North American cardinal named to key Vatican post

For the first time, a North American cardinal has been put in charge of the Vatican's Congregation for Bishops, the office that helps the pope choose bishops for Latin-rite dioceses around the world. Canadian Cardinal Marc Ouellet, 66, of Quebec has been named prefect of the "powerful" Congregation for Bishops, according to a CNS news story.

From CNS:

"Cardinal Ouellet, who succeeds 76-year-old Italian Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, is not a stranger to Rome or to the Roman Curia. He studied in Rome and returned to the city to teach in 1996. A year later, he was appointed chair of dogmatic theology at the John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and the Family.

"In 2001, he was named a bishop and appointed secretary of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity and also served on the Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews.

"In 2002, Pope John Paul II named him archbishop of Quebec, and in 2003 he made him a cardinal. He serves on the Vatican congregations overseeing liturgy, clergy and Catholic education, and is also a member of the Pontifical Council for Culture."

For the full story, which includes other appointments announced today, click HERE.

Freedom and love

By Mary DeTurris Poust

A great way to start the week, with Pope Benedict XVI's Angelus message about the meaning of freedom in the life of a Christian. Jesus' "call and demand" to turn our lives over to him -- to give up everything, even our very selves -- can seem "harsh," the pope said, but in reality reflect the "newness and absolute priority of the Kingdom of God."

By giving our lives to Christ, we experience a new dimension of freedom, one where we are not focused on doing what we want when when we want but on something greater, deeper. True freedom is about loosening the ties that bind us to earthly things -- material things, power, money, transitory desires -- in order to know ourselves and God in a transforming way. Quite different from the view of freedom in secular American society.

Yesterday I attended Mass celebrated by a newly ordained priest at my parish in upstate New York. The readings seemed like a perfect way for him to talk about his own vocation to the priesthood, his willingness to sacrifice everything. The words and actions of Elisha, Paul and Jesus himself could have provided a ready-made homily for this young priest. And yet he chose not to focus on himself but on all of us, particularly the young people graduating from high school and college this month. He reminded us to be "eager" to take up our mission, the way Christ was eager to take up our salvation, even through death on the cross. He compared us to Elisha, saying that instead of putting on a cloak we have put on Christ himself through baptism. He beckoned us to gratefully approach Christ in the Eucharist, recognizing that even now he is eager for our salvation.

We can be "eager" about a lot of things -- for vacation, a new house, a better job. But are we eager for God?

'Nobody risks torture and death for a meal with their friends'

By Mary DeTurris Poust

What does the Mass mean to you? That's probably a tough question for many modern Catholics in this country. Is it an obligation to be fulfilled each week at a convenient time slipped in between sporting events and family obligations? Is it our one hour of spiritual nourishment and prayer for the week? Or is it a life-giving experience that helps transform our lives and make us ready to take up our Gospel challenge.

Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, O.F.M.Cap, of Denver recently gave an inspiring and thought-provoking lecture on liturgy and the ways our culture and even our Church have, in a sense, watered down the "cosmic" element of the Mass, taking it farther and farther away from the celebration that the early Christians loved so much they were willing to die for it.

At a lecture at the Liturgical Institute of the University of St. Mary of the Lake in Illinois yesterday, Archbishop Chaput questioned whether modern men and women are capable of "real worship."

"We live in a society where the organizing principle is technological progress, conceived in narrow, scientific and materialistic terms. Our culture is dominated by the assumptions of this scientific and materialistic worldview. We judge what is 'true' and what is 'real' by what we can see, touch and verify through research and experimentation.

"In this kind of culture, what meaning can there be for the traditional Catholic notion that the human person is created in the image of an invisible God; that the person is a creature of body and soul, infused with 'the Spirit of sonship' through the liturgy and the sacraments?

"In practice, almost nothing of what we believe as Catholics is affirmed by our culture. Even the meaning of the words 'human' and 'person' are subject to debate. And other tenets of the Catholic worldview are aggressively repudiated or ignored.

"The question becomes: What implications does all this have for our worship -- in which we profess to be in contact body and soul with spiritual realities, singing with the angels and saints in heaven, receiving the true Body and Blood of our once dead and now risen Lord on the altar?"

The archbishop went on to outline four points necessary for a renewal of liturgy:

-- the need to "recover the intrinsic and inseparable connection between liturgy and evangelization"

-- that liturgy be seen as a "participation in the liturgy of heaven" in conjunction with the worldwide Church and communion of saints

-- the need to "strive to recover and live with the same vibrant liturgical and evangelical spirituality as the early Christians"

-- that liturgy is a "school of sacrificial love...We are to become the sacrifice we celebrate."

In what is perhaps the most powerful portion of his lecture, Archbishop Chaput talks about the significance of Mass in the lives of early Christians and in our lives today:

"Some of the worst liturgical ideas since the council have been based on a woolly romanticizing about what the early Christians believed and how they worshipped. It has been argued, for example, that the early Church had no sacramental priesthood and that the Eucharist was celebrated with limited ritual, essentially as a meal shared among friends.

"I won’t take the time here to rebut these claims. The problem with all such nostalgic-primitivist reconstructions can be summed up in one thought: Nobody risks torture and death for a meal with their friends. And torture and death were the frequent penalty for being caught celebrating the Eucharist in the world of the early Church.

"There are countless stories we could point to. One that especially moves me comes from the year 304, during Diocletian’s great persecution. A congregation in Abitina, a village near Carthage, was rounded up. The account of their torture, written by a witness just a few years after the fact, is brutally raw and graphic. What shines out is the people’s Eucharistic faith.

"Interrogated about why he disobeyed the Emperor’s decree, a young lector named Felix said this: 'As if one could be a Christian without the Mass or the Mass could be celebrated without a Christian! … The Christian exists through the Mass and the Mass in Christians! Neither can exist without the other. … We celebrated the glorious assembly. We gathered to read the Scriptures of the Lord at the Mass.'

"We notice in this confession the same themes we’ve been talking about. The Mass for these disciples is no mere meal. It’s a 'glorious assembly,' a heavenly liturgy. This liturgy defines their identity as Christians. And it also defines the identity of the Church; so much so that one of Felix’s fellow martyrs would confess: 'We cannot live without the Mass.'

"This is the kind of faith that should inspire our worship. And this is the kind of faith that our worship should inspire. Can we really say today that we’re ready to die rather than not celebrate the Mass?"

Food for thought this Friday morning. Read Archbishop Chaput's full lecture HERE.

High-tech spirituality conversation continues

Related to our last post about the Vatican approving the use of the iPad by priests at Mass is a story from CNS on the various prayer applications available for your smartphone. It provides some general information on what's out there -- from iMissal to a new Rosary application to a touch-screen Saint of the Day app -- as well as some insights into why digital spiritual outreach is important and necessary.

From the CNS story:

"These three applications -- better known as apps -- only scratch the surface of faith-related digital materials available in Apple's App Store and, to a lesser extent, in the Android Market and Palm Pre App Catalog. With these digital Catholic resources comes the undeniable convenience of modern-day prayer.

"'I know people who before they even get out of bed they have their iPod Touch or their iPhone in their hand,' said Sister Kathryn James Hermes, a Daughter of St. Paul and director of digital publishing for Pauline Books and Media, in an interview with the Arlington Catholic Herald, newspaper of the Arlington Diocese.

"...Sister Kathryn and the Daughters of St. Paul always are on the lookout for ways to give the Internet a soul by using it to spread the good news.

"'For those who never go into a church, through the media we're able to allow wherever they are to become a church," she said. "It becomes a place of encounter for them, a sacred space, a type of church. It becomes a way to multiply our presence to a whole new audience.'"

Read the full story HERE.

Is he saying Mass or updating Facebook?

By Mary DeTurris Poust

Does it annoy you when you spot someone checking their iPhone at inappropriate times? You're in a meeting, and you see the guy across the table, thumbs flying, doing something that can't possibly be work related, right? Well, the WiFi lines are starting to blur. First there was the advent of an application that provided the Liturgy of the Hours on a hand-held screen at the click of a button, then Mass and Rosary applications.

Now the Vatican has approved the use of iPads on the altar, thanks to an application developed by an Italian priest, according to a story from the Associated Press today:

"The Rev. Paolo Padrini, a consultant with the Vatican's Pontifical Council for Social Communications, said Friday the free application will be launched in July in English, French, Spanish, Italian and Latin.

"Two years ago, Padrini developed the iBreviary, an application that brought the book of daily prayers used by priests onto iPhones. To date, some 200,000 people have downloaded the application, he said.

"The iPad application is similar but also contains the complete missal — containing all that is said and sung during Mass throughout the liturgical year. Upgrades are expected to feature audio as well as commentaries and suggestions for homilies and a musical accompaniment, he said.

"'Paper books will never disappear,' he said in a phone interview from his home parish in Tortona, in Italy's northern Piemonte region. But at the same time 'we shouldn't be scandalized that on altars there are these instruments in support of prayer.'"

Can you imagine your parish priest reading from in iPad instead of a traditional sacramentary? It's a brave new liturgical world out there folks. Although I'm fairly high-tech at home, I tend to stick to an old-fashioned missal and prayer book in church, or at the very least my monthly subscription to Magnificat (which also happens to have a prayer app). I have to admit that the Rosary and Liturgy of the Hours apps have tempted me, in part because I struggle with those prayers so having audio-visual assistance at my fingertips might help.

What do you think of this development? Are you using high-tech applications for prayer? Tell us in the comment section how you feel about this blend of faith and function. To read the AP in its entirety, click HERE.

Forgiveness on Father's Day

By Mary DeTurris Poust

The column below by Diane Cameron, an upstate New York writer, will put a different spin on the usual Father's Day gift. Forget about the shirts and hammocks and grill tools. What she's suggesting is so much more difficult to come by, and it's often hard to find just the right size and color. She's talking about forgiveness. Real forgiveness. Forgiveness in the face of lingering hurt and resentment.

I'm fortunate not to have to worry about this kind of issue with my own dad. I'll be calling him tomorrow, but, then again, we talk every Sunday. At least. And my toughest parent-related issue seems to be how to find enough cards and gifts for the man whose birthday falls -- this year at least -- the day after Father's Day. But I understand the need for the kind of forgiveness Cameron is talking about. I offered this kind of forgiveness to someone once and had it thrown back in my face. So I have quietly forgiven, realizing that the other party may never come around, that the other party -- as Cameron suggests -- may have no more than 40 percent to give.

Here's the start of her column, which ran in the Albany Times Union today. It's worth reading in its entirety, so please be sure to make the jump to the full version:

In the book, "Alcoholics Anonymous," Bill Wilson wrote, "Resentment is the number one offender." You might expect the founder of AA to say that booze or too much drinking was the big problem. But no, Wilson, 20th-century self-made philosopher and self-made alcoholic, knew better.

He continued in the same paragraph, "From resentment flows all forms of spiritual disease."

Most of us know that, but it's hard to get unstuck when a good, juicy resentment takes hold of you, so I like this pithier saying: "Holding a resentment is like setting yourself on fire and hoping the other person dies of smoke inhalation."

Resentment as a topic as Father's Day approaches? But of course.

All of us had fathers. And with today's social changes -- divorce and remarriage -- some of us have two or more, so there's plenty of fuel for those fires. Our parents disappoint us and we, in our turn, disappoint our children. In some families the injuries are bad: Fathers may abuse, abandon, deprive or neglect. What do you do when you smell the smoke?

The antidote to resentment is, of course, forgiveness. Perhaps that will be the theme for some sermons tomorrow and surely a forgiveness story will show up on the Hallmark Channel as well. But life is not a made-for-TV movie, so how do you save yourself from the heat of resentment?

I had to extinguish a fiery resentment that I carried for years about my father. When I was young, my dad worked many hours, traveled a lot, left us with my mother, who was ill, and then died young.

I had a big box of matches and I struck them all over myself. I had this idea that I just didn't get what I needed from my father. More than one therapist agreed that my "issues" did indeed come from that deprivation. That intellectual understanding helped me to a certain degree but it also functioned as dry tinder for my favorite fire.

Then a few years ago on a retreat, I was telling my story and the retreat leader gave me a surprising bit of redirection...Continue reading HERE.

Shining a spotlight on Catholic singles

By Mary DeTurris Poust

For Catholic singles, life in a Church focused heavily on family can take its toll. Look at any parish bulletin and you're likely to find groups and ministries dedicated to school students and seniors, couples and widows. Singles are often the forgotten demographic of the Catholic Church.

Tobias, a new national magazine dedicated to Catholic singles, is hoping to change all that by focusing on issues that impact one of the largest segments of the Church, issues such as single parenthood, finances, vocation discernment, dating, caring for elderly parents, and how to live life until marriage.

"I feel like we've hit on a real void; the response we're getting is terrific. Dozens of singles are signing up for free subscriptions every day," said Christina Capecchi, editor.

"I'm really excited about the chance to reach this huge, under-served demographic. There are more than 22 million Catholic singles in the U.S., and frankly, they don't receive nearly the respect or ministry they deserve. I hope Tobias can make a small difference."

Although the magazine has only a very basic website at this point -- really just one page where readers can order a complimentary subscription -- there is a presence on Facebook that explains the magazine's mission in more detail:

"Too often single Catholics are thought of as young people who find their future spouses while in college or shortly after at their first job. The reality is that the average, single Catholic is older than ever and their issues are much different than for an early twenty-something just venturing out into the world. Because more people are delaying marriage, high divorces rates and increasing annulments, the struggles of a typical single Catholic are much different today.

"...While the gospel values apply to single, married and religious equally the practical application of these values is not often addressed enough at the local parish which is often because of the demands on priests and religious. In addition, with so much of the focus on family life often times the empathy and community required by single Catholics is not easily found. We hope our magazine can be one small part in changing that."

A preview of the summer issue highlights some of the topics that will be tackled, everything from travel and house hunting to romance, relocation and "healing and dealing with divorce." The cover story, "Singled Out," focuses on what it feels like to be, well, singled out for being single. For a complimentary subscription, click HERE. To join the Facebook page, click HERE.

More on the abortion-by-video controversy

Deirdre McQuade, assistant director for policy and communications for the USCCB's Secretariat of Pro-Life Activities, takes on the issue of abortions being performed via video link (see our earlier post on that subject HERE), in the letters section of yesterday's New York Times. Here's what she had to say:

To the Editor:

Re “Abortion Drugs Given in Iowa via Video Link” (front page, June 9):

You write that pregnant women in Iowa “have a choice” between traveling to a clinic or receiving the abortion drugs dispensed remotely by a doctor in another city through teleconferencing. But abortion by virtual encounter versus abortion by in-person clinic visit isn’t much of a choice.

Setting aside for the moment very real concerns about “telemedical” RU-486 abortions — authentic informed consent, necessary access to follow-up medical care and paltry support for women who find the at-home procedure more difficult than they anticipated — women deserve better than abortion by any means.

No drug, technology or surgical procedure will ever provide what many women seeking abortions are all too often desperate for: a creative way to move forward in life without resorting to the violent choice of abortion.

Deirdre A. McQuade
Washington, June 11, 2010

Of priests and possible priests-to-be

By Mary DeTurris Poust

For the past nine months I’ve been working with eight Boy Scouts from my parish, including my own 13-year-old son, toward the completion of their Ad Altare Dei medal, a fairly rigorous religious program for Catholic Scouts that requires them to study the seven sacraments one by one. Service projects and prayers, Powerpoints and collages are all part of the “homework” that has to be done before they conclude with a weekend retreat.

I recently helped the boys with the Holy Orders chapter and thought it would be a good experience for them to attend an actual ordination. So this weekend we headed down to the newly renovated Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Albany to see five men ordained, including one Eagle Scout who served briefly at our parish, making it all the more personal and pertinent to the boys. As far as I’m concerned, what better group than Boy Scouts to tap for potential vocations to the priesthood. They’ve already shown their commitment to something bigger than themselves just by showing up and working their way through the not-so-easy ranks of Scouting.

The boys were given primo seats right behind the deacons, in clear view of the altar, so they could see everything as it unfolded. Before Mass began, our former pastor stopped by, as did the Eagle Scout ordinand, another priest who served at our parish before he was ordained last year, the diocesan director of vocations, as well as several other priests who noticed the small but impressive crowd of Junior High boys in their Class A uniforms. One after another the boys’ presence there was affirmed and celebrated.

Bishop Howard Hubbard began the Mass by telling the congregation that this class of five men was the largest class the diocese has ordained in 28 years. To top it off, it was the largest crowd ever to attend any event at the cathedral in his 33 years as bishop. Both, I think, are testaments to the strength of the faith in the face of scandal and other issues.

I don’t know how much the boys will remember of the specifics, but I doubt there is any way they can forget the haunting sounds of the Litany of the Saints sung as the priests-to-be lay prostrate before the altar, or the site of more than one hundred priests laying their hands on the heads of the newly ordained in a steady and happy stream.

I’m hoping the boys will remember at least some of the bishop’s homily, which focused on things critical to the priesthood but important to the rest of us Catholics as well. He reminded the priests of their role as teachers and the great need for faithful catechesis delivered not only in word but also through the witness of their lives. He reminded them of the need to collaborate with others and support one another on their journey through the priesthood. And he reminded them of the need to pray each day, saying that however they meet Jesus – in the Liturgy of the Hours, in Lectio Divina, in meditation, in Mass, before the Blessed Sacrament – they cannot cut corners in this area of their priestly lives.

We can all benefit from that message: catechize through our words and our lives, support each other along the way, meet Jesus in prayer every day.

Although the ordination itself was powerful and spiritually moving, there was another moment that stood out as a high point. At the end of the Mass, Bishop Hubbard reminded the congregation that when he was ordained in 1963, the Albany Diocese had more than 400 priests. When he became bishop in 1977, the diocese had more than 300 priests. Today there are 116 active priests serving more than 400,000 Catholics. And so the bishop asked any man in the congregation who had ever felt even the slightest hint of a calling to the priesthood to not only stand up but to come before the altar and receive a blessing. It was a risky move, I think, but lo and behold, fifteen men stood before the bishop. That takes some guts, but what a powerful witness to those young boys looking on and perhaps wondering if maybe God is calling them.

On his way out of the cathedral, the bishop processed by and said, “I didn’t see any Scouts up there. Maybe next year.” Maybe. Because sometimes all it takes is someone putting the idea out there. We all need to do more of that.

Where to find the facts on clerical sex abuse

By Russell Shaw

It is sometimes said that to know everything is to forgive everything. Personally, I doubt it. Unquestionably, though, having a good grip on relevant facts is the best basis for making sound judgments about people and controversial events.

This is eminently true of making sound judgments about the sex abuse scandal that’s once again troubling many Catholics. Herewith a short quiz on that.

Did the incidents of abuse that we’re now hearing so much about occur very recently or several decades ago — or both, and roughly in what proportion? How does the Catholic Church compare with other churches and other large institutions (e.g., public schools) on this matter? What is the difference between “defrocking” and “laicizing” a cleric?

How did Pope Benedict XVI deal with the problem during the nearly quarter-century when he was head of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith? In that role, was he the Vatican’s point man on this issue all the time or did the CDF handle only certain cases during much of it? If certain cases, which ones? If that changed, when? How has Benedict managed the problem since becoming pope?

I could go on, but you get the point. There’s a lot to know about this matter. In case you wonder — I don’t immediately have the answers to all the questions above either. But the answers are out there if you want them. And someone relying for his or her information exclusively on the partial, often confused, and sometimes slanted coverage in the secular media would have a very poor picture of the facts.

A timely new source of reliable information is a book called "Pope Benedict XVI and the Sexual Abuse Crisis" by Gregory Erlandson and Matthew Bunson (OSV, $12.95). Disclosure: I am a contributing editor of Our Sunday Visitor newspaper, and Erlandson and Bunson are friends. Be that as it may, the book is short, clear, trustworthy, and chock-full of facts. In the interests of truth-telling, it pulls no punches about this whole ugly business.

Another reliable source is the website of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Particularly useful there are the annual reports of the all-lay National Review Board established to monitor the bishops’ implementation of the tough policy on clergy sex abuse adopted in 2002. Note, too, that the widely anticipated, comprehensive study of the causes of this ugly problem by social scientists at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York is expected later this year.

There are many other sources as well, and a Google search will bring you a deluge of links. But be careful: Some of what you will find there is reliable and some is not. This crisis has provided many groups and individuals with a glorious opportunity to grind their particular axes. Without a solid grounding in the facts, it can be difficult to separate the facts from the axe-grinding.

In the end, Erlandson and Bunson write, the story they tell is “about hope and trust.” “For two millennia, hope and trust have always been justified, despite the sins of popes, bishops, priests, and laypeople. The way forward will be difficult and painful. But the commitment to the truth will guide our path, and our trust and hope in the Holy Spirit will shield us in the dark days and lead us to a renewal of the entire People of God.”

Amen to that.

Russell Shaw is an OSV contributing editor.

Refocus on the Sacred Heart

By Mary DeTurris Poust

I did not grow up with any particular devotion to the Sacred Heart. Sure, we had the classic Sacred Heart picture in our family room. You know, the one that follows you wherever you go? (See exact replica above.) My younger brother has the Sacred Heart tattooed on his upper arm. I've even gone to more than my fair share of First Friday Masses but without really making the Sacred Heart connection in any significant way. I just never really "got" this devotion. That is, until recently. I've had to spend some time with the Sacred Heart lately, and suddenly I find myself drawn to this new connection to Jesus in a powerful way, and to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. I think it hits a mother nerve -- knowing my own heart-to-heart connection to my children makes it easier to imagine and appreciate the deep heart-to-heart connection between Mary and Jesus.

In anticipation of the Feast of the Sacred Heart, which we celebrate tomorrow, here are some links to very different pieces on this subject. One, from Jesuit Father James Martin, looks at how the Sacred Heart can help us in dealing with the sexual abuse crisis. Click HERE to read that post on America magazine's blog, In All Things. (Father Martin, incidentally, has edited a great little book that covers the Sacred Heart and many other classic devotions. Check out Awake My Soul: Contemporary Catholics on Traditional Devotions, by clicking HERE.)

The other link, from Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York, reminds us that this devotion, which some view as too simplistic or old-fashioned, can have a powerful impact on our daily spiritual lives. He's seen it first hand. Click HERE to read Archbishop Dolan's weekly column, "Lord, To Whom Shall We Go?"

And click HERE for prayers to both the Sacred Heart and Immaculate Heart.

Abortion via video conference

By Mary DeTurris Poust

Abortion by video link? No, it's not some futuristic figment of the imagination. It's reality in Iowa, thanks to Planned Parenthood. According to a front-page New York Times story today, women can get an early stage abortion using RU-486 with the click of a mouse.

From the story:

"Advocates say the idea offers an answer to an essential struggle that has long troubled those who favor abortion rights: How to make abortions available in far-flung, rural places and communities where abortion providers are unable or unwilling to travel. So far only Planned Parenthood clinics in Iowa use this method, but around the country, abortion providers have begun asking how they might replicate the concept.

"For some, however, the program tests the already complicated bounds of telemedicine. Abortion opponents say they are alarmed, fearful for the safety of women who undergo abortions after consulting with doctors who have never actually been in the same room with them. Opponents filed a complaint this spring with the Iowa Board of Medicine, arguing that a doctor’s remote clicking of a mouse hardly meets the state’s law requiring licensed physicians to perform abortions, and more objections are coming."

So, it's only those pesky old abortion opponents who are worried about the health and safety of women undergoing abortions without an actual doctor involved? Really? You would think even abortion advocates might be a teensy bit concerned about this medical disaster waiting to happen. Try to imagine for a moment one of the most painful and traumatic health decisions you might possibly have to make. Now try to imagine doing that via video chat. It's mind boggling to think of procuring an abortion at all, but this way? It's kind of shocking even for Planned Parenthood, isn't it? Oh, right, no it's not.

So far 1,500 abortions have been performed via video link at 16 clinics in Iowa since 2008. Read the full story HERE.

Is technology reshaping your brain, your family, your life?

By Mary DeTurris Poust

How many high-tech gadgets and gizmos have you used today -- or are you using right now? Cell phone? Facebook? Twitter? Google? iPod? iPad? Kindle? Video games? DVR playback? All of the above? Maybe even all at once?

Lately I've been worried about my own family's high-tech fascination, which I think is verging on obsession. To be fair, some of it is required. Both my husband, Dennis, and I have jobs that require us to be on social networking sites, Twitter and the like. But, I have to admit, that even when I'm supposed to be quickly posting a blog link or sending out a 140-character "tweet," I have to make multiple stops along the way to see what my 297 closest Facebook friends are doing, to check email once, twice, three times, to look at some of my favorite blogs, and to instant message Dennis about dinner. And I'm the low-tech person in our house. My husband can put my high-tech savvy to shame, and even our 13-year-old son is more at home throwing together a Powerpoint presentation than a good old-fashioned book report.

Just last night, unable to sleep, I was contemplating a bold move: suggesting we unplug one day a week and leave all high-tech gadgets at home when we go on vacation. (Even if it means I cannot post to this blog.) I didn't know if I had the nerve to suggest it. I knew I would be met with gasps and looks of stunned shock. Then I got out of bed, kept my idea to myself, resisted the urge to check email before I said good morning or poured a cup of coffee, and opened the New York Times. And there was the headline that has been spreading around the Internet like wildfire today: "Hooked on Gadgets, and Paying a Mental Price."

The story is a lengthy look at the toll our high-tech culture is taking on family life, individual creativity and even our collective evolutionary arc. We are, it seems, rewiring our brains by the way we interact with technology, jumping from one gadget to another, skimming bits of information from here and there but never settling down for something meaty. In fact, I found it kind of ironic that the story spanned three different pages and included two sidebars. Given the proclivity of high-tech junkies to speed read and bounce from one place to another, I'm surprised the Times thought we could handle something of this length. But it is so worth the read:

"Researchers say there is an evolutionary rationale for the pressure this barrage puts on the brain. The lower-brain functions alert humans to danger, like a nearby lion, overriding goals like building a hut. In the modern world, the chime of incoming email can override the goal of writing a business plan or playing catch with the children," the Times reports.

And the news gets worse:

"Researchers worry that constant digital stimulation like this creates attention problems for children with brains that are still developing, who already struggle to set priorities and resist impulses."

I've seen this in a very limited way in our own home. Our 13-year-old son has an iPod touch, mainly for music and some very basic applications. But I've turned around during an episode of American Idol, which we watch as a family, to find him looking at the TV, listening to his iPod while sitting in front of the family room computer waiting for his turn to view a planet on an astronomy website. Talk about overloading a young brain.

But putting a limit on some of this stuff is more difficult that you'd expect. It's not as easy to control as TV viewing or video games because it oozes into all different parts of life. Some of it, like the limited and very basic cell phone that allows him to call me for a ride or tell me he has safely arrived somewhere, has been a huge help. As have other things. He has the music capability on the iPod so that he can use it in music lessons or listen while he waits 30 minutes for me to arrive for pick-up. That's a good thing. He is involved in an online game that allows him to manage his own company, and it's been interesting to watch him figure out how to improve customer service and sales in his pretend airline conglomerate. That's not necessarily a bad thing in terms of "play" time. But he also has potentially non-stop access to mindless apps that distract him from homework, piano practice, and reading, which he once pursued with such enthusiasm that we had to set limits on his reading time and force him to do other things. Not so much anymore. And that's a bad thing.

I'm toying with the idea of suggesting technology-free Sundays, and the only way to do that is to shut down every computer and gadget in the house on Saturday night. I think it could be transforming for our family, although Dennis and I do have the issue of sometimes needing to handle work emails or posts -- even on Sundays and even though we both work for the Church. And I really like the idea of a technology-free vacation, which is a little more difficult but not impossible. (We tend to use our gadgets to look up directions to and phone numbers for museums and zoos, restaurants and beach attractions, proving that technology is not all bad.)

What are your technology issues? Does the good outweigh the bad? Do you find yourself or your family bogged down by the very technology that is supposed to free you up? Share your thoughts, tips, stories in our comment section. And to read the full New York Times story, if you can pull yourself away from Facebook and Twitter for a while, click HERE.

America's failed pledge on religious freedom

By Russell Shaw

A year ago this month President Barack Obama, in a much heralded speech in Cairo, included religious freedom in his list of seven issues of priority importance to America in its relations with Islamic nations. This was good news for people who long have argued that religion freedom should be a major foreign policy concern for the United States — not just in the Islamic world but generally.

And so the past 12 months have witnessed a series of American policy initiatives matching the president’s words in Cairo — right? Wrong. What the year has witnessed instead, in the estimate of people who keep tabs on this issue, has been foot dragging on religious freedom by the Obama White House and Hillary Clinton’s State Department. One sign is the long delay in naming, as required by law, an ambassador at large to head up State’s efforts in this area.

“The oppressed of the world look to this administration, indeed, all of us, with hope and forbearance, to do more,” U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom chairman Leonard Leo told a Washington press conference last month.

Out in the real world, the situation of religious freedom hasn’t been getting better lately and arguably has been getting worse. When the religious freedom commission released its annual report, it named 13 nations the State Department was urged to designate “countries of particular concern” for their “systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations.”

This was a collection of usual suspects: Burma, China, Eritrea, Iran, Iraq, Nigeria, North Korea, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam. America may lack leverage in many of these places, but some are our friends — aren’t they?

A member of the determined band of religious freedom advocates around Washington is Thomas F. Farr, a retired American diplomat who teaches religion and international affairs at Georgetown University and heads a program on religion and foreign policy at a university-affiliated think tank. He is author of a book, World of Faith and Freedom (Oxford University Press), detailing his experiences and conclusions as first director of State’s office of religious freedom during the Bill Clinton-George W. Bush years.

What he found then was what apparently exists today — opposition ranging from indifference to hostility at the upper reaches of the administration combined with resentment by the State Department bureaucracy toward something it neither asked for nor welcomed. Plus, he is convinced, a strong dose of secularist suspicion regarding anything having to do with religion.
As Farr, a convert to Catholicism, views it, this is a bad mistake. America should be pressing the cause of religious freedom in the world for two powerful reasons: concern for justice and human dignity, and self-interest.

As to the first, Farr cites a Pew Forum study showing 70 percent of the world’s population now living in countries with severe restrictions on religious freedom, including humiliation and even torture of religious minorities and mainstream reformers alike. “To the extent we can succeed in reducing this kind of abuse, and promoting this kind of freedom, we are advancing social justice and human dignity,” he says.

And as to the second: “The spread of religious freedom would benefit vital American interests and enhance our national security. It would do so by encouraging the emergence — especially in highly religious societies — of stable democratic regimes.” Among other things, Farr says, such regimes are “far less likely to incubate, nourish, and export religion-based terrorism.”

Religious freedom advocates aren’t asking for a new crusade. They’re asking for smart, steady, enlightened U.S. foreign policy. Not a bad idea.

Rusell Shaw is an OSV contributing editor.

As Corpus Christi draws to a close

By Mary DeTurris Poust

So often, when I go to Mass on the Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ, I am left wanting more, wishing that the celebrant had seized the opportunity to give his captive audience a good dose of Eucharistic inspiration and maybe even a little catechesis at the same time. We need to be reminded of the importance of the Eucharist again and again, and what better day to do it.

Today I wanted to applaud when our pastor gave an educational and inspirational homily about the Eucharist. Although he talked specifically about Eucharist and Scripture and the teachings and history of our faith, he focused on Eucharist as nourishment for the journey, as the spiritual food that has the ability to transform us from the inside out if we but come to the table.

And he stressed that we are all invited to that table, that the Eucharist is not a reward for good behavior but rather a spiritual meal that can strengthen us even when -- or maybe especially when -- our behavior has been less than stellar. He reminded those of us in the pews that we are all part of the Body of Christ, called to carry on Jesus' work, and he posed this question:

I have no doubt that Jesus is present in the Eucharist. Jesus' presence isn't in question. But are WE present?

An interesting twist. God is present in the Eucharist to us, but are we present to Him? Do we worship God from afar in the tabernacle but lose site of Him once we get out into the world? Are we truly present when we receive Jesus so that he can work through us to bring about the kingdom here on earth?

I hope you had an inspiring Feast of Corpus Christi. The good news is that we can celebrate this feast every day, at every Mass, wherever the Blessed Sacrament is present.

In the YouTube clip above, you can see Pope Benedict XVI celebrating the Feast of Corpus Christi in Rome, where the usual outdoor procession was canceled due to rain. (It was celebrated in Italy on June 3.) Instead the pope celebrated Mass in the Basilica of St. John Lateran.

Talking catechism on 'The God Show'

By Mary DeTurris Poust

OK, this falls under the heading of shameless self-promotion, but it also has to do with promoting the catechism, so I thought it was worth mentioning. I will be talking about the Catholic faith in general and the catechism specifically for one whole hour on "The God Show," which will air this Sunday at 6:30 a.m. on KTAR 92.3 talk/news radio in Phoenix. It will be repeated later in the day and available for download as a podcast after the fact.

And, if you're interested in more on the catechism, check out a new review of my book, The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Catholic Catechism, over at Glastonbury Abbey's website. This reviewer clearly gets the idea behind the Idiot's Guide series. It doesn't mean anyone is an idiot, just that you want complex information in a quick and easy-to-read format. Here's what reviewer Bruce McCabe had to say about my take on the catechism:

"A funny thing happened while I was reading this guide to the Catholic Catechism. I learned why pride could be considered a sin.

"One thing the book has going for it is its accessibility. It’s more, dare I say it, accessible than the bible. Of course, we read the bible, if at all, for different reasons. We want reassurance. You don’t read this book for reassurance. It can provoke you. It tackles hot-button issues like sin, celibacy, abortion euthanasia, the death penalty, adultery -- no euphemisms like 'cheating' -- divorce, birth control, homosexuality, and other broader issues like equity in wages, the right to work, preserving the environment and even the need to banish greed and envy. Talk about tall orders.

"You might think, as I do, that sin is something like beauty, i.e., in the eye of the beholder. The guide has no truck with that. It dismisses rationalizations referring to human weaknesses or character flaws and labels it flatly as 'a turning away from God’s plan and an abuse of the freedom (God) gave us.'

"...The guide conveys a sense of knowing and explaining to you most if not all of what Catholics believe or are supposed to believe. It gives resonance to the mass and its rituals, giving them more meaning we don’t always hearken to. In a way, we’re so accustomed to them, we may overlook them or take for granted their poetry, symmetry, symbolism or metaphorical significance. " Continue reading HERE.

The soundtrack of a spiritual life

Posted by Mary DeTurris Poust

When I read the following post by my Catholic blog world friend Jennifer Fulwiler over at Conversion Diary, I was so moved that I had to share it with all of you. It's beautiful and thought provoking and has brought a bit of peace to my otherwise hectic world today. Read it, reflect on it, let it soak into your soul, and then see if you can find your own spiritual soundtrack. Here it is:

"The other day I was out for a jog, and the stunning song Now We Are Free from the Gladiator soundtrack came on my iPod (you can listen to it on Youtube here). I was so moved by the music, I slowed to a walk to focus it.

"It was interesting how my perceptions of my neighborhood changed when I watched them with a soundtrack, so to speak. On my way out I'd seen a woman watering the plants in her front yard; I thought nothing of it. Now, on the way back, with the music playing, it seemed so heroic that she was creating something beautiful for God...Continue Reading.

U.S. prelates to investigate Irish Church

By Mary DeTurris Poust

Pope Benedict XVI has appointed Cardinal Sean Patrick O'Malley of Boston and Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York to a team of prelates that will investigate Irish dioceses and seminaries in the wake of the sexual abuse scandal in that country. Cardinal O'Malley will investigate the Archdiocese of Dublin, and Archbishop Dolan will investigate Irish seminaries, including the Pontifical Irish College in Rome, according to a story in the New York Times.

From the Times:

"In its announcement, the Vatican said the investigation, called an Apostolic Visitation, would begin this fall with the examination of four dioceses: Dublin, Armagh, Cashel and Emly, and Tuam, as well as seminaries and religious orders. It will then be extended to other dioceses.

"For the visitation, the pope appointed some leading Anglophone bishops. He appointed Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, a former archbishop of Westminster, to investigate the Archdiocese of Armagh, which is the seat of the All-Ireland primate Cardinal Sean Brady.

"Cardinal Brady said last month that he would remain in his position, despite calls for his resignation, because of his involvement in secret meetings with abuse victims in a notorious case in 1975."

The team will also include Archbishop Thomas Christopher Collins of Toronto and Archbishop Terrence Thomas Prendergast of Ottawa.

In a statement regarding the visitation, the Vatican said:

"Through this visitation, the Holy See intends to offer assistance to the bishops, clergy, religious and lay faithful as they seek to respond adequately to the situation caused by the tragic cases of abuse perpetrated by priests and religious upon minors. It is also intended to contribute to the desired spiritual and moral renewal that is already being vigorously pursued by the Church in Ireland."