<%@LANGUAGE="JAVASCRIPT" CODEPAGE="65001"%> ARCC News 17 December 2011 ARCC
 
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Christmas Blessings

Praising the Names of Jesus:

The Antiphons of Advent

Jeanne Kun

A distinctive feature of the Liturgy of the Hours in this week preceding the Christmas vigil is the antiphon sung at Vespers (evening prayer) before and after the recitation of the Magnificat. Originally incorporated into the monastic office in the Middle Ages, these antiphons, often called the "Greater Antiphons" or the "O Antiphons", are also echoed in the daily lectionary as the verse for the gospel acclamation during this week. They add a mood of eager expectation to the liturgy that builds throughout these seven days and climaxes at Christmas.
Join the Benedictine Sisters of Erie in praying the O Antiphons during the seven days before Christmas. The melodies were composed by the late Erie Benedictine Sister Mary David Callahan.

Before the First Christmas

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, S.J

The prodigious expanses of time which preceded the first Christmas
were not empty of Christ:

they were inbued with the influx of his power.

It was the ferment of his conception
that stirred up the cosmic masses and
directed the initial developments of the biosphere.

It was the travail preceding his birth
that accelerated the development of instinct
and the birth of thought upon the earth...

And all this labor was set in motion by the active,
creative awakening of his soul, inasmuch as
that human soul has been chosen
to breathe life into the universe.

When Christ first appeared in the arms of Mary
he had already stirred up the world.

From "Hymn of the Universe"

Christianity in Evolution: An Exploration

by Jack Mahoney, Georgetown University Press, 2011

Review by

Fr Kevin Kelly, emeritus Research Fellow in Moral Theology at Liverpool Hope University

In Jack Mahoney SJ's Bioethics and Belief, he described theology as 'making faith-sense of experience and experience-sense of faith'. That has been an inspiration to me ever since I read it. As he notes himself in the attractive Introduction to his Christianity in Evolution, it was the same insight which motivated him to undertake this new, major work. . . . .

Christianity in Evolution is remarkable for the extensive reading and research needed to give substance to the author's line of argument and for the courage he displays in challenging us, in the light of evolutionary truths, to look again at some of the ways our faith has been expressed. Attempting to do theology with integrity in an evolutionary context leads Mahoney to a number of conclusions which many readers may find disturbing, to put it mildly!

Yet he does not pull his punches, arguing, 'that trying to preserve the traditional beliefs in original sin, the fall of humanity, and the death of Jesus as an expiatory sacrifice to appease an offended God, whether these beliefs are maintained in their traditional form or are subjected to various modernizing attempts to make them more acceptable, serves only to strain the belief of believers and the credulity of nonbelievers.' (p.xii)

Nevertheless, Mahoney is not trying to disturb but to strengthen people's faith. In fact, it could be argued that the line of thought he is exploring could open out completely new vistas to whatever is meant by 'the new evangelisation'. If we believe, with Benedict XVI, that at the heart of each of us is a deep yearning to discover the full meaning of who we are as human persons, Mahoney is suggesting that the only thing that will satisfy that hunger is an understanding of the truths of our faith which is at home with the truths of evolution. He stresses this with regard to the riches that evolution can bring to our understanding of the central doctrine of the Incarnation, helping us to see Jesus as the summit of creation.

Read more

New Translation of the Roman Missal

We recommend that you watch these sites during the transition to the new translation:

1. Misguided Missal
(http://misguidedmissal.com/wp)

2. U.S. Catholic; Special Section on the New Liturgy(http://www.uscatholic.org/masschanges)

3. PrayTell blog
(http://www.praytellblog.com )

4. Louisville Liturgy Forum(http://liturgyforum.wordpress.com/)

One Pastor's Proposal

from Misguided Missal

To give his congregation an opportunity to share their thoughts on the New Roman Missal, one pastor in the United States is putting index cards in the church pews for people's comments, especially what they do not like about the New Roman Missal. These comment cards can then be placed in the collection basket for return to the parish staff.

As pastor he intends to keep these cards until such time as the bishop of his diocese states that the NRM has been accepted by the people of their diocese. At this time, he will send the cards on to the bishop to show that this is not as true as the bishop might believe.

This pastor sees this as his way of quietly allowing the people of his parish to express their dissatisfaction with the new translation. A way to at least give them some voice at the local level in their reception or non-reception of the NRM.


Some things we have been reading

Roman Missal voted top news story of 2011; Pope Benedict top newsmaker

Nancy Frazier O'Brien Dec.9, 2011

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The introduction of the English translation of the Roman Missal topped the religious news stories of 2011, and Pope Benedict XVI was again the top newsmaker, according to the annual poll conducted by Catholic News Service.
Read more

Of liturgy and life: Jesuit scholar reflects on his 46 years in Rome

Cindy Wooden Dec.15,2011

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- In a sitting room where lace doilies top every table, Jesuit Father Robert F. Taft's gray sweater and wooden cane add to the impression that he's a refined retired professor.
. . . .
The world renowned liturgical scholar was interviewed Dec. 13 as he prepared to return to the United States after more than 46 years in Rome.
. . . .
"Liturgy is a play where there is no audience. We're all actors," he said.

As for a popular notion that the so-called Tridentine Mass in the Latin rite approaches the Byzantine liturgy's sense of mystery better than the modern Mass in the vernacular does, Father Taft said, "Nonsense."

"The prayers are not for God. God happens to know the whole show already," he said. "The language is for us and if you don't understand the language" -- whether in Latin or your native tongue -- "then you've got a problem."

"The notion that the language creates the mystery is the height of asininity," he said.
. . . .
"What the Second Vatican Council did was return the liturgy to those to whom it really belongs: the people of God," which includes the clergy, but not exclusively, he said. Read more

No Good Alternatives

Gabe Huck Dec.10,2011

PrayTell Ed. note: Gabe Huck continues his discussion of the new translation. The column below was published in the December issue of Celebration magazine (www.celebrationpublications.org), and we thank them for the permission to reprint it here. Part I is available here, Part II is available here, and Part III is available here

Now we leave translation aside to talk about a much less noticed disaster. In the 2010 missal, the Vox Clara missal, why are there no "alternative" collects? These original English texts have been an element of our sacramentary since 1973. The responsible bodies in other language groups have also composed and put into use original texts in their post-Vatican II sacramentaries. Original texts in English have become part not only of the sacramentary but of other rituals such as those for pastoral care of the sick and dying. What became the ICEL project of creating a second generation of these alternative texts, a project carried out in the 1980s and 1990s when ICEL commissioned, tested and evaluated original texts, prayers written to be faithful to the Roman Rite's way of praying, but written also in with awareness of the seasonal and scriptural context for the assembly's prayer. Much careful and often inspired work went into composing such prayers in tune with the genius of English, specifically of English to be proclaimed and to be heard. Why are we now left with no alternatives to the poor-to-mediocre translations of prayers that were all too often already poor to mediocre in their original Latin?
. . . .
Most of the chatter has been about the other ill effects of LA and they deserve attention, but this prohibition on original texts in vernacular language should not be ignored. If enforced, it will change the fine sacramental rituals that were approved and published before LA appeared ten years ago. Hold unto your copies! And remember: It isn't that hard to find the texts of the 1998 ICEL sacramentary.

America Editorial: Raise Up the Lowly

Dec.19, 2011


Dawn breaks upon us. The Sun of Justice spreads his warming rays across a dark and icy world. The images of the Christmas season evoke liberation from oppressive times. They announce new life and a new order of things. "Justice and peace embrace." It is a welcome message at all times, but particularly this year, the fourth since the Great Recession began.

. . . .

Christmas is intended for everyone, but it has a special relevance for the poor and oppressed, for God "lifts up the lowly." According to the Gospels, Mary identifies herself as a "lowly handmaid." The shepherds in the Judean hills to whom the angels reveal the good news live on the edge of Israelite society. The Holy Family has to seek out makeshift shelter for the Savior's birth and then, as refugees, find asylum in Egypt. Later, Jesus begins his own ministry proclaiming "good news to the poor," and his very first blessings are for the poor and the landless (the meek). These details of the Gospels are intended to appeal to the poor but also to draw the rest of us into their company as the new family of God.


Morally unacceptable: 1 in 2 Americans is low-income or poor

Bryan Cones Dec.15, 2011


Why doesn't it bother us that 48 percent of Americans--148 million people--are low-income (up to 200 perecent of the poverty line) or poor? That's what a new census report shows anyway. Instead we get this reaction from the Heritage Foundation's Robert Rector: According to the Associated Press: "He said that while safety-net programs have helped many Americans, they have gone too far. He said some people described as poor live in decent-size homes, drive cars and own wide-screen TVs." That's an indirect quote, so here's the direct one: "As we come out of recession, it will be important that these programs promote self-sufficiency rather than dependence and encourage people to look for work."

Must be nice to sit up there enjoying your think-tank salary pontificating about poor, lazy people who evidently are not looking for work. There's a reason for that, you know: There are no jobs, and some of the ones there used to be are being destroyed even now while public agencies lay off scads of workers. Even the jobs there pay a wage so low that a poor person in Chicago and most other big cities can't pay the rent.

Read more

Bishops Renew Poverty USA Campaign In Response To Growing Domestic Poverty

USCCB News Dec.12, 2011


New Website, Social Media Presence Are Key Components

Will Serve as Reliable Source of Poverty Statistics

Will Mark Poverty Awareness Month with Facebook Event


WASHINGTON- With 15 percent of all Americans, including nearly 1 in 4 children, living in poverty, the Department of Justice, Peace and Human Development (JPHD) of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) is renewing its poverty awareness campaign, Poverty USA, complete with a revamped website and a new social media presence and Poverty Awareness Month event in January.

. . . .

The campaign will promote awareness about domestic poverty with updated statistics on the Poverty USA landing page on the USCCB website, as well as resources including an interactive poverty tour and a newly-launched presence on Facebook.

For Poverty Awareness Month, the new page on Facebook will also launch a month-long event on January 1. Catholic families and individuals can take part in Poverty Awareness Month by joining the Facebook event and participating in daily activities that build greater understanding about poverty in the United States. The content is also recommended for use by diocesan social action directors, CCHD directors and program coordinators, as well as parish social ministry leaders, teachers, and others.

Read more

Out of Step With the Flock: Bishops Far Behind on Birth Control Issues

Kathleen Kennedy Townsend Dec.9, 2011

With yesterday, the 8th day of December, marking the Feast of the Immaculate Conception -- which refers to Mary's being conceived free of original sin, not the conception of Jesus -- it would be wise of the bishops to realize that the conception of Mary by her human parents, Saint Joachim and Saint Anne, is a reminder that woman are people of conscience and can decide for themselves when it is best to conceive. In fact, birth control use is universal, even among Catholic women: 98 percent of sexually active Catholic women use birth control during their reproductive years.

Yet the more conservative bishops don't approve. So they're working with congressional Republicans to undermine this new benefit. If they succeed, millions of women -- Catholic and non-Catholic alike -- will miss out on the promise of the new health care law.

. . . .

As a woman and a lifelong Catholic, I sometimes marvel that faith can flourish despite the hierarchy's not infrequent disdain for the faithful.

Read more

Lawyers against testimony of retired cardinal in abuse case

Dave Warner Dec.8, 2011

(Reuters) - Lawyers for a defendant in a Catholic church sex abuse scandal argued on Thursday that a retired cardinal should be precluded from testifying at an upcoming criminal trial, comparing his mind to an empty room.

Whether Anthony Bevilacqua, 88, is well enough to testify has become a pivotal issue in the sex abuse trial of three priests, one now defrocked, and a former archdiocese school teacher. Another church official, Monsignor William Lynn, faces charges of child endangerment but is not accused of abuse.

Read more

Pope names two US Catholic evangelists to advise Vatican council

Carol Glatz Dec.7, 2011

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI named two Catholic evangelists from the United States to help advise the Pontifical Council for Promoting New Evangelization.

Curtis Martin, founder and president of the Fellowship of Catholic University Students, and Ralph Martin, director of graduate theology programs in evangelization at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in the Archdiocese of Detroit, were among 15 people appointed as consultors to the newly created council. The Vatican released the names of the papal appointees Dec. 7.

. . . .

Of the 15 experts chosen, nine are clergy and six are lay Catholics, including one woman -- Maria Voce, who is president of the Focolare movement.

Read more

Gay marriage - a Lutheran leader's plea to Catholic bishops

Herbert W. Chilstrom Dec.8,2011

Church leaders should embrace, engage all, says the former presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

To My Brothers -- The Catholic Bishops of Minnesota:

. . . .

First, I would go to the wall to defend your right to work for the adoption of the so-called marriage protection amendment. Having said that, I must tell you that I believe you are making a significant mistake.

. . . .

I also suggest that you ask yourselves an important question: If the amendment is passed, will it make one particle of difference in our common culture in Minnesota? I don't think so.

Read more

Pope encourages scandal-marred Legion after order ordains 49 new priests

Associated Press Dec.14, 2011

VATICAN CITY - Pope Benedict XVI offered a word of encouragement Wednesday to the Legionaries of Christ order, which has been reeling since revelations that its revered founder was a fraud and pedophile.

The Legion ordained 49 new priests this week in Rome, and many Legionaries and their families attended the pope's general audience inside the Vatican.

In remarks at the end of the audience, Benedict said he was praying that God would support the new Legion priests "so that you can carry out with joy and loyalty your mission."

Read more

Catholic Church Hierarchy as Cult

Stephen Boehrer, STD Dec.9, 2011

Today we take a look at a more serious implication of the monarchical structure of our Roman Catholic Church: the relation of monarchy to cult, and the consequent relation of cult to its members.

Monarchy is easily understood as the prime paradigm of a cult. A cult is always centered around a living leader who requires absolute submission. Questioning and dissent are forbidden, and violations of either are quickly met with immediate consequences including marginalization and/or expulsion.

The End of Canterbury

Will the sun set on the Anglican communion?

Joseph Bottum Dec.19, 2011


The archbishop of Canterbury is going to resign next year. At least that's the story making the rounds of newspapers in London, and the interesting part is not that the 61-year-old Rowan Williams should be willing to give up another decade in the job. Or even, if the Telegraph is right, that the clergy and his fellow bishops are working to push him out.

No, the interesting news about the looming resignation is how little attention anyone appears to be paying to it. The Church of England just doesn't seem to matter all that much, fading from the world's stage only slightly more slowly than the British Empire that planted it across the globe.

Theological consequences will follow the dwindling of Anglican identity-the claim, ever since Queen Elizabeth I, that the Church of England represents the great middle way between Protestantism and Catholicism. Ecclesiological consequences, as well, will follow the end of Anglican unity: the disappearance of a coherent, worldwide denomination, led by the archbishop of Canterbury, for those who hold a certain moderate form of Christian belief.

Read more

The time is now: childhood sexual abuse and statutes of limitation

Maureen Paul Turlish Dec.09, 2011

Both Pennsylvania and New York will have an uphill battle to get any legislation dealing with the sexual abuse of children discussed, let alone signed into law, regardless of what has been happening lately at Penn State, Syracuse or any other educational, religious, public or private institution.

This is especially true if Philadelphia's Archbishop Charles Chaput and New York's Archbishop Timothy Dolan have anything to do with it.

Both churchmen, along with their respective state Catholic conferences, have drawn lines in the sand in their continued attempts to avoid the accountability and transparency the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops agreed to in 2002 to say nothing of the right everyone has to access justice through this country's judicial process.

Read more

Dutch Bishops Apologize for Abuse of Thousands

Alan Cowell Dec.16, 2011

Roman Catholic bishops in the Netherlands said Friday they offered "sincere apologies" to victims of sexual mistreatment, hours after a report by an official commission said church officials had "failed to adequately deal with" abuse, including rape, affecting as many as 20,000 Dutch children in Catholic institutions.

The findings showed what some analysts said was one of the highest levels of abuse in a continent that has been forced to confront a steady stream of public disclosures about the behavior of priests and church workers toward minors, maintaining pressure on the Vatican. It also said the church's response to the victims in the Netherlands was not designed to help them but to "prevent scandals," news reports said.

Read more

RTE Television: Would You Believe

December 4, 2011

Mick Peelo embarks on a journey from the parish up to ask whether there is a future for Irish Catholicism and if so, what form it might take.

December 11, 2011

Mick Peelo asks why so many parents still want Catholic baptism, communion, confirmation and marriage for their children in light of dwindling church attendance.

Watch videos

Catholics United readies golden calf for Occupy D.C. march

Katie Rogers Dec.15, 2011

As local black pastors launch "Occupy the Dream" and Catholic activists prepare to march with Occupy D.C. protesters, it seems a fast-emerging theme of the Occupy Wall Street movement is faith.

Catholics United, an organization that touts itself as a group designed to promote justice and common good, first unveiled a symbolic golden calf at an Occupy Wall Street march in October. Thursday, members of the group will join with protesters at McPherson Square in hopes of delivering the calf to House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio).

The golden calf is a symbol of idolatry - in this particular case, it's greed and love of money - in Jewish, Christian and Muslim traditions.

Read more

Vision and wisdom meet in Occupy support group

Joan Chittister Dec.8, 2011

There's a new group in town that you ought to know about. They just may be the beginning of a bridge between a climate of despair and a vision of new life for us all.

It's obvious that social change is in the air again. But thanks to this new group, it may be about to happen differently. Up until now, change at least initially has commonly pitted one part of society against another, Republicans against Democrats, north against south, white against black, the old against the young.

. . . .

A Council of Elders has appeared on the scene.

A newly organized, independent group of leaders from many of the defining American social justice movements of the 20th century a veritable who's who of social change in the United States over the last 60 years has risen up anew, this time in solidarity with OWS.

You know these people; if not by their names, certainly by the breadth of their hearts. You have heard their cries for justice, seen their protests for peace, followed their steady, steady demonstrations of care for the dispossessed everywhere.

The Organizing Committee of the Council of Elders includes Rev. Vincent Harding, Rev. James Lawson, Rev. Philip Lawson, Dolores Huerta, Dr. Bernice Johnson Reagon, Dr. Grace Lee Boggs, Dr. Gwendolyn Zoharah, Marian Wright Edelman, Rabbi Arthur Waskow, Rev. Dr. George Tinker, Rev. John Fife, Rev. Nelson Johnson, Joyce Hobson Johnson and, because of their generous spirits, me, as well.

Read more

The Catholic church: A house divided?

CBS News Dec.4, 2011

When a church is divided over a matter of faith there are no easy answers, particularly when the divide is over some very fundamental principles that sometimes involve matters of life and death. Our cover story is reported by Barry Petersen:

It's a battle between Catholic and Catholic, a battle between the past and the present. A battle centuries old that rages yet today.

In Phoenix, it's a battle between Bishop Thomas Olmstead and the city's oldest hospital, St. Joseph's, whose staff includes a respected nun.

Watch video


Mercy nun at hospital that allowed abortion 'no longer excommunicated'

Catholic News Service Dec.9, 2011

PHOENIX (CNS) -- A Mercy sister who was automatically excommunicated because of her role on the ethics committee that allowed an abortion to be performed at a Catholic hospital in Phoenix in 2009 is back in good standing in the Catholic Church.


Italian Catholic Church under pressure to start paying property tax

Nick Squires Dec,11, 2011

The Roman Catholic Church in Italy is under growing pressure to start paying taxes on its massive property portfolio, in a move that could raise up to 800 million euros (£680 million) a year and help bail the country out of its economic crisis.

Campaigners, most prominently parties on the centre left, say it is deeply unfair that Church-owned properties with a commercial function - for instance convents and monasteries that charge paying guests similar rates to four-star hotels - are exempt from property tax.

As the new technocrat government of Mario Monti seeks to slash the nation's 1.9 trillion euro debt, attention is turning to the estimated 65,000 buildings owned by the Church.

Read more

Vatican Guide: Inside the Secret City

Tony Perrottet

1: Infiltrating the Vatican: Inside the World's Most Secret City

2: A private tour of the Sistine Chapel, and other, stranger Vatican wonders

3: The Pope's supermarket, and other Vatican curiosities

4: Vatican's Legendary "Secret Archives"

5: Inside the Vatican's pornographic bathroom

Virtual reality tour of Sistine Chapel

Faculty and students from Pennsylvania's Villanova University spent hours shooting photos of the Sistine Chapel and digitally stitching them together so the Vatican could put on a virtual tour.

You can also tour the Basilica of St. Mary Major, the Basilica of St. John Lateran, the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls and St. Peter's Basilica

Hold down and drag your cursor to look around the Sistine Chapel.

Virtual tour

Mother Teresa Sri Lanka order rocked by baby charges

Charles Haviland Dec.13, 2011

The Sri Lankan mission of the famous order of nuns founded by Mother Teresa of Calcutta is in crisis. The order's overall head has visited the island and held urgent talks with the Archbishop of Colombo, as one of its eight residences in the country faces accusations of irregularities in its home for pregnant mothers and children, irregularities the church strenuously denies.

Read more

Canon lawyers step into Johnson saga

Joshua J. McElwee Dec.9, 2011

The head of the U.S. bishops' conference, Archbishop Timothy Dolan, received a letter Friday, Dec. 9 from the Canon Law Society of America offering to help the bishops develop their processes for investigations of theologians.

The letter was written in response to criticism of the process the bishops' Committee on Doctrine used to evaluate and subsequently condemn a book by St. Joseph Sr. Elizabeth Johnson, Quest for the Living God: Mapping Frontiers in the Theology of God, earlier this year.

The perils of a 'part-time pope'

John L Allen Jr Dec.16 2011

Marco Politi, to be sure, has a point of view. A veteran Italian journalist and commentator, mostly for the leftist La Repubblica, Politi's sympathies clearly run to the Catholic church's progressive wing. It thus may be tempting to see his critical new book on Benedict XVI, titled Joseph Ratzinger: Crisis of a Papacy, as the predictable grumbling of someone who just doesn't like what this pope stands for.

However understandable, that would be a mistake.

. . . .

Politi's core thesis is expressed in the provocative assertion that Benedict XVI is a "part-time pope."

As Politi sees it, Benedict dips in to running the church or acting as a global leader only when circumstances require it. His passion, however, is focused on his private theological studies and his own writings.

"Joseph Ratzinger has revealed himself to be a fragile leader," Politi writes, "uncomfortable in the art of government, hesitant to confront the internal problems of the church, more sensitive to theology than geopolitics."

The result, according to Politi, is a "gap in governance".

'You are not alone,' Hispanic bishops tell undocumented immigrants

Catholic News Service Dec.12, 2011

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- An emotional pastoral letter to immigrants from the U.S. Hispanic and Latino Catholic bishops offers love, encouragement, welcome, sympathy and assurance that "you are not alone or forgotten." "We recognize that every human being, authorized or not, is an image of God and therefore possesses infinite value and dignity," begins the strongly worded letter released on the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Dec. 12. "We open our arms and hearts to you, and we receive you as members of our Catholic family. As pastors, we direct these words to you from the depths of our heart. We urge you not to despair," said the letter signed by 33 bishops.

Read more

Christmas Cookies Recipe (Revised Translation)

Grant Gallicho Dec.15

During Commonweal's gift exchange yesterday, the following recipe was humbly received by our publisher, Tom Baker.

Recipe

and this comment:

James Martin, SJ Dec,15, 2011

A Cookie Blessing: "O God, who see the cookies that you have graciously deigned to allow us to bake here according to this recipe that you have given us that we may give to others that which you have given to us here, bless, we pray, them, O Lord, that you may allow us to offer them in return to many, as we seek to preveniently nourish these your holy people, we pray, with the ineffable taste of the flour that you have graciously allowed us to refine, O Lord, with the milky milk that milkily issues forth abundantly from the many bovine animals which you have made and from the sweet sugar that sweetly comes from the sweet sugar cane plants which you have created for we your people, who humbly implore your blessings, that all of us may humbly eat of them, in order that you might, O Lord, we humbly beseech you, bless us and them, and, we pray, O Lord, and I forgot what where I was going with this prayer."

Tell Lowe's to stop caving to bigots and advertise during "All-American Muslim"!

Last week, the Florida Family Association launched a bigoted campaign to force advertisers to pull their ads from TLC's reality TV show "All-American Muslim," a show that follows the lives of Muslim families in Michigan. Their argument? That any depiction of ordinary American Muslims leading ordinary American lives was clearly an attempt "to manipulate Americans into ignoring the threat of jihad."

In response, Lowe's, the home improvement retail outlet, publicly removed their ads from the program.

Click here to send a message to Lowe's CEO Robert Niblock, calling for him to reinstate the ads. If you're a customer of Lowe's be sure to mention at the bottom what products you've bought from Lowe's, so they can know you're a customer.

Upcoming Event

New Ways Ministry's Seventh National Symposium

to be held March 15-17, 2012

From Water to Wine: Lesbian/Gay Catholics and Relationships, New Ways Ministry's Seventh National Symposium, will be held March 15-17, 2012, in Baltimore, Maryland, Major speakers: Bishop Geoffrey Robinson, Luke Timothy Johnson, Patricia Beattie Jung, Richard Rodriguez, Kathleen Kennedy Townsend. Bishop Geoffrey Robinson will facilitate a pre-symposium retreat day. Workshop topics: marriage equality, transgender issues, youth and young adults, lesbian nuns and gay priests/religious, Latino/a issues, African-American issues, and coalition building. For more information:

Email info@NewWaysMinistry.org,

Tel: (301) 277-5674 or

www. NewWaysMinistries.org

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