JOLIET, Ill. — A Catholic professor who was relieved of his teaching responsibilities at the University of Illinois for teaching the Catholic doctrine on homosexual sex has won widespread support in his struggle to return to the classroom.
Kenneth Howell, Ph.D., was dismissed from teaching his courses “Introduction to Catholicism” and “Modern Catholic Thought” after a student complained that Howell’s teaching on homosexual sex constituted “hate speech.” Michael Hogan, Ph.D., who became president of the university on July 1, has referred the dispute to the Committee on Academic Freedom and Tenure, which is part of the Faculty Senate; the committee hopes to make a recommendation on the case by the time classes convene on Aug. 23. The full text of the story is available at: http://www.ncregister.com/register_exclusives/fired-for-teaching-the-truth/
I would like to commend a few parishioners from Nativity Church. On 13 July, I was at Nativity for evening mass. There were 2 ladies who were not Catholic but went up to queue for the Eucharist. After they received the Eucharist they held it in their hand, unsure what to do with it.
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WE HAVE BEEN living in Punggol for seven years. There are many young couples with young families in this area and it is expanding rapidly with many new HDB flats in construction.
Currently there are already two temples, one mosque and another piece of land allotted for a future mosque (Straits Times, May 22, 2010), one Christian church and one more renting a place at Punggol Marina. Yet there is no Catholic Church to serve the community in Punggol.
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I HOPE TO throw some light on adverse comments on “U.S. bishops back Phoenix Bishop in nun excommunication abortion case” (CN, Jul 18, 2010).
The USCCB statement makes it clear right from its title and opening paragraph that what the hospital did was an intrinsically evil act (killing a baby). It was not a legitimate medical procedure amenable to further assessment by the principle of double effect in which the first requirement is a morally good act.
The body of the statement clarifies the difference, in principle, between the two (evil and legitimate) as contained in the U.S. Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services and the last sentence concludes, “Nothing therefore can justify a direct abortion.”
Like St. Thomas the Apostle, however, some need to see before they can believe how horrific are the evils promoted by secular bioethics.
But what is a morally good act?
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"Each time we pray the Our Father, our voice mingles with the voice of the Church, because one who prays is never alone. ... May the Virgin Mary help us rediscover the beauty and profundity of Christian prayer". - Pope Benedict XVI
VATICAN CITY, 25 JUL 2010 (VIS) - At midday today, Benedict XVI appeared at the balcony overlooking the inner courtyard of the Apostolic Palace of Castelgandolfo to pray the Angelus with the faithful gathered there.
The Pope commented on today's Gospel reading in which the disciples ask Christ to teach them how to pray. "Jesus raised no objections, He used no strange or esoteric formulae but with great simplicity said: 'When you pray, say: Father ... And he taught them the Our Father".
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VATICAN CITY, 25 JUL 2010 (VIS) - After praying the Angelus today, the Pope expressed his sorrow over "the tragedy of Duisburg, Germany, where many young people were among the victims. I commend the dead, the injured and their relatives to the Lord in my prayers", he said.
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THE BENEDICTINE NUNS of Holy Trinity Monastery are located in East Hendred, U.K. – in the Roman Catholic diocese of Portsmouth – where they are committed to searching for God according to St. Benedict’s threefold pattern of prayer, work and study. One of the things that makes them unique is that a lot of their work is digital. And they are using their website and other technology as an effective way to share their vocation with the world.
Aside from creating audio books for the blind and digital books for online, their website also offers podcasts, video, real-time web conferences with them, pictures of their work and life, a blog, a forum, and you can follow them on Twitter, too. Oh, and you can submit prayer requests directly to them through their website. I don’t think they’ve left anything out!
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VATICAN CITY – The Vatican has revised its procedures for handling priestly sex abuse cases, streamlining disciplinary measures, extending the statute of limitations and defining child pornography as an act of sexual abuse of a minor.
Vatican officials said the changes allow the Church to deal with such abuse more rapidly and effectively, often through dismissal of the offending cleric from the priesthood.
The Vatican also updated its list of the “more grave crimes” against Church law, called “delicta graviora”. For the first time the “attempted sacred ordination of a woman” would automatically excommunicate the cleric and the woman involved. The cleric can also be dismissed from the priesthood.
Vatican officials emphasised that simply because women’s ordination was treated in the same document as priestly sex abuse did not mean the two acts were somehow equivalent in the eyes of the Church.
Sexual abuse of a minor by a priest was added to the classification of “delicta graviora” in 2001 when the Vatican established norms to govern the handling of such cases previously reserved to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. The norms affect how Church law treats sex abuse cases; civil law deals with the crime separately.
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LONDON – The largest Anglo-Catholic group in the Church of England is expecting an exodus of thousands of Anglicans to Catholicism after a decision to ordain women as bishops without sufficient concessions to traditionalists.
Stephen Parkinson, director of Forward in Faith – a group that has about 10,000 members, including more than 1,000 clergy – told Catholic News Service in a Jul 13 telephone interview that a large number of Anglo-Catholics are considering conversion to the Catholic faith.
His comments came after the General Synod, the national assembly of the Church of England, voted at a meeting in York to approve the creation of women bishops by 2014 without meeting the demands of objectors.
“This draft measure does nothing for us at all,” said Parkinson. “We explained very carefully why we could not accept women bishops theologically.
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ANTHONY XU JIWEI has been ordained Bishop of Taizhou, having received both papal mandate and government recognition.
His ordination took place at the Sacred Heart of Jesus Cathedral at Taizhou city on Jul 10, attended by 500 people, ucanews.com reports.
It was conducted by Bishop Joseph Li Mingshu of Qingdao with Bishops Joseph Zhao Fengchang of Liaocheng, Joseph Xu Honggen of Suzhou and Joseph Han Yingjin of Sanyuan, who are all in communion with the pope.
The open community now has one bishop, four priests, eight nuns and three deacons.
Bishop Xu becomes only the second bishop of this diocese in Zhejiang province, filling a position that has remained vacant since Bishop Joseph Hou Jo-shan, one of China’s first ever native bishops, died in 1962.
Several Catholics and priests who attended the ceremony expressed the hope that the new bishop would work to develop the Church.
“The diocese has 25 churches and mission points, but only about 3,500 regular churchgoers,” one said. “Priority should be given to spreading the Gospel.”
For the full news report, please refer to the print edition of the CatholicNews.
“THE REAL PROBLEM in Papua is corruption,” Jayapura Bishop Leo Laba Ladjar, OFM Cap. has said, referring to street protests and rallies in Jayapura by an independent group of mainly young people, and the recent requests for a referendum on independence from Indonesia.
Protesters organised a “Long March” Jul 10 starting from locations outside the city to the provincial Parliament building, where there was a sit-in lasting a day and a night.
According to the protesters, Papua is still too poor (38 percent of the population is below the poverty line) despite the great natural resources it has and it lacks minimum respect for human rights by the Indonesian government in dealings with the local population.
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 SINGAPORE – If you were told you would die within a year’s time, would you feel ready to leave the earthly life? What about if death were to come the next day? For some 25 participants attending a talk, “Going home with joy”, on Jul 7, none said they would be ready to die within 24 hours. But there they were that evening in CANA, hearing from speaker Juliana Ng about preparing for death. Ms Ng, a Catholic, is a trained social worker. Currently in Singapore for a short working stint, she has worked in the United States and New Zealand in the area of hospice care, dementia, and suicide prevention. She also has a Degree in Theology from the University of Otago in New Zealand. Asked what brought them joy in their earthly life, participants responded with answers such as food, money, job, friends and family. This, Ms Ng said, would translate into giving one joy in the next life.
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(From left) Maria Chia, Iris Koh, Father Johnson Fernandez (Spiritual Director of the CNG), Cecilia Leong, Ann Yin, Patsy Lim, Betty Chua, Laura Tan, Susan Loh and Theresa Cheong. Photo provided by CNG
SINGAPORE – Catholic nurses from parts of Asia will be gathering in Singapore in September to discuss how they can move together to forge innovations in nursing practice, research and education. Bringing them together is the 10th Asian Regional CICAMS Conference, which has been held every four years in the region. CICIAMS represents the International Committee of Catholic Nurses and Medical-Social Assistants; it works closely with the Holy See and all international Catholic organisations. The aim of CICIAMS is to promote respect for the Catholic Church teachings on the dignity and sanctity of all human life within the healthcare programme and practices of care. This year’s conference, being held in Singapore for the second time since 1985, is organised by the Catholic Nurses Guild. Between 300 and 350 foreign delegates are expected to fly in, said Mrs Theresa Cheong, president of the Catholic Nurses Guild.
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SINGAPORE – Although Walk On Water Productions has been organising modern Catholic plays since it was established in 2005 as a community of young adults dedicated to spreading the Word of God through theatre and Catholic-themed plays, this is the first time it is attempting to do so through outreach to a larger pool of people.
Founder and artistic director Geraldine Wee shared, “Our drama ministry has always been [meant to be] evangelical. [This time] we wanted to get everyone involved.”
The mission began sometime in November last year when Walk On Water began to approach parishes, mission schools and the Catholic Archdiocesan Youth Centre asking for interested actors, directors and writers. Sometime in March this year, responses came in, some as individuals, others in whole groups.
Once that was accomplished, writers were invited to write scripts which were then given to directors to read. Plays were shortlisted and actors rounded up. Some teams came together to conceptualise their original plays and then submitted their entries to this inaugural Catholic Short Play Festival.
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