Faith and Reason in Miami

The American Government

2010-04-24T11:18:00.000-07:00

Miami Has a New Archbishop

2010-04-20T07:32:00.000-07:00

As Rocco Palmo of Whispers in the Loggia has reported here:

And Tom Peters aka the "American Papist" reported last week:
and here

We have a new Archbishop Background on Bishop Wenski
Here are a few noteworthy examples of Archbishop Wenski's recent work in the defense of the faith.

When President Obama's transition team decided to meet with dissident Catholic organizations such as Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good and the lobbying group “Network... Bishop Wenski responded forcefully to the President's "end run" around the magisterium.

"While the Obama transition team is free to meet with anyone they wish, and the various Catholic groups they met with have constituencies, albeit limited ones, the fact is that the only ones who speak for the Catholic Church are the bishops. If the transition team wished to telegraph a message that their intention is to marginalize the bishops then there is reason for some serious concern regarding the relationship between the future Obama administration and this nation's 60 million Catholics."

-- Bishop Thomas Wenski, the chairman of the U.S. Bishops’ Committee on International Justice and Peace, on the 85-minute meeting between Barack Obama's transition team and two dissident Catholic organizations.

Following the Notre Shame debacle Bishop Wenski offered a Mass of Reparations

All are Invited to the Mass of Reparation

As Catholics we are aware of the many shortcomings and transgressions committed against the dignity and sacredness of human life in our world. That is why it is inconceivable that Notre Dame University, a Catholic institution of higher learning, should receive and honor anyone who promotes policies that are contradictory to who we are as a people of faith.

As our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI stated in his visit to the U.S. last year in reference to Catholic university presidents, "to justify positions that contradict the faith and teaching of the church would obstruct or even betray the university’s identity and mission."

Mass of Reparation
May 3 at 6:00 p.m.
Cathedral of St. James
215 N. Orange Avenue
Downtown Orlando

Come and pray with Bishop Wenski for all of our transgressions against the Gospel of Life. Reparation is the making amends for a wrong done or for an offense against God. By his death on the cross, the Son of God offered his life out of love for the Father to make reparation for our sinful disobedience (CCC #614).

We are obliged to make reparation for personal sins against justice and truth (CCC #2412 and #2487).

The highlights of his Pastoral Letter are presented below:

Faithful Citizenship: Abortion - September 2008

In late August, the Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, appeared on Meet the Press. In order to justify her support of abortion as a Catholic, she misrepresented the history and the nature of the authentic teaching of the Catholic Church on abortion. On behalf of all the bishops, Cardinal Rigali, chair of our committee on Pro-Life Activities, and Bishop Lori, chair of our committee on Doctrine, issued a statement refuting Ms. Pelosi’s attempt to justify the unjustifiable. No one can legitimately argue that support for abortion can be reconciled with the moral teachings of the Church. In their statement, the bishops quote succinctly from the Catechism of the Catholic Church: “Since the first century, the Church has affirmed the moral evil of every procured abortion. This teaching has not changed and remains unchangeable. Direct abortion, that is to say, abortion willed either as an end or a means, is gravely contrary to the moral law.” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, # 2271)

Last month, I too had to issue a clarification by means of a letter to the editor that appeared in the Orlando Sentinel on August 16th concerning an article in that same newspaper on August 13th that suggested that “Catholic leaders” viewed the Democratic Party Platform’s “abortion plank” in a positive light. In fact, many would argue that the plank this year was more extreme than the party’s previous endorsements of “reproductive rights.”

I wrote: “…(The bishops) are the ones who speak as the leaders of the Catholic Church in the United States—and not political operatives for one party or another who happen to be Catholic. In Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship, the bishops wrote that ‘opposing intrinsically evil acts has a special claim on our consciences and our actions…’ As we bishops wrote: ‘The direct and intentional destruction of innocent human life from the moment of conception until natural death is always wrong and is not just one issue among many. It must always be opposed.’ ”

Catholics in public life...must act seriously and responsibly on many important moral issues. Our faith has an integral unity that calls Catholics to defend human life and human dignity whenever they are threatened...Abortion is a grave violation of the most fundamental human right—the right to life that is inherent in all human beings, and that grounds every other right we possess.

As Pope John Paul II wrote in Christifideles Laici, “…(T)he common outcry, which is justly made on behalf of human rights—for example, the right to health, to home, to work, to family, to culture—is false and illusory if the right to life…is not defended with maximum determination…The human being is entitled to such rights, in every phase of development from conception until natural death; and in every condition, whether healthy or sick, whole or handicapped, rich or poor.” (#38)

Bishops do not endorse candidates or parties. We do not tell people for whom they should vote. We say that Catholics should vote their consciences—and public officials who are Catholic should always act in accord with their own consciences. But, we insist that one’s conscience must be consistent with fundamental moral principles. As members of the Church, all Catholics are obliged to shape our consciences in accord with the moral teaching of the Church. That so many Catholics in public life hold positions on human life—like Representative Pelosi and Senator Biden—not coherent with their Catholic faith and yet, at the same time, declare themselves to be “good Catholics,” is a scandal.

But the Democratic standard bearers—in reaction to the Sarah Palin nomination—are seemingly intent on making this election a referendum on defending abortion “rights.” If they do, a Catholic with a well formed conscience would be hard pressed to find any “serious” and “grave” reasons to justify voting for them."

Welcome (back) to Miami Bishop Wenski.

Rubio at CPAC

2010-02-19T04:19:00.000-08:00

Father Barron on Secularism

2010-02-06T09:11:00.001-08:00

We, as Christians, propose Christ as the solution to the world's problems. Does anybody have a problem with that..? Of course! Kieth Olbermann compared Hume's suggestion that Tiger try Christianity to Jihadists! Father Barron has critique of the "backlash" against Mr. Hume and a response to those who would silence Christians in the public arena.

Obama v the Supremes

2010-01-28T04:00:00.000-08:00

POLITICO's Kasie Hunt, who's in the House chamber, reports that Justice Samuel Alito mouthed the words "not true" when Obama criticized the Supreme Court's campaign finance decision.

" Last week, the Supreme Court reversed a century of law to open the floodgates for special interests – including foreign corporations – to spend without limit in our elections," Obama said. "Well I don’t think American elections should be bankrolled by America’s most powerful interests, or worse, by foreign entities. They should be decided by the American people, and that’s why I’m urging Democrats and Republicans to pass a bill that helps to right this wrong."

The shot of the black-robed Supreme Court justices, stone faced, was priceless.

Chuck Schumer stood up behind the justices and clapped vigorously while Alito shook his head and quietly mouthed his discontent.

Rep. Joseph Cao: Abortion, Individual Rights, and Personal Responisbility

2010-01-27T17:23:00.000-08:00

Hat tip to Pro Ecclesia Pro Familia
The Congressman quotes from the Holy Father's Encyclical Caritas in Veritate about halfway through.

Join The Non Nobis Network

2010-01-26T11:49:00.000-08:00

From Creative Minority Report
"I want you to do something, so please read this entire post.

For many, I suppose that the true meaning of last week's events has yet to sink in. For the last few days as I pondered the meaning of the arguably miraculous turn of events, I am overwhelmed with gratitude.

As we approached the birthday of Our Lord, pro-lifers in the U.S. reluctantly realized that this momentous battle in the war on life was likely lost. The opposition had overwhelming superiority in numbers and a steely determination to institute a universal health-care regime that funds abortion. We, along with many other concerned citizens of various stripes, protested, marched, attended townhalls, lobbied, and prayed, seemingly to no avail. The Senate had passed, in complicity with ostensibly pro-life Senators, its version of the bill with its thinly disguised
abortion on demand funding.

The passage of the Senate bill signaled what seemed to many, the end of the fight. Democrats huddled to hammer out any compromises necessary to achieve final passage of the bill. We watched in dismay as every day inched closer to the compromise that would seal the deal and put the bill on the desk of the President in time for the State of the Union. We had
lost, there was nothing more we could do, but pray.

But God had other plans.

In a way that seemed almost impossible, the entire battle has turned. I need not go into detail here, you all know the story. We understand that the war on life is far from over, but today, at least for a while, by the grace of God, we have avoided institutionalized and tax-payer funded abortion. There will be other battles and perhaps they will be very soon, but it is
incumbent upon all of us to acknowledge the great miracle that we have witnessed and to thank God for delivering us from this evil.

So what I propose is that we Catholic, Christian, and pro-life bloggers everywhere give thanks to God by way publishing the Non Nobis in gratitude for this wondrous day.

Non nobis, non nobis, Domine
Sed nomini tuo da gloriam.

Not to us, not to us, o Lord,
But to your name give glory.

I ask that any blogger interested in showing their gratitude for this victory, print the Non Nobis. I will also encourage you to also link or show your favorite version of the Non nobis. Mine is the scene from Henry V after the battle of Agincourt.

Planned Parenthood Exec "converts" after watching an ultrasound of an abortion procedure.

2009-11-02T09:08:00.000-08:00

Wow,

Planned Parenthood has been a part of Abby Johnson's life for the past eight years; that is until last month, when Abby resigned. Johnson said she realized she wanted to leave, after watching an ultrasound of an abortion procedure.

"I just thought I can't do this anymore, and it was just like a flash that hit me and I thought that's it," said Jonhson.

She handed in her resignation October 6. Johnson worked as the Bryan Planned Parenthood Director for two years.

According to Johnson, the non-profit was struggling under the weight of a tough economy, and changing it's business model from one that pushed prevention, to one that focused on abortion.

"It seemed like maybe that's not what a lot of people were believing any more because that's not where the money was. The money wasn't in family planning, the money wasn't in prevention, the money was in abortion and so I had a problem with that," said Johnson.

Johnson said she was told to bring in more women who wanted abortions, something the Episcopalian church goer recently became convicted about.

"I feel so pure in heart (since leaving). I don't have this guilt, I don't have this burden on me anymore that's how I know this conversion was a spiritual conversion."

Johnson now supports the Coalition For Life, the pro-life group with a building down the street from Planned Parenthood. Coalition volunteers can regularly be seen praying on the sidewalk in front of Planned Parenthood. Johnson has been meeting with the coalition's executive director, Shawn Carney, and has prayed with volunteers outside Planned Parenthood.

On Friday both Johnson and the Coalition For Life were issued temporary restraining orders filed by Planned Parenthood.

Rochelle Tafolla, a Planned Parenthood spokesperson issued the following statement: "We regret being forced to turn to the courts to protect the safety and confidentiality of our clients and staff, however, in this instance it is absolutely necessary."

The temporary restraining order contends that Planned Parenthood would be irreparably harmed by the disclosure of certain information, but does not bar Johnson or Coalition For Life volunteers from the premises.

As of Sunday evening, neither Johnson nor Carney had seen the complaint filed against them that prompted the restraining order.

A hearing about the order has been set for November 10.

We have become a "banana republic"

2009-10-31T10:00:00.000-07:00

When politicians, such as John Murtha, freely abuse the authority of thier office the Republic is in grave danger. Here is a case in point.

Those who cannot be trusted with the simple activity of accurately counting the votes on a measure have no business partaking in the legislative process. It is madness to hold otherwise. I repeat, our Republic is in grave danger. It seems the flatulant representative, Murtha, believes the dictatorship is already well underway and he is therefore not constrained by the niceties of parlimentary procedure or reality. Be afraid. Be very afraid, because their revolution will not be televised. We will awaken one sunnny morning and find ourselves and our families in servitude to sinister tyrants.

Indoctrination of Children in Public Schools

2009-09-24T07:32:00.000-07:00

Here we have another example of indoctrintation in public schools.
This was allegedly filmed around June 19, 2009 at the B. Bernice Young Elementary School in Burlington, NJ.

Here are some of the lyrics:
Barack Hussein Obama
To make this country strong again
Mmm, mmm, mm!

Barack Hussein Obama
He said we must be clear today
Equal work means equal pay
Mmm, mmm, mm!

Barack Hussein Obama
He said that we must take a stand
To make sure everyone gets a chance
Mmm, mmm, mm!

Barack Hussein Obama
He said Red, Yellow, Black or White
All are equal in his [ that is really disturbing, who's sight exactly?] sight
Mmm, mmm, mm!

Barack Hussein ObamaYes
Mmm, mmm, mm!

Countdown To 2012 Winter Solstice

Media Coverage of Murder of Pro Life Advocate

2009-09-12T06:00:00.000-07:00

As reported in the Creative Minority Report, the recent murder of a pro-life advocate illustrates the depths to which modern American society, especially the left, has sunk in it's disordered rationalizing of such violence. Clearly, it all depends on who is murdered.

Now the crowd at the Huffpost, as reported also in the Creative Minority Report , have "chimed in" with their assessment of the situation. One of less offensive is,

It's sad that he lost his life...That being said, this is a little OT. but has anyone noticed how many of these anti abortion protesters are old men? This guy was 61 years old, why is he worried about what is going on inside the uterus
of a woman of child bearing age?

That seems to strike me as an odd observation, perhaps the "old" are motivated by love of the innocents that are being slaughtered? Is that so hard for this person to understand? However, even if I were to erase pure charity from the equation and relied simply on self interest, it is clear that the lack of protection for the unborn in the womb of their mother will quickly translate to eliminating the old and infirm. After that it, who knows? Why isn't that intuitively obvious? Perhaps these people have forgotten the Aktion T4 program and how that started?

It also seems that the pro-abortionist seem to be suggesting that since the "old guy" had been showing "graphic" pictures and this motivated the killing....

Have you seen the horrible graphic posters these sociopaths display? It's not free speech, it's terrorism.

...implying that the murder is mitigated due to the victim displaying "graphic" signs. I don't suppose the same logic would apply to those who would use violence against gays who publicly display lewd activity. Both are wrong. However, that doesn't stop the pro-death crowed from trying to use this twisted logic to absolve the murder of an "old, pro-life advocate" Despicable.

PS Check out http://www.mrhirsh.com/ for the "Graphic Picture."

President Obama's Speech to Students

2009-09-07T10:22:00.000-07:00

http://www.whitehouse.gov/MediaResources/PreparedSchoolRemarks/

Prepared Remarks of President Barack ObamaBack to School Event
Arlington, VirginiaSeptember 8, 2009

Please check the Whitehouse.gov website for the speech.

President Obama to speak directly to Students PreK to 12

2009-09-05T12:57:00.000-07:00

According to Robert Gibbs, those who have complained about the President's speech to virtually all students on 9/8/09 is just silliness. Really? Is it unreasonable to think that the speech and the treatment of it in some classrooms might lead to some political pressure on those children who don't agree with the President's policies?

I am reminded of this video of discussions of the Presidential Election

That young girl, who's father serves the United States military, should not have had to endure that kind of abuse.

Or how about this little nugget!

I pledge to be of service to President Obama? That was shown to school children in Utah recently. Is that what he has planned for 9/8/09? Will he be discussing "service" to the community? Or, will he be just repeating "do your best!" Do we need the President of the United States to do this in light of the real danger of some using the occasion to preach the greatness of THIS MAN? Isn't encouraging children to study hard best left to parents and teachers? If ever there was a need for subsidiarity I think it is right here. Silly season, indeed! If any "hazing" or attempts at indoctrination occur as a result of this "speech" I don't see why the President shouldn't be held personally responsible since 1) the speech is not necessary and 2) that this sort of thing has occurred in the run up to the election is a matter record. Please tell me why that is silly Mr. Gibbs.

The Tablet: "U.S. Bishops MUST back Obama!"

2009-08-18T08:37:00.000-07:00

If you are not familiar with "The Tablet" it is a Catholic international weekly review published in London, with a circulation of 22,313 and an estimated readership of 65,000 in Britain and around the world. It is also absurdly liberal!

Editorial
U.S. bishops must back Obama

President Barack Obama’s health-care reforms are in deep trouble. [This is why they are writing the editorial] All over the United States rival lobby groups have argued and sometimes clashed as opponents of the reforms sense they may be on the verge of victory. [Get that, it is rival lobby groups not concerned citizens who are the cause of the deep trouble!] There may be sufficient votes in Congress from an awkward alliance of Republicans and conservative Democrats to ensure that whatever legislation emerges from the hullabaloo is a pale shadow of what Mr Obama intended, and indeed promised, during his election campaign. It is unfortunate that the one body that could turn out to be a decisive strategic force in his favour, the US Catholic bishops, have so far concentrated on a specifically Catholic issue – making sure state-funded health care does not include abortion – rather than the more general principle of the common good. Through the national network of Catholic hospitals, delivering nearly 20 per cent of all hospital care, and through the influence they wield as leaders of America’s largest Christian denomination, they could play a central role in salvaging Mr Obama’s health-care programme.This is indeed a Catholic matter. Few government proposals have had “preferential option for the poor” stamped over them more clearly. Nearly 50 million Americans do not have health-care coverage, [for a variety of reasons, they are unemployed (some temporarily), they are illegally in the US, they choose not to have insurance or they are poor, all are included in this number] which means they cannot afford to go to their doctor when they have symptoms that ought to be investigated, nor can they buy simple and effective remedies such as antibiotics. The Church’s teaching is clear: health care is a basic right, derived from the right to life itself. [Huh?] Of course abortion is important, but the Catholic bishops have not put anything like equal stress on these other social justice dimensions of the health-care debate. Though some grass-roots Catholic lobby groups have mobilised to support the Obama reforms, without episcopal support they will remain marginal to the debate. The opponents of change are largely funded by the operators of the health insurance industry, which, as in the early 1990s, sense a threat to their profits. They are the robber barons of their age. All the dark arts of media misrepresentation have been deployed to turn public opinion against Mr Obama’s policy. [Wow, if that isn't the pot calling the kettle black, literally!] through their greed and inefficiency, America spends something like double per head on health care compared with a country such as France, whose state-run health system is acknowledged as one of the world’s best. Even at the level of spin and sound bites, the bishops could make a difference. They could refute the constant slur of “socialised medicine” that opponents throw mindlessly around, simply by saying that health care for all is in fact “Catholic medicine" [apparently, even if it includes taxpayer funded abortion]. Once they began to introduce reason and truth into the debate, they could also point out that what Mr Obama is proposing is in principle no different from extending Medicare – which brings affordable medical treatment to America’s elderly – to everyone [except it also includes taxpayer funded abortion].
When Britain’s National Health Service was set up in 1948, the Catholic hierarchy led by Cardinal Griffin was also preoccupied with its own Catholic agenda, not abortion but winning an opt-out for Catholic hospitals. So the birth of the National Health Service, one of the great forward strides for social justice, had no Catholic blessing. The bishops failed to put the promotion of social justice above their churchly priorities. [How can this person be allowed to misrepresent the truthThe protection of innocent human life is simply a "churchly priority"!? Like, "communion in the hand" or "female altar servers..." I bet The Tablet has an opinion on those subjects, too! ?] It is a mistake the American bishops may be about to repeat.

So, I think two things immediately jump out at me... First, Abortion is just a "Catholic issue" as if no one could ever possibly make a moral argument against the murder of innocent children from, say, natural law. Abortion is just a matter of Catholic religious belief like the Immaculate Conception, Transubstantiation or the Hypostatic Union. For the Tablet editors, the Catholic Bishops should keep their "religious" beliefs out of the public arena.

Secondly, abortion is separate from the "common good" as described by the editors of "The Tablet." The common good does not include the most helpless and innocent among us, rather they are an impediment to universal health care. That is how they can counsel the USCCB to ignore the murder of one out of four Americans (25%) in order to provide "health care" 5 to 16% of Americans (depending on who and how you count).

I predict that the National Catholic Reporter will soon run a story on how The Tablet's critics have been unfair and uncivil in response to "the suggestion" that the USCCB CAVE on keeping taxpayer funded abortion out of any health care reform.

America at the Crossroads

2009-08-06T09:59:00.000-07:00

Cardinal Justin Rigali, chairman of the USCCB’s committee on pro-life activities wrote in his July 29, 2009 letter to Congress:

'Much-needed reform must not become a vehicle for promoting an ‘abortion rights’ agenda or reversing long-standing current policies against federal abortion mandates and funding... We urge you to make this legislation ‘abortion neutral’.

Sadly, Congress has ignored the Cardinal as reported by the AP. The public funding of abortion on demand will most likely become law in this country as part of President Obama's Health Care Reform. Our taxes will go towards the funding of an intrinsic evil. If abortion on demand is now paid for as part of Health Care Insurance Reform then it will most certainly lead to an increase in abortions. Can forced euthanasia be far behind? Should anyone speak out against this horror?

Well, you might want to think twice about that. The Obama administration has called on citizens to report "disinformation" about health insurance reform directly to the administration.

"There is a lot of disinformation about health insurance reform out there, spanning from control of personal finances to end of life care. These rumors often travel just below the surface via chain emails or through casual conversation. Since we can’t keep track of all of them here at the White House, we’re asking for your help. If you get an email or see something on the web about health insurance reform that seems fishy, send it to flag@whitehouse.gov."
I urge you to discharge you new civic duty and report this blog as suggesting that the Obama Health Care Reform Act will result in the increase of the intrinsic evil of abortion and euthanasia.

Father Barron on BXVI New Encyclical

2009-07-30T04:30:00.000-07:00

"...love without truth devolves into sentimentality and truth without love becomes cold and calculating."

You can see more of Father Barron at Word on Fire...

What did Vatican II Change about Catholicism?

2009-07-29T11:05:00.000-07:00

I would like to know what people think regarding this topic. Naturally, how you respond to the question will depend on how you read the documents of the Second Vatican Council.

Here is an explanation from Pope Benedict XVI in his address to the Roman Curia on 22 December 2005 as to how some have wrongly interpreted the documents. He also gives us the proper interpretive key needed to unlock the message of the Council.

"The last event of this year on which I wish to reflect here is the celebration of the conclusion of the Second Vatican Council 40 years ago. This memory prompts the question: What has been the result of the Council? Was it well received? What, in the acceptance of the Council, was good and what was inadequate or mistaken? What still remains to be done? No one can deny that in vast areas of the Church the implementation of the Council has been somewhat difficult, even without wishing to apply to what occurred in these years the description that St Basil, the great Doctor of the Church, made of the Church's situation after the Council of Nicea: he compares her situation to a naval battle in the darkness of the storm, saying among other things: "The raucous shouting of those who through disagreement rise up against one another, the incomprehensible chatter, the confused din of uninterrupted clamouring, has now filled almost the whole of the Church, falsifying through excess or failure the right doctrine of the faith..." (De Spiritu Sancto, XXX, 77; PG 32, 213 A; SCh 17 ff., p. 524).

We do not want to apply precisely this dramatic description to the situation of the post-conciliar period, yet something from all that occurred is nevertheless reflected in it. The question arises: Why has the implementation of the Council, in large parts of the Church, thus far been so difficult?

Well, it all depends on the correct interpretation of the Council or - as we would say today - on its proper hermeneutics, the correct key to its interpretation and application. The problems in its implementation arose from the fact that two contrary hermeneutics came face to face and quarrelled with each other. One caused confusion, the other, silently but more and more visibly, bore and is bearing fruit.
On the one hand, there is an interpretation that I would call "a hermeneutic of discontinuity and rupture"; it has frequently availed itself of the sympathies of the mass media, and also one trend of modern theology. On the other, there is the "hermeneutic of reform", of renewal in the continuity of the one subject-Church which the Lord has given to us. She is a subject which increases in time and develops, yet always remaining the same, the one subject of the journeying People of God.
The hermeneutic of discontinuity risks ending in a split between the pre-conciliar Church and the post-conciliar Church. It asserts that the texts of the Council as such do not yet express the true spirit of the Council. It claims that they are the result of compromises in which, to reach unanimity, it was found necessary to keep and reconfirm many old things that are now pointless. However, the true spirit of the Council is not to be found in these compromises but instead in the impulses toward the new that are contained in the texts.

These innovations alone were supposed to represent the true spirit of the Council, and starting from and in conformity with them, it would be possible to move ahead. Precisely because the texts would only imperfectly reflect the true spirit of the Council and its newness, it would be necessary to go courageously beyond the texts and make room for the newness in which the Council's deepest intention would be expressed, even if it were still vague.

In a word: it would be necessary not to follow the texts of the Council but its spirit. In this way, obviously, a vast margin was left open for the question on how this spirit should subsequently be defined and room was consequently made for every whim.
The nature of a Council as such is therefore basically misunderstood. In this way, it is considered as a sort of constituent that eliminates an old constitution and creates a new one. However, the Constituent Assembly needs a mandator and then confirmation by the mandator, in other words, the people the constitution must serve. The Fathers had no such mandate and no one had ever given them one; nor could anyone have given them one because the essential constitution of the Church comes from the Lord and was given to us so that we might attain eternal life and, starting from this perspective, be able to illuminate life in time and time itself.
Through the Sacrament they have received, Bishops are stewards of the Lord's gift. They are "stewards of the mysteries of God" (I Cor 4: 1); as such, they must be found to be "faithful" and "wise" (cf. Lk 12: 41-48). This requires them to administer the Lord's gift in the right way, so that it is not left concealed in some hiding place but bears fruit, and the Lord may end by saying to the administrator: "Since you were dependable in a small matter I will put you in charge of larger affairs" (cf. Mt 25: 14-30; Lk 19: 11-27).

These Gospel parables express the dynamic of fidelity required in the Lord's service; and through them it becomes clear that, as in a Council, the dynamic and fidelity must converge.

The hermeneutic of discontinuity is countered by the hermeneutic of reform, as it was presented first by Pope John XXIII in his Speech inaugurating the Council on 11 October 1962 and later by Pope Paul VI in his Discourse for the Council's conclusion on 7 December 1965.

Here I shall cite only John XXIII's well-known words, which unequivocally express this hermeneutic when he says that the Council wishes "to transmit the doctrine, pure and integral, without any attenuation or distortion". And he continues: "Our duty is not only to guard this precious treasure, as if we were concerned only with antiquity, but to dedicate ourselves with an earnest will and without fear to that work which our era demands of us...". It is necessary that "adherence to all the teaching of the Church in its entirety and preciseness..." be presented in "faithful and perfect conformity to the authentic doctrine, which, however, should be studied and expounded through the methods of research and through the literary forms of modern thought. The substance of the ancient doctrine of the deposit of faith is one thing, and the way in which it is presented is another...", retaining the same meaning and message (The Documents of Vatican II, Walter M. Abbott, S.J., p. 715).

Conneticut Catholic Church Under Attack, Again!

2009-06-10T11:07:00.000-07:00

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..." Sound familiar?

So if your local Bishop speaks out against a law which is designed to interfere with the established heirarchical structure of the Church should he have to register as a lobbyist?
Isn't a religious group or Church afforded more constitutional protections than AARP or the AMA? I mean, it is written in the Constitution. Well, there is an alarming trend in this Country that appears we are devolving into "mob rule" Legislators and government officials ignore the Constitution. Conneticut is a case in point.

As some might recall the Connecticut Judiciary Committee of the Connecticut State Legislature introduced bill #1098/2009 which directly attacked the Roman Catholic Church. The bill would have stripped pastors and the Bishop of administrative, financial and legal authority over parishes by mandating them to be run by elected laypersons as corporate entities.

Well His Excellency, Bishop Lori, spoke out against this bill and a protest was organized. The bill was defeated..... the powers of darkness crawled back into the abyss. However, not for long.

As reported on the Diocese of Bridgport website: On April 23, 2009, the Diocese received a letter from Thomas K. Jones, Ethics Enforcement Officer for the OSE, stating that it was "the subject of an Office of State Ethics evaluation," which was "being conducted to ascertain whether the Diocese had violated [Connecticut General Statutes Sections] 1-94, 1-95 and 1-96 by failing to register as a lobbyist in Connecticut, by failing to submit all other appropriate lobbyist filings, and by failing to follow all applicable registration procedures."

It turns out that the Catholic Church has to register with the State agency and have its activities evaluated by the State of Connecticut Office of State Ethics (OSE). There are onerous reporting requirements for "lobbying" that the Catholic Church is being asked to comply with in simply exercising Constitutionally protected First Amendment rights. This is just wrong on so many levels. At best the legislators and govenmental officials in the State of Conneticut are unfit for public office since they repeatedly ignore the Federal Constitutional.... or worse, they try to neutralize the Catholic Church's ability to preach the authentic Gospel within the State of Conneticut. Perhaps they would prefer if Jim Wallis or Harry Knox were Bishop... perhaps the State Legislature could just pass a law saying so!

I can't think of a more blatant pattern of behaviour that suggests it is "open season" on the Catholic Church in America!

Hat Tip Creative Minority Report

It is official, President Obama is the New American Pope

2009-06-03T17:52:00.000-07:00

According to America Magazine's John O'Malley We have a Vatican II president. I kid you, not! From Georgetown who was willing to cover the Name above all other Names for President Obama, the final capitulation. I recently posted on the blog of the elements that are at work in the Catholic Church which seek to politicize doctrine as in the Anglican Church. If that isn't all the proof one needs, I am not sure what will suffice. If you do read the America piece, please read the dissection by Father Z at wdtprs.com.

This is not good.

2009-06-03T17:01:00.000-07:00

I saw this in the New York Times
“And one of the points I want to make is, is that if you actually took the number of Muslim Americans, we’d be one of the largest Muslim countries in the world,” Mr. Obama said. “And so there’s got to be a better dialogue and a better understanding between the two peoples.”

So we aren't a Christian nation but......

14 Churches to Close

2009-06-02T05:46:00.000-07:00

ARCHDIOCESE OF MIAMI • Office of the Archbishop
Dear Friends in Christ,
As the Archdiocese of Miami has just completed its 50th anniversary, I come to you todayas your Archbishop to express my gratitude to each and everyone of you who hassacrificed, labored, planned, built, participated in the sacraments and enjoyed the goodness of our Catholic community for so many years. There presently are 128 Catholic parishes, missions and ethnic apostolates in Broward, Miami-Dade and Monroe Counties serving nearly 800,000 practicing Roman Catholics. Today it is my wish to share with you my vision for the future of our local church.
Here in the Archdiocese of Miami our common bond with each other is the profession ofone faith and the celebration of the sacraments, especially the Eucharist. As your Shepherd in this very exciting and diverse community, it is my task – assisted by the dedicated priests of the Archdiocese of Miami – to provide for all your pastoral and spiritual needs.
There continues to be much growth in the Archdiocese of Miami, where some 1,500 joinedthe Catholic Church this past Easter. At the same time, these are trying times for all of usand certainly the parishes of the Archdiocese of Miami are not immune to the economiccrisis that everyone in this country is facing. How can we continue to do Christ’s work?
I have and will continue to reduce spending at the Archdiocesan offices of the PastoralCenter, as I oversee the spiritual, pastoral and charitable works done throughout theArchdiocese of Miami. However, I am concerned about some parishes where demographics and social and economic needs have changed and the parishioners have not been able for several years to meet their financial obligations. This includes payingemployees’ salaries, pension and health benefits and property insurance for parishbuildings.
I will have to make some difficult decisions, including the possibility of merging someparishes. This would create one larger parish to serve all the Catholics in an area, in placeof two parishes. This possible re-structuring will enhance the worship and spiritual life ofour faithful, not restrict it. Decisions will be made in the near future at which time I willcome back to you with that information.
Please pray for me as I reflect on the many needs in our Archdiocese. I am designatingFriday, June 19th, the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, as a day of ecclesial solidarity throughout the Archdiocese of Miami. On that day, all parishes will have a period of adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. I invite all the Catholic faithful to make this a day ofprayerful unity in Jesus Christ for the good of the Archdiocese of Miami and all of ourparishes.
May the Lord continue to bless you and your loved ones abundantly. With personal goodwishes, I am
Sincerely in the Lord,
John C. FavaloraArchbishop of Miami

UPDATE Assault on Church in Connecticut

2009-03-08T13:54:00.000-07:00

Diocese of Bridgeport defends herself! Pray for the Bishop and the Catholics of Connecticut.
http://www.bridgeportdiocese.com/Fight_1098.shtml
Catholics across the State of Connecticut mobilize to fight the irrational, unlawful, and bigoted Proposed Bill #1098/2009. "Strike the shepard and the sheep will scatter" seems to be the plan in Connecticut. If it is successful in Connecticut it will used all over the United States.

Connecticut To Destroy Catholic Church Structure

2009-03-07T05:05:00.000-08:00

As many of you know the Bishop is the authority of what happens in the various Catholic Churches in his diocese... That is about to change in Connecticut! The Connecticut Judiciary Committee of the Connecticut State Legislature introduced bill #1098/2009 that directly attacks the Roman Catholic Church. Should it pass, the bishop and pastors will be deprived of any administrative, financial and legal power over their parishes. It appears to be a direct assault on the authority of Bishops and therefore the Church. What say you?

Diocese Repudiates Catholic Priest Who Said Obama Supporters Should Not Seek Communion

2008-11-15T11:47:00.000-08:00

Fox News is reporting this confusing story about

Father Jay Scott Newman, a Catholic priest in Greenville, S.C., has come under fire for telling parishioners that people who voted for Barack Obama should not seek Communion. (St. Mary’s Catholic Church)

"Voting for a pro-abortion politician when a plausible pro-life alternative exists constitutes material cooperation with intrinsic evil, and those Catholics who do so place themselves outside of the full communion of Christ's Church and under the judgment of divine law," Newman wrote. [I thought that's what Faithful Citizenship and common sense dictated....]

Exit polls suggested that a majority of Catholics voted for Obama in last week's election.

Newman said he would not deny anyone communion because of their political choices, but he told his flock of 2,700 families that they should first seek penitence if they voted for Obama, who supports abortion rights. The Catholic Church considers abortion an act of murder.

"Persons in this condition should not receive Holy Communion until and unless they are reconciled to God in the Sacrament of Penance, lest they eat and drink their own condemnation," Newman wrote.

That view was rejected Friday by the Newman's own diocese.

"Father Newman's statements do not adequately reflect the Catholic Church's teachings. Any comments or statements to the contrary are repudiated," said Msgr. Martin Laughlin, administrator of the Charleston Diocese, which is currently without a bishop.

Catholic dioceses in the U.S. have issued various rulings on whether Catholics who support abortion can receive communion.

"The Church hasn't said as a body what this individual priest has said, namely that anybody who has voted for Barack Obama shouldn't go to communion," said Father Jonathan Morris, a Catholic priest and FOX News contributor. [That doesn't exactly mean that the Church is saying they CAN go to communion if they voted for Obama... well, can they?]

"If anybody voted for Barack Obama because he is pro-abortion, that would certainly be an objective moral wrong," he said. "There are a lot of discretionary areas in politics on which two good Catholics could differ, but the respect for life is not one of these."[How about if someone voted for Obama if there was a viable pro-life candidate, Father Morris?]

Newman and his church have received a thunderous response -- and more than 4,000 e-mails -- both praising and deriding the priest for his comments.

At home in his parish, however, church members said the response has been mostly positive.

Chris Stansberry, the youth director at the church, said that the community had been "very supportive" of Newman's stance. "At St. Mary's we follow the teachings of the Church, which are very pro-life," he said. "I think everybody here in the parish is [behind him]," he told FOXNews.com.

Newman declined public comment Friday, but he wrote in a letter to his church that he had been misunderstood on matters of doctrine and was disappointed in the reception his words had gotten in the press.

"I knew that this might turn into a very ugly brawl designed to make me look like a raving lunatic seeking to coerce voters through spiritual blackmail rather than a shepherd warning his flock about the spiritual danger of supporting abortion, whether directly or indirectly," he wrote. "And my suspicion proved well-founded."

Let us pray for Father Newman:
St. Michael the Archangel, illustrious leader of the heavenly army, defend us (and especially Father Newman) in the battle against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of darkness and the spirit of wickedness in high places. Come to the rescue of mankind, whom God has made in His own image and likeness, and purchased from Satan's tyranny at so great a price. Holy Church venerates you as her patron and guardian. The Lord has entrusted to you the task of leading the souls of the redeemed to heavenly blessedness. Entreat the Lord of peace to cast Satan down under our feet, so as to keep him from further holding man captive and doing harm to the Church. Carry our prayers up to God's throne, that the mercy of the Lord may quickly come and lay hold of the beast, the serpent of old, Satan and his demons, casting him in chains into the abyss, so that he can no longer seduce the nations.

Bishop Naumann says most important issue to Catholics is abortion

2008-10-28T17:47:00.000-07:00

Last week the Roman Catholic archbishop of Kansas City, Kan., declared abortion should be the most important issue for Catholics to consider when deciding on who to vote for in the upcoming presidential election. This week, observers are still discussing the impact of the comment.
Archbishop Joseph Naumann, said other problems facing the United States today, including the war in Iraq, should be considered less important than the right to life.
“The church in the United States always cherished its rights and its responsibility to form the moral (conscience) of the country,” he said during his visit at University of Kansas' Dole Institute of Politics.
Naumann did not endorse a specific candidate however.
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama is an abortion supporter. During an April 2008 forum he told the audience, “Those of us, like myself, who believe that in this difficult situation it is a woman's responsibility and choice to make in consultation with her doctor and her pastor and her family. I think we will continue to suggest that that's the right legal framework to deal with the issue. But at least we can start focusing on how to move in a better direction than the one we've been in the past.”
Obama’s running mate, Sen. Joe Biden, a Catholic, also supports abortion, as does Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, another Catholic Obama supporter and a target for criticism by Naumann who has asked her to avoid taking communion.
In contrast, Republican presidential candidate John McCain and vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin oppose abortion. Both are Protestant.
During a portion of questioning on abortion during the 2006 Alaska governor debate, Palin was asked how she would feel about abortion if her own daughter was the victim of rape and became pregnant.
Palin replied, “I would choose life,” and said she would only support abortion if the mother’s life were in danger.
According to the Faith and American Politics Survey, which was sponsored by Faith in Public Life and conducted by the Public Religion Research, both Catholic participants and the general public listed the economy as the most important issue to consider in the 2008 presidential election. The general public ranked abortion ninth in the top-10 list of most-important issues to consider for the 2008 election, trailed only by same-sex marriage.
“The economy is just dominating almost every aspect of the election,” Dan Cox, the director of research and co-founder of Public Religion Research, told Kansas Liberty. “Interestingly enough Catholics look very similar to the general voting population on a bunch of items.”
Cox said Obama is also doing better with pro-life supporters than McCain is doing with the abortion supporters.
“Thirty percent of participants who said that abortion should be illegal in all cases said they are going to vote for Obama and out of those who said they think abortion should be legal in all cases, 25 percent say that they are voting for McCain,” he said.
According to the poll, Catholics 35 years of age and older are generally divided between McCain and Obama, while younger Catholics support Obama over McCain by 15 percent.
Younger Catholics also differ with older group of Catholics on the issue of abortion with approximately 60 percent of the younger Catholics believing abortion should be legal in all or most cases, only half of the older group agrees. However seven out of 10 Catholics said they would vote for a candidate who disagrees with them on abortion.
The survey took a national sample of 2,000 adults and was conducted between August and September of 2008. Fred Solis, director of communications for the Catholic Diocese of Wichita, said the church does encourage its members to vote, but that it refrains from suggesting one candidate over another.
“Certainly one of the foremost thoughts and beliefs that we Catholics hold is the dignity and respect for life as that is central and fundamental to our beliefs,” Solis told Kansas Liberty. “We as a church try to form a consciousness and share with the people of church what our thoughts and beliefs are and basically let them take those things into consideration when they go to the polls.”
Solis said the Catholic church’s stance on the importance of life isn’t something that is only vocalized during the election season.
“This is a position that has been constant for practically as long as the church has been in place and is not something we start to share or try to elevate our beliefs on every four years or whenever there is an election,” he said.
Paul Johnson, political science professor at the University of Kansas, said he felt abortion was less of an issue in the 2008 presidential campaign than it was in the 2004 or 2000 elections.
“There is an even split in the public’s opinion on the issue so neither side can gain advantage by making a big deal out of it,” Johnson told Kansas Liberty. “So they are getting advantages by emphasizing other issues.”
In a 2001 US census, 50,873,000 respondents identified themselves as Catholics, which was a slight increase from the 1990 poll.

Bishop Martino on lukewarn interpretations of Faithful Citizenship

2008-10-22T17:13:00.000-07:00

CNA reports that Bishop showed up unannounced at election forum, defends Church’s stance on abortion
Bishop Martino: "This is madness people."

Scranton, PA, Oct 22, 2008 / 01:00 pm (CNA).- An election forum at a Pennsylvania parish that took place last Sunday was organized to allow Catholics the opportunity to defend their support for McCain and Obama. However, the forum took a surprising turn when an unexpected guest showed up to guide his flock, the Bishop of Scranton, Joseph F. Martino.
The forum, which took place at St. John’s Catholic Church in Honesdale, Pennsylvania, was underway when the bishop arrived. Four panel members were sharing their perspectives on the presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama, some pledging to vote for the Republican, others for the Democrat.
One of the panelists, Sister Margaret Gannon of Marywood University cited statements from “Faithful Citizenship” a document on voting released by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. She noted that “a Catholic cannot vote for a candidate who takes a position in favor of an intrinsic evil, such as abortion or racism, if the voter’s intent is to support that position. At the same time, a voter should not use a candidate’s opposition to an intrinsic evil to justify indifference or inattentiveness to other important moral issues involving human life and dignity. ”
After Sr. Gannon spoke, the bishop took the floor. Bill Genello, a spokesman for the Diocese of Scranton told the Wayne Independent that when Bishop Martino arrived, his intention was to listen “to the presenters and how they might discuss Catholic teaching.”
However, he continued, “Certain groups and individuals have used their own erroneous interpretations of Church documents, particularly the U.S. Bishops’ statement on Faithful Citizenship, to justify their political positions and to contradict the Church’s actual teaching on the centrality of abortion, euthanasia and embryonic stem cell research.”
When the bishop heard the speakers using the bishops’ statement to justify their choice for president, he reminded the audience that those “groups and individuals who make statements about Catholic teaching do not speak with the same authority or authenticity as their bishop.”
The prelate then clarified his authority as bishop and the Church’s teachings on abortion as an election issue.
“No USCCB document is relevant in this diocese,” said Martino according to the Wayne Independent. “The USCCB doesn’t speak for me.” [As Rocco Palmo reported the Scranton prelate was absent from last November's USCCB meeting in Baltimore which -- in a rare show of (near-)unanimity -- passed the Faithful Citizenship statement with 98% approval from the nation's hierarchy]
“The only relevant document ... is my letter,” he continued, “There is one teacher in this diocese, and these points are not debatable.” [and of course anyone who is familiar with the hierarchical structure of the Church knows he is correct and, no, I don't mean Douglas Kmiec]
The letter he referred to was a pastoral letter to his entire diocese that was published in the first week of October. In his message, Bishop Martino states that a candidate’s abortion stance is a major voting issue that supersedes all others due to its grave moral consequences.
He wrote: “To begin, laws that protect abortion constitute injustice of the worst kind. They rest on several false claims including that there is no certainty regarding when life begins, that there is no certainty about when a fetus becomes a person, and that some human beings may be killed to advance the interests or convenience of others.”
“Another argument goes like this: ‘As wrong as abortion is, I don't think it is the only relevant ‘life’ issue that should be considered when deciding for whom to vote.’ This reasoning is sound only if other issues carry the same moral weight as abortion does, such as in the case of euthanasia and destruction of embryos for research purposes. ... National Right to Life reports that 48.5 million abortions have been performed since 1973. One would be too many. No war, no natural disaster, no illness or disability has claimed so great a price.”
He also touched on just war. “Even the Church’s just war theory has moral force because it is grounded in the principle that innocent human life must be protected and defended. Now, a person may, in good faith, misapply just war criteria leading him to mistakenly believe that an unjust war is just, but he or she still knows that innocent human life may not be harmed on purpose. A person who supports permissive abortion laws, however, rejects the truth that innocent human life may never be destroyed. This profound moral failure runs deeper and is more corrupting of the individual, and of the society, than any error in applying just war criteria to particular cases.”
“No social issue has caused the death of 50 million people,” he said, noting that he no longer supports the Democratic Party. “This is madness people.”
When the prelate concluded his speech, most audience members gave him a standing ovation, while others were upset that the leader of the diocese made an appearance. Bishop Martino left the event shortly after making his remarks.
Organizers of the event had mixed emotions regarding the bishop’s appearance.
Father Martin Boylan, pastor of St. John’s said that they “were very careful not to endorse anyone,” and that the forum was meant to be “a political slash editorial forum about the presidential election.”
He also explained that the state church guidelines were “carefully followed” for the event.

The Word of God, the foundation that remains forever

2008-10-07T04:03:00.000-07:00

Over at Rorate Caeli they have more complete quote of the Holy Father's remarks at the opening of the Synod.

"The word of God is the foundation of everything, it is true reality. And in order to be realists, we must count on this reality. We must change our ideas that the material, solid things, that which can be touched, is the more solid and more secure reality.At the end of the Sermon on the Mount, the Lord speaks to us of two possibilities for building the house of one's life: on the sand, or on the rock. Those who build on the sand to build upon the visible and tangible things, on success, on career, on money. Apparently, these are the true realities. But all of this will pass away one day. We see this today in the collapse of the major banks: this money is disappearing, it is nothing.And like all of these things, which seem to be the true reality on which to rely, our realities of a second order. Those who build their lives on these realities, on the material, on success, on all that which is visible, build on the sand. Only the word of God is the foundation of all reality, enduring like the sky, and even more than the sky, is reality. We must therefore change our concept of realism.The realist is the one who recognizes in the Word of God, in this apparently feeble reality, the foundation of everything. The realist is the one who builds his life on this foundation that remains forever. "
Benedict XVI
Meditation, First General Congregation of the Synod of Bishops
October 6, 2008

Congratulations to Bishop Dewane

2008-09-30T18:27:00.000-07:00

Bishop Dewane Gives First Church in Florida for Exclusive Use of the Latin Mass

His Excellency Bishop Frank Dewane announced today that the Diocese of Venice in Florida has purchased a church for the exclusive use of the Extraordinary Form of the Mass.
This will be the first church to be dedicated exclusively for the Latin Mass in Florida.
The church is situated on close to three acres of property and is located at 1900 Meadowood Street, Sarasota.
The property previously belonged to Holy Trinity Anglican Church.
Significant renovation will be necessary before doors can be opened, including a new roof, renovating the sanctuary and making the nave of the church larger. However it is hoped that the new church will be opened in the near future.
Juridically, the building will be erected as a chapel, and at a future date it will be raised to the status of a parish.

And as if on cue... Speaker Pelosi puts her foot in her mouth.

2008-08-27T14:18:00.000-07:00

On August 20 I posted a story about Archbishop Burke's statements on reception of the Eucharist and Politics. Then, as if on cue, the Speaker of the House states publicly that the Church's teaching on abortion is not clear and in flux. My first reaction is outrage! However, I need to remind people (myself included) that we are called to pray for fallen away Catholics. Many of us have been among that group and others may yet be numbered among them. I am also not going to list out the number of prelates and clergy that have publicly rebuked the Speaker. I am concerned with something else.

How is it that the most powerful woman in American politics and a confessed Catholic would distort the clear teaching of the Church, with impunity! Which begs the questions. "How did that happen and how did we get here?"

I think the answer, at least in part, lies in the treatment of the liturgy in many parts of the United States in the last few decades. Am I wrong? Tell me why. I think the Holy Father has been moving slowly towards a revitalization of Catholic identity with an emphasis on the liturgy. I also think that if local lay movements in South Florida wish to succeed that there has to be an effort, in union with the wishes of the Holy Father, to spread the availability of the Extraordinary Form of the Latin Rite. Am I wrong? Tell me why. If you agree with me then tell me what we can do to "get the ball rolling." Should we, the laity, start in the domestic church? Should we be teaching our children the common prayers in Latin? Why not? Should we be teaching them chant? Why not? Should we be supporting local pastors who have shown an interest in the Extraordinary Form of the Latin Rite? Who would that be?

Archbishop Burke on Catholics, the Eucharist and Politics

2008-08-20T09:40:00.000-07:00

As you will recall the Holy Father appointed Archbishop Raymond Leo Burke as prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura in June of this year. He is using his position to echo the message of the Holy Father which we heard in the Papal Visit to the USA. "Don't maginalize Catholics out of the political arena!" while at the same time ministering to those who have need of correction.

Catholics who support abortion should not receive Communion, says Archbishop Burke
Archbishop Raymond Burke
Rome, Aug 19, 2008 / 10:00 am (CNA).- The prefect of the Apostolic Signature, Archbishop Raymond Burke, said this week that Catholics, especially politicians who publically defend abortion, should not receive Communion, and that ministers of Communion should be responsibly charitable in denying it to them if they ask for it, “until they have reformed their lives.”
In an interview with the magazine, Radici Christiane, Archbishop Burke pointed out that there is often a lack of reverence at Mass when receiving Communion. “Receiving the Body and Blood of Christ unworthily is a sacrilege,” he warned. “If it is done deliberately in mortal sin it is a sacrilege.”
To illustrate his point, he referred to “public officials who, with knowledge and consent, uphold actions that are against the Divine and Eternal moral law. For example, if they support abortion, which entails the taking of innocent and defenseless human lives. A person who commits sin in this way should be publicly admonished in such a way as to not receive Communion until he or she has reformed his life,” the archbishop said.
“If a person who has been admonished persists in public mortal sin and attempts to receive Communion, the minister of the Eucharist has the obligation to deny it to him. Why? Above all, for the salvation of that person, preventing him from committing a sacrilege,” he added.
“We must avoid giving people the impression that one can be in a state of mortal sin and receive the Eucharist,” the archbishop continued. “Secondly, there could be another form of scandal, consisting of leading people to think that the public act that this person is doing, which until now everyone believed was a serious sin, is really not that serious - if the Church allows him or her to receive Communion.”
“If we have a public figure who is openly and deliberately upholding abortion rights and receiving the Eucharist, what will the average person think? He or she could come to believe that it up to a certain point it is okay to do away with an innocent life in the mother’s womb,” he warned.
Archbishop Burke also noted that when a bishop or a Church leader prevents an abortion supporter from receiving Communion, “it is not with the intention of interfering in public life but rather in the spiritual state of the politician or public official who, if Catholic, should follow the divine law in the public sphere as well.”
“Therefore, it is simply ridiculous and wrong to try to silence a pastor, accusing him of interfering in politics so that he cannot do good to the soul of a member of his flock,” he stated.
It is “simply wrong” to think that the faith must be reduced to the private sphere and eliminated from public life, Archbishop Burke said, encouraging Catholics “to bear witness to our faith not only in private in our homes but also in our public lives with others in order to bear strong witness to Christ.”

CNA reports on Bishop Wenski

2008-08-19T05:16:00.000-07:00

Orlando bishop refutes article, reaffirms that the ‘destruction of innocent human life’ is always wrong.

Bishop of Orlando, Most Rev. Thomas Wenski
Orlando, Aug 18, 2008 / 07:00 pm (CNA).- Bishop of Orlando, Most Rev. Thomas Wenski has responded to an “inaccurate” article in the Orlando Sentinel which claims that Catholic and evangelical leaders “hailed new language for the Democratic Party's platform that calls for reducing abortion” to create “common ground” with Republican voters.
In the disputed article, “Evangelical: We Can Back Dems, Obama,” the Orlando Sentinel quoted one evangelical pastor, Rev. Joel Hunter, who praised the new wording. “From my perspective as a conservative evangelical, Barack Obama's campaign and the Democratic Party have taken a historic and courageous step toward empowering women for an expanded range of choices and saving babies' lives.”
Bishop Wenski wrote to the editor in a letter published on August 16 clarifying that Catholic leaders are not in agreement with Rev. Hunter’s position.
In his letter, Bishop Wenski wrote that the Sentinel article, “inaccurately implied that Catholic leaders shared the positive assessment the Rev. Joel Hunter gave the ‘abortion plank’ of the Democratic Party's platform.”
The bishop continued explaining that “The bishops have gone on record stating just the opposite. And they are the ones who speak as the leaders of the Catholic Church in the United States -- and not political operatives for one party or another who happen to be Catholic.”
“In ‘Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship,’ the bishops wrote that ‘opposing intrinsically evil acts has a special claim on our consciences and our actions’ and warned against a ‘moral equivalence’ that would make no ethical distinctions between different kinds of issues involving human life and dignity.”
Bishop Wenski concluded his letter by quoting Faithful Citizenship. “The direct and intentional destruction of innocent human life from the moment of conception until natural death is always wrong and is not just one issue among many. It must always be opposed."

A New Blog for Miami

2008-08-18T16:07:00.000-07:00

The Archdiocese of Miami has launched a new blog. Please go over there and drop them a line to thank them and let them know that you support the endeavour. Below is the first entry by His Excellency the Most Reverend Felipe J. Estevz, S.T.D.,Auxiliary Bishop of Miami.

August 18, 2008
A new eucharistic prayer says: "Keep your church alert in faith to the signs of the times and eager to accept the challenge of the Gospel."
Blogs are a sign of the times. Peoples of the world are able to communicate instantly with others in the global village. Today, the Archdiocese of Miami embraces this sign of communication. Each week our readers will interact with me or Father Manny Alvarez, seminarian Luis Rivero, Sister Silvia Tarafa, Mrs. Cheryl Whapham, Gloria Luna and others. We are honored to start with this first set of authors, which as you can see reflects the different states of life in the church. More names will be added to this roster.
You are invited to submit your comments to all the blogs. We hope to get back to you, and through you, to the hundreds of readers who will be part of the conversation.
This bold initiative of our Communications Department takes place on the 2000th anniversary of the birth of St. Paul. This is more than a coincidence. For Paul, the Good News needed to reach all peoples. He kept connecting new and diverse communities through letters, greetings and messages. The love of Christ impels us, he said. It is the same love that animates us in this blog project.
A unique feature of being a bishop in the Archdiocese of Miami is being in contact with a vast variety of faith communities from Key West to Deerfield Beach, from Miami Beach to Weston or Kendall. This variety reflects the beauty of the potentialities of the Spirit of God renewing his church. I dream that this new blog will connect us ? the Body of Christ ? better and more often. I dream that our conversation will reach not only those in the boundaries of our archdiocese but the entire planet ?because now, it is possible.?
Most Reverend Felipe J. Estevez, S.T.D.Auxiliary Bishop of Miami

Factoring your Faith into your Life

2008-08-02T08:31:00.000-07:00

Father Z has this for yesterdays Feast in the 1962 Calendar. Contrasting the Hellenization of that day with the Secularization of today seems appropriate. While we are not being martyred (in the US at least) Catholics are dying a spiritual death as they are asked to embrace the values of a secular society. What say you...?

1 August: Seven Holy Maccabees (1962 MR)

CATEGORY: SESSIUNCULUM — Fr. John Zuhlsdorf @ 6:31 pm

I am sure you already know that today, in the new calendar, is the feast of St. Alphonsus Maria de’Liguori, the bishop and doctor of the Church so famous for his contributions to moral theology.

However, today is also the feast of the Seven Maccabee brothers. They are listed in the Martyrologium Romanum . Here is their entry:

2. Commemoratio passionis sanctorum septem fratrum martyrum, qui Antiochiae in Syria, sub Antiocho Epiphane rege, propter legem Domini invicta fide servatam, morti crudeliter traditi sunt cum matre sua, in singulis quidem filiis passa, sed in omnibus coronata, sicut in secundo libro Maccabaeorum narratur. Item commemoratur sanctus Eleazarus, unus de primoribus scribarum, vir aetate provectus, qui in eadem persecutione, illicitam carnem manducare propter vitae amorem respuens, gloriosissimam mortem magis quam odiosam vitam complectens, voluntarie praeivit ad supplicium, magnum virtutis relinquens exemplum.

Maybe some of you good readers can produce your flawless English versions for those whose Latin is less smooth.

Who were the Maccabee brothers?

The Maccabees were Jews who rebelled against the Hellenic Seleucid dynasty in the time of Antiochus V Eupator. The Maccabees founded the Hasmonean dynasty and fought for Jewish independence in Israel from 165-63 BC. In 167 BC, Mattathias revolted against the Greek occupiers by refusing to worship the Greek gods. He killed a Hellenizing Jew who was willing to offer a sacrifice to the Greek gods. Mattathias and his five sons fled to the wilderness of Judea. Later Mattathias’s son Judas Maccabaeus led an army against the Seleucids and won. He entered Jerusalem, cleansed the Temple, and reestablished Jewish worship. Hanukkah commemorates this victory. In the period 167-164 BC Antiochus IV Epiphanes (175-163) killed and sold thousands of Jews into slavery. He violated the Jewish holy sites and set up an altar to Zeus in the Holy of Holies (1 Maccabees 1:54; Daniel 11:31). The people revolted and Antiochus responded with slaughter. He required under penalty of death that Jews sacrifice to the gods and abandon kosher laws. "Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. Still others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains and imprisonment" (Hebrews 11:35-36). A chief of the scribes, Eleazar, an old man, did not flee. Pork was forced on him, into his mouth, he spat it out and was then condemned to death.

St. Ambrose, in his work On Jacob and the blessed life recounts Eleazar’s death along with the deaths of seven sons of a mother. The work is filled with Neo-platonic and Stoic themes, especially about virtue theory. Ambrose goes through all their deaths in detail, making commentary on them for what they meant.

The mother is venerated by the Greeks as St. Solomnis.

St. Ambrose, in his work On Jacob and the blessed life recounts Eleazar’s death along with the deaths of seven sons of a mother. The work is filled with Neo-platonic and Stoic themes, especially about virtue theory. Ambrose goes through all their deaths in detail, making commentary on them for what they meant.

In these scenes recounted by Ambrose from IV Maccabees, the mother is being tried by being forced to watch each of here sons executed in different ways, eldest to youngest. She urges them not to give in. Ambrose thus explores the theme of how God choses the weak and makes them strong. The ancient "priest" Eleazar should be weak and infirm due to age, but he is a tower of strength. The mother of the seven boys should be weak by nature but is unshakable. The sons are not to be moved to infidelity, even the youngest.

Here is a taste of Ambrose in De Iacob et vita beata II, 12:

The words of the holy woman return to our minds, who said to her sons: "I gave birth to you, and poured out my milk for you: do not lose your nobility." Other mothers are accustomed to pull their children away from martyrdom, not to exort them to martyrdom. But she thought that maternal love consisted in this, in persuading her sons to gain for themselves an eternal life rather than an earthly life. And thus the pius mother watched the torment of her sons … But her sons were not inferior to such a mother: they urged each other on, speaking with one single desire and, I would say, like an unfurling of their souls in a battleline.

The texts from Ambrose are really interesting.

More TLM in the South Florida area

2008-07-30T18:41:00.000-07:00

Recently someone posted a comment regarding the availablility of the TLM now know as the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite. They were having difficulty finding a parish with a regular TLM in the South Dade area and perhaps an "e mail list" should be started in order to organize people in the local South Florida area to increase the availability of the TLM.

Originally, when I started this blog it was, in part, a response to the Archdioceses of Miami radio show, "Faith Factor" The show asked callers to tell them "What kind of music do you prefer when you go to Mass?" Some callers indicated that they preferred very charismatic, praise and worship music and that traditional Catholic music was Euro-centric. This appears, at least in my experience, to be the predominant attitude in local parishes in South Florida. I think this attitude is why we the TLM is not more "popular."

Are Gregorian chant and polyphony and the Traditional Mass simply museum pieces that are not relevent for today's Catholics in Miami? If you are interested in having a TLM at your parish in South Florida I would like to offer this blog as a way of organizing people in order to make that a reality.

I would like to hear from you, especially if you are in the South Florida area.

X-Files is a Hateful Anti-Catholic Movie

2008-07-30T15:47:00.000-07:00

This from Creative Minority Report WARNING PLOT SPOILER I haven't seen the movie but the source is credible and I won't be going to see this... movie.

X-Files is a Hateful Anti-Catholic Movie

I'll admit it. I was an X-files fan. I mean, I didn't go to any conventions or anything but I wanted Mulder to get to the truth behind his sister's disappearance. And I actually cared whether Mulder and Scully got together.

So this weekend I snuck out of the house for a few hours to see the new movie. I was excited when I sat down with my soda the size of a fire hydrant. I was smiling as the theme music came on. And then...let me see how I can put this: DO NOT GO SEE THIS MOVIE!

X-Files is the most virulently anti-Catholic movie I've seen in recent memory. Don't believe me? Ok. Here it is. (Spoiler Alert) The movie starts with the disappearance of a woman and a psychic working with the FBI to help locate her. The psychic is a pedophile priest who abused 37 altar boys. He lives with other pedophile priests who wander menacingly in and out of scenes. When the psychic gets visions he bleeds out of his eyes too for some inexplicable reasons I'm not even willing to think about other than the director must have thought bleeding eyes would look cool.

Now Scully, if you'll remember from the show, is Catholic. And we find her now working at a Catholic hospital. Crucifixes and stained glass dominate the scenery there but if I ever get sick please don't send me there. Scully's main case at the moment involves helping cure a young boy with a rare and fatal disease. She is willing to go to any lengths to save this child BUT...(cue the evil foreboding music) the head of the hospital is a penny-pinching priest more interested in saving the hospital money than saving this young boy. He not only expresses himself as against treating the young boy but goes behind her back to meet with the parents and then holds secret meetings with the hospital administration to ensure that the child dies. (Mu-hahahahah)

The nuns at the hospital don't actually help people. It seems their only job is to scowl with their arms folded as they pass Scully.

And then the only avenue for a cure for this young boy comes in the form of....you guessed it...stem cell research. Now the movie doesn't go into whether it's embryonic or adult stem cells but it doesn't matter because our evil caricature of a priest is against it just because he desperately wants the boy to die. (Mu-hahahahah again)

When Scully heroically decides to go ahead with the operation three scowling nuns appear in the operating room window to show their displeasure. We've never met them before. They're just mean old nuns against curing children. You know the type.

Now hold on, it turns out that the bad guy is...a former altar boy. Yes, one of the 37 molested altar boys who is gay now and harvesting body parts to keep his gay lover alive.

I walked out of the movie stunned. My $10 has gone to help the box office of what is certainly going to be an abysmal failure. But please don't go see this movie. This deserves to be missed. This movie deserves to be shunned.

Do Children Have a Right to the TLM?

2008-07-29T16:47:00.000-07:00

I found this over at Father Z's Blog. The question I am interested in is whether children have a right to the TLM and instruction regarding the TLM. Do children have a right and if so do pastors of souls have a duty to provide this to our children. What if anything is being done to provide this treasure of tradition to our children? I know of at least of one pastor in Miami who is offering the TLM, albeit sporadically. This of course isn't counting the two parishes that offer a regular TLM at St. Robert Bellarmine and in Lighthouse Point. What is your experience in your parish?

PCED response about TLMs for children

CATEGORY: SESSIUNCULUM — Fr. John Zuhlsdorf @ 4:41 pm

One of the WDTPRSers sent me a copy of an interesting response to a question put to the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei.

I don’t have the original letter of the sender containing the question(s), but we can perhaps discern what was going on.

Here is the main part of the PCED response:

You raise the question as to whether school children are permitted by right to be exposed to the celebration of the Eucharist in the extraordinary form provided all necessary catechesis is offered. the answer is obviously positive.

Of course, they are permitted to be exposed to the celebration of the Mass according to the extraordinary form. No doubt, a number of them already assist at this Mass with their parents on Sunday.

We trust the the priests of the Institute of Christ the King and those who collaborate with them will help engage the children’s participation in some way with songs or chants. we would also suggest that the readings for Masses be read in the vernacular as this is in full accord with the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum and could further help to maintain their attention.

I am guessing that the question we put to the PCED because someone suggested to the writer that TLMs are too hard for children, that Latin isn’t appropriate for them.

A couple things. First, we don’t know what age "school children" are. They might be 6 or 16, with rudimentary English or, perhaps home-schooled with Latin. Common sense must be used.

Also, from the onset after the text of the Motu Proprio was released I spoke of my option that the vernacular could be used during TLMs. That doesn’t mean I think it should: I am saying that Summorum Pontificum permitted it (as did the PCED’s guidelines many years ago). I am not sure about the best way to handle this, however. Perhaps the priest could do as he would during a low Mass on a Sunday, leave the altar and read the readings a second time. Perhaps he would not read in Latin, but rather read them in English. Perhaps someone else would read them in English while Father was reading them normally in Latin. I don’t know.

However, what the PCED wrote was a suggestion. It can be taken or not.

Also, songs and chants could be used to "engage the children’s participation". Well… okay. But I suppose that means having Missa cantata. Otherwise are we now into the thorny problem of the role of "hymns" and "songs" versus the actual liturgical texts of the Mass? I don’t know.

Another thing, and interesting, is that children have the right to be exposed to the TLM. They have a right. If they have a right, then pastors of souls have a duty to respond. And since there are children pretty much everyone, as memory serves, then pastors of souls pretty much everywhere have the duty to see that the rights of those children are being met.

Furthermore, since children themselves don’t know their rights or know clearly what is good for them, and they might even from time to time resist what is good for them, pastors of souls should nevertheless persevere in building up the TLM in parishes.

By extension, adults also have these rights. Pastors of souls should also see to the needs of their spiritual children even if no request has been made.

Defending the True Faith

2008-07-25T05:04:00.000-07:00

I was pleased to see the following story regarding Cardinal Ivan Dias comments at the Lambeth Convention.

Liberal churches that have abandoned traditional teachings on homosexuality are suffering from "spiritual Alzheimer's", a senior figure in the Vatican has warned the Lambeth Conference.

By Martin Beckford Religious Affairs Correspondent

Last Updated: 11:49AM BST 23 Jul 2008

Cardinal Ivan Dias also told hundreds of Anglican bishops gathered in Canterbury that churches who take important decisions without the authority of their leaders have "ecclesial Parkinson's".

His outspoken comments will add to the pressure on liberal American and Canadian church leaders who have driven the worldwide Communion to the brink of schism by electing an openly gay bishop and by blessing same-sex unions, in defiance of centuries of tradition and guidelines agreed at the last Lambeth Conference.

They came just hours after the head of the church in Sudan, backed by Primates of 17 provinces in the developing world, demanded that the homosexual bishop of New Hampshire, the Rt Rev Gene Robinson, be sacked and that those who consecrated him "confess".

Cardinal Dias's speech is the latest in a series of critical comments from the Roman Catholic Church about the direction of the Anglican Communion.

Earlier this month the Vatican expressed "regret" that the Church of England's governing body had voted to introduce women bishops, while on the eve of Lambeth another Cardinal warned that the crises gripping Anglicanism "pose a further and grave challenge" to the relationship between the world's two main Christian denominations.

In a speech last night on evangelisation, Cardinal Dias said: "Much is spoken today of diseases like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.

"By analogy, their symptoms can, at times, be found even in our own Christian communities.

"For example, when we live myopically in the fleeting present, oblivious of our past heritage and apostolic traditions, we could well be suffering from spiritual Alzheimer's.

"And when we behave in a disorderly manner, going whimsically our own way without any co-ordination with the head or the other members of our community, it could be ecclesial Parkinson's."

One in four of Anglicanism's 880 bishops is boycotting the three-week conference in protest at the liberalising agenda of the Americans and Canadians.

Those present will discuss the aftermath of Bishop Robinson's consecration, which officials admit has led to a "breakdown in trust" between liberals and conservatives which has left the church in "turmoil".

Reverence Towards the Eucharist

2008-05-22T18:02:00.000-07:00

From Father Z at What Does The Prayer Really Say?

Check out his blog to see the pictures

22 May 2008

Corpus Christi Mass: Benedict XVI gives Communion only on the tongue to people kneeling

CATEGORY: SESSIUNCULUM — Fr. John Zuhlsdorf @ 2:22 pm

During the Holy Father’s Corpus Christi Mass, the Holy Father gave Communion only to people kneeling at a kneeler set up before him.

This is a very interesting development.

The Holy Father has been trying to provoke conversation and a rethinking of many practices, not very good innovations, that have become more or less standard.

You can see the kneeler set out.

And the people knelt and received on the tongue.

I am sure they were instructed to.

I watched and rewatched the coverage and did not spot anyone receiving in another way from the Holy Father.

In so many places it is simply accepted that Mass must be celebrated "facing the people", versus populum, instead of "facing God", ad orientem.

So the Holy Father celebrated Holy Mass in the Sistine Chapel, when he was also going to do something very much in his role as Bishop of Rome, when he baptized.

He got the conversation going.

Now, in another moment when he is very much Bishop of his diocese, for this great City celebration of the Eucharist, he adminsters Holy Communion on the tongue at a kneeler.

Surely this will start another conversation.

Remember that just the other day the newspaper of the Diocese of Toronto attacked Benedict’s reforms as "backward steps" and the mere suggestion that Communion in the hand wasn’t wonderful.

Remember that His Holiness’s Secretary in the Cong. for Divine Worship, Archbp. Malcolm Ranjith, wrote a preface to a book, Dominus Est: riflessioni di un vescovo dell’Asia Centrale sulla Santa Comunione, printed by the Vatican press which argues for a return to Communion kneeling and on the tongue. The book is by Bishop Athanasius Schneider of Karaganda, Kazakhstan and it will eventually be in English, I am sure. In the Vatican’s newspaper, Bp. Schneider asked "Wouldn’t it correspond better to the deepest reality and truth about the consecrated bread if even today the faithful would kneel on the ground to receive it, opening their mouths like the prophet receiving the word of God and allowing themselves to be nourished like a child?".

It may be that at the next Mass Pope Benedict will do the same. Maybe he won’t.

But people are now going to be talking.

Piece by piece, he is challenging assumptions.

Brick by brick he is rebuilding what was devastated.

His Marshall Plan for the Church is very much underway.

School Choice an Exercise in Futility?

2008-05-13T05:12:00.000-07:00

Dennis O'Donovan of Radio Peace has been discussing the topic of School Voucher's and the noxious, pernicious Blaine Amendments. The question keeps coming up... Why is it that Catholic, Jewish and Non Catholic parents don't rise up in today's society to make the necessary changes to allow school vouchers. Also, why is the NAACP, the Anti-Defamation League and various organizations with the mission of protecting minorities against school choice? I believe that the answer to both questions is the secularization of American society. American Catholics, by and large, are secular as are a majority of American Jews and Non Catholic Christians. By "Secular" I mean that they have bought the premise that religious belief is solely a private matter and not to be exhibited in the public arena. As the Holy Father has recently pointed out, this premise is fallacious and dangerous to the Catholic family.

But how is it that Catholic Families have bought into such a pernicious premise.... I believe that the "watering down" of the liturgy has played a major role in robbing us of a Catholic identity. The liturgy that does not emphasize the transcendent aspects of the Faith and does not focus on the Cucified Saviour and Risen Lord is a large part of the problem. To emphasize the "meal" and the "people of God" rather than the Sacrifice of Christ, the Son of God, is the problem.

Once the Catholics of this nation, mostly Irish immigrants, stood in the streets and were killed to protect the right to educate their own children in the Faith. Now we can't seem to sign some petitions and organize the political will necessary to change the law to protect our children (and the children of our neighbors who want to send their children to Catholic school but who can't afford it...) from the poison of secular athiestic humanism. If you don't think that this is a poisonous idea please re-read the history of 20th Century Germany and Russia.

The difference is the context in which the modern Catholic Family finds itself. The transcendent mysteries of the the Faith which animated the faithful to act in the past is no longer "real" for many Catholic Family so they are no longer worth the trouble.... Perhaps I am wrong but I know of other, more intelligent and learned people (many of who are clergy) who believe this is true. The Holy Father seems to think so as well since he has called for a new awareness of our "Catholic identity" and a hermanutic of continuity through which to foster same.

To my friend Dennis, the way to change our society is to preserve the ancient liturgy
SAVE THE LITURGY AND SAVE THE WORLD!

Anyone who wishes to post on the subject of School Choice is invited to post here.

Padre Pio on the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass

2008-05-05T17:23:00.000-07:00

I recieved an email from a reader/contributor of this blog. He had recently been discussing the subject of the liturgy and came across this anecdote from Padre Pio. He also has some very interesting comment which follow. I found them instructive so I will post them here.

Good afternoon, ****. I thought you might find this to be an excellent question from a FAQ page from a parish in CT.
- Anthony

Q: "How can St. Padre Pio help us better understand the Mass?"
This article first appeared in Homiletics and Pastoral Review, October 2003.
With every saint that is canonized, the Lord gives the Church another charism of holiness to understand and imitate. The canonization of St. Padre Pio last year could not have come at a better time in the Church's history, because of what his life can teach the Church concerning the liturgical crisis that it is currently facing. The Catholic Mass is set apart from any other form of Christian worship by its sacrificial nature. The Mass is a re-presentation of the Son of God at Calvary - bloody, bruised and beaten - to God the Father, for the conversion of the sinners, and the salvation of souls. This sacrificial reality of the Mass was never so clear in the 20th Century as in the Mass of St. Padre Pio.
As many know, St. Pio was the first priest in the history of the Church to bear the stigmata, the five wounds of Christ. As awesome as this may sound, whenever this friar offered the Mass, he mystically re-enacted the passion of Christ on the cross, making his participation in the Mass powerfully different than any other priests. A fascinating little book written by Fr. Tarcisio of Cervinara entitled, Padre Pio's Mass, has a series of interviews with St. Padre Pio, revealing his understanding of what is actually happening during the Mass. In this age of liturgical innovations, with scholars struggling to understand what "good liturgy" is, this book provides invaluable insight into the reality of the Mass.
When Padre speaks of the Mass, he says, "I should like to shed, not a few tears, but torrents of tears when faced with the mystery of a God Victim. We priests are the butchers of Jesus during the Mass, while all of Paradise reverently descends on the altar. (p. 45). In a revealing interview with the author, Padre Pio also explains the nature of his own suffering when he offers this diving sacrifice:

Fr. Tarcisio: At what hour of the day, Padre, do you suffer most?
St. Pio: During the celebration of the Mass.
Fr. Tarcisio: At what moment of the divine Sacrifice do you suffer most?
St. Pio: Always and increasingly.
Fr. Tarcisio: During the celebration of Mass, at what moment do you suffer most?
St. Pio: From the Consecration to Communion.
Fr. Tarcisio: At what part of the Mass are you scourged?
St. Pio: From beginning to end, but more intensely after the Consecration.
Fr. Tarcisio: During Mass are the pricks of the crown of thorns and the wounds of the scourging real?
St. Pio: What do you mean? The results are the same.

The book is filled with blunt anecdotes such as this, giving a detailed view of just how the Mass is truly a mystical re-presentation of the brutal sacrifice of Christ offered to the Father. When one meditates on this, it becomes evermore clear how the Mass could never be anything less than a solemn and sacred event. It is hard to imagine liturgical dance, waving of hands, or cheering going at one of Padre Pio's Masses. Reverent silence and prayer seem to be the only proper response at his Mass, and therefore at every Mass.
Some liturgists will make the claim that Vatican II called for these more enthusiastic and entertaining Masses as a means of "celebrating community". However, Sacrosanctum Concilium mentions the sacrificial nature of the Mass six times, including here: "At the Last Supper, on the night he was betrayed, our Savior instituted the eucharistic sacrifice of his Body and Blood. This he did in order to perpetuate the sacrifice of the Cross throughout the ages until he should come again." (#47)
It is also worth noting that Sacrosanctum Concilium supports the beautiful doctrinal teachings of the Council of Trent, which articulated the Mass as sacrifice: "The dogmatic principles which were laid down by the Council of Trent (remain) intact." (#55) The most common argument for a more active role by the laity in the Mass is the famous passage advocating "full and active participation" by all the people in the liturgy. Although St. Padre Pio died in 1968, and therefore never offered the Novus Ordo Mass, it is interesting how he would understand this teaching of Vatican II:

Fr. Tarcisio: What should we do during Mass?
St. Pio: Repent and love.
Fr. Tarcisio: Padre, how should we hear Mass?
St. Pio: In the same way that the Most Holy Virgin and the holy women assisted. In the same way St. John assisted at the Eucharistic sacrifice and the sanguinary one of the Cross.
Fr. Tarcisio: What benefits do we receive on hearing it?
St. Pio: It is not possible to number them. You will see them in Paradise.

For Padre Pio, "full and active participation" means imitating the example the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. John at the foot of the cross. Is it possible to imagine Our Lady and St. John doing anything but weeping and mourning, as they meditated on the immense love of their Savior? St. Padre Pio is saying that people should participate in the Mass through prayer and meditation, rather than random forms of self-expression, or having a role to play.
Still, opponents of a more solemn Mass try to emphasize the horizontal aspect of the Mass (one's relationship with the community), rather than the vertical aspect (one's relationship with God). Sacrosanctum Concilium clearly states, however, that the vertical aspect takes precedence over the horizontal: In the Mass, "the human is directed toward, and subordinated to, the divine, the visible to the invisible, action to contemplation, and this present world to that city yet to come, the object of our quest." (#2, emphasis added)
Pope John Paul II has also stated that in our own time, the horizontal aspect of the faith has been overemphasized: "The temptation today is to reduce Christianity to merely human wisdom, a pseudo-science of well being. In our heavily secularized world a "gradual secularization of salvation has taken place, so that people strive for the good of man, but man who is truncated, reduced to his merely horizontal dimension. We know however, that Jesus came to bring integral salvation, one which embraces the whole person and all mankind, and opens up the wondrous prospect of divine filiation." (Redemptoris Missio, #11) Certainly this reduction, as the Pope calls it, has been felt in the liturgy of the modern Church, making it more difficult for the average Catholic to find reverence and solemnity in their Sunday Mass.
God has given the Church a miraculous glimpse into the solemn and sacrificial nature of the Mass in the example of St. Padre Pio. May this new holy man of God intercede for the Church and help bring about an authentic renewal in the liturgy. (Padre Pio's Mass, by Fr. Tarcisio of Cervinara, can be purchased from the National Center for Padre Pio in Barto, PA at (610) 845-3000)

New Liturgical Movement on BXVI's Address to Youth

2008-04-22T19:50:00.000-07:00

NLM has this on the Popes recent address to young people

Pope Benedict speaks to youth about liturgical prayer

by Michael E. Lawrence

I am probably not the first person to note this, but this past weekend, as Pope Benedict XVI delivered a jam-packed discourse to the youth assembled at St. Joseph's Seminary in Yonkers, he discussed, among other things, the importance of liturgical prayer. There are some interesting, if fundamental, points to note about this address. First of all, Pope Ratzinger brings out the fact that the liturgy is primarily God's work, not ours. Secondly--and this point flows from the first--the pope was clearly intent upon emphasizing the necessity to be formed by the liturgy. Two interesting quotes:

"In the liturgy we find the whole Church at prayer. The word liturgy means the participation of God’s people in “the work of Christ the Priest and of His Body which is the Church” (Sacrosanctum Concilium, 7). What is that work? First of all it refers to Christ’s Passion, his Death and Resurrection, and his Ascension – what we call the Paschal Mystery. It also refers to the celebration of the liturgy itself. The two meanings are in fact inseparably linked because this “work of Jesus” is the real content of the liturgy. Through the liturgy, the “work of Jesus” is continually brought into contact with history; with our lives in order to shape them. Here we catch another glimpse of the grandeur of our Christian faith. Whenever you gather for Mass, when you go to Confession, whenever you celebrate any of the sacraments, Jesus is at work. Through the Holy Spirit, he draws you to himself, into his sacrificial love of the Father which becomes love for all. We see then that the Church’s liturgy is a ministry of hope for humanity. Your faithful participation, is an active hope which helps to keep the world – saints and sinners alike – open to God; this is the truly human hope we offer everyone (cf. Spe Salvi, 34)."

....and later, when talking about vocations:

"It is from within the Church that you too will find the courage and support to walk the way of the Lord. Nourished by personal prayer, prompted in silence, shaped by the Church’s liturgy you will discover the particular vocation God has for you."

A tip of my straw fedora (People are not wearing enough hats!) to Rocco. Be sure to read the whole address. It may have been given in front of youth, but I have a feeling that the pope meant for all of us to take it to heart.

National Review on Pope Benedict

2008-04-22T16:21:00.001-07:00

Dictatorship of Relativism
The pope bears important truths about the roots of our experiment in liberty.

By Rich Lowry
http://article.nationalreview.com/print/?q=MmE1NmY1NzI5MmU4ZWQzYzhiMjJjYTE4ODgxOTI2Yzc=

When President Bush and Pope Benedict XVI stood together on the White House lawn in a majestic welcoming ceremony, it symbolized the growing rapprochement of American evangelical Protestantism and the Catholic Church.

It was West Texas meets Rome; plain-spoken man of faith meets intellectual of great depth; representative of America’s awesome secular power meets representative of the spiritual power of Christianity. Even so, more united them than separated them, with President Bush approvingly quoting Benedict and the pope delivering — for such a reserved man — a notably warm blessing of America.

The Catholic Church long was suspicious of America as a freewheeling Protestant nation that rejected the state support for religion seen in Europe. Not anymore. The separation of church and state as practiced in America has given religion the space to flourish and the respect necessary for it to inform public discourse. Thus, faith — and the Catholic Church — retains its vitality.

In the wake of the French Revolution, in contrast, many European nations developed what Benedict calls a “conflictual” separation of church and state. A godless state sees its role as chasing the vestiges of Christianity from the public square. As it has succeeded, Europe has been robbed of its civilizational vigor. “Europe seems hollow,” Benedict has said, “as if it were internally paralyzed by a failure of its circulatory system.”

If Benedict reflects the Catholic Church’s new attitude toward America, evangelicals in turn have warmed to the church. It’s not the “Whore of Babylon” of yore, but an ally in a deep-seated cultural struggle. As Benedict himself has said of evangelicals, “They have come to see Catholicism as a defender against the pressures of secularization and an upholder of the same ethical values that they themselves profess.”

He might as well have been speaking of President Bush, a man famous for his impatience for pomp and circumstance who went all out — from a 21-gun salute to a four-tiered, lemon-flavored birthday cake — for the pontiff. Bush told Benedict, “In a world where some no longer believe that we can distinguish between simple right and wrong, we need your message to reject this ‘dictatorship of relativism.’ ”

The phrase is one of Benedict’s signature lines. It was featured in his homily at the 2005 Mass for the papal conclave that so impressed his fellow cardinals before they selected him as pope. Benedict’s point was that if relativists consider any claims of moral truth as inherently oppressive, they feel justified in attempting to muzzle those who make them. In Benedict’s words, they “seek to subordinate all religions to the super-dogma of relativism.”

This tendency is particularly well-advanced in Europe, where the European Union is a relativist superstate hostile to traditional Christian morality. One of Benedict’s missions in his trip here is to provide Americans a common vocabulary for resisting an aggressive secularism. This accounted for the extraordinary spectacle of a pope on the White House lawn — itself unimaginable a century ago — explaining the fundamentals of American civil religion.

The foundation of our freedoms isn’t a thoroughgoing skepticism, but a profound, “self-evident” moral truth: that we have inalienable rights. “America’s quest for freedom has been guided by the conviction that the principles governing political and social life are intimately linked to a moral order based on the dominion of God the Creator,” Benedict said. The Holy Father quoted the Father of Our Country for the proposition that morality and religion are the “indispensable supports” of our political order.

Of course, Benedict wasn’t at the White House to bless any political agenda. If he appreciates Bush’s pro-life commitment and his fight against AIDS in Africa, he opposes the Iraq War and “cowboy” diplomacy. Nor is all well with the American Catholic Church. Benedict has been insistent in his condemnation of the child-abuse scandal and its handling.

But the pope came bearing important truths about the roots of our experiment in liberty, from which all Americans can benefit.

Excellent Article about the New "Counterculture" of Benedict XVI

2008-04-22T16:11:00.000-07:00

April 18, 2008

The Pontiff's Counterculture

By E. J. Dionne

WASHINGTON -- The most jarring word that Pope Benedict XVI is using during his visit to the United States is "countercultural." The American sense of that term is shaped by the 1960s: free love, drugs, hippies, rock music and rebellion. Needless to say, that's not what Benedict is preaching.

That word is the key to understanding how Benedict's message runs crosswise to conventional liberalism and conservatism. Benedict came to the United States as a quiet but forceful critic of "an increasingly secular and materialistic culture," as he put it during Thursday's Mass. Almost any American who paid attention to his sermon had to be uncomfortable because all of us are shaped by the very forces he was criticizing.

Benedict directly challenged an assumption so many Americans make about religion: that it is a matter of private devotion with few public implications.

Not true, said the pope. "Any tendency to treat religion as a private matter must be resisted," he told the country's Catholic bishops on Wednesday. "Only when their faith permeates every aspect of their lives do Christians become truly open to the transforming power of the Gospel."

That is a demanding and unsettling standard for the right and the left alike. Benedict asked a pointed question: "Is it consistent for practicing Catholics to ignore or exploit the poor and the marginalized, to promote sexual behavior contrary to Catholic moral teaching, or to adopt positions that contradict the right to life of every human being from conception to natural death?"

This is the thinking of a communitarian counseling against radical individualism. "In a society which values personal freedom and autonomy," he said, "it is easy to lose sight of our dependence on others as well as the responsibilities that we bear towards them. ... We were created as social beings who find fulfillment only in love -- for God and for our neighbor." It is this attitude that Benedict described as "countercultural."

There will be much pious talk among Catholics (I speak from the inside) about how marvelous Benedict's words were, how warm and gentle he proved to be. Parodies that paint him as a heartless enforcer are, of course, false. He seemed determined to confess the church's great sin in the sexual abuse scandal, and he asked again and again for forgiveness. He took the extra step Thursday of meeting with a group of victims of abuse.

It was a good and necessary act of penance.

Yet there is a radicalism underlying Benedict's view (he spoke on Thursday of "a disturbing breakdown in the very foundations of society") rooted in a rather different spirit from the one animating the church at the time of Pope John XXIII and the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s.

John saw it as imperative for the church to discern "the signs of the times" and was critical of excessive gloom about modernity. "Distrustful souls," John wrote in 1961, "see only darkness burdening the face of the earth."

Benedict is certainly not without hope. Indeed, his November encyclical on hope -- to which he has made frequent references this week -- is a moving and intellectually powerful argument on behalf of an often forgotten virtue. Yet Benedict is more inclined than John was to see the church as beleaguered. He is less eager to seek "the signs of the times" than to worry about Christians who "are easily tempted to conform themselves to the spirit of this age," as he put it this week.

For this reason, I suspect that American Catholics of all political hues will find themselves struggling with his message. For myself, I admire Benedict's distinctly Catholic critique of radical individualism in both the moral and economic spheres, and his insistence that the Christian message cannot be divorced from the social and political realm.

Yet I do not see the "spirit of this age" as being quite so threatening to faith or human flourishing as Benedict seems to think. As the pope has acknowledged in the past, Catholicism has been enriched by its encounter with enlightenment thought. The church should not now close itself off to what our age has to teach about the equality of men and women or the virtues of more democratic structures in its internal life.

Perhaps it is the task of the leader of the Roman Catholic Church to bring discomfort to a people so thoroughly shaped by modernity, as we Americans are. If so, Benedict is succeeding.
____________________________

I don't agree with the conclusion but many of the points are on target.

Now what? Is Popapalooza 2008 over?

2008-04-21T18:15:00.000-07:00

Well,
The Holy Father is back in Rome but he has left us with clear and unambigouos instructions on how to behave as Catholics in the modern world. He has left a road map for navigating through life and modern society without losing our identity as Catholics. He is restating "Be in the world but not of the world" with practical, step by step instructions. What are those step by step instructions?

If the Holy Father's message to us here in the USA is to mean something, if it is to lead to a renewal in the Church in America, then we are to examine and execute these point by point. It is not enough to say "Well, the homilies and speeches were full of great inspiration" or "I am glad he talked about the abuse scandal and we can put that behind us."

(To a large extent, the scandal was a symptom of something indemic in modern society and at odds with Catholic teaching, the relativistic objectivisation of human beings. But that observation is just one thread in the tapestry of the Holy Father's visit. )

We must sift and examine every point if there is to be any real "effect" of the Papal Visit.

Father Z on The Holy Father's Sermon at St. Patrick's

2008-04-19T08:57:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to post a bit of Father Z's insights into the Holy Father's Sermon. Please visit his site, you will not be disappointed! He has the entire sermon with his annotations.

Truly amazing.

I am struck by the use of the Gothic architecture.

Medieval architecture is distinguished by its "articulation", its division into balanced defined parts or sections.

"Articulation" comes from the Latin word artus, "joint", as in the knuckle or your fingers or joints of your limbs. Think of St. Thomas Aquinas, who wrote in "articles". Ancient and medieval teachers would organize their arguments and present each point while holding up a hand, palm outward, and pointing to the joints of their fingers as they delivered their points.

In a sense, the articulation of a gothic structure reveals the same organization of thought. It is highly rational, which gives structure to faith. Pope Benedict has been very interested in the question of the priority of faith and of reason and how they fit together. This sermon reveals decades of deep reflection on this relationship of faith and reason.

The Holy Father has articulated a foundation for a new view on the part of clergy for the Church in the United States and their vocations for and within it.

For those of you who don't know the Reverend Father please check out this link.

Official Websit for Papal Visit USCCB

2008-04-15T03:46:00.000-07:00

The US Conference of Catholic Bishops has an official website for the Pope's visit here

Another vote for Gregorian Chant and Polyphony in America, this time from Rome

2008-04-11T12:01:00.000-07:00

Liturgical logistics: Keeping track of details for pope's U.S. Masses

Msgr. Guido Marini, the pope's master of liturgical ceremonies, is pictured at the Vatican April 4.) (CNS/Alessia Giuliani, Catholic Press Photo)

By Cindy Wooden
Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- From the huge windows of his office overlooking St. Peter's Square, Pope Benedict XVI's chief liturgist can, and does, keep track of every detail that goes into preparing a papal liturgy.

The papal venues in the United States are not directly under his nose, but Msgr. Guido Marini still knows every detail of the two evening prayer services and three Masses Pope Benedict will celebrate in Washington and New York April 15-20.
....
"A few small things were modified to reflect the liturgical attitudes of Pope Benedict," he said; they include a request that a crucifix be placed on the altar for eucharistic celebrations, that concelebrating priests be as close to the altar as possible and that the offertory gifts be limited to the bread, wine and charitable gifts.

Msgr. Marini said the Vatican did not dictate the choice of music and hymns for the U.S. liturgies.

"The repertoire is rather vast," he said. "There will be Gregorian chant, polyphony and some hymns that are more popular in the American repertoire.
.....

As for rumors that Pope Benedict is preparing to celebrate publicly a Mass according to the Tridentine rite, Msgr. Marini said that as far as he knows that is just a rumor.

"My office has heard nothing of this. I know there are rumors, but I have not been asked to plan anything," he said.

The U.S. liturgies will raise an issue Pope Benedict, on more than one occasion, has said is problematic: preserving a sense of prayer and participation at a Mass when there are hundreds of concelebrants and tens of thousands of people in the assembly.
________________
You can access the Messale for the Papal Mass here

Welcome

2008-04-10T13:17:00.000-07:00

Recently the Archdioceses of Miami radio show, "Faith Factor", asked callers to tell them "What kind of music do you prefer when you go to Mass?" Some callers indicated that they preferred very charismatic, praise and worship music and that traditional Catholic music was Euro-centric The website archives the programs so if your interested in listening you should check out the 4/1/08 show to hear exactly what was discussed.

The next day a poll was set up on the "Faith Factor" website along with a request that "if you missed us yesterday or weren't able to share your opinion, please send us an email to thefaithfactor@radiopeace.org so we can follow-up with you next time around." People posted in favor of both contemporary charismatic, praise and worship and others posted in favor of Gregorian chant and polyphony. Well, the response by the "Faith Factor" was as follows:

Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Do you KNOW Him?

Do you know Him? Think before you answer this question. I'm not asking if you know of Him. I'm not asking if you are a self-proclaimed expert on all things about Him. I'm not asking if you are a biblical scholar, a theologian, a liturgist, or an expert on sacred music. All of these things are important. But I am asking if you KNOW Him? Do you have a personal relationship with the Lord? A relationship with your Heavenly Father. A CURRENT relationship with the King above all kings. Is the Lord present in your life right now or is He a historical figure that you study?

Why am I bringing this up? Our web poll about music in the liturgy has drawn much attention from those that believe (G)regorian chant and sacred hymns is the only music acceptable as part of the mass. They may very well be correct. However, many of the responses discuss the subject as if we were discussing algebra or chemistry. Giving a litany of facts and history as though they are trying to win an argument.

Let me be clear. Radio Peace and The Faith Factor Radio Show exist solely to proclaim the Good News of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in the hopes of bringing our listeners to a relationship with our God. We do have programs on Radio Peace that educate us on the Catechism, the Encyclicals, the Sacred Scriptures, etc., etc., etc. This important. But it is only part of what we do. We want you to know Him. To really know Him so that you can love Him. When you know Him and you love Him we want to provide a platform for you to share your faith walk towards Him with others that share in the same knowing and loving.

Like a wise young man I know always says..."Jesus loves you." If you want to know why, we can talk about it. If you don't care, that's OK. He'll be waiting patiently until you are ready.
Posted by Bill Brown at 10:25 PM
__________________________________________

The post started me thinking....

"Is the Lord present in your life right now or is He a historical figure that you study?"

My brother Bill is right in that we must have charity. Without Charity our Faith is dead. But is there a dichotomy between Faith vs Reason? Is it an either/or relationship..., are they mutually exclusive? Is our faith only measured by our emotional responses or is our intellect and will part of the equation. Can't I study the Catholic Faith as someone studies mathematics and still be able to love God?Are they are complimentary? Does Faith inform Reason which, in turn, nutures Faith.....?

"However, many of the responses discuss the subject as if we were discussing algebra or chemistry. Giving a litany of facts and history as though they are trying to win an argument."

Does the Church teach that the liturgy has norms? Does the Church teach that certain types of music have a "pride of place" or doens't she? What does it mean to have "pride of place?" Do we as Catholics have an obligation to FACTOR this treasure of the Church into our lives? Should we encourage the use of these forms of music and learn about them or can we ignore or suppress there expression? Are there reasources in the Miami that would be helpful to learning more about these froms of music? How accessible are they? How about at your parish? What do you think?

Let's discuss it in a lively but civilized and charitable (Christ like) way, but let us be reasonable. I cannot measure the depths of your sincerity, niether can you measure mine. Only God is capable of such discernment.

I have named the blog "Faith and Reason in Miami" because I want the discussion to affect where I live, Miami. However, I welcome all well reasoned and charitable discusion from anyone in the Univeral church (who has internet access, ....do St. Thomas Aquinas and Pierre Rousselot have internet access?) who wish to post on the subjects of liturgical music or faith and reason in the Catholic Faith.

Are Gregorian chant and polyphony simply museum pieces that are not relevent for today's Catholics in Miami? Are people who prefer these musical forms in the Mass simply nostalgic for a bygone era that never actually existed? Is that good or bad? As Roman Catholics, how are we called to evaluate the situation?