Minnesotans! ACTION ITEM! Minnesota Catholic Conference asks help.

Posted on 19 July 2012 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

An ACTION ITEM in defense of true marriage.

I received this:

If you can help them do this, it is very important that you do.  The results of the polling will give them a good list of people to make sure to call to get out the vote on election day in November.

It’s simple, but very important! Can you please help?

Minnesota Catholic Conference  and Minnesota for Marriage is hosting phone bank sessions at two locations next week; the Hayden Center located at 328 W. Kellogg Blvd and the St. Paul Seminary at 2260 Summit Avenue from Monday through Thursday (23rd to 27th) from 6 to 9 p.m.

This would be a 2 or 3 yes/no question survey to help identify the undecided voters on the Marriage Amendment.  It is very simple and is the most important way to win this campaign for keeping marriage between one man and one woman.

We ask that you bring your cell phones and lap tops.  There will be a phone bank representative there from the MCC and Family Life Office to help get people started and answer questions throughout the evening.

Please contact Crystal Crocker to schedule a time at ccrocker@mncc.org or call 651 330-3417.

Thank you for your help,

Crystal Crocker
Outreach Coordinator

Minnesota Catholic Conference
475 University Avenue West
St. Paul, MN 55103
651-900-1906

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, One Man & One Woman, Our Catholic Identity, The Drill, The future and our choices | Tagged , , , , ,
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What’s wrong with this picture?

Posted on 19 July 2012 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

A news story:

Posted in Lighter fare |
87 Comments

SSPX Statement: We wait for the “serious debate” which will bring ecclesiastic authorities back to Tradition

Posted on 19 July 2012 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

At the SSPX site DICI we read the General Chapter Statement.

Bottom line: Not negative, but clarificatory.  They left the door open for more discussions under Archbp. Di Noia.

You can read the whole thing there, but here is the most interesting part with my emphases and comments:

[…] We have recovered our profound unity in its essential mission: to preserve and defend the Catholic Faith, to form good priests, and to strive towards the restoration of Christendom. We have determined and approved the necessary         conditions for an eventual canonical normalization. We have decided that, in that case, an extraordinary Chapter with deliberative vote will be convened beforehand.

[…]

The Chapter believes that the paramount duty of the Society, in the service which it intends to offer to the Church, is to continue, with God’s help, to profess the Catholic Faith in all its purity and integrity, with a determination matching the intensity of the constant attacks to which this very Faith is subjected nowadays.

For this reason it seems opportune that we reaffirm our faith in the Roman Catholic Church, the unique Church founded by Our Lord Jesus Christ, outside of which there is no salvation nor possibility to find the means leading to salvation; our faith in its monarchical constitution, desired by Our Lord himself, by which the supreme power of government over the universal Church belongs only to the Pope, Vicar of Christ on earth; our faith in the universal Kingship of Our Lord Jesus Christ, Creator of both the natural and the supernatural orders, to Whom every man and every society must submit. [A reference, I think, to the question of religious liberty.]

The Society continues to uphold the declarations and the teachings of the constant Magisterium of the Church in regard to all the novelties of the Second Vatican Council which remain tainted with errors, [“Pour toutes les nouveautés du Concile Vatican II qui restent entachées d’erreurs et pour les réformes qui en sont issues, la Fraternité ne peut que continuer à s’en tenir aux affirmations et enseignements du Magistère constant de l’Eglise…” If I read this correctly, they make a distinction between, on the one hand the Magisterium and, on the other, the teachings of Vatican II and the reforms that came from it, as if what pertains to Vatican II doesn’t really belong to the “constant Magisterium”.  On the other hand, the SSPX would not see as error what we read in Lumen gentium about the Pope being able to teach infallibly.  They would not say that what we read in Gaudium et spes concerning abortion as an abominable sin being in error.  So, clearly, some teachings of the Council are fine.   They can’t be rejecting the entirety of the Council’s textual content.] and also in regard to the reforms issued from it. We find our sure guide in this uninterrupted Magisterium which, by its teaching authority, transmits the revealed Deposit of Faith in perfect harmony with the truths that the entire Church has professed, always and everywhere. [Thus, since they perceive errors in what came from Vatican II, Vatican II can’t be part of the Magisterium.]

The Society finds its guide as well in the constant Tradition of the Church, which transmits and will transmit until the end of times the teachings required to preserve the Faith and the salvation of souls, while waiting for the day when an open and serious debate will be possible which may allow the return to Tradition of the ecclesiastical authorities. [“…en attendant qu’un débat ouvert et sérieux, visant à un retour des autorités ecclésiastiques à la Tradition, soit rendu possible.” The English is not entirely clear.  Such a debate would, for them, aim at “ecclesiastical authorities” returning to Tradition. “Authorities” would include, I suppose, Benedict XVI. I hope the “ecclesiastical authorities” don’t take that as being inflammatory.  I suspect the SSPX did not intend it as inflammatory.]

We wish to unite ourselves to the others [sic] Christians persecuted in different countries of the world who are now suffering for the Catholic Faith, some even to the extent of martyrdom. Their blood, shed in union with the Victim of our altars, is the pledge for a true renewal of the Church in capite et membris, according to the old saying sanguis martyrum semen christianorum.  [It seems that the see themselves as being persecuted, perhaps in the role of “confessors”.]

“Finally, we turn our eyes to the Blessed Virgin Mary, who is also jealous of the privileges of her Divine Son, jealous of His glory, of His Kingdom on earth as in Heaven. How often has she intervened for the defense, even the armed defense, of Christendom against the enemies of the Kingdom of Our Lord! We entreat her to intervene today to chase the enemies out from inside the Church who are trying to destroy it more radically than its enemies from outside. May she deign to keep in the integrity of the Faith, in the love of the Church, in devotion to the Successor of Peter, all the members of the Society of St. Pius X and all the priests and faithful who labor alongside the Society, in order that she may both keep us from schism and preserve us from heresy.

[…]

Given at Ecône, on the 14th of July of the Year of the Lord 2012.

Déclaration du Chapitre général de la Fraternité Saint-Pie X
Dichiarazione del Capitolo generale della Fraternità Sacerdotale San Pio X
Declaración del Capítulo General de la Fraternidad Sacerdotal San Pío X
Grundsatzerklärung des Generalkapitels der Priesterbruderschaft St. Pius X.

Meanwhile, in “Eternal Rome”, there was issued a Communique concerning the SSPX:

Vatican City,  (VIS) – Early this afternoon, the Holy See Press Office released the following English-language communique concerning the declaration which emerged from the General Chapter of the Priestly Society of St. Pius X.

“The recently concluded General Chapter of the Priestly Society of St. Pius X has addressed a declaration regarding the possibility of a canonical normalisation in the relationship of the Society and the Holy See. While it has been made public, the declaration remains primarily an internal document for study and discussion among the members of the Society.
“The Holy See has taken note of this declaration, but awaits the forthcoming official communication of the Priestly Society as their dialogue with the Pontifical Commission ‘Ecclesia Dei’ continues”.

So, the Holy See now waits for the SSPX to communicate officially with the Pontifical Commission “Ecclesia Dei“.  An internal document is one thing, and what they tell the PCED is another.  This statement, though internal to the members of the SSPX (priests) is, however, public.  It is therefore also aimed at the people who support the SSPX.  Over the years we have seen some bombastic public rhetoric even while Bp. Fellay has moved the SSPX into a dialogue (serious or not) with the Holy See.

On the other hand, I am not sure how entering into a “serious debate” with the aim of getting the authorities of the Holy See to “return to Tradition” is going to win them any points.  Perhaps they will leave that part out of their next official communication with the Holy See.

In any event, perhaps this will keep the door open for new discussions with Archbishop Di Noia at the helm.  Benedict XVI moved him there for a reason.

Posted in Linking Back, Pope of Christian Unity, SSPX, The Drill, The future and our choices | Tagged , , , , ,
139 Comments

“Somebody else made that happen!”

Posted on 18 July 2012 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Every presidential campaign seems to have it famous phrase.

I think this might be it.

Posted in Dogs and Fleas, Lighter fare | Tagged
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Of Anger Management, Benedict XVI and the SSPX. Wherein Fr. Z imagines dire things.

Posted on 18 July 2012 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Do the SSPXers think that Pope Benedict is so patient and kindly that he would never withdraw his outstretched hand?

Perhaps that is it.  Maybe that is why they dawdle and find excuses not to accept what the Holy See has offered and have a canonical structure of their own.

It would be a mistake to think Benedict’s patience is endless.

My old mentor, the late Msgr. Schuler, was calm guy, unruffled by most things. Even in the face of drastic challenges, he was cool. I only saw him angry twice. His face changed. It was scary.  Happily, he wasn’t angry at me!

My old mentor, the late Card. Mayer, was a calm guy. He was a monk, and old. He was battle-hardened. He had seen it all. He was the holiest man I have ever known.  I only saw him angry once. He didn’t raise his voice. It left a deep impression on me, to be sure.  Happily, he wasn’t angry at me!

I used to talk with Card. Ratzinger pretty frequently, years back. I’d pick his brains. I’d talk to him about horrible things written about him. I would challenge and disagree and demure. I never saw him angry.  I haven’t really heard of him showing strong anger either.  I know people who know Papa Ratzinger better than I.  Everyone who knows him affirms that His Holiness is kind, and calm, and patient and sweet-tempered guy. He has the level-head and level-spirit that allows the workings of the theological virtues and the fruits of the Holy Ghost.

I can imagine, however, that if he got to the point where he was actually angry at someone or about something, there could be instant and sharp consequences.

The fact is, even level-headed and holy men get angry.

Let us turn our thoughts now to the followers of Lefebvre.

The Holy Father has offered the SSPX, through the CDF, point after point and chance after chance.  He has offered them pretty much everything they need.

Some will say, “But Father! But Father! The Second Vatican Council….”

NO!  He has.  He really has.  There are ways to work through the problematic issues raised by Vatican II within the Church and those avenues would be open to the SSPX.

I think that what the SSPX has done in regard to the “Doctrinal Preamble” and the Pope’s overtures could be quite … vexing.  Their maneuvers might vex a saint.

The Holy Father is about the last man on earth who would need anger management.  I fear, nevertheless, that the SSPX will manage to make him angry.

I read statements from the SSPX leadership and watch the temporizing and listen to their musings about “Eternal Rome”, as if they were the lone true ones, being truer to a thruthier Church than Pope Benedict could ever fathom, and I can well imagine Pope Benedict getting more and more annoyed.

And we know how Benedict works.  He thinks through a problem patiently and then – BAM! – he moves.  That’s what happened with two of the big things in his pontificate: Summorum Pontificum and the Anglican Ordinariates.  There was lots of opposition, but he wanted them.  He consulted, bided his time and – BAM! – they happened.  In the first year of his pontificate he simply slashed several days off the schedule of the meeting of that sacred cow of collegiality, the Synod of Bishops.  He just did it.  In one year’s time Benedict has moved 4 bishops from their sees.

I resonate with a great deal of what the SSPX stands for and wants.  I believe the priests of the Society to be zealous for the salvation of souls. They have so much to contribute!  But as much as I have sympathy for most of their concerns, sometimes they remind me of a bunch of brooding Batman villains.  I long to say to them, “If you vex Benedict enough – BAM!  You guys are going to learn what it means to on the business end of schism.”

I hope they don’t slap Benedict’s outstretched hand away.  The other hand won’t be so nice.

Please, Society, please.  Don’t blow this.

In ancient times Opportunity was personified as a beautiful woman with very long hair in front but with a bald head in back.  The idea was that we must catch hold of Opportunity when she approaches, because when she has passed there is nothing to hold her by.

Seize your opportunity with both hands, men.

Submit to the Vicar of Christ.

Benedict XVI is the Pope of Christian Unity.

Posted in Benedict XVI, Four Last Things, Our Catholic Identity, SSPX, The Drill, The future and our choices, Wherein Fr. Z Rants | Tagged , , ,
114 Comments

Wheaton College (Protestant) joins Catholic institutions in lawsuit against HHS mandate

Posted on 18 July 2012 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Wheaton College is joining Catholic instititutions to fight the Obama Administrations attacks on our 1st Amendment rights.

Remember: Even though the newsies incessantly talk about contraception contraception contraception, the real objection about the HHS mandate is not the contraception angle. This is about religious liberty for everyone.

In the letter sent out by Wheaton College (I received a fowarded copy) we read:

This morning, the Board of Trustees filed a lawsuit in the Washington, D.C. District Court opposing the mandate, which, if enacted, would force the College to violate its religious beliefs or pay severe fines. We are joining with Catholic University of America in order to demonstrate that a deep concern for the sanctity of human life and a strong belief in the importance of religious freedom are areas of commonality that transcend our theological differences. More information can be found here.

From FoxNews:

Evangelical college joins suit against ObamaCare contraception mandate

An evangelical college is joining Catholic groups in suing the Obama administration over the so-called contraception mandate.
Illinois-based Wheaton College announced Wednesday morning that it had joined The Catholic University of America in filing suit before District of Columbia federal court.
The wave of lawsuits has so far been dominated by Catholic organizations. After the Supreme Court upheld most of the federal health care overhaul last month, those groups vowed to continue their legal challenge against the requirement that employers provide access to contraceptive care.
The announcement Wednesday marks the first time an evangelical group has joined that effort.
“In this case, we recognize we have common cause with the Catholic University of America and other Catholic institutions in defending religious liberty,” Wheaton College President Philip Graham Ryken said on a conference call.
Wheaton, a protestant institution, is objecting to the Department Health and Human Services rule on slightly different grounds than the Catholic institutions. While those institutions are opposed to the requirement regarding all contraceptive coverage, Wheaton objected only to the possibility that they would have to provide access to coverage for “abortion-inducing drugs.”  [These blinkered newsies don’t quite get it.  Anyway…]
“We’re very clear on the sanctity of life, and this insurance mandate goes against our conscience,” Ryken said. [CONSCIENCE!  YES!] He said the fact that Catholic groups are teaming up with an evangelical college in this lawsuit should signal that “something really significant in terms of religious liberty is at stake.”
In May, dozens of Catholic groups filed a dozen separate but related federal lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of the requirement. Among the organizations were the University of Notre Dame, the Archdiocese of New York and The Catholic University of America.
The Obama administration several months ago softened its position on the mandate, [B as in B.  S as in S.  It didn’t.] but some religious organizations complain the administration did not go far enough to ensure the rule would not compel them to violate their religious beliefs.
Ryken accused the administration of creating “two classes” of religious institutions by providing an exemption for churches but not religious-affiliated colleges.
The lawsuit filing came a day after a federal judge in Nebraska dismissed a suit over the HHS rule filed by seven states.
The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which is representing Wheaton College, claims the ruling will not affect their case.

WDTPRS kudos to Wheaton College.

BTW… I went there with a friend many years ago to look at their Chesterton and C.S. Lewis collections.  Did you know that they have the wardrobe that inspired Lewis’s books?

Posted in Brick by Brick, Emanations from Penumbras, Fr. Z KUDOS, Our Catholic Identity, Religious Liberty, The future and our choices, The Last Acceptable Prejudice | Tagged , , , , , , ,
18 Comments

As it turns out, standard physics prevailed: Pioneer Spacecraft Anomaly solved.

Posted on 18 July 2012 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

For your “Just Too Cool” file.

From NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab comes a fascinating story about the Pioneer 10 and 11 spacecrafts.  When last contacted they were mysteriously slowing down.  Someone figured out why.

It was, as it turns out, rocket science!

Study Finds Heat is Source of ‘Pioneer Anomaly’

The unexpected slowing of NASA’s Pioneer 10 and 11 spacecraft – the so-called “Pioneer Anomaly” – turns out to be due to the slight, but detectable effect of heat pushing back on the spacecraft, according to a recent paper. The heat emanates from electrical current flowing through instruments and the thermoelectric power supply. The results were published on June 12 in the journal Physical Review Letters.

“The effect is something like when you’re driving a car and the photons from your headlights are pushing you backward,” said Slava Turyshev, the paper’s lead author at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. “It is very subtle.”

Launched in 1972 and 1973 respectively, Pioneer 10 and 11 are on an outward trajectory from our sun. In the early 1980s, navigators saw a deceleration on the two spacecraft, in the direction back toward the sun, as the spacecraft were approaching Saturn. They dismissed it as the effect of dribbles of leftover propellant still in the fuel lines after controllers had cut off the propellant. But by 1998, as the spacecraft kept traveling on their journey and were over 8 billion miles (13 billion kilometers) away from the sun, a group of scientists led by John Anderson of JPL realized there was an actual deceleration of about 300 inches per day squared (0.9 nanometers per second squared). [NB] They raised the possibility that this could be some new type of physics that contradicted Einstein’s general theory of relativity.

In 2004, Turyshev decided to start gathering records stored all over the country and analyze the data to see if he could definitively figure out the source of the deceleration. In part, he and colleagues were contemplating a deep space physics mission to investigate the anomaly, and he wanted to be sure there was one before asking NASA for a spacecraft.

He and colleagues went searching for Doppler data, the pattern of data communicated back to Earth from the spacecraft, and telemetry data, the housekeeping data sent back from the spacecraft. At the time these two Pioneers were launched, data were still being stored on punch cards. [Wow.  I remember making programs with those.] But Turyshev and colleagues were able to copy digitized files from the computer of JPL navigators who have helped steer the Pioneer spacecraft since the 1970s. They also found over a dozen of boxes of magnetic tapes stored under a staircase at JPL and received files from the National Space Science Data Center at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md., and worked with NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif., to save some of their boxes of magnetic optical tapes. He collected more than 43 gigabytes of data, which may not seem like a lot now, but is quite a lot of data for the 1970s. [I’ll say. I remember my Atari with its massive, what, 64k of RAM? And in my recent cleaning I found a 5″ diskette.  Blast from the past.] He also managed to save a vintage tape machine that was about to be discarded, so he could play the magnetic tapes.

The effort was a labor of love for Turyshev and others. The Planetary Society sent out appeals to its members to help fund the data recovery effort. NASA later also provided funding. In the process, a programmer in Canada, Viktor Toth, heard about the effort and contacted Turyshev. He helped Turyshev create a program that could read the telemetry tapes and clean up the old data.

They saw that what was happening to Pioneer wasn’t happening to other spacecraft, mostly because of the way the spacecraft were built. For example, the Voyager spacecraft are less sensitive to the effect seen on Pioneer, because its thrusters align it along three axes, whereas the Pioneer spacecraft rely on spinning to stay stable.

With all the data newly available, Turyshev and colleagues were able to calculate the heat put out by the electrical subsystems and the decay of plutonium in the Pioneer power sources, which matched the anomalous acceleration seen on both Pioneers.

[Bottom line…] “The story is finding its conclusion because it turns out that standard physics prevail,” Turyshev said. “While of course it would’ve been exciting to discover a new kind of physics, we did solve a mystery.”

Pioneer 10 and 11 were managed by NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif. Pioneer 10’s last signal was received on Earth in January 2003. Pioneer 11’s last signal was received in November 1995. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

Posted in Just Too Cool, Look! Up in the sky! | Tagged , , , ,
19 Comments

Analysis of NPR’s interview of LCWR Pres. Sr. Pat Farrell: like a 7-year old’s manipulative obfuscation

Posted on 18 July 2012 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Sr. Pat Farrell of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (a subsidiary of the Magisterium of Nuns) did an interview with the liberal-leaning National Public Radio.  Carl Olson of Catholic World Report deftly dissected Sister’s interview.  Let’s see the first part with my emphases and comments.

[Don’t forget: The LCWR’s leadership claim that, since they are not clerics, women religious don’t have to stand up for Magisterial teachings in their apostolates.  Therefore, they think they can blur and be silent about important moral and doctrinal issues and align themselves through that blurring and silence with a secular feminist agenda or with the Obama Administration’s pro-abortion efforts.]

Sister Pat Farrell, president of the LCWR, deflects, blames, and otherwise obfuscates

By Carl E. Olson

National Public Radio recently interviewed Sister Pat Farrell, the current president of the LCWR (Leadership Conference of Women Religious):

Farrell tells Fresh Air’s Terry Gross that the leadership organization is currently gathering the perspectives of all of its members in preparation for its national assembly in August.

“We’re hoping to come out of that assembly with a much clearer direction about [the Vatican’s decision], and that’s when the national board and presidency can proceed,” she says.

Among the options on the table, she says, are fully complying with the mandate, not complying with the mandate or seeing if the Vatican will negotiate with them.

“In my mind, [I want] to see if we can somehow, in a spirited, nonviolent strategizing, [LOL! She introduces the notion of “violence”?   What a manipulative joke!] look for maybe a third way that refuses to define the mandate and the issues in such black and white terms,” she says. [Let’s make everything gray and squishy.]

[Olsen now continues… sorry, the formatting here could be confusing…] In other words, let’s sit down and talk about having further dialogue that will point us in the direction of additional conversations, which in turn will open up new vistas of vague and non-distinct paths ushering in an even more rewarding round of discussions, etc., etc. Frankly, this is what it is like sometimes dealing with my seven-year-old son, who is verbally skilled, sometimes manipulative, very adept at deflection, and usually refuses to back down when caught breaking rules, telling lies, or stealing sweets. A “third way”? That’s simply grown-up talk for “one more chance”. Refusing to define issues in such “black and white terms” is a variation on “why do you always have to be so strict about X, Y, and Z?” The key to this approach is being willing to outlast—often through endless talk!—those in authority. It also helps to be able say one thing while claiming to say another.

But, first, how about a little dose of deflection?

[Another snip of the Farrell interview…] “The question is, ‘Can you be Catholic and have a questioning mind?’ That’s what we’re asking. … I think one of our deepest hopes is that in the way we manage the balancing beam in the position we’re in, if we can make any headways in helping to create a safe and respectful environment [Notice how she goes back to this “violence” theme?  She is slyly trying to paint the LCWR as some sort of battered-women’s shelter.  If memory serves, however, in schools all across the land it was the nuns that did the battering… of children.] where church leaders along with rank-and-file members can raise questions openly and search for truth freely, with very complex and swiftly changing issues in our day, that would be our hope. [blah blah blah] But the climate is not there. And this mandate coming from the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith putting us in a position of being under the control of certain bishops, that is not a dialogue. If anything, it appears to be shutting down dialogue.”

[Now Olson…] First, begin with a nonsensical question (my son, caught watching a television channel he knows is off limits, says, “Why does my sister get to watch whatever shes wants to?” Well, she doesn’t. But he’s not interested in the answer, is he?) Does Sister Farrell really ponder, with all seriousness, the question, “Can I be a Catholic and have a questioning mind?” Uh, the fact that a Catholic can even ponder such a question indicates the obvious answer: “Yes!” Crack open the Summa Theologica, one of the seminal theological and philosophical texts in the Tradition, and what do you find? Questions! Hundreds of ’em! Because we were made to question, ponder, contemplate, and wonder. But what is really being asked is this: “Can I be a Catholic and reject certain Catholic teachings?” The giveaway is in the term “complex and swiftly shifting issues in our day“. The next part of deflection, of course, is blaming someone else. In this case, it’s the CDF and the bishops appointed by the CDF: “But the climate is not there.” Yes, that’s right: the forecast for the LCWR is stormy weather, not smooth sailing.

[…]

You definitely want to read the rest over THERE.

I am especially pleased that Olson linked to my post NUNS GONE WILD!

In the interview, Sr. Farrell also opined that women religious are closer to understanding women’s health predicaments than are men/clerics. Does that sound to you like opposition to abortion?

Posted in Biased Media Coverage, Magisterium of Nuns, The Drill, Throwing a Nutty, Women Religious | Tagged , , , , ,
32 Comments

United States of America: “Mission Territory”. Wherein Fr. Z rants.

Posted on 17 July 2012 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

For a long time the Church in the USA was under the aegis of the Holy See’s then Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith, called now the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples. This is why, for example, the seminarians at the North American College in Rome and at the Pontifical Seminary “Josephinum” in the USA wear the same cassock as the seminarians of the Propaganda Fide College in Rome. Mission countries were in many important spheres under the governance of Propaganda. That changed as the Church in the USA, “a Christian country”, was able to sustain itself.

And now?

Dioceses are declaring bankrupcy. Identity is crumbling. The decidedly post-Christian Obama Administration, with its anti-Catholic catholics such as VP Biden and HHS Sec. Kathleen Sebelius, are viciously attacking our 1st Amendment religious freedoms.

Many years ago I was chewing the fat with an American bishop. I asked him, “What do we do to turn things around in the USA?” He responded, “The first thing we have to do is stop blowing happy gas!”

In sum, things are terrible. Yes, there are signs here and there of an awakening of Catholic identity, but things are simply dreadful, all in all. Maybe that is what we need: the Church grew from the seeds of the martyr’s blood drops.

On that note, I read with interest the comment by Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia:

“The Archdiocese of Philadelphia . . . is now really a mission territory.”

Of course it is, Your Excellency! It has been for a long time!

What is encouraging is that Archbishop Chaput had the guts to say it and Card. Dolan of New York openly agreed.

If the USA is mission territory, then every US Catholic is a missionary.

But when have we not been?

Before His Ascension, Christ said “Going therefore, teach ye all nations; baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and behold I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world.” (Matthew 28:19-20 Douay)

All Catholics are called to the sequela Christi, the following of Christ, to become holy, to be saints. We strive to become saints for ourselves, because we desire our salvation, but also for others, whom we have an obligation to help to salvation from love of God and neighbor.
Our Faith is for us, and our Faith is for others.

There is no authentic Catholic life without a mission to others. Even hermits and the cloistered are missionaries. The cloistered Carmelite St. Therese de Lisieux was named Patroness of Missionaries. If she was a missionary in her convent, how are we not all the more missionaries?

The Christian is called to holiness. The Christians is called to give witness. Christian witness is manifested first in the pursuit of holiness. Some are called to the special witness of the exercise of virtues in a heroic manner according to the circumstances and the opportunities which present themselves. Others are called to the outstanding but bloody witness of martyrdom. All are called to witness, however, for salvation is not just for ourselves alone. We are not islands. Unity in Christ necessarily means love of neighbor, which requires sacrificial love and choices that aim at the good of the other.

In this age which is ever more hostile to the Christian Faith and to “the Catholic Thing” in particular, how are we not being offered opportunities to give witness? Holiness is for ourselves, and it is for others. There is always an opportunity to be on mission in his Church Militant.

The rich modern West is mission country.  Rich in material, at least for now, we are impoverished in spirit and in the spiritual.

May I now refer you back to my rant, tirade, jeremiad? My manifesto after the Notre Shame debacle? HERE.

Since Pope Benedict’s election I have thought that a principle aim of his pontificate is to revitalize our Catholic identity. Just as in the Marshall Plan the US rebuilt war-torn Europe to create good trading partners and foster a bulwark against Communism, so to Pope Benedict is trying to build a bulwark against the dictatorship of relativism through a revitalization of our Catholic identity. To my mind, and I think also to Papa Ratzinger’s mind – if I know anything about his thought – at the heart of what must be done to strengthen our identity is the revitalization of our worship of Almighty God.

Liturgical worship is the key and sine qua non for any rebuilding of our Catholic identity.

As I wrote in my aforementioned tirade…

I urge all priests and bishops who read this blog with any slight quaver of resonance or benevolence, to consider this with care:

If you sense that something quite serious and important is going on right now, for the love of God rethink your approach to how you foster Holy Church’s proper public worship.

Do all in your power and through your influence to foster a worship of God which conforms not to worldly goals – as praiseworthy as they may be in a world still dominated by its dire prince – but rather to the real point of religion: an encounter with mystery.

Our worship must become more and more focused on the one who is Other. Seek what is truly above in your rites and raise people to encounter mystery.

You will be challenged and reviled, blocked and attacked as you do. You will be worn down and afraid under the weight of resistance.

To save the world we must save the liturgy.

[…]

Holy Catholic worship will be an attractive force for conversion.

We need to foster worship which stuns, which leaves the newcomer, long-time practicing Catholic, above all the fallen-away simply thunder stuck. Worship must at some point leave people speechless in awe. We need language and music and gesture which in its beauty floods the mind with light even while it swells the heart to bursting.

The more people encounter mystery through liturgy, the more hollow will clang the false or incomplete messages of those who have strayed from the good path, either to the left or to the right.

Our goal must be that which is good and beautiful because it is true, that which reflects what is of God, not man’s image merely. Give us mystery, not fabrications smacking of the world, fallen and transitory.

Fathers, and you Reverend Bishops, if anything of alarm has sounded in your hearts and minds of late, rethink your approach to our worship. Examine your approach with an eye on the signs of the times. Take a new approach.

The approach we have had least last few decades isn’t getting it done. Really … it isn’t

Going neither left nor right along the road toward the Lord, even as He comes to us, take the flock now deeper, now higher on that path, but always to encounter the mystery which distinguishes truly Catholic liturgy… and therefore true Catholics.

Lines are being drawn, sides taken, choices made.

More than ever we need what Christ, the true Actor of our liturgy, desires to offer us through Holy Church’s worship.

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, Benedict XVI, Brick by Brick, GO TO CONFESSION, Liturgy Science Theatre 3000, New Evangelization, Our Catholic Identity, Religious Liberty, The Drill, The future and our choices, The Last Acceptable Prejudice, Year of Faith | Tagged , , , , , ,
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POLL ALERT! Australia: Legal efforts to force priests to break Seal of Confession!

Posted on 17 July 2012 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

For POLL info, read to the bottom.

From Australian news.com.au

Priests could be ordered to report confessions of sex abuse to police
Ashley Gardiner
Herald Sun
July 18, 2012 12:00AM

HUNDREDS of years of Catholic tradition in the confessional could be overturned by Victoria’s inquiry into child sex abuse.

Priests would be ordered to reveal crimes told to them in private confessions under one proposal before the inquiry.  [Such a law would require priests to violate the Seal of Confession.  St. John Nepomucene, pray for us.]

But priests say they will resist being forced to reveal secrets of the confessional.

A parliamentary committee also will look at radical new laws that would see bishops face criminal charges for the misconduct of their priests.  [That is an attack on the essence of the Church itself.  It seeks to fragment dioceses.]

[…]

Liberal Catholic-haters try this every once in a while.

They know they will lose, but they also know that each time the try it, they get a few people on their side.  With each attempt they hope the can nudge the needle in their direction until… one day…

At the bottom of the page I linked, HERE, there is a POLL on this.  Scroll down.

At the time of this writing:

 

Posted in Our Catholic Identity, POLLS, Priests and Priesthood, Religious Liberty, The future and our choices, The Last Acceptable Prejudice | Tagged , , , , , ,
42 Comments