Archbishop Dolan, New York

I wonder how long it will take Milwaukee to get a replacement.

My favorite Archbishop Dolan story is when he came to visit my parish in (I think it was) 2005. At the very end of mass our pastor presented the Archbishop a gift naming him as an honorary member of the parish. He also gave Dolan his first months worth of envelopes.

He is a very friendly figure, I have quite a few photos of Archbishop Dolan with members of my family. The guy almost always has a smile on his face. That was one of the most striking things about him when I first saw him walk in at mass, he had this big smile.

Now that I've said that though I have a photo of him not smiling, but doing the consecration at my parish when he visited in 2007.

A Grand Entrance at St. Patrick’s Cathedral
Published: April 14, 2009

In ceremonies marked by solemn Christian ritual and the stagecraft of the grand entrance, Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan was warmly welcomed Tuesday night as the new leader and high priest of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York.

Seven weeks after Pope Benedict XVI selected him to succeed Cardinal Edward M. Egan, who is retiring at age 77, Archbishop Dolan, 59, a mirthful pastor and a theological conservative who has headed the Archdiocese of Milwaukee for the last seven years, rapped sharply on the massive bronze front doors of St. Patrick’s Cathedral. In the intricately scripted rite, the doors were pulled open and he proceeded inside for a vespers ceremony — the start of two days of ritual, prayer and music that will make him the most prominent Catholic prelate in the nation.

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Congressman Smith: Mrs. Clinton, choose either Our Lady of Guadalupe or Margaret Sanger

Congressman Smith: Mrs. Clinton, choose either Our Lady of Guadalupe or Margaret Sanger

Washington D.C., Apr 2, 2009 / 01:25 pm (CNA).- In an impassionate address to the House of Representatives on Tuesday, Congressmen Chris Smith (R-NJ,) argued that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s visit to the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe and the speech delivered immediately after, in Houston, Texas, during Planned Parenthood’s Margaret Sanger Award were completely inexcusable.

Smith said that Clinton’s visit to the Catholic Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City, where she presented a bouquet of flowers on behalf of the American people, was “a very nice gesture.”

But the gesture was at odds with her speech while receiving the Margaret Sanger Award.

“In her remarks, Secretary Clinton said she was ‘in awe’ --I repeat, ‘in awe’-- of Margaret Sanger, the founder of Planned Parenthood.”

“To our distinguished Secretary of State, I respectfully ask: Are you kidding? In ‘awe’ of Margaret Sanger, who said in 1921, ‘Eugenics…is the most adequate and thorough avenue to the solution of racial, political, and social problems’ and who also said in 1922, ‘The most merciful thing that a family does to one of its infant members is to kill it’?” asked Congressman Smith.

He went on to say that Secretary Clinton in her speech said that Margaret Sanger's “life and leadership” was “one of the most transformational in the entire history of the human race.”

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April Fools!

LOLSaints

12 Political Catholic Converts

12 Political Converts to Catholicism—Besides Newt
March 30, 2009 06:12 PM ET | Dan Gilgoff | Permanent Link | Print
By Dan Gilgoff, God & Country

Newt Gingrich's weekend conversion to Roman Catholicism got me thinking about how many Catholic converts from the worlds of politics and political commentary have been in the news in recent years. Here's a quick list I came up with:

Robert Bork
Sam Brownback
Jeb Bush
Laura Ingraham
Bobby Jindal
Lawrence Kudlow
Robert Novak
Ramesh Ponnuru

Notice that they're all conservative? A few of the influential opinion shapers on the right who died recently also were Catholic converts:

Richard John Neuhaus
Tony Snow
Paul Weyrich

The one high-profile Catholic convert on the left who occurred to me is former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

At first blush, this wild political imbalance is none too surprising. Religious converts tend to be more orthodox, which means hewing closely to the church's conservative positions on social issues. But in the case of the Catholic Church, once so solidly identified with the Democratic Party, it's a reminder of just how a tradition's politics can shift.

Anyone I'm leaving off any of these lists?

Link

One of the comments on the article mentions Dick Morris which is a huge surprise to me. I just did a quick google on it and found an article from NY Daily News which says he is "overpassionate" about becoming Catholic. I didn't really know you could become overpassionate about being Catholic. I mentioned it to Dad just now because he called as I was writing this and he said, 'well thats the problem with converts sometimes'. My response was, 'what you talkin' bout?' since he's a convert, but I decided not to get into it with him.

I have two political people I would like to see convert, and I have a slight basis for both. George W. Bush, since Jeb is Catholic, and he was very respectful of Catholics during his time in office. And Rush Limbaugh since a week or two ago he accidently said 'Catholic converter' instead of 'catalytic converter'.

Back to being serious about the list though, it just reminded me again of how much I miss Tony Snow. I always really enjoyed hearing his thoughts on current events and politics.

Father Groeschel Suffers Stroke

Father Groeschel Suffers Stroke
Posted by Daily Blog
Monday, March 30, 2009 9:35 AM

CNS)Father Benedict Groeschel, whose whole life has been spent preaching the Gospel, suffered a minor stroke in mid-March, leaving him with some speech difficulties.

Father Benedict made the news public on his regular Sunday evening talk show March 29 on the Eternal Word Television Network, “Sunday Night Life with Father Benedict Groeschel.”

Appearing before a life audience, the 75-year-old Franciscan Friar of the Renewal noted that he had missed the show the previous Sunday because he had suffered a stroke overnight March 20-21. Another member of his community, Father Andrew Apostoli, also well-known to EWTN viewers, substituted for him.

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I have always thought that Fr. Groeschel has a stong resemblence to St. Benedict.

Pope's poll numbers plunge in France

Pope's poll numbers plunge in France

PARIS (AP) — A newspaper poll shows Pope Benedict XVI's popularity has plunged in heavily Roman Catholic France.

Le Parisien daily says its survey found 57% of respondents have a negative opinion of the pontiff. That's up from only 25% in a similar poll shortly before his visit to France last September.

Twenty-three percent expressed a positive opinion, down from 53% six months ago. The remainder had no opinion.

The survey of 1,012 adults was conducted Wednesday and Thursday and published Saturday. It gave no margin of error.

I wonder how many of those surveyed are mass attending Catholics?

The Pope's worst enemies are Catholics

The Pope's worst enemies are Catholics
Posted By: Damian Thompson at Mar 20, 2009 at 15:11:43

It's payback time for Pope Benedict XVI's most dedicated enemies, who are not militant secularists, hate-crazed Muslims, diehard Protestants or the liberal media. The people who most dislike the Pope are Catholics, or people who have the nerve to describe themselves as such.

The Pope needs to be protected from Catholics

We learned this morning that "Vatican insiders" consider Benedict XVI "a disaster". It's true. They do think that. He's a disaster for them, and their determination to turn the Catholic Church into a touchy-feely forum in which uncomfortable teachings and traditions are "modernised" to impress non-Catholics. Until the Williamson affair, the media weren't sufficiently interested in attacking Benedict XVI to be useful. But now, after that own goal... YES!!!

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You can always sense it as its coming from a liberal or unorthodox Catholic. Bill O'Reilly is the best at doing this. "I'm Catholic but..." and then insert something contrary to Catholic teaching. I generally like Sean 'Did you know I studied Latin' Hannity but he is guilty of it too. They use their pretense of being Catholic as cover when they attack the Church, the Pope, or teachings of the Church.

Catholic Horses

CATHOLIC HORSES

One day while he was at the track playing the ponies and all but losing his shirt, Mitch noticed a priest who stepped out onto the track and blessed the forehead of one of the horses lining up for the 4th race.

Lo and behold, that horse - a very long shot - won the race.

Before the next race, as the horses began lining up, Mitch watched with Interest the old priest step onto the track. Sure enough, as the 5th race horses came to the starting gate the priest made a blessing on the forehead of one of the horses.

Mitch made a beeline for a betting window and placed a small bet on the horse. Again, even though it was another long shot, the horse the priest had blessed won the race.

Mitch collected his winnings, and anxiously waited to see which horse the priest would bless for the 6th race. The priest again blessed a horse.

Mitch bet big on it, and it won. Mitch was elated. As the races
continued the priest kept blessing long shot horses, and each one ended up coming in first.

Bye and bye, Mitch was pulling in some serious money. By the last race, he knew his wildest dreams were going to come true. He made a quick dash to the ATM, withdrew all his savings, and awaited the priest's blessing that would tell him which horse to bet on.

True to his pattern, the priest stepped onto the track for the last race and blessed the forehead of an old nag that was the longest shot of the day. Mitch also observed the priest blessing the eyes, ears, and hooves of the old nag.

Mitch knew he had a winner and bet every cent he owned on the old nag.

He then watched dumbfounded as the old nag come in dead last. Mitch, in a state of shock, made his way down to the track area where the priest was.

Confronting the old priest he demanded, 'Father! What happened?

All day long you blessed horses and they all won. Then in the last race, the horse you blessed lost by a Kentucky mile. Now, thanks to you I've lost every cent of my savings - all of it!'.

The priest nodded wisely and with sympathy. 'Son,' he said, 'that's the problem with you Methodists, you can't tell the difference between a simple blessing and last rites.'

Recruiting Posters

These are great, LOL.

Look at more of them at Curt Jester, I know the post is from 2005, but still, they're hilarious.

They Need to Get a Catholic at the Tribune

Virgin Mary?


'Virgin Mary' resurrected
A picture of the Virgin Mary is taped to the concrete wall scrawled with messages near the stain.

Ash Wednesday

I know quite a few people for whom this is accurate. Except some don't even bother with Christmas and Easter, they just go to Ash Wednesday.

There are those Catholics who check in for services on Christmas and Easter twice a year and pretend they’re visiting from out of town. Then there are those Catholics who choose to go the extra mile and attend Mass on Ash Wednesday, thus increasing their holiness by nearly 50%. It is a not-so-subtle way of proving you’ve been to Mass and works better than showing off a Sunday bulletin.

Stuff Catholics Like blog

Dolan to New York

Milwaukee archbishop promoted to New York archdiocese
February 23, 2009 5:11 AM

VATICAN CITY -- Pope Benedict XVI this morning named Milwaukee Archbishop Timothy Dolan as the new archbishop of New York.

He succeeds New York Cardinal Edward Egan, 76, who is retiring after nine years as the city's archbishop.

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Dropping Christian Words from Children's Dictionary

'Nun,' bishop,' 'saint,' 'monk' dropped from children's dictionary
February 16, 2009 9:45 AM | 1 Comment | No TrackBacks

A Nun's Life finds that the word "nun" has been dropped from the Oxford Junior Dictionary. "Surely, I thought this must be a joke."

Not so. A number of Christian-related words were dropped, including, "abbey, altar, bishop, chapel, christen, disciple, minister, monastery, monk, nun, nunnery, parish, pew, psalm, pulpit, saint, sin, devil, and vicar."

Some of the new words in the latest edition "reflect cultural shifts today such as the growth of new media: "blog" and "MP3 player."

So what will kids think when they try to look up nun or saint or bishop?

Link

Are we afraid dictionaries are too big that we have to remove words when we add a few?

Holy Name getting help from other churches

Holy Name getting help from other churches in rebuilding effort
By Manya A. Brachear | Tribune reporter
February 14, 2009

When Rev. Leroy Sanders heard that "God's house" had burned, he urged the congregation of Kenwood United Church of Christ to reach out and help rebuild. It didn't matter to the South Side Protestant pastor or his congregation that "God's house" was Holy Name Cathedral, the seat of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago.

"We're serving the same God," said Sanders, whose congregation donated $500 to Holy Name for repairs after a fire erupted Feb. 4 in the cathedral's attic. Officials have not determined the cause, calculated the cost or concluded when the 4,500-family congregation can return.

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Cool.

Catholicism

Catholicism Trailer from Nancy Ross on Vimeo.

Word on Fire

H/T Cardinal Sean

Dolan to New York?

Vatican watcher: Pope has chosen Archbishop Timothy Dolan for New York

Rome, Italy, Feb 13, 2009 / 02:30 pm (CNA).- The eagerly anticipated appointment of the new Archbishop of New York appears to be just around the corner. The well-connected Italian journalist Paolo Rodari, who writes for Il Reformista, is reporting that Archbishop Timothy Dolan of Milwaukee will soon be announced as the new head of the most important U.S. diocese.

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Scholarships aim to help needy Catholic school students

These two schools are really close to my house. I pass St. Priscilla's every day on my way to work. This is really sad news, but I can certainly see how parents have problems keeping up with the tuition.

$1 million in scholarships aim to help needy Catholic school students

By Margaret Ramirez | Tribune reporter
January 31, 2009

Responding to jobless and cash-strapped parents, the Archdiocese of Chicago and the Big Shoulders Fund on Friday announced a $1 million emergency scholarship fund for Catholic school students.

At the same time, Catholic schools Supt. Sister Mary Paul McCaughey released news that two Catholic schools will close by the end of the year: St. Priscilla, 7001 W. Addison St., Chicago, and St. Beatrice, 4141 Atlantic Ave., Schiller Park.

The news comes as Catholic and private schools nationwide grapple with the recession that is forcing many parents to fall behind on tuition. Catholic school officials said some parents who have recently lost their jobs have been forced to transfer students to public schools in the middle of the school year.

Cardinal Francis George said the establishment of the emergency fund is needed in these tough times to help parents keep their children in Catholic schools.

"We have to try and keep that opportunity alive," the cardinal said.

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Singing

One of the pre-schoolers asked me yesterday to sing. She was singing a Christmas song she heard, and she wanted me to try singing. I really didn't want to sing though, so I kept telling her I wasn't any good singing. She kept pressing me on it though and so I told her I only like singing at Church. She was surprised at the answer, 'you like singing at Church?'. I told her it was because everyone sounds good singing at Church.

Catholic Clergy Absent at Inauguration

We suspect Obama’s omission of a Catholic participant was a whole lot more intentional than that. This year’s Democratic National Convention in Denver also notably excluded an invitation to Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver, unlike invitations extended at previous conventions to bishops such as Cardinal Roger Mahony of Los Angeles at the DNC in 2000 held in that city.

Why the contemporary reluctance among Democrats to grant Catholic bishops a voice at functions they have organized? Perhaps it’s because they fear that virtually any Catholic bishop they invite will call the nation’s attention to the Democratic Party’s failure to respect the sanctity of life of the unborn, because of the party’s formal commitment to the promotion of abortion rights.

In fact, that’s exactly what Cardinal Mahony did by raising the issue of abortion in both the homily and the invocation that he delivered to the Democrats who assembled in his city in 2000. “O God, we trust that you will keep us ever committed to protect the life and well-being of all people but especially unborn children, the sick and the elderly, those on skid row and those on death row,” Cardinal Mahoney prayed in the invocation.

The U.S. bishops have become even more forceful in the intervening eight years in speaking out about the moral obligation of every American in public life to defend the lives of the unborn. And they specifically called Obama to account on this issue following his election, with their Nov. 12 statement decrying the anti-life Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA) that Obama has promised to sign into law as president.

So it’s only reasonable to speculate that Barack Obama — who by general consensus is the most extreme pro-abortion candidate ever elected to the White House — is not eager to afford one of the Church’s American shepherds another high-profile opportunity to remind him that this obligation to respect the sanctity of the lives of unborn Americans applies very specifically to all of Obama’s actions during his upcoming presidency.

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VaticanTube

Vatican to get own YouTube channel

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - The Vatican will soon have its own channel on the video sharing site YouTube where the Catholic faithful or the curious will be able to see Pope Benedict or Church events, a Vatican source said on Saturday.

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