The Catholic Church in Australia has offered 100,000 dollars towards adult stem cell research and has already given 300,000.

I think this is great because sometimes the Church is criticized for hectoring society about right and wrong. While the Church certainly has that duty (well, I wouldn’t use the word hector), I think it’s awesome that the Church down under has decided to back up its principles with money. Oh, and adult stem cell research has actually produced results, which is nice too.

Fr.Z has a helpful post about the newest papal encyclical. He has listed some concise explanations of various parts of Caritas in Veritate, giving us the overall thrust of Benedict XVI’s newest encyclical. Below are some of the excerpts, taken from L’Osservatore Romano, but I suggest checking out the entire post.

- Once profit becomes the exclusive goal, if it is produced by improper means and without the common good as its ultimate end, it risks destroying wealth and creating poverty. (21)

- The primary capital to be safeguarded and valued is man, the human person in his or her integrity. (25)

- Following his lead, we need to affirm today that the social question has become a radically anthropological question, in the sense that it concerns not just how life is conceived but also how it is manipulated, as bio-technology places it increasingly under man’s control. (75)

- There cannot be holistic development and universal common good unless people’s spiritual and moral welfare is taken into account, considered in their totality as body and soul. (76)

Also, I would like to point out that the Catholic Report has a bunch of links to responses to this new encyclical that are worth checking out.

The pope has released his long-awaited social encyclical Caritas in Veritate (Charity in Truth). I haven’t had a chance to read it yet (and have a meeting today, so I doubt it will happen immediately), but I wanted to link to it, so we all have a chance to see it for ourselves.

I went to Barnes and Noble this weekend and got a chance to actually visit a bookstore since I normally do most of my shopping online. It was, however, nice to check out some of the various Bibles out there and actually look inside.

The first interesting one I saw was the Green Bible. I’m sure it was made in an eco-friendly fashion, but the oddest part was that it includes words about nature and the earth in green text. While it’s an interesting concept, it still strikes me as a waste of money, or better yet an attempt to get others to waste their money (I’m sure they’ll find quite a few takers).

The second “unique” Bible was the American Patriot’s Bible, which combines Scripture with themes from US history. I love Scripture and am generally proud of my country, if not a lot of my countrymen (and women)…but…this is way too much. Although it looks like the writers were as sensitive as possible, the whole endeavor strikes me as idolatry.

The final Bible that I examined was the new Orthodox Study Bible with the Septuagint translated for the Old Testament. It has many notes from an Orthodox perspective. Although it comes from an evangelical convert apologetic angle, it still looked helpful. It’s definitely the only one of the group that I’d buy if money were more plentiful.

I also noticed that someone had put little fundamentalist tracts in all of the Catholic Bibles. I took care of that.

Most Holy Trinity: Our Father in Heaven, who chose Mary as the fairest of Your daughters; Holy Spirit, who chose Mary as Your Spouse; God the Son who chose Mary as Your Mother, in union with Mary we adore Your Majesty and acknowledge Your supreme, eternal dominion and authority.

Most Holy Trinity, we put the United States of America into the hands of Mary Immaculate in order that she may present the country to You. Through her we wish to thank You for the great resources of this land and for the freedom which has been its heritage. Through the intercession of Mary, have mercy on the Catholic Church in America. Grant us peace. Have mercy on our President and on all the officers of our government. Grant us a fruitful economy, born of justice and charity. Have mercy on capital and industry and labor. Protect the family life of the nation. Guard the precious gift of many religious vocations. Through the intercession of Our Mother, have mercy on the sick, the tempted, sinners – on all who are in need.

Mary, Immaculate Virgin, Our Mother, Patroness of our land, we praise you and honor you and give ourselves to you. Protect us from every harm. Pray for us, that acting always according to your will and the Will of your Divine Son, we may live and die pleasing to God. Amen.

Source (which also includes a very cool litany with all 50 states)

Excellent food-for-thought from the Wall Street Journal:

…In any crisis, people tend to panic and forget basic facts. This meltdown is no exception. First and foremost, marital breakdown is not rampant across the land. It is concentrated among low-income and black couples. Americans seem to have a lot of trouble grasping this fact, probably because so much public space is taken up by politicians, celebrities and journalists with marriages on the skids. But in actuality, the divorce rate for college-educated women has been declining since 1980. Out-of-wedlock childbearing among the educated class remains rare. The bottom line is that higher-income, college-educated couples are far more likely to get married and stay married than their less-educated and lower-income peers. We shouldn’t go so far as to call Ms. Loh and Mr. Sanford, if he decides to return to the heart he left in Buenos Aires, outliers. But they do nothing to clarify a key problem facing the country, which remains the apartheid state of marriage.

The seemingly reasonable notion that marriage is crashing because we’re likely to live till 80 also doesn’t hold up. The typical divorce is not of a midlife couple bored with finishing each other’s sentences; it’s of a twosome who have just written the last thank-you note for wedding gifts. More than one-fifth of marriages break up within five years. The median age at first divorce is 30.5 for males and 29 for females. The risk of break-up goes up after one year of marriage and peaks at 4½ years. That’s right. A lot of Americans barely wait till the paint is dry in the new family room before setting out for more promising territory…

Read it All

Pope Benedict’s newest encyclical is due to be released July 7th. It will be a social encyclical and will reflect on the economy in light of the current crisis. Knowing the Pope as I do (well, not personally), it will no doubt be solidly Catholic and grounded in true notions of justice. One author feels that American Catholics can apply these principles through healthcare reform. To the author’s credit, she doesn’t equate the Catholic position with Obamacare as some have done. Yet, I know that reforming healthcare is not as simple as executing justice or punishing the “evildoers.” Here’s why.

Who is the evildoer? The insurance company that denies or stalls coverage or charges high rates? The business that requires its employees to cough up more money or drops coverage? The doctor who wants a six or seven figure salary? Most liberal leaning Catholics (and people) would probably answer yes to all three. And, in some senses, they’d be right. Insurance companies, businesses, and doctors sometimes behave badly and treat others badly.

But, to borrow from Michael Jackson, we should start with the “man in the mirror.” Healthcare costs are high because, like with the financial crisis, we take huge risks with our health and expect others to bail us out when it all collapses. We incur bad habits and make poor lifestyle choices and then someone has to pay for it. So, we blame others for being unjust when most Americans are committing several deadly sins that have lead to our current predicament.

So, the liberal solution, to which some Catholics have given the Church’s imprimatur without consulting anyone in authority, is to simply provide more supply without decreasing demand. It’s kind of like saying that since the price is oil is high and some people can’t afford gasoline, we’ll just buy gas for everyone. That, of course, would simply lead to shortages and rationing while not doing anything to bring down the price from too much consumption. That, folks, is what Obamacare will bring, in addition to deficits and lackluster care.

A balanced Catholic approach should work to get people taken care of better in the short term, while emphasizing personal health responsibility and accountability in the long term.

I was reading some of the pieces of legislation at the 2009 Episcopal General Convention, happening now. There are your usual (and many) resolutions calling for same-sex marriage rites, and even some talk of formalizing “open communion,” but one I was reading through really bothered me, and it was B004, Hymnal Revision Study. The rationale for hymnal revision is as follows:

The world of this new millennium is very different from that of the prior century, when The Hymnal 1982 and its predecessors were created. Rapid liturgical, cultural and technological change continue to have an impact on the lives of all the faithful. A study of the need for a new hymnal for the Episcopal Church would explore sensitivity to expansive language, the diversity of worship styles, the richness of multicultural and global liturgical forms, and the enduring value of our Anglican musical heritage.

This seems to me to be code for “the old hymns aren’t politically correct enough for modern people, so let’s further chop them up so a few people on the TEC liturgical committees don’t get their heart rates up every time God is called ‘Father.’” Derek had an excellent piece up awhile back about the incessant need to tamper with the Book of Common Prayer (and was accused of being cranky by another blogger!), and I myself often wonder where the desire for constant liturgical revision comes from. Granted, I approve of the new translation of the English Catholic Mass, but that is because the new translation actually undoes some of the more radical work done by the ICEL in the past.

When I was in Episcopal seminary for a quarter we started out using straight Morning Prayer from the BCP for our daily worship. Good, right? Absolutely. However, the next quarter, the plan was to begin using trial materials from “Enriching Our Worship” because the BCP wasn’t inclusive enough. This was because a few students complained about it, even though these same people changed the words to the BCP as they said then anyway (for example, all the “he” pronouns in the psalms were replaced with “she” pronouns…while, of course, everybody else read the texts as written). Mind you, besides these two people, we all loved the BCP, and ranted and raved to that effect, but the squeaky wheels get the grease. I guess my point is that I don’t think there is a strong demand to change hymns and alter the BCP, but the people “in the know” and who complain the loudest make it out that your average Christian just can’t handle more traditional liturgy.

There will be a lot of talk about this General Convention and same-sex marriage, but an even bigger issue may be liturgical issues, like “open communion,” church calendar revision, and the calls for new hymns and liturgies.

When it comes to churches, a lot.

I know this post will seem a little like nitpicking, but I’ve noticed that when some conservatives leave the Episcopal Church, they name their churches in ways that aren’t terribly catholic. The names sometimes reflect what you would see at a Presbyterian or Baptist church. I looked through a few conservative Anglican websites that are associated with the AMiA and ACNA and found that while names like St. Peter, St. Andrew, and even Divine Mercy Anglican were present, there were also some other interesting, more evangelical ones: Emmanuel Anglican Fellowship, City of Grace, Legacy Anglican Church, Faith Anglican, Church of the Word, Galilee Church, New Hope Anglican, New Wine Anglican. While there’s nothing wrong with these names, this is indicative of how the new, emerging alternative Anglicanism in North America has a huge evangelical contingent. How New Wine Anglican and Divine Mercy Anglican (a FIF parish btw) will co-exist and thrive in the long run is a big question.

Today is the solemnity of Ss. Peter and Paul, and the Vatican has announced some major news relating to St. Paul. The Vatican recently unearthed what has long been venerated as the tomb of St. Paul. They found what is believed to be the oldest representation of St. Paul. Scientists performed Carbon dating, and the individual found inside does date to the period of St. Paul, so it very well could be the actual tomb of St. Paul. It is, of course, very ancient tradition that both Peter and Paul died in Rome.

Below is today’s Tradition reading from the Office of Readings (translation by Universalis.com), from a homily of St. Augustine:

This day has been consecrated for us by the martyrdom of the blessed apostles Peter and Paul. It is not some obscure martyrs we are talking about. Their sound has gone out into all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world. These martyrs had seen what they proclaimed, they pursued justice by confessing the truth, by dying for the truth.

The blessed Peter, the first of the Apostles, the ardent lover of Christ, who was found worthy to hear, And I say to you, that you are Peter. He himself, you see, had just said, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. Christ said to him, And I say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church. Upon this rock I will build the faith you have just confessed. Upon your words, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God, I will build my Church; because you are Peter. Peter comes from petra, meaning a rock. Peter, “Rocky,” from “rock”; not “rock” from “Rocky.” Peter comes from the word for a rock in exactly the same way as the name Christian comes from Christ.

Before his passion the Lord Jesus, as you know, chose those disciples of his whom he called apostles. Among these it was only Peter who almost everywhere was given the privilege of representing the whole Church. It was in the person of the whole Church, which he alone represented, that he was privileged to hear, To you will I give the keys of the kingdom of heaven. After all, it is not just one man that received these keys, but the Church in its unity. So this is the reason for Peter’s acknowledged pre-eminence, that he stood for the Church’s universality and unity, when he was told, To you I am entrusting, what has in fact been entrusted to all. To show you that it is the Church which has received the keys of the kingdom of heaven, listen to what the Lord says in another place to all his apostles: Receive the Holy Spirit; and immediately afterwards, Whose sins you forgive, they will be forgiven them; whose sins you retain, they will be retained.

Quite rightly, too, did the Lord after his resurrection entrust his sheep to Peter to be fed. It is not, you see, that he alone among the disciples was fit to feed the Lord’s sheep; but when Christ speaks to one man, unity is being commended to us. And he first speaks to Peter, because Peter is the first among the apostles. Do not be sad, Apostle. Answer once, answer again, answer a third time. Let confession conquer three times with love, because self-assurance was conquered three times by fear. What you had bound three times must be loosed three times. Loose through love what you had bound through fear. And for all that, the Lord once, and again, and a third time, entrusted his sheep to Peter.

There is one day for the passion of two apostles. But these two also were as one; although they suffered on different days, they were as one. Peter went first, Paul followed. We are celebrating a feast day, consecrated for us by the blood of the apostles. Let us love their faith, their lives, their labours, their sufferings, their confession of faith, their preaching.

Derek, over at Haligweorc, has some interesting “inside” information about the upcoming conversion of the Anglican All Saints Sisters of the Poor. Check it out.

For those of you who haven’t been following religious news on the net, a group of former Episcopal bishops, conservatives who have left TEC, and others, have formed the Anglican Church in North America, and it has been recognized as a legitimate Anglican body by some worldwide leaders of the Anglican Communion as an alternative to the Episcopal Church. In other words, six years after Gene Robinson’s consecration, some sort of actual “re-alignment” may be occurring.

At the ACNA recent gathering, Metropolitan Jonah of the Orthodox Church in America spoke of entering into ecumenical relations with ACNA, rather than the Episcopal church. He spoke of certain things that would have to be addressed before the Orthodox Church would ever enter into full communion with this new Anglican body, and these issues are:

1) ACNA must affirm the 7 ecumenical councils
2) Removal of the Filioque clause must occur
3) Calvinism is a “condemned heresy” and must be denied
4) “Anti-Sacramentalism” must be denied
5) Iconoclasm must end
6) Ordination of women must “be resolved”

In other words, there is no way in you-know-where that the Orthodox Church in America is ever going to enter into full communion with ACNA (or TEC, of course). There are already prominent Anglican conservatives defending Calvinism, and rejecting the fifth, sixth, and seventh ecumenical councils. If an Anglican wants to be Orthodox, there is really nothing stopping him or her from actually becoming Orthodox. The ACNA was not set up to become Eastern Orthodox or Roman Catholic. Any historical Church that is thinking of entering into ecumenical relations with ACNA needs to realize that while ACNA does have a fair-share of sacramental, Anglo-Catholic, folks, a good chunk (the majority?) are evangelicals, and many are evangelical Calvinists. While some evangelicals oppose women’s ordination, others have no problem with it.

If I were still Anglican, ACNA might be a slightly better alternative to TEC, but honestly, it seems to me like it is similar to the same hodge-podge of different beliefs that currently make up TEC and Anglicanism worldwide, except instead of being united by the English crown (or perhaps the prayer book), the ACNA folks are united in their opposition to the moral and theological direction of TEC. Thus we have yet another tenuous alliance. Honestly, I think unification by the crown or prayer book makes for a more lasting alliance than unification by opposition to someone else. I may be looking at ACNA in the most negative way possible. I realize this, but I just can’t see hardcore evangelicals and hardcore Anglo-Catholics, who have strongly differing views on fundamental issues, remaining united too long, especially now that they have effectively left TEC.

…And in other  news, conservative Episcopal bishop Mark Lawrence of South Carlolina basically admits that the conservative voice within TEC is so tiny and fractured, that working inside the system for change is basically pointless.

The USCCB has fortunately clarified its views on missions to the Jews. Essentially, they upheld the Great Commission, which is exactly what I would expect of a Christian body. This has angered some Jewish groups. (See the USCCB statement (.pdf) and the response of the Anti-Defamation League)

Ecumenism is important. So, is interfaith dialogue. But, and our partners must realize this, even when we hope to learn, understand, celebrate, cooperate, or find common ground, we are still guided by the call to evangelize.

It probably won’t (and shouldn’t) look like the evangelical Protestant way of doing things, but we can’t get around it (if we’re doing our jobs). We can and must do it respectfully; we can and must give the other side a chance to be authentic regarding their views; but at the end of the day, our most basic calling as baptized Christians is to tell others about Jesus.

That is a non-negotiable part of the Catholic Faith.