Cosmos-Liturgy-Sex

Here is a link to John Brown, S. J.’s, website who, along with some Jesuit companions, is doing a series on the Society of Jesus.  It is very well done and informative.  It is also very enheartening to see that it appears that at least the New Orleans Province of the Society of Jesus seems to be returning to its charism of authentically teaching and defending the faith.  The first installment is on Ignatian Spirituality and the Spiritual Exercises.  It is now available (which you can also see below if you want to check it out before going over) with subsequent installments being released over the next 9 weeks (click on Jesuit Review when you get there).

He has some other helpful information available on his website as well.  Take a look and see if you might be ready for an Ignatian silent retreat.  I hear that the Lousiana retreat house is especially good.

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The German Federal Health Education Center has two pamphlets called “Love, Body and Playing Doctor” which instruct parents on child sexual development- the first addressing children from 1-3 and the other children from 4-6 years of age. As a prime example of the social contract theory of morality gone wild, one of these pamphlets actually encourage parents to sexually massage their children as young as 1 to 3 years of age.

“Fathers do not devote enough attention to the clitoris and vagina of their daughters. Their caresses too seldom pertain to these regions, while this is the only waythe girls can develop a sense of pride in their sex,” reads the booklet regarding 1-3 year olds. The authors rationalize, “The child touches all parts of their father’s body, sometimes arousing him(?). The father should do the same.”

For kids who like to sing, there’s a sing-a-long song-book entitled “Nose, belly and bum” which have the following lyrics: “When I touch my body, I discover what I have. I have a vagina, because I am a girl. Vagina is not only for peeing. When I touch it, I feel a pleasant tingle.” The booklets are an obligatory read in nine German regions used for training nursery, kindergarten and elementary school teachers and to make matters worse, home schooling is illegal in Germany.

What exactly constitutes pedophilia in Germany? Correct me if I’m wrong, but any person who is sexually aroused by a child’s touch and assumes others feel the same is most likely a pedophile. Any individual who would even consider touching ANY child, let alone their own daughter, with the objective of sexual pleasure should be considered a sexually deviant pedophile. In fact, it sounds as though these pamphlets could be a how to handbook of excuses for pedophilia.

Source: LifeSite

“After severe criticism from German and Polish parents, medical and psychological experts the German government’s Ministry for Family Affairs has pulled two booklets aimed at parents of toddlers and young children which advocated parent-child sexual massage” (more)

According to Greens MP Lee Rhiannon, dangerous. Saying the Church’s ‘head in the sand approach” is missing out on an important opportunity to send a message of lifelong safe practices to it’s young, Catholic participants. Quite shockingly, the Catholic Church is choosing not to follow the advice of Rhiannon or in the foot steps of the 2000 Olympics, the Gay Games and the annual Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras in promoting condom use among it’s attendees.

Rhiannon has been described to be somewhat of a Stalinist, but without the sense of humor.  She was instrumental in having charges brought against Cardinal Pell for instructing Catholic parliamentary members on the Church’s stance on embryonic stem cell research.

The Mexican department of prisons has allowed the first conjugal visit between men. In a press release, it’s referred to as, “an important step in terms of non- discrimination regarding sexual preference“. Sarcastic Kudos to the NHRC in their monumental victory. I’m sure men having sex with men will go along way in alleviating the suffering of so many from the inhumane conditions in the notoriously corrupt Mexican prison system.

In the cesspool of inhumanity they refer to as a prison system in Mexico, why would the NHRC bother to take the time to lobby prison authorities for one man’s request to have conjugal visits by his male partner? In my opinion, because it’s one of the very few battles they can actually win. The foundation of manipulating public opinion which associates one’s preference of genital stimulation as a core component of one’s human dignity has been laid, and has found a home in the political arena. Consequently, the same-sex attraction controversy is commonly exploited for the purpose of evoking an emotional response in order to garner support for what ever other political agenda they may have in mind. The reality of “gay” rights is a facade based on this false premise which is then exacerbated by actual, misinterpreted and fabricated incidents of animosity towards the person with same sex attraction. The former is commonly called bigotry, which just about every person on this planet can attest to being a target of by one group or another- obviously, more some than others; while the latter incidents has pretty much the rest of the world scrambling around, doing their best to avoid being tagged with the unpopular status of homophobe.

Although I really don’t know for sure the intention of the NHRC, but I do know that access to food, sanitary living conditions, appropriate living space, protection from rape and violence, basic hygienic availability and due process of the law for false imprisonment takes precedence over same-sex sex.

Tagged by Alan/Sheepcat, here are my top five things I love about Jesus.

1. He is no respecter of persons.
2. He provides mercy to the merciful and comforts those who mourn.
3. I love how we are consumed by Him when we receive Him in the Eucharist.
4. Many sins are forgiven to those who love much.
5. He makes it possible for me to love Him through the perfected heart of His blessed mother.

I tag Kris, Tara and Catholic mom of 10 to list 5 things they love about Jesus and tag three others.

** Bonus - NFP vs. contraception videos by the seminarians 1, 2 and 3

I have been reading a bit of Archbishop Fulton Sheen lately in helping out with the immense amount of material to review for the Archbishop’s cause. In The Life of Christ, Sheen observes that after His Resurrection, Jesus still bears the marks of slaughter. Scripture attests to this truth both in the upper room when He shows them to the doubting Thomas, and in Revelation 5 when the Lamb in glory still appears as He did when He was slain. In other places, Sheen describes this as a reminder that there can be no Easter Sunday without passing through Good Friday.

Another interesting point the Archbishop raises is with the ancient tradition of Satan appearing to a saint, the latter of which confounded Satan by asking him where were his marks of crucifixion. Satan could not bear these because they are the antithesis of what Satan has made himself. In this regard, I find that Archbishop Sheen and John Paul the Great both seem to have happened upon many of the same insights, but apparently independently. In this context Sheen explains the meaning of Jesus’ Sacrifice and the meaning of these sacrificial marks in terms like that of JPTG in his Theology of the Body. The Sacrifice is a reminder of love and in His resurrected body these marks become a reminder that love is stronger than death. I would say that the Cross’s unification of Sacrifice with Love explains the reason that Satan who made himself the antithesis of love now rages at the new meaning of sacrifice. Likewise, it is the reason that the nations rage at authentic, self giving love. By nations, of course I mean New Testament gentiles—non-Christians. The Sacrifice of the Cross also reveals another truth that makes the Cross hard to look at. It reveals the great horror of sin.

This is one reason that Satan would want to avert Christian attention from the Cross but it would not explain his rage or that of those who have adopted his rejection of his Creator. I suspect that the revelation of the horror of sin then explains the rejection of the Mass as a Sacrifice by so many modern theologians. Of course this rejection had its start in that novel Reformation Soteriology–salvation by faith alone–which made meaningless the continued suffering of humanity after the Cross.

In terms of rage reacting to the manifestation of Self-giving love, one thinks of such raging atheists as Christopher Hitchens, and his copy cats Penn and Teller, who raged at Blessed Theresa of Calcutta for her daring to suggest that there is meaning to be found in suffering. This is nothing new and the inability of even believers to come to terms with it is not uncommon.

This was apparent during the release of the Passion of the Christ and the outcry of many, even some Catholics, over the “excess” of emphasis on Jesus’ suffering. In fact, many others thought that especially the scourging in The Passion also thought it a bit extreme. For example, when she was still writing for Zenit back in February 2004, Delia Gallagher expressed the belief that the suffering was overdone by Mel Gibson. She explained her thinking in an e-mail responding to my question about this assertion in her article:

Thank you for your message. I said the violence was probably exaggerated because it was the opinion of several of the Vatican officials and others with whom I saw the film and because it was my opinion. It seemed to me any man, even Jesus, flagellated to that extent - before even beginning the Via Crucis - would have died. It also seemed to me that Gibson deliberately lingered on the flagellations, to effectively bring home his point of the very real suffering of Jesus.

That being said, you are right to take me up on the statement, because the climate in which it is being released is so tense, that any description of it as an exaggeration could be misleading. It is also difficult to know just how bad flagellations were at that time, and so a difficult claim to sustain.

Best wishes, Delia Gallagher

It is not unnatural for us to recoil from the horror of sin, especially when we view it from the perspective of our personal responsibility. In fact, I heard one commentator exclaim that she was not responsible for the suffering she saw Jesus go through in the film. Theologically speaking though, because Jesus’ suffering reveals to us the horror of the sins of every person for all time, what was depicted in the film could never do justice to what He actually suffered. Add to this, the effect of Satan and his minions urging the antagonists on to a fever pitch such given that here he thinks that he has the chance to finally crush the One of whom he said non serviam. This is the One Whom he had been looking to kill since the advent of man and the One he blames for his eternal misery (see Rev. 12:1ff).

In Psalm 42 and Revelation 11, the inspired authors talk of the nations raging in anger against God and His people until the time of God’s triumph over sin. Well, until the final triumph in the eschaton we will continue to see the nations rage, fueled by Satan’s rage against everything that would remind them of Jesus’ redeeming love. Jesus’ total Self-gift—His Sacrifice—shows that authentic love conquers death. Death is the only power that pride and selfishness can muster but death is non-being and in the face of Being itself, death withers away. Any reminder that in the end death loses out to love, by necessity will bring on this rage.

Anywhere between 23 and 40 aborted baby girls and body parts were found by a 12 year-old boy. In this case, the where and the why appears to be a driving force behind the news story, when in reality, they are merely the inconsequential circumstances following the carnage of abortions which occur every day throughout the world. Until one recognizes that a fetus is not a non-human entity onto itself - but simply a term assigned to a particular stage of child development through which all human beings must pass before the stages of neonate, infant, and then toddler - then the where and why will continue to dictate the reaction.

Sensationalizing the fact that aborted babies were discovered in a well vs. placed in a clinic trashcan illustrates how well the pro-abortion activists have put a dress on the pig by claiming that abortion is both a necessary medical procedure and legal right to save the lives of women who previously would have no choice other than to solicit the services of back-alley abortionists or use of the infamous metal coat hanger used to navigate up through their birth canal into their wombs to either perforate or dig out their baby - a means which would also most certainly be indicative of a serious psychological co-morbidity. It’s estimated that approximately 98% of the abortions in this country are based solely on personal choice vs. less than 2% performed on rape victims, those pregnant through incest, to preserve the physical life or health of mother or fetal health, all combined.

I imagine that for some who become pregnant and either can’t care for or who do not want a child, the temptation of a quick fix abortion is too much for them to resist in avoiding the burden of a 9 month pregnancy but in return, they must live the rest of their lives with the memory of their abortion and what could have been. For others, the sacrifice and burden of pregnancy without raising the child is over and done with in 9 months and in return, they can forever live with the memory of their selfless love and sacrifice which gave their baby the best chance for a better life.

Shelray and I have been a little light on the blogging since we are up here enjoying the beautiful Adirondack summer.  While it began with rain, the weekend has turned out to be sunny, cool, and dry.  A great place to visit, especially for Shelray who is coming from SATX.

We were discussing the thread in which he explained why he was removing Clerical Whispers from the blogroll. A commenter who self-identified as sotto voce claimed to be the priest who runs said blog. Shelray and I discussed the very predictability of the tired arguments he regurgitated of those who argue that love needs to take precedence over truth. To be fair this is not exactly what they say. Rather, they more seem to argue that whatever makes feelings seem at most ease must be the truth.

In looking back over some recent posts this seems to be a fairly common theme among some of our threads. Earlier this year a slip down the stairs brought this to mind with respect to too many homilies I have heard.  We heard this same theme in a thread begun when Father Doyle responded to an earlier post Shelray did on a book Doyle did with Richard Sipe. In fact, this thread motivated a further post. This theme even came up with one of B16’s Wednesday Audiences in discussing Jesus’ exclusive love.

I suppose part of the problem for these folks in thinking that love ought to trump everything else is that there is little understanding of the meaning of the term. Our emotivist culture equates love with gushy feelings. The problem with this is that the demand to love becomes contradictory. When it is simply feelings, love disappears into the wind and we are not responsible for losing it in our relationships. So how can anyone make the demand that we love others if we have no control over it?

In the latter case, if one is to make this demand to love even slightly intelligible, it must be that to love means to try to ensure that no ill feelings can arise that might otherwise squelch the squishy feelings of authentic love? Perhaps this might make it somewhat more logical to make the demand but avoiding bad feelings certainly is not the same as experiencing the squishy feelings.  If trying to avoid the bad feelings is the same thing, then wouldn’t this remove the justification for the claim that one has fallen out of love?

This type of vague thinking always leads to irony.  An irony here is that many of these “emotivist lovers” seem to follow up very quickly after setting their reductionist vision of love as the touchstone for moral righteousness with the admonition not to judge others. This is always in the context of judging whether a particular action is evil or not. The irony is that what they are doing is judging others’ actions as wrong in asserting that their interlocutor (usually a C-L-S blogger) ought not to be judging another. As with all relativist arguments, they do not seem to realize they are falling into this contradictory position.

Any way, I could agree with the statement as St. Augustine would:  all we do need is love. However, authentic love is a much more difficult and demanding proposition than those who profess the idea can imagine. In fact, by their actions they show they are not up to the task.  I suppose if they recognized the demands that authentic love makes, they might be forced to look for some other new, less rigorous rule of life.

The Church will survive the sex abuse scandal. Not abandoning Jesus based on the actions of Judas pretty much sums up the actions of most faithful Catholics who are Catholic because they believe it to be the one true Church established by Christ. One’s Faith in the Catholic Church has never been, nor will ever be dependent on individuals within the Church. Fortunately, unlike the Church, organizations such as the Voice of the Faithful which attempt to exploit weaknesses within the Church (i.e. the sex abuse scandal) to further their own scandalous agenda eventually sink into oblivion. In this case, the VOTF is fading fast with dwindling donations and a leadership crisis of their own.

As reported by the Southern Poverty Law Center, a religious order originally formed by a post Vatican II excommunicated priest called The Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, has the town of Richmond New Hampshire fearing that they are attempting to take over the town. As one of the four hate groups found in New Hampshire, they have the distinction of being associated with the likes of the KKK and two White Nationalist organizations. A catholic blogger who lives in the area has done some posts on the SLIHM or SBC and pretty much recognizes all the signs of a cult along with evidence of anti-antisemitism.

According to their website, the SBC is a Congregation of religious brothers and sisters dedicated to the propagation and defense of Catholic dogma AND the conversion of America to the one, true Church. They insist they “are loyal to the Holy See of St. Peter in the person of the currently reigning Holy Father, Our Lord Pope, Benedict XVI, for whom we pray daily“. Ironically, they also feel the need to take extraordinary measures required to procure an ordination so they can finally have their very own priest.

The SPLC defines hate groups as those who have beliefs or practices that attack or malign an entire class of people, typically for their immutable characteristics. A listing does not imply that a group advocates or engages in violence or other criminal activity. It should also be noted that anything anti-”gay” may be considered a form of hate speech, but I believe that all of these sites fall under of antisemitism. That being said, here are their”dirty dozen” of Traditionalist Catholic hate groups.

CATHOLIC APOLOGETICS INTERNATIONAL

CATHOLIC COUNTERPOINT

CATHOLIC FAMILY NEWS/CATHOLIC FAMILY MINISTRIES, INC.

CULTURE WARS/FIDELITY PRESS

THE FATIMA CRUSADER/INTERNATIONAL FATIMA ROSARY CRUSADE

LEGION OF ST. LOUIS/IHS PRESS

OMNI CHRISTIAN BOOK CLUB

THE REMNANT/THE REMNANT PRESS

ST. JOSEPH FORUM

ST. MICHAEL’S PARISH/MOUNT ST. MICHAEL

TRADITION IN ACTION

I believe what we have here is no more than another variety of cafeteria Catholicism. On one side we see those who may primarily base their faith/conscience on one’s own flawed feelings and call it love and tolerance; where as in this case - customs, tradition and the law take precedence and appear to be void of love, mercy or compassion. Either way, both adhere to a flawed theology and without the humility to submit to the authority and wisdom of the Church, our soul may suffer the consequences of not attaining the sufficient graces which are normally required to recognize one’s own rear from a hole in the ground.

The man, who now calls himself Rhiannon O‘Donnabhain, is suing the IRS in an attempt to advocate for those who desire to undergo “transgendering”  surgical procedures with the hope of forcing the tax agency to manage these surgical procedures as any other tax deductible medical procedures. The case is set to go to trial July 24.

The IRS cited a section of the tax code which states that cosmetic surgery or similar procedures are only deductible when they are required to improve or repair a congenital abnormality, an accident or trauma, or a disfiguring disease. The attorney for O’Donnabhain argued that because gender-identity disorderis a recognized mental disorder and is generally treated with hormones and surgery, the costs are legitimate medical deductions. The plantiff believes the motivation behind the IRS is rooted in politics and prejudice.

You would think common sense would dictate that mental disorders would be treated with psycho-therapy and medications, but then again, we’re talking about sex here.  What’s probably most discouraging is that, more often than not, those with sex disorders have a slim to no chance of receiving the appropriate therapy due to the inmates in the psychiatric community who are running the asylum.

According to an article at Cathnews, the most important aspect for many sex abuse victims in Australia was to have their accounts taken seriously and followed up, with the knowledge that the perpetrator would not be in a position to abuse others. In Australia, the church did not keep a central database of figures, but the emphasis of its Towards Healing program was to help all those affected by the abuse to move on.

“You can never eradicate the past, you can only help people move on in the future,” Sister Ryan said. The first step under the program was always to encourage people to report abuse to the police, and to help them do so, but many wanted it dealt with in other ways.

The national church’s pastoral projects officer, Bob Dixon, said the clerical abuse scandal had horrified and damaged many faithful, loyal and motivated Catholics. “But the National Church Life Survey shows they get over the shock quite quickly. They say, ‘this shouldn’t happen, but we trust our parish priest and we trust the church to do its best’,” Mr Dixon said.

There is something to be said about closure for the victims and moving on. I was really struck by the importance for some abuse victims to know that the perpetrators would not in a position to abuse others. For some, the silence following the abuse and never knowing how many more were abused can be a heavy burden of undeserved guilt to bear.

Although we were hesitant to blogroll the somewhat controversial blog run by an anonymous Catholic priest out of Ireland called Clerical Whispers, we decided to link to him because he appeared to be objective in reporting “uncomfortable” stories and, along with his disclaimer, never openly endorsed disobedience or rebellion against the Church. That was until today when I read about an initiative that he is not only supporting but also soliciting for support in bringing Dignity USA to Ireland to, “offer a truly Christian hand to those who have been for far too long been badly treated by those in that museum and art gallery known as the Vatican.”

Unfortunately, his cheap shot at the Church may have revealed a little more insight to this priest’s motivation behind Giving The Uncomfortable Truth And News From The Inside.

DignityUSA: In a response to the USCCB’s Ministry to Persons with a Homosexual Inclination: Guidelines for Pastoral Care, Dignity USA has added some of their own guidelines in their Letter on the Pastoral Care of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) People 2007. Here are just a few of their expectations:

Our lives and experiences must be counted as normal dimensions of God’s creation. We must be made visible – for our own sake, and that of the rest of the human family. Rituals that help to sanctify aspects of LGBT people’s lives are needed to help ensure that the church is truly welcoming. In addition, special care must be given to prevent the continued marginalization and exclusion of women from full and significant participation in all activities of the church.

Sexually intimate relationships between same-gender couples must be affirmed as having the same potential for holiness as those between opposite-gender married couples. It is critical for church ministers, counselors and religious professionals to receive training and theological updating regarding the nature, purpose and development of the sexual relationships of LGBT people.

LGBT people must have the same access as our heterosexual sisters and brothers to the sacrament of marriage and to legal protections that support and provide public affirmation of our commitments.

Sure, lets just flush 2000 years of truth followed by billions of Catholics throughout the centuries for the sake of DignityUSA. It’s not just compassion or tolerance they are after, but the authority to dictate which Catholic teachings they deem either acceptable and to reject those they consider unacceptable. The feeling of entitlement which demands the Church openly and willingly submit it’s authority to the will of DignityUSA for the sake of affirming the SSAD lifestyle would be laughable if it didn’t involve the eternal souls of real people. If an effort to have and to demonstrate genuine compassion, tolerance and acceptance of the individual person with SSA is not enough, then I have no choice other than to wear my homophobe tag as a badge of honor.

If the Church were fallible in Her authoritative teaching concerning morality wouldn’t that bring into question every aspect of the Catholic faith, especially as it relates to her own authority? If that’s the case, why would DignityUSA feel the need have their sexuality affirmed by a faith which had lost the very foundation it once had to even claim itself as the true faith? As for Catholic priests who hold this belief, what in the world are they doing in that priest’s garb?

You probably have already seen the National Catholic Register story about the findings of a Boulder Colorado study which found that synthetic estrogen is showing up in waterways and causing havoc with fish.  The Register reports on what one of the scientists doing the study had to say:

It’s “the first thing that I’ve seen as a scientist that really scared me,” said then 59-year-old University of Colorado biologist John Woodling, speaking to the Denver Post in 2005.

They have determined that these hormones that are causing deformation and sterility in fish are coming from urine processed in water treatment facilities.  The ultimate culprit is birth control pills and patches.

The big news is that this hit the newspapers two years ago and evironmentalists have ignored it since then.  Here is what some of them have said as Reported in the Register:

Dave Georgis, who directs the Colorado Genetic Engineering Action Network, took to the streets of Boulder on several occasions to hold signs demanding that Boulder County regulate genetically modified crops from existence.

When asked about the genetically modified fish and the contaminated drinking water, however, he said: “It just has so much competition out there for stuff to work on.”

He told the Boulder Weekly that nobody needed to consider curtailing use of artificial contraceptives out of concern for the creek.

“You can’t have a zero impact, and this is one of the many, many impacts we have on the environment in everyday life,” Georgis said. “Nobody is to blame for this, and I don’t have a solution.”

[snip]

Curt Cunningham, water quality issues chairman for the Rocky Mountain Chapter of Sierra Club International, worked tirelessly last year on a ballot measure that would force the City of Boulder to remove fluoride from drinking water, because some believe it has negative effects on health and the environment that outweigh its benefits. But Cunningham said he would never consider asking women to curtail use of birth control pills and patches — despite what effect these synthetics have on rivers, streams and drinking water.

“I suspect people would not take kindly to that,” Cunningham said. “For many people it’s an economic necessity. It’s also a personal freedom issue.”

Another activist, Betty Ball the nonviolence coordinator for the Rocky Mountain Peace and Justice Center, said that while she is concerned they do not have the time to work on it.  She admits that it is a political hot button issue:

To avoid genetically modified crops, Ball said, one needed only to buy organic, genetically modified organism-free products at health food stores. Asking residents to stop polluting water with hormones, however, “gets into the bedroom.”

“I’m not going there,” Ball said. “This involves people’s personal lives, child bearing issues, sex lives and personal choices. Maybe people are saying, ‘O my God, what do we do about this?’

I suppose that this is not surprising.   With the first hint of problems with pharmaceuticals, the FDA is forced to take drugs off the market.  However, with contraceptives everyone always advises caution.  We all know that taken as directed, they are “safe.”  What this really means is that the risks of breast cancer and a host of embolism related maladies are worth it when the alternative is something much more horrifying…a woman’s fertility.

It seems that without God, we have become worshipers of science, especially medicine because of its relation to health.  When there is no eternal life, we want to hang on to natural life at all costs–almost.

For some reason the one thing for which we do have the courage to face the risk of death is when we are presented with the danger of bringing a new life into the world.  And some have wondered what the tie is between contraception and the culture of death…

Benedict XVI has named the Archbishop for the Military Services, Edwin O’Brien, as the 15th Archbishop of the nation’s first See in Baltimore. Archbishop O’Brien was an Army Chaplain with the 82nd Airborne Division back in the early 70s, as well as a chaplain in Vietnam for the 173rd Airborne Brigade and the 1st Cavalry Brigade as well. He has also been Rector of St. Joseph’s Seminary in NY and North American College in Rome. His military background and his seminary experience are no doubt why he was selected to oversee the seminary review that was completed last year. I suspect that this background may also be the reasons that he was given Baltimore.

He was my Archbishop for my last 4 years on active duty. I never met him though I did inconsequentially correspond with him once. He was generally known by the average military Catholic (who cared enough to know about his faith) to be a solid and caring bishop. Even though the military services are low on priests, he would not hesitate to remove a priest whose actions/beliefs led to more harm than good. With the work ahead of him, I think that his background will be of great benefit.

The Pope has done Baltimore a great service by giving them an Archbishop who cares more about their faith than their personal approbation. Please say a prayer for the Archbishop as he begins to serve the people of Baltimore.

The recent “one, two” punch of the motu proprio, Summorum pontificum, and the CDF’s RESPONSES TO SOME QUESTIONS REGARDING CERTAIN ASPECTS OF THE DOCTRINE ON THE CHURCH (along with a very helpful commentary) illustrate the focus of B16’s pontifical program. Namely, to continue John Paul the Great’s (JPTG) program of implementing the authentic vision of the Second Vatican Council.

As I have said many times, an authentic reform of the liturgy is one of Benedict’s highest priorities. Hopefully one benefit of this will be that seminaries will now take more seriously their obligation to form their seminarians in Latin, which seems to be essentially proforma (if it is addressed at all) in too many seminaries at this point. While the wider availability will be slow in coming because of the preparations necessary to say the Mass well, I think that it will eventually help to create a longing for many of the important elements that were sadly left out of the current Roman Missal.

Furthermore, Summorum comes with a limpid affirmation that there is but one Latin Rite and that both the current Roman Missal and the 1962 Mass are two expressions of the same Rite. This is a clear statement of correction to the two “camps” of Catholics that agree that the Second Vatican Council was a break from the past. While these camps agree that VII was a break, that is all they agree about. The Bologna school camp has made it their primary task in life to convince the rest of the world that the Catholic Church, in the Second Vatican Council, has now recognized that She is just one of a host of other man-made organizations indistinguishable in essence from the non-demoninational church that will set up shop in the vacant store down at the mall next week. This School attempts to buttress its position with the claim that its “more humble view” is necessary for ecumenism, though this is not any ecumenism that is recognizable from even a cursory reading of Unitatis redintigratio (e.g. see paragraph 11 and the warning against harming the purity of the faith in the pursuit of a false peace). The other camp–the Radical Traditionalists–agree that the Second Vatican Council did break from the Catholic Church of the past and so they want to go back to the “good old days” of the 1950s–or perhaps the 1650s–in order to recover the purity of the faith.

Benedict recognizes that this erroneous theory of discontinuity needs to be corrected. One of the biggest issues is the faulty ecclesiology of the Bologna camp that attempts to place the entire weight of this “new” Catholic ecclesiology on the now infamous phrase in Lumen gentium 8, “the one Church of Christ … subsists in the Catholic Church… .” Well, this little phrase cannot bear such a burden, especially when all of the weight of evidence is against it. Theologians such as Francis J. Sullivan, (cf. e.g. “Quaestio Disputata: A Response to Karl Becker, S.J., On the Meaning of Subsistit In,” Theological Studies 67 (2006): 395-409) have spent a lot of time and effort trying to develop vast theories with detailed analyses of language, evolution of documents, etc., all with the aim of trying to show that the documents don’t really say what they say.

Setting motivation aside, it seems to me that these theologians possess a faulty philosophical foundation (apparently Ockhamist Nominalism) which allows them to conceive of a Church that can both have the fullness of Christ’s Church but not be equated with Christ’s Church at the same time. Christ has but one Mystical Body, one Church. It is the Catholic Church. This Mystical Body is hierarchically constituted with the Successor to St. Peter as its head. To rip the Catholic Church and place it on its own, in autonomy from the Church of Christ, renders the Church of Christ as an unrealized ideal that has no real ontology. This is an emaciated ecclesiology that also deprives humanity of it access to grace–understood as partaking in the divine nature (2 Pt 1:4). Thus we are left with a Reformed theology of grace as extrinsic favor rather than intrinsic, deifying communion. It is no coincidence that the Bologna school adopts a Protestant ecclesiology and is then driven also to a Protestant Sacramentology.

The argument is sometimes made that the Catholic Church is just another particular Church, with the assumption that every other Christian body is its own, autonomous particular church. But it is unity in Christ, and so in the Vicar of Christ, by which each particular Church achieves its essence. Contra Cardinal Kasper, the particular Church cannot preexist the Universal Church. Thus, to the degree the Christian body is united with the fullness of the Church, these Churches and ecclesial communities share in Christ’s mediation of the Father’s grace to humanity…i.e. are united to the Catholic Church. But regardless of whether they are in visible communion or not, any and all grace they receive is mediated through Christ’s single Mystical Body, and so it is mediated by the Catholic Church.

A major complaint is that this ecclesiology sounds so triumphalistic; thus it is arrogant. Proper distinctions need to be made to see the error in this. Any truth claim is what it is–it is either true or false. Arrogance/truimphalism is a subjective attitude and has nothing to do with truth claims. Truth can be presented in humility and falsehoods can be proclaimed with arrogance (the latter of which is more often the case I would argue). One cannot preemptively dismiss a truth claim as false simply because of fears about how it might be received. To do so is to succumb to an emotivist relativism.

It is this confused thinking that B16 is taking on as he attempts to get authentic ecumenical dialogue started (again) by returning Catholic ecumenists to their task of understanding and then humbly presenting the truth of the Catholic faith to their dialogue partners, and so get on with the important work of authentically moving toward unity.

We can see that B16 is going full bore in carrying out Blessed John XIII’s three main goals for VII: reinvigorating the faith of the Church, restoring Christian unity, and bringing the Church into dialogue with modernity. He has an uphill battle when too many of those who are involved in carrying out this program are so confused about what the Church really is and what She teaches. Nevertheless, building upon the patrimony of JPTG and with B-16’s intellectual acumen and intrepid leadership, we are now off to a great start.

So says Sarah Ward Prager, an obstetrician/gynecologist in Seattle, who is an Assistant Professor of Women’s Health at the University of Washington. Dr. Prager is also a member of the National Abortion Federation, Physicians for Reproductive Choice & Health and the Planned Parenthood Federation of America. In her op-ed article on seattlepi.com, she boldly claims that a large body of medical literature proves Post-abortion syndrome doesn’t exist. “You won’t find a scientific or medical description of it anywhere because it is not real .” For some reason, she appears to ignore the inconvenient fact that there are women who DO suffer medical and/or psychological post abortion consequences and chooses to focus soley on an unsubstaniated MAJORITY.

Among the large body of medical literature, she sites research by the American Psychological Association (which has refused to assign a diagnosis for post abortive PTSD) to support her claim which found that “76% of women report feeling relief after abortion while only17% report feelings of guilt.” Either she is unaware or choses to ignore the fact that the American Psychological Association itself has acknowledged that the APA’s pro-abortion position is based on a perception of civil rights not scientific data. This political ideology, which now dictates the APA’s support for abortion, was revealed by a Washington Times columnist when they were asked for their reaction to a study with 25 years of worth of data linking the long-term effects of abortion to mental illness. Secondly, what about the 17% of the women who do NOT feel relief and report feelings of guilt? What type of post abortion experience can they look forward to, or are they considered nothing more than collateral damage?

Whatever one chooses to call it, the symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder found in some women after abortion is real, regardless if it’s provided with an official diagnoisis or not. Choosing to ignore it and failure to warn of this potential risk to women who are considering abortion is irresponsible, and even criminal for a practicing physician who is bound to protect patients who entrust themselves to her care. With many of her interests centered around abortion, Prager appears to have adopted the tactics of tabacco companies of days gone by when they assured the public that there was no evidence that smoking posed health hazards, and was once actually marketed as having health benefits.

Summorum pontificum fans are also quite creative. Travis, over at Catholic Tube, has collected a few Youtube videos celebrating B16’s motu proprio allowing wider usage of the 1962 Missal.  But first let me interrupt this post with some personal commentary: It will take time but I pray that the wider availability of this form (well celebrated of course) creates a thirst for a return to the ordinary expression of the Mass, of some important elements too quickly jettisoned with the 1970 Missal.  Now on to the celebration:

Keep an eye on Travis’ new site. It really is a very good compilation of the latest in Catholic on-line video.

The Sheepcat sends along another inspiring story of God working in the life of a very influential woman who struggled with her confusion over her sexual identity and her knowledge of who God created her to be.

Leaders of Northern Ireland’s anti-Catholic Orange Order, are requesting negotiations with Catholics after police restricted, for the 10th straight year, one of the group’s major Protestant/Reformation themed marches through a predominately Catholic town. Since Northern Ireland was established as a part of the United Kingdom in 1921, the Catholic minority has understandibly opposed the tradition of Orange parades designed to intimidate and insult them with “kick the pope” bands and songs with overtly anti-Catholic themes. The last major standoff ended in 1998 after an alleged Protestant arsonist burned to death three Catholic children during riots in another town.

Apparently, the organization has changed the marketing strategy of the confrontational march by turning it into a festival of prosperity called Orangefest.

A lovely thought. They’ll be marching in time with their arms swinging, as some onlookers shout angry abuse from the pavement. There will be hatred in the eyes of some of the marchers too, as they sing a song like “The Billy Boys” and direct it at the Catholics whose homes they’re passing: “We’re up to our necks in Fenian blood … surrender or you’ll die.”

And why would any Catholic be skeptical of negotiating with a notoriously anti-catholic organization who had just delivered a symbolic letter of protest by men packing swords?