Mission of Jesus

US birth rate in 2009 reaches record low amid recession woes

Front Royal, Va., Aug 29, 2010 / 08:08 am (CNA).- A report issued on Friday showed the U.S. birth rate in 2009 falling to the lowest in a century. Experts, including president Steve Mosher from the Population Research Institute, (PRI) have cited the current economic recession as a significant factor in the recent numbers.

On Aug. 27, the Associated Press (AP) detailed a report issued by the National Center for Health Statistics which showed that the birth rate in the U.S. fell 2.7 percent in 2009 – an all time low in the last 100 years.

The AP cited the opinion of researchers that the current economic recession could be responsible for the drop in the numbers and also reported that the birth rate has been falling in the U.S. over the last century.

According to the report, the birth rate fell to 13.5 births for every 1,000 people last year. That number is down from 14.3 in 2007 and even further away from 30 percent in 1909, when it was more common for U.S. citizens to have larger families.

“The birthrate, after rising to near replacement a few years ago, is now falling dramatically because of the ongoing recession,” Steve Mosher, president of Population Research Institute wrote to CNA in an e-mail. “Young couples who may have lost jobs or income are putting off having children until the economic situation improves.”

Mosher explained that birth rates “have been dropping throughout the 20th century because of urbanization, industrialization, and increasing levels of education (which postpone marriage and childbearing), but the Great Depression of the Thirties saw a sudden and sharp decline in fertility, for the same reasons that we are seeing a decline now.”

“The baby boom of the Fifties was largely a Catholic phenomenon,” he added, “as Catholic couples, after curbing their fertility during the Great Depression and during World War II, began averaging four children.”

Mosher also made reference to “anecdotal evidence” showing “that rates of contraception, sterilization and abortion are probably all on the rise, sadly, as couples prevent or eliminate children that they do not now think they can afford.”

“The legalization of abortion by Roe V. Wade, caused about one-third of U.S. pregnancies to end in abortion, and dropped the U.S. birth rate below the replacement level of 2.1 children per woman over her reproductive lifetime down to 1.7 or so,” the PRI president said. “The years since, until recently, have shown a gradual climb back up to replacement.”

“This decline in births is more evidence that the stimulus package, hailed by the current administration as the solution to our economic ills, is not working,” Mosher asserted. “Every drop in the birth rate affects the baby boomers as well, for it hastens the day that the social security trust fund goes insolvent.”

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Pope at Angelus: Christ took lowest place 'in the world'

Castel Gandolfo, Italy, Aug 29, 2010 / 07:34 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Christ did not limit himself to taking just the lowest place at the table, explained Pope Benedict XVI on Sunday. Jesus, taught the Pope, repeatedly offers humanity “a model of humility and of free giving” and showed the world “radical humility” by accepting the Cross.

Joining the many pilgrims and faithful in attendance in the courtyard at Castel Gandolfo for the Angelus were participants in the annual conference being held for members of the association of the Pope's ex-students. There was also a group from the Pontifical North American College, who were greeted specially by the Holy Father after the Angelus.

In his catechesis prior to the Marian prayer, the Pope reflected on the passage from St. Luke's Gospel read in Sunday's Liturgy. In the reading, Jesus is invited to the house of a leader of the Pharisees for a meal where, based on what he witnesses, he is inspired to tell the parable which teaches of humbling onesself and taking "the lowest place" at the table.

The Lord's words were not meant to be a lesson in etiquette or on the hierarchy of authorities, said Benedict XVI, "He insists rather on a decisive point, which is that of humility: 'everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted'."

The parable can also be read as a perspective of man's position in relation to God, explained the Pope, the "lowest place" representing "the condition of humanity degraded by sin, a condition which can only (be) liberated by the incarnation of the Only-begotten Son."

Citing his encyclical Deus Caritas Est, the Pope taught that "For this, Christ himself 'took the lowest place in the world - the Cross - and by this radical humility he redeemed us and constantly comes to our aid'."

Turning to Jesus' suggestion at the end of the parable that it should be the poorest and most excluded, those who have no way of repayment, who are invited as guests, Pope Benedict stated that the "true recompense, in fact, in the end, will be given by God, 'who governs the world ... We offer him our service only to the extent that we can, and for as long as he grants us the strength'.

"Once again, then, we look to Christ as a model of humility and of free giving: from him we learn patience in the midst of temptations, meekness amidst offenses, obedience to God in sorrow in the hope that He who invited us might say: "Friend, move up to a higher position.' the true good, in fact, is being close to Him."

Remembering Sunday's feast of the "greatest among the prophets of Christ," St. John the Baptist, the Pope closed by praying for his intercession and that of Mary "to guide us on the way of humility, to become worthy of the divine recompense."

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Gregory the Great, Pope and Doctor of the Church, celebrated September 3

CNA STAFF, Aug 29, 2010 / 05:02 am (CNA).- St. Gregory the Great, a central figure of the medieval western Church and one of the most admired Popes in history, will be commemorated in the Ordinary Form of the Roman Catholic liturgy on September 3.

Born near the middle of the sixth century, into a noble Roman family, Gregory received a classical education in liberal arts and the law. He also had strong religious formation from his devout family, particularly from his mother, Silvia, also a canonized saint. By around age 30, Gregory had
advanced to high political office in Rome, during what was nevertheless a period of marked decline for the city.

Some time after becoming the prefect of the former imperial capital, Gregory chose to leave the civil administration to become a monk during the rise of the Benedictine order. In reality, however, the new monk's great career in public life was yet to come.

After three years of strict monastic life, he was called personally by the Pope to assume the office of a deacon in Rome. From Rome, he was dispatched to Constantinople, to seek aid from the emperor for Rome's civic troubles, and to aid in resolving the Eastern church's theological controversies. He returned to Rome in 586, after six years of service as the Papal representative to the eastern Church and empire.

Rome faced a series of disasters caused by flooding in 589, followed by the death of Pope Pelagius II the next year. Gregory, then serving as abbot in a monastery, reluctantly accepted his election to replace him as the Bishop of Rome.

Despite this initial reluctance, however, Pope Gregory began working tirelessly to reform and solidify the Roman liturgy, the disciplines of the Church, the military and economic security of Rome, and the Church's spreading influence in western Europe.

As Pope, Gregory brought his political experience at Rome and Constantinople to bear, in the task of preventing the Catholic Church from becoming subservient to any of the various groups struggling for control of the former imperial capital. As the former abbot of a monastery, he strongly supported the Benedictine movement as a bedrock of the western Church. He sent missionaries to England, and is given much of the credit for the nation's conversion.

In undertaking these works, Pope Gregory saw himself as the “servant of the servants of God.” He was the first of the Bishops of Rome to popularize the now-traditional Papal title, which referred to Christ's command that those in the highest position of leadership should be “the last of all and the servant of all.”

Even as he undertook to consolidate Papal power and shore up the crumbling Roman west, St. Gregory the Great maintained a humble sense of his mission as a servant and pastor of souls, from the time of his election until his death in 604.

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Fr. Euteneuer to leave HLI, return to Palm Beach diocese

Front Royal, Va., Aug 28, 2010 / 05:52 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Human Life International (HLI) announced on Aug. 27 that president Fr. Thomas Euteneuer has stepped down from his position and will return to work in his Palm Beach diocese at the request of his bishop.

In a press release on Friday, the HLI board of directors wrote “that after nearly 10 years of meritorious service to HLI as president, Reverend Thomas J. Euteneuer has stepped down from his position after being asked by his bishop to return to his Diocese in Palm Beach, Florida.”

In a letter posted on HLI's website Friday, Fr. Euteneuer stated that nearly “ten years ago I answered the call of the Lord to come to Human Life International and work full-time in pro-life work with the permission of my bishop.”

“I have been utterly privileged to serve this great mission for a decade, and now I am called back to my diocese to continue my priestly service in parish work, which was the original calling of my vocation,” the priest explained. “I have great peace about the road that lies ahead and about all that has been accomplished up to this point.”

Commenting on his position at the Palm Beach diocese, Fr. Euteneuer said, “I do not have a parish assignment in my diocese as of yet, but I hope to take some time out before I go back into full-time parish work.”

“I expect that some time of rest and renewal will help me to make the transition,” he noted. “It has been 15 years since I last had any significant time for renewal, and after traveling more than 1.1 million miles, authoring two books, visiting 58 countries and making thousands of public appearances, I am ready for a break!”

“I ask for your kind prayers as I move forward and for your continued support of HLI and the new leadership that will come soon.”

The board of directors added in their statement Friday that while “Fr. Euteneuer’s leadership at HLI and his influence on the pro-life movement around the world will be greatly missed, we are blessed to have gifted staff who will continue to carry out our mission while a search for a new president is undertaken.”

The group added that Msgr. Ignacio Barreiro Carámbula, director of HLI’s office in Rome, will take over Fr. Euteneuer’s responsibilities until a replacement is named.

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Catholic commentators weigh in on Glenn Beck ‘Restore Honor’ rally and Tea Parties

Washington D.C., Aug 28, 2010 / 05:26 pm (CNA).- A well-attended Saturday rally in Washington, D.C. which linked U.S. patriotism and religiosity has sparked comparisons to a religious revival. Two Catholic commentators have offered different views of the rally’s possible effects while discussing the place of religion and social issues in the Tea Party movement.

The “Restoring Honor Rally,” organized by radio and Fox News talk show host Glenn Beck, was held at the National Mall in D.C. on Saturday. The rally featured prayers, Scripture readings, music and patriotic references to major figures and events in American history such as the Founding Fathers. It was reportedly inspired by the National Park Service’s alleged silencing of a group of young people who tried to sing the U.S. National Anthem at the Lincoln Memorial.

Early estimates of rally attendance ranged from the tens of thousands to 500,000.

Speaking at the rally, Beck claimed that the United States had “wandered in the darkness” of divisive politics, “but America today begins turning back to God.” He said the religious leaders in attendance disagreed on religion and politics. However, "what they do agree on is that God is the answer."

Alveda King, niece of civil rights leader Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., told the rally that America still suffers from racism. She called for prayer in the public square and in public schools. A pastoral associate of Priests for Life, she also alluded to her opposition to abortion.

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin spoke to the massive rally about her son’s military service and said people should remember the perpetrators of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

The rally helped raise funds for a group which assists military veterans and their families.

Beck gave out three awards with the respective themes of faith, hope and charity. One awardee was St. Louis Cardinals baseball star Albert Pujols.

The rally’s date coincided with the 47th Anniversary of Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech.

Rev. Al Sharpton and several other African-American leaders held a competing rally before an audience of thousands at a Washington-area high school. According to VOA News, some of the competing rally speakers criticized the chosen date of the rally and accused Beck of race-baiting.

A former Catholic, Beck is a convert to Mormonism. First Things magazine’s web editor Joe Carter recently criticized the commentator for expressing indifference toward same-sex “marriage” and towards a federal court’s overturning of California’s marriage-defining Proposition 8.

Two Catholic commentators took different views of the rally and the Tea Party movement, which some associate with Beck.

Kathryn Jean Lopez, editor of the conservative website National Review Online, commented on the rally in a Saturday e-mail to CNA.

“God and Caesar were very much appropriately represented on the National Mall on Saturday at that ‘Restoring Honor’ rally,” she commented.

In her view, much of the rally had a good focus: “challenging people to be good, to seek the good, sacrifice for the good, and pray for the good.”

“It was a bit of a mix of religious revival, country-music concert, and Independence Day celebration. And its end goal was to rally people to stay and be more engaged in politics, but to not get lost in it, as Beck put it. There was a clear balancing of the importance of politics while never ever losing sight of our real citizenship.”

Lopez said that the rally recognized “real threats” to the United States’ freedom and sustainability which are “fruits of messes of our personal lives and decisions and of bad policy.” It did this without being “explicitly partisan or political,” she claimed.

Seeing “prudence and humility” at the rally, she thought the event was “realistically positive” in acknowledging political and religious differences while seeking a “unified focus.”

She thought Beck’s focus on foundational issues should be encouraged without putting him “on a pedestal.”

CNA also discussed the rally and related issues in a Saturday phone interview with Mark Stricherz, author of the book “Why the Democrats are Blue” about the place of Catholics in the post-1968 Democratic Party.

Stricherz, who did not comment on the rally itself, questioned the characterization of Tea Party-related movements as religious revivals.

“It’s not led by religious leaders, its participants don’t say they’re religious. None of its tactics are claimed to be religious,” he commented.

The present-day action is not comparable to the civil rights movement, he also contended.

“The civil rights movement was the gold standard of social movements. Its marchers prayed for their enemies and sought equal justice.”

In contrast, Stricherz suggested, Beck’s political movement has been “the bronze standard” of social movements.

“Supporters exhibit disapproval and jeer at their enemies, and seek the end of runaway spending and domestic debt.

“They just want to tame federal domestic spending and don’t want to pay higher taxes through the health care bill. Sometimes federal intervention is godly, and sometimes it is not.”

Beck’s invocation of the U.S. Founding Fathers is “a little more complicated question,” Stricherz told CNA, saying the push for American independence from Britain incorporated elements of religion “but it certainly wasn’t a religious movement per se.”

“There is an argument that the Founders were linked to the First Great Awakening, but the Founders’ appeals were much different than Martin Luther King, whose appeals were explicitly religious and spiritual.

Asked about the possible political consequences of the rally and related movements, Stricherz responded:

“There’s no question that Tea Party supporters will vote disproportionately in the fall midterm elections, but whether those Tea Party supporters are voting out of religious convictions is doubtful. There’s some evidence, based on the statements of Tea Party supporters, that they don’t care about social issues. They care about economics.”

While economic issues also can incorporate religious appeals, he told CNA, these appeals are “not as strong.”

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St. Augustine's life shows troubled youth how to 'soar,' says cardinal on feast day

Vatican City, Aug 28, 2010 / 01:50 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- St. Augustine's life is still a strong witness for youth in the search for truth today amid life’s distractions, Cardinal Angelo Comastri has told Vatican Radio. He added that the fourth-century saint offers an example of how to rise above one’s circumstances and find meaning.

Cardinal Comastri spoke to Vatican Radio in a Saturday morning report to mark the feast of St. Augustine. The Archpriest of St. Peter's Basilica and Vicar General of the Vatican City-State will also celebrate the day at Mass in Ostia, Italy where St. Augustine's mother, St. Monica, lived.

"St. Augustine is a model of humanity with an impressive modernity," said the cardinal to Vatican radio, noting that his story is like that of a young person today.

His life was a constant search for meaning, recalled the cardinal. "Even when he walked in the mud," he preserved the need for meaning and was never content until he "recognized Jesus Christ as the light that illuminates life."

Many youth, he observed, are in need of this ideal because they live at "a very low level" influenced by alcohol, drugs and "uncontrolled" entertainments. In this context, Augustine "always sought to soar above," searching passionately for the truth until it brought him "to the arms of God," said Cardinal Comastri.

Thus was born “the great Augustine," he said.

The element that gave St. Augustine an edge to rise above the "mud," according to the prelate, was his "courage to seek the truth," his conviction that there was a truth and his inability to give up the search until he found it.

To young people who are "dreadfully empty" and "dreadfully unhappy," the cardinal said "don't give in to drugs, to alcohol, to entertainment, to night clubs, to make of this the meaning of your lives. Life is greater!

"St. Augustine understood this, for this he was an inexhaustible seeker of light, an untirable seeker of an ideal."

Asked for more reflection on the saint, Cardinal Comastri quoted the contemporary writer Luigi Santucci, who said that "we must take back from Satan" the idea that he invented fun.

"It's not true!"

"We believers wish to say to the pleasure-seekers of this world: we avoid your orgies not so much for fear of hell, as much as because by being honest, transparent, clean and generous one enjoys infinitely more!"

This, said Cardinal Comastri, is the "message of St. Augustine."

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New missionary community serves the spiritual needs of the Catholic minority in Russia

Arlington, Va., Aug 28, 2010 / 01:15 pm (CNA).- According to the U.S. Department of State, there are more than 100 million Orthodox Christians in Russia. Contrast that with about 600,000 Roman Catholics and you can appreciate the difficult task of tending to the spiritual needs of Catholics in the former Soviet Union.

Sister Maria Stella Whittier came to Holy Trinity Church in Gainesville, Va. last week to speak about the history of Catholic priests and sisters in Russia from 1917 to the present. She also spoke about her work in Vladivostok, in far-eastern Russia, and that of her community, the Sisters in Jesus the Lord.

Sister Maria Stella is the daughter of Holy Trinity parishioners Hank and Donnita Whittier. She graduated from Oakton High School in Vienna and went on to receive a degree from the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, a master’s in sacred music from Emory University in Atlanta and a master’s in Catholic studies from the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minn.

Donnita said that her daughter started to realize her vocation when she was 19 years old and went on a mission to a homeless shelter in Philadelphia with others from the Catholic Campus Ministry of William and Mary. Then she went to World Youth Day in Toronto in 2002.

“That’s what really did it,” Donnita said.

In 2004, Sister Maria Stella was the first postulant to join the Sisters in Jesus the Lord. It’s a very new and small order — only five sisters. The order was declared a Public Association of the Faithful in July by Bishop Robert Finn of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, Mo.

The order is focused on pro-life work and on reviving the Catholic Church in eastern Russia.

Sister Maria Stella said she became interested in Russia because her mother had a degree in Russian and it was a common topic in the Whittier household.

Persecution

“Can you imagine all the Catholic priests in America being sent to concentration camps, killed or exiled? Imagine living without the Mass, the Eucharist, Confession and the other sacraments for as many as 74 years,” said Sister Maria Stella at the start of her talk.

When the Bolsheviks overthrew the czar in 1917 they established what author Michael Rose called in his book Priest: Portraits of Ten Good Men Serving the Church Today “a land without churches in a country that had vanquished God.”

Hundreds of thousands of Orthodox priests, monks and nuns were killed, another half-million were exiled, and tens of thousands of Orthodox churches were closed or converted for secular use.

Catholics didn’t escape the religious persecution. Thousands of priests were killed before 1939 and when the Soviet Union began its expansion into traditionally Roman Catholic countries like Poland, more than 7,000 priests were imprisoned or killed and hundreds of parishes were destroyed. Many Catholics were imprisoned in gulags — Soviet labor camps — where Catholic priests celebrated Mass in secret using prison bread and wine made from raisins.

All in all, 20 million Christians were murdered during Joseph Stalin’s era.

End of the Soviet Union

After the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, religious persecution ended and people came back to the Church. But according to the State Department many of those who identify with a particular religion in Russia rarely, if ever, attend religious services.

Priests and sisters are working to change that behavior in Catholics.

The sisters work in conjunction with Fathers Daniel Maurer and Myron Effing of their brother community — the Canons Regular of Jesus the Lord.

Sister Maria Stella said the two priests came to Vladivostok in 1992. There was no underground Catholic community in place to build from because, according to Father Maurer, “the persecution lasted too long.”

The duo founded or re-founded 12 parishes. They worked to return the Most Holy Mother of God Catholic Church, the oldest surviving Catholic Church in far-eastern Russia to survive the revolution, from government ownership to parish ownership.

Sister Maria Stella said that even though persecution of the Church ended with the fall of the Soviets, it is often difficult for Catholic organizations to get the necessary permits to build.

The sisters pray the Liturgy of the Hours in Russian every morning, work on various projects around the parish, dialogue with local Orthodox clergy and nuns, and conduct Rachel’s Vineyard Retreats.

Sister Maria Stella concluded her talk by asking the audience to pray for the priests, sisters and the faithful in Russia. Her community needs women, “to be sisters in the harsh vineyard of Russia today.”

Printed with permission from the Catholic Herald, newspaper for the Diocese of Arlington, Va

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More details released on Ambassador Kmiec car accident

Los Angeles, Calif., Aug 28, 2010 / 07:49 am (CNA).- Authorities released more details surrounding a car accident earlier this week which killed a 74-year-old religious sister and caused serious injuries to a priest and Ambassador Doug Kmiec.

Preliminary Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department and California Highway Patrol reports state that at about 1:40 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 25, Ambassador to Malta Doug Kmiec, Our Lady of Malibu pastor Msgr. John Sheridan, and Sister Mary Campbell were involved in a one car collision at Mulholland Highway and Malibu Canyon Road.

Sr. Mary Campbell, who, according to Malibu Surfside News taught generations of Our Lady of Malibu students, died at the scene.

Ambassador Kmiec, along with 94-year-old Msgr. Sheridan suffered injuries. After surgeries at the UCLA Medical Center Trauma Center, the ambassador is reported to be in good condition and improving. Although doctors have been able to stop most of Msgr. Sheridan's internal bleeding, he has been treated for several broken ribs and remains in critical condition. The priest is also being carefully monitored for pneumonia and infection.

California Highway Patrol Officer Leland Tang said Ambassador Kmiec was driving westbound on Mullholland when his 2009 Hyundai Accent crashed into a drainage ditch after veering off the road.

Tang reported that the cause of Kmiec losing control of the vehicle is unknown.

Authorities have said the accident remains under investigation and that dashboard control adjustment may be a factor in the collision.

According to Malibu Surfside News, Archbishop of Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahoney visited the hospital Wednesday night and issued a statement asking the local community and those elsewhere to “please keep all three of these wonderful and devoted disciples of Jesus Christ very much in your prayers.”

Our Lady of Malibu announced plans to schedule a blood drive in Msgr. Sheridan's name.

New Mother Teresa exhibition gets thumbs up from Cardinal Ouellet

Rome, Italy, Aug 28, 2010 / 06:31 am (CNA/EWTN News).-

For the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Mother Teresa's birth a "very moving" exhibition dedicated to the life and works of the blessed has been opened all over the planet. The Vatican's new head of bishops, who was on hand for last Thursday's inauguration in Rome, stated his appreciation for the exhibit and hoped that many would be able to see it.

"Mother Teresa: Life, Spirituality and Message" is not only open for viewing in Rome, it has been reproduced in a number of sites in at least 10 nations including the United States. The Roman exhibition was inaugurated on Aug. 26 at the Palace of the Chancellery, where the Church's "supreme court," the Apostolic Signatura, is located.

The visit begins with a biographical tour through the Missionaries of Charity (MC) foundress' life and the history of the order supported substantially by photos and copies of documents from the their official archives.

Among the most striking items reproduced on large placards is a copy of Mother Teresa's final vows, written on a single sheet of wide-ruled paper, now brown with age. Incidentally, MC sisters continue this tradition today, writing the same vows for themselves on the same style of paper.

Authentic treasures adding to the display in Rome were a handwritten prayer book from the blessed, one of her saris, a habit and a pair of worn leather sandals that she wore in the 1970s. All of these items were loaned to the display from Mother Teresa's nearby archives.

Particularly powerful to the presentation is Mother Teresa's own description, drawn from her writings, of the "darkness" she experienced during the final 50 years of her life, dating back to even before the proclamation of her final vows in 1953.

The exhibition also recounts her beatification and highlights her spirituality and the message she offered to the world through the extensive presentation of citations from her writings, a representative example being that "God works through the person who allows himself to be worked through."

Having thoroughly examined the Roman exhibition, Cardinal Marc Ouellet, who recently arrived in Rome to take up the reigns at the Vatican's Congregation for Bishops, told CNA that, in a word, the exhibition is "moving ... very, very moving.

"I hope many people will come to Rome and be touched," he said.

For those who will not be able to make it to Rome before the exhibition closes on Oct. 7, it is also on display in the U.S., Mexico, the Philippines, India and even Albania in addition to other European locales.

In the U.S. at various times during 2010, the exhibition is being presented in at least four places: at the Knights of Colombus Museum in New Haven, CT; the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington D.C.; the St. Jude Shrine in San Diego and at St. Rita of Cascia Parish in the Bronx.

Religious leaders speak out for freedom of expression in Mexico

Mexico City, Mexico, Aug 27, 2010 / 09:54 pm (CNA).- This week numerous religious denominations in Mexico banded together to publish the “Interdenominational Manifesto of Mexico,” reaffirming that no religious minister should be silenced under any circumstance.

The manifesto states that religious leaders must not be silenced because “it is our duty and obligation to guide the consciences of the members of our communities.”

“The secular state cannot and must not persecute religious ministers because of their opinions or attempt to silence their public statements,” because these things are necessary to “sustain the relationship between the being and God the Creator,” the manifesto continues.

“In any revision or analysis of laws that relates to human life, morality or bioethics, the opinions of various religious leaders must be heard,” it adds, noting that this was not the case with the recent laws passed on same-sex “marriage” and adoption.

The manifesto says the secular state must not overreach its authority and engage in militant secularism or persecution. The natural law must be respected above every human law, it continues, urging leaders to revoke anti-life anti-family laws and to cease all efforts to silence religious leaders.

The manifest was signed by the Methodist Church of Mexico, the Lutheran Church, the Maronite Church, the Anglican Church, the Greek-Melkite Church and the Hare Krishna Movement.

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Holy Father's summer school sessions begin

Castel Gandolfo, Italy, Aug 27, 2010 / 08:09 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Former students of Pope Benedict have gathered in Castel Gandolfo for their annual summer seminar sometimes called the "Ratzinger Schulerkreis." According to L'Osservatore Romano, the theme of this year's encounter will focus on the Second Vatican Council.

Forty priests, professors, religious and laity will participate in the Pope's summer school which was first held for former students when Joseph Ratzinger became Archbishop of Munich and Freising in 1977. This year's meeting, according to the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano (LOR), runs from Aug. 27-30 and is comprised of the usual Austrian and German majority. Five other nations are also represented including India and South Korea.

LOR reported that the topic of the four-day seminar was chosen by the Pope himself from among several options proposed by the association of his former theology students. Also selected by the Pope was the main speaker, Archbishop Kurt Koch, the recently appointed replacement for Cardinal Walter Kasper as president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.

Archbishop Koch's addresses to the group will examine "The Second Vatican Council between tradition and innovation" and "Sacrosanctum concilium and the post-Conciliar reform of the liturgy."

Pope Benedict himself will be present at the meeting hall, located near the Castel Gandolfo town center, for several events on the schedule. After Archbishop Koch's Friday and Saturday sessions, the Pope will participate in discussions on the subjects he presents. Then, on Sunday morning, he will preside over Mass for his ex-students and join them, along with new members of the association, for breakfast.

As LOR described, three years ago a new group of people was admitted to the association of former students based on the fact that they have studied and written about the Pope's thought, although they never attended his classes.

Another major moment of the encounter will come on Sunday, when participants will gather in the courtyard of the Apostolic Palace at Castel Gandolfo along with many other faithful and pilgrims to join the Pope in reciting the Angelus prayer..

Academic journal’s latest issue to explore John Paul II’s theology of the body

Merrimack, N.H., Aug 6, 2010 / 06:05 am (CNA).- Scholars will explore Pope John Paul II’s theology of the body from several perspectives in the latest issue of St. Thomas More College’s academic journal, “Second Spring: an International Journal of Faith and Culture.”

Stratford Caldecott, editor of “Second Spring,” said in a press release from the New Hampshire college that John Paul II’s theology of the body “injected new life into the arteries of Catholic thought.” While the Church had previously spoken on marriage and sexuality, modern pressures and the advance of contraceptive technology “made it increasingly urgent to address the issues around sexuality in a new language and with a new frankness.”

John Paul II was a “great communicator,” in Caldecott’s view, but his thought sometimes needed to be explained. The editor criticized a tendency to over-popularize the late Pontiff’s teaching in a way that neglects its full implications.

“The Church’s teaching on sexuality goes to the heart of our nature as human persons and our supernatural calling: it is possible to see its full beauty and live it only in the presence of Christ,” he commented.

John Paul II’s teaching is in part a defense of Pope Paul VI’s 1968 encyclical “Humanae Vitae,” which reiterated Christian condemnation of contraceptives and artificial birth control.

While the destructive effects of contraceptive use are easy to show, Caldecott said, it is harder to show that the teachings of Humanae Vitae result in “happiness and sanctity.” He expressed hope that the new issue of “Second Spring” will help readers gain a greater understanding of Church teaching and confidence to live according to it.

Articles in the latest issue include Caldecott’s “Gender as Sign of Trinitarian Love,” Mary Shivanandan’s “Spousal Nature of Feminine Beauty,” and “Virtues and the Communio Personarum” by Alan O’Sullivan, O.P.

The issue may be purchased through the Thomas More College website at http://www.ThomasMoreCollege.edu/Publications.

UK ambassador highlights significance of events during papal visit

Rome, Italy, Aug 6, 2010 / 04:53 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The Holy Father's September visit "speaks of rapprochement" - that is, cordial relations - between the Vatican and the United Kingdom, explained the nation's ambassador to Holy See. Speaking to CNA, he said that the "principal symbolic moment" on the schedule of events, even for the state, is the beatification of Cardinal John Henry Newman in Birmingham.

U.K. ambassador to the Holy See, Mr. Francis Campbell, is employed by the Foreign Office, which, he explained, "acts as a bridge" between the British prime minister's office at Whitehall, the Holy See and its nunciature. Campbell's office ensures that the government is up-to-date on the Holy See's positions on important issues, which at the moment includes providing advice for drafting speeches and developing themes for the pending trip.

In the state's perspective, the Sept. 16-19 appointment is "a visit to the Church and to wider society," observed the ambassador. "This is our oldest diplomatic relationship," he said, recalling that state-to-state relations go back to the year 1479 when the papal envoy was sent by the British monarchy.

"It hasn't always been an easy relationship," he said, "and here is the Pope coming on a state visit as a guest of the Queen and there are some very poignant moments in that visit that speak of rapprochement, that don't say anything, but speak to it."

Ambassador Campbell cited an example of this in Pope Benedict's speech to 1,800 members of civil society in Westminster Hall, "the very same Hall where Thomas More was condemned to death."

In 1532, St. Thomas More resigned from his post as the Lord's Chancellor, unwilling to sign the the Act of Supremacy, in which the Henry VIII was to be recognized as the head of the church of England. He was put in jail and later condemned to death for high treason, professing his belief during the trial in the indissolubility of marriage, the supremacy of the pope, and the inviolable freedom of the Church in her relation with the state.

The fact that the Pope will be speaking in the venue where More was convicted "says an immense amount about how far we have come in Britain, where within the United Kingdom you can look back at what was a divisive event at the time, but you can look back with a shared perspective."

He brought up other elements of importance to the state in the Catholic Church's contribution to education, British society, and the provision of care of the elderly. "These are all facets to the life of Britain and to pluralism that Britain now is," he underscored.

Taking a look at the Pope's rigorous schedule, Campbell said that the meeting with Queen Elizabeth II at her summer residence in Edinburgh is a highlight. "Here you have an 83-year old Pope meeting an 84-year old monarch.

"When you just think of what they have been through, what they have seen and the fact that they're in these two world leadership positions, I think that's a very interesting moment."

The following day, there is "a very interesting sequence" of events that stands out on the agenda, according to the ambassador. Pope Benedict will visit Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams at Lambeth Palace and, just after, meet with senior Catholic and Anglican bishops. The address to civil society at Westminster Hall and then the celebration of the evening prayer at Westminster Abbey with Archbishop Williams will follow.

Mr. Campbell underscored that Benedict XVI will be the first Pope to enter Lambeth Palace and also Westminster Abbey, which formerly belonged to the Benedictines. "So that sequence on that Friday afternoon from Lambeth Palace to the Palace of Westminster to Westminster Abbey, ... when you think of the history, and you think of English history, what the Pope is walking through on that journey ... is very poignant and harbors a very significant ecumenical message."

But, he went on, "the principal symbolic moment will come on the Sunday when the Pope will beatify Cardinal Newman."

The fact that Benedict XVI has chosen to preside over the ceremony himself in Birmingham and that John Henry Newman is "a Catholic figure, an Anglican figure, an English figure, (and) a universal figure" lend importance to the occasion, he said.

Newman's contributions to the the idea of what a university is, his teaching on conscience and it's role in the modern mindset and his concept that Christian doctrine is dynamic and alive, pointed out the ambassador, make him a "universal figure, this figure beyond a single culture."

Campbell concluded, "He really played a very big role in Britain and Ireland in the 19th century and as such has a place and has a role in the history of our country."

After referendum, Kenyan bishops urge reform for ‘flawed’ aspects of new constitution

Nairobi, Kenya, Aug 6, 2010 / 03:08 am (CNA).- Responding to voters’ approval of a new constitution, the Catholic bishops of Kenya professed respect for the outcome but urged that the constitution’s “flawed moral issues” be addressed. “Let us join together in prayer for a good constitution,” they said.

The bishops’ statement was released on Thursday at the Kenya Catholic Secretariat. It was signed by Cardinal John Njue, Archbishop of Nairobi and Chairman of the Kenya Episcopal Conference (KEC).

“We have urged the Kenyan people to pray for a good constitution, for a constitution that respects the right to life, safeguards religious freedom in its legitimate manifestations and upholds the family as the most important societal institution. We repeat this appeal to all the Kenyan people,” they commented.

The Catholic bishops had urged a ‘no’ vote on the grounds the new constitution would allow abortion and would establish Islamic courts.

“We respect the outcome of the referendum … However, truth and right are not about numbers,” the bishops continued, adding that their voice of moral guidance “should never be silenced.”

They said the Church desires to remain at the forefront of legal reform because “we all aspire to build a better society that will respect the rights of all and facilitate our economic, social and moral development.”

Most Kenyans recognized that the constitution was flawed but mainly differed over whether reform should take place before or after the vote, the bishops commented.

“We recognize and highly commend the peaceful way in which Kenyans have generally conducted themselves during the referendum voting process,” their statement concluded. “We ask Kenyans to make even greater efforts now to uphold the need for peace, love and unity in our relations as brothers and sisters to all other Kenyans.”

Cardinal Mahony: Prop. 8 ruling based on feelings, not God’s plan for mankind

Los Angeles, Calif., Aug 6, 2010 / 12:47 am (CNA).- A federal judge’s decision overturning Proposition 8 relied solely on feelings and not God’s plan for human society, Cardinal Roger Mahony said on Wednesday. He added that the judge wrongly assumed that marriage is of human origin and can mean “anything any person wishes.”

Writing in a Wednesday statement, the Archbishop of Los Angeles responded to U.S. District Court Judge Vaughn R. Walker’s ruling that Prop. 8, which restored California’s legal definition of marriage to be a union of a man and a woman, was unconstitutional.

The cardinal characterized the prime question as whether marriage is of divine or human origin.

“Judge Walker pays no attention to this fundamental issue, and relies solely upon how Prop 8 made certain members of society ‘feel’ about themselves,” Cardinal Mahony wrote.

He said that those who supported Prop. 8 did so because they “truly believe that Marriage was instituted by God for the specific purpose of carrying out God's plan for the world and human society. Period.”

The belief in marriage has been unanimous across cultures and histories and is “embedded deeply” into the spirit of human beings, he noted.

The cardinal further stated that Judge Walker was wrong to assume that marriage is of human and civil origin and “can mean anything any person wishes to ascribe to the institution.”

“The union of a man and of a woman in a life-long loving and caring relationship is of divine origin. No human nor civil power can decree or declare otherwise,” Cardinal Mahony wrote. “For many of us, we will continue to believe that God is the origin of marriage, and we will follow God's constant revelation to that effect.”