This is a complex situation, but Jack Fowler at NRO’s The Corner does a good job explaining it:

Notre Dame philosophy professor David Solomon posted a devastating analysis on his “Ethics and Culture in the News” blog on a troubling campus development: the sacking of long-time ND staffer Bill Kirk, the only man from the university [senior] administration who joined an on-campus pro-life “NDResponse” rally last year (also attended by South Bend Bishop John D’Arcy) protesting the selection of Barack Obama as the commencement speaker.

Kirk and his wife Elizabeth are prominent campus abortion foes (she was assistant director of one of the few institutes on campus that is avowedly pro-life and orthodox). Now their voices have been silenced, and by the same people who gnash their teeth and pluck their beards about living wages, unionization, fair treatment of employees, and the rest of the Catholic Left’s lobbying agenda. One can hear the college brass channeling Henry II: Will no one rid us of this troublesome pro-life Associate Vice-President for Residence Life? 

The decision to fire Bill Kirk was made by Father Tom Doyle, ND’s new VP for Student Affairs. If someone can dig up an email address for Fr. Doyle I think it would be appropriate to send him a brief note asking him to explain why he fired Bill Kirk. More context from David Solomon:

The parents of two young adopted children, Bill and Elizabeth Kirk were in the process, as Bill Kirk’s bosses well knew, of adopting a third child at the time he was fired.  Can one imagine Father Doyle firing an at-will employee of Notre Dame with 22 years of service, two toddlers at home and a wife in the early stages of labor with a third child?  As adoptive parents, this was the Kirk’s situation.  The disruption in their life, and the life of their young family, suddenly and with no prior notice, has been wrenching for them as well as for their many friends.  The excuse given for Bill Kirk’s firing, “restructuring”, seems strange indeed.  It is impossible to believe, for example, that the firing was part of a larger organizational shift in the Office of Residence Life, since Bill Kirk seems to be the only person in the office whose job was eliminated. 

I think simple justice demands that the Notre Dame administration explain itself to the Catholic community.

Today I’m flying down to Birmingham, AL to tape an episode of Life on the Rock for EWTN. I’m very excited about this opportunity and will let you know the air date as soon as possible.

If you want to submit a question to be asked during the taping tonight, email Jill at jsanders@ewtn.com

As is typical on a travel day, I’ll be more active on AmP Twitter than on the blog today.

Please say a prayer for safe travels and a good conversation!

Great plains papist Jack Smith at the Catholic Key Blog give us some welcome tidings:

This blog has had at least a dozen posts on the background and doings of Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good over the last couple years, but this may be the last (let’s hope). It appears they are out of business. Let’s consider the evidence.

The whole operation has folded up, right down to the phone number being disconnected.

Back in May I wrote a lengthy post detailing the anti-Catholic hatred of the Church espoused by Alfred Rotondaro, the chairman of the governing board of CACG. At the time I demanded that CACG fire Mr. Rotondaro and apologize for the scandal he has caused the Church. Evidently CACG has decided instead to simply pull up stake.

As Jack Smith points out, this is probably because CACG has outlived the use it was originally created for – to deceive Catholics about important issues:

I’ve long asserted that CACG was a campaign organization and not a non-partisan advocate of Catholic Social Teaching as many news outfits have gullibly or willfully maintained. With the president elected and health care passed, it looks, for now, like the campaign is over.

Another reason CACG may have been abandoned is that prominent Catholic bishops had begun identifying it in public as a fake Catholic organization (notably Archbishop Charles Chaput). Fake Catholic organizations are less effective once they can no longer claim to be faithful groups.

Let’s recap a few other important points about CACG:

• Where does their money come from? Liberals like George Soros
• What issues do they focus on? Liberal pet projects
• What do they publish? Misleading information
• Where do they hang out? Democrat conventions and strategy sessions
• What do they do during elections? Make your parish parking lot a political hot zone
• And what happens to them when their work is done? They get jobs from those they helped elect

Well, good riddance, I say!

What can we do to prevent other organizations like CACG which are still in existence from being effective? We can actively resist and call out as insincere those fake Catholics organizations that still exist, such as Catholics United and National Catholic Reporter.

Here’s to a future full of folded Catholyc organizations.

“My homily from last Sunday is under review by the pope, you say?!”

Photo: AP Photo / ddp / Thomas Wieck

An off-beat but amazing nonetheless story from the Big Apple:

  A New York City man who plunged 40 stories from the rooftop of an apartment building has survived after crashing onto a parked car.

Witnesses and police say 22-year-old Thomas Magill jumped from the high-rise at West 63rd Street on Tuesday. He landed in the backseat area of a Dodge Charger after crashing through the windshield.

He suffered broken legs. Police say he’s in critical condition.

The car’s owner, Guy McCormack, of Old Bridge, N.J., told the Daily News he’s convinced that rosary beads he kept inside the Dodge saved Magill’s life. (MyFoxNY)

Ph/t: The Dawn Patrol

One of the exciting things about collaborating with the CatholicVote team (Brian, Josh, Kara and Pat) is that they always have something cool up their sleeve. This time it’s a chance for YOU to appear in our next CatholicVote election commercial Our last election video has been viewed almost 3 million times!

CatholicVote is a community of several hundred thousand members, but because it’s primarily a virtual community, we don’t get much face time with each other. Now that can change, thanks to our new “I am the Catholic Vote” campaign:

1. Send us your name and mailing address. We will mail you a “I AM THE CATHOLIC VOTE” campaign sign immediately. Contact us at iVote2010@catholicvote.org.
2. Write a message for your sign (the young woman in the photo chose “because … American Deserves Better” – nice!)
3. Take a video or photo of you/your friends with the sign. The most creative/awesome submissions will be chosen! But remember to be safe, and don’t break any laws. 
4. Send your completed HD video or high-res digital photo to us at iVote2010@catholicvote.org. If the file is too big to email, upload it here. 

I’m excited to see what the CatholicVote community comes up with. Every time I’ve met someone in person who is a CatholicVote member I’ve been impressed by their faith, joy and energy. I’m trusting these traits will shine through in the submissions we receive, and that they will prove to be a great witness in our next election video.

I just got my “I am the Catholic Vote” poster in the mail and I’m already busy plotting my submission!

Last Friday Fr. Thomas Euteneuer, President of Human Life International since 2000, announced to his friends that he had been invited by his bishop (Most Rev. Gerald Barbarito) to return to his home diocese of West Palm Beach. HLI has chosen an interim President and is looking for a permanent replacement for Fr. Euteneur.

Several readers have contacted me and asked if there is more to the story. Some commenters have said Fr. Euteneuer’s departure was abrupt and unexpected. I don’t have any inside information on this one, but what I have access to publicly suggests that there isn’t anything questionable about the situation.

Priests who are incardinated in a diocese always serve outside the diocese at the pleasure of their bishop, and the diocese always has “first rights” to their priestly ministry. Despite the Diocese of Palm Beach’s rocky past, the diocese’ recent public statements suggest Bishop Barbarito is a good bishop and it is not surprising that he might want as excellent and energetic a priest as Fr. Euteneuer back home for a time so that he can contribute to the life of the diocese. We live in a time when amazing priests are a precious resource, and just like a priest must be obedient to the needs of his diocese, we must be obedient to the needs of the universal church.

Most revealing to me are Fr. Euteneur’s own words:

“…my discernment about this decision tells me that this is the right thing for me to do and at the right time. I have great peace about the road that lies ahead and about all that has been accomplished up to this point.”

Please join me in praying for Fr. Euteneur as he begins a new stage in his priestly vocation, and pray for the good work of Human Life International as they search for a new President.

Typically I post items (which I don’t have time to blog about) to my AmP twitter feed but this morning I wanted to share what I’m reading with my blog-based subscribers as well. The end of August is often a slow news week as everyone tries to fit in their last bits of vacation before September begins, so I figure now is the time to catch up on some article reading.

• Hadley Arkes on “Doerflinger at the Ramparts” (pro-life)
• Jonathan Fitzgerald on “Evangelicals Crossing the Tiber to Catholicism” (ecumenism)
• Bryan Berry on “Why Catholic Teaching on Homosexuality Isn’t Bigoted” (church teaching)
• Sandro Magister on “Maciel’s Ghost Still Haunts the Castle” (scandal follow-up)
• Jude Huntz on “A Model for Reforming CCHD” (enough complaining, let’s do something)
• Lisa Wangsness on “Archdiocese [of Boston] limits access to critics’ blogs” (no comment, for now)
• CNA on “Trapped miners to set up make-shift chapel to pray for rescue” (pray for them!)
• Steve Waldman on “Obama’s Fascinating Interview with Cathleen Falsani” (well, I guess)
• Jeffrey Tucker on “Why Catholics Don’t Understand Economics” (this is fascinating)
• Russell Shaw on “Marriage and the New Morality” (illuminating and useful)
• … and off-beat #11: Cleansing Fire on “The ‘Rite of Installation’… For A Layperson?” (yikes!)

Honestly, I’m hoping the only big news this week is Hurricane Earl. So when you’re done tracking the cone and battening down the hatches – take a gander at the items above!

While nuns in Austria spray people in the face with water to raise funds, nuns on this side of the Atlantic have their own unique approach to making their bottom line:

Sister James Dolores, 73, gives her best surfer-girl pose in Stone Harbor, NJ, where her Pennsylvania convent owns a beachfront retreat called Villa Maria by the Sea.

“I’m really getting the hang of this,” said the spritely, no-nonsense nun. “No one ever thought they’d see me on a board.”

Though Sister James, of Sister Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, doesn’t actually hang 10, the nun has a special relationship with local surfers, and her mother house will host its 15th annual Nun’s Beach Surf Invitational on Sept. 11. The proceeds go to the maintenance of the breathtaking, 6½-acre, 150-bedroom waterfront complex. (New York Post)

I think they should give out copies of Peter Kreeft’s I Surf, Therfore I am: A Philosophy of Surfing to the winners. The author introduces his work in this fashion:

This is the first book about surfing ever written by a philosopher. The author, a 70-year-old surfanatic, has been Professor of Philosophy at Boston College for over 40 years and has written 50 other books on philosophy, religion, and culture. But compared to this one, the others are nothing but straw.

Somehow I can’t imagine St. Thomas on a surfboard.

“No one leaves this meeting until the person who went joyriding last night in my popemobile fesses up!”

Photo: REUTERS / Osservatore Romano

I don’t consider myself the sentimental type but this photo taken yesterday at the National Shrine I thought was very uplifting:

More photos – and the story – from Renata.

CatholicVote was busy celebrating the 100th anniversary of Mother Teresa’s birth on our Facebook page yesterday, and papists were exchanging their favorite Mother Teresa quotes on Twitter.

“OOOOoooooohhh, you brought me CUPCAKES!!!“

Photo: AP Photo / Gregorio Borgia

Regular AmP readers know that I am no fan of President Obama.

But I am asking the question “Why would a Catholic like Obama?” in sincerity.

There are, I think, three reasons to like President Obama as a President:

• 1) You are inspired by his principles
• 2) You have trust in his abilities
• 3) He’s better than the alternative

I’ll take these in reverse order. #3 is not actually a reason to like Obama. It’s a reason to not not-like him. I “liked” John McCain not because I liked him, but I believed him to be a better alternative than Obama. But those who liked Obama because he wasn’t John McCain will face a different choice in November of 2012, which could prove interesting.

#2 is hard to believe, because Obama hasn’t really done anything effectively. Even liberals think he’s an ineffective President. We’re nearing the mid-point in his presidency, and what has he accomplished, except a disaster of a health care bill while the economy continues to flat-line? Remember, this was supposed to be “recovery summer.” Yeah, not so much.

In my talks with Catholic supporters of Obama, once they abandon the notion that he’s an effective President (i.e., someone with the ability to accomplish the responsibilities America has given to him), the last claim they make is that they are inspired by his principles (#3). “Hope”, “Change”, “overcoming the old politics and business as usual,” etc.

Vatican expert Sandro Magister has a fascinating column from Monday entitled “There’s a Strange Prophet in the White House.”

Magister makes the point that Obama’s rhetoric closely parallels that of a famous Christian heretic – Joachim of Fiore. So closely, in fact, that a hoax spread during his Presidential campaign claiming that the parallel with Fiore’s theology was intentional on Obama’s part. Even though this proved not to be the case, the similarity remains (I have underlined the most interesting passages):

In spite of the nonexistent citations, then, the resemblance remains between Obama’s rhetoric and the vision of Joachim of Fiore. The theologian and cardinal Henri De Lubac would have had no difficulty in adding Obama to the crowded ranks of the “Spiritual posterity of Joachim of Fiore,” the title of an extensive study he published thirty years ago on the influence that the utopia of that monk has had up until our time, inside and outside of Catholicism.

But once again, the contradiction reappears when one compares Obama’s speeches with his concrete decisions.

The troops in Afghanistan are still there, Guantanamo isn’t closing, federal money is on the verge of funding abortion . . . Day after day, the president’s actual decisions contrast with his statements. They always put off until an unspecified “tomorrow” the realization of the messianic utopia that his speeches continue to present.

The “new age” of Joachim of Fiore also failed to come about in 1260, the year indicated. But the dream survived. And Obama is promoting it again today in his role as the most powerful man in the world.

Cervi and Ferraresi write:

“The fact that Joachim’s words have been put in Obama’s mouth is a touch of irony that has every appearance of destiny. The millenarian, Joachimite, ultimately totalitarian impulse eliminates inexorable human finiteness to entrust the salvation of man to man, or at least to the one who shows himself capable of embodying the desire for change. It matters little whether he is a king, a philosopher, a half-saint, or the president of the United States.” 

In other words, Obama’s political vision is, at core, one of a human-engineered utopianism, which is deeply contrary to Christian hope in Christ and to the acknowledgement of mankind’s original fallenness. Obama believes that man can – of his own force – overcome the imperfection of his nature and create a perfect world … someday (but vote for him today).

So, if Obama’s abilities are seriously in question (#1), and his principles are contradictory to the Christian vision of the world (#3), what’s left, besides the fact that he may not be worse than someone else (#3)?

Why would a Catholic like Obama?

Some reports of this accident filtered there way to me last night, and I asked my twitter followers to begin praying. It turns out Doug Kmiec – notable Catholic for Obama and current U.S.  ambassador to Malta – was in a serious car accident yesterday:

Douglas Kmiec, current US Ambassador to Malta, was reported to have been involved in a serious car accident yesterday afternoon in Malibu, California.

Sister Mary Campbell from Our Lady of Malibu Catholic Church was killed in a one-car collision at Las Virgenes Canyon Road and Mulholland Drive on Wednesday afternoon.

Monsignor John Sheridan from OLM and former Pepperdine University law professor Douglas Kmiec were injured in the crash. They were reported to be in good condition following surgeries.

Press reports said that California Highway Patrol had limited information about the accident on Wednesday. (Malta Times)

The reports I heard was that Mr. Kmiec was doing well but Monsignor Sheridan was in need of more prayers.

It goes without saying that, while I realize many AmP readers are not huge fans of Mr. Kmiec’s recent legacy, only appropriate prayer intentions will be permitted in this comment thread.

Every year in August I have a series of special days. First, the 22nd (Queenship of Mary) is the anniversary of my reception into the Church. Then comes my birthday. Then, on the 26th, it is the anniversary of my wife's death.

Renee passed eighteen years ago today after a two-month battle with colon cancer. She had just turned 28.

You can read about it if you like.

I realized that I'd never put a picture of her online, and so I scanned this one.

You don't know it from looking at the picture, but she's actually standing on phone books to make her look taller.

In the words of a Mark Heard song,

I see you now and then in dreams
Your voice sounds just like it used to
I know you better than I knew you then
All I can say is I love you

I thought our days were commonplace
Thought they would number in millions
Now there's only the aftertaste
Of circumstance that can't pass this way again

Treasure of the broken land
Parched earth, give up your captive ones
Waiting wind of Gabriel
Blow soon upon the hollow bones

I can melt the clock hands down
But only in my memory
Nobody gets a second chance
To be the friend they meant to be.

This Sunday when I went to Mass there was a guest priest, someone I'd never seen before. As soon as I head him speak, I knew there was going to be trouble. While everyone as saying the Gloria, this is what the priest said:

Glory to God in the highest And peace to hisGod's people on earth.

"Oh, great," I thought. "We're already off to a bad start."

Things went downhill from there.

Not only did Fr. Gender Edit tamper with the Gloria, he also was seemingly unaware of the existence of the subjunctive mood in English. Thus whenever the text called for him to say, "The Lord be with you," he would instead say, "The Lord is with you."

This is wrong for so many reasons.

KEEP READING.

Yesterday Alaskans voted to approve “Ballot Measure 2″ which requires that parents in Alaska be notified before their teen age 17-or-younger daughter has an abortion. Alaskans passed this pro-life initiative 55-44, though the Anchorage Daily News didn’t even bother to mention the final figures in their coverage.

Let’s get this straight – Planned Parenthood opposes the idea that girls under 18 should have to inform their parents they intend to get an abortion, despite the medical risks associated with abortion, despite the fact that most every other non-emergency procedure already requires parental notification if the patient is a minor, and despite the fact that a majority of Americans support parental notification laws.

Planned Parenthood and the ACLU funneled $800,000 into its campaign to stop Measure 2, five times as much as supporters (the Knights of Columbus was the biggest financial supporter of the measure).

Congratulations to Alaskans for Parental Rights for a successful campaign (and impressive website), and to all the men and women who voted for the measure and helped gather support for this commonsense measure which will save lives.  And way to make Planned Parenthood waste some resources.

UPDATE – Michael New points out that this represents the first time pro-lifers have succeeded in passing a parental-notification law using the citizen-initiative process. More proof that the pro-life grassroots is becoming activated!

===

I know! This photo caused me to do a double-take as well. The source is the Archdiocese of Milwaukee’s Catholic Herald and here is the official caption: “During Archbishop Jerome E. Listecki’s July 29 visit to the Kettle Moraine Correctional Institution in Plymouth, he celebrated Mass in the chapel on the grounds, and smoked the peace pipe during a Native American pipe and drum ceremony.”

Remember: inappropriate captions won’t be approved.

Earlier this year I posted a Catholic manga (Japanese comic book) which tells the first part of St. Paul’s life. It was published by the creative folks at Atiqtuq (”ah tick took”). Now I’m excited to see that two more volumes have been published!

St. Paul: Tarsus to Redemption (Vol II) (Vol I)

In Volume 2, Paul has returned from years of solitude in the desert ready to begin his epic mission to Rome. The missionary finds new allies in Timothy, a zealous young Christian, and Phoebe, a spunky, street-smart firebrand. Paul scratches out a foundation for the underground community of believers. Along the way, he fights to protect his young followers and his Church from constant danger at the hands of thieving merchants, murderous mobs, and a shadowy band of Roman swordsmen.

And Judith: Captive to Conquerer…

The Jews have returned to Israel after the Babylonian captivity, but now a new threat looms on the horizon. Holofernes, the wicked and conniving general of the Assyrian army, is sent to conquer all the world’s temples, and now heads toward the Promised Land. But in Bethulia, the one city that stands between the Assyrians and Jerusalem, is Judith, the only woman with enough faith and courage to defend the Temple with her life.

What a great present for young Catholics!