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Reform of the Reform in the Diocese of Rockville Centre

April 3, 2013, 7:21 pm
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 (This is an old post that I apparently saved as a draft and never posted)


I was checking Mass times for Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Lindenhurst when this note on the front page of their website struck me:


"Thanks be to God, the Blessed Sacrament is now back in the sanctuary "front and center". The focus is now where it ought to be... on Christ in the Eucharist and in our lives. - Father Anthony"


Right below are some pictures of their new altar and rearranged sanctuary.




As Fr. Z. says, Brick by Brick......

There was an idea pushed in the 1970's and 1980's within the Church: The tabernacle should be moved to a place set apart from the sanctuary. This, combined with a Church design that would allow people to sit closer to the altar and even face one another, would make Catholics focus on the Liturgical action taking place. It would emphasize the presence of Christ in fellow parishioners. It would end the assumed widespread problem of Catholics focusing on the Real Presence in the Eucharist during Mass. This idea, like the pet rock and bell bottom pants, was not so good and in many places is now falling out of favor. The results of these moves may not have been what was intended: people now feel free to talk loudly in Church - before, during and after Mass, the worst offenders are the elderly and the ushers. (Ironically another idea in the 70's and 80's was to expand or create large spaces in front of the main section of the Church to create a 'gathering space'. This was to encourage community and was a good idea and is where the meet and greets should be taking place.) There is very little to no prayer before or after Mass. Catholics have less of a belief in the Real Presence today and very little belief in the value of piety. Many people are returning the tabernacle to the traditional location and are pleased with the results.

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Sports and the Culture

April 4, 2013, 5:39 am
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This opinion piece by former NBA player John Amaechi on the firing of Rutgers coach Mike Rice is a good take on the culture of coaching:

Rutgers coach and sports bully culture


"(CNN) -- Too often, it's tempting to view sports through rose-tinted glasses. We believe that coaches always have the best interests of our young people at heart and that everything they do on the side of that court, field, pool or track is for the long-term, holistic benefit of young people.

We even rationalize that coach-player interaction and athlete management behavior that makes us wince and avert our gaze somehow makes our children -- and even society -- stronger and our future elite athlete role models more humble and worthy.

Sadly, "it's character-building" is the rallying cry for dysfunction and another damaged generation. Even when we believe that a young person's sports experience is on the wrong track, we convince ourselves it can't have that much of an impact. I wish that were true, but medieval coaches, like the recently fired Mike Rice at Rutgers University, are a detriment to society, not just sport.

As a former basketball player at college and in the NBA, I know this coaching style firsthand."


Coaches can be a huge influence on athletes and what is considered acceptable behavior is way below what is expected of teachers.  Athletes and sports have a huge influence on the culture at large and vice versa. Catholics should have a good influence on both sports and culture especially since there are so many Catholic colleges, universities, high schools and elementary schools.

At The Deacons Bench there is an article linked that shows that people often choose sports for their children above going to Church on Sunday.  Chaminade High School has a good practice - an entire sports team attends Mass together on Sunday at each teammate's parish.
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The Mystery of Matter and the Hunt for the God Particle

April 4, 2013, 5:45 am
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 This is an event of the Crossroads Cultural Center which was founded by members of Communion and Liberation.  They host many worthwhile presentations.

 

 A look at the fascinating discovery of the "God Particle" with Dr. Lucio ROSSI, physicist an High Luminosity LHC Project Leader at CERN and an introduction by Dr. Allan J. JACOBSON, Robert A. Welch Chair of Science and Director of the Texas Center for Superconductivity at the University of Houston

Presented by Crossroads Cultural Center

The recent announcement of the discovery of a Higgs-like particle at the Large Hadron Collider, the world’s largest and most powerful particle accelerator, has generated enormous shockwaves in the press. Some people call it The God Particle.
Why such an awesome name? Can it really be the key for unlocking some of the mysteries of the universe? Can it help us understand the origin of mass, for instance? Can it tell us anything about ourselves and our place in the universe?
In this talk, Prof. Lucio Rossi, a leading scientist from the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), will address the fundamental questions scientists are facing in the pursuit of the most fascinating scientific discovery of the century.

About this Event

Date: Tuesday, April 16, 2013
Time: 6:30 pm
Location: University of Houston - Athletics/Alumni Facility - Carl Lewis Auditorium
3100 Cullen Blvd. Houston, TX 77204
UH Entrance 15 off Cullen Blvd.
Open parking in Lots 16F, 16B and 16C.

About the Speakers

Lucio Rossi, PhD
High Luminosity LHC Project Leader, CERN, Geneva, Switzerland
  Allan J. Jacobson, PhD
Robert A. Welch Chair of Science and Director of Texas Center for Superconductivity, University of Houston, Houston, TX
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Catholic man removed from volunteer post at Oceanside parish

April 4, 2013, 6:07 am
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From PIX11:

Catholic church removes gay married man from his activities


"Nicholas Coppola’s faith means everything to him. His Long Island home  is full of religious books, pictures of cardinal timothy Dolan even the word, faith.
“Father Nick said I have to remove you from any public ministry, he said I have no choice,” said Coppola.
Coppola was teaching religious instruction, he was a Eucharistic minister and also a lector then in January, he got word from his church in oceanside he couldn’t do any of it anymore. He never thought marrying the love of his life a man would cost him that.
“What was pointed out, you made a very public statement getting married, I think the question was asked why, I said I got married like any other loving couple,” said Coppola.
The pastor of Saint Anthony’s Church in Oceanside told us “He’s always welcome to come to the church and receive the sacraments as far as I’m concerned.”
Pastor Nicholas Lombardi says the decision came from the Diocese of Rockville Center.
The Diocese received an anonymous letter complaining of Coppola’s marital status and sent a letter the parish. He showed us copies.
The Diocese of Rockville Center told us in a statement:
“Gay married people cannot be on staff in the position that he held, however the church is welcoming of all persuasions.”
Coppola just wants to get back to doing what he loved so much."

St. Anthony is a parish that is staffed by Jesuits. 
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10 Years Blogging!

April 4, 2013, 6:11 am
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I really have not blogged much lately except for pointing out some worthwhile events of interest to Catholics.  However, January 18, 2013 was my 10 year blogiversary.  I am going to try to blog more often and have done some housecleaning by eliminating defunct blogs and sites on the right.  I have also added a donation button for the first time (gotta start the kid's college fund sometime!). 
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Friday, April 3, 0033 @ 3 PM

April 11, 2013, 7:13 pm
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Is this the exact date of Jesus' death?  See Jimmy Akin's explanation here.
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Catholic Church is Leading the Way on Ethical Stem Cell Research and Regenerative Medicine

April 11, 2013, 7:26 pm
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Deacon Keith Fournier discusses adult stem cell research at Catholic.org:

"VATICAN CITY (Catholic Online) - On Thursday April 11, 2013 an extraordinarily important conference began with the enthusiastic approval of the Vatican. The topic is stem cell research and regenerative medicine. In fact, the conference is entitled Regenerative medicine: A Fundamental Shift in Science and Culture and you can read much more about it here. The conference continues through Saturday, April 13, 2013 and is hosted by the Pontifical Council for Culture, STOQ International, NeoStem and the Stem for Life Foundation. The conference brings together medical researchers, politicians, Church leaders, scholars, scientists and students to educate the world and promote ongoing work in the use of adult stem cells."


He lists some of the many examples of stem cell breakthroughs, which he correctly points out are often mentioned in the press in a way that does notclarify they are adult stem cells:


"Back in May of 2011 Scientists from the Schepens Eye Research Institute in Boston, Massachusetts announced the they used stem cells which they derived from ADULT skin to re-grow areas of the retina and improve vision. Chinese researchers announced they have taken stem cells derived from ADULT skin and prompted them to become liver cells, thereby restoring a liver in a laboratory animal. That same month and year, the New England Journal of Medicine reported that scientists discovered that adults have stem cells within their lungs which are capable of being used to regenerate damaged lungs. They found "undifferentiated human lung stem cells nested in niches in the distal airways. These cells are self-renewing, clonogenic, and multipotent in vitro."

...

"In 2011 the first of these conferences supporting, promoting and endorsing was held in Vatican City. It was entitled  Adult Stem Cells: Science and the Future of Man and Culture It was sponsored by the same alliance including the Vatican. When it concluded Pope Benedict XVI made this observation: "the potential benefits of adult stem cell research are very considerable, since it opens up possibilities for healing chronic degenerative illnesses by repairing damaged tissue and restoring its capacity for regeneration. The improvement that such therapies promise would constitute a significant step forward in medical science, bringing fresh hope to sufferers and their families alike. For this reason, the Church naturally offers her encouragement to those who are engaged in conducting and supporting research of this kind, always with the proviso that it be carried out with due regard for the integral good of the human person and the common good of society."
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Catholic Culture

April 13, 2013, 1:29 pm
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I have always enjoyed the blog by JP Sonnen - orbis catholicus secundus.  The blog always has great pictures of Catholic culture from around the world especially Italy.  This post introduced me to a great priest who just died at the age of 100:

HERO: One of the Greatest Living Legends in the Face of Modern Evil - Fr. Leon Stepnia (RIP 1913-2013)

The post links to this article on the priest's death:

"The oldest surviving inmate of the Dachau concentration camp has died at the age of 100.
Leon Stepniak, a Polish priest, was arrested by the Gestapo in 1940 in the village of Klebowiec.
He spent the next five years in Dachau, a site in south-east Germany which was the first concentration camp to be opened by the Nazi goverment.
After being released at the end of the Second World War, he returned to Poznan in Poland, where he died over the weekend.
The clergyman was well-known for a speech he made at a commemoration to mark the liberation of Dachau.
He told the audience that the camp's legacy should not be as a demand for revenge or recrimination, but as a sign of reconciliation."
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Article 4

April 13, 2013, 1:50 pm
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CNN reports:

Pope Francis tasks cardinals with studying reform of Catholic Church

My reaction:  Meh, we'll see.  I think it will take a lot more than some Cardinals to reform the Church but it is a start.

" Rome (CNN) -- Pope Francis has appointed a group of eight cardinals from around the world to look into ways of reforming the Catholic Church, the Vatican said Saturday.
The group, which includes U.S. Cardinal Sean O'Malley from Boston, will examine ways to revise the Vatican constitution, Pastor Bonus, which sets the rules for running the Roman Curia, or church hierarchy.
The cardinals -- who come from North America, Latin America, Africa, Asia and Europe -- will first meet in October, the Vatican said.
The move follows on from suggestions made during the General Congregations, a series of meetings that brought together all the cardinals last month before they elected Francis as pope, the Vatican said.
The other seven cardinals are: Giuseppe Bertello, president of the Vatican City State governorate; Francisco Javier Errazuriz Ossa from Chile; Oswald Gracias from India; Reinhard Marx from Germany; Laurent Monsengwo Pasinya from the Democratic Republic of the Congo; George Pell from Australia; and Oscar Andres Rodriguez Maradiaga from Honduras.
An Italian bishop, Monsignor Marcello Semeraro, will act as secretary for the group."
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Mob Burns Christian Slum in Pakistan

April 13, 2013, 1:58 pm
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From the National Catholic Register (which is still good after EWTN brought it from the Legion of Christ) comes this article on the continuing persecution of Christians in Pakistan:

Mob Burns Christian Slum in Pakistan

"LAHORE, Pakistan — Like so many tragic incidents, it started with two alcohol-soaked young men getting into an argument. It ended with 250 homeless families.

On March 6, in a northern suburb of Lahore, Pakistan, 28-year-old Christian sanitation worker Sawan Masih visited Muslim childhood friend Shahid Imran’s barbershop.

Although Pakistan is officially a dry country, one can easily procure spirits there, and it was liquor that fueled the squabble. It ended with Imran accusing Masih of blasphemy against Islam.

This is a particularly loaded charge in a nation where no proof is needed to bring charges, where a guilty verdict brings a death sentence, and where mere accusations typically lead to egregious violence against the republic’s Christians, who account for just 1.6% of Pakistan’s population.

And so it was that three days later, on March 9, the local mosque’s loudspeakers announced Masih had blasphemed Muhammad. This provoked an evidently coordinated mob of 3,000 Muslims to march on the Christian ghetto of Joseph Colony, even though Masih was already in jail.

As the throng grew, police urged residents to leave the slum at once. Those who could went to relatives’ homes. None who escaped realized they would never again see their homes or their few personal possessions — some of which provided their livelihood — for these were either first looted or burned in the ensuing inferno."
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Boston Marathon Bombing

April 15, 2013, 4:46 pm
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Prayers go out to the victims & their families.  I hope they catch whoever did this.  There is nothing else to say right now.
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St. John's University in Queens and scandals

April 15, 2013, 7:39 pm
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This article from Crisis Magazine was interesting to me as a graduate of St. John's University:

Scandal at St. John’s University: Corruption, Apostasy, and Death


First, I did not know or forgot that Dr. Cecilia Chang, the former Dean of the Institute of Asian Studies and the Vice President for International Relations, had committed suicide.  I read all about her arrest and trial in the New York papers -

"The dean’s suicide occurred a day after testifying in her own defense in a trial for embezzling more than $1 million from the university, stealing $250,000 from a Saudi prince to organize academic conferences that never occurred, using university credit cards to cover gambling losses at Connecticut casinos, and using international students as her personal servants in her home in exchange for tuition grants."


The Crisis magazine article refers to another article published in New York magazine that claims Dr. Chang had lavished expensive gifts and travel to the University President Fr. Donald Harrington and his chief of staff Rob Wile.  The scandal of Dr. Chang, which were tabloid fodder in New York for awhile, also expose the wider scandals so familiar to us Catholics, as well as anyone who has been following the situation in higher education.  Again, from the Crisis article:  

"Beyond the cash gifts, Fishman reported that Chang also treated Fr. Harrington to expensive trips to Asia every year or two. She would book the St. John’s contingent including Harrington and his young chief of staff at the very best hotels—the Peninsula or the Regent, reserving the presidential suite for Harrington. Harrington said he “protested the luxury—I just wasn’t real comfortable being who I am and how I am dressed going out of hotel like that.”

Fishman reported that Chang also provided President Harrington with suits from Modestos Limited and Sam’s Tailor, two of Hong Kong’s best tailors. Rob Wile, who was described by Fishman as having “expensive tastes,” purchased three suits on one trip—$900 for one and two for $950. He also purchased three shirts for $375—all of it paid for by Chang, who then passed the expense for the vacations and the clothing on to the university. Chang also purchased expensive watches for the two. During a June, 2008 trip, Fr. Harrington chose an Omega platinum Case Gent’s watch. This, on top of the $5,000 Patek Philippe watch Chang had already bought for him. Wile received a stainless steel Rolex Submariner."


Of course, very high expenses and questionable charges are normal for Universities that take in millions in tuition, as well as federal and state grants.  With Catholic schools, there is the additional scandal of a priest and his business dealings:

"Fishman reported that Wile solicited—and received—a $100,000 loan from the former chairman of the St. John’s Board of Trustees, and an $80,000 loan from a contractor who did work for the university. Fishman also claims that Wile did not disclose these loans to university officials.

Fishman claims that Wile used the loan from the former board chairman to help fund a real estate venture he had engaged in with university president Fr. Harrington. In 2006, GRH Group LLC, a partnership of Wile and Fr. Harrington, bought a property in the Jersey shore town of Rumson. The home was torn down, rebuilt using the funds from the loan he received, and sold for a profit of $200,000. According to Fishman, the partnership was not disclosed.

"It is difficult for most of us to understand why Wile needed all of these loans. According to Guidestar.com, in 2008, he was already making more than $360,000 a year. And, by 2010, Wile was the second highest paid individual at the university—with a salary of more than $500,000—second only to the basketball coach. According to St. John’s IRS reports in 2010—the last year Guidestar lists on its site—Wile earned a base salary of $325,960, a bonus of $25,000, as well as $150,000 in “other” compensation, deferred compensation of $7,000, and non-taxable benefits of $41,131 for a total yearly compensation package of $549,368. This salary reflected a raise of almost $200,000 over his compensation package of $362,638 in 2008."

In the 20 years since I graduated I have not given a dime to this University and reading this article makes me very glad I did not waste any money.  St. John's, like so many other 'Catholic' institutions needs to get its house in order and determine whether the Catholic faith is its true center and its guiding force.  If even some of the allegations in this article are true, then Fr. Harrington also has to determine if the Catholic faith is his guiding force or not.

Related:  the archives of the student newspaper The Torch involving Chang and Harrington

This Daily News article on Chang indicates she was a suspect in her husband's homicide


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Statement issued on Coppola petitions

April 15, 2013, 8:37 pm
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The Diocese of Rockville Centre has released a statement regarding the petitions that request Nicholas Coppola be reinstated as an Extraordinary Minister and CCD teacher.

"Today, April 11, 2013, the Diocese of Rockville Centre was presented with pages of petitions “telling the bishop to let Nicholas resume volunteering . . .” The 350 pages of petitions (one ream of paper is 500 sheets) dropped off at the Diocesan Pastoral Center at approximately 9:33 AM did not, as it would appear, fill the three large boxes that were received. In fact, two of the boxes were empty.

The Catholic Church recognizes that all persons share equally in the dignity of being human and are entitled to have that human dignity protected. This does not, however, justify the creation of a new definition for marriage, a term whose traditional meaning is of critical importance to the furtherance of fundamental societal interests.

Well settled Church teaching recognizes marriage to be the joining of one man and one woman in a lifelong, holy and loving union that is open to children, ordered for the good of those children and the spouses themselves. Regardless of civil pronouncements, this definition does not, and indeed cannot, change in the eyes of the Church because it is rooted in biological teleology and natural law. Others may disagree but they have no justification to prevent the Church from living according to her teaching and protecting that teaching and the lives of faithful Catholics from those who would disregard it. Regardless of contrary opinion or even civil legislation, the Church must be faithful to her teaching and consistent and coherent living out that teaching.

As Bishop Murphy has said: Church teaching “is not discrimination against homosexual men and women. No one has a right to discriminate against persons because of sexual orientation.” It is, however, the case that all Church institutions and teachers of the faith are bound to support this teaching, particularly by their public action.

The Diocese respects those who may have signed a petition but in turn expects others to respect the Church, which will remain clear in her teaching and faithful in living that teaching for the good of one and all.

Also, the Long Island Catholic (now a monthly magazine) has an editorial about this issue:


"Any Catholic who chooses to live in open contradiction of a fundamental moral teaching of the Church – a heterosexual couple living intimately outside of marriage, or a divorced person who remarries, without an annulment, outside the Church; someone working in the abortion industry or belonging to an overtly racist organization, to cite just a few examples – should understand that by continuing to do so, in open, willful rejection of Catholic teaching, they exclude themselves from leadership roles in the Church’s ministries.


This is not to say that one has to be a saint to serve in Church ministry. If that were the case, we would all be excluded. There is a major difference, however, between accepting the teachings of the Church and striving —- however much we may continually fall short — to live according to those teachings; and openly, willfully rejecting Church teachings, and giving testimony by one’s public example that those teachings need not be followed.

Click to read the whole thing:  EDITORIAL: Upholding the integrity of Church teaching




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New Parish: Blessed Pope John Paul II

April 16, 2013, 8:10 pm
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Here in the Northeast we often see stories of parish closings - Philadelphia, Boston, NYC, etc...  so it is refreshing to see new parishes being established where we are growing:

New Catholic Church opening in Cedar Springs

"Cedar Springs, Mich. (WZZM) The Diocese of Grand Rapids is opening a new parish in northern Kent County.

Bishop Walter Hurley announced plans for a new Catholic parish today. It will be called Blessed John Paul II in Cedar Springs. The diocese has purchased land from the former home of Pioneer Christian Reformed Church, which consists of a church, church hall and rectory on about 2.9 acres.

The diocese also purchased approximately eight acres of adjacent vacant land that is part of a nearby industrial park located at 13911 Northern Springs Drive. Once the new parish community has grown, the diocese says there will be sufficient land for the construction of a new and larger church."

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As Washington mulls reform, Bishop DiMarzio honors immigrants

April 16, 2013, 8:34 pm
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From the great old Brooklyn Daily Eagle -

"On April, 14, Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio celebrated mass in honor of immigrants at the Cathedral Basilica of Saint James in downtown Brooklyn. Called a Catholic Migration Mass, the event took place as lawmakers in Washington DC were considering comprehensive immigration reform legislation.

US Senator Charles Schumer, one of the so-called “gang of eight” senators working on a compromise bill to address the situation of undocumented immigrants, attended the migration mass. “America is a nation of immigrants and nowhere is this more true than here in the great Diocese of Brooklyn, under the leadership of immigration advocate second-to none, Bishop DiMarzio,” Schumer said."

Side Note - the Brooklyn Daily Eagle has one of the best archive search engines anywhere on the internet - I have learned much about my family's history there.  My family were German immigrants in the 1860's and they lived in Williamsburgh over a hundred years ago.
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'Letter From Birmingham Jail' 50 Years Later

April 16, 2013, 8:50 pm
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From NPR  a look at this important piece of American history-

 'Letter From Birmingham Jail'  50 Years Later

"Today marks the 50th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s letter from Birmingham jail. Dr. King penned this letter as a response to white clergymen who called his campaign of non-violent protests, quote, "unwise and untimely," unquote, and had urged him not to intervene in Alabama's segregationist policies."



You can read the full text of the letter here.

Here is a bit of it:

"My Dear Fellow Clergymen:
While confined here in the Birmingham city jail, I came across your recent statement calling my present activities "unwise and untimely." Seldom do I pause to answer criticism of my work and ideas. If I sought to answer all the criticisms that cross my desk, my secretaries would have little time for anything other than such correspondence in the course of the day, and I would have no time for constructive work. But since I feel that you are men of genuine good will and that your criticisms are sincerely set forth, I want to try to answer your statement in what I hope will be patient and reasonable terms."

...

"You express a great deal of anxiety over our willingness to break laws. This is certainly a legitimate concern. Since we so diligently urge people to obey the Supreme Court's decision of 1954 outlawing segregation in the public schools, at first glance it may seem rather paradoxical for us consciously to break laws.

One may well ask: "How can you advocate breaking some laws and obeying others?" The answer lies in the fact that there are two types of laws: just and unjust. I would be the first to advocate obeying just laws. One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws. I would agree with St. Augustine that "an unjust law is no law at all."

Now, what is the difference between the two? How does one determine whether a law is just or unjust? A just law is a man made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law. To put it in the terms of St. Thomas Aquinas: An unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal law and natural law. Any law that uplifts human personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust. All segregation statutes are unjust because segregation distorts the soul and damages the personality. It gives the segregator a false sense of superiority and the segregated a false sense of inferiority. Segregation, to use the terminology of the Jewish philosopher Martin Buber, substitutes an "I it" relationship for an "I thou" relationship and ends up relegating persons to the status of things. Hence segregation is not only politically, economically and sociologically unsound, it is morally wrong and sinful. Paul Tillich has said that sin is separation. Is not segregation an existential expression of man's tragic separation, his awful estrangement, his terrible sinfulness? Thus it is that I can urge men to obey the 1954 decision of the Supreme Court, for it is morally right; and I can urge them to disobey segregation ordinances, for they are morally wrong."

...


"There was a time when the church was very powerful--in the time when the early Christians rejoiced at being deemed worthy to suffer for what they believed. In those days the church was not merely a thermometer that recorded the ideas and principles of popular opinion; it was a thermostat that transformed the mores of society. Whenever the early Christians entered a town, the people in power became disturbed and immediately sought to convict the Christians for being "disturbers of the peace" and "outside agitators."' But the Christians pressed on, in the conviction that they were "a colony of heaven," called to obey God rather than man. Small in number, they were big in commitment. They were too God-intoxicated to be "astronomically intimidated." By their effort and example they brought an end to such ancient evils as infanticide and gladiatorial contests. Things are different now. So often the contemporary church is a weak, ineffectual voice with an uncertain sound. So often it is an archdefender of the status quo. Far from being disturbed by the presence of the church, the power structure of the average community is consoled by the church's silent--and often even vocal--sanction of things as they are.
But the judgment of God is upon the church as never before. If today's church does not recapture the sacrificial spirit of the early church, it will lose its authenticity, forfeit the loyalty of millions, and be dismissed as an irrelevant social club with no meaning for the twentieth century."
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Genocide survivor, new citizen has message of hope

April 17, 2013, 3:38 pm
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Congratulations to a wonderful Catholic Long Islander - Immaculee Ilibagiza just became a US citizen!

"NEW YORK (AP) — A Rwandan genocide survivor who has just become a U.S. citizen has a message of hope for other new Americans.

Immaculee Ilibagiza (ih-MAK'-yoo-lee ee-luh-bag-EE'-zuh) became a naturalized American with 50 other immigrants at a Manhattan ceremony on Wednesday.

She is the author of the best-seller "Left to Tell: Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust."

Ilibagiza told fellow immigrants how she survived the 1994 Rwandan genocide that claimed more than a half-million lives. She says her Tutsi father sent her to a Hutu neighbor who hid her and seven other women and girls in a tiny bathroom for three months."

The 43-year-old mother of two says her life now is about forgiving enemies who are emotionally lost."

Here is Immaculee's website.
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Rose Hawthorne’s Cause For Sainthood Moves to Rome

April 17, 2013, 7:53 pm
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From Catholic New York:

"The journey that led Rose Hawthorne, born into a cultured Protestant New England literary family—through the devastating loss of her only child and a failed marriage—to the squalid, teeming streets of New York City’s Lower East Side at the end of the 19th century as a single Catholic woman caring for impoverished, terminal cancer patients, is essentially a faith journey.


On April 9 at the New York Catholic Center in Manhattan, documents and artifacts illustrating the incredible life of Rose Hawthorne Lathrop, who became Mother Alphonsa, foundress of the Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne, were sealed for shipment to Rome to commence the final leg of her incredible journey that could see her canonized for sainthood."


Rose was the daughter of Nathaniel Hawthorne, the author of The Scarlett Letter.  She had an interesting path to sainthood:

"Born in 1851, one year after “The Scarlet Letter” was published, she had the rare opportunity at that time to travel to and live in Europe because of her father’s literary and diplomatic careers. She was first exposed to Catholicism in Europe.


Her early life was marked by “an urgent sense of purpose,” wrote Father O’Donnell in a letter to members of the Rose Hawthorne Guild. “She was always impulsive about serious matters and yet was always searching out the deeper meaning of things.”

She met her husband, George Lathrop, in Germany and they were married in 1871. George would soon become assistant editor of the Atlantic Monthly. They moved to New York in 1891 and there they converted to Catholicism, scandalizing Protestant America. Anti-Catholicism was still virulent in those days, even among cultured classes. Their only son died at age 5, and George turned to alcohol for solace. Meanwhile, Rose became more devout as the marriage disintegrated.

With their separation, she embarked on a life of service to the poorest."





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Pope Benedict XVI’s “First Convert”

April 19, 2013, 10:17 am
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From the Catholic World Report:

The story of how a New York Jew wrestled with Christ and became Catholic


"On April 2, 2005, there came the news of the death of Pope John Paul II. I’d always admired the pope for his courage in confronting the horrors of communism, and for aligning with President Reagan and Prime Minister Thatcher in a united front that led to the downfall of the Soviet Union. Yet as a spiritual leader he meant nothing to me. 

Nevertheless, Barbara and I found ourselves becoming involved in the events and the funeral as they unfolded on television. Even the typically skewed commercial coverage couldn’t disguise the tributes from all corners of the globe, and the love for the pope and grief at losing him from Catholics and people of every faith. At some point in the two weeks following, Barbara—a long-lapsed Protestant who’d never lost her regard for Christianity—turned to me and said, “You’ve got to get religion, Roger. You’ve been drifting way too long.” 

Read the whole story here.
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Where Are The Just Judges?

April 19, 2013, 5:19 pm
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Perfect art theft: Where is 'Ghent Altarpiece'?

"GHENT, Belgium — The main suspect in the legendary art heist is said to have whispered with his dying breath: "Only I know where the 'Adoration' is ..."

More than seven decades later, the whereabouts of a panel belonging to one of Western art's defining works, the "Adoration of the Mystic Lamb," also known as the "Ghent Altarpiece," remains a mystery.

If the stunning heist of Picasso, Monet and Matisse paintings in Rotterdam, Netherlands, last month focused attention on the murky world of art theft, the gothic Saint Bavo cathedral in Ghent has been at the center of a crime that has bedeviled the art world for decades.

"The Just Judges" panel of the Van Eyck brothers' multi-panel Gothic masterpiece hasn't been seen since 1934, when chief suspect Arsene Goedertier suffered a stroke at a political rally and died after murmuring those fateful words to a confidant.

The theft has kept the country enthralled ever since, with its heady mix of priceless art and scintillating detective story.

Ghent was hit by two thefts on the night of April 10, 1934: "One was a wheel of cheese," said detective Jan De Kesel. "The other was the panel."

That slowed up the investigation of the art theft, in which a minor panel of the "Adoration of the Mystic Lamb" representing St. John the Baptist, was also lifted.


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