Pope expresses distress over Vatileaks

Pope Benedict XVI expressed sadness over the recent Vatileaks scandal:

"Events in recent days regarding the Curia and my collaborators have brought sadness to my heart, though the firm conviction, that despite human weakness, despite difficulties and trials, the Church is guided by the Holy Spirit, and the Lord will never fail to give His aid in sustaining the Church on her journey."

Centennial moment: 'The Bish' at the lake

Memorial Day weekend marks the beginning of lake season in northeast Indiana, when residents fortunate to own property on the water spend as much time as possible at their summer digs — from humble cabins to luxurious homes — boating, swimming and otherwise frolicking in the sun. (People unfamiliar with the geography of the region may not realize it, but the area is dotted with scores of lakes. Yet, to the confusion of many a newcomer, residents always talk about going to "the lake," not bothering to pinpoint which one).

Archbishop John Noll was no different from many of the area's residents. He owned an island home on Lake Sylvan in Rome City, Ind., about 40 miles northwest of Fort Wayne. The bishop spent the month of July at what he called the "cottage in Rome City," although it was actually large, comfortable home. There he enjoyed boating and fishing and visiting with family members, who also had homes on Lake Sylvan. He also welcomed priests and seminarians from the Fort Wayne-South Bend diocese, as well as Victory Noll sisters, who sometimes went on retreat at the lake house and did housekeeping.

Even though he continued his work during his month at the lake house, writing articles for Our Sunday Visitor and tending to the daily business of the diocese, Bishop Noll also had a chance to enjoy life and to laugh — sometimes at his own expense.

In her book "Champion of the Church," Bishop Noll biographer Ann Ball recalled a time when "the Bish," as he was lovingly called, took an unexpected swim in the lake:

"One evening, Bishop Noll went to have supper with his sister's family. Afterward, they all walked down to the dock together. As he started to step into the boat, however, he slipped, and the next thing his horrified family knew, he'd fallen into the lake.

"But, unhurt, he came up laughing at the shock on their faces, and called out, "Uh-oh. The Bishy fell in the lake with the fishy!" At that, they all had to laugh as the portly bishop, dripping wet, climbed into the boat for the trip home."

Denver's archbishop-designate reacts to news

After months of waiting, Denver finally has a new archbishop.

From CNA/EWTN News:

As Archbishop-designate Samuel J. Aquila of Fargo, N.D. assumes his role as Denver's new shepherd, the former Coloradan brings with him a love for the priesthood, a passion for pro-life advocacy and a heart for the youth.

“I never, ever dreamed that I would ever return here,” he told CNA. “And now in the Father's providential plan and in his love, I'm now the archbishop.”

“It's amazing,” he said, overcome with emotion.

Filling a position left vacant for over eight months, Archbishop-designate Aquila was announced on May 29 as the Denver archdiocese’s new leader by apostolic nuncio Archbishop Carlo M. Vigano in Washington, D.C.

The 61-year-old will succeed Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, who led the Denver archdiocese for 14 years and was installed as head of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia in September 2011.

Archbishop-designate Aquila will be installed as head of the archdiocese on July 18 at Denver’s Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. Read more HERE.

Pad your weekend 'to do' list with empty spaces

 

I'm hoping my recent Life Lines column will set just the right tone for your holiday weekend: 

By Mary DeTurris Poust

I can always tell when my 6-year-old daughter, Chiara, has had enough, or too much. She hangs onto my waist, cries at the drop of a hat, and, in the ultimate role-reversal, tells me she thinks she needs to go to bed rather than watch a TV show. You don’t have to be a parenting genius to figure out that her day was just too full.

Chiara needs her down time, even just an hour or so after school when there’s nothing to do but draw on the driveway with chalk, or swing toward the heavens in the backyard, or serve out some plastic ice cream in the play kitchen.  She loves her dance classes and her Daisy troop and her karate, but when she gets a week where every afternoon is occupied, and maybe even a few evenings, the edges of her typically sweet demeanor start to fray. So why is it so surprising when the same thing happens to us as adults?

We go, go, go, always thinking we need to be doing at least two things at once, feeling like any downtime is a sign of laziness or, at the very least, serious lack of motivation. Even when we finally do sit down to “relax,” most of us bring along the laptop or iPod, the newspaper or crossword puzzle, a stack of bills or a work project.

When I recently finished one book manuscript only to begin another the very next morning, I found myself in the unlikely position of having nothing to say. I stared at my computer, not just for an hour but for a few days. The problem was not that I didn’t know what to write; I just couldn’t access it. It was buried too far below all the stress from the previous weeks. I had emptied myself out during the writing of one book, but I never filled myself back up before starting the next.  I secretly wished I could just lean against the nearest person, à la Chiara, and whimper until someone made me a cup of cocoa and read me a book.

The emptiness I felt wasn’t just a professional emptiness either; it was a total emptiness. I felt physically drained and spiritually blank. I would sit in church and wait to feel something, anything, but I just didn’t have the emotional energy to get involved. In my heart I knew what I needed was a retreat, but my schedule – not to mention a silent retreat only six months ago – made that option unlikely. Rather than realize I needed to create a mini-retreat experience right here at home, I plodded along, trying to force my way back to normalcy despite everything that was screaming at me to find some chalk and just start doodling on the driveway, or some other equally silly but satisfying activity.

If we want to move forward in anything – professional life, family life, prayer life – we have to carve out time to be present in a moment, to do something totally unproductive and not feel an ounce of guilt, to act like a 6-year-old and maybe even whine and plead until we get that moment of pure joy we desire (and deserve).

As a retreat director of mine once said, “You are a human being, not a human doing.” Too often we forget that and lose sight of what it means to stop everything and just be.

I recently was doing a creative exercise that suggested I make a collage one day and write a poem the next. At first I scoffed, but then I went against my “better” (aka type-A) judgment and did it. Both my collage and my poem are now hanging where I can see them as I write, reminders that it’s necessary to take time out to recharge and relax.

Fly a kite, hike in the woods, cut up an old magazine and make your own collage. Find one hour to revel in doing nothing, and rediscover the joy of what it means to be a human being.

Centennial moment: Calling upon the Holy Spirit

On Sunday's feast of Pentecost, many Catholics will sing the Veni Creator ("Come, Holy Spirit"), an ancient invocation of the Third Person of the Holy Trinity. (It's also heard a lot this time of the year at Catholic graduations.)

The second line of the hymn, mentes tuorum visita (often translated as "come live in our minds" or "in our souls take up thy rest"), had a special significance for Our Sunday Visitor founder Archbishop John F. Noll. When he was ordained bishop of the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Ind., on June 30, 1925, Bishop Noll chose mentes tuorum visita as the motto for his coat of arms. Archbishop Noll biographer Ann Ball pointed out that "impelled by apostolic zeal, he translated his motto into action." She writes:

Because of his experience with national and international issues, Bishop Noll immediately became an influential leader among U.S. prelates. He was named secretary of the fledgling National Catholic Welfare Conference (now the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops), and was a longtime member of that body's administrative committee. In his role with the bishops' conference, Bishop Noll again demonstrated his foresight about the coming information age, helping to launch Catholic News Service and the "Catholic Hour" on NBC radio. 

Bishop Noll was named to a team of four bishops responsible for starting the Legion of Decency in 1933 and began his own diocesan drive against lewd magazines in 1937, convinced that the magazines were part of a communist plan to destroy the morals of youths. Thereafter, the bishops took up the drive nationally, and named Bishop Noll chairman. 

Bishop Noll likewise headed a fundraising campaign to finish the National Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., and promoted this and other worthy causes through Our Sunday Visitor. Similar efforts brought in funds to erect a 50-foot-tall statue of Christ, the Light of the World, in Washington, D.C. 

In spite of all these outside activities, Bishop Noll never neglected his own growing dioceses...

Shaw: Pushing and tugging on the Supreme Court

By Russell Shaw

With the exception of Bush v. Gore, which in effect confirmed George W. Bush’s victory in the 2000 presidential election, it would be hard to think of another recent Supreme Court case that’s been the occasion of as much advance tugging and pulling from outside sources as the court’s anticipated ruling on Obamacare. The decision is expected before the justices quit for the summer late in June.

Even Barack Obama lost his presidential cool and indulged in a burst of preemptive huffing and puffing aimed at activist judges who might be so bold as to undo his ambitious scheme for overhauling the nation’s health care system. In April the president said overturning a law enacted by “a democratically elected Congress” would be “an unprecedented, extraordinary step.”

As critics were quick to point out, the court has taken precisely that unprecedented step many times since 1803, when Marbury v. Madison affirmed its constitutional right to review and, if necessary, strike down laws passed by democratically elected congresses. Obama wisely moderated his rhetoric next day.

Others didn’t. The New York Times, for one. Looking ahead, as Obama had, to a hypothetical overturning of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the newspaper claimed that “the court will mark itself as driven by politics” if Obamacare is overturned by “five Republican-appointed justices supporting the challenge led by 26 Republican governors.” The Times was hardly alone in milking this line.

I make no prediction about what the Supreme Court will do or why it will do it or what the vote will be. Similarly unpredictable is the decision’s impact on the “HHS mandate” requiring health coverage for contraceptives, abortifacients, and sterilizations and on the suits brought against it in May by 43 Catholic institutions including 13 dioceses, Notre Dame and the Catholic University of America (and Our Sunday Visitor). At present I’m merely raising an obvious here-and-now question: To what end this torrent of before-the-fact indignation and anxiety? Aren’t Supreme Court justices supposed to be immune to external attempts to coax them or coerce them?

Well, yes. But justices are human, and hardly anyone imagines that they possess a superhuman capacity for ignoring outside pressure. Individuals and interest groups who want the court to rule one way or another — on Obamacare or anything else — may very well reason that at least there’s no harm trying.

This episode also underlines an easily overlooked matter with considerable bearing on the presidential campaign, whether Barack Obama and Mitt Romney say so or not. Presidents nominate new justices to the Supreme Court when vacancies occur. And it’s entirely possible that whoever occupies the Oval Office in the next four years will get to do that one or more times.

President Obama already has succeeded in placing two reliably liberal votes on the court in the persons of Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan. There is not the shadow of a doubt that, presented with the opportunity, he will add a couple more. Given the current lineup of the court (roughly, 4-4-1, with Anthony Kennedy the crucial swing vote), and supposing it’s Kennedy or one of the conservatives who leaves, that would put the outcome of those 5-4 decisions in the hands of the liberal bloc.

Mitt Romney is something of a question mark, but it’s reasonable to think his selections would be well to the right of Obama’s. With cases on the federal Defense of Marriage Act and same-sex marriage heading to the court and tests of state laws restricting abortion probably close behind, the difference could be huge.

Russell Shaw is an OSV contributing editor.

'Pro-choice' position at a record low

From Gallup Politics:

The 41% of Americans who now identify themselves as "pro-choice" is down from 47% last July and is one percentage point below the previous record low in Gallup trends, recorded in May 2009. Fifty percent now call themselves "pro-life," one point shy of the record high, also from May 2009.

Gallup began asking Americans to define themselves as pro-choice or pro-life on abortion in 1995, and since then, identification with the labels has shifted from a wide lead for the pro-choice position in the mid-1990s, to a generally narrower lead for "pro-choice" -- from 1998 through 2008 -- to a close division between the two positions since 2009. However, in the last period, Gallup has found the pro-life position significantly ahead on two occasions, once in May 2009 and again today. It remains to be seen whether the pro-life spike found this month proves temporary, as it did in 2009, or is sustained for some period.

The decline in Americans' self-identification as "pro-choice" is seen across the three U.S. political groups.

Centennial moment: Archbishop Noll on church-state relations

The decision by Our Sunday Visitor and 42 other Catholic organizations to sue the federal government for violating religious liberty got us thinking about how OSV's founder, Archbishop John F. Noll, viewed the proper relationship between church and state. 


John F. Fink, former OSV president and publisher, wrote about Archbishop Noll's views on this and related matters in his book "Patriotic Leaders of the Church" Here is an excerpt:


In the process of defending the Church against the forces of anti-Catholicism, Bishop Noll wrote often about the separation of church and state. He ... emphasized the difference between this separation in the United States and that practiced in some European countries:

In the United States, not only is perfect freedom granted to all religions to carry on their work without interference from the State, but the Church’s religious activities are actively encouraged by the State. This sort of separation of Church and State has always been quite satisfactory to the Catholic Church, which demands only liberty to execute her divine mission. But in European countries separation of Church and State has almost invariably meant a great curtailment of religious activities after the confiscation of property of the Church and the closing of its schools.


When discussing this subject, the bishop always asked for the meaning of the words “separation of church and state.” “Do you understand it in the American sense of ‘a free church in a free state,’ or in the European sense of ‘an enslaved church in an anti-religious state’?” He was, however, also quick to point out that the Catholic Church does not believe in absolute separation of church and state:

The Church’s clear teaching is that there should be cooperation rather than antagonism between the state and church because both deal with the same citizens, one in relation to his eternal interests and the other in relation to his temporal interests. Where practically all the people of a nation are also members of the one Church, under the democratic principle that the people rule, there certainly should not be a complete separation of church and state, especially not such separation as enemies of the Church demand, which consists in the subjugation of the church, divinely commissioned to promote religion and morality, to the state. Where is the recognition of people’s inalienable rights to liberty or religious practice and the pursuit of eternal happiness under such conditions?


... Although he did not want a union of church and state in the United States, Bishop Noll wrote and spoke vigorously against those who promoted the “separation of religious influence from the lives of the people and the nation.” He felt strongly that America could be strong only when its citizens obeyed moral principles. “Genuine citizenship is based on justice,” he wrote, “as is also a sound social and economic order, but there can be no justice without religion."

Read the entire chapter on Archbishop Noll.

Cardinal Dolan: White House 'strangling' Church

Cardinal Timothy Dolan had strong words -- "strangling," "straight-jacketing," "handcuffing," "choking" -- about White House policy during an interview on CBS This Morning:

From CBS News:

The spat between Catholic leaders and the Obama administration over its contraception policies is heating up again, with one of the nation's most prominent Catholic leaders charging that the White House is "strangling" the church over the matter.

Timothy Cardinal Dolan told "CBS This Morning" Tuesday that the compromise reached earlier this year is not sufficient because the exemptions made for churches are too restrictive.

"They tell us if you're really going be considered a church, if you're going to be really exempt from these demands of the government, well, you have to propagate your Catholic faith and everything you do, you can serve only Catholics and employ only Catholics," Dolan said.

"We're like, wait a minute, when did the government get in the business of defining for us the extent of our ministry," Dolan said.

More than 40 Catholic organizations sued the Obama administration Monday over a government requirement that most employers provide birth control coverage as part of their employee health plans.

Continue reading HERE.

BREAKING: Catholic dioceses/organizations, including OSV, file massive religious liberty lawsuit

At 11 a.m. Eastern time today, 43 Catholic dioceses and organizations — including Our Sunday Visitor and the University of Notre Dame — filed religious liberty lawsuits against the federal government in a dozen different jurisdictions around the country.

At issue are regulations that require Catholic organizations, employers and insurers to provide or facilitate abortion-inducing drugs, sterilization and contraception — in violation of their consciences.

Equally troubling is the extreme narrowness of the government’s new test for determining which religious organizations are exempt from this mandate — which would appear to exclude Catholic schools, health care facilities, charities and others like Our Sunday Visitor.

In an editorial in OSV Newsweekly explaining why we’re filing suit, we write:

Today, Our Sunday Visitor stands proudly with our fellow Catholic apostolates and with our bishops in resisting this challenge. We ask all of our readers to stand with us – in charity, praying first and foremost for conversions of heart; in civility, arguing the facts of this case without recourse to bitter partisanship or political rhetoric; and in solidarity, knowing that whatever sacrifices we bear and whatever challenges we endure, we are only doing what is our responsibility as American citizens practicing our faith in the public square.

Our Sunday Visitor’s participation in the religious liberty lawsuit is consonant with our mission of service to the Church and the nation instilled by our company founder.

It seems to us hardly a coincidence that this suit is taking place in the centennial year of Our Sunday Visitor. Founded 100 years ago by then-Father John Noll, Our Sunday Visitor from its beginning sought to inform Catholics about the issues of the day, form them in the Faith, and defend that Faith from attack. It was Father John Noll who stood up to those who attacked Catholic immigrants as un-American and seditious. It was Father John Noll who faced down false preachers who spread slanders about the Church. It was Father John Noll who resisted the power of the Ku Klux Klan when it was such a powerful political force. And it is in his courageous spirit that we invoke as we engage in this great struggle today.

For more information about this lawsuit — including a full list of the other litigant Catholic organizations, a link to the filing itself, and a wealth of background material — go to www.osv.com/religiousliberty.

A dying bishop ponders life, faith

The late Bishop Joseph Estabrook, who was ordained a priest for the Albany Diocese in 1961, served as a U.S. Navy chaplain, and was auxiliary bishop for the Archdiocese for the Military Services, died in February of pancreatic cancer. He left behind this reflection on his journey through illness toward death, his trust in God, and his gratitude for the men and women who serve in the military.

The reflection originally ran in Salute, the magazine of the Military Archdiocese, and was reprinted this week in The Evangelist, the weekly newspaper of the Albany Diocese. It seems fitting as we head toward Memorial Day to hear Bishop Estabrook's message, and reflect on his words: "Faith and fear can't live in the same space."

An excerpt from The Evangelist:

It is quite interesting to me that immediately after the diagnosis at Bethesda Navy Medical Center, I found myself stopping at the Newman bookstore near Catholic University and staring into a picture of the face of Cardinal Joseph Bernardin on the cover of his book, "The Gift of Peace: Personal Reflections, 1997."

As I paged through the first few chapters, I was amazed to read how all of his experiences at the onset of his diagnosis of the same disease were exactly parallel with my own. I have since read his book many times and he has been my constant companion from that moment until now.

This leads to my first insight: None of us, especially those of us who are disciples of the Lord, enter into this final part of our journey alone. One may feel isolated at times but, if anything, the intensity of the Christian community becomes almost overwhelming.

It starts with the powerful presence of the Lord Himself when, in the flash of seconds, your future is laid before you. You can actually feel the Lord take your hand and hear Him say the words, "Do not be afraid."

...The second insight: This new kind of powerful presence of the Lord helps you become aware of and understand that you yourself become a presence to others in similar situations. Opportunities to share the essence of who we are and what we believe become prominent.

The night after my biopsy at Bethesda, one of the young doctors lingered behind. He kept staring at me while I, not knowing what else to do, smiled back and tried to eat my pudding and keep it down at the same time.

I eventually asked him, "What's up?" And he asked how I could take the news they had just delivered and remain so positive. I paused thoughtfully, thinking that possibly I was just in a state of denial - but then, dismissing that, I looked at him and replied with what I knew in my heart was the true answer, then and now.

"Faith and fear can't live in the same space," I said to him. "It's eventually got to be one or the other. The Lord has put me here and it's up to me to go where He wants in the way He wants."

He said, "How do you do that?" And I told him the story of the disciples meeting Jesus in John 1:39 and repeated the answer of Jesus: "Come and see."

...We must embrace the sufferings of the moment and the fears as they come to us, but, at the end of the day, we must let joy be the victor (or consolation, as Paul refers to it) that Christ alone can give to us.

Ultimately, we must do what God wants us to do.

In all these months at MD Anderson, I've met people with some unbelievable challenges, and the question most of them have is the same as the young doctor's: "How do you do that?"

The answer is the same, and Cardinal Bernardin attests to it in his book. It's especially persuasive coming from another cancer patient: "Come and see."

How one lives one's faith within the inescapable realities in which you are called to live can have a powerful effect on others and help them on their journey as well.

A final thought: A 19-year-old Marine ran up to me suddenly one day and, grabbing me square by the shoulders, looked me in the eye and, full of fright, said, "Father, I'm not a very good Catholic, and I don't want to get out of my responsibilities, but I'm leaving for Iraq tomorrow. I'm scared and I know I've let God down in so many ways - but please, Father, will you pray for me, please?"

"Every day," I said to him, "I will."

At the end of the news every night, they scroll down the names of our military who were killed that day. Most always, they are in their 20s. It's a spine-chilling moment of silence.

With all the great gifts God has given to me in my life - almost too embarrassing in His generosity to mention - among the greatest gift has been the honor to serve these young men and women of our military. How pathetic would it be for any among us to feel any remorse at all over the conditions and challenges handed to us after witnessing what they have been called to do and how courageously most of them have done it.

Rather, these men and women, besides my faith, are my inspiration and ongoing strength. Let them be yours as well.
Read the full essay HERE.

Centennial moment: ‘Know Your Religion’ contest

In 1935, Our Sunday Visitor newspaper launched a 25-week-long competition testing readers’ familiarity with the Catholic faith. The grand prize of the “Know Your Religion” contest was $1,500. The second prize may have been even cooler — $500 and a 1936 Studebaker Dictator. In all, the contest awarded 100 cash prizes totaling $3,000. Not a bad incentive considering the country was in the middle of the Great Depression. Factoring for inflation, the value of the cash prizes would be more than $50,000 today.

Each week for the 25 weeks, two illustrations related to the Faith ran in the newspaper. The object was for readers to pick the best title for each illustration, choosing from a list. The person with the most correct titles to the 50 illustrations was the winner. Each weekly entry had to be accompanied by 10 cents, which would be used to send subscriptions of Our Sunday Visitor to non-Catholics.

According to an article in the Aug. 18, 1935, issue of Our Sunday Visitor, “This contest has set a ‘new high’ in the annals of American class journalism. It has grown steadily until at the present time there is a horde of rabidly enthusiastic contestants in all the states.”

What type of contest would draw "a horde of rabidly enthusiastic contestants" today?

See the contest entry form from the Sept. 29, 1935, issue below.

Too much 'Time' on our hands

I tackle the controversial Time magazine cover on this episode of Currents, the cable show of the Diocese of Brooklyn.

Click on the link below to watch the five-minute clip on breastfeeding, attachment parenting, and Time magazine's willingness to exploit mothers in the name of magazine sales:

Mom enough or too much? 5/14/12 : Currents

A case against the death penalty

As if we needed any further evidence that the death penalty needs to be abolished, here's a story about an innocent man executed by mistake:

He was the spitting image of the killer, had the same first name and was near the scene of the crime at the fateful hour: Carlos DeLuna paid the ultimate price and was executed in place of someone else in Texas in 1989, a report out Tuesday found.

Even "all the relatives of both Carloses mistook them," and DeLuna was sentenced to death and executed based only on eyewitness accounts despite a range of signs he was not a guilty man, said law professor James Liebman.

Liebman and five of his students at Columbia School of Law spent almost five years poring over details of a case that he says is "emblematic" of legal system failure. 

DeLuna, 27, was put to death after "a very incomplete investigation. No question that the investigation is a failure," Liebman said. 

The report's authors found "numerous missteps, missed clues and missed opportunities that let authorities prosecute Carlos DeLuna for the crime of murder, despite evidence not only that he did not commit the crime but that another individual, Carlos Hernandez, did," the 780-page investigation found.

Read the full story HERE.

Archbishop Chaput: An invitation to grace

Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia offers a beautiful reflection on vocation -- priestly, religious, and lay -- in a column that looks forward to the May 19 ordination of priests in his archdiocese.

From Archbishop Chaput:

Each of us should reflect long and deeply on the meaning of the “new evangelization.” Those words have weight; they’re not just a slogan. A new missionary spirit needs to be born in each of our hearts, both lay and clergy; and if it is, then God will use it to win the soul of the world around us to Jesus Christ.

In a special way, we should focus on forming and supporting our priests as effectively as we can. The reason is simple. There’s no Gospel witness without the Church; there’s no Church without the Eucharist; and there’s no Eucharist without the priest.

We need more priests — good men who are well formed; men of courage, zeal and genuine humility; men who love Jesus Christ and his people, and prove it with their lives. This is the first and most urgent step in renewing our Church.

Of course, if it stops there — no matter how many good seminarians we attract — we fail. Ultimately, while there’s no Church without the Eucharist, and no Eucharist without the priest, it’s also true that there are no priests without families on fire for Jesus Christ. Families who help their sons to hear God’s call; who affirm and support and encourage the priests who already serve them; who live their lives in a way which proves to our priests that their own sacrifices make a difference.

What I pray God builds through us in our Archdiocese over the next decade, is not just an old way of seminary formation with a new vocabulary, more numbers and an updated marketing strategy, but something true to what the “new evangelization” really is — a communion and mission of the whole Church, ordained, religious and lay, each respecting the other, each serving the other, all serving the Lord by bringing the Good News to the world, and the world to the Good News.

That’s the equality of the faithful: each vocation unique and invaluable in dignity; each complementing and completing the other in the Lord; altogether in service; and on fire with the love of God. May 19 is an invitation to grace; but so is every ordination, every marriage, every baptism.

 Read the full column HERE.

Centennial moment: 'Father Smith Instructs Jackson'

In 1912, shortly after founding Our Sunday Visitor, then-Father John F. Noll began a series of articles featuring "Father Smith" and a young man who was inquiring about the Catholic faith. Each article featured a dialogue between the two, with the young man asking questions about the Faith and Father Smith supplying the answers. 

The series proved so popular that Father Noll published it in book form in 1913 (the first of several editions) with the title "Father Smith Instructs Jackson." In the book, Father Smith and the young man, named Christopher Jackson, explore the relation of the Bible to the Church, the concepts of heaven and hell, Catholic devotion to the saints and much more. Here is Archbishop Noll's introduction to one edition of the book:

Dear Friend: 

The course of instructions contained in this book — in dialogue form — is intended for Catholics who were deprived, during their youth, of a training in the knowledge of God, and for non-Catholics, who are interested in learning what the Catholic Church teaches officially concerning religious doctrine and practices. 

But it must ever be remembered that one may have a vast store of religious knowledge gathered from study and still lack faith — because faith belongs to the supernatural order and is a gift of God (see Eph. 2:8). Catholics who are convinced that they possess the true Faith should frequently thank Almighty God that He has so blessed them and should show their gratitude by striving to interest others in their religion. The convert to the true Faith, also especially blessed by God, should show his appreciation by making an effort to share it with his non-Catholic friends.

Both the Catholic and non-Catholic, while exercising an apostolate for the cause of Christ and of souls, should pray daily that God may draw to Himself those who are near and dear to them. If they are prayed for in this way, indifferent Catholics will be best impelled by God’s grace to take a greater interest in their religion, and non-Catholics will become better disposed to hearken to the voice of God’s Church.

An inquiry into the claims of the Catholic Church, such as you are about to make, has resulted in the conversion of countless citizens of the United States every year.

Despite the prejudices in which so many have been reared, despite the stricter religious discipline under which Catholics must live, the Catholic Church grows faster than all other churches combined.

As you continue your inquiry you will learn that the Catholic religion claims to be essentially different from others — because it is divine in origin, divine in character, divine in its means of sanctification.

If you master this book, which I believe you will find extremely interesting, you will be able, in your own words, to answer practically all questions contained in the Catholic catechism. 

Praying God’s blessing on all who seek, through this book, to learn Him better and to love Him more, and asking their prayers in return, I am

YOURS IN CHRIST, 

JOHN FRANCIS NOLL, D.D., LL.D.

"Father Smith Instructs Jackson," which last received an update in 2008, is now considered a Catholic apologetics classic, having sold more than 3 million copies.

Selling magazines by exploiting moms

By Mary DeTurris Poust

Originally I wasn't going to include the controversial cover of Time magazine because it doesn't deserve any more press than it's already received, but, if you haven't seen it yet (how could you miss it?), it's really a necessary part of the conversation.

I breastfed all three of my kids until they were ready to stop. With my youngest that meant nursing until she was about 2 years old. I have family members and friends who nursed their children until almost 4 years old. I am the biggest proponent of breastfeeding that you are going to find. Anywhere. I believe every child should be breastfed for at least a year, longer whenever possible.

But I was stunned and disappointed and disgusted to see this exploitative photo on the front of Time magazine in the name of attachment parenting. What a disgrace and a disservice to mothers everywhere. As someone who has received looks of shock and disapproval even when I was discreetly nursing my babies with blankets and coats piled on top to hide us, I can tell you that no one nurses a child like this, and no mother-child nursing scenario has both participants looking away in total disconnection. This is the most false photo I've ever seen, and that's saying something in this photoshopped world of ours.

Breastfeeding (and attachment parenting if that is your choice) deserve to be promoted and supported and encouraged at every single turn. This photo may have people talking about the topic, but not in a good way. In a provocative way. In a controversial way. In a maddening way.

Something as beautiful and natural as breastfeeding deserves so much better than this. Something like this much more realistic photo.

Shaw: A gentle critique of a U.S. cardinal's take on Church communication

By Russell Shaw

CNS

Cardinal Raymond L. Burke is good canon lawyer. So good, in fact, that this former bishop of La Crosse, Wis., and former archbishop of St. Louis has since 2008 served at the Vatican as prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura. That’s something like being chief justice of the United States.

It was no surprise, then, that recent remarks by Cardinal Burke on Church communications raised a few eyebrows here and there. News accounts suggested that the cardinal, speaking at a conference for Church communicators in Rome, had taken a notably restrictive view of his subject.

But it’s important to realize what his subject actually was. In a talk titled “Communication and Justice: When Legal Cases Become News,” Cardinal Burke discussed sections of the Code of Canon Law that concern “instruments of social communication” together with the role of Church communicators in explaining the nature and function of judicial processes in the Church.

Within that framework, there was little or no reason to question what his paper said.

Granted that, however, it would be wrong to imagine that a strictly canonical treatment like this one exhausts larger subject of communication and the Church. There are many important topics here that Cardinal Burke didn’t attempt to cover. That is clear in relation to three themes in particular: the Church, the communication process, and public opinion within the Church.

Start with the Church.

The section of the Code of Canon Law that speaks of media is part of Book III of the Code on the teaching office of the Church. Working from that perspective, Cardinal Burke understandably spoke of the Church as a “hierarchical structure” in which the Magisterium — that is, the pope and the bishops in union with him — teaches with authority. In this model of the Church, the responsibility of the Catholic faithful is to listen and obey (see Canons 749-750).

But note that the Code was adopted in 1983, 18 years after the close of the Second Vatican Council, and in many ways expresses the council’s teaching, though in canonical terms. That includes Vatican II’s understanding of the Church as “communio” — a community of faith whose members are joined in communion with God and also with one another.

In this understanding of the Church, it’s no less a hierarchical structure. But along with being hierarchically organized, all members of this communio Church also have a fundamental equality — arising from the sacrament of baptism — in regard to their dignity as well as their right (and duty) to participate in the Church’s mission.

Here is how Canon 208 puts it:

“In virtue of their rebirth in Christ there exists among all the Christian faithful a true equality with regard to dignity and the activity whereby all cooperate in the building up of the Body of Christ in accord with each one’s own condition and function.”

Depending on which aspect of the Church someone emphasizes — hierarchical structure or communio — it will be reflected in the view taken of the communication process itself. And where the Church is considered as a hierarchical structure within which those with authority instruct and govern the faithful, the emphasis naturally will be on one-way, top-down communication.

But the Vatican II understanding of the Church as communio gives rise to a different vision of communication as a two-way, interactive process. This also is expressed in the Code of Canon Law, in Canon 212.

That important canon has three parts.

The first part says Catholics are “bound by Christian obedience to follow” the teaching and decisions of their pastors. The second says they are at liberty to tell the pastors “their needs, especially spiritual ones, and their desires.”

And the third part strongly affirms the right of public opinion in the Church. In line with their “knowledge, competence and preeminence,” it says Catholics have: “the right and even at times a duty to manifest to the sacred pastors their opinion on matters which pertain to the good of the Church, and … a right to make their opinion known to the other Christian faithful.” (That must be done, the canon carefully adds, “with due regard for the integrity of faith and morals and reverence toward their pastors, and with consideration for the common good and the dignity of persons.”)

Official recognition of the importance of public opinion dates back to Pope Pius XII (1939-1958). The Fathers of Vatican II made it part of the dogmatic constitution on the Church. That constitution further suggests that public opinion be expressed “through the institutions established by the Church for that purpose” (Lumen Gentium, 37).

But what “institutions” are those? Pastoral councils? These bodies exist in some parishes and dioceses, don’t exist in others, and in still others operate largely out of sight. Letters to the editor and, today, officially sanctioned blogs may serve the purpose in part. In which case it’s troubling to find that many Church periodicals don’t publish readers’ letters.

Public opinion in the Church should not be understood in merely sociological or political terms. It is closely linked to communio itself. A pastoral instruction published in 1992 by the Pontifical Council for Social Communications makes that point.

Creating and sustaining a healthy public opinion, it says, is partly a matter of “maintaining and enhancing the Church’s credibility.” But it also is something more — “one of the ways of realizing in a concrete manner the Church’s character as communio, rooted in and mirroring the intimate communion of the Trinity. … [E]quality necessarily will express itself in an honest and respectful sharing of opinions” (Aetatis Novae, 10).

The model of the Church that someone chooses to emphasize also has a strong bearing on what communication-related issue or issues he chooses to discuss. Cardinal Burke’s paper, for instance, devotes nearly three of its 14 pages to secrecy.

“In the world of social communications,” he says, “secrecy is often characterized as a means of concealing evil situations or protecting wrongdoers.” But where the secrecy enjoined in Church law is concerned, he adds, that’s a mistake. “In fact, the obligation of secrecy respects the nature of certain communications which are understood to be communications between God and the person.” The confession of sins in the sacrament of Penance is the clearest and best-known example of this.

As with other points he makes, Cardinal Burke’s defense of secrecy makes excellent sense in regard to the matters he’s discussing. But the communio model of the Church also points to the value of openness in areas of Church life where secrecy isn’t needed.

If all members of the Church have a duty and a right to participate, as Canon 208 puts it, “in the building up of the Body of Christ,” access to a continuing flow of accurate, up-to-date information will obviously be a need for getting the work done.

One argument that’s sometimes made against involving lay people in Church decision-making is that ordinary lay Catholics don’t know enough about many matters of concern to the Church to have anything useful to say. But that has the character of a self-fulfilling prophecy: The less people know, the less they will be able to contribute to solving problems. Plainly, the best way of dealing with this undesirable situation is to share information, not withhold it.

Vatican II apparently understood that point. In the Constitution on the Church, the council said:

“A great many benefits are to be hoped for from this familiar dialogue between the laity and their pastors: in the laity, a strengthened sense of personal responsibility, a renewed enthusiasm, a more ready application of their talents to the projects of their pastors.

“The latter, for their part, aided by the experience of the laity, can more clearly and more suitably come to decisions regarding spiritual and temporal matters. In this way, the whole Church … can more effectively fulfill its mission for the life of the world” (Lumen Gentium, 37).

Against this background one can only say a hearty amen to Cardinal Burke’s concluding words to his audience of Church communicators: “Presenting the Church as the mirror of justice, you … will illustrate her obedience to the truth which is the condition of the relationship of each of her members with God and with each other.”

Russell Shaw is an OSV contributing editor, and the author of "Nothing to Hide: Secrecy, Communication, and Communion in the Catholic Church" (Ignatius, $13.95).

Celebrating OSV's centennial moments

Our Sunday Visitor’s May 5th anniversary date may have come and gone, but the celebrations didn’t end there! Throughout the year, OSV will be marking its centennial with several special events.

We’ll be celebrating here on OSV Daily Take with posts about the company’s history and the life of our founder, Archbishop John F. Noll.

It’s only fitting since Archbishop Noll is also on Twitter (follow him at twitter.com/#!/AbpJohnFNoll) and has his own Facebook page (www.facebook.com/AbpJohnFNoll). Pretty amazing for a man who has been dead for more than 55 years. However, we are quite sure that if he were alive today, he’d be using all forms of social media to get out the word about the Church.

Check back often for updates. In the meantime, here’s a story about our May 5 open house that appeared in the Fort Wayne-South Bend diocesan paper. And take a look at some of the photos from the open house. 

Bishop John D'Arcy, bishop emeritus of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Ind.,
speaks at the May 5 open house.

Visitors enjoy hot dogs, chips and cake in Our Sunday Visitor's cafeteria.

Jill Adamson, marketing director of books, speaks with visitors during
 a tour of the Our Sunday Visitor building.

Shaw: What Obama's support for same-sex marriage means for Catholics

By Russell Shaw

President Obama’s announcement that he supports same-sex marriage underlines the urgent need for the Church to launch a massive new program to educate Catholics on the nature of sacramental marriage and the vast difference between a marriage like that and civil marriage.

The Church should also continue to be a participant in the debate about same-sex marriage — a voice of reason patiently explaining why a union between two persons of the same sex shouldn’t be recognized as a civil marriage. But face it — the Church is only one voice in this discussion, and it can’t decide the outcome unilaterally.

It’s different with sacramental marriage. The Church is custodian and steward of the sacraments, including the sacrament of matrimony, and it has a right and duty to defend and explain them. Defense and explanation are both urgently needed in the case of matrimony today.

Without realizing it, Obama suggested why that’s so while declaring his switch on gay marriage. Apparently intending to signal empathy with people who uphold a traditional view, he noted that the word “marriage” matters a great deal to those who resist applying it to anything other than a relationship between a man and woman.

And there is the problem in a nutshell. For the president, the same-sex marriage debate comes down to an argument about words. But words are malleable — their meanings can and do change — and a wordsmith like Obama is adept at manipulating them to serve his purposes. So what’s the difference if “marriage” up to now has always meant a man-woman relationship? Starting tomorrow, we’ll also use the term for man-man and woman-woman relationships. It’s all just words.

But the debate about same-sex marriage is not an argument about words. It is an debate about the fundamental core meaning of marriage — a meaning that isn’t even touched, much less changed, by playing games with words.

If that is true of civil marriage, though (and it is), it’s infinitely more true in the case of sacramental marriage.

St. Paul in his letter to the Ephesians (5:21-33) likens the relationship of husband and wife in matrimony to the relationship of Christ to the Church (“This is a great mystery, and I mean in reference to Christ and the Church”). For centuries, the Christian tradition has seen here the foundation of its belief in the sacramentality of Christian marriage. The Catechism of the Catholic Church, reflecting this, speaks of “an efficacious sign, the sacrament of the covenant of Christ and the Church” (No. 1617).

From this perspective, the very notion of a same-sex union serving as a “sacrament of the covenant of Christ and the Church” borders on blasphemy.

But for whatever reason or combination of reasons, the deeply moving reality of sacramental marriage isn’t getting through to large numbers of Catholics today. That is painfully apparent in the fact that fewer and fewer of them are bothering to marry “in the Church” — that’s to say, by entering into the sacrament of marriage.

There were 334,000 Catholic marriages in America in 1990, compared with only 179,000 in 2010. The confusion and ignorance those numbers reflect only deepen when the president of the United States suggests the meaning of marriage is just a matter of words.

I have no idea where the gay marriage debate is headed or what role it will play in the November elections. Independently of all that, though, the Church needs to get cracking on the indispensable task of telling Catholics what a sacramental marriage is.

Russell Shaw is an OSV contributing editor.

Cardinal Dolan on Obama's Same-Sex Marriage comments

Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York, president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, issued the following statement regarding President Obama's comments today in support of same-sex marriage:

President Obama’s comments today in support of the redefinition of marriage are deeply saddening. As I stated in my public letter to the President on September 20, 2011, the Catholic Bishops stand ready to affirm every positive measure taken by the President and the Administration to strengthen marriage and the family. However, we cannot be silent in the face of words or actions that would undermine the institution of marriage, the very cornerstone of our society. The people of this country, especially our children, deserve better. Unfortunately, President Obama’s words today are not surprising since they follow upon various actions already taken by his Administration that erode or ignore the unique meaning of marriage. I pray for the President every day, and will continue to pray that he and his Administration act justly to uphold and protect marriage as the union of one man and one woman. May we all work to promote and protect marriage and by so doing serve the true good of all persons.

Seeing the gift of Down syndrome

"The world would be improved by more people with Down syndrome," George Will writes in a beautiful column about the joy, dignity, and bravery inherent in the lives of those with the congenital condition, as witnessed through the life of his son Jon.

Will's words stand in stark contrast to the current unsettling reality: 90 percent of unborn babies with Down syndrome are aborted. 

From George Will:

When Jonathan Frederick Will was born 40 years ago — on May 4, 1972, his father’s 31st birthday — the life expectancy for people with Down syndrome was about 20 years. That is understandable.

The day after Jon was born, a doctor told Jon’s parents that the first question for them was whether they intended to take Jon home from the hospital. Nonplussed, they said they thought that is what parents do with newborns. Not doing so was, however, still considered an acceptable choice for parents who might prefer to institutionalize or put up for adoption children thought to have necessarily bleak futures. Whether warehoused or just allowed to languish from lack of stimulation and attention, people with Down syndrome, not given early and continuing interventions, were generally thought to be incapable of living well, and hence usually did not live as long as they could have...Continue reading HERE.

OSV's centennial open house

Huntington, Ind., Mayor Brooks L. Fetters proclaims May 5
"Our Sunday Visitor Centennial Day" as OSV Publishing
President Greg Erlandson (left) and OSV Offertory Solutions
President Kyle Hamilton (right) look on.

May 5 will be a very big day for Our Sunday Visitor, and we have an official proclamation to prove it! It was exactly 100 years ago that a young priest named Father John Francis Noll (later Archbishop Noll of the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Ind.) published the first edition of Our Sunday Visitor, with an issue date of May 5, 1912.


To celebrate our centennial, OSV has many events planned throughout the year (see them all at our special OSV Anniversary Page), beginning with a May 5 open house at our Huntington, Ind., headquarters. From 1-3 p.m., visitors can tour the facility, meet staff members and enjoy refreshments. 


To honor the many contributions OSV has made to the local community, the mayor of Huntington has proclaimed that May 5, 2012 will be "Our Sunday Visitor Centennial Day." Mayor Brooks L. Fetters visited OSV earlier this week to present us with the proclamation. 


Any and all OSV readers or friends who are nearby are welcome to join in the festivities at 200 Noll Plaza, Huntington, IN. (See map below.) After all, we couldn't have made it to the century mark without you!