St. Elias...TODAY!

Ukraine: Head of the Greek-Catholic Church praises relations with the Orthodox Church

2012-02-16T06:51:00.000-05:00

SOURCE: ACN News, Thursday, 16th February 2012 UKRAINE

Ukraine: Head of the Greek-Catholic Church praises relations with the Orthodox Church

By Eva-Maria Kolmann

"Excellent" was how Patriarch Sviatoslav, the head of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church, described its relations with the Orthodox Church during a visit to the headquarters of the international Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN). Relations have never been as good as today, he said. The task of maintaining these friendly and brotherly relations lay especially close to his heart, the Patriarch emphasised.

Ukraine can look back at a history of over a thousand years of Christianity. But in the last century it went through a period of aggressive atheism. According to Patriarch Sviatoslav, it is the special responsibility of the Christian Churches to "rediscover these Christian roots and to find new ways to reveal their presence in society as Christians."

"At a time of uncertainty, when many people feel that processes occurring in society can no longer be controlled, great faith is placed in the Christian Churches. According to opinion surveys, more people trust me than the President, he said. Since the Church is not dependent on the state, It can "tell the truth and play an important role in society." Christianity has an important role to play for the national unity of the Ukraine. "We are politically neutral, but we teach Christian social values, preach the Gospels and defend those who cannot defend themselves," he explained. In order for it to be able to perform these tasks in an authentic way, priority is given to the good training of priests.
At the same time, the head of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church, which is in full communion with the Holy See, thanked ACN for the assistance that the charity has provided Ukraine for many years. He expressed special praise for the founder of ACN, Father Werenfried van Straaten, who died in 2003. Patriarch Sviatoslav described himself as "a fruit of the work and beneficence of Father Werenfried"; after the collapse of the Soviet Union he was able to study for his doctorate in Rome with a scholarship from ACN, subsequently to return to his homeland as the first Doctor of Theology where he rebuilt the seminary of Lviv, also with the aid of ACN.

Building a new Cathedral in Holy Cross Monastery in Wayne, WV

2012-02-16T06:43:00.001-05:00

On Monday, February 13, diocesan secretary Archpriest Serge Lukianov and the dean of Holy Cross Monastery, Hieromonk Alexander (Frizzell), traveled to Marblehead, MA, to meet with Russian architect Aleksei Naumovich Neiman, who is currently working on the design of a new cathedral for Holy Cross Monastery in Wayne, WV. (NB: All services are taken in English)

Habs’ fans urged to go out on a wing and a prayer

2012-02-15T10:20:00.000-05:00

SOURCE: Catholic Register

MONTREAL - Can prayer assure your favourite NHL team a chance for a run at the Stanley Cup? An ad that is all tongue-in-cheek, taken out by the archdiocese of Montreal, is inviting hockey fans to give it a try.

An ad by the archdiocese of Montreal asks Habs fans
— in a tongue-in-cheek way —
to pray for a playoff spot for the Montreal Canadiens.

In a city where the secular passion for hockey has been compared to a religion, the archdiocese has decided to ride the wave and sneak in a Gospel call to turn to God. With less than two months to go in the NHL regular season, the Catholic Church in Canada’s most storied hockey town launched an ad campaign that suggests fans of the beleaguered Canadiens pray in hopes their beloved team will make it to the playoffs.

The one-day campaign hit the sports section of Montreal’s two largest French dailies, La Presse and Le Journal de Montréal, Feb. 9.

The full-page ad lists all of the teams in the NHL’s Eastern Conference, except for the Canadiens. In eighth spot, which is the cut-off for the playoffs, is the word “Prions,” which means “Let us pray.” A horizontal line draws the reader’s eye out from the eighth standing to the archdiocese’s logo. (At The Register’s press time, the Canadiens remained seven points behind the historic rival Toronto Maple Leafs, who held the eighth and final playoff spot.)

“The ad is a wink (at the culture),” explains diocesan communications director Lucie Martineau.

“It’s a teaser to remind people of the presence of the Church in society. This approach allows us to reach people who we would otherwise not be able to reach, with the Gospel message. Hockey is an activity that gathers people together, and the Church is interested in being present among the people. Prions is a message with a missionary theme, aimed at the first stage in the process of evangelization.”

The ad was designed by Bos advertising agency, which has been the creative force behind the archdiocese’s public campaigns for about 20 years. Hugo Léger said his agency has been reflecting for a while on how to combine two of Quebec’s most important cultural references — the Church and Habs’ hockey — in an effective ad.

“It fundamentally remains an invitation to prayer,” Léger told Le Journal de Montréal. “The desire is to invite people to contemplation. The objective is to render the Church present… The Church is a living institution, close to people and their preoccupations.”

While the campaign has received positive international press, some academics, such as Olivier Bauer, have been critical of the ad’s theological message and underpinnings, which he claims could lead to questions about the existence of God.

And why, for example, is “Let us pray” eighth in the standings and not first, the University of Montreal theology professor asks in an op-ed piece in The Montreal Gazette, Feb. 11. Bauer is the author of the 2011 book Hockey as Religion: The Montreal Canadiens.

“My question is whether anyone seeing this ad will come to some new insight or perception about the nature of prayer or the power of prayer,” said Paul Allen, a theology professor at Concordia University and a blogger for the diocesan web site. “I may be wrong — in fact, I hope I am wrong — but I think this ad campaign will invite skepticism about the power of prayer, even ridicule of it. And that’s a shame.”

The archdiocese normally takes out ads as part of its annual fundraising drive, which takes place every spring. However, Prions is one of the archdiocese’s off-season campaigns, which are launched occasionally just for the sake of engaging the public.

VIDEO: Собор Иоанна Предтечи (Optina Hermitage)

2012-02-15T09:47:00.000-05:00

On the Synaxis of the Holy Glorious Prophet, Forerunner and Baptist, John

Letter to a New Convert

2012-02-14T09:46:00.000-05:00

SOURCE: Pravmir.com

Mother Thekla wrote this in 2009 when she was 91 years old.

Dear “John”,

I understand that you are on the way to becoming Orthodox. I know nothing about you, beyond the fact that you are English.

Before we go any further, there is one point I should make clear. I have not been told why you are about to convert, but I assure you there is no point whatsoever if it is for negative reasons. You will find as much “wrong” (if not more) in Orthodoxy as in the Anglican or Roman Churches.

So – the first point is, are you prepared to face lies, hypocrisy, evil and all the rest, just as much in Orthodoxy as in any other religion or denomination?

Are you expecting a kind of earthly paradise with plenty of incense and the right kind of music?

Do you expect to go straight to heaven if you cross yourself slowly, pompously and in the correct form from the right side?

Have you a cookery book with all the authentic Russian recipes for Easter festivities?

Are you an expert in kissing three times on every possible or improper occasion?

Can you prostrate elegantly without dropping a variety of stationery out of your pockets?

OR…..

Have you read the Gospels?

Have you faced Christ crucified? In the spirit have you attended the Last Supper – the meaning of Holy Communion?

AND….

Are you prepared, in all humility, to understand that you will never, in this life, know beyond Faith; that Faith means accepting the Truth without proof. Faith and knowledge are the ultimate contradiction –and the ultimate absorption into each other.

Living Orthodoxy is based on paradox, which is carried on into worship – private or public.

We know because we believe and we believe because we know.

Above all, are you prepared to accept all things as from God?

If we are meant, always, to be “happy”, why the Crucifixion? Are you prepared, whatever happens, to believe that somewhere, somehow, it must make sense? That does not mean passive endurance, but it means constant vigilance, listening, for what is demanded; and above all, Love.

Poor, old, sick, to our last breath, we can love. Not sentimental nonsense so often confused with love, but the love of sacrifice – inner crucifixion of greed, envy, pride.

And never confuse love with sentimentality.

And never confuse worship with affectation.

Be humble – love, even when it is difficult. Not sentimental so called love – And do not treat church worship as a theatrical performance!

I hope that some of this makes sense,

With my best wishes,
Mother Thekla
(sometime Abbess of the Monastery of the Assumption, Normanby)

Attempts being made in UOC-MP to remove Metropolitan Volodymyr from power

2012-02-14T06:49:00.000-05:00

SOURCE: RISU
Yuriy Chornomorets,
Doctor of Philosophy, Orthodox publicist

Metropolitan Hilarion

The illness of the head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate (UOC) Metropolitan Volodymyr exacerbated the struggle for power in the UOC. Analysts have long paid attention to the confrontation in the episcopate of the UOC, in particular to alternative centers of influence – Metropolitan Hilarion of Donetsk and Agafangel of Odesa. However, the situation prevailing today is not only opposition, not only the struggle for influence or succession, but a kind of “revolution” – the actual attempt to remove Metropolitan Volodymyr from power.

The decision of the Holy Synod of January 28, 2012, was reminiscent of two historical events of 1991 and 1992, namely, the attempt to seize power in the USSR by the State Committee on the State of Emergency (in Russian GKCP) and the removal of Patriarch Mstyslav from power in the UAOC. With the GKCP of Synodal “putschers” unites the way to get power – conspiracy and usurpation of power in a pseudo-legal way. The events of the church “June Coup” in 1992 are similar to the events of the Synodal “majority” in their model.

In both cases the head of the church was actually removed from power, and the course of the church was radically changed. In 1992 the episcopate of the UAOC, without the blessing of its Primate, teamed up with Metropolitan Filaret. In 2012, almost twenty years later, the Primate of the UOC-MP has the same sad fate.

Metropolitan Pavlo

At its meeting, the Holy Synod of the UOC-MP on December 23, 2011, allegedly produced some rules of compromise at the time of Metropolitan Volodymyr’s illness. The interim presidency of the Holy Synod (according to the status of the UOC) went to the most senior by date of enthronement member of the Synod Metropolitan Agafangel. In return, management of the Kyiv Eparchy was entrusted to a friend of the Kyiv vicars under the chairmanship of Archbishop Oleksandr – the personal secretary and closest aide of Metropolitan Volodymyr, that is, the eparch who would make the most effort to coordinate all his actions with the primate.
But at the next meeting, the situation radically changes. Metropolitan Pavlo joins the group of the Bishops Agafangel and Hilarion, and the Synod makes a number of decisions which, formally appearing as “technical,” are essentially directed to dismiss Metropolitan Volodymyr from leading the church.

As a reward for betraying the ill Metropolitan Volodymyr, Bishop Pavlo receives the position of manager of the Kyiv Eparchy at the time the primate’s illness. Why would Metropolitan Pavlo want this position? First, this position could help him learn the financial flows of the Kyiv Metropolitanate, and second, according to statutory provisions of the UOC, a candidate interested in the position of the Primate must have experience in independently ruling the eparchy. It is noteworthy that immediately after Metropolitan Pavlo was appointed as manager the Kyiv Eparchy, the channel Ukrayina, entirely in the spirit of pre-election advertising, hastened to inform the public that Metropolitan Volodymyr is hopelessly ill and now the Eparchy of Kyiv is governed by a “hot favorite of the believers,” the superior of the Kyiv Cave Monastery.

Archbishop Oleksandr

No less scandalous was another decision of the Holy Synod, namely, the removal of Archbishop Oleksandr from the position of superior of the Church of All Saints of the Holy Resurrection Cathedral, and proto-hierarch Heorhiy Kovalenko, His Beatitude’s press secretary, from the post of steward and chairman of the Parish Council Cathedral. Today Bishop Oleksandr is Metropolitan Volodymyr’s right-hand man and closest assistant. Together with Father Heorhii, for many years he belonged to Metropolitan Volodymyr’s inner circle. However, as already noted by experts, Bishop Oleksandr has never carried out his own policy (for which, by the way, he has been repeatedly publicly criticized by supporters of a strong line of development for the UOC). Bishop Oleksandr’s only policy is the embodiment of the church line, which was framed by Metropolitan Volodymyr. Therefore, those who are trying today to remove Bishop Oleksandr from leadership really want to take not his power but the Primate’s power.

Despite Metropolitan Volodymyr’s proposal, the new Synodal “majority” refused to hold a session of the Synod with his participation and chairmanship, arguing that a hospital is not the best venue for the meeting and that participating in the meeting could adversely affect the Primate’s health. I would like to ask those hierarchs if they thought about how their treason and coup would affect the Primate’s health.

I carefully read the official commentary on the decisions of the Holy Synod, which was published by Archbishop Mitrofan, the person managing the affairs of the UOC. Bishop Mitrofan is a very pleasant man and conscientious church hierarch and I wish him success in his work for the good of the Ukrainian Church in the future. Some of Bishop Mitrofan’s claims, however, have surprised me. Bishop Mitrofan says that on the eve of the meeting of the Synod, he and Archbishop Oleksandr met with the Primate and “discussed all the issues that were to be raised at the Synod.” But anyone who knows Metropolitan Volodymyr will find it hard to believe that he agreed to have the control of the Kyiv Eparchy transferred to Metropolitan Pavlo and his closest collaborators removed from positions associated with the construction of the cathedral.

It also looks doubtful that Metropolitan Volodymyr would have liked the personnel of the commission, which will consider amendments to the Charter of the UOC. If we analyze the composition of the commission, it seems that the UOC has only two points of view – “Odesa-Donetsk,” which treats with suspicion the adjective “Ukrainian” in the name of the UOC, and the personal opinions of Metropolitan Sofronii of Cherkasy. It is not at all like this, however, because most bishops of the UOC share neither Metropolitan Agafangel’s Russian nationalism nor Metropolitan Sofronii’s radical independence. In other words, the commission does not reflect the real situation in the UOC, and therefore there are serious doubts that this commission will be able to prepare high quality documents.

Therefore, the UOC is in a crisis situation, and one can only hope that the painful events will end with inner healing, which would imply a real love for one’s Primate during his difficult days. Even Peter the Apostle expressed anguish and denied Jesus at a difficult moment, but he came back and gave his life for the Savior. A difficult moment in the history of the UOC has to end with a complete return to the individual, business and covenants of His Beatitude Volodymyr’s.

Any other way will destroy the identity of the UOC will make it lose its status of a nationwide Ukrainian church. There are already comments about restoring the unity of the Russian people and the “leading” member of the Synod of the UOC acts as a Russian hierarch and a citizen of the neighboring state. All his thoughts are of a reunion of Russians in Ukraine with their blood-related brothers in Russia. This Russian “political Orthodoxy” can destroy all prospects of canonical Orthodoxy in Ukraine, turn away all conscious Ukrainians from the UOC.

Therefore, whatever the personal views of members of the Synod may be, they should find the strength to not destroy the UOC and its future but follow the path the Primate has opened for the church. A path endured and adjusted by the only criterion – the teaching of Christ, which the Holy Orthodox Church accurately conveys. To be a faithful teacher not only in times of peace and celebration but also in times of suffering and torment is the most important virtue of all Christians and ministers of the church, who are responsible not only for themselves but for the flock. To find understanding with the head – whatever his current condition – is the Christian and pastoral duty of the Synod. The Synod would be free from such an obligation of understanding only under one circumstance – if Metropolitan Volodymyr deviated into heresy or schism. But this not the case, so whatever his condition, one must be in compliance with the Primate, as is stated in the canons of the holy Church.

No More Latin form "First Holy Communions" - Melkites

2012-02-13T16:35:00.001-05:00

Pastoral Letter on Infant Communion
and "First Communion" Ceremonies
also called "Solemn Communion" or "Eucharistic Awareness."

Introduction

It has been brought to my attention by clergy and even laity of our Eparchy that some parishes have re-instituted or never stopped the Latin Church practice of "First Communion" and/or imitation ceremonies called "Solemn Communion" and "Eucharistic Awareness." I have been asked to give a clarification on such practices so that there is uniformity within the Eparchy.

It has been the custom since the 1970's in our Eparchy to communicate infants after Baptism and Chrismation, and I re-emphasize that this is our proper tradition and must be done. The children continue to receive the Eucharist whenever presented by their parents. Parents are to be instructed in this tradition during the required pre-baptismal catechesis which must be given in every parish.

In 1967, our Patriarchal Synod reestablished the administration of the Eucharist to infants in response to the Vatican II Decree on the Eastern Churches. The Synod recognized the legitimacy of returning to this ancient discipline. "It is to be considered an obligatory part of the Christian Initiation of infants in this Eparchy and is not to be omitted" stated Archbishop Joseph Tawil on page 7 in his General Policy for the Administration of the Sacraments of Christian Initiation promulgated on October 12, 1981 and never rescinded by any of his successors. Her reinstituted this proper discipline as a general practice in the 1970's and made it official in 1981. In this same policy, Archbishop Joseph continues: "It goes without saying that 'First Communion' or their imitation (“Solemn Communion,” 'Eucharistic Awareness') are completely out of place in Churches of our tradition and are to be abandoned wherever they are still practiced" (page 7 Policy). He assumed that the clergy had begun suppressing these ceremonies after he asked that they do so in the 1970' s. Now in 1981 it was official. He added: "It is the responsibility of the pastor to communicate these realities to the entire parish, especially where the Latin form of First Communion has been established, and to give the child the necessary instruction as he/she reaches the age of discernment" (page 7 Policy).

Download and read the remainder of this document in its original pdf format

VIDEO: Представлення вікарія Волинської митрополії УПЦ КП

2012-02-13T13:03:00.000-05:00

в Луцьку представили новопризначеного вікарія нашої єпархії -- єпископа Володимир-Волинського Матфея (Шевчука). З цієї нагоди Божественну Літургію в кафедральному соборі Святої Трійці очолив митрополит Хмельницький і Кам'янець-Подільський Антоній. Із ним співслужили митрополит Луцький і Волинський Михаїл, єпископ Кіровоградський і Голованівський Марк, владика Матфей і духовенство собору.

Знайомлячи вірян із вікарієм (помічником правлячого архієрея), митрополит Антоній побажав йому плідно трудитися на ниві Господній. У Волинській єпархії є над чим працювати і як розвиватися, зазначив він. Сьогодні Київський Патріархат як ніколи єдиний, бо всі прагнемо мати в незалежній державі -- незалежну Церкву, підкреслив архіпастир.

Інформація та відео - Управління Волинської єпархії Української Православної Церкви Київського Патріархату

The HHS Mandate and Excommunication

2012-02-13T12:39:00.000-05:00

SOURCE: Catholic Culture

The US Bishops have been leading a fight against the HHS contraception/sterilization/abortion mandate now for about two weeks. The news of this effort, and of the swelling opposition to the mandate, has been fast and furious and, on the whole, satisfying. To review what’s been going on, scan this list of our Catholic World News stories during this period:

CRS, Catholic Charities, Washington Post object to HHS mandate (01/26/2012)
Obama rule likely to be overturned by court, says legal scholar (01/27/2012)
Bishops rip HHS mandate; Bishop Zubik: ‘to hell with you’ (01/27/2012)
Bishops speak out against HHS mandate (01/30/2012)
Times columnist: HHS mandate threatens non-government associations (02/01/2012)
Church is attacking on HHS mandate, says Boston Globe columnist (02/02/2012)
Romney rips Obama on HHS mandate; critics rip Romney (02/03/2012)
HHS mandate: Catholic governor criticizes ‘hyperventilating’ (02/06/2012)
Army censors archbishop's letter on HHS mandate (02/06/2012)
USA Today editorial decries HHS mandate (02/06/2012)
Mandate is Obama's latest in string of offenses against Catholics, columnist notes (02/06/2012)
‘6 things everyone should know about the HHS mandate’ (02/07/2012)
Sebelius: HHS mandate strikes ‘right balance’ between health, religious concerns (02/07/2012)
Kmiec breaks with Obama over HHS mandate (02/07/2012)
154 Congressmen urge change in HHS mandate (02/08/2012)
Canonist: ecclesiastical discipline needed—quickly—for Nancy Pelosi (02/08/2012)
EWTN sues to block HHS mandate (02/09/2012)
Three misconceptions about the HHS mandate (02/09/2012)
Obama allies, foes both unhappy with HHS mandate (02/09/2012)
Polls on contraception do not alter debate on religious freedom: Douthat (02/09/2012)
Other religious leaders join Catholic bishops in opposing HHS mandate (02/10/2012)

Beyond the convenience of this list for review, one important concern fairly leaps to the eye. Three of the four stories which indicate negative developments (they are highlighted in bold) feature Catholic politicians. This is not new, of course, but it is worth revisiting.

I have already discussed the interaction between spiritual renewal, ecclesiastical discipline and political action (see Priestly Fidelity: The Time to Take Prisoners Has Passed and Salvation vs. Politics). I’ve emphasized the need for the bishops to ensure that priests in every parish begin teaching the immorality of contraception clearly, frequently and forcefully as a key part of a much-needed Catholic spiritual and moral renewal.

But encouraging, fortifying and disciplining priests are not the only weapons in the ecclesiastical arsenal, not even when you add the effective use of assignments to reward and punish, as well as laicization and loss of income where warranted. Another important tool is excommunication, and this can be used not only against priests but against laymen, whenever they publicly and persistently give grave scandal by contradicting and undermining the Church or Catholic teaching through their words and actions.

The debate over whether pro-abortion Catholic political leaders should be refused communion or even formally excommunicated has been going on for years. The bishops have been divided in theory on this question and, in practice, no modern bishop has been willing to excommunicate in the war against Catholic participation in the culture of death. But the HHS mandate changes the debate in at least two ways.

First, the HHS mandate takes its Catholic proponents from encouraging grave moral evil to enforcing participation by other Catholics in that evil. In other words, the offense has shifted from personal involvement in evil to a direct assault on the Church. Moreover, there is more than one point of assault. There is one assault against the moral dignity of Catholics and another assault against the clear directives of the bishops who govern the Church.

Second, the bishops have chosen to make the HHS mandate a sort of tipping point. Why they have been so confused and ineffective in their response to the steady erosion of moral values by the American legal system over the past two generations is a matter for historical study. But for whatever combination of reasons now—one of which is certainly this crossing of the thin line between encouragement to participate in evil and actual force—the bishops have decided that they have been pushed as far as they are willing to be pushed, and they have decided to push back.

It is awkward, of course, for our bishops to excommunicate people for challenging their administrative decision (to fight the mandate), or even for attempting to coerce Catholics into supporting evil, when the same bishops have been unwilling to excommunicate the same persons for contradicting the Church’s moral teachings, giving grave scandal, and wreaking widespread havoc in society as a whole. It almost seems selfish; it is almost like saying we don’t care how much you hurt yourself and others as long as you do not attack your bishops.
At the same time, the direct attack on the bishops through the HHS mandate is marvellously clarifying. If there were any ambiguity before, that ambiguity has been removed by the effort to coerce rather than simply ignore the Church. Further, just because the bishops should have acted more decisively long ago does not make it wrong for them to act decisively now, especially in response to a further provocation. Sometimes it takes a decisive moment to get people to shift direction, but when they do shift direction, they start doing many things that their timidity has prevented in the past. If the bishops have really reached their decisive moment, they will show it by fighting with more than mere words.

(Also, please note: They must beware of going back to business as usual if, as may happen, they should get a favorable court ruling on this particular issue, or if the Obama administration should back down on this one thing, or, if as has already happened, the Obama administration should offer a morally meaningless compromise.)

Now the truth of the matter is that two of the Catholics identified in the stories with bolded headlines, Kathleen Sebelius and Nancy Pelosi, have both been warned repeatedly by bishops. They have consistently rejected the techings of the Church as well as the moral judgment and pastoral counsel of their bishops. They have in fact led the political assault on Catholic moral values in the past, as they are leading the direct assault on the Church herself now. I am less familiar with efforts to caution the third villain of the bolded headlines, Governor Martin O’Malley of Maryland, but it is intolerable that he should dismiss the bishops’ concerns about the HHS mandate as “hyperventilating”. In at least two of these cases, and possibly all three, immediate and total denial of communion is essentially required by Canon Law, and formal excommunication is more than warranted.

Right now, I think we may say that the bishops have taken the glove off. I use the singular advisedly. But there is another glove to be removed. If we have really reached the tipping point, then many things ought to change. To be sure, Bishops ought to be enlisting the hosts of heaven in this conflict, giving it the spiritual focus it deserves. But as the Incarnation demonstrates, God prefers to work through nature rather than in place of nature. Both politically and spiritually, the most potent natural tool a bishop possesses is his disciplinary authority. Therefore discipline has to reach its tipping point, too. Only then can it slide rapidly into place.
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St. George's Orthodox Church myrrh-seeping icons attract hundreds of believers

2012-02-13T12:24:00.000-05:00

SOURCE: The Scranton Times Tribune

The mood was appropriately solemn, the faithful quiet and orderly in their movements.

Fragrant myrrh filled the air. The encounters with the centers of attraction were quick, but the reactions were indelible. Some came away shaken and streaming tears. A few talked of a wave of peace and calm coming over them. Others described a sense of divine providence.

In uncertain times, people want something, anything, to believe in. The spiritually inclined often look to the heavens for answers, and when they get what they think is a sign, they embrace it wholeheartedly.

For the past 17 weeks, St. George's Orthodox Greek Catholic Church in Taylor has been hosting services centered on two icons of the Blessed Mother of the Theotokos. The faithful believe the icons seep myrrh, a heavily perfumed oil, for reasons St. George's officials are leaving unexplained.

The church has sought no publicity for the services, but each week, entirely through word of mouth, standing-room-only crowds are turning up to venerate the icons.

The icons reportedly came into contact with the myrrh-streaming Iveron Icon of the Mother of God from Hawaii, which traveled to local Orthodox churches, including St. George's, back in the fall. Many in the Orthodox faith believe the Iveron Icon possesses healing powers for those who pray to it.

"Miraculous icons are a normal part of orthodoxy," said Father Sergius, the abbot at the Monastery of St. Tikhon of Zadonsk in South Canaan Twp., where the Iveron Icon also made an appearance. "We have one here that weeps on and off, but it's not a constant thing."

Approached at this week's service, St. George's pastor, the Very Rev. Mark Leasure, declined to comment on the icons' background, and church officials would not allow photographs to be taken. Attempts to reach officials at the Johnstown-based American Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Diocese of the U.S.A., which oversees St. George's, were unsuccessful.

On a recent night, the church was packed with about 500 people. Regulars judged the attendance light compared to the previous week's service, when lines stretched out the door.

The service began with about 40 minutes of prayers and hymns. The icons were brought out into the church and placed on a stand near the altar. The icons are kept in wooden cases under glass and are positioned at an incline. Cotton balls are placed at the bottom of each case to collect excess oil.

"All of you are meant to be here on this night to be blessed by God," the Rev. Leasure said to the assembled moments before people started lining up. "We are blessed with something awesome."

After being blessed with oil by the Rev. Leasure, each person had the chance to pray over one of the icons. Some went the extra step and kissed the glass cover. A pile of $5 and $10 bills and envelopes accumulated in the space between the icons.

Indeed, the icons had myrrh on them, which was easier to see when the Rev. Leasure took them out of their enclosures and used the oil to bless attendees, adults and children. Oil seeped into the wood and smudged the glass. Some weeks there is more oil than others, regulars said.

Among the crowd, the Orthodox faith was well represented, but there were plenty of people from other Christian denominations, including Roman and Byzantine Catholic. Stories circulated of attendees from previous weeks being healed of everything from serious back problems to the after-effects of stroke.

As she headed to her car, a woman who refused to provide her name for publication said, "I think we're being sent a message, that it's just time to get back to God."

Pittston Twp. resident Doreen Kozak attended the service with her daughter, Nicole, a sophomore at the University of Scranton. They had heard about the icons from friends.

"It's something different, something amazing to see," Mrs. Kozak said. "If you believe enough, it is a miracle."

Benedict Sheehan, music and choir director at St. Tikhon's, had no doubt he was witnessing a divine connection.

"It's from God," said Mr. Sheehan, making his sixth appearance at the service. "It's a sign that God is real, and that the Mother of God is protecting us. I think it's a call to repentance, as well."

Dunmore resident Bill Malos, there for the second time, said he didn't really care whether the oil is miraculous. What moved him most was the outpouring of people, which he called "great for Christian unity."

"If nothing else, it brings people together for a prayerful time," Mr. Malos said. "It's hard to explain, but it gives me a good feeling to see this many people in church."

In the Orthodox faith, icons serve as "a window into the divine," said Stevan Davies, Ph.D., professor of religious studies at Misericordia University in Dallas,

"You should be looking through (the icon) to the holy person it represents. They see it as the location of holiness, something special. And life doesn't have that many special things," Dr. Davies said. "People like to have something holy in their lives, and they like to have some tangible evidence of it."

Judy Soma, an East Mountain artist who paints icons, added, "People think you venerate the icon, but you don't. You venerate what the icon represents, the person it represents.

"Let's face it, things right now are not good. People need things to turn to and say, 'This is a miracle.' This is something they can go look at and relate to. I think it's wonderful."

VIDEO: Biography Patriarch Josyf (Slipyj) / Життя Патріарха Йосифа Сліпого

2012-02-13T12:11:00.003-05:00

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SOURCE: Львівська Архиєпархія УГКЦ

У Львівській Архиєпархії розпочинають Рік Патріарха

Цього року, 17 лютого виповнюється 120-та річниця від народження Слуги Божого Блаженнішого Патріарха Йосипа (Сліпого).

У Львівські архиєпархії УГКЦ заплановано ряд урочистих заходів серед них: 18 лютого в театрі Марії Заньковецької буде проведений благодійний бал; стараннями молодіжної спільноти СУМ у селі Заздрості відбудуться реколекції, які присвячені постаті патріарха; Українська молодь Христові проведе у вербну неділю нічні чування присвячені пам’яті патріарха Йосифа, а після великодніх свят відбудеться конференція стараннями УМХ; протягом року відбудеться показ фільмів про патріарха Йосифа Сліпого для школярів, силами молодіжних спільнот «Спадщина» та «МУК» та ін.

Пригадуємо, що Львівська обласна рада проголосила на Львівщині 2012-ий Роком патріарха Йосифа Сліпого. В рамках Синоду Єпископів УГКЦ, який тривав з 8-9 лютого, відбулося відкриття ювілейного року, «…великого сина нашої Церкви », - як сказав Блаженніший Любомир (Гузар), Архиєпископ-емерит УГКЦ під час урочистого богослужіння 8 лютого у Архикатедральному Собоір Святого Юра.

У Синодальному посланні провід УГКЦ закликав вірних відзначаючи 120-річчя народження Слуги Божого Патріарха Йосифа, молитися за його прославу, брати участь у різного роду заходах і «дякувати Богові за дар його особи та ісповідництва, які є великим скарбом не лише для нашої Церкви і українського народу, а й для всієї Вселенської Церкви».

о. Павло Дроздяк

прес-секретар Львівської архиєпархії

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SOURCE: Official Website UGCC - Audio File

“This year, on February 17, we commemorate the 120th anniversary of the birth of Patriarch Josyf Slipyj. Today with this common prayer at the Liturgy we begin the year of remembrance of a great son of our Church,” Lubomyr Husar, Archbishop Emeritus of the UGCC, said February 8, 2012, in the Cathedral of St. George, in Lviv ( listen).

In this service, which was led by Patriarch Sviatoslav Shevchuk, head of the UGCC, was attended by bishops of the Roman Catholic Church (RCC) and the UGCC, who earlier held a traditional joint meeting.

According to the previous head of the UGCC, honoring Patriarch Slipyj on February 8 is due to two reasons. First, on this day started the Synod of Bishops of the UGCC and was a meeting between the bishops of the UGCC and the RCC. Second, 49 years ago Metropolitan Josyf Slipyj, recently released from prison, arrived by train in Rome from Moscow.

“Then we seminarians were very happy to learn that the patriarch was alive, for we had heard he died. In those terrible years, among the terrible darkness that was cast by the Soviet Union, a ray of hope shone – news of the release of the metropolitan,” said the patriarch.

In the end, Patriarch Sviatoslav thanked all bishops of the RCC and the Synod of Bishops of the UGCC for the joint prayer, His Beatitude Lubomyr for his fatherly word, the rectorate of the Lviv Theological Seminary of the Holy Spirit, which honored the memory of former rector, and especially the Lviv community, which proclaimed 2012 the year of the servant of God, Metropolitan Josyf Slipyj.

After the Divine Liturgy all the bishops held a memorial service in the crypt of St. George Cathedral, where Patriarch Slipyj is buried.

UGCC Information Department

Patriarch Sviatoslav Visits Germany

2012-02-13T12:06:00.000-05:00

SOURCE: RISU

On February 11, Patriarch Sviatoslav of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC) started a visit to Germany. During the week, he is to meet with leading representatives of the Catholic Church in Germany, heads of the charitable organizations Renovabis, Church in Need, Caritas Germany, celebrate hierarchical liturgies in the parishes of the UGCC in Munich, Frankfurt and Berlin.

During the first days of his stay in Germany, the head of the UGCC visited Altotting, the largest pilgrimage destination in Germany associated with the Virgin Mary.

The head of the UGCC got acquainted with the history and museum of the pilgrimage place. The Roman Catholic Bishop of Passau Wilhelm Schraml invited Patriarch Sviatoslav “to visit this place, which is rich in God’s grace, with the Ukrainian pilgrims again and to pray jointly with the German pilgrims for our two nations.”

During the visit, Patriarch Sviatoslav met with the Archbishop of Cologne, Cardinal Meisner.

The cardinal thanked the head of the UGCC and all the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, “which by its suffering testified to the whole undivided Christ’s Church and sealed its loyalty to its native Orthodox faith and Catholic Church with the blood of the martyrs.” The archbishop spoke warmly of Patriarch Sviatoslav’s predecessors whom he knew personally.

In his turn, Patriarch Sviatoslav expressed his gratitude to the cardinal for his support of the UGCC.

According to the Information Department of the UGCC, on February 12, the head of the UGCC led a Hierarchical Liturgy in the Cathedral of the Apostolic Exarchate in Munich.

Penn class teaches students how to live like monks

2012-02-13T12:01:00.000-05:00

SOURCE: Times Union

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Looking for a wild-and-crazy time at college? Don't sign up for Justin McDaniel's religious studies class.

The associate professor's course on monastic life and asceticism gives students at the University of Pennsylvania a firsthand experience of what it's like to be a monk.

At various periods during the semester, students must forego technology, coffee, physical human contact and certain foods. They'll also have to wake up at 5 a.m. — without an alarm clock.

That's just a sample of the restrictions McDaniel imposes in an effort to help students become more observant, aware and disciplined. Each constraint represents an actual taboo observed by a monastic religious order.

"I've found in the past that students take this extremely seriously," said McDaniel, who has taught the class twice before. "I've had very few people who try to get away with things, and you can always tell when they are."

The discipline starts with a dress code for class: White shirts for the men, black shirts for women, and they must sit on opposite sides of the class. No makeup, jewelry or hair products. Laptops are prohibited; notes can be taken only with paper and pen. And don't even think of checking your cellphone for texts or email.

The course, which focuses primarily on Catholic and Buddhist monastic traditions, stems in part from McDaniel's own history. An expert on Asian religions, he spent a portion of his post-undergraduate life nearly 20 years ago as a Buddhist monk in Thailand and Laos and says he's both a practicing Buddhist and a practicing Catholic.

Restrictions outside class are introduced gradually: Students sacrifice caffeine and alcohol during one week, then swear off vegetables that grow underground in another. The latter rule stems from an extremely non-violent sect that eschews such produce because uprooting the food could kill insects, McDaniel said.

The real test is a full month of restrictions that begins in mid-March. Students can only eat food in its natural form; nothing processed. They can't eat when it's dark, nor speak to anyone while they eat. They must be celibate, foregoing even hugs, handshakes and extended eye contact. No technology except for electric light. They can read for other classes, but news from the outside world is forbidden.

So why would anyone sign up? It could be because McDaniel requires no term papers or exams. But sophomore Madelyn Keyser, 20, of Castro Valley, Calif., said that's misleading.

"In reality, it's much harder because your grade is based entirely on your participation and your integrity," said Keyser.

As a nursing major at the Ivy League school in Philadelphia, Keyser said she hopes the class will help her become more observant and a better listener to her patients.

Students also have to write in a journal every 30 minutes during their waking hours. And required course research cannot be done online — students must consult books and librarians, or have conversations with religious leaders.

Freshman Rachel Eisenberg said she enrolled because it's important "to figure out yourself before you can really help other people."

"It would give me a chance to really listen to myself and focus on my needs and feelings," said Eisenberg, 18, of Miami.

Keyser and Eisenberg are among 17 students in the class, a group carefully chosen from among nearly 100 applicants. McDaniel said he winnowed the list by contacting each student to make sure they understood what they were in for.

The numbers thinned quickly. One cited an inability to be without Facebook, McDaniel said, while another said she couldn't go a day without talking to her mother on the phone.

There are some exceptions to the rules, such as if another class requires students to watch a film. But any other infractions require confessions and acknowledgement in their journals.

In one recent class, three students were disciplined for the minor slip of having the labels of their T-shirts exposed, violating the dress code designed to enforce conformity. As a punishment, McDaniel made them compile a list of the countries where every one of their shirts was made.

McDaniel stresses he's not advocating for a total lifestyle change. He uses technology as much as the next person and is now married with children.

But if someone is forced to just listen for a month, he is more aware of how he speaks, McDaniel said. If someone can't talk while she's eating and has to count each chew, she'll think more about her food, he said.

"It's not about individual restrictions," said McDaniel. "It's about building hyperawareness of yourself and others."

The Church of Obama - The President his issued his own Act of Supremacy.

2012-02-13T11:56:00.001-05:00

SOURCE: National Review Online

Announcing his support for Commissar Sebelius’s edicts on contraception, sterilization, and pharmacological abortion, that noted theologian the Most Reverend Al Sharpton explained: “If we are going to have a separation of church and state, we’re going to have a separation of church and state.”

Thanks for clarifying that. The church model the young American state wished to separate from was that of the British monarch, who remains to this day supreme governor of the Church of England. This convenient arrangement dates from the 1534 Act of Supremacy. The title of the law gives you the general upshot, but, just in case you’re a bit slow on the uptake, the text proclaims “the King’s Majesty justly and rightfully is and ought to be the supreme head of the Church of England.” That’s to say, the sovereign is “the only supreme head on earth of the Church” and he shall enjoy “all honors, dignities, pre-eminences, jurisdictions, privileges, authorities, immunities, profits, and commodities to the said dignity,” not to mention His Majesty “shall have full power and authority from time to time to visit, repress, redress, record, order, correct, restrain, and amend all such errors, heresies, abuses, offenses, contempts, and enormities, whatsoever they be.”

Welcome to Obamacare.

The president of the United States has decided to go Henry VIII on the Church’s medieval ass. Whatever religious institutions might profess to believe in the matter of “women’s health,” their pre-eminences, jurisdictions, privileges, authorities, and immunities are now subordinate to a one-and-only supreme head on earth determined to repress, redress, restrain, and amend their heresies. One wouldn’t wish to overextend the analogy: For one thing, the Catholic Church in America has been pathetically accommodating of Beltway bigwigs’ ravenous appetite for marital annulments in a way that Pope Clement VII was disinclined to be vis-à-vis the English king and Catherine of Aragon. But where’d all the pandering get them? In essence President Obama has embarked on the same usurpation of church authority as Henry VIII: As his Friday morning faux-compromise confirms, the continued existence of a “faith-based institution” depends on submission to the doctrinal supremacy of the state.

“We will soon learn,” wrote Albert Mohler of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, “just how much faith is left in faith-based institutions.” Kathleen Sebelius, Obama’s vicar on earth, has sportingly offered to maintain religious liberty for those institutions engaged in explicit religious instruction to a largely believing clientele. So we’re not talking about mandatory condom dispensers next to the pulpit at St. Pat’s — not yet. But that is not what it means to be a Christian: The mission of a Catholic hospital is to minister to the sick. When a guy shows up in Emergency bleeding all over the floor, the nurse does not first establish whether he is Episcopalian or Muslim; when an indigent is in line at the soup kitchen the volunteer does not pause the ladle until she has determined whether he is a card-carrying papist. The government has redefined religion as equivalent to your Sunday best: You can take it out for an hour to go to church, but you gotta mothball it in the closet the rest of the week. So Catholic institutions cannot comply with Commissar Sebelius and still be in any meaningful sense Catholic.

If you’re an atheist or one of America’s ever more lapsed Catholics, you’re probably shrugging: What’s the big deal? But the new Act of Supremacy doesn’t stop with religious institutions. As Anthony Picarello, general counsel for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, put it: “If I quit this job and opened a Taco Bell, I’d be covered by this mandate.” And so would any of his burrito boys who object to being forced to make “health care” arrangements at odds with their conscience.

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SOURCE: UKRAINIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH OF THE USA
CONSISTORY OFFICE OF PUBLIC RELATIONS PRESS RELEASE

Record of Protest Against the Infringement of Religious Liberty
by the Department of Health and Human Services!

The Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of North and Central America, which is comprised of the 65 canonical Orthodox bishops in the United States, Canada and Mexico, join their voices with the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and all those who adamantly protest the recent decision by the United States Department of Health and Human Services, and call upon all the Orthodox Christian faithful to contact their elected representatives today to voice their concern in the face of this threat to the sanctity of the Church’s conscience.

In this ruling by HHS, religious hospitals, educational institutions, and other organizations will be required to pay for the full cost of contraceptives (including some abortion-inducing drugs) and sterilizations for their employees, regardless of the religious convictions of the employers.

The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution guarantees the free exercise of religion. This freedom is transgressed when a religious institution is required to pay for “contraceptive services” including abortion-inducing drugs and sterilization services that directly violate their religious convictions. Providing such services should not be regarded as mandated medical care. We, the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops, call upon HHS Secretary Sebelius and the Obama Administration to rescind this unjust ruling and to respect the religious freedom guaranteed all Americans by the First Amendment.

Orthodox cathedral installs new icons

2012-02-11T12:05:00.000-05:00

SOURCE: Minneapolis Star Tribune

Dmitry Shkolnik worked on lettering in entrance
of St Mary's Orthodox Cathedral.
The northeast Minneapolis cathedral is undergoing a
massive renovation including new iconography.
Glen Stubbe, Star Tribune

Ornate icons -- depicting Jesus, the Virgin Mary, angels, saints and other religious figures -- are a hallmark of Orthodox churches.

For St. Mary's Orthodox Cathedral in northeast Minneapolis, the wear and tear of more than a century has prompted a massive renovation of both the church and its iconography.

Crumbling, fading and in need of repair, the old iconography was removed and the walls repaired. New iconography was applied that gives the interior both an updated and more traditional touch. Work on the iconography began last fall, and the installation is expected to finish early next week.

"The old iconography ... was not a bad example of late 19th century Russian work," said Archpriest Andrew Morbey, dean of the cathedral. "Very Western. The new ... is far more traditional Orthodox iconography.

"Up until the modern era, Western art could be characterized as being naturalistic," he said. "The painters tried to portray three-dimensions.

"Traditional Orthodox iconography is the opposite. It's not three-dimensional. So the difference between westernized art and Orthodox iconography is that westernized art might look like you're looking into a mirror or looking at the world, whereas this traditional iconography is meant to look beyond the appearances of this world."

Other Orthodox churches are following suit and also replacing iconography with "something more traditionally Orthodox, more reflective of the spiritual values of the Eastern Orthodox Church," Morbey said.

The new iconography, which is the work of Russian iconographer Dmitry Shkolnik (www.shkolnik studio.com), is part of a years-long renovation of the cathedral built in 1905. Much of the detailed work was done on canvas in Shkolnik's San Francisco studio and brought to Minneapolis.

The cost so far is about $4.2 million and is expected to increase as the renovation continues.

"I think it could be a lifetime" of renovation, Morbey said.

PHOTO: Blessing of Honey in Bulgaria

2012-02-11T11:54:00.000-05:00

Bulgarian Orthodox priests read prayers as people gather around candles stuck to jars of honey, arranged as a Holy Cross, during mass for the 'sanctification of honey' at the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin church in the town of Blagoevgrad, some 100 km south of the Bulgarian capital of Sofia, on Friday, Feb. 10, 2012. Honey and beehives are sanctified by performing a ritual for health and rich harvest, marking the day of St. Haralampus, the Orthodox patron saint of bee-keepers. (AP Photo/Valentina Petrova)

US bishops release new statement calling for HHS mandate removal

2012-02-11T09:45:00.000-05:00

Washington D.C., Feb 10, 2012 / 10:15 pm (SOURCE: CNA/EWTN News).- The U.S. bishops released a new statement rejecting President Barack Obama's attempted compromise over the Health and Human services contraception mandate, calling for its complete removal.

The bishops issued an initial statement of caution the afternoon of Feb. 10 after President Obama announced a new policy stating that religious employers will not have to directly purchase contraceptives, but will be required to pay for health care plans from insurance companies that offer them without cost.

Later in the day, however, the bishops released a comprehensive statement calling the mandate and its recent update unacceptable and urging Catholics across the nation “to join together in this effort to protect religious liberty and freedom of conscience for all.”

Below is the U.S. bishops' statement in full:

The Catholic bishops have long supported access to life-affirming healthcare for all, and the conscience rights of everyone involved in the complex process of providing that healthcare. That is why we raised two serious objections to the “preventive services” regulation issued by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in August 2011.

First, we objected to the rule forcing private health plans—nationwide, by the stroke of a bureaucrat’s pen—to cover sterilization and contraception, including drugs that may cause abortion. All the other mandated “preventive services” prevent disease, and pregnancy is not a disease. Moreover, forcing plans to cover abortifacients violates existing federal conscience laws. Therefore, we called for the rescission of the mandate altogether.

Second, we explained that the mandate would impose a burden of unprecedented reach and severity on the consciences of those who consider such “services” immoral: insurers forced to write policies including this coverage; employers and schools forced to sponsor and subsidize the coverage; and individual employees and students forced to pay premiums for the coverage. We therefore urged HHS, if it insisted on keeping the mandate, to provide a conscience exemption for all of these stakeholders—not just the extremely small subset of “religious employers” that HHS proposed to exempt initially.

Today, the President has done two things.

First, he has decided to retain HHS’s nationwide mandate of insurance coverage of sterilization and contraception, including some abortifacients. This is both unsupported in the law and remains a grave moral concern. We cannot fail to reiterate this, even as so many would focus exclusively on the question of religious liberty.

Second, the President has announced some changes in how that mandate will be administered, which is still unclear in its details. As far as we can tell at this point, the change appears to have the following basic contours:

· It would still mandate that all insurers must include coverage for the objectionable services in all the policies they would write. At this point, it would appear that self-insuring religious employers, and religious insurance companies, are not exempt from this mandate.

· It would allow non-profit, religious employers to declare that they do not offer such coverage. But the employee and insurer may separately agree to add that coverage. The employee would not have to pay any additional amount to obtain this coverage, and the coverage would be provided as a part of the employer’s policy, not as a separate rider.

· Finally, we are told that the one-year extension on the effective date (from August 1, 2012 to August 1, 2013) is available to any non-profit religious employer who desires it, without any government application or approval process.

These changes require careful moral analysis, and moreover, appear subject to some measure of change. But we note at the outset that the lack of clear protection for key stakeholders—for self-insured religious employers; for religious and secular for-profit employers; for secular non-profit employers; for religious insurers; and for individuals—is unacceptable and must be corrected. And in the case where the employee and insurer agree to add the objectionable coverage, that coverage is still provided as a part of the objecting employer’s plan, financed in the same way as the rest of the coverage offered by the objecting employer. This, too, raises serious moral concerns.

We just received information about this proposal for the first time this morning; we were not consulted in advance. Some information we have is in writing and some is oral. We will, of course, continue to press for the greatest conscience protection we can secure from the Executive Branch. But stepping away from the particulars, we note that today’s proposal continues to involve needless government intrusion in the internal governance of religious institutions, and to threaten government coercion of religious people and groups to violate their most deeply held convictions. In a nation dedicated to religious liberty as its first and founding principle, we should not be limited to negotiating within these parameters. The only complete solution to this religious liberty problem is for HHS to rescind the mandate of these objectionable services.

We will therefore continue—with no less vigor, no less sense of urgency—our efforts to correct this problem through the other two branches of government. For example, we renew our call on Congress to pass, and the Administration to sign, the Respect for Rights of Conscience Act. And we renew our call to the Catholic faithful, and to all our fellow Americans, to join together in this effort to protect religious liberty and freedom of conscience for all.

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Interfaith leaders stand with Catholics against administration

Washington D.C., Feb 11, 2012 / 08:08 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Evangelical and Jewish leaders declared their solidarity with Catholics on Feb. 10, as the Obama administration sought to quell controversy over its policy on contraception and religious ministries.

“Stories involving a Catholic, a Protestant and a Jew typically end with a punch line,” wrote Cardinal Donald W. Wuerl of Washington, D.C., Prison Fellowship founder Charles Colson, and Manhattan-based Orthodox Rabbi Meir Soloveichik in a Wall Street Journal editorial.

“We wish that were the case here, but what brings us together is no laughing matter: the threat now posed by government policy to that basic human freedom, religious liberty.”

They criticized Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius for her Jan. 20 decision on religious employers' coverage of contraception, saying the rule “stands the First Amendment on its head.”

“Instead of encouraging the different faith communities to continue their vital work for the good of all, the Obama administration is forcing them to make a choice: serving God and their neighbors according to the dictates of their respective faiths – or bending the knee to the dictates of the state.”

The Jewish and Evangelical leaders joined Washington's archbishop in opposing the administration's attempt to require religious ministries – including schools, hospitals, charities, and media outlets – to subsidize contraception, sterilization, and abortion-causing drugs in their health plans.

Only ministries that primarily served and employed members of their own faith, for the sake of promoting “religious values,” were to be held exempt from the rule.

After three weeks of uproar, led by over 170 Catholic bishops, the administration announced a new policy on Feb. 10.

In place of the policy forcing many religious ministries to purchase plans covering contraception and sterilization, the new rule shifts the burden to these institutions' insurance providers – requiring them to offer the “preventive services” without a co-pay.

The administration claimed that under the new policy, “religious organizations will not be required to subsidize the cost of contraception.”

But critics said the administration was only shifting the subsidy, by forcing religious employers to contract with insurance providers offering the controversial services.

Catholic League President Bill Donohue responded to Friday's revised rule by predicting the president would soon see Catholics “team with Protestants, Jews, Mormons and others to recapture their First Amendment rights.”

Friday's editorial from Colson, Soloveichik, and Cardinal Wuerl offered a preview of that prospect, as they explained that the administration's attempt to mandate contraception coverage was not just offensive to Catholics.

“Coverage of this story has almost invariably been framed as a conflict between the federal government and the Catholic bishops,” they observed. “Nothing could be further from the truth.”

“Under no circumstances should people of faith violate their consciences and discard their most cherished religious beliefs in order to comply with a gravely unjust law. That's something that this Catholic, this Protestant and this Jew are in perfect agreement about.”

Two days earlier, Colson co-authored a Christianity Today editorial with Beeson Divinity School Dean Timothy George, stressing Evangelicals' duty to unite with Catholics against the contraception mandate.

In their column “First They Came for the Catholics,” George and Colson said Evangelical Christians “must stand unequivocally with our Roman Catholic brothers and sisters. Because when the government violates the religious liberty of one group, it threatens the religious liberty of all.”

VIDEO: Bishops Conference in Lviv (in Ukrainian)

2012-02-10T16:20:00.002-05:00

Catholic Bishops of Two Rites Gather in Lviv

2012-02-09T12:43:00.000-05:00

SOURCE: RISU

Mieczysław Mokrzycki

On 8 February, in the Higher Spiritual Seminary of the Lviv Archdiocese of the Roman Catholic Church in Lviv-Briukhovychi, a conference of Catholic bishops of the two rites was held. This year, bishops of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church and Roman Catholic Church conducted a meeting in this format for the first time.

The delegation of Greek Catholic hierarchs was led at the conference by Patriarch Sviatoslav (Shevchuk) and Roman Catholics were led by Metropolitan Mieczyslav Mokrzytski.

The meeting was also attended by Apostolic Nuncio in Ukraine, Archbishop Thomas Edwards Gullickson and Msgr. Krzysztof Nykiel, an officer of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith from the Vatikan.

“I am very glad that we have this opportunity to gather together again to settle our common problems. My joy is even greater as this meeting is held in the jubilee year, the 600th anniversary of the transfer of the seat of the Archdiocese of RCC from Halych to Lviv,” said Metropolitan Mieczyslav Mokrzhytski in an interview to the TV studio

“Our bishops are active in various regions of Ukraine, and from time to time have difficulties which we try to settle at such brotherly meetings,” stressed Patriarch Sviatoslav.

The Head of UGCC stated that the bishops will prepare a joint address on abortions during the conference activity.

“We will prepare a communiqué on this question. It is interesting that a Roman Catholic Archbishop Petro Malchuk from Kyiv who was in charge of the preparation of the document has calculated that over 40 million people have been killed since the legalization of abortions in Ukraine. A country with the same population as Ukraine has actually disappeared since that time,” he stressed.

According to the Information Department of UGCC, on the same evening, in the Greek Catholic Cathedral of St. Yur, the Catholic bishops of both rites concelebrated a liturgy on occasion of the 120th anniversary of birth of Patriarch Josef Slipyj.

Russian patriarch calls Putin era "miracle of God"

2012-02-09T12:25:00.001-05:00

"The bigger the lie, the more people will believe it" Can anyone really take this seriously? Only in Russia can the religious leadership have nothing but praise for the government...year after year after year. Never a peep of opposition. "Holy" Mother Russia indeed!

(SOURCE: Reuters-UK) - The head of the Russian Orthodox church on Wednesday called the 12 years of Vladimir Putin's rule a "miracle of God" and criticised his opponents, at a gathering where religious leaders heaped praise on the prime minister.

Putin wants support from spiritual figures for his campaign to win his third term in the Kremlin in a March 4 election. He is facing a growing protest movement and needs to consolidate his core support to avoid a runoff.

"What were the 2000's then? Through a miracle of God, with the active participation of the country's leadership, we managed to exit this horrible, systemic crisis," Kirill told a meeting at the ancient St. Daniel's monastery.

"I should say it openly as a patriarch who must only tell the truth, not paying attention to the political situation or propaganda, you personally played a massive role in correcting this crooked twist of our history," Kirill said.

Banned by the constitution from running for a third consecutive term, Putin stepped down in 2008 but remained in charge in the position of prime minister.

He looks set to win the election despite the biggest opposition protests of his rule but may be forced into a second round if he fails to get more than 50 percent of the vote in the first.

VIDEO: By the rivers of Babylon

2012-02-09T11:54:00.001-05:00

Our seminarians singing “By the Rivers of Babylon” at the Ottawa Eastern Catholic Student Chaplaincy on the Sunday of the Prodigal Son 2012. St. Elias' own Cyril Kennedy is seen second from right.

Hamilton, ON: 2012 Orthodox Spirituality Series - Fr. Moses Berry

2012-02-08T12:28:00.000-05:00

Dear Brethren and Friends:

I'm excited to be able to invite you to attend the 2012 Orthodox Spirituality Series.

This year, after years of effort, we are blessed to have Father Moses Berry - writer, priest, educator, and speaker - joining us on Saturday, March 24th, to speak on Ancient African Christianity: Heeding the Call of Christ (You can read his bio, below.)

Father Moses brings with him a profound message about communicating Christ and His Historic Church across cultures, a critical message for Canadians today, who live in the most multicultural country in the world, but in which Orthodox Christianity is usually confined to certain cultural circles.

We hope you can join us for this unique event, which includes three talks and question sessions with Father Moses, along with a Vespers service and Lenten Dinner.

You can register online at www.asna.ca.

Download the pdf pamphlet

Please set aside the date to hear this remarkable speaker, and take the time to register early, since the event is likely to sell out. God willing, hope to have you with us!

The Lord's blessing,

Father Geoffrey+

All Saints of North America Orthodox Church
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
(905) 318-6436

*******************************************************************

Father Moses Berry

An African American and former African Methodist Episcopal pastor, Father Moses researched the roots of Christianity in Africa, and discovered that the Orthodox Church has sustained a significant presence in Africa since the first century. Further studies led him to convert to Orthodoxy where he has been a pastor of various congregations for more than twenty years.

Father Moses’ great-grandmother Caroline was descended from a slave owned by the Boone family, and Father Moses is a direct descendent of Nathan Boone. After being set free, Caroline married William Berry and the two started a 40-acre home place where Father Moses and his family still live.

As founder and caretaker of the Ozarks Afro-American Heritage Museum, Father Moses has preserved a treasury of items chronicling the history of slavery in North America.

Father Moses is founder and president of the Brotherhood of St. Moses the Black, an Orthodox society whose mission is to bring the faith of Orthodox Christianity to people of African descent. He was a contributing writer of the book "An Unbroken Circle," and is co-publisher of "The Path to Confession."

The unique life story of Father Moses is currently the subject of a film in production, entitled “God’s Garden”. (www.Godsgardenthefilm.com)

He serves as rector of Theotokos “Unexpected Joy” Orthodox Church in Ask Grove, Missouri.

CCBR launches End-the-Killing Podcasts!! (See it. Believe it. End it.)

2012-02-08T11:48:00.000-05:00

Learn about the launch of our End-the-Killing Podcast, our newest publication, "A Physician's Guide to Discussing Abortion", and Stephanie's recent presentations to 3,000 young people in this month's newsletter.

Please click here to read our "January-February 2012": http://www.unmaskingchoice.ca/sites/default/files/newsletters/2012-0102.pdf

Please note that if you've been to this page before, you may need to click the refresh button to get the updated page. Furthermore, you need Acrobat Reader to open the document. If you don't have Acrobat already, you can download it for free at: http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html

Thank you for your continued support of CCBR.

For the babies,
Cristina, on behalf of the CCBR team

Cristina Perri
Office Administrator
Canadian Centre for Bio-Ethical Reform (CCBR)
Box 123,
5-8720 Macleod Trail SE
Calgary, AB, T2H 0M4
403-668-0485 (office)
403-539-2227 (fax)

See it. Believe it. End it. http://www.unmaskingchoice.ca

Check us out on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/Canadiancbr

Hundreds of Paraguay teachers unite against abortion

2012-02-07T08:59:00.000-05:00

Asunción, Paraguay, Feb 6, 2012 / 02:03 pm (SOURCE: CNA).- More than 500 teachers participating in the Catholic Teachers Congress in Paraguay rejected abortion and same-sex unions amid efforts to legalize both in neighboring countries such as Argentina.

Archbishop Pastor Cuquejo

In his message to the teachers during the Feb. 1-2 event in Asuncion, Archbishop Pastor Cuquejo said that the family is where education begins and where children are formed in their consciences.

“For this reason we defend the family made up of one man and one woman, who should do whatever necessary to provide comprehensive well being to their children,” the archbishop said.

He added that abortion and same-sex unions undermine the family, which is essential for society to exist and thrive. “If we weaken the family, we weaken society,” Archbishop Cuquejo said.

Congress member De los Santos Lima Huerta also weighed in and urged teachers not to give in to new tendencies in the country to impose sexual education on students.

He encouraged them to dialogue with students and said parents should take the lead in the education of their children. Families, and not the state or schools, are the primary educators of children, he said.

Parents should talk to their children and help them “to learn about their sexuality and not be afraid about confronting today’s situations,” Huerta emphasized.

Ukrainians Demand Bill on Transfer of Ukrainian Shrines to Russia Be Withdrawn

2012-02-07T08:47:00.000-05:00

SOURCE: RISU

In Ternopil, Kyiv, Lutsk, Rivne, Lviv, Cherkasy, Sumy and other places of Ukraine, public hearings were held to discuss Bill 9690 which was registered in the Parliament by members of the Party of Regions and Communist Party, Stepan Barna, the coordinator of the public movement Ukrainian Shrines to Ukrainian Nation reported to ZIK.

The bill envisages the privatization of Ukrainian shrines, in particular the Pochayiv and Kyiv Cave Monasteries, and the transfer thereof to the Moscow Patriarchate.

During the hearings all over Ukraine the public demanded that this anti-Ukrainian bill be revoked from the Supreme Council.

Stepan Barna is convinced that “if the bill is passed, the most outstanding Ukrainian spiritual and historic shrines will be in the hands of the Russian Church and Kirill Gundiaev.

According to him, what is happening now is actually a special operation to seize the Ukrainian shrines.

“These personalities even parade the book cost of the buildings, particularly, the Pochaiv Monastery. (Agreement 1 of December 12, 2003, between the Cabinet of Ministers and the religious community). “According to the agreement, the Cathedral of the Assumption built in 1771-1782 by the architect Hofman costs UAH 245 thousand , the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity (1906-1912, architect A. Shchusev) costs UAH 214 thousand , the Monastery cells (1771-1780) cost UAH 261 thousand , the bishop’s chamber costs UAH 185 thousand . And the offer of the month is the Nadbramnyi Building (1835): only UAH 78 thousand,” said Barna.

Stepan Barna reminded that a similar bill of the party of Regions’s reps, Shentsev and But was withdrawn from the Parliament under the pressure of the public.

“Then, we gathered over 100 thousand signatures demanding to withdraw the bill from consideration. Today, we again start the struggle against the new anti-Ukrainian initiative of the reps of Party of Regions and Communists, including gathering of signatures and protest actions,” noted Barna.

Patriarch Filaret Against Transfer of Pochayiv and Kyiv Cave Monasteries to Russian Church

2012-02-06T14:25:00.000-05:00

SOURCE: RISU

Patriarch Filaret is against the transfer of the Pochayiv and Kyiv Cave Monasteries to the Russian Church. According to the patriarch, he knows about the initiative of some deputies: “We strongly object to it. The deputies do not understand the consequences of this transfer.”

Patriarch Filaret noted that a scenario is possible where the Moscow Patriarchate and Russian Orthodox Church will be entitled to the property of the Pochayiv and Kyiv Cave Monasteries, whereas the churches themselves will join the unified Ukrainian national church: “We will then protest to the end and will defend the Kyiv Cave Monastery and will not allow to pass the national shrines of the Ukrainian nation to the Russian state.”

Patriarch Filaret added that if the shrines become Moscow’s property, Ukrainian believers will not let in at all, Unian.net reported.

...and from ZIK TV:

VIDEO: Прощание с зимой

2012-02-06T14:18:00.000-05:00

Beautiful video - Введенский монастырь Оптина Пустынь

New clergy assignments--Eparchy of Toronto

2012-02-06T09:26:00.000-05:00

SOURCE: Website of Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of Toronto and Eastern Canada

The following clergy reassignments have been made:

Upon request, Rev. John Barszczyk has been relieved of his responsibility as Rector of St. Josaphat's Cathedral but will remain as associate priest at the parish.

Rev. Ostap Chornij has been assigned as Rector of St. Josaphat's Cathedral. (pro tem)

Rt. Rev. Bohdan Bilinsky has been assigned to the Chancery as a full time Chancellor.

Rev. Dmytro Hancharyk has been assigned as administrator of the Church of the Great Martyr St. George the Victorious Church in Oshawa.

Rev. Lyubomyr Levytskyy has been assigned at adminstrator of The Exaltation of the Holy Cross Church in Barrie and Sts. Volodymyr and Olga Mission Church in Cawaja Beach.

We extend to all of them our best wishes in their new roles. May the Most Holy Spirit guide them and may God give them the strength and wisdom to work succesfully for the good of the Church and for the glory of God.

Patriarch Filaret in the News Today--on the UGCC and 50th Anniversary Video

2012-02-06T09:09:00.000-05:00

SOURCE: RISU

Patriarch Filaret, the head of the Kyivan Patriarchate, stated on a program of Channel 5 that no dialogue has been conducted between the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Kyivan Patriarchate and the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church but that both churches hold the Ukrainian statehood position.

“The thing is no dialogue has been conducted between the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Kyivan Patriarchate and the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church but we hold the same position with respect to the state, we hold the statehood position and the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church holds the statehood position, therefore we are united in this regard. As for the confrontations of the beginning of the 1990s, they subsided, because churches have been built both for the Orthodox communities and the Greek Catholics and there is nothing to dispute. Therefore, favourable conditions have been created for our good relations,” stated Patriarch Filaret, reported ZAXID.NET.

+++++++++++++++++++++++

Ювілей архієрейської хіротонії патріарха Філарета

Півстолітній ювілей архієрейської хіротонії сьогодні святкує Патріарх Київський і всієї України-Русі Філарет. Так довго служити в архієрейському сані випадає не кожному священику. Ця дата збіглася ще з однією - 45-ть років служіння на київській кафедрі.

Metropolitan Volodymyr Refutes Claims of His Incapability By Celebrating Liturgy

2012-02-06T09:04:00.001-05:00

SOURCE: RISU

The Head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP), Metropolitan Volodymyr celebrated a liturgy in the hospital where he undergoes rehabilitation, by which he refuted the claims that he is incapable. The service was celebrated in concelebration with Archbsihop Oleksandr (Drabynko) of Pereislav-Khmelnytskyi and Vyshneve. So reported the web site of UOC-MP.The service was attended by the primate’s Press-Secretary, Protopriest Heorhii Kovalenko, clergymen and the hospital personnel.

Let us remind the readers that on 1 February, 2012, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow in his address on occasion of the third anniversary of his enthronement, stated that in view of “temporary incapability” of Metropolitan Volodymyr, the responsibilities of the head of the Synod of UOC-MP are now fulfilled by Metropolitan Ahafangel (Savin) of Odesa and Izmail. In his address the Head of the Russian Church also approved all the decisions of the Synod of UOC-MP of January regarding the internal life of the Ukrainian Church.

Therefore, Patriarch Kirill openly confirmed the opinion of the members of the Synod of UOC-MP that Metropolitan Volodymyr is incapable. According to Religion in Ukraine, persons related to the Kyivan Metropolitanate stated that on 26 January, Metropolitan Volodymyr was conscious. He was even ready to participate in the Synod session which might be held in the hospital, which scenario was considered. However, the session was held without his participation.

Photo of the Day: St. John Kochurov preaching in Chicago

2012-02-05T17:29:00.001-05:00


This photo, dated 1905, shows Fr. John Kochurov preaching from the pulpit in the newly-constructed Holy Trinity Russian Orthodox Cathedral in Chicago. It’s one of several great shots of Holy Trinity to be found in the Chicago Daily News photo collection, available online via the Library of Congress website. (Source: Orthodox History)


Holy Trinity Church Today © Jeremy Atherton, 2007

Nazi-fighter and 'White Rose' founder declared a Saint

2012-02-05T17:21:00.000-05:00

SOURCE: The Local (Germany Edition)

The Russian-Orthodox Church canonised one of the founders of the anti-fascist group the "White Rose," Alexander Schmorell, over the weekend in Munich, nearly 70 years after his execution by the Nazis.

Schmorell, who was born in Russia, was celebrated as a new martyr in the church during a special service in the Cathedral of the Holy New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia in Munich on Saturday. He was 25 at the time of his death.

The White Rose, or Weiße Rose, was founded by a group of Munich students and their philosophy professor Kurt Huber, all of whom actively voiced their resistance against the crimes of the Nazi regime under Adolf Hitler.

In 1942, the group launched a graffiti campaign and began to distribute thousands of leaflets urging opposition to the National Socialist Party.

On July 13, 1943, Schmorell and Huber were executed, just five months after fellow White Rose members Sophie and Hans Scholl and Christoph Probst were put to death.

Archpriest Nikolai Artemoff has been working toward Schmorell's canonisation since 1993, along with Archbishop Mark of Berlin, Germany and Great Britain of the Russian-Orthodox Church Outside of Russia.

"For us, he took a very important stance, rejecting both Bolshevism as well as National Socialism," Artemoff said.

Schmorell's last letter to his family reflected to the depth of his Christian faith. His niece, Alexa Busch, said the church was a "piece of home" for him, much like the Russian language.

"His faith was surely one of the reasons he was so free and independent," she added.

Archpriest Nikolai Artemoff of the Russian cathedral in Munich:
panachyda at Alexander Schmorell's grave in 2005

For more on "The White Rose", see
Blessed Alexander Schmorell and the White Rose

From Baptist to Orthodoxy: Rev. John Johnson

2012-02-05T17:04:00.000-05:00

SOURCE: Washington Examiner

Tucked away in a sleepy Northwest D.C. neighborhood is an unexpected sight: a golden onion dome, sitting atop the Russian Orthodox Cathedral of St. John the Baptist. Inside, walls covered with ornate icons dazzle visitors, and the smell of incense lingers from Sunday worship. The Rev. John Johnson, one of the priests at the cathedral, is perhaps equally unexpected. The 45-year-old black management consultant converted to Orthodoxy after a spiritual journey that included growing up Baptist, hitting a spiritual "rock bottom" and exploring Catholicism. He became a priest nearly five years ago after feeling a call to serve others.

What drew you to Orthodoxy?

Fr. John Johnson (left) with Deacon Alexander Reznikoff

The feeling that something was lacking. I was looking for something liturgical. I was actually considering becoming Catholic, which was one of the stations on my spiritual journey. When I came to an Orthodox church and experienced the liturgy, there was a feeling of finally being home. That feeling has stayed with me. That to me is what it means to be a Christian, the feeling that I am home, even here on Earth.

One of characteristics of Orthodoxy is that it's a full-body experience, and that's part of what drew me, too. Within the Christian West, worship tends to be a spiritual or an emotional thing. Within Orthodoxy, the entire person worships. It's not an intellectual exercise; it's not an emotional state; it's coming into the presence of God with all of who you are.

Why is beauty in an external, sensory form so important to Orthodox worship?

One of the criticisms leveled against the Orthodox is that we have all of this finery in the church, that it's materially a very rich church. But all of that serves a purpose, because when we think of God, we think of God as being the author of all that is good and all that is beautiful. What you see in an Orthodox church -- the iconography, the vestments that the clergy wear -- is meant to call to mind that as splendid as these things are, the God who created them is infinitely greater and more beautiful and more splendid. This is but a pale shadow of what is to come.

How has being Orthodox changed you?

I've become more aware of the presence of God in everything around me and in everyone. When we look at the icons, we're reminded that living people are also icons, that living people also bear the image and likeness of God. Just as we venerate the icons, we really should venerate one another. That's one of the biggest changes in me -- that no matter how much I may not like a person, no matter how much I may detest what somebody has done, nonetheless I'm called to love them. Because in loving them, I'm loving the image of God that resides in them.

The Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia recently reconciled with the church in Moscow. Has the church at large recovered from the Soviet era? What scars remain?

Healing is a process. The church was in subjugation for 80 years. As with anything, it's going to take time for the people to recover. There are people who are going to have to rediscover their Orthodoxy. What was a church in the catacombs has become a church that is able to worship openly now, and so people are reacclimating to that.

Is it important to you that you are one of only a few African-American Russian Orthodox priests?

No, not really. I tend not to look at things from a racial perspective. I look at people as people. So it's not really something that occurs to me very often. What does occur to me is that there's a need to bring that which has been given to us to people who don't necessarily have leanings toward an ethnic church. In this area there is a large Hispanic contingent. Perhaps in the future we will see more liturgies in Spanish. I would love to see that.

At your core, what is one of your defining beliefs?

God is love. Belief in God is not merely a slavish adherence to the rules. It's participating in the joy that is knowing God, that is knowing Christ. And that is what being a Christian should be. It shouldn't be being dour because you're worried about sin. We obviously have to deal with sin and the consequences of it, and that's a portion of our life in Christ, but it's not the sum total. A Christian's life should be a life of joy as well.

Vatican astronomer says Big Bang theory in tune with creation history

2012-02-05T16:34:00.000-05:00

Vatican City, Feb 4, 2012 / 06:09 pm (SOURCE: CNA).- The director of the Vatican Observatory said that the Church is open to the scientific theory that the world began from a cosmic explosion billions of years ago.

“The Big Bang is not in contradiction with the faith, ” Father Jose Gabriel Funes said during a Feb. 2 announcement of a Vatican exhibit that will feature photos, research tools and minerals from the Moon and Mars.

M101 (also nicknamed the Pinwheel Galaxy) lies in the northern circumpolar constellation Ursa Major (The Great Bear), at a distance of 25 million light-years from Earth. Therefore, we are seeing the galaxy as it looked 25 million years ago -- when the light we’re receiving from it now was emitted by its stars -- at the beginning of Earth’s Miocene Period, when mammals flourished and the Mastodon first appeared on Earth. (Source: NASA)

The exhibit titled “Stories from another world: The Universe within us and outside us,” will be on display March 10 - July 1 in Pisa, the birthplace of Galileo, the father of modern astronomy.

Fr. Funes told CNA at the event that the Big Bang explanation “is the best theory we have right now about the creation of the universe.”

The theory holds that creation began some 14 billion years ago with a colossal explosion in which space, time, energy and matter were created, and galaxies, stars and planets – which are in continual expansion – came to be.

“We know that God is the creator,” he added, “that He is a good Father who has a providential plan for us, that we are his children, and that we everything we can learn by reason about the origin of the universe is not in contradiction with the religious message of the Bible.”

Fr. Funes said that as an astronomer and a Catholic, he is open to this explanation of the creation of the universe, despite “some yet unanswered questions.”

He noted, for example, that while there is no proof of other intelligent life in the universe, “we cannot rule it out,” since studies show that there are nearly 700 planets orbiting other stars.

“If in the future it was established that life, and intelligent life, exists, which I think would be very difficult, I don’t think this contradicts the religious message of creation because they would also be creatures of God,” he said.

Ultimately, Catholics “should see the cosmos as a gift of God” and should “admire the beauty that exists in the universe.”

“This beauty we see in some way leads us to the beauty of the creator,” he said.

“And also, because God has granted us intelligence and reason, we can find the logos, that rational explanation that exists in the universe that allows us to engage in science as well.”

The Church’s official interest in astronomy dates back to the 16th century. In 1891, Pope Leo XIII decided to officially create the Vatican Observatory to show that the Church is not against scientific development, but rather promotes it.

Since then, the Vatican Observatory has operated out of Castel Gandolfo and uses a telescope located in Tuscon, Arizona, for research.

(The Vatican Observatory, one of the oldest astronomical research institutions in the world, has its headquarters at the papal summer residence in Castel Gandolfo, Italy, outside Rome. Its dependent research center, the Vatican Observatory Research Group (VORG), is hosted by Steward Observatory at the University of Arizona, Tucson, USA (Source: The Living Moon)

This Week in Christian History (February 5)

2012-02-05T10:43:00.000-05:00

SOURCE: Christianity Today

February 5

February 5, 1597: Twenty-six Japanese Christians are crucified for their faith in Nagasaki, Japan. By 1640, thousands of Japanese Christians had been martyred.

February 5, 1631: English clergyman Roger Williams arrives in America. After questioning Massachusetts' fusion of church and state, he was banished. He bought land from native Americans and founded Rhode Island, where he established America's first Baptist church in America. His writings on religious liberty were greatly influential in securing that freedom later in America.

Photius, patriarch of Constantinople

February 6

February 6, 891: Photius, patriarch of Constantinople from 858-867, dies after a series of excommunications and restorations. His 867 encyclical, which denounced the presence of Latin missionaries in Bulgaria as an intrusion and objected to the filioque clause in the creed ("the Holy Ghost . . . who proceeds from the Father and the Son"), was significant in the East-West conflict that eventually led to the "Great Schism"

February 7

February 7, 1478: St. Thomas More, Lord Chancellor of England during the English Reformation, is born. Though he idealized freedom of religion in Utopia (1516), he supported the punishment of heretics and Protestants like Martin Luther and William Tyndale. He retired from office rather than acknowledge Henry VIII's divorce and was beheaded for refusing to acknowledge Henry as head of the church

February 8

ST. ATHANASIUS

February 8, 356: For the third time since the Council of Nicea in 325, St. Athanasius goes into exile. The defender of orthodoxy was out of favor as Arianism, a heresy condemned at the council, ran rampant throughout the Empire. He would be exiled twice more before he died (see issue 51: Heresy in the Early Church).

February 8, 1587: Mary, Queen of Scots, is beheaded. Attempting to restore Catholicism to England, she began persecuting Protestants. But, largely thanks to the work of John Knox, her attempts failed

February 8, 1693: The College of William and Mary is founded in Williamsburg, Virginia. Originally intended to educate Anglican clergymen, it is America's second-oldest higher education institution (Harvard is the oldest).

February 9

February 9, 249 (traditional date): According to Dionysius (died c. 264), bishop of Alexandria, on this date, Roman officials "seized that marvelous aged virgin Apolloinia, broke out all her teeth with blows on her jaws, and piling up a bonfire before the city, threatened to burn her alive if she refused to recite with them their blasphemous sayings. But she asked for a brief delay and without flinching leapt into the fire and was consumed".

Fyodor Dostoyevsky

February 9, 1881: Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoyevsky dies. A devout Russian Orthodox Christian, the author of Crime and Punishment (1866) and The Brothers Karamazov (1880) once wrote "If someone proved to me that Christ is outside the truth, and that in reality the truth were outside of Christ, then I should prefer to remain with Christ rather than with the truth.

February 10

February 10, 60 (traditional date): The Apostle Paul is shipwrecked at Malta

February 11

February 11, 1858: Bernadette Soubirous, a 14-year-old peasant from Lourdes, France, experiences her first vision of the Virgin Mary. By July she had 18 similar visions.

February 11, 1929: The Lateran Treaty is signed by Mussolini and the Holy See, recognizing Vatican City as a sovereign state. At a mere 109 acres, it became the smallest nation in the world.

Dawkins predicts religion’s early death: the Pope warns that ‘in vast areas of the world the faith is in danger of being snuffed out’. But they are saying very different things

2012-02-04T12:57:00.000-05:00

SOURCE: Catholic Herald UK

I don’t suppose many of my readers are also readers of the Times of India, so most of you will not have seen the following, which appeared on January 24 under the headline “Look forward to the death of organised religion: Richard Dawkins”:

JAIPUR: Richard Dawkins – scientist, bestselling author and the world’s foremost atheist – comes across as mild-mannered and genial but doesn’t believe in pulling his punches. He certainly didn’t on Monday at the Jaipur Lit Fest as he blasted the “lamentable disgrace” of Salman Rushdie’s enforced absence. He also launched a broadside against the “virus of faith”, and said he looked forward to the “complete death of organised religion” in his lifetime.

Dawkins singled out various irrational beliefs, including “Santa Claus, baby Jesus and Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer” and then homed in on the Catholic Church:

Dawkins pointed out that in the 16th century, some Catholics in England had written to a senior figure in the Vatican asking if it was acceptable to murder Elizabeth I. The answer was that since the Queen had led millions away from Catholicism, her murder would be a commendable act. Dawkins didn’t spell it out, but two points were clear- he wasn’t targeting a faith but all of them, and nothing much has changed in almost 500 years. “Religion is deadly because it makes people willing to die and kill for it without a shred of evidence to back up their beliefs,” he said.

Well, that needn’t detain us for very long. We all know that Pius V’s bull, Regnans in Excelsis (1570), which declared Elizabeth I a heretic and released her subjects from their allegiance to her, was a massive political blunder, since Elizabeth, who had thus far tolerated Catholic worship in private, now started actively persecuting Catholics, a persecution whose effects lasted for over 400 years and are with us still (Dawkins himself is in a sense riding on the back of it, as we saw in his campaign against the Pope’s visit to England). Dawkins claims to rule his life by the light of reason: but to say that Pius V’s disastrous blunder disproves his religion is entirely irrational. Regnans in Excelsis isn’t in any sense a religious or spiritual document: it’s power politics from beginning to end. As for religion being deadly “because it makes people willing to die and kill for it without a shred of evidence to back up their beliefs”, how about the willingness of the atheists Stalin and Mao massively to kill for it in the name of their own supposedly scientific but equally unproved anti-religious beliefs?

But this is the kind of thing we are used to from Dawkins. What attracts attention here is that prediction: that there will be the “complete death of organised religion” in his lifetime. Well now. He’s almost certainly wrong, and I wouldn’t bother to dignify his polemical sally with any argument against it, if it didn’t seem on the face of it to be not entirely dissimilar to a recent predictive speculation of the Holy Father’s, uttered three days later at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith’s recent plenary session. “We are facing,” the Pope said, “a deep crisis of faith, a loss of religious sense which poses the greatest challenge for the Church today”: he went on to warn that “In vast areas of the world faith risks going out like a flame that no longer has anything to burn on.”

It’s happened before, of course, this selective death of faith where once it flourished: where is St Augustine’s Hippo now? In North Africa, once a centre of the Catholic faith, that’s where. But to realise that the survival of the faith in any particular place or area of the globe is never secure is quite different from doubting the dominical promise that “the gates of hell shall not prevail against it”. Whatever may be happening in Europe and North America, worldwide the faith is still advancing, not retreating.
And of course, that’s what the Pope is really saying: it’s the renewal of faith that he’s after, especially in areas of the world where it seems threatened. Fr Z’s translation of the relevant passage (which I didn’t find complete and in English anywhere else) is useful here:

As we know, in vast areas of the world the Faith is in danger of being snuffed out like a flame that no longer has any sustenance. We are at a profound crisis of faith, at a loss of a religious sense that constitutes the greatest challenge for the Church of today. The renewal of the faith must therefore be the priority in the undertaking of the whole Church in our times. I hope that the Year of Faith can contribute, with the cordial collaboration of all the members of the People of God, to bring God back anew to this world and to open to men an access to the faith, to a reliance on the God who loved us to the end (cf John 13,1), in Christ Jesus, crucified and risen.

Fr Z’s own contribution to that process is to say that “nothing of which His Holiness spoke is going to be accomplished without a renewal of our liturgical worship”; and I’m quite certain that he’s right. That’s where it has to begin: at the altar. I’m less sure than he is that this can be accomplished principally by homing in on Summorum Pontificum, though I absolutely agree that it remains “one of the most important acts of his pontificate”. This is what Fr Z would like to see:

We need more and more and more opportunities for people to experience the older, traditional form of the Roman Rite in our Latin Church parishes.
Younger priests: learn the older form. This is your Rite! Know your Rite! If you are a Latin Church priest, who are you if you don’t know your Rite? Just do it!
Lay people: band together and start requesting celebrations of Holy Mass also in the Extraordinary Form. Get organized. Form a schola and start singing chant so you will be ready when the time comes. Offer to take care of all the material details. Offer to provide vestments, books, money so the priest can go get training. Start thinking about forming a group of servers, perhaps even father and son teams.

I agree with all of that, and on Sundays I not infrequently hear Mass in the Extraordinary Form. But I still find myself more often attending High Mass in Latin according to the Novus Ordo. I am, I admit, exceptionally fortunate in my parish church, the Oxford Oratory, where I can experience every week what the Church’s liturgy could be everywhere. There’s no question for us of “the Faith [being] in danger of being snuffed out like a flame that no longer has any sustenance”. Fr Z concludes by saying that “Many benefits will flow from a side by side experience of both forms of Holy Mass of the Latin Church”, and I’m certain he’s right: I’m quite sure, for instance, that my clergy’s celebration of the Novus Ordo is deeply enriched by the fact that they all regularly celebrate the Old Mass too.

But I am also only too aware that when I am away from home Sundays can be very different, and that though the Mass is always irreducibly the Mass, the way it is celebrated can send a real chill to the heart. For every priest, everywhere, seriously to address this problem has to be seen as a first priority. Do the bishops understand how important this is? I wonder.

FOR SALE: Benedictines to sell Church treasures worth £100,000

2012-02-04T12:40:00.000-05:00

SOURCE: Catholic Herald UK

About £100,000 worth of treasures from St Augustine’s Abbey in Kent are to be sold at auction next week.

The objects being put up for sale include church plate, chalices – including a Charles I chalice made in 1633 and an Arts and Crafts chalice worth £13,000 to £15,000 – as well as reliquaries and a 19th-century monstrance.

The treasures are being sold by Dominic Winter auctioneers after the remaining Benedictine monks at the abbey decided to move to a smaller friary in Chilworth, near Farnham in Surrey.

Priestly bloggers Fr Mildew and Fr Ray Blake have criticised the sale, saying more effort should have been made to keep the holy objects for use in liturgy.

Fr Blake, parish priest at St Mary Magdalene, Brighton, said that St Michael’s Abbey at Farnborough, Hampshire – another Benedictine monastery – were considering trying to acquire “as many of these items as possible”.

A spokesman for the abbey declined to comment.

Fr Blake wrote: “I only hope and pray that these sacred objects are bought and restored to the holy use for which they were intended. However, their fate is more likely to become part of some decorative scheme or possibly even to be used for a sacrilegious purpose.”

A spokesman for Dominic Winter said that all of the religious objects had been deconsecrated. The auction will be held on Wednesday and Thursday next week.

St Augustine’s Abbey in Ramsgate, designed by A W Pugin, was the first monastery to be built in England since the Reformation. It was founded in 1856. The 11 Benedictines voted to leave in 2009 and bought the Franciscan friary in Chilworth in 2010.

VIDEO: Roman Catholics Celebrate 600th Anniversary of Lviv Metropolitanate

2012-02-04T12:32:00.000-05:00

SOURCE: RISU

A celebratory mass on the occasion of the 600th anniversary of the transfer of the capital of the Archdiocese of the Roman Catholic Church from Halych to Lviv was held on February 1, in the Latin Cathedral. The service was led by the Apostolic Nuncio in Ukraine, Archbishop Thomas Edward Gullickson, who made his first official visit to the Roman Catholic community of Lviv, reported our RISU correspondent, Iryna Kondratiuk.

The mass was also celebrated jointly by the head of the Roman Catholic Church of Ukraine, Archbishop Mieczyslaw Mokrzycki and the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk.

The service was attended by bishops and clergymen of RCC from Ukraine and Poland and Auxiliary Bishop of the Lviv Metropolitanate of UGCC, Bishop Venedykt, representatives of the Orthodox Church, General Consul of the Polish Republic in Lviv and representatives of the authorities of the Lviv Oblast.

The service, which was celebrated in Latin, Polish and Ukrainian, began the jubilee year of the Roman Catholic Church in Ukraine. Archbishop Mieczyslaw Mokrzycki stressed in his sermon that the objective of the year is to bring Jesus to the world.

+++++++++++++++

У Львівській архикатедрі 1 лютого відбулась урочиста Меса з нагоди інавгурації ювілею 600-річчя перенесення столиці Львівської Архідієцезії РКЦ з Галича до Львова. Святкове богослужіння очолив Апостольський Нунцій в Україні Архиєпископ Томас Едвард Ґалліксон.

У спільній молитві участь також взяли архиєпископ Мечислав Мокшицький Митрополит Львівський, Глава Української Греко-Католицької Церкви -- Блаженніший Святослав, єпископ-помічник Львівської архидієцезії Леон Малий, владика Венедикт єпископ-помічник Львівської архиєпархії УГКЦ, а також інші представники духовенства РКЦ і УГКЦ в Україні і з-за кордону. (Credo-ua.org)

Photo of the Day: A Knight in the Holy Land

2012-02-04T12:25:00.000-05:00

Cardinal-designate Timothy Dolan, wearing the cape of the Equestrian Order of the
Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem, prays the rosary on steps of the
Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.
(photo: Bob Mullen/The Catholic Photographer/NY Daily News)
for story see CNEWA

Bells can ring out at UK Russian church

2012-02-03T21:10:00.000-05:00

SOURCE: Oxford Mail

BELLS will ring out over part of Marston after church leaders overcame “anti-religious” objections to win council permission.

Oxford City Council members approved controversial plans on Wednesday for bells to be rung at the Russian Orthodox church of St Nicholas the Wonderworker.

The Ferry Road church can ring its four bells for up to three minutes once a day between 10.25am and 6pm on Sundays and 9.25am and 6pm Monday to Saturday.

They can also be rung for up to 15 minutes a week for weddings, funerals and feast days and at Christmas and Easter evening services.

Bells have not rung from the building since 1972, when it was sold by the Church of England and became a sign factory.

Planning permission was granted in 2008 to turn it back into a place of worship.

But the approval ruled out the church ringing bells unless it got further permission.

Twenty-four letters opposed the plan, while John Radcliffe Hospital immunologist Dr Adam Ritchie said it would disturb sleep patterns of shift workers.

He told councillors: “We find the idea of bell-ringing during what is, on the face of it, a reasonable time to be quite intrusive to those of us who do not sleep at normal times.”

Noise from the church had impacted on some residents “in a very dramatic way” he said.

The Rev Stephen Platt, the church priest, said: “Some of the campaign was directed against the church as a place of religious worship and was anti-religious in character.” He added: “There will be a minimal impact to our neighbours with whom we have begun to build up a good relationship.”

Bells from city centre churches and St Michael and All Angels in Marston Road could be heard in the area, he said.

And he claimed the sound of the St Nicholas bells would be similar to the jingle of an ice cream van going down the street.

The city council’s east area planning committee heard one funeral and two weddings had taken place since the church reopened in September 2010.

Planning officer Martin Armstrong said of the 15-minute rule: “Four weddings and a funeral and you’re there.”

Committee member Mark Mills said the sound would be similar to handbells. He added: “I really think it would be unreasonable to oppose this.”

But fellow councillor Dick Wolff said there was “no sense of contract” between the community and church that would support tolling bells to call worshippers.

Patriarch Sviatoslav: "UCU has the best school of theology in the entire former Soviet Union"

2012-02-03T20:56:00.000-05:00

SOURCE: RISU

The head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, Patriarch Sviatoslav, celebrated a liturgy at the Ukrainian Catholic University on February 2, the press service of UCU reported.

The primate addressed the theologians:“UCU has the best school of theology in the entire former Soviet Union. But there is temptation to evaluate the work of our theologians by what other people say about them. I want to thank those people who were courageous enough to devote their lives to theological studies. I also want to emphasize the importance of the existence of this university and of the theological school for our church. I encourage you with all the power of God’s Word to build our church and our society in the dimension, to which the Lord is calling us.”

The Patriarch greeted guests from southern, central and eastern Ukraine, who are now enrolled in the program at the Institute of Leadership and Management of UCU. He also thanked the students, “who entrusted their lives and future in this university.”

According to Senior Vice Rector of UCU Taras Dobko, the Ukrainian Catholic University is to fulfill many tasks this year: to open a student collegium, complete the full cycle of theological education by opening a postgraduate course and institution of doctoral candidacy, to introduce new master's degree programs.

Army Silenced Chaplains Last Sunday

2012-02-03T20:50:00.000-05:00

SOURCE: National Review Online

In Catholic churches across the country, parishioners were read letters from the pulpit this weekend from bishops in their diocese about the mandate from the Department of Health and Human Services giving Catholics a year before they’ll be required to start violating their consciences on insurance coverage for contraception, sterilization, and abortifacient drugs. But not in the Army.

A statement released this afternoon — which happens to be the 67th anniversary of the sinking of the USS Dorchester, on which four chaplains lost their lives – from the Archdiocese for Military Services explains:

Archbishop Timothy Broglio while on visit to Iraq

On Thursday, January 26, Archbishop Timothy Broglio emailed a pastoral letter to Catholic military chaplains with instructions that it be read from the pulpit at Sunday Masses the following weekend in all military chapels. The letter calls on Catholics to resist the policy initiative, recently affirmed by the United States Department of Health and Human Services, for federally mandated health insurance covering sterilization, abortifacients and contraception, because it represents a violation of the freedom of religion recognized by the U.S. Constitution.

The Army’s Office of the Chief of Chaplains subsequently sent an email to senior chaplains advising them that the Archbishop’s letter was not coordinated with that office and asked that it not be read from the pulpit. The Chief’s office directed that the letter was to be mentioned in the Mass announcements and distributed in printed form in the back of the chapel.

Archbishop Broglio and the Archdiocese stand firm in the belief, based on legal precedent, that such a directive from the Army constituted a violation of his Constitutionally-protected right of free speech and the free exercise of religion, as well as those same rights of all military chaplains and their congregants.

Following a discussion between Archbishop Broglio and the Secretary of the Army, The Honorable John McHugh, it was agreed that it was a mistake to stop the reading of the Archbishop’s letter. Additionally, the line: “We cannot — we will not — comply with this unjust law” was removed by Archbishop Broglio at the suggestion of Secretary McHugh over the concern that it could potentially be misunderstood as a call to civil disobedience.

The AMS did not receive any objections to the reading of Archbishop Broglio’s statement from the other branches of service.

So not only were chaplains told not to read the letter, but an Obama administration official edited a pastoral letter . . . with church buy-in?

Didn’t people flee across an ocean-sized pond to be free of this kind of thing?

UPDATE: Army spokesman confirms “the Army asked that the letter not be read from the pulpit.”

SSPX leader: 'we have to say no'

2012-02-03T20:40:00.000-05:00

SOURCE: Catholic Culture

The head of the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) has indicated that the traditionalist group remains at odds with the Vatican on key issues regarding the teachings of Vatican II.

In a sermon delivered on February 2 at St. Thomas Aquinas Seminary, Bishop Bernard Fellay said that the unresolved issue in talks between the SSPX and Rome is the Vatican’s insistence that the traditionalists accept the authority of the Council. “And practically, at many levels, we have to say no,” he said. Bishop Fellay elaborated:

The key problem in our discussions with Rome was really the Magisterium, the teaching of the Church. Because they say, "we are the pope, we are the Holy See" – and we say, yes. And so they say, "we have the supreme power," and we say, yes. They say, "we are the last instance in teaching and we are necessary" – Rome is necessary for us to have the Faith, and we say, yes. And then they say, "then, obey." And we say, no.

The SSPX leader said that his group’s latest response to the Vatican is still under study there.

Additional sources for this story
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Extract from the Sermon of Bishop Fellay on February 2nd, 2012 (St. Thomas Aquinas Seminary)

Patriarch Filaret Warming Up to Ukrainian President Yanukovych

2012-02-03T16:07:00.000-05:00

Філарет покращив відносини з Януковичем

PHOTOS: Patriarch Sviatoslav Visits the UCU in Lviv

2012-02-02T13:46:00.000-05:00

For more photos, go to the UCU Website

Orthodox Bishops Assembly Silent on Moral Issues

2012-02-02T10:13:00.000-05:00

SOURCE: American Orthodox Institute
By John Couretas

–At an October 1970 meeting of the Standing Conference of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of the Americas (SCOBA), which was called to discuss the burning question of an independent American Church, the presiding conference chair Archbishop Iakovos got fed up and quit. Official letters raising the subject of independence had been sent to the “mother Churches” in Constantinople, Bucharest, Belgrade, Athens and other Orthodox “centers” pointing for the need to do something about the chaotic “situation of Orthodoxy in America.” Only three replies came back. To the Greek Orthodox Iakovos, this was proof that no one took SCOBA seriously and, for that matter, the American Orthodox.

Archbishop Iakovos

The archbishop resigned from SCOBA in disgust, saying that he had no desire to be the head of a “dead body.” According to a contemporary account, the official minutes of the meeting were forged to cover up what would turn out to be a temporary resignation.

It would take another 40 years for SCOBA to be officially dismantled and replaced with the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of North and Central America, also known as the Assembly of Bishops. Its founding articles constitute the body for “the promotion and accomplishment of Church unity in North and Central America.” It is also charged with providing a “common witness by the Church to all those outside her.” But given its sterling record of non-accomplishment on that “common witness” so far, is there good reason to expect that the Assembly won’t become the sort of “dead body” that Abp. Iakovos feared SCOBA had become?

HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius

Nothing could reveal this more clearly than the Assembly’s non-reaction to the Jan. 20 mandate by Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius that orders most employers and insurers to provide contraceptives, sterilization, and abortifacient drugs (the “morning after pill”) free of charge. In sharp contrast to the somnolent Assembly, the response from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) was swift and unequivocal.

“From a human point of view, we may be tempted to surrender, when our government places conception, pregnancy and birth under the ‘center for disease control,’ when chemically blocking conception or aborting the baby in the womb is considered a ‘right’ to be subsidized by others who abhor it,” said Cardinal-designate Timothy Dolan, archbishop of New York and president of USCCB. “Not us!”

It wasn’t just a Catholic thing. Protestant and Orthodox Jewish leaders had written to the White House in late December about concerns that “the contraceptives mandate in the health insurance regulations, and about the ‘religious employer’ exemption that is so narrow that it does not protect most faith-based organizations.”

The Obama administration mandate came down just before Sanctity Sunday, on Jan. 22, and the March for Life the following day. As for these events, widely attended by Catholics, Protestants and those of other faith traditions, the “common witness” of the Assembly amounted only to silence.

That is not to say that individual hierarchs, clergy, seminarians and lay Orthodox did not turn out in numbers and show their support at the 2012 March for Life in Washington and other cities. Metropolitan Jonah of the Orthodox Church in America delivered an eloquent and Spirit-filled opening prayer in front of the U.S. Supreme Court – with Abp. Dolan at his side. On Sanctity Sunday, Bishop Demetrios of Mokissos of the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Chicago, offered a thoughtful talk on the Orthodox Tradition, abortion and the death penalty at a Pan-Orthodox Sanctity of Life Vespers held in Chicago.

The Assembly Nods

The Assembly is chaired by Archbishop Demetrios of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America (GOA). The Committee for Church and Society, which aims to “develop a process to determine both the propriety and the priority of advocacy by the Assembly of issues concerning Church, government and society,” is chaired by the Greek Orthodox Metropolitan Savas of Pittsburgh. Both are hierarchs under Patriarch Bartholomew and the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, based in Istanbul, Turkey.

Putting the left-leaning Met. Savas at the head of the Committee on Church and Society was a masterstroke of political cynicism. His idea of social critique is to post offensive videos on his Facebook page like, “Tea Party Jesus: Sermon on the Mall.” Whoever was responsible for nominating Met. Savas to the Church and Society position probably felt especially clever for the rest of the day, like the schoolboy prankster who puts fresh paint on doorknobs. But the intent of Met. Savas’ appointment has been so grossly obvious, it’s not even worthy of the Byzantine reputation for subterfuge and manipulation in high places.

Could it be that Met. Savas hasn’t roused the Church and Society committee to speak out on the Obama administration’s ruling on contraception, sterilization and abortifacients, or the March for Life, because he doesn’t want to be reminded of how he exulted at President Obama’s election, using the most florid biblical language? If he’d like some pointers on how to speak out on public square issues, he could do worse than follow the lead of his plain talking Roman Catholic counterpart in Pittsburgh, Bishop David A. Zubik. Or read the statements that, at last count, 126 Catholic bishops have issued on the HHS mandate, many of which were read at diocesan Masses or included in parish bulletins.

But what could the Assembly have done under its current framework and administration? Read the Church and Society’s to-do list, for some reason labeled “terms of reference,” and you find a perfect prescription for bureaucratic gridlock. It was designed for paralysis.

What’s more, the Assembly is already issuing appeals for funding. Does it not have the resources necessary to carry forward its ambitious – if wholly unfulfilled – mission? Why not? The Orthodox comprise one of the wealthiest faith communities in America, behind only Hindus and Jews. To be considered for this year’s National Herald ranking of the “50 Wealthiest Greeks in America,” for example, you’ll need a net worth of at least $60 million. (In 2011, the list published by this ethnic newspaper had a cutoff point of $72.5 million.)

Obviously, the American Orthodox world is awash in money. What’s more, there’s plenty of willingness to involve the Church in politics.

Obscure Balkan Controversies?

The Assembly managed to shake off its “common witness” torpor on Dec. 27 when it issued a press release expressing its “outrage” at the arrest of a Serbian bishop in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM). Under Assembly protocol, which bears a striking resemblance to GOA protocol, one must never refer to this country simply as Macedonia. That’s because the question of whether or not the Macedonians can call their country Macedonia is a pressing “national issue” at the GOA and with its leadership in Istanbul. As is well known, you can go into coffee hour at just about any Orthodox parish in America on any given Sunday and the faithful will be hotly debating this “national” issue. No, actually, they don’t even know what a FYROM is.

Raise a stink on behalf of all American Orthodox bishops about obscure Balkan church-state politics that are completely incomprehensible – and meaningless — to 99.9 percent of the American laity? Sure. But evidently the GOA doesn’t want the Assembly to confront the Obama administration publicly and in a unified way. Especially not on one of the bedrock principles of this administration. In marking the anniversary of Roe V. Wade on Jan. 23, the president said in a statement that, “we must also continue our efforts to ensure that our daughters have the same rights, freedoms, and opportunities as our sons to fulfill their dreams.”

Then again, how could Patriarch Bartholomew, who says the Church has no business in parishioners’ bedrooms, object? (”We are not allowed to enter the bedrooms of the Christian couples,” he said. ”We cannot generalize. There are many reasons for a couple to go toward abortion.” 1990)We shouldn’t expect to see him delivering the opening prayer at the March for Life anytime soon

The reality is that the GOA and the Istanbul leadership have been neck-deep for decades in massive lobbying efforts in Washington on “national issues”: FYROM, Cyprus, the Turkish oppression of the patriarchate. All of this is done with the close cooperation of the Greek Foreign Ministry, whose representatives sit at places of honor at clergy-laity banquets and show up for constant photo-ops with GOA hierarchs at New York headquarters. In an interview with a Greek newspaper, Archbishop Demetrios admitted that the GOA was dedicated to the promotion of Greek national issues in Washington. “We exercise pressure constantly,” he said. Which explains why, when Patriarch Bartholomew was in the United States in 2009, his itinerary was packed with speeches and visits with Democratic leadership and center-left and progressive think tanks. These happen to be the folks in power right now in Washington.

This lobbying is less about “speaking truth to power” than it is about speech making rich with ecclesiastical tropes but with a meaning that is essentially innocuous to secular ears. If your strategy is to constantly lobby the powers-that-be to advance “national issues” – regardless of which party is in power – your moral witness is essentially neutered in the political sphere. Your Church has sold off its prophetic witness for a mess of pottage (Gen. 25:29–34).

And we can’t dismiss this problem by saying that the Orthodox, broadly speaking, don’t get institutionally involved in politics. Far from it. How else can you explain the churches’ long membership in the World Council of Churches and the National Council of Churches, Protestant-dominated bodies that exist to put a patina of theological legitimacy on leftist economic and political ideologies?

Patriarch Bartholomew is all too ready to talk about how the Church invented hospitals more than 1,600 years ago, as he did in a 2009 speech sponsored by the Center for American Progress and Georgetown University in Washington. He even noted that these Byzantine hospitals were “public institutions, free of charge and created for the public good.” Although the patriarch stopped short of backing the Obama administration’s health care initiative before this liberall progressive audience, he endorsed the notion that “every member of society, from the greatest to the least” deserves the best quality healthcare.

But Patriarch Bartholomew and his lobbyists are nowhere to be found when 21st Century American hospitals are feeling the heat from an administration trampling on conscience protections. We’re talking about hundreds hospitals founded by Catholics, Jews and Protestants and serving people in real need — today and not in some idealized forever-gone past.

Ultimately, what is the Assembly of Orthodox bishops communicating to our Catholic and Protestant and Jewish brothers and sisters? That their hospitals, medical clinics, schools, universities, social agencies are good enough for the Orthodox when we need them, when we want to rush a child to an emergency room. But don’t look for us when you need back up.

The Assembly of Orthodox bishops, the bearer of “unity” and “common witness” for American Orthodox Christians, simply can’t be bothered on this issue.

You may also like:What’s Fate of Orthodox Unity and Diaspora?

Ukrainian Bishop wears Mitra and Panagia made of Straw

2012-02-02T09:33:00.000-05:00

SOURCE: http://www.sokaleparchy.org.ua

Вперше архиєрей одягнув солом’яну мітру і панагію

Під час Різвяних богослужінь, Правлячий архиєрей Сокальсько-Жовківської єпархії, Михаїл Колтун, був зодягнений у солом’яні мітру та панагію. Зазвичай єпископська мітра та панагія виготовлені з коштовних матеріалів і символізують корону Царя Христа та Всесвяту Богородицю. Натомість солома – це ознака смирення, це дідух, який був постелений в убогих яслах новонародженому Христові.

Презентуючи нову мітру та панагію, у день Богоявлення у м. Жовква, єпископ Михаїл сказав: «Цей атрибут дідуха – є святковий, чи він в снопі, чи на столі, бо все це плід землі. Ми цей дідух асоціюємо із даром Божим, який він нам дає. Ми цей дар земний стараємося і у постіль і в подушку положити, щоб добре спалося і щоб здорові були. Дідух – це дар Божий тут на землі і коли Христос приходить, йому стелять цей дідух у ясла». Далі продовжує єпископ: «Христос не соромиться дідуха, бо все це, чим ми живемо, є дар Божий. І те, що Господь входить у наше смирення – це і означає ця мітра та панагія. Оцей дідух я зображаю так, бо маю можливість мітру і панагію носити».

Розповідаючи звідки виникла ідея зробити церковні атрибути зі соломи, єпископ Михаїл зазначив, що якби він в дитинстві не спав на дідуху, то б не зумів це задумати.

Виготовила солом’яну мітру і панагію пані Марія Кравчук, майстриня із Волині.

Довідка

Мітра - богослужбовий головний убір єпископа. Панагія - нагрудна ікона із зображенням Богородиці.

Прес-служба єпархії

Ukraine and Russia – 20 years without empire: historical lessons

2012-02-02T09:01:00.000-05:00

Selections from SOURCE: The Day (День)

“What is going on between Ukraine and Russia results from the pathologization of Orthodoxy, which has existed in the Russian version since the times of Ivan the Terrible, if not before: subordination of the church to the throne and, as a result, subordination to the political authorities of the whole set of social, moral, and other problems that the church traditionally deals with.

“When we ask where democracy is possible, we can see that democracy has been established in the countries of Western Christianity. In his article ‘The Tragedy of Central Europe’ written back in the 1980s, Milan Kundera says: ‘To die for one’s country and for Europe – that is a phrase that could not be thought in Moscow or Leningrad; it is precisely the phrase that could it be thought in Budapest or Warsaw.’ My question is: could it be thought in Kyiv? I think the time has come, when we cannot afford either hopes or optimistic forecasts. What is now going on leads Ukraine and Russia to moral death and the extinction of their states not because they will break up but because these societies are tired. Mr. Afanasiev uses a terrible term, ‘weariness of the human material.’ These societies were reduced to the condition of a material in the imperial and Soviet eras.

“Yes, Ukraine differs from Russia. But we must ask ourselves, why? Ukraine is different because it coexisted with Poland in one state for 300 years and was, albeit to some extent, part of European culture. We have linguistic, denominational, and cultural differences. But, no matter how different Ukraine and Russia are, power in both countries is being wielded by cheats accompanied by a host of criminal riffraff. This is the result of Soviet-era lumpenization, for the Russian Empire was, to some extent, a rational structure which was in line with worldwide development for some time. Then the turning point came. Why did Western countries cleanse themselves and went out of the totalitarian system? Because, in addition to having an intellectual process, Europe also had a criterion of democracy, whereas in our country the European idea remained at the level of an ideal, some artistic figures and images. The danger also lies in the fact that, while ideology decided everything in the Soviet era, now the money that plies among the cheats and the scum is holding sway. Whenever a society has been reduced to a survival level, this money is bound to work. So I think that we should focus more on the cultural aspect and decisions in the sphere of culture. For culture means ideas. We can do nothing without clear-cut ideas formulated in a certain way. I think it is imperative that these ideas reach the mass awareness which is deprived of notions, development vectors, and, in general, the realities of the present-day world.

And may I ask Mr. Afanasiev two or three questions? It seems to me we are facing the prospect of the extinction of the Orthodox world as such, the withdrawal of Orthodoxy from the Christian system – you can see this very well if you compare Western and Eastern Christianity. For example, Western students are saying: yes, a crisis, yes, it is difficult, but we have an alternative, we will reorient. In other words, they are restructuring the world. Then a Bulgarian student comes. He looks depressed and says: Europe or no Europe, I don’t know what there will be. I am exhausted; Bulgaria benefited nothing from joining Europe.

Berdyaev said long ago that Orthodoxy could not compete with Western Christianity because the intellectual gains of Orthodoxy were either Byzantine theology or late 19th-early 20th-century Russian philosophy, i.e., an elitist phenomenon that remained on the surface. What went to the depths is the mythological thinking of which you are saying. For this reason, Orthodoxy creates no ideas – neither new, nor modern, nor moral. And, opposing itself to Europe, Russia seems to be wresting Orthodoxy from the historical context. And a society deprived of moral vectors and crushed between the ideas of the Russian World and a Eurasian state, the product of Dugin’s lumpenized and fascist circles, is also a terrible phenomenon.”

A Possible Break in Abortion Stalemate

2012-02-02T08:47:00.000-05:00

Beginning to see the contradictions
Brian McCall SOURCE: SSPX Website

Modern Man has become used to living with contradiction. In a Church and society where almost everyone has abandoned the idea of absolute Truth, we meet contradiction everywhere. In the Church we constantly hear that Vatican II is novel and traditional and that it contains new doctrine yet is in continuity with old doctrine. Secular leaders praise freedom and liberty as they pass laws invading our homes and our person and punishing religious leaders for preaching biblical truths in the name of hate crimes.

Yet, we cannot cheat nature. Man was made for Truth and we cannot live with contradiction forever. Eventually the intellectual strain of contradiction will become too much. Rationalizations based on contradiction will shatter and the Truth will be staring us in the face.

Such a result may loom closer with respect to the murder of children in their mother’s womb. For decades the government, the courts and private industry have been bombarding us with the lie that unborn babies are not living human beings. They are just clumps of cells or tissue and their “termination” is not murder, according to their fork-tongued lie. Yet, under all these lies, Men’s consciences know that abortion is murder made legal by unjust laws. Two recent stories reported by LifeSiteNews[1] demonstrate that this contradiction is starting to come into the open.

Two “doctors” (to use the term loosely) stand charged with murder for their involvement in a late term abortion business conducted across two states. According to LifeSiteNews, Steven Chase Brigham “was charged with first-degree murder in the deaths of five viable, healthy preborn babies between July 9 and August 13 of 2010, at what his co-defendant Nicola Riley described as a ‘secret late-term abortion clinic’ in Elkton, Maryland.” Riley has also been indicted on murder charges. It is noteworthy that the two are charged with murder under fetal homicide laws rather than under laws regulating the practice of medicine or the operation of abortion clinics. It appears from the facts such other charges could have been used. Calling the killing of 35 babies (one apparently aged 36 weeks) who were found in a freezer in their “clinic” murder is a refreshing moment of honesty for the law.

Interestingly these fetal homicide laws which exist in almost 40 states are a contradiction themselves. Generally they declare the killing of a pre-born baby murder unless it is an abortion. If a robber shoots a pregnant woman during a burglary and kills the baby it is murder but if the mother hires a hit man doctor it is not. That is like saying taking someone’s possessions is stealing except when a doctor does it. These charges against Riley and Brigham expose the hypocrisy of claiming killing babies is murder unless it is a paid abortion. Hopefully these cases will be a sign of a trend to use these laws as they should be, to punish all murder.

The story of Riley and Brigham also exposes another falsehood of the abortion industry. For years, they have argued that abortion should be legal to protect women. They trotted out horror stories of gruesome procedures performed in illegal abortion mills before they were made “safe” by becoming legal. The horrors of the botched abortions performed by these two which have scared and maimed their women victims has nothing on the tales of the “bad old days” when abortion was illegal. The court documents detail horror stories of perforated uteruses, women being told to drive from New Jersey to Maryland after the labor stage of an abortion had been induced and trips in rental cars to the emergency room. Legalizing abortion does not make abortion safe; it only makes the abortionist safer from legal prosecution. Abortion is about killing a living person inside another living person, something that is inherently unsafe.

Footnotes

1 “Abortionist will be extradited to Maryland to face murder charges, by Operation Rescue staff”, January 10, 2012 and “Accused murderer abortionist Brigham released on $500,000 bond, by Operation Rescue staff”, January 6, 2012.

UCU in Lviv seeks volunteers for its English Summer School 2012

2012-02-02T08:38:00.000-05:00

SOURCE: Ukrainian Catholic University

The Ukrainian Catholic University in Lviv, Ukraine is seeking volunteers for its English Summer School 2012. The month-long program offers a chance to live with Ukrainian college students, experience Eastern Christianity, and learn about the new challenges facing this ancient country. No knowledge of Ukrainian is necessary.

Contemporary Ukraine is increasingly opening up to the English-speaking world. There is an ever-growing demand for a high level of English language competency from the students if they are going to communicate effectively. One possible but expensive solution is to send students to English-speaking countries. A more economical solution, already tried and tested by UCU, is to create an English-speaking environment in Ukraine.

The annual English Summer School (ESS) is an intensive English immersion course which provides opportunities for spiritual growth, serious work and fun. The ESS is an important project jointly sponsored by the Ukrainian Catholic University (UCU) and the Ukrainian Catholic Education Foundation. Its primary objectives are to enable students to immerse themselves in an English speaking community in order to become fluent English speakers and to create a prayerful, retreat-like environment in keeping with Eastern Christian traditions.

English is a valuable resource for students. Each semester we have numerous English-speaking teachers and lecturers at the University. Likewise, the English Summer School provides a tremendous opportunity for our students to meet people from foreign countries and to gain a rich cultural experience.

The Ukrainian Catholic University is currently in its fifteenth year of academic operations. We have now graduated our eleventh class of students. We hope these students have gained the wisdom they need to be leaders in the third Christian millennium.

APPLICATION: The deadline for applying to the program is March 30, 2012. You can download and complete the application file available at right and send it as an attachment by e-mail. For questions about volunteering, contact the Volunteer Adviser at: essvolunteer@ucu.edu.ua.

NEW! We invite you to visit PHOTO GALLERY. Photos from the English Summer School Program

SUPPORT English Summer School!!! You can help to educate these young people, too!

Your donation will give students an opportunity to participate in English Summer School in order to improve their English and have better future even in Ukraine. More…

Expert Comments On Recent Dismissals of Heads of Sophia and Kyiv Cave Reserves

2012-02-01T10:19:00.000-05:00

SOURCE: RISU

No Ukrainian Church will now be able to duly maintain historic and cultural monuments. This especially applies to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate. This opinion was expressed at the RISU web conference by the Head of the public association “Ukrainian Center of Development of Museums,” Vladyslav Pioro as he commented on the recnt dismissals of the heads of the Sophia and Kyiv Cave Reserves and possible transfer of these sacral buildings to the use of UOC-MP.

“I completely agree that today, none of the Ukrainian religious denominations unfortunately is able to bear the full burden of responsibility for the maintenance of historic and cultural and architectural monuments. It is applicable especially to UOC-MP. Despite all their statements, examples of their activity show the opposite which is quite illustrative,” said the expert.

Mr. Pioro noted that ministers of UOC-MP are governed in the maintenance of the architectural monuments by criteria which are very different from those used by people protecting the monuments. According to him, as “good economic managers” they are interested not in the preservation of the original, authentic monuments but in “putting things in order (according to their understanding), construction of new buildings, etc.”

“In fact, they can quite sincerely promise to maintain the monuments. But they will do it according to their own understanding: if necessary, they will rebuild things (as they did in 2007 to the Western entrance gate to the Kyivan Cave Monastery, which was an architectural monument), change historic wall paintings for new, “nicer” ones, etc.,” he stated.

“After so many historic events of the last century, the transfer of the monuments of the Kyivan Cave Reserve to UOC-MP, in my opinion, can hardly be viewed as “restoration of the historic justice,” said Vladyslav Pioro.

Spiritualities of Lent (East/West)

2012-02-01T09:50:00.000-05:00

SOURCE: Eastern Catholic Spiritual Renewal

Someone had asked me why we don't have the Stations of the Cross in our parishes any more. From this person's perspective this doesn't make any sense because all prayers help us to get closer to God and in his mind were all Catholics so there shouldn't be a problem. Like this person, many approach Tradition from the perspective of: "all Catholic spirituality is the same". In fact, most consider our Byzantine Tradition just another way of having additional prayers or an extra liturgy. So its understandable for this person to ask this question but it also demonstrates their lack of understanding that not all spirituality is the same. Being that Great Lent is around the corner I thought I might demonstrate in a few ways just how much we are different.

Those who read my blog know that I approach spirituality from a nontraditional perspective. Generally, the concept of spirituality has come to be understood as a relative term. For example, most Christians understand the term to mean how a person relates to God. Taken this understanding at face value any way we pray doesn't matter because the result is the same. From a personal perspective this seems to make sense. However, even though our relationship with God is personal what we know of him comes from Revelation- from our local Church Tradition.

When we begin to define our spirituality on how we received Revelation the term spirituality no longer is exclusively personal. We can no longer say that any way to pray will work. By accepting Revelation in the way it has been mediated by the local Tradition we also accept a unique way to approach God, which is a way proper to that Church Tradition. Even though prayer is always personal we are now praying within the context of the Church's Tradition. There are many factors that are involved in just how the tradition transforms our personal spirituality, which I won't go into now. However, the point I wish to demonstrate is that the Byzantine and Latin traditions have developed very different "spiritualities", which we can see in just how we both "pray" during Lent.

There was a TV program on a few years back that showed some of the extreme practices of religious groups. Included in the program were certain Catholics in the Philippines who during Lent would have public displays of extreme self mortification and even a parade of people that were physically crucified. These groups are not an official representation of Roman Catholic teaching, but they do represent the Latin spirituality in its extreme form.

Throughout Roman Catholic history, self mortification has been part of their spiritual heritage. Even today there are groups in the Latin tradition that beat themselves with whips, such as Opus Dei. There was even a testimony of a nun and others who claimed the last pope whipped himself. When understood properly self mortification for Roman Catholics is a way to identify with Jesus Christ. This identification leads one to share in Christ's suffering and to express a remorse for ones sins or a contribution in paying ones debt for sin (penance). During Lent we see the amplification of this spirituality, especially in the prayers of the Stations of the Cross.

In the Byzantine tradition we have similar practices of self mortification, which are highly practiced during Lent. We fast, do prostrations, and have All-Night Vigils to name a few. However, our understanding of self mortification is not the same as it is in the Latin tradition. As I pointed out, in the Latin tradition self mortification leads a person to identify with the redemptive suffering of Christ, which at times leads to some to extreme practices. It could be said for the Byzantine tradition instead of "identifying" with Christ through mortification we seek his "identity" or indwelling presence. For the most part, mortification in the Byzantine Rite is a way of purification rather than a penance. Through our mortification we seek to participate in the divine nature rather than to imitate the sufferings of Christ or show penitential remorse for sin.

Obviously the spiritualities behind our different Lenten practices comes from how our two traditions have come to understand sin. Properly understood, the Byzantine tradition takes a therapeutic approach to sin in its spirituality, whereas in the Latin tradition we find a forensic approach. Based on this, the answer to the person to why we don't have the Stations of the Cross is simple: we don't have the same spirituality. Each tradition reflects how it has come to understand the mysteries of Divine Revelation. It's important for us that we learn to pray with our local Church traditions. There is something very unique and special about the way each tradition reflects the same mystery that we share. If we do not overcome the tendency to see spirituality as something wholly personal, we will miss out on just what God is trying to say to the world in our traditions. We must learn to receive from Tradition and hand on Tradition, this is the essence of our unique churches spirituality.

Відбудеться презентація аудіо-диску «Вечірня та Утреня Великого Посту»

2012-01-31T09:32:00.000-05:00

SOURCE: Website Lviv Archeparchy

5 лютого 2012 р. о 17:00 у Архикатедральному Соборі Святого Юра відбудеться презентація аудіо-диску «Вечірня та Утреня Великого Посту».

«Митрополичий хор Собору св. Юрія з великим ентузіазмом взявся до запису такого диску за благословенням преосвященного владики Венедикта. – розповідає керівник хору п. Надія Поворозниик.

- Вечірня та Утреня у часі Великого посту в Соборі св. Юрія Переможця служиться кожної суботи, музичний матеріал ми добираємо доволі різноманітний, стараємося, щоб музика відповідала настрою «світлого суму» Великої Чотиридесятниці. Автори музики теж доволі різноманітні, ми співаємо багато музики нашого талановитого композитора «Золотої доби» Артемія Веделя, бо саме у його творчості ми знаходимо ті вислови багатостраждальної душі нашого народу, які так яскраво відтворені у музиці цього генія».
Очолює це Богослужіння Преосвященний владика Венедикт, Єпископ-помічник Львівської Архиєпархії, співслужителем є адміністратор Собору Святого Юрія, митрофорний протоієрей Роман Кравчик, диякони – Іван Гобела та Назарій Ярунів.

Під час презентації Митрополичий хор виконає низку піснеспівів. Гості заходу: Крилосний хор «Глас» священиків Львівської Митрополії УГКЦ.

Вхід на презентацію вільний.

Перед початком, о 16:30 відбудеться підхід до преси.
о. Павло Дроздяк,прес-секретар Львівської архиєпархії

The presentation of an audio-CD "Vespers and Matins of Great Lent, February 5th, 2012 at 17:00 in St. George's Cathedral

"Metropolitan Choir of the Cathedral of St.. George with great enthusiasm began to record a CD with the blessing of Bishop Benedict. - Says the director of the choir, Mr. Hope Povoroznyyk.

Patriarch Sviatoslav: ‘Main basis for unity among Christians is one Lord, one faith, one baptism’

2012-01-31T09:26:00.000-05:00

SOURCE: Official Website UGCC

Patriarch Sviatoslav (Shevchuk), head of the UGCC, participated in the ecumenical prayer service in the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity held on January 25, 2012, in the Philadelphia Church of Christians of Evangelical Faith, in Kyiv.

In his address to those present, His Beatitude Sviatoslav, referring to Letter of Paul to the Ephesians, stressed that “the main basis for unity among Christians is one Lord, one faith, one baptism.”

The patriarch, explaining the meaning of Christian unity, said that “we have one Father, who sent us his one Son and gave us the Holy Ghost , the Comforter.”

His Beatitude Sviatoslav said that the UGCC recognizes baptism in all the churches and communities that cross in name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. “So my baptism and yours is the same. Because baptism is not just a beautiful ceremony, but a new birth, a great gift from God,” he said.

In conclusion, the UGCC head stressed that Christians want to be united since “the lack of unity is the biggest obstacle to preaching the Gospel.” “Today, many people do not know the Savior because everyone preaches in his or her own way. I ask that you turn to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and pray that the profound unity which is already among us be present in our actions, words, in daily Christian life – then that which separates us will be defeated.”

The Absurd: NEW BIBLE VERSIONS REMOVE ‘FATHER’ AND ‘SON OF GOD’ BECAUSE IT OFFENDS MUSLIMS

2012-01-31T09:05:00.001-05:00

American Bible translators bowdlerize scriptures to avoid offending Muslims: no “Father” and “Son” SOURCE: OCP Media Network

If this is true, for the parties they are trying not to offend, anything short of Islam — of professing that there is no god but Allah, and that Muhammad is his messenger — would be “offensive.” This is not making Christianity more palatable. It is de-Christianizing it. It is manufacturing yet another Christian heresy.

Indeed, for many denominations, the validity of baptism depends on the words used: “I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” No euphemisms, no nicknames: for example, trial balloons aiming to portray a more gender-neutral God have already been burst: the use of “Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier” in baptism has been rejected by the Catholic Church, if not others.

Those who truly believe they are winning souls for Christ would not risk the validity of baptism, and those who are genuinely convinced that they possess the truth will not apologize or worry it is offensive.

As a technical matter, one wonders how the translators handle the words: “Who is a liar but he that denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denies the Father and the Son” (1 John 2:22). And “But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 10:33).

One last bit of holy writ: “You might as well fall flat on your face as lean over too far backward.” – James Thurber

“‘Father’ and ‘Son’ Ousted from the Trinity in New Bible Translations,” by Hussein Hajj Wario for the Yahoo! Contributor Network, January 27 (thanks to CGW):

A controversy is brewing over three reputable Christian organizations, which are based in North America, whose efforts have ousted the words “Father” and “Son” from new Bibles. Wycliffe Bible Translators, Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL) and Frontiers are under fire for “producing Bibles that remove “Father,” “Son” and “Son of God” because these terms are offensive to Muslims.” Concerned Christian missionaries, Bible translators, pastors, and national church leaders have come together with a public petition to stop these organizations. They claim a public petition is their last recourse because meetings with these organizations’ leaders, staff resignations over this issue and criticism and appeals from native national Christians concerned about the translations “have failed to persuade these agencies to retain “Father” and “Son” in the text of all their translations.”

Clearly, they fail to appreciate the far-reaching ramifications that Christians not only may dare, but are commanded to call on the Creator of the Universe as “Father.” That fundamentally re-wires one’s relationship with God and describes a unique intimacy and bond of love that ought not be squandered to score short-term points.

Biblical Missiology, a ministry of Boulder, Colorado-based Horizon International, is sponsoring the petition.

The main issues of this controversy surround new Arabic and Turkish translations. Here are three examples native speakers give:

First, Wycliffe and SIL have produced Stories of the Prophets, an Arabic Bible that uses an Arabic equivalent of “Lord” instead of “Father” and “Messiah” instead of “Son.”

Second, Frontiers and SIL have produced Meaning of the Gospel of Christ , an Arabic translation which removes “Father” in reference to God and replaces it with “Allah,” and removes or redefines “Son.” For example, the verse which Christians use to justify going all over the world to make disciples, thus fulfilling the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19) reads, “Cleanse them by water in the name of Allah, his Messiah and his Holy Spirit” instead of “baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” Rev. Bassam Madany, an Arab American who runs Middle East Resources, terms these organization’s efforts as “a western imperialistic attempt that’s inspired by cultural anthropology, and not by biblical theology.”

Third, Frontiers and SIL have produced a new Turkish translation of the Gospel of Matthew that uses Turkish equivalents of “guardian” for “Father” and “representative” or “proxy” for “Son.” To Turkish church leader Rev. Fikret Böcek, “This translation is ‘an all-American idea’ with absolutely no respect for the ‘sacredness’ of Scripture, or even of the growing Turkish church.”

SIL has issued a public response stating “all personnel subscribe to a statement of faith which affirms the Trinity, Christ’s deity, and the inspiration of Scripture.” However, in the same statement, which is similar to Wycliffe’s, it claims “word-for-word translation of these titles would communicate an incorrect meaning (i.e. that God had physical, sexual relationships with Mary) [sic],” thus justifying substituting “Father” and “Son” in new translations. Calls and emails to Wycliffe and SIL to clarify their positions were not returned. Frontiers responded to calls with articles that critics have already dismissed as skirting omissions of “Father” and “Son” in new Bible translations.

The point about sexual connotations is baloney. Many of these countries have, or once had indigenous Christian populations with scriptures in indigenous languages where this was not a problem. If they’re coming up with something untoward, they need better translators.

Polish Bishops Appeal for Freedom to Broadcast

2012-01-31T08:59:00.000-05:00

Government Seen as Discriminating Against Catholic TV
By Antonio Gaspari

ROME, JAN. 30, 2012 (SOURCE: Zenit.org).- Attempts are being made in Poland to deny Trwam, a Catholic TV station, the possibility to broadcast.

The incident has led to widespread protests by Catholics. Interviews and statements defending the freedom to broadcast have been published in the press. Protest signatures are being collected. The president of the Polish bishops' conference and some bishops have published statements defending the rights of Catholic television.

The controversy began when the National Council of Polish Radio and Television refused a license for Trwan to broadcast on digital multiplex. Trwam is the country's only Catholic broadcasting station.

This means that Trwam will only be able to air its programs via satellite and those who wish to see them will have to pay for a subscription.

Given this decision, the Permanent Council of the Polish bishops issued a communique Jan. 16, "earnestly exhorting the National Council of Polish Radio and Television to assign the license on digital multiplex to Trwam TV."

The Polish bishops explain that "the exclusion of a Catholic TV station violates the principles of pluralism and equality before the law."

The statement points out that the great majority of Poles are Catholic and that they have the right to have free access to Trwam's television programs.

Trwam TV station has been broadcasting for more than eight years and it has a well-established reporting staff and a widespread public following. The members of the bishops' Permanent Council are asking that it be "inserted in the digital television system in Poland."

In this connection, Archbishop Jozef Michalik, president of the Polish Episcopal Conference, issued a statement to the Catholic weekly newspaper "Niedziela," in which he stressed the work done by Trwam for the community.

Trwam is concerned about the condition of the poor and of those who suffer injustices and illnesses, he said.

Archbishop Michalik also said that it makes a singular contribution through it programs about the life of the Church, the activities and trips of the Pope, the work of charitable agencies, etc.

According to the president of the Polish Episcopal Conference, these are events that are ignored by other television broadcasting stations and that if it were not for Trwam TV, they would not be covered.

[The translation from Polish into Italian of the communiques and statements was made by Father Mariusz Frukacz]

Looking for trouble: Orthodox Church To Be Built on Former Muslim Cemetery

2012-01-31T08:51:00.000-05:00

SOURCE: RISU

In the Simferopol District, the relations between the Muslim community and the administration of the Dobrov Village Council deteriorated as the deputies allowed to allocate a land plot of 25 Ares for a church of the Crimean Eparchy in the village of Lozove. However, it turned out that the land is a former Muslim cemetery, reported the Segodnia newspaper.

Metropolitan Lazar

“The grave stones were still here until 1944, and in 1949, the land was transferred to the Tavriiskyi Military District for a veterinary infirmary. We have an archive certificate,” said the leader of the Mejlis of the Eski-Sarai area, Server Kurtumerov.

The Spiritual Board of Muslims of the Crimea has approached Metropolitan Lazar of Simferopol with a request not to start the construction. However, the local authorities state that the permission for the construction was issued 19 years ago. “We are only extending the term of execution. And one cannot consider an archive page to be a proof of existence of the burial ground. If the commission of experts confirms the version of the Muslims, we will cancel the allocation of the land for the construction,” said the Head of the Dobrov Village Council, Ihor Budanov. So reported ru.tsn.ua.

Photo of the Day: Oldest UGCC in USA - Shenandoah, PA

2012-01-31T08:44:00.000-05:00

"Huddled in a fold in the Pennsylvania hills, with bulbous Greek Catholic church domes rising over wooden houses, this once-prosperous anthracite town is rusty, dingy, mournful, too melodramatic to be desolate. In the landscape shine the golden domes of St. Michael Ukrainian Catholic Church, which was the first Ukrainian Catholic Church in America. (For a great story on Shenandoah, see Pottsville Republican-Herald

VIDEO: Освящение храма в честь Архангела Михаила в Оптиной

2012-01-31T08:31:00.000-05:00

17 января 2012 года в Иоанно Предтеченском скиту Оптиной Пустыни состоялось малое освящение нижнего храма в честь Собора архангела Михаила.

Special Treat: 3D Panaorama of Optina Monastery

VIDEO: Mount Calvary Church in Baltimore (Anglican Ordinariate)

2012-01-30T16:23:00.000-05:00

Mass at Mount Calvary Church on the occasion of the reception of 36 of its members into the full communion of the Catholic Church by the Rev. Jeffrey N. Steenson head of the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter, on January 22, 2012. Mass is conducted according to Rite 1 of the Book of Divine Worship. Fr. Steenson's homily is available as a separate video here on YouTube

Decisions of Synod Valid - there is no schism within UOC-MP

2012-01-30T16:16:00.000-05:00

SOURCE: RISU

MYTROFAN, Archbishop of
Bila Tserkva and Boguslav

The Administrator of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP), Archbishop Mytrofan (Yurchuk) of Bila Tserkva and Bohuslav commented at the web site of the Kyiv Cave Monastery on the response of the mass media to the decisions of the Synod of UOC-MP of 26 January. He explained why it was decided to appoint Mertropolitan Pavlo of Vyshhorod and Chornobyl temporary head of the Kyivan Eparchy of UOC-MP and to replace the administrators of the construction of the cathedral of Resurrection. The head of UOC-MP stressed that the Head of UOC-MP, Metropoliatan Volodymyr is aware of all the decisions of the Synod and that there is no schism within UOC-MP.

“His beatitude has been and continues to be our Primate… The Synod considered the current questions of the Church life, particularly, the appointment of Metropolitan Pavlo of Vyshhorod and Chornobyl temporary head of the Kyivan Eparchy and cancellation of the decisions of the previous Synod, which set up the committee of three vicar bishops of the Kyivan Metropolitanate to head the Kyivan eparchy. That mechanism of leadership during the period of sickness of his Beatitude has proved ineffective. It is necessary to make decisions, sign documents, therefore, the question arose who should do that. It undoubtedly should be carried out by one person… Metropolitan Pavlo was entrusted with the task to lead the Kyivan Eparchy as he always stays in the capital, in the monastery and knows the situation in Kyiv and Kyiv Region. He was the most suitable candidate. Also changes were made with regard to the construction of the cathedral of Resurrection. Bishop Oleksandr was dismissed from the position of the senior priest of the Church of All Saints because the process of construction has proved extremely complicated and to manage that process and financing thereof one should be good at it. One representative of our Church who is good at it is Metropolitan Sofronii of Cherkasy and Kaniv (see "I personally bow before Ivan Mazepa") who built more than one Church. He has experience of construction of large churches. Therefore, it was decided to entrust him with the task of supervising the construction of the Cathedral of the Holy Resurrection,” Archbishop Mytrofan commented on the decision of the Synod.

Metropolitan Sofronii

As for the changes and addenda to the Statutes of UOC-MP, the Archbishop stressed that the Committee on Alterations and Addenda to the Statutes of UOC-MP will prepare the alterations, and that the final decision to pass or reject the alterations is to be made by the Council of Bishops of UOC.

The archbishop refuted the information that Metropolitan Volodymyr did not know about the decisions of the Synod: “On the eve of the Holy Synod, Archbishop Oleksandr of Pereiaslav-Khmelnytskyi and Vyshneve and I visited His Beatitude and discussed all the questions to be raised at the synod and His Beatitude was informed of all the developments. On the day of the Synod, Bishop Oleksandr and Metropolitan Lazar of Simferopol and Crimea also visited His Beatitude and reported to him on the decisions made by the Synod. They say that his Beatitude may not sign the decisions passed by the Synod. This is also not true. For the decisions at the Synod are taken collectively, that is with the consent of all the members of the Synod, and his Beatitude signs them only if all the members of the Synod agree with them. Therefore, if decisions were taken, actually all the questions raised at the Synod were passed unanimously. If his Beatitude does not agree with any decisions of the Synod, when he fully returns to the fulfillment of his responsibilities of the Primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, he has a right to submit the decisions to a repeated consideration and only then, they will be changed if it is necessary. As of now, all the decisions of the Holy synod of 26 January are valid and must be fulfilled by everyone whom they concern.”

Historical Mirror Greek Rite Catholics 1884-1963

2012-01-30T15:55:00.000-05:00

SOURCE: http://www.archive.org/details/HistoricalMirrorGreekRiteCatholics1884-1963

Historical Mirror: Sources of the Rusin and Hungarian Greek Rite Catholics in the United States of America 1884-1963 by Fr. John Slivka.

A compendium of historical documents and some pictures relating to the establishment of the Ruthenian Byzantine Catholic Church (an Eastern Catholic Church in union with the Pope of Rome) in the USA.

Records reaction to the papal decrees Ea Semper (1907) and Cum Data Fuerit (1929) which imposed priestly celibacy on the Ruthenian Church in the USA and led to defections to Eastern Orthodoxy. Original copyright was not renewed and it is now in the public domain. The 18.6 MB PDF is bookmarked and searchable.

Half a century after Vatican II, a year of faith and debate

2012-01-30T08:51:00.000-05:00

By Francis X. Rocca

SOURCE: Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Fifty years ago this October, Blessed John XXIII and more than 2,500 bishops and heads of religious orders from around the world gathered in St. Peter's Basilica for the opening session of the Second Vatican Council.

Over the following three years, Vatican II would issue 16 major "pronouncements" on such fundamental questions as the authority of the church's hierarchy, the interpretation of Scripture, and the proper roles of clergy and laity. Those documents, and the deliberations that produced them, have transformed how the Catholic Church understands and presents itself within the context of modern secular culture and society.

Because Vatican II was one of the monumental events in modern religious history, its golden anniversary will naturally be the occasion for numerous commemorative events, including liturgical celebrations, publications and academic conferences.

At a Vatican II exhibition at Rome's Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls, which opened in late January and will run until November 2013, the displays include original handwritten pages from Pope John's speech at the council's opening session, and a Vatican passport issued at the time to a young Polish bishop named Karol Wojtyla, the future Pope John Paul II.

Yet Vatican II is not merely of historical interest; it is very much a living issue in the church today.

Scholars still debate to what extent the council's achievements, in such areas as interfaith dialogue and liturgical reform, were organic developments in the church's history or radical breaks with the past. And clergy and laity alike differ over how expansively to apply the council's pronouncements, whether sticking closely to the letter of the documents or following a more broadly construed "spirit of Vatican II."

Pope Benedict XVI has rejected what he calls the "hermeneutics of discontinuity and rupture" in the present-day understanding of the council and has called instead for interpreting Vatican II as an instance of "renewal in continuity" with the church's 2,000 years of tradition. Exploring and promoting that idea will be a major goal of the Year of Faith that begins this Oct. 11, exactly half a century to the day since Vatican II opened.

A relatively small but highly vocal number of Catholics reject the council altogether, charging among other things that subsequent changes to worship have undermined the solemnity of the Mass and that a growing openness to other religions conflicts with the need to proclaim salvation through Jesus Christ alone. The most prominent such group, the Society of St. Pius X, effectively broke with Rome in 1988, when its founder, the late French Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, ordained four bishops without approval from the pope.

Pope Benedict has made reconciliation with the traditionalist society a priority of his pontificate. He lifted restrictions on the traditional Latin Mass, now called the extraordinary form, in 2007. Less than two years later, he removed the excommunications of the four illicitly ordained bishops. And last fall, the Vatican held out the possibility of making the group a personal prelature if a full reconciliation is reached. A prelature is somewhat like a global diocese, a status currently held only by Opus Dei.

As a condition of reconciliation, though, the Vatican has asked the society to give its assent to a summary of certain non-negotiable doctrines. These have not been made public, but they presumably include the major teachings of Vatican II.

Though the ongoing dialogue between the Vatican and the society remains confidential, both sides have recently published documents that give insights into their respective positions.

In early December, L'Osservatore Romano, the Vatican newspaper, published an article by Msgr. Fernando Ocariz, the second-highest official of Opus Dei and a participant in talks with the Society of St. Pius X.

In the article, Msgr. Ocariz insisted that all the teachings of Vatican II require nothing less than "religious submission of intellect and will," and that even the council's apparent innovations in doctrine are properly understood as in continuity with tradition. But he also emphasized that "there remains legitimate room for theological freedom" in interpreting them.

Later the same month, Father Jean-Michel Gleize, a theologian who has represented the society in discussions with the Vatican, published a response to Msgr. Ocariz's article. Perhaps the most striking part of Father Gleize's argument was his rejection of the hermeneutic of continuity as overly "subjective" and neglectful of the "unity of the truth" necessary in church teaching. That would seem to suggest an endorsement of the hermeneutic of rupture usually associated with the council's most progressive champions.

Reading such an exchange, it's not easy to believe that the Year of Faith will end with anything like a Catholic consensus on the meaning of Vatican II. But as someone well known to think in terms of centuries, Pope Benedict will surely be neither surprised nor discouraged by the continuing debate.

VIDEO: Metropolitan Paul to take temporary charge of UOC-MP

2012-01-30T08:39:00.002-05:00

Metropolitan Pavel (Paul)

During the prolonged illness of Metropolitan Volodomyr, the UOC-MP has been governed by three bishops. On Friday the Holy Synod of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church held at Kyiv Caves Monastery passed these functions into the hands of the the Metropolitan of Vyshgorod and Chernobyl, the Superior of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, Paul.

Під час хвороби митрополита церквою керували три архієреї. У п'ятницю свящеyний Синод передав ці функції до рук намісника Києво-Печерскої Лаври, митрополита Павла.

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Representativess of Kyivan Patriarchate: "UOC-MP Was Seized" (SOURCE: RISU)

Representatives of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Kyivan Patriarchate commented to Kommersant-Ukraine on the decisions of the Synod of Bishops of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate held on 26 January under the chairmanship of Metropolitan Ahafangel of Odesa and Izmail who has the longest record of bishop’s ministry.

Archbishop Oleksandr

As RISU reported, the Synod cancelled the previously-established committee of three bishops who collectively governed the Kyivan Eparchy during the period of sickness of Metropolitan Volodymyr. This function has been transferred to the Superior of the Kyiv Cave Monastery, Metropolitan Pavel (Lebed). In addition, Archbishop Oleksandr (Drabynko) has been dismissed from the position of the senior priest of the Cathedral of Resurrection of Christ, which is under construction, “in order to improve the administration and financial activity connected with the construction.” The Press Secretary of Metropolitan Volodymyr, Protopriest Heorhii Kovalenko has been dismissed from the position of the deputy senior priest of the cathedral.

Representatives of the UOC-Kyivan Patriarchate consider the decisions of the Synod non-canonical. “The decision to appoint Metropolitan Pavlo head of the Kyivan Eparchy contradicts the canons as Metropolitan Volodymyr is alive and it is him who is considered the head of the Eparchy. Only he personally could delegate his authority, but they have done it for him and actually seized the Church as raiders. It appears that Metropolitan Ahafangel is now going to change the Statutes, usurp the authority from Metropolitan Volodymyr and head UOC-MP ,” stated the Secretary of the Synod of UOC-Kyivan Patriarchate, Archbishop Yevstratii (Zoria).

Patriarch Kirill says his meeting with Pope is not possible yet

2012-01-30T08:19:00.000-05:00

Moscow, January 30, SOURCE: Interfax - Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia again said there are no preconditions for his meeting with the Pope.

"I still believe conflicts need to be resolved more energetically, if not fully, in order for this meeting to be successful," the Patriarch said in an interview with the Serb newspaper Vecherniye Novosti (a translation of that interview has been posted on the Moscow Patriarchate website).

Patriarch Kirill said the media reiterated "only the sensational aspect of a possible meeting," saying he "would not like its effect to be reduced to sensation."

"In order for such a meeting to be really useful for further development of relations between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church, we need to work together to radically improve the atmosphere of these relations by resolving the problems that exist between us," the Patriarch said.

Speaking about the seizure of Orthodox churches in Ukraine by Greek Catholics, the Patriarch pointed out that the Russian Church has recently suggested reviving the four-party commission comprising the Vatican, the Moscow Patriarchate, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, and the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church.

"However, the Catholic Church was not very enthusiastic about our offer," he said.

The issue of the situation with Orthodox churches in Western Ukraine has been regularly raised during meetings with representatives of the Catholic Church in the Moscow Patriarchate, the Patriarch said.

"The Pope and the heads of the Vatican congregations are expressing an understanding about our concerns, but the problem remains unresolved," Patriarch Kirill said.

At the same time, the Patriarch said the relations between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church "have improved considerably" over the past 10 years

"The issue of proselytism is no longer as acute as it was in the 1990s, when Catholic missionaries came to Russia to work actively here. The Mixed Group on Issues between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church in Russia, which was created in 2004, played its positive role," he said.

The Patriarch has called for development of cooperation between Orthodox and Catholic Christians, "who keep Christian traditions and have close views on personal and social ethics, technological progress, bioethics, and other issues of our time," including the protection of the rights of Christians.

Orthodox Christians take high-visibility role in the March for Life

2012-01-29T14:08:00.001-05:00

Metropolitan Jonah, primate of the Orthodox Church in America, participates in Monday's March for Life in Washington D.C.

WASHINGTON, D.C., January 25, 2012, (SOURCE: LifeSiteNews.com) – At a religious event often dominated by massive presence of Roman Catholics, members of the Eastern Orthodox Church played a more visible role in this year’s March for Life than ever before. For the first time, the opening prayer in front of the Supreme Court was offered by His Eminence Jonah, Metropolitan of All America and Canada for the Orthodox Church in America (OCA), as well as Roman Catholic prelates Daniel Cardinal DiNardo and Cardinal-designate Timothy Dolan. “We are of one heart and one purpose,” he said as he chanted a litany of life before hundreds of thousands of marchers.

The Metropolitan was joined by several of his brother bishops, including Bp. Melchizedek of Pittsburgh, Bp. Matthias of Chicago, and Bp. Michael of New York. At least 15 priests were in his company alone. Several individual representatives of the Carpatho-Russian Orthodox, Greek Orthodox, and Antiochian Orthodox Churches also participated.

Fr. Chad Hatfield, chancellor of St. Vladimir Orthodox Theological Seminary in Syosset, New York, estimated more than 100 Orthodox Christians came with his group. St. Tikhon’s Seminary in Pennsylvania also brought students to participate in the church’s public ministry.

“The nation should respect life from conception until the moment the person naturally takes his last breath,” Met. Jonah told LifeSiteNews.com. The Orthodox Christian Church, the world’s second largest Christian denomination, dogmatically teaches that life begins at conception and that abortion is a grave sin.

He said throughout the year the faithful should remind women who have had an abortion “that forgiveness and healing are available to them. They should support ministries that care for pregnant women by, for instance, founding crisis pregnancy centers. That is the kind of ministry that will bring an end to abortion in this nation,” he said. He instructed parishes of the OCA to insert prayers for the end of abortion into one of the church’s litanies on January 22, which the OCA proclaimed “Sanctity of Human Life Sunday.”

Fr. Chad Hatfield told LifeSiteNews.com said he had only one disappointment. “I hope next year we have a greater participation from other Orthodox jurisdictions,” he said, particularly other bishops.
Some churches refused to participate on the grounds that the March for Life is a political event. But one Orthodox Christian at the march told LifeSiteNews, “It is not political; it is a religious testament to our faith. We say the same things to Republicans as we do to Democrats.”

The Eastern Church has been active in the pro-life movement for decades. Archpriest John Kowalczyk, the co-founder of the Orthodox Presence at the March for Life, said in a statement, “For over 25 years, Orthodox Christians from throughout the country have gathered in the nation’s capital to show their dismay for the millions of children who have been aborted since the infamous decision of Roe v. Wade. This March for Life Movement has united many Christians of all denominations on the principle, of what Saint Gregory of Nyssa says, ‘Life begins at conception.’”

Metropolitan Jonah said he believes pro-life activism and defending the culture of life will increasingly become vehicles for practical cooperation with fellow Christians. In the process, it is bringing the little-known church into national exposure. Fr. Kowalczyk said, “The Orthodox presence in this March has inspired other Christians to view Orthodoxy not simply as an ethnic identity, but a Church with a moral teaching.”

Orthodox faithful began Monday’s events by gathering for two prayer services. Eastern Orthodox Christians held a Divine Liturgy and prayer service at St. Nicholas Cathedral on Massachusetts Ave. A Western Rite Orthodox Mass was held at St. Gregory the Great Orthodox Church in metropolitan Washington.

Members of the Orthodox Church took part in pro-life events far outside the nation’s capital, as well. At the West Coast March for Life, Fr. Aris Metrakos, protopresbyter of San Francisco’s Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church, gave the invocation. “Abortion-on-demand has shredded the moral fabric of our society by encouraging promiscuity, obliterating the notion of personal responsibility and accountability, and making selfishness a legal right,” he said. “It makes a mockery of men’s honor and the medical profession’s nobility, while exposing the duplicity and opportunism of the majority of the political class.”

POPE: "...(Draw) a distinction between true and false ecumenism"

2012-01-27T15:19:00.000-05:00

SOURCE: Catholic Culture

Pope Benedict XVI underlined the urgent need to address “a profound crisis of faith,” and drew a distinction between true and false ecumenism, in a January 27 address to members of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF).

Speaking to the participants in a plenary session of the Congregation that he headed for nearly 24 years, the Pope warned that “in vast areas of the earth the faith risks being extinguished, like a flame without fuel.” The crisis of faith, he said, is “a loss of a religious sense which represents one of the greatest challenges for the Church today.”

Pope Benedict reminded the Congregation that he has proclaimed a Year of Faith in a bid to revive that religious sense, and has made the “new evangelization” a priority of his pontificate and the topic of this year’s meeting of the Synod of Bishops.

The plenary meeting of the CDF will discuss the challenges of ecumenical work, and the Pope devoted much of his talk to that subject. He welcomed the fruits of ecumenical dialogue, but cautioned against the inappropriate use of that process:

Yet we must also recognize that the risks of indifference and of false Iienicism, completely alien to the mindset of Vatican Council II, require us to be vigilant. Such indifference is caused by the increasingly widespread opinion that truth is not accessible to man and that, therefore, we must limit ourselves to finding rules to improve this world. In this scenario, faith comes to be replaced by a shallow-rooted moralism. By contrast, the core of true ecumenism is faith, in which man encounters the truth revealed in the Word of God.

To guard against false ecumenism, the Pope suggested making a careful distinction between the Tradition of the Church, denoted with a “capital T,” and the different (“small t”) traditions of Christian denominations. He suggested that Anglicanorum Coetibus opened a way for the Catholic Church to accept the distinct traditions of the Anglican community without compromising the Tradition of the universal Church. In ecumenical work, the Pope continued, the Catholic Church should work with all interested ecumenical partners to preserve the teachings of Tradition in today’s world. Such a united witness is important, he said, on “the great moral questions about human life, family, sexuality, bioethics, freedom, justice and peace.”

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An Orthodox Baptism in the Home of John Quincy Adams (1811)

2012-01-27T09:34:00.000-05:00

SOURCE: Journey to Orthodoxy

On January 20, 1811, an Orthodox baptismal service took place at the home of the future President of the United States John Quincy Adams and his wife Louisa. At that time they were living in St. Petersburg, Russia. Louisa Adams took an active part as one of the Godparents of the little girl being baptized, along with her fellow sponsors Martha Godfrey (the Adams American chambermaid) and Mr. Francis Gray, one of the secretaries to the American legation in Russia.

John Quincy Adams later became the sixth President of the United States, serving his one term of office between 1825 and 1829. He was the eldest son of the second U.S. President, John Adams. From a young age John Quincy lived in Europe with his father, as the latter served as American representative in France and the Netherlands. At the relatively tender age of 14, in 1781, John Quincy travelled for the first time to Russia as secretary to Francis Dana whose mission was to obtain recognition by Russia of the nascent American republic. This initial visit was to last almost 3 years.

John Quincy returned there for a further 5 years in 1809 when President James Madison appointed him as the first fully credentialed US ambassador to Russia. In this role his wife, Louisa Catherine Johnson Adams, who holds the distinction of being the only foreign born First Lady of the United States, ably supported him. (She was born in London to an English mother and American father.)

So how did Louisa Adams and the other Americans become co sponsors of an Orthodox baptism? Find out here: An Orthodox Baptism in the Home of John Quincy Adams : Journey To Orthodoxy | The Orthodox Christian 'Welcome Home' Network for Converts

The Thomistic Response to the Culture of Death

2012-01-27T09:29:00.000-05:00

SOURCE: EWTN

Have you ever wondered how the culture of death gained such a foothold in society? What happened to make things go so wrong?

People often talk about “must see” TV, but “The Thomistic Response to the Culture of Death,” part of a larger series “Thomas Aquinas in Today’s World,” really is a show you should record and tape and share with family and friends. (This airs early, 3 a.m. ET, Saturday, Jan. 28. If you can’t record it, read on for other ways to see it!)

Dr. Charles Rice

The very personable Dr. Theresa Farnan, an instructor of pre-theology at Mt. St. Mary’s Seminary, interviews her highly regarded law professor father, Dr. Charles Rice, on three fascinating topics of vital importance: the philosophical origins of the culture of death, how to identify and respond to errors in the culture of death, and what we can do in our own country to build a culture of life.

Dr. Rice begins by focusing on an unholy trinity of “isms” as the foundation of the culture of death: secularism, relativism and individualism – and goes from there. (And you thought philosophy had nothing to do with everyday life!)

If you can’t record this episode, you can download the entire series – for free -- to your desktop or MP3 player from EWTN’s audio library at http://bit.ly/yKbPH5. You can also purchase the DVD from EWTN Religious Catalogue at http://bit.ly/wExEaZ.

Want to know more? Dr. Rice has written two books on this topic: “50 Questions on the Natural Law,” available from EWTN Religious Catalogue at http://bit.ly/w4ei2Q and “The Winning Side: Questions on Living the Culture of Life,” available through third-party book sellers on www.amazon.com.

The Death of a Spirituality

2012-01-27T09:21:00.000-05:00

SOURCE: Eastern Catholic Spiritual Renewal

Metropolitan Kallistos

To no surprise there have been many in Eastern Orthodox church history who have had no problem with some Latin spiritual traditions. A quick search of the internet will demonstrate some well noted saints of the East, such as St. Tikon or St. Nicodemous, who found spiritual life from the Latin traditions. In fact, there is some controversy about just how deep they were involved in some of the Latin dogmatic traditions of original sin and indulgences. Never the less, even modern Eastern Orthodox leaders, like Metropolitan Kallistos (Ware), have pointed out that it's not heretical for Orthodox Christians to accept Latin traditions. On the other hand, from a Roman Catholic perspective the spiritual traditions that were proclaimed dogmas after the great schism are non- negotiable.

Many Eastern Catholics have had to struggle with the non-negotiables of the Latin tradition. Sometimes it seems we are getting different messages from Rome. In the beginning we were told to maintain our traditions when we entered into communion with Rome only to later upgrade to avoid heresy. Even today since Vatican II we are told to return to our roots only latter to have corrections from the Latin hierarchy for being too Eastern. With oppositions such as these most of us are stuck with two options: be faithful to our spiritual tradition or accept the weight of the Latin dogmas and what they impose, which ultimately is the death of some of our spiritual traditions.

Recently, I listened to a Byzantine Catholic program on the internet about the Immaculate Conception. In the program the Byzantine Catholic priest had no problem affirming that he accepts the Latin dogma and why the Immaculate Conception works for him. In his mind since none of his byzantine liturgical prayers have had to change it all works out. He pointed out how some Orthodox Christians believe in the Latin dogma, even quoting Metropolitan Kallistos the same way I did. However, what he failed to do was to demonstrate that the freedom for the Orthodox to have diverse spiritual views on original sin and the Theotokos will not be optional if they join his church. Even though they can keep the prayers the spirituality behind it will no longer exist- it dies once the tradition is altered.

It should be an obvious error that you cannot separate how you believe from the way you pray. However, this is where we find ourselves today. Sure some of our churches have the same icons and liturgies that the local Orthodox churches use but in some cases we sure don't have the same spirituality. For example, just by adopting the Immaculate Conception you automatically accept the Latin understating of sin. It doesn't stop there by accepting that you accept the Latin understanding of grace and it continues to spiral down to where the spiritual practices come to represent a spirituality that was carried out similar to St. Tikon. However, in his case it was not under dogmatic obligation that his spirituality was birthed causing traditional byzantine beliefs to cease. For him the Byzantine world continued on where his personal practice did not dwarf the historical byzantine spirituality that shined forth in the past in great saints such as St. Gregory Palamas or St. Symeon the New Theologian to name a few.

A friend of mine recently told me that he feels spiritualy isolated as he strives to live fully the spirituality of the Byzantine tradition. He says the only people that he sees trying to live the authentic spiritual traditions of our Eastern Fathers are only on the internet. For him the spirituality of the East has died in what he knows of his local church. Like some Byzantine Catholic churches the prayers might be the same as the Orthodox but the spirituality is Roman Catholic. Consequently, he wants to go to a church were the spirituality matches the prayers, which is in the Eastern Orthodox church. Who could blame him for this. For the most part people like him are told they are wrong. If people like him claim to just be practicing another tradition they do so at times with facing the dogmatic force of Roman Catholic apologists with all their paper work. Of course I encouraged him to stay and fight. We might be few but the "Orthodox in Communion with Rome" movement is a prophetic movement. If it's anything other than prophetic we must be a bunch traditionally high-minded heretics soon to be forgotten.

To see a general difference in Roman and Byzantine spiritualities click (here)

To understand the general differences in our spiritual tradition concerning the Immaculate conception click (here)

Symposium to explore Pan-Orthodoxy in North America

2012-01-27T09:11:00.000-05:00

SOURCE: OCA Website
LOS ANGELES, CA [Huffington Institute]

The Huffington Ecumenical Institute, in collaboration with the Henry Luce Foundation, will host its annual symposium, “Pan-Orthodoxy in North America: Towards a Local Church,” at Loyola Marymount University here March 16-17, 2012.

A variety of presentations by Orthodox Christian and Catholic experts will explore the “complex mosaic of historical circumstances, struggles for self-identity, and intriguing people” that make up Orthodox Christianity in North America.

The symposium will be held at University Hall 1000, Ahmanson Auditorium, Loyola Marymount University. Friday’s program begins at 9:00 a.m., while Saturday’s program opens at 9:30 a.m. Each days’ presentations will conclude at 5:00 p.m. Lunch and refreshments will be provided each day.

While there is no charge to attend the symposium, advanced registration is strictly required. To register and/or to obtain additional informaton, visit http://bellarmine.lmu.edu/ecumenical/pan-orthodoxy.

Questions may be directed to Katherine Lash at hei@lmu.edu; 310-338-1917.

English Language Divine Liturgy in Lviv Church

2012-01-27T09:07:00.000-05:00

SOURCE: Website of the Archeparchy of Lviv

With the blessing of Bishop Ihor, Archbishop and Metropolitan of Lviv, the Byzantine Divine Liturgy in English was celebrated at the Lviv Garrison Church of Saints Apostles Peter and Paul. This decision was taken after concerns were raised that many tourists and faithful were of the Eastern Rite but who do not know or even study the Ukrainian language.

The English text of the Liturgy is that approved by the Synod of Bishops in 1988 and today is used primarily in the Ukrainian diaspora. On Sunday January 15 the first such Divine Liturgy was celebrated in English. Besides foreigners, active participation in these liturgies are by Ukrainian students studying English as a foreign language.

Archbishop Dolan says Obama administration 'treats pregnancy as disease'

2012-01-27T08:51:00.000-05:00

SOURCE: Catholic News Agency

New York City, N.Y., Jan 27, 2012 / 12:45 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Cardinal-designate Timothy M. Dolan, head of the U.S. bishops' conference, says the Obama administration has revoked the religious freedom of groups that do not regard women's fertility as as “disease.”

“The Catholic Church defends religious liberty, including freedom of conscience, for everyone,” the New York archbishop and conference president wrote in a Jan. 25 Wall Street Journal editorial, addressing the government's final decision to require contraception coverage in most new health plans.

With this decision, the cardinal-designate wrote, “the Obama administration has failed to show the same respect for the consciences of Catholics and others who object to treating pregnancy as a disease.”

On Jan. 20 the Department of Health and Human Services confirmed it would impose the contraception coverage mandate on most religious institutions, with a narrow exception for groups whose main purpose is the “inculcation of religious values” among people of the same faith.

“Even Jesus and his disciples would not qualify for the exemption,” Cardinal-designate Dolan noted, “because they were committed to serve those of other faiths.”

Health and Human Services finalized the contraceptive mandate just days before the annual March for Life, an event that mourns the anniversary of the Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision.

As the U.S. bishops' president observed in his editorial, the decision came despite a landmark Supreme Court case in which all nine justices ruled in favor of religious ministries' right of self-determination.

“Scarcely two weeks ago, in its Hosanna-Tabor decision upholding the right of churches to make ministerial hiring decisions, the Supreme Court unanimously and enthusiastically reaffirmed these longstanding and foundational principles of religious freedom,” he recalled.

The court, he said, made it clear that religious institutions had the right “to control their internal affairs.”

But the Obama administration “has veered in the opposite direction.”

“It has refused to exempt religious institutions that serve the common good – including Catholic schools, charities and hospitals – from its sweeping new health-care mandate that requires employers to purchase contraception, including abortion-producing drugs, and sterilization coverage for their employees.”

Cardinal-designate Dolan called the move “an unprecedented incursion into freedom of conscience” that forces an “unacceptable dilemma” on believers: “Stop serving people of all faiths in their ministries – so that they will fall under the narrow exemption – or stop providing health-care coverage to their own employees.”

Non-exempt religious groups have been granted an additional year to comply with the mandate, a concession the future cardinal ridiculed – “as if we might suddenly be more willing to violate our consciences 12 months from now.”

First published in August 2011 as part of federal health care reform, the contraception coverage requirement has drawn criticism from a broad spectrum of groups – including Orthodox Jews and Evangelical Christians, as well as some Catholics known for supporting the president on other issues.

“Hundreds of religious institutions, and hundreds of thousands of individual citizens, have raised their voices in principled opposition to this requirement,” Cardinal-designate Dolan wrote in his editorial.

“Many of these good people and groups were Catholic, but many were Americans of other faiths, or no faith at all, who recognize that their beliefs could be next on the block.”

In Wednesday's editorial, Cardinal-designate Dolan stressed that religious liberty is also “the lifeblood of the American people” and “the cornerstone of American government,” guaranteed in the Bill of Rights.

Now, he warned, this right is jeopardized in the interest of preventing fertility.

“This latest erosion of our first freedom should make all Americans pause. When the government tampers with a freedom so fundamental to the life of our nation, one shudders to think what lies ahead.”

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Archbishop Dolan slams Obama birth-control mandate
SOURCE: New York Post

Archbishop Timothy Dolan Tuesday blasted President Obama’s health care policy forcing the Catholic Church to provide its employees with health insurance covering birth control. Dolan, who is set to become a Cardinal next month, was asked after a lecture at Fordham University Law School at Lincoln Center if he disagrees with Obama.

“You bet we got a disagreement,” Dolan said after the event called, “Law & the Gospel of Life.”

“The government doesn’t have the right to butt into the internal governance and teachings of the church,” he added.

The mandate by the feds is part of the health-care bill Obama signed in 2010. It means employers must cover the morning-after pill.

But Dolan said, “It’s not about contraception. It’s about the right of conscience.

“This is not a Catholic issue, it’s an American issue. We’re strong on this issue of conscience, and that’s what’s at stake here.”

Dolan also spoke about his mother being with him at the Vatican when he’s elevated to Cardinal.

“She’ll be there. I think I’m going with her — she’s running things.

“I’m the oldest of five so they’re all going to go and their spouses. It will be a great family reunion. I hope to introduce them to Pope Benedict.”

Furthering the dialogue between Catholics and Orthodox

2012-01-27T08:37:00.000-05:00

SOURCE: Vatican Radio

The annual week of prayer for Christian unity marks a moment to review ecumenical achievements of the past year and look ahead to some of the highlights of the coming months. Philippa Hitchen spoke with the secretary of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, Bishop Brian Farrell about his hopes for the Catholic-Orthodox dialogue..

Listen:

Bishop Brian Farrell

“We are very close to the Orthodox theologically….so the theological difference between us is almost totally concentrated on this one question of structure, authority, primacy in the church. In the dialogue we have reached the point where we all accept that there is a primacy, that this belong to the bishop of Rome, but we don’t agree on how it is to be exercised…..

One of the things that is on the horizon is the anniversary of the Edict of Milan which changed the course of the history of the church…….so this will be an important occasion. Catholics and Orthodox have a slightly different view of Constantine…..there will be celebrations in many countries, in particular, yes, in Serbia where he was born and we’re looking forward to be able to take part in these together…….I don’t think we should make (a meeting with the Pope and the Russian Patriarch) a definite objective of the celebrations – as you know, the preparation of such a meeting depends not just on goodwill but also on how effective we can be in overcoming some of the tensions that still exist between Catholics and Orthodox."

Convert Priest Builds His Own Church

2012-01-27T08:30:00.000-05:00

SOURCE: Journey to Orthodoxy

Perhaps Father Stephen Weston took inspiration from the fact that Jesus was the son of a carpenter when he built Britain’s smallest church in his back garden.

Father Weston, 63, constructed St Fursey’s Orthodox Church in Norfolk with just an A-level in woodwork, earned 14 years ago, to his name. The byzantine arches of the wooden shed, which is 18ft by 13ft wide, has become a local landmark in the middle of Father Weston’s housing estate. St Fursey’s is so small the holy processions carried out during each service only take worshippers ten steps along and two steps across.

There is no room to sit and after services the congregation step through a door into the priest’s living room for a cup of coffee. But the Antiochian Orthodox church – very similar to the Greek Orthodox but English speaking – is an official place of worship after it was blessed by a bishop. The regular congregation at the church has now grown to seven, including two pensioners and their walking frames, which means Father Weston now needs to upsize.

The clergyman said:

‘When we do a Saturday liturgy we’ve had 18 people in the church and it really is a bit of a crush. We would like to see our congregation grow, a large part of Orthodox services are sung not said and in bigger Orthodox churches that is led by a choir and the congregation join in. ‘At St Fursey’s it not an option, everybody is in the choir and everybody is in the congregation.’

Father Weston served as an Anglican priest with the Church of England for 20 years before he became disillusioned with its ideals at the age of 50.

He says he was upset with the direction the Anglican Church was heading and admitted the ordination of women to the priesthood was ‘the straw that broke the camel’s back’.

Stephen switched to the Orthodox Church and short of an English-speaking venue, decided to build his own in the village of Sutton, Norfolk, in 1998. A team of volunteers took just over six months to complete the structure complete at a cost of just £5,000 and started worshipping there while it was still a building site.

The church does not need to be consecrated because it is legally considered a private chapel. However, it has been blessed by a bishop from the Orthodox church, making it an official place of worship. Father Weston was ordained by the Orthodox church in May last year, in a ceremony in Paris.

He has already said he will be happy to pick up his tools and build another shed if that is the only option for getting hold of a bigger church in the neighbouring village of Stalham.

Father Weston said:

‘Very likely people thought I was mad when I was building St Fursey’s. ‘I remember my next door neighbour sticking his head out of his window and asking what I was doing in the garden. ‘I told him and he said “Oh great you can build a whole cathedral back there if you like”. ‘Although we love our little church it is very tucked away, we need another place of worship that is more public so that people can find us.’

St Fursey’s is understood to be the smallest working church in Britain. Both the Church of England and Catholic church, in Britain, were unable to name a smaller church. Bremilhan church in Wiltshire is known to be the smallest church in the country, at 13ft by 11ft, however services are only held there once a year.

Strong Orthodox Christian presence at annual DC March for Life

2012-01-24T15:09:00.000-05:00

SOURCE: OCA Website

His Beatitude, Metropolitan Jonah, together with Their Graces, Bishops Tikhon of Philadelphia and Eastern Pennsylvania, Melchisedek of Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania, Michael of New York and New Jersey, and Matthias of Chicago and the Midwest were led hundreds of Orthodox Christian clergy, faithful, and seminarians at the 39th annual March for Life here Monday, January 23, 2012.

According to Archpriest John Kowalczyk, a pro-life activist and co-founder of the Orthodox Presence at the annual gathering, “this was the biggest Orthodox participation ever in the history of the March.”
Metropolitan Jonah spoke at the pre-March program and offered prayers for the opening invocation. At the conclusion of every petition, thousands responded with a heartfelt and enthusiastic “Lord, have mercy!” Marchers then proceeded up Constitution Avenue to the US Supreme Court, where a Memorial was celebrated for the victims of abortion.

The March was broadcast live on the Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN), which will rebroadcast it’s extensive coverage at 2:00 p.m. ET on Saturday, January 28. Check local listings for possible variations.

More Wisdom from +Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen

2012-01-24T10:34:00.000-05:00

“If we wish to have the light, we must keep the sun;
if we wish to keep our forests we must keep our trees;
if we wish to keep our perfumes, we must keep our flowers;
and if we wish to keep our rights, then we must keep our God.”

+Archbishop Fulton Sheen

Transformed chapel at Thomas More College, NH

2012-01-24T10:17:00.000-05:00

SOURCE: New Liturgical Movement

(Merrimack, New Hampshire)—Students of Thomas More College returned from their Christmas recess to an exciting surprise—a beautifully transformed chapel.

While the students were home with their families, Thomas More College’s staff and faculty joined together to install a new altar, polish and position the tabernacle in the center, unveil three new icons, buff pews, wax floors, and tastefully paint and frame the sanctuary space.

The new mahogany altar is placed to ensure that the priest be Ad Orientem during both the Extraordinary and Ordinary Forms of the Mass. On the front is painted the traditional symbol of the chi rho, the first two Greek letters of ‘Christ’, emphasizing the symbolic representation of the altar as the body of Christ.

On the back wall hang four icons, painted by the College’s artist-in-residence, Professor David Clayton. Three of these icons were installed just this week: Our Lady, St. John the Evangelist, and St. Thomas More.

The icons of Our Lady and Saint John—the traditional figures shown at the cross—appear at the foot of the large hanging crucifix, even though it is suspended ten feet from the wall on which the icons hang. The icons are seemingly connected to the crucifix due to the complementary color schemes, matching borders, and careful positioning.

Interestingly, the unique placement of these icons also causes them to appear at the foot of the smaller crucifix, which hangs on the back wall for the priest to view during Mass.

“The icons were arranged in such a way as to draw the viewers’ attention to both the crucifixes and to the tabernacle,” Clayton noted. “Our Lady and St. John are looking at the tabernacle and their postures indicate they are paying homage to and adoring the Blessed Sacrament.”

The icon of Saint Michael the Archangel, unveiled last March, is now joined by a new icon of the College’s patron, Saint Thomas More. Both icons are five feet in height and two and a half feet width. They hang above the two smaller icons, while a fifth icon of the Sacred Heart, installed two years ago, hangs to the left above the bench where the priest sits during Mass.

Clayton said: “When we sing Vespers and Lauds, we always close by asking for the intercession of Saint Thomas More, Our Lady, Mother of Beauty, and a prayer to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. After Compline, we say the Saint Michael prayer. With the recent additions, we can now turn, face forward, and look directly at the appropriate image for each of these prayers and, thus, predispose ourselves to grace.”

The space is bordered with Fleurs de Lis on a background of warm burgundy. The Fleur de Lis is a traditional symbol of both Our Lady and the Trinity. As a result, the space is marked apart from the rest of the room as being the sanctuary.

Most important, changes made to the College’s chapel now allow the tabernacle to be situated in the center of the altar.

Dr. Fahey, president of Thomas More College, remarked, “When the Holy Father met with leaders from Catholic Universities and Colleges in the United States, he reminded everyone that ‘First and foremost every Catholic educational institution is a place to encounter the living God who in Jesus Christ reveals His transforming love and truth.’ It seems to me essential that we place Our Lord visibly at the center—the center of the Chapel and the center of our entire educational endeavor.”

Reverend John Healey, longtime chaplain of Thomas More College, stated, “The great deal of work done recently in the Chapel signifies in the community a wonderful devotion and love for Christ for which I am truly grateful. Deo Gratias!”

Survey finds American majority in favor of abortion restrictions

2012-01-24T10:10:00.000-05:00

Washington D.C., Jan 24, 2012 / 02:51 am (SOURCE: CNA/EWTN News).- A supermajority of Americans supports significant restrictions on abortion, in contradiction to the Supreme Court decisions which require permissive laws nationwide, a new survey sponsored by the Knights of Columbus says.

Carl Anderson, Knights of Columbus

“Almost four decades after the Supreme Court’s decisions in Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton, which resulted in the almost totally unrestricted abortion regime of today, these decisions continue to be out of step with the vast majority of Americans,” said Carl Anderson, Supreme Knight of the Knights of Columbus.

The Knights of Columbus-Marist Poll survey found that 79 percent of Americans say they would not allow abortion after the first three months of pregnancy. Another 51 percent said they would only allow abortion, at most, in cases of rape, incest or to save the life of the mother or they would not allow it at all, the Knights reported Jan. 23.

Eighty-four percent of survey respondents said that laws can protect both the life of the unborn and the health and well-being of the mother, an increase of three percent since a survey two years ago.

“Far from being settled law, the inadequacy of the Court’s reasoning on abortion in Roe and Doe is readily apparent to most Americans. Once a survey moves beyond the labels of pro-life and pro-choice, we see a fundamental unity among Americans in favor of significant abortion restrictions,” Anderson said.

The survey questions on abortion were part of a broader survey that will be released in February. The survey polled 1,053 adults in the continental U.S. from Dec. 15 through Dec. 27, 2011. It claims a margin of error of plus or minus three percentage points.

The Anglo-Catholic "Egyptian Captivity"

2012-01-24T10:00:00.000-05:00

SOURCE: The Anglo-Catholic
by Fr Dwight Longenecker

I have just spent a most exciting, fascinating, nostalgic and emotional day. I was present at the reception into full communion with the Catholic Church, of the priests and people of Mount Calvary Church in Baltimore.

Mount Calvary has a venerable history within the Anglo Catholic movement. Founded in the mid-1800s as the first of the churches influenced by the Oxford Movement, their first pastor, Fr Curtis, travelled to England and was received into the Catholic Church by Newman himself and the returned to the USA to eventually become a Catholic bishop.

This weekend the congregation of Mount Calvary took the step into the Catholic Church through the new Ordinariate of the Chair of St Peter erected by Pope Benedict XVI at the beginning of this month.

For me it was a most moving experience. I was an Anglican for fifteen years, and for ten of those years was a priest in the Church of England. When the Anglican liturgy is celebrated well there is nothing quite like it. From a purely aesthetic point of view, it is, without a doubt, the most sublime and transcendent celebration of the divine liturgy in the English language. When the celebration is also fully Catholic the experience is, for an old Anglophile like me, most moving.

One of the aspects which was so moving about the Mass this morning was the knowledge of just how much suffering was behind this final reconciliation. For the last thirty of forty years the Anglican Communion has been in turmoil. First over the radical innovation of women’s ordination, now over the revolution in the understanding of marriage. Traditionalists have been castigated, ignored, marginalized and vilified. They have seen their numbers decimated as thousands of priests and laypeople have left for Catholicism, the continuing Anglican churches or the golf course.

Anglo Catholics have been like the Hebrews in their Egyptian captivity. Bound to a system that was intrinsically rooted in the ways of the world, the mainstream Anglican leadership have behaved like petty Pharaohs. When Anglo Catholic congregations wanted to pull out and take the property which for years they have maintained and improved and paid for, the Episcopal authorities have dragged them through the courts, pushed them out, and even would rather have their abandoned buildings used as mosques than to allow any Anglican group to use them for worship.

When the Anglo Catholics in the Church of England suggested that they might retain some of their churches, or just perhaps share the churches the Archbishop of Canterbury gave a woolly smile which was more like a grimace and said, “The sharing of churches is still presenting a challenge to us.” Which was to say, “Not a snowball’s chance in hell that you blokes are going to set a foot in any of our churches.” Never mind that they were Catholic churches to start with, and never mind that the Church of England has for more churches than they can possibly ever know what to do with.

Were the Anglo Catholics in an Egyptian captivity? Well, no one made them make bricks, and it’s true nobody made the dissident traditionalists stay, but neither did they make them feel welcome. Now, at last, the Anglo Catholics have a way into the promised land. Like a latter day Moses, Pope Benedict XVI has given them a way out. They can retain their beautiful Anglican liturgy and heritage while being in full communion with the Catholic Church. In his gentle way Pope Benedict is saying to the Anglican leadership, “Let my people go!”

All that remains is for the Anglicans who are captive in Egypt to find the courage and faith to follow Moses. To leave Egypt means to leave the secure job, the secure home, the friends and family. We must remember just how hard it is to step out of the comfort zone and take the step of faith. We must remember how the Israelite children, once they were in the wilderness, longed to return to the comfort of Egypt. Suddenly they preferred the slavery they knew to the freedom they did not know.

The Episcopalian and Church of England Pharaohs may need to let the Anglo Catholics go (indeed they will be happier without them) but the Anglo Catholics also need to pack their bags, grasp their walking sticks, put on their sandals and get ready to set out for the promised land. That they will face a time in the wilderness is part of the story, but if they can take this step, the new Ordinariate of the Chair of St Peter and the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham will get off to a flying start. A new direction will be taken toward church unity–one which may reap benefits in the future which we cannot now imagine.

See also "A Historic Day at Mount Calvary-Baltimore"

VIDEO: Blessing of the Water - Dnipro River

2012-01-24T08:15:00.001-05:00

Йорданське водосвяття на Дніпрі поблизу Патріаршого собору Воскресіння Христового УГКЦ (19 січня 2012 року)

This Week in Christian History (January 22)

2012-01-23T11:14:00.001-05:00

SOURCE: Christianity Today

January 22

January 22, 304 (traditional date): St. Vincent of Saragossa, one of the most famous martyrs of the early church, is killed. Starved, racked, roasted on a gridiron, thrown into prison, and set in stocks, he refused to sacrifice. According toAugustine, his fame extended everywhere in the Roman Empire and "wherever the name of Christ was known"

January 22, 1899: Pope Leo XIII addressed an encyclical (Testem benevolentiae nostrae) to James Cardinal Gibbons, archbishop of Baltimore, intended “to suppress certain contentions” that had arisen in America “to the detriment of the peace of many souls.” In essence, Leo feared that some American Catholic intellectuals, including a number of bishops, were finding canonical and theological lessons for the Church where they should not be looking for them: in the American cultural and political experience of democracy and individualism. (See "Americanism, Then and Now: Our Pet Heresy"

January 22, 1973: The United States Supreme court legalizes abortion in its Roe v. Wade decision.

January 23

January 23, 1786: John Carroll, who would become America's first Roman Catholic bishop, founds the Catholic academy that is now Georgetown University.

January 23, 1893: Episcopal minister Phillips Brooks, bishop of Massachusetts, staunch abolitionist, substitute evangelist for D.L. Moody, and author of "O Little Town of Bethlehem," dies. He was considered the most "considerable American preacher of his generation."

January 24

January 24, 1076: Germany's Henry IV convenes the Synod of Worms to secure the deposition of Pope Gregory VII. The Synod charged the pope with serious crimes, called upon Rome to depose him, and issued other anti-papal statements. The pope quickly excommunicated Henry. One year later, Henry traveled to Canossa, Italy, and stood three days in the snow in an attempt to gain Gregory's forgiveness.
Gregory granted it, but the two men soon fought again; Henry set up an antipope in Gregory's place.

January 24, 1573: English poet and preacher John Donne, dean of St. Paul's Cathedral in London, is born. One of the most prominent preachers of his day and one of the greatest English poets, he is known for such famous lines as "No man is an island," "For whom does the bell toll? It tolls for thee," and "Death be not proud.

January 25

January 25, 98: Upon the sudden death of Emperor Nerva, Trajan takes the throne. In 110, he asked Pliny the Younger to investigate a new superstition, "Christianity." Pliny's report of a relatively harmless though widespread cult led to moderate persecution—and the first recognition that Christians were distinct from Jews

Blessed John Henry Newman

January 25, 1841: Anglican clergyman John Henry Newman publishes Tract 90 (in a series begun in 1833), an argument for a catholic interpretation of the Thirty-nine Articles. It was the pinnacle of the Oxford Movement, but the last straw for the bishop of Oxford and others. Newman was forced to resign his parish, and he converted to Roman Catholicism four years later.

January 25, 1907: Social reformer and author Julia Ward Howe, composer of the "Battle Hymn of the Republic," becomes the first woman elected to the National Institute of Arts & Letters

January 25, 1959: Ninety days after his election to the papacy, Pope John XXIII announces his intention to hold an ecumenical church council. The Second Vatican Council opened October 11, 1962, and was the Catholic church's most searching self-examination ever

January 25, 1627: Noted physicist and chemist Robert Boyle is born in Ireland. After a lifetime of writing about science, religion, and harmony between the two, he underwrote an annual eight-lecture series defending Christianity against unbelievers

January 26

January 26, 1564: Pope Pius IV accepts and confirms the decrees of the Council of Trent by the bull Benedictus Deus. The product of the Counter Reformation, it improved church organization, strengthened the papacy, and blocked any reconciliation with Protestants

January 27

January 27, 398: St. John Chrysostom, the greatest preacher of his age, is consecrated bishop of Constantinople

January 27, 417: Pelagius, a British monk, is excommunicated for heresy. He denied original sin and claimed that men could become righteous by the exercise of free will

January 27, 1302: On a trumped-up charge of hostility to the church and corrupt practices, Dante Alighieri is fined heavily and perpetually excluded from political office (he was a chief magistrate). Further condemned in March and driven out of Florence in April, Dante began writing The Divine Comedy, an epic poem in which he travels through hell, purgatory, and heaven

January 28

January 28, 814: Charlemagne, the first Holy Roman Emperor, dies. He was, in his day, not only one of the greatest political rulers of all time, he was, in his day, more influential in church matters than the pope. He saw his task as secular ruler "to defend with our arms the holy Church of Christ against attacks by the heathen from any side and against devastation by the infidels.

January 28, 1547: England's Henry VIII, who split the church of England from Rome and presided over the founding of the Anglican church, dies

Obama affirms commitment to ‘fundamental constitutional right’ to abortion

2012-01-23T10:39:00.001-05:00

Source: Catholic Culture

On the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, President Barack Obama issued a brief statement affirming his support of the 1973 decision.

“As we mark the 39th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, we must remember that this Supreme Court decision not only protects a woman’s health and reproductive freedom, but also affirms a broader principle: that government should not intrude on private family matters,” he said. “I remain committed to protecting a woman’s right to choose and this fundamental constitutional right.”

“While this is a sensitive and often divisive issue, no matter what our views, we must stay united in our determination to prevent unintended pregnancies, support pregnant woman and mothers, reduce the need for abortion, encourage healthy relationships, and promote adoption,” he added. “And as we remember this historic anniversary, we must also continue our efforts to ensure that our daughters have the same rights, freedoms, and opportunities as our sons to fulfill their dreams.”

Source: http://www.nrlc.org/abortion/facts/abortionstats.html

Additional sources for this story
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Statement by the President on Roe v. Wade Anniversary (White House)

Archbishop Lubomyr Pleased with Present Leadership of Patriarch Sviatoslav

2012-01-23T10:35:00.000-05:00

SOURCE: RISU

Archbishop Lubomyr Husar of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC) expressed his satisfaction with the present leadership of Patriarch Sviatoslav. “He is younger, more energetic. You can see his efforts, how many trips and vists he makes. I am very pleased. The work he has done has already yielded some fruit. From what I can see, praise God,” said the ex-head of the church in an interview to Unian.net in answer to a question about changes in the church under the new leader.

The ex-head of the church expressed regret that he himself failed to do many things. “I cannot say that everything has been done to catch up. I left many things unfinished. Sometimes, I regret and feel a little ashamed of the fact that I did not manage to do more. And I sincerely hope that Patriarch Lubomyr will manage to do that, for he is willing. But it will not happen in one day,” said Archbishop Lubomyr.

He also stated that it is good for him to share the same house with the present primate.

“We are very different as far as our age, character, origin are concerned. But the important things is that we try to serve the same cause,” said Archbishop Lubomyr.

Fr. Richard Doherty - Celebrations in North Carolina

2012-01-23T10:26:00.000-05:00

A good friend of St. Elias Parish, Archpriest Richard Doherty, recently celebrated his 26th anniversary of ordination to the Holy Priesthood. The photos below are courtesy of Saint Nicholas Ukrainian Greek Catholic Mission in Wake Forest, NC. May God grant him Many Years! Многая Літа!