Bishop Stika ordination, part 4

Bishop Richard F. Stika Special ordination edition Section D

A bishop’s best friend Rosie, his 2-year-old cockapoo, accompanied him to Knoxville—and will visit the Chancery on occasion. By Dan McWilliams ishop Richard F. Stika walks into the office at the Church of the Annunziata on Feb. 20 bearing a University of Tennessee collar and leash, a gift a parishioner had just presented to him that morning.

Rosie, his 2-year-old cockapoo, hops into his lap as he sits down, and she is perfectly at ease as her master puts his right arm around her and buckles on her new UT Volunteer collar.

East Tennessee Catholics celebrated when they heard the news that Pope Benedict had chosen the pastor of the church in Ladue, Mo., to be their new bishop. Animal lovers doubly rejoiced when they learned there would be a First Dog of the diocese.

Rosie, a cross between a cocker spaniel and a poodle, is a fixture at Annunziata and will soon be seen around the Chancery office in Knoxville.

“Rosie’s very popular,” said Bishop Stika. “I’ll bring her there [to the Chancery] from time to time. She’ll get to know everyone. She fits in like one of the staff.”

Rosie barks when a visitor enters the office, which is part of the Annunziata rectory, but quickly makes friends.

“We’ve had a problem with her barking every once in a while, but other than that she’s very hospitable when people come to the door,” said Bishop Stika.

“She loves people. So often, dogs absorb the atmosphere that surrounds them, and I think she’s a very gentle sort because our staff is like that.”

Rosie arrived at Annunziata as an 8-week-old pup in 2006, a Christmas gift to Bishop Stika from his brother Joe Calabro.

Annunziata bookkeeper Clarie Samuel calls Rosie “a great dog” and has enjoyed taking care of her from time to time.

“She’s 2 and she has so many owners,” she said.

“I’ll take care of her if [Bishop Stika] has to go out of town, or somebody’ll take her home. It’s like she’s become part of our family. When she was a little bitty puppy when we first got her, she used to sit on my lap all day and just nap.

“I’d go back and forth from my desk to my computer doing the bulletin, and everyone would say, ‘Where’s Rosie?’ I’d scoot out, and she’d be sitting THE EAST TENNESSEE CATHOLIC

DAN MCWILLIAMS

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Bishop Stika holds Rosie, who is sporting a new University of Tennessee collar and leash Feb. 20. A parishioner of the Church of the Annunziata had just presented the gift to the bishop, and he tried it on his faithful friend the same morning.

‘A GENTLE SORT’

there on my lap.”

One of Ms. Samuel’s duties is placing inserts in the bulletin after it arrives from the printer. A 2006 photo shows a months-old Rosie, barely bigger than the bulletin whose pages she is walking across on the top of Ms. Samuel’s desk.

“I will miss her. She used to sleep right down here on the floor next to me while I worked,” said Ms. Samuel. “She was just a little one. She used to climb on my desk when I was doing the bulletins.

She’s gotten a little bigger, though.”

Office manager Julie George says that “Rosie will be greatly missed” at Annunziata.

On that Friday morning last month, Rosie could be

seen on her spinning seat by an office window. Perhaps having noticed the stacks of books and memorabilia in Bishop Stika’s office as he prepared to move to Knoxville, Rosie seemed wistful as she stared out of the window.

“She is more subdued these days because she knows something’s going on,” said Mrs. George.

“Rosie hasn’t been herself for the last two weeks.”

A visitor can easily move from the office, where pictures of Rosie abound, into the kitchen and living room of the rectory. A squeak toy here and there reminds one of the canine occupant of the house.

“We will probably need to have a separate van to carry all her toys down [to Knoxville],” said Mrs. www.dioceseofknoxville.org

George.

Bishop Stika has made sure that Rosie doesn’t get cold on a Midwestern winter’s night.

“She has an electric dog bed,” said Mrs. George.

“You plug it in, and it’s like an electric blanket.”

Father John Ditenhafer, a retired priest in residence at Annunziata, “is going to miss [Rosie] because she stays with Father John when Monsignor’s gone overnight,” said Mrs. George.

As parish paperwork and other duties occupy Mrs. George, Ms. Samuel, and Bishop Stika, Rosie returns to her seat by the window. She may seem inattentive as she stares out of the window for some time, but a faint noise is heard at the rear

of the building, and Rosie is off like a shot to greet rectory housekeeper and cook Toni Hickel. Back in her regular collar now, Rosie rattles its tag as she scurries away.

“Did you see that? You know what that means?

Toni’s here,” said Mrs. George.

“She knows when Toni walks in the back door.

We could come in and out of here a thousand times a day, and she won’t move, but when she knows Toni’s here, she makes a beeline for her.”

Mrs. Hickel has cooked for Bishop Stika since he lived at the cathedral rectory in his previous assignment. She followed her friend when he became pastor of AnnunziaRosie continued on page D4

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THE EAST TENNESSEE CATHOLIC

the view from

HERE

BY MARY C. WEAVER

The best of times We embrace Pope Benedict’s gift—our new bishop—with joy.

To Dickens fans my headline will immediately suggest the lead paragraph of A Tale of Two Cities. For the uninitiated, Dickens begins his novelization of the French Revolution with a series of contrasts: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness . . . it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.”

For the faithful of the Diocese of Knoxville, this is the best of times—the opportunity to embrace a new bishop, chosen by Pope Benedict XVI as our shepherd. The ordination of a bishop is an occasion of great joy, and we’re ready for it, after the pain of losing Bishop Joseph E. Kurtz to Louisville and Father Vann Johnston to Springfield–Cape Girardeau, Mo. The church too has recently suffered, as she has always suffered. Unbelievable threats to religious liberty have sur-

the catholic

faced—such as the Connecticut legislature’s hastily scuttled attempt to determine how the Catholic Church in that state will conduct her own parish affairs (see the “web exclusive” story available in the right frame of the dioceseofknoxville.org home page). In the past several weeks significant dangers to innocent life have appeared, with the removal of the ban against federal funding of embryonic stem-cell research (see page D4) and the overturning of the Mexico City Policy, which prevented federal dollars from being used to fund abortions overseas.

At the same time, recent surveys indicate that religious practice in the United States is declining (see page B7).

These difficulties shouldn’t tempt us to despair, though, but to pray and also to act, as thousands of Connecticut Catholics did by appearing in Hartford to demonstrate to the state legislature their support of the church.

All these developments recently brought to mind a conversation I had with Father Vann in Lent 2002, during the height of the church’s sex-

DIFFERENCE

BY GEORGE WEIGEL

The Times flunks ecclesiology The newspaper’s editors are ‘whining about the revolution that never was.’

The quaint notion that The New York Times is the nation’s newspaper of record took another hit on Feb. 23, when the Gray Lady ran a commentary on Milwaukee archbishop Timothy Dolan’s appointment as the new archbishop of New York.

Written by Michael Powell and headlined, “A genial enforcer of Rome’s doctrine,” the article displayed a confusion about what the Catholic Church is and how the Catholic Church operates, that would embarrass a reasonably well-catechized eighth-grader. (Yes, Virginia, there are “reasonably well-catechized eighth-graders.” But I digress.)

The headline (“Rome’s doctrine”) blew the gaffe at the outset, as if there were Rome’s doctrine, Berkeley’s doctrine, Tubingen’s doctrine, Cuernavaca’s doctrine, and so forth, per omnia saecula saeculorum (translation for Timesmen: “for ever and ever”). In fact, there is one Catholic truth. It is safeguarded and

transmitted by the church’s magisterium, and the locus of that magisterium is “Rome,” meaning the bishop of Rome and the bishops in communion with him. That’s the teaching of the Second Vatican Council in Lumen Gentium No. 25, not a hoary legend from the past.

The church does not have “doctrines” the way administrations have policies. Policies change; the country remains the same. Doctrine can develop, but doctrinal rupture or dissent from the truth of Catholic faith means schism— the fracturing of the church.

Those who deny the truth of settled Catholic teaching on, for example, the unique salvific role of Christ, the immorality of abortion, the nature of holy orders and who is capable of receiving them, or the indissolubility of sacramental marriage put themselves outside the communion of the church.

That some theologians (and clergy and religious and laity) deny these truths is obvious, but that doesn’t mean there’s “Rome’s doctrine” and a variety of other doctrines. It means that those in dissent are mistaken.

The Times article also contained a little dig about Arch-

abuse scandal. I commented that it was a painful time to work for the church. He thought for a moment and said that actually, it was the best time to work for the church—because she needed us. Indeed, the church needs all of us to witness to the beauty of our faith.

You’re holding in your hands the biggest ETC ever published. The many congratulatory advertisements in its pages underwrote the increased printing and postage costs of this edition, making it possible. We are grateful to the many parishes, schools, and other organizations that welcomed our new bishop and supported this issue.

I can’t close without thanking my excellent staff, Dan McWilliams and Margaret Hunt, for working so hard and so brilliantly. They went above and beyond the call of duty—not just providing stories and soliciting ads but also delivering meals and untold doses of caffeine in the form of McDonald’s lattes.

We also owe an immense debt of gratitude to Bishop Stika and his colleagues in St. Louis for all their help during Dan’s reporting trip last month and practically every day since. We offer special thanks to Julie George and Clarie Samuel of the Church of the Annunziata and Anne Steffens of the archdiocesan Chancery staff. ■

bishop Dolan’s being an “enforcer.” When a man is ordained to the episcopate, he takes a solemn oath before God and the church to teach the truth of Catholic faith. To honor that commitment is not being an “enforcer,” as though a bishop were kneecapping lowlifes for Sonny Corleone.

Proclaiming the truth of Catholic faith and admonishing those who stray from it is less a disciplinary act than an act of charity. Disciplinary acts are sometimes necessary to convey the message that someone’s communion with the church is in peril; the purpose of those acts is far more educational than punitive.

A few paragraphs into the story Mr. Powell wrote that Rome’s “writ” was becoming “ever more conservative.” In Times-speak, this means that the last several popes have declined to take instruction on human rights, human sexuality, and the nature of marriage and the family from the oracles on Manhattan’s West Side, who regard dissent from their magisterium as stupid and oafish. These days, however, the Times’s sense of its infallibility is somewhat ironic. Indeed, Timesmen might consider whether their stultifying political correctness, displayed in the news hole and on an op-ed page that could often be labeled “Notes from the asylum,” might have something to do with the facts that the paper is hemorWeigel continued on page D4

The East Tennessee Foundation welcomes Bishop Richard F. Stika and is a proud supporter of his ordination. bzzzzzzzc 625 Market St., Suite 1400 • Knoxville, TN 37902 easttennesseefoundation.org

THE EAST TENNESSEE CATHOLIC

www.dioceseofknoxville.org

Adult faith-formation classes to continue in 2009 he first in a new series of adult faith-formation classes began Feb. 3, with additional classes scheduled throughout the year and in locations around the diocese. The adult faith-formation program is one of the educational initiatives funded through the Growing in Faith Together capital-stewardship campaign. Classes are offered at no charge to adults in the diocese. All sessions begin at 7 p.m. and end at 9.

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The Sacraments, taught by Amy Roberts. Explores the foundations of what we celebrate as Catholics. The class will examine how we encounter the living Christ through each of the church’s seven sacraments. Sessions take place on Tuesdays except where noted.

■ Thursday, Sept. 24, St. Stephen Church, Chattanooga ■ Nov. 10, St. Dominic Church, Kingsport Personal Morality, taught by Father Randy Stice.

Explores the foundations of how we are to live as Catholics. The class will examine the concepts of human dignity, freedom, law, sin, virtue, and conscience as well as current moral issues. Sessions take place on Tuesdays.

■ April 21, St. Therese Church, Clinton ■ Sept. 15, Sacred Heart Cathedral ■ Oct. 20, Sts. Peter & Paul Church, Chattanooga What We Believe, taught by Deacon David Lucheon. Explores the foundations of what we profess as Catholics. The class will examine the principal truths of the faith as expressed in the creeds of the church. Sessions take place on Tuesdays except where noted.

■ March 31, St. John Neumann Church, Farragut ■ May 12, St. Bridget Church, Dayton ■ Thursday, Oct. 8, Notre Dame Church, Greeneville ■ Nov. 17, Sacred Heart Cathedral To register, visit dioceseofknoxville.org, click Resources/ETC, then click Event registration in the left frame. For details, contact Rich Armstrong, director of the Office of Religious Education, at rarmstrong@dioceseofknoxville.org or 865-584-3307. ■

Take note of ETC deadlines e welcome submissions about parish and community events. Send notices by e-mail (mary@dioceseofknoxville.org), fax (865584-8124), or mail (P.O. Box 11127, Knoxville, TN 37939). To make sure we receive information about upcoming events in time for publication, please submit it by the following deadlines: ■ Monday, March 30, for the April 12 issue ■ Monday, April 13, for the April 26 issue ■ Monday, April 27, for the May 10 issue ■ Monday, May 11, for the May 24 issue ■ Monday, May 25, for the June 7 issue ■ Monday, June 8, for the June 21 issue.

When submitting photographs or articles about past events, please keep in mind that we have a backlog of submissions. ■

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Cardinal George releases YouTube video on conscience protections WASHINGTON—Cardinal Francis George is urging U.S. Catholics to tell the Obama administration to retain Health and Human Services regulations governing conscience protections for health-care workers.

This is vital to keep the government from “moving our country from democracy to despotism,” said Cardinal George, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

He delivered the message in a video available on YouTube at snipr.com/dzrui.

Those who wish to protect conscience rights can speak out through an action alert at www.usccb.org/conscienceprotection.

“Respect for personal conscience and freedom of religion as such ensures our basic freedom from government oppression. No government should come between an individual person and God—that’s what America is supposed to be about,” Cardinal Francis George said.

“This is the true common ground for us as Americans. We therefore need legal protection for freedom of conscience and of religion—including freedom for religious health-care institutions to be true to themselves.”

“I ask you please to let the government know that you want conscience protections to remain strongly in place.

“In particular, let the Department of Health and Human Services in Washington know that you stand for the protection of conscience, especially now for those who provide the health-care services so necessary for a good society,” he said.

Cardinal Francis George taped the message after the Obama Administration announced in early March that it was rescinding the regulations guaranteeing that health workers cannot be forced to provide services that violate their consciences, including abortions. ■ MARCH 22, 2009

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from the

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Rosie continued from page D1

‘Sad victory of politics’ WASHINGTON (CNS)—President Barack Obama’s executive order reversing the ban on federal funding of embryonic stem-cell research represents “a sad victory of politics over science and ethics,” said Cardinal Justin Rigali of Philadelphia shortly after the March 9 signing of the order at the White House.

The chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities was among Catholic, pro-life, and other leaders who criticized the reversal, which Obama had promised during his campaign.

Speaking in the East Room of the White House, Obama said the stem-cell policy of former President George W. Bush, in effect since Aug. 9, 2001, had forced “a false choice between sound science and moral values.”

Obama also urged Congress to consider further expansion of funding for such research. Since 1995 the Dickey/Wicker amendment to the annual appropriations bills for federal health programs has barred federal funding of research involving the creation or destruction of human embryos.

But the president had strong words against human cloning, which he said is “dangerous, profoundly wrong, and has no place in our society or any society.” He said he would work to ensure that “our government never opens the door to the use of cloning for human reproduction.”

Among the several dozen people present at the White House for the signing were members of Congress, scientists, families who believed their members could be affected by stem-cell breakthroughs, and representatives of the Episcopal and United Methodist churches, several Jewish bodies, and the Interfaith Alliance.

Obama said a “majority of Americans—from across the political spectrum, and of all backgrounds and beliefs—have come to a consensus that we should pursue” embryonic stem-cell research.

But Cardinal Rigali said the executive order “disregards the values of millions of American taxpayers who oppose research that requires taking human life” and “ignores the fact that ethically sound means for advancing stemcell science and medical treatments are readily available and in need of increased support.”

He reiterated points raised by Cardinal Francis E. George of Chicago, USCCB president, who said in a Jan. 16 letter to Obama that a change in the policy on funding of embryonic stem-cell research “could be a terrible mistake—morally, politically, and in terms of advancing the solidarity and well-being of our nation’s people.”

Archbishop Rino Fisichella, president of the Pontifical Acade-

my for Life, said most scientists recognize embryonic stem-cell research has not proved promising, which led him to wonder whether economic interests might be driving the push to use embryos.

Most scientists have affirmed that “currently embryonic stem cells lead nowhere,” he told Vatican Radio March 11, whereas “adult stem cells, on the other hand, have already led to the cure of some 2,000 diseases.”

People should try to figure out “what special interests, probably of some pharmaceutical companies, are behind this ever-moreforcible interference in science and research and, in this case, in politics, too,” he said.

Bishop Elio Sgreccia, the former president of the Pontifical Academy for Life, said allowing the use of public funds for embryonic stem-cell research was “without ethical or scientific justification.”

The decision to reverse the ban on federal funding was based on “utilitarian logic” that failed to take into account the fact that embryos are human beings, he told the Italian news agency ANSA March 9.

“It’s about the destruction of human beings in order to turn them into material for experimentation,” he said.

Bishop Sgreccia said it was unclear why research on embryonic stem cells would need to be pursued now that new discoveries have been made with other kinds of stem cells.

He referred to the work of a Japanese biologist who found in 2007 that adult stem cells could easily be reprogrammed to an embryonic state.

At the White House, Obama said he “cannot guarantee that we will find the treatments and cures we seek. No president can promise that.”

“But I can promise that we will seek them—actively, responsibly, and with the urgency required to make up for lost ground,” he added.

The Bush policy had allowed funding of embryonic stem-cell research only when the stem-cell line had been created before Aug. 9, 2001. The executive order Obama signed permits federal funding of stem-cell lines created since then but would not allow funding of the creation of new lines, leaving that decision to Congress.

Obama also signed a “presidential memorandum on scientific integrity” March 9, ordering the director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy to develop a strategy for ensuring that “the administration’s decisions about public policy be guided by the most accurate and objective scientific advice available.”

He said scientific advisers should be appointed “based on their cre-

COURTESY OF CLARIE SAMUEL

The stem-cell-research funding ban is lifted. By Nancy Frazier O’Brien

Baby Rosie snoozes in this photo, taken not long after Bishop Stika’s brother Joe Calabro presented the dog to his sibling as a Christmas gift in 2006.

NAP TIME

ta in 2004 and made another buddy when Rosie came along two years later.

“I’m going to miss her terribly,” she said.

A reporter observes that Rosie has seemingly spent several minutes of inactivity in her chair before the arrival of Mrs. Hickel.

“Hours of inactivity,” Mrs. George corrects with a laugh. ■

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rhaging red ink and recently had to mortgage its building to pay its bills.

Mr. Powell portrayed the Archdiocese of Milwaukee under Archbishop Dolan’s predecessor, Archbishop Rembert Weakland, as a “liberal Catholic outpost, where debate about doctrine was vociferous and to be gloried in.” True enough, but a serious investigation of the pre-Dolan years in Milwaukee would have explored the relationship between officially tolerated Catholic Lite and empty churches and scant vocations.

The Times editors could save themselves some grief if they recognized that the Catholic Church is not going to follow the sad trail blazed by the once-great, now-dying denominations of the liberal Protestant mainline, in which belief and practice came to be determined by holding a wetted finger up to the prevailing cultural winds. That’s one precondition to the Times running interesting stories on the Catholic Church rather than whining about the revolution that never was. ■ George Weigel is distinguished senior fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C.

In keeping with our Irish roots and true southern hospitality, the parishioners of Saint Patrick Church welcome you to the Diocese of Knoxville with an Irish Blessing!

Stem cells continued on page D6

Pope: adoration is key attitude toward Eucharist

BY CINDY WOODEN

VATICAN CITY (CNS)—Because Christ is truly present in the Eucharist, adoration must be a Catholic’s primary attitude toward the Blessed Sacrament at Mass as well as when praying before the tabernacle, Pope Benedict XVI said.

“Our task is to perceive the very precious treasure of this ineffable mystery of faith both in the celebration of the Mass as well as during worship of the sacred species,” the pope told members of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments.

Members of the congregation met the pope March 13 at the end of their plenary meeting, which was devoted to discussing ways to promote eucharistic adoration.

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meeting would result in the identification of “liturgical and pastoral means through which the church in our time could promote faith in the real presence of the Lord in the holy Eucharist and secure for the celebration of the holy Mass the entire dimension of adoration.”

The Greek word for adoration includes the concept of submission, the pope said, whereas the Latin word “denotes physical contact, the kiss, the embrace that is implicit in the idea of love.”

Together, he said, they highlight the fact that in adoring the Eucharist Catholics submit to and seek union with God, who is love.

Pope Benedict told congregation members that especially during Lent, with its emphasis on prayer, almsgiving, and fasting, Catholics

May the road rise to meet you, May the wind be at your back, May the sun shine warm upon your face, the rains fall soft upon your fields and, until we meet again…. may God hold you in the palm of His hand.

St. Patrick Catholic Church 2518 W. Andrew Johnson Highway Morristown, TN 37814

Adoration continued on page D5

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from the

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Pope responds to his critics in letter VATICAN CITY (CNS)—In a letter to the world’s bishops, Pope Benedict XVI expressed regret that his lifting of the excommunications of four traditionalist bishops gave rise to a storm of protests and bitterness.

The pope said the controversy over Bishop Richard Williamson’s statements denying the extent of the Holocaust was “an unforeseen mishap”—one that could have been anticipated, however, by paying more attention to information easily available on the Internet.

The pope said he was particularly saddened at the reaction of some Catholics who seemed willing to believe he was changing direction on Catholic-Jewish relations and were ready to “attack me with open hostility.”

He thanked “our Jewish friends” who helped clarify the matter and restore a sense of trust.

The Vatican published the 2,500word letter in six languages March 12.

The Vatican spokesman, Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, called it a “unique, exceptional document” for its direct and personal style, and said it showed the pope had listened carefully to what people were saying.

The pope said he was taking the unusual step of writing to the bishops because the episode had generated “a discussion more heated than any we have seen for a long time,”

CNS PHOTO/GREGORY A. SHEMITZ

The church cannot stop working for unity, Benedict says. By John Thavis

Altar boys stand in the sanctuary during a Tridentine Mass at St. Michael the Archangel Chapel in Farmingville, N.Y., on Feb. 1. The chapel is affiliated with the Society of St. Pius X. ATTEMPT AT RECONCILIATION

both inside and outside the church.

He said his overture to Bishop Williamson and the other three bishops of the Society of St. Pius X was designed to close a wound and bring unity to the church, by lifting excommunications incurred in 1988 and opening the way to dialogue with the society.

But when Bishop Williamson’s comments about the Holocaust were circulated, “it suddenly appeared as something completely different: as the repudiation of reconciliation between Christians and Jews, and thus as the reversal of what the (Second Vatican) Council had laid down in this regard to guide the church’s path,” he said.

As a result, he said, “an avalanche of protests was unleashed, whose bitterness laid bare wounds deeper than those of the present moment.”

“I was saddened by the fact that even Catholics, who, after

all, might have had a better knowledge of the situation, thought they had to attack me with open hostility,” he said.

“Precisely for this reason I thank all the more our Jewish friends, who quickly helped to clear up the misunderstanding and to restore the atmosphere of friendship and trust,” he said.

The pope acknowledged something critics have pointed out: that a simple Internet search would have revealed Bishop Williamson’s views on the Holocaust and helped the Vatican anticipate the reaction.

“I have been told that consulting the information available on the Internet would have made it possible to perceive the problem early on.

I have learned the lesson that in the future in the Holy See we will have to pay greater attention to that source of news,” he said.

Pope Benedict said he deeply regretted another mistake: that the lifting of the ex-

communications was not adequately explained and gave rise to misinterpretations about the traditionalist society’s status in the church.

He emphasized that the removal of the excommunications was a disciplinary measure that affects individuals. But the fact that the Society of St. Pius X has no standing in the church depends on doctrinal reasons, he said.

“Until the doctrinal questions are clarified, the society has no canonical status in the church, and its ministers—even though they have been freed of the ecclesiastical penalty—do not legitimately exercise any ministry in the church,” he said.

In view of the importance of the doctrinal issues still to be clarified with the society, the pope announced that he was putting the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei, which has handled reconciliation efforts with traditionalist groups, under

Pope encourages Catholics to make time for silent prayer in Lent

BY CINDY WOODEN

VATICAN CITY (CNS)—The day after ending his Lenten retreat—and spending most of the week, including mealtimes, in silence—Pope Benedict XVI encouraged all Catholics to make time in Lent for silent reflection on the Scriptures.

“During this Lenten time I urge you all to find prolonged moments of silence, possibly of retreat, in order to review your lives in the light of the loving plan of our heavenly Father,” the pope said March 8.

Reciting the Angelus with visitors in St. Peter’s Square, Pope Benedict said prayer was at the heart of the day’s Gospel story about Jesus’ transfiguration.

“Prayer, in fact, reaches its culmination and therefore becomes a source of interior light when the human spirit adheres to God’s spirit and their wills fuse, becoming almost one,” the pope said.

Pope Benedict told the crowd gathered in the late-winter sun that his Feb. 28 through March 7 retreat, directed by Nigerian Cardinal Francis Arinze, retired head of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments, was an intense week of silence and prayer.

Along with his closest aides, the pope said he was able to dedicate his mind and heart “entirely to God, to listening to his word [and] to meditating on the mysteries of Christ.”

At the close of the retreat March 7 the pope thanked Cardinal Arinze for guiding their meditations on the theme “The priest encounters Christ and follows him.”

“You did not offer us theological acrobatics but a healthy doctrine, the good bread of our faith,” the pope told the cardinal in remarks released by the Vatican.

“Your theology, as you told us, is not an abstract theology but is marked by a healthy realism,” the pope told him.

Cardinal Arinze told Vatican Radio that afternoon that “seeing everyone meditating, praying, with Jesus in the center, eucharistic adoration every day, and individual time for everyone—in complete silence—was edifying and very positive for the church.”

The cardinal said he tried to explore with the retreat participants the fact that Jesus is known and discovered only by meeting him in the church, the sacraments, and the Scriptures and in those who are suffering and crying out for justice, peace, and solidarity. ■ Copyright 2009 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops

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Letter continued on page D6

BY SIMON CALDWELL

LONDON (CNS)—Confronting religious intolerance regularly and publicly is among the “crucial tasks” of Christians in the 21st century, said an Australian cardinal.

Cardinal George Pell of Sydney said the Catholic Church’s freedom was under pressure from a new and dangerous trend of the use of anti-discrimination laws and human rights claims to attack the role of religion in public life and individuals’ right of conscience.

In a March 6 lecture titled “Varieties of Intolerance: Religious and Secular,” he said Christians needed to “recover their selfconfidence and courage” to counter the problem.

“Put simply, Christians have to recover their genius for showing that there are better ways to live and to build a good society,” he told the Oxford University Newman Society.

“The secular and religious intolerance of our day needs to be confronted regularly and publicly,” he said. “Believers need to call the bluff of what is, even in most parts of Europe, a small minority with disproportionate influence in the media. This is one of the crucial tasks for Christians in the 21st century.”

As his primary example of THE EAST TENNESSEE CATHOLIC

mounting intolerance, Cardinal Pell cited the treatment of U.S. Christians and Mormons who supported Proposition 8, the constitutional amendment that reversed California’s gay-marriage law in November.

He described how churches and temples were subjected to violence and intimidation and how some supporters of the amendment were forced from their jobs and blacklisted.

“We should note the strange way in which some of the most permissive groups and communities, for example, Californian liberals in the case of Proposition 8, easily become repressive, despite all their high rhetoric about diversity and tolerance,” he said.

“There is the one-sidedness about discrimination and vilification,” he said, because antiChristian “blacklisting and intimidation is passed over in silence.”

The cardinal predicted a “major escalation in the culture wars” if President Barack Obama signed into law the Freedom of Choice Act, which would sweep away restrictions on abortion and deny medical practitioners and hospitals the right to conscientiously object to participating in abortions.

“Clearly there is an urgent

need to deepen public understanding of the importance and nature of religious freedom,” said Cardinal Pell. “Believers should not be treated by government and the courts as a tolerated and divisive minority whose rights must always yield to the minority secular agenda.”

He explained that the effect of the rising intolerance of modern liberalism was to “enforce conformity” and to strip Christianity of the power of its public witness.”

“There is no need to drive the church out of services if the secularization of its agencies can achieve this end,” he added.

The pressure against religion in public life, he said, stemmed mainly from a misplaced belief in “absolute sexual freedom.”

He said that as sexual freedom became a driver of consumption, people could see the “re-emergence of slavery in Europe and Asia, the booming exploitation of pornography and prostitution, and the commercialization of surrogacy, egg donation, and the production and destruction of human embryos and human stem-cell lines.” ■ Copyright 2009 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops

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CNS PHOTO/GREGORY L. TRACY, THE PILOT

Cardinal Pell calls for confrontation of religious intolerance

The vigil light indicates that the Blessed Sacrament is held in reserve in the tabernacle of Our Lady of the Assumption Church in Boston.

ADORE HIM

should be encouraged “to rediscover fasting and live it with renewed fervor, not only as an ascetic practice but also as a preparation for the Eucharist.”

Cardinal Antonio Canizares Llovera, the new prefect of the congregation, told Vatican Radio, “The liturgy is, first of all, adoration.”

In the life of the church, “the Eucharist is the center of adoration; it is the recognition of God, the recognition that everything comes from him,” the cardinal said in an interview March 10.

“In this moment of strong secularization— when people tend to forget God, to maintain that he is not important in human life—it is necessary to reaffirm that adoration comes first, in other words, that God comes first,” he said.

“The liturgy does not recount things that happened in the past but is the manifestation today of God’s salvation through Jesus Christ,” Cardinal Canizares said. ■ Copyright 2009 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops MARCH 22, 2009

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Stem cells continued from page D4

the auspices of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

“This will make it clear that the problems now to be addressed are essentially doctrinal in nature and concern primarily the acceptance of the Second Vatican Council and the post-conciliar magisterium of the popes,” he said.

He underlined what Vatican officials have said in recent weeks, that for the Society of St. Pius X full communion implies acceptance of Vatican II. “The church’s teaching authority cannot be frozen in the year 1962—this must be quite clear to the society,” the pope said.

At the same time, he said, some defenders of Vatican II need to be reminded that being faithful to the council also means being faithful to the church’s entire doctrinal history, without cutting “the roots from which the tree draws its life.”

After making his clarifications, the pope confronted the question: “Was this measure needed? Was it really a priority?”

He answered with a heartfelt defense of his reconciliation move, saying the church cannot stop working for unity among its ranks.

“That the quiet gesture of extending a hand gave rise to a huge uproar, and thus became exactly the opposite of a gesture of reconciliation, is a fact which we must accept. But I ask now: Was it, and is it, truly wrong in this case to meet halfway the brother who ‘has something against you’ and to seek reconciliation?” he said.

The pope also asked whether the church could be totally indifferent about a traditionalist society that has 491 priests, 215 seminarians, six seminaries, 88 schools, two university-level institutes, 117 religious brothers, 164 religious sisters, and thousands of lay faithful.

“Should we casually let them drift farther from the church?” he said.

He offered a special thought for the society’s priests, saying he did not think they would have chosen the priesthood unless they had a love of Christ and a desire to proclaim the Gospel.

“Can we simply exclude them, as representatives of a radical fringe, from our pursuit of reconciliation and unity? What would then become of them?” he said.

The pope said he recognized that disturbing statements have often come from the society’s leadership, reflecting “arrogance and presumptuousness.” But he said he has also witnessed “an openness of hearts” among some members.

He said the traditionalist society deserves the same kind of tolerance given to other members in the church.

“At times one gets the impression that our society needs to have at least one group to which no tolerance may be shown, which one can easily attack and hate. And should someone dare to approach them—in this case the pope—he too loses any right to tolerance; he too can be treated hatefully, without misgiving or restraint,” he said.

Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Vatican secretary of state, denied reports that the pope was isolated inside the Vatican or cut off from much of the Roman Curia.

“The pope is not alone. His closest collaborators are loyally faithful to the pontiff and totally united with him,” the cardinal told bishops participating in a Vatican meeting on communications March 13.

Cardinal Bertone added that the pope had received many letters of support during the recent controversy, in contrast with “some out-of-tune voices among bishops and journalists.” ■

dentials and experience, not their politics or ideology.”

But Paul A. Long, vice president for public policy at the Michigan Catholic Conference, said the order “regrettably places ideology and political posturing ahead of proven scientific therapeutic advancements.”

“There are endless studies and stories of patients who have been treated, even cured of their debilitating condition following stem-cell therapies that do not necessitate the destruction of human embryos, yet the . . . executive order makes every tax-paying American citizen unwittingly complicit in the destruction of human embryos for experimental research.”

Bishop Robert W. Finn of Kansas City–St. Joseph, Mo., called Obama’s action the

“newest step by the president to eventually remove all legal protections for innocent, nascent human life.”

“The president boldly proclaimed that he was taking the politics out of science,” Bishop Finn added. “Rather, it seems clear that he is only asserting ‘his politics’ over life itself.”

Kristen Day, the executive director of Democrats for Life of America, said the president’s decision—which the organization “is against, . . . period”—surprised the group and signaled “a cooling of our relations” with the Obama administration.

“Although we have zero confidence that a call for a reversal of this executive order will prevail, we are hopeful that the president will heed our call for common-ground

solutions in dealing with prolife Democrats,” Day added, citing in particular the Pregnant Women’s Support Act. Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., the author of a 2005 law authorizing $265 million in federal research funds for adult stem cells from cord blood and bone marrow, asked in a statement: “Why does the president persist in the dehumanizing of nascent human life when better alternatives exist?”

“On both ethics grounds and efficacy grounds non-embryonic-destroying stem-cell research is the present and future of regenerative medicine—and the only responsible way forward,” Smith added. ■ Copyright 2009 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops

The text of Pope Benedict’s letter in English can be found online at snipr.com/dydas. Copyright 2009 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops

The Priests, Deacons, and Lay Faithful of St. Mary’s Church and School in Johnson City, joyfully welcome and congratulate Monsignor Richard F. Stika as the third Bishop of the Diocese of Knoxville.

May God bless you.

Fr. Anietie Akata, Pastor Fr. Randy Stice, Associate Pastor

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MARCH 22, 2009

www.dioceseofknoxville.org

THE EAST TENNESSEE CATHOLIC

Congratulations Bishop Stika Welcome to Knoxville

Knights of Columbus of the Pope John Paul II Fourth Degree Assembly No. 2920 Tom Viotti, Faithful Navigator

THE EAST TENNESSEE CATHOLIC

Fr. John Orr, Faithful Friar

www.dioceseofknoxville.org

MARCH 22, 2009

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The Knights of Columbus Council # 14521

Fr. Patrick Brownell, Grand Knight Thomas Tidwell, and The Knights of Columbus would like to graciously and formally welcome Bishop-elect Richard J. Stika as the Third Bishop of the Diocese of Knoxville.

We extend all of our duties and abilities to Bishop Stika in helping him to further enhance this already great Diocese.

St Bernard Council 8152 Crossville, TN

Father Gabriel Assembly 2162 Cookeville, Crossville, Harriman, TN

The Council and the Assembly of Plateau welcome and congratulate our new Bishop Brother Knight Sir Knight Richard F. Stika.

We are with you Fraternally, in Faith, and in Prayer.

We do this in the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ.

James R. Hedges Council St. Augustine’s Catholic Church Signal Mountain, Tennessee

St Henry Council 8860

,ADIES OF #HARITY OF #HATTANOOGA 3ERVING THE NEEDY OF OUR COMMUNITY IN A SPIRIT OF FAITH HUMILITY SIMPLICITY

Rogersville, Tennessee

7ELCOME HOME TO %AST 4ENNESSEE "ISHOP 3TIKA

Congratulations and welcome, Bishop Stika!

Our prayers and best wishes are with you, both now and in the future.

-ARCH

'RANT US DEAR ,ORD THE GRACE TO BE PRUDENT IN JUDGMENT AND WATCHFUL IN PRAYER AND ABOVE ALL THINGS TO LOVE 9OU WITH ALL OUR HEARTS ,EAD US TO CONSTANT MUTUAL CHARITY AMONG OURSELVES FOR CHARITY COVERS A MULTITUDE OF SINS 4EACH US TO BE HOSPITABLE

KIND AND PATIENT WITH ONE ANOTHER WITHOUT MURMURING !CCORDING TO THE GIFTS AND TALENTS THAT EACH OF US HAS RECEIVED HELP US TO SHARE WITH OTHERS AS GOOD STEWARDS OF 9OUR MANIFOLD GIFTS 7HEN WE SPEAK LET IT BE WITH 9OUR WORDS !ND IN HELPING OTHERS

(EAVENLY &ATHER LET IT BE WITH THE STRENGTH 9OU FURNISH THROUGH THE (OLY 3PIRIT SO THAT IN ALL THINGS 9OU MAY HONORED

2OSSVILLE "OULEVARD #HATTANOOGA 4. WWW LADIESOFCHARITY ORG

The parish family of St. Elizabeth of Hungary Parish Crestwood, Missouri Send heartfelt Congratulations to Bishop Richard Stika And wish him God’s blessings In his pastoral care of Knoxville.

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www.dioceseofknoxville.org

THE EAST TENNESSEE CATHOLIC

BISHOP RICHARD F. STIKA The parishioners of Our Lady of Fatima Church, Alcoa, welcome you to East Tennessee.

The parish of St. Therese in Clinton welcomes and congratulates you, Bishop Stika.

THE EAST TENNESSEE CATHOLIC

www.dioceseofknoxville.org

MARCH 22, 2009

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Thanks for Listening.

The call to priesthood resonates across America daily. Those who listen and respond to this call to leadership and service culminate years of academic and prayerful preparation at ordination. Their work has just begun!

Many come from and return to serve in mission areas of our own country– under-resourced and isolated places from the Deep South and across the plains to native lands in New Mexico and outposts in Alaska.

Catholic Extension celebrates these new leaders of the Church across America. As they give their lives in resounding answer to a Divine calling, Catholic Extension partners with them at every step of their journey.

Join us as we Awaken the Mission Spirit in America!

catholicextension.org

Catholic Church Extension Society 150 South Wacker Drive, 20th Fl Chicago, IL 60606 1-800-842-7804

Enclosed is my gift of $__________________________________________________.

(Please make checks payable to Catholic Extension.)

Name______________________________Address__________________________________ City_____________________________State__________Zip__________________________ Phone__________________Email________________________________________________ Donations also may be made by credit card at our website, catholicextension.org

Thank you for your generosity.

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MARCH 22, 2009

www.dioceseofknoxville.org

ADVG-03/09-ETC

THE EAST TENNESSEE CATHOLIC

THE EAST TENNESSEE CATHOLIC

www.dioceseofknoxville.org

MARCH 22, 2009

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Congratulations, Bishop Stika.

We are happy to congratulate Bishop Richard Stika on his appointment as the third bishop of the Diocese of Knoxville.

Very Rev. Denis Robinson, OSB, and the students, faculty and staff of Saint Meinrad School of Theology Saint Meinrad School of Theology, 200 Hill Drive, St. Meinrad, IN 47577 www.saintmeinrad.edu

6aa d[ jh Vi ;ddY ;dg I]Z Eddg Pray for blessings upon you, the Most Rev. Richard F. Stika as God continues to guide you in your new ministry as Bishop of the Diocese of Knoxville.

Our prayers, and the prayers of the poor we serve, go out in celebration. Ăˆ{ä£Ê ĂžÂœÂ˜ĂƒĂŠ,Âœ>`]ĂŠ ÂœVÂœÂ˜Ă•ĂŒĂŠ Ă€iiÂŽ]ĂŠ Â?ÂœĂ€Âˆ`>ÊÎÎäÇÎÊÊUÊÊ­™x{ÂŽĂŠ{ÓLJÓÓÓÓÊÊUĂŠĂŠ >Ă?\Ê­™x{ÂŽĂŠxĂ‡Ă¤Â‡Ă‡Ăˆx{ĂŠĂŠUĂŠĂŠĂœĂœĂœÂ°vœœ`vÂœĂ€ĂŒÂ…iÂŤÂœÂœĂ€Â°ÂœĂ€}

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MARCH 22, 2009

www.dioceseofknoxville.org

THE EAST TENNESSEE CATHOLIC

Congratulations to the Diocese of Knoxville and Bishop Richard Stika from Messer Construction Co., proud builders of St. John Neumann Church, Farragut

THE EAST TENNESSEE CATHOLIC

www.dioceseofknoxville.org

MARCH 22, 2009

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Bishop Ronald W. Gainer, Second Bishop of Lexington, and the People of the Diocese of Lexington extend their prayers and heartiest congratulations to Bishop-Elect Richard F. Stika on his Ordination and Installation as Third Bishop of Knoxville

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MARCH 22, 2009

www.dioceseofknoxville.org

THE EAST TENNESSEE CATHOLIC

We are delighted to welcome Richard F. Stika as the Third Bishop of the Diocese of Knoxville

Congratulations, BISHOP STIKA !!!

The Knights of Columbus Tennessee State Council More than 11,600 members serving the Dioceses of Knoxville, Memphis and Nashville State Chaplain State Deputy State Secretary State Treasurer State Advocate State Warden IPSD 00544 00610 00616 00645 01101 02246 03175 03431 03537 03763 03832 03837 03991 04264 04312 04563 04572 04947 04972 05062 05207 05233 06099 06321 06645 06695

Nashville Chattanooga Memphis Knoxville Jackson Lawrenceburg Oak Ridge Winchester Clarksville Madison Alcoa / Maryville Union City Tullahoma Johnson City East Memphis Murfreesboro Cleveland Loretto Donelson Whitehaven West Knoxville North Memphis Chattanooga St Stephen Millington Cookeville Bristol

Reverend Joey Kaump (Camden) Michael J. Porter, Sr. (Hermitage) Robert H. Rounsefell (Cordova) Michael L. Wills (West Knoxville) John F. Park, Jr. (Nashville) James R. Bruun (West Knoxville) William L. Wicke (Farragut) 06730 06784 06787 06992 07086 07170 07447 07449 07820 07838 08083 08152 08241 08273 08354 08396 08576 08781 08826 08860 09132 09168 09232 09317 09586 09705 09754

Morristown Greeneville Humboldt / Milan Kingsport Paris Bartlett Columbia Germantown Memphis Ascension Dyersburg Savannah Crossville Dickson Harriman Antioch Athens Chattanooga St Jude Farragut Collierville Rogersville Hendersonville Smyrna Hermitage Cordova Nashville St Edward Springfield Camden

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Lebanon Gallatin Memphis Resurrection Clinton Covington Elizabethton Lewisburg Dayton South Pittsburg Ashland City Nashville St Ann Nashville St Henry Nashville Christ King Fayetteville Lenoir City Jefferson City Seymour Centerville Memphis St Mary’s Martin Memphis Nativity Soddy Daisy Knoxville UT Somerville Signal Mountain Parsons

In service to one. In service to all.

THE EAST TENNESSEE CATHOLIC

www.dioceseofknoxville.org

MARCH 22, 2009

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MARCH 22, 2009

www.dioceseofknoxville.org

THE EAST TENNESSEE CATHOLIC