Ready the Arms!

Some Dutch Catholics have renamed the Lent fast as the "Christian Ramadan" in an attempt to appeal to young people who are more likely to know about Islam than Christianity. – Daily Telegraph

A moment of clarity

I haven’t quoted the NCR (National unCatholic Reporter) since my pagan days at Berkeley [forgive me Father, for I knew not what I said or did], but every once-in-a-while the liberal rag has clarity as shown by John L. Allen’s opening words of this week’s commentary:

“Without a doubt, the push for robust assertion of traditional Catholic identity is the most consequential mega-trend in the life of the church today, and it is also the core of Benedict XVI's agenda as pope.”

Our eyes do not deceive us. The NCR actually printed the word “traditional”. It’s the end of the world…They sky is falling…One if by land. Two if by sea…[singing] A three-hour tour. A three-hour tour…

Quick, get me the aluminum foil. Must cover head. Must cover head.

Send in the clowns

“Systems that disempower the laity” -- calcatholic.com

Nun to speak in Palo Alto on how to resist “patriarchal approaches to church leadership”

Burlingame Mercy Sister Eloise Rosenblatt, who gave a keynote address for the Northern California Lay Convocation at St. Francisco’s St. Mary’s Cathedral in June, will speak on “Countering and Challenging Patriarchy in the Church” on Oct. 27 at Our Lady of the Rosary Church Hall in Palo Alto.

The event, sponsored by the Thomas Merton Center in Palo Alto, was advertised in the Oct. 16 Valley Catholic, the newspaper of the San Jose diocese.

According to the Oct. 14 Thomas Merton Center bulletin, Sister Eloise will address the question: “How do progressive Catholics, who wish to stay members of the Roman church, change the entrenched patriarchal church systems that disempower the laity in general, and women in particular?” Sister “will take a broad analytical approach and recognize how subordination works culturally and doctrinally,” said the bulletin. “She proposes long-term strategies for resisting and reforming patriarchal approaches to church leadership, by invoking the church’s own teaching.”

Sister Eloise, both a feminist theologian and a doctor of law, directs ELOROS Inc. (Education, Law, and Religious Organizations), which, says the bulletin, is “a non-profit organization that provides parish inservice education about employment issues and California’s mandatory antidiscrimination training.”

In the past, Sister Eloise has addressed other “progressive” gatherings. She offered workshops at the 1998 and 2005 Call to Action West Coast Conferences on the topics, “Keeping your church job,” church law, and clergy sexual exploitation of adult women. Call to Action is a group that promotes public dissent against Church teaching on women’s ordination, homosexuality, birth control, and other matters.

In 1997, Sister Eloise was a workshop presenter at the Catholic Women Network’s Annual Conference, where attendees learned about eastern spiritualities, “Goddess qualities,” mandalas, and “Holistic/Ecofeminist Spirituality.”

In her 2005 book, ”While the Bridegroom is with them”: Marriage, Family, Gender and Violence in the Gospel of Matthew, Marianne Blickenstaff describes Sister Eloise’s interpretation of the parable of the wise and foolish virgins in Matthew’s Gospel. According to Blickenstaff, Sister Eloise sees the parable as directed at women in the “Matthean community,” exhorting women to choose to be “‘wise’ by conforming to certain behaviors prescribed by those in power (whom Rosenblatt identifies as primarily the men in the community.” The “choice between ‘wise’ and ‘foolish’” for Sister Eloise, says Blickenstaff, “serves not only to keep the women in line, but to divide the women against each other, and thus reduce any power they might have had as a group.”

Last June’s convocation at St. Mary’s cathedral, Sr. Eloise said, showed how Catholics now voice their opinion in the Church through conversation. “Some of the hotly debated issues” she had heard “involve substantive unresolved questions of Church life – women’s incorporation in ministry and decision making, the survival of the priesthood and the rule of celibacy, the Church’s teaching on human sexuality, laity having a voice in the selection of local bishops... protecting freedom of speech... promotion of a collegial and collaborative leadership style between hierarchy and laity with genuine consultation with laity” on a variety of issues.

Medieval? Get the rack!

When is somebody going to crack a ruler
over the knuckles of these “sisters”?

Monday, October 22, 2007

National Coalition of American Nuns on Liturgical Translations

To Each U.S. Roman Catholic Bishop Regarding English Translations For The Liturgy

Dear Bishop,

We are writing to you, each U.S. bishop, the U.S. Bishops' Committee on the Liturgy, the International Committee on English in the Liturgy (ICEL), and the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments in regard to the new Vatican-ordered translation of the Liturgy.

The Vatican-appointed translators have not produced a translation that is understandable to Catholics in the pews. We understand that, according to a 2005 poll of bishops, 47% of the U.S. bishops rated it "fair or poor".

The media has reported that even some bishops are complaining that some texts contain "clunky and archaic language". For example, why would the words "consubstantial to the Father" be used in the Creed? What meaning do these words have for 21st century English speaking Catholics?

Why use a medieval expression like, "We pray you bid" in the new Missal? This is not the way people speak today in the English-speaking world. We need to follow the liturgical principles set forth in the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy from the Second Vatican Council.

Article 21 of that document states, "Christian people, as far as possible, should be able to understand them (texts and rites) with ease". The proposed text, "he who was born ineffably of the inviolate Virgin," is not easily understandable to Christian people, much less to the youth who are leaving the Church because of its irrelevancy.

Bishop Donald Trautman of Erie, PA., chair of the U.S. Bishops Committee on the Liturgy, has said the proposed changes by the International Commission on English in the Liturgy are "not acceptable". We agree. We ask you to make the translations appropriate, meaningful, and significant for today's Catholic.

Jeannine Gramick SL,
Donna Quinn OP,
Beth Rindler SFP

Medieval? Sisters, we'll show you medieval? Hey guys, get the rack!

Here we go

Mrs. Fields Bans Christmas From Their Products

Mrs. Fields has become the first company to ban Christmas from their products and promotion for this year. When a woman called Mrs. Fields and asked to speak with a supervisor in customer service about why they banned Christmas, the supervisor told her that they do not offer anything with Merry Christmas because they don't want to offend anyone. Mrs. Fields wants the business of Christians who celebrate Christmas, but they don’t mind if they offend Christians.

UPDATE: All holidays have a home at Mrs. Fields...Want a cookie?

Please note: No elves were held hostage, nor was any ransom paid for the Christmas treats.

From the Looney Bin

Dutch Dominicans call for laity to celebrate Mass

By William Jurgensen | The Tablet [of London] | 7 September 2007 | http://www.thetablet.co.uk/articles/10320/

THE DOMINICAN Order in the Netherlands has issued a radical recommendation that lay ministers chosen by their congregations should be allowed to celebrate the Eucharist if no ordained priests are available.

In a booklet posted to all 1,300 parishes in the country, it says that the Church should drop its priest-centered model of the Mass in favour of one built around a community sharing bread and wine in prayer.

"Whether they are women or men, homo- or heterosexual, married or single, makes no difference. What is important is an infectious attitude of faith," said the brochure, which has been approved by the Dutch order's leaders. However, the Dutch bishops' conference promptly said that the booklet appeared to be "in conflict with the faith of the Roman Catholic Church". It said it had no prior knowledge of the project and needed to study the text further before issuing a full reaction.

The 38-page booklet, Kerk en Ambt ("Church and Ministry"), reflects the thinking of the Belgian-born Dominican theologian Fr Edward Schillebeeckx. In 1986 the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith under the then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger warned Fr Schillebeeckx that his views on the Eucharist and lay ministry were "erroneous" but took no action against him. The booklet was written by four Dominicans including Fr André Lascaris, a theologian at the Dominican Study Centre for Theology and Society in

Nijmegen. Fr Lascaris was involved in peace work for Northern Ireland from 1973 until 1992 and has published numerous articles and books on conflict, violence, forgiveness and reconciliation. The other authors are Fr Jan Nieuwenhuis, retired head of the Dominicus ecumenical centre in Amsterdam, Fr Harrie Salemans, a parish priest in Utrecht, and Fr Ad Willems, retired theology lecturer at Radboud University, Nijmegen.

The booklet says that many Dutch Catholics are frustrated that combining parishes and closing churches is the main response to the challenge of a dwindling clergy. "The Church is organised around priests and actually finds the priesthood more important than local faith communities," said Fr Salemans in an interview posted on the order's Dutch website. "This is deadly for local congregations."

Using the early Church as its model, the booklet said a congregation could choose its own lay minister to lead services. The minister and the congregation would speak the words of consecration together. "Speaking these words is not the exclusive right or power of the priest," the booklet said. "It is the conscious expression of faith by the whole congregation."

The ranks of Dutch Dominicans have thinned along with those of other clergy, and now number only 90 men. Since 2000 around 200 parishes in the Netherlands have been closed due to the lack of priests and the fall in church attendance.

We all scream

The Apostolic Palace at Castel Gandolfo is surrounded by a lake and mountains. It’s the Pope’s summer residence.

During the month of August, Benedict XVI is taking advantage of the freshness of the landscape. And he can’t pass by the ice cream shop near his residence without having one himself, like anyone else.

That’s why Alfredo Carosi, the owner of the store, started a tradition that’s repeated every summer: “We have a tradition of inviting the Pope to enjoy some of our ice cream on August 15 every year”, he says. “We send 15 cups to the palace for his colleagues as well.”

The ice cream parlour has many flavours including cherry, vanilla and whipped cream, topped with chocolate and caramel – all favourites of Benedict.

This bar founded in 1897 holds many of the Pope’s gastronomic secrets. Apart from ice cream, the owner made two breakfasts for John Paul II. “He had breakfast here”, says Carosi, “a fruit salad, cheese, rosetta, a typical kind of bread, and ham. He was such a human person, so uncomplicated and he didn’t try to keep a distance.”

Non-Catholic identity

New Age nuns calling it quits

“Earth spirituality” retreat center in Alpine to close this fall

Something frivolous

Easter Bunny banned by US school district

http://www.cathnews.com/news/703/144.php

Public schools in Tiverton in the US state of Rhode Island have banned the word "Easter" at all school events and children will now have their photos taken with Peter Rabbit instead of the Easter Bunny.

The US Catholic League reports that William Rearick, Schools Superintendent of the Tiverton Public Schools in Rhode Island, has banned the Easter Bunny from appearing at a fundraising event tomorrow at the Tiverton Middle School.

He has also banned the word "Easter" from all school events. He told the Providence Journal that during the last year and a half, he has become "more aware of folks who don't have a Christian background."

Taking the place of the Easter Bunny will be Peter Rabbit, the Catholic League says, and children will be able to get their picture taken with him.

But League president Bill Donohue described it as "unconscionable that in this day and age Superintendent Rearick would choose to honour a thief".

"As every schoolchild knows, Peter Rabbit stole from Mr McGregor's garden," Donohue said.

"To now hold him up as a role model to impressionable youngsters sends the wrong signal. At the very least, grief counsellors should be dispatched to tomorrow's event."

"There is also a more serious matter going on. The event smacks of sexism: Peter Rabbit had three sisters - Flopsy, Mopsy and Cottontail - and there is no historical record of them ever having committed a crime. So why were they passed over? Looks like the glass ceiling is still in place."

Commenting on School Superintendent Rearick's concern not to offend other religions, Donhue said he was "astonished" that Rearick "only recently discovered Jews and Muslims".

"But better late than never. However, it was not a Jew or a Muslim who complained about the Easter Bunny - it was an ex-Catholic, Michael Burk; he is vice chairman of the school committee. No matter, I have news for Superintendent Rearick: he has not resolved the problem.

Luke 12:7

HOBART, Ind. - Kevin Russell found out it's not easy trying to cash a check from God. The 21-year-old man was arrested Monday after he tried to cash a check for $50,000 at the Chase Bank in Hobart that was signed "King Savior, King of Kings, Lord of Lords, Servant," Hobart police Detective Jeff White said.

Russell was charged with one count attempted check fraud and one count intimidation, both felonies, and one count resisting law enforcement, a misdemeanor. He could face prison time.

Police were called to the bank after Russell tried to cash the check, which was written on an invalid Bank One check with no imprint, White said. Russell had several other checks with him that were signed the same way but made out in different dollar amounts, including one for $100,000.

Russell struggled with police as they tried to detain him, White said, and then threatened police as they transported him to the Hobart Police Department.

"I've heard about God giving out eternal life, but this is the first time I've heard of him giving out cash," White said.

No court date has been set for Russell. He was being held Wednesday at the Lake County Jail on a $1,000 bond

Hillary Special

Clinton: 'I'm in to win' White House

In recognition of this historic announcement, the local KFC has prepared a “Hillary Special” consisting of a bucketful of left wings.

Ganswein: Versace. Benedict: Prada.

Meet the inspiration for the latest Versace look - the Pope's secretary

Richard Owen in Rome | www.timesonline.co.uk

Father Georg Gaenswein: 'ethical, austere - and elegant' (EPA/AP)

Donatella Versace has often raised eyebrows — and hemlines — with her outrageous designs for women. Yesterday, however, she stunned even blasé fashionistas by launching a “clergyman look” for men, inspired by Father Georg Gaenswein, the handsome 50-year-old private secretary to Pope Benedict XVI.

The outfit, modelled at the Milan menswear 2007-08 winter collection, features grey-black trousers and jacket with a clerical-style collar. “I was thinking of an austere, severe and ethical man. I find Father Georg’s austerity very elegant,” said Ms Versace.

Spirituality was “not the same as bigotry”, she said, adding that she was open to the idea of civil unions between gays or heterosexual couples. Proposals to make civil unions legal in Italy have divided the centre-left Government of Romano Prodi and aroused fierce opposition in the Vatican.

“It is the moment to display the muscles of the mind, not those of the gym,” Ms Versace said. “Fashion needs more rigour.” She said she had used a fabric that was “as soft to the touch as the wings of an angel”. The result was dubbed “priestly chic” by fashion writers.

Father Gaenswein, an amateur pilot and keen tennis player, hardly ever makes public comments, least of all on the frequent tributes to his good looks in Italian gossip columns. Last year he broke cover to complain about satirical sketches on Italian TV depicting the Pope. “Satire is fine. But these things have no intellectual quality and offend men of the Church,” he said. The sketches have been dropped.

Father Gaenswein became personal secretary to Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger in 2003, and moved into the Vatican with him after he was elected Pope. When Father Gaenswein turned 50 last July he gave a rare interview to Vatican Radio revealing their daily routine.

“The Pope’s day begins with Mass at 7am, followed by morning prayer and a period of contemplation,” he said. “Afterwards we eat breakfast together, and my day then begins with sorting through the correspondence, which arrives in considerable quantity.” He said that he accompanied the Pope to morning audiences, followed by lunch together, a “short walk” and a rest, after which “I present to the Pope documents which require his signature, or his study and approval”.

A Versace spokeswoman confirmed that the clergyman look had been inspired by Father Gaenswein, adding: “Few other places in the world are as influential as the Vatican.”