Fr. Z's Blog

Sometimes coincidences are just coincidences. Sometimes they aren’t.

Yesterday, 1 September, on the anniversary of a very creepy thing, two very creepy things happened.

1- Francis gave a speech to the world’s bishops, more an more reduced to “branch managers” disguised as a speech to the Italian Association of Professors and Experts of Liturgy. HERE

2- Biden gave a speech to his base disguised as a speech to the nation. Transcript from Hell’s Bible (NYT) HERE Video from C-SPAN (D-SPIN?) HERE

Let’s have a look at some excerpts.

Francis:

Progress in understanding and also in liturgical celebration must always be rooted in tradition, which always carries you forward in that sense that the Lord wants. [He knows!] There is a spirit that is not that of true tradition: the worldly spirit of “backwardsing” [indietrismo… but wait for it….], fashionable today: [There it is.  “It’s a fad.”] thinking that going to the roots means going back. No, they are different things. If you go to the roots, the roots take you up, always. Like the tree, which grows from what comes from its roots. And tradition is really going to the roots, because it is the guarantee of the future, as Mahler said. Instead, backwardsing means going back two steps because “it has always been done like this” is better. [Weird word salad at this point.] It is a temptation in the life of the Church that leads you to a worldly restorationism, disguised as liturgy and theology, but it is worldly. And backwardsing is always worldliness: this is why the author of the Letter to the Hebrews says: “We are not people who go backwards”. No, you go on, according to the line that tradition gives you. To go back is to go against the truth and also against the Spirit. Make this distinction well. Because in the liturgy there are many who say they are “according to tradition”, but this is not the case: at most they will be traditionalists. [Get it?  But they are not Christians!  Nice.] Another said that tradition is the living faith of the dead, traditionalism is the dead faith of some living. They kill that contact with the roots by going back. Be careful: today the temptation is backwardsing disguised as tradition.

This is incoherent.  Think about this. It’s just a fad, he says.  We see this popping up in publications like Hell’s Bible. The writer opined that right now being a traditional Catholic is chic, fashionable, like being in a cool club. [Julia Yost of First Things]  The Atlantic nut implied the same with bizzare smears and fearmongering.  It is becoming a talking point, almost like there is coordination.  Traditionalists are being painted as people to be feared, as dangerous people who kill the roots.

Also, if it just a fad, then why worry about it?  It will pass, if it is a fad.  So why all the terror rhetoric and name calling?

BTW… “indietrismo” is not an Italian word.  So, translating it is not easy.  “Backwardsing”, to my ear, sounds almost as stupid as “indietrismo”, so that’s my choice, at least today.

Also, about going backwards.  Apparently, if you go to the roots, that’s okay.  But if you go just two steps, that’s not okay.  It seems that desiring the Tridentine Mass, the Vetus Ordo, is going back only two steps.  Never mind that the Vetus Ordo substantially goes back the time of St. Gregory the Great (+604).  So, going to to the roots is… beyond that?  I am minded of Pius XII and Mediator Dei 62 and the errors of the Council of Pistoia.

He is working from a false premise, namely, that those who desire the Vetus Ordo desire it because “it has always been done this way”, that they don’t want any change because change is bad.  That is, by the way, a deeply Roman point of view reflected in the fact that in Latin the word for new “novus” generally carries a negative connotation.  For example, res novae which literally is “new things” is the term for “revolution”, which is always negative in the Roman mind.  That does not mean nihil innovetur sic et simpliciter.  It means as Benedict XV said and Pius XII repeated in Si diligis, “We wish this maxim of our elders held in reverence: Nihil innovetur nisi quod traditum est (Let nothing new be introduced but only what has been handed down); it must be held as an inviolable law in matters of faith, and should also control those points which allow of change, though in these latter for the most part the rule holds: Non nova sed noviter (Not new things but in a new way).”  The NOVUS Ordo (not my term) was not “handed down”, it was “cobbled up”.  It does not reflect the mandates of the Council Fathers in the document of the Council Sacrosanctum Concilium.  Those who desire traditional liturgy want it because they perceive it to be richer, more spiritually nourishing in many respects, more accessible and less of a distraction away from that which is sacred because of its stability.

But, what’s it going to be?   Are those who want tradition just involved in a passing fad or are they just clinging to old stuff because they can’t stand change?  Which is it going to be?

The entire paragraph is incoherent.  However, he has several times gone off like this on traditional Catholics, with the name calling and vilification, the insulting insinuations about their motives and even intelligence.  He has coined a neologism as a club with which his agents can beat their opposition.  And their opposition are one of the only healthy and growing and obviously practicing demographics in a demographically dying Church.  Watch for more of this even as more dictates come from Rome down to what are now more and more branch managers requiring them to snuff out resistance.

Biden:

[…]

But first, we must be honest with each other and with ourselves.

Too much of what’s happening in our country today is not normal. Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans represent an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our Republic.  [No no.  This isn’t fearmongering at all.]

Now, I want to be very clear, very clear up front. Not every Republican, not even the majority of Republicans, are MAGA Republicans. Not every Republican embraces their extreme ideology. I know, because I’ve been able to work with these mainstream Republicans.  [Read: RINOs.]

But there’s no question that the Republican Party today is dominated, driven and intimidated by Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans. And that is a threat to this country.

[…]

And here, in my view, is what is true: MAGA Republicans [This moniker, which we are going to hear all the time now, is not like the jovially contemptuous “Brandon”.  This is something else entirely.] do not respect the Constitution. They do not believe in the rule of law. They do not recognize the will of the people. They refuse to accept the results of a free election, and they’re working right now as I speak in state after state to give power to decide elections in America to partisans and cronies, empowering election deniers to undermine democracy itself.

MAGA forces are determined to take this country backwards, backwards to an America where there is no right to choose, no right to privacy, no right to contraception, no right to marry who you love. They promote authoritarian leaders, and they fanned the flames of political violence that are a threat to our personal rights, to the pursuit of justice, to the rule of law, to the very soul of this country.

They look at the mob that stormed the United States Capitol on Jan. 6, brutally attacking law enforcement, [WHO attacked law enforcement?!?] not as insurrectionists who placed a dagger at the throat of our democracy, but they look at them as patriots. And they see their MAGA failure to stop a peaceful transfer of power after the 2020 election as preparation for the 2022 and 2024 elections.  [This is serious “fear of other” rhetoric.]

They tried everything last time to nullify the votes of 81 million people. [living and dead!  real and fictitious!] This time, they’re determined to succeed in thwarting the will of the people. That’s why respected conservatives like Federal Circuit Court Judge Michael Luttig has called Trump and the extreme MAGA Republicans “a clear and present danger” to our democracy.  [Mind you, as he said these things, he was standing in front of Independence Hall in Philly which was illuminated as blood red and there were two Marines standing behind him.  Implication?  To hell with posse comitatus when it comes to these dangerous MAGA Republicans.]

But while the threat to American democracy is real, I want to say as clearly as we can, we are not powerless in the face of these threats. We are not bystanders in this ongoing attack on democracy. There are far more Americans, far more Americans from every background and belief, who reject the extreme MAGA ideology than those that accept it. And folks, it’s within our power, it’s in our hands, yours and mine, to stop the assault on American democracy.

I believe America is at an inflection point, one of those moments that determine the shape of everything that’s to come after. And now, America must choose to move forward or to move backwards, to build a future or obsess about the past, [“obsess about the past”] to be a nation of hope and unity and optimism or a nation of fear, division and of darkness.

MAGA Republicans have made their choice. They embrace anger. They thrive on chaos. They live, not in the light of truth but in the shadow of lies. But together, together, we can choose a different path. We can choose a better path forward to the future, a future of possibility, a future to build a dream and hope, and we’re on that path moving ahead. [And how is that going with his administration?]

I know this nation. I know you, the American people. I know your courage, I know your hearts, and I know our history. This is a nation that honors our Constitution. We do not reject it. This is a nation that believes in the rule of law. We do not repudiate it. This is a nation that respects free and fair elections. We honor the will of the people. We do not deny it. And this is a nation that rejects violence as a political tool. We do not encourage violence. We are still an America that believes in honesty and decency and respect for others. Patriotism, liberty, justice for all, hope, possibilities — we are still at our core a democracy.  [When he says they/we do not deny the rule of law or promote violence, it means that they are going to deny the rule of law and promote violence.]

[…]

The picture he has painted here, against the bloody background, is fearmongering fantasy.  The speech was labeled by C-SPAN as “remarks on democracy”.  Instead it could have been called “remarks on ‘the MAGA Republican’ question'”.  Two months out from the midterms, his numbers tanking, his handlers have created the talking points for distribution to the MSM and have crafted a snappy nickname for his opponents for constant vilification.  As I mentioned, this is not jovially contemptuous “Brandon”.  This is something else and it is aimed at – literally – millions of Americans.  Anyone who didn’t vote for him or who won’t vote for dems in the future are un-American.  They are threats to democracy, the rule of law, and to contraception.  Anyway, this means for the time being a constant rhetorical blitzkrieg in the MSM and securing victory in the midterms by whatever means necessary.  Make America MAGA-REIN.

I am reminded of the fact that on 1 September 1939 a speech was made to the Reichstag which effectively blamed every other nation for the need for a military build up to protect German interests.  They forced us to invade Poland!

As Ben Shapiro remarked about Biden’s speech, “It was better in the original German.”