Oklahoma City Archbishop Beltran and Tulsa Bishop Slattery have voiced their dissapointment at Notre Dame's decision to honor President Obama at graduation.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Oklahoma's Bishops Speak Against Notre Dame's Decision to Honor Pres. Obama
Sunday, March 29, 2009
"The Pope May be Right"
In today's Washington Post (Page A15), Edward Green writes:
When Pope Benedict XVI commented this month that condom distribution isn't helping, and may be worsening, the spread of HIV/AIDS in Africa, he set off a firestorm of protest. Most non-Catholic commentary has been highly critical of the pope. A cartoon in the Philadelphia Inquirer, reprinted in The Post, showed the pope somewhat ghoulishly praising a throng of sick and dying Africans: "Blessed are the sick, for they have not used condoms."
Yet, in truth, current empirical evidence supports him.
We liberals who work in the fields of global HIV/AIDS and family planning take terrible professional risks if we side with the pope on a divisive topic such as this. The condom has become a symbol of freedom and -- along with contraception -- female emancipation, so those who question condom orthodoxy are accused of being against these causes. My comments are only about the question of condoms working to stem the spread of AIDS in Africa's generalized epidemics -- nowhere else.
In 2003, Norman Hearst and Sanny Chen of the University of California conducted a condom effectiveness study for the United Nations' AIDS program and found no evidence of condoms working as a primary HIV-prevention measure in Africa. UNAIDS quietly disowned the study. ...
HT: Ryan Anderson
Michael Czerny, SJ, on the Pope, Africa, Condoms, and AIDS
Jesuit father Michael Czerny directs the African Jesuit AIDS Network (AJAN). For anyone interested in delving beyond the NY Times simplistic (and distorted) headlines and op-eds, his essay, "A Human and Spiritual Wake-up Call," in Thinking Faith, the online Journal of the British Jesuits, is well worth the read.
Here are a few quotes from the essay:
Vatican officials estimate that around the world the Catholic Church now provides more than 25 percent of all care administered to those with HIV/AIDS. The proportion is naturally higher in Africa, nearly 100% in the remotest areas. Let an HIV-positive Burundian on antiretroviral drugs explain the service:
When we go to other places, they only see numbers in us. We become hospital cases to be dealt with. We are problems. We lose our sense of dignity and worth. Yet we never feel that when we come to our Church programme. This is because we get a complete approach to our problems, whether spiritual, medical, mental, social or economic. (Personal testimony)
* * *
Facing not only AIDS but multiple crises in most corners of the continent, Africans have good reason, based on experience, to believe in the Church’s bold vision for them.
Having pointed towards the Church’s holistic programme and taken distance from the necessarily narrower approach of public policy, the Holy Father now critiques the further reduction of public policy to a single means and method: ‘…the problem cannot be overcome by the distribution of prophylactics: on the contrary, they increase it.’
In Europe and North America, where condoms are culturally accepted by many, people ask incredulously, ‘Why on earth does the Church oppose their promotion?’ Some with muddled thinking have even accused Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI of presiding over an AIDS genocide.
* * *
Springing up out of Catholic faith and tradition, the Pope’s whole and indeed holistic message is for the people he is visiting. It connects thoroughly with the human reality on the ground. A Congolese Jesuit wrote to me, ‘Over here we are following the visit of the Pope with great interest, as well as the speculation in the press about the question of condoms arising from the Holy Father’s wise statement before touching down in Africa. What a shame that so far people don’t realise that the solution to AIDS won’t come with distribution of these things, but by handling the whole question as a whole.’
The Holy Father concludes by answering again the journalist’s allegation of ‘unrealistic and ineffective?’: ‘It seems to me that this is the proper response, and the Church does this, thereby offering an enormous and important contribution. We thank all who do so.’
According to my experience, most Africans, Catholic or not, agree. To them, what the Holy Father said is profound and true. He is reiterating what they have been experiencing for years and what they continue to expect. They too thank those who implement the Church’s strategy.
HT: Maria Ruiz Scaperlanda
Saturday, March 28, 2009
"Deadlier Sin of the Male"
Tina Beattie’s March 7, 2009 article in The Tablet (subscription required) makes the following observation:
Among the leading bankers that have brought the British economy to its knees there are no women. Could it be that the tendency to the sin of greed – as highlighted recently by the Pope – is primarily a male trait?
In a recent article in L’Osservatore Romano, the Pope’s personal theologian, Mgr. Wojciech Giertych, endorsed a theory by a 95-year-old Jesuit, Fr. Roberto Busa, that men and women sin differently. … [This is not new] since feminist theologians have been writing about the gendering of sin for nearly 50 years.
Any reaction?
... and Jesus Wept
Jack Higgins in the Chicago Sun-Times:
Friday, March 27, 2009
Austin's Bishop on the Notre Dame situation
The "Aggie Catholics" blog reports that Austin bishop Gregory Aymond issued a statement regarding Notre Dame's decision to honor President Obama. Here is Bishop Aymond's statement:
As was announced recently, the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind., is presenting President Barack Obama with an honorary degree and have asked him to give the commencement address.
I, along with many other Catholics, express great disappointment and sadness that a Catholic university would honor someone who is pro-choice and who holds many values contrary to our Catholic belief.
In the midst of such a sad situation, as Catholics we must continue to be pro-life and to proclaim with even greater strength the values of Christ and the teachings of the Catholic Church.
In my opinion, it is very clear that in this case the University of Notre Dame does not live up to its Catholic identity in giving this award and their leadership needs our prayerful support.
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Is Obama attempting to meddle in internal Church affairs?
Over at The Catholic Thing, Austin Ruse has a column today in which he says, in part:
A reliable source tells me that someone representing the Obama administration is about to put pressure on the papal nuncio to the United States to get Archbishop Raymond Burke to be quiet. The Obama complaint is that Archbishop Burke, who is now head of the Apostolic Signatura in Rome, has supported another bishop in his chastisement of Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius for her support of abortion.
A few days ago Archbishop Burke gave an interview to the San Diego-based organization Catholic Action for Faith and Family, during which he took the gloves off about Sebelius, who has been nominated to head the massive U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. He noted her “public association with some of the more notorious agents of the culture of death.” This, of course, was a reference to her hosting a party for the late-term abortionist George Tiller, currently on trial in Kansas for nineteen infractions of abortion restrictions.
* * *
Burke closed the interview by issuing a challenge to his brother bishops, most notably Archbishop Donald Wuerl of Washington, D.C.: “Every bishop is held to the same universal discipline which has been in force since the time of St. Paul the Apostle and is stated in canon 915 of the Code of Canon Law.” And then this: “Whether Governor Sebelius is in the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas, or in any other diocese [italics Ruse’s], she should not present herself for Holy Communion because, after pastoral admonition, she obstinately persists in serious sin.”
* * *
And now there is word that someone who is well known among Republicans, and who has served in previous Republican administrations, is reaching out on behalf of the Obama administration to get the Holy See to quiet Burke, or at least to make it clear he speaks not for the Church, but only for himself.
* * *
By trying to stop a bishop from commenting on internal Church matters, the Obama administration wades into dangerous waters. Archbishop Burke is the head of the Apostolic Signatura, the Vatican office that is charged with interpreting the Code of Canon Law. The proper reception of Communion is proper to the Code of Canon Law, and therefore proper to any bishop, and especially to Archbishop Burke.
The pressure won't work, of course. Burke is just too smart, and tough. But Obama and his representatives are coming dangerously close to interfering in internal Church matters. More than anything else, the free exercise clause of the First Amendment to the Constitution was intended precisely to protect religious bodies from meddling by the state, even covert meddling by the White House like this. Obama and his pet Catholics should back off – and fast.
In the comments section, Ruse tells us that the Obama's emmisary is not Prof. Kmiec.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Mirror of Justice
MOJ is a name for Mary, but I did not know until today that it is also the title of a 1271 text by Guglielmus Durandus that became the basis for romano-canonical procedural law. That is, substantive law came in other texts, but procedure was developed in Speculum judiciale (Mirror of Justice).
Durandus studied canon law at Bologna and became a papal auditor (a judge dealing with appeals to Rome). The Speculum was a sort of conglomeration of earlier works, but the material was woven together in a way that made it easy to consult. It had four books: legal action, civil procedure, criminal procedure, and precedents of pleading. Because of his contribution, later scholars consistently referred to Durandus as "The Speculator."
HT: Christopher Scaperlanda
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Honoring President Obama at Notre Dame
With Amy, Rick, and Richard M., I am all for a university - especially a Catholic university - being a place of dialogue and exchange leading to growth in mutual understanding. John Paul the Great reminded us, with the theme of his pontificate, that we should "be not afraid." Therefore, a Catholic university should be not afraid to dialogue and exchange views on any topic with President Obama or any of his surrogates. But, as Rick and Richard M. have pointed out, honoring the President and giving him a commencement platform (not really a great forum for dialogue and exchange) is a very different matter and sends a very different signal. In short, I agree with Rick and Richard M. that ND should not have invited the President to be the commencement speaker and to receive an honorary degree.
With that said, I want to reiterate something Rick said. Notre Dame is and remains a wonderful gift to the Church and to the nation. Two of my children are graduates of ND, and I will literally be paying for their education for the rest of my life (well, at least into my late 70's). I have not once regretted the financial sacrifice. In fact, I thank God every day for providing us with the grace to make the leap of faith (and considering the financial commitment, it was a leap of faith) to send them to Notre Dame.
At the undergraduate level, the ability to take classes from and be mentored by the likes of Alasdair McIntyre, Brad Gregory, Fr. Miscamble, Cyril O'Regan, and others like them is a tremendous and maybe unparalleled opportunity. The level of intellectual engagement with peers outside of class is great, at least if the student seeks it, as is the faith community formed by these students (and professors). The Catholic intellectual life outside of class is vibrant Dorm masses, the dorm system, the dorm rectors all contribute to a distinct Catholic identity. The service learning opportunities all over the world help students to form their characters according to the lines of thinking developed by Pope Benedict in Deus Caritas Est. The Center for Ethics and Culture is a real gem and hundreds (if not thousands) of students participate in events and conferences sponsored by the Center. I could go on and on, but I'd probably start bragging about my kids, so I'll stop now.
Monday, March 23, 2009
Harvard's Dr. Green on the Pope, Aids, and Condoms in Africa
Dr. Edward Green, Director of of the AIDS Prevention Research Project at the Harvard School of Public Health said, in a interview published today, "I am a liberal on social issues and it's difficult to admit, but the Pope is indeed right. The best evidence we have shows that condoms do not work as an intervention intended to reduce HIV infection rates in Africa." Green went on to say, "[w]hat we see in fact is an association between greater condom use and higher infection rates."
Last week, the New York Times wrote a scathing editorial stating that the Pope "deserves no credence when he distorts scientific finding about the value of condoms in slowing the spread of the AIDS virus." The Times continues: "There is no evidence that condom use is aggravating the epidemic and considerable evidence that condoms, though no panacea, can be helpful in many circumstances."
Who is distorting the scientific facts? And, toward what ends?
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