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Update to RFC Compilation: 'Ratzinger-Kasper Debate'
2007-05-05 17:23:00
One of the most asked-about sections of the Ratzinger FanClub's archives is our section on the 'Ratzinger Kasper Debate ', which occurred from 1999-2001 and concerns itself with the local or diocesian church or the universal Church, and what takes historical and ontological precedence with implications on the execution of episcopal authority. (For a quick summary of the debate see Authority Reconsidered: Who's in charge here?" by Russell Shaw. Our Sunday Visitor 8/12/01).The debate began in 1999 with the publication of an article by Cardinal Kasper titled "On the Office of Bishop", to which then-Cardinal Ratzinger responded in 2000, The only mention made of this article is in Kasper's On the Church (America Vol. 184 No. 14 April 23, 2001. While most of the substantial texts of this debate are available online and in English, it was a source of consternation that we had not been able to find a proper citation or source for the initial essay by Kasper (disappointing many an enqui...
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Fr Samir Khalil Samir, SJ - Articles & Interviews
2007-04-30 05:52:00
Fr Sami r Khalil Samir, SJ is a professor of Oriental Theology at St Joseph's University in Lebanon. Born in Cairo, Father Samir also teaches at the Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome, and is a founder and leader of the Centre for Arab-Christian Documentation and Research (CEDRAC). In connection with our previous post I thought it would be beneficial to put together a compilation of his writings for further discussion.Interviews Interview with Edward Pentin [on Pope Benedict and the Islamic reaction to the Regensburg address]. Sept. 25, 2006. Can we bring together Islam and democracy? - Interview with Wlodzimierz Redzioch. Sunday Catholic Weekly [Poland] April 29, 2007. Islamist Fundamentalism: The Primacy of Unreason interview with Monika Sarkis for the Zeitschrift für KulturAustausch. June 15, 2004. 2007 West weak, Muslims mute when it comes to Islamism and terrorism AsiaNews.it. April 19, 2007. Islamic terrorism, a disease within the Muslim world AsiaNews.it. April 17, 2007:Th...
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Pope Benedict, Islam and the Prospect of Reform
2007-04-23 06:50:00
Sandro Magister's column this week -- on "The Real War is Inside Islam " -- touches on some questions that I've been thinking about in recent weeks: What is the nature of our present conflict with Islam? Can it be characterized as a "clash of civilizations"? Is it a war with Islam per se, or only a variant thereof? What is the true nature of Islam?A Perpetual War with Islam? A prevalent view of Islam, and of Christianity and Western (European) civilization's encounter with Islam, is one of perpetual and necessary conflict -- which asserts that the state of affairs as we witness it today is simply the norm so long as there are practicioners of Islam on this earth. The website ProphetofDoom.com, for example, provides a "timeline of Islamic terrorism" that starts in the 1960's, with the assassination of Jordan's prime minister by public bombing ("It remains the primary form of regime change in the Islamic world"). An author by the name of Howard Bloom goes a step further with Isla...
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The Pope in Pavia
2007-04-22 21:00:00
This weekend Pope Benedict madea pastoral visit to Vigevano and Pavia. American Papist has the goods, with photos, excerpts from his speeches/homilies, and a multitude of relevant links. Get it all here.

Virginia Tech
2007-04-17 21:50:00
THE MOST REVEREND FRANCIS X. DILORENZO BISHOP OF RICHMOND (U.S.A) DEEPLY SADDENED BY NEWS OF THE SHOOTING AT VIRGINIA TECH, HIS HOLINESS POPE BENEDICT XVI HAS ASKED ME TO CONVEY THE ASSURANCE OF HIS HEARTFELT PRAYERS FOR THE VICTIMS, THEIR FAMILIES AND FOR THE ENTIRE SCHOOL COMMUNITY. IN THE AFTERMATH OF THIS SENSELESS TRAGEDY HE ASKS GOD OUR FATHER TO CONSOLE ALL THOSE WHO MOURN AND TO GRANT THEM THAT SPIRITUAL STRENGTH WHICH TRIUMPHS OVER VIOLENCE BY THE POWER OF FORGIVENESS, HOPE AND RECONCILING LOVE. CARDINAL TARCISIO BERTONE SECRETARY OF STATE. (Telegram from Cardinal Bertone, for the Pope; more at Open Book).
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New Books By and About Pope Benedict XVI
2007-04-17 03:46:00
Jesus of Nazareth, by Pope Bene dict XVI Doubleday (May 15, 2007). 400pp. Jesus of Nazareth by Ratzinger-Benedict XVI, by Franco Pisano. AsiaNews.it. April 13, 2007:“Product of a long inner journey,” the Pope’s book is not a magisterial document. It does however focus on the “historical Jesus” based on the Gospels, one that transcends those readings of the Jesus Story that reduce him to the status of a revolutionary or a mystic. First in a two-volume inquiry, the book looks at the life of Christ on earth and is designed to “favour the development of an intense relationship between the reader and Him.” And He Appeared in Their Midst: “Jesus of Nazareth” at the Books tore - Sandro Magister offers a chapter-by-chapter preview. Zadok the Roman bought a copy of the Italian translation of Gesù di Nazaret and shares his initial observations. Father John Zuhlsdorf was at the presentation of the Pope’s book, Jesus of Nazareth in the Aula del Sinodo on Friday 13 April 20...
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Happy Birthday (and Second Anniversary) to Pope Benedict XVI!
2007-04-15 17:08:00
Joseph Ratzinger was born on April 16, Holy Saturday in Marktl am Inn, and was baptized the same day. Reflecting on this experience in his memoirs, he recalls: To be the first person baptized with the new water was seen as a significant act of Providence. I have always been filled with thanksgiving for having had my life immersed in this way in the Easter Mystery . . . the more I reflect on it, the more this seems fitting for the nature of our human life: we are still waiting for Easter; we are not yet standing in the full light but walking toward it full of trust. [p. 8, Milestones]On Sunday April 16, Joseph Ratzinger will celebrate his 80th birthday. * * * Stamps issued by Germany in honor of Benedict's birthday. Hat tip Amy Welborn. Pope ’s 80th birthday: “A particularly happy day,” says Cardinal Ruini Catholic News Agency April 13, 2007:Vatican City, Apr 13, 2007 / 11:55 am (CNA).- In a letter the faithful of Rome regarding the celebration of the Pope’s 80th birthday an...
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Benedict Roundup (January - Easter 2007)
2007-04-15 09:24:00
As Catholic News Agency tells us, 2007 promises "a world of busyness" for Pope Bene dict, with "ad limina" visits by bishops from four continents, including Italy, Ukraine, Slovakia, Portugal, Serbia, Kenya, Togo, Benin, Gabon, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Japan, Korea and Laos; a May visit to Brazil (his first across an ocean); a June visit to Assisi to the birthplace of St. Francis, and a prospective visit to address the United Nations General Assembly in September. What follows is a (by no means comprehensive) roundup noting some of the significant events in the Holy Father's pontificate from January -2007 to the present. Apologies for not getting around to this sooner (I'd given up blogging for the most part during Lent). In the News Sacramentum Caritatis Interviews (Q&A with the Pontiff) Key Addresses Articles & Commentary on Pope Benedict On a Lighter Note . . . Significant Events January 4, 2007 - Pope: true joy comes from God’s love and is not that extol...
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Pope Benedict XVI - "Nothing Positive Comes from Iraq"?
2007-04-11 07:56:00
Easter is over and I'm back to blogging. It was not my intention to commemorate my return to blogdom by kicking the dead horse of topics past -- the war in Iraq , capital punishment, or political matters in general. But alas, events being what they are . . . Out of Pop e Benedict X VI's 1,444 word Urbi Et Orbi Easter Message for 2007 devoted to an observation of all manner of human suffering throughout the world and the response of the Gospel, much is being made of the following sentence:In the Middle East, besides some signs of hope in the dialogue between Israel and the Palestinian authority, nothing positive comes from Iraq, torn apart by continual slaughter as the civil population flees. Amy Welborn has a roundup of pundit's reactions to the Pope's comment (along with the usual raging debate in the combox), including an editorial in the New York Sun (The Eyes of Hope, April 9, 2007):If the pope wants to help Iraqis and the Americans and others who are risking their lives to hel...
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"Our Journey into the Paschal Mystery"
2007-04-06 05:54:00
The Pope Benedict XVI Fan Club Forum is hosting a special series of reflections by fellow forum member Martin Cooke -- "Our Journey into the Paschal Myst ery in 2007 accompanied with over a Millennium of Sacred Music" -- posted over the course of Holy Week. Lovers of fine music -- particularly members of the Society for a Moratorium on the Music of Marty Haugen and David Haas, will no doubt appreciate the effort. (Blogging on Against The Grain and The Benedict Blog will of course resume after Easter).

Prayers . . .
2007-03-11 22:37:00
Prayers Domenico & Melanie Bettinelli as they are dealing with Melanie's diognosis of cancer. (Update - sign of hope?). Carrie Tomko (Still Running Off at the Keyboard) also has cancer and is in need of your prayers. Briefly, on Lent Catholic News Agency interviews Archbishop Chaput, on Lenten Sacrifice:“Lent is not a time to revile ourselves,” he counseled. “After all, what God loves, we hardly have the right to hate. But the fasting, prayer, and mortifications of the season do have a very important purpose: They help us to clear our soul of debris. They cut away the selfishness that obstructs our view of God and blocks His light from us.” “Lent is an invitation to dethrone the distractions that keep our hearts restless and empty,” he continued. “If we make room for the real King, He’ll do much more than fill the space. He’ll make us what He intended us to be: saints.” “So let’s live this Lent not as a burden,” the archbishop said, “but as an amnest...
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Lent 2007
2007-02-21 06:29:00
That man is perfect in faith who can come to God in the utter dearth of his feelings and desires, without a glow or an aspiration, with the weight of low thoughts, failures, neglects, and wandering forgetfulness, and say to Him, "Thou art my refuge."-- George MacDonald * * *Through the water of Baptism, thanks to the action of the Holy Spirit, we are given access to the intimacy of Trinitarian love. In the Lent en journey, memorial of our Baptism, we are exhorted to come out of ourselves in order to open ourselves, in trustful abandonment, to the merciful embrace of the Father (cf. Saint John Chrysostom, Catecheses, 3,14ff). Blood, symbol of the love of the Good Shepherd, flows into us especially in the Eucharistic mystery: “The Eucharist draws us into Jesus’ act of self-oblation … we enter into the very dynamic of His self-giving” (Encyclical Deus caritas est, 13). Let us live Lent then, as a “Eucharistic” time in which, welcoming the love of Jesus, we learn to spread it...

It is indeed true that a new moralism exists today...
2007-02-18 03:45:00
It is indeed true that a new moralism exists today. Its key words are justice, peace, and the conservation of creation…But this moralism remains vague and almost inevitably remains confined to the sphere of party politics, where it is primarily a claim addressed to others, rather than a personal duty in our own daily life. For what does "justice" mean? Who defines it? What promotes peace? In the last decades, we have seen plenty of evidence on the streets and squares of our cities of how pacifism can be perverted into a destructive anarchism or, indeed, into terrorism. The political moralism of the 1970's, the roots of which are far from dead, was a moralism that succeeded in fascinating even young people who were full of ideals. But it was a moralism that took the wrong direction, since it lacked the serenity born of rationality. In the last analysis, it attached a higher value to the political utopia than to the dignity of the individual, and it showed itself capable of despisi...
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Israel-Vatican Relations & The Fundamental Agreement
2007-02-12 07:24:00
On December 30, 1993, the Fun damental Agreement was signed by Msgr. Claudio Celli, Vatican assistant secretary of state and Israel 's deputy minister of foreign affairs, Yossi Beilin, paving the way to full diplomatic relations between the two parties in 1994:The Fundamental Agreement extends the theological advances of Nostra Aetate into the political realm, creating for the fi rst time formal diplomatic relations between the Holy See and the State of Israel. The Agreement signifi es a historic step in the evolution of the Roman Catholic Church’s attitude toward Judaism and the Jewish People.The Fundamental Agreement addresses three spheres of relations: 1) political relations between Israel and the Holy See; 2) relations between the Jewish People and the Catholic Church; and 3) relations between the State of Israel and the Roman Catholic Church. In 1997 the "Legal Personality" Agreement between the State of Israel and the Holy See was signed:[regularizing] the status and legal p...
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Christianity, Real or Otherwise
2007-02-03 23:13:00
"Some Dissenters Quit the Church But Don't Stop Being Catholic", by Jeff Diamant (Washington Post January 27, 2006)Many Catholics drift away from the church or join other denominations. But Ortelli, 57, wanted to maintain both her Catholic identity and her worldview. And she didn't want to feel one was inconsistent with the other. So 20 years ago, she did what a small number of defiant Catholics are doing. She joined a church with many lifelong Catholics of similar views, a church that borrows heavily from Catholic rituals even though it's not part of a Catholic diocese. . . .A profile of breakaway "Catholic" sects like Rochester NY's "Corpus Chris t i", replete with mind-boggling quotes ("I don't think I should have to give up my Catholicism. That's part of who I am" -- yes, but to sever communion with Rome?) and a curious perception of Christian ity :The Inclusive Community's chapel is set up to be, well, inclusive. Two crosses are on the Communion table -- one with the body of...
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Necessary Distinctions - Prudential Judgement & Catholic Social Doctrin
2007-01-31 05:26:00
Evangelical Cat holicism offers some thoughts today on " Three main weaknesses of today's Catholics", in which Katerina disputes First Things' Robert Miller). In the comments, Michael Joseph takes a jab at the "neoconservative Catholics":What's interesting about Miller's article is the utter indefensibility of his claims that bishops do, in fact, have a ceratin "arena" in which their authority properly operates. The separation he artificial creates between the area of "faith and morals" and "political judgments" is not only historically implausible, it is a non-ecclesial importation which creates an a priori framework with which Miller evaluates and gauges episcopal statemets. His separation is a growing trend among some self-styled "neo-conservative" Catholics who, most times unwittingly, filter ecclesial statements into contrived categories such as "absolutes", "doctrinal inference" and "prudential judgment". And yet, where in the history of our Church does such a filter deriv...
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Feast Day of St. Thomas Aquinas
2007-01-29 04:45:00
Pope reemphasizes relationship between faith and reason, cites example of St. Thom as Aquinas (Catholic News Agency):Pope Benedict XVI used this week's Angelus to return to one of his favorite topics: the relation of Faith and Reason. Citing the example of St. Thomas Aquinas, whose feast day was Sunday, Benedict urged the faithful to remember that faith and reason are not exclusionary principles. . . . St. Thomas Aquinas, Priest, Doctor of the Church - introduction by Tom Kreitzberg. Reading Thomas Aquinas - Recommended Aids & Introductions Against The Grain January 13, 2006. Joseph M. Magee's Thomistic Philosophy (AquinasOnline.com) Aquinas in Context by Robert P. Imbelli (Commonweal January 28, 2007):Too often, even among those tutored in theology, knowledge of the great doctor of the church, is limited to his masterful Summa Theologiae. And, even here, it is the first two parts that receive most attention. What can thereby escape notice is how radically Christocentric Thomas'...
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Response to Bob Sungenis (Part II)
2007-01-24 19:15:02
Bob Sungenis has replied to my response (Carl Schmitt, Israel Shamir and Robert Sungenis Against The Grain January 19, 2007). While I'd prefer not to turn Against the Grain into a perpetual discussion of Catholic extremism, I'll address a few of his points further. Read More . . . R. Sungenis:"Responding in writing to a particular article" is not debating. It is merely Mr. Blosser's opportunity to do more of the same that he already does on his blog -- make unsubstantiated accusations based on his own personal fears and biases without being challenged immediately and promptly in a public debate. I understand debate to be an exchange of views and a challenging of positions. In his prior response Sungenis defended his use of Carl Schmitt, asserting that "Schmitt was not actually IN the Nazi party, much less had an "active role" in the party." -- I challenged it. Sungenis asserted that, based on his reading of the Global Anti-Semitism Review Act of 2004, "it looks like every good ...
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Archbishop Donald Wuerl - Aiding & Abetting Nancy Pelosi?
2007-01-23 19:15:01
LifeSiteNews' carries a disappointing story on the new Archbishop of Washington Donald Wuerl, who has decided to pursue a path of steadfast faithfulness to . . . . imitating the scandalous complacency of his predecessor Cardinal McCarrick towards "pro-choice Catholic" legislators. LifeSiteNews reports:Perhaps it was a bad omen when at the installation Mass for the new Archbishop of Washington Donald Wuerl last June, pro-abortion Democratic Senator John Kerry was given Holy Communion and caught on camera in the act. During the entrance procession, Archbishop Wuerl shook hands with Kerry and Senator Ted Kennedy. (see coverage)Now, Archbishop Wuerl, who replaced Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, has said publicly that he would not discipline or direct priests to deny communion to pro-abortion Catholic politician Nancy Pelosi who was just made speaker of the House of Representatives. When California Catholic Daily reporter Allyson Smith inquired during an interview as to whether Wuerl plan...
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Pope Benedict on Christmas, the Holy Family and the Human Pe
2007-01-02 06:59:01
On the Meaning of Christ mas - translation of the address Benedict XVI gave at the general audience last Wednesday, held in Paul VI Hall:Let us return to the question: "Why did God become man?" St. Irenaeus writes: "The word has become the dispenser of the Father's glory for the usefulness of men.... The glory of God is the living man -- 'vivens homo' -- and the life of man consists in the vision of God" ("Adv. Haer," IV, 20.5.7). God's glory is manifested, therefore, in the salvation of man, whom God has so loved "who gave him," as John's Gospel affirms, "his only Son so that he who believes in him will not perish, but have eternal life" (John 3:16). So love is the ultimate reason for Christ's incarnation. Eloquent in this respect is the reflection of the theologian Hans Urs von Balthasar, who wrote: God "is not, in the first place, absolute power, but absolute love whose sovereignty is not manifested in keeping for himself what belongs to him, but in its abandonment" ("Myst...
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DeNiro's "The Good Shepherd" / Evan Thomas' "The Very Best M
2007-01-02 06:59:01
Not the usual fair for this blog, but nonetheless a brief review of a movie and a book I had the opportunity to read over the holiday weekend . . .I saw The Good Shepherd over the holiday weekend. Directed by Robert DeNiro, starring Matt Damon and Angelina Jolie, it purports to be "the untold story of the birth of the CIA." Regretfully, it fails to deliver. The plot is laid out across some notable events in the history of the Central Intelligence Agency -- it's origins in the OSS (Office of Strategic Services) struggling to roll back the Soviet tide in World War II, in anticipation of Stalin's bid for power, it's later operations in Central America and the Bay of Pigs fiasco, tied together from the perspective of a fictional character named Edwin Wilson (an amalgam of James Jesus Angleton and Richard Bissell). Failing to heed the advice of his mentor ("Get out while you still can, while you still have a soul"), Wilson's gradual moral corruption in the in the clandestine world o...
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Capital Punishment, Cardinal Martino and the Catholic Church
2006-12-29 18:56:01
I had said I would be taking a break from blogging during the holiday season, but having returned from vacation I couldn't help but take an interest in an ongoing debate on Evangelical Cat holicism, beginning with " A Catholic response to the sentencing of Saddam" (Dec. 28, 2006), being in part a rebuttal to Jimmy Akin's criticism of Card inal Mart ino (November 09, 2006). In his original criticism of Cardinal Martino, Jimmy Akin asserts that "The death penalty is not a crime legally, nor is it one in principle morally," and that "even if we assume that "killing for vindication" is a crime -- an assumption that can be subject to extreme challenge -- it does not follow that Saddam's execution is simply killing for vindication." Michael disagrees, and charges Jimmy with "negligence" in presenting the Church 's teaching on the issue:Akin . . . neglected to note the important fact that clear and crisp sections of John Paul II's Evangelium vitae were interpolated into the 1997 Latin ed...
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Remember Our Troops This Christmas
2006-12-21 18:50:01
Remember Our Troops at Gitmo This Chris t mas :Instead of bullets and IEDs, troopers here duck noxious "cocktails" of the fab five: feces, urine, spit, semen, and vomit tossed into their faces. They don't receive Purple Hearts when an enemy detainee requests a comfort item then grabs the hand of the kind guard passing it to him and breaks the trooper's arm or wrist. . . . Last year alone Guantanamo detainees received more than 14,000 cards, the vast majority from muddle-headed well-wishers and sympathizers. This year local authorities estimate the number may exceed 16,000! . . . Like the other 40,000 or so pieces of detainee mail that transit the post office on the base the cards are distributed into the cells. The cards are passed out to the detainees by troopers who may themselves not have received any sort of greeting from home in a long time. AnySoldier.com - Want to send your support to a Soldier in harm's way, but have no idea of what to send, who to send it to, or how to s...

Pope Benedict Roundup!
2006-12-18 18:49:02
Reactions to the Papal Visit to Turkey Bene dict, Regensberg, The West and Islam (Continued) Pop e Benedict XVI in Print Ecumenical Ventures with Archbishop Rowan Williams / Archbishop Christodoulos In Other News . . . Reactions to the Papal Visit to Turkey Note: For pre-trip and day-by-day coverage, see Anticipating Pope Benedict's Papal Visit to Turkey Nov. 24, 2006 and Pope Benedict XVI's Apostolic Journey to Turkey Nov. 28 - Dec. 1, 2006 Nov. 30, 2006. Pope: Thanks to Church of Turkey that lives Advent like Mary Dec. 3, 2006. In his Angelus for the first Sunday of Advent, the Pope recalled "with grateful affection, the dear Catholic community that lives in Turkish territory":"I was able to meet and celebrate Holy Mass together with these brothers and sisters of ours, who are in conditions that are often not easy. It is truly a small flock, varied, rich in enthusiasm and faith, which we may say lives constantly and in an intense fashion the experience of Advent sustained by ho...
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Mark Shea, Jimmy Akin, Fr. Harrison and the "Torture Debate"
2006-12-08 00:41:31
In my last post (What do I think about torture?) I tried to lay out my thoughts on the subject and my own opinions on various issues discussed in the previous roundups. Mark responded by stating:My assessment of what you wrote, Chris, is pretty much the same as M.Z.'s and Zippy's.I'm going to ask Mark to humor me one more time, as I'll endeavor to illustrate a source of much confusion and disappointment. When I read Fr. Harrison (circa Sept. 2005): [T]here remains the question [...] of torture inflicted not for any of the above purposes, but for extracting life-saving information from, say, a captured terrorist known to be participating in an attack that may take thousands of lives (the now-famous ?ticking bomb? scenario). As we have noted above, this possible use of torture is not mentioned in the Catechism.. . . My understanding would be that, given the present status question is, the moral legitimacy of torture under the aforesaid desperate circumstances, while certainly not ...
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Anticipating Pope Benedict's Papal Visit to Turkey
2006-12-08 00:41:31
On November 28, 2006, Pop e Bene dict will make an apostolic journey to the predominantly-Muslim country of Turkey . After the Regensburg address and the ensuing controversy, all eyes will be on the Benedict's visitation with Catholic and Orthodox Christian minority. Following are some background articles and commentary on the Pope 's journey this week. Supplementary Articles "The Passion of the Pope", by David Van Biema, Jeff Israely. (Time Nov. 19, 2006):when Benedict XVI travels to Turkey next week on his first visit to a Muslim country since becoming Pope last year, he is unlikely to cloak himself in a downy banner of brotherhood, the way his predecessor did 27 years ago. Instead, Benedict, 79, will arrive carrying a different reputation: that of a hard-knuckle intellect with a taste for blunt talk and interreligious confrontation. Just 19 months into his tenure, the Pope has become as much a moral lightning rod as a theologian; suddenly, when he speaks, the whole world listens. ...
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Thoughts about St. Blog's Debate over the "Border Fence"
2006-12-08 00:41:31
This past week witnessed a debate between Michael & Katrina over at Evangelical Catholicism, Thomas N. Peters @ American Papist and Gerald Augustinus of The Cafeteria is Closed, over news that"A senior Vatican cardinal on Tuesday condemned the building of walls between countries to keep out immigrants and said Washington's plan to build a fence on the U.S.-Mexican border was part of an "inhuman program".Cardinal Renato Martino made his comments at a news conference presenting Pope Benedict's message for the Roman Catholic Church's World Day of Migrants and Refugees, in which the Pope called for more laws to help immigrants integrate."SOURCE: Vatican cardinal says U.S.-Mexico fence "inhuman" Reuters. Nov. 14, 2006. Tom's post -- "Oh, hush up, Cardinal Martino!" American Papist Nov. 14, 2006 -- seems to have been the provocation for the debate, with Michael and Katrina taking issue with his disrespectful tone. (Truth to tell, Martino is one Cardinal with a long-standing reputation...
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So what do I think about Torture?
2006-12-08 00:41:31
In what has become the characteristic approach of Catholic and Enjoying It, Mark dismisses a post by Tom McKenna by saying that he was "orgasmic at the idea of hanging Saddam," that his "blog is more or less devoted to obsessing over how to execute as many people as humanly possible," and that he had an "insatiable hunger and thirst for death, death, death, and more death." Responding with what has likewise become my characteristic rejection of Mark's approach (played out over the course of a three-part series on Mark's treatment of the 'neocons' in August 2006 and a four-part series on "the torture debate" in October 2006), Mark expresses his frustration with my "fair and balanced act." ZippyCatholic likewise issues a challenge:"It is all well and good to link to a lot of what other people say and think, though of course any "roundup" is going to have biases built into it (if for no other reason than that not every opinion has the merit to be put on an equal platform with every...
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Pope Benedict XVI's Apostolic Journey to Turkey Nov. 28 - De
2006-12-08 00:41:31
Ecumenical Patriarchate | EWTN Coverage | Weekly Schedule (Vatican) | Vatican Radio [This post will be updated regularly throughout the coming week (Tuesday 28th - Friday 1st) as we chronicle Pop e Benedict XVI's apostolic journey. Please bookmark and pass along if interested. God bless! - Christopher] November 28, 2006 - Arrival; Visit to the Ataturk Mausoleum; Meeting with the Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Ali Bardakoglu, Chief of Turkey 's Religious Affairs Directories; November 29, 2006 - Eucharistic celebration before the Shrine of Meryem Ana Eva in Ephesus; Moment of prayer at the Patriarchal Church of St. George and private meeting with H.H. Bartholomew I; November 30, 2006 - Divine Liturgy at the Patriarchal Church of St. George -- Feast of Saint Andrew the Apostle, Patron Saint of the Church of Constantinople; Visit to the Museum of Saint Sofia and the Grand Umayyad Mosque ["Blue Mosque"]; Moment of prayer in the Armenian Apostolic Cathedral and meeting with H....
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Consecration of the United States to the Immaculate Concepti
2006-12-08 00:41:31
WASHINGTON (Catholic Online) ? The United State s consecration to the protection of its patroness, the Immaculate Conception, will be renewed at liturgical ceremonies at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception here. Archbishop Pietro Sambi, Holy See nuncio to the United States, will officiate at the Nov. 11 renewal of the country?s consecration, at which bishops from around the country will participate. The Mass is scheduled for 12 p.m. This consecration of the nation adds the special mention of the immaculate and sorrowful heart of Mary, the mission of the World Apostolate of Fatima. The prayer for the consecration used for the Nov. 11 event is the same one that was composed by the U.S. bishops in 1959 for the dedication ceremony of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception and the consecration of the United States to the Immaculate Conception. . . . The following is the prayer for renewal of consecration of the United States to its pa...
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