SSPX Bp. de Galaretta: Pope Francis will unilaterally recognize the SSPX

Posted on 5 April 2016 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

If you read Italian, there is a fascinating piece at La Stampa by Marco Tosatti (who is not one of the traitorous Italian Vaticanisti) about SSPX Bp. Alfonso de Galarreta’s view of Pope Francis’ view of the SSPX.

First, note that Bp. de Galarreta, though born in Spain, grew up in Argentina. From everything that I have learned from S. American friends, it takes an Argentinian to understand an Argentinian.

Bp. de Galarreta thinks that Pope Francis is going to recognize the SSPX unilaterally, apart from doctrinal and canonical considerations.  My translation:

[T]his Pope says to whomever wants to listen that we are Catholics, [he] says and repeats that the Fraternity (SSPX) is Catholic, that we are Catholics, that he will never condemn us, and that it is necessary ‘to regulate our affair’. I think that he has started in this direction, that when he will see that there isn’t an understanding with the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, I think that he will breeze past every doctrinal, theoretical, and practical condition, whatever it might be…. He will do it on his own, in the sense of a recognition of the Fraternity. He has stared, and he will simply continue. I am not talking about what I want; I’m talking about what I foresee. I predict, I think, that the Pope will go in the direction of a unilateral recognition of the Fraternity, and he’ll do this more though the “de facto” route than through the legal, canonical law.“

This is fascinating.

Consider how Pope Francis just sort of gave ghost faculties to the SSPX priests validly to absolve sins in sacramental confession for the Year of Mercy. HERE  The Pope didn’t write a specific document, in proper juridical form, clearly indicating that he granted faculties to those priests.  No, he just sort of “did it”.  He said that if people go to them for confession, they are validly absolved.  He didn’t say that they have faculties.  Lemme tell you something… all the rest of the priests of the Catholic church have to have faculties!  He just sort of did it.  How, I am not sure, but the Pope’s intention is clear.

I wonder if that is not what de Galaretta is talking about: de facto not de iure.

The other day Bp. Fellay said there isn’t any rush.  He had a meeting with Pope Francis and it was clarified that they are going to take there time.

So… what will that look like in, say, five years?

Will we be seeing some “cross over” or cooperation with SSPX priests in dioceses?  It’ll just… happen?

Scenario: Msgr. Zuhlsdorf (clearly a fictional character) at St. Ipsidipsy in Tall Tree Circle is ill over a weekend. After Monsignor Z’s call to the local Bishop of Black Duck, who gives his unwritten okey-dokey, the nearby Fr. Rocco Firm of the SSPX Chapel of St. Joseph Terror of Demons comes over to St. Ipsidipsy to lend a hand with both Mass and confessions. Is that how this is going to play out?  

After this works out for a weekend and some weekdays, Fr. Rocco winds up as a semi-regular sort of assistant to Msgr. Z and the two communities, diocesan and SSPX, merge together.  The Episcopus Atra Anataria seems pleased, and comes for supper when the priests dine together, especially if the newly welcomed Fr. Joe Włotrzewiszczykowycki is around.  Fr. Rocco gets a parking spot by the sacristy door and a name plate on the confessional on the Epistle side of church.  Meanwhile, Fr. Rocco, formally a member of the SSPX, is still, technically, suspended a divinis, except that… I guess he isn’t…. is he?

Friends, if this is what the Pope wants to do, well… okay.   I’ll do my part.   It would help if he made me a Monsignor first.

UPDATE:

After some time ad experimentum, Msgr. Z will suggest to the local Bishop of Black Duck that if his parish must be merged together with the SSPX Chapel, the resulting entity might be called the “Through My Fault My Fault My Most Grievous Fault Catholic Community”.  Thus they will stick it in the eye of the neighboring Bishop of Libville, Most Rev. Fatty McButterpants, who just named two merged clusters the “Sing A New Faith Community Into Being Faith Community” and the “Engendering Togetherness Community of Welcome”.

Alternate names for Black Duck included “Mournful Mother Weeping” and “Loaded Down With Opprobrium”.

UPDATE:

I wrote, above: “It would help if he made me a Monsignor first.”

What am I thinking? I’ll become a Monsignor de facto rather than de iure!

Posted in SSPX, The Drill, The future and our choices | Tagged , , , , ,
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Sam Gregg on Benedict XVI’s Regensburg Address 10 years after

Posted on 5 April 2016 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Run, don’t walk, to read Sam Gregg’s latest at Catholic World Report.

Gregg writes about Benedict XVI’s amazing Regensburg Address, 10 years later. He also examines the implications/results of the loss of reason across various sectors of the West.

Teachers: Absorb this, copy it, and go through it with your students.

Regensburg Revisited: Ten Years Later, A West Still in Denial

Irrationality not only manifests itself in violence but also in an inability to apply authentic reason to the many pressing challenges of our age.

Take away: We are sooooo in trouble.

Sam Gregg is involved with ACTON INSTITUTE.

I read this refreshing piece directly after reading an extended bit of tediously enervating rubbish on the last two Synods (“walking together”) from last November’s La Civiltà Cattolica by Antonio Spadaro, SJ.  Spadaro, by the way, has a strong interest in the works of Pier Vittorio Tondelli.

Talk about whiplash.

To get rid of the nasty, shower-inducing sense from the later, you might consider picking up James Schall’s helpful book about the Regensburg Address.

US HERE – UK HERE – ITALY HERE

Do me a favor… go to the Amazon page for the book and scroll down and click to tell the publisher (St Augustine Press) that you want this book on Kindle.

Screen Shot 2016-04-05 at 10.05.07

Posted in Benedict XVI, Synod, The Coming Storm, The Drill | Tagged , , , , ,
18 Comments

REVIEW: Benedict V Francis: Dawn Of Mercy

Posted on 4 April 2016 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

The often amusing Eye Of The Tiber has a review of the new movie:

‘Benedict V Francis: Dawn Of Mercy

New DC Comics ‘Benedict V Francis: Dawn Of Mercy’ Film Getting Terrible Reviews

It’s been three years since Benedict’s colossal battle with the Roman Curia devastated Vatican City. The loss of spiritual life and collateral damage left many Catholics feeling angry and helpless about the Church hierarchy, including corruption-fighting Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio. Convinced that members of the hierarchy surrounding Benedict is now a threat to Holy Mother Church, Bergoglio embarks on a personal vendetta to end their reign at the Vatican, while the conniving Walter Kasper launches his own crusade against ‘God’s Rottweiler’.

Benedict v Francis: Dawn of Mercy is out and reviews for the latest movie from DC/Vatican Cinematic Universe are not impressive. [Neither is my review of the new Superman v Batman, but I digress.]

Although the film, which currently has only a 29 percent rating on Catholic movie review site Decent Films, has been universally panned by critics, it’s opening weekend brought in an estimated $70.1 dollars in the Vatican alone.  [Tens of dollars!]

The superpapal showdown, which cost nearly $1,000 dollars to make, is DC/Vatican Cinematic Universe studio’s bid to kick-start a Catholic movie universe to rival the protestant’s massively successful movie empire that has produced multi-hundred dollar cash cows, God Is Not Dead, God Is Not Dead 2, and the upcoming God is Still Not Dead.

But although critics have panned the movie, audiences have given the film a 65 percent rating, which suggests that many moviegoers don’t necessarily agree with critics.

“I thought it was pretty cool,” one viewer told EOTT after seeing the movie. “I mean, some weird choices, that’s for sure, like how Benedict and Francis stop fighting once they find out they both love Jesus. [Who knew?] Francis has Benedict on the ground, you know, cause Benedict’s old, and before he delivers the final blow, Benedict calls out to Jesus for mercy, and Francis is all like, ‘WHY DID YOU SAY THAT NAME! WHY DID YOU SAY JESUS!’ and they realize they both love Jesus and stop fighting.”
Another viewer told EOTT that the movie was decent until the tension really began to pick up toward the latter half of the film.
“Yeah, that’s when it started getting pretty interesting. The bad guy Walter Kasper [Lex Luthor] unleashes this monster he calls Synod, [Doomsday] and the both Benedict and Francis have to fight together to defeat it. [But what about Wonder Woman?  Perhaps that would be … Fernandez?]

Benedict v Francis is the fourth biggest opening for a comic book adaptation, behind three protestant films, The Reformers, Ex-Catholic-Men, [Or perhaps in this confused age, simply Ex-men.] and The Dark Night of the Soul Rises.

Posted in Lighter fare |
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I say that we are wound With mercy round and round

Posted on 4 April 2016 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Botticelli,_annunciazione_di_cestello_02This year Good Friday fell on 25 March, and thus the Feast of the Annunciation was transferred to today, Monday after Sunday “in albis“, after the close of the Easter Octave.  On 25 March, I posted the John Donne poem “Upon the Annunciation and Passion Falling upon One Day. 1608”. HERE

Since today is liturgical Annunciation, I was casting about for another poem that might be appropriate for the feast. How about this one? It is hard, but it is rewarding if you have the patience and the gumption to think and to read it aloud… by Gerard Manley Hopkins (+1889).

The Blessed Virgin Compared To The Air We Breathe

Wild air, world-mothering air,
Nestling me everywhere,
That each eyelash or hair
Girdles; goes home betwixt
The fleeciest, frailest-flixed
Snowflake; that ’s fairly mixed
With, riddles, and is rife
In every least thing’s life;
This needful, never spent,
And nursing element;
My more than meat and drink,
My meal at every wink;
This air, which, by life’s law,
My lung must draw and draw
Now but to breathe its praise,
Minds me in many ways
Of her who not only
Gave God’s infinity
Dwindled to infancy
Welcome in womb and breast,
Birth, milk, and all the rest
But mothers each new grace
That does now reach our race—
Mary Immaculate,
Merely a woman, yet
Whose presence, power is
Great as no goddess’s
Was deemèd, dreamèd; who
This one work has to do—
Let all God’s glory through,
God’s glory which would go
Through her and from her flow
Off, and no way but so.

I say that we are wound
With mercy round and round
As if with air: the same
Is Mary, more by name.
She, wild web, wondrous robe,
Mantles the guilty globe,
Since God has let dispense
Her prayers his providence:
Nay, more than almoner,
The sweet alms’ self is her
And men are meant to share
Her life as life does air.
If I have understood,
She holds high motherhood
Towards all our ghostly good
And plays in grace her part
About man’s beating heart,
Laying, like air’s fine flood,
The deathdance in his blood;
Yet no part but what will
Be Christ our Saviour still.
Of her flesh he took flesh:
He does take fresh and fresh,
Though much the mystery how,
Not flesh but spirit now
And makes, O marvellous!
New Nazareths in us,
Where she shall yet conceive
Him, morning, noon, and eve;
New Bethlems, and he born
There, evening, noon, and morn—
Bethlem or Nazareth,
Men here may draw like breath
More Christ and baffle death;
Who, born so, comes to be
New self and nobler me
In each one and each one
More makes, when all is done,
Both God’s and Mary’s Son.
Again, look overhead
How air is azurèd;
O how! nay do but stand
Where you can lift your hand
Skywards: rich, rich it laps
Round the four fingergaps.
Yet such a sapphire-shot,
Charged, steepèd sky will not
Stain light. Yea, mark you this:
It does no prejudice.
The glass-blue days are those
When every colour glows,
Each shape and shadow shows.
Blue be it: this blue heaven
The seven or seven times seven
Hued sunbeam will transmit
Perfect, not alter it.
Or if there does some soft,
On things aloof, aloft,
Bloom breathe, that one breath more
Earth is the fairer for.
Whereas did air not make
This bath of blue and slake
His fire, the sun would shake,
A blear and blinding ball
With blackness bound, and all
The thick stars round him roll
Flashing like flecks of coal,
Quartz-fret, or sparks of salt,
In grimy vasty vault.
So God was god of old:
A mother came to mould
Those limbs like ours which are
What must make our daystar
Much dearer to mankind;
Whose glory bare would blind
Or less would win man’s mind.
Through her we may see him
Made sweeter, not made dim,
And her hand leaves his light
Sifted to suit our sight.
Be thou then, O thou dear
Mother, my atmosphere;
My happier world, wherein
To wend and meet no sin;
Above me, round me lie
Fronting my froward eye
With sweet and scarless sky;
Stir in my ears, speak there
Of God’s love, O live air,
Of patience, penance, prayer:
World-mothering air, air wild,
Wound with thee, in thee isled,
Fold home, fast fold thy child.

Posted in Our Solitary Boast, Poetry | Tagged , ,
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John Allen on Summorum Pontificum: “Most Catholics who wanted access to the older Mass already had it”

Posted on 4 April 2016 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Over at CRUX (now perhaps Crux 2.0? – the Boston Globe ended its life support – Zombie Crux? – the KofCs support it now, which I can’t get my head around… but I digress…), editor John L. Allen made an odd statement about the traditional form of the Roman Rite and those who desire it.

Allen’s piece is actually about the possibility that Francis’ upcoming Apostolic Exhortation Amoris laetitia (“The Joy of Love” or, variably, “The Pleasure of Lust/Sex” – I guess we have to wait for the rest of that sentence before indulging in too much hijinx), much discussed in anticipation, will really turn out to be much ado about nothing and will have little influence… just like Summorum Pontificum!

Here’s Allen:

On that landscape, here’s another category I’ve long felt would be useful: Documents that cause a huge fuss in the media, but change little on the ground.

As a classic for-instance, take Pope Benedict XVI’s 2007 decree liberalizing permission for celebration of the older Latin Mass. It sparked widespread debate, with many liberals seeing it as an attempt to roll back the clock on the reforms of the Second Vatican Council (1962-65), and traditionalists predicting it would transform Catholic worship in the direction of sobriety and reverence. [Time will tell.  It has only been in force since 2007.  Also, while it takes but a moment to destroy, it takes a long time to build.]

Almost a decade later, however, its practical effect has been fairly limited. Most Catholics who wanted access to the older Mass already had it, [HUH?!?] and neither the apocalypse nor the renaissance suggested by overheated commentary ever occurred.

If Mr. Allen really believes that most of the people who wanted to be able to attend Holy Mass in the traditional form already had it before Summorum Pontificum, he is sorely deluded.

First, the older Mass is celebrated in far more places now than before, although many people are still having problems.  Growth is steady. Second, in 50 years I wonder how many people will still be attending the Novus Ordo.

Perhaps a few of you might chime with your experiences about how easy it was before Summorum Pontificum to obtain celebrations of the older form of the Roman Rite.  Maybe some of you have tales to share about the open generosity of bishops during the days when only Ecclesia Dei afflicta was in force.

The moderation queue is ON.

Posted in CRUX WATCH, Liberals, SUMMORUM PONTIFICUM, You must be joking! | Tagged ,
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Patristic Annunciation

Posted on 4 April 2016 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

annunciation_rossettiThis year the Sacred Triduum fell across the 25 March Feast of the Annunciation.  Therefore, our celebration of the Annunciation was translated to the next available day, the day after the close of the Octave of Easter.

Once upon a time I presented some excerpts from Fathers of the Church pertaining to the Mysteries of the Rosary.  Here are some points about the…

1st Joyful Mystery: The Annuniciation

Commenting on Luke 1:26-38, the announcement of Jesus’ birth, St. Ambrose of Milan (+397) makes a connection between Mary and the Church.  :

And, therefore, the Evangelist, who had undertaken to prove the incorrupt mystery of the incarnation, thought it fruitless to pursue evidence of Mary’s virginity, lest he be seen as a defender of the Virgin rather than an advocate of the mystery.  Surely, when he taught that Joseph was righteous, he adequately declared that he could not violate the temple of the Holy Spirit, the mother of the Lord, the womb of the mystery.  We have learned the lineage of the Truth.  We have learned its counsel.  Let us learn its mystery.  Fittingly is she espoused, but virgin, because she prefigures the Church which is undefiled (cf. Eph 5:27) yet wed.  A virgin conceived us of the Spirit, a Virgin brings us forth without travail.  And thus perhaps Mary, wed to one, was filled by Another, because also the separate Churches are indeed filled by the Spirit and by grace and yet are joined to the appearance of a temporal Priest.  [Exposition of the Gospel of Luke 2.6-7]

The Marian thought of Ambrose has an ecclesiological dimension.  The Second Vatican Council cited this important passage in Lumen gentium, the dogmatic constitution on the Church:

63. By reason of the gift and role of divine maternity, by which she is united with her Son, the Redeemer, and with His singular graces and functions, the Blessed Virgin is also intimately united with the Church. As St. Ambrose taught, the Mother of God is a type of the Church in the order of faith, charity and perfect union with Christ.  For in the mystery of the Church, which is itself rightly called mother and virgin, the Blessed Virgin stands out in eminent and singular fashion as exemplar both of virgin and mother.  By her belief and obedience, not knowing man but overshadowed by the Holy Spirit, as the new Eve she brought forth on earth the very Son of the Father, showing an undefiled faith, not in the word of the ancient serpent, but in that of God’s messenger. The Son whom she brought forth is He whom God placed as the first-born among many brethren, namely the faithful, in whose birth and education she cooperates with a maternal love.

Because of Mary’s “Fiat mihi“, we can be members of the Church with Mary as our Mother.  Our baptism integrates us into this wondrous bond.  St. Leo the Great (+461) in one of his glorious sermons says:

Each one is a partaker of this spiritual origin in regeneration.  To every one, when he is reborn, the water of baptism is like the Virgin’s womb, for the same Holy Spirit fills the font, who filled the Virgin, that the sin, which that sacred conception overthrew, may be taken away by this mystical washing.  [s. 24.3]

Theopanes BrandedThis is not merely a Western insight.  While it is a little late for our Patristic interests, here is a snip from fascinating Kontakion of the Annunciation by the 9th century Theophanes Graphtos, the Branded:

The Theotokos said: Thou bringest me good tidings of divine joy: that Immaterial Light, in His abundant compassion, will be united to a material body.and now thou criest out to me: all-pure one, blessed is the fruit of thy womb!
The Archangel said: Rejoice, lady; rejoice, most pure virgin! Rejoice, God-containing vessel! Rejoice, candlestick of the light, the restoration of Adam, and the deliverance of Eve! Rejoice, holy mountain, shining sanctuary! Rejoice, bridal chamber of immortality!

The Theotokos said: The descent of the Holy Spirit has purified my soul; it has sanctified my body: it has made me a temple containing God, a divinely adorned tabernacle, a living sanctuary, and the pure Mother of Life.

The Archangel said: I see thee as a lamp with many lights; a bridal chamber made by God! Spotless maiden, as an ark of gold, receive now the Giver of the Law, who through thee has been pleased to deliver mankind’s corrupted nature!

Here the Blessed Virgin represents the Temple, the Tabernacle and the Ark of the Covenant, images of the Church.

Posted in Our Solitary Boast, Patristiblogging, Patristic Rosary Project | Tagged ,
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“The oldest church in the English speaking world”

Posted on 4 April 2016 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

It is great to see that His Hermeneuticalness is posting a bit more these days after the great health scare.

Fr. Finigan visited the oldest church in the English speaking world.  Very cool.

The Church used by Queen Bertha and Saint Augustine

A short walk outside the Roman walls of Canterbury is St Martin’s, the oldest Church in the English speaking world. St Bede says that it was in use in late Roman times but had fallen out of use until it was restored by Queen Bertha, the Christian wife of King Ethelbert, in about 580. When St Augustine arrived in 597, his community of monks enlarged the Church to make use of it for the choir offices and it was here that Ethelbert was baptised.

[…]

Read the rest there.

IMG_20160225_135505

Posted in Just Too Cool, Mail from priests | Tagged ,
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Pope Francis received SSPX Bishop Fellay

Posted on 4 April 2016 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

UPDATE:

The Holy See Press Office has confirmed the meeting.  HERE

_____

Hope springs eternal.  Yesterday was the Season Opener of Baseball, it is the beautiful feast of the Annunciation after the joyous Octave of Easter, and now this…

This news was posted on the SSPX-USA site on 4 April (not 1 April) and on their DICI site:

Breaking news: Pope Francis received Bishop Fellay on Friday, April 1, 2016.

Pope Francis received Bishop Bernard Fellay, Superior General of the Society of St. Pius X, accompanied by the Society’s Second General Assistant, Fr. Alain-Marc Nely, at Domus Sanctae Marthae, at 5 p.m. on Friday, April 1, 2016.

Bishop Fellay did not have an opportunity to meet Pope Francis since the Holy Father’s election in March 2013, other than exchanging very brief salutations at Domus Sanctae Marthae, on December 13, 2013 (see DICI no. 296 of 5-16-2014). However, some priests of the Society were previously received by the Supreme Pontiff, regarding certain administrative difficulties in the Society’s District of Argentina (see DICI no 314 of 4-24-2015).

Pope Francis had wanted a private and informal meeting, without the formality of an official audience. It lasted 40 minutes and took place under a cordial atmosphere. After the meeting, it was decided that the current exchanges would continue. The canonical status of the Society was not directly addressed, Pope Francis and Bishop Fellay having determined that these exchanges ought to continue without haste.

The next morning, Saturday, April 2nd, Bishop Fellay met with Archbishop Guido Pozzo, secretary of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei, in keeping with the normal relations of the Society with this commission following the 2009-2011 doctrinal discussions and the visits of several prelates in 2015-2016. (See DICI no. 307 of 12-19-2014 and no. 311 of 2-27-2016)

Without haste….

Part of me wants them to hurry up a little!

Posted in Francis, SSPX | Tagged ,
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Plenary Indulgence – Mercy Sunday

Posted on 3 April 2016 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

On Mercy Sunday there is a Plenary Indulgence available.   Of course, during the Year of Mercy if you are near one of the churches that has a “holy door” you can get an indulgence every day, so this indulgence is less compelling.  But not everyone is near one of those doors.

Hang on.  If you are near one of those doors… are you using it as often as you could?

Plenary indulgence for Mercy Sunday

I. The usual conditions for every plenary indulgence:

  • sacramental confession [according to previously issued norms, within abut 20 days before or after]
  • Eucharistic communion [according to previously issued norms, preferably on the day, or the days before or after]
  • prayer for the intentions of Supreme Pontiff [certain prayers are not specified]
  • no attachment to even venial sins

II. The specific conditions for this Indulgence

On Divine Mercy Sunday

  • in any church or chapel, in a spirit that is completely detached from the affection for a sin, even a venial sin, take part in the prayers and devotions held in honour of Divine Mercy
  • or, in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament exposed or reserved in the tabernacle, recite the Our Father and the Creed, adding a devout prayer to the merciful Lord Jesus (e.g. Merciful Jesus, I trust in you!”)

Partial Indulgence

A partial indulgence, granted to the faithful who, at least with a contrite heart, pray to the merciful Lord Jesus a legitimately approved invocation. [e.g. Jesus I trust in You. My Jesus mercy. or any other approved invocation]

Those who cannot go to church or the seriously ill

Conditions for a Plenary Indulgence:

  • totally detesting any sin,
  • the intention of fulfilling as soon as possible the three usual conditions of confession, communion and prayers for the Holy Father
  • recite the Our Father and the Creed before a devout image of Our Merciful Lord Jesus
  • pray a devout invocation to the Merciful Lord Jesus (e.g. Merciful Jesus, I trust in you).

If it is impossible to do even this:

  • with a spiritual intention unite with those carrying out the prescribed practice for obtaining the Indulgence in the usual way and
  • offer to the Merciful Lord a prayer and the sufferings of their illness and the difficulties of their lives, with the resolution to accomplish as soon as possible the three conditions prescribed to obtain the plenary indulgence.

Duty of priests

Priests who exercise pastoral ministry, especially parish priests, should

  • inform the faithful in the most suitable way of the Church’s salutary provision [of a plenary indulgence].
  • promptly and generously be willing to hear their confessions [this does not necessarily have to be on Divine Mercy Sunday itself, since that is not a condition for the indulgence]

On Divine Mercy Sunday, after celebrating Mass or Vespers, or during devotions in honour of Divine Mercy,

  • lead the recitation of the prayers
  • when they instruct their people, gently encourage the faithful to practise works of charity or mercy as often as they can
Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes | Tagged , ,
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Brick by brick in Marquette

Posted on 2 April 2016 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Good things are happening in a Michigan Diocese, Marquette.

Don’t confuse it with Jesuit-run Marquette University.

First, they were blessed with n0w-Archbishop Sample.  He issued a statement on sacred music.  HERE Then they advanced the cause of Ven. Frederic Baraga.  Then the new Bishop, John Doerfler, issued particular law for the diocese building on Sample’s letter. HERE  And… regular reader and commentator here Fr. Tim Ferguson was ordained for the diocese.

Now I read that Bp. Doerfler has decided that the diocesan schools will use a classic curriculum rather than Common Core.

This comes via the Cardinal Newman Society, which keeps watch on Catholic education in these USA.  HERE  See them daily on my right side-bar!

Mich. Diocese Shifts to Classical Curriculum, Avoids Common Core

Educators and parents are increasingly dissatisfied with secular standards that neglect to emphasize virtuous development in K-12 academics, but one diocese in Michigan has responded by making the bold decision to implement a classical, liberal arts curriculum for all diocesan schools. And the diocese’s superintendent of Catholic schools, Mark Salisbury, told The Cardinal Newman Society that the program has been widely well-received by teachers and students and is improving education for the entire diocese.
“We are enthusiastic about our early successes,” Salisbury shared. “Teachers are happy with the results as well. We have improved our ability to teach students how to write well, students are learning and memorizing more poetry” and the curriculum’s integration of Latin studies “has helped students with English grammar, vocabulary and critical thinking skills.” A recent satisfaction survey of more than 440 parents for the 2015-16 school year revealed that 76 percent of parents were highly satisfied with the academic programs.

[…]

The team focused extensively on the goals for Catholic education articulated in Archbishop John Michael Miller’s The Holy See’s Teaching on Catholic Schools. According to Archbishop Miller, Catholic schools should be recognized by five essential principles. Catholic schools are: “inspired by a supernatural vision,” “founded on Christian anthropology,” “animated by communion and community,” “imbued with the Catholic worldview throughout the curriculum,” and “sustained by the Gospel witness of the teachers and staff.”
Keeping these principles in mind, it quickly became clear that a Catholic liberal arts curriculum was the best way forward in Marquette, especially since such a curriculum has been “the perennial and consistent curriculum framework applied throughout history in Catholic schools,” said Salisbury.
Moreover, the liberal arts are “founded on a Christian anthropology and imbued with a Catholic worldview because we are constantly looking for the good, true and beautiful in each subject we teach.” From there, students are prepared “to ‘see’ God, who is the Good, the True and the Beautiful — and the source of all goodness, truth and beauty.” This preparation facilitates students’ understanding of scripture and participation in the liturgy.
Diocesan educators then set about crafting a foundations document for the new curriculum, which Salisbury shared with the Newman Society.
“We began our curriculum foundations document with the supernatural vision — that is, with the end in mind — namely, that our students will develop friendships with Christ because this is the foundation of true happiness in this life and the next,” said Salisbury. From that vision, the foundations document integrated opportunities for students to learn how to live virtuously and work towards the perfection of character.
“The greatest happiness a person can attain is communion with Jesus Christ,” the document begins. “Therefore, the core of our curriculum is the person of Jesus Christ. We hope to graduate students who have ‘encountered the living God who in Jesus Christ reveals his transforming love and truth’ (cf. Spe Salvi, 4).” The curriculum also “seeks to form our graduate’s character, aiming as high as its perfection.”

[…]

Brick by brick.

Fr. Z kudos.

Posted in Brick by Brick, Our Catholic Identity | Tagged ,
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