News on this blog February 26, 2010
Posted by Tantumblogo in Admin.comments closed
I have some news on the blog. I’m going to start cross-posting at http://www.dfwcatholic.org/ beginning this weekend. You’ll see my posts both here and there. I appreciate very much the folks at metrocatholic for extending this opporunity, and I think it will be very interesting to reach a larger audience. I thank God for his grace is allowing this blog to reach others.
Also, next week I will have more analysis on Dr. Rick Gaillardetz and his upcoming conference at St. Mark in Plano. You’ll love it. Him? Maybe not so much.
On radio again! Sat. Feb.27 @ 4p February 26, 2010
Posted by Tantumblogo in awesomeness, Dallas Diocese.comments closed
I’ll be on Jim and Vicki Middleton’s excellent Life and Liberty show on 660 AM KSKY tomorrow at 4. We’re going to be talking about Dr. Gaillardetz coming to St. Mark parish in Plano.
Listen in!
Traditional Latin Mass February 26, 2010
Posted by Tantumblogo in Dallas Diocese, General Catholic, Latin Mass, North Deanery, scandals.comments closed
Since Summorum Pontificum was released in 2007, there have been great hopes among a number of the faithful that the availability of what is called the Traditional Latin Mass, or Mass according to the Rite of Blessed John XXIII, would become more widespread. Unfortunately, this has not been the case. Many bishops have chosen to interpret portions of Canon Law pertaining to the bishop’s insurance that all Masses celebrated in their diocese have sufficient ‘quality,’ as a means to limit the availability of this form of the Mass. This may be due to genuine concerns over the ability of celebrants to lead such a Mass, or due to a hostility towards the Traditional Latin Mass. In our own diocese, I know that efforts by the faithful to have a Latin Mass of any type (Traditional, Novus Ordo) celebrated in the North Deanery have been unsuccessful. I won’t elaborate on that, for now.
Because this appears to be a quite widespread phenomenon, the Pontifical Commision Ecclesia Dei has been working on a document that is supposed to spell out, very clearly, the conditions under which Traditional Latin Mass is to be made available. Many feel that this document will remove many of the impediments that have been placed before this form of the Holy Mass. I pray their hopes are not unfounded. I have become of the opinion that, no matter what document eminates from Rome, if a local ordinary is opposed to something, he can pretty much insure it won’t happen, or at least limit the heck out of it. That has been my experience, you could say.
Nevertheless, we should look on the good side. There are two locations currently celebrating the Traditional Latin Rite in the Dallas area. The first is the Mater Dei Latin Mass Church in Irving, offering Latin Mass daily and on Sundays. The second is the Carmelite Chapel in Dallas, located at 600 Flowers, Dallas 75201, near Loop 12 and I-30 in southwest Dallas. The Mass at the Carmelite Chapel is celebrated on Friday nights, typically at 8 pm, but call ahead to 214-704-4541 to make sure.
Latin Mass, traditional or Novus Ordo, is a beautiful thing. I pray that it will become more widely available, because it is very powerful in the graces it confers and provides a tremendous strengthening of our Catholic identity.
Fr. Thomas Euteneuer on Lent February 26, 2010
Posted by Tantumblogo in awesomeness, General Catholic, Lent.comments closed
Fr. Thomas Euteneuer, director of Human Life International, has a great commentary on what we can all do for Lent. Yes, I’m late getting to this, but if you haven’t started any spiritual exercises for Lent, it is not too late! Don’t think, “oh, I didn’t get started on Ash Wednesday, so I’ll just wait till next year.” It’s not too late to start!
As Fr. Euteneuer states, Lent is a time for spiritual growth, not so much personal growth. Giving up fat foods or cigarettes for Lent is great, but that’s not the main point. The main point is to grow spiritually – to unite our sufferings to Christ’s and grow closer to Him as we move closer to Holy Week. If you do so, and really participate deeply and meaningfully in Holy Week, you can achieve immense spiritual growth, and reap many graces for yourself in this life and the next (God willing). Follow Fr. Euteneuer’s advice, and use the resources I linked to previously or something you come up on your own. It’s definitely not too late to get into the sacrificial spirit of Lent.
Another diocese to withold CCHD contributions in 2010 February 26, 2010
Posted by Tantumblogo in General Catholic, scandals.comments closed
Last year, at least 6 diocese, and possibly more, withheld funds from the CCHD collection. These diocese included Birmingham, AL, Tulsa, OK, Madison, WI, Lincoln NE, Bend, OR, St. Augustine, FL, and Allentown, PA. Given the additional information that has been revealed concerning CCHD so far in 2010, you would expect there would be more diocese refusing this collection, and you would be right. The diocese of Green Bay, WI, has also announced, very early, that it will direct funds taken up during the November CCHD collection to Peter’s Pence and Catholic Relief Services.
It’s pretty odd to see such an early announcement – the CCHD collection normally happens near Thanksgiving. The Bishop of Green Bay must be signalling his view that the recent information that has come to light regarding CCHD is both compelling and damning, inspite of the USCCB’s attempts to spin and silence the controversy away.
Look to see more of this as time goes on. There have been numerous reports of different groups that are pro-abort, pro-contraception, and/or pro-gay marriage, that have come to light so far this year. There has been no substantive reply from the USCCB on any of these allegations (and, I think they are more than allegations, they are almost conclusive proof) – allegations which involve millions of dollars supporting organizations with agendas that are odds with Church doctrine. At some point, Bishop Morin, the head of the CCHD, and the rest of the USCCB will have to respond – this story is not going away.
Continue to pray for those at the USCCB and CCHD that they will realize that there is never any reason to fund any group that has a pro-abort or other agenda contrary to Church teaching, no matter how good any other work they do may be (and in the case of these groups, that work is generally NOT very worthy). And please pray that the bishops in conference will either completely reform CCHD or disband it. There needs to be a serious discussion as to whether organizations founded to do nothing more than agitate from a far-left perspective are worthy of Church support. I think the logic behind the creation of CCHD is weak (it’s all Alinsky-ite in nature), and contrary to Church doctine by its very nature.
Another great video February 26, 2010
Posted by Tantumblogo in General Catholic, scandals.comments closed
In a recent post, I commented that Michael Voris, STB of www.realcatholictv.com has been doing yeoman’s work in critiquing certain views of Catholicism. He continues today, in the video below. Today, Voris continues his examination of the part of the Church which views itself, or can be described as, ‘liberal’ or ‘progressive.’ Voris criticizes these elements due to their tendency, at least as far as can be seen in public, to strongly favor certain Church doctrine over others, and their tendency to misrepresent or misunderstand that teaching they favor in order for it to align with their political preferences. I think his criticisms are pretty valid, especially regarding the makeup of alot of the bureaucracy in the Church at the national level, but also extending down to the diocesan and parish level.
Now, I think we all have a tendency to interpret our faith through our world-view. And politics, for some of us, can play a large part in that world-view. But, a faithful Catholic is always called to embrace all the beliefs of the Church, and not favor some over others. I think it fair to say there are Catholics who do just this (and there are some who may accuse me of doing so, but I would disagree). This is Voris’ concern – that the bureaucracy at USCCB and other parts of the Church have become dominated by groups of individuals who have a strongly progressive mindset, and interpret Church doctrine through that mindset. They then discard parts of that doctrine that don’t fit into the progressive mold. I think there is a great deal of evidence to support this claim. All the recent scandals at USCCB with CCHD and the tendency to support radical groups with pro-abort and pro-homosexual marriage agendas are associated with progressive politics. The faithful need to take strong steps, including witholding of funds if necessary, in order to express our collective dismay at the deviance from Church doctrine that support of these grousp represents. More on this later.
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