CULTURE & POLITICS, ODDS & ENDS

Dear Clare...I had to reply to your post right away...It blows me to think of little girls being introduced to Mozart via Papageno and the Queen of the Night! Really the tops! As an 8-year-old or thereabouts, I drove my aunts crazy by going around the house trying to vocalize the coda to the Queen of the Night's aria, thinking to myself I too could sound like a virtuoso bird!

For the life of me, however, I cannot remember what was the first Mozart I ever heard - all kinds of classical music on the recordplayer or on the radio at all times of day were just a given when I was growing up (for which I am eternally grateful).

And most Sundays, we attended a 'misa cantada' (sung Mass - we use the Spanish term for it), so chanting the Credo, Gloria, Pater Noster, Vere dignum et justum est... in Latin was customary, and even now, I occasionally find myself chanting the Pater Noster or the Credo like I would any other song one sings to oneself! I love the cadences, and how one fits the phrases, no matter how long, to the cadence!

Back to so-called pop music: Why has no one ever come up with the idea of 'popularizing' all the 'patter' songs in opera - rap in bel canto, I suppose you might call them - like the Papageno-Papagena duet or those from Rossini's Barber of Seville or Dulcamara's absurdities in Elisir, etc....? Then maybe the rapsters will get inspired and challenged to do something similar!

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 08/08/2006 20.50]

Dear Clare and Teresa! I love the Magic Flute!!! It's a great introduction for children to opera... the music is VERY challenging to sing... lots of wonderful memories come to mind everytime I pop my CD's in and take a listen!

Catholic, secular Web sites for singles unite Catholic couples

By Erin Maguire
Catholic News Service

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The use of Catholic singles' Web sites has risen dramatically since the genesis of such sites in the late 1990s, helping many who are looking for friendship, a date, marriage or even support with religious discernment.

Catholic singles who become members of these sites create profiles and can elect to meet potential partners or friends in a specific area or age range or according to other defining characteristics. They may also meet people of like interest in religion-related chat rooms; they can build a network of Catholic singles around the globe.

According to its Web site, CatholicMatch.com is "not just another 'matchmaking service'; you can share and grow in your faith while building lifelong relationships with people of similar beliefs and values."

Chris Jones, from Elizabethtown, Pa., and Marjorie Faia, from Williamstown, N.J., met as members of CatholicMatch.com, and they are getting married next May. After talking online for a month, Jones, with his friend, and Faia, with her sister, went on a bowling date.

To "make sure we were normal guys," Jones said, he went to Faia's house with his friend before the date started to meet Faia's mother. Upon her approval, the group went bowling. The evening ended with ice cream at a Friendly's restaurant and a game of foosball at Faia's house.

Faia, a student at LaSalle University in Philadelphia, was persuaded to use CatholicMatch.com by her mother, who saw an advertisement for it in Faith & Family magazine.

"My mom searched the site and said it looked like there were good people on it. I didn't want to do it, but finally I looked at it after school one day. I had little expectations. I thought maybe I would meet some friends in the area," Faia said in an interview with Catholic News Service.

Jones, a graduate of DeSales University in Center Valley, Pa., who had looked at other dating sites such as CatholicSingles.com and AveMariaSingles.com, started using CatholicMatch.com as a trial member. When he saw Faia's profile, he sent her a smiley face. Faia, who was into the second week of her membership, returned the greeting. Jones decided to buy a monthlong membership.

Jones and Faia were both drawn to CatholicMatch.com because it is a Catholic Web site.

"I was not just looking for someone who was Catholic, but for someone who was practicing and proud to be Catholic," said Jones.

Faia said that it was encouraging to know that other people were "out there practicing their faith."

"My faith is a big part of my life. It's good when people are able to share that," said Faia.

While Jones and Faia were glad to find a site that asked questions to match people with similar views on Catholic teaching, Kevin, who did not want his last name used in this article, told CNS he switched to a secular site after CatholicSingles.com added questions on Catholic teaching to its profile questionnaire.

Kevin was a member of CatholicSingles.com, but met his wife after he switched to eHarmony.com.

"Both CatholicSingles.com and AveMariaSingles.com had questions I did not want to answer," he said.

Specifically, CatholicSingles.com asks potential members to describe what type of Catholic they are from a list of options: "conservative," "moderate," "progressive," "I am a catechumen," or "I am not a Catholic."

Kevin said he did not want to label himself as a type of Catholic and sees the question as "divisive."

On eHarmony.com, Kevin chose the "Roman Catholic" religious option.

Kevin, who works in Washington, said he would recommend eHarmony.com to other Catholics because it has more members and allows Catholic users to find other Catholics. He also said CatholicSingles.com did not have many people in his geographic area.

On eHarmony.com, Kevin said, he could choose to be matched with people who were Catholic and find out about their personalities and values, "not just their interests," as opposed to his experience with CatholicSingles.com, which he felt "was more interest-based than value-centered."

Jones did not know about eHarmony.com when he started using a dating site, but said he has heard "it does a good job at narrowing down important questions."

He said he is glad he used CatholicMatch.com, however, and both Jones and Faia would recommend it to others.

Faia, who was at first skeptical about using CatholicMatch.com, has some advice for others thinking about using online dating sites: "Be honest, have confidence and be yourself. It's not a guarantee that you'll meet someone, but just be open."

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Scritto da: TERESA BENEDETTA 08/08/2006 16.08
Back to so-called pop music: Why has no one ever come up with the idea of 'popularizing' all the 'patter' songs in opera - rap in bel canto, I suppose you might call them - like the Papageno-Papagena duet or those from Rossini's Barber of Seville or Dulcamara's absurdities in Elisir, etc....? Then maybe the rapsters will get inspired and challenged to do something similar!

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 08/08/2006 20.50]

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Teresa, your question brings to memory the night that R&B singer Aretha Franklin came in as a last minute substitute for the ill Luciano Pavarotti at the 1998 Grammy awards. She sang Puccini’s Nessun Dorma and gave it her own soulful rendition of it. As evident in the comments to this YouTube clip, some people hated it and others loved it. Though I’m not a fan of Aretha, I remember watching the show that night and I liked how she sang it. It was different and I thought she did a good job without trying to sound operatic. But I bring it up as an example of what you’re saying. I think that in general, the music industry, as it is structured, has for so long placed music artists in such tightly boxed categories that it doesn’t allow for much free experimental crossing-over of different music styles by talented musicians used to making only one kind of music. That is, the ones who can pull it off. Aretha’s interpretation may not have been right or proper, and her Italian pronounciation was awful, but it gave the pop & rap listening audience that night a little taste of Puccini, albeit with a soulful twist. It was a good try by Aretha and I applauded her for it.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9v9Zpd4ulQ

Catholic publisher releases Church’s answer to ‘Purpose Driven Life’

San Francisco, Aug. 08, 2006 (CNA) - Ignatius Press, a major Catholic publisher based in San Francisco has announced the launch of a new series--similar to the popular “Purpose Driven Life” series written by Evangelical leader Rick Warren--but focused on the particularly Catholic search for one’s life vocation.

The series, called “LifeWork,” is written by Rick Sarkisian, a vocational rehabilitation consultant who believes that society is sorely in need of what he calls a “culture of vocations.”

“Not only is there a shortage of priests and nuns” he says, “but also of Catholics in the broader Church community who have a true understanding of God’s calling to each of them…to a unique, unrepeatable plan for their lives.”

Sarkisian believes that one of the major problems among an often unhappy and unfulfilled U.S. adult population is that they tend to pigeon-hole particular aspects of their lives, trying to make improvements to their job, family, or leisure pursuits, but failing to see their lives as an integrated whole.

Ignatius says that they chose to publish the 9 book, 3 DVD work; aimed largely at young people because “concerns about life purpose are common to all age groups--but particularly those aged 16-25.”

“Once Catholics, especially, really understand what God is calling them to do in their lives,” says Sarkisian, “we will see a rebirth and resurgence not only in religious vocations in the Church, but in stronger marriages, more stable families, and healthier communities as a whole.”

“This then makes for a more stable and moral society. This is what we once had as a society and what we can have again.”

Officials from Ignatius Press pointed out that the “LifeWork” series “combine Scriptural teaching, Catholic theology and the examples of the Saints for mapping out one’s life-approach.” The materials, they said, are “designed for helping teens, adults and families discover their true vocation in the Catholic Church today.”

For more information about the “LifeWork” series, go to www.ignatius.com.

Appeal of religious life: A calm in the cultural storm

By Ann Piasecki
8/10/2006
Catholic Explorer (www.dioceseofjoliet.org/explorer)

ROMEOVILLE, Ill. (Catholic Explorer) - At the heart of 21st century religious vocations lays a passion for a communal expression of love and praise to God, an earnest desire to instruct the flock and an aspiration to evangelize. Today, the appeal toward a commitment to the priesthood or to the vowed life of a religious admittedly attracts fewer believers, but sociological profiles indicate that newcomers are seeking opportunities to deepen a faith. Contrary to the fast-paced and highly competitive culture, religious life represents the calm in a storm.

Father Burke Masters, director for the diocesan Office of Vocations, said he has discovered that the priestly vocation is attracting people of all ages - some recent high school graduates as well as men in their 20s, 30s, 40s and 50s. For different reasons, the commitment to serve God is drawing individuals who have an earnest desire to step away from the materialism of the dominant culture.

The more mature applicants frequently have dealt with corporate management policies, come face-to-face with ethical dilemmas, and have decided to take the high ground. In the meantime, younger men and women tend to demonstrate a desire to hold on to the spiritual comfort the church offers, he said. They’ve witnessed the personal costs of achieving the “American dream, and it isn’t that fulfilling,” Father Masters said.

Taken together, he suggested that people living in the midst of the “chaos” are “longing for spirituality, community and a quiet place.”

Despite the fact that the number of traditional religious vocations persists in a downward spiral that began in the post-Vatican II era during the 1960s, John Neafsey, a psychologist and lecturer at Loyola University Chicago, pointed out the positive aspects. As an observer from the academic arena, he views the decline as an opportunity for growth in ecclesial ministry and lay affiliation with religious congregations.

The circumstance also stirs an impetus to broaden the definition of churchly “vocations,” said Neafsey, who has spent the last several years studying from an interdisciplinary standpoint the movement and trends in vocations. The author of “A Sacred Voice Is Calling,” he foresees growth in the development of spiritual aspects within the diversity of vocations. Today, married couples and socially responsible singles are gifted with a new set of options in regard to church involvement.

If the goal of those responding to a sacred call is to serve God, then the church is duty bound to encourage the aspirations of its believers even as they carve a path that is branching out to suit the needs of a changing society, added Lawrence Cunningham, theology professor at the University of Notre Dame. Certainly, “we have a need for more priests, (because) we need the Eucharist,” but I …see a new focus on Christian movements, such as Opus Dei. In particular, Cunningham said he appreciates this type of ecclesial community for its concentration on the development of faith experiences that coordinate with parish life and service aspects. The laity, in general, has been “liberated” from traditional perceptions on the part of the church, he said, for the purpose of claiming their faith role. “I don’t know if it’s more pertinent (to the church), but there are many ways that are working for the (best interests) of the faith community.”

Although the existence of these kinds of groups is far from new, said Cunningham, they’re becoming more popular. “Just put ‘ecclesial communities’ in the Internet, and thousands of references will come up. …It serves the needs of a variety of folks.” At a conference last month in Rome, Pope Benedict XVI met with representatives of ecclesial communities. That fact alone bolsters their authenticity and credibility as a manifestation, said Cunningham.

Meanwhile, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops last year released a statement, “Co-Workers in the Vineyard of the Lord,” a resource guide for the development of the lay ecclesial ministry. It recognizes the growing number of lay men and women who have undertaken a variety of roles in church ministries at the parish and diocesan levels. The statement outlines the theological foundations for lay ecclesial ministry, addresses discernment and suitability for lay ministry, formation, authorization and practices. Yvonne DeBruin, director of the Office of Ministry Formation for the Diocese of Joliet, said currently there are more than 30,000 ecclesial ministers employed at parishes and archdiocesan or diocesan centers nationwide.

From a sociological perspective, Neafsey said, the state of vocations requires an exploration of the psychological, spiritual and ethical aspects as they pertain to “discernment and social responsibility.

“Vocation is not only about ‘me’ and my personal fulfillment, but about ‘us’ and the common good. In the words of Frederick Buechner, (a Presbyterian minister noted for his extensive focus on the study of vocations) our callings are found in the places where our ‘deep gladness’ and the ‘world’s deep hunger’ meet, on the holy ground where our heart’s desire comes together with what the world most needs from us.”

Since Neafsey identifies the notion of being called not only as a divine voice but also as a sense of “conscience,” it applies mutually to the bulk of a faith-seeking community. “Everyone has a calling,” he said. “A sense of vocation can touch upon every dimension of our lives - our professional life and our personal life, our love life, our family life, our creative interests and pursuits, our politics.”

As for the issue of a declining number of specific vocations to the priesthood or religious life, Neafsey suggested, “God is calling people in other ways, in different directions that perhaps may not fit neatly into the traditional forms of religious life anymore.”

While the concept of vocations is undergoing a shift, traditional religious congregations are also experiencing transition in this new millennium. In an Aug. 3 interview with four new sisters to the Congregation of the Franciscan Sisters of the Sacred Heart in Frankfort, the nuns revealed their outlook on religious life. For 38-year-old Franciscan Sister Lovina Pammit, who made her final profession of vows Aug. 5, it was her work in lay ministry that led her to pursue a path as a nun. Up until a few short years ago, Sister Pammit served as a missionary in the Philippines. It was a good jumping off place, which allowed the future nun to investigate church work. It seemed a natural transition from missionary service to a commitment to a vowed existence. “I could have stayed a lay missioner, but I just felt that being in community was a lifestyle I wanted.” As an organization of missioners, “we prayed together, but I wanted to deepen my relationship with God.”

Likewise, Franciscan Sister Maria Brizuela, a 46-year-old novice in the same congregation, said the “sense of community” was so appealing that she left California in search of a group that would help her “develop her gifts.” A former missioner and deputy clerk for Orange County, Calif., she said she hopes to evangelize by way of example. Since the Franciscan sisters are involved in a variety of aspects, including health care, education and social services, Sister Brizuela expects there would be a plethora of opportunities to influence others with her demonstration of day-to-day faith expressions.

Today, life in the convent is not as restrictive as it once was. “Now, there are more opportunities. Now, we’re coming in older, as second careers. Women coming in can see beyond the tangible; they’re more mature,” she added.

Nevertheless, the sisters said they are well aware that being a vowed religious carries with it some built-in inequities that have not been effectively challenged. For instance, according to Sister Pammit, nuns who teach in parochial schools in the Archdiocese of Chicago are paid a stipend, which is significantly less than the lay teachers. “We have to pay rent and bills, too,” she said, but old notions related to the consequence of working for the church have yet to be rectified.

For Franciscan Sister Mary Katherine Mariotti, a 51-year-old novice and former full-time nurse practitioner, she was spirited toward communal life after having established a close relationship with the sisters during retreats and at her workplace at the Provena Mercy Medical Center in Aurora. Later, she moved north to direct a nurse practitioner program in Harvard, Ill. Despite the fact that her career was an economic “success” that coincided with her “values” system, Sister Mariotti wanted more. She deemed a message heard once on EWTN, a Catholic television network, as a personal beckoning from God. The television program featured a speaker who highlighted the need for “religious people in the world. I decided then to be a nun. I started discerning where I would go. I checked out several communities, even contemplative communities, but I’m here to help with the elderly (in the medical outlets operated by the Franciscan Sisters).”

On the other hand, Franciscan Sister Lisa Schutz is atypical in comparison to most of her fellow sisters. At the age of 29, she has little career experience. Having grown up in Dyer, Ind., she is currently living in Evanston, Ill., and completing her bachelor’s degree at Northeastern University in Chicago. While she had set her sights on teaching preschool, the congregation has identified a greater need for elementary teachers in the parochial schools. She hopes eventually to be assigned to head a first-grade classroom.

Quite frankly, she said, unlike her immediate peers in the convent, her decision for a vowed life did not grow out of life experiences. Encouragement was gleaned from the Franciscan priests she had encountered in her home parish. Her parents did not immediately embrace the plan, she said. Like many Catholic adults, “my parents viewed sisters as being unhappy and frustrated. But that’s not been my experience. The sisters are happy. I enjoy being with them and praying with them as a community.”

[Modificato da benefan 10/08/2006 20.16]

'Pre-seminary' houses altar boys for St. Peter's Basilica

By Cindy Wooden
Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Silently processing out of the sacristy of St. Peter's Basilica at 7 a.m. each day, the altar servers look like angels, but the women who cook and clean for them say they are normal boys.

Well, maybe not totally normal. After all, these 11- to 18-year-olds live at the Vatican during the school year.

During the 2005-06 academic year, 21 of them ate, slept, studied and occasionally created chaos at the St. Pius X Pre-seminary inside the Vatican walls.

Father Enrico Radice, rector of the pre-seminary, said four students graduated from high school in June, and three of them are entering diocesan seminaries in September.

This year's percentage of students going on to a full-fledged seminary is high, even by Vatican standards, he said. About 10 percent of the 700 boys who have lived at the pre-seminary in the past 50 years have become priests.

Some of the boys return home before finishing high school, and one or two, suffering severe cases of homesickness, leave before their first Christmas at the Vatican, according to the women who not only cook and clean, but also confess to mothering the boys on occasion.

The pre-seminary opened its doors in 1956 at the urging of Father Giovanni Folci, a priest of the Diocese of Como, Italy, who founded an association of priests committed to promoting vocations to the priesthood. The association, still made up mostly of Como priests like Father Radice, runs the pre-seminary.

During the academic year, the students attend a Catholic middle school or high school near the Vatican. Their altar-serving lessons, prayer life and recreation are in the hands of the rector, another priest and a layman.

Two women run the kitchen and two others take care of the cleaning and laundry. But they also watch over the boys, listen to them, and cry when they leave.

Because St. Peter's Basilica needs altar servers year-round, the pre-seminary never closes its doors.

In the summer, it turns into something resembling an altar boy camp. Taking 20-day shifts, altar boys from all over Italy come to the Vatican to serve from late June to early August. Service for the remainder of August and early September is in the hands of a group of altar boys from Malta.

"We spend the first day teaching them everything they need to know" to serve Mass in St. Peter's, including where to enter the basilica, what vestments they need to wear and where the various altars are located, Father Radice said.

"Obviously, they speak Italian and know only the little bit of English or French they study at school, so unless the Mass is in Italian, they cannot respond. Although some of them know some of the responses in Latin," he said.

Usually after having written to reserve a chapel or an altar, bishops and priests from around the world arrive at St. Peter's between 7 and 8 a.m. to celebrate Mass in the world's largest church.

The altar boys from the pre-seminary lead the bishops and priests from the sacristy to their assigned altar and serve their Masses, unless another priest, deacon or altar server is with the visitor.

Father Radice said the pre-seminary purposely does not call itself a minor seminary; its primary function is not to prepare young men to enter a seminary.

"Our first aim is to provide a decorous liturgical service in St. Peter's Basilica. We try to create a spiritual atmosphere appropriate for that service," he said.

When the pre-seminary is effective, he said, the boys get more of a taste of what the priesthood would be like than they would as altar servers in their home parish.

While serving daily Mass is their primary responsibility, Father Radice said, "at least two or three times a year" each of the boys enrolled in the pre-seminary gets a chance to serve a papal Mass.

Unfortunately, he said, the same does not apply to the summer substitutes because the pope is away for most of the season, although the group that comes each year from Malta usually poses for a photograph with the pope when he comes to the Vatican for his weekly general audience.

This is the first time I've ever had my attention drawn to an article about altar boys at the Vatican. I knew absolutely nothing about their schooling, how long they lived there, how many became priests etc. It's just something you accept - that there are altar boys serving Mass!
Thank you very much!
Laudetur Jesus Christus!
Mary x

The following article made me really sad and disgusted. What a world do we live in?



Belgium Palliative Care Workers Unable to Kill Patients Due to Shortage of Euthanasia Drug


By John Jalsevac

BRUSSELS, Belgium, August 11, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) -Palliative care personnel in Belgium are complaining that a changeover in the pharmaceutical market has rendered them unable to euthanize their patients, Expatica reported on Wednesday.

The problem occurred after the U.S. manufacturers of Pentothal, the “euthanasia drug,” transferred their license to another firm.
Since then the flow of the drug into Belgium has stopped.
According to The Brussels Journal a change-over in the method of packaging the drug is the cause of the sudden lack of supply.

Palliative care workers are deeply concerned about the dearth of Pentothal.Without the drug they say it is impossible to comfortably kill the on-average 30 patients a month who are officially euthanized in Belgium, as well as the speculated much larger number of patients whose deaths by euthanasia go unregistered as such.

“Our supply [of Pentothal] is completely finished,” said Marc Cornely, a spokesman for a large chain of Belgium pharmacies.

“We have been without [Pentothal] for weeks now,” complained professor Wim Distelmans, a palliative care professor at the VUB.
“The intention of euthanasia is to bring the patient into an [sic] in an irreversible coma in an elegant [oh, come on, what a nonsense!] and reliable manner. Pentothal is the only drug which can do this.”

The new producer of the drug, Hospira, however, has said that the shortage could soon come to an end, as they have a stockpile of 4,000 bottles of Pentothal which could be pumped into the market once the proper paperwork is filed. Initially it was feared that it could be as long as three months before Belgium’s palliative care givers were able to kill their patients, but with Hospira’s emergency plan that time could be cut down to several weeks.

Alex Schadenberg the executive director of Canada’s euthanasia prevention coalition, pointed out the dark irony of the earnest concern of Belgium’s palliative care and pharmaceutical agencies.

“This proves how the dignity of the person has been lost in Belgium,” he said.
“When it is considered a medical emergency that they do not have the necessary drug to kill people. People don't need to be killed they need to receive excellent end of life care. They then die with true dignity, being cared for with proper pain and symptom management with care to the persons physical, psychological, emotional and spiritual needs.

“Euthanasia is not a medical act and should not be administered within the framework of palliative care within Belgium.”

[Modificato da .Sue. 15/08/2006 14.48]

Oh, dear Lord! Has it come to this? That people actually openly and publicly make a statement like "Without the drug they say it is impossible to comfortably kill the on-average 30 patients a month who are officially euthanized in Belgium.."? As if they were talking of swatting pesky flies or mosquitoes! How sad that a nation like Belgium, with a deeply Catholic tradition, has descended to such baseness!

I think of all the good Belgian priests and nuns who populated the Catholic childhood of many Filipinos like me in the 50s and 60s...Wherever they are now, those priests and nuns, and any other Belgians who still share a respect for life, I can only hope they are praying hard for their misguided fellow nationals and their government to see the error of their ways. Much as I hate to sound pious and moralistic, what else can one say?

for your posts above. Very interesting the school for altar boys!
What can one say about the "palliative" care of Belgium? I didn't even know euthanasia was legal there....It is extremely upsetting to read about this, especially in the manner expressed in the article.

U.S. adult catechism is new faith resource for adults

By Jerry Filteau
Catholic News Service

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- When U.S. Catholics celebrate Catechetical Sunday Sept. 17, they will have a new resource available to help them deepen their understanding of the faith -- the U.S. Catholic Catechism for Adults.

Within two weeks after it went on sale July 31, the 664-page adult catechism had sold more than 25,000 copies according to USCCB Publishing, the publishing office of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Adopted by the U.S. bishops in November 2004 and recently approved by the Holy See, the U.S. Catholic Catechism for Adults is the first official catechism produced by the nation's bishops since the creation of the Baltimore Catechism, first published in 1885 and revised in 1941.

Unlike the Baltimore Catechism, which was aimed primarily at the religious education of children, the new adult catechism is intended chiefly as an instrument for adults. Those entering the church can use it to learn about the Catholic faith, while adults who were born and raised Catholic can use it to deepen their understanding of Catholic teachings that they learned about more superficially as children.

The bishops intended the book for a wide audience, but especially for "young adult Catholics whose education in the faith was inadequate or incomplete in any way," USCCB Publishing said in a release about the new publication.

The adult catechism was written in response to a Vatican request that bishops' conferences develop such national texts to complement the universal Catechism of the Catholic Church.

The adult catechism is adapted to U.S. culture, providing comprehensive and authoritative church teaching but with a view to the American culture and experience. Like the universal catechism, its contents are arranged under four themes: "The Creed: The Faith Professed"; "The Sacraments: The Faith Celebrated"; "Christian Morality: The Faith Lived"; and "Prayer: The Faith Prayed."

Each of its 36 chapters begins with a brief story about a biblical figure or about a saint or exemplary Catholic, most of them American.

The first chapter, for example, has a brief biography of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, who converted to Catholicism as an adult and founded the U.S. Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul.

Each chapter addresses aspects of Catholic faith and their application in U.S. culture and closes with discussion questions, a brief summation of the doctrinal points in the chapter, a meditation and a prayer.

At the end of the book are a scriptural index, a topical index and several appendices -- a glossary of religious and Catholic terms, traditional Catholic prayers, and a reference guide on official Catholic teachings.

The theme for Catechetical Sunday this year is "Who do you say that I am?" -- a question that calls on Christians to reflect on their understanding of Jesus Christ and their relationship to him.

Another new catechetical resource adult Catholics have this year is the Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Written in question-answer format, the compendium is a summarized version of the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

It was produced at the request of Pope John Paul II by a commission of cardinals, headed by then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who is now Pope Benedict XVI. When the compendium was completed and released by the Vatican in June 2005, Pope Benedict said it "contains, in concise form, all the essential and fundamental elements of the church's faith."

USCCB Publishing published the 200-page English and Spanish editions of the compendium in March 2006, and by the end of July had sold more than 125,000 copies.

- - -

Editor's Note: Either book may be ordered online at: www.usccbpublishing.org, or by phone at: (800) 235-8722. The U.S. Catholic Catechism for Adults, publication No. 5-450, is available in paperback for $24.95 plus shipping and handling. The Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church costs $24.95 in hardcover or $14.95 in paperback, plus postage and handling. Reference numbers for the compendium are: publication No. 5-720 for English, paperback; No. 5-920 for Spanish, paperback; No. 5-725 for English, hardcover; and No. 5-921 for Spanish, hardcover.

[Modificato da benefan 17/08/2006 21.02]

Stained-glass windows help artists, viewers connect with faith

By Cori Fugere Urban
Catholic News Service

READSBORO, Vt. (CNS) -- It's not always easy for artist Debora Coombs to step back and look at her work, especially if she is working on a 25-foot-high drawing that she is going to translate into a stained-glass cathedral window. So she works in sections, and sometimes she gets a look at the big picture from a loft above her studio.

The British-born stained-glass artist works in a studio that's about 20 feet by 30 feet, a former garage her husband converted for her work after they moved to the rural area of Readsboro about 10 years ago. She was commissioned to create more than 1,000 feet of stained-glass art for St. Mary Cathedral in Portland, Ore.

She spent three and a half years working on the 16 windows depicting the sacraments and the saints and blesseds of the Americas. The stained glass was fabricated at Cummings Studios in North Adams, Mass., with Coombs executing all glass painting and artwork.

Coombs, 49, is deliberate about each color of glass she chooses, about each stroke she paints on the glass because she is not only creating a picture out of glass and paint, she is transforming the atmosphere inside the building where her stained-glass creation will be placed.

Stained glass is a complex medium, one that is difficult to work with successfully because of the technical and practical requirements. The heavy glass has to be securely supported, for instance, and the transparency has to be just right.

But it's the medium Coombs favors. "I love it. It's a beautiful medium to work in, if challenging," she said.

Her research on the sacraments, saints and blesseds to be depicted in glass had a profound effect on the mother of two teenagers who was raised Anglican in England.

Windows for the cathedral are a visual means of bringing together the different peoples and cultures that make up the country. Those depicted include St. Peter Claver, St. John Neumann, St. Rose of Lima, Blessed Damien de Veuster, Blessed Junipero Serra and Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha.

In her quest to learn about Blessed Kateri, Coombs attended two Native American conferences where she asked participants for advice. "I had so much invisible support," she told The Vermont Catholic Tribune, newspaper of the Diocese of Burlington. "People were praying from all over."

But it was an elderly Sioux man who gave her the profound advice that had a deep impact on her life: "You pray."

"In my ignorance, I said, 'How?'" Coombs recalled. "He said to pray the Indian way. You give thanks."

From that day on she woke up every day and gave thanks for everything she had: her husband, children, hands, eyes, intelligence, opportunities, sunshine. "If you spend time thanking God for what you have, the thankfulness vastly outweighs the difficulties," she said.

Noting that medieval stained-glass windows were created "to tell the Bible in pictures," Coombs said she hopes to not only communicate a story but to prompt reflection.

"I don't have authority to teach about the faith, but I can ... offer something that allows the viewers the opportunity to reflect and connect with their own faith," she said. The windows are "like the labyrinth, a tool for worship and spiritual connection."

That's a connection that Hiemer and Co. Stained-Glass Studio in Clifton, N.J., has been making for 75 years.

For four generations, the company has been creating and restoring windows depicting saints, scenes from the Bible and abstract images of faith. Two-thirds of the churches in the Paterson Diocese, including the bishop's residence in Paterson and many of the high school and hospital chapels in the diocese, have had work done by the studio.

Stained glass and service to the church began in the Hiemer family with Georg Hiemer's work throughout Europe in the 1890s and early 1900s.

Georg Hiemer passed down the trade to his son, Edward, who made a name for himself by making stained glass in Japan, Germany, the Philippines and Mexico.

Hiemer and Co. was founded in 1931 in Ohio by Edward and Georg Hiemer and was eventually relocated to the East Coast. Edward Hiemer's son, Gerhard, was president of the studio from 1968 to 1997 and taught his four daughters about stained glass. Now retired in Florida, Gerhard still offers his expertise whenever asked.

"His memory is better than our computer," said Judith Hiemer Van Wie with a laugh. She is a great-granddaughter of Georg Hiemer and the oldest of Gerhard's daughters. She currently is president of the studio and runs the company with her husband, James Van Wie.

In addition to working in U.S. parishes, the studio has created stained-glass windows for churches around the world, including the Virgin Islands, Alaska and India. All told, the company has created stained-glass projects for more than 1,100 churches and has carried out more than 10,000 restoration projects.

"It's interesting as a stained-glass artist to create and continue the history of the faith," said Hiemer Van Wie, a parishioner of St. Brendan Parish in Clifton. "It's almost like the tribes that pass along their story. Stained glass is a different liturgical way in passing along the story."

While it is still too soon to know whether Hiemer Van Wie will pass the tradition to her daughters, now ages 2 and 5, she knows that stained glass will forever be a part of her.

"There are many trials and tribulations that small businesses face," she told The Beacon, newspaper of the Diocese of Paterson. "But it's pretty exciting to be here with 75 years and that kind of history. ... This studio is home for me."

Here is a powerful story from the Wall Street Journal's online Opinion Journal today...
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Petitioning for Life
"I had an abortion," Ms. Magazine urges its readers to declare. How about "I wasn't aborted"?

BY JULIA GORIN
Thursday, August 17, 2006

The Web site of Ms. Magazine--yes, it still exists--is calling on readers to sign a petition: "I have had an abortion. I publicly join the millions of women in the United States who have had an abortion in demanding a repeal of laws that restrict women's reproductive freedom."

Well, so much for the right to privacy. If Ms. readers hadn't had so many abortions, there might be more Ms. readers. As for the rest of us, here's a petition we could all sign: "I wasn't aborted."

Having narrowly escaped being aborted, I'd be the first in line.

Like most Soviet-era fetuses conceived in Russia by couples who were already parents, I was scheduled for abortion as a matter of course. In a society where abortion was the only form of birth control, it wasn't uncommon to meet women who had double-digit abortion counts. Often a couple would schedule the appointment before they even stopped to remember that they wanted a second child.

My husband, also a second-born, and I were lucky to have been two such afterthoughts, each brought into the world thanks to one of two parents' change of heart. (Actually it was Anya Isaakovna, my mother's usual at the public clinic, who sensed a tinge of reservation and kicked her out.) Coincidentally, both my husband and I were to be the third abortions, each of us having had two siblings who weren't so lucky, which unfortunately was lucky for us.

Not quite so for my parents. Life's turns dealt them a hand they couldn't have foreseen 30 years ago while aborting, an act that people living in a nation of miserables can't exactly be judged for. Indeed, among Soviet émigrés from the 1970s and '80s, it's very rare to see families with more than two children, the self-imposed quota among Russians of that wave. But in hindsight, as my mother said a few months after my newlywed elder sister and her husband died in a five-vehicle collision in 2000, had she known she would outlive one of her only two children, she would have had more.

In America there is room to judge, despite what the "sanctity of choice" crowd wants us to believe. Yet rather than do that, my intention is to plant a seed of consideration that may otherwise never occur to America's reluctant with-child women and even girls. It's a consideration that, for all our endless debating, goes unspoken, but that could alleviate heartache in later life and enrich our lives in ways we can't predict.

My father was another abortion-to-be. In 1941, my then 17-year-old aunt Dina barely managed to convince my grandparents that the invading Germans meant to kill Jews and that the family needed to evacuate from Odessa. They got onto literally the last ship out of the city, an overcrowded barge that had no food or clean water. Dina's 2-year-old brother, Rudik, didn't survive the journey to Uzbekistan.

Heartbroken and shunning the idea of any "replacements" for Rudik, Grandma didn't think twice before setting out for an abortion when she became pregnant at 42. But through very insistent implorations, her Uzbek landlady talked her out of it.

That fetus went on to become a world-class violinist, first for the Bolshoi Symphony Orchestra and later the Baltimore Symphony. He blazed one of the earlier trails out from behind the Iron Curtain to America, inspiring and facilitating many relatives and friends to abandon Russia for the free world.

Soon after arriving in Israel, a family friend named Zoya discovered she was pregnant with a second child and went in for the abortion routine. She was dumbfounded to encounter the following whispered line of questioning from the admitting nurse: "Do you not have a roof over your head?" There was a roof. "Do you not have enough food on the table?" There was plenty of food. Then an altogether alien concept to Zoya: "So why kill it?"

"I was shocked," Zoya recalled. "No one had ever told me I was killing anything. I'd never thought of it as a person. As soon as someone told me I was killing something, I didn't even consider it. I left." Much like my grandmother, today Zoya is the mother of a master violinist.

Even in the case of teen mothers-to-be, for all the ruination and dead dreams we are told will be visited upon their lives if they keep the baby, if someone has ambition to begin with, nothing has to stand in her way.

Consider the story of Beverly D'Onofrio, dramatized in the 2001 Penny Marshall movie, "Riding in Cars with Boys." Beverly, played by Drew Barrymore, gets knocked up at 15. She marries the father, an older boy, only to discover that he is a drug addict. Over the next few years, things at home fall apart and the two separate, with Beverly retaining custody.

While for a time her opportunities are more limited than they would otherwise be (a chance to get into an elite writing program at New York University is dashed when she has to bring the kid with her to the interview), ultimately her dreams stay intact and her personal story paves a way to literary and cinematic success--not an easy feat even for the privileged.

Beverly D'Onofrio got to have her cake and eat it too, and while the men in her life since no doubt have come and gone, she will always have her son.

Rather than debate what it is we're killing, we should consider what we may be saving - for our sakes as much as for "its" own. When you choose to abort, you alter the course of history. While the child up for abortion may or may not be the next Einstein, saving his life could one day save yours.

Every day of my mother's parental life was lived with a dread fear that something might happen to either of her children, and the reality of this possibility loomed large in our lives. In 1982, my father's aunt lost her only daughter and son-in-law in a plane crash that killed 50 and orphaned my cousin, whom our family adopted. In 1990, my older cousin lost her teenage firstborn in a car accident. Looking at my own family, and at our circle of acquaintances, I estimate that at least one in three couples has outlived a child.

Common wisdom in Russia - subsequently confirmed by science -was that you always keep the first child, since not doing so could affect your ability to bear children in the future. The apparent lesson in my family has been also to keep as many of the others as possible, since that firstborn's fate isn't assured.

My mother today aches to have more "close people," as she calls immediate family, and mourns how few are those whose love is unconditional. Every time I get into a car or plane, I'm paranoid about my safety for her sake. Every time I think of taking a foreign writing assignment, I think of her and don't. Every time I imagine moving to another city, I think of my parents' desolation.

We don't have a crystal ball, but there's someone who does, and there is a reason for every stork He sends along. I am religiously illiterate, but I have come to understand on the most visceral level why pregnancies are called "blessings"--even if, as often as not, the blessing comes in disguise.

For all the reluctant mothers-to-be out there, you should know that when you're having even a momentary second thought, someone you can't see is whispering in your ear. Fortunately for my husband's and my families, on the third occasion our parents listened.

Ms. Gorin is a contributing editor of JewishWorldReview.com. She blogs at JuliaGorin.com.

P.S. Both Amy Welborn and Gerald Augustinus blogged this story today, and both of them used the same adjective ('powerful') as I did to describe this story - and it really hits you in the gut, in the heart and in the mind.

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 17/08/2006 21.03]

Dear IMLADRIS - I just realized I never acknowledged your last post here about music, and I apologize for my oversight....I did read about Aretha's gutsy 'substitution' for Luciano that night, and I applaud her for it. I am sure Puccini would not have minded that she gave it her own 'treatment' or did not pronounce the Italian perfectly.

'Nessun dorma' is such a beautiful melody, with a rather conventional song structure that has repetition and alternation, that any musical ear in the audience, no matter how unfamiliar with Puccini, would have recognized and appreciated.

Maybe the Grammy award organizers should consider having at least one operatic voice sing an 'accessible' aria - opera is rich with them - during the annual awards. After all, they do give awards in classical music categories. It would be a nice way to introduce the Grammy audience to higher music!

In the Vatican's online 'summary' today of the front-page items they consider most significant from the issue of Osservatore Romano for 8/17-8/18, I was struck by the apparent political bias shown by whoever was responsible for preparing the summary.

In reporting the mission of Cardinal Etchegaray to Lebanon as the Pope's representative, the summary item went on and on about the suffering of the Lebanese people, etc. In a companion item reporting a Mass for peace held in the Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth, the Mass was described as having been one "in spiritual union with the Mass celebrated in Harissa [Lebanon] by Cardinal Etchegaray" - and nothing else. Not one word about civilian victims in Israel or the victims of the never-ending Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

You would think from this that the Catholic Church was only sympathetic to the plight of Lebanon, to the exception of everyone else involved in this conflict. I think Osservatore Romano, an organ of the Secretariat of State, is undermining the Vatican's - and therefore the Pope's - position by its clear and constant bias.

I would remind you once again of how they inserted in a front-page commentary about the Middle-East conflict last July a line to the effect that the Pope had asked for another Sunday of prayer expressly for the people of Lebanon. There never was a second Sunday of prayer, and the editors got away with a blatant lie. I don't care if it is Osservatore Romano - or perhaps, especially because it is Osservatore Romano - its editors are obviously distorting facts or lying outright to suit their political leanings, and that is not right, journalistically or morally, whoever does it.

P.S. As soon as I have the time, I will post a translation of the items I referred to above, so you can judge for yourself. If you read Italian, you may read the items on
www.vatican.va/news_services/or/or_quo/text.html#1

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 18/08/2006 1.53]

Madonna's Roman Outrage:
A Singer Crosses the Line,
and a City Shrugs

By Elizabeth Lev

ROME, AUG. 17, 2006 (Zenit.org).- Blame it on the August heat, but I've been in high dudgeon all week.

On Aug. 6, 2006, Rome was sacked. This time it wasn't by Visigoths running rampant though the streets, or by mercenary soldiers murdering and plundering. But the same blasphemous spirit that drove the Landsknechte to stable their horses in the Sistine Chapel permeated the city once more. This time, however, many Romans joined right in.

The occasion was pop singer Madonna Louise Ciccone's only Italian concert. Like many barbarians of old, she showed no respect for religious traditions. In fact, she exploited the history of sacrifice and mocked the most sacred imagery of Christianity to provide hype for her show.

During her number "Live to Tell," she staged a "crucifixion" of herself wearing a crown of thorns on a mirrored cross. As background video, she mixed footage of Benedict XVI together with Mussolini and Hitler.

From her earliest appearances, Madonna has used Christian imagery to shock the public and boost sales. Wearing a rosary around her neck and flaunting the name of the Blessed Virgin, Madonna was clearly out to get attention. Rebellion against her Catholic upbringing, and most obviously her Father -- in every sense -- worked to put her on the map. She has used Christian themes in almost every album, at times to her own detriment, as when her "Like a Prayer" video lost her a lucrative contract with Pepsi for its blasphemous content.

Pathetically, Madonna at 47 remains stuck in the rebellious teen-ager phase. After 25 years of outrageous behavior, she still can't move beyond taking shots at the tradition that she could not have existed without.

Perhaps the saddest part of the story, though, concerns the majority of Christians among the 70,000 who crowded into the concert venue that night. It is strange that no hint of disappointment, resentment or moral disapproval was voiced during or after the show.

If the faithful take Christ's crucifixion as just an image to be distorted or manipulated at will, perhaps the vivid and brutal rendering of Christ's death offered by Mel Gibson was even more necessary than many thought.

Ironically, while Gibson is being castigated in the press for his drunken anti-Semitic statements, Madonna, stone-cold sober, was hailed for her "art" as she mocked the most important image of Christianity, and compared the leader of the Roman Catholic Church to Hitler and Mussolini. If she went to Jerusalem and staged a number where she sang inside a mirrored gas chamber, one wonders whether she would still be praised for putting on a good show.

Rome houses the memories of many women and men who were tortured and killed for their belief in Christ's redemptive sacrifice. Piazza Navona, where St. Agnes (not "like," but really, a virgin) was stripped and humiliated before being beheaded, or Santa Cecilia, where the material-girl-turned-martyr gave away all her clothes and jewels, are but two of scores of places where Christians can find role models that offered a freedom more authentic than Madonna's tired mantra of sexual promiscuity.

In this city, we tread in the footsteps of apostles, saints and martyrs who taught us to "express yourself" as believers in Christ even unto persecution and death. And yet, on Aug. 6, modern Rome allowed their memory to be mocked without even a word from her citizens.

Several clerics spoke out against the show, asking Madonna to at least abstain from the crucifixion number. Father Manfredo Leone of the city's Santa Maria Liberatrice Church warned Romans that it was "disrespectful."

"A blasphemous challenge to the faith," was the comment by Cardinal Ersilio Tonini, speaking with the approval of Benedict XVI.

But what about the lay people? Strangely silent throughout. Pop culture is part of the secular world, a world that lay people in particular are called to evangelize. If lay people really want more "responsibility" in the Church, a good start would be learning to take responsibility for how their own actions affect the culture. Buying the tickets, the CD and the videos isn't neutral or harmless; it tells the world that Catholics don't take their own religion seriously.

Yet Rome's Christians seemed only too happy to separate their faith from their entertainment on Aug. 6. One celebrity attendee of the show was Francesco Totti, the Roman soccer star still basking in the glory of the Italian World Cup victory.

Totti has made much of his Catholic faith, with public vows at the shrine of Divino Amore. Yet after witnessing Madonna's onstage antics, he didn't say a word. No objection, no regret. If the idol of every Italian child won't speak up for his faith, who will?

Milanese Misfire

Madonna's Italian tour met quite a different reception from lay people in Milan. While Cardinal Tonini and Father Leone were fighting a lonely battle in Rome to uphold the sacredness of religious imagery, clerics in Milan were selling sacred space to the highest bidder.

Even as Madonna was mocking the crucified Christ and Pope Benedict, the Cathedral of Milan allowed a giant poster ad for a clothes company featuring Madonna to be placed on the scaffolding covering the facade.

This time it was the lay people who rose to the occasion. Residents, neighboring townspeople and even tourists recoiled at seeing Madonna's face under the golden statue of the Blessed Virgin crowning the Cathedral of Milan.

The golden Madonna of Milan has watched over the city through plagues and invasions for centuries. The archpriest of the cathedral, Monsignor Luigi Manganini, however, told Italy's Ansa news agency: "It's just an ad, certainly not a canonization. When it was accepted, the poster seemed all correct and appropriate for its place, and it still is.''

One wonders what the illustrious and saintly archbishops of Milan past would make of this. Somehow I doubt that St. Ambrose, who stood up to the emperor Theodosius, excommunicating the most powerful man in the world until he did public penance, or St. Charles Borromeo, spearhead of Church reform, who walked among the plague-ridden victims of the city, would have stood by in silence.

Archbishop Federico Borromeo of Milan, immortalized in Alessandro Manzoni's novel "The Betrothed," among his many reforming efforts wrote the treatise "On Sacred Art."

In those pages, he deplored the collapse of the distinction "between the sacred and the profane," and took to task artists who have more respect for the "rules of art than the piety and sanctity of places, times and things."

Perhaps someone ought to circulate a copy.



Tone-deaf to the sacred

To commemorate this year's 500th anniversary of the foundation of the new St. Peter's Basilica, there have been academic conferences, and some of the greatest scholars in the field have published a fine volume of essays on aspects of the basilica.

But for the millions of common folk all over the world who know and love St. Peter's, no one had come forward to present the thrilling story of how the world's greatest church came into being.

Rita Scotti has filled this void with her new book "Basilica," released earlier this year. A historical account that reads like fiction, "Basilica" recounts the personalities, skirmishes and intrigues that got the seemingly impossible project off the ground in 1506 and brought it to completion 120 years later.

Elements of the book are fun and refreshing. Her portrait of the architect Bramante, who dreamed up the project of putting "the dome of the Pantheon on the shoulders of the Basilica of Maxentius, the last and largest basilica built by the Roman emperors," as Scotti aptly phrased it, brings the little-known genius to life.

Scotti also has a great eye for architecture and explains it well. She helps the reader to understand the importance of the enormous dimensions of the basilica and to see how Bernini's giant canopy works in the grand space of the church. It is a page-turner which will deepen many people's appreciation of the great structure.

But as much as I wanted to like this book, a growing discomfort dogged every page. Besides several errors, historical and editorial, there was a deeper problem. A first inkling came in Scotti's discussion of the early Church, where she skimmed over the tradition of Roman martyrs and the succession of Peter.

Scotti then flirts with a mild form of the "sacred feminine," delving into the mother/son dichotomy in biblical history, before declaring that Emperor Constantine "blurred the distinction between Caesar and God" so that "pagan and Christian became jumbled." These statements seem more like a nod to Dan Brown than serious history.

Finally, in the last chapters, the problem became clear. Scotti writes, "Religion is illusion. No institution understands that more profoundly than the Church of Rome. More than tenets and ethics, religion is mystery and magic, the ultimate conjuring act, body and blood from bread and wine."

The author speaks of magic and conjuring, but words like Divine institution, miracle and sacrifice hold no meaning for her. She writes without a sense of Truth, nor the importance of the Vicar of Christ as the keeper of the deposit of Truth given to us by Jesus Christ. Without any understanding of the sacredness of this space, she cannot understand St. Peter's Basilica.

While fascinated by the art, the architecture and the tales surrounding the building, Scotti remains tone-deaf to the voice and meaning of the basilica. The chorus of architects, Popes and builders gave everything they had to this church, not to dupe the faithful or feed their own power-hungry ambitions, but, in the words of Michelangelo, for "the glory of God, the honor of St. Peter and the salvation of the soul."

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Elizabeth Lev teaches Christian art and architecture at Duquesne University's Italian campus. She can be reached at lizlev@zenit.org.

What a stunning article, Teresa. My head was constantly nodding up and down in agreement with Lev's views.
Regarding Madonna, I saw on German Deutsche Welle that she may be in for trouble there if certain officers (sorry, forget the exact term) who will attend her show decide it is blasphemous (which it of course is).

August 18, 2006

From John Allen in the National Catholic Reporter, thoughts on Castro and Leonardo Boff:


Speaking of liberation theology, the big news in Latin America in recent days has been the health of Fidel Castro. For Catholics, it will hardly be a surprise that Leonardo Boff and Frei Betto -- both progressive Brazilians, the one a former Franciscan and the other a Dominican -- have rallied to Castro's side.

As ironic as it may seem, the world's most enduring Communist icon has long has what amount to "court theologians" in Betto and Boff. Castro once presented them a poster from Cuba's revolution, with the inscription: "If I ever recover the faith of my infancy, it will be the merit of you two."

Betto travelled to Havana after news of Castro's illness broke, and met with his brother Raoul. Speaking with Corriere della Sera Aug. 15, Betto said of Castro: "Certainly in recent years, his openness to religion has increased. Whether he's undergone a personal conversion, frankly, I couldn't say."

Boff circulated an essay in mid-August, saying of Castro: "He is larger than the Island."

"His Marxism is more ethical than political: how to do justice to the poor?" Boff wrote. "He has read a mountain of books, all of them with notes … I once told him, 'If Cardinal Ratzinger understood half of what you understand of the theology of Liberation, my personal destiny and the future of this theology would be very different.'"

Boff said he once planned to write a book about his conversations with Castro in Cuba, which often began at dinner and stretched until 6:00 am, but that four volumes of notes were robbed from his car in Rio de Janeiro.

In Corriere della Sera, Boff said in typically provocative fashion that Castro got on well with John Paul II, in part because they were both "authoritarian personalities …dictators, if you like."

Neither Betto nor Boff said much about the rocky relationship between Castro and the Cuban church. (In a gesture of reconciliation, the Cuban church has organized prayer vigils for Castro's health).

Boff said only: "It obviously would be a scandal if Fidel openly said he's a believer, but he's never proclaimed himself an atheist. In my opinion, he's not."

More on Mozart and the Church

From John Allen, National Catholic Reporter, Aug. 18, 2006:

In a 1996 interview, then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger recalled that Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart "thoroughly penetrated our souls" in rural Bavaria, in the shadow of Salzburg.

"His music is by no means just entertainment; it contains the whole tragedy of human existence," he said. As is well known, Benedict XVI tries to get in a few minutes at the keyboard every day, usually Mozart.

The pope is hardly alone in this passion.

Such disparate theological voices as Karl Barth, Hans Urs von Balthasar, Hans Küng and Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini have all penned tributes. The Protestant Barth once wrote that when he arrived in Heaven he would seek out Mozart, a Catholic, ahead of Luther or Calvin. Barth even proposed a performance of Mozart's "Coronation Mass" at a meeting of the Protestant World Council of Churches in Evanston, Illinois, an ecumenical gesture that in 1954 proved too far ahead of its time.

On this 250th anniversary of Mozart's birth, however, a nagging question concerns the extent to which Mozart's grasp of the "tragedy of human existence" was colored by the liberal and anti-clerical currents of his day, especially Freemasonry.

According to historians, Mozart was initiated into a Masonic lodge in Vienna at 28, and eventually became a Master Mason. He wrote at least eight pieces of music for the Masons. Conoscenti also detect influences of Masonry in his famous opera "The Magic Flute."

Mozart joined despite the fact that Pope Clement XII had prohibited membership in 1738, and this antipathy is still alive. In 1983, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith reiterated: "Faithful who enroll in Masonic associations are in a state of grave sin and may not receive Holy Communion."

One understands, therefore, why links between the pope's favorite composer and the Masons make Catholics nervous.

Yet Mozart also composed some of the most famous Roman Catholic Masses and other liturgical scores in Western history, more than 60 pieces of sacred music altogether. How to reconcile these two aspects of his biography has long been a puzzle.

Once again, Schönborn is at the center of the debate.

Speaking July 16 in Chieti, Italy, at the opening of a Mozart festival, the Austrian cardinal asserted that "there's no foundation for his frequently mentioned membership in the Masons."

"To prove the point," Schönborn said, "there's the fact that the composer came from a Catholic family that belonged to ordinary society, conformed to and defined by a religious life."

Mozart "merely belonged to a circle of intellectuals," Schönborn said, rather than taking his Masonry seriously. He was "sustained by a solid Catholic faith thanks to which his sublime music, in particular that composed for the Mass, was a faithful expression of the liturgical text."

That brought a rebuke from Luigi Danesin, Grand Master of the Italian Lodge of the Masons.

"To affirm that a connection never existed between Mozart and Masonry is a historic falsehood that's part of a revisionism which, for some time, has gone on around the figure of Mozart," Dansein said.

To discuss Mozart's Masonry and his Catholicism, I interviewed Robert Levin of Harvard University, a concert pianist and harpsichordist and an expert on Mozart. Levin recently completed a setting of Mozart's "C Minor Mass," making it liturgically complete for the first time. He hopes to arrange a performance at the Vatican.

Cardinal Christoph Schönborn has questioned Mozart's ties to the Masons. What do we know?
His association with Freemasonry has never been a matter of controversy. For one thing, we know the exact lodge to which he belonged, known in German as "Crowned Hope." He persuaded his father to become a Mason, and perhaps his friend Haydn. He wrote a substantial body of music for the lodges and for various Masonic ceremonies and functions, for example his famous Masonic funeral service. The last piece he finished before his death was K.623, "The Little Masonic Cantata." … To argue that Mozart wrote these compositions merely at arm's length as a kind of commercial proposition is not particularly persuasive.

Did Mozart feel a tension between his Masonry and his Catholicism?
We shouldn't drive a wedge between these two things … Individuals, and artists in particular, often can be more nuanced than the official positions. Mozart saw no conflict. He was the assistant choirmaster at St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna and expected to become the master, anticipating writing a glorious series of sacred music. The Masonic lodges Mozart visited weren't subversive. He found them attractive because of their fascination with human dignity and human freedom. They represented a break with the aristocracy and oligarchy.

What about Mozart's Catholicism?
The best way to approach it is through his music. I find it very, very hard to believe that the fervor and expressiveness of the music Mozart wrote for the church, such as the "C Minor Mass" or the "Requiem," is just the equivalent of an opera composer making a good pitch for his libretto. The sense of the glory of God is so powerful … Mozart's spirituality emphasizes majesty, grandeur, and affirmation. There's relatively little terror and trembling. … His music of greatest solemnity and complexity always comes at the resurrection, not the crucifixion. Some might say it's a sugar-coated Catholicism, but the tenderness he brings to the Et Incarnatus Est in the "C Minor Mass," for example, is special. In the 18th century, the "doctrine of affections" was in force, which held that each key symbolized a particular human emotion. It's telling that even though the "C Minor Mass" starts out in that key, it's C Major which dominates, the key of majesty and glory. … Mozart's Catholicism is a powerful affirmative force, without being subject to the "stick" of terror, threatening eternal damnation to those who didn't believe. It's overwhelmingly music of tenderness, empathy, and at times of grandeur.

What about his bawdy sense of humor and active libido?
First of all, it has to be seen in context. Some of the salacious expressions he used in letters to his cousin are also used by his mother in letters to his father, all of which sounds shocking to 21st century ears. It was a way of letting off steam, and we should not assume that these people therefore lacked faith or piety. …

Mozart saw deeper into the human spirit than almost anyone, yet he didn't make judgments. In the operas, he allows his characters to be who they want to be. Thus when Don Giovanni raises his champagne glass for a toast, even though we know he's a monster, we want to go to the party. … Mozart forces us to look at who we really are, what actually motivates us. In that way, our relationship with our Creator and Savior becomes immeasurably stronger.

You don't find anything jarring about the pope admiring the music of a Mason?
Not at all. Mozart himself would be thrilled. … His Holiness is not doing anything controversial in listening to Mozart. He'll be a better pope if he does!

Though Mozart never wrote at length on religion, some of his attitudes can be gleaned from letters and recollections of contemporaries. One source is the journal of Friederich Rochlitz, published in 1801, which records a visit by Mozart to Leipzig in 1789.

According to Rochlitz, Mozart said that an "enlightened Protestant" could never understand what the Agnus Dei of the Catholic Mass meant to him.

"But if someone has been introduced from earliest childhood, as I have been, into the mystical sanctuary of our religion; if there, when you did not yet know how to cope with your dark but urgent feelings, you waited for worship with an utterly fervent heart, without really knowing what you wanted, and went away with a lighter and uplifted heart without really knowing what you had; if you thought how lucky were those who received the Eucharist, and at the communion the music spoke in quiet joy from the hearts of those kneeling there, Benedictus qui venit, then it is all quite different."

"Once you really take in again words which you have heard a thousand times, in order to set them to music, it all comes back. It stands before you, and moves your soul," Mozart said.

Scholars debate the Rochlitz's reliability, but since he would have been present for this exchange, many regard it as authentic.

How to reconcile this Catholic piety with Masonry?

One way is to recall that down the centuries, criticism of individual churchmen or of ecclesiastical systems by Catholics often had little to do with one's faith. Moderns may reject Catholicism if they become frustrated with the church, but that's not how someone like Mozart thought.

Perhaps the best glimpse of this comes in a 1771 letter to his father, after Mozart had a falling out with the Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg, Hieronymus Colloredo, who among other indignities insisted on lodging him with household servants.

Noting that "I hate the archbishop to insanity," Mozart wrote:

"Always remember, as we do, that our Mufti [Colloredo] is an idiot, but that God is compassionate, merciful and loving."