Catholic News 2
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Obama administration officials told Congress on Thursday that Iran wanted "immediate access" to $1.7 billion paid by the United States in cash to settle a decades-old arbitration claim between the two countries....
WASHINGTON (AP) -- U.S special operations forces launched a rescue mission to retrieve two men kidnapped by insurgents in Afghanistan last month, but the hostages were not there when the rescue team arrived, U.S. defense officials said Thursday....
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Former Secretary of State Colin Powell found himself on the defensive Thursday following the release of a 2009 email exchange with Hillary Clinton, describing his use of a private, dial-up email account to carry out government business....
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. (AP) -- For months, Hillary Clinton's supporters have griped that she's held to a higher, harder standard than Donald Trump. After Wednesday night's forum on national security, those complaints became a rallying cry....
Washington D.C., Sep 7, 2016 / 05:25 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Media personality and America magazine editor Father James Martin, S.J. will receive an award from a dissenting Catholic group that has been the subject of warnings from the U.S. bishops and the Vatican for confusing Catholic teaching.Francis DeBernardo, executive director of New Ways Ministry, said Sept. 6 that the award for Fr. Martin recognized his ministry of communication which has “helped to expand the dialogue on LGBT issues in the Catholic Church.”“Fr. Martin has used his communication skills and channels to allow for an extensive discussion of LGBT issues among Catholics of varying ideologies,” he said, citing the priest’s role as editor-at-large of the Society of Jesus’ America magazine and his presence on social media, including nearly 500,000 Facebook followers.New Ways Ministry has called for the Catholic Church to recognize same-sex unions as sacramental marriages and has oppo...
Washington D.C., Sep 7, 2016 / 05:25 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Media personality and America magazine editor Father James Martin, S.J. will receive an award from a dissenting Catholic group that has been the subject of warnings from the U.S. bishops and the Vatican for confusing Catholic teaching.
Francis DeBernardo, executive director of New Ways Ministry, said Sept. 6 that the award for Fr. Martin recognized his ministry of communication which has “helped to expand the dialogue on LGBT issues in the Catholic Church.”
“Fr. Martin has used his communication skills and channels to allow for an extensive discussion of LGBT issues among Catholics of varying ideologies,” he said, citing the priest’s role as editor-at-large of the Society of Jesus’ America magazine and his presence on social media, including nearly 500,000 Facebook followers.
New Ways Ministry has called for the Catholic Church to recognize same-sex unions as sacramental marriages and has opposed Catholic efforts to defend religious freedom and marriage as a union of one man and one woman.
The group has not gone unchecked by the bishops.
In a February 12, 2010 statement, then-U.S. bishops’ conference president Cardinal Francis George of Chicago said the group’s claim to be Catholic “only confuses the faithful regarding the authentic teaching and ministry of the Church with respect to persons with a homosexual inclination.”
“No one should be misled by the claim that New Ways Ministry provides an authentic interpretation of Catholic teaching and an authentic Catholic pastoral practice,” Cardinal George continued.
“I wish to make it clear that, like other groups that claim to be Catholic but deny central aspects of Church teaching, New Ways Ministry has no approval or recognition from the Catholic Church and that they cannot speak on behalf of the Catholic faithful in the United States.”
The cardinal said the organization has faced “serious questions” about its adherence to Catholic teaching since its founding in 1977. In 1999, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith permanently barred the group’s co-founders, Sr. Jeannine Gramick and Fr. Robert Nugent, from any pastoral work involving homosexual persons due to “errors and ambiguities in their approach.” Cardinal George’s statement also noted the group has criticized efforts to defend marriage in law as a union of one man and one woman.
Fr. Martin will receive New Ways Ministry’s Bridge Building Award and give remarks at an Oct. 30 awards ceremony at a hotel in Pikesville, Maryland.
“I am honored to be considered as someone who tries to builds bridges in our Church today, and as someone who tries to minister to our LGBT brothers and sisters,” Fr. Martin told CNA Sept. 7.
New Ways Ministry is soliciting donations ranging from $50 to $1,000 to have names of supporting individuals or organizations listed in the program booklet for the event.
DeBernardo authored the foreword to a 2013 report from the think tank Political Research Associates that criticized efforts to protect religious freedom.
New Ways Ministry is part of the Equally Blessed Coalition, itself an outspoken critic of Catholicism. The coalition’s funders include billionaire heir Jon Stryker’s Arcus Foundation, which is engaged in a broad effort to limit religious freedom protections and to counter opposition to LGBT activism within Christianity.
In 2014 the Equally Blessed Coalition received a $200,000 Arcus Foundation grant through member organization Dignity USA “to support pro-LGBT faith advocates to influence and counter the narrative of the Catholic Church and its ultra-conservative affiliates.” The grant supported advocacy related to World Youth Day and the Synod on the Family and was intended to “amplify pro-LGBT voices within the Catholic Church,” the foundation’s grant listings and statements said.
A 2016 grant of $250,000 was intended “to support and give voice to the growing majority of Roman Catholics who support full acceptance and equality for LGBT people,” the Arcus Foundation said. The grant was part of its efforts to counter religious exemptions to anti-discrimination law. The foundation cited the Equally Blessed Coalition’s work “to combat the firing of LGBT staff and allies, who support marriage equality, at Catholic institutions.”
The coalition co-funded an October 2012 report with the LGBT activist group Human Rights Campaign that strongly criticized the Knights of Columbus, the U.S. bishops and the Vatican for defending marriage as a union of one man and one woman.
Birmingham, Ala., Sep 8, 2016 / 12:01 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The life and legacy of Mother Angelica will be the focus of EWTN Global Catholic Network’s family celebration in Birmingham Sept. 17-18.“This year’s EWTN Family Celebration is our first since the death of Mother Angelica and provides us with an opportunity to celebrate and reflect on the extraordinary life of Mother and what she meant to her EWTN family and to the world," said EWTN chairman Michael P. Warsaw.The free event will take place at the Birmingham Jefferson Convention Complex.On Saturday evening there will be a recording of EWTN’s “Family Talk Live” with Fr. Joseph Mary Wolfe and Warsaw.“We will share our memories, and answer audience questions about the nun whose faithfulness to God left a legacy of which all of us can be proud,” Warsaw said.Other speakers include EWTN personalities such as Raymond Arroyo, lead anchor of “The World Over”; Johnnette Be...
Birmingham, Ala., Sep 8, 2016 / 12:01 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The life and legacy of Mother Angelica will be the focus of EWTN Global Catholic Network’s family celebration in Birmingham Sept. 17-18.
“This year’s EWTN Family Celebration is our first since the death of Mother Angelica and provides us with an opportunity to celebrate and reflect on the extraordinary life of Mother and what she meant to her EWTN family and to the world," said EWTN chairman Michael P. Warsaw.
The free event will take place at the Birmingham Jefferson Convention Complex.
On Saturday evening there will be a recording of EWTN’s “Family Talk Live” with Fr. Joseph Mary Wolfe and Warsaw.
“We will share our memories, and answer audience questions about the nun whose faithfulness to God left a legacy of which all of us can be proud,” Warsaw said.
Other speakers include EWTN personalities such as Raymond Arroyo, lead anchor of “The World Over”; Johnnette Benkovic, host of “Women of Grace”; Jim and Joy Pinto, hosts of “At Home with Jim and Joy”; EWTN regular guest and producer Father Wade L. J. Menezes, C.P.M.; and Chris Stefanick, host of “Real Life Catholic.”
Doug Keck, EWTN president, will also speak.
Mass will be celebrated on Saturday at 10 a.m. with the Franciscan Missionaries of the Eternal Word.
Sunday Mass will be celebrated at 10 a.m. by Bishop Robert Baker of Birmingham and the Franciscan missionaries.
Attendees can meet with EWTN hosts and the Franciscan friars. There will be a special opportunity for children to visit EWTN’s Faith Factory with Rob Evans (the Donut Man) and Brother Leo.
Other featured events include a “Meet the Author” session with EWTN authors near the EWTN Religious Catalogue Shop.
There will be opportunities for confession and Eucharistic Adoration throughout the weekend.
EWTN’s founder, Mother Mary Angelica of the Annunciation, passed away on Easter Sunday this year at the age of 92.
The Family Celebration website is at http://www.ewtn.com/familycelebration/
IMAGE: CNS/Paul HaringBy Carol GlatzVATICANCITY (CNS) -- Though generally renown for Gregorian chant, curating librariesand offering quiet retreats, some Benedictine monks also brew beer, run farmsor play electric guitar, like Abbot Primate Nokter Wolf.Endinghis third and final term as leader of the confederation of Benedictinemonasteries, the 76-year-old German monk also plays in a rock group, namedFeedback, in his spare time, and performs classical and sacred music onflute.Abest-selling author, too, Abbot Wolf said he had seen his volume, "WhatAre We Waiting For? Heretical Thoughts on Germany," piled high next to astack of Dan Brown's "The Da Vinci Code," at the Munich airport'snewsstands.It'snot unusual to find monks pursuing such aesthetic or eclectic endeavors becausethey embrace creativity, he told Catholic News Service.Havingpeople from different backgrounds living, talking, working and praying togethermeans "you are rather creative, I would say, in a monastery," hesaid.Buti...
IMAGE: CNS/Paul Haring
By Carol Glatz
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Though generally renown for Gregorian chant, curating libraries and offering quiet retreats, some Benedictine monks also brew beer, run farms or play electric guitar, like Abbot Primate Nokter Wolf.
Ending his third and final term as leader of the confederation of Benedictine monasteries, the 76-year-old German monk also plays in a rock group, named Feedback, in his spare time, and performs classical and sacred music on flute.
A best-selling author, too, Abbot Wolf said he had seen his volume, "What Are We Waiting For? Heretical Thoughts on Germany," piled high next to a stack of Dan Brown's "The Da Vinci Code," at the Munich airport's newsstands.
It's not unusual to find monks pursuing such aesthetic or eclectic endeavors because they embrace creativity, he told Catholic News Service.
Having people from different backgrounds living, talking, working and praying together means "you are rather creative, I would say, in a monastery," he said.
But it also "shows that Christianity is at the roots of human culture," which means "it's so normal, so natural" that the Benedictine order's excellence in education, music, historical preservation or agriculture goes hand in hand with trying to live out the Gospel.
Committed to serving God and his creation, "Benedictines are close to nature," Abbot Wolf said.
For example, St. Ottilien Archabbey -- his home monastery in Bavaria where he will return after living in Rome since 2000 as abbot primate and head of St. Anselm College -- turns the manure from its 180 dairy cows into biogas, which they then sell to the local power company.
"We get more from selling energy than from selling our milk," he said.
There are some 250 monasteries of Benedictine men throughout the world, each one with its own culture, traditions and activities. The important thing, he said, is that whatever the communities are doing, "we are doing it out of love for Christ."
At the Congress of Abbots Sept. 3-16, abbots and conventual priors from each of those monasteries were meeting at St. Anselm Abbey in Rome to elect a new abbot primate.
The abbot primate lives in Rome to serve as a liaison between the pope and the Benedictine monasteries, as well as directing St. Anselm Abbey, serving as chancellor of the Pontifical University of St. Anselm and running the residence where 120 monks from 40 nations live.
The abbot primate, he said, has no jurisdiction over other monasteries, which are all independent and follow their own traditions and cultures.
"I can't tell superiors, abbots what they can do," he said, but he attends their national meetings to help build unity and collaboration among the order's far-flung communities.
Abbot Wolf said the Rule of St. Benedict helps bring balance to one's life. While much of his work required lots of meetings and extensive traveling, "I know where I am rooted." Common prayer with his brothers, the Eucharist and the liturgy are "my anchor," he said.
The strong contemplative nature of the Benedictine life doesn't mean the monks shut their eyes to the world's needs, he said.
"I think just to praise the Lord in church and see people dying" without being moved to respond is not following the Gospel, he said. "We have to do something."
For today's Benedictine monks and nuns, St. Benedict's sixth-century rule means living out the Gospel together. It's a communal and constant team effort, he said, like a soccer or baseball squad would require, only here "you are training mutual love, training charity."
Community life is not easy, he said, but it is there "you can show you are a real Christian, to stand back and give the other the chance to live" in a generous, give and take of communal living.
Over the decades, he said he has seen a positive "change of mentality" in Benedictine communities, which suffered from what he called an "interpersonal crisis."
Monastic living was thought to entail fulfilling rules and regulations without taking care "of how the other person, your neighbor, is feeling," he said.
"But now they are taking care of themselves and the community" so they can still have "a sober community, but also a heartfelt living together."
This heartfelt hospitality also extends to everyone, he said.
When guests visit a monastery, he said, "they are also there looking for people with whom they can talk to about their life. They have a quiet place where they may discover again the sense of their life, come back to their roots and to eventually find their roots in God."
- - -
Follow Glatz on Twitter: @CarolGlatz
- - -
Copyright © 2016 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. www.catholicnews.com. All rights reserved. Republishing or redistributing of CNS content, including by framing or similar means without prior permission, is prohibited. You may link to stories on our public site. This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. To request permission for republishing or redistributing of CNS content, please contact permissions at cns@catholicnews.com.
By Carol GlatzVATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Honoring Star Trek's50th anniversary, the Vatican newspaper said the overwhelmingly popular seriesgave the world a model of peace, tolerance and cooperation at a time of global tensions.The show -- whose first episode aired Sept.8, 1966 -- began during the Cold War. But "while builders of nuclear falloutshelters made buckets of money, especially in the United States, Star Trekproposed a true model of cooperation," the article said.Captain James Kirk and his faithful crew, itsaid, journeyed to distant galaxies and discovered new civilizations "inorder to propose peaceful relations (built) on a foundation of equality."Also significant and groundbreaking was themakeup of the crew of the starship Enterprise: an alien, an African-American woman and aJapanese man, it said. "Today is might seem totally normal,but it's important to remember that America at the time had recently emergedfrom a bloody war fought against Japan, too, and it was marked by deep...
By Carol Glatz
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Honoring Star Trek's 50th anniversary, the Vatican newspaper said the overwhelmingly popular series gave the world a model of peace, tolerance and cooperation at a time of global tensions.
The show -- whose first episode aired Sept. 8, 1966 -- began during the Cold War.
But "while builders of nuclear fallout shelters made buckets of money, especially in the United States, Star Trek proposed a true model of cooperation," the article said.
Captain James Kirk and his faithful crew, it said, journeyed to distant galaxies and discovered new civilizations "in order to propose peaceful relations (built) on a foundation of equality."
Also significant and groundbreaking was the makeup of the crew of the starship Enterprise: an alien, an African-American woman and a Japanese man, it said.
"Today is might seem totally normal, but it's important to remember that America at the time had recently emerged from a bloody war fought against Japan, too, and it was marked by deep racial tensions." It also struggled with tense "relations with countries beyond the Iron Curtain, far away just like Vulcan," the extraterrestrial planet and home of Mr. Spock -- who was of mixed human-Vulcan descent.
The newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, said the show, which "marked an era," represents a "totally human star voyage in search of new ways of understanding one another. A voyage that is always needed."
- - -
Copyright © 2016 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. www.catholicnews.com. All rights reserved. Republishing or redistributing of CNS content, including by framing or similar means without prior permission, is prohibited. You may link to stories on our public site. This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. To request permission for republishing or redistributing of CNS content, please contact permissions at cns@catholicnews.com.
NEW YORK (AP) -- Having flopped with the New York Jets, Tim Tebow will try to revive his career as an outfielder with the Mets....
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) -- The growth of the U.S. Latino population - once the nation's fastest growing - slowed considerably over the past seven years and slipped behind that of Asian Americans amid declining Hispanic immigration and birth rates, a study released Thursday found....
