Saturday Morning

I always feel better after Confession. I'm not very good at it, but after I get out of it, I usually have a comtemplative smile.

On my way out, I picked up a calendar for next year with all the seasons and feast days. As I walked out and looked at the calendar, I was pleased by it. If nothing else tells us what kind of times we are living in in the Church, it is a calendar that has on its front Pope Benedict XVI and titled 'Catholic Traditions'.

I need some help. Back when I was in seventh grade, I was included as in my region's junior high choir. Bucking the trend that God and public school must be completely separated, we sang a medley of 'Gloria', 'Adoremus' and 'Kyrie'. At the same concert, the high school all-state choir performed as well and three of their five selections were about praising God (with their final song being 'Battle Hymn of the Republic'). Their first song consisted of the following as I remember it and I've always been on the look-out for the full lyrics since then, but I've never found them. It was a very short a cappella piece, a very nice one.

What I remember:

Come let us sing
Sing to the Lord our God
And raise a joyful voice (something)
Sing to God a song of joy.

Come let us sing
Come let us sing
Sing to the Lord our God
(something)
Sing to God a song of joy!

Anyone know it?

Dear Leader, Holy Father

Spengler:

None of the political leaders of the West, and few of the West's opinion leaders, comprehend this. We are left with the anomaly that the only effective leader of the West is a man wholly averse to war, a pope who took his name from the Benedict who interceded for peace during World War I. Benedict XVI, alone among the leaders of the Christian world, challenges Islam as a religion, as he did in his September 2006 Regensburg address. Who is Joseph Ratzinger, this decisive figure of our times, and what led the Catholic Church to elect him?

His review/exposition on 'Twentieth Century Catholic Theologians', by Father Fergus Kerr.

Junk Mail Christianity

Since I subscribed to NCRegister (but since let it lapse), I've gotten all kinds of junk mail from various orders and causes and the like that I'd like to donate to, but let's face it: I'm a walking charity case myself. :D

But that's beside the point...

I went through mail yesterday afternoon after I got home and two things stood out. One Benedictine monastery sent me a St. Benedict prayer card as well as a CD of their chant work along with a little pamphlet describing what's on the CD. One problem though: I'm deaf. ;)

In another letter I opened up yesterday, I received a set of rosary beads and a 'How To Pray The Rosary' pamphlet. Not exactly high quality stuff, but definitely something worth having.

Prayer cards...
Chant CDs...
Rosary beads...

The mail is a good thing when it comes to providing one with such things. :)

Audiences

I don't normally post these unless it's someone interesting. An archbishop from India isn't too out of the ordinary, but his name sure is:

VATICAN CITY, OCT 26, 2007 (VIS) - The Holy Father today received in separate audiences:

- Cardinal Telesphore Placidus Toppo, archbishop of Ranchi, India.

Someone named after my patron saint! How splendid. :D

Cardinal Biffi in his own words

Sandro Magister has a run-down of Cardinal Biffi of Bologna with extracts from His Eminence's new memoirs, published now as he reaches the age of eighty and thus passes from the electorate of the College of Cardinals. The entire piece is worth reading, but a section in particular stands out (my bolding):

"4. Finally, I would like to point out to the new pope the incredible phenomenon of 'Dominus Iesus': a document explicitly endorsed and publicly approved by John Paul II; a document for which I am pleased to express my vibrant gratitude to Cardinal Ratzinger. That Jesus is the only necessary Savior of all is a truth that for over twenty centuries - beginning with Peter's discourse after Pentecost - it was never felt necessity to restate. This truth is, so to speak, the minimum threshold of the faith; it is the primordial certitude, it is among believers the simple and most essential fact. In two thousand years this has never been brought into doubt, not even during the crisis of Arianism, and not even during the upheaval of the Protestant Reformation. The fact of needing to issue a reminder of this in our time tells us the extent of the gravity of the current situation. And yet this document, which recalls the most basic, most simple, most essential certitude, has been called into question. It has been contested at all levels: at all levels of pastoral action, of theological instruction, of the hierarchy.

"5. A good Catholic told me about asking his pastor to let him make a presentation of 'Dominus Iesus' to the parish community. The pastor (an otherwise excellent and well-intentioned priest) replied to him: 'Let it go. That's a document that divides.' What a discovery! Jesus himself said: 'I have come to bring division' (Luke 12:51). But too many of Jesus' words are today censured among Christians; or at least among the most vocal of them."

Catholic Education

Aside from the larger places like Notre Dame, Boston College or Georgetown, I've always been interested in the status of the smaller places that advertise themselves as 'traditional' and all the other adjectives.

Father Z has a long post with various quotes from parents, students, alumni and even an official response to one allegation from Franciscan U. of Steubenville in Ohio. It's a fascinating look at 'Charismatic' orthodoxy meeting 'traditional' orthodoxy, if you all will permit me the use of such broad and non-specific terms.

Have a look.

Because now I'll never hear it anyway...

1
Day of wrath and terror looming!
Heaven and earth to ash consuming,
David's word and Sibyl's truth foredooming!

2
What horror must invade the mind,
when the approaching judge shall find,
and sift the deeds of all mankind.

3
The trumpet casts a wondrous sound,
through the tombs of all around,
making them the throne surround.

4
Death is struck and nature quaking,
all creation is awaking,
to its judge an answer making.

5
The written book shall be brought forth,
in which is contained all
from which the world is to be judged.

6
So when the Judge shall sit,
whatever is hidden shall be seen,
nothing shall remain unpunished.

7
What am I, wretched one, to say,
What protector implore,
when (even) a just person will scarcely be confident?

8
King of tremendous majesty,
you who save gratuitously those to be saved,
save me, fount of pity.

9
Remember, gracious Jesus,
that I am the cause of your journey;
do not let me be lost on that day.

10
Seeking me, you sat exhausted;
you redeemed me by undergoing the Cross;
let so much toil not be in vain.

11
Just judge of vengeance,
grant the gift of forgiveness,
before the day of reckoning'.

12
I groan, as one guilty;
my face is red with shame;
spare, O God, a supplicant.

13
You who forgave Mary [Magdalen],
and heard the plea of the thief [Dismas]
have given hope to me also.

14
My prayers are unworthy;
but you, the Good, show me favour,
that I may not be consumed by eternal fire.

15
Grant me a place among the sheep,
and separate me from the goats,
placing me at your right hand.

16
When the wicked are confounded,
doomed to flames of woe unbounded,
call me with Thy Saints surrounded.

17
Low I kneel, with heart submission!
See, like ashes my contrition!
Help me in my last condition!

Liturgical Doings

Though we do look at our own diocese and its liturgical doings at times, we don't stray too often into the larger currents of the 'reform of the reform' and the 'extraordinary form' except as they are referenced by the Holy Father.

However, Dan at the Holy Whapping has a post and then a clarification that sets out his thoughts on one 'methodology' as championed by the New Liturgical Movement; Shawn Tribe of the NLM responds to Dan's initial post at the NLM.

Liturgy used to be something I was interested in, but not so much now. However, the ongoing discussion is interesting in and of itself.

Mixed Feelings

With the news of the consistory and the list of the soon-to-be cardinals made know, we have before us the prospect that Archbishop DiNardo will be the only US bishop who will be receiving the red hat. The archbishop is of course the ordinary of the of Houston-Galveston archdiocese down in the great state of Texas and his cardination (or however it's spelled) will be the first for the US South.

All congratulations to the archbishop certainly. But as a former resident of the diocese of Sioux City during HE's tenure there, I am left to wonder if western Iowa is somehow unworthy of greatness and must only be a stepping stone for prelates on their way up.

But ignore my flyover-country inferiority complex.

As for the rest of the list... Archbishop Comastri will soon get his red hat. Does that merit him a higher place on the List of Papabili? Only time will tell.

Housekeeping II

We turn away from our constant vigil of all things Roman to note some new links down the left column.

The Joyful Eunuch is a new blog meant for young people. I had a nice conversation with its blogger and got a chance to talk shop for a little while the other night.

Fumare is a Catholic legal blog that has recently turned to coverage of the Ave Maria School of Law debacle. AveWatch covers the same issue. For those who may be unfamiliar with the situation, several years ago, the former head of Domino's Pizza funded the founding of the new Ave Maria School of Law up in Michigan. Then, with the founding of his new university complex in Florida, he and the dean of the school decided the law school would relocate. Faculty were not consulted and recently, three dissenters were given the boot based on trumped up charges. Very bad all around.

Vatican Watcher rating: I wouldn't send my kid to Ave Maria.

Housekeeping

The custom links remain the same, but the Blogrolling list got cleaned up. If you read and you find your blog is missing, leave a comment and an updated URL.

Huh?

Times (of London) Online has a story on how once of John Paul II's cassocks has been cut up into a hundred thousand pieces to meet demand from the Faithful. All well and good. But in the story there is this quote:

But the scheme has caused disquiet in the Vatican, which is anxious to discourage the veneration of relics, seen as a medieval practice with no place in the modern church. “Wars were fought over the hunt for relics in the Middle Ages,” said Bishop Velasio De Paolis, secretary of the Apostolic Signature, the Vatican’s top judicial body.

Someone doesn't like all the 'superstitious mumbo-jumbo'... Wars were fought over Transubstantiation as well. Maybe we should just label the entire Mass as 'medieval' too.

Braveheart

The thing in 'Braveheart' where English lords get to sleep with the new wifes of Scottish men in order to 'breed out the Scots'...

Wallace is a big time Catholic who's been to Rome. He's pious and all that. We all know Mel is personally into the entire traditional scene...

So why in the hell wasn't Longshanks in the movie worried in the least bit by promulgating a law that broke several commandments, namely adultery and coveting one's neighbor's wife, not to mention violating sizable chunks of canon law, etc?

I think such a law would be grounds for interdict and excommunication, don't you?

But hey, great battle scenes. :D

Links and Comment

RORATE CAELI discusses an Italian newspaper's comments on if the MP is even in effect yet. A commenter named David says that since it's not in the AAS along with other details, it's not in effect, despite RC's assertions to the contrary. Yet David never mentions whether or not the MP has or has not been published in the L'Osservatore Romano which he himself asserts is an official newspaper of record by which documents such as the MP may be promulgated. Nice try, but if you want to point out it's not been printed in the AAS but never point out if it's been printed in the L'Osservatore Romano, you're not going to sell it to me.

Father Z posts an interview of a confrere of his back in Minnesota with the traditionalist The Remnant. Good points are made all around. The comment about how people tend to buy into the 'restoration' idea is a great one since people always love to restore things (unless you were just so into the 1970s renewal that you were positively in love with Urban Renewal as well and took delight in turning America's downtowns into blocky architectural wastelands). The good Father of the interview and the The Remnant interviewer brought up an impending persecution of Catholics and the possibility that we are living in the End Times. I left a comment:

Re: The End Times and Catholic persecution

Certainly when you reach out, you’ll find those of the O’Brien frame of mind, to reference to Michael O’Brien and his book ‘Father Elijah’. Personally, I tend to be more of the ‘The Name of the Rose’ sort who views predictions and feelings of the impending arrival of the End Times with a grain of salt as so many past predictions have come to naught.

I’m of the opinion that the MP and the renewal of the 1962 Missal are too easy a temporal landmark to base ideas of an impending crisis. The End Times will come in God’s good time and not with any kind of prelude like the MP: it’s just way too obvious.
Comment by Jacob — 22 September 2007 @ 5:29 pm

For those of you who are interested in secular politics and the upcoming US presidential election, I found this post at 'Suitably Flip' to be quite interesting regarding the campaign contributions made by the Hsu guy donated millions for himself and others, all while on the run from an outstanding warrant for his arrest in the great state of California.

The MP II

The MP went into effect on the 14th. I guessed in the last post that there would be something in the next issue of the weekly newspaper. It arrived today and...

ZIPPO!

Must be hard work spelling out in your own words what the Pope spelled out in his own words. Of course, HE the Bishop could be using his Latin skills as a former teacher to actually come up with a decent translation since the Holy See has dropped the ball there. We'll wait and see, but HE is on borrowed time right now.

The MP

My bishop has promised some kind of guidelines for the implementation of the MP here in the diocese by tomorrow. I would assume that they will be published in the next edition of the newspaper. HE is a former Latin teacher, so I am hoping that he has some interest in the 'Latin Mass' and will support it here at home, but we'll see.

The Salzburg Catholic Theme Park

Last night on TV was The Sound of Music with Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer (who reportedly said of working with Andrews that it was like being hit over the head by Valentine's Day everyday). Of course, Fraulein (I have heard from a German that 'fraulein' is now not used for 'miss', it's viewed as impolite) Maria leaves the abbey and goes off to serve as governess of the von Trapp children and promptly turns them into great singers and so on.

On top of the singing and the lyrics that I totally remembered and even the hand gestures of Max (:D), last night I was paying attention to the churches and the abbey in particular during those parts. Robert Wise's montages of the local ecclesiastical architecture, first forwards as Maria goes out into the world and then backwards when she retreats to the abbey, was quite impressive.

I wonder about how much of all that survived post-Vatican II and the modern world?

Papal diplomacy II

Here we looked at the article in The Economist that called on the Holy See to shed its sovereignty and become one large NGO (non-governmental organization) along the lines of the Red Cross or Doctors Without Borders.

At the time, I really didn't feel like going through and talking about it, but I asked a couple of questions for readers to think about. They were:

But would that be the best method of getting across the Catholic message in an institutional way? Aside from the historical and traditional points surrounding the Papal States, Vatican City and the juridical status of the Holy See, diplomatic status does have its benefits for the Pope's nuncios.

Now, the secretary for relations with states, Archbishop Mamberti, has responded in the Italian bishops' newspaper Avvenire. His reply to The Economist's piece has been translated and quoted by Sandro Magister at www.chiesa for our edification.

The archbishop:

“This is certainly not an acceptable invitation! It may have arisen from an imprecise understanding of the Holy See’s position in the international community: a position that can be traced back to the beginning of the international community itself, and has been reinforced above all since the end of the nineteenth century.

“With the disappearance of the Papal States, it has, in fact, become increasingly more clear that the Holy See’s international juridical personality is independent of the criterion of territorial sovereignty. This situation is accepted tranquilly by the international community both on the bilateral level – I recall that there are almost 180 countries that maintain diplomatic relations with the Holy See – and on the multilateral level, as shown in particular by the UN general assembly resolution 58/314 of 2004, which expanded the range and prerogatives of the Holy See’s action as a permanent observer at the UN.

“Behind the invitation to reduce itself to a non-governmental organization, apart from a lack of understanding of the Holy See’s juridical status, there is probably also a reductionist vision of its mission, which is not sectarian or linked to special interests, but is universal and inclusive of all the dimensions of man and humanity.

“This is why the Holy See’s activity within the international community is often a ‘sign of contradiction’, because it does not cease to raise its voice in defense of the dignity of each person and of the sacredness of all human life, above all the most vulnerable, and in defense of the family founded upon marriage between one man and one woman. It does not cease to assert the fundamental right to religious freedom, and to promote relations among individuals and peoples founded upon justice and solidarity.

“In carrying out its international role, the Holy See is always at the service of the comprehensive salvation of man, according to Christ’s commandment. It comes as no surprise that there are some who seek to diminish the resonance of its voice!”

Magister goes on with various facts and figures and he makes the argument that this move is meant to silence the Holy See. It can be all for peace in Burundi, but on the topics of abortion or euthanasia, it ought to be silent and so on. Magister notes though that the Holy See has relations with almost two-hundred states and they in the form of the General Assembly of the UN have only strengthened the Holy See's position in that body.

Stuff

Magister has profiles of two up and coming gentlemen in the Curia. The gist of the entire piece is that scholars in much the same mold of Benedict XVI are being appointed here and there to the 'cultural' positions of the Curia. If anyone knows of the scholarly credentials of those in such positions of power as the Secretariat of State, the Congregation for the Clergy or CDF, I'd be interested in knowing more...

Long-time blogger Amy has moved on from Open Book to a more personal blog. We wish her well in her new endeavor and hope that her time for writing valuable works expands as she hopes. Good luck and God bless.

Sistani

Moving aside from personal thoughts to more worldly topics, Magister has a piece today on Grand Ayatollah Sistani, the religious leader of the Shi'ites of Iraq and a man we've mentioned at this blog a few different times.

The piece mentions how because of Sistani's moderate viewpoints, he has been the target of various assassination attempts and his co-workers have been killed one by one. Magister's quote of the words of the Chaldean patriarch after meeting Sistani are instructive:

“The grand ayatollah received us with a warm ’welcome,’ he spent an hour with us, and at the end he did not disguise his satisfaction. Our common desire is that of finding a way to bring peace and tranquility to the country. We both know that Iraq is sick, but we want to find together the medicines to heal it. We talked together like two brothers who love each other.”

Magister also notes the grand ayatollah's response to the Regensburg speech which sharply contrasted with much of the Muslim world:

In September of 2006, during the days of violent anti-papal protest that exploded in the Muslim world after Benedict XVI’s lecture in Regensburg, representatives from Sistani paid two visits to the secretary of the Vatican nunciature in Baghdad, Thomas Hlim Sbib, in order to express esteem and friendship toward Benedict XVI, and the desire for a meeting with him in Rome.

Magister rightly points to the /religious/ background of Sistani's moderation which is a traditional look at Shi'ism. Shi'ism looks to the twelfth imam who has left this world and will return again someday. While Khomeini's revolution in Iran was not only a political one, but also a religious one in redefining Shi'ism, Sistani holds to the old ways:

Amir Taheri, an Iranian intellectual exiled in the West, says: “For Sistani, power belongs to the twelfth imam. But since he is gone, it passes to the people. The final decision is to be made by the individual on the basis of reason, the greatest gift from God. Sistani’s vision is Aristotelian, a society of pious citizens.”

The grand ayatollah's website may be found at www.sistani.org.