Your Sunday Sermon Notes

Was there a good point in the sermon you heard for this Sunday?

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42 Comments

  1. Militans says:

    I know you ask for GOOD comments – but can we have a thread to discuss how our priests discussed the synod?

    OF Mass, so OT and Gospel about complementarity and marital union.

    The priest at my parish has decided that October is a month for migrants – so the homily basically went “Ooh, a lot of stuff there, it must seem painful if you are divorced and re-married. I remember when I was young the priest would talk of St Maria Goretti etc and chastity, and I would always think he was talking about ME! When it says ‘what God has joined let no man seperate’ really God has joined us in a society and we have to care for the excluded, for the migrant, for the gays, etc – we can’t say sinner be gone! Let me put this in context – originally people who wanted to become Christians had to be circumcised, and then the Council of Jerusalem and Romans 2:25-29 happened and now we don’t need to be circumcised. So now the Church is having a synod to reflect this teaching on the family in today’s times – and I have told the Bishop that we need to be reaching out to our Gay, Lesbian & Transgender brothers and sisters.”

  2. Persistant says:

    I was really pleased with our priest’s homily. He is a canon lawyer and a judge on the interdiocesan court for marriage so he knows a lot about the topic. Anyway, he spoke how family and traditional values are under constant attack by press and the world, but we the faithful have to be loyal to never-changing values established by God himself, and not to some contemporary values made up according to selfish needs and wishes. He also expressed his satisfaction that our country recently adopted a constitution ammendment by a popular vote which defined marriage as a life union between a man and a woman, which unfortunatelly cannot be said for some other countries that were also considered to be Catholic. In the end he asked us to pray for strength needed by families so that we can all be loayal to God’s plan for life and family.

  3. papaefidelis says:

    We didn’t actually get a homily, unless you count the EXTENDED ferverino between the greeting and the penitential rite (and I mean EXTENDED!). After informing us that we are simply stewards of the parish, the pastor turned over the pulpit to the Exalted Grand Poobah of Parish Funding, Collections, and Enforcement of Collection of Funding and Funding of Collections (a layman), who blustered for eleven minutes on how the rectory’s plumbing hasn’t been updated since the 70’s. Ho-hum. I’ll give when the Truth is preached. We also didn’t get the Creed but we did get an additional four minutes, twenty-seven seconds before the final blessing about the bulletin insert on the fundraising kickoff.

  4. Akita says:

    The stories of the Old Testament were and remain a means to get to the truth about human nature. The story about God taking Adam’s rib to create Eve demonstrates that men and women are equal. Building on that, the New Testament story of Jesus eschewing the legalism of Moses granting divorce shows that Jesus does not want us bound by legalisms. So we see the great truth that men and women are created equal and we learn from Jesus that we must not be bound by the legalism within the Church that the priesthood is for men only. John Paul II developed a theology that said that, but as a Church we are evolving and cannot, will not forever be bound by this legalism because the truth about men and women in this regard will be understood. The priesthood for women will become a reality, perhaps not in my lifetime (he mentioned that it was his 70th birthday yesterday) but it will happen.

    This really was the crowning point of the sermon given in the parish I attended on October 4th, 2015.

  5. Mr. Graves says:

    Although I normally lurk here and seldom post, our young Father’s homily was so exceptional yesterday that it merits trumpeting.

    DS and I have been in Europe for several years. We attend the TLM at an old chapel staffed by priests from a very orthodox order. Our French isn’t great, so Father kindly sends his homilies to us in advance of the Mass so we can use translation software and follow along. Therefore I can quote directly from his sermon, which cheered my heart to no end. BTW, we were celebrating the Feast of the Most Holy Rosary yesterday.

    “Our enemies have no scruples about using unfair means. Lying, cheating, murder, theft … all is right for them. If you follow the news, you know I’m not lying. We can not fight on the same level, with the same weapons. So we must have the courage to employ others, and which are effective. Can one complain about a man who tries to extinguish a fire with a glass of water? No, we despise him for his lack of realism! Enough arguments as: the Christian must engage in politics; must demonstrate; we must spread leaflets, give lectures, etc.

    All this should come next. If you are not able first to unite the holy sacrifice of the Mass and to pray rosary, it is absolutely useless. You heard? To nothing….

    But meanwhile it, one wonders whether we should create a party that is a reference to Christians or whatever. Ridiculous. There are hundreds of hours that are wasted and should have been used in churches to use the wooden kneeler….

    Do not put our trust in conferences and events. It is the Rosary that will convert Europe. Moreover, Sister Lucia of Fatima told: “The Blessed Virgin in these last times we live has given a new efficacy to the Rosary. (…) There is no problem, however difficult it is, we can not resolve by the prayer of the Holy Rosary. ”

    You must be convinced and understand the beauty of the Rosary. Where’s your rosary? Do you have it with you? And you do you serve? Or is it just a cute object of piety that reminds you of your grandmother?

    You worry for the Church? you are afraid for your children? You do well. But then, spend less time on forums and on Facebook, and usually hold your rosary in hand. You see, each additional Ave Maria will bring you great joy. Because you feel that you have done more for the world by these words in an hour’s hard work.”

    Isn’t it wonderful? It is such a privilege to have such an orthodox priest of such piety. We are truly blessed.

  6. jray says:

    This was from two weeks ago, but one I will not soon forget. Our Pastor spoke for some time on the great responsibility of each one of us to to learn the Faith well, and to realize our responsibility to pass it on to our families and others. He actually said, it is up to you. Don’t look for help from the USCCB or Rome.

  7. visigrad says:

    I was blessed to attend an EF Mass celebrating Our Lady of the Rosary, and the homily was very much the same as the one Mr. Graves (see post) related. Thank you Father P.

  8. pappy says:

    Our pastor started talking about church weddings and barn weddings. He talked about the dramatic drop in church wedding at our parish (and diocese in general) over the last few years. We have 2900 families (I don’t think any really believes there are 2900 families, but that’s the number everyone bandies about) and last week was the the 11th wedding at our parish for the calendar year (there are no weddings scheduled for the remainder of the year).

    He hit all the right spots, about marriage as God intended (man&woman for life), about the consequences of a failed marriage (divorced may receive communion, divorced and re-married without having a declaration of nullity, not so much) and marriage as a foreshadowing of our life in Christ.

  9. Adaquano says:

    Our homily was given by our transitional deacon, and being that our parish is staffed by the Franciscans he centered on the life of St. Francis. His main emphasis was on how St. Francis stripped down in front of his father and renounced his possessions to follow Christ, leaving us with the questions what parts of our lives are preventing us from following Christ

  10. benedetta says:

    It was difficult to focus at times as a small number of people at the Mass I attended persisted in a great deal of disruptive coughing all through the Holy Sacrifice, however, our homilist presented the points concerning what comprises a fitting and healthy human ecology within which a family may function, according to the recent papal encyclical Laudato Si.

  11. Spade says:

    We were travelling and ended up at a Mass given by a boomer age priest and the music was badly tuned folk guitars (with matching out of tune voices. Come on, people, if you can’t hit the high notes drop an octave. Also, Bob was better after he went electric) playing David Haas’ “Sounds of the 60’s!” track list.

    “Was there a good point in the sermon you heard for this Sunday?”
    No. I’m not sure there was a point. Much like the music it was a rambling mash of random somewhat unconnected points with no coherent thread.

  12. Mike says:

    1. To devote oneself to “farm and merchandise” is to forsake the Church for earthly labors.
    2. Every guest at the wedding feast must possess the wedding garment of faith, justice, and holiness. Let us preserve this garment so that we are pleasing to God our King when He comes to meet us.

  13. teachermom24 says:

    We had an exceptional homily on marriage and family. After getting home I jotted down these notes:

    * Marriage as sacrament: It is holy because it creates with God an immortal soul whose final destiny is God. “Sacrament” means sharing in the Divine life.

    * “One flesh” in marriage: From the first reading, “God made them male and female . . .” (Gen. 2:18-24)–made to physically fit together to make a unit, one piece. Male and female are two pieces of a puzzle that fit together to make a whole. This unity then is creative–out of this unity may come a new immortal soul. That is why coming together as husband and wife is HOLY!

    * What God has joined together cannot be broken. But if it is not God Who has joined you together, you are broken from the outset and nothing you do will put it together, that is, unless you separate, repent, and start doing things God’s way.

    * The ultimate work of parents is not to get their children through college and out the door; it is to get them into Heaven.

    * Holy things are reserved exclusively for sacred times and events–not to be taken whenever we feel like it. Sexual intimacy outside of marriage is like getting a dish of salsa and using the reserved Host in the tabernacle for chips just because we happen to be hungry.

    * Sin is failure to line up with God’s design, the way He made us and intends us to be. Using anything outside of God’s intended purpose has negative, not happy, consequences: food, the tongue, material wealth, sex

    * When you begin dating, you need to ask each other, “Is God calling us to become husband and wife?” This is the discernment process just as for a religious vocation. Vocation is TOTAL dedication to God.

  14. gloriainexcelsis says:

    Our Sunday homilies throughout the period of the Synod have to do with what is being discussed there. Yesterday, however, Father chose to talk about the Barque of Peter being buffeted by storms. Many will jump ship. Stay on board. Storms have been part of the Church from the beginning. Trust in Our Lord and keep your eyes on Him. Have charity and pray for the Pope and Bishops. Scandals have always cropped up, and the Holy Ghost is still protecting the Church. Father even gave an example of a scandal which convinced a Jew to convert. He said if he ran his business the way the Church was being run he would be out of business. Obviously, the Church had the protection of a higher power to have lasted centuries. Father told the story of Formosus and Stephen VI. Now there’s a scandal. One really good point was this: One who gives scandal is guilty of spiritual murder. One who allows himself to be scandalized commits spiritual suicide. There was so much good “stuff” that I can’t remember it all. It was a rousing call to faithfulness, however.

  15. Kathleen10 says:

    We have a priest who is serious about the Forty Days for Life, so his simple homily was that life is sacred from conception to natural death, and this is true of every life, including those in prison. The readings were both about marriage, but the only discussion of marriage was basically that women are equal to men. The church missal made that point as well.
    Homilies are not this priest’s “thing”, but he offers a reverent Holy Mass, adding more prayers than most priests and even wonderful pauses for silence. We love him.

  16. juergensen says:

    We went to a Sunday afternoon OF Mass at another Church. It appeared to be a “youth” Mass, with a youth band, acoustic guitars, etc. Other than that, it was fine: reverent, rang the bells at the Consecration, and a Homily devoted to Pro-Life Sunday. Father began with life at conception and then proceeded to life in the womb, life at birth, life at old age, how it all is human life created by God and requiring love and protection. Spoke of time he ministered to dying AIDS patients, how they were/are human life too. True. My only issue is that by tying in AIDS patients with babies in the womb, he created a “seamless garment”, when in fact it is not, as abortion is murder and a mortal sin while an adult dying of a disease is itself neither.

  17. psheridan says:

    We heard about Cdl. Bernardin’s seamless garment, which permits no life issues to be raised above others. We heard about domesic violence. Father wore a pink ribbon on his chasuble. No women are obliged to remain in a marriage that subjects them to violence in “action, word or attitude”, we were told. After Mass, another 7 minute harangue about domestic violence from a female parishioner. The “action” word was fine — physical violence is unacceptable, and Canon law permits separation when a wife (or husband) is subjected to violence. But “word and attitude” is Orwellian nonsense. Father simply confirmed the feminist ideas floating around in the heads of the women in the pews.

    I think I’m done with this Church. If Gen 2: 18-24 and Mark 10:2-16 prompt only the comments I described, then I see no difference between this parish and a neighborhood feminist club, which I would never have anything to do with. Furthermore, this parish is incapable of catechizing my teenage son, unless one believes that feminism and gender theory are just the same as Catholicism.

    So, yes, I suppose I heard something good in the sense that what I heard confirmed my intention to leave, for the well-bing of my son.

  18. Te_Deum says:

    Fr Perrone spoke on marriage. I myself have not gotten to hear it yet, but I will this afternoon. It is uploaded at GrottoCast along with last week’s homily here:

    http://grottocast.com/2015/10/04/two-homilies-last-sunday-of-september-first-sunday-of-october/

  19. MrsMacD says:

    Father’s sermon was on the Rosary, the history of the rosary, the battle of lepanto and how sometimes we might think that our children behave like turks, and that the rosary is the best answer for fighting all trials and we should say our daily family rosary for the Church.

  20. PhilipNeri says:

    “Uncomfortable truths do not go away simply b/c we harden our hearts against them. Reality does not yield to argument or whining. Truth is truth; the Real is real, and we are thrown into both and forced to deal with each as best we can. However, better than most, we Catholics are equipped to confront and thrive in the truth of the real b/c we know and believe that God our Father is Love.”

    http://hancaquam.blogspot.com/2015/10/any-marriage-can-thrive.html

    Fr. Philip Neri, OP

  21. pseudomodo says:

    Our Assistant Pastor said mass. In the homily he pointed out the gospel readings we were hearing was also being heard by the members of the synod in Rome. He then gave us an excellent explanation on the sanctity of Marriage.

    He also distributed copies of Cardinal Burkes recent lectures regarding the five Cardinals Book and invited everyone to read it.

    Excellent!!!

  22. frahobbit says:

    I visit a church which exclusively uses the NO. But in sermons – no weirdnesses. The Reverend said what Christ said, divorce was not allowed, and gave a talk on how marriage was a self-gift and a sacrifice. No divorce. He didn’t shellac it, lacquer it, wash it, joke about it, explain it away, give exemptions or excuses.

  23. andia says:

    We had a Missionary Priest of the Blessed Sacrament, who spoke on the importance and blessing of Eucharistic Adoration.

    Since this parish has perpetual adoration, and is having issues with folks not showing up, or showing up in no condition to adore. , yes I told the priest) (read druk, as I have seen happen recently It’s getting to the point where the new Administrator of the Parish had to do something or to close the chapel. This visiting priest spoke for almost 30 minutes about the beauty and need for adoration and how “God appreciates the sacrifice you make to spend an hour a week with God.” And that “there are graces poured out when you” visit Him, especially at night. As an adorer at that parish, It was nice to hear –but I doubt it will change things.

  24. KatieL56 says:

    Good point. . . At this point in my ‘exile’ (more than 40 years in the desert, oh Lord), I’d settle for ‘not completely off the rails point’. . .

    At the territorial parish we had ‘points to ponder’ –when God made Adam a ‘suitable partner’, what did we think that phrase meant? (open ended question with no answer given by Father). Furthermore, how we were modeling openness to others? Were we caught up with ‘rules’ instead of acknowledging our own sins especially those of lack of charity to others who had historically been treated badly?

    At the parish across the border, we were asked, as usual, “What are YOU doing here? What are you doing HERE?” In your ‘assigned seats’ that you always sit in, what are you doing? How are you helping others on their faith journey? You know, when my sister was divorced I decided to work on helping couples discerning marriage, so I spent many years doing PreCana. . . and we need to be more welcoming to those undergoing divorce. . . you know, these readings aren’t just about marriage. They’re about relationships. What relationships are important to YOU? Is the person you’re sitting next to somebody who is there ‘for better or for worse”? Isn’t that what it’s all about. . .our relationships? I want you to think about the relationship in your life that is most important to you, where you are there ‘until death do you part’. . . and work on that relationship.” Usually we also get to hear about some ‘inspirational quote’ that Father has saved on his Ipad but I guess there was nothing exciting enough for him to bring it out this time. . .

    I don’t know whether it’s New England or upstate NY or what, but since I left Virginia I have never once (except at a Mass by Bishop Matano) ever heard a homily at any Mass that was not full of AMBIGUITY. In my opinion it is the curse of the Church today. Heck, the ambiguity of communication in the entire English-speaking world is a curse. We can have people talking to each other using the very same words and what one person ‘understands’ by those words is completely opposite to the understanding of the other person! So you can have people mouthing out platitudes and cliches that might look orthodox but because of the way that our ‘understanding’ has ‘deepened’, what most people understand by those words is completely opposite. The Church is a ‘big tent’. . . and the clowns are leading the way. . .

  25. drforjc says:

    Deacon preached exclusively on the second portion of the Gospel, about accepting the kingdom of God as little children. I suppose this was appropriate given St. Therese of Lisieux’s feast day being celebrated last Thursday.

    He did stress the sanctity of life at all stages, which I appreciated.

  26. JesusFreak84 says:

    The Ukrainian Catholic priest who celebrates the English liturgy at my parish usually tries to keep his homilies timeless, leaving the timely comments for announcements at the end of the liturgy, but it was the latter that really stuck out at me this weekend.

    I don’t doubt he’s closely following the news of Russia’s antics, ISIS, the rest, and he does seem to think that WWIII is a very real possibility, and very, very soon. I pray God that Father is wrong, but… I will call it a “good point” because it reiterates your (Father Z’s) constant admonitions to GO TO CONFESSION!!!

  27. MattH says:

    I attended Mass far from my usual home, due to National Guard training, but was pleasantly surprised when the priest said:
    – To understand how marriage is supposed to work, look at a Crucifix.
    – If you don’t have a Crucifix to look at, get one!
    – Jesus Himself says marriage is indissoluble. An annulment is only granted when the Church is saying there was never a marriage there to begin with.
    – We need to live out our marriages in such a way that people can see the self-giving love of Jesus in it; husband and wife must make a total gift of themselves to the marriage and their children. If anyone around us fails to make it to heaven, and we have not been that image of Christ’s love for the Church, then it is a little bit our fault that they did not make it.

  28. billy15 says:

    There were definitely some good points in the homily I heard this past Sunday. My cousin (along with one other) was ordained to the priesthood this past Thursday evening in the Ukrainian-Greek Catholic Church according to the Byzantine Rite. This was very special because my cousin’s father had been ordained in secret in Ukraine years ago, and now, my cousin was able to be ordained in the Eparchy’s cathedral in public, with a very beautiful liturgy. We then traveled to his hometown where he said his first liturgy as priest. He gave a wonderful first homily as priest, and made a point that you often do, Father Z…

    GO TO CONFESSION!

    I recorded his homily, so I’ll quote him here:

    “I want to leave you with three things you can do that will help your hearts flourish.

    “…Number two: Go to Confession! Do not sacrifice or let [one put] aside the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Go to Confession, I would say, at least once a month. The Church’s minimum asking us to go once a year before Easter is a minimum requirement. But if you know anything about St. John Paul the Great, he confessed daily. If the Pope needs to confess daily, then my brothers and sisters, we should avail ourselves of the Sacrament of Reconciliation much more than just once a year. In our [missals], we have a wonderful examination of conscience, and in the Western Church, you have wonderful examinations of conscience. Reflect on those maybe just once a month before Confession. That’s in a sense pulling out the weeds of sin in your heart. Trust me, if you read those and meditate on them you will find something you need to confess, because we’re not angels.

    “And finally… if you pray daily, and you go to Confession once a month, always, always, ALWAYS receive the Eucharist every single day. Because our Lord God and Savior will find in you, a suitable dwelling place where he can reside in your heart and he can work… He can work. He can give you the grace you need to do the things that you need to do; to be filled with the virtues of faith, hope and love. Courage, kindness, generosity, patience and sacrifice…”

    How wonderful that this new priest says things that I rarely hear in my own parish (save my former parish with a very orthodox and traditional priest)! He also added that:
    “this was a joyous time… but I was in tears [earlier in the liturgy], and it’s good, I like facing the other way (East towards the altar) because you can’t see me! And I was just trying to hold them back.

    “…But this, in many ways, is Palm Sunday. Every day after, I have to put this Cross on my neck. The Church doesn’t give me a birthday cake; they’re hanging this on my neck. It’s given me a cross, and I need to climb that Cross, because if I’m to be THIS image to the faithful, and I can’t climb my cross, how will you ever have the courage to carry yours? And so I ask you to pray for me.”

    This was the first time I was able to hear my cousin preach after years of seeing him serve as deacon, and I think he spoke very well. I ask you all to please pray for my cousin as he embarks on this journey. For the parishioners of the two parishes he’s been entrusted to. And I ask you to also pray for his wife and three young children, as he will be sacrificing more of his time now to the service of God and others. Please pray that he will always serve God well.

  29. gjf2a says:

    Our priest spoke at length about the theology of the Trinity, and how the love between the Father and Son brings forth the Holy Spirit. From there, he followed the theology of St. John Paul II in explaining how the love between husband and wife is intended to reflect this, and that this is why marriage is only between man and woman, and that this is also why we do not contracept. By contracepting, we intercept the expression of love between man and woman and fail to image the love of the Trinity. From there, he discussed how we enter into communion with the Trinity via the Eucharist. It was splendid and I was greatly edified. I know many priests, including ours, understand that those of us in the trenches seeking to follow the full teaching of the church are strengthened and edified when our quest for fidelity is affirmed in the homily!

  30. mike cliffson says:

    quote
    Husbands! You do give your wives presents from.time time as tokens of your love, don’t you? Wives! Do they? Don’t they?!
    Well
    The liturgy is the husband,Jesús Christ’s gift to hid wife,the CHURCH UNQUOTE.
    Theme developed mainly but not exclusively. For the mass

  31. Former Altar Boy says:

    On the first Sunday of October, Month of the Holy Rosary, our pastor gave a sermon on Gabriel’s greeting to the Blessed Virgin, “Hail Mary, full of grace” versus the often heard translation of “Hail Mary, highly favored one.” He explained how St. Jerome grew up in Dalmatia speaking Greek so was fluent in that language as well as Hebrew and Latin. Father said St. Jerome’s translation (the former above) is actually more correct than the latter. He also told how the greeting “Ave” (Hail) was generally followed by the name of the person being greeted, but Gabriel did not do that but instead recognized her as a being “full of grace.” Father also taught us that although Mary was full of grace at the moment of the greeting, she received additional graces throughout her life. (He didn’t say this, but it reminded me of “[her] cup overflows.)

  32. VeritasVereVincet says:

    NOOF as always. I didn’t realize how much I needed to hear that Gospel right now.

    The weekend presider (not the pastor, but who recently started celebrating half the weekend Masses) gave a repetitive homily that said the same thing in different ways but basically boiled down to “We have convictions but we can still be compassionate to divorced people.”

    I still have no idea if he meant actual compassion or liberal “compassion”. After Father started off by describing the Gospel words as sounding “harsh,” I massively side-eyed him and paid super close attention to the rest of the homily. I honestly wonder if it was carefully crafted to be technically not against Church teaching, while still being 100% interpretable as supporting liberal values, and never actually mentioning the concrete teaching of the Church.

    This is not a time for being ambiguous. I was disappointed.

  33. Elizium23 says:

    Our pastor preached about the evils of [ARTIFICIAL] CONTRACEPTION. And he declared that if a couple is [artificially] contracepting yet still receiving the Most Holy Eucharist, they are committing yet another mortal sin. Powerful ideas, those.

    He once said that Catholic schools are in a crisis of closures chiefly because Catholic married couples are contracepting their would-be children out of existence. Truth hurts, don’t it.

  34. MouseTemplar says:

    A spot-on homily about marriage AND the opening of Forty Hours’ Devotion with a visiting Polish Monsignor who connected the dots for us between the Passover lamb and our Lord residing in the monstrance before us.

    No, this was an older and considerably more traditional Polish Monsignor than the one we had been reading about this weekend (!)

  35. Sliwka says:

    (Youngish) Father/Pastor acknowledged the OF readings have so many avenues from SSM to the scourge of divorce, pornography, etc and so chose to take the CCC definition of chastity and draw it out.

    Amazing quotation from the CCC is Chastity is the promise of immortality.

  36. eyeclinic says:

    Our priest at the Catholic Medical Assoc. conference announced that he was selected to be the new exorcist for his midwest diocese. It was touching to hear that he was scared but willing to accept the responsibility. He asked for continued prayers and promised to keep us updated at future meetings.

  37. Supertradmum says:

    Absolutely fantastic sermon on the EF Gospel on the banquet. The priest who gave the sermon noted that St. Thomas Aquinas wrote that some people did not want to come to the banquet because of fastidiousness, as Aquinas gave a reason for the refusal.

    I was stunned by the insight. Fastidiousness means hard to please, over-fussy, too particular. Now, for me, this sermon struck at the heart of those who only want the liturgy to be done one way and one way only, ignoring the richess of the various rites in the Church. It may also mean that one is only concerned with what affects them and not others.

    Sharing this insight of Aquinas, the priest opened an entirely new meaning to the banquet feast and those who did not want to go, or dress as God saw fit to dress them–with sanctifying grace.

    Does this Gospel not apply to the discussions at the Synod as well?

  38. andia says:

    eyeclinic — would you mind posting your priest’s name, that I might include him in my daily rosary?

  39. WYMiriam says:

    Our priest surprised me with a hard-hitting sermon on marriage-related topics (his usual style tends to be in the opposite direction of hard-hitting).

    What really got my attention when he said that all polygamous societies are also polytheistic societies, and that the way we see “family” is the way we will see God: thus, if we see family as unfruitful, sterile, unproductive, not completely self-giving, that is how we will begin to see God — as sterile, unfruitful, unproductive, not completely self-giving.

    This was followed immediately by a reference to Obergefell, which stated [at least in effect, if not blatantly] that people who are religious may continue to advocate not condoning same-sex “marriage” — “where’s the ‘but’?” Where is the “so what’s the problem with that, you bigoted clingers-to-religion?”

    Here’s the answer: the right to religious freedom means more than just teaching something. It also means being able to live those teachings. And, by extension, the right to religious freedom means being able to live those teachings (e.g., by refusing to endorse “gay marriage” through taking “wedding” pictures for a homosexual duo) free from fear of being fined or jailed.

    It was strong. It was good.

  40. MAJ Tony says:

    We celebrated our patronal feast (Holy Rosary) Sunday. Fr. Kappes, who assists at Holy Rosary and St. Patrick in Indy when he’s not in PA teaching at an Eastern Rite seminary, delivered the Homily, which was for the OF readings, wherein he discussed the upcoming synod. He brought up a number of interesting points that show some degree of contradiction with respect to the western Church’s dealing with the indisolubility of marriage. In the end, he said we should not be unduly concerned that the Synod will do more than generate material for an Apostolic Exhortation, as the last such instrument to have any effect on doctrinal issues was in 1967.

    One comment that struck me as a necessary thought for our understanding. He said something to the effect that the Church has considerable ambiguity and that if you don’t like ambiguity (like most of us, especially in the TLM crowd), you’re in the wrong “church.”

    A few points he made: 1. The Pope can declare a sacramental marriage dissolved (as opposed to decree nullity) but the precedent for that involved an unconsumated marriage where the couple desired to enter religious life. 2. +Felay of the SSPX used the fact that the East and West were reunited after the first schism despite the fact that the Orthodox permitted divorce and remarriage (under very limited circumstances, see https://wdtprs.com/2014/06/orthodox-solution-for-communion-for-divorcedremarried-is-no-solution/ ) as a reason why the Roman Church should allow a big tent that groups such as the SSPX could fall under and still take issue with Vatican II (a point he remarked he thinks +Felay probably wishes he didn’t use given the synod issue). and 3. Whatever official compendium of the Catholic faith (Benzinger’s Enchiridion Symbolorum ?), which was printed in the 1950s, that the deceased “Pope Pius XIII” of the schismatic sedevacantist (unless you count their “pope”) Ultra-Rad-Trad “True ‘Catholic Church'” (Lucian Pulvermacher) used as his guide states something to the effect that the indisolubility of marriage is a theological opinion.

  41. MAJ Tony says:

    NB: I put “church” in quotes to include non-Churches (in the Catholic sense of the word) as places where one might go if they can’t handle some ambiguity.

  42. eyeclinic says:

    Fr. Gutowski, if that’s ok with Fr. Z.(Diocese of Omaha)

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