Informative Article on Current Situation of Church in China

I posted a column last week on the ongoing persecution, direct and subtle, of the Catholic Church in China. This afternoon I read an excellent account written by China expert, Father Bernardo Cervellera of Asia News, that I think supports my brief assessment with a plenitude of facts. One thing missing from Father Cervellera’s article, however, is that the Catholic Patriotic Association’s Council of Bishops in 2000, through its late president, Jesuit Bishop Michael Fu Tieshan of Beijing, issued an obsequious statement opposing Pope John Paul II’s beatification of 120 Chinese martyrs (killed during the Boxer uprising) and giving full support for the government’s one child per family policy, which includes forced abortions.

Saint Kelly of Armagh

Yesterday was the feast day of two martyrs, Saints Nazarius and Celsus, who were slain for the Faith in the year 68, in Milan, under the persecution of Nero. There is a brief account of them on our website for the Saint of the Day.

I am unaware of any Saint Brian (I was named after Brian Boru), but I know that there is an Irish saint also named Celsus, and the Latin name Celsus is “Kelly” in English.

Thomas More College Establishes Medieval Style Catholic Guilds

The Thomas More College of Liberal Arts announced that it has established a series of medieval-style Catholic guilds that will enable its students to gain skills and experience from master craftsmen in areas such as woodworking, sacred art, music, and baking.

Thomas More College’s guilds will take its spirit from the associations of men and women who advanced their trades and responded to the needs of their local communities in the Medieval Age.

Bishop Frederic Baraga’s Cause Moves Forward

Catholic Culture reports: “The Diocese of Marquette (Michgian) has completed its investigation into a cure attributed to the intercession of the Servant of God Frederic Baraga (1797-1868), a Slovenian missionary who became the diocese’s first bishop. A liver tumor reportedly disappeared after the bishop’s …

In China, to Be a True Catholic One Cannot Be a Member of the Government’s Catholic Patriotic Assoc.

It’s as simple as that. The CPA rejects the authority of the pope over the Church in China. The CPA has been condemned by Pope Benedict in his 2007 Letter to the Church in China for pretending to be Catholic. The U.S. Catholic China Bureau doesn’t get that, even though its head, Rev. Michel Marcil, acts as a messenger for CPA bishops who want to submit secretly to the pope. The underground Church, the Church that publicly professes its allegiance to the pope, does not need to get “reconciled”; it’s the CPA clergy that need to reconcile with the underground Catholics, and do so publicly.

On My Way to South Dakota!

This Saturday, July 24, I’ll be giving a talk at Spearfish Park, in the lovely city of Spearfish, South Dakota. My subject will be Father Pierre-Jean De Smet, the intrepid Belgian Jesuit who evangelized (among others) the tribes of the Rocky Mountains. Father De Smet was part …

Killer Drones and the Pesky Question of Ethics

In an informative article on “killer drones,” Nat Hentoff asks, “Where’s the accountability?” Where indeed. Modern warfare seems bent on shedding all ethical restraint, from the distinction between combatant and non-combatant, to the defining of clear objectives and exit strategy, to the due process of law (undeclared, therefore …

New Norms on Grave Delicts Committed by Clerics

The Holy See has published new legal norms for handling clerical abuse of minors and other “exceptionally serious” crimes committed by clerics. Added to the list is the attempted ordination of a woman. This last is already the cause of sarcastic snarking at “the Vatican” by progressivist secularists and their ideological twins, liberal Catholics. “How can you equate raping a boy with ordaining a woman who wants to serve Christ’s faithful? … etc., etc.”

Lawyer for the Mob and O’Hare International

Thanks to Larry and Susan Koralweski for this interesting story.

Easy Eddie

Many years ago, Al Capone virtually owned Chicago. He was notorious for enmeshing the windy city in everything from bootlegged booze and prostitution to murder. Capone had a talented lawyer nicknamed “Easy Eddie.” In fact, Eddie’s skill at legal maneuvering kept the gangster out of jail for a long time.

Romano Amerio Defends Tradition from the Grave

Sandro Magister brings our attention to the volume Zibaldone, a posthumously published work of the great Swiss-Italian Philosopher, Romano Amerio. The work is edited by Amerio’s student, Professor Enrico Maria Radaelli, whom we have mentioned on this site before. Like his Iota Unum — which is subtitled “a study of the changes in the Catholic Church in the twentieth century” —