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

Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith

General Decree
On the delict of attempted sacred ordination of a woman

The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, in virtue of the special faculty granted to it by the Supreme Authority of the Church (cf. Can. 30, Code of Canon Law), in order to safeguard the nature and validity of the sacrament of Holy Orders, decreed, on the Ordinary Session of December 19, 2007:

In accordance with what is disposed by Can. 1378 of the Code of Canon Law, he who shall have attempted to confer holy orders on a woman, as well as the woman who may have attempted to receive Holy Orders, incurs in a latae sententiae excommunication, reserved to the Apostolic See.

If he who shall have attempted to confer Holy Orders on a woman or if the woman who shall have attempted to received Holy Orders is a faithful bound to the Code of Canons of the Oriental Churches, he is to be punished with the major excommunication, whose remission remains reserved to the Apostolic See, in accordance with can. 1443 of the same Code (cf. can. 1423, Code of Canons of the Oriental Churches).

The present decree enters in force immediately after its publication in L’Osservatore Romano.


William Cardinal Levada
Prefect
Angelo Amato, s.d.b.
Titular Archbishop of Sila
Secretary


(Published in L’Osservatore Romano of 29 May 29 2008)

Congregatio Pro Doctrina Fidei
Decretum generale

de delicto attentatae sacrae ordinationis mulieris

Congregatio pro Doctrina Fidei, ad naturam et validitatem sacramenti sacri ordinis tuendam, vigore specialis facultatis sibi a suprema Ecclesiae auctoritate in casu tributae (cfr can. 30 Codicis Iuris Canonici), in Congregatione Ordinaria diei 19 Decembris 2007, decrevit:
Firmo praescripto can. 1378 Codicis Iuris Canonici, tum quicumque sacrum ordinem mulieri conferre, tum mulier quae sacrum ordinem recipere attentaverit, in excommunicationem latae sententiae Sedi Apostolicae reservatam incurrit.
Si vero qui mulieri sacrum ordinem conferre vel mulier quae sacrum ordinem recipere attentaverit, christifidelis fuerit Codici Canonum Ecclesiarum Orientalium subiectus, firmo praescripto can. 1443 eiusdem Codicis, excommunicatione maiore puniatur, cuius remissio etiam reservatur Sedi Apostolicae (cfr can. 1423 Codicis Canonum Ecclesiarum Orientalium).
Hoc decretum cum in L’Osservatore Romano evulgabitur, statim vigere incipiet.

Gulielmus Cardinalis Levada
Praefectus
Angelus Amato, s.d.b.
Archiep. titularis Silensis
a Secretis

Taking a hint from a recent entry, this is in from our WDTPRS photoshoper Vincenzo:

Spring at the Sabine Farm seems at last to be in full swing, though the nights are still very chilly indeed.

The Red Bellied Woodpecker is getting some high nutrition snacks from the suet cage.

Yum.



This is not the only place where he dines, however.  I caught him later when I went to the mailbox.



Once again, Mr. Sayornis phoebe, has a nice juicy bug!



In a comment, below, I was corrected about this bird, which I originally thought was a Pewee.

The crab in the front is grand.  I don’t know trees very, so I can’t tell you its variety.



I do know what strawberry blossoms are, however.



Mr. (Mrs? Miss?) Honey Bee is helping out with the blueberry patch.



He is very busy, along with a zillion of his friends.  The patch, and all the trees, utter a low but very discernible mmmmmm these days.



I am very glad for the bees, which will help us have plenty of berries and fruits and vegetables.

I favor bees, who are featured in the Exsultet.  If only I could get them to make candles.

Strolling down toward Sabine Pond…. we find…



... The Mallards, Mister and Missus.



Ducklings are sure to follow.  This same pair comes back each year.

It just has to be said: ducks are hilarious.

A view of one of the Sabine houses, with The Mallards, Anas platyrhynchos, Mister and Missus, in the foreground.

The chapel apple is doing nicely.  It too utters a low mmmmmm from the bees.



The blossoms on the tree are fabulous.  I took some of the little out-of-place "suckers" on the trunk and branches and put them together with lilacs for the altar this morning.  Every year this tree produces some of the best apples I have ever tasted, very firm and tart, perfect also for baking.



In the greenhouse. 

The ground is still too cold to start much planting outside.  It wouldn’t be prudent.  But the herbs and some veg are doing well.  I will start some more things from seed later today if I have a chance before my workout. 



Here is the jasmine.  Later today I will cut some and put it in the chapel at Our Lady’s statue, as May draws to a close.

It should produce a fine fragrance in the evening, which I very much miss from Rome.

I am determined to eat spaghetti tonight, and perhaps drink a glass of cold white wine and reflect on the jasmine and my apartment.



I always enjoy seeing the rosemary bloom.  In these parts that is not often experienced.

Rosemary is a material proof that God loves us.

People often use the word "schism" to describe the irregular situation of the bishops and priests of the SSPX.  They have reason to.  In his 1988 Motu Proprio Ecclesia Dei adflicta, Pope John Paul II used the word "schism". 

Today, the Holy See is backing away from applying "schism", saying that the 1988 consecration of bishops was a "schismatic act", but not stating clearly just what happened as a result. 

Okay fair enough.

So what do you have to do to get yourself officially identified as a schismatic?

Schism is defined in the 1983 Code of Canon Law:  "schism is the refusal of submission to the Roman Pontiff or of communion with the members of the Church subject to him." (1983 CIC 751)

Here is an interesting story from CNA with my emphases and comments:

Schismatic St. Louis parish loses appeal to Vatican

St. Louis, May 29, 2008 / 01:03 am (CNA).- The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has confirmed Archbishop of St. Louis Raymond Burke’s decree excommunicating the board of directors of a schismatic parish.  Archbishop Burke had excommunicated the leaders of the breakaway ethnically Polish parish for hiring a suspended priest to celebrate the Sacraments and sacramentals. 

The priest could be defrocked for remaining in schism, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has warned.

St. Stanislaus Kostka Parish had operated under a structure in which the pastor is subject to the authority of the parish governing board, in violation of canon law. [Effectively, what we call "trustee-ism"] Archbishop Burke sought to bring the parish into line with canon law, but the parish resisted his efforts.  In August the archbishop removed priests assigned to St. Stanislaus and moved Polish language masses to a nearby parish.  In January 2005 parishioners voted 299-5 to retain full control of the parish.  [So, they formally acted against the bishop.]

In December 2005 Archbishop Burke issued a decree of excommunication condemning the church’s board of directors and the priest they had hired to celebrate their sacraments at the church.

According to Archbishop Burke’s May 30 column in the St. Louis Review, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has taken two actions.  First, it has rejected the recourse (appeal) presented by the Board of Directors of Saint Stanislaus Kostka Corporation, including the recourse of suspended priest Reverend Marek B. Bozek. 

“In other words, it has found the recourse to be without foundation,” Archbishop Burke said.

The Congregation communicated its decision in a May 15 letter signed by its head, Cardinal William Levada.  The archbishop said the Congregation has confirmed his December 15, 2005 decrees declaring the board of directors had incurred the penalty of excommunication because of “persistence in schism.”  [There it is: schism.]

Archbishop Burke said the Congregation gave two reasons for its decision. First, the board of directors did not observe the time limits set for recourses and neglected to fulfill the formal requirements for a recourse. [So, this was a flaw in procedure which a canonist should have paid attention to.]  Second, it said the members of the Board of Directors of Saint Stanislaus Kostka Corporation have committed schism and continue to persist in it.  [This is the more substantive reason.]

The Congregation said in its letter that the board of directors had turned the former St. Stanislaus Kostka Parish into “an independent entity capable of appointing its own clergy apart from the hierarchy of the Church,” gradually removing it from the “jurisdiction of the local ordinary.”  [Does this not sound also like the SSPX?]

Archbishop Burke regretted that the controversy surrounding the board of directors had been presented by the media as a personal conflict between the board members and the archbishop.  

“As their pastor, I have been obliged to call them to reconciliation and repentance for the good of the salvation of their souls and the good of the whole Church. In doing so, I have acted in accord with what the teaching and discipline of the Catholic Church require. My actions have nothing to do with any personal conflict but, rather, with the integrity of the Catholic faith and its practice, which I have the solemn responsibility to safeguard and promote,” he said.

The archbishop said that members of the church’s board of directors could appeal the Congregation’s decision to its Ordinary Session of the Cardinals and Bishops, or they could reconcile with the Church and “withdraw from the state of schism.”  The Congregation’s letter said “reconciliation with the Church necessarily includes repentance for the grave harm which their schismatic actions have caused to individual souls and to the whole Church.”

Archbishop Burke pledged to offer the board of directors “special pastoral care and kindness” if they accept the Congregation’s decision.  He expressed his commitment to reconciliation and said he will continue to act on that commitment.

In a separate letter, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith addressed the case of Father Marek Bozek, saying he could be defrocked if he does not renounce his schismatic acts and continues to celebrate the sacraments illicitly.  Unless the priest reconciles with the Church, the Congregation said it will “present his case to the Holy Father for his dismissal ex officio from the clerical state.”  [If the Congregation goes that far, it will probably happen.]

Father Bozek is a priest of the Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau.  He had le