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Friday, December 31, 2010
St. Sylvester I
The Saint of the Day for December 31 is St. Sylvester I.
St. Sylvester, a native Roman, was chosen by God to govern His holy Church during the first years of Her temporal prosperity and triumph over Her persecuting enemies. Pope Melchiades died in January, 314. St. Sylvester was chosen as his successor. He governed the Church for more than twenty-one years, ably organizing the discipline of the Roman Church, and taking part in the negotiations concerning Arianism and the Council of Nicaea. He also sent Legates to the first Ecumenical Council.
During his Pontificate were built the great churches founded at Rome by Constantine — the Basilica and baptistery of the Lateran, the Basilica of the Sessorian palace (Santa Croce), the Church of St. Peter in the Vatican, and several cemeterial churches over the graves of martyrs. No doubt St. Sylvester helped towards the construction of these churches. He was a friend of Emperor Constantine, confirmed the first General Council of Nicaea (325), and gave the Church a new discipline for the new era of peace. He might be called the first "peace Pope" after centuries of bloody persecution. He also established the Roman school of singing. On the Via Salaria he built a cemeterial church over the Catacomb of St. Priscilla, and it was in this church that he was buried when he died on December 31, 335.
from Catholic Culture
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Republican Chairman Michael Steele Confirms Pro-Life Views
Republican Party chairman Michael Steele confirmed his pro-life views in a new interview with the Susan B. Anthony List as he faces several candidates looking to replace him.
The pro-life group has already conducted interviews with other candidates who confirmed their pro-life principles.
Steele said he wouldn’t do “too much” differently in terms of his role as chairman in advocating pro-life issues and he defended his role in advocating the pro-life platform, saying that the GOP got away from pro-life principles in past elections before he took over as chairman.
He said his role as chairman has ensured that Republican voters have their say in a primary with candidates of a differing perspective on abortion and that the party comes into play in the general election supporting GOP candidates that become the nominee.
Steele, the former Maryland Lt. Governor, is pro-life but raised eyebrows in the pro-life community in an interview with GQ, where Steele said he thought women have, according to the interviewer, a “right to choose abortion.”
In the new SBA List interview, Steele said he comes from a much different perspective on the pro-life issue because he was adopted and because his mother was on the way to having an abortion when she changed her mind and decided to put him up for adoption.
St. Anysius
The Saint of the Day for December 30 is St. Anysius.
Bishop successor of St. Ascolus in the see of Salonika, in Greece. A friend of St. Ambrose, Anysius was appointed bishop in 383. Pope Damasus also named him vicar apostolic of Illyricum. A loyal defender of St. John Chrysostom, Anysius was one of the sixteen Macedonian bishops to appeal to Pope Innocent in 404 on St. John's behalf.
from CNA
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
video: The Pope & the US Bishops
When it comes to the current state of the world the Pope and the US Bishops are not singing from the same hymnal.
Movie Review: True Grit - PG13
Fourteen-year-old Mattie Ross wants to avenge her father's murder by tracking down the man who killed him, Tom Chaney. She wants him to be tried, but she can't bring him in alone, so she hires drunken U.S. Marshal Rooster Cogburn (Jeff Bridges). They find themselves racing against Texas Ranger La Boeuf (Matt Damon, who wants to bring Chaney back to Texas to be tried for another crime.
Hailee Steinfeld was excellent as Mattie. It was entertaining to watch how her 14 year-old character interacted with the older adult characters. Jeff Bridges was most impressive as he was able to transform himself into the character of Cogburn. Matt Damon was good as La Boeuf, but I think Damon is really at his best when he is the central character, as in the Bourne movies, The Informant or Hereafter.
I didn't see the original True Grit, but my mother told me this version was quite true to the original. My 13 year-old nephews liked it a lot.
There were a couple of gory scenes, but the scene I found most disturbing was when a horse died toward the end.
It was a well-done, entertaining movie.
Suspect package at US embassy to the Vatican was a false alarm
A suspect package found Wednesday at the US embassy to the Vatican, was a false alarm police officials said.
The package reportedly contained office supplies and no harmful materials, according to Italian news agency ANSA.
Bomb disposal teams rushed to the embassy after a series of parcel bombs and false alarms last week left the city on heightened alarm.
A parcel bomb was uncovered at the Greek embassy in Rome on Monday. Two other parcel bombs were sent to the city's Swiss and Chilean embassies last week.
An Italian anarchist group has claimed responsibility for the previous incidents, which sparked a number of false alarms in the Italian capital.
Fr. Harvey, Founder of Courage, Passes Away
Here is the notice from the Courage website:
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Courage and Encourage,
Our beloved Father John Harvey, Founding Director of Courage, passed away today, December 27th, (feast day of St. John the Beloved Disciple) at 3:00 p.m.
Here is Father's memorial on the website of the Oblates of St. Francis De Sales (Wilmington-Philadelphia Province).
The funeral arrangements are as follows:
DATE: Friday, December 31st
WAKE: 9:30 am - 11:00 am
Rev. John F. Harvey, OSFS
1918 - 2010
MASS: 11am
Followed by Burial on the grounds of the Oblate property and luncheon.
All will be held at the Oblate Community:
De Sales Oblate Community
1120 Blue Ball Road
Childs, MD 21916-0043
St. Thomas Becket
The Saint of the Day for December 29 is St. Thomas Becket.
Thomas Becket was born in 1118 of a merchant family. He studied in London and Paris, entered the service of Archbishop Theobald of Canterbury, became Lord Chancellor under King Henry II in 1155, and in 1162 Archbishop of Canterbury. Till then a submissive courtier, he now initiated a fearless struggle against the king for the freedom of the Church and the inviolability of ecclesiastical property, occasioning his imprisonment, exile, and finally martyrdom (December 29, 1170). Canonization came quickly (1173); in 1539 King Henry VIII ordered his remains burned.
Formerly the Breviary included this summary of the saint's last days: "Calumniators informed the king that the bishop was agitating against him and the peace of the realm; and the king retorted that with one such priest he could not live in peace. Hearing the royal displeasure, several godless courtiers agreed to do their sovereign a favor by assassinating Thomas. Secretly they traveled to Canterbury and fell upon the bishop while he was attending Vespers. His priests rushed to his aid and tried to bar the church door; Thomas opened it himself with these words: The house of God may not be defended like a fortress. I gladly face death for the Church of God. Then to the soldiers: I command it in the Name of God: No harm may be done to any of mine. Thereupon he cast himself on his knees, commended his flock and himself to God, to the Blessed Virgin Mary, to St. Denis and other holy patrons of his church, and with the same heroic courage with which he had withstood the king's laws, he bowed his holy head to the sacrilegious sword on December 29, 1170."
With all the strength that is given us for the defense of God's rights, we must resist those who seek to subject the Church to their power, even if they are those to whom on other grounds we owe service. In St. Thomas of Canterbury the Church celebrates one of her great bishops; by applying to him the Gospel of the Good Shepherd she venerates in him the true pastor of Christ's flock who gave his life for his sheep.
from Catholic Culture
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Book Review: "Coral Moon" by Brandilyn Collins
Reporter Leslie Brymes finds the body of one of one of Kanner Lake's beloved citizens and naturally, an investigation is begun by Police Chief Vince Edwards.
The pace of the story is just right (it wasn't rushed, nor did it drag), and it was good to see some of the same Kanner Lake characters again for this story. The characters are a strong positive aspect, but the skillfullness with which the story is told is also excellent. Ms. Collins also pulls a startling twist toward the end.
I often read mysteries involving a murder, but this story was unique in that it soon involves evidence pointing to a deceased person and some people holding a seance. I have to admit that I had misgivings about the supernatural aspects of the story as I was reading, but I was most impressed with how Ms. Collins handled the whole situation. She delivers a strong, clear message at the end which should please Christians.
Ms. Collins is becoming one of my favorite authors. If you enjoy a good mystery without a lot of objectionable or offensive content, I strongly suggest you check out her books.
Feast of the Holy Innocents
December 28 is the Feast of the Holy Innocents
Today, dearest brethren, we celebrate the birthday of those children who were slaughtered, as the Gospel tells us, by that exceedingly cruel king, Herod. Let the earth, therefore, rejoice and the Church exult — she, the fruitful mother of so many heavenly champions and of such glorious virtues. Never, in fact, would that impious tyrant have been able to benefit these children by the sweetest kindness as much as he has done by his hatred. For as today's feast reveals, in the measure with which malice in all its fury was poured out upon the holy children, did heaven's blessing stream down upon them.
"Blessed are you, Bethlehem in the land of Judah! You suffered the inhumanity of King Herod in the murder of your babes and thereby have become worthy to offer to the Lord a pure host of infants. In full right do we celebrate the heavenly birthday of these children whom the world caused to be born unto an eternally blessed life rather than that from their mothers' womb, for they attained the grace of everlasting life before the enjoyment of the present. The precious death of any martyr deserves high praise because of his heroic confession; the death of these children is precious in the sight of God because of the beatitude they gained so quickly. For already at the beginning of their lives they pass on. The end of the present life is for them the beginning of glory. These then, whom Herod's cruelty tore as sucklings from their mothers' bosom, are justly hailed as "infant martyr flowers"; they were the Church's first blossoms, matured by the frost of persecution during the cold winter of unbelief.
— St. Augustine
from Catholic Culture
Monday, December 27, 2010
Obama Admin Regulations Put Death Panels Back in Health Care
No surprise...Barry couldn't pass Obamacare with death panels, so he took them out to pass it, now he's putting them back in with no votes.
New regulations the Obama administration will put in place starting January 1 essentially put the controversial death panels back in the much-maligned ObamaCare law.
Although Democrats dropped the idea during consideration of the health care law in Congress after significant public pressure, a new Medicare regulation taking effect at the beginning of the year with have the federal government paying doctors to advise patients on possible end-of-life care treatment options. The advice may include advanced directives to authorize withdrawal of lifesaving medical treatment or, in three states, assisted suicide.
Under the ObamaCare law, Medicare coverage of yearly physical examinations, or wellness visits is authorized and a New York Times report indicates the new rule cover “voluntary advance care planning” as part of the annual visit. The rule allows physicians to discuss with patients the potential of an advanced directive — which can be used to request medical care and lifesaving treatment, or deny it.
The section of the ObamaCare bill that had pro-life advocates concerned about death panels would have allowed for taxpayer funding of end-of-life treatment discussions via Medicare once every five years. The new rule pays for such discussions annually.
Elizabeth D. Wickham, executive director of LifeTree, which warned LifeNews.com earlier this month about the problematic regulations, told the Times this weekend that the new regulation could encourage patients to agree, whether they understand or not, to rationing of their medical care and treatment.
“Patients will lose the ability to control treatments at the end of life,’’ Wickham said.
St. John
The Saint of the Day for December 27 is St. John the Evangelist
St. John, the Evangelist, who is styled in the Gospel, "the beloved disciple", was a Galilean, son of Zebedee and Salome, and brother to St. James the Greater, both of whom were fishermen. The two were called by Jesus to be disciples as they were mending their nets by the Sea of Galilee.
Jesus showed St. John particular instances of kindness and affection above all the rest. He had the happiness to be present with Peter and James at the Transfiguration of Christ, and was permitted to witness His agony in the Garden. He was allowed to rest on Our Savior's bosom at the Last Supper, and to him Jesus confided the care of His holy Mother as He hung dying on the Cross.
St. John was the only one of the Apostles who did not forsake the Savior in the hour of His Passion and Death.
It seems that St. John remained for a long time in Jerusalem, but that his later years were spent at Ephesus, whence he founded many churches in Asia Minor. St. John wrote his Gospel after the other Evangelists, about sixty-three years after the Ascension of Christ; also three Epistles, and the wonderful and mysterious Book of the Apocalypse or Revelation. He was brought to Rome and, according to tradition, was cast into a caldron of boiling oil by order of Emperor Domitian. Like the Three Children in the fiery furnace of Babylon, he was miraculously preserved unhurt.
He was later exiled to the Island of Patmos, where he wrote the Apocalypse, but afterwards returned to Ephesus.
In his extreme old age he continued to visit the churches of Asia. St. Jerome relates that when age and weakness grew upon him so that he was no longer able to preach to the people, he would be carried to the assembly of the faithful by his disciples, with great difficulty; and every time said to his flock only these words: "My dear children, love one another."
St. John died in peace at Ephesus in the third year of Trajan (as seems to be gathered from Eusebius' history of the Saint); that is, the hundredth of the Christian era, or the sixty-sixth from the crucifixion of Christ, St. John then being about ninety-four years old, according to St. Epiphanus.
from Catholic Culture
Friday, December 24, 2010
Video: Santa Goes Water-skiing
A water-skiing Santa, complete with knee-boarding reindeer, took to the Potomac River near Washington for his 25th anniversary appearance. Santa was also joined by the Flying Elves and a Grinch on a Jet-Ski.
Thursday, December 23, 2010
video: Emmanuel
Is Our Lord on your shopping list for Christmas? Talk about what to get the Man who has everything! But realize, He doesn't quite have everything.
"The View" Girls Attack Bill Donohue
Oh well...sometimes you are as well known by who your detractors are as who your friends are. I think Bill is in good company :)Joy Behar, Whoopi Goldberg and Elisabeth Hasselbeck have been bashing the Catholic Church relentlessly over the past several years, all with the blessings of Barbara Walters, the show's co-producer. Yesterday, the gals were at it again, this time joined by their new convert, Sherri Shepherd. So I wrote a news release, asking our list of energized Catholics to contact the executive producer, Bill Geddie.
Well, today their lid came off as one after another took to bashing me. Whoopi pleaded that she had made peace with God for her abortions. In all seriousness, I hope she was telling the truth.
Behar tried to convince the audience that somehow she might still be a Catholic. But it's a little too late in the game to start reclaiming her former status: for years she has bragged that she was "raised Catholic," and we all know what that means. Shepherd was incoherent, and Hasselbeck, who switched to Protestantism, showed her true colors by telling me to "Go to Hell" on the air. Such a sweet Christian girl.
Bashing me means nothing, so I hope they don't think their temper tantrum will shut me up. The only way they'll do that is if they start treating Catholics the way they do Muslims, African Americans, Jews, Latinos, Native Americans, homosexuals, transvestites, Pacific Islanders, dwarfs….
Contact producer Bill Geddie: bill.geddie@abc.com
"Sister" Carol Keehan sides with CHA over Bishop Olmsted
Wow. Dissenters really hate to be told when they're wrong. Bishop Olmsted is 100% right.
The Catholic Health Association has once again found itself at odds with Church authority– this time, over Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted's decision to revoke the Catholic status of a hospital that admitted to serious ethics violations, including a highly-publicized abortion.
“Catholic Healthcare West and its system hospitals are valued members of the Catholic Health Association,” said that group's president, Sister Carol Keehan. Her remarks came less than 24 hours after the Bishop of Phoenix stripped one of those hospitals, St. Joseph's in Phoenix, of its Catholic affiliation.
The Bishop of Phoenix announced his decision on Dec. 21, after negotiations with St. Joseph's hospital, and its parent company Catholic Healthcare West, ended without an agreement. Their main dispute concerned a November 2009 incident, in which medical ethics advisers at St. Joseph's authorized an abortion for a pregnant woman who was seriously ill.
Bishop Olmsted, in consultation with his own diocesan medical board, concluded that the abortion was a direct violation of the Church's ethical health care guidelines. He also accused the hospital and its parent company of “formally cooperating” in the management and administration of a government program that offers abortion, birth control, and sterilization procedures at other hospitals.
Sr. Keehan, however, opined that Catholic Healthcare West facilities were “well-known” for a “long and stellar history in the protection of life at all stages.” Her brief statement did not address the company's alleged cooperation with government-funded abortion and sterilization.You may want to review the definition of Catholic 'sister'
Music Review: Christmas in God's Country Vol. 2
I received this CD in the mail yesterday and listened to it immediately.
I only wish I had received it earlier to enjoy during the Advent and Christmas season. The music is beautiful. There are traditional hymns that you'll recognize; my favorite of these are "O Little Town of Bethlehem" and "Silent Night". There are several that you may not be familiar with; my favorite of these are "The Huron Carol" and "Jesu, Amor Mi". The young men and women in the Wyoming Catholic College Choir put a lot of effort into their music and the result is a beautiful collection of music. I encourage you to support them
St. John of Kanty
The Saint of the Day for December 23 is St. John of Kanty.
John Cantius was born in the year 1397 in the Polish town of Kanty (whence his surname). He became a professor of theology, then parish priest; soon, however, he returned to the professor's chair at the University of Cracow. On foot he visited the holy places of Rome and Palestine. One day, after robbers had deprived him of all his effects, they asked him whether he had anything more. The saint said no, but hardly had they gone when he remembered having sewn some gold pieces inside his clothing; immediately he followed and overtook them. The robbers, astonished at the man's sense of truthfulness, refused to accept the money and returned to him the stolen luggage.
To guard himself and his household from evil gossip he wrote upon the wall of his room (after the example of St. Augustine): Conturbare cave, non est placare suave, diffamare cave, nam revocare grave, i.e. "Guard against causing trouble and slandering others, for it is difficult to right the evil done." His love of neighbor was most edifying. Often he gave away his own clothing and shoes; then, not to appear barefoot, he lowered his cassock so as to have it drag along the ground. Sensing that his death was near at hand, he distributed whatever he still had to the poor and died peacefully in the Lord at an advanced age. He is honored as one of the principal patrons of Poland.
from Catholic Culture
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
"The View" Girls Gone Wild
If ignorance is bliss, these ladies must be in heaven....especially as it pertains to their knowledge (or lack thereof) of things Catholic.
Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on today's episode of "The View" which featured a discussion about the Catholic Church and abortion:
It is an ugly site: grown women sitting around bashing a religion that none belong to. Though at one time three did: Joy Behar, Whoopi Goldberg and Elisabeth Hasselbeck are all ex-Catholics. They went bonkers today—the crosstalk makes them look downright delirious—ripping away about the Catholic Church because a nun was excommunicated for allowing an abortion at St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center in Phoenix. What they didn't say was that the nun gave her formal consent to the killing of an innocent child. More important, since none of the panelists are Catholic, it is none of their business anyway.
The fact is (though one would never know it by watching this extended diatribe) the parent organization to this hospital, Catholic Healthcare West, has a long record of flagrantly violating the teachings of the Catholic Church. In other words, the San Francisco-based organization is a serial offender.
Had the non-Catholics focused only on this issue, that would be one thing. But, no, they trotted out miscreant priests, painted the Catholic Church as anti-women, etc. That's what happens when the bigotry is deeply embedded—one issue is enough to set off an explosion.
Behar is no stranger to Catholic bashing, so it was expected she would join in while the others piled on. Hasselbeck poses as a conservative, but her pathological hatred of Catholicism reveals who she really is. Sherri Shepherd, who usually keeps her mouth shut during these harangues, unwisely spoke up. As for Whoopi, who reportedly has had at least a half-dozen abortions—beginning at age 14—it is no wonder she looked the most delirious.
Let me help you out ladies:
From the Catechism:
Contact producer Bill Geddie: bill.geddie@abc.com
Phoenix bishop strips hospital of Catholic status over abortion, other ethics violations
KUDO's to Bishop Olmsted. I wish we had more Bishops like him.
Citing numerous and ongoing violations of Catholic teaching, including an instance of abortion, Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted of Phoenix has declared that St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center can no longer call itself a Catholic institution.
The bishop announced his decision in a press conference at diocesan headquarters Dec. 21. It follows months of negotiations with officials for St. Joseph’s and its parent company, Catholic Healthcare West.
These talks, aimed in part at getting the hospital to admit its ethical wrongdoing in performing the abortion, reached an impasse last month. The bishop had given officials a Dec. 17 deadline to reach an understanding. When that date passed, he extended the deadline to Dec. 21.
“They have not addressed in an adequate manner the scandal caused by the abortion,” Bishop Olmstead said in making his announcement.
“Unfortunately,” he said, the talks “have only eroded my confidence about their commitment” to the Church’s Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services. These directives are a set of standards drawn up by the U.S. bishops to guide treatment in Catholic institutions.
From the Catechism:
2272 Formal cooperation in an abortion constitutes a grave offense. The Church attaches the canonical penalty of excommunication to this crime against human life. "A person who procures a completed abortion incurs excommunication latae sententiae," "by the very commission of the offense," and subject to the conditions provided by Canon Law. The Church does not thereby intend to restrict the scope of mercy. Rather, she makes clear the gravity of the crime committed, the irreparable harm done to the innocent who is put to death, as well as to the parents and the whole of society.
News Conference at the Diocesan Pastoral Center, Dec. 21, 2010 from Diocese of Phoenix on Vimeo.
St. Chaeromon
The Saint of the Day for December 22 is St. Chaeromon.St. Chaeromon was a bishop of Nilopolis in Egypt who was advanced in age when Emperor Trajanus Decius began the intense persecution of Christians. Chaeromon and his companions fled to Arabia and are believed to have been martyred.
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Planned Parenthood Chapter Quits, Forced by National to Do Abortions
I've got to be honest....I was a bit surprised to read this, because I didn't know there were any Planned Parenthood centers that didn't perform abortions.
A Texas-based Planned Parenthood affiliate has resigned as a member of the national organization because Planned Parenthood Federation of America wanted it to do abortions.
Local officials say PPFA is instituting a mandate that all of its affiliates across the nation offer facilities where abortions are done and the head of Planned Parenthood of South Texas says her group doesn’t want to add abortions.
CEO Amanda Stukenberg told the Corpus Christi Caller newspaper that PPST doesn’t need to do abortions because independent abortion business already exist in the area, so her group has focused solely on promoting contraception and birth control.
“We have never provided abortions,” she said. “Our position is that if that is a need in your community, fine. There are far greater needs in our area than abortion. We feel that women here have options. We don’t need to duplicate services.”
Stutenberg told the newspaper that national Planned Parenthood officials told her they want to standardize their operations nationwide and that includes a requirement to for all affiliates to do abortions.
Catholic sisters' baseball card auctioned off to new owner
Catholic sisters in Baltimore auctioning off a rare baseball card to support their mission work, hit a snag recently as the winning bidder failed to come through with the promised $220,000.
The bleak situation brightened, however, when an avid card collector – a Catholic doctor from Philadelphia – wired the funds after the original bidder missed the 30-day deadline to purchase the card.
The mission work of the School Sisters of Notre Dame will receive a big financial boost from the sale of one of the most prized baseball cards in the world. One of the sisters received the highly valued collector's item featuring Pittsburgh Pirates shortstop Honus Wagner in her deceased brother’s will.
Sr. Virginia Muller told the Associated Press in October that the slightly damaged card of Wagner, one of only 60 that exist, was bequeathed to one of the sisters in a safety deposit box with a typewritten note explaining its value.
Senate repeals ban on gays serving openly in the U.S. military
My concern is the negative effect that this could have on military recruitment.
U.S. Senate voted on Saturday to repeal the 17-year legislation that codified the United States’ military’s longstanding ban on military service by open homosexuals.
The Senate repealed the ban, commonly referred by a corresponding Pentagon enforcement policy called “Don’t ask, don’t tell” (DADT), in a 65–31 vote. Eight Republicans broke a pledge with their caucus not to vote on any Senate business until measures were passed to prevent tax rates rising at the end of 2010, and to finance the federal government into next year.
Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) had scheduled the vote on Saturday before negotiations were completed on the “continuing resolution” that would fund the federal government into March 2011, and avoid a government shutdown.
The eight Republicans who joined Democrats in passing the repeal were Sen. Scott Brown (Mass.), Sen. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), Sen. Mark Kirk (Ill.), Sen. George Voinovich (Ohio), Sen. Richard Burr (N.C.), Sen. John Ensign (Nev.) and Sens. Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe (Maine).
Only Burr and Ensign did not vote with the six other Republicans who joined Democrats in a 63-33 vote to break the GOP filibuster led by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.).
St. Peter Canisius
The Saint of the Day for December 21 is St. Peter Canisius.
Peter Canisius, the remarkable Jesuit who almost single-handedly reevangelized Central Europe, founded dozens of colleges, contributed to the rebirth of Catholicism by his prodigious writings, and laid the groundwork for the Catholic Reformation north of the Alps. He was born at Nijmegen, Holland, in 1521, and his father was an instructor to princes in the court of the duke of Lorraine. St. Peter Canisius was part of a movement for religious reform as a very young man and in 1543, after attending a retreat given by Blessed Peter Favre, joined the Jesuits and was the eighth professed member of the Society of Jesus.
He worked first in the city of Cologne, becoming a spokesman for the Catholic party. He became a consultor to the cardinal of Augsburg at the Council of Trent and in 1547 was called by St. Ignatius to Rome. He was sent to Sicily to teach, then, after his solemn profession in Rome, was sent back to Germany as the first superior of the German province of the Jesuits.
Peter next began to restore and found colleges, first in Vienna and Prague, and then in Munich, Innsbruck, and throughout northern Germany. He attracted vocations to the Jesuits, and the society began to flourish in Central Europe. He organized the Jesuits into a compact unit and made the society a leading force in the Counter-Reformation. He was in contact with all the Catholic leaders in Germany, and wrote fourteen hundred letters giving support to those laboring for reform. He was the adviser of the emperor and the confidante of three popes. He was consulted by papal legates and nunciatures and was a severe critic of religious and clerical life in post-Reformation Germany.
He recommended far-reaching reforms and had a profound effect upon the education and spiritual life of the clergy. Through his efforts, seminaries were founded, and the popes sent him on important diplomatic missions. In the midst of his many labors, he edited and published editions of the Fathers of the Church, catechisms, spiritual manuals, and textbooks that went into countless editions even in his own lifetime.
He died on December 21, 1597, at Fribourg, Switzerland, and was canonized and declared a Doctor of the Church in 1925.
from Catholic Culture
Monday, December 20, 2010
Priest's cartoons add a little levity to life
Father Dominick Fullam was drawn to cartooning at an early age but a higher calling erased any aspirations he ever had of becoming a full-time cartoonist.
Recently, however, the St. Martin native, who is diocesan Vicar General and Moderator of the Curia as well as pastor of St. Mary Parish in Woolmarket, was at the Atlanta airport when something happened that rekindled his interest in cartooning.
“I was at the airport in Atlanta drawing a cartoon character on an iPad, and a lady seated next to me asked if I drew cartoons for a living. I laughed and said I was just passing time, but that I used to do a not-so-great cartoon in my high school newspaper,” he said.
“She told me what I'd done looked really good to her. A seed was planted.”
That seed has since developed into a new comic strip titled “Off by a Mile.”
NPR's Nina Totenberg Apologizes For Saying "Christmas"
Political Correctness taken to an insane level. Does she really need to say "pardon the expression" when saying Christmas?
Merry CHRISTMAS Nina! (now is that so hard? :)
St. Dominic Of Silos
The Saint of the Day for December 20 is St. Dominic Of Silos.
Saint Dominic was born in 1000 in Cañas, Navarre, Spain. He was born a peasant and as a youth worked as a shepherd until he entered the Benedictine monastery in Navarre. When Dominic refused to hand over the monastery’s lands upon the King of Navarre’s demands, he was forced to leave the house with two other monks.
He fled to Old Castile and was welcomed by the king, he entered the monastery of San Sebastian in Silos, an almost dilapidated abbey with a mediocre physical and spiritual regimen.
Within very little time Dominic, who had been elected abbot, renewed the spirit of the monastery, and rebuilt it’s structure, it’s finances, and it’s works of charity. Dominic was known for miracles of healing which he obtained through prayer and for his work of ransoming Christian prisoners from the moors. He died on December 10, 1073 in Silos, Spain.
from CNA
from CNA
Saturday, December 18, 2010
St. Gatian Of Tours
The Saint of the Day for December 18 is St. Gatian Of Tours
Saint Gatian was the first bishop of Tours in France and is said to be a disciple of Saint Denis of Paris. Arriving in a pagan land, completely untouched by the Good News, Gatian scattered the first seeds of the faith in the region of Tours laying the foundations of the Church in the city of the great Saint Martin.
Saint Gatian died in 337.
from CNA
Friday, December 17, 2010
video: Anonymous Heroes
There are a lot of anonymous heroes walking around, and one of them might be you.
Republicans Stop Pro-Abortion Omnibus Bill as Reid Pulls It
Good job GOP!
Late Thursday, pro-abortion Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid gave up on trying to pass the 1.1 trillion omnibus spending bill that contains numerous goodies for the abortion industry.
After realizing Republicans were unified in opposition to the measure and had enough votes to sustain a filibuster against it, Reid pulled the legislation.
The move results in yanking more than $1 billion in funding for implementation of the ObamaCare health care law that could result in massive abortion funding.
Reid has assumed that as many as nine Republicans would support the omnibus measure but they withdrew their support for various reasons after pressure from fellow Republican senators and organizations worried about both the abortion concerns and fiscal issues.
“Though some of my Republican colleagues in recent days have publicly distanced themselves from the idea that [their] members have a role to play in the appropriations process, nearly all of them did nothing privately to withdraw their priorities from this bill,” Reid complained.
Rachel Campos-Duffy Responds to Barbara Walters' Ignorance
The View co-host Barbara Walters is getting an earful from popular pro-life blogger and family advocate Rachel Campos-Duffy. Go Rachel!
She made the mistake of asking Campos-Duffy, whose pro-life husband Sean Duffy recently won election to a Congressional seat in Wisconsin, a question that made it appear Walters assumed Campos-Duffy regrets how her large family has supposedly hindered her career. It hasn’t.
Walters inquired: “Did you ever think, ‘I wish I had a career and I didn’t have six kids?” You're all class Barbara. low class.
With baby number six sitting on her lap at the time, Campus-Duffy simply responded, “Being a mom is the best job in the world!”
Now, with more time to reflect, the respected writer has a more detailed answer of what she would have said:
Politico called the answer “diplomatic”, and National Review’s Kathryn Lopez tweeted that it was “graceful,” but I couldn’t help being disappointed with my response. Not that it wasn’t true – being a mom is the best job in the world – but I felt that a question as culturally loaded as this one deserved a better answer, especially from someone who has written countless columns and an entire book on the subject of at-home motherhood and the sad fact that our culture does little to applaud or elevate this noble calling.
St. Olympias
The Saint of the Day for December 17 is St. Olympias.
Born 360-5; died 25 July, 408, probably at Nicomedia. This pious, charitable, and wealthy disciple of St. John Chrysostom came from an illustrious family in Constantinople. Her father (called by the sources Secundus or Selencus) was a "Count" of the empire; one of her ancestors, Ablabius, filled in 331 the consular office, and was also praetorian prefect of the East.
As Olympias was not thirty years of age in 390, she cannot have been born before 361. Her parents died when she was quite young, and left her an immense fortune. In 384 or 385 she married Nebridius, Prefect of Constantinople. St. Gregory of Nazianzus, who had left Constantinople in 381, was invited to the wedding, but wrote a letter excusing his absence (Ep. cxciii, in P.G., XXXVI, 315), and sent the bride a poem (P.G., loc. cit., 1542 sqq.). Within a short time Nebridius died, and Olympias was left a childless widow. She steadfastly rejected all new proposals of marriage, determining to devote herself to the service of God and to works of charity. Nectarius, Bishop of Constantinople (381-97), consecrated her deaconess. On the death of her husband the emperor had appointed the urban prefect administrator of her property, but in 391 (after the war against Maximus) restored her the administration of her large fortune. She built beside the principal church of Constantinople a convent, into which three relatives and a large number of maidens withdrew with her to consecrate themselves to the service of God. When St. John Chrysostom became Bishop of Constantinople (398), he acted as spiritual guide of Olympias and her companions, and, as many undeserving approached the kind-hearted deaconess for support, he advised her as to the proper manner of utilizing her vast fortune in the service of the poor (Sozomen, "Hist. eccl.", VIII, ix; P.G., LXVII, 1540). Olympias resigned herself wholly to Chrysostom's direction, and placed at his disposal ample sums for religious and charitable objects. Even to the most distant regions of the empire extended her benefactions to churches and the poor.
When Chrysostom was exiled, Olympias supported him in every possible way, and remained a faithful disciple, refusing to enter into communion with his unlawfully appointed successor. Chrysostom encouraged and guided her through his letters, of which seventeen are extant (P.G., LII, 549 sqq.); these are a beautiful memorial of the noble-hearted, spiritual daughter of the great bishop. Olympias was also exiled, and died a few months after Chrysostom. After her death she was venerated as a saint. A biography dating from the second half of the fifth century, which gives particulars concerning her from the "Historia Lausiaca" of Palladius and from the "Dialogus de vita Joh. Chrysostomi", proves the great veneration she enjoyed. During he riot of Constantinople in 532 the convent of St. Olympias and the adjacent church were destroyed.
Emperor Justinian had it rebuilt, and the prioress, Sergia, transferred thither the remains of the foundress from the ruined church of St. Thomas in Brokhthes, where she had been buried. We possess an account of this translation by Sergia herself. The feast of St. Olympias is celebrated in the Greek Church on 24 July, and in the Roman Church on 17 December.
from CNA
Thursday, December 16, 2010
video: Angry Nuns
So, we have to 'feel the pain' of angry nuns who have been dismantling the Faith for decades. Hmmm....
Arizona hospital that performed abortion may lose Catholic status
They should lose it.
No hospital that performs abortions can call itself Catholic.
According to a recent letter that became public on Dec. 15, Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted of Phoenix may revoke the Catholic affiliation of an Arizona hospital that performed an abortion in November 2009.
The letter is addressed from Bishop Olmsted to Lloyd Dean, president of the San Francisco-based non-profit corporation Catholic Healthcare West, which operates St. Joseph's Hospital in the Diocese of Phoenix. It concerns a rift that has emerged between the bishop and the health care corporation, after staff at St. Joseph's chose to abort the child of a woman some advisers said could not safely give birth.
That incident led to the excommunication of a religious sister, Margaret McBride, who had advised doctors to perform the abortion. Defenders of her decision said that the abortion was permissible under the principle of “double effect,” because the primary intention was to ensure the health of a physically frail woman.
From the Catechism:
2272 Formal cooperation in an abortion constitutes a grave offense. The Church attaches the canonical penalty of excommunication to this crime against human life. "A person who procures a completed abortion incurs excommunication latae sententiae," "by the very commission of the offense," and subject to the conditions provided by Canon Law. The Church does not thereby intend to restrict the scope of mercy. Rather, she makes clear the gravity of the crime committed, the irreparable harm done to the innocent who is put to death, as well as to the parents and the whole of society.
New Bishop for Dodge City, Kansas
Fr. John Brungardt, 52, will become the new bishop of Dodge City in Kansas, succeeding Bishop Ronald M. Gilmore as he retires at age 68.
The bishop-elect is a Kansas native, currently serving as chancellor of the Diocese of Wichita and the pastor of St. Mark the Evangelist parish in the town of St. Mark, Kansas. He received ordination as a priest at age 40, a significant change from his previous career as a science teacher at a Catholic high school.
In a recent interview, the bishop-elect described his rural upbringing and faith formation in a strongly Catholic family, as well as the “spiritual re-awakening” he later experienced after his mother's death in 1990.
That loss led the professional educator into a life of intensified faith, with “more devotion to the Blessed Mother and the Rosary, prayer and daily Mass” – all of which eventually led him to discuss his future plans and possible calling with local clergy.
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