Catholic Wintertime In Milwaukee

Wisconsin Bishops Issue Immigration Letter

2011-12-20T13:30:00.001-06:00

Milwaukee Archbishop Jerome Listecki and his fellow Wisconsin bishops issued a pastoral letter on immigration December 12th, "Traveling Together in Hope." December 12 is of course the feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the patron of the Americas. The central message of the document is a verse from Matthew 25: "Welcome the stranger."

The letter does not call for amnesty, but asserts that the number of visas for immigrants needs to be increased and a path for citizenship created for many of our neighbors to the south. The documents even mentions the possibility of restitution, but does not name any particular circumstances.

The reasons listed for illegal immigration include the insatiable desire on the part of Americans for cheap goods and services as well as the domestic and foreign policies of the United States of America. I would assume that the latter includes free trade agreements and subsidies to American corporations that create an inequality of competition in many parts of South America.

This is a fantastic document that also appropriate for this time of year because according to the Gospel of Matthew, the Holy Family emigrated to Egypt in search of a better life. Thank God the Egyptians did not deport them.

Have a great Advent and a blessed Christmas season.

A Faithful Catholic

Local Franciscan Priest Concelebrates with Woman Priest

2011-12-01T18:16:00.000-06:00

Fr. Jerry Zawada, who is part of the local province of Franciscan Friars concelebrated mass with a woman priest November 19th at the School of Americas protest. Zawada concelebrated with Janice Sevre-Duzynska, who coincidentally, was the woman whose ordination Fr. Roy Bourgeois witnessed. On November 29, Zawada met with his Provincial Minister to discuss the matter. At this time, no action is being taken by his order. No action has been taken YET by the Vatican.

Zawada is firm in his belief that the ordination of women is a justice issue in the Catholic Church and is prepared to receive whatever punishment may be handed down. Nevertheless, he will not recant his action and will not willingly leave the Church that he loves.

Zawada is a long time peace activist who has gone to jail on a number of occasions. Thank you Fr. Jerry for your courageous witness. You are a true priest - a mediator of God's will to God's people.

A Faithful Catholic

Fr. Roy Bourgeois Arrested at Vatican

2011-10-25T15:58:00.000-05:00

Fr. Roy Bourgeois, of School of the America fame, was arrested at the Vatican when he tried to deliver a petition to the Vatican with a number of women priests, who were dressed in their liturgical garments. The groups was attempting to deliver a petition supporting Fr. Roy and women priests, which was signed by 15,000 Catholics.

Perhaps Arab Spring will make its way to the Vatican. As the linked article points out, the group was told that protesters are not allowed in the Vatican. When the group dropped their signs, they were told that women wearing vestments was a protest, therefore, only Fr. Roy could proceed, since he was a "real" priest. After Fr. Roy stated that the women were legitimately ordained priests and need to accompany him, the police arrested Fr. Roy, a woman priest, and the translator. It is unclear if they will actually be tried.

Many thanks to Fr. Roy and the many brave women priests. This public stance against the Vatican is wonderful.

A Faithful Catholic

Altar Girls are Confusing... to Bishops

2011-08-30T14:06:00.004-05:00

The Vatican's newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, printed an article in early August in which they praised the use of altar girls: "The exclusion of girls from all of this, for the sole reason of their being female, has always weighed heavily and represented a deep inequality within Catholic education." They paper also refers to altar serving as an important and informative experience. As the Catholic News article points out, the L'Osservatore article was printed the same week that Pope Benedict thanked 53,000 altar services, 60% of whom were girls, for their important service to the Church.

Now fast forward two weeks. The Cathedral for the Diocese of Phoenix is now barring altar girls from serving at that parish. This will not affect the other parishes in the diocese and it was made clear that this was the decision of the rector of the Cathedral. Nevertheless, I cannot believe that a decision like this is made at the Cathedral without the bishop's approval. The rector states that he wants to have only boys in an effort to attract vocations to the priesthood, but there is not proof that this practice has ever led to more vocations. In addition, this action is very strange when one considers that the Pope just thanked tens of thousands of girl altar servers for their service. The rector stated that girls could be sacristans, but that is a slap in the face. To the rector, all girls are good for is ironing and washing clothes. Perhaps the bishop and rector in Phoenix should pay attention to the Pope and L'Osservatore Romano.

A Faithful Catholic

Weakland and Sklba called to Bankruptcy Court

2011-08-14T23:42:00.003-05:00

Retired Archbishop Rembert Weakland and Bishop Richard Sklba will be called to give testimony in court, under oath, regarding the sexual abuse cover up for the Archdiocese of Milwaukee bankruptcy case. Although the judge has said the statements will be sealed, these statements have a way of eventually being made public. In any case, I am glad that there will be some type of official record of the sexual abuse cover up in Milwaukee.

In one sense, this is a strange turn of events. It is speculated that Milwaukee and other dioceses have filed bankruptcy to avoid having bishops give depositions. Milwaukee filed for bankruptcy on the eve of Sklba's deposition in a sexual abuse case. If the primary purpose of the Milwaukee bankruptcy filing was to avoid Sklba's day in court, the plan failed. Weakland and Sklba will be called to answer questions in mid-October.

A Faithful Catholic

Austrian Priests Call For Married and Women Priests

2011-07-13T15:03:00.004-05:00

The exact details are fuzzy, but it appears that about 300 priest from all over Austria launched a "Call to Disobedience" in June to support the ordination of women priests and married priests. Interim actions might include prayers for a more inclusive priesthood at Sunday liturgy, having women preach, and welcoming remarried Catholics to received communion.

This is a powerful reminder that there are still a lot of great priests in the Catholic Church. The response of the various bishops in Austria is uncertain. Cardinal Christoph Schonborn of Vienna disagrees with the priests, but plans on meeting with some of them in the next month or so to discuss the action. So far, no priests have been disciplined. I am thankful for all you brave priests in Austria. Perhaps this effort can someday be coordinated on a more global scale until all those who are called to the priesthood are able to serve the People of God.

A Faithful Catholic

If Fr. John Corapi's Boats Could Talk

2011-07-09T10:22:00.003-05:00

Fr. John Corapi is very famous for his conversion story to a Catholic priest from a drug-using, womanizing, Hollywood lifestyle. In the wake of a fact-finding commission from his own order, it appears that he was trying to live both lifestyles at once. The commission discovered that:

"He did have sexual relations and years of cohabitation (in California and Montana) with a woman known to him, when the relationship began, as a prostitute; He repeatedly abused alcohol and drugs; He has recently engaged in sexting activity with one or more women in Montana; He holds legal title to over $1 million in real estate, numerous luxury vehicles, motorcycles, an ATV, a boat dock, and several motor boats, which is a serious violation of his promise of poverty as a perpetually professed member of the Society."

It appears that when Corapi talked about his former lifestyle, he forgot to mention that he probably only left that lifestyle for a short time. Giving him the benefit of the doubt, it seems that he fell back into this lifestyle when he became a famous priest and temptation returned. Unfortunately, he still completely denies all the allegations and offers no reasoning why his order would lie. In response to his current situation, he says that most of it was "beyond my control." Unless he's talking about addiction to drugs, women, and money, I highly doubt it. I must admit, I am suspicious of any priest who sells their own story without making sure the money goes somewhere other than their own pocket. In his statement, he also takes the time to talk about his future ventures, stuff his followers can buy in the future so that he can remain a millionaire.

A Faithful Catholic

Fr. Corapi Leaving Priesthood

2011-06-28T16:39:00.004-05:00

Fr. John Corapi, an ultra-conservative Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity priest, announced plans on June 23rd to leave the priesthood. He has had a radio program on Relevant Radio and was a featured personality on EWTN. He was known for his conversion story from rich drug parties in Hollywood, to homelessness, to becoming a priest. His Bible was the Catechism of the Catholic Church and the teaching of the hierarchy.

Therefore, it is strange to hear him talk about the problems with the leadership of the Church. From his time as a radio personality, I thought the leadership of the Church could do no wrong. All that changed when an allegation of sexual abuse came forth. His order was attempting to check the validity of the allegation, but Fr. Corapi would not cooperate, citing his "civil and human rights."

If he really is leaving the priesthood because of the stress caused by a false allegation, then I truly feel for the man. But at the same time, assuming he is innocent, he should realize that the mistakes of church leadership in the past concerning sexual abuse warrant a greater transparency on behalf of bishops and clergy to rebuild the trust that has been lost. In any case, I will not miss hearing Fr. Corapi's voice over the airwaves. His theology was the pre-Vatican II pray, pay, and obey... which not even he wants to follow anymore.

A Faithful Catholic

New Document on Preaching

2011-06-17T09:50:00.003-05:00

During the first day of their spring Assembly, the U.S. Bishops approved the writing of a 50 page document on preaching for next year. Based on input from bishops at this assembly and from when the topic came up in previous meetings, it can be assumed that this document will shift the focus of preaching from a reflection on how God is acting in our everyday lives as seen through the eyes of scripture to an emphasis on doctrine.

In one sense, this may be necessary. The average post-Vatican II Catholic's knowledge of the faith is not something to brag about. But I hope that this document does not bring us back to pre-Vatican II sermons that prooftexted a Gospel in order to catechize on an element of the Catholic faith, usually with the desire to cover the basics of the faith during a one year cycle. I can almost see it now: Week 1 - Abortion; Week 2 - Birth Control; Week 3 - Marriage (anti-gay); Week 4 - The Sacrament of Penance, etc.

Although Catholics are less knowledgeable about their faith, they have computers and information at their fingertips that was not available before. With a move towards catechesis in preaching, I hope that there will be an emphasis on inspiring the faithful to learn more about their faith outside of Mass by illustrating how the truths of the faith are meaningful in their everyday lives - particularly the truth of Jesus Christ. People are thirsting for spirituality, which I define as doctrine in action. Preaching needs to touch on both aspects of spirituality to move people.

A Faithful Catholic

Fr. Don Hying named new auxiliary bishop in Milwaukee

2011-05-27T11:45:00.004-05:00

As most people reading this in Milwaukee already know, Fr. Don Hying has been named the next auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee. This type of appointment represents the continuing state of our church towards a conservatism that sees abortion as the only issue in the Catholic Church. In the past few months, Hying has led a holy hour for the sanctity of marriage at the seminary and wrote about his time at the "abortion mill." Marriage and abortion... these are the issues that define the modern church for new bishops.

I hope that Fr. Hying also realizes that the church is larger than these two issues. On occasion, he has mentioned the defiance shown by Archbishop Romero toward the injustice of the El Salvadoran government. Unfortunately, this ended up being a segue for a anti-abortion story. Callahan was such a disappointment as an auxiliary bishop, I hope Hying can be more pastoral with Catholics he does not agree with.

A Faithful Catholic

In Milwaukee: "In Lawyers We Trust"

2011-05-15T07:11:00.003-05:00

The sexual abuse crisis continues to cause shame all over the globe and right here in Milwaukee. As reported in the local paper, the Archdiocese of Milwaukee is denying that it owns the Cousins Center, which houses the offices of the Archdiocese. Originally, the Cousins Center was the St. Francis de Sales Preparatory Academy, and even though that institution is defunct, the Archdiocese is maintaining in bankruptcy court that they rent from the Academy and that the land is not available for the victims of sexual abuse. In 2004, the Archdiocese began listing the property separately in their financial statements and until Archbishop Listecki came last year, Dolan had been trying to sell it with the express purpose of funding a sexual abuse fund FOR victims.

Listecki has made it known that he likes the Cousins Center, does not want to sell it, and wants to relocate the offices that had vacated the Cousins Center back at that location. This all smells really bad. But that is what happens when you depend on lawyers and the letter of the law rather than Jesus Christ and Christian morality. Most of what happened a couple years ago to the cause the housing market crash was legal, but it definitely was not moral. The same basically holds true for the Archdiocese in this case. It is also telling that there is not a written lease agreement between the Academy and the Archdiocese, it is just understood that the Archdiocese rents there in return for keeping the place up. A spokesperson for the Archdiocese admits that there may have been some "imprecise communications." If Milwaukee was on the national scene, I could see this phrase catching on. I wonder if Listecki will confess these "imprecise communications" the next time he goes to confession.

A Faithful Catholic

Australian Bishop Sacked

2011-05-02T10:13:00.003-05:00

Buried in all the news this morning dedicated to the assassination of Osama bin Laden AND the beatification of John Paul II is what newspapers calling the sacking or firing of Bishop William Morris, who had been bishop of Toowoomba in Australia since 1993. This "firing" is the result of a statement of Morris in 2006, in which he stated that women and married persons who are called to the priesthood should be ordained by the Catholic Church.

From Morris's own admission, it is clear that he is vacating his seat unwillingly. Obviously, Pope Benedict had hoped that he would resign and make the axing go much smoother. On a side note, this type of action does make it look like the Pope is in charge of a corporation called the Catholic Church, Inc., which give credence to lawyers who want to sue the Pope for not removing priest-rapists.

Nevertheless, it is oddly appropriate that Morris was fired for promoting women priests in the same news cycle as the beatification of John Paul II. This is an act of injustice that would have warmed the previous pontiff's heart. Up until this time, I had been led to believe that Benedict was more open to disagreement within the Catholic Church than John Paul, but I guess disagreement can only happen when the Pope says so (i.e., condoms).

A Faithful Catholic

Renounce Violence...

2011-04-22T10:06:00.004-05:00

In prior years I have posted a Happy Easter blog. I thought that this year it may be appropriate to have a Good Friday entry. Good Friday is the scandal on which are faith rests. As St. Paul said: It is a scandal to the Jews and folly to the Greeks. Even our beloved Muslims brothers and sisters cannot reconcile this suffering to a prophet and messenger of God; hence, they say that Jesus did not die on the cross.

As reported in by the AP in numerous papers across the country, Pope Benedict pre-recorded answers to questions submitted to him from Catholics and non-Catholics all over the planet. The questions and answers focused on the mystery of suffering.

A Muslim from Ivory Coast asked: "As an ambassador of Jesus, what do you advise for our country?" In his response, the Pope stated: "The only path is to renounce violence, to begin anew with dialogue." Some may say the Pope is being naive. How can nonviolence and dialogue solve problems of extreme violence? Nevertheless, Benedict witnessed the horrors of Nazi Germany as a boy and young man. So his words cause me pause. As with the British military of old, the sun never sets on the American military. Should we not heed the words of the Holy Father and make drastic cuts to our military?

As Good Friday illustrates, Jesus did not repay violence for violence. He took the violence (sin) of the world upon himself and died so that others would have new life.

A Faithful Catholic

Bishops Want to Keep Lovers Apart

2011-04-10T06:26:00.003-05:00

In a sad piece of news from a couple of weeks ago, the US bishops are against the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) adopting a proposed regulation that would add sexual orientation to a list of categories for which one receiving HUD funds cannot discriminate. They believe that this would cause many faith-based initiatives to not participate in HUD, especially when it comes to "shared" housing projects. I guess that they are scared that a couple's gayness may rub off on some of the nearby children. Later on in the statement, they also state that they are against unmarried straight couples living together in shared housing. This seems to be an addendum of sorts to try and prove that they are not homophobic, because the proposed regulation has absolutely nothing to do with unmarried straight couples.

Basically, the bishops are stating that if this passes, they may take their ball and go home. It is actually quite disgusting that the bishops are putting out a document that essentially states, "We are not against gay couples having housing, but they should not be near anybody else." This is simply another embarrassing move for US bishops regarding their thoughts on pelvic issues. Sadly, this could affect where some people could live.

A Faithful Catholic

Marquette Likes Gays and Lesbians Now

2011-03-24T18:56:00.003-05:00

Marquette University put out a statement earlier today that beginning in January 2012, the University will extend the same benefits that are currently offered to the spouse of an employee to a same-sex registered domestic partner of an employee. Although the statement does not mention it, this action is obviously in response to the criticism that Marquette received last year for rescinding a job offer to Jodi O'Brien, an openly lesbian professor at Seattle University.

After the disgrace, which can be remembered in a blog entry from last year, Marquette promised to work more diligently to make gays and lesbians more welcome on campus. For a while, it seemed as if Marquette was dragging its feet and not making an substantial moves to make a penance for their terrible actions last year.

Now at last, this is a very substantial contribution toward making up for last year's fiasco. Bravo Marquette!!! It's about time. Maybe there doing this during the season of Lent makes their action more appropriate.

A Faithful Catholic

Vatican Technology

2011-03-18T13:21:00.005-05:00

The average American probably thinks of the Vatican being behind the times. Although that may be true in some instances, it has not been the case as concerns technology. This has especially been true during the pontificate of John Paul II and Benedict XVI.

Recently, the Vatican put up a Facebook page in honor of John Paul II. Click here to see it. They have also begun posting speeches of JPII on youtube, which are accessible from the Facebook page. It is good for the Vatican and Catholics in general to be spreading the good news of their faith on the internet as well as on street corners.

Nevertheless, the distribution of resources by the Vatican for a facebook page dedicated to the cause of one proposed saint does raise some questions. Although John Paul II was himself known for including more saints from non-consecrated life as well as those from outside of Europe, at the end of day, clericalism still matters. Our Church is trying to fight a supposed war on secularism by putting forth the worship of the pope and cleric. This same clericalism is found in many of the coming liturgical changes (those comments will be forthcoming). I suppose clerical emphasis is what conservative Catholics believe makes the Catholic Church unique, therefore we MUST emphasize it.

Although pope, bishop, and priest serve a necessary unifying function in our Church, the cult of the cleric indicates the false belief that a priest is needed to access God. This is not the case.

A Faithful Catholic

The Sex Abuse Scandal is NOT over.

2011-03-08T16:21:00.004-06:00

It is just amazing to me that bishops in the United States can still be choosing to protect priests with substantial allegations of sexual abuse against them. The Cardinal in Philadelphia, Justin Francis Rigali, suspended 21 priests earlier today that a grand jury investigation found have credible allegations of sexual abuse against them. Why were these priests not put on a leave of absence earlier? Why does the heavy hand of the law need to be brought in to strong arm certain bishops and Cardinals to protect children? Oddly enough, there was an article in the National Catholic Reporter last week indicating that there has been discussion about loosening the restrictions that the bishops put in place 10 years ago to protect children from sexual predators in the Church. This situation seems to indicate that the restrictions should be greater. The District Attorney praised Rigali for his response to the report. Why is he praising a bishop for doing something that he should have done years ago? This scandal adds insult to injury and makes the teaching authority of the bishops less credible and newsworthy than before.

A Faithful Catholic

Catholic Year of Revisions...

2011-02-27T19:46:00.004-06:00

As most readers of this blog probably know, beginning Advent 2011, the Archdiocese of Milwaukee will begin using the Third Edition of the Roman Missal. There is be changes to a number of responses for the person in the pew and almost all the prayers for the priest. Many of the changes are biblical and makes sense, other make less sense: "And with your spirit" instead of "And also with you." Here is a good article that explains this specific change. It makes sense, but probably does not justify the change.

Also, next month the New American Bible Revised Edition is set to be released. It can be pre-ordered on Amazon among other places. It replaces words that were the 1970 edition, such as cereal, booty, and holocaust. It is the first time since 1970 that an entire new edition will be released. Until now, separate parts had been updated. This translation is for private use and will not be used at mass. With any translation, there are senses of betrayal. I will share some of mine in the coming months as we get closer to Advent. Nevertheless, I do hope that most of the changes serve us well as a Church and bring us closer to Christ.

A Faithful Catholic

Listecki: Must Protect Union Rights

2011-02-17T21:38:00.006-06:00

Archbishop Listecki, on behalf of the Wisconsin Catholic Conference, released a statement today defending the rights of workers to unionize and bargain. He quotes Caritas in veritate #25, where Benedict speaks of the need to especially protect the rights of organized labor during this difficult economic time. He also quotes John Paul II's Laborem exercens #20, where the previous pope wrote on the necessary rights of workers in protecting the social order.

I applaud Listecki for this statement. It is an unexpected surprise. The statement is timely and I hope that it can have some impact on the current situation. I disagree with Archbishop Listecki regarding a few church policies, but in this instance, I am very glad to call him my shepherd.

A Faithful Catholic

Benedict on Family... Good and Bad

2011-01-18T10:50:00.004-06:00

This past week, Pope Benedict gave some comments on same sex unions and wifely duties to officials from the city and province of Rome and the Lazio region of Italy. He spoke of the "penalizing" effect that same sex unions have on heterosexual marriages. I must admit that I don't understand how married couple are penalized. I have asked some married couples how they could possibly be penalized by the existence of legalized same sex unions and no answer was found. I look forward to comments from my conservative readers about how this occurs. I do not think that "It's not fair that they have the same rights as me," counts as penalization.

A bright spot in this speech was Benedict's emphasis on the need to make provisions in society for women who would like to work in addition to having the role of child rearing. Because society does not often honor working mothers, women often feel compelled to wait to have children. He stated that women should not be put in a position that makes them have to choose between one or the other. This is a significant departure from John Paul II (who should not be beatified). JPII was pretty clear in his writings that a women's place is with the children. It is part of their special womanly nature (another term not present in Benedict). JPII made concessions about the right of women not be be discriminated against in broader society, but a working mother was never ideal in his mind. Benedict, on the other hand, has never stated that mothers should ideally not work.

A Faithful Catholic

Milwaukee Archdiocese Files for Bankruptcy

2011-01-04T13:30:00.004-06:00

As reported this afternoon on jsonline.com and per a video by Archbishop Listecki on the Archdiocesan website, the Archdiocese of Milwaukee is filing for bankruptcy today. It had been known for a long time that this was an option on the table that might one day be executed. Listecki states that the process will probably take 12-18 months. He also states that this only involves the Archdiocese and NOT any parishes. I do not see how he can make such a claim just yet. Although the parishes of the archdiocese are separate corporations, it will be up to a judge to decide just how separate our parishes really are.

In one sense, it will be good to finally have all the expenses related to the sexual abuse scandal behind us. It will also mean a payday for victims. In another sense, it leaves bad taste in my mouth. There will be the conflicting interests of preserving the structures and monies of the Archdiocese that accomplish good works with the need to fairly compensate the victims. And how exactly do you fairly compensate someone who has been raped by a priest, especially one that should have already been removed from ministry. In addition, I feel uncomfortable anytime the Archdiocese makes use of lawyers. I have nothing against lawyers per se, but dioceses usually use them with the sole purpose of protecting themselves when it comes to the issue of sexual abuse (see the movie "Deliver us From Evil"). I pray that this gut feeling is wrong in this case.

A Faithful Catholic

Merry Christmas & To All a Good Condom!

2010-12-23T10:38:00.004-06:00

I hope everyone reading this has a great Christmas. Try to stay calm if you are visiting annoying family and/or friends. There is a spike in heart attacks this time of year, which means the wait at the hospital will be longer if you have one. Don't forget to pray.

The New Roman Missal will be going into effect next Advent. The conservatives are continuing to win the small liturgical battles, but a bright spot on the ecclesiastical horizon was the pope's words regarding condoms. Basically, in this AIDS dangerous world that we live in, if you are having sex with someone who might have AIDS, wear a condom. For a closer analysis, see my blog from a couple entries ago.

A couple of days ago, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith at the Vatican put out a statement clarifying that the Pope's comments about condoms does not mean that condoms are okay to wear for the primary purpose of preventing pregnancy. Some conservatives are worried that now that the Pope okayed condoms to combat AIDS in certain circumstances, that he has created a slippery slope. And they are right!

The pope made clear that condoms are not bad in and of themselves, it is the primary purpose that counts. Right now the Pope does not see overpopulation as a problem, but when the Vatican realizes that close to 7 billion people is more than the planet should have to put up with, then we will see a Pope stating that condoms are legitimate for combating excessive population growth. In morality, Benedict is steering us in the right direction, even if he is not there yet on all the important moral issues of our day.

A Faithful Catholic

Marian Apparitions Near Green Bay...

2010-12-11T07:29:00.003-06:00

This past week on December 8th, Bishop David Ricken of Green Bay stated that the Marian apparitions to Adele Brise in Champion, WI in 1859 are worthy of belief. This does not mean that anyone is required to belief in them as a tenet of the Catholic faith or that they hold anything necessary for salvation. They are simply available as an aid for anyone who wishes to make use of them.

According to the shrine's web site, the message that Mary told Adele the one time that she spoke to her was: I am the Queen of Heaven, who prays for the conversion of sinners, and I wish you to do the same. You received Holy Communion this morning, and that is well. But you must do more. Make a general confession, and offer Communion for the conversion of sinners. If they do not convert and do penance, my Son will be obliged to punish them... Gather the children in this wild country and teach them what they should know for salvation... Teach them their catechism, how to sign themselves with the sign of the Cross, and how to approach the sacraments; that is what I wish you to do. Go and fear nothing. I will help you."

The message seems simple enough. I am wary of any message that speak of Jesus punishing, but hell there are a number of different ways to understand hell. As should be evident from previous posts, I am not a big fan of Marian devotion, but I find no need to ridicule devotion that is within reasonable bounds and apparitions whose messages are benign. The comments to the article on this topic on JSonline are simply terrible and mean-spirited. As when the message was supposedly given, it is important for Catholics to remember that more is required in being faithful than receiving Communion. I think it is also more important than ever to teach our children the faith. Not, of course, in the way that many of my conservative blogger counterparts would, but in a manner that truly brings faith and reason together. One day, I will have to check out this site in Champion. If anyone reading this has visited the place, I would love to read your remarks.

A Faithful Catholic

Pope says condoms okay... sometimes

2010-11-20T16:37:00.004-06:00

Based on excerpts from the Pope's new book that is being released on Tuesday, the use of condoms is sometimes acceptable. Although some conservatives are already trying to state that this does not contradict previous papal thought, it most definitely does. Based on English-language excerpts released by the AP, the Pope states that there are exceptions to the Catholic contraceptive ban. He's gives the example of a male prostitute wearing a condom as a step towards being more responsible in transmitting AIDS. I must admit that I find it odd that he used the example of homosexual sex, since this kind of sex does not allow for the possibility of the condom preventing a pregnancy. Nevertheless, from the rest of excerpts, it seems that he also allow for a married couple to use a condom if one of the partners was infected with AIDS.

In another instance, he states that "the basic lines of `Humanae vitae' are still correct." This clearly implies that certain lines of it are wrong. Basically, the pope is still against condoms, but understands that in certain instances there may be exceptions. This means that for the pope: CONDOMS ARE NO LONGER INTRINSICALLY EVIL. Of course, something being intrinsically evil means that an action is always wrong, no matter the circumstances. That is a major shift in thought that has been way too long in coming. I think that this action also justifies the viewpoint that I have shared on this blog in the past: Benedict is much more open-minded and willing to listen to opinions that he does not share than John Paul II. I feel that I am still living a Catholic Wintertime in Milwaukee, but the clouds broke slightly today and let in a glorious ray of light.

A Faithful Catholic

Kiss-In for the Pope

2010-11-07T09:20:00.003-06:00

About 200 gays held a Kiss-In along the pope-mobile's path. If you click on the link in the previous sentence, there is an article about it with a great pictures of multiple male couples kissing as the pope passes by. This was on a day that the pope gave a speech about keeping the definition of marriage and family very exclusive. As if one's salvation and Christian status depend on whether someone marries the opposite sex. This does have a familiar ring. Paul's opponents in Galatia and Rome told the Christian communities their that they needed to follow the Torah (Law) to be proper Christians. Paul told them that not only was that definition too exclusionary, it was harmful for the faith. Belief in Jesus Christ, who has liberated us from the bondage of sin is all that matters. I think the pope might need to take a basic scripture class.

For whatever reason, Benedict thinks that Spain is a major and "winnable" battleground for the Church to reclaim souls for his Torah-based... I mean straight-based Church. He plans another trip to Spain next year, which will be his third trip to the nation. Benedict does have a lot of wonderful qualities (see prior entries), but this straight-based aspect of his pontificate borders on the heretical. Jesus needs to be the basis of Christianity, not straightness.

A Faithful Catholic

Bishop Sklba Resignation is Accepted...

2010-10-19T14:48:00.004-05:00

As of yesterday, the resignation that Bishop Richard Sklba had sent to Pope Benedict last month was officially accepted. It seems that he will help out like an auxillary bishop until the end of the year, when a new auxilliary bishop will most likely be appointed.

As with Archbishop Weakland, Sklba's legacy will be tainted. He was/is a biblical scholar who saw no reason that St. Mary Magdalene could not be considered an apostle. He is also known for his thoughtful homilies and articles as well as being very generous with the oil of chrism at high school confirmations. He is a man dedicated to peace; he is associated with Pax Christi. He is also a man dedicated to interfaith dialogue, particularly the Catholic-Lutheran dialogue.

Nevertheless, he was also privy scandal, such as knowing about the $450,000 that Archbishop Weakland used as hush money to a former lover and what was going on behind the scenes of the priest sexual abuse scandal in Milwaukee. I wish him well, but also hope that he will do everything in his power to shed a truthful light on the sexual abuse scandal in Milwaukee. As any priest should know, God's forgiveness and healing occur after confession.

A Faithful Catholic

The Pope and Iran

2010-10-11T05:48:00.005-05:00

Even in recent times, popes have influenced tense political situations in the world. Pope John XXIII is viewed as easing tensions during the Cuban missile crisis and Pope John Paul II played a role in the collapse of communism is Eastern Europe. This past weekend, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad sent Pope Benedict a letter thanking him for opposing the Qur'an burning that was set to happen at a so-called church in Florida. Ahmadinejad had also sent Benedict a letter in 2006 regarding sanctions that were being imposed on Iran during that time.

In this weekends letter, Ahmadinejad also denounced Western secularism and materialism and stated: "Close cooperation and interaction among divine religions to halt such destructive moves is an absolute necessity." In light of past history, this begs the question of whether Benedict could play a role in Western conversations with Ahmadinejad. Benedict's criticism of Western society obviously strikes a cord with the Iranian president. If this possibility is not on Benedict's radar, perhaps it should be. The similar world-view that Benedict and Ahmadinejad share concerning the harmful nature of secularism could be a starting point for fruitful dialogue. Of course, this could all be a smoke screen (particularly the respect Ahmadinejad shows for other revealed religions) on the part of Ahmadinejad, but there is no harm in trying, and everything to be gained.

A Faithful Catholic

Audits Needed for More than One Reason...

2010-09-25T08:57:00.005-05:00

St. John Vianney in Brookfield, WI cannot seem to catch a break. Their previous pastor was arrested for probably stealing around $128,000. Now, the parish has been the target of a cyber crime in which $121,000 was stolen. Amazingly, $84,000 was recovered before it "technologically" left the country. In previous posts, I have stated the need for parishes to have audits, largely because of in-house theft. At this point, it does not appear that this instance is a case of in-house theft. It could be a case of a virus stealing the needed financial information from one of the employee's computers or an e-mail phishing scam.

Nonetheless, the two-fold purpose of an audit is to ensure that a company is 1) keeping accurate books and not stealing, and 2) making sure no one else can easily steal from you. The second option is more rare, but is perhaps becoming easier because of the possibilities available with on-line banking.

Thankfully, the Archdiocese had decided while Dolan was here to enact bi-annual audits for all the parishes in the Archdiocese. Right now the first wave of parishes are undergoing audits and next year the second wave of audits will get the rest of the parishes. If these auditors are any good, hopefully, they will enact safety measures at our parishes to ensure that this will not happen again. This could all be bad timing. If St. John Vianney had had their audit three weeks ago, perhaps this would not have happened. In any case, I am happy the Archdiocese had already put a comprehensive audit plan in place before this theft occurred.

A Faithful Catholic

Pink Smoke over the Vatican

2010-09-09T14:15:00.003-05:00

A new movie is premiering in Chicago in a week and a half: Pink Smoke over the Vatican.

Chicago Premier of
Pink Smoke Over The Vatican

WHAT: Women's Ordination Conference's 35th Anniversary - Making It Happen in Our Lifetime

This is a movie about the Women's Ordination Movement. Details are below and a trailer can be found at: http://eyegoddess.com/pink_smoke.php

WHEN: Saturday, September 18, 2010
6 p.m. Movie Premier (Doors open at 5:45p.m.)
7:30 p.m. Dinner Buffet and Silent/Live Auction

WHERE: Irish American Heritage Center

4626 North Knox Avenue, Chicago

Tickets: $60
Free parking
Cash bar

One can register for the event here: http://events.constantcontact.com/register/event?oeidk=a07e2yeoejud0ea23e5

A Faithful Catholic

The Old Boys Club Still in Effect...

2010-08-31T12:29:00.004-05:00

As reported, well, almost everywhere it seems, Belgian Cardinal Godfried Danneels advised a young man, who had been abused by his uncle/Bishop for 13 years (1973-86), to not make his allegations public for another year, until after his Uncle, Bishop Roger Vangheluwe, had retired. All this is of course very troubling. Here is a man who could have a voice in choosing the next pontiff... and by the way had a voice in picking Benedict XVI. Danneels name was even considered a possible contender for pope during the last conclave.

There are bishops in the Catholic Church that want us to believe that the sexual abuse crisis is behind us and that all the fences have been mended. But when a Cardinal in the church asks a victim to stay silent instead of going immediately to the authorities, it becomes readily apparent that little has changed. It is still more important to protect the honor and teaching authority of the hierarchy than to prevent child abuse. When will the majority of bishops realize that their silence and complicity in child abuse is ruining the honor and teaching authority of bishops.

A Faithful Catholic

Danneel

Priest-Geek Fun and Beatle Appreciation Week at the Vatican

2010-08-22T21:07:00.003-05:00

A couple odd stories are in the news this week. Rev. Luke Strand of the Milwaukee Archdiocese received a cease and desist letter from Best Buy for driving around in a black Beetle with a "God Squad" logo. This, of course, is reminiscent of Best Buy's Geek Squad Beetles. While a bit on the conservative side, Strand is a great priest who has creatively tried to reach out to young Catholics. We need more priests like Strand who are willing to make use of contemporary symbols and language to reach out to young people.

On another front, an article in L'Osservatore Romano, the Vatican's official newspaper, offers forgiveness to the Beatles for John Lennon saying the Beatles were bigger than Jesus and "messages, that were possibly even Satanic." The writer notes that their positive influence on music and the beauty of their music outweigh the bad. First, there are no Satanic messages in the Beatles catalog. Second, why are they writing about this right now. Who cares. The Beatles have been broken up for forty years and the Vatican is in the midst of a scandal in which it should be asking forgiveness. Strange.

A Faithful Catholic

Wisconsin Bishops Apply a Natural Law Argument...

2010-08-14T08:35:00.004-05:00

The Diocese of Madison's public stance that any church employee in that diocese will receive a warning and then termination if they were discovered to be using artificial birth control made headlines this week. This warning was given by a spokesperson for the diocese as a new Wisconsin law went into effect mandating all insurance plans in Wisconsin offer "the pill." Obviously, someone would have to flaunt their use of the pill for the diocese to know because there are privacy laws that prevent the diocese from knowing what medications an employee is taking. I am not sure if this is really a matter of church vs. state, as the media is making it out to be, as much as it is an issue of connecting health care to employment. If the basic right to health care were not connected to a specific employer, this story would be a huge non-issue.

Last August, the Wisconsin bishops put out a joint letter opposing this new health coverage mandate. They try to state that the pill is not a Catholic issue because it falls into the realm of the natural law, "which is inscribed in the mind and heart of all human beings." Although I do not deny their basic natural law argument that there are inclinations for happiness deposited deep in our hearts by the divine, the theologians of the Middle Ages would have expected to find their natural law principles to be present in other cultures. This is not the case. Their logic is faulty even by Catholic natural law standards. In addition, the natural law inclination they are referring to regards the desire to have and raise children (an inclination that priests are not supposed to follow). Somehow, this got twisted into "never use the pill." I have more to say, but will save it for another day...

A Faithful Catholic

Arizona Catholic Bishops Mostly Right on This Issue...

2010-07-29T13:03:00.004-05:00

In a short statement released by the Arizona Catholic Bishops' Conference yesterday, they commended the action of Judge Susan Bolton in restricting some of the "more problematic provisions of SB 1070," which would lead to racial profiling and the unreasonable holding of immigrants who are here legally as well as U.S. citizens.

Although I understand that a short statement should be expected on short notice, I am disappointed that the document does not make use of any of the foundational biblical teachings or social doctrine of the Catholic Church. The primary concern expressed in the document seems to be that this unjust law would adversely affect Catholics at almost every parish in the state of Arizona. Hence, it seems that they are primarily concerned with the issue because it will affect Catholics.

They also briefly lay out their vision of comprehensive immigration reform, which includes forcing illegal immigrants to learn English as a punishment for being here illegally. It lists this next to fining illegal immigrants. Although I think it would be helpful to offer English classes to immigrants, it seems odd to make their punishment "learning English." After an illegal immigrant learns English, would they receive a green card?

In any case, I am pleased that they are opposed to this legislation. Scripture as well as Catholic Social Teaching make abundantly clear that the alien in your midst should be treated with respect, dignity, and love. What else is the message of Jesus if not one of God's unconditional love for us that we would likewise share. Obviously, there are other complexities concerning this issue, but I will tackle those in a future post.

A Faithful Catholic

Connell Making Waves with Listecki...

2010-07-14T21:42:00.003-05:00

Over two weeks ago now, Fr. James Connell, a canon lawyer and priest of the Archdiocese of the Milwaukee, stated the the national audits by the US Bishops of individual dioceses do not protect children adequately from child abuse. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and La Crosse covered the story, but few others. The reason that the statement was also covered in La Crosse is because Connell asserts that the current standards to protect children from priest molesters in the Diocese of La Crosse in particular are not sufficient.

As people in both dioceses know, current Milwaukee Archbishop Jerome Listecki came from La Crosse. Connell points out that according to the Vatican, priests who are accused of sexual abuse with a semblence of truth or probable cause are to be reported the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF). The Diocese of La Crosse does not report to the CDF unless the claim seems beyond a reasonable doubt or has moral certitude. This is basically the difference between culpability in a civil versus criminal court case and means that La Crosse has a lower standard for reporting possible pedophile priests than the Vatican.

Connell's statement is important and needed. It is shame that more media outlets have not picked up this story. At the same time, it will be interesting to see how the relationship between Listecki and Connell develops in the future. Connell statement is basically an indictment of Listecki for endangering children while he was in La Crosse.

A Faithful Catholic

Bishop William Callahan Going to La Crosse...

2010-06-12T09:58:00.005-05:00

Yesterday morning, Bishop William Callahan was appointed by Pope Benedict to be the next bishop of the Diocese of La Crosse. He is currently an auxiliary bishop for the Archdiocese of Milwaukee. The La Crosse diocese probably will not notice much a change from its two previous bishops, Burke and Listecki.

I find this to be a disappointing move on behalf of Pope Benedict. Callahan is almost as far away from the Vatican II mold of bishop as can be found. He views the Church in a state of persecution from the world at large. As such, it would be very appropriate for the closing hymn of his installation mass to be "Onward, Christian Soldiers," which he has referenced in the past. In contrast, Vatican II presents a vision in which the Church that can be in dialogue with the world. Nevertheless, Callahan does not see himself as a diplomat for the Church, but a soldier.

For those in La Crosse that really liked their previous bishops, they should be very happy with their new bishop. For those who did not like their previous bishops, I feel great sorrow. I would like to think that Callahan will be a bit less ostentatious in his conservatism and may have learned something from Timothy Dolan's style, but only time will tell.

A Faithful Catholic

Fr. Roy Bourgeois Keeping Busy...

2010-05-28T08:38:00.005-05:00

Fr. Roy Bourgeois, who the Vatican excommunicated recently because of his involvement at the ordination of a woman, is keeping busy. There is a video on youtube that documents a talk that he gave recently to a group of faithful Catholics to hear about the calling of women to the priesthood in the Catholic Church.

The video is broken up into about two 9-minute segments:

Part 1 Part 2

As Fr. Roy states, "There will never be justice in our Catholic Church until women can be ordained." To paraphrase Fr. Roy, at present, women are sitting at the back of the Catholic bus. I thank Fr. Roy for his witness and his sacrifice in standing up for the rights of God. God has a right to call certain women to the priesthood. Who are we to deny God? And while I am sure that Fr. Roy will be all right in the end, his excommunication is taking him out of a world of security that exists for priests. That sacrifice is very admirable and appreciated. Once again, thank you Fr. Roy.

A Faithful Catholic

The Good and the Bad in the Jodi O'Brien Scandal at Marquette

2010-05-15T08:45:00.006-05:00

I think that it is about time that I add my two cents about the Jodi O'Brien scandal at Marquette University. The obvious bad about the whole thing is that another lesbian is being publicly disgraced by a Catholic institution. This is made worse by Marquette lying about the whole thing. Anyone on the inside will tell you that Marquette (and Fr. Wild) were completely aware of her scholarly works on the issue of marriage before they offered her the job as dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. It was only after pressure from Archbishop Listecki (who has been amazingly silent in the public realm regarding this issue and letting Fr. Wild take all the heat for it) and a few big donors that Fr. Wild changed his mind and rescinded the job offer.

The good... Marquette's lies illustrate it's own belief that if they were completely honest about her lesbian attribute being the reason that they rescinded the offer, they would lose public credibility. I wonder in retrospect if Fr. Wild would have rescinded the offer if he knew that there was going to be this type of student uproar and public scrutiny of him and Marquette. If you are not aware, the New York Times even picked up on this story early on. In any case, he wants to position himself as someone who would have no problem hiring an openly gay/lesbian person if they did not write about it in regard to Church teachings.

More good... a large contingent of students at Marquette, many of whom are Catholic, are standing up for the belief that a lesbian can be the dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, which includes the theology department. It's reminiscent of the Young Catholics for Choice. It demonstrates that there is still a large contingent of young Catholics who are willing to engage in dialogue with the Catholic hierarchy, even when the hierarchy now wishes they would go back to pray, pay, and obey.

More good? I'm not sure how to interpret Listecki's silence. Is he afraid that if he speaks on this issue, all the pressure would go to him? Why is he content to let Marquette flail on its own? Why hasn't Fr. Wild thrown him under the bus with himself? Is Listecki worried he might get student protesters outside his home? It will be interesting to see if and when Listecki has anything to stay on this issue.

A Faithful Catholic

Diocesan Trustees...

2010-04-29T09:00:00.004-05:00

In the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, every parish is its own corporation. The five person board of directors for every parish consists of two bishops, the parish priest, and the two lay trustees. Although canonically, the priest is in charge of the parish, the two trustees have the ability to notice if anything is out of sync financially - one of the trustees' signatures is required on all the checks. In reality, you often have trustees who do not take this responsibility seriously, always trust the priest, or are incompetent. There are also some great trustees out there. Though it would be nice if parishes, who nominate and vote for the trustees, realized on a deeper level the serious and positive effects that this position can be for the parish community financially.

I think that this is a model that could be adapted to the diocesan level. A board of lay trustees, nominated and chosen by the laity in a diocese, would have full access to financial records. These lay trustees would then be at liberty to disclose any pertinent information to the general Catholic population. This method would have prevented scenarios such as Archbishop Weakland paying off a blackmailer and many U.S. bishops from paying hush money to cover up sexual abuse. And if these heinous actions had happened despite having lay elected trustees, then at least we have more blame to spread around and we could vote in better trustees. As of now, the laity are not allowed to vote in a new bishop. Just a thought...

A Faithful Catholic

Ratzinger... the better pope

2010-04-13T18:21:00.003-05:00

In the opinion section of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, there was a piece by New York Times writer Ross Douthat. Basically, he saw John Paul II as the charismatic pope who was "a weak administrator, poor delegator, and sometimes a dreadful judge of character." His protecting of Fr. Marcial Maciel is a case in point. In general, JP's charisma and good looks covered a litany of faults in the public square.

Benedict's handling of the the Vatican and dealings with pedophiles has been far superior. But he's also buried himself in a state of "retrenchment, resentment, and self-pity." And more importantly, he's still not doing enough. He has been tough on pedophiles since he became pope, he has not properly sanctioned any bishop.

To me, Douthat's article is right on. It may be cute for the Vatican to be willfully wrong on doctrinal issues, but claim no fault in the Church's handling of sexual abuse is crazy (see again Fr. Marcial). I wait in great interest to see if Benedict can be the pope I hope him to be.

A Faithful Catholic

Papal Drama Continues...

2010-03-29T12:42:00.007-05:00

As reported in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on Friday, 26 March 2010 (from the NY Times), Pope Benedict had memos sent to him concerning the pedophile, Fr. Peter Hullermann. This priest was supposed to be sent to treatment for his pedophilia in 1980, which he was. But he was also returned to active ministry within days of beginning treatment - obviously not enough time to be "cured" even in the pre-1985 world where many thought pedophilia could be cured.

According to Rev. Lorenz Wolf, judicial vicar at the Munich Archdiocese, many memos are never read by the archbishop of Munich and this MIGHT have been one of them. Also, maybe Hullermann's name had come up in conversation with Ratzinger, but he could not remember with any certainty.

This all smells very bad to me. How could any bishop say that they were not aware that known-pedophiles were being reassigned when they were not supposed to be? What about the special relationship that is supposed to exist between the bishop and priest. It is supposed to be like a father-son relationship. I do not think I am alone in thinking that this father allowed his son to be a wolf among sheep.

A Faithful Catholic

Old Wine Skins Falling Apart...

2010-03-12T09:13:00.003-06:00

With the recent revelations of sexual abuse in Germany, which open the possibility of some responsibility being with the Pope's brother, and maybe even Benedict himself, it appears that clergy abuse of minors is not simply an "American problem." There are obviously mixed opinions at the Vatican regarding the situation. In the past week, http://whispersintheloggia.blogspot.com/ has documented Vatican responses that vary from "that was in the past, we have control of it" to "we need to examine the role of women in the decision-making processes of the Church."

When the sexual abuse crisis was at its height in America in 2001, some in America wanted John Paul II to take the stand here in America as he was our bishops's boss. Now, with the new revelations that make themselves known everyday in Germany, could the German government be in position to call in Benedict as a material witness regarding his time as Archbishop of Munich and Freising?

I know better than to be overly optimistic regarding quick changes in the Catholic Church, but this scandal epitomizes the problem that is present with the current state of power relationships in the Church. One wonders if the those such as Benedict and his brother hoped that they would be dead before these German revelations came to light. In any case, the next few months will be very interesting...

A Faithful Catholic

Pope trying to save souls by denying annulments

2010-02-24T14:30:00.003-06:00

On January 29th, Pope Benedict spoke to the members of the Roman Rota, the church panel with the highest authority in marriage law cases. Although I sympathize with some of his claims that the Church should attempt to aid couples in salvaging legitimate marriages, I think he goes too far in stating: "In the church, the aim of judicial activity is the salvation of souls." If a man or woman is in what the Church considers a legitimate marriage, falls in love with someone else, divorces their original spouse and marries the other person, am I too assume they are probably going to hell because they cannot get an annulment. Or worse yet, let's say that the Church allows the remarried person to receive communion, are they going to hell?

I can think of some extreme cases where I might say yes, but overall, I think not. Is divorce a grave evil that plagues are society... yes. Is preventing the remarried from receiving communion saving marriages and souls... no, not the last time I checked. This is an issue that the Vatican needs to seriously address with an eye for actually saving souls, by bringing people back to the Church.

A Faithful Catholic

The Church is NEVER Wrong... unless it is...

2010-02-17T12:20:00.006-06:00

Milwaukee Archbishop Listecki has been on the defense lately. A couple of weeks ago, Listecki was criticized by a police chief in his previous diocese for a having a sexual abuse policy that asks victims to first tell the diocese, instead of the police. The reason for this criticism resolves around a priest who is accused of assaulting a married woman during a counseling session. She first went to the diocese, which did nothing. Then she went to the police, who arrested the priest, who is now facing charges of sexual assault.

For the first week of this news, Listecki ignored it. No comment. Maybe he thought it would go away. Last week he sent out an e-mail to church workers defending his action, but was silent to the press. Yesterday, he finally defended his actions to press, stating that it was a case of "he said, she said" and no further action was needed. He also stated that in his previous diocese, all allegations against minors are reported to the police.

There is a lot wrong here. First, you should tell all victims to go straight to the police. And if they come to you, call the police. Even if you think the allegation is complete nonsense, call the police. Getting the picture... call the police. Not calling the police makes it look like you are not taking the allegations seriously. Scratch that, he did not take the allegation seriously. That is why he did nothing. He stated that he did nothing because since it was "he said, she said," who was he to play judge and jury. He forgot to mention that by doing nothing, he did play judge and jury! His doing nothing was a statement that the priest is probably innocent and he let this possible sex offender continue to serve the community.

There is something that Listecki could do to improve the situation. APOLOGIZE. Bishops are wrong sometimes. Do not be arrogant, because that is exactly how Listecki looks right now.

A Faithful Catholic

Moderation Now in Place

2010-02-03T08:14:00.002-06:00

FYI, I have changed my settings that I will view all the comments before they are published. I will still publish all comments that disagree with me, provided they are not overly offensive. The reason I am doing this is because I am getting a lot of spammers. Sorry for the inconvenience.

A Faithful Catholic (who hates spam)

Unrest at All Saints

2010-02-02T18:23:00.004-06:00

I often feel uncomfortable pointing out the specific failings of a specific parish or priest, but sometimes they make themselves a little too obvious. A current example of this would be the situation with Fr. Carl Diederichs at All Saints Catholic Church in Milwaukee. In their January 24, 2010 bulletin, there was an entire page dedicated to the Parish Council's problem with the Archdiocese's (and specifically Listecki's) decision not to renew Diederichs for a second term at All Saints. Priests in the Archdiocese normally serve a parish for two separate six year terms, but for a variety of reasons, the Archdiocese can chose not to renew the term. This page or "letter" is supposedly based on a unanimous vote by the Parish Council and the trustees to have Fr. Diederichs stay. Call me a cynic, but a unanimous vote seems rather unlikely. It is also telling that this "letter" ran the same Sunday as Archbishop Listecki's visit to their parish. That is BOLD, to say the least. It seems clear that Fr. Diederichs would like this information as public as possible.

I am often critical of the Archdiocese, but I think they are definitely making the right decision in not renewing Diederichs's second term. Diederich's has a good reputation as a priest committed to social justice, but he has also built a reputation as 1) a poor fiscal manager at a parish that recently had a huge renovation and needs better fiscal management, and as 2) someone who is not a team player and has created a lot of disgruntled parishioners. If this "letter" from the Parish Council was unanimous, it is likely that after being at the parish for over five years, individuals disagreeing with Diederichs no longer felt comfortable serving on Parish Council. This second paragraph is speculation based on some interviews on my part. Also, though the letter is (supposedly) from the Parish Council, it is only taking up a page in the bulletin with the pastor's permission.

A Faithful Catholic

Some Random Thoughts

2010-01-24T18:50:00.003-06:00

I have not felt like writing much lately. There is not too much big church news. But I feel that I should write something to stay in the habit. I am still very impressed by Benedict's Peace Day Message: If You Want to Cultivate Peace, Protect Creation. Benedict has taken the lead with filling out our Catholic Social Teaching by addressing the issue of sustainability. He has definitely earned his reputation as the Green Pope, especially in comparison to previous pontiffs. Protecting creation seems of particular importance at this time of the year in Milwaukee. It's raining, snow is melting, and one wonders if raw sewage is being pumped into Lake Michigan.

In any case, I hope to have a more interesting post in the near future.

A Faithful Catholic

Listecki's Legacy for Milwaukee

2010-01-07T15:22:00.004-06:00

Here is Milwaukee Archbishop Listecki's first homily text.

A few thoughts...

Listecki first defines a bishop as "the link between the particular church which is entrusted to him in hierarchical communion with the Universal Church." This is a distortion of Vatican II teaching and early Catholic thought (e.g. St. Augustine). As with our previous archbishop, Listecki sees himself, basically, as a papal representative. Although there is obviously a meaningful unity with the Church of Rome, Vatican II stressed the individual bishop, more in partnership with Rome and less as a link in a chain of command. This is another step backward for our Church and for our Archdiocese.

In his homily, church teaching was equated with papal teaching. This raises numerous questions about who is the Church and how can we be so certain that the Pope is always right? Vatican II wanted to engage the world: Listecki pauses before the great divide between the secular and the religious realm. The sexual abuse scandal and the numerous cover-ups should make clear that the religous realm is not as distinct from the secular realm as Listecki would like to think.

Lastly, he stated, "His Holiness, Benedict the XVI has made his selection and I accept his decision as God’s will." Equating the Pope's decision with God's will without any good reason is a scary proposition. Listecki, himself, states that there are many others more qualified to be archbishop of Milwaukee. Was it God's will that Benard Law go to Boston? Or for you conservatives, Was it God's will that Weakland spend over two decades in Milwaukee?

I will try my hardest to give Listecki a chance, but arrogance is a terrible thing. I do not usually get along with people that KNOW God's will.

A Faithful Catholic

Bishops, Profit, and Land Speculation

2009-12-27T21:05:00.002-06:00

A week ago, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel published an article, informing their readers about the incoming Milwaukee Archbishop Jerome Listecki's land dealings with a friend who had defrauded the Archdiocese of Chicago while Listecki was a priest in Chicago. The article seemed more concerned about his relationship with the thief, who Listecki believes was wrongly accused. My greater concern as a Catholic reading the article was why a Chicago priest and now bishop is involved in land speculation. It is this sort of land speculation that is partly responsible for the current economic crisis.

In addition, a priest is taken care of for life with a suitable salary, health care, and all the rest. Why is a priest involved in this activity? The article also mentioned that Portland Archbishop John Vlazny was involved with Listecki in land speculation. Why are bishops involved in land speculation? They are even better taken care of than priests... just ask Cardinal Law. The other half of the equation... if we assume that priests do not make enough to support themselves, why are they still involved with these economic dealings after they become bishops, as the article indicates is the case?

This whole scenario also begs the question, can the bishops involved in such dealings be moral authorities for the economic sphere? How many more bishops are involved in this type of activity that we are not aware of because no fraud was involved. I find these dealings very troubling and do not think that bishops should be involved in profiteering.

A Faithful Catholic

Pope, Sustainability, Peace

2009-12-16T08:18:00.003-06:00

I probably neglect sustainability (or environmental issues) too often on this blog. Thankfully, Pope Benedict seems to be keeping up with the issue. His peace day message for January 1st was released to the press yesterday. His theme this year is the environment and our proper stewardship of it, which has been greatly lacking. As Catholics, we are told that we cannot sit idly by and pretend that issues of climate change, desertification, erosion of farming lands, pollution of rivers and drinking water, loss of biodiversity, and deforestation are not our responsibility. As Church, we have a responsibility to protect the environment because it is God's gift to us that needs to also sustain future generations.

The name of this document is: "If you want to cultivate peace, protect creation." Here is a link to it. It also has great terms like "intergenerational solidarity." It is really a wonderful document that stresses the special relationship between God, humanity, and the rest of God's creation. He states that the current neglect of this relationship is leading to a loss of human dignity with such things as environmental refugees and will lead to future violent conflicts if we do not change our current practices.

Good job Benedict. We need this document right now.

A Faithful Catholic

Young Catholics that Still Care about Being Catholic...

2009-12-02T22:37:00.005-06:00

I was very surprised tonight to see a segment on Channel 6 news about a group of young Catholics, aptly naming themselves, Young Catholics for Choice, announcing that they had partnered with Wisconsin based Family Planning Health Services to make commercials stating their belief that they can be Catholic and use Emergency Contraception.

These commercials will start airing in the Milwaukee area any day. Fox 6 even had an interview with soon-to-be Milwaukee Archbishop Listecki, who stated the incompatibility of abortion with Catholic thought. He did not mention the views of Augustine and Aquinas about the soul not entering the embryo until weeks after conception. Although aborting the fetus immediately after conception was not viewed as a positive, it was not viewed as murder.

It will be interesting to see these commercials. It is also great to know that young Catholics that disagree with the Church's teaching on birth control and abortion are not simply leaving the Church or giving up religion. They are obviously passionate about their faith. I'm very proud to call these young people fellow Catholics.

A Faithful Catholic

Christ the King

2009-11-25T18:25:00.004-06:00

Who is our King? It seems that all to often in the Catholic Church we point to the Pope or the Magisterium or a bishop or priest or nun. Our king is Jesus the Christ. Within many Protestant churches they will place kingship in the Bible, as do some Catholics. But our king is Jesus the Christ.

When we pray, we should be fostering our relationship with the Christ. When we attempt to live lives dedicated justice and peace in the world, in our country, in our city, in our home, and in our Church, we should be fostering our relationship with the Christ. Although it is an added bonus if we foster relationships with Pope, bishop, priest, friend, enemy, children, family, etc., what is most important is the Christ.

He is the pearl of great price and the treasure for which we will sell all we have to acquire him. I would hope that all reading this blog could agree on this point. If we cannot agree on this, then there are more problems within the body of Christ than I previously thought.

Let us praise our King as we prepare for his coming!!!

A Faithful Catholic

Initial Thoughts about Milwaukee Archbishop "Elect"

2009-11-17T09:04:00.004-06:00

On Saturday morning the news was spreading: Bishop Listecki of La Crosse will be the future archbishop of Milwaukee - news conference at 10:00am. I watched to see what our future archbishop would say. He did not surprise me, much. Although I can appreciate someone who is Church-centered and Christ-centered (shouldn't we all be), it makes all the difference in the world how one interprets those terms.

Listecki constantly referred to the Church during his press conference. It was clear from the context that in almost every instance, Church = hierarchy. Not very good Vatican II theology. As to how his Christ-centered talk will come to fruition in his policies will be interesting. We did see an example of how papal infallibility can be misused. Listecki, multiple times, equated the Pope choosing him for Milwaukee with the movement of the Holy Spirit. When people think they have the Holy Spirit on their side, they think anything they do is Holy Spirit-inspired. In other words, they have a mandate to do what they want. Hopefully, I am wrong in this assessment, but I am nonetheless uncomfortable with that language.

Listecki's comments on politics were interesting. He basically stated that his involvement in politics was an involvement in our political system. Real lawyer talk, which makes sense because he is a lawyer. He did not state that his past political (abortion) comments were an attempt to address a society of death. It will be interesting to see how that plays out. I'm intrigued.

A Faithful Catholic

Random Thoughts...

2009-11-09T09:01:00.003-06:00

Still waiting for a new archbishop for Milwaukee. Things seem at a standstill at the moment. Understandably, Bishop Callahan does not want to make major decisions that could be overturned if he is not the next archbishop. Yet the number of priests is decreasing and the number of parishes in financial trouble is increasing. The reason for the latter being mostly the current economic crisis, but not in all cases.

Although abortion is obviously an important issue, the vocal U.S. bishops seem more concerned with abortion than health care for all Americans. They seem to forget that a lack of the latter also causes death among adults, infants, and fetuses. The United States has the highest infant mortality rate among First World nations. We're number 37 among nations of the world.

Nevertheless, for the most part, our churches continue week after week. The body of Christ distributed and the Scriptures are proclaimed. It seems that if the laity want something magnificent established, they will need to turn to themselves and take seriously the body and word that has been given to them.

A Faithful Catholic

The Anglican Catholic Church

2009-10-28T12:39:00.004-05:00

Last week, it was announced that there will be newly created ecclesiastical structures for those Anglicans wishing to come into communion with the Catholic Church. This is great news and sad news. It's great in that I have always been very supportive of allowing greater diversity in the Church. Although the details of these new structures are forthcoming, it seems that Anglican ways of prayer may be preserved in their "Catholic" liturgy, much like it is allowed in the Eastern Catholic Churches.

This is also sad news, because this is another example of posturing to a conservative group of Christians by the Vatican to make them feel more welcome, while the Vatican is incalcitrant to liberals who would like greater diversity in Church liturgy.

This announcement will also create a new dynamic locally between Catholics and Episcopalians and possibly a small exodus of Catholic priests. The Archdiocese of Milwaukee and the Episcopal diocese of Milwaukee have traditionally agreed not to accept each other's priests, meaning that priests who wish to switch denominations would need to relocate and to travel to a different diocese. With this document, all bets are off, so to speak.

A Faithful Catholic

Double Standard at Notre Dame

2009-10-19T09:09:00.003-05:00

Doesn't it seem odd to anyone that no one batted an eye when Cardinal Mahony spoke at Notre Dame last month? If one takes Cardinal Law out of the picture, Mahony was one of the premiere bishops in moving child molesters under the radar. He even moved a molester-priest to another parish in another county after he promised the police that the priest would be moved to a monestary in a deal to avoid sexual assault charges against the priest (See 2006 documentary "Deliver Us From Evil"). Although Obama may be pro-choice and as president will have the opportunity to perform plenty of evil acts, his rap sheet at this time is pretty small compared to Mahony.

I do realize that it was a minority of bishops that did not want Obama at Notre Dame and that Mahony was not among that minority, but why weren't these same bishops protesting Mahony speaking at Notre Dame? This is clearly a double standard. The only issue that matters to these bishops is abortion, not child abuse, the economy, the war, etc.

In truth, I really do not have a problem with any public figure speaking at any university. I like to think it can promote thought and ideas, and even disagreement. Nevertheless, Mahony shouldn't even be an active bishop right now and should perhaps be in prison. He's a criminal.

A Faithful Catholic

Catholic Bishops Want Polygamous Women to be Able to Recieve Sacraments in the Church

2009-10-12T09:30:00.006-05:00

Basic Catholic doctrine is that marriage is between one man and one woman, right? Well, even if that is the case, Archbishop Matthew Kwasi Gyamfi of Sunyani in Ghana recently told an African Synod of bishops meeting at the Vatican that special provisions should be made for women wanting to join the Church who are already in a polygamous marriage. To ask these women to get a divorce, especially when children are involved is unconscionable. Not only do they risk not being able to see their children, but they lose their financial and social stability. In the process, the Catholic Church receives the name of home wrecker.

According to Gyamfi, there are many women in this situation that see a beauty in Catholicism and would like to join the Church. Unfortunately, because of their situation, they are denied the sacraments of baptism, confirmation, Eucharist, and reconciliation. Often these women will attend Mass regularly and help out around the parish, but are denied the sacramental life of the Church. It is too bad that at this moment the Church cannot reach out sacramentally to these women. Bringing these women into the fold could be a means of bringing Catholic faith and values into their families. The long term effects of being pastorally compassionate to these women could have a large impact in their communities

A Faithful Catholic

All Saints Day

2009-10-06T18:19:00.003-05:00

All Saints' Day is on the horizon. It really is a wonderful day that is underutilized by most congregations. There are so many great saints in our wonderful Church. Unfortunately, our saint calendar is primarily focused on European saints. Although there is nothing wrong with European saints, our church is so much more than that. There is wonderful diversity in our Church that Americans and European Catholics often are ignorant of or purposely ignore. Just from a pure numbers standpoint that seems odd when we consider that 60% of Catholics today live in the "Third World." There are saints to our south in Juan Diego and Martin de Porres. There are the Ugandan martyrs from the 19th century in Africa. There is St. Paul Miki of Japan. Each of these countries and areas of the world also have particular Catholic prayer styles that differ from our region of the world, but from which we could benefit greatly. If the early Church did not later accept some German inculturation, we would have neither the Christmas tree nor the Advent wreath. I cannot imagine a Catholic Church in Advent without an Advent wreath.

We are not done growing as a Church and All Saints' Day is the perfect opporntunity to learn more about Catholic piety in other parts of the world. If only our churches took All Saints' Day as seriously as Advent & Christmas.

A Faithful Catholic

Eucharist Needed in Times of Crisis

2009-09-28T08:24:00.004-05:00

Some of the laity in Cleveland have organized because their bishop plans on closing or merging 50 parishes. The laity state that some of these parishes are vibrant and financially self-sufficient. What reason could exist for closing all those parishes except the priest shortage. Bishop Lennon, celebrating the last Mass at one of these parishes a few weeks ago had a police escort.

In Spain, a study by a newspaper there has determined that 20% of the country's priests are married or laicized. Many conservatives still contend that a married clergy (or women priests) would not solve the priest shortage problem. They say: Look at Protestant churches... This has got to be one of the few issues that conservatives think that we can learn something from Protestants. Although a married and female clergy may not "solve" the entire problem, it would help dramatically. In addition, for vibrant and financially stable parishes that still do not have a priest, a lay person should be appointed by the bishop to be able to celebrate Mass as an extraordinary celebrant until a priest is available. In emergency situations, we already allow lay persons to perform baptism, anointing of the sick, and reconciliation. Is not the closing or merging of 50 parishes an emergency? I'm pretty sure if you ask the parishes involved they will see it as an emergency. I also believe that sooner or later, what's happening in Cleveland will be happening here in Milwaukee.

A Faithful Catholic

Benedict Puts Male Celibate "Priesthood" ahead of Eucharist

2009-09-21T09:08:00.004-05:00

What is the most important sacrament in the Catholic Church? Benedict would seem to say "Ordination." Benedict met with the bishops from the poor and northeastern area of Brazil, which suffers horrifically from a priest shortage. He told them to hold fast in preventing the line between the laity and priesthood from being blurred. In many of the remote areas of Brazil, lay people have been trained to lead discussions of faith and scripture. The people of these areas are lucky if they see a priest every six weeks. As such, some of these communities also celebrate eucharist together. Benedict does not state this, but his reminder that the priest "is essential and irreplaceable in announcing the word and celebrating the sacraments" makes clear his two concerns. Perhaps this blurring would not be the case if the reins on ordination were not so restricted. And although I respect the amount of education that is normally required for priests, exceptions should be made in rural areas where people do not have academic training so that eucharist, reconciliation, anointing of the sick, and other "priestly" minstries can be readily available. In the mean time, how can we expect Catholics to go six weeks to six months at a time without Eucharist? Would we simply accept this situation of "no eucharist" in a place like Milwaukee? I do not think so.

A Faithful Catholic

The Second Coming...

2009-09-14T19:46:00.003-05:00

As a kid, I really thought that I would be around for the second coming of Christ. I took that teaching from Scripture very literally. While I would not rule out the second coming - I don't think it is meant to happen literally in this world. We are only meant to experience glances and tastes of the coming kingdom in this world. I think that the kingdom is only fully realized for each one of us after we die.

Following this train of thought to it natural conclusion, I do not buy into the communal resurrection of the dead at the end time either. If a communal resurrection does exist, we as Catholics have circumvented it anyway. How can we pray to the saints if they have not been resurrected yet... oh yeah, there is no time with God. Using that logic, Mother Theresa could have prayed to herself while she was still alive. It seems more likely to me that we simply go to heaven, hell, or purgatory immediately following our deaths. I am not going to bothering defining those realities in this short entry, because that is beyond anyone's competence.

A Faithful Catholic

Right to Unionize Often Denied by Conservatives

2009-09-07T09:51:00.004-05:00

While all labor should be honored on Labor Day, unionized labor is particularly remembered. So many of the rights taken for granted by workers in the United States are thanks to labor - the 40 hour work week, child labor laws, higher wages, job security, etc.

Many conservatives in the Church whom I have talked to try to state that workers do not have a right to unionize. If they are a bit more educated, they will point out that Rerum Novarum in 1891 only supported "Catholic" worker associations. Although that is correct (Leo was averse to Communist controlled-unions), later popes and Vatican II saw there implicit support for labor unions in their modern form and explicitly stated so:

Mater et Magistra 22 ( by John XXIII): Pope Leo XIII also defended the worker's natural right to enter into association with his fellows. Such associations may consist either of workers alone or of workers and employers, and should be structured in a way best calculated to safeguard the workers' legitimate professional interest. And it is the natural right of the workers to work without hindrance, freely, and on their own initiative within these associations for the achievement of these ends.

Gaudium et Spes 68 (Vatican II document): Among the basic rights of the human person is to be numbered the right of freely founding unions for working people.

Laborem Exercens 20 (by John Paul II): All these rights, together with the need for the workers themselves to secure them, give rise to yet another right: the right of association, that is to form associations for the purpose of defending the vital interests of those employed in the various professions. These associations are called labour or trade unions.

Centesimus Annus 7 (by John Paul II): This means above all the right to establish professional associations of employers and workers, or of workers alone. Here we find the reason for the Church's defence and approval of the establishment of what are commonly called trade unions

With such a wealth of sources (and there are more) supporting unions as a basic and natural right, it is hard to beleive how any Catholic could deny that this is official Catholic teaching. Normally, when I meet a conservative Catholic of this persuasion, I do not have these references with me. Hopefully, this short reference list that I have compiled will be helpful in illustrating without a doubt the Catholic Church's support for unions.

A Faithful Catholic

Bishop Joseph F. Martino "Resigns"

2009-08-31T15:33:00.004-05:00

Video of Bishop Joseph Martino's resignation, now former bishop of Scranton, from this morning's press conference can be found here. This morning, Bishop Martino announced that his resignation, that he had sent in June, had been accepted by Pope Benedict. Martino is only 63 years old. He states that it was his decision to resign because of insomnia and other health problems caused by the stress of being bishop of Scranton.

Martino is known nationally for his uncompromising and bombastic pro-life attitude. Reportedly, this bombastic style of his extended beyond abortion issues to the reorganization he was enacting in his diocese to deal with fewer practicing Catholics and changing demographics (proving that a conservative bishop is not synonymous with greater church participation). In the last few years we have also seen two bishops moved when controversy would not desist: Cardinal Law of Boston was "promoted" to a Roman post and Bishop Burke of St. Louis was "promoted" to a Vatican post. While it is very possible that Martino's resignation is for the reasons stated, it is not beyond any realm of possibility that he was pressured to resign after having lost the support of many Catholics and priests in his own diocese. As can be also seen in St. Louis and Boston, once the bishop lost the support of his priests, he was moved.

In any case, it is all very interesting and I am sure that speculation will continue for a long time.

A Faithful Catholic

Lutherans One Step Ahead of Us...

2009-08-24T08:15:00.003-05:00

This past week, the national assembly of the 4.7 million-member Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, meeting in Minneapolis, gave local congregations the authority to choose pastors or lay leaders who are in "lifelong, monogamous, same-gender relationships."

Just as the Anglican Church was ahead of us on the issue of contraception in stating that it was permissible in 1931, so also the largest Lutheran denomination is ahead of us on the gay and lesbian issue. Though for them the issue resolves around scriptural interpretation instead of an interpretation of the natural law as it does for Catholics, it is still a monumental achievement (I will add an entry on the natural law in the near future, but it is safe to say that Catholic teaching does not rely heavily on biblical support on this issue and most citations of scripture are an afterthought) .

I do sincerely believe that we will one day, as a Church, reach the same conclusion as our Anglican and Lutheran brothers and sisters. It just takes us a little bit longer on some issues, particularly issues regarding sexuality. While I could be embarrassed that the Lutherans "beat us to it," I choose to be happy that they are pointing the way for us. When the Catholic Church finally corrects its imperfect teaching on this issue, the change will be easier.

A Faithful Catholic

Inappropriate Use of Church Funds in Burlington Parish

2009-08-18T07:32:00.004-05:00

As reported in the Racine Journal Times, Fr. Jeff Thielen, has resigned from St. Mary's Immaculate Conception Parish in Burlington, WI. He had been there since 2004 and at this time they estimate that he misspent $75,000: some of that he used to overcompensate himself and $58,000 was used in purchasing gift cards to thank people. In the wake of this scandal, the trustees and the business manager resigned, though they are expected of no wrong-doing.

It seems odd that this appears in the news so shortly after just talking about this issue on the blog. Julie Wolf, the archdiocesan spokewoman, also made a very interesting comment. "Sometimes the parishioners - and even staff - are deferential to the pastor out of respect. Not that (they) shouldn't question the pastor, but it makes it difficult for them to do so."

We are supposed to celebrate "The Year of the Priest," but in one sense this only reinforces a stereotype that parishioners should always defer to the priest. Trustees need to realize that they are on the board of directors of their parish according to how each parish is organized in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee. They need to take that responsibility more seriously. Trustees are an already built in defense to try and protect the financial integrity of a parish.

A Faithful Catholic

Medjugorje Priest Laicized...

2009-08-10T09:38:00.006-05:00

Father Tomislav Vlasic, a Franciscan priest who served as the spiritual adviser to the Marian visionaries in Medjugorje, Bosnia-Herzegovina, has been laicized by Benedict XVI. He has fathered a child (not always a bad thing), but he is also suspected of heresy, schism, "the diffusion of dubious doctrine, manipulation of consciences, suspected mysticism, disobedience towards legitimately issued orders." That's quite a list and all the charges were made "in the context of the Medjugorje phenomenon." While this request for laicization was made by Vlasic himself, it appears to have gone through rather speedily.

This is another chapter in a sad story of the suspect Medjugorje "apparitions." The bishop of the Medjugorje area at the time of the original apparitions has stated his belief that Vlasic made up the whole thing. I'm not aware of so much turmoil and charges of possible heresy regarding any other sighting so long after the original sighting, but anyone can feel free to fill me in.

This does raise questions about why local priests (i.e. Michael Lightner & Rick Wendell) continue to bring groups of pilgrims there. While they are not breaking any Vatican rules, the Vatican has made clear that no diocese or church can officially sponsor a pilgrimage there. And for two priests who are supposedly so orthodox, I do not understand their desire for spreading the "messages" of Medjugorie. If anyone reading this has made a pilgrimage there, I would appreciate your insight.

A Faithful Catholic

Waiting on Church Audits...

2009-08-03T08:24:00.003-05:00

Janet E. Pachmayer, the former bookkeeper at St. Anthony Catholic Church in Menomonee Falls, WI, was convicted of three misdemeanor theft charges last week and faces about two years in prison. She stated previously that she stole roughly $134,000 over the past few years by overstating the utility bills by a few hundred dollars and pocketing the difference. This raises some major questions of basic accounting procedure. When the pastor and a trustee at the parish signed checks, didn't they look at the amount on the check and the amount on the bill or did they not even have the bill with the check? This person was obviously given too much control of the parish finances. A basic audit would probably have uncovered the overstating of the utility bills because it is such a large portion of a parish's budget, and a basic audit would have also corrected the procedure for the signing and mailing of checks.

About one year ago, former Milwaukee Archbishop Dolan stated that church audits would be around the corner. So far... no news. The rumor is that this is because of the prohibitive cost. Nevertheless, something needs to be done to bring pastors and office persons and trustees up to snuff on basic auditing procedures. It would save us from many future headaches.

A Faithful Catholic

Caritas in Veritate - Love in Truth

2009-07-27T08:47:00.004-05:00

I found the Pope's new encyclical on the "social doctrine" of the Catholic Church to be pretty good. He hits most of the big economic issues. There is an ever-present reminder that profit cannot be the primary or exclusive motive for businesses. Greater care needs to be taken that intellectual property and health care are not only for rich countries (e.g. withholding HIV-AIDS medicine from the African continent).

I do think he is wrong about concluding that the economic crisis could have been largely avoided if the birth rate had not dropped significantly in 1st world countries. Though the birth rate has decreased in the U.S., immigration (legal and illegal) has made up for it.

Benedict also stresses that reason needs faith and faith needs reason. This along, with the need for "wealth redistribution" is almost a mantra within this encyclical. He even refers to the need for redistribution on a global scale (42). Societies like the U.S. are also called to lower their energy consumption. We must be aware our climate and not squander our natural resources on projects such as war.

Those are the areas that particularly hit me as cutting edge.

A Faithful Catholic

Dan Maguire Statement about ROTC

2009-07-20T08:38:00.003-05:00

Daniel Maguire, a Catholic moral theologian at Marquette University

recently released a statement concerning Marquette's Reserve
Officer Training Corp. Program (ROTC).  As the local Catholic
press will probably choose not to cover it.  I will repeat
his statement here:

Marquette University Peace Action: Marquette’s Lonely Prophets

Statement of Daniel Maguire, Professor of Moral Theology

Marquette University Peace Action (MUPA) has been a lonely
witness to the peace-making tradition that began in the
Hebrew scriptures and continued in the Christian scriptures
and early Christian communities. Their critique has centered
on Marquette’s being a center of ROTC training for 14 local
colleges. MUPA accepts the unfortunate fact that ROTC is
here. The military are firmly embedded at Marquette, and
money is a major factor in their being here. The university
and the ROTC students get financial support. MUPA recognizes
realistically that ROTC will not be easily dislodged because
of that. In my almost 40 years at Marquette, I have told ROTC
students: “Take the money from the military but don’t give
them your soul.” Of course, it is their souls and minds that
the military are targeting, and that is precisely the
educational issue that MUPA has been heroically engaging.

MUPA quotes The Army Field Manual:”Your personal values may
and probably do extend beyond the Army values, to include
such things as political, cultural, or religious beliefs.
However, if you’re to be an Army leader and a person of
integrity, these values must reinforces not contradict,
Army values.”

Give the Army credit for candor. That could not be clearer.
Religious values are trumped by Army values and valuations.
That is a bold challenge to this religiously grounded
university. Why has the university mounted no curricular
response? That is the question that MUPA has been
insistently pressing, like a voice crying in the wilderness.

Pope John Paul II spoke for fundamental religious values
when he said: “We can enrich our common heritage with a
very simple discovery that is within our reach, namely that
war is the most barbarous and least effective way of
resolving conflicts.”

Pope John XXIII said that “it no longer makes sense to
maintain that war is a fit instrument with which to repair
the violation of justice.”

Archbishop Desmond Tutu says: “In the wars of the 1990′s,
civilian deaths constituted between 75 and 90 percent of
all war deaths…Some two million children have died in
dozens of wars during the past decade….This is more than
three times the number of battlefield deaths of American
soldiers in all their wars since 1776.”

War is, by definition, state sponsored violence and it is
more brutal than it ever was in history. It is so horrible
that after Second World War the nations of the world
decided it could only be used as a police action,
collectively, in response to an attack, coordinated by the
United Nations.

Professor Richard Falk writes: “World War II ended with
the historic understanding that recourse to war between
states could no longer be treated as a matter of national
discretion, but must be regulated to the extent possible
through rules administered by international institutions.
The basic legal framework was embodied in the UN Charter,
a multilateral treaty largely crafted by American diplomats
and legal advisers. Its essential feature was to entrust
the Security Council with administering a prohibition of
recourse to international force (Article 2, Section 4)
by states except in circumstances of self-defense, which
itself was restricted to responses to a prior ‘armed
attack’ (Article 51), and only then until the Security
Council had the chance to review the claim”


THE SOLUTION AT MARQUETTE

ROTC is teaching our students a different gospel. ROTC
dissents from the popes by teaching that war is” a fit
instrument with which to repair the violation of justice.”
It teaches that war is not the “least effective way of
resolving conflicts.” In fact it is preparing our
students to participate in the three wars now ongoing—not
one of which was declared according to Article One Section
8 of our Constitution---wars against Iraq, Afghanistan,
and Pakistan, with threats of war in the air against Iran.
None of those wars meet the six criteria of “the Catholic
Just War Theory.” Not one of them meet those criteria.
None of the, in other words, satisfy Catholic teaching on
war-making. War that is not justified is collective murder
and our students are right now being trained to join in.

The challenge to Marquette is educational. The military
work on the assumption that war is a continuation of
national policy by different means. It works on the
assumption of the normalcy and inevitability of war. And
it is teaching our students that contrary to the teaching
of the two popes just mentioned, and contrary to the
biblical peace tradition, war is “a fit instrument with
which to repair the violation of justice.” It teaches
that “war is not the least effective way of resolving
conflicts.”

If ROTC were teaching the normalcy of abortion, Marquette
would respond with vigor. Why is war taken less seriously?
After all, war is abortifacient. Many of the hundreds of
thousands killed in the Iraq war were pregnant women and
we inflicted “shock and awe” on them and their fetuses.
Our students are being trained to do more of the same.

Solution: every ROTC student at Marquette should be
required to take two courses in the peace-making
traditions of the world religions, especially Judaism and
Christianity, with special training in the Catholic just
war theory. They should also be taught the obligations the
United States assumed by treaty to observe the United
Nations restraints on vigilante war, something we are not
now doing.

MUPA is no more radical than the popes. They are prophets
calling attention to Marquette’s failure to live up to its
avowed moral and religious commitments. They are not
calling for the ouster of ROTC. They are not trying to
take away ROTC money from Marquette or from Marquette
students. They are defending religious values and saying
those sacred values should not be trumped by military
values as the army insists. They are taking values they
were taught in their schools and churches and begging us
to live by them. To the shame of all of us, they have
been ignored for too long.

Bishops are to be loving shepherds...

2009-07-05T22:09:00.004-05:00

The pope recently spoke these words to newly installed archbishops visiting Rome. Although these are good words in and of themselves, maybe the situation of Archbishop Jose Cardoso Sobrinho is in the background. Sobrinho was the archbishop of Recife and Olinda Brazil. He was sent there in 1979 to replace Dom Helder Camara and his witness of loving compassion as well as his support of liberation theology.

Sobrinho has been in the news because he publically reminded a 9 year old, who had been repeatedly rapedy by her step-father for years, that the abortion she had meant that she was excommunicated per canon law. There was an uproar in Brazil for Sobrinho's callous response to the situation and even Archbishop Rino Fisichella, the head of the Pontifical Acadamy for Life stated that the church's first reaction should have been to minister to the girl.

Pope Benedict offically accepted Sobrinho's resignation on July 1st. Sobrinho is now 76. His resignation could have been accepted a year ago, when he turned 75. Bishops who are in the pope's favor often do not have their resignation accepted for years after turning 75. I'm guessing that Sobrinho's conduct did not please the pope. It is also a reminder that perhaps Archbishop Burke, formerly of St. Louis was really demoted when he received his Vatican post. I view this all as good news: callous bishops that were popular with JPII are perhaps not popular with Benedict.

A Faithful Catholic

Married Priests too Liberal?

2009-06-29T12:51:00.004-05:00

Rent a Priest (http://rentapriest.blogspot.com/) has had quite a few good articles recently on married clergy and priests with families in African countries. They are worth checking out. It seems that in many parts of Africa, priests knowingly have families and as long as they are not too open about it, it is accepted. The most recent posting cites a priest who left the Catholic Church to openly marry his girlfriend/nun, because he felt it was dishonest not to be open about it.

Weakland also addressed the issue of a married clergy regularly in his book. So why does the Roman Catholic rite persist in not having a married clergy (with very few exceptions)? Only two reasons come to my mind. Sex and liberalism. At least with former clergy that I have met that are married, most seem to have a more liberal bend. While allowing married priests would not guarantee a more liberal clergy, I think it is a fear. There is also a persistant fear of sexual issues from the Vatican and I do not think that bishops want priests having sex. How would it look if your parish priests was using condoms? The few priests that are allowed to be married are converts from other denominations. In most cases, they are coming to the Catholic Church because they want to be a part of a more conservative church. Hence, the current married clergy are often more conservative.

And although I know that a married clergy has not solved the clergy shortage in other denominations, as conservative Catholics like to remind us, Catholics are different. Maybe it would work for us. It couldn't hurt, could it?

A Faithful Catholic

A Brief Summary of "A Pilgrim in a Pilgrim Church: Memoirs of a Catholic Archbishop"...

2009-06-24T17:34:00.005-05:00

The book begins with a prologue devoted to the public revelation of his relationship with Paul Marcoux in 2002. Chapter 1 he devotes to his family heritage and early childhood. Chapter 2 covers his years in Latrobe, Penn. at St. Vincent Abbey as he went through high school and began college. Chapter 3 covers his education in Rome, the taking of his final vows, and his ordination. Chapter 4 is devoted to his years at Julliard and Columbia University and his first parish assignments. Chapter 5: his years as a priest at St. Vincent. Chapter 6: He is elected abbot of St. Vincent after the current abbot is seen as too harsh and uncompromising. Chapters 7-10 cover his years as Abbot Primate of the Benedictine Order in Rome beginning at the age of 40. Weakland was involved in liturgical reform and protecting his Order from some in the curia who want to create uniformity in a culturaly diverse Order with various forms of ministry. He also travelled A LOT. He tried to bring male and female Benedictine communities up-to-date. Especially with many female communities, he pushed for education in scripture and doctrine. Pope Paul would aid his effort in this when curia members tried to stop him. It was soon understood that Paul would always lend an ear to Weakland. Weakland points out that Paul always attempted to keep the peace between the traditionalists and progressives by appointing both groups within the curia and as bishops and cardinals.

Chapters 11-15: In 1977, Paul VI asks Weakland to go to Milwaukee. Weakland decides to follow the pope's wishes, partly because he is led to understand that being a bishop doesn't mean he needs to always keep his mouth shut. While rumors abound, it seems false to conclude that Paul was trying to get rid of Weakland. With the election of John Paul II in 1978, Weakland comes to understand keeping opinions to oneself is the preference of JPII. Weakland devotes time to the Economic pastoral, which he chaired and is obviously proud of (for good reason), and his numerous confrontations with curia officials. Their problem is not so much with his doctrine as it is with his attitude; they want his attitude to be one of total permissiveness to the papacy; there is no room for disagreement or dialogue. Weakland also spends a lot of time on the idea of collegiality among bishops from Vatican II that JPII has basically destroyed single-handedly (he carefully explains how JP II did this). JPII has basically made all bishops representives for the pope and prevented national bishops conferences from publishing pastoral letters without aggressive meddling from Rome.

He spends about 40 pages on the sexual-abuse scandal, but I wish he would have said more.

Weakland's Book is Fantastic... and sad.

2009-06-22T16:16:00.005-05:00

Rembert Weakland's A Pilgrim in a Pilgrim Church is a fantastic book. It is a must read for anyone who wants an understanding of the renewal that was called for at Vatican II regarding collegiality, liturgy, ecumenism, renewal in religious orders, etc. He seems to be very honest and accurate in his assessment of pluses and minuses of both Paul VI and John Paul II, obviously favoring Paul VI.

The work that Weakland has contributed to economic, liturgical, laity, women, and collegiality issues cannot be over-emphasized. In these issues, Weakland has left a tremendously positive mark.

His sections regarding John Paul II and JP's agenda of centralizaiton in the Chruch is very discouraging, but it is an accurate portrayal of our current Church. I am not sure how to read his writings on sexual abuse cases in Milwaukee. I do not feel competent enough to judge how valid his responses are. And for those who want to know about his "affair," he also seems to be very honest there. I could hear him still struggling with how to appropriately handle the situation after the fact.

While I wish Weakland could have been a stronger man when it came to his loneliness, I think this book is important in writing an honest history of our post-Vatican II Church.

A Faithful Catholic

The Year of the Priest...

2009-06-15T08:26:00.004-05:00

This Friday begins the Year for Priests, as announced by Pope Benedict. In one sense, I have no problem with trying to offer greater support for priests. There are so many good priests out there that suffer from alienation. But could part of this alienation be because some are forced down a path of celibacy that is too difficult for them. In addition, the decrease in priests since the 1950s now means that most priests live in their rectories alone, instead of with the two other priests that were serving at the parish. The second problem could be partially dealt with by allowing married priests and women priests or by more dioceses allowing their priests to live away from their parish. So although Benedict is asking us to support our priests, is he really doing his part to support priests to the fullest?

The other disturbing factor in all this is that I doubt we will be seeing a year for the laity in the near future. Most of the liturgical changes of late have been to remind the people that priests are special by making more specific rules to keep the laity out of the sanctuary during certain times and to make sure they are not too close to the priest. The sexual abuse scandal has not only hurt the image of the priesthood, but of all Catholics, meaning mostly the laity. We are seen as idiots for still being Catholic. So let me know when Benedict will be holding something to support the laity, but I think I might be waiting a while.

A Faithful Catholic

Sacraments still decreasing...

2009-06-08T09:30:00.004-05:00

According to the U.S. bishops news service, infant baptisms were down 16,000 this past year, adult baptisms and confirmations were down 12,000, first communions were down 1,300 and confirmations were down 8,500. At the same time, the Catholic population stayed at 22% of the US population and rose by 1,000,000 people. The number of seminarians rose slightly.

It seems odd to me that the number of seminarians is rising as the number of those receiving the sacraments diminishes. Although any number of interpretations could be formulated, this seems to speak of a divide between priests and laity. This could also speak of a growing divide between a more liberal laity that is not happy with a growing conservative clergy. It should be pointed out that liberal clergy are not being allowed to grow right now because of ideological Vatican crackdowns and the continued ban on married and women clergy.

If the liberal clergy were allowed to grow, it would be fascinating to see if the sacramental numbers would be starting to grow rather than decrease. Unfortunately, we will never know for sure.

A Faithful Catholic

Pentecost in Scripture

2009-06-01T08:16:00.004-05:00

I've always had a difficult time reconciling the two Pentecost stories found in the New Testament. The best-known is from Acts 2:1-4, where after Jesus spent 40 days on earth, he ascended to heaven and shortly after sent the Spirit. The second passage is John 20:19-23, in which Jesus appears to the disciples shortly after the resurrection and breaths the Holy Spirit on them.

The basic message is that Jesus sent the Spirit to be with the community after his crucifixion and resurrection. This variance in Scripture itself indicates that maybe the community at times confused these two persons of the Trinity. The same thing happens today. Most us of are christological Christians instead of trinitarian Christians. We find ourselves praying almost exclusively to Jesus, which is not wrong, but we often forget that Jesus sent the Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit that perfects our always imperfect prayers to God.

In relation to this issue, there are those who correctly point out the error of some Catholics of replacing the Holy Spirit with Mary. Although I am not against the cult of Mary, for some Catholics there is a sense that Mary perfects our prayers and brings them to God to the exclusion of the Holy Spirit.

A Faithful Catholic

A Priest Remembered for the Good Things

2009-05-25T08:45:00.003-05:00

So often in the news it seems that if you see a priest listed with his picture in a prominent part of the newspaper, he is being accused of something awful. In last week's Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, there was a prominent article regarding an Appleton, WI born priest who was slain in Guatemala - Larry Rosebaugh. 74 year old Rosebaugh was murdered in a supposed van-jacking as he was traveling on a highway with four other priests. He, a member of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate, was involved in the Milwaukee 14, a group of men who burned thousands of draft card files from the U.S. Selective Service offices in 1968 as an action against the Vietnam War. After serving 20 months in prison, Rosebaugh went on to serve as a missionary among the poor in countries such as Brazil and Guatemala. In any case, it is nice to see an article that lauds a priest for the good he has done in the world. There are, of course, many more good priests who stories never grace the pages of the local newspapers.

A Faithful Catholic

Church, State, and Adoption

2009-05-18T09:37:00.004-05:00

As reported recently on CatholicNews.com, six diocesan Catholic Charities expressed concern over upcoming changes to faith-based initiatives under the Obama administration and changes to states' rights for gays and lesbians that could allow them to adopt. They are now calling for conscience clauses to exempt them from actions they do not want to take. Although they have a right to voice their opinion, it seems that they have already sold their soul to the federal governement. In 2007, $9 million out of their $27 million budget, or 33% of their income came from federal grants.

I am of the opinion that they should not be discriminating against gay parents seeking to adopt, but in the end they need to make their own choice. If they really believe that something is morally wrong, they should risk losing the federal money and the legal right to run adoption agencies. That sort of action would show that they have integrity. As it is now, they want to receive $9 million a year and tell the government how they wish to spend it. Grants usually work the other way; when you take money from someone it usually has strings attached. I'd be a bit more sympathetic to their plight if they renounced the government aid.

A Faithful Catholic

Weakland Book to be Released

2009-05-11T11:37:00.004-05:00

Before the end of this month, former Milwaukee Archbishop Rembert Weakland's memoirs will be available for purchase: "A Pilgrim in a Pilgrim Church: Memoirs of a Catholic Archbishop." I am very excited to get a copy. Supposedly, he had been trying to get this book published for years, but most publishers turned him down because they wanted a greater focus on his sex scandal. While I am sure that that will be interesting to read, I am more interested in his take of the goings on at the Vatican during the 1960's, 70's, 80's, and 90's. The book is supposed to be pretty honest and specific when it comes to names - none of "a certain cardinal..." I think it will also be fascinating to see how he went from being in the Vatican's good graces as a friend of Paul VI, to the dog house as an "opponent" of John Paul II.

Weakland's one terribly bad decision has tarnished his career, but hopefully this book can provide some redemption and solace for those of us that fondly remember all the good that he has done for the Milwaukee Archdiocese.

A Faithful Catholic

Teaching Moment on Eucharist

2009-05-04T09:34:00.004-05:00

The Archdiocese of Milwaukee has stated that the swine flu problem should be used as a teaching moment on the nature of the eucharist...

When it comes to differences between Lutheran and Catholic doctrine, I almost always side with Catholic doctrine. The one exception is the understanding of the real presence in the eucharist. Catholic doctrine speaks of transubstantiation; there is a complete transformation of the bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ. The eucharist only has the accidentals of looking and tasting like bread and wine. Luther believed in sacramental union, in which the eucharist is still truly bread, but also truly Christ.

If we use Christ as the measure for this doctrine, he did not obliterate his humaness in becoming human. And even though in the eucharist, the divine and human natures of Christ are present, I do not see the need for obliterating the elements of bread and wine. It should be pointed out that Luther's view is not foreign to Catholic theology, it was taught by Dons Scotus in the Middle Ages as consubstantiation (the differences in the doctrines are slight). The Catholic doctrine on transbustantiation only became settled a issue in Catholic teaching as a response to the Protestant Reformation. If the Protestant Reformation had not occurred, who knows how our understanding of the real presence would have developed.

A Faithful Catholic

2nd Anniversary

2009-04-27T10:52:00.003-05:00

This week hails the second anniversary of this blog. I think I have accomplished most of what I have wanted on it. I have tried to give honest and coherent commentary on the issues facing the Catholic Church in Milwaukee and in the world. At times I have also addressed doctrinal issues, which is difficult to make interesting on a blog.

At this point I am anticipating Benedict's third encyclical, which is supposed to cover social issues and be released in June. This document was originally slated to be released at the end of last year, but has been constantly delayed. It is thought that the worsening world financial crisis has caused numerous revisions of the document. I will be intrigued to see if after the release of this document, the U.S. bishops begin to spend any serious ink on the financial crisis.

A Faithful Catholic

Breaking News!!!

2009-04-20T16:47:00.004-05:00

In breaking news, Milwaukee Auxiliary Bishop William Callahan has been elected by the archdiocesan College of Consultors to serve as the diocesan administrator of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee until a new Archbishop is installed.

St. Paul/Minneapolis - New Dark Chapter in Sexual Abuse

2009-04-20T09:33:00.002-05:00

According to the U.S. bishops news service, the Archdiocese of St. Paul & Minneapolis is withholding the names of those priests that have been accused of sexual abuse, but have never been charged civilly or criminally. The Archdiocese has stated that they want to be prudent and wait for a court ruling on the matter. Basically, they are not going to divulge the information unless they are forced to, just like many other dioceses across the country. The Archdiocese has currently moved for a protective order for the remaining names until the Second Judicial District Court has ruled on the admissibility of the information.

I can guarantee that if the judge rules that the information is admissible as evidence, they will not disclose it without a fight. And here we see another sad case of an diocese not doing what is right in the hopes of saving a few dollars. I do not like name calling... but these guys are a bunch of scumbags.

A Faithful Catholic

Easter 2009

2009-04-13T10:52:00.004-05:00

Happy Easter All!

New life and resurrection. But what is the resurrection? St. Paul states that with the resurrection, Jesus had a spiritual body and many of the disciples do not immediately recognize Christ in his resurrected body.

Hence, it is fair to say this is not a resuscitation of his old, dead, earthly body. And if his old body was missing, this points to a body that has been transformed by God, the Father (or Mother). This is a taste of the resurrection that we hope for. But at the same time, we know that it is completely different and almost unrecognizable from our present state.

With this is mind, it is probably foolhardy to imagine a heaven where we will walk around chatting with our old relatives and friends. With a beautiful understanding and manner, Benedict XVI, in his encyclical Spe Salvi, described heaven as "plunging into the ocean of infinite love, a moment in which time—the before and after—no longer exists."

In any case, Happy Easter, let us look joyfully towards the day where we will be born to eternal life.

A Faithful Catholic

Reiki No More! Reiki Never Again!

2009-04-06T09:14:00.003-05:00

Above, I replaced the word war with Reiki in JP II's phrase. It simply is sad that in this time of economic crisis, during this time of war and rocket launch testing, the US bishops are worried about Reiki. Reiki is a type of massage from Buddhist Japan that is supposed to heal a person by focusing the "universal life energy." Hence, they believe that Catholic institutions and its representatives (hopsitals & chaplins) should not practice Reiki.

They find this conept of the universal life energry problematic because they do not believe that it falls into the two acceptable healing methods: divine miracle or natural medicine. They make a good point in stating that at the moment there is no scientific evidence that Reiki heals people, but I think there may be another way to understand the universal life energy. According to Einstein, E=mc2. Everything is energy; it is the basic building block of all life. I am not saying that I support Reiki. I just think that the bishops are wasting their time.

Abortions are on the rise because of the economic crisis. Finance is also the primary reason for divorce in the United States. Maybe if the bishops had that data they might decide to address the issue of the economy.

A Faithful Catholic

Abortion is still Numero Uno

2009-03-30T08:31:00.003-05:00

Right before leaving office, President Bush implemented conscience protection provisions for healthcare providers who do not want to be involved in abortions. Now some bishops, like Cardinal George of Chicago, are rallying to keep them in place, with no mention of the fact that Bush obviously put them in place to make trouble for the Obama presidency. It's hard to believe Bush would have put these provisions in place if John McCain had been following him.

While Cardinal George compares it to the conscientious objection that Americans can make towards military service, that is not the case. It is similar to selective conscientious objection, which states that a person already in the military should be able to decide to fight only in just wars. While this is official Catholic teaching, the bishops are not pressing for this. A true comparision to regular conscientious objection would mean that people have the right not to enter the medical field.

In truth, I do not have a major problem with medical conscientious objection, I think it is basically a good thing. My concern is that the U.S. bishops have basically made the seemless garment cover fertility to birth and then skip to one's death bed. They have all this other teaching on economic rights, selective conscientious objection for military service, etc., but they have become a one issue religion. It's as if the U.S. bishops read John 3:16 as: "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that anyone against abortion who believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

A Faithful Catholic

Morlino fires Woman for Private Thoughts

2009-03-23T08:03:00.004-05:00

Ruth Kolpack, the pastoral associate of St. Thomas the Apostle Parish in Beloit, WI was fired recently by Robert Morlino, the bishop of Madison. There were allegations that she discussed the possibility of women's ordination and giving communion to non-Catholics. She denies that this was ever done in her role as a lay minister, but that she may privately hold views that dissent from Church teaching. Basically, she never publicly advocated for these positions.

The crux of the matter is that she was ultimately fired for refusing to denounce her master's thesis, which argued for inclusive language in the liturgy. Because of all the attention around this incident, Morlino will be meeting with her parishioners in April, where she has worked for 26 years.

Fr. Andrew Nelson, a Milwaukee priests and the former rector of St. Francis Seminary, where she graduated, found the situation very unfortunate because he knows that Kolpack is an extraordinary individual. He even went on record with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel saying, "This might be a sign of a certain antagonism toward lay women in ministry in the church, and I feel so bad about that."

In a certain sense, I think that is a sign that if Morlino were to come to Milwaukee as the new archbishop, the priests here will not be silent like the priests in Madison. Another odd issue here is that Morlino fired the woman and not the priest of the parish.

A Faithful Catholic

Signs of Lay Catholics Getting Sick of Status Quo

2009-03-16T15:54:00.004-05:00

In Connecticuit last week, a bill was killed in the state legislature's judiciary committee that would have revised the way in which a Roman Catholic parish is organized. The proposed provisions would effectively give control of parish finances over to the laity and allow the priest and bishop only an advisory role. Quite the reversal from the way things are now!

There are a number of issues here. One, this has been done before. In the 18th century it was common to prohibit bishops from control of parish property which lead to the necessity for parish trustees. A big problem with those laws and this proposed law is that it is only focussed on Catholics.

The other side of this is that in this situation it was a group of Catholics that wanted this legislation, not discriminating Protestants. I do not know if this group of Catholics actually thought that this bill would become law or if they were trying to send a message to the bishops of the United States. I think that that message is this: "Bishops and priests have too much control over church finances and we do not trust you. WE NEED FINANCIAL REFORM!" I think the bill, if passed into law, would have created a whole new set of problems, but I think the message is appropriate. And of course, financial reform is not possible without ecclesial reform.

Sex abuse, parish finances and misspending... Perhaps these crucifixions will lead us to a new Church.

A Faithful Catholic

Public Funding for Embryonic Stem Cell Research

2009-03-09T11:23:00.002-05:00

President Obama lifted the ban on public funding for embryonic stem cell research. The embryos used for this type of research are the "leftovers" embryos from the process of in vitro fertilization. The hierarchical magisterium already condemns the process of in vitro fertilization.

This entire process is a difficult situation filled with shades of sketchy morality and the dangers of human farming. In one sense, since the embryos are already there, I would lean towards making use of them towards research. These embryos will never be brought to term and be born (and the Vatican would view it as sinful to do so). On the other hand, there is the danger of mothers being paid to be embryo producers if there would be shortage of in vitro embryos and there should be legislation in place to prevent such embryos from being used.

Ideally, mothers would not opt for in vitro fertilization, but would adopt. Any one reading the newspapers these days can see that the foster care system is in shambles and there is a great need for parents to adopt. There is too much stress over having your own genetic children.

A Faithful Catholic

Dolan Reflections & The Next Archbishop

2009-03-02T09:44:00.003-06:00

What does Dolan going to NY mean? As Dolan is the first bishop from Milwaukee to be appointed to the Big Apple, it would seem to indicate that Benedict does not want a nasty, in your face character like Burke in the American spotlight. While Dolan is conservative and will toe the papal line, he'll do it with a smile. For those with a more intimate knowledge of the goings-on in the NY Archdiocese, I think their attitude will be reminiscent of Milwaukee - it could be a whole lot worse.

Oddly enough, Dolan as the outgoing bishop and bishop of NY will probably have a considerable say in who the next bishop in Milwaukee will be. This could bode very well for Milwaukee. It could be the difference between a friendly Bishop like Joseph Perry from Chicago and a nasty bishop like Robert Morlino from Madison, WI. I would look more to candidate like Perry to be placed here. I believe Dolan will want the next few years in Milwaukee to go smoothly to show that he did a good job in Milwaukee. Someone like Morlino could make the priests here fed up enough to make some national headlines. Dolan will not want that, because then his name would come up over and over again as his former bishop.

A Faithful Catholic

Dolan Going to NY

2009-02-23T09:53:00.004-06:00

Well, Dolan is going to NY. That is the good news AND the bad news, depending on who the new archbishop will be. Steve Avella in today's Journal Sentinel hit Dolan's theology right on the head. Weakland is a Vatican II bishop and Dolan is a John Paul II bishop. In my understanding, the former sees himself as having more autonomy and the latter is more as papal representative.

Dolan's accomplishments: He closed the seminary and did harm to the future of lay ecclesial ministry (bad). He worked significantly to balance the archdiocesan budget by major slashing of Archdiocesan jobs (good and bad). He "handled" the sexual-abuse scandal, but in the end seemed more concerned about being a "father" to his priests than a stalwart for children (mostly bad). For the most part, he has not actively tried to change the liberal aspects of the Archdiocese as long as they were willing to fly underneath the radar (good and bad). And it truth, most Catholics like him because he's jolly. I do not believe that most of those Catholics are very aware of his accomplishments.

The constant refrain of many with my train of thought is that it could have been worse, and maybe it will be...

A Faithful Catholic

Archdiocese Should Keep Great Spirit Open

2009-02-16T08:39:00.004-06:00

Back in October, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that the Congregation of the Great Spirit could stay open if it could fully support itself. For whatever reason, I did not comment on that situation then, but it has been in the back of my mind ever since.

The Congregation of the Great Spirit is a Native American Catholic Church. They follow the Roman rite, but have tweaked certain portions (following the scholarship of liturgists) in order to incorporate their Indian cultures (especially the Lakota and Ojibwe). This includes a co-ed drumming circle and a penitential rite with burning sage.

As the Archdiocesan spokeswoman stated, the Milwaukee Archdiocese has a policy of each parish covering the salary of the priest. That is obviously only a general guideline since they have until now covered the Great Spirit's salary dole.

While if the parish does close, the parishioners can go to another Catholic Church, I doubt they will be able to bring their drums and burning sage. They may not be welcomed anywhere. This could in effect kill the Native American Catholic community. It is reminiscent of the US bishops, as a whole, refusing to reach out to African Americans after the Civil War (this is considered the main reason for there being so few black Catholics). Oddly, enough, I wonder if the two "black" parishes in Milwaukee (All Saints & St. Martin de Porres) could not financially support a priest because of poverty, would the Archbishop close them?

A Faithful Catholic

Archbishop Dolan's Response to SNAP is Troubling

2009-02-09T08:34:00.004-06:00

As reported in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Dolan stated that he does not have authority over priests who are in orders in the Milwaukee Archdiocese, even if they are the recipient of serious allegations of sexual misconduct. Now, I realize it was Julie Wolf, the Archdiocesan spokeswoman who said this and not Dolan. But when Dolan is not available for comment and the spokeswoman is, she is only saying what Dolan told her to say.

Dolan (Julie) stated that "he can't force them to distribute names." While that may be true, if he knows that certain priests are in town, he should be distributing their names. This is his Archdiocese and he is supposed to be watching out for his flock (laypeople included, not just priests).

I could understand if he did not know that these priests were here since they are in an order. But he (Julie) did not state that that was the case, just that his hands are tied. This is very disturbing.

A Faithful Catholic

Gay Hater Becomes Bishop

2009-02-02T10:45:00.003-06:00

Benedict has certainly been a roller coaster ride. With his theological background and his meeting with persons like Hans Kung, I had hoped that he would begin appointing a higher grade of bishop than John Paul II.

The Vatican announced on Saturday that Gerhard Wagner will become auxiliary bishop of Linz, Austria. Back in 2005, Wagner stated that Hurricane Katrina was God's punishment because of homosexuality in New Orleans. Maybe he didn't get the memo, but the hurricane mostly hurt poor black people. This seems like a throwback to those bishops who originally thought that AIDS was God's punishment of gay people. This kind of bishop seems completely out of tune with the Gospel message of Jesus. 1) People are not sick because of God's wrath and 2) Jesus' mission is one of healing and reconciliation. I cannot understand Benedict's motivation for appointing a priest with such blatant incompetance.

A Faithful Catholic

Financial Common Sense and You Tube

2009-01-26T09:42:00.005-06:00

Rev. Ken Knippel let his parishioners at St. John Vianney Catholic Church in Brookfield know that over the past three years, nearly $128,000 was stolen from the parish. It appears that Father Leonard Van Vlaenderen was taking it from the weekend cash offerings before it was counted. Normally, cash offerings were around $775 before Van Vlaenderen came and when we would be gone on leave, but were aroud $330 when he was around. There are a few red flags here. 1) The money counters should have noticed this. How could they have not noticed such a difference. 2) The bookkeeper should have noticed this. 3) Their administrative services committee should have been given regular financial statements and they should have noticed this.

Unfortunately, only the audit noticed this. I suppose this is pretty damning evidence that our parishes in the Archdiocese need audits, if not yearly, on some sort of random cycle. The other option... all three points mentioned above and the people involved in each point should be trained. We do the same thing regarding training against sexual abuse, why not training against financial abuse.

On a completely different note, I see that that the Vatican has begun their own YouTube site on which they will regularly post videos at "http://www.youtube.com/vatican".

A Faithful Catholic

Vatican Clueless with Regards to Seminaries

2009-01-19T08:46:00.002-06:00

In the wake of the sexual abuse scandal, the Vatican performed a visitation of all US seminaries. Their conclusion is that they are pretty healthy and that there has been improvement in their health because of the appointment of "rectors who are wise and faithful to the church." There has also been a decrease in instances of immorality, aka, homosexuality. Their recommendations include greater oversight of seminarians and a stronger focus on moral theology as the Catholic hierarchy does.

Clueless. If the Congregation for Catholic Education thinks that less homosexual acts and more "orthodox" moral theology will stop sexual abuse, they are on the wrong track. I'm pretty sure that no seminary ever taught that sexual abuse or child rape is okay. When they state that seminaries are more healthy, they mean more in line with Vatican thought; not that they are safer for kids.

A Faithful Catholic

Gitmo to Close

2009-01-12T15:32:00.004-06:00

I usually reserve this blog for strictly religious issues, but in a real sense, everything is a religious issue. And the treatment and the existence of Guantanamo Bay has been an embarrassment for our country as well as the Catholic Church, which has been basically silent on this grave human rights abuse.

According to a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article, one of Obama's first actions will be to give an executive order to close Gitmo. George Bush, whose favorite theologian is Jesus, never thought that this was good idea. I'm still skeptical of any politician, but I applaud Obama's humane and Christian action. With the Christmas season in the recent past, there was the regular tug of war about nativity sets and the like. That's window dressing that serves no purpose when at the same time our country and states and cities treat individuals inhumanely, uncharitiably, and un-Christian. I hope this upcoming action will set a new course for how America treats the "other."

A Faithful Catholic

Pope Calls for New Economic Model

2009-01-05T09:51:00.003-06:00

On World Peace Day, January 1st, Pope Benedict stated that we need a new economic model. This model needs to be a "virtuous circle" based on simple living and fighting poverty. I do like that phrase of "virtuous circle." I'm assuming that it is supposed to be a play on "vicious circle," but I'm not sure if the official language for this kind of address is Latin or not. It is refreshing to see that on World Peace Day, Benedict addressed the issue of the economy rather than abortion. In his message, he also condemns the arms race, which is literally stealing resources from the world's poor. While he does not cite capitalism in particular, his section on finance is written against the unfair advantages that capitalism gives to the Western world. And simple living is definitely at odds with capitalism. Our president wants us to shop - that's how capitalism "works." Overall, a good message. I wish it was a bit more explicit, but it is obvious that our economy needs some Christianizing.

A Faithful Catholic

Drew Mariani Gave Me a Great Christmas Present!

2008-12-31T18:19:00.004-06:00

Earlier today on the Drew Mariani Show on "Relevant" Radio, Drew discussed the movie Milk, starring Sean Penn. The movie shows someone's butt and there is some male/male kissing. Drew and his guest, Dr. Mugridge, expressed their outrage that the movie was not considered morally offensive by the U.S. Bishops movie reviewer. The movie received the next worst rating, "L - limited adult audience." They did not mention this or that there is also a separate rating for adults in general "A III - Adults." L states that some of the material is problematic. The reviewer did give the movie a good review as a whole, though. So I guess there are thinking people who work for the U.S. bishops.

An anonymous woman called the show to share stories of the all-girls Catholic school at which she works. The school has a lesbian support group which is sponsored by the guidance counselors. Lesbian couples have even come together to the school sponsored dances.

This is all great news. I wish this school could openly exhibit what they are doing, but any steps forward are good. Thank you, Drew. Thank you for reminding me that there a lot of good people in our church that are trying to make it better.

A Faithful Catholic

Winter Liturgy

2008-12-22T10:38:00.004-06:00

In previous posts, I have stated that there should be a greater diversity in liturgy such as before the Council of Trent. Someone had asked for an example, and I believe at that time I cited the Congregation of the Great Spirit (everyone should go there at least once, especially since it could close soon with it no longer receiving any Archdiocesan support).

Well, with a good foot of snow on the ground, I thought of another example. Michael Joncas' "Table Prayer: The Winter Name of God." It is always a joy to be at any parish or chapel that is using that sung Eucharistic Prayer. I can guarantee that that Eucharistic Prayer is not liturgical by Rome's standards, but it is a beautiful prayer. I see it as the Midwest United States' form of the Eastern sung liturgy. I free sample of this prayer can be heard HERE, it's number 60.

Merry Christmas!!!

A Faithful Catholic

Bishop Morlino to do One Good Thing

2008-12-15T10:42:00.004-06:00

Robert Morlino, bishop of Madison, WI is going to hold a Mass for the unemployed. This is in the wake of a GM plant near Madison closing 2 days before Christmas. While I applaud Morlino for actually thinking about workers at all, his track record is as a bishop is pretty poor.

Bishop Morlino is supposedly an extremely pro-life bishop. He has urged his "flock" to vote pro-life is prior elections, speaking harshly against abortion, the death penalty, euthanasia. The one contradiction in all of this is the stupendous support he gives to the School of the Americas (SOA), the U.S. sponsered terrorist training camp for Latin American soldiers at Fort Benning, Georgia. He is, in fact, on "the board of visitors." Their job is to report to congress what a great job the SOA is doing. This unqualified support of the SOA is all the worse since he holds a Ph.D. in moral theology from the Gregorian University in Rome. This all makes me a bit suspicious of Bishop Morlino's intentions. This mass for the unemployed seems more like a PR stunt than a cause Morlino cares about. Morlino's past actions have never indicated a concern for the worker or the economy.

A Faithful Catholic