Per Christum

Chad is in New York City this weekend, and has posted a few updates from the papal mass over at his blog, Chad is Not Enough. Check them out!

The pope said yesterday that Catholic schools must follow Church Teaching. For many of us, this is a “no-brainer,” but remember that like other areas of Catholic life and culture, Catholic schools are recovering from the 1970s too. Pope Benedict made the point that ignoring Church Teaching in the name of academic freedom betrays Catholic identity and leads to confusion among students. The pope also reminded us that Catholic dogma should shape every facet of a Catholic institution’s life, inside and outside the classroom. Despite this (correct) criticism, Pope Benedict thanked Catholic educators for their dedication and generosity.

These words come as newspaper editorials observe the decline in the number of Catholic schools throughout the United States. According to the Washington Post, 300,000 students have been displaced because of the closing of 1,300 Catholic schools since 1990. Many of these closings have been in big cities, meaning that many disadvantaged kids have lost access to safe and effective schools, to be possibly returned to unsafe public schools. In my diocese, we are seeing increased enrollment because of vouchers, although many schools are still struggling. Certainly demographics play a role, since many neighborhoods that were once Catholic now have very few Catholics, which presents a real problem for Catholic schools in those areas. Also, because of heterodox teachers, and a lack of Catholic culture at some schools, some orthodox Catholics refuse to send their children to Catholic schools. In fact, the internet is full of stories of students who turned out Catholic in spite of what they learned in Catholic schools (although, the same can be said of many parishes, Confirmation programs, etc). Nonetheless, I think the biggest reason many schools are in decline, next to demographics, is cost. With gas and food costs rising, with income staying stagnant, the cost of tuition isn’t a high priority, especially if the local public school is reasonably safe, or homeschooling is an option. Also, with the decline in the number of those pursuing a religious vocation in the U.S., schools no longer have religious sisters and brothers doing most of the teaching, raising costs.

Despite this decline, and the current problems in Catholic schools (which, I need to emphasize, are similar to problems facing the wider church), the Church has always had a deep commitment to Catholic schools. Certainly the idea of a Catholic educational community, in which every facet of school life, from academics to athletics, is rooted in Catholic Teaching and values, is a good one. The Church itself strongly supports this idea. From the Vatican II document, Gravissimum Educationis:

The Council also reminds Catholic parents of the duty of entrusting their children to Catholic schools wherever and whenever it is possible and of supporting these schools to the best of their ability and of cooperating with them for the education of their children…(8).

This Sacred Council of the Church earnestly entreats pastors and all the faithful to spare no sacrifice in helping Catholic schools fulfill their function in a continually more perfect way, and especially in caring for the needs of those who are poor in the goods of this world or who are deprived of the assistance and affection of a family or who are strangers to the gift of Faith (9).

However, many find it hard to provide support to a school that is not following the Pope’s exhortation to teach what the Church teaches. Many have to worry about paying the family bills, and funding a Catholic school isn’t high on the agenda. As a Catholic school teacher, I am biased in favor of Catholic schools, I admit. However, even if I were not a teacher, I would still take an interest in the local Catholic school, given the Church’s strong commitment to Catholic schools.

It is difficult to find solutions to the decline in Catholic schools. Neighborhood demographics cannot be fixed easily. However, problems of infidelity to Catholic Teaching, and tuition costs, could be fixed easily enough, if enough people were willing to deal with them and find constructive ways forward. There are some parishes that pay tuition for every child who wants to go to their local Catholic schools, and teachers are still paid a fair wage, so solutions do exist. I suggest that whatever the solution(s) may be, it will involve less complaining, and more action, and more cooperation, and less territorialism. It will involve orthodox Catholics getting involved, working to secure funding for solid programs, perhaps working to change heterodox programs, and making concerns known to local dioceses, schools, and parishes. I would love to see a renaissance in our parishes and schools, and given the number of young orthodox priests, seminarians, teachers, and laity, I suspect if we are patient enough, we may just see it soon!

Image from another article about Catholic School closings, which sheds more light on the issue.

Benedict XVI recently addressed the U.S. Bishops during his current trip to the United States. Please check out the text of his speech:

Dear Brother Bishops,

It gives me great joy to greet you today, at the start of my visit to this country, and I thank Cardinal George for the gracious words he has addressed to me on your behalf. I want to thank all of you, especially the Officers of the Episcopal Conference, for the hard work that has gone into the preparation of this visit. My grateful appreciation goes also to the staff and volunteers of the National Shrine, who have welcomed us here this evening. American Catholics are noted for their loyal devotion to the see of Peter. My pastoral visit here is an opportunity to strengthen further the bonds of communion that unite us. We began by celebrating Evening Prayer in this Basilica dedicated to the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, a shrine of special significance to American Catholics, right in the heart of your capital city. Gathered in prayer with Mary, Mother of Jesus, we lovingly commend to our heavenly Father the people of God in every part of the United States.

For the Catholic communities of Boston, New York, Philadelphia and Louisville, this is a year of particular celebration, as it marks the bicentenary of the establishment of these local Churches as Dioceses. I join you in giving thanks for the many graces granted to the Church there during these two centuries. As this year also marks the bicentenary of the elevation of the founding see of Baltimore to an Archdiocese, it gives me an opportunity to recall with admiration and gratitude the life and ministry of John Carroll, the first Bishop of Baltimore - a worthy leader of the Catholic community in your newly independent nation. His tireless efforts to spread the Gospel in the vast territory under his care laid the foundations for the ecclesial life of your country and enabled the Church in America to grow to maturity. Today the Catholic community you serve is one of the largest in the world, and one of the most influential. How important it is, then, to let your light so shine before your fellow citizens and before the world, “that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven” (Mt 5:16).

Many of the people to whom John Carroll and his fellow Bishops were ministering two centuries ago had travelled from distant lands. The diversity of their origins is reflected in the rich variety of ecclesial life in present-day America. Brother Bishops, I want to encourage you and your communities to continue to welcome the immigrants who join your ranks today, to share their joys and hopes, to support them in their sorrows and trials, and to help them flourish in their new home. This, indeed, is what your fellow countrymen have done for generations. From the beginning, they have opened their doors to the tired, the poor, the “huddled masses yearning to breathe free” (cf. Sonnet inscribed on the Statue of Liberty). These are the people whom America has made her own.

Read It All

Head over to EWTN to watch the Papal Mass in Washington D.C. It can be found under the Television link. Mass starts at 10am.

Act of Spiritual Communion
My Jesus, I believe that Thou art present in the Blessed Sacrament.
I love Thee above all things and I desire Thee in my soul.
Since I cannot now receive Thee sacramentally, come at least spiritually into my heart.
As though thou wert already there, I embrace Thee and unite myself wholly to Thee;
permit not that I should ever be separated from Thee

Prayer found on Catholic Online.

As Jaybird previously mentioned, Pope Benedict is currently in Washington, DC, and is receiving a warm greeting from the U.S. government, and everyday citizens who have shown up to greet him. At the south lawn of the White House, the crowd sang “Happy Birthday” to Pope Benedict…TWICE! President Bush welcomed the pope, and the pope’s message for America. The pope seemed happy to be in the U.S., and at one point exclaimed “God Bless America.” Benedict XVI said that he was looking forward to meeting a “great people and a great church.” The pope also said: “I trust that my presence will be a source of renewal and hope for the church in the United States and strengthens the resolve of Catholics to contribute even more responsibly to the life of this nation of which they are proud to be citizens.” Read the article for more details. A video of the pope’s speech at the White House is available here (I will try to embed this later).

It is good to have the pope in the U.S. I look forward to what he has to say about our nation and the American church, including praise and possible concerns. This is a great time to be a Catholic in the U.S.

I offer this prayer for our holy Father as he visits the United States:

Lord, source of eternal life and truth, give to Your shepherd, Pope Benedict XVI, a spirit of courage and right judgement, a spirit of knowledge and love.

By governing with fidelity those entrusted to his care may he, as successor to the apostle Peter and vicar of Christ, build Your church into a sacrament of unity, love, and peace for all the world.

We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son, Who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.

From: www.scborromeo.org

The Pope has landed.

Welcome to the United States, Holy Father.

The local cable channel is going to have a channel devoted to 24 hr coverage of the papal visit, so I will be taking students down to the cafeteria to watch some of the activities of the pope’s visit.

“…I took the simplest and most explicit Christian name: “Cristiano.” Since yesterday evening therefore my name is Magdi Crisitano Allam.

“For me it is the most beautiful day of [my] life. To acquire the gift of the Christian faith during the commemoration of Christ’s resurrection by the hand of the Holy Father is, for a believer, an incomparable and inestimable privilege. At almost 56 […], it is a historical, exceptional and unforgettable event, which marks a radical and definitive turn with respect to the past. The miracle of Christ’s resurrection reverberated through my soul, liberating it from the darkness in which the preaching of hatred and intolerance in the face of the “different,” uncritically condemned as “enemy,” were privileged over love and respect of “neighbor,” who is always, an in every case, “person”; thus, as my mind was freed from the obscurantism of an ideology that legitimates lies and deception, violent death that leads to murder and suicide, the blind submission to tyranny, I was able to adhere to the authentic religion of truth, of life and of freedom…

I know what I am headed for but I face my destiny with my head held high, standing upright and with the interior solidity of one who has the certainty of his faith. And I will be more so after the courageous and historical gesture of the Pope, who, as soon has he knew of my desire, immediately agreed to personally impart the Christian sacraments of initiation to me. His Holiness has sent an explicit and revolutionary message to a Church that until now has been too prudent in the conversion of Muslims, abstaining from proselytizing in majority Muslim countries and keeping quiet about the reality of converts in Christian countries. Out of fear. The fear of not being able to protect converts in the face of their being condemned to death for apostasy and fear of reprisals against Christians living in Islamic countries. Well, today Benedict XVI, with his witness, tells us that we must overcome fear and not be afraid to affirm the truth of Jesus even with Muslims.

For my part, I say that it is time to put an end to the abuse and the violence of Muslims who do not respect the freedom of religious choice. In Italy there are thousands of converts to Islam who live their new faith in peace. But there are also thousands of Muslim converts to Christianity who are forced to hide their faith out of fear of being assassinated by Islamic extremists who lurk among us. By one of those “fortuitous events” that evoke the discreet hand of the Lord, the first article that I wrote for the Corriere on Sept. 3, 2003 was entitled “The new Catacombs of Islamic Converts.” It was an investigation of recent Muslim converts to Christianity in Italy who decry their profound spiritual and human solitude in the face of absconding state institutions that do not protect them and the silence of the Church itself. Well, I hope that the Pope’s historical gesture and my testimony will lead to the conviction that the moment has come to leave the darkness of the catacombs and to publicly declare their desire to be fully themselves.”

More from Zenit.

“I realize what I am going up against

but I will confront my fate with my head high,

with my back straight and the interior strength

of one who is certain about his faith.”

— Magdi Christian Allam.

Some voices in Europe and other places are presently criticizing the pope for his high profile baptism of Magdi Allam at the Easter Vigil. They assert that the pope is somehow taunting Islam and unnecessarily putting Mr. Allam’s life in danger, and perhaps the pope’s as well. I cannot know the pope’s mind. But I would like to suggest why he might do something so dramatic and frankly foolish in the eyes of the world:

I think the pope is making all kinds of points.

• He wants to uphold the example of this man who has stood up to Islam already for many years.
• He also wants to make an issue of the Muslim practice of assassination of those who convert out of it. Imagine the shame heaped on Islam if Allam is killed.
• He wants to show Muslims that reasonable and rational people, the very best of Islam are ashamed of what Islam has become.
• He wants to make a point to sleepy Europeans that Christianity is a faith worth dying for.
• He wants to give all the world an example of Christ-like willingness to die for the good, rather than to kill.
• He wants the world to know that it is superior to suffer violence than to commit it.
• He wants to show the world the moral and spiritual superiority of Christ and Christianity.
• He wants to show the world that the willingness to innocently suffer violence for one’s faith is not reserved to the earliest ages, but is a very present reality.
• He wants to highlight that Christians throughout the world willingly suffer violence for their faith every day.
• He wants to bring about religious freedom, a true liberation of personal conscience in the lands of Islam.
• He wants to give the Muslim world an example of Christian virtue that they will notice.
• Should Mr. Allam or Benedict lose their lives, he would want to offer martyrs for the sake of the Muslim world.

Finally, Magdi Allam, now on the world stage, may be safer than if he had not been in the spotlight. Who knows?

I was born on Holy Saturday, April 16, 1927, in Marktl am Inn. the fact that my day of birth was the last day of Holy Week and the eve of Easter has always been noted in our family history. This was connected with the fact that I was baptized immediately on the morning of the day I was born with the water that had just been blessed. (At that time the solemn Easter Vigil was celebrated on the morning of Holy Saturday.) To be the first person baptized with the new water was seen as a significant act of Providence. I have always been filled with thanksgiving for having had my life immersed in this way in the Easter mystery, since this could only be a sign of blessing. To be sure, it was not Easter Sunday but Holy Saturday, but, the more I reflect on it, the more this seems to be fitting for the nature of our human life: we are still awaiting Easter; we are not yet standing in th full light but walking toward it full of trust.

(Joseph Ratzinger, Milestones: Memories, 1927-1977, p. 8 )

The courage of this pope throughout his life is a reflection of his baptism. And last night’s baptism was an act of religious courage and fortitude virtually unknown in the Western World in the modern age. But, such acts of religious conviction as a matter of life and death are almost a commonplace for Christians throughout much of the world.

May the boldness of Magdi Christian Allam and countless Christians in Africa, India, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Vietnam, Iraq and China now embolden the rest of the Church is announcing the Good News of Jesus Christ, crucified for us and Risen!

The story of the pope’s baptism was completely new to me when I just read it over at Ad Te Levavi Animam Meam.

Such a baby face!

Doing my rounds on news sites, I just found the whole of today’s news at http://www.lifesite.net/ worth taking a look at. Unable to decide on just one or two, thought I would just link to all of today’s stories - take a look at ‘em and add http://www.lifesite.net/ to your favorites. - Provided you don’t take PC off, of course!

Action Call to Save Samuel Golubchuk - How Canadians starve people to death too. Interestingly, it is your doctor in Canada who gets to decide…

UK Anglican Bishop Fined (95,000 dollars) and Sent for “Re-Education” in Gay Employment Case Behold secular Sharia!

Canadian Environmental Guru: Jail Politicians Who Deny Climate Change

Jamaican Religious and Civic Leaders Respond to Proposal to Decriminalize Abortion

Spanish Presidential Candidate Says He Would Eliminate Homosexual Adoptions

Bush’s Them and Us - “Abortion on Demand” vs “Adoption and the Right to Life”

If a University Forbids a Pro-Life Club, Pro-Life Students Should Not be Forced to Pay

Most of this news is depressing crap. So to end on a high note a little something from B-16 and a photo from when he was Pre-16.

Pope Benedict: State must Defend the Right of a Child to a Father and Mother

Speak truth to power, Holy Father!

A few days ago I felt very irritated after work. I didn’t even know what irritated me. It was only after I got home and after I relaxed that I found out why I was so irritated: NOISE!

It was horrible. After working practically all day in a noisy environment and after all the commotion on the drive home, I finally got home and went into my room. I sat down in my relatively quiet room and I just sat still. Suddenly, I realized that my ears were ringing. And not just ringing, I could still actually “hear” the noise as if I was outside in the middle of a busy street. It was as if I had recorded all the noise I had heard that day and I just kept playing it over and over again! At the same time I also realized that I had not talked with God that day at all. Then I asked myself, HOW CAN I TALK WITH GOD IF I’M SURROUNDED BY NOISE ALL THE TIME!!??

Anyway, after all this happened I decided to read a little bit about the importance of silence in our spiritual life. After a few minutes of searching, I found a homily of His Holiness Benedict XVI in which he talked about silence and contemplation.

I know that many of you have experienced what I experienced, and so I now share our Holy Father’s homily with all of you. I hope that you enjoy it and that you learn somethin new!

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

I have not prepared a real Homily, only a few ideas for meditation.
As clearly appears, the mission of St Bruno, today’s saint, is, we might say, interpreted in the prayer for this day, which reminds us, despite being somewhat different in the Italian text, that his mission was silence and contemplation.
But silence and contemplation have a purpose: they serve, in the distractions of daily life, to preserve permanent union with God. This is their purpose: that union with God may always be present in our souls and may transform our entire being. –For the complete text visit: http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/homilies/2006/documents/hf_ben-xvi_hom_20061006_commissione-teologica_en.html

A few days ago I re-published another blogger’s comparison of Bishop Schori & Pope Benedict’s Christmas messages asking readers to compare, contrast and offer thoughts. I wanted to think about how I would formulate what struck me right away.

The difference between them, when comparing and contrasting, was the difference between night and day in a real way. It is a difference in illumination.

These past few nights in my corner of the world the moonlight has been exceptional. Just the other night when the dogs were taking me for a pre-bedtime walk I marveled at how I could have read a book by the light of the moon.

“By the light of the moon” is a funny colloquialism. Truly the moon produces no light, it merely reflects a great light - the sun. While our side of this good earth turns from the sun, the moon reflects the sunlight that is shining on the other side of the world.

I found the difference between the truths and message of hope between the two leaders to be very much like the difference between that noon-day sun in the dessert and even the brightest moonlight that you could read under. One is simply a fuller source.

Looking at B16’s message, it is amazing the layers of Incarnational, Trinitarian and salvation truth/light that are woven seamlessly together. The Who, What, Where, When, Why, and How of salvation, the trinity, the incarnation are all there. Why Jesus was - Son of the Father, Word made Flesh, Salvation of the Universe, historic reality, Judge of nations, Oblation of peace. It is all there implicitly and explicitly. His message is that of a reminder of these truths, a reminder to keep our end before us, as we recall Who came and Why and what in turn is expected of us and then WHY it is expected. “In the twilight of our days on earth, when we are about to die, we shall be judged on the basis of our similarity to the child whose birth shall occur in the plain grotto in Bethlehem since it is He who is the God-given standard by which humanity shall live. ” True bright shining sunlight like noonday in the Sahara.

The KJS text is not false. It is not heretical. It is not in error. There is much truth to it, but in stark comparison and contrast, this sort of writing is vague. There is much to it, but the greater Truth is richer still. It is true inasmuch as it reflects great Truth, but it is moonlight.