Another bishop favors a “clarification” of VII January 18, 2011
Posted by Tantumblogo in awesomeness, Basics, Dallas Diocese, General Catholic, Latin Mass, North Deanery, sadness, scandals.comments closed
Last summer, I read a recent book by Msgr. Bruno Gherardini requested…….nay, begged…..the Pope to establish a group of Church experts to review the documents of Vatican II and issue clarifications on them, clarifications of an authoritative nature, in order to end the “discontinuity” that exists between the actual documents of Vatican II, and what those documents say, and what certain elements within the Church like to claim those documents say. This discontinuity also represents a breach with the solemn Tradition of the Church, Tradition practiced over the bimillenial history of the Church. This book was endorsed by some big names – Bishop Olivieri in Italy and Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith of Sri Lanka. It was published by the very good Franciscans of the Immaculate. You can add now another name calling for that ‘clarification’ – the good Bishop Athanasius Schneider, improbably of Kazakhstan. What does Bishop Schneider call for?
In recent decades there existed, and still exist today, groupings within the Church that are perpetrating an enormous abuse of the pastoral character of the Council and its texts, written according to this pastoral intention, since the Council did not want to present its own definitive or unalterable teachings. From the same pastoral nature of the texts of the Council, it can be seen that its texts are in principle open to supplementation and to further doctrinal clarifications. Keeping in mind the now decades-long experience of interpretations that are doctrinally and pastorally mistaken and contrary to the bimillennial continuity of the doctrine and prayer of the faith, there thus arises the necessity and urgency of a specific and authoritative intervention of the pontifical magisterium for an authentic interpretation of the conciliar texts, with supplementation and doctrinal clarifications; a sort of “Syllabus” of the errors in the interpretation of Vatican Council II.
There is the need for a new Syllabus, this time directed not so much against the errors coming from outside of the Church, but against the errors circulated within the Church by supporters of the thesis of discontinuity and rupture, with its doctrinal, liturgical, and pastoral application.
Such a Syllabus should consist of two parts: the part that points out the errors, and the positive part with proposals for clarification, completion, and doctrinal clarification.
In essence, there have been two impediments preventing the true intention of the Council and its magisterium from bearing abundant and lasting fruit.
One was found outside of the Church, in the violent process of cultural and social revolution during the 1960’s, which like every powerful social phenomenon penetrated inside the Church, infecting with its spirit of rupture vast segments of persons and institutions.
The other impediment was manifested in the lack of wise and at the same time intrepid pastors of the Church who might be quick to defend the purity and integrity of the faith and of liturgical and pastoral life, not allowing themselves to be influenced by flattery or fear
Bishop Schneider does claim there are two opposing poles that impede the true implementation of the council – those who seek to water down and “prostentantize” Catholicism, and those who reject the council from a traditional standpoint. In terms of the size and scope of these poles, and the influence they have had on the Church, the latter is almost negligible compared to the former, and emerged largely as a reaction to the former, so it’s a bit of a strained relationship, in my view.
Good stuff nonetheless. In a larger article on the same subject, it appears noted Professor Roberto de Mattei has also requested a “new examination of the conciliar” documents in light of tradition, specifically asking Pope Benedict XVI to initiation this examination.
How is the apostolic visitation of women’s religious going? January 18, 2011
Posted by Tantumblogo in Basics, disaster, General Catholic, religious, sadness, scandals.comments closed
In brief, not good. According to an article in Catholic World Report, the desperately needed apostolic visitation of women’s religious has been a great struggle, with widespread opposition, and even some hints of intimidation from superiors of certain orders who are determined not to allow any change to their communities. A questionairre that was part of the process and inquired about various aspects of the life of religious communities has met the most oppostion, whereas it appears that the actual on-site visits have gone somewhat better. There is also a very large difference in response between the, yes, I’ll say it, radicals at the helm of LCWR and some of the orders, and the women who make up the lion share of these communities. I am skeptical any great changes are going to come out of this investigation – I think inertia will set in and the Vatican will let the inevitability of biology solve their problem for them. A brief exerpt:
The policy of the visitation office and the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life has been not to respond to criticism and attacks, apparently to preserve confidentiality and dignity for the process. So, too, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and Bishop Blair have refused to discuss the doctrinal assessment of the LCWR. However well intended, this policy has allowed misinformation and innuendo to be widely circulated without accurate explanations, thus giving ammunition to critics of the visitation and the doctrinal assessment and conveying the false impression that most sisters oppose the studies.
For example, a CNN segment on September 17, 2010 was titled “American nuns take on the Vatican.” It featured Loretto Sister Maureen Fiedler speaking on WAMU radio in Washington, DC. Sister Maureen opined that the Vatican wants to control sisters “in every aspect of their lives,” silencing sisters and forcing them back into habits and behind convent walls. In the same segment, Sister Marlene Weisenbeck, FSPA, past president of the LCWR, complained that the Vatican was testing the “authenticity and integrity” of sisters and that many sisters are alarmed by so-called intrusive questions posed by the all-male hierarchy.
In an October 18, 2010 story produced by WGN television, Sister Patricia Crowley, prioress of the Benedictine Sisters of Chicago and a member of the LCWR national board, said there was no clear rationale for the visitation, and stated, “I don’t know of anybody that’s too happy about it.” She said that sisters are offended by the visitation because they are simply doing what they are supposed to be doing.
Indeed, much of the lamestream Catholic media has been complicit in painting a picture of this investigation as some heavy handed act of authority from Rome, and not as it really is – a desperate measure intended to save many of these orders populated by radicalized feminists and “post-Christian” theologians from committing suicide. As I said, it appears the leadership at the LCWR and among many of the orders are reluctant to accept any such aid. There are many good women striving to lead holy lives in these orders. Their suffering has been great – I pray they offer it up and receive much Grace.
Voris on lukewarm Catholicism January 18, 2011
Posted by Tantumblogo in Abortion, Basics, Dallas Diocese, disaster, General Catholic, North Deanery, sadness, scandals, Society.comments closed
I wrote yesterday about Cardinal Bernadin and the seeming dimunition of his, to me, unfortunate, influence on the Church in this country. Bernadin was a huge proponent of the “middle way,” but his middle way assumed the US was a left to center-left country – a belief many elites definitely shared in the 60s and 70s, and something which many elites, of course, continue to share. He was also a huge proponent of “keeping the Church in play,” which you will see if you read the article I linked to. The problem with these “ways” was that it seemed to allow for alot of dissent – as any orthodox Catholic of a certain age will tell you, while dissent was always seemingly tolerated, if not endorsed, in much of the episcopal leadership of the 60s-90s (and still today, to a degree), nothing would earn a smackdown quicker than being an orthodox, faithful Catholic. Voris is having none of it:
“throw money in the collection basket”
I have been told by priests that, if they were too forthright in proclaiming the Truth Christ has revealed through His Church, attendance AND collections would plummet. These priests seek to keep the lukewarm faithful “in play.” They don’t challenge them enough so that some might leave, but they also permit them to stay in their poorly formed, one foot in one foot out mode of faith. This is a tragedy. I don’t know how you could have this kind of attitude if you truly feel, passionately, that souls are at stake, that not all receive salvation, and that committing mortal sin on a regular basis is beyond dreadful – it’s like playing Russian roulette. Jesus tells us through Sacred Scripture that he who sins bears culpability, but that if his brother does not confront this sin and try to shake the miscreant out of it, that brother takes on those sins as his own. The first spiritual work of mercy is correction, and all priests must share the Truth without reservation or with undue concern for “political aspects,” such as how many people it may offend who may be mired in that sin. That is why you almost never hear a priest give a sermon on contraception – so many Catholics use contraception, and will be offended if they are told they are committing sin (will they say to God’s Face, at their judgement, that He is wrong?), that they are afraid the people will just leave. So they try to “keep them in play” by not challenging them on their sin.
It is to weep.
Voris on contraception:
Fantastic pro-life video January 18, 2011
Posted by Tantumblogo in Abortion, awesomeness, Basics, Dallas Diocese, General Catholic, North Deanery, Society.comments closed
The Eucharist, pro-life – what’s not to like. From the redoubtable Fr. Larry Adamcyzk:
Abortion responsibility for 300,000 breast cancer deaths January 18, 2011
Posted by Tantumblogo in Abortion, Basics, Dallas Diocese, disaster, General Catholic, North Deanery, sadness, scandals, Society.comments closed
And I would wager that’s on the low side, but an endocrinologist at Baruch College in New York, and not someone with ties to pro-life groups, has looked at the ties between abortion and breast cancer and found that at least 300,000 women have died from breast cancer they developed as a result of procured abortion:
A leading breast cancer researcher says abortion has caused at least 300,000 cases of breast cancer causing a woman’s death since the Supreme Court allowed virtually unlimited abortion in its 1973 case.
With tens of millions of abortions since the high court’s decision and research confirming abortion increases the risk of contracting breast cancer, undoubtedly a large number of breast cancer cases, caused by abortion, have occurred over the last 38 years.Professor Joel Brind, an endocrinologist at Baruch College in New York, worked with several scientists on a 1996 paper published in the Journal of Epidemiol Community Health showing a “30% greater chance of developing breast cancer” for women who have induced abortions. He recently commented on how many women have become victims.
“If we take the overall risk of breast cancer among women to be about 10% (not counting abortion), and raise it by 30%, we get 13% lifetime risk,” Brind explains. Using the 50 million abortions since Roe v. Wade figure, we get 1.5 million excess cases of breast cancer. At an average mortality of 20% since 1973, that would mean that legal abortion has resulted in some 300,000 additional deaths due to breast cancer since Roe v. Wade.”
Brind said his estimate excludes deaths from the use of abortion to delay first full term pregnancies – a recognized breast cancer risk.
Not so fast, abortion proponents say! We have plenty of studies that show there is no abortion-breast cancer risk! Uhhh…..
“Experts proved in medical journals that nearly all of the roughly 20 studies denying the link are seriously flawed (fraudulent). Like the tobacco-cancer cover-up, these are used to snow women into believing abortion is safe,” Malec added.
But that’s not all – contraception and delaying the age at which the first child is conceived also play a role:
Induced abortion boosts breast cancer risk because it stops the normal physiological changes in the breast that occur during a full term pregnancy and that lower a mother’s breast cancer risk. A woman who has a full term pregnancy at 20 has a 90% lower risk of breast cancer than a woman who waits until age 30.
By the end of her pregnancy, 85% of her breast tissue is cancer resistant. Each pregnancy thereafter decreases her risk a further 10%.
God created a certain natural law. That law intends that people will be fruitful and multiply. While the discussion above does not directly state that oral contraceptive use can lead to breast cancer, other studies have shown a strong link, and oral contraceptive use is a huge factor in delayed first pregnancy. So many of us have been fooled by the culture, by well meaning family (and even priests!), and by our own……preferences……into jumping onto the contraceptive bandwagon at some point in our lives. That does not mean we cannot grow wiser and more open to God’s creative love by choosing to leave this huge area of our lives open to God’s Will. So few Catholics today live as married Catholics did for ages – open to God’s creative Will. I pray this great scandal will cease, and soon.
A little Franciscan spirituality January 18, 2011
Posted by Tantumblogo in awesomeness, Basics, General Catholic, religious.comments closed
From the great Franciscans of the Immaculate, founded by St. Maximillian Kolbe:
My Daily Eucharist:
On awakening, make the sign of the cross.
On arising say: “O Sacrament Most Holy, O Sacrament Divine! All praise and all thanksgiving be every moment thine. Blessed be the Holy and Immaculate Conception of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God.”
Adore our Lord as your King who has called you today to work in his amiable service and for his honor and glory. Render him this day the homage of your mind, your heart, your body and your life for he deserves it all.
Thank our Lord for having kept you alive; thank him for all the graces received during your life (baptism, first communion, vocation). Rejoice at the honor and the happiness of spending this whole day in union with our Divine Lord in his Sacrament of love: such a day may be worth an entire life, the whole of Paradise.
Acknowledge your weakness and your defects in your particular vocation. Confess your offenses of yesterday. Detest the power of self-love, the feebleness of your will, the distractions of your mind. Promise our Lord that you will correct your ruling passion; foresee the occasions of relapse and the opportunities of practicing opposite virtues. Remember your resolution for this month and determine for yourself a certain penance in case of failure to keep it.
Ask our Lord for the grace of being more faithful today. Recommend yourself to the Blessed Virgin, to your Guardian Angel and begin work with the help of God’s grace.
Consecrate the whole day to our Eucharistic Jesus. Place yourself in spirit, in his presence and humbly adore him on his nearest throne of Perpetual Exposition or in the nearest Tabernacle.
O sweet Jesus, your goodness and your might have brought me to this morning’s light. Keep and preserve me every hour, from sorrow. sin, temptation’s power. Grant me your blessing, Lord, this day, on all I think and do and say. Jesus for your help I plead. Mary for me intercede.
After making this offering, form your intention to gain all the indulgences of the day. Then hasten to the church for your morning prayers, Holy Mass and Communion.
There is much more at the linka, including wonderful morning prayers from St. Peter Julian Eymard. One thing I’m trying to work on, in imitation of Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity, is to find God – the Trinity, as it were – always dwelling within me. When I am in a less than ideal situation, or any situation, when I can, I strive to try to create a little cell within me where I can worship and serve Him who deservers all my love. I am not a religious by vocation, but I seek to be one through consecration of my heart and soul to the Holy Trinity throughout the entire day, and in those moments where there is chaos or difficulty, I strive to retreat to that little cell and adore the presence of God within me. It’s not always easy to do, it requires some introspection and alot of dying to self, but when I am able to do it, it brings such peace and a sense of joy, to know that God is always indwelling within me through Grace.
Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity, pray for me!
OK, so if it was a little Franciscan AND Carmelite spirituality.
I’m out of control! January 18, 2011
Posted by Tantumblogo in Admin, awesomeness.comments closed
I can’t stop the self-indulgence, but this is too cool! From a low level training range in Wales?
Is the a/c at 2:48 a Folland Gnat?
Make sure to watch it in 720p!
And is it just me, or do the Brits fly lower than the Americans?
Reminder – Eric Genuis concert at St Mark Jan. 18 – today! January 18, 2011
Posted by Tantumblogo in Abortion, Admin, awesomeness, Dallas Diocese, General Catholic, North Deanery.comments closed
Noted composer and pianist Eric Genuis will be performing, with accompaniment, at St. Mark on Wednesday, January 18 at 7 pm. All the details are in the Eric Genuis flyer for St. Mark. The performance is in the church, and is $10 for individuals and $25 for families. He always adds some very inspirational, pro-life commentary in his concerts, and this concert is being conducted in conjunction with the annual Roe v. Wade activities. It should be a great concert, and proceeds will benefit the St. Mark pr0-life efforts.
If I don’t see you there, well, you’re not in the kool kats klub anymore.
A couple more samples of Eric Genuis’ work:
How did the Church survive? January 18, 2011
Posted by Tantumblogo in Basics, blogfoolery, Dallas Diocese, General Catholic, North Deanery, silliness.comments closed
In the continuing dustup over canon lawyer Ed Peters’ claim that married permanent deacons are obligated, under canon law, to forego conjugal relations with their wives, married deacon Greg Kandra claims that such a requirement would gut the permanent diaconate, and then asks:
Does anyone think the vocation could even survive such a 180 degree turnaround? The restoration of the diaconate is one of the great success stories of the Church in the last half century. Do they really want to screw that up?
Interesting claim. How does one define the tens of thousands of deacons added to the ranks of the clergy – kind of – as a success? Just because they are? Could one argue that deacons have undermined belief in and reverence towards the sacramental priesthood and priestly celibacy? I might argue that. Does having ‘sort of’ priests add anything definitive to the Church that is not already supplied by the sacramental priesthood? How did the Church survive 1700 years or so without it, then?
Just askin’……
A Blog for Dallas Area Catholics 