South Ossetia V

This post at Hot Air is pretty damning. Sarkozy negotiating away Georgia's sovereignty for a ceasefire... That's pretty sad.

So why are the Russians packing it in for a 'retrograde maneuver?'

Obviously, the cease-fire agreement did not chase the Russians back into South Ossetia. So what did? The unexpectedly strong American response is most likely responsible for the Russian reconsideration. George Bush went from oddly passive in the first hours of the crisis to angry within days. His order to start military airlifts to provide, ahem, “humanitarian” aid to Georgia probably took Russia by surprise. The EU move to kick Russia out of the G-8, where they don’t belong anyway, may also have gotten Putin’s attention.

South Ossetia IV

Tip of the hat to TitusOneNine for this blog post and link to the column.

George Pitcher's words in the Telegraph (scroll down a bit):

Pope Benedict XVI managed, from his holiday in the Italian Alps, to call for an "immediate" end to hostilities in South Ossetia and urged negotiations between Russia and Georgia over the contested province.

But it sounded like a rebuke to two squabbling children, not a plea for an end to a bloodbath, and carefully made no reference to the wider incursion into Georgia.
[...]

Not only will politicians, such as Gordon Brown and his foreign secretary, David Miliband, not break their holidays, but the Pope won't leave his ski chalet either.
[...]

But it's worth noting, for all the talk of unity between Christians when Anglicans bicker about their internal divisions, or Catholics talk of irreconcilable divisions over women priests, that when Christian unity really matters, an ecumenical Church is nowhere to be seen.

While I have neither the time nor the inclination to defend the slew of politicians whom Mr. Pitcher lists in his column, I do think that his words regarding the Holy Father's actions thus far are a bit unfair. Rereading Benedict's words now, they do seem rather pale compared to the condemnations from the US, but I wonder what Mr. Pitcher expects an octogenarian to do in the face of the KGB man Putin and his oil-funded army?

The pope's only weapon is his office's reputation for even-handedness. While condemning Russia directly would have been well and good, I doubt Mr. Putin would have batted an eye given the fact that he seems not at all publicly intimidated by the likes of the United States.

The Living Church: Revisiting Vatican II | The New York Sun
By RICHARD JOHN NEUHAUS | August 13, 2008

An interesting article. Go check it out.

South Ossetia III

Russia has moved out of South Ossetia proper and is moving through Georgia now. Reports indicate that Russia has cut the country in two by taking the main highway and is moving to cut off Abkhazia so they may fully occupy it as well.

This is a good primer on what Russia's been up to for the last eighteen years.

The Holy Father commented yesterday. This is part of the CWN article:

In his reference to the conflict, Pope Benedict remarked that the violence had already caused the deaths of innocent civilians, and forced many more to flee their homes. The fighting could escalate if it continues, the Pontiff added.

Making an appeal to the "shared Christian heritage" of Georgia and Russia-- both predominantly Orthodox nations-- the Pope promised that Catholics would pray for a quick resolution of the conflict.

He also asked international leaders to "make every effort to support and promote initiatives aimed at reaching a peaceful and lasting solution."

South Ossetia II

Danger Room is a fine source for in depth info on what's going on in Georgia. The latest post is about the cyber warfare going on as Georgia's government servers are being attacked.

South Ossetia I

Georgia: Protecting its sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Russia: Merely following the Kosovo precedent as established by the peace-loving West.

This is a hot war where neither side can escape fault nor be faulted for starting it.

Of course, the Russians have already bombed a Georgian city and there are unconfirmed reports the Georgians are engaging in ethnic cleansing...

I just went through all my bookmarks and Catholic news outlets are silent on a war between two Christian countries, even if they are by and large Orthodox.

A Fallen Hero

Like many others, I know Solzhenitsyn through his many works exposing the totalitarian regime of the Soviet Union for what it was. Since his death a few days ago, the paeans have been many both in the mainstream media and the blogosphere. But The New York Sun had a column on the 8th that paints a somewhat different picture.

For Solzhenitsyn, a survivor of the gulag system enforced by the KGB, the desire to see Russia as a great nation, its eternal spirit superior to the West's vulgar materialism, found him in old age supporting an ex-KGB man, Mr. Putin, who once said that there is no such thing as an ex-KGB man and who sees the Soviet Union's collapse as the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of modern times. Despite this, Solzhenitsyn seemed to accept Mr. Putin as a "good dictator," whose silencing of his critics enhances Russia's soul.

The author, Nina Khrushcheva, goes on to describe Solzhenitsyn's later works in his old age as "backward, preachy, conservative, unenlightened, at times even anti-Semitic..." She concludes with the following which quite adequately sums up a legacy:

The tragedy of Solzhenitsyn is that, although he played a mighty role in liberating Russia from totalitarianism, he had nothing to say to ordinary Russians after their liberation, except to chastise them. Yet perhaps one day we Russians will escape our false dreams, and when that day comes, the heroic Solzhenitsyn, the Solzhenitsyn who could never surrender or be corrupted, will be restored to us. But it is now that we need that Solzhenitsyn most. For to paraphrase Milton's "Paradise Lost" on the illumination of Hell, "Solzhenitsyn's is no light, but rather darkness visible."

Suppression: Such a Harsh Word

Damien Thompson is reporting the suppression of a parish and the punishment of its priest.

The priest:

Fr Lawler told me [Thompson] today: "This is a parish that does exactly what the Holy Father tells us to do, celebrating the Mass reverently in the old and new forms. The bishop is determined to squash it, and to destroy me because he doesn't want me moving to another parish and doing the same thing."

The chancery:

Instead, the Vicar General, one Mgr McQuinn, has written to him [Father Lawler], telling him: "The Bishop ... believes your ministry to be divisive, is uncertain that ordinary pastoral care of parishioners is taking place and does not have confidence that you will celebrate the Ordinary Form of the Mass with a generous heart for the vast majority of parishioners who expect Sunday and weekday Masses to be in English and at an altar facing the people."

Apparently Father Lawler has been on the bishop's list for awhile and this seems to be the climax of much tension. The parish has retained a canon lawyer and appealing to Rome.

I would assume that Mr. Thompson would not report such a blatant act as this without first getting his ducks in a row. That the bishop of Leeds would take such drastic action is telling. I would personally like to know the circumstances behind the 'planned' round of closings and if this church was slated for closure before or after all this cropped up. That would be even more damning.

A New Link

Rorate Caeli has a link to the new Institute of Christ the King website. After browsing through it, I put the link down the left hand column along with a link to the FSSP.

The ICK website is very pretty and well designed, quite easy to navigate. Go have a look.

Should I Send This?

Dear Father Z,

If you are looking for a change of pace and wish to form a group, I humbly invite you to join my blog. Since I had surgery last year, I've been less than diligent in posting regularly, but with a partner of your caliber, I'm sure good things will happen while we share the workload. What do you think? Interested?

On the other hand, if you're looking for a partner for your blog, I'd be happy to offer my services. I have little knowledge of the inner workings of the Church beyond what I've read in the blogosphere, but I like to think I've learned some good places to check the news and then comment appropriately. Interested? ;)

Yours in Christ,
...

Huzzah!

I think Google has deemed that the blog is not spam. I didn't get the warning message on the dashboard page.

Reminder:

When: Sunday, August 3rd, 1:30pm

What: Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite aka the Gregorian Rite aka the Mass of Pius V aka the Mass of Blessed John XXIII aka the Traditional Latin Mass

Where: St. Wenceslaus' Church, 623 Fairchild Street, Iowa City, Iowa 52245

I may take the camera for pictures, but don't get your hopes up.

An Online Poll

Ignoring everything wrong with how this question is phrased...

"Should the Roman Catholic Church ordain women?"

Scroll down and vote. 'No' would be preferable (that is if you value the redemption of your soul). ;)

Comments on the Anglican Situation

Mr. Peter Karl T. Perkins of Victoria, Canada is one of many contributors to the comments over at Rorate Caeli. In one of his various comments, he asserts that after the Traditional Anglican Communion and those of the Church of England who wish to enter into communion with Rome complete an organizational structure, the GAFCON/Global South community of Anglican churches will "join a uniate TAC within five years, bringing one-third of the world's Anglicans with them."

I bring this up because I wish to invite Mr. Perkins to lay out his thoughts on why the Global South and GAFCON would be willing to enter into communion with Rome when so much of their theology and practice seems to me more along the protestant rather than the Catholic tradition.

Read This and Consider

Is Google Making Us Stupid?
Nicholas Carr, July/August 2008 Atlantic Monthly

Read all of it at once, don't be distracted and break off or else you'll prove the point of the article.

I'm interested in what effect this may have on our religious beliefs. I would submit that the Internet is having an effect. How do we comprehend God with our brains fundamentally rewritten? Is it bringing us closer to God or is it leading us away?

WYD 08

Father Z has video.

The Anglican Situation

As I reported the other day, various sources familiar with the situation with the TAC say that things are moving forward and that it could be resolved anytime now.

In the meantime, the Church of England voted to 'ordain' women. Due to this, a sizable group led by an Anglican 'bishop' has asked to come over to Rome. All kinds of links can be found at the blogs listed at the left under Daily Readings, so I'm not going to link to them all here.

As one commenter at one of those blogs pointed out, this situation with the Church of England has been on its way for years and years, so it stands to reason that Rome has a contingency plan for just this situation. What it turns out to be remains to be seen.

'Traditional Latin Mass' Announced

This has been out there awhile, but I'll post it anyway:

Una Voce Quad Cities takes great pleasure in making the following announcement:

Beginning August 3, 2008, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass will be offered in the extraordinary form (Missa Cantata) every Sunday at 4pm at St. Anthony's Church in Davenport, Iowa. Fr. Scott Lemaster, Fr. David Brownfield, and Fr. Tim Regan will alternate in offering the Mass. For parish information see http://www.stanthonysdavenport.4lpi.com.

Our heartfelt gratitude goes to Bishop Martin Amos and his director of liturgy, Deacon Frank Agnoli, who administered a diocese-wide survey of interest in the Traditional Latin Mass and then encouraged six diocesan priests to seek training in the extraordinary form. We are also deeply grateful to these priests (three of whom will be offering the Traditional Mass at St. Wenceslaus in Iowa City, also beginning August 3rd, at 1:30pm) for sacrificing their time and energy to offer us the ancient form of Mass, and to the Canons Regular of St. John Cantius in Chicago who offered the (by all accounts superb) training program they attended in May.

Deo Gratias!

After the release of SP, I found my way onto someone's email list for organizing the Extraordinary Form here in IC, so I've been following along with their efforts. It is pleasing to see such efforts come to fruition.

SSPX Letter Content?

Rorate Caeli has a story from I.MEDIA via AFP that the SSPX superior-general's letter has asked that the excommunications be lifted. Go read the dispatch over there.

Coming Home to Rome

With events with the SSPX moving forward to some form of conclusion (or at least a new condition), there is also word out there that the process continues for the Traditional Anglican Communion's petition for communion with the Church of Rome. Two comments at the blog TitusOneNine shed light on the subject.

In the first comment, 'Ad Orientem' has this to say:

TAC has pretty much written off the Anglican Communion and the ABC. They are mostly Anglo-Catholic in their orientation and are far more conservative than most of the GAFCON crowd rejecting women’s ordination among other things. They really would have no reason to participate in GAFCON since they have submitted a petition to the Pope in Rome asking to be received into communion with the Holy See as a sort of uniate Anglican Rite Church analogous to the Byzantine Rite Catholics.

The last I heard was their petition is being handled by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) in Rome, and they are waiting for a reply from the Vatican. In making this petition they have of course petty much signed onto all of the dogmatic teachings of the Roman Catholic Church. They hope to retain a distinctly Anglican liturgy and a married clergy. There have been a number of rumors circulating of late that Rome might be preparing to make some sort of decision but are holding off until after the Lamberth meeting as a courtesy to the ABC. This however is strictly rumor, and the sources are not what I would call reliable.

In the second, Dr. William Tighe follows up with this bit of information:

This accords with what I have heard, too. However, since all the TAC bishops who were present at their Portsmouth Synod in England last October individually signed their names to both a copy of the *Catechism of the Catholic Church* and to a document declaring their acceptance of all that that catechism contains, and sent a delegation to Rome immediately thereafter to deliver the document to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, I see no reason for the qualification “pretty much” in “they have of course petty much signed onto all of the dogmatic teachings of the Roman Catholic Church,” as they have clearly and unequivocally done so.

There was a rumor that Rowan Williams had made a direct appeal to the pope to defer the promulgation of any “Anglican Uniate (sic) Church” until after the Lambeth Conference. I understand that Lambeth Palace issued a formal disavowal in late May that any such request had been made. Whatever the truth of this, I have heard from several well-informed (and separate) sources that the project is progressing slowly in Rome, and has the favor of the pope himself.

The comments come from a post at TitusOneNine regarding the meeting of Anglican bishops in Jerusalem that has just concluded. If you're interested in that event, Times of London correspondent Ruth Gledhill has more.

As for the Priestly Society of St. Pius X and its travails, Father Z and Rorate Caeli are doing an outstanding job keeping us up to date.

Time to Call It?

Rorate Caeli has this quote from the superior-general of the SSPX, Bishop Bernard Fellay that was taken from here:

And now, we have a perfectly liberal Pope, my very dear brothers. As he goes to this country [the United States] which is founded upon Masonic principles, that is, of a revolution, of a rebellion against God. And, well, he expressed his admiration, his fascination before this country which has decided to grant liberty to all religions. He goes so far as to condemn the confessional State. And he is called traditional! And this is true, this is true: he is perfectly liberal, perfectly contradictory. He has some good sides, the sides which we hail, for which we rejoice, such as what he has done for the Traditional liturgy.

What a mystery, my very dear brothers, what a mystery!

Father Z has commentary on the subject:

I cannot believe that a person who desires unity with the Roman Pontiff would stand up in a pulpit and say this sort of thing about the reigning Pope.

Thinking it is one thing, but saying it in a sermon is another.
However, this statement does underscore what I have been saying all along. The real problem for the SSPX is not so much the liturgical issue or the excommunications, or even some juridical structure they could fit into. Those things can be solved with the a few signatures.

The real obstacle is the Church’s teaching about religious liberty.

I agree with Father Z's assessment. I'd go so far as to say that it is perhaps time to step back and reflect. The Church is moving forward along other avenues. The SSPX one looks as though the barricade will not be removed anytime soon. Time to follow another of those avenues until this one is open.

The funny thing is that if we all lived with a Church and a society that Bishop Fellay so obviously prefers, he and his brethren would probably not be in a position to move forward with their views as they are now.