TeDeum: USCCB Fall General Assembly is underway

It's been a favorite past-time of many Catholic bloggers: The USCCB Fall General Assembly.

The bishops of the US are meeting in Baltimore right now. Many are watching with interest.

I'm stuck on a netbook while my main computer is in for repair and I can't deal with how slow the clicks are taking online. Therefore, while i have a day off, I will not be tweeting and taking notes throughout.

If you are interested, I would encourage you to turn on EWTN right now if you have it. It is also being streamed online, and the USCCB is live-tweeting and on Facebook. Go here to see the many ways you can follow what the bishops are discussing. You can also see what is being voted on and how those turn out.

details at Te Deum laudamus

You might have also heard that the infamous Nat Cat'terd has been campaigning against Abp. Nienstedt appointment to anything at the USCCB.  I guess being Pro-liturgy, Pro-life and Pro-marriage makes you an enemy to some members of the Body of Christ.  That's like the left arm punching the head, heart, and the .... well, a lower extremity of Christ's Mystical Body. 

Strongly worded statements

A friend sent this to me regarding USCCB actions on some issues that have come up lately, which I got a good laugh out of. 

Abortion-on-demand: strongly worded statement

Obamacare with taxpayer funded abortion-on-demand: strongly worded statement

Contraception coverage mandate: strongly worded statement

Repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell: strongly worded statement

Obama speaks at Notre Dame: strongly worded statement

Refusal to defend DOMA: strongly worded statement

Persecution of individuals and businesses that don’t succumb to the homosexual agenda: strongly worded statement

Take away our grant money: LAWSUIT!

On the other hand, what else can they do?

HT SK

Bp. Christensen among bishops studying the impact of border issues

Eight Roman Catholic bishops are in El Paso to study the effects of immigration, human trafficking and the violence in Juárez and what impact they are having on the local diocese.

But more important, the bishops, who arrived on Wednesday, are here to help the El Paso Diocese financially.

"It is the first time that we have all these bishops visit," said Bishop Armando X. Ochoa of El Paso. "They approached me at our summer meeting about wanting to come and have the opportunity to get a flavor of what is happening on the border region."

The bishops make up the Subcommittee on the Home Missions, a group of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, that awards about $8å million each year in grants to many "mission" dioceses and parishes.

Mission dioceses are dioceses and parishes in the United States that can't provide basic pastoral services without outside help, according to the subcommittee Website. El Paso is one of those mission dioceses.

The Most Rev. Michael W. Warfel, bishop of the Diocese of Great Falls and Billings, Mont., and committee chairman, said the group likes to visit different dioceses each year.

The visiting bishops are the Most Rev. Peter F. Christensen, bishop of Superior, Wis.; the Most Rev. Paul S. Coakley, bishop of Salina, Kan.; the Most Rev. Curtis J. Guillory, bishop of Beaumont; the Most Rev. Thomas Olmstead, bishop of Phoenix; the Most Rev. Stefan Soroka, archbishop of the Archeparchy of Philadelphia for Ukrainians; the Most Rev. Robert F. Vasa, bishop of Baker, Ore.; and the Most Rev. Joe S. Vasquez, bishop of Austin.

 El Paso Times

Several Iowa Catholic institutions named in a new CCHD investigative report

In one of its 2011 newsletters, CCHD proudly describes the work of grantee AMOS, an acronym for A Mid-Iowa Organizing Strategy. AMOS is a local affiliate of the Industrial Areas Foundation, an Alinskyian organizing network that rallies congregations and other institutions for political advocacy.

AMOS was given a CCHD grant to help it advocate for a mobile obstetric clinic. “The mobile clinic is the happy result of a five-year effort by AMOS’s 29 member organizations, including Catholic parishes in the Archdiocese of Dubuque and the Diocese of Des Moines.”[i]

AMOS was one of four organizations involved in creating the Ames clinic. ‘The clinic was created from a partnership of AMOS (A Mid-Iowa Organizing Strategy), MICA (Mid-Iowa Community Action), Broadlawn Hospital in Des Moines, and Des Moines University.”[ii] It’s insightful to look at these other partners.

MICA (Mid-Iowa Community Action) is one of a number of associated organizations were established in the 1960s as “delivery systems that maximize the federal, state and local resources in providing services to citizens.”[iii] That is, they connect poorer citizens into government-funded programs such as Head Start, Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), and others.[iv]

Among the key programs MICA uses is PROMISE JOBS, described as a “supportive, informational, and a true collaborative effort [that] gives each family an opportunity to access not only positive programs but an increased network of support.” [v] Available to all PROMISE JOBS participants – and therefore to all MICA clients - are “Family Planning Services – An option for everyone referred to PROMISE JOBS. Participants can find out how additional children can affect a family’s finances.”[vi]

Then, there’s Broadlawns Medical Center – a hospital – in Des Moines, another one of the partners that, along with the CCHD-funded AMOS, was responsible for establishing the Ames Mobile Clinic. Broadlawns’ Variety Club Women’s Health Center Family Planning Clinic provides a broad range of “specialized services and care for women” that include birth control counseling, emergency contraception, and something ominously called “pregnancy options,”[vii] a term used by Planned Parenthood to include abortion.

 continue at Spero News

Dad29: The USCC's Argument With Reality: New Missal Edition

The black-hatted (not biretta-ed) one promises a lot of fun over the next few weeks.

Here's just a taste:

In 2002, Pope John Paul II introduced a new edition of the Missale Romanum ( editio typica tertia, the "third typical edition" [since the Second Vatican Council]) for use in the Church.  Soon after, the complex work of translating the text into English began.   USCC, Office of Mis-Information

Reality:

...when in fact, the process actually began nearly twenty years earlier. That's because then they would have to admit, that they were stupid enough to let the aging-hippie academicians and liturgical iconoclasts loose on the project, to the point where the Holy See had to finally step in and make them start over.

Well, what's a fact or two when we have Important People to......ahhh.........protect.  (After all, that worked so well in other cases, right?)

Dad29

Bp Morlino continues local managment of CCHD funds

Each year, parishes take up a special collection, in November, for the Catholic Campaign Human Development (CCHD). CCHD is the domestic anti-poverty program of the U.S. Catholic bishops.

CCHD works to break the cycle of poverty by helping low-income people participate in decisions that affect their lives, families, and communities. Half of the funds collected for CCHD stay in the diocese for programs in the diocese and the other half is dedicated to national projects/programs.

While many seek out answers to questions arising with regard to organizations previously assisted through the CCHD collection, Bishop Morlino has assured the Diocese of Madison that until he is personally confident that funds collected from the faithful of the Diocese of Madison will not be used to fund groups which violate the teaching of the Church by their policies, and he will continue to seek out other helpful ways to assist those in need.

• In 2008, Bishop Morlino dedicated the national portion toward the assistance of the victims of Hurricane Ike, through the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston.

• In 2009, Bishop Morlino dedicated the national portion to support the work of the Little Sisters of the Poor and their international outreach to the elderly.

• In 2010, prior to the full body of the USCCB discussing the funds and future of CCHD, Bishop Morlino decided that the national portion of the collection would go to benefit the work of the Community of the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal (CFR), led by Fr. Benedict Groeschel. Central to the CFR mission is to serve the materially poor, most especially the destitute and homeless. “We know Fr. Benedict and the CFRs to be unreproachable,” said a statement from the diocese.

It is the bishop’s hope that this coming year will find an even greater number of the faithful prepare to give generously to the local CCHD collection, as well as a greater outreach of service in love to those in need.

details at MadCatHerald