About a year ago we released a very popular book entitled Dictionary of Patron Saints' Names. One of the remarkable aspects of this book was that it can link almost any name a child is given, say for instance "Spring" or "Brook" with a patron. I'm not sure that Father ingenuity can match the latest trend though:
BBC NEWS | World | Americas | US babies get global brand names:
"Americans are increasingly turning to the world of popular culture to name their children, a study has found.
Children have been named after big brands as diverse as beauty company L'Oreal, car firm Chevrolet and designer clothes company Armani.
There are even two little boys, one in Michigan and one in Texas, called ESPN after the sports channel.
Psychology professor Cleveland Evans discovered the trend after surveying US social security records for 2000. "
I wonder if anyone has named their child EWTN, Envoy or Our Sunday Visitor?
Friday, November 14, 2003
Japan Cardinal Hopes Next Pope Calls Vatican III
From Total Catholic:
Newly-created Japanese Cardinal Stephen Fumio Hamao has said he believes it would be acceptable for John Paul II to retire, and has also called for his successor to call a third Vatican Council.
“I admire very much his courageous activity and work in spite of his not-so-good condition of health,” said Cardinal Hamao, 73.
“But he may retire, and I hope he does so, because it is pitiful to see him like he is now.” However, the cardinal pointedly added: “I don’t think he wants to retire.”
Cardinal Hamao, who is President of the Pontifical Council for Migrants and Itinerants and the only Asian currently heading a Vatican office, said he considered the red hat to be a “strong endorsement” by John Paul II of the work of his office.
The cardinal then looked forward to the conclave to choose a successor, who he said firstly should be a man like the present Pope, and secondly a man able to “understand the position of the different cultures, religions and customs of the different countries”.
Third, he would like the next pope to be “open, intelligent and welcoming,” who will ensure that the Curia serves and encourages the Church throughout the world. Fourthly, he considers it important that the next pope should have pastoral experience in a diocese, and fifthly, and most strikingly, he wants the next pope to call a third Vatican Council.
“The bishops make proposals at the synods, and the Holy Father gives an apostolic exhortation, but nothing is decided,” he said.
“No decisions are taken by the synods of bishops. I don’t think this is due to the Holy Father. But the fact is there is no change in the structures of the Church. This does not strengthen the faith.”
Cardinal Hamao said a Vatican Council could address such issues as the relationship with other religions, bioethics, cloning, the environment and ecology.
Newly-created Japanese Cardinal Stephen Fumio Hamao has said he believes it would be acceptable for John Paul II to retire, and has also called for his successor to call a third Vatican Council.
“I admire very much his courageous activity and work in spite of his not-so-good condition of health,” said Cardinal Hamao, 73.
“But he may retire, and I hope he does so, because it is pitiful to see him like he is now.” However, the cardinal pointedly added: “I don’t think he wants to retire.”
Cardinal Hamao, who is President of the Pontifical Council for Migrants and Itinerants and the only Asian currently heading a Vatican office, said he considered the red hat to be a “strong endorsement” by John Paul II of the work of his office.
The cardinal then looked forward to the conclave to choose a successor, who he said firstly should be a man like the present Pope, and secondly a man able to “understand the position of the different cultures, religions and customs of the different countries”.
Third, he would like the next pope to be “open, intelligent and welcoming,” who will ensure that the Curia serves and encourages the Church throughout the world. Fourthly, he considers it important that the next pope should have pastoral experience in a diocese, and fifthly, and most strikingly, he wants the next pope to call a third Vatican Council.
“The bishops make proposals at the synods, and the Holy Father gives an apostolic exhortation, but nothing is decided,” he said.
“No decisions are taken by the synods of bishops. I don’t think this is due to the Holy Father. But the fact is there is no change in the structures of the Church. This does not strengthen the faith.”
Cardinal Hamao said a Vatican Council could address such issues as the relationship with other religions, bioethics, cloning, the environment and ecology.
Thursday, November 13, 2003
Popular Devotional Practices: Questions and Answers
New document by the American Bishops.
I found the following, from the Appendix interesting:
i. What are indulgences?
An indulgence does not confer grace. An indulgence is not a remission of the guilt due to sin. The guilt due to sin is ordinarily taken away by the Sacraments of Baptism and Penance (confession), in which we receive forgiveness for sins through Jesus Christ. Although guilt is taken away, and with it the eternal penalty that is due to sin—namely, damnation, the eternal loss of the presence of God—there remain consequences for sins that those who have committed them must bear. There is what is traditionally called the temporal punishment for sin.
By its very nature, every sin inevitably causes suffering for the one who has committed it. Every sinful act creates a disorder within the soul of the human person; it distorts our desires and affections, leaving us with "an unhealthy attachment to creatures, which must be purified either here on earth, or after death in the state called Purgatory."57 Furthermore, sin disrupts one's relationships with God, with the Church, with other people, and with the world as a whole. The communion intended by God is damaged or lost. Those who have received forgiveness for their sins still have an obligation to undergo a difficult and painful process (the temporal penalty for sin) to be purified of the consequences of their sins and to restore the disrupted relationships. "While patiently bearing sufferings and trials of all kinds and, when the day comes, serenely facing death, the Christian must strive to accept this temporal punishment of sin as a grace."58 The necessary and painful process that brings restoration and purification can take place either in this life or in Purgatory, as whatever part of the process remains unfinished at death must be completed in Purgatory.59
Through an indulgence, God grants the prayer of the Church that the temporal penalty for sin due to someone be reduced (or possibly eliminated). By God's grace, participation in a prayer or action that has an indulgence attached to it brings about the necessary restoration and reparation without the suffering that would normally accompany it. The granting of an indulgence by the Church is "the expression of the Church''s full confidence of being heard by the Father when—in view of Christ's merits and, by his gift, those of Our Lady and the saints—she asks him to mitigate or cancel the painful aspect of punishment by fostering its medicinal aspect through other channels of grace."60
I found the following, from the Appendix interesting:
i. What are indulgences?
An indulgence does not confer grace. An indulgence is not a remission of the guilt due to sin. The guilt due to sin is ordinarily taken away by the Sacraments of Baptism and Penance (confession), in which we receive forgiveness for sins through Jesus Christ. Although guilt is taken away, and with it the eternal penalty that is due to sin—namely, damnation, the eternal loss of the presence of God—there remain consequences for sins that those who have committed them must bear. There is what is traditionally called the temporal punishment for sin.
By its very nature, every sin inevitably causes suffering for the one who has committed it. Every sinful act creates a disorder within the soul of the human person; it distorts our desires and affections, leaving us with "an unhealthy attachment to creatures, which must be purified either here on earth, or after death in the state called Purgatory."57 Furthermore, sin disrupts one's relationships with God, with the Church, with other people, and with the world as a whole. The communion intended by God is damaged or lost. Those who have received forgiveness for their sins still have an obligation to undergo a difficult and painful process (the temporal penalty for sin) to be purified of the consequences of their sins and to restore the disrupted relationships. "While patiently bearing sufferings and trials of all kinds and, when the day comes, serenely facing death, the Christian must strive to accept this temporal punishment of sin as a grace."58 The necessary and painful process that brings restoration and purification can take place either in this life or in Purgatory, as whatever part of the process remains unfinished at death must be completed in Purgatory.59
Through an indulgence, God grants the prayer of the Church that the temporal penalty for sin due to someone be reduced (or possibly eliminated). By God's grace, participation in a prayer or action that has an indulgence attached to it brings about the necessary restoration and reparation without the suffering that would normally accompany it. The granting of an indulgence by the Church is "the expression of the Church''s full confidence of being heard by the Father when—in view of Christ's merits and, by his gift, those of Our Lady and the saints—she asks him to mitigate or cancel the painful aspect of punishment by fostering its medicinal aspect through other channels of grace."60
A Pint of Guinness is Good for You
Actually 8 ounces more than a pint...I'll drink to that!
From BBC NEWS | Health | Guinness good for you - official:
"The researchers told a meeting of the American Heart Association in Orlando, Florida, that the most benefit they saw was from 24 fluid ounces of Guinness - just over a pint - taken at mealtimes.
They believe that "antioxidant compounds" in the Guinness, similar to those found in certain fruits and vegetables, are responsible for the health benefits because they slow down the deposit of harmful cholesterol on the artery walls.
From BBC NEWS | Health | Guinness good for you - official:
"The researchers told a meeting of the American Heart Association in Orlando, Florida, that the most benefit they saw was from 24 fluid ounces of Guinness - just over a pint - taken at mealtimes.
They believe that "antioxidant compounds" in the Guinness, similar to those found in certain fruits and vegetables, are responsible for the health benefits because they slow down the deposit of harmful cholesterol on the artery walls.
Feast of Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini
Today is the feast of the Mother Cabrini. Last Thursday Amy, Katie, Joseph and I prayed a few inches from Mother Cabrini's body encased below the altar at the Mother Cabrini Shrine in uptown Manhattan. We prayed that Amy's talk would go well the next day, and that all our future "missionary" activity would be blessed by God as well, including specifically a mission that I'm giving in suburban Chicago later this month.
Mother Cabrini died in Chicago and there is a shrine there that has the rooms she lived and died in at the Columbus Hospital. The hospital recently closed and I understand that the shrine remains open. I ask everyone to ask Mother Cabrini's intercession on all missionary activity both in this country and in foreign lands.
Today is also the feast of St. Stanislaus Kostka the patron saint of the parish that I grew up in, essentially one of the few Polish parishes in New Hampshire. In fact, I grew up directly across the street from the original parish church, pictured in the link.
Mother Cabrini died in Chicago and there is a shrine there that has the rooms she lived and died in at the Columbus Hospital. The hospital recently closed and I understand that the shrine remains open. I ask everyone to ask Mother Cabrini's intercession on all missionary activity both in this country and in foreign lands.
Today is also the feast of St. Stanislaus Kostka the patron saint of the parish that I grew up in, essentially one of the few Polish parishes in New Hampshire. In fact, I grew up directly across the street from the original parish church, pictured in the link.
Wednesday, November 12, 2003
In Case You Missed It
A few weeks ago on Sixty Minutes, Bob Simon did a piece on the canonization of Mother Teresa and the subject of Padre Pio came up in his disscussion with Father Richard McBrien. Father Richard McBrien's Catholicism was a book that many lay ministers in the Church use to carry around as though it were a Bible. Bishops in the U.S. have called the accuracy of the book into question, but it is still used by many. What is telling in this interview with Bob Simon isn't so much McBrien's disbelief in the miracles of Padre Pio but his equating Jesus with a simple message minus miracles. It shows what kind of Chritianity we are left with once Jesus has been stripped of the miraculous--a powerless Christianity, which is not the Christianity of the Jesus of the Gospels...who tells His Apostles and disciples "You shall receive power!" What kind of power, to heal the sick, to raise the dead and I would guess the power to "love" the unlovable. No wonder the church is in such a mess in this country!
From CBS' Sixty Minutes:
SIMON: (Voiceover) But behind every bevy of true
believers, there is bound to be a skeptic. Father
McBrien says he'd like to do away with the miracle
requirement for sainthood, and he thinks that Pope
John Paul II made a mistake when he declared Padre Pio
a saint.
Padre Pio?
Fr. McBRIEN: I would not have canonized him, either.
SIMON: Just in terms of the miracles which he is said
to be involved with--he naturally emitted the scent of
flowers, it is said. He appeared to many people...
Fr. McBRIEN: I don't believe--I don't...
SIMON: ...in many places at the same time.
Fr. McBRIEN:: I don't--I don't believe any of that.
SIMON: He levitated above his hometown.
Fr. McBRIEN: I don't--I don't believe any of that.
See, that makes religion into a kind of act, a show,
a--a kind of theatrical operation. I mean, Jesus'
message was pretty straightforward and universal: you
know, 'love your neighbor as you love yourself.'
I might add that Jesus' message is also stripped of "Loving God above all things"
From CBS' Sixty Minutes:
SIMON: (Voiceover) But behind every bevy of true
believers, there is bound to be a skeptic. Father
McBrien says he'd like to do away with the miracle
requirement for sainthood, and he thinks that Pope
John Paul II made a mistake when he declared Padre Pio
a saint.
Padre Pio?
Fr. McBRIEN: I would not have canonized him, either.
SIMON: Just in terms of the miracles which he is said
to be involved with--he naturally emitted the scent of
flowers, it is said. He appeared to many people...
Fr. McBRIEN: I don't believe--I don't...
SIMON: ...in many places at the same time.
Fr. McBRIEN:: I don't--I don't believe any of that.
SIMON: He levitated above his hometown.
Fr. McBRIEN: I don't--I don't believe any of that.
See, that makes religion into a kind of act, a show,
a--a kind of theatrical operation. I mean, Jesus'
message was pretty straightforward and universal: you
know, 'love your neighbor as you love yourself.'
I might add that Jesus' message is also stripped of "Loving God above all things"
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