Papal tweets from the papal iPad

Just a few hours ago, the pope tweeted (that's right, I said, "tweeted") the following message:

Dear Friends, I just launched News.va Praised be our Lord Jesus Christ! With my prayers and blessings, Benedictus XVI

Would you like a translation of that message in more than 140 characters? Here's the skinny: Pope Benedict XVI has launched a new Vatican portal (www.news.va) that will include the latest news from Vatican Radio and l’Osservatore Romano, from the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, from VIS, the Vatican’s Information Service, and from the Misna missionary news agency.

It will be available in English and Italian at the outset and expanded to other languages later, and it will offer audio and video streaming, high quality images and a twitter feed providing instant news headlines to smart phones and other mobile devices, according to a report by Vatican Radio.

To top it off, the pope launched the new site from his new iPad. That's one hip pope. You can watch it all unfold in the video clip above. Click HERE to go to the new Vatican portal.

Shaw: Making the most of the redemptive value of suffering... and joy

By Russell Shaw

Why did God let that happen?

For centuries that question has been asked about items in the endless catalog of human misery. About the Holocaust, Midwestern tornadoes, the Japanese earthquake and tsunami. And about intimate personal tragedies: a teenager killed in an auto crash, an old person dying unwanted and alone, a marriage that collapses amid bitter recriminations.

Why does God permit such things?

Start with the fact that whoever claims to have the definitive answer is either talking through his hat or doesn’t understand the depth and complexity of the problem.

In the Old Testament, God’s response to Job is blunt: “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? ... Shall a faultfinder contend with the Almighty?” Here and now that’s about as much of an answer as we can expect.

In the New Testament, moreover, Jesus, speaking of a man born blind and of people killed when a tower fell, dismisses out of hand the idle speculation of bystanders that these unhappy events were God’s way of punishing somebody’s sins.

All the same, it sheds a glimmer of light on the mystery to realize that the very same question — why does God let that happen? — applies as much to good things as to bad ones. Why does God permit happy marriages? A promotion at work? Satisfaction in a vocation? These happy things are as real as the unhappy ones, and God’s hand is at much in operation in the good as in the bad. Why does he permit them?

About the good things, of course, we suppose we know the answer: God permits them because he wants us to be happy. But that’s too superficial an explanation. God also wants people who suffer to be happy. So why does he allow their suffering?

Fully to understand why God permits anything, good or bad, we’d need to know the whole of his providential plan. But that is something we can’t know until we see God face to face in heaven. Then, presumably, it will become clear how everything fits together in the final fulfillment of God’s will. For now, we can only guess.

But we do have some hints to lend a hand in our efforts to cope. In a 1984 document called Salvifici Doloris, Pope John Paul II, following St. Paul, finds the “Christian meaning” of suffering in participation in the redemptive suffering of Christ. Suffering offers people a way to become co-redeemers with Christ, share in his redemptive activity, expiate their sins, and contribute to the process by which the merits of the redemption are extended to others.

So three cheers for suffering? Not at all. This explanation doesn’t attempt to say why God permits suffering. And it doesn’t pretend that suffering is pleasant. All it does — and it’s a lot — is invest the experience with meaning. For people who grasp it, that can have, in John Paul’s words, “the value of a final discovery, which is accompanied by joy.”

The redemptive value of Jesus’ life doesn’t lie only in suffering. It’s present in his life as a whole. From that perspective, it makes sense to think of the happy things in our lives as participations in the happy moments in Christ’s redemptive life: family affection in the house at Nazareth, productive labor in Joseph’s workshop, get-togethers with the apostles when things were going well. All of it had redemptive value along with the cross. Just as all that happens in our lives, both suffering and joy, can have redemptive value, too.

Russell Shaw is an OSV contributing editor.

Finding common ground in unlikely places

By Mary DeTurris Poust

One of my favorite parts of every soccer season is knowing at some point, with any luck, I will run into one particular friend I’ve known since our now “tween” daughters went to preschool together. We get along famously, so well, in fact, that every time we bump into each other I wonder why we restrict our get-togethers to chance meetings on the sidelines.

The interesting thing about our friendship is that it is absolutely held together by our shared religious convictions, hers Muslim and mine Catholic. It doesn’t matter that we come from different faiths. The places where our values and our beliefs intersect are more important than the places where they diverge, and that reality provides us with a starting point for some great conversations about our families, our work and our world.

Last week, as our daughters faced off on the field, my friend and I covered a lot of religious ground during our semi-annual chat. My friend told me that more and more she is running into Catholics who are worshipping outside the box – not on social issues or gray areas but on what she knows to be basic doctrine.

Her daughter was told by a Catholic friend recently that Mary was not a virgin. My friend was confused to hear a Catholic contradicting what she rightly assumed was one of our basic beliefs (and one of hers, incidentally). Another Catholic friend told her she doesn’t believe in the Trinity. And almost all of her Catholic friends, she said, support abortion rights.

My friend, who knows I’ve written books and articles on Church teaching, asked me to explain how there could be this shift in beliefs she thought were rock solid. My answer? It’s a combination of things, but there’s one definite: We stopped teaching people the basics of the faith, and now many adult Catholics – influenced heavily by our culture -- don’t know what it is they profess to believe or why they should care.

We’re seeing a growing secularization of Catholics, people who go beyond “cafeteria Catholic” mode to a place where they don’t even feel the need to believe the most basic core doctrine in order to call themselves Catholic. One day my daughter came home from school and told me her friend said she is Catholic but doesn’t believe in God. That may be an extreme version of a “cultural Catholic,” but it’s just one of many variations on the same theme.

For decades now we’ve been throwing off old traditions and “rules” in effort to create a big tent, so afraid that requiring things of people might scare them off. But that approach seems to have done just the opposite of what was intended, hoped for. We now have a generation adrift, not sure of what they believe and convinced that every belief is negotiable or disposable. And the tent is becoming more empty than full.

It’s pretty telling when a Muslim recognizes a seismic shift in Catholic belief – or lack thereof, and when a Catholic feels she has more in common with someone of a different faith than her own. But that’s the reality.

Trappist monk Thomas Merton once said that Buddhist Thich Nhat Hanh was more like his brother than his fellow monks and fellow Americans “because he and I see things in exactly the same way.”

I know what Merton meant. My friend and I get along so well because we know who we are, we know what we believe, and we know how those beliefs can shape our own lives and the lives of our children in positive and powerful ways.

Whether living according to the Muslim faith or the Catholic faith, one thing holds true: Trifling with basic teaching and tradition does not lead to stronger faith but weaker conviction. It leads to watering down, not building up. And before you know it, all that’s left to do is fold up the tent and go home.

This column originally appeared in Catholic New York. To read previous Life Lines columns, visit www.marydeturrispoust.com.

Same sex marriage bill passes in New York

The Republican-controlled N.Y. State Senate has voted in favor of same sex marriage by a margin of 33-29. Although some have wondered what took so long, the legislation was officially introduced by Gov. Andrew Cuomo just a little more than a week ago, and there were no public hearings on the issue. Nevertheless, the law was pushed through and will go into effect in 30 days. It was passed with an amendment providing some exemptions for religious institutions.

The bishops of New York State issued the following statement on the vote:

The passage by the Legislature of a bill to alter radically and forever humanity’s historic understanding of marriage leaves us deeply disappointed and troubled.

We strongly uphold the Catholic Church’s clear teaching that we always treat our homosexual brothers and sisters with respect, dignity and love. But we just as strongly affirm that marriage is the joining of one man and one woman in a lifelong, loving union that is open to children, ordered for the good of those children and the spouses themselves. This definition cannot change, though we realize that our beliefs about the nature of marriage will continue to be ridiculed, and that some will even now attempt to enact government sanctions against churches and religious organizations that preach these timeless truths.

We worry that both marriage and the family will be undermined by this tragic presumption of government in passing this legislation that attempts to redefine these cornerstones of civilization.

Our society must regain what it appears to have lost – a true understanding of the meaning and the place of marriage, as revealed by God, grounded in nature, and respected by America’s foundational principles.

+Timothy M. Dolan
Archbishop of New York

+Howard J. Hubbard
Bishop of Albany

+Nicholas DiMarzio
Bishop of Brooklyn

+Edward U. Kmiec
Bishop of Buffalo

+Terry R. LaValley
Bishop of Ogdensburg

+Matthew H. Clark
Bishop of Rochester

+William F. Murphy
Bishop of Rockville Centre

+Robert J. Cunningham
Bishop of Syracuse

NY senators will vote on gay 'marriage' tonight UPDATED

UPDATED

The New York State Catholic Conference just released a statement regarding the N.Y. Senate's decision to bring the same sex marriage bill to the floor for a vote tonight:

“The Bishops of New York State oppose in the strongest possible terms any attempt to redefine the sacred institution of marriage. The matter of religious exemptions has been and continues to be a secondary issue that in no way negates the fact that this bill is bad for society. We urge all Senators to vote no on Governor Cuomo's bill. Marriage has always been, is now, and always will be the union of one man and one woman in a lifelong, life-giving union. Government does not have the authority to change this most basic of truths.”

Earlier, N.Y. Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos released a statement regarding the state of the same sex marriage bill in the Empire State:

After many hours of deliberation and discussion over the past several weeks among the members, it has been decided that same sex marriage legislation will be brought to the full Senate for an up or down vote.

The entire Senate Republican Conference was insistent that amendments be made to the Governor’s original bill in order to protect the rights of religious institutions and not-for-profits with religious affiliations. I appreciate the Governor’s cooperation in working with us to address these important issues and concerns.

As I have said many times, this is a very difficult issue and it will be a vote of conscience for every member of the Senate.

Stay tuned...We'll let you know when the final decision is made.

Does Kia ad promote pedophilia? You be the judge.

Posted by Mary DeTurris Poust

Wow. I hate even to post a photo of the Kia Sportage ad that won a prestigious award despite promoting what appears to be pedophilia, but some things have to be seen to be believed.

Here's what Huffington Post had to say:

A new Kia ad is raising eyebrows—with some even saying that it promotes pedophilia.

The ad, which promotes a dual-zone climate control feature in one of Kia's cars, took home the Silver Press Lion at the prestigious Cannes Lion Awards. But it is controversial, to say the least.

The ad features a teacher lusting after his elementary school-aged student. On one side of the page, she appears as a young girl. On the other side, though, she becomes a scantily clad, buxom teen, seemingly as a product of the teacher's imagination.

It's clearly designed to shock, and is succeeding. The advertising blog Copyranter called it "one of the sleaziest car ads ever," and noted that it doesn't even visualize the benefits of dual climate control very well.

H/T to Acts of the Apostasy for this one. Best headline over there - "If Only Ad Writers Were Allowed to Marry!"

Contact Kia by phone to lodge a complaint. Acts says it's impossible to get through electronically. You can also go over to HuffPo and cast your vote.

Adventure, spirituality, romance. We've got it all.

By Mary DeTurris Poust

School is finished. Summer just started. The kids are home. Now what? At our house we make an annual "Beach Bucket List" of all the things we really want to do before school starts up again in September. Sometimes we get through everything on the list. Most times there are few items that remain unchecked. Still, it's a great way to put down on paper the things we most want to do, whether it's something simple, like going for a bike ride, or something that requires some planning, like going to the State Fair.

If you'd like to see our Beach Bucket List and read my column about how this tradition got started and how to make it your own, click HERE to go to my personal blog, Not Strictly Spiritual.

So maybe a Beach Bucket List isn't your thing. Maybe you're more into cleaning and organizing. Well, I've got just the post for you. Head over to Quantam Theology for a great start-of-summer post on the spirituality of clearing your desk (or counters, or workbench). Click HERE to read Michelle Francl's take on de-cluttering.

Neither of those things appeal to you? What about getting some quiet time with your spouse and away from the kids without leaving home. Head over to Betty Beguiles where Hallie Lord has posted 10 Romantic (Stay-at-Home) Date Night Ideas.

One-stop shopping to start your summer here at OSV Daily Take. If you've found some great summer ideas you want to share, please post them in the comment section.

If you simply must know about Corapi - UPDATED

By Mary DeTurris Poust

Over the past few days, I have purposely chosen not to post about former Father John Corapi's descent into shameless self-promotion at the expense of his "fans," who seem to be hanging on with a vengeance despite his carryings on. I decided from the outset that I would not waste one minute of my professional or spiritual energy on this man and his decision to voluntarily leave the priesthood and then blame everyone else.

However, as this situation goes from bad to worse, I am happy to point readers to others who have been more vocal about Corapi.

Read an excellent post by The Anchoress HERE.

The Deacon's Bench has a post, including comments from Corapi's superior, HERE. Then read Deacon Greg's latest post on the subject HERE.

And HERE's a post on this topic from Why I Am Catholic

UPDATE: Corapi's order, the Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity, just released an official statement on the matter. Read it HERE.

I will not provide links to any websites, audio feeds or statements by Corapi, and I will not continue this conversation in the comment section. I refuse to be party to any of it. Maybe that's all the commentary I need to make.

Can Facebook reverse previous trend toward social isolation?

By Mary DeTurris Poust

A few years ago I wrote a story for Our Sunday Visitor on the growing problem of social isolation in our country. At the time, staggering numbers of people were reporting they had no one with whom them could discuss important matters or share concerns. No one. Today that trend seems to be reversing, and we have social networking to thank. Really. At least according to a recent Pew study.

In an AP story today, it was reported that Facebook users have more close friends, more social support and are more politically engaged.

Here's more from the story:

The report comes as Facebook, Twitter and even the buttoned-up, career-oriented LinkedIn continue to engrain themselves in our daily lives and change the way we interact with friends, co-workers and long-lost high school buddies.

Released Thursday by the Pew Internet and American Life Project, the report also found that Facebook users are more trusting than their non-networked counterparts.

When accounting for all other factors - such as age, education level or race - Facebook users were 43 percent more likely than other Internet users to say that "most people can be trusted." Compared with people who don't use the Internet at all, Facebook users were three times more trusting.

And more:

When all else is equal, people who use Facebook also have 9 percent more close ties in their overall social network than other Internet users. This backs an earlier report from Pew that, contrary to studies done earlier in the decade, the Internet is not linked to social isolation. Rather, it can lead to larger, more diverse social networks.

When I first wrote about social isolation and later, when I was researching my book on spiritual friendship, there was concern that we were in a downward social spiral, with fewer friends, fewer close family members nearby, and no way to reconnect. Then Facebook began to pick up steam -- not only among college kids, for whom it was first created, but for the moms and dads of college kids and everyone in between.

Now when I give workshops on spiritual friendship, I often start with a discussion of social networking because, like it or not, for many of us that's where friendships blossom or re-blossom, and it is where spiritual communities are popping up with increasing speed. Prayers requests are posted, worries are shared, spiritual discussions ensue. This is the new backyard fence, the new water cooler, the new coffee klatch. Except today we don't have to live next door or work in the same office to have a conversation.

Of course, real friendship can't stay in the virtual world. It has to become more, especially when we're talking about spiritual friendship. Phone calls and letters, face-to-face visits and heart-to-heart talks are required, but I guess accepting a friend request on Facebook can be a good place to start, especially if you're lonely or homebound or far away from the people you love.

To read the full AP story, click HERE.

Gay marriage on the horizon in New York

By the end of this week, gay marriage could well be legal in New York State, at least that's how things look as legislators who had previously voted against measures to change the definition of marriage have fallen like so many dominoes in recent days. The big question remaining seems to be whether the Republican leadership in the Senate will let Gov. Andrew Cuomo's recently introduced bill come to the floor for a vote.

There's lots to think about on this matter, with some good Catholic resources right at our fingertips.

Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York wrote about the issue on his blog, The Gospel in the Digital Age. Here's some of what he had to say:

Our beliefs should not be viewed as discrimination against homosexual people. The Church affirms the basic human rights of gay men and women, and the state has rightly changed many laws to offer these men and women hospital visitation rights, bereavement leave, death benefits, insurance benefits, and the like. This is not about denying rights. It is about upholding a truth about the human condition. Marriage is not simply a mechanism for delivering benefits: It is the union of a man and a woman in a loving, permanent, life-giving union to pro-create children. Please don’t vote to change that. If you do, you are claiming the power to change what is not into what is, simply because you say so. This is false, it is wrong, and it defies logic and common sense.

Yes, I admit, I come at this as a believer, who, along with other citizens of a diversity of creeds believe that God, not Albany, has settled the definition of marriage a long time ago. We believers worry not only about what this new intrusion will do to our common good, but also that we will be coerced to violate our deepest beliefs to accommodate the newest state decree. (If you think this paranoia, just ask believers in Canada and England what’s going on there to justify our apprehensions.)

But I also come at this as an American citizen, who reads our formative principles as limiting government, not unleashing it to tamper with life’s most basic values. (Read his full column HERE.)

Regarding the introduction of Gov. Cuomo's same sex marriage bill, the New York State Catholic Conference issued a statement regarding the potential issues this bill could cause for the Church down the road. Here's what Conference Director Richard E. Barnes said:

“While the language of the Governor’s bill obviously offers some religious exemption language not appearing in previous drafts of this legislation, our initial analysis is that it is not as comprehensive and adequate as has been passed and is being considered in other states.

“Also as a fundamental principle, we continue to oppose passage of this bill because it would redefine the institution of marriage.”

In his column, Put Out Into the Deep, Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio of Brooklyn wrote:

"We are tampering with nothing less than the laws of God Himself. The dangers and the threat to marriage as a societal good, especially as a sacrament, are very probable if same-sex marriages are recognized. Marriage has forever been, is now, and always will be a joining of one man and one woman in an everlasting relationship. It is undeniably consistent with natural law and biology, and should be apparent to all, regardless of religion. Marriage is a shared personal offering between the two that serves the couple in many ways, allowing them to cultivate their love and through that love, bring about children." (Read his full column HERE.)

Finally, Edward Mechmann, a lawyer who is also assistant director of the Family Life/Respect Life Office for the Archdiocese of New York, was interviewed by Kathryn Jean Lopez of The Corner over at National Review Online. Here's a piece of that conversation:

Kathryn Jean Lopez: How worried are you that marriage as we know it is about to change in New York State?

Ed Mechmann: We are very concerned about the redefinition of marriage. The arguments at this point are almost purely political. And the most powerful forces in New York politics — the governor, the Democratic party, the liberal activist groups, the gay community, and the public-employee unions — are all in favor of it. The only thing holding it back is the strong public opposition from religious groups and grassroots conservatives.

Lopez: What will that mean, practically speaking?

Mechmann: It will mean that every marriage in New York has been redefined. No longer will it mean what everyone in the world believed it meant (until about ten years ago). It will send a signal that marriage is merely a private arrangement for the subjective satisfaction of two individuals, with no significance to children or to society. And all this, at a time when families are in crisis, and when family instability can be identified as the source of many of our social problems. The law is a teacher, and it will be teaching a very bad, very dangerous lesson.

Continue reading HERE.

Franciscan Brothers joined in life, death

Maybe you saw the story last week about the Franciscan Brothers who were also biological brothers -- twins, in fact. It was a great story about their deep connection, their dual vocations lived out side-by-side, mainly in Buffalo, and their death on the same day two weeks ago at age 92.

But a story by Dan Barry in today's New York Times really captures -- in stunning prose -- the essence of who the brother Brothers were. Here's the start of the story. I hope you'll click the link to read Dan Barry's story in its entirety. It will absolutely be worth your time.

ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y. — They were like paired birds of Franciscan brown. If Brother Julian was gardening in front of the friary, Brother Adrian weeded in the back. If Adrian was driving the van, Julian sat by his side. Preparing the altar for chapel, chopping wood for kindling, exulting in ice cream at the Twist & Shake, the identical Riester twins were together, always.

For many years at my alma mater, St. Bonaventure University, these simple men were workers, not teachers, and so ever-present in the pastoral setting as to be unseen. Taken for granted, like the rushing hush of the Allegheny River at the university’s edge, or the back-and-forth of the birdsong in the surrounding trees.

Two weeks ago, the twins died on the same day in a Florida hospital; they were 92. Brother Julian died in the morning and Brother Adrian died in the evening, after being told of Julian’s death. Few who knew them were surprised, and many were relieved, as it would have been hard to imagine one surviving without the other.

But the cultivated anonymity of the twins died with them. News of their deaths, beginning with an article in The Buffalo News, traveled around the world, stunning the Catholic university’s officials. Think of it: eminent Franciscan scholars die with little notice, but the same-day passing of an identical and unassuming pair of Franciscan grunts attracts international attention.

Continue reading HERE.

Shaw: A feminist professor's unintended agreement with pope on contraception

By Russell Shaw

If you have access to the April 29 issue of The New Republic, take a look at a long review of several new books on abortion. The work of Christine Stansell, a professor of history at the University of Chicago and herself author of a history of feminism, it’s worth reading on several counts. Full of misinformation and misinterpretation, punctuated by invective and anti-Catholicism, it’s an unintended primer for people with traditional views that illustrates what they face in confronting the mindset of secular feminism.

Negatives aside, though, Professor Stansell does make one important point. The introduction of the birth control pill in the United States in 1963, she writes, was the start of a “revolution in assumptions about sex and its consequences” based on “the central tenet of modern heterosexual life, [namely] the separation of pregnancy from sex.” Here is the dawning of the era of “worry-free contraception” — with abortion available (and soon to be legal, thanks to the Supreme Court) as “a method of birth control when other measures failed.”

What’s surprising about this is that it’s basically what Pope Paul VI said in his 1968 encyclical Humanae Vitae condemning contraception.

To be sure, Pope Paul didn’t refer to the “separation of pregnancy from sex” as Professor Stansell does, but instead, more delicately, to “the inseparable connection … between the unitive significance and the procreative significance” of the act. With all due respect to the pope, I prefer the Stansell version — “the separation of pregnancy from sex” — since it bluntly expresses what’s really involved here.

But regardless of the words, the pope and the professor are saying the same thing: Separate the purposes or meanings of this act by means of contraception, and you take a radical step that has serious consequences. Professor Stansell thinks the consequences are very good. Pope Paul clearly does not. On the contrary, he said, once you do this the way will be “wide open to marital infidelity and a general lowering of moral standards.”

He was right. This plainly has happened the last half-century, despite widespread refusal to acknowledge the fact.

The refusal is a product of what the late Daniel Patrick Moynihan, in a journal article back in 1993, memorably called “defining deviancy down.” When a society suffers from an over-supply of deviant behavior, Moynihan explained, one way it handles the problem is by redefinition, so that activity previously considered deviant is now seen as normal. That in a nutshell is what’s happened in the case of contraception, whose universal approval in the United States, a phenomenon of just the last 80 years, received its final boost from the marketing of the pill.

Just as Pope Paul said, the emergence of the contraceptive mentality and the contraceptive culture that came with it have paved the way for other behaviors that many people still recognize as forms of deviancy with destructive social consequences. Among these are cohabitation, illegitimacy, abortion, and the decline of traditional marriage.

Like others, Professor Stansell thinks the pill has been liberating. That’s true in a very limited sense — the pill makes it safe to act on instinct, impulse, urge. But there’s nothing humanly liberating about that. Freedom in a human sense is freedom to make self-determining choices, while chastity — temperance in the realm of sexuality — is the virtue empowering one to choose in favor of self-control instead of being driven by instinct. It’s a measure of how far we’ve traveled the other way that simply saying it sounds strange to so many people in America today.

Russell Shaw is an OSV contributing editor.

Preparing for Pentecost in two minutes

By Mary DeTurris Poust

Check out this great clip about Pentecost from Busted Halo. It's the perfect primer on the basics of this feast, which we will celebrate this Sunday, and a powerful reminder of why it's so important.

Sometimes it's easy for the Holy Spirit to get overlooked in our prayer lives. At least that's often how it is for me. Or how it used to be. I tended to head to Father and Son with only a cursory nod toward the Spirit. And then, somewhere along the way, I realized how critical the Spirit is to my prayer life, and my life in general. Before every speaking engagement, before silent prayer, before my children face big decisions or moments of their lives, I find myself turning to the Spirit for guidance and wisdom.

In my book on prayer and the Mass, I put it like this:

"If you were to set off on a hike down a long and winding path through deep and strange woods, you'd probably look for a trail guide, someone to keep you on the right path and continually lead you in a safe direction. When it comes to prayer, the Holy Spirit is your trail guide

"The Spirit is God's presence and loving action here on Earth. We can't see or hear the Spirit, but we can sometimes feel the Spirit, especially as we begin to enter into prayer more deeply. We may have felt the Spirit at work in our life already, at one of those times when we sensed God's presence in a very real way or when we just knew what we had to do in a difficult situation despite the confusion all around us.

"...When we pray, the Spirit leads us through the sometimes dark and strange landscape of our spiritual life to a place where we can see clearly and bask in God's light, just as that trail guide, if we trust and have faith, will lead us out of those deep woods and to our destination. So when we pray, we direct our prayers toward God, praying in union with Jesus and always seeking direction from the Spirit." (Excerpted from The Essential Guide to Catholic Prayer and the Mass.)

Happy Pentecost. Let's pray together:

Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful,
and enkindle in them the fire of your love.
Send forth your Spirit, and they shall be created.
And you shall renew the face of the earth.

The harsh truth about Dr. Kevorkian

By Mary DeTurris Poust

I was stunned to see so many glowing "odes" to Dr. Jack Kevorkian on the occasion of his death June 3 and in the days that followed. From newspaper stories and columns to Facebook status updates and links, there was a steady stream of praise for the man known as "Dr. Death."

Finally, today, on the New York Times op-ed page, Ross Douthat offers a much-needed cold, hard look at Dr. Kevorkian's legacy:

If participating in a suicide is legally and ethically acceptable, in other words, it can’t just be because cancer is brutal and dementia is dehumanizing. It can only be because there’s a right to suicide.

And once we allow that such a right exists, the arguments for confining it to the dying seem arbitrary at best. We are all dying, day by day: do the terminally ill really occupy a completely different moral category from the rest? A cancer patient’s suffering isn’t necessarily more unbearable than the more indefinite agony of someone living with multiple sclerosis or quadriplegia or manic depression. And not every unbearable agony is medical: if a man losing a battle with Parkinson’s disease can claim the relief of physician-assisted suicide, then why not a devastated widower, or a parent who has lost her only child?

This isn’t a hypothetical slippery slope. Jack Kevorkian spent his career putting this dark, expansive logic into practice. He didn’t just provide death to the dying; he helped anyone whose suffering seemed sufficient to warrant his deadly assistance. When The Detroit Free Press investigated his “practice” in 1997, it found that 60 percent of those he assisted weren’t actually terminally ill. In several cases, autopsies revealed “no anatomical evidence of disease.”

Sixty percent were not terminally ill. That's a shocking figure, one that should make all those folks praising Kevorkian as some sort of humanitarian or civil rights crusader take a step back and rethink what his campaign for assisted suicide was really all about. Dying with dignity had nothing to do with it.

Read the full column HERE.

Breaking: First Episcopal church in U.S. to become Catholic

Breaking news from the Archdiocese of Washington: An Episcopal parish in Maryland has decided to leave the Episcopal Church to become Catholic under the ordinariate structure devised by Pope Benedict XVI. 

This is a first for the United States.

The parish has worked out all property issues with the Episcopal diocese and has the blessing of the Episcopal bishop.

Washington's Cardinal Donald Wuerl is the pope's point person for the implementation of the ordinariate in the United States (still not formalized), and is due to make a presentation on that process to the full body of bishops' at their Spring meeting in Seattle on June 15.

Here's the full press release:

Episcopal Parish Community in Bladensburg, Maryland to Join Catholic Church

June 06, 2011

After a period of deep discernment, the rector and parishioners of St. Luke’s Episcopal parish in Bladensburg, Maryland have decided to seek entry into the Roman Catholic Church through a new structure approved by Pope Benedict XVI called an ordinariate. Saint Luke’s is the first church in the Washington metropolitan area to take this step.

The transition is being made with the prayerful support of Bishop John Bryson Chane of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington and Cardinal Donald Wuerl, Catholic Archbishop of Washington. 

“We welcome the St. Luke community warmly into our family of faith. The proposed ordinariate provides a path to unity, one that recognizes our shared beliefs on matters of faith while also recognizing and respecting the liturgical heritage of the Anglican Church,” Cardinal Wuerl said. “We also recognize the openness of the community to the guidance of the Holy Spirit in their faith journey.” 

In fall 2009, Pope Benedict XVI authorized the formation of “ordinariates” for former Anglican parishes seeking to enter the Catholic Church as a congregation. An ordinariate is a geographic region similar to a diocese, though typically is national in scope. Until one is established for the United States, St. Luke’s congregation, which has approximately 100 members, will come under the care of the Archdiocese of Washington.

“This was a transition achieved in a spirit of pastoral sensitivity and mutual respect,” said Bishop Chane. “Christians move from one church to another with far greater frequency than in the past, sometimes as individuals, sometimes as groups. I was glad to be able to meet the spiritual needs of the people and priest of St. Luke’s in a way that respects the tradition and polity of both of our Churches.”

Under the terms of a letter of agreement signed last week with the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, the St. Luke congregation will continue to worship in their current church, at 4006 53rd Street, Bladensburg. The agreement is a lease with a purchase option. The community will begin preparations for reception into the Catholic Church later this year while Rev. Mark Lewis, rector of St. Luke’s, hopes to begin the process to be ordained a Catholic priest. 

“I am deeply grateful to Cardinal Wuerl and to Bishop Chane for their support throughout this discernment. We look forward to continuing to worship in the Anglican tradition, while at the same time being in full communion with the Holy See of Peter,” Rev. Lewis said. 

The first ordinariate was established in England in January 2011. Ordinariate parishes are fully Catholic, while retaining aspects of their Anglican heritage and liturgical tradition. Cardinal Wuerl is the Vatican’s representative for the implementation of Anglicanorum coetibus (pronounced Anglican-orum chay-tee-boose) in the United States, the papal document authorizing the establishment of ordinariates. This document and other material are online atwww.adw.org (http://site.adw.org/news-releases). 

Deathbed wishes and regrets

By Mary DeTurris Poust

A couple of events this week got me thinking about my own mortality. First, I spent some time visiting a friend who is in the end stages of ovarian cancer after a valiant years-long fight. She is now in hospice home care. As I sat in her living room, I quietly soaked in my friend's strength and faith and courage and grace. It was only when I got back in my car that I broke down in tears at the awesomeness of being in the presence of someone who is very much aware that her time on this earth is coming to an end.

That was enough to start me thinking about life and death, but then along came today, June 2. My mother would have been 71 today, but she died of colon cancer more than 23 years ago at the age of 47. Reflecting on the gift of her life makes me ponder my own life and eventual death --that I have already lived longer than my mother, that any day I, too, could get a diagnosis that changes life permanently and ends it all too quickly, that my children might find themselves marking the milestones of their lives minus their mother.

Just the other night, I was so preoccupied with all these thoughts I couldn't sleep. At all. I remembered how my mother had so many long, sleepless nights at the end of her illness, and I wondered if that is the case for my friend as well. So I did what my mother used to do during those difficult hours. I pulled out my Rosary beads and prayed -- for my friend, with my friend -- allowing my minor bout of insomnia to lead me into a moment of connection with someone who knows true suffering.

So today, when two Facebook friends posted a link to a column about deathbed regrets, I saw it as an invitation to explore further what I'd been mulling over in my head.

What do you think terminal patients regret most as they lay dying? Not the job promotion that was missed or the raise they didn't get or the car they didn't own. The top five regrets had to do with the way they'd lived their lives, the people they didn't keep in touch with, the way they spent their time:

From a blog post at Inspiration and Chai:

1. I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.

This was the most common regret of all. When people realize that their life is almost over and look back clearly on it, it is easy to see how many dreams have gone unfulfilled.

2. I wish I didn't work so hard.

This came from every male patient that I nursed. They missed their children's youth and their partner's companionship. Women also spoke of this regret. But as most were from an older generation, many of the female patients had not been breadwinners. All of the men I nursed deeply regretted spending so much of their lives on the treadmill of a work existence...

5. I wish that I had let myself be happier.

This is a surprisingly common one. Many did not realize until the end that happiness is a choice. They had stayed stuck in old patterns and habits. The so-called 'comfort' of familiarity overflowed into their emotions, as well as their physical lives. Fear of change had them pretending to others, and to their selves, that they were content. When deep within, they longed to laugh properly and have silliness in their life again.

After my mother died, having witnessed her last breath, I was sure I'd never go back to taking life for granted, and maybe for a few months after her death I didn't. But then life went on and it became easier and easier to slip back into the notion that we have a limitless amount of time to get things done, to make amends, to play with our kids, to fulfill our dreams.

If today was my last day, I know my regrets would have nothing to do with any work project or household responsibility. My regrets would be, like those of the patients who were surveyed, about the time I didn't spend with my husband and children, the friends I didn't call, the time I didn't take for prayer or gardening or all the things that bring me joy, the times I gave up the opportunity to laugh because I thought it was my job to worry.

What would you put on a list of deathbed regrets?

To read the full list at Inspiration and Chai, click HERE. (H/T to Jeanne Grunert and Deacon Greg Kandra for bringing this post to my attention.)

OSV president elected head of Catholic Press Association

The results have been certified and it is now official: Greg Erlandson, president and publisher of Our Sunday Visitor, has been elected to a two-year term as president of the Catholic Press Association.

These are challenging times for many of the organization's members, a good number of whom are diocesan newspapers seeing budgetary pressures force staff cuts, reduction of publication frequency, and in some cases even complete closing of their doors.

But where there's a challenge there's also an opportunity: for a rethinking of Catholic communications strategies, in which print continues to play an important part, even if not the virtually exclusive one it has enjoyed for many decades.

Best of wishes to Greg as he prepares to start his term!

Here's the announcement from CPA today:

Dear Members: 

I am excited to announce the names of the new officers for the Catholic Press Association Board of Directors. 

President, Greg Erlandson [OSV president and publisher]

Vice-President, Robert DeFrancesco 

Treasurer, Matthew Schiller

Secretary, Malea Hargett 

Terms are for two years. They will be introduced at the annual business meeting on Thursday, June 23rd in Pittsburgh, PA. 

Please take a moment to congratulate them and thank them for the service they have undertaken. 

Tim Walter
Executive Director
Catholic Press Assocation

Tomorrow on TODAY: Inside the Vatican

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

NBC's Matt Lauer and Al Roker are broadcasting from the Vatican this week, with a special feature on tap for tomorrow's episode of the TODAY show. They will offer viewers a glimpse into a day in the life of Pope Benedict XVI, including visits to the papal residence, the papal gardens, the secret archives and more.

The clip above shows Lauer and Roker meeting the pontiff earlier today, accompanied by Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York.

An unchanging message: drive-by lessons in faith

By Mary DeTurris Poust

I'm not one for pithy quotes posted on big signs outside churches. I typically find them distracting at best or silly and inane at worst. But when I drove by the local Reform church in my town yesterday, the posted comment hit home:

"You don't change the message; the message changes you."

I found myself giving a little "Amen!" as I turned onto a side street. Sure this sign referred to the general Christian message, but I think it applies even more appropriately to the Catholic message.

We live in a world where everyone tries to change with the times, and too often society thinks the Church should follow suit. We should be more flexible and fluid, more "modern" and adaptive, we hear from sources of every stripe, Catholic and not. And still we attempt to stay true to the message, even when the message is as counter-cultural as it gets, from abortion and embryonic stem cell research to capital punishment and war.

Why don't we just change the message and take the heat off ? Because our Church knows -- we know -- precisely what the signage tried to convey in one line. If we keep moving the goal posts, changing the message to suit the times, we don't move closer to the Kingdom or according to Jesus' teaching. We move according to our own needs and desires. But, if we allow the message to sink in and to become part of us, even when it's not easy to accept or practice, slowly but surely the message will, in fact, change us.

In her beautiful book "One Thousand Gifts," writer Ann Voskamp writes about discovering the fact that living the Christian message means being grateful -- counting our blessings -- even when the "blessings" are painful or difficult experiences that we don't want in our lives and can't understand. That's some hard teaching, but it's at the heart of this idea that we can't change the message. The message is what it is, and it will change us if we let it.

Ann writes:

"Thanksgiving -- giving thanks in everything -- prepares the way that God might show us His fullest salvation in Christ.

"The act of sacrificing thank offerings to God -- even for the bread and cup of cost, for cancer and crucifixion -- this prepares the way for God to show us His fullest salvation from bitter, angry, resentful lives and from all sin that estranges us from Him. At the Eucharist, Christ breaks His heart to heal ours -- Christ, the complete accomplishment of our salvation. And the miracle of eucharisteo never ends: thanksgiving is what precedes the miracle of that salvation being fully worked out in our lives."

So the message doesn't change. The message can't change. Not if we hope to be changed by it, to be made new in Christ. His message must be our message.

That's a pretty powerful faith lesson for a little church sign on a hot May morning. I hope I remember it, not only in good times but in the bad times that are an inevitable part of life. Thanksgiving, Eucharist -- an unchanging, life-changing message.