Morning Round-Up

And now, with apologies for the delay, some links....

• With the recently de- excommunicated (but still barred from ministry... at least, in the Catholic church) bishops of the Society of St Pius X pushing ahead with a global round of priestly ordinations come month's end, early yesterday the Holy See released a statement in Italian declaring the 29 June rites "illegitimate." (For whatever reason, the sentence containing the word conspicuously vanished in both of the communique's official releases in English.) Either way, the Vatican brief keeps the doors wide open to the Swiss-based traditionalist community -- the text teased the imminent placement of the Ecclesia Dei commission under the authority of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith for the "launching of dialogue" with the Society, "with a view to clarifying the doctrinal questions, and consequently the disciplinary questions, which remain unresolved."

• Among other interventions (with B16's social encyclical reportedly set to drop within the month), recent days have seen PopeTalks on the economy, the importance of inculturation and -- this morning -- the papal letter to the world's clergy for the Year of the Priest, which begins tomorrow night with Vespers in St Peter's.

• Speaking of which, the next themed calendar-cycle might already be at hand, but the Pauline Year still has two weeks left to go... and at its close, the Twin Cities' majestic cathedral dedicated to St Paul has been designated a national shrine to the "Apostle to the Gentiles."

• After Tuesday's move of Archbishop Malcolm Ranjith to his native Sri Lanka's top ecclesial post, the Tradition-friendly prelate's second exile from the Curia has been posited as a "promoveatur" in reverse... meanwhile, the US bishops have joined in the celebrations of Dominican Fr Gus Di Noia's appointment as the new archbishop-secretary of the global church's liturgy office, with friends hailing the Ratzinger confidant as an "incredible theologian" and "teacher without parallel."

• While the bishops won't be discussing Domesday publicly in San Antone, redux of Notre Dame's heavily-criticized selection of President Obama as its 2009 commencement speaker and an honorary degree recipient reportedly fills the halls alongside the Riverwalk... and has made for some continued criticism outside the hall. In the run-up to the June Meeting, however, the national group of Catholic college presidents has called for greater clarity on the boundaries of honors and platforms, while the president-in-waiting of the US bench, Bishop Gerald Kicanas of Tucson, gave the university's move the benefit of the doubt, declining to accuse its administration of acting in bad faith.
  

• And lastly from Summerfest, the host city's Express-News has a slideshow from Day One, the Quote of which comes in Tweet form... and is true to form. During the presentation of the next of the Roman Missal, the plenary-feed reported thus: "Bishop Bruskewitz raises question about artwork accompanying new missal. Cites childish stick figures in current editions." In an expediting of the project's prior timetable, the bishops are looking to comply with Rome's request to complete their part of the approval process this November -- a year earlier than planned; according to a February note from the conference, the Holy See has "expressed a desire" to see the final edition of the new Mass-texts published in final form by the end of 2010... and, shortly thereafter, appearing in a parish near you.
  

As always, more as it comes.

PHOTO: Billy Calzada/San Antonio Express-News

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