Father Benedict Groeschel hosted Ken Hacket, the president of the Catholic Relief Services (CRS) on his weekly EWTN program, Sunday Night Live a few weeks ago. Since 1972 he’s worked in the missions. The program was a source of hope for me because it expanded my horizons of what we as Christians are meant to be: beacons of hope and compassion for others, not only in a time of need, but at all times. This organization clearly and proudly represents us doing good around the world. CRS is a great example of Christian charity!
Category: Catholic Social Concerns
Church’s use of the Net too often answers questions not asked
Kyle Logue’s essay on Christian Web Trends, “4 Reasons Why Church Websites Don’t Attract Visitors“. Kyle pinpoints a number of good things to keep in mind for the work sharing the faith with the outside world. Pay attention! His list includes:
- lack of interaction
- no easy way to share content
- lack of good content
- lack of purpose.
One could also quote Reinhold Niebuhr who once said:
“Nothing is so incredible as an answer to an unasked question. One half of the world has regarded the Christian answer to the problem of life and history as “foolishness” because it had no questions for which the Christian revelation was the answer and no longings and hopes that that revelation fulfilled” (The Nature and Destiny of Man, Vol. II. Human Destiny).
Phoenix hospital no longer called Catholic
A thorny matter of faith and morals between a bishop and a historic “Catholic” hospital has been settled: the hospital is no longer a Catholic hospital. Mass is not permitted to be celebrated there and the Blessed Sacrament can’t be reserved there. Phoenix’s St Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center whose owner is Catholic Healthcare West (CWH) defied Catholic teaching and the authority of the Catholic bishop in whose diocese the hospital is located. St Joseph’s is one of several hospitals in Phoenix, Arizona. For Catholics, the bishop of the diocese is the final authority on matters of faith and morals; the bishop is not a branch manager, he is the successor of the Apostles.
Contrary to an editorial in the NY Times today, hospitals who claim to be Catholic are not agents of the state and therefore are not bound to comply with legalities to provide emergency reproductive care.
St Joseph’s Hospital was founded by the Religious Sisters of Mercy in 1895.
In Catholic teaching we hold that no one, no institution is the authentic interpreter of faith and morals but the bishop. In this case, The Most Reverend Thomas J. Olmstead, Bishop of Phoenix, is the proper teacher and interpreter of Catholic teaching with regard to the faithful and Catholic institutions in the Diocese of Phoenix. But let’s be clear: it is not Bishop Olmstead’s isolated interpretation of Catholic teaching nor is Catholic teaching determined by him as a private body of teaching and interpreted arbitrarily. What we see in Bishop Olmstead is a man faithful to his word, a priest acting according to his calling and ordination. Catholic teaching is not a policy statement; Catholic teaching coheres to objective and divine truth not to positive law. Catholic teaching is based on sacred Scripture, sacred Tradition and the clear and consistent teaching of the sacred Magisterium through the years. It is the Church’s theological and pastoral patrimony that the bishop is responsible for because he’s responsible for the salvation of souls in his diocese. He’s responsible to see that the faithful and all others meet God face-to-face.
World AIDS Day 2010 from the Vatican
We pray that Mary, Mother of God, will ask her Son, Jesus, to assist us in responding to the worldwide AIDS crisis and to heal and/or cure those who are ill with the disease. And in gratitude for the many, many women and men who have dedicated themselves to fighting AIDS.
Saint Aloysius Gonzaga and Saint Damien de Vuester, pray for us.
It is reported that since 1981 25 million people have died from HIV-AIDS and there’s 33 million people who live with the disease.
World AIDS Day news from Vatican Radio
A news entry: AIDS: still an emergency
First ever Catholic school in Laos
I was reading the current issue of L’Osservatore Romano and I noticed a striking title of brief article: “First ever Catholic school in Laos.” Something in me went, “really, wow!!!” In the States so many of our dioceses are merging or closing Catholic schools we forget that in other parts of the world –Laos for example– education is not a possibility on a large scale. Where education is given, liberty happens. So, when the people of Laos can open a school as part of an initiative of the “Circolo San Pietro” (Circle of St Peter), I am extraordinarily happy. Wouldn’t you be?
The article in L’Osservatore Romano reads:
The first ever Catholic school in Lao was recently opened in Ban Simang. The school was inaugurated on 10 February and is an initiative of the Circolo San Pietro (Circle of St Peter), which also recently received recognition as an ecclesiastical organization from the Italian Government.
The school building, which had previously been used as a chicken-run, was turned into a school for children between the ages of two and five that can accommodate 80 students. There, a group of Caritas sisters will manage both school and a medical care centre.
The project was financed by the Cicolo’s Commission for international aid, which in the past has also funded projects such as creating scholarships for Lithuanian seminarians, providing hospitality for child victims of the nuclear diaster at Chernobyl, and contributing to a professional school in Malindi, Kenya. This year, Circolo San Pietro celebrates the 141st anniversary of its founding.
Standing with the immigrant, charges dropped
A priest in
The real matter is the process of justice.
Father Manship, like any priest, like any Catholic, was right to stand up for the rights of people against the injustice. The Gospel calls us to this type of witness. Prudence and discretion are also required. The Ecuadorean couple may well have been doing wrong but following Catholic Social Teaching and just laws to right the matter is required.
Help the poor by drinking tea
Today’s Zenit posting had an article titled: Nuns Invited to Help Poor by Drinking Tea. Interesting idea, I thought. Help the poor by drinking tea. (I like coffee more.) Sounds easy and given the recent economic problems we’re facing in the USA –and scanning the news services shows problems with the economy are global– I wonder what we are doing about the poor of this country. Granted the poor in the developing world are far poorer and have much less access to resources to fulfill human basic needs than our poor brothers and sisters in the USA. Nonetheless, I think we all need to figure out an adequate plan on how to assist the poor in our own cities and abroad. The Beatitudes quickly come to mind as does the parable of the widow’s mite, and the rich young man. I’d be negligent if I didn’t say the spiritual and corporal works of mercy.
A variety of religious congregations of sisters are leading the charge by making this invitation as concrete as possible by encouraging others to buy tea and coffee sold by Fairtrade workers. Of course, the Franciscans are behind this good work! The Zenit article says: “Springing from a financial vision and a commitment based on the values of the Gospel,” the organizers explained, “new economic relations can arise, challenging men and women religious to make their choices as consumers, beginning with a critical conscience, with bases in the political, economic and social reality.” My challenge: let’s not let the vowed religious do this act of mercy alone.
Are good deeds only left to nuns and priests? I hope not. The Good News of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is for all people and therefore we have to let the words announcing our salvation to cut closely to our human experience. Would it be possible for us, on this side of the ocean, to purchase food products from Fairtrade? Yes, because Fairtrade also operates here in the USA. See the links below. Those unfamilar with the work of Fairtrade should know that it is an organization that represents more than 4,000 groups of workers worldwide.
In early January, the Pope called on Governments to assist the poor: “We need to give new hope to the poor,” he said. “How can we not think of so many individuals and families hard pressed by the difficulties and uncertainties which the current financial and economic crisis has provoked on a global scale? How can we not mention the food crisis and global warming, which make it even more difficult for those living in some of the poorest parts of the planet to have access to nutrition and water?” (Address to Diplomatic Corps, 8 January 2009). Pope Benedict, quoting the First Letter of Saint John, offers us a challenge in this year’s Lenten message: “If anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet shuts up his bowels of compassion from him — how does the love of God abide in him?” (1 John 3:17).