This was an original commentary on the Conference
Providence brings Bishop Rifan to Una Voce conference
Brian Mershon
November 30, 2005
From the December 1, 2005, edition of The Wanderer
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Amidst buzz in Catholic circles about the possibility of an imminent freeing of the classical Roman rite of Mass, Bishop Fernando Rifan offered a Solemn Pontifical Mass from the throne and delivered the keynote address, highlighting the tenth anniversary conference of Una Voce America in Providence, R.I., November 18-20.
And on Saturday morning, he treated Mass attendees with his musical playing ability by slipping down from his chair near the altar to play the organ during the communion of the faithful, as well as for the recessional — to the delight of those assisting at Holy Mass.
Bishop Rifan is currently the sole bishop in the world with the permission from the Holy See for his diocesan priests to offer the Holy Mass and sacraments exclusively according to the Missal of 1962. He said that the cause of tradition was very hopeful in the new pontificate of Pope Benedict XVI and is currently much brighter in the U.S. than perhaps many realize.
"You have four bishops who allow all their diocesan priests to offer the Traditional Mass [privately] at any time," Bishop Rifan said. He specifically cited Archbishop Raymond Burke of St. Louis, Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz of Lincoln, Neb.; Bishop Thomas Doran of Rockford, Ill.; and Bishop Alvaro Corrada, SJ, of Tyler, Texas, who have been generous in the Ecclesia Dei indult application, as requested and emphasized repeatedly by the late Pope John Paul II.
A spokesperson from the Diocese of Lincoln explained that Bishop Bruskewitz requests a "courtesy" from his priests prior to offering the Mass publicly, as it is traditional for the bishop to have jurisdiction over the Masses offered in his diocese. For instance, Spanish, Vietnamese, and all regularly scheduled public liturgies must be offered with the bishop's knowledge and consent.
Bishop Rifan, the superior of St. John Mary Vianney Apostolic Administration in Campos, Brazil, offered the Holy Sacrifice from the throne with the permission of Bishop Thomas Tobin, and gave encouragement to Una Voce leaders from all over the U.S. and Canada who attended the three-day conference at Holy Name of Jesus Church in downtown Rhode Island.
"Una Voce is a force in the Church now," Bishop Rifan said to an audience of 200 laymen and women and 10 priests in his keynote address on Saturday, November 19. "We have many hopes with the new Pope, and we must pray for the Pope," Rifan said.
And perhaps due to the uptick in rumors about a possible pending universal indult for all priests to offer the classical Roman rite, Bishop Rifan emphasized the need for patience. He said that sometimes bishops know things, but the laity must understand they cannot disclose everything confided to them by the Pope.
"I will defend you always, especially Una Voce, when I speak to the Pope," Bishop Rifan said.
The newly elected president of Una Voce International, Fra Fredrik Chrichton-Stuart, president of Una Voce Holland, gave attendees reason for additional hope. He said that Bishop Rifan meets with the Pope often to discuss the concerns and spiritual needs of traditional Catholics, and quoted Msgr. Camille Perl, secretary of the Ecclesia Dei Commission, who recently told Una Voce International leaders:
"There is a new wind blowing in the Church," with Pope Benedict XVI in office. Msgr. Perl also told the Una Voce leadership in an October meeting in Rome that the Ecclesia Dei Commission has been shown a new level of respect since the new Pope has been in office.
Fra Chrichton-Stuart also added that he is aware of many younger priests in the Church who are attracted to the classical Roman rite of Mass. But he also emphasized the need for patience and for praying for the Pope during these early stages of his pontificate.
Both Pope Benedict XVI and Dario Cardinal Castrillon Hoyos, prefect of the Congregation of Clergy and president of the Ecclesia Dei Commission, have told Bishop Rifan that traditional Catholics such as the Campos apostolic administration, priests and lay faithful, as well as Una Voce members, are seen as a model for the rest of the Church.
"You are the example in preserving the tradition in full communion with the Holy See," Bishop Rifan stated Cardinal Castrillon Hoyos told him.
Bishop Rifan said that Catholics had the right to criticize certain problems with the new rite of Mass, and developments after Vatican II, but "with charity and from within the Church." He also cautioned against a tendency toward over-criticism, especially toward bishops, who represent the apostles and are vested with authority from Jesus Christ.
The Search For Holiness
Fr. Joseph Wilson, associate pastor from St. Luke's Church of the Diocese of Brooklyn, began the conference with some hard-hitting analysis and questions. "Forty years ago, there were a lot of optimistic books looking for the golden age of the future," he said. "If the past 40 years has been a renewal, I would really like to see what a disaster looks like," he said.
Fr. Wilson explained that perhaps in the pursuit of attempting to become more palatable to the world, the Church lost track of its primary mission. He suggested that self-affirmation and the search for sexual autonomy replaced the search for holiness, then this helped to contribute to the current crisis in the Church.
"The Orthodox fast for nearly half the year," he said. "We have taken many traditions and have decided to ignore them — to take the easy way out," he said. He recommended a return to reading the fathers of the Church, and to recapture many of these lost traditions, which the Orthodox have maintained. "We decided the old wisdom no longer applied," he said.
He explained that the Church leaders, many laity, priests, bishops appear to "have lost the ability of self-reflection." The "signs of the times" that Gaudium et Spes emphasizes, have not been read well in the past 40 years, according to Fr. Wilson. He encouraged people to read an article headlined "The End of Gaudium et Spes," by Dr. James Hitchcock, from a previous issue of Catholic World Report.
"How did we lose the ability to criticize ourselves?" he asked. He also said that an accurate reading of "the signs of the times" is necessary in order for the Church to find its way out of the current crisis.
Bishop Rifan indicated that in recent meetings with both Pope Benedict XVI and Cardinal Castrillon Hoyos, he stressed the importance of providing Catholics the full use of the traditional sacraments and devotions so they could conserve the traditional Catholic way of life. "Personal parishes [traditional] are needed," Bishop Rifan said.
Become A Saint
Other highlights of the conference included Bishop Rifan outlining numerous points on what it means to be a traditional Catholic, as well as an emphasis on the centrality of devotion to the Holy Eucharist. He repeatedly stressed the theological virtue of charity.
Reaffirming the proper and rightful place of traditional Catholics within the Church, Bishop Rifan quoted Pope Benedict XVI from the Cologne World Youth Day: "Only saints can restore mankind. The Church does not need reformers — it needs saints! We will reform the Church by becoming saints," he said.
"Martin Luther tried to be a reformer," he said. "St. Athanasius was a saint," and through the process of becoming one, he reformed the Church.
He also cautioned attendees from paying too much attention to rumors and conspiracy theories. "In my 30 years in the priesthood," Bishop Rifan said, "I have offered only the Traditional Latin Mass." He said that because he is a bishop in the Universal Church, he sometimes must attend Masses offered using the Missal of Pope Paul VI.
"However, just because I attend these Masses occasionally, does not mean that I necessarily agree with everything that goes on," he said.
This may be a reference to some Catholics associated with Society of St. Pius X, currently in dialogue with the Holy See in order to possibly resolve their canonical irregularities (but "not in formal schism," according to Cardinal Castrillon Hoyos). Some Catholics and web sites sympathetic to the Society of St. Pius X have repeatedly accused Bishop Rifan of "selling out" traditional Catholics due to his occasional attendance at concelebrated Masses with other priests and bishops.
Among other suggestions to Una Voce leaders, he encouraged them to defend "correct ecumenism." According to Bishop Rifan, this means that with charity in our contacts with non-Catholics, we should "ask them to return" to Christ's Church, and also pray for their conversions. He said that in Campos, as part of the New Evangelization, his priests and laity engage in door-to-door missions while handing out tracts, and they politely invite those they encounter to consider the truth of Jesus Christ through His Church.
Focus On The Supernatural
Msgr. Michael Schmitz, the U.S. vicar general and provincial for the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest, gave a rousing closing talk Sunday afternoon on the importance of tradition. "Many times people have come to me and told me, 'Father, I know I must become Catholic because I have been to Mass,'" he said.
Msgr. Schmitz also agreed with Bishop Rifan's positive assessment of tradition in the United States. "American society is much more traditional than European society," he said. "In Europe, the traditions have been almost destroyed."
"Tradition in the Church is supernatural, and therefore, we should not speak of the Traditional Latin Mass," he said. Instead, "we should speak of the Mass because it is God's Mass; it is the Mass God wants us to celebrate," Msgr. Schmitz said.
"Many believe that tradition is something dusty — that the word should be avoided," he said.
He explained that all people, regardless of their religious, or even political, leanings, have a routine, a custom, a tradition they follow on a daily, weekly, and even monthly basis.
Simply speaking, according to Msgr. Schmitz, tradition is "some worthwhile learning that is received by us by someone who gives it." This "handing on," is traditio — the Latin root for tradition. All learning takes place through the use of tradition.
"Education at every level is traditional — even if sometimes the contents are not worthwhile," he said. But when tradition is applied to divine Revelation, then tradition's importance is increased — "in the realm of God." Msgr. Schmitz said that Catholics should try to permeate their daily life with tradition through the use of sacramentals, devotions, holy water, and other things to keep the focus on the supernatural.
With regard to Tradition and divine Revelation: "Everything is reception. Everything is gift. Everything is Tradition," Msgr. Schmidt said.
Bishop Rifan emphasized this same theme during his keynote address the previous evening. "To be a traditionalist means to defend the doctrine of Christ as King!" Bishop Rifan declared. "To be a traditionalist means to be attached to the Traditional Latin Mass because it better expresses the Catholic doctrine on the Holy Eucharist," he said "To be a traditionalist is a Catholic way of life: It is not just the Mass," he said.
The Reform Of The Reform
Fr. Thomas Kocik, from the Diocese of Fall River, Mass., and author of The Reform of the Reform, published by Ignatius Press, said he believed the 1962 Missal must be the starting point for any reform of the 1970 Missal of Pope Paul VI. "When you are doing a complicated math problem, and it comes out wrong, you go back to the original place where you began to go wrong," he said. Fr. Kocik said he believed the coexistence of the classical rite of Mass was vital for a proper reform of the current normative rite of Mass.
Fr. Kocik also raised the question as a possibility of the Campos, Brazil, apostolic administration being used as a model diocese, and possibly eventually applied to traditional Catholics throughout the entire Church.
When asked if he thought Pope Benedict XVI would publicly offer the classical Roman rite as Pope in St. Peter's Basilica, he said he "did not know." When asked if he thought the Pope should offer it, he said that based upon the Pope's own positive previous writings about the classical rite, "I think he should."
Brian Mershon is a commentator on cultural issues from a classical Catholic perspective. His trade is in media relations, and his vocation is as a husband to his beloved wife Tracey and father to his six living children. He attempts to assist his family and himself in attaining eternal salvation through frequent attendance at the Traditional Latin rite of Mass, homeschooling, and building Catholic culture in the buckle of the Bible Belt of Greenville, South Carolina.
© Copyright 2005 by Brian Mershon
Thursday, February 02, 2006
Una Voce Conference in Providence
I am really sorry I missed the Una Voce Conference in Providence. Here are two articles that talk about the conference. Here are Bishop Bruskowitz and Bishop Corrada talking about the Tridentine mass and the way in which the Novus Ordo mass can be improved over time. (note: this does not constitute an endorsement of the site "renewamerica" I am only referring to these articles)
Bishops Bruskewitz and Corrada expect 1962 missal to play important future role
Brian Mershon
February 1, 2006
"We're in the middle of the disintegration of the Latin rite" — Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz.
Bishop Fernando Rifan of the Apostolic Administration of St. John Marie Vianney, Campos, Brazil, said there were four U.S. bishops who allowed their diocesan priests full approval to offer the Classical Roman rite of Mass while delivering the keynote address for an Una Voce America Conference held November 18-20 in Providence, R.I.
His words of encouragement to U.S. traditional Catholics at the conference, coupled with those of Msgr. Michael Schmitz, U.S. provincial superior, Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest, made it clear that the growth of traditional communities in the United States is being recognized in important corridors in the Church. It is also perhaps of significance to note that Msgr. Schmitz was ordained a priest by Pope Benedict XVI, as Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, in 1982.
Bishop Rifan specifically cited Archbishop Raymond Burke of St. Louis; Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz of Lincoln, Neb.; Bishop Thomas Doran of Rockford, Ill.; and Bishop Álvaro Corrada, SJ, of Tyler, Texas, as having been generous in the Ecclesia Dei indult application, as requested and emphasized repeatedly by the late Pope John Paul II.
As a followup to the December 1 issue of The Wanderer, which covered the conference in detail, both Bishop Bruskewitz and Bishop Corrada agreed to explain why they have been so generous to both their own diocesan priests and laity whose spirituality is centered in frequent access to the Classical Roman rite and sacraments.
Q. The December 1 issue of The Wanderer, had a quotation from His Excellency, Bishop Fernando Rifan of the St. John Mary Vianney Apostolic Administration in Campos, Brazil, citing you as being among four bishops who allow your diocesan priests wide and generous access to offer the Traditional Roman rite of Holy Mass. Is this accurate?
Bishop Bruskewitz: Bishop Rifan is a very wonderful bishop, and he has come to visit me. We are good friends. While I haven't given "blanket permission" for the celebration for the Tridentine Mass in the diocese, it is, however, a permission that I give very readily, and has never been refused for those who have requested it.
The reason I require a request is that, first of all, the priest has to assure me he knows the rubrics and knows how to celebrate the Mass in the Tridentine rite. And secondly, that he has some familiarity with the Latin language that would be adequate for celebrating in the Tridentine rite. And third, that there would be some pastoral need for it, either the people calling for it, or the priest's own personal devotion would be in that direction.
[To summarize], they have to know how to do the rite. Number 2, there has to be some familiarity with Latin. And number 3, there has to be some reason for it.
Now, a priest who wants to celebrate the Tridentine rite individually, personally or privately without other people present, I grant that readily. I have never refused any request [by a priest] to do this. I have several priests who do this quite regularly, the Tridentine rite, who don't belong to the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter (FSSP), who do this regularly. We have their presence in our diocese as well. We have no difficulty with that.
Another provision I am always a little leery about is the mixing of rites — the Novus Ordo and the Tridentine rite. Priests are not authorized to use a little of one rite and a little of the other in the same liturgy. It has to be a clear, unequivocal celebration of the Tridentine rite or the Novus Ordo.
I do have a blanket permission for any priest who wants to celebrate the Novus Ordo in Latin, they can do that, just as they do in Spanish or Vietnamese and other languages in our diocese.
Bishop Corrada: I have given permission, and I will give permission, to any priest who wants to say the liturgy according to the 1962 missal. One thing that I would want to see would be, 'Are the priests ready to do so?' So I would require proper training for it in both the Latin and the rite itself — the Latin and the rubrics.
The reason is that I think the Mass according to the 1962 missal, especially with John Paul II opening it up, it should be a normal thing for any priest who wants to do so, and is trained to do so, to make it available to the faithful and for himself. So it [Bishop Rifan's statement] is accurate in that sense. I would be open to that. [This comes] from Ecclesia Dei Adflicta.
The Fraternity of St. Peter has the privilege to say Mass exclusively according to the 1962 missal. But my diocesan priests also are required to say the Novus Ordo because of pastoral reasons.
Q. You mentioned the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter (FSSP) having a presence in your dioceses. How long have they been there? What has been your experience with their priests?
Bishop Corrada: Yes, we have a mission that will eventually become a parish. As a matter of fact, next week [January 2], they will have a place of their own we are buying. It is a Baptist church we are converting into a parish. It is a mission, but it is their own place, and I want it to be arranged just for Mass according to the 1962 missal with the Blessed Sacrament on the altar and the Communion rail and everything else.
They have been here for two to three years. I am very happy with them. I came to that decision because when I arrived here, I met for several months with a group of families who wanted to have Mass according to the 1962 missal. After discussions with them, I realized that it would be better for them to have a priest from the Fraternity to come to establish a mission. I have the Mass in another parish in the southern part of the diocese by a priest who was ordained in the Novus Ordo, who most generously says the Mass, and knows how to say the Novus Ordo and the 1962 missal.
I also have a couple of other diocesan priests who have also been trained to say the Mass. They can back up the Fraternity of St. Peter priest when he is on vacation or on retreat, or if there is an emergency [and he is not available to say Mass].
It is a normal way of life. The priest from the Fraternity of St. Peter participates in all of the life of the presbyterate and the other priests in the diocese. As a matter of fact he doubles as a part-time secretary to me because we don't have many priests who have the skills necessary to help me. His name is Carlos Casavantes. [Editor's Note: Fr. Casavantes was ordained by Pope John Paul II].
Bishop Bruskewitz: In our diocese, we have St. Francis Chapel in Lincoln, where the Priestly Fraternity priests preside and they have the Tridentine rite entirely and totally and use the 1962 missal and calendar. They do have significant numbers who attend Mass there, which is fine. As a matter of fact, they may eventually evolve into actually being a full-fledged, non-territorial parish, but right now, they don't think they are ready for that step. I think they have 90 households or something like that, or 100 households.
But they also have people who frequent it who might not be registered, and of course this is not unusual.
In the Diocese of Lincoln, the Novus Ordo Mass is done with great care and rubrical exactness. And as a result, we don't have large numbers of people, as they do in some other places, who want to frequent the Tridentine rite. For instance, where I lived in Milwaukee, I think that huge numbers who attend Mass in the Tridentine rite are really refugees from liturgical abuses they have found in other areas.
There are some people who are antiquarian who like the ancient rite just for its own sake. There are others who are aesthetically inclined. They love the polyphony and Gregorian chant and the atmosphere of the Latin language, and other kinds of things. Then there are others who simply like the more quiet, restrained and devout and meditative, contemplative aspects that sometimes are absent in some of the celebrations of the Novus Ordo.
The Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter has been a real blessing to our diocese, and we are delighted to have them in our midst. Their seminary appears to be flourishing and seems to be prospering quite well. That is — Our Lady of Guadalupe Seminary — they own and operate here. It is a joy to have been able to welcome them here. I think they [FSSP priests] are very widely, and well, accepted by everybody in this area.
A Corrective To Abuses
Q. Bishop Bruskewitz: You mentioned there are few widespread abuses in Lincoln; so perhaps not as many Catholics have sought refuge in the Tridentine rite as in some other dioceses?
Bishop Bruskewitz: I am not opposed at all to the Novus Ordo. As a matter of fact, it is the other way around, I think there are many pastoral advantages to it. But like in every human enterprise, there is a lot of room for improvement. And I think the Tridentine rite can serve as a corrective to abuses sometimes [for the Novus Ordo].
Q. Bishop Corrada: How many families initially approached you for the Classical Roman rite liturgy and sacraments?
Bishop Corrada: Forty to 70 families. This diocese is comprised of 33 counties, so there are many other families we are not serving at the moment because we only have one Mass in the southern part of the diocese, and one here in Tyler, which is the center. We will have to open up one more in the north and also to serve other people [elsewhere], and I am open to that.
Q. How many diocesan priests celebrate the Classical Roman rite of Mass regularly either publicly or privately? Do you have any plans for training your diocesan priests or seminarians in the liturgy of 1962?
Bishop Bruskewitz: Of all the priests, there are at least three who offer the Tridentine rite with a reasonable amount of regularity. There are others who have done it sporadically when it has been requested or for a special occasion. But once again, I have never refused a request by any priest who wants to celebrate the Tridentine rite and have never found a reason to refuse such a request.
Bishop Corrada: I already have some of my priests who are learning the Mass. And I know of at least one seminarian who has trained himself to say the Mass. The vicar general is able to say the Mass now, and we have at least two or three other priests who are training themselves to say the Mass in order to substitute for the priest of the Fraternity.
Q. Why are you so generous in allowing the Classical Roman rite? Is it because of Ecclesia Dei Adflicta and "wide and generous application" requested of bishops by the late Pope John Paul II?
Bishop Bruskewitz: We are very happy, of course, to conform to what the Pope said about being generous and in making use of the indult. But there are other motivations as well as that. I have an affection for it. I was ordained of course in the Tridentine rite, and in my first years as a priest celebrated that way. So I don't have a disdain for it. I can see some pastoral disadvantages due to the language and some other areas. So I think the Novus Ordo does have some pastoral advantages.
On the other hand, people who find the Tridentine rite to be more devout — or a way for them to be more devout — I guess I would put it — that would be a way to accommodate such people.
I think also the fact there was present in the Diocese of Lincoln some time ago a schismatic group associated with Archbishop Lefebvre's group from Econe, Switzerland. They were in the diocese, and they had one of their priests come and say Mass at a pagan cemetery chapel. To make it possible to accommodate people who might be being led astray into schismatic — or separation — from the Church of Christ, it served its good purpose because these people have disappeared now, or they have come back into the Church of Christ through the Tridentine rite.
I think where the Novus Ordo is done reverently and correctly, and with the proper amount of devotion, and with proper aesthetics, it can serve a wonderful purpose. I think that especially the way this Holy Father offers Holy Mass provides a lot of wonderful and correct inspiration and example for the whole world. I think he recently spoke to the Sistine choir explaining how the Papal Mass must be exemplary because of television.
I think that once again, we have to be frank. For many young people, Latin is as strange as Chinese or something. They don't know anything about it. They don't really have an affinity for it. Unless you have done some studies and have some acquaintance with Latin and the classical and historical heritage of the Church and Western civilization, it doesn't mean much. The language is always a problem.
I'm not entirely delighted with the vernacular translations. Thank goodness there is some effort to improve them, both in the liturgical books as well as in the Lectionaries — in the biblical readings. I think these flaws are becoming more apparent as time goes on. There were flaws in the celebration of the old rite sometimes, but the people didn't notice them because they didn't understand the Latin and they didn't see the priest and they didn't know if he was saying the words clearly. So I don't think we can adopt just one thing or the other.
Divisiveness?
Q. What has influenced your thinking with regard to the sacred liturgy?
Bishop Bruskewitz: I think Msgr. [Klaus] Gamber's books about the reform of the liturgy and what the Holy Father himself has written, as Cardinal Ratzinger, about the liturgy, are extremely important.
There was a lot of paraliturgical stuff that was not part of the [Second Vatican] Council, but it sort of derived from it. I think a lot of those things lent themselves to distortions. Things that became possible in a short time became necessary, and then became imperative. So there became a sort of evolution in that direction [newness] that I don't think always was the best.
Q. Bishop Corrada: Many bishops and priests cite possible "divisiveness" as one of the primary drawbacks against traditional Catholics. Yours is a missionary diocese? What has been your experience in a region heavily populated by Protestants?
Bishop Corrada: I also encourage converts through the Fraternity parish. They are baptized and received into the Church to follow the 1962 missal. So we have some converts coming in because this is a missionary area. There are many Protestants. If they want to enter and go to the Tridentine Mass, the information is given for the sacraments of initiation there as well.
In this diocese, they are received, and every one is part of the Latin rite. And in the Latin rite, we can have the liturgy according to the Missal of 1962 or the Novus Ordo. I make no distinction with that. And all of the sacraments and everything should be equally received and participated in. Some families have more preference for this [1962 missal and sacraments], and I am very open to that.
Q. There was nothing in any document from the Second Vatican Council or after it authorizing the priest to offer Holy Mass versus populum (toward the people). But there are but a handful of places in the entire U.S. where Mass is offered regularly facing God in the Novus Ordo liturgy. This is simply amazing. What is your reaction to this?
Bishop Bruskewitz: It causes at least to some extent, a distorted liturgical view. The coram populo altars....[In Rome], they had both kinds. I was ordained a priest in Rome in 1960. The catacombs, some went this way and some went another way, and it made no difference. The major point is that they were oriented toward the East.
Facing coram Deo, before God, if you face that way, you have the correct impression — that the priest is standing in the person of Christ mediating between God and the congregation — exchanging words and gifts with God on behalf of the congregation. That is a clear thing. The temptation when the Mass is coram populo is that one thinks the personality of the priest has to come through or that somehow or another, a priest is talking to the people when he's addressing God. It's exacerbated because you have some of the prayers to God and then you are talking to the people: "Let us offer each other the sign of peace."
The people get the impression the priest is somehow entertaining them or addressing them, which is a misunderstanding of what is going on.
So I think there are a lot of difficulties in that regard. That is one good example, and with Msgr. Gamber, I think that stuck in his craw pretty high. And I can't disagree with him that it would have been better had there have been a more gradual evolution. There has not been a historical liturgical development — the sudden eucalyptus from Mt. Olympus that changes the whole element.
On the other hand, we have to live with where we are now. You can't cut down the oak tree to get back to the acorn. And so I think that is the major pastoral problem confronting the hierarchy of the Church — how to take what we currently have, and where do we go from here?
Q. What role do you think the Classical Roman rite can play in this regard?
Bishop Bruskewitz: I do think that adjacent to the Novus Ordo Latin rite, it is helpful to have the Tridentine rite as a sub-rite of the Latin Church. It calls us back to roots, and I think it has certain internal kinds of corrective possibilities to keep the Novus Ordo from going off the wall on the other side.
Q. What do you think the Pope will do? Universal indult, personal apostolic administration, territorial traditional bishops, or some other structure for traditional Catholics?
Bishop Bruskewitz: I've heard speculation about all those things and I have no special information about them because nobody has consulted me about them. There is talk about a kind of prelature like Opus Dei. There is talk about Bishop Rifan who has a floating diocese in Brazil, so there may be some indications along those lines.
Being a bishop myself, I can see where some of the bishops are nervous about divisiveness. As I said, you can go from virtue to necessity very fast. And people say suddenly something is permitted, and then all of sudden it becomes necessary, and then the other is not permitted. I think that is largely what happened with the liturgy on the other side. It was permitted to have a coram populo altar, and then all of a sudden, it was necessary to have it. And so I think this may be what some conscientious bishops might be nervous about.
There are those that are simply adamant about it. They feel we have discarded this and we shouldn't try to recover it. I would say that the bishops out in the trenches who might be a little bit more leery about a universal indult might worry about a divided presbyterate or people being at loggerheads with each other.
Once again, my reservations would be along the same lines of what I mentioned earlier with my priests. I would want to make sure whoever is celebrating Mass in the Tridentine rite knows how to do it. Because I have seen it done poorly, sloppily, and incorrectly. They would have to know some basic Latin on how to pronounce the words. I've heard them mispronounced frequently. And I could see where it could be very startling for people to go to Mass on Sunday and all of a sudden hear a priest speaking a language they never heard, and doing things they've never seen. "What is this?"
Without adjoining catechesis and very careful instructions to any kind of indult that is granted would pastorally be a mistake. People would say, "Obviously, they don't know what they're doing." I have a certain sympathy for doing whatever we're going to do very slowly and not precipitously.
Conciliation And Reintegration
Q. What do you think about the possibility of a canonical structure similar to the Eastern rite Catholic churches in U.S. dioceses for Traditional Latin-rite Catholics?
Bishop Bruskewitz: I think that could serve a very good pastoral purpose to have some kind of arrangement, where there would be in the words of the Pope, this generous opportunity.
I think part of it, though, is there is a lot of ideological division. There are those who feel that the Tridentine rite, Ecclesia Dei indult is merely a transitional stage until these people get over it. There are those people, including even in the hierarchy, who feel that this is just a temporary expedient.
I disagree with them. There are even other more conservative people who say that once we get the Novus Ordo cleaned up, we will have no need for this. This puts a heavy burden on the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter and others. I don't think the Church should be held hostage, for example to the Lefebvrite demands — "You must do this or else." I don't think that is very sensible in any way.
On the other hand, I think that conciliation and reintegration into the body of the Church for the Tridentine rite [is desirable and possible].
For years the Latin rite has had sub-rites. There is the Ambrosian rite in Milan. There is a Mozarabic rite in Toledo in Spain. The religious orders had all kinds of rites. The Dominicans had their own rite. And they were all little variants that arose because the evolution of the liturgy took place and these things were maintained in orders. So I don't see that it is not possible to have a sub-rite. As a matter of fact, it might be one of the reasons we don't understand what's going on right now.
We're in the middle of the disintegration of the Latin rite. You have drum beating in Africa and you have lots of bowing in Japan. This inculturation is really making a sub-rite division of the Latin rite. For centuries, rite depended primarily on language. You had the Byzantine rite divided into the Serbian, the Russian, and all the different [other languages]. I think the fact we have vernacularized means there is a division. The unification of the Latin rite, if it is going to be maintained as a unit, will probably depend largely on the Tridentine rite, indult-type celebrations.
Q. Your Excellency, isn't it ironic that as Catholics now frequently have the ability to travel more often throughout the U.S. and the world, where once all Catholics worshiped in unity universally, now a Catholic can walk into a church in any place in the world and not even recognize what is going on? What is your reaction to this?
Bishop Bruskewitz: You don't even have to travel. Sometimes in one major city you can you can go from one church to another. You have to wonder, "What is this about?" There are many people who are throwbacks to the 1960s who are making war against [what they call] rigid rubricism. They have never outgrown their initial distaste for this.
It is an American thing. People say, "If it is new, it is therefore better." And this kind of fallacy penetrates the culture. "We do it this way today which is so much better than it was done yesterday," which is kind of foolish.
It really comes from the commercialization of our culture; this is what we are told. People transfer this easily into the religious realm.
Q. Pope Benedict XVI has addressed this very issue in his writings on the liturgy. Liturgy is something that is supposed to be given by, and received from, our fathers in the faith, rather than something we create or innovate.
Bishop Bruskewitz: Absolutely. It is not created.
And furthermore, the laity has a right to a proper liturgy. Pope Paul VI emphasized this. It is not the priest's arbitrary bestowal upon the people, but it is the people who have a right to the Church's liturgy as it is supposed to be done. That certainly deserves emphasis.
Q. In view of the large Spanish-speaking segment in your diocese, do you see any advantage to having Mass in Latin, whether it is the Classical Roman rite or the Novus Ordo missal?
Bishop Corrada: The situation of so many Hispanic immigrants in the United States goes beyond the liturgy itself into welcoming the Hispanics, and all sorts of other immigrants, into the life of the parish. So that requires a lot of participation in Spanish programs, catechesis in Spanish, as well as in English. So that [Latin Mass] will not, in itself, take care of the Hispanics.
This article will be published in the February 9 issue of The Wanderer.
Brian Mershon is a commentator on cultural issues from a classical Catholic perspective. His trade is in media relations, and his vocation is as a husband to his beloved wife Tracey and father to his six living children. He attempts to assist his family and himself in attaining eternal salvation through frequent attendance at the Traditional Latin rite of Mass, homeschooling, and building Catholic culture in the buckle of the Bible Belt of Greenville, South Carolina.
© Copyright 2006 by Brian Mershon
Bishops Bruskewitz and Corrada expect 1962 missal to play important future role
Brian Mershon
February 1, 2006
"We're in the middle of the disintegration of the Latin rite" — Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz.
Bishop Fernando Rifan of the Apostolic Administration of St. John Marie Vianney, Campos, Brazil, said there were four U.S. bishops who allowed their diocesan priests full approval to offer the Classical Roman rite of Mass while delivering the keynote address for an Una Voce America Conference held November 18-20 in Providence, R.I.
His words of encouragement to U.S. traditional Catholics at the conference, coupled with those of Msgr. Michael Schmitz, U.S. provincial superior, Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest, made it clear that the growth of traditional communities in the United States is being recognized in important corridors in the Church. It is also perhaps of significance to note that Msgr. Schmitz was ordained a priest by Pope Benedict XVI, as Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, in 1982.
Bishop Rifan specifically cited Archbishop Raymond Burke of St. Louis; Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz of Lincoln, Neb.; Bishop Thomas Doran of Rockford, Ill.; and Bishop Álvaro Corrada, SJ, of Tyler, Texas, as having been generous in the Ecclesia Dei indult application, as requested and emphasized repeatedly by the late Pope John Paul II.
As a followup to the December 1 issue of The Wanderer, which covered the conference in detail, both Bishop Bruskewitz and Bishop Corrada agreed to explain why they have been so generous to both their own diocesan priests and laity whose spirituality is centered in frequent access to the Classical Roman rite and sacraments.
Q. The December 1 issue of The Wanderer, had a quotation from His Excellency, Bishop Fernando Rifan of the St. John Mary Vianney Apostolic Administration in Campos, Brazil, citing you as being among four bishops who allow your diocesan priests wide and generous access to offer the Traditional Roman rite of Holy Mass. Is this accurate?
Bishop Bruskewitz: Bishop Rifan is a very wonderful bishop, and he has come to visit me. We are good friends. While I haven't given "blanket permission" for the celebration for the Tridentine Mass in the diocese, it is, however, a permission that I give very readily, and has never been refused for those who have requested it.
The reason I require a request is that, first of all, the priest has to assure me he knows the rubrics and knows how to celebrate the Mass in the Tridentine rite. And secondly, that he has some familiarity with the Latin language that would be adequate for celebrating in the Tridentine rite. And third, that there would be some pastoral need for it, either the people calling for it, or the priest's own personal devotion would be in that direction.
[To summarize], they have to know how to do the rite. Number 2, there has to be some familiarity with Latin. And number 3, there has to be some reason for it.
Now, a priest who wants to celebrate the Tridentine rite individually, personally or privately without other people present, I grant that readily. I have never refused any request [by a priest] to do this. I have several priests who do this quite regularly, the Tridentine rite, who don't belong to the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter (FSSP), who do this regularly. We have their presence in our diocese as well. We have no difficulty with that.
Another provision I am always a little leery about is the mixing of rites — the Novus Ordo and the Tridentine rite. Priests are not authorized to use a little of one rite and a little of the other in the same liturgy. It has to be a clear, unequivocal celebration of the Tridentine rite or the Novus Ordo.
I do have a blanket permission for any priest who wants to celebrate the Novus Ordo in Latin, they can do that, just as they do in Spanish or Vietnamese and other languages in our diocese.
Bishop Corrada: I have given permission, and I will give permission, to any priest who wants to say the liturgy according to the 1962 missal. One thing that I would want to see would be, 'Are the priests ready to do so?' So I would require proper training for it in both the Latin and the rite itself — the Latin and the rubrics.
The reason is that I think the Mass according to the 1962 missal, especially with John Paul II opening it up, it should be a normal thing for any priest who wants to do so, and is trained to do so, to make it available to the faithful and for himself. So it [Bishop Rifan's statement] is accurate in that sense. I would be open to that. [This comes] from Ecclesia Dei Adflicta.
The Fraternity of St. Peter has the privilege to say Mass exclusively according to the 1962 missal. But my diocesan priests also are required to say the Novus Ordo because of pastoral reasons.
Q. You mentioned the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter (FSSP) having a presence in your dioceses. How long have they been there? What has been your experience with their priests?
Bishop Corrada: Yes, we have a mission that will eventually become a parish. As a matter of fact, next week [January 2], they will have a place of their own we are buying. It is a Baptist church we are converting into a parish. It is a mission, but it is their own place, and I want it to be arranged just for Mass according to the 1962 missal with the Blessed Sacrament on the altar and the Communion rail and everything else.
They have been here for two to three years. I am very happy with them. I came to that decision because when I arrived here, I met for several months with a group of families who wanted to have Mass according to the 1962 missal. After discussions with them, I realized that it would be better for them to have a priest from the Fraternity to come to establish a mission. I have the Mass in another parish in the southern part of the diocese by a priest who was ordained in the Novus Ordo, who most generously says the Mass, and knows how to say the Novus Ordo and the 1962 missal.
I also have a couple of other diocesan priests who have also been trained to say the Mass. They can back up the Fraternity of St. Peter priest when he is on vacation or on retreat, or if there is an emergency [and he is not available to say Mass].
It is a normal way of life. The priest from the Fraternity of St. Peter participates in all of the life of the presbyterate and the other priests in the diocese. As a matter of fact he doubles as a part-time secretary to me because we don't have many priests who have the skills necessary to help me. His name is Carlos Casavantes. [Editor's Note: Fr. Casavantes was ordained by Pope John Paul II].
Bishop Bruskewitz: In our diocese, we have St. Francis Chapel in Lincoln, where the Priestly Fraternity priests preside and they have the Tridentine rite entirely and totally and use the 1962 missal and calendar. They do have significant numbers who attend Mass there, which is fine. As a matter of fact, they may eventually evolve into actually being a full-fledged, non-territorial parish, but right now, they don't think they are ready for that step. I think they have 90 households or something like that, or 100 households.
But they also have people who frequent it who might not be registered, and of course this is not unusual.
In the Diocese of Lincoln, the Novus Ordo Mass is done with great care and rubrical exactness. And as a result, we don't have large numbers of people, as they do in some other places, who want to frequent the Tridentine rite. For instance, where I lived in Milwaukee, I think that huge numbers who attend Mass in the Tridentine rite are really refugees from liturgical abuses they have found in other areas.
There are some people who are antiquarian who like the ancient rite just for its own sake. There are others who are aesthetically inclined. They love the polyphony and Gregorian chant and the atmosphere of the Latin language, and other kinds of things. Then there are others who simply like the more quiet, restrained and devout and meditative, contemplative aspects that sometimes are absent in some of the celebrations of the Novus Ordo.
The Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter has been a real blessing to our diocese, and we are delighted to have them in our midst. Their seminary appears to be flourishing and seems to be prospering quite well. That is — Our Lady of Guadalupe Seminary — they own and operate here. It is a joy to have been able to welcome them here. I think they [FSSP priests] are very widely, and well, accepted by everybody in this area.
A Corrective To Abuses
Q. Bishop Bruskewitz: You mentioned there are few widespread abuses in Lincoln; so perhaps not as many Catholics have sought refuge in the Tridentine rite as in some other dioceses?
Bishop Bruskewitz: I am not opposed at all to the Novus Ordo. As a matter of fact, it is the other way around, I think there are many pastoral advantages to it. But like in every human enterprise, there is a lot of room for improvement. And I think the Tridentine rite can serve as a corrective to abuses sometimes [for the Novus Ordo].
Q. Bishop Corrada: How many families initially approached you for the Classical Roman rite liturgy and sacraments?
Bishop Corrada: Forty to 70 families. This diocese is comprised of 33 counties, so there are many other families we are not serving at the moment because we only have one Mass in the southern part of the diocese, and one here in Tyler, which is the center. We will have to open up one more in the north and also to serve other people [elsewhere], and I am open to that.
Q. How many diocesan priests celebrate the Classical Roman rite of Mass regularly either publicly or privately? Do you have any plans for training your diocesan priests or seminarians in the liturgy of 1962?
Bishop Bruskewitz: Of all the priests, there are at least three who offer the Tridentine rite with a reasonable amount of regularity. There are others who have done it sporadically when it has been requested or for a special occasion. But once again, I have never refused a request by any priest who wants to celebrate the Tridentine rite and have never found a reason to refuse such a request.
Bishop Corrada: I already have some of my priests who are learning the Mass. And I know of at least one seminarian who has trained himself to say the Mass. The vicar general is able to say the Mass now, and we have at least two or three other priests who are training themselves to say the Mass in order to substitute for the priest of the Fraternity.
Q. Why are you so generous in allowing the Classical Roman rite? Is it because of Ecclesia Dei Adflicta and "wide and generous application" requested of bishops by the late Pope John Paul II?
Bishop Bruskewitz: We are very happy, of course, to conform to what the Pope said about being generous and in making use of the indult. But there are other motivations as well as that. I have an affection for it. I was ordained of course in the Tridentine rite, and in my first years as a priest celebrated that way. So I don't have a disdain for it. I can see some pastoral disadvantages due to the language and some other areas. So I think the Novus Ordo does have some pastoral advantages.
On the other hand, people who find the Tridentine rite to be more devout — or a way for them to be more devout — I guess I would put it — that would be a way to accommodate such people.
I think also the fact there was present in the Diocese of Lincoln some time ago a schismatic group associated with Archbishop Lefebvre's group from Econe, Switzerland. They were in the diocese, and they had one of their priests come and say Mass at a pagan cemetery chapel. To make it possible to accommodate people who might be being led astray into schismatic — or separation — from the Church of Christ, it served its good purpose because these people have disappeared now, or they have come back into the Church of Christ through the Tridentine rite.
I think where the Novus Ordo is done reverently and correctly, and with the proper amount of devotion, and with proper aesthetics, it can serve a wonderful purpose. I think that especially the way this Holy Father offers Holy Mass provides a lot of wonderful and correct inspiration and example for the whole world. I think he recently spoke to the Sistine choir explaining how the Papal Mass must be exemplary because of television.
I think that once again, we have to be frank. For many young people, Latin is as strange as Chinese or something. They don't know anything about it. They don't really have an affinity for it. Unless you have done some studies and have some acquaintance with Latin and the classical and historical heritage of the Church and Western civilization, it doesn't mean much. The language is always a problem.
I'm not entirely delighted with the vernacular translations. Thank goodness there is some effort to improve them, both in the liturgical books as well as in the Lectionaries — in the biblical readings. I think these flaws are becoming more apparent as time goes on. There were flaws in the celebration of the old rite sometimes, but the people didn't notice them because they didn't understand the Latin and they didn't see the priest and they didn't know if he was saying the words clearly. So I don't think we can adopt just one thing or the other.
Divisiveness?
Q. What has influenced your thinking with regard to the sacred liturgy?
Bishop Bruskewitz: I think Msgr. [Klaus] Gamber's books about the reform of the liturgy and what the Holy Father himself has written, as Cardinal Ratzinger, about the liturgy, are extremely important.
There was a lot of paraliturgical stuff that was not part of the [Second Vatican] Council, but it sort of derived from it. I think a lot of those things lent themselves to distortions. Things that became possible in a short time became necessary, and then became imperative. So there became a sort of evolution in that direction [newness] that I don't think always was the best.
Q. Bishop Corrada: Many bishops and priests cite possible "divisiveness" as one of the primary drawbacks against traditional Catholics. Yours is a missionary diocese? What has been your experience in a region heavily populated by Protestants?
Bishop Corrada: I also encourage converts through the Fraternity parish. They are baptized and received into the Church to follow the 1962 missal. So we have some converts coming in because this is a missionary area. There are many Protestants. If they want to enter and go to the Tridentine Mass, the information is given for the sacraments of initiation there as well.
In this diocese, they are received, and every one is part of the Latin rite. And in the Latin rite, we can have the liturgy according to the Missal of 1962 or the Novus Ordo. I make no distinction with that. And all of the sacraments and everything should be equally received and participated in. Some families have more preference for this [1962 missal and sacraments], and I am very open to that.
Q. There was nothing in any document from the Second Vatican Council or after it authorizing the priest to offer Holy Mass versus populum (toward the people). But there are but a handful of places in the entire U.S. where Mass is offered regularly facing God in the Novus Ordo liturgy. This is simply amazing. What is your reaction to this?
Bishop Bruskewitz: It causes at least to some extent, a distorted liturgical view. The coram populo altars....[In Rome], they had both kinds. I was ordained a priest in Rome in 1960. The catacombs, some went this way and some went another way, and it made no difference. The major point is that they were oriented toward the East.
Facing coram Deo, before God, if you face that way, you have the correct impression — that the priest is standing in the person of Christ mediating between God and the congregation — exchanging words and gifts with God on behalf of the congregation. That is a clear thing. The temptation when the Mass is coram populo is that one thinks the personality of the priest has to come through or that somehow or another, a priest is talking to the people when he's addressing God. It's exacerbated because you have some of the prayers to God and then you are talking to the people: "Let us offer each other the sign of peace."
The people get the impression the priest is somehow entertaining them or addressing them, which is a misunderstanding of what is going on.
So I think there are a lot of difficulties in that regard. That is one good example, and with Msgr. Gamber, I think that stuck in his craw pretty high. And I can't disagree with him that it would have been better had there have been a more gradual evolution. There has not been a historical liturgical development — the sudden eucalyptus from Mt. Olympus that changes the whole element.
On the other hand, we have to live with where we are now. You can't cut down the oak tree to get back to the acorn. And so I think that is the major pastoral problem confronting the hierarchy of the Church — how to take what we currently have, and where do we go from here?
Q. What role do you think the Classical Roman rite can play in this regard?
Bishop Bruskewitz: I do think that adjacent to the Novus Ordo Latin rite, it is helpful to have the Tridentine rite as a sub-rite of the Latin Church. It calls us back to roots, and I think it has certain internal kinds of corrective possibilities to keep the Novus Ordo from going off the wall on the other side.
Q. What do you think the Pope will do? Universal indult, personal apostolic administration, territorial traditional bishops, or some other structure for traditional Catholics?
Bishop Bruskewitz: I've heard speculation about all those things and I have no special information about them because nobody has consulted me about them. There is talk about a kind of prelature like Opus Dei. There is talk about Bishop Rifan who has a floating diocese in Brazil, so there may be some indications along those lines.
Being a bishop myself, I can see where some of the bishops are nervous about divisiveness. As I said, you can go from virtue to necessity very fast. And people say suddenly something is permitted, and then all of sudden it becomes necessary, and then the other is not permitted. I think that is largely what happened with the liturgy on the other side. It was permitted to have a coram populo altar, and then all of a sudden, it was necessary to have it. And so I think this may be what some conscientious bishops might be nervous about.
There are those that are simply adamant about it. They feel we have discarded this and we shouldn't try to recover it. I would say that the bishops out in the trenches who might be a little bit more leery about a universal indult might worry about a divided presbyterate or people being at loggerheads with each other.
Once again, my reservations would be along the same lines of what I mentioned earlier with my priests. I would want to make sure whoever is celebrating Mass in the Tridentine rite knows how to do it. Because I have seen it done poorly, sloppily, and incorrectly. They would have to know some basic Latin on how to pronounce the words. I've heard them mispronounced frequently. And I could see where it could be very startling for people to go to Mass on Sunday and all of a sudden hear a priest speaking a language they never heard, and doing things they've never seen. "What is this?"
Without adjoining catechesis and very careful instructions to any kind of indult that is granted would pastorally be a mistake. People would say, "Obviously, they don't know what they're doing." I have a certain sympathy for doing whatever we're going to do very slowly and not precipitously.
Conciliation And Reintegration
Q. What do you think about the possibility of a canonical structure similar to the Eastern rite Catholic churches in U.S. dioceses for Traditional Latin-rite Catholics?
Bishop Bruskewitz: I think that could serve a very good pastoral purpose to have some kind of arrangement, where there would be in the words of the Pope, this generous opportunity.
I think part of it, though, is there is a lot of ideological division. There are those who feel that the Tridentine rite, Ecclesia Dei indult is merely a transitional stage until these people get over it. There are those people, including even in the hierarchy, who feel that this is just a temporary expedient.
I disagree with them. There are even other more conservative people who say that once we get the Novus Ordo cleaned up, we will have no need for this. This puts a heavy burden on the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter and others. I don't think the Church should be held hostage, for example to the Lefebvrite demands — "You must do this or else." I don't think that is very sensible in any way.
On the other hand, I think that conciliation and reintegration into the body of the Church for the Tridentine rite [is desirable and possible].
For years the Latin rite has had sub-rites. There is the Ambrosian rite in Milan. There is a Mozarabic rite in Toledo in Spain. The religious orders had all kinds of rites. The Dominicans had their own rite. And they were all little variants that arose because the evolution of the liturgy took place and these things were maintained in orders. So I don't see that it is not possible to have a sub-rite. As a matter of fact, it might be one of the reasons we don't understand what's going on right now.
We're in the middle of the disintegration of the Latin rite. You have drum beating in Africa and you have lots of bowing in Japan. This inculturation is really making a sub-rite division of the Latin rite. For centuries, rite depended primarily on language. You had the Byzantine rite divided into the Serbian, the Russian, and all the different [other languages]. I think the fact we have vernacularized means there is a division. The unification of the Latin rite, if it is going to be maintained as a unit, will probably depend largely on the Tridentine rite, indult-type celebrations.
Q. Your Excellency, isn't it ironic that as Catholics now frequently have the ability to travel more often throughout the U.S. and the world, where once all Catholics worshiped in unity universally, now a Catholic can walk into a church in any place in the world and not even recognize what is going on? What is your reaction to this?
Bishop Bruskewitz: You don't even have to travel. Sometimes in one major city you can you can go from one church to another. You have to wonder, "What is this about?" There are many people who are throwbacks to the 1960s who are making war against [what they call] rigid rubricism. They have never outgrown their initial distaste for this.
It is an American thing. People say, "If it is new, it is therefore better." And this kind of fallacy penetrates the culture. "We do it this way today which is so much better than it was done yesterday," which is kind of foolish.
It really comes from the commercialization of our culture; this is what we are told. People transfer this easily into the religious realm.
Q. Pope Benedict XVI has addressed this very issue in his writings on the liturgy. Liturgy is something that is supposed to be given by, and received from, our fathers in the faith, rather than something we create or innovate.
Bishop Bruskewitz: Absolutely. It is not created.
And furthermore, the laity has a right to a proper liturgy. Pope Paul VI emphasized this. It is not the priest's arbitrary bestowal upon the people, but it is the people who have a right to the Church's liturgy as it is supposed to be done. That certainly deserves emphasis.
Q. In view of the large Spanish-speaking segment in your diocese, do you see any advantage to having Mass in Latin, whether it is the Classical Roman rite or the Novus Ordo missal?
Bishop Corrada: The situation of so many Hispanic immigrants in the United States goes beyond the liturgy itself into welcoming the Hispanics, and all sorts of other immigrants, into the life of the parish. So that requires a lot of participation in Spanish programs, catechesis in Spanish, as well as in English. So that [Latin Mass] will not, in itself, take care of the Hispanics.
This article will be published in the February 9 issue of The Wanderer.
Brian Mershon is a commentator on cultural issues from a classical Catholic perspective. His trade is in media relations, and his vocation is as a husband to his beloved wife Tracey and father to his six living children. He attempts to assist his family and himself in attaining eternal salvation through frequent attendance at the Traditional Latin rite of Mass, homeschooling, and building Catholic culture in the buckle of the Bible Belt of Greenville, South Carolina.
© Copyright 2006 by Brian Mershon
Saturday, November 12, 2005
The Rainbow Sashay Movement and Vatican II
The Rainbow Sash movement distributed a press release saying it wants to disrupt the mass again and use the Holy Eucharist as a tool to gain attention. I think they have a right to their own opinions but it is wrong to impose themselves on others at holy mass and create a sacrilege by misusing the most holy gift and possession of the church for their own political use. I thought it might be fun to dissect their press release by comparing it to the Second Vatican Council documents while I drink my morning coffee.
Rainbow Sash Movement... Call on Catholic Bishops to Enter into Common Ground Dialogue
Saturday November 12, 6:00 am ET
WASHINGTON, Nov. 12 /PRNewswire/ -- As our Catholic Community gathers to celebrate the Holy Eucharist in the Nations Capital, at the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception on November 14, 2005 at 5 PM, the Rainbow Sash Movement's delegation will be present wearing Rainbow Sashes. The Sash will identify us as Gay/Lesbian believers. This Plenary Liturgy will begin the annual fall meeting of US Catholic Bishops. It is unfortunate that Cardinal Francis George of Chicago and Cardinal Theodore McCarrick of Washington, DC have threatened to deny us Communion. We denounce such a threat, and challenge such behavior among Catholics.
We are calling on the Bishops to enter into a common ground dialogue. With each passing day the atmosphere between Gay/Lesbian Catholics and the Bishops is being poisoned by clueless statements that are emanating from the Vatican. Threats to deny gay men ordination are an attempt to deflect the spotlight from the real enablers of the sex abuse scandal. There appears to be a growing inability among the bishops to engage in honest, civilized discourse on the common ground of Faith.
Using the word "The Vatican" deflects from the fact that the teaching comes from the Holy Father in his office of universal authority over the liturgy and teaching. Teaching emanates from the teaching office of the Church to the faithful where it should take root and thrive and come back to the teaching office richer and deeper. The high point of that process is reflected in the lives of people like Catherine of Siena or Theresa of Avila. They are even given a title "Doctors of the Church" to express this reality.
As we read in Vatican II document Lumen Gentium
Lumen Gentium 14 "They are fully incorporated in the society of the Church who, possessing the Spirit of Christ accept her entire system and all the means of salvation given to her, and are united with her as part of her visible bodily structure and through her with Christ, who rules her through the Supreme Pontiff and the bishops. The bonds which bind men to the Church in a visible way are profession of faith, the sacraments, and ecclesiastical government and communion."
Lumen Gentium "The pope's power of primacy over all, both pastors and faithful, remains whole and intact. In virtue of his office, that is as Vicar of Christ and pastor of the whole Church, the Roman Pontiff has full, supreme and universal power over the Church. And he is always free to exercise this power."
Instead of compromise and moderation, our bishops engage in bullying. They use the Eucharistic meal not as the sign of God's invitation to all people to become one, but as a weapon to beat those who disagree with them over the head. Thinly veiled threats are issued against those who don't toe the line.
Where is the "Eucharistic meal" defined as "the sign of God's invitation to all people to become one..." What the Eucharist does to those who participate in it is more than a loosely defined idea of becoming one. See LG 11
"Taking part in the eucharistic sacrifice, which is the fount and apex of the whole Christian life, they offer the Divine Victim to God, and offer themselves along with It. Thus both by reason of the offering and through Holy Communion all take part in this liturgical service, not indeed, all in the same way but each in that way which is proper to himself. Strengthened in Holy Communion by the Body of Christ, they then manifest in a concrete way that unity of the people of God which is suitably signified and wondrously brought about by this most august sacrament."
Quoting the Document on the Liturgy
"... the liturgy is the summit toward which the activity of the Church is directed; at the same time it is the font from which all her power flows. For the aim and object of apostolic works is that all who are made sons of God by faith and baptism should come together to praise God in the midst of His Church, to take part in the sacrifice, and to eat the Lord's supper.
Those who find themselves in disagreement with the bishops are often demonized, marginalized and refused Communion. The actions of the Bishops in the current unfolding child sexual abuse scandal, has splintered Church unity. There appears to be an attempt to corral Catholics into a false sense of unity and knee jerk fundamentalism in order not to deal with the systemic corruption of the Church.
The clergy sex scandal is an enormous tragedy, indeed. But if the Church discontinued teaching because of each of its scandals over the past two millennia, we would not have had all of the Councils and great teachers that emerged from St. Augustine to St. Charles Borromeo, from Nicea to Trent and beyond. Short history of Ecumenical Councils
The bishops need to ask themselves what can bring Catholics together as a people. What kind of thoughtful response is possible in the face of a fundamental belief in one's own inerrancy? Such a position leaves no room for God or discernment. St. Paul said "now we see as through a glass darkly ... " This simply means we cannot have complete certitude regarding God's will. It is so easy to condemn and more difficult to love. How can we love God, whom we have not seen, yet hate our neighbor, whom we have seen because he or she is of the wrong sexual orientation? We encourage other Catholics of Good will to stand with us. This is not about protest it is about love of Church.
The 'thoughtful' response that Catholics have to the Church's teaching authority is to unite our intellect and will to the Church as use our minds to deepen our understanding of what the Lord teaches through the Church...'who ever hears you hears me, and whoever sees you sees me...whatever you loose on earth is loosed in heaven and whatever you bind on earth is bound in heaven.' This means that God expects us to follow the Church and he will hold us responsible for that. '...to whom much is given much will be expected' To understand Paul's idea that we '...see as through a glass darkly' we have to finish the phrase'... but then face to face' referred not to Church teaching but was comparing the incremental way in which we learn on earth to the way in which we will instantly know things when we are in heaven in the 'beatific vision.' In the meantime, Christ promised that he would 'not leave us orphans,' but gave us Peter and the apostles and their successors to give us everything we need for salvation.
The Second Vatican Council discussed this issue of 'inerrancy' as follows:
25. Among the principal duties of bishops the preaching of the Gospel occupies an eminent place.(39*) For bishops are preachers of the faith, who lead new disciples to Christ, and they are authentic teachers, that is, teachers endowed with the authority of Christ, who preach to the people committed to them the faith they must believe and put into practice, and by the light of the Holy Spirit illustrate that faith. They bring forth from the treasury of Revelation new things and old,(164) making it bear fruit and vigilantly warding off any errors that threaten their flock.(165) Bishops, teaching in communion with the Roman Pontiff, are to be respected by all as witnesses to divine and Catholic truth. In matters of faith and morals, the bishops speak in the name of Christ and the faithful are to accept their teaching and adhere to it with a religious assent. This religious submission of mind and will must be shown in a special way to the authentic magisterium of the Roman Pontiff, even when he is not speaking ex cathedra; that is, it must be shown in such a way that his supreme magisterium is acknowledged with reverence, the judgments made by him are sincerely adhered to, according to his manifest mind and will. His mind and will in the matter may be known either from the character of the documents, from his frequent repetition of the same doctrine, or from his manner of speaking.
Rainbow Sash Movement... Call on Catholic Bishops to Enter into Common Ground Dialogue
Saturday November 12, 6:00 am ET
WASHINGTON, Nov. 12 /PRNewswire/ -- As our Catholic Community gathers to celebrate the Holy Eucharist in the Nations Capital, at the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception on November 14, 2005 at 5 PM, the Rainbow Sash Movement's delegation will be present wearing Rainbow Sashes. The Sash will identify us as Gay/Lesbian believers. This Plenary Liturgy will begin the annual fall meeting of US Catholic Bishops. It is unfortunate that Cardinal Francis George of Chicago and Cardinal Theodore McCarrick of Washington, DC have threatened to deny us Communion. We denounce such a threat, and challenge such behavior among Catholics.
We are calling on the Bishops to enter into a common ground dialogue. With each passing day the atmosphere between Gay/Lesbian Catholics and the Bishops is being poisoned by clueless statements that are emanating from the Vatican. Threats to deny gay men ordination are an attempt to deflect the spotlight from the real enablers of the sex abuse scandal. There appears to be a growing inability among the bishops to engage in honest, civilized discourse on the common ground of Faith.
Using the word "The Vatican" deflects from the fact that the teaching comes from the Holy Father in his office of universal authority over the liturgy and teaching. Teaching emanates from the teaching office of the Church to the faithful where it should take root and thrive and come back to the teaching office richer and deeper. The high point of that process is reflected in the lives of people like Catherine of Siena or Theresa of Avila. They are even given a title "Doctors of the Church" to express this reality.
As we read in Vatican II document Lumen Gentium
Lumen Gentium 14 "They are fully incorporated in the society of the Church who, possessing the Spirit of Christ accept her entire system and all the means of salvation given to her, and are united with her as part of her visible bodily structure and through her with Christ, who rules her through the Supreme Pontiff and the bishops. The bonds which bind men to the Church in a visible way are profession of faith, the sacraments, and ecclesiastical government and communion."
Lumen Gentium "The pope's power of primacy over all, both pastors and faithful, remains whole and intact. In virtue of his office, that is as Vicar of Christ and pastor of the whole Church, the Roman Pontiff has full, supreme and universal power over the Church. And he is always free to exercise this power."
Instead of compromise and moderation, our bishops engage in bullying. They use the Eucharistic meal not as the sign of God's invitation to all people to become one, but as a weapon to beat those who disagree with them over the head. Thinly veiled threats are issued against those who don't toe the line.
Where is the "Eucharistic meal" defined as "the sign of God's invitation to all people to become one..." What the Eucharist does to those who participate in it is more than a loosely defined idea of becoming one. See LG 11
"Taking part in the eucharistic sacrifice, which is the fount and apex of the whole Christian life, they offer the Divine Victim to God, and offer themselves along with It. Thus both by reason of the offering and through Holy Communion all take part in this liturgical service, not indeed, all in the same way but each in that way which is proper to himself. Strengthened in Holy Communion by the Body of Christ, they then manifest in a concrete way that unity of the people of God which is suitably signified and wondrously brought about by this most august sacrament."
Quoting the Document on the Liturgy
"... the liturgy is the summit toward which the activity of the Church is directed; at the same time it is the font from which all her power flows. For the aim and object of apostolic works is that all who are made sons of God by faith and baptism should come together to praise God in the midst of His Church, to take part in the sacrifice, and to eat the Lord's supper.
The liturgy in its turn moves the faithful, filled with "the paschal sacraments," to be "one in holiness" (26); it prays that "they may hold fast in their lives to what they have grasped by their faith" (27); the renewal in the Eucharist of the covenant between the Lord and man draws the faithful into the compelling love of Christ and sets them on fire. From the liturgy, therefore, and especially from the Eucharist, as from a font, grace is poured forth upon us; and the sanctification of men in Christ and the glorification of God, to which all other activities of the Church are directed as toward their end, is achieved in the most efficacious possible way."
Rather than merely a sign, the Eucharist is a thing in itself -- the Holy and precious Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, who is in himself and in the Eucharist, which are one and the same thing, the 'source and summit' of the Church, the faithful, and the entire history of humanity.Those who find themselves in disagreement with the bishops are often demonized, marginalized and refused Communion. The actions of the Bishops in the current unfolding child sexual abuse scandal, has splintered Church unity. There appears to be an attempt to corral Catholics into a false sense of unity and knee jerk fundamentalism in order not to deal with the systemic corruption of the Church.
The clergy sex scandal is an enormous tragedy, indeed. But if the Church discontinued teaching because of each of its scandals over the past two millennia, we would not have had all of the Councils and great teachers that emerged from St. Augustine to St. Charles Borromeo, from Nicea to Trent and beyond. Short history of Ecumenical Councils
The bishops need to ask themselves what can bring Catholics together as a people. What kind of thoughtful response is possible in the face of a fundamental belief in one's own inerrancy? Such a position leaves no room for God or discernment. St. Paul said "now we see as through a glass darkly ... " This simply means we cannot have complete certitude regarding God's will. It is so easy to condemn and more difficult to love. How can we love God, whom we have not seen, yet hate our neighbor, whom we have seen because he or she is of the wrong sexual orientation? We encourage other Catholics of Good will to stand with us. This is not about protest it is about love of Church.
The 'thoughtful' response that Catholics have to the Church's teaching authority is to unite our intellect and will to the Church as use our minds to deepen our understanding of what the Lord teaches through the Church...'who ever hears you hears me, and whoever sees you sees me...whatever you loose on earth is loosed in heaven and whatever you bind on earth is bound in heaven.' This means that God expects us to follow the Church and he will hold us responsible for that. '...to whom much is given much will be expected' To understand Paul's idea that we '...see as through a glass darkly' we have to finish the phrase'... but then face to face' referred not to Church teaching but was comparing the incremental way in which we learn on earth to the way in which we will instantly know things when we are in heaven in the 'beatific vision.' In the meantime, Christ promised that he would 'not leave us orphans,' but gave us Peter and the apostles and their successors to give us everything we need for salvation.
The Second Vatican Council discussed this issue of 'inerrancy' as follows:
25. Among the principal duties of bishops the preaching of the Gospel occupies an eminent place.(39*) For bishops are preachers of the faith, who lead new disciples to Christ, and they are authentic teachers, that is, teachers endowed with the authority of Christ, who preach to the people committed to them the faith they must believe and put into practice, and by the light of the Holy Spirit illustrate that faith. They bring forth from the treasury of Revelation new things and old,(164) making it bear fruit and vigilantly warding off any errors that threaten their flock.(165) Bishops, teaching in communion with the Roman Pontiff, are to be respected by all as witnesses to divine and Catholic truth. In matters of faith and morals, the bishops speak in the name of Christ and the faithful are to accept their teaching and adhere to it with a religious assent. This religious submission of mind and will must be shown in a special way to the authentic magisterium of the Roman Pontiff, even when he is not speaking ex cathedra; that is, it must be shown in such a way that his supreme magisterium is acknowledged with reverence, the judgments made by him are sincerely adhered to, according to his manifest mind and will. His mind and will in the matter may be known either from the character of the documents, from his frequent repetition of the same doctrine, or from his manner of speaking.
Although the individual bishops do not enjoy the prerogative of infallibility, they nevertheless proclaim Christ's doctrine infallibly whenever, even though dispersed through the world, but still maintaining the bond of communion among themselves and with the successor of Peter, and authentically teaching matters of faith and morals, they are in agreement on one position as definitively to be held.(40*) This is even more clearly verified when, gathered together in an ecumenical council, they are teachers and judges of faith and morals for the universal Church, whose definitions must be adhered to with the submission of faith.(41*)
And this infallibility with which the Divine Redeemer willed His Church to be endowed in defining doctrine of faith and morals, extends as far as the deposit of Revelation extends, which must be religiously guarded and faithfully expounded. And this is the infallibility which the Roman Pontiff, the head of the college of bishops, enjoys in virtue of his office, when, as the supreme shepherd and teacher of all the faithful, who confirms his brethren in their faith,(166) by a definitive act he proclaims a doctrine of faith or morals.(42*) And therefore his definitions, of themselves, and not from the consent of the Church, are justly styled irreformable, since they are pronounced with the assistance of the Holy Spirit, promised to him in blessed Peter, and therefore they need no approval of others, nor do they allow an appeal to any other judgment. For then the Roman Pontiff is not pronouncing judgment as a private person, but as the supreme teacher of the universal Church, in whom the charism of infallibility of the Church itself is individually present, he is expounding or defending a doctrine of Catholic faith.(43*) The infallibility promised to the Church resides also in the body of Bishops, when that body exercises the supreme magisterium with the successor of Peter. To these definitions the assent of the Church can never be wanting, on account of the activity of that same Holy Spirit, by which the whole flock of Christ is preserved and progresses in unity of faith.(44*)
But when either the Roman Pontiff or the Body of Bishops together with him defines a judgment, they pronounce it in accordance with Revelation itself, which all are obliged to abide by and be in conformity with, that is, the Revelation which as written or orally handed down is transmitted in its entirety through the legitimate succession of bishops and especially in care of the Roman Pontiff himself, and which under the guiding light of the Spirit of truth is religiously preserved and faithfully expounded in the Church.(45*) The Roman Pontiff and the bishops, in view of their office and the importance of the matter, by fitting means diligently strive to inquire properly into that revelation and to give apt expression to its contents;(46*) but a new public revelation they do not accept as pertaining to the divine deposit of faith.(47*)
Wednesday, October 26, 2005
Speaking of Bishop's
Here was a great post about the8 Habits of Highly Effective Bishops
1. A bishop must be personally holy.
2. A bishop must promote and defend the authentic Catholic Faith.
3. A bishop must be committed to Catholic education.
4. A bishop must work to strengthen the Catholic family.
5. A bishop must foster vocations.
6. A bishop must love the Mass.
7. A bishop must be willing and able to start from scratch.
8. A bishop must be vocal in the public square.
I guess we must all do this, not just bishops. I fail as well as the next man. However, I am not a professional catholic like Bishops.
Two things worth reading on the role of the Bishop are the Enciclycal Letter of JPII Pastores Gregis
and the great Bishop Carlson's letter on a Bishop's Duties which in some ways prefigured JPII's letter.
1. A bishop must be personally holy.
2. A bishop must promote and defend the authentic Catholic Faith.
3. A bishop must be committed to Catholic education.
4. A bishop must work to strengthen the Catholic family.
5. A bishop must foster vocations.
6. A bishop must love the Mass.
7. A bishop must be willing and able to start from scratch.
8. A bishop must be vocal in the public square.
I guess we must all do this, not just bishops. I fail as well as the next man. However, I am not a professional catholic like Bishops.
Two things worth reading on the role of the Bishop are the Enciclycal Letter of JPII Pastores Gregis
and the great Bishop Carlson's letter on a Bishop's Duties which in some ways prefigured JPII's letter.
Lincoln Nebraska has best Priest/Parishoner Ratio
See Article
"According to the Official Catholic Directory of 2005, the authoritative guide to the Catholic Church in the U.S., there are 121 active diocesan priests in Lincoln and 89,236 Catholics.
Those numbers indicate there is one priest for every 737 Catholics, which is far greater than the total national statistic of one priest for every 4,723 Catholics. The New York Times reported Oct. 7 that in 2003, there was nationally one priest for every 2,677 Catholics, meaning the U.S. priest shortage has nearly doubled in the last two years.
In Omaha, with one priest for every 1,755 Catholics, the diocese is slightly behind Lincoln but still far above the national average.
The directory also shows that some of the lowest ratios of active priests to Catholics tend to occur in larger dioceses.
The Diocese of Los Angeles has only one priest for every 12,217 Catholics, and the Diocese of El Paso, Texas, has one priest for every 11, 927 Catholics."
In Lincoln Nebraska not only is the Latin Mass encouraged but the Society of St. Peter has a major seminary there. Their website
With all due respect for Cardinal Mahoney but one source says that three people are ordained in the largest catholic diocese in the U.S. See notes in this link
Cardinal Mahoney told one group that the Parochial ministry is changing. He was refering to his pastoral letter, As I Have Done For You
“The pastoral letter does not chart out a course for dealing with the ‘vocation crisis,’ but is, we believe, a Spirit-assisted response to the deepening awareness that it is in the very nature of the Church to be endowed with many gifts, ministries and offices,” he said. “Consequently, mere adjustment and small shifts in practice will not do. What is called for is a reorientation in our thinking about ministry, as well as in our ministerial practice.”
I guess if you cannot inspire men to become priests you tell people that the Holy Spirit doesn't need Priests but needs us to change our thinking. The Bishop of Lincoln has another approach, Pray for vocations
I am sure that Cardinal Mahoney is sincere but Lay people need leadership and the sacraments so that they can go out an save the world, they don't need to compete with priests for jobs in the sanctuary.
"According to the Official Catholic Directory of 2005, the authoritative guide to the Catholic Church in the U.S., there are 121 active diocesan priests in Lincoln and 89,236 Catholics.
Those numbers indicate there is one priest for every 737 Catholics, which is far greater than the total national statistic of one priest for every 4,723 Catholics. The New York Times reported Oct. 7 that in 2003, there was nationally one priest for every 2,677 Catholics, meaning the U.S. priest shortage has nearly doubled in the last two years.
In Omaha, with one priest for every 1,755 Catholics, the diocese is slightly behind Lincoln but still far above the national average.
The directory also shows that some of the lowest ratios of active priests to Catholics tend to occur in larger dioceses.
The Diocese of Los Angeles has only one priest for every 12,217 Catholics, and the Diocese of El Paso, Texas, has one priest for every 11, 927 Catholics."
In Lincoln Nebraska not only is the Latin Mass encouraged but the Society of St. Peter has a major seminary there. Their website
With all due respect for Cardinal Mahoney but one source says that three people are ordained in the largest catholic diocese in the U.S. See notes in this link
Cardinal Mahoney told one group that the Parochial ministry is changing. He was refering to his pastoral letter, As I Have Done For You
“The pastoral letter does not chart out a course for dealing with the ‘vocation crisis,’ but is, we believe, a Spirit-assisted response to the deepening awareness that it is in the very nature of the Church to be endowed with many gifts, ministries and offices,” he said. “Consequently, mere adjustment and small shifts in practice will not do. What is called for is a reorientation in our thinking about ministry, as well as in our ministerial practice.”
I guess if you cannot inspire men to become priests you tell people that the Holy Spirit doesn't need Priests but needs us to change our thinking. The Bishop of Lincoln has another approach, Pray for vocations
I am sure that Cardinal Mahoney is sincere but Lay people need leadership and the sacraments so that they can go out an save the world, they don't need to compete with priests for jobs in the sanctuary.
Latin Mass encouraged at the Synod
Propositions from the Synod
"Proposition 36 suggests that in international celebrations the Mass be said in Latin, apart from the readings, the homily, and the Prayers of the Faithful, and that priests be trained from the seminary to use Latin prayers as well as Gregorian Chant. It also recommends that the faithful be educated to do so as well.John Allen's original
This reminds me of a conversation I had with a nice priest who was training major seminarians. I asked him what they teach for liturgical music at the seminary and he said that they really didn't teach anything and the music was chosen by the seminarians from a song book for their Sunday liturgy. Hopefully this will change and the seminaries will hire music directors to teach Gregorian Chant. This is a long rang proposition.
"Proposition 36 suggests that in international celebrations the Mass be said in Latin, apart from the readings, the homily, and the Prayers of the Faithful, and that priests be trained from the seminary to use Latin prayers as well as Gregorian Chant. It also recommends that the faithful be educated to do so as well.John Allen's original
This reminds me of a conversation I had with a nice priest who was training major seminarians. I asked him what they teach for liturgical music at the seminary and he said that they really didn't teach anything and the music was chosen by the seminarians from a song book for their Sunday liturgy. Hopefully this will change and the seminaries will hire music directors to teach Gregorian Chant. This is a long rang proposition.
Thursday, October 20, 2005
The Tridentine Mass in Fargo ND
Bishop in Fargo says he will deny Funeral rites to Catholics who attend St. Pius X Latin Mass
In contrast, this is how our current Pope Benedict XVI viewed these people:
The Holy Father (then Cardinal
Ratzinger) wrote in 2002:
"For fostering a true consciousness in liturgical matters, it is
also important that the proscription against the form of liturgy in
valid use up to 1970 should be lifted. Anyone who nowadays advocates
the continuing existence of this liturgy or takes part in it is
treated like a leper; all tolerance ends here. There has never been
anything like this in history; in doing this we are despising and
proscribing the Church's whole past. How can one trust her present
if things are that way? I must say, quite openly, that I don't
understand why so many of my Episcopal brethren have to a great
extent submitted to this rule of intolerance, which for no apparent
reason is opposed to making the necessary inner reconciliations
within the Church."
The best option is to 'generously allow' (JPII) the indult mass in the diocese for those Roman Catholics who feel an attachment to the 1962 liturgy. Our good and gracious Lord can see from his throne in heaven all of the licit and illicit ways in which the church bends over backwards to try and make itself inclusive for people of progressive sympathies.
In contrast, this is how our current Pope Benedict XVI viewed these people:
The Holy Father (then Cardinal
Ratzinger) wrote in 2002:
"For fostering a true consciousness in liturgical matters, it is
also important that the proscription against the form of liturgy in
valid use up to 1970 should be lifted. Anyone who nowadays advocates
the continuing existence of this liturgy or takes part in it is
treated like a leper; all tolerance ends here. There has never been
anything like this in history; in doing this we are despising and
proscribing the Church's whole past. How can one trust her present
if things are that way? I must say, quite openly, that I don't
understand why so many of my Episcopal brethren have to a great
extent submitted to this rule of intolerance, which for no apparent
reason is opposed to making the necessary inner reconciliations
within the Church."
The best option is to 'generously allow' (JPII) the indult mass in the diocese for those Roman Catholics who feel an attachment to the 1962 liturgy. Our good and gracious Lord can see from his throne in heaven all of the licit and illicit ways in which the church bends over backwards to try and make itself inclusive for people of progressive sympathies.
Friday, October 07, 2005
Communion in hand versus on tongue gets attention at synod
Two things to keep in mind when reading this article
The Melkite Patriarch is right and wrong. Communion in the hand existed but it was the exception not the rule. St. Basil admitted it for times of persecution but there is no evidence that it was a universal custom in the church.
The use and abuse of ancient history as it relates to the liturgy is amusing. People with no real evidence imagine an idyllic past from fragments that are at best questionable and recreate a past based on a view of the present that makes them happy. When confronted with the difficulty of establishing their view as historically defensible they just ignore the facts because that is too much work. They are using history to explain their views of today.
by John Thavis
Catholic News Service
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- It was not listed as a topic for discussion, but the question of Communion in the hand versus Communion on the tongue received attention at the Synod of Bishops on the Eucharist.
Cardinal Janis Pujats of Riga, Latvia, was the first to raise the issue, telling the synod Oct. 3 that he thought Catholics should receive Communion on the tongue -- while kneeling. When communicants stand, Cardinal Pujats said, he feels like a dentist looking into their mouths.
Cardinal Francis Arinze, who heads the Vatican's worship congregation, responded by saying that arguments could be made for both Communion practices, in the hand and on the tongue, according to information released by the Vatican. Ultimately, he said, it's up to bishops' conferences to decide what is best in each country, but he added that Communion in the hand needs better catechesis.
Cardinal Arinze said non-Catholics in particular sometimes fail to understand Communion in the hand. He related a story about one person who went up and received Communion and then took it home and kept the host in his scrapbook.
The cardinal added that Communion in the hand does make it easier for sacrilege against a consecrated host. He reminded bishops that a host reportedly received at a papal Mass in 1998 was put up for sale on eBay earlier this year before being withdrawn by the seller.
Speaking Oct. 4, Archbishop Jan Lenga of Karaganda, Kazakhstan, called Communion in the hand a "fad." He proposed that the Vatican issue a universal norm to gradually do away with it and return to Communion on the tongue while kneeling.
The archbishop said Muslims in his predominantly Islamic country consider it disrespectful to receive Communion in the hand while standing. He said Catholics could learn a lot from Orthodox Christians and Muslims about how to show reverence to God.
He added that Communion in the hand adds to the risk of host fragments breaking off and falling to the ground and to the risk of profaning the consecrated host.
One synod participant noted that objections to Communion in the hand were coming from bishops in Eastern Europe, where the liturgical changes introduced by the Second Vatican Council have been implemented only recently.
A different perspective was offered by Melkite Patriarch Gregoire III Laham of Damascus, Syria. He quoted the fourth-century writings of St. Cyril of Jerusalem, who described how Communion should be received in the hand as if the hand were a throne for the Lord. Communion in the hand was the common practice in the early centuries of the church.
The Vatican opened the way for a return to Communion in the hand in 1969, allowing local bishops' conferences to adopt the practice as an option. At the time, the Vatican cautioned that the change should be introduced gradually and with instruction, so that a sense of reverence was preserved.
END
The Melkite Patriarch is right and wrong. Communion in the hand existed but it was the exception not the rule. St. Basil admitted it for times of persecution but there is no evidence that it was a universal custom in the church.
The use and abuse of ancient history as it relates to the liturgy is amusing. People with no real evidence imagine an idyllic past from fragments that are at best questionable and recreate a past based on a view of the present that makes them happy. When confronted with the difficulty of establishing their view as historically defensible they just ignore the facts because that is too much work. They are using history to explain their views of today.
by John Thavis
Catholic News Service
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- It was not listed as a topic for discussion, but the question of Communion in the hand versus Communion on the tongue received attention at the Synod of Bishops on the Eucharist.
Cardinal Janis Pujats of Riga, Latvia, was the first to raise the issue, telling the synod Oct. 3 that he thought Catholics should receive Communion on the tongue -- while kneeling. When communicants stand, Cardinal Pujats said, he feels like a dentist looking into their mouths.
Cardinal Francis Arinze, who heads the Vatican's worship congregation, responded by saying that arguments could be made for both Communion practices, in the hand and on the tongue, according to information released by the Vatican. Ultimately, he said, it's up to bishops' conferences to decide what is best in each country, but he added that Communion in the hand needs better catechesis.
Cardinal Arinze said non-Catholics in particular sometimes fail to understand Communion in the hand. He related a story about one person who went up and received Communion and then took it home and kept the host in his scrapbook.
The cardinal added that Communion in the hand does make it easier for sacrilege against a consecrated host. He reminded bishops that a host reportedly received at a papal Mass in 1998 was put up for sale on eBay earlier this year before being withdrawn by the seller.
Speaking Oct. 4, Archbishop Jan Lenga of Karaganda, Kazakhstan, called Communion in the hand a "fad." He proposed that the Vatican issue a universal norm to gradually do away with it and return to Communion on the tongue while kneeling.
The archbishop said Muslims in his predominantly Islamic country consider it disrespectful to receive Communion in the hand while standing. He said Catholics could learn a lot from Orthodox Christians and Muslims about how to show reverence to God.
He added that Communion in the hand adds to the risk of host fragments breaking off and falling to the ground and to the risk of profaning the consecrated host.
One synod participant noted that objections to Communion in the hand were coming from bishops in Eastern Europe, where the liturgical changes introduced by the Second Vatican Council have been implemented only recently.
A different perspective was offered by Melkite Patriarch Gregoire III Laham of Damascus, Syria. He quoted the fourth-century writings of St. Cyril of Jerusalem, who described how Communion should be received in the hand as if the hand were a throne for the Lord. Communion in the hand was the common practice in the early centuries of the church.
The Vatican opened the way for a return to Communion in the hand in 1969, allowing local bishops' conferences to adopt the practice as an option. At the time, the Vatican cautioned that the change should be introduced gradually and with instruction, so that a sense of reverence was preserved.
END
Monday, July 25, 2005
Gregorian Chant Encouraged
...but new music?
Attn: Peter, Paul and Mary: The idea is to remove profane music
Working Paper Suggests Return to More Prayerful Hymns
VATICAN CITY, JULY 22, 2005 (Zenit.org).- The working paper of the next Synod of Bishops suggests that "songs used at present" in the liturgy should "be reconsidered."
The proposal appears in No. 60 of the working document for the assembly of bishops from all over the world, which will be held Oct. 2-23 in Rome, on the theme "The Eucharist: Source and Summit of the Life and Mission of the Church."
Based on responses from dioceses, religious and the laity to a questionnaire, the text acknowledges in No. 61 that "to enter into sacred or religious usage, instrumental or vocal music is to have a sense of prayer, dignity and beauty."
In the liturgy, music must have "integrity of form, expressing true artistry, corresponding to the various rites and capable of adaptation to the legitimate demands of inculturation, … without detracting from the idea of universality," the document states.
The working paper, published July 7, outlines the topics that the bishops will discuss during the assembly.
In connection with the question of liturgical singing, the paper states that "musicians and poets should be encouraged to compose new hymns, according to liturgical standards, which contain authentic catechetical teaching on the paschal mystery, Sunday and the Eucharist."
Gregorian chant
In particular, the document suggests the rediscovery of Gregorian chant, as it "fulfills these needs" and, therefore, can "serve as a model," quoting Pope John Paul II.
In No. 61, the text states that in the responses to the questionnaire with which they concluded the synod's first preparatory text, "some lamented the poor quality of translations of liturgical texts and many musical texts in current languages, maintaining that they lacked beauty and were sometimes theologically unclear, thereby contributing to a weakening of Church teaching and to a misunderstanding of prayer."
The paper refers in particular to youth Masses, stressing the need "to avoid musical forms which, because of their profane use, are not conducive to prayer."
"Some responses," it adds, "note a certain eagerness in composing new songs, to the point of almost yielding to a consumer mentality, showing little concern for the quality of the music and text, and easily overlooking the artistic patrimony which has been theologically and musically effective in the Church's liturgy."
Attn: Peter, Paul and Mary: The idea is to remove profane music
Working Paper Suggests Return to More Prayerful Hymns
VATICAN CITY, JULY 22, 2005 (Zenit.org).- The working paper of the next Synod of Bishops suggests that "songs used at present" in the liturgy should "be reconsidered."
The proposal appears in No. 60 of the working document for the assembly of bishops from all over the world, which will be held Oct. 2-23 in Rome, on the theme "The Eucharist: Source and Summit of the Life and Mission of the Church."
Based on responses from dioceses, religious and the laity to a questionnaire, the text acknowledges in No. 61 that "to enter into sacred or religious usage, instrumental or vocal music is to have a sense of prayer, dignity and beauty."
In the liturgy, music must have "integrity of form, expressing true artistry, corresponding to the various rites and capable of adaptation to the legitimate demands of inculturation, … without detracting from the idea of universality," the document states.
The working paper, published July 7, outlines the topics that the bishops will discuss during the assembly.
In connection with the question of liturgical singing, the paper states that "musicians and poets should be encouraged to compose new hymns, according to liturgical standards, which contain authentic catechetical teaching on the paschal mystery, Sunday and the Eucharist."
Gregorian chant
In particular, the document suggests the rediscovery of Gregorian chant, as it "fulfills these needs" and, therefore, can "serve as a model," quoting Pope John Paul II.
In No. 61, the text states that in the responses to the questionnaire with which they concluded the synod's first preparatory text, "some lamented the poor quality of translations of liturgical texts and many musical texts in current languages, maintaining that they lacked beauty and were sometimes theologically unclear, thereby contributing to a weakening of Church teaching and to a misunderstanding of prayer."
The paper refers in particular to youth Masses, stressing the need "to avoid musical forms which, because of their profane use, are not conducive to prayer."
"Some responses," it adds, "note a certain eagerness in composing new songs, to the point of almost yielding to a consumer mentality, showing little concern for the quality of the music and text, and easily overlooking the artistic patrimony which has been theologically and musically effective in the Church's liturgy."
Tuesday, May 24, 2005
Cardinal to Boycott Graduation
Cardinal Keeler will boycott the Loyola University Graduation because Rudolf Guliani is the commencement speaker.
I am not sure I agree with this. Rudolf Guliani maybe pro-choice but he is not against people holding pro-life views. I think that is what is most important. Mother Theresa was booed at Harvard but she was allowed to speak. Here is an excerpt from an interview with her and Time magazine
"Time: You and John Paul II, among other Church leaders, have spoken out against certain lifestyles in the West, against materialism and abortion. How alarmed are you?
Mother Teresa: I always say one thing: If a mother can kill her own child, then what is left of the West to be destroyed? It is difficult to explain , but it is just that.
Time: When you spoke at Harvard University a few years ago, you said abortion was a great evil and people booed. What did you think when people booed you?
Mother Teresa: I offered it to our Lord. It's all for Him, no? I let Him say what He wants.
Time: But these people who booed you would say that they also only want the best for women?
Mother Teresa: That may be. But we must tell the truth.
Time: And that is?
Mother Teresa: We have no right to kill. Thou shalt not kill, a commandment of God. And still should we kill the helpless one, the little one? You see we get so excited because people are throwing bombs and so many are being killed. For the grown ups, there is so much excitement in the world. But that little one in the womb, not even a sound? He cannot even escape. That child is the poorest of the poor. "
I am not sure I agree with this. Rudolf Guliani maybe pro-choice but he is not against people holding pro-life views. I think that is what is most important. Mother Theresa was booed at Harvard but she was allowed to speak. Here is an excerpt from an interview with her and Time magazine
"Time: You and John Paul II, among other Church leaders, have spoken out against certain lifestyles in the West, against materialism and abortion. How alarmed are you?
Mother Teresa: I always say one thing: If a mother can kill her own child, then what is left of the West to be destroyed? It is difficult to explain , but it is just that.
Time: When you spoke at Harvard University a few years ago, you said abortion was a great evil and people booed. What did you think when people booed you?
Mother Teresa: I offered it to our Lord. It's all for Him, no? I let Him say what He wants.
Time: But these people who booed you would say that they also only want the best for women?
Mother Teresa: That may be. But we must tell the truth.
Time: And that is?
Mother Teresa: We have no right to kill. Thou shalt not kill, a commandment of God. And still should we kill the helpless one, the little one? You see we get so excited because people are throwing bombs and so many are being killed. For the grown ups, there is so much excitement in the world. But that little one in the womb, not even a sound? He cannot even escape. That child is the poorest of the poor. "
Friday, May 13, 2005
Archbishop (soon Cardinal) Levada Promoted
Archbishop Levada has been appointed the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. This is good news. I am sure he is glad to go even though I am sure he will miss San Francisco. We wish him well in his new endeavor. I have only met him twice. But both times he seemed somewhat distant and more than anything diplomatic. But always seemed like he was in a hurry to get somewhere else.
We will survey his tenure here later.
We will survey his tenure here later.
Monday, May 09, 2005
10 Years of Baptism Invalid
How Does Your Church Baptize?
Archbishop John Bathersby of Brisbane, Australia commented to the press that baptisms performed at St. Mary's Church for the past 10 years were invalid and re-baptism would be needed. This was according to canonical advice he received. The Archbishop said, "The words of scripture can't be adjusted to suit our own taste. The next thing we'll be getting rid of is Christ himself."
For more than a decade, Fr. Peter Kennedy had been baptiz-ing infants by saying: "In the name of the Creator, Liberator and Sustainer", rather than, In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit."
In November, Archbishop Bathersby published a letter in which he said that it was up to the priest and to the people if they wished to remain in communion with the Catholic Church. "They either want to be in communion or not. If they decide that they don't want to follow the authority of the Church, then they have made the choice not to be a part of the uni-versal Church."
Does your priest baptize "in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit"?
Archbishop John Bathersby of Brisbane, Australia commented to the press that baptisms performed at St. Mary's Church for the past 10 years were invalid and re-baptism would be needed. This was according to canonical advice he received. The Archbishop said, "The words of scripture can't be adjusted to suit our own taste. The next thing we'll be getting rid of is Christ himself."
For more than a decade, Fr. Peter Kennedy had been baptiz-ing infants by saying: "In the name of the Creator, Liberator and Sustainer", rather than, In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit."
In November, Archbishop Bathersby published a letter in which he said that it was up to the priest and to the people if they wished to remain in communion with the Catholic Church. "They either want to be in communion or not. If they decide that they don't want to follow the authority of the Church, then they have made the choice not to be a part of the uni-versal Church."
Does your priest baptize "in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit"?
Thursday, April 28, 2005
Voice of the Faithful's Prayers Answered
This nice prayer for the Voice of the Faithful seems to have been answered. That was a quick election in which a pope was elected with what reports to be 80% of the Cardinal's votes. The Holy Spirit gave the church the leader we need to bring us all closer to Christ. Thank You VOTF
A Litany for the Faithful
At the time of the Conclave
R: God of Wisdom, God of Mercy, God of Justice, hear our prayer.
Lead us, as the Body of Christ, to raise our “voices” in prayer, helping us to be active participants in the selection of the successor to the chair of St. Peter.
R: God of Wisdom, God of Mercy, God of Justice, hear our prayer.
Let the hearts and minds of the Cardinal/Bishops gathered be truly open to the work of your Holy Spirit in their midst as they accept the important work of choosing new leadership for your Church, your people.
R: God of Wisdom, God of Mercy, God of Justice, hear our prayer. Let the Spirit of Wis
dom, Compassion and Openness dwell among all your bishops as they contemplate the needs of your Church; help them be responsive to the prayers of the People of God.
R: God of Wisdom, God of Mercy, God of Justice, hear our prayer.
May the “Sensum Fidelium” inform the deliberations of the leaders of our church in conclave, may the “faithful’s voice” be heard and the genuine needs of the People of God be at the center of all deliberations.
R: God of Wisdom, God of Mercy, God of Justice, hear our prayer.
May the Gospel values of love, justice, inclusion, mercy, reconciliation and communion guide the collaboration and vision of those who are called to elect a new Pontiff.
R: God of Wisdom, God of Mercy, God of Justice, hear our prayer
Instill in the People of God a genuine sense of hope as they look to the future; hope in the Risen Christ who we meet along our own road to Emmaus this Easter season; hope in the Spirit of the Risen Christ that dwells in and among us and is with us all ways, until the end of time.
A Litany for the Faithful
At the time of the Conclave
R: God of Wisdom, God of Mercy, God of Justice, hear our prayer.
Lead us, as the Body of Christ, to raise our “voices” in prayer, helping us to be active participants in the selection of the successor to the chair of St. Peter.
R: God of Wisdom, God of Mercy, God of Justice, hear our prayer.
Let the hearts and minds of the Cardinal/Bishops gathered be truly open to the work of your Holy Spirit in their midst as they accept the important work of choosing new leadership for your Church, your people.
R: God of Wisdom, God of Mercy, God of Justice, hear our prayer. Let the Spirit of Wis
dom, Compassion and Openness dwell among all your bishops as they contemplate the needs of your Church; help them be responsive to the prayers of the People of God.
R: God of Wisdom, God of Mercy, God of Justice, hear our prayer.
May the “Sensum Fidelium” inform the deliberations of the leaders of our church in conclave, may the “faithful’s voice” be heard and the genuine needs of the People of God be at the center of all deliberations.
R: God of Wisdom, God of Mercy, God of Justice, hear our prayer.
May the Gospel values of love, justice, inclusion, mercy, reconciliation and communion guide the collaboration and vision of those who are called to elect a new Pontiff.
R: God of Wisdom, God of Mercy, God of Justice, hear our prayer
Instill in the People of God a genuine sense of hope as they look to the future; hope in the Risen Christ who we meet along our own road to Emmaus this Easter season; hope in the Spirit of the Risen Christ that dwells in and among us and is with us all ways, until the end of time.
Wednesday, April 27, 2005
Pope Benedict XVI - Ideas on Liturgy when Cardinal Ratzinger
This is a review Cardinal Ratzinger wrote Versus Deum per Iesum Christum.
Versus Deum per Iesum Christum
“The latest direction of liturgical action, never expressed to such an extent in the outer forms, is the same for the priest and for the people: towards the Lord”. The introduction of the dean of the Sacred College to the book of Uwe Michael Lang
by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (Now Pope Benedict XVI)
To the ordinary churchgoer, the two most obvious effects of the liturgical reform of the Second Vatican Council seem to be the disappearance of Latin and the turning of the altars towards the people. Those who read the relevant texts will be astonished to learn that neither is in fact found in the decrees of the Council. The use of the vernacular is certainly permitted, especially for the Liturgy of the Word; but the preceding general rule of the Council text says, ‘Particular law remaining in force, the use of the Latin language is to be preserved in the Latin rites’ (Sacrosanctum Concilium, 36.1). There is nothing in the Council text about turning altars towards the people; that point is raised only in post-conciliar instructions. The most important directive is found in paragraph 262 of the Institutio Generalis Missalis Romani, the General Instruction of the new Roman Missal, issued in 1969. That says, ‘It is better for the main altar to be constructed away from the wall so that one can easily walk around the altar and celebrate facing the people (versus populum).’ The General Instruction of the Missal issued in 2002 retained this text unaltered except for the addition of the subordinate clause, ‘which is desirable wherever possible’. This was taken in many quarters as hardening the 1969 text to mean that there was now a general obligation to set up altars facing the people ‘wherever possible’. This interpretation, however, was rejected by the Congregation for Divine Worship on 25 September 2000, when it declared that the word ‘expedit’ (‘is desirable’) did not imply an obligation but only made a suggestion. The physical orientation, the Congregation says, must be distinguished from the spiritual. Even if a priest celebrates versus populum, he should always be oriented versus Deum per Iesum Christum (towards God through Jesus Christ). Rites, signs, symbols and words can never exhaust the inner reality of the mystery of salvation. For this reason the Congregation warns against one-sided and rigid positions in this debate.
This is an important clarification. It sheds light on what is relative in the external symbolic forms of the liturgy and resists the fanaticisms that, unfortunately, have not been uncommon in the controversies of the last forty years. At the same time it highlights the internal direction of liturgical action, which can never be expressed in its totality by external forms. This internal direction is the same for priest and people, towards the Lord – towards the Father through Christ in the Holy Spirit. The Congregation’s response should thus make for a new, more relaxed discussion, in which we can search for the best ways of putting into practice the mystery of salvation. The quest is to be achieved not by condemning one another, but by carefully listening to each other and, even more importantly, listening to the internal guidance of the liturgy itself. The labelling of positions as ‘preconciliar’, ‘reactionary’ and ‘conservative’ or as ‘progressive’ and ‘alien to the faith’ achieves nothing; what is needed is a new mutual openness in the search for the best realisation of the memorial of Christ.
This small book by Uwe Michael Lang, a member of the London Oratory, studies the direction of liturgical prayer from a historical, theological and pastoral point of view. At a propitious moment, as it seems to me, this book resumes a debate that, despite appearances to the contrary, has never really gone away, not even after the Second Vatican Council. The Innsbruck liturgist Josef Andreas Jungmann, one of the architects of the Council’s Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, was from the very beginning resolutely opposed to the polemical catchphrase that previously the priest celebrated ‘with his back to the people’; he emphasised that what was at issue was not the priest turning away from the people, but, on the contrary, his facing the same direction as the people. The Liturgy of the Word has the character of proclamation and dialogue, to which address and response can rightly belong. But in the Liturgy of the Eucharist the priest leads the people in prayer and is turned, together with the people, towards the Lord. For this reason, Jungmann argued, the common direction of priest and people is intrinsically fitting and proper to the liturgical action. Louis Bouyer (like Jungmann, one of the Council’s leading liturgists) and Klaus Gamber have each in his own way taken up the same question. Despite their great reputation, they were unable to make their voices heard at first, so strong was the tendency to stress the communality of the liturgical celebration and to regard therefore the face-to-face position of priest and people as absolutely necessary.
More recently the atmosphere has become more relaxed so that it is possible to raise the kind of questions asked by Jungmann, Bouyer and Gamber without at once being suspected of anti-conciliar sentiments. Historical research has made the controversy less partisan, and among the faithful there is an increasing sense of the problems inherent in an arrangement that hardly shows the liturgy to be open to the things that are above and to the world to come. In this situation, Uwe Michael Lang’s delightfully objective and wholly unpolemical book is a valuable guide. Without claiming to offer major new insights, he carefully presents the results of recent research and provides the material necessary for making an informed judgment. The book is especially valuable in showing the contribution made by the Church of England to this question and in giving, also, due consideration to the part played by the Oxford Movement in the nineteenth century (in which the conversion of John Henry Newman matured). It is from such historical evidence that the author elicits the theological answers that he proposes, and I hope that the book, the work of a young scholar, will help the struggle – necessary in every generation – for the right understanding and worthy celebration of the sacred liturgy. I wish the book a wide and attentive readership.
The text of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger printed in these pages, unpublished in Italy, is the preface which the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith wrote for Uwe Michael Lang’s book Conversi ad Dominum. Zu Gechichte und Theologie der christlichen Gebetsrichtung, published last year in Switzerland by Johannes Verlag in Einsiedeln. The English version of the book (Turning towards the Lord: Orientation in Liturgical Prayer) is coming out with the Ignatius Press publishing house of San Francisco (USA), which holds the copyright of the book.
Uwe Michael Lang is a member of the Oratory of Saint Filippo Neri in London, studied theology in Vienna and Oxford, and has published numerous texts on patristic subjects.
Versus Deum per Iesum Christum
“The latest direction of liturgical action, never expressed to such an extent in the outer forms, is the same for the priest and for the people: towards the Lord”. The introduction of the dean of the Sacred College to the book of Uwe Michael Lang
by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (Now Pope Benedict XVI)
To the ordinary churchgoer, the two most obvious effects of the liturgical reform of the Second Vatican Council seem to be the disappearance of Latin and the turning of the altars towards the people. Those who read the relevant texts will be astonished to learn that neither is in fact found in the decrees of the Council. The use of the vernacular is certainly permitted, especially for the Liturgy of the Word; but the preceding general rule of the Council text says, ‘Particular law remaining in force, the use of the Latin language is to be preserved in the Latin rites’ (Sacrosanctum Concilium, 36.1). There is nothing in the Council text about turning altars towards the people; that point is raised only in post-conciliar instructions. The most important directive is found in paragraph 262 of the Institutio Generalis Missalis Romani, the General Instruction of the new Roman Missal, issued in 1969. That says, ‘It is better for the main altar to be constructed away from the wall so that one can easily walk around the altar and celebrate facing the people (versus populum).’ The General Instruction of the Missal issued in 2002 retained this text unaltered except for the addition of the subordinate clause, ‘which is desirable wherever possible’. This was taken in many quarters as hardening the 1969 text to mean that there was now a general obligation to set up altars facing the people ‘wherever possible’. This interpretation, however, was rejected by the Congregation for Divine Worship on 25 September 2000, when it declared that the word ‘expedit’ (‘is desirable’) did not imply an obligation but only made a suggestion. The physical orientation, the Congregation says, must be distinguished from the spiritual. Even if a priest celebrates versus populum, he should always be oriented versus Deum per Iesum Christum (towards God through Jesus Christ). Rites, signs, symbols and words can never exhaust the inner reality of the mystery of salvation. For this reason the Congregation warns against one-sided and rigid positions in this debate.
This is an important clarification. It sheds light on what is relative in the external symbolic forms of the liturgy and resists the fanaticisms that, unfortunately, have not been uncommon in the controversies of the last forty years. At the same time it highlights the internal direction of liturgical action, which can never be expressed in its totality by external forms. This internal direction is the same for priest and people, towards the Lord – towards the Father through Christ in the Holy Spirit. The Congregation’s response should thus make for a new, more relaxed discussion, in which we can search for the best ways of putting into practice the mystery of salvation. The quest is to be achieved not by condemning one another, but by carefully listening to each other and, even more importantly, listening to the internal guidance of the liturgy itself. The labelling of positions as ‘preconciliar’, ‘reactionary’ and ‘conservative’ or as ‘progressive’ and ‘alien to the faith’ achieves nothing; what is needed is a new mutual openness in the search for the best realisation of the memorial of Christ.
This small book by Uwe Michael Lang, a member of the London Oratory, studies the direction of liturgical prayer from a historical, theological and pastoral point of view. At a propitious moment, as it seems to me, this book resumes a debate that, despite appearances to the contrary, has never really gone away, not even after the Second Vatican Council. The Innsbruck liturgist Josef Andreas Jungmann, one of the architects of the Council’s Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, was from the very beginning resolutely opposed to the polemical catchphrase that previously the priest celebrated ‘with his back to the people’; he emphasised that what was at issue was not the priest turning away from the people, but, on the contrary, his facing the same direction as the people. The Liturgy of the Word has the character of proclamation and dialogue, to which address and response can rightly belong. But in the Liturgy of the Eucharist the priest leads the people in prayer and is turned, together with the people, towards the Lord. For this reason, Jungmann argued, the common direction of priest and people is intrinsically fitting and proper to the liturgical action. Louis Bouyer (like Jungmann, one of the Council’s leading liturgists) and Klaus Gamber have each in his own way taken up the same question. Despite their great reputation, they were unable to make their voices heard at first, so strong was the tendency to stress the communality of the liturgical celebration and to regard therefore the face-to-face position of priest and people as absolutely necessary.
More recently the atmosphere has become more relaxed so that it is possible to raise the kind of questions asked by Jungmann, Bouyer and Gamber without at once being suspected of anti-conciliar sentiments. Historical research has made the controversy less partisan, and among the faithful there is an increasing sense of the problems inherent in an arrangement that hardly shows the liturgy to be open to the things that are above and to the world to come. In this situation, Uwe Michael Lang’s delightfully objective and wholly unpolemical book is a valuable guide. Without claiming to offer major new insights, he carefully presents the results of recent research and provides the material necessary for making an informed judgment. The book is especially valuable in showing the contribution made by the Church of England to this question and in giving, also, due consideration to the part played by the Oxford Movement in the nineteenth century (in which the conversion of John Henry Newman matured). It is from such historical evidence that the author elicits the theological answers that he proposes, and I hope that the book, the work of a young scholar, will help the struggle – necessary in every generation – for the right understanding and worthy celebration of the sacred liturgy. I wish the book a wide and attentive readership.
The text of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger printed in these pages, unpublished in Italy, is the preface which the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith wrote for Uwe Michael Lang’s book Conversi ad Dominum. Zu Gechichte und Theologie der christlichen Gebetsrichtung, published last year in Switzerland by Johannes Verlag in Einsiedeln. The English version of the book (Turning towards the Lord: Orientation in Liturgical Prayer) is coming out with the Ignatius Press publishing house of San Francisco (USA), which holds the copyright of the book.
Uwe Michael Lang is a member of the Oratory of Saint Filippo Neri in London, studied theology in Vienna and Oxford, and has published numerous texts on patristic subjects.
Tuesday, April 26, 2005
Benedict election as Pope seen as "coup, by an all-male, patriarchal, clerical church"
I think it is generally unfair to characterize opposing viewpoints by their most extreme adherents or the most absurd end of their spectrum. Therefore, the following should be read in jest, even though the authors are quite serious.
This is from the "Open Conclave" movement of feminists called Woman Church Convergence
"
Press Release of Women-Church Convergence
April 19, 2005
Women-Church Announces Cyberspace Forum on Women’s Equality; Challenges Pope Benedict XVI to Join the Discussion
Contact:
Bridget Mary Meehan 703-671-1972 703-283-2929 sofiabmm@aol.com
Mary E. Hunt 301-589-2509 240-472-4587 mhunt@hers.com
Women-Church Convergence announces a cyberspace forum for a global conversation on issues, reforms and actions needed to shape the Catholic Church into a “discipleship of equals” in the twenty-first century www.women-churchconvergence.org.
Women-Church co-coordinator Bridget Mary Meehan asserted, “We are providing a forum for feminist voices around the world to join together in the work for Gospel equality and justice in our church and world. Women-Church Convergence invites Pope Benedict XVI to join in this dialogue.” Spurred by the success of the Women-Church on-line “Open Conclave” that facilitated the exchange of opinions among thousands of people while the cardinals sat in a locked room, feminist theologian Mary E. Hunt noted, “The Convergence sees this next step as modeling a new, 21st century way to be church where all are welcome.”
Women-Church Convergence is alarmed at the election of Pope Benedict XVI. We believe that the Spirit of God acts through the people of God and this selection reflects a reactionary-right-wing succession plan, perhaps a coup, by an all-male, patriarchal, clerical church.
As prefect of the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger released a letter on July 31, 2004, condemning feminism. As the enforcer of orthodoxy, he forbade the discussion of women-priests. We reject both the substance and the process of such teaching and assure concerned people of good will that such authoritarianism has no place in the Catholic community.
Women-Church Convergence calls on Pope Benedict XVI to distance himself from his former role as the arbiter of doctrine and to take on the mantle of a pastoral listener. Women-Church invites the new pope, whose role is to be a symbol of unity, to join in the dialogue and actions to bring about equality and partnership for women in all aspects of church life, including ordination to a renewed priestly ministry. Instead of condemning feminism, we expect Pope Benedict XVI to affirm the important values that Catholic feminists bring to the table and to recognize our leadership. A first step would be to invite Catholic feminists to fill fifty percent of the leadership roles in all Catholic institutions, beginning with the Curia.
Women-Church Convergence is a coalition of autonomous Catholic-rooted organizations/groups working for the empowerment of women in church and society.
This is from the "Open Conclave" movement of feminists called Woman Church Convergence
"
Press Release of Women-Church Convergence
April 19, 2005
Women-Church Announces Cyberspace Forum on Women’s Equality; Challenges Pope Benedict XVI to Join the Discussion
Contact:
Bridget Mary Meehan 703-671-1972 703-283-2929 sofiabmm@aol.com
Mary E. Hunt 301-589-2509 240-472-4587 mhunt@hers.com
Women-Church Convergence announces a cyberspace forum for a global conversation on issues, reforms and actions needed to shape the Catholic Church into a “discipleship of equals” in the twenty-first century www.women-churchconvergence.org.
Women-Church co-coordinator Bridget Mary Meehan asserted, “We are providing a forum for feminist voices around the world to join together in the work for Gospel equality and justice in our church and world. Women-Church Convergence invites Pope Benedict XVI to join in this dialogue.” Spurred by the success of the Women-Church on-line “Open Conclave” that facilitated the exchange of opinions among thousands of people while the cardinals sat in a locked room, feminist theologian Mary E. Hunt noted, “The Convergence sees this next step as modeling a new, 21st century way to be church where all are welcome.”
Women-Church Convergence is alarmed at the election of Pope Benedict XVI. We believe that the Spirit of God acts through the people of God and this selection reflects a reactionary-right-wing succession plan, perhaps a coup, by an all-male, patriarchal, clerical church.
As prefect of the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger released a letter on July 31, 2004, condemning feminism. As the enforcer of orthodoxy, he forbade the discussion of women-priests. We reject both the substance and the process of such teaching and assure concerned people of good will that such authoritarianism has no place in the Catholic community.
Women-Church Convergence calls on Pope Benedict XVI to distance himself from his former role as the arbiter of doctrine and to take on the mantle of a pastoral listener. Women-Church invites the new pope, whose role is to be a symbol of unity, to join in the dialogue and actions to bring about equality and partnership for women in all aspects of church life, including ordination to a renewed priestly ministry. Instead of condemning feminism, we expect Pope Benedict XVI to affirm the important values that Catholic feminists bring to the table and to recognize our leadership. A first step would be to invite Catholic feminists to fill fifty percent of the leadership roles in all Catholic institutions, beginning with the Curia.
Women-Church Convergence is a coalition of autonomous Catholic-rooted organizations/groups working for the empowerment of women in church and society.
Thursday, April 07, 2005
Clinton on Pope JPII's Mixed Legacy
See original article
"En route to Rome, Clinton told reporters the pope “centralized authority in the papacy again and enforced a very conservative theological doctrine. There will be debates about that. The number of Catholics increased by 250 million on his watch. But the numbers of priests didn't. He's like all of us - he may have a mixed legacy.”
I wonder if Clinton realizes that the growth in the number of priests is most affected from below not above. Parish priests inspire young men and the bishop's set up a process whereby these young men are prepared and made priests. Look at Bishop Carlson, now of Saginaw, and other bishops who have ordained many men in small diocese. See Detroit Times
According to the Dodge Study on the ordained class of 2004, 70%-75% percent of the men ordained had been altar boys and 70%-80% of the men said that a priest initiated the discussion regarding becoming a priest. see pdf of report
This also ignores the many men who have approached diocese in the past but lacked the will to play by certain rules in order to become priests, as Michael Rose points out in his NY Times Best Seller Goodbye Good Men.
Add to that the general confusion after the Second Vatican Council and the ongoing debates in the church over the identity of the Priest before and after the Council. I remember when I first told my parish priest that I wanted to become a priest he told me that I should become a counselor instead. He told me I would be helping people more. He left the priesthood within a month of that conversation. Most of the parish priests I had as a child left the priesthood in the 70's.
What John Paul II did was reverse the identity crisis that he referred to in his first encyclical letter Redempto Hominis
"... in spite of the various internal weaknesses that affected her in the postconciliar period. ...At times this awareness has proved stronger than the various critical attitudes attacking ab intra, internally, the Church, her institutions and structures, and ecclesiastics and their activities. This growing criticism was certainly due to various causes and we are furthermore sure that it was not always without sincere love for the Church. Undoubtedly one of the tendencies it displayed was to overcome what has been called triumphalism, about which there was frequent discussion during the Council. While it is right that, in accordance with the example of her Master, who is "humble in heart"13, the Church also should have humility as her foundation, that she should have a critical sense with regard to all that goes to make up her human character and activity, and that she should always be very demanding on herself, nevertheless criticism too should have its just limits. Otherwise it ceases to be constructive and does not reveal truth, love and thankfulness for the grace in which we become sharers principally and fully in and through the Church. Furthermore such criticism does not express an attitude of service but rather a wish to direct the opinion of others in accordance with one's own, which is at times spread abroad in too thoughtless a manner."
Through is strong example and voluminous writings he taught us to be firm in our faith and our fidelity to the tradition of the church without the triumphalism of those who look at the church in an us vs. them mentality.
Who knows how many priests there would be without him. But we are sure that Our Lord, "would not leave us orphans," and still "the harvest is many but the laborers are few." We must "pray to the Lord of the Harvest" to send generous souls to be priests and religious. For the Lord is doing the planting, we just have to harvest.
"En route to Rome, Clinton told reporters the pope “centralized authority in the papacy again and enforced a very conservative theological doctrine. There will be debates about that. The number of Catholics increased by 250 million on his watch. But the numbers of priests didn't. He's like all of us - he may have a mixed legacy.”
I wonder if Clinton realizes that the growth in the number of priests is most affected from below not above. Parish priests inspire young men and the bishop's set up a process whereby these young men are prepared and made priests. Look at Bishop Carlson, now of Saginaw, and other bishops who have ordained many men in small diocese. See Detroit Times
According to the Dodge Study on the ordained class of 2004, 70%-75% percent of the men ordained had been altar boys and 70%-80% of the men said that a priest initiated the discussion regarding becoming a priest. see pdf of report
This also ignores the many men who have approached diocese in the past but lacked the will to play by certain rules in order to become priests, as Michael Rose points out in his NY Times Best Seller Goodbye Good Men.
Add to that the general confusion after the Second Vatican Council and the ongoing debates in the church over the identity of the Priest before and after the Council. I remember when I first told my parish priest that I wanted to become a priest he told me that I should become a counselor instead. He told me I would be helping people more. He left the priesthood within a month of that conversation. Most of the parish priests I had as a child left the priesthood in the 70's.
What John Paul II did was reverse the identity crisis that he referred to in his first encyclical letter Redempto Hominis
"... in spite of the various internal weaknesses that affected her in the postconciliar period. ...At times this awareness has proved stronger than the various critical attitudes attacking ab intra, internally, the Church, her institutions and structures, and ecclesiastics and their activities. This growing criticism was certainly due to various causes and we are furthermore sure that it was not always without sincere love for the Church. Undoubtedly one of the tendencies it displayed was to overcome what has been called triumphalism, about which there was frequent discussion during the Council. While it is right that, in accordance with the example of her Master, who is "humble in heart"13, the Church also should have humility as her foundation, that she should have a critical sense with regard to all that goes to make up her human character and activity, and that she should always be very demanding on herself, nevertheless criticism too should have its just limits. Otherwise it ceases to be constructive and does not reveal truth, love and thankfulness for the grace in which we become sharers principally and fully in and through the Church. Furthermore such criticism does not express an attitude of service but rather a wish to direct the opinion of others in accordance with one's own, which is at times spread abroad in too thoughtless a manner."
Through is strong example and voluminous writings he taught us to be firm in our faith and our fidelity to the tradition of the church without the triumphalism of those who look at the church in an us vs. them mentality.
Who knows how many priests there would be without him. But we are sure that Our Lord, "would not leave us orphans," and still "the harvest is many but the laborers are few." We must "pray to the Lord of the Harvest" to send generous souls to be priests and religious. For the Lord is doing the planting, we just have to harvest.
The Pope and the Nobel Prize
Looking at the news and the millions of people around the globe mourning the Pope and the encomiums filing in from everyone, I can't help but to think that maybe the Nobel Prize committee made a mistake when they did not give the Holy Father the Nobel Peace Prize this past time. See story
What struck me was Senator Dodd's statement that he met the Pope in 1983 and gave him a message from Lech Walesa:(See Story)
"Lech Walesa wanted to know if his solidarity movement was overusing the church," said Dodd. He said the pope's answer was no, he was not concerned that the churches -- often meeting places for the solidarity movement -- were being misused.
"He was already sowing the seeds for the critical role he played in that," recalled Dodd, who still carries rosary beads that the pontiff gave him. "No one deserves more credit than the pope for bringing to an end the cold war."
Not that he brought down the Iron Curtain but his support for Solidarity certainly made the Soviet's keep from sending troops there, hastening the demise of Poland's communist government and from there the rest of Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union itself. see story
It was most certainly the fatigue of a unworkable system that eventually make the communist governments collapse but the actual events were spurred by international figures like Ronald Reagan and Pope John Paul II.
That is not the whole story. John Paul inspired so many people to heights of devotion and heroism from his example, teaching and leading that lit so many lights around the globe. These bishops, priests, religious and lay people are the true story of JPII's influence for peace in the world. In his role of "confirming his brethren" he strengthened the message and focus of the Church toward "a preferential option for the poor" while at the same time defending life from conception to natural death.
His reaching out to other religions and spiritual leaders, despite real differences of opinion should be seen as an example that people who fundamentally disagree can work and pray together for peace in the world.
Why should Arafat receive the Nobel Peace Prize for socking away billions in Swiss bank accounts while fomenting hatred in the middle east by paying suicide bombers and encouraging war to keep his own position of power. There are countless people around the globe like Iranian Human Rights crusader, Shirin Ebadi (2003 recipient)and Professor Wangari Maathai, of Kenya. And it is god that the Nobel Committee named them, but there was only one Pope John Paul II and he was clearly and publicly near the end of his life over the last couple of years. So if Ebadi or Maathai had to wait one year, what was the difference.
I assume that he did not get the prize because of his stand on contraception, defense of the unborn and a more conservative moral philosophy with regards to sex outside of a monogamous relationship between a man and a woman.
The great outpouring of grief and support for the Holy Father should give the Nobel Committee cause to pause and reflect that maybe they put themselves onto the margins of the 20th Centuries great currents and missed one of its greatest leaders.
After all, if he wanted to plant 10 million trees he would have just had to get 1% of the Catholics to plant a tree. Maybe then he would have gotten the prize. Instead he planted the seed of hope and peace in the hearts of millions of people around the globe that will replicate for generations.
What struck me was Senator Dodd's statement that he met the Pope in 1983 and gave him a message from Lech Walesa:(See Story)
"Lech Walesa wanted to know if his solidarity movement was overusing the church," said Dodd. He said the pope's answer was no, he was not concerned that the churches -- often meeting places for the solidarity movement -- were being misused.
"He was already sowing the seeds for the critical role he played in that," recalled Dodd, who still carries rosary beads that the pontiff gave him. "No one deserves more credit than the pope for bringing to an end the cold war."
Not that he brought down the Iron Curtain but his support for Solidarity certainly made the Soviet's keep from sending troops there, hastening the demise of Poland's communist government and from there the rest of Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union itself. see story
It was most certainly the fatigue of a unworkable system that eventually make the communist governments collapse but the actual events were spurred by international figures like Ronald Reagan and Pope John Paul II.
That is not the whole story. John Paul inspired so many people to heights of devotion and heroism from his example, teaching and leading that lit so many lights around the globe. These bishops, priests, religious and lay people are the true story of JPII's influence for peace in the world. In his role of "confirming his brethren" he strengthened the message and focus of the Church toward "a preferential option for the poor" while at the same time defending life from conception to natural death.
His reaching out to other religions and spiritual leaders, despite real differences of opinion should be seen as an example that people who fundamentally disagree can work and pray together for peace in the world.
Why should Arafat receive the Nobel Peace Prize for socking away billions in Swiss bank accounts while fomenting hatred in the middle east by paying suicide bombers and encouraging war to keep his own position of power. There are countless people around the globe like Iranian Human Rights crusader, Shirin Ebadi (2003 recipient)and Professor Wangari Maathai, of Kenya. And it is god that the Nobel Committee named them, but there was only one Pope John Paul II and he was clearly and publicly near the end of his life over the last couple of years. So if Ebadi or Maathai had to wait one year, what was the difference.
I assume that he did not get the prize because of his stand on contraception, defense of the unborn and a more conservative moral philosophy with regards to sex outside of a monogamous relationship between a man and a woman.
The great outpouring of grief and support for the Holy Father should give the Nobel Committee cause to pause and reflect that maybe they put themselves onto the margins of the 20th Centuries great currents and missed one of its greatest leaders.
After all, if he wanted to plant 10 million trees he would have just had to get 1% of the Catholics to plant a tree. Maybe then he would have gotten the prize. Instead he planted the seed of hope and peace in the hearts of millions of people around the globe that will replicate for generations.
Thursday, March 31, 2005
Major Computer Virus Issues
last week had disrupted the flow of stuff. more tommorrow. Let us Pray for the Holy Father who is deathly ill at this point. Latest News from Bloomberg.
Thursday, March 24, 2005
Schiavo, Roe vs. Wade and the Courts
As heard on the NewsHour
Judicial or political intervention
JIM LEHRER: In other words, the judge in Florida should not be resolving this; there should be a federal law of some kind that would resolve this?
DAVID BROOKS: Right. And I would say building off the abortion example, I mean, I personally believe if we had settled the abortion issue politically rather than judicially, we would have arrived at some sort of muddled solution, which was not either or and most Americans would be happy with it. And most Americans would regard it as a little more legitimate. And just people would feel happy with the law. And as with that birth issue, I think the same thing is true with this death issue.
JIM LEHRER: But, David, this issue involving Terri Schiavo has been going on for seven years and Congress did nothing until issuing some subpoenas today.
DAVID BROOKS: That's right. And there's an element of political grandstanding. But there's also an element of sincere belief. I mean, I'm personally sort of in the middle on this issue. I'm muddled. I confess I haven't really come to conclusions about this subject.
But I do, just thinking about it, why does there seem to be a presumption toward the death option when the woman's parents are willing to take care of her? Why can't we have a law that says the presumption is toward life unless you sign something and there's something very concrete that's definable in a court of law saying "No, I don't want these measures taken?" To me there should be a presumption toward life but everyone have the right to sign something, which makes it very cut and dry.
MARK SHIELDS: Jim, one thing, David used the term "grandstanding," which I think was probably kind. I went back and checked the files; Tom Delay had not spoken on this issue -- the House Republican Majority Leader, until Wednesday of this week. I mean, I think it's a great diversionary tactic for him.
I don't think there's any question he identifies himself with Palm Sunday, that there are people of deep religious conviction who believe that this is totally wrong and that somehow he wants to divert attention. I don't think there's any question about it. And the idea of subpoenaing Terri Schiavo is a grandstand.
But the issue remains, and I think David is right, a political resolution of the abortion issue would have resolved that. We were headed toward that on a state-by-state basis. Some states were going to legalize it under certain terms, others were going to legalize it totally in New York, and then we short circuited it by going to the courts. And I think this is a mistake here."
This is one of the most thoughtful discussions I have seen to date. Especially important because of the ideas that we have allowed the courts to become a world in themselves and so moral issues become issues of legal procedure. Legal procedure cannot solve moral dilemmas. David Brooks is quite right that the courts have a "presumption toward the death option" instead of a presumption toward life option.
Mary Ann Glendon has written well on exceptional nature of Roe vs. Wade and how at the time people knew it was a manufactured decision. I will try to find it later (here is a summary of some arguments) . We must be patient because this will take time. First the ultrasound is making people realize what is in the womb. See article Then as more and more people are uncomfortable it will become clear to our political leaders that there is no upside in supporting abortion and then there will be a tipping point where even the ones now supporting abortion will change there opnions. For many of them they will be changing back to what they said in the '70's when it was popular to be against abortion.
Most people have a strong sense of protecting life that they can clearly recognize as living and breathing human or animals. Or I would say all people with the exception of a few sociopaths. The isssues become cloudy at the edges. On the one hand it is life in the womb, which exists in reality but is more in potential than in actuality. On the other extreme it is life that seems burdensome to the totally healthy. Like in Terri Schiavo's case, or in the Pope's case for that matter. This latter issue will become more important as the population ages.
It is important that we develop a philosophy of life and communicate it in an interesting fashion so that people can understand that when thy undermine the two edges they undermine life as they would protect it now. This is a philosophical argument that is discussed in Ordinary Men. And other books that attempt to explain how ordinary people can do horrible things. However, it is impossible to have these debates while both sides are intransigent, which is the point made by both Brooks and Shields. By solving the issue in the courts we have taken it off the table.
Slowly but surley an entire generation of woman who developed their political ideology based on the "right to choose" have to become loving mothers and realize the errors of their ways in the loving eyes of their children and realize that their political position is unteneble with their developing concience.
And for some who have had abortions it will mean repenting of their sins and accept the forgiveness of God whose mercy is infinite. ("Come now, and let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." (Isa. 1.18))
Back to Schiavo
The judge should have seen using common sense that Michael Schiavo had questionable interest in the life of his wife. He had a financial interest for years. He was living with another woman and had two children with her. He is living in a virtual bigimous state. I don't say this to judge him just what the judge should consider. She left no explicit instructions so we are taking him at his word, yet his actions according to Terri's nurse are questionable.
On NPR the other day I heard a doctor talking about the "vegatative state" and he even pointed out that this was a terrible word because it gives people the wrong impression. I will research this topic.
Judicial or political intervention
JIM LEHRER: In other words, the judge in Florida should not be resolving this; there should be a federal law of some kind that would resolve this?
DAVID BROOKS: Right. And I would say building off the abortion example, I mean, I personally believe if we had settled the abortion issue politically rather than judicially, we would have arrived at some sort of muddled solution, which was not either or and most Americans would be happy with it. And most Americans would regard it as a little more legitimate. And just people would feel happy with the law. And as with that birth issue, I think the same thing is true with this death issue.
JIM LEHRER: But, David, this issue involving Terri Schiavo has been going on for seven years and Congress did nothing until issuing some subpoenas today.
DAVID BROOKS: That's right. And there's an element of political grandstanding. But there's also an element of sincere belief. I mean, I'm personally sort of in the middle on this issue. I'm muddled. I confess I haven't really come to conclusions about this subject.
But I do, just thinking about it, why does there seem to be a presumption toward the death option when the woman's parents are willing to take care of her? Why can't we have a law that says the presumption is toward life unless you sign something and there's something very concrete that's definable in a court of law saying "No, I don't want these measures taken?" To me there should be a presumption toward life but everyone have the right to sign something, which makes it very cut and dry.
MARK SHIELDS: Jim, one thing, David used the term "grandstanding," which I think was probably kind. I went back and checked the files; Tom Delay had not spoken on this issue -- the House Republican Majority Leader, until Wednesday of this week. I mean, I think it's a great diversionary tactic for him.
I don't think there's any question he identifies himself with Palm Sunday, that there are people of deep religious conviction who believe that this is totally wrong and that somehow he wants to divert attention. I don't think there's any question about it. And the idea of subpoenaing Terri Schiavo is a grandstand.
But the issue remains, and I think David is right, a political resolution of the abortion issue would have resolved that. We were headed toward that on a state-by-state basis. Some states were going to legalize it under certain terms, others were going to legalize it totally in New York, and then we short circuited it by going to the courts. And I think this is a mistake here."
This is one of the most thoughtful discussions I have seen to date. Especially important because of the ideas that we have allowed the courts to become a world in themselves and so moral issues become issues of legal procedure. Legal procedure cannot solve moral dilemmas. David Brooks is quite right that the courts have a "presumption toward the death option" instead of a presumption toward life option.
Mary Ann Glendon has written well on exceptional nature of Roe vs. Wade and how at the time people knew it was a manufactured decision. I will try to find it later (here is a summary of some arguments) . We must be patient because this will take time. First the ultrasound is making people realize what is in the womb. See article Then as more and more people are uncomfortable it will become clear to our political leaders that there is no upside in supporting abortion and then there will be a tipping point where even the ones now supporting abortion will change there opnions. For many of them they will be changing back to what they said in the '70's when it was popular to be against abortion.
Most people have a strong sense of protecting life that they can clearly recognize as living and breathing human or animals. Or I would say all people with the exception of a few sociopaths. The isssues become cloudy at the edges. On the one hand it is life in the womb, which exists in reality but is more in potential than in actuality. On the other extreme it is life that seems burdensome to the totally healthy. Like in Terri Schiavo's case, or in the Pope's case for that matter. This latter issue will become more important as the population ages.
It is important that we develop a philosophy of life and communicate it in an interesting fashion so that people can understand that when thy undermine the two edges they undermine life as they would protect it now. This is a philosophical argument that is discussed in Ordinary Men. And other books that attempt to explain how ordinary people can do horrible things. However, it is impossible to have these debates while both sides are intransigent, which is the point made by both Brooks and Shields. By solving the issue in the courts we have taken it off the table.
Slowly but surley an entire generation of woman who developed their political ideology based on the "right to choose" have to become loving mothers and realize the errors of their ways in the loving eyes of their children and realize that their political position is unteneble with their developing concience.
And for some who have had abortions it will mean repenting of their sins and accept the forgiveness of God whose mercy is infinite. ("Come now, and let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." (Isa. 1.18))
Back to Schiavo
The judge should have seen using common sense that Michael Schiavo had questionable interest in the life of his wife. He had a financial interest for years. He was living with another woman and had two children with her. He is living in a virtual bigimous state. I don't say this to judge him just what the judge should consider. She left no explicit instructions so we are taking him at his word, yet his actions according to Terri's nurse are questionable.
On NPR the other day I heard a doctor talking about the "vegatative state" and he even pointed out that this was a terrible word because it gives people the wrong impression. I will research this topic.
Supreme Court Rejects Schiavo Case
See Article
Not surprising since they have created a situation in which millions children have died since 1973 in their mother's womb. Not that it is all their fault for they have done what many people have wanted and each adult mother made her own choice. But what is the life of one woman to them. It is different with God. So we must pray for them.
Some of the Democrat leadership have totally abandoned life issues and so will continue to lose their clout in a country growing more weary of abortion. (The rise of pro-life Democrats) The Dems have changed from being at the forefront of protecting the innocent to really taking a cynically political attitude toward those who have no one to defend them, even while the Domocrats on the ground are more pro-life than the leadership See Poll
The legal positivism that has been used to support Michael Schiavo is unfortunate. The arguments are more about the role of the courts vs. the life a woman who has indicated that she wants to live.
For it is written:
Exodus 22
22 "Do not take advantage of a widow or an orphan. 23 If you do and they cry out to me, I will certainly hear their cry. 24 My anger will be aroused, and I will kill you with the sword; your wives will become widows and your children fatherless.
Jeremiah 1
4 The word of the LORD came to me, saying, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart;
James 1:27 (NIV)
Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
So let us pray for our leaders and all those who need our prayers to put an end to the abandonment of the sick, the old, the poor and the helpless.
Oramus
O Eternal God! O Eternal Trinity! Through the union of Thy divine nature Thou hast made so precious the Blood of Thine only-begotten Son! O eternal Trinity, Thou art as deep a mystery as the sea, in whom the more I seek, the more I find; and the more I find, the more I seek. For even immersed in the depths of Thee, my soul is never satisfied, always famished and hungering for Thee, eternal Trinity, wishing and desiring to see Thee, the True Light.
O eternal Trinity, with the light of understanding I have tasted and seen the depths of Thy mystery and the beauty of Thy creation. In seeing myself in Thee, I have seen that I will become like Thee. O eternal Father, from Thy power and Thy wisdom clearly Thou hast given to me a share of that wisdom which belongs to Thine Only-begotten Son. And truly hast the Holy Spirit, who procedeth from Thee, Father and Son, given to me the desire to love Thee.
O eternal Trinity, Thou art my maker and I am Thy creation. Illuminated by Thee, I have learned that Thou hast made me a new creation through the Blood of Thine Only-begotten Son because Thou art captivated by love at the beauty of Thy creation.
O eternal Trinity, O Divinity, O unfathomable abyss, O deepest sea, what greater gift could Thou givest me then Thy very Self? Thou art a fire that burns eternally yet never consumed, a fire that consumes with Thy heat my self-love. Again and again Thou art the fire who taketh away all cold heartedness and illuminateth the mind by Thy light, the light with which Thou hast made me to know Thy truth.
By this mirrored light I know Thou are the highest good, a good above all good, a fortunate good, an incomprehensible good, an unmeasurable good, a beauty above all beauty, a wisdom above all wisdom, for Thou art wisdom itself, the the food of angels, the fire of love that Thou givest to man.
Thou art the garment covering our nakedness. Thou feedest our family with Thy sweetness, a sweetness Thou art from which there is no trace of bitterness. O Eternal Trinity! Amen.
A Trinity Prayer
Love of Jesus Fill us.
Holy Spirit Guide us.
Will of the Father be done.
Prayer For Help Against Spiritual Enemies
Glorious Saint Michael, Prince of the heavenly hosts, who stands always ready to give assistance to the people of God; who fought with the dragon, the old serpent, and cast him out of heaven, and now valiantly defends the Church of God that the gates of hell may never prevail against her, I earnestly entreat you to assist me also, in the painful and dangerous conflict which I sustain against the same formidable foe.
Be with me, O mighty Prince! that I may courageously fight and vanquish that proud spirit, whom you, by the Divine Power, gloriously overthrew, and whom our powerful King, Jesus Christ, has, in our nature, completely overcome; so having triumphed over the enemy of my salvation, I may with you and the holy angels, praise the clemency of God who, having refused mercy to the rebellious angels after their fall, has granted repentance and forgiveness to fallen man. Amen.
Not surprising since they have created a situation in which millions children have died since 1973 in their mother's womb. Not that it is all their fault for they have done what many people have wanted and each adult mother made her own choice. But what is the life of one woman to them. It is different with God. So we must pray for them.
Some of the Democrat leadership have totally abandoned life issues and so will continue to lose their clout in a country growing more weary of abortion. (The rise of pro-life Democrats) The Dems have changed from being at the forefront of protecting the innocent to really taking a cynically political attitude toward those who have no one to defend them, even while the Domocrats on the ground are more pro-life than the leadership See Poll
The legal positivism that has been used to support Michael Schiavo is unfortunate. The arguments are more about the role of the courts vs. the life a woman who has indicated that she wants to live.
For it is written:
Exodus 22
22 "Do not take advantage of a widow or an orphan. 23 If you do and they cry out to me, I will certainly hear their cry. 24 My anger will be aroused, and I will kill you with the sword; your wives will become widows and your children fatherless.
Jeremiah 1
4 The word of the LORD came to me, saying, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart;
James 1:27 (NIV)
Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
So let us pray for our leaders and all those who need our prayers to put an end to the abandonment of the sick, the old, the poor and the helpless.
Oramus
O Eternal God! O Eternal Trinity! Through the union of Thy divine nature Thou hast made so precious the Blood of Thine only-begotten Son! O eternal Trinity, Thou art as deep a mystery as the sea, in whom the more I seek, the more I find; and the more I find, the more I seek. For even immersed in the depths of Thee, my soul is never satisfied, always famished and hungering for Thee, eternal Trinity, wishing and desiring to see Thee, the True Light.
O eternal Trinity, with the light of understanding I have tasted and seen the depths of Thy mystery and the beauty of Thy creation. In seeing myself in Thee, I have seen that I will become like Thee. O eternal Father, from Thy power and Thy wisdom clearly Thou hast given to me a share of that wisdom which belongs to Thine Only-begotten Son. And truly hast the Holy Spirit, who procedeth from Thee, Father and Son, given to me the desire to love Thee.
O eternal Trinity, Thou art my maker and I am Thy creation. Illuminated by Thee, I have learned that Thou hast made me a new creation through the Blood of Thine Only-begotten Son because Thou art captivated by love at the beauty of Thy creation.
O eternal Trinity, O Divinity, O unfathomable abyss, O deepest sea, what greater gift could Thou givest me then Thy very Self? Thou art a fire that burns eternally yet never consumed, a fire that consumes with Thy heat my self-love. Again and again Thou art the fire who taketh away all cold heartedness and illuminateth the mind by Thy light, the light with which Thou hast made me to know Thy truth.
By this mirrored light I know Thou are the highest good, a good above all good, a fortunate good, an incomprehensible good, an unmeasurable good, a beauty above all beauty, a wisdom above all wisdom, for Thou art wisdom itself, the the food of angels, the fire of love that Thou givest to man.
Thou art the garment covering our nakedness. Thou feedest our family with Thy sweetness, a sweetness Thou art from which there is no trace of bitterness. O Eternal Trinity! Amen.
A Trinity Prayer
Love of Jesus Fill us.
Holy Spirit Guide us.
Will of the Father be done.
Prayer For Help Against Spiritual Enemies
Glorious Saint Michael, Prince of the heavenly hosts, who stands always ready to give assistance to the people of God; who fought with the dragon, the old serpent, and cast him out of heaven, and now valiantly defends the Church of God that the gates of hell may never prevail against her, I earnestly entreat you to assist me also, in the painful and dangerous conflict which I sustain against the same formidable foe.
Be with me, O mighty Prince! that I may courageously fight and vanquish that proud spirit, whom you, by the Divine Power, gloriously overthrew, and whom our powerful King, Jesus Christ, has, in our nature, completely overcome; so having triumphed over the enemy of my salvation, I may with you and the holy angels, praise the clemency of God who, having refused mercy to the rebellious angels after their fall, has granted repentance and forgiveness to fallen man. Amen.
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