Anne Rice Quits Christianity

Friday, July 30, 2010, First Things Blog, Elizabeth Scalia.

Anne Rice, whose book Called Out of Darkness was a beautifully-written spiritual confession, has decided that she loves Christ but not Christians.

She’s neither the first nor the last to feel that way. Sometimes I do, too. Sometimes I hate myself as a Christian, because I do the thing so badly. Christianity is easy to do badly. You take the dogma and leave out the love – you’re doing it wrong. You try to “correct” others and bring too much “righteousness” and not enough love – you’re doing it wrong. Apply too much love, without accountability – you’re doing it wrong, then, too.

We cheat Christ when we do it badly. We cheat Christ and each other when we teach Him badly. We cheat Christ and each other and the Church when we catechize poorly, or when we approach the Supernatural with superficiality; when we stop applying thought to it. Forty years of sloppy, empty elementary catechesis during concurrent social revolution and generational upheaval was a bad choice for the churches, who now reap what they have sown.

Continue reading at The Anchoress | A First Things Blog

Bill Maher and his Bozo Fans

I'm not sure who to feel more contempt for - Bill Maher or his bozo fans in the audience. Maher is simply a lying shit-head and his approving audience must surely have shit for brains. There is no evidence that Pope Benedict XVI has been involved in any cover-up of sex abuse. I'm sure Maher gets much of his information from reading the rants of Christopher Hitchens. But so much of what Hitchens writes against the Catholic Church is easily refuted with the facts.

Tom Piatak from Chronicles Magazine debunks much of what Hitchens writes as does Sean Murphy who includes 80 footnotes in his article tearing to bits the lies of Hitchens.

From about 2:50 into the video Maher continues his lies this time directed at the Catholic League whose public criticism of Maher can be found here. It’s interesting to note the responses the Catholic League received from Maher bosses:

HBO spokesman stated ‘it’s a free country, and people are free to say silly things—even on HBO.’
And from Time/Warner, Maher’s anti-Catholic remarks were a matter of ‘creative freedom.’

Okay, so Bill Maher is a jerk who is permitted to lie and say silly things because comedians are given ‘creative freedom’. But what is funny about falsely accusing Pope Benedict of covering up sex abuse. Maybe Maher’s laughing fans are just bozos.

Sex au Naturel

Purchasing details.

Primacy of Truth over Power. St. Thomas More, Man for This [and All] Seasons

By Deacon Keith Fournier 22nd July 2010 Catholic Online (http://www.catholic.org/)
The England of the sixteenth century was in the midst of a serious crisis of politics, culture and faith, not unlike the times in which we now live
Thomas More showed heroic courage in the face of a State which had lost its soul. He Never wavered in his fidelity to the Truth. He would not betray the truth or compromise it on the altar of public opinion for political opportunism. Thomas More was brought to trial for his fidelity to the Truth. As is often the case with persecution against Christians, it was framed as a charge against the "positive law".
Continue reading at Catholic Online

Also from EWTN Live:
Sir Thomas More - Fr. Mitch Pacwa, S.J. with Dr. Samuel Gregg

Holy See and Russia establish full diplomatic ties

Vatican City, Jul 28, 2010 / 11:32 am (CNA/EWTN News).

Just under two weeks ago Russian officials accepted the credentials of Archbishop Antonio Mennini as the first papal nuncio to their country. The event ushers in a new era of full diplomatic relations between the Holy See and the Russian Federation.

The Vatican's L'Osservatore Romano (LOR) newspaper reported that Foreign Affairs minister Sergei Lavrov met with Archbishop Mennini on July 15 in Moscow to seal full diplomatic relations, which Pope Benedict XVI and president Dmitry Medvedev had agreed to last December. Just a month ago, on June 26, the Holy See accepted the credentials of Mr. Nikolai Sadlichov as ambassador from Russia.

Continue reading at Catholic News Agency (CNA)

CHINA Xiwanzi underground priest arrested again after three years in prison - Asia News

Beijing (AsiaNews) July 2010.

On July 24th authorities in northern Hebei province arrested Fr. Peter Wang, a priest of the Diocese of Xiwanzi. The priest was stopped immediately after being released from prison, where he spent the last three years for having celebrated a Mass with government permission. The authorities want to force Fr. Wang to join the Patriotic Association.

According Ucanews.com, some relatives of the priest were waiting - along with about 20 lay people of the diocese - outside the gates of the Tangshang Jidong prison. As the gates opened at 4 am, Fr. Wang was able to take only a few steps before being grabbed by 4 men, who pushed him into a car and brought him back into the prison.

About an hour after the gates were reopened to allow two police cars pass. The crowd stopped the car to talk to the priest. According to one source, Fr. Wang told them "not to create problems with the police. He added that he was in good health and asked us to let him go". Several hours later, he phoned his sister to say that he was "doing well".

Catholics believe that local authorities would like Fr. Wang to “work in the light of the day by accepting the authority of the government run Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association". The fast "re-arrest," they explain, comes from the fact that the police fear that the faithful will hide and protect him once back home.

Continue reading CHINA Xiwanzi underground priest arrested again after three years in prison at Asia News

Wikipedia entry on the Communist backed Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association.

Pope reflects on beauty of radical acceptance of God's call

Vatican City, Jun 27, 2010 / 10:55 am (CNA/EWTN News).

Before reciting the Angelus prayer from the window of his apartment in the Vatican's Apostolic Palace, Pope Benedict XVI spoke today about "radical" responses to divine vocations. Referring to Sunday's readings he took up the theme of Christ's call to us and "its demands."

As the Pope looked out over the crowd gathered to join him for the weekly prayer on Sunday at noon, he saw a smattering of Polish flags waving, especially well represented now that the country's children have just begun their summer vacation and brightly colored parasols were used to shelter many of the pilgrims from the intense Mediterranean sun.

Referring to the day's Gospel reading from Luke in which Jesus asks those on the road to Jerusalem to cut their family ties and follow him, the Holy Father explained that the demands Jesus makes of Christians might seem "too tough."

"But," he went on, "in reality they express the newness and the absolute priority of the Kingdom of God that makes itself present in the very Person of Jesus Christ."

He said that, upon further analysis, "it's about that radicalism that is due to the Love of God, to which Jesus himself is the first to obey

Continue reading at CNA - Pope reflects on beauty of radical acceptance of God's call

New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan rips New York Times coverage of Pope

July 2010

Because of all the inaccuracies in the recent coverage of the Catholic Church in the New York Times and other publications, appearing in news articles, editorials, and op-eds, I was tempted to try my best to offer corrections to the multitude of errors. However, I soon realized that this would probably be a full time job.
It is a source of consternation as to why, instead of complimenting the Vatican and a reformer like Pope Benedict XVI, for codifying procedures long advocated by critics, such outfits would instead choose to intrude on a matter of internal doctrine, namely the ordination of women.
But, correcting the paper is not what really matters. What is important is the well-being of God’s people, especially of His little ones.
The bottom line is that the Holy Father, the Vatican, and the Church universal regards with the utmost seriousness the heinous and sinful crime of child abuse and is committed to doing everything it can to ensure that justice is served and that such abuse never happens again.
If critics want to say, “It’s about time,” fair enough. But for critics to continue their obsessive criticism of Benedict XVI, claiming that he just “doesn’t get it,” is simply out of bounds.

Continue reading at the website of the Archdiocese of New York.

Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger’s (Pope Benedict XVI) Foreword to U.M. Lang's "Turning Towards the Lord: Orientation in Liturgical Prayer"

Ignatius Insight

To the ordinary churchgoer, the two most obvious effects of the liturgical reform of the Second Vatican Council seem to be the disappearance of Latin and the turning of the altars towards the people. Those who read the relevant texts will be astonished to learn that neither is in fact found in the decrees of the Council. The use of the vernacular is certainly permitted, especially for the Liturgy of the Word, but the preceding general rule of the Council text says, 'Particular law remaining in force, the use of the Latin language is to be preserved in the Latin rites' (Sacrosanctum Concilium, 36.1).

Continue reading Cardinal Ratzinger’s Foreword to U.M. Lang's Book "Turning Towards the Lord: Orientation in Liturgical Prayer" at Ignatius Insight

China’s Divided Catholics Seek Reconciliation

NPR July 20, 2010. Second of five parts

For decades, China's Catholics — estimated at more than 12 million — have been bitterly divided. Some worship in China's government-sanctioned Catholic churches, others in "underground" churches loyal to the Vatican.

But three years ago, Pope Benedict XVI sent a letter to Chinese Catholics — the first from a pope in more than a half-century — urging reconciliation. Yet China's Catholics have struggled to follow these instructions.

Early morning in Sheshan, on the outskirts of Shanghai, Catholics kneel on the ground in front of the pilgrimage shrine to the Virgin Mary, known as the Marian shrine. A cacophony of prayer rises as different groups of pilgrims conduct their services, singing hymns of praise almost loud enough to drown each other out.

Continue reading China’s Divided Catholics Seek Reconciliation : NPR