From CBS today:

merica remains a nation of believers, but a new survey finds most Americans don’t feel their religion is the only way to eternal life - even if their faith tradition teaches otherwise.

The findings, revealed Monday in a survey of 35,000 adults, can either be taken as a positive sign of growing religious tolerance, or disturbing evidence that Americans dismiss or don’t know fundamental teachings of their own faiths.

Among the more startling numbers in the survey, conducted last year by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life: 57 percent of evangelical church attenders said they believe many religions can lead to eternal life, in conflict with traditional evangelical teaching.

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Another finding almost defies explanation: 21 percent of self-identified atheists said they believe in God or a universal spirit, with 8 percent “absolutely certain” of it.

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More than most groups, Catholics break with their church, and not just on issues like abortion and homosexuality. Only six in 10 Catholics described God as “a person with whom people can have a relationship” - which the church teaches - while three in 10 described God as an “impersonal force.”

“The statistics show, more than anything else, that many who describe themselves as Catholics do not know or understand the teachings of their church,” said Denver Roman Catholic Archbishop Charles Chaput. “Being Catholic means believing what the Catholic church teaches. It is a communion of faith, not simply of ancestry and family tradition. It also means that the church ought to work harder at evangelizing its own members.”

The Archibishop nails it…poor catechesis once agains rears its ugly head.

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no surprises here…

Speaking this afternoon at a Planned Parenthood conference, Barack emphasized his support for a woman’s right to choose. He also criticized the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Gonzales v. Carhart to uphold a ban on late-term abortions.

Calling the decision a “concerted effort to steadily roll back the hard-won rights of American women,” Barack reminded the audience that with one more court vacancy, the conservative justices would overturn a woman’s right to choose.

As the New York Times Caucus blog reported, in one of his first acts as president, Barack would sign the Freedom of Choice Act – a bill that would guarantee abortion rights for women.

Barack also criticized the Senate’s confirmation process that allowed Chief Justice Roberts to sail to an easy confirmation.

“He loves his wife. He’s good to his dog,” Barack joked, referring to the fluffy answers the Senate Judiciary Committee allowed Roberts to give. We need to use a different standard to evaluate justices, Barack said:

We need somebody who’s got the heart, the empathy, to recognize what it’s like to be a young teenage mom. The empathy to understand what it’s like to be poor, or African-American, or gay, or disabled, or old. And that’s the criteria by which I’m going to be selecting my judges.

From the USCCB communication office:

“Russert was valued by Americans for his tremendous command of the political and electoral process and his commitment to discovering each aspect of the story that contributed to people having a better awareness of the issues of public life and candidates for political office,” he said.

“But those of us who shared his Catholic faith and his deep love for it appreciated his sharing of the story of his own faith and his loyalty to the life of the Catholic Church in this country and the many charities to which he contributed his time and talent,” he said.

Archbishop Niederauer also praised NBC News for asking Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, retired archbishop of Washington, to come to their studio for their staff, hours after Russert’s death.

Regrettably, I have heard that Mr. Russert held pro-abortion beliefs which would fly in the face of his allegedly Catholic faith.  Hopefully we’ll get some clarity on that in the near future.  I enjoyed watching him on TV…he seemed a little more real, a little more honest, than the average reporter.  It’s sad that the face of NBC during the extremely long coverage of his death was than nutjob Olbermann.

This is interesting…the MSM seems to think that the cordial nature of today’s visit by President Bush to the Vatican signals that he’s getting ready to swim the Tiber.  They point out that his brother already did, as did Tony Blair (and as we all know, Blair is Bush’s lap dog /sarcasm).

US President George W. Bush arrived on Friday for a special audience with Pope Benedict XVI, who is returning the hospitality he enjoyed at the White House in April. Swiss Guards in their striped regalia stood to attention as Bush stepped out of a black limousine with his wife Laura and was warmly greeted by the head of the Roman Catholic Church outside the medieval St John’s Tower.

The US leader could be heard exclaiming “what an honour” as he clasped the pontiff’s hands in his.

US Ambassador to the Vatican Mary Ann Glendon, a Catholic, kissed the pontiff’s hand.

Bush and the pope then went into a tete-a-tete in the tower, a venue reserved for illustrious guests instead of the usual site for papal audiences, the pontiff’s private library.

The two, who also met at the Vatican last year, were later to stroll in the secluded Vatican Gardens.

Benedict’s trip to the United States coincided with his 81st birthday, which he celebrated in grand style at the White House on April 16, when he was greeted with a 21-gun salute and some 13,500 well-wishers filled the South Lawn.

Bush “is a huge fan of the pope and has full respect for him,” White House chief of protocol Nancy Goodman Brinker said.

The US leader “fully supports the (Catholic) Church and fully supports everything this pope is trying to do on behalf of peace, education and hunger in cooperation with world political leaders,” she told the ANSA news agency.

Bush, whose relations with pope John Paul II were strained because of the US-led invasion of Iraq, feels closer to Benedict, who appreciates the religious fervour of the president, a born-again Protestant.

The two see eye to eye on key social issues, as both are staunch opponents of same-sex marriage, abortion and embryonic stem-cell research, though they diverge notably on the death penalty.

Benedict has also voiced his concerns for the plight of Christians in Iraq and over harsh CIA interrogation methods.

On Friday, the two leaders will pray before a statue of the Madonna before bidding each other farewell.

The Italian press has been rife with speculation that Bush may convert to Catholicism as his brother, Florida Governor Jeb Bush, did years ago, as well as former British prime minister Tony Blair. The latter two men are both married to Catholics.

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Here’s Archbishop Chaput explaining how one must think if one is about to cast a vote for abortion Obama:

Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver writes that a Catholic voter would “need a compelling, proportionate reason to justify it. … It’s the kind of reason we will be able to explain, with a clean heart, to the victims of abortion when we meet them face to face in the next life — which we most certainly will. If we’re confident that these victims will accept our motives as something more than an alibi, then we can proceed.” 

Via CNS:

When Pope Benedict XVI and U.S. President George W. Bush meet at the Vatican June 13, they will scrap the usual formal protocol and instead hold talks and take a leisurely stroll in the Vatican Gardens.

The Vatican opted for the “particular” and “unusual” setting as a way to show its appreciation for “the cordial welcome and meeting held at the White House” during the pope’s April 15-20 visit to the United States, Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, Vatican spokesman, said June 9.

Normally heads of state visiting the pope at the Vatican are taken with much fanfare to the pope’s library in the main Apostolic Palace.

But “in light of the (pope’s) recent pastoral visit to the United States and the United Nations” and for the warm welcome and hospitality shown the pope during his meeting with Bush on the pope’s birthday, April 16, an informal setting at the Vatican was chosen instead, said Father Lombardi.

The Bush Derangement Syndrome sufferers will of course say, “the Vatican realizes that Bush is too dumb for all that pageantry and formality.”  In reality, I can’t tell if this is a snub or if it’s a mark of appreciation and closeness between the two.

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Now, of course we all know that serious Catholics cannot vote for Obama.  Catholic News Service has run a story on whether there really is a Catholic vote - that is, people who vote for a particular person because they (the voter) are Catholic.

“Politicians and media people love to think there is” a Catholic vote, said John Farina, an associate professor of religious studies at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va. “And the political parties are always able to find people who will tell them there is a Catholic vote and this is how you get it.”

But that does not make it so, added Farina, who believes that “most Catholics base their votes on reasons other than their Catholicism” — because they are blue-collar or white-collar, Hispanic or not Hispanic, white or black, military veterans or not.

Worth reading the rest of the article. Simple fact is that neither choice is a good one, but at least one has it right on abortion (and with the right VP, he might have it right on economics too).  Let’s all write in Ronald Reagan in November.

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Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada promised a thorough debate that will probably last through the week, if not longer. He said it’s clear that “global warming is real” and Congress must act.

But supporters of the bill acknowledged it will be difficult — perhaps impossible — to overcome a certain GOP filibuster threat against the legislation, meaning congressional action on global warming will probably be decided in the next Congress and by the next president.

Many of the GOP senators who voted to debate the issue have said they are opposed to the bill.

The Senate measure, which has wide Democratic and some Republican support, would cap U.S. emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, cutting them by 18 percent by 2020 and by two-thirds by mid-century. It would specifically target refineries, power plants, factories and transportation for 70 percent reductions and make emissions allowances available to be traded in an open market.

In other words, $4/gallon gas is just the beginning.  Here we have an imagined concept, man-made global warming (by the way, the last two years have been cooler than the previous 20, and the years before the previous 20 were cooler too, causing fears of global cooling) and it’s going to lead congressional lemmings to drive up our costs for everything while we are surpassed by the likes of China.  Time to go learn Chinese.

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The Rev. Jesse Jackson Michael Pfleger has at least for now been silenced. This from Cardinal George, Bishop of Chicago.

To put recent events in some perspective, I have asked Father Michael Pfleger, Pastor of St. Sabina’s Parish, to step back from his obligations there and take leave for a couple of weeks from his pastoral duties, effective today. Fr. Pfleger does not believe this to be the right step at this time. While respecting his disagreement, I have nevertheless asked him to use this opportunity to reflect on his recent statements and actions in the light of the Church’s regulations for all Catholic priests. I hope that this period will also be a time away from the public spotlight and for rest and attention to family concerns.

I hope also that the life of St. Sabina’s parish may continue in uninterrupted fashion. Fr. William Vanecko, Pastor of St. Kilian’s parish, will be temporary administrator of St. Sabina’s and will assure the full complement of ministerial services during this period. I ask the members of St. Sabina’s parish to cooperate with him and to keep him and Fr. Pfleger in their prayers. They are in mine.

It really says something when the bishop essentially has to beg the parishioners to be cooperative with the fill-in priest.  Of course, their pastor hasn’t been exercising obedience to the  Church lately, so why should the parishioners.  The question is, is this time-out temporary, or the first step toward the exit door.