The new version, reflecting the bishops' recent response to the scandal of clergy sexual abuse of minors, says explicitly for the first time that no
seminary applicant is to be accepted if he has been involved in sexual abuse of
minors.
It also incorporates stricter norms, adopted by the bishops in 1999, on
evaluating an application for seminary admission from someone who previously
left or was dismissed from a seminary or a formation program for religious life.
From the Office of Readings (St. Bede):As forerunner of our Lord’s birth, preaching and death, the blessed John showed in his struggle a goodness worthy of the sight of heaven. In the words of Scripture: Though in the sight of men he suffered torments, his hope is full of immortality. We justly commemorate the day of his birth with a joyful celebration, a day which he himself made festive for us through his suffering and which he adorned with the crimson splendour of his own blood. We do rightly revere his memory with joyful hearts, for he stamped with the seal of martyrdom the testimony which he delivered on behalf of our Lord.
There is no doubt that blessed John suffered imprisonment and chains as a witness to our Redeemer, whose forerunner he was, and gave his life for him. His persecutor had demanded not that he should deny Christ, but only that he should keep silent about the truth. Nevertheless, he died for Christ. Does Christ not say: I am the truth? Therefore, because John shed his blood for the truth, he surely died for Christ.
Secret Vatican documents recently released say that wartime pontiff Pope Pius XII attempted a “long distance” exorcism of Hitler which failed to have any effect. “It’s very rare that praying and attempting to carry out an exorcism from distance works. Of course you can pray for someone from a distance but in this case it would not have any effect,” Father Amorth said.
The Vatican’s chief exorcist claims that one of the key requirements for an exorcism is to be present in front of the possessed person and that person also has to be consenting and willing. “Therefore trying to carry out an exorcism on someone who is not present, or consenting and willing would prove very difficult,” he said.
The Rev. Francis Kline, the abbot of Mepkin Abbey and an influencial
spiritual force in the life of South Carolina, died Sunday after a three-year
battle with cancer. He was 57.
A Juilliard-trained organist, Father Francis was the longtime leader of the Trappist monastic community founded on the Cooper River at Moncks Corner in 1949. But the cerebral, soft-spoken monk was much more to those who claimed him as wise counselor and reverent friend.
“He was someone that just had a remarkable level of personal grace in the way he handled himself,” Gov. Mark Sanford said. “He was able to have this incredibly deep well of spirituality and the ability to look deeply at ideas of faith, and then this
ability to care what was happening in the world around him.”
Father Marie-Dominique Philippe, o.p., founder of the Community of Saint
John, died peacefully on Saturday morning August 26, 2006, at the priory of
Saint Jodard (France). He was being taken care of there since his stroke on July
20. He was going to be 94 years old on September 8.Until the funeral day, the
brothers and sisters keep vigil around him in the brother's chapel in Saint
Jodard. The vigil is opened to all who wish to participate.The funeral mass will
be celebrated on Saturday September 2 at 10:30 am at the Cathedral of Lyons. It
will be presided by Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, archbishop of Lyons.In the
afternoon, Father Marie-Dominique will be buried in the cimetery of Rimont, in
the intimacy of the Family of Saint John (brothers, sisters and oblates).In
thanksgiving for all they have received through him, the memebrs of the Family
of Saint John entrust him to the prayer of all.
Today we celebrate the feast of Saint Augustine. Ordinarily, yesterday, the 27th, we would have celebrated the feast of his mother, Saint Monica (she got
eclipsed by the Sunday this year). Both of these days are of very special
importance to me because my own thinking in life has been very much shaped by
Saint Augustine and his great writings. When I was a seminarian long ago I used
to spend an hour every afternoon reading Saint Augustine and other fathers of
the church. As some of you know, I wrote a book called Augustine: The Confessions & the City of God (Crossroad Spiritual Legacy Series), which is a popular introduction to Saint Augustine for people who are not philosophers or theologians.
When I try to analyze why this great man appeals so much to me, I realize it is because in many respects he thinks like a modern person. He is the holy psychologist. Without knowing what the word psychologist meant, I started to read him when I was fourteen years old and recognized that he was talking about things that I had experienced. His great line, “You have made us for yourself, Oh God, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you,” is still today tremendously
meaningful to me in life.
Most laypeople are unaware of it, but the thinking of Pope Benedict XVI is very much rooted in Saint Augustine and his great disciple, Saint Bonaventure. If you want to understand Pope Benedict XVI, you need to be familiar with the ideas of Saint Augustine and particularly his conviction of the importance of religious experience in order for us to believe and grow in the Christian life. That’s putting it in a nutshell.
Another interesting thing for all of us Franciscans and our friends is that the first
friars and Saint Francis would have been familiar with Saint Augustine. In
western Christianity during the end of the Dark Ages and the Middle Ages, Saint
Augustine was the preeminent theologian. Such figures as Saint Thomas Aquinas,
who was so important in the second part of the Middle Ages, had not been born
yet. When Saint Francis went to church on Sunday, the preaching he heard was
based very much on Saint Augustine; so, the ideas of Saint Augustine are very
much reflected in the writings and life of Saint Francis.
You may find it very helpful to get to know this man. If you are not familiar with him, my little book introducing him might be very helpful to you. Along with Saint
Francis and Saint Clare, he has been a very important friend in my life.
Fr. Benedict Groeschel, CFR
Once Pope Benedict returns to Vatican City from a trip to his native Germany next month, he faces important decisions that will affect millions of Catholics: how to fill archbishop vacancies in Detroit and Baltimore, where archbishops traditionally become cardinals.
New Jersey's Catholics have good reason to follow his decisions: Newark Archbishop John J. Myers, the highest-ranked Catholic clergyman in the state since 2001, is rumored to be the favorite for Detroit's opening.
