From Reuters: Former Pope Benedict, in one of the few times he has broken his silence since stepping down nearly a year ago, has branded as “absurd” fresh media speculation that he was forced to quit. Church law says a pope’s resignation is valid only if he takes the decision in full freedom and without pressure from others. “There is absolutely no doubt regarding the validity of my resignation from the Petrine ministry,” Benedict, 86, who now has the title... Read more
From USA TODAY (and note the quote from FOB Deacon Bill Ditewig!): In a move that could open the doors for more wedded priests in some Catholic churches across the USA, a married Maronite deacon will be ordained Thursday as a priest in St. Louis. Deacon Wissam Akiki, who serves St. Raymond’s Maronite Cathedral, will be the first married Maronite Catholic in the United States to become a priest, said Bishop Elias Zaidan of the Maronite Eparchy of Our Lady of Lebanon of... Read more
My blog neighbor Katrina Fernandez—reading of the late night host’s Catholic roots—wants to woo him back. She writes: A few years ago you surprised and delighted us all by declaring your papist roots in an NPR interview. Only, did you know your interview has been and continues to be used by some as justification to vilify Vatican II and the Norvus Ordo mass, saying it’s a perfect illustration of why people leave the Church? I’m sure you didn’t mean for that to... Read more
An interesting take on last weekend’s remarkable consistory, from Michael McGough in The Los Angeles Times: Almost nine years ago I interviewed John R. Quinn, the retired archbishop of San Francisco and the author of a book titled “The Reform of the Papacy: The Costly Call to Christian Unity.” In a column drawn on the book and the interview, I described what a downsized papacy might look like. For example, it would be “more parochial, more local, with, most likely, an... Read more
Over at First Things, Elizabeth Scalia wades into the conscience wars over providing (or not) various services to gays: The question is no longer whether couples may marry, but whether a baker may refuse to sell them a wedding cake on the strength of his religious or moral conscience, without risking a lawsuit. Anyone can walk into a kosher or halal butcher’s shop and buy a chicken, but if asked to cater a party with bacon burgers, the butcher will... Read more
Yes, evidently they really do have things like this: If Jewish food were to have a signature scent, it would be the smell of Katz’s deli — at least for me. The aroma of corned beef brined in spices, pastrami dripping with fat, fried potato knishes and freshly sliced rye assaults the senses the second you reach the door at the corner of Ludlow Street and East Houston. Now the deli wants you to bring a small part of that... Read more
Details from Christianity Today: Oleksandr Turchynov, a well-known Baptist pastor and top opposition politician in Ukraine, took office on Sunday, Feb. 23, as acting president after the Parliament voted to oust President Yanukovych. The collapse of the Yanukovych regime follows three months of growing protests that exploded in last week’s violence, which claimed more than 88 lives. Many of these protests took place in the Maidan, or Independence Square in the capital city of Kiev. …The choice of a Baptist... Read more
Over at The Jesuit Post, Jeremy Zipple, SJ took an informal poll: I resolved to poll every non-Western member of my community regarding the most urgent problems confronting the church in his home country. I polled them all – Japanese, Indonesian, Singaporean, Nigerian, Kenyan, Chilean, Brazilian, Tanzanian, Turkish, Mexican, Syrian, Rwandan, Filipino. Poverty made the top #1 or #2 of all but three lists. Other top vote-getters among the Africans included: tribal tensions, HIV/AIDS, reconciliation after genocide, the rise of... Read more
Muslims pray as they hide at a Catholic church in Carnot, a town 200 kilometers (125 miles) from the Cameroonian border in Central African Republic. (AP Photo/Krista Larson) Remarkable, from the AP: The Christian militiamen know hundreds of Muslims are hiding here on the grounds of the Catholic church and now they’re giving them a final ultimatum: Leave Central African Republic within a week or face death at the hands of machete-wielding youths. On Monday, some of the 30 Cameroonian... Read more
I’m sensing a theme developing in this papacy. From NCR: The Catholic church must fundamentally reorient itself to place its institutions and financial resources at the service of the world’s poor, one of the 19 new members of the select and powerful group of church prelates known as the College of Cardinals said. “The origin of the church is poverty,” said Philippine Cardinal Orlando Quevedo. “And the journey of Jesus Christ was the journey with poor people.” “Today, the church... Read more
The Deacon's Bench
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