Our Common Vision
Sept 20, 2005
Our Holy Father, Pope John Paul II, uses every opportunity to emphasize that each of us must become holier in order to prepare adequately for the two-thousandth anniversary of the Birth of Jesus Christ.
(ewtn,com, August 21, 1996) As we approach the end of the twentieth century, we see many similarities to the closures of other centuries: expectations of wonders, predictions of doom, and an odd combination of optimism and pessimism about the future. These characteristics of our times are even more pronounced since we are ending not just a century, but a millennium. The strongest support the faithful have in successfully responding to the challenge to be holier, to be better Catholics, is the person of Jesus Christ and His Church's teachings.
To prepare spiritually and pastorally for the Third Millennium the Archdiocese of Philadelphia studied the current level of Church participation among the faithful. I was surprised to learn that many of our adult Catholics do not come to Sunday Mass because they are not aware that such attendance is a precept of the Church. In fact, many Catholics lack knowledge of Church teachings on a variety of subjects. I do not believe this lack of knowledge of Catholic teaching is unique to Philadelphia-area Catholics. Rather, it is a common pastoral challenge throughout the United States and stands as a real obstacle to any successful response to the Holy Father's call.
Recently, the National Pastoral Life Center in New York City issued a statement entitled Called to Be Catholic: Church in a Time of Peril. This statement, which is linked to The Catholic Common Ground Project under the leadership of Cardinal Bernardin, focuses upon many issues on which Catholics in the United States allegedly find themselves divided. Called to Be Catholic believes that much would be gained by "a renewed spirit of civility, dialogue, generosity, and broad and serious consultation" among differing parties.
Indeed, all would agree that everyone should reach out and relate to each individual as a brother or sister in Christ. However, when divergent opinions on theological matters are examined in a public forum, by a group, most of whom are not theologians, then reported second hand in the media, confusion among Catholics grows. The expression "Catholic common ground," used in Called to Be Catholic, is not ecclesial terminology. It is an ordinary, everyday term, open to uncontrolled interpretation, including even the meaning that "Catholic common ground" signifies "lowest common denominator." While such a destructive interpretation is certainly not wanted by the organizers of the Catholic Common Ground Project; nevertheless, there is no assurance that such a distortion of Catholic teaching would not occur.
There are Catholics in the United States who believe that a change of Church teaching, rather than an explanation of its teaching, is needed to raise the level of participation of the faithful in the life of the Church. From their perspective, Mass attendance would increase and the Catholic population would be happier if the Church relaxed its teaching or if the Church would conform its teaching and practices to what they think such ought to be. Sometimes, even divinely revealed truths are treated in the same way Americans treat outmoded civil institutions: discard what is old; endorse what is new!
Advocates of change in the Church's teachings are articulate and use the electronic and print media well. Newspaper columnists and television talk shows are often all too willing to give Catholic revisionists ample opportunity to air their dissent. As a result, many Catholics continue to be confused.
As Catholics prepare for the year 2000, we need to take ownership in mind, heart, and soul of the reality that Jesus Christ is the Savior of all humanity. Jesus' mission was not limited to an interaction with a few thousand people in Palestine twenty centuries ago. It continuously encompasses the here and now. Jesus wills to live among us, and He actually does live with us in His Church, its sacramental life, and its teachings.
A polite debate or a respectful exchange of divergent views about what would be the most commonly acceptable Catholic teaching is not sufficient to adequately address and heal the differences which exist among the faithful. Rather, what is needed is that common vision illuminated through prayer to see Jesus as He Himself asked to be seen: the Way, the Truth, and the Life. This common vision should be characterized by an unreserved belief that Jesus is the surest road to the Father and that Jesus is the abiding Truth, Who never ceases to strengthen us through the teaching and sacraments of the Catholic Church. The most helpful means to bring about this common vision is for each of us to have a soul which is alive in prayer and a faith that is in harmony with the Magisterium of the Church and with the Chair of Peter.
Braving record cold, thousands heed cardinal's call to support life at march
Sept 20, 2005
Invigorated by a cardinal's call not to "sit on the sidelines and simply allow others to dictate the future of our society," thousands of Catholic pro-lifers joined those of other faiths in the March for Life Jan. 22, marking the 30th anniversary of the Supreme Court decisions legalizing abortion.
WASHINGTON (Catholic Post, Jan. 23, 2003) -- President Bush saluted the marchers in a telephone call from St. Louis, noting that temperatures in Washington had barely reached above the teens, with wind chill in single digits.
"I know that many of you have made great sacrifices to come to Washington today -- riding buses all night and braving the cold all day," Bush said. "I admire your perseverance and your devotion to the cause of life."
The night before, some 7,000 people joined Cardinal Anthony J. Bevilacqua of Philadelphia for Mass during the National Prayer Vigil for Life at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington.
Recalling Pope Paul VI's 1965 call to the United Nations -- "War no more; war never again" -- and Pope John Paul II's declaration to the same body in 1995 that "abortion is war on the unborn child," the cardinal said, "We reiterate the goal for which we will never give up: Abortion no more; abortion never again."
Cardinal Bevilacqua, who chairs the U.S. bishops' Committee on Pro-Life Activities, said that on each anniversary of the Roe vs. Wade and Doe vs. Bolton decisions on Jan. 22, 1973, "we come here . . . to declare openly that we cannot, we may not sit on the sidelines and simply allow others to dictate the future of our society."
"We can celebrate that after 30 years those who defend abortion finally realize that we who defend life will continue day after day, year after year, to testify publicly on behalf of the unborn and that we promise that we will not stop until every child in the womb has the legally protected right to be born," he said.
Cardinal Bevilacqua was joined at the Mass by four other U.S. cardinals, 36 bishops and archbishops and more than 300 priests.
After hundreds of young people spent the night at the basilica and in other locations nearby, Bishop Sean P. O'Malley of Palm Beach, Fla., closed the prayer vigil for life early Jan. 22 with a Mass at which he said Catholics must be motivated by concern for neighbor -- "the one who needs our help" -- like the good Samaritan was.
Our neighbors are not limited to those who share the same group or social class or ethnic origin, he said. Rather, they encompass all "who need our love, our mercy, our active concern," he added.
"Who is our neighbor?" Bishop O'Malley asked. "On Jan. 22, 2003, the year of our Lord, the road to Jericho is strewn with the unborn . . . even as their lives are being attacked and snuffed out."
The March for Life opened several hours later on the National Mall with a prayer that God would "restore the conscience of the nation" by working to "change our hearts and change our laws" on abortion.
The theme of the 2003 march was "Affirm the sanctity of each human life by word and deed."
In his remarks, Bush said the pro-life movement had been sustained during the past 30 years "by constant prayer and an abiding hope: that one day every child will be born into a family that loves her and a nation that protects her."
"And when that day arrives, you will have the gratitude of millions -- especially those who know the gift of life because you cared, and you kept faith," he said.
The anniversary also was marked by those who support legal abortion.
Some 1,300 people -- including five likely Democratic presidential candidates -- attended a Jan. 21 dinner sponsored by NARAL Pro-Choice America, the organization formerly known as the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League.
Among those presidential candidates was Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, one of 12 Catholic members of the U.S. Senate targeted in a new campaign by the Crusade for the Defense of Our Catholic Church, a project of the American Life League.
The campaign said in a full-page ad in the Jan. 23 issue of The Wanderer national newspaper that the 12 senators "claim to be Catholics, but their public support for the deadly practice of legalized abortion is scandalous in the eyes of the church." It urged Catholic bishops and priests to refuse Communion to "these and all public figures whose unrepentant support for the killing of babies in the womb defiles the Mass and the body of Christ."
In addition to Kerry, the group includes Sens. Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts, Tom Harkin of Iowa, Tom Daschle of South Dakota, Christopher Dodd of Connecticut, Susan Collins of Maine, Jack Reed of Rhode Island, Patty Murray of Washington, Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, Patrick Leahy of Vermont, Barbara Mikulski of Maryland and Joseph Biden of Delaware. Only Collins is a Republican.
Our Common Vision
Apr 14, 2005
Our Holy Father, Pope John Paul II, uses every opportunity to emphasize that each of us must become holier in order to prepare adequately for the two-thousandth anniversary of the Birth of Jesus Christ. By Archbishop Anthony Cardinal Bevilacqua
(August 21, 1996) As we approach the end of the twentieth century, we see many similarities to the closures of other centuries: expectations of wonders, predictions of doom, and an odd combination of optimism and pessimism about the future. These characteristics of our times are even more pronounced since we are ending not just a century, but a millennium. The strongest support the faithful have in successfully responding to the challenge to be holier, to be better Catholics, is the person of Jesus Christ and His Church's teachings.
To prepare spiritually and pastorally for the Third Millennium the Archdiocese of Philadelphia studied the current level of Church participation among the faithful. I was surprised to learn that many of our adult Catholics do not come to Sunday Mass because they are not aware that such attendance is a precept of the Church. In fact, many Catholics lack knowledge of Church teachings on a variety of subjects. I do not believe this lack of knowledge of Catholic teaching is unique to Philadelphia-area Catholics. Rather, it is a common pastoral challenge throughout the United States and stands as a real obstacle to any successful response to the Holy Father's call.
Recently, the National Pastoral Life Center in New York City issued a statement entitled Called to Be Catholic: Church in a Time of Peril. This statement, which is linked to The Catholic Common Ground Project under the leadership of Cardinal Bernardin, focuses upon many issues on which Catholics in the United States allegedly find themselves divided. Called to Be Catholic believes that much would be gained by "a renewed spirit of civility, dialogue, generosity, and broad and serious consultation" among differing parties.
Indeed, all would agree that everyone should reach out and relate to each individual as a brother or sister in Christ. However, when divergent opinions on theological matters are examined in a public forum, by a group, most of whom are not theologians, then reported second hand in the media, confusion among Catholics grows. The expression "Catholic common ground," used in Called to Be Catholic, is not ecclesial terminology. It is an ordinary, everyday term, open to uncontrolled interpretation, including even the meaning that "Catholic common ground" signifies "lowest common denominator." While such a destructive interpretation is certainly not wanted by the organizers of the Catholic Common Ground Project; nevertheless, there is no assurance that such a distortion of Catholic teaching would not occur.
There are Catholics in the United States who believe that a change of Church teaching, rather than an explanation of its teaching, is needed to raise the level of participation of the faithful in the life of the Church. From their perspective, Mass attendance would increase and the Catholic population would be happier if the Church relaxed its teaching or if the Church would conform its teaching and practices to what they think such ought to be. Sometimes, even divinely revealed truths are treated in the same way Americans treat outmoded civil institutions: discard what is old; endorse what is new!
Advocates of change in the Church's teachings are articulate and use the electronic and print media well. Newspaper columnists and television talk shows are often all too willing to give Catholic revisionists ample opportunity to air their dissent. As a result, many Catholics continue to be confused.
As Catholics prepare for the year 2000, we need to take ownership in mind, heart, and soul of the reality that Jesus Christ is the Savior of all humanity. Jesus' mission was not limited to an interaction with a few thousand people in Palestine twenty centuries ago. It continuously encompasses the here and now. Jesus wills to live among us, and He actually does live with us in His Church, its sacramental life, and its teachings.
A polite debate or a respectful exchange of divergent views about what would be the most commonly acceptable Catholic teaching is not sufficient to adequately address and heal the differences which exist among the faithful. Rather, what is needed is that common vision illuminated through prayer to see Jesus as He Himself asked to be seen: the Way, the Truth, and the Life. This common vision should be characterized by an unreserved belief that Jesus is the surest road to the Father and that Jesus is the abiding Truth, Who never ceases to strengthen us through the teaching and sacraments of the Catholic Church. The most helpful means to bring about this common vision is for each of us to have a soul which is alive in prayer and a faith that is in harmony with the Magisterium of the Church and with the Chair of Peter.
Day of Atonement Regarding Chastity
Sept 18, 2004
Cardinal Anthony J. Bevilacqua today used Holy Thursday Mass to call his priests to a "day of atonement" for the sexual abuse of children, but predicted the scandals engulfing the Roman Catholic Church will soon give way to its "glorious resurrection."
(Source unknown, 28 March 2002) The annual Chrism Mass, which includes the consecration of holy oils, drew a record 718 priests from the Archdiocese of Philadelphia who rose during the Mass and pledged themselves to the ideals of the priesthood.
Minutes before the close of the Mass, Cardinal Bevilacqua announced that he had set April 24 for all priests of the diocese to gather at the diocesan seminary for a day of atonement and sanctification regarding chastity.
Sex abuse of minors is "one of the most depraved of sins," he said, and the Catholic Church must work to "eradicate this horrific misconduct by the clergy or anyone else."
The cardinal urged his priests, to be "holy and faithful shepherds who guide and protect those most previous to the church: our children and youth."
Alluding to the scandals and self-revelations of clergy sex abuse of minors in many Catholic dioceses across the nation - including more than 50 known minors in the Philadelphia Archdiocese since 1952 - Cardinal Bevilacqua acknowledged that many priests report being in "despair" over the crisis.
Our Common Vision