Latest tracking on what Catholic bloggers and web sites have posted the Joint Statement:

10-15-08

What Does the Prayer Really Say (Fr. Z)

American Papist

The Curt Jester

KRLD NewsRadio 1080

LifeNews.com

A Journey to Truth

KATH 910 AM will be running the following spots starting today:

Spot 1 Spot 2

CBS 11 TV in Dallas/Fort Worth story. They get a few things wrong and only interview someone who is opposed to the document. But worth watching. Click image to watch.


Fort Worth Star-Telegram

Catholic Online

Thoughts and Faith to Share

Whispers in the Loggia

DFW Catholic

Priests for Life

Americans United for the Separation of Church and State

Dallas Morning News - Some Dallas-Fort Worth Catholics irked by bishops' letter on abortion

Snarky post on the Dallas Morning News Religion Blog

Complete list of US Bishops who have spoken out this election year

Labels: Bishop Farrell

Earlier this week, the staff of the Catholic Pro-Life Committee had the opportunity to meet with Bishop Farrell and tell him of the work we are doing.

Bishop Farrell is a strong supporter of our work and expressed his hope that he could become more involved and work more closely with us.

There are two things he said in particular that need to be mentioned. The first is that when he talked to us about how important our work was, he told us that this was not something that we did "out of the kindness of our hearts" like other charities. Instead pro-life work is something that is a part of our baptismal call, something that is so fundamental to who we are as Catholics, and as human beings, that it is a necessary work.

After all, the opening lines of the Gospel of Life tells us that "the Gospel of Life is at the heart of Jesus's message."

The second thing the Bishop mentioned is that we will not be popular and that we will most likely not be accepted by our culture when we do pro-life work. This comment was proven true the very next day by Planned Parenthood when they published an ad in the Aurora Beacon about pro-lifers protesting their deceitfulness in building a new abortion mill. The ad clearly paints pro-lifers as violent extremists that regularly blow up abortion clinics and is a classic piece of propoganda. It's only purpose is to smear those who oppose them.

And yet, the truth will not cease to be exposed. As we speak, there are more than 90 cities around America that are planning a 40 day vigil of fasting and prayer for an end to abortion. We will be participating here in Dallas and need all people of good will to come out and pray in front of our local Planned Parenthood, even if it's not the popular thing to do.

It is a necessary thing to do. It is part of your baptismal call.

Labels: Bishop Farrell

This is the motto of our new Bishop, Kevin J. Farrell and is from St. Paul's letter to the Colossians. It is also something that I think we can look forward to as we see and hear more about our new Bishop and what he intends to do in the Diocese.

At today's Installation mass, more than 1,200 people filled the Cathedral to overflowing, with a covered courtyard with chairs and a big screen TV as an overflow room.

In attendance were all the Bishops from the state of Texas and Archbishop Weurl from DC and retired DC Archbishop Cardinal McCarrick.

The Papal Nuncio, Archbishop Pietro Sambi was also present as the official representative of Pope Benedict XVI and he read the letter from the Pope assigning Bishop Farrell as the head of the Diocese of Dallas. Bishop Farrell's family came from Ireland to be with him and also his brother, Brian Farrell who is a Bishop and the Secretary of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.

The Mass ran about two hours and was a very solemn occasion, but yet joyful at the same time. The music was very good and reverent and at the end, surprise, we chanted the Salve Regina, in Latin. I cannot remember the last time I heard the Salve sung in a liturgical setting.

Bishop Farrell in his homily said he was not going to lay out any kind of new pastoral plan other than to say he would make vocations to the Priesthood a top priority and asked the people of the Dicoese to help him make this happen. I did not notice him mention anything about the recent scandals or how he would approach them, although I may have missed this.

And although he said he would not lay out any new programs, he told us from where he would draw his inspiration from. He quoted from the Apostolic Letter Novo Millenio Ineunte of Pope John Paul II and said in part, "It is not therefore a matter of inventing a "new programme". The programme already exists: it is the plan found in the Gospel and in the living Tradition, it is the same as ever. Ultimately, it has its centre in Christ himself, who is to be known, loved and imitated . . . this is a programme which does not change with shifts of times and cultures."

He also mentioned again, as he did in his introductory press conference back in March, that we should not let the culture influence our faith but that in fact we should influence the culture by the example of our own faith.

"Some people," he said "have built the religion of a god in their own image and a doctrine which suits their own lifestyle." Indeed they have.

We'll have more about Bishop Farrell and will be monitoring the media coverage of this event and the work of Bishop Farrell in the days ahead.

Story from the Diocesan paper, the Texas Catholic. Good review of the whole thing.

Labels: Bishop Farrell

Reminder: The Installation Mass for Bishop Kevin Farrell as he takes over the Diocese of Dallas will be next Tuesday, May 1st at 2:00 pm at the Cathedral Guadalupe in downtown Dallas. There will be a reception in the Grand Salon immediately following Mass.

Mass is expected to last two hours and will be attended by numerous Bishops and Cardinals. It should be an interesting time.

They are also expecting a full Cathedral so get there early. The Cathedral holds about 1100-1200 people and most of it will be reserved for guests and clergy.

Much of the staff of the Catholic Pro-Life Committee will be in attendance and we plan on getting there early.

We will be transcribing the Bishop's homily and commenting on it as well. Look for that information starting Tuesday night/Wednesday morning on this blog.

Labels: Bishop Farrell

Today, we received the news that Pope Benedict XVI has appointed Bishop Kevin Joseph Farrell, an auxiliary Bishop of Washington D.C., to head the Diocese of Dallas.

The appointment of a new Bishop had been expected for some time and this morning a press conference was held at the Cathedral de Guadalupe to welcome the new Bishop and introduce him to the diocese.

Bishop Farrell (who is technically the Bishop - Elect of the Diocese of Dallas, Bishop Grahmann, whose resignation has been accepted by the Holy Father, is now the Apostolic Administrator) mentioned that he was essentially new to the Diocese, did not know too much about it and did not come with any kind of pastoral plan to lay out.

In his soft spoken voice, he commented that he was looking forward to the opportunity to work with the people of the Diocese on the "road to holiness."

I had the opportunity to meet him before the press conference and when I introduced myself and said I was representing the Catholic Pro-Life Committee, his eyes lit up and he gave a surprised "oh."

Some of the media questions focused on the issues that the media cares about (some might say obsessed with) like the ordination of women and the role of the laity in the church, but most of them were fair questions. I do think there was a general feeling of wanting to be welcoming and wanting to give him an opportunity to present himself.

Dave Palmer from KATH 910 AM asked the Bishop what his opinion was on the life issues. The Bishop looked at him and said (I'm paraphrasing here)that it was the most fundamental issue of our time and that the Church has to make a strong defense for the right to life, from conception to natural death.

There is a lot of speculation and rumor about why Bishop Farrell left the Legionaries of Christ in 1984. He was asked this question at the press conference today and he responded that he had "intellectual differences" with the Legionaries and I get the impression that he simply wanted to be a parish Priest.

Afterwards, I was interviewed by Jeff Brady from Channel 8 News and he asked me what I though about the Bishop's response. I told Jeff that I did expect Bishop Farrell to continue the great work in the pro-life movement that Bishop Grahmann started and that since the Roe decision began here in Dallas, that we need to make a big effort to end it here.

His official installation date is Tuesday, May 1st and will take place at the Cathedral. No time was given. Bishop Grahmann plans to go fishing more often now and plans to spend his retirement with the poor.

I will be posting more at this blog about Bishop Farrell and the hopefully great things to come in the future and will especially be monitoring the coverage by the mainstream media to make sure they are acting fairly.

Click here for the full bio and coat of arms of Bishop Kevin Joseph Farrell.

Vatican Information Press Release

Dallas Morning News - Top Priorities for Bishop Farrell

NBC Channel 5 article - Linked here. There is some preoccupation with the "scandal" in this article and it is mentioned several times. Wish there could be a little more balance. BTW, the people clapping at the Bishop's remarks were mostly Chancery staff and lay Catholics involved in ministry from around the diocese. Very few parishioners of the Cathedral actually present.

Update 10:50 pm: Diogenes from Catholic World News pipes in about the resignation of Bishop Grahmann. Since the Pro-Life Committee, which Bishop Grahmann started, began sidewalk counseling in 1997, more than 2,000 babies have been saved from abortion. I wonder if any other Bishop, or any other organization on the planet, has compiled such a record?

03-07-07 Video of the press conference from WFAA's Jeff Brady. Good overview of situation and a short clip of Patricia Sherk. Jeff mentioned that Dallas is the ground zero for Roe v. Wade, which I explained to him when I spoke to him.

03-08-07 Here, here and here are some articles written by the Dallas Morning News about our new Bishop. Most of them are focused on how Bishop Farrell will handle the aftermath of the "scandal" and what he will do with the Hispanics and the seeming lack of vocations.

There are other things that the Bishop will be concerned with, of course, and I imagine that his homily at the installation Mass will be significant and may possibly lay out either his thinking about his role as a Bishop or some kind of pastoral plan that he said he would not talk about at the press conference. Either way the point is, be there on Tuesday, May 1st for the installation mass. Early.

Labels: Bishop Farrell