Feeding Sheep or Amusing Goats?

A friend sent this essay, written by a the British Baptist Charles Spurgeon in 1890. It ought to ring some bells, especially in light of the new tell-all book by Dale Fuschek, defrocked founder of the "Life Teen" program. (Catholic-hostile news report here)

Feeding Sheep or Amusing Goats?
attributed to Charles H. Spurgeon, 1834-1892 (edited)
________________________________________
An evil is in the professed camp of the Lord, so gross in its impudence, that the most shortsighted can hardly fail to notice it. During the past few years it has developed at an abnormal rate, even for evil. It has worked like leaven until the whole lump ferments. The devil has seldom done a cleverer thing, than hinting to the Church that part of their mission is to provide entertainment for the people, with a view to winning them. From speaking out as the Puritans did, the Church has gradually toned down her testimony, then winked at and excused the frivolities of the day. Then she tolerated them in her borders. Now she has adopted them under the plea of reaching the masses.

My first contention is that providing amusement for the people is nowhere spoken of in the Scriptures as a function of the Church - if it is a Christian work why did not Christ speak of it? 'Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature'. That is clear enough, so it would have been if He had added, 'and provide amusement for those who do not relish the gospel'. No such words, however, are to he found. It did not seem to occur to Him. Then again, 'He gave some apostles, some prophets, some pastors and teachers, for the work of the ministry'. Where do entertainers come in? The Holy Spirit is silent concerning them. Were the prophets persecuted because they amused the people or because they refused? The concert has no martyr roll.

Again, providing amusement is in direct antagonism to the teaching and life of Christ and all His apostles. What was the attitude of the Church to the world? 'Ye are the salt', not the sugar candy - something the world will spit out, not swallow. Short and sharp was the utterance 'Let the dead bury their dead'. He was in awful earnestness!

Had he introduced more of the bright and pleasant elements into His mission, He would have been more popular when they went back, because of the searching nature of His teaching. I do not hear Him say, 'Run after these people, Peter, and tell them we will have a different style of service tomorrow - something short and attractive with little preaching - we will have a pleasant evening for the people. Tell them they will be sure to enjoy it. Be quick, Peter, we must get the people somehow!' Jesus pitied sinners, sighed and wept over them, but never sought to amuse them. In vain will the epistles be searched to find any trace of the gospel of amusement. Their message is. 'Come out, keep out, keep clean out' - anything approaching fooling is conspicuous by its absence. They had boundless confidence in the gospel and employed no other weapon.

After Peter and John were locked up for preaching, the Church had a prayer meeting, but they did not pray, 'Lord, grant unto thy servants that by a wise and discriminating use of innocent recreation we may show these people how happy we are'. If they ceased not for preaching Christ, they had not time for arranging entertainments - scattered by persecution they went everywhere preaching the gospel. They turned the world upside down, that is the only difference! Lord, clear the Church of all the rot and rubbish the devil has imposed on her and bring us back to apostolic methods.

Lastly, the mission of amusement fails to effect the end desired. It works among young converts. Let the careless and scoffers, who thank God because the Church met them half way, speak and testify. Let the heavy laden who found peace through the concert not keep silent! Let the drunkard to whom the dramatic entertainment had been God's link in the chain of their conversion, stand up! There are none to answer! The mission of amusement produces no converts.

The need of the hour for today's ministry is believing scholarship, joined with earnest spirituality, the one springing from the other as fruit from the root. The need is Biblical doctrine, so understood and felt, that it sets men on fire.

With good reason Leo XIII ordered the St Michael prayer be said at the end of mass.

Saint Michael, the Archangel, defend us in battle; be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray, and do thou, O prince of the heavenly host, by the power of God, thrust into Hell, Satan and all the other evil spirits, who prowl throughout the world, seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.

Interview with Abby Johnson

The March-April issue of "Truth Be Told" contains an original interview by Denise Harvey with Abby Johnson, author of "UnPlanned". It is reproduced here in full.

An Interview With Abby Johnson

Lent is a grace filled season for conversion, which prepares us to receive Jesus at Easter. One woman’s dramatic story captures the essence of Lent and captivates our attention. Her name is Abby Johnson. She went from a career at Planned Parenthood to a staunch pro-life advocate overnight. She has appeared on numerous television programs and has traveled around the country sharing her testimony. Abby is also the author of the best selling book “unPlanned”.


Denise: Thank you, Abby for being with us in this interview.


I’d like to get right to the heart of your story and start with the day that changed your life. You were working on an ultrasound guided abortion when you actually saw an abortion procedure being done for the first time. Tell us about that day and explain to us exactly what you witnessed.

Abby: The doctor said to me, “just hold the probe in place during the procedure so I can see what I’m doing.” The cannula—a straw shaped instrument attached to the end of the suction tube---had been inserted into the uterus and was nearing the baby’s side. It looked like an invader, out of place. Wrong. It just looked wrong. The next movement was the sudden jerk of a tiny foot as the baby started kicking, as if it were trying to move away from the probing invader. As the cannula pressed its side, the baby began struggling to turn and twist away. It seemed clear to me that it could feel the cannula, and it did not like what it was feeling. The cannula was already being rotated by the doctor, and now I could see the tiny body violently twisting with it. For the briefest moment the baby looked as if it were being wrung like a dishcloth, twirled and squeezed. And then it crumpled and began disappearing into the cannula before my eyes. The last thing I saw was the tiny, perfectly formed backbone sucked into the tube, and then it was gone.

What happened to you immediately after seeing that procedure?

I knew that I had to leave Planned Parenthood. I knew that I could not continue to stay and spread the lies that they had been creating for so many years.

Planned Parenthood, in their own words, states: “Pro-choice means supporting access to all reproductive options whether its motherhood, contraception, abortion or adoption”. However, their statistics show that for every one adoption referral they perform 62 abortions. That’s certainly not the unbiased ratio that’s suggested in their statement. Does Planned Parenthood encourage women to have abortions?

Yes. They have to coerce women into having abortions. There is no information available concerning prenatal care, fetal development or adoption. They are not concerned in providing that, because those services do not increase their bottom line.

Planned Parenthood claims that only 3% of their business is abortion. They further claim to provide vital medical care including mammograms, STD tests, and ultrasounds for women who otherwise might not receive these services. Are these statements true?

While Planned Parenthood says abortions make up just 3 percent of its services, I found they used an sleight of hand, unbundling family planning services so each patient shows anywhere from five to 20 "visits" per appointment (12 packs of birth control would show up as 12 individual visits). It does the opposite for abortion visits, bundling them together so each appointment shows as one visit. This skews the numbers. You have an overwhelming number of "visits" for family planning compared to abortion, even though you may have seen the same number of patients.

Does Planned Parenthood prey on low income women, and if so, how?

They have placed 76% of their clinics in low income and minority areas. They have special health educators designed to go into low income areas and convince women and men that PP is the only place they can go for healthcare in their area.

Most of us have seen the videos produced by Live Action exposing Planned Parenthood in their concealment of underage women and human trafficking crimes. Were you aware of this illegal activity, and were you also encouraged to “work” the system?

We weren’t given any specifics on how to necessarily work the system. But it is common for PP clinics to cover up child sexual abuse.

With all the media attention lately, it seems that the truth is finally being discovered about Planned Parenthood. What’s at stake for them right now and how important is it for them to keep up appearances?

It is extremely important for them to keep their government funding. They cannot keep their clinics open without it. They need for this political battle to appear as an attack on women…instead of what it really is…an attack on Planned Parenthood and their poor quality of health care.

Spiritually speaking, did you ever feel the presence of evil or experience any struggle in your life when you were working at Planned Parenthood?

No. I didn’t feel it while I was there. I now see how evil was pervasive in my life. I am able to see how my thoughts, actions, speech and so many other things were completely taken over by evil.

Would you say that prayer vigils outside of clinics are effective?

Absolutely. I wouldn’t be here today, fighting in this movement, if people hadn’t been outside of my clinic. When people are outside of clinics, it is reminding the workers and clients that there is something morally objectionable about what they are doing inside of that building. We also have to be a public witness to our communities. Being outside abortion clinics helps bring about that awareness.

Some pro-life advocates have, shall we say, a less than Christian approach in defending life. Did you ever witness that yourself and if so, what effect did it have on you and your co-workers?

We did have a group of very angry protestors outside of our clinic. They only invigorated our movement. When people would be hostile towards us and our clients, it would make us feel very protective of our clients. It almost helped to form a sort of camaraderie with our clients. They were harassing our clients and we were saving them. It also did not serve the “Christian” population very well. It made Christians seem judgmental, harsh, mean, condemning and hateful. The patients and the workers saw that…there was little chance of conversion.

Eighty-five percent of our country’s population consider themselves to be Christian; yet its “legal” to kill children. In your experience, what would you attribute this to; and. what advice would you give to pro-life advocates so their message will be more effective?

I believe abortion has been legal for 38 years because of apathy. Our churches aren’t frequently talking about abortion. Our churches don’t have ministries for women who might be considering abortion, or may have already chosen abortion. We are fighting a spiritual battle…and unfortunately, many of our churches are part of the problem.

What would you like to say to Christians who don’t actively take part in the pro-life movement simply because they think others are doing it?

There is a place for everyone in this movement. My 4 year old daughter prays with me outside of the abortion clinic. Everyone should be involved. There really is no excuse. One day, we will stand in front of Christ and He will ask us what we did for the “least of these.” I hope we all have an answer.

With your change of heart came not only a change in employment but also a change of faith. You and your husband are being received into the Catholic Church this Easter. You were formally members of the Episcopal Church and were asked to stop attending services because of your pro-life activity. What did you feel when they asked you to leave? Did you see it coming?

I felt very sad and betrayed by them. This was our faith community…people who we loved. But on the other hand, we had started to attend there because of their liberal views, so it made sense. It was still very hurtful.

Tell us about your journey home to the Catholic Church.

We are very excited about becoming part of the Catholic Church. After we left the Episcopal Church, we went searching for a different church home. After attending our first Mass in the Catholic Church, we knew we were home. In particular, I think I have always longed for a relationship with our Blessed Mother. I can see this even as a child. Being able to fulfill that devotion has truly completed my faith.

It’s beautiful to see how God is working in your life. When you gave up a job that took away the body and blood of a human being, He replaced that with The Body and Blood of Jesus.

Thank you again, Abby for your time and all your good work. May Our Lord bless you and Our Lady wrap her mantle of protection around you. I am so happy and excited that very soon you will be brought into The Church. You will be in my prayers and I would also ask the Western Province to pray for you as well.

God Bless you,
In Jesus and St. Dominic,

Denise Harvey, Vice President
Lay Provincial Council, Western Dominican Province

I would encourage everyone who can to pick up a copy of Abby’s book. It’s a fascinating story that unmasks all the lies about abortion and reveals the truth. You will also be supporting Abby and her mission to end abortion in this country. I would also encourage you to get involved with “40 days for life” which is underway now. The 40 days for life folks pray, fast and hold peaceful vigils outside abortion clinics. I’ve become more and more convinced that abortion is the greatest threat to peace and safety in our country. The first chapter of unPlanned can be read at the publisher's web site:

http://www.UnplannedBook.com
Abby Johnson holds a B.S. in psychology from Texas A&M University and an M.A. in counseling from Sam Houston State University. She was hired by Planned Parenthood in 2005 and was later promoted to health center director. Abby ran both the family planning and abortion programs. In 2009 she left Planned Parenthood and joined the local Coalition for Life as a volunteer. She now serves as Chief Research Strategist for Live Action and works on projects with the national 40 Days for Life campaign.

"Aquinas" by Fesser

I've finished reading Edward Feser's "Aquinas, a Beginner's Guild." The book ends delightfully:

For Aquinas, we are not here for ourselves, but for the glory of God, and precisely because this is the end set for us by nature, it is in him alone that we can find our true happiness. And it must be emphasized that [] he takes this conclusion to be a matter, not of faith, but of reason itself.

Therein lies the sting of Aquinas's challenge to modernity.

Yes, I'd recommend this book to anyone embarking on trying to understand St. Thomas's work.

Must be seen to be appreciated

From the Pendleton men's conference last month, Go West Catholic Men

And a woman afflicted with hemorrhages for twelve years, 15 who (had spent her whole livelihood on doctors and) was unable to be cured by anyone, came up behind him and touched the tassel on his cloak. Immediately her bleeding stopped. Jesus then asked, "Who touched me?" While all were denying it, Peter said, "Master, the crowds are pushing and pressing in upon you." But Jesus said, "Someone has touched me; for I know that power has gone out from me." When the woman realized that she had not escaped notice, she came forward trembling. Falling down before him, she explained in the presence of all the people why she had touched him and how she had been healed immediately. He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has saved you; go in peace." Lk 8:43-48

On the New Translation

the following excerpt is from the Friar's Blog of the Eastern Province:

There is a strange temptation in the world today to see religion in terms of what we get out of it. We are supposed to find the religion or the church that gives us the best service, the most for our money. I'm sure we have all heard people complain, "I don't get anything out of Mass." Perhaps when we've been frustrated with the music or preaching at our parish, we've even shared that sentiment ourselves. Yet, when we gather to celebrate Mass, we do not come to get to hear beautiful music, to get insightful instruction from the priest, or to get to share in our community of faith. All these things are good, but we come not to get them but to give-to give our worship to God.

We are sometimes tempted to imagine a god who doesn't want to be worshiped, a god who is much more egalitarian, a regular Joe just like us. But in imaging such a god, we imagine something that is not God. Worshiping doesn't fit well into our American culture as we have managed to obliterate so many signs of respect and honor from ordinary life. This makes it hard for us to see anything as worthy of honor. It also leads us to forget that man's greatest attribute is being made in the image and likeness of God. Our fellow men and women deserve to be respected and honored because each one is like God. God Himself deserves not just to be respected and honored but to be worshiped and adored because he is God.

The new translation of the Mass that we will start using next advent intentionally highlights this aspect of the Mass. It uses loftier language and sometime even big words-words that were chosen not because they were the easiest options for us but because they were the most worthy options for God. Those who fret that average Americans won't be able to understand these words not only insult average Americans but also forget who is being addressed throughout most of the Mass-not us but God. The language used at Mass will be a bit different from the language we use for other activities, but that is because what we do at Mass is different from any other activity.

The effort we spend to prepare and celebrate Mass is not so we or others can get more out of it, but it's so we can give more honor to God. The art and beauty of our Churches is not meant for our eyes or ears but is a sacrifice rising up to God. We come to Mass to give- to give everything to God. Like the Magi, in giving, we will find our greatest joy. We will discover a God who is not only a source for grace and enlightenment but one who is Emmanuel, God with us. God dwells with us giving us his very flesh and blood so that we can receive him and adore him.

Fr. Darren Pierre, O.P.

Promoter for the Lay and Priestly Fraternities of St. Dominic, Province of St. Joseph

Read the whole article here, it is well worth it! And while you are at it, Part 1 is here

Movie: Of Gods and Men

Here's an interesting movie with a limited release. Check the web site by clicking the image.

This movie will play in Boise at "The Flicks" on Friday, April 22.

Exploiting chaos to advance abortion

Enough to make one sick.
From the C-Fam Friday Fax

Activists Say Political Chaos Can Advance Abortion Rights

By Amanda Pawloski

NEW YORK, March 17 (C-FAM) Activists and lawyers shared advice on how to exploit chaotic political situations to advance abortion rights during a recent UN side event. Panelists boasted of their successes in influencing the new constitutions of both Kenya and Nepal to include provisions allowing for legalized abortion.

“Strategic moments can surface in chaos,” said Melissa Upreti, a legal advisor of the Center for Reproductive Rights (CRR). She advised audience members at the UN Commission on the Status of Women event to seize those moments as opportunities to advance abortion and “reproductive rights.”

Activists at the CRR have swayed abortion policies by filing test cases to push the envelope on abortion laws. As a result of these lawsuits, many governments have adopted policies to ensure that access to “reproductive rights” includes state-funded abortion and contraceptive services.

Speakers from the Kenyan Federation of Women Lawyers recounted how just last February they were afraid progressive reproductive health provisions would not be included in the new Kenyan constitution, due to vocal opposition by religious groups. At an informal discussion, a Kenyan audience member said, “we would not have won if the Christian denominations hadn’t splintered.”

The Kenyan women lawyers attributed their success to peeling away opposition in other Christian denominations and isolating the Catholic Church as the only major group in opposition to a constitutional article that provides reproductive healthcare rights, and legal access to abortion.

At another panel, with the entire Kenyan delegation and Minister of Gender present, experts explained that the new Kenyan constitution provides for international law directly in the legal structure, which may also at times even override local law. The new constitution also provides that the new rights, which include reproductive healthcare, are progressive and that the state must continually adapt to meet the demands of such rights.

A representative of the Center for Reproductive Rights spoke on their success in influencing the interim constitution of the Nepalese government, which was adopted in 2007. Progressive legal experts are celebrating Nepal’s constitution as a major victory for abortion rights because it intentionally excludes a right to life. She highlighted its similar features to South Africa and Kenya, including rights to healthcare, education, and rights against exploitation in the name of custom and tradition.

The important distinction in the Nepalese constitution is that instead of a right to life it guarantees a “right to freedom, and to live with dignity.” A legal advisor explained that the right to life, included in other constitutions, has been interpreted in favor of the fetus regarding abortion cases. This has sometimes deterred abortion activists, however, Nepal’s constitution is a huge step forward for abortion rights and sets a precedent in international law.

The movement to expand human rights to include economic, social, and cultural rights has found many critics. Experts say that instead of ensuring economic and social progress, expansive rights eventually deter healthy economic growth and promote a social ideology that is not commonly shared.

World's Largest Human Cross

From the Dominicans in the Phillipines, reported by the Eastern Province, we have this bit of uber-coolness!

Some 24,000 Filipino students at the University of Santo Tomas in Manila, reportedly broke a Guinness book of world records by forming the largest human cross. The students gathered at University of Santo Tomas in Manila which is run by the Dominicans, to send a message against a reproductive health bill in the Philippines. Wearing black and white T-shirts, students and teachers formed a Dominican cross. The previous record was by 935 participants at the Oslo Opera House in Norway in May 2010.

Watch the slide show at:
http://www.op-stjoseph.org/blog/dominican_students_break_world_record

Washington DC TV stations won't carry this add...

From American Life League (article here)

Professor Edward Feser and the Thomas Aquinas Anselm “straw-man”

I went to Bend for the weekend, but sometimes I "go around the bend" so to speak. One of my hobbies is trying to understand the writings of Thomas Aquinas; which, without a formal training in philosophy, is not an easy task. Yet, one of the popes (Pius X I think) wrote that you cannot understand Catholic dogmatic theology if you do not understand Aquinas. I consider the gauntlet thrown, and have nibbled around the edges of Aquinas’ works for some years.

Some years ago I encountered a list of books which should be read as primers to Aquinas; so I purchased all the books. I did not make it past GK Chesterton’s “The Dumb Ox.” Was Chesterton by this title having a spot of fun at the expense of his readers, the title referring to readers like me?

Some years ago I purchased a reprint of Etienne Gilson’s “The Philosophy of Thomas Aquinas” on a $1 markdown shelf. At the time I did not make it past the first chapter, and each time I’ve tried to read it, I’ve gotten a little further. Last time I tried, about five years ago, I made it as far as the fourth “proof,” but I’d plowed that far on sheer will to continue, without gaining much understanding from the read. I think this is because he writes close to his subject, not just his style. I derived tremendous benefit from Gilson’s book on the social justice encyclicals of Leo XIII, “The Church Speaks to the Modern World”, and his book “God and Philosophy”.

I have read and will heartily recommend Fr Walter Farrell OP’s “Summa Companion”, which is on the internet and extremely readable; a delightful work. One of his excellent quotes even appears on the sidebar of this blog. The delightful little book, “My Daily Life”, based on the Summa, is also excellent and readable. Yet, after reading these, when I return to the source, Thomas in the Summa, I am more often than not befuddled.

All of this is a lead in to my most recent attempt to “crack” the Aquinas Gordian knot; Professor Edward Feser’s “Aquinas,” published in the “Beginners Guides” series by Oneworld Publications, Oxford (2009). The author is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Pasadena City College, California. I actually found first him and then the book through a social justice web forum, and was encouraged to try one more time. The book contains the following endorsement on the back cover:

“At last. A concise, accessible and compelling introduction to Aquinas’ thought. Feser shows that Aquinas’s philosophy is still a live option for thinkers today.” – Kelly James Clark, Professor of Philosophy, Calvin College.

I am making an effort to go through this book, taking my time, and trying to understand. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. Nothing substitutes for the rigor of training the mind! I will say that I have gained a deeper appreciation for Thomas’ “proofs,” the objections against them and the refutation of said same objections.

All of which leads to the subject of this particular meditation; Aquinas and Anselm’s Ontological Proof. At the end Chapter 3 (Natural Theology), Feser writes:

“Much more could be said about Aquinas's account of the divine attributes, but this much suffices to show that there is no basis whatsoever for the widespread assumption that Aquinas never justifies the claim that the being whose existence he argues for in the Five Ways is the God of traditional theism. It also gives a sense of how much Aquinas thinks we can know about God through purely philosophical reasoning. But there is also a sense in which Aquinas thinks that we ultimately cannot know the essence of God, at least not as it is in itself. For in the strict sense knowledge of the essence of a thing requires the ability to define it in terms of its genus and difference, and as we have seen, there is for Aquinas no distinction in God between genus and difference, and thus no way to define him (CT 26). It is in this sense that Aquinas holds that "we cannot know what God is, but rather what He is not" (ST 1.3). And this is why the famous ontological argument associated with St. Anselm is not considered by Aquinas to be one of the ways in which we might prove the existence of God. For Anselm, God is by definition the greatest conceivable being, and it is (Anselm holds) greater to exist than not to exist. Hence if God did not exist it would follow, absurdly, that there could be something conceivably greater than the greatest being. Anselm's argument thus begins with a definition of God's essence and attempts to show that given knowledge of that essence, we can know also that there must be something in reality corresponding to it, and thus that God exists. Since Aquinas holds that God's essence and existence are identical, he agrees that if we could have knowledge of God's essence we could see that he must exist. But since in fact we cannot, in his view, have knowledge of that essence, we cannot know the starting point of the ontological argument (ST 1.2.1). Our knowledge of God must therefore be a posteriori, based on observation of his effects. But that, as we have seen, affords us in Aquinas's view with ample grounds indeed for affirming God's existence and predicating of him the traditional divine attributes.
Edward Feser, Aquinas for Beginners, Ch 3, p 130

First, I will say that I do not know if I am writing about Aquinas’s view of Feser’s view of Aquinas, so please keep that in mind. So let’s look at Anselm’s proposition: “God is that which a greater-than cannot be conceived.” In response to this, Feser says that Anselm’s proof states that God is “the greatest conceivable being” (see quote above). This is a derived conclusion (the conceivability of God) which I do not think is justified nor even intended by Anselm. I believe Anselm, had he been able to sit at table with Aquinas, would have agreed that this knowledge is beyond our conception, and complete agreement would be attained, at least on that point. I will attempt to explain what I think Anselm has in mind by way of an analogy.

I remember in the early days of the US Space Program, would-be astronauts were trained in the experience of working in a weightless environment. How? They were put in an airplane which flew in an arc to the maximum altitude and then curved back to earth. This provided a few brief minutes where the trainees and their equipment were completely free of the earth’s gravity, which at that point had the plane along with the contents of the plane, resulting in zero net gravity. We used to enjoy watching the news clips of floating men trying to work with wrenches and doing weightless acrobatics in the belly of the plane. From a physical standpoint, if you fly high enough, at the stall point gravity takes the plane but inside the plane all the contents are falling at the same rate, so that the net effect to the passenger is that of no gravity at all; for a moment, one can slip the bonds of earthly bondage to gravity without actually going into space.

And this is the key, I propose, to understanding what Anslem desired us to know. For if you begin a chain of conceiving of things and their “greater than,” you will, in contrast to regressing to infinite causes or movers, expend your efforts considering God as greater than what God has ever been conceived of, one at a time from statue upwards; and finally, like that airplane, slip for a moment beyond your ability to conceive of a thing at all. In this momentary “weightless state,” the tool which we have used all our life is no longer functional, and it is here in this moment that our limited intellect can encounter God. And granted that this “proof” of the existence of God is not one of rigorous logic, such as those of Thomas’s five, but rather one of direct experience, and experience of the sort that inclines one to say “all else is but as straw.”

Be that as it may, straw is good, very good. I continue to seek to understand Thomas, and I thank Professor Feser for some of the best assistance I have yet found. I will also concede that it is entirely possible that I have misunderstood Anselm and have done little more than stumble through a contemplative crack in the philosophical matrix, which the thick fog of my mind is too dense to penetrate. Either way, “seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." [Mt 6:33]

I hope to go 'round the bend again soon.

In defense of Dominic as originator of the Rosary

an interesting article from eLumen, the newsletter of the Eastern Province:

Letter to the Editor

The following is a letter addressed to Mr. Raimondo Di Bona, OP, who reviewed the book The Rosary: The John Paul II Method, by Mr. Robert Feeney, OP. in July 2010, eLumen, Volume 6, # 7, p. 13. Mr. Feeney writes:

I came across eLumen ‐‐ July – 2010…. Thank you for recommending it. In it, you made comments regarding the tradition of St. Dominic as author of the Rosary. I enclose some excerpts from my books: The Rosary: The Little Summa (4th ed.). They are from the chapter – The Papal Tradition. I send these excerpts to throw some light on your comments. My high school teacher used to always say: “A word to the wise is sufficient.”

The Papal tradition of the Rosary is singled out in official documents written by Popes starting with Pope Urban and ending with Leo XIII in the early 20th century. These documents consist of facts about the Rosary that have gone through tests of research and verification. These Popes did not accept these facts without reasonable proofs. They had learned men assist them in the composition of these papal documents on the Rosary.

In the 17th century, because some Belgian Jesuits (Bollandists) had cast doubt on St. Dominic being the author of the Rosary, Pope Benedict XIII, in 1724, asked Cardinal Prospero Lambertino, a scholar and promoter of historical studies with a Vatican Congregation, to look into the matter. The cardinal thoroughly investigated the Bollandists’ research. After doing this, he affirmed the tradition of St. Dominic as the true author of the Rosary. He rejected the Bollandists’ research and claim that St. Dominic was not the author of the Rosary. Pope Benedict accepted his conclusions. The Cardinal published: “The Popes in their decrees, to which assent is to be given, rightly designated St. Dominic as author of the Rosary.

Cardinal Lambertini would become Pope Benedict XIV (1740‐58). During his papacy, he taught that faith should be given to papal documents in which St. Dominic is rightly called author of the Rosary. He alluded to the fact that even writers of his time did not credit St. Dominic with being the author of the Rosary. The same could be said of some writers today.

Men's Conference in Pendelton Oregon

Last Friday I traveled with three other Cathedral parishoners to Pendleton Oregon, for the third annual "Go West Catholic Men" conference. (link)

The conference feature presentations by Cardinal Raymond Burke, prefect of the Apostolic Signatura of the Vatican (think: Chief Justice of the Vatican's Supreme Court), Bishop Robert Vasa (late of the diocese of Baker Oregon and soon to be installed in Santa Rosa, California), Father Clement of St. Mary Church, Pendleton, the host, and Doug Barry, host of EWTN program "Life on the Rock". Music was provided by the Wyoming Catholic College Choir, with 26 students travelling from Lander Wyoming under the direction of Dr. Peter Kwasniewski, professor of Theology and Philosophy, and one time novice of the Dominican laity.

The link above now has the presentation, audio, and pictures, and I'd direct you there. however, I want to include one here because it was such a remarkable experience. Fr. Clement preceeded eucharistic adoration with a brief meditation on the scripture where the woman was healed from a 12 year hemorage by touching the hem of Jesus' garment; Jesus asks who touched him while he is being crushed by a crowd "for power went out..."

Father held the monstrance for 45 minutes while two acolytes held the ends of the humeral veil stretched out (it must have been 20 feet long!), and some 500 men nealt before Jesus and touched/kissed/wept on the hem of His garment.

There also was an "International Rosary" with the Boise Diocese's own Fr Eladio Vieyra (Immaculate Conception, Buhl) and our friend from the Baker Diocese, Fr. Andrew Szymakowski, recently of St Brigit, Nyssa Oregon, now at Wasco Oregon. first time I'd heard the Hail Mary in German; beautiful!

and who doesn't love a Professor, a Cardinal, a Bishop, and the wonderful young people who gave up their weekend to be the choir for our masses? They sang beautiful chant, sacred polyphony, and sacred hymns, earning a comment from Cardinal Burke: "thank you for providing the sort of music that the Holy Father has been asking for!"

Hit and Miss

France does something right!

France’s Constitutional Council Upholds Marriage as Between One Man and One Woman

6. Whereas, first, Article 66 of the Constitution prohibits arbitrary detention and entrusts to the judicial authority, as provided by law, the protection of individual liberty; the freedom to marry, a component of personal freedom, arises from Articles 2 and 4 of the 1789 Déclaration des droits de l’homme et du citoyen (Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen); the challenged provisions do not affect personal liberty, and therefore, the complaint of violation of Article 66 of the Constitution is irrelevant;

7. Whereas, second, the freedom to marry does not restrict the legislature’s jurisdiction under Article 34 of the Constitution to establish conditions for marriage so long as they are not contrary to other constitutional principles;

8. Whereas, on one hand, the right to lead a normal family life is founded in the tenth paragraph of the Preamble to the Constitution of 1946, which provides: “The Nation shall provide the individual and the family with the conditions necessary for their development”; the last paragraph of Article 75 and Article 144 of the Civil Code do not preclude the freedom of same-sex couples to cohabit under the conditions defined by Article 515-8 of the Code or to benefit from the legal framework of a civil union (PACS) governed by Articles 515-1 et seq.; the right to lead a normal family life does not necessitate a right to same-sex marriage, and consequently, the challenged provisions do not implicate the right to lead a normal family life;

9. Whereas, on the other hand, Article 6 of the 1789 Declaration states that the law “must be the same for everyone, whether it protects or punishes”; the principle of equality precludes neither that the legislature regulate differently in different situations nor that he depart from equality in serving the greater good, provided that in either case the resultant difference in treatment be directly related to the state interest; by maintaining the principle that marriage is the union of one man and one woman, the legislature, in exercising the jurisdiction granted it in Article 34 of the Constitution, considers that the difference in situation of same-sex couples and couples composed of a man and a woman can justify different treatment with regard to the rules of family law; it is not for the Constitutional Court to then substitute its opinion for that of the legislature in this matter; therefore, the complaint of violation of Article 6 of the 1789 Declaration must be rejected;

10. Whereas it follows from the foregoing that the complaint of infringement of the freedom to marry must be rejected.

From the Blog Turtle Bay and Beyond, International Law, Policy, and Institutions (Link)


and Germany misses the mark:

Germany: Radical Lesbian Gender-Theorist appointed to serve at Constitutional Court

It is pretty much as if Margaret Sanger, Marie Stopes, or Judith Butler had been appointed as Justices for the US Supreme Court: since the beginning of this month, Germany’s Constitutional Court (Bundesverfassungsgericht, BVG) features among its judges a radical gender-theorist with absolutely no prior experience as a judge. Her name is Susanne Baer, and she is living in a lesbian relationship.

Mrs. Baer has no prior experience whatsoever as a judge, nor as an attorney. Her qualification for the job is that for eight years she has served as Professor for “Feminist Legal Theory” at Humboldt University, Berlin. Until 2010 she also was the Director of the “GenderKompetenzZentrum” (Center for Gender Competence), an Institute that was established at Humboldt University to promote the theory of “Gender-Mainstreaming”. The basis for her swift academic career was thus not the promotion of knowledge and insight, but of radical ideologies. I write “ideologies”, because, closely following the Marxist tradition, she views law as a tool to make politics rather than as something that must correspond to an outward reality. As she once wrote, “law is a means to construct reality”….

The task of a judge is to apply laws to cases. Mrs. Baer, it must be expected, has neither been trained to do that, nor does she want to. With all due respect: given her career as an ideologue-dressed-up-as-academic, it is hardly likely that she will not abuse her judicial power in order to turn her radical theories into law. After all, that is precisely what her political masters have nominated her for…

From the Blog Turtle Bay and Beyond, International Law, Policy, and Institutions (Link)

Encouraging signs

From the C-FAM Friday Fax - Holy See Combats Radical Agenda During Commission on Social Development

Many delegations have commented on what they see as a new tenor and tone of the Holy See delegation. Delegations are also talking about how much more active the Holy See delegates have been in actual negotiations. Some delegations have greeted this outspokenness with chagrin and even hostility.

"The greatness of Christianity lies in its being hated by the world" - Ignatius of Antioch to the Romans

Passing of my father

In the previous post I asked for prayers for my father; he passed away peacefully yesterday and if you don't mind, I hope you will say a prayer for the repose of his soul.

thank you and God bless you.



Why do we Climb Mountains, by Br Corwin Low OP

If you are reading this...

If you are reading this post, please know that the computer you are using (if it has a disk drive) contains technology pioneered by my father, William A Gross, while working at IBM/Morgan Hill in the 1950s. Dad was part of a 5 man "Tiger Team" charged with developing the theoretical and technical engineering which would come down to us as the "magnetic head" which is the heart of all disk drives. His seminal book, "Gas Film Lubrication" was published in 1962 and is still in print undergoing active revision and is an industry standard.

Dad left IBM and disk memory, and went to AMPEX where he was VP of research (magnetic tape), and was involved in such things as the development of cassette audio tapes, video, and portable video recording. it wasn't until 1984 when he was invited to speak on the topic of Tiger Teams at an IEEE meeting in San Diego, that he learned that his research had attained such profound practical application!

I was but a tot during dad's years at IBM; he commuted in a 1956 VW Bug (comes in any color, as long as it's grey), but by the 60s I was old enough to help Al Stahler with the first field test of the first portable video recorder, a 90 lb monster backpack carried while filming; the test was a Stanford university football game; "instant replay" from the field was born!

I went to university to study Geology, and one day in the early 1970s startled my dad with the revelation that fossil energy resources are finite, a problem which captivated his immagination; having lost his dear wife, Shirley to a rare liver disease, he was ready for something new; with his new wife Sharon, and a new outlook on life, they moved to Albuquerque New Mexico where he took the post of Dean of Engineering, where he invested his creative energy in alternative energy and entepreneural engineering, as well as putting his social conscience to work finding ways to bring minorities into the engineering profession, and helping to develop engineering programs in third world countries around the world.

Dad was raised Baptist, but his response to the horrors of WWII was to become a member of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), in which I was raised, and which he has remained active all his adult life. I don't think dad ever has understood how my becoming Catholic is a logical and rational thing to do based on the foundation he laid in my childhood; the boogy-man of Catholicism used to terrify him as a child he never really outgrew, but he did not oppose it, seeing it as something that filled an obscure need of mine, never grasping the nature of the relationship.

And so as William A Gross (Bill) spends his last days in hospice, I beg your prayers for him and his beloved Sherry, and I also thank God for the gifts which He gave me through his servant Bill. We all fall short of the glory of God, but this dear man taught me as a child an invaluable lesson while camping: "Always leave a place better than you found it." until last week I didn't really appreciate how this lesson from the campground shapes life in general, and relations with people in particular.

Thanks to Anita at V-ForVictory who put out the earlier call for prayers while I was in Phoenix and Albuquerque with dad. it was a tremendous gift to spend those days with both dad and Sherry. thank you for your prayers. And thanks for indulging a bit of memory lane wandering.

Happy feast of St Thomas!

FAITH - REJECTING ONE ARTICLE OF

"To reject any article of the faith is to reject the faith itself. This is like pulling one stone out of an arch; it is like putting one hole in the hull of a ship. The whole arch tumbles down; the whole ship sinks. A man who has the faith, accepts God's word. Now, God's word has set up the Church as man's infallible teacher and guide. If a man, therefore, rejects one article of the faith, and says that he believes all the other articles, he believes these by his own choice and opinion, not by faith. Rejecting one article of the faith, he rejects the whole authority of the Church, and he rejects the authority of God who has set up and authorized the Church to teach truth. Hence, it is entirely incorrect to say that am man may have lifeless or formless faith in some article of the Creed while he rejects others; such a man has not the faith at all, living or lifeless." Thomas Aquinas, Summa IIa IIae Q5


Sorry, I lost the source of the above quote, which is based on the Summa, as opposed to IN the Summa.

From "Bad Vestments" blog

I fount this image at the site "Bad Vestments" which is so like a train wreck where you don't want to see the carnage but can't help but look.

anyway, this had me in stitches...

Bad Vestments post can be found here

Link between liturgical and sexual abuse?

Anita (V-for Victory) found an article which we’d read a few years ago and lost the link to, and so I’m posting the link again so that I won’t loose it.

In this article, the author, Fr. Farfaglia, makes the provocative suggestion that sexual impurity is perhaps at the heart of liturgical abuse. Following is the section of the article; I suggest you read the whole thing at Renew America.

Another cause of the present state of emergency with regard to the liturgy could be the underlying cause of the entire mess we're in. Having taught the Catechism of the Catholic Church to a large number of parishioners, I have found the following insight of the Catechism to be quite amazing. When discussing the Ninth Commandment, the Catechism states:

'The sixth beatitude proclaims, 'Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.' Pure in heart refers to those who have attuned their intellects and wills to the demands of God's holiness, chiefly in three areas: charity; chastity or sexual rectitude; love of the truth and orthodoxy of faith. There is a connection between purity of heart, of body, and of faith' (#2518).

It is interesting to note, based upon a lifetime of observation, that those priests who habitually carry on with women, or those active homosexual priests who carry on with their proclivities, are guilty of the most obtrusive and bizarre liturgical abuses. There is a connection between purity of heart, of body, and of faith.

Fr James Farfaglia, “State of Emergency, The Present Situation of the Catholic Liturgy in America, in Renew America, 2007 (link)

Where there’s smoke, there’s fire?

Additionally, at Chiesa Online, Sandro Magister recently quoted from Cardinal Biffi’s book, Memories of an Italian Cardinal. He has an interesting thing to say on The Ideology of Homosexuality:

Regarding the problem of homosexuality that is emerging today, the Christian conception tells us that one must always distinguish the respect due to persons, which involves rejecting any marginalization of them in society and politics (except for the unalterable nature of marriage and the family), from the rejection of any exalted "ideology of homosexuality," which is obligatory.

The word of God, as we know it in a page of the letter to the Romans by the apostle Paul, offers us on the contrary a theological interpretation of the rampant cultural aberration in this matter: such an aberration – the sacred text affirms – is at the same time the proof and the result of the exclusion of God from the collective attention and from social life, and of the refusal to give him the glory that he is due (cf. Romans 1:21).

The exclusion of the Creator determines a universal derailing of reason: "They became vain in their reasoning, and their senseless minds were darkened. While claiming to be wise, they became fools" (Romans 1:21-22). The result of this intellectual blindness was a fall, in both theory and practice, into the most complete dissoluteness: "Therefore, God handed them over to impurity through the lusts of their hearts for the mutual degradation of their bodies" (Romans 1:24).

And to prevent any misunderstanding and any accommodating interpretation, the apostle proceeds with a startling analysis, formulated in perfectly explicit terms:

"Therefore, God handed them over to degrading passions. Their females exchanged natural relations for unnatural, and the males likewise gave up natural relations with females and burned with lust for one another. Males did shameful things with males and thus received in their own persons the due penalty for their perversity. And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God handed them over to their undiscerning mind to do what is improper" (Romans 1:26-28).

Finally, Paul takes pains to observe that the greatest abjection takes place when "the authors of these things . . . not only do them but give approval to those who practice them" (cf. Romans 1:32).

It is a page of the inspired book, which no earthly authority can force us to censor. Nor are we permitted, if we want to be faithful to the word of God, the pusillanimity of passing over it in silence out of concern not to appear "politically incorrect."

We must on the contrary point out the singular interest for our days of this teaching of Revelation: what St. Paul revealed as taking place in the Greco-Roman world is shown to correspond prophetically to what has taken place in Western culture in these last centuries. The exclusion of the Creator – to the point of proclaiming grotesquely, a few decades ago, the "death of God" – has had the result (almost like an intrinsic punishment) of the spread of an aberrant view of sexuality, unknown (in its arrogance) to previous eras.

The ideology of homosexuality – as often happens to ideologies when they become aggressive and end up being politically triumphant – becomes a threat to our legitimate autonomy of thought: those who do not share it risk condemnation to a kind of cultural and social marginalization.

The attacks on freedom of thought start with language. Those who do not resign themselves to accept "homophilia" (the theoretical appreciation of homosexual relations) are charged with "homophobia" (etymologically, the "fear of homosexuality"). This must be very clear: those who are made strong by the inspired word and live in the "fear of God" are not afraid of anything, except perhaps the stupidity toward which, Bonhoeffer said, we are defenseless. We are now even charged sometimes with the incredibly arbitrary accusation of "racism": a word that, among other things, has nothing to do with this issue, and in any case is completely extraneous to our doctrine and our history.

The essential problem that presents itself is this: is it still permitted in our days to be faithful and consistent disciples of the teaching of Christ (which for millennia has inspired and enriched the whole of Western civilization), or must we prepare ourselves for a new form of persecution, promoted by homosexual activists, by their ideological accomplices, and even by those whose task it should be to defend the intellectual freedom of all, including Christians?

There is one question that we ask in particular of the theologians, biblicists, and pastoralists. Why on earth, in this climate of almost obsessive exaltation of Sacred Scripture, is the Pauline passage of Romans 1:21-32 never cited by anyone? Why on earth is there not a little more concern to make it known to believers and nonbelievers, in spite of its evident timeliness?

Giacomo Biffi, "Memorie e digressioni di un italiano cardinale," Translation by Matthew Sherry for Sandro Magister, Chiesa Online (Link)

To make it even more interesting, Athanasius Schneider, the Auxiliary Bishop of Kazakhstan has issued a call for clarification – (will the real Vatican II please stand up!) in the form of a Syllabus of errors:

[. . .] For a correct interpretation of Vatican Council II, it is necessary to keep in mind the intention manifested in the conciliar documents themselves and in the specific words of the popes who convened and presided over it, John XXIII and Paul VI.

Moreover, it is necessary to discover the common thread of the entire work of the Council, meaning its pastoral intention, which is the "salus animarum," the salvation of souls. This, in turn, depends on and is subordinate to the promotion of divine worship and of the glory of God, it depends on the primacy of God.

This primacy of God in life and in all the activity of the Church is manifested unequivocally by the fact that the constitution on the liturgy occupies, conceptually and chronologically, the first place in the vast work of the Council. [. . .]

*

The characteristic of the rupture in the interpretation of the conciliar texts is manifested in a more stereotypical and widespread way in the thesis of an anthropocentric, secularist, or naturalistic shift of Vatican Council II with respect to the previous ecclesial tradition.

One of the best-known manifestations of such a mistaken interpretation has been, for example, so-called liberation theology and the subsequent devastating pastoral practice. What contrast there is between this liberation theology and its practice and the Council appears evident from the following conciliar teaching: "Christ, to be sure, gave His Church no proper mission in the political, economic or social order. The purpose which He set before her is a religious one" (cf. "Gaudium et Spes," 42). [. . .]

One interpretation of rupture of lighter doctrinal weight has been manifested in the pastoral-liturgical field. One might mention in this regard the decline of the sacred and sublime character of the liturgy, and the introduction of more anthropocentric elements of expression.

This phenomenon can be seen in three liturgical practices that are fairly well known and widespread in almost all the parishes of the Catholic sphere: the almost complete disappearance of the use of the Latin language, the reception of the Eucharistic body of Christ directly in the hand while standing, and the celebration of the Eucharistic sacrifice in the modality of a closed circle in which priest and people are constantly looking at each other.

This way of praying – without everyone facing the same direction, which is a more natural corporal and symbolic expression with respect to the truth of everyone being oriented toward God in public worship – contradicts the practice that Jesus himself and his apostles observed in public prayer, both in the temple and in the synagogue. It also contradicts the unanimous testimony of the Fathers and of all the subsequent tradition of the Eastern and Western Church.

These three pastoral and liturgical practices glaringly at odds with the law of prayer maintained by generations of the Catholic faithful for at least one millennium find no support in the conciliar texts, and even contradict both a specific text of the Council (on the Latin language: cf. "Sacrosanctum Concilium," 36 and 54) and the "mens," the true intention of the conciliar Fathers, as can be seen in the proceedings of the Council.

*

In the hermeneutical uproar of the contrasting interpretations, and in the confusion of pastoral and liturgical applications, what appears as the only authentic interpreter of the conciliar texts is the Council itself, together with the pope.

One could make a comparison with the confused hermeneutical climate of the first centuries of the Church, caused by arbitrary biblical and doctrinal interpretations on the part of heterodox groups. In his famous work "De Praescriptione Haereticorum," Tertullian was able to counter the heretics of various tendencies with the fact that only the Church possesses the "praescriptio," meaning only the Church is the legitimate proprietor of the faith, of the word of God and of the tradition. The Church can use this to fend off the heretics in disputes over true interpretation. Only the Church can say, according to Tertullian, "Ego sum heres Apostolorum," I am the heir of the apostles. By way of analogy, only the supreme magisterium of the pope or of a future ecumenical council will be able to say: "Ego sum heres Concilii Vaticani II."

In recent decades there existed, and still exist today, groupings within the Church that are perpetrating an enormous abuse of the pastoral character of the Council and its texts, written according to this pastoral intention, since the Council did not want to present its own definitive or unalterable teachings. From the same pastoral nature of the texts of the Council, it can be seen that its texts are in principle open to supplementation and to further doctrinal clarifications. Keeping in mind the now decades-long experience of interpretations that are doctrinally and pastorally mistaken and contrary to the bimillennial continuity of the doctrine and prayer of the faith, there thus arises the necessity and urgency of a specific and authoritative intervention of the pontifical magisterium for an authentic interpretation of the conciliar texts, with supplementation and doctrinal clarifications; a sort of "Syllabus" of the errors in the interpretation of Vatican Council II.

There is the need for a new Syllabus, this time directed not so much against the errors coming from outside of the Church, but against the errors circulated within the Church by supporters of the thesis of discontinuity and rupture, with its doctrinal, liturgical, and pastoral application.

Such a Syllabus should consist of two parts: the part that points out the errors, and the positive part with proposals for clarification, completion, and doctrinal clarification.

*

Two groupings stand out for their support of the theory of rupture. One of these groupings tries to "Protestantize" the life of the Church doctrinally, liturgically, and pastorally. On the opposite side are those traditional groups which, in the name of tradition, reject the Council and exempt themselves from submission to the supreme living magisterium of the Church, from the visible head of the Church, the vicar of Christ on earth, submitting meanwhile only to the invisible head of the Church, waiting for better times. [. . .]

In essence, there have been two impediments preventing the true intention of the Council and its magisterium from bearing abundant and lasting fruit.

One was found outside of the Church, in the violent process of cultural and social revolution during the 1960's, which like every powerful social phenomenon penetrated inside the Church, infecting with its spirit of rupture vast segments of persons and institutions.

The other impediment was manifested in the lack of wise and at the same time intrepid pastors of the Church who might be quick to defend the purity and integrity of the faith and of liturgical and pastoral life, not allowing themselves to be influenced by flattery or fear.

The Council of Trent had already affirmed in one of its last decrees on the general reform of the Church: "The holy synod, shaken by the many extremely serious evils that afflict the Church, cannot do other than recall that the thing most necessary for the Church of God is to select excellent and suitable pastors; all the more in that our Lord Jesus Christ will ask for an account of the blood of those sheep that should perish because of the bad governance of negligent pastors unmindful of their duty" (Session XXIV, Decree "de reformatione," can. 1).

The Council continued: "As for all those who for any reason have been authorized by the Holy See to intervene in the promotion of future prelates or those who take part in this in another way, the holy Council exhorts and admonishes them to remember above all that they can do nothing more useful for the glory of God and the salvation of the people than to devote themselves to choosing good and suitable pastors to govern the Church."

So there is truly a need for a Syllabus on the Council with doctrinal value, and moreover there is a need for an increase in the number of holy, courageous pastors deeply rooted in the tradition of the Church, free from any sort of mentality of rupture, both in the doctrinal field and in the liturgical field.

These two elements constitute the indispensable condition so that doctrinal, liturgical, and pastoral confusion may diminish significantly, and so that the pastoral work of Vatican Council II may bear much lasting fruit in the spirit of the tradition, which connects us to the spirit that has reigned in every time, everywhere and in all true children of the Catholic Church, which is the only and the true Church of God on earth.


As reported by Sandro Magister, Chiesa Online (link)

Five years have passed since the Holy Father Benedict XVI spoke of the clash between the right and wrong interpretation of Vatican II, the conflict between the hermeneutic of rupture versus the hermeneutic of reform, presented to the Roman Curia in his Christmas message of Dec 22, 2005:

[] it all depends on the correct interpretation of the Council or - as we would say today - on its proper hermeneutics, the correct key to its interpretation and application. The problems in its implementation arose from the fact that two contrary hermeneutics came face to face and quarrelled with each other. One caused confusion, the other, silently but more and more visibly, bore and is bearing fruit.

On the one hand, there is an interpretation that I would call "a hermeneutic of discontinuity and rupture"; it has frequently availed itself of the sympathies of the mass media, and also one trend of modern theology. On the other, there is the "hermeneutic of reform", of renewal in the continuity of the one subject-Church which the Lord has given to us. She is a subject which increases in time and develops, yet always remaining the same, the one subject of the journeying People of God.

The hermeneutic of discontinuity risks ending in a split between the pre-conciliar Church and the post-conciliar Church. It asserts that the texts of the Council as such do not yet express the true spirit of the Council. It claims that they are the result of compromises in which, to reach unanimity, it was found necessary to keep and reconfirm many old things that are now pointless. However, the true spirit of the Council is not to be found in these compromises but instead in the impulses toward the new that are contained in the texts.

These innovations alone were supposed to represent the true spirit of the Council, and starting from and in conformity with them, it would be possible to move ahead. Precisely because the texts would only imperfectly reflect the true spirit of the Council and its newness, it would be necessary to go courageously beyond the texts and make room for the newness in which the Council's deepest intention would be expressed, even if it were still vague.

In a word: it would be necessary not to follow the texts of the Council but its spirit. In this way, obviously, a vast margin was left open for the question on how this spirit should subsequently be defined and room was consequently made for every whim.

The nature of a Council as such is therefore basically misunderstood. In this way, it is considered as a sort of constituent that eliminates an old constitution and creates a new one. However, the Constituent Assembly needs a mandator and then confirmation by the mandator, in other words, the people the constitution must serve. The Fathers had no such mandate and no one had ever given them one; nor could anyone have given them one because the essential constitution of the Church comes from the Lord and was given to us so that we might attain eternal life and, starting from this perspective, be able to illuminate life in time and time itself.

Through the Sacrament they have received, Bishops are stewards of the Lord's gift. They are "stewards of the mysteries of God" (I Cor 4: 1); as such, they must be found to be "faithful" and "wise" (cf. Lk 12: 41-48). This requires them to administer the Lord's gift in the right way, so that it is not left concealed in some hiding place but bears fruit, and the Lord may end by saying to the administrator: "Since you were dependable in a small matter I will put you in charge of larger affairs" (cf. Mt 25: 14-30; Lk 19: 11-27).

These Gospel parables express the dynamic of fidelity required in the Lord's service; and through them it becomes clear that, as in a Council, the dynamic and fidelity must converge.

The hermeneutic of discontinuity is countered by the hermeneutic of reform, as it was presented first by Pope John XXIII in his Speech inaugurating the Council on 11 October 1962 and later by Pope Paul VI in his Discourse for the Council's conclusion on 7 December 1965.

Here I shall cite only John XXIII's well-known words, which unequivocally express this hermeneutic when he says that the Council wishes "to transmit the doctrine, pure and integral, without any attenuation or distortion". And he continues: "Our duty is not only to guard this precious treasure, as if we were concerned only with antiquity, but to dedicate ourselves with an earnest will and without fear to that work which our era demands of us...". It is necessary that "adherence to all the teaching of the Church in its entirety and preciseness..." be presented in "faithful and perfect conformity to the authentic doctrine, which, however, should be studied and expounded through the methods of research and through the literary forms of modern thought. The substance of the ancient doctrine of the deposit of faith is one thing, and the way in which it is presented is another...", retaining the same meaning and message (The Documents of Vatican II, Walter M. Abbott, S.J., p. 715).

It is clear that this commitment to expressing a specific truth in a new way demands new thinking on this truth and a new and vital relationship with it; it is also clear that new words can only develop if they come from an informed understanding of the truth expressed, and on the other hand, that a reflection on faith also requires that this faith be lived. In this regard, the programme that Pope John XXIII proposed was extremely demanding, indeed, just as the synthesis of fidelity and dynamic is demanding.

However, wherever this interpretation guided the implementation of the Council, new life developed and new fruit ripened. Forty years after the Council, we can show that the positive is far greater and livelier than it appeared to be in the turbulent years around 1968. Today, we see that although the good seed developed slowly, it is nonetheless growing; and our deep gratitude for the work done by the Council is likewise growing.

(Link)

with special thanks to Matt Abott at Renew America for Fr. Farfaglia's article, and to Sandro Magister for the articles by Cardinal Biffi and Bishop Athanasius Schneider.

New Provincial elected

The members of the Blessed Margaret of Castello Chapter would like to congratulate Fr. Mark Padrez, OP on his election to Prior Provincial of the Province of the Holy Name of Jesus (Western Dominican Province).

hat tip to Fr. Pius Pietrzyk OP of the Eastern Province for the news on the Friar's Blog

We Three Kings - Epiphany reflection

The following is from eLumen, the Newsletter of the Lay Fraternities of St. Dominic, Province of St. Joseph, U.S.A.

From the Provincial Promoter’s Desk

We three kings of orient are

bearing gifts we traverse afar

Field and fountain, moor and mountain

following yonder star.

In our popular carol about the Wise Men, we quickly pass over their journey with all its fields and moors, fountains and mountains. In the usual Christmas spirit, this allows us to focus on the most important part—the presents! Each gift is given a whole verse to itself: gold for Jesus the King, incense for Jesus who is God, and myrrh for Jesus who is to be a sacrifice. Yet, for the Magi,the journey to Jerusalem and then on to Bethlehem to find Jesus was a significant trip. We don’t know exactly who they were or from where they came. Many traditions hold they came from Persia, Arabia, or Indian. Typical nativity scenes show the magi representing three ancient gentile races: Greeks, Ethiopians, and Chinese. A journey from any of these places would be incredibly long, over a thousand miles. We modern Americans have no idea what it meant to travel that kind of distances. We complain if we have to cross to the other side of town or spend a few hours in an airport. For the magi this journey would have taken months, perhaps half a year, doing nothing but traveling. Even for those with wealth and power, such a journey was not easy or safe. And certainly, camels have never struck me as being particularly ergonomic.

These Wise Men spent months traveling thousands of miles following a star. They were searching not for the Seven Cities of Gold or the fountain of youth. They gained no glory or power or fame. They didn’t even get to appear on “Amazing Star Following” on CBS. In the end, all they found is a baby boy, born in a stable, who was too young to remember or even recognize them. And so, after months of travel, they turned around and went home. Only, they were forced to sneak back “by a different way” because paranoid King Herod was trying to kill them to cover the whole thing up. They undertook an incredible journey of risk and sacrifice which brought them...absolutely nothing. They didn’t get anything out of it.

This realization is crucial to understand what the Wise Men were about. For the Wise Men didn’t make their journey to get anything. They made that journey to give. Certainly, they gave their famous gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. However, more importantly, they went to give the gift of worship. When they found the child with Mary his mother, “they fell down and worshiped him.” They were willing to travel so far and risk so much, because they found someone worthy of their worship, someone whom they could adore. This was the point of their thousand mile journey, and this is the point of the journey of each of our lives. We are made to seek someone to worship, someone worthy of our adoration.

There is a strange temptation in the world today to see religion in terms of what we get out of it. We are supposed to find the religion or the church that gives us the best service, the most for our money. I’m sure we have all heard people complain, “I don’t get anything out of Mass.” Perhaps when we’ve been frustrated with the music or preaching at our parish, we’ve even shared that sentiment ourselves. Yet, when we gather to celebrate Mass, we do not come to get to hear beautiful music, to get insightful instruction from the priest, or to get to share in our community of faith. All these things are good, but we come not to get them but to give—to give our worship to God.

We are sometimes tempted to imagine a god who doesn’t want to be worshiped, a god who is much more egalitarian, a regular Joe just like us. But in imaging such a god, we imagine something that is not God. Worshiping doesn’t fit well into our American culture as we have managed to obliterate so many signs of respect and honor from ordinary life. This makes it hard for us to see anything as worthy of honor. It also leads us to forget that man’s greatest attribute is being made in the image and likeness of God. Our fellow men and women deserve to be respected and honored because each one is like God. God Himself deserves not just to be respected and honored but to be worshiped and adored because he is God.

The new translation of the Mass that we will start using next Advent intentionally highlights this aspect of the Mass. It uses loftier language and sometime even big words—words that were chosen not because they were the easiest options for us but because they were the most worthy options for God. Those who fret that average Americans won’t be able to understand these words not only insult average Americans but also forget who is being addressed throughout most of the Mass—not us but God. The language used at Mass will be a bit different from the language we use for other activities, but that is because what we do at Mass is different from any other activity.

The effort we spend to prepare and celebrate Mass is not so we or others can get more out of it, but it’s so we can give more honor to God. The art and beauty of our Churches is not meant for our eyes or ears but is a sacrifice rising up to God. We come to Mass to give—to give everything to God. Like the Magi, in giving, we will find our greatest joy. We will discover a God who is not only a source for grace and enlightenment but one who is Emmanuel, God with us. God dwells with us giving us his very flesh and blood so that we can receive him and adore him.

Fr. Darren Pierre, O.P.
Provincial Promoter

Duty to die

From the Irish prolife site, Family and Life:

Belgian Court Decides Disabled Child Denied “Right” to be Aborted
A Belgian court has ruled that a disabled child was denied his “right” to be aborted. Belgian journal, Revue Générale des Assurances et Responsabilités, has just published a decision rendered by the Brussels Court of Appeal on 21 September 2010 in a case of a child born disabled after an erroneous prenatal diagnosis. The Court ruled that the child, represented by his parents, could claim damages from physicians for the injury of being born disabled. "Certainly, the misdiagnosis did not cause the child's disability, which existed before the error and which could not be remedied," the Court considered. "However, the injury which must be compensated is not the disability itself, but the fact of being born with such disabilities." For the Court, the child would have had "right" to an abortion if the disability had been...
Details: http://www.familyandlife.org/Abortion-and-Embryo/2050/9/13.html

Turkey-free Christmas dinner

This year for Christmas the kids decided to go "sans turkey" and rather than the Brazillian fejoida of the last 25+ years, we decided to make a paella instead. Less than two hours to prepare, compared to the all day excercise that fejoida can be! No muscles or clams, but we used chorizo, shrimp, snapper, and lobster. it was a real hit.

good thing I had a gigantic electric skillet!

I hope your Christmas day was wonderful. don't forget, NOW it's Christmas; Advent is over, the Christmas season has started! let the celebration begin and continue to it's proper conclusion at the Baptism of the Lord on January 9!

Christmas note from Dominican Mission in Mexicali, Mexico

I received a Christmas note from Br. Corwin Low OP, and reproduce it here. Some of you might recognize Fr. Bart!

Christmas 2010
Dear Friends and Family,

Believe it or not, I'm in my 5th year as a Dominican. In this year of formation ( out of 8) we suspend our studies in order to get "real world" experience. Although I do not discount the value of academic work, from my years in corporate America I have always recognized that theory is one thing but reality is quite another-and yet we live in the real world. I was surprised at my assignment however. While I have been studying Spanish over the last year, I didn't think it was sufficient to warrant a year working in a parish in Mexico; but my superiors thought to the contrary.

As a Type-A perfectionist it hasn't been an easy transition. For one thing, it's difficUlt to express your opinion if you lack the ability to speak. But at the same time I've seen and experienced so many things that I woUld never have if I had been dropped into a safe, familiar (and therefore easy) situation. Had I not yielded to the wisdom of my superiors I woUld have never understood it.

One of my ministries is to visit the parish neighborhood called Villa Zapata (picture with a portion of the community is attached). It is far from the center of Mexicali and is remote enough that it lacks basic necessities. Electricity is only now being installed; and there is no water. When I arrived there was no shelter from the heat of more than 120° Fahrenheit (49° Celsius). But now in the winter it has dropped to 35° (4°) at night. While that might not seem overly cold to you, it is to the people here because their houses are made from little more than discarded factory palettes and no insUlation. Lately we've been distributing blankets and warm clothing to help get people through the nights, particUlarly with the vicious winds of the desert. One particUlarly heart-wrenching case is a house (actuallya shack) of 6 children. The eldest is 13. They lost their mother last summer and their father abandoned them long ago. Neighbors take turns keeping an eye on them, but it isn't really sufficient. There are cases similar to this throughout the community, though this is perhaps the worst. It is gratifying to see their smiling faces when we show up.

Because I don't have papers to write or hundreds of pages to read, I actually do have time to work on some web sites. This keeps me a little more hands-on with technology in a place where technology up to the point I got here was little more than a typewriter and a photocopier. How's that for cUlture shock? I've been keeping a web log (address below) and I've been generating content for our mission website (http://mexicali.opwest.org). I woUld very much enjoy it if you take a look. I am eager to get feedback on them and I am continually updating them. So keep coming back!

So in a nutshell, Mexicali has been good work and good for me. I especially enjoy assisting at bringing the sacraments to the people. They truly desire it them. I've only now just started preaching in Spanish, but the early feedback has been positive-a good sign from a people who are usually reserved with such things. And, bey eve it or not, I'm still singing. ..

Br Corwin Low, OP
http://www.cantateop.org

Serialized book of note

The Dominican Friars of the Eastern Province are serializing one of Fr. William Hinnebusch's books, "Dominican Spirituality", 1965. This is an excellent book and a project worth following (much better than a mindless TV show)!

The first three chapter have been posted:

Chapter I - A General View of Dominican Life
http://www.op-stjoseph.org/blog/dominican_spirituality_i

Chapter II - The Dominican Life is the Image of St. Dominic
http://www.op-stjoseph.org/blog/dominican_spirituality_ii

Chapter III - Dominican Life is Contemplative
http://www.op-stjoseph.org/blog/dominican_spirituality_iii


Thanks to Fr. Benedict Croell, O.P., who is posting these!

"The Mystery of Advent"

some excellent Advent posts over at the Friar's Blog; I'm only about half way through the first one, but thought I'd post the links.

The Mystery of Advent
by Fr. Pius Pietrzyk, O.P.

In 2007, some of the priests and brothers at the Dominican House of Studies prepared a series of reflections on the four weeks of Advent. As the Church begins the new liturgical Year of Grace with the season of Advent, we present again these reflections.

Mystery of Advent, Week One
Mystery of Advent, Week Two
Mystery of Advent, Week Three
Mystery of Advent, Week Four

New book

A new book on Bl. Margaret of Castello is out.

Well, actually more of a pamphlet... It's from the Catholic Truth Society

From the back cover:

Patroness of the disabled and marginalized Margaret's story shows how God has a purpose for even the most unfortunate and disadvantaged; that his gifts may shine strongly in any of us, whatever our situation in this life. Young, small, blind, lame, unattractive, a hunchback who was rejected by her parents, in today's world she would certainly have been another victim of abortion. Yet, despite her severe disadvantages, 'Little Margaret' emerged as an exemplary model of selfless love. In recognition of this she was beatified, and now the cause for her canonization is recognized in Rome. Invoked as the patroness of the disabled and unwanted, there are shrines to her in America where she is revered as patron of the disabled and the marginalized.






Alan Frost has authored other titles for CTS, including St Louis-Marie de Montfort.

Old Book - "From Luther to Hitler"

My next read came in - "From Luther to Hitler, The History of Fascist-Nazi Political Philosophy", 1941, by William McGovern.

I found this in the references pages of "Philosophies at War", 1943, by Fulton J Sheen, and decided to check it out!

Dominican Sisters on Oprah, Nov 23

Dear Friends,

The Dominican Sisters of Mary will be featured on the Oprah Winfrey Show on Tuesday, November 23rd.


This is a new show that includes interviews with Mother Assumpta, Sr. Joseph Andrew, Sr. Mary Samuel, Sr. John Dominic and other Sisters; as well as on-site filming of the First and Final Profession Masses and this year’s Entrance Day, during which we welcomed 22 Aspirants.


The show will feature the experience of a Sister entering religious life and the meaning of religious profession as being ‘married’ to Christ.


You may recall that Oprah first reached out to our community on February 9th of this year due to an interest in the hidden aspects of religious life. Click here to watch an excerpt from that program.


The response from the first show was so positive that the Sisters were asked if we would be open to another opportunity to share our life. We have accepted this invitation in the hopes of reaching an audience we might not otherwise reach with the witness of our life and the Gospel. Please join us in praying that the show will be for the good of souls and the honor of God.


As we approach the Thanksgiving holiday, let us give thanks to God for His bountiful goodness. May God bless you and your families during this holiday season.



In Jesus and Mary,

The Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist


p.s. To learn more about supporting the Sisters’ ongoing formation and education, click here.


4597 Warren Rd.
Ann Arbor, MI 48105
(734) 930-4222
http://www.sistersofmary.org/