Biggest Catholic Stories of 2009
Looking back over the posts I’ve done this year, I think I made some hits and misses in reporting on the biggest stories of the 2009 in regard to events in the Catholic Church. But I think I got the top six. In order:
1. Benedict XV’s Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum Coetibus welcomes Anglican dioceses and communities home by establishing a special Ordinariate for them as they move into full communion with the Church. This move to help end a almost 500-year old division is the event in the Church in 2009 that will probably have the greatest historical impact.
2. The honorary doctorate given to President Obama at Notre Dame creates controversy — and galvanizes the pro-life movement in the United States. L’Osservatore Romano becomes strangely pro-Obama at precisely the wrong moment.
3. U. S. Catholic bishops take up arms in the health-care debate. Cardinal Justin Rigali of Philadelphia, as head of the USCCB’s Committee on Pro-life Concerns, writes passionate appeals to Congress on abortion and stem cell research.
4. Pope Benedict XVI declares both John Paul II and Pope Pius XII Venerable. Controversy ensues.
5. Pope Benedict’s new social encyclical Caritas in Veritate creates discussion about world events to secure social justice — and more ludicrous misunderstanding than you can imagine.
Other stories I covered: Pope Benedict’s trip to the Holy Land and the controversy over the film of Dan Brown’s Angels and Demons. And this may be “hometown” news for me, but it does have a great impact on the Church in the U.S. as a whole: New York got a New Archbishop, Timothy Dolan.
Others - controversy over the death of Ted Kennedy and this pro-abortion Catholic’s highly public funeral Mass, the new priestly sex abuse crisis in Ireland — I sort of missed. I certainly followed them while they were happening, but didn’t have time to blog about them.
I only sort-of blogged on one truly unexpected and welcome development. A Catholic Democrat in Congress, Bart Stupak of Michigan, becomes a hero the the pro-life movement by galvanizing his colleagues from both parties to vote against federal funding of abortion. Who would have thought tha a Catholic Democrat would lead the fight against abortion? His countepart in the Senate, Ben Nelson, could have made history on this blog too, but caved in to the pro-death forces.
Let’s have more of this same kind of story in the coming year.
