Congratulations Monsignor Daugherty!

Congratulations to Father Scott for receiving the honorary title of Monsignor! It was a special day at St. Mary's Church in Visalia to witness Father Scott along with five other priests from around the valley receive the papal honor of Monsignor, Chaplain to His Holiness. The title of “Monsignor” is a title of distinction given by the Pope to certain priests in the Roman Catholic Church as part of a papal honor recognizing the priest’s service to the Church.

Father Scott was nominated by Bishop John, who then submitted his name to the Holy See. Our Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI then conferred the honor onto Father Scott as well as the other wonderful priests in our valley. Congratulations Monsignor Daugherty, and Thank You for your faithful service, self-sacrifice, and devotion. God Bless You!

**Priests who are given papal honors and thus named monsignors are considered to be members of the papal household and thus are listed in the Annuario Pontificio (the papal yearbook).

Pope congratulates Obama on Inauguration Day

Vatican City - Catholic News Service. See Article Here

"Pope Benedict XVI, congratulating Barack Obama on his inauguration as U.S. president, prayed that he would remain steadfast in his dedication to promote understanding, cooperation and peace in the world. The pope, in a Jan. 20 telegram, told Obama that he prayed God would "grant you unfailing wisdom and strength in the exercise of your high responsibilities." Popes traditionally send a telegram of congratulations to new presidents of the United States on the day of their inauguration.

In his message to Obama, Pope Benedict said he prayed, under the new president's leadership, "may the American people continue to find in their impressive religious and political heritage the spiritual values and ethical principles needed to cooperate in the building of a truly just and free society.

"The pope said he hoped the future of the United States would be "marked by respect for the dignity, equality and rights of each of its members, especially the poor, the outcast and those who have no voice."

"At a time when so many of our brothers and sisters throughout the world yearn for liberation from the scourge of poverty, hunger and violence, I pray that you will be confirmed in your resolve to promote understanding, cooperation and peace among the nations, so that all may share in the banquet of life which God wills to set for the whole human family," the pope said.

Pope Benedict also asked God to bless the Obama family and all the people of the United States.

The pope had also sent a personal message of congratulations Nov. 5 on what he called the "historic occasion" of Obama's election, the first time a black man has been elected president of the United States."

Pope Benedict XVI Arrives in Washington

His visit is "a blessing for all of America"

Newsweek: How Pope Benedict XVI Will Make History

Newsweek has released an article on Pope Benedict's upcoming visit to the United States. Here's a selection from the article that reminds us when it comes to understanding Christian Doctrine, Pope Benedict XVI is the master teacher. You can read the full article here.

__________________________

The Master Teacher

Modern popes matter in spiritual microcosm as well as historical macrocosm. John Paul II touched, and changed, millions of lives. Go to an American seminary today and ask the seminarians who their priestly role model is. Or visit a parish marriage-preparation course and see how John Paul's "Theology of the Body" is reshaping the Catholic understanding of marriage, sexuality and family life. Graduate schools of theology are filled with students writing dissertations on the thought of John Paul II, whose intellectual impact on Catholicism will reverberate for centuries.

Benedict's personal influence on Catholics is perhaps less dramatic, but it is no less real to those who have seen or heard him personally. Joseph Ratzinger is one of the most learned men in the world; he is also a master teacher who can unpack complex Christian doctrines in an accessible way. That helps explain why he continues to draw enormous crowds to his Wednesday general audiences, some larger than those drawn by his predecessor. The tag line in some Roman circles is that "People came to see John Paul II; they come to hear Benedict XVI." That contrast is too sharply drawn, but Benedict's skills as a teacher have certainly touched a significant 21st-century yearning for solid religious food. His first two encyclicals, on love and hope, were consciously framed to speak to the fears of a deeply conflicted world by reminding the world of Christianities basic message.

Benedict's catechetical skills with children are also striking. Six months after his election, he met thousands of Italian 8- and 9-year-olds who had just made their first communion. One of them asked how Jesus could be present in the consecrated bread and wine of the Eucharist when "I can't see him!"

To which the pope replied, "No, we cannot see him; there are many things we do not see, but they exist and are essential … We do not see an electric current; yet we see that it exists. We can see that this microphone is working, and we see lights. We do not see the very deepest things, those that really sustain life and the world, but we can see and feel their effects … So it is with the Risen Lord: we do not see him with our eyes, but we see that wherever Jesus is, people change, they improve, there is a greater capacity for peace, for reconciliation …"

Another youngster asked why the church urged frequent confession. Benedict answered: "It's very helpful to confess with a certain regularity. It is true: our sins are always the same, but we clean our homes, our rooms, at least once a week, even if the dirt is always the same …

Otherwise the dirt might not be seen, but it builds up. Something similar can be said about the soul, about me: if I never go to confession, my soul is neglected and in the end I'm always pleased with myself and no longer understand that I must work hard to improve …"

What the pope can say so winsomely to children, he will likely say to adults during his American pilgrimage: "Look again at the basics of Catholic faith and practice. They exist for a reason. They just may satisfy the hungers of the human heart. Give them a chance."

December 25 - "The Feast of Lights"

With Advent season at hand, I picked up a book recently released by Pope Benedict XVI entitled, “The Blessing of Christmas.” Throughout the book Pope Benedict helps us understand Christmas as the most profoundly human feast of faith, because it allows us to feel most deeply the humanity of God. I’ve provided the text below that may help some of us fully understand what Jesus accomplished in his birth.

Pope Benedict XVI on December 25th. . .

“From the very beginning, this was made clear by the date of this feast. In the Jewish calendar, December 25 was and remains the feast of Hanukkah, the feast of lights, which recalls how on this day in 165 B.C., Judas Maccabeus removed the altar of Zeus-which tradition called the ‘abomination of desolation in the holy place’ – from the Temple in Jerusalem. It was on the same date that the Syrian King Antiochus, who was worshipped as ‘Zeus’, had set up the pagan idol in the temple, designating December 25 as his own feast day. Now it became the date of the cleansing of the Temple, and day on which the glory of God, which had been trampled underfoot, was reestablished and God began to be honored anew in the proper manner. It was from this day on that Israel dated its own rebirth: as soon as it was once again able to serve God in the appropriate way, Israel itself was restored.

Since the week from December 25 to 31 was also the week before the New Year, this restoration took on an even deper significance. It portrayed the new beginning of creation, the new time of freedom from which men hoped. This is why, as early as around 100 B.C., the birth of the messianic child was expected on this date. During Jesus’ own lifetime, this feast was already celebrated as the feast of lights, in keeping with the prophet Isaiah’s words: “the people who walked in darkness have seen a great light” (Is 9:2)

In his infancy narrative, Luke unfolds a chronology with a profound symbolic meaning, dating it in such a way that the birth of Jesus occurs during the feast of Hanukkah, “on the night of lights”, which thus became the Christian feast of Christmas. We should also note that Bo Reicke, formerly professor of exegesis in Basel, has also pointed to the festal calendar that lies behind the chronological link made in the Gospel of Luke between the birth of John the Baptist and the birth of Jesus. This would mean that Luke himself assumes that Jesus was born on December 25, the day of which the feast of dedication of the Temple (introduced by Judas Maccabeus in 164 B.C.) was celebrated.

In his birth, Christ has truly done what Judas Maccabeus sought in vain to do. Christ has banished the pagan idols from the world. He has constructed the temple of his body. He has reestablished the glory of God.”

1) Pope Benedict XVI. The Blessing of Christmas. Ignatius. 2007

Coming to America: Pope Benedict, 2008

As many of you already know, Pope Benedict is coming to the U.S. in Spring '08.' (The Week of Our Wedding!) FN contributor Father Jonathan Morris discusses some of the places that the pope will visit during his stay.
Click on the link below to view the clip. .

Coming to America: Pope Benedict, April of 2008

The Pope is Coming to New York!

The Holy Father is coming to the United States!

[1] Taylor Marshall. Cantebury Tales

Scott Hahn: The Ecclesial Locus of Theology and Exegesis

In his article, The Authority of Mystery: The Biblical Theology of Pope Benedict XVI [1], Dr. Scott Hahn discusses Pope Benedicts central teachings on biblical theology. Hahn recognizes the fundamentals of Benedicts approach to Biblical text, 1) that the Word of God cannot be separated from the people of God in which the scriptures are revered 2) that Scripture must be read in lightof the living faith of the Church. I've attached the text below to clarify more on these fundamentals. . .

"Benedict does not base his hermeneutic of faith and biblical theology on philo­sophical or methodological preconceptions of his own. Indeed, his approach to the biblical text grows organically from the historical structure of revelation, that is, from the actual manner in which the Word of God was created and handed on.

As Benedict notes, the clear finding of critical exegesis (the interpretation of text/scripture) is that Scripture is the product of the Church, that its contents originated in an ecclesial context and were shaped over long years by the Church’s proclamation, confession, catechesis, and liturgical worship. Considered historically, then, there is an obvious and undeni­able “interwoven relationship between Church and Bible, between the people of God and the Word of God.”

Benedict bids us to pay close attention to the history of the early Church and the original inner unity of Word, sacrament, and Church order and authority. That history demonstrates that the institutions and practices of the Church are not artificial or arbitrary later constructs, but organic developments of the people of God’s encounter with the Word of God. Put another way, the structure of revela­tion and of the faith—how the early Church heard the Word and responded to it—is itself the source of the Church’s sacramental worship, its teaching office, and its principles of governance.

As Benedict notes, the criteria for determining which books were truly the Word of God were primarily liturgical:

"A book was recognized as “canonical” if it was sanctioned by the Church for use in public worship. . . . In the ancient Church, the reading of Scripture and the confession of faith were primarily liturgical acts of the whole assembly gathered around the risen Lord."

The Church, then, from the beginning, was understood as the viva vox, the living voice of Scripture, proclaiming the Word but also protecting the Word from manipulation and distortion. As the confessional and sacramental life of the Church were the criterion by which the canon was formed, the Scriptures were intended from the beginning to be interpreted according to the rule of faith or the Creed, under the authority of the apostles’ successors. And again, historically speaking, the Church’s proclamation and interpretation of the Word was ordered to a liturgical or sacramental end—the profession of faith and baptism."

"The original sphere of existence of the Christian profession of faith. . . . was
the Sacramental life of the Church. It is by this criterion that the canon was
shaped, and that is why the Creed is the primary authority for the
interpretation of the Bible. . . . Thus the authority of the Church that speaks
out, the author­ity of apostolic succession, is written into Scripture
through the Creed and is indivisible from it. The teaching office of the
apostles’ successors does not represent a secondary authority alongside
Scripture but is inwardly a part of it. This viva vox is not there to restrict
the authority of Scripture or to limit it or even replace it by the existence of
another—on the contrary, it is its task to ensure that Scripture is not
disposable, cannot be manipulated, to preserve its proper perspicuitas, its
clear meaning, from the conflict of hypotheses. Thus, there is a secret
relationship of reciprocity. Scripture sets limits and a standard for the viva
vox; the living voice guarantees that it cannot be manipulated."

[1] Hahn, Scott. The Authority of Mystery: The Biblical Theology of Pope Benedict XVI. Pg 12-14