Typically this would be a post I’d save for “Offbeat Friday”, but its in the news today:

A large statue of Jesus that has been seen by millions across the country was destroyed by a fire late Monday night.

The King of Kings statue that stood outside the Solid Rock Church located on Union Road just off Interstate 75 is now in ruins. Only a few wire frames are still standing. (WDTN)

Here is the video someone captured:

Mark Brumley at Insight Scoop has some magnificent comments to share about the melting of “Giant Butter Jesus”:

To be sure, the fire isn’t a “coincidence”, as one church member suggested. I’m not sure the church member had in mind what I do: when you build large fiberglass objects, you risk lightning striking them and burning them to the ground. That seems to be what happened here.

It might be expected by certain Christians that God would modified the laws of physics in the case of large fiberglass objects in the shape of Jesus, but apparently, in the divine wisdom, he has chosen to stick to the plan and have electricity work as electricity and fiberglass behave as fiberglass.   

The comment cake, however, has to go to The Courtier, who titled his post on the subject … wait for it:

“Will the REAL Touchdown Jesus Please Stand Up?”

Personally, I recommend going with stone – for obvious reasons:

Spare the rod, spoil the world – according to the Holy Father:

The Church too must use the shepherd’s rod, the rod with which he protects the faith against those who falsify it, against currents which lead the flock astray.

The use of the rod can actually be a service of love. Today we can see that it has nothing to do with love when conduct unworthy of the priestly life is tolerated.

Nor does it have to do with love if heresy is allowed to spread and the faith twisted and chipped away, as if it were something that we ourselves had invented.

- From the papal homily at the end of the year for priests this weekend (the entirety of which is well worth the read)

I could reflect on many things in this short passage, but I want to focus on one: Pope Benedict has highlighted here the connection between laxity of discipline and laxity of orthodoxy.

Therefore, according to the Holy Father, the Church best safeguards herself (and her children) when she is vigilant both about protecting and defending the truths of the Church (i.e., doctrine) and the disciplines of the Church (i.e., punishment of sin, intolerance of evil). Those who criticize the Church for not “cracking down” on her guilty priests ought to also criticize the Church when she does not “cracks down” on her guilty teachers (to put it in imprecise but effective terms). Similarly, those who find fault when the Church disciplines her wayward teachers should realize they are harming the ability of the Church to discipline her wayward pastors.

At the same time, the fullness of the Church involves both promoting virtue and chastity in its priests and lay people, as well as promoting fidelity to the saving teachings of Christ and understanding of those same teachings in the wider world around us.

A holy universal and Catholic church will always be unified by the teachings of Christ and the personal witness of her shepherds.

Well, at least you can be sure about one thing: the consecration was valid!

Photo: Reuters

My post revealing the final two candidates for the next President of the Catholic University of America has received considerable attention and debate, and tonight – the evening before the official announcement will be made – we know the winner: John Garvey, Dean of Boston College Law School.

You can read more about this story at Eagle Online – the publication of students at Boston College law school, or at the Washington Post.

Best wishes to the University as they begin this transition.

Update – I might mention that, despite the criticisms being weighed against Garvey in the comments, I’ve heard very good things about him from folks whose opinions I trust. Granted, I hope to take some time soon to form my own opinion from his record.

Papists,

Because of your active efforts in contacting Hyundai in the last twenty-four hours and charitably letting them know how offensive you believed the “Soccer Mass” ad I posted yesterday was to Catholics, I was informed today that Hyundai has decided to discontinue airing the ad completely and that they are now removing its traces from YouTube as well. Josh has posted a copy of the statement they are sending in response to your enquiries. 

Many of you will remember that back in March the efforts of the CatholicVote community prompted Kayak to remove its offensive anti-Catholic ad as well. These two actions demonstrated that companies and ad agencies will respond to the Catholic community when it presents itself as a unified voice for sanity and fairness. There are plenty of ways, after all, to sell products without needlessly attacking Catholics. And I’m happy that Hyundai has joined Kayak in realizing this simple point.

Well done.

Watching the World Cup this weekend? You may have been forced to watch this:

As a friend wrote me, “They pretty much make fun of the entire Mass.”

Think about it, the only reason anyone could possibly think this is clever is if they like and approve of making fun of Catholics and the things we hold dear. And once again, as I point out almost every time I have to mention something offensive to Catholics, I’m still waiting for an equal-opportunity offending corporation to create an ad that entirely makes fun of a Jewish or Muslim ceremony.

It’s time for open season on Catholics to end. It’s time for this “last acceptable prejudice” to vanish.

If you want to let Hyundai know how its ad is having the opposite from its intended effect, send them an email at consumeraffairs@hmausa.com.

A final dose of awesomeness!

November is now! Help mobilize the Catholic Vote!

What you decide today will determine how ambitious we are this fall. The most important midterm election in a generation is fast approaching. Please chip in $15, $25, or $50 and help us today.

Please help us spread the word! Tweet this entry, post the video to your facebook wall and send it to your friends! Together, Catholics can make the right difference in November.

You ain’t seen nothing yet, I promise!

Some of the recent topics I’ve discussed on the APP blog have some definite relevance to papists:

• GOP reminds President about abortion-spending promise (Remember that executive order preventing abortions with public funding? The President sure doesn’t want us to.)
• Planned Parenthood begins campaign requiring health insurers to hand out contraception (Thanks to the passage of Obamacare, your tax dollars at work in new ways.)
• Gov. Mitch Daniels mistakenly attempts to separate economic from social conservatism (Possible 2012 GOP Presidential candidate suggested there should be a national “truce” on social issues. Sorry Mitch, that’s not what the babies need.)

Tidings of joy for the diocese that most recently gave us Archbishops Burke and Listecki:

Today the Holy Father appointed Bishop William Patrick Callahan O.F.M. Conv., auxiliary of the archdiocese of Milwaukee, U.S.A., as bishop of La Crosse (area 39,037, population 902,000, Catholics 207,000, priests 189, permanent deacons 42, religious 412), U.S.A.

The news conference is taking place right now. More information at the Diocese of La Crosse website.

Bishop-designate Callahan, according to local Badger Catholic (what a great name!) was the first Conventual Franciscan to be named a bishop in the United States. His move to La Crosse is appropriate considering St. Francis is the secondary patron of the diocese.

The La Crosse Diocesan website already has a page set up for their new bishop, with notes of congratulation from previous ordinaries of the diocese.

This posts falls into the categories of both Friday Wierd and Crazy Catholyc.

If you had any need of being convinced that the Catholic Theological Society of America is a joke, just look at some of the topics (with their explanations) that they have chosen to address in their 65th annual meeting, starting today (original PDF source here):

• “Is Richard Dawkins a Prophetic Voice?” (”May … [Dawkins] be offering us theologians an opportunity to refine or clarify our teaching?”)
• “Transgendered Images of Breast Milk” (enough said)
• “Thomas Berry’s Groundwork for a Dark Green Catholic Theology” (”three scholars will … stimulate our consideration of [these thinkers'] contributions to addressing human-forced climate change”)
• “A Panel Discussion on Catholic Women Theologians on the HIV/AIDS Pandemic” (this is an important topic, but can anyone doubt that contraception will be suggested as a “neglected” solution?)
• “Made in the Image of God: Intersexuality and Revisioning of Theological Anthropology” (”The reality of intersex conditions and sexual development disorders suggests the need for a fundamental revisioning of the imago dei in human persons and all sex-based teleological understandings [and subsequent moral directives] of human personhood.” –> suffice it to say, this is a disastrous line of argument)

And then it gets really good:

• “Critical Responses to [the pope's latest encyclical] Caritas in Veritate” … led by arch-dissenter Charles Curran, who was thrown out of Catholic University of America for his open dissent to Humanae Vitae. 
• “The School of Compassion: A Roman Catholic Theology of Animals” (quack)
• “Can Christians Accept Muhammad as a Genuine Prophet and the Qur’an as God’s Word?” (the Muslim panelists “will answer the question in the affirmative” while the Christian panelist “will have her doubts…” –> well that’s not very re-assuring, now is it?)

I could go on and on, but you get the idea. I spent four years doing graduate work in theology (completing an M.A. and an S.T.B.), and somehow my course of studies neglected these “vital” questions. This neglect was intentional on my part, and happily I was never offered such kookiness at the schools I attended.

But goodness, what a lot of time the CTSA apparently has to waste at its conventions on topics which could so easily be judged as out of hand and beneath the dignity of a Catholic theologian … if only there were trying to do theology as Catholics.

Now of course, I’m not saying every member of the CTSA is crazy, and yes, there appeared along with these outrageous topics other topics which had the potential of being valuable and genuine. But once again, having known and studied under dozens and dozens of excellent, orthodox theologians here in the United States, I couldn’t find a single one of them who had been invited to participate in the CTSA’s multi-day conference. 

Maybe they were all too busy doing real theology to get distracted by this.

Ph/t: Dawn Eden.

Add your funny caption in the comment box below!

Photo submitted by AmP reader Miguel.

I have a busy day at the office, so I’m posting this without comment for now. This is a follow-up post to my previous story, “Ave Maria University sacrificing Catholic mission for Jackson Lab’s cash?”

AMU_NCBCSummaryPosition

When the pope says he needs candles, he needs candles NOW!!!

Photo: Reuters

One of the more curious legislative priorities of the Democrats these days is the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. With their repeal efforts almost complete (the Senate will take up the final bill sometime in the next couple weeks), Archbishop Timothy Broglio, the head of Catholics in the armed services, has fully entered the fray with an 11th-hour statement, as reported by Cliff Kincaid at Accuracy in Media:

Reacting to passage of pro-gay military legislation in the Congress, the Catholic Archbishop for the Military Services says repeal of the Pentagon’s homosexual exclusion policy would sanction “immoral activity” and “jeopardize morale, good morals, unit cohesion and every other factor that weakens the [military] mission.”

In a late-breaking development that could imperil the ultimate passage of legislation to open the military to open and active homosexuals, Archbishop Timothy Broglio, the chief shepherd of Catholics in the United States Armed Forces, has issued a powerful statement saying that the Bible demands disapproval of homosexuality and that “Under no circumstances can they [homosexual acts] be approved.”

Appointed as Archbishop of the Military Services on November 19, 2007, by Pope Benedict XVI, Broglio is in charge of certifying Roman Catholic chaplains to the United States government.

Refusing to beat around the bush in regard to the Bible’s condemnation of homosexuality, Broglio says in his statement that, “Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity, tradition has always declared that ‘homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered.’ They are contrary to the natural law.”

The Archbishop’s statement should also serve as a warning to the elected men and women who have (or are about to) vote this repeal into law, such as the House sponsor of the bill, Rep. Patrick Murphy, who is a Catholic. There are numerous Catholics among those Democrats who are expected to approve the final legislation in the Senate.

Homosexual activists have pursued the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell in order to further their wider and deeper cultural goals of normalizing government sponsorship of homosexual unions and activity. They are so focused on these goals that they have urged Congress to rush into repealing this policy before the military has been given a chance to review what sort of effects this will have on their war-time operations. The repeal is currently included in legislation designed to fund the military, placing representatives who oppose the repeal in the difficult position of having to vote against essential military funding or having to accept an activist social agenda.

It is not hard to imagine that once this policy is repealed, it will be more difficult for Catholic chaplains to preach from the bible about homosexuality and about the Church’s universal call to chastity in their sermons and ministry, and it is more possible to imagine them having to preside over homosexual unions down the road. Such coercion of religious chaplains may seem unthinkable now, but as I’ve written before, the eventual aims of the homosexual agenda are simply in conflict with faithful expressions of religious freedom and biblical teachings.

For now, the battleground is our men and women in uniform, and by speaking out against a repeal of this policy, Abp. Broglio has refused to abandon them and his obligation to preach the truth about the human person and human dignity.

A couple weeks ago I published a scoop that the next President of the Catholic University of America would be a lay person, and that the search had been narrowed down to two male candidates.

Now it appears very certain who these final two candidates are: Jim Towey of Saint Vincent College (left) and John Garvey, dean of the Boston College law school (right).

Towey served under President George Bush as director of the Office of Faith-Based and Community initiatives, and Garvey served as assistant to the Solicitor General of the United States.

I’d be curious to see which of these candidates AmP readers think CUA should go with, and what more they may know about either or both of these men.

All dressed up and nothing to consecrate!

Photo: AP

Philip Jenkins, who I’ve said before is the one of the world’s leading authorities on the clergy sexual abuse controversy, has an excellent article in USA Today which asks, “How serious is the ‘predator priest’ problem?”

Jenkins is a hero for the work he has done on this issue. He is a first-class academic who does not lightly take a side on a complex issue. And yet take sides he does on this issue – against those who attempt to villainize the Church:

No reputable scholar has ever conducted a survey of the abuse problem as it affects any other profession, in a way that would allow us to make direct comparisons with the Catholic clergy. If anyone believes that priests offend at a higher rate than teachers or non-celibate clergy, then they should produce the evidence on which they are basing that conclusion. I know of none. Saying “everybody knows” does not constitute scientific methodology.

… Why, then, do we hear so much about Catholic cases? What is different about the Catholic Church is the manner in which its problems have come to light, and this involves both the nature of the institution itself and the workings of the law. As a result, the church is much more open to civil litigation than any other institution. These lawsuits allow the exposure of numerous cases that would never have surfaced if the perpetrators were not priests.

Jenkins proceeds to make many more excellent points. I’ll leave you with his conclusion:

The sexual exploitation of children is a heinous offense with lifelong consequences, and the trauma is all the greater when the offender is a trusted mentor, a pastor, priest, or teacher. It is profoundly unjust to focus all our attention on the victims of one type of perpetrator to the exclusion of others.

I believe this article is required reading for anyone who is seriously questioning their Catholic faith because of the scandal of clergy sexual abuse. Moreover, it strikes me that this is a very good article to send to our non-Catholic friends who are trying to understand this issue but only learn about it from the mainstream press, which so often makes the mistakes that Jenkins highlights.

On a related note, I just received the newly-published Pope Benedict XVI and the Sexual Abuse Crisis: Working for Reform and Renewal in the mail. Published by the fine folks at OSV it promises to be an excellent explanation of the crisis and provide information for a charitable conversation.

OSV has also launched a blog where the authors of the book are keeping up on the latest news coverage, including a response to that horrible Time Magazine cover article “Why Being Pope Means Never having To Say You’re Sorry: The sex abuse scandal and the limits of atonement” (which Kathryn Lopez also responded to on NRO: “Being Catholic Means Not Feeling Sorry about Being Catholic“).

Praise God that the Church is not lacking for brave defenders.

We’ve spent a good deal of time observing the activities of Sister Carol Keehan during and after the passage of Obamacare. We’ve also spent some time looking at the Knights of Columbus and their policy of refusing to expel pro-abortion politicians from their ranks.

Now it appears that Sr. Keehan has been pressured off the board of a hospital run by another prominent Catholic organization – the Knights of Malta:

Sister Carol Keehan, President of the US Catholic Health Association, has been pressured off the prestigious Holy Family Hospital Foundation board over her support for the federal health care bill. Sr. Keehan, in opposition to the United States bishops, was a key supporter of the abortion-expanding bill – so much so that she was given one of the 21 ceremonial pens President Obama used to sign the measure into law. The hospital is a work of a Catholic Order known as the Knights of Malta. (LifeSiteNews)

The details of Sr. Keehan’s departure are somewhat murky. For instance, it is not clear if the leadership of the Knights of Malta asked Keehan to resign, or if she did so of her own accord once she was made aware of the displeasure among some of the Knights over her association with their hospital.

Nevertheless, let’s notice the end result: Sr. Keehan is no longer causing scandal by overseeing a hospital administered by a venerable pro-life organization. I’m sure there are experienced people who can fill the vacancy she leaves, so the mission of the hospital is not inhibited by her absence. And, most importantly, the world didn’t end. Life goes on.

The difference is that Sr. Keehan isn’t where she shouldn’t be.

Papal PSA: “Blessed are the helmet-wearers, for they shall ride safe!”

Photo: AP

A couple weeks ago I posted an exclusive scoop that CUA President David M. O’Connell’s successor would be a layman. At the time, I also mentioned that many people believe a pointy hat would be in store for this popular priest-president someday now that his duties at CUA have been discharged.

Well, that someday is today:

Pope Benedict XVI [has] appointed Fr. David M. O’Connell, president of the Catholic University of America in Washington D.C., U.S.A., as coadjutor of Trenton (area 5,580, population 2,048,000, Catholics 822,000, priests 314, permanent deacons 320, religious 510), U.S.A. The bishop-elect was born in Philadelphia, U.S.A. in 1955 and ordained a priest in 1982. [More from the USCCB]

As you can see, the Diocese of Trenton website was ready for the big news, as was CUA’s. 

It’s a very big diocese for a new bishop, with over 3/4 of a million Catholics. But I’m sure Fr. O’Connell will handle the new responsibilities admirably.

On a side note: I’m wondering if we are witnessing a growing trend in Rome of appointing coadjutor bishops to large arch/dioceses, in order to give the new pastors more time to take over the helm. I’d be fascinated to read readers’ thoughts on this topic.