Saint of the Day & Bishops as Politicians

Today, September 30, 2018, is feast day of St, Jerome, Doctor of the Church, according to Lives of the Saints by Fr. Alban Butler (first published in 1887 under the title Lives of the Saints–With Reflections for Every Day in the Year) read about this Saint at http://www.sacred-texts.com/chr/lots/lots306.htm and a much more detailed article about St. Jerome at Tradition in Action, https://traditioninaction.org/SOD/j148sd_Jerome_9-30.html

Reading about these Saints is a wonderful daily reflection; and St. Jerome has a magnificent book named for him: The Jerome Biblical Commentary, (Edited by Raymond E. Brown, S.S.; Joseph A. Fitzmyer, S.J.; & Roland E. Murphy, O. Carm.)

Bishops as Politicians

Being a bishop should be as far from being a politician as possible, but, unfortunately, it generally isn’t, as this article from The Catholic Thing reports.

An excerpt.

To say one thing and mean its opposite is a special skill of the politician. No other creature is as practiced at leaving a certain impression without actually having said anything, and leaving plenty of room for deniability – and, of course, the kind of “clarification” that effectively becomes obfuscation.

When politicians are caught in misdeeds, they give non-apologies that sound contrite but that, upon closer examination, neither admit what was done nor express regret for it. Politicians do not make mistakes; rather, “mistakes were made.” The passive voice leaves the identity of the mistake-doer a mystery.

Likewise, politicians do not apologize for any actions. Instead, they apologize for “the hurt that these actions may have caused.” It is for the sadness and anger engendered that the politician is sorry, because they hurt his public image. He is not sorry for what he has done, for he will not even admit to that; he is sorry he got caught, and that people are now mad at him. And to save face, the politician often blames the scandal on a conspiracy by his ideological opponents to discredit him.

The ultimate evasive maneuver is for the politician to announce, “I take full responsibility for this,” and then proceed to fire a few staffers, but remain in office himself.

The summum bonum of the pure politician is self-preservation. His job is not to serve the public good or to accomplish policy objectives. His goal is to stay in office. His aim is to hold on to power.

I have thought of these phenomena often in the last few months as bishops, not just in the United States but around the world, have found themselves accused of various crimes and failings. To name just a few (this is far from being a uniquely American phenomenon):

—recent reports from the Netherlands and Germany show decades of many bishops covering up abuse by thousands of priests;

—a horrific story of systemic abuse at a school for the deaf in Argentina is emerging;

—and, to have several kinds of clerical malfeasance distilled into one person, Cardinal Maradiaga in Honduras faces allegations of financial impropriety, of covering up for his auxiliary who has resigned after his pattern of homosexual behavior was exposed, and of allowing a culture of sexual corruption to take hold in the nation’s seminary.

And similar events could be listed from Chile to Ireland to Australia and places in between.

As these bishops respond, a familiar pattern emerges. Their statements are constructed in much the same way an embattled senator’s might be (and no wonder, as they are likely using the same PR firms). “Mistakes were made,” “we strive to do better,” and all of that.

They rarely mention sin or repentance – and when they do usually only in passing. If there is any call for conversion, it is aimed at the whole Church and is overshadowed by promises for better policies and procedures, as if pieces of paper in binders in the human resources office could substitute for wisdom, courage, and right judgment.

Some bishops’ attempts to preserve themselves in the face of scrutiny have now become infamous. Cardinal Donald Wuerl’s initial response to the Pennsylvania grand jury report that called into question his handling of some cases when he was bishop of Pittsburgh was to use Church resources to construct a website solely dedicated to putting forth positive PR material on his record dealing with clerical abuse. After an angry outcry, the website was taken down within a day.

And after suggesting he would try to hang on, despite being nearly three years past the mandatory retirement age anyway, the Cardinal has traveled to Rome several times, reportedly to request that the Holy Father accept his resignation.

Bishop Richard Malone of Buffalo, on the other hand, has adopted a different tactic. Despite admitting that his handling of abuse claims had “fallen short,” he refused to consider resigning, stating that “the shepherd does not desert the flock at a difficult time.” But the sheep do not tend to follow a shepherd who allows the wolves to pick them off.

A few prelates have stood out for their integrity. The entire episcopate of Chile offered their resignations after an apostolic visitation revealed systematic covering up of abuse. And just recently, a retired auxiliary bishop in the United States admitted to failing to report a case of abuse nearly forty years ago (and announced that he would, therefore, step away from public ministry).

But by and large, the instinct to save your own skin has prevailed.

Retrieved September 29, 2018 from https://www.thecatholicthing.org/2018/09/26/some-bishops-need-to-lose-their-lives-to-find-them/

Saint of the Day & St. Damian’s Book of Gomorrah

Today, September 29, 2018, is the Dedication of St. Michael the Archangel according to Lives of the Saints by Fr. Alban Butler (first published in 1887 under the title Lives of the Saints–With Reflections for Every Day in the Year) read about this Saint at http://www.sacred-texts.com/chr/lots/lots305.htm and a much more detailed article about St. Michael at Tradition in Action, https://traditioninaction.org/SOD/j093sdMichael_9-29.htm

Reading about these Saints is a wonderful daily reflection, especially this great and mighty angel, as Tradition in Action notes:

“St. Michael is the chief of the Angels who fought against the Devil and the bad Angels and threw them into Hell. He is the chief of the Guardian Angels of individuals, and also of institutions. He himself is the Guardian Angel of the institution of all institutions, which is the Holy Roman Catholic and Apostolic Church.”

St. Damian’s Book of Gomorrah

I discovered this book—a must read if you are following the sexual abuse crisis in the Church and want a historical perspective—(which was written in the eleventh century), when reading the magisterial book on the current sexual abuse crisis in the Church, The Rite of Sodomy by Randy Engel, and available at http://www.newengelpublishing.com/package-deal-all-5-rite-of-sodomy-volumes/

This story from Catholic World Report is about St. Damian and his book.

An excerpt.

When the eremitic monk and reformer Peter Damian cast his critical gaze upon the Catholic Church of the mid-eleventh century, he encountered a panorama of corruption that would have appeared daunting even to the most hardened observer of the modern ecclesiastical scene. The “household of God” was in a catastrophic state of moral disorder, admitting of no easy remedy. The crisis of the period, and Damian’s heroic response, offers much of historical value to us as we confront our own explosion of clerical vice and doctrinal infidelity.

The Church of Damian’s time had been rocked by almost two centuries of political and social chaos, and the doctrinal ignorance, scandalous personal behavior, and petty venality of the clergy had reached intolerable levels. Bishops and priests were involved in every kind of immorality, publicly living with concubines or illicit wives, or furtively engaging in homosexual practices. Many had purchased their ordinations and the lucrative benefices that accompanied them, and spent their free time in scandalous secular amusements. An outraged laity was beginning to rise up against ecclesiastical authority, sometimes in riotous outbursts of violence that threatened the civil order.

The pinnacle of the crisis was reached in the year 1032 with the election of Pope Benedict IX, a raucous and libertine youth of no more than twenty-two years of age, and the latest and worst in a long succession of compromised popes who served wealthy and powerful secular patrons. Mercifully, few details of Benedict’s personal behavior have been preserved in historical accounts, but the pope’s “vile and contemptible life,” his “rapine, murders, and other nefarious deeds,” and his “depraved and perverse acts,” in the words of the future Pope Victor III, were widely known in his day.

However, by 1049 a new generation of reformers was on the rise, beginning with the pontificate of Pope St. Leo IX, and running through the pontificate of Hildebrand (St. Gregory VII), in 1073. Peter Damian, who was famous for his life of austerity and penance, would act as the principal theorist of the counter-revolutionaries against the Church’s corrupt establishment. Damian provided the rhetorical firepower for their reform projects, publishing a constant stream of open letters that often took on the dimension of pamphlets or small books on every conceivable theological and disciplinary controversy. When it was necessary, he showed up in person to confront corrupt actors and to stand them down – including the Holy Roman Emperor himself.

In many ways the crisis of Damian’s day seems foreign to our own; thankfully, we seem not to be suffering from a plague of illicit clerical marriages, nor do we find ourselves in a crisis of nepotism and simony, even if such problems continue to exist in isolation. However, much of St. Peter Damian’s eleventh century reform struggle seems strikingly relevant to the modern situation of the Church, offering us an incisive and useful critique of sexual immorality and laxism among the clergy, as well as an inspiring example of a reformer of immense personal integrity, whose courage never seemed to waver, even in the darkest of moments.

A devastating analysis of a crisis

Most relevant to our own age is Damian’s famous Liber Gomorrhianus, or “Book of Gomorrah,” a long letter in the form of a libellus addressed to Pope St. Leo IX sometime between 1049 and 1054. The book, which is written against an epidemic of sodomy “raging like a cruel beast within the sheepfold of Christ” has deep resonance with us today, and offers many insights into the contemporary crisis in the priesthood.

Retrieved September 28, 2018 from https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2018/09/27/st-peter-damians-battle-against-clerical-homosexuality-offers-useful-lessons-for-today/

 

Saint of the Day & Satanic Coffee

Today, September 28, 2018, is the feast day of St. Wenceslas, Martyr according to Lives of the Saints by Fr. Alban Butler (first published in 1887 under the title Lives of the Saints–With Reflections for Every Day in the Year) read about this Saint at http://www.sacred-texts.com/chr/lots/lots304.htm and a much more detailed article about St. Wenceslas at Tradition in Action, https://traditioninaction.org/SOD/j250sd_Wenceslas_09_28.html

Reading about these Saints is a wonderful daily reflection.

Satanic Coffee

Coffee has an interesting and Catholic history, as explained by Aleteia.

An excerpt.

Most Americans begin their day with at least one nice, hot cup of coffee. The beverage is so widely used that it is estimated that 2.25 billion cups of coffee are consumed daily, worldwide. This suggests that a third of the world’s population relies on its tasty kick to help them through the day.

What has been largely forgotten, however, is that everyone’s favorite pick-me-up was once considered a “bitter invention of Satan” and was shunned by the Western world. In fact, that we now sleepily go through the motions of filling our pots and pressing the buttons is thanks to Pope Clement VIII.

Legend has it that a goat herder named Kaldi was the first to discover the effects of coffee, around the year 850. The story goes that he noticed his goats would all flock to certain kind of cherry, which would make them more energetic. He chewed on the fruit himself to confirm the effects and was so impressed that he brought the cherries to an Islamic monastery, where experimentation with the pits would eventually yield the first form of coffee.

The drink quickly achieved popularity in the Middle East, although it was seen by some as a vice akin to alcohol and tobacco. During the reign of Sultan Murad IV (1612–40), all three of these items were made illegal, in a bid to cleanse the land of vice. Some historians maintain that Murad was so stringent in this ban that he would disguise himself as a commoner to travel through the streets, catching and executing these prohibition-breakers.

Coffee was met with harsher criticism when it came to Western society. The association with its Islamic founders fanned the flames of prejudice and it was commonly dubbed “Satan’s Drink.” It was not until the reign of Pope Clement VIII, more than 700 years after its discovery, that the West accepted the drink.

When members of his court implored Pope Clement VIII to denounce coffee, the pontiff insisted on trying a cup before he cast his verdict. After a few sips, he announced, “This Satan’s drink is so delicious that it would be a pity to let the infidels have exclusive use of it.”

Popular tradition holds that the pope then “baptized” coffee beans in order to cleanse them from the devil’s influence. Historians are unclear whether this was a metaphorical baptism, or if the pope performed an exorcism rite on actual beans, but either way it had the same effect. Once Catholics knew they were allowed to drink coffee, it spread through Europe like wildfire.

Retrieved September 28, 2018 from https://aleteia.org/2018/09/26/coffee-was-satans-brew-before-pope-clement-viii-baptised-it/?

Saint of the Day & the Third Rome

Today, September 27, 2018, is the feast day of St. Cosmas, Martyr & St. Martyr, according to Lives of the Saints by Fr. Alban Butler (first published in 1887 under the title Lives of the Saints–With Reflections for Every Day in the Year) read about these two Saints at http://www.sacred-texts.com/chr/lots/lots303.htm

Reading about these Saints is a wonderful daily reflection.

The Third Rome

Moscow has claimed this mantle for years for the Russian Orthodox but events currently underway threaten this, as George Weigel notes.

An excerpt.

Moscow and Russia are not the sole inheritors of the baptism of the eastern Slavs, and Russian imperial claims rest on a false story.

While Catholicism has been embroiled in a crisis of sexual abuse and episcopal malfeasance reaching to the highest levels of the Church, Eastern Orthodoxy may be on the verge of an epic crack-up with major ecumenical and geopolitical consequences.

There are three competing Orthodox jurisdictions in Ukraine today. The Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate is in full communion with, and subordinate to, the Russian Orthodox Patriarchate of Moscow. Then there are two breakaways from Moscow: the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Kyivan Patriarchate and the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church. This tripartite fracture is a scandal, an obstacle to re-evangelizing a broken culture, and an impediment to ecumenism.

The Ecumenical Patriarchate in Constantinople has indicated that it is considering a proposal to recognize the autocephaly, or independence from Moscow, of Ukrainian Orthodoxy, should the contending Orthodox jurisdictions in Ukraine restore unity. The Moscow Patriarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church has responded with fury, dropping references to Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople from its liturgy. And its international mouthpiece, Metropolitan Hilarion, issued an overwrought statement contending that “the war of the Patriarchate of Constantinople against Moscow [has continued] for almost a hundred years.” Hilarion also charged that the Ecumenical Patriarchate, which is first-among-equals in Orthodox Christianity, didn’t support the Moscow Patriarchate during decades of Soviet persecution — an ironic allegation, given that the man to whom Hilarion reports, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow, was an old KGB hand back in the day.

What’s going on here? Several things.

First, the Moscow Patriarchate is terrified. Should a reunited Ukrainian Orthodoxy be recognized by Constantinople as “autocephalous” and therefore not subordinate to Russian Orthodoxy, Moscow’s claim to be the “third Rome” would be gravely imperiled. Russian Orthodoxy would shrink drastically by the loss of the large Orthodox population in Ukraine, and the Moscow Patriarchate’s claim to a kind of de facto hegemony in the Orthodox world would be badly damaged.

Second, Russian Orthodoxy, continuing a long, unhappy tradition of playing chaplain-to-the-czar (whatever form he takes), has provided putatively religious buttressing for Vladimir Putin’s claim that there is a single Russkiy mir (“Russian world” or “Russian space”), which includes Ukraine and Belarus. And in that “space,” Ukrainians and Belarussians are little brothers of the Russians, the true inheritors of the baptism of the eastern Slavs in 988. That is a falsification of history. Yet it has underwritten Russian imperial claims for centuries, and it continues to do so today.

A reunited and independent Ukrainian Orthodoxy centered on Kyiv (site in 988 of the baptism of Prince Vladimir and the tribes that eventually became Ukrainians, Russians, and Belarussians) would empirically falsify what serious historians have long known is a dishonest narrative. Moscow and Russia are not the sole inheritors of the baptism of the eastern Slavs, and Russian imperial claims (like those that have underwritten the invasion and annexation of Crimea and the Russian-sponsored war in eastern Ukraine) rest on a false story. Thus both Russian Orthodoxy and President Putin would be major losers, should Ukrainian Orthodoxy reunite and be recognized as independent by Constantinople. That is why Metropolitan Hilarion is taking a harsh line with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew. That is also why Putin is likely encouraging his new friend, President Erdogan of Turkey, to turns the screws on Bartholomew, whose presence in Istanbul (the former Constantinople) depends on Turkish governmental goodwill. For Putin knows that his attempt to recreate something like the old Soviet Union, which has battened on the “Russian world” ideology, could implode.

Retrieved September 27, 2018 from https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2018/09/26/an-orthodox-fracture-with-serious-consequences/

Saint of the Day & Communist China’s Bishops

Today, September 26, 2018, is the feast day of St. Cyprian & St. Justina, Martyrs (both beheaded under Diocletian A.D. 280) according to Lives of the Saints by Fr. Alban Butler (first published in 1887 under the title Lives of the Saints–With Reflections for Every Day in the Year) read about these Saints at http://www.sacred-texts.com/chr/lots/lots302.htm

The fuller story of how Cyprian, once a criminal magician converted and became a great bishop and saint is detailed at Tradition in Action, at https://traditioninaction.org/religious/h151_Cyprian.htm

Reading about these Saints is a wonderful daily reflection, and after reading about St. Cyprian will add him to Lampstand’s roster of criminals who converted and became saints.

Communist China’s Bishops

The Church’s relationships with Communism leave a whole lot to be desired—which I covered in my 2013 book, Catholicism, Communism, & Criminal Reformation—but the current arrangement with China is nothing new for the Church, which Dr. Jeffrey Mirus at Catholic Culture explains.

An excerpt.

Many Catholics are incredulous that Pope Francis has reached an agreement with the government of China. The agreement allows the government to nominate acceptable candidates for each bishopric, and stipulates that the Pope will choose one of these proposed candidates.

I have only one significant comment to make about this agreement: It is not unusual.

Throughout the history of the Church, candidates for the episcopacy have been selected by a wide variety of means, ranging from popular acclamation to the choice of the reigning monarch. While a bishop has no canonical authority until he has been confirmed by the Pope, it has been quite common for popes to allow the candidates to be selected by others.

This was certainly true in the early centuries of the Church when the papacy did not have constant, extensive contact with distant regions. It was also true through both informal and formal agreements with any number of powerful nobles or monarchs in the medieval and early modern period, leaders whose patronage extended over a particular region or who wished to ensure that the Churchmen in their own territories would not try to undermine their authority.

How the selection of candidates for the episcopate is made in any given place and time generally results from a combination of circumstances on the ground, local custom, and the strength of the Church in Rome as compared with the strength of governments which are either hostile to the Church or at least wary of the Church’s political influence in their own territories.

As such, selection methods are primarily exercises in prudence. It is also useful to remember that no method infallibly produces exemplary candidates. Indeed, history suggests that no method, including absolute Vatican control, even usually produces exemplary candidates. As exercises in prudence, these methodologies can only be evaluated by the very fallible mind game of comparing the overall situation of the Church under the resulting bishops with the unknown situation that might have been likely under other circumstances.

In each of the historical situations in which methods of episcopal nomination have been subject to negotiation, there have been parties on multiple sides with many good reasons to suppose that the method chosen would turn out badly, just as there have been parties who have believed this method was the best possible in the circumstances—if only the best of a bad lot!

Retrieved September 26, 2018 from https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/the-city-gates.cfm?id=1647

Saint of the Day & First Latin Mass in Decades

Today, September 25, 2018, is the feast day of St. Firman, Bishop, Martyr & St. Finbarr, Bishop according to Lives of the Saints by Fr. Alban Butler (first published in 1887 under the title Lives of the Saints–With Reflections for Every Day in the Year) read about these Saints at http://www.sacred-texts.com/chr/lots/lots301.htm

Reading about these Saints is a wonderful daily reflection.

First Latin Mass in Decades

We are blessed to have a Latin Mass parish nearby, so appreciate what these folks are now feeling in this great story about a great event from Rorate-Caeli.

The story.

It’s always very glad news when a Parish where the Traditional Mass hadn’t been celebrated for decades is brought back.

The following is reported by the excellent Society of St. Hugh of Cluny:

Traditional Mass for the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross at St Dominic’s Parish, Brick, New Jersey on Sept 14.

This was the parish’s first Mass in the traditional rite since the implementation of the Novus Ordo, celebrated by the newly installed pastor, Fr Brian Woodrow, who is the liaison for the Extraordinary Form in the Diocese of Trenton. Servers and musicians came to help from St John the Baptist Parish in Allentown, New Jersey; the Mass was attended by a larger number of people than expected, around 325-350 in all. The liturgy concluded with the hymn “Lift High the Cross” sung by all with great fervor, and was followed by a dinner convivium in the parish hall. Future Traditional Latin Masses at St Dominic’s are currently being planned for particular feasts throughout the liturgical year.

Retrieved September 25, 2018 from https://rorate-caeli.blogspot.com/2018/09/first-traditional-latin-mass-since.html#more

Saint of the Day & Denial of Hell

Today, September 24, 2018, is the feast day of The Blessed Virgin Mary of Mercy, (formally known as Our Lady of Ransom) according to Lives of the Saints by Fr. Alban Butler (first published in 1887 under the title Lives of the Saints–With Reflections for Every Day in the Year) read about this Saint at http://www.sacred-texts.com/chr/lots/lots300.htm

Reading about these Saints is a wonderful daily reflection.

Denial of Hell

Hard to believe that this Catholic author feels that way, but…from Crisis Magazine.

An excerpt.

Anyone who wonders why the Catholic Church is in its present crisis need only read Dr. Scott Bruce’s “Do We Still Need to Believe in Hell?” The Wall Street Journal article (9/15-16/18) recently appeared in its popular weekend review section.

It was a rather typical yet brutal appraisal of the notion of Hell. The author believes Hell is a medieval invention adapted from the ancient myths that talk about a place of punishment for evildoers in the afterlife.

Dr. Scott recognizes the sociological value of Hell as “a frightening deterrent for sinful behavior.” However, he claims that Hell was (and no longer is) a cornerstone of Christian doctrine. It was (and no longer is) something about which priests preached.

The author looks forward to a day “in some, better future,” when the idea of hell might be retired from use. It would be “an important step in the maturation of human communities that can mete out justice on their own, without supernatural aid.”

A Cause for Concern
Such a sad commentary is to be expected from the Wall Street Journal with its materialistic and secular outlook on life. Light-hearted musings about Hell serve as a curiosity for those intent upon building a material paradise on earth.

However, Dr. Bruce is a Catholic. He is not only a Catholic but a professor of history at a Catholic university. His is not just any university but the Jesuit-run Fordham University in New York City.

This is a cause for concern, for Dr. Bruce runs no risk in speaking against Hell. He will not be called to task by Fordham for his critique of Hell in the nation’s leading newspaper. He will never be asked to withdraw the book he has just edited about the same topic. He will tranquilly continue teaching with so many similar minded professors at Catholic institutions everywhere.

Such inaction on the part of administrators is not surprising to those who have followed the decadence inside the Church in recent decades. Everyone knows there is a lack of concern for orthodoxy at many of the nation’s Catholic institutions. This example just shows that there is no attempt to hide it.

Hell is Scriptural
The denial of Hell helps explain why the Church is in crisis. The Hell deniers do irreparable harm to the Church, souls and society. The dogma of Hell is foundational for the Church. Take it away and the whole structure of Church teaching comes crashing down.

The notion of Hell has been held from time immemorial. Even Plato, unenlightened by Revelation, perceived the need for Hell declaring that “Such is the judgment of the gods who dwell in heaven; the good are reunited with the good, the wicked to the wicked.”

However, the existence of Hell is clearly defined in the Bible. It is mentioned many times in both the Old and New Testaments. It is also unequivocal. Hell deniers find little room for doubt in the graphic descriptions of this place of terrible punishment of endless duration. Numerous councils have defined Hell as an article of faith. Countless saints have all consistently spoken of Hell in dramatic terms.

“I am filled with fear and trembling,” says Saint Bernard, “and all my bones are shaken at the thought of that unhappy country of the damned.”…

Hell and Fatima
To those who say that Hell has outlived its usefulness in the modern age, one need only recall the message of Fatima in 1917. During the July 13 apparition, Our Lady showed the three children a vision of Hell. In so doing, she affirmed the special relevance of Hell for the present.

She not only confirmed Hell’s existence but tragically warned that untold numbers of souls were going there. To prevent souls from going to Hell, she asked for repentance and amendment of life. The denial of Hell is a direct attack upon the Fatima message that was mercifully given by God to guide Catholics in these tragic times of sin and iniquity.

Retrieved September 24, 2018 from https://www.crisismagazine.com/2018/save-us-from-the-deniers-of-hell

Saint of the Day

Today, September 21, 2018, is the feast day of St. Matthew, Apostle, according to Lives of the Saints by Fr. Alban Butler (first published in 1887 under the title Lives of the Saints–With Reflections for Every Day in the Year) read about this Saint at http://www.sacred-texts.com/chr/lots/lots297.htm

There is a much more extensive article about St. Matthew at Tradition in Action at https://traditioninaction.org/SOD/j092sdMatthew_9-21.htm

Reading about these Saints is a wonderful daily reflection.

Saint of the Day & Active Participation of the Laity in the Liturgy

Today, September 20, 2018, is the feast day of St. Eustachius & Companions, Martyrs, according to Lives of the Saints by Fr. Alban Butler (first published in 1887 under the title Lives of the Saints–With Reflections for Every Day in the Year), read about this day at http://www.sacred-texts.com/chr/lots/lots296.htm

Reading about these saints is a wonderful daily reflection.

Active Participation of the Laity in the Liturgy

This is at the root of the change from Vatican II’s version of the mass from the traditional Latin Mass; and the problem of using it as a basis for change is explored at Tradition in Action.

An excerpt.

The first thing that strikes us is the inability of liturgical commentators to agree on what “active,” actuosa in Latin, means in the context of lay participation in the liturgy. It is a classic case of the “equivocation fallacy” when multiple meanings of a single term are conflated and treated as if equivalent.

Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking Glass springs to mind, where words mean whatever you choose them to mean, in accordance with the “Humpty Dumpty principle” of (re)definition. (1) This is evidently not the wisest route to follow, for we all know what happened to the eponymous Egg.

The progressivists contend that actuosa must be influenced by human values, customs and institutions. In this they are supported by §§37-40 of the Vatican II Liturgy Constitution, which allow the liturgy to incorporate the cultural and social identities of all local communities, including their languages.

But this inescapably turns the decision-making process into a subjective evaluation system, so that no agreed limit can be set on what to include in the liturgy, and no easily identifiable grounds can be found for excluding anything either. (2)

Their more conservative counterparts, however, insist that actuosa means incorporating some traditional customs of genuflecting, making the sign of the Cross etc., with a dash of “dialogue” and congregational singing, plus the odd moment of silence for “contemplation.” The question is: Which of the two sides (if either) is in the right?

In order to find the true meaning of actuosa – which, as we have seen, Pius X did not use in his 1903 motu proprio – the only reliable method to settle all disputes is to check its etymology. (3) This will show us how we arrived at its present usage, which is the best indicator of what it means today.

True to form, the Latin word has not changed meaning since its use in classical antiquity. Actuosus – to give it its dictionary entry form – meant the same for Seneca and Cicero as it did for St. Augustine, all of whom used the word to describe vigorous activity involving movement of the body. (4) We know this from the work of the 8^th century Benedictine monk, Paul the Deacon, an important member of Charlemagne’s court, who recorded its meaning from Roman times for posterity. (5)

And ever since, all authoritative Latin dictionaries have defined actuosus as “very active, full of activity,” i.e., to a greater degree than other Latin words that denote activity, such as activus and actualis.

But Paul the Deacon had done more than provide a historical record. He put flesh on the bones of the word actuosus, showing how it was used to describe, for example, the actions of “saltatores et histriones” (dancers and actors). (6)

Retrieved September 20, 2018 from https://traditioninaction.org/HotTopics/f159_Dialogue_76.htm

Our Lady of La Salette & The Queen of Heaven’s Appearances

Today, September 19, 2018, is the day of Our Lady of La Salette, according to Tradition in Action, read about this day at https://traditioninaction.org/SOD/j226sd_OLLaSalette_9-19.html

Reading about these is a wonderful daily reflection.

The Queen of Heaven’s Appearances

She remains with us through her many appearances, especially during the previous century, well recounted here by this article at OnePeterFive.

An excerpt.

In a remarkable series of apparitions in the 19th century – in Rue du Bac, in Rome, in La Salette, in Lourdes, in Pontmain, in Knock – the Mother of God made herself known. The Blessed Virgin Mary left her mark not only through private encounters or spiritual messages, but in a tangible way that tens of thousands of people had seen and could believe.

She left the Miraculous Medal and its thousands of miracles at Rue du Bac. St. Catherine Labouré’s incorrupt body, another miracle, is entombed there to this day. She converted Alphonse Ratisbonne, an anti-Catholic Jew, in Rome. She appeared in La Salette to warn the people of rotten harvests, temporal and spiritual, and how to overcome them. She left a miraculous grotto and tens of thousands of healed people over the centuries at Lourdes. She appeared with St. John and St. Joseph to an entire village of people at Knock to testify to the living nature of the Saints in Heaven.

Why did Heaven decide at this point in history to bless us with such stark reminders of the eternal God?

In God’s wonderful, awe-inspiring, amazing concern for our well-being, it is clear that He was trying to prepare us for what was to come. He cared for us, for His people, for those who love Him, to do everything short of the Second Coming to steel our faith for the horrors and challenges of the 20th century.

Evolution, wars, communism, secularism, liberalism, materialism, ecumenism, and apostasy were to come in ways that no other generation ever had to face, so He gave us His Mother in a way that no other generation had received. God knew that His sheep needed help, and He sent us His Blessed Mother to stiffen our resolve and show us the way to defeat these forces of spiritual death.

The capture of the machinery of the Church by apostates – begun in the middle of the same 19th century, thrust into power with Vatican II, and let loose without restraint during the pontificate of Jorge Bergoglio – is the spiritual danger that Heaven worked so hard to prepare us for. We are here, and we are living it. It is tough, but it is no excuse to falter. We have been given concrete, modern, miraculous reasons to believe in the mission of the Church, and no matter how horrible our leaders become or how bad the scandal, none of us has any reason to apostatize. We have no reason to abandon our Mother in her hour of need and no reason to be anything but faithful to the God Who created us and sustains us.

It is important to note that St. John, when gazing upon the Woman, the Harlot of Babylon, “wonders” with “great admiration.” Some modern commentators say this passage refers to a reborn Rome – the European Union. Regardless, St. John is looking at a church that isn’t really the Church. It looks like the Church. It is located where the Church used to be. It owns the relics of the saints. It calls itself by the name of the Church. But when St. John looks really close, he can tell that it isn’t really the Church at all.

What we have now appears to be a church doing things the Church could never do. The Church could never stand in the place where St. Peter was martyred and endorse religious indifferentism. It could never call an act – capital punishment – endorsed by God for certain offenses in the Old Testament and affirmed by Christ in the New “inadmissible.” The Church could never use a liturgy where man is at the center of the service rather than God. The Church could never align with Satan and propagate errors of faith and morals around the world.

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