TruthBook Religious News Blog

At Czech Mass, Pope Says Societies Must Have God
Joe Klamar
September 27, 2009

BRNO, Czech Republic — Pope Benedict XVI warned some 120,000 worshipers at a Mass here on Sunday of the dangers of a society without God, forging ahead with his fight against secularism on the second day of a three-day trip to the Czech Republic.

Later, in an address to Czech academics in Prague, the pope inveighed against the perils of relativism. He also underlined the need to mend "the breach between science and religion."

Celebrating Mass in this southern city in the country’s Catholic heartland, the 82-year-old, German-born pope said that "history had demonstrated the absurdities to which man descends when he excludes God from the horizon of his choices and actions." He added: "Your country, like other nations, is experiencing cultural conditions that often present a radical challenge to faith and therefore also to hope."

While the pope received a warm and enthusiastic reception from the crowd — a large number of whom appeared to come from neighboring Poland, Germany and Slovakia — religious observers lamented that the Czech nation as a whole seemed unmoved.

Czech secularism was conditioned during decades of Communism, when the Roman Catholic Church was suppressed. In a recent survey by Stem, a research group, nearly half of respondents professed not to believe in God.

“We are a calm nation that drinks beer and eats dumplings, and we have strong antibodies to any kind of religious persuasion because of our history,” said the Rev. Ales Opatrny, a lecturer at the Catholic Theological Faculty of Charles University in Prague. "I believe that after the pope’s visit most Czechs will act like nothing happened."

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Labels: God, Pope Benedict XVI

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Thursday, July 09, 2009

Pope calls for 'God-centered' global economy

THIRD ENCYCLICAL

ON A MORAL ECONOMY

Select excerpts from Caritas in Veritate (Charity in Truth), Pope Benedict XVI's new encyclical on the economy and Catholic social teachings:

• "The dignity of the individual and the demands of justice require, particularly today, that economic choices do not cause disparities in wealth to increase in an excessive and morally unacceptable manner ..."

• "We should not be (globalization's) victims, but rather its protagonists, acting in the light of reason, guided by charity and truth."

• "... Ideological rejection of God and an atheism of indifference, oblivious to the Creator and at risk of becoming equally oblivious to human values, constitute some of the chief obstacles to development today. A humanism which excludes God is an inhuman humanism. Only a humanism open to the Absolute can guide us in the promotion and building of forms of social and civic life -- structures, institutions, culture and ethos -- without exposing us to the risk of becoming ensnared by the fashions of the moment."

• Humankind should ask for God's grace ... "to receive the daily bread that we need, to be understanding and generous towards our debtors, not to be tempted beyond our limits, and to be delivered from evil."

• "Profit is useful if it serves as a means towards an end that provides a sense both of how to produce it and how to make good use of it. Once profit becomes the exclusive goal, if it is produced by improper means and without the common good as its ultimate end, it risks destroying wealth and creating poverty."

By Cathy Lynn Grossman, USA TODAY

Pope Benedict XVI today called for reforming the United Nations and establishing a "true world political authority" with "real teeth" to manage the global economy with God-centered ethics.

In his third encyclical, a major teaching, released as the G-8 summit begins in Italy, the pope says such an authority is urgently needed to end the current worldwide financial crisis. It should "revive" damaged economies, reach toward "disarmament, food security and peace," protect the environment and "regulate migration."

Benedict writes, "The market is not, and must not become, the place where the strong subdue the weak."

The encyclical, Caritas in Veritate (Charity in Truth) is a theologically dense explication of Catholic social teaching that draws heavily from earlier popes, particularly PaulVI's critique of capitalism 42 years ago. And echoing his predecessor John Paul II, Benedict says, "every economic decision has a moral consequence."

This is a really great article about the Pope's latest encyclical. It is well worth the read...Jesusonian ideals!!! Please click on "external source" for the entire piece.

Labels: Cathy Lynn Grossman, Charity in Truth, ethics, God, Pope Benedict XVI, United Nations

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Saturday, June 13, 2009

The New Muslim-Catholic Coalition

The New Muslim-Catholic Coalition

The political experts will decide if President Obama's speech at the University of Cairo on June 4 was a factor in the unexpected electoral defeat of Hezbollah in Lebanon's elections on June 7. But while the international effects may be murky, a clear and immediate result of the Cairo speech is its impact on Muslims living in the U.S. Pride about praise of one's religious traditions from political leaders often adds votes and voices within U.S. society. Catholic America should know: this was part of our past journey to inclusion.

But more than a touchy-feely sort of thing is the likelihood that the Cairo speech will produce greater support for socialized health care and an end to Israeli settlements. Those Catholics in America who agree with the bishops and the pope have long supported a universal health care plan and a two-state solution for Palestine and Israel. With the President's speech, Muslims in the U.S. have been invited to make an alliance with Catholics.

Obama's speech aligned the U.S. treatment of Muslims and the Muslim world with the vision of Pope Benedict XVI. That's not my opinion, but one found in the Vatican's newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano and echoed by Archbishop Wilton Gregory who speaks for the U.S. bishops: "Both the pope and president concur that a dialogue of civilizations must supplant the specter of a clash of civilizations ... All Catholic Americans who hope for a more secure world, and peace among the religions, can feel grateful that the president underscored the indispensable role of religion in advancing educational, economic, and scientific goals."

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Labels: Anthony M. Stevens-Arroyo, Catholicism, interfaith, Islam, Israel, Pope Benedict XVI, President Obama

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Friday, June 05, 2009

Poverty, injustice, inequality threaten peace, pope tells ambassadors

Poverty, injustice, inequality threaten peace, pope tells ambassadors

By Cindy Wooden
Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Social injustices and economic inequalities, which have become even worse because of the global financial crisis, are serious threats to peace, Pope Benedict XVI told new ambassadors from eight countries.

"Peace can only be realized when people commit themselves with courage to eliminating the inequalities created by unjust systems and to ensuring all people of a standard of living that permits a dignified and prosperous existence," the pope said May 29 as he welcomed the new ambassadors to the Vatican.

The new ambassadors represent Benin, Burkina Faso, India, Mongolia, Namibia, New Zealand, Norway and South Africa.

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Labels: Cindy Wooden, equality, justice, Pope Benedict XVI, Vatican

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Friday, May 08, 2009

Israel: pope to urge universal religious freedom

The pope will speak not only human rights and freedom of religion, but will denounce forgetfullness in the face of the horrors of the Holocaust.

Tuesday, May 05, 2009

Look for Pope Benedict XVI to emphasize interreligious cooperation when he visits the Holy Land, May 8-15, says Reverend James Massa, director of the U.S. Bishops’ Secretariat for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs. Father Massa has studied the thought of Pope Benedict and did his doctoral dissertation on the pope’s earlier theological writings on the ecclesiology of communion before he was elected Pope Benedict. Father Massa noted themes to expect from the papal visit in Media Talk, a backgrounder found on the Media Relations site of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

"In all that takes place in these days of pilgrimage, Pope Benedict XVI will invite the followers of all religions to ‘stand together in defending and promoting life and religious freedom everywhere,’” Father Massa said, quoting the pope from his 2008 visit to Washington. He recalled Pope Benedict’s meeting with Jewish and other non-Christian religious groups. During that meeting, Father Massa recalled, the pope said that generous engagement in interreligious dialogue and “countless small acts of love, understanding and compassion” make it possible for us all to be “instruments of peace for the whole human family.”

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Labels: Holy Land, interfaith, Israel, James Massa, Pope Benedict XVI, religious freedom

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Friday, January 02, 2009

The Year in Religion 2008: Faith's role in election dominates religion news

12/27/2008

WESTERVILLE, Ohio - The U.S. presidential election was the impetus for the nation's top religion stories of 2008, according to a survey of more than 100 religion journalists.

The top story was the controversy surrounding the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, with Democratic outreach to faith communities and GOP vice presidential running mate Sarah Palin's selection as the second and third top stories, respectively.

Controversial sermons by Wright surfaced early this year, resulting in pressure on Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, who eventually withdrew his membership in his church, Trinity United Church of Christ, Chicago.

Obama was named the top religion newsmaker of 2008.

An online poll of religion reporters was conducted Dec. 8 to 10.

The Religion Newswriters Association has conducted the poll since the 1970s.

The list of suggested top religion stories was compiled for the RNA with help from John W. Smith, religion columnist and retired religion editor of the Reading Eagle.

The other top 10 stories are:

4. The California Supreme Court rules gay marriage is legal.

5. Pope Benedict XVI makes his first U.S. visit

6. U.S. conservatives alienated from the Episcopal Church say they will ask Anglican Communion leaders for permission to create the Anglican Church in North America.

7. Terrorism believed motivated in part by religious fervor results in deaths of almost 200 people in a three-day siege in Mumbai, India.

8. China cracks down on Buddhists seeking Tibetan independence in a prelude to producing a peaceful Olympic games.

9. The crumbling economy and subsequent drop in contributions force many faith-based organizations to cut back on expenses.

10. Violence continues in Iraq as Sunnis and Shiites attack each other, and Christians also are targeted.

Labels: 2008 top stories, Barack Obama, China, gay marriage, Pope Benedict XVI, religion, Religion Newswriters Association, terrorism, the economy

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Thursday, September 04, 2008

Pilgrims Have Their Reasons

Report Reveals Why Youth Came to Sydney

SYDNEY, Australia, SEPT. 1, 2008 (Zenit.org).-

Although a week in Sydney could be attractive for many reasons, those who travelled Down Under for World Youth Day were looking for a spiritual experience and a glimpse of Benedict XVI, reveals a study.

This was revealed in “Pilgrim’s Progress 2008,” a study of the Australian Catholic University and the organizers of World Youth Day 2008 that compiled the experiences of youth day pilgrims before, during and after the event.

Benedict XVI presided at the July 15-20 event, which attracted the largest international crowd of any event in Australia's history. Some 400,000 attended the closing Mass at Randwick Racecourse.

Relying on 12,275 responses from English-speaking pilgrims from 164 countries who took part in Web surveys, and interviews during and after event week, the researchers seek to build an understanding of the spirituality of the pilgrims.

The survey results found that 85% of those attending the event in Sydney were participating their first World Youth Day.

Researcher Michael Mason said the report revealed that what the pilgrims most wanted from the week of activities and pilgrimage was "a spiritual experience and in that context, to see and listen to the Holy Father."

Age gap

Mason reported that pilgrims over 20 showed some marked differences from pilgrims 19 and under.

"The older group was very focused on spiritual values," he said. "They were making sacrifices to take a week out to come to World Youth Day 2008, so they were not messing around. Their spirituality was very full-on and so was their approach to [the event]; they saw it as sacred time.

"The younger group were unabashedly attracted to all the aspects of World Youth Day 2008 which naturally appeal to younger people; they loved the adventure of it, the excitement of being part of a huge youth crowd, travelling to a spectacular city, making new friends, celebrating. It might be a religious occasion, but it had lots of other appeal as well."

"The pilgrims were not just a random collection of younger Catholics; they were special; they took some trouble to get to this gathering; they wanted to be there," he said.

Mason said the biggest motivating factors to attend were: friends who were going, encouragement from others, such as parents and teachers, and personal contact with somebody who had been to a previous youth day.

He also said he was surprised to see such a "strong measure of spirituality among teenagers in this group."

"Nearly half of [the teenagers polled] are regular churchgoers, have a strong faith and a firm sense of Catholic identity."

Labels: Catholicism, Pilgrim’s Progress 2008, Pope Benedict XVI, Sydney, World Youth Day, youth

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Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Pope urges Australian youths to spurn materialism

By KRISTEN GELINEAU – 2 days ago

SYDNEY, Australia (AP) — Pope Benedict XVI said Sunday a "spiritual desert" was spreading throughout the world and he challenged young people to shed the greed and cynicism of their time to create a new age of hope for humankind.

Speaking at a Mass before some 350,000 Roman Catholic pilgrims and a likely television audience of millions more, Benedict wrapped up the church's six-day World Youth Day festival. He urged the young people in his more than 1 billion-strong flock to be agents of change because "the world needs renewal."

"In so many of our societies, side by side with material prosperity, a spiritual desert is spreading: an interior emptiness, an unnamed fear, a quiet sense of despair," the pontiff said.

The 81-year-old pope said it was up to a new generation of Christians to build a world in "which God's gift of life is welcomed, respected and cherished — not rejected, feared as a threat and destroyed."

They must embrace the power of God "to let it break through the curse of our indifference, our spiritual weariness, our blind conformity to the spirit of this age," he said.

The aim was "a new age in which hope liberates us from the shallowness, apathy and self-absorption which deadens our souls and poisons our relationships," he said.

Vatican spokesman Rev. Federico Lombardi said 350,000 attended Sunday's Mass. Australian organizers surmised a global television audience of up to 500 million during big World Youth Day events.

The pope flew over the scene early Sunday in a helicopter — dubbed "the holy-copter" by bleary-eyed pilgrims below — to see the assemblage swarmed all over the track in a jumble of sleeping bags, backpacks and other personal items.

He later took a slow drive through the crowd, stopping once to plant a kiss on the forehead of a toddler held up to the popemobile's window. Pilgrims from more than 160 countries gave him a rock-star welcome, waving the flags of their nations, cheering and chanting: "Benedicto! Benedicto!" — the pope's Italian name.

The pope was due to leave Australia for the Vatican on Monday. He announced that Madrid, Spain, would host the next World Youth Day in 2011 and told the pilgrims: "I look forward to seeing you again in three years' time."

Benedict, who shrugged off the effects of a longer-than 20-hour flight from Rome and kept a hectic schedule during his time in Australia, coughed a couple of times during Sunday's Mass and at one point blew his nose, prompting reporters to ask about his health.

"It was chilly, and everybody felt it, no?" Lombardi said. "But he is in fine health."

Associated Press Writer Victor L. Simpson in Sydney contributed to this report.

Labels: Australia, Catholic, Kristen Gelineau, Pope Benedict XVI, World Youth Day

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Tuesday, June 03, 2008

Catholics, Evangelicals Differ On Views Of Sin

Evangelicals More Traditional Than Catholic Counterparts

Last updated Friday, May 30, 2008
By Terry Mattingly
Scripps Howard News Service

One tough challenge that Catholic shepherds face, Pope Benedict XVI said this past Lent, is that their flocks live in an age "in which the loss of the sense of sin is unfortunately becoming increasingly more widespread."

"Where God is excluded from the public forum the sense of offense against God -- the true sense of sin -- dissipates, just as when the absolute value of moral norms is relativized the categories of good or evil vanish, along with individual responsibility," he told a group of Canadian bishops, early in his papacy.

"Yet the human need to acknowledge and confront sin in fact never goes away. ... As St. John tells us: 'If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves.'"

But there's a problem at pew level. Many American Catholics who regularly attend Mass simply do not agree with their church when it comes time to say what is sinful and what is not. In fact, according to a recent survey by Ellison Research in Phoenix, if the pope wanted to find large numbers of believers who share his views on sin he should spend more time with evangelical Protestants.

For example, 100 percent of evangelicals polled said adultery is sinful, while 82 percent of the active Catholics agreed. On other issues, 96 percent of evangelicals said racism is sin, compared to 79 percent of Catholics. Sex before marriage? That's sin, said 92 percent of the evangelicals, while only 47 percent of Catholics agreed.

On one of the hottest of hot-button issues, 94 percent of evangelicals said it's sinful to have an abortion, compared with 74 percent of American Catholics. And what about homosexual acts? Among evangelicals, 93 percent called this sin, as opposed to 49 percent of the Catholics.

The Catholics turned the tables when asked if it's sinful not to attend "religious worship services on a regular basis," with 39 percent saying this is sin, compared to 33 percent of the evangelicals.

Sellers said his team sifted evangelicals out of the larger Protestant pool by asking participants to affirm or question basic doctrinal statements, such as, "The Bible is the written word of God and is totally accurate in all that it teaches" and "Eternal salvation is possible through God's grace alone."

The split between Catholics and evangelicals jumped out of the statistics.

It's clear that most Americans are operating with definitions of sin that are highly personal and constantly evolving, said Sellers. These beliefs are linked to faith, morality, worship and the Bible, but also are affected by trends in media, education and politics. For example, 94 percent of political conservatives believe there is such a thing as sin, compared to 89 percent of political moderates and 77 percent of liberals.

The declining numbers on certain sins would have been even more striking if the Ellison researchers hadn't added a strategic word to its survey.

The study defined "sin" as "something that is almost always considered wrong, particularly from a religious or moral perspective."

Note that linguistic cushion -- "almost."

"We had to put that 'almost' in there," Sellers said. "Most Americans do not believe in absolute truths, these days. So if you present them with a statement that contains an absolute truth, people are immediately going to start challenging you and looking for some wiggle room. ... They just can't deal with absolute statements and that messes up your survey."

Terry Mattingly directs the Washington Journalism Center at the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities. His Web site is www.tmatt.net. His column is distributed by Scripps Howard News Service.

Labels: Catholic, Ellison Research, evangelicals, Pope Benedict XVI, sin, Terry Mattingly

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Monday, April 21, 2008

A Populist Shift Confronts the U.S. Catholic Church

Piotr Redlinski
for The New York Times

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To say she was a practicing Catholic would be an understatement. For years, Maria Aparecida Calazans was a mainstay at her Long Island church, joining dozens of fellow Brazilian immigrants for the Portuguese language Mass on Sunday mornings. She and her husband, Ramon, were married at the church. Their two daughters were baptized there, and every Friday she attended a prayer meeting that she had helped organize.

But six years ago, her husband went to a relative’s baptism at a Pentecostal church in a warehouse in Astoria, Queens, and came home smitten.

The couple made a deal. “We would go to the Pentecostal service on Thursdays and to Mass on Sundays, and then we would decide which one we felt most comfortable with,” Mrs. Calazans said.

Within 40 days, they had given up Roman Catholicism and embraced Pentecostalism, following the path of the estimated 1.3 million Latino Catholics who have joined Pentecostal congregations since immigrating to the United States, according to a survey released in February by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life.

“I feel whole here,” Mrs. Calazans, 42, said one recent Sunday in the Astoria sanctuary, the Portuguese Language Pentecostal Missionary Church, as she swayed to the pop-rock beat of a live gospel band. “This church is not a place we visit once a week. This church is where we hang around and we share our problems and we celebrate our successes, like we were family.”

As Pope Benedict XVI completes his visit to the United States on Sunday with a Mass at Yankee Stadium, in a borough that has been home to generations of Latinos, he does so facing something of a growing challenge to the church’s immigrant ranks.

For if Latinos are feeding the population of the church, many have also turned to Pentecostalism, a form of evangelical Christianity that stresses a personal, even visceral, connection with God.

Today, it has more Latino followers in the United States than any other denomination except Catholicism; they are drawn, they say, by the faith’s joyous worship, its use of Latino culture and the enveloping sense of community it offers to newcomers. As the Pew survey revealed, half of all Latinos who have joined Pentecostal denominations were raised as Catholics.

They are part of a global shift. Pentecostalism, the world’s fastest-growing branch of Christianity, has made such sharp inroads in Latin America, particularly in Brazil, that in an address to bishops there last year, Pope Benedict listed its ardent proselytizing as one of the major forces the Catholic Church must contend with in the region.

Catholic leaders and experts on the church in the United States say that the impact of Pentecostalism has been less dramatic here. Still, the pope has urged the nation’s bishops to make every effort to welcome immigrants — “to share their joys and hopes, to support them in their sorrows and trials, and to help them flourish in their new home.” And any number of Catholic clergy and laypeople have conceded that the church needs to work harder at reaching, and keeping, its Latino flock.

“That some of the newly arrived Latinos are drawn to Pentecostalism is certainly reason for concern,” said the Rev. Allan Figueroa Deck, the executive director of the Office for Cultural Diversity, which was created last June by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops to help the church adjust to its changing ethnic makeup.

“But we can counter that with the kind of music we use, with the sense of celebration that we bring to our worship, the spontaneity and some of the popular customs that are not part of the official liturgy of the church. We’re doing some of that, but we could do better.”

The Pentecostal church in Astoria vividly shows what Catholicism is up against. It offers enough activities to fill a family’s calendar: services on Sunday and Thursday, youth group meetings on Friday, a Bible study group on Wednesday and all-night prayer vigils throughout the year. Then there are the birthday and engagement parties, to which every congregant is invited.

The church, on the second floor of a stucco building opposite a nightclub and three blocks from the subway, is half house of worship and half community center. It ministers primarily to a single immigrant group, Brazilians, in the group’s language, Portuguese — much as the ethnic urban parishes founded by European Catholics did more than a century ago.

Labels: Brazil, Catholic, Latinos, Pentecostal, Piotr Redlinski, Pope Benedict XVI

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Saturday, April 19, 2008

Pope Benedict : A view from within

Published April 19, 2008 12:35 am -
By James F. Drane

An informative, interesting article. Click on "external source" to view it in its entirety.

All the attention being given to Benedict XVI in the media during his visit here provides an opportunity for Americans to learn something about the Papacy — an office that has had enormous influence, both good and bad, on Western history. Most people know who the pope is and his leadership role in the Catholic Church. But not many know much about the history of his office or its evolution over almost two millennia.

Some of the more than 200 popes who preceded Benedict in the office are remembered for their saintliness and their model leadership skills. Others are remembered for their sins and for the harms which they inflicted on the church world-wide. The enduring and scandalous fragmentation of the Christian community into Protestants and Catholics can be understood in different ways, but no historian would deny that the sins of some Renaissance popes had a powerfully destructive influence on church unity. Most 16th century Protestant reformers focused attention on examples of papal debauchery. Some fundamentalist Protestant ministers continue to tag all popes and the papal office with the adjective “satanic.” In fact, however, there were both saints and sinners among the hundreds of popes. Those who use terms like satanic to describe all holders of the papal office say more about themselves, their bigotry and prejudice than they do about the papacy.

Hope, the pope argues, is important at different stages of life. Young people need hope to be able to commit themselves to a career or to a relationship. Then at midlife, hope is needed again to be able to keep going after failures, disappointments and declining capabilities. Finally, as physical beings, we must die and leave behind anything and everything we have accomplished. Without hope in something more, human life would be defined by loss, despair and depression. With hope believers can anticipate being united with God and life eternal. Hope is the only cure for the inevitable suffering at the end of life. Societies which do not help members to handle suffering at the end are defined as cruel and inhumane. The injustices of history, the pope insists, cannot be the final word or the defining reality.

One issue which the pope refers to over and over is the necessary relationship between faith and reason, religion and science. One without the other, he argues, becomes a distortion and leads to destruction. For him, the fundamental error of our contemporary age is secularization; the attempt to replace religion and faith with salvation through science and material progress. He traces this error to the beginning of modern science (Francis Bacon) and sees Karl Marx and 20th century communism as prime examples of this error.

Unlike popes during the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries who took a negative and combative stance against the modern Enlightenment culture, Benedict cites Enlightenment heroes to make his point on the need for religion and science to remain in relationship. He cites Albert Einstein for example, who warned that “if technical progress is not matched by corresponding progress in ethical formation, then it is not progress at all but a threat.” Without religion, science is a threat. Without science and reason, religion is a threat. Benedict also cites Immanuel Kant to make the same point. Throughout the document, he cites Adorno, Bacon, Dostoevsky and Plato.

Drane is the Russell D. Roth Professor of Bioethics at Edinboro University of Pennsylvania. Drane said he and Ratzinger “crossed paths” while they both studied in Rome in the late 1940s and early ’50s. A decade later, Ratzinger worked with German bishops, while Drane, a former Catholic priest, was working with Jesuit scholars who took part in creating the Second Vatican Council documents of the 1960s.

Labels: history, hope, James F. Drane, Papacy, Pope Benedict XVI, religion

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Thursday, April 17, 2008

Religion Not Just a Private Affair, Affirms Pontiff

Encourages Prelates to Remove Obstacles to Encounter With God

WASHINGTON, D.C., APRIL 16, 2008 (Zenit.org).-

Benedict XVI says that any tendency to treat religion as a private matter should be resisted, and that faith should permeate every aspect of life.

The Pope affirmed this today in an address to the bishops of the United States at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. His discourse ranged in topics from immigration to the formation of priests. As he left the shrine, the prelates sang him "Happy Birthday," -- the Pope turns 81 today.

The Holy Father emphasized the key role of bishops during his address, asking how, "in the 21st century, a bishop can best fulfill the call to 'make all things new in Christ, our hope'? How can he lead his people to 'an encounter with the living God'?"

"Perhaps he needs to begin by clearing away some of the barriers to such an encounter," the Pontiff proposed.

He explained: "While it is true that this country is marked by a genuinely religious spirit, the subtle influence of secularism can nevertheless color the way people allow their faith to influence their behavior.

"Is it consistent to profess our beliefs in church on Sunday, and then during the week to promote business practices or medical procedures contrary to those beliefs? Is it consistent for practicing Catholics to ignore or exploit the poor and the marginalized, to promote sexual behavior contrary to Catholic moral teaching, or to adopt positions that contradict the right to life of every human being from conception to natural death? Any tendency to treat religion as a private matter must be resisted. Only when their faith permeates every aspect of their lives do Christians become truly open to the transforming power of the Gospel."

Obstacles

Benedict XVI proposed further obstacles to this "encounter with the living God," perhaps particularly faced by Americans. One such barrier is materialism, he said: "People today need to be reminded of the ultimate purpose of their lives. They need to recognize that implanted within them is a deep thirst for God.

"It is easy to be entranced by the almost unlimited possibilities that science and technology place before us; it is easy to make the mistake of thinking we can obtain by our own efforts the fulfillment of our deepest needs. This is an illusion. Without God, who alone bestows upon us what we by ourselves cannot attain, our lives are ultimately empty."

Another possible obstacle, the Holy Father affirmed, is an overemphasis on freedom and autonomy, which makes it "easy to lose sight of our dependence on others as well as the responsibilities that we bear toward them."

"This emphasis on individualism has even affected the Church, giving rise to a form of piety which sometimes emphasizes our private relationship with God at the expense of our calling to be members of a redeemed community," he noted. "If we are truly to gaze upon him who is the source of our joy, we need to do so as members of the people of God. If this seems counter-cultural, that is simply further evidence of the urgent need for a renewed evangelization of culture."

Public life

The Pontiff further encouraged the bishops to give priority to education and to participate in the exchange of ideas in the public square.

"In the United States, as elsewhere, there is much current and proposed legislation that gives cause for concern from the point of view of morality, and the Catholic community, under your guidance, needs to offer a clear and united witness on such matters," he said. "Yet it cannot be assumed that all Catholic citizens think in harmony with the Church's teaching on today's key ethical questions.

"Once again, it falls to you to ensure that the moral formation provided at every level of ecclesial life reflects the authentic teaching of the Gospel of life."

In this context, the Bishop of Rome encouraged the formation of families: "How can we not be dismayed as we observe the sharp decline of the family as a basic element of Church and society? Divorce and infidelity have increased, and many young men and women are choosing to postpone marriage or to forego it altogether.

He added: "To some young Catholics, the sacramental bond of marriage seems scarcely distinguishable from a civil bond, or even a purely informal and open-ended arrangement to live with another person. Hence we have an alarming decrease in the number of Catholic marriages in the United States together with an increase in cohabitation, in which the Christ-like mutual self-giving of spouses, sealed by a public promise to live out the demands of an indissoluble lifelong commitment, is simply absent."

"It is your task," the Pope told the prelates, "to proclaim boldly the arguments from faith and reason in favor of the institution of marriage. […] This message should resonate with people today, because it is essentially an unconditional and unreserved 'yes' to life, a 'yes' to love, and a 'yes' to the aspirations at the heart of our common humanity, as we strive to fulfill our deep yearning for intimacy with others and with the Lord."

Labels: God, individualism, materialism, morality, Pope Benedict XVI, religion

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Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Diverse religious, political strains to greet pope

By Sharon Schmickle
Tuesday, April 15, 2008

When Pope Benedict XVI lands at Andrews Air Force Base today, he will be welcomed by a nation that is teeming with religious intensity surpassing anything he could hope to find in Europe.

A good share of the religious rhetoric has as much to do with politics as with spirituality in this highly charged election year. And a good share of the religious tension comes within the ranks of Catholics themselves, who disagree with Rome and each other over birth control, the role of women in the church and other issues.

But this pope already has taken bold strides into broader issues that are roiling America in its pews and in its streets. Catholics and non-Catholics alike will be listening for his message on the Iraq war, the environment and the moral state of the nation.

Pope Benedict has consistently opposed the Iraq war from its beginning. On Palm Sunday this year, he thundered, "Enough with the bloodshed, enough with the violence, enough with the hatred in Iraq!"

The pope's main reason for visiting the United States is to speak before the United Nations on Friday, said the National Catholic Register.

Still, pundits don't expect to see the pope launch a direct broadside against President Bush's foreign policy or to comment on the U.S. election, said the Associated Press.

The pope's itinerary also calls for him to address leaders in Roman Catholic higher education, pray at Ground Zero and hold Masses in the new Nationals Park in Washington and Yankee Stadium in New York. His 81st birthday is Wednesday, and a party is planned in Washington.

The environment

At the United Nations, the pope also is expected to deliver a powerful warning over climate change in a move to adopt protection of the environment as a moral cause for Catholics, The Independent of London reported.

Benedict has earned the title "green pope" for his emphasis on a duty to "protect creation" and safeguard the poorest on the planet from the effects of global warming.

"Before it is too late, it is necessary to make courageous decisions that reflect knowing how to re-create a strong alliance between man and the earth," he told a youth audience in September.

Vatican City recently became the world's first carbon-neutral state, offsetting its carbon footprint by planting a forest in Hungary and installing solar panels on the roof of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.

Clergy sex abuse

Some Catholics are disappointed that the pope isn't visiting the Archdiocese of Boston, where the clergy sex-abuse crisis erupted in 2002 and then spread nationwide, the AP said.

However, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone — the Vatican secretary of state — told the AP that Benedict will address the scandal during his trip and "will try to open the path of healing and reconciliation." A likely forum could be when Benedict speaks to priests during a Saturday morning Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York.

Diverse voices

By several measures, the United States is one of the most devout nations in the developed world. But the faithful often disagree vehemently. And, whether or not he sees it, the full flavor of that diversity will greet the pope. Groups advocating a stronger role for women, gay marriage and peace are prepared to demonstrate along the papal route.

Some Catholics also will urge the pope to remonstrate against mass consumerism, rampant free enterprise, and the neoconservative agenda for global democratic revolution, said the feisty American Conservative magazine.

They may not be disappointed. The Conservative predicted the pope will speak to such issues, reflecting themes of a forthcoming social encyclical, which is expected to be published on May 1.

"The document may touch on subjects that make many conservatives blush," the Conservative said.

Labels: Catholic, environmentalism, Iraq, Pope Benedict XVI, priest sex scandal, Sharon Schmickle, Unites States