Fort Tryon Park, the Shrine of St. Frances Cabrini, & the Cloisters

Fort Tryon Park

Shrine of Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini

The Cloisters

Fuentiduena Chapel

Gothic Chapel

Langon Chapel

Glass Gallery

Trie Cloister

5/9/15 Update

John & Yoko on So-Called "Over" Population

Time to rethink how annulments are handled in the United States?

Why do some view questioning of how annulments are handled as out-of-bounds?

On the web site of the Diocese of Brooklyn, there appears to be a thinly veiled, ad hominem attack on Sheila Rauch Kennedy, as well as of a sociologist who has been critical of how annulments are handled in the dioceses of the United States: "Sheila Rauch Kennedy... exhumed some old myths about annulments, not without help from a complaisant chorus of commentators. More recently, a writer with a background in the behavioral sciences, though perhaps with as many personal reasons as Ms. Kennedy to give vent to anger, published an extraordinarily one-sided indictment of the process ('The Annulment Crisis in American Catholicism' by Robert H.Vasoli)" <www.dioceseofbrooklyn.org/ministries/tribunal/myths>.

One has to wonder whose own anger was being vented at the expense of Rauch-Kennedy and Vasoli! Unlike the Brooklyn Diocesen writer, Pope John Paul II himself seemed to have growing concern about the manner in which annulments were being handled (See <http://catholicinsight.com/online/church/family/printer_647.shtml>, <http://catholicinsight.com/online/church/family/printer_652.shtml>.). Recently reported events certainly appear to give some measure of exoneration to Ms. Rauch-Kennedy:

• "the Vatican has reversed the annulment of former Rep. Joseph P. Kennedy II's first marriage, which had lasted 12 years and produced two sons....Sheila Rauch had sharply criticized the Catholic Church for annulling her marriage to Kennedy....Rauch appealed the annulment to the Roman Rota....Rauch was told of the decision to reverse the annulment by officials from the Boston Archdiocese in May, although the decision was actually reached in 2005" <www.ewtn.com/vnews/getstory.asp?number=80048>.


• "The most controversial 'marriage that never was' in recent U.S. political history is back....The annulment was the subject of Rauch's 1997 book Shattered Faith....Rauch said that she had just recently been informed by Boston Archdiocese officials of her successful appeal....Rauch says she worries that the practice, particularly in the U.S., of giving what she called 'easy annulments' will continue.....The Roma Rota's ruling, written in Latin, was reached in 2005, and had been kept secret while the official written notice was being prepared, said a source in Rome familiar with the case....Some 75% of annulments each year are from the United States, where there are an estimated 8 million divorced and remarried Catholics"<www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1634956,00.html?cnn=yes>.


• "Here, in brief, are the facts as we know them:* In 1991, while serving as Congressman from Massachusetts, Joseph P. Kennedy II divorced his wife Sheila Rauch Kennedy.* In 1993 the Congressman sought a decree of annulment from the Boston archdiocese. Without waiting for the result of his petition, he entered into a second marriage with a former aide, Beth Kelly; that wedding did not take place in a Catholic church.* In 1996, Sheila Rauch Kennedy learned that the Boston archdiocesan tribunal had proclaimed that her marriage to Joe Kennedy was a nullity....* Nine years later, in 2005, the Roman Rota reversed the Boston tribunal's decision...."The final decision by the Roman Rota lends weight to Sheila Rauch Kennedy's argument that she and Joe had a real, albeit unhappy, marital union" <www.lifesite.net/ldn/2007/jun/07062101.html>
  
  
  

Dr. Daniel Greene Answers Common NFP questions

A lighthearted take on the meaning of life?

Natural family planning is part of a healthy marriage (BC Courier Times, 7/16/07)

<http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/articlePrint.cfm?id=1378369>

NFP Awareness Week 2007 – a Response to “Go Ask Alice” (6/12/07 submission to BC Courier Times, Philadelphia Inquirer, Times of Trenton, & Trentonian)

Thirty years ago, the medical profession still clearly defined “conception” as the meeting of the sperm and the egg. The vast majority of people continues to use “conception,” in that sense. In a Brave New World manner, however, the term has been hijacked to mean “the process of becoming pregnant involving fertilization or implantation or both” <www.m-w.com/dictionary/conception>. Why does this matter?

The sperm and the egg come together in one of the fallopian tubes. The fertilized egg then travels to the new mom’s womb, to implant herself (or himself). In microscopic font typical of information sheets accompanying prescriptions, it’s acknowledged that one manner in which an “oral contraceptive” (i.e., “the pill”) acts is to prevent implantation. According to traditional and popular use of “conception,” that is “abortifacient.” As per Planned Parenthood and elements of the pharmaceutical industry with vast financial interests, that is merely “contraceptive.”

Jefferson Airplane used to tell us that “One pill makes you larger and one pill makes you small” and admonished us to "Feed your head." In regard to birth regulation, America seems to have taken that absurd advice to heart! The National Survey of Family Growth reports that “the pill” remains most popular - among methods believed to be contraceptive. By contrast, a tiny 0.3% of couples utilize “Natural Family Planning” (NFP). When attempting to avoid pregnancy, NFP has been documented to be every bit as effective as “the pill” (Frank-Herrmann, P. et al, 2007). Unlike “the pill,” however, NFP does not risk killing a pre born child.

NFP involves fertility awareness. Such awareness is promoted for infertile couples attempting to conceive – even by practitioners who take no issue with morally controversial methods. As per Jenny Wolsk Bain (2004), for example, "Your body provides a lot of clues....

• you can chart your cycle by monitoring changes in your basal body temperature....


• During your most fertile days....Your cervical mucus...becomes watery and stretchy....


• At the beginning of your cycle, your cervix is low..., firm and closed. As you approach ovulation, it moves up high, softens, and opens slightly" (pp. 26, 27).

If a couple is trying to achieve a pregnancy, NFP equips them with knowledge of when they are most fertile. If a couple needs to try to avoid a pregnancy, they know when to simply abstain from relations. There is no recourse to chemicals or to foreign objects placed in - or on - sensitive areas of the body.

As per the newest CDC data (2007), the U.S. sees 3600 divorces daily. As per the Barna Group (2004), “Born Again Christians [are] just as likely to divorce as are non-Christians.” Among various Christian denominations, Barna reports “Catholics were substantially less likely than Protestants to get divorced (25% versus 39%, respectively). Among the largest Protestant groups, those most likely to get divorced were Pentecostals (44%) while Presbyterians had the fewest divorces (28%).” Interestingly, Barna failed to measure strength of religious affiliation, by such measures as weekly church attendance. In other words, a self-reported Catholic was a Catholic, whether he attended Mass weekly or once every few years. Rutgers’ National Marriage Project maintains that the more strongly affiliated the Catholic (or Pentecostal or Presbyterian), the less likely she or he is to divorce. Any conclusion that religious practice is not a good predictor of marital success is fallacious.

As per the National Marriage Project (2005), “if you are a reasonably well-educated person with a decent income, come from an intact family and are religious, and marry after age twenty five without having a baby first, your chances of divorce are very low indeed.” Coupled with that good news is Mercedes Arzu Wilson’s (2002) report of an astonishing 0.2% divorce rate among NFP users! For its association with marital success alone, you owe it to yourselves and your children to learn more about NFP!

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has designated July 22 - 28 as “Natural Family Planning Awareness Week.” In anticipation, Holy Trinity of Morrisville will host a presentation on “NaPro Technology” by Dr. Brigida De Guzman, an OB/GYN physician. Please join us on July 7th (6:30 pm) in our school hall (Osborne and Stockham Avenues), for this fascinating and enriching presentation.

References

• Bain, J. Infertility: Learn to Take Charge of Your Condition. New York: Barnes and Noble, 2004.


• Barna Group. Born Again Christians Just As Likely to Divorce As Are Non-Christians, September 8, 2004


• Centers for Disease Control. Births, Marriages, Divorces, & Deaths: Provisional Data for October 2006. National Vital Statistics Report, May 25, 2007.


• Frank-Herrmann, P., Heil, J., Gnoth, C., Toledo, E., Baur, S., Pyper, C., Jenetzky, E., Strowitzki, T., and Freundl, G. The effectiveness of a fertility awareness based method to avoid pregnancy in relation to a couple’s sexual behavior during the fertile time: a prospective longitudinal study. Human Reproduction, February 20, 2007.


• Haas, J. "Begotten Not Made: A Catholic View of Reproductive Technology" <www.usccb.org/prolife/programs/rlp/98rlphaa.shtml>


• Kahlenborn, C., Stanford, J., and Larimore, W. Postfertilization Effect of Hormonal Emergency Contraception. The Annals of Pharmacotherapy: Vol. 36, No. 3, 465–470.


• Mosher, W. et al. Use of Contraception and Use of Family Planning Services in the United States: 1982–2002. Advance Data from Vital and Health Statistics, December 10, 2004.


• Roper, N. New American Pocket Dictionary. New York: Charles Scribner & Sons, 1978.


• Wilson, M. The Practice of Natural Family Planning versus the Use of Artificial Birth Control. www.catholicsocialscientists.org/cssr2002/Article--Wilson.pdf

re: "A Betrothal Proposal"

On the front cover of the June 2007 U.S. Catholic is posed the question, "Are cohabiting Catholics always 'living in sin'?" There has to be some sort of trick, right? They're probably meaning "cohabit" in the sense of sharing a home (like any family members), rather than in the sense of "living together" - right?

I took the bait & bought the magazine. To make a long story short, "A Betrothal Proposal" <http://uscatholic.claretians.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=12369&news_iv_ctrl=0&abbr=usc_&JServSessionIdr010=s52fnmk5w1.app1a> actually argues for Church sanctioning of certain de facto unions! All the more disturbing is that the authors teach theology at Creighton University in Omaha - home to the fabulous, fabulous Pope Paul VI Institute.

In my email to U.S. Catholic, I cc'd Archbishop Curtiss of Omaha. I am still absolutely amazed by Archbishop Curtiss' response:

This is Archbishop Curtiss' own letter to U.S. Catholic:

The Culture of Death & Its Poster Boy

Kevorkian, circa 1994

Kevorkian, 2007

Wasn't the original argument for Kevorian's release a plea for mercy for a man near death?

As per this morning's Reuters report <www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/dailynews/4082110a10.html>,

"Jack Kevorkian, the US assisted suicide advocate dubbed Dr Death, stepped free from a Michigan prison with few words but plans for a media blitz to support his cause. Kevorkian, 79, who says he assisted in some 130 deaths, had served eight years for a second-degree murder conviction after he videotaped himself administering lethal drugs to a 52-year-old man suffering from the debilitating amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig's disease....Starting with a series of high-profile television interviews, Kevorkian has said he will return to the campaign for legal reform to allow the terminally ill to end their lives with medical aid. CBS reporter Mike Wallace, whose 60 Minutes news show aired the death tape that became the central piece of evidence at Kevorkian's 1999 murder trial, was greeted by the newly released Kevorkian with a hug....Kevorkian had thwarted four attempts by prosecutors to convict him and flouted a Michigan ban on assisted suicide aimed at him. State regulators revoked his medical license in 1991. Mayer Morganroth, Kevorkian's lawyer, said his client had many offers for speaking engagements waiting for him, including some paying between $US50,000 and $US100,000."

The Catholic Archdiocese of Detroit seeks to remind the world of the true reasons for Kevorkian's notoriety:

“For 10 years, Jack Kevorkian’s actions resembled those of a pathologicalserial killer. It will be truly regrettable if he’s now treated as a celebrity parolee instead of the convicted murderer he is. Together with our fellow Catholics in Michigan, the Detroit archdiocese pledges to continue our efforts on behalf of patients, their families and their caregivers to increase the knowledge – and availability – of medically and morally sound options for end-of-life decision-making” <www.aodonline.org/aodonline-sqlimages/PressReleaseStatements/AOD/070531Kevorkian.pdf>

"Any legislative effort to decriminalize assisted suicide in this state will face the same demise as the 1998 ballot issue that was overwhelmingly rejected by a three to one margin. Assisted suicide represents an affront to the dignity of the human person, a crime against life, and an attack on humanity - all of which must be repudiated by elected officials and people of good will who seek to protect life from its beginning to its natural end. Those suffering from terminal conditions deserve to be treated with dignity and respect through appropriate palliative care along with love and comfort from family, friends and competent medical personnel” <www.micatholicconference.org/public_policy/press_releases/20070531-StatementOnKevorkian.php>.