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Roman Catholic Pope Francis's ideal of austerity is getting some help from reality in Europe.
On December 2nd, 2013, the Vatican hosted a delegation of bishops from the Netherlands,
there to deliver a five year periodical report on the state of Catholicism in their country.
During this "ad limina" visit, the Dutch bishops presented the pontiff a grave report on the
future of Roman Catholicism in the Netherlands. They cite the "drastic secularization" of
European culture, as well as the continuing fallout from the child sex-abuse scandals,
as the reasons for an average of 18,000 faithful a year leaving the Dutch Catholic Church since
2006.
The bishops reported that due to decline in membership and ongoing legal obligations,
they have already been forced to sell hundreds of pieces of property, and predict that about
two-thirds of their remaining church buildings will have to be shuttered or sold within the
next ten years. The leader of the Dutch Bishops' Conference, Cardinal Willem Eijk, told Vatican
Radio that the percentage of Dutch Catholics is predicted to fall to ten percent of the
total population by the year 2020, with only half that number attending mass regularly.
The plan to close more churches is expected to alienate even more of the Netherlands'
Catholics.
In his response, the Pope encouraged the bishops to persevere through these troubles, calling
on them to rely on a renewed spirit of honesty and service to the goodness of God, reminding
them that "the Church enlarges not by proselytism, but by attraction."
Katsinam are wooden totems adorned with such accoutrements as horse hair and feathers.
Each one is a representation of a deceased member of the Hopi Indian tribe and represents
the spirit of the departed. The Hopi traditionally treat each Katsinam as a living person, providing
them with food and nurturing them as members of the tribe.
The Hopi and the United States government consider mistreatment of the funereal masques
to be tantamount to grave desecration. The government of France, however, takes a different
view and has decided to allow a second large auction of the masks to take place despite
protests from the tribe, the US government and actor Robert Redford. A French lawyer
representing the Hopis, Pierre Servan-Schreiber, describes the tribe's position this way; "The
Hopis are saying that not everything can be sold and bought. The day that there are no
more Katsinam masks, the Hopi tribe will exist no more."
When religious institutions first took issue with the Affordable Care Act's contraception
mandate, claiming that it infringed on their religious right to pretend premarital sex
won't happen if contraception is not available, the Obama administration offered a compromise
in which the insurer would pay for the optional coverage. However, what does that mean for
religious institutions which self-insure?
That issue is again going to be litigated when Notre Dame, the only Roman Catholic owned
University to provide its own healthcare insurance, refiles a lawsuit challenging the mandate.
This will be the second filing of this complaint since a federal court dismissed the suit last
January saying that Notre Dame lacked standing since the law did not directly impact it.
University president, the Rev. John Jenkins, said in a statement, "The government's accommodations
would require us to forfeit our rights, to facilitate and become entangled in a program
inconsistent with Catholic teaching and to create the impression that the university
cooperates with and condones activities incompatible with its mission."
There was no word from the University concerning any pending lawsuits challenging the institution's
right to not participate in ROTC programs, which would also be against the Catholic mission.