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...FAITH? For many years and more frequently in the past month, Benedict has been lauding America's vigorous piety, which he has said is partially a result of the First Amendment's leveling the religious playing field and ensuring competitive vigor by forbidding the government to pick an "established" church. The Pope has called it a "positive secularism," in contrast to what he considers outright government hostility to religion in Europe. He expressed this admiration to President Bush this morning. But in front of his bishops, for the first time, Benedict gave vent to an idea that he has usually...
...feels are threatened. Although the words "healthy family life" in the U.S. usually precede a polemic against gay rights, Benedict's concerns seemed almost to predate that movement. "How can we not be dismayed," he asked, about "the sharp decline of the family as a basic element of Church and society." Divorce and infidelity are increasing here, he said, while "some young Catholics" are increasingly putting off marriage or failing to distinguish it from cohabitation, resulting in an "alarming decrease in the number of Catholic marriages in the United States...
SALT FOR THE FLOCK Benedict is at his best when he's thinking spiritually and strategically at once. He has clear ideas about how his Church can renew itself in the face of modern secularism. He told the American bishops to preach the ancient traditions of the faith in clear and inspirational terms, shrewdly noting that "if this seems counter-cultural, that is simply further evidence of the urgent need for a renewed evangelization of culture." In light of secularism on one hand and competing religions on the other, Benedict urged his lieutenants to preach the Gospel "as an integral...
...continued: "The Church in America, at this point in her history, is faced with the challenge of recapturing the Catholic vision of reality and presenting it in an engaging and imaginative way, to a society which markets any number of recipes for human fulfillment." Said he: "I think in particular of our need to speak to the hearts of young people who, despite their constant exposure to messages contrary to the Gospel, continue to thirst for authenticity, goodness and truth." Key to all this is prayer itself, which can even address the nagging vocations shortage in America by allowing...
...frivolous side of him," and describes a surprise party Brown organized for his wife Sarah that started with Lette and other female friends including J.K. Rowling hiding, giggling, behind Downing Street's formal furnishings. But as a scion of his nation's Calvinist tradition and the son of a Church of Scotland Minister, Brown grew up marinated in duty - which has perhaps contributed to the dour image the British press has long bestowed...