On a day like today...

I'm sick. See you all tomorrow.

Dawn in the Eternal City

It's 11:20 PM here. I'm going to bed. The MP will be released as I sleep. Good morning, Rome. Have a happy day!

Gone again

I will be gone starting tomorrow through Thursday as the fourth is the principal holiday of the US civic religion (such as it is...). I'll leave with two quotes...

Pacem in Terris (1963) - John XXIII

But first We must speak of man's rights. Man has the right to live. He has the right to bodily integrity and to the means necessary for the proper development of life...

Declaration of Independence (1776) - Thomas Jefferson

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Continue to pray for the motu proprio's positive reception.

The open Church's bishop

The Atlantic Monthly has in its July/August issue an article on Jin Luxian, the longtime open bishop of Shanghai and more recently the de jure bishop of that diocese. The article online requires a subscription.

Included here are several paragraphs that aren't necessarily in order along with commends.

Under this policy, Jin was asked to take up his old responsibilities as rector of Shanghai’s seminary. Though the CPA would be looking over his shoulder, he saw the necessity: In all of China, there were at most 400 priests to serve 3 million Catholics. He believed that if the Church was to have any chance of survival, China would need young, well-educated priests, even if they were subjected to Communist propaganda during their training. Through a “foreign friend,” Jin requested permission from Rome. The response was that he should “wait for the collapse” of the Communist Party, then reopen the seminary. “They underestimated the Chinese Communist Party,” says Jin. And so, after “much prayer,” he acted in what he believed to be the best interests of China’s Catholics. “I didn’t obey the directive of Rome. I said, ‘Let the Catholic Church survive.’”
[...]

In conversation, Jin exhibits few doubts about his decisions, but occasionally his answers turn defensive. During one of our interviews, I asked about his impressions of the underground Church. He began to answer, then suddenly interrupted himself. “[The members of the underground Church] say they are loyal to the pope,” he said. “But I am as loyal as them. Why become bishop? I led the [Chinese] Catholics to pray for the pope and even printed the prayer! I reformed the liturgy. Before me, it was all in Latin. But the underground Church did nothing. If I stayed with them, I would do nothing, too.”
[...]

The last few sentences are interesting given the shifting liturgical landscape in the West. Ditching Latin and reforming the liturgy might not be the best things to take credit for when discussing one's achievements as bishop.

Then, as now, Beijing had two conditions for normalizing relations with the Vatican: the severing of the Vatican’s diplomatic ties with Taiwan (and as a consequence, the transfer of its embassy to the mainland) and an agreement not to interfere in China’s internal affairs. The Vatican has indicated that it’s prepared to meet the Taiwan condition, but the second issue, which encompasses the selection of bishops, is more difficult. Informally, the Vatican might be satisfied with a compromise similar to the process used to nominate Xing in Shanghai. However, public declarations to the contrary, it’s been suggested that both the government and the underground Church have a tacit interest in preventing a deal, since it would inevitably empower the open bishops and their conference, diminishing the government’s influence and the underground Church’s prestige.

Whether an immediate way can be found through the impasse may depend on what Benedict XVI has to say in a promised letter to Chinese Catholics. Leaked reports and the impressions of a source close to the drafting of the letter suggest that it will call, as John Paul II did, for reconciliation between the open and underground churches, and focus largely on pastoral concerns. Ultimately, it’s expected to portray China’s Catholics as largely united after a half century and to acknowledge that any diplomatic solution will need to accommodate both the vitality of the open Church and the struggles of the underground one.

Which the letter did..

The article as a whole is a biographical piece on Jin and his struggles. The main thrust seems to be Jin's efforts at creating a Chinese Church, even if it meant collaborating with Beijing. The main 'bad guys' seem to be Rome and the underground Church itself: it was described as both heroic and to blame for Catholicism's backwardness before Jin reformed everything.

It's on newsstands now, go check it out.

More on the letter

"Love and courtesy of this kind should not, of course, make us indifferent to truth and goodness."
-Second Vatican Council, as quoted in the Holy Father's letter to the Chinese

I read through most of the Holy Father's letter. I am quite pleased with its substance. Father Z made the point that, "A recurring theme in the first part of the letter is suffering." I myself am pleased that my hope that the message would be, "gut it out and stay true to the Church, your reward will be in the Kingdom of Heaven" proved true.

Terror attacks

The British people remain in our prayers in the run-up to July 7th. May Our Lady watch over that land and its people.

The letter

LETTER
OF THE HOLY FATHER

POPE BENEDICT XVI

TO THE BISHOPS, PRIESTS,
CONSECRATED PERSONS
AND LAY FAITHFUL
OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
IN THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA

Or it should be, "The Government of the People's Republic of China and whoever can get this illegally".

I skimmed it. I don't see anything about moving the nunciature. Bravo!

FUD

It gets discussed by the blogging community that concerns itself with the upcoming Motu proprio, but it is never mentioned that there is an actual phrase and acronym for it: Fear, uncertainty and doubt or FUD.

The Independent:

Church split feared as Pope backs return of 'anti-Semitic' Latin Mass

By Ian Herbert
Published: 30 June 2007

A plan by the Pope to authorise the widespread return of the controversial Latin Mass, despite concerns that parts of it are anti-Semitic, has provoked a backlash among senior clergy in Britain and threatens to divide the Catholic Church worldwide. The 16th-century Tridentine Mass - which includes references to "perfidious" Jews - was abandoned in 1969 and replaced with liturgy in local languages, to make worship more accessible to the bulk of churchgoers. But the Pope announced on Thursday that a long-awaited document liberalising the use of the Mass, which some clergy fear will also limit the Church's dialogue with Jews and Muslims, will be released next week.

Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, the leader of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales, has written to the Pope to say that no changes are needed.
[...]

FUD:

Fear, uncertainty, and doubt (FUD) is a sales or marketing strategy of disseminating negative (and vague) information on a competitor's product. The term originated to describe disinformation tactics in the computer hardware industry and has since been used more broadly. FUD is a manifestation of the appeal to fear.

Letter to the Chinese: Tomorrow

Catholic World News:

The Pope's letter, believed to be about 30 pages long, will retrace the recent history of Catholicism in China, including the persecution of the Church under the Maoist regime and the recent conflicts between the "underground" Catholics loyal to the Holy See and the "official" Church sanctioned by the Beijing regime. The Holy Father will emphasize that the Church is indivisible, and explain the Vatican's insistence on independence from government control.

The Pope's letter is addressed to "the bishops, the priests, the religious, and the lay faithful" of China, the Vatican said. The notice alerting journalists to the publication of the papal message was issued on June 29 although the Vatican press office was closed for the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul.

My favorite topic and I'm sure one readers out there get tired of me harping about. The article doesn't say what if anything the letter will have on relations with the ChiComs versus relations with the Republic of China (Taiwan). I point out yet again that cutting ties with Taipei in order to better relations with the PRC is pointless. The PRC wants a photo op, that's all it wants. If we look at Sino-US relations since human rights was delinked from trade status, we see that improving trade relations has done nothing to help the poor souls in the bamboo gulag. Now that Sodano is gone, hopefully we'll see some realism in the Vatican along the lines that moving the nunciature will do nothing to help in the long term.

What the letter should say is simple: gut it out and stay true to the Church, your reward will be in the Kingdom of Heaven.

Waiting for other things

Sandro Magister takes a look at curial reform (and the lack thereof):

Appointments made at a snail's pace. Documents that are useless or continually delayed. Offices drifting aimlessly. Why the renewal of the Vatican bureaucracy is not a priority for Benedict XVI

Along the way, I made a little outline because at first Magister is questioning stuff, but then he seemingly accepts Benedict XVI's strategy...

1. Unification of the councils which hasn't helped anything
The Pope unified councils, etc. But nothing came of it and now the councils are separating again. What was the point?

2. Bertone and Nicora: organizers?
The secretary of state and the head of the patrimony are great administrators and organizers and much of the onus has fallen to them with their appointments. Yet neither has offered much in the way of reform.

Here we have the turn in Magister's piece:

3. B16's priorities: preaching, celebrations, 'Jesus of Nazareth'
The Pope is all about convincing people through his preaching, through the liturgical celebrations (though Magister oddly forgets to mention the papal master of ceremonies whom Benedict has left in place and whom Magister quite dislikes).

4. Biding time equals waiting out his enemies
The issues Benedict waited on while things settled:
a. deputy secretary of state
b. Chinese Catholics letter
c. the Motu proprio

5. His trusted men, those from outside
Bertone for example as well as the secretary at Divine Worship as well as Hummes from South America, etc. Friends close, enemies closer...

6. The (careful) appointment of bishops
Magister mentions that the Holy Father ponders long and hard over extensive dossiers (no mention of the Warsaw debacle though).

7. Against careerism
Magister ends with a quote from the Pope:

“It is through Him that one must enter the service of shepherd. Jesus highlights very clearly this basic condition by saying: 'he who climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber" (Jn 10: 1). This word 'climbs' – 'anabainei' in Greek – conjures up the image of someone climbing over a fence to get somewhere out of bounds to him. 'To climb' – here too we can also see the image of careerism, the attempt to "get ahead", to gain a position through the Church: to make use of and not to serve. It is the image of a man who wants to make himself important, to become a person of note through the priesthood; the image of someone who has as his aim his own exaltation and not the humble service of Jesus Christ. But the only legitimate ascent towards the shepherd's ministry is the Cross. This is the true way to rise; this is the true door."

July 7th

MOTU PROPRIO

THE 1962 MISSAL

TO BE RELEASED

7 JULY

More information: Kath.net has the scoop; Gerald and Father have translations and comments:

Kath.net | Gerald | Father Z

Voting rules

VATICAN CITY, JUN 26, 2007 (VIS) - Made public today was a "Motu Proprio," written in Latin, with which the Holy Father Benedict XVI restores the traditional norm concerning the majority required for the election of the Supreme Pontiff. According to this norm, in order for the election of a new Pope to be considered valid it is always necessary to reach a majority of two thirds of the cardinals present.

With this document, Benedict XVI substitutes the norm established by John Paul II who, in his 1996 Apostolic Constitution "Universi Dominici gregis," laid down that the valid quorum for electing a new Pope was initially two thirds but that, after three days of voting without an election, there would be a day dedicated to reflection and prayer, without voting. Thereafter, voting would resume for seven additional ballots, another pause for reflection, another seven ballots, another pause and yet another seven ballots. After which an absolute majority was to decide how to proceed, either for a vote by absolute majority or with balloting between two candidates. This was to happen only in the event that the cardinals arrived at the 33rd or 34th ballot without a positive result.

Baseball has marked the time

During the last few weeks I've watched the college baseball postseason as I have the last few years since it's been on ESPN. I like the College World Series because the camera is placed overlooking home plate in such a way that the TV viewer can judge balls and strikes (horizontally better than vertically, but one can still judge pretty well). Also as well I've watched the University of Iowa baseball team play at home. College baseball is a lot of fun to go and see.

A few years ago, I read an article about the format of the tournament and how the regionals ought to be based on geography and such. The argument went along the lines that northern teams are always underrepresented in the postseason because teams are chosen and those teams almost always come from the south. For instance, Iowa played fifty-four games this season. In contrast, Louisville (a team playing in the World Series) has won fifty games. The lack of competitiveness of the north is usually blamed on shorter seasons caused by winter and wet springs that cause games to be cancelled and teams to be out on the road losing instead of playing at home and winning.

Allowing teams from the north into regionals based on geography might be nice, but I would think that they'd still get shelacked once they met teams from the south that have been playing months longer in some instances. Thus the daydream today has been Iowa and a field with a retractable roof for more home games and parity with the south. This is not an idle dream either as baseball has come under threat in the state of Iowa. A few years ago, Iowa State dropped baseball as a varsity sport because it didn't have the money. Lately as well, there have been rumors that baseball could be cut at Iowa, though thankfully they've proven not to be true. A competitive Iowa team would help to solidify support within the athletic department and the fan base at large.

Coming soon?

The BIG THREE have information on the release of the Motu proprio. According to an Italian news report cited by Rorate Caeli, Father Z and NLM, the Motu proprio and its accompanying letter is slated to be released before Benedict XVI goes away for the summer. Rorate Caeli states that the Pope's vacation starts on 9 July.

The Motu proprio is for the freeing up of the Mass of St. Pius V as edited and set out in the 1962 Missal. It is speculated that it will allow priests to say Mass according to the previous form without needing authorization from their ordinaries who might otherwise object.

Keep reading the three linked-to blogs for more info and interesting comments.

Words to live by?

Better rashness than inertia; better a mistake than hesitation.
-DIE TRUPPENFUHRUNG

During the 1930s, Ludwig Beck, German general and eventual chief of the General Staff, wrote in one of the German army training manuals the above quote. The quote was the product of many years of Prussian and then German military experience. The sad part was that General Beck got involved in the July 20, 1944 coup attempt and displayed both inertia and hesitation.

While Count von Stauffenberg flew back to Berlin after having planted a bomb to blow up Hitler, the conspirators at Army Headquarters were fumbling around while valuable time slipped away (Hitler survived the bomb, as we all know). Realizing that Hitler was still alive, one of the generals saw the writing on the wall and arrested Beck and his fellows and Beck was ordered to commit suicide (in that he hesitated too and had to be helped along).

As we wait for certain events in the Church to take place, it might be wise to remember the above quote from the traditions of his countrymen...

A growing shelf

It's amazing just how books collect over time and suddenly you realize you have a shelf full of Catholic literature. I put up a shelf in my room the other week and the piles of books on my floor suddenly came together. Despite the Ratzinger books and other tomes of theology, I think the most imformative has been the book on the lives of the Popes. Always entertaining to leaf through that...

Thirty thousands?

It is said that B16 does not travel like JPII did and that he rests a lot while he is out and about. It might be wise though to stop and consider something else. Reports also focus on how more and more people have been coming to see B16 at what once were sleepy audiences during the week.

When a pope has something to say that is interesting and he actually stays in Rome, that means that people are likely to come to him. Are we not yet convinced that this pope is certain that Rome is the center of the Church? Are we at all surprised that he shows this by STAYING there as well as TALKING about it?

On this weekend of processions and pilgrimages, let us all look to the Eternal City and its bishop the Vicar of Christ on earth.

Brazil

Much has been made of the fact that since JPII took over, the Catholic population as a percentage of the wider population has fallen dramatically and that BXVI's flock is shrinking. We look to protestants and general apathy as reasons, we look to the 'spirit' of Vatican II, etc.

Tonight I was watching Billy Graham on TV. I have great respect for the Reverend Graham as he has done good work. But my brother and I couldn't help but remark once again just how little difference there was between a Christian minister calling Christ's sons and daughters back to the Church and a certain National Socialist orator who led a certain country to a world war in the last century. I mention this because indeed there is a fine line between Godliness and genocide: an audience is a powerful thing once you have it wrapped around your little finger.

When we look to our roots, we must always remember that reason is one of our core values in terms of finding Christ as opposed to emotion. Not to say that the latter doesn't play its part as well, but Catholicism has relied upon reason for several millennia. Reason will save the Church from destruction on both sides.

I read the fifth

I wanted to comment on a BBC story about how the Vatican Library is closing for a few years to build new facilities. The story said that scholars had no warning (the renovation begins with the summer break). I was like, 'what kind of warning do you need'? I guess scholars plan to visit and check stuff out for research, but really, it has been announced, how much lead time is needed?

In any case, I am hanging in there. I read that Father Z heard it might be the fifth for the MP. We'll see.

I get back and still no motu proprio!

Anyway, I am home. I don't know when I will be back to posting full time, but I'll be watching.

God bless and keep those Rosaries handy.