Epiphanies, Papal Miracles and Parish Closings

Cue the Science Religion Cultural wars for the year 2011. Stephen Hawking grabbed the headlines last year with his assertion that Science had put God out of a job and while not a direct riposte Benedict the XVI fired back in his homily at a mass celebrating the feast of the Epiphany in the Vatican on Thursday. "The universe is not the result of chance, as some would want to make us believe. Contemplating it (the universe), we are invited to read something profound into it: the wisdom of the creator, the inexhaustible creativity of God.” You can check out some video here.

If staking out new ground in the realm of cosmology won’t set off the likes of Richard Dawkins and company then news that the first miracle attributed to John Paul II has been confirmed is sure to get them going. Reports from Italy; see the Catholic Register Story; on Thursday say that the Medical Committee associated with the Congregation for the Causes of Saints has confirmed that Sister Marie Simon-Pierre was cured of Parkinson’s after praying to the late Pope for intercession. Other media stories, such as this in the Irish Times, assert that a special and massive ceremony of Beatification will take place in the Vatican before the year is out. The Daily Mail of England goes one step further and insists the Vatican has made plans to cope with year “a crowd of more than one million people expected to attend the Vatican beatification ceremony of Pope John Paul II later this year.”

On a much more mundane level, news that the Vatican has turned down appeals from parishioners in Massachusetts over parish closings. This would appear to be the final word on a saga that has gone on for nearly seven years. The Boston Area catholics have been appealing the archdiocese decision in 2004 to reduce the number of parishes from 357 to 291. The parishioners always alleged that their parishes were healthy and were being closed to deal with the costs of settling lawsuits involving Clerical Sex Abuse. The Boston Globe reports however that members of 7 Boston area churches are searching for yet another way of frustrating the Archdioceses plans. News this week that the Archdiocese of Milwaukee is declaring bankruptcy and seek protection from creditors as a result of sex abuse lawsuits only adds fuel to the beliefs of the Boston Parishioners while also raising concern in other dioceses and parishes around North America.