What Does The Prayer Really Say?
W D T P R S

On the site of the ultra-liberal dissenting NCR Sr. Joan Chittister, OSB shared her precious insights on the text of the Holy Father’s encyclical, about which she can know really very little.

I won’t tire you with the whole sad thing, but this little blurb you should read.

... [E]arly reports indicate that the pope’s upcoming encyclical, Veritas in Caritate (“Charity in Truth,”), [what the… ?!?] clearly argues that the defense of the poor and the defense of unborn life are "necessarily linked."

Which leaves us in a quandary. Is the attempt by some to ostracize those who seek alternative approaches to the subject of abortion really the most effective—and the most moral position—a Catholic can take? By ignoring—and so minimizing—all other social justice issues, can we possibly consider ourselves sufficiently grounded in a Catholic vision of the world, even in regard to our commitment to this one?

She doesn’t even get the name of the encyclical right.  And even if it were entitled Veritas in caritate that wouldn’t be translated "Charity in truth". 

But she knows what the unpublished encyclical says. 

Trust her! She knows.

Read what she wrote in the context of President Obama’s attempts to jam through universal abortion through the present UN meeting.

UPDATE 2235 GMT:

It is sure that Sr. Chittister and those of her school – alas a school involving very little Latin  – are going to claim that His Holiness’ reception of Pres. Obama will amount His Holiness’ approval of Pres. Obama’s agenda.

Upon these we are pleased to bestow the new WDTPRS "Idi Amin Dada" Award, inaugurated in honor of the 10 September 1975 visit of this famous head of state to Pope Paul VI.   The president kept the Pope waiting and the Pope did not bestow upon Idi Amin Dada the honor of a doctorate in law.

Sister should feel free to capture the graphic and put it on her own blog.

From a reader:

I’m sure this has been discussed to death (as has holding hands during the Our Father, whether it should be done or not, etc) but I was wondering about reverence for the Mass.  Or even reverence before, during and even after the Mass.

I’m in my mid 40’s so was very familiar, and was even comfortable, with the new Masses of my youth, the music, etc. Maybe it was the Church’s way of welcoming or bringing back the youth, I don’t know. But now I believe that something was lost along the way. 

I read that Catholics younger than me are thirsting for more, wanting and seeking the reverence that they do not find in some of their parishes. I seek that too.

One Sunday, whilst waiting for Mass to begin, there was casual chit-chat behind my husband and I, and voices in other places, that I felt as if we were waiting for a show to begin.  What was missing was the crunching of popcorn and peanuts in the pews. My husband described is as "cacophony" and I was later surprised to read online that there were others who described it that way too.

I understand that sometimes people need to talk in hushed whispers or that the choir needs to practice. But why is there still conversation going on while the other parishioners are saying the rosary? My husband sits in his seat with his eyes closed. That is how he prays in the church. I remain quiet in my seat. And yet one parishioner goes over to the seat behind my husband, where her friend is seated, and they have a conversation. And not in hushed tones, either. My husband later said that there was no respect. If it were the Pope seated there, surely they wouldn’t do that. I had to agree with him.  [But they do so in the presence of the tabernacle and… their fellow worshipers.]

I  have never attended a Latin mass and I don’t think there are any around here. I enjoy our Masses but it’s disturbing as well as frustrating when a priest exerts his own personality upon the mass and turns it into a show of sorts.  There was a visiting priest who said a few masses several Sundays in a row. He was very respectful during the consecration but was otherwise "entertaining". I know we are not supposed to judge but I also suppose that is precisely what I am doing right now.

How to deal with this, Father, on a regular basis, when there are others who insist on talking and carrying on whilst waiting for the Mass to be performed. It is not always that way but it does depend on the priest, I have to admit, not only the congregation.

Unlike me, my husband doesn’t care what others think of him, but I do sometimes wonder if there are other parishioners who think that we are too quiet in church. But then, are we not supposed to be quiet and prayerful in church?  I miss that. I used to love sitting quietly in church by myself (when churches used to be opened during the day and before they had adoration rooms). It’s not that way anymore.

Here are a few thoughts. 

I believe that over the last decades there has been a dissolution of our Catholic identity and our Catholic worship.  They are inextricable, the one from the other.  When we changed our forms of prayer, the design and decoration of our sacred spaces, and the manner of the prayer – so much in the hands of priests – we slowly but surely have been forgetting who we are in church, who others are in church, who we come to find in church. 

Our Holy Father in his letter Sacramentum caritatis addressed the issue of the manner and style of liturgical celebration, especially in reference to the priest celebrant.  The ars celebrandi or "art of celebrating" is of critical importance.  The foundation of a sound ars celebrandi must rest on the priest getting himself out of the way of the words and actions of the true Actor during our worship: Christ the High Priest.  We must carefully follow our texts and rubrics and get ourselves out of the way so that what Christ desires to give us through the ministry of Holy Church will ring clear and true.

Our sacred spaces must ring clearly only with what is sacred.  Our texts and music must be oriented to God.  But just as important is what does not ring at all: silence.  Worship must must must include silence.  We are busy creatures, easily distracted, with many cares. We depend for our proper attitude of participation in worship – our active receptivity to what the Priest is offering  – on the proper environment, before, during and after.  We need silence for the sake of our immediate disposition for our receptivity. 

 

We are culturally bound, to a certain extent.  We are people of our era and our environment.  But surely it is incumbent on the priest to help his flock to the very best sort of active participation in our worship even if what he proposes – imposes – is counter-cultural.  Even if he must strive to break bad habits, it is his duty to see to it that his flock benefit as much as possible from what the Church is offering.

A good story from Stella Borealis, a blog which focuses on matters churchy in my native place and surrounding territories.

This tells the tale of one of the most amazing used book stores I know and a certain (present Archbishop of St. Louis):

Archbishop Carlson Saved Loome Theological Booksellers in Stillwater (long ago)

.
St. Louis Archbishop Robert Carlson once saved Loome Theological Booksellers [the world’s largest used book store dealing in books on religious subjects and theology] from the "out with the old, in with the new" spirit of Vatican II hardliners in the Archdiocese of St. Paul/Minneapolis.

Before he was Archbishop of St. Louis, before he was Bishop of Saginaw, before he was Bishop of Sioux Falls, and before he was the Auxiliary Bishop of St. Paul/Minneapolis, he was the Chancellor for the Archdiocese. Before Loome Theological Booksellers was the largest theological bookstore in the world, it was not. The following story was recounted to me by Dr. Loome just last week (some embellishments of suspense and style were added by me – but most of the story is true).

In those dark days Dr. Loome received a tip from a certain Dr. Briel at the University of St. Thomas that an edict had gone out from the chancery that seminarians were not to patronize Loome Theological Booksellers. St. John Vianney seminary was told that Loome Theological Booksellers was "out of bounds" because it sold "retrograde, conservative" books. It was then that they started coming at night, the seminarians that is. After hours the Loome family (who lived in the bookstore at the time or rather the bookstore was part of their house) would hear furtive knocks on their door and open the door a crack to let in the disobedient seminarians. The seminarians seemed to know that the books in Loome Theological Booksellers were necessary for their education. [I can solemnly attest that those were very bad days for seminarians of any true Catholic faith.  There were many casualties and expulsions for offenses such as "having a driving need to know the truth" or having such dangerous religous objects as a statue of Our Lady of Fatima in one’s room.  Seminarians had to pretty much sneak out to gather on Tuesday evenings at St. Agnes rectory, sometimes referred to in code.  But I digress.]

Although the furtive visits were exciting for Dr. Loome and his wife Karen they decided that the damage to the store’s reputation by this edict needed to be addressed. Dr. Loome soon made the call to the chancery and who happened to answer the phone, but our hero, Chancellor Carlson himself! Dr. Loome asked him why the edict had been issued against his bookstore. Chancellor Carlson paused . . . and said as delicately as he could, "no such edict has been issued". As Dr. Loome struggled to understand his meaning, Carlson further explained that no such edict had been issued by him and therefore no such edict had effect. Later, Dr. Loome learned that the Assistant Chancellor had been the one to issue the edict.

Chancellor Carlson, recognizing the great good of Loome Theological Booksellers, came up with a plan to save the bookstore’s reputation. He asked Dr. Loome, "Has your business been blessed yet?"  [Shopkeepers, are you paying attention?] Dr. Loome began to smile and said, "No it has not". Chancellor Carlson then made plans to bless Loome Theological Booksellers and invited the local diocesan newspaper to the event. In no time at all the reputation of Loome Theological Booksellers was rightly corrected and seminarians soon could come in plain clothes during the day. That’s how Carlson saved Loome Theological Booksellers and thwarted the schemes of the "out with the old, in with the new" spirit of Vatican II hardliners.

Back in the day I must have paid Loome’s rent several times over and some of my acqusitions are still near to hand and used with frequency today.

Back in the day, back in the day … those were bad days for Catholic seminarians …

Excellent news for Philadelphians:

Starting October 25, 2009 St. Paul Church in South Philadelphia, PA. will offer Mass in the Extraordinary Form,  a Missa Cantata, every Sunday at Noon. 

Father Gerald P. Carey, pastor of St. Paul’s,  made the surprise announcement on Sunday June 28th at a Mass in the Extraordinary Form,  which he celebrated in anticipation of the Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul.  

St. Paul’s is located in the Italian Market area of Philadelphia at 10th and Christian Streets (telephone 215-923-0355) and parking is available directly across from the church, which is also easily accessed by public transportation. 

Our friends at Rorate have an excerpt of an interview His Eminence Dario Card. Castrillon Hoyos, Pres. of the PCED, gave to El Tiempo.

Here is … well… an excerpt of the excerpt…

We enter in medias res when the Cardinal mentions that on stepping down from his post he is pleased with the projects he set for himself.

And what projects were these?

In Ecclesia Dei, I set three goals for myself, and I could accomplish them. First, that all priests of the world could be able to celebrate the Mass freely, that the ancient Rite were freed without opposition to the new one, and not being obligatory. Second, to make the richness of this rite known; and, third, to remove the excommunication of the Lefebvrian bishops, and to bring them closer to the Church once again.

How did the scandal due to this last issue end?

It was temporary, but it caused much damage. They (the Lefebvrians) were excommunicated because they were ordained without an authorization, not for anything else. When the excommunication was lifted, the declarations, erroneous, of Bishop Williamson, who denied the Nazi Holocaust, appeared. But one thing was unrelated to the other.

 

So now we begin to see the fruits of "common ground" and "dialogue" between the Obama Administration and the Catholic Church on the abortion issue.

From the indispensable C-Fam:

Obama Administration Calls for Universal Access to Abortion at UN Meeting

By Samantha Singson

Obama Clinton

     (NEW YORK – C-FAM)  At United Nations (UN) headquarters this week, the Obama administration continued its push for ever increasing access to legal abortion around the world. The Obama team has introduced language that has thrown a high level negotiation into a roil. The US proposal calls for “universal access” to “sexual and reproductive health services including universal access to family planning.” The document under consideration will culminate in the 2009 Annual Ministerial Review, which convenes next week in Geneva.

     The sticking point for many delegations and what has driven apart the usual solid European bloc is the use of the word “services” in the context of “reproductive health.” Way back in 2001 during negotiations related to the ten year review of the Child Convention, a Canadian delegate blurted out “of course everyone knows ‘services’ means abortion.” Ever since, the word “services” has been a topic of hot debate.

     So controversial is the topic of “services” in the context of “reproductive health” that the usually impenetrable negotiating bloc of the 27 member European Union has imploded with Malta, Poland and Ireland splitting from their allies and joining the Holy See in opposing the measure.  [And who will be the new US Ambassador to Malta?]

     In addition to the word "services," delegates are also concerned with attempts to link “sexual and reproductive health” to “universal access,” something the UN has never agreed to and what would amount to a major gain for pro-abortion forces. There have been numerous attempts at the UN to insert language on "universal access to sexual and reproductive health services."  In 2005 at the Commission on Population and Development, the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) joined with pro-abortion lobby groups to call for "universal access to sexual and reproductive health services and programmes." They were defeated in large part by the Bush-appointed US delegates who insisted that none of the terms related to reproductive health be interpreted to include abortion.

     In recent weeks the new US administration has interpreted "reproductive health" to include abortion. In April, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told a US House subcommittee, “We [the Obama administration] happen to think that family planning is an important part of women’s health and reproductive health includes access to abortion that I believe should be safe, legal and rare.” In this statement, Clinton also contradicted the agreement reached at the Cairo Conference which said that abortion can never be used as a part of family planning. This was a document that Clinton helped to negotiate.

     Apart from the US, other delegations including Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, France, Estonia and the United Kingdom are pushing for the language.
 
     The G-77 developing nations’ bloc is still holding its own negotiations to determine whether or not they will have a common position on the paragraph.

     Negotiations are scheduled to continue this week and the draft declaration will be adopted by high level government ministers at the end of next week’s meeting in Geneva.

 

I am sure you have seen the news about the new decrees for beatification.

From the Bolletino:

PROMULGAZIONE DI DECRETI DELLA CONGREGAZIONE DELLE CAUSE DEI SANTI

Oggi, 3 luglio 2009, il Santo Padre Benedetto XVI ha ricevuto in Udienza privata S:E. Mons. Angelo Amato, S.D.B., Prefetto della Congregazione delle Cause dei Santi. Nel corso dell’Udienza il Santo Padre ha autorizzato la Congregazione a promulgare i Decreti riguardanti:

- un miracolo, attribuito all’intercessione della Beata Candida Maria di Gesù Cipitria y Barriola (al secolo: Giovanna Giuseppa), Fondatrice della Congregazione delle Figlie di Gesù; nata ad Andoain (Spagna) il 31 maggio 1845 e morta a Salamanca (Spagna) il 9 agosto 1912;

- un miracolo, attribuito all’intercessione del Venerabile Servo di Dio Giovanni Enrico Newman, Cardinale e Fondatore degli Oratori di San Filippo Neri in Inghilterra; nato a Londra (Inghilterra) il 21 aprile 1801 e morto a Edgbaston (Inghilterra) l’11 agosto 1890;

- un miracolo, attribuito all’intercessione del Venerabile Servo di Dio Angelo Paoli (al secolo: Francesco), Sacerdote professo dell’Ordine dei Carmelitani dell’Antica Osservanza; nato ad Artigliano (Italia) il 1° settembre 1642 e morto a Roma il 20 gennaio 1720;

- un miracolo, attribuito all’intercessione della Venerabile Serva di Dio Maria Alfonsina Danil Ghattas (al secolo: Soultaneh Maria), Confondatrice della Congregazione delle Suore Domenicane del Santissimo Rosario di Gerusalemme; nata a Gerusalemme il 4 ottobre 1843 e morta ad Ain Karem il 25 marzo 1927;

- il martirio del Servo di Dio Giuseppe Samsó i Elías, Sacerdote diocesano, Parroco ed Arciprete di Santa Maria de Mataró; nato a Castellbisbal (Spagna) il 17 gennaio 1887 e ucciso, in odio alla Fede, il 1° settembre 1936 durante la persecuzione religiosa in Spagna;

- il martirio dei Servi di Dio Teofilo Fernández de Legaria Goñi (al secolo: Beniamino), e IV Compagni, Sacerdoti professi della Congregazione dei Sacri Cuori (PICPUS), uccisi, in odio alla Fede, durante la persecuzione religiosa in Spagna nel 1936;

- il martirio del Servo di Dio Giorgio Häfner, Sacerdote diocesano; nato a Würzburg (Germania) il 19 ottobre 1900 e ucciso, in odio alla Fede, nel campo di concentramento di Dachau (Germania) il 20 agosto 1942;

- il martirio del Servo di Dio Zoltán Ludovico Meszlényi, Vescovo titolare di Sinope e Vescovo Ausiliare di Esztergom in Ungheria; nato ad Hatvan (Ungheria) il 2 gennaio 1892 e ucciso, in odio alla Fede, a Kistárcsa (Ungheria) il 4 marzo 1951;

- le virtù eroiche del Servo di Dio Engelmar Unzeitig (al secolo: Uberto), Sacerdote professo della Congregazione dei Missionari di Mariannhill; nato a Greifendorf (Moravia dell’Est) il 1 marzo 1911 e morto a Dachau (Germania) il 2 marzo 1945;

- le virtù eroiche della Serva di Dio Anna Maria Janer Anglarill, Fondatrice dell’Istituto delle Suore della Sacra Famiglia di Urgell; nata a Cervera (Spagna) il 18 dicembre 1800 e morta a Talarn (Spagna) l’11 gennaio 1885;

- le virtù eroiche della Serva di Dio Maria Serafina del Sacro Cuore di Gesù Micheli (al secolo: Clotilde), Fondatrice dell’Istituto delle Suore degli Angeli; nata a Imèr (Trento, allora Impero Austro-Ungarico) l’11 settembre 1849 e morta a Faicchio (Italia) il 24 marzo 1911;

- le virtù eroiche della Serva di Dio Teresa Manganiello, giovane laica, del Terz’Ordine di San Francesco; nata a Montefusco (Italia) il 1° gennaio 1849 ed ivi morta il 4 novembre 1876.

 

Z-Cam & Radio Sabina, or "Fr Z TV" is on the air most of the time!

Live Broadcasting by Ustream

Watch the feeder and very often windows of the chapel and also my office.

There is Z-Chat in a chatroom from time to time.  I send out Tweets about when it is open via Twitter.  (Latin pipata, or "tweets" from pipio "to twitter, chirp")


Open as a pop up.

"tuppence a bag…"

I am losing my optimism about heading to the UK for Fr. Finigan’s Jubilee.

Sigh

I picked up from Twitter that the White House announced that Doug Kmiec will be the new Ambassador to Malta.

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, President Barack Obama announced his intent to nominate the following individuals for key administration posts:

• Jonathan Addleton, Ambassador to Mongolia
• Gayleatha Beatrice Brown, Ambassador to Burkina Faso
• Earl M. Irving, Ambassador to the Kingdom of Swaziland
• Douglas Kmiec, Ambassador to the Republic of Malta
• Fay Hartog-Levin, Ambassador to the Kingdom of the Netherlands

President Obama said, "I am confident that these fine individuals will represent our nation abroad with distinction, and strengthen our diplomatic efforts to meet 21st century challenges. I look forward to working with them in the months and years ahead."

 

UPDATE:

I wonder… proximity to Rome, where there will be a rather unprepared, not overly impressive ambassador…. 

hmmmm

I got this from a reader.   I love the image and had to share it.

Father Jason Jones, Rector of the National Shrine of Wales, Our Lady of the Taper, celebrated a Missa Cantata on the Feast of the Most Precious Blood in the Priory Chapel within the Monastery on Caldey Island off the coast of Wales.

Swallows swooped over Fr Jones’s head, diving through the clouds of incense – a wonderful occasion.

 

I am presently dissecting a dialogue in the Catholic Herald and I am wondering if I should do so on the blog.

The excellent Catholic Herald of the UK has an interesting feature: an exchange of letters between Moyra Doorly, and author of No Place For God, which I haven’t read, and Fr. Aidan Nichols, OP, theologian and author of many books, including The Realm: An Unfashionable Essay on the Conversion of England which I recommend.

This is long.  It would be a long entry.  But it is worth some effort.  There is some interesting commentary here about classical theology and new theology.

Dunno… lotta work.

From CNS:

Obama holds round table with religion writers

By Patricia Zapor
Catholic News Service

WASHINGTON (CNS)—President Barack Obama told a morning round table with religion writers [but why?] July 2 that he was profoundly influenced by the late Cardinal Joseph Bernardin of Chicago when he worked in community organizing there in a project partially funded by the Catholic Campaign for Human Development.  [An interesting detail to include.  You can read about the CHD here.]

Obama said his encounters with the cardinal continue to influence his approach to social issues that are important to the church.  [How does this square with his approach to denying medical care to children who survived an abortion attempt.]

He also told reporters to expect a conscience clause protection for health care workers that will be no less protective than what existed previously.  [Sooo… this was the reason for the meeting.  He was suborning writers.]
 
The round table was held in anticipation of Obama’s audience with Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican July 10.  [Trying to soften the coverage?]

This President is very shrewd and does not do things like this for no small reasons.

The late Card. Bernardin was key player in support of the Campaign for Human Development which he helped to found in 1969.

The CHD gave $7.3 million to the Saul Alinsky-style group ACORN.  In 1998 some Catholics raised their voices against what the CHD was doing.  The CHD changed its name to Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD).

In 2007 the CCHD gave ACORN $1,037,000.

Another wonderful article from this week’s Catholic Herald of the UK.    

Let me give you just a couple of the good bits… go there and read the whole thing.

‘Good Hebridean food – it’s so easy’
Carolyn Reynier meets one of Britain’s oldest priests who rises at five and does all his own cooking in his remote island parish

3 July 2009

‘I’m an old man of 85.

I live on fish and potatoes – we grow the loveliest potatoes in the world. I grow all my own crops; we grow them on raised beds of seaweed called lazy beds."

The speaker is the Very Reverend Canon Angus John MacQueen, the place is the Outer Hebridean island of Barra where he has been a parish priest since 1952.

...


Does he have other priests visiting? He laughs.

"Yes, oh yes! You can’t keep them away _- friends from my theology days, even cardinals. When I was in one of the other parishes here on the islands, I had Cardinal Hume. He asked: ‘What do I have to do?’ I said: ‘You have to look after the sheep.’ He was an angler and on my croft in South Uist I had one of the finest trout lochs on the whole island, so he had the sheep to look after on the croft and he could fish the rest of the day. ...

...


He still grows his own crops – carrots, onions, early potatoes, main crop.

"The potatoes we like best are something like Maris Piper for a main crop. The people in England they like wet potatoes. The people in the highlands of Scotland only eat dry potatoes. We were quite surprised when that war was on and people came to build airport runways here on the bigger islands. We thought we would sell them potatoes and we grew potatoes for them but they didn’t like them because they were dry. Now, our idea of a potato is something that throws off its jacket once it’s boiled, and is dry and you eat it with your fingers by preference. Those of us who are very old, we eat all our fish with our fingers. We forgive Queen Margaret of Scotland, God rest her soul, for bringing knives and forks from France."

...

Canon MacQueen does all his own cooking using old-fashioned iron pots, frying pans and griddles. "Good Hebridean food, it’s so easy because we have the best ingredients." His six hens keep him supplied in eggs for his scones. "I do a lot of baking. The fish factory is just down the road. We have the largest red crabs you ever saw, we have lobsters, crayfish sometimes weighing up to six to seven pounds. I can wander along the shore and knowing the fishermen I can always find a fish to eat or a bit of lamb. During the hard time of the winter, we have barrels of herring and mackerel with potatoes. We are potato people.

Reminds me of….

"We are noodle folk!"

Really great article.  I would love to meet this priest, after reading this.

From The Catholic Herald, the best weekly in the UK, comes this from the keyboard of the charming and persistent Anna Arco with my emphases and comments.

Bishop: disobedience is harming the Church
By Anna Arco

Bishops who have deep theological differences with the Pope are undermining the unity of the Catholic Church, a prominent English bishop has claimed.

Bishop Patrick O’Donoghue said that such differences prompted parish priests to ignore the authority of their bishops.  [In other words, those bishops commit the sin of scandal?]

He said: "The idea that there could be theological differences between a bishop and the Pope is just an incredible thing to admit but it is the truth. I suppose if priests see bishops showing disloyalty to the Pope, it is hardly surprising that they in turn should show disloyalty to their bishop. We all know what Jesus said about a divided house."

He added: "It is not uncommon for cliques to grow up among priests against the current bishop that ignore with disdain directives and advice from their bishop. [Very true.  I have seen that especially in one particular place.]  Sometimes it seems that the parish priest and parish declare UDI [Unilateral Declaration of Independence] from the bishop and the diocese. There is also a danger of this developing in a group of bishops’ attitude to the reigning Pope."

The bishop said this disunity created a "conspiracy of silence" in the Church.  [Silence?  I wonder.  It seems to me they become outspoken, in a braying sort of way.]

He said: "This cocktail of dissent, disobedience and disloyalty has resulted in what I call ‘a conspiracy of silence’ amongst groups in the Church. There is no real dialogue or willingness to talk openly and honestly about our differences.  [Ah… okay… I think I am getting his drift.]

"For example, I don’t know why my Fit for Mission? documents hit a wall of silence among the bishops in this country. All I did was reiterate the teaching of the Church, but this has been treated as unacceptable and unspeakable. Why?"  [Because like good Rawlsians they don’t want to permit a different voice to be heard.]

Bishop O’Donoghue offered his analysis at a retreat for priests of the Diocese of Northampton in Ars, the parish of St John Vianney in France in May. He called attention to the fact that "countless individual priests, and laity, even bishops, believe they are free to decide what it means to be Catholic for themselves". He suggested that accepting the Church’s teaching on sexual morality was a "litmus test" for Catholics. [Probably pretty close to the mark.  I would also look at their Marian and Eucharistic devotion.]

"For example, we have witnessed a wholesale rejection of the Church’s perennial teaching against contraception. This is the litmus test of the acceptance of the obedience in the Church. How many priests support Gaudium et Spes’s crystal-clear rejection of contraception, upheld by successive popes – Paul VI, John Paul II, Benedict XVI? If we reject their teaching on this matter we are saying as priests that we know better than the successor of Peter! Is this tenable in a priest?"  [NB: He didn’t mention Humanae vitae, but GS.  Very good.]

Bishop O’Donoghue not only criticised liberal dissent but also had sharp words for traditionalists who he said were in danger of falling into "liturgism".  [Good!]

He said: "By this I mean the tendency among clergy and some laity to solely focus on the liturgy and sacramental life, ignoring our mission to go out of the church building into the world where suffering humanity lives. For a century the Church has been saying that social justice should be a concern of Catholics equal to attending Mass on Sunday. How many believe this? How many priests encourage this?"  [See Rule #4]

Bishop O’Donoghue also discussed the life of St John Vianney, whose 150th anniversary is being celebrated this year and who is the patron of the Year for Priests, drawing parallels between the challenges faced by the saintly parish priest and the priests today.

He argued that St John Vianney had a "keen sense of the need for salvation" which he expressed in his "whole being as a priest". Bishop O’Donoghue urged the priests who were taking part to reflect on a number of questions about their roles and identity as priests in the modern world. This included questions about attitudes to consumerism, alcohol, confronting evil and true repentance.

He also asked them: "Is it possible to talk to young people about salvation today? And is it necessary to go to confession regularly? What do you think the Curé d’Ars would say?" Fr Paul Hardy, a priest who took part in the retreat, said: "He was very good. He talked about the challenges facing us – do we duck them or do we face up to them."

 

WDTPRS kudos to Bp. O’Donoghue!

I received this from a reader:

I write at the request of Father Prior of Clear Creek Monastery in the Diocese of Tulsa.

Father Francois de Feydeau, the subprior of Clear Creek, bravely continues his fight for his life on earth, while being as ready as one can to make the "long walk" (as he calls it, referring to a book recently read in the refectory at Clear Creek) to the other side of things, if that be God’s will.  The monks are going to pray a novena to Dom Gueranger, founder of the Benedictine congregation to which Clear Creek belongs, beginning TODAY, the 30th (I apologise for this tardy notice – for 24 hours I could not get access to my email account).  This novena leads up to the feast of Our Lady of Providence, on July 9th, linked to the history of the restoration of Solesmes by Dom Gueranger in 1837.

Father Prior wrote to me, "You may do what you like as far as sharing it.  Maybe we have already tired our friends with the last one.
Whatever you think appropriate."

To borrow a phrase from an old friend, what I think appropriate is that we all of us should pray our guts our for Father Subprior.

Please circulate this novena among your parishioners & friends.



June 30-July 8, 2009

Almighty and eternal God,

Humbly and with confidence, we implore from Thy goodness the cure of our brother, who is gravely ill.  Deign to bestow this miracle upon him, through the intercession of Thy servant, Dom Prosper Gueranger, for Thine own glory, for the advancement of his cause of beatification, for the sanctification of our monasteries, and for the good of the entire Church.

Through Our Lord, Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who lives and reigns with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. Amen.

O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.

Saint John Marie Vianney, pray for us.

Our Blessed Father, Saint Benedict, pray for us.

Saint Francis of Assisi, pray for us.

From National Catholic Register:

President Obama Meets With Catholic Press Tomorrow

Posted by Tim Drake

Wednesday, July 01, 2009 3:39 PM

Tomorrow morning at 10:45 Eastern time the president is hosting a roundtable at the White House for members of the Catholic press.

The National Catholic Register’s publisher, Father Owen Kearns, will be among eight religion reporters and editors in attendance at that gathering.

The purpose of the gathering, according to Chris Hensman, press secretary with the National Security Council, is a “preview of the president’s upcoming visit with Pope Benedict XVI.” The president is meeting with the Pope on July 10.

Father Kearns just received the invitation to the meeting yesterday via e-mail. At this point, there isn’t a complete list of the media who will be in attendance, but our understanding is that it’s strictly Catholic print media, not radio or television.

According to Father Kearns, the meeting is unprecedented. He has not previously met a sitting U.S. president, nor has he been previously invited by the president to a White House gathering for members of the Catholic press.

When Father Kearns asked the purpose of the roundtable, he was told, “It’s for the president to inform us, to listen to concerns, and to answer questions.”

The meeting is not a press conference.

“It sounds like what we would call a listening session,” said Father Kearns.

We’ll have an update about the meeting on the blog tomorrow.

I posted earlier the news that St. Benedict Monastery in Norcia, Italy – the birthplace of St. Benedict – will now be offering Holy Mass in both uses of the Roman Rite.

In the newsletter of the monastery there is an interview with dom Cassian Folsom, OSB, the Prior of the Monastery.  dom Cassian is a fine liturgist in his own right.

Let’s have a look at the interview with my emphases and comments.

Does this decision respect the Second Vatican Council Council?

It would be useful to read carefully the Council document on the Liturgy, [That is the sticking point.  How many people really read the documents?] SC 22 says that: “Regulation of the sacred liturgy depends solely on the authority of the Church, that is, on the Apostolic See and, as laws may determine, on the bishop.” Pope Benedict’s Motu Proprio simply reiterates that principle, and legislates for the use of the old rite alongside the new. Pope Benedict also emphasizes that the way to interpret the Council documents is by the hermeneutic of continuity. That principle is also expressed in the document on the liturgy where it says: “…care must be taken that any new forms adopted should in some way grow organically from forms already existing” (SC 23). [And the newer form did not in fact grow organically from the older form.  It was artificially pasted together by experts and them suddenly imposed.] What we’re really talking about here is legitimate pluralism, which the Council advocates as well: “Even in the liturgy, the Church has no wish to impose a rigid uniformity in matters which do not involve the faith or the good of the whole community” (SC 37). So the celebration of the Mass by all means respects the Second Vatican Council. We are embracing both usages, and reaching out to other groups in search of unity. That’s a very conciliar approach.

But doesn’t this mean “turning back the clock”?  [An old chestnut, that.]

On the contrary, I see a monastery “utriusque usus” as very forward looking, especially in terms of authentic ecumenism. By that I mean two things. First, the ethos of the extraordinary form is very similar to the ethos of the many oriental rites, [Something many people who have never known the older forms don’t realize.] and therefore celebrating the Eucharist according to both the and the allows us to serve as a bridge between East and West. Second, [This is a very good point…] I think we need a good dose of “internal ecumenism” in the Church, so as to be able to dialogue with Catholics attached to the older liturgical forms without ideological prejudice.  [Amen.]

How can you, as a liturgist, justify such a decision?

It is precisely as a liturgist that I have had the opportunity to study and experience the rich variety of liturgical traditions that exist within the Church. It is “politically correct” for Latin rite Catholics to be enthusiastic about the Byzantine rite. Why isn’t it “politically correct” to be enthusiastic about the extraordinary form as well?  [Tell it brother!] The history of the liturgy shows clearly a multiplicity of usages within the one Roman rite. It is thanks to many years of studying the liturgy that I came to see the importance of this unity in diversity. In fact, I argued this point in the presence of the then-Cardinal Ratzinger at a liturgical conference held at Fontgombault in France in 1997. As a liturgist, I would also like to say that there is no perfect rite; there are positive and negative aspects in every liturgical tradition. The only perfect liturgy is the heavenly one. In addition, both the extraordinary and the ordinary form can be celebrated well or celebrated poorly. For a comparison to be fair, we have to place the best of both side by side.

How can the two usages influence each other?  [Now we get down to something I have been pushing for a long while now…]

The ordinary form stresses such elements as the participation of the faithful, the use of the vernacular, the ongoing development of the liturgy by the addition of new saints to the calendar, etc.: these are all very important. At the risk of oversimplifying, I would say that the ordinary form stresses rational understanding, speaking in prose, as it were. [With the risk that liturgy can devolve into being didactic.] The extraordinary form provides rich food for the intellect also, but relies heavily on gesture, symbolism, intuition, silence, ritual action without words, speaking in poetry, you might say. [Might we say… an encounter with mystery?] Man knows both rationally and intuitively. He needs both prose and poetry. If the two usages, like two different cultures, can patiently live with each other over time, they can become friends.

What pastoral benefits will come from this new apostolate?

The monastery of San Benedetto in Norcia is in a unique position. The pastoral life of the town is served very well by the diocesan clergy. The Basilica, on the other hand, is not a parish, but a shrine, whose pastoral attention is focused on pilgrims who came from all over the world. We are an international community serving an international public. The pilgrims come for a specifically Benedictine liturgy, which is characterized by what I would call a monastic or contemplative style. This is our unique contribution. The extraordinary form is very conducive to this contemplative, even mystical style, which is why the young people are so drawn to it. [Exactly.]  We celebrate the Mass in the ordinary form in the same style, which is why people come from far and wide to participate in our Sunday Mass.

Wouldn’t it be better to be just like everyone else?

To use an expression taken from the world of commerce, growth and development depend on finding a distinctive “niche”. This special apostolate of celebrating the Eucharist, makes the Norcia monastery distinctive, unique. I’m sure it will contribute to the growth of the community, in a time when young people aren’t interested in a vocation that means living “just like everyone else”.

 

Amen.

Kudos to dom Cassian!