Thank God this was said…….

I am sick and tired of the liturgy being used as a weapon to separate Catholics into camps.  I felt that when Pope Benedict allowed for a liberalizing of the extraordinary form of the Latin Mass last year in the motu proprio that he was in some ways allowing Catholics to reclaim their heritage but he was in no way condemning the Ordinary form of the liturgy (as even some clerics where assuming).  The pope has time and again stressed the Vatican II reforms and has always said his concern was not that they were wrong but that they needed to be applied properly.  I’d like to express thanks to Archbishop Marini for attempting to put this to rest.

 

Vatican II liturgical changes “irreversible,” Archbishop Marini says

Rome, Apr. 28, 2008 (CWNews.com) - Archbishop Piero Marini, the former chief liturgist for the Vatican, told L’Osservatore Romano that the liturgical changes following Vatican II are “irreversible.”

Archbishop Marini, who is now the president of the Pontifical Committee for International Eucharistic Congresses, told the Vatican newspaper: “Liturgical reform was necessary because it was based on profound theological principles.” He added that the changes following the Council were “of perennial validity.”

Commenting on the motu proprio that allowed for broader use of the traditional Latin liturgy, Archbishop Marini pointed out that the document from Pope Benedict XVI (bio - news) did not involve any change in the Roman Missal as it is used for the “ordinary form” of the Mass. Moreover, he said, in allowing for the “extraordinary form” the Pope did not intend in any way “to judge negatively the liturgical reforms desired by the Council.”

The motu proprio, the archbishop said, was intended primarily to appeal to those Catholics who have a special connection with the pre-conciliar liturgy. He said that the document was “only a a gesture to serve unity.”

Tariq Aziz on trial….

I had always wondered what happened to Tariq Aziz, I knew that he was a Christian and had always assumed he was a Chaldean Catholic but was never sure.  What I do know is that argument that somehow Christians had some sort of privileged status under Hussein because of him can’t possibly be true.  Christian schools got nationalized and Quran made mandatory while he was working with Hussein, so if anything he was a Baathist first and a Christian second.

Tariq Aziz on trial, bishop of Kirkuk: “justice, but in respect of man”
After five years of detention, Saddam’s former deputy prime minister goes before the judge, charged with the execution of dozens of merchants in 1992. The only Christian in the entourage of the rais is wrongly cited as proof of the favour “enjoyed” by this community under the dictatorship. Aziz now risks the death penalty.

Baghdad (AsiaNews) - “Justice, but in respect for human rights and of the dignity of the person, against any capital sentence”, is the appeal that the Chaldean archbishop of Kirkuk, Louis Sako, issued today at the opening of the trial, with risk of the death penalty, against former Iraqi deputy prime minister Tariq Aziz, the only Christian among the leadership of the regime of Saddam Hussein.

The international public face of the dictatorship of the rais, Aziz is accused of executing 42 merchants in 1992, guilty of having speculated on food prices in violation of state controls.  The former foreign minister, a Chaldean Christian, is often cited as proof of the favour that Christians enjoyed under Saddam.  “Nothing could be more false”, say some Chaldean Iraqi refugees in Italy.  Born to a Chaldean family near Mosul in 1936, Tariq Aziz always put his religious affiliation in second place, presenting himself first of all as an Iraqi Arab and a member of the Baath party.  He changed his original name, Michael Yohanna, for less compromising one.  He “did not bat an eye” at the nationalisation of the Christian schools, nor at the provision for the obligatory teaching of the Qur’an……..(more)……….

The false voice of a new crusade…….

I am always amazed by the fact that people who convert to a religion other than Christianity are found to be interesting folks who are discovering themselves.  This Easter when the Pope Baptized the journalist Magdi Allam, he is instigating a freaking crusade, I mean come on that’s ridiculous.  Anyway this is a pretty good article written by Samir Khalil Samir of the Society of Jesus.

 

Magdi Christian Allam, a contested conversion
by Samir Khalil Samir, sj
The Catholic baptism of the well known journalist, Magdi Allam, Egyptian and non practising Muslim, has been criticised and despised by the Islamic world. Added to this, is the embarrassment in Christian quarters, of those fearful of seeing a new crusade being launched by Benedict XVI and the Church. Instead, just as with the Regensburg address, this baptism is a message in defence of religious freedom, of evangelisation and of co-existence between religions.Beirut (AsiaNews) – Every year, during the Easter Vigil in St Peter’s basilica, the pope baptises a group of adults drawn from the various continents.  On the feast of the baptism of Jesus, meanwhile, the pope traditionally baptises small children.

This year’s vigil saw 7 people baptised.  One of them was a Muslim, well known in Italy and abroad:  Magdi Allam, deputy editor ad personam of the leading Italian daily newspaper Corriere della Sera. ………(more)……

A new sign the apocalypse is upon us…….

A new sign the apocalypse is upon us…….

 

CNN in their media omnipotence have decided that you can have a t-shirt made of certain news headlines.  Just go to there website and if you see a t-shirt icon next to headline just click it and there you have it your own personalized CNN.com t-shirt.

 

 

This is the one I thought was the most hysterical………“Boy charged with Sharing Nude Cell Pics”

 Hysterical or sad you decide.

 

Chris

I found a quote that I think should be part of scripture……

Well it turns out that the crazy ass people who see Satan in everything have actually been around awhile.  The Catholic writer GK Chesterton (1874-1936) was often annoyed not just by unbelievers but also by people who’s belief was in his opinion to Puritan.  Anyway this is what Chesterton had to say about people who try to make just about everything evil…….”Idolatry is committed, not merely by setting up false gods, but also by setting up false devils; by making men afraid of war or alcohol, or economic law, when they should be afraid of spiritual corruption and cowardice. “

Cheers to you Mr. Chesterton, cheers to you.

 

Chris Johnson

Text of pope at White House

An area I think we’ll have to explore more and more……glad to see Catholics dealing with it…

Human-animal hybrids? Church teachings
on cutting-edge genetic experimentation

By Father Richard Benson
4/14/2008

The Tidings (www.the-tidings.com)

LOS ANGELES, Calif. (The Tidings) - Dr. Adams enters the room of her patient with good news. A heart has become available for a transplant for Robert, whose life-expectancy is limited to only months without such surgery. Dr. Adams explains that the heart that is available is not from a human donor but from a pig. The pig was conceived and raised at a “medical farm” for pigs that have received human stem cells at an embryonic stage, thus allowing their hearts to be compatible for human transplantation.

This short scenario actually offers us an opportunity to exam two distinct but overlapping moral concerns; xenotransplantation (using non-human organs for human transplantation) and chimeras (creating persons or animals with two genetically distinct cell types). In fact, these are not issues that are part of science fiction but are actually at society’s front door.

On Nov. 19, 2004 the Washington Post published an astonishing article that told us, among other things, “In Minnesota, pigs are being born with human blood in their veins. In Nevada, there are sheep whose livers and hearts are largely human. In California, mice peer from their cages with human brain cells firing inside their skulls.” (……more…..)

Heck ya the Pope is here!!!!!!!!

Watching the crowds sing Happy Birthday to the Pope is hysterical.  I’m interested to see some of the Popes remarks in regard to Catholic education.

Buddhists in Sri Lanka want Marian shrine restored

Before converting to Catholicism I studied Buddhism for several years so this warms my heart.

Buddhists in Sri Lanka want Marian shrine restored 

 

Colombo, Apr. 14, 2008 (CWNews.com) - Buddhist leaders in Sri Lanka are encouraging their Catholic counterparts to bring a cherished statue of the Virgin Mary back to the famous shrine at Madhu.

The image of Our Lady of Madhu, which has drawn pilgrims for over 400 years, was removed for safekeeping earlier this month, after the shrine was hit by artillery fire. Church officials made the move after Tamil Tiger rebels set up a military base nearby, bringing the risk that the shrine and the statue could be damaged in the battles between the rebels and government forces.