Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz has promised to excommunicate anyone in the Lincoln, NE, diocese who is a member of Planned Parenthood, Catholics for a Free Choice, The Hemlock Society, The Society of Pius X, the Shriners and other Masonic organizations, and Call to Action.
The action was precipitated by a notice from Call to Action that they intend to organize a Nebraska chapter.
ML wonders why organizations such as the Ku Klux Klan and the American Nazi Party were not included on Bishop Bruskewitz's black list.
ML also has a couple of tickets it can no longer use for anyone who wants to attend the annual Shriners-Knights of Columbus spring dinner dance in Lincoln.
--NW
According to a report by the Catholic News Service, tens of thousands of people celebrated their initiation into the Roman Catholic Church in the U.S. at the 1996 Easter Vigil. CNS culled figures from several diocesan newspapers to come up with the following numbers of catechumens and candidates initiated:
Extrapolating from these numbers, the CNS report said, if a complete count from all 180-plus U.S. dioceses were taken, the numbers would run well into the tens of thousands.
--NW
In this election year, the California Catholic Conference (CCC) has undertaken a bulletin-insert project to educate the Catholic faithful about the principles of Catholic social teaching and their application to current political issues. The bulletin inserts are partially based on excerpts from the 1995 statement from the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, Political Responsibility: Proclaiming the Gospel of Life, Protecting the Least Among Us, and Pursuing the Common Good.
This project has been undertaken at the direction of Bishop John Cummins, Oakland, CA, who is the president of the CCC. The conference intends to raise the level of debate on issues important to Catholics by helping lay women and men become better informed about Catholic social teaching.
The first insert was sent to all California dioceses in February and focused on the overall agenda of the series, and it also included statements from Pope John Paul II that set the tone for the project. The quotations are from the pope's 1995 visit to the United States:
"It is vital for the human family that ... America keeps compassion, generosity, and concern for others at the very heart of its efforts .... America will continue to be a land of promise as long as it remains a land of freedom and justice for all.
"Both as Americans and as followers of Christ, American Catholics must be committed to the defense of life in all its stages and in every condition.
"Democracy needs wisdom. Democracy needs virtue .... Democracy stands or falls with the truths and values which it embodies and promotes."
The second insert, which was sent in March, asks the question, "What is the difference between the Catholic Alliance and official Catholic Church organizations?"
The Catholic Alliance is a `grass-roots' political action group and `wholly-owned subsidiary' of the Christian Coalition, according to the insert. The Christian Coalition was formed in 1989 by televangelist Pat Robertson and numbers some 250,000 Catholics among its 1.7 million members. The Catholic Alliance was formed shortly after Pope John Paul II's visit to the United States in 1995.
The CCC points out that the Catholic Alliance has no official recognition as a Catholic organization .... (emphasis in the original). The bulletin insert goes on to say that many of the positions of the Catholic Alliance are significantly different from the positions of the U.S. Bishops. Welfare reform and health care issues are cited as examples of areas of divergence. The insert goes on to say, It is important to remember that having the word `Catholic' in its name does not mean an organization speaks for the Catholic Church.
The document Political Responsibility sets out the agenda for the Catholic faithful by stating, The key to a renewal of public life is reorienting politics to reflect better the search for the common good (i.e., reconciling diverse interests for the well-being of the whole human family) and a clear commitment to the dignity of every person. If politics ignores this fundamental task, it can easily become little more than an arena for partisan gamesmanship, the search for power for its own sake, or interest group conflict.
Political Responsibility is published by the United States Catholic Conference in Washington, DC.
--NW
Sr. Helen Prejean, CSJ, the death penalty abolitionist whose book inspired the film Dead Man Walking, has been awarded the University of Notre Dame's 1996 Laetare Medal.
Sr. Helen Prejean's ministry bears witness to the cross of Christ, insisting that there is no horror the Lord's love cannot reverse, said University president Fr. Edward A. Malloy, CSC, when making the announcement. To death row residents, to the families of murder victims, and to our whole society, her words and deeds proclaim the gospel of life in unmistakable and even unsettling terms.
Prejean began her involvement with the issue of capital punishment when her community made a formal pledge in 1980 to stand on the side of the poor.
--NW
(This article orginally appeared in MODERN LITURGY, 23:5. Copyright (c) 1996 Resource Publications, Inc. May not be reproduced without permission.)