I haven’t decided what I’ll tell my kids about Santa.
Fed-Up Priest Starts ‘Santa-Free Zone’
By Ruben Baudisch
Groups in Germany and Austria have launched campaigns protesting the commercialization of Christmas. The main target is Santa, an American import who doesn’t represent what the holiday is all about.
Critics feel rebuffed by bishops
Earlier meeting in Dallas now seen as ‘an aberration’
By Caryle Murphy
"WASHINGTON, Nov. 13 – As scores of U.S. Catholic bishops left a downtown Washington hotel Monday evening to board buses for a Mass, a group of nearly 100 demonstrators – including several who had been sexually abused by priests years ago – offered candles to each of the prelates and asked for their prayers."
Scandal Is Stirring Lay Catholics to Push Church for More Power
By LAURIE GOODSTEIN and SAM DILLON
"INDIANAPOLIS – As the nation’s Roman Catholic bishops prepare to meet in Washington on Nov. 11 to complete their policy on sexual abuse by priests, they are confronting the most organized and widespread challenge to their power from the laity in the church’s modern history. "
Facts of priest sex abuse at odds with perception
Cathy Lynn Grossman and Anthony DeBarros
"When the nation’s Roman Catholic bishops meet today to decide how to deal with priests accused of sexually abusing children and teens, they’ll start with a handicap. Nearly a year into the scandal, the bishops have yet to compile a detailed accounting of the problem they face. They have collected no national data on how many priests have been accused, how many are serial offenders, how many are still in the church, or even how many are dead."
Editorial: Good guys vs. the bad guys
"Old-timers might recall the name of Paul Blanshard. In the late 1940s, Blanshard published a book called ‘American Freedom and Catholic Power.’ It was an anti-Catholic polemic that would become a runaway bestseller."
Rare sanction imposed on priest
Ties to priesthood severed by Vatican
By Ann Rodgers-Melnick, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
"Anthony Cipolla, the Catholic priest and accused child molester at the heart of a battle between Bishop Donald Wuerl and the Vatican 10 years ago, has been involuntarily laicized by Pope John Paul II, a rare sanction that strips him of all ties to the priesthood."
"(CBS) For Catholic Bishop Donald Wuerl of Pittsburgh, the debate in Dallas over pedophilia and the Church is one he has faced before – and alone."
Sex is good because God created it to be so. Anyone who has ever wondered about the reasoning behind Catholic sexual doctrine (including Catholics!) should read this excellent book.
Good News About Sex and Marriage: Answers to Your Honest Questions About Catholic Teaching
by Christopher West
Youth focus of Catholic meeting
Touches on pope’s childhood, and renewing the faith
By Ann Rodgers-Melnick, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
“Teaching young people to stand up for life and faith in a culture of death and despair was a running theme at yesterday’s Total Catholic Education Conference at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center.”
Founded in 1998 by Curtis Martin, FOCUS, The Fellowship of Catholic University Students, is a national outreach to college campuses, to secular and Catholic schools. Through small group Bible studies, large group leadership training, and one-on-one discipleship, FOCUS brings the fullness of life and truth in the Catholic Church to college students and gives the tools to help them share this good news with their friends. FOCUS is working to play a vital role in the new evangelization called for by Pope John Paul II.
FOCUS teaches recent college graduates, trains them in the teachings of the Church, Scripture and practical aspects of ministry, and sends them out typically in teams of four to serve on college campuses. FOCUS staff members make an initial two-year commitment to this full-time work. FOCUS works with the blessing of the local bishop and the support of the pastor and existing ministry(ies).
Much ink has been spilled over the abuse scandals in the Church, and Father Neuhaus (editor of my favorite magazine, First Things) has so far produced the most balanced assessment of the situation. Here are the links to his ongoing “Scandal Time” editorials in the past few editions of First Things.
All three of these articles are rather lengthy, but well worth the effort in order to untangle this critical, delicate issue.