tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7846189835239594160.post6091519323786108236..comments2024-03-28T01:50:39.781-04:00Comments on southern orders: ON THE SACRAMENT OF MARRIAGE, THE POPE'S DAILY HOMILY TODAY IS POWERFUL AND TRADITIONALFr. Allan J. McDonaldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16986575955114152639noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7846189835239594160.post-53123503122107306412014-02-28T13:55:52.323-05:002014-02-28T13:55:52.323-05:00Agreed, Father. Thank you for reminding us.
Anyo...Agreed, Father. Thank you for reminding us.<br /><br />Anyone who is wary of Pope Francis should perhaps remember these specific words of the Gospel, where Christ reminds us: "without Me, you can do nothing." Whenever we are tempted to fret about a lack of orthodoxy (which is not lacking at all in Pope Francis), we should recognize that it is grace-- and Sacramental grace in particular-- that makes that orthodoxy possible.<br /><br />I think this is why Pope Francis emphasizes encounter and engagement. He doesn't beat anyone over the head with orthodoxy, because it's a gift, and it will come through constant engagement. It's also why I will contend that if we've read our Ratzinger, we should've seen this coming, and (coming the other way) it's why the "God's Rottweiler" thing is truly unkind.WSquarednoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7846189835239594160.post-29434844112061423922014-02-28T10:53:06.223-05:002014-02-28T10:53:06.223-05:00WSquared excellent.
I think what many people who ...WSquared excellent.<br /><br />I think what many people who are younger than me don't realize about the 60's and 70's apart from the misrepresentation of the actual council (not on the level of Consilium) but on the popular grassroots level that deformed the revised Mass beyond recognition of what it was intended to me in terms of the art of celebrating it and in continuity with the 1962 Missal in terms of that, is that this same mentality on the grassroots level insisted that popular devotions and the piety of the communion of Saints and even one's love for Mary and praying the Rosary and so on and so on was no longer needed and hindered ecumenism. <br /><br />That in short is where Pope Francis' form of the "reform of the reform" is going back to the days prior to the Council to recover popular piety as it was and to make it in part of the spiritual lives of Catholics especially at home, but also at Church. We should not be ashamed of our traditional popular pieties and the cultures that inspired them. Fr. Allan J. McDonaldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16986575955114152639noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7846189835239594160.post-59104539065194862482014-02-28T10:38:10.744-05:002014-02-28T10:38:10.744-05:00What the Holy Father is doing by his particular &q...<i>What the Holy Father is doing by his particular "reform of the reform" is that he is focusing not so much on the formal liturgies of the Church on the institutional level</i><br /><br />Bingo. Sometimes, the way <i>to</i> focus on something or show people why it matters <i>is</i> to get at it indirectly. Moreover, he assumes that we're already well steeped in what the liturgy offers us, and that we're now ready and prepared to share it with others. That's a far cry from thinking that it "doesn't matter." <br /><br />Also, he knows that all this comes from encountering and engaging Jesus Christ head on-- which also means letting Him engage <i>us</i>. "I believe so that I may understand." That's straight out of <i>Lumen Fidei</i>, which simply communicates anew what the likes of St. Anselm of Canterbury and St. Augustine knew. And this is the ground where formal theology, doctrine, dogma, etc. meets popular piety. Popular piety opens the door to this sort of engagement, and entering deeper into the Sacred Mysteries of the Mass.<br /><br />I think what Pope Francis is doing is preparing people to connect the dots by meeting them where they are: at the level of popular piety. Because the popular-piety level IS where you can go forward to appreciate the beauty of the formal liturgy. But unlike some people's odd ideas of "ecumenism," he's actually inviting them to go somewhere specific.<br /><br />We live in an age and culture where the latter is all but unintelligible to a vast swath of people-- whether they've never experienced it, are afraid of just engaging it and letting it engage them, or think it "elitist," or all of the above. Or whatever. This much, Ratzinger laid out in the 1989 preface to <i>Introduction to Christianity</i>. For way too many Catholics, the Incarnation is the elephant in the room.<br /><br />Popular devotions like Novenas and the Rosary all predispose one to not only be receptive to the liturgy, but also to <i>think</i> with it: as per my own temperament and what the Lord has given me, I'm intellectually inclined. Always have been. But orthodoxy, the EF, the work of Ratzinger, Von Balthasar, etc. only truly began to hit home in a profound way with slowly, but surely, learning to receive the Sacraments worthily, and daily Rosary and prayer. Then and only then did all of those things start to knit themselves together in a more integrated manner, such that the coherence of the whole suggested itself more readily. <br /><br />Moreover, Catholicism is 24/7, and down to the nanosecond, and not to be squished into just one hour on Sundays. Catechesis has experienced a host of cognitive disconnects at so many levels over the last 50 years. For example, there is nothing wrong at all with learning the Baltimore Catechism. But there's everything wrong with not having learned to think about it or with it-- kudos to Fr. McDonald for stressing the need to go beyond the "pray, pay, and obey" mentality.<br /><br />In sum, I think Pope Francis simply wants everyone to have what many of us on this blog take for granted as "obvious." And he's showing them how they can have it. It's also okay for it not to come all at once.WSquarednoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7846189835239594160.post-69013059552610339752014-02-28T09:57:07.175-05:002014-02-28T09:57:07.175-05:00Even though the Catholic Church does not recognize...Even though the Catholic Church does not recognize the Orders of the Anglican Communion (which has kept the deacon, priest, bishop paradigm none the less) we do recognize the role of leadership the ordained in Protestant denominations have and we refer to them by their titles as used by them. The bishop Pope Francis called my brother bishop in Italian or English could have too connotations,<br /><br />First of all, if I refer to you as my brother Bishop Whoever, I'm referring to you in a familiar colloquial sense. You are not technically my brother (no blood or legal relationship, although through baptism a spiritual bond exists) and you are not my bishop, but in the formal dialogue or respect you are my brother Bishop Whoever. <br /><br />I think we need to listen again the the Italian way in which he addressed this man using the title of his Anglican ordination (even if breakaway from mainline Anglicanism) and understand he was calling him a spiritual brother and using a formal title. Fr. Allan J. McDonaldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16986575955114152639noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7846189835239594160.post-84780430849275365172014-02-28T09:40:20.026-05:002014-02-28T09:40:20.026-05:00"I hope those pseudo-conservative, traditiona..."I hope those pseudo-conservative, traditionalist heterodox Catholics who malign Pope Francis understand that underneath His Holiness pastoral sensitivities and personal simplicity lies a very traditional and orthodox Catholic."<br /><br />Pope Francis recently referred to a Pentecostal friend of his as "my brother bishop". Father please explain to me how a VERY traditional and orthodox Catholic (not to mention THE POPE) can make that statement. And I understand that it is not a formal magisterial statement, blah blah blah. I wouldn't go to that man (the Pentecostal) for confession because he is a lay person, would you? Does the pope?<br /> People mean what they say. How can a pope who continues to speak so carelessly all the time inspire unity and be considered traditional and orthodox? Please explain how this is possible. Please explain and not just ignore and not publish my question.<br /><br />And quoting exactly what the pope said is not disrespectful. He said those words, not me. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com