Political fireworks...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama accused President Bush on Thursday of launching a "false political attack" with a comment about appeasing terrorists and radicals.

The Illinois senator interpreted the remark as a slam against him but the White House denied that Bush's words were in any way directed at Obama, who has said as president he would be willing to personally meet with Iran's leaders and those of other regimes the United States has deemed rogue.

In a speech to Israel's Knesset, Bush said: "Some seem to believe that we should negotiate with the terrorists and radicals, as if some ingenious argument will persuade them they have been wrong all along.

"We have heard this foolish delusion before. As Nazi tanks crossed into Poland in 1939, an American senator declared: 'Lord, if I could only have talked to Hitler, all this might have been avoided.' We have an obligation to call this what it is—the false comfort of appeasement, which has been repeatedly discredited by history."

Obama responded with a statement, seizing on Bush's remarks even as it was unclear to whom the president was referring.

"It is sad that President Bush would use a speech to the Knesset on the 60th anniversary of Israel's independence to launch a false political attack," Obama said in the statement his aides distributed. "George Bush knows that I have never supported engagement with terrorists, and the president's extraordinary politicization of foreign policy and the politics of fear do nothing to secure the American people or our stalwart ally Israel."

The White House said Bush's comment wasn't a reference to Obama.

"It is not," press secretary Dana Perino told reporters in Israel. "I would think that all of you who cover these issues and have for a long time have known that there are many who have suggested these types of negotiations with people that the president, President Bush, thinks that we should not talk to. I understand when you're running for office you sometimes think the world revolves around you. That is not always true. And it is not true in this case."

Another saint of WWII

From Crunchy-Con Rod Dreher:

Irena Sendler, a Polish Catholic who saved the lives of 2,500 Jewish children in the Warsaw Ghetto, has died:

Sendler, a Roman Catholic, was born in Otwock, outside Warsaw, on February 15, 1910. Her father was a physician who directed a spa hospital. Sendler remembered him as someone who taught great compassion: “If you see someone drowning, you must try to rescue them, even if you cannot swim.”

She was an administrator in Warsaw’s welfare department in 1940, when Nazi Germany occupied Poland. Nearly half a million Jews were sequestered in Warsaw’s tiny ghetto, where conditions were appalling. The Nazis ordered a stop to normal social services, such as food and health care. Charged with warding off typhus and tuberculosis, Sendler had official permission to move freely in the ghetto. She convinced Jewish parents to let her hide their children. She used an ambulance to smuggle children in burlap sacks and coffins. A dog seated next to her would sometimes bark to drown out the children’s cries. She received aid from the Zegota, the Polish Council to Aid the Jews.

The children were given new names and false documents, and placed with Christian Polish families and at Christian religious establishments. Sendler wrote their real names on slips of paper that she hid in bottles underground, intending to retrieve them later.

The Gestapo arrested Sendler in 1943 and tortured her brutally, breaking her legs and feet with wooden clubs. She was sentenced to be executed, but she escaped after the Zegota bribed a guard. She remained in hiding until the end of the war, then dug up the bottles under the apple tree and tried to reunite the children with their families. Most of the families had perished, though some were placed with relatives around Europe. She was known within Poland, but she received little publicity in the West during the Cold War years. In 1980, she joined the Solidarity movement.

In her interview with the Sun, Sendler said: “If someone is drowning, you have to give them your hand. When the war started, all of Poland was drowning in a sea of blood, and those who were drowning the most were the Jews. And among the Jews, the worst off were the children. So I had to give them my hand.”

And her head today is no doubt resplendent with a crown. God rest her soul.

The Pathetic State of Christianity in England...

This is truly a depressing story.

Churchgoing on its knees as Christianity falls out of favour
Ruth Gledhill, Religion Correspondent TIMESONLINE UK
Church attendance in Britain is declining so fast that the number of regular churchgoers will be fewer than those attending mosques within a generation, research published today suggests.

The fall - from the four million people who attend church at least once a month today - means that the Church of England, Catholicism and other denominations will become financially unviable. A lack of funds from the collection plate to support the Christian infrastructure, including church upkeep and ministers’ pay and pensions, will force church closures as ageing congregations die.

In contrast, the number of actively religious Muslims will have increased from about one million today to 1.96 million in 2035.

According to Religious Trends, a comprehensive statistical analysis of religious practice in Britain, published by Christian Research, even Hindus will come close to outnumbering churchgoers within a generation. The forecast to 2050 shows churchgoing in Britain declining to 899,000 while the active Hindu population, now at nearly 400,000, will have more than doubled to 855,000. By 2050 there will be 2,660,000 active Muslims in Britain - nearly three times the number of Sunday churchgoers.

St. Thomas More prophesied this in his Dialogue of Comfort Against Tribulation.
Also, check out Aidan Nichols' The Realm, on converting England back to Catholicism, which by the way won't take much effort anymore. The majority of Christians are already Catholic on the island.

Benedict continues his weekly catechesis on the Fathers of the Church

On Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite

Dear brothers and sisters:

In the course of the catechesis on the Fathers of the Church, I would like to speak today about a very mysterious figure: a theologian from the sixth century, whose name is not known, and who wrote under the pseudonym of Dionysius the Areopagite. With this pseudonym, he alluded to the passage of Scripture that we just heard, that is, the case narrated by St. Luke in the 17th chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, where he tells how Paul preached in Athens, in the Areopagus, addressing an elite group of the Greek intellectual world. In the end, the greatest part of those who heard him were not interested and they left making fun of him. Nevertheless, some, just a few, according to what St. Luke tells us, approached Paul and opened themselves to faith. The evangelist gives us two names: Dionysius, member of the Areopagus, and a woman named Damaris.

If five centuries later, the author of these books chose the pseudonym of Dionysius the Areopagite, this implies that he had the intention of placing Greek wisdom at the service of the Gospel, promoting an encounter between culture and Greek intelligence with the announcement of Christ; he wanted to do what that Dionysius aimed to do, that is, that Greek thought would meet with the proclamation of St. Paul. Being Greek, he wanted to be a disciple of St. Paul and in this way, a disciple of Christ.

Why did he hide his name and choose this pseudonym? One part of the answer I have already given: He wanted to express this fundamental intention of his thought.

But there are two hypotheses about this anonymity and about his pseudonym. According to the first one, the pseudonym was a falsification by which, dating his works in the first century, in the times of St. Paul, he wanted to give his literary production an almost apostolic authority. But there is a better hypothesis than this first one, which seems hardly believable to me, and it is that he wanted to perform an act of humility. He didn't want to give glory to his name; he didn't want to construct a monument to himself with his works, but instead, to really serve the Gospel, to create an ecclesial theology, not individual and based in himself.

In reality, he managed to elaborate a theology that we can date with certainty in the sixth century, but that we cannot attribute to any of the figures of this time period. It is a theology something "de-individualized," that is, a theology that expresses a common thought and language. Those were times of bitter conflict after that Council of Chalcedon. He, on the other hand, in his "7th Epistle," says: "I would not like to cause polemics; I simply speak of the truth; I seek the truth." And the light of truth by itself makes error fade and makes what is good shine. With this principle he purified Greek thought and related it to the Gospel. This principle, which he affirms in his seventh letter, is also the expression of a true spirit of dialogue: It is not about seeking the things that separate, one must seek the truth in Truth itself; this, then, shines and causes errors to fall.

Therefore, despite the fact that the theology of this author is, we could say, "supra-personal," truly ecclesial, we can place it in the sixth century. Why? The Greek spirit, which he placed at the service of the Gospel, he found in the books of a certain Proclo, who died in Athens in 485. This author belonged to late platonic thought, a current of thought that had transformed Plato's philosophy into a type of religion, whose final objective was to create a great apologetics for Greek polytheism and return, following the success of Christianity, to the ancient Greek religion.

It wanted to demonstrate that, in reality, the divinities were the forces of the cosmos. The consequence to be drawn from this was that polytheism should be considered truer than monotheism, than a single creator God. Proclo presented a great cosmic system of divinities, of mysterious forces, according to which, in this deified cosmos, man could find access to divinity. Now then, he made a distinction between the paths for the simple -- those who were not able to elevate themselves to the heights of truth, for whom certain rites could be sufficient -- and the paths for the wise, who on the other hand should purify themselves to arrive to pure light.

As can be seen, this thought is profoundly anti-Christian. It is a delayed reaction against the victory of Christianity: an anti-Christian use of Plato, meanwhile a Christian reading of the great philosopher was already in place. It is interesting that Pseudo-Dionysius would have dared to avail precisely of this thought to show the truth of Christ; to transform this polytheistic universe into a cosmos created by God, in the harmony of the cosmos of God, where every force is praise of God, and show this great harmony, this symphony of the cosmos that goes from the seraphim to the angels and archangels, to man and all the creatures, which together reflect the beauty of God and are praise of God.

He thus transformed the polytheistic image into praise of the Creator and his creatures. In this way, we can discover the essential characteristics of his thought: Before all, it is cosmic praise. All of creation speaks of God and is a praise of God. Given that the creature is a praise of God, the theology of Pseudo-Dionysius becomes a liturgical theology: God is found above all praising him, not just reflecting. And liturgy is not something constructed by us, something invented so as to have a religious experience for a certain amount of time. It consists in singing with the choir of the creatures and entering into the cosmic reality itself. And thus the liturgy, apparently only ecclesiastical, becomes ample and great, it unites us with the language of all creatures. He says: God cannot be spoken of in an abstract way; to speak of God is always -- he uses the Greek word -- a "hymnein," an elevating of hymns to God with the great song of creatures, which is reflected and made concrete in liturgical praise.

Nevertheless, if his theology is cosmic, ecclesial and liturgical, it is also profoundly personal. I think it is the first great mystic theology. Moreover, the word "mystic" acquires with him a new meaning. Until this epoch, for Christians, this word was equivalent to the word "sacramental," that is, that which pertains to the "mysterion," sacrament. With him, the word "mystic" becomes more personal, more intimate: It expresses the path of the soul toward God.

And, how is it possible to find God? Here we observe again an important element in his dialogue between Greek thought and Christianity, in particular, biblical faith. Apparently what Plato says and what great philosophy says about God is much more elevated, much more true; the Bible seems very "bárbara," simple, precritical, we would say today. But he observes that precisely this is necessary so that we can thus understand that the most elevated concepts of God never reach his true greatness. They are always beneath him.

These images bring us to understand, in reality, that God is above every concept; in the simplicity of the images, we find more truth than in the great concepts. The face of God is our incapacity to truly express what he is. In this way he speaks -- Pseudo-Dionysius himself says -- of a "negative theology." It is easier to say what God is not than to express what he really is. Only through these images can we grasp at his true face and, on the other hand, this face of God is very concrete: It is Jesus Christ. If Dionysius shows us, following Proclo, the harmony of the celestial choirs, in such a way that it seems that all of them depend on each other, it is true that our path toward God remains very far from him. Pseudo-Dionysius shows that in the end, the path to God is God himself, who makes himself close to us in Jesus Christ.

In this way, a great and mysterious theology is made very concrete, both in the interpretation of the liturgy and in the reflection on Jesus Christ: With all of this, Dionysius the Areopagite had a great influence on all of medieval theology, on all of mystical theology, both in the East and in the West. He was virtually rediscovered in the 13th century above all by St. Bonaventure, the great Franciscan theologian who in this great mystical theology found the conceptual instrument for interpreting the heritage -- so simple and profound -- of St. Francis. The poor man, like Dionysius, tells us that in the end, love sees more than reason. Where the light of love is, the shadows of reason fade away. Love sees, love is an eye and experience gives us much more than reflection. Bonaventure saw in St. Francis what this experience meant: It is the experience of a very humble path, very realistic, day after day, it is to walk with Christ, accepting his cross. In this poverty and in this humility, in the humility that is lived also in ecclesiality, an experience of God is given that is more elevated than that which is attained by reflection. In it, we really touch the heart of God.

Today, Dionysius the Areopagite has a new relevance: He is presented as a great mediator in the modern dialogue between Christianity and the mystical theologies of Asia, marked by the conviction that it is impossible to say who God is, that only negative expressions can be used to speak of him; that God can only be spoken of with "no," and that it is only possible to reach him by entering into this experience of "no." And here is seen a similarity between the thought of the Areopagite and that of the Asian religions. He can be today a mediator like he was between the Greek spirit and the Gospel.

In this context, it can be seen that dialogue does not accept superficiality. Precisely when one enters into the depths of the encounter with Christ, an ample space for dialogue also opens. When one finds the light of truth, he realizes that it is a light for everyone; polemics disappear and it is possible to understand one another, or at least, speak to one another, draw closer together. The path of dialogue consists precisely in being close to God in Christ, in the depths of the encounter with him, in the experience of the truth, which opens us to the light and helps us to go out to meet others -- the light of truth, the light of love. In the end, he tells us: Take the path of the experience, of the humble experience of faith, every day. Then, the heart is made big and can see and also illuminate reason so that it sees the beauty of God. Let us ask the Lord that he help us today too to place the wisdom of our time at the service of the Gospel, discovering again the beauty of the faith, of the encounter with God in Christ.

The rest at Zenit.

Papal Vestments: Then & Now

Let's just take a quick look back at papal masses when Archbishop Piero Marini was the papal mc...




Now let's take a look at the pope's vestments recently under Msgr. Marini (same name)...





Much, much better. You gotta love that tall miter! The hermeneutic of continuity is hard at work...

It is amazing to think how much things have changed since Benedict has become pope; of course, these are all very subtle and will take time to fully bear fruit, but the Church's identity has been emboldened by this wise pontiff. He is a wonderful teacher too... Benedicat pontificem maximum multis plus annis Dominus!

The Gospel According to Han Solo?

Did you hear what the Vatican's astronomer said???? Sometimes some ideas, no matter how well intentioned and seemingly harmless, are actually really stupid. I can just imagine a gay person or a divorced Catholic wondering "I can't receive Communion, but Chewbacca can?"

This story is beyond stupid. It's a good excuse to use the sweet picture of JPII though!

Some help from the AmericanPapist...

Vatican Chief Astronomer: "The extraterrestrial is my brother"
Okay, that's how the headline of the article read, reportes the Associated Press.

Hmm, can we say "slow news day"?

CNA has a good summary of what happened:

The Director of the Vatican's Observatory, Fr. José Gabriel Funes, said in an interview with the Vatican daily, L'Osservatore Romano, that believing in the possible existence of extraterrestrial life is not opposed to Catholic doctrine.

.... The astronomer began the interview titled, "The Alien is my Brother," by saying that, "Astronomy has a profound human value. It is a science that opens the heart and the mind. It helps us to put our lives, our hopes, our problems in the right perspective. In this regard, and here I speak as a priest and a Jesuit, it is an apostolic instrument that can bring us closer to God", said Fr. Funes in the interview.

Fr. Roderick translates the portions of the article that treat the implications of extraterrestial life:

Do you refer also to beings similar to us, or even more evolved?

It’s possible. However, so far we haven’t got any proof. But in such a big universe, this hypothesis can’t be excluded.

And that wouldn’t be a problem for our faith?

I don’t think so. Just like there is an abundance of creatures on earth, there could also be other beings, even intelligent ones, that were created by God. That doesn’t contradict our faith, because we cannot put boundaries to God’s creative freedom. As saint Francis would say, when we consider the earthly creatures to be our “brothers” and “sisters”, why couldn’t we also talk about a “extraterrestrial brother”? He would still be part of creation.

And what about redemption?

Let’s borrow the image from the gospel about the lost sheep. The shepherd leaves the 99 of the sheepfold to search for the one that got lost. Let’s imagine that in this universe there are 100 sheep, corresponding to the different forms of creatures. We who belong to the human race, could very well be the lost sheep, the sinners that need the shepherd. Got has become man in Jesus to save us. In that way, even when other intelligent beings exist, it’s not said that they would need redemption. They might have stayed in full friendship with their Creator.

I insist: when they would, on the contrary, be sinners, would redemption also be possible for them?

Jesus incarnated once and for all. The incarnation is a unique and non-repeatable event. However, I am certain that they too, in one way or another, would have the possibility to experience God’s mercy, just like we men have.

I think Curt Jester has the perfect response to this .... "The Star Wars Ewok Gospel":

Humanae Vitae - 40 years later

God bless Paul VI for fighting the good fight.

From Zenit...

Benedict XVI: "Humanae Vitae" as Relevant as Ever

Says Love and Dignity Need Defending

VATICAN CITY, MAY 12, 2008 (Zenit.org).- In a society that treats the practice of sexuality like a drug, not just the concept of love needs defending, but also the dignity of the person, says Benedict XVI.

The Pope affirmed this Saturday when he received in audience participants from an international congress promoted by the Pontifical Lateran University to mark the 40th anniversary of the encyclical "Humanae Vitae."

The three-day conference ended Saturday.

Recalling that the encyclical was published by Pope Paul VI on July 25, 1968, Benedict XVI highlighted how "the document soon became a sign of contradiction," and pointed out that "it constitutes a significant show of courage in reiterating the continuity of the Church's doctrine and tradition."

"The truth expressed in 'Humanae Vitae' does not change," the Holy Father affirmed. "Quite the contrary, in the light of new scientific discoveries its teaching becomes more relevant and stimulates reflection on the intrinsic values it possesses."

Read the rest

Pentecost! Veni, Creator Spiritus!

Knights of Columbus: positive results after papal visit...

Poll: Papal Trip Had Impact on US Catholics
Helped Understanding of Church Teaching

NEW HAVEN, Connecticut, MAY 9, 2008 (Zenit.org).- A Knights of Columbus poll shows U.S. Catholics grew in their understanding of Church teaching, have a more positive impression of the Pope and are more likely to vote since Benedict XVI visited the United States.

The data collected by the Marist College Institute for Public Opinion and released today shows that the Holy Father's April trip affected both practicing and non-practicing Catholics.

For example, the proportion of practicing Catholics describing Benedict XVI positively as a spiritual leader went from 70% before the visit to 82% afterward, a 12% jump. Among non-practicing Catholics, the proportion went from 62% before the visit to 79% afterward, a 17% jump.

A majority of Catholics, 54%, said they were more in touch with their spiritual values as a result of the Pope's visit, and 41% said they were more likely to vote in the November elections. Sixty-four percent of Catholics said they better understand the Catholic Church's position on important issues as a result of the trip.

Eighty-eight percent of practicing Catholics, and 73% of non-practicing Catholics say the trip met or exceeded their expectations. And more than 70% of Catholics have a more positive view of the Church as a result of the visit, including 82% of practicing Catholics and 56% of non-practicing Catholics.

Half of those polled say they are more likely to make family a bigger part of their lives, while nearly 40% say they are more likely to become more active in their community or church.

Supreme Knight Carl Anderson said that the poll results "show clearly that Pope Benedict has presented the Catholics of the United States with a tremendous opportunity. Americans are a religious people, and they responded very positively to the message of faith, hope and love that the Holy Father delivered throughout his visit. It is now up to all of us in the Catholic community to walk through the door he has opened for us, and work together to build a civilization of love."

The Marist College Institute for Public Opinion interviewed 1,013 adults nationwide, and the survey results issued today are from an over sample of an additional 502 Catholics nationwide, and are statistically significant at ±4.4%. All polling was done between April 22 and April 29, 2008, immediately following the Pope's return to Rome.

"Call To Action" liturgy update... puppet mass, anyone?

This is a photo from the recent Call to Action seminar... this was the mass....

This is real.

If you've never heard of Call to Action, you're lucky. In case your curious, here's how they describe themselves:

Call To Action (CTA) is a Catholic movement working for equality and justice in the Church and society. An independent national organization of over 25,000 people and 53 local chapters, CTA believes that the Spirit of God is at work in the whole church, not just in its appointed leaders. The entire Catholic Church has the obligation of responding to the needs of the world and taking initiative in programs of peace and justice. CTA acts as a nexus where the full panoply of Church renewal issues come into focus, intersecting and interacting to produce a vision of the Catholic Church as it can and should be. CTA promotes its vision of a progressive, engaged Catholicism through its acclaimed annual conferences, award-winning publications, extensive network of regional groups and joint programs with other Catholic renewal organizations.

CTA draws its mission from the US Bishops' 1976 Call To Action conference, and the "Call for Reform in the Catholic Church" proclaimed by more than 20,000 signers (New York Times, Ash Wednesday, 1990) articulates its goals for our Church.

This is code for: we want to see the Church change how it views life in Christ... totally. We want gay marriage, co-habitation, abortion, contraception, women priests, gay bishops, transvestite everybody... Spare me...

Judging from the photo above, I bet the majority of CTA's members are lesbians over 55 and old people who got (pardon the term) grandfathered in because their bingo club closed.

PRAY FOR THESE PEOPLE!

3 stories from TIME on Catholicism

Is Liberal Catholicism Dead?
Saturday, May. 03, 2008 By DAVID VAN BIEMA

He may not have been thinking about it at the time, but Pope Benedict, in the course of his recent U.S. visit may have dealt a knockout blow to the liberal American Catholicism that has challenged Rome since the early 1960s. He did so by speaking frankly and forcefully of his "deep shame" during his meeting with victims of the Church's sex-abuse scandal. By demonstrating that he "gets" this most visceral of issues, the pontiff may have successfully mollified a good many alienated believers — and in the process, neutralized the last great rallying point for what was once a feisty and optimistic style of progressivism.

Frank Words from the Bishops
Tuesday, Jun. 21, 2005 By RICHARD N. OSTLING

One of the most important teachings to emanate from the Second Vatican Council was "collegiality," the concept that bishops collectively govern the Roman Catholic Church in union with the Pope. In a concrete application of that principle, since Vatican II ended in 1965 Popes have periodically summoned synods of bishops to offer advice on issues facing Catholicism. In practice, however, churchwide power is exercised by the Vatican Curia and the Cardinals who supervise its administrative agencies.

Back to the Catholic Future
Monday, Apr. 18, 2005 By RICHARD N. OSTLING

Wearing white chasubles, a grand assemblage of Roman Catholic bishops will file through St. Peter's Square and into the basilica next Sunday to con-celebrate a Mass with Pope John Paul II. The stately ritual will mark the beginning of a two-week world synod of bishops, summoned by the Pope to commemorate and evaluate the results of the Second Vatican Council, which concluded 20 years ago.

With the exception of the 1978 conclaves that elected Pope John Paul II and his short-lived predecessor, John Paul I, no meeting in Rome since Vatican II has provoked as much advance speculation as this synod. One reason is sheer mystery; its agenda is wide open, and no one knows what will happen. Beyond that, many liberals fear that the synod may be part of John Paul's ongoing campaign to enforce discipline and theological orthodoxy. Conversely, some conservatives look to the synod as an opportunity to act against what they see as near heretical aberrations that have sprung up since the council.

Absolutely hilarious! The Empire Strikes Barak!

Pioneer Press on Archbishop Neinstedt

Newly installed Archbishop John Neinstedt gestures "bring it on" at a press conference.

As of 5 am yesterday morning, John Neinstedt is the new archbishop of Minneapolis/St. Paul! Geo Gratias, Domine. Harry Flynn turned 75, and his resignation was accepted by Pope Benedict XVI.

Here's how the Pioneer Press portrayed Neinstedt in the days leading up to his official installment...

A lauded liturgist, administrator,
New Ulm conservative also is known for controversy
BY DAVID HANNERS
Pioneer Press
Article Last Updated: 04/25/2007 09:17:24 AM CDT

Roman Catholic Bishop John Nienstedt of New Ulm, Minn., a theological conservative who has taken on Hollywood, stem-cell research and people who make too much noise in church, was named Tuesday to succeed Archbishop Harry Flynn.

The announcement by the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis that Nienstedt, 60, had been named "coadjutor archbishop" ended months of speculation over who would succeed Flynn, who will step down when he turns 75 next year.

Flynn, who has been archbishop since 1996, introduced Nienstedt at the archdiocese's chancery in St. Paul. He called Nienstedt "such a capable bishop" and said he had "broad experience that will serve him well." [yeah, lots of love between these two...]

But Nienstedt's time as bishop of the Diocese of New Ulm has not been without controversy. [hair-raising liberal scream] While Flynn and others lauded him as an able administrator and liturgist, some of his actions have rankled his own priests and parishioners in the diocese he has led since August 2001.

Soon after being named bishop in New Ulm, he condemned some of the theological views of the man who had held the post before him for 25 years, Bishop Raymond Lucker [this man was a scandal incarnated], a noted progressive clergyman who died in 2001. Denouncing his predecessor's views was an "extraordinary step," the National Catholic Reporter noted in an article on the incident.

As bishop in New Ulm, Nienstedt prohibited cohabitating couples from being married in Catholic churches. He barred female pastoral administrators from leading prayers at a semiannual leadership event. He once disciplined a priest for holding joint ecumenical services with a Lutheran congregation after the Catholic church had been destroyed by a tornado.

[Let's actually do our homework here... "pastoral administrators"??? = female priests; "joint ecumenical services" = heretical 'masses'. Neinstedt protected the integrity of the Blessed Sacrament as well as these peoples souls from committing sacrilege (1 Cor. 11:24)]

Kenneth Irrgang, a retired priest who clashed with Nienstedt when he was bishop in New Ulm, predicted that Nienstedt will meet resistance among the 654 active priests in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.

"I expect disaster there. I don't think those priests are going to accept him," said Irrgang, who now lives in St. Cloud. "He's a micromanager. He has to control everything. He hews the line from the Vatican without any question whatsoever. He's not a very good people person." [Find this man and flog him! What a jerk.]

But the Rev. Philip M. Schotzko of the Church of St. Peter in St. Peter, Minn., praised Nienstedt's abilities.

"Bishop Nienstedt is a consummate man of the church," said Schotzko. "He thinks with, prays with and loves the church with everything he's got. He just follows very carefully the teachings and all aspects of church theology and moral teachings. You'll get a very committed man in that way." [Thanks for the balance.]

He said Nienstedt is "gifted in many ways as a liturgist" and considers him "a good organizer and planner and administrator."

According to his church biography, Nienstedt was born in Detroit, the second of six children. He completed his theological education at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit and the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, and was ordained into the priesthood in July 1974.

Nienstedt has held a variety of positions in the church throughout his career. He's been an associate pastor, priest-secretary to a cardinal, vicar general of the Archdiocese of Detroit and served in the Vatican Secretariat of State.

He was ordained a bishop in June 1996.

After Flynn introduced him Tuesday, Nienstedt spoke of his life in the church.

"When I was yet a boy, I fell in love with a beautiful woman who was the bride of Christ," Nienstedt said. "For me, the church has never been just an institution, just a hierarchical structure, just a doer of good works for the poor, the sick and the stranger, but she was and is a concrete manifestation of God's great love, for whom Jesus gave his very life."

A coadjutor archbishop is akin to an archbishop-in-training. Nienstedt will assume some of Flynn's duties, and aid him with others.

Nienstedt is moving from a diocese that has 42 active priests and 68,000 parishioners to an archdiocese with 454 priests and 646,000 parishioners. He noted the difference in his remarks.

"And while we, in the Diocese of New Ulm, have our share in life's joys and sorrows, I somehow think that both will proportionally increase with this new assignment," he said.

As bishop in New Ulm, Nienstedt wrote a regular column, "And Miles to Go," for the diocese's newsletter and Web site. In the first column, written in September 2001, he complained about President Bush's decision to fund stem-cell research into possible cures for disease.

Nienstedt called on government and people to "curb the scientist's thirst for novelty" by ending the research. In a later column on the subject, he called legislation allowing stem-cell research "a very misguided, political attack on human life," and said, "there have been no medical cures resulting from the use of embryonic stem cells."

He also used his column to air his views on homosexuality, saying people became gay or lesbian as a "result of psychological trauma" when a child is between the ages of 18 months and 3. Homosexuality, he wrote, "must be understood in the context of other human disorders: envy, malice, greed, etc."

Nienstedt also advised parishioners to avoid the movies "Brokeback Mountain" - "a story of lust gone bad," he wrote - and "The Da Vinci Code." He said Dan Brown's best-selling novel, later turned into a movie starring Tom Hanks, was "pure Evil in its intent" and "seeks to confuse the young, whose faith may be weak, and lead them astray." [Boy, what a jerk Neinstedt is... uh yeah.]

In a column from June with the headline "Silence," Nienstedt complained about people talking while he prepared for weekend liturgies, saying it was a "din of noise ... not unlike that of a sports arena." [Amen!!!]

"I have tried to overhear what is so important that people need to speak in church," he wrote. "Normally comments range from one's view of the weather, to a recent sports event, to how old Uncle Henry is looking. None of it is essential. None of it has to be spoken at that time."

Benedict on his USA visit

On the Trip to the UN and the US
"I Have Had the Joy of Announcing 'Christ Our Hope'"

VATICAN CITY, APRIL 30, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of the address Benedict XVI gave today at the general audience in St. Peter's Square.

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Even if a few days have already passed since my return, I would like to dedicate the catechesis of today, as I normally do, to the apostolic trip that I made to the United Nations and the United States of America this past April 15 to 21. Before all, I renew my most cordial appreciation to the U.S. episcopal conference, as well as President Bush, for having invited me and for the warm welcome they have given me. And I would like to extend my thanks to all those in Washington and New York who came to greet me and manifest their love for the Pope, or who have accompanied and supported me with prayer and with the offering of their sacrifices.

As we know, the occasion of my trip was the bicentennial of the elevation of the country's first diocese, Baltimore, to a metropolitan see, and the foundation of the sees of New York, Boston, Philadelphia and Louisville. On this characteristically ecclesial anniversary, I have had the joy of personally visiting, for the first time as the Successor of Peter, the dear people of the United States of America, to confirm the Catholics in their faith, to renew and increase fraternity with all Christians, and to announce to everyone the message of "Christ Our Hope," as the theme of the trip said.

In the meeting with the president, in his residence, I was able to pay homage to this great country, which from the beginning has been constructed based on a pleasing joining together of religious, ethical and political principles, and continues to be a valid example of healthy secularism, where the religious dimension, in the diversity of its expressions, is not only tolerated but valued as the "soul" of the nation and the fundamental guarantee of the rights and duties of the human being.

In this context, the Church can carry out its mission of evangelization and human promotion with freedom and commitment and, at the same time, can be a stimulus for a country such as the United States, to which everyone looks as one of the principal agents on the international scene, so that it is oriented toward global solidarity, ever more necessary and urgent, and toward the patient exercise of dialogue in international relations.

Naturally, the mission and the role of the ecclesial community were at the center of the meeting with the bishops that took place in the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, in Washington. In the liturgical context of vespers, we praised the Lord for the path traveled by the people of God in the United States, for the zeal of its pastors, and for the fervor and the generosity of its faithful, which is manifested with a high esteem and openness to the faith, and in innumerable charitable and humanitarian initiatives within the country and outside it.

At the same time, I was able to support my brothers in the episcopate in their difficult task of sowing the Gospel in a society marked by many contradictions, which threaten the coherence of the faithful and of the clergy themselves. I encouraged them to raise their voices on current moral and social questions and to form the lay faithful so that they be good "leaven" in the civil community, starting from the fundamental cell that is the family. In this sense, I exhorted them to re-propose the sacrament of matrimony as a gift and indissoluble commitment between a man and a woman, the natural environment for the welcoming and education of children. The Church and the family, together with schools, especially those of Christian inspiration, should cooperate to offer youth a solid moral education, but in this task the agents of communication and entertainment also have a great responsibility.

Thinking of the sorrowful situation of the sexual abuse of minors committed by ordained ministers, I wanted to express to the bishops my closeness, encouraging them in the commitment to heal the wounds and to reinforce their relationships with their priests. Responding to some questions asked by the bishops, I highlighted a few important aspects: the intrinsic relationship between the Gospel and "natural law"; the healthy concept of freedom, which is understood and fulfilled in love; the ecclesial dimension of the Christian experience; the demand to announce in new ways, especially to youth, "salvation" as the plenitude of life, and to educate them in prayer, from which sprouts the generous response to the call of the Lord.

In the great and festive Eucharistic celebration in Nationals Park stadium in Washington, we invoked the Holy Spirit upon the Church in the United States of America, so that firmly rooted in the faith transmitted by its fathers, profoundly united and renewed, it will face present and future challenges with courage and hope -- that hope that "does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us" (Romans 5:5).

One of these challenges is certainly that of education, and for this reason, in the Catholic University of America, I met with rectors of universities and Catholic educational centers, with the diocesan leaders responsible for teaching, and with representatives of professors and students. The educational task is an integral part of the mission of the Church, and the U.S. Church community has always been very committed in this field, offering at the same time a great social and cultural service to the entire country. It is important that this can continue. And it is in the same way important to take care of the quality of the Catholic centers of education so that in them, [students] are formed truly according to "the extent of the full stature" of Christ (cf. Ephesians 4:13), joining together faith and reason, truth and liberty. With joy, therefore, I have confirmed the formators in their precious commitment to intellectual charity.

In a country like the United States of America, with a multicultural vocation, the meetings with representatives of other religions have taken on special importance: in Washington, in the John Paul II Cultural Center, with Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists and Jains; in New York, the visit to the synagogue. Moments, especially this latter one, which were very cordial, which have confirmed the common commitment to dialogue and the promotion of peace and spiritual and moral values. In [a country] that can consider itself the homeland of religious liberty, I wanted to recall that this should always be defended with a joint effort, so as to avoid any kind of discrimination or prejudice. And I stressed the great responsibility of the religious representatives, both in teaching respect and nonviolence, and in nourishing the deepest questions of human consciousness. The ecumenical celebration, in the parish church of St. Joseph, was also characterized by great cordiality. Together, we asked the Lord that he increase in Christians the capacity of giving reasons, also with an ever greater unity, for their unique hope (cf. 1 Peter 3:15) based in a common faith in Jesus Christ.

The other principal objective of my tripe was the visit to the central offices of the United Nations Organization: the fourth visit of a Pope, after that of Paul VI in 1965 and the two visits of John Paul II, in 1979 and 1995. In the celebration of the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Providence permitted me to confirm, in the most great and authoritative supranational assembly, the value of this declaration, recalling its universal basis, that is, the dignity of the human person created by God in his image and likeness to cooperate in the world with his great design of life and peace.

Respect for human rights is rooted, as well as in peace, in "justice," that is, in an ethical order valid in all times and for all peoples, which can be summarized in the famous maxim: "Do not do unto others what you would not have them do unto you," or, expressed positively in the words of Jesus, "Do unto others what you would have them do unto you" (Matthew 7:12). Upon this base, which constitutes the characteristic contribution of the Holy See to the United Nations Organization, I renewed and I renew again today, the commitment of the Catholic Church in contributing to strengthen international relations, characterized by the principles of responsibility and solidarity.

Other moments of my stay in New York have remained firmly etched in my spirit. In St. Patrick's Cathedral, in the heart of Manhattan, truly a "house of prayer for all peoples," I celebrated holy Mass for the priests and consecrated persons who had come from all parts of the country. I will never forget the warmth with which they congratulated me for the third anniversary of my election to the See of Peter. It was a moving moment, in which I experienced in a tangible way all of the support of the Church for my ministry. I could say the same about my meeting with youth and seminarians, which was held precisely in the diocesan seminary, preceded by a very significant meeting with handicapped boys and girls and their families.

I proposed to youth -- who by their nature are thirsting for truth and love -- some figures of men and women who have given an exemplary testimony of the Gospel in the lands of the United States, the Gospel of the truth that frees in love, in service, in life given for others. In seeing the darkness that today threatens their lives, youth can find in the saints the light that dissipates it: the light of Christ, hope for all men.

This hope, stronger than sin and death, motivated the emotion-swelled moment that I spent in silence at the crater of ground zero where I lit a candle, praying for all the victims of that terrible tragedy. Finally, my visit culminated with the celebration of the Eucharist in Yankee Stadium in New York: I still carry in my heart that festival of faith and brotherhood, with which we celebrated the 200 years of the oldest dioceses of North America. The original little flock has progressed enormously, enriching itself with the faith and the traditions of successive waves of immigration. To this Church, which now faces the challenges of the present, I have had the joy of announcing anew "Christ Our Hope" of yesterday, today and forever.

Dear brothers and sisters, I invite you to unite yourselves with me in thanksgiving for the encouraging results of this apostolic trip and in the supplication to God, through the intercession of the Virgin Mary, that it produces abundant fruits for the Church in the United States and in all parts of the world.

[Translation by ZENIT]

[At the end of the audience, the Pope greeted the people in several languages. In English, he said:]

My recent Apostolic Journey to the United Nations and the United States of America was inspired by the theme, "Christ our Hope". I am most grateful to all who helped in any way to make the Journey a success. My visit was meant to encourage the Catholic community in America, especially our young people, to bear consistent witness to the faith, and to carry on the Church's mission, especially with regard to education and concern for the poor. American society traditionally values religious freedom and the need for faith to play its part in building a sound civic life. In my meetings with President Bush, and with Christian leaders and representatives of other religions, I reaffirmed the Church's commitment to cooperation in the service of understanding, peace and spiritual values. My address to the United Nations stressed the importance of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which grounds respect for human dignity in a universally valid ethical order. In a particular way, my visit to Ground Zero, charged with sober silence and prayer, was a moving testimony to the hope which is stronger than evil and death. I ask all of you to join me in praying that this Visit will bear abundant spiritual fruit for the growth of the faith in America and for the unity and peace of the whole human family.

I offer a warm welcome to the participants in the third Christian-Buddhist Symposium, meeting in Castel Gandolfo during these days. Upon all of you and upon the English-speaking pilgrims from England, Ireland, Scandinavia, Malta, South Africa, Korea, Thailand, Canada and the United States, I cordially invoke the joy and peace of the Risen Christ.

© Copyright 2008 -- Libreria Editrice Vaticana