Saints Legal Aid

A decade ago the cost of St Jose Maria Escriva's canonisation was estimated to be in the region of $150,000, plus a huge number of man hours preparing the rigorous documentation of the candidates life, writings and miracles every thing has to be checked and rechecked, scrutinised, criticised and defended. In the case of St Jose Maria there were countless interviews and personal reports to be examined. It is specialised work that needs training and expertise.

Someone posted a link to the site of the Dr Ambrosi's Legal Firm on an earlier story, it is an Italian legal firm that specialises in canonisations. Check it out

On October 1, 1971 within The Congregation for the Causes of Saints, Dr. Ambrosi began his then mandatory training in the Office of the General Promoter of Faith, widely known as the “advocatus diaboli”. Here his duties included preparing the animadversions super fama sanctitatis when the Cause was being introduced, super virtutibus during the phase of concession of the title of Venerable as well as the super miris which is the overview of the cause of beatification and canonization. The Promoter at that time, Father Rafael Perez, O.S.A., awarded him his decree of qualification on December 20, 1974.

For the first seven years he worked as a Procurator for the Lawyers Valente and Vitale then from November 22, 1978 and on as an attorney for The Congregation for the Causes of Saints. Before this role and then on after 1992, as a Postulator he has taken into jurisdiction and completed many Causes internationally ...

Saints

I have saints in my parish, people of outstanding holiness, people in who's presence the goodness of God shines through.
The problem is that they are not plaster saints but real human beings, flesh and blood creatures, often with deep "problems" in their lives. One or two have a natural innocence, which could be seen as naivety. The majority are the men and women struggling with their sexuality, or their mental health, or guilt about some great sin in their pasts, there is a woundedness about them, a consciousness of their own unworthiness of God's love. A common factor is that they trust in God, they cling to him like a man cast adrift in boiling sea clings to a piece of driftwood. They live out St Paul's words, "My Grace is enough for you", despite the wounds, despite the hurt in their soul.
Fr Mark has the following:

God Chooses the Broken Man
Prophets are often held in contempt and rejected by those to whom they are sent. The choice of God rarely, if ever, meets the narrow and shortsighted criteria set up by men. God chooses the broken man and promises to repair him. He chooses the fallen man and promises to raise him up. He chooses the man deformed by sin and promises to reform him by grace. Even more surprising is that God does not wait until the broken are completely repaired, the fallen steady on their feet, and the deformed totally reformed, before using them. He chooses his prophets, entrusts them with a mission, and sends them out while they are still imperfect.

Pope Benedict Reopens Pauline Chapel

Pope Benedict presided over Vespers on Saturday to mark the reopening of the Pauline Chapel in the Vatican palace. The chapel has been being restored for the past seven years, and it includes Michelangelos Conversion of Saint Paul and Crucifixion of Saint Peter.

During his homily, the Pope said that Peter and Paul are teachers of the faith, who with the manner of their deaths invite the Church to ponder the mystery of the cross.

The Pope said the frescos in the chapel are a solemn hymn to the victory of life and Gods grace over death and sin.

Pope to G8: Invest in human beings, listen to the poor

In a letter to President Berlusconi, Benedict XVI addresses an appeal to the leaders of the G8 and suggestions to overcome the crisis by investing on education, development aid, debt cancellation. The need to convert development models with ethical values and solidarity. The G8 should be closer to the UN, where the voice of the poor carries equal weight to that of the rich.

read more

Camouflaged Church

This mobile church made its battlefield debut earlier this month at exercises in the Nizhny Novgorod Region.

Which of Avery Dulles models of the Church is this an image?

Forbidden Books

Fr Z has a post Back in the day… forbidden books and seminarians reminds me of when I was a seminarian and some of the staff were just a little concerned about me having and passing around books by "that retrogressive, conservative theologian ". I remember being told by a priest who has since left, "if you are going to have them on you book shelf at least put them behind your ad usum books". Joseph Ratzinger was the author that caused concern! The ad usum titles were by Schillebeeckx and Häring, I was told it just after we had a seminary trip to listen to a lecture by Dr Hans Kung.

Thank God, my alma mater has changed out of all recognition.

Newman Miracle Approved

The Holy Father approved a miraculous healing by the intercession of Cardinal Newman today, opening the way to his beatification, but in order for this to go ahead there needs to be a cultus. Am I being cynical, but where is the cultus, the popular devotion to him in England and Wales?