The hallmark of Catholics in the pre-Vatican II era was obedience to the Magisterium of the Church, that is, the living magisterium, the pope and bishops in union with him. Of course, this obedience is in the areas of faith, morals and church law to include papal decrees which are always of differing levels.
No if’s, and’s or but’s about it.
The hallmark of pre-Vatican II Catholicism was its ethos to embrace suffering and to do so in union with Jesus on the Cross, similar to the good thief hanging in crucifixion with Jesus. What a grace that was for that good thief to be able to do that and he recognized it while hanging there!
Finally, we’ve all been to Masses that are poorly celebrated either bad music, rushed actions, casual and downright bad.
But, and let me be clear on this, the post-Vatican II Mass has and will nourish the Catholic Faith of hundreds of millions of Catholics. But you know what, even a poorly celebrated Mass, in either form, when embraced with the proper dispositions necessary to receive the graces offered, will bring salvation to the soul. Read that again. The validly of any sacrament, to include the Mass, no matter how poorly celebrated, offers the same graces to the person properly disposed.
So, whining Catholics who want things your way, just remember the theme song of hell is Frank Sinatra’s “I Did It My Way!”
Protestants with a Catholic veneer only will never truly understand orthodox Catholicism inherited from the pre-Vatican II era until they truly understand the pre-Vatican II era and the obedience of Catholics to the Magisterium’s authority in the areas of faith, morals and church law, to include the regulation of the Sacred Liturgy.
8 comments:
Father
I would like to bring your attention to the posting at Rorate Caeli under the title:
Open letter by Dominican theologian Fr. Wojciech GoĊaski: “I must bear witness to the treasure of the holy rites of the Church”
John I read that. I agree with most of it. But there is only one Pope in the Church who can legisyuniversally. And the curreyPooe is Francis and the pope has spoken. That Dominican is no more the pope or a local bishop than Zi am.
Sorry, wired auto correct and I am on my cell phone outside and with sunglasses on!
Perhaps auto-correct could be applied to PF. Better still, press the delete button.
'The pope's authority is bound to the Tradition of faith, and that also applies to the liturgy ... Even the pope can only be a humble servant of its lawful development and abiding integrity and identity.' (Benedict XVI, 'The Spirit of the Liturgy' p.166).
I fear, Fr Allan, that your interpretation of 'the pope has spoken' has about it more than a touch of Mottramism.
Enduring bad liturgy and even worse music may accrue graces - it is, after all, a mortification of the flesh. Give me sackcloth and ashes any day.
I understand, Father. But if the Dominican "speaketh" the truth must we disregard what he is saying?
Did our Lord Jesus not say: "You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free?" The Church, to me, is not just a large bureaucracy with a Canno law-legally elected head. It is much more than the Pope, it is the very body of the Living God, Jesus Christ. Vatican I declared the Pope to be infallible only if he teaches true doctrine ex-cathedra (sp?). That is his chief function among us. To uphold us in the faith that was left to us by our Lord Jesus. Otherwise, his authority runs up against the consciences of millions of honest and faithful Catholics. And yet, he is acting more like a sociologist than a HF, Vicar of Christ ( a title he no longer seems to believe in) borrowing new notions of how to be authentically Catholic from E. Kant, K. Marx and the rest of the modern agnostic but mostly atheistic philosophers. The road is wide now on the way to a Socialist Catholic Rome!?.
In our country, the progressivist, official Catholic road leads directly to the very secular Democratic party. This may please the secular world around us but it is not the road that will lead to the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
The Catholic Church, if it were a corporation its stock would be tanking now and the cry to return to sanity i.e. to what was taught always and everywhere would be laud and clear. Instead, we are mired in a legion of self inflicted problems, which, the board of Directors are unable to remedy. The Chairman of the Board cannot be replaced even when he is a very aged, ideologically driven individual. The problems are sufficiently well known, do not require additional comments.
I am saying all this with great sadness. But on the other hand I am not despairing either. Jesus will send his vicar to make things right in His own good time. Perhaps the man/woman to lead this Church is here already among us. Our Bishops are meeting in Baltimore who knows what will be announcing in the near future?
The Pope can act ultra vires. He is not an absolute monarch. What is incredibly ironic is that "liberals" now embrace the ultramontism of a Bonafice VIII or a Pius IX, unless of course, a traditionalist like Benedict XVI decided to play that card.
Savonarola, also a Dominican, was a tad extreme for my liking, but his memory was venerated by St Philip Neri, no less.
His antagonist, Pope Alexander VI, has few apologists.
The Church does not suppress valid and legitimate rites, and should 'the dictator pope' attempt such a thing, it will end in failure and ignominy.
Father, I understand that as Catholics, we have a long tradition of obedience to authority. In fact, I would go so far as to say as that is what separates us from the Protestants, as they "created" their own authority and are no longer protected by the authentic authority that the structure of the Catholic Church has always provided.
BUT
What if the "My Way" crowd, the disobedient, are not the laity, not the FSSPX, not Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre and his bishops? What if the disobedient are those who disregarded Quo Primum? I mean, now that the average Catholic can easily trace the pedigree of the Novus Ordo to Bugnini and his Protestant cohorts, now that we can look at the record of proceedings at the Second Vatican Council and know that the original schemata were hijacked, one could at least ARGUE that it is the authority structure that failed. Dare we believe that the disobedient ones--the ones doing it "their way" are those we trusted with our souls? After six decades of debacle, decline and disillusionment, are we sinful because we can see the obvious--this "new way" hasn't worked, isn't working and it won't work?
I think we need to be mindful that the laity have witnessed more change since 1960 than probably any generation in Church history and most of that change has been poorly explained, poorly justified and poorly implemented.
But what do I know? I'm just another schmuck in the pews. And that's just how the Vatican seems to be treating us--like a bunch of schmucks.
Post a Comment