The Ordination of Roman Catholic Womenpriests and Womendeacons
July 31, 2006 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Presiding bishops: Gisela Forster, Patricia Fresen, Ida Raming of Germany
"Ordination of Womenpriests in the Roman Catholic Church"(7-31-06)
Link to a 26 minute video on Google Videos
"Womenpriests Press Conference and Ordination"
Link to a 8 minute video on Google Videos
While they still can, House Republicans are looking at scheduling a vote next week on a fetal pain abortion bill in a parting shot at incoming majority Democrats and a last bid for loyalty from the GOP's base of social conservatives.
An appeal to Jihadist hackers was sent out through Web forums linked to al-Qaida and was posted on two of the Web sites that publish messages from the terrorist organization.
"The leadership of the electronic Jihad has decided to undertake a grand attack against the official Vatican site following the insults by the Pope against our Prophet," the statement read in Arabic, referring to remarks the Pope made in a September 12 speech.
I don't understand this...what changed?"The Holy See has neither the power nor the specific political task of intervening on the exact point regarding the entry of Turkey into the European Union. It's not in its scope. However, it views positively and encourages the road of dialogue and of moving toward integration in Europe on the basis of common values and principles."
One source of opposition is a highly authoritative Vatican official: Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the prefect of the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Ratzinger has recently voiced his opposition on two occasions: in an August 13 interview with "Le Figaro Magazine," and in a speech on September 18 to the pastoral workers of his titular diocese, Velletri, which was published in the Catholic newspaper of the Swiss town of Lugano, "Il Giornale del Popolo." In both cases, he specified that he was expressing his own opinion, not that of the Holy See.
[snip]A public Christmas festival is no place for the Christmas story, the city says (Chicago). Officials have asked organizers of a downtown Christmas festival, the German Christkindlmarket, to reconsider using a movie studio as a sponsor because it is worried ads for its film "The Nativity Story" might offend non-Christians.
The city does not want to appear to endorse one religion over another, said Cindy Gatziolis, a spokeswoman for the Mayor's Office of Special Events. She acknowledged there is a nativity scene, but also said there will be representations of other faiths, including a Jewish menorah, all put up by private groups. She stressed that the city did not order organizers to drop the studio as a sponsor.
Heavenly Father, from Whom every family in heaven and on earth takes its name,we humbly ask that You sustain, inspire, and protect Your servant, Pope Benedict XVI, as he goes on pilgrimage to Turkey a land to which St. Paul brought the Gospel of Your Son; a land where once the Mother of Your Son, the Seat of Wisdom, dwelt; a land where faith in Your Son's true divinity was definitively professed.
Bless our Holy Father, who comes as a messenger of truth and love to all people of faith and good will dwelling in this land so rich in history. In the power of the Holy Spirit, may this visit of the Holy Father bring about deeper ties of understanding, cooperation, and peace among Roman Catholics, the Orthodox, and those who profess Islam. May the prayers and events of these historic days greatly contribute both to greater accord among those who worship You, the living and true God, and also to peace in our world so often torn apart by war and sectarian violence.
We also ask, O Heavenly Father, that You watch over and protect Pope Benedict and entrust him to the loving care of Mary, under the title of Our Lady of Fatima, a title cherished both by Catholics and Muslims.Through her prayers and maternal love, may Pope Benedict be kept safe from all harm as he prays, bears witness to the Gospel, and invites all peoples to a dialogue of faith, reason, and love. We make our prayer through Christ, our Lord. Amen.
Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragan, who heads the Vatican office for health care, told a news conference on infectious diseases that the document was drafted with the help of scientists, theologians and other experts.
"We have prepared a detailed study on condoms from both the scientific and moral points of view and we have passed our study on to the Congregation for the Faith," Barragan said. "Now the dossier is being studied by that office and then it will go before the pope."
I can't stress enough the importance of this lesson! DON'T WAIT! Go to frequent Confession, receive HIM in the Eucharist, give HIM an hour of your life in weekly adoration, and most importantly - THANK HIM for all HE has given you! You'll be ready then - when HE COMES AGAIN!
At the end of November and the beginning of December, the Gospel readings come from those teachings of Jesus toward the end of His life where He makes it clear that He will come back in glory and there will be a judgment.
(Just as an aside, this placement in the liturgical calendar can be a little misleading, because He actually says these things not long before the Last Supper. With their placement at the end of the liturgical year and the beginning of Advent, they take on a little different light, but they are still just as powerful.)
This is not only a part of the liturgical readings, it's also a part of the Mass itself. At every Mass, after praying the Our Father, the priest prays, "Deliver us, Lord, from every evil and grant us peace in our day. In your mercy, keep us free from sin and protect us from all anxiety as we wait in joyful hope for the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ."
And in the Creed, we say, "He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end."
So the idea that Jesus will return is not foreign to Catholic thinking. For the most part, we don't dwell on it or speculate on when He will come again, but it is part of our heritage and belief. (I say, "for the most part," because there are some Catholics who do dwell on it and scour everything they can find to divine when the Lord will return.)
Why is this? There's a story of one of the saints that has a variety of tellings, but it gives in a nutshell how the Church lives this belief. It was either St. Francis of Assisi with his brothers out weeding in the garden or St. John Bosco playing billiards with a couple of friends. Either way, the question came up of what would you do if you knew the Lord was returning within an hour. One said, "I'd go home and reconcile with my family." Another said, "I'd go to Confession," and so on. They then turned to St. Francis (or St. John Bosco) and asked, "Well, what would you do?" "I'd keep on weeding" (or playing billiards).
In other words, they knew that what they were doing at that moment was what the Lord wanted them to do, and they also knew that they had all their affairs in order. Their attitudes teach a valuable lesson - live as though the Lord is returning at every moment of your life.
Jesus says: "This generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place." Is he mistaken? No, it was the world that was known to his hearers that passed away, the Jewish world. It tragically passed away with the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. When, in 410, the Vandals sacked Rome, many great figures of the time thought that it was the end of the world. They were not all that wrong; one world did end, the one created by Rome with its empire. In this sense, those who, with the destruction of the twin towers on September 11, 2001, thought of the end of the world, were not mistaken ...
None of this diminishes the seriousness of the Christian charge but only deepens it. It would be the greatest foolishness to console oneself by saying that no one knows when the end of the world will be and forgetting that, for any of us, it could be this very night. For this reason Jesus concludes today's Gospel with the recommendation that we "be vigilant because no one knows when the exact moment will be."
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams has dismissed as “wilfully misleading” newspaper reports that he is doubtful over the ordination of women to the priesthood, has ever felt that the ordination of women priests had been “'wrong” or believes that a revisiting of the question is likely, necessary or desirable.So there ya' have it! No change!
Speaking during a visit to Manchester, Dr. Williams declared his continuing support for the ordination of women to the priesthood.
Father John Trigilio has issued the following (unedited) response to a recent editorial in Commonweal magazine -"Tomorrow’s Priests"
Go Fr. Trigilio!
"I am a dresser of corpses who takes corpses and turns them into useful objects. This is an extension beyond death of the trend for beauty treatments," he said.
The eccentric man, invariably seen sporting a wide-brimmed hat, told reporters at the opening of his new center that the slices of bodies which he sells to schools and universities were no different than a slice of meat sold on a slab.
The exhibit is billed as an educational exhibit, teaching people about the internal structure and organization of their own bodies. As the director of the exhibit phrased it, “My aim is to illuminate and educate through the beautiful arrangement” of bodies. Yet some people find the exhibit “edgy,” causing more than a tinge of discomfort, and they wonder whether there aren’t ethical concerns associated with putting the human body on display in this way.
[ Editor’s note: The Body Worlds exhibit is on display at Boston’s Museum of Science now through Jan. 7, 2007]
