First Holy Communion

Holy Communion

Last updated Fri 18 May 2012

• UK
• Down’s Syndrome
• West Yorkshire
• Holy Communion

The parents of a little boy with Down’s Syndrome, who just months ago told how the Catholic Church had banned him from making his first communion, are celebrating and preparing for the ceremony.

Clare and Darren Ellarby from West Yorkshire say their 8-year old son Denum was denied Communion because of his condition – a claim the church has always denied. Tomorrow, though, Denum will make communion at his local church after all. Jon Hill reports.

Human Rights Begin in the Pew

Religious-based bigotry eviscerates women’s human rights the world over, and God doesn’t like it one damned bit.

Today at the grocery store, I overheard a mom telling her little girl, “Of course you can be President of the United States!” It seems a boy at school said girls were not good enough to be president because they weren’t boys. Even though I had heard such things before (I am the youngest of six with five older brothers), this particular conversation stopped me dead in my religious tracks.

Catholicism decided I wasn’t good enough to be a leader in the Church about 2,000 years before I was born. I couldn’t be its president (aka “pope”) or a priest or bishop or cardinal because I happened to be female. Not knowing any better, I accepted my Catholic less-than-ness as a fact of life, like when the Little League in Wheaton, Ill., said I couldn’t play because I was a girl. I didn’t organize sit ins on the pitcher’s mound or walk outs from the pew. Like other girls, I simply accepted the adult-dictated view of things.

The Catholic Church believes the Bible (a document written, translated and almost entirely interpreted by men) establishes that men are, quite literally, born leaders. The Church claims that women can’t be priests because Jesus wanted it that way. Really? A man didn’t play any role whatsoever in Jesus’ conception (from all accounts, it was sperm-free). Christ came out of a woman’s uterus, which seems to be a pretty important part of the birth story. Jesus’ most trusted disciple was arguably Mary Magdalene. The risen Jesus didn’t show Himself to the fellas at the local mens-only oasis. He first appeared to Mary. Experts believe it was Mary at Jesus’ right in DaVinci’s Last Supper. She wasn’t doing dishes in the back or filling the wine glasses for the boys, she was right next to Mr. Equality Himself.

The wildly dangerous and incredibly pathetic part of religiously based gender bigotry is the critical role it plays in legitimizing the horrific treatment of women in societies throughout the world. Women aren’t equal in the eyes of God, Jesus, Allah, Yahweh, etc., therefore: Cover your face and body or be whipped. You’re forbidden to drive or vote or hold a paying job. Don’t speak, as you are not worthy to be heard. You deserve to be treated like objects or property or animals. It is justified by God that you be beaten or stoned to death simply for being the victim of your own femininity. Face the cold, brutally hard fact that all of your human rights are dependent on what men, not God, feel they should be.

In the Catholic “faith,” women are told to accept that our own religion utilizes every political and legal channel known to man (aided by the money we put in the Sunday collection basket) to prevent us from controlling what happens in our bedrooms or to our bodies. Using God to control women is what we in marketing might call a “Top Down” strategy. Find an expert and leverage his/her position to convince consumers of a “truth.” Unfortunately, God isn’t around to verify the man-made claims in support of gender inequity, or to expose it as the load of crap it most certainly is. I believe God made us equal. We may be different physically, but God sees us as His children. Not as His sons and those other ones, but as His children. Precious. Made in His image.

By attending Catholic mass, I’m tacitly endorsing women’s inequality within the Church. Through my silence, I am agreeing with its calculated discrimination against females. I am supporting a Church that fights to control women’s reproductive choices and is hell bent on ruining the lives of my God-loving gay brothers and sisters. And at the end of the day, I’m going to have to explain to Jesus why I would patronize any organization that doesn’t treat His children equally.

I believe in exacting change from the inside out by trying to make things better rather than abandoning them. However, unless I can find a way to express my opposition to all forms of bigotry within the confines of my Church (wearing a sandwich board, neon sign or set of very large buttons to Mass being viable, short term solutions), I’m going to have to stick by the teachings of my God and sit that pew out.

Sarah O’Leary is a writer, marketing expert and licensed minister. She encourages you to share this and all of her Huffington Posts. Sarah answers all comments made herein, and may be reached via email: sarahathuffpo@gmail.com.

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CathBlog – How Catholic are we?

BY DRASKO DIZDAR

Fifty years ago, at the beginning of the Second Vatican Council, the Catholic Church set itself a number of goals. Among those were opening up to the rest of the world and the unity of the church, indeed, of humankind. 

The Council insisted that, far from being exclusive and sectarian, the church is only truly catholic when it embraces the living and lively diversity of everything that is genuinely human. As the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church put it quite unambiguously: 

All are called to this catholic unity of the People of God…. And to it, in different ways, belong or are ordered: the Catholic faithful, others who believe in Christ, and finally all mankind, called by God’s grace to salvation (Lumen Gentium 13; emphasis added). 

According to the Catechism: “The word ‘catholic’ means ‘universal,’ in the sense of ‘according to the totality’ or ‘in keeping with the whole’” (§830). It comes from the Greek words kata (according to) and holos (whole). In other words, “catholic” means inclusive, holistic, open to everyone.

Let’s be clear about what “catholicity” does not mean then: it is not a fancy word for the religious beliefs and practices that make Roman Catholics different from everyone else (so-called “Catholic cultural identity”). On the contrary, “catholicity” denotes what unites rather than what divides; it speaks of communion rather than difference; of unity-in-diversity.

By calling itself “catholic” the church asserts that which unites and opens it up to all people, beyond all differences. Paradoxically this openness is the distinguishing and specific mark of its “identity” and the heart of its “culture”.

So, far from being a “tribal cipher” that merely marks the church off as yet another of the world’s religions, catholicity is a deeply mysterious and paradoxical process. It is a way of saying that we are discovering ourselves becoming something unique precisely because we find our differences transformed in a universal communion where everyone is welcome just as they are. 

We are “catholic”, then, to the extent that we are open. Open to what? Christ and the world. As the Catechism makes very clear, catholicity is first and foremost about Christ: “First, the Church is catholic because Christ is present in her. ‘Where there is Christ Jesus, there is the Catholic Church.’” (§831).

Only when we are absolutely clear about the centrality and primacy of Christ as the embodiment and giver of catholicity, can we speak of its specifically human dimension and scope: “Secondly, the Church is catholic because she has been sent out by Christ on a mission to the whole of the human race” (§831).

Our catholicity is a mark of “identity” as communion, not tribe or institution. Catholicity is the means of our healing, our restoration to the integrity and wholeness for which we are created. In and through the church as “catholic communion” all humanity is called to participate in realising its likeness to the Triune God who is a “communion of love”.

Catholicity is the ecclesial way of speaking about God’s transforming humanity into the image and likeness of God as communion of love; an image and likeness we see absolutely realized in Christ, the One who is at once one-with-God and one-with-us, so uniting us with God. As Pope Benedict XVI puts it: 

The essence of original sin is the split into individuality, which knows only itself. The essence of redemption is the mending of the shattered image of God, the union of the human race through and in the One who stands for all and in whom, as Paul says (Gal 3:28), all are one: Jesus Christ… [T]o be a Christian means to be Catholic, means to be on one’s way to an all-encompassing unity. (Joseph Ratzinger, Principles of Catholic Theology, 49).

“Catholicity” is not a fancy word for Catholic tribalism, then, but a call “to an all-encompassing unity” that excludes no one since all are “children of God”, and equally so.

So, how catholic are we? The catholicity of our parishes, schools and other ecclesial communities has nothing to do with statues of Mary, pictures of the pope and “bums on seats”. It has everything to do with openness of mind, heart and embrace towards the world God loves and Christ renews by his life-giving Spirit.  

Show me how wholeheartedly you accept the “other” in the “Wholly Other” become “One-with-us”, and I’ll show you how catholic you are.

Dr Drasko Dizdar is a member of the Emmaus monastic community, and a theologian with the Tasmanian Catholic Education Office.

Disclaimer: CathBlog is an extension of CathNews story feedback. It is intended to promote discussion and debate among the subscribers to CathNews and the readers of the website. The opinions expressed in CathBlog are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the members of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference or of Church Resources.

Guest Commentary: Myths about Compañeros and the Catholic Campaign

Re:“A departure from the Catholic Church’s mission“ May 1 guest commentary by former Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter.

I want to clarify a few myths regarding Compañeros and the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD).

Myth No. 1: “CCHD cut funding from Compañeros because it would not disaffiliate from a coalition.” This is not what happened. After learning that Compañeros was intimately connected to the Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition (CIRC), a coalition advocating homosexuality and same-sex marriage, CCHD presented the problem to Compañeros, giving them several chances to come into compliance with CCHD guidelines. It was Compañeros that chose to reject Catholic funds.

Myth No. 2: “Compañeros is being penalized for being a member of a coalition that has another member that promotes same-sex marriage.” This is false. The problem is that Compañeros is a founding member of CIRC, with representation on its board of directors, and CIRC had itself taken positions in support of homosexuality and same-sex marriage. This is a direct violation of CCHD grant guidelines on coalition memberships, to which Compañeros agreed in writing.

Myth No. 3: “Compañeros is not involved in homosexual advocacy.” False. In 2007, Compañeros facilitated and participated in a CIRC retreat in which “Participants explored the connections between sexism and homophobia, were introduced to vocabulary used by lesbian, gay, transgender, intersex and queer communities to define themselves, explored connections between immigrant rights and LGBT rights and how immigration policies affect LGBT immigrants, and the implications of these realities for their own work as organizers in Colorado.”

Furthermore, Nicole Mosher, cxecutive director of Compañeros, signed a petition calling for the repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act.

If Gov. Ritter is going to use the Catholic faith as a launching platform to attack critics of Compañeros, perhaps he should look to his own public record. Ensuring continued Planned Parenthood funding, supporting abortions in cases of rape, incest and “fetal anomalies,” removing conscience protections from pharmacists, and expanding “rights” to practicing homosexuals all act in direct contradiction with the very same Catholic faith he uses to express his outrage.

Gov. Ritter has a right to his own hypocrisy, but not to twist Catholic moral teaching.

Michael Hichborn is director of the Defend the Faith project for the American Life League.

Sisters were aware of church rules before taking their vows

Leave it to the editorial staff of the PS to bring up the “Inquisition” Yeah, when the issue is in doubt, bring out the old inquisition…when any mention of moral authority comes from somewhere other than Wiccan/voodoo /crystal worshiping new age lesbians, or perhaps even the Blessed Barack, bring up the inquisition, married priests, National Socialists, the Kremlin, The Catholic Church, Mormons and the Boy Scouts. Tear ‘em all down. That’s your manifesto, ain’t it PS? Got that Che poster up on the wall of the staff room? Incense burning away? Nehru jackets pressed and ironed? You’re all despicaple people, and you’ve been that way since 1976.

Marco Rubio releases First Communion certificate

Sen. Marco Rubio released his First Communion certificate this morning to challenge a book’s suggestion Rubio was a practicing Mormon in Las Vegas, until the family moved back to Miami.

The certificate shows that Rubio recieved First Communion at age 13 in December of 1984.

“The author incorrectly claims that Senator Rubio returned to the Catholic Church after the family moved to Miami and suggests the ‘exact date of their return is in dispute’,” spokesman Alex Conant said in an email to BuzzFeed.

Rubio’s team emailed BuzzFeed a copy of his First Communion certificate.

A liturgy that left me speechless

And I don’t mean that in a good way.  Thank you, Kathy Schiffer, for ruining my Sunday.

The clip below is some sort of liturgy from some sort of religion in some sort of country that evidently speaks German.  Fr. Dwight, commenting on this, wonders if it’s even Catholic.  Having watched most of it — I sped through the parts that were bringing bile to my lips — I can report that the celebrant offers a blessing at the end that looks very Catholic, that the church appears to have paintings of the Stations of the Cross that look to be very Catholic, and that in the last few seconds a woman saunters up to something that appears to be a tabernacle and, when she does is done, genuflects.  Maybe someone who knows German can translate?

Whatever it was, wherever it was: that sound you hear is my mind, boggling.

UPDATE: A deacon reader who speaks German confirmed that it was, indeed, a Catholic Mass.  He found more:

It is a Catholic Church in Austria, in Hartberg, a city in Styria, Austria.

Notice the TV in the sanctuary of the beautiful baroque church…..The celebrant is Father Andreas Monschein

http://hartberg.graz-seckau.at/Kontakt

The Website says the Parish is known for its colorful, liturgical practice that is “close to the people” and a musical variety from Rock Music to the Baroque. Highlights include Palm Sunday, Corpus Christi and Thanksgiving services in the main square of the town, as well as evening services in the open – outside.

They have a youtube channel.

http://www.youtube.com/user/andreaspichlhoefer

Try the disco mass

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpmrM3iyWwc

— and the visitor from LA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v73Msc-dYWo

Belleville priest says Burke would reject his appeal to save job

BELLEVILLE • A priest in the Belleville diocese at odds with his bishop over the wording of the Catholic Mass said the former Archbishop of St. Louis – now head of the Vatican’s highest court – said he should have been removed from his parish long ago.

The Rev. William Rowe said Belleville Bishop Edward Braxton told him in a meeting Tuesday that if he refused to resign as pastor of St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Mount Carmel, Ill., the bishop would use canon – or church – law to remove him. Rowe said he asked Braxton if he could appeal a removal, if it came to that.

Rowe said Braxton told him that he could appeal an eventual removal to the Vatican’s version of the supreme court, called the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura. But, Braxton said, he had already spoken to the head of that court – former St. Louis archbishop, Cardinal Raymond Burke – in February, and that Burke told Braxton that Rowe should have been removed “a long time ago,” according to the priest.

“The understanding there is that I’m done,” Rowe said.

Messages left with the offices of Braxton in Belleville and Burke in Rome were not returned Wednesday morning.

Rowe said Braxton told him that on two recent trips to Rome several bishops asked him about Rowe’s case, and encouraged him to remove the priest. The bishop told him the bishops had heard about two civil weddings outside the church Rowe had performed for couples whose previous marriages had not yet been annulled. Braxton “said Rome was aware of those weddings and upset about that before the liturgy thing,” Rowe said.

For decades, Rowe has deviated from the language of the Roman Catholic Mass, a highly prescribed liturgical rite, parts of which are as old as Christianity itself. In December, the Vatican introduced a new English-language translation of the Roman Missal – the book of prayers, chants and responses used during Mass. The new translation rendered some of the language in the Missal closer in spirit to the original Latin. Critics of the new translation have said the English is clunky and awkward for priests and laity.

Most of the prayers read by priests from the Missal during Mass cannot be changed. But there has never been an established penalty for improvising non-alterable prayers, and bishops have traditionally looked past an individual priest’s extemporizing. Last June, Braxton had sent a letter to all the priests in the Belleville Diocese warning that “it will not be acceptable for any priest or any parish to refrain from using the new prayers due to their personal preference.”

Rowe offered Braxton his resignation October 12, 2011, after a meeting during which the bishop barred the priest from improvising prayers during Mass. Braxton didn’t accept Rowe’s resignation until Jan. 30, 2012. Canon law says a bishop must accept a priest’s resignation within three months of the original offer. Rowe has since retracted his resignation offer.

Bishop Braxton issues ultimatum, priest says

A priest in the Belleville Diocese at odds with his bishop over the wording of the Catholic Mass said Belleville Bishop Edward Braxton told him in a meeting Tuesday that if he refused to resign as pastor of St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Mount Carmel, Ill., the bishop would use canon — or church — law to remove him.

Braxton did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday.

The priest said he had been told he could appeal to the Vatican. But he said prospects for a reversal are grim.

“The understanding (in Rome) is that I’m done,” Rowe said.

In December, the Vatican introduced a new English-language translation of the Roman Missal — the book of prayers, chants and responses used during Mass. Last June, Braxton sent a letter to all the priests in the Belleville Diocese warning that “it will not be acceptable for any priest or any parish to refrain from using the new prayers due to their personal preference.”

For decades, Rowe has deviated from some of the language of the liturgy’s prayers to better convey the point of his sermons. He offered to resign last year after Braxton told him he could no longer improvise parts of the Mass. In a February letter, Braxton said he’d accepted the priest’s resignation because he ‘simply would not and could not pray the prayers of the Mass as they are translated in the new Roman Missal.” Rowe has since retracted his offer to resign.

He said Wednesday he was meeting with a group called the Southern Illinois Association of Priests to get a sense of his legal options.

Bishop Braxton issues ultimatum, priest says

A priest in the Belleville Diocese at odds with his bishop over the wording of the Catholic Mass said Belleville Bishop Edward Braxton told him in a meeting Tuesday that if he refused to resign as pastor of St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Mount Carmel, Ill., the bishop would use canon — or church — law to remove him.

Braxton did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday.

The priest said he had been told he could appeal to the Vatican. But he said prospects for a reversal are grim.

“The understanding (in Rome) is that I’m done,” Rowe said.

In December, the Vatican introduced a new English-language translation of the Roman Missal — the book of prayers, chants and responses used during Mass. Last June, Braxton sent a letter to all the priests in the Belleville Diocese warning that “it will not be acceptable for any priest or any parish to refrain from using the new prayers due to their personal preference.”

For decades, Rowe has deviated from some of the language of the liturgy’s prayers to better convey the point of his sermons. He offered to resign last year after Braxton told him he could no longer improvise parts of the Mass. In a February letter, Braxton said he’d accepted the priest’s resignation because he ‘simply would not and could not pray the prayers of the Mass as they are translated in the new Roman Missal.” Rowe has since retracted his offer to resign.

He said Wednesday he was meeting with a group called the Southern Illinois Association of Priests to get a sense of his legal options.