Excommunication of Fr. Bourgeois will ‘certainly take place,’ Vatican official says
18 December 2008
32 views
Loading ....- A Vatican official has said that the excommunication of Fr. Ray Bourgeois, an American Maryknoll priest who advocates the ordination of women, will “certainly take place” unless the priest renounces his stand.
In exclusive comments made to CNA, the official called Fr. Bourgeois’ November letter defending his stand a “sad piece of propaganda” and argued the dissenting cleric takes his inspiration from American newspapers rather than Catholic doctrine.
Fr. Bourgeois, who is involved in organizing human rights protests at the military training school formerly known as School of the Americas, has called the Catholic position on women’s ordination “sexist.” In August, he delivered a homily at a ceremony at a Unitarian church purporting to ordain a woman to the Catholic priesthood.
In an October 21 letter, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith gave Fr. Bourgeois 30 days to renounce his public support for the ordination of women, on penalty of excommunication.
In a November 7 letter, Fr. Bourgeois said he was compelled to take his stand as a matter of conscience and would not renounce it. The priest said he knew many women who feel called to the priesthood and argued that the Church cannot treat this reputed vocation as invalid.
He characterized the “exclusion of women from the priesthood” as an “injustice.”
CNA spoke with an official of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith regarding the case of Fr. Bourgeois. The official reiterated that all procedures at the CDF are confidential. However, since Fr. Bourgeois decided to make public his letter to the Congregation, he said that “clearly the letter is a sad piece of propaganda and in no way expresses any doctrinal substance for his position.”
“Rather, Fr. Bourgeois feels he can engage with the (CDF) to change the doctrine of the Church… quoting American newspapers as if they were a source of any kind of Catholic doctrine.”
The official said that the formal excommunication will “certainly take place” as soon as the CDF “responds personally to the letters sent either supporting or denouncing (Fr. Bourgeois.)”
“Of course, Fr. Bourgeois could avoid excommunication at any point if he recants, but unfortunately all his latest actions do not seem to point in that direction,” the official told CNA.
Minnesota Catholic Conference announces ‘Immigration Sunday’
.- The Minnesota Catholic Conference has announced that January 4 will be “Immigration Sunday” for Catholic parishes in the state as part of an effort to raise awareness about the hardships and injustices facing immigrants.
The conference’s Tuesday announcement was timed to coincide with the two-year anniversary of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid on the Swift and Co. meatpacking plant in Worthington, Minnesota, the Star Tribune reports.
Consequences from the raid have had a “devastating impact” on immigrant families and rural communities, the conference said.
Sister Anna Marie Reha, director of the Hispanic ministry for the Diocese of New Ulm, told the Star Tribune that January 4 was chosen because it coincides with the Feast of the Epiphany.
“That feast celebrates the unity of being one human family. This is a chance to recognize and celebrate the gifts and benefits immigrants share with us,” she remarked.
Bishop of Winona Bernard Harrington said the conference hopes that the day will make people aware that “immigration policy is outdated and the system is broken.”
The bishop noted that immigrants are often detained without being able to contact their children.
“We need to be aware of the hardships and injustices happening right here in our own community,” he told the Star Tribune.
Kevin Appleby, director of migration and refugee policy for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said Immigration Sunday activities are not intended to advocate for specific actions.
“That’s something that the politicians need to take care of,” he commented. “There are Catholics on both political sides of the immigration issues, but I think all Catholics agree that we want this solved in a compassionate way.”
Pope names Cañizares to succeed Arinze at the Vatican sacraments post
.- Pope Benedict XVI announced on Tuesday that he has accepted the resignation of Cardinal Francis Arinze as prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments. He is being succeeded by Cardinal Antonio Cañizares Llovera.
Cardinal Arinze was appointed to head the Congregation on October 1, 2002 by Pope John Paul II and has served in the position for the last six years.
The prefect of the Congregation oversees the regulation and promotion of the sacred liturgy, with an emphasis on the sacraments.
Pope Benedict has appointed Cardinal Antonio Cañizares Llovera, who until today was the archbishop of Toledo, Spain, to take the reins from Cardinal Arinze. At 63 years-old Cardinal Cañizares is a young cardinal, having only been given the red hat in 2006.
According to reports in the Spanish press, Cañizares will serve as the apostolic administrator of Toledo until a successor is appointed. The cardinal told the press that he will shuttle between the two positions during the transition period.
The Secretary General of the Spanish Episcopal Conference (CEE), Bishop Juan Antonio Martínez Camino, has responded to the appointment by sending a congratulatory letter to Cardinal Cañizares. The Spanish bishops congratulated him “in particular for the confidence that the Holy Father has shown in him by calling him to work closely with him in the government of the Universal Church.”
Vocations on the rise in the Holy Land, says Jerusalem Patriarch
.- The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Archbishop Fouad Twal, said this week the seminary in the patriarchate of the Holy Land “is rich in vocations but poor in resources,” and that “expansion is needed so that the young people who knock on its door are not turned away.”
In statements to L’Osservatore Romano, the archbishop explained, “The seminary is the future of our diocese in the Holy Land. Young people who knock on its door come from all over Jordan, but unfortunately because of a lack of space and funds, we are obliged to send some of them back to their homes. And the operating expenses are constantly growing. Nevertheless, this does not prevent the formation of clergy who are well-educated and conscious of their own pastoral and spiritual mission at the service of the Christians community.”
Archbishop Twal also pointed out that the vocations to the priesthood “are all coming from our schools, and therefore they also deserve greater attention and sacrifice.”
“Through our schools,” he said, “we can help families to make their young people rich in faith and capable, proud of their roots, helping the new generations contribute to the creation of a society in which all people, including minorities, can participate in the common good.” In this teaching environment, he added, Christian and Muslim students “have the chance to work and grow together, to establish true relationships that can open unexpected possibilities for the future.”
Benedict XVI calls on Mary to assist Christians in becoming the ‘soul of the world’
.- Yesterday, on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, the Holy Father traveled to Rome’s Piazza di Spagna to pray at the statue of Mary Immaculate. Gathered in the square packed with thousands, the Pope prayed that Christians be given the courage to become “the soul of the world at this difficult moment of history.”
Upon arriving at the square, the Holy Father blessed a basket of roses and placed them at the foot of a column bearing Mary’s statue, according to tradition.
The Pope then spoke to the crowd about his visit last September to Lourdes, France for the 150th anniversary of the apparition of Mary to Bernadette Soubirous. The anniversary celebrations, which lasted throughout 2008, ended yesterday, on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception.
“Belief in Mary’s Immaculate Conception existed many centuries before the Lourdes apparitions,” he explained, adding that the apparitions were a “divine seal” to Blessed Pius IX’s declaration of the Immaculate Conception on December 8, 1854 as a dogma of the Church.
The Pope continued by reminding the audience that it is through Mary that we recognize “the ’smile of God’,” and find “new hope amidst the problems and dramas of the world.”
He went on to explain the significance of the roses. “All roses have their thorns which for us represent the difficulties, sufferings and evils that have marked and continue to mark the lives of individuals and of our communities. To a mother we present our joys but we also entrust our concerns, certain of finding in her the comfort not to lose heart and the support to continue our journey,” he added.
The Pope then entrusted to Mary “the ’smallest’ of our city: first and foremost children, especially those who are seriously ill, the disadvantaged,” those in difficult family situations, the elderly who are alone, immigrants striving to make ends meet, and those who are unemployed.
He continued in prayer, “Mary, teach us to show solidarity towards those in difficulty, to bridge the ever-increasing social disparities; help us to cultivate a more lively sense of the common good, of respect for the common well-being, and to make our contribution for a more just and united society.”
“Your beauty,” Pope Benedict said, “ensures us that the victory of love is possible, indeed that it is certain. It assures us that grace is stronger than sin and that hence redemption from any form of slavery is possible. Mary, you help us to believe in goodness more trustingly; you encourage us to remain vigilant and not to give in to the temptation of facile forms of evasion, to face reality with courage and responsibility.”
“Be a loving mother to our young people, that they may have the courage to be ’sentinels of the morrow’,” the Pope concluded, “and give this virtue to all Christians that they may become the soul of the world at this difficult moment of history.”
Indian archbishop warns of continuing lack of security in Orissa
.- Archbishop Rafael Cheenath of Cuttack-Bhubaneshwar said this week, “The persecution of Christians in Orissa,” a state of India where hundreds have been attacked by Hindu extremists in recent months, “continues amidst the indifference of authorities.”
L’Osservatore Romano reported that Archbishop Cheenath said, “At least 11,000 Christians are still in camps in the districts of Kandhamal, and thousands are in other districts, not counting those who have fled to other states in India, or to the homes of friends or relatives. Everyone fears new acts of violence if they were to return to their cities.”
“Our persecutors have announced there will be new attacks against us by Christmas,” the archbishop continued. “Therefore, the message of the extremists for those who hope to come back and those who live in uncertainty is clear: only conversion to Hinduism will save them.”
LOR also reported that despite a commitment made by the local government to combat the persecution, nothing has been done. “In recent days there have been other victims: two Christian women were killed in the district of Kandhamal while they were working the rice fields nearby, hoping to get some food for their families.”
Scottish cardinal leaves helm of agency after gay adoptions imposed
.- Following the implementation of a U.K. law requiring adoption agencies to serve homosexual couples, Cardinal Keith O’Brien has resigned as head of the St. Andrew’s Children’s Society.
The Sexual Orientation Regulations under the Equality Act enacted by the U.K. parliament are forcing the change. They outlaw discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in the provision of goods and services.
“Following careful consideration, Cardinal Keith O’Brien has decided to resign his position as President of the St. Andrews Children’s Society Ltd,” the Archdiocese of St. Andrews and Edinburgh said in a statement to CNA.
Cardinal O’Brien, Archbishop of St. Andrews and Edinburgh, explained in a statement that the society was founded by the Catholic Church in the archdiocese about 85 years ago, but became independent 16 years ago.
“It has not received any funding from the Catholic Church or used any church buildings or facilities since then,” he stated.
“The interests of children must always be paramount and I would hope that the staff of St. Andrews Children’s Society Ltd. will continue to work to ensure this in the years that lie ahead.”
The archdiocese informed CNA that a monsignor who is a board member of the Children’s Society will also step down from the board.
Cardinal Maida speaks up for struggling automotive industry
.- Cardinal Adam Maida, the Archbishop of Detroit, on December 4 privately met with various religious leaders he had invited to Sacred Heart Major Seminary to discuss their deep concern for those affected by economic decline and the ramifications the difficulties of the auto industry could have for the region.
Their meeting was titled “Conversation on the Economy.”
Speaking to the press in a post-meeting briefing, the cardinal said that religious leaders want to offer words of hope and encouragement for “countless” individuals and families under great stress because of economic uncertainty.
“With one voice, we wish to stand in solidarity with all who are suffering loss of jobs or homes, and all those who are anxious about what will happen with the future of the automobile industry in Metro Detroit,” Cardinal Maida stated.
Religious leaders “truly appreciate the creative efforts of the leaders of the automobile industry, as well as the cooperative spirit of the labor community,” he said, praising the joint work of business and labor.
“We join the leaders of business and labor to encourage federal support for this vital industry,” the cardinal added. “We all recognize the domino or ripple effect of how one aspect of our economy influences every other aspect of our life together. Clearly, the well-being of our metro area and, indeed, of our nation, depends on the continued strength of the automobile industry.”
Religious leaders recognize that the economy is “not just about money” but is ultimately about “people created in the image and likeness of God, people whose dignity does not depend on the fluctuation of the stock market or the good fortune at having permanent employment and secure healthcare.”
Cardinal Maida said he joins other religious leaders in seeking to secure “every person’s right to fair employment and just compensation, affordable healthcare, food, housing, and adequate clothing.”
“Every one of us has needs of body or spirit, and conversely, every one of us has something we can give for the sake of the common good. I join with my fellow religious leaders in seeking to create an environment for such a healthy exchange of gifts.”
The cardinal referenced the gift-giving customs of the holidays of Hanukkah and Christmas, adding:
“We Christians see these traditions of gift-giving as a response to God’s generosity toward us in sending His own Son into the world. This year, in some ways, our Christmas giving will probably be different. On the one hand, we will still be celebrating our faith in the light and hope Christ brings to the darkness of our world. But we will probably celebrate the feast in a more modest way, spending less on ourselves and hopefully being more generous toward those with greater needs.
“We also believe in the power of prayer and trust in God’s providential care for us all,” Cardinal Maida assured. “We pray the Lord will bless our nation and our region as we begin this new chapter in our history. We are confident that working and praying together, we can find a way forward that will assure a bright and hopeful future for the citizens of this great state and our nation – indeed our world – for generations to come.”
On Sunday, one of Detroit’s largest Protestant churches, Greater Grace Temple, offered prayers for a Congressional bailout of the auto industry as auto workers sat in the pews and three sport-utility vehicles rested at the altar.
Local dealerships donated the three hybrid SUVs representing Ford, GM, and Chrysler.
“We have never seen as midnight an hour as we face this week,” the Rev. Charles Ellis told several thousand congregants at the service at Detroit’s Greater Grace Temple. “This week, lives are hanging above an abyss of uncertainty as both houses of Congress decide whether to extend a helping hand,” Ellis said according to Reuters.
Rev. Ellis said he and other ministers would pray and fast until Congress voted on a bailout, urging his congregation to do the same.
The Archdiocese of Detroit has published Cardinal Maida’s full statement and a list of places to obtain assistance at its web site, http://www.aodonline.org
Cardinal Murphy-O’Connor criticizes secular intolerance of Catholic beliefs
.- Cardinal Cormac Murphy O’Connor, Archbishop of Westminster and head of the Catholic Church in England and Wales, has penned a newspaper editorial examining the phenomenon of secularism. Granting that secularism has led to some increased acceptance of Catholics, he criticized the new intolerance directed against those who maintain pro-life and pro-family views.
Writing in The Independent, the cardinal noted that religious belief presently tends to be treated as “a private eccentricity” rather than as “the central and formative element in British society that it is.”
Saying that atheism has become more vocal and aggressive, the cardinal said the phenomenon of secularization has helped religious believers realize “what we have in common as Christian believers is infinitely more important than what divides us.”
This common ground extended to all three monotheistic faiths, the cardinal continued.
“It is significant that one of the most articulate and respected defenders of religious values in Britain today is the Chief Rabbi.”
One benefit of secularization, Cardinal Murphy-O’Connor argued, is more tolerance for Catholics.
“Over the past 40 years, social prejudice against Catholics has largely disappeared, and Catholics have been fully assimilated into the mainstream of British life.”
However, this has not extended to intellectual and cultural acceptance. In the cardinal’s view, there is a “widely perceived conflict” between religious belief and the prevailing notion of what a “liberal” and a “tolerant” society should be.
Describing a “dislike of absolutes” current in modern Britain, he suggested this dislike “stems from an entirely understandable revulsion for totalitarianism” and is well-founded when approaches to ethical problems are in fact “too absolutist.”
“But as the ongoing debate about faith schools has demonstrated, the intolerance of liberal skeptics can be as repressive as the intolerance of religious believers,” Cardinal Murphy-O’Connor continued.
Conflict is most evident for Catholics on issues like “the absolute value of every human life” and “the central importance of the family and the institution of marriage as fundamental pillars of a rightly ordered society.”
“Catholics are not alone in watching with dismay as the liberal society shows signs of degenerating into the libertine society,” he added, saying Catholic positions are shared by other Christians, Jews, and Muslims.
Still, the cardinal added, “I think it is fair to say that the Catholic Church bears the brunt of ‘liberal’ hostility on both fronts.” He suggested this is due to natural “serious tensions” between Christian belief and the habits of a secular state.
The cardinal welcomed the fact that diversity and pluralism are increasingly accepted, but warned that such a fact could undermine institutions such as marriage and the family to the detriment of society.
“The vocal minority who argue that religion has no role in modern British society portray Catholic teaching on the family as prejudiced and intolerant to those pursuing alternatives,” he wrote in his editorial. “Catholic teaching is clear that all unjust discrimination is wrong, but this teaching cannot accept the relativistic acceptance that all approaches are equivalent. British society champions tolerance and freedom, but that freedom is dependent on responsibility.”
“A simplistic belief that right or wrong is an individualistic construct denies our responsibilities to neighbor and wider society,” Cardinal Murphy-O’Connor said.
He advocated an “open, tolerant and vibrant public square” to be maintained, especially as individual rights come into conflict with the rights of religious groups.
“The task of British Catholics – together with our fellow Christians and all believers of goodwill – is not to opt out of the debate or to fall back on anathemas, but to work by reasoned argument, and, above all, by the example of our own lives, to strengthen the many features of British society we believe to be good and to correct those we believe to be wrong,” the cardinal’s essay concluded.
Pope: Mary reflects the beauty that saves the world
.- In celebration of the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of Mary, Pope Benedict XVI presided over the angelus prayer today at noon. The Pontiff said that this feast is a chance to “contemplate the reflection of the Beauty who saves the world: the beauty of God that shines on the face of Christ.”
Thousands of pilgrims poured into St. Peter’s Square today to pray the angelus with the Holy Father and hear his teaching on the Virgin Mary. Pope Benedict described her, saying, “this beauty is totally pure, humble, free from arrogance and presumption.” This is how the Virgin appeared to St. Bernadette in Lourdes, where she told the saint, “I am the Immaculate Conception,” he reminded the faithful.
The Pope explained that the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of Mary recalls two truths of the faith: the existence of original sin, and especially the victory of Christ over evil, a victory that shines so sublimely in the form of the Virgin Mary.
“The existence of what the Church calls ‘original sin’ is unfortunately overwhelmingly evident, if only we look around us and within ourselves. The experience of evil is so consistent that it arouses in us the question: where did it come from?” This question becomes an “even more profound one” for the believer, the Pope noted. “If God, who is absolute Kindness, has created everything, where does evil come from?” he asked.
Benedict XVI explained that the answer is clear from the first pages of the Bible, which tell the story of creation and the fall of the first parents.
“God created all that exists, in particular he has created human beings in his own image, he did not cause death, but it entered the world through the envy of the devil (Wisdom 1:13-14; 2,23-24), who rebelled against God, and also deceived men, causing them to rebel.”
“It’s the drama of the freedom that God picks us up out of love, pledging instead to be a son of a woman who crushed the head of the ancient serpent,” he said, adding that “the woman predestined to be Mother of the Redeemer, the mother of the One who has been humiliated to bring us back to our original dignity.”
“This Woman, in the eyes of God, has always had a face and a name: “full of grace,” as she was called by the Angel visitors to Nazareth. She is the new Eve, the wife of Adam, made to be the mother of all redeemed,” Pope Benedict said. He also quoted from Saint Andrew of Crete who said: “Mary Theotokos, the common refuge of all Christians, was the first to be released by early fall of our forefathers.”
The Holy Father also pointed to today’s liturgy, which says that God has “prepared a worthy dwelling for his son and, in anticipation of the death of him, has preserved from every stain of sin.”
In keeping with tradition, Pope Benedict XVI will visit the Spanish Steps in Rome this afternoon, where he will pay homage to the image of the Immaculate Conception.