Fr. Z's Blog

The Holy Father’s Message for Lent was released today.  I was at the Press conference with S.E. Mons. Paul Josef Cordes, President of the Pontifical Council "Cor Unum", who made the presentation along with others.

The document was signed on 21 November 2006.  It is very short.  It constitutes quite a break with Messages of the past.  This message is strongly theological, providing starting points.  Messages in the past were strong practical, exploring themes like “Marginalization of the Poor” (1977) and “World Hunger” (1996).  This time he is much more explicitly theocentric, returning to the fundamental building block of Deus caritas est.  Cordes said that he could only speculate why the Holy Father has changed the style of the Lenten message. 

Cordes, in his comments, seemed to desire to bring the discussion away from the theological dimension and right away pass to the concrete exercise of charity.  In a way I had the sense that he wanted to talk about something other than the message.  To accomplish this they enlisted the help of an old Italian priest Fr. Oreste Benzi, founder of the “Pope John XXIII” houses which work for the marginalized.  Benizi gave a sustained fervorino (over a half hour).  His experience working with the very difficult cases life can reveal reminded me that there are those who service the Church at a desk and those who serve at a gutter or a bedside. 

Benizi, clearly a man who has zealous love for the poor pretty bluntly said that there should be no restraints on immigration and everyone should be given a job.  I am not sure how that it is be done… perhaps some "redistribution of wealth"?  Anyway, the guy had real fervor.  One very insightful comment he made concerned the late and the present Holy Father and how they are seen by young people.  Benizi said young people are not just following or “running after” the singer, but also after the song.  This about the reaction that young people are having for Pope Benedict XVI in light of the great popularity of the late Pope John Paul II.   In other words after the great cult of person that surrounded the late Pope people are very much on fire to hear what Pope Benedict has to say.

Back to the Message.

The first paragraph presents the major theme, “They shall look on Him whom they have pierced."  This is strongly reminiscent of the title of a book Joseph Ratzinger published years ago: Behold The Pierced One.  It also calls to mind how the late Holy Father called us to direct our gaze, through Mary with the Rosary, to Christ’s face.

The Pope in the Message returned to the theme he addressed in Deus caritas est, that is, of agape and eros.

He starts with Biblical texts and moves to Patristic texts as well as the Neo-platonic Christian writer Pseudo-Dionysius.   The letter is strongly Patristic.  Cited are St. Maximus Confessor (Ambigua 91, 1956), and St. John Chrysostom (Catecheses 3,14 ff) on how the water and Blood from the side of Christ are symbols of the sacraments of Baptism (water) and Eucharist (Blood).  The Pope quotes a certain N. Cabasilas.  I am not sure who he is right at the moment.

You can read the thing yourself pretty quickly, and I advise you to do so.  I will only point out a couple things I found immediately interesting.

The Pope returned to a Ratzingerian theme of self-sufficiency.  I find this often in the Pope’s writings.  In the Message he wrote:

“Unfortunately, from its very origins, mankind, seduced by the lies of the Evil One, rejected God’s love in the illusion of self-sufficiency that is impossible (cf. Gn 3:1-7).  Turning in on himself, Adam withdrew from that source of life who is God Himself, and became the first of “those who through fear of death were subjected to lifelong bondage” (Heb 2:15).  God, however, did not give up.  On the contrary, man’s “no” was the decisive impulse that moved Him to manifest His love in all of its redeeming strength.”  Also in the message: “We need to respond to such love and dedicate ourselves to communicating it to others.  Christ “draws me to Himself” in order to unite Himself to me, so that I learn to love the brothers with His love.”

The reference to "fear of death" is not only biblical, it is greatly expanded on by St. Augustine of Hippo, whom the Pope has long studied.

Here is a nice point for those who are married.  It reminds me of something I would stress in marriage prep:

“In all truth, only the love that unites the free gift of self with the impassioned desire for reciprocity instills a joy, which lightens the greatest sacrifices.”  In this phrase we have the union of agape (gift of self) and eros (impassioned desire).

"Looking on Him whom they have pierced" will help us to see people with greater respect, recognizing the wounds inflicted on humanity, but also to “alleviate the tragedies of loneliness and abandonment of so many people.”  This redirection of our gaze to the Crucified Christ should bring us to concrete acts of love toward neighbor are, as the Holy Father puts it, “Only in this way shall we be able to participate fully in the joy of Easter.”

H.E. Cordes can back strongly to the idea that in this Message it is not being suggest that service of God substitute the service of man.  He tried to emphasize that there is a balance needed between them.  The one should be made more authentic by the other.  This is also a theme of Deus caritas est.

Today the Holy Father’s Message for Lent will be released.  The Press Conference for the release will be with S.E. Mons. Paul Josef Cordes, President of the Pontifical Council "Cor Unum".

One clerical wit here in Rome said, "Well, if the Holy Father can have a message for Ramadan, he ought to have one for Lent."

No disagreement there.

You participants here help to make this blog what it is (which is a good thing…. I think).  Subsequently, I can say happily that we have been nominated in several categories in the Catholic Blog Awards for 2006.  

The list of nominees is impressive and long. 

Here our the categories we are up for: 

Smartest Catholic Blog
Best Individual Catholic Blog
Best Overall Catholic Blog
Best Written Catholic Blog
Best Blog by Clergy/Religious/Seminarian
Best Insider News Catholic Blog

I am not sure what happens if you win in one or more of these.  

I think you get a new car.

Today is the feast of Sts. Saturninus and companions who died in North Africa in 304.

By happy chance on my long Sunday afternoon walk yesterday I visited the Basilica of Sts. John and Paul.  There I happened to take a shot of the altar of a St. Saturninus therein.  Saturninus was a common name in the ancient world. 

The photo to the right is not the same Saturninus as today’s feast.  The Saturninus whose relics are in part held in the Basilica on the Coelian are of a martyr of the same year (+304 together with Sisinius) when Diocletian was really busy killing Christians. 

So, it isn’t the same Saturninus, but who cares?  It is interesting to look at these martyrs anyway and honor their memory.

Here is the entry in the Martyrologium Romanum for St. Saturninus (+304) and all those who died with him.  Time presses me, so I will leave it to one of you to render into your perfect English version.

Today’s

Oxford English Dictionary Online Word of the Day is

Sometimes I check my stats to see where in the world people are when they visit the blog. 

I mean that geographically, of course.  That doesn’t mean I don’t wonder about where they are ecclesiologically, psychologically….  But I digress.

Today I did a little double take:

Jamestown, North Dakota
Jamestown, North Carolina

It is very disturbing to see things like

Unknown Country

… from whose bourn no traveller returns, ("unknown" is lame-duck ICEL for "undiscover’d")

It is very humbling to see things like…

Leuven, Vlaams-Brabant
Kista, Stockholms Lan
Little Falls, Minnesota
London, Lambeth
Dresden, Sachsen
Santa Cruz De La Palma

…and realize that you are all looking at the same things in those far-flung places of the globe. 

There are 160 stair-steps from our ground floor to my quarters.

Hard words from our favorite Cardinal, the great bishop of Hong Kong Joseph Card. Zen.  Talk is getting tougher.

Here is the story (my emphasis):

HK cardinal hits out at China over "acts of war"

The top Catholic official on Chinese soil has lashed out at Beijing, saying the ordinations last year of three bishops without Vatican approval were illegitimate and "acts of war."

Hong Kong Cardinal Joseph Zen, who travelled to the Vatican last month to map out the Holy See’s China strategy, told the BBC on Friday: "These three illegitimate ordinations … are acts of war against the church.

"So how can you say that we opt for confrontation? They are waging a war, they want to destroy the church," said Zen, the head of Hong Kong’s Catholic dioceses and a Vatican adviser on Chinese affairs.

A battle between Beijing and the Vatican over control of church posts flared as China’s state-backed Catholic church installed bishops without papal blessing last year.

Until then, bishops were appointed after unofficial consultations with Rome.

…

In the meantime, Guangzhou’s Sacred Heart Cathedral was scheduled to reopen today fter two years of renovation work.  There was to be a solemn Mass.  Government money paid for most of the work (US$ 2.7 million or about 80%).  It is mainland China’s only granite Gothic church. 

On the wall behind the main altar are traces of the Cultural Revolution, which are being preserved as a testament to China’s history. After bricks had been removed and the wall washed, huge slogans in red paint were revealed such as “Long live Chairman Mao” and the “Working class must exercise leadership of everything.”

Those uncovered slogans from the Cultural Revolution are a metaphor of sorts.  The actions of the PRC official religion arm can be whitewashed, but underneath, something else is going on.  Let us not forget that the Communist Party does nothing out of charity or a spirit of fair play.

In Cardinal Castrillón‘s recent interview in Die Tagespost there was not a great communicated that was new.  However, long time blog participant Henry had another thought.  It is woth reexamining.

Henry wrote in his comment: "It seems to me there may be a new thing or two here. Anybody else spot them?"

He is refering to the final answer of the Cardinal (according to one translation):

ANSWER Please, accept that I reject the term “ecumenism ad intra”. The Bishops, Priests, and Faithful of the Society of St Pius X are not schismatics. It is Archbishop Lefebvre who has undertaken an illicit Episcopal consecration and therefore performed a schismatic act. It is for this reason that the Bishops consecrated by him have been suspended and excommunicated. The priests and faithful of the Society have not been excommunicated. They are not heretics. I do, however, share St Jerome’s fear that heresy leads to schism and vice versa. The danger of a schism is big, such as a systematic disobedience vis-à-vis the Holy Father or by a denial of his authority. It is after all a service of charity, so that the Priestly Society gains full communion with the Holy Father by acknowledging the sanctity of the new Mass.

On the surface one might think that the "new thing" is the chat about the SSPXers not being schismatics.  This has produced a lot of ridiculous bickering, but it isn’t new.  He has said that elsewhere.

If Henry is on to something, this is perhaps what it is:

It is after all a service of charity, so that the Priestly Society gains full communion with the Holy Father by acknowledging the sanctity of the new Mass.

First, this was an answer to a question about the Indult being an act of ecumenism ad intra.  So, it was a question about the INDULT.  That means that the "it" the Cardinal is talking about has a concrete form and that he assumes "it" is going to happen.  He said: "Es geht um einen Dienst der Nächstenliebe, damit .. gewinnt und … anerkennt."  The language is concrete.

Second, it indicates a (not the) concrete purpose for the INDULT: that the SSPX can come into full communion.  This means that the INDULT must speak about that and provide for it, i.e., there must be some way to receive them.

Third, it would then require something from the SSPXers (e.g., something about the Novus Ordo).   We know that not all the SSPXers will sign off on anything which admits anything positive about any aspect of the Novus Ordo.  Some will refuse, no matter what is offered.  Some will, however, play ball and that will probably require some legislation.  Who knows, … it might require a structure within which they can have full communion.

I am just applying a little critical speculation to the text, of course.

It was a thoroughly awful day today, long and difficult.  There have been a lot of reasons to be "down" (not a few of them on this blog, as it turns out).  I actually got myself a little bit of "comfort food" on the way home this evening, and then looking at it lost my appetite – that’s the sort of day it has been.

Then, out of the blue, I got an e-mail note that a kind reader had made a donation using the button on the left bar.  Then I got a phone call via my WIFI internet phone from my editor who had with sharp-eyes found a really tricky typo, thus demonstrating that the system really works.  Then, well, a couple other small things.

Not world-changing things perhaps, but in their own moments helpful. 

As a follow up to my comments on schism in another entry, I found this in the blog of First Things (my emphasis):

I will take up this distinction a bit further below, but I first need to take up the case of Lefebvrism, which can perhaps illuminate my point better than I have so far been able to do. On that issue, I see no substantive difference between myself and Stephen Barr, as he too declines to tar them with the charge of heresy, and for reasons he too can’t quite put into words. For those like me and Dr. Barr, who don’t quite know how to categorize Lefebvrism, Pope John Paul II comes to our rescue here. In his officially promulgated Apostolic Letter, Ecclesia Dei, given on the occasion of Archbishop Lefebvre’s unlawful and schismatic ordination of four bishops on June 29, 1988, in Écone, Switzerland, the pope magisterially declares:

The root of this schismatic act can be discerned in an incomplete and contradictory notion of Tradition. Incomplete, because it does not take sufficiently into account the living character of Tradition, which, as the Second Vatican Council clearly taught, “comes from the apostles and progresses in the Church with the help of the Holy Spirit. There is a growth in insight into the realities and words that are being passed on.” (Emphases in the original.)

Ironically, it is out of precisely that defective understanding that the Lefebvrists were led to accuse the popes of heresy. But their own positive assertions of doctrine are not so much wrong per se (the way Haight’s are) as they are defective. In that regard, there are also many crypto-Lefebvrists inside the Catholic Church, among whom I would include–and their name is legion–any and all self-styled traditionalists who haven’t bothered to learn the tradition they claim to be defending. They take a snapshot, so to speak, of some period of church history and then judge all that follows as heretical.

But history always defeats them; and I mean by that not just the movement of history forward in time but also the study of past history. In a famous observation in his Essay on Development Cardinal Newman said that “To be deep into history is to cease to be a Protestant.” Whether or not he was being fair to the Protestantism of his time, I cannot judge. So let me revise his line for the contemporary intra-Catholic scene: To be deep into history is to cease to be a Lefebvrist, a crypto-Lefebvrist–or a Pitstickian.

Interesting, nicht wahr?