tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29843124460579994112024-02-20T13:27:06.418-06:00Sioux City Deacon FormationInformation, resources, and community building for all the members of the Deacon Community of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sioux City. Thoughts, Catholic commentary, and occasional homilies from Deacon David. Deacon Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04773422293103065041noreply@blogger.comBlogger187125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2984312446057999411.post-11523552314972423262018-10-05T09:58:00.000-05:002018-10-18T10:33:12.001-05:00Archbishop Chaput at the Youth Synod - Two Excellent Interventions On the first day of the youth synod, Archbishop Chaput gave two excellent, incisive interventions (i.e., brief speeches to start the ball rolling, as it were). Here are two articles about them, with the full text at the bottom of each article.<br />
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<a href="https://www.ncregister.com/blog/edward-pentin/archbishop-chaput-term-lgbtq-catholic-should-not-be-used-in-church-document" target="_blank">One</a>, on how using secular terminology already gives away too much of what is in dispute.<br />
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<a href="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/archbishop-chaput-to-youth-synod-developed-nations-stuck-in-a-moral-adolescence-20296" target="_blank">Two</a>, on the "moral adolensence" of Western materialist culture.<br />
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This is what leadership looks like.<br />
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UPDATE - 10/18 - Excellent <a href="http://catholicphilly.com/2018/10/news/local-news/synod-2018-and-the-road-ahead/" target="_blank">interview with Abp. Chaput</a>. An excerpt:<br />
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"Augusto Del Noce, the late Italian philosopher, described our situation best in his essay, “Technological Civilization and Christianity.” It’s worth reading. As “postmoderns,” we’ve tried to overcome our despair with science and technology, and they produce many good things. But they also focus us radically on this world and away from the supernatural. As a result, man’s religious dimension, our sense of the transcendent, slowly dries up and disappears. Technological civilization doesn’t persecute religion, at least not directly. It doesn’t need to. It makes God irrelevant.<br />
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"The Church will survive and continue her mission. But to do that, she first needs to acknowledge that the culture she helped create now has no use for her — and why. As a Church, we don’t yet see our reality clearly and critically enough. For example, the current synod’s <em>instrumentum laboris</em> (IL) talks about young people and the effects of social media and the “digital continent.” But it has no grasp of the deeper dynamics of technology that Del Noce names.<br />
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"The IL, in its original form, is a collection of dense social science data with very little evangelical zeal. It speaks constantly about accompaniment, which is important, but it contains almost no confident teaching. It can’t and won’t convert anybody. Hopefully, the synod fathers will fix this."<br />
Deacon Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04773422293103065041noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2984312446057999411.post-44971535644630388272018-08-21T16:01:00.000-05:002018-08-27T10:34:50.402-05:00Mini-round-up of responses to renewed sexual abuse scandal - UpdatedBest response so far - <a href="http://www.madisoncatholicherald.org/bishopsletters/7730-letter-scandal.html" target="_blank">Bishop Robert Morlino</a> of Madison - must read<br />
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<a href="https://scdiocese.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Bishops-Letter-Misconduct-8-21-18.pdf" target="_blank">Bishop Nickless's</a> response <br />
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<a href="http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/letters/2018/documents/papa-francesco_20180820_lettera-popolo-didio.html" target="_blank">Pope Francis's</a> strongly worded "Letter to the People of God" (praying that his actions in the near future will match these words)<br />
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<a href="http://www.usccb.org/news/2018/18-139.cfm" target="_blank">Cardinal DiNardo's</a> response as head of USCCB (praying that these reforms can be carried through effectively, but also spiritually and not just legalistically)<br />
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NCRegister seems to be <a href="http://www.ncregister.com/blog/guest-blogger/roundup-blog-statements-on-mccarrick-by-u.s.-bishops" target="_blank">keeping their roundup</a> mostly current, too. <br />
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UPDATE - 8/27 - Archbishop and retired US Nuncio <a href="https://www.lifesitenews.com//news/pope-francis-i-am-not-going-to-say-a-word-about-archbishop-viganos-statemen" target="_blank">Vigano published a scathing summary</a> (<a href="https://www.dioceseoftyler.org/news/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/TESTIMONY-of-His-Excellency-Carlo-Maria-Vigano-Titular-Archbishop-of-Ulpiana-Apostolic-Nuncio.pdf" target="_blank">translation, in full</a>) of what he claims to know and surmise about the highest levels in the Church covering up sexual abuse, not excluding even Pope Francis (in relation to the McGarrick scandal) . If true, this information suggests that numerous resignations-in-disgrace could be the most positive outcome still open. Vigorous attempts at character assassination of Vigano began immediately (which perhaps lends credence to his allergations), while Cardinal Burke (and a very few others, so far) are calling for independent investigation to establish the truth. Pope Francis, incredibly, <a href="http://www.ewtnnews.com/catholic-news/Vatican.php?id=18065" target="_blank">completely dropped the ball in responding</a> to questions about the Vigano letter during his press conference yesterday.<br />
Deacon Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04773422293103065041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2984312446057999411.post-13162335706254513422018-03-05T11:36:00.000-06:002018-03-05T11:36:32.700-06:00Archdiocese of Washington DC offers "Amoris Laetitia: Pastoral Plan"This weekend, the <a href="http://adw.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/PastoralPlan-AmorisLaetitia.pdf" target="_blank">Archdiocese of Washington DC released a longish document</a> on their implementation of <a href="https://w2.vatican.va/content/dam/francesco/pdf/apost_exhortations/documents/papa-francesco_esortazione-ap_20160319_amoris-laetitia_en.pdf" target="_blank">Amoris Laetitia</a>. Like the exhortation itself, this "Amoris Laetitia: Pastoral Plan" offers (mostly) a straightforward recapitulation of the Church's teaching about marriage, some good advice about strengthening marriage prep (both remote and proximate), and a call for conversion and stability. We all know that our culture is increasingly anti-marriage, both in terms of more and more radical individualism and relativism, and in terms of failing to support marriage in ways both practical (tax laws, welfare state policies, etc) and theoretical (no fault divorce, education policy, court-driven custody rulings, etc). Having a solid biblical, Catholic, Christ-centered vision of what marriage is, and of what the common problems in marriage stem from, and of how to recognize and respond to those issues in healthy and faithful ways, is critical, and I applaud anything that helps build up the culture of marriage and helps actual couples live their marriages well in Christ.<br />
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There are, however, two things about this pastoral plan that strike me as failing to aim at that goal from the outset. This doesn't necessarily take away from the practical wisdom contained in the document, but it does invite us to think more deeply about our vision and how we communicate it.<br />
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The first is the problem of <strong><span style="color: red;">failing to articulate clearly the relationship of eros to agape</span></strong>. The document states:<br />
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enduring part of our human experience. God</div>
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has written onto each human heart the desire for</div>
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self-giving love, reflected in the divine plan for</div>
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marriage and family. That plan offers a profound</div>
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“yes” to true joy in love. It gives us an invitation to</div>
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experience Christian hope in the love of God that</div>
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never ends.</span> </span>This "<em><span style="color: red;">desire to love and be loved</span></em>" is eros-love. Eros is often where we start, not only in marriage but in many things we pursue. Eros is not inherently wrong or evil; it is about choices we make at the level of the "appetitive soul." If, however, our desire and ends remain only at this level, they tend to stagnate into selfishness and idolatry, addiction and neurosis.<br />
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As Pope Benedict taught so clearly in <a href="http://w2.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_ben-xvi_enc_20051225_deus-caritas-est.html" target="_blank">Deus Caritas Est</a>, <strong>natural eros must always be purified by divine agape in order to pursue the good</strong> rather than the self. Agape is that "<em><span style="color: red;">self-giving love, reflected in the divine plan</span></em>." It is love that imitates Christ's perfect love from the Cross. It therefore transcends the appetitive soul, through the action of a well-formed (not an eros-formed) conscience and divine grace, allowing the rational soul to perceive and choose the authentic good for others.<br />
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What is unclear in the above paragraph is precisely that agapic love is not "natural" to us as humans. We must learn how to love this way. While it's true in a sense that God has written the desire for agape into our hearts (as St. Augustine wrote, "Our heart is restless until it rests in you, O Lord"), we do not have natural means to engage this. <strong><span style="color: red;">We require grace to transcend eros-love and be converted to love with Christ's agapic love. </span></strong> To fail to distinguish this grace-for-conversion here leaves the entire pastoral plan resting on an insecure foundation. Anyone who imagines that more eros (natural desire) can solve the problems created by unrefined eros (selfish desire) is bound to fail, but this is the conclusion being (inadvertently) invited here.<br />
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Sacramental marriage gives grace precisely to transform eros into agape. No matter how kind and loving I am to my spouse and children, if I continue to treat them as objects of desire (i.e., they must fulfill me, they are in my life for my happiness), I am not responding to this sacramental grace. Eros transformed into agape means I live my vocation to married life as Christ crucified - that everything I am and do is for them, rather than the reverse. From eros fulfilled comes mere happiness; from agape fulfilling others comes joy and union with Christ.<br />
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Therefore, while it is certainly true that "<em><span style="color: red;">That (divine) plan offers a profound 'yes' to true joy in love</span></em>," it must also be stated that deviations from the divine plan offer an (at least implicit) 'no' to the same conversion, joy, and agape-love. <strong><span style="color: red;">We must not conclude what the document leaves open to us (and what <em>Amoris Laetitia,</em> too, often seems to suggest), that deviations from the divine plan for marriage and family contain a partial 'yes' to God and grace.</span></strong> This <em>might</em> be true, only if the deviations result <u>entirely</u> from ignorance and weakness. When they result from a deliberate choice to pursue eros-love instead of agape-love (even when that choice is less than fully informed), they do not represent authentic modes of encountering Christ's grace, and they are therefore contrary to the divine plan. <strong>Eliding this distinction does not serve anyone well</strong>.<br />
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The second problem risks being even more corrosive. It suggests that <strong>the Church's doctrine is not itself useful or practical, and that lived experience is needed to understand, or interpret, or even correct that doctine</strong>.<br />
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<span style="font-family: GaramondPremrPro; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: GaramondPremrPro; font-size: x-small;">Reflecting on the implementation of </span></span><i><span style="font-family: GaramondPremrPro-It; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: GaramondPremrPro-It; font-size: x-small;">Amoris</span></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: GaramondPremrPro-It; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: GaramondPremrPro-It; font-size: x-small;"><i>Laetitia </i></span></span><span style="font-family: GaramondPremrPro; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: GaramondPremrPro; font-size: x-small;">in the Archdiocese of Washington, we</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: GaramondPremrPro; font-size: x-small;">perennial teaching on love, marriage, family,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: GaramondPremrPro; font-size: x-small;">faith and mercy.... Secondly, we need to remember that our task is</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: GaramondPremrPro; font-size: x-small;">not complete if we only limit ourselves to faith</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: GaramondPremrPro; font-size: x-small;">statements. The goal is the salvation of souls</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: GaramondPremrPro; font-size: x-small;">and it is a far more complex effort than simply</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: GaramondPremrPro; font-size: x-small;">restating Church doctrine. For this reason, it is</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: GaramondPremrPro; font-size: x-small;">essential to recognize that our teaching is received</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: GaramondPremrPro; font-size: x-small;">by individuals according to their own situation,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: GaramondPremrPro; font-size: x-small;">experience and life....</span></span><br />
At one level, this distinction is not problematic. I am not trying to suggest that lived experience is irrelevant to doctrine, or that the reception of doctrine is not fraught with difficulties stemming from our human weakness and falibility, or stemming from cultural presumptions at odds with the Gospel, etc. Even given this, however, it is <strong><span style="color: red;">tendentious in the extreme to suggest that the Church's pastoral care has ever attempted to engage with actual situations merely by "restating doctrine," or that, say, St. John Paul II failed to appreciate the complexities presented to the Church by contemporary culture</span></strong> (see e.g. <a href="http://w2.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/apost_exhortations/documents/hf_jp-ii_exh_19811122_familiaris-consortio.html" target="_blank">Familiaris Consortio</a> or <a href="http://w2.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_06081993_veritatis-splendor.html" target="_blank">Veritatis Splendor</a>, or for a different vocational context, <a href="http://w2.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/apost_exhortations/documents/hf_jp-ii_exh_25031992_pastores-dabo-vobis.html" target="_blank">Pastores Dabo Vobis</a>). <strong><span style="color: red;">Should we now discard the entire Code of Canon Law, beacuse it "limits us to faith statements?"</span></strong> At this level, the dichotomy becomes a blatant lie, pitting "mercy" (which now means making excuses for deviations from the divine plan for marriage and family) against "doctrine" (which now means cruelly expecting people to be unrealistically perfect). <br />
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If this is our vision of marriage, "our faith is vain," as St. Paul says, because this vision of marriage is indistinguishable from the world's - eros without agape (love with sacrifice, happiness without personal cost), inherently self-centered, and "mercifully" lacking any possible leverage to modify behavior which is actually inimical to marriage, to the dignity of persons, or to salvation. <br />
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I don't actually believe that the Archdiocese of Washington is promoting this cultural vision of marriage. But, by including these two ambiguities, it weakens the vision which it is trying to offer and sustain, of Christ's sacramental marriage. And our culture has already weakened that vision enough; we don't need to weaken our presentation of it still futher.<br />
Deacon Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04773422293103065041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2984312446057999411.post-15674681385003372262017-11-03T11:37:00.000-05:002017-11-03T11:37:10.377-05:00What is the "Deposit of Faith?"<div class="MsoNormal">
From the <u><a href="http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_INDEX.HTM" target="_blank">Catechism of the Catholic Church</a></u>: </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Michaelangelo's "Creation of Man"</td></tr>
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<em>#1 God, infinitely perfect and blessed in himself, in a plan of sheer goodness, freely <strong>created man to </strong></em><em><strong>make him share in his own blessed life</strong>. For this reason, at every time and in every place, God draws close to man. He calls man to seek him, to know him, to love him with all his strength. He calls together all men, scattered and divided by sin, into the unity of his family, the Church. To accomplish this, when the fullness of time had come, <strong>God sent his Son as Redeemer and Saviour. In his Son and through him, he invites men to become, in the Holy Spirit, his adopted children and thus heirs of his blessed life</strong>.</em></div>
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<em>#2 So that this call should resound throughout the world, Christ sent forth the apostles he had chosen, commissioning them to proclaim the gospel: "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, <strong>teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you</strong>; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age."<span style="color: #663300; font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><sup><a href="http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P2.HTM#$4" name="-4">4</a></sup></span> Strengthened by this mission, the apostles "went forth and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by the signs that attended it."<span style="color: #663300; font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><sup><a href="http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P2.HTM#$5" name="-5">5</a></sup></span></em></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Christ teaching the Apostles</td></tr>
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<em>#3 Those who with God's help have welcomed Christ's call and freely responded to it are urged on by love of Christ to proclaim the Good News everywhere in the world. <strong>This treasure, received from the apostles, has been faithfully guarded by their successors. All Christ's faithful are called to hand it on from generation to generation, by professing the faith, by living it in fraternal sharing, and by celebrating it in liturgy and prayer</strong>.<span style="color: #663300; font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><sup><a href="http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P2.HTM#$6" name="-6">6</a></sup></span></em></div>
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<span style="color: #663300; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: small;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Times New Roman;"><strong>There is a lot of talk in the Church these days about "<span style="color: red;">changing teaching</span>."</strong> This kind of talk is dangerous, especially when it fails to make clear the critical distinction between what is changeable, and what is not, among the Church's many teachings.</span></span></div>
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<strong>The whole of the "deposit of faith" is<span style="color: red;"> not changeable</span>.</strong> As the quote from the beginning of the CCC shows, it is precisely this core content, revealed by God in the Incarnation, life, Passion, death, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ, as well as in Scripture and Apostolic Tradition, that must be kept whole and intact, and passed on to future generations. Christ Himself commanded that the Apostles (and their successors) do exactly that: preserve and hand on, without change, the teachings ("deposit of faith") He taught them.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">St Bede the Venerable, <br />
preserving and proclaiming</td></tr>
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A certain bishop recently said, "We're not a Church of <span style="color: red;">preservation</span>, but rather a Church of <span style="color: red;">proclamation</span>." <strong>This is misleading</strong>. We certainly are a Church of proclamation, but the only thing we have authority (given by Christ) to proclaim is precisely what has been preserved, namely the apostolic deposit of faith. We're not free to add to it or subtract from it, to alter it, to rearrange its parts into a more pleasing pattern, to hide parts of it behind other parts of it, etc. We are given the mandate by Christ Himself to preserve it, and to hand it on. So, <strong>we <em>are</em> also a Church of <span style="color: red;">preservation</span></strong> - not for the sake of preserving as an end in itself, but precisely for the sake of proclaiming something real and true.</div>
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<u><span style="color: red;">So what constitutes that deposit of faith?</span></u> Here's a brief schematic (following CCC #84 ff):</div>
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<li><div class="MsoNormal">
<strong>Scripture and Tradition</strong> - the unchangingness of revealed/inspired Scripture is generally unquestioned, but some modern translations implicitly change the meaning by subordinating the actual text to (transient) cultural norms; "Tradition" tends to be understood rather nebulously, rather than as the concrete set of things the Apostles actually did and taught, and therefore passed on to their immediate successors to be received as essential to faith in Christ. The problem is precisely that Tradition is not written down. But, the synthesis of the Pastristic Fathers and the witness of the medieval and early modern Church does a good job of demonstrating in practice what Tradition really means.</div>
</li>
<li><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">An ecumenical council: <br />
pope and bishops together</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<strong>Magisterium</strong> - the teaching authority of the Church. It has two and only two explicit duties, for which Christ has given His authority, namely, the preservation of the deposit of faith, and the interpretation of it across time and cultures. There is no authority given to innovate.</div>
</li>
<li><div class="MsoNormal">
<strong>defined Dogma</strong> - Some aspects of faith are so overarching that they "crystalize" in dogmatic form. Dogma must be present from the beginning, as part of the deposit of faith, but may be demonstrated either from Scripture or from Tradition. Having been defined with full magisterial authority, dogma cannot be changed, and we should not lightly change the formula in which the dogma is expressed. Here's a short list (not trying to be comprehensive):</div>
</li>
<ul>
<li><div class="MsoNormal">
<em>Trinity</em> - God is three persons in one substance; God is both transcendent and immanent</div>
</li>
<li><div class="MsoNormal">
<em>Incarnation</em> - Christ is both fully God and fully man; "remaining what He was, He became what He was not;" He truly suffered and died for our sins; His sacrifice on the Cross is sufficient for our redemption; He truly rose from the dead and took again the body he had previously assumed, now perfected and glorified; He founded the Church He intended to found; etc</div>
</li>
<li><div class="MsoNormal">
<em>Church </em>- "One, holy, Catholic, and apostolic," with a divinely-intended mission and "constitution," including the authority of the papacy and the episcopate</div>
</li>
<li><div class="MsoNormal">
<em>Seven Sacraments</em> - hence also the fullness of the liturgy, sacramental grace, the reality of sin and conversion, the necessity of baptism; the baptismal call to holiness; the revealed definition of marriage; the mission of the laity in the world as witnesses and disciples; the clergy</div>
</li>
<li><div class="MsoNormal">
<em>Four Last Things</em></div>
</li>
<li><div class="MsoNormal">
Etc - all of these defined dogmas have <em><span style="color: red;">numerous further implications for doctrine</span></em> (positively expressed but not defined with highest authority), which likewise can't be contradicted without calling the dogma into question, <em><span style="color: red;">as well as for pastoral practice</span></em>, which likewise can't be contradicted (although there is generally a wide range of pastoral options that don't contradict the dogma)</div>
</li>
</ul>
<li><div class="MsoNormal">
<strong>"sensus fidei,"</strong> the actual unity of faith experienced as the instinctive acceptance of what is consistent with Catholic faith, and the instinctive rejection of what isn't - this is a sure guide, to the extent that it matches up with "what Catholics believe, always, everywhere, and by everyone"</div>
</li>
<ul>
<li><div class="MsoNormal">
It is a greatly damaging modern conceit that only Catholics today matter, because Catholics in the past weren't "mature" or were "superstitous" or the like. This idea must be rejected as a grave sin of pride, and as a contradiction of the deposit of faith.</div>
</li>
</ul>
<li><div class="MsoNormal">
<strong>"faith seeking understanding,"</strong> the actual fullness of truth (sufficient for salvation) of the whole of the one faith, experienced as longing to know and love God by faith, contemplation, and study (study does not have to be formal; pious practices like reading the lives of the saints are also study, in this sense)</div>
</li>
</ul>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Lamb of God</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<strong>All this content of the deposit of faith is ultimately <span style="color: red;">received from God</span>. </strong> Willfully to reject it, modify it, or subordinate it to personal whims or cultural demands is to commit <strong><em>the same sin of pride that caused the fall of the lost angels</em></strong>. (We sometimes do that not willfully, because we are finite beings, and because we are always under pressure from the world, the flesh, and the devil to make compromises. This is what we mean we say "The Church is always in need of reform.") To be faithful to Christ means that we must make every possible effort to receive the deposit of faith entire and uncorrupt (which is given to us with supernatural power in the sacraments and in the Magisterium of all time, so we can actually know it), and also to pass it on by our teaching, our witness, and our piety, likewise entire and uncorrupt. </div>
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Deacon Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04773422293103065041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2984312446057999411.post-32456808005653967292017-08-28T10:18:00.003-05:002017-08-28T10:18:37.261-05:00Pope Francis on "irreversible" liturgical reformLast week, Pope Francis gave <a href="http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/it/speeches/2017/august/documents/papa-francesco_20170824_settimana-liturgica-nazionale.html" target="_blank">a short talk</a> to a gathering of Italian liturgists. (The Vatican website has posted the text of the speech in Italian only, so far.)<br />
<br />
(Three excellent takes on this talk are <a href="http://liturgicalnotes.blogspot.com/2017/08/irreversible.html" target="_blank">Fr. Hunwicke's</a>, <a href="http://wdtprs.com/blog/2017/08/first-thoughts-on-pope-francis-address-to-italian-liturgists/" target="_blank">Fr. Zuhlsdorf's</a>, and <a href="https://canonlawblog.wordpress.com/2017/08/25/some-notes-on-terminology-usually-associated-with-the-churchs-teaching-office/" target="_blank">Dr. Ed Peter's</a>.)<br />
<br />
<span style="color: red;">Much of what the Holy Father said is unexceptional, even inspiring</span>. He began with a brief summary of the process of liturgical reform, noting such luminaries as Pius X, Pius XII and the 1947 encyclical <a href="http://w2.vatican.va/content/pius-xii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xii_enc_20111947_mediator-dei.html" target="_blank">Mediator Dei</a> (a marvelous and inspiring work), and the sacred consitution on the liturgy of the Second Vatican Council, <a href="http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_const_19631204_sacrosanctum-concilium_en.html" target="_blank">Sacrosanctum Concilium</a>. And he concluded with some thoughts about the "<span style="color: red;">vivifying</span>" character of the liturgy, particularly of the Holy Mass, noting especially (1) our Eucharistic <em><strong>participation</strong></em> in Christ's life-giving victory over sin and death, (2) the <strong><em>unity</em></strong> of the Church which flows from the sacraments (uniting peoples with peoples, and laity with clergy, and whole Church with Christ her Head), and (3) the importance of "<strong><em>mystagogical catechesis</em></strong>" (as of the Fathers, he noted) for revealing and sustaining our personal and corporate relationship with Christ. All this was quite good.<br />
<br />
And yet, as he too often does, Pope Francis managed to say something that sounded immensely important, but with a great degree of ambiguity and confusion.<br />
<br />
Following his summary of Sacrosanctum Concilium, he talked about the <span style="color: red;">implementation</span> of the liturgical reforms by Pope Paul VI. He said, "It's not enough to reform the books, in order to renew the (liturgical) mentality." He twice insisted on the <em><strong>identity</strong></em> (!!) of the enacted reforms with the intentions of the Council Fathers and text of SC. And he stated that "...we can affirm with security and magisterial authority that the litugical reform is <span style="color: red;">irreversible</span>."<br />
<br />
<strong>I agree that the liturgical mentality in the Church in much of the 19th and 20th centuries needed to be renewed</strong>. Under the cultural pressures of the Revolution(s) and the Enlightenment, the mentality of the Church became constricted, in several areas. Low Mass became the norm, rather than High Mass; minor orders fell into disuse in nearly all parishes; Gregorian chant became ossified, and congregations were little able to sing their parts; and so on. Against these trends, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liturgical_Movement" target="_blank">Liturgical Movement</a> was attempting precisely to renew the Church's culture of worship, starting with the refounding of the great abbey of Solemnes after its destruction during the French Revolution, and the renewal of its monastic liturgy. It slowly gained momentum before Vatican II. <br />
<br />
It's impossible, however, not to notice that much (not all, certainly, but much) of the implementation of the postconciliar reforms changed the nature and the direction of that Movement. It's also impossible not to notice that, on several significant points, the implementation of the reforms did or attempted things <em>not</em> called for in SC, and also did or attempted things <em>contrary to</em> what SC called for. <strong>The result has not been a renewal of a vital litugical mentality, but the further erosion of what vitality remains</strong>. Where immediately before the Council, liturgy was very often done hastily, carelessly (of the Latin, of the reverence expected, etc), and therefore sloppily, immediately after the implementation of reforms, liturgy came to be done "experimentally," iconclastically, "self-referentially" (ironically, one of Pope Francis's more significant criticisms of the modern Church), and still more sloppily. The "Low Mass" mentality that prevailed was not renewed, it was cemented, and the spirit of modern lawlessness was added to it. <br />
<br />
Pope Benedict XVI understood these trends profoundly. He grasped, and taught repeatedly, both that the practical implementation of the Council's vision of liturgical renewal had failed on several points, and needed to be very carefully reviewed, reconsidered, and corrected (this is often dubbed "the reform of the reform"), and that <span style="color: red;"><strong>the Church will never be able to evangelize effectively in the modern world, with <em>banal </em>liturgy</strong></span> (!!!). On the first point, he led by example, and also gave the Church the gift of <a href="https://www.ewtn.com/library/papaldoc/b16SummorumPontificum.htm" target="_blank">Summorum Pontificum</a>, not out of a sense of nostalgia, but as a "restart" of the intended renewal. If we can remember the right way to undertake the liturgy in the "extraordinary form" -- that is, reverently, in union with Tradition and with the angelic, Heavenly liturgy, and in a manner that elevates hearts and minds to God -- then we can apply that to the "ordinary form," and find or develop the intended renewal there. On the second point, he preached loudly and incessantly about worldly banality as the prototypical illness of modernity, and that the medicine to cure it is true, deep, personal encounter with Christ, divine Love personified - best found in a vital, authentic, devoutly Catholic worship.<br />
<br />
It is, therefore, very difficult to understand quite what the Holy Father means by asserting "irreversibility." It seems that the statement must either be a tautology, or else factually false. <br />
<br />
Like so much else in the contemporary Church, that falsity is directly the fruit of the poor practical implementation of the desired reforms of SC. <strong>Fortunately, a good part of that needed "reform of the reform" has already begun</strong>, at least in some places; for example, a return to Gregorian chant (sometimes with classical Latin pieces, but even more so with new, vernacular plain-chant); a rejection of ugly, polyester vestments and burlap banners, and a retrieval of more beautiful and fitting vestments, church adornment, etc; a rejection of side-lining Christ in the tabernacle, and a return to "front and center" placement; the related re-emergence of Adoration and similar devotions; and so on. None of this means a rejection of Vatican II's liturgical reform and renewal. <strong><span style="color: red;">It _<em>is</em>_ the renewal</span></strong>. And, God willing, it will indeed prove "irreversible."Deacon Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04773422293103065041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2984312446057999411.post-6988955418487333702017-03-01T09:34:00.000-06:002017-03-01T09:34:47.747-06:00Archbishop Gomez pastoral letter on Human Person<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Archbishop Gomez - photo from <a href="http://www.la-archdiocese.org/archbishop">www.la-archdiocese.org/archbishop</a><br />
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Archbishop Gomez of Los Angeles has released a <a href="http://archbishopgomez.org/article/627#bt1" target="_blank">pastoral letter on the human person</a>, addressing in a broad but clear way the anthropological problems of our culture and all its attacks on human dignity and sanctity. I'm just skimming it quickly now, it looks like it's hitting the right notes and will be well worth more careful reading later.Deacon Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04773422293103065041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2984312446057999411.post-40451910263954467842017-01-31T15:38:00.000-06:002017-01-31T15:39:43.378-06:00Prescient 1958 Article by then-Fr. RatzingerFr. Kenneth Baker, SJ, editor-emeritus of <a href="http://www.hprweb.com/" target="_blank">Homiletic and Pastoral Review</a> has recently <a href="http://www.hprweb.com/2017/01/the-new-pagans-and-the-church/" target="_blank">translated and made available</a> an outstanding, and prescient, article from then-Father Joseph Ratzinger (now Pope-Emeritus Benedict XVI), first published in 1958.<br />
<br />
It is notable to what extent the problems we continue to wrestle with today were already noticeable in the Church of the "pre-Vatican II" decades. It is also more than noteworthy, with what consistency Ratzinger/Benedict has approached these sorts of issues over the past five decades. What an outstanding thinker and teacher for the Church.<br />
<br />
In this article, he supports the now-common practice of admitting to the Sacraments (when no obstacles exist) those weakly or improperly formed Catholics whom he calls "secularized" (I often use the phrase "formed more by the world than by the Church"), when they ask for them. The request itself constitutes some evidence of faith and desire to belong to the Church, however imperfect it may be, and the grace of the Sacraments certainly can aid them in growing in faith over time.<br />
<br />
He also notes that this secularization of believers constitutes a tangible challenge for many believers, in that, if a very basic and worldly level of moral commitment, with occasional sacramental participation, is truly sufficient for salvation, then the higher level of commitment to Biblical morality and consistent sacramental participation (including frequent Confession) can be experienced as a burden rather than a grace. The long-term solution for this, he argues, is for the Church to relinquish its "medieval" assumptions of social prestige and place in the world, and return to a "martyrial" distinctiveness - not an opposition to the world, as if all the world outside the Church is evil and bad, but a distinctiveness of "the few" as witness and fulcrum for the lifting up of "the many." He calls this a "de-secularization" of the Church, and notes three (simultaneous) levels or steps:<br />
<br />
(1) the sacramental, in which the distinctiveness of the Church's true worship stands over against any materialistic, "magical" thinking about sacramental participation, and therefore invites to a deeper level of conversion;<br />
<br />
(2) the proclamation of the faith, in which the distinctiveness of the Church once again supports a clear difference in mode of preaching, between the catechetical (to those in the Church), and the missionary (to those not yet deeply converted) - and this mode has not been heard in the West in many centuries; and<br />
<br />
(3) the personal witness, in which the distinctiveness of how the believer lives in the world, especially in the midst of rejection, ridicule, and suffering, stands as clear evidence of the reality and effectiveness of grace.<br />
<br />
This core, missionary, and witnessing Church, then, serves ultimately as "priestly people" for the whole world, bringing the salvation of Jesus Christ to the whole world, even those baptized who remain quite worldly, and even those outside the Church, who might respond in any way to the power of God:<br />
<br />
"If men and women, indeed the greater number of persons are saved, without belonging in the full sense to the community of the faithful, so then it takes place only because the Church herself exists as the dynamic and missionary reality, because those who have been called to belong to the Church are performing their duty as the few..." (third-to-last paragraph).<br />
<br />
If, however, the Church has no such core, no such missionary impulse in the modern world, no such capacity for witness to grace (i.e., "the spirit of Vatican II" church), how shall Christ be proclaimed? If the Church's only mode of worshipping, proclaiming, and living, is "worldly," more or less indistinguishable from everyone else, what is there to inspire to a deeper and greater love? Deacon Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04773422293103065041noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2984312446057999411.post-3565048182302848322016-12-28T11:16:00.000-06:002016-12-28T11:16:41.660-06:00Is the indissolubility of marriage a *dogmatic* teaching?The Church has always taught that marriage, validly entered (i.e., with true and free consent of both spouses) and consummated, is indissoluble - that is, bluntly, "What God has joined together, let no man put asunder" (Mt 19:6, Mk 10:9). This is true both of natural marriage (i.e., between unbaptized persons), and of sacramental marriage (i.e., between baptized persons). A quick glance at, say, the index of Denzinger's or the footnotes of the Catechism of the Catholic Church will show how often this teaching has been repeated.<br />
<br />
But, one might ask, is this perennial teaching <em>doctrinal</em> (could be divinely revealed, or is at least consistent with apostolic teaching and practice, yet possibly subject to revision), or <em>dogmatic</em> (divinely revealed in Scripture and Tradition, defined as clearly as possible/necessary with full authority, and not subject to revision as far as the definition goes)?<br />
<br />
Doctrine and dogma are not opposed to each other, in the sense that the first is optional and the second not. Both are to be received as fully as humanly possible, for living and believing with "the mind of Christ," and for not living "according to this age" (Rom 12:2, etc). There's no difference of <em>truth</em> between them, but there is a difference of <em>clarity</em> and of <em>finality</em>. Dogmatic teaching is the <em>highest</em> level of exercising the teaching authority of the Church (Magisterium); doctrinal teaching is the <em>ordinary</em> level of the same.<br />
<br />
To asnwer the question posed, consider a small sample of points:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>The quote in the first paragraph, above, shows without ambiguity that the indissolubility of marriage is taught by Christ Himself, directly. </li>
</ul>
<br />
<ul>
<li>The 24th session of the Council of Trent (Nov, 1563) dealt with marriage, and its decrees and canons were accepted and promulgated by Pope Pius IV. It certainly appears to be a formal, solemn, and intended-to-be-dogmatic definition of marriage, including its indissolubility.</li>
</ul>
<br />
<ul>
<li>Pope Pius XI, in the encyclical <u>Casti Connubi</u> (1930), refers to that definition of Trent as a "solemn definition," and repeats the unchanging teaching of indissolubility with great clarity.</li>
</ul>
<br />
<ul>
<li>The Second Vatican Council, in its sacred consititution <u>Gaudium et Spes</u>, repeats the same (e.g. #48, albeit without the same verbal markers of dogmatic intent; it does, however, cite <u>Casti Connubi</u>,<u> </u>which seems to imply dogmatic intent, given that document's clarity).</li>
</ul>
<br />
<ul>
<li>The Catechism of the Catholic Church repeats the same again (e.g. #1639, 1640, etc), without ambiguity. It cites the same biblical passage above, and GS #48.</li>
</ul>
<br />
Moreover, all these sources consistently present a clear and compelling <em>theological</em> reason why marriage ought to be indissoluble; namely, that God, in establishing the natural of marriage, does so on the pattern of the divine covenant. This is a thoroughly Scriptural and Traditional claim (e.g., Jer 31:31, Dan 2:44, Eph 5, etc.). Since God's covenant is indissoluble, marriage must also be. To claim that marriage is soluble is to claim that the divine covenant is also soluble, that God could change His mind about the promises of salvation; or in other words, that Christ died, but not for our sins (!). If marriage has any spiritual reality at all, it must, then, necessarily be indissoluble.<br />
<br />
Given all this sort of evidence, it seems to me very difficult to claim that the indissolubility of marriage is merely a doctrinal, but not a dogmatic, teaching. Deacon Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04773422293103065041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2984312446057999411.post-64582054574620417732016-12-07T10:49:00.000-06:002016-12-07T10:49:36.045-06:00Thoughts on "rigidity" and orthodoxyTwice in as many months (e.g., <a href="http://www.ncregister.com/blog/edward-pentin/pope-francis-rigidity-is-something-pathological" target="_blank">here</a> and <a href="https://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=29904" target="_blank">here</a>), Pope Francis has inveighed against "rigid" believers. He uses very negative language against this perceived phenomenon: “They <em>appear good</em> because they follow the Law; <em>but behind</em>, there is something that does not make them good. Either they're bad, <em>hypocrites</em>, or they are <em>sick</em>. They suffer!” Such people are "<em>enslaved</em>," they "lead a <em>double life</em>." They exhibit the opposite of the beatitudes: "<em>Rigidity is not a gift of God</em>. Meekness is; goodness is; benevolence is; forgiveness is. But rigidity isn’t!" He attaches the same label and language to those who know, love, and respect the traditional liturgy: "Pope Francis told Father Spadaro he wonders why some young people, who were not raised with the old Latin Mass, nevertheless prefer it. 'And I ask myself: Why so much rigidity? Dig, dig, this <em>rigidity always hides something</em>, insecurity or even something else. Rigidity is defensive. <em>True love is not rigid</em>.'"<br />
<br />
<strong>Certainly, the temptation to this sort of "pharisaical" attitude exists in the Church</strong>. It is something always to be guarded against. Because of our sacramental forms and theology, it is easy at times to get caught up in the details of the liturgy, and miss the forest (interior and spiritual realities) for the trees (exterior and physical forms, words, symbols). Likewise with the nuances of our moral theology. One can, in this sense, fall into "rigidity." And it is true that rigidity is not loving, and that rigidity resists Christ and grace.<br />
<br />
<strong><span style="color: red;">But there is another sort of "rigidity" not often adverted to</span></strong>, although it appears to be far more common, currently. It consists in putting one's own will before God's, insisting that one is right while Tradition, the Church, the Bible, and God Himself must be wrong. St. James says, "Submit yourself to God... If you judge the law, you are not subject to the law." (Jms 4:7, 11). Those who are rigid in this sense judge the law of faith, and do not submit to God in their hearts.<br />
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<strong>The path of faith always involves </strong><a href="http://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p2s2c2a4.htm" target="_blank"><strong>conversion</strong></a>. After our initial conversion (which might be as an infant or child in Baptism), we continue to experience "ongoing conversion," as we strive over our whole life to conform our hearts and minds, our loves and desires, to those of Christ. To be united with Christ in this conformity, "putting on the mind of Christ" (Rom 2:12, etc), is precisely what it means to live as a Christian.<br />
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<strong>The heart experiencing conversion must be </strong><a href="http://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p4s1.htm#2559" target="_blank"><strong>humble</strong></a>. It must recognize and accept (even when there is struggle actually to do - concupiscence is a real thing) that what the believer desires, of himself, is likely not what God desires for him, and therefore that one must learn to desire instead what God desires. This softness and pliability of the heart in respect to God's Law, Revelation, commandments and precepts, personal vocation, moral law, and Tradition is properly understood as a sign of strong faith. As the <a href="http://osb.org/rb/index.html" target="_blank">Rule of St. Benedict</a> says in its very first words, "Listen carefully, my son, to the Master's instructions, and attend to them with the ear of your heart... The labor of obedience will bring you back to Him from whom you have drifted by the sloth of disobedience." This is the opposite of rigidity. (See e.g. the parable of the Pharisee and the publican, Lk 18:9-14.)<br />
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<strong><em>Rigidity, then, is not only clinging to the exterior forms of religion, which Pope Francis (rightly) decries</em></strong>. <span style="color: red;"><strong>The willful rejection of Tradition is <u>equally</u> a form of rigidity</strong></span> (see e.g. <a href="http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_const_19651118_dei-verbum_en.html" target="_blank">Dei Verbum</a> #7-8, etc). It is a hardness of heart with respect to God's calling the believer. It is spiritual pride, asserting in effect that this generation (or even this individual!) knows better what is good for souls than all prior generations, than all prior saints, doctors, mystics of the Church. I don't think it's too strong to say that there's more than a touch of idolatry, of self-worship, in this attitude. (It remains true that much of the rejection and loss of Tradition and faith in the last century is not willful, but from ignorance and weakness.) <br />
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<strong><em>Thus, one might correctly say</em></strong>: The idea that external or physical forms (e.g., the construction of a church, the placement of the Tabernacle, the beauty of vestments and statues, etc) don't matter to internal or spiritual realities (faith, union with God, repentance and conversion) is false (e.g. <a href="http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_const_19631204_sacrosanctum-concilium_en.html" target="_blank">Sacrosanctum Concilium</a> #8, 112-3, 122-5, etc). To cling to this idea in the face of Tradition and correction is to be rigid. <br />
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<strong><em>Idem</em></strong>: The idea that Christ did not and does not will the seven Sacraments for the Church, as the primary means of salvific grace for believers, is false (e.g. SC #5-8, <a href="http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_const_19641121_lumen-gentium_en.html" target="_blank">Lumen Gentium</a> #7, 11, etc). To cling stubbornly to the opposite idea, that we can meddle with the Sacraments or deny their efficacy, in the face of Tradition and correction, is to be rigid.<br />
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<strong><em>Idem</em></strong>: The ideas of moral relativism and religious indifferentism are false (e.g. <a href="http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20000806_dominus-iesus_en.html" target="_blank">Dominus Iesus</a>, <a href="http://w2.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_14091998_fides-et-ratio.html" target="_blank">Fides et Ratio</a>, etc). To insist, in the face of Tradition and correction, that they are true, is to be rigid.<br />
<br />
And so forth.... In short, <strong><span style="color: red;">modernism is rigid</span></strong>, but <em><strong>Tradition properly received and loved </strong>("<u>the living faith of the dead</u>," as one great Church historian noted)<strong> is life with Christ</strong></em>.Deacon Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04773422293103065041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2984312446057999411.post-7916809367004809032016-08-26T10:53:00.000-05:002016-08-26T10:53:28.573-05:00Lessons of the Early ChurchI am the Catholic I am, in large part because of the martyrs of the early Church. Their faith shamed my lack of faith, and understanding why they felt it was worth sacrificing the world for the sake of Heaven gave me the impetus to return to the Church as the only way to salvation. Now, the Church needs their witness again, as the world around us seems primed to descend into a new paganism.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5jLQapB_jtFy1faJzfvjfSceM4mIR2fyAETm0g4L2OrwssXHAgJtYHdGvMHlYoJZ97YkI3kWeu2AVsMjhSIWrBt84Cay1PVAiCNOpkXJphcYMbQLFMPMUAALz7pzpUBZAIaZZLiIzHh4U/s1600/polycarp.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5jLQapB_jtFy1faJzfvjfSceM4mIR2fyAETm0g4L2OrwssXHAgJtYHdGvMHlYoJZ97YkI3kWeu2AVsMjhSIWrBt84Cay1PVAiCNOpkXJphcYMbQLFMPMUAALz7pzpUBZAIaZZLiIzHh4U/s320/polycarp.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Martyrdom of St. Polycarp - "Away with the atheists!"</td></tr>
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The Christian refusal to cooperate with pagan Roman society was rooted in three connected things: (1) The Roman Empire was inherently idolatrous. Civic participation required participation in pagan ritual worship. Oaths of office required the same, to be a soldier, a teacher, etc., not just for politicians. (2) The reality of (unjust) persecution. Romans persecuted Christians mostly because they saw Christian faith as "atheism" and "innovation," two things that threatened the stability and success of the Empire as a whole. But as Tertullian famously pointed out in his Apologeticum, forcing Christians to worship other gods by violence made that worship ineffective for the good of the Empire. (3) Idolatry and unjust persecution represented abuses of power by the Empire. All worldly authority comes ultimately from God, as Paul argued. Its uses must therefore conform at least to natural law standards of justice. That the Empire abused its power in these (and other) ways justified Christian non-participation.<br />
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This line of argument, which permeated Christian thought for two centuries, has been buried under other understandings of the Church's relationship to a world seemingly cooperative rather than repressive. The successful evangelization of the West and the creation of Christendom meant that we didn't need to think much about things that support a Christianity of non-participation. But we have this treasure somewhere in the attic, not entirely lost or forgotten. If we confront the increasingly hostile world only with the lessons of cooperative Christendom, we will probably lose. We need the lessons of conflict as well, distilled from that earlier Christian experience of martyrdom.<br />
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Here are three of those critical lessons.<br />
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<strong>1. The world can never provide an avenue of salvation. </strong> This should be obvious to Christ's disciples. Only God can forgive sins; only God can save souls; our ultimate homeland is not earth, but Heaven. But in contrast, it's a key plank of modernism, more or less obvious in all three of its branches (liberal democracy, Communism, and fascism), that the State aspires to become all-in-all, the "savior," in a sense. In fascism, it does so directly. In Communism, it does so as the mediating institution of the people's revolutionary will. In liberal democracy, it does so more subtly, as the mediating institution between conflicts of rights and powers; but over time, its mediation inevitably expands and coems to dominate everything else. In all three, "scientism" promises imminent salvation from all the suffering and evils of the world.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLzqGhBvVtz7MNBC4X_XSNW5S7AC9mLpymYGvvUysAmPx7XoOc2CqPVO4D5CbHa3viXtA-ICTDTfsXqEfwz5SVEaqVwRyaNtRt4MUW1gB07WDK-Somz0xQJn82RRCMb3GGZ7AXiyDYJN9D/s1600/NaziRally_1934.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLzqGhBvVtz7MNBC4X_XSNW5S7AC9mLpymYGvvUysAmPx7XoOc2CqPVO4D5CbHa3viXtA-ICTDTfsXqEfwz5SVEaqVwRyaNtRt4MUW1gB07WDK-Somz0xQJn82RRCMb3GGZ7AXiyDYJN9D/s320/NaziRally_1934.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Reductio ad absurdum of acceptance of modernism.</td></tr>
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Any uncritical acceptance of modernism, then, implicitly accepts the (false) claim that the State exercises the highest and most decisive form of authority. This claim tends to be not merely political, but also moral (i.e., abusing God-given authority!). It rejects, more or less explicitly, a traditional, Bible-informed moral vision. Acceptance of modernism therefore also means accepting the relegation of religion to the private sphere only. The moral verities and priorities of the culture (which are, in terms of Christian Revelation, not true) come to be enforced as true, and any serious objection to them is firmly punished, at least socially (loss of status, respect, jobs, friends, etc), possibly legally (fines, jail, the police showing up in the middle of the night to investigate your family, etc), and even (sometimes) fatally. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinKvW6DLMOG93iZSNDACyXHyK5dOYZUsPIFdvPNPkvR2jYK5BvJFgKBBTLT3cvROViGiUZrNa29QRt_XTsgz4WLqKkvxzZ8pwnppVLhHJ-47DWW_C7PFTdalYS23i1kt116La3EGLEMw0j/s1600/rockmonster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinKvW6DLMOG93iZSNDACyXHyK5dOYZUsPIFdvPNPkvR2jYK5BvJFgKBBTLT3cvROViGiUZrNa29QRt_XTsgz4WLqKkvxzZ8pwnppVLhHJ-47DWW_C7PFTdalYS23i1kt116La3EGLEMw0j/s200/rockmonster.jpg" width="166" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A different acceptance of modernism - no less absurd.</td></tr>
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If we accept, even implicitly, that the world offers salvation within itself, we cannot be Christians. We must stand firmly and intentionally in the core Christian claim of salvation through Christ alone. Short of martyrdom, we do this especially in our (public) worship. Worship focused on God (as in traditional modes) demonstrates our conviction, and teaches spiritual salvation. Worship focused on ourselves (as in "theater in the round" church design, or hymns all about us or making us speak in God's first person voice, etc.) opens the door to implicit acceptance of the lie of the world saves itself. <br />
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<strong>2. Forms of idolatry must be <u>clearly</u> rebuked.</strong> The Church of the martyrs taught clearly and consistently to all its members that cooperation with idolatry leads to loss of saving relationship with Christ. It wasn't just pagan rituals that were identified, it was a whole host of public or civic activities or positions that were inherently idolatrous - teachers and soldiers, attending theater or civic games, etc etc. This process of identifying and rebuking forms of participation in idolatry was very successful.<br />
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Pope St. John Paul II, for one example, did an excellent job throughout his pontificate (and even before) of doing the equivalent for us today. We don't tend to think in terms of "idolatry" today, but the moral equivalent corrupting the Church and society is "secularism" (and similar labels). A creeping domination of "secular" ideas in all spheres of life is intent on displacing any Biblical or natural-law-based cultural patrimony in the West. This is especially apparent at the moment in issues of sexuality and family, or education policy, for example. Pope St. John Paul II showed us how to parse the good and the bad in all such conflicts, and having identified the elements or ideas inconsistent with truth and therefore unacceptable to Christians, he rebuked ideas without condemning people. <br />
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<iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/t1OJaCB9gW8/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/t1OJaCB9gW8?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">March for Life 2013 - excellent example of rebuking without condemning</span></div>
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The more we conform ourselves to the mores of the world, the more this creeping secularism insinuates itself into our faith. Pope St. John Paul II told us constantly, "Be not afraid!" Short of martyrdom, we can be clear and consistent in our rejection of modern forms of idolatry by fearlessly knowing the truth (virtue of faith), living the truth (virtue of hope), and speaking the truth (virtue of love) - always with charity and mercy. It is, in fact, the visibility of the true charity and mercy of Christ in our lives that can attract those mired in worldly idolatry.<br />
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<strong>3. Faith in Christ is the <em>greatest treasure</em>.</strong> If we look to the world for our salvation (even unconsciously), and fall into secular (idolatrous) modes of thinking, we will inevitably undervalue our faith. This doesn't necessarily mean we will lose our faith entirely, but we won't have much motive for living it out consistently. We will be "secular Christians," who, even when we go every Sunday to worship God, live the rest of the week as if Christ doesn't matter to us. We will be "formed by the culture" rather than "formed by the Church." We will have fallen into the trap of privatizing our faith - which is precisely what the totalizing, secular world demands of us.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjV4VgjJDvI5gtM2NQ0c5dVsQ7sFyc50J0-rzL-wfEaHWZOhknc7XiWj286RJAiwMP0Z3AR2kHHgg3AmW8Tv4haQoqDkKKVINOG7ANF4QHgj4OxM2BD9iU_YZiqoa9eCuiJYBJYkkzREidc/s1600/adoration_fw.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="215" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjV4VgjJDvI5gtM2NQ0c5dVsQ7sFyc50J0-rzL-wfEaHWZOhknc7XiWj286RJAiwMP0Z3AR2kHHgg3AmW8Tv4haQoqDkKKVINOG7ANF4QHgj4OxM2BD9iU_YZiqoa9eCuiJYBJYkkzREidc/s320/adoration_fw.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pope Benedict XVI Adoring our Lord Jesus Christ</td></tr>
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Pope Benedict XVI understood this dynamic deeply. So much of his pontificate was aimed at enflaming our faith anew, at helping us realize just what an inestimable treasure faith in Christ actually is. Nobody is attracted to a faith that seems not to matter even to its regular practitioners! Only those who are on fire for God have the chance to spread the fire to others. Only those who, by how they live in every sphere of life, clearly value above other things the love of God can proclaim the value of that love. <br />
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If it's true, finally, that "the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church," then our evangelizing efforts can only bear fruit if we first die to self, and to the world, and live only in Christ. <br />
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<br />Deacon Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04773422293103065041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2984312446057999411.post-74997968254699360632015-11-20T13:35:00.001-06:002015-11-20T13:35:39.593-06:00Pope Francis addresses Deacons at International Deacon Centre<div class="uk-text-large">
<a href="http://diaconia-idc.org/blog/jubilee/grusswort-des-papstes.html">Pope Francis sends Greetings to Jubilee Participants</a></div>
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Dear Brothers in the Diaconate,<br /> dear Brothers in the Presbyterate and Episcopate,<br /> dear wives of deacons,<br /> dear participants in the Jubilee of the International Diaconate Centre,<br />
<span class="uk-width-small-4-10 uk-thumbnail uk-overlay uk-align-left"> </span> <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.diaconia-idc.org/">www.diaconia-idc.org</a> </td></tr>
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I send you warm greetings and congratulate you on the 50th anniversary that you are celebrating these days on the occasion of the restoration of the Permanent Diaconate by the Second Vatican Council together with 600 people from 35 countries. When Cardinal Oswald Gracias told me on behalf of your President Klaus Kießling that you were interested in meeting me, I agreed right away – full of anticipation to receive you. However now I have to dedicate my full attention to the Synodal processes, so a direct meeting will not be possible during your Jubilee celebration. I regret this very much and look forward to another opportunity.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://catholicsaints.info/wp-content/gallery/saint-stephen-the-martyr/saint-stephen-the-martyr-23.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://catholicsaints.info/wp-content/gallery/saint-stephen-the-martyr/saint-stephen-the-martyr-23.jpg" height="320" width="176" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">St Stephen the Protomartyr <br />
exercising the original diaconate<br />
<a href="http://www.catholicsaints.info/">www.catholicsaints.info</a> </td></tr>
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In view of the first International Study Conference on the Permanent Diaconate, Paul VI stated on 25 October 1965: “Surely the Council acted in accordance with a providential inspiration of the Holy Spirit when it decided to renew the original ministry of diaconate at the service of the People of God.” It is in this conviction that I ask you not to relent in your commitment to a diaconal Universal Church and a world of solidarity. You are ambassadors of Jesus Christ who rejects anything related to authority and puts human hierarchies upside down like anyone who serves. You are ambassadors of our incarnate God who shows solidarity up until death and beyond death. You are called to accompany other people on their way to incarnation, in solidarity, everywhere in the world.<br />
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I thank you from the bottom of my heart for this commitment. At the same time I ask you to accompany me and my ministry with prayer. I also promise to take your concerns to the Lord and cordially impart to you my Apostolic Blessing.<br />
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From the Vatican, on 20 October 2015<br />
<span class="caps">FRANCIS</span>Deacon Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04773422293103065041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2984312446057999411.post-12670529997220713462015-09-30T13:12:00.000-05:002015-09-30T13:12:14.509-05:00Bishop Olmstead (Phoenix) - "Into the Breach"Yesterday, Bishop Olmstead published an apostolic exhortation to men to step "into the breach" of faith and spiritual life. <a href="http://www.intothebreach.net/into-the-breach/">His exhortation is excellent</a>! Please read it. It's entirely relevant to deacons and those of you in deacon formation, too. The main point is about a revival of Catholic manliness by:<br />
<ul>
<li>a rejection of postmodern culture's confusion about anthropology and gender, and an embrace of traditional and Biblical norms for masculinity (i.e., strength with gentleness, justice with mercy, wisdom and humility, basic courtesy, boldness to face down evil and to lead to the good, protection of others, especially those who can't protect themselves, the Biblical "widows and orphans" - in a word, <a href="http://keepingitcatholic.blogspot.com/2008/04/catholic-code-of-chivalry.html">chivalry</a>),</li>
<li>chastity,</li>
<li>fidelity for fathers and husbands (and a deliberate promotion of the necessary norms for being good fathers and husbands, over against the self-indulgent decadence of the culture and the scourge of divorce),</li>
<li>return to the Mass and the sacrament of Confession,</li>
<li>prayer and personal devotion.</li>
</ul>
I'm hoping that <a href="http://www.intothebreach.net/">the website</a> will continue to be a good source for informationa and resources. Click through to see a short video associated with the exhortation.<br />
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Deacon Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04773422293103065041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2984312446057999411.post-87735830307656372662015-09-24T09:18:00.000-05:002015-09-24T09:19:07.082-05:00Pope Francis in America - Homily, Midday Prayer with the Bishops, 9/23This is, I think, the <a href="http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/speeches/2015/september/documents/papa-francesco_20150923_usa-vescovi.html">clearest, most comprehensive articulation</a> that I've seen, of what Pope Francis is trying to do as Pope. Some of his actions and words have, at times, been seen with confusion and ambiguity. His "style" can be abrupt and imprecise, especially in comparison with his two immediate predecessors. But here, there is nothing unclear or objectionable in what he's laying out, and there is a full embrace of Tradition, just as I also embrace, believe, and strive to act. Especially, his words here are full of charity and joy, as he invites his brother bishops (and, through them, all of us) again to work with him in the vineyard of Christ. Read the whole thing at the above link.<br />
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Some highlights:<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgoNP3Ky8liaV9qUcriIGKYQLiYW8Woh8YIIpywSz7MM3gsSLN_Fh2_dJ4I_QJ2XRK2_KSTUwchs4Sic7TGUkCBWnhVVnK2QjEiq-stAIHn4RVYkzF6kHq2a8vFilgNurz1uIJ3lwfCkVu/s1600/francis1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgoNP3Ky8liaV9qUcriIGKYQLiYW8Woh8YIIpywSz7MM3gsSLN_Fh2_dJ4I_QJ2XRK2_KSTUwchs4Sic7TGUkCBWnhVVnK2QjEiq-stAIHn4RVYkzF6kHq2a8vFilgNurz1uIJ3lwfCkVu/s320/francis1.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.gettyimages.com/">www.gettyimages.com</a> </td></tr>
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The heart of the Pope expands to include everyone. To testify to the immensity of God’s love is the heart of the mission entrusted to the Successor of Peter, the Vicar of the One who on the cross embraced the whole of mankind. May no member of Christ’s Body and the American people feel excluded from the Pope’s embrace. Wherever the name of Jesus is spoken, may the Pope’s voice also be heard to affirm that: <i>“He is the Savior”!</i> From your great coastal cities to the plains of the Midwest, from the deep South to the far reaches of the West, wherever your people gather in the Eucharistic assembly, may the Pope be not simply a name but a felt presence, sustaining the fervent plea of the Bride: <i>“Come, Lord!” </i>Whenever a hand reaches out to do good or to show the love of Christ, to dry a tear or bring comfort to the lonely, to show the way to one who is lost or to console a broken heart, to help the fallen or to teach those thirsting for truth, to forgive or to offer a new start in God… know that the Pope is at your side, the Pope supports you. He puts his hand on your own, a hand wrinkled with age, but by God’s grace still able to support and encourage.<br />
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I speak to you as the Bishop of Rome, called by God in old age, and from a land which is also American, to watch over the unity of the universal Church and to encourage in charity the journey of all the particular Churches toward ever greater knowledge, faith and love of Christ. Reading over your names, looking at your faces, knowing the extent of your churchmanship and conscious of the devotion which you have always shown for the Successor of Peter, I must tell you that I do not feel a stranger in your midst. I am a native of a land which is also vast, with great open ranges, a land which, like your own, received the faith from itinerant missionaries. I too know how hard it is to sow the Gospel among people from different worlds, with hearts often hardened by the trials of a lengthy journey. Nor am I unaware of the efforts made over the years to build up the Church amid the prairies, mountains, cities and suburbs of a frequently inhospitable land, where frontiers are always provisional and easy answers do not always work. What does work is the combination of the epic struggle of the pioneers and the homely wisdom and endurance of the settlers. As one of your poets has put it, “strong and tireless wings” combined with the wisdom of one who “knows the mountains”.</div>
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We are bishops of the Church, shepherds appointed by God to feed his flock. Our greatest joy is to be shepherds, and only shepherds, pastors with undivided hearts and selfless devotion. We need to preserve this joy and never let ourselves be robbed of it. The evil one roars like a lion, anxious to devour it, wearing us down in our resolve to be all that we are called to be, not for ourselves but in gift and service to the <i>“Shepherd of our souls” </i> (<i>1 Pet </i>2:25). The heart of our identity is to be sought in constant prayer, in preaching (<i>Acts </i>6:4) and in shepherding the flock entrusted to our care (<i>Jn</i> 21:15-17; <i>Acts </i>20:28-31). Ours must not be just any kind of prayer, but familiar union with Christ, in which we daily encounter his gaze and sense that he is asking us the question: <i>“Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?” </i> (<i>Mk </i>3:31-34). One in which we can calmly reply: <i>“Lord, here is your mother, here are your brothers! I hand them over to you; they are the ones whom you entrusted to me”</i>. Such trusting union with Christ is what nourishes the life of a pastor.</div>
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The great mission which the Lord gives us is one which we carry out in communion, collegially. The world is already so torn and divided, brokenness is now everywhere. Consequently, the Church, <i>“the seamless garment of the Lord”</i> cannot allow herself to be rent, broken or fought over. Our mission as bishops is first and foremost to solidify unity, a unity whose content is defined by the Word of God and the one Bread of Heaven. With these two realities each of the Churches entrusted to us remains Catholic, because open to, and in communion with, all the particular Churches and with the Church of Rome which<i> “presides in charity”</i>. It is imperative, therefore, to watch over that unity, to safeguard it, to promote it and to bear witness to it as a sign and instrument which, beyond every barrier, unites nations, races, classes and generations.</div>
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Deacon Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04773422293103065041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2984312446057999411.post-49047374273475633502015-07-30T13:59:00.000-05:002015-07-30T13:59:34.617-05:00Is the "deaconess" a female deacon?<a href="http://www.patheos.com/blogs/deaconsbench/">Deacon Greg Kandra</a> on Deacon's Bench <a href="http://www.patheos.com/blogs/deaconsbench/2015/07/austrian-theologian-married-priests-and-women-deacons-should-be-reintroduced-as-soon-as-possible/">notes today a recently-published interview with Austrian theologian Dietmar Winkler of Salzburg University</a>. The English version is <a href="http://www.thetablet.co.uk/news/2288/0/call-to-priesthood-not-the-same-as-call-to-celibacy-says-senior-catholic-academic-#.Vbn7M78dP2k.facebook">picked up by the Tablet</a>, hardly a reliable source, and my German isn't up to reading the original. Dr. Winkler is reported to have said, among other things,<br />
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“Married priests and women deacons should be reintroduced as soon as possible. That would bring new dynamism to the Church”, the future dean of Salzburg University’s Catholic theological faculty, Professor Dietmar Winkler, told the Austrian daily <em style="color: #666666;">Salzburger Nachrichten</em>…<br />
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What Dr. Winkler and so many who promote the ordination of women to the diaconate don't know (or at least don't seem to know) is that the ancient order of "deaconess" was never seen by the Latin Church as a female version of the Order of Deacons. Rather, it was parallel to the Lector - a ministry, certainly, but not a <u>consecrated</u> ministry of the sort reserved to the sacrament of Holy Orders. Deaconesses did not ever receive that sacrament. Deaconesses had several roles, nearly all of which were serving other women in situations where it would be improper or scandalous for men to do so. The most common role was in the baptism of women, which was often done disrobed; from that also came a catechetical roles forming those women. Other liturgical roles, like reading and ushering, were predominantly in women's monastic houses or groups, where men (apart from priests) were not present.<br />
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This distinction is deeply embedded in the liturgical texts of the "ordination" of deaconesses. (One can, in the broad sense, speak of "ordination" of a deaconess. The root meaning of "ordination" is simply "induction into an order," and no one is arguing that deaconesses did not constitute an order, like that of the Order of Widows, say. But this should never be confused with the special sense of "ordination" which means "induction into one of the orders of the sacrament of Holy Orders.") Even if the symbols of the diaconate (laying on of hands, giving of a stole) could be used for deaconesses sometimes, the words (and therefore the <u>meaning</u>) of the rituals remain quite different. For example, here's the earliest known pair of ritual texts, from the Apostolic Constitutions from Syria in the 4th century (<a href="http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/07153.htm">Book III</a> has other interesting info on deacons and deaconesses):<br />
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Prayer for a deacon: <em>"...[H]ear our prayer, Lord, and give ear to our supplication, and let your face shine on this your servant who is appointed to you for ministry, and fill him <u>with spirit and power</u>, as you filled Stephen the protomartyr and imitator of the sufferings of your Christ. And grant that he, acceptably performing <u>the sacred ministry entrusted to him</u>, may be <u>worthy of a higher rank</u> through the mediation of your Christ...</em>"*<br />
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Prayer for a deaconess: "<em>Eternal Father..., creator of man and woman, who filled with the Spirit Miriam and Deborah and Anna and Huldah; who did not disdain that your only-begotten Son should be born of a woman; who also in the tent of the testimony and in the temple appointed women to be guardians of your holy gates: now look upon this your servant who is being <u>appointed for your ministry</u>, and <u>give her the Holy Spirit</u> and cleanse her from every defilement of body and spirit so that she may <u>worthily complete the work committed to her</u>, to your glory and the praise of your Christ...</em>"*<br />
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Note the key distinctions. The ministry of the deacon is "sacred," it is done "with spirit and power," and it may lead to "a higher rank" (namely the priesthood). The ministry of the deaconess is simply "ministry," not sacred (Holy Orders) ministry, it is done with the spirit but not "power," and it is completed worthily without any indication of "higher rank." The text for a lector from the same source uses, for a lector, the same "ministry" (not sacred ministry) and the same "spirit" (not spirit and powe), but then does indicate the "higher rank" that follows. <br />
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One might also note that the Old Testament typology and the New Testament roots of the deaconess are likewise completely different from those of deacons, as elaborated in other version of the rituals. So there's really no question that deaconesses are not female versions of the Holy Orders rank of deacon, but rather female versions of something like the lector, with a few differences specific to their unique context (lectors don't baptize, for example, except in case of emergency, but they do catechize). Finally, one might point out that, in fact, we have <u>already</u> "restored" the deaconess in the modern Church - they're now called "<a href="http://www.usccb.org/about/laity-marriage-family-life-and-youth/lay-ecclesial-ministry/lay-ecclesial-ministry-faqs.cfm">Lay Ecclesial Ministers</a>."<br />
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*(Source: Paul Bradshaw, <u>Ordination Rites of the Ancient Churches of East and West</u> (New York, 1990) 116-7.)Deacon Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04773422293103065041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2984312446057999411.post-41642701359932958452015-07-08T16:40:00.000-05:002015-07-08T16:40:22.687-05:00Homily outline for Wednesday 7/8/15 - EvangelizationHere's today's Gospel (Mt 10:1-7):<br />
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<em>Jesus summoned his Twelve disciples<br />and gave them authority over unclean spirits to drive them out<br />and to cure every disease and every illness.<br />The names of the Twelve Apostles are these:<br />first, Simon called Peter, and his brother Andrew;<br />James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John;<br />Philip and Bartholomew,<br />Thomas and Matthew the tax collector;<br />James, the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddeus;<br />Simon the Cananean, and Judas Iscariot<br />who betrayed Jesus.<br /><br />Jesus sent out these Twelve after instructing them thus,<br />“Do not go into pagan territory or enter a Samaritan town.<br />Go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.<br />As you go, make this proclamation: ‘The Kingdom of heaven is at hand.’”</em><br />
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For my homily, I gave St. Jerome's two-point interpretation of this passage from the <a href="https://thedivinelamp.wordpress.com/2011/07/03/wednesday-july-6-aquinas-catena-aurea-on-todays-gospel-matt-101-7/">Catena Aurea</a>. Here's the quick summary.<br />
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First point - Scripture doesn't contradict itself. So, this sending of the Apostles only to their fellow Jews is not in contradiction with the later sending to "all nations" (Mt 28:19). Rather, it's two steps in the fulfillment of God's one plan for salvation. The Jews already had their special status as God's preistly people, and the Revelation of Scripture, to prepare them for this proclamation of the Kingdom; and indeed, many of them did hear and respond, not least the Apostles themselves. The Gentiles, lacking this relationship with God, would wait for the Resurrection to have the whole Gospel proclaimed to them.<br />
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Second point flows from this. Since Scripture doesn't contradict itself, we can't read this passage as any kind of limit on where and when we ourselves proclaim the Kingdom. We're sent everyone by our Baptism and Confirmation, and for the ordained, by our Orders. But, St. Jerome says, the verse should be read spiritually, as an indication of <em>how</em> we proclaim. If we live our lives in the manner of those who don't know Christ ("Gentiles"), or who have accepted only part of the Gospel ("Samaritans"), we can't evangelize effectively. We have to live entirely as disciples of Christ, and evangelize from that standpoint first and foremost, by how we live. Thus we may show in our daily actions, even before we may have a chance to speak, the joy, mercy, grace, and hope of Jesus Christ, to a world starving for His love.Deacon Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04773422293103065041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2984312446057999411.post-55834319001134394832015-05-04T12:44:00.000-05:002015-05-04T12:44:19.339-05:00Order of PenitentsDominican Father Thomas Michelet has written <a href="http://novaetvetera.ch/index.php/fr/la-revue/a-la-une/40-synode-sur-la-famille-la-voie-de-l-ordo-paenitentium">an intriguing article in Nova et Vetera</a>, (<a href="http://chiesa.espresso.repubblica.it/articolo/1351041?eng=y">English</a> <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://www.stjohnsiconstudio.com/_/rsrc/1233829642641/Home/the-icon-studio/icon-gallery/Good%20Shepherdsml.jpg" height="320" width="242" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Christ the Good Shepherd( from <a href="http://www.stjohnsiconstudio.com/">St. John's Icon Studio</a>)</td></tr>
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translation) arguing that a reclaiming of something like the ancient Order of Penitents could be pastorally useful today. For those who find themselves in irregular situations with respect to the sacramental disciplines of the Church, such as the divorced-and-civilly-remarried or those who have fallen away from the Church, it could provide both a concrete position in the Church, instead of the often-nebulous injunction not to present oneself for Communion; and a predictable structure for offering them pastoral care and a path of conversion and regularization. What he has sketched out in the article appears to remain consistent with Scripture and Tradition, and the current discipline of the Sacraments, while attempting a bridge between where people are (away from the Sacraments) and returning them to full communion. Notably, Fr. Michelet argues for the importance of reaching out to those most in need of penance, in order to bring them to an interior understanding of their sins and need for conversion, rather than (as we too often do) just waiting for them to show up, contrite. Deacon Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04773422293103065041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2984312446057999411.post-58843516134432151082015-01-30T08:00:00.000-06:002015-01-30T08:00:03.775-06:00Cardinal Rodriguez Maradiaga, "Church of Mercy of Pope Francis," response in several parts - Part Four (and last)This continues my explication and response to Cardinal Rodriguez Maradiaga's essay and talk, "The Church of Mercy of Pope Francis." Previous parts are <a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2984312446057999411#editor/target=post;postID=3567442045454488206;onPublishedMenu=posts;onClosedMenu=posts;postNum=0;src=postname">here</a> and <a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2984312446057999411#editor/target=post;postID=6293854002878875268;onPublishedMenu=posts;onClosedMenu=posts;postNum=0;src=postname">here</a> and <a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2984312446057999411#editor/target=post;postID=8654186091850144111;onPublishedMenu=posts;onClosedMenu=posts;postNum=0;src=postname">here</a>.<br />
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<strong><u>“The Church of Mercy with Pope Francis” (cont'd)</u></strong><br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">3. To Bear Witness to
God’s Mercy is to Commit to Man <o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<o:p> </o:p></div>
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The best testimony of charity and mercy is found especially
in the saints, in their high level of Christian life and in the maturity of the
live idea of God <span style="color: red;">[True; but, their witness is also
witness to “traditional” spirituality, and the apostolic and sacramental order
inherent in the Church.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To invoke them
is to defend that “traditional” spirituality which he seems want to change, and
thus undermines his putative argument.]</span>. The God loved and worshiped by
saints reveals Himself gradually along with the fidelity and contemplative
growth of the believer [“no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who
the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”
(Luke 10: 22)]. </div>
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<o:p> </o:p></div>
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The biblical God is not the God of Theodicy or of pure
rationality <span style="color: red;">[Not sure what he means by this.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Does he mean this in a “traditional” way,
namely, that, while our reason applied to the created world can find evidence
that reveals God’s nature as Creator, reason alone cannot know God without the
gift of faith?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or does he mean something
else, such as that “traditional” theology (often disparagingly called
“onto-theology” should be rejected as “triumphalist” and “domesticating” of
God?]</span>: it is a God that has to be found, that has to be received as a
gift and as a revelation. It is a different God… The Christian God is not
exactly the God of the philosophers, of the logic and of the Theists. <span style="color: red;">[Augustine and Aquinas, e.g., would certainly agree with
this.]<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span>Just believing in God does
not make you a Christian. <span style="color: red;">[“Faith without works is
dead.”]<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span>A Christian is someone
who has discovered the biblical God; the God of Abraham, of Moses, of the
Prophets, that revealed Himself in plenitude in the God of Jesus. <span style="color: red;">[I assume he does not mean to imply, by the parallelism (God
of Abraham = God of Moses = God of Jesus), that Jesus is not God.]<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span>Through the history of Salvation,
there is a gradual revelation of the face of the true and only God <span style="color: red;">[i.e., Jesus Christ, true God and true man, who gave us the
Church and the Sacraments as the primary means of salvation, and sends thereby
the Holy Spirit to unite us to Himself and the Father]</span>. The way of the
Church’s pastoral conversion today is to guide individuals and cultures through
that gradual revelation, though in different contexts and experiences. <span style="color: red;">[This is a false dichotomy, if meant in contradistinction to
some “traditional” method of pastoral conversion, imagined <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">not</i> to introduce to others that same face of God in Jesus Christ
through appropriate contexts and experiences.]<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></span>Nothing reveals God more than love. Therefore, Pope Francis says
(speech of November 14, 2013) that, “The Church’s primary task is to bear
witness to the mercy of God and to encourage generous reactions of solidarity
in order to open a future of hope. For where hope increases, energy and
commitment to building a more human and just social order also grows, and new
possibilities for sustainable and healthy development emerge.” </div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">3.1 Full-Time
Christians <o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<o:p> </o:p></div>
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In the Family Synod (October 2014) something notable
happened for the first time: <span style="color: red;">[What he describes here is
exactly what Pope Benedict described having happened at Vatican II (e.g.,
again, the 2005 Christmas address, and elsewhere).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So this dichotomy of “two synods” is hardly
the “first time.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is he ignorant or
forgetful of Pope Benedict’s remarks, or is he implicitly contradicting and
rejecting them?]<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span>There were like
two Synods because outside the precinct where the Synod Fathers were gathered,
there was a media Synod that denoted a perverse intention to confuse opinions,
invent answers, imagine solutions and exaggerate positions of those of us
gathered there; instead, inside the working room a charismatic, serene,
cordial, filled-with-unction-and-faith synod was taking place, seeking to agree
and to answer the essential issues of family and marriage. </div>
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<o:p> </o:p></div>
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Many <span style="color: red;">[in the false, media synod] </span>identified
as the unique and fundamental topic, issues that were merely secondary. For
example, we did not talk only about giving “communion” to re-married Christians
—that was a collateral argument, it was never essential. What was really said,
and I repeat and emphasize, is that the realities of dissolved and rebuilt
families are not an impediment to live and participate in the abundant life of
the Church; that the “sacramental communion” is not the only way to vitally
participate in the pastoral dynamic of the parish community and that every
Christian couple that seeks God will find Him because he allows Himself to be
found and that every re-married Christian can be a full-time Christian, has a
right to be happy, and his house can become also a place where the love of God
is born witness. <span style="color: red;">[Well, yes, but... this should not be
taken in a sense which downplays the uniqueness of the Eucharist.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are many reasons why one might refrain
from approaching Holy Communion at any given time, and such experiences indeed
do not prevent the love of God from indwelling in us; but at the same time, it
remains true that participation in the Holy Eucharist is the “source and
summit,” and therefore the ideal, of the Christian life, toward which we are
meant to strive.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If it lies within our
power to remove an obstacle to our reception of Holy Communion, and we refuse
to do so, are we not rejecting thereby the fullness of God’s love for us?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We must not take a complacent or minimalist
attitude about our total union with Christ.]<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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For me, there is no “place in the basement” of the Church
for Catholics that have wanted to rebuild their lives having remarried, though
they cannot receive the Sacrament of Communion; there is no corner in attic for
migrants that do not have documents in order and want to prepare their children
in the sacraments of Christian Initiation; there is no special window in Heaven
to assist those who have left the Catholic Church and have gone to other places
seeking the warmth, refuge and respect that their mother has not been able to
provide. <span style="color: red;">[I think this is basically correct (Mt 23:4,
Col 3:13, Eph 4:2).]<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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All these are challenges to our conscience and a strong and
tough demand to our parish practices that are so rigid and narrow-minded. <span style="color: red;">[Indeed, it is possible that we fail to live up to these high
standards of radical love, and that we fail to evangelize and to foster faith
in others.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And some of the ways in which
we can so fail might well be called “rigid” or “narrow-minded.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, if he means here to identify “rigid
and narrow-minded” with “traditionalist,” as above, then he’s going too far.] </span>That
is why the Pope said to be careful not to turn the parish and episcopal offices
into “customs.” And he is completely right. (Santa Marta, May 25, 2013). To
remember the whole message, I quote: “We are many times ‘controllers of faith,’
instead of becoming ‘facilitators’ of the faith of the people,” lamented the
Pope during his daily mass at Santa Marta’s Guest House in the Vatican. In his
homily that was broadcasted by Vatican Radio, the Argentine Pope mentioned a
priest who refused to baptize the son of a single mother, “this girl who had
the courage to carry her pregnancy (…) and what does she find? A closed door,”
affirmed the Pope. <span style="color: red;">[We need to know more about this
anecdote before we can conclude that this priest acted “rigidly” or
“narrow-mindedly.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Just by itself, the
quote does not demonstrate what he claims.]<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Nobody is excluded from the Church of Christ. <span style="color: red;">[True, but many people exclude themselves by rejecting God’s
mercy, love, and grace.]<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span>There is
a place for everybody, for the migrants, for those who one day abandoned the
Church but come back convinced that they can stay forever, for those
married-divorced-remarried, for the poor, for everybody. Within these
categories fall those that Francis calls “the least”, when he encourages: “The
Church must step outside herself. To go where? To the outskirts of existence,
whatever they may be. If we step outside ourselves we find poverty. We cannot
put up with this! We cannot become starched Christians, those over-educated
Christians who speak of theological matters as they calmly sip their tea. <span style="color: red;">[Another false dichotomy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Although his exhortation to embrace the mission is sound, the
contrasting of “education” with “courage” is belied by, say, St. Dominic,
etc.]<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span>No! We must become
courageous Christians and go in search of the people who are the very flesh of
Christ, those who are the flesh of Christ! (Vigil of Pentecost, May 18, 2013). </div>
<br />
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<o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">3.2 The Culture of
Good <o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<o:p> </o:p></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
The Pope’s words sounded strong when he said, “Be men and
women with others and for others: true champions at the service of others”
(December 2, 2013). <span style="color: red;">[Another “traditional”
exhortation.]<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span>Following this, the
Holy Father tells us something fundamental, three points that I want to share
with you today to finish my talk here: <span style="color: red;">[First point:
importance of public Christian witness to mercy, love, hope] </span>“In your
society, which is deeply marked by secularization, I encourage you also to be
present in the public debate, in all the areas where man is at issue, to make
God’s mercy and his tenderness for every creature visible.” Yes, dear Friends,
let it be a task and commitment for you to work courageously and heroically
“where man is at issue.” Only in that manner will we bear witness of God’s
mercy, the mercy that is love —and love that begins at home. <span style="color: red;">[His three points here returns to the tenor of Part I, above,
which seems quite orthodox, but now there is a deep, ambiguous tension in his
words.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Does he mean this conclusion in a
“traditional” way, with the apostolic and sacramental commitments thus implied,
or is he evoking some “new” ecclesial vision and order?]<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
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<span style="color: red;">[Second point: importance of strong
spiritual foundations] </span>The incarnate aspect of spirituality, turning
life into a transcendental humanism according to the Spirit, is what lays the
foundation for the Christian mystic. <span style="color: red;">[Are we to take
this in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">continuity</i> or in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">rupture</i> with the great spiritual
masters?]<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span>It is focused on the
search for God through Jesus, but also focused on man and the search for
fraternal love. It lives in the hope that the Kingdom will have no end but it
centers completely on the tasks of a Kingdom in history and in society. It
receives faith as a gift from God, irrepressible to any human experience, but
it knows that faith takes diverse shapes <span style="color: red;">[“unity in
diversity” has always been acceptable; but there are limits, since <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">some</i> diversities do indeed break the
unity] </span>and demands according to the cultures, the challenges of society
and the individual commitment, and that all human or Christian commitment must
also be a place of the experience of God. </div>
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<o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
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<span style="color: red;">[Third point: priority of the
“preferential option for the poor”] </span>Since certainly, the privileged
“place” in which Christ’s Mercy becomes incarnate and becomes practice is in
the love for the brothers and sisters, and in the preferential love for the
poor and the suffering. The temporal reality that summarizes all the
incarnations of the mystic, all the realism of the Christian spirit, and that
gathers all the demands of the practice of the faith and love, is the brother,
is the poor. <span style="color: red;">[Are we meant to take this in continuity
with the “traditional” understanding of the Great Commandment, or as a “new”
understanding?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How does this
understanding of love of neighbor relate to the traditional understanding of
the love of God?]<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span>The God hiding
in the faces of our brothers is the supreme experience of incarnation and to
practice mercy is its definitive stamp because “mercy is the true force that
can save man and the world” (September 15, 2013). <span style="color: red;">[Again,
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">continuity</i> or <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">rupture</i>?]<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="color: red;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="color: red;">[Overall, this essay is pretty
forceful and coherent, but it has a significant issue in the middle.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Part I and the first two sections of Part 2
are clear and reasonable.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He does not
directly contradict anything in the Church’s traditional understanding of
Scripture, Tradition, mission, vocation, or evangelization.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, one must supply the full
understanding of these topics.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The absence
of any mention of the place of the Sacraments becomes striking in the middle of
the essay.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In this sense, in the last
two sections of Part 2 (2.3 and 2.4), when dealing explicitly with the
“traditional” Church and the changes following Vatican II, he seems strongly to
take the position of the “hermeneutic of rupture,” rejected by Pope Benedict
XVI (and Pope St. John Paul II).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His
language is vague and his meanings remain rather uncertain.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is difficult to understand what he could
mean if his vision is not essentially that of the hermeneutic of rupture, but
it is also difficult to know clearly what he means even within that point of
view.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His arguments in this section
remain unconvincing, especially the flawed argument from authority.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the final section of the essay (Part 3),
his failure to mention the sacramental economy as the primary avenue of mercy
for the Church and the world in the beginning of the essay, along with the
appearance of taking the hermeneutic-of-rupture position in the middle of the
essay, introduces a devastating ambiguity into his conclusions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The reader no longer knows how to understand
what is being put forth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The language
and content seem to hew close to the Church’s proper understanding of the
topics at issue, but we cannot be certain that he means the same things by
these same words.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="color: red;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: red;">The best reading of the essay, then,
I would suggest, is to set aside the unconvincing middle section, and to
embrace the hermeneutic of continuity at least implicitly taken in the beginning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By this reading, the conclusion becomes a
straightforward, fairly strong and urgent, exhortation to deepen our missionary
zeal, and to work more to overcome the various obstacles to the spread of the
Gospel that our own weakness, sins, and particular historical/cultural blind
spots might impose.]<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Deacon Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04773422293103065041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2984312446057999411.post-86541860918501441112015-01-29T19:00:00.000-06:002015-01-29T19:00:02.615-06:00Cardinal Rodriguez Maradiaga, "Church of Mercy of Pope Francis," response in several parts - Part ThreeThis continues my explication and response to Cardinal Rodriguez Maradiaga's essay and talk, "The Church of Mercy of Pope Francis." Previous parts are <a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2984312446057999411#editor/target=post;postID=3567442045454488206;onPublishedMenu=posts;onClosedMenu=posts;postNum=0;src=postname">here</a> and <a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2984312446057999411#editor/target=post;postID=6293854002878875268;onPublishedMenu=posts;onClosedMenu=posts;postNum=0;src=postname">here</a>.<br />
<br />
<strong><u>“The Church of Mercy with Pope Francis” (cont'd)</u></strong><br />
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">2.3. The Finish
Point: The Church of Mercy <o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
We walk as Church towards a deep and global renovation. <span style="color: red;">[I think “renewal” is what he means.]<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span>For this renovation to be sincerely
Catholic, it must encompass all of the historical dimensions of the Church. </div>
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<o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Specifically, there is no true ecclesial renovation without
a transformation of the institutions <span style="color: red;">[Here he begins to
say things that seem to contradict what he has already established.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Especially, it’s not at all clear what it
might mean to “transform” the essential institutions of the Church – namely,
the hierarchical-apostolic order, the organization into dioceses/parishes/religious
houses, and all that serves the sacramental and pastoral care of souls – in any
sense that would remain “Catholic.”]</span>; of the quality and focus of the
activities; of the mystic and the spiritual. Usually, renovation begins with
pastoral activities. For it is there where the inconsistencies of a certain
“model” of the Church and reality are primarily experienced. The missionaries,
the evangelists on the “margins” of the Church, are the first ones to notice
the insufficiency of the “traditional” ways of action; the pastoral criticism
begins with the experience of the mission in the “peripheries.” Changes and
adjustments begin there. <span style="color: red;">[This, too, is curious,
because the “margins” of the Church (Asia, Africa, the pro-life movement, the
pro-traditional-liturgy movement, etc.) seem quite consistently to want
something much different than this next paragraph calls for:]<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
After Vatican Council II, the methods and content of
evangelization and Christian education change <span style="color: red;">[not
always for the better]</span>. The liturgy changes: local languages are adopted,
some rituals and symbols change, measurements are taken for a greater
participation, etc. The missionary perspective changes: the missionary must
know the culture, the human situation; the missionary must establish an
evangelizing dialogue with those realities. “Social action” changes, it is no
longer just charity and development services but also struggle for justice,
human rights and liberation… <span style="color: red;">[Some notable false
dichotomies in here. One thinks, e.g., of the first generation of Jesuit
missionaries in Asia in the 16<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup> century, of whom it certainly could
not be said that they did not learn and value the culture, the language, the
people, etc.; nor is “the struggle for justice, human rights, and liberation” a
new thing in the Church in the later 20<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup> century.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But since these efforts have always been
there, too, this paragraph implies either a repudiation of the Church before
Vatican II, or a confusion about what the Church did for its mission in
previous generations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In either case, it
is quite superficial and misleading to present it in this manner.]<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
For Christian coherency, certain institutional and
organizational changes are contemplated simultaneously: new functions require
new suitable institutions. <span style="color: red;">[Again, it’s not at all
clear what “new functions” he means.]<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
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The Council propelled institutional renovations, following
the logic of the Spirit. <span style="color: red;">[Note the dangerous
implication that the Church before the Council was not following the same
logic.]<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span>These reforms encompass
all levels of the ecclesial organization: the religious congregations or
missionary societies —whose “Chapters of Renovation” multiply— the diocesan and
Vatican Curia, Episcopal Conferences, the Synods, the parishes, the pastoral
areas, the presbyteries, the lay apostolic institutions, the teaching of
theology, the seminaries, the catholic schools… New institutions for missionary
dialogue emerge: ecumenism, Jews, other religions… Everything in the Church
changes consistent with a renewed pastoral model. <span style="color: red;">[Exaggeration
for effect? Clearly, not everything in the Church changes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But it’s important to note, I think, what
he’s eliding here by implication, namely, the apostolic and sacramental order
labelled “Tradition.” This therefore could be taken to contradict what he
sketched out in Part I, above.]<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Maybe some thought that the Church renovation was only that.
But the institutional and functional changes —alone in themselves— proved
insufficient, superficial. <span style="color: red;">[This language becomes quite
dangerous.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Note how he now implicitly
pits “the Church before the Council” and “the Church after the Council” against
each other, in just the manner Pope Benedict taught must not be done (e.g., in
the 2005 Christmas address to the Curia).] </span>Sometimes they created new
problems and crises both unnecessary and deep. Any change in the Church
eventually requires considering a renovation of the motivations that the new
options inspire. Without deep-rooted, living and explicit motivations, no human
group, no institution and no society can survive for a long time, much less
renovate itself. Motivations answer to the fundamental “why” of the options,
the enterprises, the demands, and the same reason for being of the institution.
</div>
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<o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
The Pope wants to take this Church renovation to the point
where it becomes irreversible. The wind that propels the sails of the Church
towards the open sea of its deep and total renovation is Mercy. </div>
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<o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
For the Church, the motivations are more than essential;
they are its identity stamp. The “why” of its organization and its action
cannot be decisively explained by the human sciences or the pure historical
rationality: they refer to Jesus and his Gospel as the global, indispensable
and predominant motivation. It is the motivation of the Spirit. Therefore, to
speak of motivations in Christianity is to speak of the mystical, of
spirituality. <span style="color: red;">[Right.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In Part I, he seemed to agree that it is of the essence of the Church
founded by Christ that this “why” goes to the reception of grace/mercy and the
journey of conversion, via Scripture and Tradition, the Sacraments, and the
works of mercy. Now, he’s hinting at some new “why,” some new relationship in
the Church between “mercy” and “concrete love,” that would change the essential
shape of Tradition.]<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
The institutional and functional renovation of the Church
requires a renovation of its mystical dimension. And at the roots of the
mystical is mercy. </div>
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<o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">2.4 The Maternal
Heart of Mercy <o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Catholic spirituality in history, due to its same incarnate
nature, never takes place as an “activity” isolated from the pastoral, the
theological, the social and the cultural conditions. <span style="color: red;">[That’s
certainly true of the Sacraments, too.]<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span>Since
one of its dimensions —it is not the only one— is to motivate believers to
follow of Jesus. This following acquires renovated nuances, demands and topics
consistent with the mission and with the human experience of the believers.
While the life of Christ and the Gospels are always the same, the experiences
and the options that inspire are always historical. <span style="color: red;">[What
does this mean for Tradition?]<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Spirituality is not a science nor one more praxis in the
Church. It is the “nourishment” of the pastoral, the theology and the
community, whatever their “model” is. <span style="color: red;">[But in this
broad sense, “spirituality” must be <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">unchanging</i>,
part of what comes to the Church <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">immediately</i>
from God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He seemed to accept this in
Part I, but now he seems to contradict himself.]<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<o:p> </o:p></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
When this was forgotten by the process of ecclesial
renovation, <span style="color: red;">[I’m guessing he missed the implication
here that it was <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">not forgotten</i> by the
Church before the Council...]<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span>this
caused “schizophrenia” in some Christians, which is one of the causes of many
failures. In a short time, they progressed in all of the levels of the
renovation. They changed many pastoral, theological, and disciplinary categories.
The image and the mission of the Church changed. Likewise, its concept that
related faith with history and society changed; therefore the social and
political options became more important. </div>
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<o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
In this context, there was no mystical renovation and it
remained “traditional,” consistent with another vision of the faith and of the
mission, and inconsistent with the new ecclesial experiences. <span style="color: red;">[And there it is: “traditional” = “bad.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Notice how he now elides Tradition by
labeling it merely “another vision of the faith the mission” – as if the
fundamental orientation of the Church were so malleable!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Again, in his argument in Part I, he seemed
to accept Tradition; now, he is claiming that “traditional” spirituality,
rooted in the “traditional” understanding of Scriptures, apostolicity,
sacramentality, devotions, etc., is no longer fit for the Church.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, either this section of the essay is
confused and unhelpful, or else his real argument is this: If our fundamental
spiritual “experience” and “vision” remains that of the Apostles, the Fathers,
and the Councils, then we are “schizophrenic” and “inconsistent!”] <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
In this context, a spirituality does not motivate, it
becomes irrelevant. It ends up being perceived as a useless appendix and ends
up being abandoned, since a mystic that does not nourish the human experience
stops having meaning; a spirituality that is foreign to the ecclesial model
that is being lived leads to the crisis of the Christian “schizophrenia.” Many
abandonments of the ecclesial life, and even of the faith, are rooted there. <span style="color: red;">[Even granting this “being foreign to the ecclesial model” to
be true (which I don’t), this does not follow:] </span>The only answer is not
in abandoning all mystic or reversing the renovation of the institutions or
options (due to fear of a collapse of the Christian values), but in deeply
renovating the faith and spirituality starting from love to reach mercy. <span style="color: red;">[Assuming he really means what he says here, this is an
extraordinarily sweeping claim. He’s saying that the “traditional” model of the
Church, and the spirituality that underpins it, do not “start from love to
reach mercy.” So the whole of Church history, all the works of all the great
saints and mystics of the past, the whole sacramental order and experience of
the Church for 19 centuries, that was not really what God intended for the
Church.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But now, somehow, almost <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">ex nihilo</i>, suddenly this tiny handful of
people understand everything better and clearer than all the doctors of the
Church and the whole of the faithful...] </span>That is what the Pope wants. <span style="color: red;">[And just in case you’re not convinced, he pulls out the
argument from authority.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The (current)
Pope is claimed to want it, so it must be right.]<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
In that regard, on July 28, 2013, Pope Francis said
(speech): “She gives birth, suckles, gives growth, corrects, nourishes and
leads by the hand… So we need a church capable of rediscovering the maternal
womb of mercy. Without mercy we have little chance nowadays of becoming part of
a world of ‘wounded’ persons in need of understanding, forgiveness and love.” <span style="color: red;">[This quote doesn’t support what he claims.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Since “the Church is always in need of
renewal,” the Pope is quite correct (in that sense) to say this; but such “rediscovery”
means a return to what the Church has always done, in evangelical and apostolic
integrity, not a substitution of some new ecclesial vision for the “traditional”
one.]<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
On December 9, 2014, at the Chapel of the Santa Marta Guest
House I heard the Pope say loud and clear what I will share now: “I ask myself,
what is the consolation of the Church? <span style="color: red;">[2 Cor 1:3-5 -
he paraphrases thus:]<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span>Just as an
individual is consoled when he feels the mercy and forgiveness of the Lord, the
Church rejoices and is happy when she goes out of herself <span style="color: red;">[offering the same mercy and forgiveness to those who long,
even inchoately, for reconciliation with God; as said above, this ultimately
leads to full sacramental participation.]</span>. In the Gospel, the pastor who
goes out goes to seek the lost sheep – he could keep accounts like a good
businessman. [He could say]: ‘Ninety-nine sheep, if I lose one, it’s no
problem; the balance sheet – gains and losses. But it’s fine, we can get by.’ No,
he has the heart of a shepherd, he goes out and searches for [the lost sheep]
until he finds it, and then he rejoices, he is joyful.” </div>
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<o:p> </o:p></div>
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“When the Church does not do this <span style="color: red;">[Has
there ever been a time or place when the Church, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">qua</i> Church, has not done this?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Or does he mean, when the members of the Church don’t?]</span>, then the
Church stops herself, is closed in on herself, even if she is well organized,
has a perfect organizational chart, everything’s fine, everything’s tidy – but
she lacks joy, she lacks peace, and so she becomes a disheartened Church,
anxious, sad, a Church that seems more like a spinster than a mother, and this
Church doesn’t work, it is a Church in a museum. The joy of the Church is to
give birth <span style="color: red;">[i.e., to new disciples]</span>; the joy of
the Church is to go out of herself to give life <span style="color: red;">[i.e.,
by those new disciples’ sacramental participation and sharing in the mission]</span>;
the joy of the Church is to go out to seek the sheep that are lost; the joy of
the Church is precisely the tenderness of the shepherd, the tenderness of the
mother.” </div>
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<o:p> </o:p></div>
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“May the Lord give us the grace of working, of being joyful
Christians in the fruitfulness of Mother Church, and keep us from falling into
the attitude of these sad Christians, impatient, disheartened, anxious, that have
all the perfection in the Church, but do not have ‘children.’ <span style="color: red;">[This is good.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As
disciples, any of us might experience discouragement and loss of zeal, and we
need this prayer continually.]<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span>May
the Lord console us with the consolation of a Mother Church that goes out of
herself and consoles us with the consolation of the tenderness of Jesus and His
mercy in the forgiveness of our sins.” <span style="color: red;">[Again, these
words of Pope Francis do not support the supposed argument about Tradition the
Cardinal is possibly trying to make. The Pope is saying that we’re not good
enough disciples, that we’re distracted by all kinds of weakness and sin from
carrying out the mission of the Church consistently.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s true and always has been, and yet God
works through us in spite of it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is
quite a “traditional” thing to say.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But
it doesn’t follow from this that “traditional” spirituality is faulty or
inadequate.]<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
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These are words accompanied by gestures of the Pope that
speak of coherence. His actions and his harmony with those who need consolation
are small pieces of encyclicals, they are itinerant “Pope Magisterium,” <span style="color: red;">[Argument from authority again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Moreover, if Pope Francis’s “gestures” and
“small pieces of encyclicals” constitute this “itinerant papal Magisterium,”
then so, logically, did those of Pope Benedict XVI, Pope St. John Paul II, and
all the popes... which obviously leads to conflicting claims and irreconcilable
differences within the Magisterium.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So
this becomes a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">reductio ad absurdum</i>,
and is clearly not tenable. See LG #22, 25; Heb 13:9; Mt 7:15; etc.] </span>they
are prophetic gestures that arouse admiration and cause the holy emulation of
what he does, because he does it as Christ did and Peter summarizes it at
Cornelius’ house: “He went about doing good” (Acts 10: 38). </div>
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<o:p> </o:p></div>
Deacon Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04773422293103065041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2984312446057999411.post-62938540028788752682015-01-29T07:00:00.000-06:002015-01-29T14:16:04.720-06:00Cardinal Rodriguez Maradiaga, "Church of Mercy of Pope Francis," response in several parts - Part TwoThis continues my explication and response to Cardinal Rodriguez Maradiaga's essay and talk, "The Church of Mercy of Pope Francis." Part One of my response is <a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2984312446057999411#editor/target=post;postID=3567442045454488206;onPublishedMenu=posts;onClosedMenu=posts;postNum=0;src=postname">here</a>.<br />
<br />
<strong><u>“The Church of Mercy with Pope Francis” (cont'd)</u></strong><br />
<br />
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">2. Mercy is the
Highest Expression of Love <o:p></o:p></b></div>
<br />
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<o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
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The Church presided in charity—as it is called
liturgically—wants to be known in times of Pope Francis <span style="color: red;">[and, indeed, in all times] </span>as the house of mercy. The following
text summarizes this symbol of identity: “I believe that this is the season of
mercy. This new era we have entered, and the many problems in the Church – like
the poor witness given by some priests, problems of corruption in the Church,
the problem of clericalism for example – have left so many people hurt, left so
much hurt. The Church is a mother: she has to go out to heal those who are
hurting, with mercy.” (Pope Francis Press Conference on July 28, 2013) </div>
<br />
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<o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
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The Pope’s words in this speech feel harsh for the
corrupted, the abuser, the liar, the one who seeks power mundanely, but feel
tender and benevolent, like balm and sweet to “those who are hurting.” <span style="color: red;">[By itself, this risks being a false dichotomy. What about
those already being healed, who seek to serve? Or those outside the Church
still rejecting every approach of grace?]<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></span>A Samaritan Church will heal the wounds of those who are beaten,
hurting and prostrated, those who have weakly fallen under the power of those
who use violence. That is why the Pope’s words have such a deep evangelical
meaning. Thinking about the Church as “a mother who has to go out to heal those
who are hurting, with mercy,” puts her in a completely original role —the one
from the beginning of Christianity— a Church that is close to people,
incarnated and submerged in the existential history of man, turning their
miseries into wealth and their weaknesses into their biggest strength. <span style="color: red;">[Quite true, that Christ founded the Church to be a merciful
mother to all, and that, inasmuch as the Church is indefectible (Mt 16:18), she
has always been such.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But, he seems to
contradict this, below...]<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span>This
makes us think of the Church in metaphoric similarities to a “home” and a
“hospital”. The Church of Christ is the Church of Francis: beset with
compassion. </div>
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<o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">2.1 The starting
point: God’s Mercy <o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<o:p> </o:p></div>
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In the Angelus from September 15, 2013, the Pope said:
“Remember this well, ‘There is no limit to the Divine Mercy which is offered to
everyone,” since “Mercy is the true force that can save man and the world from
the “cancer” that is sin, moral evil, spiritual evil. Only love fills the void,
the negative chasms that evil opens in hearts and in history. Only love can do
this, and this is God’s joy!” </div>
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<o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
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Starting from God’s Mercy, the Church that allows itself to
be led by that mercy <span style="color: red;">[What’s his implied contradiction
here? Is it possible to imagine “the Church,” <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">qua</i> Church, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">not </i>allowing
itself to be led by divine mercy?] </span>becomes infinitely generous and can
take the commandment of Love to the ultimate consequences, knowing that it is
Love what saves man and the world, or what saves man from the world. If sin is
considered a “cancer” and can disguise itself as moral evil, spiritual evil and
psychological evil, then the universal remedy against any form of evil will be
the love that becomes forgiveness <span style="color: red;">[In its fullness,
this means participation in the holy Eucharist: LG #13, etc.]</span>; it will
be the love that becomes hope able to give meaning to so many empty lives and
so many human lives beset with pain and frustration. If something is able to
redeem from sin it is the Cross of Christ. Therefore, everything that fits
under the Cross’ shade is redeemed. <span style="color: red;">[In this image, one
sees Mary and John at the foot of the Cross, with the whole apostolic,
sacramental, and devotional “spirituality” thus evoked.]<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<o:p> </o:p></div>
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It is not just Christ’s pain and his passion that redeem, it
is not just the cross that saves us: his pain, his passion and his cross have
redeeming power because of Love. <span style="color: red;">[Because the Love is
God Himself; see CCC 602, 603, etc.]<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span>It
is then Christ’s crucified Love that gives back meaning to human existence and
elevates it to the dignity from which sin deprived it and that Jesus’ decision,
dying for love in the cross, recovered. </div>
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<o:p> </o:p></div>
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If the world experienced how big God’s love and salvation
initiative are, all temples would be filled with people asking for the holy
sacraments of Confession, Baptism, Anointing of the Sick and Eucharist. Priests
would not be able to handle such a need for absolution, blessing or communion
since entire multitudes —convinced of that infinite love of God, origin of
salvation—, would understand that truth and life have a name: Jesus. And his
name is Love. </div>
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<o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
That is why the Pope says, “Only love fills the void,” Which
void? Superficiality, noise, alienation of the heart that hardens when it lets
itself be taken over by consumerism, love for money, the culture of death, the
maelstrom of pleasure in all its forms, the drugs and the life without God. <span style="color: red;">[In a word, sin.]<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span>If
man’s void was filled with God’s mercy and mercy could be experienced in the
Church, nobody would abandon their parish, temples would be packed with
faithful, seminaries would be filled with young men that would leave the field
of daily worries to devote themselves to serve God and console their brothers.
This is not idyllic nor poetic, it is as realistic as the pain that only love
can heal. Void cannot be filled with another void. It has to be filled with
content and realities that can sublimate and explain them. <span style="color: red;">[I.e, the real encounter with divine love and mercy, of which
the highest form is in the Sacraments.]<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span>That
is why the answer that man—wounded—seeks as the ultimate meaning of his
existence only exists in God. If people were to found a Church close to the
people, compassionate, a companion, identified with the bleeding pain of so
many “sick” and terminally ill lives, the Church of Christ, the Church that
Pope Francis presides today, would be more credible and necessary. <span style="color: red;">[I certainly don’t think he means that people founded the
Church instead of Christ, but he does begin here to drive in the wedge of
“Church of Christ = Church of Francis, but <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">not</i>
= Church of, say, Trent...”]<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">2.2. The Point of
Encounter: Man’s misery <o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
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It is starting from God’s mercy how we reach man. That is
why every honest meeting with the existential reality of man takes place under
the sign of mercy. It is either mercy or judgment. <span style="color: red;">[A
perfectly correct dichotomy (e.g., CCC 1021)]<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></span>And the Church is not here to judge, condemn, reproach or reject
anybody but to embrace as in a home where love reigns for everybody who needs
it. <span style="color: red;">[No, but, let’s not gloss over the rather critical
step of one’s acceptance of mercy and entering into the path of conversion.]<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<o:p> </o:p></div>
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Pope Francis explains that Jesus’ mercy towards man is not
so much a feeling as a force. He says it in this manner, “it is a force that
gives life, that raises man up! (…) “This compassion is the love of God for
man, it is mercy, the attitude of God in contact with human misery, with our
poverty, our suffering, our anguish,” (Angelus, June 9, 2013). </div>
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<o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
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<span style="color: red;">[This paragraph is good:] </span>It
is not a simple emotional harmony of the agreement of altruist feelings but a
real assumption and possession of the misery of man by God. When Christ was
Incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary and was made Man (cf. Nicene’s
Creed), he took as his all human beings reality, all their miseries to redeem
them and save what was lost. He did it in a way that where there was man in his
circumstances, where there was a person conditioned by his or her own
existential environment, where life weighs and existence hurts, where
depression and absurdity stand out, God’s love arrives, repeating what the Pope
said, “the attitude of God in contact with human misery, with our poverty, our
suffering, our anguish,” (idem). God does not become absent from man. Instead,
moved by mercy, He has an eternal appointment with him to heal his misery and
proclaim about each life and about each history a new hope made up of forgiveness,
comprehension and deep tenderness. This type of God wants this type of Church. <span style="color: red;">[Yes; and in fact God <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">has</i>
this type of Church, since it’s precisely this Church which He founded.]<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Therefore, following Jesus does not mean to participate in a
triumphant entourage. <span style="color: red;">[Again, yes, but... We certainly
embrace humility and reject “triumphalism” in any of its worldly senses (see Mt
20:25-6; 1 Pet 3:5; etc.), but the victory of Christ over sin and death is a
triumph worth celebrating; and the host of saints entering Heaven in “martial
array” (e.g., 1 Kgs 8, Rev 19, etc.) is “triumphant” in a good sense, which it
would damage the Church to lose – to wit:] </span>It means to share his
merciful love, to enter his great work of mercy for each man and for all men. </div>
Deacon Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04773422293103065041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2984312446057999411.post-35674420454544882062015-01-28T09:27:00.000-06:002015-01-29T14:15:04.890-06:00Cardinal Rodriguez Maradiaga, "Church of Mercy of Pope Francis," response in several parts - Part One<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixq4l2rhuCPHUGPzb7ODM7POT88QuWaR_dWfwv2NbUSxdiyJkT4lnmhm_P5jXVqyzsIW1I8ZIzhw9XFcavcmEF9TWSyVwjbE_vLVR7WyFjdiQwLw354L-gOgIq-KAHJ4ZwBNBoJiU6lTbi/s1600/oscar.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixq4l2rhuCPHUGPzb7ODM7POT88QuWaR_dWfwv2NbUSxdiyJkT4lnmhm_P5jXVqyzsIW1I8ZIzhw9XFcavcmEF9TWSyVwjbE_vLVR7WyFjdiQwLw354L-gOgIq-KAHJ4ZwBNBoJiU6lTbi/s1600/oscar.jpg" height="188" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Oscar Andres Cardinal Rodriguez Maradiaga speaking at SCU<br />
(photo from the <a href="http://www.scu.edu/ethics-center/events/cardinal-rodriguez-transcript.cfm">Markkula Center's website</a>)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Last week, at Santa Clara University, at teh Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, Cardinal Rodriguez Maradiaga gave a talk on "The Church of Mercy of Pope Francis." He is an important figure these days, being not only the cardinal archbishop of Tegulchigalpa (capital of Honduras) and president of the Church's charity arm Caritas Internationalis, but also member and chairman of Pope Francis's special council of cardinal-advisors. His talk in the USA was therefore a notable Church happening.<br />
<br />
Santa Clara was good enough to <a href="http://www.scu.edu/ethics-center/events/cardinal-rodriguez-transcript.cfm">publish the text of his essay</a>. In the spirit of fraternal dialogue, I offer a thoughtful and, I hope, constructive response. The published text is in black, <span style="color: red;">[with my comments in red, inserted]</span><span style="color: black;">. The essay is somewhat long, so I'm breaking it into several parts, following the sections in the original. Here is Part One of my response.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><u><strong>“The Church of Mercy with Pope Francis”</strong></u></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><u></u></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span><br />
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">1. The Gospel is
summarized in love <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><br />
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><br />
</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">Fraternal love has its origins in God, who is Love and that
loved us first. <span style="color: red;">[Yes, quite so.] </span>He spreads his
love unto us, through the Holy Spirit <span style="color: red;">[By what
means?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>See below...]</span>, so that, in
each of us, that love can grow, mature and resemble true love —the love with
which Christ loved us. </span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<o:p> </o:p></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
If we are able to love, it is because God communicates his
love to us. If we can love, it is due to Christ’s death for love and His
resurrection, which have made love possible <span style="color: red;">[not only
by <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">imitation</i>, but especially by <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">participation</i>; the Sacraments make us
capable of loving like Christ – see LG #11; CCC 150, 221-227, 654, etc.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This critical understanding of “divine love”
is consistently elided in this essay.]</span>. This love of Jesus is the
measure <span style="color: red;">[and “source and summit”] </span>of love. The
Christian ideal surpasses <span style="color: red;">[precisely in sacramental
participation, without which it remains merely “humanistic”] </span>the pure
humanism of interpersonal equality ("don’t do unto others what you don’t
want others to do unto you; do unto others what you want others to do unto
you"), and pushes us to love as Christ loved us. Therefore love’s growth
has no limits in our life. That is why learning to love is the great task of Christian
spirituality, always unfinished. <span style="color: red;">[So there is a
necessary supernatural element in human love which participates in Christ’s
perfect love.]</span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<o:p> </o:p></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Sometimes there is the risk of focusing spirituality on
other goals, other values, and not giving supremacy to the Beatitude of Mercy <span style="color: red;">[“Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.”]</span>.
This Beatitude teaches us that according to the Gospel, it is both solidarity
and commitment of efficient love towards the brother in need and suffering
misery, and the forgiveness of offenses and the reconciliation. </div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<o:p> </o:p></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><br />
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Mercy is the practice of fraternal love, and it shows us the
concrete ways of the incarnation of love: the reconciliation and the liberation
from miseries. <span style="color: red;">[But also in a supernatural sense;
therefore liberation from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">spiritual</i>
miseries (i.e. sins and the effects of sin) is also always central to the
presence of divine mercy in the world, i.e., the mission of the Church.]<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span>Jesus’ teachings reveal to us that
practicing mercy is the only universal way that builds fraternity (that makes
us brothers and sisters to one another). <span style="color: red;">[True and full
fraternity is unity in the Church; see LG #2, #13 – “All men are called to
belong to the new people of God...”]<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span>That
is the message of The Parable of the Good Samaritan, which is the parable of
the true practice of mercy and fraternal love (Luke 10: 25-37). At the end of
the parable, Jesus asks the experts in the law, “Which of these three do you
think was a neighbor (brother) to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” (Luke
10: 30). It means that the three were not brothers of the wounded. They could
have been, but in fact “the one who showed him mercy” (Luke 10: 37) was. The
priest was not a brother of the Jew and neither was the Levite, the Samaritan
was. For Jesus being a brother to others is not something “automatic,” like an
acquired right <span style="color: red;">[because of the reality of sin]</span>.
We are not brothers without practicing love. Saint Paul reminds us that we gain
nothing if we serve the poor or surrender to martyrdom if we do not have love
(I Cor. 13: 1 et seq.) </div>
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</span><br />
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<o:p> </o:p></div>
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</span><br />
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<span style="color: red;">[This paragraph is very good:]</span>
Regarding the commandment of growing in love, we must acknowledge that we do
not know how to love. <span style="color: red;">[Again, he’s invoking the reality
of sin.]<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span>Our love is usually a
caricature (Rom. 12: 9: “let love be genuine”). Our selfishness, our worries
and our sensitivity take us over. Nevertheless we know that fraternal charity
is the most difficult Christian and human realization: to be able to love as Christ
loves us. <span style="color: red;">[This is what we’re striving for in the whole
of the spiritual life, and why we need constant recourse to the grace of the
sacraments, and to deeper prayer.]<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span>We
know that on Earth we will never reach the perfection of love; we know that we will
continually fail, that we do not know how to overcome division and rancor, that
every day we are timid in serving, in welcoming, in forgiving and in giving
something of our lives for others. All this does not mean that we do not want
to love or that in fact we do not love. Love is the way of love, to love is to
want to love. What God asks of us, essentially, is not the success of charity
but the permanent effort to grow in love and the struggle to learn to love,
which begins every day. In the struggle to mature in love, the “human” and
“evangelical” aspect of love walk together hand in hand, without ruptures or
contradictions. </div>
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<o:p> </o:p></div>
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</span><br />
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There is no separation between human love and Christian
charity. <span style="color: red;">[True; but there is the distinction, already
noted above, between natural and supernatural realities.]<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span>There should not be in practice a
quandary between evangelization and social action born out of charity. The
commandment of love that Christ gave us coincides with the vocation of man to
grow affectionately, to give and give oneself above receiving and possessing. </div>
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</span><br />
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<o:p> </o:p></div>
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</span><br />
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Indeed, the mission, the mercy and the service to the poor
and to all brothers as a human and missionary experience must be a place of
discovery of God, of greater knowledge of the face of God. God’s Spirit reveals
Himself in the values of self-giving and service, the aspirations to justice
and solidarity, in each conversion, in the “little ones”, the suffering and the
indigent… Human reality, cultures, are filled with the presence of the Holy
Spirit and the action of God that builds the Kingdom; they lead us to
experience God Himself. <span style="color: red;">[This is all quite true, but
again, must not be taken in a sense which denies that the Sacraments are also
encounters with God, or that drives any kind of wedge between prayer/liturgy/sacrament
and charity/social action; see below...]<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<o:p> </o:p></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><br />
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The social dimension of the mission implies becoming
“contemplative in the action.” Both dimensions of the evangelist’s spirituality
are inseparable: The God that is experienced and loved in Himself and through
himself, and the God experienced and loved in the brothers. The first dimension
underlines that Christianity is transcendental to any temporal reality; the
second dimension highlights that Christianity is incarnated and inseparable
from the love to the brother. The first one reminds us of the first commandment
to love God above everything else, and the absolute of the person of Jesus. The
second one reminds us of the commandment similar to the first one, to love your
neighbor as yourself and the presence of Christ in that love. <span style="color: red;">[I like his stress on the inseparability of these two
dimensions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is all quite true.]<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</span><br />
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<o:p> </o:p></div>
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</span><br />
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The Christ found and contemplated in the prayer of the
faithful “prolongs itself” in the encounter with the brother, and if we are
able to experience Christ in the service to the “little ones,” it is because we
have already found Him in the contemplative prayer <span style="color: red;">[and
the Sacraments; or rather, because He has found us (Jn 15:16)]</span>. Social
charity is not only to discover Jesus’ presence in the brother (“you do it to
me”), but also a call to action in his favor, a call to commitment. That is why
if we evangelize with Christ in our hearts, we will do the works he did. <span style="color: red;">[“Having Christ in our heart” is not a feeling or a choice we
make, but only ever a response to His love and mercy we have received – the
response of faith, which, he’s just been stressing, comprises inseparably the
love of God (Church and Sacraments, etc) and the love of neighbor (vocation and
mission).]<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<o:p> </o:p></div>
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</span><br />
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Jesus certainly has widened the horizon and the demands of
love and has given it new motives and meaning. But his demands for evangelical
charity take place and develop in the interior of human love, the emotional
nature and the heart, though they are surpassed by the faith and action of the
Holy Spirit. (For which fraternal love it is not always sensitive and
gratifying). We learn to love following Jesus through love. Once more, he shows
us the true practice of love, and communicates to us the light and life to be
able to love like he loved us and to be able to evangelize as he did. </div>
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<br />Deacon Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04773422293103065041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2984312446057999411.post-34598122537962464542015-01-19T09:54:00.000-06:002015-01-19T09:54:35.970-06:00Homily for Sunday 18 Jan 2015 (II post Epiphaniam)<em>This weekend, I preached at the 7:30 EF Mass. The Collect is the same as the OF:</em><br />
<em></em><br />
<em>Omnipotens sempiterne Deus, qui celestia simul et terrena moderaris, supplicationes populi tui clementer exaudi: et <span style="color: red;">pacem tuam nostris concede temporibus</span>. Per Dominum nostrum...</em><br />
<em></em><br />
<em>Almighty ever-living God, who govern all things, both in Heaven and on earth, mercifully hear the pleading of your people and <span style="color: red;">bestow your peace on our times</span>. Through our Lord...</em><br />
<em></em><br />
<em>Given this plea for the divine gift of peace, and the proximity to the awful anniversary of the repugnant Roe v. Wade decision this Thursday (1/22), I chose to preach on the obvious topic. The Epistle is Rom 12:6-16, and I expounded on the verse, "Let your love be without pretense. Hate the evil, adhere to the good." The Gospel is Jn 2:1-11, the wedding at Cana, and I preached the verses, "Do whatever He tells you," and "His disciples believed in Him." Here's my homily, as closely as I can reconstruct it.</em><br />
<br />
All across the country, this weekend and this week, in different places, hundreds of thousands of<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://communio.stblogs.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/March-for-Life-2014.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://communio.stblogs.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/March-for-Life-2014.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">March for Life 2014</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
people will be marching for life. I read this week, we now have over 80 Marches, Vigils, and Rallies for Life taking place in different cities. And hundreds of thousands more, perhaps even millions more, will be praying along with them for an end to abortion.<br />
<br />
I'm sure I don't have to recount for you the terrible evil that abortion is. I'm sure we know that abortion kills an innocent human being, a baby in the womb; and that it destroys the spiritual and emotional health of mothers and fathers, of entire families; and that it corrupts our culture and our laws, and justifies other kinds of evils, too. Abortion is the most urgent, the gravest evil of our times, and it falls to us, to our generations, to fight it.<br />
<br />
Our readings today give us inspiration and courage to carry out this moral struggle.<br />
<br />
St. Paul tells us, "Let your love be without pretense. Hate the evil, and adhere to the good." For us, this means that we must root out from our hearts the pretenses, the compromises, the little evils and sins that we sometimes indulge in. We must make regular examination of conscience, and go to Confession often, so that our hearts will be full of pure love. If our love is true and pure in the little things, the daily things, then we can also love without pretense in the larger things. This is very important, because the world wants to paint us as hypocrites. We need to be able to show that our love and our actions are consistent, so that our witness can reveal the love of Christ.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.christthesaviourhbg.org/images/Church%20Icons/The_Wedding_at_Cana.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://www.christthesaviourhbg.org/images/Church%20Icons/The_Wedding_at_Cana.JPG" height="252" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Orthodox icon of the wedding at Cana</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
In the Gospel, the beautiful story of the wedding at Cana, St. John gives the words of Mary, "Do whatever He tells you." We might notice that these are the last words the Gospels record Mary saying. Her whole life of perfect faith, perfect obedience to the Father, perfect love for her Son, is, in a sense, summed up in these words: "Do whatever He tells you." We, too, then, need to strive to imitate our blessed Mother's perfections, by constantly "doing whatever He tells" us. This points us to our vocation - for the great majority of us, the vocation to married life and to parenthood. There are also vocations to priestly life and religious life, of course, but most of us are called to marriage.<br />
<br />
And in our married life, we are called to a holy, loving union that is both chaste and fruitful. What this means for us, then, is that we must reject contraception in our Catholic marriages. Contraception leads to abortion, through what we can call the "contraceptive lifestyle." Pope Paul VI showed us this link in his encyclical, "Humanae Vitae." When we contracept, we reject the will of God in our marital union. Whether we understand this or not, we are making ourselves the masters of life and creation. It's only a small step, then, to try to make ourselves the masters of death, also, to set ourselves up in the place of God, choosing who can live and who will die. <br />
<br />
Those who work for the culture of death know this link, too. For example, make people who have left working for Planned Parenthood report that they want to have access to public schools, to teach our teenagers (and even younger children) to use contraception, because they know that contraception will lead to abortion, and they want that business.<br />
<br />
We need to challenge this root of abortion, and make our Catholic marriages once again free of contraception.<br />
<br />
And the last verse of the Gospel today: "His disciples believed in Him." We need to pray for an end <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRG5-xvDufKr-ZIaSmq2a6tomoSMNhAwBT5GyjmjYFWJWdfB3rtat4_gOsV2DU3pXArH820gPAR7Uf7qVknmy2Jar17uWS3hDBcL4_4ti6au7XKyjtjIGeX0jCRmaAm0KjB9p19ffBlO5W/s1600/Crucifixion+window+St+Michael+and+all+Angels+church,+Wales.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRG5-xvDufKr-ZIaSmq2a6tomoSMNhAwBT5GyjmjYFWJWdfB3rtat4_gOsV2DU3pXArH820gPAR7Uf7qVknmy2Jar17uWS3hDBcL4_4ti6au7XKyjtjIGeX0jCRmaAm0KjB9p19ffBlO5W/s1600/Crucifixion+window+St+Michael+and+all+Angels+church,+Wales.jpg" height="239" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">St. John at the foot of the Cross (14th c., St. Michael and All Angels Parish, Wales)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
to abortion. We need to have greater faith, that the love and mercy of Jesus Christ can overcome the evil of abortion. We need to live with greater hope and deeper prayer, in all the spiritual aspects of this struggle. If we live with growing love for Christ in the Church and in her sacraments, and if we live with greater fidelity to our vocations, we will also have greater faith. We will have hearts more open to receive His infinite mercy, and also more open to the need, the longing, for that mercy in the world around us, where we can share it by our faithful and loving actions. <br />
<br />
The daily witness we give to the power of His mercy, like the many March for Life events, is the way to change minds and hearts about the evils in the world. Our hope and our joy in Jesus Christ are not just for ourselves, they are for others. We can only share as much of that mercy, hope, faith, and joy as we are open to receive from our Savior. But as we grow closer to the Lord, our hearts are more open, and we can receive more and offer more to those around us. <br />
<br />
If we are faithful in these ways, we will make a difference. We will overcome the evil of abortion, by the power of Christ's love. Our progress may be slow, because the evil is great, but we will advance. We have this hope. We have this faith. So let Christ work in us, ever more deeply, so that our witness may be stronger, to overcome evil in the world.<br />
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Deacon Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04773422293103065041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2984312446057999411.post-64771286787480446942014-11-20T13:45:00.000-06:002014-11-20T13:45:02.632-06:00Advent advances ad orientem<a href="http://www.lincolndiocese.org/op-ed/bishop-s-column/3004-looking-to-the-east">Nice article by Bishop Conley</a> of Lincoln, NE, on (re)introducing ad orientem worship at some parishes this Advent.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjisC-coWH4C_4YkW3fptx9_SRaxmxJt6qm0_nq0W0oi0eSa6-snefWiS_CC2vhl3ifJFzuguU_ODD5tMV2ir61EfOWdiMjLlY2nuySq-QNaRAwEi-Q5MgvkoJwWEvl1BbJI3gY1PX8MYVD/s1600/imgqi9.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjisC-coWH4C_4YkW3fptx9_SRaxmxJt6qm0_nq0W0oi0eSa6-snefWiS_CC2vhl3ifJFzuguU_ODD5tMV2ir61EfOWdiMjLlY2nuySq-QNaRAwEi-Q5MgvkoJwWEvl1BbJI3gY1PX8MYVD/s1600/imgqi9.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
Bishop Slattery of Tulsa did this a few years ago (that's him in this photo from <a href="http://www.newliturgicalmovement.org/2008/12/bishop-restores-ad-orientem-mass.html#.VG5D8rDwvIU">New Liturgical Movement</a>.)<br />
Deacon Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04773422293103065041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2984312446057999411.post-60372849834574243272014-10-31T15:33:00.000-05:002014-10-31T15:33:14.164-05:00"Relatio Synodi:" the final document from the Extraordinary Synod on the Family (in the context of the New Evangelization)The "Relatio Synodi" is the final document from the Extraordinary Synod on the Family in the Context of the New Evangelization. It will also <span style="color: red;">serve as the <em>starting</em> document</span> for the Ordinary Synod on the Family in 2015. So, it's not really "final" in any but the most immediate sense. Here's <a href="http://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/bollettino/pubblico/2014/10/18/0770/03044.html">the whole thing in English</a>. I haven't had time to read it yet, myself.Deacon Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04773422293103065041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2984312446057999411.post-11026122539381241622014-10-16T14:19:00.000-05:002014-10-22T09:07:21.424-05:00Cardinal Burke on some of the Synodal issues (Updates)EWTN's Raymond Arroyo has an excellent interview (10/9/14) with Cardinal Burke on his "World Over" show:<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/UBCl5NLs81M?feature=player_embedded" width="560"></iframe><br />
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Canon lawyer Ed Peters <a href="http://canonlawblog.wordpress.com/2014/10/12/some-notes-on-cdl-burkes-ewtn-interview/">has some commentary on the interview</a>, also.<br />
<br />
UPDATE 10/17 - More clear thinking and leadership from Cardinal Pell:<br />
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UPDATE 10/22 - A <a href="http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/archbishop-kurtz-on-the-synod-mercy-without-truth-is-not-mercy">very good interview with Archbishop Kurtz </a>(Louisville, president of USCCB); and some <a href="http://blog.adw.org/2014/10/some-temptations-to-avoid-in-the-wake-of-the-synod/">very clear thinking about the "temptations"</a> in Pope Francis's closing speech from the synod, from Msgr. Pope.Deacon Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04773422293103065041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2984312446057999411.post-15029574027130362332014-10-08T15:33:00.000-05:002014-10-08T15:33:05.398-05:00Society for Catholic Liturgy conference, Oct 2-4, 2014, in Colorado SpringsThis past weekend I presented a paper at the <a href="http://www.liturgysociety.org/conferences/">annual conference of the Society for Catholic Liturgy</a>, in Colorado Springs. <a href="http://www.stmaryscathedral.org/">St. Mary's Cathedral</a> was a great venue for the conference, and it was great to meet some new people and hear some quite excellent papers and presentations.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/link-between-solomons-temple-catholic-churches-explored-53036/">Here are</a> <a href="http://www.newliturgicalmovement.org/2014/10/photopost-society-for-catholic-liturgy.html#more">some brief</a> <a href="http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/confront-secularism-with-way-of-beauty-bishop-conley-urges-31945/">write-ups</a> about the conference. The main keynote was from Bp. Conley of Lincoln.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bp. Conley giving keynote at St. Mary's Cathedral. Picture by Jennifer Donelson.<br />
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My paper was called "Order of Levitical Blessing: Fruitfully Reclaiming a Patristic, Liturgical Typology of the Diaconate." I argued that the Latin Church very early developed a theology of the diaconate based on the type of the Levite, the second priesthood (after that of Aaron) of the Old Testament. We can see this type used in a wide variety of sources, liturgical and non-liturgical. I sketched out the main lines of development of the type, noting its moral arguments and its theological implications for relationships among the grades of Holy Orders, and I examined the use of the type in the ordination rites of deacons in the Latin Church (citing texts from the Leonine Sacramentary, Gelasian Sacramentary, Gregorian Sacramentary, <em>Missale Francorum</em>, <em>Liber Ordinum</em> (Mozarabic Rite), and Tridentine (1595) <em>Pontificale Romanum</em>), and comparing the much more limited use of the type in the current (2012 English edition) <em>Pontificale</em>. I showed how the Tradition had developed an understanding of specific blessings or graces for the Church in the separate ministry of deacons, complementing that of other orders, and how that idea disappeared from the current recension of the rite, because it used only New Testament passages to develop a (slightly different) theology of the diaconate. I therefore suggested that re-introducing the previous Old Testament typology to our understanding of the rite and of the diaconate would greatly add to the Church's reflection on the renewal of the diaconate, and help us answer key questions about certain aspects of its sacramentality, and about its distinctive place within the layers of the Church's ministry.Deacon Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04773422293103065041noreply@blogger.com0