HOLY MOTHER, CHURCH, YOU SAY, WELL YES YOU DO NOW IN THE MARVELOUS NEW TRANSLATION OF THE ENGLISH MASS AND SO IS POPE FRANCIS IN HIS PAPAL TEACHINGS AND HOMILIES WHO IS SHOWING THE WORLD THAT THEOLOGICALLY THERE IS A RUPTURE BETWEEN HIM AND POPE BENEDICT! POPE FRANCIS IN AREAS OF METAPHORS AND DOCTRINE IS TO THE RIGHT OF THE HOLY FATHER EMERITUS!

Those on the left are almost giddy by what they see as a rupture between Pope Benedict and Pope Francis. And true enough, there is a rupture in the style of clothes, liturgical and otherwise and in the style of personality (although not at Mass) and in the style of governance. Perhaps the style of governance will be the most welcomed rupture as Pope Francis isn't going to put up with too much careerism and infighting in the Vatican and he is going to be more collaborative or collegial, but he isn't going to sell the farm of Papal authority out to anyone. The Catholic Church is hierarchical and Catholic. Did you get that? I think in terms of the exercise of authority, Pope Francis, while collegial, will be more authoritative than Pope Benedict and will back up what he "models" with mandates. But it is a bit to soon to get too giddy about this as I certainly don't want to imitate the silliness of the progressives in this regard.

But I want to focus on one metaphor that the Holy Father has used frequently in the past month or so. He refers to the Church as a Mother, Mother Church, Holy Mother Church. There is nothing unusual about that at all. But in this country and in all English speaking countries, from our very poor 1973 translation of the Mass that neutered the Church and called her "it" most Catholics ceased understanding the Church as Holy Mother unless the priest emphasized it in his homily and teachings, but most progressive priests influenced by the drivel of progressive post-Catholic nuns bought into the gender neutral language they promoted almost as a parallel magisterium, a bogus hierarchy. So not only was the Church neutered so was God! How many times I heard nuns and priests of a particular ideology, intermediaries of the product they were selling of catholic, radical feminism used the following in calling upon the Most Holy Trinity, "In the name of the Creator, Redeemer and Sanctifier!" In their minds God is good for nothing except for what He (I mean, God) does (can't use He, I forgot). It is a very materialistic view of God and a consumer approach to what God does and what God gives and not Who God is, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

They also hate the sacramental view of Christ as a High Priest, as the Son of Man, as the Bridegroom for obvious implications in terms of who it is that God calls to the priesthood, only men, since only a man can be a "sacramental sign" of "son of man" "High Priest" and "Bridegroom." This really burns feminists in the Church up!

However our marvelous new and literal translation of the Mass from the original Latin has kept Church as mother and refers to her as her and she. How wonderful!