Clerical Whispers

IEC2012: Answering Ireland’s call

2012-02-03T00:24:00.011Z

There are now less than 6 months to go to the 2012 International Eucharistic Congress in Dublin, Ireland.

Over the years the global movement of Catholics that once characterized the Eucharistic Congresses has notably shifted toward the World Youth Days, but organizers are hoping to galvanize some of the WYD enthusiasm to help make the June appointment in Dublin an unforgettable event for all attending, and in particular for Ireland.

They are hoping that Catholics worldwide will answer Ireland’s call and come to the island nation, renowned for its welcome, to celebrate the Eucharist in “Communion with Christ and with one another”.

“I would certainly hope that some of the things that we have seen on the streets of places like Sydney or Madrid, that people in Ireland will see Catholics from other countries coming joyfully enthusiastically, enjoying the Congress and finding no conflict in being people of faith and people who enjoy life to the full”, says Fr. Kevin Doran, secretary general of the IEC2012 organizing committee.

He sat down with Emer McCarthy to speak about the program, locations and personalities taking part in the Congress June 10-17^th next.

18 international speakers will be delivering key-lectures and leading liturgical celebrations, among them: Br. Alois, Cardinal Rodrigues-Maradiaga of Honduras, Cardinal Vingt-Trois of Paris, Cardinal Turkson of the Vatican’s Council for Justice and Peace, Archbishop Foud Twal of the Latin Patriarchate, Archbishop Tagle of Manila, Archbishop Miller of Vancouver and Metropolitan Hilarion of the Russian Orthodox Church.

The draft program includes daily liturgies and workshops with a main lecture every evening.

Each day of the week will have a particular focus, from ecumenism and reconciliation to family life.

In fact, in an effort to encourage parents to make it a family experience, there will be special workshops and catechesis sessions for children and teenagers.

Most of these activities will take place in the Royal Dublin Society, RDS, an arena complex located in a leafy suburb just south of the capital and probably most famous for hosting international show-jumping events.

But as Fr. Kevin points out, the purpose of the Congress is twofold: to bring the Irish dimension to the Universal Church and to bring the Universal dimension of the Church onto the streets of Ireland.

20 churches have been allocated for across the Irish capital for liturgies, prayer services and Eucharistic adoration. Many of these will be given over to political language groups, including Vietnamese, Chinese, Italian and Spanish.

Fr. Kevin calls it the “City Congress”, in the hope that Christian pilgrims coming to the Congress from abroad will bring their joy of faith to the streets and people of Dublin and in doing so help rekindle enthusiasm among Irish Catholics who have had to weather grave scandals in the Church in recent years.

“I suppose the last ten years or there has been a loss of confidence”, he says. “While there would be a lot of people who would still believe in Jesus Christ, and while there are a lot of people who still deeply value the ministry of the Church, in the last ten years it was never politically correct to say that out loud”.

Fr. Kevin concludes: “I think the Congress to some extent, is not about trying to rediscover the past or go back to the way we were, it’s about trying to work out what the space for the Church is and what the ministry of the Church will be to evangelize and promote the Gospel and to call people to follow Christ in the Ireland of today and the next century”.

So far, organisers have received bookings from over 33 countries to attend the Congress.

Registration is essential and they urge any groups or individual pilgrims interested in attending to register online by visiting the website www.iec2012.ie

Euthanasia should be banned across Europe, rules Council

2012-02-03T00:23:00.006Z

The Council of Europe has ruled that euthanasia and assisted suicide should be banned in every country across the Continent.

In a declaration that will have huge implications on human rights laws in its 47 member countries the Strasbourg-based organisation announced that such practices “must always be prohibited”.

The move will represent a major setback to assisted dying campaigners in the UK who want Britain to follow Holland, Belgium and Switzerland in allowing doctors to help to end the lives of their patients.

The explicit condemnation of euthanasia was inserted into a non-binding resolution entitled “Protecting Human Rights and Dignity by Taking Into Account Previously Expressed Wishes of Patients”.

The resolution had originally simply focused on the human rights questions of “advance directives”, or “living wills”, in which people set out how they wish to be treated if they became mentally incapacitated.

But members of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe argued that living wills, which became legal in the UK under the 2005 Mental Capacity Act, were inextricably connected to euthanasia.

They successfully moved an amendment forbidding euthanasia by 34 votes to 16 with six abstentions.

The amendment said that “euthanasia, in the sense of the intentional killing by act or omission of a dependent human being for his or her alleged benefit must always be prohibited”.

Among those fighting for the amendment was British member Edward Leigh, the Tory MP for Gainsborough and a Catholic.

He referred to the case of Kerrie Wooltorton, a 26-year-old from Norwich who died in 2009 by poisoning after her living will prevented doctors from resuscitating her.

He said: “Can my fellow delegates here in Strasbourg imagine how they would feel if they received a phone call informing them that one of their children had drunk poison and that ambulance and hospital staff who had everything necessary to save the child’s life stood by not helping instead as the child lay dying?"

“That is a situation that advanced directives or living wills allow,” Mr Leigh said. “This is not alarmist talk – this is the historic fact, the track record.”

But Paul Flynn, the Labour MP for Newport West, fought the amendment, saying it changed the “entire nature” of the report.

“Eighty-five per cent of the people of Britain are demanding reforms and demanding change,” he said.

“We as legislators must also take into account the majority view of the people,” Mr Flynn added.

“It is an important human right to have the right to die in a manner of our choosing.”

The Council of Europe was set up in 1949 to further European integration by harmonising human rights laws, although it is unable to pass laws itself. Its new resolution on euthanasia will, however, help to define the principles that should govern the application of living wills across its member states.

It will be therefore hugely influential in helping governments to resist pressure to weaken or abolish laws prohibiting assisted suicide and euthanasia.

The Council bases its work on the European Convention on Human Rights.

It includes the European Court of Human Rights, which enforces the convention and to which Europeans can bring cases if they believe that a member country has violated their rights.

Scholar punctures illusions of pro-cohabitation study

2012-02-03T00:22:00.011Z

A new study touting the “benefits” of cohabitation is based on deeply flawed ideas about human nature and fulfillment, according to a leading scholar on the social role of families.

“It's garbage-in, garbage out,” said Dr. Scott Yenor, the Boise State University political science professor whose book “Family Politics: The Idea of Marriage in Modern Political Thought” (Baylor University Press, 2011) surveys changing ideas about society's fundamental institution.

CNA spoke with Yenor about a paper published in the February 2012 installment of the Journal of Marriage and Family, entitled “Reexamining the Case for Marriage: Union Formation and Changes in Well-being.”

The study, Yenor says, “uses the 'thinnest' understanding of human happiness – one that requires the least of any human being – and judges relationships on that basis.”

Lead author Dr. Kelly Musick, a Cornell University professor of policy analysis and management, says her research “shows that marriage is by no means unique in promoting well being, and that other forms of romantic relationships can provide many of the same benefits” to individuals.

“While married couples experienced health gains,” Musick says of her findings, “cohabiting couples experienced greater gains in happiness and self-esteem. For some, cohabitation may come with fewer unwanted obligations than marriage and allow for more flexibility, autonomy, and personal growth.”

But Yenor says Musick's study, coauthored with University of Wisconsin-Madison professor Larry Bumpass, reveals more about the authors' flawed assumptions, than it does about marriage and cohabitation.

“The standard that they're judging institutions by, is the self-assessment of individual happiness,” Yenor explained. “The questions that they ask these people are along the lines of: 'Do you feel good about yourself?' They use such low standards to judge these situations.”

“The lower the bar, the easier it is to hop over. They asked questions like whether married and cohabiting people were 'satisfied with themselves.' That's a very low bar.”

Musick and Bumpass used data from the National Survey of Families and Households to examine the difference between married and cohabiting couples in seven areas: happiness, symptoms of depression, health, self-esteem, relationship with parents, contact with parents, and time with friends.

The authors of “Reexamining the Case for Marriage” focused exclusively on benchmarks for the well-being and social lives of individual adults. Their work is a response to other sociologists who have attempted to base pro-marriage arguments on findings about individual adult well-being.

Children thus receive few mentions from Bumpass and Musick, though it is noted they “tend to be part of the marriage package.”

As Yenor pointed out, none of the benchmarks they used to judge the “benefits” of marriage against cohabitation actually involved the respondent's evaluation of the relationship itself.

Many kinds of questions, he said, could gauge the quality of a relationship between two people – rather than just the reported happiness of the individuals involved.

He suggested asking: “Do you trust the other person? Are you more 'one' with the other person? Do you pool your resources? Do you share labor? Do you share goals? Do you talk about the things you hold in common, and try to make them better?”

“Those are the things I would expect marriage to be better for, than cohabitation – not things like, 'Taken altogether, are you happy?'”

But Yenor observed that the authors of “Reexamining the Case for Marriage” were responding, in large part, to pro-marriage studies that may have made the same kinds of troubling omissions.

In his opinion, these defenders of marriage may have given too much ground to their opponents' assumptions, by focusing on marriage as a source of individual fulfillment for adults.

“What a lot of conservative scholars have done with the family – and this is what the journal article's going against – is to say: 'Even given the pitifully thin goal of modern self-esteem, marriage is better than cohabitation.'”

“Usually you want to judge marriage on other grounds: 'Is it good for the kids? Is love present? Are people living more virtuous lives?' But since society's rejected those kinds of standards, conservative defenders of marriage are willing to use the standard: 'Does it provide happiness and self-esteem?'”

“What I try to argue in my book, is that defenders of marriage and family life need to defend it on 'thicker' grounds,” said Yenor.

“Once we give up, and say marriage is about promoting individual happiness and self-esteem, we've already lost most of the battle. The marriage that exists to promote those goals is already going to be a weak marriage.”

“We need to defend marriage as a serious community that requires commitment, time, and investment – getting away from the goals that modern autonomy has set, and back to what the family's true goals are.”

Pro-family sociologists, Yenor warned, will find the institution of family “increasingly difficult to defend” on the basis of their opponents' own assumptions about mere individual happiness.

Although Yenor is himself Lutheran rather than Catholic, his book “Family Politics” concludes with a discussion of Pope John Paul II's ideas about love, marriage, the family, and society.

He told CNA that sociologists, like other scholars, can learn much from the late philosopher-pope.

“What he does is defend necessary connections,” Yenor recounted. “There are things that are connected, in the created order – and there are many attempts in the modern world, to sever those things that are connected. Love and marriage are connected – and when you try to disconnect them, you end up with less love, and bad relationships. Likewise, contraception severs the connection between sex and procreation. When you sever that connection, you end up with people using each other, and neglected children.”

“In a way, he's a great sociologist,” Yenor said of Pope John Paul II. “The original French sociologists of the 1800s were trying to establish, through social science, the connections that exist as sources of order in the world.”

“What John Paul does, is show that those sources of order and fulfillment” – particularly the lifelong marriage of a man and a woman – “are rooted in human nature, which can't be changed and manipulated.”

Father Bob: tradition v modern life

2012-02-03T00:21:00.013Z

The death throes of the latest Australian Catholic cause célèbre are being played out over the next few days.

Last Sunday was Father Bob Maguire’s last Sunday Mass at his beloved St Peter and Paul’s Church in South Melbourne.

The place was packed to the gunnels as usual.

On Wednesday, he was made to retire and relocated, much against his will and the will of his parish, which fought the dismissal with a Jesuitical doggedness.

The parish community, led by the local council’s deputy mayor, Frank O’Connor, still failed to move the stony heart of Archbishop Denis Hart.

Father Bob is one of three priests sacked in recent years. While he has passed the retirement age for priests, hence his removal, Bishop William Morris of Toowoomba was made to leave last year for merely raising the issue of the ordination of women.

And before that, Father Peter Kennedy got the chop from St Mary’s of South Brisbane for breaching church rules.

These beautiful men are the sacrificial lambs as an ancient faith battles to accommodate modernity.

Social change has been a post-war challenge for many institutions and Catholicism, through Vatican II, the Papal encyclical Humanae Vitae, the sex abuse scandal and now the banishment of Father Bob, lurches one step forward and two back into this third millennium.

What is the import of this dispute?

Will Father Bob become a forgotten man in a tiny local battle in a small corner of the world or will he become a powerful metaphor that helps the Church grapple with change?

Will this parochial stoush become a global touchpaper?

Only time will tell.

Father Bob is 77. He is not just a national media figure with a show on ABC radio station Triple J, 55,000 followers on Twitter, appearances on SBS television guru, but he is also famous for his welfare work with the Open Family Foundation.

He is the most celebrated Catholic in the country and yet he is being forced from office.

That is because he is also a constant challenge to the leadership in a faith where the notion of obedience is enshrined in the idea of the apostolic succession.

Obedience is at the heart of his organisation and his vows.

The core of this debate was alluded to in November when Father Bob argued that this act of retrenchment was vengeance against a ‘‘Cafeteria Catholic’’ by Cardinal George Pell.

The idea of the ‘‘Cafeteria Catholic’’ was first raised in America the 1970s and is a pejorative term that decries those Catholics who dissent from orthodoxy, by implying they choose their views as one chooses a meal in a cafeteria.

There are Catholics now who, rather than follow the line from Rome on the controversial issues, desire the freedom to choose.

The Australian version of ‘‘Cafeteria Catholicism’’ was recently spelled out by Cardinal Pell when he travelled to Cork, Ireland in August last year.

His Eminence divided the Catholic world into two – ‘‘authentic’’ and ‘‘cafeteria’’ Catholics.

This dichotomy is to be found in all organisations for there are always conservatives and reformers in every assembly.

‘‘Cafeteria Catholics’’ is a delightful jab at one’s foes.

Somehow food is the perfect put down.

One only has to think of Chardonnay Socialists, Latte Lefties and now Cafeteria Catholics.

However, cafeterias are also places where people engage in life.

They are not posh.

They are not sinful.

They are vibrant hubs where humans congregate and thrive.

That His Eminence would view the word ‘‘cafeteria’’ as a put down indicates a willingness to take his faith to the margins of Australian society rather than sacrifice his religious purity.

So it is a shame to see the promotion of change resistance when change so obviously beckons.

The ‘‘Cafeteria Catholics’’ like Father Bob are derided as liberal Christians who ‘‘give to priority to the contemporary understandings’’.

The Pell Doctrine appears to favour a religiously pure Church even if that means smaller numbers and getting rid of Father Bob.

So this is not just a local battle on the age of a retiring priest.

It is a fundamental and globally significant difference of the view of change and modernity in the largest denomination in the world.

Despite this significance, lest we forget that it also is an act of cruelty to evict an elderly man and his beloved dog, Franklin, from their home.

Sr Stan: I battled desire to have children

2012-02-03T00:20:00.006Z

SHE has dedicated her life to helping the homeless and marginalised and has been campaigning for social justice for over 50 years.

But Sr Stanislaus Kennedy (72), founder of homeless charity Focus Ireland, has revealed she has battled with her "natural desire" to have children.

The Sister of Charity, who grew up on a farm on the Dingle peninsula in Co Kerry, said she has often wondered what it would be like to rear a family, ever since she decided to commit her life to God.

"The thought of what it would be like to have children has often occurred to me and it's come into my mind frequently about it over the years," she said.

"Every woman wants to have children. It's a natural feeling and desire and I'm no different.''

But she insisted she has no regrets about her lifestyle choice and accepts that being childless is one of the sacrifices she has had to come to terms with.

However, the social innovator, who helped establish the Immigrant Council of Ireland and the now defunct Combat Poverty Agency, said she fears for the future of the Catholic Church in Ireland, claiming the Vatican is out of touch with ordinary people.

Vatican II, when a neoliberal Cardinal warns against myths

2012-02-03T00:19:00.017Z

The Council according to Kasper.

With Vatican II, which is celebrating its 50^th Anniversary, «the Church is back on the road», points out the neoliberal Cardinal Walter Kasper, but «it is necessary to enter into the concept of renewal for a correct interpretation of the Council».

No, therefore, to the «myth» of Council, the Church will be facing the future as a “creative minority” so it needs a new spiritual springtime.

On January 26^th in Rome, a book was presented at the «Centro Pro Unione» on «Catholic Church: Essence-reality-mission» written by the President Emeritus of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.

The German Cardinal of the Curia Walter Kasper sees the future of the Church not in maintaining structures for the «Church of the People» which is now anachronistic, but shares the view of the great historian Arnold J. Toynbee, according to whom, in particularly difficult situations in the history of humanity, it was always the qualified and creative minorities who found a way out, followed later also by the majority.

Minister of ecumenism in the days of John Paul II and for some years also with Benedict XVI, usually accustomed to playing, on big issues of Church reform, a partially different tune from the institutional one of the Roman Curia, Kasper is one of the Cardinals with the greatest pull in the Roman Curia.

In the analysis that the German cardinal makes of the crisis of the Church, the figure of the Church fully rooted in the people, which has played great role in history and has made its great contribution, is not coming to an end when faced with a today's pluralistic situation and it cannot be a future-oriented model of the Church in the third millennium.

«The experience of the Second Vatican Council became for me a very effective Church experience and a permanent point of reference – recalls Kasper. When on January 25, 1959 Pope John XXIII announced the Council, the surprise was enormous. There followed a long breathtaking, exciting and interesting period such as the young theologians of today cannot imagine. We experienced how the venerable old Church showed a new vitality, as it flung open the doors and windows and entered into internal dialogue as well as dialogue with other Churches, other religions and modern culture».

It was a Church that was back on track, a Church that did not repudiated nor deny its ancient tradition, but remained faithful, and yet scraped away encrustations and tried to make tradition new, alive and fruitful for its move to the future.

On the reading of the Council, in the years of the duo Wojtyla-Ratzinger, Kasper was an interpreter an intelligent countermelody aimed at the inside of the Roman curia. «I have always been convinced that the sixteen major documents of the council are, as a whole, the compass for the Church’s journey into the twenty-first century - emphasizes Kasper. The Vatican Council II has often been referred to as the council of the Church over the Church. The Church, which has been on its journey through history for two thousand years, during this Council became more fully aware of its own essence, by virtue of which it has lived and acted till then».

Already in his opening speech, held on October 11, 1962, John XXIII said that the task of the Council was to retain in its entirety and without falsifications the sacred heritage of Christian doctrine and teach it effectively.

Paul VI said the same thing on November 21, 1964, on the occasion of the solemn promulgation of the Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium, together with the Decree on Ecumenism UR. He said: «This promulgation does not really change anything of the traditional doctrine. What Christ wants, we too want. What was, still is. What the Church has taught for centuries, we also teach. Only that which was assumed is now explicit, that which was uncertain is clear; that which was mediated, discussed and sometimes argued over, has now been peacefully formulated».

The charm and excitement of the council have since vanished.

«The time has come made of sober consideration of the facts, partly also of critical appraisal of Council and especially post-Council events - admits the Cardinal. A new generation has succeeded for which the Council is a very distant event and belongs to another time, a time when they were not even born yet, and with whom they have no personal relationship, as my generation did. This new generation must be given an explanation of what happened then and feed their enthusiasm. For this a solid hermeneutic of the Council is needed».

We should not doubt make a myth out of the Council, where each one «projects and finds their own desires».

According to Kasper, a fairly accurately interpretation the Conciliar texts should be made according to the universally valid rules of theological hermeneutics. When doing so «the so-called real or presumed spirit of the Council should not be separated from the letter of the council», but rather the spirit of the council should be deduced from its history and its texts.

The texts of the council must be understood in light of its history and in the light of the often controversial discussions in its course. Then it is necessary to interpret every single formulation within the complex of all the texts of the Council and take into account, in doing so, the inherent hierarchy of the different Council documents.

Lastly, according to Kasper, the council must re-interpret the Conciliar texts in light of the sources, to which the Council itself was bound and from which it drew copiously».

For an adequate hermeneutical balance it is important to note the reception which the conciliar statements found in the doctrine and life of the Church after the council.

«Properly understood, receiving does not mean mechanically adopting, but is a live ecclesiastic process guided by the Holy Spirit, which takes place in the doctrine as well as throughout the life of the Church - specifies the cardinal. In the post-conciliar period the experience of the entire history of the council found its sequel. The controversy around the definition always follows the controversy surrounding its receipt».

Already during the Second Vatican Council two factions were formed which were soon called «conservative» and, respectively, «progressive». These terms originally had a different meaning from what they would have had after the council.

«Those who were then called progressives were in fact actually conservatives, who wanted to reaffirm the greatest and most ancient tradition of sacred Scripture and the Fathers of the Church, while those who were then called conservatives were unilaterally set on the post-Tridentine tradition of past centuries - points out Kasper. In order to take into account the justified demands of both parties and reach a good conciliar tradition, the widest possible consensus, in many cases compromising formulas was necessary, this too a phenomenon that is not at all new for anyone who knows the history of the councils».

Kasper’s word has great influence in the Curia.

When in 2000 the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith published the dogmatic declaration «Dominus Iesus» to reiterate the absolute uniqueness of Jesus Christ for the salvation of all men, it was Cardinal Walter Kasper, who still led the ecumenical relations, who said that «some of the wording of the text was not easily accessible to our partners».

Among these the Jews. Joseph Ratzinger, at that time prefect of the former Holy Office, had to explain and say that remained «clear that dialogue between us Christians and the Jews is on a different level than with other religions. The faith shown in the Hebrew Bible, the Old Testament of the Christians, for us it is not another religion, but the foundation of our faith».

Holy See and Palestinian Authority about to reach an agreement

2012-02-03T00:18:00.007Z

After negotiations between the Holy See and the Palestine Liberation Organization resumed, an official meeting took place in Ramallah on January 28th, 2012, at the Palestinian President's headquarters.

The talks were co-chaired by Mgr. Ettore Balestrero, the Holy See's Under-Secretary Relations with States, and by Palestinian minister, Ziad Al-Bandak, the President's advisor for relations with Christians.

The Palestinian representatives handed to the Holy See delegation an answer to the agreement draft proposed by the latter in a previous meeting.

The talks took place in a cordial atmosphere that could reinforce the special bonds between the two parties.

The delegations agreed to form technical groups, that would continue to work on the previous draft, preparing for a plenary session to be held soon in Vatican City.

The Holy See’s delegation was composed of Archbishop Antonio Franco Apostolic Delegate to Jerusalem and Palestine; Mgr. Maurizio Malvestiti, Under-Secretary of the Congregation for Oriental Churches, Mgr. Alberto Ortega, Official of the Secretariat of State of the Holy See, Mgr. Waldemar Sommertag, Counselor of the Apostolic Delegation of Jerusalem.

The Palestinian delegation was composed of Dr. Nabil Shath, member of the central committee of Al-Fatah; Dr. Bernard Sabella, member of the PLC, and Mr. lssa Kassissieh, Deputy Head of the Negotiations Affairs Department.

Viganò's allegations and the Vatican's verifications

2012-02-03T00:17:00.012Z

The controversy began with Italian television show "The Untouchables" on La7.

Here is how the Holy See investigated the incidents cited by the current Nuncio to the United States.

There is an episode that was not mentioned in the debate that has been going on for days now, regarding the accusations made by then Secretary of the Governorate, Mgr. Carlo Maria Viganò, appointed Nuncio to the United States, after writing dramatic letters to the Pope and the Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone, in which he speaks of episodes of "corruption" in the Vatican.

The prelate's private letters - a story revealed by Vatican Insider last June 26 - addressed to Benedict XVI and his chief collaborator, were exhibited by the journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi during the episode of an investigative television program on LA7, called "Gli Intoccabili" ("The Untouchables").

In those letters, Viganò claimed to be the victim of a plot, also involving some anonymous articles published in Italian daily newspaper Il Giornale. Viganò also provided names and surnames of the instigators, citing Mgr. Paul Nicolini, delegate for the administrative-managerial areas of the Vatican Museums as the ultimate instigator.

He did so after he received the news of the Pope's decision to appoint him as Nuncio to the United States, distancing him (through the promotion) from the Governorate after less than two years of office there and after undeniable results of morale-boosting and spending cuts.

In a letter sent on 8 May 2011 to Cardinal Bertone, Vigano attributes to Nicolini the "counterfeiting of bills" and a cash deficit, a "participation interest" in companies defaulting to the Government "for at least two million two hundred thousand Euros and that, prior to that he had defrauded L'Osservatore Romano for over ninety-seven thousand Euros, and APSA for more than eighty-five thousand."

Vigano also accused Nicolini of "arrogance and bullying towards employees who do not show absolute subservience to him, preferences, promotions and arbitrary hirings done for personal purposes."

The reply to LA7's broadcast, which given the next day by Fr. Federico Lombardi on behalf of the Secretary of State, furnishes indications showing that the merit of the undeniable work of morale-boosting and healing of the management, done by Viganò - the nativity scene in St. Peter's Square, for example, dropped from a cost of 550,000 Euros to 300,000 - was due not only to his efforts, but also those of his immediate superior, Cardinal Giovanni Lajolo, as is the case with the improved management of the Vatican Museums: all this has allowed the accounts to turn positive again, by several million Euros, while previously they had recorded a heavy deficit.

What was not revealed by the Holy See press release is that, on the basis of Viganò's allegations against Nicolini, an internal investigation was carried out, headed by a disciplinary committee, chaired by a former auditor of the Roman Rota, Mgr. Egidio Turnaturi.

The committee has listened to the witnesses mentioned in the prelate's dramatic letters. As for the anonymous articles in Il Giornale newspaper, the committee concluded the "indemonstrability" of Viganò's accusations, while after the investigations, other allegations about Mgr. Nicolini have also proved unfounded, even if the committee retained that it had encountered the qualities mentioned about his character and suggested that measures be taken.

This piece is important in reconstructing the story, since otherwise one might be led to believe that reports of irregularities or crimes remain unanswered in the Vatican.

"Of course," an authoritative Vatican source told Vatican Insider - Mgr. Viganò has done his duty by denouncing in private to his superiors what he thought was necessary to expose. But we must not imagine that his complaints were promptly considered rubbish or archived."

The Pope's decision, once he was made aware of the outcome of the investigation and had consulted Bertone and Lajolo, was to appoint the Archbishop apostolic nuncio to the United States: undeniably a "promoveatur ut amoveatur", thought it is true that the prelate had been somehow "promised" succession to the leadership of the Governorate, with the corresponding elevation to the cardinalate.

The decision was made because of the climate of tension that has arisen in the Vatican City State. And Lombardi's words on the full faith nourished by the Pope towards Viganò, indicate recognition of his merits in the healing process.

Of course, one might also ask why, if all the accusations in the bishop's letters have been judged unfounded, was he considered worthy to fill the delicate and prestigious role of chief diplomat and head of the office in Washington, responsible for relations with the White House and a close associate of the Pope in selecting the ruling class of the U.S. Church. A job that requires balance, confidence and good diplomatic skills.

Another question concerns the continuation or the possible slowdown of the recovery process worked by Viganò.

And attention should remain alert on this issue, both inside and outside the Vatican walls, to avoid a repeat or the continuance of objectively scandalous episodes, all the more so in a time of severe economic crisis such as the one we are experiencing.

It was shocking to learn that a nativity scene consisting of a barn or a cave rebuilt in St. Peter's Square cost as much as a house in the Roman countryside.

This year, the first after the "Viganò cure," the nativity cost as much as it did the previous year, 300,000 Euros, and according to rumors an effort is being made to halve the cost in 2012.

Of course, even if in the press release Fr. Lombardi tended to defuse tensions, claiming that the image of the Vatican as a place marked "by quarrels, divisions and conflicts of interest" is inaccurate, the image that emerges from the letters and the fact that the letters have been disclosed, is precisely that.

It is undeniable that the Viganò story fits into a broader perspective: that of the persistent problems of government within the Secretariat of State, guided by Cardinal Bertone.

The spread of letters written just a few months ago suggests that there have been such struggles, there still are, and that they are expected to continue.

U.S.: No "onboard prayers" on flights

2012-02-03T00:16:00.011Z

"Onboard prayers" have been forbidden on flights.

Starting February 1, Alaska Airlines ended a tradition begun in the '70s: that of including flyers with phrases from the Old Testament on meal trays handed out to passengers.

These odd little cards bore images from nature (waterfalls, mountains etc.) embellished with verses from the Psalms.

Phrases like: "Praise the Lord for He is good, His love endures forever."

The Christian Post, which published the news of the "cut", reported that although Alaska Airlines ceased providing a meal service six years ago, the tradition of on-board prayers has been kept alive.

Then came the protests of some travelers who felt offended by the leaflets, protests that the company has decided to act upon.

"It's a decision we have not taken lightly," wrote the company brass, CEO Bill Ayer and President Brad Tilden, in an email to its customers, "but we believe it is the right thing to do, to respect the different religious beliefs of our customers and our employees."

Mission accomplished.

A religion without faith: British scenarios for the future of faithful

2012-02-03T00:15:00.012Z

SOS: a society without God.

The reservations the Vatican has about certain British policies are well known, starting with the obligation, even for the Catholic NGOs, to allow homosexual couples to adopt.

"God is constantly watching over us, to guide us and protect us," Benedict XVI assured his audience a year and a half ago, in Westminster Hall, urging politicians not to leave out religion because faith is "not a problem to be solved but a vital factor."

Now, the influential liberal British Catholic magazine The Tablet has acted on the Pope’s invitation and published an extensive study to ascertain the importance of the role of religion in public life in the United Kingdom.

The Pope’s guidelines to UK bishops leave room for doubt: a society that recognizes the primacy of conscience, and therefore what God has placed within the heart of man, becomes intolerant of believers.

And that is why The Tablet has published a study involving 240 academics, researchers and students from 38 British universities.

Five centuries after the death sentence of Tommaso Moro due to the refusal by the British politician and intellectual to accept the King's Act of supremacy over the Catholic Church, in September 2010 Benedict XVI entered Westminster Hall for the first time, the great hall inside the palace of the British Parliament used not only to celebrate coronation banquets, funerals and solemn ceremonials to the Crown, but also to decide and vote for the condemnation of Moro.

The most practiced religion in Britain is the Christian faith.

The Church of England is in fact the official State church. Christianity was introduced in the country during the Roman period, in fact legend has it that Joseph of Arimathea was the first to proclaim his gospel.

But the fundamental "Christianization" expanded in the country through important figures such as St. Augustine (i.e. the first bishop of Canterbury) and others such as St. Aidan of Lindisfarnen, Christian missionary known as the apostle of Northumbria. Fundamental of course is the story "English religion"! As we know, in 1536 the English Church separated from Rome due to the divorce of King Henry VIII from Catherine of Aragon.

A new ecclesiastical authority was therefore introduced, with one reform of particular importance: the English church took on new positions in the Christian world, which it called Anglicanism.

And Benedict XVI reminded the 1,800 political figures, academics, religious and diplomatic heads of the Catholic Church what Moro meant for the United Kingdom. This was a man who in the name of loyalty to his "own conscience" did not fear the "sovereign displeasure" of Henry VIII, who founded the Anglican Church after his divorce from Queen Catherine: he served the sovereign because he served God and what his conscience told him was right.

Importantly, it was Benedict XVI who beatified Cardinal John Henry Newman, the man who made the "primacy of conscience" the meaning of his existence. He recalled that the church does not wish to impose values on governments. It simply wants to remind people that moral principles have their basis in reason.

Each man can consciously recognize them as true. Most religions fundamentally separate the role of man and woman; in fact in Britain in the 19th Century there was a widespread belief that women were more devout than men.

The predominance of women was in fact greater in the Anglican and Catholic churches, and religion weighed heavily in their lives.

In families, it was the mother who took care of the children, arranging for baptism andgiving them religious instruction. Catholicism is still, however, the second largest Christian faith in England.

Among other religions, apart from Christianity, Islam stands out with two and a half million followers (especially in London) and also Judaism, Sikhism and Hinduism.

Pagan religions are expanding and increasing rapidly, without excluding, of course, given the British tradition, the neo-pagan practice of Wikka.

In the United Kingdom as well, in the country that wants to make tolerance the core of its public life - Benedict XVI warned during his trip to Scotland and England - "there are some who argue that the voice of religion should be silenced or at the most relegated to the private sphere.

There aresome who argue that the public celebration of feasts such as Christmas should be discouraged, according to the questionable belief that it might somehow offend those who belong to other religions or no religion.”

One of the things that makes British religion different from that of Wales and Scotland, is the predominance of Anglicanism.

Indeed, internal pluralism has been one of its main features.

But another factor to bear in mind, is the relative independence of the Anglican clergy with respect to both lay people and bishops.

In England, church attendance was relatively lower in large cities (with an average attendance of 50% of the population), than in rural areas (71%).

In the 19th Century for example, Anglicanism was evidently strong in the south and east, and relatively weak in the north and east of the country; a dense network of parishes was then set up in the most prosperous agricultural regions that could support a larger number of priests (uncomfortable mountainous regions were therefore neglected).

Iran and religious minorities

2012-02-03T00:14:00.011Z

The Judiciary System of the Islamic Republic of Iran condemned 597 Iranian citizens to a total of 302 years of social rights deprivation, while representatives of religious minorities received sentences amounting to a total of 3776 months in prison.

A file of the ‘Documents and Statistics’ Division of Iran Human Rights (IHR) analyzed the situation of human rights under the regime of the ayatollah in 2011.

A Christian news agency, Mohabat News, made it public.

The file states: “Obviously there are many obstacles for anyone trying to access this type of data since the Islamic Republic of Iran does not allow activists and human rights defenders to do their job, that of gathering information on basic human rights violations. Moreover there is no freedom of the press and reports of this kind are denied any validity”.

As a result the organizations that deal with these problems can only investigate a small part of the numerous human rights violations in the country.

Reports based on the findings are then drawn up with as much precision as possible.

But even with all the difficulties and obstacles, it is possible to detect certain tendencies, specifically the tendency of the regime to put more and more pressure on religious minorities, not just Christians, but any religion that differs from the Shia version of Islam, though mainly this pressure is directed at the ‘non-traditional’ Protestant Christian religions.

A rough estimate shows that 2751 cases were reported in 2011. According to human rights experts, that corresponded to one million and 120,000 violations of human rights convention articles that Teheran had agreed to respect.

The report states there were 498 death sentences and 529 people were officially killed in different provinces of the country in the last year.

Moreover the Iranian justice system sentenced 597 people to a total of 302 years of social rights deprivation.

This is true for the entire population without any distinction. However if we look closely at the religious minorities, which occupy a separate section in the estimate, very interesting data emerges.

The number of cases studied which involved representatives of religious minorities amounted to 214. This meant that last year 378 people were arrested. In at least nine instances religious minorities were prevented from carrying out religious ceremonies they were preparing to celebrate.

There have been four beatings, thirteen cases of vandalism or the closing down of shops and properties belonging to members of religious minorities, 30 cases of assault on staff employed by members of religious minorities and on three occasions, ceremonial burials of people that had disappeared were blocked.

On 18 occasions members of religious minorities were precluded from conducting financial transactions and in 106 cases they were summoned to security or judicial authorities’ offices.

In addition, there have been reports of 186 violations of human rights at the expense of representatives of religious minorities .

A hundred and sixteen representatives of religious minorities have been sentenced to a total of 3572 months in jail, 204 months of suspended jail sentence, 25 million Rial in fines, 250 lashes and 1716 months of social rights deprivation.

In the 214 cases that appear in the report, 274 violations at the expense of religious minorities were found. These violations involved 876 people.

The Baha’i are the most affected with 100 cases reported, the Dervish come second with 46 cases and Christians third with 29, Sunni Muslims come just after the Christians with 26 cases and the Ahl-e-haqs last with 6.

In percentage the Baha’i have 47% of the cases, the Dervish 21%, Christians 14% and the Sunni 12%. The Salafis also appear in the picture with 2% and Ahl-e-haq with 3%, other minorities have 1%.

The report according to those who drafted it reveals only a fraction of a much larger picture, the picture of human rights violations in Iran at the expense of religious minorities.

Catalogue of Azerbaijani manuscripts to be created in Vatican archives

2012-02-03T00:13:00.010Z

A catalogue of Azerbaijani manuscripts will be created in the Vatican archives, one of the largest in the world, head of the Department of Information and Translation of the Institute of Manuscripts under the Azerbaijani National Academy of Sciences and doctor of historical sciences Farid Alakbarli has said.

He said that despite there being ancient manuscripts and books from Azerbaijan in the Vatican, there is no catalogue.

Therefore, a catalogue is necessary to classify and publish them, but the first stage is to find them in the Vatican archives.

"Until now, the Vatican had no idea about the existence of the Azerbaijani manuscripts," he said. "The manuscripts are grouped by language, rather than by country."

He said that the manuscripts are divided into three groups.

Those written in Persian were included in the Persian Catalogue, those written in Arabic in the Arabic Catalogue and in Turkish in the Turkish Catalogue.

"The compiled lists of the manuscripts are now known and recognised as Azerbaijani," he said.

"This is a very important event."

He stressed that the copies of more than 500 archival documents including letters, reports and 60 manuscripts were brought from the Vatican to Azerbaijan.

Archbishop Timothy Dolan's mother shares pride in her prince of the church

2012-02-03T00:12:00.011Z

Shirley Dolan is preparing for her 10th trip to Rome — her “grand finale,” she calls it — and her blue eyes twinkle when she talks about the reason.

To New Yorkers and Catholics around the world, her eldest son will soon be Cardinal Timothy Dolan, one of the red-hatted princes of the church.

To this sweet, gracious 83-year-old Midwestern granny, he’s just Tim — the doting boy who

cooks her scrambled eggs on his trips home to rural Missouri.

Sitting in a cozy living-room armchair, she breaks into a smile and practically glows as she talks about the first of her five children.

“I’m proud of him as I am the rest of them,” she said.

“I'm proud of him because he knew what he wanted to do and he shot for it, and he got there. And he’s so contented.”

The night before the announcement that Pope Benedict XVI would be elevating Dolan, the phone in his mom’s modest two-bedroom home in Washington, Mo., rang.

It was Tim.

She wasn’t surprised to hear from him since he checks in at least twice a week, and the conversation began like most others.

“Hi Mom, I’m OK, how are you doing?” Dolan said before quizzing his mother on the extended clan, from his oldest sister Debbie down to his 13 nephews and nieces and a great-niece he calls “Princess Nora.”

They talked for 10 minutes before he casually spilled the beans.

“Oh Mom, by the way, the Pope will be announcing tomorrow that I will be made cardinal,” he said.

“I’m so proud of you,” Shirley told him.

“I’m proud of you too, Mom,” he replied.

If Dolan underplays his achievements, his mother is unapologetically his biggest champion.

“I really didn’t think it would be this soon, but I can’t say I was surprised,” she said.

“I knew he would go all the way. Sometimes I think: ‘How could this have happened?’ but then I straighten myself out and say, ‘Well, there were some blessings there.’”

With a little chuckle, she addressed the question on the minds of many U.S. Catholics: Could Dolan become the first American Pope? The closer it gets, the more possible it seems,” she said.

“Anything’s possible but it would be very far-fetched, I believe. We’ve never had an American Pope and I just can’t see that happening. But they’d be wise if they did,” she added mischievously.

But first things first.

Dolan will be made a cardinal at the Vatican on Feb. 18, and his mother will be close at hand.

She is traveling to Rome with 22 relatives and has already bought a new outfit for the occasion.

“I just had to use my imagination,” she said. “I just got a plain old dress.”

Archbishop speaks against immigration program

2012-02-03T00:11:00.008Z

A federal program that checks the immigration status of people booked into local jails is tearing immigrant families apart, the head of the Roman Catholic Church in San Francisco said at an interfaith gathering Saturday.

"We cannot allow the pain of family separation and the fear amongst our communities to continue," Archbishop George Niederauer said in comments directed against the federal Secure Communities program. "We need to respect the dignity of all our sisters and brothers, undocumented or not."

Under the program, the fingerprints of individuals who are booked into jails are checked against the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency's database.

Those found to be in the country illegally face deportation.

More than 1,700 jurisdictions participate in the program, which has resulted in the deportation of more than 110,000 immigrants convicted of crimes, according to ICE.

But critics say the program has also ensnared people with no prior criminal convictions or those arrested for relatively minor violations.

"This program results in our brothers and sisters being sent to a detention center because they were stopped for as little as a traffic violation," said Moises Agudo, a member of the San Francisco Archdiocese who also spoke at Saturday' event.

The gathering at St. Mary's Cathedral was attended by hundreds of people, many of them Hispanic immigrants.

ICE says it prioritizes the removal of illegal immigrants who pose the greatest threat to public safety and those who have repeatedly violated immigration laws.

Of the more than 110,000 immigrants deported under the program, over 39,000 were convicted of aggravated felonies such as murder, rape and the sexual abuse of children, according to ICE.

But some cities, counties and states are not convinced.

San Francisco and Santa Clara County have sought permission from the federal government to opt out.

And California considered legislation last year that would let local communities participate in the program only if they choose to do so through a resolution.

The bill was sponsored by Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, D-San Francisco, who attended Saturday's gathering and said he plans to introduce similar legislation within 30 days.

"I believe my bill will reform the ICE act and the injustices they have perpetrated on all our people," Ammiano said. "Together we can do this, together we are powerful."

Pope's peace doves slow to taste freedom

2012-02-03T00:10:00.006Z

A pair of doves seemed to prefer the company of Pope Benedict XVI to the great outdoors on Sunday when he had trouble convincing them to take flight in a traditional peace gesture.

The first dove hesitated on the windowsill of the pope's Vatican apartment for a long spell before flying off, while the second flew back into the room before flying out again.

"They want to stay in the pope's home," Benedict said, flanked by two children.

The traditional release of doves, which the pope said was intended "as a sign of peace for the city of Rome and for the entire world," takes place each year at the end of "peace month" organised by Catholic Action Rome, a lay group that seeks to boost Catholic influence on society.

The group stages a "peace caravan" through the streets of Rome, ending at St Peter's Square at the Vatican.

The dove release came at the end of the pope's weekly recitation of the Angelus prayer to pilgrims gathered in the square.

Archbishop is 'intolerant and out of touch' on same-sex marriage

2012-02-03T00:09:00.007Z

Archbishop of York Dr John Sentamu is being heavily criticised for opposing government plans to legalise same-sex civil marriage.

Both religious and secular campaigners for 'equal marriage' say that he is wrong to try to legislate against those who hold a different view to him.

Civil rights activist Peter Tachell, who spoke at the Greenbelt Christian arts festival in 2010, says the Archbishop is insinuating that the government is behaving in a dictatorial manner over the issue, while actually trying to force his own personal view on others in the form of discrimination.

A change in the law would allow civic and faith bodies to be involved in same-sex marriages if they wish, but not force those like Dr Sentamu who do not. But the archbishop's own preference for a continued ban would stop others going ahead.

Mr Tachell declared: "The Archbishop is unelected, whereas the government is democratically elected and a clear majority of the public support same-sex civil marriages."

Nearly two-thirds of the British public say the law on civil marriage should not discriminate.

A Populus poll, published in The Times newpaper in June 2009, found that 61 per cent of the public believe that: "Gay couples should have an equal right to get married, not just to have civil partnerships."

Just 33 per cent disagreed.

Mr Tatchell continued: "It is not a loving Christian value to demand legal discrimination against gay couples and to treat them as inferior, second class citizens. The government is proposing to legalise same-sex marriages in register offices only. This will not affect churches. The Archbishop has no valid grounds for objecting to civil registrations that will ensure marriage equality for all couples. The vast majority of the British people, including many Christians, support the right of same-sex couples to get married. Dr Sentamu is intolerant and out of touch. His stance colludes with homophobia. It brings shame and dishonour to the Church of England."

"The Archbishop's insulting, disparaging attitude towards lesbian and gay people is evidenced by the way he dismisses loving same-sex civil partnerships as mere friendships. His demand ... is very similar to the arguments that were in the past used by the church to justify slavery, colonialism and the denial of votes to women," concluded Mr Tatchell.

The Equal Love campaign is seeking to overturn the twin legal bans on same-sex civil marriages and opposite-sex civil partnerships.

It played a major role in persuading the government to commit to the legalisation of same-sex civil marriages, and currently has an appeal against the twin bans under consideration by the European Court of Human Rights.

The campaign is backed by a range of Christian organisations, including LGCM and the thinktank Ekklesia.

www.equallove.org.uk

Melifont Abbey celebrates ordination of Brother Joseph Ryan

2012-02-03T00:08:00.013Z

The Cistercian Community in Mellifont in County Louth welcomed another man to the priesthood last weekend.

Cardinal Seán Brady ordained Br Joe Ryan to the priesthood at Mellifont Abbey at Collon County Louth on Sunday January 29.

Brother Joseph who has worked at Mellifont Abbey for a number of years, was ordained a deacon by Cardinal Sean Brady on November 1 2011.

Speaking at Brother Josesph’s ordination as a deacon, Cardinal Archbishop Brady said that he was, “delighted that Brother Joseph Ryan is being ordained deacon so that in his preaching he can share with his congregations the fruits of his life of prayer and meditation and so lead them into deeper faith and communion with Christ and with one another. We ask God to bless him and all deacons.”

Originally from the village of Littleton near Thurles in County Tipperary brother Joseph was born Larry Ryan in 1956 one of a family of nine, three girls and six boys.

Larry was born into a staunch hurling family and is the son of former Tipperary hurler the late Larry Ryan who died in 1995 and is the nephew of former Tipperary Senior hurling Captains Johnny and Paddy Ryan.

His mother Margaret Ryan, along with his siblings, attended Sundays ordination.

After attending Saint Kevin's Littleton National School and Thurles Vocational, he later worked as a fitter in John Dwyer's in Dundrum before his calling to the religious life.

The Community in Mellifont confirmed that Brother Joseph would continue to work with the monastic community in Mellifont in their ministry in Louth and surrounding areas.

Meanwhile Cardinal Brady's office confirmed that there are currently ten seminarians studying for the priesthood from the Archdiocese of Armagh.

Politician and congregation founder beatified in Austria

2012-02-03T00:07:00.010Z

A married woman and politician, who founded a Catholic religious congregation was beatified in Austria last Sunday.

The extraordinary woman, who began life as a Jew, converted to Catholicism, had a family, a political career and founded a congregation of nuns, is held up as a model for evangelisation by the leader of the Catholic Church in Austria, Cardinal Christoph Schönborn.

Hildegard Burjan was born in 1883 into a liberal Jewish family in Germany.

She studied literature, philosophy and sociology in Switzerland and Berlin and obtained a Ph.D. in 1908.

The year before, 1907, she married the Hungarian entrepreneur Alexander Burjan.

In 1909 she was surprisingly healed from a grave sickness, which brought about her conversion to Catholicism.

She moved with her husband to Vienna, where she had her only daughter Lisa. It was a difficult pregnancy, which threatened her life a number of times. Her doctors advised her to abort the baby, but she categorically refused.

In Vienna, she got to know a group of Catholics who wanted to put Pope Leo XIII's social encyclical Rerum Novarum into practise.

Hildegard started to interest herself in the social issues of the day, in particular the working conditions and spiritual welfare of poor women and children.

In 1912, she founded the Society of Christian Women Working at Home and in 1918 the Society for Social Help.

A year later, on October 4, 1919, she founded the congregation of sisters named Caritas Socialis.

The order cares especially for women and children in difficult conditions and for elderly and terminally ill people.

It plays a major role in the hospice movement in Austria.

Beginning in 1918, Hildegard Burjan became politically active in the Christian-Social Party.

In 1919, she was elected to parliament and became the first woman member of the Parliament of Austria, campaigning in particular on issues such as equal wages for men and women and social security for the working class as well as social and spiritual care for poor families.

Rancorous anti-Semitism forced her out of politics and she devoted herself to the congregation she founded, Caritas Socialis. She died in 1933.

In 1963, the then Archbishop of Vienna, Cardinal Franz König began her beatification process.

In 2001, the Holy See recognised a miracle attributed to her and in 2007, she was declared Venerable.

Cardinal Angelo Amato, the Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, presided at the solemn beatification ceremony, which took place in St Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna.

Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, leader of the Catholic Church in Austria, said the former MP is a model for his Mission First evangelisation project.

Evangelisation, “is all about deeds. At such times we need models and Hildegard Burjan is just such a model.”

How church, Castros learned to coexist

2012-02-03T00:06:00.010Z

Enrique López Oliva remembers the days when Cuban Catholics hung their religious icons in their grandmother’s rooms, hoping that Fidel Castro’s communist government would not dare punish an “abuelita.”

In the 1970s and ’80s, practicing almost any religion was a stain on Cubans’ records that could land them in prison and block promotions at work or admission to the right university studies for themselves and their children.

In turn, Pope John XXIII excommunicated Castro in 1962, some priests denied communion to his militias and three served as chaplains for the CIA-backed Bay of Pigs invasion that tried to topple Castro.

But church-state relations have come a long way since those days, and Pope Benedict XVI will find a much warmer atmosphere when he visits Cuba March 26-28 to mark the 400th anniversary of the discovery of the Our Lady of Charity statue at El Cobre, the island’s patron saint.

“The government sees the church as a counterpart, someone it can talk to,” said exiled Catholic activist Pablo Alfonso. Church officials now are allowed to run scores of once-banned charity and educational programs, to fix up some of the churches that were crumbling and to import religious and humanitarian items.

Raúl Castro has met several times with Cardinal Jaime Ortega y Alamino, agreed to free 52 jailed dissidents after one such meeting in 2010 and accepted his plea to call off mobs harassing the dissident Ladies in White.

“The church has recovered much of the space it lost in the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s,” said López Oliva, a retired church history professor at the University of Havana.

Church and state had a brief honeymoon after Fidel Castro’s revolution toppled the Batista dictatorship in 1959 and promised social justice and democracy.

Bishops applauded Castro laws giving farm lands to peasants and better homes to the urban poor.

But hostilities broke out one day before the Bay of Pigs assault in 1961, when Castro declared his revolution would follow the socialist path to communism.

“The conflict that erupts between church and revolution — in fact between parts of society and revolution — comes out of Castro’s turn to communism,” said Alfonso, a journalist and former political prisoner who wrote a book on Castro-church relations.

Castro never broke diplomatic relations with the Vatican, but clamped harsh controls on the island’s church. No priests were executed, and he once said he wanted not martyrs but “apostates” — those who forsake their religion.

Franciscan priest Miguel Loredo was sentenced in 1966 to 15 years in prison for harboring a former seminarian and alleged fugitive from the police, later identified as a Castro intelligence agent on a provocation mission.

“The church was repressed, more than persecuted,” Juan Clark, a Miami-Dade College professor emeritus of sociology who has authored two books on the Cuban church, told El

Nuevo Herald.

Castro eventually seized all church schools and administrative buildings, shuttered all its publications and nationalized its presses, banned street processions and blocked church officials’ access to the government’s monopoly on the mass media.

He cancelled Christmas as a holiday in 1969. The national constitution approved in 1976 declared the government officially atheist.

Church leaders and activists began to come out of their shell in 1986, with a document issued at the end of a week-long gathering known as the National Cuban Church Encounter.

Although it defended many of the church’s past policies, the document urged reconciliation and declared that socialism “helped us to have more regard for human beings … and showed us how to give, because of justice, what we used to give as charity.”

That document “is considered the most important reflection by the Cuban church in its 500-year history,” López Oliva told El Nuevo Herald by phone from his home in Havana.

Around that time, Castro also was reexamining his own positions on religion during chats with Brazilian liberation theologian Frai Betto, and a wobbly Soviet Union was cutting back on its subsidies to the island, estimated at $4 to $5 billion a year.

The frigid waters of church-state relations began to warm up.

In 1991, the Communist Party erased its atheist canon and allowed believers to join.

The government allowed the church to open an island chapter of its humanitarian branch, Caritas, in that same year, and to organize several street processions in 1992.

Pope John Paul II appointed Ortega as Cardinal in 1994 — Cuba’s first since Arteaga died — and Castro visited Rome in 1996 to invite the Polish-born and anti-communist pontiff to visit Cuba. He restored Christmas in 1997.

In preparation for the pope’s momentous visit the following Jan. 21-25, the Cuban church regained more ground, with permissions to import needed materials and for Ortega to speak on government radio and television.

Church weddings, baptisms and attendance at masses shot up.

And John Paul’s nationally televised masses across the island drew hundreds of thousands, including Castro — even though there has been no sign that his excommunication has been lifted.

Today, with the 85-year-old Fidel Castro out of power and his more pragmatic brother Raúl facing a stagnant economy, the Cuban church and government have developed a deeper relationship.

“The church is now a partner with Raúl in the search for a more productive, more effective system,” said Clark, “and creating a favorable atmosphere for a transition without violence.”

In an island where no new churches had been built since 1959, the government allowed the construction of a new seminary and green-lighted the renovation of several churches — mostly paid with donations from abroad.

It also made it easier for foreign-born priests to serve on the island, church officials said.

Almost every large diocese now runs educational programs on topics like computing and languages, as well as free soup kitchens and medical dispensaries and libraries. Some have weekly raffles of food and other items.

The relationship between Castro and Ortega has clearly extended to sensitive political issues.

The San Juan de Letran convent in Havana has been hosting frank discussions on the need for change between Catholic thinkers and government officials like Eusebio Leal, the influential “mayor” of Old Havana.

After Ortega met with Castro in 2010, government-organized mobs stopped the worst harassments of the Ladies in White in Havana, though efforts by the women to stage street protests elsewhere remain blocked.

Ortega also made the announcement in 2010 that Castro had agreed to free 52 dissidents jailed since 2003. Some dissidents criticized the cardinal when most of the 52 — about 60 others freed — agreed to go directly from prison to exile in Spain.

Clark said he believes the cardinal has been too weak in some of his dealings with the Castro government.

In the end, added Clark, a church that has been around for 2,000 years will certainly survive its patch of rocky relations with the Castro governments.

“The church is looking for spaces slowly, without wounding anyone,” he said. “It has time to wait.”

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/01/28/v-fullstory/2613251/how-church-castros-learned-to.html#storylink=cpy

Dutch Socialists want inquiry into church sex abuse

2012-02-03T00:05:00.010Z

The Socialist Party believes that further research into sex abuse in the Catholic Church in the Netherlands and the role played by the government is necessary.

The research should eventually result in a parliamentary inquiry, in which witnesses can be heard under oath.

SP MP Sharon Gesthuizen made these statements on Sunday in current affairs television programme Buitenhof.

Parliament will discuss the Deetman Commission’s report on church sex abuse.

Ms Gesthuizen says former minister Wim Deetman has done a good job, but argues that some issues have received insufficient attention, such as the abuse of women and their position in the church.

She also wants further research into why the abuse could take place on such a large scale and continue for for such a long period, and what action the government has taken.

The Socialist Party says MPs should be on top of the issue; Ms Gesthuizen argues that that’s what the victims demand from parliament.

Annie Murphy: The woman who rocked the church - 20 years on (Contribution)

2012-02-03T00:04:00.038Z

When I meet her, she's about to leave home on an errand.

She's wearing black tennis shoes, turned-up chinos, an old black coat and a tall straw hat that covers the curlers in her hair.

My first impression is of some sort of wren-boy-meets-bag-lady.

There's no hint of the woman who, 20 years ago, scandalised Catholic Ireland with her tale of forbidden love and broken rules.

That woman re-emerges a few hours later when we ask if she'll have her photo taken.

The curly hair is shaken out, a scarf is knotted simply around her neck, a streak of pink lipstick goes on and there she is: Annie Murphy, the attractive American divorcee who, in 1992, exposed Bishop Eamon Casey as the father of her son Peter, marking what many still see as the first big scandal to hit the Catholic Church in Ireland.

It's a scandal that now seems innocuous in light of the numerous cases of clerical child abuse that subsequently emerged.

Peter McKay, the New York criminal lawyer who negotiated a $150,000 settlement for Annie from Bishop Casey in 1990 and the deal for her 1993 book -- 'Forbidden Fruit: The True Story of My Secret Love for the Bishop of Galway' -- has told me it will be hard not to like her.

She is, he says, a mix of New England intellect and sharp Irish wit inherited from Irish grandparents, with a lively, original mind, a gregarious nature and charm.

McKay hasn't set eyes on her for decades but he has hit the nail on the head.

Her natural wit and turn of phrase must have impressed Bishop Casey when he met her in 1973, fresh off the plane from a miscarriage, a divorce and a messed-up childhood, all bundled up into an attractive 25-year-old package that had been sent to Ireland by her father to recover from her life so far.

A second cousin once removed from Bishop Casey, Annie had previously met him when she was a seven-year-old girl and he a young priest.

Now, I have travelled to southern California, within 100 miles of the Mexican border, to see if Annie will break the long silence on her affair with Bishop Casey.

In April, it will be 20 years since she revealed that the successful, powerful, larger-than-life bishop had fathered her son and had, for 18 years, been making payments to her, some with money from diocesan funds.

Annie was vilified for her actions, most notably on 'The Late Late Show' in 1993 but also on 'The Phil Donahue Show' in America.

Bishop Casey's faithful followers couldn't forgive her -- following the scandal, he had to resign and live in exile in Central America before eventually returning to Ireland in 2006.

I expect her to be cold, threatened, perhaps even aggressive, but she is none of those things. It's like turning up on a friendly aunt's doorstep. There's no big deal.

"You've come all this way," she says. "Come in. Let me tidy up a bit, let me get you a drink, you must be tired after your journey".

She had been out to pick up her 1993 Ford Escort wagon from the garage. If the car had been at home, she says, she might have escaped in it to avoid talking to me, but c'est la vie, you're here now, let's talk.

Previous media reports of Annie's new life in picket-fenced Californian suburbia prove inaccurate. I meet her standing on the doorstep of the mobile home she shares with her partner, artist Thaddeus Heinchon, whom she met 14 years ago through her sister Mary.

They have been together for 12 years. Their home now is a trailer park situated right next to a noisy freeway in a sunny, smoggy town east of LA. Mobile homes, or coaches, as they call them, sell for $50,000-$64,000 in this small, well-kept park with its lemon and orange trees.

Annie moved here with Thaddeus almost seven years ago to escape the cold, snowy Connecticut winters and because Thaddeus has relations nearby.

If they had moved two years later, she says, they could have picked up a foreclosure for a good price.

Of course, it's not the best place to have landed -- they would like to live somewhere a bit better, and Thaddeus would like to live in a house, but it's fine, it's okay.

At 63, Annie says she has found a tremendous sense of peace here; she says she is the happiest she has ever been in her life.

The neighbours don't know that the woman in the straw hat once had a scandalous affair with a Catholic bishop and, even if they did, they probably wouldn't care.

She welcomes me into a small, basic living room. The green carpet doesn't match the pale-blue curtains, which are constantly drawn.

There's a sense that none of that stuff really matters. Getting through each day calmly and happily is more important.

Annie talks instantly about her health problems: arthritis in her hands from years of working as a temp typing 110 words a minute; fibromyalgia or chronic fatigue, a sleep disorder.

She's had a repeat of the curable basal-cell carcinoma, which previously attacked her nose, and talks about a mysterious illness in her 50s which saw her lose 30lbs, some of her memory and "the ability to do things".

Perhaps it was a light stroke, she thinks, although it was never diagnosed as such.

One of the effects, she says, was to turn her into a nicer, calmer person, perhaps the person she was always meant to be.

Shelves are stacked with old video cassettes and packets of potato chips. Walls are adorned with Thaddeus's art work: exotic landscapes and nude drawings.

It's a million miles from Inch beach and the summer house in Kerry where Annie and Bishop Casey embarked on an 18-month affair.

It's a simpler, more secluded life. They run errands and go to the local cafés and art galleries.

For the next two hours, we skim over the surface of her life, her past.

How, I ask her, does it all seem now, almost 40 years after she began a relationship with a man who was a bishop?

"It seems surreal," she says. "Like another world, as earlier events often do once you get older.

"When Eamon picked me up from the airport that day in 1973, a light went on, there was a spark, that was it. It was as if you believe in reincarnation and we had just picked up from a previous life, as if I had known him all my life. I had never known anything like that or known anyone like Eamon," she explains. "He was electric, he drove like a lunatic but I didn't feel unsafe, although I gave him a very hard time over it."

Annie describes the bishop as "a show man".

"He wasn't shy in talking about the things he was good at. He used to say he was an excellent dancer, that his dream was to go to Hollywood and make Fred Astaire look silly," she says.

"Maybe he was kidding about that, but he used to say that, 'You know I'm an excellent dancer Annie, I could make Astaire look silly'.

"With Eamon, it was collar on, collar off," she explains. "That's how he detached himself from the situation."

Some of the most tawdry aspects of their affair involved late-night trips to a Dublin quarry to have sex after Annie had moved to the capital. Bishop Casey all the time worried that the Garda would find him with his pants around his ankles.

There were tales of canoodling in the back of cars while close associates of the bishop sat in the front.

There was the strong pressure that he exerted on Annie to have her child adopted when she got pregnant six months into the affair; his assertion that as an unwed mother, she was in no fit state to look after a child; the denial that he was the father.

"Looking back on it, and I probably shouldn't say this about a bishop, but I felt Eamon was ripe to jump out, he wanted it," says Annie.

"The Church was his cornerstone. He loved people and helping people and he had no regrets about being in the priesthood, but, all the same, he wanted it. I never met anyone so stubborn in all my life," she continues. "Eamon did a lot of good, but he was incredibly stubborn -- he wouldn't meet you half way. He was able to separate parts of his life, his indoctrination as a priest was strong."

Annie says that she was different back then. "I was carrying a lot of baggage and if Eamon was going to get caught up in that baggage, he was going to get into trouble. Let's be honest, this was about someone who was pissed off. I was a lunatic at times. I had a streak of anger in me like a streak down a skunk's back; I had anger and resentments. That anger was usually quiet but when it went off, it was explosive. At some point, something lights the flame on that anger and you go out on a limb, you burn the tree and the limbs and anyone who's up there with you," she continues.

"In those days, if I had to stand you down, I wouldn't be able to stop -- I would walk into hell with you."

Annie admits that she had a bad temper. "I was probably pre-disposed to anger through growing up with an alcoholic mother. I didn't have a good relationship with her. She was nasty. She didn't mean it -- it was the alcohol."

The youngest of four children, Annie describes growing up in an idyllic rural landscape. Her father was a doctor and the family had 50 acres of land in Reading, Connecticut.

There were stables, barn parties, friends and family all around. Then it began to evaporate: her grandparents died, her brothers Johnny and Peter went off to college, her older sister, Mary, was sent to a private school run by nuns.

Her mother, who was 41 when she had Annie, began drinking heavily.

"It was a lonely place with no relatives around and by the time I was 10, she was well on her way to being an alcoholic," Annie recalls.

"I had to calm her down, revive her, watch her. Our land had a lake and a swamp -- she could go out the door and fall in there and no one would ever know".

By the time she met Bishop Casey, there was a bitterness in Annie about Catholicism, mixed with the feeling that she had been let down by the family she loved. It wasn't a good combination.

"I was brought up in a Catholic family," she says, "but I grew up in a Protestant town where people didn't carry around that Catholic guilt, so without my relatives around I lost that feeling for Catholicism. My father had a tremendous faith, he used to say the rosary each day. My mother just had a tremendous fear: she loved the saints and the Virgin Mary, she had statues around the house, but she used to say she would burn in hell for taking birth control."

"Later," says Annie, "she said Catholicism was nonsense, that when you die, you die; nobody had ever come back to talk about the afterlife."

Annie feels that Catholicism left the family.

"I think we were a bunch of atheists. Peter is an atheist, or at least he wonders -- he was brought up to think like that by my mother. As a very young child, I had this vision of burning in hell that scared the hell out of me. I started playing with matches because I wanted to know what it would be like to burn in hell. I thought Catholicism was all lop-sided; in first grade, I told a nun it was nonsense," she says. "So when I met Eamon, I had no sensitivity towards his role as a Bishop -- I couldn't see the big deal."

In her book, Annie wrote that if you tasted wickedness and could endure the shame of it, it became like a drug that you wanted more and more of.

"If the Church told you something was so bad, I figured there had to be something very good about it. I was the kind of person who had to find out why it was so bad. Yes, I think there was something slightly bad in me at that time. Something wasn't right. There was an element of wickedness. I did want to test, to challenge Catholicism. Eamon used to read religious books to me, which didn't make sense -- he knew I had left the Church at 17," she adds.

At the time that her book was published, Annie's then partner Arthur Pennell said she was still in love with Bishop Casey, that she would marry him in a flash, even almost 20 years after the affair had ended.

"Every time she met Casey, even in the early 1990s," says lawyer Peter McKay, "it was like going right back to the start for Annie; nothing had changed between them. Two things were clear to me at that time: that Annie Murphy was telling the truth about her affair with Eamon Casey, and that he was a big love; the love of her life."

Notwithstanding the fact that she has a partner whom she clearly loves, I ask Annie if she still loves Eamon Casey, still has feelings for him. "No," she says. "That's gone, that's in the past."

Often, her sentences trail off, as if trailing into that past.

"If we had stayed together somehow, it would have burned out or we would have torn each apart. He would have to have been owned by too many people and I don't think I would have been good at dealing with that. I'm with a man now who's kind and who loves me. I think that if I had met Thad when I was 18, I wouldn't have let him go."

Annie feels that Thaddeus would have fitted in well with her family.

"He looks a bit like my father and my father would have adored him.

Did she love Eamon Casey, I ask her. "Yes."

Did he love her? "I think Eamon liked me a lot. We had a lot of fun together".

All these years later, it doesn't quite sound like big enduring love and she shows no sadness when talking about the bishop, no hint of longing.

If anything, there's a tiny flash of mischief in her eyes when she says: "Eamon is in a nursing home, you know -- he got dementia. The last time Peter rang him up, he said, 'Who are you?'

When Peter replied, 'It's your son', he said, 'How dare you, I don't have a son, don't be ridiculous!' His mind is back in the seminary now."

Bishop Casey was admitted to a nursing home in Co Clare in August 2011 and is said by one old friend to be happy and doing well.

Now aged 84, he is thought to have suffered a series of strokes. Unofficially retired from the Church, he lived in rural Galway following his return to Ireland in the mid-Noughties, but has never realised his dream of saying Mass again.

The only time Annie's eyes seem to well up is when she talks about Arthur Pennell, her partner at the time of the revelations of her affair.

More than 20 years her senior, they broke up after her book was published and he has since passed away.

"We don't really know what happened to Arthur," she says. "When we split up, I got him a place in Florida. I sent him money, but then we didn't know where he was. He died."

The pair met at an AA meeting when Annie's son Peter was a young child and they were together for well over a decade.

From reading her book, it seems clear that Arthur, a Second World War veteran, was instrumental in revealing the affair.

"Arthur was an unusual man," she says. "He was part Scottish, part American-Indian. He was a carpenter by trade but should have been a lawyer -- he knew the law back to front and front to back."

By 1990, when Annie enlisted Peter McKay to seek a financial settlement from Bishop Casey, pressure was coming from all angles.

"I wanted Eamon to know his son. By then, Peter was 16; he also wanted his father to acknowledge him. He had known Eamon was his father from the age of nine or 10 -- my mother told him. Arthur was irascible but he loved Peter like his own son -- he thought he was a decent, kind boy and that mattered to him," she says.

Of the revelations, Annie says: "For Arthur, it was about righting a wrong. It was also about class warfare -- he was a poor man who worked for the wealthy. He said Eamon Casey was the 'have', I was the 'have-not' and that it wasn't right. He wouldn't let it go. He went to see Eamon in Ireland. When he came back, he said I had to take Eamon on, that I would have trouble with him --he was impenetrable, not a bad man, but not able to move from his position".

There was also big financial pressure. Annie and Arthur had invested in a number of properties and lost their shirts on one.

By April 1992, when Annie had looked for more money from Bishop Casey and informed her attorney that she was going to expose him, the bailiffs were at the door.

The rest is history. Annie and Arthur contacted an Irish newspaper with details of the affair.

In May 1992, Bishop Casey resigned and fled the country.

He would later admit that he was the father of Peter Murphy and apologise for the great wrong he had done him and Annie.

Annie famously appeared on 'The Late Late Show' in the spring of 1993, following publication of her book. It was a career-defining moment for Gay Byrne, who said to her: "If Peter is half the man his father is, he'll be doing well."

She recalls her reaction. "I simply replied, 'Well, Mr Byrne, I'm not half bad myself'. Then I said good day and left the set. There was nothing more to say after that, we couldn't get nasty on public television. Also, it meant I got to have the last word, which I wanted. After the show, Mr Byrne apologised for being hard on me, but it didn't matter -- I wasn't angry. I told him I had nothing more to say to him -- there was no problem, we had both won. I think Mr Byrne had read the book and thought it was over the top. Also, he liked Eamon Casey," she adds.

Peter McKay recalls Annie's mood as "elated" following her 'Late Late' show appearance.

"There was so much trepidation about going on an Irish chat show to face the Irish public and prove that her story was true. After that show, I think people who previously didn't believe her story found it credible. Gay Byrne apologised to us after the programme, but there was nothing to apologise for -- he had his finger on the pulse of Irish opinion."

If anything, Annie says, 'The Late Late Show' grilling was mild compared with the hostile reaction she received on 'The Phil Donahue Show'. I thought I was going to be attacked," she says.

"But that's okay, that show toughened me up. I think I had a lot of ego mixed with an inferiority complex and that show shot down my ego. In a way, it brought me to my senses. I had gone through the whole process of exposing my relationship with Eamon and of writing the book with Peter de Rosa, and after that show, if I could have walked away from the whole thing I would have, but it was too late. It was all out there. Someone in the audience said I was doing great harm to others and I remembered that was one of the things my father had brought me up with: 'First, do no harm to others.' I suddenly thought I was doing a lot of harm to a lot of people," she says.

Does she regret exposing the bishop?

"Sure, I regret exposing Eamon because I realise that we are all fragile. Each and every one of us has some fragility, even Eamon, who was the most stubborn man I ever met in my life. Many things that I did at that point in my life were wrong. I took justice into my own hands and I regret that because two wrongs don't make a right. The Catholic Church was Eamon's cornerstone and that was taken away from him. Later, I told Peter to read some books about Catholicism. He came back and said that Catholicism was a heavy-duty trip and that Eamon didn't deserve to have it taken away from him," she adds.

Peter de Rosa has said that Annie earned 250,000 Irish pounds from the book and she doesn't deny the figure.

"Yes, you look at the money but, in the end, I didn't look that much at the money. I felt crappy after the whole thing. It didn't sit well with me. I felt I had said too much, that I should have been more careful. When you get money like that, it makes you feel dirty, you want to get rid of it. I gave a lot of it to Peter. I gave some to Arthur and I kept about £100,000. But I didn't do anything useful with it, I didn't buy a home with it or anything," she explains.

As for book, Annie is philosophical. "I can't disown the book, it's my book and I take responsibility for it. In ways it was good, I think it opened the door for more stuff to come out afterwards. But sex sells, the publishers had paid a lot of money for it, what were they going to do? In the end, I think they thought it would sell far better than it did, but other things came along."

There was an inevitable fallout from the book -- people fell out. Annie's relationship with Arthur Pennell ended in 1994, and she sued lawyer Peter McKay on the grounds (he says) that he had not succeeded in getting a film deal.

He counter-sued and the pair settled their case in 1995.

"Things got messed up," Annie says. "There were problems that had to be sorted. If the book was going to be turned into a film, it had to be toned down. I was tired of other people controlling the thing, it had to be cleared out, shut down".

And so it was -- no film was ever made. In 2000, a US company talked about making a mini-series, but nothing came of it.

And what of Peter Murphy, the now 37-year-old son that Bishop Casey denied for 18 years?

Much was made of Annie's devotion to her son and of the fact that she wanted money only to educate him.

In a way, Peter also suffered a fallout from the revelations, which were made just as he was beginning university.

A bright, intelligent young man, he studied political science at the University of Connecticut between 1992 and 1994, but he didn't complete his degree.

He now works as a salesman for an electronics company on the east coast. He is single and hasn't seen his mother for four years, although she says she will visit him this summer.

"We tried to get Peter to move to California," she says, "but it was so expensive, of course, less so now. We've begged him to come visit, but he works so much and things are bad right now. You don't mess around with your job. He doesn't pick up the phone for much -- he's a 'see you when I see you' kind of guy. He was very interested in law, but he went to college just as the whole story came out; he became a kind of celebrity," she says.

Annie says that Peter went from living at home as an only child to attending a university for partying, so he became a bit of a party animal. "He checked his mind in and went and had lots of fun. Not any more, he shut that down a while back. He's rather serious now, straight as an arrow. He was with someone for four or five years, but he's single now."

There had been rumours that Peter's eyesight was failing. In fact, Annie says he was blinded in one eye five years ago in a freak accident.

"Peter used to wait tables at night. One night he was walking home from work with a friend. Someone let off a firecracker, Peter turned to talk to his friend and got it in the eye. He lost the sight in one eye. He doesn't talk about it because he gets annoyed if you get upset. He's a very positive person -- in that sense, he has a lot of Casey blood in him. He accepts it."

Despite not having seen Peter for so long, she denies that there is any rift between them.

"Maybe he resented me a little bit over what happened when he was younger. He used to say I was a lunatic, that I went out and did things with no scaffolding or safety net. But no, there's no problem between us, we never fight, we love each other".

Annie describes her son's looks and personality.

"He doesn't look exactly like Eamon, he still has his hair. But he looks like a Casey. He's 6ft 1in and gets his height from my father, but he has Eamon's mouth, the jowls and all. He's wonderful with people, he has a brilliant sense of humour," she continues. "He loves to laugh, loves to live -- he gets that from Eamon. He's very gregarious but a bit of a loner underneath it all, very private. He's very nice, but he can also be cold. You don't want to push him too much. He's like a lawyer -- he'll say 'give me a good reason to do something and I'll do it', but he'll let a growl at you if he doesn't want to do something."

Annie feels that Bishop Casey missed out on parenting.

"Eamon never realised the real joy of being a father -- it didn't get to that level, but there was a bond between them, very much, and they did get to know each other."

Once a year, Eamon would go to Boston on business and used to spend a day with Peter.

"I would say they met maybe six times like that. Peter is a great cook and Eamon used to say, 'right, no more restaurants, in future I'm just eating here'. They had fun together. Peter thought Eamon was very smart, like lightning, and Eamon liked Peter very much. I didn't get too involved in their meetings -- if Peter wanted to tell me about it, he did and I let it go like that. I know he was pleased to have the chance to get to know Eamon, to know that he has a lot in common with him, to know about his family," she adds.

The last time Annie spoke to Bishop Casey was three years ago.

"Peter wanted to visit Eamon in Ireland, but Eamon said there's no way he could do that, the press would descend on us. He told me, 'Please tell Peter not to be hurt, Annie, but I just can't do this'. Eamon still wanted to say Mass -- it was the thing he wanted most of all. So Peter didn't visit him in Ireland, then Eamon got ill and wasn't able to visit Boston."

When the bishop dies, would she travel to Ireland for his funeral? A morbid question perhaps, but she answers firmly: "No. I don't think Eamon would want that. I would feel like an interloper. And anyway, I hate flying, how would I get there?"

I ask harder questions: how does she feel now about the fact that she and Bishop Casey were third cousins -- didn't it cross her mind at the time?

How does she feel about the fact that the bishop took money from his diocese to make payments to her over the years?

"Maybe that's a question for Eamon to answer," she says quietly. "I don't know, I can't go there. If those things come back to haunt me, I get fragile, I go into a depression. Things start to look dark and the smile goes away. I've found a little bit of sunshine here. And as far as earthly love goes, I'm the closest I've ever been to it with Thad and I have to hold on to that. Sometimes, the hardest thing in life is to forgive yourself," Annie adds.

For his part, Thaddeus doesn't judge her.

"I was born outside marriage myself," he says, "so I can relate to that. Also, I don't think Annie did anything that bad. In ways, I think Annie was the victim in all that happened."

"Give my love to Ireland" are her last words to me, before going back into her mobile home and the quiet, calm life that's a million miles away from Inch beach in Co Kerry and a lifetime away from her affair with Bishop Eamon Casey almost 40 years ago.

Crowds fill Father Bob Maguire's church for final service

2012-02-03T00:03:00.007Z

FATHER Bob Maguire says he is not a fighter, he is a brawler.

But he was punching above his weight with the mass crowd that attended his final bout.

He was given boxing gloves as a farewell present and even though he lost this battle with the Catholic Church, he was a winner in the eyes of the people who gave him a standing ovation before, during and after the service at the South Melbourne parish.

More than 1000 "comrades", as the much-loved priest calls his parishioners, attended his final mass at St Peter and Paul's today with many in tears throughout the service.

Celebrities, bikies, monks, Occupy Melbourne protesters, separated conjoined twins Trishna and Krishna were among the crowd to see him off after 39 years.

"Flat as a tack," Father Bob said, describing how humbled he was of the big turnout.

"Thank God we got through it. As long as they enjoyed themselves. I don't enjoy these things."

Father Bob spent the morning mingling with his church faithful before he was led into the church by a pipe band.

"Let's get this show started," he said.

Father Julian Messina takes over the parish next week and Father Bob urged his church-goers to give the new priest a fair go and not to boycott the church.

The church service heard from a speaker who paid tribute to the people's priest.

"Father Bob is definitely a breath of fresh air and, at times, a gale-force wind," the speaker said.

Father Bob said he was still fuming that he was not allowed to continue being the parish priest.

"We have gone away from the battleground and gone into the barracks. There we will talk among ourselves how unfair it all is," he said.

After the service he was presented with gifts, including the boxing gloves.

"I'm a brawler, not a fighter," he said.

Under Catholic Church guidelines all priests must resign at age 75, but the resignation does not have to be accepted.

Despite a public campaign to keep Father Bob, 77, at the post and his willingness to continue preaching, the church has refused to keep him on.

For Father Bob, this round is now over but not the last.

He vowed to return to the church he has served as a guest and joked he knew where to sit so the collection couldn't see him.

Eamon Delaney: In Swiftian tradition dean fires parting shot

2012-02-03T00:02:00.016Z

It is often said of a man or a woman in a key position, that nothing became them like the leaving of it.

Well, in the tradition of his illustrious predecessor, Jonathan Swift, the latest outgoing Dean of St Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin has pulled no punches in his farewell sermon.

As one letter-writer put it last week, 'light blue touch paper and retire'.

The Very Rev Robert MacCarthy, 71, fired off a few salvoes at the Catholic Church, his own authorities in the Church of Ireland, the board of the cathedral and even the board of the Rotunda hospital where he found himself in a minority of one in wanting to retain a maternity hospital with a Protestant ethos.

You can be sure that the irrepressible reverend is often in a minority of one, but his insights are a revelation about just how moribund the churches have become in these times of economic upheaval and social change.

Sitting in his study at the Deanery near Patrick Street, the departing dean showed no regrets for his evensong broadside and the summary of his 12 years at the helm.

But he is in a good tradition.

After all, the position of Dean of St Patrick's is an unusual one in the church structure, and in national life, and effectively he is answerable to no one. It was, as he says, "a special position".

When he was appointed in 1999, a bishop remarked that it would be interesting to see how an iconoclast did as an icon and the Tipperary-born MacCarthy has not disappointed.

His most interesting comments concern the Catholic Church and its lack of co-operation in terms of ecumenism. He believes that the demoralised state of Catholicism may have something to do with it, whereas one would have thought, and hoped, it might be the opposite.

Happy to welcome the present Catholic Archbishop of Dublin as a preacher to St Patrick's, there has been no reciprocal invitation to the Pro-Cathedral.

Irish ecumenism, says MacCarthy, was "equated to fellowship between the two archbishops, whereas this should merely be the first step".

He is quite right too.

Despite all the progress made in breaking down sectarianism and building links between the churches, there has been little broad-based co-operation, beyond a few social visits and exchanged blessings by opposing prelates.

And they are still "opposing", instead of working together.

Indeed, in terms of modern Christianity, there is nothing more depressing than the way the Catholic Church -- besieged, unreformed, blinkered -- seems to have just battened down the hatches. Or "circled the wagons", as the dean puts it.

The Protestant minority is seen as so small, he argues, that serious co-operation is not bothered with by the Catholic hierarchy. One would have thought that, in an age of secularism and spiritual hunger, all of the churches would pull together, but this is not the case.

The fact that the Church of Ireland is the biggest Protestant church in Northern Ireland, for example, seems to have made no difference.

"This is a 26-country matter," says MacCarthy. "Partition has created two different churches north and south, both for the Catholic faith and in the Church of Ireland."

For the latter, it seems that the southern version is avowedly liberal, broad-based and in favour of married clergy, whereas in the North, it has become increasingly evangelical and conservative, and crucially led by actual northerners as opposed to, formerly, southerners with "good degrees and good minds".

As a result we have "a projection of all their blue-collar values", he says in a sort of philosophical despair.

MacCarthy believes that the structure of the Catholic Church is actually quite sound, and at a local level the parish priest is still acceptable and often very much supported, doing things at ground level, and creating finance committees, but "further up the candle", the problems arise.

Nothing is being done at diocesan level.

Diarmuid Martin has done well, he says, and has handled the sexual abuse scandals as best he could, but he doesn't appear interested in broader church relations, and has taken on too much personally.

It was a mistake to abolish the auxiliary bishops, who could have helped him.

But the real problem with the Catholic Church is the continuing lack of audience participation, says MacCarthy. Decades after the change to vernacular worship, little has changed.

Women are not fully involved and the church is still led by the same remote figures and suffers, as does Protestantism, from a suffocating clericalism, which he describes as the defence of the institution against all others, no matter how constructive their view.

As for the Catholic Church not allowing their clergy to marry, this is "bonkers" and such an outdated law could be changed easily and with little fuss.

However, he doesn't necessarily agree that such a ban was linked to the incidence of sexual abuse.

On the contrary, he points out a number of cases of sexual abuse in his own church which all involved married, family men. This was one of the more contentious points in MacCarthy's evensong sermon: that his own church, were it to properly investigate, would find itself guilty of similar abuses.

But they were hushed up and the offending clergy moved.

On most issues, the Church of Ireland, and especially the dean himself, is considerably more liberal than the Catholic church. Civil partnership is available to gays but MacCarthy (who is himself unmarried) thinks that the traditional concept of marriage should be redefined: it used to be "for procreation" and now it is "for mutual help and comfort".

The law, and Christian teaching, should reflect this. On abortion, he is also surprisingly flexible, and believes that it is a human right.

He does not believe that life begins at conception, but at some stage thereafter. It is the question of "what stage" -- that is the contentious issue.

However, despite this liberalism, MacCarthy created quite a stir in 2001 when he refused to attend a reception in Dublin Castle to mark Cardinal Desmond Connell getting the red hat, "since the invitation was in the names of the then Taoiseach and his then mistress".

But far from this being knee-jerk conservatism, it was more a case of the straight-talking dean forcing the Irish authorities, and the Catholic Church, to confront their own hypocrisy.

Ahern, a devout Catholic, would not divorce his wife Miriam.

The Irish people, like Ahern himself, like to have it both ways.

Interestingly, he got great support from Irish Catholics for his stand and received over 300 letters, many of them saying "it was great to see the Protestants standing up for what we once believed in".

And on the subject of Protestants standing up for themselves, MacCarthy found himself at odds with the board of the Rotunda, when he wanted to fight for a continuing Protestant ethos for the hospital.

"Ah, but these upper and middle-class Protestants," he says, with a sigh. "They want to keep their heads below the parapet and not be seen as being pushy."

And he mimics the voices of the board: "Oh, but we can't be pushy. The State are our paymasters now. Oh, we can't offend the Government or the powers that be."

He rolls his eyes.

But far from being tribal, MacCarthy has backed his calls for ecumenism by offering to give St Patrick's to the State as a national cathedral to be shared by all the churches, a proposal which must have given many of his Protestant faithful a virtual heart attack.

The Catholic Church should pursue this idea now, he says mischievously. No wonder the outgoing dean's own board once voted a motion of no confidence in him and "attempted to muzzle my public utterances".

But he is not bitter, and peppers his utterances with an impish grin.

Surrounded by the ageing portraits of former deans and theologians, he knows that time and history are on his side.

One is reminded of the line about Thomas a Becket, "who will rid me of this turbulent priest", but also of a latter day Martin Luther, nailing his protesting theses to the church door and heading off into a hopefully active retirement.

Bishop accused of incitement to hatred in homily

2012-02-03T00:01:00.007Z

A HOMILY delivered at Knock shrine by the Bishop of Raphoe, Philip Boyce, is being investigated by the Director of Public Prosecutions following a formal complaint by a leading humanist who claims the sermon was an incitement to hatred.

The gardai have confirmed to former Fine Gael election candidate John Colgan that they have prepared and forwarded a file to the DPP after he made allegations that the address by Dr Boyce was in breach of the Prohibition of Incitement to Hatred Act, 1989.

The homily, entitled: "To Trust in God" was delivered to worshippers during a novena at the Marian shrine in Co Mayo last August and subsequently reported in the media, including The Irish Times, under the headline: "'Godless culture' attacking church, says bishop."

Mr Colgan, a retired chartered engineer and economist from Leixlip, Co Kildare, referred in his formal complaint to two key passages in Dr Boyce's homily which he believes broke the law.

One of the passages referred to the Catholic Church in Ireland being "attacked from outside by the arrows of a secular and godless culture".

A second passage, which was included in the complaint, stated: "For the distinguishing mark of Christian believers is the fact they have a future; it is not that they know all the details that await them, but they know in general terms that their life will not end in emptiness."

Mr Colgan, who was a leader in the 'Campaign to Separate Church and State' in the late 1990s, said in his complaint: "I believe statements of this kind are an incitement to hatred of dissidents, outsiders, secularists, within the meaning of the [Incitement to Hatred] Act, who are perfectly good citizens within the meaning of the civil law. The statements exemplify the chronic antipathy towards secularists, humanists etc, which has manifested itself in the ostracising of otherwise perfectly good Irish citizens, who do not share the aims of the Vatican's Irish Mission Church."

To back up his complaint, Mr Colgan referred to two statistical surveys carried out two decades apart by the Jesuit sociologist and academic Fr Michael MacGreil, entitled: 'Prejudice and Tolerance in Ireland' and 'Prejudice in Ireland Revisited' which Mr Colgan claims showed "marked prejudice by Roman Catholics and other Christian denominations against agnostics and atheists" (humanist was not an option offered to respondents in either survey).

In his complaint, Mr Colgan said he attributed this prejudice to "hostile propaganda disseminated in school and chapel in the main by or for the institutional churches, for there is no rational or temporal reason".

In a statement to the Sunday Independent, Martin Long of the Catholic Communications office said: "Bishop Boyce's homily 'To Trust in God' is available for anyone to read at catholicbishops.ie. I advise any person to read it and judge it for themselves. It is clearly a reasonable, balanced, honest -- and indeed self-critical from a church perspective -- analysis of the value of the Catholic faith. Bishop Boyce is a good and holy man and much loved by those who know him."

After the homily was delivered late last summer, Mr Colgan wrote personally to the cleric seeking a corrective statement.

Dr Boyce responded saying that in his homily he did "not wish to disparage in any way the sincere efforts of those with no religious beliefs, atheists, humanists etc."

"I have too much respect for each human person, since I believe all are created in the image of God. At Knock I wished to encourage and confirm the hope of believers, even in the present challenging times, since trust in God was the theme I was given."

Eucharistic Congress 2012 - Prayer

2012-02-03T00:00:00.000Z

Lord Jesus,
You were sent by the Father
to gather together those who are scattered.

You came among us, doing good and bringing healing,
announcing the Word of salvation
and giving the Bread which lasts forever.

Be our companion on life’s pilgrim way.

May your Holy Spirit inflame our hearts,
enliven our hope and open our minds,
so that together with our sisters and brothers in faith
we may recognise you in the Scriptures
and in the breaking of bread.

May your Holy Spirit transform us into one body
and lead us to walk humbly on the earth,
in justice and love,
as witnesses of your resurrection.

In communion with Mary,
whom you gave to us as our Mother
at the foot of the cross,
through you
may all praise, honour and blessing be to the Father
in the Holy Spirit and in the Church,
Now and forever.

Amen

Holy See Considers Legal Action Against TV Station

2012-02-02T00:24:00.011Z

The Vatican has threatened legal action against an Italian television station for using “questionable journalistic methods” in a program that alleged a former senior Vatican official had been transferred against his will after complaining about internal corruption.

The program, called The Untouchables and broadcast on the channel La 7, showed several letters that Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, then-deputy governor of Vatican City and now apostolic nuncio to the United States, sent to superiors, including Pope Benedict XVI, last year.

In one letter to the Holy Father, Archbishop Viganò, who was responsible for maintaining much of the city state’s infrastructure, claims he is a victim of a smear campaign launched by other Vatican officials after he had made extensive efforts to save the Vatican money by cleaning up its procedures. He also resisted efforts to transfer him, citing his efforts to root out malpractice.

“Holy Father, my transfer right now would provoke much disorientation and discouragement in those who have believed it was possible to clean up so many situations of corruption and abuse of power that have been rooted in the management of so many departments,” the archbishop wrote in a letter to the Pope on March 27, 2011.

In another letter to the Holy Father on April 4 last year, Archbishop Viganò singled out for criticism two funds managed by a committee of Italian bankers who “looked after their own interests more than ours.”

He also said that when he took up his position in 2009, he discovered a web of corruption, nepotism and cronyism linked to the awarding of contracts to outside companies at inflated prices, according to a Jan. 26 Reuters report.

In other correspondence, Archbishop Viganò highlighted that previous incompetence at the Vatican had caused officials to rack up losses of “50%-60%,” and referred to one single financial transaction in December 2009 in which “they made us lose two and a half million dollars.”

Also appearing on the program is a man whose identity is concealed but whom the program creators claim is a member of the bankers’ committee.

He said the archbishop had developed a reputation of being a tough administrator in dealing with companies that had contracts with the Vatican and insisting on transparency and competition.

The program also revealed other details in the letters, including Archbishop Viganò’s assertion that Vatican-employed maintenance workers are demoralized because work was always given to the same companies even though the cost was double what it might otherwise have been.

One example given was the Vatican’s Nativity scene in St. Peter’s Square.

The cost was 550,000 euro in 2009, but Archbishop Viganò managed to have the following year’s crèche completed for 200,000 euro less, according to the program.

Yet despite the archbishop’s successful efforts to cut costs and increase efficiency and transparency, unsigned articles began to appear in the Italian daily Il Giornale during 2011 in which he was described as inefficient.

In his letter to the Pope in early April, he told the Pope how hard he has worked to “eliminate corruption, private interests and dysfunction that are widespread in various departments.”

He also told the Holy Father in the same letter that “no one should be surprised about the press campaign against me” because he tried to root out corruption and had made enemies.

Around the time of Archbishop Viganò’s appointment as apostolic nuncio to the United States in October 2011, succeeding Archbishop Pietro Sambi, who died in July, Italian newspapers claimed a “power struggle” was taking place in the Vatican.

Some reports said Archbishop Viganò was tipped to become governor of Vatican City, but he encountered resistance from other officials, including from the then-governor, Cardinal Giovanni Lajolo.

Reports also alleged that Archbishop Viganò was offered the position of head of the Prefecture for Economic Affairs of the Holy See but he refused, resulting in a loss of support from the Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone.

In a statement released Jan. 26, the Vatican implied the letters were authentic by expressing “disappointment at the revelation of reserved documents,” but added that it was considering taking legal action “to protect the honor of morally upright and highly professional people who serve the Church, the Pope and the common good.”

The statement said the work of the archbishop “had many positive aspects, as he contributed to the efforts being made to ensure administrative rigor, economization and the improvement of what was a difficult overall economic situation.”

But it added that the program should have made a “fairer evaluation” that would have taken account of the “trends of the market, the investment criteria adopted over recent years, and other important circumstances.”

The Vatican said that the criteria of correctness and transparency that inspired the archbishop “certainly continue to guide the current directors of the governorate” and added that this was in keeping with the Holy See’s commitment to “increasing transparency and attentively monitoring of economic activities.”

On the day this story broke, the Vatican announced it was ratifying three U.N. conventions intended to curb corrupt financial transactions: the International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism, the U.N. Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime and the U.N. Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances.

It also added that the program presented the complexities of the governorate “in a superficial and biased manner, highlighting the evidently negative aspects with the simplistic result of presenting the structures of government in the Church as being, not so much affected by human frailty (which would be easily understandable), as profoundly characterized by arguments, divisions and power struggles.”

“All this disinformation will certainly not obscure the daily and serene efforts towards increasing transparency in all Vatican institutions,” the statement continued. “In this context, it must be decisively affirmed that entrusting Archbishop Viganò with the role of apostolic nuncio to the United States — one of the most important roles in Vatican diplomacy, given the importance of the country and of the Catholic Church there — is proof of unquestionable respect and trust.”

Vatican rife with corruption, TV show alleges

2012-02-02T00:23:00.014Z

Was the secretary general so good at his job he made serious Holy See enemies?

THIS IS a tale of corruption, dishonesty, poison-pen letters and fetid rivalry in the Holy See.

At the centre of the tale is the suspicion that the current papal nuncio to the US, Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, was promoted to that prestigious post, partly to get him out of the way.

Is it possible that in his previous role, as secretary general of the “governatorato” (government) of the Vatican city-state, Vigano did such an effective job that he made serious enemies within the Holy See?

Above all, how come that someone who immediately transformed the city-state’s balance sheet from a €7.8 million deficit to a €34 million profit was removed?

Those allegations were made this week by the Italian current affairs TV programme The Untouchables.

Based on letters written by Vigano and on testimony from bankers and Vatican figures, the programme depicts a Vatican village rife with corruption, dishonesty and career rivalry.

So, what is new, the cynic might ask.

What is different about the Vigano case is that it is the current nuncio to the US himself who spells out the problems: “When I accepted the job at the governatorato in July 2009, I was well aware of the risks I was facing, but I never imagined that I would come against such a disastrous situation . . ."

“To remedy this situation, the Cardinal president [Giovanni Lajolo] had handed over the administration of the [city-state’s] funds to a finance committee, made up of distinguished bankers who, however, tended more to do their own business than ours. For example, in one transaction in December 2009, they managed to lose us $2.5 million dollars,” wrote Vigano in a letter to Pope Benedict on April 4th last year, a letter that featured in the TV programme.

While the Holy See’s senior spokesman, Fr Federico Lombardi, was quick to issue a lengthy statement on Thursday that week in which he expressed “bitterness for the diffusion of private documents”, significantly he did not claim that the letter was a fake.

But he did point out that, given the gravity of the accusations made by the programme against Vatican figures and advisers, the Holy See might pursue “legal remedies”.

Vigano depicts a Vatican city-state in which the practice of awarding contracts (building projects, maintenance of the Vatican Gardens and of Holy See edifices etc) to outside firms at inflated costs was normal routine.

“Friends of friends” had to be looked after and the same firms always got the job.

The new secretary general, however, changed all that, in the process reducing costs dramatically.

For example, the Vatican’s huge Christmas crib in St Peter’s Square in 2009 had cost €550,000. By 2010, he had reduced that to €300,000.

Vigano also discovered that some Vatican contractors were doing very little for their handsome recompense.

The Vatican City’s centralised and not very reliable heating system had gone practically unchanged since the 1960s. He had a new, efficient boiler installed with consequent savings.

Likewise, he overhauled the maintenance of the Vatican Gardens, saving up to €850,000 a year.

In total, his new regime of centralised accountability saw the city-state balance sheet go from a €7-€8 million loss to a €34 million profit in 12 months.

Admittedly other factors such as a huge increase in Vatican museum revenues, partly because of longer opening hours, played their part.

Nonetheless, it looks like very good housekeeping.

So why in the spring of last year, did the Berlusconi family-owned daily Il Giornale carry a couple of short, unsigned articles claiming that Vigano had been such a disaster that he would shortly be removed?

In a letter last May to the secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, quoted yesterday in Il Fatto Quotidiano , Vigano names names, claiming he was the victim of a slur-campaign by Holy See rivals, including Mgr Paolo Nicolini, an official in the Vatican museum.

In all of this, what exactly was the role of Bertone, the all-powerful Vatican “prime minister” who recently informed all Vatican offices that any communication with the pope must first pass through him?

Was Vigano just a little ingenuous, ending up a victim of the age-old Vatican “ promoveatur ut amoveatur ” (Let’s promote him and move him) principle?

More worringly, is this episode another example of Benedict’s stock-in-trade promote-them and then ignore-them style of governance?

Did this particular new broom sweep out too many cupboards?

Any reference to Archbishop Diarmuid Martin and his work on clerical sex abuse is, of course, purely coincidental.

Don’t legalise gay marriage, Archbishop of York warns David Cameron

2012-02-02T00:22:00.009Z

Marriage must remain a union between a man and a woman, says the Archbishop of York, and David Cameron will be acting like a “dictator” if he allows homosexual couples to wed.

In an interview with Martin Beckford, Religious Affairs Editor the Daily Telegraph, in Kingston, Jamaica, the archbishop said marriage is set in history and the state cannot change it overnight.

Dr John Sentamu said: “I don’t think it is the role of the state to define what marriage is. It is set in tradition and history and you can’t just (change it) overnight, no matter how powerful you are. We’ve seen dictators do it in different contexts and I don’t want to redefine very clear social structures that have been in existence for a long time and then overnight the state believes it could go in a particular way."

“It’s almost like somebody telling you overnight that the Church, whose job is to worship God (that it will be) an arm of the Armed Forces. They must take arms and fight. You’re completely changing tradition.”

The Government will open a consultation on the issue in March.

Dr Sentamu said the bishops in the House of Lords did not try to stop Labour introducing civil partnerships in 2004, giving same-sex couples improved legal rights. He added the Church was also content with last year’s move to allow civil partnership ceremonies in places of worship, as long as it is voluntary and agreed by the governing body of any particular denomination.

Meanwhile, Dr Sentamu said the Church must do more to avoid its leadership being solely white and middle class.

The archbishop said white working class parishioners and black church-goers are poorly represented in the Anglican church.

He said: “I used to chair the committee for minority ethnic Anglican concerns, and we seemed to be making some progress but that now seems to be going backwards. Where we have lost out is black people who had been realised Anglicans, who are now joining Pentecostal churches. That’s a huge drain.”

Atheists split over monument plans

2012-02-02T00:21:00.007Z

Richard Dawkins has dismissed plans to build a £1m atheist monument in London.

The monument would consist of a 150ft tower, with every ten centimetres representing a million years of life on earth.

The plans have been put forward by atheist Alain de Botton, who said: “You can build a temple to anything that’s positive and good.”

“That could mean: a temple to love, friendship, calm or perspective.”

De Botton is reportedly keen to present a different kind of atheism from the fiery, hypercritical strand epitomised by Dawkins.

“Because of Richard Dawkins, atheism has become known as a destructive force, but there are lots of people who don’t believe but aren’t aggressive towards religions,” he said.

Around £500,000 has already been raised towards the monument, which would be

constructed in the City of London.

Dawkins dismissed the project as a waste of money.

“Atheists don’t need temples,” he said.

“There are better things to spend this kind of money on. You could improve secular education and build non-religious schools which teach rational, sceptical, critical thinking.”

News of the monument comes amid reports this week of plans by the Brazilian government to erect a replica of Christ the Redeemer on top of Primrose Hill in London.

They want to unveil the statue on the last day of the London 2012 Olympics to signify the passing of the Olympic torch to Brazil, which will host the next Games in 2016.

The plans have reportedly been kept hush hush because of their sensitivity but locals in the upmarket suburb have been informed.

Military archbishop: U.S. invasion led to fewer Iraqi Christians

2012-02-02T00:20:00.006Z

U.S. Military Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio says the collapse of Iraq’s Christian population is among the legacies of America's invasion in 2003.

“Yes, you can say in a certain sense that the invasion of Iraq did provoke this tremendous diminution of the Christian population in that country. And what the future holds, that still remains to be seen,” the archbishop for the armed forces told CNA during his visit to Rome on Jan. 16.

His comments come only a month after the final pull-out of U.S. troops from Iraq, where they remained following the invasion that toppled dictator Saddam Hussein.

Aid agencies estimate that over the course of eight years, the Catholic population of Iraq fell from over 800,000, to less than 150,000 now

Archbishop Broglio believes Catholicism suffered after the invasion because of a perceived closeness to its previous ruler. He said Saddam Hussein tended “to trust Catholics, and gave them positions of responsibility.” One prominent Iraqi Catholic was Hussein’s Foreign Minister Tarik Aziz.

And even if Catholics “weren’t particularly part of the regime, they became identified with the regime,” Archbishop Broglio said.

“Before, they were a minority that was protected, but now they are a minority that is not protected.”

As President Barack Obama withdrew the last U.S. troops from Iraq on Dec. 15, he said they were leaving behind a “sovereign, stable and self-reliant,” country.

But there are signs that Iraqi Christians' plight has worsened since then.

“At a time of increased political instability, we continue to receive disturbing reports,” said John Pontifex of Aid to the Church in Need on Jan. 20.

He said an attack took place earlier in the month against security personnel outside the residence of Kirkuk's Archbishop Louis Sako.

Archbishop Sako, who was indoors at the time, told Aid to the Church in Need that the situation is less stable now that U.S. troops are gone, with much of the turmoil stemming from the power struggle between Sunni and Shiite Muslims.

Pontifex says there is a “ticking bomb regarding Christianity in Iraq.”

“Few Christians, no matter how deep their roots are in the local society, feel able to withstand the pressure to leave.”

Fear of an attack forced Archbishop Sako to cancel the Chaldean Catholics' midnight Christmas celebration last month. Services were moved to the daytime, and Christians were warned not to display decorations outside their homes.

Nevertheless, it appears that many of the Catholics who fled Iraq would return if safety improved.

Monsignor John Kozar, president of the Catholic Near East Welfare Association, recently spoke of the “strong determination” some Iraqi Catholics have to go back home. He recently visited Jordan, where many Christians from Iraq now reside.

“I think they have a yearning to return to the homeland, and that homeland for them means practicing their Chaldean-rite Christianity,” the monsignor said. “That has become very, very important to them.”

George looking to Wall Street to shore up archdiocese finances

2012-02-02T00:19:00.014Z

As Cardinal Francis George prepares to retire in the next few years and hand over the reins of the Archdiocese of Chicago to a successor, he is looking to Wall Street and the achievement of one particular predecessor to ensure the church's long-term financial viability and leave a legacy of his own.

On Wednesday, the archdiocese earned a top rating from the Moody's firm, a typical prerequisite to selling private bonds. A bond sale is a maneuver to improve cash flow that was used by Cardinal George Mundelein nearly a century ago. The Moody's report was based on a proposed offering of $151.5 million in bonds.

Citing strict federal regulations imposed by the Securities and Exchange Commission that preclude discussion of a pending bond sale, no church official, including George, will confirm that bonds will be issued. The Moody's report also points out that the rating does not mean a sale is guaranteed.

But the cardinal has previously said he wants "to take advantage of historically low interest rates and the good creditworthiness of the archdiocese."

"Rather than borrow directly from banks … it might be advantageous to float bonds and pay them back on a regular basis, which is what a lot of corporate entities do," George said in response to questions from the Tribune last month.

But he stressed that no decision had been made. "There's a conversation going on about whether or not the archdiocese should at this time do something that Cardinal Mundelein first did, meaning float private bonds to cover debts," George said.

Considered one of the nation's top businessmen of the early 20th century, Mundelein financed and created most of the modern archdiocese and earned a reputation much like the Rockefellers and the Vanderbilts. Even at the height of the Great Depression, national media touted that "no one in Chicago had better credit than the cardinal."

According to analysts, George's reputation may be much the same.

"He's leaving Chicago in the best position it's ever been in recent memory," said Patrick O'Meara, president of O'Meara Ferguson Whelan and Conway, the financial firm hired by the archdiocese to facilitate fundraising and investment strategies.

"His legacy is going to be in many ways. One way is he wants the temporal affairs to be really solid."

Mundelein's role

When Mundelein took over in Chicago in 1916, he immediately sought to safeguard the church's assets with the "corporation sole" designation, making the Catholic bishop the sole titleholder of archdiocesan properties.

As corporation sole, Mundelein organized Catholic Charities and created the Catholic cemetery system. He oversaw construction of more than 200 of the archdiocese's parishes, the church's current headquarters (originally Quigley Theological Seminary) and the archdiocese's major seminary, University of St. Mary of the Lake in Mundelein, the north suburban town that eventually took his name.

To pay the costs of elaborate architecture such as the Tudor Gothic structure of St. Philip Neri Catholic Church in Chicago's South Shore neighborhood, he borrowed by selling bonds. St. Philip Neri, with its rose windows and Italian marble, is one of the largest and most beautiful churches in Chicago.

But as neighborhoods have changed and parishioners have migrated toward the suburbs, grand buildings like St. Philip Neri have become a drain on the archdiocese's budget. The building is now ensconced in scaffolding, and most of its 1,700 seats stay empty on Sundays.

"A lot of the work done in the past, we're now correcting," said the Rev. Thomas Belanger, pastor of St. Philip Neri. "We're left with nothing in the bank. With the ongoing costs of trying to heat these monstrosities, you wouldn't build something like St. Philip Neri today."

Belanger said his parish has run at a deficit since 1992. It owes the archdiocese more than $2 million, which Belanger can't imagine will ever be reimbursed. Unless the parishes on the South Shore come up with a financial viability plan that works, some may have to be closed or consolidated, he said.

Kevin Marzalak, director of finance for the archdiocese, said that's precisely the purpose of a pilot plan to allow parishes to become less dependent on subsidies from the archdiocese, share best practices to make them more self-sustainable and encourage laity to revitalize their parishes.

O'Meara said the archdiocese is also preparing to launch a capital campaign to raise more than $300 million.

Diane Viacava, the lead analyst at Moody's who compiled the archdiocese's ratings report, said Chicago is the sixth diocese Moody's has rated. She said factors that worked in the archdiocese's favor included its leadership and governance, its deep assets and its revenue stream that comes largely from parish assessments and the Catholic cemetery system.

The only reason it did not get the highest rating was the questionable impact of the economic climate on parish giving and the unpredictability of sexual misconduct claims.

"They really do have a best practices that elevate them to the A1 level in terms of disclosure, in terms of leadership, and in terms of members on the council and the planning that they do," she said. "It's very strong positive indicators."

According to the Moody's report, proceeds from a bond sale would go toward refinancing $75 million in loans taken out to cover parish operations and sexual misconduct costs.

Fulfilling a promise not to compensate victims of clergy sex abuse with ordinary parish collections, the archdiocese has covered most of those costs by the sale of undeveloped property, insurance proceeds, other reserves and loans.

The cash also would replenish reserves used to cover $42 million of capital expenditures, the report said.

"You save money for a rainy day," Marzalak said. "You don't freeze up. You continue to minister and move on with the mission and hope that the cycle will return. We're now on a path to reduce that deficit."

Catholics treated to steamy Durex ad before live mass on webcam

2012-02-02T00:18:00.011Z

Parishioners at a Catholic congregation, St Patrick's, Dumbarton, logged onto the church's webcam expecting to watch a live mass, but instead, they were treated to a steamy Durex ad showing couples having hot sex powered by "pleasure enhancing" Durex gel.

The ad ran along with other poorly targeted ads before the live mass came on.

The commercials which, according to Big New Network, came before the church's live webcast of the Mass of the Holy Spirit, showed six women in seven heavens of sexual passion as an opera singer in the background celebrated their orgasmic rapture.

According to The Sun, the advert made it seem that the women in the throes of passion were singing Mozart's Aria, and ended with the slogan,"Sexperience."

One of the parishioners who saw the ad said: "My eyes almost popped out of my head. It's certainly not the type of advert you'd expect on a Catholic church website.You would not imagine it is Durex's target audience but I suppose you can see the funny side of it."

A web user who also saw the ad said: "I was looking for a webcam to check Dumbarton's weather but I landed on the church site and got more than an eyeful. I am sure the flock didn't expect to see naked women writhing about groaning when they logged on for their service."

According to The Sun, the live stream was broadcast by a webcast firm called UStream, which featured the commercials before the cast.

Other commercials that appeared on the live stream, according to The Sun, included an ad for a gambling site and another promoting a service for helping women get pregnant.

The church was unavailable for comments.

Iraqi sisters study in Australia to help their people

2012-02-02T00:17:00.007Z

Many concerns weigh on the minds of two Sisters from a tiny, endangered religious order in Iraq currently studying at Brisbane's Australian Catholic University (ACU), reports the Catholic Leader.

For Daughters of Jesus' Sacred Heart Sisters Samar Mikha and Azhar Koka, these concerns include the health and education of Catholics in their war-torn country, particularly those of the Chaldean community.

The Sisters are also planning to share knowledge gained from their ACU studies in English and educational administration when they return to Kurdistan, in Iraq's north, in mid-2013.

There, in conjunction with the Chaldean Archbishop Bashar Warda of Erbil, they intend to help set up a Catholic university.

Their study opportunity followed a visit to Iraq in 2009 by Brisbane priest Fr Gerry Hefferan, who was seeking ways to support the rapidly dwindling Catholic community there.

However, when Sr Koka recently spoke with The Catholic Leader, her primary concern was to spread the message that her order was celebrating the jubilee of the centenary of its foundation.

"Our order celebrates the jubilee as a moment of meditation and prayer for the path of God's salvation for blessing our land and people," she said.

"The establishment of our order reaches back to 1908 in a village called Araden, in the north of Iraq, where four girls gathered around Fr Ablahad Rayes helping him in serving the sick, teaching mothers in raising children and organising family matters as well as the catechism.

"The spirit of the young nunnery was characterised from the beginning with a biblical simplicity and meekness. They were following Christ's saying: 'Learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart' (Matthew 11:29) and taking this as a slogan for their lives."

"Fr Rayes founded the convent, taking the name of the Nunnery of the Sacred Heart of Jesus on August 15, 1911, hoping to spread the worship of the Sacred Heart to be known and loved everywhere."

Religion reason for bulk of RTÉ complaints

2012-02-02T00:16:00.007Z

If there’s one issue that fires Irish passions, it’s how the media treats religion.

Freedom of Information documents from the Department of Communications, show RTÉ’s treatment of Fr Kevin Reynolds, its decision to scale back on the broadcasting of Mass on Radió na Gaeltachta and its continued broadcast of the Angelus, dominated the bulk of complaints against the state broadcaster over the past two years.

Six of the 25 complaints related to RTÉ’s decision to broadcast the Prime Time documentary Mission to Prey, despite offers by a priest, accused of fathering a child after raping a young woman, to undertake a paternity test. Fr Reynolds later won a defamation case against RTÉ.

Five letters related to the broadcasting of the Angelus at 12 noon and 6pm with it being described as a "blatant contradiction of RTÉ’s statutory obligation of impartiality".

Radió na Gaeltachta’s 2010 decision — later reversed — to reduce the broadcast of the Irish Mass to just once a month, also sent tempers into overdrive.

Viewers also attacked comedian Neil Delamere’s choice of language when discussing Kate and Pippa Middleton on The Late Late Show. He referred to one of the sisters as "a good ride".

One complainant advised "that Mr Delamere’s description of the word ‘ride’ would be better applied to us hapless TV licence payers who are being taken for one [by RTÉ]".

650th anniversary celebrations for the founding of the English Hospice in Rome

2012-02-02T00:15:00.019Z

Cardinal Cormac Murphy O’Connor opened a year of celebrations at the Venerable English College, Rome, on 27 January, to commemorate the founding of the English Hospice, the oldest English institution outside of England, exactly 650 years ago on that date.

In 1579, the Hospice was transformed into a college for the training of students for the priesthood for England and Wales, but it has continued the Hospice tradition to this day.

The celebration marks “a very significant milestone in the history of English and Welsh Catholicism”, Monsignor Nicholas Hudson, the Rector of the VEC told Vatican Insider.

He has a special feeling for the historical dimension of this place, having studied medieval history at Cambridge University.

He revealed that the archbishops of Westminster and Cardiff, and bishops from several English dioceses, including Lancaster, Leeds, Middlesbrough and Plymouth are coming for the celebration, as is the only English-born nuncio in the Holy See’s diplomatic service, Archbishop Paul Gallagher, now in Guatemala.

All were former students at the College, while Cardinal Murphy O’Connor was also Rector from 1971 to 1977.

They were be joined by 250 distinguished guests on Sunday 29 January, when Archbishop Vincent Nichols of Westminster celebrated mass in the College chapel, followed by a celebration lunch.

Those invited included Vatican officials, such as Cardinals Levada and Tauran, Archbishops Di Noia and Sanchez Sarondo, and the British Ambassador to the Holy See, Nigel Marcus Barker.

The Hospice was founded by a group of Englishmen laymen, some of them merchants, living in Rome.

Inspired by the high influx of pilgrims from England for the Holy Year in 1350, and seeing their many needs, they formed themselves into the Confraternity of St Thomas of Canterbury and bought a house for the use of “the poor, sick, needy and distressed people coming from England to the City”.

They bought it the city centre, on the street today called Via Monserrato, from an English couple, John and Alice Shepherd, who sold rosary beads to pilgrims.

The Hospice was established during the reign of Pope Innocent VI, then living in Avignon, at a time when similar hospices were founded for pilgrims from Germany, Portugal, Spain and Sweden.

By the time the Papacy returned to Rome, the Hospice had become the spiritual centre for the English in the city.

Many famous people stayed here.

Thomas Linacre, the classical scholar and founder of the Royal College of Physicians, was Warden of the Hospice in 1491.

It was controlled by the English crown and known as “The King’s Hospice” by the time of Henry VIII; he wanted it to provide hospitality for more students and for the royal ambassadors, and appointed its warden.

After Henry VIII broke from Rome, the number of pilgrims from England declined and the Hospice became a home for English exiles.

Pope Paul III replaced the royal Warden with the English Cardinal Reginald Pole in 1538, and when Elizabeth I became Queen in 1558 the royal connection was lost.

Soon the Hospice got a Cardinal Protector, who exercised jurisdiction over it, and several English ecclesiastics and exiles, many of them graduates from Oxford and Cambridge, lived there.

After the split between Rome and Elizabeth I, it was no longer possible to train priests in England and Wales and so, advised by eminent Welsh and English clerics, Pope Gregory XIII decided to transform the Hospice into a College to prepare young men to be priests and return to England and Wales to minister to the persecuted Catholics there.

He signed The Bull of Foundation of the College on 1 May 1579.

As it trained priests for that mission, the College soon achieved fame as the home of martyrs. 44 of its alumni were martyred for the faith when they returned to England and Wales between 1581 and 1678.

Ten have been canonized saints, while the others are recognized as blessed.

Since the Hierarchy’s restoration, most bishops of both countries have been graduates from the College, as have many English cardinals.

Today, the College has 45 students: 7 are priests, 38 seminarians, all from English dioceses except for 4 Scandinavians, It is the largest intake for many years, Monsignor Hudson stated.

Down the centuries, as it prepared students for the priesthood, the College also retained the Hospice tradition of providing hospitality to visitors, as The Pilgrim Book records from 1580 onwards.

The poet, John Milton, a critic of Catholicism, was one of many famous people welcomed here.

The English and Welsh Bishops resided here too while participating in the First and Second Vatican Councils, and the Archbishop of Canterbury, Michael Ramsey, was an honored guest during his historic visit to Paul VI, as were three former English Prime Ministers – Gladstone, Macmillan and Blair.

Pius IX came here during the First Vatican Council, as did John Paul II in 1979.

Pope Benedict XVI is expected to do likewise later this year.

When in the first century of the College’s existence students heard that one of their number had been martyred, they would gather in the College chapel, before the painting over the altar that depicts the Most Holy Trinity and St Thomas, to sing the Te Deum, the Church’s hymn of praise and thanksgiving.

At the end of evening Mass on 27 January, Cardinal Murphy-O’Connor intoned that same hymn on that same site – in thanksgiving for all the graces received over the last 650 years in this historic site.

“More collegiality is needed between Vatican dicasteries”

2012-02-02T00:14:00.019Z

Benedict XVI wants Vatican dicasteries to work in a more coordinated manner.

For this reason he arranged a meeting with Prefects of the Vatican Congregations and Presidents of the Pontifical Councils last week.

As the Catholic website Korazym revealed: “The suggested method, is that used in the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith when Joseph Ratzinger was at its helm."

This method used was a very collegial one, that involved staff from the dicastery, consultants and participants in the Feria IV meeting.

Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Vatican Secretary of State, mentioned this in the meeting on the theme “Elaboration, publication and reception of Holy See documents”.

There are 14 long pages of specifications made according to the law of the Church and practical advice indicating the need for the Curia to redefine itself.”

“Bertone - Korazym writes - is not claiming power. He is asking for dialogue between the dicasteries, for collegiality. He is reminding people of how the structure of the Church works. He is reminding everyone of their responsibilities.”

He launches arrows at those who oppose him.

And finally, he reflects on the reception of Vatican documents, a question which is very dear to Benedict XVI and which should not be addressed in a simplistic way; because what at first sight appears to some to have little relevance, is in fact very important to more immediate recipients.”

The document draws attention to certain directives that are of interest. In the background “is the ever growing chaos of the media.”

The question is twofold: “which instruments could be useful in conveying the contents of a document to the public,” with all the difficulties involved in “making people assimilate long texts.”

“Particularly when one considers that the intention of these texts’ authors is to create a long term impact rather than their relevance just being limited to next day’s headlines.”

Then there is the issue of maintaining the confidentiality of the contents.

This is “an aspect that should be given due attention throughout the entire editing process of the documents, in order to guarantee their reliability during discussions among different parties and in order to ensure that no external reality can condition them,” considering “the evolution of modern communication technologies which seems to have created a widespread passion for the web.”

Vatican rewrites anti-money laundering, terror finance law to comply

2012-02-02T00:13:00.007Z

The Vatican has rewritten its 2010 anti-money laundering law after European inspectors found that it didn’t fully meet their tough standards to combat the financing of terrorism.

The new law, a copy of which was obtained Friday, requires the Vatican to create a list of terror organizations based on the one issued by the United Nations and requires the Vatican to enter into agreements with other countries to exchange financial information.

The Holy See has been working for years to comply with European Union norms on money-laundering and terror financing in a bid to shed its image as a secrecy-obsessed tax haven and join the so-called “white list” of countries that share tax information to crack down on tax cheats.

Vatican cardinal calls for tax on financial transactions

2012-02-02T00:12:00.006Z

As EU leaders prepare to meet for the first time this year, the president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace has called for the adoption of a financial transaction tax (FTT) to support global development and create a reserve fund to support nations hard hit by the financial crisis.

The European Commission (the EU’s governing body) and France support the adoption of an FTT, while the United Kingdom opposes it.

“One way of bringing economics and finance back within the boundaries of their real vocation, including their social function, would be through taxation measures on financial transactions,” said Cardinal Peter Turkson.

“These should be applied with fair rates, modulated in proportion to the complexity of operations, especially those made on the ‘secondary’ market.”

“Such an FTT would be very useful in promoting global development and sustainability according to the principles of social justice and solidarity,” he added.

“It could also contribute to the creation of a world reserve fund to support the economies of the countries hit by crisis, as well as the recovery of their monetary and financial systems.”

Vatican whistle-blower begged to continue crusade: letter

2012-02-02T00:11:00.010Z

A senior Vatican official who was transferred after he exposed a web of corruption begged to be allowed to continue his crusade and denounced a "vulgar and insolent" cleric behind a plot to destroy him, according to a leaked letter on Friday.

The letter from Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, who is now the Vatican's ambassador to Washington, will increase consternation in the Vatican which has been put on the defensive by the growing scandal.

Vigano wrote on May 8, 2011, to Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone imploring "your eminence to radically change your opinion of me," according to the letter published by the Italian daily Il Fatto Quotidiano, one of two news organizations which have been leaked the correspondence

Vigano wrote that letter nearly two months after Bertone, the second-most powerful man in the Vatican after the pope, informed him that he was being removed from his position three years before the scheduled end of his tenure.

Letters broadcast on Wednesday by the investigative program "The Untouchables" on the private television La7 showed Vigano was transferred against his will after complaining to Bertone and Pope Benedict about corruption and mismanagement.

The Vatican has not contested the authenticity of the letters, which sometimes read like a Renaissance drama of court intrigue, but has criticized the media's handling of them.

As deputy governor of the Vatican City for two years from 2009 to 2011, Vigano was the number two official in a department responsible for maintaining the tiny city-state's gardens, buildings, streets, museums and other infrastructure.

Vigano said in one of the earlier letters that when he took the job he discovered corruption, nepotism and cronyism linked to the awarding of contracts to outside companies at inflated prices.

In one letter, Vigano writes of a smear campaign against him by other Vatican officials who were upset that he had taken drastic steps to clean up the purchasing procedures.

In the May 8, 2011, letter published on Friday Vigano, who has not yet commented on the letters, makes a desperate attempt to keep his job and salvage his reputation.

He names two people, one a monsignor and one a layman, who he says were behind the plot to discredit him and behind anonymous stories criticizing him that were published in the Italian newspaper Il Giornale earlier that year.

In the May letter, Vigano pleads with Bertone to see "the plot to destroy me in the eyes of your eminence."

He also accuses the monsignor of corruption and mismanagement in a previous Vatican post and says that if the Vatican does not discipline him "I will consider it my duty to go to the civil justice system."

Vigano accuses the monsignor of being "vulgar in behavior and language and arrogant and insolent" to staff in the Vatican department where he worked.

He then names a third official, a layman, and accuses him of being responsible for "denigration and calumny against me."

He appeals to the pope not to transfer him, even if it means promotion, because it "would be a defeat difficult for me to accept."

In October he was named ambassador to Washington after the sudden death of the previous envoy to the United States.

Take a leaf out of Jesus's book: Slash the cost of your luxury palaces by a quarter, senior bishops told

2012-02-02T00:10:00.014Z

Senior bishops have been ordered to cut the lavish costs of running their palaces and mansions by more than a quarter.

The spending cap, confirmed by Church of England officials, will be lowered by a further third from 2014.

The disclosure comes in a week that has seen five bishops lead a rebellion in the House of Lords against Coalition plans to cap the cost of benefits payments.

They are among the 44 diocesan bishops who are covered by the spending restrictions on accommodation, as are the Archbishops of Canterbury and York.

The five bishops opposed a £26,000 cap on benefits, claiming it would disproportionately affect families with children and make them homeless.

Anglican economist Ruth Lea said: ‘Now the Church recognises that it has to live within its own budget, perhaps the bishops could recognise that the Government needs to do the same.Which bit of hypocrisy is it that they have trouble spelling? If they are really worried about children, perhaps they should think of the children who will have to pay off the Government’s debts in 20 or 30 years’ time.’

The bishops were also rebuked by former Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey, who wrote in the Mail that they would doom families to remaining benefit-dependent and workless.

Dr Carey added that the bishops had ignored the impact of taxation on millions of working people who pay for state benefits but live on much less than £26,000 themselves.

The bishop who led the rebellion – which also included the Bishops of Chichester, Lichfield, Leicester and Manchester – was the Bishop of Ripon and Leeds, the Right Reverend John Packer.

The style in which he is accustomed to living perhaps gives an insight into why he and his colleagues feel £26,000 a year is too little for a family to get by on.

Four years ago he moved into a house bought and renovated by the Church at a cost of more than £1million.

Expenses included moving a colony of bats into a specially constructed outhouse run.

All 44 bishops have now been told that the total maintenance and refurbishment bill for their homes must be kept below £5million a year for three years.

The limit, which came into effect last year, is down from £7million a year over the previous three years.

It is hoped the move will dispel the impression that senior clergy are enjoying lavish lifestyles at the expense of ordinary churchgoers.

The cap means that average spending on a bishop’s home will have to come down from just under £160,000 a year to £114,000.

This figure includes the cost of buying new homes and necessary repairs.

But, according to Church documents, ‘the average ongoing maintenance costs of some houses is now well over £50,000 a year’.

Papers circulated by the CofE’s parliament, the General Synod, reveal the findings of a meeting of senior figures staged by the Church in 2009.

It concluded: ‘Some very large sums have been spent on some of the properties recently and the average cost of maintaining each property was very high.’

The CofE then proceeded to plan a spending cap. Synod Secretary-General William Fittall set out the reasoning in a paper: ‘There was recognition that the large sums spent on see houses provoked questions about the style, scale and expectations of bishops’ ministry.’

Successive attempts to curb bishops’ extravagant spending on their ‘see homes’ have failed to slow the increase in costs.

A Church review a decade ago called for bishops to live in homes with no more than six bedrooms and to restrict their use of gardeners and chauffeurs.

Yet in the three years from 2008 to 2010, spending on bishops’ accommodation rocketed to £21million, or £7million a year.

Mr Fittall proposed a total £15million spending cap over the 2011-2013 period, to be reduced to £10million for 2014-16.

The Reverend Paul Dawson, a South London vicar and spokesman for the Church’s conservative evangelical Reform group, said: ‘Everyone is having to cut their cloth and bishops are no different from the rest of us.’

Bishops pay visit to Olympic site

2012-02-02T00:09:00.011Z

With just six months to go until the Olympics, Catholic bishops have paid a visit to the East London site to see how things are shaping up.

Archbishop Vincent Nichols was accompanied by bishops from three London dioceses, local head teachers and members of the John Paul II Foundation for Sport for the visit to the 504-acre site on Tuesday.

Catholic churches in the area were strongly in favour of the bid to transform the former toxic wasteland into a state of the arts sports venue that would serve the capital and the nation far beyond 2012.

This year marks the first time that the Catholic Church will join in Olympic outreach through the Christian umbrella organisation More Than Gold.

The visit was an opportunity for the Church leaders to see how the Olympic Park looks as preparations for the Games enter their final stages.

Archbishop Nichols said the Olympic and Paralympic Games would be a “moment of great opportunity for us all”.

“These great sporting events generate all sorts of good ideas and initiatives, particularly for young people, reminding all of us of the importance of good health, the dignity of our bodies, the care of our physical well-being and its spiritual meaning,” he said.

“The example of many who are dedicated to training routines in preparation for these Games remind us of the need for good habits and routines in our own daily lives if we are to make the most of our God-given talents.”

In a ceremony, keys to the Olympic Village were handed over to London 2012 organisers.

Some 2,818 flats will be fitted out in the remaining months to provide a home away from home for the 16,000 athletes and officials taking part in the Games.

Organisers say they are running on schedule to meet the July 27 deadline.

This week's visit was organised by James Parker, the Catholic Church's executive coordinator for the Games. He praised the quality of the Olympic site.

“This is the sixth time I have had the opportunity to visit the Olympic Park. What astounds me on every occasion is the quantity and quality of the work being accomplished not only to serve the Games but as a lasting legacy for the people of East London and the nation as a whole,” he said.

“Never before have so many first-rate business and sporting facilities, landscaped parkland and new housing for thousands of people become available in such a short space of time. The Olympic Park is fast becoming the new ‘must see’ tourist attraction of our nation."

Churches Together presidents hail ‘year of celebration’

2012-02-02T00:08:00.007Z

The Presidents of Churches Together in England (CTE) have heralded 2012 as a “year of celebration”.

With the Olympic Games and torch relays, and the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee all on the horizon, they say the four month period of May to September will provide opportunities for people to gather and celebrate together “in ways which will both enhance and deepen community life”.

The CTE Presidents are the Moderator of the United Reformed Churches, the Rev Michael Heaney, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Westminster, Vincent Nichols, and the head of the Lutheran Church in Great Britain, the Rt Rev Jana Jeruma-Grinberga.

In a joint statement, the Church leaders spoke of the “unprecedented” collaboration between the denominations ahead of the Olympics, both through their own staff and the More than Gold organisation.

“More Christian communities from different traditions than ever before are coming together to plan practical ways of serving the project of the Olympic Games, which can bring many and diverse benefits," they said.

This week has seen the end of the annual Week of Prayer for Christian Unity and the start of the six-month countdown to the Games.

Outreach being planned by churches through More than Gold includes hosting athletes’ families and showing the Games on big screens in church buildings or grounds.

Another nationwide initiative is inviting churches to celebrate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee by lighting beacons.

The CTE Presidents affirmed their commitment to continue working in the coming months towards the “visible unity of all Christians in the one faith, expressed in common discipleship, worship, witness and service”.

Benedict XVI’s talks more advanced than Obama’s, research finds

2012-02-02T00:07:00.007Z

Benedict XVI’s homilies are pitched at a higher level than the speeches of Barack Obama, according to a popular linguistic test.

Analysis suggests that a reading age of 16 is required to understand the Holy Father, compared to an age of just 13 for Harvard-educated Obama.

The University of Minnesota’s Smart Politics site found that Obama’s state of the union address registered at an eighth grade (13-year-old) reading level, despite the president’s reputation as a brilliant orator.

The score, calculated using the Flesch-Kincaid readability test, is the third lowest of any state of the union address since 1934.

The Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA), a Catholic institute, analysed Benedict XVI’s addresses since September and found that they scored 11.6 (11th grade) using the same test.

And Blessed Pope John Paul II, based on the homilies he gave in America in 1979, had a slightly lower average score of 10.7.

Neither popes, however, could challenge George Washington’s score of 25, the highest ever recorded for a US presidential address.

The Flesch-Kincaid test uses word and sentence length to calculate how easy a text is to read.

Pope Benedict features in new illustrated children’s book

2012-02-02T00:06:00.001Z

A children’s book about the philosophy of Pope Benedict XVI has been published, featuring scenes from the 2010 papal visit to Britain.

Be Saints! An Invitation from Pope Benedict XVI is written by author and blogger Amy Welborn and illustrated by the award-winning New York-based watercolourist Ann Kissane Engelhart, whose paintings have been featured in the Empire State Building and St Francis Hospital among other landmarks.

The book features scenes from the “Big Assembly”, where children from around England and Wales saw the Holy Father at St Mary’s College in Twickenham.

Also among the illustrations are Blessed John Henry Newman conducting a choir and a young man praying to St Thomas More and St John Fisher.

The project began in 2009 after Mrs Englehart, who had been reading Welborn’s blog Charlotte Was Both, and suggested working on a project about Benedict’s message.

The book gives advice on friendship with God, finding happiness and “giving yourself totally to Jesus”, as well as quotes by Pope Benedict such as: “What really matters in life is that we are loved by Christ, and that we love him in return. In comparison to the love of Jesus, everything else is secondary.”

Be Saints! An Invitation from Pope Benedict XVI is published by the Catholic Truth Society and is on sale for £9.95.

All former Anglicans can join ordinariate, says bishop

2012-02-02T00:05:00.005Z

An English bishop has confirmed that Anglicans who were received into the Catholic Church years ago can join the personal ordinariate created by Benedict XVI last year.

The Pope established the world’s first personal ordinariate for groups of former Anglicans that wished to enter into full communion with Rome in January 2011.

There was discussion at the time about whether Anglicans received before 2011 could also join the structure under the terms of Anglicanorum coetibus, the apostolic constitution describing the nature of personal ordinariates.

Writing in the January 2012 issue of The Newman, the journal of the Newman Association, Bishop Alan Hopes clarified that the ordinariate was open to all former Anglicans.

The bishop, who serves as an auxiliary in Westminster diocese and as episcopal delegate to the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, wrote: “The personal ordinariate is for former Anglicans – but Anglicans who converted some years ago can, if they so wish, say that they would like to become members of the ordinariate. There is that dual possibility. The decision-making body is the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. They are the people who will be the final arbiters in any question that might arise. There are points in the constitution [Anglicanorum coetibus] that will have to be fleshed out.”

The bishop, a former Anglican who was received into the Catholic Church in 1994, said that the long-term future of the ordinariate was unclear.

“As for the future, it may be God’s will that it should be the present structure, but maybe in 50 years’ time the ordinariate will become fully integrated into the Catholic Church. Who knows? We must wait and see,” he wrote.

Half a century after Vatican II, a year of faith and debate

2012-02-02T00:04:00.015Z

Fifty years ago this October, Blessed John XXIII and more than 2,500 bishops and heads of religious orders from around the world gathered in St. Peter's Basilica for the opening session of the Second Vatican Council.

Over the following three years, Vatican II would issue 16 major "pronouncements" on such fundamental questions as the authority of the church's hierarchy, the interpretation of Scripture, and the proper roles of clergy and laity.

Those documents, and the deliberations that produced them, have transformed how the Catholic Church understands and presents itself within the context of modern secular culture and society.

Because Vatican II was one of the monumental events in modern religious history, its golden anniversary will naturally be the occasion for numerous commemorative events, including liturgical celebrations, publications and academic conferences.

At a Vatican II exhibition at Rome's Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls, which opened in late January and will run until November 2013, the displays include original handwritten pages from Pope John's speech at the council's opening session, and a Vatican passport issued at the time to a young Polish bishop named Karol Wojtyla, the future Pope John Paul II.

Yet Vatican II is not merely of historical interest; it is very much a living issue in the church today.

Scholars still debate to what extent the council's achievements, in such areas as interfaith dialogue and liturgical reform, were organic developments in the church's history or radical breaks with the past.

And clergy and laity alike differ over how expansively to apply the council's pronouncements, whether sticking closely to the letter of the documents or following a more broadly construed "spirit of Vatican II."

Pope Benedict XVI has rejected what he calls the "hermeneutics of discontinuity and rupture" in the present-day understanding of the council and has called instead for interpreting Vatican II as an instance of "renewal in continuity" with the church's 2,000 years of tradition.

Exploring and promoting that idea will be a major goal of the Year of Faith that begins this Oct. 11, exactly half a century to the day since Vatican II opened.

A relatively small but highly vocal number of Catholics reject the council altogether, charging among other things that subsequent changes to worship have undermined the solemnity of the Mass and that a growing openness to other religions conflicts with the need to proclaim salvation through Jesus Christ alone.

The most prominent such group, the Society of St. Pius X, effectively broke with Rome in 1988, when its founder, the late French Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, ordained four bishops without approval from the pope.

Pope Benedict has made reconciliation with the traditionalist society a priority of his pontificate. He lifted restrictions on the traditional Latin Mass, now called the extraordinary form, in 2007. Less than two years later, he removed the excommunications of the four illicitly ordained bishops.

And last fall, the Vatican held out the possibility of making the group a personal prelature if a full reconciliation is reached. A prelature is somewhat like a global diocese, a status currently held only by Opus Dei.

As a condition of reconciliation, though, the Vatican has asked the society to give its assent to a summary of certain non-negotiable doctrines. These have not been made public, but they presumably include the major teachings of Vatican II.

Though the ongoing dialogue between the Vatican and the society remains confidential, both sides have recently published documents that give insights into their respective positions.

In early December, L'Osservatore Romano, the Vatican newspaper, published an article by Msgr. Fernando Ocariz, the second-highest official of Opus Dei and a participant in talks with the Society of St. Pius X.

In the article, Msgr. Ocariz insisted that all the teachings of Vatican II require nothing less than "religious submission of intellect and will," and that even the council's apparent innovations in doctrine are properly understood as in continuity with tradition. But he also emphasized that "there remains legitimate room for theological freedom" in interpreting them.

Later the same month, Father Jean-Michel Gleize, a theologian who has represented the society in discussions with the Vatican, published a response to Msgr. Ocariz's article. Perhaps the most striking part of Father Gleize's argument was his rejection of the hermeneutic of continuity as overly "subjective" and neglectful of the "unity of the truth" necessary in church teaching.

That would seem to suggest an endorsement of the hermeneutic of rupture usually associated with the council's most progressive champions.

Reading such an exchange, it's not easy to believe that the Year of Faith will end with anything like a Catholic consensus on the meaning of Vatican II.

But as someone well known to think in terms of centuries, Pope Benedict will surely be neither surprised nor discouraged by the continuing debate.

Pittsburgh bishop: contraception mandate tells Catholics ‘To hell with you!’

2012-02-02T00:03:00.008Z

The new federal contraception mandate is “like a slap in the face” that says “To Hell with you!” to Catholics and religious freedom, Bishop David A. Zubik of Pittsburgh said.

“This is government by fiat that attacks the rights of everyone – not only Catholics; not only people of all religion. At no other time in memory or history has there been such a governmental intrusion on freedom not only with regard to religion, but even across-the-board with all citizens,” Bishop Zubik wrote in the Jan. 27 edition of the Pittsburgh Catholic.

“Kathleen Sebelius (Health and Human Services Secretary) and through her, the Obama administration, have said ‘To Hell with You’ to the Catholic faithful of the United States,” he charged, adding that the administration has damned Catholics’ religious beliefs, religious liberty and freedom of conscience.

The new rules from the Department of Health and Human Services mandate insurance coverage for “preventive services,” a category which the department ruled covers sterilization and contraception, including an abortifacient drug.

Catholic teaching recognizes the use of these procedures and drugs as sinful, but the mandate’s religious exemption is narrow and will not “practically speaking” apply to many Catholic health systems, educational institutions, charities and other organization, the bishop said.

It will apply in “virtually every instance where the Catholic Church serves as an employer.”

Bishop Zubik said the mandate treats pregnancy as a disease and “forces every employer to subsidize an ideology or pay a penalty while searching for alternatives to health care coverage.”

It also undermines health care reform by “inextricably linking it to the zealotry of pro-abortion bureaucrats.”

He said the mandate tells Catholics “not only to violate our beliefs, but to pay directly for that violation” as well as to “subsidize the imposition of a contraceptive and abortion culture on every person in the United States.”

The bishop asked Catholics to write to President Obama, Secretary Sebelius, their senators and members of Congress.

“This mandate can be changed by Congressional pressure. The only way that action will happen is if you and I take action,” Bishop Zubik said.

“Let them know that you and I will not allow ourselves to be pushed around (or worse yet) be dismissed because of our Catholic faith.”

Unless the rules are changed, they will go into effect in one year.

Bells to welcome Pope upon arrival in Mexico

2012-02-02T00:02:00.007Z

Father Jorge Raul Villegas, the director of logistics for Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to Leon, said church bells throughout the Mexican city will ring out to welcome the Pope upon his arrival.

“We are inviting all of Mexico to welcome him in this way as soon as he lands, and so we are inviting people to bring small bells.”

Fr. Villegas spoke with CNA on Jan. 18 and outlined details for the Pope’s visit, which is scheduled for March 23-26.

He recalled that during John Paul II’s five visits to the country, Mexicans used small mirrors to reflect sunlight up to the Pope as the papal jet descended.

The priest added that there will be an official song for Benedict XVI’s visit and that young people will have a significant presence during the trip.

He also said special catechesis sessions will be provided to young people leading up to the Pope’s arrival.

Fr. Villegas said the greatest gift Mexicans can give the Pope is a deepening in their faith, “to tell him: We are believers, we continue to trust in our only guide who is the pastor of all pastors. We welcome you, Holy Father, as our pastor and we wish to listen to you.”

Candlemas Day - February 2nd

2012-02-02T00:01:00.015Z

2nd February is Candlemas Day.

This ancient festival marks the midpoint of winter, halfway between the shortest day and the spring equinox.

In olden times, many people used to say that the Christmas season lasted for forty days - until the second day of February.

It was the day of the year when all the candles, that were used in the church during the coming year, were brought into church and a blessing was said over them - so it was the Festival Day (or 'mass') of the Candles.

Candles were important in those days not only because there was no electric lights. Some people thought they gave protection against plague and illness and famine.

For Christians, they were (and still are) a reminder of something even more important.

Before Jesus came to earth, it was as if everyone was 'in the dark'. People often felt lost and lonely. Afraid. As if they were on their own, with no one to help them.

Then came Jesus with his message that he is with his followers always ready to help and comfort them. As if he is a guiding light to them in the darkness.

Christians often talk of Jesus as 'the light of the World' - and candles are lit during church services to remind Christians of this.

Candlemas is a day which holds many different customs

The Romans had a custom of lighting candles to scare away evil spirits in the winter.

One of the most interesting custom took place in Scotland. In the olden days, Candlemas was the day when children brought candles to school so that the classrooms could have light on dull days.

As time went on, gas lighting took over from candle light. The children took money to the teacher who was suppose to spend it on sweets and cakes for the children to eat.

The boy or girl taking in the most money were declared Candlemas King and Queen and they 'ruled' for six weeks. They had the power to make one whole afternoon a week a playtime and they could also let anyone they wished off punishment.

Other names for Candlemas Day

Candlemas's Day also has two other names. One is the 'Presentation of Christ in the Temple'.

The other is the 'Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary'. Both these names come from special events in the life of baby Jesus.

Candlemas Day Weather-lore, beliefs and sayings

People believe that Candlemas Day predicted the weather for the rest of the winter.

The weather proverbs express the idea that a fine bright sunny Candlemas day means that there is more winter to come, whereas a cloudy wet stormy Candlemas day means that the worst of winter is over.

Weather Proverbs

If Candlemas Day be fair and bright
Winter will have another fight.
If Candlemas Day brings cloud and rain,
Winter won't come again.
If Candlemas Day be dry and fair,
The half o the winter's to come and mair;
If Candlemas Day be wet and foul,
The half o the winter's gane at Yule.

Farmer's Proverbs

'A farmer should, on Candlemas Day,
Have half his corn and half his hay.'
'On Candlemas Day if the thorns hang adrop,
You can be sure of a good pea crop.'

German Proverb

" The badger peeps out of his hole on Candlemas Day,
and, if he finds snow, walks abroad; but if he sees the sun shining he draws back into his hole."

In America the same story is told about the groundhog or woodchuck.

Candlemas Superstitions

A candle which drips on one side when carried in church on Candlemas, denotes a death during the year of someone dear.

Snowdrops are considered to be unlucky if brought into the house before Candlemas Day, representing a parting or death.

Any Christmas decorations not taken down by Twelfth Night (January 5th) should be left up until Candlemas Day and then taken down.

A PRAYER FOR CANDLEMAS DAY

LORD Jesus Christ, You are the true Light enlightening every soul born into this world.

Today we celebrate the feast of Candlemas.

Before Holy Mass, the priest blesses the candles, whose wax is the humming summer's work of countless bees.

The flames of these candles will shed their light upon the altar at the Holy Sacrifice.

Help us to realize, this day and every day, that our own humdrum daily work, if it is done for love of You, and in union with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, will be a supernatural work, and will shine brightly before You for all eternity.

Help us realize, too, each time we see the blessed candles at Holy Mass, or at the bedside of the sick, that they are a symbol of Yourself, the Light shining in the darkness of this world.

Help us to live in that Light, to make it our own, and to kindle it in the souls of others, increasing the area Of light and lessening the darkness in the World.

This, dear Lord, help us do, through the merits of Your own dear mother, Mary, who did everything for love of You, from the moment she brought You into this world till the day she joined You in the realms of light at her death.

Then we, too, working for You, shall be light-bearers who will help to spread Your kingdom on earth, and increase the number of those who dwell in heaven, the city of eternal light.

Eucharistic Congress 2012 - Prayer

2012-02-02T00:00:00.000Z

Lord Jesus,
You were sent by the Father
to gather together those who are scattered.

You came among us, doing good and bringing healing,
announcing the Word of salvation
and giving the Bread which lasts forever.

Be our companion on life’s pilgrim way.

May your Holy Spirit transform us into one body
and lead us to walk humbly on the earth,
in justice and love,
as witnesses of your resurrection.

Amen