"Terri Schiavo Remembered"

"Annulment Information Evening, Monmouth County, Holmdel"

A posting for an "Annulment Information Evening" comes across as advertising for declarations of marital nullity. Are similar "information evenings" available about dispensation from religious vows? Having information sessions on annulments but not on dispensations comes across as a not-so-subtle disrespect for the Sacrament of Marriage.

Assuming that there was a theological justification for an "Annulment Information Evening", where might I find it in the Catechism <www.scborromeo.org/ccc.htm> or Dignitas Connubii <www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/intrptxt/documents/rc_pc_intrptxt_doc_20050125>?

I prayerfully urge the Family Life Office to become more familiar with the Holy Fathers' annual addresses to the Roman Rota, including the most recent one of January 29 <www.zenit.org/article-25062?l=english>:

• "at the distance of 20 years from the Addresses of John Paul II on psychiatry's incapacity in the nullification ofmatrimony,....it seems opportune to ask oneself whether and to what extent these interventions have had an adequate reception in the ecclesiastical tribunals....
• "the fact of a problem that continues to be very real is visible to everyone....of which my venerable Predecessor spoke: that of preserving the ecclesial community 'from the scandal of seeing in practice the value of Christian marriage being destroyed by the exaggerated and almost automatic multiplication of declarations of nullity,...on the pretext of some immaturity or psychic weakness....
• "recall again...distinctions...between 'psychic maturity which is seen as the goal of human development' and 'canonical maturity which instead, is the basic minimum required for establishing the validity of marriage'....'only incapacity and not difficulty in giving consent and in realizing a true community of life and love invalidates a marriage'.... the canonistic dimension of normality, that is inspired by an integral vision of the human person 'also includes moderate forms of psychological difficulty'....
• "it is necessary to rediscover the positive capacity that in principle every human person has to marry by virtue of his very nature as man or woman. Indeed, we run the risk of falling into a form of anthropological pessimism....one cannot confuse the real difficulties confronting many, especially young people who conclude that marital union is normally unthinkable and impracticable with the true incapacity of consent....What is actually at stake is the truth about marriage and about its intrinsic juridical nature....
• " in the reductionist optic that fails to recognize the truth on matrimony, the effective relationship of a true communion of life and love, idealized on a level of pure human well-being, essentially becomes dependent only on accidental factors, and not, instead, on the exercise of human freedom sustained by grace.
• "It is true that this freedom of human nature, 'wounded in the natural powers' and 'inclined to sin' (Catechism of the Catholic Church,n. 405), is limited and imperfect, but not for this reason does it become inauthentic and insufficient....
• "some anthropological and 'humanistic' currents aimed at self-realization and egocentric self-transcendence idealize human beings and marriage to such an extent that they then deny the mental capacity of many people, basing this on elements that do not correspond to the essential requirements of the conjugal bond....
• "capacity makes reference to a basic minimum so that the couple can give their being as a male or as a female to establish that bond to which the great majority of human beings are called....
• "real incapacity...is always an exception to the natural principle of the capacity necessary"
  
  

Excerpts from the USCCB's "Guidelines for Evaluating Reiki as an Alternative Therapy"

"I. HEALING BY DIVINE GRACE AND HEALING BY NATURAL POWERS....

"3....Because it is possible to be healed by divine power does not mean that we should not use natural means at our disposal. It is not our decision whether or not God will heal someone by supernatural means. As the Catechism of the Catholic Church points out, the Holy Spirit sometimes gives to certain human beings 'a special charism of healing so as to make manifest the power of the grace of the risen Lord.' This power of healing is not at human disposal, however, for 'even the most intense prayers do not always obtain the healing of all illnesses.' Recourse to natural means of healing therefore remains entirely appropriate, as these are at human disposal. In fact, Christian charity demands that we not neglect natural means of healing people who are ill.

"II. REIKI AND HEALING

"A) The Origins and Basic Characteristics of Reiki
4. Reiki is a technique of healing that was invented in Japan in the late 1800s....According to Reiki teaching, illness is caused by some kind of disruption or imbalance in one's 'life energy.' A Reiki practitioner effects healing by placing his or her hands in certain positions on the patient's body in order to facilitate the flow of Reiki, the 'universal life energy'....

"B) Reiki as a Natural Means of Healing
5. Although Reiki proponents seem to agree that Reiki does not represent a religion of its own, but a technique that may be utilized by people from many religious traditions, it does have several aspects of a religion....
6...there are some Reiki practitioners, primarily nurses, who attempt to approach Reiki simply as a natural means of healing. Viewed as natural means of healing, however, Reiki becomes subject to the standards of natural science. It is true that there may be means of natural healing that have not yet been understood or recognized by science. The basic criteria for judging whether or not one should entrust oneself to any particular natural means of
healing, however, remain those of science.
7. Judged according to these standards, Reiki lacks scientific credibility....

"C) Reiki and the Healing Power of Christ
8. Some people have attempted to identify Reiki with the divine healing known to Christians. They are mistaken. The radical difference can be immediately seen in the fact that for the Reiki practitioner the healing power is at human disposal....for Christians the access to divine healing is by prayer to Christ as Lord and Savior, while the essence of Reiki is not a prayer but a technique that is passed down from the 'Reiki Master' to the pupil....Some practitioners attempt to Christianize Reiki by adding a prayer to Christ, but this does not affect the essential nature of Reiki. For these reasons, Reiki and other similar therapeutic techniques cannot be identified with what Christians call healing by divine grace.
9.....this worldview has its origins in eastern religions and has a certain monist and pantheistic character, in that distinctions among self, world, and God tend to fall away. We have already seen that Reiki practitioners are unable to differentiate clearly between divine healing power and power that is at human disposal.

"III. CONCLUSION

"10. Reiki therapy finds no support either in the findings of natural science or in Christian belief. For a Catholic to believe in Reiki therapy presents insoluble problems....

11....To use Reiki one would have to accept at least in an implicit way central elements of the worldview that undergirds Reiki theory, elements that belong neither to Christian faith nor to natural science. Without justification either from Christian faith or natural science, however, a Catholic who putis or her trust in Reiki would be operating in the realm of superstition, the no-man's-land that is neither faith nor science. Superstition corrupts one's worship of God by turning one's religious feeling and practice in a false direction. While sometimes people fall into superstition through ignorance, it is the responsibility of all who teach in the name of the Church to eliminate such ignorance as much as possible.
12. Since Reiki therapy is not compatible with either Christian teaching or scientific evidence, it would be inappropriate for Catholic institutions, such as Catholic health care facilities and retreat centers, or persons representing the Church, such as Catholic chaplains, to promote or to provide support for Reiki therapy."

Are the Clintons Putting Us On?

As reported by CNA (Catholic News Agency),

• "During her recent visit to Mexico, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made an unexpected stop at the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe and left a bouquet of white flowers 'on behalf of the American people,' after asking who painted the famous image.
• "The image of Our Lady of Guadalupe was miraculously imprinted by Mary on the tilma, or cloak, of St. Juan Diego in 1531. The image has numerous unexplainable phenomena, such as the appearance on Mary’s eyes of those present in the room when the tilma was opened and the image’s lack of decay."

Of course, Our Lady of Guadalupe is Patroness of the Americas & of unborn children!


Coupled with Bill's recent ramblings about supposedly unfertilized embryos (See below), one is certainly left to scratch one's head. Is it possible that these two highly educated, powerful individuals are truly that ignorant? Are they putting us on?

The Vatican's Archbishop Burke, Discussing Canon 915

Irrefutable evidence - Bill Clinton doesn't know the difference between an embryo & an egg!

Throughout his presidency, we were advised that Bill Clinton was a scholar with an off the charts IQ. Unbelievablely, this YouTube segment has him REPEATEDLY discussing (on CNN) how some "embryos" are not yet fertilized! Where was he during high school biology class? All the more outrageous was that his interviewer was a candidate for surgeon general! The fact that this egregious display is not receiving widespread expose coverage is media bias at its absolute worse:

More Kudos for Bishop Martino!

Thank you! Philadelphia can be so proud that you are a native son! In a forthright and clear manner, your official notice on Worthiness to Receive Communion "reminds all ministers of Holy Communion, Ordinary and Extraordinary, that:

1. To administer the Sacred Body and Blood of the Lord is a serious duty which they have received from the Church, and no one having accepted this responsibility has the right to ignore the Church’s law in this regard;


2. Those whose unworthiness to receive Holy Communion is known publicly to the Church must be refused Holy Communion in order to prevent sacrilege and to prevent the Catholic in question from committing further grave sin through unworthy reception" <www.dioceseofscranton.org/news/OfficialNoticeOnCommunionFebruary26,2009.asp>

Thank you for embodying the great love which dares to speak the truth! Thank you also for your follow-up to Senator Casey, reminding him that there must be "utter clarity when it comes to the teaching of the Church on matters that pertain to the taking of innocent life and the special responsibilities that fall to you, Senator, as a lawmaker to oppose abortion and other clear evils." <www.dioceseofscranton.org/news/BishopWritesSenatorCaseyFebruary26,2009.asp>. No matter who it is who presently has his ear, I pray that Senator Casey will hear the Lord's truth which you are speaking to him.

"Obstinately Persevering in Manifest Grave Sin"

In his follow-up letter to Senator Casey, Bishop Joseph Martino wrote: "It is...imperative that there be utter clarity when it comes to the teaching of the Church on matters that pertain to the taking of innocent life and the special responsibilities that fall to you, Senator, as a lawmaker to oppose abortion and other clear evils." Bishop Martino goes on to quote Cardinal George letter to President Obama, "A shift toward promoting abortion in developing nations would...increase distrust of the United States in these nations, whose values and culture often reject abortion, at a time when we need their trust and respect" <www.dioceseofscranton.org/news/BishopWritesSenatorCaseyFebruary26,2009.asp>. I applaud Bishop Martino for being so clear and forthright.

As you know, Congressman Patrick Murphy is a co-sponsor of FOCA - the so-called "Freedom of Choice Act" <http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d110:HR01964:@@@P>. Last Wednesday, a letter was sent to the leadership of the U.S. House of Representatives, urging that pro-life riders be retained: "If this Congress intends to rescind these riders, at a minimum the American people deserve a full debate with an up-or-down vote" <http://focusfamaction.edgeboss.net/download/focusfamaction/pdfs/2009-02-25_jordan_shuler_letter.pdf>. While signed by 23 other Democrats, Patrick Murphy did NOT add his signature to the letter. Isn't this an example of "obstinately persevering in manifest grave sin", of which Canon 915 speaks? If not, what would be?