“The Church will become small and will have to start afresh …”

Posted on 7 March 2012 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Back in 1969 theologian Joseph Ratzinger made some comments about our Catholic future.  They were included in his  Faith and the Future published by Ignatius Press in 2009.

The church will become small and will have to start afresh more or less from the beginning.

She will no longer be able to inhabit many of the edifices she built in prosperity. As the number of her adherents diminishes . . . she will lose many of her social privileges. . . As a small society, [the Church] will make much bigger demands on the initiative of her individual members….

It will be hard-going for the Church, for the process of crystallization and clarification will cost her much valuable energy. It will make her poor and cause her to become the Church of the meek . . . The process will be long and wearisome as was the road from the false progressivism on the eve of the French Revolution — when a bishop might be thought smart if he made fun of dogmas and even insinuated that the existence of God was by no means certain . . . But when the trial of this sifting is past, a great power will flow from a more spiritualized and simplified Church. Men in a totally planned world will find themselves unspeakably lonely. If they have completely lost sight of God, they will feel the whole horror of their poverty. Then they will discover the little flock of believers as something wholly new. They will discover it as a hope that is meant for them, an answer for which they have always been searching in secret.

And so it seems certain to me that the Church is facing very hard times. The real crisis has scarcely begun. We will have to count on terrific upheavals. But I am equally certain about what will remain at the end: not the Church of the political cult, which is dead already, but the Church of faith. She may well no longer be the dominant social power to the extent that she was until recently; but she will enjoy a fresh blossoming and be seen as man’s home, where he will find life and hope beyond death.

Biretta tip to Catholic Education Resource Center.

Posted in Four Last Things, Modern Martyrs, New Evangelization, Our Catholic Identity, Religious Liberty, The future and our choices, The Last Acceptable Prejudice | Tagged , , ,
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Obama Admin lectures Card. Dolan and USCCB. Dolan responds.

Posted on 6 March 2012 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

“We did not ask for this fight, but we will not run from it.”

Thus, Card. Dolan about the latest insult tossed our way by the Obama Administration.

From LifeSite:

Cardinal: Obama Admin Lectured Bishops on Catholic Teaching
by Steven Ertelt

Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic bishops, has released a public letter today detailing a stunning conversation he and other bishops had with top White House officials about the controversial Obama mandate.

In the letter, Cardinal Dolan relates a shocking meeting in which top Obama Administration asked to meet with the bishops to “work out the wrinkles” of the mandate. After accepting the invitation and arriving at the White House, the bishops asked whether any ability to broaden the very narrow religious exemptions in the mandate were off the table.

“The invited us to ‘work out the wrinkles.’ We have accepted that invitation,” he wrote. “Unfortunately, this seems to be stalled: the White House Press Secretary, for instance, informed the nation that the mandates are a fait accompli (and, embarrassingly for him, commented that we bishops have always opposed Health Care anyway, a charge that is scurrilous and insulting, not to mention flat out wrong.”)

Dolan writes: “At a recent meeting between staff of the bishops’ conference and the White House staff, our staff members asked directly whether the broader concerns of religious freedom—that is, revisiting the straight-jacketing mandates, or broadening the maligned exemption—are all off the table. They were informed that they are. So much for “working out the wrinkles.” [Get this…] Instead, they advised the bishops’ conference that we should listen to the “enlightened” voices of accommodation, such as the recent, hardly surprising yet terribly unfortunate editorial in America.” [The editorial in the Jesuit-run America which I looked at HERE.  In other words, The Magisterium of Nuns.]

He said, “The White House seems to think we bishops simply do not know or understand Catholic teaching and so, taking a cue from its own definition of religious freedom, now has nominated its own handpicked official Catholic teachers  [Isn’t this what I have been talking about?  Is it time for the American Patriotic Catholic Association?  “But Father! But Father!”, some of you are saying.  “This isn’t China; this is America!]

“We have made it clear in no uncertain terms to the government that we are not at peace with its invasive attempt to curtail the religious freedom we cherish as Catholics and Americans,” the archbishop of New York wrote in a public letter to the Catholic bishops last Friday. “We did not ask for this fight, but we will not run from it.”

The Catholic bishops’ president made it appear the mandate is not going to be changed in any way to protect religious freedom.

Dolan said, “The White House already notified Congress that the dreaded mandates are now published in the Federal Registry ‘without change.’ He added that “The Secretary of HHS is widely quoted as saying, ‘Religious insurance companies don’t really design the plans they sell based on their own religious tenets.’ That doesn’t bode well for their getting a truly acceptable “accommodation.”

Cardinal Dolan also said “We will continue to accept invitations to meet with and to voice our concerns to anyone of any party, for this is hardly partisan, who is willing to correct the infringements on religious freedom that we are now under. But as we do so, we cannot rely on off the record promises of fixes without deadlines and without assurances of proposals that will concretely address the concerns in a manner that does not conflict with our principles and teaching.”

He added that “Congress might provide more hope, since thoughtful elected officials [catholic HHS Sec. Sebelius, who cannot receive Holy Communion, is not an elected official. ] have proposed legislation to protect what should be so obvious: religious freedom. Meanwhile, in our recent debate in the senate, our opponents sought to obscure what is really a religious freedom issue by maintaining that abortion inducing drugs and the like are a ‘woman’s health issue.’ We will not let this deception stand. Our commitment to seeking legislative remedies remains strong. And it is about remedies to the assault on religious freedom. Period.”

“Perhaps the courts offer the most light,” he said about the many lawsuits that have been filed against the mandate. [And remember the 9-0 SCOTUS Hosanna-Tabor decision.]

Dolan warned the bishops that “given this climate, we have to prepare for tough times. Some, like America magazine, [In case the editors wondered if their betrayal of the bishops would go unnoticed.] want us to cave-in and stop fighting, saying this is simply a policy issue; some want us to close everything down rather than comply (in an excellent article, Cardinal Francis George wrote that the administration apparently wants us to ‘give up for Lent’ our schools, hospitals, and charitable ministries); some, like Bishop Robert Lynch wisely noted, wonder whether we might have to engage in civil disobedience and risk steep fines; some worry that we’ll have to face a decision between two ethically repugnant choices: subsidizing immoral services or no longer offering insurance coverage, a road none of us wants to travel.”  [It sounds as if closing down is on the table.]

Cardinal Dolan added that “we know so very well that religious freedom is our heritage, our legacy and our firm belief, both as loyal Catholics and Americans. There have been many threats to religious freedom over the decades and years, but these often came from without. This one sadly comes from within. As our ancestors did with previous threats, we will tirelessly defend the timeless and enduring truth of religious freedom.”

Notre Shame

Card. Dolan’s letter to the bishops of the USCCB.  HERE

Posted in Biased Media Coverage, Dogs and Fleas, New Evangelization, Our Catholic Identity, Religious Liberty, The Drill, The future and our choices, The Last Acceptable Prejudice | Tagged , , , , , , , ,
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SNAP director published false information

Posted on 6 March 2012 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

From CNA:

SNAP director admits to publishing false information
By Michelle Bauman

Clayton, Missouri, Mar 6, 2012 / 05:07 pm (CNA).- The leader of a group that works with clergy sex abuse victims admitted during a recent deposition that the organization has published false information and that he is unsure about whether the group employs licensed counselors.

David Clohessy, director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, known as SNAP, was deposed on Jan. 2 in Clayton, Mo. amid accusations that the group had printed restricted information in a press release.

The accusations centered around concerns that an attorney violated a court gag order by revealing information about an abuse lawsuit to the organization.

Clohessy was ordered by a judge to answer questions in an out-of-court testimony that may later be used for legal purposes in an ongoing attempt to determine whether the gag order had been violated.

In the text of the deposition – posted online by The Media Report on March 1 – Clohessy was asked by attorneys, “Has SNAP to your knowledge ever issued a press release that contained false information?”

“Sure,” he responded, without offering any defense or explanation.

[…]

You can read the rest there.

I read the deposition. Gruesome.

Posted in Clerical Sexual Abuse, Our Catholic Identity, The future and our choices, The Last Acceptable Prejudice | Tagged
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Going for a spin

Posted on 6 March 2012 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Time elapsed, from the ISS.

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Posted in Just Too Cool, Look! Up in the sky! | Tagged
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Help a parish in Indiana devastated by tornado – UPDATE

Posted on 6 March 2012 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

I had an UPDATE from Fr. Shaun Wittington of St. John’s Catholic Church, in Osgood, IN which was devastated by a recent storm.

Dear Friends in Christ,

Tonight has to be brief — today was the first day of carrying two cell phones.  Today brought some surprises and some myths that are developing.  First some things that are not true.  I have heard these things and want you to know the truth.
1.  My church buildings are still standing.  While the tornadoes hit close — about three miles away for the closest — none of my four churches are damaged.  If you want to send money to rebuild churches, please sent it, with instructions for that use to me or to the Archdiocese of Indianapolis.  Deliveries can be received here, there are no disruptions of delivery service in Osgood.
2.  I am not in charge of recovery of Holton.  We may have had our name spread around — but we are a church in action.  We are not professionals or the Red Cross or FEMA.  Don’t think we are the only ones helping — please support people you feel can help.  MANY groups are working in all the affected areas.  While I have heard many complaints about the Red Cross, please know they were the first there.  (After the heroes of EMS, Fire, Police, etc.)
3.  There have been no reports of looting.  Our drivers have had contact with many people on the scene, including police officers, and none of them have report anything other than acts of selflessness and service.  The people of the heartland are good people.
4.  Holton is overwhelmed with stuff.  True for now, but that is not the only place we have been.  While others have been unable to get stuff in, God has guided our trucks and every delivery to date has been guided by grace to the a place that needed it.  Sometimes Holton, or Henryville, or Chelesia, or another town.  God is still guiding our efforts and even when we are given word by FEMA that a place doesn’t need stuff, we still find things like a women who cried when she got a bottle of bleach.
Now some more updates for tonight!
Please use the current list for things we need.  REMEMBER PLEASE NO CLOTHES, LARGE ITEMS, FRESH FOOD.  The current list is pasted below — its the same as yesterday, but added the following — gift cards to Lowe’s, Wal-mart, and CVS or Walgreen’s and BIBLES!  We have had an urgent request for a delivery tomorrow and intend to get that out by 2pm.
The funeral for Armando Hernandez is set for Friday at 11, with visitation 10:00 – 10:45 in the Church.  Fr. John Meyer is presiding.  (I don’t know Spanish yet!)  I need a Spanish Choir!   I have committed our funds to the entire cost of transportation — $5,500.  We have made the first payment of $2,000 today and I know of checks in the mail, so I have promised the second check by the first of next week.
Red Cross is now referring people to us and many people have promised large deliveries to the church by the end of the week . .  . so . . . . my committee is meeting in the morning to plan “Phase II: Longer term help.”  This will include deliveries that will become on demand as the needs come in.  That involves a continual presence of storage, organizing, delivery, over the coming weeks.  This will also include on demand labor.  Please be patient, we are trying to get things organized and volunteers and stuff in the place its needed, when it is needed.  I don’t want to overwhelm anyone when they have just lost everything.  Remember we are thinking long term recovery here.  Like I learned the first time I as involved in tornado recover as a Boy Scout ——- and so ——- A big shout out to the BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA!  Most phone calls from a single group!  As an Eagle Scout and current Scoutmaster of Troop 639, I will put you to work — be patient!
There are many stories I want to share with you, but its been a long day.  Our parish penance service is tomorrow — please pray that many will come to confession here and receive the grace of God’s mercy.  Someone asked me if we would reschedule Masses or other parish events because of the work that is going on.  NO — Mass and Confessions and Religious Education and the Penance Service will continue as scheduled because we need to pray and receive the Father’s love.  Please, if you have been unable to do anything else, offer a prayer for me and my parishes, that we will be people of true Charity, humility, and live in the love of God.
If I have not yet responded to an email or voicemail, please be patient.  This evening was moving our entire operation because of a scheduled water main replacement.  No water service here in the morning!
That’s it for now.  Off to have a nice evening beverage.
With Love,
Fr. Whittington
THE LIST updated 3/6/12
What we DON’T need:
—Clothing (but if you have already collected it, fine)
—Fresh food
—Large household items
–Books (including prayer books other than Bibles)

What we DO need:
—Cleaning supplies, especially bleach, trash bags, soap including laundry
—Cleaning tools: mops, buckets, new rags, towels, etc.
—Paper Towels, Toilet Paper
—Flash Lights & Batteries
—Chain saws
—Rakes, Shovels
—Work Gloves
—Latex Gloves

–Bibles
–Gift cards: Walgreens or CVS, Lowe’s, Wal-Mart.  Please be careful some chains are not in all areas of the country.
–Rosary’s

What we REALLY DO need:
—Baby stuff: diapers, formula, food, wipes
—Children’s underwear, socks
—Personal toiletries: toothpaste, tooth brushes, deo, shaving cream, etc.
—Feminine products
—Adult underwear, socks

How does it get there? We are unable to provide volunteers to do pick ups because they are sorting, organizing, and taking it into the needed places.  So, please drop off items THIS WEEK (today until Friday) from 9am until dark at:

St. John’s Catholic Church
331 S. Buckeye St.
Osgood, IN 47037

Can I give money? Yes, all money will be distributed locally through St. John’s Church directly to people in need.  If there is any remaining it will be given to Catholic Charities of Indiana.   Please mail or drop off at the Church.  Check made out to St. John’s Church with “Tornado” in the memo line.
Can I donate labor? Yes and no. Locally, we will continue to need help recieveing donations and getting them out.  If you are out of town NOT YET, but soon.  There is still a lot of basic services being provided and labor will be very important, but we are asking you to please stand by.  Perhaps you could send me an email and we will get you on the list to be contact?!
Who do I contact?
Fr. Whittington — cell:  317-750-0647 or fr.whittington@gmail.com
Church Office Number —  812-689-4244
Posted in The Campus Telephone Pole | Tagged ,
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Priests as targets under fire

Posted on 5 March 2012 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Watch for lots of this in the future.

From the blog La Nueva Primavera:

FALL-GUY PRIESTS

It is an unfortunate fact that we live in an age when the priesthood is under assault like never before. Nowhere is that assault more visible than in the culture war of homosexuality.

Homosexuals have made great gains in their quest of acceptance by using the courtroom and cloaking themselves in the mantle of Civil Rights. However, mere acceptance is not enough. Militant homosexuals will accept nothing less than unconditional approval from all sectors of society and will stop at nothing to destroy anyone who stands in their way. There is apparently a three-pronged attack on the priesthood, orchestrated by militant homosexuals and almost transparent in its obviousness for those who take the trouble to look beyond the headlines.

PRONG #1: INFILTRATE AND DISCREDIT
THE PRIESTHOOD

[…]

PRONG #2: USE THE SULLIED REPUTATION OF THE PRIESTHOOD TO ATTACK PRIESTS

[…]

PRONG #3: USE THE “CIVIL RIGHTS” ARGUMENT
TO DISCREDIT AND REMOVE PRIESTS
WHO UPHOLD CHURCH TEACHING

[…]

Read the rest there.

Posted in Dogs and Fleas, Mail from priests, One Man & One Woman, Our Catholic Identity, Priests and Priesthood, The Drill, The future and our choices, The Last Acceptable Prejudice | Tagged , , ,
44 Comments

Browsing for a browser solution

Posted on 5 March 2012 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

I have an odd problem. I am on the road and working from my laptop.

I can connect to the internet (I can upload and download with my FTP program).

I cannot view any page using Firefox, IE, Chrome, or Opera.  However, Safari does work!

Using the aforementioned, I get

  • Opera: Connection closed by remote server
  • IE: Internet Explorer cannot display the webpage
  • Firefox: The connection was reset
  • Chrome: No data received Unable to load the webpage because the server sent no data.

Any ideas?

“But Father! But Father!”, some of you will say, “This is proof from on high that you should just get a Mac!”

I respond to such people that they should consult my “Get A Mac!” Fund link on the right side-bar of this blog and make a large donation.

UPDATE 6 March 13:53 GMT:

I fixed it.

I did a “restore” from a restore point two days ago.

Clearly some setting or other was changed or some update did a nefarious thing.

Everything seems to be back to normal.

I back things up frequently, regularly.  I try to do some cleanup and tidying every Saturday morning.  Thus, I have fairly frequent system restore points.  They can be handy.

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes | Tagged ,
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Sunday Sermon Notes

Posted on 5 March 2012 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Did you hear a good point in the sermon for Sunday Mass?

Share it!

Posted in Our Catholic Identity | Tagged ,
45 Comments

One step forward…

Posted on 4 March 2012 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

… two steps back!

20120304-180344.jpg

Posted in What Fr. Z is up to | Tagged
5 Comments

Why A Religious Model for the State Is Not Good

Posted on 4 March 2012 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

GIVE BACK THAT PENAsk everybody and they’ll all agree it’s a good thing priests don’t run the world.

I agree with this view.

I also believe it’s even better that members of religious orders don’t run the world, whether they are Sisters of Mercy or, lemme think, Jesuits … or some other kind of religious.

Why?

Religious don’t live in the real world.

Don’t get me wrong; I believe firmly that many religious do alot of good for the world, but they don’t live in it.

Sure there are exceptions of savvy religious who know the score, especially those who may have had a career before entering religious life.  But in general, religious formed in community don’t live in the real world.

For example, unlike diocesan priests, individual religious don’t pay income taxes. Religious don’t worry about unemployment, health care, food, housing and nursing care when they are aged, or the cost of their funerals. Their religious communities take care of all that. Religious contribute all of what little (or in some cases much) money they earn from their apostolates into a common fund that is administered by their superiors. That common fund takes care of the needs of all community members.

That’s why I get a little edgy hearing religious talking about social justice, universal health care and other federal mandates and entitlements.

The idea that religious have of the state is far too analogous to that of a religious community.

Time and time again religious who pronounce themselves on social issues demonstrate that they think of nation-states, such as the USA, in religious terms.  Nation-states are their communities writ large, in which everybody helps everybody else, and in which goods are distributed not on the basis of property rights, but instead, as in the Acts of the Apostles, “distribution is made to each according to his need” (Acts 4:35).

According to this model, wealthy Americans should “pay their fair share” in federal and state income taxes in order to help those who are poor.

I happen to agree with that sentiment.

The wealthy should help the poor. Jesus taught that. The Church Fathers taught that long before modern popes wrote encyclicals (just read St. John Chrysostom or St. Augustine of Hippo).

But what Jesus, the Acts of the Apostles and the Church Fathers all had in common in this regard is that they were talking about voluntary charity. They were not talking about the state.

The state is a modern institution and it is based upon coercion.

If you don’t believe that, go and break a law and see what happens to you.

The power of the state may in some places derive from the consent of the governed, but in no place do individual members or even the majority, consent to each and every act of the state.

If you don’t believe that, try stopping an abortion and see what happens to you.

When the government collects income taxes, it is not passing the basket at church, asking you to perform a voluntary act of charity (pace William Buffett): it is seizing your property. If you don’t hand over your property, the state will garnish your wages and/or confiscate and sell your house and goods. It may also put you in prison.

Where’s the voluntary in that?

In the national conversation Americans are currently having over the federal government takeover of health care, what gets obscured is the distinction between the public sector and the voluntary sector, that is, between the state and the Church.

It’s the role of members of any church to practice charity.  The state’s role in our lives is, with our consent, coercive.  But its coercive power should be limited.

If you allow the distinction between the political and religious spheres to be blurred, and if you begin romantically to think of the state as a kind of big religious community, you will end up thinking just like Mussolini: the state should own everything and provide you with all your needs.

When religious behave like this we call them a community.

When states behave like this we call them fascist.

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Posted in Dogs and Fleas, The Drill, The future and our choices, Wherein Fr. Z Rants | Tagged , , , , , , , , , ,
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