The New Project

Make sure you visit and bookmark Boniface & Company's (including yours truly) new project at the Unam Sanctam Catholicam web site. It's good stuff on a whole host of Church-related issues, ranging from history to theology to movie reviews. Most folks here should have some exposure to the kind of content I'm talking about thanks to prior linkages to Boniface's blog, which can be found here.

Unam Sanctam Catholicam!

One More Thing Re: Bees

You can read Fr. Emile Warre's book on bees here. Fr. Warre invented the hive design that carries is name. It is a simple beekeeping method that most anyone can probably do.

His book is just excellent though.

I Love Bees

I got my own beehive back in March of this year. I'm not looking to become a honey magnate or anything. It's just something I've always been intrigued by and finally found myself in a position to work on as a hobby.  There's also the fact that my kids find it interesting, so it gives us something to do together.

Even if you're a single guy, though, I highly recommend this.

If I may delve into corniness for a moment, bees make very good teachers. You know that bit from the Gospel about the ravens and the lilies and how God takes care of them? The first thing I learned about beekeeping was that all I was going to do is mess stuff up if I tried to "fix" something for the ladies of the hive. They didn't want or need my help. Eventually, they got the message across.

I have to say that they do have one thing over the lilies/ravens. When it comes to laboring, sowing, etc., the ladies of the hive are about as impressive a force of nature as I can imagine. It's not the destructiveness of hurricanes and tornadoes. Think of the creative opposite. Thousands of tiny little cogs, all whirring around the central axis of the queen, simultaneously fulfilling their duties without gripe or complaint. It's an almost symphonic display of work. They take care of themselves and each other. They don't know violence, except in defense of their own, at which point they will offer their own lives for the common good. Of course, there's also the fact that their work sustains the entire ecosystem by assisting plants with pollination. What a wonderful creature!

Seriously, you can sit and watch them for hours without getting bored.

Anyway, since this is a Catholic blog, I felt obligated to mention how the Church has paid homage to the ladies. If you were at Easter this year, you heard the return of bees to the Exsultet:

On this, your night of grace, O holy Father, accept this candle, a solemn offering, the work of bees and of your servants’ hands, an evening sacrifice of praise, this gift from your most holy Church.

But now we know the praises of this pillar, which glowing fire ignites for God’s honour, a fire into many flames divided, yet never dimmed by sharing of its light, for it is fed by melting wax, drawn out by mother bees to build a torch so precious.

A pox on whoever thought it was a good idea to edit that out for the last how many decades.

More than that, there is a wonderful speech that Venerable Pius XII gave to some beekeepers back in 1948.

Your presence in such large numbers, your desire to assemble before Us, beloved sons, is a real comfort: and so We express our heartfelt gratitude for your homage and your gifts, both particularly pleasing to Us. Beyond its material and technical importance, the work which you represent, by its nature and significance has a psychological, moral, social, and even religious interest of no small value. Have not bees been sung almost universally in the poetry, sacred no less than profane, of all times?

Impelled and guided by instinct, a visible trace and testimony of the unseen wisdom of the Creator, what lessons do not bees give to men, who are, or should be, guided by reason, the living reflection of the divine intellect!

Bees are models of social life and activity, in which each class has its duty to perform and performs it exactly—one is almost tempted to say conscientiously—without envy, without rivalry, in the order and position assigned to each, with care and love. Even the most inexperienced observer of bee culture admires the delicacy and perfection of this work. Unlike the butterfly which flits from flower to flower out of pure caprice; unlike the wasp and the hornet, brutal aggressors, who seem intent on doing only harm with no benefit for anyone, the bee pierces to the very depths of the flower's calix diligently, adroitly, and so delicately, that once its precious treasure has been gathered, it gently leaves the flowers without having injured in the least the light texture of their garments or caused a single one of their petals the loss of its immaculate freshness.

Then, loaded down with sweet-scented nectar, pollen, and propolis, without capricious gyrations, without lazy delays, swift as an arrow, with precise, unerring, certain flight, it returns to the hive, where valorous work goes on intensely to process the riches so carefully garnered, to produce the wax and the honey. . (Virgil, , 4, 169.)

Ah, if men could and would listen to the lesson of the bees: if each one knew how to do his daily duty with order and love at the post assigned to him by Providence; if everyone knew how to enjoy, love, and use in the intimate harmony of the domestic hearth the little treasures accumulated away from home during his working day: if men, with delicacy, and to speak humanly, with elegance, and also, to speak as a Christian, with charity in their dealings with their fellow men, would only profit from the truth and the beauty conceived in their minds, from the nobility and goodness carried about in the intimate depths of their hearts, without offending by indiscretion and stupidity, without soiling the purity of their thought and their love, if they only knew how to assimilate without jealousy and pride the riches acquired by contact with their brothers and to develop them in their turn by reflection and the work of their own minds and hearts; if, in a word, they learned to do by intelligence and wisdom what bees do by instinct—how much better the world would be!

Working like bees with order and peace, men would learn to enjoy and have others enjoy the fruit of their labors, the honey and the was, the sweetness and the light in this life here below.

Instead, how often, alas, they spoil the better and more beautiful things by their harshness, violence, and malice: how often they seek and find in every thing only imperfection and evil, and misinterpreting even the most honest intentions, turn goodness into bitterness!

Let them learn therefore to enter with respect, trust, and charity into the minds and hearts of their fellow men discreetly but deeply; then they like the bees will know how to discover in the humblest souls the perfume of nobility and of eminent virtue, sometimes unknown even to those who possess it. They will learn to discern in the depths of the most obtuse intelligence, of the most uneducated persons, in the depths even of the minds of their enemies, at least some trace of healthy judgment, some glimmer of truth and goodness.

As for you, beloved sons, who while bending over your beehives perform with all care the most varied and delicate work for your bees, let your spirits rise in mystic flight to experience the kindness of God, to taste the sweetness of His word and His law (Ps. 18:11; 118: 103), to contemplate the divine light symbolized by the burning flame of the candle, product of the mother bee, as the Church sings in her admirable liturgy of Holy Saturday: (For it is nourished by the melting wax, which the mother bee produced for the substance of this precious light.)

Yeah, I reproduced the whole thing, but that's because it's awesome. 

Finally, there's actually a blessing of bees, which I will definitely have done next year on the feast of St. Benedict.

O Lord, God almighty, who hast created heaven and earth and every animal existing over them and in them for the use of men, and who hast commanded through the ministers of holy Church that candles made from the products of bees be lit in church during the carrying out of the sacred office in which the most holy Body and Blood of Jesus Christ thy Son is made present and is received; may thy holy blessing descend upon these bees and these hives, so that they may multiply, be fruitful and be preserved from all ills and that the fruits coming forth from them may be distributed for thy praise and that of thy Son and the holy Spirit and of the most blessed Virgin Mary.

Anyways, if you have any kind of yard at all where you live, look into beekeeping. As far as hobbies go, it's not that expensive, it will conform to any vocation or lifestyle.

St. Ambrose, patron of bees, and St. Benedict, patron of beekeepers, pray for us.

An Observation On The Presidential Election

With all the new flak over Mitt Romney and his comments about the 47% (or whatever it is) who don't pay income tax, a not-very-funny thing occurred to me.

On one hand, you seem to have a campaign, whether directly attributable to Romney or not, that seems to be all-in for stirring up feelings of greed and/or selfishness among the electorate.

On the opposing side, you have a push, whether directly from the President or not, that is apparently hell-bent on fanning the flames of envy.

Are we supposed to feel comfortable with either of these choices? Granted, one side is basically the party of Moloch, but this appeal to dueling Deadly Sins isn't giving me any comfort regarding the future of our nation.

This illustrates a problem with our modern form of government. With an electorate that doesn't understand the problems the nation faces, much less the solutions, it's way easier to just lob stuff toward the baser instincts and wait for the fish to start biting. Let us reflect again on the words of St. John Chrysostom to understand why a deficit of charity is incurable by the government and, as we can see from the present election, is probably only something that the government will make worse.

Should we look to kings and princes to put right the inequalities between rich and poor? Should we require soldiers to come and seize the rich man's gold and distribute it among his destitute neighbors? Should we beg the emperor to impose a tax on the rich so great that it reduces them to the level of the poor and then to share the proceeds of that tax among everyone?

Equality imposed by force would achieve nothing, and do much harm. Those who combine both cruel hearts and sharp minds would soon find ways of making themselves rich again. Worse still, the rich whose gold was taken away would feel bitter and resentful; while the poor who received the gold from the hands of soldiers would feel no gratitude, because no generosity would have prompted the gift. Far from bringing moral benefit to society, it would actually do moral harm. Material justice cannot be accomplished by compulsion; a change of heart will not follow. The only way to achieve true justice is to change people's hearts first - and then they will joyfully share their wealth.

Encouraging Blasphemy

That's on the program for the Mother Teresa Catholic secondary school in Ontario. They are setting up a prayer room for Muslims in the school. And, of course, they're tremendously proud of it.

"They're members of our school community. We want to ensure that all our students feel welcome, that they feel that they belong," said Principal Ana Paula Fernandes.

The prayer room, expected to be completed by the end of September, is located on a busy stretch on the second floor, just metres from the school's large chapel.

"That was very important to ensure that it was included in the main building, and not tucked away somewhere," Fernandes said.

Yeah, it's important that we set up places the false worship of religions that are essentially based on blasphemy. And why are they facilitating the blasphemy?

Grade 12 student Amir Farhi, 17, was part of the group that led the push for the prayer room.

"We do have quite a bit of Muslims in this school who find it hard to practice their religion," he said. "Having this prayer room, it's easy for them to do their Friday prayers."

Though Muslims pray facing Mecca, Saudi Arabia, five times a day, the room will mainly be used Fridays, the holiest day of the week in Islam.

Administration and students are working with a local imam, a leader of Islamic worship services, to create guidelines governing use of the room.

"We just want to come together as a community, exchange our beliefs, sharing our ideas and helping grow this school with its values," said Farhi, who applauded school officials for moving so quickly to create the room.

What values?  One would think that a Catholic school would number the propagation of Truth as a value. Apparently, though, Truth is a secondary concern to providing a forum for the worship, beliefs, and ideas that lead souls away from God. Of course, we all remember the stories from the Bible where the Apostles set up altars to false gods, right? Right? Something about what kind of concord there is between Christ and Belial. Or maybe this:

What then? Do I say, that what is offered in sacrifice to idols, is any thing? Or, that the idol is any thing?  But the things which the heathens sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God. And I would not that you should be made partakers with devils.

1 Corinthians 10:19-20

I wonder if they will wind up making the leap from setting up rooms for Mohammedan prayer to wiping out space for Christian worship.

I know, I know. I'm just being all mean and unirenical.

Thank You, American Idol

I've been watching your show for several years now, trying to stop, but always getting pulled back in by the sheer incredulity of watching you force a bunch of worthless crap music on society and watching it be assimilated repeatedly, even as your "stars'" careers often fall off into oblivion.

Now, you've given me ample reason to stop. You've decided to give Nicki Minaj a job. For those who don't know, Minaj gave a well-nigh Satanic performance at the Grammys a while back and did so with all the impunity that money and fame can give. I can only hope that her arrival on American Idol will result in the complete destruction of the show and all those associated with it. 

Oh, and if the singing didn't suck.

Catholic Eschatology

This is one of the things that is most overlooked in the Church today, and Boniface at Unam Sanctam has done a good job of breaking down the problems. Since I wholeheartedly agree with him on this point, especially as it relates to the current dominance of preterist Scriptural interpretations, I felt obliged to link to it here.

Watch the video, then keep watch for the signs. Really, there's nothing wrong with that.

Pro-Life = Racism

Things are getting more and more 1984-ish. War is Peace. Ignorance is Strength. Freedom is Slavery. Pro-Life is Racist. That's what this thunderously stupid article by Brian Fung would have us believe.

I'm not going to reproduce much of the article, as I'm sure our readers value their brain cells. I couldn't live with myself knowing that I had deliberately exposed any of you to such an intellectual hazard. Let us be content with the sacrifice of my own neurons in this endeavor. Here is the concluding paragraph:

Non-white and low-income women aren't so lucky. For them, an abortion ban would mean either carrying their unplanned pregnancies to term -- something the NBER paper predicts could happen to some degree, and which would likely be exacerbated by conservative attempts to limit contraception access at the same time that they crack down on abortion -- or resorting to unsafe, illegal abortions. These procedures, by their very nature, would be ignored by official abortion figures so that to speak of the "gains" of a ban would be to turn a blind eye to a very nasty black-market business. It'd also create new headaches for states: between the threat to public health posed by underground abortions, and the rise of teen birth rates; the added economic burden on state social and health-care services; the mockery it'd make of public statistics; and their inherent racial and socio-economic unfairness, it's hard to see how abortion bans would advance anything except ideology.

Folks, I ain't got the words. Here we have a defense of killing minority children under cloak of liberty, whilst accusing those who would save these children of bigotry. I guess it's just an accident that Planned Parenthood and the other disciples of Margaret Sanger have always targeted blacks. They were just doing them a favor. It's not like it's genocide, right?

Black is white. Up is down. What other insanities will these people (yeah, I said THESE PEOPLE) come up with in order to justify their evil?

More Comments From The Holy Father On Obedience

Running with our prior post regarding Pope Benedict's speech on Judas(es) and why dissenters should leave the Church, I thought this was worth posting as well.

In their economic and social activities, Catholics often come into contact with others who do not share their view of life. In such circumstances, they must, of course, bear themselves as Catholics and do nothing to compromise religion and morality. Yet at the same time they should show themselves animated by a spirit of understanding and unselfishness, ready to cooperate loyally in achieving objects which are good in themselves, or can be turned to good. Needless to say, when the Hierarchy has made a decision on any point Catholics are bound to obey their directives. The Church has the right and obligation not merely to guard ethical and religious principles, but also to declare its authoritative judgment in the matter of putting these principles into practice.


The Holy Father's comments are well-taken. We are bound to obey. The Church is bound to compel us to believe.

Oh, by the way, the Holy Father who wrote the above? It was Blessed John XXIII in Mater et Magistra.

Maybe someone should tell Joe Biden about this.

Communists Bringing The Blasphemy

As they always have and always will. No amount of ostpolitik, detente, appeasement or whatever you want to call it will ever change that.

Communist officials compelled Catholics in a south-central Vietnamese village to remove the altar, tabernacle, cross, and Marian image from a Catholic chapel. The objects were taken to a lay Catholic leader’s home.

Stating that the chapel would henceforth be used “for village activities, not for worship,” officials placed a portrait of Communist revolutionary Ho Chi Minh (1890-1969) where the cross had been located.

St. John Damascene, St. Theophane Venard, and Servant of God Marcel Van, please pray for these people.

Paolo Gabriele And The Twenty Leakers?

According to recent reports, the Pope's butler, Paolo Gabriele, is claiming that there are at least twenty folks involved in the Vatican leak scandal. This is no big surprise. We've been saying here for a while that there was no way in heaven, hell, or anywhere else that this guys was acting alone. Really, the only other thing this latest bit of news does is confirm what we already knew, especially concerning the motives behind all this, which are allegedly rooted in protecting the Church and assisting the Holy Father in getting rid of some of the ongoing corruption.

Except for one puzzling comment:

Gabriele has previously claimed he was acting out of love for the church, but said in the interview that people were afraid to speak out from inside the city walls: "Ours is a state where you can get in, kill and leave undisturbed, and after 24 hours no one can say what happened."

Whoa, whoa, whoa. Where did that come from? This isn't the kind of comment you just whip out of nowhere and casually drop in a conversation. If I let my old lawyer side take over for a moment, I'd say this almost sounds like Paolo is sending out a threat to air something that really is dangerous. But that would just be my cynical lawyer side talking.

St. Augustine On Sin And The Church

I thought this was a good selection to consider for folks who may find themselves frustrated by things like the sex abuse scandal or any other moral failing by Catholic clergy or laity. Just for context, St. Augustine was writing this letter in the context of the Donatist heresy and the constant Donatist claims that they were being unjustly persecuted:

From which it is manifest that, whether these charges be true or false, they do not belong to the Lord's wheat, which must grow until the end of the world throughout the whole field, i.e. the whole earth; as we know, not by the testimony of a false angel such as confirmed your correspondent in his error, but from the words of the Lord in the Gospel. And because these unhappy Donatists have brought the reproach of many false and empty accusations against Christians who were blameless, but who are throughout the world mingled with the chaff or tares, i.e. with Christians unworthy of the name, therefore God has, in righteous retribution, appointed that they should, by their universal Council, condemn as schismatics the Maximianists, because they had condemned Primianus, and baptized while not in communion with Primianus, and rebaptized those whom he had baptized, and then after a short interval should, under the coercion of Optatus the minion of Gildo, reinstate in the honours of their office two of these, the bishops Felicianus of Musti and Prætextatus of Assuri, and acknowledge the baptism of all whom they, while under sentence and excommunicated, had baptized.

St. Augustine, Letter LIII

If, therefore, they are not defiled by communion with the men thus restored again to their office—men whom with their own mouth they had condemned as wicked and impious, and whom they compared to those first heretics whom the earth swallowed up alive, — let them at last awake and consider how great is their blindness and folly in pronouncing the whole world defiled by unknown crimes of Africans, and the heritage of Christ (which according to the promise has been shown unto all nations) destroyed through the sins of these Africans by the maintenance of communion with them; while they refuse to acknowledge themselves to be destroyed and defiled by communicating with men whose crimes they had both known and condemned.

People have been having these issues for a long time. Everyone sins. Try not to let yourself be scandalized by what these others are doing. Trust that God's justice will be properly meted out, whether by the Church or by His own hand, as was the case with Dathan, Korah, and Abiram (who are mentioned later in the same letter). And don't forget that you yourself are not exempt.

We all got it comin', kid

Cardinal Brandmuller Beat Us To The Punch

One of the things we were going to use as a capstone for our discussion of Sacrosanctum Concilium was to compare what we know as the Pauline Mass with what appears to have been envisioned by the liturgical constitution itself. The question would then be posed whether or not what was discussed in the Council was what was actually done in practice.

Cardinal Brandmuller, who I'm certain is a huge fan and reader of this blog (who isn't?), has decided to go ahead and answer the question for us. Per Rorate:

I must emphasise that the form of the post-conciliar liturgy with all its distortions, is not attributable to the Council or to the Liturgy Constitution established during Vatican II which by the way has not really been implemented even to this day. The indiscriminate removal of Latin and Gregorian Chants from liturgical celebrations and the erection of numerous altars were absolutely not acts prescribed by the Council.

With the benefit of hindsight, let us cast our minds back in particular to the lack of sensitivity shown in terms of care for the faithful and in the pastoral carelessness shown in the liturgical form. One need only think of the Church’s excesses, reminiscent of the [Iconoclastic crisis] which occurred in the [8th] century. Excesses which catapulted numerous faithful into total chaos, leaving many fumbling around in the dark.

Just about anything and everything has been said on this subject. Meanwhile, the liturgy has come to be seen as a mirror image of Church life, subject to an organic historical evolution which cannot - as did indeed happen - suddenly be changed by decree par ordre de mufti. And we are still paying the price today.

Interesting stuff, and dead-on accurate, I think.

Being Judas Iscariot

The Holy Father's recent address on the Bread of Life discourse needs to be mentioned, with a comparison to current affairs. Consider the following, pulled from Zenit:

In the end, Jesus knew that even among the Twelve there was one who did not believe: Judas. Judas too could have left like the other disciples did; perhaps he should have left had he wanted to be honest. 

Those proclaiming to be a follower of Christ, yet not actually believing the words of Christ, are liars.

Instead he stayed with Jesus. He stayed not because of faith, not because of love, but with the secret plan to get back at the Master. Why? Because Judas felt that Jesus had betrayed him and he decided to betray Jesus in turn. 

If a person lies about being Catholic (translation: believing Catholic stuff) and stays in the Church in order to mold it in their own image, such a person is just as much of a traitor as Judas.

Judas was a zealot and wanted a victorious Messiah who would lead a revolt against the Romans. Jesus frustrated these expectations. The problem is that Judas did not leave and his gravest fault was falsity, which is the sign of the devil. Because of this Jesus said to the Twelve: “One among you is a devil!”

In other words, these liars and traitors don't belong to Christ. They belong to The Adversary. As the lines keep drawn in clearer and clearer terms, it is getting harder and harder to attribute ignorance to the masses who claim the right to dissent from the Magisterium. This is especially true in the cases where the dissenter declares that they know all this stuff and will continue their revolt anyway.

Let's remember these people as we move forward. Charity must always be exercised, like with the priest in the clip, but we can't dodge these folks either. Charity doesn't mean shying away from confrontation.

Sacrosanctum Concilium, Pt. 10

In our last entry, we closed with a comment about concelebration, and how manufacturing a new rite for concelebration in the West appeared to contradict the liturgical constitution's own terms that spoke of restricting innovations. Moving along, we now reach a new chapter that discusses the other sacraments and sacramentals:

The purpose of the sacraments is to sanctify men, to build up the body of Christ, and, finally, to give worship to God; because they are signs they also instruct. They not only presuppose faith, but by words and objects they also nourish, strengthen, and express it; that is why they are called "sacraments of faith." They do indeed impart grace, but, in addition, the very act of celebrating them most effectively disposes the faithful to receive this grace in a fruitful manner, to worship God duly, and to practice charity.

This is a loaded paragraph. In a day and age where the sacraments tend to be reduced entirely to exercises of feel-good Oprahism. Here, the emphasis is on the supernatural order, the worship of God, and the faithful's need of grace. I'm not sure that there has been anything more devastating to the liturgy than the loss of sense that the Mass is the supreme act of worship. It is, quite literally, the most important thing that happens on the planet, and its status as an act of worship is what makes it that way. Yet few seem to grasp this.

It is therefore of the highest importance that the faithful should easily understand the sacramental signs, and should frequent with great eagerness those sacraments which were instituted to nourish the Christian life.

For me, this sentence encapsulates something that should be an approach that everyone should take to the Council. The Council had a goal for the faithful to better understand certain things, such as the sacraments. With the complete collapse of the Faith in the last half century, it's obvious that the Council was a miserable failure on this point. It wouldn't be the first time a Council bombed on an important goal. Lateran V did likewise. So did Florence. And they were dogmatic councils. A big part of the problem here has been the constant drumbeat of absurd optimism and praise about Vatican II.

There's no shame in admitting the Council failed. Continuing to double down on what a huge success it was doesn't make it true.

Holy Mother Church has, moreover, instituted sacramentals. These are sacred signs which bear a resemblance to the sacraments: they signify effects, particularly of a spiritual kind, which are obtained through the Church's intercession. By them men are disposed to receive the chief effect of the sacraments, and various occasions in life are rendered holy.

I guess now is a good time to mention that most Catholics probably have no idea what a sacramental is.

Thus, for well-disposed members of the faithful, the liturgy of the sacraments and sacramentals sanctifies almost every event in their lives; they are given access to the stream of divine grace which flows from the paschal mystery of the passion, death, the resurrection of Christ, the font from which all sacraments and sacramentals draw their power. There is hardly any proper use of material things which cannot thus be directed toward the sanctification of men and the praise of God.

The last sentence poses a problem because, while true, such things only function in that way when  they are adopted as such on God's terms, rather than our own. It's easy to read this in after decades of abuses, but if VII has taught us anything, it's that stuff like this can be reinterpreted to suit the needs of the reader. In this case, you see it when folks use this line to justify their own activities above the Church's. For example, going to Seder meals and such during Holy Week. Sure, it might be an educational experience, but I see more and more Catholics trying to make such events into a religious ritual, often whilst scorning legitimate Catholic traditions.

With the passage of time, however, there have crept into the rites of the sacraments and sacramentals certain features which have rendered their nature and purpose far from clear to the people of today; hence some changes have become necessary to adapt them to the needs of our own times. For this reason the sacred Council decrees as follows concerning their revision.

Adaptation. Again. Somehow, these rites and sacramentals were able to nourish the faith of Catholics for centuries, across all continents, and through myriad cultural settings. What happened in 1963 that demonstrated this need for change? The fact that Catholics actually participated in these rites or used the sacramentals? The 80%+ Mass attendance and literacy in the Faith?

And has the adaptation worked? Are things better? Take a look around and let me know what you see.

One other thing about this section (and the document as a whole). Notice that there isn't a lot of detail on what the problems are and why they are so bad or ineffective. This makes fixing any potential problem very difficult since you don't really know what the problem is.  It also makes novelty more palatable, as folks can come up with their own view of what the problem is, then go about "fixing" it in the manner that they feel is appropriate.

Because of the use of the mother tongue in the administration of the sacraments and sacramentals can often be of considerable help to the people, this use is to be extended according to the following norms

And we're back to the vernacular again.

The vernacular language may be used in administering the sacraments and sacramentals, according to the norm of Art. 36.

But not really, since any use of the vernacular is subject to the prior point that Latin is is to be preserved as the regular language of the Western Church.

On this point, I'd like to refer back to one of our commentators, Mr. Gary MacEoin, from his book What Happened in Rome? MacEoin foresaw these sorts of items as leading to a demolition of liturgical Latin altogether. Of course, this is done without reference to Blessed John XXIII's views or the language of the Council itself. Here's what Mr. MacEoin said on pg. 68:

In January 1964, Pope Paul set up a permanent committee in Rome, charged with the duty of completing the liturgical reform according to the principles established in the Council decree. This will mean not only an extension of the use of the living language, perhaps to the entire text of the Mass, but a reformation and reformulation of the content of the Mass and other public prayers of the Latin rite. The result will be a liturgy closer to that of the early Church and at the same time more meaningful to twentieth-century man.

Not only does this analysis ignore the principles of SC that are supportive of Latin, but he basically refers to the stated norm as being on its way to extinction. This shift will lead to a more "meaningful" liturgy. Just check out the average wardrobe at Mass and discern for yourself if its more meaningful now than 50 years ago.

In harmony with the new edition of the Roman Ritual, particular rituals shall be prepared without delay by the competent territorial ecclesiastical authority mentioned in Art. 22, 2, of this Constitution. These rituals, which are to be adapted, also as regards the language employed, to the needs of the different regions, are to be reviewed by the Apostolic See and then introduced into the regions for which they have been prepared. But in drawing up these rituals or particular collections of rites, the instructions prefixed to the individual rites the Roman Ritual, whether they be pastoral and rubrical or whether they have special social import, shall not be omitted.

First, notice that there is only a mention of a new edition of the Roman Ritual. It's not that there is going to be a whole new thing created, merely a new edition of the old. Of course, that isn't what happened.

Second, the latter part flings open the door to all  sorts of shenanigans. We've already discussed the problems with Art. 2, 22, but the remainder seems to give a blank check for novelty at first glance. That's not the case either. Any adaptation, whether linguistic or cultural must be approved by Rome. Even if it gets approved by some whackjob cardinal, the other restrictions on all other rites of the Church are still maintained. In other words, if you're only supposed to be using water for baptism, it doesn't matter if you're in a society that likes beer a lot. You can't baptize with beer.

The catechumenate for adults, comprising several distinct steps, is to be restored and to be taken into use at the discretion of the local ordinary. By this, means the time of the catechumenate, which is intended as a period of suitable instruction, may be sanctified by sacred rites to be celebrated at successive intervals of time.

I have no idea what this means. The Rite of Election perhaps? I'm not aware of there being any other "successive intervals" here or anywhere else. Somebody out there know?

In mission lands it is found that some of the peoples already make use of initiation rites. Elements from these, when capable of being adapted to Christian ritual, may be admitted along with those already found in Christian tradition, according to the norm laid down in Art. 37-40, of this Constitution.

We've talked before about the value of pulling from the local culture for liturgical practice. It's not that it's bad. It's just something that has to be monitored closely, lest the local element overpower the Catholic part of what is going on. Like Skillet vs. chant. Anyways, the other side of this is the cases where our existing Catholic heritage should be enough. We've seen how the TLM can be welcome, even in diverse places like Africa. Why the urge to jump immediately to novel developments, rather than first seeing if what we already have will work?

I must add that, like with so many other provisions of Sacrosanctum Concilium, none of the assertions made in the foregoing sections carry a single footnote or other reference. There is nothing from Scripture, the Magisterium, the Fathers, or the Doctors of the Church that might be used to judge what the parameters are for the benefits of  inculturation, the instruction period for catechumens, etc. to give anybody a better idea of what is supposed to be going on. As mentioned above, people tend to fill in these gaps with their own ideas. It's been with poor results for the Church. For what it's worth, even MacEoin admits that the sections here are ambiguous on purpose:

The Council decreed that the national and regional bishops' conferences should decide whether and to what extent the living language was to be used. The point was left deliberately vague in deference to some Fathers who were opposed to any change.

In other words, it was vague in order to deceive them. As we know from Cardinal Stickler's testimony, the issue of replacing Latin altogether was mentioned at the Council and met with derision. By making it sound conservative, it was easier to rope in the orthodox bishops' votes.

This is running a bit long, so I think I'll close out this entry there. We're probably about halfway done with the whole thing now. Maybe I'll do a better job of keeping up with it.

Christians Waking Up To The Arab Spring

This is from an article by a guy named Salim Mansur in the Toronto Sun. Recall that these are just the things that we know about.

William Dalrymple, the well-respected historian and author of From the Holy Mountain: A Journey in the Shadow of Byzantium (1998), recently wrote, “Wherever you go in the Middle East today, you see the Arab Spring rapidly turning into the Christian winter … The past few years have been catastrophic for the region’s beleaguered 14 million strong Christian minority.” 

The decline, probably disappearance, of Christians from the Middle East is an ominous sign of a tragic future for the region. And such an eventuality has precedence. 

Jews of the Arab-Muslim world from the pre-Christian era, with their rich heritage and long historical presence in ancient cities across the region — Alexandria, Algiers, Baghdad, Beirut, Cairo, Constantine, Damascus, Fez, Oran, Sana’a, Tripoli, Tunis and more — were compelled to leave lands conquered by Arabs in the name of Islam following the establishment of Israel in 1948. 

There have been numerous anti-Coptic riots with attacks on Christian churches in Egypt. 

From Gaza reports have come of forced conversions among Christians reduced to a miniscule presence.

Iraqi Christians fled in large numbers following post-Saddam sectarian strife, and they found refuge in Syria. This safe-haven for Iraqi Christians is in jeopardy as the sectarian conflict in Syria has intensified, and Syrian Christians are endangered.

It's natural for all of us to be outraged over this. However, we heard nothing but supportive statements about the revolution in Egypt and the ousting of Assad in Syria. Even with an American presence in Iraq, we are being exterminated there.

It's pretty clear that the governments of the West are anxious for all the Christians in the Middle East to hurry up and die or at least flee so that this pesky moral dilemma can be solved. I can't say I've heard any kind of denunciation of these crimes against Christians. If there was one, it was awful quiet. That seems to be how genocides go. Maybe in a couple of decades, someone will throw us the sop of regret. We'll hear about how "the nations of the world stood silently by" and how horrible it was and how it will never be allowed to happen again.

And somehow we'll all supposed to feel better about ourselves while we trod over the graves of our martyred brethren on our way to the next "Inter-Faith Ecumenical Dialogue For Co-Existence and Tolerance" seminar.

What's Worse Than A Water Park Mass?

I had expressed some reservations about the recently announced water park Mass by the bishop of Honolulu. Boniface and Unam Sanctam made a similar posting. Fortunately, the world has a knack of bringing things into perspective so that you don't lose sight of what's important. In this case, we're reminded of where our real enemies are.

What's worse than a water park Mass?

A Masonic Mass.

Rorate had this story first, and Fr. Zuhlsdorf has picked it up from there.








Really, I mean, what the hell?

"For I Was Hungry, And You Gave Me To Eat"

"...For they will deliver you up in councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues. And you shall be brought before governors, and before kings for my sake, for a testimony to them and to the Gentiles..."

Matthew 25 and Matthew 10

These snippets of Scripture came to mind when I heard the story of Angela Prattis. Ms. Prattis has been found guilty of a zoning violation and is in danger of being fined. Her crime is that she has been feeding hungry children on behalf of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.

The horror...The horror



Not even Col. Kurtz could have imagined such depravity. The punishment for her repulsive behavior is to be fined $600 FOR EVERY DAY that she gives out food.

The township intitally threatened Prattis with fines for this summer’s food distribution, but withdrew them after news organizations began asking questions. Now, the township is allowing the woman to keep distributing food cost-free until August 24 – but next summer will be a lot more costly. Prattis told local news crews that she will continue helping her community.

Yeah, don't do us any freaking favors. One must wonder if any of these folks with the township are aware of the whole Great White Throne Judgment. Even if I was an atheist, I think I might hedge my bets a little on this one before I start persecuting a lady feeding hungry kids.

This is where we are as a society, though. Murdering kids by the millions is not only ok, but people can claim a right to do it. Feeding kids who are hungry will make you the target of government extortion.

Mass At A Water Park?

Bishop Silva in Honolulu is apparently going to have their diocesan Youth Day at Wet N Wild Hawaii in Kapolei, complete with Mass at 9:45 that Saturday morning. As the father of three boys, this raises some red flags for me. Modesty is a big enough problem at Mass now anyway. What will this be like at a water park? Are they going to make people change before and after?

It just strikes me as something that hasn't really been considered.

Here's the commercial for the event.



Diocesan Youth Day 2012 from HawaiiCathYYAM on Vimeo.

I actually don't have an issue with the more "cinematic" elements of this ad. However, it does seem weird that there really isn't a whole lot of talk about God, though. Consider this statement of the event's purpose:

This year’s theme is ‘Rejoice in the Lord always’ (Phil 4:4). It invites our young people to reflect on the presence of God in their daily lives and renew their faith so that they can share it with others. Even when we are not aware of it, God is present, embracing us with His love, filling us with joy; giving us reason to REJOICE. The theme is fitting as we are preparing to celebrate the Year of Faith.

I'm not sure I've ever noticed people doing much reflection at a water park. I have no idea how wading pools, slides, etc. contribute to a renewal of faith. This is supposed to be preparation for celebrating the Year of Faith. What is planned for when the Year of Faith actually gets here? DisneyWorld?

This serves as another reminder that I have no comprehension of "youth ministry." Are the hip elements working? Or is this just me trying to keep those young whipper-snappers off my lawn?

A St. Augustine Movie?

Indeed!






And it looks not so bad. I'm officially intrigued.

It's Not Just The HHS Mandate

Pretend for a moment that the HHS mandate issue doesn't exist. Zenit has a good synopsis of the recent report from the Liberty Institute and the Family Research Council.

+ A federal judge threatened “incarceration” to a high school valedictorian unless she removed references to Jesus from her graduation speech.

+ City officials prohibited senior citizens from praying over their meals, listening to religious messages or singing gospel songs at a senior activities center.

+ A public school official physically lifted an elementary school student from his seat and reprimanded him in front of his classmates for praying over his lunch.

+ Following U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ policies, a federal government official sought to censor a pastor’s prayer, eliminating references to Jesus, during a Memorial Day ceremony honoring veterans at a national cemetery.

+ Public school officials prohibited students from handing out gifts because they contained religious messages.

+ A public school official prevented a student from handing out flyers inviting her classmates to an event at her church.

+ A public university’s law school banned a Christian organization because it required its officers to adhere to a statement of faith that the university disagreed with.

+ The U.S. Department of Justice argued before the Supreme Court that the federal government can tell churches and synagogues which pastors and rabbis it can hire and fire.

+ The State of Texas sought to approve and regulate what religious seminaries can teach.

Now, throw the HHS mandate into the mix. If you aren't worried about the increasing secular hostility towards religion, what are you smoking and why aren't you sharing?

Society Of Leo XIII?

Who the heck are these guys? I never heard of them until Zenit brought them up.

Two days later the Catholic Herald reported that Bishop David Bell, 41, the head of the Society of Pope Leo XIII, which also celebrates Mass according to the pre-Vatican II form, is in talks with Rome about a possible reconciliation.

Check out these numbers.

According to the Catholic Herald the society says it has 73 bishops and 500 priests, with about 8.5 million people in its congregations.

Five hundred priests? That as many as the SSPX. That's a lot. But seventy-three bishops? Holy smokes. What the heck are the parameters for the episcopacy in this group?

They have a web site, but it's kind of a train wreck. If anybody knows anything more, please drop it in the comment box.

"Christianity" As A Meaningless Term

In an earlier post, we talked about Jimmy Akin's concerns over how a Mormon presidency might potentially damage the public notion of what is a Christian. To be brief, our view was that such concerns are largely irrelevant as the term "Christian" was deprived of its meaning (in true Walker Percyan style) decades ago. Even though a couple of examples were provided in the post, let me add one more that I think is even more telling than the others.

I live in the South. Nay, not only the South, but in an area that would be defined as hardcore Bible Belt country. This area was rock solid Baptist for the bulk of my life. In the last decade-plus, it has begun a steady trend toward Pentecostalism and the non-denominational/charismatic movement. For the most part, though, everybody has stayed within the mainstream boundaries of Christian dogma.

Enter Joel Hemphill.



Mr. Hemphill and his wife, LaBreeska, are very popular singers/songwriters in the Southern Gospel scene. We're talking about 8 Dove Awards (the Christian music version of the Grammys) and an induction into the Southern Gospel Hall of Fame. Even if you haven't heard of them, I assure that many others  have and that they are a pretty big deal in a lot of what the media would call "evangelical" circles.

They are also Arians.

If you want to check out the views in Mr. Hemphill's own words, you can see his denial of the Trinity here. Not content with just being Sabellian/Modalist as so many Pentecostals are these days, he then rejects the Incarnation here. This is all disgusting and blasphemous. What's his rationale for all this? It's not in the Bible, of course! Like the Arians of old, Mr. Hemphill has claimed the Scriptures as his own and distorted them to proclaim a lie about God Himself.

However, this doesn't stop The Hemphills from visiting churches all over the South to sing songs and preach their message. You can find it on the web site above, on YouTube, or maybe a community near you. They are clearly making an effort to convert others to this abominable message. There are YouTube clips of sermons preached at "ministers' conferences." There are more than a few people in attendance.

What does this say for Mr. Akin's worries that society might lose its vision of what it means to be Christian? It says that society has already been blinded to the objective definition of Christianity. With The Hemphills even being invited to allegedly Trinitarian churches to perform and speak, I think it's fairly obvious that there is at least a large contingent of folks who, even though they profess belief in the Trinity, don't think it matters a whole lot. This battle is over. We lost. Just another step in the Church's slow retreat through history.

So rest easy, Mr. Akin and any others who share his reservations. You have nothing to fear from a Mormon  president somehow twisting the masses perception of what a Christian is. Things really can't get much worse than they are.

Blessed John XXIII: Patron Of Heretics And Schismatics?

If you are to believe Rev. Tom Sanford, then yes.

Sanford left the Catholic priesthood more than a quarter- century ago. But now he’s back behind the altar. He’s pastor of a new spiritual community, born out of his frustration with what he believes is the philosophical backsliding of the Catholic Church. Sanford started Blessed John XXIII Ecumenical Church around Easter, and he’s starting small. When he walks down the aisle to “We Gather Together,” three worshippers stand and sing along.

It's good to know that he's given himself the competency to judge the Church to have engaged in "philosophical backsliding." One of St. Francis de Sales arguments against the Reformers was to ask from where they derived their authority. A similar question could be posed to this man.

Yet Sanford and his flock say there’s a larger point beyond their small numbers: They have left the Catholic Church to become better Catholics.

Yes, and there's a larger point to that. In seeking to be better Catholics, they have placed their souls in danger.

Sanford says he couldn’t stay. He believes church traditionalists are trying to undermine 50 years of church reforms set in motion by the worldwide councils known as Vatican I and Vatican II. The final straw came early this year: the church’s decision to reinstate the original 1963 English translation of the Mass. Supporters say the wording better reflects the beauty of the traditional Latin liturgy. Critics call it clunky. More important, Sanford believes, it springs from a philosophical retrenchment, “and I couldn’t abide by it.”

Holy smokes. He left over the new translation! We speculated a bit on this in the past, but this is the first instance we've heard of somebody actually doing it. What hath consubstantiality wrought?

To go back to our subject line, though, we have to wonder if Sanford is remotely familiar with Blessed Pope John. This is the same affliction  we noticed with Joe Biden. We are therefore forced to ask the same question. Is Sanford ignorant, dishonest, or insane? The facade of Blessed John as some sort of Ecumenical Prince is annihilated if you read anything he actually wrote. Whether it's stuff from his private journal, his initial response to becoming pope, or the summons to Vatican II itself, Blessed John was far sterner than any of his successors in discussing the value of non-Catholic religions.

I leave the newly-spawned heretics and schismatics of this insultingly-named community a thought from the man they claim as their patron:

It is the will of God, the Church's founder, that all the sheep should eventually gather into this one fold, under the guidance of one shepherd. All God's children are summoned to their father's only home, and its cornerstone is Peter. All men should work together like brothers to become part of this single kingdom of God; for the citizens of that kingdom are united in peace and harmony on earth that they might enjoy eternal happiness some day in heaven.

Somehow, Pope John missed the memo about random priests appointing themselves as cornerstones.

ND Student Petition On The HHS Mandate

Of course, since this is at ND, I'm not shocked that this particular petition is asking the University to drop its lawsuit against the mandate and surrender to the President's agenda.

The petition, which includes signatures from approximately 140 students as of this week, faculty, staff and alumni, originated as a personal letter to University President Fr. John Jenkins from philosophy graduate student Kathryn Pogin. It argues for the University’s compliance with the mandate based on philosophical and legal principles...

“We want it to be a starting point for dialogue and discussion,” she said. “We didn’t want it to be antagonistic toward the administration or Fr. Jenkins.”

There's that word again. Dialogue. We've seen how well that's worked in the past. At some point, I'd love to see an analysis of where dialogue has actually helped the Church in these sorts of matters. Nothing springs immediately to mind. The examples I've gotten in the past have usually involved communism. I'm not sure what Cold War folks were watching, but the great period of dialogue during the reigns of Blessed John XXIII and Paul VI didn't do much good. Ask Cardinal Mindszenty. It wasn't until Blessed John Paul II's adoption of much more uncompromising posture that anything was accomplished.

Anyways, back to the main story here. There are three main points argued in the petition. Let's take a look:

“First of all, it’s not clear to us that the University couldn’t comply with the mandate without remaining within Catholic practice,” she said.

This is based largely on a tortured extension of double effect that you can read in the actual petition here. From what I can tell, the petition is less of an argument that access to contraceptives is actually ok and more of an appeal to ambiguity, saying that it isn't clear what the moral status of the mandate is. In a nutshell, the petitioners seem to be requesting that, in the case of a potentially sinful action, one should err on the side of doing the action anyway, rather than choosing a path of restraint.

“In addition, even if there is a genuine conflict with freedom of religion, which we’re not convinced there is, at least with respect to contraceptives, we think the legal argument favors compliance with the mandate.”

The legal argument is left somewhat vague. Sure, there's the  possibility that the Supreme Court will hear what it feels to be a compelling legal argument to uphold the mandate. I have absolutely no idea why this means that ND should go along with it. Unjust laws are not laws at all, regardless of what the President or the Court say.

The petition also makes a claim based on Dignitatis Humanae.

In its concern for religious freedom, the administration should remember that Dignitatis Humanae says not only that religious belief and practice should be protected but also that "in spreading religious faith and in introducing religious practices everyone ought at all times to refrain from any manner of action which might seem to carry a hint of coercion."

In an astounding leap of intellectual dishonesty, the petitioners argue that ND's refusal to help employees chemically sterilize themselves amounts to "indirect coercion" and "imposing its religious beliefs and practices on its employees." Let's ignore for a moment that one could use this exact same argument to force ND to provide for abortions, benefits for homosexual couples, and a host of other items repugnant to Catholic belief. For some reason, I'm betting that the petitioners wouldn't have a problem with any of those things either. Let's also ignore that this line of reasoning completely bypasses the fact that ND employees aren't slaves and therefore any such "indirect coercion" is the result of the employees' free choice to work for ND.

Instead, let's note what DH actually says about HHS mandate-type stuff:

However, government is not to act in an arbitrary fashion or in an unfair spirit of partisanship. Its action is to be controlled by juridical norms which are in conformity with the objective moral order. These norms arise out of the need for the effective safeguard of the rights of all citizens and for the peaceful settlement of conflicts of rights, also out of the need for an adequate care of genuine public peace, which comes about when men live together in good order and in true justice, and finally out of the need for a proper guardianship of public morality.

So if you ignore the government's obligation to God, the objective moral order, and the safeguarding of morality, the petition makes perfect sense. In other words, if you ignore the rest of what DH says.

The petitioners' final concern is that other aspects of Catholic identity at ND are being ignored or somehow short-changed. What are these issues? Allowing heretics to promote their views to students in philosophy and theology classes? Allowing supporters of infanticide to deliver speeches at graduation? The performance and display of repulsive "art" on-campus?

Of course not.

“Further, we believe Notre Dame would better serve its Catholic mission by focusing on improving campus services for families rather than embroiling itself in a legal challenge,” the petition states...

“[The lack of affordable health coverage] is actually more of a problem than we outlined in the petition because state health programs are not available to international students, so some international students’ dependents go uninsured,” she said. “We think that’s a moral issue and an issue of Catholic identity.”

Is this not begging the question just a little? It requires the assumption that the previous arguments are valid and correct. To get to this point, ND must accept that there is nothing actually wrong with the HHS mandate. Why? Because if there is something wrong with the mandate, and the courts uphold it, then ND has no choice but to shut down or wipe out its insurance program altogether (which, of course, would mean paying millions of dollars in fines under the Affordable Care Act). To even reach the problem of how effective the current employee/student health insurances are, there has to be an entity providing the insurance in the first place. The petitioners have decided to ignore that in order to create a diversion to some other element of "Catholic identity" that may or may not be problematic.

It's great to know that the petitioners have so much respect for Catholic identity since they are comfortable letting it be sacrificed in exchange for expanded health coverage.