Blogfast

Now that I blog much anyway, but I'm going to out of the blogosphere (including facebook and twitter) from now thru Lent. May it be a season of deeper prayer for all.

Why Whitney Houston Died - according to Bill O'Reilly

A parishioner commented before the evening Mass today that she was watching Houston's funeral and it was "awful". I guess that it was probably all that a Catholic funeral would not have been. And we have had three funerals in as many days so our parishioners should know a thing or two about Catholic funerals.



I think we need to be warning our youth about the dangers of the celebrity lifestyle. Yes, pray for her soul, but certainly not hold her up as any kind of example.

In our local Mining Journal, I found that this column by Bill O'Reilly seemed to sum it up for me.

"Occupy" protesters don't get arrested, but pro-life HHS pray-ers do.

President Obama's bid to attack religious liberty with the HHS Mandate is galvanizing Christians to prayer and peaceful protest. No, it's not about contraception, it's about religious liberty. But it is, actually, about contraception, and at last the sleeping giant of the Church(es) has awoken to the issue.

LifeNews.com carries the report. Is there a law against praying outside the White House? It seems that the reason for the arrest is their vocal declarations of disobedience to the law in the Name of the higher law of God.

Two American Women to be Canonized

At this morning's Consistory of Cardinals, the Holy Father announced that

Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha who was born in 1656 at Ossernenon (today Auriesville, USA) and who died at Sault (Canada) April 17, 1680,

and Sister Maria Anna Cope (in the world: Barbara), a professed religious of the Sisters of the Third Order of St Francis in Syracuse (New York, USA), and known as Mother Marianne of Molokai, who was born in Heppenheim (Germania) January 23, 1838, and who died at Molokai (USA) August 9, 1918

be canonised on Sunday October 21, 2012.

Baptism of Logan Michael Tregembo

Congratulations to Sarah and Dan Tregembo on the baptism last Sunday of their little son Logan Michael. The baptism was celebrated according to the Extaordinary Form of the Roman Rite.

Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist Issue Statement on President Obama’s So-Called Compromise

 

Ann Arbor, MI - In response to President Obama’s remarks regarding the final rule for individual and group health plans under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Mother Mary Assumpta Long, O.P., the Prioress General of the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist released the following statement:

 

“Regarding the so-called compromise by President Obama on the Department of Health and Human Services rule for “preventative” services that mandate coverage for abortion-inducing drugs, sterilization, and artificial contraception for their employees, the mandate still compromises religious, economic, and political liberty.

Despite the assurances by President Obama that separating the premiums paid by religious institutions to insurance companies somehow protects the religious liberty of Catholic and other religious institutions, the bottom line is these institutions will still have to pay the insurance company that is mandated to provide these services for free to any employee who wants these services.  It is insulting for President Obama and his administration to suggest the so-called compromise “should be net cost neutral.” It is simply impossible to ensure that the insurance companies will not pass on those costs to the organizations and individuals who conscientiously object to their insurance policies covering abortion-inducing drugs, sterilization, and artificial contraception. In short, not only does the Administration not comprehend Catholic moral reasoning and the full-meaning of the principle of religious liberty, it does not even understand the basic economics of health-care insurance. The fact that Planned Parenthood has so quickly expressed satisfaction with these arrangements only confirms that nothing has changed in substance.

As the Second Vatican Council declared in paragraph four of its Declaration on Religious Liberty, Dignitatis Humanae:

“religious communities rightfully claim freedom in order that they may govern themselves according to their own norms, honor the Supreme Being in public worship, assist their members in the practice of the religious life, strengthen them by instruction, and promote institutions in which they may join together for the purpose of ordering their own lives in accordance with their religious principles.”

Moreover, as citizens of the United States we are guaranteed by the Constitution the right to fully and vibrantly live our Catholic faith according to the teachings of the Church.  We as Catholics demand that our institutions not be required to formally or materially cooperate in acts that the Church has always taught to be intrinsically evil.

The Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist plead with God to protect the ability for all Americans to freely exercise their religious liberty.  The Dominican Sisters of Mary will offer up daily prayers with the intention that this unjust mandate be overturned, and we will do so until it is overturned.”

 

The Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist is a Roman Catholic community of women religious based in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Our primary apostolate is the education and formation of young people. We remain open to engaging the modern culture with new forms of evangelization in order to preach the Gospel and teach the Truth.  In 15 years, the Sisters have grown to over 100 in 14 years, the average age is 28 and the average age of the women who enter is 21. Sisters represent most of the States across the U.S., various Provinces in Canada, and countries in Europe and Asia.

St Augustine's Abbey Ecclesiastical Treasures Saved

Recusant chalice

© Dominic Winter /catholicnews.org.uk

The following press release from the English and Welsh Catholic Communications Network was published today:

The Archbishop of Southwark, the Most Rev Peter Smith, and the Abbot of Farnborough Abbey, the Rt Rev Dom Cuthbert Brogan OSB, are delighted to announce that through a private treaty sale a number of key historic items from the former Benedictine Abbey at Ramsgate in Kent are to remain in Catholic hands. The majority will return to the church of St. Augustine in Ramsgate, the magnificent Grade I church which Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin (1812-1852) designed and built next to his own house, The Grange. Pugin designed and fitted out the church in every detail and the items returning to St. Augustine’s church complement the rich collections already there. Equally, the items acquired by Farnborough Abbey complement the Abbey’s important collections of sacred silver.

The Archbishop of Southwark and the Abbot of Farnborough would particularly like to thank Abbot Paulinus Greenwood, Abbot of the Benedictine Community formerly based in Ramsgate, and auctioneers Dominic Winter for their full cooperation and support in facilitating this happy outcome.

Amongst the historic items returning to St. Augustine’s is a beautiful monstrance of around 1850 which is very similar to one which Pugin designed for his other famous church, St. Gile’s, Cheadle, and a watercolour sketch by Pugin of the interior of St. Augustine’s, Ramsgate. This sketch was a preparatory study for a large drawing which Pugin sent for display at the Royal Academy in 1849. The monks at Benedictine Farnborough Abbey have acquired an important silver recusant chalice dating from 1633. English recusant silver of this early period is extremely rare due to the prohibition on Catholic worship following the Reformation. This chalice is engraved with scenes from the Passion of Christ. It was given to the monks at Ramsgate in the nineteenth century by a member of the Hales family, who were recusants. It had been in the Hale family for generations.

The sale of contents from Ramsgate Abbey came about because of the Ramsgate monks’ recent move to smaller premises at Chilworth in Surrey and on account of their need to raise sufficient funds to continue their work and mission. The Archdiocese of Southwark took back responsibility for St. Augustine’s church from the monks in 2010 and has instigated a major programme of repair with generous grant support from English Heritage. An appeal was launched last November in the River Room at the House of Lords, a room also designed by AWN Pugin. The parish priest, Fr Marcus Holden, has established a Friends of St. Augustine’s and patrons of the appeal include the broadcaster, Alistair Stewart, and the architectural writer, Clive Aslet. With the new acquisitions added to the existing collection, the Friends are planning to put on an exhibition.

Father Marcus Holden, said, “We have a major programme to bring St. Augustine’s back to as it was in Pugin’s day and the acquisition of these items contributes in a significant way to what we are seeking to achieve here in Ramsgate. Pugin decided to build this church here because St. Augustine had landed nearby in 597AD. We want St. Augustine’s to become a fitting place to commemorate both the towering achievements of Pugin and the coming of Christianity to England which captivated him. As we recall Pugin’s bicentenary on March 1st we will be celebrating not only an iconic national architect but a central figure of the Catholic revival”.

Nathan Winter of Dominic Winter Book Auctions said, “We are delighted to have been of assistance to the Archdiocese of Southwark in the retention of a number of key historic objects from St. Augustine’s Abbey in Ramsgate and to know that they will feature in the important restoration project now underway at the wonderful Pugin church there, widely regarded as one of the architect’s greatest achievements”.

The Abbot of Farnborough said, “Dominic Winter Book Auctions, the auctioneers, are to be commended for their professionalism and patience in negotiating this sale and for their sensitivity to the concerns of the wider Catholic community. All sacred vessels are important. The recusant chalice communicates with a particular eloquence the hardships suffered by Catholics in what are described in the inscription on the chalice as ‘cruel times’. We are relieved that this chalice will remain in appropriate hands.”

A couple of other photographs can be seen at the Conference's flickr page.

For more information about the controversy caused by the auction, see Fr Ray Blake's blog . While these articles have been saved, Fr Blake asks: But What is Lost?