“And a little child shall lead them”. A reaction to the new, corrected ICEL translation.

Posted on 19 September 2011 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

In England, Catholics are already using the new, corrected ICEL translation of the Order of Mass.  Fr. Finigan, mighty p.p. of Blackfen, has an interesting post about a reaction to the new, harder words in the Creed.

Excerpt:

The mother of a young family was talking to me today about the new translation of the Mass. She said that her children have really latched onto the word “consubstantial” and look forward to it in the Creed. They were disappointed last week because we did not say the Creed at the school Mass (it was a weekday.)

[…]

Read the rest over at Fr. Finigan’s place.

Isaiah 11:6.

Isaiah 11:6

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Revising and updating the 1962 Missale Romanum

Posted on 19 September 2011 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Sandro Magister at Chiesa has in interesting piece about the activity of the Holy See.

Here is a little bit of what he offered.

VATICAN CITY, September 19, 2011 – “The activity of the Holy See” is a hefty volume that gives a year-by-year account of the actions of the pope and the Roman curia. It is an “unofficial publication,” as specified on the frontispiece, but in spite of this it contains not a little information, sometimes rather unusual, that cannot be found in other Vatican sources.

To verify this it is enough to leaf through the latest edition, on the activities of 2010, which has just been printed by Libreria Editrice Vaticana (1343 pp., 80.00 euro).

In it we learn, for example:

[…]

– that a joint commission was set up, with experts of the commission “Ecclesia Dei” and of the congregation for divine worship, for the “updating” of the commemorations of the saints and the “possible insertion of new prefaces” into the preconciliar Roman missal of 1962, to which Benedict XVI gave full citizenship in 2007.

[…]

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, Brick by Brick, Liturgy Science Theatre 3000, SUMMORUM PONTIFICUM, The future and our choices, Universae Ecclesiae | Tagged , ,
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Where Chinese food and translations intersect… sort of

Posted on 19 September 2011 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Every day I check the site Engrish.  It has photos of amusing “translations” of East Asian languages into “Engrish”.

I see that Sancte Pater has also found Engrish. He posted, inter alia, a shot today.

Since I post often about Chinese food… and translations, here is a shot from Engrish.

Another…

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Card. Piacenza interviewed

Posted on 19 September 2011 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

On ZENIT there is part 1 of an interview with His Eminence Mauro Card. Piacenza, Prefect of the Congregation for Clergy.

I have heard Card. Piacenza speak several times and I was impressed.  He has issued some good things as Prefect of Clergy, including the guide for confessors entitled The Priest, Minister of Divine Mercy – An Aid for Confessors and Spiritual Directors.  I wrote about that here.

In the interview, Card. Piacenza tackles some good questions.  Here are the questions.

  • ZENIT: Your Eminence, over the past decades, with surprising regularity, the same set of ecclesial questions resurface in public debate like clockwork. How can we explain this?
  • ZENIT: Is women’s ordination to be understood as a doctrinal question?
  • ZENIT: So, is there no place for women in the Church?
  • ZENIT: But can someone really participate in the life of the Church without having effective power and responsibility?
  • ZENIT: Doesn’t Rome have too much power?
  • ZENIT: Doesn’t this role that Rome plays hinder unity and ecumenism?

Let’s look at one of these with my emphases.

ZENIT: So, is there no place for women in the Church?

Cardinal Piacenza: On the contrary, women have a most important place in the ecclesial Body and they could have one that is even more evident. The Church is founded by Christ and we human beings cannot decide on its form; therefore the hierarchical constitution is linked to the ministerial priesthood, which is reserved to men. [Note anything missing?] But there is absolutely nothing to prevent the valuing of the feminine genius is roles that are not linked with the exercise of Holy Orders. Who would stop, for example, a great woman economist from being head of the administration of the Holy See? Who would prevent a competent woman journalist from being the spokesman of the Vatican press office? The examples could be multiplied for all the offices that are not connected with Holy Orders. There are tasks in which the feminine genius could make a specific contribution! [How would being a head of administration of the Holy See or papal spokeswoman be a manifestation of the “feminine genius”?  One assumes that a woman would bring a different perspective.]

It is another thing to think of service as power and try, as the world does, to meet the quota for this power. I maintain, furthermore, that the devaluation of the great mystery of maternity, which has been the modus operandi of the dominant culture, has a related role in the general disorientation of women. The ideology of profit has stooped to the instrumentalization of women, not recognizing the greatest contribution that — incontrovertibly — they can make to society and to the world.

Also, the Church is not a political government in which it is right to demand adequate representation. The Church is something quite different; the Church is the Body of Christ and, in her, each one is a part according to what Christ established. Moreover, in the Church it is not a question of masculine and feminine roles but rather of roles that by divine will do or do not entail ordination. Whatever a layman can do, so can a laywoman. [Ummm… I know this is an interview and not a theological treatise.  But a laywoman cannot be ordained and a layman can be.] What is important is having the specific and proper formation, then being a man or a woman does not matter.

It seems to me that we need greater insights into the connection of God’s design for the image of God as male and female and what the Sacrament of Holy Orders is which requires the “masculine genius” and excludes the “feminine genius”.  Does it involve sacrifice and the shedding of a victim’s blood?  But diaconate is not directed to sacrifice.  Priesthood is.  But diaconate, being a “grade” of Holy Orders, is open only to males.

In any event, I suppose sometime today, Monday, the second part will be released… if it hasn’t been already.

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Dr. Peter’s responds to Dr. Kreeft

Posted on 18 September 2011 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

I posted a piece by Peter Kreeft who opined that it would be good for one hundred anti-abortion-graphic-image-totin’ bishops to be thrown in jail as a witness against abortion.  Among other consequences, the press could not ignore the message.

I thought that was pretty edgy.  I posted about that here.  Peter Kreeft’s original piece is on Youth Defense.

Here is a reaction to Dr. Kreeft’s view by Dr. Peters, the Canonical Defender on his blog, In The Light Of The Law.  Alas, Dr. Peter’s doesn’t have an open combox.  Do add him to your RSS feed reader.

My emphases and comments.

I have learned far more from the great Dr. Peter Kreeft than he has ever learned (or had need to learn!) from me, but I think his recent remark that it would be good to see one hundred bishops thrown in jail for carrying graphic images of aborted babies need some nuance. His comment also lets me make a few points regarding the use of graphic imagery by pro-lifers.

1. Abortion is brutal, ugly, and downright disgusting. But, pro-lifers didn’t make abortion that way, it already is that way. The vast majority of the adult population in the US does not appreciate how violent abortion is; they have a sanitized impression of abortion, fostered by such words as “clinic” and “procedure” and “choice”. Pictures contextualize those words in an instant. If memory serves, the greatest progress against “partial-birth abortion” came when (wholly accurate) diagrams of scissors being jammed into the base of nearly-born babies’ skulls began to circulate.

2. I’ve always been more amenable to the use of graphic images of abortion than have some other, quite sound and amply dedicated, pro-lifers I know of, but at least some of my ‘tolerance’ can be ascribed to simple things like a sterner stomach. In any case, one’s degree of openness to the use of graphic abortion pictures should not be regarded as a measure of one’s dedication to saving lives or as a test of one’s pro-life machismo. [Good point.]

3. Good arguments against the use of such photos, especially in certain contexts, exist and should be heeded. No one I know of thinks, for example, that photos of aborted babies should be paraded through grade-schools in the hopes that, say, it will frighten 8-year-olds away from seeking abortions ten years later. But the use of such these images in public venues and easy-access websites threatens exactly this sort of premature and traumatizing exposure.

4. Pictures of abortion victims must never, ever, be used for any purpose except to directly and prudently educate adults about abortion. Using dead baby photos to, say, influence bystanders into pressuring Church officials to make personnel decisions about their clergy who are working in one of many worthy pro-life apostolates is, besides everything else that is wrong about that, to exploit the death of the very victims one claims to love.

Now to Kreeft’s comment, distinguens.  [Qui bene distinguit, bene docet.]

It is one thing to say that “It would be good if one-hundred bishops were thrown in jail for carrying pictures of aborted babies,” and another thing to say “Good could be drawn from having one-hundred bishops thrown in jail for carrying pictures of aborted babies.” The second claim is wholly defensible, I think, the first is less so.

It is never “good” for the coercive power of the State to be applied against individuals, let alone against bishops, striving to proclaim the Gospel and/or to witness to the demands for Christian living. Such coercion is wrong itself, of course, but it also, as history shows time and again, feeds the appetite of the State to inflict yet more suffering on the Body of Christ. [Thus…] Nothing, however casually offered, should be said to encourage such actions. Yes, I know, sanguis martyrum, semen christianorum. Amen to that, but Tertullian did not call good the infliction of suffering on the faithful, rather, he showed how God could bring great good from sufferings accepted for his name.

Put another way, I hope and pray that we have one hundred bishops (or philosophy profs, or canon lawyers) willing to be thrown in jail for undertaking any number of good and holy works, but I also hope that we never find out for sure.

I doubt Kreeft would disagree with any of my observations, but I didn’t see these points being made elsewhere, so. . .

Now a few more people will see them.

An interesting and well-reasoned response.

I am sure we will see more.

What do you think?

Posted in Emanations from Penumbras, Linking Back, The Drill, The future and our choices | Tagged , ,
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CARA study on trends for parishes, Mass attendance

Posted on 18 September 2011 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Over at the Fishwrap, their elder-dissenter Richard McBrien posted a column about shifts in Mass attendance.  He works from a study about the “‘Supersizing’ the U.S. Catholic Parish Life” conducted by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.

Among the findings the study came up with we read that more Catholics are attending Mass at fewer parishes staffed by a rapidly declining number of priests, one in three parishes (29 percent) has Masses at least once a month in a language other than English, household contributions are higher in smaller parishes than in larger, parishes are likely to get bigger because the number of Catholics continues to grow, and smaller parishes are being closed.

I hate to admit it, but McBrien offers a pretty good precis of the information in the report.  He should stick to stuff like this.  Of course the reason why he reports on this is that he wanted to push his notion of leadership in the Church.

Reading about this CARA study reminded me of another CARA study a couple years ago which I wrote about HERE.

That study showed that of Catholics in the USA having any opinion at all on the topic favor the availability of Masses in the the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite by a two to one margin, with the majority having no opinion.

When asked “Do you favor as an alternative to the newer Mass, bringing back the Traditional Latin Mass for those who would prefer this option?”

25% favored the option, 12% opposed it, and 63% had no opinion.

Support for the TLM option wass higher among older Catholics, those who attend Mass weekly, political independents, and those with graduate degrees.

We need a Marshall Plan.

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Bishops of England and Wales unveil their future priorities

Posted on 18 September 2011 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

It has happened int the past, that the Vicar of Christ has traveled to a place, was met with great enthusiasm, caused a bump, a wave in Catholic identity, and after a fairly short period of time everything went back into the numb comfort zone.

I get the sense that Bishops of England and Wales don’t want that to happen.  The Pope’s message during that visit was pretty challenging.  During the lead up to the visit, lots of people thought that the bishops conference was throwing roadblocks in front of the Pope’s visit.  I must admit, at the time, I was leaning in that direction.

But, as someone has suggested elsewhere, it is possible that the bombs dropped by the Pope here and there have caused a tectonic shift.  When quakes take place, things start to lean in other directions.  You decide.

And so we look at this from the UK’s best Catholic weekly, The Catholic Herald.

Bishops of England and Wales outline mission on papal visit anniversary

By Staff Reporter on Sunday, 18 September 2011

The Bishops of England and Wales have unveiled their future priorities in a message to Catholics on the first anniversary of the papal visit to Britain.  [We have to keep in mind that the visit was a “state visit”.]

In the message, the bishops said that their priorities for “the next three to five years” related to three areas: “mission, teaching and witness”.

They said: “Integral to this work is recognising the importance of being confident, faithful and courageous in our mission, teaching and witness.  [In order to give witness, we have to know who we are and what we believe.]

“Following the wonderful example Pope Benedict has given us, in our mission we must be gentle but also confident in manifesting the ‘beauty of holiness’, a beauty which can lead the heart of every person to an intimate knowledge of Christ.  [Manifest the “beauty of holiness”.  Sounds like the place to start is our liturgical worship.]

“In our teaching, we must be courteous but also faithful in proclaiming the ‘splendour of truth’ through ‘the witness of lives lived in integrity, fidelity and holiness’.

“In our witness, we must be humble and open-hearted but also courageous in testifying to ‘the joy and freedom born of a living relationship with Christ’.” [And work on the Church’s preeminent form of communication: liturgical worship.]

The bishops continued: “In respect of our mission, our first priority area of work will be: ‘To proclaim the universal call to holiness in Christ – by promoting a culture of vocation within the corporate identity of the Catholic Church, marked by a confident Catholic faith’. [Couched sort of in newspeak, but does that sound a bit like the “Marshall Plan” I have ranted about? An ad intra and ad extra approach?]

“In relation to ‘teaching’, the second priority area of work will be: ‘To proclaim Christ and his Gospel as saving truth – by fostering and encouraging a culture of dialogue and solidarity’.  [Not sure what that means.  But where is liturgical worship?]

“And in terms of witness, our third priority area of work will be: ‘To proclaim the coming of the Kingdom of God – by serving and witnessing to the whole community, especially by supporting marginalised and vulnerable people.’ ”  [There for a moment, I thought the “coming of the Kingdom of God might have included the Four Last Things.]

The bishops then named seven “aims and objectives”.

“We have re-established Friday abstinence as a common act of witness and of solidarity with those who are in need or suffer and as an expression of our vocation to follow Christ who sacrificed his life for the good of all humanity,” they said.  [Okay.. this Friday abstinence has been in force for less than a week.  It needs to take root.  But it is good to plan!  Very good.]

“We are actively encouraging lay Catholics to witness publicly to their faith with renewed confidence and to communicate a culture of vocation to a wide audience.  [The Church’s primary form of communication is liturgical worship.]

“We are creating a national vocations framework, offering discernment opportunities to all, not only to ecclesial vocations but also to marriage and other forms of lay witness. [And … priesthood.]

“We will continue to encourage the programme we have begun of ‘deepening social engagement’ to bring greater coherence, support and visibility to the Church’s evangelising witness through the development of ‘Caritas’ within England and Wales.

“We will foster opportunities to ‘build bridges of friendship to other religions, to heal past wrongs and to foster trust between individuals and communities’ by building on the unique and inspirational encounter between people of faith and representatives of other religions which took place during the Holy Father’s Visit.

“We will work with other Christians and people of other religions to identify the areas of greatest need, at home and abroad, so that we can come ‘together in concrete forms of collaboration, as we apply our religious insights to the task of promoting integral human development, working for peace, justice and the stewardship of creation’ and to work ‘together for the good of the community at large’.

“We will strengthen our communication of the work of the Church through the use of new technology and build partnerships with appropriate media outlets to build on the vision of the New Evangelisation for the transmission of the Christian Faith.” [We need to develop a stronger theology of communication.  It isn’t enough to use the tools.  However, a starting point has to be our liturgical worship, since our liturgical worship is the Church’s primary form of communication.]

The bishops concluded their message with an appeal to Catholics not to view the future “anxiously or fearfully, but with renewed hope and courage”.

They said: “In coming to the UK, the Holy Father ‘wanted first and foremost to support the Catholic community, encouraging it to work strenuously to defend the immutable moral truths which, taken up, illuminated and strengthened by the Gospel are at the root of a truly human, just and free society.’ [Keep in mind that it was a state visit.] He also wished ‘to speak to the hearts of all the inhabitants of the United Kingdom, excluding no one, of the true reality of man, of his deepest needs, of his ultimate destiny.’

“We believe that the ‘beauty of holiness’, the ‘splendour of truth’ and the ‘joy and freedom born of a living relationship with Christ’ can still speak powerfully to the hearts of the people of our country. This is the inspiration for our work ahead.

“On this Home Mission Sunday, the anniversary of the Holy Father’s visit to our country, we renew our faith in the power of God to lead us all through the difficult times faced by our nation and by our world. Confidently Catholic, we look forward then not anxiously or fearfully but with renewed hope and courage. We invoke God’s blessing on our country and on our world.”

We need a renewal of our liturgical worship for any of that to be effective. The new translation will help.  Our liturgical worship is our primary form of communication.

We also need to develop a deeper theology of communication.

Read the full text of their message HERE.

Posted in Brick by Brick, New Evangelization, Our Catholic Identity, SESSIUNCULA, The Drill, The future and our choices | Tagged , ,
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“Not because I hate bishops, because I love them.”

Posted on 18 September 2011 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

I have made the argument that John Paul II slowly shifted the character of the episcopate in the USA.   Eventually, the balance shifted.  The balance is shifting in presbyterates.  The balance is shifting in seminaries.

When the numbers grow high enough, something happens.

This brings us to Catholic philosopher Peter Kreeft, who usually has good arguments about things.

From Youth Defense:

Kreeft: It would be wonderful if 100 bishops got thrown in jail for marching with graphic images
Sep. 16, 2011

The Canadian Centre for Bioethical Reform released a new video, [below] in which famed Catholic philosopher and author Peter Kreeft says it would be “wonderful” if one hundred bishops were arrested for marching with graphic images of aborted babies. Recently, some Canadian bishops decided to withdraw from pro-life events after the organizers couldn’t guarantee that there would be no graphic images of abortion.

“What is wrong with exposing people to the truth?” Kreeft proposed. “Suppose you were allowed to show the horrors in Auschwitz to the average German citizen. It might have toppled Hitler earlier. If something horrible is happening, covering it up is more horrible.”

Kreeft said that the images are “probably going to be illegal. You’ll probably be thrown in jail.”

He then recounted a story about a pro-life activist who picketed with a graphic image as President Bill Clinton entered the 1992 Democratic Convention in New York, and was arrested despite being well outside the 10-foot limit.

“None of the TV cameras filmed that incident. Well, if a hundred people did that, the TV cameras would have to film it,” he said. “If a hundred bishops marched with those pictures and got thrown in jail, the newspapers would have to headline ‘100 bishops thrown in jail’.”

“That would be wonderful,” he continued. “Not because I hate bishops, because I love them.”

[wp_youtube]hw2u74wF2j4[/wp_youtube]

A pretty edgy suggestion.

I am trying to imagine this being discussed at the next plenary of the USCCB, or the CEI, of the Bishops Conference of England and Wales (even though they don’t have 100 bishops).

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An NLM collaborator ordained priest today!

Posted on 18 September 2011 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

NLM reports that their collaborator Br. Lawrence Lew of Blackfriars, Oxford, was ordained priest today.

WDTPRS kudos to Fr. Lew!

Posted in Fr. Z KUDOS, The Campus Telephone Pole | Tagged , , ,
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FR. FINIGAN is up for a “new media” award.

Posted on 17 September 2011 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

My friend Fr. Tim Finigan’s blog, The Hermeneutic of Continuity, is up for an award.

Will you show some appreciation for the work he does?

He is in the Most Inspiring Leadership category.

On the award site we read:

The final stage of the judging process is now underway to decide a winner and runner-up in each category that will be announced at the Awards Ceremony on 14th October.

So, you can’t vote, but you can visit.

In the hope that one of the criteria for the judges is traffic to the site…

Visit His Hermeneuticalness.

Use his combox as well.

Here is the awards page, where he is listed.

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