News

Via Fr. Michael Brown.

On the feast of St Matthias I normally comment that strangely Christian tradition has never followed the example of the Apostles and chosen their successors by drawing lots. It would seem the obvious way to choose bishops if we are concerned o follow the example of the Scriptures but strangely in the return ad fontes asked for by Vatican II this never came up.

So I was pleasantly surprised to learn about the process used for electing a Coptic pope where a blindfolded boy chosen at random picks out one of three names. I wonder if any other Christians follow use random methods to choose their leaders?

Congratulations to bishop Tawadros: he has a difficult job ahead of him.

Photo credit

Earlier there was some information on Bishop removing the Catholic status from another hospital.

PHOENIX, ARIZ., October 22 (CNA) .- The Diocese of Phoenix clarified over the weekend that a hospital working on certifying its Catholic identity has not been stripped of its Catholic status.

“Contrary to reports in the media, Mercy Gilbert Medical Center has not been stripped of its Catholic status,” the diocese said in an Oct. 20 statement.

“The hospital is in the process of renewing its status and ensuring its compliance with the Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services. This renewal process was necessary following the corporate reorganization of its parent company in January.”

The renewal is needed because Mercy Gilbert’s parent company, Catholic Healthcare West, was reorganized as a secular company under the name Dignity Health on Jan. 23.

As a result, Mercy Gilbert needs to renew their recognition as a Catholic institution with the Phoenix diocese.

Because this is an ongoing process, “Bishop Olmsted has a duty to the Catholic faithful to inform them that he cannot state with moral certitude that Mercy Gilbert Hospital provides Catholic health care which is in full conformity with the teaching of the Church,” the diocese said in an Oct. 18 press release.

Once the process is completed by the hospital, Bishop Olmsted will be able to recognize their Catholic identity.

This story from the Catholic News Service is a bit confusing. I don’t think the process being completed is what would enable the Bishop to give approval, but instead that it is found in conformity to Church teaching and the ERD. Though I would be skeptical that a company called “Dignity Health” will comply. Dignity seems to be the buzzword used whenever you want to approve some evil.

Via Fr. Roderick

On October 2, 2012 Vatican Radio launched its first ever app for Apple’s iOS. The new app can be downloaded for free from the App Store, and offers similar functionality as the Android app that was launched in September.

The app shows an overview of the Pope’s public appointments, and lets you access both text and audio content associated with each event. The app also alerts the user about upcoming live broadcasts.

In addition, the app includes a news service based on Vatican Radio’s own news programs.

The radio section gives access to five different channels corresponding to the network of over 70 daily programs in 40 languages produced by Vatican Radio.

Vatican Radio will continue to work on the app, according to the description in Apple’s App Store: “This is Vatican Radio’s first version of this App. We promise to continue doing our best to improve and update. Stay with us.”

Click here to download the Android version of the app
Click here to download the iOS version of the app

A fairly functional app that even allows you to listen to or watch some live events.  Some articles have linked mp3 content. I wasn’t able to stream audio from the radio part of the app – could be a server problem though.

I am shocked by the story of the 4th century papyrus which refers to Jesus’ wife. Shocked I tell you.  Shocked that the story wasn’t released just before Christmas or Easter.  Oh well I guess this gives the History Channel some lead time for a new documentary for Christmas or Easter.

Really if Jesus had a wife she would never have allowed him to go out all night with the boys at the Garden of Gethsemane.  

Plus I can imagine fictious conversations if Jesus had a Jewish wife.

“What you fed 5,000 people and you couldn’t come home with something to eat?”

“No you are not going to Caesarea Philippi wearing that.  Do you know how long it took me to weave that seamless garment?”

The subject does make me wonder about future archeology. I can imagine some archaeologist digging up a book scrap that mentions “Abe Lincoln Vampire Killer” and inferring he was a Presidential version of Van Helsing.

Thomas L. McDonald The Gnostic Noise Machine and the “Wife” of Jesus

Jimmy Akin Does New Document Prove That Jesus Had a Wife?

This is such awesome news I am stealing Phil Lawyler’s post in full.

If you aren’t excited about this news story, you probably don’t understand it. This is big. This is huge. This is exciting!

Have you been frustrated, over the years, with the political statements issued by the US bishops’ conference? If so, prepare for a welcome change. Have you wondered why the bishops never seem to listen to reasonable arguments by conservative Catholics? That’s about to change, too.

When John Carr retired from the staff of the US bishops’ conference, after helping to shape the bishops’ statements on political issues for more then 25 years, we wondered whether his departure signaled a shift in USCCB policy. Today we have our answer: Yes, it does.

Jonathan J. Reyes, who will be taking Carr’s post in December, will be coming to Washington from Denver, where he was head of Catholic Charities. His work there, and especially his involvement in projects like “Christ in the City,” testify to his belief that Christian charitable work is inseparable from evangelization. In other words he sees charitable work as a witness to faith, not a call for government support.

The resumés of these two men provide a vivid contrast. Whereas John Carr was hired by the Carter administration, and worked for the White House Conference on Families. Reyes was hired by Archbishop Chaput, and worked for the Fellowship of Catholic University Students. Carr sat on the board of the leftist Center for Community Change; Reyes is co-founder of the Augustine Institute. Carr will be taking a post at Harvard’s Kennedy School; Reyes is a former vice-president of Christendom College.

Carr’s background, interests, instincts, and alliances tied him closely to liberal Democrats. Reyes, on the other hand, moves easily in conservative circles. This does not mean that Reyes will be a political partisan, or that the USCCB will suddenly begin endorsing Republican legislative proposals. But it does mean that for the first time in decades, the staff of the US bishops’ conference will not swing reflexively into line with the latest liberal rhetoric. Gaudeamus igitur, and chill the champagne!

This is easily the first time I have cheered the head of a Catholic Charities branch be appointed to anything much less the USCCB. Hopefully this is the end of the narrowed view of social justice that focused on a segment of social justice while ignoring others. Too long there has been a schism in social justice at many levels and especially the USCCB.

At yesterday’s U.S. House of Representatives hearing on the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) harassment of Catholic colleges and universities, Congressman Robert Andrews (N.J.-1st) reportedly put his foot in his mouth when he characterized the hearing as a “classic case of Nero fiddling while Rome burns”—apparently to give color to his complaint that the issues being considered by the committee were not “compelling questions.”

But the image of Rome’s destruction at the hands of a tyrant who hated Christianity, and the gruesome martyrdom of Christians who were blamed for the fire, was exactly the wrong image to put forward while attempting to dismiss the Obama administration’s violations of religious freedom as unworthy of a Congressional hearing.

[Source]

Currently on exhibit in China’s capital is a curious display of large placards describing the “evil deeds” of “heterodox religious cults.”

The exhibit was organized and sponsored by the Beijing Association for Resistance Against Heterodox Religions, and features descriptions of “heterodox cults” throughout the world, including quotes by cult leaders. What is most disturbing about this display is that the images of these cults and their leaders are largely depicted as what at first appears to be Catholic, even though Catholicism is not mentioned on any of the placards.

On “Placard 20,” the title, which states, “Stirring the People Into Rebellion,” is accompanied by cartoon images of Wang Yongmin, the cult leader, who is wearing a red skullcap, pectoral cross, and a red bishop’s cape, though Yongmin is not Catholic.

Placard 15 depicts a cult identified in the title as “The only ‘Holy Spirit New Testament [Protestant] Church’,” which was established in Hong Kong. This group remains notorious in China for promoting Hong Kong and Taiwan independence from the Mainland. Again, the leader is depicted wearing the clothes of a Catholic bishop, despite the fact that the group identifies itself as “Protestant.”

Placard 19 describes a Chinese cult called the “Changshou Teaching,” led by a man named Li Changshou. Again, this cult identifies itself as Jidujiao (Protestant), but Li is depicted wearing a Roman collar, red skullcap, and a bishop’s pectoral cross.

And in one odd cartoon, Li Changshou is featured next to a crucifix, though the corpus is a small version of Li himself, round glasses, red skullcap, and all. What makes these “heterodox” religions problematic according to the message of the placards is that they are critical of the current political authorities; it is concerning that this label is so visually associated with Catholicism, even if this attachment is implicit.

Source and pictures of the exhibit

Interesting another story showing the engagement occurring in the Vatican that seems to be on the upswing.

The TEDx Via della Conciliazione conference will be held in Rome on April 19, 2013, and will focus on the theme “Religious freedom today.” It is being coordinated under the auspices of the Pontifical Council for Culture’s “Courtyard of the Gentiles” outreach, which aims to create a “dialogue between believers and non-believers.”

Those already confirmed as participants are drawn from the worlds of sport, music, culture and academia, including Vlade Divac, the former NBA basketball player; Gloria Estefan, the Cuban-born American pop singer; and the Japanese architect Etsuro Sotoo.

It is the invitation of Bolt, however, that has made the headlines. The 26-year-old recently won three gold medals at the London Olympics. As a Catholic, Bolt is known for making the Sign of the Cross before racing competitively. He also bears the middle name Saint Leo.

Among the other sporting personalities invited to participate is the Ivory Coast soccer star Didier Drogba. However, the NFL quarterback and Evangelical Christian Tim Tebow has already informed organizers that he will not be able to attend.

“I am thrilled to hear art and beauty placed side by side with physical excellence,” said art historian and fellow participant Elizabeth Lev told EWTN News.

“The Greeks knew athletic prowess was a gift from the heavens, and needed to be cultivated and appreciated as such. Artistic talent, also God-given, was used in the ancient world to produce the stunning sculptures we admire today in the Vatican Museums, from the discus thrower to the heroic amazons,” said Lev, who also works at the Vatican Museums.

She said she is “very much looking forward” to “promoting a modern conversation about art, faith and athletic achievement” in the same way that the early Christian community “extolled those same qualities in their saints and spirituality.”

TEDx signifies that it is a local TED talk and not coordinated by TED.  This talks follow a 18 minute format of “ideas worth spreading.”  The subject of religious liberty certainly falls into that topic.

I do wonder what  former Obama fundraiser Gloria Estefan will have to say about religious freedom?

Read more: EWTN News

In Fall 2012, the Vatican will launch a major global evangelization initiative for the digital world. 

Called aleteia – Seekers of the Truth!, the project has been developed by the Foundation for Evangelization in the Media, under the patronage of both thePontifical Council for Social Communications and the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization.

A collaborative platform, aleteia is an effort to reach millions—especially youth—by transmitting the Faith on the information superhighway.  The organization intends to become the premier Christian social media network on the web, by gathering together partners, media and individuals (members, contributors and experts) who will share in the large evangelization outreach both on-line and in the world.  To reach the greatest number of people, aletia’s content will be published in six languages.

More details via Kathy Schiffer.

DENVER, COLO., August 24 (CNA) .- Archbishop Samuel J. Aquila has criticized a Denver city councilwoman for withdrawing a proclamation that praised a Catholic-run company, after she learned that the owners filed a religious freedom lawsuit against the federal government.

“Choosing to marginalize the owners of Hercules for their religiosity is an insult to the founding values of our nation,” the Denver archbishop said in an Aug. 23 opinion piece in the Denver Post.

“When religious people are marginalized from the public square all of us lose,” he said. “Religious values (like those of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., for example) have served as forces for great public good in America. Public shame of the religiously convicted undermines the American ideal.”

His comments come in response to the actions of Denver City Councilwoman Robin Kniech, who had initially intended to recognized the Denver-based HVAC manufacturer Hercules Industries’ 50th anniversary.

… Kniech withdrew the proposed proclamation before its passage, saying she hoped to avoid a “partisan food fight” in an election year.

Archbishop Aquila said the resolution’s withdrawal is “unsurprising” but “disappointing.”

“By all appearances, Kniech discovered that Hercules had religious convictions, and she sought distance,” he said. [Source]