Fordham Law School’s Institute on Religion, Law & Lawyer’s Work hosted Archbishop Timothy Michael Dolan, PhD, for an inaugural address in the Law and the Gospel of Life series.
Sadly, it didn’t make the news, well not much was said around the area about it. Fordham University published this brief press release read here. The crowd exceed initial expectations and a change of venue was made. Cardinal-designate Dolan centered his comments on Blessed John Paul II landmark encyclical, the Evangelium Vitae (1995). An excerpt of Dolan’s remarks follows, below is the link to his entire text:
The Gospel of Life proposes an alternative vision of law and culture, one that provides an antidote to the pragmatic nihilism that produces a Culture of Death. It seeks to recapture the essential relationship between the civil law and the moral law, and to foster a culture in which all human life is valued and authentic human development is possible.
Continue reading Law and the Gospel of Life –Archbishop Dolan addresses a NY crowd
The Wall Street Journal published an op-ed piece of New York’s Archbishop, Timothy Michael Dolan, today. You can read the entire op-ed piece of Archbishop Dolan here: WSJ-ObamaCare-and-Religious-Freedom.pdf
An excerpt follows:
Coercing religious ministries and citizens to pay directly for actions that violate their teaching is an unprecedented incursion into freedom of conscience. Organizations fear that this unjust rule will force them to take one horn or the other of an unacceptable dilemma: Stop serving people of all faiths in their ministries–so that they will fall under the narrow exemption–or stop providing health-care coverage to their own employees.
The Catholic Church defends religious liberty, including freedom of conscience, for everyone. The Amish do not carry health insurance. The government respects their principles. Christian Scientists want to heal by prayer alone, and the new health-care reform law respects that. Quakers and others object to killing even in wartime, and the government respects that principle for conscientious objectors. By its decision, the Obama administration has failed to show the same respect for the consciences of Catholics and others who object to treating pregnancy as a disease.
Timothy Michael Dolan, PhD
Archbishop of New York
Wall Street Journal
25 January 2012
Dear brothers and sisters! It is with great joy that I extend my warm greetings to all of you who have gathered in this basilica for the liturgical Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul, concluding the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, in this year when we are celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of the Second Vatican Council, that the Blessed John XXIII announced in this very basilica on January 25, 1959. The theme offered for our meditation in the Week of prayer which we conclude today, is: “All shall be changed by the victory of Jesus Christ our Lord” (cf. 1 Cor 15.51-58).
The Papal General Audience given in the Paul VI Hall today, Benedict spoke of the desire for unity that our Lord expressed in his priestly prayer at the Last Supper (John 17):
Against the backdrop of the Jewish feast of expiation Yom Kippur, Jesus, priest and victim, prays that the Father will glorify him in this, the hour of his sacrifice of reconciliation. He asks the Father to consecrate his disciples, setting them apart and sending them forth to continue his mission in the world. Christ also implores the gift of unity for all those who will believe in him through the preaching of the apostles.
Sacred Scripture and sacred Tradition and now echoed by Pope Benedict, believes that Christ’s priestly prayer is understood as His instituting the Church, the community of faith, the communio found explicitly in a church that is one, holy, catholic and apostolic. Taking the Pauline manner of thinking, we are disciples of Christ who, through faith in Christ, are one and share in His saving mission:
In meditating upon the Lord’s priestly prayer, let us ask the Father for the grace to grow in our baptismal consecration and to open our own prayers to the needs of our neighbors and the whole world. Let us also pray, as we have just done in the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, for the gift of the visible unity of all Christ’s followers, so that the world may believe in the Son and in the Father who sent him.
Earlier today, Monsignor Paul Tighe, the Secretary to the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, talked about the Pope’s 2012 message for World Communications Day (May 20, 2012).
Good books are one thing. Books considered “classic,” that is, those books that can withstand the test of time are not only an excellent resource but a true companion for one’s journey. No doubt, our human and spiritual needs mature over time, but a classic continues to give insight and guidance. Wisdom collected from a true living experience is hard to underestimate. The Introduction to the Devout Life by Saint Francis de Sales, bishop and Doctor of the Church, is one such book. It is not to be missed by any person wanting to know the Christian life better, and how to live it coherently. The book is about the universal call to holiness.
The Introduction to the Devout Life was an instant success from the moment it rolled off the printing press. In the Saint’s own time the book was revised a few times.
If you ask yourself: What do I need to do be better Christian? How do I live my life with all its complexities and remain faith to the Gospel and the Church? Do I have to be a priest, sister or brother to be a good Christian? How does one live a Christ-centered life? Then this book is for you.
“The writings of Francis de Sales, filled with celestial doctrine are a bright light in the Church, pointing out to souls an easy and safe way to arrive at the perfection of a Christian life” (Breviarium Romanum, 29 January, lect. VI).
Silence and Word: Path of Evangelization
As we draw near to
World Communications Day 2012, I would like to share with you some reflections
concerning an aspect of the human process of communication which, despite its
importance, is often overlooked and which, at the present time, it would seem especially
necessary to recall. It concerns the relationship between silence and word: two
aspects of communication which need to be kept in balance, to alternate and to
be integrated with one another if authentic dialogue and deep closeness between
people are to be achieved. When word and silence become mutually exclusive,
communication breaks down, either because it gives rise to confusion or
because, on the contrary, it creates an atmosphere of coldness; when they
complement one another, however, communication acquires value and meaning.
O God, who for the salvation of souls willed that the Bishop Saint Francis de Sales become all things to all, graciously grant that, following his example, we may always display the gentleness of charity in the service of our neighbor.
The intention for today is for those who have died as a result of abortion and for the women and men directly affected by abortion.