“Blessed are they who persecute the righteous, for they shall be called the children of God.”

Posted on 26 March 2015 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

The estimable translator and teacher Anthony Esolen has a wickedly biting commentary piece at Crisis today.  Read it in the context of controversy over the upcoming Synod on the Family in October, namely, there are those who suggest that Christ didn’t really mean what Scripture says he said about adultery.

Sample:

A Modern Translation

The Church, I’ve been hearing, has to change, if she is going to have any leverage with men and women of our time. What that means, of course, is that they would like a sexual permission slip. It’s the only thing they care about. What’s it to them, after all, if the Church does not change her teachings, even if she could? They don’t obey them anyway.

But perhaps they are setting their revisionary sights too low. Why change the Bride of Christ, when you might as well go for Christ Himself? Why trick out the bride in lingerie from Astarte’s Secret, you can put new words on the lips of the bridegroom, or give him a new interest?

The Lord says that He comes not to abolish the law and the prophets, but to fulfill them. He is the true and only agent of moral evolution. He reveals the truth that had lain hidden in the shadows, or encrusted with local or tribal customs. He is the refining fire, making ore into gold. So His teachings stretch our dust to infinity.

[…]

So we need a Jesus who will fit; a god we can put in the cave to stay. I translate His words accordingly:

“You have heard me say, let your yes be yes and your no be no. What’s the use? Consider the clods of the earth, how they crumble. Are not your words worth less than they? Be content with maybe. Say what you will, to make your days comfortable, because they are few, and they will pass.”

“You have heard me say, he who will not take up his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. What’s the use? I accomplished nothing on the cross. I have no baptism of fire for refining the earth. Don’t bother. Be not too eager to cause other people to suffer, but at the same time be not too eager to expose yourself to suffering.”

“Blessed are the modestly well off, for theirs are the good schools and the suburbs.”

“Blessed are they who chuckle, for they need not give a damn.”

“Blessed are they who believe in themselves, for they shall cover the earth.”

“Blessed are they who scoff at righteousness, for they shall be less than hypocrites.”

“Blessed are the indifferent, for they shall be left alone.”

“Blessed are the sly of heart, for they shall see porn.”

“Blessed are the compromisers, for they shall win elections.”

“Blessed are they who persecute the righteous, for they shall be called the children of God.”

[…]

There’s more of this amusing but mind-chewing stuff which you can read over there.

Fr. Z kudos.

You might recall that he wrote the piece How to kill vocations – Feminize everything! with which he scored a direct hit.

Also, check out his translation of the Divine Comedy, one of the most important things every penned by man.  If you have read Dante then… well…. pffffft.

Click!

You could start with Esolen (Part 1, Inferno HERE) or perhaps with Dorothy Sayer’s fine version (Part 1, Inferno, HERE).  There are many renderings to choose from.  I would very much like to teach on Dante someday.  Maybe it’ll happen.

When you make the excellent choice to read the Divine Comedy, here are a couple tips.  First and foremost, make the decision that you will read the whole thing.  Don’t read just the Inferno.  The really great stuff comes in Purgatorio and Paradiso.  Also, read through a canto to get the line of thought and story and then go back over it looking at the notes in your edition.  Sayers has good notes.  Dante was, I think, the last guy who knew everything.  Each Canto is dense with references.  You will need notes to help with the history, philosophy, cosmology, poetic theory, politics, theology, etc.

In any event, Esolen did a good job.

Posted in Fr. Z KUDOS, Lighter fare, Our Catholic Identity, Synod | Tagged , ,
13 Comments

Card. Müller: Delegate doctrinal decisions to regional conferences? “absolutely anti-Catholic”!

Posted on 26 March 2015 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Cardinale-MullerRecently Card. Marx and the German Bishops conference flexed their muscles a bit and suggested that they should have oversight of doctrine (rather than Rome) and that they were pretty much not subordinated to Rome.

I have now read an interview which Card. Müller gave to Famille Chrétienne. He said that to delegate certain doctrinal or disciplinary decisions on matrimony or the family “is an absolutely anti-Catholic idea”.

I have to agree.  It has been kicked around in the discussion of restructuring the Roman Curia that perhaps doctrinal oversight could be devolved to regional bishops conferences.  That is the liberal’s Shangri-la, the progressivist’s Eldorado, the dissenter’s nirvana.  It would also be, of course, total disaster.

Were such a thing approved, I believe I might simply withdraw to a cave to finish out my natural span in prayer and penance.

Regional conferences do not constitute some kind of parallel or equal body alongside the Holy See’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which has it’s mandate from and in the name of the Successor of Peter.  The Roman Pontiff delegates his own authority to his Congregations in matters that concern them.

You might take a few minutes to read Apostolos suos.  (Latin HERE)

In a nutshell, conferences of bishops do not exercise teaching authority as the whole body of bishops does.  Individual bishops do (when they are in unity with Roman Pontiff), but conferences don’t.  Conferences must submit their doctrinal declarations to the Holy See for a recognitio (approval).  But then the doctrinal statement is authoritative not by authority of the conference but because the Holy See has backed it up.  Conferences don’t have their own doctrinal authority.  They “borrow” it.  And, again, individual diocesan bishops are not subjected to the regional conference.  They have their own authority in their dioceses by virtue of their belonging to the college of bishops, as successors of the Apostles.  Conferences can’t command them to do X or Y.  They can agree to follow what the conference as a body decides.  In general, that’s what happens: they act in solidarity.

 

Posted in Our Catholic Identity, Si vis pacem para bellum!, The Coming Storm, The future and our choices | Tagged , ,
16 Comments

Card. Nichols reacts to the 500 Priests

Posted on 26 March 2015 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

The other day I posted about an open letter, in the UK’s weekly the Catholic Herald, signed by almost 500 priests of England and Wales.  The letter urged the members of the upcoming Synod in October to stand firm on the Church’s traditional teachings concerning reception of Holy Communion.  HERE

I now see in the Catholic Herald a reaction/response to the priests’ letter from His Eminence Vincent Card. Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster.  His Eminence isn’t happy.  Here is his statement (my emphases):

“Every priest in England and Wales has been asked to reflect on the Synod discussion. It is my understanding that this has been taken up in every diocese, and that channels of communication have been established,” the statement said.

“The pastoral experience and concern of all priests in these matters are of great importance and are welcomed by the Bishops. Pope Francis has asked for a period of spiritual discernment. This dialogue, between a priest and his bishop, is not best conducted through the press.”

During his general audience today, Pope Francis called for prayer not “chatter” ahead of the Synod. He said: “So here is what I, with my collaborators, have thought to propose today: to renew the prayer for the Synod of the Bishops on the family. We are taking up this commitment again next October, when the ordinary Assembly of the Synod, dedicated to the family, will take place. I would like for this prayer, and the whole Synod journey, to be animated by the compassion of the Good Shepherd for His flock, especially for persons and families that, for different reasons, are ‘troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd’ (Mt 9:36).

“So, sustained and animated by the grace of God, the Church can be ever more committed, and ever more united, in the witness of the truth of the love of God and of His mercy for the families of the world, excluding none, whether within or outside the flock. I ask you, please, to not neglect your prayer. All of us – the Pope, Cardinals, Bishops, priests, religious, lay faithful – we are all called to pray for the Synod. There is need of this, not of chatter! I also invite those who feel far away, or who are not accustomed to do so, to pray. This prayer for the Synod on the Family is for the good of everyone. I know that this morning you were given a little prayer card, which you have in your hands. It might be a little wet. I invite you to hold on to it and keep it with you, so that in the coming months you can recite it often, with holy insistence, as Jesus has asked us.”

The prayer which the Pope distributed reads:

“Jesus, Mary and Joseph,
In you we contemplate
The splendour of true love,
We turn to you with confidence.

Holy Family of Nazareth,
Make our families, also,
Places of communion and cenacles of prayer,
Authentic schools of the Gospel,
And little domestic Churches.

Holy Family of Nazareth
May our families never more experience
Violence, isolation, and division:
May anyone who was wounded or scandalized
Rapidly experience consolation and healing.

Holy Family of Nazareth,
May the upcoming Synod of Bishops
Re-awaken in all an awareness
Of the sacred character and inviolability of the family,
Its beauty in the project of God.

Jesus, Mary and Joseph,
Hear and answer our prayer. Amen.”

Damian Thompson of The Spectator offered his views on this exchange.

Also, don’t miss what the great canonist Ed Peters offered at his blog In The Light Of The Law.  Sample:

British priests have canonical rights, too

There isn’t a word—not one single word—in the short, open letter signed by hundreds of British Catholic priests to the Catholic Herald (London) defending Church teaching on marriage and sacraments that any Catholic could not, and should not be proud to, personally profess and publically proclaim. The priests’ letter is a model of accuracy, balance, brevity, and pastoral respect for persons. It fortifies the soul to know it exists. It gladdens the heart to actually read it.

I am at a loss, therefore, to understand why Vincent Cardinal Nichols seems to chastise priests who signed letter for their allegedly “conducting [a] dialogue, between a priest and his bishop … through the press.” The priests’ letter is statement of Catholic belief, not an opening gambit in a negotiation; it is addressed to a journal editor, and through him to lay and clerical public, not to a particular prelate. Moreover, the letter is a text-book example of clergy exercising a canonical right guaranteed to all the Christian faithful, namely, “to manifest to sacred pastors [Code for ‘bishops’] their opinion on matters which pertain to the good of the Church and to make their opinion known to the rest of the Christian faithful, without prejudice to the integrity of faith and morals, with reverence toward their pastors, and attentive to common advantage and the dignity of persons.” Canon 212 § 3, my emphasis.

[…]

Posted in ¡Hagan lío!, Mail from priests, One Man & One Woman, Our Catholic Identity, Synod, The Coming Storm, The future and our choices | Tagged , , ,
35 Comments

1st Joyful Mystery: The Annunciation

Posted on 25 March 2015 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

This is from my old Patristic Rosary Project

Because October is dedicated in a special way to the Most Holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary, during the month I, as a dedicated patristiblogger, will work my way through the Mysteries of the Rosary offering some comments from the Fathers of the Church.  Let’s jump right in!

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 Liturgy Science Theatre 3000, Patristiblogging | Tagged , , , , ,
9 Comments

Of the Premonstratensian Rite and Confessions

Posted on 25 March 2015 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

I received a note from the MC at my friend Fr. Ray Blake’s parish in Brighton.  They recently had a retreat which ended with Holy Mass in the Extraordinary Form of the Premonstratensian Rite (Norbertine). There are some fine photos.  I am told that confessions were heard during Mass and that there was a queue at all times.

Here is a fine photo.  All the statues are covered for Passiontide.  Well done.

15_03_25_Brighton_01

 

I note that Fr. Blake was a signatory of the recent letter that almost 500 priests of England and Wales signed asking that the upcoming Synod clearly affirm the Church’s teachings concerning Communion for the divorced and civilly remarried.  HERE

Also, Fr. Blake has warmly asked for prayers for the newly appointed Bishop of Arundel and Brighton, Most Rev. Richard Moth. HERE.

 

Posted in GO TO CONFESSION, Liturgy Science Theatre 3000, Mail from priests, Our Catholic Identity | Tagged ,
6 Comments

WDTPRS: Annunciation – Lady Day

Posted on 25 March 2015 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Tanner AnnunciationThis is the very Feast of the Incarnation.

Today we celebrate that moment when our Lord elevated our humanity by taking our human nature into an indestructible bond with His Divinity.  In the Incarnation God opened for us the path to “divinization”, His sharing of something of His own divine glory with us in the eternal happiness of heaven.

In the sin of our First Parents, offending God and loosing so many of our gifts, the whole human race sinned.  In justice a human being had to correct the offense, but such a correction was entirely impossible for a mere mortal human.  Such a correction required the intervention of one who was both man and God.

In the Incarnation, the Word made flesh, made man, made Jesus the Lord and Savior, not only begins to save us from our sins in His earthly ministry, but begins also the mysterious revelation of man more fully to himself (cf. GS 22).

Part of the Lord’s mission was also to teach man more fully who He is in the beauty of His own Person.  However, He did not begin to do this only from the beginning of His public ministry.  He began this from the very moment of the Incarnation.

Remember: From the instant of His conception, the Word made flesh begins to teach man more fully who man is.

Light from Light sheds light on the dignity of man, God’s image, from the instant of conception, from man’s humblest beginning.

Here are the Collects for this beautiful Feast of the Annunciation, Lady Day.  Here are the “Opening Prayers” from both the older, traditional, extraordinary form of the Roman Rite and the newer, post-Conciliar, ordinary form.

You might discuss their differences, their respective strengths.

COLLECT (1962MR):

Deus, qui de beatae Mariae Virginis utero Verbum tuum, Angelo nuntiante, carnem suscipere voluisti: praesta supplicibus tuis; ut, qui vere eam Genetricem Dei credimus, eius apud te intercessionibus adiuvemur.

LITERAL VERSION:

O God, who desired Your Word to take flesh from the womb of the blessed Virgin Mary the angel announcing it: grant to your supplicants; that we who believe truly in the Mother of God, may be helped in Your sight by her intercessions.

COLLECT (2002MR):

Deus, qui Verbum tuum in utero Virginis Mariae
veritatem carnis humanae suscipere voluisti,
concede, quaesumus,
ut, qui Redemptorem nostrum
Deum et hominem confitemur,
ipsius etiam divinae naturae mereamur esse consortes.

LITERAL VERSION:

O God, who wanted Your Word to take up
the truth of human flesh in the womb of the Virgin Mary,
grant, we beseech,
that we, who confess our Redeemer to be God and man,
may also merit to be the sharers of His divine nature.

This is of new composition, though there is a reference here to Letter 123 Ad Eudociam Augustam – “De monachis Palaestinis” of St. Pope Leo I, “the Great” (+461).

“Fides enim catholica sicut damnat Nestorum, qui in uno domino nostro Iesu Christo duas ausus est praedicare personas, ita damnat etiam Eutychen cum Dioscoro, qui ab unigenito Deo Verbo negant in utero Virginis matris veritatem carnis humanae susceptam.”

NEW CORRECTED ICEL VERSION:

O God, who willed that your Word
should take on the reality of human flesh
in the womb of the Virgin Mary,
grant, we pray,
that we, who confess our Redeemer to be God and man,
may merit to become partakers even in his divine nature.

Posted in Liturgy Science Theatre 3000, WDTPRS | Tagged , , , , ,
13 Comments

Brick by Brick in Greenville

Posted on 24 March 2015 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Screen Shot 2015-03-24 at 19.05.39There is a good article at greenvilleonline.com:

Old Latin past illuminates future for Catholic church [Great headline]

Tom Kelly felt like something was lost 50 years ago this month, when traditional Latin Mass was abandoned by the Roman Catholic Church with a Second Vatican Council ruling that Mass could be said in local languages with alternate choreography. [Alternate choreography.  That’s about it.  BTW… I just saw videos of the “liturgies” from the annual Three Days of Darkness in LA.]

The intention was to make the ceremony more accessible, more understandable, simpler, but connection that lasted through centuries evaporated. [The problem was, the reform that was mandated by the Council Fathers is not the reform that we received.]

Holy reverence and awe seemed to be exchanged for colloquial comfort. [I can’t think of other words… ]

Now, though, the formal worship is making a comeback in South Carolina and at Catholic churches worldwide.

The daily Latin Mass held at Prince of Peace Catholic Church in Taylors – among services that also include English and Spanish Mass – led Kelly and his family to move to the area.

“It’s so very reverent,” said Kelly, a native of Long Island, New York, who moved with his wife Donna and children from Rutherfordton, North Carolina, to Taylors in 2005 to be closer to Latin Mass. “You can go to a Mass in New York, you can go in South Carolina, you can go in Rome, you can go in China and it doesn’t really matter. You’re attending the same Mass.”

“I can tell my children this is the Mass that all of the saints that they’re learning about in school would’ve been at,” said Joel Raines, a Campobello resident who travels with his wife, Marty, and four children to Prince of Peace almost weekly. “From my perspective with my kids, I try to tell them that the Catholic faith is 2,000 years old, but the Mass that we were taking them to was kind of new. It had contemporary music. It was English. It was like handing them a penny and telling them it’s a 300-year-old penny, but it looks shiny and new. It’s kind of hard to buy into that if you’re a kid.”

Now, though, as the smell of incense rises through the sound of Gregorian chants, they more easily sense that they are part of a tradition that’s been handed down from the second century.

Prince of Peace Catholic Church, with more than 2,000 families as members, is one of the few churches in the nation to celebrate a daily noon Latin Mass in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite. It’s one of only two in the state – Stella Maris Roman Catholic Church on Sullivan’s Island is the other – to celebrate the Latin Mass on a weekly basis.

Father Christopher Smith, formally installed as the parish’s pastor just last week after three years as administrator, said it’s helping the church grow.

“I think that there are as many reasons that people come to it as there are people,” Smith said. “One of the things that we’ve found very interesting is that a lot of older people who grew up with the Latin Mass and then switched to the vernacular when they were growing up, a lot of them are just not really interested in the Latin Mass anymore. What we’ve found – and this is the case all over the world – a lot of younger people tend to be attracted to the Latin Mass.

“What they tell us is they see a great sense of beauty and reverence and devotion, and also a sense of historical continuity. You know when you come to a Mass that’s celebrated in Latin that you’re praying the same prayers that saints from 1,500 years ago were praying when they went to Mass, in the same language. There’s a great sense of connectedness, and I think a lot of young people are searching for something very concrete and very deep in their spirituality. The Latin Mass fulfills a need that many of them gravitate towards.”

[…]

This is a great development.  Kudos to all!

Posted in Brick by Brick | Tagged , ,
4 Comments

New interview with Card. Burke

Posted on 24 March 2015 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

A new interview with His Eminence Raymond Card. Burke with LifesiteNews. Read it all there, but here is some:

Exclusive interview: Cardinal Burke says confusion spreading among Catholics ‘in an alarming way’ (full text)

Editor’s Note: Cardinal Raymond Burke spoke with LifeSiteNews Paris correspondent Jeanne Smits in Rome on January 21. We are running the interview along with an article (available here) drawing out some of the cardinal’s most significant points. Smits has also published a French version of the interview on her blog.

LifeSiteNews: Since the extraordinary synod on the family, we have entered a period of uncertainty and confusion over several “hot-button” issues: communion for divorced and “remarried” couples, a change of attitude towards homosexual unions and an apparent relaxing of attitudes towards non-married couples. Does your Eminence think that this confusion is already producing adverse effects among Catholics?

Cardinal Burke: Most certainly, it is. I hear it myself: I hear it from Catholics, I hear it from bishops. People are claiming now, for instance, that the Church has changed her teaching with regard to sexual relations outside of marriage, with regard to the intrinsic evil of homosexual acts. Or people who are within irregular matrimonial unions are demanding to receive Holy Communion, claiming that this is the will of the Holy Father. And we have astounding situations, like the declarations of the bishop of Antwerp with regard to homosexual acts, which go undisciplined, and so we can see that this confusion is spreading, really, in an alarming way.

LSN: Archbishop Bonny says Humanae vitae was disputed by many: now is the time to dispute other things. Aren’t we in a period when the Church’s teachings are being disputed more than before?

CB: Yes, I believe so. It seems now that people who before did not dispute the Church’s teaching, because it was clear that the authority of the Church prohibited certain discussions, now feel very free to dispute even the natural moral law, including a teaching like Humanae vitae which has been the constant teaching of the Church with regard to the question of contraception.

LSN: It was said after the publication of the relatio post disceptationem that there was a manipulation that consisted in putting into the synod questions that actually have nothing to do with the family. Would you accept to express yourself on how and why this “manipulation” took place? Who is benefiting?

CB: It’s clear that there was a manipulation because the actual interventions of the members of the synod were not published, and only the mid-term report, or the “relatio post disceptationem”, was given, which had really nothing to do with what was being presented in the synod. And so it’s clear to me that there were individuals who obviously had a very strong influence on the synod process who were pushing an agenda which has nothing to do with the truth about marriage as Our Lord Himself teaches it to us, as it is handed down to us in the Church. That agenda had to do with trying to justify extra-marital sexual relations and sexual acts between persons of the same sex and, in a way, clearly to relativize and even to obscure the beauty of the Church’s teaching on marriage as a faithful, indissoluble, procreative union of one man and one woman.

LSN: Who is this benefiting? As faithful Catholics, we are surprised and worried about the sudden apparition of these themes.

CB: Well, it can’t be a benefit to anyone, because it’s not true: it’s not the truth. And so it’s only doing harm to everyone. It may be perceived as a benefit, for instance, to people who for whatever reason are caught up in immoral situations. It may be seen by some as in some way to justify them. But it can’t justify them, because the acts themselves are not able to be justified.

[… SKIPPING A LOT…]

LSN: How can the Church really help all those concerned: abandoned spouses, children of legitimate marriages who are hurt by the divorce of their parents, people who are struggling with homosexual tendencies or who have in a way let themselves be “trapped” into an illegitimate union? And what should our attitude be: the attitude of the faithful?

CB: What the Church can do, and that is the greatest act of love on the part of the Church, is to present the teaching on marriage, the teaching that comes from Christ’s very words, the teaching which has been constant in the tradition, to everyone, as a sign of hope for them. And also, to help them to recognize the sinfulness of the situation in which they find themselves, and at the same time  call them to leave that sinful situation and to find a way to live in accord with the truth. And that’s the only way the Church can help. That was my great hope for the synod: that the synod would hold up to the world the great beauty of marriage, and that beauty is the truth about marriage. I always say to people: indissolubility is not a curse, it is the great beauty of the marital relationship. This is what gives beauty to the relationship between a man and a woman, that the union is indissoluble, that it is faithful, that it is procreative. But now one almost begins to get the impression that somehow the Church is ashamed of the very beautiful treasure which we have in marriage, as God made man and woman from the beginning.

[…]

There is quite a bit more.

Posted in One Man & One Woman, Our Catholic Identity | Tagged
4 Comments

8 major studies of identital twins prove homosexuality Is NOT genetic

Posted on 24 March 2015 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

From OrthodoxyToday:

Identical Twin Studies Prove Homosexuality is Not Genetic

Eight major studies of identical twins in Australia, the U.S., and Scandinavia during the last two decades all arrive at the same conclusion: gays were not born that way.
“At best genetics is a minor factor,” says Dr. Neil Whitehead, PhD. Whitehead worked for the New Zealand government as a scientific researcher for 24 years, then spent four years working for the United Nations and International Atomic Energy Agency. Most recently, he serves as a consultant to Japanese universities about the effects of radiation exposure. His PhD is in biochemistry and statistics.
Identical twins have the same genes or DNA. They are nurtured in equal prenatal conditions. If homosexuality is caused by genetics or prenatal conditions and one twin is gay, the co-twin should also be gay.
“Because they have identical DNA, it ought to be 100%,” Dr. Whitehead notes. But the studies reveal something else. “If an identical twin has same-sex attraction the chances the co-twin has it are only about 11% for men and 14% for women.”
Because identical twins are always genetically identical, homosexuality cannot be genetically dictated. “No-one is born gay,” he notes. “The predominant things that create homosexuality in one identical twin and not in the other have to be post-birth factors.”

[…]

Still, many misconceptions persist in the popular culture. Namely, that homosexuality is genetic – so hard-wired into one’s identity that it can’t be changed. “The academics who work in the field are not happy with the portrayals by the media on the subject,” Dr. Whitehead notes. “But they prefer to stick with their academic research and not get involved in the activist side.”

Human beings are not slaves to their appetites and impulses, as animals are.  We make choices.  Even those who have the affliction of a strong same-sex attraction can make choices to live a virtuous life, just as those who are undoubtedly heterosexual have to make choices.

Posted in One Man & One Woman, Our Catholic Identity | Tagged , ,
18 Comments

Nearly 500 faithful priests in England and Wales sign letter urging Synod to stand firm!

Posted on 24 March 2015 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

At the UK’s Catholic Herald, for which I write a weekly column, find the following:

Nearly 500 priests in England and Wales urge synod to stand firm on Communion for the remarried

Priests says that doctrine and practice must ‘remain firmly and inseparably in harmony’

Almost 500 priests in England and Wales have signed a letter urging those attending this year’s family synod to issue a “clear and firm proclamation” upholding Church teaching on marriage.

In the letter, published in this week’s Catholic Herald, the priests write: “We wish, as Catholic priests, to re-state our unwavering fidelity to the traditional doctrines regarding marriage and the true meaning of human sexuality, founded on the Word of God and taught by the Church’s Magisterium for two millennia.”

Last year’s extraordinary synod provoked heated debate on the question of whether remarried Catholics should be permitted to receive Holy Communion – a proposal presented by retired German Cardinal Walter Kasper.

In what is thought to be an unprecedented step, 461 priests in England and Wales have joined together to urge synod participants to resist the proposal.

[… SKIPPPING TO THE LETTER…]

Full text of the letter and list of signatories:

SIR – Following the Extraordinary Synod of Bishops in Rome in October 2014 much confusion has arisen concerning Catholic moral teaching. In this situation we wish, as Catholic priests, to re-state our unwavering fidelity to the traditional doctrines regarding marriage and the true meaning of human sexuality, founded on the Word of God and taught by the Church’s Magisterium for two millennia.

We commit ourselves anew to the task of presenting this teaching in all its fullness, while reaching out with the Lord’s compassion to those struggling to respond to the demands and challenges of the Gospel in an increasingly secular society. Furthermore we affirm the importance of upholding the Church’s traditional discipline regarding the reception of the sacraments, and that doctrine and practice remain firmly and inseparably in harmony.

We urge all those who will participate in the second Synod in October 2015 to make a clear and firm proclamation of the Church’s unchanging moral teaching, so that confusion may be removed, and faith confirmed.

Yours faithfully,

[… ALL THE SIGNATORIES…]

Fr. Z kudos to all these good priests.

Also, my friend His Hermeneuticalness Fr. Tim Finigan, PP in Margate, has a few things to say at his fine blog HERE:

There have been one or two queries. A couple of priests have asked whether they could sign it as they did not have the chance to do so. [I would have signed it, but I am not a priest of England and Wales.] I understand that the organisers of the letter did try to send a copy to every priest in England and Wales, but a database with such a large number of entries is bound to have a few mistakes. Unfortunately, I am told that there is no easy way to add signatures now. This was a competely independent undertaking of a small number of priests who are actively working in parishes.

One or two lay people have asked if a letter could be organised for laity to sign. I would recommend lay people to keep in touch with Voice of the Family and to share ideas with them because they are a specifically lay group. Priests and laity each have their own important apostolates

Anybody, priest or lay faithful, who agrees with the priests’ letter can help by using their own social media channels to publicise the letter and speak to others about the key points in it.

It is also open to every member of the Christian Faithful (clerics and laity) to manifest their concerns to the Holy See. Here are two possible addresses to write to:

HE Lorenzo Cardinal Baldisseri
Secretary General, Synod of Bishops
Palazzo del Bramante
Via della Conciliazione, 34
00193 Roma

HE Gerhard Ludwig Cardinal Müller
Prefect for The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
Piazza del S. Uffizio, 11
00193 Rome Italy
email: cdf@cfaith.va

 

Posted in Fr. Z KUDOS, Mail from priests, One Man & One Woman, Our Catholic Identity | Tagged , , ,
22 Comments