THIS EASTERN RITE OF THE CHURCH HAS MANY FEARING THAT IN ORDER TO PROMOTE UNITY, MASS FACING THE PEOPLE WILL BE BANNED—YOU READ THAT RIGHT!

 

I know very little about this Eastern Rite based in India, but many priests imported from India for the Latin Rite are of the Syro-Malabar Eastern Rite.

There has been controversy over the decades about Latinizing this Rite after Vatican II especially as it concerns facing the congregation. The push by their synod is to return to ad orientem and a compromise was developed as is recalled by this article in “The Hindu” Newspaper in India in 2020:

‘Liturgical unity’

The question whether the celebrant should face the congregation (westward) or eastward during the holy Mass, a bone of contention in the Syro-Malabar Church for several decades, is back in focus again. 

In the controversy, a golden mean was struck sometime back with the celebrant being allowed to face the congregation up to the homily and then being allowed to celebrate the consecration of the host and rest of the Mass facing away from the people. Even the compromise formula has been skipped in Ernakulam-Angamaly archdiocese where the mass is celebrated with the celebrant facing the congregation throughout. There is a large section of the faithful in the archdiocese who fear a ban on Mass facing the congregation, to bring about liturgical unity.

Then earlier this week Pope Francis issued a short letter to the bishops of the Syro-Malabar Rite encouraging liturgical unity. Interestingly enough, the Holy Father releases it not from the Vatican but the Major Basilica of St. John Lateran which is the Cathedral Church of Rome:

To the Bishops, Clergy, Religious and Laity of the Syro-Malabar Church

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

The Holy See regards with special approval and encouragement the agreement unanimously reached by the Synod of Bishops of the Syro-Malabar Church in 1999 – and repeatedly endorsed in subsequent years – for a uniform mode of celebrating the Holy Qurbana, considering this an important step towards increasing stability and ecclesial communion within the whole body of your beloved Church. The concerted efforts towards applying this auspicious development in the great Jubilee Year 2000 gave joyful confidence in your sui iuris Church to my saintly predecessor Pope John Paul II.

Notwithstanding some difficulties, which require ongoing discernment in the life of your vibrant Church, the approved norms for the Eucharistic celebration have borne considerable fruit including evangelization in those places, especially the missionary Eparchies, where the whole community has joined in peaceful and prayerful observance, interpreting the continuing consensus of the Hierarchy as a fruit of the Holy Spirit.

I strongly urge the Syro-Malabar Bishops to persevere, and I confirm their ecclesial “walking together” with God’s people, trusting that “time is greater than space” (cf. Evangelii Gaudium, 222-225) and that “unity prevails over conflict” (cf. ibid, 226-230).I willingly take the occasion of the recognition of the new Raza Qurbana Taksa to exhort all the clergy, religious and lay faithful to proceed to a prompt implementation of the uniform mode of celebrating the Holy Qurbana, for the greater good and unity of your Church. May the Holy Spirit foster harmony, fraternity and unity among all members of your Church as you work to implement the Synodal decision.

Entrusting all of you to the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Holy Patriarch Saint Joseph and the Apostle Saint Thomas, I gladly impart my Apostolic Blessing. I assure you of my closeness in prayer and ask you, please, to pray for me.

FRANCIS

Rome, Saint John Lateran, 3 July 2021

My comments: It appears Pope Francis is endorsing the Syro-Malabar’s 1999 Synod compromise on the liturgy which is basically this: The 1999 Synod basically adopted a compromise position, where the priest will face east from the Eucharistic prayers until Communion, and the people for the rest of the liturgy.

What does this tell us about the much touted but yet to appear revision of Summorum Pontiicum by Pope Francis as it concerns our own Latin Rite controversies which revolve around ad orientem and Latin?

It appears the Holy Father wants liturgical unity in the Syro-Malabar Rite in India where acrimony over the liturgy and which rite to use has been going on since the 1980’s. It appears too, that the Holy Father sees the reintroduction of the 1962 Latin Rite Missal as a source of division and disunity in the Latin Rite. 

Will the restrictions on the celebration of the EF Mass lead to a more codified revision of the Ordinary Form as a compromise? Would that compromise in fact be what has been celebrated in Rome by the Holy Father on a few occasions where the Liturgy of the Eucharist is ad orientem and the rest facing “westward?” 

What say you as it concerns the pope’s vision of the liturgical unity but also encouraging inculturation which can introduce a great deal of divisiveness into worshipping communities?

WOW! 75 YEARS OF MARITAL BLISS

 On Wednesday, July 7, President and Mrs.(Rosalyn) Jimmy Carter celebrate their 75th Wedding Anniversary. God bless them and their witness to the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony!

Plains, Georgia is in the Albany Deanery of the Diocese of Savannah.

Photo from the dedication of Albany, Georgia’s new museum in 1983. I don’t know who the priest is offering the invocation, but Fr. Allan J. McDonald was the Associate Pastor of St. Teresa Church in Albany from 1980 to ‘85.

A RENOVATION/RESTORATION TO REMEMBER! BEFORE, DURING, AFTER AND AFTER AFTER!

This is an early 1940’s photo of St. Joseph Church in Macon with its original look which over the decades prior to this photo had evolved too:

 I arrived at St. Joseph, Macon, July 1, 2004. My first two years there were consumed with completing the renovation/restoration of our historic church, which I think is the most beautiful in the diocese. 

I discovered this first photo on the internet which I don’t recall ever seeing. It is the beginning of the renovation and the magnificent windows (all of them!) are removed for restoration in Atlanta and New York. 

Then there is the scaffolded church which I had the nerve to go up only once and once was enough at it swayed at the top! You can see the original location of the altar railing, and how the original altar was oriented with its three steps up to it and the ugly 1970’s altar plopped in front of it. The horrible freestanding altar took up the entire sanctuary space with the original placement of the altar railing causing a truncated look and feel to the space:

I had the railings removed for the completion and rededication of the church in 2006. The four steps up looked like coming down Mt. Everest and thus we had to add the horrible looking hand railings for safety!:

 But in 2013, a generous benefactor donated money for the restoration of the altar railing, which fortunately we had saved under another building on the property. More railing had to be fabricated. We had only one original bronze gate, thus three new ones were fabricated and there is no way to pick out the original gate, the new ones were so well done.

We extended the sanctuary into the nave of the church, elevated the floor and placed new marble tiles on the sanctuary floor, although the existing look remains below all the new stuff. We commissioned a new free standing altar which at first I had a love/hate relationship with. I asked that the altar be all white marble but when it arrived the red marble had been added which looked brown to me. Because it created contrast with all the white marble behind it, the brown/red look grew on me. I love the magnificent candlesticks that were donated by a generous benefactor as well. I think the renovation/restoration was very well done and the after/after restoration of the altar railings and gates was the final great touch!

POSTSCRIPT: Originally, we had lengthy discussions about slicing the altar away from the reredos to make it the free standing altar. I thought what was done at Most Holy Trinity in Augusta was a great solution. However, the structural engineer felt that doing so would destabilize the magnificent reredos and he counseled against it. If I had it to do all over again, I think we could have found a way to do the Most Holy Trinity thing at St. Joseph too, but that’s marble under the bridge. 

LATEST MEDICAL UPDATE A CAUSE FOR CONCERN?

 

It was a three hour surgery. I am not a colon expert, although I have one, but the description of the three hour surgery makes one wonder if it wasn’t cancer surgery. But who knows, you have to read between the lines.

At any rate, here is a pray for the Holy Father who needs our prayers:

PRAYER FOR THE POPE 

V. Let us pray for Francis, our Pope.

R. May the Lord preserve him, and give him life, and make him blessed upon the earth, and deliver him not up to the will of his enemies. [Psalm 40:3]

Say the Our Father and the Hail Mary.

O God, Shepherd and Ruler of all Thy faithful people, look mercifully upon Thy servant Pope Francis whom Thou hast chosen as shepherd to preside over Thy Church. Grant him, we beseech Thee, that by his word and example, he may edify those over whom he hath charge, so that together with the flock committed to him, may he attain everlasting life. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Latest medical update: Pope Francis continues to recover

Sunday evening's surgery lasted about three hours. He will most likely remain at Gemelli hospital for seven days.

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04/07/2021

Pope Francis doing well after surgery

04/07/2021

Pope undergoes scheduled colon surgery

Pope Francis is doing well and is alert, according to a statement released by the director of the Holy See Press Office, Matteo Bruni, in the latest medical bulletin released regarding the surgery the Pope underwent on Sunday evening. 

Matteo Bruni said in his statement that Pope Francis is doing well overall, alert and breathing on his own. He said a hemicolectomy on the left side took place during the surgery, which lasted around three hours. He added that the Pope will remain at Gemelli hospital for seven days, barring any complications.

I LIKE IT!

 Add the six candlesticks and that would make it better.

I like the banners absent permanent artwork. How ‘bout them banners?

PRAYERS FOR THE HOLY FATHER…

 

Pope undergoes scheduled colon surgery

Pope Francis heads in for a schedule surgery for symptomatic diverticular stenosis of the colon.

By Vatican News staff writer

On Sunday afternoon, 4 July, Pope Francis was taken to A. Gemelli Policlinic in Rome where he will undergo scheduled surgery. The Pope recited the Angelus as usual with the faithful gathered in St Peter's Square. He left Casa Santa Marta in the afternoon.

The Director of the Holy See Press Office, Matteo Bruni, confirmed the information through a statement to accredited journalists sent through Telegram: "This afternoon, His Holiness Pope Francis was taken to A. Gemelli Policlinic in Rome where he will undergo a scheduled surgery for a symptomatic diverticular stenosis of the colon."

Performing the surgery is Prof. Sergio Alfieri. Dr. Alfieri is in the hospital's Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences and heads the Digestive Surgery Complex Operational Unit. He is specialized in general, digestive, colon-rectal, stomach and pancreatic surgery.

Another "medical bulletin will be issued at the end of the surgery", the press office's message concluded

IN MY BOLDER PENTECOSTAL DAYS

 I asked that this be done for Pentecost Sunday, 2007 at St. Joseph Church Macon. And they did it! Was it too much they did?

IN RESTORING A 6TH CENTURY CHURCH, IS IT OKAY TO REMOVE A MUCH LATER BAROQUE ALTAR AND REREDOS TO RETURN THE SANCTUARY TO WHAT IT LOOKED LIKE AT CONSTRUCTION?

 The first photo shows the 6th century San Vitale in Ravenna as it was prior to Vatican II’s restoration of the original look of the altar and sanctuary. By the Baroque period in the Church’s liturgical history, the original altar and bishop’s cathedra were removed. The cathedra had been at the apse’s back wall and the altar, free standing, was in the transept forward position. By the Middle Ages, altars were placed at the back wall of the apse as is seen in this photo, prior to Vatican II’s supposed mandate to renovate churches according to the resourcement theology of Vatican II: 

Thus the post Vatican II renovation, which some might call a wreckovation, actually returned the ancient basilica’s sanctuary back to its original look. It was a restoration not so much a renovation. Thus the baroque altar and reredos were ripped out and the bishop’s cathedra was returned to its original position against the back wall of the apse (the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls has this same configuration which was never changed):

Then the free standing altar was restored to its original position toward the transept of the basilica:

 Thus, you can see by this restoration that the original look of the basilica is in fact restored. Thus, you see this configuration in most wreckovation of churches and cathedrals after Vatican II which for those churches and cathedrals were not restorations but imposing an ideology of church sanctuaries from the first few centuries of the Church upon these buildings. Here is the article with more photos of this glorious basilica. Press the title:

The Basilica of San Vitale in Ravenna - Including Some Rare Views of the Previous Baroque High Altar

by Shawn Tribeon June 28, 2021

Recently, our friend and colleague, Nicola de Grandi, a native son of Milan, published some excellent photos of a trip he took to San Vitale in Ravenna -- one of the most stunning extant examples of Italo-Byzantine architecture in existence. The church dates to the sixth century and includes an incredible array of mosaics. Construction on the basilica began in the year 526 and concluded in the year 547. The church has an octagonal plan, rather than the more typical basilica model, combining both Roman and Byzantine elements.  

THE CULT OF THE PERSONALITY WHEN IT COMES TO POPES, BISHOPS AND PRIESTS NOT TO MENTION LAY LEADERS

 Even when Pope Saint John Paul II was pope, I began to feel discomfort that his personality was larger than life and his globe trotting was placing too much emphasis on his personality and charisma. That was not the case so much for Pope Benedict. He seem to put forward the cult of the papacy and its trappings rather than himself. I use cult in this sense more positively as it revolves around office rather than person. 

When Pope Francis was elected pope, (although we don’t hear this any more) he was touted as the most humble pope ever? Why? He discarded the trappings of the papacy, the Mozzetta was the symbol of this, not wearing it at his introduction or since. He paid his own bill at the Vatican motel and moved out of the papal palace and back into the Vatican Motel 6. All of this was to show forth his humility and the cult of humility he wanted to witness. 

However, for this pope and any pope, the wearing and use of papal trappings could be the most humble thing they could do. For this pope, the style of Pope Benedict’s papacy would truly be humiliating to Pope Francis’ personality type. 

And thus Sandro Magister produces this article that makes so many good point. My final comments at the end:

“Long Live Francis!” The Serious Risks of a Personalization of the Papacy

A quote from the article: A while back, who could ever say he “knew the pope,” apart from the inhabitants of Rome? For everyone else in the Catholic ecumene the reigning pope was little more than a name. His acts of government and magisterium passed almost exclusively through the peripheral institutions of the Church, in a strictly hierarchical way: from the pope to the bishops, from the bishops to the parish priests, and from these to the faithful.

Today, on the contrary, there are more and more Christians who may not even know who their parish priest is, but know very well (that is, they believe they know) the pope. Thus the idea of ​​the pope as “parish priest of the world” is taking hold more and more: one may think, in this sense, of the function performed by Francis’s daily Mass at Santa Marta during the long months of the pandemic suspension of the liturgy.

My final comments:

Think locally. How many priests are judged today not by upholding Church doctrine and dogma, preaching it and seeking to denigrate themselves by ad orientem worship but rather by the type of personality they have, how warm and inviting they are during the liturgy and the affectivity of their style of celebrating and ad libbing the Mass?

A heterodox priest with a great, funny and appealing personality will be accepted compared to a rigid orthodox priest who doesn’t sell himself but sells Christ will be tarred and feathered in a symbolic way by the chatter in the parish and the comparisons to priests with better personalities. Even the pope denigrates these rigid types. Why?

VATICAN NEWS BOMBSHELL AND NAMES ARE NAMED!

 When it comes to money the Vatican has no problem charging and placing on trial those complicit in financial abuse and embezzlement but if you are a public Catholic politician promoting laws that enable the genocide of unborn children, caution is urged

René Brülhart (former president of AIF), who is charged with the crime of abuse of office (this is a shock)

Vatican Tribunal building 

VATICAN

• VATICAN
• VATICAN TRIAL
• JUSTICE
• ANGELO BECCIU

Ten charged as Vatican closes investigation into London property

Brülhart, Msgr Carlino, Crasso, Di Ruzza, Marogna, Mincione, Squillace, Tirabassi, Torzi, and Cardinal Becciu will be brought to trial following investigations into London property deal.

By Vatican News

The long and complex investigation carried out by Promoter of Justice Gian Piero Milano, Adjunct Alessandro Diddi and by Gianluca Perrone followed from an inquiry undertaken by the Vatican Gendarmeria led by Commander Gianluca Gauzzi Broccoletti. The probe led to the examination of an enormous number of documents, electronic equipment sequestered from the suspects, as well as the comparison of witness testimony. The president of Vatican City State’s Tribunal, Giuseppe Pignatone, has ordered the subpoena of ten people after receiving the request presented by the Office of the Promoter of Justice, referred to in the Holy See Press Office’s statement. The first phase of the investigation ends with this summons. Now the documentation gathered will be examined by the Tribunal during the public debate involving both the prosecution and the defense. The first hearing is scheduled for 27 July.

The following persons will be going to trial: René Brülhart (former president of AIF), who is charged with the crime of abuse of office; Msgr Mauro Carlino (former secretary of the Substitute of the Secretariat of State), charged with extortion and abuse of office; Enrico Crasso (financial broker who managed investments for the Secretariat of State for decades) is charged with the crimes of embezzlement, corruption, extortion, money laundering and self-laundering, fraud, abuse of office, materially falsifying public deeds committed privately, and falsifying internal agreements; Tommaso Di Ruzza (former director of AIF, Supervisory and Financial Information Authority) is being charged with embezzlement, and violating confidentiality; Cecilia Marogna (a woman who received considerable sums from the Secretariat of State for intelligence services) is being charged with extortion; Raffaele Mincione (financial broker who allegedly made the Secretariat of State underwrite large shares of the fund that owned the London property at 60 Sloan Avenue, and who then used that money for his own speculative investments) is being charged with embezzlement, fraud, abuse of office, appropriation and money laundering; Nicola Squillace (a lawyer involved in the negotiations) is being charged with fraud, appropriation, money laundering and self-laundering; Fabrizio Tirabassi (employed as a notetaker in the Administrative Office of the Secretariat of State, who allegedly played a leading role in the matter) is charged with corruption, extortion, embezzlement, fraud and abuse of office; Gianluigi Torzi (the broker called to help the Holy See get out of the fund owned by Mincione, and who succeeded in liquidating a total of 15 million so the property could return to its legitimate owners) is being accused of extortion, embezzlement, fraud, appropriation, money laundering and self-laundering.

A subpoena was also filed against the following companies: HP Finance LLC, managed by Enrico Crasso, on fraud charges; Logsic Humanitarne Dejavnosti, D.O.O, managed by Cecilia Marogna, on embezzlement charges; Prestige Family Office SA, managed by Enrico Crasso, on fraud charges; Sogenel Capital Investment, managed by Enrico Crasso, on fraud charges. Some of these were committed complicitly with others.

Some elements also emerged against Cardinal Angelo Becciu, reads the statement from the Holy See Press Office. In his case, charges include embezzlement, abuse of office in complicity with others, and subornation.

2019 investigation

The press statement confirms that the investigation got underway in July 2019 after the Istituto per le Opere di Religione [commonly known as the Vatican Bank] and the Auditor General’s Office reported that “there was complete collaboration between the Office of the Promoter and the Judicial Police section of the Gendarmerie Corps. Preliminary activities were also carried out through close and productive collaboration with the Prosecutor’s Office in Rome and the Economic and Financial Police Unit (G.I.C.E.F.) of the Guardia di Finanza in Rome. Cooperation between the Prosecutor’s Office of Milan, Bari, Trent, Cagliari and Sassari and their respective judicial police offices was also appreciated.”

“Initial activities carried out with rogatorial commissions in numerous foreign countries (United Arab Emirates, Great Britain, Jersey, Luxembourg, Slovenia, Switzerland) brought to light a vast web of relationships with operators in the financial markets that generated substantial losses for Vatican finances which also drew from those resources destined for the Holy Father’s personal acts of charity.”

“The judicial process,” the statement emphasizes, “is directly connected to the directives and reforms” of Pope Francis, “in his work of transparency and remediation of Vatican finances, a work that, according to the hypothesis of the prosecution, was countered by illicit and detrimental speculative activities on a reputational level in the terms indicated in the request to press charges.”

Mincione’s investment fund

A primary and important chapter in the investigation concerns the Secretariat of State’s investment in Raffale Mincione’s Athena Capital Global Opportunities Fund operative between June 2013 and February 2014. The Secretariat of State borrowed 200 million dollars from Credit Suisse to invest in Mincione’s fund (100 million in movable goods, 100 million in immovable goods related to the property in London). The high-risk investment brought a serious loss to the Holy See. By 30 September 2018, 18 million euro of the initial investment were lost on these shares. The overall loss, however, is estimated to be a much larger amount. Mincione used the Vatican’s money in imprudent transactions and in attempts to take over banking institutions in crisis. Before such disastrous results, the Secretariat of State tried to get out of the investment by purchasing the property.

Torzi and extorsion enter the picture

Provided in the transaction was the payment of 40 million pounds by the Secretariat of State to Mincione in exchange for his shares. To this end, the Secretariat of State decided to entrust the transaction to another broker, Gianluigi Torzi, who later succeeded in maintaining control for himself, circumventing the Holy See, allegedly thanks to internal complicity. From the documentation produced by the Vatican magistrates, it appears that Mincione and Torzi were actually in agreement to execute the transaction with the Secretariat of State. The Vatican Magistrates indicate that Enrico Crasso and Fabrizio Tirabassi were two key figures. They believe they may have obtained commissions from Mincione and cash payments from Torzi for bringing him into the Vatican. Thanks to internal complicity, Torzi managed to get a Share Purchase Agreement signed that removed control of the London property from the Secretariat of State. He did this by creating 1,000 shares in GUTT SA but granted voting rights only to these shares he held. Meanwhile, the other 30,00 shares owned by the Secretariat of State did not carry the right to vote. Thus, the Secretariat of State found itself with another broker in the Vatican who solely possessed the power to make decisions.

Officials deceived

The Vatican magistrates hold that “neither Msgr. Perlasca, who signed the Share Purchase Agreement, nor his Superiors, the Substitute Edgar Peña Parra, and above all Cardinal Pietro Parolin had been effectively informed to be fully aware of the juridical effects that the different categories of actions would cause.” The Substitute’s signature, necessary to conclude the agreement because he holds power of attorney, was obtained after the fact and without the superiors being made aware of the “tactic” that allowed Torzi to maintain control of everything. To obtain control over the property, and force Torzi out of the picture, 15 million euro was extorted from the Secretariat of State through payments to the broker for irregular reasons, thanks to the internal complicity of the suspects against whom indictments have been requested.

AIF’s role

According to the Vatican magistrates, AIF “overlooked the anomalies of the London transaction – of which it had immediately been informed – especially considering the wealth of information acquired as a result of intelligence activity.” According to the documentation produced by the prosecution, AIF played “a decisive role in completing the liquidation process of Gianluigi Torzi's claims.”

Cardinal Becciu

The Cardinal, former Subsitute of the Secretariat of State, did not become a suspect immediately. He became involved because the magistrates accused him of "interference” and allege that he was behind the offers to acquire the building that emerged suddenly at the end of May 2020, just a few days prior to the interrogation of Torzi.

According to testimony, Cardinal Becciu also tried to get Perlasca to recant. Payments made by the Secretariat of State to Cecilia Marogna at Becciu’s request were added to the investigation. Between 20 December 2018 and 11 July 2019, the company she owned received payments made by the Secretariat of State for 575,000 euro. A letter rogatory allowed the investigation to ascertain that this sum “was mostly used to make purchases that were not compatible, and therefore, unjustifiable, with the corporate purpose of the company.”

In the end, the magistrates contend that Becciu financed his brother Antonino’s cooperative with 600,000 euro that came from the funds belonging to the Italian Bishops’ Conference and 225,000 euro that came from funds belonging to the Secretariat of State. The donations were allegedly “used for purposes other than the charitable purposes for which they were intended.”

THE MORTAL SINNERS AND SINS OF THE PAST COME BACK TO HAUNT CANADA AND RELIGIOUS INSTITUTIONS WHO DID THE POLITICAL WORK OF THE CANADIAN GOVERMENT

 

I don’t know much about Canada and its relative lack of separation of Church and state until rather recently. Religious institutions both Catholic and Protestant ran government schools to educate indigenous peoples. These were boarding schools and students were indoctrinated into the United Kingdom’s way of life as Canada was a colony and later a commonwealth of England, whose state religion is the Church of England. 

To say that these children were poorly treated is an understatement. That disease and abuse was rampant is reported. That many died and were buried without proper notification to parents seems to be true. 

What in the Name of God and all that is Holy happened? How could any religious institution allow this to happen and Catholic Religious orders participate in it? Mortal sin. 

But, this is what I would like commentary on. As you know, in the USA many Catholics of good will want President Biden’s archbishop and bishops to tell him to stop receiving Holy Communion until he repents of his pro-choice political agenda and the laws he has helped to enact that promotes the genocide of unborn babies. 

Progressive Catholics are having a conniption fit over the thought that a Catholic president who goes to Mass each Sunday would be treated so poorly by his Church. We should celebrate that he is a practicing Catholic they say.

Should we not celebrate the men and women who become nuns and monks and priests who worked in the government institutional schools of Canada, where children died as they do in abortion?

I wonder how progressive Catholics would feel about a native Canadian asking Catholics to boycott going to Mass and thus boycott receiving the Most Holy Eucharist to make a political point? I bet they support this layman!

IN CANADA, CALLS FOR CATHOLICS TO BOYCOTT SUNDAY MASS

July 2nd, 2021 

From the CBC:  Percy Miller stopped during his walk in downtown Saskatoon on Friday morning to look at the signs,

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Co

THE TROUBLE WITH PROGRESSIVE CATHOLIC THEOLOGY

A Praytell commentary on social justice and myopic clergy and laity  who only focus on abortion and using the Eucharist as a weapon against those who promote it:

A Timely Tract…on Social Injustices

July 2, 2021 Katharine E. Harmon 5_  Social Justice

While many Catholic Christians mind their own business, the injustices suffered by migrant workers, the gross discriminations against black men and women (even at times within the walls of Catholic churches), economic oppressions of all sorts…violent vigilante antics based on the principle that might is right, etc., go on, with hardly a prominent Catholic voice raised in protest.

My comments and reflection on Katherine Harmon’s social justice meme: 

Don’t get me wrong. The Catholic Church and her Faith and Morals calls for perfection, which of course, Holy Mother Church realizes will not take place in this life for individual Catholics and the communal Body of Christ. That will take place in heaven which is “already but not yet.” Nonetheless we are to work for this perfection for individuals and societies. 

Praytell has an article on social justice and the Church. The author bemoans that so many Catholics fall short by afflicting pain and suffering on so many who are sinned against. Of course she refers to racism and injustices against migrants, a minimum wage that is too low. She laments that Catholics complain when the Church (?) calls for political changes to accompany her social teachings. I might add she says not a word about pro-choice Catholics be they politicians or regular voters. 

Of course comes the meme that the Eucharist isn’t a weapon. It isn’t. It isn’t a talisman either. 

The Eucharist is not an “it.” It is a Person, the Divine Second Person of the Most Blessed Trinity Who in time and place was incarnate by the power of the Holy Spirit through the Blessed Virgin Mary and became Man. I intentionally use the word Man as in Son of Man and gender. It is not I though who alone uses the term Man or Son of Man, but the Church collectively through Scripture and Tradition.

The sad thing about the Praytell article which if it was included could have been half way decent is that there is no mention of Original Sin as it pertains to injustices of the world (world used in the Biblical sense). There is not a mention of venial or mortal sins of people. Institutions can’t sin although sinful members of institutions can codify sin as do politicians and others when it comes to abortion, euthanasia and setting a too low minimum wage or when Jim Crow type laws are enacted.

And finally there is not a word about the four last  things: death, judgment, heaven and hell.

In other words, for the author of the Praytell article, the Church should act as a perfect political institution for this life only. There is no hint of what is to come and how the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass which brings about the Most Holy Eucharist points to Christ and the perfection of the Church Triumphant. 

There is no mention of the fires of hell for those who harm others from abortion, do not paying a just wage to workers, and who die unrepentant and without atonement or penance for their sins and restitution for any crimes and sins they have committed. 

And you know what? There is no language used by the author about accompanying those who harm migrants, don’t pay a living wage to their employees and exploit people for their own gain. There is no mention of sin or sinners and that the Church is a hospital for them. And when the Medicine of the Eucharist is having no effect on changing them and they become public sinners enjoying leading others to hell as well, no mention of withdrawing the Medicine that is the Most Holy Eucharist as a sign that the sinner has withdrawn from the Church and her mission—its called excommunication. Or lesser sanctions like censure.

My former bishop shut down two small parishes in our diocese because of their intransigence and congregationalism. No one could have the Eucharist in those parishes. He even changed the locks on the doors! After a period of time though and a change in behavior, the churches were reopen.

That’s the trouble with progressive Catholic theology. It isn’t Catholic. It is merely temporal and political. 

WHEREIN FATHER KARL RAHNER SPEAKS ABOUT MORTAL SINS OF A POPE IN HIS LEGAL/VALID PROCLAMATIONS

 

When I read Fr. Rahner in the 1970’s seminary, I could hardly stay awake and his run on sentences reminded me of me. What the heck was he writing?

But then I read this a WDTPRS yesterday and it made perfect sense to me:

Imagine that the Pope, as supreme pastor of the Church, issued a decree today requiring all the uniate churches of the Near East to give up their Oriental liturgy and adopt the Latin rite….The Pope would not exceed the competence of his jurisdictional primacy by such a decree, but the decree would be legally valid.

But we can also pose an entirely different question. Would it be morally licit for the Pope to issue such a decree? Any reasonable man and any true Christian would have to answer “no.” Any confessor of the Pope would have to tell him that in the concrete situation of the Church today such a decree, despite its legal validity, would be subjectively and objectively an extremely grave moral offense against charity, against the unity of the Church rightly understood (which does not demand uniformity), against possible reunion of the Orthodox with the Roman Catholic Church, etc., a mortal sin from which the Pope could be absolved only if he revoked the decree.

From this example one can readily gather the heart of the matter. It can, of course, be worked out more fundamentally and abstractly in a theological demonstration:

1. The exercise of papal jurisdictional primacy remains even when it is legal, subject to moral norms, which are not necessarily satisfied merely because a given act of jurisdiction is legal. Even an act of jurisdiction which legally binds its subjects can offend against moral principles.

2. To point out and protest against the possible infringement against moral norms of an act which must respect these norms is not to deny or question the legal competence of the man possessing the jurisdiction.

LET ME GET AHEAD OF THE RUMORS WITH MY CLAIRVOYANCE ABOUT ANY RESTRICTIONS TO THE EXTRAORDINARY FORM MASS

 

I suspect where  there is smoke there is fire and that some restrictions will be placed upon the EF Mass. 

I tend not to get overly worked up about these things at my age. But what might these restrictions look like?

1. Bishops will be given authority over who, when and where this Mass will be celebrated. In reality this has already been the case but not codified. 

2. We have to admit that some EF adherents have been and still are obnoxious and have to a certain extent brought restrictions upon themselves. If we wish to play the blame game, let’s begin with traditionalist who are far from traditional in their rebellion against Vatican II, their bishops and the pope. Sorry, that’s Protestant, not Catholic.

3. Pope Francis while myopic about the problems of the heterodox and their super flexibility, has consistently condemned rigid Catholic, especially priests, and has intimated that they are psychologically compromised. This indeed could be true, so let’s give the Holy Father credit at his pop pyschology diagnosis. 

4. Let’s face it, EF Mass goers are a small number of laity in terms of Catholics and Mass. Ordinary Form Catholics far outnumber EF Mass goers, pure and simple and that is true in my parish and diocese. 

5. Basically, I don’t think the number of Masses offered in the Extraordinary Form will be reduced and could increase if bishops are open to this Mass.

Finally, let’s improve the ordinary form. Encourage ad orientem and kneeling for Holy Communion and chanting/saying the propers. 

HOW IN THE NAME OF LITURGY AND ALL THAT IS CELEBRATED, COULD LINCOLN, NEBRASKA BUILD A CATHEDRAL LIKE THIS?

 We all know how conservative Lincoln is and that is across the board, in religions, politics and ideologies. 

The Diocese of Lincoln is particularly orthodox. So how, how, how this this happen??????

Cathedral of the Risen Christ Lincoln, NE:

The Benedictine altar arrangement does help but not much. Apart from gutting this “piece of art” what could be done to make it more attractive/traditional. The side wall looks like something out of Fred Flintstone’s church!