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Posted by: Bubba at Sun Jun 24 02:45:33 2007 (cBB0n)

This is sad -- not unexpected, but still sad.

For more than a century, Archbishop Quigley Preparatory Seminary has prepared teenage boys for the priesthood, largely unchanged as the city transformed around it from gritty industrial center to modern metropolis.

But another kind of change finally caught up with Quigley.

The 102-year-old seminary -- a Gothic-style building in a tony Chicago shopping district -- closed Friday because of a shrinking student body that has seen just one graduate ordained in the last 17 years.

It's the latest reminder that Roman Catholic preparatory seminaries have all but vanished in the United States, and highlights the church's struggle to find men willing to dedicate themselves to the priesthood.

I've got a couple of comments to make on this one.

First, I question the statistic at the end of the article. There was, for a time, Quigley South, before it was merged back into what was then known as Quigley North -- and when I studied for the priesthood in the early 1990s I had a number of friends and classmates who were graduates of that school and who were ordained during the early-to-mid-1990s. The single graduate statistic therefore ignores a large number of priests who were a part of the Quigley Preparatory Seminary system.

Second, I owe a great debt to Quigley. I studied for the priesthood at St. Mary of the Lake in Mundelein for several years, though I left before ordination. For those who don't know, that is the major seminary run by the Archdiocese of Chicago. Many of my professors and my spiritual director were Quigley products, and for them I am thankful for the contribution of that seminary to my life and education.

Lastly, I think about how close i came to attending Quigley myself. As a ninth grader, I was taken on a tour of the two Quigleys by Father Gene Keusel during his tenure as archdiocesan vocation director. I found myself impressed by the school and the program -- but would have either needed to commute over an hour each way or live in a dormitory setting. At 15, I was not particularly excited in either option and my parents quickly rejected both options when we talked about them, so I stayed at the high school I was already attending (right across the street from the major seminary, as it happened). I've often wondered, though, how a different decision would have changed my life.

But I do agree with the assessments in the article. The closure of Archbishop Quigley Preparatory Seminary does mark the end of an era -- both because of a change in when men join the priesthood and a change in our society. It is, however, a change for the better in my book, one in which men approach the priesthood with experience of the world rather than having been set apart for a dozen years before their ordination.

And to any Quigley alums reading this, may I offer you a hearty Ad Multos Annos!

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Posted by: Greg at 06:45 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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And yet we who believe know that this is not the end, but rather a glorious beginning.

Ruth Graham, who surrendered dreams of missionary work in Tibet to marry a suitor who became the world's most renowned evangelist, died Thursday. She was 87.

The wife of Billy Graham died at 5:05 p.m. at her home at Little Piney Cove, surrounded by her husband and all five of their children, said a statement released by family spokesman Larry Ross.

"Ruth was my life partner, and we were called by God as a team," Billy Graham said in a statement. "No one else could have borne the load that she carried. She was a vital and integral part of our ministry, and my work through the years would have been impossible without her encouragement and support.

"I am so grateful to the Lord that He gave me Ruth, and especially for these last few years we've had in the mountains together. We've rekindled the romance of our youth, and my love for her continued to grow deeper every day. I will miss her terribly, and look forward even more to the day I can join her in Heaven."

Ruth Graham has been bedridden for months with degenerative osteoarthritis of the back and neck and underwent treatment for pneumonia two weeks ago. At her request, and in consultation with her family, she had stopped receiving nutrients through a feeding tube for the last few days, Ross said.

Prayers for the Graham family in this time of loss -- and great joy that this night she is in Heaven with her Savior!

Posted by: Greg at 12:11 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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It appears that the end of this earthly life is approaching for Ruth Bell Graham, wife of Rev. Billy Graham.

Ruth Graham, the ailing wife of evangelist Billy Graham, fell into a coma Wednesday morning and appears to be close to death, a family spokesman said. "She appears to be entering the final stages of life," said Larry Ross, Graham's personal spokesman.

* * *

"Ruth is my soul mate and best friend, and I cannot imagine living a single day without her by my side," Graham said. "I am more in love with her today than when we first met over 65 years ago as students at Wheaton College."

Ross said Ruth Graham was treated two weeks ago for pneumonia and her health temporarily improved before declining because of her weakened condition. Ross said she is being treated at her home outside Asheville, in the town of Montreat.

She celebrated her birthday on Sunday and was alert, Ross said. Billy Graham and four of their children are now at her side. The couple's youngest child, Ned, is flying in from the West Coast.

"Ruth and I appreciate, more than we can express, the prayers and letters of encouragement we have received from people across the country and around the world," Graham said.

"Our entire family has been home in recent days and it has meant so much to have them at our side during this time. We love each one of them dearly and thank God for them."

Her approaching death has led to an announcement about where the Grahams will be buried -- a decision that split the family in recent months as questions arose over whether the couple would be buried in her hometown near Asheville or at the new Billy Graham library.

With his wife, Ruth Bell Graham, in a coma at home in western North Carolina, the Rev. Billy Graham announced yesterday that she will be buried in the city of Charlotte and not in her beloved mountains at the site she said she favored as recently as a week and a half ago.

"After much prayer and discussion, Ruth and I made the decision to be buried beside each other at the Billy Graham Library in my home town of Charlotte, N.C.," Billy Graham is quoted as saying in a news release posted on the Web site of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. The couple made this decision in early spring, the statement said, and decided to announce it "now that she is close to going to heaven."

Unfortunately, this does not appear to have ended the contention.

Posted by: Greg at 12:04 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Why on earth would the LA Times run a column about a Mormon presidential candidate by an anti-Mormon writer who is trying to drum up sales of her anti-Mormon book and the anti-Mormon movie based upon it? That is my question after reading this piece by Sally Denton -- which does nothing but rehash a 150-year-old atrocity and long-repudiated Mormon doctrines while expressing skepticism (which I share) about Joseph Smith, the founder of the LDS Church.

Particularly disturbing is this paragraph.

Still, is it fair or legitimate to hold Mitt Romney accountable for dark deeds committed many years ago by the church to which he belongs? If we start down that road, where does it lead? Shall we, for instance, burden Bill Richardson with the Inquisition because he is a member of the Catholic Church?

It's not a church's eccentric past that makes a candidate's religion relevant today, but its contemporary doctrines. (And it's worth noting that polygamy and blood atonement, among other practices, are no longer condoned by the official Mormon church hierarchy.)

The problem -- Denton never bothers to mention a single contemporary doctrine that Romney should be held responsible for or required to answer for. Indeed, she never even bothers to explain why Romney should have to answer for those doctrines at all. Rather, she prefers to tar Romney with the "eccentric past" that she claims is not relevant today and hints at something nefarious in the contemporary faith. Indeed, she brings up only one question that Romney needs to answer.

In the end, it seems less a candidate's religion that concerns Americans and more an apprehension of fundamentalist fanaticism and a fear that the separation of church and state is becoming murky. As for Romney and Mormonism, there seems only one legitimate and relevant question: Do you, like the prophet you follow, believe in a theocratic nation state? All the rest is pyrotechnics.

Interestingly enough, Denton's question does not refer to any contemporary teaching, but to that very history that she claims should be irrelevant! So which is it, Sally -- is Romney responsible for the past of the LDS Church and every past statement by Mormon leaders or not?

Of course, as she raises the specter of Mormon theocracy, Denton neatly ignores this statement from the LDS Church itself on the issue of church political neutrality -- because bringing mentioning the statement would destroy the entire premise of her argument. As such, its exclusion instead neatly demonstrates her bigotry, ill-will, and dishonesty.

H/T Captain's Quarters

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Posted by: Greg at 09:27 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Well, that would be when the excommunication threats (and actual excommunications) are over issues where the liberals agree with the bishops on the moral issue.

After all, Cardinal Ritter in St. Louis desegregated the archdiocesan Catholic schools years before Brown v. Board of Education and was applauded for threatening his opponents with excommunication for upholding Catholic teachings on racial justice. Not only that, but Archbishop Rummel of New Orleans actually did excommunicate desegregation opponents in New Orleans back in 1962.

How did liberals react to Rummel's actions? "We salute the Catholic Archbishop," the New York Times editorialized. "He has set an example founded on religious principle and response to the social conscience of our times." An editorial in the Nation applauded Rummel's initial excommunication threat and cited Ritter's action in 1947 as a precedent. Certainly, it seems, liberals don't really mind mixing religion with politics as long as it's their political agenda being promoted.

Rep. DeLauro, Mr. Giuliani and other Catholic politicians may choose to see ecclesiastical punishments as blunt political weapons used to club them into submission on a controversial issue. For the bishops, however, such punishments are imposed as a last effort to be taken against those who, in their judgment, are publicly flouting the laws of the church.

Of course, if liberals really think that the threats of the Pope and bishops to take disciplinary actions against Catholic politicians who refuse to protect innocent human life from the barbarism of abortion, perhaps they could prevail upon the New York Times to retract and denounce its earlier editorial supporting the same sort of use of ecclesiastical authority to oppose racial discrimination. Or they could just admit that they are not merely pro-choice, but are instead actively and affirmatively pro-abortion.

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Posted by: Greg at 03:54 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Refusal to knuckle-under to the government-run church continues to bring harassment, imprisonment for faith.

An elderly bishop in China's underground Catholic church has been detained again by police, nine months after his release from their custody, a U.S.-based monitoring group said Thursday.

Bishop Jia Zhiguo, 73, was taken away Tuesday by security agents in the northern city of Zhengding, the Cardinal Kung Foundation said in a statement. It was not immediately clear why Jia was detained or where he was being held, the group said.

A man who answered the telephone at the Zhengding Religious Affairs Bureau referred questions to the local government. Officials at the Zhengding government office and public security bureau said they had never heard of Jia and hung up without giving their names or any other details.

Jia was last released in September 2006 after being held for 10 months by local authorities. The reason was never made public but religious groups say Jia has been repeatedly detained over his refusal to affiliate himself with the Communist Party-controlled Catholic Patriotic Association.

"He was not even allowed to step out of the courtyard of his residence, was not allowed to administer the 'Last Rites' for his dying parishioners, and was not allowed any visitors," the foundation said.

Communism, like Islam, can only survive by violating the basic human rights of those under its control. And as in Malaysia's Lina Joy case, the world remains silent in the face of grave violations of internationally recognized human rights norms.

Posted by: Greg at 01:14 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I don't know whether to be more concerned about the pope's safety or impressed by his unflappability.

A German man tried to jump into Pope Benedict XVI's uncovered popemobile as the pontiff began his general audience Wednesday and held onto it for a few seconds before being wrestled to the ground by security officers.

The pope was not hurt and didn't even appear to notice that the man -- who was between 20 or 30 years old -- had jumped over the protective barrier in the square and had grabbed onto the white popemobile as it drove by. The pontiff kept waving to the crowd and didn't even look back.

At least eight security officers who were trailing the vehicle as it moved slowly through the square grabbed the man and wrestled him to the ground.

The man was a 27-year-old German who showed signs of "mental imbalance," said the Rev. Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman.

"His aim was not an attempt on the pope's life but to attract attention to himself," Lombardi told reporters.

The man, whom Lombardi declined to identify, was interrogated by Vatican police and then taken to a hospital for psyciatric treatment, he said.

The man wore a pink T-shirt and dark shorts, a beige baseball cap and sunglasses. He vaulted up and over the barricade from the second or third row back. He got as far as the back of the jeep, holding onto it for a few seconds, before being wrestled to the ground.

I'm glad it is this, rather than the terrible news that flooded out of the Vatican on that awful day in May, 1981, when Pope John Paul II was shot.

Posted by: Greg at 03:08 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Here is an interesting story from the Holy See.

Some Holy See buildings will start using solar energy, reflecting Pope Benedict XVI's concern about conserving the Earth's resources, a Vatican engineer said Tuesday. The roof of the Paul VI auditorium will be redone next year, with its cement panels replaced with photovoltaic cells to convert sunlight into electricity, engineer Pier Carlo Cuscianna said.

The 6,300-seat auditorium is used for the pontiff's general audiences on Wednesdays in winter and in bad weather during the rest of the year. Concerts in honor of pontiffs are also staged in the hall, with its sweeping stage.

The cells will produce enough electricity to illuminate, heat or cool the building, Cuscianna said.

"Since the auditorium isn't used every day, the (excess) energy will feed into the network providing (the Vatican) with power, so other Vatican offices can use the energy," he said.

You guys know I am not a believer in man-made global warming. I am, however, a believer in energy conservation and switching to renewable resources like solar and wind power for practical reasons. I therefore applaud the move that is being made, and hope that more nations, religious organizations, businesses, and individuals make efforts like this one.

Posted by: Greg at 02:37 AM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
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It has to be one of the dumbest stories that I've seen in a long time.

If there could be one place protected from the cancerous infection of pornography and sexual misconducts, one would assume that the Christian church would be that sanctuary. But, recent research is revealing that no one is immunized against the vice-grip clutches of sexual addictive behaviors. The people who struggle with the repeated pursuit of sexual gratification include church members, deacons, staff, and yes, even clergy. And, to the surprise of many, a large number of women in the church have become victim to this widespread problem. Recently, the worldÂ’s most visited Christian website, ChristiaNet.com, conducted a survey asking site visitors eleven questions about their personal sexual conduct.

Amazingly, there were one thousand responses to the poll conducted by ChristiaNet.com. ChristiaNet.com partnered with Second Glance Ministries in evaluating the poll responses and it seems the Christian community is struggling with many of the same “temptations” that the secular society is faced with.

“The poll results indicate that 50% of all Christian men and 20% of all Christian women are addicted to pornography,” said Clay Jones, founder and President of Second Glance Ministries whose ministry objectives include providing people with information which will enable them to fully understand the impact of today’s societal issues. 60% of the women who answered the survey admitted to having significant struggles with lust, 40% admitted to being involved in sexual sin in the past year, and 20% of the church-going female participants struggle with looking at pornography on an ongoing basis.

Now I would be curious to see how they define "addicted" here -- that statistic seems o me to be a bit high. But the notion that Christians do not face the same temptations as everyone else is absurd. After all, St. Paul put it well in the seventh chapter of Romans.

14 For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. 15 For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do.

As it was in biblical times, so it remains today. Christians are not perfect, just forgiven.

Posted by: Greg at 12:18 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Or is this sort of judicial murder sanctioned by Islamic law and teaching?

A Christian was sentenced to death for allegedly insulting Islam's Prophet Muhammed, and a human rights activist Friday urged Pakistan's president to spare his life.

Younis Masih, 29, was arrested in September 2005 on the outskirts of the eastern city of Lahore after residents told police he made derogatory remarks against Islam and Muhammad.

On Wednesday, a court sentenced Masih to death under Pakistan's harsh blasphemy laws, which rights groups say have been misused against Christians since former President Gen. Zia ul-Haq enacted them in 1980s to win the support of hard-line religious groups.

So, my Muslim readers -- is this acceptable? And if it is, would you find it equally acceptable for a majority Christian country to create a similar law that punished blasphemy against Christianity and Jesus Christ -- say by denying that Jesus is the Son of God and declaring him to be a mere prophet inferior to Muhammad -- with death?

Somehow I didn't think so.

Posted by: Greg at 06:34 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Given the notorious violation of human rights countenanced by the Malaysian judiciary, I suppose that leaving her homeland may be the only option other than martyrdom available to this sister in Christ.

A woman who lost a court battle to change her religion from Islam to Christianity suggested she might leave Malaysia rather than stay without the right to practice the religion of her choice, her lawyer said Thursday.

Malaysia's highest civil court on Wednesday rejected Lina Joy's appeal to have the word "Islam" stricken from her national identity card. The verdict was seen as a blow to religious freedom in this ethnically diverse country made up of Muslims, Christians, Buddhists, Hindus and Sikhs.

"I am disappointed that the Federal Court is not able to vindicate a simple but important fundamental right that exists in all persons: Namely, the right to believe in the religion of one's choice," Joy said in a statement released through her lawyer, Benjamin Dawson.

"The Federal Court has not only denied me that right but (denied it) to all Malaysians who value fundamental freedoms," she said.

Sadly, the international community has remained silent on this case. There has been no statement from the United States government, nor has the UN spoken out against this violation of human rights. Have we, as a planet, become so dhimmified that our leaders will not speak out in support of a fundamental human right for fear of inciting the Muslims?

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Posted by: Greg at 12:25 AM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
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