Bishop Bode's Prostration and the Holy Father's Prayer

Two very important events occured recently, and even though I posted today, I believe that this is too important to wait on.

Call No Man Father... Part I of III

It seems that there is at least one subject that often comes up when talking with Fundamentalists... why Catholics call their clergy Father when "the Bible clearly says to call no man father". Personally, it seems like a pretty petty argument. If this is one of your main objections, then you're really only worried about semantics and tradition (lower-case t) than actual dogma and matters of faith. Nevertheless, for some people this is a very serious objection, and one that I must deal with. Let's look at the verse itself: "And call none your father upon earth; for one is your father, who is in heaven" (Matthew 23:9). We'll look at this verse first from a common sense perspective, then from a Biblical point-of-view (what the verse is really saying).

Audacity of Man

One day, I plan on writing a book on this subject, but for now a post will have to do.

Recently, I have noticed a troubling trend within Christianity and Christian theology. Often, people try to shape G-d in such a way that affirms themselves. In this way, Man tries to create G-d in his image, instead of acknowledging that G-d created Man in His image.

More on Anglicanorum Coetibus

It's been a little more than a year (a year and 15 days) since Anglicanorum Coetibus was issued by Pope Benedict XVI. Currently, five Anglican bishops have given their resignation to 'Archbishop' Rowan Williams, and they are are prepared to join the Catholic Church and a new personal ordinariate set up by the Bishops of England and Wales. Pope Benedict XVI will formally establish the ordinariate and name a bishop to lead it in January 2011. A timetable has been laid out, and the three former Anglican bishops who are not retired will be ordained to serve as priests in the new ordinariate. The other two bishops, who are retired, will be ordained by Lent 2011. The bishops of England and Wales have stated that “this will enable them, together with the ordinary and the other former Anglican Bishops, to assist with the preparation and reception of former Anglican clergy and their faithful into full communion with the Catholic Church during Holy Week.”

Archbishop Timothy Dolan.. On a Roll!

Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York, mentioned just yesterday as one of those chosen to go to Ireland as for the apostolic visitation, has been elected as President of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. He won with 54% (128 votes) of the vote in the third round of voting, as opposed to Bishop Gerald Kicanas- vice president of the USCCB from 2007-2010- who got 46% of the votes (111 votes). Many people were surprised by the fact that Archbishop Dolan's name was missing from the list of newly elevated cardinals named by Pope Benedict XVI. I was not (there is already one cardinal for the Archdiocese of New York- pure math says that it wasn't likely), but I would be surprised if Archbishop Dolan isn't named as a cardinal within the next 3-5 years (by that time, Archbishop emeritus Edward Cardinal Egan- located in New York- will be over the voting age of 80).

Apostolic Visitation of Catholic Church in Ireland Begins

In response to sexual abuse in the Church in Ireland, Pope Benedixt XVI has sent three groups of apostolic visitors to survey the Church there. These three groups will be divided as one group visits the four metropolitan archdioceses, another group will visit the houses of religious life, and the last group will visit the Irish seminaries. Their mission is to "directly address the problem of sexual abuse that prompted the Pope's letter to Irish Catholics, along with charges that Irish bishops acted to conceal cases of abuse against disclosure or prosecution". The apostolic visitors are made up of religious sisters, priests, and (notibly) Archbishop Timothy Dolan who will visit the seminaries (St. Patrick’s College, Maynooth; the Pontifical Irish College, Rome; Saint Malachy’s College, Belfast; All Hallows College, Dublin; Milltown Institute of Theology and Philosophy, Dublin which will be visited only in regard to its academic programmes). Here is detailed information about the visitation.

Updates

I've made a few changes to the blog.
1.If you look to the left and low, you'll see a few different pages. These are different articles or papers that I've written in regards to Catholicism.
2. At the very bottom of the blog is a list of topics covered in the blog. For ease, just click the topic and the posts that dealt with that topic will appear.
3. To clean things up, I have only let the first paragraph or so be displayed on the main page. To read more, just click "Read more >>". Sometimes they're hard to find, but just look for it.

I'm always open to ways to make the blog look nicer, navigate easier, and look cleaner.

As always,
brett.adams@vikings.berry.edu

Sagrada Familia- Minor Basilica

When I was in Barcelona this past spring, I made sure to stop by the Sagrada Familia. It is a beautiful church, dressed with tons of symbolism, statues, and other wonderful Catholic architecture. It began its construction in 1882, and has an anticipated completion date of 2026 (the centennial of the architect's death).