Cleveland nun to close one night of Democratic convention with prayer

CNS via The Catholic Review

By Dennis Sadowski

August 21, 2008

Link to original

WASHINGTON – St. Joseph Sister Catherine Pinkerton of Cleveland is not usually one to seek the spotlight, but she will take center stage at the Democratic National Convention Aug. 27 when she gives the benediction to close the party’s third day of business.

Sister Catherine, 86, a lobbyist for Network, a national Catholic social justice lobby, will close the convention on the night that Sen. Barack Obama is expected to formally become the party’s nominee for president.

The invitation to lead the prayer came as a surprise to the veteran lobbyist, who has become a well-known figure on Capitol Hill during her 24 years with Network. She said she accepted only after informing her congregation’s leadership of the invitation.

St. Joseph Sister Catherine Pinkerton will take center

stage at the Democratic National Convention Aug. 27

when she gives the benediction to close the party’s third

day of business. Sister Catherine, 86, a lobbyist for

Network, a national Catholic social justice lobby, will close

the convention on the night that Sen. Barack Obama is

expected to formally become the party’s nominee for

president. She is pictured in a 2006 photo.

(CNS photo/Michael Alexander, Georgia Bulletin)

“I didn’t know if I wanted to do that or not,” she told Catholic News Service Aug. 20. “I thought, ‘What have I got to lose?’ It’s my right to do that as an American citizen.”

While Sister Catherine is no stranger to the give-and-take world of politics, until recently her work has been limited to nonpartisan concerns related to international trade and investment. However, since April Sister Catherine has served as one of nine co-chairs of the Catholic National Advisory Council to the Obama campaign.

She said she agreed to serve on the council only after seeing the excitement the campaign has generated among young people, especially young Catholics, across the country.

“A lot of the young people with whom I’m working went double-barreled into it (the campaign),” she explained. “I thought if the young people are seeing something here and these are young kids immersed in Catholic theology and social teaching, then there’s something to this.”

After news of her role in the convention became public, calls poured in to Sister Catherine’s Washington office and her congregation’s motherhouse in Cleveland. The callers, for the most part angry Catholics, expressed concern that Sister Catherine’s appearance on the convention dais is tantamount to supporting the Democratic party’s platform, especially its unwavering support of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion.

A spokeswoman for the congregation said the motherhouse had received about 30 calls and a handful of e-mail messages through midday Aug. 20. Regina Sullivan, the order’s director of communications, said the congregation has told callers that Sister Catherine is taking the stage as an individual, not as a representative of the Congregation of St. Joseph.

Sister Catherine said she was paying for her flight to Denver, the site of the convention, while the party was paying for her hotel room.

Her work with the advisory council has been limited to offering advice on how to reach Catholic voters. She said the council has met intermittently over the last four months and that she has offered ideas when asked.

“The idea was they wanted to mobilize Catholic faith communities across the nation for Obama,” she said.

Original post by mattpruett@faith-net.net (Faith Community Church of Canton NC) and software by Elliott Back

DENVER (CNS) — It was a rocky start to the Democratic National Convention’s first "Faith in Action" interfaith gathering at the Colorado Convention Center’s Wells Fargo Theater Aug. 24.

What was billed as a chance to "honor the diverse faith traditions inside the Democratic Party" quickly devolved into controlled chaos as anti-abortion activists interrupted the opening proceedings.

Shortly after the beginning of a performance by the Spirituals Project singing group based in Denver, Randall Terry from Operation Rescue — a pro-life organization based in Wichita, Kan. — interrupted the proceedings by saying "Obama supports abortion, a system responsible for the murder of children." He was quickly drowned out with boos and chants of "Yes We Can!" from the crowd of roughly 1,500 attendees before he was escorted out of the hall by security.

Another Operation Rescue activist quickly followed suit, standing up and exclaiming that "Abortion is murder!" Once again, boos resounded throughout the hall before he was led out. A third heckler stood up and shouted "Obama is a baby killer!" The statement was met with chants of "Obama! Obama!"

The interfaith event featured speakers from several religious backgrounds, including Muslims, Jews, Catholics and other Christians. Once the disruptions were finished, the program continued with several keynote speeches from religious leaders and a prominent Colorado politician.

"What we’re celebrating is something that we should be mindful of, and that is that there absolutely is in our party a tremendous intersection of faith and politics," said Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter, a Catholic Democrat who was elected to his position in 2006.

Sister Helen Prejean, who celebrated her 50th jubilee as a Sister of St. Joseph of Medaille in 2007, delivered a keynote speech in which she said that the death penalty in the United States is racist and based on economic class. She also accused President George W. Bush’s administration of ignoring the U.S. Constitution while handling enemy combatants in the war on terror and linked that to a disregard for life through the death penalty in the United States.

"Inherent in the practice of the death penalty is the practice of mental torture," said Sister Prejean, who earned the day’s largest ovation after a 20-minute speech that was sharply critical of the U.S. government, past and present.

"If we understand what we’re doing in our own killing chambers, we will better understand what happened at Abu Ghraib and what’s happening at Guantanamo … and how it has happened that our own attorney general and lawyers from our Justice Department employed shocking legalisms to bypass the Geneva Conventions in order to legitimize torture of suspected terrorists."

Bishop Charles Blake, a self-described pro-life Democrat and national bishop of the Church of God in Christ, delivered an impassioned speech on the nation’s responsibility to children, calling for increased government spending for education and social programs and advocating a redistribution of wealth in the name of defending children. He also called to task the American abortion system.

"Our children have sacred value, and each child is equally valuable," said Bishop Blake, pastor of the 24,000-member West Angeles Church of God in Christ in Los Angeles. "Some of us (Democrats) have philosophic, humanitarian and theological differences with those who put forth abortion as an appropriate routine and acceptable birth-control procedure. …

"Surely, we cannot be pleased with the routine administration of millions of surgically terminated pregnancies," he added. "Something within us must be calling for a better way. If we do not resist at this point, at what point will we resist?"

The Rev. Leah Daughtry, CEO of the 2008 Democratic National Convention and pastor of the House of the Lord Pentecostal Church in Washington, refuted the notion that Democrats have made a concerted effort in recent years to bring people of faith to the party.

"We didn’t move to bring faith to the party. Faith was already here," she said. "Democrats are, have been and will continue to be people of faith, and millions of people of faith have been and will continue to be people of faith."

Patrick Whelan, president of Catholic Democrats in Boston, helped lead the opening prayer and litany in a portion titled "Our Responsibility to Our World" that called upon the teachings of St. Francis of Assisi.

"St. Francis of Assisi prayed, ‘Make me an instrument of your peace.’ In a world beset by conflict and mistrust, help us be new peacemakers for the 21st century by looking beyond war and reaching out to our enemies," said Whelan.

"St. Francis taught us to see God in the beauty of his creation. Help us to be good stewards of God’s gifts, from Kansas to Kenya, protecting the environment for our children and promoting the common good," he added.

Original post by mattpruett@faith-net.net (Faith Community Church of Canton NC) and software by Elliott Back

A new way of living
On Line opinion, Australia - 43 minutes ago
The eco-spiritual community blends environmentalism with spirituality as the basis for a purported healthy, sustainable, self-governing and self-determining …

Original post by spirituality - Google News and software by Elliott Back

By Gemma Jones

The Daily Telegraph

August 28, 2008

http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,24251409-5006009,00.html

THE police sex crimes squad has been called in to investigate a flood of new abuse claims involving St Stanislaus College as a former college boarder subjected to horrific late-night prayer sessions told his story yesterday.

Dallas McInerney, 35, condemned the Bathurst school - which only this week was allegedly encouraging its students to read Penthouse magazines - for retaining the Vincentian Fathers as governors while police investigated claims up to four staff were involved in abuse of students.

School principal John Edwards confirmed yesterday the school was served with two warrants on July 2, with the names of three former staff members listed under the title "accused" and that the police were seeking documents and material from the school which was referred to as a crime scene.

As sex-crime police began work on the case with Bathurst detectives, Mr McInerney yesterday described the "unorthodox" prayer sessions as filled with "chanting, music, no electric lighting, the whole atmosphere was one of sedation".

Police have spoken at length to Mr McInerney, who lives in Sydney. He declined to speak about the contents of his statement to police but said his former school needed to do more.

"The college needs to take more drastic action than it has to date, the Vincentians should withdraw themselves from the governing council of the college while the investigation is ongoing," he said.

He fired off a letter to Mr Edwards this week after reading the school’s newsletter in which a teacher was asked what he considered recommended reading for every teenage boy.

Part of the answer was reproduced as "PeCENSOREDse" but Mr McInerney said he read it as a reference to the magazine Penthouse and he said he was shocked such a reference would be made in a newsletter, which also informed parents of sexual abuse claims.

A police spokesman said the response from former students yesterday had prompted police to call in the state crime command’s sex crimes squad.

Original post by mattpruett@faith-net.net (Faith Community Church of Canton NC) and software by Elliott Back

Matthew Cobb and Jerry Coyne write a letter
ScienceBlogs - 55 minutes ago
(The same is true of religion's poor cousin, 'spirituality', which you slip into your Editorial rather as a creationist uses 'intelligent design'. …

Original post by spirituality - Google News and software by Elliott Back

By MARY BARRON

National Catholic Reporter

August 27, 2008

http://ncronline3.org/drupal/?q=node/1677

Once candidate Ronald Reagan was so effective in persuading voters to cross party lines that presidential candidates today still fight over the "Reagan Democrats."

As Sen. Barack Obama strives to reverse the process, turning Republicans into what he calls "Obamacans," he has an influential Reagan Republican at his side.

Not only that, but this Republican quotes St. Thomas Aquinas and follows the example of Catholic Worker founder Dorothy Day.

Douglas W. Kmiec, professor of constitutional law at Pepperdine University, was a former constitutional lawyer for Presidents Reagan and George H.W. Bush. He also served as dean of the law school at Catholic University where he personally taught all nine sections of the course on Catholic social justice teachings because students were required to take it and no one else wanted to teach it.

As he began to look into Obama’s candidacy over the last year, Kmiec said, he realized, "If he were in my class on Catholic social teaching, he’d be getting an A."

Obama, who’ll become the official presidential nominee of the Democratic Party Thursday, graduated from Harvard Law School and joined the United Church of Christ. But his thoughtful discussions of faith and public policy strongly resonate with Catholic philosophies upholding the dignity of each person and the need to care for Planet Earth as good stewards of creation, Kmiec said.

The professor’s journey across the partisan political divide hasn’t been without repercussions. He said he got a lot of hateful reactions after endorsing Obama in February in a column at Slate.com — even from people who had known him and his wife for decades as pro-life activists.

He was even criticized from the pulpit and denied Communion at a Mass shortly after his endorsement; an event that he says still haunts him. He doesn’t want to embarrass the priest by naming him publicly, but he did take the matter up with Cardinal Roger Mahoney of Los Angeles and received an apology from the priest.

As Kmiec made the transition from Reagan Republican to volunteer adviser to Obama, he assembled a substantial list of Obama’s graces and Republican disgraces. At this point, he said, he is taking the Dorothy Day approach — doing everything he can as an individual to create the change he wants to see.

He has written a book, to be published soon, called Can Catholics Support Him? The Big Question for Barack Obama. He is attending the Democratic National Convention, where he will make a presentation Thursday to a group that will be caucusing on issues of faith. And he engages Obama and his faith outreach staff in Socratic dialogue, particularly when he thinks the candidate may have made a misstep.

Kmiec isn’t the sort of person who dismisses other religions. He began this election cycle working for Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, and he felt ashamed for his country when Romney seemed to be pushed out of the running because of voter distrust of his Mormon faith. Kmiec faults presumptive Republican nominee Sen. John McCain for trying to use Romney’s religion to embarrass him.

Originally a supporter of President Bush’s decision to go to war in Iraq, Kmiec became disillusioned not only because, as it turned out, Saddam didn’t have the weapons of mass destruction that Bush said he had, but also because the president showed "lack of understanding of the faith culture" in Iraq, didn’t know a Sunni from a Shi’ite, and made bad decisions based on cultural ignorance.

"We need to understand the faiths of others," Kmiec said. Otherwise, we make mistakes and can worsen things internationally.

Obama’s concern that religion shouldn’t be used as a wedge to divide people was one of the first things that drew Kmiec’s interest when he began to consider candidates other than Romney. He was intrigued at the discussion of religion in Obama’s Call to Renewal speech, given to a convention of the United Church of Christ in 2006. Kmiec saw in it "the words of a thoughtful, reflective Christian, sincerely stated, with all the earmarks of an intellectual mind and a believing soul."

Both political parties have used religion to divide instead of to unite, Kmiec said. On the Democratic side, people from conservative faith traditions have been painted as zealots with whom reasonable people can’t find common ground. And on the Republican side, "Karl Rove and company have gone out of their way to say ‘The Democrats hate you because of your faith.’"

Republicans have won elections that way, Kmiec said. "The real question in 2008 is whether the Republicans will be able to do it again."

Obama’s support for a living wage, his understanding of the cruel circumstances that lead women to choose to have abortions, and his emphasis on developing renewaable energy technologies as a way to preserve the environment while enhancing national security and creating jobs are all elements that drew Kmiec to Obama.

Obama’s skills and values are becoming evident in the new Democratic Party platform and in Obama’s plans for an administration that Kmiec believes could reflect Aquinas’ thought that government is not just a necessary evil, but can be a force for good.

Above all, Kmiec said, Obama is inspirational. "Not many people can inspire others," he said. "It takes real honesty to do so."

(Mary Barron is a freelance writer from Colorado who is covering the Democratic Party for NCR during this year’s presidential race.)

Original post by mattpruett@faith-net.net (Faith Community Church of Canton NC) and software by Elliott Back

The Goddess Returns
Packet Online, NJ - 58 minutes ago
By coincidence, another book seen as a landmark in the history of feminine spirituality was published the same day — Starhawk’s The Spiral Dance (HarperOne) …

Original post by spirituality - Google News and software by Elliott Back

Original post by mattpruett@faith-net.net (Faith Community Church of Canton NC) and software by Elliott Back

by Steven Ertelt

LifeNews.com Editor

August 27, 2008

Denver, CO (LifeNews.com) — Bob Casey, the self-declared pro-life senator from Pennsylvania, mentioned abortion during his speech at the Democratic convention but passed up an opportunity to criticize Barack Obama or his party’s pro-abortion position. Instead, Casey applauded Obama’s supposed moderate stance and trashed presidential candidate John McCain.

Pro-life Democrats were hopeful that Casey would complete the job his father, the late Gov. Bob Casey, tried to begin when Bill Clinton’s campaign prevented him from speaking at the 1992 convention.

Their hopes were dashed with Casey merely mentioned a disagreement with Obama on abortion and offered him words of praise.

"Barack Obama and I have an honest disagreement on the issue of abortion," Casey said. "But the fact that I’m speaking here tonight is testament to Barack’s ability to show respect for the views of people who may disagree with him."

However, Obama holds a strict pro-abortion view and his campaign put together a Democratic Party platform that failed to include language saying some Democrats have a disagreement with the party on the life and death issue.

"I’m honored to stand before you as Governor Bob Casey’s son and a proud supporter of Barack Obama," Casey added — making no mention of his father’s refusal to support President Clinton because of his ardent pro-abortion position.

"He’s one of us," Casey said with conviction, ignoring Obama’s pledge to topple all pro-life laws nationwide as his first ac as president.

Instead, Casey trashed McCain, running as the pro-life candidate on abortion, and gave what some considered the harshest attack on him yet at the convention.

He complained that McCain, who has said he will have a pro-life administration, would continue Bush’s policies and said he hoped the pro-life president would only have “four more months” in office.

Sarah Pulliam, of Christianity Today, noticed how Casey squandered his opportunity to rebuke the party, and Obama, on abortion.

“Casey barely mentioned abortion during his speech tonight at on the floor of the Democratic National Convention,” she said. “In 1992, former Pennsylvania governor Bob Casey Sr. wanted to discussion his opposition to abortion but was denied a speaking slot. His son barely touched on the subject in his speech tonight.”

Printed from: http://www.lifenews.com/nat4214.html

Original post by mattpruett@faith-net.net (Faith Community Church of Canton NC) and software by Elliott Back

By Emma Chalmers

August 27, 2008

Courier mail

http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,24247528-3102,00.html

THE crisis at St Mary’s Church has divided Catholic priests across Brisbane after allegations that the controversial parish has married divorcees.

While some priests claimed St Mary’s at South Brisbane had become "a joke", others urged the Roman Catholic hierarchy to use quiet diplomacy to resolve the impasse.

The future of the parish is at crossroads after Catholic Archbishop John Bathersby warned at the weekend it had become an "authority to itself" and must toe the Vatican line or shut down.

In addition to concerns over unorthodox masses and baptisms, one parish priest, who did not wish to be named, yesterday said he was aware that some divorced Catholics had been allowed to remarry at St Mary’s without having their first marriage annulled.

Yesterday, Archbishop Bathersby confirmed there had been rumours that the church had adjusted the sacrament of marriage.

In a letter to the church last Friday, Archbishop Bathersby said marriage ceremonies at St Mary’s sometimes completely overlooked the Church’s normal requirement for validity and took place without "the slightest respect for Canon Law".

St Mary’s yesterday did not respond to questions about the allegations.

Father Laurie Timms of Our Lady of Mt Carmel at Coorparoo said he sympathised with St Mary’s parish priest Fr Peter Kennedy.

But Fr Peter Gillam of the Holy Cross at Redcliffe said some priests felt their colleagues at St Mary’s were letting them down and were not playing by the same rules as everyone else.

Original post by mattpruett@faith-net.net (Faith Community Church of Canton NC) and software by Elliott Back