2018 Predictions
1. Pres. Trump will acknowledge North Korea a nuclear state to diffuse the military option.
2. The building of The Wall will begin.
3. Justice Kennedy will resign from the Supreme Court, and Pres. Trump will get another pick.
4. Pope Francis – still Pope – will beatify Pierre Teilhard de Chardin with the intention to canonize him and declare him Doctor of the Church.
5. The Synod on Youth will discuss “viri probati”, which will be approved as a step to making clerical celibacy optional.
6. The Holy See and Palestine will establish full diplomatic relations, Nunciature in Bethlehem.
7. The number of places with Holy Mass ad orientem will grow quietly but significantly.
8. Card. Sarah will be transferred to Propaganda and Archbp. Roche will takeover at CDW.
9. Doctrinal evaluation of professors and theological writings will be devolved to local episcopal conferences.
10. Fr. Z will still not be a Monsignor.
How did I do last year? HERE
1. ObamaCare (aka “Affordable” Care Act) will be repealed. [+0 – Sort of… the mandate was.]
2. Construction will begin on The Wall. [+0 – Prototypes were made]
3. Pres. Trump’s first international trip will be to Jerusalem. [+1]
4. Pres. Trump will appoint two Justices to the Supreme Court. [-1 – Alas, he only got one]
5. Pope Francis will not respond to the Dubia and will, in fact, double down. [+1]
6. Card. Burke will emerge unscathed from the Knights of Malta controversy. [-1]
7. Curial reform will still not make significant progress. [+1]
8. The number of places in which Extraordinary Form (TLM) Masses are offered will continue to grow. [+1]
9. Applications to seminaries will continue to drop. [+1]
10. Fr. Z will still not be a Monsignor. [+1]
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What is the evidence that seminary applications are down?
Orthodox Catholics will never accept Pierre Teilhard de Chardin as a Doctor of the Church. At best, he could be regarded as a Pre-med Student of the Church.
Fr
You got me beat on charisma even for priest-blogger halfjests
but I’m doubtful about number 4. I’m completely ignorant on the Holy Spirit to Holy Father , on Jesuit to Jesuit ,priest priest but the priest chemist the priest evolutionist beatification just doesn’t fit
Your Prediction #5 for 2018 is well on its way to being fulfilled, Fr. Z.; word is that the relatio post disceptationem for the synod on the youth has already been drafted. It’s wording is uncannily equivocal, however; it leaves out specifically mentioning vocations to the priesthood, but opens the discussion for “viri probaiti” as a means of encouraging “vocations” in general. Who knew?
Are you pulling our collective leg?
But for the fact that nine are not at all impossible [even number ten — imagine] I would think so. The prospect of the beatification of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin is nothing less than terrifying.
What could possibly be used to support such a move?
As far as I know his cause has never been introduced. I have never seen him acknowledged as Servant of God let alone declared Venerable. While it cannot be contradicted that the perspectives promoted by the cosmic Jesuit are held as revealed truth by a certain current of the nominal, I’ve never gotten the impression there is any pious devotion to him or that there is any appeal to his intersession [do those who hold his aberrance dear even believe in eternal life or intercessory prayer?] or that his life is regarded as an example of heroic virtue.
If Teilhard why not Merton? That’s a bone chiller.
Is there any longer regarded a difference between celebrity cult and the cult of the Saints?
This prospect bears no similarity to recent papal recognition of such figures as Peter Faber or Hildegard of Bingen.
If all protocols are to be shelved why stop at beatification?
I clearly recall a report at the time of the canonization of Blessed Teresa of Kolkata that Pope Francis was quoted as saying that he was uncertain if canonizations is an exercise of papal infallibility. If that was indeed an accurate report it might save us in the long run of having to endure the hideous prospect predicted here. If the pope does not even believe his act to be of an infallible character, is it?
Should an international war be adverted in the upcoming year there is no doubt that ecclesiastical hostilities will continue at the nuclear level.
The prospect of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin being canonised would shock me. My main worry is that George Cardinal Pell will be found guilty of child sex offences when he come up for trial in March. The Media are all determined that he is guilty and this trial will be a farce. He should be completely cleared of all charges but the chances of him receving a fair trial are just about zero.
“9. Applications to seminaries will continue to drop.”
Really? Not everywhere. Certainly not in Cincinnati, where the local seminary is adding a new wing. Seems they need the space for more candidates.
https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2017/11/09/athenaeum-ohio-breaks-ground-new-building/841177001/
I didn’t know who Tielhard de Chardin was, so I looked him up on Wikipedia.
Regarding the Omega Point, it’s the end of the universe right? With the right technology, is that measurable? If it would be possible to measure, then wouldn’t that contradict Jesus’s statement that no one but the Father knows the hour?
@David L Alexander , right. Most seminaries I know of seem to be up, at least in student numbers, and that would also imply that applications are up. Even some northeastern jurisdictions which had been way down (Philadelphia) are up (+Chaput). Midwest is up (though Mundelein may be about even), South is up, EF/TLM orders are way up (small, but gaining ‘market share,’ Dominicans are up, Jesuits are up. Again, “up” where, and compared to when? In the U.S., compared to 1960-no, everyone is down compared to then. To 2010? Lots of places are up. [Some are.]
Saint John Paul II and Benedict XVI Doctors 34 and 35.Someday.
the wall WILL be built.
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Up?
Up to what?
How are these men being formed?
Undoubtedly their theological formation is for the most part, to be charitable, ambiguous.
I can well imagine what is going on in Jesuit formation. Do you think it is much different in essence elsewhere?
Only be degree.
Fueled by a clergy class desperate for personal relevance theology has become the posterior of the academic equine. Speculation, theorizing, the soft sciences, substitute for depth reception and reflection upon Divine Revelation and the perennial Magisterium.
You cannot maintain the post-conciliar trajectory with authentic theological formation. As each semester goes by the current ethos is fueled on steroids by dispositions and notions holding pride of place in high places – and braced by fraudulent admonitions evangelical obedience.
We need take no pride in numbers.
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin prediction caused me to have a spittle-flecked nutty. Lord have mercy on your people.
Might (4) possibly be tongue-in-cheek? I wish I could convince myself of that. The spirit of Vatican II and of this pontificate have, at their core, the heterodoxy of Teilhard, and his beatification by fiat would not be astounding. Outrageous, yes, but not astounding.
Fr. Z wrote: 10. Fr. Z will still not be a Monsignor.
Hmm..but Cardinal Z in pectore would be cool, except for the persecution element of course.
KateD: Here’s an article on Pierre Tielhard de Chardin:
https://onepeterfive.com/teilhard-chardin-vii-architect/
Your “beatify Chardin” prophecy is certainly the squeaky wheel among the 10. And I’ve got the miracle for his canonization: that Catholics still take him seriously. But in the Church today, just because a priest used fake science to devise a heretical theology shouldn’t disqualify him from the ranks of the saints. How low is the canonization bar if Josemaria Escriva can be canonized and Paul VI be on the verge?
Beautification and Canonization is the elephant in the Catholic reform room. There is a horrible problem with the canonization process and it needs to be addressed. However, few realize this and care. If they can beautify Paul VI and canonization JPII of scandalous memory, then they can easily canonize Teilhard – or at least beatify him. It’s mostly a popularity contest based on emotion or political tool at this point.
[Perhaps it would be good to learn more about the process of beatification, etc.]
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Benedict Joseph’s bemoaning of the current state of seminary formation should be tempered by the well-known fact that the young clergy are among the greatest and most effective promoters of a return to traditional liturgical forms. What ARE they teaching in these schools?
SpesUnica: I am well aware of what good has come forth. My parish has produced two wonderful vocations to the priesthood. The question remains, in the current climate, how much longer can we on what is good in priestly formation.
Talk about climate change?
The globe has nothing on what we are presently enduring in the Church.
Depositing our heads in the sand will not do.
It’s strange how I should become so upset over something I realize is a matter of discipline, but I hope I do not live to see married priests as normal in the Roman Church. Every virtuous celibate priest I know has always been a constant reminder to me that there is a Heaven, and there are some very urgent human needs that are worth giving up to give witness to that reality. Married priests in the our Church will be the ultimate triumph of secularism. Again, I pray God I never see it.
If 4 comes true, I will yak x.x
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