Fordham to honor Breyer

Catholic University to Honor Justice Breyer Who Wrote Majority Opinion Supporting Partial-Birth Abortion

This headline mostly speaks for itself but for the details check out the article here.

The article reminds readers that, "In contrast, New York Archbishop, Edward Cardinal Egan recently lambasted House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for defending the so-called "right to choose." Egan said: "Anyone who dares to defend that they [children in the womb] may be legitimately killed because another human being 'chooses' to do so or for any other equally ridiculous reason should not be providing leadership in a civilized democracy worthy of the name."

The Cardinal and Fordham may be on a collision course, we will be following this closely.

In considering this matter, it is important to recall remarks made by Archbishop Michael Miller secretary of the Vatican's Congregation for Catholic Education during a visit to Notre Dame in 2005.

Snippets of an article from Notre Dame's campus paper, The Observer, shed some light on the subject (emphasis added).

"As his papacy progresses, Pope Benedict XVI will likely take the path of "evangelical pruning" - or refusing to maintain institutions that have lost their Catholic identity - Archbishop Michael Miller said Monday at Notre Dame's Hesburgh Center auditorium.

"[The pope] argued that it might be better for the Church not to expend its resources trying to preserve institutions if their Catholic identity has been seriously compromised," Miller said.

"His writings show that a time of purification lies ahead, and this undoubtedly will have some ramifications for Catholic institutions."Past writings indicate that the new pope believes it is a mistake to uphold institutions that lack a solid Catholic identity, Miller said."For [the pope] … the measure of an institution can be judged by its Catholic integrity," Miller said.

"If [secularization occurs], it might be a matter of truth and justice that such an institution is no longer upheld. [Pope] Benedict [XVI] and others may believe that if a Catholic institution is no longer motivated by a Catholic identity, it is better to let it go."

Miller said the Church could take two approaches to confront institutions where Catholic identity has been lost: the pope's "evangelical pruning" or a method of hopeful patience."[Proponents of the latter method] believe that while a part of a university's ecclesiastical identity might well be compromised, it is still better that we be patient because the institution is only 'held hostage' by a generation that will pass," he said.

Some Church leaders would rather put up with a "less than ideal" situation and pray for the amelioration of an institution's Catholic identity than dissolve ties with such places, Miller said.

"[The pope] appears to be more inclined to avoid scandal and lead a path of evangelical pruning, but we don't know," he said. "We await."

And wait, and wait, but I get the feeling that we aren't going to have to wait much longer. Fordham seems to be trying to force the Cardinal to react. If Archbishop Miller's words are any indication, the Pope's policy is clear: Succisa Virescit!

Clovis, Benedict and Sarkozy

The Pope's recent visit to France can be declared a success. While the official aim of the trip was a pilgrimage to the shrine at Lourdes for the 150th anniversary of the apparitions, bolstering the Church in Europe and reminding Europeans of their roots--central themes of the life and work of Pope Benedict XVI--were the underlying themes to the trip. Anyone watching the crowds in Lourdes and Paris would agree that the reports of the death of French Catholicism seem greatly exaggerated; furthermore, the face of the Church in France appeared much younger and much more fervent than one would expect. Also, for the first time in decades, French Catholics have an ally in the president's office, Nicholas Sarkozy.

In a speech at St. John Lateran on Dec. 20, 2007, Sarkozy said...

With the baptism of Clovis, France became the eldest daughter of the church. It’s a fact. By making Clovis the first Christian sovereign, that event had important consequences for destiny of France and for the Christianization of Europe. Following that turning point, French sovereigns repeatedly had occasion to demonstrate the deep ties which connected them to the church and the successors of Peter. Beyond the facts of history, France has had a particular relationship with the Holy See above all because the Christian faith penetrated deeply into French society, into its culture, its towns, its mode of life, its architecture, its literature. The roots of France are essentially Christian. Christianity has counted for a great deal for France, and France has counted for a great deal for Christianity …

As with the baptism of Clovis, secularism is also a fact in our country. I know the suffering that its application in France has produced for Catholics, for priests and for religious congregations, before and after 1905. I know that interpretation of the law of 1905 as a text of liberty, of tolerance, and of neutrality is in part a selective reconstruction of the past. It was above all through their sacrifices in the trenches during the Great Wars, through their sharing in the suffering of their fellow citizens, that the priests and religious of France disarmed anti-clericalism; their common intelligence has allowed France and the Holy See to overcome their disagreements and to reestablish diplomatic relations …

Laïcité is to be affirmed as necessary and opportune, but laïcité should not mean negation of the past. It does not have the power to eliminate from France its Christian roots. It has tried to do so, and it shouldn’t have.

Along with Benedict XVI, I believe that a nation which ignores the ethical, spiritual and religious inheritance of its history commits a crime against its own culture, against that blend of history, patrimony, art and popular tradition which deeply impregnates our way of life and our thought. To take away those roots means to lose meaning, to weaken the cement of national identity and to further fray social relationships that need symbols of memory.

For that reason, we have to hold together the two ends of the rope: accepting the Christian roots of France, while also valuing and continuing to defend a laïcité which has reached maturity."

Sentiments Benedict shared, speaking alongside Sarkozy in Paris, NCR's John Allen reports...

"In fact, it is fundamental, on the one hand, to insist upon the distinction between the political realm and that of religion in order to preserve both the religious freedom of citizens and the responsibility of the state toward them,” the pope said during the encounter with Sarkozy and other officials of the French government.

“On the other hand, [it is important] to become more aware of the irreplaceable role of religion for the formation of consciences and the contribution which it can bring to – among other things – the creation of a basic ethical consensus within society,” the pope said.

Benedict pointed to five specific areas where church and state can work together:

• Moral formation of the young

• Social justice, especially a “surreptitious widening of the distance between the rich and poor”

• Environmental protection

• Human rights

• Countering a “resurgence of old suspicions, tensions and conflicts among nations” – among other things, an indirect reference to the current conflict between Russia and Georgia.

While calling for a re-think of laïcité, Benedict also said that “past suspicion” between church and state in France has abated, saying that today a largely “serene and positive” dialogue exists between the two forces.

Quoting past remarks by Sarkozy, Benedict said that “the roots of France – like those of Europe – are Christian.”

“The transmission of the culture of antiquity through monks, professors and copyists, the formation of hearts and spirits in love of the poor, the assistance given to the most deprived by the foundation of numerous religious congregations, the contribution of Christians to the establishment of the institutions of Gaul, and later France, all of this is too well known for me to dwell on it,” Benedict said.

“The thousands of chapels, churches, abbeys and cathedrals that grace the heart of your towns or the tranquility of your countryside clearly speak of how your fathers in faith wished to honor him who had given them life and who sustains us in existence,” Benedict said."

It seems that on all of Benedict's previous trips, his presence has been a force for revitalizing Catholic life in the places he visits; meetings with seminarians and bishops are building a positive fraternal bond between the pontiff and his priests (and priests to be).

The Church in France is faced with special difficulties: the French bishops have been rather tepid in engaging in dialogue with the secular culture, and conflict between the bishops and the formidable block of traditionalist adherents to the Latin Mass have been a tragic central element to the past few decades of French Catholic life.

The Pope however expressed his hope to the French Bishops that they would reevaluate their stance towards the traditionalists and embrace them, "So that the seamless robe of Christ is not torn anymore." As the Popemobile traveled down the streets of Paris, traditional-minded Catholics held banners thanking the Pope for freeing the Tridentine Mass with Summorum Pontificum. Likewise the old Vendee flag of the Sacred-Heart and Cross imprinted on the Republic Tri-Color waving to greet the Pope was a common sight wherever Catholics gathered.

France has historically been both the eldest daughter of the Church. The land of saints, Joan of Arc, Martin of Tours, Jean Viany, Isaac Jogues, and Crispin just to scratch the surface, it is also home to arguably the most beautiful Cathedrals in the world. On the other hand, France has been the modern birth-place of brutal anti-Catholic repression during the Revolution and subsequent Reign of Terror, complete with attempts to eliminate Sunday from the calender and institute worship of various cults such as the Cult of Reason and the Cult of the Supreme Being, efforts which at times seem only like more frank efforts at embodying popular post-Christian worldviews.

Post-Revolutionary Church-State relations ranged from Napoleon III taking it upon France to be the defender of the Papal States to the 1905 secularism law that sought to push religion completely out of the public square and essentially became the ideal standard of secularism that many other nations imitated.

Benedict and Sarkozy would both seem to think that the days of France the Christian nation are over, but the impact the Christians of the French nation have and will continue to have on France, Europe, and the wider world remains strong and everyone will be the better for it.

No doubt the Pope's hope for France can be found in the words he spoke about the Europeans whilst he was a Cardinal: "Believing Christians should look upon themselves as such a creative minority and help Europe espouse once again the best of its heritage, thereby being at the service of humankind at large."

Papal Visit to the US, and Fr. Wild on Catholic Academia

An interesting article from the NYTimes about Pope Benedict's visit to the US, and the two key issues that he has addressed:

1. sexual abuse of children
2. Catholic academia

On the latter point, the Times reported (emphasis added):

Catholic universities and colleges have come under fire for inviting speakers who favor abortion rights, like Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, Eliot Spitzer and Stanley Tucci, the actor, who was dropped from an event at Catholic University. The University of Notre Dame was criticized for allowing a campus staging of “The Vagina Monologues,” an edgy feminist theater piece.

The pope insisted on adherence to church doctrine, saying, “Divergence from this vision weakens Catholic identity, and, far from advancing freedom, inevitably leads to confusion, whether moral, intellectual or spiritual.”

For faculty members, he said: “I wish to reaffirm the great value of academic freedom. In virtue of this freedom you are called to search for the truth wherever careful analysis of evidence leads you. Yet it is also the case that any appeal to the principle of academic freedom in order to justify positions that contradict the faith and teaching of the church would obstruct or even betray the university’s identity and mission.”

The educators in the room were encouraged by the pope’s speech, and applauded his call to keep schools open for poor students.

The Rev. Robert A. Wild, the president of Marquette University, said after the pope’s speech: “What was most striking to me is what it was not. We were not being told that most Catholic schools are not faithful to our message. It was not a finger-waving exercise. It was mostly to encourage us.”

Papal Visit to the US Presages a Change in Canon Law?

The NYTimes has an article covering Pope Benedict XVI's visit to NY. The article states (emphasis added)

One expert said that the pope might actually be signaling that he was close to authorizing a change in canon law that would explicitly bar sexual abusers from the priesthood, said Nicholas P. Cafardi, dean emeritus of Duquesne Law School. A civil and canon lawyer, Mr. Cafardi was an original member of the National Review Board appointed by the American bishops at the height of the abuse scandal, in 2002.

There is a section in the church’s Code of Canon law that specifies that a man cannot be ordained a priest, or cannot remain a priest, if he has committed certain acts, like homicide, self-mutilation, attempted suicide or procuring an abortion, said Mr. Cafardi, the author of "Before Dallas: The U.S. Bishops’ Response to Clergy Sexual Abuse of Children" (Paulist Press, 2008).

It’s time to add to that list pedophilia and sexual abuse of children," Mr. Cafardi said. "I’m reading Benedict’s remarks as heading toward a change in the law of the universal church, so that this can be implemented throughout the Catholic world."

He said it was unlikely that the pope would use a papal visit to announce a change in canon law. But, he added: "He’s raised expectations now, and he’s not an unkind person. You don’t raise expectations to bash them."

To read the pertinent sections of Canon Law, see the Vatican's official English translation. The section is Canon 1041 section 4.

The canon falls in the following part of the Code:

BOOK IV FUNCTION OF THE CHURCH (Cann. 834 - 848)

• PART I. THE SACRAMENTS
  • TITLE VI. ORDERS (Cann. 1008 - 1054)
    • CHAPTER II. THOSE TO BE ORDAINED
      • Art. 3. IRREGULARITIES AND OTHER IMPEDIMENTS