Search or Browse Commentary
All Catholic commentary from February 2005
Uh oh
Keeping the Faith: Becoming a Priest in Today's Catholic Church will be broadcast this evening on the Times/Discovery Channel. Cincinnati Archbishop Daniel Pilarczyk gave permission. That's bad. The rector of seminary thinks it's "fair." That's worse. "It shows the humanity of the...
Good news for Oakland playgrounds
In last November's San Franciso Faith, a former Dominican seminarian vented his exasperation with certain aspects of the western province, most importantly the fact that former sexual offenders were stashed in an Oakland priory and the major superior, Fr. Daniel Syverstad, O.P., let it be known...
the liturgy of the word
Barbara Nicolosi calls attention to Amy Welborn's "gist of the sermon" thread and makes some well-aimed observations of her own. I remember, as a child, my Mother would, every now and then, ask us in the car on the way home from Mass, what Father had said in his homily. Generally, her request...
Moscow Spring?
44 years after he entered the Society of Jesus, and 33 years after his ordination as a priest, Fr. Joseph Fessio, S.J., publisher of Catholic World Report and chancellor of Ave Maria University, has been informed that he will be permitted to take final vows as a Jesuit. That should put an end to...
Mass grave? No, no. We call that common ground.
Charlotte Hays asks, Is Hillary becoming ever-so-faintly pro-life? Count me in with the skeptics -- correction -- count me in with those who insist there's nothing to be skeptical about. She's pure pro-abort, red in tooth and claw. But didn't she claim to respect the consciences of...
The 10 challenges for liberal Catholic politicans
From the same diocesan website that gave you a gay pride rainbow flag on its gay/lesbian outreach pages, the Diocese of Cleveland's Secretarat for Education and Catechesis lists Ten Challenges for Catholic Leaders in the Aftermath of the Presidential Election. Among these challenges are the...
the power of a jpeg
We've seen it happen already in Minnesota, South Africa, and Austria: the faithful complain about irregular or deviant practices; they get brushed off by the Chancery; someone posts a photo illustrating the situation on the Net and -- quicker than you can say, "We're on a learning curve here" -- a...
obsessed?
Papal fixation with sex upsets priests declaims Melbourne's daily newspaper The Age. "Most [priests ordained between 1955 and 1975] are no longer committed to the old taboos on sexuality. Most do not believe that couples living together are doing something very wrong," [Father Eric...
Open-and-shut case
"He is a liar." Those are strong words, harsh words-- especially when applied to a Catholic archbishop. But if you read the documents unearthed by the WCPO TV investigative team in Cincinnati, you'll have trouble finding any other words to apply to Archbishop Daniel Pilarczyk. The...
promise breakers
Rod Dreher flags this excellent editorial on John Stack, the ex-Jesuit who attracted our own attention by his decision to ignore his vows and take a wife. The author is Wick Allison, editor of D Magazine, whose "Open Letter to the Bishops," issued just prior to their Dallas meeting in June 2002,...
witchhunt bags another mythical being
The Capuchin Order brother pleaded guilty to two counts of indecently assaulting his nephew between February 27, 1978, and February 27, 1982, at two locations in Ireland.Patrick MacEntee SC, for the 51-year-old brother, told Judge Frank O'Donnell his client had committed the offences at a time...
Imprinting
An Austrian zoologist named Konrad Lorenz identified a phenomenon called "imprinting" through his observations that newly hatched goslings tended to bond with the first object encountered after their emergence from the dark world of the eggshell. There's a whole generation of liberal...
Soheyla's Choice
A woman in England using 21st century contraceptive technology finds she is pregnant with quadruplets. The BBC pounces on the human equation. Elizabeth Bryan, founder of the Multiple Births Association, told the BBC there were risks in trying to carry multiple babies. She said many of these...
disservice
Frances "Killing Me Softly" Kissling notes several major problems with Sen. Brownback's Unborn Child Pain Awareness Act, including the following: The bill's single-minded focus on the fetus to be aborted is a disservice to other fetuses. That's a...
Too many of you. Just enough of me.
As many as nine Sri Lankan couples were locked in a custody battle for the foundling Tsunami Baby 81. Surely there must be some mistake. After all, First Worlders with post-graduate degrees have long targeted South Asian countries for population control programs, and here was a perfect...
the bishop vanishes
Thomas Dupre has made himself scarce lately. Can he really be "in good standing"...
an effective life of ministry, sadly impaired by anthrax
A gay priest with a reputation for shower-gazing and indelicate contact and conversation announced his own resignation and that of his friend and minister of music recently busted for masturbating in a mall restroom. That's as much as I could squeeze into a lead sentence summarizing the abruptly...
Not quite a denial
When he gave his blessing to the Angelus audience on Sunday, the Pope's voice sounded, frankly, horrible. But then it got better. A lot better. So much better that some people were suspicious-- especially because, right at the point when his voice improved, the Pope also switched from Latin to...
DALLAS STORY
Diogenes, there was an interesting assertion in that Dallas Morning News story: "A lawyer wrote the bishop in 1993 to say that Father Richard had been sexually harassing several boys at a Dallas Catholic high school and a Plano church. Sworn statements from three boys followed, describing...
Hear No Evil—My Perspective on Rock Music
When I was a child, I was not exposed to as much contemporary music as my peers. My father listened to Bing Crosby, Louis Armstrong and John Denver; my mother to mostly classical music. Aside from a very few songs like La Bamba, Lean on Me and those from a Little Anthony and the Imperials album, I...
sing a new church into being
George Weigel provides an interesting synopsis of David Barrett's "Annual Statistical Table on Global Mission": Of the 6.4 billion people on Planet Earth, some 2.1 billion, or 33.1 percent, are Christians of one sort or another. As there were only some 558 million Christians in the world in...
Defrocked!
Here's the lead of an AP story: LEXINGTON, Ky. -- Lexington Episcopal Bishop Stacy Sauls has moved to defrock three priests and one deacon who ... Shouldn't be too hard for the reader to complete the sentence, should it? God knows there's plenty clergy-initiated mischief out there and too...
amends
Now that Paul Shanley has been tried and convicted, it's fitting to pay tribute to one of the heroines of the drama, 63-year-old Jackie Gauvreau of Newton, who since the mid-1980s has been trying to get the attention of the Church in regard to Shanley. She contacted three priests, two bishops,...
Helpful handcuffs
Bronson Havard, the spokesman for the Dallas diocese, has an amazing resilience to embarrassment. That's just as well; it seems to be a job requirement. So we're not surprised when, in response to the news that the district attorney is conducting a criminal investigation of the diocese, Havard...
Haight mail
Today's Osservatore Romano carries a blistering "Notification" -- dated 13 December 2004 -- concerning the work of a New York Province Jesuit, Fr. Roger Haight, S.J. "Grave doctrinal errors against the divine and Catholic faith of the Church" are identified in Haight's book Jesus Symbol of God in...
half of the lies they tell about us aren't true
A spokesman for the Diocese of Dallas scored the Dallas Morning News for "major inaccuracies" in its coverage of recent clergy sex scandals. Well, Mr. Spokesman, could you name some of the major inaccuracies for your fellow Catholics? Could you even give us a hint, perhaps? Wrong priest? Wrong...
christology in the crosshairs
The CNS article on the CDF's Notification regarding the errors of Fr. Roger Haight, S.J., includes the following gem: At the start of his book, Father Haight expresses the conviction that in the postmodern era, with its pervasive consciousness of pluralism, "Christianity in the 21st century...
The Episcopal Leadership Card Game
For play by 2 or more Catholics loyal to the Pope. You'll need 6 index cards or slips of paper-- any size or description, as long as they're all the same. On one card, list the special events and programs your bishop has organized, in response to the request from Pope John Paul, to promote...
Cheerleaders for Kinsey
The movie is "well-crafted, intelligently made," the reviewer tells us. True, it's about a "sometimes difficult man," but you can feel the reviewer's contempt for those who think that he was "in league with the devil or the Communists, undermining the moral foundations of western society."...
Slash my budget, please
Since President Bush delivered his State of the Union message, how many news reports have you read in which the reporter mentioned the White House plans to "slash" domestic spending? Under the President's plans-- to which Congress will surely add-- discretionary spending on domestic programs...
Mandatory papal retirement?
While some have been talking about a possible papal retirement, based on the Holy Father's most recent health scare (including us here at CWN: see the link below), there has also been talk recently of creating a mandatory papal retirement age, like that which is in effect for bishops. Canonist Ed...
Inside look at the Pope's health crisis
Speaking of the recent health scare for Pope John Paul, our colleagues at Inside the Vatican have an insider's view of the events of February 1 based on their own reporting and Italian news reports. According to one source they quote, the Holy Father was ten minutes from death when he was brought...
desertion in the face of the enemy
When the Catholic Church rids its clerical ranks of the Grahmanns and the Richards, and starts producing bishops and priests with even half the moral courage of Gen. Mattis, the vocations crisis will solve itself. Until then, no man graced with valor and honor will long to give up his life to run...
More Catholic than... Mahony?
I don't know if Cardinal Mahony has the authority to change the observance of Ash Wednesday to another day, even with the conflict of the Chinese New Year. But he did. Nevertheless, some folks do put their religion first, despite his best efforts: Mary Kay Yu of Camarillo, a Catholic whose...
We have met the enemy...
So maybe we here at CWNews.com are the enemy. Maybe Rod Dreher, of the Dallas Morning News, is the enemy. Maybe only a very few clergy are involved in the scandal but the rest are manly and brave, the Church is in great shape, it’s springtime in the faith, and we’re just suffering from some kind...
Toastmaster
The Prince of Wales plans to marry a divorced woman, and the London Times headline about clerical reaction tells the whole story: "Civil Ceremony Wins Approval of Clergy. Most of the story is of course devoted to statements from Anglican divines, who say what you would expect Anglican leaders...
combat ready
Later, when [Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Angelo] Sodano gave Rice a medal with reference to the Christian roots of Europe, he pointedly observed, "There's no need to underscore the Christian roots of America," a way of saying that by comparison to Europe, America has preserved its...
The case for drug abuse
If you're a competitive athlete, the argument in favor of using steroids is pretty clear. With your physique improved through the wonders of chemistry, you can have more fun, be more popular, improve your team's performance-- and, if you're a pro, make a lot more money. Still, you shouldn't...
my life with hillary
Fr. William Byron, S.J., erstwhile president of Catholic U, recounts for Commonweal a conversation he had with Hillary Clinton in 1994: This prompted the first lady to ask how the abortion debate might be raised to a more civil, constructive, and respectful level of discourse. I suggested she...
"My Way"
Canon 285 §1 Clerics are to shun completely everything that is unbecoming to their state, in accordance with the provisions of particular law. §2 Clerics are to avoid whatever is foreign to their state, even when it is not unseemly. §3 Clerics are to remember to tip the bass player -- or at...
transparency, anyone?
The current America has a brief notice on the wing-clipping of Roger Haight, S.J. by the CDF: The notification said Father Haight's assertion that Catholic theology must be "in dialogue" with the modern world leads him to downplay or deny central teachings of the church, including that the Word...
tending the flock
"From time to time, Father Richard invited me to his bedroom, which made me uncomfortable and afraid," said a former altar boy's affidavit, which was filed in a lawsuit against the diocese. "Father Richard discussed bestiality with my brother and me, and seemed to imply he had participated in...
Valentine’s Day—Love It or Hate It?
While Valentine’s Day certainly provides couples an opportunity to show their love and respect for each other, in secular interpretation it has come to be a day of token gestures, designed to bail us out of all the grief that we have caused our “significant other” over the course...
substantial unity
In May 2004, The former Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship, Cardinal Jorge Medina-Estevez, wrote in his retirement -- and in his own person -- a letter to the editor of an Italian Catholic journal that included the following paragraph: I reaffirm my personal opinion that the...
the pastoral approach
The Church Times discusses the special circumstances attending the upcoming exchange of china between the Prince of Wales and Mrs. Parker Bowles: Since St George's Chapel is a Royal Peculiar, there must be some doubt whether it is bound to adhere to provisions in Common Worship. An online...
cracks in the dike
Australia's Selena Ewing writes an essay on abortion commendable for its spunk and remarkable for its place of publication, Melbourne's daily The Age -- the editorial twin of the Boston Globe. So here's the truth. Most women don't hate men, and most women don't like abortion. Some women may...
America's Cutest Bishop!
The Detroit Free Press has yet another laudatory profile of soon-to-be-ex Bishop Thomas Gumbleton (thanks to Bill Cork for the link), citing examples of his predictable independent thinking and calling irresistibly to mind Tom Stoppard's description of James Joyce: "a complex personality, an...
There will be a very very special collection next Sunday
The future has arrived. The Church of England is to grant partners of homosexual clergy who have registered under the Government's new civil partnership scheme the same pension rights as clergy spouses.The disclosure, made at the General Synod last night, could prove an embarrassment to the...
our ailing polish pontiff
"The only thing wrong with that bloody Turk was that he couldn't shoot straight!"-- Irish Jesuit, May 13th 1981, lamenting the failure of the Pope's would-be assassin. Lots of liberal Catholics who have heretofore not distinguished themselves by respect for the Pope or esteem for Catholic...
à propos of nothing
If a proud but timid man were threatened with rape -- trapped in an alley, say, by a thug with a knife -- and succumbed out of fear, one can imagine that his shame would prove fertile in inventing elaborate rationalizations for his submission, in order to [begin digression] ...when it was...
"a creepy little scene"
When Democrats democratize with Democrats. "We shouldn't ... have a special-interest group define our stand on choice," said former Rep. Tim Roemer, a Democrat from Indiana, referring to abortion-rights groups such as NARAL Pro-Choice America.The hissing began at the rear of the room full of...
'Tis the season
As it's that time of year again for the traditional campus controversies surrounding the Vagina Monologues, may I re-submit my modest proposal for driving a stake through its...
Consider the source
The US bishops have sent an open letter to Congress, questioning the spending policies of the federal government. The letter is signed by Bishop William Skylstad of Spokane, the president of the bishops' conference. Now if Congress is feeling feisty, the Speaker of the House could send a...
ye of little faith
Some students at Notre Dame are trying to block the annual production of the V-Monologues: "We are sliding toward the way of Boston College and Georgetown (University)," Lindsley said, referring to Notre Dame gradually losing its Catholic identity. Sliding? Sliding? Don't these Domers...
And have a nice day!
Sunlight. Flowers. Butterflies. You just know it has to be...
Sister Joan explains it all for you
A disappointing shoddy breathtakingly stupid essay this week from Joan Chittister in the NCR: Obviously, the whole question of the morality of abortion is a serious and an imperative one, as is birth control for some denominations and alcohol for others, for instance. Just as obvious, however,...
Unpleasantness at the L.A. Times
Charlotte Allen of the Independent Women's Forum wrote an op-ed for the LA Times on women thinkers that pushed card-carrying feminoid Susan Estrich onto the restraint-and-observation list. She vented her wrath in a barely coherent circular e-mail, to which Michael Kinsley responded...
"Do I wish I didn't feel his biceps?"
The new bishops' compliance report is out. It was written, apparently, by the folks who make up the warning labels for fireworks (Caution: always use in a safe manner). It's not that they're wrong. It's that in order to be effective adult supervision is required. And that means the warnings...
Jesuit deathwish?
Today's Times of London has an article on the British Province of the Society of Jesus, focusing on the choice of new provincial superior to succeed Fr. David Smolira, S.J. (To view the article, go here, type "Jesuit" into the search box, choose "search the site," and click on the top result...
Of Whetstones and Grinding Wheels:
The Critics of Pius XII
In recent years, Pope John Paul II has opened a number of new sections of the Vatican’s Secret Archives. This has been done in part because critics of Pius XII insisted that the Archives must contain damning evidence of that Pope’s lack of effort to help Jews. But even as the books and articles...
"absolute fun..."
Dark, dark days in Toledo. [Investigators] spent several days last month trying to determine if there were any connections between the women's allegations and a loose-knit group of church lay members who gathered on church properties while dressed in nuns' clothes.Police interviewed Jerry...
Oh ... that Bishop Dupre!
It's history: The resignation of the former bishop a year ago amid allegations of sexual abuse was conspicuously absent from the second straight positive annual audit of the Springfield Diocese's implementation of the U.S. bishops policy to prevent clergy sexual abuse.A three-page report on the...
family feudal
From the U.K. Telegraph. The other day, the Rt Rev Victor Manuel Rivera laid hands on his daughter Nedi - not in violence but as part of her consecration as Bishop of Olympia, in Washington state. Oddly enough, Bishop Rivera had opposed her ordination as a priest, and she remains unsure of his...
the good death
In 1960, Evelyn Waugh wrote a letter to the editor of the (UK) Spectator on the controversy surrounding the death penalty, which, he said reveals a sharp division between the heathen, who believe that physical survival, even in conditions of degradation, is preferable to extinction, and...
overtaken by compassion
UK Telegraph religion correspondent Jonathan Petre thinks Anglican union is a lost cause -- so much so that he slips into remarkable candor when recounting the cynicism behind the political maneuvers. In his sermon yesterday, [Primate of the American Episcopal Church Frank Griswold] used the...
we are a vernal equinox people
Leftist playwright Arthur "The Crucible" Miller died recently. Mark Steyn fails to join in the general gush. He wasn't amiable enough to be an amiable dunce but he was the most useful of the useful idiots. It was a marvellous inspiration to recast the communist 'hysteria' of the 1950s as the...
off duty
Commenting on Dom's blog, Patrick Sweeney makes an interesting point. I think there's a culture evident in some priests of a "secret identity" they assume by dressing in non-clerical clothing and going to an area where they are not recognized as a priest, but taken for just another middle-aged...
what, me worry?
There may be some nasty stories out there-- about ritual child abuse and murder-- and maybe it's true that prosecutors needed 2 search warrants to get cooperation from Church authorities, but we can all rest easy, knowing that the Diocese of Toledo is in full compliance with the US bishops'...
The Monologues & Marie Antoinette
Promoters of Eve Ensler's V Monologues assert that its purpose is to reduce violence against women. No one, of course, really believes this vacuous claim, but it allows the partisans to paint opponents as villains who positively want to expose women to harm, while it provides them amusement to...
"Sure, I let my kids watch the the Simpsons, why?"
"Any amount of theology can now be smuggled into people’s minds under the cover of romantic or imaginative literature, without their knowing it," wrote C. S. Lewis. Unfortunately, for decades anti-Christians have been smuggling anti-theology into our children's minds. Every institution, from...
All the news that fits the ideology
In sub-Saharan Africa, Uganda is the only country that has enjoyed some success in its efforts to stop the spread of AIDS. The Ugandan policy-- which emphasizes abstinence and marital fidelity rather than condom use-- seems to be working. Since the positive trend in Uganda came to light, 4...
impaired communion ahead
When you're in mid-Atlantic, and the fourth engine on your aircraft just has failed, few flight attendants could spin it for your fellow passengers as happy news with more alacrity than ECUSA's Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold. Listen to him on the impending disintegration of the Anglican...
no prior warning
A couple months ago an Oakland neighborhood was incensed to learn that the local Dominican Priory was used to warehouse clerical sex-offenders. The prior, Fr. Roberto Corral, O.P., attempted to defuse the PR bomb by holding a tightly controlled by-invitation-only meeting with neighbors. The San...
The wrong end of the stick
The big news is that Pope John Paul will not participate in the usual Angelus audience on Sunday. So what's the headline on the AP story, as relayed by ABC? "Pope to Join in Sunday Prayers" Now mind you, neither the ABC headline nor the AP itself is inaccurate. The Pope is going to pray on...
Designs of The Times
At once smug, condescending, and obtuse, the following leader in The Times (U.K.) could serve as a parody of its own sententiousness. The subject on which the editors have chosen to enlighten us is gay bishops and God's mind . It is not The Times's place to ventriloquise for the Almighty, but...
baby ruthless
At the zenith of the Monica Lewinsky scandal, Time magazine's White House reporter Nina Burleigh famously said of President Bill Clinton, "I'd be happy to give him [oral sex] just to thank him for keeping abortion legal." If that strikes you as conduct unbecoming, or even as a politically...
Adoro te ... devote?
"The great achievement of liberal Protestantism," wrote cocky atheist H.L. Mencken in a moment of astute cynicism, "was to make God boring." It's true. Liberal (small-p) protestants, many of whom are (capital-C) Catholic clergy, are bored to distraction by the impotent, changeable, tardily...
Rabbi Law
Q: What's Cardinal Law doing these days? Q: Who is the chief rabbi of Rome? Q: What is the stupidest thing ever said by a television journalist? For answers (not necessarily accurate) to all these questions, check the WHDH-TV archives. The broadcast you want is Friday, 11 pm. (Available,...
Want more commentary? Visit the Archives.
