WASHINGTON DC 20017-1194 202-541-3100 FAX 202-541-3166
Most Reverend Timothy M. Dolan
Archbishop of New York
President
September 20, 2011
President Barack Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, D.C. 20500
Dear Mr. President:
I write with a growing sense of urgency about recent actions taken by your Administration that both escalate the threat to marriage and imperil the religious freedom of those who promote and defend marriage. This past spring the Justice Department announced that it would no longer defend the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) in court, a decision strongly opposed by the Catholic Bishops of the United States and many others. Now the Justice Department has shifted from not defending DOMA—which is problem enough, given the duty of the executive branch to enforce even laws it disfavors—to actively attacking DOMA‟s constitutionality. My predecessor, Cardinal Francis George, OMI, and I have expressed to you in the past our strong disappointment about the direction your Administration has been moving regarding DOMA. Unfortunately the only response to date has been the intensification of efforts to undermine DOMA and the institution of marriage.
The Justice Department‟s move, in addition to other troubling federal decisions occurring recently, prompts me yet again to register my grave concerns. The content of this letter reflects the strong sentiment expressed at a recent meeting by more than thirty of my brother Bishops who serve on the Administrative Committee of our episcopal conference. I know they are joined by hundreds of additional Catholic bishops throughout our nation. My observations are offered in the spirit of respectful, but frank dialogue.
The Catholic Bishops stand ready to affirm every positive measure taken by you and your Administration to strengthen marriage and the family. We cannot be silent, however, when federal steps harmful to marriage, the laws defending it, and religious freedom continue apace. Attached you will find an analysis prepared by my staff detailing the various executive activities of late that warrant our increasing apprehension.
Mr. President, your Administration‟s actions against DOMA and the values it stands for contrast sharply with your excellent Mother‟s Day and Father‟s Day proclamations issued earlier this year, which are also referenced in the attached analysis. In these perceptive and heartening statements, you correctly emphasize the critical role played by both a mom and a dad in a child‟s life, and you rightly call upon society to do all it can to uphold both mothers and fathers.
I know that you treasure the importance that you and the First Lady, separately and as a couple, share in the lives of your children. The Mother‟s Day and Father‟s Day proclamations display a welcome conviction on your part that neither a mom nor a dad is expendable. I believe therefore that you would agree that every child has the right to be loved by both a mother and a father.
The institution of marriage is built on this truth, which goes to the core of what the Catholic Bishops of the United States, and the millions of citizens who stand with us on this issue, want for all children and for the common good of society. That is why it is particularly upsetting, Mr. President, when your Administration, through the various court documents, pronouncements and policies identified in the attached analysis, attributes to those who support DOMA a motivation rooted in prejudice and bias. It is especially wrong and unfair to equate opposition to redefining marriage with either intentional or willfully ignorant racial discrimination, as your Administration insists on doing.
We as Bishops of the Catholic Church recognize the immeasurable personal dignity and equal worth of all individuals, including those with same-sex attraction, and we reject all hatred and unjust treatment against any person. Our profound regard for marriage as the complementary and fruitful union of a man and a woman does not negate our concern for the well-being of all people but reinforces it. While all persons merit our full respect, no other relationships provide for the common good what marriage between husband and wife provides. The law should reflect this reality.
Mr. President, I respectfully urge you to push the reset button on your Administration‟s approach to DOMA. Our federal government should not be presuming ill intent or moral blindness on the part of the overwhelming majority of its citizens, millions of whom have gone to the polls to directly support DOMAs in their states and have thereby endorsed marriage as the union of man and woman. Nor should a policy disagreement over the meaning of marriage be treated by federal officials as a federal offense—but this will happen if the Justice Department‟s latest constitutional theory prevails in court. The Administration‟s failure to change course on this matter will, as the attached analysis indicates, precipitate a national conflict between Church and State of enormous proportions and to the detriment of both institutions.
Thus, on behalf of my brother Bishops, I urge yet again that your Administration end its campaign against DOMA, the institution of marriage it protects, and religious freedom. Please know that I am always ready to discuss with you the concerns raised here and to address any questions that you may have. I am convinced that the door to a dialogue that is strong enough to endure even serious and fundamental disagreements can and must remain open, and I believe that you desire the same. Also please know that you, your family, and your Administration continue to be in my prayers.
Faithfully in Christ,
Most Reverend Timothy M. Dolan
Archbishop of New York
President, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
Friday, September 23, 2011
Saturday, September 3, 2011
Latest from "The Cardinal Newman Society"
"Wow," I thought. "It's happening!"
The Vatican is cracking down on dissent.
Even the leftist National Catholic Reporter is complaining with great alarm: The Vatican aims to "weed out dissenting voices."
Oh my… this couldn't be what Pope Benedict meant by "evangelical pruning"?
If so, then we're quite happy here at The Cardinal Newman Society!
We have worked more than 18 years to expose dissent at many Catholic universities, which are leading thousands of Catholic students astray.
And we are working toward faithful Catholic teaching on Catholic campuses, which depends primarily on strong college leadership but also on vigilant oversight from the Vatican and the U.S. bishops.
And it's happening!
You may recall that the Vatican quietly ousted Jesuit Fr. Thomas Reese -- now a rabble-rouser at Georgetown University -- from the prominent Jesuit magazine America in 2005.
Now we've been able to confirm leaked reports that Rome is challenging heterodox material in the Jesuit journal Theological Studies, published at Marquette University.
The chairman of Boston College's Theology Department, Fr. Kenneth Himes, co-wrote an article arguing that Church teaching on the indissolubility of marriage should be changed.
And now the champions of dissent are crying foul. Why?
Because the Vatican has demanded that the journal's editor, Marquette theology professor Fr. David Schultenover, S.J., publish a rebuttal by Jesuit Father Peter Ryan and Germain Grisez.
Father Ryan and Dr. Grisez are serious Catholic theologians and both recent professors at Mount St. Mary's University -- one of only 20 colleges profiled in our Newman Guide to Choosing a Catholic College and the new home for our Center for the Advancement of Catholic Higher Education.
The authors confirm that their rebuttal is backed by a "mandate from higher authority" -- and they make no apologies for it!
But that's just the latest news. The U.S. bishops have been cracking down on bad theology elsewhere.
Indeed, the problems with Theological Studies go back to 2006, when Archbishop Elden Curtiss of Omaha publicly challenged false teaching by Creighton University theologians Todd Salzman and Michael Lawler.
Lawler (now retired) and Salzman (who continues to teach theology at Creighton) claimed that "homosexual couples can engage in sexual acts that are natural, reasonable and therefore moral."
In 2007 the Cardinal Newman Society complained about Lawler's leadership of Creighton University's Center for Marriage and Family, after which Archbishop Curtiss cut ties with the Center.
And last year, the bishops' doctrine committee publicly condemned The Sexual Person by Salzman and Lawler as "harmful to one's moral and spiritual life."!
This is one of a series of public censures of work by wayward theology professors by the Vatican and the U.S. bishops! They include:
- Daniel Maguire of Marquette University (Wisconsin)
- Fr. Richard McBrien at the University of Notre Dame (Indiana)
- Fr. Peter Phan of Georgetown University (Washington, D.C.)
- Fr. Jon Sobrino, S.J., of the University of Central America
- Fr. Roger Haight, S.J., of the Union Theological Seminary (New York)
- Fr. Joseph Imbach of the Pontifical Theological Faculty of St. Bonaventure (Rome)
And just last year, the bishops censured a feminist theologian at Fordham University.
The bishops' doctrine committee publicly condemned a book by Sr. Elizabeth Johnson -- who has referred to God as "She Who Is" -- for "misrepresentations, ambiguities and errors" that do "not accord with authentic Catholic teaching on essential points."
This month we learned that the bishops' top administrative committee unanimously authorized the review of Sr. Johnson's work.
Why is this important? Catholic Culture found that Sister Johnson's book was used in theology courses at no fewer than 13 Catholic colleges and universities!
One solution that would address much of this problem is the mandatum for theology professors, by which the local bishop recognizes a theologian's commitment to teach authentic Catholic theology.
That's a requirement of Canon Law, and something The Cardinal Newman Society has advocated many times since Pope John Paul II issued Ex corde Ecclesiae in 1990. Recently the executive director for the U.S. bishops' Secretariat on Doctrine, Fr. Thomas Weinandy, strongly supported the mandatum.
You who have followed The Cardinal Newman Society's reports over the last several years know that we have worked hard to expose wayward professors.
And you can understand why we are so encouraged by the latest Vatican effort to rein in the Jesuits' journal from Marquette!
Faithful families and students have suffered a lot of heartache in recent decades, but today we are living in times very exciting to be Catholic! We're so glad that you're with The Cardinal Newman Society as we work for the renewal of Catholic higher education!
Thank You, our Father in Heaven, for good news.
Sincerely yours in Christ,
Patrick J. Reilly
President
P.S. Please continue to keep us in your prayers, and support our work with your contributions! With the Holy Spirit, all things are possible.
SHARE THIS EMAIL:
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To update your email address and other information, click here. Or you can click here to cancel your CNS online membership.
The Cardinal Newman Society
9415 West Street
Manassas, VA 20110
The Vatican is cracking down on dissent.
Even the leftist National Catholic Reporter is complaining with great alarm: The Vatican aims to "weed out dissenting voices."
Oh my… this couldn't be what Pope Benedict meant by "evangelical pruning"?
If so, then we're quite happy here at The Cardinal Newman Society!
We have worked more than 18 years to expose dissent at many Catholic universities, which are leading thousands of Catholic students astray.
And we are working toward faithful Catholic teaching on Catholic campuses, which depends primarily on strong college leadership but also on vigilant oversight from the Vatican and the U.S. bishops.
And it's happening!
You may recall that the Vatican quietly ousted Jesuit Fr. Thomas Reese -- now a rabble-rouser at Georgetown University -- from the prominent Jesuit magazine America in 2005.
Now we've been able to confirm leaked reports that Rome is challenging heterodox material in the Jesuit journal Theological Studies, published at Marquette University.
The chairman of Boston College's Theology Department, Fr. Kenneth Himes, co-wrote an article arguing that Church teaching on the indissolubility of marriage should be changed.
And now the champions of dissent are crying foul. Why?
Because the Vatican has demanded that the journal's editor, Marquette theology professor Fr. David Schultenover, S.J., publish a rebuttal by Jesuit Father Peter Ryan and Germain Grisez.
Father Ryan and Dr. Grisez are serious Catholic theologians and both recent professors at Mount St. Mary's University -- one of only 20 colleges profiled in our Newman Guide to Choosing a Catholic College and the new home for our Center for the Advancement of Catholic Higher Education.
The authors confirm that their rebuttal is backed by a "mandate from higher authority" -- and they make no apologies for it!
But that's just the latest news. The U.S. bishops have been cracking down on bad theology elsewhere.
Indeed, the problems with Theological Studies go back to 2006, when Archbishop Elden Curtiss of Omaha publicly challenged false teaching by Creighton University theologians Todd Salzman and Michael Lawler.
Lawler (now retired) and Salzman (who continues to teach theology at Creighton) claimed that "homosexual couples can engage in sexual acts that are natural, reasonable and therefore moral."
In 2007 the Cardinal Newman Society complained about Lawler's leadership of Creighton University's Center for Marriage and Family, after which Archbishop Curtiss cut ties with the Center.
And last year, the bishops' doctrine committee publicly condemned The Sexual Person by Salzman and Lawler as "harmful to one's moral and spiritual life."!
This is one of a series of public censures of work by wayward theology professors by the Vatican and the U.S. bishops! They include:
- Daniel Maguire of Marquette University (Wisconsin)
- Fr. Richard McBrien at the University of Notre Dame (Indiana)
- Fr. Peter Phan of Georgetown University (Washington, D.C.)
- Fr. Jon Sobrino, S.J., of the University of Central America
- Fr. Roger Haight, S.J., of the Union Theological Seminary (New York)
- Fr. Joseph Imbach of the Pontifical Theological Faculty of St. Bonaventure (Rome)
And just last year, the bishops censured a feminist theologian at Fordham University.
The bishops' doctrine committee publicly condemned a book by Sr. Elizabeth Johnson -- who has referred to God as "She Who Is" -- for "misrepresentations, ambiguities and errors" that do "not accord with authentic Catholic teaching on essential points."
This month we learned that the bishops' top administrative committee unanimously authorized the review of Sr. Johnson's work.
Why is this important? Catholic Culture found that Sister Johnson's book was used in theology courses at no fewer than 13 Catholic colleges and universities!
One solution that would address much of this problem is the mandatum for theology professors, by which the local bishop recognizes a theologian's commitment to teach authentic Catholic theology.
That's a requirement of Canon Law, and something The Cardinal Newman Society has advocated many times since Pope John Paul II issued Ex corde Ecclesiae in 1990. Recently the executive director for the U.S. bishops' Secretariat on Doctrine, Fr. Thomas Weinandy, strongly supported the mandatum.
You who have followed The Cardinal Newman Society's reports over the last several years know that we have worked hard to expose wayward professors.
And you can understand why we are so encouraged by the latest Vatican effort to rein in the Jesuits' journal from Marquette!
Faithful families and students have suffered a lot of heartache in recent decades, but today we are living in times very exciting to be Catholic! We're so glad that you're with The Cardinal Newman Society as we work for the renewal of Catholic higher education!
Thank You, our Father in Heaven, for good news.
Sincerely yours in Christ,
Patrick J. Reilly
President
P.S. Please continue to keep us in your prayers, and support our work with your contributions! With the Holy Spirit, all things are possible.
SHARE THIS EMAIL:
FacebookTwitterLinkedInDiggMySpace
To update your email address and other information, click here. Or you can click here to cancel your CNS online membership.
The Cardinal Newman Society
9415 West Street
Manassas, VA 20110
Friday, September 2, 2011
Apostasy at work, where are we heading?
Apostasy, the destroyer that is inundating the Catholic Church today. Since 1960 when the VCII and their change of the Mass by their new interpretation of the mass, and the movement away from the accepted liturgy, and the Latin mass, have degraded our religion, to conform to other religions, mainly Protestant. To have a priest, dressed up like a clown, to have dancers prancing around the altar, has degraded the sacred mass into a carnival, and Circus. When the tail(the people) starts wagging the dog(the Vatican), as the Jews did when Moses went up to the mount to receive the 10 commandments, and made the idols such as the golden calf, you know that we are heading toward destruction, and Apostacy has taken hold.The mass is the eucharistic celebration and always includes the proclamation of the Word of God, thanksgiving to God for all he gives us, and above all for the gift of his Son Jesus, the consecration of bread and wine, the receiving of the Lords Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity.
Jesus Christ is present under the species of bread and wine, and who is offered in the Eurcharistic sacrifice. It is a celebration to be to be taken seriously, and to pay homage to our Lord, through whom we have been saved from eternal death.
Each religion, government, and system that allows apostacy to creep in, has been destroyed, through-out the ages. The more we feel we have progressed in our understanding and intelligence,
the more apostasy increases. why change the liturgy that has served our church so well , so many many years? Look around in the church, there is no more reverence at the mass. Has the modernization improved the mass? Has it made people more reverent to the sacrifice of Jesus?
Has it gained more respect for Jesus? An emphatic
NO is the answer. Respect has gone out the window,
and been replaced by self satisfaction, self
indulgence, and the quest for bigger and more.
I believe the return to the old liturgy may heal our church, and bring back respect, reverency, and love for God, Father ,Son, and Holy Spirit, and love for Jesus and his sacrifce to save us all.
JMHO
Jesus Christ is present under the species of bread and wine, and who is offered in the Eurcharistic sacrifice. It is a celebration to be to be taken seriously, and to pay homage to our Lord, through whom we have been saved from eternal death.
Each religion, government, and system that allows apostacy to creep in, has been destroyed, through-out the ages. The more we feel we have progressed in our understanding and intelligence,
the more apostasy increases. why change the liturgy that has served our church so well , so many many years? Look around in the church, there is no more reverence at the mass. Has the modernization improved the mass? Has it made people more reverent to the sacrifice of Jesus?
Has it gained more respect for Jesus? An emphatic
NO is the answer. Respect has gone out the window,
and been replaced by self satisfaction, self
indulgence, and the quest for bigger and more.
I believe the return to the old liturgy may heal our church, and bring back respect, reverency, and love for God, Father ,Son, and Holy Spirit, and love for Jesus and his sacrifce to save us all.
JMHO
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