Cruise lines: Taking a vacation from God

By Mary DeTurris Poust

Celebrity cruise line and Royal Caribbean are among the luxury ships taking to the high seas without a priest on board to celebrate Sunday Mass for Catholic vacationers. Apparently it was a problem providing Catholic Mass when the cruise lines did not also provide services for every other denomination. No one addressed the fact that for Catholics, unlike many other denominations, missing Sunday Mass is a mortal sin. Now Catholics may have to make due with interdenominational or prerecorded services.

One pop culture "expert" likened the decision to drop Sunday Mass to airlines dropping the traditional peanut snack of days gone by. Are we really comparing the Catholic desire and obligation to participate in Sunday Eucharist to the hungry hordes aboard airplanes who can't get through a two-hour flight without a honey-roasted snack? As if canceling Mass wasn't offensive enough.

In an article on Religion News Service, the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights took issue with the decision:

"The group suggested that Catholic travelers who are 'serious about their faith' examine their options before booking with Celebrity. Catholics are unique, the group noted, because the faith requires members to observe weekly liturgy, which can only be led by a priest.

“'Why punish the Catholic priests and cruise-goers?' wondered Susan Fani, spokeswoman for the Catholic League. Instead of adding religious leaders from other faiths, she said, Celebrity was reacting to 'anti-Catholic' complaints."

Read the full story HERE. (FYI: Holland America still provides priests on board for weekly Mass.) And then tell us in the comment section: Would you choose or refuse a cruise line based on whether Sunday Mass was available?

From Olympic skater to Franciscan Sister

By Mary DeTurris Poust

With Olympic-mania hitting fever pitch right now as the U.S. and Canada take to the ice to compete for hockey gold, here's an Olympic story that ends not with a medal but with a religious vocation.

Kirstin Holum placed sixth in the 3,000-meter and seventh in the 5,000-meter speedskating races for the United States in the Nagano, Japan, Winter Olympics in 1998. At 17, she was considered a prodigy with a bright skating future. But instead she joined the Franciscan Sisters of the Renewal, a New York-based order that works directly with the poor. Now known as Sister Catherine, the young woman is serving in England with three other sisters, according to a CNS story.

From the CNS story:

"'I could have gone on' with speedskating, Sister Catherine told Catholic News Service in a Feb. 22 telephone interview. 'I was thinking this (Vancouver, British Columbia) could have been my fourth Olympics, but I am so grateful the Lord led me to where I am now.'

"When speaking to youth groups Sister Catherine makes no secret of her past as an Olympic speedskater because it opens up the possibility of a religious vocation to young people who would never have thought about it.

"'Usually you get a shocked look,' she told CNS. 'It is hard for children sometimes to picture you as anything else than a nun. It is definitely a starting point for evangelization, for bringing them closer to Christ, because they can see there is a real person standing in front of them and not just a nun.'"

Sister Catherine's mother, Dianne Holum, was a gold medal Olympic skater and later a trainer, but she also grounded her daughter in the Catholic faith, even sending her on a pilgrimage to Fatima in 1996. It was there that Sister Catherine felt the first stirrings of a religious vocation, she told CNS:

"'I was not feeling in my heart that I would be skating the rest of my life; I knew there was more to life than sports,' she said. 'I never regretted that decision. I think it was just a grace from God to bring me to something else.'

"'I saw people making sports into the most important thing, and I didn't desire that,' she said."

To read the full story, click HERE.

Adding insult to injury: Taxing Catholic school tuition

By Mary DeTurris Poust

In a move that is sure to anger Catholic school parents in Missouri and worry Catholic school administrators across the country, the Missouri General Assembly has proposed a “mega-sales tax” on private school tuition. Under the proposal, parents who already pay taxes for public school services they do not use would be taxed on top of their school taxes and their school tuition.

The Missouri Catholic Conference (MCC) has warned that the move would put an unfair burden on parents of Catholic school children and would "coerce" them into choosing public schools over private or Catholic schools.

An article from Catholic News Agency, explains that the services taxed under the proposed legislation would include "educational services provided by K-12 private and parochial schools." College tuition would be exempt because it is considered an investment.

From the CNA story:

"The MCC argued that K-12 private school tuition is also an investment, not 'discretionary' spending like buying a movie ticket or a magazine. It charged that the tax discriminates against private school parents, especially those who feel that their child will not receive an education in 'a failing public school.'

“'By singling out private school parents for taxing while exempting all other school parents, the mega-sales tax penalizes parents who choose private or parochial schools,' the MCC commented."

To read the full CNA article, click HERE.

Statistics show increase in worldwide Catholic population, vocations

The most recent statistics compiled by the Vatican show an increase the percentage of Catholics worldwide and a rise in the number of priests and seminarians worldwide, according to a CNS story.

From the CNS story by John Thavis:

"The Vatican said the number of Catholics reached 1.166 billion, an increase of 19 million, or 1.7 percent, from the end of 2007. During the same period, Catholics as a percentage of the global population grew from 17.33 percent to 17.4 percent, it said.

"The number of priests stood at 409,166, an increase of 1,142 from the end of 2007. Since the year 2000, the Vatican said, the number of priests has increased by nearly 4,000, or about 1 percent."

The statistics from late 2008 also showed the breakdown of new vocations, with the number of seminarians in the Americas remaining at the same level, while numbers grew in Africa, Asia and Oceania. Europe showed a decline of 4.3 percent.

To read the full story, click HERE.

Making sense of the bishops' conference controversy

By Russell Shaw

A controversy over involvement by the U.S. bishops’ conference and one of its top executives in two liberal public policy groupings spotlights the perils associated with a familiar Washington institution: the coalition.

Coalitions with policy agendas are a way of life in the capital. But as the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has lately been reminded, this is a way of life with ambiguities and risks, including guilt by association.

Calls for reform

The controversy erupted when several conservative groups complained that John Carr, head of USCCB’s social development and peace office, formerly played a leadership role in a coalition called the Center for Community Change, which the conservatives accused of promoting abortion and homosexuality. Carr says he severed ties with the center five years ago, and up to then it had no connection with these issues.

Calling themselves the Reform CCHD Now Coalition, the conservatives also complained that 31 of 150 organizations in the Center for Community Change coalition got grants from the Catholic Campaign for Human Development.

The bishops’ domestic anti-poverty program has come under fire for funding groups engaged in abortion advocacy and other questionable activities and has withdrawn funding from several.

The Reform CCHD Now Coalition counts some two dozen members, including the American Life League, Bellarmine Veritas Ministry and Real Catholic TV. The critics have continued raising questions about other CCHD-funded groups.

A second round of criticism originated with conservative Catholic journalist Deal Hudson, who noted that the USCCB was one of nearly 200 organizations comprising the Leadership Conference for Civil and Human Rights, which, along with its traditional civil-rights agenda, advocates on behalf of gay rights and has opposed abortion restrictions.

Glut of coalitions

One indisputable fact in this scrap is that Washington swarms with coalitions on a bewildering variety of issues. An Internet search turns up listings from the National Coalition on Health Care and the National Coalition for the Homeless, to the Religious Freedom Coalition and the International AntiCounterfeiting Coalition. And that’s scratching the surface.

A spokesperson for the bishops’ conference said it is involved “formally and informally” with a number of coalitions through which it has long-term and short-term relationships with other groups on issues like refugees and immigration, broadcasting, private education, disabilities, housing and family leave for parents.

“Permission for the USCCB to be part of a coalition must be given by the general secretary,” the spokesperson said. The current general secretary is Msgr. David J. Malloy.

Criteria said to be considered in deciding on membership in a coalition were its purpose and decision-making and control processes, potential advantages like cooperation on shared goals and good relations with other groups, and “potential disadvantages,” including the USCCB’s lack of control and the possibility the coalition might take unacceptable stands. “Membership on a coalition does not imply support for every position taken by individual members,” the spokesperson said.

In line with Church?

Is coalition membership in principle open to a Catholic organization? St. Paul cautioned the Christians of Corinth against severing contact with “the immoral of this world,” because “for you would then have to leave the world” (1 Cor 5:10). On that basis, two commonsense rules seem to apply.

First, a Catholic organization can join a coalition that includes groups that support things like abortion and same-sex marriage provided the coalition doesn’t advocate them.

Second, if the coalition itself — not just some members — does advocate views contrary to Catholic beliefs and values, that’s a powerful argument against membership.

How does the current controversy look in that light?

The Center for Community Change was founded in 1968 to promote anti-poverty efforts. The Reform CCHD Coalition said the center “lodged itself into the highest places of power in the USCCB while working to promote abortion and homosexuality” via Carr’s chairmanship of its board.

But Carr says he left the board in February 2005 and “had no involvement in or knowledge of the actions alleged. … The board never discussed or acted on any position involving these matters, and if they had, I would have vigorously opposed any advocacy for access to abortion or gay marriage.”

On that basis, Carr seems to be in the clear. After he came under attack, several bishops and USCCB pro-life staff endorsed his pro-life credentials, as did Father Frank Pavone of Priests for Life.

As for the 31 groups that got CCHD money, the critics don’t claim that they promote abortion and homosexual rights themselves. Their membership in the community change center doesn’t appear sufficient grounds for automatically denying them Catholic funding. Complaints about other groups deserve to be investigated, with the findings made public.

The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights is a different story. Groups on its executive committee include the American Civil Liberties Union, the National Organization for Women and the Human Rights Campaign, a major homosexual rights organization. Others in the coalition include the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, and several gay rights groups — along with three other Catholic organizations: Catholic Charities USA, the National Catholic Conference for Interracial Justice and the National Council of Catholic Women.

Hudson noted that membership in the Leadership Conference costs a minimum $1,000 annual dues. Its current priorities include Senate ratification of the U.N.-sponsored Convention for the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, which pressures countries to legalize abortion, and the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which opponents say would force churches to hire people who don’t share their beliefs.

The bishops’ conference has offered no public explanation for belonging to the conference.

Careful treading

Clearly the Leadership Conference has policy goals that conflict with the teaching of the Church. At least one bishop, Bishop Robert Vasa of Baker, Ore., has publicly expressed concern.

But there’s reason to tread carefully in this whole area. The relationship between the Holy See and the United Nations is a case in point.

Some U.N. agencies push views on population control and abortion strongly opposed by the Church. But the Holy See has supported the international organization from the start. The Vatican has permanent observer missions at U.N. headquarters in New York as well as at U.N. agencies in Geneva and Rome. Three popes have addressed the general assembly, and the Vatican has often spoken well of the United Nations.

If this troubles conservative Catholics, they might ponder St. Paul’s words about staying put in the world and toughing it out. That might even include membership — highly selective, naturally — in a coalition.

Russell Shaw is an OSV contributing editor. This article appeared in the March 7 issue of OSV Newsweekly.

Bishop Rhoades to Notre Dame: 'Bear witness to the truth about abortion'

Less than a year after the University of Notre Dame's controversial decision to award an honorary law doctorate to staunchly pro-choice President Barack Obama, its new bishop visited the campus to "hope and pray that this great Catholic university will always bear witness to the truth about the sacredness of human life and the inviolable right to life of the unborn."

Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades, installed Jan. 13 as as head of the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Ind., delivered a speech Feb. 8 at Notre Dame's Mendoza College of Business on the occasion of a week-long discussion of the "ethics and economy of abortion."

Bishop Rhoades, 52, who describes himself as a "John Paul II priest," quoted heavily from the late pontiff in his 2,700-word talk. In fact, about a third of his speech was direct quotes from Pope John Paul's encyclicals and other writings.

His speech centered on the fact that protection of the dignity of human life was written on the human heart, in natural law, as envisioned even by the founding fathers of the United States of America.

We might ask: How is it that we in our great nation, the most famous example in the world of the democratic ideal, came to the point of authorizing, legalizing abortion and are moving in the direction of authorizing euthanasia? How has this happened? By fiat of the Supreme Court? But what about laws enacted by legislatures supporting abortion and euthanasia? What about the pro-choice opinions of many voters who support abortion or euthanasia, at least in certain circumstances? I believe that Roe v. Wade has in some respects erroneously led many people to accept that if something is declared legal, it is therefore right. Laws and Supreme Court decisions have a moral influence in forming people’s opinions. That is why the educational efforts of the Church and of Catholic universities like Notre Dame are so essential and important.

Bishop Rhoades said the abortion issue was tied to the problem of "ethical relativism and a distorted notion of freedom in our society and culture." And he noted that the consequence of the abuse of human freedom in "choosing" abortion resulted in the "slavery of sin."

“Pro-choice” advocates not only deny the fundamental moral truth about the inviolability of the life of every human person (ethical relativism), they also distort the truth about human freedom. The choice to kill an unborn baby is an abuse of freedom and brings harm, not only to the innocent child whose life is taken, but also to all who participate or cooperate in the evil act. So many women who have had abortions have suffered as a result, many having been deceived into thinking that the choice to abort was an exercise of their rightful freedom, to later discover that they were anything but free after the destruction of their unborn child. The Church’s ministry to women who have had abortions is vitally important so that the wound left in their hearts is healed and true freedom restored through repentance and God’s merciful love.

Bishop Rhoades has visited Notre Dame several times since his installation. The university gave him a crosier bearing his coat of arms and an image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, to whom he has a special devotion. The crosier has become the one he regularly uses.

Will Supreme Court tell Americans to practice their faith 'quietly'?

By Russell Shaw

Until the Supreme Court’s decision overturning a federal campaign financing law — a ruling that prompted liberal cries of “judicial activism!” and led to the head-butting incident (I speak metaphorically) between President Obama and Justice Alito during the State of the Union speech — conventional wisdom held that the Roberts court leaned to judicial minimalism.

In general terms, judicial minimalism means deciding cases on the narrowest reasonable grounds instead of the most broad and expansive. And despite the recent hubbub, I strongly suspect it remains the fundamental judicial stance of a majority of the court’s present members.

If so, it would be rash to predict the court’s current term will be a banner year for landmark church-state jurisprudence. Yet two pending cases make that at least a possibility.

Sometime before the Supreme Court wraps up its work early next summer, it’s likely to decide: whether the presence of a large cross on national park property in California is a form of government endorsement of religion contrary to the First Amendment’s ban on the “establishment” of religion; and whether a Christian student group at a public law school in California violates anti-discrimination law or simply exercises its constitutional right of free exercise in barring homosexuals and non-believers from having leadership roles.

As often happens in Supreme Court litigation, including disputes about religion, the facts in these two cases little immediate impact on most people, but — given that constitutional provisions are at stake — their potential impact is extremely broad.

The first case (Salazar v. Buono) was orally argued before the court last Oct. 7, third day of its term. A decision could be forthcoming at any time. It involves a cross situated in San Bernardino County California’s Mojave National Preserve, first placed there in 1934 by the Veterans of Foreign Wars to honor veterans of World War I.

The cross went uncontested for 65 years, but trouble began in 1999 when the National Park Service refused to allow a Buddhist memorial while announcing it would get rid of the cross. Since then, Congress, two lower federal courts, the Department of the Interior, and the American Civil Liberties Union have all gotten into the act, with the lower courts seeing a constitutional violation involved.

In the second case, Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco, a part of the University of California system, withdrew recognition from a student group called the Christian Legal Society for refusing to accept its non-discrimination policy in the matters indicated above. Withdrawal of recognition meant the loss of meeting space, use of bulletin boards, things like that.

Last March the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, in San Francisco, agreed with the law school. Three years before, however, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, in Chicago, upheld the Christian Legal Society in a dispute with a law school there.

Different as these cases may appear, there is a discernible link between them. Each involves an effort to deny religion a modest form of public entitlement, involving neither coercion of others nor unprecedented favoritism to itself, for violating secularist notions of what is allowable in a public setting. At bottom, this is a part of the ongoing campaign for the privatization of religion.

One recalls the principle identified a century ago by philosopher William James. “In this age of toleration,” that tolerant and ironic man remarked, “no one will ever try to actively interfere with our religious faith, provided we enjoy it quietly with our friends and do not make a public nuisance of it.”

Russell Shaw is an OSV contributing editor.

Top 10 ways to welcome new Catholics into Church

Look around your parish this Lenten season and you're likely to bump into or at least see the "elect," those people who are in the final stages of the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA) and who will become full members of the Catholic Church at the Easter Vigil this year. What can you do to make these soon-to-be Catholics feel like they're part of the family?

Father Richard Hilgartner, assistant director of the Secretariat of Divine Worship at the United States Conference on Catholic Bishops, has put together the following top ten suggestions:

1. Pray
Parishes often post the names, and often times photos, of those preparing for baptism and reception into the Church. Parishioners can commit to pray for a particular member of the elect and let them know of this gift of prayer as they prepare for Baptism.

2. Listen
The journey of those in the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA) can be an example for all, as the Elect listen intently to the Word of God and take concrete steps to follow Him. Their steps can inspire, especially during Lent as Christians strive to follow the Lord more closely.

3. Participate
The RCIA process includes a number of public rituals in Lent: the Rite of Election, the Scrutinies, and the Preparation Rites. Many of these take place at Sunday Masses in parishes. Attending those Masses is a way to show support for the Elect.

4. Attend the Easter Vigil
The Great Vigil of Easter is the “night of nights,” the liturgy for Holy Saturday declares. It is the night during which the Church keeps vigil for the resurrection of Jesus. It is during the Easter Vigil that the Sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation are celebrated and new members are welcomed into the Church.

5. Have a welcoming spirit
In the weeks after their initiation, the newly baptized, now called “neophytes,” look for their place in the Church community. Parishioners can make them feel welcome by encouraging them to be part of an activity, a group, or a ministry.

6. Witness
The RCIA reminds people that God is present and active, that He continues to speak to all. It is a reminder that how you act, what you say, and what you do can reflect the presence of Christ. Being “witnesses” (see Acts of the Apostles 1:8) of what Christ is doing in one’s life speaks to others.

7. Invite
As witnesses, Christians are called to share their faith in some way. Sometimes it means noticing others who are searching, who might benefit from encouragement or an invitation to learn more about the Catholic faith. Evangelization calls for a member of the Church to share one’s faith. Just inviting a friend or neighbor to Mass can be a powerful statement that allows the Lord to reach out through this gesture.

8. Get Involved
The RCIA has many facets. Each depends on dedicated parishioners (along with the clergy, catechists, and other staff members) to facilitate, teach, lead, and serve as sponsors. There are many ways to shares one’s faith and gifts to become involved.

9. Ongoing Conversion
In addition to those preparing for Baptism, the RCIA also includes those already baptized Christians who are preparing for reception into the full communion of the Catholic Church. This can be celebrated any time. Those preparing for reception (and Confirmation and first reception the Eucharist) remind Christians that all are called to follow the Lord, who is always speaking and calling people to repentance— ongoing conversion and a change of heart— resulting in more authentic disciples.

10. Know Mystagogy is for all
After celebrating the Sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation, and Eucharist, the newly initiated continue their formation in the faith in the period called Mystagogy (which means “interpretation of mystery”), when they reflect on their encounter with Christ in the sacraments and learn more about their faith. This period is ongoing and essentially what all members of the Church do throughout our lives: grow deeper in faith and relationship with Christ, constantly discerning his will.

Learn more about RCIA at the USCCB site by clicking HERE.

Sidewalk counselor saves baby despite assault

By Mary DeTurris Poust

All you dedicated pro-life sidewalk counselors out there, listen up. If you have ever been abused and berated by people outside clinics, if you have ever wondered if all those longs hours make a real difference, take heart and read this story.

A 26-year-old Duluth woman, who pleaded guilty to second-degree assault after holding a knife to the throat of a sidewalk counselor, admitted that she never had her planned abortion because of what took place outside the clinic that day.

From a story in the Duluth News Tribune:

“Thank you for being there,” she said. “If they weren’t there, I probably would have gone through with it and regretted it for the rest of my life. It probably would have gone the other way. I’m sincerely sorry for doing that to her.”

Leah Winandy, 21, said she was outside the abortion clinic asking pregnant women not to kill their babies: “She was walking toward me. She pulled out a knife and waved it at me saying ‘Don’t come near me.’ I said, ‘Please don’t kill your baby. Fear God.’ I came to the edge of the courtyard. I said, ‘Look and listen to your ultrasound.’ She turned around and came back with a knife and held it up to my throat.”

Winandy says that she has already forgiven her attacker because "God has given me forgiveness in my heart for her."

Powerful story. Read it in its entirety HERE.

Washington Archdiocese ends foster care program due to same sex 'marriage' law

By Mary DeTurris Poust

Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C., has released the following statement announcing that it will end its 80-year-old foster care and public adoption program because of the law legalizing same sex "marriage" in the District of Columbia:

UPDATE: Full statement follows:

"Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Washington transitioned its foster care and public adoption program in the District of Columbia to the National Center for Children and Families (NCCF) on February 1, 2010. Catholic Charities remains committed to continuing to serve the vulnerable of the District of Columbia through the 82 programs the agency operates in the region.

"Although Catholic Charities has an 80-year legacy of high quality service to the vulnerable in our nation’s capital, the D.C. Government informed Catholic Charities that the agency would be ineligible to serve as a foster care provider due to the impending D.C. same sex marriage law.

"This is the only program Catholic Charities anticipates will be impacted by the law.

"With a priority on ensuring continuity of care for the foster families and children, Catholic Charities worked closely with D.C.’s Child and Family Services Agency (CFSA) to seamlessly transition the program to the NCCF. This transition includes seven staff, 43 children and their biological families, as well as 35 foster families. The transition was scheduled to coincide with the expiration of the current contract between Catholic Charities and CFSA.

“'Foster care has been an important ministry for us for many decades. We worked very hard to be able to continue to provide these services in the District. We regret that our efforts to avoid this outcome were not successful. I am grateful to our dedicated staff and foster families who have been a part of our family. The difference each staff member and foster care parent makes for a child in need of a loving home is immeasurable. I am confident that NCCF will serve the children and families well,' said Ed Orzechowski, president and CEO of Catholic Charities."

Read the Washington Post story on the decision HERE. More to come as news develops...

Some guides for the Lenten journey

By Mary DeTurris Poust

Ash Wednesday is finally here, and we have the whole season of Lent to move forward on our spiritual path through fasting, almsgiving, and prayer. I know it's not always an easy journey. We can quickly get knocked off course by even the most unimportant and unexpected events or circumstances. If you're looking for daily books or guides to get you through the season, there are two that I find especially helpful: The Little Black Book: Six-minute Meditations on the Passion of Mark, based on the writings of the late Bishop Ken Untener of Saginaw, Michigan," and The Magnificat Lenten Companion. (You'll find a reflection by yours truly on the Fifth Sunday of Lent in the Magnificat booklet.) Both books offer short but inspiring reflections to help you carve out a little time each day of Lent to reflect on where you're going and where God is -- or should be -- on your journey.

If you're looking for an inspiring book for Lenten reading, consider the two following selections:

"The Spirituality of Fasting: Rediscovering a Christian Practice," by Msgr. Charles Murphy, and "The Heart Transformed: Prayer of Desire," by Celia Wolf-Devine. These two books will lead you deep into the heart of Lent. I was lucky enough to talk to both authors for two different OSV stories and felt I had been on a mini-retreat rather than an interview after we were finished talking. Give yourself a gift this Lent and spend time with these authors and their beautiful messages about deepening our faith through fasting and prayer.

So often these days I hear people talk about how they're not going to do "something negative" for Lent -- by which they mean fasting or "giving up" -- and will instead do something "positive." Well, the three pillars of Lent -- fasting, almsgiving, prayer -- are all positive and are all important. We need to focus on each pillar, at least a little bit. So...if you haven't already seen it, please check out my story on fasting in the February 21 issue of OSV. It's open online even to non-subscribers. Here it is...

How Fasting Fuels Charity, Growth

By Mary DeTurris Poust

Fasting and abstinence were once staples of Catholic life. There was a time not so long ago when you could spot Catholics in a restaurant simply by looking at what was on their plates on a Wednesday or Friday.

But with changes in Church rules and individual mindsets, fasting slowly began to fall out of fashion. Today, in popular Catholic culture at least, fasting is often considered a quaint practice of days gone by, something that pales in comparison to doing charitable works.

And yet fasting is one of the three pillars of Lent, equal to prayer and almsgiving in the trilogy of practices for the season. In fact, fasting is woven into the fabric of many of the world’s religions — Judaism, Islam, Buddhism — in one fashion or another.

Why is fasting so important? Because learning to do without, especially when the sacrifice is made on behalf of another, helps to free our bodies and spirits from the worldly desires that threaten to pull us off our spiritual path. Continue reading HERE.

If you missed it, I also wrote an OSV story on almsgiving in the February 14 issue. You can find that by clicking HERE (for subscribers).

Have a blessed and peace-filled Lent. I'll check back throughout the season to talk about books, practices, and prayers that can help us on our way. Please share the things that you find particularly helpful during the season of Lent.

A 'millennial' view of faith and morals

By Mary DeTurris Poust

A recent Marist Institute survey found that 65 percent of "millennials" are somewhat or very interested in learning more about their faith, but almost the exact same percentage agreed with a statement that morals are "relative," and only 33 percent attend regular church services. So we find ourselves in that modern debate over whether someone is religious or "spiritual," which usually means the person simply doesn't like following the rules of any formal religion but prefers to pick and choose whatever strikes his or her fancy.

Some positive survey findings, according to a CNS article:

"--When asked to choose among five long-term life goals, 31 percent of millennials chose 'to be spiritual or close to God' as their top goal, the highest among any generation.

"-- Two-thirds (67 percent) of millennials and 71 percent of Catholic millennials said they had volunteered their time in the past 12 months, roughly equal to the percentages among other generations."

And then there are the more disturbing findings, according to the same article:

"-- Nearly two-thirds (64 percent) of millennials in general and 82 percent of Catholic millennials agreed with the statement that 'morals are relative; that is, there is no definite right or wrong for everybody.' A majority in every category except practicing Catholics (46 percent) agreed with that statement.

"-- Only 33 percent of millennials and 25 percent of Catholic millennials said they attended religious services at least once a month.

"-- Nearly two-thirds of Catholic millennials (64 percent) described themselves as at least somewhat more 'spiritual' than 'religious,' about the same as millennials in general (66 percent) and Americans in general (63 percent).

"-- Sixty-one percent of Catholic millennials said they believe it is OK for people of their religion to practice more than one religion, compared to 54 percent of Americans in general and 43 percent of practicing Catholics."

To read the full CNS story, click HERE.

Behind the convent walls with Oprah

By Mary DeTurris Poust

If you missed Oprah's feature on the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist, this week, you can watch it here now. The Sisters are inspiring and joyful -- and incredibly brave for putting themselves out there before the cameras and answering questions so honestly. Their message of love and sacrifice and commitment flies in the face of everything our secular society holds dear. I think even Oprah was pleasantly surprised by what she learned. Here's hoping the Sisters get a lot more vocations because of this show, although they seem to be doing just fine on their own. (The clip above is Part 1. You can see Part 2 by clicking HERE, Part 3 by clicking HERE, and Part 4 by clicking HERE.)

Understanding evil, aiding immigration

By Mary DeTurris Poust

Whenever a natural disaster occurs, something so monumental that it challenges our ability to comprehend that much suffering, you tend to hear the same kinds of comments and questions: Where was God? Why would God do such a thing?

In his current column, Put Out into the Deep, Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio of Brooklyn tackles not only the spiritual and philosophical side of that debate but the more practical and logistical details of fixing what has been destroyed in Haiti.

"We cannot blame God for evil, nor for natural disasters. Only with the eyes of faith can we understand the problem of human suffering and its redemptive quality when it is joined to the sufferings of Jesus Christ who through His sufferings redeemed the world. We cannot forget St. Paul’s words to the Colossians when he said, 'In my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of His body, that is, the church,'" Bishop DiMarzio writes, segueing into a discussion of immigration and the needs of Haitians both here in the U.S. and back in Haiti.

He continues:

"...I am advocating, however, for the facilitation of immigration benefits pending for people in Haiti who have relatives here. Because of the long queue, they are not able to take advantage of them. These persons should be immediately processed so they can come to their relatives in the United States. I am also advocating for what we might call 'earthquake visas,' a kind of TPS (Temporary Protective Status) for persons in Haiti who can come to the United States because they have relatives or individuals willing to sponsor them, taking full responsibility for their care and welfare. This also would not present any added burden to us in the United States. Hopefully, our elected officials will heed the advocacy that we make on behalf of the Haitian people affected by this terrible tragedy."

To read the full column, click HERE.

The power of silently witnessing to the faith

By Msgr. Owen F. Campion

For me, a high point of the annual March for Life in Washington, D.C., has been the opportunity to celebrate Mass for the delegation from my own high school, Father Ryan High School, in Nashville, Tenn. These young people, so committed to the Church’s belief in the dignity of human life, inspire me. Their faith impresses me. It must impress others.

Publicly affirming Catholic belief is our best evangelization. Often, we never fully know what positive impact our religious witness has.

We meet at St. Joseph’s Church on Capitol Hill, thanks to the hospitality of its pastor, Msgr. Charles V. Antonicelli.

This year, waiting for the students, I looked over the pamphlets in the vestibule rack and saw a history of the parish. I picked it up and noticed that the church’s cornerstone was laid in 1868, in the presence of “the president of the United States.”

In 1868, the president was Andrew Johnson, Abraham Lincoln’s successor. Johnson’s time in the White House was controversial. Indeed, he almost was removed from office by the U.S. Senate.

However, U.S. Catholics should remember him as a strong friend and defender of Catholics when anti-Catholicism was very strong. When he was elected to Congress, his first speech on the floor of the House of Representatives was to denounce anti-Catholicism.

When he ran for governor of Tennessee, his opponent was a Know-Nothing, bitterly resentful of Catholicism. Johnson made anti-Catholicism a campaign issue, and he won.

When the first Catholic church was built in Greeneville, Tenn., his hometown, he generously contributed and sat in the front pew at the dedication. He sent his children to Catholic schools. Two of them became Catholics. He frequently went to Mass in Washington.

Even though most Catholics at the time were poor and without power, so often spurned and insulted, Johnson saw in them a vision of a greater reward and of true reality. Their steadfast faith convinced him that there was nothing evil in Catholicism. So he defended Catholics when their loyalty to the country was questioned.

Although often accused of being a “secret Catholic,” Johnson never became a Catholic, or at least not according to any record found so far. (An old legend was that his daughter baptized him on his deathbed.)

Coincidentally at St. Joseph’s, I met a Dominican priest from St. Dominic’s parish in downtown Washington. We began to talk. I remarked that President Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973) often went to St. Dominic’s to pray, and that he was very friendly with one of the Dominican fathers.

After leaving the presidency in 1969, Johnson returned to his farm in central Texas. He and the local Catholic pastor became close friends. He often attended Mass, even on weekdays. On many mornings, he and the pastor had breakfast in the rectory.

When he died, his widow and daughters arranged for his burial, on the family farm, to be according to Catholic rituals, believing that this would have been the late president’s wish. The pastor whom he had come to know at the local parish presided.

Lyndon Johnson never became Catholic, although some say that he was about to convert when he died. His younger daughter became a Catholic.

Why was he drawn to Catholicism? Just out of college, he taught school in Cotulla, Texas, where most of his students were children of Mexican immigrants and also Catholics. He said that these typically poor Mexican families always impressed him. He saw that, somehow, in their hearts was a treasure more precious than gold.

Msgr. Owen F. Campion is the associate publisher of OSV. This column appeared in the Feb. 14 issue of OSV Newsweekly.

Outing the motives behind repealing "Don't ask, don't tell"

By Russell Shaw

The first and most important thing to understand about the gays in the military debate is that it isn’t really about gays in the military. Not at bottom, at least. The fundamental issue in this argument is about the societal acceptance of homosexuals and, especially, of the homosexual lifestyle. Gays in the military is only a chapter in a much longer story.

Most people, including most moral conservatives, are today quite prepared to extend acceptance to homosexuals and lesbians as individuals — as neighbors, fellow workers, classmates, parishioners, and indeed as friends. The issue, then, boils down to publicly declaring one’s homosexuality and acting out the lifestyle associated with it. Is this also something that must be accepted? That’s what we’re arguing about.

Take the military as a case in point. This debate often gets confused because of a confused way of formulating the issue. According to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen — and many others and the media too — the question is “allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly” in the military. But that isn’t so. Gays and lesbians serve openly in the military now and always have. After all, anyone who serves in the military serves openly, regardless of sexual orientation.

The accurate way of stating the issue would be to say “allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly in the military as gays and lesbians.” In other words: declare their sexual orientation openly and openly act it out. Here of course is where the question of societal acceptance arises, along with the problems.

Considered in this light, the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy strikes me as a reasonable solution and President Obama’s push to get rid of it as a mistake. The policy lets gays and lesbians serve in the military just as they’ve always done. It merely specifies as a condition that they not broadcast the fact of their sexual orientation. The policy may need some touching up to rule out abuses, such as the spiteful outing of gays by third parties, but in principle it can stand as it is.

That isn’t acceptable to homosexuals. Why? Because it sets a condition, and unconditional acceptance is their goal. But although the yearning for unconditional acceptance is understandable, in human affairs generally it’s asking too much.

Society sets many conditions on people — to vote you have to be a citizen, to drive a car your eyesight must be pretty good. It also, necessarily, sets conditions on service in the military, including — up to now — the condition that gays and lesbians not call attention to their sexuality. The reasonable grounds for this particular condition reside in the fear that doing so could be disruptive. There is nothing unfair or unreasonable about that.

But of course it looks highly unfair and unreasonable to someone for whom the unconditional, across-the-board acceptance of homosexuals and their lifestyle, not only in the military but in all social contexts, is the ultimate objective of an emotionally charged drive for “rights.” In that ongoing effort, legal recognition of same-sex marriage is by far the biggest prize. But the unconditional acceptance of gays and lesbians and the lifestyle associated with them in the context of military service is considered a worthwhile intermediate step.

To say these things in the face of today’s pro-gay secular culture is to risk being smeared as a homophobe. To say them also is to repeat the tested wisdom of many centuries. Let’s stick with don’t ask, don’t tell. It makes good sense.

Russell Shaw is an OSV contributing editor.

So this is what all the fuss was about?

By Mary DeTurris Poust

I did not see the controversial Tim Tebow ad during the Super Bowl yesterday, so I had to call it up on YouTube this morning. My reaction: disappointment, confusion, boredom. I just didn't get it. There was nothing specifically pro-life about the ad, other than a mom showing a baby picture and saying the baby almost didn't make it. But that's certainly not some sort of over-the-head anti-abortion campaign.

After hearing abortion advocates rant about how this ad was inappropriate for family viewing and would require parents to explain abortion to young children, I was expecting to be shocked, or at least interested. Unfortunately I'm sure very few people took the next step to go to Focus on the Family's website to view the "full Tebow story" and hear the real pro-life, God-centered message this family has to share. I guess the point was to drum up so much controversy beforehand that it didn't matter if you saw the commercial, went to the website or slept through the entire game. In that sense, I guess the ad was a success.

What did you think of the ad? Tell us in the comment section.

The more practical side of romance

By Mary DeTurris Poust

During this month of February, when all the world is aglow with red hearts and dark chocolates and sparkly diamonds, my husband, Dennis, and I will be tackling some of the real issues that married couples face as they struggle to balance practical necessities with romantic niceties. Every week this month over at Fathers For Good, an initiative of the Knights of Columbus, Dennis and I will be posting columns on different topics important to married couples. This week we tackle finances:


The trouble money can cause

By Dennis Poust and Mary DeTurris Poust

Even in homes with no serious money issues, finances can become a point of contention. Add a little economic insecurity into the mix, and you have the makings of a potential disaster. In these troubled times, there’s no doubt that money matters can turn wedded bliss into dreaded stress. Here’s our take on how finances can make or break a marriage. Continue reading...

Stunning Haiti slideshow

Don't miss this slick slideshow of images Tom Tracy took for us on assignment in Haiti. Click here.

Move that church! Extreme makeover for one parish

By Mary DeTurris Poust

What do you do with a 100-year-old church after it closes? Well, for one Buffalo parish the answer was decidedly outside the box: "preservation through relocation." That's right. The 800-seat basilica is going to be moved, piece by piece, granite column by granite column 900 miles away to an Atlanta suburb, reflecting through its physical relocation a very real societal shift as Catholic populations decrease in the northeast and flourish in the south.

On the project website, Moved by Grace, St. Gerard's Church in Buffalo is described as an "approximation" (one-third the size in scale) of the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls in Rome. After it closed in 2008 due to dwindling parish membership, preservation became an issue because of the severe weather on the shores of Lake Erie. Enter Mary Our Queen parish in Georgia, where what started as a small mission with 70 families in an office building grew into a 15,000 square foot "temporary" structure for 700 families in search of a permanent home.

In an article in USA Today, the plan is described in detail:

"Transplanting an 800-seat, century-old basilica would be an exceptional solution to an increasingly common problem: what to do about the growing inventory of closed churches across the Northeast and Midwest.

"In recent decades, thousands of American churches — no one, including the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, has exact numbers — have closed. Some have been bought by other congregations. Others have found new lives as performance spaces, catering halls, art galleries, restaurants, homes and, in Cincinnati, an Urban Outfitters retail store. But a range of factors — including the unusual size and shape of churches, and restrictions sellers often impose on their reuse (no alcohol sales, no astrology, etc.) — limit the number that find an afterlife.

"Many, like St. Gerard's, sit empty and decaying, waiting for demolition. A neighborhood loses an architectural grace note, and those who built it lose something they feel is sacred, according to Wendy Nicholas of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

"Advocates of the plan to move St. Gerard's say it could be a template for saving closed church buildings by finding them new parishes in the suburbs or the Sun Belt — 'preservation by relocation,' as Mary Our Queen's website calls it.

"The Catholic diocese of Buffalo and most former parishioners describe the plan as the only way to save St. Gerard's. Buffalo has a glut of closed, empty churches — the diocese alone is trying to sell 22 other buildings — and a small congregation looking for a church probably couldn't afford St. Gerard's heating bill."

The story is fascinating, especially since one former St. Gerard's parishioner coincidentally ended up in Mary Our Queen only to find her old church was following her to her new home. Read the full story HERE. For more information on the project, click HERE.

Top ten OSV stories in January

Here are the OSV Newsweekly stories that generated the most traffic on our website in January:

1. Bishops support health reform but find major moral 'deficiencies' in proposed bill

2. How to help kids and others make sense of Haiti tragedy

3. Editorial: This year's pro-life march may be the most important since its inception

4. Editorial: Why Catholic media is an irreplaceable alternative

5. Column: Catholic body parts, or How the American propensity for self-sorting into like groups has impoverished the Church

6. Haiti's Catholics bury their dead; turn to rebuilding from ground up

7. US bishops set sights on immigration reform

8. Column: Making babies, or No-holds-barred attitude toward creating children leads to dismal consequences

9. Column: If you’re reading this you don’t need to

10. Editorial: Why help Haitians? Or a story more about poverty than natural disaster

A sane 'pro-choice' voice speaks out for Tebow ad

By Mary DeTurris Poust

It's no surprise that a Super Bowl ad would garner lots of hype and attention, but what is surprising is that this year's hype isn't over bikini-clad women selling beer or Victoria's Secret models prancing around in underwear. It's about a Heisman Trophy winner and his mom celebrating life. Go figure.

Today self-described "pro-choice" Sally Jenkins, sports columnist for the Washington Post, had a great column on the Tim Tebow ad controversy. Here's a snippet:

"Obviously Tebow can make people uncomfortable, whether it's for advertising his chastity, or for wearing his faith on his face via biblical citations painted in his eye-black. Hebrews 12:12, his cheekbones read during the Florida State game: 'Therefore strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees.' His critics find this intrusive, and say the Super Bowl is no place for an argument of this nature. 'Pull the ad,' NOW President Terry O'Neill said. 'Let's focus on the game.'

"Trouble is, you can't focus on the game without focusing on the individuals who play it -- and that is the genius of Tebow's ad. The Super Bowl is not some reality-free escape zone. Tebow himself is an inescapable fact: Abortion doesn't just involve serious issues of life, but of potential lives, Heisman trophy winners, scientists, doctors, artists, inventors, Little Leaguers -- who would never come to be if their birth mothers had not wrestled with the stakes and chosen to carry those lives to term. And their stories are every bit as real and valid as the stories preferred by NOW."

Even the New York Times came out January 30 in favor of the decision by CBS to allow the ad to run, albeit for reasons of promoting so-called "reproductive choice." From the editorial:

"A letter sent to CBS by the Women’s Media Center and other groups argues that the commercial 'uses one family’s story to dictate morality to the American public, and encourages young women to disregard medical advice, putting their lives at risk' — a lame attempt to portray the ad as life-threatening. Others argue that even a mild discussion of such a divisive issue has no place in the marketing extravaganza known as the Super Bowl.

"The would-be censors are on the wrong track. Instead of trying to silence an opponent, advocates for allowing women to make their own decisions about whether to have a child should be using the Super Bowl spotlight to convey what their movement is all about: protecting the right of women like Pam Tebow to make their private reproductive choices.

"CBS was right to change its policy of rejecting paid advocacy commercials from groups other than political candidates. After the network screens ads for accuracy and taste, viewers can watch and judge for themselves. Or they can get up from the couch and get a sandwich."

To read the full Sally Jenkins column (h/t Kathryn Jean Lopez), click HERE. To read the full New York Times editorial, click HERE.

In memoriam: Ralph M. McInerny

By Russell Shaw

Ralph M. McInerny was not all things to all men, but he came uncommonly close. Scholar, teacher, author of mystery novels and serious philosophical works, controversialist, Christian gentleman — these were a few aspects of his many-faceted personality during a long and distinguished career.

Appropriately enough, McInerny died Jan. 29, the day after the feast of St. Thomas Aquinas, his intellectual mentor and model. He was 80. Appropriately, too, his funeral Mass was celebrated in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart at the University of Notre Dame, an institution he deeply loved, loyally served for over half a century, and often criticized in his latter years for actions he judged inimical to its Catholic identity.

McInerny, Michael P. Grace Professor of Medieval Studies at Notre Dame and director of its Jacques Maritain Center, began teaching philosophy there in 1955 and retired last June.
A former student of his, one of many now a university professor himself, said, “He called forth the best from us by seeing it in us before we did. Most of all perhaps he provided a living model of a philosopher, a mentor, and a man who embodied virtues and commitments that inspired us all.”

Astonishingly, McInerny wrote over 80 books. Of his philosophical works, "Aquinas and Analogy" (1999) is considered perhaps the most significant. His puckish sense of humor was visible even when he wrote about philosophy, as when he titled one volume "A First Glance at St. Thomas Aquinas: A Handbook for Peeping Thomists" (1990). Often, too, he wrote as a controversialist, publishing books critical of aberrations in the Church since Vatican Council II and of attacks on the late Pope Pius XII for supposedly being insensitive to Jews. One of his late works was a collection of poems, "The Soul of Wit" (2005).

As an author, however, he was familiar to the general public largely for mystery novels, numbering more than 60 and sometimes written under pen names. Best known were 29 Father Dowling mysteries about a crime-solving priest, which provided the basis for an ABC television series from 1989 to 1991. Among other works of fiction, his 1973 novel "The Priest" was a best-seller.

McInerny’s prodigious output was the product of a vast capacity for hard work and huge self-discipline. Someone who once attended a conference with him ago recalls that after the midday break he said that, having put in his stint on the program during the morning, he was now going upstairs to his room.

His companion assumed this meant going upstairs to make phone calls and take a nap. No, he explained, it meant getting back to the writing — he was working on a book, as usual, and he had no intention of letting other activities interfere with that.

McInerny received his doctorate from Laval University in Quebec and taught for a year at Creighton University in Omaha before coming to Notre Dame. He and his wife had seven children. He was a member of President George W. Bush’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities, appeared often in the national media, with author and scholar Michael Novak founded Crisis magazine, and published hundreds of articles both popular and scholarly. Periodicals in which he appeared included The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. He was devoted to Notre Dame. A friend recalls visiting there the first time and, a stranger, being welcomed warmly by McInerny and given a personal tour of the campus. He remembers little else about the occasion except his guide’s evident pride in a place he loved.

Presumably it was with heavy heart that McInerny in recent years became a public critic of Notre Dame. His criticism peaked last March in an essay taking exception to the university’s decision to award an honorary degree to President Barack Obama despite his support for legal abortion. “A deliberate thumbing of the collective nose at the Roman Catholic Church,” McInerny pronounced it.

“The invitation to Barack Obama is far from being the usual effort of the university to get into contact with the power figures of the day. It is an unequivocal abandonment of any pretense at being a Catholic university,” he wrote. “Lip service may be paid to the teaching on abortion, but it is no impediment to the truly vulgar lust to be welcomed into secular society, whether on the part of individuals or institutions.”

Ralph McInerny himself often was welcomed in that way, but there was nothing vulgar about him.

Russell Shaw is an OSV contributing editor.

Addendum to USCCB controversy

Here's a follow-up to my previous post about John Carr, the U.S. Catholic bishops' director for justice, peace and human development, who responded here to "unfair allegations" today by the American Life League regarding his involvement with a group that has been linked to abortion advocacy and gay rights issues, the Center for Community Change (CCC).

In response to my questions, Mercy Sister Mary Ann Walsh, director of the U.S. bishops' media relations office has:

1. CONFIRMED the American Life League's assertion that the bishop's Catholic Campaign for Human Development gave $150,000 to CCC in 2001. But it CLARIFIED that during the time he served on the CCC board, his office at the bishops' conference did not then have jurisdiction over CCHD (countrary to American Life League's claim about conflict of interest). And it says CCC has not received any funding since.

2. CLARIFIED that Carr left the CCC board in 2005 (American Life League said 2006). It said his previous work for CCC was "a few months" after leaving the Carter administration, which ended in 1981. He was part of a group trying to work with block grants. "He then went to work for the Archdiocese of Washington as Cardinal Hickey's secretary for social concerns."

3. NOTED that the pro-abortion and pro-gay-rights "activities highlighted in ALL e-mail campaign took place long after" Carr left the CCC board.

I'll keep on this and will be sure to add updates here.

USCCB's John Carr responds to 'unfair allegations'

You may have seen the accusations floated today by the American Life League about John Carr, the layman who heads the U.S. bishops' Department of Justice, Peace and Human Development.

The pro-life group notes that while working for the bishops' conference, Carr also chaired the board of an umbrella group of grassroots organizations called the Center for Community Change. In general, CCC is involved in predictable progressive causes (including in ways that overlap with Catholic social teaching) like immigration reform, health care reform, affordable housing and workers' rights. But, as documented by Bellarmine Veritas Ministry, the CCC also corporately supports tax-payer funded abortions and same-sex marriage.

That's led the ALL to the serious charge of the bishops' conference engaging in “a systemic pattern of cooperation with evil."

I asked the bishops' conference for a response. John Carr writes:

Neither the American Life League nor the Bellarmine Institute contacted me, CCHD or the bishops' conference before making these accusations. If they had, they would have learned that I left the board of the Center for Community Change in February of 2005 and that I had no involvement in or knowledge of the actions alleged in the press release.

My experience with CCC was that it focused on poverty, housing and immigration and had no involvement in issues involving abortion and homosexuality.

When I served, the board never discussed or acted on any position involving these matters and if they had, I would have vigorously opposed any advocacy for access to abortion or gay marriage.

I have spent my personal and professional life defending human life and dignity and Catholic teaching, including current efforts to keep abortion funding out of health care reform. I regret that once again the failure to contact me or CCHD has led to unfair allegations in attempts to undermine the essential work of the Catholic Campaign for Human Development.

I have more questions in to the conference about this and will update this post when I have answers. UPDATE IS HERE.

Give Mother Teresa the stamp of approval

By Mary DeTurris Poust

In case you've been out of the news loop for a while, there is quite a controversy raging (raised by an atheist group, of course) over Mother Teresa's upcoming appearance on a U.S. postage stamp. I know, it's crazy. When you think of all the people and things that show up on postage stamps, this 'controversy' seems beyond ridiculous. Putting it all in perspective for us is Jesuit Father James Martin, whose post over at In All Things is really all anyone should need to read to convince them that this whole debate is a tempest in a teapot. The photos of stamps honoring Boris Karloff in Frankenstein and Homer Simpson help to drive home the point.

"Put her on the damn stamp already," Father Martin concludes. Amen to that.

Great post. Click HERE to read it now.