Leeds Trinity to Host Major Catholic International Conference

To coincide with the 50th anniversary of the beginning of the Second Vatican Council, Leeds Trinity University College is hosting a major Catholic international theological conference from 26 – 29 June 2012.

(PRWEB) May 18, 2012

The beginning of the Second Vatican Council had a profound impact on the life of the Catholic Church and its mission, in particular by starting an engagement with the modern and secularized world through a renewed proclamation of the Gospel. Pope John Paul II described this as the ‘New Evangelization’, and in 2010, Pope Benedict XVI confirmed this priority by creating the Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelization.

The 50th anniversary provides a unique opportunity to revisit that seminal event, and ‘Vatican II: 50 Years On: The New Evangelization’ will reflect on the impact of the council and deepen understanding of New Evangelization. Hosted by Leeds Trinity in conjunction with the Centre for Catholic Studies, Durham University, the conference will take place from 26 – 29 June at Leeds Trinity University College, and is the first in a series of conferences to celebrate Catholic Higher Education in the UK.

A number of international, high profile church leaders and theologians will address the conference, including Francis Cardinal George, Archbishop of Chicago, Archbishop Rino Fisichella, President of the newly formed Pontifical Council for New Evangelization, and Gavin D’Costa, Professor of Catholic Theology at the University of Bristol. Representatives of church, academy and society will also take part in panels assessing the local and global impact of the Council and its meaning for today. There will be an opportunity to celebrate the Council and the New Evangelization at public events each evening.

The Right Reverend Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster, has lent his support for the conference, saying:

“I welcome the forthcoming International Theological Conference at Leeds Trinity University College. This represents an important moment in the Church’s outreach to society following the Papal Visit in 2010. Our Catholic faith has a specific content. Rearticulated at the Second Vatican Council, this faith is to be constantly explored and treasured. God is calling us to share its saving truths respectfully with others so that they may share our joy. I hope that your reflections will bear much fruit.”

For further information and to book a place, visit http://www.leedstrinity.ac.uk/vaticanIIconference or contact Kathy Stenton, k(dot)stenton(at)leedstrinity(dot)ac(dot)ukor +44 (0)113 2837102.

Notes for editors

Leeds Trinity University College is an independent higher education institution offering foundation, undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in a range of subjects including Business, Education, Humanities, Journalism, Media, Psychology and Sport. Formerly Leeds Trinity All Saints, the institution attained University College status in September 2009, following the granting by the Privy Council of Taught Degree Awarding Powers.

All degrees involve a professional placement for students to extend their experience and explore their career aspirations. With around 3000 students studying for full and part-time degrees Leeds Trinity retains a community atmosphere which provides a supportive and friendly environment to help people realise their full potential.

For more information:

Lisa Farrell, Communications Officer, Leeds Trinity University College

Tel: 0113 283 7273

Email: l(dot)farrell(at)leedstrinity(dot)ac(dot)uk

For the original version on PRWeb visit: http://www.prweb.com/releases/prwebleedstrinity/internationalconference/prweb9514946.htm

Leeds Trinity to host major Catholic International Conference

To coincide with the 50th anniversary of the beginning of the Second Vatican Council, Leeds Trinity University College is hosting a major Catholic international theological conference
from 26 – 29 June 2012.

/PressPort/ – The beginning of the Second Vatican Council had a profound impact on the life of the Catholic Church and its mission, in particular by starting an engagement with the modern and secularized world through a renewed proclamation of the Gospel. Pope John Paul II described this as the ‘New Evangelization’, and in 2010, Pope Benedict XVI confirmed this priority by creating the Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelization.

The 50^th anniversary provides a unique opportunity to revisit that seminal event, and ‘Vatican II: 50 Years On: The New Evangelization’ will reflect on the impact of the council and deepen understanding of New Evangelization. Hosted by Leeds Trinity in conjunction with the Centre for Catholic Studies, Durham University, the conference will take place from 26 – 29 June at Leeds Trinity University College, and is the first in a series of conferences to celebrate Catholic Higher Education in the UK.

 

A number of international, high profile church leaders and theologians will address the conference, including Francis Cardinal George, Archbishop of Chicago, Archbishop Rino Fisichella, President of the newly formed Pontifical Council for New Evangelization, and Gavin D’Costa, Professor of Catholic Theology at the University of Bristol. Representatives of church, academy and society will also take part in panels assessing the local and global impact of the Council and its meaning for today. There will be an opportunity to celebrate the Council and the New Evangelization at public events each evening.

The Right Reverend Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster, has lent his support for the conference, saying:

 “I welcome the forthcoming International Theological Conference at Leeds Trinity University College. This represents an important moment in the Church’s outreach to society following the Papal Visit in 2010. Our Catholic faith has a specific content. Rearticulated at the Second Vatican Council, this faith is to be constantly explored and treasured. God is calling us to share its saving truths respectfully with others so that they may share our joy. I hope that your reflections will bear much fruit.”

For further information and to book a place, visit  www.leedstrinity.ac.uk/vaticanIIconference or contact Kathy Stenton, k.stenton@leedstrinity.ac.uk or +44 (0)113 2837102.

 

ENDS

Notes for editors

Leeds Trinity University College is an independent higher education institution offering foundation, undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in a range of subjects including Business, Education, Humanities, Journalism, Media, Psychology and Sport. Formerly Leeds Trinity All Saints, the institution attained University College status in September 2009, following the granting by the Privy Council of Taught Degree Awarding Powers.

All degrees involve a professional placement for students to extend their experience and explore their career aspirations. With around 3000 students studying for full and part-time degrees Leeds Trinity retains a community atmosphere which provides a supportive and friendly environment to help people realise their full potential.

For more information:

Lisa Farrell, Communications Officer, Leeds Trinity University College

Tel: 0113 283 7273

Email: l.farrell@leedstrinity.ac.uk 

At installation, Baltimore archbishop affirms faith’s role in national life

Baltimore, Md., May 16, 2012 / 01:20 pm (CNA/EWTN News).-

At his May 16 installation in the “Premier See” of the U.S. Church, new Baltimore Archbishop William E. Lori urged believers to proclaim their faith to the nation while standing up for the Church’s freedom.

“Let us not shrink from entering the public square to proclaim the person of Christ, to teach the values that flow from reason and faith, to uphold our right to go about our daily work in accord with our teachings and values,” he told the 2,000-strong congregation at the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen.

“By its nature, the profession of faith is a public matter,”  said the archbishop, who also leads the U.S. bishops’ religious freedom committee.

He indicated that the Catholic faith cannot be confined solely to privately-held beliefs and acts of worship, since it is “meant to be spread far and wide and acted upon, in and through Church institutions and in the witness of individual believers.”

“Let us never imagine that the faith we profess with such personal conviction is merely a private matter,” he said to the congregation.

Instead, he told them, “we must be loyal Americans by being bold and courageous Catholics.”

Known for his religious freedom advocacy during his past appointment as the Bishop of Bridgeport, Conn., Archbishop Lori was installed amid ongoing controversy over the federal government’s contraception mandate and other moves seen as hostile to religion by Catholics and other believers.

Over 300 priests and bishops, joined by representatives of 150 parishes and 70 Catholic schools, heard Apostolic Nuncio Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano proclaim the decree establishing the new archbishop, a 61-year-old Kentucky native, as the leader of the archdiocese’s 500,000 Catholics.

Archbishop Lori’s installation homily drew inspiration from the public witness of Saint Paul, as well as the missionary journeys of Blessed John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI. He recalled Bl. John Paul II’s own words, delivered at Baltimore’s cathedral during a 1995 visit to the city.

In words delivered on that occasion, and quoted by Archbishop Lori, the late Pope spoke of America’s “precious legacy of religious freedom,” telling Catholics “to defend that freedom against those who would take religion out of the public domain and establish secularism as America’s official faith.”

The archbishop also paid tribute to those who led the nation’s first Catholic diocese before him –  including Archbishop John Carroll, the United States’ first Catholic bishop; and Cardinal James Gibbons, who led the Church in Baltimore during a period of anti-Catholic suspicion.

Archbishop Carroll, he said, led a “generation of believers and patriots,” whose legacy “has enabled the Church to worship in freedom, to bear witness to Christ publicly, and to do massive and amazing works of pastoral love, education, and charity in ways that are true to the faith that inspired them.”

Archbishop Lori also recalled how Cardinal Gibbons, Baltimore’s archbishop from 1877 to 1921, opposed “those who said it wasn’t possible to be a practicing Catholic and a loyal American.”

He recalled Cardinal Gibbons’ description of the U.S. as a country “where the civil government holds over us the aegis of its protection, without interfering with us in the legitimate exercise of our sublime mission as ministers of the Gospel of Christ.”

As he reaffirmed the Second Vatican Council’s teaching on the human right to religious liberty, Archbishop Lori made it clear that the U.S. bishops “do not seek to defend religious liberty for partisan or political purposes, as some have suggested.”

Rather, the religious freedom committee chairman said, “we do this because we are lovers of a human dignity that was fashioned and imparted not by the government but by the Creator.”

“We defend religious liberty because we are lovers of every human person, seeing in the face of every man and woman also the face of Christ,” he explained. “We uphold religious liberty because we seek to continue serving those in need while contributing to the common good.”

As he reflected on a variety of public and internal challenges, Archbishop Lori urged the faithful to pray for his leadership and the good of the Church.

He asked the congregation to pray “that, as the Year of Faith announced by Pope Benedict XVI, unfolds, I shall not only teach the faith but bear witness to it in a manner that helps to heal the breach between faith and culture.”

“Pray that, in God’s grace, I might foster that unity of faith which makes the Gospel credible,” he urged, “ so that together, we may always warmly invite those who have left the Church … and together may we continue to invite and welcome those sincerely searching for the truth.”

Tags:
Religious freedom, Bishop Installation

Cardinal Dolan urges graduates to reflect Christ’s self-giving love

COMMENCEMENT-CUA May-14-2012 (860 words) With photo. xxxn

Cardinal Dolan urges graduates to reflect Christ’s self-giving love

By Mark Zimmermann
Catholic News Service

WASHINGTON (CNS) — New York Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan praised the class of 2012 at The Catholic University of America, saying in his May 12 commencement address that the 1,500 students receiving degrees that day had all majored in “the Law of the Gift” — learning to pattern their lives after the self-giving love of Jesus.

Cardinal Dolan noted how Blessed John Paul II described the “Law of the Gift” this way: “For we are at our best, we are most fully alive and human, when we give away freely and sacrificially our very selves in love for another.”

The cardinal noted how Jesus spoke about the “Law of the Gift” when the Lord said, “Greater love than this no one has, than to give one’s life for one’s friends.”

New York’s archbishop, who also is president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, encouraged the graduates to draw on their faith to help in the effort to stand up for religious freedom in the United States and to oppose efforts to redefine marriage.

“Religion, faith, the church promote a culture built on the ‘Law of the Gift,’” the cardinal said. “Thus, wise people from Alexis de Tocqueville to John Courtney Murray … have observed that an essential ingredient in American wisdom and the genius of the American republic is the freedom it allows for religion to flourish.”

He predicted that a challenge the class of 2012 “will inevitably face is the defense of religious freedom as part of both our American and creedal legacy.”

Cardinal Dolan has played a leading role in the U.S. bishops’ defense of religious freedom in the face of recent threats, such as the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ mandate that would force Catholic institutions including hospitals, universities and social service agencies to provide health insurance coverage to employees for procedures the Catholic Church opposes, including abortion-inducing drugs, artificial contraceptives and sterilizations.

Cardinal Dolan said the “Law of the Gift” also provides special insights into the Catholic Church’s teachings on marriage.

The law “is most poetically exemplified in the lifelong, life-giving, faithful, intimate union of a man and woman in marriage, which then leads to the procreation of new life in babies, so that husband and wife, now father and mother, spend their lives sacrificially loving and giving to those children,” the cardinal said.

“That union — that sacred rhythm of man/woman/husband/wife/baby/mother/father — is so essential to the order of the common good that its very definition is ingrained into our interior dictionary, that its protection and flourishing is the aim of enlightened culture.”

The cardinal said the Catholic University graduates had first learned those lessons from “the most significant of all professors, your mom and dad,” at home, and he led the graduates in applauding their parents.

“The ‘Law of the Gift’ is part of the DNA of any Catholic school, this sterling one included,” he said.

“That we are at our best when we give ourselves away in love to another — the ‘Law of the Gift,’” Cardinal Dolan continued, “is, I’m afraid, ‘countercultural’ today, in an era that prefers getting to giving, and entitlement to responsibility; in a society that considers every drive, desire or urge as a right, and where convenience and privacy can trump even the right to life itself; and in a mindset where freedom is reduced to the liberty to do whatever we want, wherever we want, whenever, however, with whomever we want, rather than the duty to do what we ought. … Well, the ‘Law of the Gift’ can be as ignored as a yellow traffic light in New York City.”

New York’s cardinal also noted how Pope Benedict XVI has emphasized the importance of Catholic universities being faithful to their Catholic identity as they carry out the church’s mission in service to the Gospel. He noted that each classroom at The Catholic University of America features the most effective audiovisual aid of them all — the crucifix.

A big part of the joy at that morning’s graduation, the cardinal said, was rooted in gratitude of the university’s solidarity and communion with the church’s pastoral leadership, knowing “that this university is both Catholic and American, flowing from the most noble ideals of truth and respect for human dignity that are at the heart of our church and our country.”

Earlier, Cardinal Dolan received Catholic University’s President’s Medal, the school’s highest honor. Cardinal Dolan has a doctorate in American church history from Catholic University.

Washington Cardinal Donald W. Wuerl, chancellor, offered the invocation at Catholic University’s 123rd annual commencement, asking God to bless the university’s work, and he prayed that at the university, the light of Catholic faith would continue to shine so that those seeking truth will come to know God, who is truth.

Addressing the graduates, John Garvey, president of Catholic University, noted that many commencement speakers encourage graduates “to follow your dreams and wear sunscreen.”

He urged them instead to draw upon the virtue of patience. “Patience is the disposition to await God’s grace. … Get up every morning with the disposition to await God’s grace,” he said.

- – -

Zimmermann is editor of the Catholic Standard in Washington.

END

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Copyright (c) 2012 Catholic News Service/USCCB. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed.
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US priests reportedly behind Vatican crackdown on nuns

Alberto Pizzoli / AFP – Getty Images file

Cardinal Bernard Francis Law prays during the Eucharistic celebration with the new cardinals on November 21, 2010 at St. Peter’s basilica at The Vatican.

A Vatican crackdown launched last month on the largest leadership organization for U.S. nuns reportedly was spurred on by American Catholic officials worried the nuns aren’t vocal enough on conservative social issues.

On April 18, after a three-year investigation, the Vatican’s doctrine watchdog appointed Archbishop J. Peter Sartain of Seattle to oversee the nuns’ organization and reform its programs to adhere more closely to “the teachings and discipline of the Church.” 

The issues raised by the Vatican include the nuns’ lack of outspokenness on issues such as gay marriage, abortion and contraception. Another concern is related to the conferences organized by the group featuring “a prevalence of certain radical feminist themes incompatible with the Catholic faith.”

In a statement, the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, an umbrella organization representing 57,000 nuns in the U.S., said it had been “taken by surprise by the gravity of the mandate.”

The Vatican’s initiative was triggered by U.S. Archbishop William E. Lori’s petition to investigate the nuns, according to the National Catholic Reporter and the British Catholic weekly The Tablet. Lori was recently appointed by the pope to lead the Archdiocese of Baltimore.

According to those same reports, Cardinal Bernard F. Law — disgraced former archbishop of Boston — was “the person in Rome most forcefully supporting Bishop Lori’s proposal.” After media reports revealed he had permitted priests accused of sexually molesting children to continue serving, Law resigned in 2002. Pope John Paul II appointed Law as archpriest of the Papal Basilica of St. Mary Major in Rome in 2004, but he resigned from this position in November 2011 when he turned 80, the age most cardinals retire. 

Stephen J. Boitano / NBC via Getty Images file

Archbishop William Lori

Other American churchmen in Rome, including Cardinal Raymond Burke and Cardinal James Stafford, reportedly backed the investigation, according to the Religion News Service. The probe was led by former archbishop of San Francisco Cardinal William Levada, who has served on the Vatican’s doctrine congregation since 2005.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops would not comment on the role of U.S. priests in the investigation into the nuns.

The Americans in Rome wouldn’t have had the authority to start the investigation themselves, but they could lobby the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith — the Vatican’s doctrine watchdog — for it, religion journalist and Vatican expert David Gibson told msnbc.com. Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was the head of this congregation before he was elected pope in 2005.

Gibson, a Religion News Service correspondent, said the crackdown shows that concerns about poverty and economic inequality are taking a backseat in the church.

“There’s so much riding on the gay marriage battle, and on abortion rights, and on contraception that [bishops] want everybody in the church to be doubling down on those issues and not being distracted by social justice,” Gibson told msnbc.com.

Bishops have been playing defense for years in the wake of the church’s sexual abuse crisis, and Gibson said they’ve been looking for issues on which they can reassert their moral authority.

“These issues are ones they think they can do that on, so they really want to show that… they’re calling the shots,” he added.

The statement issued by the Vatican read that “while there has been a great deal of work on the part of LCWR promoting issues of social justice in harmony with the church’s social doctrine, it is silent on the right to life from conception to natural death.”

While church leadership traditionally focuses on matters of doctrine, nuns have long been the public face of the church in the United States. They run the schools and hospitals and are concerned with performing the gospel rather than just preaching it from the pulpit, Gibson said.

American Catholics are showing their support for the nuns, organizing vigils all over the country to advocate for the end of the crackdown. The Nun Justice Project is one organization standing with the nuns against what they call “a prime example of how the hierarchy in the Roman Catholic Church misuses its power to diminish the voice of women.”

An online petition started by Nun Justice had garnered more than 41,000 signatures at the time this story was written. Sister Annmarie Sanders, director of communications for the LCWR, told msnbc.com the organization finds the public support “heartening.”

The LCWR will meet starting May 29 to begin its discussion of the Vatican’s  doctrinal assessment and the implementation plan put forth by the Holy See. The Vatican has the power to remove the official recognition of the LCWR.

{“contentId”:”11597887″,”totalVotes”:”19492″}

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Results with 216 short comments

Just like Conservatives, Crack down on your women, Shria Law anyone?

It may be the Vatican’s job, but it appears the LCWR has a stronger foothold than the church heirachy that reported them! Go, Sisters!

The priests need to fight abortion so they have more children to molest? Maybe they need to clean up their own house first?

Do as I say, not as I do is not a sustainable position for the church. I’m putting my money on the ladies, and social justice.

The Catholic Church is full of men trying to retain power over women who no longer wish to be submissive. Go Nuns!

Wasn’t the church the defender of the poor?

Women are and always have been second class direct in the Catholic Church. Now they are called on to be more “active.” Doesn’t make sense

One of the many reasons I am no longer
a practicing Catholic. Pedophiles ok,
hungry women and children not important!

The priest are just mad cuz it is getting more difficult to bugger little boys.

Funny how the Church will crack down on Nun’s who are concerned with social justice, but turn a blind eye to Ryan questioning Bishopauthori

The Catholic church is slipping deeper and deeper into the dark ages.

The child molesting hierarchy of the church realizes that women won’t make excuses for their rapist priests.

Typical Catholic church in action. Throughout history it has always been about power and money,and the preservation of both.

it almost sounds like the church wants nuns to engage in priestly duties just sayin’
also, this will drive more ppl from religion yay!

They are just deverting attention from the real problem…..

This shows how out of touch the Church is. Jesus never said not to use codoms, but he DID say to help the poor!!

Hate to shock the Catholic Church , but let me inform you – women are here to stay – so get used to the idea!

The church would rather the world were stuck in the 13th century, plain and simple. STUPID DESTRUCTIVE CULT!

A bunch of old men in robes and funny hats who have lost touch with their humanity.

That priests initiated this isn’t surprising. How better to remove the focus from their own transgressions against kids.

Ironic it is not the nuns who raping little boys …

Just proves how far out of touch the catholic church is with the reality that is is 2012.

Oh, God, your followers have completely lost their way!

The focus should be on Social Justice but they should not go outside the church doctrines.

Book explores “Hungry Souls” in Purgatory

It isn’t always easy to believe or understand the concept of messages from the souls of Purgatory and Heaven. I admit to having my doubts. But then I read the diary and visited the convent of Czestowa in Poland and saw the Black Madonna in Jasna Gora just days after the death of Blessed Pope John Paul II.

Those experiences led me to read the book “Hungry Souls: Supernatural Visits, Messages and Warnings from Purgatory” by Brother Gerard J. M. Van den Aardweg, who introduces the reader to modern-day Blesseds, saints, and souls who have experienced the voices and seen the apparitions of those who have gone before us.

Pope John Paul II strongly believed in Purgatory. “Hungry Souls” explains why: “This is how Pope John Paul II explains why Purgatory is necessary, for, he continues, we are called ‘to be perfect like the heavenly Father during our earthly life… sound and flawless before God the Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints’ (1 Thess 3:12).”

“Here John Paul reaffirms the old wisdom concerning the existence of a “state of purification” after death… The place for this correction of the soul’s imperfection is Purgatory,” according to Brother Gerard.

The book is filled with colorful and delightful photographs, including the façade of the Sacred Heart of Suffrage in Rome.

One of the first saints we are introduced to is Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque, “whose main emphasis is on the human Heart of Christ for the souls in Purgatory and, at the same time, an invitation to the faithful to practice charity for them in union with His merciful heart, for the devotion of the suffering souls is inextricably linked to the devotion of the Sacred Heart. That has been made especially clear by St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, the apostle of the devotion to the Sacred Heart…” Brother Gerard writes.

St. Margaret Mary Alacoque received revelations about the sufferings of the souls in Purgatory and about Our Divine Lord’s tender love for them and his eager desire for their deliverance; Christ appeared to St. Margaret-Mary Alacoque when she was at prayer.

Among the others who had visions, it is easier to believe and understand those most recent to us: Eugenie von der Leyen, Saint Catherine of Genoa, the children of Fatima, Saint Bernadette of Lourdes, and Saint Faustina, who saw and heard apparitions of Christ when she prayed. She spoke to him and he answered.

I grew especially fond of St. Faustina, because as the sisters of her convent mourned Pope John Paul II, they draped a Vatican flag over the chair in which Blessed Pope John Paul II sat as he spoke to St. Faustina before her death at age 24.

“Hungry Souls” is rich with stories of Purgatory and why Catholics should not only believe in Purgatory, but strive to go there in preparation for heaven and God the Father. I recommend the book for both believers in Purgatory and for those who doubt its existence. It is rich in Catholic theology and filled with stories of the saints and sinners who have and are still spending time there.

An American, interfaith experience

Exhibit affirms lessons of past, present

The upcoming exhibit on Pope John Paul II at the Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage in Beachwood inspires a mélange of thoughts: Patriots’ Day … the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising … Notre Dame College … Holocaust studies … an Abrahamic Council … Saturday in Jerusalem … Hillel … and Spike Lee.

They form a pattern linking American history, Notre Dame College, its surrounding community and me to the tragic roots and urgent need for interfaith understanding that John Paul II so passionately sought.

The title of the exhibit, “A Blessing to One Another: Pope John Paul II the Jewish People,” comes from John Paul II’s April 19, 1993, letter on the 50th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising – which also happens to be the day the American Revolution began in 1775 – April 19 – Patriots’ Day.

The intersection of the dates is striking – two peoples seeking to cast off oppression, a spiritual leader seeking to heal.

Although bruised, America’s ideal of freedom and tolerance still inspires, still points us toward acceptance and understanding, as it did for George Washington in writing to the Hebrew Congregation of Newport, Rhode Island:

“All possess alike liberty of conscience and immunities of citizenship. It is now no more that toleration is spoken of, as if it was by the indulgence of one class of people that another enjoyed the exercise of their inherent natural rights. … May the children of the stock of Abraham, who dwell in this land, continue to merit and enjoy the goodwill of the other inhabitants.”

John Paul II, whose experience of the savage pain caused by a society’s failure to recognize its citizens’ “inherent natural rights,” elevated that sentiment to a spiritual plane when he said:

“As Christians and Jews, following the example of the faith of Abraham, we are called to be a blessing to the world. This is the common task awaiting us. It is therefore necessary for us, Christians and Jews, to be first, a blessing to one another.”

Notre Dame College in South Euclid has sought from its founding 90 years ago to be “a blessing to one another.” It proudly counts among its alumnae many members of Cleveland’s Jewish community, including Judith Stone Weiss and Judi Feniger, executive director of the Maltz Museum.

Notre Dame College has for 13 years sponsored a Tolerance Resource Center. One of the highlights of my nine years at the college was the TRC’s 10th anniversary event, when many Cleveland-area Holocaust survivors heard a presentation by Sr. Gemma Del Duca, who since 1975 has lived in Israel and was the first non-Israeli to receive Yad Vashem’s Excellence in Holocaust Education Award.

The TRC is now an Abrahamic  Center, promoting acceptance and understanding among the three great monotheistic faiths. The college revised its core curriculum to include courses focusing on the Abrahamic values of caring for the world. A key course outcome is directly experiencing the faith and culture of others. As a prelude to that, in February 2011, a Notre Dame College group visited Israel.

The trip affirmed that experiencing other people’s culture sheds an emotional light that cannot be experienced by simply reading – no matter how widely or deeply – about other faith traditions. For me, two examples shine forth.

First, placing a prayer for the health of my great-niece, a prayer for the well-being of my grandchildren, and a prayer for the future of Notre Dame College in the Western Wall was a moving experience. The obvious sincerity and emotional commitment of my fellow worshipers was humbling.

Equally affecting was Saturday evening’s Catholic Mass at a Paulist monastery. It was quite touching for many of the same reasons I experienced earlier at the Wall. At first, I thought a Mass at a monastery would be conducted in the company of monks. Not so; it was a Mass in Aramaic for the local Palestinian community.

Most poignant was the humble but warm parish gathering after Mass. As we shared a bit of juice and honey cakes and warm exchanges across the language barrier with our hosts, I noticed on a blackboard in the school hall Hillel’s three questions – “If I am not for me, who will be? If I am only for me, what am I? If not now, when?”

To read this quote in a Paulist monastery, after attending a Roman Catholic Mass conducted in Aramaic on the outskirts of Jerusalem – on the same Saturday I prayed at the Western Wall and heard the muezzin call the Islamic faithful to afternoon prayers as I walked through the Christian quarter of Old Jerusalem – was an Abrahamic experience of the highest order.

Similarly, an Abrahamic experience of the highest order awaits you when you visit the Maltz Museum’s exhibit “A Blessing to One Another.”

This will be an American experience in which – like Washington, like Hillel, like we trust Notre Dame College – you will be exhorted, in Spike Lee’s words, “to do the right thing” – to love one another as ourselves, to be a blessing to one another!

Dr. Andrew P. Roth, who is Roman Catholic, is president of Notre Dame College in South Euclid and on the advisory committee for the Pope John Paul II exhibit at the Maltz.

Programs further theme of ‘Blessing’ exhibit

“A Blessing to One Another: Pope John Paul II and the Jewish People,” runs from May 18 to August 5 at the Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage in Beachwood. It follows John Paul II’s footsteps from childhood to his role as head of the world’s largest church. Some related programs are below; some require fees. Visit www.maltzmuseum.org for additional programs and details.

• The Resurgence of Jewish Culture in Poland, Wednesday, May 30, 7 p.m. Sean Martin, associate curator of Jewish history at The Western Reserve Historical Society; Auschwitz scholar Jody Russell Manning; and Youngstown State University’s Dr. Helene Sinnreich. Moderated by Richard Crepage, Cleveland Council on World Affairs.

• Film: “I Am Joseph, Your Brother” (60 minutes), Wednesday, June 27, 7 p.m. Documentary inspired by the visit of Pope John Paul II to Israel in 2000. Dr. Michael Bloom, Notre Dame College, leads a post-viewing discussion.

• The Life and Legacy of Pope John Paul II, Wednesday, July 11, 7 p.m. Lorraine Dodero, Umberto P. Fedeli, Samuel H. Miller, and Sen. George Voinovich talk about the legacy of Pope John Paul II’s relationship with the Jewish people. Moderated by Plain Dealer publisher Terrance C.Z. Egger.

• Family Day: A Celebration of Polish and Jewish Culture, Sunday, July 15, 1-4 p.m. with dance performance at 1:30. Enjoy making art, learning about Jewish and Polish folk traditions, and the Piast Polish Folk Dance Ensemble.

 

Will The Independent please apologise for publishing slander against the …

The mainstream media seems determined to misrepresent the Catholic faith

On Tuesday morning, the Independent’s blogs section posted a comment piece that slandered the Catholic Church. Not that you’d know it, because a few hours later the offending remarks were quietly edited out.

The post is by journalist Ruth Whippman, who is all-whipped up about the fact that the Catholic Education Service has “sent a letter to all of the schools in their network urging them to encourage their pupils to sign a petition against gay marriage.” That’s right, Catholics don’t just send their kids to Catholic schools but they also insist that those Catholic schools teach Catholicism, too. The rotten nerve.

In fact, Whippman is upset about nothing. To use her own words, the Catholic Education Service is only “urging” teachers to “encourage” their pupils to sign a petition. Compliance is clearly left up to the school’s staff, and you can make a safe bet that very few of them will follow through. It’s a classic liberal misunderstanding about the Catholic Church that all its “employees” bother to promote natural law, or that any of its worshippers listen to them. They probably ought to, but this isn’t the 13th century and Catholics are perfectly capable of obeying or ignoring doctrine at will.

But what should really offend about Whippman’s piece is its claim that the Church lacks the moral authority to preach about homosexuality because it somehow tolerates child abuse. In the original version, she made two absurd statements. First, she implied that the Church only recently decided there was anything wrong with raping a child. I don’t have a copy of the pre-edited text, but here’s a screengrab for the quote: “Paedophilia was a latecomer to the mortal sin party, only having been formally added to the list by Pope John Paul II in 2001.” The content of her second argument I’ll have to cull from a Tweet, but the wording matches my memory of the statement: “In the official hierarchy of sin issued by Catholic Church, homosexual acts are at the top, with murder, rape and terrorism.” You read that correctly – Catholics think Graham Norton and Osama bin Laden are morally equivalent.

All of this is a gross distortion of Catholic theology. The Church has always regarded the sexual abuse of children as a “grave matter.” Aside from the fact that it’s obviously wicked, it also constitutes rape as outlined in the Ten Commandments and condemned by Catholics for centuries. The implication that the Church only came to regard paedophilia as a sin in the 21st century – and that it only condemned it as a public relations exercise – is an obscene slur. Moreover, Catholics certainly do not think that homosexual acts are a sin of equal weight with terrorism. Taking the Lord’s name or “eating all the pies” are sins, too – but they don’t rank alongside 9-11.

Given that Whippman has elsewhere written that religion and politics don’t mix and that UK abortion laws need to be liberalised, we can presume that her mistakes are involuntary acts of prejudice. But what is shocking is that The Independent published her piece as written in its original form. If I wrote a post saying that Islam has an “easy-come-easy-go” attitude towards child rape, I’d hope that my editor would point out that this is offensive nonsense and sack me on the spot. If he didn’t and it was published and my mistake was pointed out to me, I trust I’d have the decency to publish a correction rather than just edit out the offending sentences at the earliest opportunity.

But I wouldn’t write something as stupid as that because a) I have the wit to know it’s not true and b) I have a profound respect for faith in all its forms. Here’s why I take great personal offence at Whippman’s original post. I am a Catholic and I have only ever found the Church to be tolerant, compassionate and overwhelmingly concerned with relieving human suffering. And yet, I have also seen the spirits of ordinary priests crushed by the persistent slur of either paedophilia or homophobic bigotry. Both exist within the hearts of individual clerics, of course. But for the vast majority attempting to minister to the poor, the sick, the despised and, yes, to victims of child abuse or homophobic bullying, life is only made tougher by the constant stream of anti-Catholic bias coming from the liberal press.

Recognizing all the beauty and splendour of The Faith – and all that it has done for me – I have an obligation to defend it in the public sphere. Just like I’m sure Ruth Whippman would do for her own family. So, I’m calling on The Independent to ‘fess up to the original errors in its article and print a proper apology. After all, it doesn’t want another Johann Hari on its hands.

Zealots to the Left of Me, Zealots to the Right of Me

A “self-perpetuating oligarchy” is an organization where the current leadership plays a strong role in picking its successors. Corporations are an example: the board of directors chooses a CEO, who periodically nominates new members to the board, which eventually chooses the next CEO.

But corporations are only weakly self-perpetuating, since boards usually don’t have a lot of loyalty to a particular style of management and CEOs usually don’t care all that much who takes over after they retire. Beside, CEOs can be fired. A much better example is the Catholic Church: popes appoint cardinals unilaterally, and the College of Cardinals elects a pope when the old one dies. What’s more, popes can’t be fired and they care a lot about appointing cardinals who are ideologically sympatico. Mark Kleiman, after reading about the Church’s recent humiliation of American nuns for being insufficiently anti-sex, comments:

As the characteristic risks of the democratic republic are corruption and demagogy, and the characteristic risks of hereditary rule are incompetent rulers and succession struggles, the characteristic risk of the self-perpetuating oligarchy is gerontocracy.

For most of the history of the Catholic Church, even the well-fed and well-cared-for tended to drop off by around age 70. So gerontocracy wasn’t a big threat. But modern nutrition, sanitation, and medicine have extended the life of the body by more years than they’ve extended the acuity of the mind. John Paul II put in a rule to get rid of aging Cardinals — mostly so he could complete the process of packing the College with members of his own faction — but didn’t apply the rule to himself, and continued to wear the Triple Tiara until he was long past it.

So — from a secularist perspective — here’s wishing a very long life to Pope Benedict XVI. I doubt that his commitment of the Church to the side of reaction and plutocracy around the world — continuing the work of John Paul II — is now reversible. So the faster the whole thing crashes and burns, the better.

It seems like every time I turn around I’m confronted by growing extremism. The Catholic Church is, increasingly, little more than an angry collection of reactionary old men who hate the modern world. The Republican Party is a refuge for bright-eyed true believers intent on tearing down the modern state. The state of Israel, unable to break the grip of its most expansionist zealots, is busily wreaking its own destruction and doing its best to drag us along with them. Large swaths of the Muslim world remain captured by the fever dreams of its most radical factions.

Unfortunately, none of this seems to be crashing and burning. Not yet, anyway. So when does the wave finally crest and start to break?

Or am I just imagining all this because I’m in a bit of a punk mood today?

Noted Catholic author to re-energize the faithful

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The idea of evangelization — proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ to the world — has long been a priority of the Catholic church. But a more modern initiative is what is known as the “new evangelization” — reaching out to those who have already heard the message, but have either fallen away from their faith or who just need a spiritual renewal.

That “new evangelization,” and its relevance to today’s Catholics, will be just one of several topics addressed this Saturday by Dr. Scott Hahn, a noted Catholic author, speaker and teacher who has written more than 30 books.

“We have to evangelize the baptized, so to speak,” Hahn said in a phone interview from Ohio, where he is a professor of theology and scripture at Franciscan University of Steubenville.

This “new evangelization” initiative was a priority of Pope John Paul II’s, and is one of Pope Benedict XVI’s as well, Hahn said.

John Paul called for the “new evangelization” back in 1983, but he called for it to begin in 1992, to coincide with the 500th anniversary of the first evangelization of the Americas, Hahn said. Five hundred years ago, the most populous Catholic countries were in Europe — Spain, Italy and France. Today, the most populous Catholic countries are Brazil, Mexico and the U.S.

“He really sees that the evangelization of the whole world by the Catholic church needs to begin in the Americas, and then spread to other countries,” Hahn said.

The topic is an important one for Catholics worldwide, but also in central Alabama, said Tom Riello, theology chairman at Montgomery Catholic Preparatory School. The school as well as the parishes in the area are sponsoring Hahn’s visit to Montgomery.

“As a culture, even in the South, church life is becoming increasingly irrelevant to many people,” Riello said. “Even if they go to church, many have reduced the faith to checking a box.

“The ‘new evangelization’ aims to reintroduce people to the glory of Jesus Christ and his church.”

Hahn will also give talks on “The Lamb’s Supper,” about the Catholic Mass and its biblical basis, and about the apostle Paul, who is considered to be responsible for more than half of the New Testament. But his thinking is foreign to many Catholics.