Brave Words in Denver

Yesterday, Archbishop Chaput issued a statement clarifying the Church's position on abortion.

He and his fellow Bishop Conley led an Address at Pro-Life Prayer Vigil
outside Planned Parenthood of Stapleton, CO, with Dr. Martin Luther King's niece.

Cardinal Egan's Reply

Edward Cardinal Egan, Archbishop of New York, replies to Speaker Pelosi's statements.

The Catholic Church is a Pro-Life Church, Speaker Pelosi

From the Archdiocese of San Francisco website.

Cardinal Justin F. Rigali of Philadelphia, chairman of the U.S. Bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities,
and Bishop William E. Lori of Bridgeport, CT, chairman of the U.S. Bishops’ Committee on Doctrine, have issued the following statement; please see the link.

A Canon (and Civil) Lawyer gives solid Counsel

Notes on Sen. Biden.

Centuries of Jewish and Christian Tradition

Please read this article, which cites numerous sources, Jewish and Christian, which all affirm over centuries the position that abortion is a grave moral evil.

What Makes a Speaker Catholic?

Insightful commentary on faith and politics, and pseudo-Catholic politicians, from the National Review Online.

Thanks to Matt Fernholz for the link.

New Bishop for Green Bay, WI

After almost a year's vacancy, the Diocese of Green Bay, WI, will have a new Bishop!

See a photo album of the Bishop-elect:

--Credit goes to Wittenberg's favoured son Daniel Suhr for the update.

Good News from the Big D

Late-Term Abortion Facility in Dallas To Close - Eighth Closure Since Bishop Began Prayer at Clinics

24 hours a day, 7 days a week ecumenical effort was organized, with more than 800 people from 89 churches and several denominations.

Archbishop Burke goes to Rome

North American Leaders Bid Farewell to Pro-Life Hero Archbishop Burke

Pro-life "hero" to head to Rome to take position as Prefect of the Apostolic Signatura.

You may know that Archbishop Burke was the Bishop of La Crosse, WI, and is a close friend of our own Archbishop Dolan of Milwaukee.

New Society Emblem

Supreme Court Debates Who Wrote Shakespeare

Antonin Scalia - 60 Minutes pt 3 of 4

Antonin Scalia - 60 Minutes pt 4 of 4

Pope Benedict XVI- Visit to USA~ FULL Message and promo

On the Issues with Mike Gousha: Archbishop Timothy Dolan Oct. 4, 2007

A Man for All Seasons crew 4/18/08

A Man for All Seasons--Origin of the phrase

Read about the origin of the famous encomium for More, "a man for all seasons," or in Latin, vir omnium horarum.

The article, printed in Thomas More Studies 1 (2006), is by Dr. Clarence Miller, who served as Executive Editor of Yale University Press’ Complete Works of St. Thomas More; he translated and edited the 2001 Yale edition of Utopia. He is Professor Emeritus of St. Louis University.

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.”

2000 Vatican Proclamation of St. Thomas More as Patron of Statesmen

Read our late Pope John Paul II's Apostolic Letter, issued Motu Proprio,

PROCLAIMING SAINT THOMAS MORE PATRON OF STATESMEN AND POLITICIANS.

"Given at Saint Peter’s, on the thirty-first day of October in the year 2000, the twenty-third of my Pontificate."

Read the official Vatican biography of St. Thomas More and the Petition to our late Pope John Paul II.

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