3000 religious leave religious life each year. Why? Some reasons.

I saw this at CWN:

Curial official: over 3,000 religious leave consecrated life each year [Makes you wonder how many enter religious life.  I’ll bet not 3k!]

The secretary of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life said in an October 29 address that over 3,000 men and women religious leave the consecrated life each year.

In the address – a portion of which was reprinted in L’Osservatore Romano [HERE] – Archbishop José Rodríguez Carballo said that statistics from his Congregation, as well as the Congregation for the Clergy, indicate that over the past five years, 2,624 religious have left the religious life annually. When one takes into account additional cases handled by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the number tops 3,000.

The prelate, who led the Order of Friars Minor from 2003 until his April 2013 curial appointment, said that the majority of cases occur at a “relatively young age.” The causes, he said, include “absence of spiritual life,” “loss of a sense of community,” and a “loss of sense of belonging to the Church” – a loss manifest in dissent from Catholic teaching on “women priests and sexual morality.” [read: LCWR]

Other causes include “affective problems,” including heterosexual relationships that continue into marriage and homosexual relationships, which are “most obvious in men, but also present, more often than you think, between women.”  [Not more often than I thought!]

The world, the prelate continued, is undergoing profound changes from modernity to postmodernity – from fixed reference points to uncertainty, doubt, and insecurity. In a market-oriented world, “everything is measured and evaluated according to the utility and profitability, even people.” It is “a world where everything is soft,” where “there is no place for sacrifice, nor for renunciation.” [The problem, however, is not just that the “world” has gone that way, but that the world’s way as been permitted wholesale into the Church and into these religious institutes with virtually no resistance at all.]

In a culture of neo-individualism and subjectivism, he added, “the individual is the measure of everything,” and people feel “unique in excellence.” “Modern man talks a lot” but “cannot communicate in depth.[Yes. Yet another reason for me to call for, once again, a deeper theology of communication, beginning with Christ as the true communicator.]

The solution, he said, is a renewed attention to the centrality the Triune God in religious life, which in turn “brings with it the gift of oneself to others.” There must be a clear emphasis on the “radical nature of the Gospel,” rather than the “number of members or the maintenance of works.” [Your Excellency… until we have our LITURGICAL WORSHIP squared away again, no other effort of renewal can be effective.]

Posted in Cri de Coeur, Dogs and Fleas, Magisterium of Nuns, New Evangelization, Our Catholic Identity, The future and our choices, The Last Acceptable Prejudice, Vatican II, Women Religious | Tagged , , ,
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The tactics of the ‘c’atholic Left

I am sure that readers of the Fishwrap will leap to denounce the tactics employed by protesters such as those in Wisconsin (HERE) and also, once again, in Brussels.

They should denounce their tactics, but I doubt they will.

Once again, in Brussels, Archbishop Joseph Leonard was physically attacked.

From Katolisches Info via Eponymous Flower:

Hired Prostitutes Attack Archbishop of Brussels

(Brussels) Archbishop Andre-Joseph Leonard of Brussels-Malines was again attacked by pseudo-feminists of FEMEN. As of last April the disturbed, paid “political activists” came from the red light district to a meeting, in which Monsignor Leonard participated in as a speaker. The reaction of the Archbishop, now already familiar with the methods of the extremists, robbed FEMEN of some of the peak of their performance.

In the red light district hired “political activists” are hired to appear topless and again target the brave Archbishop of Brussels-Mechelen. There are probably lush cash payments for the FEMEN-strippers in the background in Belgium (see separate report Who’s behind FEMEN protest and their anti-Christian activities? Paid activists from the red light district). The incident occurred last Friday night in Brussels during a meeting of the Catholic St. Michael’s College.

Attack against Archbishop Leonard

While the former French minister and member of the Pontifical Family Council, Christine Boutin spoke, topless FEMEN stormed onto the stage and wrapped her with a rainbow flag. The FEMEN activists were accompanied by a bunch of left-wing extremists, which were meant to serve as a sort of bodyguard and extras in the stylized media appearance. After they had interrupted Madame Minister, they hurled a pie at Archbishop Leonard’s face. The Archbishop stole the show from the horde by tasting the cake with a subtle smile.

[…]

This is escalating.

First, they physically attacked him with water. The liquid could have been anything.

Then, they physically attacked him with something to his face. It could have been anything.

Next time, will they throw something corrosive? Something poisonous or otherwise harmful?

These protesters violate the dignity of every woman everywhere.

They need to be prosecuted severely and they need to be denounced by the catholic Left, especially by liberal women.

Attacks like this will eventually start up in other countries.  Your Excellencies, I’d start thinking about this now.

Posted in Dogs and Fleas, Liberals, The Coming Storm, The future and our choices, The Last Acceptable Prejudice | Tagged ,
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Franciscans Friars of the Immaculate news

I had placed this entry under password protection after urgent pleas from someone in the FFIs.

Enough of the news is out and around now so I am putting back into public view.

The goal of the group of Friars who are presenting the petition is to have the Extraordinary Form as their preferred mode of celebrating and administering the sacraments without closing the door on the Ordinary Form.  In other words they want to use both forms of Roman Rite.  However, in parishes it will probably wind up that most of their Masses are in the Novus Ordo, simply because of the circumstances of those parishes.  Because their liturgical life and many of the other aspects of their religious life are strongly “pre-Conciliar”, they will be guided by the Pontifical Commission “Ecclesia Dei“, which dicastery has competence.

I am sure that you will join me in praying for swift and positive reception of their petition.

_____

ORIGINAL POST Published on: Oct 23, 2013

Since I am in Rome as I write, I was earnestly asked, implored, to post a prayer request.

I was informed that some 200 members of the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate have petitioned the Pontifical Commission “Ecclesia Dei” this week to establish a separate institute which would use the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite.

Good idea or not, I suspected that something like this was bound to happen.  The divide seemed pretty deep and the conviction of those who desire the older forms is a powerful motivation.

A lot of prayers are needed if such a thing is to take place, and a lot of elbow grease.  This is a new era.  I suspect that there will be resistance in the Congregation for Religious.  No band of traditional-leaning worker bees, they.  Who knows how Pope Francis will take this, given that he had some involvement in the imposition of an overseer for the Friars while they were having their internal fights.  If a very large percentage want to have their own branch of the Friars, wouldn’t that be persuasive that there was a misstep?

This is also what results when communities can’t resolve their internal problems: fracture, which is sad but sometimes good in the long run.

So, stop and say a prayer or two.  Perhaps the St. Michael Prayer and the Memorare.

The COMMENT MODERATION queue is ON

Posted in Brick by Brick, SUMMORUM PONTIFICUM | Tagged ,
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At long last! Inspectis dierum nostrorum!

At the blog of The Chairman of the LMS there is great news.

For a while I lamented that the Congregation for Catholic Education’s 1990 Instruction on the Study of the Fathers of the Church in the Formation of Priests was not widely available in English.

This is an important document. It requires that seminaries provide training in Patristic theology.

That is not really being done in seminaries. Of course they should also be teaching St. Thomas Aquinas (can. 252§3) and making sure that the seminarians are very well trained in Latin (can. 249). They should also be training the men in the Extraordinary Form (UE 21).

Strong formation in the Fathers will be of enormous importance for future priests.  Patristic theology and methodology are powerful antidotes to modernism and junk theology.

Here is the Chairman:

The value of tradition: Inspectis dierum nostrorum

I mentioned yesterday the document Inspectis dierum nostrorum, which up to now has been available in English only as a scanned image in a dark corner of the website of the US Bishops’ Conference. It has now been retyped so it is much more legible and also searchable. I always wonder whether any particular thought goes into the non-availability of particular documents on the Vatican website; we owe to EWTN’s library and various others a huge number of items which, I suspect, some people in Rome would rather had disappeared down the memory hole. Inspectis dierum is now available on the LMS website here (as a Word file) and in pdf format here.

Inspectis dierum contains a very interesting attack on the notion one constantly meets in modern Catholic theological studies, that theology should be done by juxtaposing the Bible with modern concerns and problems. The Bible itself is then subjected to the kind of (often very shoddy) ‘scientific’ analysis which seems designed not only to rid us of all reverence for the sacred text, but to relativise its contents to such a degree that we will end up saying: so, this is what some editor thought, unless it inspires some thoughts of my own, why should I care?

The traditional approach is to say that the interpretation and application of the Bible to pastoral issues by the Fathers and Doctors of the Church is normative for us. We are not presented with the Biblical text in an aching vacuum, but in the context of centuries of commentary which, while it can go in different directions and leave many things open, is on many controversial topics actually pretty unanimous. This tradition is a source of theology alongside the sacred texts themselves.

If the Church began in 1962 with the opening of the Second Vatican Council, then the traditional view of theology has to be eradicated. Inspectis dierum, which is supposed to set the tone for the study of the Fathers in seminaries, is having none of that. […]

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, Just Too Cool, Our Catholic Identity, Patristiblogging, Priests and Priesthood, Seminarians and Seminaries, SUMMORUM PONTIFICUM, Universae Ecclesiae | Tagged , , , , , , , ,
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Fishwrap’s spittle-flecked nutty about the new Archbishop of Hartford

Over at Fishwrap (aka the National Schismatic Reporter), venomous writer Michael Sean Winters threw a spittle-flecked nutty about the appointment of Most Rev. Leonard Blair as the new Archbishop of Hartford.

I won’t go into the details of MSW’s spittle-flecks.

I’ll just observe that, under Pope Francis, bishops are not being penalized for involvement in the doctrinal assessment of the LCWR.  They are being promoted.

The catholic left is working harder and harder to maintain their hopey changey patter about the most wonderfulest fluffiest pope ehvur.

They will eventually turn on Francis.

And former-Father Greg Reynolds is still excommunicated.

Posted in Francis, Just Too Cool, Liberals, Lighter fare, Throwing a Nutty | Tagged , , , ,
19 Comments

SYRIA: VIDEO Muslim cleric smashes statue of Mary – “Allahu akbar”

More TLC from the Religion of Peace:

Syria: Muslim cleric gleefully smashes statue of Virgin Mary to shouts of “Allahu akbar”

The title of the video represents the cleric, Omar Gharba, as saying, “We won’t accept anything but Wahhabism in Syria,” but that is not what he says. What he actually says is, “Only Allah will be worshipped in the land of al-Sham [Syria], and only the rule of Allah will be established….We won’t accept anything but Allah, the religion of Allah, and the Sunnah of the prophet of Allah, Muhammad ibn Abdullah.”

Wahhabis present themselves not as the adherents of some sect, but as the authentic embodiment of true Islam. That is how they gain recruits among other Muslims. The way this video is titled obscures that, whether deliberately or not.

Video from Eretz Zen, October 28 (thanks to Mackie).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLZFhNcHFAo&feature=player_embedded

Posted in Religious Liberty, The Coming Storm, The future and our choices, The Last Acceptable Prejudice, The Religion of Peace | Tagged , , ,
29 Comments

NORCIA 2014 Calendar (Hint: BEER!)

The wonderful Benedictine monks of the Monastero di San Benedetto at Norcia, Italy, gave me their new 2014 Calendar.  Order one HERE

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In the calendar are great shots of their monkish lives, involving the two great pillars of prayer and work.

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A detail of the entry for each day.  They include information about both the Ordinary and the Extraordinary Form.

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With Cardinal Burke.

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I was in Norcia recently, during the pilgrimage I led.  The monks showed us the new brewery and explained the process they use.

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This beer is WONDERFUL.  It is some of the best beer of its style that I have ever had.

To read more about their beer click HERE

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With some of the monks in their gift shop.

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If you go to Italy and have some time to spend in the countryside (which I warmly recommend), go to Norcia.  There is a spectacular small hotel where you can stay.

You can listen to the monks sing their Masses and their hours.  HERE.

Please consider sending them a donation?  These men are strengthening the Church’s spiritual spine.

Click HERE

There is a US and a UK route to send money, to make it easier for you.

 

Posted in Just Too Cool, Our Catholic Identity | Tagged ,
10 Comments

What Wisconsin Democrats Are Really Like

Liberals think they hold the moral high ground.

Here’s their moral high ground: Death threats against the Wisconsin Governor, wife and children from Democrats.

Liberals would have us believe that only pro-lifers and tea-partyers engage in this kind of thuggery.

I want everyone to know what Wisconsin Democrats are really like.  This an act of civic duty.  This is a public service announcement.

They don’t get a pass on this.  This is too disgusting.  In their blind self-righteousness they threatened his children.

The Democrat Party in Wisconsin and big labor leadership need to denounce these tactics formally, openly, publicly.

From The Blaze:

READ THE CHILLING NOTE SENT TO GOV. SCOTT WALKER’S WIFE

It’s no secret that Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker is intensely disliked by organized labor and Democrats.

Chilling note sent to Scott Walkers wife

Indeed, the Republican governor’s opponents have made their feelings toward him very clear since he was first elected — especially during the state capital protests in 2011 and the defeated effort to have him recalled.

CLICK TO BUY

But if you thought the rhetoric aimed at Walker during the 2011 protests was bad, just wait until you hear his version of events included in his upcoming book, “Unintimidated: A Governor’s Story and a Nation’s Challenge” — particularly the chilling note that was sent to his wife.

State Patrol Capt. Dave Erwin, a former United States Marine, brought the governor a particularly eerie piece of hate mail during the protests that contained very specific information about his wife and children.

“[A]s I prepared to go out to the conference room for my daily press briefing, Dave came into my office and shut the door,” Walker recalls, according to a book excerpt published online.

“Sir, I don’t show you most of these, but I thought you ought to see this one,” the officer said.

The letter was addressed to Walker’s wife, Tonette. It read:

Has Wisconsin ever had a governor assassinated? Scotts heading that way. Or maybe one of your sons getting killed would hurt him more. I want him to feel the pain. I already follow them when they went to school in Wauwatosa, so it won’t be too hard to find them in Mad. Town. Big change from that house by [BLANK] Ave. to what you got now. Just let him know that it’s not right to [EXPLETIVE] over all those people. Or maybe I could find one of the Tarantinos [Tonette’s parents] back here.

Walker eventually told his wife about the threats — but only after some time had passed.

Erwin worked tirelessly to ensure Walker’s safety, the book notes. And it wasn’t just for him: Walker’s entire family was apparently being stalked.

“Governor, I’ve been at this awhile, and when the hairs stand up on the back of my neck, you have to be concerned,” the former Marine told Walker. “They know where you go to church; they’ve been to your church. They’re following your children and tracking your children. They know where your children go to school, what time they have class, what time they get out of class.”

“They know when they had football practice. They know where your wife works, they know that she was at the grocery store at this time, they know that she went to visit her father at his residence,” he said.

The size of Walker’s security detail was eventually increased and troopers had to be assigned to monitor his children at school.

During the protest, demonstrators left ghastly messages for the governor.

“The Wisconsin State Capitol had taken on an eerie quiet by late Friday. … The chalk outlines around fake dead bodies etched with Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s name remained in dismembered parts, not yet completely washed away by hoses,” Time magazine reported in 2011.

Protesters at one point even physically blocked Walker and his entourage from leaving a manufacturing company in La Crosse, Wis.

“As we prepared to leave, the state troopers saw that the protesters had physically blocked the entrance we had used to come onto the property. So they turned the squad car around and headed toward the other exit. We watched in disbelief as the throng of people rushed toward the second exit to block our path. As we tried to pull out, they surrounded the car and began beating on the windows and rocking the vehicle,” Walker writes in the book.

“Just as we extricated ourselves from their grip, a truck pulled up and blocked our path, playing a game of chicken with the troopers. They turned the lights and sirens on and warned him to get out of way. Eventually he backed up, and we sped off.

“It was a lesson in how much our circumstance had changed in a matter of a few days. We were dealing with people who were so blinded by their anger that they were not in the least bit afraid to storm and shake a police car. We had never seen anything like it in Wisconsin before,” he adds.  [Get used to this, friends.  We will see a lot more of this from the dedicated left.]

And let’s not forget about the Wisconsin Democrats.

Democratic Sen. Lena Taylor at one point compared Walker to Adolph Hitler, saying, “The history of Hitler, in 1933, he abolished unions, and that’s what our governor’s doing today.”

Democrat Sen. Spencer Coggs called the Walker plan “legalized slavery.”

Ultimately, Walker said, the attacks and threats backfired on his opponents.

“Most people agreed with Tonette that targeting my family and disrupting the lives of our neighbors and their children was going too far,” he writes. “No matter what your political views, here in Wisconsin people simply don’t do things like that.

Still, he notes, it “was important to me that they saw that I never responded in kind to the often vicious attacks directed against me. I was firm and did not budge — but no matter how personal the invective became, I never made it personal.”

Walker’s new book is scheduled to be released on Nov. 19.

The Democrat Party in Wisconsin and big labor leadership need to denounce these tactics formally, openly, publicly.

Posted in Liberals, The Coming Storm, The Drill | Tagged ,
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DIVORCE OF THE CENTURY

This is tantamount to the imminent global threat of the loss of Twinkies we endured some months ago.

From The Blaze:

DIVORCE OF THE CENTURY? MCDONALD’S HAS CUT TIES WITH HEINZ KETCHUP

McDonalds has officially ended their longstanding relationship with Heinz ketchup.

In a statement released by the popular fast-food chain on Friday, the company blamed new management changes for cutting ties.

“We value the relationship we’ve maintained with Heinz for more than 40 years,” McDonalds said in a statement. “As a result of recent management changes at Heinz, we have decided to transition our business to other suppliers over time.”

“We have spoken to Heinz and plan to work together to ensure a smooth and orderly transition of the McDonald’s restaurant business, and are confident that there will be no impact to our business, our customers and our great tasting food at McDonald’s,” the company added.

As the Associated Press notes, a former Burger King CEO just took the reigns as head of Heinz in June.

Nonetheless, most Americans are unlikely to notice a change as McDonald’s only uses Heinz ketchup in Pittsburgh and Minneapolis locations.

Posted in Pò sì jiù | Tagged
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A plug for some British news and analysis sources

I had a note from a friend in London who is the media coordinator for Westminster Cathedral.  Of late he has set up some new social media opportunities for the great church.

Facebook
Twitter
Flicker 

Take a look at those. Pretty interesting.

It is a good idea for those of us in these USA to follow what is going on across the pond.  To that end I also recommend digital subscriptions to the UK’s best Catholic weekly The Catholic Herald.

They have dealt with anti-Catholicism there in a way we haven’t yet experienced.  They are farther along in the culture war than we are.  There are lessons to be learned  (including what to avoid and what not to neglect).

I will also give a plug to the blog of my friend Fr. Finigan HERE.  Shall we forget Fr. Blake?  No, we shall not.  HERE

Pay attention to the pro-life group SPUC, as well as the blog of the LMS Chairman (an Oxford prof who does not suffer liberal fools gladly.  His vivisections of the northern loon Basil Loftus, described by Damien Thompson as a “world-class bore”, are a hoot).

Finally, I am contemplating a trip to Ol’ Blighty perhaps in January.  I may try to get a couple gigs for talks while I am there.  I’m just sayin’

 

Posted in The Campus Telephone Pole | Tagged , ,
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