Quotes and news

In a message to participants in a seminar on sexual abuse held last week at the Gregorian University, Pope Benedict said: “healing for victims (of abuse) must be of paramount concern in the Christian community, and it must go hand in hand with a profound renewal of the Church at every level”. He exhorted the Church to place the primary focus on the victims of abuse.

Cardinal William Levada said over 4,000 cases of sexual abuse of minors had been referred to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in the past 10 years. He said victims want to be heard, to know the Church understands the seriousness of what they have suffered and that it is ready to accompany them on the long path of healing.

Secularists aggressive towards Catholicism

For Irish Independent columnist David Quinn, Ireland is today full of one-eyed secularists instead of being full of one-eyed nationalists.

Quinn points to a Labour Party proposal that would screen out loyal Catholics from taking part in educational policy-making decisions, and a complaint that Bishop Philip Boyce engaged in ‘hate speech’ when he referred to the dangers of a “godless” society.

The legal complaint against the bishop will no doubt be dismissed, Quinn says, but it will “have a chilling effect on anyone else who might want to criticise secular critics of the Church”.

Conservative society says no to the Vatican

The intense reconciliation initiatives between the Vatican and the traditionalist Society of St Pius X (SSPX) seem to be in a deadlock.

The group, which was founded by excommunicated Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre remains in disagreement with the Church on very important teachings of Vatican II.

Bishop Bernard Fellay, the leader of the society, said the unresolved issue in talks between the SSPX and Rome is the Vatican’s insistence that the traditionalists accept the authority of the Council. He left the negotiating door partially open, saying his group’s latest response to the Vatican is still under study.

Religious orders urged to share their resources

Cardinal-designate Joao Braz de Aviz, the prefect of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, said rich religious orders should share their resources with poorer religious communities. He said the religious orders should give witness just as the individual members do.

In an interview with L’Osservatore Romano, the prefect of the Congregation gave some examples.

He said a religious order that has significant financial assets earmarked for caring for and supporting its members in their old age should be ready to help another institute that was struggling or in need.

Proposition 8 declared unconstitutional

California’s Court of Appeal has declared Proposition 8, which does not allow same-sex marriage, as unconstitutional, saying it violates the US Constitution’s 14th Amendment guaranteeing due process and equal protection under law.

Auxiliary Bishop Gerald Wilkerson of Los Angeles, president of the California Catholic Conference, expressed disappointment at the ruling but also confidence that it would be reversed, adding that “marriage between one man and one woman has been – and always will be – the most basic building block of the family and of our society.”

(Compiled by Fr Joe Borg)