A number of European Catholics are renouncing their membership in the Church. And it is not just for tax purposes. From the Washington Post blog.
Flood of 'de-baptisms' worries European church leaders
"Let the little ones come to me." "Whoever does not feed the least, fails to feed me." From the Daily Mail.
Catholic Church accused of discrimination after priest bans Down's boy, 7 ...
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The following three articles address issues pertaining to the clergy. The first two concern issues of sexuality and family. The third is about our reliance on often unknown foreign priests.
Priest gives up his vocation, not his religion, for love
Catholic
Priest, Newly Installed, Is Removed for Fathering
Child While in Seminary
http://www.newstimes.com/local/article/Catholic-Church-s-visiting-priests-come-under-2556189.php
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Finally, a reflection on Catholic Just War Theory. I
believe this was written by the deacon whose letter is quoted in the following post. Will await
word from the individual who submitted it, if I am incorrect.
War
is a terrible Lie Is the “Just War” obsolete?
I think the Vatican is actually moving ahead of the US church in terms of just war theory. I see an evolution in social doctrine here reflecting the terrible reality of modern warfare. Some try to go back with Augustine and the fall of Rome, but with a difference. And it is a tremendous difference: we are not now facing a “war of mercy” and pure self-defense with swords and spears, but a war of inhuman cruelty and uninhibited massive destruction, waged with megaton weapons, with assassination drones, depleted uranium weapons, cluster bombs, unlimited aerial bombardment and cruise missiles… Pope John XXIII said in his first Encyclical ( Ad Petri Cathedram ) “so monstrous are the weapons which this age of ours has brought into being that all nations, both vanquished and would be victors, may expect nothing other than to be overtaken by immeasurable destruction, immeasurable ruin.” Surely a Papal Encyclical represents the public doctrine of the Church, and here, as elsewhere we find a firm support for the contention of Fr. John Courtney Murray that “war has now become a moral absurdity.” John XXIII, 1963, “Pacem in Terris”. Peace on Earth. “Questions all warfare and opens the door to a church of nonviolence.” Paul VI, 1965, UN address. “No more war! War never again!” Vat Council II, 1965, Gaudium et Spes. Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, has issued a new vision for the church, calling for love, human community and justice. It issues the only condemnation of Vat II, a condemnation of nuclear war. It upholds as examples of peace-makers, “those who act non-violently in the tradition of Jesus. Only by actively seeking peace and renouncing violence can Christians fulfill Isaiah’s vision of people beating their swords into plowshares.” The council also upheld the right of citizens to conscientious objection during wartime.
John Paul II, 1979, “On my knees I beg you to turn away from violence…do not listen to voices which speak the language of hatred, revenge, retaliation. Do not follow any leaders who train you in the way of inflicting death…Give yourself to the service of life, not the work of death. Violence is the enemy of justice. Only peace and nonviolence can lead the way to true justice.” US Bishops pastoral letter, “Challenge of Peace”, 1983, “Peacemaking is not an optional commitment. We are called to be peacemakers, not by some movement of the moment, but by our Lord Jesus.” The church is called to be a community of peacemakers who follow the active, nonviolent spirit of Jesus, moving us to risk our lives in nonviolent transformation of the world’s violence into God’s reign of justice and peace. John Paul II, 2003, stated before the Iraqi War, “This war would be a defeat for humanity which could not be morally or legally justified.” He spoke out against the war 56 times. “When war, as in these days in Iraq, threatens the fate of humanity, it is ever more urgent to proclaim, with a strong and decisive voice, that peace is the road to follow to construct a more just and united society. Violence and arms can never resolve the problems of mankind.” Cardinal Ratzinger [now Benedict XVI], 2003, said “Given the new weapons that make possible destructions that go beyond the combatant groups, today we should be asking ourselves: If it is still licit to admit the very existence of a ‘just war’?” Casting doubt on the Just War tradition itself. Pope John Paul II, Jan 2005, “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” “The inner logic of Christian love leads even to love of enemies. [Rom 12:20]. To attain the good of peace there must be a clear and conscious acknowledgement that violence is an unacceptable evil and that it never solves problems. “Violence is a lie, for it goes against the truth of our faith, the truth of our humanity. Violence destroys what it claims to defend: the dignity, the life, the freedom of human beings.”
Cardinal Ratzinger [now elected Pope], 2005, chooses the name Benedict, after Benedict XV, the Peace Pope of WW I. “Let every Christian be committed to tireless peace-making and strenuous defense of the dignity of every human person.” Pope Benedict XVI, Jan 2006, “In a nuclear war there would be no winners, only victims. The truth of peace requires that all – whether those governments which openly or secretly possess nuclear arms, or those planning to acquire them – agree to change their course by clear and firm decisions, and strive for a progressive and concerted nuclear disarmament. The resources which would be saved could then be employed in projects of development capable of benefiting all their people, especially the poor.” “The degree to which a person will justify violence and war is in inverse proportion to the depth of their awareness of the bonds of the human family.” [James Douglas] “The whole world is my family.” [John XXIII] With all of these teachings in mind, why did the US Catholic church drop into silence once President Bush started the attack on Iraq.? Why didn’t we start educating our Catholic people in the right to conscientious objection to an immoral war ? Why didn’t we start practicing our people in the ways of non-violent resistance and civil disobedience ? We Catholics are sufficient in number to have stopped this immoral war at its very beginning. Woe to the leaders of our church community ! We did nothing in the face of a great evil. What should we do now ?
And still, conservative
Catholic political leaders continue to ignore this
consistent, unambiguous teaching.