In the meantime she is doing this. I know! So pray that Cathy of Recovering Dissident Catholic blog gets a good job soon. Thanks!
Wednesday, October 07, 2009
African Bishops Dazzled By Obama?
Don't give the man any more ideas...
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Archbishop Gabriel Charles Palmer-Buckle of Accra, Ghana said Wednesday that there was "a divine plan behind" Obama's election.
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"It's like the biblical story repeating itself," he told reporters, citing the Old Testament figure Joseph, who after being sold into slavery in Egypt ends up becoming a top official.
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"We believe God has his own plans. God directs history," he said of the U.S. election. "We pray that it (Obama's presidency) brings blessings for Africa and the whole world."
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Earlier this week, the Ghanian prelate leading the three-week meeting on the Church in Africa, Cardinal Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson of Cape Coast, Ghana, cited Obama's election in saying he didn't see any reason why there couldn't now be a black pope. - Source
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You don't say...
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Archbishop Gregory mentioned something about the possibility of there being a black Pope after Obama won the election as well.
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You know of course, before John Paul II a non-Italian was hardly expected to be elected to the papacy - although non-Italians had been Popes in the past - including Africans. I may be wrong, but since when does race or nationality factor into the election of a Pontiff?
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No doubt God permitted the election of Obama as President - but we are living in the New Coveneant, not the Old - so the analogy with Joseph doesn't really work for me - it sounds a little 'evangelical' if you ask me. Especially since Joseph, as a type, prefigured Christ. Now if they compared him to Antiochus Epiphanes, I could maybe understand that one.
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So anyway, if there are blessings to be had, I would be willing to bet that Muslims would get the nod from Obama before African Catholics.
Preserve Innocence . . . Oppose the Jennings Nomination
This is very important. Go to the following website to act:
http://www.expeljennings.org/
Quick story...
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I was at my lawyer's office this morning, taking care of my will and health care directives and all of that end of life crap. (No - I'm not dying, darnit.) I'm also not going to get into detailed information here, but suffice it to say I brought in a couple of Catholic healthcare directives and related proxy documents. My attorney is very knowledgeable and professional of course. So I explained the documents and my Catholic expectations. She was familiar with the documents - compared them to what she had, and explained why hers were better.
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I hesitated just for a moment. I thought, "Can I believe her?" And before I could put it all together in my head she checked areas in each document for me to compare and explained specific language in my documents left open the possibility for interpretation of my intent, etc.. Like I said - I'm not going into detail on what is involved here. Nevertheless, I saw that she was/is absolutely right and I decided I'm going with her recommendations. She is the professional, she is the expert, she is working for me.
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Anyway - the episode alerted me to to the fact that I'm turning into a paranoid conspiracy theorist - mistrusting absolutely everyone... And I'm pretty sure a lot of people are getting this way these days. Death-panel-phobics fighting the liberal agenda... Everyone else is the enemy. As John Allen of NCR explains something Cardinal George wrote: "...conservatives often end up in a sectarian dead-end, clinging to a narrow and triumphalistic version of Catholic identity sealed off from the surrounding culture." - Source
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Man! All I can say is that I have to get out more and quit spending so much time on the stupid internet.
Our Lady of the Rosary
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"The sinner who has lost sanctifying grace cannot merit in this state, for sanctifying grace is the radical principle of all supernatural merit. Yet, by an actual transitory grace, the sinner can pray; he can ask the grace of conversion; and if he asks for it with humility, confidence, and perseverance, he will obtain it. Whereas merit, which is a right to a reward, is related to divine justice, prayer is addressed to the mercy of God, which often restores fallen souls and hears their prayers without any merit on their part.
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... Moreover, the just man may obtain by prayer certain graces which he could not merit, in particular the gift of final perseverance. This gift cannot be merited, for it is nothing other than the continuation until death of the state of grace, which is the principle of merit. Obviously it would be impossible to merit the very principle of merit. However, final perseverance or the grace of a happy death can be obtained by humble, trusting, daily prayer.
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For this reason the Church invites us to say daily with fervor in the second part of the Hail Mary; 'Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death . Amen.' Here prayer goes farther than merit, addressing itself, not to divine justice but to infinite mercy." - Three Ages of the Interior Life; Vol. I, Chapter VII: The Increase of the Life of Grace Through Prayer
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Link:
Fifteen Promises of the Holy Rosary
Art:
Our Lady of the Rosary of Santiago
Tuesday, October 06, 2009
Feast of St. Bruno
"All those, who, according to their rule, lead a life of solitude remote from the din and follies of the world, have chosen the better part, like Mary of Bethany. They contemplate the divine mysteries and the eternal truths, and pour forth ardent and continual prayers to God that His Kingdom may flourish and be daily spread more widely. They also atone for the sins of other men still more than for their own by mortification, prescribed or voluntary. For no more perfect state and rule of life than that can be proposed for men to take up and embrace, if the Lord calls them to it. Moreover, by the inward holiness of those who lead the solitary life in the silence of the cloister and by their most intimate union with God, is kept brightly shining the halo of that holiness which the spotless Bride of Jesus Christ holds up to the admiration and imitation of all. No wonder, then, that ecclesiastical writers of former ages, wishing to explain and extol the power and efficacy of the prayers of these same religious men, liken their prayers to Moses.
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... If ever it was needful that there should be anchorites of that sort in the Church of God it is most especially expedient nowadays when we see so many Christians living without a thought for the things of the next world and utterly regardless of their eternal salvation, giving reign to their desire for earthly pelf and the pleasures of the flesh and adopting and exhibiting publicly as well as in their private lives pagan manners altogether opposed to the Gospel. And there are perhaps some who still deem that the virtues which are misnamed "passive" have long grown obsolete and that the broader and more liberal exercise of active virtues should be substituted for the ancient discipline of the cloister. This opinion our predecessor of immortal memory, Leo XIII, refuted, exploded and condemned; and no one can fail to see how harmful and baneful that opinion is to Christian perfection as it is taught and practiced in the Church." - Pius XI.
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My regrets...
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This feast day always reminds me of the many graces I have squandered and lost throughout my life, the many times I refused God the little he asked of me... Please pray for me. For "life is so short, the path leading to eternal life quite narrow, and we know the just man is scarcely saved, while the things of the world are vain and deceitful, and all comes to an end and fails like falling water. The time is uncertain, the accounting strict, perdition very easy and salvation most difficult... My life has vanished, I know well I must render an account of everything - from the beginning of my life as well as this later part - unto the last penny, when God will search Jerusalem with lighted candles, and it is already late - the day far spent - to remedy so much evil and harm..." [Adapted from John of the Cross, Spiritual Canticle, Stanza 1; Introduction.]
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Please pray for me.
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Congratulations Mother Angelica!
Pope Benedict XVI has awarded EWTN foundress, Mother Mary Angelica, and Deacon Bill Steltemeier, Chairman of EWTN's Board of Governors, the Cross of Honor for distinguished service to the Church. The medal, officially known as "Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice" (literally "For the Church and the Pope"), is the highest honor that the Pope can bestow upon laity and religious.
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The acknowledgement of Mother Angelica's work by the Pope is highly significant in light of high profile criticism that the EWTN foundress has sustained over her unwavering fidelity to the faith. Mother Angelica had to endure crushing criticism and even attempts to take over her station by various left-leaning Catholic bishops in the United States.
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Bishop Robert J. Baker of Birmingham conferred the awards in a brief ceremony following Sunday benediction at the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Hanceville, Alabama. - Source
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H/T to PewsitterNews
Monday, October 05, 2009
Walk on the wild side.Watch this...
Soooo stupid! Click here.
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This link reminds me; as time allows, I'll be posting some more thoughts on Medjugorje as well as the Charismatic Renewal.
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This link reminds me; as time allows, I'll be posting some more thoughts on Medjugorje as well as the Charismatic Renewal.
More on "what scandal does"...
“We are personally going through the passion and the death which Christ experienced, but we have not yet gone beyond death to the resurrection. It is as if we are presently sealed up in a dark tomb waiting for the power of the Spirit of God to overtake us and raise us up to a new day and a new future.” - Archbishop Anthony Mancini.
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In an emotional pastoral letter read to all the Catholic parishes in the Archdiocese of Halifax this weekend, Archbishop Anthony Mancini responded in the strongest possible language yet to the news that Bishop Raymond Lahey was arrested for the possession and importation of child pornography last week.
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“I have cried and I have silently screamed, and perhaps that was my prayer to God: Why Lord? What does this all mean? What are you asking of me and my priests? What do you want to see happen among your people? Is this a time of purification or is it nothing more than devastation? Are people going to stop believing, will faithful people stop being people of faith? Lord, what are you asking of us and how can we make it happen?"
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“What I want to say is: Enough is enough! How much more can all of us take. Like you, my heart is broken, my mind is confused, my body hurts and I have moved in and out of a variety of feelings especially shame and frustration, fear and disappointment, along with a sense of vulnerability, and a tremendous poverty of spirit.” - Read more.
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In an emotional pastoral letter read to all the Catholic parishes in the Archdiocese of Halifax this weekend, Archbishop Anthony Mancini responded in the strongest possible language yet to the news that Bishop Raymond Lahey was arrested for the possession and importation of child pornography last week.
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“I have cried and I have silently screamed, and perhaps that was my prayer to God: Why Lord? What does this all mean? What are you asking of me and my priests? What do you want to see happen among your people? Is this a time of purification or is it nothing more than devastation? Are people going to stop believing, will faithful people stop being people of faith? Lord, what are you asking of us and how can we make it happen?"
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“What I want to say is: Enough is enough! How much more can all of us take. Like you, my heart is broken, my mind is confused, my body hurts and I have moved in and out of a variety of feelings especially shame and frustration, fear and disappointment, along with a sense of vulnerability, and a tremendous poverty of spirit.” - Read more.
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Prayer of Reparation.
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May the most holy, most sacred, most adorable, most incomprehensible and unutterable Name of God be always praised, blessed, loved, adored and glorified, in Heaven, on earth, and under the earth, by all the creatures of God, and by the Sacred Heart of Our Lord Jesus Christ in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar. Amen. - Devotion to the Holy Face
Sunday, October 04, 2009
Shrooms
Mantilla week...
Crescat is presenting a whole thing - like fashion week - on this style of head covering for women. Even Michelle Obama donned a mantilla (photo) - of course it is protocol at the Vatican - Queen Elizabeth does so as well when she visits. It isn't a matter of devotion..
I have nothing against mantillas per se - although I think they do look dumb on some women - yet the long standing issue has been not what covers the head as much as it has been that a woman ought to have her head covered in the first place. It used to be a requirement in Canon Law that a woman was to have her head covered in Catholic churches. But for many years, devout Catholic women just stopped doing it.
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That said, before Jackie Kennedy popularized it in the yankee U.S., a hat or a scarf was usually the general norm for WASC (like WASP) women. Of course, if you happened to be Hassidic - you could wear a wig. In our day of the reform of the reform and trad is top drawer, the unwritten head covering mandate for women has become synonymous with the mantilla. Even in the Philippines, when a woman wears a hat in church - some people expect her to remove it. Yeah. Only men are expected to do that. (Although bishops may wear mitres and priests may wear birettas in church.)
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Of course, it is well known that in an earlier, more genteel time - such as the French Revolution (LOL!) - it was customary for women to cover their heads at all times - bonnets and veils you know. Many nuns and Amish women still do. On the other hand, in the mid-20th century, ladies frequently wore hats while indoors - at parties and the theater, and even in the office. (A gentleman always removed his however.)
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Which reminds me of a very chic french woman I once knew. Madame X, who had been in the French Resistance and decorated by de Gaulle, worked for a local interior design firm, and she always wore a hat while working in the office. She also smoked while holding her cigarette between her last two fingers: "That way, cherie," she advised, "the scent of ze nicotine will not affect your lover's palate as you feed him bon-bons." She also agreed with Chanel, that the good wife should rise an hour before her husband in order to do her toilette, style her hair, and put on her make-up so he will not be disappointed when he sees her.
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Mantillas are beautiful indeed - especially if the rest of your look compliments...
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Good night ladies and gentlemen!
Final perseverance.
Years ago one of my spiritual directors recommended to me that I pray daily for a happy death - in other words, final perseverance. Nevertheless, at the time I was unable to view death as anything more than a liberation from earth's exile, propelling the soul into the arms of Divine Mercy. I had just assisted at my mother's happy death, and was doing so well spiritually myself (I know! Such pride!), and I had such confidence in my confidence - I didn't take Father's admonition with any sense of urgently. Although I tried obediently to add the intention to my daily prayers as he advised.
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I still do - only now with a greater sense of urgency. All too often I've seen how easily the gift of faith can be lost.
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"That we can never in this life be certain of our final perseverance is defined by the Council of Trent (Sess. VI, can. xvi): "Si quis magnum illud usque in finem perseverantiae donum se certo habiturum, absoluta et infallibili certitudine dixerit, nisi hoc ex speciali revelatione dedicerit, anathema sit". What places it beyond our meriting power is the obvious fact that revelation nowhere offers final perseverance, with it retinue of efficacious graces and its crown of a good death, as a reward for our actions, but, on the contrary, constantly reminds us that, as the Council of Trent puts it, "the gift of perseverance can come only from Him who has the power to confirm the standing and to raise the fallen". However, from our incapacity to certainly know and to strictly merit the great gift, we should not infer that nothing can be done towards it.
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Theologians unite in saying that final perseverance comes under the impetrative power of prayer and St. Alphonsus Liguori (Prayer, the great means of Salvation) would make it the dominant note and burden of our daily petitions. The sometimes distressing presentation of the present matter in the pulpit is due to the many sides of the problem, the impossibility of viewing them all in one sermon, and the idiosyncrasies of the speakers. Nor should the timorousness of the saints, graphically described by Newman, be so construed as to contradict the admonition of the Council of Trent, that "all should place the firmest hope in the succour of God". Singularly comforting is the teaching of such saints as St. Francis de Sales (Camus, "The Spirit of St. Francis de Sales", III, xiii) and St. Catherine of Genoa (Treatise of Purgatory, iv). They dwell on God's great mercy in granting final perseverance, and even in the case of notorious sinners they do not lose hope: God suffuses the sinners' dying hour with an extraordinary light and, showing them the hideousness of sin contrasting with His own infinite beauty, He makes a final appeal to them. For those only who, even then, obstinately cling to their sin does the saying of Sirach 5:7, assume a sombre meaning "mercy and wrath quickly come from him, and his wrath looketh upon sinners". - Source
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I still do - only now with a greater sense of urgency. All too often I've seen how easily the gift of faith can be lost.
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"That we can never in this life be certain of our final perseverance is defined by the Council of Trent (Sess. VI, can. xvi): "Si quis magnum illud usque in finem perseverantiae donum se certo habiturum, absoluta et infallibili certitudine dixerit, nisi hoc ex speciali revelatione dedicerit, anathema sit". What places it beyond our meriting power is the obvious fact that revelation nowhere offers final perseverance, with it retinue of efficacious graces and its crown of a good death, as a reward for our actions, but, on the contrary, constantly reminds us that, as the Council of Trent puts it, "the gift of perseverance can come only from Him who has the power to confirm the standing and to raise the fallen". However, from our incapacity to certainly know and to strictly merit the great gift, we should not infer that nothing can be done towards it.
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Theologians unite in saying that final perseverance comes under the impetrative power of prayer and St. Alphonsus Liguori (Prayer, the great means of Salvation) would make it the dominant note and burden of our daily petitions. The sometimes distressing presentation of the present matter in the pulpit is due to the many sides of the problem, the impossibility of viewing them all in one sermon, and the idiosyncrasies of the speakers. Nor should the timorousness of the saints, graphically described by Newman, be so construed as to contradict the admonition of the Council of Trent, that "all should place the firmest hope in the succour of God". Singularly comforting is the teaching of such saints as St. Francis de Sales (Camus, "The Spirit of St. Francis de Sales", III, xiii) and St. Catherine of Genoa (Treatise of Purgatory, iv). They dwell on God's great mercy in granting final perseverance, and even in the case of notorious sinners they do not lose hope: God suffuses the sinners' dying hour with an extraordinary light and, showing them the hideousness of sin contrasting with His own infinite beauty, He makes a final appeal to them. For those only who, even then, obstinately cling to their sin does the saying of Sirach 5:7, assume a sombre meaning "mercy and wrath quickly come from him, and his wrath looketh upon sinners". - Source
Saturday, October 03, 2009
People do not want me to talk...
I just got this email:
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I read your latest piece.
RE: scandal- is it not scandalous to live with another man and yet rail endlessly about the gay agenda and the lavender mafia?
You said you don't take scandal lightly- can you see the scandal you could potentially cause your gay brothers and sisters who strive for theosis (and who don't, by the way, at least in my case, live with a man)?
I think the best thing Fr. Z ever put on his blog was a comment verifier- "Think before you post."
(I say this all in love, even though my hands are shaking.)
Peace, and Happy Feast of St. Francis,
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I read your latest piece.
RE: scandal- is it not scandalous to live with another man and yet rail endlessly about the gay agenda and the lavender mafia?
You said you don't take scandal lightly- can you see the scandal you could potentially cause your gay brothers and sisters who strive for theosis (and who don't, by the way, at least in my case, live with a man)?
I think the best thing Fr. Z ever put on his blog was a comment verifier- "Think before you post."
(I say this all in love, even though my hands are shaking.)
Peace, and Happy Feast of St. Francis,
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Blogger X
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My response:
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Tell me what is wrong with sharing a house with a friend who happens to be a man? Don't sink too low (name withheld) - other people have tried to threaten me with this as well.
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UPDATE: Thanks to all who commented on this post, I very much appreciate what you have had to say. Nevertheless, I decided not to publish comments so as not to make this into a big deal or cause any more offense to anyone. God bless each of you. Thanks.
So here's the deal...
Nut up?.
Don't get me wrong - I am not scandalized about Bishop Lahey, or any of the other perverts - just disgusted. In my former post on the subject of scandal, I was attempting to focus attention on the people who are actually scandalized by such revelations, therefore in posting on the effects of scandal, I was trying to explain why I consider it such a serious sin. I refuse to diminish or dismiss the experience of scandal by pulling out some spiritual superiority survival of the fittest attitude just because I think my faith is so strong and secure and mature. Like St. Paul said - You think you are standing buddy? You better fall down - on your knees. None of us are any better than the weakest amongst us. It is perhaps a form of denial to pretend otherwise, if not presumption.
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What's in the closet?
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Another story about Bishop Lahey surfaced today; that he had so-called child porn hidden in his closet as early as 1983 - before he was a bishop. I refer to the material as so-called child porn because it appears it was really magazines/catalogues of teen boys he kept hidden - which as everyone knows doesn't involve pedophilia - but homosexuality. "But," you say?
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"But, but," you protest, "the bad priests and bishops are pedophiles, not homos. And, and, the sex scandals are all about pedophilia - not man-boy love! We have studies to prove that."
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"Ah. So is that why people who are scandalized by such perversions twits? Or is it because they don't like homosexuals lusting after their teen age sons?" I respond calmly.
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Recall how Archbishop Weakland explained his misconduct in ignoring the scandal suffered by the victims of sexual abuse when he said something to the effect, "We (bishops and superiors) just thought the kids would grow out of it - they wouldn't be scarred by the experience." Amazing, huh? But I think that may have been the prevailing attitude - especially for men with homosexual tendencies.
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Another story about Bishop Lahey surfaced today; that he had so-called child porn hidden in his closet as early as 1983 - before he was a bishop. I refer to the material as so-called child porn because it appears it was really magazines/catalogues of teen boys he kept hidden - which as everyone knows doesn't involve pedophilia - but homosexuality. "But," you say?
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"But, but," you protest, "the bad priests and bishops are pedophiles, not homos. And, and, the sex scandals are all about pedophilia - not man-boy love! We have studies to prove that."
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"Ah. So is that why people who are scandalized by such perversions twits? Or is it because they don't like homosexuals lusting after their teen age sons?" I respond calmly.
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Recall how Archbishop Weakland explained his misconduct in ignoring the scandal suffered by the victims of sexual abuse when he said something to the effect, "We (bishops and superiors) just thought the kids would grow out of it - they wouldn't be scarred by the experience." Amazing, huh? But I think that may have been the prevailing attitude - especially for men with homosexual tendencies.
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Gay mentoring?
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Remember Mrs. Miller, the kid's mother in Doubt? Remember when Sr. Aloysius said, "What kind of mother are you?" That scene took place shortly after Sister told the mother about the sexual abuse? The mother more or less brushed it off, she just wanted her son to get through it, and in fact she appeared to be relatively satisfied that her son found solace and acceptance from another man - a white Catholic priest no less. But good Sr. Aloysius was scandalized...
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With that in mind, it seems to me the solace, acceptance, mentor status may have been somewhat acceptable amongst the homosexual-enabler clergy as well. Read the following regarding the attitude towards sexual abuse/exploitation by Bishop Lahey and his predecessor.
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A year before Mr. Earle said he found something in Father Lahey’s closet, Father Lahey testified as a character witness in the sex abuse trial of Brother David Burton, who had more than 50 sex acts with a 15-year-old boy at the orphanage.
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Brother Burton’s lawyer sought unsuccessfully to keep the hearing secret to protect the orphanage and asked for a discharge, promising that Brother Burton would get treatment.
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(He was convicted, served 12 days in jail and ended up teaching at a British Columbia school, working for another brother who had been accused of abusing children at Mount Cashel.) Father Lahey testified that the victim in the case was desperate for attention and that he appeared to mature greatly during the period of his sexual relationship with Brother Burton.
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What the ----?
Remember Mrs. Miller, the kid's mother in Doubt? Remember when Sr. Aloysius said, "What kind of mother are you?" That scene took place shortly after Sister told the mother about the sexual abuse? The mother more or less brushed it off, she just wanted her son to get through it, and in fact she appeared to be relatively satisfied that her son found solace and acceptance from another man - a white Catholic priest no less. But good Sr. Aloysius was scandalized...
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With that in mind, it seems to me the solace, acceptance, mentor status may have been somewhat acceptable amongst the homosexual-enabler clergy as well. Read the following regarding the attitude towards sexual abuse/exploitation by Bishop Lahey and his predecessor.
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A year before Mr. Earle said he found something in Father Lahey’s closet, Father Lahey testified as a character witness in the sex abuse trial of Brother David Burton, who had more than 50 sex acts with a 15-year-old boy at the orphanage.
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Brother Burton’s lawyer sought unsuccessfully to keep the hearing secret to protect the orphanage and asked for a discharge, promising that Brother Burton would get treatment.
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(He was convicted, served 12 days in jail and ended up teaching at a British Columbia school, working for another brother who had been accused of abusing children at Mount Cashel.) Father Lahey testified that the victim in the case was desperate for attention and that he appeared to mature greatly during the period of his sexual relationship with Brother Burton.
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What the ----?
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Yet there we see evidence of that same attitude a couple of years before in a newspaper column written by Father Lahey’s predecessor as bishop of the Antigonish diocese:
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“If the victims were adolescents, why did they go back to the same situation once there had been one pass or suggestion? Were they co-operating in the matter or were they true victims?" wrote Bishop Colin Campbell in 1989.
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When he was confronted with public anger at comments that appeared to seek to share the blame between the boys and their abusers, Bishop Campbell explained: “What I’m suggesting is that maybe some — a few, a few of them, many of them, most of them, who knows? — had some kind of an inkling that this was wrong and could have said, ‘No, thank you very much.’ I do not want to suggest that homosexual activity between a priest and an adolescent is therefore moral. Rather, it does not have the horrific character of pedophilia." - Alarms should have sounded.
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Deviant Culture.
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Such attitudes are not promoted by or limited to Catholic clergy however. The Pardon Roman Polanski effort is well underway - excusing it because it happened a long time ago, and it wasn't "rape-rape". The White House has said Polanski should be brought to justice: "The president believes pedophiles should be prosecuted." In the meantime an Obama staffer, Safe Schools chief, Kevin Jennings, pretty much protected, endorsed, supported a similar situation early on in his career as a High School counselor:
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In telling his own story, Jennings writes:
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"I remember Brewster, a sophomore boy who I came to know in 1987, my first year of teaching at Concord Academy [high school], in Concord, Massachusetts. Brewster was a charming but troubled kid. His grades didn’t match up with his potential, his attendance could be irregular, and he often seemed a little out of it. He was clearly using substance [drugs or alcohol] regularly, and was not very happy with himself. But I didn’t have a clue as to why — at least not at first."
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Jennings continues telling how at Concord he decided to be open about his homosexuality with his students, including Brewster. He wore a ring “that symbolized my commitment to my partner,” and rather than hide its meaning, he chose to reveal its homosexual significance to his inquisitive students. To his surprise, Jennings writes, Brewster and the other students were not shocked by his revelation and “didn’t seem to care much at all about my being gay.”
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Then Jennings recalls:
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"Toward the end of my first year, during the spring of 1988, Brewster appeared in my office in the tow of one of my advisees, a wonderful young woman to whom I had been “out” [as a homosexual] for a long time. “Brewster has something he needs to talk with you about,” she intoned ominously. Brewster squirmed at the prospect of telling, and we sat silently for a short while. On a hunch, I suddenly asked, “What’s his name?” Brewster eyes widened briefly, and then out spilled a story about his involvement with an older man he had met in Boston. I listened, sympathized, and offered advice. He left my office with a smile on his face that I would see every time I saw him on the campus for the next two years, until he graduated." - Link
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Washington Times editorial: “In this one case in which Mr. (Kevin) Jennings had a real chance to protect a boy [Brewster] from a sexual predator, he not only failed to do what the law required but actually encouraged the relationship.” Does that mean Jennings should be prosecuted along with Polanski, and Catholic clergy before them?
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“If the victims were adolescents, why did they go back to the same situation once there had been one pass or suggestion? Were they co-operating in the matter or were they true victims?" wrote Bishop Colin Campbell in 1989.
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When he was confronted with public anger at comments that appeared to seek to share the blame between the boys and their abusers, Bishop Campbell explained: “What I’m suggesting is that maybe some — a few, a few of them, many of them, most of them, who knows? — had some kind of an inkling that this was wrong and could have said, ‘No, thank you very much.’ I do not want to suggest that homosexual activity between a priest and an adolescent is therefore moral. Rather, it does not have the horrific character of pedophilia." - Alarms should have sounded.
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Deviant Culture.
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Such attitudes are not promoted by or limited to Catholic clergy however. The Pardon Roman Polanski effort is well underway - excusing it because it happened a long time ago, and it wasn't "rape-rape". The White House has said Polanski should be brought to justice: "The president believes pedophiles should be prosecuted." In the meantime an Obama staffer, Safe Schools chief, Kevin Jennings, pretty much protected, endorsed, supported a similar situation early on in his career as a High School counselor:
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In telling his own story, Jennings writes:
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"I remember Brewster, a sophomore boy who I came to know in 1987, my first year of teaching at Concord Academy [high school], in Concord, Massachusetts. Brewster was a charming but troubled kid. His grades didn’t match up with his potential, his attendance could be irregular, and he often seemed a little out of it. He was clearly using substance [drugs or alcohol] regularly, and was not very happy with himself. But I didn’t have a clue as to why — at least not at first."
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Jennings continues telling how at Concord he decided to be open about his homosexuality with his students, including Brewster. He wore a ring “that symbolized my commitment to my partner,” and rather than hide its meaning, he chose to reveal its homosexual significance to his inquisitive students. To his surprise, Jennings writes, Brewster and the other students were not shocked by his revelation and “didn’t seem to care much at all about my being gay.”
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Then Jennings recalls:
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"Toward the end of my first year, during the spring of 1988, Brewster appeared in my office in the tow of one of my advisees, a wonderful young woman to whom I had been “out” [as a homosexual] for a long time. “Brewster has something he needs to talk with you about,” she intoned ominously. Brewster squirmed at the prospect of telling, and we sat silently for a short while. On a hunch, I suddenly asked, “What’s his name?” Brewster eyes widened briefly, and then out spilled a story about his involvement with an older man he had met in Boston. I listened, sympathized, and offered advice. He left my office with a smile on his face that I would see every time I saw him on the campus for the next two years, until he graduated." - Link
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Washington Times editorial: “In this one case in which Mr. (Kevin) Jennings had a real chance to protect a boy [Brewster] from a sexual predator, he not only failed to do what the law required but actually encouraged the relationship.” Does that mean Jennings should be prosecuted along with Polanski, and Catholic clergy before them?
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Whatever - we have a guy in the Obama closet of change for America endorsing the types of relationships heretofore condemned by civilized society. Jennings is even on record praising Harry Hay a pioneer in the gay rights movement, as well as a proponent of NAMBLA - the infamous Man Boy Love Association.
.
"Everybody thought Harry Hay was crazy in 1948, and they knew something about him which he apparently did not – they were right, he was crazy. You are all crazy. We are all crazy. All of us who are thinking this way are crazy, because you know what? Sane people keep the world the same [blank] old way it is now. It's the people who think, 'No, I can envision a day when straight people say, 'So what if you're promoting homosexuality?'' Or straight kids say, 'Hey, why don't you and your boyfriend come over before you go to the prom and try on your tuxes on at my house?'" - Link
.
You need to understand, this guy Hay, whom Jennings so much admires and agrees with, while alive stated that NAMBLA, which advocates for the elimination of any "age of consent" restrictions, be considered mainstream in America:
.
"NAMBLA's record as a responsible gay organization is well known. NAMBLA was spawned by the gay community and has been in every major gay and lesbian march. … NAMBLA's call for the abolition of age of consent is not the issue. NAMBLA is a bona fide participant in the gay and lesbian movement. NAMBLA deserves strong support in its rights of free speech and association and its members' protection from discrimination and bashing," Hay said. - Link
.
So here's the deal...
.
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"Everybody thought Harry Hay was crazy in 1948, and they knew something about him which he apparently did not – they were right, he was crazy. You are all crazy. We are all crazy. All of us who are thinking this way are crazy, because you know what? Sane people keep the world the same [blank] old way it is now. It's the people who think, 'No, I can envision a day when straight people say, 'So what if you're promoting homosexuality?'' Or straight kids say, 'Hey, why don't you and your boyfriend come over before you go to the prom and try on your tuxes on at my house?'" - Link
.
You need to understand, this guy Hay, whom Jennings so much admires and agrees with, while alive stated that NAMBLA, which advocates for the elimination of any "age of consent" restrictions, be considered mainstream in America:
.
"NAMBLA's record as a responsible gay organization is well known. NAMBLA was spawned by the gay community and has been in every major gay and lesbian march. … NAMBLA's call for the abolition of age of consent is not the issue. NAMBLA is a bona fide participant in the gay and lesbian movement. NAMBLA deserves strong support in its rights of free speech and association and its members' protection from discrimination and bashing," Hay said. - Link
.
So here's the deal...
.
From Kevin Jennings' address in a New York City church on March 20, 2000.
He said:
.
"Twenty percent of people are hard-core fair-minded [pro-homosexual] people. Twenty percent are hard-core [anti-homosexual] bigots. We need to ignore the hard-core bigots, get more of the hard-core fair-minded people to speak up, and we’ll pull that 60 percent [of people in the middle] over to our side. That's really what I think our strategy has to be. We have to quit being afraid of the religious right. We also have to quit — I’m trying to find a way to say this. I’m trying not to say, '[F—] 'em!' which is what I want to say, because I don’t care what they think! [audience laughter] Drop dead!" - Link
.
Don't you see the similarity between these homosexual activists and the bishop's attitudes cited above? Can't you see the mindset, and may God forbid, the collusion of principle? For those who are above being scandalized by anything, and who deny there is any gay agenda or lavender mafia or promotion of the homosexual lifestyle in our culture, Church and social institutions, all I can say is you are either liars and out to protect yourselves and one another, or culpably in denial. You say you come in "peace" but you have malice in your hearts.
He said:
.
"Twenty percent of people are hard-core fair-minded [pro-homosexual] people. Twenty percent are hard-core [anti-homosexual] bigots. We need to ignore the hard-core bigots, get more of the hard-core fair-minded people to speak up, and we’ll pull that 60 percent [of people in the middle] over to our side. That's really what I think our strategy has to be. We have to quit being afraid of the religious right. We also have to quit — I’m trying to find a way to say this. I’m trying not to say, '[F—] 'em!' which is what I want to say, because I don’t care what they think! [audience laughter] Drop dead!" - Link
.
Don't you see the similarity between these homosexual activists and the bishop's attitudes cited above? Can't you see the mindset, and may God forbid, the collusion of principle? For those who are above being scandalized by anything, and who deny there is any gay agenda or lavender mafia or promotion of the homosexual lifestyle in our culture, Church and social institutions, all I can say is you are either liars and out to protect yourselves and one another, or culpably in denial. You say you come in "peace" but you have malice in your hearts.
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Connect the f-ing dots and quit making excuses for these people.
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Movie still: Death In Venice
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Why was Bishop Lahey singled out? The sleuthing Fr. Z may have found out - check out his Update to this post: http://wdtprs.com/blog/2009/10/quaeritur-why-airport-security-and-the-bishop-of-antigonish/#comments
Friday, October 02, 2009
N'Obama.
No Olympics for Chicago, USA.
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Obama and his wife, Michelle, had taken their star power to the Danish capital to make Chicago's case, ignoring the carping from Republican opponents who charged it was a bad time to go with foreign policy challenges in Iran and Afghanistan and the U.S. Congress bogged down in a domestic healthcare debate.
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"I'm asking you to choose Chicago. I'm asking you to choose America," Michelle Obama told committee members.
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Her husband said, "If you do, if we walk this path together, then I promise you this: The city of Chicago and the United States of America will make the world proud." - Story
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Obama's is making the U.S. look weak. He ought to have stayed out of it and concentrated on his day job.
Another look at what scandal is and does.
From my POV.
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Many people now know about the arrest of Canadian Bishop Lahey on child pornography charges.
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Once hailed as a brave advocate for survivors of child sexual abuse, Mr. Lahey faces one count of possession and one count of importation of child pornography, after the discovery of images on his laptop computer at Ottawa's airport while he was returning from a foreign visit on Sept. 15.
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Mr. Lahey is well known in Nova Scotia as the bishop who did what no previous Catholic leader had done before: accept responsibility and apologize -- without any resort to litigation -- for the sex-abuse crimes of a former priest in his diocese.
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The victims of that abuse, dating back to the 1950s, are now eligible for compensation from a $15-million out-of-court settlement Lahey negotiated earlier this year.
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Mr. Lahey was in the midst of a difficult fundraising effort across his diocese to generate money for the settlement, when he was pulled aside by Canada Border Services agents for a random check of his laptop at Ottawa International." Read more: http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=2055255#ixzz0Sn7PPfOg
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I think it possible, and I hope it is true, that this bishop is innocent of the charges and that the material on his laptop was simply part of his private investigation and research. In the meantime, I noticed on another blog that people in his diocese are talking about leaving the Church if these rumors prove to be true.
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Commenter's mean well when they say things like, "I will not leave because of some man's sin or bad example. If these people really knew their faith - they would not leave the Church." On one level that makes sense and I understand the goodwill behind that statement - nevertheless a bishop's fall from grace, if it be true, is huge. Bishops are our shepherds in the faith - they are our leaders and teachers in the faith. When they fall, or when a priest falls, it is a terrible scandal.
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The effects of scandal.
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Scandal leads to sin and many times, loss of faith. One's faith can be shaken even when one claims to know one's faith. The bishops and priests who scandalize the faithful by their sins and or apostasy, they too know their faith - just as well if not better than the people they lead. And yet - they betray the faith, fall into sin, and sometimes apostatize entirely.
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So we should never think we are safe from scandal because we know our faith. We shouldn't be too harsh about those who leave the Church because of scandal. Catholics have to understand that this is exactly what scandal does and means - to scandalize someone is to cause them to sin, to lose faith. If the accusations against Bishop Lahey are proven to be true, this bishop scandalized his people.
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We need to pray for the real victims - the people who are scandalized and the victims of the pornography industry. As for the Bishop, if the charges are true, unless he repents and makes amends it would have been better if he had never been born.
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St. Paul explains that our brothers and sisters in faith who are scandalized are weak - Christ refers to them as little ones - they have faith, but it is weak, and scandal can rob them of it.
"Extend a kind welcome to those who are weak in faith... we must no longer pass judgement on one another. Instead you should resolve to put no stumbling block or hindrance in your brother's way." - Romans 14. Knowledge of the faith is not a competition, someone who appears to be unaffected by a public sin because his faith is strong is not better than the believer whose faith is weak and suffers scandal. It is not the same thing as priding oneself upon scholastic achievement while disparaging the under-educated.
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Little children (simple, ordinary folk) do not have to understand the faith in order to believe. In truth, anyone can have the gift of faith taken away or destroyed by those who cause scandal. Especially when the ones who cause scandal are those who know the faith, who understand the faith - those who have ears to hear, eyes to see, and so on.
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People have to understand this and stop feeling sorry and making excuses for the bastards who take advantage of their positions to exploit the weak and give scandal to little ones. "Scandals will inevitably arise, but woe to him through whom they come. He would be better off thrown into the sea with a millstone around his neck than giving scandal to one of these little ones." - Luke 17
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Intellectual pride.
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Today we place so much emphasis on intellectual knowledge and knowing the answers to theological questions, that isn't a bad thing at all. That is why the Catholic Church has a catechism, and why those in positions of leadership and teaching are trained in theology. It is a good thing. Nevertheless, our knowledge and academic achievements often become for us a source of pride and self-assurance. Our knowledge will not save us - our faith will. Yes, we must nurture our faith with prayer, the sacraments, and study, and exercise it in good works - but we need to remember it is a gift and can be lost... Lost though it can be, one still retains all of that knowledge.
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Think of the people who left the Church who know our religion, our faith better than ourselves. I know a woman at a Catholic company who knew just about every Vatican document, understood dogma and knew her scriptures. She left the Church and returned to her old religion, Wicca. She still works at the same company because she is so knowledgeable about the faith and Catholic devotions.
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I know another woman who had been a novice with a well known religious order - a "good one" as people like to qualify them. Her spiritual director was a fine priest from a traditional order, well known for his sound theology and spirituality, a priest faithful to prayer - rising in the night for adoration - even when he was spending the night in the same bed with his little novice. They both knew their faith, and practiced the devotions to sustain it. Father had been helping sister through some sexual difficulties through his interpretation of JPII's theology of the body. Kind of scandalous huh? She is no longer a candidate for religious life and is having troubles with her faith.
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I once prided myself on believing so firmly and completely in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, my faith "fixed on Jesus" convinced me that my own faith could never be shaken. Until two religious superiors I greatly esteemed abandoned their vocations, one to found a new order, the other to pursue an academic career and "come out". I knew my faith. I had experienced many graces. My eyes were fixed upon Jesus. I couldn't admit it at the time, nevertheless I was deeply scandalized - my faith was shaken, and I fell away - for a couple of years. It is a miracle that I came back.
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I hope to never, ever again say things like - "How can they leave just because some man sinned or disappointed them - I know my faith, I understand my faith - I'm not going."
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Understand the faith - what does that mean anyway? Can anyone explain the Trinity? Transubstantiation? The Virgin Birth? The Immaculate Conception? Peter knew Christ was the Son of God, yet he denied him. Judas, who was anything but honest, betrayed him. They both knew their faith. A person could speculate that one man, Peter, had been scandalized and therefore fell away. While the other man, Judas, became a part, if not the source of scandal - thus it was better for him to have never been born.
Thursday, October 01, 2009
More Rembert Weakland stuff...
What happened to the Catholic Church in the United States.
.
Though I often play the fool, I really do know that the official documents of Vatican II do not say what the spirit of the Council advocates have always said they do. I had to study the Vatican II documents, and I continue to reference sections every so often - I also grew up with the spirit of the Council propaganda. This fight is 40 years old now... yet only now does it seem a remnant of faithful Catholics are waking up to realize the enemy was within. That "smoke of Satan" thing people couldn't figure out...
.
It is not that we weren't warned either - it was what Traditionalists were saying all along, but now, after the scandals exposed chinks in the great facade of the American Church, along with tell-all books like archbishop Weakland's memoirs, we are getting a much better perspective on what happened to diminish Catholic identity and practice after the Council.
.
That said, Russell Shaw, who worked for the bishop's conference as Secretary of Public Affairs from 1969 to 1987, has an insightful review of Weakland's lament - memoir - and he succinctly sets forth, what I think is a very accurate interpretation of the post conciliar upheaval. Shaw poises two points of view. (I apologize for the length.)
.
"A Pilgrim in a Pilgrim Church needs to be read by faithful Catholics: not, God knows, to be persuaded by it but to learn from it. It’s like studying photographic negatives—reality reversed, dark turned into light, light into dark. In these plodding pages it becomes clear how some prominent and not-so-prominent people in the Church went disastrously wrong in the last 40 years and why correcting the harm they did is so difficult now.
.
Rembert Weakland was more intelligent than most bishops of his day and his sexual foibles were atypical, but he was a representative American bishop all the same. Usually, he notes, he’s called a “Jadot bishop,” a reference to the late Archbishop Jean Jadot, apostolic delegate in the United States from 1973 to 1980, who did so much to reshape the American hierarchy along “pastoral” lines—pastoral in this instance meaning more permissive, less concerned about orthodoxy and discipline, more open to voices of diversity and liberal dissent.
.
But Archbishop Weakland prefers the designation “Dearden bishop,” and in this he’s correct. Cardinal John Dearden was archbishop of Detroit from 1959 to 1980. As the first post-Vatican II president of what was then called the National Conference of Catholic Bishops/United States Catholic Conference (now, the USCCB), he gave the Church in America the national episcopal conference in its modern, bureaucratized, activist form, as later he was to give it the notorious, left-leaning Call To Action Conference of 1976. His influence is visible in the careers and leadership styles of a generation of American bishops with names like Bernardin, Quinn, Roach, and Malone. It persists even now via the old-boy patronage system in the hierarchy.
.
At this point it’s useful to recall that there are two radically different versions of the story of American Catholicism in the four decades after Vatican II. Which you subscribe to tells much about where you come down on many key issues in the Church.
.
The first version sees these years divided into two sections. The first, starting with the council’s close in 1965 and continuing until 1978, was filled with turmoil and dissent. Rectories, convents, and seminaries emptied. New vocations to the priesthood and religious life fell precipitously. After the brave gesture of Humanae Vitae in 1968 and the violent reaction against it, Pope Paul VI grew increasingly weary and depressed. The Church seemed to be rushing toward collapse. But 1978 brought the election of John Paul II as pope, and collapse was averted.
.
Version number two divides this era the same way, but sees the two periods very differently. In this view, the years from 1965 to 1978 were in many ways a golden age when heroic figures battled reactionaries over the renewal of Catholic life, by and large (except for setbacks like Humanae Vitae) emerging on top. Then came 1978, the death of Paul VI, the election of John Paul II. Suddenly the emphasis in Rome was on thwarting renewal—a project that continues to this very day under Benedict XVI.
.
Archbishop Weakland subscribes to this second version of history. As Abbot Primate in Paul VI’s Rome during the post-council years he was a Vatican insider and, in his own sphere of influence, an important player in renewal. He returned to America in 1977 as archbishop of Milwaukee full of hope. Under John Paul II, however, a new ice age set in—an age of authoritarianism, centralization, and repression. From being an insider, the archbishop suddenly found himself part of the “loyal minority.”
.
Many things that happened in the postconciliar era are best understood in light of Archbishop Weakland’s diagnosis of immaturity and narcissism among the clergy (to say nothing of women religious), both those who left and those who stayed. The pre-Vatican II formation system produced many admirable priests and religious, but its rigid structures and rules also produced many who proved to be ill-equipped for the fluid and ambiguous ecclesiastical situation immediately after the council.
.
In these years, for long stretches of time, a fundamentally adolescent spirit dominated the much-heralded American Church. Significantly, Archbishop Weakland reports that “sexual awareness”—apparently he means awareness of his homosexuality—arrived for him at the advanced age of 45. Many other priests and religious were similarly late bloomers for whom sexual self-discovery and sexual experimentation belatedly became pressing issues in their lives." - Catholic World Report
.
Links:
.
Inside Catholic
PewsitterNews
.
Though I often play the fool, I really do know that the official documents of Vatican II do not say what the spirit of the Council advocates have always said they do. I had to study the Vatican II documents, and I continue to reference sections every so often - I also grew up with the spirit of the Council propaganda. This fight is 40 years old now... yet only now does it seem a remnant of faithful Catholics are waking up to realize the enemy was within. That "smoke of Satan" thing people couldn't figure out...
.
It is not that we weren't warned either - it was what Traditionalists were saying all along, but now, after the scandals exposed chinks in the great facade of the American Church, along with tell-all books like archbishop Weakland's memoirs, we are getting a much better perspective on what happened to diminish Catholic identity and practice after the Council.
.
That said, Russell Shaw, who worked for the bishop's conference as Secretary of Public Affairs from 1969 to 1987, has an insightful review of Weakland's lament - memoir - and he succinctly sets forth, what I think is a very accurate interpretation of the post conciliar upheaval. Shaw poises two points of view. (I apologize for the length.)
.
"A Pilgrim in a Pilgrim Church needs to be read by faithful Catholics: not, God knows, to be persuaded by it but to learn from it. It’s like studying photographic negatives—reality reversed, dark turned into light, light into dark. In these plodding pages it becomes clear how some prominent and not-so-prominent people in the Church went disastrously wrong in the last 40 years and why correcting the harm they did is so difficult now.
.
Rembert Weakland was more intelligent than most bishops of his day and his sexual foibles were atypical, but he was a representative American bishop all the same. Usually, he notes, he’s called a “Jadot bishop,” a reference to the late Archbishop Jean Jadot, apostolic delegate in the United States from 1973 to 1980, who did so much to reshape the American hierarchy along “pastoral” lines—pastoral in this instance meaning more permissive, less concerned about orthodoxy and discipline, more open to voices of diversity and liberal dissent.
.
But Archbishop Weakland prefers the designation “Dearden bishop,” and in this he’s correct. Cardinal John Dearden was archbishop of Detroit from 1959 to 1980. As the first post-Vatican II president of what was then called the National Conference of Catholic Bishops/United States Catholic Conference (now, the USCCB), he gave the Church in America the national episcopal conference in its modern, bureaucratized, activist form, as later he was to give it the notorious, left-leaning Call To Action Conference of 1976. His influence is visible in the careers and leadership styles of a generation of American bishops with names like Bernardin, Quinn, Roach, and Malone. It persists even now via the old-boy patronage system in the hierarchy.
.
At this point it’s useful to recall that there are two radically different versions of the story of American Catholicism in the four decades after Vatican II. Which you subscribe to tells much about where you come down on many key issues in the Church.
.
The first version sees these years divided into two sections. The first, starting with the council’s close in 1965 and continuing until 1978, was filled with turmoil and dissent. Rectories, convents, and seminaries emptied. New vocations to the priesthood and religious life fell precipitously. After the brave gesture of Humanae Vitae in 1968 and the violent reaction against it, Pope Paul VI grew increasingly weary and depressed. The Church seemed to be rushing toward collapse. But 1978 brought the election of John Paul II as pope, and collapse was averted.
.
Version number two divides this era the same way, but sees the two periods very differently. In this view, the years from 1965 to 1978 were in many ways a golden age when heroic figures battled reactionaries over the renewal of Catholic life, by and large (except for setbacks like Humanae Vitae) emerging on top. Then came 1978, the death of Paul VI, the election of John Paul II. Suddenly the emphasis in Rome was on thwarting renewal—a project that continues to this very day under Benedict XVI.
.
Archbishop Weakland subscribes to this second version of history. As Abbot Primate in Paul VI’s Rome during the post-council years he was a Vatican insider and, in his own sphere of influence, an important player in renewal. He returned to America in 1977 as archbishop of Milwaukee full of hope. Under John Paul II, however, a new ice age set in—an age of authoritarianism, centralization, and repression. From being an insider, the archbishop suddenly found himself part of the “loyal minority.”
.
Many things that happened in the postconciliar era are best understood in light of Archbishop Weakland’s diagnosis of immaturity and narcissism among the clergy (to say nothing of women religious), both those who left and those who stayed. The pre-Vatican II formation system produced many admirable priests and religious, but its rigid structures and rules also produced many who proved to be ill-equipped for the fluid and ambiguous ecclesiastical situation immediately after the council.
.
In these years, for long stretches of time, a fundamentally adolescent spirit dominated the much-heralded American Church. Significantly, Archbishop Weakland reports that “sexual awareness”—apparently he means awareness of his homosexuality—arrived for him at the advanced age of 45. Many other priests and religious were similarly late bloomers for whom sexual self-discovery and sexual experimentation belatedly became pressing issues in their lives." - Catholic World Report
.
Links:
.
Inside Catholic
PewsitterNews
.
Photo: Separated at birth photo - Phil Silvers as Weakland.
The Little Flower
Many of us prefer the photographs of the Saint to most paintings of her, even this one painted by her talented sister Celine. But did you know that Celine modeled the expression we see here from that of how Therese looked immediately after death?.
"...In 1905, at the urgent request of the community I painted a picture of Therese as she appeared immediately after death. For a model, I used the photo taken in the infirmary on October 1. The sisters who had been her contemporary considered my portrait a perfect likeness of our Saint. It was this picture that was published in all the editions of Histoire d'une Ame, after 1906." - My Sister St. Therese
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A blessed feast day to all on this joyful feast of Little Therese.
Hand sanitizing stations.
And the loss of faith..
After Adoration yesterday I asked one of the women, "What's with the holy water fonts being empty?"
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"Oh, they were removed because of the flu pandemic - there are hand sanitizing stations instead." The woman, a retired nurse, explained it as if it was a necessary precaution.
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"Whose idea was that?" I asked.
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Another lady snapped, "The Archbishop's!"
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"Really?" I asked. "I didn't hear that."
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"Well he's gonna have to say something..."
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I let it go. Canada is doing it already. But get this, they are going to permit Communion under both species, with this stipulation: "Chalices must be wiped down after each use, and then turned a quarter of the way before being passed to the next person." - Source "Wiped down" - nice terminology.
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On closer investigation however, I found the official instructions from the diocese which explained: Withdrawing Communion from the cup is stage 1 precautions, while removing holy water is stage 2. Link (In the event there is a widespread outbreak mind you.) Therefore I suspect it is over-zealous parish council members, staff and liturgists who may jumping the gun on this one. (I always wonder who runs the churches - the hired help or the ordained minister.)
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I see very little faith these days.
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Locally, Archbishop Nienstedt is warning that parishes and parochial schools may be closing. As it is - so it seems to me - many existing parishes have good sized staff of parish workers and lay volunteers. Nice facilities - albeit ugly, desacralized churches - or worship spaces - with gathering spaces suitable for receptions, and ever-renovated worship spaces suitable for concerts and liturgical dance recitals.
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Since reading Weakland's memoirs, I've marveled at the changes Vatican II ushered in - and one cannot simply blame the spirit of the Council either. Many of the changes undermined Catholic faith better and faster than the Reformation. Churches were stripped of liturgical art and architecture - costly works paid for with money from the hard working faithful who sacrificed much, only to see the ornament and objects of devotion they provided ripped out and demolished by iconoclast bishops and pastors. Altars and communion rails were torn out to create auditoriums; statues and confessionals were junked to be picked up by scrap and scavenger businesses.
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Critics will say, "But it is all going back now - things are getting better - the reform of the reform is happening." Really, Pollyanna? Is that why modern teachers, clergy and other 'reformers' hate the word Tridentine or anything to do with the Council of Trent? What about high profile Catholic priests like McBrien who say that Eucharistic Adoration is a step backward? When the leading Catholic university in America rewards the pro-abortion President while prosecuting peaceful protesters against such departures from Catholic teaching? And what about the corruption in the USCCB?
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Since the Council nuns and monks left their convents, abandoned their apostolate to do social work, explore new age spirituality, or whatever it is they do do, while not a few priests abandoned vows and morality and ended up leaving ministry. Nobody is there. Few are coming. Relativism has infected Catholic doctrine... people do not go to church. So we are closing them.
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Yes - I see a lot of stuff that is wrong. You have a healthy parish, a thriving local church? Good for you.
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I still insist, what the Protestant Reformation couldn't do, the post conciliar Church accomplished. What the French Revolution began is coming to fruition today.
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Photo: Weakland's wreckovation of the Cathedral
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