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Category: Church News

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Church News

On the delay of Fulton Sheen’s beatification

Tuesday afternoon, the diocese of Peoria, IL, issued a press release that shook the US Catholic Church. In it, Bishop Daniel Jenky announced that the long-anticipated beatification of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, scheduled for December 21, would be postponed indefinitely. After years of tug-of-war between Peoria and the Archdiocese of New York over the relocation of Sheen’s body from St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Manhattan to a new shrine in Peoria dedicated to Sheen, this last-minute...

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Bishop George Murry / Church News / Racism / Religious Liberty

George Murry: Advocate of Liberty & Justice for All

As a Catholic in a small Ohio diocese, it is always interesting when our local Church shows up in the national news. This week, my bishop—the Bishop of Youngstown, Ohio—George Murry was elected as the chairman of the USCCB Committee on Religious Liberty. As such, he’ll be tasked with building up American Catholics’ understanding and defense of religious liberty. He’ll also be overseeing the work of empowering local bishops to improve their outreach on the...

Cardinal Burke / Church News / Dissent / Homilies / Pope Francis

Links: Pius X vs Francis; Cardinal Burke; Abp Gregory ordains 10 in DC

Happy Trinity Sunday, and Happy Father’s day! Today Pope Francis visited the city of Camerino in Italy, which was struck by earthquakes 3 years ago that took the lives of nearly 300 people. Vatican News reports that in his homily, he spoke about healing woulds and rebuilding after such a tragic event: “Remembering is a key word for life”, said Pope Francis. “Remembering gives us the strength not to surrender”. The Pope admitted that bad...

Church News / Papal Primacy / Pope Francis / Radical Traditionalists

Kiss the person, not the office

“Hypocrites, well hath Isaias prophesied of you, saying: This people honoureth me with their lips: but their heart is far from me. And in vain do they worship me, teaching doctrines and commandments of men” — Mt 15:7-9 (DRV) As Mike Lewis noted yesterday, during a pilgrimage to Loreto, Pope Francis made a beautiful address about the significance of family, based on the traditional understanding of marriage as a union between a man and a...

Church News

Links of interest (week Nov 18-24)

Greg Daily provides us with a fresh historical perspective on the Amoris Laetitia controversy. Dissenters may claim to defend the tímeles Catholic view on marriage, but Trent actually introduced novelties that were resisted at first by some of the concilliary Cardinals. However, even these eventually obeyed, out of respect for the Pope. Papal critics have been attacking Pope Francis for not allowing the USCCB to vote on measures on the abuse scandal. They claim it’s inconsistent with...

China / Church News / Pope Francis / Uncategorized

Perspective on the China/Vatican deal

On Saturday, September 22, a long-anticipated “provisional agreement” between the Chinese government and the Vatican was announced regarding the process of appointing bishops in the Catholic Church in China. Officially, this agreement puts an end to the decades-long division between Chinese Catholics who worship in state-sanctioned churches whose bishops are appointed by the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association (CPCA), and the “underground” Church whose bishops have Vatican approval. In reality, the situation is much more complex....

abuse crisis / Church News / Evangelii Gaudium / Homilies / Pope Francis / Social Media / Uncategorized

Fake news and seething contempt for Pope Francis

Some Catholics disagree with much of what Pope Francis says and does — this is undeniable. Believe it or not, I don’t think there is anything intrinsically wrong with criticizing a pope on prudential matters, at least when done thoughtfully and when consideration is given to the context and circumstances around the pope’s decision or action. In recent months, however, I have noticed that some papal critics appear to respond immediately to anything he says...

abuse crisis / Cardinal McCarrick / Church News / Pope Francis / Scandal / Uncategorized

Yes, the background is relevant: Behind Viganò’s “Testimony”

Two important stories broke on Saturday night (or Sunday morning, depending on where you are), and journalists and commentators around the globe have weighed in from all angles. There’s the story, and then there’s the story of the story. The first story is the most readily obvious: an 11-page “Testimony,” authored by retired Archbishop and former US Nuncio Carlo Maria Viganò, was released on the eve of the closing Mass for the World Meeting of...

abuse crisis / Breaking / Church News / Pope Benedict XVI / Pope Francis / Scandal

Gänswein: Benedict will not comment on Vigano’s accusations

The following is a translation of an article from Die Tagespost. The original article can be found here. The private secretary of Pope Emeritus Benedict denies reports which claim that Benedict confirmed the reports of former Vatican diplomat Vigano. The claim that the former pope confirmed the reports is devoid of any truth and has no basis in reality. Archbishop Georg Gänswein, private secretary of Benedict XVI, has rejected the claim that the former pope...

Walford with the pope

Amoris Laetitia / Breaking / Church News / Dissent / Marriage / Mercy / Pope Francis / Uncategorized

Interview with Catholic author Stephen Walford, Part 1

Ever since he burst onto the the scene in January 2017 with a 5000-word essay in La Stampa entitled “Amoris Laetitia: Where Truth and Mercy Embrace,” Catholic writer Stephen Walford has found himself at the center of the often heated debate in the Church over Pope Francis and his teachings. Coming on the heels of the publication of five questions (or dubia) from four cardinals who have openly challenged the orthodoxy and authority of the...

Church News / Pope Francis

Virgins and the Vexing of Ed Peters

The Holy See has published a new document, Ecclesiae Sponsae Imago, addressed to bishops outlining instructions on the Order of Consecrated Virgins within their dioceses. This Instruction was put forward to answer questions being asked by many women and bishops across the world concerning the Order and how it ought to operate. An innocuous enough topic, affecting a small though invaluable minority in the Church, this has nevertheless (and, by now, predictably) become a target...

abuse crisis / Breaking / Cardinal McCarrick / Church News / Pope Francis / Uncategorized

McCarrick update, the Prosperity Gospel, Francis in Vogue, Scandal in Honduras – Links for 7/20

Here are some of the important stories we’re following this week: 1. The Cardinal McCarrick scandal has gotten even worse. Yesterday the New York Times reported that a 60-year-old man came forward to describe the sexual abuse he suffered from McCarrick, beginning when he was 11 and continuing into his young adulthood. This man was the first baby baptized by a newly-ordained Father McCarrick in 1958. The man’s sister recounts: It was explained to us...

Amoris Laetitia / Cardinal António Marto / Church News / Pope Francis

Fatima diocese: An interesting approach to Amoris Laetitia

In last June 28th, António Marto, the Portuguese bishop of Leiria-Fatima, was made cardinal. This is a validation of his ministry, since António Marto has been said to be supportive of the Pope’s approach, namely by adopting a merciful demeanor toward sinners and an attitude of closeness to ordinary people. It is also interesting to note that this diocese encompasses none other than the Sanctuary of Fatima: a hub of sanctity, a treasure for the Catholic Church and,...

abuse crisis / Cardinal McCarrick / Church News / Scandal / Uncategorized

McCarrick and the abuse of seminarians

On June 28, I posted about the recent revelations of credible and substantiated abuse accusations against Cardinal McCarrick by a former teenage altar boy. I also discussed Cardinal Joseph Tobin’s revelation that there have been three past accusations directed at McCarrick by adults in New Jersey, and two had been settled out of court. At the time, I also mentioned that “over the last week an increasing number of sordid stories about his sexual harassment...

Amoris Laetitia / Cardinal Manuel Clemente / Church News / Papal News / Pope Francis

The Reckoning: Lisbon’s faithfulness to Amoris Laetitia

On Feb 6th this year, Manuel Clemente, the Cardinal-Patriarch of Lisbon, issued guidelines on how to interpret and implement Amoris Laetitia‘s (AL) polemic Chapter 8 in his diocese. I wrote an article about it on this blog, titled “The Patriarchate of Lisbon’s faithfulness to Amoris Laetitia“. One of the things I appreciated more in these guidelines was how they didn’t try to artificially fit AL into a preconceived idea, be it the Kasperite liberalization of...

Amoris Laetitia / Cardinal Burke / Church News / Pope Francis / Uncategorized

The dubia, synodality, and the joy of the Gospel

On June 21, Pope Francis fielded questions from journalists aboard the volo papale from Geneva, Switzerland to Rome. A German reporter named Roland Juchem asked him about a proposal of some of the bishops of his country to admit the Protestant spouses of Catholics to sacramental communion. The question has a backstory. Last February, the Deutsche Bischofskonferenz – under the direction of Cardinal Reinhard Marx – approved by majority vote a pastoral guide for inter-communion....

Amoris Laetitia / Cardinal Caffarra / Church News / Uncategorized

Not a sidestep, but an affirmation

For two years, critics of Amoris Laetitia have pointed to Poland as a celebrated example of a national bishops’ conference upholding their view of “orthodoxy.” Beginning in 2016, when a senior Polish bishop vowed to never allow communion to the divorced and remarried under any circumstances, the common view was that the Polish Church rejects the pastoral model that Pope Francis laid out in chapter 8 of the document and further clarified with the affirmation...

Church News / Economics / From Papa Francis / Oeconomicae et pecuniariae quaestiones / Social Justice

Thoughts On The Vatican’s New Document On Economic And Financial Issues

Last week, the Vatican released a new magisterial (= authoritative teaching) document about “economic and financial issues” (Oeconomicae et pecuniariae quaestiones, the opening words and thus title). Co-signed by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and the office for “Integral Human Development” (Vaticanese for social justice), it is a synthesis of the teachings of the bishop of Rome, Pope Francis, on this topic. It is “offered to all men and women of good...

Amoris Laetitia / Church News / Pro-Life

Did Amoris Laetitia open the door to contraception coverage at Notre Dame?

In February of this year, Fr. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C., President of the University of Notre Dame, wrote a letter explaining that after years of fighting in court, and even after being granted an exemption by the federal government under the Trump administration, Notre Dame would allow for their health insurance programs to directly cover “simple” and non-abortifacient contraceptives. In this statement, Fr. Jenkins referred to the “conscientious” decisions of Notre Dame’s employees and students...