Edward Pentin of the National Catholic Register penned a piece “Cardinal Kasper on Anglicanorum Coetibus” which dispels much of the misinformation found in both the secular and Catholic media, including certain blogs, about the recent events between Canterbury and Rome. Hopefully, L’Osservatore Romano will provide an English translation of the article they published as a referenced by Mr. Pentin; I am curious to know more. One thing to remember is to interpret these things with charity and understanding. Pray, too, for a profitable meeting between Archbishop Williams and Pope Benedict on Saturday.
Rule of Saint Benedict
The monks of Saint Benedict’s Abbey have put on their
website Father Boniface Verheyen’s translation of the Rule of Saint Benedict. The monks at this Abbey have a terrific college and get a steady stream of vocations. This year they have 7 novices: three for Kansas and four for Brazil.
I would recommend reading a chapter a day or a portion of it since some chapters are longer than others. My recommendation echoes to significant voices:
Christ present!
The Christian announcement is that God became one of us and is present here,
and gathers us together into one body, and through this unity, His presence is
made perceivable. This is the heart of the Benedictine message of the
earliest times. Well, this also defines the entire message of our Movement,
and this is why we feel Benedictine history to be the history to which we
are closest.
The Christian announcement is that God became one of us and is present here,
and gathers us together into one body, and through this unity, His presence is
made perceivable. This is the heart of the Benedictine message of the
earliest times. Well, this also defines the entire message of our Movement,
and this is why we feel Benedictine history to be the history to which we
are closest.
~Monsignor Luigi Giussani, Founder of Communion and
Liberation
Liberation
Familiarity with the Word, which the Benedictine Rule guarantees by
reserving much time for it in the daily schedule, will not fail to instill
serene trust, to cast aside false security and to root in the soul a vivid
sense of the total lordship of God. The monk is thus protected from convenient
or utilitarian interpretations of Scripture and brought to an ever deeper
awareness of human weakness, in which God’s power shines brightly.
reserving much time for it in the daily schedule, will not fail to instill
serene trust, to cast aside false security and to root in the soul a vivid
sense of the total lordship of God. The monk is thus protected from convenient
or utilitarian interpretations of Scripture and brought to an ever deeper
awareness of human weakness, in which God’s power shines brightly.
~Pope John
Paul II
Paul II
Saint Gertrude the Great
As the Church prays:
O Lord, You loved to dwell in the pure heart of Your virgin Gertrude. Through her merits and prayers please wash away the stains from our hearts so that they, too, may become worthy dwelling places for Your divine Majesty.
Even though Saint Gertrude is little known in the US, her optional memorial is observed today; in Germany her feast day is November 17th. Saint Gertrude is one of the few saints with the title “the great” as she is most known for making the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus available to us. She, there is a precursor to Saint Margaret Mary and Saint Faustina. Saint Gertrude also wrote a method of prayer called the Spiritual Exercises. More on Saint Gertrude can be read here and here.
Saint Albert the Great
The
learned will shine like the brilliance of the firmament, and those who train
many in the ways of justice will sparkle like the stars for all eternity.
God
of truth, you endowed our brother Albert with the gift of combining human
wisdom with divine faith. May the pursuit of all human knowledge lead to a
greater knowledge and love of you.
Saint Nicholas Tavelic and companions
The salvation of the just comes from the Lord. He is their strength in time of need.
Almighty God, You glorified Saint Nicholas and companions by their zeal in spreading the faith and their crown of martyrdom. Through their prayers and example help us to run the way of Your commandments and to receive the crown of eternal life.
More on Saint Nicholas Tavelic is found here.
Blessed John Liccio
Loving God, you made Blessed John illustrious by a complete self-denial and the utmost zeal for charity that he might reveal the mystery of your love to the poor. By following his example may we seek to please you and aid our brothers and sisters in Christ.
Vatican to comment on Medjugorje claims
The cardinal of Sarajevo, Vinko Puljic, said that the Holy See will make an official statement about the supposed apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Medjugorje. These sightings of Mary have been happening since 1981 to six people. The news story is seen here. This is a welcomed and necessary pastoral development.
Kim Geiger of the LA Times manipulates readership
Getting the story correct, checking facts and clear writing is not one of Kim Geiger of the LA Times better skills. Geiger’s recent article claiming that the US Bishops supported and/or told the Catholic faithful to support the Democratic bill on healthcare reform is wrong. Does the LA Times still hire fact checkers? Do reporters still speak to real people, perhaps 2-3 sources prior to publication?
What Ms Geiger confuses for legitimate Catholic authority in teaching and governing the Church is really a left-leaning group claiming to work in the ambit of the Church’s Social Teaching. It seems as though Ms Geiger does know the basics of Catholic teaching very well. Did you get that sense from her article? Catholics United support the Pelosi-Obama agenda. Catholics United does not speak for the US Conference of Bishops; neither do they speak for local pastors nor for the faithful Catholic. As Dan Gilgoff said in his US News.com article on October 28th, Catholics United “provides cover for the White House and the Democrats.”
If you want to know what the bishops are saying, read the press lease of November 9, 2009. US Conference President, Francis Cardinal George is clear on what the bishops think about healthcare reform. And form what I can gather, I don’t think the bishops completely agree with the Democratic party’s version of the healthcare reform bill.
So, Archbishop Dolan’s recent nonpublished NY Times piece is actually correct (which we knew all the time): there is verifiable proof of bias in the media against the Catholic Church in the USA.
Gianna –The Catholic Healthcare Center for Women
My eyes were opened the other day at the Natural Family Planning seminar for clergy we had at Saint Joseph Seminary especially with the introduction of a new center for women’s health in midtown Manhattan. The Gianna Center is an incredible development –even a gift of the Holy Spirit– for the Church not only in New York, the Tri-State area but indeed for the entire United States. In fact, the brand new center is due to be launched on November 23, 2009 two blocks from Grand Central Station.
Looking at the Gianna Center you will find a wholistic (comprehensive) approach to women’s healthcare. Their approach in working with issues of reproduction is to intensely pay attention to a woman’s cycle to correct problems without suppressing or destroying the ability to naturally conceive a child. The medical approach here is to work for high effectiveness that respects the dignity of person, adhering to Christ and the Church, and giving a healthy alternative to IVF (which is against all these things).
Gianna will provide a full spectrum of obstetrics and family practice medicine. It will also be a center for medical ethics that is faithful to the Magisterium of the Catholic Church. Likewise, it will teach the methods of Natural Family Planning and NaProTechnology.
The Gianna Center is the convergence in medicine of faith and reason. It brings together the heart of the Incarnation of Jesus Christ today: God loves us so much that He wants us to be in relationship with Him through His Son in the Holy Spirit living in happiness. In speaking of the heart I am not indicating the subjective feelings of the person that may be as variable as there are people in the world. But what I am suggesting here is that the heart is the locus of our affection for reality as it is presented to us and not as what we want it to be. Another words, we need to deal with the God-given reality that we have in front of us, it is the condition of our happiness desired for us by God. Dealing with reality in this way is the same way we have to deal with the size of the foot we have at the end of our leg: we can’t alter its size because it is given. The reality in this case is the cooperating with God in bringing human life into this world as God has intended it to happen.
Hence, putting (keeping?) faith and reason together was the work of Pope John Paul II and it is the current work of Pope Benedict XVI. It is the daily work of the members of groups like Communion & Liberation and Opus Dei aiming as Luigi Giussani said in the Religious Sense, toward “the sense of responsibility toward destiny.” AND in my opinion the work of the Gianna Center brings together faith and reason because it has the affection for human reality as it is presented to the world because it is God-given.
The Gianna Center is the brainchild of Joan Nolan and Dr. Anne Mielnik. Of course, no project worthy of mention is done in a vacuum. It’s ably assisted by Dr. Kyle Beiter, Jamey Johnston and Jena McFadden and co-funded by Saint Vincent’s Hospital and the John Paul II Center.
Contact information
15 East 40th Street, Suite 101
New York, NY 10016 USA
212-481-1219
gianna@svcmcny.org
All Saints of the Benedictine Order
Blessed shall you be when men hate you, and when they shut you out, and reproach you, and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man. Rejoice on that day and exult, for behold your reward is great in heaven.
We beseech Thee, O Lord, grant that the example of the holy Monks [and nuns] may stir us to a better life, so that we may imitate the actions of those whose solemnity we celebrate.