Father Robert Altier
From www.fatheraltier.excerptsofinri.com
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Showing posts with label catechism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label catechism. Show all posts
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Father Altier's Fundamentals of Catholicism - 23 Hours of Audio
From www.fatheraltier.excerptsofinri.com
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Monday, April 11, 2011
Cardinal Schonborn's World Youth Day catechism suggests endorsement of ‘contraceptive methods’
Update: Carl Olson: "(Mark Brumley, President of Ignatius Press writes: "The problem did not originate with the German text--at least not if the Italian translation is based on the same German text as that on which Ignatius Press based its translation... (read more)
.- A new Vatican-sponsored catechism intended for youth suggests that Christian couples “can and should” use “contraceptive methods” when deciding on how many children to have.
The revelation comes two days before the eve of the official launch of the so-called “YouCat,” produced specially for the Church’s World Youth Day event, to be held in Madrid this coming August.
The Vatican’s spokesman, Father Federico Lombardi, SJ, told CNA April 11, “I have not yet seen the text of YouCat and am therefore unable to comment further.”
The Vatican has scheduled a press conference for April 13 to officially release the text.
Organizers of World Youth Day have already ordered 700,000 copies of YouCat to give to young pilgrims along with a sleeping bag, map and other accessories.
The catechism is laid out in a question and answer fashion. Question 420 in the Italian language edition states:
“Q. Puo una coppia christiana fare ricorso ai metodi anticoncezionali?” (Can a Christian couple have recourse to contraceptive methods?)
“A. Si, una coppia cristiana puo e deve essere responsabile nella sua facolta di poter donare la vita.” (Yes, a Christian couple can and should be responsible in its faculty of being able to give life).
“YouCat” is to be published in 12 additional languages. The English edition, published by Ignatius Press, does not contain the problematic language. It is not yet known if other language versions also contain the same controversial statement on contraception.
The creation of the 300-page YouCat was overseen by Cardinal Christoph Schonborn, Archbishop of Vienna. It was given the doctrinal seal of approval by the Bishops of Austria in March 2010. Cardinal Schonborn was also the editor of the universal Catechism of the Catholic Church, published in 1992.
He is slated to be in attendance at the launch press conference on Wednesday.
Also slated to be present are Cardinal Stanislaw Rylko, president of the Pontifical Council for the Laity and Archbishop Rino Fisichella, president of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion Council for the Promotion of New Evangelization.
 Cardinal Christoph Schonborn and the YouCat catechism |
The revelation comes two days before the eve of the official launch of the so-called “YouCat,” produced specially for the Church’s World Youth Day event, to be held in Madrid this coming August.
The Vatican’s spokesman, Father Federico Lombardi, SJ, told CNA April 11, “I have not yet seen the text of YouCat and am therefore unable to comment further.”
The Vatican has scheduled a press conference for April 13 to officially release the text.
Organizers of World Youth Day have already ordered 700,000 copies of YouCat to give to young pilgrims along with a sleeping bag, map and other accessories.
The catechism is laid out in a question and answer fashion. Question 420 in the Italian language edition states:
“Q. Puo una coppia christiana fare ricorso ai metodi anticoncezionali?” (Can a Christian couple have recourse to contraceptive methods?)
“A. Si, una coppia cristiana puo e deve essere responsabile nella sua facolta di poter donare la vita.” (Yes, a Christian couple can and should be responsible in its faculty of being able to give life).
Vatican sources who spoke to CNA April 11 on the condition of anonymity speculated that the problem was in the original German text, a fact that was later confirmed by CNA.
“YouCat” is to be published in 12 additional languages. The English edition, published by Ignatius Press, does not contain the problematic language. It is not yet known if other language versions also contain the same controversial statement on contraception.
The Catholic Church has always opposed the use of contraception. In the official Catechism of the Catholic Church, its use is described as “intrinsically evil.”
The creation of the 300-page YouCat was overseen by Cardinal Christoph Schonborn, Archbishop of Vienna. It was given the doctrinal seal of approval by the Bishops of Austria in March 2010. Cardinal Schonborn was also the editor of the universal Catechism of the Catholic Church, published in 1992.
He is slated to be in attendance at the launch press conference on Wednesday.
Also slated to be present are Cardinal Stanislaw Rylko, president of the Pontifical Council for the Laity and Archbishop Rino Fisichella, president of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion Council for the Promotion of New Evangelization.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Lutheran Church widens its tent
MARLBOROUGH —
After St. Ann’s Catholic Church was closed in 2004, Stacie LaBoissiere and her husband began looking for another spiritual home. But they ruled out joining another Catholic parish.
“My sister is a lesbian, married to a woman,” LaBoissiere explained. “I knew that I did not want to remain Catholic as a result of their views on homosexuality. I could not become a member of a church that would condemn my sister. If a church would not accept my sister, then they would not accept me.”
The couple joined Marlborough’s St. Stephen Lutheran Church, after its pastor Scott Howard reassured them that the church welcomed everyone....
Full Text of Catholic Catechism Regarding Homosexuality
#2357 Homosexuality refers to relations between men or between women who experience an exclusive or predominant sexual attraction toward persons of the same sex. It has taken a great variety of forms through the centuries and in different cultures. Its psychological genesis remains largely unexplained. Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity, tradition has always declared that “homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered.” They are contrary to the natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved.
#2358 The number of men and women who have deep-seated homosexual tendencies is not negligible. This inclination, which is objectively disordered, constitutes for most of them a trial. They must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided. These persons are called to fulfill God’s will in their lives and, if they are Christians, to unite to the sacrifice of the Lord’s Cross the difficulties they may encounter from their condition.
#2359 Homosexual persons are called to chastity. By the virtues of self-mastery that teach them inner freedom, at times by the support of disinterested friendship, by prayer and sacramental grace, they can and should gradually and resolutely approach Christian perfection.
Monday, October 6, 2008
Dignity of Priesthood
"Priesthood is the highest dignity on earth. The dignity of a priest surpasses that of emperors, and even of angels. No angel can convert bread into the Body of Christ by the mere power of his word, nor can any angel forgive sin. The priest stands between God and man. He is God's Representative, God's ambassador. Therefore whatever honor we pay to the priest, we render to God himself. St. Francis of Assisi said that if he met an angel and a priest at the same time, he should salute the priest first." - My Catholic Faith - A Catechism in Pictures
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Father Robert J. Levis, PhD, celebrates his 60th Jubilee of Ordination to the Priesthood
From Padre Giovanni Trigilio:
"Father Bob Levis celebrated Mass of the Extraordinary form of the Roman Rite on Saturday, August 2nd, at St. Ann Church, Erie, PA. A packed church came to offer thanks to God for six decades of priestly service (and many more to follow) given by this unsung American hero. The former Director of the Pontifical Center for Catechetical Studies is also professor emeritus at Gannon University and president emeritus of the Confraternity of Catholic Clergy. He was one of the founding fathers of the same CCC and hosted several television and radio series on EWTN. Father Levis is best known and beloved, however, for his consistent, staunch orthodox preaching and teaching and for his indefatigable defense of the Magisterium and the Roman Pontiff amidst a culture and climate of dissent, apathy, scandal, irreverence, infidelity, et al.
I first met my mentor while in minor seminary. Before the Catechism (1992) existed, Father Levis had his graduate students do linear critiques on the various catechetical textbooks being used in parochial school and CCD programs across the USA. Using the General Catechetical Directory and the National Catechetical Directory as a litmus test, they demonstrated the horrible deficiencies in most religion books at that time. Dogmas such as Original Sin, Real Presence, Sacramental Grace, Immaculate Conception, Papal Infallibility, etc., were conspicuously absent from some or all grade levels. Children were not taught all seven sacraments or that Jesus Christ was one Divine Person with two natures, human and divine. Almost everything their parents and grandparents had been taught at the same age level by the infamous Baltimore Catechism were now deemed 'too complicated', 'too technical', and of course, 'too traditional'. Memorization was seen as draconian since experiential formation was seen as superior to catechetical formation. Ironically, those same kiddies were being asked to memorize elements from the Periodic Table, States and their capitals, and all the Presidents in order. Learning the Ten Commandments in order, on the other hand, was seen as being 'pre-Vatican II'
Many of my generation remember when we went from Baltimore Catechism content to butterflies, clouds and balloons. While my parents learned O Salutaris and Tantum Ergo, I had to learn the insipid Kumbaya. I received my First Holy Communion on the tongue from the altar rail. By the time I graduated from eighth grade, however, the second graders were receiving in the hand and while standing. Deo Gratias, I met Father Levis who introduced me to the National and General Catechetical Directories and to Denziger's Enchiridion Symbolorum. I had clandestinely studied the 1917 Code of Canon Law on my own while in minor seminary and remember a professor once saying the next edition will be radically different. I graduated from college seminary the same year the 1983 Code was promulgated and eagerly awaited the upcoming 1992 Catechism. Father Levis got a copy of the French edition and was asked to give comments to help the American bishops at their next national conference meeting. While vindicated by both golden treasures of JP2, no one recognized that orthodox priests like Levis had remained faithful all along and never deviated one iota from the deposit of faith. The same could not be said of many of his contemporaries who dissented from Humanae Vitae, who advocated women's ordination, who embraced every liturgical innovation and abuse while disdaining every legitimate rubric.
When my vocation was being tested (on numerous occasions), it was Father Levis who preserved and saved me. I would not be a priest today were it not for his example, support, advice, prayers and friendship. It took me three seminaries and three dioceses to finally get ordained a priest in 1988 but had it not been for the tireless role model Father Bob exemplified, I would probably be doing talk radio today and nothing else.
Though he has never received any ecclesiastical honors or offices, he has always been a good, holy and devout priest. His orthodoxy is only outdone by his compassionate, priestly heart. He alone would visit my little brother Michael (who was wheelchair bound from Muscular Dystrophy) once a month to bring him Holy Communion and hear his confession. Fr. Levis drove through blizzards and snowstorms to anoint people their own pastors neglected. He always has time for divine mercy. The only time you would ever find him not wearing his Roman Collar was when he was on his sailboat, the Scrimshaw. A twenty-six footer, he would sail Lake Erie but usually take a small crew of potential seminarians or some uncommitted agnostics or a fallen away Catholic or two. While in the middle of a great lake, he would hear confessions, teach the faith and save souls as a true FISHER OF MEN. I was his worst first-mate since I could not swim and committed a mortal sin of boating: one time I had one foot on the boat and one foot on the dock and two began to separate. "Fall in" he said "and I'll fish you out." "I CAN'T SWIM!!!" He stood there incredulous and replied, "well, I'll bless you as you go under and preach a good sermon at your funeral Mass."
All kidding aside, having Father Levis at my ordination and vesting me and then at my First Mass the following day, was a great honor and joy for me. He asked me to preach at his 50th anniversary, which was the same year as my 10th. Imagine, a ten year ordained priest preaching at Golden Jubilarian! What an honor. I was asked again this year to preach at his 60th as I just celebrated my 20th. I expect my mentor to preach my Silver anniversary and seeing what good shape he is, had better prepare another sermon for his Diamond Jubilee fifteen years from now. In the meantime, I ask all of you to pray for Father Levis and to thank God He blessed the Church with such heroes. Vilified, shunned, ignored, persecuted, ridiculed, ostracized, maligned, misquoted, misunderstood, harassed and harangued; nothing could stop this priest from being the Alter Christus he was ordained to be so he could act in persona Christi to teach, to sanctify and to lead. I have heard many attack his character, his reputation and his honor yet I have only witnessed solid orthodoxy, manly piety and a huge, generous priestly heart. When my mother had to bury her second and third child and then her beloved husband of 39 years, only Father Levis and Mother Angelica could console her with their solacing words of wisdom. If I could be at least 1/10th the man and the priest Father Robert Levis IS and HAS BEEN for over 60 years, I would be grateful. I could never follow in his footsteps but I will do my best to emulate his example and his priestly zeal."
"Father Bob Levis celebrated Mass of the Extraordinary form of the Roman Rite on Saturday, August 2nd, at St. Ann Church, Erie, PA. A packed church came to offer thanks to God for six decades of priestly service (and many more to follow) given by this unsung American hero. The former Director of the Pontifical Center for Catechetical Studies is also professor emeritus at Gannon University and president emeritus of the Confraternity of Catholic Clergy. He was one of the founding fathers of the same CCC and hosted several television and radio series on EWTN. Father Levis is best known and beloved, however, for his consistent, staunch orthodox preaching and teaching and for his indefatigable defense of the Magisterium and the Roman Pontiff amidst a culture and climate of dissent, apathy, scandal, irreverence, infidelity, et al.
I first met my mentor while in minor seminary. Before the Catechism (1992) existed, Father Levis had his graduate students do linear critiques on the various catechetical textbooks being used in parochial school and CCD programs across the USA. Using the General Catechetical Directory and the National Catechetical Directory as a litmus test, they demonstrated the horrible deficiencies in most religion books at that time. Dogmas such as Original Sin, Real Presence, Sacramental Grace, Immaculate Conception, Papal Infallibility, etc., were conspicuously absent from some or all grade levels. Children were not taught all seven sacraments or that Jesus Christ was one Divine Person with two natures, human and divine. Almost everything their parents and grandparents had been taught at the same age level by the infamous Baltimore Catechism were now deemed 'too complicated', 'too technical', and of course, 'too traditional'. Memorization was seen as draconian since experiential formation was seen as superior to catechetical formation. Ironically, those same kiddies were being asked to memorize elements from the Periodic Table, States and their capitals, and all the Presidents in order. Learning the Ten Commandments in order, on the other hand, was seen as being 'pre-Vatican II'
Many of my generation remember when we went from Baltimore Catechism content to butterflies, clouds and balloons. While my parents learned O Salutaris and Tantum Ergo, I had to learn the insipid Kumbaya. I received my First Holy Communion on the tongue from the altar rail. By the time I graduated from eighth grade, however, the second graders were receiving in the hand and while standing. Deo Gratias, I met Father Levis who introduced me to the National and General Catechetical Directories and to Denziger's Enchiridion Symbolorum. I had clandestinely studied the 1917 Code of Canon Law on my own while in minor seminary and remember a professor once saying the next edition will be radically different. I graduated from college seminary the same year the 1983 Code was promulgated and eagerly awaited the upcoming 1992 Catechism. Father Levis got a copy of the French edition and was asked to give comments to help the American bishops at their next national conference meeting. While vindicated by both golden treasures of JP2, no one recognized that orthodox priests like Levis had remained faithful all along and never deviated one iota from the deposit of faith. The same could not be said of many of his contemporaries who dissented from Humanae Vitae, who advocated women's ordination, who embraced every liturgical innovation and abuse while disdaining every legitimate rubric.
When my vocation was being tested (on numerous occasions), it was Father Levis who preserved and saved me. I would not be a priest today were it not for his example, support, advice, prayers and friendship. It took me three seminaries and three dioceses to finally get ordained a priest in 1988 but had it not been for the tireless role model Father Bob exemplified, I would probably be doing talk radio today and nothing else.
Though he has never received any ecclesiastical honors or offices, he has always been a good, holy and devout priest. His orthodoxy is only outdone by his compassionate, priestly heart. He alone would visit my little brother Michael (who was wheelchair bound from Muscular Dystrophy) once a month to bring him Holy Communion and hear his confession. Fr. Levis drove through blizzards and snowstorms to anoint people their own pastors neglected. He always has time for divine mercy. The only time you would ever find him not wearing his Roman Collar was when he was on his sailboat, the Scrimshaw. A twenty-six footer, he would sail Lake Erie but usually take a small crew of potential seminarians or some uncommitted agnostics or a fallen away Catholic or two. While in the middle of a great lake, he would hear confessions, teach the faith and save souls as a true FISHER OF MEN. I was his worst first-mate since I could not swim and committed a mortal sin of boating: one time I had one foot on the boat and one foot on the dock and two began to separate. "Fall in" he said "and I'll fish you out." "I CAN'T SWIM!!!" He stood there incredulous and replied, "well, I'll bless you as you go under and preach a good sermon at your funeral Mass."
All kidding aside, having Father Levis at my ordination and vesting me and then at my First Mass the following day, was a great honor and joy for me. He asked me to preach at his 50th anniversary, which was the same year as my 10th. Imagine, a ten year ordained priest preaching at Golden Jubilarian! What an honor. I was asked again this year to preach at his 60th as I just celebrated my 20th. I expect my mentor to preach my Silver anniversary and seeing what good shape he is, had better prepare another sermon for his Diamond Jubilee fifteen years from now. In the meantime, I ask all of you to pray for Father Levis and to thank God He blessed the Church with such heroes. Vilified, shunned, ignored, persecuted, ridiculed, ostracized, maligned, misquoted, misunderstood, harassed and harangued; nothing could stop this priest from being the Alter Christus he was ordained to be so he could act in persona Christi to teach, to sanctify and to lead. I have heard many attack his character, his reputation and his honor yet I have only witnessed solid orthodoxy, manly piety and a huge, generous priestly heart. When my mother had to bury her second and third child and then her beloved husband of 39 years, only Father Levis and Mother Angelica could console her with their solacing words of wisdom. If I could be at least 1/10th the man and the priest Father Robert Levis IS and HAS BEEN for over 60 years, I would be grateful. I could never follow in his footsteps but I will do my best to emulate his example and his priestly zeal."
Friday, June 6, 2008
Priest Investigated for Quoting Bible
Targeted under human rights law where no defendant ever cleared
Posted: June 05, 2008
12:00 am Eastern
Posted: June 05, 2008
12:00 am Eastern
By Bob Unruh
© 2008 WorldNetDaily
A priest is being investigated as a potential criminal under a federal "hate crimes" law for quoting from the Bible, and he's being targeted using a Canadian provision under which no defendant ever has been acquitted, according to a new report.
Pete Vere, a canon lawyer and Catholic journalist, has reported on the prosecution of Father Alphonse de Valk, a pro-life activist known across Canada, by the Canadian Human Rights Commission – "a quasi-judicial investigative body with the power of the Canadian government behind it" – at CatholicExchange.com.
"What was Father de Valk's alleged 'hate act'?" Vere wrote.
"Father defended the [Catholic] Church's teaching on marriage during Canada's same-sex 'marriage' debate, quoting extensively from the Bible, the Catechism of the Catholic Church, and Pope John Paul II's encyclicals. Each of these documents contains official Catholic teaching. And like millions of other people throughout the world and the ages – many of whom are non-Catholics and non-Christians — Father believes that marriage is an exclusive union between a man and a woman," he wrote.
The new case comes just as columnist and author Mark Steyn, and Maclean's magazine which published an excerpt from his "America Alone" book, are on trial before the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal for similar "offenses."
"We know under the Supreme Court of Canada [and] under tribunals of this country that there are reasonable limits [to freedom of expression,]" Faisal Joseph, a lawyer for the plaintiffs in the Steyn dispute, said in a LifeSiteNew.com report.
That case revolves around Joseph's claims the defendants depicted Muslims as "a violent people" with a religion that is "violent."
In the new case, Vere raised the question that Canada now considers morality a "hate crime."
"If one, because of one's sincerely held moral beliefs, whether it be Jew, Muslim, Christian, Catholic, opposes the idea of same-sex marriage in Canada, is that considered 'hate'?" he asked.
Vere wrote that the response he got from Mark van Dusen, a spokesman for the federal human rights prosecution office, shocked him.
"We investigate complaints," Vere reported van Dusen told him. "We don't set public policy or moral standards. We investigate complaints based on the circumstances and the details outlined in the complaint. And … if … upon investigation, deem that there is sufficient evidence, then we may forward the complaint to the tribunal, but the hate is defined in the Human Rights Act under section 13-1.
"Our job is to look at it, compare it to the act, to accumulate case law, tribunal and court decisions that have reflected on hate and decide whether to advance the complaint, dismiss it or whether there is room for a settlement between parties," van Dusen told Vere.
What is shocking about that, Vere wrote, is the admission that unjustified complaints can be dismissed, yet the case against de Valk has continued now for more than six months.
An extended audio recording between Vere and van Dusen is posted on YouTube:
A second part of the interview also is posted.
"In other words, individual Jews, Muslims, Catholics and other Christians who, for reasons of conscience, hold to their faith's traditional teaching concerning marriage, could very well be guilty of promoting hate in Canada. The same is true of any faith community in Canada that does not embrace this modern redefinition of one of the world's oldest institutions – a redefinition that even the highly secularist France rejects," Vere wrote.
De Valk, who publishes the "Catholic Insight" magazine that "bases itself on the Church's teaching and applies it to various circumstances in our time," is accused by a homosexual of promoting "extreme hatred and contempt" against homosexuals.
Vere said, however, the priest is simply following the teachings of the Bible and the examples of Popes John Paul II and Benedict XV by stating that Christians must love homosexuals and treat them with dignity due humans.
Besides the complaints against the priest and Steyn, other cases already have substantiated the Canadian precedent that Christian beliefs can be evidence for convictions.
In 2005, a Knights of Columbus council was fined more than $1,000 for refusing to allow its facility to be used for a lesbian "wedding," and before that printer Scott Brockie was fined $5,000 for declining to print homosexual-themed stationery. Also, in Saskatechewan, Hugh Owens was fined thousands of dollars for quoting Bible verses in a newspaper and London, Ontario, mayor Diane Haskett was fined $10,000 for refusing to proclaim a homosexual pride day, Vere enumerated.
Bishop Fred Henry has described the situation as "a new form of censorhip and thought control." Those are the same words leading Christians in the United States have used to describe the most recent "hate crimes" plan before the U.S. Congress, which specifically targeted for elimination criticism of alternative sexual lifestyles.
Vere also warned that in the Steyn case, the bottom line is that a Canadian human rights tribunal now is "attempting to prosecute a case against an American resident, based upon what an American citizen allegedly posted to a mainstream American Catholic website. What passes for mainstream Catholic discussion in America is now the basis for a hate complaint in Canada."
But the United States is not immune to such work, either, he noted, citing the New Mexico photographer fined $6,600 for refusing to meet the demands of a lesbian to take pictures at a "wedding."
Also, California has set in state law a ban on introducing anything but "positive" information about alternative sexual lifestyles, including homosexuality, in its public school.
And WND reported just days earlier when a verbal spat between two men on a street in Champaign, Ill., left the self-proclaimed homosexual facing no charges, and the other, an 18-year-old Christian student, facing felony "hate crimes" counts.
Vere's warnings were followed by one from Grace Harman, who noted on the website's forum: "It would appear that Canadian law is discriminating against people on the basis of their religious faith, or perhaps discriminating against God himself, who gave us the laws of nature and purpose of life."
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