Sharon's departure

Jan 6, 2006 — JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's centrist Kadima party would easily win a March 28 general election even without the incapacitated leader at its helm, two newspaper polls published on Friday showed.
[...]

A poll published in the Haaretz daily found that Kadima led by Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert would win 40 seats in the 120-member parliament, well ahead of the right-wing Likud party and the centre-left Labor Party.

Labor and Likud would win 18 and 13 seats respectively, the survey said. It noted that respondents' support for Kadima might have been influenced by a sympathy vote over Sharon's illness.

The Yedioth Ahronoth daily published similar results in its poll. It found that Kadima under Olmert would win 39 seats, but would win 42 if led by veteran Israeli statesman Shimon Peres who recently left Labor for Kadima.
[...]

Read the complete article Kadima would win election even without Sharon: poll from ABC News.

An editorial from The Jerusalem Post makes the point that for Sharon's Kadima party, his stroke has occurred at a fortune time, as the elections are soon enough for Sharon's illness to still be in the minds of Israelis, but far enough away for the party to get itself organized now that its founder has departed.

While the timing may be fortunate for Kadima, it's not so fortunate for Israel overall. Sharon leaves mighty large shoes to fill and if his successors are not willing or able to step into the breach and do their utmost to see his policies through, it's going to be a long few years coming up, with Hamas gaining influence in Gaza while Fatah gunmen bulldoze their way into Egypt.

Now if you'll excuse me

St. John Neumann

Today is my birthday.

Rocco has conveniently posted a nice little summary-bio of my patron. (Thanks to Rocco of saving me from the task.) The feast is an obligatory memorial.

Having it both ways

The EU is meddling, condemning a treaty between the Holy See and Slovakia. Of course, the Holy See is a sovereign entity and Slovakia is (nominally) a sovereign state...

An attempt by the Vatican to reduce the number of abortions in one of central Europe's most staunchly Roman Catholic countries is being challenged by the EU. A legal panel appointed by the European commission has attacked a draft treaty between Slovakia and the Vatican that would have restricted sensitive medical treatment such as abortions and IVF.
[...]

The panel's intervention came in a 41-page report on the draft treaty, which was drawn up in March 2003. The treaty would allow healthcare workers in hospitals founded by the Catholic church to refuse to perform abortions or carry out fertility treatment on "conscience" grounds if they believe such work conflicts with their faith.

Their concerns were backed by the EU group. It said "certain religious organisations" should have the right not to perform "certain activities where this would conflict with [their] ethos or belief". But it added: "It is important the exercise of this right does not conflict with the rights of others, including the right of all women to receive certain medical services or counselling without any discrimination."

Approximately 70% of the population in Slovakia - which joined the EU in May 2004 - is Catholic.

"There is a risk that the recognition of a right to exercise objection of conscience in the field of reproductive healthcare will make it in practice impossible or very difficult for women to receive advice or treatment ... especially in rural areas."

Read the complete article EU challenges Vatican's draft abortion treaty from Guardian Unlimited.

You can exercise your freedom of conscience, except when it comes to women who want an abortion, who want to exercise their freedom to murder what you view as a live human being. Check, got it.

To be or not to be involved

This report on the Filipino Church reminded me of a post at Amy's.

From Amy's post, an observation by a reader:

Jose Casanova’s Public Religions in the Modern World observes that where religion was identified with the state (the formerly Catholic nations, the British Commonwealth, and Scandinavian countries), it has died. Conversely, where religious participation has been an _expression of the individual’s personal experience(most notably the US, and to some degree African and Asian Christianity), it continues to thrive. The only cases where a quasi-statist church has thrived is when it is a force against a foreign oppression : Ireland, Poland, Chile, the Philipeans among others). In these cases, the quasi-statist religion usually goes through a precipitous collapse when the oppression is ended. This is clearly happening in all of the nations listed.

From the article on the Filipino Church:

Baylon hoped for a continuation of the status quo that sees the Church walking a fine line between being apolitical and becoming politically active.

"I believe the religious orders should maintain their activism in relation to moral issues, which, given the weakness of political values and principles in the Philippines political system, means bordering on political involvement," he said. "However, at the stage the Philippines is in, the abdication by church leaders would have even worse consequences."

Read the complete article Philippines: Pray, put politics aside from Asia Times.

I thought the contrast of opinions is interesting. I'm not up on the Philippines and if the Church is drastically falling. The idea of Amy's reader that the oppression in the Philippines has ended is in part true, but the political corruption goes on. The message of the quote from the Asia Times article is that a retreat from the Church's political role would be not so good. The comment of walking a fine line is doubly true.

JHD

Arabic, much like Hebrew, does not have letters for vowels when written. They are added in by the reader based on context, etc. For instance, Islam, 'submission', has the same three letters as salom, 'peace'.

JHD was as my professor said not only 'holy war', but a word you would use for the struggle within or even the word for the struggle to open a lid screwed down too tight.

Sandro Magister's review of The Legacy of Jihad by Andrew G. Bostom wants to show us how such revisionist views of the concept of 'jihad' are inaccurate as well as naive.

Other factors encouraging the general silence over the holy wars of yesterday and today – and also over slavery, which is still practiced by Muslims in some regions, over assaults on churches and the killing of Christians – are the effort to establish a good relationship with the increasing numbers of Muslim immigrants in Europe, fear of terrorist attacks, and the desire to create distance from the outlook of the “clash of civilizations.”

But the Muslim victims of this reticence and silence on the part of the West are precisely those who are courageously fighting to reform the Islamic faith and reconcile it with democracy and modernity.

It’s a good thing that, with books like the one by Andrew G. Bostom, they aren’t being left entirely alone.

Read the complete article Holy War: The Year the Muslims Took Rome from www.chiesa.

Coming back

Hi everyone.

My hand is much improved. Today I've been reading through everything I've missed and tomorrow I should be back in action.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

It's the last day of the year

I forgot I was going to do this.
My little list...

1. Benedict XVI - he was chosen by the Holy Spirit, what more needs to be said?

2. Cardinal Ruini - the boycott of the referendum this last summer in Italy should be studied by all when working political action through the Church.

3. Archbishop Levada - from SF to CDF and power-broker in the appointment of new bishops (and soon to be favored with a new color for his wardrobe).

4. Archbishop Dziwisz - the paragon of true faith and service this year to his master and friend.

5. John Paul II of blessed memory - In life and in death, he leads by example.

Three rosaries or a good fall?

My penance from this morning was three rosaries. I came home, got out of the car and headed for the side door to my building when I promptly slipped and skinned up my left hand.

Do I still have to say my rosaries?

Just kidding. :)

In any case, my hand is rather sore from my little impromptu meeting with the concrete of the parking lot, so blogging this coming week may be a little light. Happy New Year.

For your prayer intentions

A British friend of mine is a good friend of the young woman, Kate Burton, who has been kidnapped in Gaza along with her parents.

Please pray for them.

According to the Foreign Office, Israel and the Occupied Territories aren't very safe.

We advise against all travel to the Gaza strip because of the security situation and continuing threat of kidnap of foreign nationals. Three British Nationals were kidnapped in Gaza on 28 December 2005. Urgent enquiries are being made. British nationals have also been kidnapped in previous incidents.

Exorcizing Emily

Having received the DVD of The Exorcism of Emily Rose yesterday as a Christmas present, we promptly watched it.

I shalln't bore you with a reiteration of the basic points of the movie and the ambiguity involving whether or not Emily was in fact possessed and her demons needed exorcizing.

Laura Linney and Tom Wilkinson as Father Moore were convincing. My family wanted a bit more certainty. With this movie, I don't think it's necessary. If Emily or Father Moore were the actual protagonists, it would have been good to have a fitting conclusion with the forces of Good winning over the forces of Evil. However, the movie's underlying theme was the conversion of Father Moore's lawyer, Erin Bruner. Not a complete conversion, but as St. Augustine wrote about himself, a finding of the right path that will lead to God.

What I was most intrigued by was the part of the prosecutor, the devout Methodist whose faith was mentioned all of two times, in the beginning when he was chosen and at the end when he gave his summation. In the courtroom, he was expected to represent the interests of the People, etc. But I was expecting more. All the different reviews I had read at the time of the movie's release indicated that his faith would play a bigger role, with soul searching of some kind. But aside from his being annoying and argumentative in the courtroom, his character came off as nothing more than the epitome of the 'Enlightened' Man who views anything spiritual as superstition.

I enjoyed the movie and would recommend it. It is a worthy and credible addition to the genre despite its flaws. Aside from the prosecutor, the characterizations were excellent. I especially liked the look of the Rose family at the beginning of the movie with their 'thousand yard stares'. Laura Linney is one of my favorite actresses currently working. I'll give it four and a half stars out of five.

By the way, in case you're wondering why we're dissecting this now, unless it's a foreign film with subtitles, watching films in the theater is pretty pointless for me these days unless I'm there simply for the visual element of a film on the big screen and some buttered popcorn and a Coke.

Distancing

From this morning's release from VIS:

Cardinal Lubomyr Husar, Archbishop Major of Kyiv-Halyc, with the consent of the Synod of the Greek-Catholic Ukrainian Church and after having informed the Apostolic See, transferred Bishop Ihor Vozniak, C.SS.R., from Auxiliary Bishop of the Archeparchy of Lviv of the Ukrainians to residential Archbishop of the same see.

Rocco here discusses the ins and outs of what this little snippet may mean.

My thoughts
I am not qualified to disagree with Rocco's reading the fine print of the above excerpt, so I will take his word for it.

As far as the distancing, while it will give the Vatican 'technical', canonical cover, I doubt the Orthodox are really going to buy that. The Russian Patriarch will fume and rage and complain and all that. But since there is pretty much nothing he can do about it except spurn further attempts by the Holy See at reconciliation, the Catholic Church will just have to live with an extension of the status quo.

If Husar plays his cards right and acts in the new role with some humility and discretion, I wouldn't be surprised if some of those Orthodox factions started paying some attention to his calls for a single Ukrainian patriarchate.

In a larger sense, Benedict XVI has a possible strategy here to lure the Orthodox back from schism by pointing at the Ukrainian Greeks and saying, 'They operate with pretty much total autonomy'.

Not in it for a photo op

More words from Moscow; they are basically a reiteration of the standard line. The third paragraph is rather interesting in its directness.

Moscow, December 28, Interfax - The Moscow Patriarchate awaits Vatican’s concrete actions that would corroborate its intention to overcome current conflicts, in particular, proselytism practiced by the catholics in Russia and the CIS countries and the uniates’ expansion in Ukraine.

‘It is early yet to speak about any concrete rapprochement. We welcome the statement of the new Pope about the necessity to continue dialogue. We hope that this statement will be followed by actions’, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Alexy II said in an interview published by BBC Russian.

‘Why to meet (with the Pope - IF) in front of TV cameras? Just to show to the world that there are no problems between us? But we have problems, don’t we? Such meetings should be well prepared. The problems worrying the Russian Orthodox church and its flock should be solved for the meeting to take place’, the patriarch added.
[...]

Read the complete article Vatican’s move against proselytism and Greek Catholic expansion would ensure meeting with the Pope of Rome from Interfax.

The Patriarch of Moscow also laments the attempts to break off the Ukrainian Church from Moscow.

He also regretted the attempts of some Ukrainian politicians to interfere in church affairs. ‘Some politicians have been striving to establish a church independent from Moscow at all costs. It is cutting an open wound! There are many mixed marriages; we venerate many saints together!’ Alexy II noted.

This paragraph is interesting in that while the rest of the article seems to make the Greek Catholic Church the big bogeyman in Ukraine, the patriarch here acknowledges that his flock in that country battle not only the Catholics, but other Orthodox factions as well. He also ought to know full well why Ukrainian politicians aren't that keen on ties with Russia, given Russian attempts to interfere with internal politics, elections, etc.

I knew I knew that name from somewhere

Rocco has posted a couple times lately on the change of leadership at the North American College in Rome (I don't have the links handy). Rector Monsignor Kevin McCoy left his post earlier this month (in the middle of the term) for a post in Washington, DC to direct the college's capital campaign.

Whispers in the Loggia has speculation on why McCoy suddenly changed jobs.

Where I know Monsignor McCoy? For a number of years when official diocesan announcements were published in The Globe, along with +Lawrence D. Soens, Bishop etc. would be Kevin McCoy, Chancellor.

Yes, I know, I should have picked this up long ago, but as my family can testify, I'm lousy with name recognition... Thankfully, my grandparents had their copy of the diocesan newspaper in one of the usual spots. I picked it up and read the piece on the monsignor on page one, top right column.

The Feast of the Holy Innocents

Merry Christmas one and all on the Feast of the Holy Innocents (hey, it started at sunset!).

Considering the recent talk of dropping Limbo, does this feast lose something? After all, the little children would have gone to Heaven with or without the baptism of blood under current thinking. Thoughts?

If you've all been checking out the blogs under the Daily readings on the left, you'll have pretty much kept up to date on what's been going on. Rocco has been busy and Amy has returned from unfastening action figures from their pesky packages.

I hope you all had a blessed Christmas and are still fully involved in the season. Given the fact that I was born on the fifth of January, the entire period from Christmas to the Epiphany has always been one big holiday, even when I was just a little kid who didn't know any better.

If you've been following the situation in St. Louis, the esteemed Dr. Peters has points to make here and here on the subject (thanks to Amy for bringing them up). The new look of Dr. Peters' blog is pretty nice too. I could use a nifty banner across the top here...

Christmas

I'm going to be gone for a week or so to visit my parents. Everyone have a Merry Christmas. Also, a friend of mine from Germany is in New York City with her family for the next few days. Say a few prayers on their behalf as they are forced to trudge around the Big Apple on foot.

God bless you all.

The Russians are coming!

I suppose though that the cry of alarm loses something when it's Russians themselves who cry out...

Moscow (AsiaNews) – Orthodox deacon Andrej Kuraev, a young well-known theologian, has invited the youth branch of an ultranationalist movement to organize, for December 24, a picket “in defence of Russian Christmas” outside the Catholic cathedral of the Mother of God.

The proposal was launched through the deacon’s web-site (www.kureav.ru/forum) and intends to be a “defence of Russian Christmas, in other words the traditions of celebrating Christ’s birth according to the old calendar.” The Catholic Church, with the Gregorian calendar reform, celebrates Christmas on December 25. The Russian Orthodox Church, which still follows the Julian calendar, celebrates Christmas on January 7.
[...]

The deacon is proposing that only young people take part in the picket, with “a kind expression on their face, not one that suggests irritation or protest.” But he also claims that “the Nasha (Our People) youth movement has given its juridical and organization support to the demonstration.”

This movement is considered to be among the most extremist and fundamentalist in Russia, so much so that is has been dubbed the “Putin-Jugend”, in a clear reference to Nazi youth.
[...]

According to organizers’ intentions, the picket is not to foresee political statements or comments, while plans are to “extend good-hearted and non-polemical holiday wishes to Catholic parishioners passing by.”

Deacon Andrei Kuraev is among the most influential theologians and publicists in the Russian Orthodox world. His web-site ranks first for site visits and reference. He is not an “official voice” of Moscow’s Patriarchate, but is known to launch initiatives only if he has the hierarchy’s tacit approval.
[...]

Read the complete article December 24 picket planned by ultra-Orthodox in front of the Catholic cathedral of Moscow from AsiaNews.it.

Watch on Kiev

It's been awhile since we've heard from Cardinal Husar.

Kiev, December 19, Interfax - The head of the UGCC, Cardinal Lubomir Husar, has again spoken for establishing one Local Church in Ukraine.

‘The Churches have not been established by officials, but by Jesus Christ. We as Christians should unite, and it is our tragedy that we are still separated’, Cardinal Husar said at a press conference in Kiev on Monday.
[...]

Read the complete article Head of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church, transfer of his residence to Kiev has helped considerably to Ukrainian Churches to come closer together from Interfax.

The quote above is the basic gist of the article. Husar merely expresses the same thought in several different permutations. The last few paragraphs describe the status of the cathedral-church that is being constructed in Kiev.

You'll all remember the last time Cardinal Husar spoke out on a coming together of the Ukrainian confessions. The article here provides a bit more detail in that Husar seems to not be looking for a unified church so much as everyone working together for the common Christian goal, Perhaps he sees such cooperation as the preliminary move toward securing a united patriarchate.

Do they really call it Czechia these days?

I saw that term used somewhere... But anyway, not all is well in relations between the Republic and the Holy See, despite cordial Christmas greetings.

PRAGUE, Dec 20 (CTK) - President Vaclav Klaus received the Papal Nuncio to the Czech Republic, Diego Causero, in the presidential seat at Prague Castle today where they exchanged Christmas wishes and Klaus expressed his invitation to Prague for Pope Benedict XVI.
[...]

"It was a polite meeting before Christmas. We wished merry Christmas and a happy new year to one another," Causero said.

The Archbishop of Prague, Miloslav Cardinal Vlk, fielded the question of a papal visit, giving the standard reply:

"This Pope will not travel as much as his predecessor and it is not much realistic to expect him to visit the Czech Republic in the following few years," Prague Archbishop Cardinal Miloslav Vlk said in an interview for Saturday's issue of the daily Mlada fronta Dnes.

Vlk added that Pope Benedict XVI could connect a visit to the Czech Republic with a trip to his native Bavaria, scheduled for mid-September, 2006.

The article then delves into the nitty gritty of Czech politics, as it notes that the Archbishop won't be meeting with the president for Christmas due to strain in the relationship. Vlk's comments on the recent signing of an amendment to a law governing church education and charities was unconsitutional 'disappointed' the president. In addition to this, a treaty between the Czech Republic and the Holy See has been stalled for a number of years:

During the past three years, deputies have not agreed on the treaty. Klaus said he would not sign it in the proposed version as it would guarantee too many privileges for the Catholic Church.

Read the complete article Klaus receives Papal Nuncio, invites Pope Benedict XVI to Prague from Prague Daily Monitor.

An interesting article in that it touches on the continuing struggle in Eastern Europe (in the new alignment, the Czech Republic is actually in Central Europe) as post-communist states continue to feel their way across the religious/political landscape. But hey, not every country can be Poland.

UPDATE 12/21, 10:01 AM
From a different article of Prague Daily Monitor:

PRAGUE, Dec 20 (CTK) - Pope Benedict XVI will probably come on a visit to Prague next September, Prague Archbishop Cardinal Miloslav Vlk told CTK today.

In such a case, the Pope will link his visit to the Czech Republic with the planned trip to his native Bavaria, Vlk said, adding that Benedict XVI has already received the invitation by Czech bishops, but an invitation from President Vaclav Klaus is necessary, too.
[...]

More on Nashville

The Tennessean has reaction from various quarters and a list of what the bishop-elect did on his first day.

The Most Rev. James Niedergeses, bishop of Nashville from 1975 to 1992, said he was on hand when Choby was born at Saint Thomas Hospital. He was chaplain there then and spoke to the future priest's mother and prayed with the family.

The Vatican could not have made a better choice, Niedergeses said.

His only advice? "To keep up the kind of leadership he has demonstrated as a priest," he said.

This is cool! or Why I wish I had a billion dollars

Matthew over at Shrine of the Holy Whapping explains his fall project:

This fall, our studio project for the School of Architecture was to design a 500-700-seat parish church for a site at 1500 South Michigan Avenue, Chicago, a lot currently occupied by the 1997 Old St. Mary's Church, a ministry of the Paulist Fathers originally founded in 1833. Old St. Mary's was begun shortly before the housing boom in the area led to a massive upsurge in gentrification. Land prices have shot up and a large number of urban professionals and young families have begun to make their home there. As a consequence, any church placed on the site has a golden opportunity to evangelize.
[...]

The associated sketches and pictures can be found here (pictures copyright Matthew Alderman).

Really though, I must admit that if I had a billion US dollars to my name, social justice would not be at the top of my list of priorities (a failing, I know), but rather I would be spending on projects like Matthew's in a bid to ressurrect the church as an art form, from the cathedral down to the local parish church.