Showing posts with label Holy Father. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Holy Father. Show all posts

Saturday, January 22, 2011

Marrying in Church is a right only for those who believe in Christian marriage, says Pope

Marrying in Church is a right only for those who believe in Christian marriage, says Pope
The importance of the canonical and pastoral preparation for marriage focus of words addressed by Pope Benedict XVI to the Roman Rota. The bride and groom should be aware of and want this act that ultimately aims to holiness of life. This also to avoid future annulments.

Vatican City (AsiaNews) - Getting married in church is a right only if you believe in "true marriage” that is, an act for the realization of the “integral good, human and Christian, of the spouses and of their future children, ultimately projected towards the holiness of their lives".  From here, follows the importance of preparation for Christian marriage, also to avoid annulments, which were at the heart of Benedict XVI address delivered today to members of the Tribunal of the Roman Rota, received at the beginning of the judicial year.

"The canonical dimension of marriage preparation – began the Pope - is perhaps not an immediately perceived element" both because the preparation phase holds "a very modest, if not insignificant, place ", and because "there is a widespread mentality that the examination of the spouses, the publication of banns and other appropriate means to carry out the necessary pre-marital investigations, of which marriage preparation courses are a part, are purely formal obligations. In fact, it is often assumed that, in admitting the couples for marriage, pastors should proceed with speed, as it regards the natural right of people to marry".

The fact, however, is that "there is no marriage of lives and another of law: there is only one marriage, which is constitutionally a real legal bond between a man and a woman, a bond based on the true dynamics of conjugal life and love. The marriage celebrated by the spouses, the marriage that is dealt with both pastorally and in canonical doctrine, are one single natural and salvific reality, the wealth of which certainly gives rise to a variety of approaches, however without ever losing its essential identity. The legal aspect is intrinsically linked to the essence of marriage. This is understandable in light of a non-positivistic concept of law, but considered from the perspective of relationality according to justice.

H/t: Pete F

Thursday, December 30, 2010

Pope Says Normal Marriage Makes Europe, Europe

[Sexuality and Gender] With all the diplomatic comings and goings in Vatican City, L’Osservatore Romano, the Vatican weekly newspaper, is kept busy reporting on which diplomats are leaving, which new ones are arriving, what members of the Church hierarchy are retiring, and so on.

The descriptions of new arrivals to their diplomatic posts at the Vatican are especially interesting since they always begin with the same three markers: how old the ambassador is, whether he or she is married, and how many children they have. Just last week, for instance, we learned that Fernando Felipe Sánchez Campos of Costa Rica is 36, married, with two children. And we learn that Gábor Győriványi of Hungary is 51, married, with four children.

Yet there may be a more subtle rationale to this standard formula of diplomatic description than the simple recitation of facts.

Read further...

Friday, November 26, 2010

The Pope Directs Severe Criticism on Religious Instruction and Catholic Employees

Pope Benedict has criticized religious instruction in Germany in his book "Light of the World": "The Bishops must reconsider here how Catechesis can be given a new heart and a new face.

Rome (kath.net)  Pope Benedict has directed severe criticism against religious instruction in Germany in his new book, "Light of the World".  Peter Seewald asked the question how it is possible that with the responsibility falling at the end of the day to the Diocese that the children might know Buddhism, but on the other hand know almost nothing of the fundamentals of Catholicism:  "That is a question which I've also asked myself.  In Germany every child has nine to thirteen years of religious instruction.  How so little can come from that, as it is expressed here, is inconceivable. The Bishops must reconsider here how Catechesis can be given a new heart and a new face."

Benedict also criticized Catholics in official positions, who live by their Catholic confession [if nothing else].  Peter Seewald posed the following question: "Even in the ecclesiastical media there is the infestation of a 'culture of doubt' valued as chic.  Whole editorial staffs take up the usual uncritical catch words critical of the Church.  Bishops follow their media advisers, who recommend a shallow course, so that their liberal image won't suffer any damage.   Whenever a religious book is removed from the main line of goods by the still large church owned media concerns -- it is then not problematic, to speak still about the New Evangelization?"  The answer of Pope Benedict is clear: "These are all phenomena which one can only view with sadness.  That these are so-called Catholics employed in official positions who live from their confession as Catholics, but whose flowing springs of Faith are in public almost completely silent, effectively in single drops.  We must really therefore strive that it becomes otherwise.  I observe in Italy -- where there are fewer institutional ecclesiastical businesses --, that initiatives do not occur for that reason, because the Church built something as an institution, rather because the people were themselves faithful.  Spontaneous outbreaks don't come from an institution, rather they come from an authentic Faith."

The  letter published on  13. July by a  fifteen year old student  about abuses in religious education in a school in the Archdiocese of Salzburg have made an enormous echo with the readers of kath.net, who have been moved to write us.  Kath.net will then continue to publish further reports about religious instruction in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

Kath.net asks its readers:  How is it with the religious education of your children?  How are things with your religion teacher? -- Please send us any short reports to redaktion@kath.net!  We would like to publish these extracts as well.


Read the original at kath.net...

Saturday, November 20, 2010

Pope Does Not "Ok" Condoms: Media is Mother of Lies

Accuracy from NPR or the National News Media, you ask?  Should we be surprised when they tell the big lie?  We'll leave that for your own speculation and wonderment.  At least one journalist, formerly from L'Osservatore Romano has her head screwed on straight.

So, to clarify, he’s not endorsing condoms. He’s saying that it could be the first step of a particular individual to realize that their action is wrong. His example of a male prostitute is very particular. The Church doesn’t believe that male prostitution is a good thing; so it’s not going to endorse anything that would facilitate the behavior even if it’s ostensibly with the good intention of protecting one’s self or another. That good intention doesn’t change the nature of the behavior itself.
Read entire article, here...

This is really a continuation of the media blitz against him outlined and described in Vaticanists' Tornielli and Rodari, "Attack on Ratzinger".

Sunday, November 14, 2010

Cardinal Burke to Reprimand Cardinal Kasper With Blessing of Holy Father

[EF Exclusive] According to Catholic Culture, there will be an emergency consistory held by the Pope next week which will deal, in addition to issues related to the clerical sex abuse hysteria, with the reception of Anglicans into the Catholic Church.

We are told by Maximilian Hanlon that it is within the context of this meeting that Cardinal Burke will  publicly reprimand Cardinal Kasper, owing possibly to the notoriously liberal Cardinal's hostility to the "ecumenism of return".  Indeed, since Cardinal Kasper has been opposed to an ecumenism of return, so it should be easy to see why Cardinal Burke would object to this.  What is more surprising is that he is doing this with the blessing of the Holy Father.

Cardinal Kasper had gotten into trouble, you may remember, for saying some controversial things prior to the Pope's trip to England and suddenly became ill and could not participate.

This will be interesting to see how it plays out.

Photo:  St. Louis Today

Related Articles:

Cardinal Kasper complains about SSPX talks

Cardinal Kasper says Europe Must Return to Christian Roots.

A Destroyer of the Faith Leaves the Curia.

Saturday, November 13, 2010

The Pope Plans to Allow Women to the Office of Lector

Editor: It's just a matter of time?


Assignments since 1972 already no longer required ordination.

Vatican City (kath.net/KAP) Benedict XVI is evidently planning to allow women to act as lectors at services. This was confirmed by the new prefect of the Vatican Bishops Congregation, Cardinal Marc Ouellet, this Thursday afternoon.  Ouellet outlined this in the context of the post-synodal document "Verbum Domini" by Pope Benedict XVI., which dealt with "The word of God in life and in the mission of the Church".

In the 220 page document on the structure of the recommendations of the Bishops Synod 2008 dealt with the necessity of a "rediscovery" of the Bible for the life of the Church, for the engagement in society and for inter-religious dialogue.

The Pope recalled among other things the liturgical rules of the Mass in the document: "As is well known, the Gospel is announced by the Priest or Deacon, the first and second reading in the Latin tradition, however, can be assigned to a man or a woman."

Lectoresses will now no longer be the exception.


Till now it has only been men who've been assigned to read the first and second reading, even though in many parishes in the German-speaking world it has turned out otherwise.  That either men or women could be assigned in the lector role was actually foreseen as an exception.

 From the outset on, lectors -- consistently men -- were authorized by the local bishop in the majority of cases.  Besides these lectors assigned as needed by the Bishop, baptised women and men were assigned the  role of reader in the Mass out of necessity.

Till 1972 the lector and acolyte (Altarservers) were assignments reserved for "lower ordinands".  Since 1972 both assignments are no longer tied to one who is ordained.

By the presentation on Thursday afternoon Cardinal Ouellet pointed out that the Pope  seized upon this indirectly from "Proposal 17" of the Bishops Synod on the Bible of  2008: "The Synod Fathers desired that the office of lector should be open also to women -- that therefore ought to take place. And the Holy Father studied this matter intently."

The German edition of Radio Vatican speculated that with the preparedness of the Pope to allow women as lectors, this could also open the way for discussing allowance of women in the office of the diaconate. The possible renewal, of which Cardinal Ouellet speaks, does not mean altogether a step toward the direction of lay preachers, says the broadcaster.

The French Catholic newspaper "La Croix" also took a look on Friday at the expressions of the new papal document with regard to Judaism.  As the paper recalled, it happened two years ago for the first time that there was a Jew who was invited -- a head rabbi from Haifa, Shear-Yashuv Cohen -- to be a lecturer at the Bishops Synod.  And Benedict XVI had explained in his writing, how valuable the dialog with Judaism is for the Church. "We are close together as we share the same spiritual roots.  We encounger one another as brothers -- brothers, who in certain moments of their history have had a tense relationship, but who've now decided to take pains, to build bridges of understanding and friendship", it was said among other things.


Link to original at kath.net...

Mr. Taylor's photo, from here .

Wymyn Priestess photos, here.

Related Articles:

Stealth Deaconess, already in play, here.

Lay Investiture, here.

Linz Bishop, "concelebrates", here.

Stephen Kiechle SJ,will applaud too, here.

Monday, October 11, 2010

Pope Has Received Message from Ahmadinejad

ack to Google News
Pope has received letter from Ahmadinejad

(AP) – 1 day ago

VATICAN CITY — The Vatican says Pope Benedict XVI has received a letter from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

The Vatican did not release the contents of the message. But the website of the Iranian presidency said Saturday that Ahmadinejad had called for cooperation by "divine religions" against secularism.

The website said he also thanked Benedict for his stance against a Florida pastor who had threatened to burn the Quran on the 9/11 anniversary. The pope and other Christian leaders urged the pastor to reconsider his plans, which he eventually called off.

Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi said the pontiff received the letter during a brief meeting with one of Iran's vice presidents at the end of his weekly general audience Wednesday.

Link to original...

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Cardinal Schönborn Buries Pornographer

The late Hans Dichant, editor of the street-magazine, 'The Crowns Times' [Die Kronen Zeitung] was known for his docility to the Cardinal's concerns, and the Cardinal praised his paper for being "friendly" to the Church in Austria, but little to no mention of the pornographic adds there, or indeed, the support Dichant gave to the late hyper-nationalist and Freemason, Jörg Haider. [Ewald Stadler maintains as much in 2007 in his lecture on Masonry in Linz.]

This is especially interesting in light of the Cardinal's high level meeting with the Holy Father, the Secretary of State and Dean of the College of Cardinals. Mercifully, Whispers in the Loggia mentioned Cardinal Schoenborn's pro-homosexual statement, which he wasn't required to retract, apparently, here, that the Church:

"should give more consideration to the quality of homosexual relationships," and that "a stable [same-sex] relationship is certainly better than if someone chooses to be promiscuous."


Father Z, here.

Here's what Kreuz.net had to say:

A Pious Work

When the the powerful die, everyone is there: The Viennese Cardinal has commended to God the dead promoter of depraved Porn and Prostitution Publications throughout the Land.

[Kreuz.net] On Saturday the Viennese Archbishop, Christoph Cardinal Schönborn, celebrated the Requiem for Hans Dichant (89).

The deceased was the editor and owner of boulevard paper "Crowns Times" [Die Kronen Zeitung].

With a circulation of over 800,000 sales it is an example of the most widely read newspapers in the land.

Cardinal Schönborn wrote for the turn style paper regularly and vacuous Sunday meditations.

Those close to the deceased took their place in the foremost rows of the St. Stephen's Cathedral which was separated from the rest of the church by a cord.

There was a strict ban on photography and film.

Only the photojournalists of the 'Crowns Times' [Die Kronen Zeitung] were allowed to light up the area of the ceremony.

The rest of the journalists had to be satisfied with seats way in the back.

The entire decadent Austrian politically prominent found themselves at the beginning as "honored guests".

Absent were the members of the anti-Church "Green" extremists and the officially fallen from catholicism, President Comrade Heinz Fischer.

Cardinal Schoenborn found positive words for the deceased as was generally expected.

The super-rich Dichant is said "to have been for the generation of Charity and Service".

It had been "not self-evident", that he found room for the Gospel in his porno and prostitution paper.

"He burned through the rest of the pages of the paper" -- the Cardinal let himself tear out an embarrassing comment.


He seemed not to care if he was ridiculed


After the death of "his employer" Cardinal Schoenborn had pulled together the heads of some jounrnalists, "in which he ostentatiously evaluated the positive role of the "Kronen Times' as if it belonged to media sanctity."

This was Michael Fleischhacker of the anti-Church paper 'Die Presse' on Sunday in a commentary:

"That he wrote in a paper, which as part of its profits as the largest broker between prostitutes and their customers, bothered the Cardinal only decidedly less than the civilized critique of his thesis for "Intelligent Design", which he heard about in some of the media.

For the Cardinal the Homo Sapiens was not just the end product of a Godless effect of random evolutionary processes, rather the crown of creation -- Fleischhacker correctly summarized:

"The Homo austriacus emerged, and was really completely without intelligent design, much more so the Creature of the 'Krone'."

At the burial service Fleischhacker found countless advocates for this marriage, especially among the attending politicians: "accommodating, soberly ascetic, resistant to truth."

Dichand had "fashioned" these human types "with power, grown great in affection and put on back on the right way by the withdrawal of love."

Fleschhacker understands: "That they are gathered at this religious service, in order to bid farewell to the man in a religious framework, who has made them, what they are, it is not for them to bring reproach."

At the same time the journalist weighs illusions: "It would nevertheless be ripe for such a thing as evolution in Austria now."

He added: "Perhaps the Viennese Cardinal can leave this to the subject of his beliefs on creation. At least it would be a pious work."

Monday, April 5, 2010

Weigel Defends (Neocons) Pope

As Zoe Romanovsky reports, Weigel gets praise from America Magazine. If he gets praise, it might have to do with he fact that Weigel echoes the tired anti-clerical language of Liberal Catholics, but invokes it to praise the person of the Holy Father, if not the institution of the Papacy, how masonic...

Really, George Weigel is a Hegelian statist who likes the idea of religion, even if he does find its deeper claims and political aspirations distasteful.

Like Peggy Noonan, a careerist, "defending" the Catholic Church, perhaps, more like Grima Wormtoungue in Tolkien's Lord of the Rings: these flatterers leave much to be desired in the league of sincerity, but owe everything to their status as infighters and journalistic schemers:

To be sure, the Catholic Church ought to hold itself to a higher moral standard than other similarly situated institutions. But after too long a period of denial, the Catholic Church is now at the forefront of combating the sexual abuse of the young in the United States. And no one in the church has done more, over the last decade, to compel the sclerotic institutional culture [Wow, somebody's mad that he doesn't have the free access he enjoyed when John Paul II was in power] of the Vatican to face these problems than Joseph Ratzinger, Pope Benedict XVI.

These are the facts. [No, these are your impressions] Thus the concern naturally arises, on this Easter, that those who continue to portray Catholicism as a global conspiracy of sexual predators are indulging in the last acceptable prejudice, anti-Catholicism, while aiming at nothing less than the destruction of the Catholic Church's credibility as a global moral teacher.


From InsideCatholic:

Read the article already...

Friday, January 22, 2010

Vocations-Promoting Bishop Made Primate of Belgium

New Archbishop Reveals 3 Pastoral Priorities

By Jesús Colina

BRUSSELS, Belgium, JAN. 21, 2010 (Zenit.org).- Vocations, liturgy and a genuine concern for social issues are the three priorities announced by the new archbishop of Brussels.

Archbishop André-Joseph Léonard spoke of these goals Monday, the day his appointment as the primate of Belgium was made public. The archbishop was accompanied at the press conference by his predecessor, 76-year-old Cardinal Godfried Danneels.

The new archbishop noted that he will soon be 70; the age for retirement according to canon law is 75.

"This means that, on the condition that I maintain the good health I have today, I'll have no more than five years to serve this Archdiocese of Malines-Brussels," said this philosopher and theologian, who was bishop of Namur for almost 20 years.

"You can see, therefore, that I must establish priorities to use the years that in principle I have before me as effectively as possible," he stated.

In virtue of his new office, according to the tradition in Belgium, Archbishop Léonard also becomes president of the episcopal conference and bishop of the dioceses of the Armed Forces.

Worthy of God

The prelate announced first of all that he intends to carry out a systematic visit of the archdiocese to get to know the reality firsthand.

He said he hoped to promote one of the key ideas expressed in Cardinal Danneels' homilies and addresses in the last few weeks: "the importance of an elegant liturgy, faithful to the great tradition of the Church, worthy of God and worthy of the men and women who take part in it."

In his farewells, recalled Archbishop Léonard, his predecessor expressed his hopes "that our Church will be ever more a 'praying' and 'adoring' Church, also explicitly inviting to foster the practice of Eucharistic adoration."

"I would like to commit myself decidedly in this direction," the prelate confirmed.

The other pastoral priority that Archbishop Léonard will promote, following in the footsteps of Cardinal Danneels, is "social concern, especially in the matter of housing. I would like to follow his steps as best I can in this area, as in many others."

Archbishop Leonard then pointed out as a priority "concern for vocations, for all vocations."

"The commitment of so many Christians, men and women, in society and in our parishes and movements is a blessing," stressed the polyglot archbishop, who speaks seven languages.

"But we also need consecrated men and women, as well as priests and deacons," he affirmed.

Archbishop Léonard as bishop of Namur was known for the growth of his seminary: There, 35 of the 71 Belgian seminarians study.

"It is clear that I do not have recipes to awaken or attract vocations to consecrated life or to the priesthood, but I know that the Lord wants to give them to us and I promise to do everything I can to respond to his will," he said.

The archbishop announced on his Web page that, because of his appointment, he has changed his second name, Mutien (which he had adopted when he was appointed bishop of Namur), to Joseph, holy patron of Belgium. Archbishop André-Mutien Léonard will now be called André-Joseph Léonard.

He will take possession of the Primate See on Feb. 28.

[Anita S. Bourdin contributed to this report]


Link to original...

Saturday, January 16, 2010

Pope Benedict to Schönborn: Be careful about Medjugorje

By Richard Chonak on January 15, 2010 1:05 PM | 5 Comments
From the Italian web site Petrus (my translation):

Rumors from the "Sacri Palazzi": the Pontiff calls Cardinal Schönborn into line: "More prudence about Medjugorje". The cardinal traveled there December 31.


VATICAN CITY - The Pope did not welcome the end-of-year visit to Medjugorje by Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, Archbishop of Vienna and his former student at university. According to word filtering out from the "Sacri Palazzi" (there has been no official statement on the subject), Benedict XVI has personally communicated with the Austrian cardinal, receiving him in audience a few days after the arguments sparked by the journey of the prominent prelate to the small village in Bosnia-Herzegovina in which six alleged seers have claimed to see the Madonna since the 1980s. The Bishop of Mostar (the diocese in which Medjugorje is located), Monsignor Ratko Peric -- steadily convinced, like his predecessor, that the Virgin is absolutely not appearing in the village -- lamented in an official note that he had not been warned by Schönborn in advance of his arrival. The Archbishop of Vienna, for his part, after having prayed and said Mass at Medjugorje on December 31, also expressed his favorable judgment on what is said to have happened there, and had one of the six alleged seers who claim to see and speak with the "Gospa" accompany him. Then, as the Holy See has not yet expressed itself on the apparitions and many Cardinals and Bishops have shown their skepticism on the authenticity of the apparitions, Benedict XVI has therefore asked Schönborn for more prudence in statements relative to Medjugorje (the destination, this year, of millions of pilgrims), so that his presence there, as a member of the College of Cardinals, not be exploited by anyone to "authenticate" phenomena which the Holy See intends to monitor and analyze, besides the ordinary way, with an ad hoc Commission to whose guidance Cardinal Camillo Ruini will reportedly be called. The most recent Prince of the Church to express his own perplexity on the Medjugorje apparitions (in an interview in these pages) was the Cardinal José Saraiva Martins.

Link to article...

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Pope Calls Youth to Constancy, Courage

Holy Father's frequent exhortations for orthodoxy and for combat against heresy are heartwarming.

VATICAN CITY, JAN. 13, 2010 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI today offered the example of a fourth century champion of orthodoxy as a model for youth.

In his traditional greeting to the sick, newlyweds and young people, the Pope mentioned the saint celebrated by today's liturgy: Hilary of Poitiers.

The fourth century bishop was energetic in his fight against the Arian heresy. And the liturgy calls him a "tenacious champion of the divinity of Christ."

He was a "defender of the faith and teacher of truth," the Holy Father said. "May his example sustain you, dear young people, in your constant and courageous search for Christ."

The Bishop of Rome also encouraged the sick to "offer your sufferings so that the Kingdom of God is spread in the whole world" and he urged newlyweds to be "witnesses of the love of Christ in family life."

Monday, January 11, 2010

Holy Father Castigates Homosexual Marriage Laws


Gene Robinson's Special Day

In a move that is ultimately calculated to be critical of Cardinal Fideles of Portuagal, Holy Father has applied some directive pressure to insure that the people of Portugal know that their Shepherd is with them. Could it be that mercenary shepherds like Cardinal Fideles are on their way out?


AFP

Pope Benedict XVI on Monday called laws ignoring the difference between the sexes an "attack" on creation just days after Portugal moved to legalise gay marriage.

Creatures, including humans, "can be protected or endangered", the pope, 82, told the Vatican diplomatic corps in a traditional January address focusing mainly on environmental issues.

"One such attack comes from laws or proposals which, in the name of fighting discrimination, strike at the biological basis of the difference between the sexes," he said, citing "certain countries in Europe or North and South America".

Portugal's parliament last Friday approved plans to legalise gay marriage, and a final vote could occur before a visit by the pope in May.

Also last week, two men became the first homosexual couple to legally marry in Latin America, in the southern Argentine province of Ushuaia.

"Freedom cannot be absolute," the pontiff said.

"For man, the path to be taken cannot be determined by caprice or wilfulness, but must rather correspond to the structure willed by the Creator," he said.

Mexican Church also under fire.

Thursday, January 7, 2010

Come All Ye Faithful: Benedict's Counter-Reformation

William S. Lind is a doctrinaire sort of man with his own axe to grind. His prose resembles the stiff powder blue suit of an Evangelical protestant going door-to-door. We couldn't even finish reading his article, but made comments before we started to fall into a torpor of sleep by the protestantic contempt for the First Vatican Council which many Bishops and Cardinals, even those who resisted, backe with their lives, like the Cardinal of Paris who was murdered by the spiritual descendants of the Protestants, the Communists in the 1870 Commune. This periodical isn't conservative, it's dead.

When my mother was a young woman, in the 1930s, Cousin Lily, then in her 80s, gave her some sound advice: “Wherever you go, join the Episcopal Church and you will meet all the best people in town.” “Best” in this instance referred not to the Book of Life but the Social Register. The staid, proper, elevated Episcopal Church, the Republican Party at prayer, was respectability’s keep.

Starting sometime in the 1960s, God’s frozen people melted, generating the mother of all theological mud puddles. From the abandonment of Thomas Cranmer’s Book of Common Prayer to the introduction of priestesses in the 1970s and the ongoing election of homosexual bishops, the Episcopal Church forsook traditional Christian doctrine in favor of its own invented religion. Not surprisingly, this apostasy fractured both the Episcopal Church and the larger Anglican Communion. The upshot has been a variety of continuing churches that maintain historic ties to Anglicanism, multiple movements within the Episcopal Church to restore orthodoxy, and the breaking away of many Anglican churches in the Third World, where most Anglicans now live.

On Oct. 20, Rome parachuted into this dogfight like a division of Fallschirmjager. [Yes, we wrote "Benedict's Ecumenical Blitzkrieg"] In a move that stunned the Archbishop of Canterbury, Anglicanism’s titular leader, Pope Benedict XVI, opened the Roman Catholic Church’s door to Anglicans as Anglicans. He invited them to move in—individuals, parishes, whole dioceses—while retaining their Anglican identity. They could keep their Book of Common Prayer, their liturgies, their priests—even married ones.

Importantly, Anglican parishes affiliating with Rome would not come under the authority of local Roman Catholic bishops. In the U.S. and UK, most of those bishops are liberals. They dislike traditional Anglicans as much as they dislike traditional Roman Catholics and the Latin Mass. Given the chance, they would simply close down any Anglican parish that swam the Tiber, telling the congregation to go to Roman Catholic churches. This would leave most former Anglicans unchurched, as few could stomach the snakebelly-low post-Vatican II vernacular Roman Mass. To Anglicans, no sin is more grievous than bad taste.

Not to worry: Anglicans rallying to Rome will stay under their own bishops, or priests acting as bishops, known as “ordinaries.” Pope Benedict knows his American and British bishops all too well. His whole package is neatly wrapped up just in time for Christmas in an Apostolic Constitution, the most definitive form of papal legislation. The rough American equivalent would be a constitutional amendment. It’s not just a bon-bon.

How Anglicans will react to Rome’s offer has yet to be seen. [Rome already knew how they would react, since there were many letters asking for this, and it was well known in the news that Liberal Prelatistas in the Magic Circle hated the idea that these people were coming. Anglican Bishop Ebbsfleet himself threatened to swim the Tiber and has yet to do so, although he said something last time about Advent.] Many details remain unclear. One problem is likely to be the doctrine of papal infallibility, [Not really, where do you people come from?] a 19th-century Roman innovation. [Is this really a conservative publication?] The Apostolic Constitution stipulates that Anglicans would have to accept “The Catechism of the Roman Catholic Church as the authoritative expression of the Catholic faith professed by members of the ordinariate.” [Many of them already do] This could mean accepting papal infallibility as expressed in the catechism, and if Rome remains inflexible on that point, Pope Benedict’s initiative seems likely to fail. [Wishful thinking on your part, no doubt.]

But should it succeed, Rome’s offer has implications far beyond Anglicanism. Pope Benedict just might have taken the first step toward a second Counter-Reformation. The split within Anglicanism between those who believe the Christian faith was revealed and is to be received and those who think you just make it up to accord with the temper of the times is duplicated within virtually every other denomination. [Yes, that was the problem in the first place]

The root cause is the cultural Marxism of the Frankfurt School, [You'll probably never appreciate just how much the Frankfurt School is indebted to the Protestant Revolt] commonly known as political correctness. Following Antonio Gramsci’s plan for a “long march through the institutions,” cultural Marxists have penetrated every mainline church. Their driving force is political ideology, not theology. They view the church as just one more venue for radical politics.

Their goal is Nietzsche’s “transvaluation of all values,” where the old sins become virtues and the old virtues, sins. In churches where they take power, the Holy Trinity is replaced by a trio of bogeymen: racism, sexism, and homophobia. Every denomination so afflicted is bitterly split between remaining Christians and the politically correct. (No, you can’t be both, as Marxists would agree.)

What is now happening, and what Rome may have discerned, is that the people on each side of this division find they have more in common with those in other denominations who share their basic faith, Christianity or cultural Marxism, than with the people on the other side of that divide within their own churches. A potential is emerging for a vast realignment, one transcending the divisions that came out of the Reformation. [Uh, Protestant Revolt] That realignment, in which the remaining Christians in every church would gather in a single, new (small “c”) catholic church, needs a leader. Who better than Rome? Indeed, who other than Rome could possibly pull it off? [No one]

Seen in that light, the Pope’s offer to the Anglicans takes on broader meaning. Some observers have seen a parallel with the arrangement a number of Eastern Catholic Churches have had with Rome since 1595. Those Churches recognize their own liturgical rites, systems of canon law, and procedures for ordination. Immediately after the announcement of the constitution—before the document was published—Father Dwight Longenecker, a former Anglican now Roman Catholic priest, wrote on the Inside Catholic website:

It has always been Benedict’s view that the way forward ecumenically is to replicate the existing structures that the Eastern Rite churches enjoy, and that this can be done with new flexibility and creativity.


He is willing to take risks to welcome those who follow the historic Christian faith, although separated from full communion with Rome. On the other hand, he sees those who prefer the modern gospel of relativism, sexual license, and a denial of the historic Christian faith that have taken over the mainstream Protestant churches. He knows there are plenty of them in the Catholic Church, and to them Benedict is quietly saying, “There’s the door.”

Yet what the Apostolic Constitution actually offers Anglicans is substantially less accommodating than Rome’s deal with the Eastern Rite churches. While Anglicans could keep their historic liturgical rite, Anglican churches affiliating with Rome would come under what are in effect non-geographical dioceses. That is a long way from the independence of the Eastern Rite Catholic Churches. [I'm not getting the relevance or truth value of this statement?]

Here we come to the crux of the matter: is Rome’s offer final, or is it negotiable, an opening gambit? If it is final, it is not likely to draw many Anglicans and would have virtually no appeal to other Protestants. Papal infallibility alone might doom it, and as a vehicle for Christian unity, it would prove, well, fallible. But let us hopefully assume that the Apostolic Constitution is not Rome’s last offer, that something closer to the arrangement given to the Eastern Rite churches could prove acceptable to Rome.

What then? It is possible to visualize not only Anglicans but all Protestants, in a new Counter-Reformation, leaving behind the cultural Marxists in the husks of their denominational institutions and joining in full communion with the Roman Catholic Church. They could do so while remaining what they are—Lutherans and Methodists, Presbyterians and Baptists, even some evangelicals—just as Greek Catholics remain in their Eastern rite. To Rome, they would give formal allegiance, recognizing the Pope as the titular and symbolic head of the Church. What both would gain would be a reunion of Christendom in the West in a church free of cultural Marxism—no small thing.

It is obvious that we are talking about a big leap for the Protestants. While few still speak openly of the “tyranny of the Bishop of Rome and all his detestable enormities,” that attitude has shaped their histories. [Much to the diminishment of European Civilization and involving the loss of many souls.] Interestingly, however, one of the more enthusiastic responses to the constitution came from the Methodists. A senior official told the Methodist Recorder that “[the constitution] may open up ways in which Methodism, whose origins were as a movement in the Church rather than a separate denomination, may find its place in future, as a Church, alongside others within the universal Church.”

Protestants’ usual Sunday services would have to alter little, if at all, except for communion services, which are infrequent. Less obvious, perhaps, is the height of the wall the Roman Catholic Church would have to vault. That barrier is built largely of beliefs that, in the Ultramontane years of the 19th century, were turned into formal doctrines. [These dogmas were defined because the world needed to understand them, things that Christians had always and everywhere believed] Neither Anglicans nor Protestants are likely to swear to any of them, although they ought to be willing to accept them as what they were before the 1800s, long-standing traditions that were widely believed. (Papal infallibility is an exception; it was an invention rammed through Vatican I in 1870.) [What's with this guy?]

For Rome, there is a possible way around this wall rather than over it: status quo ante. Anglican and Protestant congregations and jurisdictions joining in full communion with Rome would not be required to accept as doctrine anything postdating their split from Rome. The Catholic Church would lead a second Counter-Reformation by backing away from some of the first.

Before the Council of Trent (1545-63), which begat the Counter-Reformation, Rome’s hand rested lightly on national churches. For example, we think of the Roman Catholic Church as having a single rite, after Trent the Tridentine Rite and following Vatican II the sad and dispiriting Novus Ordo. Before Trent, Rome allowed a vast variety of rites, as she would again. England alone had three major rites and a host of minor ones in a country of 4 million people. Rome saw no problem as long as the rites for communion services followed what Dom Gregory Dix called “the shape of the liturgy.” Anglicans might again chant in the litany, “From ghoulies and ghosties and long-legged beasties and things that go bump in the night, Good Lord deliver us.”

Pre-Trent, the same decentralization reigned in other matters as well. Kings generally had a good deal of say in who became a bishop. The Church might “volunteer” to pay some form of tax to a needy monarch. (After all, Church lands might make up a third of his kingdom.) When, occasionally, a Pope would overreach, king and bishops would come together to oppose him.

If Rome’s ambitions for a reunited Western Church go beyond Anglicans, and the Vatican is willing to bend beyond what the Apostolic Constitution currently offers, it may be time for Vatican III. The goal of such a council would be twofold: to sweep away obstacles to Christian unity stemming from the Council of Trent and Vatican I and reverse the disastrous consequences of Vatican II, including the vandalizing of the liturgy and abandonment of practices (such as fish on Friday) that buttressed Roman Catholic identity among laymen. Ultramontane doctrinal innovations would all have to be on the table; they might remain for Roman Catholics but would not be required of others seeking full communion with Rome.

Is all this just wishful thinking? The division between Christians and cultural Marxists in every denomination is certainly real: it screams from the religion page of every newspaper. With that division comes the potential for realignment and Christian reunion. Understanding the mind of the Curia is more difficult than penetrating North Korea, but Rome’s offer to the Anglicans suggests that Pope Benedict XVI is looking beyond the usual games. The ice has cracked, and a new spring may be coming.

Pope Benedict is a good German. Perhaps the question he could put to himself is this: who do I want to be, Kaiser Wilhelm II or Bismarck? Kaiser Wilhelm II was a bright and well-intentioned fellow. He was almost always right in what he wanted to do (including not going to war in 1914). But over and over he deferred to his advisers, who were almost always wrong. Bismarck, in contrast, knew exactly what he wanted—the reunification of Germany—and was both opportunistic and ruthless in making it happen. He brooked no opposition. As Kaiser Wilhem I once said, “Sometimes it is a hard thing, being a Kaiser under Bismarck.”

Now there’s a vision to gladden the heart: a German Pope proclaiming the reunion of the Western Church in the hall of mirrors at Versailles. Be a Bismarck, Benedict, be a Bismarck.
__________________________________________

William S. Lind is author, with Paul Weyrich, of The Next Conservatism.

The American Conservative...

Sunday, December 20, 2009

"Pope" to be Trademarked

Vatican City, Dec 19, 2009 / 12:23 pm (CNA).- The Vatican made a declaration on the protection of the figure of the Pope on Saturday morning. The statement seeks to establish and safeguard the name, image and any symbols of the Pope as being expressly for official use of the Holy See unless otherwise authorized.

The statement cited a "great increase of affection and esteem for the person of the Holy Father" in recent years as contributing to a desire to use the Pontiff's name for all manner of educational and cultural institutions, civic groups and foundations.

Due to this demand, the Vatican has felt it necessary to declare that "it alone has the right to ensure the respect due to the Successors of Peter, and therefore, to protect the figure and personal identity of the Pope from the unauthorized use of his name and/or the papal coat of arms for ends and activities which have little or nothing to do with the Catholic Church."

The declaration alludes to attempts to use ecclesiastical or pontifical symbols and logos to "attribute credibility and authority to initiatives" as another reason to establish their “copyright” on the Holy Father's name, picture and coat of arms.

"Consequently, the use of anything referring directly to the person or office of the Supreme Pontiff... and/or the use of the title 'Pontifical,' must receive previous and express authorization from the Holy See," concluded the message released to the press


http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/holy_see_declares_unique_copyright_on_papal_figure/

Thursday, December 10, 2009

Disappearing Eastern Catholicism: Middle East Synod 2010

Vatican City (AsiaNews) - Benedict XVI has called synod of the churches in the Middle East for an October 2010. Preparation for this event requires understanding of the situation that surrounds this part of the world and the difficult problems that the churches there are suffering.

First there is widespread conflict. There is one that has lasted for decades, between Israel and Palestine, and associated with it, other situations of war that have arisen in other countries.

Then there is the political changes that have taken place in Iran since '79, which brought to the fore the Shiite movement. In many countries where it exists, it is becoming its self-awareness is growing, although this often takes on the form of confrontation.

A third factor is the rise of Islamic terrorism in the countries of the Middle East which is spreading throughout the world. Added to this the war in Iraq and its consequences. All of these political situations are somehow inter-connected.

Another important dimension is the growth of the Islamic fundamentalist movement. This has changed the very social structure of the region which has for decades seen the insistence of Islamic discourse in the media; schools are permeated with the teachings Islam, especially fundamentalist Islam; on the streets religious adverts are an increasing; the traditional external or extremist signs of this trend. In some countries the growth of fundamentalism has encouraged the adoption of sharia, or part of sharia. This has a strong influence on the lives of Christians, because they are forced to behave in a "more Islamic" way, often suffering social exclusion as a result.

Even in Palestine in the last decade the once prevalent secular trend has greatly diminished and the fundamentalist trend has increased. Religious freedom has declined everywhere, choking the Church's mission.

Emigration

The easiest response for Christians to this situation tends to be one that is both equal and opposite: affirming the Christian identity with more stringency; a hardening of relations among themselves. This is evident in Egypt, but also in other situations.

Another way to react is to emigrate. Everyone, Christians and Muslims emigrate for socio-economic reasons, rarely for religious reasons. But the number of Christians who emigrate is far higher than that of Muslims and among the reasons why Christians leave those of cultural, and moral freedom are mounting. Emigration is facilitated by the fact that many Christians have relatives and friends abroad, the result of past migrations.

In the case of Egypt it is clear: Muslim migration has always been temporary, to the Gulf countries, people leave for a few years and then return. Instead Christians emigrate to North America or Europe or Australia, transplanting themselves in a comprehensive manner.

Emigration is not an entirely negative factor: it can also be opportunity for renewal. The Coptic community in the United States, for example, counts at least 700 thousand faithful. These were compared with American or Australian culture and sought to maintain the Coptic tradition - such as fasting, which is very intense and long - and respect for the clergy and for their Church. At the same time they have found other ways to celebrate, a greater closeness to the Holy Scriptures, Western theology. This has allowed for a true ecumenism and openness to other religious communities. And this is a positive contribution to their church.

Emigration has positive aspects also from an economic standpoint because it supports families and churches back home.

The presence of Islamic fundamentalism has positive aspects: it encourages Christians to live their faith in a more radical and intimate way, because there is an attack on their faith. Religious feeling is strengthened; at times, this religious sentiment in Christians and Muslims tends to fanaticism, but more often it arouses the desire for greater reflection, freedom and discovery.

The mission of the Christian minority

What makes matters worse is the fact numeric: Christians are a minority, they have neither numbers nor militias to claim a space. Their presence is neither supported in the region - because it is overwhelmingly Muslim - nor abroad because Europe and America are uninterested in the fate of Christians. When interest is aroused it is because the plight of Christians is linked to the economic and political situation.

We must take stock of these reasons in order to understand what future Christians have in the Middle East. And this is the purpose of the Synod: first comprehend the situation and then look for possible paths of action.

Many Christians are tempted to emigrate. This choice weakens those who remain: those leaving are generally the most capable in cultural and economic terms, and those who stay the weakest and the poorest. This is likely to provoke a vicious circle: the more people leave the more those who remain are oppressed. A similar thing happened in Turkey. Today there are more Syriac faithful in Saudi Arabia (migrants from India) than in Turkey and Syria combined. On a personal level, Christians a re highly adaptable to all situations. This means that in a one to two generations, Christians abroad become permanent residents and part of another Christian community.

But the question is: have Christians a specific mission in the Middle East?

If one thinks about the consequences for communities worldwide, it must be said that there is a risk of a great loss for world culture and the Universal Church: the end of the Churches of the East. Within a few decades a large part of the theological and intellectual heritage of the Churches of the East would be cancelled. And no book can replace it.

Severe loss

But it would be a great loss for the countries of the East. Christians are a different voice, a challenging one, diverse from Israel and the Muslims, with a specific culture that enriches this cultural area. It would also be a loss for society because Christians represent a tradition of freedom, of openness that is partly missing in the Islamic tradition, which is more closed in on itself.

This phenomenon has occurred many times in history: the Assyrian Christians who between the eighth century and the twelfth introduced Hellenistic thought in philosophy, medicine, science. And in 800 and 900, they also introduced European thought through their translations. They are a cultural bridge. And for the same Islamic world their disappearance would be a loss. In short, the emigration of Christians abroad and their disappearance from the East would be a loss for everyone, first and foremost for Muslims themselves.

Link to link...

Monday, November 9, 2009

New Architectural Appeal to the Holy Father

Appeal to His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI for the return to an authentically Catholic sacred Art

Veni, Creator Spiritus
mentes tuorum visita
Imple superna gratia
quae tu creasti pectora


Art is an inexhaustible and incredible treasure of catechesis. For us it is also a
duty to know and understand well. Not as sometimes art historians do,
interpreting it only formally, according to the artistic technique. Rather, we must
enter into the content and revive the content that inspired this great art. It seems
really a duty - also in the formation of future priests - to become familiar with
these treasures and have the ability to transform them into a living catechesis that
is present in them and speak to us today.
(Benedict XVI - Holy Father's meeting with the parish priests and
clergy of the Diocese of Rome - February 22nd 2007)

Hat tip to beloblog, Link with some commentary

The link to the proposal is here.