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08/12/02 Faces and Facelessness Ravi Zacharias The Internet has undoubtedly transformed the ways in which we live, work, learn, and play. We are clicks away from discussing politics with someone in Zaire, researching history from libraries in Europe—all this from our living rooms. Cyberspace is indeed a vast world, moving not always in positive directions. Just decades ago, it would have seemed odd to hear of Internet addiction, or of the many online ethical issues. Do you know that psychologists actually have a name for the study of Internet-related conditions? The "Psychology of Cyberspace." It is significant to note what...

NEW YORK (AP) - With sexually active students on their campuses and the Vatican ( news - web sites) unswervingly opposed to premarital sex, America's Roman Catholic colleges face difficult choices on such sensitive matters as condom use and unwanted pregnancies. Except for a handful of schools, the 230 colleges and universities do not provide condoms or other contraceptives on campus, drawing renewed criticism that their students face a higher risk of sexually transmitted diseases. Yet the schools are far from monolithic on sex-related issues. Many offer up-to-date information on sexual health; some provide referrals for students seeking birth control...

Selective in our scandals--part four A failure to understand and appreciate the Incarnation is yet another aspect of liturgical crisis I began this series of articles with the observation that we Catholics are very “selective in our scandals,” indeed -- while the world watches, we scramble to develop clergy sexual abuse policies as though that were the only problem we have. I have suggested that the sexual abuse crisis is but one of a dozen major crises we have faced, for forty long years. And I began to explore a few problems with one area which is supposed to directly...

What Is VOTF's Real Agenda? Fred Martinez Monday, Aug. 12, 2002 Recently, Voice of the Faithful (VOTF) became the news media's favorite "Catholic" lay organization to cure the Catholic Church of its sex-abuse scandal. The New York Times and Boston Globe wrote glowing articles about this new "mainstream" Catholic organization. Even in Ireland and on the European landmass, newspapers were covering this "grassroots" group that started from a humble church basement. VOTF claims it wants to democratize and subordinate the bishops to "lay participation." It also claims to be mainstream and conservative. I received this e-mail from one of my...

Priests: Don’t shut churches By SUSAN EVANS, THE TRIBUNE-DEMOCRAT August 11, 2002 Priests in the Cambria City neighborhood of Johnstown, who are trying to save their historic churches, are in a standoff with the bishop. The five priests want a moratorium on closing any churches, saying closings would be “pastorally insensitive” to Roman Catholics already shaken by the recent clergy sex scandals. But the bishop has turned them down, saying if they can’t decide which of their five churches to close, the diocese will do it for them. In the past seven years, 25 parishes have closed in the eight-county...

**Note: This is an addition to the thread, " The Theological Aesthetics of Hans Urs von Balthasar Intro: In 1940, von Balthasar introduced the Protestant physician Adrienne von Speyr to the Catholic faith. His encounter with her had a decisive influence upon von Balthasar's life and work. For 27 years, von Balthasar worked together with Adrienne von Speyr, writing down her visions and observations in over 60 books. Many of the fundamental themes in von Balthasar's theology were inspired by Adrienne von Speyr. Hans Urs von Balthasar regarded his own work as largely derivative of hers and certainly as less...

Holy Mother Clare, Daughter of Holy Poverty, you chose to know every need. We live in a plentiful time. Remind us, grateful in such Providence, that we may still join the Poor Christ and all Poor People in the Powerlessness of Poverty by accepting graciously those things we cannot control or influence. Holy Mother Clare, Daughter of Holy Chastity, for Love Himself, you gave up singular human love. We live in a liberal time. Call us to better witness the personal fulfillment experienced in God's mysterious hundred-fold return by our harmonious expression of our voluntary consecration to Christ and...

It may come as a surprise to discover that there are a number of Biblical experts who regard the Book of Leviticus as the most important book of the Bible! (Dr. Samuel H. Kellogg, Dr. Albert C. Dudley, J. Vernon McGee, et al.) The Most Important Thing? What is The Most Important Thing in the world? Holiness! True happiness begins with holiness.1 "If I had my choice of all the blessings I can conceive of I would choose perfect conformity to the Lord Jesus, or, in one word, holiness." - Charles Spurgeon Holiness isn't a luxury: it's a necessity. It's...

The Church or the Bible? Sermon by Arnold Damen, S.J. [circa 1880 A.D.] Dearly Beloved Christians: - When our Divine Savior sent His Apostles and His Disciples throughout the whole universe to preach the Gospel to every creature, He laid down the conditions of salvation thus: "He that believeth and is baptized," said the Son of the Living God, "shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be condemned" (Luke 16:16). Here, then, Our Blessed Lord laid down the two conditions of salvation: Faith and Baptism. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth...

The Church or the Bible? Sermon by Arnold Damen, S.J. [circa 1880 A.D.] Dearly Beloved Christians: - When our Divine Savior sent His Apostles and His Disciples throughout the whole universe to preach the Gospel to every creature, He laid down the conditions of salvation thus: "He that believeth and is baptized," said the Son of the Living God, "shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be condemned" (Luke 16:16). Here, then, Our Blessed Lord laid down the two conditions of salvation: Faith and Baptism. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth...

Washington DC is the new destination for a Midlands priest who was this week appointed to a leading liturgical position. Fr Bruce Harbert, a renowned figure in the liturgical field, is  the new Executive Secretary of the International Commission for English in the Liturgy. Fr Harbert, parish priest of St Anne's in Streetly near Birmingham, said he was delighted and honoured to be chosen for the post by the ICEL Board. 'It will be a privilege to work with the international team of scholars who contribute to ICEL's work, and to continue the task of handing on the Roman Rite...

August 11, 2002Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Psalm: Sunday Week 36 Reading I Responsorial Psalm Reading II Gospel Reading I1 Kgs 19:9a, 11-13a At the mountain of God, Horeb,Elijah came to a cave where he took shelter. Then the LORD said to him,"Go outside and stand on the mountain before the LORD;the LORD will be passing by." A strong and heavy wind was rending the mountainsand crushing rocks before the LORD--but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake--but the LORD was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake there was fire--but the LORD...

“To Contend Forever With Error” (Pope Leo XIII) INTRODUCTION In 1978 when the apologists of the suspended French Archbishop Marcel Lefèbvre and the promoters of the Latin Missal of Pope St. Pius V (commonly known as the Tridentine Mass) had moved into top gear with the circulation of their material all around Australia, an ordered response did not come from the Australian Episcopal Conference, but was left to individual lay Catholics. The impact of the efforts of these apologists is largely neutralised by the blatant and massive disobedience they advocate which does not ride easily on Catholic shoulders. But their...

In late July, a tiny item in the Washington Post announced some surprising news: Sen. Sam Brownback, a Kansas Republican and former United Methodist best known for his opposition to cloning, converted to Catholicism on June 27. But just as notable as Brownback's conversion was the man who performed it, the Rev. John McCloskey. Brownback is the third political celebrity to convert to Catholicism under McCloskey's guidance—the other two were journalist Robert Novak and economist-commentator Lawrence Kudlow. The priest, who operates out of Washington's Catholic Information Center a couple of blocks from the White House, has made himself a spiritual...

OKLAHOMA CITY - The archbishop of Oklahoma City fired new criticism at Gov. Frank Keating on Friday, saying recent comments by the governor regarding the Catholic Church are "totally inaccurate" and divisive. Archbishop Eusebius Beltran issued a statement in response to remarks Keating made to reporters last week. The governor said Catholics should avoid donating to or attending churches in dioceses that don't respond to the priest sex-abuse scandal. "That's a time for the lay community of that diocese to say we are not writing another check, we are not going to go to Mass in this diocese," Keating said....

Saint Lawrence or San Lorenzo A patron saint of libraries and librarians is Saint Lawrence the Librarian. He is a third century saint and martyr (died 258 AD) who had responsibility for the written archives and records of the early church. St Lawrence was one of seven famous deacons of the early church. The other six deacons along with Pope St. Sixtus II (Xystus II) were captured by the Emperor Valerian on August 6, 258, and martyred. They were buried together in the cemetery of Callistus. The oppression of the Christian church was very severe, and many Christians fled...

**Note: it is difficult to outline any summary of Balthasar's thought, especially given the sheer magnitude of the Trilogy (15 volumes, each of which is over--often well over--300 pages!), not to mention the many other works which serve to elucidate and expand the central themes of the Trilogy itself thus the following is a rather selective survey of the Balthasarian corpus some themes are entirely passed over and others receive only scant attention . Let’s return, then, to the basic problem of being which Balthasar sees as fundamental to human thought and philosophy. In particular let’s consider the problem of...

When I heard that Chaim Potok — the novelist and rabbi — had passed away, my first thought was of the evening he visited Salt Lake City and spoke to an overflow crowd at Kingsbury Hall. Most of the audience were members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I also thought of a scene from the movie "God's Army," the Mormon missionary film. There, winsome Sister Fronk declares that one of her favorite books is "My Name Is Asher Lev," Potok's novel about a Jewish boy branching out into the world while trying to hold fast to...

<p>Mike Brake, a spokesman for Keating, dismissed the editorial in the Pilot, saying Cardinal Bernard F. Law should pay more attention to protecting children and implementing the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People approved by Catholic bishops in June, and less attention to criticizing the governor.</p>

Posted Saturday, August 10, 2002 1:24 PM by Domenico Slate has an article on Fr. John McCloskey, the Opus Dei priest who runs the Catholic Information Center in Washington, DC. The article is a typical secular liberal piece: it gets some things right, distorts others, and outright misunderstands still others. The article starts by mentioning how Fr. McCloskey has brought several prominent people into the Catholic Church, most recently Sen. Sam Brownback of Kansas. It's a two-pronged strategy: Bring in conservative evangelical Protestants like Brownback while at the same time casting out liberal Catholics of all stripes. Now that's...