Glenn Poshard, Call Your Office

Washington D.C., Feb 25, 2019 / 02:47 pm (CNA).- A Canadian priest who apologized last week for plagiarism has resigned from the governing board of a Catholic college affiliated with the University of Toronto.
“As a sign of contrition and acknowledgement of the error, I freely submitted my resignation (Feb. 24) to the Collegium of the University of St. Michael’s College,” Fr. Thomas Rosica told The Catholic Register Feb. 25.
“It has been a privilege for me to serve that excellent university for many years in various capacities. I did not want my errors to cloud over the university governance and offer a bad example to students, educators and staff. We know that plagiarism is wrong, especially when it is practised deliberately. Please note that my actions were never deliberate. Nevertheless they were wrong.”
In a statement Monday, Fr. Don McCleod, CSB said that “Fr. Thomas Rosica, CSB made significant contributions while serving the St. Michael's community as a member of its Collegium,” adding that he had “respectfully accepted his resignation from the Collegium.”
McLeod is the chairman of the Collegium, or governing board, of The University of St. Michael’s College, which was founded by the Congregation of St. Basil, the religious community of which McLeod and Rosica are members. The college has nearly 4,000 students.

 It was sooo bad that even the Jesuits bailed on him!


Rosica was scheduled to be honored in April at the annual Provincial’s Dinner of the Canadian province of the Society of Jesus. The province withdrew its invitation Feb. 25.
“The Jesuits of Canada have followed the recent media reports regarding plagiarism by Father Thomas Rosica, CSB, actions for which he has taken responsibility and offered a full apology. Plagiarism is a grave offense against intellectual honesty and the community of scholarship. At the same time, many of us know Fr. Tom personally, and celebrate his genuine service to the Church in Canada and around the world. It is with great sorrow then that we have written to Father Rosica and withdrawn our invitation to him to receive the Magis Award on April 24, in the context of the Annual Provincial’s Dinner,” the province said.

Septuagesima Sunday and Lenten Preperation

Denver, Colo., Feb 17, 2019 / 04:21 am (CNA).- Sunday, Feb. 17 is Septuagesima Sunday, followed by Sexagesima, and Quinquagesima Sundays. Sunday kicks off Carnival season, which comes right before Shrovetide, which culminates in Shrove Tuesday - more popularly known as Mardi Gras.
If all but the last of those holidays sounds foreign to you, you are likely not alone - they haven’t been officially a part of the Roman Rite’s liturgical calendar since the 1960s, after the reforms of the Second Vatican Council.

 Father Z explains:

While in the new-fangled calendar Sunday is the 6th in Ordinary Time, and celebrated in green vestments,in the traditional Roman calendar this Sunday is called Septuagesima, Latin for the “Seventieth” day before Easter.
The Roman Station for Septuagesima is St. Lawrence outside the walls.
These pre-Lenten Sundays prepare us for the discipline of Lent, which once was far stricter.
The number 70 is more symbolic than arithmetical.
The Sundays which follow are Sexagesima (“sixtieth”) and Quinquagesima (“fiftieth”) before Ash Wednesday brings in Lent, called in Latin Quadragesima, “Fortieth”.
One of our frequent commentators here enriched my view of the numerical adjectives:

Comment:
A fairly literal interpretation of the terms Septuagesima, Sexagesima, and Quinquagesima:
• Septuagesima Sunday is the 63rd day before Easter and thus falls in the 7th (septimus) decade or 10-day period consisting of the 61st to 70th days before Easter;
• Sexagesima Sunday is the 56th day before Easter and falls in the 6th (sextus) decade consisting of the 51st to 60th days before Easter; and
• Quinquagesima Sunday is the 49th day before Easter and falls in the 5th (quintus) decade consisting of the 41st to 50th days before Easter.

It Takes One to Know One

Managua, Nicaragua, Feb 18, 2019 / 05:28 pm (CNA).- Pope Francis has restored priestly faculties to 94-year-old Fr. Ernesto Cardenal, who had been suspended a divinas in 1984 for holding a cabinet position in Nicaragua’s Sandinista government, in violation of canon law.
“The Holy Father has graciously granted the absolution of all canonical censures imposed on Rev. Father Ernesto Cardenal, accepting the request he had recently made to him through the Pontifical Representative in Nicaragua, to be readmitted to the exercise of the priestly ministry,” said a Feb. 18 statement from the Apostolic Nunciature of Nicaragua.
The statement, signed by Archbishop Waldemar Stanislaw Sommertag, the apostolic nuncio to Nicaragua, said that “Cardenal has been under suspension of the exercise of the priestly ministry for 35 years due to his political party involvement. The religious accepted his canonical penalty imposed on him and has always observed it without carrying out any pastoral activity. In addition, he had abandoned all political commitment for many years.”

Cardenal, a poet and Marxist liberation theology activist, actively collaborated with the Sandinista National Liberation Front revolution that ended the dictatorship of then-president Anastasio Somoza. He was appointed Minister of Culture the same day the Sandinistas were victorious on July 19, 1979, an office that he held until 1987.

He was suspended a divinas by Pope Saint John Paul II in 1984 for violating canon law by assuming a public office that involves the exercise of civil power.

How Did Bishop Braxton Miss Out on This One?

Atlanta, Ga., Feb 19, 2019 / 03:27 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Three U.S. bishops have called on the Supreme Court to take up the case of a death row inmate in Georgia whose sentence may have been prejudiced by the racism of a juror.
“There is no toxin more pernicious than hatred based on racial stereotypes,” the bishops warned in a Feb. 17 opinion piece in The Atlantic.
They said that despite some progress in overcoming racism, it still exists in America today.
“Whenever personal prejudices surface in a trial, society relies on appellate courts and especially the Supreme Court to rectify these biases.”
 

Bishop Wilton Gregory

The opinion piece in The Atlantic was written by Archbishop Wilton Gregory of Atlanta; Bishop Frank Dewane of Venice, Florida, chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development; and Bishop Shelton Fabre of Houma-Thibodaux, Louisiana, chairman of the bishops’ Ad Hoc Committee Against Racism.

Too Often, Depending on Your Parish

Mixed Messages

 POPE FRANCIS:

Vatican City, Feb 15, 2019 / 06:13 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis spoke out about inequality, the environment, sustainable development and the elimination of poverty during his visit to the United Nations’ agricultural development agency in Rome Thursday.
“Few have too much and too many have little, this is the logic of today. Many have no food and go adrift, while a few drown in the superfluous,” Pope Francis told staff members of the UN International Fund for Agricultural Development, or IFAD.
“This perverse current of inequality is disastrous for the future of humanity,” he said.

The Gospel according to  St. Luke yesterday: 

Jesus came down with the twelve
and stood on a stretch of level ground
with a great crowd of his disciples
and a large number of the people
from all Judea and Jerusalem
and the coastal region of Tyre and Sidon.
And raising his eyes toward his disciples he said:
“Blessed are you who are poor,
for the kingdom of God is yours.
Blessed are you who are now hungry,
for you will be satisfied.
Blessed are you who are now weeping,
for you will laugh.

Okay. I WIll Give It a Try.

From Power Line: "Nancy Pelosi’s Theological Illiteracy"

 

Noted Theolgian Namcy Pelosi

Nancy Pelosi claims to be a Catholic. Charitably interpreted, that means her grandparents were Catholics; possibly even one or both of her parents. But Pelosi has not even a nodding acquaintance with Christian doctrine. The latest example, via PJ Media, is revealing. Remarkably, Pelosi was addressing an audience of Christian college and university presidents and administrators. Is “chutzpah” a Catholic term of art?

After a brief, self-deprecating introduction, Speaker Pelosi launched into the religious pandering portion of her speech. Saying, “I can’t find it in the Bible” even though she claims she keeps “reading and reading,” Pelosi shared her favorite verse with an audience that consisted mainly of Christian college and university presidents and administrators. The verse, which “is supposed to be in Isaiah,” according to the speaker, is, “To minister to the needs of God’s creation is an act of worship. To ignore those needs is to dishonor the God who made us.”

What’s funny about this is not just the fact that nothing remotely like that quote appears in Isaiah or any other book of the Bible. More fundamentally, the sentiment is entirely wrong. 2,800 years ago, no one was worried about “the needs of God’s creation,” other than the needs of us human beings. Gentry environmentalism is a 20th century phenomenon. And left-wing Earth-worship (or, more properly, government crony-and-Democratic-Party-enrichment-worship) has nothing to do with Christianity.
But as we all know, the Left’s religion is not Christianity, or Judaism, or Islam–all of which are antithetical to key elements of the Left’s agenda. The Left’s religion is government power. Nancy Pelosi should stop pretending.

Dope for Dummies

 Because God knows we need more stupid people in Illinois.


Chicago, Ill., Feb 5, 2019 / 08:15 pm (CNA).- Citing “rampant” drug use in modern society and a commitment to the common good, the six Catholic bishops of Illinois are speaking out against the the state’s efforts to legalize recreational marijuana.
“Proponents of legalization say marijuana is not addictive, yet peer-reviewed research concludes that it is,” the bishops wrote in a Feb. 4 joint statement released by the Catholic Conference of Illinois.

“Proponents also say that most people who use marijuana will not move on to harder drugs, yet other studies note that most people who are addicted to other drugs started with alcohol and marijuana,” they wrote.
The push to legalize marijuana for recreational use in Illinois is being led by State Sen. Heather Steans and State Rep. Kelly Cassidy, both Chicago democrats, who said Jan. 29 that they hope to introduce a formal bill to the legislature soon.
Medical marijuana has been legal in Illinois since 2013. Ten states and the District of Columbia have so far legalized recreational use of marijuana, though its use remains illegal under federal law.

Fair is Fair

RICHMOND, VA—Embattled Virginia Governor Ralph Northam is fighting calls for his resignation over his past wearing of blackface. He assures the public that he is not a racist and that his policy of infanticide is to be applied equally to babies of all colors.

"When I look at babies, I don't see skin color," Northam told the press. "I just see obstacles to women's rights, to be executed after a consultation with a doctor."

Northam said he is just the target of a vicious "noticing campaign”, where people notice things he did and then mention the things that were noticed. "I was just a happy-go-lucky infanticide governor, and you could hardly drag the press to pay attention to me," Northam stated. "Now all of sudden I'm getting scrutinized like a common Republican."

Northam wasn't sure who was out to get him, but his best guess was "babies”. "I hate babies," Northam said before quickly adding, "but all of them equally, regardless of race."

Conservatives quickly condemned Northam's comments, leading to a headline in The New York Times reading "Conservatives Eagerly Pounce On Northam's Support For Equal Infanticide."

Feast of St. Agatha, February 5

St. Agatha’s popularity spread rapidly in the 3rd century after her gruesome martyrdom. She was brutally tortured to death for refusing to renounce her virginity and Christian religion, and her story of perseverance in suffering has inspired many over the centuries.
Shortly after her death, the Italian people began invoking her intercession for their various needs. In particular, the local people of Catania used a veil she wore to protect them from total destruction. The Golden Legend summarizes how she interceded for the people before God when a volcano erupted.

One year from the day of Agatha’s birth into the new life of heaven, the mountain that looms over Catania erupted and spewed a river of fire and molten rock down toward the city. Then crowds of pagans fled from the mountain to the saint’s tomb, snatched up the pall that covered it, and hung it up in the path of the fire; and, on the very day of the virgin’s birth, the stream of lava halted and did not advance a foot farther.

The volcano was Mt. Etna and it is believed that this was not the last time St. Agatha protected the people of Catania from an eruption. She continues to be invoked by people around the world against volcanic eruptions and is often invoked by firefighters.
God chose the virgin-martyr St. Agatha to be his vessel and continues to protect those who call upon her aid with a sincere faith.

Islamic Outreach, Part CVIII

From an earlier post on this blog:

Pope Francis spoke to the diplomatic corps and amongst other things, said, "Hence it is important to intensify dialogue among the various religions, and I am thinking particularly of dialogue with Islam."

Meanwhile... 


Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Feb 4, 2019 / 10:35 am (CNA/EWTN News).- In an interreligious meeting in Abu Dhabi Monday, Pope Francis said that for peace to flourish among religions, there must be justice, and respect for human dignity and freedom.


Pope Francis, the first pope to visit the Arabian peninsula, is in Abu Dhabi, capital of the UAE, Feb. 3-5 to promote interreligious dialogue and give support to the country’s Christian minority.
Before the interreligious meeting, he met for around 30 minutes with the Muslim Council of Elders. He then visited the city’s Grand Mosque with the Grand Imam of al-Azhar, Ahmed el-Tayeb, before paying his respects at Zayed's tomb.

Who is Ahmed el-Tayeb? Here are some of his notable ideas:

 
In 2016 the grand imam of Al-Azhar, Ahmed el-Tayeb, said that leaving Islam (apostasy) is punishable by death. In his view, crimes, assault and treason are forms of apostasy and must be punished. Apostates must rejoin Islam or be killed.


In an interview which aired on Egypt's Channel 1 on October 25, 2013 (as translated by MEMRI), Tayeb stated, "Since the inception of Islam 1,400 years ago, we have been suffering from Jewish and Zionist interference in Muslim affairs. This is a cause of great distress for the Muslims.".
He also argued that "the Quran said it and history has proven it: 'You shall find the strongest among men in enmity to the believers to be the Jews and the polytheists'". He also claimed that Jews consider non-Jews to be "extremely inferior" and that Jews "practice a terrible hierarchy, and they are not ashamed to admit it, because it is written in the Torah – with regard to killing, enslavement, and so on".

From Father Z

Yesterday, Sunday, was also the Feast of St. Blaise, upon which we traditionally have the blessing of throats.
Did you receive a St. Blaise Day blessing of the throat?
You don’t have to be registered to vote… sort of like Chicago. Unlike Chicago, you have to be alive.
Pick your best answer.  You are registered and approved, use the combox to explain what happened.

Did you receive a 2019 St. Blaise Day Blessing of the Throat?

• Yes, individually from a priest (or deacon (65%, 978 Votes)
• No, they weren't offered. (16%, 235 Votes)
• Yes, but it was "en masse", not individual (12%, 181 Votes)
• No, I didn't, or couldn't, go. (5%, 80 Votes)
• Sort of, but from a lay person (3%, 39 Votes)

Total Voters: 1,513

The Trouble With Jesuits, Part 74

 What is it with Jesuits and homosexuality?

Mainz, Germany, Feb 4, 2019 / 12:15 pm (CNA).- In an open letter published Sunday by a German daily, nine German Catholics, including two prominent Jesuits, demand a break with the Church's teaching on sexual morality.
The signatories call for a reworking of ecclesial structure, namely a "separation of powers", the priestly ordination of women, an end to mandatory priestly celibacy, and other changes.

Published in the Feb. 3 edition of Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, the letter is addressed to Cardinal Reinhard Marx of Munich and Freising, president of the German bishops' conference, and tells him that if he and other bishops were to decide to "spearhead the Reform movement", they would be assured of the signatories' full support.
Among those who signed the letter are the rector of the Sankt Georgen Graduate School in Frankfurt, Jesuit Father Ansgar Wucherpfennig, as well as Jesuit Father Klaus Mertes and the Frankfurt City's Catholic Dean, Fr Johannes zu Eltz.

Father Wucherpfennig re-election as rector was recently called into question by the Vatican, because of comments made in 2016 in which claimed, among other things, that passages condemning homosexuality in the Bible had been "misread". He has since been reinstated.

The three priests are joined by former Jesuit Jörg Splett, an academic philosopher, as well as his wife Ingrid, the "Greens" politician Bettina Jarasch, the Frankfurt Caritas director Gaby Hagemans, and two members of the Central Committee of German Catholics, Claudia Lücking-Michel and Dagmar Mensink.
The signatories demand the Catholic Church should hit "reset" and make a fresh start when it comes to the Church's teaching on sexual morality, including a "reasonable and just evaluation of homosexuality".

In Other Words, What Difference Does It Make?

Some Catholic leaders are calling for the excommunication of Governor Andrew Cuomo in response to the late-term abortion bill he signed last week.
The bill, the so-called Reproductive Health Act, codifies Roe v. Wade in New York law and removes abortion from the state criminal code, legalizing the procedure up to the moment of birth in cases where the mother’s life or health are endangered or where the baby is non-viable. It also allows individuals other than doctors to perform abortions.
Previously, doctors in New York were only allowed to perform an abortion after 24 weeks of pregnancy if the mother’s life was in danger.
“Today we are taking a giant step forward in the hard-fought battle to ensure a woman’s right to make her own decisions about her own personal health, including the ability to access an abortion,” Cuomo said.

The governor, a Catholic who recalled his days as an altar boy in his State of the State address earlier this month, publicly celebrated the bill’s signing by ordering One World Trade Center and other landmarks to be lit up in pink.
Many Catholics, including some bishops, responded by urging Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York to excommunicate Cuomo. But Dolan, while admitting that he has gotten “wheelbarrows” of letters asking him to make that move, has indicated he is unlikely to do so, saying the governor is “not going to be moved by this, so what’s the use?”

Tricky Little Rat

Conceding that, though the Catholic Church would no longer tolerate blasphemous and heretical decisions made by Catholic politicians, both Cardinal Timothy Dolan and Pope Francis confirmed Thursday that they couldn’t, for the life of them, find a single reason to excommunicate Governor Andrew Cuomo a day after he signed a bill that allows abortions up to the final day of pregnancy.
“Oh, it’s not for a lack of trying,” Dolan told EOTT this morning. “But he’s a sneaky little guy. If he does ever use his public office to do something completely contrary to faith and morals, he doesn’t do it out in the open. He’s like a mob boss. You know he’s up to something, but you just can’t seem to catch him in the act. Trust me, we’ve searched high and low for reasons to excommunicate this guy, but he’s always been one step ahead of us.”

“That tricky little rat,” Pope Francis said as he frantically searched through New York magazines and websites in hopes of finding even the smallest trace of blasphemy. “Sheesh, he’s good! Can’t find a darn thing on this guy. I don’t know—perhaps the best thing to do is to hang tight and be patient. A guy like this, he’s bound to slip and commit an abomination. That’s when we’ll get him.”