Staten Island Ministry helps youth make a radical choice of faith

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — The religious order of nuns that runs the St. Edward Food Pantry in Pleasant Plains has formed a ministry in the hopes of strengthening the Roman Catholic faith among young people.

The Franciscan Handmaids of the Most Pure Heart of Mary has formed a Catholic Youth for Radical Faith Ministry (CYRF) on Staten Island that operates out of the order’s convent in Pleasant Plains.

The worldwide CYRF ministry is a response to Pope Benedict’s call for youth to make a radical choice of faith within the “New Evangelization.” As part of their mission, the sisters have launched a fund-raising campaign in the hopes of sending 13 Staten Islanders to World Youth Day 2013, slated for July 23-28 of that year in Rio De Janeiro in Brazil.

The order already has earmarked $10,000 to cover the expenses of three attendees, and needs nearly $30,000 additional to sponsor all the candidates, said Sr. Gertrude Lilly Ihenacho, congregation minister. 

/subONE OF THE CHOSENRRGabriella Reyes, 22, a parishioner of Holy Child R.C. Church who aspires to become a medical doctor, was thrilled to be chosen as one of the WYD attendees.

“I went to World Youth Day when I was 11 and it had a huge impact on me,” the Huguenot resident said. “It was amazing to see so many young Roman Catholics coming together at one place at one time.”

Unfortunately, the St. Joseph by the Sea High School graduate, does not see that enthusiasm matched on Staten Island.

“It’s hard to find Catholic youth who are excited about their faith,” Ms. Reyes said, noting that some don’t even want to admit to their religion.

“Sometimes it’s seen as nonsensical to be religious,” she observed, speculating that negative media accounts about the Roman Catholic Church have fueled those sentiments.

“I am happy and excited to be a Catholic,” said Ms. Reyes, who earned a bachelor’s degree in biomedical engineering at Stevens Institute and is studying for her master’s degree in biomedical science at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey.

The goals of the CYRF ministry are to generate youthful enthusiasm in and defense of their faith, to foster Gospel values and discipleship and to provide young people with the opportunity to interact with other Roman Catholics from throughout the world. The Franciscan Handmaids sponsors people to attend World Youth Day as a way of reaching these goals, according to the order’s literature. 

/SUBA GLOBAL EXPERIENCErR“World Youth Day is a global experience,” Sister Gertrude noted. “We want them to see knowledge and spirituality among Catholic Youth. We want the youth to really understand their faith, to be able to defend their faith.”

The ministry aims to give young people more information about their religion, especially with regard to issues of social justice.

“We want to empower the youth to make informed decisions,” Sister Gertrude said.The Staten Island ministry also provides ample opportunities to serve both on the Island and throughout the world, while trying to counterract powerful negative social forces, such as drugs and crime that are influencing today’s youth.

“You can’t get by stealing, by wanting somebody to bring it to you,” said Sister Gertrude, who was a public health physician prior to joining the order. “You can be anything you want to be as long as you identify what your skill is and go for it,” she said.

The CYRF ministry allows for real and web-based contact with other members throughout the world. The ministry is a global link to educational, financial, volunteer, internship, missionary and employment opportunities and resources with Catholic agencies, the United Nations and many other non-profit organizations.

Members of the ministry have opportunities to attend various conferences, retreats and pilgrimages. They have acces to Papal messages, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops newsletters and a wealth of educational information on the Roman Catholic faith and social justice issues.

Volunteers are needed to join a fund-raising committee. To make a donation or for additional information about the CYRF ministry, contact Anita Fein, administrator of the St. Edward Food Pantry, at 718-984-1625, or e-mail stedwardfoodpantry@hotmail.com.

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 

Ratzinger’s Faith

I first became acquainted with the writings of Tracey Rowland in the pages of the Tablet, where she is a fairly regular contributor. I am not sure why I did not see her book “Ratzinger’s Faith” when it was published by Oxford Press in 2008. But, I saw it at a local bookstore this past winter, bought it, and put it on my list of books to read. I completed it last weekend and highly recommend it to anyone interested in learning more about the theological pedigree and distinctive theological perspectives of Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI.

The first casualty of Rowland’s scholarship is the meme – let us be frank, a meme that has more than a little currency in leftie Catholic circles – that Joseph Ratzinger may have been on the side of the reformers at Vatican II, where he served as a peritus to Cardinal Frings of Cologne, but that after Vatican II, with the social and religious tumult of 1968, he turned hard to the right and has essentially been trying to put the Vatican II toothpaste back into the tube ever since, leading the Church back into pre-conciliar days. Rowland points us towards several instances in which Ratzinger has made his criticism of pre-conciliar scholasticism quite clear. He has allowed that it has its excellences but that he always found it dry and impersonal. She quotes a seminary Prefect who knew Ratzinger as a student who relates this observation, at once charming and profound: “[According to Raztinger] God is not recognized because He is a summum bonum that is able to be grasped and demonstrated with exact formulas, but because He is a You who comes forward and gets Himself recognized…In the dialect of Bavaria we would say: it[scholasticism] wasn’t his beer….He’s not interested in defining God by abstract concepts. An abstraction – he once told me – doesn’t need a mother.” Rowland relates throughout the book how Raztinger has stayed true to his suspicions of pre-conciliar scholasticism.

The second casualty of Rowland’s scholarship, again offered early in the book but sustained throughout its pages, is the idea that Ratzinger’s Augustinianism is “the problem” and that this characteristic differentiates him from the upbeat mood of the Council: Whereas the Council was opening the windows of the Church to the world, Raztinger has been trying to shut them ever since. She writes:

Ratzinger’s Augustinian dispositions should not be construed as having anything to do with wanting the Church to retreat from the world, or wanting her scholars to close down conversations with the rest of non-Catholic humanity. Unfortunately, in popular parlance the adjective “Augustinian” has often been tarred with a Calvinist brush…. The promotion of a puritan-style retreat from the world is based on an interpretation of the spiritual standing of the world in the thought of St. Augustine which flows from the reformation branch of this tradition. Ratzinger belongs to a different branch with people like the great Jesuit Erich Pryzwara (1889-1972), for whom Augustine, steeped in classical culture, and rejoicing in its achievements, none the less recognizes the necessity of Christ’s Revelation to transcend its limitations and breach its aporia, or doubt.

Well said. I would add that Ratzinger, like John Paul II, understandably and rightly has a certain suspicion, not to say pessimism, about modern culture’s ability to seek the good, and it has nothing to do with their reading of Augustine. Both men grew up in the horror of World War II.

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The first chapter of Rowland’s book presents a very fine survey of the pre-conciliar theological landscape, how the Council absorbed the different theological streams that fed it documents, and some of the emerging post-conciliar schools of thought, how they overlap and how they don’t. She notes how pre-conciliar Thomism fostered a “two-tier” approach to the relationship between grace and nature, and that this two-tier approach, or dualism, unintentionally fostered the secularization of culture. She notes that this two-tier approach was especially adopted by Catholic scholars in Protestant countries, such as the U.S., in their efforts to build bridges between Catholics and non-Catholics. “The idea was that Catholics and non-Catholics could find common ground on the territory of ‘pure nature’, while the more socially contentious supernatural beliefs and aspirations of Catholics could be relegated to the privacy of the individual soul.” She quotes Henri de Lubac who, on a tour of the U.S. in 1968 had warned that such a construction of the relationship between grace and nature resulted in “a total secularization that would banish God not only from social life but from culture and even from relationships in private life.”

This debate about the relationship between nature and grace may seem like the stuff, exclusively, of theological symposia. Instead, it is the heart of the matter. The influence of de Lubac and Balthasar on both John Paul II and Benedict XVI, I would submit although Rowland does not, is precisely the part of both men’s thought that Catholic neo-cons like George Weigel, Richard John Neuhaus, and Michael Novak were never able to grasp, or were afraid to grasp. How could they, committed as they were to John Courtney Murray’s attempts to reconcile the theological constitution of the Church with the Constitution of the United States. It was Murray, after all, who once wrote that “the dualism of mankind’s two hierarchically ordered forms of social life has been Christianity’s cardinal contribution to the Western political tradition.” It is all very well and good to repeat the words of Jesus about rendering unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and rendering unto God the things that are God’s, but what if everything is God’s? One of the difficulties some of us have seen in the USCCB’s statements about religious liberty is precisely the way those statements embody the Murray approach. This is what Professor Schindler was getting at in his brilliant essay on that subject to which I earlier called readers’ attention here.

It would be going too far to say that the struggle between liberals and conservatives over the interpretation of the Council has been a sideshow. It is not going too far to recognize that there is a certain symbiotic relationship between the two that misses the more interesting struggle within Catholic theology. As Balthasar once wrote: “[The] program of Christian progressivism is curiously close to that of its opponent, Christian integralism…Both, ultimately, have reduced the problem of power between God and the world, between grace and nature, to a monistic form which is easy to handle and can be managed by men.” Liberals and conservatives may be fighting over the rules, but the de Lubac, Balthasar, Ratzinger project is to go deeper, and to assert, boldly, that for the Christian, the absolute imperative is love, not obedience, except and only insofar as love entails a type of obedience, a demanding obedience indeed, to its own dictates. Rowland is careful to note that many post-conciliar Thomists has been wrestling with this issue of grace and nature, and the problems of dualism, whether that dualism is attributed to mis-readings of Thomas by pre-conciliar thinkers, or to Cajetan, or to Thomas himself. It is the most fascinating theological issue of our time.

The different approaches towards the relationship between grace and nature profoundly affect how one reads the Council, especially Gaudium et Spes, and also how one views our understanding of Revelation, Scripture and Tradition. We shall take up these issues tomorrow.

Flint Township church hosting event for Maronite Catholic Patriarch serving … – The Flint Journal

FLINT TOWNSHIP, MI — Our Lady of Lebanon Maronite Catholic Church is playing host to Maronite Catholic Patriarch Mar Bechara Boutros Rai during a May 15 event.

File PhotoOur Lady of Lebanon Maronite Catholic Church in Flint Township hosting Maronite Catholic Patriarch Mar Bechara Boutros Rai during a May 15 mass and banquet event.

A traditional Maronite Catholic Mass is set to begin at 6 p.m. at the church, 4133 Calkins Road, followed by a banquet in his honor in the church’s parish hall.

Patriarch Rai serves under Pope Benedict XVI as the head of the Maronite rite, according to a press release, and he is making stops in Canada and the United States – including three destinations in Michigan.

“We are all very excited,” said Jason Klanseck, head of the committee that brought the Patriarch to the Flint church. “The whole parish has been preparing for weeks to welcome Mar Bechara to the community.”

Father Tony Massad, a Flint native who currently serves at a parish in Cleveland, Ohio, will also be on hand during Rai’s visit.

Father Paul Taraby, the pastor at Our Lady of Lebanon, has invited all past and present parishioners and members of the clergy to attend the mass.

“The Patriarch visits the United States only every few years, so the fact that he chose to visit our parish is very special,” Taraby said. “We are blessed to have a strong parish and community to support us and we welcome all to join us in celebration.”

Patriarch Rai serves as the head of the Maronite church, which has approximately 3 million members worldwide.

Five Maronite Catholic churches reside in the state of Michigan, of which Our Lady of Lebanon was founded in 1976. The Flint Township church is home to approximately 600 parishioners.

Tickets for the banquet are $50 and may be purchased at the door. For more information, contact the church office at 810-733-1259.

Religion: Pope Benedict lectures the professors

In his latest address to American bishops visiting Rome, Pope Benedict XVI stressed that Catholic educators should remain true to the faith — a reminder issued just in time for another tense season of commencement addresses.

No, the pope did not mention Georgetown University by name when discussing the Catholic campus culture wars.

Yes, he did mention the law requiring professors who teach Catholic theology to obtain a Canon 812 “mandatum” (“mandate”) document from their bishops to certify that they are truly Catholic theologians.

Many American bishops have cited a “growing recognition on the part of Catholic colleges and universities of the need to reaffirm their distinctive identity in fidelity to their founding ideals and the church’s mission. … Much remains to be done, especially in such basic areas as compliance with the mandate laid down in Canon 812 for those who teach theological disciplines,” said Benedict, who taught theology at the university level in Germany.

“The importance of this canonical norm as a tangible expression of ecclesial communion and solidarity in the church’s educational apostolate becomes all the more evident when we consider the confusion created by instances of apparent dissidence between some representatives of Catholic institutions and the church’s pastoral leadership: such discord harms the church’s witness and, as experience has shown, can easily be exploited to compromise her authority and her freedom.”

Benedict’s remarks to the bishops of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Wyoming came during the fourth of five Vatican visits by Americans reporting on life in their dioceses. His January address, to the bishops of Washington, D.C., Baltimore and the U.S. Armed Services, made news with its focus on threats to religious liberty. It came shortly before Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said the Obama administration would not withdraw its rules requiring the majority of religious institutions to cover all Food and Drug Administration-approved forms of contraception in health-insurance plans offered to employees, as well as to students.

Now, the pope has emphasized the need for Catholic educators to remain faithful in the same time frame as Georgetown University’s announcement that one featured speaker during its commencement rites will be none other than Sebelius — a liberal Catholic who last year warned abortion-rights activists that “we are in a war” to protect women from conservatives.

Conservative Catholics protested — see GeorgetownScandal.com — claiming that the Jesuit school’s invitation represented yet another violation of the 2004 U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops policy stating: “Catholic institutions should not honor those who act in defiance of our fundamental moral principles. They should not be given awards, honors or platforms which would suggest support for their actions.” The University of Notre Dame ignited a 2009 firestorm by granting President Barack Obama an honorary doctor of laws degree.

While it’s easy to focus on this new commencement controversy, Benedict’s address represents another skirmish in more than two decades of conflict between Rome and liberal Catholics entrenched on many college and university campuses. At the heart of the conflict is a 1990 “apostolic constitution” on education issued by Pope John Paul II titled “Ex Corde Ecclesiae” (“From the Heart of the Church”).

That document contains numerous statements that trouble American academics, including this one: “Catholic teaching and discipline are to influence all university activities, while the freedom of conscience of each person is to be fully respected. Any official action or commitment of the university is to be in accord with its Catholic identity.”

“That captures pretty much everything,” noted Patrick J. Reilly, president of the conservative Cardinal Newman Society.

Thus, in his address to the visiting American bishops, the pope stressed that Catholic universities are supposed to be helping the church defend its teachings, in an age in which they are constantly under attack.

The goal, said Benedict, is for Catholic schools to provide a “bulwark against the alienation and fragmentation which occurs when the use of reason is detached from the pursuit of truth and virtue. …

“Catholic institutions have a specific role to play in helping to overcome the crisis of universities today. Firmly grounded in this vision of the intrinsic interplay of faith, reason and the pursuit of human excellence, every Christian intellectual and all the church’s educational institutions must be convinced, and desirous of convincing others, that no aspect of reality remains alien to, or untouched by, the mystery of the redemption and the Risen Lord’s dominion over all creation.”

(Terry Mattingly directs the Washington Journalism Center at the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities. Contact him at tmattingly(at)cccu.org or www.tmatt.net.)

Professor Benedict lectures the professors

Copyright ©2010. The Associated Press. Produced by NewsOK.com All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

BY TERRY MATTINGLY
|

Published: May 14, 2012


Oklahoman

  
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In his latest address to American bishops visiting Rome, Pope Benedict XVI stressed that Catholic educators should remain true to the faith — a reminder issued just in time for another tense season of commencement addresses.

No, the pope did not mention Georgetown University by name when discussing the Catholic campus culture wars.

Yes, he did mention the law requiring professors who teach Catholic theology to obtain a Canon 812 “mandatum” (mandate) document from their bishops to certify that they are truly Catholic theologians.

Many American bishops have cited a “growing recognition on the part of Catholic colleges and universities of the need to reaffirm their distinctive identity in fidelity to their founding ideals and the Church’s mission. …

Much remains to be done, especially in such basic areas as compliance with the mandate laid down in Canon 812 for those who teach theological disciplines,” said Benedict, who taught theology at the university level in Germany.

“The importance of this canonical norm as a tangible expression of ecclesial communion and solidarity in the Church’s educational apostolate becomes all the more evident when we consider the confusion created by instances of apparent dissidence between some representatives of Catholic institutions and the Church’s pastoral leadership: such discord harms the Church’s witness and, as experience has shown, can easily be exploited to compromise her authority and her freedom.”

Benedict’s remarks to the bishops of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Wyoming came during the fourth of five Vatican visits by Americans reporting on life in their dioceses.

His January address, to the bishops of Washington, D.C., Baltimore and the U.S. Armed Services, made news with its focus on threats to religious liberty.

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Mattingly: Pope lectures the professors

In his latest address to American bishops visiting Rome, Pope Benedict XVI stressed that Catholic educators should remain true to the faith — a reminder issued just in time for another tense season of commencement addresses.

No, the pope did not mention Georgetown University by name when discussing the Catholic campus culture wars.

Yes, he did mention the law requiring professors who teach Catholic theology to obtain a Canon 812 “mandatum” (“mandate”) document from their bishops to certify that they are truly Catholic theologians.

Many American bishops have cited a “growing recognition on the part of Catholic colleges and universities of the need to reaffirm their distinctive identity in fidelity to their founding ideals and the church’s mission. … Much remains to be done, especially in such basic areas as compliance with the mandate laid down in Canon 812 for those who teach theological disciplines,” said Benedict, who taught theology at the university level in Germany.

“The importance of this canonical norm as a tangible expression of ecclesial communion and solidarity in the church’s educational apostolate becomes all the more evident when we consider the confusion created by instances of apparent dissidence between some representatives of Catholic institutions and the church’s pastoral leadership: such discord harms the church’s witness and, as experience has shown, can easily be exploited to compromise her authority and her freedom.”

Benedict’s remarks to the bishops of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Wyoming came during the fourth of five Vatican visits by Americans reporting on life in their dioceses. His January address, to the bishops of Washington, D.C., Baltimore and the U.S. Armed Services, made news with its focus on threats to religious liberty. It came shortly before Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said the Obama administration would not withdraw its rules requiring the majority of religious institutions to cover all Food and Drug Administration-approved forms of contraception in health-insurance plans offered to employees, as well as to students.

Now, the pope has emphasized the need for Catholic educators to remain faithful in the same time frame as Georgetown University’s announcement that one featured speaker during its commencement rites will be none other than Sebelius — a liberal Catholic who last year warned abortion-rights activists that “we are in a war” to protect women from conservatives.

Conservative Catholics protested — see GeorgetownScandal.com — claiming that the Jesuit school’s invitation represented yet another violation of the 2004 U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops policy stating: “Catholic institutions should not honor those who act in defiance of our fundamental moral principles. They should not be given awards, honors or platforms which would suggest support for their actions.” The University of Notre Dame ignited a 2009 firestorm by granting President Barack Obama an honorary doctor of laws degree.

While it’s easy to focus on this new commencement controversy, Benedict’s address represents another skirmish in more than two decades of conflict between Rome and liberal Catholics entrenched on many college and university campuses. At the heart of the conflict is a 1990 “apostolic constitution” on education issued by Pope John Paul II titled “Ex Corde Ecclesiae” (“From the Heart of the Church”).

That document contains numerous statements that trouble American academics, including this one: “Catholic teaching and discipline are to influence all university activities, while the freedom of conscience of each person is to be fully respected. Any official action or commitment of the university is to be in accord with its Catholic identity.”

“That captures pretty much everything,” noted Patrick J. Reilly, president of the conservative Cardinal Newman Society.

Thus, in his address to the visiting American bishops, the pope stressed that Catholic universities are supposed to be helping the church defend its teachings, in an age in which they are constantly under attack.

The goal, said Benedict, is for Catholic schools to provide a “bulwark against the alienation and fragmentation which occurs when the use of reason is detached from the pursuit of truth and virtue. …”

Pope to U.S. bishops: reform of Catholic universities the ‘most urgent challenge’

ROME, May 11, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Against a backdrop of institutionalized opposition to Catholic teaching in much of American Catholic academia, Pope Benedict XVI has told visiting U.S. bishops that Catholic colleges need to return to being a bastion of orthodoxy against an increasingly hostile and aggressive secular world.

While improvements have been made, Pope Benedict said, “much remains to be done,” particularly in “such basic areas” as compliance with Canon 812 of the Code of Canon Law. That section mandates that theology professors at Catholic universities be faithful to the teaching of the Church.

Canon 218 says, “Those who are engaged in the sacred disciplines enjoy a lawful freedom of inquiry and of prudently expressing their opinions on matters in which they have expertise, while observing due respect for the magisterium of the Church.”

This lack of progress, the pope said, has created confusion by “instances of apparent dissidence” between academics and the bishops. “Such discord harms the Church’s witness and, as experience has shown, can easily be exploited to compromise her authority and her freedom.”

The issue of religious freedom is at the top of the American bishops’ agenda at the moment, in the midst of their fight against the Obama administration’s attempt to mandate coverage of artificial birth control by Catholic institutions. Even as the U.S. bishops have fought the Obama mandate, prominent Catholic organizations have expressed their support, undercutting the efforts of the bishops. Most recently Georgetown University, a Catholic Jesuit university, invited Kathleen Sebelius, who as secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services was the architect of the birth control mandate, as a commencement speaker.

The pope called the need to reform Catholic academia the “most urgent internal challenge facing the Catholic community” in the U.S.

“Catholic identity, not least at the university level, entails much more than the teaching of religion or the mere presence of a chaplaincy on campus.

“All too often, it seems, Catholic schools and colleges have failed to challenge students to reappropriate their faith,” Benedict continued.

In the decades since the 1960s, most Catholic universities and colleges in the U.S., and around the world, have shifted their focus from being bastions of Catholic orthodoxy against the outside world’s secularism, to playing along with the zeitgeist, especially in areas of sexual morality. Most critics agree that this shift in Catholic academia was the source and engine of the more general shift in the same direction throughout the Church’s institutions and among the laity.

In recent years, this shift toward a secularist orientation has shown itself prominently in Catholic academia’s quiet, or even open support first for contraception use, then legal abortion, homosexual behaviour and most recently euthanasia.

The scramble of American Catholic academia away from Church teaching on sexual matters began to be seen in public in 1967 when Fr. Charles Curran, a former theological advisor or “peritus” at the Second Vatican Council, was re-instated at his tenured professorship at Catholic University of America (CUA) after having been sacked for opposing Catholic teaching on artificial contraception.

Curran, who was barred by the Vatican from teaching Catholic theology and now teaches at a Methodist university, became a herald of the new, updated and heavily secularized version of Catholicism when in 1968, he, together with 600 other theologians, authored an open letter formally dissenting from Pope Paul VI’s encyclical on contraception, Humanae Vitae.

This new, and increasingly popular version of Catholicism became highly fashionable, first at CUA, the American Catholic Church’s flagship educational institution, then throughout most of the Church’s most prominent colleges, seminaries and convents. From there, the idea of the “loyal dissenter” in the Catholic intellectual establishment spread out into the political world, leading finally to the advent of the “pro-choice” Catholic politicians who now represent the majority of Catholics in public life.

In the current, highly politicized climate since the reaction of the U.S. bishops against the Obama administration’s contraception mandate, some Catholic colleges are starting to pull back from full support for the secularist agenda.

In an address to Catholic academic loyalists at Franciscan University of Steubenville, Cardinal Newman Society (CNS) President Patrick J. Reilly said that a return to Catholic orthodoxy, far from being a retreat to the “Catholic ghetto,” would create a strong line of defense for religious liberty in the U.S.

“There is little question that the apparent hypocrisy of some Catholic colleges, charities, schools and other entities—which may dissent from church teachings, or may have watered down their religious identity in search of state and federal funds—reduces public sympathy for groups whose rights are threatened,” Reilly said.
 
“There is no question that the threats to Catholics’ religious liberty are wrong. But it is the failure of the Church to respond adequately to dissent, to clearly distinguish Catholic from secular identity, that endangers even the most faithful Catholic apostolates by feeding suspicion in a culture already suspicious of the Church,” he continued.

Reilly’s remarks are in line with Pope Benedict’s previous messages to visiting American bishops this year. Speaking to the bishops of Baltimore and Washington in January, the pope said, “The legitimate separation of Church and State cannot be taken to mean that the Church must be silent on certain issues, nor that the State may choose not to engage, or be engaged by, the voices of committed believers in determining the values which will shape the future of the nation.”

He noted that the founding American political “consensus” of political, social and religious liberty, “has eroded significantly in the face of powerful new cultural currents” that are “directly opposed to core moral teachings of the Judeo-Christian tradition” and “increasingly hostile to Christianity as such”.

Terry Mattingly: Pope Benedict lectures the professors

In his latest address to American bishops visiting Rome, Pope Benedict XVI stressed that Catholic educators should remain true to the faith — a reminder issued just in time for another tense season of commencement addresses.

No, the pope did not mention Georgetown University by name when discussing the Catholic campus culture wars.

Yes, he did mention the law requiring professors who teach Catholic theology to obtain a Canon 812 “mandatum” (“mandate”) document from their bishops to certify that they are truly Catholic theologians.

Many American bishops have cited a “growing recognition on the part of Catholic colleges and universities of the need to reaffirm their distinctive identity in fidelity to their founding ideals and the church’s mission. … Much remains to be done, especially in such basic areas as compliance with the mandate laid down in Canon 812 for those who teach theological disciplines,” said Benedict, who taught theology at the university level in Germany.

“The importance of this canonical norm as a tangible expression of ecclesial communion and solidarity in the church’s educational apostolate becomes all the more evident when we consider the confusion created by instances of apparent dissidence between some representatives of Catholic institutions and the church’s pastoral leadership: such discord harms the church’s witness and, as experience has shown, can easily be exploited to compromise her authority and her freedom.”

Benedict’s remarks to the bishops of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Wyoming came during the fourth of five Vatican visits by Americans reporting on life in their dioceses. His January address, to the bishops of Washington, D.C., Baltimore and the U.S. Armed Services, made news with its focus on threats to religious liberty. It came shortly before Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said the Obama administration would not withdraw its rules requiring the majority of religious institutions to cover all Food and Drug Administration-approved forms of contraception in health-insurance plans offered to employees, as well as to students.

Now, the pope has emphasized the need for Catholic educators to remain faithful in the same time frame as Georgetown University’s announcement that one featured speaker during its commencement rites will be none other than Sebelius — a liberal Catholic who last year warned abortion-rights activists that “we are in a war” to protect women from conservatives.

Conservative Catholics protested — see GeorgetownScandal.com — claiming that the Jesuit school’s invitation represented yet another violation of the 2004 U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops policy stating: “Catholic institutions should not honor those who act in defiance of our fundamental moral principles. They should not be given awards, honors or platforms which would suggest support for their actions.” The University of Notre Dame ignited a 2009 firestorm by granting President Barack Obama an honorary doctor of laws degree.

While it’s easy to focus on this new commencement controversy, Benedict’s address represents another skirmish in more than two decades of conflict between Rome and liberal Catholics entrenched on many college and university campuses. At the heart of the conflict is a 1990 “apostolic constitution” on education issued by Pope John Paul II titled “Ex Corde Ecclesiae” (“From the Heart of the Church”).

That document contains numerous statements that trouble American academics, including this one: “Catholic teaching and discipline are to influence all university activities, while the freedom of conscience of each person is to be fully respected. Any official action or commitment of the university is to be in accord with its Catholic identity.”

“That captures pretty much everything,” noted Patrick J. Reilly, president of the conservative Cardinal Newman Society.

Thus, in his address to the visiting American bishops, the pope stressed that Catholic universities are supposed to be helping the church defend its teachings, in an age in which they are constantly under attack.

The goal, said Benedict, is for Catholic schools to provide a “bulwark against the alienation and fragmentation which occurs when the use of reason is detached from the pursuit of truth and virtue. …

“Catholic institutions have a specific role to play in helping to overcome the crisis of universities today. Firmly grounded in this vision of the intrinsic interplay of faith, reason and the pursuit of human excellence, every Christian intellectual and all the church’s educational institutions must be convinced, and desirous of convincing others, that no aspect of reality remains alien to, or untouched by, the mystery of the redemption and the Risen Lord’s dominion over all creation.”