SSPX to get ordinariate? August 23, 2011
Posted by Tantumblogo in Basics, Dallas Diocese, episcopate, General Catholic, Latin Mass.comments closed
The SSPX are a Fraternity of very traditionally minded priests (with some associated) religious who were excommunicated in 1988 by Blessed Pope John Paul II. The reason for the excommunication was due to the ordination of additional bishops for the order. But, in 2009, Pope Benedict XVI lifted the excommunications but the canonical status of the SSPX remained unresolved. However, ‘canonical discussions’ have been ongoing between the SSPX and the Holy See for the last year or more, and it now appears that the Holy See will make an offer of a separate Ordinariate – along the lines of the Anglican Ordinariate – meaning a canonical structure in which the SSPX will report directly to the Pope and not be under any diocesan bishops:
Now [that is, on the Sep. 14 meeting,] the Vatican should subject to Fellay [Bishop Bernard Fellay, head of the SSPX] some memoranda of understanding, clarifying doctrinal points, as for the Council, on the interpretation of the continuity in the reform suggested since December 2005 by Pope Benedict XVI as the more authentic interpretation of the texts of Vatican II.A proposal for a canonical adjustment will be submitted to the Society only if doctrinal difficulties are overcome, and that will resolve the current situation, in which the Lefebvrist community finds itself now. …The proposal which has been studied by the Vatican, would allow Lefebvrists the establishment of an ordinariate similar to that offered by the Pope has to Anglicans who wanted to come into communion with the Roman Catholic Church. In this way, the Fraternity would depend on the Holy See (and specifically on the Ecclesia Dei Commission) and could retain its characteristics without having to answer to the diocesan bishops.
Abby Johnson to reveal Planned Parenthood’s ‘weak link’? August 23, 2011
Posted by Tantumblogo in Abortion, awesomeness, Basics, sadness, scandals, sickness, Society.comments closed
That’s the claim, anyway ……….she’s giong to give a webcast tonight at 8 central, 9 eastern (Tues, Aug. 23), on the ‘hidden weakness that could topple Planned Parenthood’s abortion empire.’ I can’t watch it, we’re going to a requiem Mass, but there are claims she’ll reveal:
- Why a Planned Parenthood clinic director and “employee of the year” changed sides to become an outspoken pro-life advocate
- The shocking truth about Planned Parenthood that was revealed through Abby’s high-stakes legal battle with the abortion giant
- The abortion industry’s #1 greatest fear — and how YOU can help make it come true
- Planned Parenthood’s secret Achilles Heel that could topple its abortion empire like a house of cards
- How to make abortion unavailable in your community … even while it’s still legal
- The most effective way to drive Planned Parenthood — or any other abortion operation — out of your community
- The brand-new tool from Ignatius Press, the powerful film Changing Sides, that you can use to change more hearts and minds about abortion, save more lives … and perhaps even impact eternal souls
I’m going to bet the Achilles’ Heel has something to do with needing low operating margins, meaning cutting corners on abortion mill cleanliness and attention to medical detail. She may claim we can wipe them out by passing laws requiring abortion mills to meet the same cleanliness and medical standards of other day surgery type facilities. But that’s just a guess……..
You can register here for the event. The webcast is free.
Modesty is an essential virtue August 23, 2011
Posted by Tantumblogo in Basics, Dallas Diocese, foolishness, General Catholic, North Deanery, sadness, scandals, Society, Virtue.comments closed
Modesty is one of the moral virtues, but one much ignored in our present culture. Modesty of dress, in particular, has fallen by the wayside in many people’s considerations regarding what they wear. A recent post at Renew America (meh), proposes a hypothetical letter to a priest, where the subject of immodest dress at Mass comes up. The writer describes a semi-circular Church design, where people on one side are often all too visible to those on the other side of the half-circle. The writer describes an exchange between a young man and a priest in the confessional, wherein the young man relates the fact that his occasions and near occasions of sin are occurring at Mass, due to scantily clad women.
I have experienced exactly that problem. In a traditional church layout, all the people would face the same direction, with the pews in front blocking much of the view. If someone was dressed immodestly, the temptation is limited to a small area. But in many churches built in the last few decades, there are often occasions when people face each other. There is one church I’ve been to down in Boerne that is really bad in this regard – the church seating is set up like a football stadium with congregants on both sides of a center aisle. One has to look way down to one side to see the altar, and the priest tends to theatrically stroll up and down the large aisle during his homily. You can’t help but see people plenty on the other side, especially those who sit in the front row. I remember being there once, and there were several young ladies, likely still in their teens, wearing extremely short skirts. It was very distracting (along with the entire layout of the church, which was and is heavily biased towards the ‘community’ aspect of the Mass), and, frankly, a certain near occasion of sin for me, and possibly an occasion of serious sin both for others, and for the ladies so dressed. Yet another reason to favor traditional church design, and to stop having our church layouts specified by diocesan ‘liturgical committees) and architects focused primarily on sightlines, ingress and egress, and other really secondary considerations.
Fr. Acervo has some comments on the virtue of modesty. While I do believe that priests should give regular sermons (at least once or twice a year) on the necessity of being both chaste in behavior and modest in dress, really, the practice of this virtue must start at home:
Modesty (which I’ve written about before HERE) is a virtue that must be taught at home and practiced everywhere, not only at church. Modesty is about self-respect, treating one’s own dignity with care. How do people expect to be treated with respect when they don’t treat themselves with respect by dressing so immodestly?
It’s also about not being an occasion of sin to others. Both men and women need to be mindful of the messages their attire sends to other people. Yes, we are responsible for the custody of our eyes. But we must be careful not to be a source of temptation: “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea” (Mt 18:6).
Parents, protect your children’s beauty and dignity by teaching them how to be modest.
The author goes on to make some other excellent points in the article which you can read HERE. His point about weddings is spot on. A majority of weddings that I have done have involved people who were not appropriately dressed either in the bridal party or in the congregation. [In fact, I have found that weddings, even those celebrated in churches, seem to have morphed in to trolling grounds for unmarried (especially young) people. Far too many young ladies dress very immodestly at weddings, wearing many of the same clothes they would wear out to a nightclub (which isn’t the right thing to do in the first place). It is at times difficult to assent to assist at a wedding because of the the likelihood of scandal] People simply have forgotten (or have never been taught) how to act in church – talking, immodest clothing, eating, and drinking. I once saw someone sitting in a pew drinking a cup of coffee. [there is a certain mega-church in town that serves concessions during their services, complete with drink vendors going up and down the aisles of the auditorium. In fact, many of these megachurches do so.]
Here is an excellent sermon on proper behavior at Mass, from Audio Sancto:
Our Place in God\’s Plan for Grace in the World
In the end, it is simply a vice to dress immodestly.
Fullness of Truth Conference in San Antonio August 23, 2011
Posted by Tantumblogo in awesomeness, Basics, Dallas Diocese, Eucharist, General Catholic, Interior Life, Liturgy.comments closed
I’ve been to several Fullness of Truth conferences, and there is one upcoming this weekend in San Antonio at the Hyatt Hill Country Resort. Speakers include Fr. Mitch Pacwa, Dr. Michael Barber, Steve Ray, and Doug Barry and Eric Genuis will perform. The conference will focus on the roots of Catholic (New Testament) Doctrine in the Old Testament. It should be an awesome event.
But, I realize it may be late to plan a trip to San Antonio, child care space is apparently gone, alot of families have started school already, etc., etc. But, for a rather reasonable price ($15), you can watch the conference streamed live on the Fullness of Truth website.
As I said, I’ve been to these conferences before and found them very edifying and great sources of learning about the Faith. Eric Genuis is always a very dynamic and talented performer, with a strong Catholic message.
If you have time this weekend, you might want to sign up for the live stream and catch what you can.
Definitely not for kids – kiddie lingerie August 23, 2011
Posted by Tantumblogo in asshatery, Basics, Dallas Diocese, disaster, foolishness, horror, North Deanery, sadness, scandals, sickness, Society.comments closed
Get the kids out of the room before watching! This has got to be a pederast’s dream:
Talk about the collapse of modesty. This compnay has teeny tiny young girls parading around like Victoria’s Secret models. Good grief – see through panties for 6 year olds? I’m telling you, this is the next big push in the attack on morals – sexualizing children, normalizing pedophilia, and making these amoral, unnatural desires seem healthy and regular. There are elements in our society that would like to see children completely sexualized – from Planned Parenthood and their amoral ‘education’ (really, seduction) programs, that teach children about all kinds of things they don’t need to know, to the lascivious ads for various fashion merchants who use young girls (and boys) in a sexual manner, to the posts I did recently on the push to remove much (or all) of the taboo regarding pedophilia. This society is so incredibly schizophrenic – we dress kids in full body armor before letting them ride a bike, but at the same time we try to turn them into little waify porn stars at kindergarten ages.
But that’s the left. That’s the ‘Brave New World’ – everything is controlled, ordered, ‘planned’ and dominated by oppressive governmental busybodies, except sex – that is a totally unconstrained free for all (in fact, encouraged by the government). That’s the exchange many on the left want to make – government control over all aspects of life except sexuality and morality. There, hedonism is to reign. It is literally Aldous Huxley’s vision come to life.
‘Catholic in good standing’ VP Biden ‘understands’ China’s one child policy August 23, 2011
Posted by Tantumblogo in Abortion, asshatery, Dallas Diocese, disaster, episcopate, Eucharist, General Catholic, sadness, scandals, sickness, Society.comments closed
The living gaffe machine, Vice President Joe Biden, is in China, and made these rather amazing
comments:
What we ended up doing is setting up a system whereby we did cut by $1.2 trillion upfront, the deficit over the next 10 years. And we set up a group of senators that have to come up with another $1.2 to $1.7 trillion in savings or automatically there will be cuts that go into effect in January to get those savings. [OK, so the quote begins with Biden prattling nonsensically regarding supposed “cuts” that haven’t and likely won’t happen. Fight through it, it’s just set up] So the savings will be accomplished. But as I was talking to some of your leaders, you share a similar concern here in China. You have no safety net. Your policy has been one which I fully understand — I’m not second-guessing — of one child per family. The result being that you’re in a position where one wage earner will be taking care of four retired people. Not sustainable. [I agree it’s not sustainable, but the broader point is – ‘I understand your policy of allowing only one child per family, and using forcible abortion and other means to enforce that policy’ – really? So, he understands it, but he says it’s not sustainable – is that a rejection of the policy, then, or? This man rarely makes sense when he talks]
So hopefully we can act in a way on a problem that’s much less severe than yours, and maybe we can learn together from how we can do that. [So, China’s problems are more severe than ours, because of their one child policy? Is this a repudiation of that policy, that he says he ‘understands?’]
Unlike most Catholic bloggers, I think Biden is actually criticizing the one-child policy, implying that China cannot continue to have 4 grandparents producing 1 grand child for long, and I think his statement that he ‘understands’ it was mainly a sop to the audience, to make his criticism less pointed. Still, it’s jarring, and disconcerting and wrong, to see a politician who trades heavily on his Catholic identity publicly claiming that he ‘understands’ a policy that has resulted in hundreds of millions of dead infants, and especially dead baby girls. In fact, it’s a morally reprehensible statement, even if intended only as a sop.
And yet, in spite of decades of statements like this, and, more, public policy actions supporting things directly contrary to the Faith, like protecting abortion “rights,” VP Joe Biden remains a 
‘Catholic in good standing,’ at least formally. While Biden has likely excommunicated himself many times over, there has been no public attestation by any Church leadership to that fact. Although some bishops in recent times have made plain that unrepentant pro-abort politicians, who have been repeatedly counciled to change the positions, in their diocese would face formal excommunication, those bishops have remained rather few and far between and I know of no cases where a politician of note has been so excommunicated. Although Biden’s statement is bewildering and reveals his long-held pro-abort position, the greater scandal is the lack of enforcement of discipline throughout the Church, which has given rise to great scandal and confusion.
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