The Assumption of Mary
Events
There are no upcoming events
Confused Catholics
An Open Letter to Confused Catholics.
Free On-Line Resources
Every other week
DICI publishes a free electronic newsletter,
subscribe by e-mail.
|
|
Welcome to The Archangel Report
Tuesday, February 09 2010 @ 04:19 AM Eastern Standard Time
|
Monday, February 08 2010 @ 07:46 AM Eastern Standard Time
Contributed by: Admin
Views: 2
Vatican official says religious orders are in modern 'crisis'
By John Thavis
Catholic News Service
Modern Nun in the UK
|
|
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- A top Vatican official said religious orders today are in a "crisis" caused in part by the adoption of a secularist mentality and the abandonment of traditional practices.
Cardinal Franc Rode, prefect of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, said the problems go deeper than the drastic drop in the numbers of religious men and women.
"The crisis experienced by certain religious communities, especially in Western Europe and North America, reflects the more profound crisis of European and American society. All this has dried up the sources that for centuries have nourished consecrated and missionary life in the church," Cardinal Rode said in a talk delivered Feb. 3 in Naples, Italy.
"The secularized culture has penetrated into the minds and hearts of some consecrated persons and some communities, where it is seen as an opening to modernity and a way of approaching the contemporary world," he said.
Cardinal Rode said the decline in the numbers of men and women religious became precipitous after the Second Vatican Council, which he described as a period "rich in experimentation but poor in robust and convincing mission."
Traditional Order Nun
 |
Faced with an aging membership and fewer vocations, many religious orders have turned to "foreign vocations" in places like Africa, India and the Philippines, the cardinal said. He said the orders need to remember that quality of vocations is more important than quantity.
"It is easy, in situations of crisis, to turn to deceptive and damaging shortcuts, or attempt to lower the criteria and parameters for admission to consecrated life and the course of initial and permanent formation," he said.
In any case, he said, "big numbers are not indispensable" for religious orders to prove their validity. It's more important today, he said, that religious orders "overcome the egocentrism in which institutes are often closed, and open themselves to joint projects with other institutes, local churches and lay faithful."
Cardinal Rode, a 75-year-old Slovenian, is overseeing a Vatican-ordered apostolic visitation of institutes for women religious in the United States to find out why the numbers of their members have decreased during the past 40 years and to look at the quality of life in the communities.
He spoke Feb. 3 to a conference on religious life sponsored by the Archdiocese of Naples. The Vatican newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, published the main portions of his text.
Cardinal Rode said it was undoubtedly more difficult today for all religious orders to find young people who are willing to break away from the superficial contemporary culture and show a capacity for commitment and sacrifice. Unless this is dealt with in formation programs, he said, religious orders will produce members who lack dedication and are likely to drift away.
The challenge, however, should not be seen strictly in negative terms, he said. The present moment, he said, can help religious orders better define themselves as "alternatives to the dominant culture, which is a culture of death, of violence and of abuse," and make it clear that their mission is to joyfully witness life and hope, in the example of Christ.
Tuesday, February 02 2010 @ 05:31 AM Eastern Standard Time
Contributed by: Admin
Views: 4
Washington, DC, February 2, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A national group that promotes abortion and homosexual rights has deep ties with the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' (USCCB) Department of Justice, Peace and Human Development, according to a report released Monday.
Top USCCB executive John Carr (pictured left, center) held simultaneous leadership roles, creating a conflict of interest, with the USCCB and the radical Center for Community Change.
"The closer we look at the Bishops Conference [staff and programs], the more we find a systemic pattern of cooperation with evil," said Michael Hichborn, American Life League's lead researcher into the USCCB scandal. "The CCC has lodged itself into the highest places of power in the USCCB while working to promote abortion and homosexuality."
John Carr is the USCCB executive director of the Department of Justice Peace and Human Development which oversees the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD). He has been employed by the USCCB since 1987.
John Carr's relationship with the Center for Community Change goes back at least to 1983, serving in leadership roles from 1999 to 2006 - including as chairman of the board. The Reform CCHD Now report details the organization's promotion of abortion, "reproductive rights" and homosexuality as among the CCC's core advocacy focuses.
In 2001, while Carr served as both a USCCB exec and CCC leader, the Catholic Bishops Conference funneled $150,000 to the pro-abortion group. The USCCB web site currently promotes the group and officials have spoken at CCC events.
"Strangely, Carr's leadership on the CCC's board shows up on several bios he's submitted for speaking engagements, but the word for word bio on the USCCB web site mysteriously omits that one detail," Hichborn said. "Why?"
Revelations of John Carr's involvement in the Center for Community Change come only months after members of the Reform CCHD Now coalition, including American Life League, uncovered 31 CCHD grantees partnered with the CCC.
"The CCHD claims it will immediately investigate accusations against organizations it funds yet it is silent on the CCC," said Hichborn. "How can Carr and the USCCB possibly justify this intimate relationship with such an obvious enemy of the Church?"
The Reform CCHD Now coalition is a lay Catholic watchdog group comprised of some of the top Catholic pro-life organizations in the country including American Life League, Human Life International and Bellarmine Veritas Ministry. For a full list of all 15 coalition members see www.reformcchdnow.com.
Thursday, January 28 2010 @ 05:24 AM Eastern Standard Time
Contributed by: congleal
Views: 6
Another loss in priest shortage: Anointing sick
By MARY FOSTER
The Associated Press
Wednesday, January 27, 2010; 11:18 AM
 NEW ORLEANS -- It was John B. Baus's 82nd birthday. When he was getting ready to go out with his wife, he had a heart attack and ended up on his way to the emergency room instead.
Doctors there worked to stabilize him and performed surgery to implant a pace maker. Mary Adele Baus, his wife, went home after the surgery, assured that her husband was resting comfortably.
Instead, at 3 a.m. doctors were working frantically with oxygen and electric paddles to keep Baus alive.
In the midst of the effort Baus asked for a Roman Catholic priest, fearing death was only moments away.
"He said 'I'm a dying man, and I want to see a priest,'" Mary Baus remembered. "All they said was that they didn't have one."
Baus survived, but his wife said it was a traumatic event that left both her and her husband shaken.
"There used to be a chaplain available if you needed him," she said. "Or you could get a priest to come to the hospital. Now it's not for sure that you will see anyone."
Finding a priest to be at the bedside of the dying is becoming harder and harder across the country. The shortage of priests has been a problem for years, but its implications become most clear at dire times for the ill.
New Orleans Archbishop Gregory Aymond says that across the country there are fewer priests and fewer young men who want to become priests.
"We are challenged to find young men looking for vocations," Aymond said. "We are getting fewer, and the process of preparing for the priesthood can take six to eight years. It makes it difficult to have people who can step in for retiring priests."
Once called the Last Rites or Extreme Unction, the death bed ritual has changed for Catholics in recent years. The once-obligatory deathbed rite has been replaced with a new sacrament known as the anointing of the sick.
"It's not like you used to see in movies with the priest anointing a dying man," Aymond said. "Now we urge people to have it before they go into the hospital. It should be a community celebration, not something administered in isolation."
Saturday, January 02 2010 @ 08:56 AM Eastern Standard Time
Contributed by: Admin
Views: 28
Friday, November 27 2009 @ 12:25 PM Eastern Standard Time
Contributed by: congleal
Views: 60
Summorum Pontificum: Is It An Expression Of Catholic Tradition?
By Fr. Kevin Vaillancourt
On September 14, 2007, the recent motu proprio of Benedict XVI will go into effect. Summorum Pontificum is the long-awaited declaration on what I have referred to as the “universal indult,” giving any priest in the world the permission to say the Latin Mass according to the 1962 Missal without special permission from the local bishop. Up until this July 7, 2007 document was promulgated, the requirements of Quattuor Abhinc Annos of 1984 and the Ecclesia Dei decree of 1988 (both by John Paul II), left the decision to allow the celebration of the Latin Mass (at the request of the people) up to the local bishop (if he chose to allow it). After July 7, things have changed. As Cardinal Barbarin, the Archbishop of Lyon, states: “The only new element in Summorum Pontificum is the decision to comply with the wishes of the faithful, depending henceforth on the priests’ authority.” While this is not completely true, as we will see later, it is an expression of the common thought of all who are anxious for new rules for the Latin Mass. They see that Summorum Pontificum takes Ecclesia Dei to a new level: that is, that any priest can say the Latin Mass at any time without asking special permission, and that the faithful can attend these Masses without need of a petition. If only things were as simple as this, for there is much more to this decree than simply the granting of a universal permission to say the Latin Mass. What follows is an explanation of some of the major points in the motu proprio absent all the subjective euphoria, demonstrating that Summorum Pontificum is truly the smokescreen that I have warning people about for quite some time.
In the days and weeks following the motu proprio, people all over the world were anxious to weigh in on the effects of this document.
Most hailed it as a “victory for the Latin Mass,” and even the “liberation of the Latin Mass” from the chains that oppressed its public celebration after the introduction of the Novus Ordo Missae of Paul VI. Cardinal Karl Lehman, president of the German episcopal conference, had this interesting comment: “I hope that people on all sides will be able to guide the ‘hot heads’ toward a more moderate position.” The “hot heads” are those who prefer the use of the Latin Mass exclusively even though, as the Cardinal also remarked, that “the number of Christians, of Catholics, who like the traditional form is not that high.” There were some who expressed words of caution regarding the motu proprio. Among them was Bishop Luca Brandolini, Bishop of Sora-Aquino-Pontecorvo: “This day is for me a day of grief. I have a lump in my throat and I do not manage to hold back my tears. But, I will obey . . . However, I cannot hide my sadness for the putting aside of one of the most important reforms of the Second Vatican Council . . . I am living the saddest day of my life as a priest,
as a bishop and as a man.” Abe Foxman of the Jewish Anti-Defamation League expressed his “extreme disappointment and deep offense” at the news of the promulgation of the motu proprio, calling it a “theological setback in the religious life of Catholics and a body-blow to Catholic-Jewish relations.” “It appears,” wrote Foxman, “the Vatican has chosen to satisfy a right-wing faction in the Church that rejects change and reconciliation.” However, on the eve of the promulgation (July 6), the Vatican Press Office made it a point to correct this observation by noting that the Oration offensive to the Jews in the Good Friday liturgy (calling for prayer for the “perfidious Jews) was eliminated by John XXIII in 1959, a full three years before the 1962 Missal was put into effect. The Press Office was quick to add this remark: “Also eliminated were similar formulas for those converting from idolatry, Islam or a heretical sect.”
Thursday, November 26 2009 @ 09:51 PM Eastern Standard Time
Contributed by: congleal
Views: 36
| |
.jpg) |
In 1675, Jesus appeared to St. Margaret Mary Alocoque in Paray le Monial,
France in a convent. He said, "Behold this heart which has so loved men.
Establish in the world a devotion to My Sacred Heart." To those who receive
Holy Communion on 9 consecutive first Fridays, Jesus promises the following:
- I will give them all the graces necessary for their state in life.
- I will establish peace in their families.
- I will console them in all their pains and trials.
- I will be their assured refuge in life and especially in death..
- I will shed abundant blessings on all their undertakings.
- Lukewarm souls will become fervent.
- Fervent souls shall rise to greater perfection.
- I will bless those homes where an image of My Heart shall be exposed and honored.
- I will give to priests the gift of moving the hardest of hearts.
- Persons, who propagate this devotion, shall have their names inscribed on My Heart, never to be effaced from it.
More information ...
|
|
Thursday, November 26 2009 @ 09:34 PM Eastern Standard Time
Contributed by: congleal
Views: 31
|
|
|
CLICK HERE for a free pamphlet explaining how to pray the Rosary
|
15 Promises Made by the Blessed Virgin to St. Dominic and Blessed Alanus.
- To all those who recite my Rosary devoutly, I promise my special protection and very great graces.
- Those who will persevere in the recitation of my Rosary shall receive some signal grace.
- The Rosary shall be a very powerful armor against hell; it shall destroy vice, deliver from sin, and shall dispel heresy.
- The Rosary shall make virtue and good works flourish, and shall obtain for souls the most abundant divine mercies; it shall substitute in hearts love of God for love of the world, elevate them to desire heavenly and eternal goods. Oh, that souls would sanctify themselves by this means!
- Those who trust themselves to me through the Rosary, shall not perish.
- Those who will recite my Rosary piously, considering its Mysteries, shall not be overwhelmed by misfortune nor die a bad death. The sinner shall be converted; the just shall grow in grace and become worthy of eternal life.
- Those truly devoted to my Rosary shall not die without the consolations of the Church, or without grace.
- Those who will recite my Rosary shall find during their life and at their death the light of God, the fullness of His grace, and shall share in the merits of the blessed.
- I will deliver very promptly from purgatory the souls devoted to my Rosary.
- The true children of my Rosary shall enjoy great glory in heaven.
- What you ask through my Rosary, you shall obtain.
- Those who propagate my Rosary shall obtain through me aid in all their necessities.
- I have obtained from my son that all the confreres of the Rosary shall have for their brethren in life and death the saints of heaven.
- Those who recite my Rosary faithfully are all my beloved children, the brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ.
- Devotion to my Rosary is a special sign of predestination.
|
|
Thursday, November 26 2009 @ 09:27 PM Eastern Standard Time
Contributed by: congleal
Views: 37
|
 |
In a devotion passed on by St. Bridget of Sweden, the Blessed Virgin Mary promised to grant seven graces to those who console her by daily meditation on the seven sorrows of her life. Pray one Hail Mary after meditating on each of the Seven Sorrows.
The Seven Sorrows.
- The prophecy of Simeon to Mary, "Thy own soul a sword shall pierce."
- The flight into Egypt on a cold winter night.
- The loss of the child Jesus for 3 days in Jerusalem.
- The meeting of Jesus and Mary on the Way of the Cross.
- The Crucifixion and death of Jesus on the Cross.
- The piercing of the side of Jesus and removing Him from the Cross.
- The burial of Jesus in the tomb.
7 Promises Made by the Blessed Virgin to St. Bridget of Sweden, for those who practice this devotion daily.
- I will grant peace to their families.
- They will be enlightened about the Divine Mysteries.
- I will console them in their pains and I will accompany them in their work.
- I will give them as much as they ask for as long as it does not oppose the adorable will of my Divine Son or the sanctification of their souls.
- I will defend them in their spiritual battles with the infernal enemy and I will protect them at every instant of their lives.
- I will visibly help them at the moment of their death, they will see the face of their mother.
- I have obtained this Grace from my Divine Son, that those who propagate this devotion to my tears and dolors, will be taken from this earthly life to eternal happiness since all their sins will be forgiven and my Son and I will be their eternal consolation and joy.
|
|
Thursday, November 26 2009 @ 09:07 PM Eastern Standard Time
Contributed by: congleal
Views: 42
| |
|
|
CLICK HERE for a free pamphlet with a more detailed explanation about the Five First Saturdays.
|
|
On July 13th 1917, in Fatima, Portugal, after the vision of Hell was shown to the three children, Our Lady said, "You have seen Hell, where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If what I ask is done, many souls will be saved and there will be peace. There are so many souls whom the Justice of God condemns for sins committed against me, that I have come to ask reparation."
Our Lady said, "I promise to assist at the hour of death, with all the graces necessary for salvation, all those who, on the first Saturday of five consecutive months ...
- Go to Confession, [within 8 days before or 8 days after],
- Receive Holy Communion,
- Pray five decades of the Rosary.
- Keep me company for fifteen minutes while meditating on the mysteries of the Rosary, with the intention of making reparation to me.
Five first Saturdays of reparation were requested to atone for the five ways in which people offend the Immaculate Heart of Mary:
- Attacks upon Mary's Immaculate Conception.
- Attacks against Mary's Perpetual Virginity.
- Attacks upon her Divine Maternity and the refusal to accept her as the Mother of all mankind.
- Those who try to implant in children's hearts indifference, comtempt and even hatred of the Immaculate Mother.
- Those who insult her directly by profaning her sacred images.
More information ...
|
Act of Consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary
Queen of the Most Holy Rosary, and tender Mother of all people, I consecrate myself to you and to your Immaculate Heart, and recommend to you my family, my country, and the whole human race.
Please accept my consecration, dearest Mother, and use me as you wish, to accomplish your designs upon the world.
O Immaculate Heart of Mary, Queen of Heaven and Earth, rule over me, and teach me how to allow the Heart of Jesus to rule and triumph in me and around me, as it has ruled and triumphed in you. Amen.
Act of Reparation
Most Holy Virgin and our beloved Mother, we listen with grief to the complaints of the Immaculate Heart, surrounded with the thorns which ungrateful men place therein at every moment by their blasphemies and ingratitude. Moved by the ardent desire of loving thee as our Mother and of promoting a true devotion to thy Immaculate Heart, we prostrate ourselves at thy feet to prove the sorrow we feel for the grief that men cause thee and to atone by means of our prayers and sacrifices for the offenses with which men return thy tender love.
Obtain for them and for us the pardon of so many sins. A word from thee will obtain grace and forgiveness for all.
Hasten, O Lady, the conversion of sinners that they may love Jesus and cease to offend God, already so much offended, and thus avoid eternal punishment.
Turn thine eyes of mercy towards us so that henceforth we may love God with all our heartwhile on earth and enjoy Him forever in Heaven. Amen. |
Thursday, November 26 2009 @ 06:49 PM Eastern Standard Time
Contributed by: Admin
Views: 77
Washington D.C., Nov 20, 2009 / 06:21 am (CNA).- An unprecedented coalition of prominent Christian clergy, ministry leaders, and scholars has crafted a 4,700-word declaration addressing the sanctity of life, traditional marriage, and religious liberty. The declaration issues “a clarion call” to Christians to adhere to their convictions and informs civil authorities that the signers will not “under any circumstance” abandon their Christian consciences.
The statement, called “the Manhattan Declaration,” has been signed by more than 125 Catholic, Evangelical Christian, and Orthodox leaders, and will be made fully public at a noon press conference in the National Press Club in Washington DC on Friday.
“We are Christians who have joined together across historic lines of ecclesial differences to affirm our right—and, more importantly, to embrace our obligation—to speak and act in defense of these truths. We pledge to each other, and to our fellow believers, that no power on earth, be it cultural or political, will intimidate us into silence or acquiescence,” the statement says.
“We recognize the duty to comply with laws whether we happen to like them or not, unless the laws are gravely unjust or require those subject to them to do something unjust or otherwise immoral,” the signatories explain.
But they also made clear that “we will not comply with any edict that purports to compel our institutions to participate in abortions, embryo-destructive research, assisted suicide and euthanasia, or any other anti-life act; nor will we bend to any rule purporting to force us to bless immoral sexual partnerships, treat them as marriage or the equivalent, or refrain from proclaiming the truth, as we know it, about morality and immorality and marriage and the family.”
The Manhattan Declaration is the result of several months of dialogue among Orthodox, Catholic, and evangelical Christian leaders culminating in a gathering of approximately 100 leaders in New York City on September 28, 2009.
Attendees considered an early draft of the “Manhattan Declaration, A Call of Christian Conscience,” but the document was entrusted to a drafting committee that included Dr. Timothy George of Beeson Divinity School at Samford University, Dr. Robert P. George of Princeton University, and renowned Evangelical leader Charles Colson.
The signatories explained that they speak now because in order "to defend principles of justice and the common good that are now under assault."
"We will fully and ungrudgingly render to Caesar what is Caesar’s, but we will under no circumstances render to Caesar what is God’s."
The signatories of the Manhattan Declaration explain that although public sentiment has moved in a pro-life direction, "pro-abortion ideology prevails in many places of power and influence."
"Our government promotes and funds scientific research in which the lives of tiny human beings in the early embryonic states of development are treated as disposable research material."
They also contend that "public policies contribute to the weakening of the institution of marriage, including the discredited idea of unilateral divorce," while "influential individuals and organizations are seeking to redefine marriage to embrace same-sex partnerships and to recognize multiple-party sexual unions that are beyond same-sex marriage.”
Signatories of the declaration include Cardinal Justin Rigali, Archbishop of Philadelphia; Cardinal Adam Maida, Archbishop Emeritus of Detroit; Charles J. Chaput, Archbishop of Denver; Timothy Dolan, Archbishop of New York; Donald W. Wuerl, Archbishop of Washington, D.C.; John J. Myers, Archbishop of Newark; John Nienstedt, Archbishop of Saint Paul and Minneapolis; Joseph F. Naumann, Archbishop of Kansas City; Joseph E. Kurtz, Archbishop of Louisville; Thomas J. Olmsted, Bishop of Phoenix; Michael J. Sheridan, Bishop of Colorado Springs; Salvatore Joseph Cordileone, Bishop of Oakland; Richard J. Malone, Bishop of Portland; and David A. Zubik, Bishop of Pittsburgh.
Other signatories include Metropolitan Jonah Paffhausen, Primate of the Orthodox Church in America; Most Rev. Peter J. Akinola, Primate of the Anglican Church of Nigeria; Jody Bottum, Editor of First Things; Chuck Colson, Founder of the Chuck Colson Center for Christian Worldview; Marjorie Dannenfelser, President of the Susan B. Anthony List; Dr. James Dobson, Founder of Focus on the Family; Dr. William Donohue, President of the Catholic League; Most Rev. Robert Wm. Duncan, Primate of the Anglican Church in North America; Fr. Joseph D. Fessio, Founder and Editor of Ignatius Press; Maggie Gallagher, President of Institute for Marriage and Public Policy; Dr. Robert P. George; Fr. Chad Hatfield, Archpriest of St Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary; Jerry Jenkins, Chairman of the board of trustees for Moody Bible Institute; Jim Kushiner, Editor of Touchstone; Dr. Richard Land, President of The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the SBC; Rev. William Owens, Chairman of the Coalition of African-American Pastors; Tony Perkins, President of the Family Research Council; Michael Timmis, Chairman of Prison Fellowship International; Juan Valdes, Chaplain of Florida Christian School and George Weigel, Senior Fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center.
The full document will be available http://www.manhattandeclaration.org/ following the press conference.
First | Previous | 1 2 3 4 | Next | Last
St. Joseph
Gloria TVThere was a problem reading this feed (see error.log for details).
Wise Words
"Joy is not the same as pleasure or happiness. A wicked and evil man may have pleasure, while any ordinary mortal is capable of being happy. Pleasure generally comes from things, and always through the senses;
happiness comes from humans through fellowship. Joy comes from loving God and neighbor. Pleasure is quick and violent, like a flash of lightning. Joy is steady and abiding, like a fixed star. Pleasure depends on external circumstances, such as money, food, travel, etc. Joy is independent of them, for it comes from a good conscience and love of God."
"Guide to Contentment", p. 120 (1967)
![[fjs]](/images/fjs.jpg)
Archbishop Fulton Sheen RIP
|
|
|
|
