Catholic Socialism

Unfortunately, it still remains a potent force in the Church, as this article from The Stream notes.

An excerpt.

The useful church news site Crux reports:

Italian Cardinal Edoardo Menichelli, from the diocese of Ancona, spoke to the Italian site Vatican Insider and promised a fight against capitalism similar to the one against communism under Pope St. John Paul II.

Of course, John Paul II had direct, personal experience of Communism. Neither Cardinal Menichelli nor Pope Francis has ever lived in anything like a free economy; both Italy’s and Argentina’s economies are prime examples of “crony capitalism,” a system in which powerful private interests use government intervention to shackle the market and fleece consumers through a mishmash of cronyism, subsidies, nepotism, and corruption.

Actually, those two countries are so far gone in this direction that it would be more accurate to describe their systems as “crony socialism.” In such a system, entrenched business interests wield populist rhetoric and back-room connections to boost prices and crush competitors — often in collusion with Marxist-controlled labor unions. So judging “capitalism” by their experiences with such countries is about as fair as evaluating democratic socialism based on Ceausescu’s Romania.

It can be hard for those who have never seen a free economy operate to believe that a society with transparent rules and honest, limited government can really exist — much less, that such societies typically prosper and improve the prospects for every class, especially the poor. Such colors are invisible to those born in deeply unfree economies, where the economic math is confined to zero-sum equations: If one man becomes a bit richer, it’s because he has stolen from the poor. In conditions of crony capitalism, outright socialism or feudalism, such an assertion is usually true.

Thus, the fierce anti-business rhetoric of many on the Catholic New Left might well be justified, if applied to oligarchs who manipulate government power via cronyism. But when such language is used indiscriminately to denounce honest businessmen, and blended with muddled versions of Christian warnings against materialism, the result veers between high-toned, harrumphing nonsense and historical revisionist goofiness.

We all remember the long list of capitalist countries that have descended into mass starvation, and the gulags, torture and political trials that marred American, British and Canadian history.  Oh wait, such atrocities happened not in those but in socialist countries. The capitalist countries, for all their flaws, raised the lower classes out of extreme poverty by the millions and now billions.

But with the Catholic New Left such historical facts, and even human reason, are asked to retire back awhile. Leftist economics are now a matter of dogma, imposed by religious authority:

The prelate said that the social dimension is an integral part of the faith, and quoted Francis’ apostolic exhortation, Evangelii Gaudium, in which the pontiff warned against ideologies that defend absolute market freedom and financial speculation. [emphasis added]

Retrieved February 20, 2015 from https://stream.org/italian-cardinal-promises-war-capitalism/

 

 

Soldier of Christ

It is one of the most ancient descriptors of the faithful, yet today, one hardly ever hears it, as this superb article by Anthony Esolen in The Catholic Thing notes.

An excerpt.

I’ve recently written that a young man can attend ten years of Sunday Mass at almost any Catholic church in the United States, and, with the sole exception of a bowdlerized version of For All the Saints on All Saints’ Day, never once sing a masculine hymn that exhorts us to take up our spiritual arms and fight for Christ.

There’s no disputing this. If you are using Gather, Glory and Praise, Worship III or IV, or anything else from OCP or GIA, you cannot possibly have sung one of those hymns. There aren’t any in those hymnals. They have been expunged.

To give my readers a sense of the treasures we have buried in the basement, I submit O Valiant Hearts. It is an excellent hymn, fit for a Sunday near to Veterans’ Day or Memorial Day, or for the funeral of a soldier:

“O valiant hearts, who to your glory came,

Through dust of conflict and through battle-flame;

Tranquil you lie, your knightly virtue proved,

Your memory hallowed in the land you loved…

John Arkwright wrote those words in 1919, just after the terrible first World War. We do not have to cheer for England’s part in that war to cherish valor when we see it. The men who fought “scorned themselves to save,” says the poet, and whatever may be the shifting sentiments of anyone in the midst of battle, for Christian soldiers that is no more than the truth.

They heard the call of duty to man and love of country, and they answered that call. Now they await the trump of doom, when the nations of earth shall be no more. For them it will be the last and greatest reveille, the muster of the body from the grave, and their ranks on ranks will join those of the heavenly armies.

Even now I fear that some of my readers are breaking out in hives. Shame on us. The language of spiritual warfare is everywhere to be found in both Testaments, Old and New. Jesus Himself says, “I come not to bring peace, but a sword,” and He is the Prince of Peace.

The poet understands that the Christian soldier follows the Captain who has gone before him. Long ago, on that bleak redoubt in Palestine, a cry resounded over the stillness of the dead earth. It is the battle cry of Jesus, the cry of ultimate obedience and of the last drop of blood shed for His enemies. “Father, into Thy hands I commend my spirit,” said He, and with a groan He gave up the ghost.

Retrieved February 10, 2015 from http://www.thecatholicthing.org/2015/02/10/treasure-basement/

Happy Irony Week

That’s the title of this superb blog post from Questions from a Ewe.

Here’s an excerpt.

Boys and girls, a strange week it is indeed, and it’s only Monday.  First, I read an article by Sr. Mary Ann Walsh in “America” magazine touting the Catholic Church as superior in offering career advancement opportunities for women as compared to secular industries.  Then I gazed upon the bizarre female bondage artistic choice for the cover of the Pontifical Council on Culture’s working document regarding women. …

It must be “happy irony week” in the Catholic Church because what else explains all this?

Let’s first enjoy the “America” magazine article’s irony in and of itselt.  However, I will preface my comments with this thought: I work in the secular world as an executive and I’ve also done a lot of volunteering in the Catholic Church.  “Career advancement opportunities for women” just has never been a phrase I use when describing the Catholic Church…never…not once.

Sr. Mary Ann’s article highlights statistics indicating the percentage of women CEOs for Catholic affiliated organizations such as hospitals is higher than for secular companies.  She fails to mention that those institutions cannot call themselves “Catholic” without the approval of the reigning bishop, the CEO of the local diocese.  How many of those bishop/CEOs are women?   The answer is “the empty set.”

Furthermore, many of those Catholic institutions were created by religious sisters – the same women who of late have been labeled by the reigning (male) hierarchs as being “radical feminists” as though they suffer from some incurable terminal disease.  So, I’m trying to get this straight… Women who lead Catholic institutions are not radical feminists when they can be used as decoys for diverting attention from the church’s stifling sexism and discrimination?  But when those women try to act in any way with which the local bishop/CEO disapproves, then they are labeled “radical feminists” and fired?  Way to showcase those female leadership opportunities the church offers…

Retrieved February 9, 2015 from http://questionsfromaewe.blogspot.com/2015/02/happy-irony-week.html

 

Catholic Leadership & Capital Punishment

The Catholic Church has always supported capital punishment as is clear throughout the history of the Church; a point I made in my book Capital Punishment & Catholic Social Teaching: A Tradition of Support.

For links to my books at Amazon go to http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=david+h+lukenbill

An excerpt:

This book is a defense of the scriptural and traditional Catholic position of support for capital punishment as expressed in the two universal catechisms, the Catechism of the Council of Trent, published by Pope Pius V in 1566, and the Catechism of the Catholic Church, published by Pope John Paul II in 1992 & 1997 (First & Second Edition), in response to calls for its abolition.

Based on scripture and tradition, calls for abolition are premature, though the call has generated a renewed focus on not only the magisterial history of this most ancient of teachings, but also its theological resonance within the expression of that teaching by the Fathers of the Church—ancient and modern—who most deeply reflected on it.

While Catholic social teaching has always supported capital punishment, it has been opposed by some in the Catholic hierarchy as an unnecessary criminal justice tool, with current criminal justice technology being presented as providing adequate protection of the innocent against the aggressor,…

Capital punishment as a way of protecting the innocent is one of the central issues in the social teaching of the Church, but the ambiguity about it—particularly in the United States—over the past several decades after two millennia of certainty, places the credibility of the teaching itself at risk, and that negatively impacts the Church’s social teaching as an effective tool for criminal transformation, further risking the immortal souls of those who are lost and whose being found largely relies on the constancy of the teaching of the Catholic Church, on eternally walking the eternal talking.

My personal thinking on capital punishment has gone through three phases.

As a former criminal—thief and robber—and having served twelve years in maximum security federal and state prisons where I gained an intimate knowledge of unrepentant evil, I was initially a supporter of capital punishment, especially for capital crimes against innocent women and children, crimes professional criminals always associate with its just use.

When I was becoming a Catholic, I moved in opposition to it, after being taught during the Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults (RCIA) that the Church was in opposition to it, and it was very important to me to think with the Church in all things.

After becoming Catholic and conducting my own study, I returned to a position of support when I learned that the Church’s teaching did not oppose it, only the improper use of it. My position has become more certain as I realized how deeply support for capital punishment is woven into Church doctrine as an important aspect of the protection of the innocent against the murderer, “for all time” as the Holy See (1997) in the Catechism notes:

2260 The covenant between God and mankind is interwoven with reminders of God’s gift of human life and man’s murderous violence:

For your lifeblood I will surely require a reckoning…. Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for God made man in his own image. (Genesis 9:5-6)

The Old Testament always considered blood a sacred sign of life. (Leviticus 17:14)  This teaching remains necessary for all time. (#2260)

Lukenbill, (pp 9-13)

A story from Catholic News Agency reports on new efforts by Catholic Bishops to abolish capital punishment.

An excerpt.

Washington D.C., Jan 28, 2015 / 03:15 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Several bishops in the U.S. have welcomed the Supreme Court’s decision to re-examine death penalty protocols, and have called for the abolition of the death penalty.

“We pray that the court’s review of these protocols will lead to the recognition that institutionalized practices of violence against any person erode reverence for the sanctity of every human life. Capital punishment must end,” Cardinal Sean O’Malley of Boston, who chairs the U.S. bishops’ pro-life activities committee, said Jan. 27.

Archbishop Thomas Wenski of Miami, who chairs the committee on domestic justice, said recent executions have shown “how the use of the death penalty devalues human life and diminishes respect for human dignity.”

The U.S. Supreme Court has announced it will consider the case Glossip v. Gross, brought by three Oklahoma death row inmates, Richard Glossip, John Grant, and Benjamin Cole.

The inmates’ lawsuit asks the court to reject the three-drug protocol used in Oklahoma executions, saying it can cause extreme pain that violates constitutional bans on cruel and unusual punishment. Among the drugs in the cocktail is midazolam, a sedative.

The case was filed in response to the botched April 2014 execution of Clayton Lockett in Oklahoma, which took more than 40 minutes. Although sedated, his body writhed and he breathed heavily as he was being killed. He eventually died of a heart attack.

Retrieved January 29, 2015 from http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/bishops-use-supreme-court-case-to-call-for-death-penalty-abolition-81973/

Great News, Great Books

Vatican Information Service News

There is no better way to begin your day than reading these news items from the Holy Father. Subscribe for daily delivery at http://www.visnews-en.blogspot.com/

Twelve Great Catholic Books (Alphabetical Order by Author)

The best books, in my opinion, about our faith.

The Spirit of Catholicism, by Karl Adam (Pope Benedict XVI said it was the book he grew up with, and it lives up to that billing.)

Introduction to Christianity, by Pope Benedict XVI (Extraordinary reflection on the Apostle’s Creed)

Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition (The source book)

The Soul of the Apostolate, by Jean-Baptist Chautard O.C.S.O (The source book for those who work in an apostolate)

Evangelii Gaudium, by Pope Francis (Our Pope’s Apostolic Exhortation)

The New American Bible, (2008) I love this edition and the words of Christ in red are very nice. This supplements my perennial favorite the Douay-Rheims, Haydock Edition.

St. Thomas Aquinas Theological Texts, Selected and Translated by Thomas Gilby(Essence of the Angelic Doctor)

The Lord, by Romano Guardini (Incomparable)

Pierre Teilhard De Chardin Writings, Selected by Ursula King (The essence of Teilhard, who will someday be recognized as a Doctor of the Church)

Liturgy and Contemplation, by Jacques and Raissa Maritain (The best from a couple who will someday be raised to sainthood)

Life of Christ, by Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen (Classic)

Tranquillitas Ordinis, by George Weigel (Best book ever written on war and peace)

Church & State

The idea that they should be congruent has a long history, as this article from Wikipedia notes.

An excerpt.

Symphonia (Greek: συμφωνία “accord”) is a concept (theory) in Eastern Orthodox Christian theological and political thinking, which posits that church and state are to be complementary and exhibit mutual respect.

The theory can be traced back to Roman Emperor Constantine the Great (324-337). Justinian I expressed this position when he said: “A distinction is drawn between the imperial authority and the priesthood, the former being concerned with human affairs and the latter with things divine; the two are regarded as closely interdependent, but, at least in theory, neither is subordinated to the other.” Such a position is scripturally based as evidenced in several Old Testament texts; the most notable references being that of Melchizedek the priest-king and the brotherly relationship between Aaron, the high priest, and Moses, the leader of Israel from Egypt.

The theory is believed to have been embodied in the Byzantine Empire, where ecclesiastical and civil law were indivisible (the ecclesiastical laws were enacted by the emperor). It was reasserted in the Stoglav, a church code promulgated in the Tsardom of Russia in 1551. In Stanley Harakas’ view, “there are almost no existing presuppositions for its implementation as a system of Church-state relations in our times”, and “at most, it presents ‘an impossible ideal’ in the contemporary world, which may illumine some attitudes for Orthodox Christians regarding their views of the well-ordered state as well as the relationship of the Church toward the state.”

The Symphonia theory became the subject of political discussion in Russia^[4] when it was brought up and dwelt upon by Patriarch Kirill of Moscow in President Dmitry Medvedev‘s presence the next day after Kirill’s accession to the Patriarchal throne on February 1, 2009.

Retrieved January 3, 2015 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symphonia_%28theology%29

The Sign of Peace

As a convert I always accepted this practice as a normal part of the Mass, but once I attended the Latin Mass, realized it was not; and that is part of the reason I prefer the Latin Old Mass over the vernacular New Mass.

The sign of peace breaks up the contemplative, reflective posture so important to Mass, something this article from Crisis Magazine notes.

An excerpt.

At the request of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, a requisite inquiry into the timely appropriateness of the Latin Rite’s gesture of peace shared amongst the people during the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass commenced almost a decade ago. The Vatican’s Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments (“the Congregation”), under the papal authority of a new Holy Father, Francis, disseminated publicly this year their conclusions on the placement of the gesture. In its Circular Letter on the Ritual Expression of the Gift of Peace at Mass, the Congregation, although reiterating authoritative instruction on the avoidance of gestural abuses, decided that the gesture shall remain in the current liturgical place.

It is indeed born of a sound theology that amongst the faithful there is some sign of peace during the Mass, which in the current Novus Ordo Missae (contemporary Ordinary Mass) occurs prior to the breaking of the consecrated body and soon before Catholics of good conscience are invited to consume the actual flesh and blood of God. Further, the gesture also correlates with doctrinal teaching on communal worship and Christian fraternity.

Benedict XVI’s request for study of the topic, however, brings papal credence to the idea that the placement of the gesture is thoroughly and unreasonably anachronistic. Quoth Benedict XVI 2007 post-synodal apostolic exhortation Sacramentum Caritatis:

Taking into account ancient and venerable customs and the wishes expressed by the Synod Fathers, I have asked the competent curial offices to study the possibility of moving the sign of peace to another place, such as before the presentation of the gifts at the altar.

Indeed, it is the place of the peace gesture in the Novus Ordo Missae that is the problem.

Rather than reminding the faithful that they are sharing in a solemn sacrifice and preparing to participate communally in worship (lex orandi), and in the Supper of the Lord, receiving His very body and blood as did the apostles on the night that they were told He was to become the Passover Paschal Lamb, the gesture of peace in its current place obliterates the reverence of the moment.

As Saint John Paul II reminded the faithful in his encyclical letter Ecclesia De Eucharistia: “Every priest who celebrates Holy Mass, together with the Christian community which takes part in it, is led back in spirit to that place and that hour.” By “that hour,” John Paul II meant “the hour of his Cross and glorification.”

If at “that hour” Mary and John on Calvary looked up to the cross, smiled, hugged, and shook hands, this column would have nary any authority; but, alas, the Gospel of John says Mary and John did nothing of the sort.

The mind and soul are to be fixed upon the transsubstantiatio (“transubstantiation”) occurring on the altar; thus one is to be focused in soul, mind, and body, solely upon God.

The anachronistic confraternal peace gesture takes the soul, mind, and body away from the necessary contemplative prayer, thought, and internal preparation in which one should be engaged immediately prior to the receipt of Holy Communion. In a few short liturgical seconds, one is re-directed from the rightful focus on Christ and the Father (the latter most directly through the recitation of Jesus’ own Pater Noster [“Our Father”]), and onto the people by way of the peace gesture. The liturgy then swiftly reverts focus back onto the Lord with the chanting of the Agnus Dei (“Lamb of God”), which repeats twice the request of the faithful for the Lord to “have mercy on us,” which is surely aidful in, and companion to, a proper examination of conscience and soul in preparation for unworthy receipt of Holy Communion. One need not have considerable knowledge of the liturgy to see that the peace gesture just does not fit.

Retrieved December 29, 2014 from http://www.crisismagazine.com/2014/vaticans-sign-peace-liturgical-placement-affirmation-missed-opportunity-reclamation-reverential-mass

Peter, Speaking to the Curia

Powerful speech, good for all in positions of leadership to hear, from Vatican Information Services.

An excerpt.

Vatican City, 22 December 2014 (VIS) – This morning in the Clementine Hall the Holy Father held his annual meeting with the Roman Curia to exchange Christmas greetings with the members of its component dicasteries, councils, offices, tribunals and commissions. “It is good to think of the Roman Curia as a small model of the Church, that is, a body that seeks, seriously and on a daily basis, to be more alive, healthier, more harmonious and more united in itself and with Christ”.

“The Curia is always required to better itself and to grow in communion, sanctity and wisdom to fully accomplish its mission. However, like any body, it is exposed to sickness, malfunction and infirmity. … I would like to mention some of these illnesses that we encounter most frequently in our life in the Curia. They are illnesses and temptations that weaken our service to the Lord”, continued the Pontiff, who after inviting all those present to an examination of conscience to prepare themselves for Christmas, listed the most common Curial ailments:

The first is “the sickness of considering oneself ‘immortal’, ‘immune’ or ‘indispensable’, neglecting the necessary and habitual controls. A Curia that is not self-critical, that does not stay up-to-date, that does not seek to better itself, is an ailing body. … It is the sickness of the rich fool who thinks he will live for all eternity, and of those who transform themselves into masters and believe themselves superior to others, rather than at their service”.

The second is “’Martha-ism’, or excessive industriousness; the sickness of those who immerse themselves in work, inevitably neglecting ‘the better part’ of sitting at Jesus’ feet. Therefore, Jesus required his disciples to rest a little, as neglecting the necessary rest leads to stress and agitation. Rest, once one who has brought his or her mission to a close, is a necessary duty and must be taken seriously: in spending a little time with relatives and respecting the holidays as a time for spiritual and physical replenishment, it is necessary to learn the teaching of Ecclesiastes, that ‘there is a time for everything’”.

Retrieved December 22, 2014 from http://www.vis.va/vissolr/index.php?vi=all&dl=c0e30e18-7087-2e6f-9311-549836b8159f&dl_t=text/xml&dl_a=y&ul=1&ev=1

 

Catholics in Europe

A very nice roundup from The Catholic Thing.

An excerpt.

Northern Europe has become one of the world’s least religious regions. British Prime Minister David Cameron, a Conservative, has legalized same-sex “marriage” and said that he opposes abortion. . .after twenty weeks of pregnancy. A decade ago, Scandinavian Christian Democrats, whose national flags contain crosses, opposed including references to Christianity’s role in European culture in the European Constitution’s preamble. In today’s Britain and Scandinavia, laissez-faire morality is the reigning political dogma and religious apathy is the dominant worldview.

At the same time, the state churches of the region have retained some social importance. In Britain, the queen remains head of the Church of England, while Anglican bishops are peers in the House of Lords. Meanwhile, polls consistently show that levels of trust in the Lutheran Church are high in Scandinavia. Most Scandinavians are baptized, married (if they marry – over half of births are to non-married couples), and buried by state churches. In Sweden, most families light Advent candles and St. Lucy’s Day processions remain popular.

André Malraux predicted that the 21st century would be religious, or it would not be at all. Sociologists note that, even in secularized societies, people thirst for things spiritual. Despite the aforementioned social and cultural visibility of Protestantism in Northern Europe, however, the Lutheran and Anglican Churches there are dying. British sociologists predict that practicing Anglicans will soon meet the fate of the Dodo and woolly mammoth, falling from 800,000 to just 50,000 by mid-century (Episcopalians face similar disastrous prospects in North America). In Sweden, 4 percent of Lutherans attend services regularly, while the corresponding figures in Norway and Finland are below 2 percent.

By contrast, the Catholic Church is experiencing a mini-renaissance in Northern Europe. There are currently more practicing Catholics than Anglicans in Britain. In Scandinavia, there are about 600,000 Catholics, roughly 3 percent of the region’s population (a proportion similar to that of Catholics in Asia). Certainly, part of this has to do with immigration. Since the European Union expanded to include less prosperous former East Bloc states in 2004, Scandinavia and the British Isles have been deluged by immigrants from the Catholic nations of Poland (2.2 million Poles have left their country in the past decade), Slovakia, Croatia, and Lithuania.

While Mass is celebrated in Polish or Serbo-Croatian across Northern Europe, the region’s indigenous population is also being drawn to the Catholic Church. In the past decade, the number of British seminarians has grown fourfold. This cannot be explained by immigration (young Polish immigrants who enter seminary usually go home) or by short bursts of enthusiasm, such as that after Pope Benedict XVI’s visit in 2010, as this upward tendency has been ongoing for ten years.

Retrieved November 29, 2014 from http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2014/a-catholic-revival-in-northern-europe.html

You Can’t Make This Stuff Up!

The pope appointing a sexual abuse prosecutor who helped hide a sexual abusive priest is tragically bizarre, but it has apparently happened, as the Boston Globe reports, and though follow-up stories from the Vatican attempted to change the narrative, the essential elements seem accurate.

An excerpt.

A prominent American Jesuit recently named by Pope Francis to prosecute priests accused of sexually abusing minors under church law was himself one of several Catholic officials who allowed a notorious abusive priest to remain in ministry for years after learning of his long history of sexual abuses, legal documents show.

The Rev. Robert J. Geisinger, named in September as the Vatican’s “promoter of justice,’’ was the second-highest-ranking official among the Chicago Jesuits in the 1990s when leaders were facing multiple abuse complaints against the Rev. Donald J. McGuire, a globe-trotting priest with many influential supporters, including Mother Teresa of Calcutta.

But the Jesuits failed to notify police or take effective steps to prevent McGuire from continuing to molest minors.

Documents examined by the Globe, most of them church records produced during lawsuits filed by McGuire’s victims, show Geisinger had detailed knowledge of the complaints against McGuire as early as 1995 and advised officials in Chicago on how to discipline McGuire as late as August 2002.

McGuire was finally convicted in 2006 by a Wisconsin jury of molesting two boys who had notified civil authorities. He was also convicted on federal charges in 2008 and is serving a 25-year-prison sentence.

“It’s astonishing that, for such a high-profile, sensitive position, the Vatican wouldn’t want someone whose background is unassailable, in the sense that there shouldn’t even be questions raised,” Philip F. Lawler, the editor of Catholic World News, said of Geisinger. Lawler has been a prominent critic of the church’s handling of the sex abuse crisis.

Geisinger, reached at his Rome office, referred questions to the Vatican press office, which expressed confidence in his abilities, saying, “the Holy See fully expects Father Geisinger to continue to do an excellent job as promoter of justice, based on his prosecution record, his commitment to justice, and his concern for victims.”

Retrieved November 24, 2014 from http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2014/11/22/vatican-new-top-prosecutor-abusive-priests-implicated-past-failure-stop-notorious-abuser-donald-mcguire/gPaBPJUdvuTy5PSTl1j5sM/story.html