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Showing posts from July, 2011

Scandals in Ireland and Miami

Mark Shea Always liked Mark Shea. I had wished to bring him to my parish as part of an evangelization program but the bottom fell out of the local economy with the collapse of the forestry industry and we couldn't afford it. Too bad really. He is one of the clearest writers and thinkers in the North American Church today. This take on the latest scandals (Ireland and now Miami) is a good example of his offerings. H/T to Michael Brandon (FreedomthroughTruth blog) for this article. Catholic and Enjoying It!: Scandals in Ireland and Miami
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“I’m So Busy, I Met Myself Coming Back!” A Quick Reflection on the Week of A Priest | Archdiocese of Washington

Looks like a busy classmate from my diocese This most recent column by Msgr. Charles Pope explains perfectly why I enjoy my cottage so much... especially during this summer season. Even though this was to be a week off for me during which I was to entertain a dear friend and classmate, Fr. Paul Conway (Sault Ste. Marie Diocese), I was detained in Mattawa for the start of the week to celebrate three funerals. Still I have been able to enjoy his company for the past two days (once I finally arrived) and I know he enjoyed the tranquil peace and quiet that the cottage offers when he was here alone. Today we each depart. He begins his return to his parish in Elliot Lake, Ontario (where he's expected back for work on Monday). I'm heading straight back to Mattawa to take care of a wedding rehearsal tonight as well as the weekend celebrations. As we say amongst ourselves, "No use complaining. That's why we get paid the big bucks!" (grin) “I’m So Busy, I Met Mys...
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How should we respond to threats from the State to make the seal of confession a criminal offence?

Christ said that his followers would be persecuted for his namesake and it seems to be coming to pass. Many folks claim that this is part of an external persecution. I disagree. These attacks on the rights of the Church and its members are a direct result of her own failings: infidelity to religious vows and moral fecklessness in the wake of these sinful (and sometimes criminal) acts. If the State is bludgeoning the Church, it's with a club of our own making. We have no one to blame but ourselves. Yet... this is not an excuse or reason for further violating our religious obligations as clergy by breaching the seal of the confessional. In the face of the infidelity of other clergy, we MUST redouble our commitment to be faithful to ours. If the Church is going to fulfill her mission here on earth she will need to recover her moral authority... and the only currency in which she can amass to win back her good standing will be the faithful witness of Christians, even in the face of p...
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To postpone the Eucharistic Congress in Ireland or not to postpone it? - Vatican Insider

This is a bad idea. The Catholic response in the face of trial is to turn to the Eucharist!! The Irish clergy scandals of recent times are all the more reason to bring the light and grace of Christ to shine before the faithful. Christ is not afraid to enter into any dark corner. Neither should the Church. To postpone the Eucharistic Congress in Ireland or not to postpone it? - Vatican Insider
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Canadian Observer Magazine is launched in Canada! An articulate voice for the centre-right of the Canadian intellectual elite

A new Canadian magazine that has set some lofty goals for themselves: to be for times what Cité Libre was to Quebec... only this time representing the right of the political spectrum and not the left. Aside from the politics, the magazine offers intelligent and well written articles... well with the read on a hot summers day. (I downloaded the pdf file into my Kindle... got to love technology!) Summer 2011
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Eucharistic Adoration « The Gospel in the Digital Age

“What makes this place tick?” I quizzed the exuberant pastor as he showed me around the parish, renowned for its high rate of Sunday Mass attendance; first-rate school; excellent religious education for kids, teenagers, young adults, and adults; remarkably effective stewardship; and successful initiatives of social justice, pro-life efforts, evangelization, and neighborhood presence. I wanted the “recipe” so I could bottle it and send it around! “Follow me, I’ll show you,” Father replied. Read the rest of the story by clicking on the link below. Eucharistic Adoration « The Gospel in the Digital Age
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VOTE... VOTE... VOTE!!!

Today is the day for voting for Mattawa to be a recipient of a TSN visit and broadcast and a prize of $25,000 towards are goal of building a free water park for kids. Click on the link below and vote before 11:59 AM tomorrow (Friday) to help our town. We have to compete against Pembroke, Ontario, a city 100 miles to the east of us. They have a population of 15,000 (30,000 including Petawawa which is just a few miles to their west) whereas Mattawa is a town of 2000 with about another 2,000 in the neighboring townships that surround it. Mattawa is going through some very tough times with the collapse of the forest industry. The two mills that were the employers in town have permanently shut their doors throwing all of their employees out of work. It is going on two years now with no work and still no future employers on the horizon. The only way that we'll be able to realize our goal of building this water park is if we will this competition... an accomplishment that will give fami...
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No Accountability or Transparency in Ontario

This link will take you to a blog written by a parent after his daughter died 24 hrs after being discharged from an Ontario hospital in the G.T.A. He has asked other bloggers from Ontario to help him to get the government to properly investigate what occurred so as to spare another family from the grief and pain that has befallen them. Check out his website and offer a word of encouragement - or better yet, take up your virtual 'pen' and join him in his campaign. No Accountability or Transparency in Ontario
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'Sister Wives' Family Challenges Polygamy Law; No Surprise for Christians, Christian News

Exactly as predicted by Christians when we opened the door to re-defining marriage. Advocates claimed that we were extremist for suggesting this would naturally flow from this legal precedent. They are now being proven wrong. Next stop: bestiality. Can the end be all that far away? 'Sister Wives' Family Challenges Polygamy Law; No Surprise for Christians, Christian News
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Another perspective on our Muslim neighbors. Perhaps the best 2.5 minutes you'll spend today

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And now a statement from the 'other side' of the Medjugorje debate

Here is an article that offers a counter position to the Medjugorje story that preceded this one.   I have never been there. I have read very little about it. It is not a part of my Marian piety or practice. I have little or no opinion on the subject... and there's no shortage of opinion to be found on the subject. I offer this because a gentleman emailed me with a concern about my posting the initial story from the UK Mail. I trust he will accept that this article portrays the other side of the argument well. Fr. Tim
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Congratulations to new Quebec Bishops!

VATICAN CITY, 11 JUL 2011 (VIS) - The Holy Father:  - Appointed Bishop Andre Gazaille, auxiliary of Montreal, Canada, as bishop of Nicolet (area 3,682, population 209,066, Catholics 203,035, priests 122, permanent deacons 25, religious 401), Canada. He succeeds Bishop Raymond Saint-Gelais, whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same diocese the Holy Father accepted, upon having reached the age limit.  - Appointed Fr. Christian Lepine of the clergy of the archdiocese of Montreal, Canada, pastor of the parishes of "Notre-Dame-des-Champs" and "Purification-de-la-Bienheureuse-Vierge-Marie", and Fr. Thomas Dowd, also of the clergy of the archdiocese of Montreal, director of the archdiocesan formation service, as auxiliaries of Montreal (area 1,103, population 2,574,000, Catholics 1,640,000, priests 1,063, permanent deacons 100, religious 4,158). Bishop-elect Lepine was born in Montreal in 1951 and ordained a priest in 1983. Bishop-elect Dowd was born in Montre...
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Germany is forgetting the lessons of history as it votes for eugenics

What is it that made the Nazi regime 'evil'? Was it only the mass slaughter of the Jews? Was it the military destruction that it brought to all of Europe? I contend the fact that they were able to commit these atrocities was the logical conclusion to 'redefining' what it was to be a 'person' under the law. Germans, even in the 30's and 40's, were too sophisticated a nation to have accepted such patent evils against others who had previously been their neighbors and fellow citizens without 'conditioning'. To achieve such a terrible fact the population had to be convinced of the 'rightness' of such  heinous acts. Creating an acceptable zeitgeist which rationalized genocide, began as a necessary first step by opening people up to the possibility that they deserved to be viewed as being genetically 'superior' to others. It was necessary to convince people that what was evil was good was as a necessary first step.  Being able to establ...
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Celli denies Wikileaks: "We are technological at the Vatican ..." - Vatican Insider

So , Your Excellency, it is not true therefore that the Vatican is a bit antiquated with regards to technology?   «A certain image wants the Vatican as a closed world, or even "antiquated" as you mentioned. Reality is quite different, because even if rather small, the state employs state-of-the-art technologies in all the fields required. An example might suffice: the extension of solar panels from which the Vatican derives the energy it needs. In the field of communications, computers - all types - have long since replaced typewriters, and I do not think there is, proportionately, such a large extent and use of the Internet as in the Vatican».  According to Wikileaks dispatches however, Father Lombardi was the only one with a Blackberry... ... «At times we face, slightly fictional realities. Father Lombardi uses his "Blackberry" and, above all uses his art to communicate well. I would say that especially in this sense he is at the for...
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What does Vatican say about nuclear weapons?

FROM ZENIT NEWS SERVICE Vatican's UN Official Outlines Doctrine on Nuclear Weapons Says a World Without Nuclear Arms Is Possible, Urgent KANSAS CITY, Missouri, JULY 6, 2011 (Zenit.org).- "A world without nuclear weapons is not only possible, it has now become urgent," says the Vatican's representative to the United Nations. Archbishop Francis Chullikatt made this assertion Saturday, not in the U.N. offices in New York, but in Kansas City. He was invited by that diocesan Human Rights Office to give an overview of Church teaching on nuclear weapons. His address was part of a diocesan endeavor to educate the public on Church doctrine in this matter, efforts which responded to a proposed nuclear weapon parts plant in Kansas City. The extensive address considered the history of the Church's position on the question of nuclear weapons. "New attention is being paid to the unresolved problem of 20,000 nuclear weapons located at 111 sites in 14 countries,...
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A proposal for true womans rights

Women should be credited with earning the 'equivalent' of the average of their last five years of employment - with the 'salary' being paid in a dollar for dollar deduction off of the other parents salary until the child is 18 or the mother chooses to return to full time work. The government should also put into the CPP the equivalent or matching contributions to the plan so that women who choose to stay at home to raise children will not be at an economic disadvantage when it's time to collect a pension. Then the government could eliminate huge social welfare departments that currently manage maternity issues: day care (we're paying you to stay home. If you want to work then use your resources for child care. Public services would be reserved only for those who fail a means test (single mothers if they choose to work for example). Home cooked meals. Mom available to tend to home and raise her children without working outside the house and witho...
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Fr. John Corapi's (The Black Sheep Dog) community "SOLT" issues a public statement

It seems (as always) that there are two sides to every story. The 'Black Sheepdog has told his side and now his religious community, SOLT has told theirs. Given the harsh talk that Fr. Corapri has hurled their way they have been quite charitable in their response. Now they have decided to reveal the nature of the allegations that have been made against him. It seems that this drama has become for the Catholic blogosphere what the Casey Antony was for the secular media: the gift that keeps on giving. Eternal Word Television Network: Blog - by
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A few more religious order jokes about priests. Always a good thing to be able to laugh at ourselves. It's a sign of mental health!!

A brother priest sent along few more punchlines about the reputation of some of our religious order brothers. They put a smile on my face. If you're at all familiar with the greater Catholic community, I think they'll do the same for you. I got a kick out of your posting of Jesuit jokes on your blog. Another set of jokes has to do with the Jesuits’ and Basilians’ reputation as poor liturgists. This reputation (myth?) has occasioned a number of one-liners: “He was as lost as a Jesuit in Holy Week.” “A good Jesuit liturgy is one where nobody gets hurt.” “A good Basilian liturgy is one where everyone in the sanctuary has a place to sit down.”  
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Mattawa water park makes Top 20 in online contest - The North Bay Nugget - Ontario, CA

Help bring some good news to our little town of Mattawa!  We've made the final cut in the TSN Kraft Celebration Tour and are competing against the City of Pembroke in the voting to win our segment of the population. On July 14 - til noon the next day, please go to the TSN-Kraft voting website and help us win this David & Goliath competition to bring the TSN Sportscentre crew to Mattawa... and the $25,000 they will grant the winner to help us develop a water park for our local kids. We have suffered greatly during this 'Great Recession' with the complete collapse of the forest industries that sustained employment for the past 150 years. Unemployment runs into the 20% range with many people having to leave their families behind in search of work so that they can financially help their family (and by extension the whole town) survive,  keeping their families sheltered and fed. We could really use the boost that winning this competition will bring. The project we are p...
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Jesuit Jokes

One day a priest was visiting one of his parishioners, and, asking about her teenage son, discovered that she was worried about what career he would choose. The priest said he could tell by a simple test. He put on the coffee table a Bible, a wallet, and a bottle of scotch. "If he chooses the Bible," the priest told her, "that's a sign he's destined for the priesthood. If he chooses the wallet, he's called to be a banker. And if he chooses the bottle of scotch, he's bound to become a bum." The teenager came in and the priest told him he could have any object on the table. The boy picked up all three. "Oh no!" the priest shouted. "He's going to be a Jesuit!" Click on link to read the rest of the jokes! Siris: Jesuit Jokes
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The Lion of Munster | The American Catholic

Hitler was not a Roman Catholic. He may have once been baptized as an infant in the Church but he certainly threw aside any pretense of Catholic faith with the publication of Mein Kampf and his promotion of the 'Final Solution'. Further, the RC Church was not overtly pro-Nazi. Some clerics compromised their convictions in the name of patriotism and good order. That should come as no surprise to anyone with even a cursory knowledge of church history. Jesus predicted as much when he spoke the parable of the sower. Some will respond at first with authentic conviction, but unwilling to practice the discipline of being a disciple they lack the roots to withstand the onslaught of evil and error. Others though will speak truth with clarity and power. The 'Lion of Munster' was one such Catholic voice. His biography and writings are as relevant today as they were in the face of fascism in full fury. 'Truth is truth' may be a truism - but it's truth all the same. I hi...
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Freedom Through Truth: If This is the Way You Treat Your Friends

Michael Brandon offers a few well chosen words worth reading on the anti-Catholic prejudice issue on his blog 'Freedom through Truth'.  He expresses what I believe. better than I could. I wish I could write as well! I wish I could think as well too! Thanks Michael. Much appreciated. Again to I offer to anyone who will abide by two simple rules* the offer to publish their thoughts here on this or any other topic should the spirit so move you. Same goes if you want to recommend an article to cross-post to. I've always intended this blog as a place to facilitate debate and conversation. A variety of opinions is necessary to accomplish that end. Interested in taking up the offer? Fr. Tim * 1. must be civil; 2. must be cogent Freedom Through Truth: If This is the Way You Treat Your Friends
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The Last Remaining Prejudice? Not Hardly! | Blogs | NCRegister.com

Here's another article, written by Jimmy Aikens from the National Catholic Register, which takes a different slant than the previous one written by 'Mundabor'. While Aikens does agree that the Church has a big job ahead of it in promoting its message, he not agree with Mundabor that anti-Catholicism is rampant. Your thoughts? The Last Remaining Prejudice? Not Hardly! | Blogs | NCRegister.com
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What the Hell? (I’m Kidding on the Title) | The Integrated Catholic Life

Time and again, as I go about the work of evangelization, I encounter from both believers and non-believers, a fierce objection to the doctrine of Hell. In its most radical form, it runs something like this: how could a God who is described as infinitely good create, sustain, and send people to a place of everlasting torment? Many people have directed my attention to a video done some years ago by the comedian George Carlin, a former Catholic. In front of a deeply sympathetic audience, Carlin exposes what he takes to be the silly inconsistency of Catholic belief: “for one mortal sin (usually having to do with sex), God will condemn you to a place where you will suffer forever in unbearable pain…but yet,” the comedian goes on in a mocking voice, “He looooves you!” Judging from their hysterical reaction, the audience can’t get enough of this. One wonders whether Carlin doesn’t have a point. Perhaps we ought simply to jettison this horrifying and apparently illogical doctrin...
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The Jewish Ayatollahs | RO: Ramallah Online

THE ARCHBISHOP of New York announces that any Catholic who rents out an apartment to a Jew commits a mortal sin and runs the risk of excommunication. A protestant priest in Berlin decrees that a Christian who employs a Jew will be banished from his parish. Impossible? Indeed. Except in Israel – in reverse, of course. The rabbi of Safed, a government employee, has decreed that it is strictly forbidden to let apartments to Arabs – including the Arab students at the local medical school. Twenty other town rabbis – whose salaries are paid by the taxpayers, mostly secular, including Arab citizens – have publicly supported this edict. Click on link to read the rest of the article: The Jewish Ayatollahs | RO: Ramallah Online
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Immaculate Heart of Mary

Immaculate Heart of Mary
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HAPPY CANADA DAY!!!

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