Red Brigades planned to kidnap Pope John Paul II, says book

Rome (ENI). A new book about Pope John Paul II reveals that shortly before the 1981 assassination attempt on the pontiff's life, he learned that the militant Red Brigades group planned to kidnap him. ''Shortly before the attack, the Italian secret services warned that the Red Brigades' terrorists had a plan to kidnap John Paul,'' the book, "Why he is a saint", explains. Polish Monsignor Slawomir Oder, who is heading the cause for the canonisation of Pope John Paul, co-authored the book with Italian journalist, Saverio Gaeta, and presented it to the public on 27 January. Before the 13 May 1981 attack on the Pope by a Turkish assailant, the Red Brigades, which aimed to overthrow the Italian State, had assassinated Roman Catholic Judge Vittorio Bachelet. [398 words, ENI-10-0064]


ENI Online - http://www.eni.ch/
Ecumenical News International
PO Box 2100
CH - 1211 Geneva 2
Switzerland
Tel: (41-22) 791 6088 - 6111
Fax: (41-22) 788 7244
Email: eni@eni.ch

Fr Corapi speaks, listen!

Fr Corapi speaks, listen!

Dallas Roe Memorial Evnets (Saturday, January 16, 2010)

I was at this march with my son Robert, we boarded the busses at 7:30 am for a Rosary at the Routh Street Abortion Center, and then we went to the Roe Memorial Mass at the Cathedral Shrine of the Virgin of Guadalupe. This video (by Matthew Warren) is of the march that followed the Mass.

Lord have mercy on our nation and we send our prayers for all victims of abortion.



Hat tip to Matthew Warner

Catholic Relief Services calls Haitian earthquake 'disaster of the century'

http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=18259

BALTIMORE, MD., January 13 (CNA) - Catholic Relief Services Haiti country representative Karel Zelenka is calling the recent earthquake in Haiti a “disaster of the century” in a message to the organization's Baltimore headquarters on Jan 13.

“People have been screaming and praying all over the place throughout the night. It is a disaster of the century, we should be prepared for thousands and thousands of dead and injured,” said Zelenka.

Most people, said Zelenka, are “in a shock.”

Zelenka continued to say that all of the CRS staff in Haiti are accounted for, except for two. However, they are having a “terrible problem with communications – only incoming calls” as well as the possibility of soon running out of supplies, including food and water.

Zelenka also told CRS that there are “no organized rescues yet – all done with bare hands” and that the damage is “incredible all around, but our offices seem fine.”

CRS Senior Communications director Tom Price told CNA that their facilities in Haiti were “shaken, and one of the walls was damaged, but there were no injuries to people in the building.” Price confirmed that the two missing staff members have yet to be found.

When asked what CRS is planning to do in response to the crisis, Price told CNA, “we have committed an initial 5 million dollars for immediate use in relief efforts. Our agency is geared up for a major emergency response” which will include “mobilizing food and emergency capacity of people and deploying emergency shelter and hygiene kits that we already had in Haiti” with supplies coming in from the neighboring Dominican Republic.

Planet Unites in Opposing Death Penalty

Cities Join With Sant'Egidio Community Initiative

ROME, NOV. 18, 2009 (Zenit.org).- On Nov. 30, more than 1,000 cities around the globe will floodlight a monument symbolizing opposition to the death penalty, joining with the Community of Sant'Egidio in their "No Justice Without Life" initiative.

The community recognizes a change in world opinion on the death penalty, highlighted by two U.N. resolutions calling for a universal moratorium on the practice.

A statement from the group called capital punishment a "residue from the past," and said that like slavery and torture, it should eventually be rejected.

Yet, "the path to the abolition of capital punishment continues to be long and difficult and it needs decisive and long-term action in view of the implementation of the resolution and of the definitive abolition of capital punishment," the communiqué affirmed.

The World Day of Cities for Life is observed every Nov. 30 in memory of the first abolition of the death penalty by a state (the Grand Duchy of Tuscany), which took place in 1786.

The 2008 celebration saw the participation of 1,000 cities, more than 50 of which were capitals. It thus represented the most widespread international mobilization ever in the movement to halt all capital executions in the world.

Cities are invited to make a visible gesture to its citizens and to the world. The gesture, preferably the illumination of an important monument of the city, is accompanied with adherence to the universal moratorium and a concrete commitment to build awareness about the issue in civil society. The city of Rome, for example, illuminates the Colosseum, Brussels the Atomium, Barcelona the Cathedral Square.

Benedict XVI surfs the web and uses email

http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=17683

VATICAN CITY, November 12 (CNA) - The president of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, Archbishop Claudio Maria Celli, shared this week that the Holy Father has an appreciation for new developments in technology and is comfortable surfing the internet and using email.

During an interview with the program “Studio Aperto” on the Italia 1 TV network, Archbishop Celli added, while the Pope doesn't have a personal email address, he “sends his own personal emails. He does! He has great appreciation for new technology.”

The archbishop explained that while the Pope “cannot respond to the millions of messages that arrive in his inbox,” he is committed to “offering his prayers for all who write to him.”

“The internet is an excellent means of communication,” he continued. “We are seeking to be present where the people are, especially the youth.”

Adult Stem Cells Saved My Life campaign set to launch

http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=17689

KANSAS CITY, KAN., November 12 (CNA) - The Family Research Council, (FRC) has announced the beginning of its campaign to spread awareness about how successful adult stem cells are in treating a variety of diseases. The most recent count places the number of conditions successfully treated at close to 80.

On Saturday, November 14, 2009, the FRC will kick off the “Adult Stem Cells Saved My Life Education & Awareness Campaign” at the Town Hall in Shawnee, Kansas. At the premier, they will publicly launch www.stemcellresearchfacts.com and present the stories of people who have been successfully treated with adult stem cells via short videos.

Laura Dominguez knows firsthand about the impact a stem cell treatment can make.

In the summer of 2001, when Dominguez was just 16 years-old, she was involved in a car accident that broke her neck, paralyzing her from the neck down.

After a Portuguese surgeon took stem cells from her nose, cultured them, and used them to replace the scar tissue in her neck, she is now able to feel her body below her chest. She can grasp and move the mouse of a computer and is able to walk with leg braces. Though her range of motion is limited compared to her abilities before the accident, due to the treatment which used her own stem cells, she is no longer a paraplegic.

David Prentice, Ph.D., formerly a professor at Indiana State University who now works full time with FRC, told CNA that this campaign is about awareness. “This (adult stem cell research) is out there. There’s more coming.” Prentice noted that the majority of people don’t even know about adult stem cell treatments and how effective they are.

According to Prentice, the exact number of conditions that can be successfully treated by adult stem cells “is growing weekly. It’s over 70, and soon it will be 80.”

Currently the most common and effective treatments using stem cells are various forms of cancers and anemias, he said, though adult stem cells have also repaired heart attack damage, treated leukemias, lymphomas, spinal cord injuries and helped patients with multiple sclerosis and juvenile diabetes.

When asked about the embryonic stem cell research debate, Prentice noted, “No human beings have even been injected yet” in embryonic stem cell research. Published science, however, has verified the successful treatments of thousands of patients using adult stem cells.

“Lets focus on helping the patients, and helping them now,” Prentice said. “We’re not even talking about embryonic stem cell research. It’s not helping anybody. It’s not even helping the lab rats.”

Priest donates own ‘holy kidney’ to ailing parishioner

http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=17695

DALLAS, TEXAS, November 13 (CNA) - A Texas woman in need of a kidney has received one from her parish priest. She has called the donation a “holy kidney,” while he says the gift of his kidney is an attempt to follow Christ’s life-giving example.

Carrie Gehling, who has lost both legs to diabetes and has suffered four heart attacks, needed a kidney transplant after years of dialysis. Her medical history made her a high-risk candidate and she needed to find a live donor herself, the Dallas Morning News reports.

The 45-year-old Gehling turned to her pastor at St. Rita Catholic Church, Msgr. Mark Seitz.

Msgr. Seitz, thinking about where his parishioner could find a donor, said he thought to himself 'Why not me?'

Testing proved he was an acceptable match. Gehling, hearing he would be her donor, said she would call the gift her “holy kidney.”

A spokesman for the Dallas parish said the Tuesday morning transplant went well and both patients were recovering.

Msgr. Seitz, who is 55, told the Dallas Morning News he considers the organ donation a manifestation of his priestly duties.

“We follow the model of one who literally gave his life for us. If he can lay down his life, I can give away a kidney."

An essay written by Msgr. Seitz said that he has known Gehling for more than six years.

“I have greatly admired her courage in dealing with her diabetes and all the many effects of this terrible disease. Through the many daily trials and sufferings and limitations, the hours of dialysis; through all the difficulties she has continued to fight. Not only this, but she has continued to love God, to trust in His goodness and to reach out to others in love. Who could fail to be inspired by this witness of Faith?”

The priest recounted how he, Gehling and her mother had traveled to a shrine named San Juan de los Lagos on the Texas/Mexico border.

“Many answers to prayers have been associated with this holy place,” Msgr. Seitz explained. “We made a day trip in the airplane owned by one of our parishioners and we celebrated Mass there. Little did I know that less than a year following that pilgrimage that I would end up being part of the answer to her prayer.”

But it wasn't always smooth sailing for Gehling, who told the Dallas Morning News that she lost her faith for a time after her father died of a heart attack when she was 20.

"Then one day, I woke up and thought, 'What in the world is wrong with you?'" she said. "If my father had lived after that heart attack, he would have been a vegetable. What the Lord did was for the best.

"There's only one way to put it: Thy will be done."

Before the operation, she said people who did not think she would make it don’t know her.

“There’s more in life that I want to accomplish,” she said.

Parishioners at St. Rita’s held a special rosary service the night before the transplant.

On Thursday afternoon Msgr. Seitz posted an entry at the patient journal site CaringBridge.org. He said he is disconnected from all his tubes and is feeling “a bit more human each day.”

Prayers had “buoyed him up” and had given him peace during the operation.

“It gives me great joy to know that Carrie is doing great. She says that she is feeling better that she has in 15 years.

“I told her I expected that. She didn't receive any second rate kidney!”

Gehling made an entry eight minutes later, saying “There are no words to say thank you. How do you say thank you to a man that has given one a new life?”

Archbishop Dolan's blog entry exposing the New York Times

Anti-Catholicism
October 29, 2009

The following article was submitted in a slightly shorter form to the New York Times as an op-ed article. The Times declined to publish it. I thought you might be interested in reading it.


FOUL BALL!
By Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan
Archbishop of New York

October is the month we relish the highpoint of our national pastime, especially when one of our own New York teams is in the World Series!

Sadly, America has another national pastime, this one not pleasant at all: anti-catholicism.

It is not hyperbole to call prejudice against the Catholic Church a national pastime. Scholars such as Arthur Schlesinger Sr. referred to it as “the deepest bias in the history of the American people,” while John Higham described it as “the most luxuriant, tenacious tradition of paranoiac agitation in American history.” “The anti-semitism of the left,” is how Paul Viereck reads it, and Professor Philip Jenkins sub-titles his book on the topic “the last acceptable prejudice.”

If you want recent evidence of this unfairness against the Catholic Church, look no further than a few of these following examples of occurrences over the last couple weeks:

•On October 14, in the pages of the New York Times, reporter Paul Vitello exposed the sad extent of child sexual abuse in Brooklyn’s Orthodox Jewish community. According to the article, there were forty cases of such abuse in this tiny community last year alone. Yet the Times did not demand what it has called for incessantly when addressing the same kind of abuse by a tiny minority of priests: release of names of abusers, rollback of statute of limitations, external investigations, release of all records, and total transparency. Instead, an attorney is quoted urging law enforcement officials to recognize “religious sensitivities,” and no criticism was offered of the DA’s office for allowing Orthodox rabbis to settle these cases “internally.” Given the Catholic Church’s own recent horrible experience, I am hardly in any position to criticize our Orthodox Jewish neighbors, and have no wish to do so . . . but I can criticize this kind of “selective outrage.”

Of course, this selective outrage probably should not surprise us at all, as we have seen many other examples of the phenomenon in recent years when it comes to the issue of sexual abuse. To cite but two: In 2004, Professor Carol Shakeshaft documented the wide-spread problem of sexual abuse of minors in our nation’s public schools (the study can be found here). In 2007, the Associated Press issued a series of investigative reports that also showed the numerous examples of sexual abuse by educators against public school students. Both the Shakeshaft study and the AP reports were essentially ignored, as papers such as the New York Times only seem to have priests in their crosshairs.

•On October 16, Laurie Goodstein of the Times offered a front page, above-the-fold story on the sad episode of a Franciscan priest who had fathered a child. Even taking into account that the relationship with the mother was consensual and between two adults, and that the Franciscans have attempted to deal justly with the errant priest’s responsibilities to his son, this action is still sinful, scandalous, and indefensible. However, one still has to wonder why a quarter-century old story of a sin by a priest is now suddenly more pressing and newsworthy than the war in Afghanistan, health care, and starvation–genocide in Sudan. No other cleric from religions other than Catholic ever seems to merit such attention.

•Five days later, October 21, the Times gave its major headline to the decision by the Vatican to welcome Anglicans who had requested union with Rome. Fair enough. Unfair, though, was the article’s observation that the Holy See lured and bid for the Anglicans. Of course, the reality is simply that for years thousands of Anglicans have been asking Rome to be accepted into the Catholic Church with a special sensitivity for their own tradition. As Cardinal Walter Kasper, the Vatican’s chief ecumenist, observed, “We are not fishing in the Anglican pond.” Not enough for the Times; for them, this was another case of the conniving Vatican luring and bidding unsuspecting, good people, greedily capitalizing on the current internal tensions in Anglicanism.

•Finally, the most combustible example of all came Sunday with an intemperate and scurrilous piece by Maureen Dowd on the opinion pages of the Times. In a diatribe that rightly never would have passed muster with the editors had it so criticized an Islamic, Jewish, or African-American religious issue, she digs deep into the nativist handbook to use every anti-Catholic caricature possible, from the Inquisition to the Holocaust, condoms, obsession with sex, pedophile priests, and oppression of women, all the while slashing Pope Benedict XVI for his shoes, his forced conscription -- along with every other German teenage boy -- into the German army, his outreach to former Catholics, and his recent welcome to Anglicans.
True enough, the matter that triggered her spasm -- the current visitation of women religious by Vatican representatives -- is well-worth discussing, and hardly exempt from legitimate questioning. But her prejudice, while maybe appropriate for the Know-Nothing newspaper of the 1850’s, the Menace, has no place in a major publication today.

I do not mean to suggest that anti-catholicism is confined to the pages New York Times. Unfortunately, abundant examples can be found in many different venues. I will not even begin to try and list the many cases of anti-catholicism in the so-called entertainment media, as they are so prevalent they sometimes seem almost routine and obligatory. Elsewhere, last week, Representative Patrick Kennedy made some incredibly inaccurate and uncalled-for remarks concerning the Catholic bishops, as mentioned in this blog on Monday. Also, the New York State Legislature has levied a special payroll tax to help the Metropolitan Transportation Authority fund its deficit. This legislation calls for the public schools to be reimbursed the cost of the tax; Catholic schools, and other private schools, will not receive the reimbursement, costing each of the schools thousands – in some cases tens of thousands – of dollars, money that the parents and schools can hardly afford. (Nor can the archdiocese, which already underwrites the schools by $30 million annually.) Is it not an issue of basic fairness for ALL school-children and their parents to be treated equally?

The Catholic Church is not above criticism. We Catholics do a fair amount of it ourselves. We welcome and expect it. All we ask is that such critique be fair, rational, and accurate, what we would expect for anybody. The suspicion and bias against the Church is a national pastime that should be “rained out” for good.

I guess my own background in American history should caution me not to hold my breath.

Then again, yesterday was the Feast of Saint Jude, the patron saint of impossible causes.

New York Times refuses to publish Archbishop Dolan's op-ed on anti-Catholic bias

http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=17538

NEW YORK CITY, N.Y., October 30 (CNA) - The New York Times declined to publish an op-ed presented by the Archbishop of New York, Most Reverend Timothy M. Dolan, in which he made the point that the “Gray Lady” has been reporting stories with a strong anti-Catholic bias.

In his new blog on the archdiocese’s website, Archbishop Dolan explains that his article was submitted in a slightly shorter form to the New York Times as an op-ed, but the Times declined to publish it.

In the blog version, Archbishop Dolan says that next to baseball, “sadly, America has another national pastime, this one not pleasant at all: anti-Catholicism.”

“If you want recent evidence of this unfairness against the Catholic Church,” writes the Archbishop, “look no further than a few of these following examples of occurrences over the last couple weeks.”

On October 14, in the pages of the New York Times, reporter Paul Vitello exposed the sad extent of child sexual abuse in Brooklyn’s Orthodox Jewish community.

“Yet,” Archbishop Dolan observes, “the Times did not demand what it has called for incessantly when addressing the same kind of abuse by a tiny minority of priests: release of names of abusers, rollback of statute of limitations, external investigations, release of all records, and total transparency.”

“Given the Catholic Church’s own recent horrible experience, I am hardly in any position to criticize our Orthodox Jewish neighbors, and have no wish to do so... but I can criticize this kind of ‘selective outrage,’” he insists.

The op-ed explains that “In 2004, Professor Carol Shakeshaft documented the wide-spread problem of sexual abuse of minors in our nation’s public schools; while in 2007, the Associated Press issued a series of investigative reports that showed numerous examples of sexual abuse by educators against public school students.”

“Both the Shakeshaft study and the AP reports were essentially ignored, as papers such as the New York Times only seem to have priests in their crosshairs,” the Archbishop writes.

The Archbishop then takes issue with a New York Times October 16 “front page, above-the-fold story on the sad episode of a Franciscan priest who had fathered a child.”

“Even taking into account that the relationship with the mother was consensual and between two adults, and that the Franciscans have attempted to deal justly with the errant priest’s responsibilities to his son, this action is still sinful, scandalous, and indefensible.”

“However,” he writes, “one still has to wonder why a quarter-century old story of a sin by a priest is now suddenly more pressing and newsworthy than the war in Afghanistan, health care, and starvation–genocide in Sudan.”

“No other cleric from religions other than Catholic ever seems to merit such attention,” he charges.

Then, on October 21, the Archbishop recounts, “the Times gave its major headline to the decision by the Vatican to welcome Anglicans who had requested union with Rome.”

“Fair enough. Unfair, though, was the article’s observation that the Holy See lured and bid for the Anglicans.

“Of course, the reality is simply that for years thousands of Anglicans have been asking Rome to be accepted into the Catholic Church with a special sensitivity for their own tradition,” he explains.

Nevertheless, the Archbishop of New York says the “most combustible example” was “an intemperate and scurrilous piece” on the opinion pages of the Times by Maureen Dowd, a 57-year-old alumna of Catholic University of America who has a history of anti-Catholic bias.

“In a diatribe that rightly never would have passed muster with the editors had it so criticized an Islamic, Jewish, or African-American religious issue, she digs deep into the nativist handbook to use every anti-Catholic caricature possible, from the Inquisition to the Holocaust, condoms, obsession with sex, pedophile priests, and oppression of women, all the while slashing Pope Benedict XVI for his shoes, his forced conscription -- along with every other German teenage boy -- into the German army, his outreach to former Catholics, and his recent welcome to Anglicans.”

Describing the current visitation of women religious by Vatican representatives as “the matter that triggered the spasm” of Dowd, Archbishop Dolan says that it “is well-worth discussing, and hardly exempt from legitimate questioning.” “But her prejudice, while maybe appropriate for the Know-Nothing newspaper of the 1850’s, the Menace, has no place in a major publication today.”

“I do not mean to suggest that anti-Catholicism is confined to the pages New York Times,” writes Archbishop Dolan, who also admits that “the Catholic Church is not above criticism.”

“We Catholics do a fair amount of it ourselves. We welcome and expect it. All we ask is that such critique be fair, rational, and accurate, what we would expect for anybody. The suspicion and bias against the Church is a national pastime that should be ‘rained out’ for good.”

The Archbishop of New York, also an alumnus of the Catholic University of America with a doctorate in Church History, writes that “my own background in American history should caution me not to hold my breath.”

“Then again, yesterday was the Feast of Saint Jude, the patron saint of impossible causes.”

The full version of Archbishop Dolan’s column is available at: http://www.archny.org/news-events/columns-and-blogs/blog---the-gospel-in-the-digital-age/index.cfm?i=14042

Bishop Gives 4 Principles for Health Care Reform

Calls for Catholics to Evaluate Proposals Well

FARGO, North Dakota, SEPT. 2, 2009 (Zenit.org).- The bishop of Fargo is outlining four principles for Catholics to take into account when analyzing the moral value of a health care reform proposal.

In a statement released Aug. 29, Bishop Samuel Aquila addressed the current debate in the U.S. legislature over various health care reform proposals.

He affirmed that the Church "ought to always promote wider and more complete access to health care," but clarified that this "does not mean that in practice the Church ought to support each and every plan which is proposed by civil leaders."

Thus, the prelate offered four principles "that should always be used when evaluating the moral value and justice of a given plan to provide health care."

The first, he stated, is that "any provisions for actions which deny the dignity of human life, especially abortion, euthanasia, whether passive or active, and embryonic stem-cell research must be excluded from all health care plans."

As a second principle, the bishop affirmed, "the freedom of consciences must be safeguarded."

He continued, "The moral voice of individual doctors, nurses, health professionals, as well as the general public, deserve reverence and respect."

The statement emphasized a third principle: "Access to health care ought to be available to all people, including the poor, legal immigrants, the handicapped, and especially the elderly and unborn members of society."

Lastly, it continued, "the means of providing access to health care should be governed by the principle of subsidiarity, being reasonably and equitably distributed among members of society."

Upon the foundation of these four principles, Bishop Aquila noted, a "fruitful discussion about health care reform" can be built.

He urged Catholics to "become engaged in promoting genuine health care reform" and to work for the "well-being and flourishing of all human life."

--- --- ---

On the Net:
Full text: http://www.fargodiocese.org/

Prominent Clergy Group Launches Health Care Prayer Campaign on Facebook

WASHINGTON, Aug. 20 /Christian Newswire/ -- Fr. Frank Pavone, National Director of Priests for Life, has invited tens of thousands of Churches across America this week to build "the largest prayer group in history" by urging them to promote membership in the "Pray to End Abortion" cause on Facebook.

The cause can be accessed at www.ProLifePrayers.org.

Fr. Pavone said that the Facebook cause will enable believers to connect with one another and pray on an ongoing basis for the specific needs of the pro-life movement. The ongoing prayer campaign will provide specific prayers to be said jointly across the nation for specific needs.

Currently, a special prayer is posted regarding our nation's health care reform debate. Calling Jesus the "Divine Physician," the prayer intercedes for elected officials, that they will have "the humility to know that they are servants, not masters," and "the wisdom to realize that every life has equal value."

The prayer concludes, "Let every reform in our public policy be based on the reform of our hearts and minds."

Priests for Life is the nation's largest Catholic pro- life organization dedicated to ending abortion and euthanasia. For more information, visit www.priestsforlife.org.

Christian Newswire

Catholic Answers Joins Rapidly Growing Catholic Publishing Consortium

Publisher becomes the fifth company to join consortium this year

NECEDAH, Wisc., Aug. 19 /Christian Newswire/ -- Catholic Word announced today they have taken over the distribution of titles for apologetics powerhouse Catholic Answers. This brings the number of publishers the fast growing publishing consortium has added this year to five.

Catholic Answers is the world's foremost Catholic apologetics apostolate and is dedicated to serving Christ by bringing the fullness of Catholic truth to the world. Their publishing imprint has several powerhouse authors such as Tim Staples, Jason Evert, and Mark Shea.

They have also just released the latter author's remarkable three-volume Mary, Mother of the Son, which has earned praise from Catholic luminaries such as Dr. Scott Hahn and Fr. Benedict Groeschel, CFR, who describes the work as being "a joy to Catholics and a revelation to Protestants."

"Catholic Answers has impressed me for over 15 years," says Catholic Word President Carolyn Klika. "More than ever, people are looking for answers, meaning, and direction. As the Ethiopian told Philip in the book of Acts, 'How can I [understand Scripture] unless I have someone to guide me?' Catholic Answers has guided Catholics and seekers through their speakers, radio programs, books and CDs. I believe there are many more Catholics in the Church today because of this apostolate's tireless work."

"We are proud to welcome this company as a valued new publisher member of Catholic Word."

Catholic Word is a consortium of 18 Catholic publishers and music producers who ship together to make resellers' purchasing experience more streamlined, efficient, and thus profitable.

Founded as a family business in 1997, its stated mission is to build up the Church one soul at a time through top quality Catholic books, faith formation programs, and other resources. A few of their other best-selling authors include Scripture expert Jeff Cavins, Fr. Donald Calloway, Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, Fr. John Bartunek, and Dr. Christine Mugridge. The company's toll free number is 800-932-3826.

W5180 Jefferson St
Necedah, WI 54646
608-565-2022
www.catholicword.com
Christian Newswire

Playing Hurt

The Holy Father bleeses a crowd during his vacation in Northern Italy.

Pope fractures wrist in fall

Posted on July 17, 2009 by Cindy Wooden (Catholic News Service)

VATICAN CITY — Pope Benedict XVI fell overnight, fracturing his right wrist. The pope was in the Salesian-owned chalet in the northern Italian Alps where he is vacationing.

Papal spokesman Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi said, “after a fall in his room overnight, the Holy Father suffered a slight fracture of his right wrist.”

“Nevertheless, in the morning the Holy Father celebrated Mass and had breakfast, then was accompanied to the hospital in Aosta where the slight fracture was discovered and his wrist was immobilized.”

Earlier, Father Lombardi told reporters that the 82-year-old pope was advised by his doctor to go to the hospital for tests.

When asked if the pope lost consciousness, Father Lombardi told CNS, “Absolutely not.” And, he said, the pope walked to the car and into the hospital on his own two feet.

As of 11 a.m. Rome time, the pope was still in the emergency room and Father Lombardi expected him to return to the chalet in Les Combes in the early afternoon.

The spokesman said he had not yet spoken to the pope’s doctor Patrizio Polisca, who accompanied the pope to Les Combes, so he does not know if the pope’s wrist is in a cast or is simply wrapped and splinted.

The pope is scheduled to recite the Angelus Sunday with visitors gathered outside the chalet. Father Lombardi said it was too early to know if that plan would change.

http://cnsblog.wordpress.com/2009/07/17/pope-goes-to-emergency-room-after-fall/

Notre Dame Alumni Report Feeling Disenfranchised

Concerned Students Are Not Learning Catechesis

By Genevieve Pollock

DEARBORN, Michigan, JUNE 2, 2009 (Zenit.org).- A Notre Dame alumni coalition is entering phase two in the program to replace the university's leadership, using their pocketbooks as leverage.

David DiFranco, '95 graduate and spokesman of ReplaceJenkins.com, told ZENIT that although the initiative materialized amid the public protest of the school's decision to honor President Barack Obama at the May 17 commencement ceremony, the work is far from being over.

The coalition launched the national outreach effort in April appealing to alumni and benefactors to hold back donations until the university's president, Father John Jenkins, is replaced.

"Our endeavor is entering a new phase," he said. "We did not establish ourselves to prevent Obama from speaking" at the university's commencement ceremony.

This event gave us a "rallying cry," DiFranco said, but "the culminating point in our endeavor is still a long way off."

The problem at Notre Dame, he explained, is that "something needs to change in the leadership."

The coalition is calling for a new university head "who is committed to the authentic identity of Notre Dame, grounded in the teachings of the Catholic Church."

The protest against Obama's invitation to give the commencement address and receive an honorary law doctorate served to "wake people up," the spokesman said, as many alumni did not realize the situation at the school.

The alumni are "feeling disenfranchised," he said. They are surprised at the bad leadership of administration and faculty.

"Obama's invitation to speak was not the worst part," DiFranco explained. The defense made by university president Father John Jenkins of the decision "angered alumni even more."

He added that there was also an outcry over the fact that during the commencement ceremony, many students showed support for Obama, shouting campaign slogans, which "shows that the students are not learning their catechesis."

Clear cut

Over 80 bishops and more than 367,000 Catholics voiced disagreement with Father Jenkins, saying he disregarded the 2004 guidelines from the U.S. bishops that state: "Catholic institutions should not honor those who act in defiance of our fundamental moral principles" with "awards, honors, or platforms which would suggest support for their actions."

This is a very "clear cut case," DiFranco said. Obama is not just pro-choice, but is among a very small minority who actively defends abortion rights in every instance.

The spokesman asserted that the percentage of students standing against the decision should match the percentage that is Catholic.

The admissions office of the university estimates that 80%-85% of each incoming freshman class identifies themselves as Catholic.

DiFranco acknowledged that although most media attention focused on the fact that only 40 seniors out of some 2,900 boycotted the ceremony, there may have been many more who were against the university's decision.

Now, he said, although the press dropped the story after commencement day, we are just beginning the second phase of the campaign, to "connect with Notre Dame individuals who have power to induce change."

DiFranco affirmed that the project has been initially successful, with responses from every alumni era.

On graduation day, the coalition had confirmed over $15 million in donations withheld from the university.

Although the coalition has not released an updated number, the spokesman affirmed that the total number of donations "has swelled."

The group is carefully sorting through and confirming other pledges, and DiFranco stated that there are still tens of millions of dollars to be authenticated.

The coalition will formally deliver its campaign results to the Notre Dame administration at a moment it deems "appropriate," he said.

The alumnus concluded by affirming that there are glimmers of hope for Notre Dame, despite the need for some changes.

He reported that several faculty members contacted the coalition to express support, though requesting anonymity.

At Notre Dame, "there is a contingent with some strength," DiFranco said, and with the right environment and situation, "you may see something positive coming out."

--- --- ---

On the Net:

Coalition Web site: http://www.replacejenkins.com/

New statistics show U.S. Catholics increase in numbers

http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=16201

WASHINGTON D.C., June 5 (CNA) - The 2009 Official Catholic Directory has released new statistics on the Catholic population. The directory shows that there are 68.1 million Catholics in the United States, an increase of about one million from the previous year which maintains Catholics as 22 percent of the U.S. population.

The directory, also known as the Kenedy Directory, reports that there are 41,489 diocesan and religious order priests, 60,715 religious sisters, 4,905 religious brothers and 16,935 permanent deacons.

In 2008 there were 887,145 infant baptisms, 42,629 adult baptisms, and 81,775 baptized Christians who entered full communion with the Church. The Kenedy Directory lists 18,674 parishes, including 91 new parishes, and 189 seminaries with 4,973 students.

Over 722,000 students are in high school religious education programs, while over three million are in elementary school religious ed.

There are 6,133 Catholic elementary schools and 1.6 million students. The country’s 1,341 Catholic high schools educate over 674,000 students, while 234 Catholic colleges and universities serve, over 795,000 students.

U.S. Catholic hospitals number 562 and serve almost 85.3 million patients, while 3009 Catholic social service centers assist 27.2 million people annually.

According to a press release from the U.S. bishops' conference, Catholic organizations in the United States provide an estimated $28.2 billion in services through institutions represented by the Catholic Health Association ($5.7 billion), Catholic Charities USA ($3.5 billion), and the National Catholic Education Association ($19.8 billion).

These figures do not include assistance provided through parishes and other organizations such as the Knights of Columbus.

Pro-Life Action League Uses Handbooks, Not Handguns as Weapon

Tiller's death serves as reminder that violence is not the answer

CHICAGO, June 3 /Christian Newswire/ -- In light of abortionist George Tiller's tragic death, the Chicago-based Pro-Life Action League is encouraging others to use a different weapon against abortion.

The League has published a free, pocket-sized, 96- page handbook, Sharing the Pro-Life Message, that arms pro-lifers with the facts, figures and reasoned arguments they need to share the truth about abortion with compassion and conviction.

"It has always been my philosophy that we convert abortionists," said Joseph M. Scheidler, the League's national director. "As activists committed to saving lives, we vigorously oppose violence."

The handbook is designed to change the hearts and minds of those who support abortion, one by one, through respectful dialog on this controversial issue.

"If you've ever had to explain or defend the pro-life message to a friend, family member, co-worker or even a complete stranger, you need this handbook," League communications director Eric Scheidler says. "We're giving it away for free because we're convinced it will help save lives."

The League hopes that pro-life Americans will use this book to work peacefully toward changing hearts and minds on abortion.

"The only weapon the pro-life movement needs is truth," Scheidler says. "And that's what Sharing the Pro- Life Message offers."

Any pro-lifer in the U.S. or Canada can order a copy of Sharing the Pro-Life Message at www.FreeProLifeHandbook.com. Bulk orders for church, school or pro-life groups also are available.

About Pro-Life Action League

Pro-Life Action League was founded by Joseph M. Scheidler in 1980 with the aim of saving unborn children through non-violent direct action. Through prayer vigils outside abortion facilities and sidewalk counseling, the League reaches out to abortion- bound women and couples with abortion alternatives, confidential counseling and access to pregnancy resources.

Since July 2007, the League has been at the center of the controversy surrounding Planned Parenthood's flagship abortion facility in Aurora, Ill., dubbed, "Ground Zero" of the abortion battle by abortion supporters and opponents alike. The League has closed eight abortion clinics in Chicago alone and nearly a hundred across the country.

The Pro-Life Action League is a nonprofit organization, supported solely by private donations. For more information, visit www.prolifeaction.org.

Christian Newswire

Dr. Alveda King -- Sorrow that Dr. Tiller Didn't Live to Repent

ATLANTA, June 1 /Christian Newswire/ -- Dr. Alveda King, Pastoral Associate of Priests for Life and niece of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., said today that the killing of late-term abortionist George Tiller brings tremendous sorrow.

"Two years ago, I visited George Tiller's clinic in hope of telling him that babies desire mercy," said Dr. King. "I wanted to share with him the harm I experienced from abortion. My prayer was that one day he would join me in repentance. I am deeply sorry that his life was taken before that could happen."

"It's especially horrifying that Dr. Tiller was shot in church," added Dr. King. "My grandmother, Alberta King, was killed by a Christian-hating gunman as she played the organ during Sunday services. Just as the womb should be a safe haven, so should church. I condemn this murder in the strongest possible terms."

A colleague of Dr. King's in a pro-life African-American coalition, Pastor Stephen Broden, also declared, "Pro- lifers are devastated by the Tiller killing. In the great tradition of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., we pray, march, and counsel peacefully. Just as earlier civil rights workers, pro-lifers do not answer violence with violence."

Priests for Life is the nation's largest Catholic pro-life organization dedicated to ending abortion and euthanasia. For more information, visit www.priestsforlife.org.

Christian Newswire

A message from Fr Pavone

As I was preparing to send you my regular column, I got the news this morning that abortionist George Tiller was killed today in Wichita, KS.

Following is the statement I released this morning to the media:
“I am saddened to hear of the killing of George Tiller this morning. At this point, we do not know the motives of this act, or who is behind it, whether an angry post-abortive man or woman, or a misguided activist, or an enemy within the abortion industry, or a political enemy frustrated with the way Tiller has escaped prosecution. We should not jump to conclusions or rush to judgment.

“But whatever the motives, we at Priests for Life continue to insist on a culture in which violence is never seen as the solution to any problem. Every life has to be protected, without regard to their age or views or actions.”

[End of statement to media]

It should be noted that peaceful pro-life efforts in Wichita were very close to success in getting Tiller’s license revoked. He was on trial recently for breaking various aspects of Kansas law related to late-term abortions. A jury acquitted him, but there were still other violations being investigated.

If in fact it comes to light that the shooting today was done for the motives of trying to stop abortion (and again, that is by no means clear), the point should not be missed that the killings of other abortionists and their staff (David Gunn – 1993; John Britton – 1994; Shannon Lowney and Leanne Nichols – 1994; Barnett Slepian – 1998) occurred in an environment in which there was a lot of frustration over the pro-abortion initiatives of President Clinton. Now, there is similar frustration regarding the Obama Presidency and its support of abortion. This is not to blame our Presidents for someone’s misguided actions. But neither should we miss what may be emerging as a pattern: when hope diminishes that the government is going to do something to protect the vulnerable, the temptation to take the law into one’s own hands increases.

Priests for Life has always been committed to nonviolence.
See www.priestsforlife.org/nonviolence. We remain committed to train pro-life activists worldwide in the spirituality and strategy of peaceful pro-life activism.