New Advent

Another high-profile Legionary priest caught in scandal as Fr. Thomas Williams admits to secretly fathering a child...

NULL@NULL.COM (NAME)

A high-profile American priest in the Legionaries of Christ has acknowledged having had a sexual relationship with a woman and fathering her child, adding another chapter to the growing scandals surrounding the controversial religious order. Fr. Thomas Williams, known for his work as a TV commentator and popular spiritual writer and speaker, issued a statement today confirming he had fathered a child with a woman “a number of years ago,” and said that he and the superiors of the order have decided that he will take a year off without any public ministry “to reflect on my commitments as a priest.” “I am truly sorry to everyone who is hurt by this revelation,” Williams said in the statement. Out of what he described as “respect for the privacy of the woman and her child,” Williams declined to identify the woman or provide other details. He confirmed, however, that the relationship had occurred while he was already a priest and a member of the Legionaries.

On eve of crucial Wednesday meeting in Rome, SSPX's U.S. leader condemns leak of private letters, reaffirms support for Bishop Fellay...

NULL@NULL.COM (NAME)

At this hour, we do not know what will be the outcome of this situation. Will the Society of St. Pius X be “recognized” or will we have to stay in the same situation for some more time? We trust and hope that whatever circumstances Providence determines will lead to a restoration of Tradition. Let us therefore keep in our prayers both the Holy Father and Bishop Fellay, that the Holy Ghost may guide them under such difficult circumstances, in addition to the whole Society and her priests. Be assured of my prayers and may the Immaculate Heart of Mary protect the Society of St. Pius X.

In a move supported by Lutherans and atheists alike, Norway announces plans to abolish official state church...

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Norway is distancing itself from its Christian past. The Storting -- the country's Parliament -- will amend the constitution so that the state no longer has an official religion, ending the 1,000-year tradition of the Church of Norway. A parliamentary committee report presented Tuesday contains a unanimous recommendation to have the state permanently separate from the church. All 169 members of the seven parties in Parliament, including 10 representatives from the Christian Democratic Party and 30 from the Conservative Party, are said to be behind the move, according to a report from TV2.

Video: An exclusive interview with Bishop Bernard Fellay of the SSPX...

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An exclusive interview with Bishop Bernard Fellay, superior general of the Society of St. Pius X, at the society's headquarters in Menzingen, Switzerland. Bishop Fellay has been at the heart of a drama within the Catholic Church since he was ordained illicitly by the group's founder, Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, in 1988, protesting the modernizing reforms of the Second Vatican Council. Since 2009, he has been involved in private doctrinal talks with Rome in an effort to overcome the division between his traditionalist society and the Vatican. An announcement is expected by the end of May regarding the outcome of those talks.

Franciscan University of Steubenville drops student health plan over HHS mandate

NULL@NULL.COM (NAME)

Catholic religious leaders have warned that religious institutions may be forced to stop providing health care coverage if the Department of Health and Human Services does not change its mandate to provide contraceptives, including abortifacients, as part of their health care plans. Today, the first Catholic university has followed through by dropping its health care plan for students. The Franciscan University of Steubenville announced it will not furnish students with health care coverage effective this fall, specifically citing the HHS mandate as the reason.

Housewives desperate for sanctification...

nich@NULL.COM (Marissa Nichols)

The TV show series Desperate Housewives has ended and I can proudly say that I have never watched a single episode. However, I’ll be the first to admit that society is onto us Catholic housewives. Really! Yes, we stay-at-home moms truly are the desperate types, only not in the way that our sexually polluted culture wants you to believe. No, we pine for something far more grand and ambitious, for that which nothing worldly can satisfy: we want God and we burn for holiness both for ourselves and our families. We are housewives desperate for sanctification. Take that, society. Everything presented on that show (judging by its silly posters alone) is droll in comparison.

The most recent rubbish from the Washington Post's E.J. Dionne. Wherein Fr. Z comments...

zuhl@NULL.COM (Fr. John Zuhlsdorf)

I am sure you readers agree that conservative Catholics, orthodox Catholics, faithful Catholics, want everyone to have the joy of being in the Church, to be a true and faithful Catholic who actually thinks with the Church. We don't agree with liberals that the Catholic Faith is just one path to God, equal among many. We think Catholic identity is important. If a person is little more than a discontent who thinks he knows better than the Church, who gives public scandal, who is obviously unhappy, we would prefer that he give up his outward pretense of being Catholic and go find something else to gripe about. But we would rather have everyone in the Church Christ Himself gave us for the sake of our salvation.

I was sad to learn that my childhood parish in Santa Cruz was vandalized last week. But when beauty is defaced, we must witness to hope...

lill@NULL.COM (Anthony Lilles)

It was a sorrow to learn that my childhood parish was defaced by vandals last week. Mission Santa Cruz was founded in the late 18th Century by the Franciscan Missionaries who first brought the Gospel of Christ to the native peoples of California. Since the beginning, the Mission, and the Holy Cross Parish which succeeded it, have had a difficult history with earthquakes, natural disaster and local politics. Yet, for me, from childhood until today, this parish church which continues to tower over Santa Cruz not just architecturally but also in its outreach to the poor, as a beacon of hope in the midst of chaos, a sign on earth pointing to heaven.

Report: After a hasty trial, Texas officials executed an innocent citizen in 1989, "despite a range of signs he was not a guilty man"...

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He was the spitting image of the killer, had the same first name and was near the scene of the crime at the fateful hour: Carlos DeLuna paid the ultimate price and was executed in place of someone else in Texas in 1989, a report out Tuesday found. Even "all the relatives of both Carloses mistook them," and DeLuna was sentenced to death and executed based only on eyewitness accounts despite a range of signs he was not a guilty man, said law professor James Liebman. Liebman and five of his students at Columbia School of Law spent almost five years poring over details of a case that he says is "emblematic" of legal system failure.

"I just remind you Prime Minister, this is not America": Why Tony Blair had to give up his desire to mention God in a speech...

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However, the former Prime Minister said his suggestion provoked such strong concern from civil servants that he was forced to drop the idea. Mr Blair said he had intended to echo the traditional closing remark of Presidents in the United States, who typically sign-off television broadcasts by saying, “God Bless America”. For much of his time in office, Mr Blair was accused of adopting a “presidential” style of leadership, and became close to former American presidents Bill Clinton and George W Bush. However, his former spin doctor Alastair Campbell famously declared “we don't do God”, when the then Prime Minister was asked about his beliefs.

After eighteen years of suffering under an unusually bad bishop, the Diocese of Toowoomba has a new shepherd...

NULL@NULL.COM (NAME)

Pope Benedict XVI has named Monsignor Robert McGuckin to lead the Diocese of Toowoomba, Australia – one year after the previous bishop was removed for dissenting from Catholic teaching and practice. “I’m honored and humbled to be appointed by Pope Benedict XVI as Bishop of Toowoomba,” said Msgr. McGuckin, who is presently the vicar general of the Parramatta diocese. “I would hope to build upon the good work of my predecessors and look forward to working with the clergy, religious and everyone in the diocese. I ask for your prayers as together we strive to fulfill the mission entrusted us in building up the Kingdom of God,” he said on May 14.

Departing leader of NARAL laments the fact that so many young people are pro-life...

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The pro-abortion movement loved to paint the abortion debate in 1970s as a war between grumpy, judgmental grandmas wielding their rosaries against hip young modern women. But now, they are the grey hairs and its the pro-life movement which is young. In fact, LifeSiteNews recounts that Keenan told Newsweek back in 2010 about the March for Life crowds: “I just thought, my gosh, they are so young,” she said. “There are so many of them, and they are so young.” And we won’t stop marching until this injustice is over…

Tell me who you honor and I will tell you what you are...

scha@NULL.COM (Fr. James Schall)

Each year, controversy arises about the honorary awards that universities give to individuals judged worthy to receive them on the basis of a criterion of excellence. Scenes of students or faculty sitting with backs to invited speakers abound. Yet no one can logically “honor” himself. It is something for others to do. The failure to honor what is worthy usually falls into the category of envy. Essential to an award of honor is that it need not be granted. The award transcends justice. It is not a duty but an overflow. We might sympathize with the man who runs last in the 100-meter dash, but we give the medal to the winner. Honors have the connotation of an accomplishment that is worthy of praise.

Benetton to Benedict: "We regret having offended His Holiness, and we promise not to use his image in the future without authorization from the Holy See"...

NULL@NULL.COM (NAME)

This morning a note from the Director of the Holy See Press Office, Fr. Federico Lombardi, S.J., was issued on the conclusion of the legal conflict between the Holy See and the Benetton Group, due to its unlawful use of Pope Benedict XVI's image in the "Unhate" ad campaign.

America and Molech

long@NULL.COM (Fr. Dwight Longenecker)

Understanding the Sins of Sodom in a post some time ago made for some pretty grim reading from the Old Testament. If you have the stomach for some even harsher language and more shocking imagery–but which reads like yesterday’s newspaper from our society take a look at Ezekiel chapter 16. You thought Sodom was bad, the prophet says the sins of the Israelites were worse than those of Sodom. Last week, in this post, I spoke of my increased attraction to the Divine Mercy devotion, and why: Because of the “sins that cry to heaven”. The first of those is the sin of sodomy. As I said yesterday, the sin of Sodom is not just homosexuality, but every kind of sexual perversion, violence, lust and depravity.

Marriage is not a right, but an office...

scal@NULL.COM (Elizabeth Scalia)

Despite differences in origin of understanding, the Dalai Lama’s pronouncements are remarkably similar to Catholic teaching, and next to the Taoist couple, Catholic sexual teaching—particularly Blessed John Paul’s teaching on the Theology of the Body—seems quite free. And yet gay activist Dan Savage is not attacking the Dalai Lama to cackling, appreciative crowds; no one is calling the Taoists “haters” or “homophobes.” From a religious perspective, therefore, it does seem that in our nation of 300 million people, only a distinct minority of about 120 million (even less, discounting non-sacramental unions) are meant to be gifted with the duty of delight that is the sexual expression of love, within marriage.

Refresh your knowledge about 6 types of Catholic churches...

NULL@NULL.COM (NAME)

There are many kinds of Catholic Churches, and each kind has further subclasses which make for a rather confusing classification system. Here is a quick list comprised of highlights from the Catholic Encyclopedia pages on various kinds of Churches.

Is marriage of God or is it of man? Because if marriage is just a contraceptive and dissoluble social arrangement, then the "gay marriage" boosters are right...

obri@NULL.COM (Kevin O'Brien)

Nearly fifteen years ago, when I was Episcopalian, a leader of our local "Journey of Faith" program described to the group how she had made some sort of knitting or crochet or tapestry thing for a friend of hers when the friend had gotten married many years prior. It was some sort of heart with the names of the couple - let's say Ted & Alice - sewn or crocheted or knitted in (I don't know how this stuff works), all framed and gift wrapped. At some point, Ted and Alice got divorced and Alice brought the gift back to this woman who had made it for her. "I've left Ted and I'm getting 'married' to my Lesbian lover, Carol. Will you please pull out Ted's name and sew in Carol's?"

When the "myths" turn out to be true...

NULL@NULL.COM (NAME)

The Washington Post runs a weekly feature in its Sunday “Outlook” section, examining “Five Myths About” something new each week. Of course the whole point about such a feature is to have a guest writer debunk some notions that are widely believed to be true but aren’t. Therefore it isn’t surprising if someone says of an attempted debunking, “but that isn’t a myth at all–it’s true!” The weekly feature is also fairly space-constrained, so the guest debunker has to give a concentrated dose of truth if he is going to get his argument across. Either that, or he has to choose some easy targets, with the obvious risk that he will appear to have chosen straw men in which no one really does believe.

Anglicanorum Digest

palm@NULL.COM (Rocco Palmo)

Four months since its establishment by Rome, the Stateside Ordinariate for Anglican groups entering Catholic communion is coming off a banner week, the first of many soon to come. On Saturday, two top-tier American prelates each ordained a former Episcopal priest to the transitional diaconate, bringing the Chair of St Peter's officially on-deck group of priests-in-waiting to three. The once-and-future Fathers Jason Catania and David Ousley respectively lead the freshly received communities in Baltimore and Philadelphia, the latter of which completed its journey during Holy Week. Another onetime Anglican priest, now Deacon Jon David Chalmers became the Ordinariate's first cleric during the Easter Octave in South Carolina, and will be ordained a Catholic priest on June 3rd. Last Tuesday, meanwhile, the circumscription that covers all entering Anglican groups in North America likewise incardinated its first priest -- Fr Eric Bergman, a married father of seven ordained for the diocese of Scranton in 2007 -- as well as completing the purchase of a church for his community, which had been sharing space with a local parish.

Concerning graciousness in speech and love for one another - yes, even on blogs...

pope@NULL.COM (Msgr. Charles Pope)

In the last few days I have never had to refuse to post so many comments. It started last Thursday evening when I posted a reply to the President’s announcement that he now favored gay “marriage.” I opined that I thought his understanding of Jesus and his reading of the Christian moral vision was flawed because it was partial. That it did not respect the often paradoxical nature of Jesus who was able to hold together what the world often cannot reconcile, e.g. love for sinner and yet a highly demanding moral vision without compromise.

"My yoke is easy, and my burden is light"...

fish@NULL.COM (Simcha Fisher)

I can see that sometimes "my yoke is easy and my burden is light" is just what it sounds like: an invitation to make a change for the better, for the easier, for the happier. You are burdened with sin, and your life is miserable and difficult, and you have no peace or joy. So finally you decide to cast off this worldly burden, and instead take on the burden of righteousness, which leads to the peace that passeth understanding. Or sometimes that peace is actually easy to understand, even to worldly eyes. Take, for instance, the guy who gives up drunkenness, and is now able to keep a job, raise a happy family, enjoy good health, and so on. He took up the yoke of staying sober, and he finds that burden light. It's not effortless to stick with his new life -- hence the imagery of yoke and burden, not airy bubbles and fairy wings -- but you can see that, compared to what was crushing the fellow before, this burden is easy and light. A yoke is something that keeps you attached to the plow, so that you can prepare the soil for a harvest; so taking on the yoke of Christ is a step toward reaping all sorts of rewards in the future. This is the sort of yoke most of us experience in our lives, and if we're not absolute brats spiritually, we're probably wiling to admit that that darn yoke is a good thing.

Colorado civil unions bill killed in special legislative session...

NULL@NULL.COM (NAME)

A legislative special session to give the issue of civil unions for same-sex couples more time for debate didn't produce a different outcome Monday, though it did ratchet up partisan tensions. Legislation to create civil unions died even faster during the special session that began Monday than it did during the regular session that ended last week. The House State, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee shot down the bill on a 5-4 party-line vote, stopping it from getting to the House floor, where it likely would have passed, with a handful of Republicans joining Democrats.

A week ago last Saturday, I witnessed a terrible motorcycle accident...

fulw@NULL.COM (Jennifer Fulwiler)

I was the first person to check on the victim, and was not prepared for what I would find. The young rider had died instantly, but the scene was like something out of a war zone. When the police arrived, even veteran offices were shocked. I was not able to recognize the young man, and spent the evening in sorrow and shock for him and for his family, whoever they were. It would all be magnified the next morning, when I found out his identity. He was our neighbor, the 21-year-old son of the family just a few doors down from us. As I went through last week, going to the wake and the candlelight vigil and the funeral, crying with neighbors on the sidewalks, at the mailbox, and sometimes right in the middle of the street, I tried to find some way to use this experience to help others. As a writer, I decided I would come up with a list of tips to help those who grieve. Though my own sorrow is minuscule in comparison to what this wonderful young man's family is suffering, I thought perhaps I could glean something from it that would give others insight into the experience of someone who has experienced a sudden and shocking loss. Also, since I was struggling to know how to offer comfort to the family of our young neighbor, I could use these lessons to better serve them during this difficult time. The post would be titled something like X Gentle Ways to Help Those Who Grieve, and it would be a wealth of practical advice that for what to do, and what not to do, to most effectively help someone in the depths of loss.

More gems from Pope John XXIII’s secretary, including his firsthand knowledge of the third secret of Fatima...

NULL@NULL.COM (NAME)

Here’s the second in our two-part video series from our interview with the 96-year-old former personal secretary to Blessed John XXIII, Archbishop Loris Capovilla. (In Part 1, if you missed it, the Italian archbishop spoke on the pope’s decision to convene the Second Vatican Council.) In this segment, Archbishop Capovilla talks about John XXIII’s decision to invite “separated brethren” to attend Vatican II and begin the quest for Christian unity, about devotion to Mary as it relates to Protestants, and about his firsthand knowledge of the third secret of Fatima. You can read more about his comments on Fatima here.

Video: How Pixar almost lost Toy Story 2 forever, and how a newborn baby named Eli saved the day...

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Did Toy story 2 ever have the chance of vanishing?

Towards the light of His truth: The conversion story of Todd Meade...

NULL@NULL.COM (NAME)

Every spiritual life is a journey. Mine began in Warner Robins, Georgia in 1971. I was born into a good Methodist family and had a strong Christian foundation laid for me in childhood. Unfortunately, as is all too common, during my teenage years I drifted away somewhat from this good foundation and was lukewarm, at best, towards Christianity. I still attended weekly church services and youth group activities, but my interests were mainly in having fun with my friends. Having a spiritual life was far from my mind. At the age of 17, I had a profound conversion experience that impressed upon me the reality and urgency of Christianity. I gave my heart and life to Jesus and experienced a great sense of meaning and purpose in life. Around this time, my family and I became Southern Baptists, which matched well with my new fervency and devotion.

Meet Peter Maurin: the eccentric vagabond who was, by Dorothy Day's account, the holiest man she ever knew...

NULL@NULL.COM (NAME)

On December 7, 1932, a young, female reporter spent the day spent the day covering the national “Hunger March” held in Washington, D.C. to protest the failure of government to address the worsening conditions of the Great Depression. A former communist and recent convert to Roman Catholicism, she had been struggling for several years as to how to integrate her concern for social justice with her new-found Catholic faith. Upon returning to her apartment following the march, she found waiting for her the man that would provide this longed-for integration. The woman was Dorothy Day. The man was Peter Maurin. In May of 1933, the two began publication of The Catholic Worker, a newspaper dedicated to promoting a Catholic vision of the reconstruction of society.

Applying our enduring truths to our defining challenge...

ryan@NULL.COM (Rep. Paul Ryan)

The Catholic Church offers a rich overview of its thought, summarized in the Compendium of Social Doctrine, to guide Catholics in bringing truth to society’s problems. In his introduction, Cardinal Renato Martino, then president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, wrote, “This area belongs in a particular way” to those lay faithful who are active “in the social sector.” As a congressman and Catholic layman, I am persuaded that Catholic social truths are in accord with the “self-evident truths” our Founders bequeathed to us in the founding ideas of America: independence, limited government and the dignity and freedom of every human person. As chairman of the House Budget Committee, I am tasked with applying these enduring principles to the urgent social problems of our time: an economy that is not providing enough opportunities for our citizens, a safety net that is failing our most vulnerable populations, and a crushing burden of debt that is threatening our children and grandchildren with a diminished future.

Cold feet in match between Rome and Lefebvrists

alle@NULL.COM (John Allen)

Cold feet, of course, are fairly common before any wedding. It’s thus probably no surprise that as Rome and the traditionalist Society of St. Pius X, popularly known as the “Lefebvrists,” prepare to walk down the aisle, important voices on both sides of the match are having some second thoughts. Leaked correspondence shows that three of the four bishops of the society are strongly opposed to a deal, while the top French traditionalist has denounced the “plague” of the Second Vatican Council. The society’s superior has openly admitted a split may be in the works. Meanwhile in Rome, even some of the pope’s best friends are voicing concern that a deal should not signal a retreat from Vatican II.

The contradictions of liberals and conservatives...

stor@NULL.COM (Thomas Storck)

Most Americans who are in the slightest degree politically active or interested incline to one of the two chief political positions common in this country, what we call conservatism or liberalism. In fact, each of these blocs constitutes not only a political grouping, but a cultural group as well, each with its favorite publications and web sites, radio shows, almost its own distinct ways of dressing and eating. Although there is much that one could say about these two groups, I want to comment on one thing only about them. This is that each of them is conscious of the claims of the common good and firmly committed to restraint of human passions, backed up even by the authority of law, in one sphere or area of human life, and equally committed to a laissez-faire policy in another sphere. While each group seems to be aware of the dangers that unrestrained acquiescence in human weakness poses to the social good in one area, each is equally blind to those same dangers in another and equally crucial sphere of life. Before I discuss this further let me state that I am speaking, in regard to both liberals and conservatives, of their professed views and concerns. How far these square with their actual personal conduct or with the laws they enact when they are in power is not to the point here. Every group has its hypocrites, people who fail to live up to the standards they profess, either through succumbing to human weakness or on account of a conscious policy of duplicity. But such hypocrites and their failings are not my concern here.

Introducing Fisher More College in Fort Worth, Texas...

mars@NULL.COM (Taylor Marshall)

As you may know there are two other Colleges with the name "Saint Thomas More" in the United States - the one in New Hampshire being the best known. Our Name Beginning on May 5th, the College began a new chapter by expanding the name of the College and creating a new website. The Board of Visitors of the College has approved the elevation of Saint John Fisher—the great contemporary, co-martyr, friend, and confidant of Saint Thomas More—to the official name. The name recognizes the thirty-year legacy under the patronage of Saint Thomas More, but also brings distinction and clarity with the priestly and academic patronage of Saint John Fisher.

Photo: Madrid's enchanting El Escorial

NULL@NULL.COM (NAME)

This premise is fit for a king, literally. El Escorial, located 28 miles northwest of Madrid, is the historical home of the King of Spain.

There are currently 157 (or 176, or 207, depending on who's counting) international tripoints around the world...

NULL@NULL.COM (NAME)

A tripoint, trijunction, or triple point (also, if inexactly, known as a tri-border area), is a geographical point at which the borders of three countries or subnational entities meet. There are currently 157 international tripoints (i.e., tricountry points) by some accounts, and as many as 176 (or even 207) by others. Nearly half of these usually exact but sometimes slightly indefinite places are situated not on dry land but in rivers or lakes or seas. When on dry land, the exact tripoints are usually demarcated by the center or vertex of special (but highly various) markers or pillars. Often and increasingly such places are also the sites of sometimes extensive monumental memorials and expositions. Usually, the more neighbours a country has, the more international tripoints that country has. China with 16 tripoints and Russia with 11 to 14 lead the list of states by number of tripoints. Within Europe, landlocked Austria has nine tripoints, among them two with Switzerland and Liechtenstein. Island countries such as the UK or Japan have no tricountry points (some, like Bahrain and Singapore, have tripoints in the territorial waters), nor have states with only one neighbour state, like Portugal or Denmark. Likewise the United States with two neighbour states has no tricountry points.