, challenges them to great things, and that is the content of our courses.”
Feeding the Hungry
Bolster points out that, while the catechetics degree is distinct from its theology counterpart, students are required to take so much theology they need only a couple more theology courses to declare a double major.
Smith, who became a seminarian for the Diocese of Toledo, Ohio, this summer, chose to do just that.
Senior Kari Chatman, another double major, attended two state universities in Florida before realizing she wanted to work for the Church in some way.
“As soon as I started reading the description of the catechetics major,” she says, “I knew that was exactly what I wanted to do.”
Chatman has already put classroom experience to practical use, giving a talk on the Eucharist during the university's Young Apostle program at its Summer Youth Conference.
Using notes taken from her classes on analyzing doctrine and the new catechism, Chatman “formulated my talk around the Church's teachings and made it very personal as well.”
With her catechetics degree, she's looking forward to working either with high school youth or in campus ministry. “I'm also passionate about the RCIA process,” she says “and would love to be involved with that in a parish.”
Bolster points out recent grads with catechetics specialization are filling positions at the parish level as directors of religious education, adult RCIA coordinators and youth ministers. Others serve at the diocesan level as directors of family life ministry or youth ministry.
“The rationale for establishing the catechetics program was to provide professional training for students getting a theology degree,” says Bolster, who holds a graduate catechetics degree from Franciscan.
The department, he says, wants to prepare young people “to service the Church, to obtain positions in the field and to succeed in those positions.”
Grads and applicants also want to teach at the high-school level.
“Many incoming students had a significant experience in youth ministry,” says Bolster, “and they want to learn how to do that work.”
Initially, Ann Lankford turned to Steubenville for a theology degree. She was already long out of college and working as a youth minister. But to continue, she realized she needed to learn the whole truth of the faith — much seemed to have been skipped over during her own early formation.
When she came upon the catechetics program at Franciscan University, she knew she'd found what she'd been looking for.
“I looked at some of the books for the courses and I wanted to read every one of them,” she recalls. “I realized I wasn't formed very well at my own innocent level. Yes we need theologians, but even more importantly, we need good laity, religious, and priests formed in the faith and knowing how to pass it on.”
Today, as director of the office of catechesis and evangelization for the Diocese of La Crosse, Wis., Lankford always starts with the story of God's plan of salvation history.
“When people hear it, it changes them,” she says, explaining the approach she learned at Steubenville. “Every time I tell the story with artwork, they're moved, they get it — and they're drawn to read more Scripture.”
New Evangelization
Michael Filamor, a 2002 graduate with a master's in theology-catechetics, constantly applies everything he's learned now that he's director of youth faith formation for St. Alban Roe Catholic Church in Wildwood, Mo.
“Where the rubber meets the road is where kids ask deep spiritual, theological questions,” he says. He can meet the challenges as confirmation coordinator for eighth graders preparing for confirmation and with teens in his weekly sessions for deeper study of Scripture and the Catechism.
“I would not have known where to begin had I not gone to this program,” he says. “It not only teaches you the Catholic faith, but teaches you how to teach the Catholic faith.”
Joseph Pronechen writes from Trumbull, Connecticut.
----- EXCERPT: Franciscan U's catechetics major takes off ----- EXTENDED BODY: Joseph Pronechen ----- KEYWORDS: Education -------- TITLE: The Web at the Speed of Light DATE: 09/25/2005 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: September 25-Oct. 1, 2005 ----- BODY:We recently moved from a rented house to our newly constructed St. Joseph the Worker Monastery in Englewood, Fla.
As I mentioned in a previous issue of the Register, we installed a hardwired network instead of going with a wireless one. And I had a cable connection put in, expecting that it would be hooked up to broadband Internet access.
As can be expected with new construction, not everything came together right on schedule. Bugs had to be worked out, for example, in the networking.
One Ethernet wall connection was no good. We had to replace it. The technician who came to test everything mentioned how, at times, workers from other construction trades can damage Ethernet cabling with nails, wire-cutters, etc.
Finally, everything checked out. Now it was time to get the Internet broadband hooked up.
Now, when we were still at our rented house, I called the cable company and asked if I could transfer our account to the new place. They said Yes. So I waited until we were living in our new place before calling to transfer the account.
Our new monastery is set a couple of hundred feet back from a six-lane state road. Across the street, tall electrical poles of concrete support high-voltage lines. And a low-voltage electrical pole sits about 20 feet from our building. Seeing all that, I thought a cable hookup would be a snap.
Wrong. When the technician showed up to connect the Internet cable, he could find no hookup for the building. So he left, telling me to call the cable company. I called and found, to my surprise, that cable was not available at our location. Apparently we were too far away from the nearest access point.
Out of curiosity, I tried to locate the cable on the electrical poles around us. I found it a block away. It then turned down the street behind us. The nearest cable access point was about a football field away. Not far by my standards — but apparently too far for the cable company.
Techie Troubleshooting
Now I have for some time been receiving DSL (“digital subscriber line”) advertising from our local telephone company. I could get DSL for $19.95 for the first three months and then $29.95
thereafter. Taxes and hidden, if minor, fees could add another $10 per month. Taking all that into consideration, I decided this route was cheaper than the $56 I was paying for cable access.
Yet I hesitated to switch to DSL, as the speed you receive is dependent on the condition of your telephone lines and the distance between you and the telephone switching office. However, given the cost savings, I felt I had very little choice but to try it.
So I signed up. They sent me a DSL modem, filters and a setup CD. The installation was up to me. The video on the CD walked me through the setup process and configured my computer. DSL filters had to be plugged in to every telephone jack that might be used, including those on additional phone lines.
They provided five filters. The telephone company said using more than five could degrade the DSL service. Fortunately, I had exactly five jacks in use.
However, I ran into a little problem where our fire-alarm panel connected to our telephone line: The jacks were bigger than standard telephone jacks. I didn't bother with a filter. I went ahead with the installation and everything went well.
The modem told me I was connected at approximately 3MBps download speed and 800KBps upload speed. That sounded very fast to me. Almost too good to be true, in fact — and indeed it was when it came to uploading. I used the Speakeasy connection-speed test (speakeasy.net/speedtest). I came up with a real-world speed of 2.8MBps downloading and 512KBps uploading —comparable to cable downloading and faster than it was on the upload.
I was happy to see such good results, even with the slower uploading speed, as the advertising always says “up to” such and such a speed. I always take this to mean “don't count on it.”
A real problem started when I tried to get my network router to work with the DSL modem. I just couldn't get on the Internet. This didn't happen when I hooked up to the cable modem. I called the provider's tech-support line. The technician tried but failed. He said I needed to order a “stupider” DSL modem. Apparently the newer ones had much more in the way of features; they're not just a simple gateway to the Internet.
I was transferred to billing, where I asked to exchange my smart modem for a “stupider one.” They said the old ones were no longer available. Now I really felt stuck. So I tried tech support once again. Another dead end. At this point I became concerned. No network!
Fortunately, the DSL tech told me to try the router tech-support line. I did and, to my great relief, he knocked off the problem in no time.
Counting Costs
Many people I talk to are not happy about cable prices. Usually the cable company in the area has a monopoly on your service. For now, DSL seems to be a cheaper and comparable alternative although this depends on your location and telephone wiring.
An upcoming Internet connection possibility may put an end to cable and DSL as well: fiber optics. The telephone company Verizon already offers this with the Fios Internet Service for home or business at verizon.com. For $39.95 you can get up to 5MBps downloading and 2MBps uploading. Add another $10 and you can get up to 15MBps downloading. Fios can deliver up to 30MBps downloading and 5MBps uploading, but you'll pay for that higher speed. All packages include a four-port wired home networking router.
With 60% of Americans now using broadband, companies see that a lot is at stake — perhaps total control of the media coming into your home!
Verizon customer Trish Landers of Keller, Texas, says that fiber optics is obviously the future for those who insist on fast Internet connections.
“I see everything in the future — television, radio, movies, telecommunications — going through fiber optics,” she says.
I think she's on to something.
Brother John Raymondis co-founder of the Community of the Monks of Adoration now based in Englewood, Florida.
Monthly Video Picks
For this month's web picks, let's concentrate one day of the week Americans have a problem keeping holy: Sunday.
Start with the Catechism of the Catholic Church at vatican.va/archive/catechism/ccc_toc.htm. Do a keyword search for “Sunday” and you'll find lots of enlightening passages.
Certainly you will want to read Pope John Paul II's apostolic letter Dies Domini (On Keeping the Lord's Day Holy) at vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/apost_letters/index.htm.
Trouble with your kids at Mass? Look into the Catholic Mass worksheets, Gospel coloring activities, word-search puzzles and crosswords by Catholic Moms at catholicmom.com/mass_worksheets.htm.
The St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology has put together “Biblical Reflections on the Sunday Mass Readings” at salvationhistory.com/library/scripture/churchandbible/homilyhelps/homilyhelps.cm.
“Sunday Mass and Holy Day of Obligation,” by Colin B. Donovan, EWTN's vice president of theology, is worth a read. Located at ewtn.com/expert/answers/sunday_mass.htm, it looks at the Church's canon law regarding Sunday.
Have a holy and restful Lord's Day!
----- EXCERPT: Connectivity is key ----- EXTENDED BODY: Brother John Raymond ----- KEYWORDS: Arts -------- TITLE: Studies in Lisieux on Lake Michigan DATE: 09/25/2005 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: September 25-Oct. 1, 2005 ----- BODY:The National Shrine of St. Therese in Darien, Ill., is a hidden treasure you won't want to miss if you're ever in or around Chicago — one of the greatest “college towns” in the United States, based on number of schools alone.
After all, it houses one of the most extensive collections of St. Therese memorabilia and relics outside of Lisieux. Students with some free time on Saturday would do especially well to stop in on Oct. 1, her feast day.
And speaking of feast days, it was by chance that I first visited the shrine on July 20, feast of Elijah the prophet. Carmelites claim him as the spiritual father of their order, since hermits and holy men are said to have been living on the slopes of Mount Carmel from the time right after Elijah to the present day. (The official founding of the Carmelites as a Catholic monastic order is dated in the late 1100s). Famous Carmelites include St. Simon Stock, originator of the brown scapular devotion; Sts. John of the Cross and Teresa of Avila, the two great Spanish mystics; St. Edith Stein, the nun who converted from Judaism and was martyred by the Nazis; and Blessed Titus Brandsma, who also died in a Nazi concentration camps.
And then there's dear little St. Therese of Lisieux.
Despite the shrine's location near a major highway, the grounds are sheltered and peaceful, with a Rosary walk and Stations of the Cross that are open to the public. The main attractions of the shrine, though, are inside, in the chapel and museum.
“I am filled with a jealous zeal for God!” proclaimed the priest during his homily that day, quoting the Carmelite motto, which is taken from the words of the prophet Elijah. More than 100 people were present at the weekday Mass in the recently renovated chapel, which is about the usual headcount for daily Mass. I noted that the attendees included a surprising number of families with children, and that the ambience was reverent and prayerful.
Touches of Therese
Behind the altar, covering one entire wall and serving as a visual focal point during Mass, is the largest religious woodcarving in the United States; it measures 12-feet high by 27-feet wide. It is a gorgeous piece, hand-carved in Italy, showing the major events in the life of St. Therese.
Beneath the carving is a reliquary containing five relics: a portion of her uncorrupted flesh, a fragment of bone, a lock of her hair, a pinch of dust from the coffin, a particle of her habit.
The museum, adjacent to the chapel, is remarkable. On display is the actual chair from Therese's cell in the convent at Lisieux, swatches of her bedspread and habit, letters she wrote, toys she played with as a child, pictures she drew, a little tambourine of hers. Every time I came to a new item I couldn't believe our good fortune to have it here instead of across the Atlantic in her homeland.
Before visiting the shrine I didn't realize that it was her sister Celine who made Therese so instantly recognizable: The shrine has in its collection numerous familiar paintings and photographs by Celine depicting her sister from age 8 until just before her death at 24. Celine painted the famous portrait that serves as a model for the most recognizable devotional images of Therese, and also a less well-known “oval portrait” that many consider a better likeness than the classic and more familiar image.
The shrine also has a nice display of Celine's photographs arranged to depict a visual chronology of Therese's short life.
Force of Habit
Other items of interest in the museum include a series of oil paintings on the life of St. Therese, statuary that includes a miniature reproduction of Therese's casket, a collection of Our Lady of Mount Carmel statues from cultures all over the world and a wall of rosaries, the oldest of which was made in 1704.
There is also a photo gallery on the life and death of Bl. Titus Brandsma, a Dutch Carmelite priest who was an outspoken critic of the Nazis, so much so that he had a nickname: “that dangerous little friar.” Eventually the Nazis sent him to Dachau, where he died in 1942. Pope John Paul II beatified him in 1985.
When you go, be sure to ask a staff member to show the video on the life of St. Therese. It is a well-made documentary with particularly moving footage of people venerating her relics during the 1999 tours in the United States, glimpses into a modern Carmelite convent and touching commentary from Patrick Ahern, Auxiliary Bishop emeritus of New York.
“She hasn't an enemy in the world,” he says in the film. “Everybody loves St. Therese of Lisieux.”
I think people love St. Therese not in spite of the fact that she didn't really “do” anything, but because of it. She was a normal little girl with big dreams who ended up, like most of us living an ordinary life dominated by mundane little tasks performed amidst people who sometimes annoyed her.
The fact that she achieved extraordinary sanctity in such an ordinary environment should give hope to all — college students included.
Clare Siobhan writes from Westmont, Illinois.
Planning Your Visit
The chapel, museum and gift shop are open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. seven days a week except for holidays. A Carmelite priest offers Mass Monday through Friday at 11:30 am in the chapel. Groups of 20 or more people can arrange special tours, programs, and days of reflection. For group reservations call (630) 969-4141. Individuals are free to attend Mass, visit the grounds, museum, and gift shop, and may ask a staff member to see the video presentation. For more, go to saint-therese.org on the Internet.
Getting There
The shrine is located in the southwest suburbs of Chicago, easily accessible from Interstate 55 (the Stevenson Expressway). From I-55, take the Cass Avenue North exit. Turn left at Frontage Road which is the first stoplight. Turn right on Bailey Road. Enter the shrine at the second driveway on the right.
The United States headquarters of the Society of the Little Flower is also located here (littleflower.org). It is part of the Carmelite Province of the Most Pure Heart of Mary. The province covers a vast geographical area, including most of the continental United States.
----- EXCERPT: National Shrine of St. Therese, Darien, Ill. ----- EXTENDED BODY: Clare Siobhan ----- KEYWORDS: News -------- TITLE: The College Guide DATE: 09/25/2005 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: September 25-Oct. 1, 2005 ----- BODY:The Register and Faith & Family magazine survey asked objective questions to try to get to find out whether they were doing the sorts of things the Church requires and that parents demand.
The survey, which you'll find on the next page, focused on these areas.
Canon Law requirements
The Church requires:
An oath of fidelity and profession of faith from the president. Canon 833 says “the rector of an ecclesiastical or Catholic university” and “those who in any universities teach subjects which deal with faith or morals … are personally bound to make a profession of faith in the presence of their bishop.”
The Mandatum. Canon 812 reads: “It is necessary that those who teach theological disciplines in any institute of higher studies have a mandatum from the competent ecclesiastical authority.”
Pope John Paul II's 1990 Constitution on Higher Education called for:
Majority Catholic faculty. Article 4, No. 4 reads: “In order not to endanger the Catholic identity of the university or institute of higher studies, the number of non-Catholic teachers should not be allowed to constitute a majority within the institution, which is and must remain Catholic.”
Institutional Fidelity. Article 5 teaches:
“Every Catholic University is to maintain communion with the universal Church and the Holy See; it is to be in close communion with the local Church and in particular with the diocesan bishops of the region or nation in which it is located. In ways consistent with its nature as a university, a Catholic university will contribute to the Church's work of evangelization. … Each bishop has a responsibility to promote the welfare of the Catholic universities in his diocese and has the right and duty to watch over the preservation and strengthening of their Catholic character. If problems should arise concerning this Catholic character, the local bishop is to take the initiatives necessary to resolve the matter, working with the competent university authorities in accordance with established procedures and, if necessary, with the help of the Holy See.”
Catholic Campus ministry. Article 6 teaches: “A Catholic university is to promote the pastoral care of all members of the university community, and to be especially attentive to the spiritual development of those who are Catholics. … A sufficient number of qualified people — priests, religious, and lay persons — are to be appointed to provide pastoral ministry for the university community.”
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- KEYWORDS: News -------- TITLE: Vatican Media Watch DATE: 09/25/2005 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: September 25-Oct. 1, 2005 ----- BODY:Vatican Condemns Plans for ‘Dual Mother’ Embryo
AFP, Sept. 9 — The Vatican condemned plans by a team of British scientists to create a human embryo using genetic material from two women, Agence France Presse reported.
A team of scientists at Newcastle University in the United Kingdom were granted government approval Sept. 8 to create a human embryo using genetic material from two women, raising the future prospect of babies with a pair of mothers.
The scientists will transfer the components of a human embryo nucleus — made by one man and one woman into an unfertilized egg from another woman.
“This is a real experiment whose success remains to be proved, but which, from the moral point of view, violates at least three prohibitions, Bishop Elio Sgreccia, president of the Pontifical Academy for Life, told Vatican radio. “A real clone will be produced, the embryo from which the nucleus is taken is destroyed and they then create a new embryo implanted in a woman who becomes a substitute mother.
Bishop Sgreccia added, “All this constitutes a string of violations that is morally reprehensible, and not only from the Catholic point of view.”
Ethiopia and the Vatican Establish University
The agreement was signed by Education Minister Genet Zewde, Ethiopian Catholic Chruch Archbishop Abune-Berhan Surafel and Foreign Affairs Minister Seyoum Mesfin and Vatican Ambassador Archbishop Ramiro Ingles.
The Church has five colleges in Ethiopia, according to the archbishop.
Zewde thanked the Ethiopian Catholic Church and the Holy See for their efforts in contributing to the development of the education sector in general and establishment of the university in particular.
Vatican's Invitation to China Is Rejected
Pope Benedict XVI invited bishops Anthony Li Duan (78) of Xian, Aloysius Jin Luxian (89) of Shanghai, Luke Li Jingfeng (85) of Fengxiang and Joseph Wei Jingyi (47) from Qiqihar. The latter two are from the unofficial Church, which is in communion with the Holy See.
Catholics on the mainland were divided from the universal Church, and each other, in 1951 after Mao Zedong established the patriotic association to oversee Catholic churches. The association rejected papal authority and placed Church affairs, including appointments under government control.
According to the report, Taiwan has long prepared for losing the Vatican's diplomatic recognition to Beijing, whose procrastination on accepting the Holy See as the sole authority on Catholicism prolongs its image as an atheist communist state. China's modernization drive will remain incomplete without official ties to the Vatican.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- KEYWORDS: Vatican -------- TITLE: Video Picks ... Passes DATE: 09/25/2005 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: September 25-Oct. 1, 2005 ----- BODY:Robots: PICK
(2005)
A Knight's Tale (Extended Cut): PASS
(2001)
We're No Angels: PICK
(1955)
Chris Wedge and his cohorts at Blue Sky Studios learned a lot making their first film, Ice Age — and it shows in their superior sophomore film, Robots, new this week on DVD.
Robots combines the visionary world-building of Monsters, Inc. and the toybox nostalgia of Toy Story. There's also sly social commentary aimed at insecurity advertising, the corporate stratagem of instilling inadequacy in order to make some product indispensable.
Once-benevolent Bigweld Industries, which historically proclaimed the inspirational message, “You can shine no matter what you're made of!” now raises the demoralizing question “Why be YOU when you can be … NEW?” There's even a pro-life resonance in the film's depiction of the sinister plot to scrap obsolete members of society who've outlived their usefulness and are beginning to fall apart.
There are two main drawbacks. Wedge leans too much on crude humor, especially Shrek-style flatulence humor, and an almost British preoccupation with bottom jokes.
More seriously, the Blue Sky team (like rivals DreamWorks) still can't hold a candle to Pixar when it comes to crafting interesting, layered characters and emotionally complex narratives. Despite a few somewhat touching moments, it comes off clever rather than heartfelt. Still, it's a high grade of clever, and I enjoyed it a lot.
Also new this week is A Knight's Tale (Extended Cut), an unnecessary repackaging of a silly, feel-good popcorn movie that's enjoyable enough in its original form, but certainly doesn't need to be 12 minutes longer. In fact, the original cut is already too long, and three “restored” scenes, available on earlier DVD editions as supplements, were rightly deleted.
Even in its theatrical cut, A Knight's Tale isn't quite a masterpiece. Hero Heath Ledger is upstaged by sidekick Paul Bettany, love-interest Shannyn Sossamon is less appealing than female sidekick Laura Fraser, characters act out of character for no reason, and the story is an unbroken string of clichés and anachronisms.
Yet it has a winning gung-ho enthusiasm, confidence and will to entertain. It's funny, especially Bettany's long-winded, improvised introductions of Ledger at tournaments. The thundering horses, glinting armor and shattering lances are fun to watch in slow motion.
Ledger is engaging as a squire longing to be a knight, and there's something refreshing about an action film in which the hero seeks no further satisfaction against the villain than knocking him flat on his back. But there's no reason not to find the original 2001 version of the film.
Also debuting this week on DVD is Michael Curtiz's slightly macabre but good-hearted 1955 comedy We're No Angels (not to be confused with the loose 1989 remake).
Humphrey Bogart, Peter Ustinov, and Aldo Ray star as escaped convicts, who plan to rob a local mom and pop, then have a change of heart. Before long the thugs are pitching in — but when Basil Rathbone shows up as the shop's villainous owner, the convicts must take matters into their own hands. Adolphe, a poisonous pet snake who lives in Ray's pocket, plays a key role in the darkly comic resolution, in which everyone gets what they deserve.
Bogey's deadpan performance delivers the comic goods, and Rathbone is delightfully nasty. An unconventional Christmas treat.
CONTENT ADVISORY: Robots contains mild innunedo, some crass humor, and much animated excitement. A Knight's Tale contains tournament violence, fleeting rear nudity, some sex-related dialogue and crude language, and a brief anticlerical depiction, and is okay for teens and up. We're No Angels contains mild innuendo, menace and offscreen deaths and might be okay for older kids.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: Steven D. Greydanus ----- KEYWORDS: News -------- TITLE: Latina Rediviva? DATE: 09/25/2005 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: September 25-Oct. 1, 2005 ----- BODY:ROME — Solemn processions … strains of Gregorian chant … The Gospel sung in Latin … Pope Benedict XVI's inaugural Mass last April may have seemed to some viewers to be a throwback to an earlier age of the Church.
Yet the Mass was a well-executed example of exactly the type of liturgical reform called for by the Second Vatican Council. And there are signs that Latin and chant are making a strong comeback in the first year of his pontificate.
For the many years he was head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the Pope was a careful but firm critic of the way in which Vatican II's call for reform has been used to justify abuses in the new liturgy. Those ranged from omitting required genuflections to changing the words of consecration.
For this reason, Catholics who have long complained about liturgical aberrations in their parishes, and traditionalists who call for greater access to the Latin Tridentine Mass both welcomed the election of the Holy Father.
“Latin to me is a unifying language. It represents the early Church and our Christian roots, and I think the Pope has a really deep understanding of this,” said Jackie DeForge, a 30-year-old parishioner of St. Agnes Church in Arlington, Va.
She attends a Mass offered in Latin there by Father Christopher Pollard, parochial vicar. “I still appreciate the Mass in my own language because I can understand it,” she said. “But there is something special about Latin.”
Roger McCaffrey, founder and former editor of The Latin Mass magazine, wrote for the online journal Seattle Catholic that Benedict “will prove to be a Godsend for traditionalists who have read his almost adamant endorsements of the 1962 [pre-Vatican II] missal as a legitimate and desirable option for the Mass. Just as importantly for the Church, he will prove to be a reformer of the new rite — for years he has called for such reform. Be prepared to rally around him.”
Traditionalists were especially heartened that in Cologne last month, at the first World Youth Day led by the Pope, preliminary events included a Latin Tridentine Mass. The liturgy took place in a Dösseldorf church and was attended by hundreds of young people who belong to Juventutem, an international group devoted to the pre-Vatican II liturgy.
The fact that the Latin Mass was included in the World Youth Day program, where clapping is more the norm than chanting, shows that the traditional Mass should have adherents even after the pre-Vatican II generation passes away.
‘Holiest and Highest’
In a host of books, articles and interviews over the years, Benedict has laid out a well-reasoned and deeply spiritual explanation of the sacred and timeless nature of the liturgy and the means by which these elements are best expressed.
Assessing the sudden reform of the Mass with the promulgation of the new missal in 1970, he wrote in his 1997 book Spirit of the Liturgy that “a community is calling its very being into question when it suddenly declares that what until now was its holiest and highest possession is strictly forbidden.”
As a cardinal, he offered the traditional Latin Mass on a few occasions. And just last month he met with Bishop Bernard Fellay, head of the Society of St. Pius X — the schismatic group founded by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre that offers Mass exclusively in the old rite — in an apparent attempt to bring the community back into communion with the Church. Archbishop Lefebvre was excommunicated in 1988 for consecrating four new bishops against the orders of Pope John Paul II.
The new Pope has pointed out, with many other defenders of “organic” reform, that while Vatican II's document on the liturgy allowed for judicious use of vernacular languages in the Mass, it also decreed that Gregorian chant be given “pride of place” and that the people be taught to “say or to sing together in Latin those parts of the Ordinary of the Mass that pertain to them,” such as the Gloria, Creed and Our Father.
After his election, Benedict did not wait long to act on these directives. On June 28, in promulgating the Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, he urged Catholics throughout the world to memorize the most common prayers in Latin to “help Christian faithful of different languages pray together, especially when they gather for special circumstances.”
The compendium contains an appendix with the Latin texts of many traditional prayers, including the Sign of the Cross, the Gloria, the Hail Mary and Come, Holy Spirit.
Msgr. Ignacio Barreiro, who offers Mass with permission of his bishop exclusively according to the traditional rite and serves as director of the Rome office of Human Life International, expects that Benedict will take a two-pronged approach to reform.
“He will make the traditional Mass more available,” Msgr. Barreiro said, “and will also make changes in the new Mass to highlight its sacral nature.”
New Advocates
A number of U.S. parishes, including some led by young priests, have been promoting Latin among the faithful.
Father Jay Scott Newman, pastor of St. Mary's Parish in Greenville, S.C., who was ordained in 1993, has been teaching Latin to his congregation for the past four years, including the Sanctus (Holy Holy Holy) and Agnus Dei (Lamb of God). More recently he has added the Gloria, Creed and Our Father in Latin.
The parish was featured in George Weigel's book Letters to a Young Catholic as an example of a parish implementing the true spirit of Vatican II. In July, the parish's newly ordained parochial vicar, Father Christopher Smith, offered his first Mass entirely in Latin.
In a letter to parishioners, Father Scott said that the gradual introduction of Latin into parish Masses will “help fulfill the vision of the Second Vatican Council for the authentic renewal of the liturgy.”
Father Pollard, the Arlington priest, has recorded and distributed instructional CDs of the new Mass in Latin for priests and lay faithful. Influenced by Benedict's writings, he offers his private Masses facing the altar, a centuries-old practice called ad orientem (toward the East), reflecting the tradition that Christ will arrive in his Second Coming from the East.
“People say the priest has his back to the people, but the truth is that the priest is facing the same way as the people, toward God,” Father Pollard said. “The traditional Mass makes perfect sense. When the priest is addressing God, he faces the altar, when he addresses the people, he turns to face them.”
He added, “I think in today's liturgy, many people have a sense that something is missing, but they don't know what it is — the sense of mystery and awe in the presence of the sacred.”
Stephen Vincent writes from Wallingford, Connecticut.
----- EXCERPT: Dawn of Benedict's pontificate gives hope to traditional Mass devotees ----- EXTENDED BODY: Stephen Vincent ----- KEYWORDS: Vatican -------- TITLE: The Visible Sign of Communion Between God and Man DATE: 09/25/2005 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: September 25-Oct. 1, 2005 ----- BODY:Pope Benedict XVI met with 20,000 pilgrims in St. Peter's Square during his general audience on Sept. 14. He offered his reflections on Psalm 132, which celebrates King David's solemn transfer of the Ark of the Covenant, the sign of God's presence among his people, to its resting place in Jerusalem.
In the psalm, the Pope pointed out, David solemnly vows not to set foot in the royal palace on Jerusalem nor to rest in peace until he finds a resting place for the Ark of the Covenant. “Something must be present at the very center of our life in society that evokes the mystery of our transcendent God,” the Holy Father said. “God and man are journeying together through history and the purpose of the Temple is to be a visible sign of this communion.”
Benedict noted that the joyful celebration depicted in the psalm includes both the assembly of the priests and people in worship and the Lord who is present and at work in their midst, symbolized by the Ark of the Covenant. “The heart of the liturgy is found in this intersection between the priests and faithful on one hand and the Lord in his power on the other” he said.
Finally, the Holy Father referred to the psalm's appeal for help for the king and his successors amid life's trials, which our Christian tradition has understood as a prophetic reference to Jesus Christ: “Thus, the psalmist, with great expectation, looks beyond events in the kingdom of Judah to the future, to the perfect ‘Anointed One,’ the Messiah, beloved and blessed by God, who will always be pleasing to God.”
We have heard the first part of Psalm 132, a hymn that is recited at two different times during evening prayer of the Liturgy of Hours. Many scholars think that this song was sung during a solemn celebration when the Lord's ark, sign of the God's presence in the midst of the people of Israel, was transferred to Jerusalem, the new capital that David had chosen.
In the biblical account of this event, we read that King David, “girt with a linen apron, came dancing before the Lord with abandon, as he and all the Israelites were bringing up the ark of the Lord with shouts of joy and to the sound of the horn” (2 Samuel 6:14-15).
However, other scholars trace Psalm 132 back to a celebration commemorating this ancient event, after worship in the sanctuary at Zion — which was actually David's work — had been instituted.
This hymn seems to take on a liturgical dimension: It was probably used during a procession where the priests and faithful were present along with a choir.
Lord's Dwelling Place
Keeping in line with the Liturgy of the Hours' evening prayer, we will reflect on the first 10 verses of the psalm, which we have just heard. David's solemn oath has been placed at the center of this passage.
Indeed, we are told that, in sharp contrast with King Saul, his predecessor, David “swore an oath to the Lord, vowed to the Mighty One of Jacob” (Psalm 132:2). The content of this solemn commitment, found in verses 3-5, is quite clear: The king will not step foot into the royal palace of Jerusalem and will not rest in peace until he has first found a dwelling place for the Lord's ark.
Thus, something must be present at the very center of our life in society that evokes the mystery of our transcendent God. God and man are journeying together through history and the purpose of the temple is to be a visible sign of this communion.
God and Man Together
At this point, David's words have paved the way for a memory from the past, perhaps using words from a liturgical chorus. The rediscovery of the ark in the fields of Jaar in the region of Ephrathah (see verse 6) is recalled. It had remained there for a long time after the Philistines restored it to Israel, which had lost it during a battle (see 1 Samuel 7:1; 2 Samuel 6:2, 11). Therefore, it was taken from the provinces to the future holy city and the passage ends on a note of festive celebration where we see the people in worship (see Psalm 132:7, 9) on one hand — that is, the liturgical assembly — and, on the other hand, the Lord who returns to make himself present at work through the sign of the ark that has been placed in Zion (see verse 8). The heart of the liturgy is found in this intersection between the priests and faithful on one hand and the Lord in his power on the other.
An acclamation in prayer for the kings succeeding David concludes the first part of Psalm 132: “For the sake of David your servant, do not reject your anointed” (verse 10).
The Christian Dimension
It is easy to perceive a Messianic dimension in this prayer, which originally was a plea of help for the Jewish king amid life's trials. In fact, the word “anointed” is the translation of the Hebrew word “Messiah.” Thus, with great expectation, the psalmist looks beyond events in the kingdom of Judah to the future, to the perfect “Anointed One,” the Messiah beloved and blessed by God, who will always be pleasing to God.
This messianic interpretation plays a dominant role in any Christian interpretation and is applied to the entire psalm. For example, the way in which Ezechias of Jerusalem, a priest from the first half of the fifth century applies verse 8 to the Incarnation of Christ in significant.
In his Second Homily on the Mother of God, he addresses the Virgin with the following words: “Of you and of him who was born of you, David does not cease to sing on the harp:
‘Arise, Lord, come to your resting place, you and your majestic ark’ (Psalm 132:8).” Who is ‘the majestic ark’?
Ezechias responds in this way: “Obviously the Virgin, the Mother of God, because, if you are the pearl, she quite rightly is the ark; if you are the sun, the Virgin will necessarily be called heaven;
and if you are the spotless flower, the Virgin will then be the plant of incorruption, the paradise of immortality” (Testi Mariani del Primo Millennio, I, Rome, 1988, pp. 532-533).
(Register translation)
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- KEYWORDS: News -------- TITLE: World Media Watch DATE: 09/25/2005 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: September 25-Oct. 1, 2005 ----- BODY:Catholic-Orthodox Unity Talks to Reopen
Speaking at the 19th annual conference of the Sant'Egidio community in Lyons (see story above), the cardinal announced the restarting this autumn of the Catholic-Orthodox international theological commission, which had been suspended for four years during a row over a dispute over Church property and proselytism.
Cardinal Kasper, speaking in a round-table session, said of Catholics and Orthodox: “They are the one Church in different liturgical, theological, spiritual and canonical forms. These differences are legitimate.”
He laid down five challenges for both Churches: admitting sins and seeking forgiveness; overcoming mutual ignorance, prejudices and lack of understanding; the mutual exchange of gifts (such as different forms of governance for the Churches); strengthening cooperation in order to speak with a single voice to secularized Europe; recognizing that the path to full community is a spiritual process.
The cardinal told The Tablet that obstacles to full communion were both of principle and practice. The Orthodox have concerns regarding the definition of papal infallibility and this would be addressed by the commission in the autumn, said the cardinal: “The full unity of the Church — East and West — is a hope that will not disappoint.”
Bishops Warn of ‘Affluenza’ Epidemic
In their annual social justice statement, the bishops cited an Australia Institute study that claimed more than $10 billion is spent each year on products and services that no one uses. This figure was probably conservative, the bishops said.
“If Australians were to undergo a health check we could well be diagnosed as suffering from the ravages of the disease of affluence,” the statement said. “Some may be more mildly affected than others, but the sickness is pervasive and we are all its victims.”
The report said the bishops' criticism echoes the urgings of Pope Benedict, who has challenged Catholics to reject “runaway consumerism” and secularism.
Study: Dutch Doctors Skirt Edge of Euthanasia Laws
AHN, Sept. 6 — A new study finds that doctors in the Netherlands, the first country to legalize euthanasia for terminally ill people, are actually hastening the deaths of sick children sometimes at the boundaries of what the law allows, All Headline News wire service reported.
Researchers looked at 64 deaths of ill children during a four-month period. Of those, 42 cases involved medical decisions that could hasten death. Doctors were given immunity against prosecution and their responses were kept anonymous in the government-sponsored study.
The decisions ranged from withholding life support, a practice accepted in the United States, to administering drugs such as morphine with the intention of ending suffering and hurrying death.
The report said only one case involved doctor-assisted death at the parent's request.
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