Archive for the ‘catholic’ Category

It looks like the prez is going to have to wait for some of his appointments a bit longer:

By scheduling pro-forma sessions on Mondays and Fridays, lawmakers can take away Obama’s ability to make recess appointments.

Obama had 115 executive- and judicial-branch nominees pending on the Senate’s executive calendar as of Wednesday afternoon.

Bad sign for the president considering the incredible majorities he has in both houses. But as Father Z reports the Washington is not the only place where there are a lot of open seats waiting to be filled:

There are at present quite a few important curial positions and sees around the world which usually have cardinals… but don’t.

At the time of this writing, I believe there are 103 voting cardinals (men who have not turned 80 years old). By the end of November two more cardinals will hit 80 (Tumi, Pujats), bringing the number of voting cardinals down to 101. By the end of next February, four more (Panafieu, Vidal, García-Gasco, Ruini – sadly) – 97. By the end of April two more (Keeler, Sebastiani) – 95. So, an American and two Italians will have dropped from the list, leaving 10 Americans and 15 Italians as electors.

I won’t even pretend to know the inside baseball of the Vatican but with an elderly pope, the men who are elevated to cardinal now will have a lot to do with the direction of the church for decades.

While everything is election election election in the US things continue to get interesting in England:

Anglo-Catholicism within the Church of England is evaporating like a cloud of incense rolling down the nave. Those Anglicans who have decided to take advantage of Pope Benedict XVI’s historic offer of special privileges within the Roman Catholic Church are already constructing a network of Ordinariate communities that will bear fruit in new Catholic parishes. Crucially, they are led by two “flying” Anglican bishops, the Rt Rev Andrew Burnham of Ebbsfleet and the Rt Rev Keith Newton of Richborough.

When you have media that thinks in terms of winning a media day vs the Church that looks at things in terms of centuries there really is no contest at all is there?

Update: The Anchoress points out this isn’t just going on in England:

On the heels of Pope Benedict’s well-received visit to the United Kingdom came the announcement last week of the CDF’s appointment of Archbishop Donald Wuerl, of Washington, as its delegate, “to guide the incorporation of Anglican groups into the Catholic Church in the United States.”

Yeah. It’s a big deal. And today, NETNY, Brooklyn Diocese-run channel that broadcasts, among other things, the nation’s only daily Catholic news program, scored an interview with Wuerl that helps clarify what the Ordinariate means for both Anglicans and Catholics, and how many Anglican congregations and parishes will be proceeding toward full Communion with Rome, and what the process will look like.

This is not about individual “conversions” but about how whole parishes may be incorporated into Communion with Rome, while maintaining their heritage, their liturgy and music (and anyone watching the gorgeous Evening Prayer at which Pope Benedict participated while in England will understand their desire to maintain it). Wuerl does a good job of laying out the basics.

This development will make many liberal in the US go Kryten

The best news I’ve heard all day come from New Jersey

The Cherry Hill Courier Post newspaper says a Planned Parenthood facility located on Haddonfield Road and operated by Planned Parenthood of Southern New Jersey will close down.

Why is planned parenthood closing down on Haddonfield Road, because the public teat is now dry:

PP-SNJ stands to lose as much as $160,000 in taxpayer funds because of Christie’s decision and the upholding of his veto.

And what veto would that be? This one:

Part of Gov. Chris Christie’s belt-tightening plan for New Jersey was the termination of $7.5 million in public funding for Planned Parenthood clinics in the state,

You mean in a time of budget cuts we might not have the funds to pay for abortion? Awwwww.

Talk about getting an A-List blogger on the Field Guide:

One thing about bloggers like Jim, everyone wants their attention so if you want someone like Gateway Pundit for the field guide you have to be persistent.