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Columnists and contributors
Jaymie Stuart Wolfe
Forever faith-ful
Posted: 6/26/2009
My mom was -- and is -- a pretty consistent disciplinarian. Because she lives with us, my kids have heard a lot of the same phrases she used to say when she was raising me. “Finish what you start.” “Put things away as you go along.” “When you get up in the morning and your feet hit the floor, turn around and make your bed.” Some of what she repeats has fallen on less than listening ears. But her simple synopsis of what it takes to be a decent human being will probably stick with our children the way it has with me. “Two things,” she used to say as she held up two fingers. “Only two things. I want to you be nice, and hardworking.” “Nice” and “hardworking” sometimes switched order, but they were always the bottom line. All the rest, at least in her view, would probably follow if you possessed those two qualities.
Father Robert L. Connors
Year for Priests offers chance for renewal
Posted: 6/26/2009
Thirty-eight years ago as I began my first assignment at Mary Immaculate of Lourdes in Newton Upper Falls, I balanced my nervousness and naivete with enthusiasm and energy. I was a new “curate,” but the warm welcome from the people propelled me forward into a priesthood that has been filled with incredible highs and difficult lows. Truly, it is the consistent support from the people and my fellow priests that has supported my ministry and made it a great blessing in my life. Through all the varied assignments and challenging experiences over those years, nothing could have prepared me, or any priest, for the trauma that has touched the Church over the past several years. The “crisis” has forever changed how people view the priest. Often subtle, the difference seems to pervade a lot of our interaction. It is sad, of course, because the majority of priests love their priesthood, respect parishioners and are trying to do the best they can to fulfill the call to ministry they answered so many years ago. Gratefully, I am happy to note that the “positive” responses far out-weigh the “negative” ones, but priests silently and gently carry that baggage. We don’t want to be on top of the pedestal -- it’s so rewarding to do ministry with you; but we don’t want to be under it either. As the years pass by, I know that a new hope, new openness and new opportunities for growth between priests and people will be a welcomed grace.
Dwight G. Duncan
One year ends after another begins
Posted: 6/26/2009
We are accustomed to ending one year and beginning another at the end of December, not June. Of course, as Catholics our liturgical year ends around the end of November, and starts with the first Sunday of Advent. Jews, of course, celebrate Rosh Hashanah, their New Year’s, in September or thereabouts. And usually we wait until one year is over before beginning another. But last week, on June 19, the Feast of the Sacred Heart, Pope Benedict inaugurated a Year of the Priesthood. And next week, Monday, June 29, the Feast of the Apostles Sts. Peter and Paul, the Year of St. Paul comes to an end. The change of years comes at the end of June this year, with ten days of overlap! One Year of the P molts into another Year of the P.
Clark Booth
PED mess redux, ad nauseam
Posted: 6/26/2009
And so now it is clear that baseball’s worst fears are slowly but quite certainly being realized with a steady and relentless drip. Nor is there much doubt that the dreaded worst case scenario will soon follow, probably in the form of a deluge.
Father Richard M. Erikson
A Father’s Blessing
Posted: 6/19/2009
When I was studying sociology in the 1990s, the pillars of society were identified as family, religion, government and education. Today, sociology textbooks name the media and the peer group as additional pillars and as especially powerful factors in the formative years of young Americans. In a study conducted a few years ago, teenagers listed peers as equal to their parents in terms of influence.
Tiziana C. Dearing
The sun hasn’t set on Sunset Point Camp
Posted: 6/19/2009
If you have read The Pilot, The Boston Globe, or The Dorchester Reporter over the last couple of months, you may have heard that Catholic Charities has suspended its operation of Sunset Point Camp for this summer. I’d like to take this opportunity to talk with readers about that.
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Local
Caritas Christi withdraws from planned partnership
By Donis Tracy
BRIGHTON - Just days before a joint partnership between Caritas Christi Health Care and St. Louis-based insurance company Centene, Inc. was scheduled to begin, the Archdiocese of Boston announced June 27 that its Caritas Christi Health Care System was relinquishing its membership and equity interests in the venture.
Posted: 7/1/2009
Nation
U.S. appeals court upholds Virginia’s ban on partial-birth abortion
By Catholic News Service
RICHMOND, Va. (CNS) -- Virginia's ban on partial-birth abortion is constitutional, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in a 6-5 decision June 24.
Posted: 7/1/2009
Nation
Catholic groups provide support for job seekers
By Gary Morton
BEAR, Del. (CNS) -- Charlie Wright set the tone for a Sunday meeting of the Seton Job Seekers as he introduced himself.
Posted: 7/1/2009
World
Closing Pauline year, pope reveals results of tests on apostle’s tomb
By Cindy Wooden
ROME (CNS) -- Closing the year of St. Paul, Pope Benedict XVI announced that tests done on the presumed tomb of the Apostle revealed the presence of bone fragments from a human who lived between the first and second century.
Posted: 6/30/2009
World
Role of bishop of Rome key to Catholic-Orthodox progress, pope says
By Cindy Wooden
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- A common understanding of the role the bishop of Rome played in the united Christianity of the first millennium is essential for resolving the question of the primacy of the pope in a united church, Pope Benedict XVI said.
Posted: 6/30/2009
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