[Oe List ...] FW: Interesting article - follow up to Matthew Fox

[R Williams]

As I recall, Caritas was a significant supporter of several of our HDPs in the 70s.  Our contact was the late August Vanistendael (sp?) who was either the head of the organization or in another position of leadership.  He was nothing short of a saint.  Paul Schrijnen and Charles Hahn will remember more of the specifics.
 
To the point, what is the state of being of an organization, i.e. the Catholic Church, where people can't go to the bathroom without hierarchical permission?  These guys are so afraid of losing control that they're rendering the church irrelevant, and losing control.  Just one more sign, I fear, of institutional decay.
 
Thanks, Herman, for calling this to our attention.
 
Randy

"Listen to what is emerging from yourself to the course of being in the world; not to be supported by it, but to bring it to reality as it desires."
-Martin Buber (adapted)
 

________________________________
 From: Herman Greene <hfgreene at mindspring.com>
To: 'Order Ecumenical Community' <oe at wedgeblade.net> 
Sent: Wednesday, May 2, 2012 5:07 PM
Subject: [Oe List ...] FW: Interesting article - follow up to Matthew Fox
  

 
This weekend we hosted Matthew Fox at our church in Chapel Hill , NC .  
  
The article below is about the Pope’s
crackdown on Caritas Internationalis. I believe this group funded some of ICA ’s work in Europe and Egypt . 
  
Herman 
  

________________________________
  
From:Kathy Murray
[mailto:kmurray49 at hotmail.com] 
Sent: Wednesday, May 02, 2012 5:23
PM
To: Richard Edens; Herman Greene;
Bill Murray
Subject: Interesting article -
follow up to Matthew Fox  
  
This is what Matthew Fox 
was talking about - a follow up to the Pope's chastising the nuns for focusing
on the poor and not paying enough attention to abortion and homosexuality.
 The screws go deeper.  Note the the person who wrote this decree is
a member of Opus Dei. 
   
Thought you might be interested. 
Vaticanimposes new controls on charity
federation 
by John L Allen Jr [1] on May. 02,
2012  
·                                 NCR Today [2] 
ROME --
After moving last year to block the re-election of the first laywoman to
head Caritas
Internationalis, the Rome-based confederation of
Catholic charitable agencies around the world, over an alleged “lack of
coordination” with papal aides, the Vatican today imposed sweeping new
rules that effectively tightens its control over Caritas' finances and global operations.
Among other points, the rules require the top officials of Caritas to make
promises of loyalty before a Vatican official,
including "Christian obedience" to church leaders.
Aside from its direct importance for Catholic charities, today’s Vatican
move is also interesting for the recently decreed overhaul of the Leadership
Conference for Women Religious in the United States, the country’s main
umbrella group for superiors of women’s orders.
Like LCWR, Caritas Internationalis is a juridical person under church law
recognized by the Vatican .
The new rules are thus a further indication that the
 Vatican is in earnest about
tightening its grip over groups that enjoy official status and, in some sense,
represent the church.
The rules came in the form of a “General Decree,” released today in
the name of Italian Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the
 Vatican ’s Secretary of State.
Composed of nine articles, the rules specify that: 
	* The Vatican  office which oversees Caritas is the Pontifical Council Cor Unum, and it has the power to approve in advance “any text with doctrinal or moral content or orientations,” which may also be submitted to the review of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. 
	* Cor Unum will appoint an ecclesiastical assistant to Caritas, whose role will be to “promote its Catholic identity.” 
	* Cor Unum must approve any cooperative agreements between Caritas and non-governmental organizations, except in cases of dire humanitarian emergencies. (In the past, Caritas had been criticized for entering into agreements with NGOs whose approach to issues such as population control differs from that of the Catholic church.) 
	* Caritas officials are required to report any contact with foreign governments or diplomatic missions to the Secretariat of State. (Also in the past, Caritas has been criticized for conducting a sort of "parallel diplomacy" alongside the Vatican 's official diplomatic apparatus.) 
	* Cor Unum, in consultation with the Secretariat of State, must approve various sectors of Caritas’ financial operations, such as wages, contracts and the review of budgets. 
	* Top officials of Caritas Internationalis must pronounce loyalty oaths before the president of Cor Unum, who is currently Cardinal Robert Sarah of Guinea . The officials are required to vow “always to conserve communion with the Catholic church, both in word and in mode of acting,” to preserve and transmit “faithfully the deposit of faith, rejecting any doctrine contrary to it,” and to “observe Christian obedience to what the Sacred Pastors declare as authentic doctors and teachers of the faith, or stabilize as leaders of the church.”  
The decree was accompanied by a commentary written by Msgr.
Osvaldo Neves de Almeida, an Argentine priest of Opus Dei who serves as an
official in the Secretariat of State. Neves argued that the new rules come out
of a series of meetings with Caritas Internationalis and Vatican 
officials, and that much of the content is already in place.
Neves wrote that the new rules are “of significant assistance to the
institution, worthy of the human and spiritual quality and professionalism of
its officers,” and that they will enhance “the distinctive identity
of Caritas Internationalis, which is both its strength and the source of its
particular efficacy.”
In January 2011 the Vatican 
denied approval for the then-secretary-general of Caritas, Zimbabwe-born
laywoman Lesley-Anne Knight, to stand for a second term, a move seen as pushing
Caritas to become more evangelical as well as more firmly committed to church
teaching.
Knight's successor at Caritas, French secretary general Michel Roy, welcomed
the new rules.
“Our immense gratitude to Pope Benedict for granting these new Statutes
and Rules and the staff of the Holy See who have worked with us through this
long process," he said. "The new Statutes and Rules clarifies that
Caritas Internationalis is an organisation both at the service of the
confederation members and of the Holy See.”    
   
   
   
   
   
   
Kathy Murray, LCSW 
919-684-9795 (Work)  
919-423-6776 (Cell)  
        
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