Posts Tagged ‘Equality Bill’
Morning Catholic must-reads
Pope Benedict’s landmark meeting with the Irish bishops got underway yesterday (video).
We are led to believe the Pope has done nothing about priestly abuse, says David Quinn, when, in fact, he has said and done quite a lot.
The Diocese of Middlesbrough has appealed against a ruling that it was responsible for physical and sexual abuse at a Catholic children’s home.
Neil Addison, a barrister and expert on religious freedom, names the best articles to have come out the Pope Equality Bill furore.
Archbishop Vincent Nichols of Westminster received an honorary doctoral degree from Birmingham City University yesterday.
The theologian Fr Aidan Nichols OP answers the critics of the Catholic Church in his new book.
John Smeaton of SPUC urges the English and Welsh bishops to “cease their collaboration on pro-life/pro-family issues with the Government“.
The Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei has issued some “important clarifications” of the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum.
Radio Prague profiles the city’s new archbishop, while the Prague Daily Monitor says he hopes to settle long-running Church-state disputes.
Established missionaries in Haiti are suspicious of the wave of newcomers, the New York Times reports.
Bishops from across the Americas are gathering in Canada to discuss the challenges of priestly life.
American Catholics of all ages believe moral values are in decline, a new survey says.
Michael Sean Winters hails the creators of a new billboard campaign in Georgia linking abortion and race.
The Church is to advise priests not to perform weddings on cruise ships.
David Blackburn of the Spectator says L’Osservatore Romano’s list of “pop milestones” is surprisingly hip.
And Yahoo! Sports hails the champion speedskater who became a nun.
Morning Catholic must-reads
Pope Benedict XVI said the Beatitudes offer “a new horizon of justice” in his Angelus address yesterday, after visiting a Caritas shelter for the homeless in Rome (Angelus video here, full text of Caritas address here).
Archbishop Bernard Longley of Birmingham has issued his first pastoral letter.
A petition urging the British Government not to pay a penny for Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to Britain has gathered 20,000 signatures and will be handed in at Downing Street on March 4.
Archbishop Vincent Nichols of Westminster has said that Britons no longer know how to deal with death.
The Equality Bill’s report stage will take place on March 2.
The report stage and third reading of a Bill making sex education compulsory for 16-year-olds will take place on February 23.
The BBC is to broadcast a three-part documentary featuring Francis Campbell, the British Ambassador to the Holy See.
The Franciscans have announced that they are giving up their British mother house.
John Allen previews Pope Benedict’s summit with the Irish bishops this week, while Colum Kenny argues that it is more about power than justice.
The Pope has picked a Czech bishop once jailed and forced into factory work under Communism to lead Prague archdiocese.
The Pope has urged members of the Pontifical Academy for Life to protect and safeguard human life (video, full text).
Benedict XVI has led a lectio divina meditation at the Pontifical Roman Major Seminary (video).
The Church must “open its arms to all migrants“, a Vatican congress has declared.
Pope Benedict is tipped to make as many as four new Asian cardinals at the next consistory, expected in October.
This Friday an ordinary public consistory will be held for the canonisation of six Blesseds.
Police in Philadelphia have arrested a priest for possession of cocaine.
Cardinal Seán O’Malley has written to female religious in Boston archdiocese urging them to cooperate with the Apostolic Visitation of US women religious.
George Weigel says the Obama administration is pushing an “anorexic” notion of religious freedom around the world.
John Allen says the most senior African prelate in the Roman Curia is determined to take risks.
Astrology and Feng Shui can draw people closer to God, a Filipino bishop has claimed.
Andrew Gray says Pope Benedict’s visit to Scotland will give a fillip to the fight against the “culture of death”.
Fr Tim Finigan spots an unusual calendrical coincidence related to the apparitions at Lourdes.
Fr John Flynn, LC, criticises the “growing trend” of humanising pets.
A small group of Christian Conservatives are rewriting Tory party doctrine, argues the FT.
L’Osservatore Romano has named the Oasis album What’s The Story Morning Glory? one of the 10 greatest albums of all time.
Jessica Alba has said she will not take off her clothes in a film because of her Catholic upbringing.
And new video purports to show Hitler’s furious reaction to the pontificate of Pope Benedict XVI.
Morning Catholic must-reads
The Equality Bill continues to provoke debate. Martin Salter MP has apologised for calling the Pope “a bloke in a dress”. E Jane Dickson says that if she were the Pope, she wouldn’t quote Aristotle. Jonathan Chaplin, Jonathan Oliver and Peter Hitchens defend the Pontiff. And the Christian Science Monitor offers an interesting summary of the debate from across the pond.
The Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, has implied that Anglicans accepting the Pope’s offer will not be “truly converted Roman Catholics”.
Church of Scotland ministers are not happy with Pope Benedict’s address to the Scottish bishops.
Jeff Israely of Time says Pope Benedict XVI will bring a tough message to Britain in September.
Bishop Bernard Fellay, the superior general of the SSPX, has said that reaching agreement with the Holy See is not possible “in human terms”.
German Mariologist Manfred Hauke suggests that the alleged messages of the Virgin Mary at Medjugorje “contain elements that speak clearly against a supernatural origin of the phenomenon”.
Catholic business executives have honoured the pro-life work of George W Bush, to the irritation of John Gehring of Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good.
The Brazilian landowner accused of ordering the murder of American nun Dorothy Stang is back in jail.
Two American street preachers have been shot and killed by a teenager who apparently opposed their message.
Fr Mauro Gagliardi’s commentary on the Lectionary and Liturgy of the Word in the two forms of the Roman Rite is now available in English.
The official website of the Newman Cause hails the decision of the Bishops of England and Wales to end their ad limina visit with Mass in the church where John Henry Newman was ordained a Catholic priest.
John Allen awards Cardinal George Pell the title of number one “rumour magnet” in the Catholic Church and defends the use of the term “Taliban Catholicism” (to the consternation of Jimmy Akin).
Max Hastings says legalised assisted suicide would be “a path to barbarity“.
On the Commonweal website, Eric Bugyis suggests that calls for “civility” are just a way of closing down debate.
And an atheist preacher has been allowed to stay in office after a court ruled that his views did not differ fundamentally from those of liberal theologians in the Protestant Church of the Netherlands.
Morning Catholic must-reads
Pope Benedict XVI has given his support to priest-bloggers in his World Communications Day message (full text here).
The Pope has decided to create a new commission to investigate alleged apparitions at Medjugorje, Cardinal Christoph Schönborn has said.
We must ask God for the gift of the complete unity of all the disciples of Christ, the Pope said yesterday during his Angelus address (video here).
As the Archbishop of Port-au-Prince was laid to rest, the Pope sent a letter of condolence to the president of Haiti, Vatican Radio reports (audio).
The Archbishop of Canterbury has attended a Mass at Westminster Cathedral celebrated by Archbishop Vincent Nichols (photos here).
Faith schools “must be absolutely clear about the importance of civil partnerships“, Education Secretary Ed Balls has said.
The Murphy Report has become an unlikely bestseller in Ireland.
The new Chaldean Archbishop of Mosul has been installed, succeeding the slain Archbishop Paulos Faraj Rahho.
An eight-month-old boy is being cared for after being taken from his home in Nottinghamshire and abandoned on the steps of an Irish cathedral.
A pro-life advertisement will air during this year’s Superbowl.
The Guardian publishes an approving profile of “America’s last late-term abortionist“.
No Hidden Magenta wonders why pro-lifers have embraced the pro-choice Scott Brown.
Simon Sarmiento accuses the churches of panicking over the Equality Bill.
Fr Ray Blake says Benedict XVI’s policy on distributing Holy Communion at papal liturgies is “absurd and nonsensical“.
Adam Kirsch says Hans Küng offers Judaism backhanded praise in his latest book.
James Wood reflects on how preachers deal with natural disasters like the earthquake in Haiti.
Francis X Clooney SJ says we shouldn’t completely dismiss Pat Robertson’s comments about Haiti and Peter Schineller SJ considers whether the Church supports “the right to loot“.
And Pope Benedict has announced plans to build a second Vatican on the moon by the year 2017 (audio).
Morning Catholic must-reads
Rocco Palmo applauds the appointment of a woman, Dr Flaminia Giovanelli, to a high-ranking post in the Roman Curia.
Pope Benedict XVI gave the traditional blessing of lambs on the feast of St Agnes yesterday (video here).
Cardinal Bertone will remain in his post as Vatican Secretary of State even though he has reached the age of retirement.
Giles Pinnock reports on the funeral Mass of Mgr Graham Leonard, the former Anglican Bishop of London.
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, speaks to Vatican Radio about the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (audio).
The Bishop of Winchester, the Rt Rev Michael Scott-Joynt, has described the Equality Bill as “irrational and ignorant”.
As many as 30 seminarians were killed in the Haiti earthquake, Zenit reports.
Fr David Jaeger gives an insight into the delicate state of relations between Israel and the Holy See.
William Saletan uncovers the practice of sex-selection abortion in the United States.
The Mirror of Justice has begun its discussion of John Allen’s important new book The Future Church.
And American bishop who is due for retirement has earned the ultimate accolade: he has become a bobblehead.
Morning Catholic must-reads
Pope Benedict has denounced clashes between African immigrants and the local population in southern Italy, as well as the murder of Copts in Egypt.
He has also visited the French Cardinal Roger Etchegaray, who was hospitalised after breaking a hip during the Pope’s Midnight Mass security scare, and praised the Pontifical North American College.
The Holy Year of St James has begun in style at Santiago de Compostela.
Malaysia’s Christians are defying recent attacks.
The man who nearly killed John Paul II is reportedly considering book and film offers.
This is what the Pope said during his recent visit to a Rome soup kitchen.
Cindy Wooden previews Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to Rome’s Great Synagogue next Sunday.
John Allen wonders how the Vatican will react to signs of secularisation in Latin America.
A leading charity says a new British Government Bill will make it illegal for the Catholic Church to deny ordination to women.
Fr Tim Finigan explains what it’s like to celebrate Mass in St Peter’s Basilica.
Mulier Fortis ponders what’s behind the “Stand Up for Vatican II” campaign.
Broadcaster Simon Mayo claims the BBC is “driving religion to the margin”.
Mgr Graham Leonard’s funeral will take place at the Oxford Oratory on January 21.
The Archdiocese of Milwaukee has defended a controversial sculpture of the disgraced former Archbishop Rembert Weakland.
Thinking Faith, the online journal of the British Jesuits, reviews two major new books about Christian-Muslim relations.
A new documentary about the Catholic novelist Walker Percy will air in America this year.
New Atheists are upset by the “God mode” in Windows 7.
And Mel Gibson urges politicians to read the work of Hilaire Belloc.
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