Diary of a City Parishioner

Gospel Scenes and Meditations

2011-04-16T12:04:00.001-07:00

The Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ

2006-06-17T21:11:00.000-07:00

Moses sent certain young men of the Israelites
to offer holocausts and sacrifice young bulls
as peace offerings to the LORD.
— Exodus 24:4

Christ entered once for all into the sanctuary,
not with the blood of goats and calves
but with his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption.
— Hebrews 9:12

This is my body.
This is my blood.
— Mark 14:22,24

The Solemnity of Corpus Christi, on the calendar since the 13^th century, was renamed the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ in 1970. It is observed on the Thursday (compare Holy Thursday), or on the Sunday, after Pentecost. In it the Church, whose birthday is on Pentecost, remembers Christ’s words of Holy Thursday and celebrates the real presence of the Risen Lord in the Eucharist.

The Church teaches in the catechism and other documents the meaning of “real presence.” Catholics see bread, they see wine. The bread is the body and blood of Christ, and the wine is the body and blood of Christ.

You don’t see? Yes, I don’t see: I believe.

It seems entirely fitting that the visionary saint who did see Christ and who heard Him tell her to work for the feast did not see the feast established:

Saint Juliana of Mont-Cornillon, near Liège in Belgium (1192–1257) . . . had a revelation instructing her to work for the establishment of a feast in honor of the Blessed Sacrament, but she did not present this instruction to theologians for almost twenty years. She encountered only opposition and persecution with her attempts to reform the convent where she served as superior. Eventually she had to leave and wandered for twenty years until her death. Only long after her death did her revelations get any real hearing, because a priest whom she knew in Liège became Pope Urban IV. The Feast of Corpus Christi was finally celebrated [1264] in the universal Church [over fifty] years after Saint Juliana had her [first] revelation.
— Benedict Groeschel, A Still, Small Voice: A Practical Guide on Reported Revelations (San Francisco, Ignatius Press, 1993), pp. 112–113.

And we who believe in the real presence, how do we act? Henry Hardinge Menzies, an architect, tells a story:

A Protestant was visiting a Catholic church accompanied by his Catholic friend, and after entering, he was admiring the beauty of the architecture and decorations. He was particularly impressed with the altar and the tabernacle on top which was surrounded by angels and many candles. He asked his Catholic friend, “And what’s in that box there on the table?” The Catholic replied, “Jesus Christ himself is really present in that box. Our faith tells us that.” There was stunned silence. Finally the Protestant said, “If I believed that, I would crawl down this aisle on my knees!”
— Henry Hardinge Menzes, God in a Box

Some Catholics do crawl on their knees before the Real Presence, many adore, and some have ecstasies. When the apostles saw the resurrected Christ, they worshipped him, though some doubted (Matthew 28:17). But he had commanded them to eat his flesh and drink his blood. After Christ rose and the disciples recognized him, they: spoke with him, swam to him, ate with him, followed him; and being assured, “I am with you always, even unto the end of the world,” and receiving the Holy Spirit, they went, and taught all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and prayed, and broke bread together. There is not one posture before the Lord.

And what if we saw Christ, what then?

Fr. Groeschel’s book, cited above, quotes a poem of Longfellow’s
in which a monk in his cell sees Christ,

Then amid his exaltation,
Loud the convent bell appalling,
From its belfry calling, calling,
Rang through court and corridor
With persistent iteration
He had never heard before.
It was now the appointed hour
When alike in shine or shower,
Winter’s cold or summer’s heat,
To the convent portals came
All the blind and halt and lame,
All the beggars of the street,
For their daily dole of food
Dealt them by the brotherhood;
And their almoner was he
Who upon his bended knee,
Rapt in silent ecstasy
Of divinest self-surrender,
Saw the Vision and the Splendor.
Deep distress and hesitation
Mingled with his adoration;
Should he go, or should he stay?
Should he leave the poor to wait
Hungry at the convent gate,
Till the Vision passed away?
Should he slight his radiant guest,
Slight this visitant celestial,
For a crowd of ragged, bestial
Beggars at the convent gate?
Would the Vision there remain?
Would the Vision come again?

and leaves Christ to do his duty as almoner. When he returns to his cell he finds Christ waiting for him. Christ tells him:

“Hadst thou stayed, I must have fled!”

Blessed are they who have not seen and have believed.

Thus endeth this blog. For more in this vein, read Memorare. Amen

Saturday, June 17, 2006

2006-06-17T04:26:00.000-07:00

Last evening Jake and Irina treated us to dinner at the Mansion Hill Inn. Jake said he had seen Steve Stofelano at noon Mass at the Cathedral. I once served on a jury with MaryEllen Stofelno, and their daughter was baptized with ours.

Last night O had an overnight here with two friends.

2:45 AM

MARY: I wonder if they are going to sleep.

ME: I know that they are going to sleep, but I don’t know if they are going to sleep.

+ +

Jake asked if I’d like to go this morning to a “Centering Prayer Mini-Retreat” at the Abba House of Prayer. Fr. William Meninger will be speaking on “compassion meditation.”

+ + +

Well, Fr. Meninger didn't show up, nor was he expected to. The leader, Bruce Gardiner, intended to read from a book by Fr. Meninger. The door to Abba House was locked and the sister who has the key could not be reached, so we drove down a few blocks to the Church of St. Vincent de Paul and had the session there.

+ + + +

Four Cathedral parishioners, including Jake, were discerned as new members of the pastoral advisory council, to replace, in September, the four members who are rotating off the council. Before that, they will observe the June meeting, in which new council officers will be discerned.

The Dew of your Spirit

2006-06-16T13:49:00.000-07:00

Our American bishops will ask that “the dew of your Spirit” (Spiritus tui rore) be changed to “the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.” Too bad they didn’t look ahead to today’s first reading, which says,

A strong and heavy wind was rending the mountains
and crushing rocks before the LORD —
but the LORD was not in the wind.
After the wind there was an earthquake —
but the LORD was not in the earthquake.
After the earthquake there was fire —
but the LORD was not in the fire.
After the fire there was a tiny whispering sound.
— 1 Kings 11–12

This is perhaps more familiar in the King James version:

. . . and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the LORD; but the LORD was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the LORD was not in the earthquake: And after the earthquake a fire; but the LORD was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice.

It would probably have been better to have “consubstantial” instead of “one in being,” since consubstantial is in the Catechism (nine times), is English (used without flinching into the 20^th century), and has a long history in the Faith. To understand “one in being,” “of one being,” “the same nature,” “consubstantial,” etc., one has to go back to the 4^th century, and whatever word or phrase is used in the liturgy, “consubstantial” will turn up in the explanation.

I hope that “incarnate” — another word that has to be explained — is in, since “et incarnatus est” is so beautiful in music. Indeed, a great point in favor of an English translation closer to the Latin is that it brings the worshiper not only closer to the Latin Mass but to the music of the past 1000 years before 1969. Expect at least a mini-Renaissance in Catholic worship as a result.

Thursday, June 15, 2006

2006-06-15T13:56:00.000-07:00

I have no wish to engage further with a foul mouthed thug.
Posted by: Dubliner | Thursday, June 15, 2006 at 02:32 PM

+

The translation has passed.

Will have to look at the amendments.

+ +

If , in the USA, this were the feast of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, this blog would conclude today. As it is, the last entry will be on the solemnity. This has been a good year for the Church. I am very happy.

The Fidelity of the Laity

2006-06-15T03:45:00.000-07:00

Read first Bishops contra Athanasius.

II

Now we come secondly to the proofs of the fidelity of the laity, and the effectiveness of that fidelity, during that domination of imperial heresy to which the foregoing passages have related. I have abridged the extracts which follow, but not, I hope, to the injury of their sense.

1. ALEXANDRIA. "We suppose," says Athanasius, "you are not ignorant what outrages they (the Arian Bishops) committed at Alexandria, for they are reported everywhere. They attacked the holy virgins and brethren with naked swords; they beat with scourges their persons, esteemed honourable in God's sight, so that their feet were lamed by the stripes, whose souls were whole and sound in purity and all good works." Athan. Op. c. Arian. 15, [Oxf: tr.]

"Accordingly Constantius writes letters, and commences a persecution against all. Gathering together a multitude of herdsmen and shepherds, and dissolute youths belonging to the town, armed with swords and clubs, they attacked in a body the Church of Quirinus: and some they slew, some they trampled under foot, others they beat with stripes and cast into prison or banished. They hauled away many women also, and dragged them openly into the court, and insulted them, dragging them by the hair. Some they proscribed; from some they took away their bread, for no other reason but that they might be induced to join the Arians, and receive Gregory (the Arian Bishop), who had been sent by the Emperor." Athan. Hist. Arian. §10.

"On the week that succeeded the holy Pentecost, when the people, after their fast, had gone out to the cemetery to pray, because that all refused communion with George (the Arian Bishop), the commander, Sebastian, straightway with a multitude of soldiers proceeded to attack the people, though it was the Lord's day; and finding a few praying, (for the greater part had already retired on account of the lateness of the hourJ having lighted a pile, he placed certain virgins near the fire, and endeavoured to force them to say that they were of the Arian faith. And having seized on forty men, he cut some fresh twigs of the palm-tree, with the thorns upon them, and scourged them on the back so severely that some of them were for a long time under medical treatment, on account of the thorns which had entered their flesh, and others, unable to bear up under their sufferings, died. All those whom they had taken, both the men and the virgins, they sent away into banishment to the great oasis. Moreover, they immediately banished out of Egypt and Libya the following Bishops (sixteen), and the presbyters, Hierax and Dioscorus: some of them died on the way, others in the place of their banishment. They caused also more than thirty Bishops to take to flight." Apol. de Fug. 7.

2. EGYPT. "The Emperor Valens having issued an edict commanding that the orthodox should be expelled both from Alexandria and the rest of Egypt, depopulation and ruin to an immense extent immediately followed; some were dragged before the tribunals, others cast into prison, and many tortured in various ways; all sorts of punishment being inflicted upon persons who aimed only at peace and quiet." Socr. Hist. iv. 24, [Bohn.]

3. THE MONKS OF EGYPT. "Antony left the solitude of the desert to go about every part of the city (Alexandria), warning the inhabitants that the Arians were opposing the truth, and that the doctrines of the Apostles were preached only by Athanasius." Theod. Hist. iv. 27, [Bohn.]

"Lucius, the Arian, with a considerable body of troops, proceeded to the monasteries of Egypt, where he in person assailed the assemblage of holy men with greater fury than the ruthless soldiery. When these excellent persons remained unmoved by all the violence, in despair he advised the military chief to send the fathers of the monks, the Egyptian Macarius and his namesake of Alexandria, into exile." Socr. iv. 24.

OF CONSTANTINOPLE. "Isaac, on seeing the emperor depart at the head of his army, exclaimed, 'You who have declared war against God cannot gain His aid. Cease from fighting against Him, and He will terminate the war. Restore the pastors to their flocks, and then you will obtain a bloodless victory." Theod. iv.

OF SYRIA, &c. "That these heretical doctrines (Apollinarian and Eunomian) did not finally become predominant is mainly to be attributed to the zeal of the monks of this period; for all the monks of Syria, Cappadocia, and the neighbouring provinces were sincerely attached to the Nicene faith. The same fate awaited them which had been experienced by the Arians; for they incurred the full weight of the popular odium and aversion, when it was observed that their sentiments were regarded with suspicion, by the monks." Sozom. Hist. vi. 27, [Bohn.]

OF CAPPADOCIA. "Gregory, the father of Gregory Theologus, otherwise a most excellent man and a zealous defender of the true and Catholic religion, not being on his guard against the artifices of the Arians, such was his simplicity, received with kindness certain men who were contaminated with the poison, and subscribed an impious proposition of theirs. This moved the monks to such indignation, that they withdrew forthwith from his communion, and took with them, after their example, a considerable part of his flock." Ed. Bened. Monit. in Greg. Naz. Orat. 6.

[4. SYRIA. "Syria and the neighbouring provinces were plunged into confusion and disorder, for the Arians were very numerous in these parts, and had possession of the churches. The members of the Catholic Church were not, however, few in numbers. It was through their instrumentality that the Church of Antioch was preserved from the encroachments of the Arians, and enabled to resist the power of Valens. Indeed, it appears that all the Churches which were governed by men who were firmly attached to the faith did not deviate from the form of doctrine which they had originally embraced." Sozom. vi. 21]

5. ANTIOCH. "Whereas he (the Bishop Leontius) took part in the blasphemy of Arius, he made a point of concealing this disease, partly for fear of the multitude, partly for the menaces of Constantius; so those who followed the apostolical dogmas gained from him neither patronage nor ordination, but those who held Arianism were allowed the fullest liberty of speech, and were placed in the ranks of the sacred ministry. But Flavian and Diodorus, who had embraced the ascetical life, and maintained the apostolical dogmas, openly withstood Leontius's machinations against religious doctrine. They threatened that they would retire from the communion of his Church, and would go to the West, and reveal his intrigues. Though they were not as yet in the sacred ministry, but were in the ranks of the laity, night and day they used to excite all the people to zeal for religion. They were the first to divide the singers into two choirs, and to teach them to sing in alternate parts the strains of David. They too, assembling the devout at the shrines of the martyrs, passed the whole night there in hymns to God. These things Leontius seeing, did not think it safe to hinder them, for he saw that the multitude was especially well affected towards those excellent persons. Nothing, however, could persuade Leontius to correct his wickedness. It follows, that among the clergy were many who were infected with the heresy: but the mass of the people were champions of orthodoxy." Theodor. Hist. ii. 24.

6. EDESSA. "There is in that city a magnificent church, dedicated to St. Thomas the Apostle, wherein, on account of the sanctity of the place, religious assemblies are continually held. The Emperor Valens wished to inspect this edifice; when, having learned that all who usually congregated there were opposed to the heresy which he favoured, he is said to have struck the prefect with his own hand, because he had neglected to expel them thence. The prefect, to prevent the slaughter of so great a number of persons, privately warned them against resorting thither. But his admonitions and menaces were alike unheeded; for on the following day they all crowded to the church. When the prefect was going towards it with a large military force, a poor woman, leading her own little child by the hand, hurried hastily by on her way to the church, breaking through the ranks of the soldiery. The prefect, irritated at this, ordered her to be brought to him, and thus addressed her: 'Wretched woman, whither are you running in so disorderly a manner?' She replied, 'To the same place that others are hastening.' 'Have you not heard,' said he, 'that the prefect is about to put to death all that shall be found there?' 'Yes,' said the woman, 'and therefore I hasten, that I may be found there."And whither are you dragging that little child?' said the prefect. The woman answered, 'That he also may be vouchsafed the honour of martyrdom.' The prefect went back and informed the emperor that all were ready to die in behalf of their own faith; and added that it would be preposterous to destroy so many persons at one time, and thus succeeded in restraining the emperor's wrath." Socr. iv. 18. "Thus was the Christian faith confessed by the whole city of Edessa." Sozom. vi. 18.

7. SAMOSATA. "The Arians, having deprived this exemplary flock of their shepherd, elected in his place an individual with whom none of the inhabitants of the city, whether poor or rich, servants or mechanics, husbandmen or gardeners, men or women, young or old, would hold communion. He was left quite alone; no one even calling to see him, or exchanging a word with him. It is, however, said that his disposition was extremely gentle; and this is proved by what I am about to relate. One day, when he went to bathe in the public baths, the attendants closed the doors; but he ordered the doors to be thrown open, that the people might be admitted to bathe with himself. Perceiving that they remained in a standing posture before him, imagining that great deference towards himself was the cause of this conduct, he arose and left the bath. These people believed that the water had been contaminated by his heresy, and ordered it to be let out and fresh water to be supplied. When he heard of this circumstance, he left the city, thinking that he ought no longer to remain in a place where he was the object of public aversion and hatred. Upon this retirement of Eunomius, Lucius was elected as his successor by the Arians. Some young persons were amusing themselves with playing at ball in the marketplace; Lucius was passing by at the time, and the ball happened to fall beneath the feet of the ass on which he was mounted. The youths uttered loud exclamations, believing that the ball was contaminated. They lighted a fire, and hurled the ball through it, believing that by this process the ball would be purified. Although this was only a childish deed, and although it exhibits the remains of ancient superstition, yet it is sufficient to show the odium which the Arian faction bad incurred in this city. Lucius was far from imitating the mildness of Eunomius, and he persuaded the heads of government to exile most of the clergy." Theodor. iv. 15.

8. OSRHOENE. "Arianism met with similar opposition at the same period in Osrhoëne and Cappadocia. Basil, Bishop of Caesarea, and Gregory, Bishop of Nazianzus, were held in high admiration and esteem throughout these regions." Sozom. vi. 21.

9. CAPPADOCIA. "Valens, in passing through Cappadocia, did all in his power to injure the orthodox, and to deliver up the churches to the Arians. He thought to accomplish his designs more easily on account of a dispute which was then pending between Basil and Eusebius, who governed the Church of Caesarea. This dissension had been the cause of Basil's departing to Pontus. The people, and some of the most powerful and wisest men of the city, began to regard Eusebius with suspicion, and to meditate a secession from his communion. The emperor and the Arian Bishops regarded the absence of Basil, and the hatred of the people towards Eusebius, as circumstances that would tend greatly to the success of their designs. But their expectations were utterly frustrated. On the first intelligence of the intention of the emperor to pass through Cappadocia, Basil returned to Caesarea, where he effected a reconciliation with Eusebius. The projects of Valens were thus defeated, and he returned with his Bishops." Sozom. vi. 15.

10. PONTUS. "It is said that when Eulahus, Bishop of Amasia in Pontus, returned from exile, he found that his Church had passed into the hands of an Arian, and that scarcely fifty inhabitants of the city had submitted to the control of their new Bishop." Sozom. vii. 2.

11. ARMENIA. "That company of Arians, who came with Eustathius to Nicopolis, had promised that they would bring over this city to compliance with the commands of the imperial vicar. This city had great ecclesiastical importance, both because it was the metropolis of Armenia, and because it had been ennobled by the blood of martyrs, and governed hitherto by Bishops of great reputation, and thus, as Basil calls it, was the nurse of religion and the metropolis of sound doctrine. Fronto, one of the city presbyters, who had hitherto shown himself as a champion of the truth, through ambition gave himself up to the enemies of Christ, and purchased the bishopric of the Arians at the price of renouncing the Catholic faith. This wicked proceeding of Eustathius and the Arians brought a new glory instead of evil to the Nicopolitans, since it gave them an opportunity of defending the faith. Fronto, indeed, the Arians consecrated, but there was a remarkable unanimity of clergy and people in rejecting him. Scarcely one or two clerks sided with him; on the contrary, he became the execration of all Armenia." Vita S. Basil., Bened. pp. clvii, clviii.

12. NICOMEDIA. "Eighty pious clergy proceeded to Nicomedia, and there presented to the emperor a supplicatory petition complaining of the ill-usage to which they had been subjected. Valens, dissembling his displeasure in their presence, gave Modestus, the prefect, a secret order to apprehend these persons and put them to death. The prefect, fearing that he should excite the populace to a seditious movement against himself, if he attempted the public execution of so many, pretended to send them away into exile," &c. Socr. iv. 16.

13. CAOOADOCIA. St. Basil says, about the year 372: "Religious people keep silence, but every blaspherning tongue is let loose. Sacred things are profaned; those of the laity who are sound in faith avoid the places of worship as schools of impiety, and raise their hands in solitude, with groans and tears, to the Lord in heaven." Ep. 92. Four years after he writes: "Matters have come to this pass; the people have left their houses of prayer, and assemble in deserts: a pitiable sight; women and children, old men, and men otherwise infirm, wretchedly faring in the open air, amid the most profuse rains and snow-storms, and winds, and frosts of winter; and again in summer under a scorching sun. To this they submit, because they will have no part in the wicked Arian leaven." Ep. 242. Again: "Only one offence is now vigorously punished, an accurate observance of our fathers' traditions. For this cause the pious are driven from their countries, and transported into deserts. The people are in lamentation, in continual tears at home and abroad. There is a cry in the city, a cry in the country, in the roads, in the deserts. Joy and spiritual cheerfulness are no more; our feasts are turned into mourning; our houses of prayer are shut up, our altars deprived of the spiritual worship." Ep. 243.

PAPHLAGONIA, &c. "I thought," says Julian in one of his Epistles, "that the leaders of the Galilaeans would feel more grateful to me than to my predecessor. For in his time they were in great numbers turned out of their homes, and persecuted, and imprisoned; moreover, multitudes of so-called heretics" (the Novatians who were with the Catholics against the Arians) "were slaughtered, so that in Samosata, Paphlagonia, Bithynia, and Galatia, and many other nations, villages were utterly sacked and destroyed." Ep. 52.

14. SCYTHIA. "There are in this country a great number of cities, of towns, and of fortresses. According to an ancient custom which still prevails, all the churches of the whole country are under the sway of one Bishop. Valens (the emperor) repaired to the church, and strove to gain over the Bishop to the heresy of Arius; but this latter manfully opposed his arguments, and, after a courageous defence of the Nicene doctrines, quitted the emperor, and proceeded to another church, whither he was followed by the people. Valens was extremely offended at being left alone in a church with his attendants, and, in resentment, condemned Vetranio (the Bishop) to banishment. Not long after, however, he recalled him, because, I believe, he apprehended an insurrection." Sozom. vi. 21.

15. CONSTANTINOPLE. "Those who acknowledged the doctrine of consubstantiality were not only expelled from the churches, but also from the cities. But although expulsion at first satisfied them (the Arians), they soon proceeded to the worse extremity of inducing compulsory communion with them, caring little for such a desecration of the churches. They resorted to all kinds of scourgings, a variety of tortures, and confiscation of property. Many were punished with exile, some died under the torture, and others were put to death while being driven from their country. These atrocities were exercised throughout all the eastern cities, but especially at Constantinople." Socr. ii. 27.

16. ILLYRIA. "The parents of Theodosius were Christians, and were attached to the Nicene doctrine, hence he took pleasure in the ministration of Ascholius (Bishop of Thessalonica). He also rejoiced at finding that the Arian heresy had not been received in Illyria." Sozom. vii. 4.

17. NEIGHBOURHOOD OF MACEDONIA. "Theodosius inquired concerning the religious sentiments which were prevalent in the other provinces, and ascertained that, as far as Macedonia, one form of belief was universally predominant." &c. Ibid.

18. ROME. "With respect to doctrine no dissension arose either at Rome or in any other of the Western Churches. The people unanimously adhered to the form of belief established at Nicaea." Sozom. vi. 23.

"Liberius, returning to Rome, found the mind of the mass of men alienated from him, because he had so shamefully yielded to Constantius. And thus it came to pass, that those persons who had hitherto kept aloof from Felix (the rival Pope), and had avoided his communion in favour of Liberius, on hearing what had happened, left him for Felix, who raised the Catholic standard. Baron. arm. 357. (56) He tells us besides (57), that the people would not even go to the public baths, lest they should bathe with the party of Liberius.

19. MILAN. "At the council of Milan, Eusebius of Vercellae, when it was proposed to draw up a declaration against Athanasius, said that the council ought first to be sure of the faith of the Bishops attending it, for he had found out that some of them were polluted with heresy. Accordingly he brought before the Fathers the Nicene creed, and said he was willing to comply with all their demands, after they had subscribed that confession. Dionysius, Bishop of Milan, at once took up the paper and began to write his assent; but Valens (the Arian) violently pulled pen and paper out of his hands, crying out that such a course of proceeding was impossible. Whereupon, after much tumult, the question came before the people, and great was the distress of all of them; the faith of the Church was attacked by the Bishops. They then, dreading the judgment of the people, transfer their meeting from the church to the imperial palace." Hilar. ad Const. i. 8.

"As the feast of Easter approached, the empress sent to St. Ambrose to ask a church of him, where the Arians who attended her might meet together. He replied, that a Bishop could not give up the temple of God. The pretorian prefect came into the church, where St. Ambrose was, attended by the people, and endeavoured to persuade him to yield up at least the Portian Basilica. The people were clamorous against the proposal; and the prefect retired to report how matters stood to the emperor. The Sunday following, St. Ambrose was explaining the creed, when he was informed that the officers were hanging up the imperial hangings in the Portian Basilica, and that upon this news the people were repairing thither. While he was offering up the holy sacrifice, a second message came that the people had seized an Arian priest as he was passing through the street. He despatched a number of his clergy to the spot to rescue the Arian from his danger. The court looked on this resistance of the people as seditious, and immediately laid considerable fines upon the whole body of the tradesmen of the city. Several were thrown into prison. In three days' time these tradesmen were fined two hundred pounds weight of gold, and they said that they were ready to give as much again, on condition that they might retain their faith. The prisons were filled with tradesmen: all the officers of the household, secretaries, agents of the emperor, and dependent officers who served under various counts, were kept within doors, and were forbidden to appear in public under pretence that they should bear no part in sedition. Men of higher rank were menaced with severe consequences, unless the Basilica were surrendered. . . .

"Next morning the Basilica was surrounded by soldiers; but it was reported, that these soldiers had sent to the emperor to tell him that if he wished to come abroad he might, and that they would attend him, if he was going to the assembly of the Catholics; otherwise, that they would go to that which would be held by St. Ambrose. Indeed, the soldiers were all Catholics, as well as the citizens of Milan; there were no heretics there, except a few officers of the emperor and some Goths....

"St. Ambrose was continuing his discourse when he was told that the emperor had withdrawn the soldiers from the Basilica, and that he had restored to the tradesmen the fines which he had exacted from them. This news gave joy to the people, who expressed their delight with applauses and thanksgivings; the soldiers themselves were eager to bring the news, throwing themselves on the altars, and kissing them in token of peace." Fleury's Hist. xviii. 41, 42, Oxf. trans.

[20. THE SOLDIERY. Soldiers having been mentioned in the foregoing extract, I add the following passage. "Terentius, a general distinguished by his valour and by his piety, was able, on his return from Armenia, to erect trophies of victory. Valens promised to give him everything that he might desire. But he asked not for gold or silver, for lands, power, of honours; he requested that a church might be given to those who preached the apostolical doctrines." Theodor. iv. 32.

"Valens sent Trajan, the general, against the barbarians. Trajan was defeated, and, on his return, the emperor reproached him severely, and accused him of weakness and cowardice. But Trajan replied with great boldness, 'It is not 1, 0 emperor, who have been defeated; for you, by fighting against God, have thrown the barbarians upon His protection. Do you not know who those are whom you have driven from the churches, and who are those to whom you have given them up?' Arintheus and Victor, the other commanders, accorded in what he had said, and brought the emperor to reflect on the truth of their remonstrances." Ibid. 33.]

21. CHRISTENDOM GENERALLY. St. Hilary to Constantius: "Not only in words, but in tears, we beseech you to save the Catholic Churches from any longer continuance of these most grievous injuries, and of their present intolerable persecutions and insults, which moreover they are enduring, which is monstrous, from our brethren. Surely your clemency should listen to the voice of those who cry out so loudly, 'I am a Catholic, I have no wish to be a heretic.' It should seem equitable to your sanctity, most glorious Augustus, that they who fear the Lord God and His judgment should not be polluted and contaminated with execrable blasphemies, but should have liberty to follow those Bishops and prelates who observe inviolate the laws of charity, and who desire a perpetual and sincere peace. It is impossible, it is unreasonable, to mix true and false, to confuse light and darkness, and bring into a union, of whatever kind, night and day. Give permission to the populations to hear the teaching of the pastors whom they have wished, whom they fixed on, whom they have chosen, to attend their celebration of the divine mysteries, to offer prayers through them for your safety and prosperity." ad Const. i.

Newman, On Consulting the Faithful in Matters of Doctrine, [1859] 1871. Compare text in Modern History Sourcebook: John Henry Newman (1801-1890): On Consulting the Faithful in Matters of Doctrine, July 1859.

Bishops contra Athanasius

2006-06-14T14:44:00.000-07:00

I

On the one hand, then, I say, that there was a temporary suspense of the functions of the "Ecclesia docens." The body of Bishops failed in their confession of the faith. They spoke variously, one against another; there was nothing, after Nicaea, of firm, unvarying, consistent testimony, for nearly sixty years. There were untrustworthy Councils, unfaithful Bishops; there was weakness, fear of consequences, misguidance, delusion, hallucination, endless, hopeless, extending itself into nearly every corner of the Catholic Church. The comparatively few who remained faithful were discredited and driven into exile; the rest were either deceivers or were deceived.

1. A.D. 325. The great council of Nicaea, of 318 Bishops, chiefly from the eastern provinces of Christendom, under the presidency of Hosius of Cordova, as the Pope's Legate. It was convoked against Arianism, which it once for all anathematized; and it inserted the formula of the "Consubstantial" into the Creed, with the view of establishing the fundamental dogma which Arianism impugned. It is the first Oecumenical Council, and recognised at the time its own authority as the voice of the infallible Church. It is so received by the orbis terrarum at this day. A.D. 326. St. Athanasius, the great champion of the Homoilison, was elected Bishop of Alexandria.

2. A.D. 334, 335. The synods of Caesarea and Tyre (sixty Bishops) against Athanasius, who was therein accused and formally condemned of rebellion, sedition, and ecclesiastical tyranny; of murder, sacrilege, and magic; deposed from his see, forbidden to set foot in Alexandria for life, and banished to Gaul. Also, they received Arius into communion.

3. A.D. 341. Council of Rome of fifty Bishops, attended by the exiles from Thrace, Syria, &c., by Athanasius, &c., in which Athanasius was pronounced innocent.

4. A.D. 341. Great Council of the Dedication at Antioch, attended by ninety or a hundred Bishops. The council ratified the proceedings of the councils of Caesarea and Tyre, and placed an Arian in the see of Athanasius. Then it proceeded to pass a dogmatic decree in reversal of the formula of the "Consubstantial." Four or five creeds, instead of the Nicene, were successively adopted by the assembled fathers. Three of these were circulated in the neighbourhood; but, as they wished to send one to Rome, they directed a fourth to be drawn up. This, too, apparently failed.

5. A.D. 345. Council of the creed called Macrostich. This creed suppresses, as did the third, the word "substance." The eastern Bishops sent this to the Bishops of France, who rejected it.

6. A.D. 347. The great council of Sardica, attended by more than 300 Bishops. Before it commenced, the division between its members broke out on the question whether or not Athanasius should have a seat in it. In consequence, seventy-six retired to Philippopolis, on the Thracian side of Mount Haemus, and there excommunicated the Pope and the Sardican fathers. These seceders published a sixth confession of faith. The synod of Sardica, including Bishops from Italy, Gaul, Africa, Egypt, Cyprus, and Palestine, confirmed the act of the Roman council, and restored Athanasius and the other exiles to their sees. The synod of Philippopolis, on the contrary, sent letters to the civil magistrates of those cities, forbidding them to admit the exiles into them. The imperial power took part with the Sardican fathers, and Athanasius went back to Alexandria.

7. A.D. 351. The Bishops of the East met at Sirmium. The semi-Arian Bishops began to detach themselves from the Arians, and to form a separate party.

Under pretence of putting down a kind of Sabellianism, they drew up a new creed, into which they introduced the language of some of the ante-Nicene writers, on the subject of our Lord's divinity, and dropped the word -substance."

[8. There is considerable confusion of dates here. Anyhow, there was a second Sirmian creed, in which the eastern party first came to a division among themselves. St. Hilary at length gives up these creeds as indefensible, and calls this one a "blasphemy." It is the first creed which criticises the words "substance," &c., as unscriptural. Some years afterwards this "blasphemia" seems to have been interpolated, and sent into the East in the name of Hosius. At a later date, there was a third Sirmian creed; and a second edition of it, with alterations, was published at Nice in Thrace.]

9. A.D. 353. The council of Arles.The Pope sent to it several Bishops as legates. The Father of the Council, including the Pope's legate, Vincent, subscribed the condemnation of Athanasius. Paulinus, Bishop of Trêves, was nearly the only one who stood up for the Nicene faith and for Athanasius. He was accordingly banished into Phrygia, where he died.

10. A.D. 355. The council of Milan, of more than 300 Bishops of the West. Nearly all of them, subscribed the condemnation of Athanasius; whether they generally subscribed the heretical creed, which was brought forward, does not appear. The Pope's four legates remained firm, and St. Dionysius of Milan, who died an exile in Asia Minor. An Arian was put into his see. Saturninus, the Bishop of Arles, proceeded to hold a council at Beziers; and its fathers banished St. Hilary to Phrygia.

A.D. 357-9. The Arians and Semi-Arians successively drew up fresh creeds at Sirmium.

11. A.D. 357 - 8. Hosius falls. "Constantius used such violence towards the old man, and confined him so straitly, that at last, broken by suffering, he was brought, though hardly, to hold communion with Valens and Ursacius (the Arian leaders), though he would not subscribe against Athanasius." Athan. Arian. Hist. 45.

12. And Liberius. A.D. 357 - 8 "The tragedy was not ended in the lapse of Hosius, but in the evil which befell Liberius, the Roman Pontiff, it became far more dreadful and mournful, considering that he was Bishop of so great a city, and of the whole Catholic Church, and that he had so bravely resisted Constantius two years previously. There is nothing, whether in the historians and holy fathers, or in his own letters, to prevent our coming to the conclusion, that Liberius communicated with the Arians, and confirmed the sentence passed against Athanasius; but he is not at all on that account to be called a heretic." Baron. Ann. 357, 38-45. Athanasius says: "Liberius, after he had been in banishment for two years, gave way, and from fear of threatened death was induced to subscribe." Arian. Hist. S41. St. Jerome says: "Liberius, taedio victus exilii, in haereticam pravitatern subscribens, Roman quasi victor intraverat [Liberius, worn out by the tedium of exile and subscribing to the heretical error, had entered Rome almost as a conqueror.]." Chron.

13. A.D. 359. The great councils of Seleucia and Ariminum, being one bi-partite council, representing the East and West respectively. At Seleucia there were 150 Bishops, of which only the twelve or thirteen from Egypt were champions of the Nicene "Consubstantial." At Ariminum there were as many as 400 Bishops, who, worn out by the artifice of long delay on the part of the Arians, abandoned the "Consubstantial," and subscribed the ambiguous formula which the heretics had substituted for it.

[14. A.D. 361. The death of Constantius; the Catholic Bishops breathe again, and begin at once to remedy the miseries of the Church, though troubles were soon to break out anew.]

15. A.D. 362. State of the Church of Antioch at this time. There were four Bishops or communions of Antioch; first, the old succession and communion, which had possession before the Arian troubles; secondly, the Arian succession, which had lately conformed to orthodoxy in the person of Meletius; thirdly, the new Latin succession, lately created by Lucifer, whom some have thought the Pope's legate there; and, fourthly, the new Arian succession, which was started upon the recantation of Meletius. At length, as Arianism was brought under, the evil reduced itself to two Episcopal successions, that of Meletius and the Latin, which went on for many years, the West and Egypt holding communion with the latter, and the East with the former.

[16. A.D. 370-379. St. Basil was Bishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia through these years. The judgments formed about this great doctor in his lifetime show us vividly the extreme confusion which prevailed. He was accused by one party of being a follower of Apollinaris, and lost in consequence some of the sees over which he was metropolitan. He was accused by the monks in his friend Gregory's diocese of favouring the semi-Arians. He was accused by the Neocaesareans of inclining towards Arianism. And he was treated with suspicion and coldness by Pope Damasus].

17. About A.D. 360, St. Hilary says: "I am not speaking of things foreign to my knowledge; I am not writing about what I am ignorant of; I have heard and I have seen the shortcomings of persons who are round about me, not of laymen merely, but of Bishops. For, excepting the Bishop Eleusius and a few with him, for the most part the ten Asian provinces, within whose boundaries I am situate, are truly ignorant of God." De Syn. 63. It is observable, that even Eleusius, who is here spoken of as somewhat better than the rest, was a semi-Arian, according to Socrates, and even a persecutor of Catholics at Constantinople; and, according to Sozomen, one of those who were active in causing Pope Liberius to give up the Nicene formula of the "Consubstantial." By the ten Asian provinces is meant the east and south provinces of Asia Minor, pretty nearly as cut off by a line passing from Cyzicus to Seleucia through Synnada.

18. A.D. 360. St. Gregory Nazianzen says, about this date: "Surely the pastors have done foolishly; for, excepting a very few, who, either on account of their insignificance were passed over, or who by reason of their virtue resisted, and who were to be left as a seed and root for the springing up again and revival of Israel by the influences of the Spirit, all temporised, only differing from each other in this, that some succumbed earlier, and others later; some were foremost champions and leaders in the impiety, and others joined the second rank of the battle, being overcome by fear, or by interest, or by flattery, or, what was the most excusable, by their own ignorance." Orat. xxi. 24.

19. A.D. 363. About this time, St. Jerome says: "Nearly all the churches in the whole world, under the pretence of peace and the emperor, are polluted with the communion of the Arians." Chron. Of the same date, that is, upon the council of Ariminum, are his famous words, "Ingernuit totus orbis et se esse Arianum miratus est [The whole world groaned, and marveled to see itself Arian.]." In Lucif. 19. The Catholics of Christendom were surprised indeed to find that the Council had made Arians of them.

[20. A.D. 364. And St. Hilary: "Up to this date, the only cause why Christ's people is not murdered by the priests of Anti-christ, with this deceit of impiety, is, that they take the words which the heretics use, to denote the faith which they themselves hold. Sanctiores aures plebis quàm corda sunt sacerdotum [There is more holiness in the ears of the people than in the hearts of the priests.] ." In Aux. 6.]

21. St. Hilary speaks of the series of ecclesiastical councils of that time in the following well-known passage: "Since the Nicene council, we have done nothing but write the creed. While we fight about words, inquire about novelties, take advantage of ambiguities, criticise authors, fight on party questions, have difficulties in agreeing, and prepare to anathernatise each other, there is scarce a man who belongs to Christ. Take, for instance, last year's creed, what alteration is there not in it already? First, we have the creed, which bids us not to use the Nicene 'consubstantial;' then comes another, which decrees and preaches it; next, the third, excuses the word 'substance,' as adopted by the fathers in their simplicity; lastly, the fourth, which instead of excusing, condemns. We determine creeds by the year or by the month, we change our own determinations, we prohibit our changes, we anathernatise our prohibitions. Thus, we either condemn others in our own persons, or ourselves in the instance of others, and while we bite and devour one another, are like to be consumed one of another."

22. A.D. 382. St. Gregory writes: "If I must speak the truth, I feel disposed to shun every conference of Bishops; for never saw I synod brought to a happy issue, and remedying, and not rather aggravating, existing evils. For rivalry and ambition are stronger than reason, -- do not think me extravagant for saying so, -- and a mediator is more likely to incur some imputation himself than to clear up the imputations which others lie under." Ep. 129.

Newman, On Consulting the Faithful in Matters of Doctrine, [1859] 1871. Compare text in Modern History Sourcebook: John Henry Newman (1801-1890): On Consulting the Faithful in Matters of Doctrine, July 1859.

Continued in The Fidelity of the Laity.

Wednesday, June 14, 2006

2006-06-14T14:43:00.000-07:00

After retiring, Bishop Griswold said, he may write a book or two. Or take up invitations to teach. Or tend to his house in New Hampshire, where, he said, he can scythe a meadow.

“I like to scythe,” Bishop Griswold said, with a small smile, “because grass obeys in a way people sometimes don’t.”

— Bishop Frank T. Griswold, Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church (USA), 1997–2006, New York Times, June 11, 2006

A Letter from Mary Tripoli

2006-06-13T14:20:00.000-07:00

Mary Tripoli attends Mass at St. Mary’s by the Sea in the Diocese of Orange, California, USA.

Date: Jun 13, 2006 12:46 AM
Subject: St Mary's by the Sea.
To: mary.leo@gmail.com

Dear Leo,

Thank you for your words regarding fairness about selective liturgical enforcement. St. Mary's has been a little haven for the refuge of sinners. The most liberal Church in our Diocese is 5 minutes away from St. Mary's. They stand at the Consecration. The Church was built without kneelers. People still used to kneel though. I was one of the parishioners that was asked to leave the parish and Diocese for kneeling at St. Mary's. I went to visit and talk with the Pastor of the Church with no kneelers about the situation at St. Mary's. I told him that Father Tran told us that we had to go back to wherever our home parish was if we didn't like it. Even though I have been to funeral Masses and listened to watered down and goofy theology at this parish, something wonderful happened. I told the Pastor that I had been in the Legion of Mary and that if I was to meet some one who was interested in the faith, I would not know where to send them. I told him that his parish had beautiful horizontal but lacked the vertical. I praised him for the beautiful homily he gave at a funeral I attended. This very, very liberal priest said he felt our pain and that we could come and kneel after the Agnus Dei anytime. He actually said, "Now you know what it is like to have a tyrant come in and remove everything that is Sacred to you." He tried so hard to comfort us. He told us that the Church was diverse and that there was room under the umbrella for everyone. I told him that was only in words, not reality. I asked him who loved the Bishop enough to let him know he is wrong. Who loved him enough to challenge him to the truth? I asked him if he knew about Bishop Sheen. I said that Bishop Sheen had said that the laity is the eyes, ears and mouths for the Church. I told him that other priests in the Diocese who don't like Bishop Brown just say, "Well when he faces Almighty God, he will be in trouble." Again I asked him if that was the best we could do for Bishop Brown. Who loves him enough to challenge him now? Our conversation was absolutely incredible. This priest was so taken by our sincerity he did not want us to leave. He wanted to talk and console us. I learned a valuable lesson about charity from this priest. I still am attending St. Mary's and I approached Bishop Brown after Saturday evening Mass where he showed up unannounced. I asked him if I could have a meeting with him. He asked me what kind of meeting it would be. I said a meeting to heal division within the Church. He said, "Who would attend this meeting?" I said, "A few people and don't worry it will be tame and loving with no tempers." He said, 'Alright I am always interested in healing division with loving talks." I asked the Bishop to check his schedule and please let Father Tran, our parish administrator, let me know. This was a few days ago. The Bishops conference is this week so I am going to wait a few days and call the Diocese and ask for the appointment. Please pray for us. I will be attending a prayer vigil outside the hotel where the Bishops will be meeting. The reason I wrote to you is that your responses on the blogs made sense to me. That is a rare gift and I wanted to thank you. Keep us in your prayers, as I will keep you in mine. Leo, I have just learned how to use a computer, so please forgive any errors. After reading your responses on the blogs, I know you will.

God Bless,
Mary

Tuesday, June 13, 2006

2006-06-13T14:08:00.000-07:00

For the LORD, the God of Israel, says,
"The jar of flour shall not go empty,
nor the jug of oil run dry,
until the day when the LORD sends rain upon the earth."
—1 Kings 17:14

The Lord has not sent rain to the Church in America, but the jar is not empty, nor the jug dry.

Men of rank, how long will you be dull of heart?
Why do you love what is vain and seek after falsehood?
—Psalm 4:2

May this not be applicable to the bishops meeting in Los Angeles.

Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
— Matthew 5:16

Ad Maiorem Dei Gloriam

John Harris on baseball today.

+ +

I had been advised to visit the Pont-du-Gard; hitherto I had seen none of the remaining monuments of Roman magnificence, and I expected to find this worthy the hands by which it was constructed; for once, the reality surpassed my expectation; this was the only time in my life it ever did so, and the Romans alone could have produced this effect. The view of this noble and sublime work, struck me the more forcibly, from being in the midst of a desert, where silence and solitude render the majestic edifice more striking, and admiration more lively, for though called a bridge it is nothing more than an aqueduct. One cannot help exclaiming, what strength could have transported these enormous stones so far from any quarry? And what motive could have united the labors of so many millions of men, in a place that no one inhabited? I remained here whole hours, in the most ravishing contemplation, and returned pensive and thoughtful to my inn.
— Rousseau’s Confessions, Book VI

On my arrival at Nismes, I went to see the amphitheatre, which is a far more magnificent work than even the Pont-du-Gard, yet it made a much less impression on me, perhaps, because my admiration had been already exhausted on the former object; or that the situation of the latter, in the midst of a city, was less proper to excite it. This vast and superb circus is surrounded by small dirty houses, while yet smaller and dirtier fill up the area, in such a manner that the whole produces an unequal and confused effect, in which regret and indignation stifle pleasure and surprise. The amphitheatre at Verona is a vast deal smaller and less beautiful than that at Nismes, but preserved with all possible care and neatness, by which means alone it made a much stronger and more agreeable impression on me.
— Ibid.

I was convinced that the physicians (who understood nothing of my disorder) looked on my complaint as imaginary, and treated me accordingly, with their waters and whey. In this respect physicians and philosophers differ widely from theologians; admitting the truth only of what they can explain and making their knowledge the measure of possibilities. These gentlemen understood nothing of my illness, therefore concluded I could not be ill; and who would presume to doubt the profound skill of a physician?
— Ibid.

Monday, June 12, 2006

2006-06-12T14:06:00.000-07:00

Enjoyed yesterday afternoon visiting our friend Sr. Mary Anne Nelson at Pyramid Lake. On the way we had lunch in Chestertown at the Main Street Ice Cream Parlor. SMAN, M, O, and O’s friend K went kayaking. I read Romans. Afterwards we all sat down with SMAN, who every year after the College of St. Rose ends its spring semester comes up to Pyramid Life Center for a month to establish a garden. The subject of bears came up.

SMAN: I once saw Greeley [SMAN’s cat] hiding under the cabin, and when I turned around and I said, “Yikes! There’s a teenage bear out here!”

ME: I would have said, “Yikes! There’s a teenager out here!”

Only I laughed.

I sent a prayer request to the Father Solanus Guild:

His name is Justin.

Crohn's disease
Inflammatory bowel disease
Kidney stones (resulting from prior bowel resections)
Possible adhesions from prior surgery and/or Crohns

And now, most likely, depression. . . . . he is not doing well after getting his hopes up about Georgetown being able to help.

B—

Trinity Sunday

2006-06-11T05:26:00.000-07:00

Saturday, June 10, 2006

2006-06-10T07:55:00.000-07:00

But from the earliest days of the Church (such as St. Ignatius of Antioch) until today, it is clear that if you separate yourself from your bishop, you separate yourself from the Church.

Posted by: Old Zhou | Jun 8, 2006 11:13:38 PM

In his Epistle to the Ephesians, St. Ignatius of Antioch praised unity. As Jesus Christ is the will of the Father, so the bishops are the will of Jesus Christ, the priests “fitted as exactly to the bishop as the strings are to the harp,”, and the people a choir, “a perfect unity with God.”

But the American bishops are not unified:

The American prelates appear divided on the revisions. A poll taken last summer found that 52 percent of bishops favored the changes, while 47 percent judged them '“fair or poor.”
— Daniel Burke, Familiar words of Catholic Mass face changes, Religion News Service. For the bishops’ discussions on kneeling, see “Unless the diocesan bishop determines otherwise”.

I was therefore struck by today’s first reading, in which Paul writes:

For the time will come when people will not tolerate sound doctrine but, following their own desires and insatiable curiosity, will accumulate teachers and will stop listening to the truth and will be diverted to myths.
— 2 Timothy 4:3–4

And in today’s Gospel reading, who are they who:

go around in long robes and accept greetings in the marketplaces, seats of honor in cathedrals, and places of honor at conventions.
— Mark 12:38–39

And are not the poor kneelers of St. Mary’s by the Sea more like the poor widow who:

put in more than all the other contributors to the treasury. For . . . she, from her poverty, has contributed all she had.
— Mark 12:43–44

See also Comments: “Meeting of Minds?” in Amy Welborn’s blog open book.

The article Bishop Brown Cartoon in RomanCatholicBlog.com has a convenient list of links relating to the kneeling controversy at St. Mary's by the Sea parish in the Diocese of Orange, California.

We will be spending tomorrow at Pyramid Lake, so to get an early start, we decided to go to vigil Masses today. I went to the 4:00PM Mass at Historic St. Mary’s Church, to get an early start on preparing dinner, to which we have invited Jude. The Mass at St. Mary’s is very different from that at the Cathedral. I will only note here two things:

In the pews are copies of the "mass guide" Celebrating the Eucharist. In it, after the "Lamb of God" I saw:

COMMUNION KNEEL
. . .
When receiving Holy Communion STAND

In fact, at St. Mary’s nobody uses Celebrating the Eucharist, and everybody kneels after the Agnus Dei and to receive Holy Communion.

The other thing I note here is that only two verses of the recessional hymn, O God, Almighty Father, were sung, leaving out the Holy Spirit. Maybe he will be recognized tomorrow.

Friday, June 9, 2006

2006-06-09T19:36:00.000-07:00

Dinner at Jeff and Sandy’s and A’s. Sandy’s Aunt Dafna, visiting from Israel, was there, and there too was a graduate student from China who will be flying out to Los Angeles tomorrow to spend three weeks with her husband. Right now prospects of peace in the Middle East seem hopeless.

On obeying wicked pastors

2006-06-09T19:27:00.000-07:00

Christ the Lord commands obedience even to WICKED pastors: Upon the chair of Moses have sitten the scribes and Pharisees: all things, therefore, whatsoever they shall say to you, observe and do; but according to their works do ye not, for they say and do not. — Matthew 23:2–3

Moses sat to give counsel to the people who came to him to inquire of God, and he made them know the statutes of God and His laws (Exodus 18). Generally speaking, the scribes and the Pharisees had authority as experts in and lovers of the law, while the Sadducees controlled the priesthood and represented the Temple. Thus, by a rough parallel, the Pharisees would be Traditionalists whose learning is true and should be obeyed but who do not practice what they preach (some lack charity), while the Sadducees would be more like certain bishops, whose authority comes solely from their position (some lack knowledge as well as charity). The ignorant Sadducees said that there is no resurrection, neither angel, nor spirit, while the knowledgeable Pharisees confessed all three (Acts 23:8). Jesus often berated “the Pharisees and the Sadducees,” who indeed eventually joined against him; in the verses quoted, however, he spoke of the scribes and the Pharisees, not the hierarchy. Jesus did pay the Temple tax, not because he felt bound to do so (“the sons are free”), but to avoid scandalizing his followers; and besides, the Temple was his Father’s house, whatever the current management. This did not prevent him from trying to clean house when he came to the Temple, which made the chief priests as well as the scribes seek to destroy him.

In secular terms, the scribes are lawyers who can tell you what the law is but don’t necessarily follow it. Or they are like judges who consider themselves above the law. A pastor may or may not be an expert in Church or God’s law. He may just be following the orders of his bishop, who may also not know the law, or may be disregarding it.

Thus Matt 23:2–3 is not a command to obey wicked pastors. Obedience to pastors is subject to the limitations of the fourth commandment.

Thursday, June 8, 2006

2006-06-08T03:37:00.000-07:00

Someone in the Vatican — Cardinal, secretary, Swiss Guard? — continues to be interested in St. Colman’s Cathedral.

At noon I read at Mass:

Remind people of these things and charge them before God to stop disputing about words. This serves no useful purpose since it harms those who listen. Be eager to present yourself as acceptable to God, a workman who causes no disgrace,imparting the word of truth without deviation.
— 2 Timothy 2:14–15

From which I understand that our prize and hope is not words but the Word, our goal not to win arguments but to win heaven.

This was my last day reading at the Church of the Holy Cross. My department is moving downtown to the Alfred E. Smith building. I have a sense of endings and beginnings.

+ +

I have begun to kneel at the start of the period of sacred silence after Communion, when the priest sits and the people who kneel after receiving Communion also sit.

+ + +

A most welcome e-mail:

Dear Leo,

I placed a petition with your name at the tomb of Venerable Solanus Casey. The Capuchin friars here at St. Bonaventure Monastery will be praying for all your intentions at the daily Morning and Evening Prayers. God bless you and yours.

Sincerely Yours In Christ,
Br. Richard
Director
Fr. Solanus Guild

+ + + +

The officially mandated liturgical changes were being implemented as early as 1964 and were largely in effect before the flood of departures from the Church and from the priestly and religious life began. So long as the liturgy was stable, so was Church membership. As with other changes in the Church, the disaffection with liturgy seems to have come about not because the liturgy did not change but because it did.
— James Hitchcock, “The Loss of History,” a chapter from his book Recovery of the Sacred: Liturgy and The Loss of History.

This is another illustration of what Wendell Berry in 1973 remarked was “the most important thing that’s been said to me in the last couple of years&rdquo:

They’ll never do worth a damn as long as they’ve got two choices.

+ + + + +

Phoebe, you obviously don’t understand classical rhetoric.
RP Burke | 06.08.06 - 9:48 am | #

The Difference between Criticism and Complaint

2006-06-07T18:45:00.000-07:00

Criticism as I understand it differs entirely from attack or complaint. Its difference from complaint is especially important here, for I am persuaded that complaints against the machinations of culture today have become as poisonous as the things complained of. This is not surprising. Resentment and indignation are feelings dangerous to the possessor and to be sparingly used. They give comfort too cheaply; they rot judgment, and by encouraging passivity they come to require that evil continue for the sake of the grievance to be enjoyed.

Criticism, on the contrary, aims at action. True, not all objects can be acted on at once, and many will not be reshaped according to desire; but thought is plastic and within our control, and thought is a form of action. To come to see, in the light of criticism, a situation as different from what it seemed to be, is to have accomplished an important act.

— A Jacques Barzun Reader (2002) / Jacques Barzun, Science: The Glorious Entertainment (1964).

See Comments to June Adoremus Bulletin in The New Liturgical Movement.

Audio and Video of Local Reaction in Cobh

2006-06-07T05:00:00.000-07:00

Local news coverage following the An Bord Pleanála’s decision denying permission to reorder St. Colman’s Cathedral in Cobh, Ireland. Both sides are represented. Click on the appropriate links in these pages:

Video: RTE Six One News — 06 June 2006

Audio: RTE News at One — 06 June 2006

At lot has happened since Mr. Hitchcock first published his book Recovery of the Sacred: Liturgy and The Loss of History in 1974 and reprinted it in 1995. The progressives are no longer sitting high on the horse. See Donna Steichen's report on the Los Angeles conference, A Church They Didn't Expect: Religious Education Congress Veteran Observer Detects Change.

More and more, as the phrase “spirit of Vatican II” loses its luster, we shall hear another phrase, something like “move on,” to salvage “what we have done for you.” As an example,

Saturday evening when Bishop Brown was at St. Mary’s for Mass, when one woman begged him to restore the Tridentine Mass to St. Mary's by the Sea, Bishop Brown answered, emphatically, “No. We must move forward.”

The subversives may yet have their victories, but the tide has turned, and the more aware of them know it.

+ +

I now intend to end this blog on the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ.

Tuesday, June 6, 2006

2006-06-06T14:40:00.000-07:00

A memory of Fr. Solanus Casey, by Fr. Benedict Groeschel.

Father Solanus Guild: Cause of Venerable Solanus Casey

See also Fr. Benedict on Venerable Solanus Casey.

“I feel something within me that compels me to burn Rome.”

2006-06-05T13:56:00.000-07:00

It has been asked why “progressive” religious and laymen are often intolerant to those who disagree with them, while being very receptive to those who disagree with their Church.

A good, because tame, example is a recent speech given by Father Timothy Radcliffe, OP:

Saturday morning’s festivities started off with British priest Timothy Radcliffe, former master of the Dominicans, who gave a keynote address on “The Church as Sign of Hope and Freedom,” drawing on the congress theme, “Step Into Freedom” and the Gospel account of Jesus’ raising of Lazarus from the dead. Radcliffe delivered his speech before an audience of approximately 6,000 in the Anaheim Convention Center arena, with Cardinal Roger Mahony and congress organizer Sister Edith Prendergast seated on stage behind him.

Radcliffe said society has “two models” for making moral decisions. “One is to think that it’s about choosing just what you feel like doing, and the other is a morality that’s about submission to the rules,” he said. “Think about sex. Often we think that sexual morality is really just doing what I feel like, it’s just a lifestyle option, what feels right for me. The other extreme is the people who think that it’s just a question of submitting to the external rules. But this Gospel summons us beyond those alternatives. . . . Christian morality is about obedience, but not obedience as an infantile submission. It’s about obedience in the original meaning of that word . . . about learning to hear the voice of the Lord. And what that voice says is, ‘stand up and be free.’

“Holiness isn’t about obeying all the laws,” continued Radcliffe. “Holiness is about acting from the core of our being, where God is.”

Saying he didn't “actually understand why,” Radcliffe noted that homosexuality has “become a very hot topic in all the churches at the moment. . . . Usually when we think about” homosexuality, Radcliffe said, “we ask, ‘what is forbidden or permitted?’ But I’m afraid I’m an old-fashioned, traditional Catholic, and I believe that’s the wrong place to start. We begin by standing beside gay people as they hear the voice of the Lord that summons them to life and happiness. We accompany them as they wrestle with discovering what this means and how they must walk. And this means letting our imaginations be stretched open to watching Brokeback Mountain, reading gay novels, having gay friends, making that leap of the heart and the mind, delighting in their being, listening with them as they listen to the Lord.”

Noting “the violence of the language used by Pope Benedict when he was the cardinal prefect for the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith” and “the violent language of conservative Catholics against so-called liberals,” Radcliffe drew applause as he said, “we are not a sign of God’s freedom in Jesus until we can dare to belong with each other across every theological boundary. That means we have to see with other people’s eyes, and hear with their ears, and feel with their skin, regardless of whether they’re Legionnaires of Christ or militant feminists.”

— Allyson Smith, “Step Into It: The 2006 L.A. Archdiocesan Religious Education Congress”, Los Angeles Lay Catholic Mission, June 2006

In this speech, what the reporter heard was that there were two mistaken models for making moral decisions, but she only heard “submission to the rules” deplored. She heard about militant feminists, but the only violent language referred to was that of Cardinal Ratzinger and conservative Catholics. She heard about “standing beside gay people,” but she did not hear, “Neither do I condemn you. Go: from now on do not sin any more.” She heard “Be free,” but did not hear, “The truth will set you free. Amen, amen, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin.”

Since these religious and laymen have given up on truth, and deny that we sin, what are we to be free from? In a word, guilt; in a phrase, the White Man’s Burden and Depredations; culturally, the last five hundred years since the Reformation and the Counter-Reformation; psychiatrically, the superego; personally, one’s own heritage and upbringing; developmentally, the fear of becoming like one’s parents; biblically, Adam's sin; theologically, submission to the Father.

If, as some have written, we are at the end of an age, then for many the past will seem tyrannical, and freedom from the past the hope of a new age. And as for those stuck in the past, they shall be forced to be free. As Bishop Donald Trautman, Chairman of the U. S. Conference of Catholic Bishops Committee on the Liturgy said, “Liturgy belongs to the people of the Church here and now.” And if not all the people agree — as how could they? — let there be a People’s Church like a People’s Republic.

One should acknowledge the strength of this feeling, and the numbers who feel it, and their sensitive response to the historical condition of the West. Nor condemn them, nor be the first to throw a stone.

But they sin, and they say, “We see,” so their sin remains. They say, “We hear,” so they do not hear. They say, “We know,” so they do not know. They sin by thinking not as God does, but as human beings do, and poorly. In doing this they are Satan. To say this is not to condemn them, as Jesus did not condemn Simon Peter.

One should also acknowledge their power in the Church, and that their power is waning. Do not argue with them, since they do not argue. Do not reason with them, since they do not reason. They are enemies of the Church: fight them for the Church and love them. Pray that they become friends of the Church, that we may love them as we love one another, and that all will know that we are his disciples.

Compare Caryl Johnston, The Virginity Monologues.

For the title of this article, see Jacques Barzun, “The State of Culture Today,” in Garraty and Gay, eds., The Columbia History of the World, 1972, 1155.

This article is listed in The Catholic Carnival is Here: Living the Faith in the blog Universal Call: Answer It!, quoted in The cafeteria is closed. . . . ., and mentioned by The Anchoress.

For light on the American Catholic scene, see Donna Steichen, Can Reform Come? and Mrs. Steichen’s own report on the Los Angeles conference, A Church They Didn’t Expect

Pentecost Sunday

2006-06-04T04:26:00.000-07:00

He will testify to me. And you also testify.

Into Great Silence

2006-06-03T19:57:00.000-07:00

La Grande Chartreuse

Today, we’re literally flooded with information. What’s missing — and what one must find out on one’s own — is the meaning of things.
— Philip Gröning, filmmaker

An Bord Pleanála Saves St. Colman’s Cathedral

2006-06-02T13:45:00.000-07:00

Ending this blog on an up note:

53.214338 Re-ordering the interior of St. Colman's Cathedral, Cobh, Co. Cork.

Inspector's Report

Board Direction

Board Order

Deo gratias.

Reported in:

Archiseek

The cafeteria is closed . . . . .

The New Liturgical Movement

From a beautiful catechesis on St. Peter by Pope Benedict XVI:

On a spring morning, [Peter’s] mission would be entrusted to him by the risen Jesus. The meeting would take place on the shores of the Lake of Tiberias. It is the Evangelist John who refers to the dialogue that took place in that circumstance between Jesus and Peter. One notes a very significant play of words. In Greek the word filéo expresses the love of friendship, tender but not total, whereas the word agapáo means love without reservations, total and unconditional.

Jesus asks Peter the first time: “Simon … do you love me (agapâs-me)” with this total and unconditional love (cf. John 21:15)? Before the experience of the betrayal, the apostle would certainly have said: “I love you (agapô-se) unconditionally.” Now that he has known the bitter sadness of infidelity, the tragedy of his own weakness, he says with humility: “Lord, I love you (filô-se),” that is, “I love you with my poor human love.” Christ insists: “Simon, do you love me with this total love that I want?” And Peter repeats the answer of his humble human love: Kyrie, filô-se, “Lord, I love you as I know how to love.”

The third time Jesus only says to Simon: “Fileîs-me?”, “Do you love me?” Simon understood that for Jesus his poor love, the only one he is capable of, is enough, and yet he is saddened that the Lord had to say it to him in this way. Therefore, he answered: “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you (filô-se).”

It would seem that Jesus adapted himself to Peter, rather than Peter to Jesus! It is precisely this divine adaptation that gives hope to the disciple, who has known the suffering of infidelity. From here trust is born that makes him able to follow to the end: “This he said to show by what death he was to glorify God. And after this he said to him, ‘Follow me’” (John 21:19).

The Supreme Law in the Church

2006-05-28T19:18:00.000-07:00

I had hoped not to write anything in this blog before saying goodbye to it on Pentecost Sunday, but since so much is being said nowadays about authority and obedience, I should like to quote the last word of Canon Law:

. . . the salvation of souls, which must always be the supreme law in the Church, is to be kept before one’s eyes.
— Code of Canon Law, Can. 1752

Would that the church — bishops, priests, deacons, ministers, and laity — obeyed this law.

Added June 1, 2006:

According to (the American adaptation of) GIRM 43, “The faithful kneel after the Agnus Dei unless the Diocesan Bishop determines otherwise.”

Almost certainly “determines” here does not mean personal preference. It seems to have something to do with GIRM 20 (not 387, which deals with other matters than posture), which says in part that “the utmost care must be taken to choose and to arrange those forms and elements set forth by the Church that, in view of the circumstances of the people and the place, will more effectively foster active and full participation and more properly respond to the spiritual needs of the faithful.” In other words, in “determining” the Diocesan Bishop considers his flock, not himself.

Moreover, since according to GIRM 22, “The Bishop should . . . be determined that the priests, the deacons, and the lay Christian faithful grasp ever more deeply the genuine meaning of the rites and liturgical texts and thereby be led to an active and fruitful celebration of the Eucharist,” a determination departing from the stated norm should be introduced pastorally, by providing the faithful with proper catechesis on the reasons for the differing norm and whether this norm is (to use Cardinal Arinze’s oft-quoted words) intended “to regulate posture rigidly” or “to ensure within broad limits a certain uniformity of posture.”

An arbitrary or unexplained determination would therefore unlawful (I am not judging the present case). There is also the matter of application. A determination may be lawful but if its administration is inconsistent, then its application is unjust — inequitable. For example, if a norm is for the entire diocese, punishment for violating the norm must not be limited to parishioners of one parish — that would be inconsistent and unjust (again, I am not judging the present case). Instead, in the words of Canon 1752, “canonical equity is to be observed.” Canon 1752 concludes the entire Code of Canon Law by stating, “the salvation of souls, which must always be the supreme law in the Church, is to be kept before one’s eyes.” This supreme law guides every Diocesan Bishop’s determinations.

Thursday, May 25, 2006

2006-05-25T03:31:00.000-07:00

Why preach the gospel when one cannot recommend one’s parish, one’s bishop, the USCCB? Because he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be damned. Do I myself believe, whom signs do not follow? Does the Lord work with me, confirming the (not my) word with signs? Maybe my sign is that I have not seen, and yet believe. Amen.

+ +

Last evening we had a salad. The croutons must have been made of rye, since they were dark.

O: Why are the croutons so dark?
ME: Because they’re croutans.

O did not laugh, but she did try not to smile.

+ + +

For several reasons, I may have fewer things to say about the parish in future. If so, the title of this blog will no longer be appropriate and I shall close this diary, possibly on Pentecost.

Wednesday, May 24, 2006

2006-05-24T03:24:00.000-07:00

What the Father has the Son has. What the Son has the Holy Spirit has. What the Holy Spirit has he shows to us, to the degree that we can bear it. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. At it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen

+ +

Received the pack of fifty “How to Go to Confession” cards that I ordered from the USCCB. Much prefer Father Pat Umberger’s Credit Card to Heaven, both for its contents and for its size. Father Umberger’s 2" x 3" card fits into my wallet; the bishops’ 4" x 9" card is too big even for a bookmark and says less in more words than Father Umberger’s card does. The differences confirm my belief that the bishops are poor promoters of the sacrament. Do they go often themselves?

An Easter in Siberia (1958)

2006-05-23T14:36:00.000-07:00

All day Friday, I heard a tremendous number of Easter confessions, as I had very night that week after work. On Friday evening, after Good Friday services, I set out to begin my tour of the city. Every place I went, there were people waiting — even in the middle of the night or the long cold hours of early morning. I got back to my bolok [shanty] Saturday morning in time for services at 6 A.M. It was jammed with people, many of whom had been there overnight in order to get a place before the altar for this long Easter Vigil service. Many of them, too, stayed in the chapel after the Saturday services until it was time for the Easter midnight Mass, with nothing to eat all day, so they would be close to the altar. After the services, I started making the rounds again, doubling back to my bolok every few hours to bless the baskets of food which filled my little room from wall to wall, a new batch every time. By 11:30 P.M. Saturday, I was back home but I could hardly get near the bolok. Even the corridors and the vestibule were jammed; crowds of people were swarming around outside in the midnight cold. There was barely room to move anywhere, but by twelve o’clock I was vested — I couldn’t lift my arms because of the crowd, so someone had to pull the vestments over my head — and ready for Mass. The altar was covered with flowers and candles; we even had a choir. As I began the solemn intonation of the Easter Mass, the chapel seemed to explode with sound. An Easter Mass is a joyous one to begin with, but the enthusiasm of the people that night I shall never forget. Tired as I was after more than forty-eight hours without sleep, hurrying from place to place, I felt suddenly elated and swept along. I forgot about everything but the Mass and the joy of Easter.

The crowds were so great it was impossible to distribute Communion, because no one could move. Communion had to be distributed after Mass. The services ended at 3 A.M., but at nine o’clock the next morining I was still distributing Communon to a constant stream of people. I would hear the crowds outside, going home through the Easter dawn, shouting the traditional Easter greeting: “Khristos voskres!” (Christ is risen!), and the joyous answer, “Voistinu voskres!” (Indeed, he is risen!). After it was finally all over, I came back to my room alone and sat down at the little table in my bolok, completely exhausted. Yet I was deeply satisfied; I knew a joy that day I have rarely known. I felt that at last, in God’s own good providence, I was beginning to live my dream of serving his flock in Russia. “And all this,” was the thought that kept flashing through my mind, “all this took place in Russia, in Norilsk!’

— Walter J. Ciszek, He Leadeth Me, San Francisco, Ignatius Press, pp. 171–172.

Several days later, the KGB told Father Ciszek to leave Norilsk forever. The description of this Easter in Siberia comes in a chapter called “Humility”.

Sin, righteousness, judgment

By the power of the Holy Spirit we are made strong by the knowledge that the world sinned by denying the Son, that the righteous witness in the world by faithful suffering, and that the Son will return to judge the world.

And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:
— John 16:8

Of sin, because they believe not on me;
— John 16:9

And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind. And some of the Pharisees which were with him heard these words, and said unto him, Are we blind also? Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth.
— John 9:39–41

Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more;
— John 16:10

A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me, because I go to the Father. Then said some of his disciples among themselves, What is this that he saith unto us, A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me: and, Because I go to the Father? They said therefore, What is this that he saith, A little while? we cannot tell what he saith. Now Jesus knew that they were desirous to ask him, and said unto them, Do ye enquire among yourselves of that I said, A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me? Verily, verily, I say unto you, That ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice: and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy. A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world. And ye now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you.
— Johne 16:16–22

Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.
— John 16:11

Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out.
— John 12:31

Monday, May 22, 2006

2006-05-22T17:01:00.000-07:00

Nothing [Jesus] worked on, as far as we know, ever set any fashions or became a collector’s item.
— Walter J. Ciszek, S.J., He Leadeth Me, San Francisco, Ignatius Press, p. 103.

Love in Action

2006-05-21T14:47:00.000-07:00

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
— John 3:16

Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
— John 15:13

God’s love and man’s love in these verses is the same kind love. It is love in action, a love that costs, because the object of the love is prized, a willed love.

At the theatre, because pure emotion is facile, three-quarters of the audience may cry, but . . . very few of them will be unable to sleep when they get home, or will even lose their appetite for a late supper. . . . A man may weep over a novel which he will forget in two or three hours, although the same man may be made insane, or may have his character changed for life, by actual experiences which are far less terrible than those of which he reads, experiences which at the moment may produce neither tears nor any other obvious nervous effect.
— Graham Wallas, Human Nature in Politics

Habitually to enjoy feelings without acting upon them is to be a sentimentalist.
— Jacques Barzun, Classic, Romantic, and Modern

“Because there are priests . . . .”

2006-05-20T11:46:00.000-07:00

The greatest blessings of my life have come to me through the hands of a priest. At an Easter Vigil Mass in 1974, I was held in the arms of a priest and incorporated into the Body of Christ at my Baptism, beginning my personal relationship with God. Seven years later, when I had my first conscious encounter with the Mercy of God in my first confession and then received the Body and Blood of Jesus for the first time in Holy Communion, it was by the power of the priesthood. In 2004, 30 years after my Baptism, it was a priest who placed the wedding band of espousal to Jesus Christ on my hand at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass at which I made my Perpetual Vows.

Because there are still men in this world who have said “yes” to the Father, are willing to lay down their lives, and by His mercy have been incorporated into the Priesthood of Jesus Christ, I am able to know God in the most intimate ways possible on earth. Because there are priests, I can be present at the Last Supper 2000 years later. Because there are priests, I can stand with our Lady at the foot of the cross at every Mass, every day. Because there are priests, I can touch Jesus, taste Jesus as I consume His living, resurrected Body and Blood in the Holy Eucharist. Because there are priests, I can hear the sound of Jesus’ voice saying to me, “I absolve you from your sins,” every time I go to confession.

— Sr. Clare Matthiass, CFR, From the Friars, May 20, 2006

The moments after the noon meal [at Butirka prison in Moscow] were always the best moments of the day. When everyone had finished smoking, a sort of quiet settled on the cell by mutual consent. Many of the prisoners took a nap. I used to sit there by the door, looking around the cell and watching the human scene. There was a row of sick over by the windows, for instance. We put them there hoping the windows would dissipate some of the stench, because the poor fellows were dying of dysentery. There was nothing left of some of them but skin and bones. The odor was so foul the other prisoners compalined to the nurse who used to visit these poor wretches once a day. “I know, I know,” she said, “but I can’t do anything. There is simply no room left in the hospital.”

All she could do was give them some sort of fluid every day, but most of them were too far gone for help. Sometimes, at night, I’d wake to hear a loud cry followed by that peculiar breathing called the death rattle; then the doctors would hurry in and take somebody out in the darkness. In the quiet period after lunch, I talked to the sick from time to time, trying to encourage them as much as I could. But there wasn’t much anyone could do. I could — and did — give many of them absolution, and I’d sit close alongside them sometimes, whispering the prayers for the dying. I only hope it consoled them as much as it did me to be able to act as a priest again. . . .

— Walter J. Ciszek, S.J., With God in Russia: My Twenty-Three Years as a Priest in Soviet Prisons and Siberian Labor Camps, San Francisco, Ignatius Press, pp. 148–149.

Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
— John 15:13

Here Jesus speaks of love of friends, brotherly love, not self-sacrifice, not heroism, not philanthropy, not high-mindedness, but a love that actually requires one to have friends.

See also in Curmudgeon’s Cave: Why would I be a priest for Bp. Hubbard?

Genesis 123

2006-05-19T14:06:00.000-07:00

See Nothing more crucial than Genesis.

Friday, May 19, 2006

2006-05-19T03:33:00.000-07:00

For most of the world, Pascal’s thoughts had just as well remained in a shoebox.

Cathedral Mailing List

2006-05-18T18:29:00.000-07:00

I have started a Mailing List for parishioners of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Albany.

To join click: Cathedral

Thursday, May 18, 2006

2006-05-18T14:07:00.000-07:00

As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love. If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love. These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.
— John 15:9–11

In the next line Jesus’ commandments become one commandment:

This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.
— John 15:12

Not: thou lovest others; but: ye love one another. Not only: I must love, but also: I must bring others to love, and let others bring me to love. This commandment alone will take everything we have. Joy.

Wednesday, May 17, 2006

2006-05-17T19:21:00.000-07:00

Pharisees who convert remain pharisaical, at least for a time. The important thing is: Pharisees do convert.

Recommended to Betty T that our September pastoral advisory council retreat be on the theme “Building Community”. This will be code for a while.

+ +

Appears that J and I will marry again — in the Church!

Tuesday, May 16, 2006

2006-05-16T19:26:00.000-07:00

Was told at our pastoral advisory council meeting this evening that Bishop Hubbard will be ordaining five deacons on Saturday, three of them on their way to becoming priests.

From the Friars shows photos of three friars who became priests last Saturday.

Monday, May 15, 2006

2006-05-15T18:59:00.000-07:00

Saw Thérèse again, this time with M. She did not like it either. O, of course, studiously avoided the room, and complained about how loud the TV was. I myself love any sign of holiness, and the actress Lindsay Younce was quite convincing enough for me, even if the film did not show the whole Thérèse.

Historical Stagnation

2006-05-15T15:30:00.000-07:00

I sense in Western man a profound historical stagnation.
— Caryl Johnston, Additions and Comments on “Metaphysical Womanhood”

History is not speeding up — it is actually slowing down.
— John Lukacs

ME: Were there any reactions after you distributed the comments?
FATHER P: None.

Of the 23 contributions to the Jane Jacobs Online Memorial Weblog, 7 resulted from an action on my part.

Are our minds so sluggish, or our hearts?

Views from the Pews

2006-05-14T19:24:00.000-07:00

On March 6 and 27 and April 4 and 10, the Catholic Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Albany NY held education/information meetings on various aspects relating to the restoration/renovation of the Cathedral interior. In addition to the presentations and question/answer sessions, attendees were asked to write responses to three questions:

1. What do you like most about the cathedral?
2. What do you dislike most about the cathedral?
3. What is most important to you personally?

The questions were not related to any proposal or plan of restoration/renovation, since none was presented at the meetings.

The responses were compiled, and the results of the compilation were presented as an insert to the parish bulletin for May 7, 2006. The insert was in the form of a memo from the rector of the cathedral, Father William H. Pape, to the cathedral parishioners. The memo, including the responses in a more simplified format, can be read here.

The Interior Committee appointed by Bishop Howard Hubbard will meet on June 19, when it is expected to present Bishop Howard Hubbard with a final plan and estimate.

This article has been noticed by:

The cafeteria is closed . . . . .

Catholic Carnival - conversations

Saturday, May 13, 2006

2006-05-13T13:00:00.000-07:00

Went to confession, in a confessional, at Historic St. Mary’s. Although the web site and the bulletin say that confessions are from 3 to 4, the norm seems to be that the priest goes into the confessional after 3:15. About 4 or 5 people were waiting for him, perhaps a good sign. St. Mary’s celebrates Latin Mass (NO) at 12 noon on Sundays. Tomorrow’s will an orchestral mass of Michael Haydn’s Missa Beatissimae Virginis Mariae, performed the the New York Catholic Chorale. Wish I could be there. St. Peter and St. Paul Tridentine Parish in Troy celebrates the Tridentine Mass. I have never been present at it.

We have invited the Holdens and the Adamses to dinner tonight. Yesterday M got out Thérèse from Hollywood Video. We’ll see if we have any takers tonight.

I should acknowledge that many in the diocese speak favorably of Bishop Howard Hubbard. See also Interview with Bishop Hubbard.

Only Jake and I saw the film. He did not like it, much preferring the 1986 French Thérèse. I thought this film had some good qualities, though it does not show the great saint that Thérèse was. May watch it again if M is interested.

+ +

Telephoned Mom in Westport. Dad was with Dennis taking M— to a party. Dennis was supposed to go down to North Hills to visit the visitors, but could not, so Bud drove up with Mom and Dad, Uncle and Auntie, and Leslie to Westport.

“the people”

2006-05-13T07:08:00.000-07:00

That night [in 1939] was my worst in Albertin [Poland]. With the [Russian] troops moving around on the floor above me, I hardly slept at all. Next day, I was summoned for a “personal talk” with the politruk, the Communist Pary or secret service agent who accompanied every unit of the Red Army. He wanted to know the whereabouts of the former Polish government officials of Albertin. I knew nothing and said so. In a technique I was to become familiar with later on, the politruk asked me the same question many times over in different forms. He was insistent, arguing that by helping him I would be helping the “people”.

“My work”, I replied, “isn’t political, it’s pastoral. As their pastor, I help the people spiritually and also materially when I can”. I told him of cases where we had raised money to help the children of poor families continue their educaiton through high school and beyond. He wasn’t interested. He insisted I should help “the people” everywhere by revealing the names of their enemies and making public what information I had as a priest.

— Walter J. Ciszek, S.J., With God in Russia, p. 35.

Metaphysical Womanhood

2006-05-13T05:15:00.000-07:00

Caryl Johnston, Metaphysical Womanhood

The Lark

2006-05-13T04:47:00.000-07:00

Last evening, M and I drove up to Troy to see NYSTI’s production of Jean Anouilh’s play about Joan of Arc. After Dreyer’s film, Joan seemed too loquacious. I didn’t notice in the program the name of Lillian Hellman or any other translator/adaptor.

Anathema

2006-05-12T14:06:00.000-07:00

No Catholic is as good as his religion.
—Lord Acton, quoted by John Coulson in his Introduction to John Henry Newman, On Consulting the Faithful in Matters of Doctrine. According to Mr. Coulson, Newman’s essay was written in response to criticism of his remark that “We do unfeignedly . . . believe that their Lordships [the English bishops] really desire to know the opinion of the laity on subjects in which the laity are especially concerned. If even in the preparation of a dogmatic definition the faithful are consulted, as lately in the instance of the Immaculate Conception, it is at least as natural to anticipate such an act of kind feeling and sympathy in great practical questions.”

Neither shalt thou bring anything of the idol into thy house, lest thou become an anathema like it. Thou shalt detest it as dung, and shalt utterly abhor it as uncleanness and filth, because it is an anathema.
— Deuteronomy 7:26, quoted in Catholic Encyclopedia, Anathema

According to the same article in the Catholic Encyclopedia,

Anathema remains a major excommunication which is to be promulgated with great solemnity. A formula for this ceremony was drawn up by Pope Zachary (741-52) in the chapter Debent duodecim sacerdotes, Cause xi, quest. iii. The Roman Pontifical reproduces it in the chapter Ordo excommunicandi et absolvendi, distinguishing three sorts of excommunication: minor excommunication, formerly incurred by a person holding communication with anyone under the ban of excommunication; major excommunication, pronounced by the Pope in reading a sentence; and anathema, or the penalty incurred by crimes of the gravest order, and solemnly promulgated by the Pope. In passing this sentence, the pontiff is vested in amice, stole, and a violet cope, wearing his mitre, and assisted by twelve priests clad in their surplices and holding lighted candles. He takes his seat in front of the altar or in some other suitable place, and pronounces the formula of anathema which ends with these words: “Wherefore in the name of God the All-powerful, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, of the Blessed Peter, Prince of the Apostles, and of all the saints, in virtue of the power which has been given us of binding and loosing in Heaven and on earth, we deprive N— himself and all his accomplices and all his abettors of the Communion of the Body and Blood of Our Lord, we separate him from the society of all Christians, we exclude him from the bosom of our Holy Mother the Church in Heaven and on earth, we declare him excommunicated and anathematized and we judge him condemned to eternal fire with Satan and his angels and all the reprobate, so long as he will not burst the fetters of the demon, do penance and satisfy the Church; we deliver him to Satan to mortify his body, that his soul may be saved on the day of judgment.” Whereupon all the assistants respond: “Fiat, fiat, fiat.” The pontiff and the twelve priests then cast to the ground the lighted candles they have been carrying, and notice is sent in writing to the priests and neighbouring bishops of the name of the one who has been excommunicated and the cause of his excommunication, in order that they may have no communication with him. Although he is delivered to Satan and his angels, he can still, and is even bound to repent. The Pontifical gives the form for absolving him and reconciling him with the Church. The promulgation of the anathema with such solemnity is well calculated to strike terror to the criminal and bring him to a state of repentance, especially if the Church adds to it the ceremony of the Maranatha.

For what it may be worth, the word anathema does not appear in the (English) text of the current Code of Canon Law.

In our day, demos is the idol, as in the book title God’s House is Our House, in which, so to speak, God has been demoted. Not that the idolizing bishops and priests really care about the people: the publican [who] standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner (Luke 18:14), or the poor widow [who] hath cast more in, than all they which have cast into the treasury (Mark 12:43). Instead they are the commissars of the People’s Church, awarded and affluent, hating, hateful, and vindictive, who when the people ask for bread give them stones. Better for them that the stones were hanged about their necks, and that they were drowned in the depth of the sea.

See also The Curt Jester, Liturgical Anonymous.

What is certain is that, in the fourth century, . . . an absence of effective leadership caused laymen to express their sense of the truth that was within them in a way profoundly displeasing to those in authority.
— Coulson, ibid.

In his essay, Newman quotes Bishop Ullathorne of Birmingham:

It is the devout who have the surest instinct in discerning the mysteries of which the Holy Spirit breathes the grace through the Church, and who . . . reject what is alien from her teaching.

as well as his own Lecture on Anglican Difficulties:

We know that it is the property of life to be impatient of any foreign substance in the body to which it belongs. It will be sovereign in its own domain, and it conflicts with what it cannot assimilate into itself, and is irritated and disordered till it has expellled it. Such expulsion, than, is emphatically a test of uncongeniality, for it shows that the substance ejected, not only is not one with the body that rejects it, but cannot be made one with it; that its introduction is not only useless, or superfluous, or adventitious, but that it is intolerable. . . . The religious life of a people is of a certain quality and direction, and these are tested by the mode in which it encounters the various opinions, customs, and institutions which are submitted to it. Drive a stake into a river’s bed, and you will at once ascertain which way it is running, and at what speed; throw up even a straw upon the air, and you will see which way the wind blows; submit your heretical and Catholic principle to the action of the multitude, and you will be able to pronounce at once whether it is imbued with Catholic truth or with heretical falsehood.

and goes on to show this in the history of Arianism:

It is not a little remarkable, that, though, historically speaking, the fourth century is the age of doctors, illustrated, as it was, by the saints Athanasius, Hilary, the two Gregories, Basil, Chrysostom, Ambrose, Jerome, and Augustine, and all of these saints bishops also, except one, nevertheless in that very day the divine tradition committed to the infallible Church was proclaimed and maintained far more by the faithful than by the Episcopate.

Here, of course, I must explain:— that in saying this, then, undoubtedly I am not denying that the great body of the Bishops were in their internal belief orthodox; nor that there were numbers of clergy who stood by the laity, and acted as their centres and guides; nor that the laity actually received their faith, in the first instance, from the Bishops and clergy; nor that some portions of the laity were ignorant, and other portions at length corrupted by the Arian teachers, who got possession of the sees and ordained an heretical clergy; — but I mean still, that in that time of immense confusion the divine dogma of our Lord’s divinity was proclaimed, enforced, maintained, and (humanly speaking) preserved far more by the “Ecclesia docta” than by the “Ecclesia docens”; that the body of the episcopate was unfaithful to its commission, while the body of the laity was faithful to its baptism; that at one time the Pope, at other times the patriarchal, metropolitan, and other great sees, at other times general councils, said what they should not have said, or did what obscured and compromised revealed truth; while, on the other hand, it was the Christian people who, under Providence, were the ecclesiastical strength of Athanasius, Hilary, Eusebius of Vercellae, and other great solitary confessors, who would have failed without them.

and so on in a way that is summarized in one sentence in The Arians of the Fourth Century (3^rd ed, 1871):

The Catholic people, in the length and breadth of Christendom, were the obstinate champions of Catholic truth, and the bishops were not.

Note that this was after the Council of Nicaea of 325, which supposedly settled the question of Arianism. Bloggers, Keep the Faith!

Have Mercy on My Romanian

2006-05-12T03:41:00.000-07:00

Doamne Isuse Hristoase, fiul lui Dumnezeu, miluieşte-mă pe mine, păcătosul.

See Jesus Prayer Variations.

Circles of Quills

2006-05-11T18:23:00.000-07:00

Kneeling at Communion

2006-05-11T14:51:00.000-07:00

Gathered these after reading Mean Tod Brown.

Code of Canon Law:

Can. 843 1. Sacred ministers cannot deny the sacraments to those who seek them at appropriate times, are properly disposed, and are not prohibited by law from receiving them.

General Instruction on the Roman Missal, Including Adaptations for the Dioceses of the United States of America:

160. The priest then takes the paten or ciborium and goes to the communicants, who, as a rule, approach in a procession. The faithful are not permitted to take the consecrated bread or the sacred chalice by themselves and, still less, to hand them from one to another. The norm for reception of Holy Communion in the dioceses of the United States is standing. Communicants should not be denied Holy Communion because they kneel. Rather, such instances should be addressed pastorally, by providing the faithful with proper catechesis on the reasons for this norm.

INSTRUCTION Redemptionis Sacramentum On certain matters to be observed or to be avoided regarding the Most Holy Eucharist:

[90.] “The faithful should receive Communion kneeling or standing, as the Conference of Bishops will have determined”, with its acts having received the recognitio of the Apostolic See. “However, if they receive Communion standing, it is recommended that they give due reverence before the reception of the Sacrament, as set forth in the same norms”.

[91.] In distributing Holy Communion it is to be remembered that “sacred ministers may not deny the sacraments to those who seek them in a reasonable manner, are rightly disposed, and are not prohibited by law from receiving them”. Hence any baptized Catholic who is not prevented by law must be admitted to Holy Communion. Therefore, it is not licit to deny Holy Communion to any of Christ's faithful solely on the grounds, for example, that the person wishes to receive the Eucharist kneeling or standing.

Pastor Invites Parish Families to Leave the Diocese

2006-05-10T18:36:00.000-07:00

So says the May 2006 Los Angeles Lay Catholic Mission. Father Martin Tran’s form letter to the 37 (55?) families was not printed, but his dismissals of a parish pastoral council member and of the altar servers coordinator were:

Dear B—,

I would like to inform you, according to the criteria of the parish pastoral council: "consultative" role to the Administrator/pastor, from now on, you are dismissed (no personal offense please!) from being a member of the St. Mary's by the Sea. For you cannot help me to implement the current liturgical norms of the diocese (you chose to kneel at the Final Blessing).

Thanks a lot for all your past contribution to the council. God bless!

Sincerely Yours in Christ,

Fr. Martin Tran

Dear D—,

Since you hold a very significant role in the service for the parish as Coordinator of the altar servers, you are supposed to be a role model for the altar servers and for the whole parish in following to the liturgical norms of the Diocese of Orange. Three times you did not follow these norms during Sunday Masses (1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd Sunday of Advent)(you knelt down after the Lamb of God right in front of the people). For our first meeting, I said very clear that you would be the the Altar Servers Coordinator with the condition that you should follow the liturical norms of the diocese. And you promised that. Now, you broke it. Therefore, you disqualify yourself being the Coordinator for altar servers. As Administrator of the parish, in obedience to the Bishop, I decided to terminate you as Coordinator of the Altar Servers immediately, effective today Dec 14, 2005. And you are not welcome in the sacristy or in the sanctuary to serve any Mass. Fr. Mackin agreed to this! Fr. Lake will be noticed about this also! And if you are holding any keys of the parish, please return them to the rectory immediately. Thanks for your cooperation!

From now on, I and I— L— will take care of the altar servers. Thanks a lot for your service. May God reward you with all God's blessings! Please continue to pray for one another. God bless!

Your brother in Christ,

Fr. Martin Tran

St. Mary’s by the Sea is in the Diocese of Orange. Meanwhile, in the Diocese of Los Angeles, St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church in North Hollywood is about to be renovated. First to blog about this was Karen Hall in Some Have Hats. See:

Thing of Beauty is a Joy For . . . about fifty years

Are you with me, or are you with the terrorists?

The Sacrament of Forgiveness

2006-05-09T14:42:00.000-07:00

Since I have recommended that the Sacrament of Confession, Penance, Reconciliation be called the Sacrament of Forgiveness, and because the sacrament gives me happiness, I should perhaps say more about it. As befitting my situation, I take a very low view based on the translation of the Bible I usually quote.

Forgive us our debts.
— Matthew 6:12 (KJV)

Suppose you received a credit card bill that you don't have to pay — ever. What if you’ve been receiving and not paying bills for 5, 15, 20 years and hear about a way to get the credit card company to erase the debt and the accumulated interest and fines? Now don’t tell me you want to pay, you would feel guilty if you didn't pay. We are talking about forgiveness: the credit card company won’t take your money: if you feel guilty, give the money to the poor and follow Christ.

But don’t go to the credit card company and ask them to explain debt forgiveness. They have the power to forgive your debt and they will have you understand that they have the power. Didn’t Simone Weil write about “the superb indifference that the powerful have for the weak"? Yes, they do promote the plan, in a way that today hardly anybody takes advantage of it. I am writing about the management. The person you actually meet will be as happy to forgive as you will be to be forgiven — but he will be very professional about it.

You may have trouble thinking about your debt. This is not surprising, especially if you have been ignoring the bills. Who goes over a bill unless he intends to pay it? You may have a vague ominous feeling of something building up, or you may even deny that anything is building up. Poor soul: In the spiritual economy the rich (saints) know their many debts.

Surely you are not embarrassed by your lack of debt — that you don’t go to confession because you would have to say, Bless me, Father, for I have not sinned? You are Catholic?

Or do you think that you are forgiven, whether or not you use the sacrament of forgiveness? Then why are you still reading this post? Shouldn’t you be rereading The Da Vinci Code?

But possibly you are not skilled at examining your debts. You are embarrassed, or feel you may be embarrassed, but you don’t know to quite what extent and perhaps don’t want find out. Or you think that after you’re forgiven you’ll just acquire more debt — what’s more, the same kind of debt — what’s the use? The use is, Someone wants to forgive you, Someone died to forgive you, Someone will forgive you as much and as often as you need to be forgiven. The important thing, if you have not been forgiven in many years, is to be forgiven as soon as possible. Then the next time you will have fewer entries to look at.

So if you have something or some things you know you owe to God or neighbor, start with those. Otherwise say: “My last confession was x years ago. These are my sins: I have avoided confession and have forgotten how to confess my sins” and ask the priest to help you through the rest. Some items may come up that you may not consider debts — disputed claims, so to speak — don’t argue: just say whether you did or omitted to do: you will be forgiven if they are debts, you lose nothing if they aren’t; and besides, if you haven’t examined your bills in many years, who are you to play expert about your debts (see about saints above)? Just sign the papers (say you’re sorry): the priest will do what he is ordained to do, and you will leave a free man or woman. Your confession will be good, and you will have relearned how to confess. Do your penance. Thank God.

Tips:

1. If you haven’t been to confession in years, go to a priest who doesn’t know you, perhaps in another parish, another town, another state, perhaps at a day of prayer or some other religious event. Do a face-to-face confession; be as matter-of-fact as possible (it may not be possible).

2. Get a “confession card” like Fr. Pat Umberger’s Credit Card to Heaven. Read it before the sacrament, take it with you into the sacrament. It has the words you start with and the act of contrition you end with. Knowing you can read them will give you courage.

3. When perfect strangers or imperfect friends ask you why you seem so happy, just tell them, “I go to Confession!”

From the Friars

2006-05-09T03:38:00.000-07:00

Franciscan Friars of the Renewal

From the Friars

Listen Up, Holy See!

2006-05-08T14:16:00.000-07:00

The Vatican sometimes visits these pages, so I shall them this: The Sacrament of Reconciliation is not a good name. Oh, you can explain why it is so much better than “Confession”, but it isn’t. Why don’t you call it the Sacrament of Forgiveness?

Telling Stories

2006-05-08T13:48:00.000-07:00

M has just completed two weeks devoted to storytelling. It started on April 27 at Proctors, where M led a workshop on The Art of Storytelling for Teachers and Students. Then on April 30 at Shenendehowa United Methodist Church, children M and Marni Gillard had been coaching performed in the Children at the Well youth storytelling event conceived by Gert Johnson of the Interfaith Story Circle of the Tri-City Area. Then followed seven days of the Riverway Storytelling Festival, in which M shared the stage with Judith Black, Eshu Bumpus, Dan Keding, Bob Reiser, and others. Tonight a group of Maple Hill Middle School students that M has been coaching performed at the Castleton Public Library.

A memorable time: great people, great stories, great story telling.

Hear Mary Murphy

Read Mary Murphy

Sunday, May 7, 2006

2006-05-07T18:27:00.000-07:00

Why am I so happy? Or do I merely feel happy? If so, how long will the feeling last? And when I no longer feel happy, will I know that I am happy?

Love.

Trilling on the difficulty of arguing with experts

2006-05-06T20:45:00.000-07:00

Rereading Lionel Trilling’s review of Jane Jacob’s The Death and Life of Great American Cities, I came across this passage:

It seldom occurs to us to take account of an inertia of a different kind [than the inertia of society], that which makes it virtually impossible to debate an idea on its merits, that which leads us to abandon intellectual effort in the face of experts who can muster against opposition not the convincing arguments but the social and moral attitudes which have the effect of suggesting that adverse views are impious.
—Lionel Trilling, “No Mean City” in Arthur Krystal, ed., A Company of Readers: Uncollected Writings of W. H. Auden, Jacques Barzun, and Lionel Trilling from the Readers’ Subscription and Mid-Century Book Clubs

This second inertia makes serious discussion between parishioners and the liturgical design consultant virtually impossible, so that “parish involvement” is often an elaborate deception.

Lionel Trilling on not accepting alienation

2006-05-06T19:02:00.001-07:00

Lionel Trilling and Quentin Anderson in front of Lamb House in Rye, England

Who that has had experience of our social reality will doubt its alienated condition? And who that has thought of his experience in the light of certain momentous speculations made over the last two centuries, of which a few have been touched on in these pages, will not be disposed to find some seed of cogency in a view that proposes an antinomian reversal of all accepted values, of all received realities?

But who that has spoken, or tried to speak, with a psychotic friend will consent to betray the masked pain — his bewilderment and solitude — by making it the paradigm of liberation from the imprisoning falsehoods of an alienated social reality? Who that finds intelligible the sentences which describe madness (to use the word that cant prefers) in terms of trascendence and charisma will fail to penetrate to the great refusal of human connection that they express, the appalling belief that human existence is made authentic by the possession of a power, or the persuasion of its possession, which is not to be qualified or restricted by the co-ordinate existence of any fellow man? . . .

Perhaps exactly because the thought is assented to so facilely, so without what used to be called seriousness, it might seem that no expression of disaffection from the social existence was ever so desperate as this eagerness to say that authenticity of personal being is achieved through an ultimate isolateness and through the power that this is presumed to bring. The falsities of an alienated social reality are rejected in favor of an upward psychopathic mobility to the point of divinity, each one of us a Christ — but with none of the inconveniences of undertaking to intercede, of being a sacrifice, of reasoning with rabbis, of making sermons, of having disciples, of going to weddings and to funerals, of beginning something and at a certain point remarking that it is finished.

— Lionel Trilling, Sincerity and Authenticity, quoted in Quentin Anderson, Lionel Trilling at Columbia

Father Glenn Sudano

2006-05-06T09:32:00.000-07:00

Am spending a day of prayer with Father Glenn Sudano of the Congregation of the Franciscans of the Renewal.

Went to confession and received Holy Communion.

Save the Pine Bush

2006-05-06T05:45:00.000-07:00

Save the Pine Bush

Romano Guardini (1964) and Dom Armand Veilleux (2005)

2006-05-05T15:39:00.000-07:00

I’ve probably quoted these before, but I want to put the two links together.

As I see it, typical nineteenth-century man was no longer able to perform this [liturgical] act; in fact he was unaware of its existence. Religious conduct was to him an individual inward matter which in the “liturgy” took on the character of an official, public ceremonial. But the sense of the liturgical action was thereby lost. The faithful did not perform a proper liturgical act at all, it was simply a private and inward act, surrounded by ceremonial and not infrequently accompanied by a feeling that the ceremonial was really a disturbing factor. From that point of view the efforts of those who concerned themselves with the liturgy must have appeared as peculiarities of aesthetes who lacked Christian sincerity.
— Romano Guardini, A Letter on the Essence of the Liturgical Act (1964)

As a matter of fact, very few of the traditional Christian symbols, including the liturgical ones, are perceived as symbols by most men and women of today, including the good Christian. In most cases, those rites and gestures have lost their symbolic value. My personal conviction is that we should not try to invent new symbols with the hope that they will speak to today’s men and women. We should rather try to recognize the symbolic value of everything we do in our daily life and of everything around us. And this is linked with something still much deeper, culturally as well as theologically. I mean the place of the “religious” dimension in human life. This is probably the most important cultural change of our time, touching not only Christianity but all the great religious traditions of the world; and that change is, to my mind, a fruit of the Gospel, at the end of a long evolution of humankind.
— Dom Armand Veilleux, Exploring the Essential (2005)

Book List

2006-05-05T15:10:00.000-07:00

Two books on language recommended by Lewis H. Lapham:

Don Watson, Death Sentences : How Cliches, Weasel Words and Management-Speak Are Strangling Public Language, Gotham, 2005.

Eric Larsen, A Nation Gone Blind: America in an Age of Simplification and Deceit, Shoemaker & Hoard, 2006.

Recommended by Dom Alcuin Read:

Tracey Rowland, Culture and the Thomist Tradition: After Vatican II, Routledge, 2003.

From Dom Alcuin Read’s review:

To live in the aftermath of an Ecumenical Council appears never to have been easy. In our own age, we who have grown up in the shadow of Vatican II need to remember this. We probably suffer from having been told “Vatican II changed all that” in respect of all aspects of Church life, and we may well have looked on whilst those who questioned such “changes” were consigned to perdition.

Such is the deference with which we have been taught that we must speak about Vatican II and all its works that I was astonished to read in Aidan Nichols' The Theology of Joseph Ratzinger an account of Ratzinger's substantial criticisms of the Council's Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, Gaudium et spes. Surely this was the document of the Council par excellence? How could it be subject to such informed criticism?

The answer is that most of the documents of Vatican II contain reformable prudential judgements made in contingent circumstances; they are not dogmatic definitions to which one owes the assent of faith, but rather, largely, they seek to chart pastoral policy for the Church (eg, one can be a Catholic in good faith and believe that the Council was silly to call for the introduction of bidding prayers into the Mass — the decision is simply a matter of judgement, not doctrine). Once this is understood, it is perfectly reasonable for a peritus of the Council, as Joseph Ratzinger was, to engage in a critical evaluation of these judgements and policies.

Today, it is, surely, no less appropriate that critical evaluation should continue, particularly in the light of the almost forty years' experience since, for, even if the policies of the Council were apposite, the pastoral policies appropriate to the Church today may well not be identical to those of forty years ago.

Enter the Australian Cambridge scholar Dr Tracey Rowland. . . .

Review by Father Peter Joseph, STD

Tracey Rowland interviewed:
Benedict XVI, Vatican II and Modernity (Part 1)
Benedict XVI, Vatican II and Modernity (Part 2)

John Paul II Institute for Marriage & Family — Melbourne
Associate Professor Tracey Rowland

Muslims do become Christian

2006-05-04T13:44:00.000-07:00

I was impressed when I read:

Many Muslims become secular, but few become Christian.
— Spengler, Cat and mouse with Muslim paranoia

I wonder if Spengler knows that:

In Egypt alone there are at least 10,000 Muslims who convert to Christianity each year. At the same time, there are at least 12,000 Christians who become Muslim. This phenomenon of conversions from Islam to Christianity is rampant throughout the Middle East and in the world.
— Samir Khalil Samir, Islam humiliates religious freedom of Christians and human rights of Muslims. It’s time for change.

Courage. Peace.

Benedict and Islam

2006-05-04T13:41:00.000-07:00

God must still love the world to have given us Benedict XVI.

Samir Khalil Samir, S.J., When Civilizations Meet: How Joseph Ratzinger Sees Islam

In another article, Samil Khailil Samir writes:

Muhammad Chalabi, the head of Al Ahzar in the 1950s, used to say “We do not force the apostate to return to Islam, so as to not contradict the word of God which prohibits any constriction on faith. But we leave him the opportunity to return voluntarily. If he does not return, he must be killed because he is an instrument of subversion (fitnah) and opens the door to pagans to attack Islam and to sow doubt among Muslims. The apostate is therefore declaredly at war with Islam even if he does not lift a sword against Muslims.” This is the usual thinking in Islam. . . .
The time has come for a choice. If there is incompatibility between human rights and the rights set out in the Koran, then - I'm sorry to say - the Koran must be condemned; or else it must be said that our understanding of the Koran puts us against human rights and freedom of conscience, and so the interpretation must change.
— Islam humiliates religious freedom of Christians and human rights of Muslims. It’s time for change.

There should not be a crucifix on the altar during Mass

2006-05-03T18:18:00.000-07:00

5/6/2006: I recant this post.

Commenting on Where Altar Crucifixes Should Face:

Despite GIRM 308, a crucifix should not be on the altar during the Mass, for two reasons:

1. In the Mass, the Son is offered to the Father, who is greater than the Son (John 14:28). The Son should not dominate the Mass.

2. The real — the actual — presence of the Son is on the paten and in the cup. There should be only one Christ on the altar, just as there should be only one altar in the church (GIRM 303). I say one Christ on the altar, not denying in any way the priest as a second Christ, the people as members of the body of Christ, etc.

The crucifix should be near the altar “where it is clearly visible to the assembled congregation”, but not on it.

Added 5/4/2006:

I am not talking about what we know but about what we do. Yes, I disagree with Cardinal Ratzinger and the past 500 or more years about putting the Son above the Father. We know we do not, yet we do.

Hitler and Stalin

2006-05-03T13:54:00.000-07:00

One is always glad to read a new book by John Lukacs. June 1941: Hitler and Stalin (Yale, 2006).

Professor Lukacs ends this book with his favorite Portuguese proverb: God Writes Straight with Crooked LInes.

Wednesday, May 3, 2006

2006-05-03T03:46:00.000-07:00

The 16th name has been added to the

On-line Condolences to the Family of Jane Jacobs

I had something to do with five of them. Such a small response does not speak well for the house of intellect.

Wednesday is reading-aloud day for me. At noon, I am the lector at Mass in Holy Cross Church and in the evening I read Rousseau’s Confessions to our neighbor Ted Adams.

+ +

Someone in the Holy See has Googled “cobh cathedral”. Who?

+ + +

Spengler on Why war comes when no one wants it.

+ + + +

WGO telephoned asking if he could see me. Seems the “interior committee” that will recommend renovations to our cathedral wanted to know what I intended by starting a Google Group on Renovation: Immaculate Conception Cathedral in Albany. Told him that I wanted to create a forum in which members of the parish and community could have a say on the topic, but that I doubted if anyone will step up to the mic — none has so far.

Tuesday, May 2, 2006

2006-05-02T13:59:00.000-07:00

Athanasius contra mundum. Not that everyone was against him, but he did have enemies enough, was condemned by bishops, persecuted by emperors, and at least four times was exiled from his world. He would have made an ideal blogger. “He was endowed with a sense of humour that could be as mordant — we had almost said as sardonic — as it seems to have been spontaneous and unfailing; and his courage was of the sort that never falters, even in the most disheartening hour of defeat” (Catholic Encyclopedia).

See also Ed Bakker’s Daily Reflections.

><>

People today no longer make culture but merely careers. In this they are not entirely blameless. Lord, lay not this sin to their charge (Acts, 7:60).

The Light Now Shineth

2006-05-01T18:00:00.000-07:00

History is not speeding up — it is actually slowing down.
— John Lukacs in 2003

The question I thought about often looking at Hungary today is that the rising of 1956 had to fail. Perhaps it had to fail in the same way as the heroic attempt of those German aristocrats who tried to overthrow Hitler in 1944 had to fail. Had they not failed in Germany, there would have been civil war in Germany, and the German people would have had a reason to think that Germany was stabbed in the back again, as it was in 1918. No, these tragedies had to happen. Perhaps God wanted it that way.
—Lukacs, Ibid.

We write to be read. When we light a candle, we don't put it under a bushel, but in a blog, to give light unto all that are in the world. But men love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil.

What, then, should we stop writing? Not while we have the light. Yet a little while is the light with you. Write while ye have the light.

Do we have the light? We see through a glass, darkly. We may be mistaken, we may be mad. But even a madman has his morals, and should be true to his madness.

Let us not be imposed on. The world that crucified Christ cannot be sane.

Great men are often the negation and opposite of their age. They give it the lie.
— John Jay Chapman, “Emerson” . See Castle Freeman Jr., John Jay Chapman: Brief Life of a Neglected Critic, 1862–1933

It is what the world does not hear that is most worth saying.

I have seen ten years of young men who rush out into the world with their messages, and when they find how deaf the world is, they think they must save their strength and wait. They believe that after a while they will be able to get up on some little eminence from which they can make themselves heard. “In a few years,” reasons one of them, “I shall have gained a standing, and then I will use my powers for good.” Next year comes and with it a strange discovery. The man has lost his horizon of thought. His ambition has evaporated; he has nothing to say. I give you this one rule of conduct. Do what you will, but speak out always. Be shunned, be hated, be ridiculed, be scared, be in doubt, but don't be gagged. The time of trial is always. Now is the appointed time.
— Chapman, Speech to the graduating class of Hobart College, 1900

We are children of the kingdom, in which the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth. Let us love and learn to bear the beams of love. Be of good cheer: Christ has overcome the world.

Riverway Storytelling Festival

2006-05-01T03:38:00.000-07:00

Riverway Storytelling Festival, May 1–7, 2006

Insight and Courage

2006-04-30T18:38:00.000-07:00

. . . not a single person responded. . . . I fear that we Americans have become in many ways a society of wraiths.
—Caryl Johnston, April 29, 2006

If the national conscience is willing to ignore the shame of Guantanamo, it'll ignore anything, as it very well has.
— Pierre Tristam, November 6, 2002

Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them. And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent. And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.
—Luke 16:29–31

People miss things. The Roman Empire took only enough notice of Jesus to kill him.
– Notes, August 31, 2004

A civilization greater than ours crucified Christ. We have many intelligent men and women today, but their awarenes tends to be confined to specialties professional and avocational. Any truth truly told is comprehended by only a few persons. Even these few soon find their minds distracted by the next emergency.

The demotic culture in decadence did not suffer from inertia. It was active in proportion to its predicaments; paralysis in one domain — and incompetence in many — excited lively efforts to overcome them. Many shrewd minds, accurately noting the condition of stasis, urged plausible remedies; nobody pretended that apart from science and techne advance was taking place. But some hesitation was shown about applying the word Decadence to the whole West and the whole era, as our distance from it now [A.D. 2300?] enables us to do without tremor.

That reluctance was natural but — again — it did not preclude insight and courage.

— Barzun, From Dawn to Decadence, 2000, p. 798.

If it has been given to you to see, see and take heart.

Making Mass Better

2006-04-30T15:48:00.000-07:00

The easiest and quickest way to improve the Mass is to remove microphones. It would do more good than ten thousand blogs about the liturgy.

The Choir Belongs in the Choir Loft

2006-04-29T15:34:00.000-07:00

312. The choir should be positioned with respect to the design of each church so as to make clearly evident its character as a part of the gathered community of the faithful fulfilling a specific function. The location should also assist the choir to exercise its function more easily and conveniently allow each choir member full, sacramental participation in the Mass.
— General Instruction of the Roman Missal

Throughout almost the entire history of Christendom, lay choirs have sung the praises of God and aided their congregations from a position of humility and service rather than in full view. The chancel location is a stumbling block to choir member and congregant alike. To the chorister, it both builds the ego to be seen as one "performs," and it literally separates one from the congregation one should be supporting. It visually distracts from the preaching of the Word, and it tempts the congregants to critique the appearance of the choir and especially any extra musicians that have been shoehorned [in] for special occasions. . . .

. . . The choir speaks with the congregation rather than at them. This relationship is more apparent when the choir speaks on behalf of the people, such as when offering an anthem of praise to God, rather than to an audience. Further, the director has the freedom to lead the singers without distracting the congregation, the seating can be movable to accommodate special needs, and the choir is afforded the same view of the pastor's face as the other worshipers are. Acoustically the rear position is preferable. . . . Any good organ builder will prefer a gallery position, and voices resonate best from this position, hence most effectively aiding the corporate singing and praises. The maintenance on an organ in chambers in the front will be higher than one enclosed in casework in the rear due to temperature and humidity differences, plus the fact that a roof leak on pipework and windchests can go undetected until much expensive damage has been incurred.

— Rich Mays, Consider the Choir (alternative link)

“Having ‘left Geneva,’ I am solidly on the ‘road to Durham,’ happily in the folds of the evangelical (but traditional worship, as in 1928 BCP) Anglicanism.” — Rich Mays, e-mail 29 April 2006.

St Mary's, Greenville SC

2006-04-29T10:15:00.000-07:00

Historical Progression

1904:

1955:

1970:

1984:

2002:

Recent:

St. Mary's Catholic Church, Greenville, SC
Father Jay Scott Newman, Pastor

Father Jay Scott Newman, Worshipping the Lord in the Spirit of Holiness

Pierre Tristam ♥ Jane Jacobs

2006-04-27T14:01:00.000-07:00

Read Jane Jacobs, Prophet, in Candide’s Notebooks

“She was feisty, but she actually observed what people do, and thought about that. A rare trait among social scientists. . . .”
— Jerry Pournelle

Jane Jacobs (1916–2006) died on April 25, 2006.

Please sign the on-line book of condolence.

Speaking as Active Participation in Mass

2006-04-26T18:19:00.000-07:00

We participate in Mass by: standing, kneeling, bowing, genuflecting, sitting, listening, looking, reading, speaking, being silent, singing, signing, greeting, offering, eating, drinking, smelling. This blog is about speaking. The priest speaks to God and to the people. The people speak to God, to the priest, to the people, and to Mary and all the angels and saints. God speaks to the priest and the people. The stage of every Mass is heaven and earth, and the players are the priest, the people, all the angels and saints, and God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

INTRODUCTORY RITES

Entrance
People to God.

Liturgical Greeting
Priest: “In the name of the Father, . . .”
People: “Amen.”
Priest to people.
People to priest.

Penitential Rite
Priest to people.
Priest and people to God, to people, to Mary, and all the angels and saints.

Kyrie
Priest and people to Christ.

Gloria
Priest and people to God.

Collect
Priest: "Let us pray."
People: "Amen."
Priest to God.

LITURGY OF THE WORD

First Reading
God to priest and people.
Priest and people to God.

Second Reading
God to priest and people.
Priest and people to God.

Alleluia
People to God.

Gospel
Priest to people.
People to priest.
God to people.
People to God.
Christ to people.
People to Christ.

Homily
Priest to people.

Creed
Priest and people to God and people.

Prayers of the Faithful
Priest to people
Lector to God and people.
Priest and people to God.

LITURGY OF THE EUCHARIST

Preparation
People to God.
Priest to God.
People to priest and God.
Priest to people.
People to God in the third person and priest in the second.

Preface
Priest to people (3X).
People to priest (3X).

Holy, Holy, Holy (joining the angels and saints)
Priest and people to God.

Epiclesis, Consecration, etc.
Priest to the Father.

Memorial Acclamation
Priest to people.
People (A) to people? (B,C,D) to Christ.

Prayer concluding with the Great Amen
Priest to the Father.
People: “Amen.”

COMMUNION RITE

Lord’s Prayer
Priest and people to the Father.

Exchange of Peace
Priest to people
People to priest and each other.

Agnus Dei
Priest and people to Christ.

“This is the Lamb of God”
Priest to people.
Priest and people to Christ.

Reception of Communion
Minister to communicant.
Communicant to minister.

After Communion
Priest to people.
Priest to God.
People: "Amen."

CONCLUDING RITE

Priest to people.
People to priest.
Priest blesses people.
People: “Amen.”
Priest to people.
People: “Thanks be to God.”

On Consulting the Laity

2006-04-25T03:31:00.000-07:00

Mr Sean O’Connor was an elected member of the Briefing Committee formed in the fall of 1998 by John Magee, Bishop of Cloyne, to “to consider how best [St. Colman’s Cathedral in Cobh] can be arranged for liturgical use with regard to the norms of Vatican 2 and to note carefully the limits which consideration for the architectural heritage of the building will impose on any change which is being considered”. According to Mr O”sConnor, committe had “15 members: 3 were elected by the people of Cobh and 12 were nominated by Bishop Magee and the religious”. The following, like “There are no plans”: A Public Meeting in Cobh (June 1998), is from Mr O”Connor’s Observer submission to the Oral Hearing of An Bord Pleanala regarding St. Colman’s Cathedral, Cobh Co. Cork:

I will now quote the bishops final paragraph in his brief to the Briefing Committee (no. 6 above):

A Listening Process.

Members, I look forward to hearing your considered recommendations. They will be a great help to me in arriving at a decision which will be put to the people of Cobh before any alterations are undertaken. I pray that you may be enlightened by the spirit as you undertake this most important task.

It makes for lovely reading, if only it was sincere.

I suggest that the following statement,

My decision will be put to the people of Cobh before any alterations are undertaken.

lacked sincerity and what eventually transpired was,

When I have already submitted the plans to Cobh Town Council I will announce the consultation process at all masses the following weekend.

This turned out to be a total contradiction of his original statement [about holding another public meeting before making a decision on plans].

With regard to any consultation concerning Professor O'Neill's specific plans for the cathedral, McCutcheon Mulcahy's report p.20, item 4.7 (b)states that the “diocesan authorities carried out an extensive programme of public consultation on the proposed reordering involving a series of meetings in all five deaneries of the diocese as well as with the clergy and religious of the diocese. The proposed design was presented in the context of the liturgical requirements of the H[istorical] C[hurch] A[dvisory] C[ommission]. All participants were invited to submit written comments and of 159 who expressed an opinion, 109 were in favour, 42 against, mainly on liturgical grounds, and 8 had mixed views”.

It should be noted that this consultation took place after the submission of plans to Cobh Town Council. The meetings were held in Cobh on July 18 and 19; Middleton 19 July; Fermoy 20 July; Kanturk 21 July; Macroom 22 July.

No opinion expressed could have influenced the evolution of the plans at that stage.

Concerning the number of written replies left after these consultations, the diocesan clerical magazine Linkup [Vol. 7, issue 4, September 2005] published the following figures: 103 written replies were left of which 66 were positive, 37 against, and 6 mixed views. A correction in the subsequent issue stated that “number [of written replies] was in fact 109”. While difficult to reconcile these figures, it is clear that the general public for the most part did not regard these sessions as in any sense a genuine process of consultation and ignored them.

“There are no plans”: A Public Meeting in Cobh (June 1998)

2006-04-25T03:28:00.000-07:00

A public meeting was called for the 28^th of June 1998 in the Commodore Hotel, Cobh. The town’s people were under the impression that the meeting was to reflect on progress to date of the restoration plan and that information and consultation would take place on the next stage. Mr Tom Cavanagh of Fermoy was chairman. Also in attendance were Bishop Magee, the cathedral chapter, the trustees, the full steering committee, clergy and relgious and a few hundred people from the parish.

A number of speakers, from the top table, outlined the work that had been done [on the first phases of the restoration] and complimented all those who played a part — and deservedly so.

As no mention of re-ordering [renovation] was made, I asked the chairman if each parishioner could receive a copy of the plans submitted to the Heritage Council. Canon Reidy stood up and asked me to withdraw my remarks and said,

“There are no plans”. Bishop Magee stood up, put his hand on his heart, and said, “There are no plans”. People got very angry and a number of people asked Bishop Magee about plans for the rails, the tabernacle, the pulpit and many other issues. They were not happy with the response and wanted guarantees. The bishop agreed to retain the tabernacle in its present position. At this stage the meeting was totally out of order and in an effort to deflate the situation Bishop Magee said he would set up a committee [see On Consulting the Laity] including a number of parishioners to help him come to a decision, and before he would make a decision he would come back to another public meeting in four months.

Bishop Magee gave that solemn promise almost eight years ago in front of the trustees, the cathedral chapter, the steering committee and a few hundred parishioners. We are still waiting for him to honour his promise.

12 months later Mr Cavanagh commented that it was one of the most traumatic experiences of his life.

— Sean O’Connor, Councillor with Cobh Town Council, Observer submission to the Oral Hearing of An Bord Pleanala regarding St. Colman’s Cathedral, Cobh Co. Cork

Sufficient unto the Day

2006-04-24T19:19:00.000-07:00

As persons wholly dependent for salvation on the work of Christ, we have to think and speak dialectically, being addressed by Paul, “what do you have that you did not receive? And if you received it, why do you boast as if it were not a gift? (1 Cor 4:7). But once our dependence is thought through and made clear, we should not shy away from pondering the richness of the gift, where another thought-form can well be introduced, that of participation.

I am reminded of the remark of an astute Thomist of the Reformation era, when he responded to the Protestant denial of the meritorious and satisfactory value of human graced good works. The opponents felt constrained to make this denial, lest they call in question the full and perfect sufficiency of the merit and satisfaction of Christ’s death for us and for our salvation. The affirmation of Christ had to be guarded by a denial of a creaturely role. But the Thomist, Tommaso de Vio, Cardinal Cajetan, answered that ascribing meritorious value to the works of the justified does not come from holding an insufficiency on the side of Christ, but it is done instead precisely because of the singular richness of Christ’s merit (propter affluentiam). For Christ gives his members a share in his merit, albeit in their order of dependent causes and in their partial and imperfect degree.[17] The key is not to think that a Yes to Christ means simply and solely a No to his members, dialectically, but to admit as well that Christ’s influence extends to give others a mode of participation, on their level, in what he is and does.

Thus, Mary’s intercession on behalf of the world is dependent on the unique and all-perfect mediation of her Son. It does not serve to supplement Christ’s intercession, as if that needed completion. It is rather a manifestation of, or even a testimonial to, the supreme role of Christ that he incorporates others, preeminently his mother, into his ongoing intercession for the graces of his Spirit for us and for our salvation.

— Jared Wicks, S.J., A Commentary on Mary: Grace and Hope in Christ of the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission - 2005

Worms have eaten them, but not for love. How many have died, how many have killed, how many have suffered, how many have persecuted, because a few misread Paul? Why did Catholics and Protestants in the 16^th century agree that such terms as “sufficiency” and “insufficiency”, “mediator” and “intercessor”, were fighting words? Why were grace and works a riddle? Why did it take 500 years for Catholics and Anglicans, Catholics and Lutherans, to reach common understandings that the wars of religion were “just” misunderstandings?

Do not boast, because it is a gift. Is the Giver then forbidden to say, “Well done, good and faithful servants”?

But some do boast: “ Lord, Lord, we kill in thy name.”

It Didn’t Happen in Guelph

2006-04-24T19:11:00.000-07:00

Parishioners Stop Plan To Ruin Guelph “Cathedral”

Brompton Oratory

2006-04-23T19:05:00.000-07:00

The London (Brompton) Oratory
Photo: Tim Adams

Liturgical Renewal

2006-04-23T17:40:00.001-07:00

Some people think that liturgical renewal means the removal of kneelers from church pews, the knocking down of altar rails or the positioning of the altar in the middle of the sitting area of the people. The Church has never said any such thing.
— Francis Cardinal Arinze, Prefect of Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, Address to the Federation of Diocesan Liturgical Commissions (2003)

Unfortunately the Church never said anything to prevent the removal of kneelers from church pews, the knocking down of altar rails or the positioning of the altar in the middle of the sitting area of the people. The Counter-Reformation had ended.

“All right,” replied Fr. Benedetto, “we will do everything as you have said. Starting tomorrow, we will celebrate the Mass and the entire Office in Italian.”

Then we went from words to actions. One monk suddenly discovered he was a poet, another a translator; all of us became matchless connoisseurs of songs and musical scores.

Fr. Benedetto, for his part, wanted to show everyone a great sign of his courage by permitting the altar to be removed and another constructed, facing the people. The die had been cast.

— Guido Innocenzo Gargano, That Night, at San Gregorio. . .

St. Colman

2006-04-23T08:05:00.000-07:00

There are several or perhaps several thousand St. Colmans. I am interested in two churches by that name:

St. Colman’s Cathedral interior

St. Colman's Cathedral, Cobh, Ireland, whose patron saint is Saint Colman Mac Leinin and where there is a controversy about its proposed renovation.

St. Colman, Ardmore, PA, which may have been named after St. Colman of Elo and where the writer Caryl Johnston is a communicant.

And Gladly Suffer

2006-04-22T19:19:00.000-07:00

There is a secret in this that I do not well understand.

Saturday, April 22, 2006

2006-04-22T19:14:00.000-07:00

At the Cathedral of All Saints, attended a talk, with slides, on The History of Marian Devotion given by Father J. Robert Wright of the General Theological Seminary. Tomorrow at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception the Reverend Wright and Sr. Sara Butler, MSBT, will talk about Mary: Grace and Hope in Christ, the joint statement of the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission.

Liturgical Requirements

2006-04-21T20:02:00.000-07:00

If I had the wealth of Croesus himself, I would not build a cathedral because liturgy and architecture at the moment are in such confusion that anything that would be built at this stage would be rejected in a very short time.
— Desmond Cardinal Connell, March 2001.

Evil like God?

2006-04-21T14:09:00.000-07:00

There is a vague sophisticated belief that the greatest sinner is closest to God. I say sophisticated because a person must have advanced degrees to hold it. So Judas is the disciple closest to Jesus, and Satan is the true hero of Paradise Lost. And indeed in the whole Bible, to whom does God speak familiarly, almost as between equals? Only the same Satan.

If the heavens declare the glory of God (Psalm 19:1), yet the Pope must assure the flock that “Evil does not have the last word,” does not the prince of this world contend mightily with the kingdom of heaven — a worthy protagonist in the divine drama, Waiting for God?

What is wrong with this play? After Holy Week we know that the prince of this world has nothing in Jesus (John 14:30), is judged (16:11), and shall be “cast out” (12:30). God took the stage and said: In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world (16:33).

We shall have tribulation. False Christs and false prophets shall rise, and shall shew signs and wonders, to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect (Matthew 24:24, Mark 13:22). Do not be deceived.

Google Group on the Restoration of the Immaculate Conception Cathedral in Albany

2006-04-21T13:58:00.000-07:00

I have started a Google Group on this subject:

Restoration: Immaculate Conception in Albany

Catholics: A Fable (1973)

2006-04-20T19:13:00.000-07:00

Saw in our home with Ted Adams a videotape of Catholics (DVD: The Conflict), a 1973 movie starring Trevor Howard and Martin Sheen. Ted, a lifelong athiest, was sent the tape by his brother, with whom he corresponds daily and thought he knew everything about but who Ted has now learned has given up Catholicism after ten years of going to a Catholic church without Ted’s being aware of it. The movie also starred Raf Vallone, who does not appear in our version, from which the first 10 minutes were apparently cut. There is a sentimental, or perhaps actor’s, ending in which the secretly unbelieving abbot easily puts over on his supposedly orthodox monks an all-too-human meaning of miracle, kneels down to pray the Our Father with them in hopes of the miracle, and alone in his anguish finds he cannot continue saying the prayer.

Then Entered Satan

2006-04-20T14:33:00.000-07:00

It was not only Judas whom Satan entered (Luke 22:23, John 13:27). Satan entered Simon Peter (Matthew 16:23, Mark 9:2), and Satan enters (to bring home the point) “them who say they are Christians but are the church of Satan” (Revelation 2:9, 3:9).

Now Satan is “a liar” (John 8:44), and very effective. He convinces by telling the misleading truth (Genesis 3:1–6) and quoting Church documents (Matthew 4:6). Adam and Eve fell, and even Jesus was tempted.

I don’t know if the subtle priest who says he believes “that places for worship become sacred when the celebrations of life-cycle events occur there” is lying or mistakes his God, who said He will come while the community is “eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage” (Matthew 24:38); the difference is important to him and his confessor because speaking against the Spirit of truth (John 14:17, 15:26, 16:13, 1 John 4:6) is the one sin that is not forgiven (Matthew 12:32, Mark 3:29, Luke 12:10; perhaps also Acts 5:1–10). I do know that by not seeking first the kingdom of God (Matthew 6:33) and by not making arks (Genesis 6:14, Exodus 25:8–27:21) he savours not the things that be of God, but the things that be of men as he goes to and fro in the earth, and walks up and down in it (Job 1:7).

“Not in My Cathedral”

2006-04-19T19:14:00.000-07:00

Cathedral of Saint Augustine, Bridgeport, CT
Photo by John Glover
Henry Hardinge Menzies, Architect

Bishop Lori . . . requested that we follow the latest liturgical guide-lines, revitalize veneration for the Holy Eucharist by giving prominence to the altar and the tabernacle and provide space in the Sanctuary for the special Cathedral ceremonies, especially the Rite of Ordination.
— Henry H. Menzies, Architect’s Comments on the Renovation of the Cathedral of St. Augustine

Active Participation at the First Eurcharist

2006-04-19T19:00:00.000-07:00

Jesus’ disciples prepared the Seder:

And the disciples did as Jesus had appointed them; and they made ready the passover.
— Matthew 26:19

And his disciples went forth, and came into the city, and found as he had said unto them: and they made ready the passover
—Mark 14:16

And they went, and found as he had said unto them: and they made ready the passover.
—Luke 22:13

They reclined with Jesus:

And in the evening he cometh with the twelve.
— Mark 14:17

And when the hour was come, he sat down, and the twelve apostles with him.
— Luke 22:14

They talked among themselves:

And they began to enquire among themselves, which of them it was that should do this thing. And there was also a strife among them, which of them should be accounted the greatest.
— Luke 22:23–24

Then said some of his disciples among themselves, What is this that he saith unto us, A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me: and, Because I go to the Father? They said therefore, What is this that he saith, A little while? we cannot tell what he saith.
— John 16:17–18

They looked at each other:

Then the disciples looked one on another, doubting of whom he spake.
— John 13:22

They asked Jesus questions:

Then cometh he to Simon Peter: and Peter saith unto him, Lord, dost thou wash my feet?
— John

And they were exceeding sorrowful, and began every one of them to say unto him, Lord, is it I?
— Matthew 26:22

And they began to be sorrowful, and to say unto him one by one, Is it I? and another said, Is it I?
—Mark 14:19

Now there was leaning on Jesus' bosom one of his disciples, whom Jesus loved. Simon Peter therefore beckoned to him, that he should ask who it should be of whom he spake. He then lying on Jesus' breast saith unto him, Lord, who is it?
John 13:23–25

Then Judas, which betrayed him, answered and said, Master, is it I?
— Matthew 26:25

Simon Peter said unto him, Lord, whither goest thou?
— John 13:36

Peter said unto him, Lord, why cannot I follow thee now?
— John 13:37

Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way?
— John 14:5

Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us.
— John 14:8

Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world?
—John 14:22

They answered Jesus (and had their feet washed):

Peter saith unto him, Thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me. Simon Peter saith unto him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head.
—John 13:8–9

And they said, Lord, behold, here are two swords.
— Luke 22:38

I will lay down my life for they sake.
— John 13:37

His disciples said unto him, Lo, now speakest thou plainly, and speakest no proverb. Now are we sure that thou knowest all things, and needest not that any man should ask thee: by this we believe that thou camest forth from God.
—John 16:29–30

One left early:

He then having received the sop went immediately out: and it was night.
— John 13:30

At the end they sang a psalm:

And when they had sung an hymn, they went out into the mount of Olives.
—Matthew 26:30, Mark 14:26

Mostly they ate and drank:

And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body.
— Matthew 26:26

And as they sat and did eat, Jesus said, Verily I say unto you, One of you which eateth with me shall betray me.
— Mark 14:18

And as they did eat, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and brake it, and gave to them, and said, Take, eat: this is my body.
Mark 14:22

And he took the cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them: and they all drank of it.
Mark 14:23

And were told what they did not want to hear. It wasn’t their idea of a community celebration.

An Aside on the Tabernacle

2006-04-19T17:39:00.000-07:00

"The Church teaches that the tabernacle is ideally in a side chapel, distinct from the main body of the church."
— Father Richard S. Vosko

274. If, however, the tabernacle with the Most Blessed Sacrament is present in the sanctuary, the priest, the deacon, and the other ministers genuflect when they approach the altar and when they depart from it, but not during the celebration of Mass itself.
— General Instruction of the Roman Missal

310. The chair of the priest celebrant must signify his office of presiding over the gathering and of directing the prayer. Thus the best place for the chair is in a position facing the people at the head of the sanctuary, unless the design of the building or other circumstances impede this: for example, if the great distance would interfere with communication between the priest and the gathered assembly, or if the tabernacle is in the center behind the altar.
— General Instruction of the Roman Missal

315. It is more in keeping with the meaning of the sign that the tabernacle in which the Most Holy Eucharist is reserved not be on an altar on which Mass is celebrated. Consequently, it is preferable that the tabernacle be located, according to the judgment of the Diocesan Bishop,
a. Either in the sanctuary, apart from the altar of celebration, in a form and place more appropriate, not excluding on an old altar no longer used for celebration (cf. above, no.303);
b. Or even in some chapel suitable for the faithful's private adoration and prayer and which is organically connected to the church and readily visible to the Christian
faithful.
— General Instruction of the Roman Missal

The Location of the Tabernacle:
§ 74 § There is [sic] a number of possible spaces suitable for eucharistic reservation. The revised General Instruction of the Roman Missal states that it is more appropriate that the tabernacle in which the “Blessed Sacrament is reserved not be on the altar on which Mass is celebrated.” The bishop is to determine where the tabernacle will be placed and to give further direction. The bishop may decide that the tabernacle be placed in the sanctuary apart from the altar of celebration or in a separate chapel suitable for adoration and for the private prayer of the faithful. In making his determination, the bishop will consider the importance of the assembly's ability to focus on the eucharistic action, the piety of the people, and the custom of the area. The location also should allow for easy access by people in wheelchairs and by those who have other disabilities.

§ 75 § In exercising his responsibility for the liturgical life of the diocese, the diocesan bishop may issue further directives regarding the reservation of the Eucharist. Before parishes and their liturgical consultants begin the educational component and the discussion process, it will be important for all those involved to know what specific directives or guidelines the diocesan bishop has issued. Good communication at the first stage of the process will help to avoid confusion or conflict between the parish's expectations, the consultant's experience, and diocesan directives.

§ 76 § The pastor, the parish pastoral council, and the building committee will want to examine the principles that underlie each of the options, consider the liturgical advantages of each possibility, and reflect upon the customs and piety of the parishioners. Many diocesan worship offices assist parishes by facilitating the study and discussion process with the parish. This is also an area where liturgical consultants can be of great assistance to the parish.

The Chapel of Reservation
§ 77 § The diocesan bishop may direct the parish to reserve the Blessed Sacrament in a chapel separate from the nave and sanctuary but “integrally connected with the church” and “conspicuous to the faithful.” The placement and design of the chapel can foster reverence and can provide the quiet and focus needed for personal prayer, and it should provide kneelers and chairs for those who come to pray.

§ 78 § Some parishes have inaugurated the practice of continuous adoration of the Eucharist. If, for some good reason, perpetual exposition must take place in a parish church, the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments has directed that this take place in a separate chapel that is “distinct from the body of the church so as not to interfere with the normal activities of the parish or its daily liturgical celebration.”

The Tabernacle in the Sanctuary
§ 79 § A special area can be designed within the sanctuary. Careful planning is needed so that the placement chosen does not draw the attention of the faithful away from the eucharistic celebration and its components. In addition, the placement must allow for a focus on the tabernacle for those periods of quiet prayer outside the celebration of the Eucharist.

§ 80 § Ordinarily, it is helpful to have a sufficient distance to separate the tabernacle and the altar. When a tabernacle is located directly behind the altar, consideration should be given to using distance, lighting, or some other architectural device that separates the tabernacle and reservation area during Mass, but that allows the tabernacle to be fully visible to the entire worship area when the eucharistic liturgy is not being celebrated.

The Space for the Reservation of the Blessed Sacrament
§ 247 § In an earlier chapter, the issue of the location of the tabernacle was covered. The structure of the existing building will determine some of the options the parish is able to consider. In exercising his responsibility for the liturgical life of the diocese, the diocesan bishop may issue specific directives regarding the reservation of the Eucharist and the placement of the tabernacle. Again, the pastor, the parish pastoral council, and the building committee will need to review all existing diocesan norms and then carefully examine the principles that underlie each of the options, weigh the liturgical advantages of each possibility, and reflect upon the customs and piety of the parishioners before making a recommendation on the placement of the tabernacle. The location also should allow for easy access by people in wheelchairs and by those who have other disabilities. Diocesan worship offices can assist parishes by facilitating the study and discussion process regarding the placement of the tabernacle and other significant issues involved in the renovation of a church. This is an area where liturgical consultants also can be of great assistance to the parish.

§ 248 § In most churches built before 1969, the tabernacle was situated on the main altar. At the close of the Second Vatican Council, when parishes were able to celebrate the liturgy facing the congregation, many pastors installed movable altars somewhere in front of the existing altar, and they used the former altar as the place for the reservation of the Blessed Sacrament.

§ 249 § In renovating a church designed in another time period, a parish has an opportunity to consider other locations for the tabernacle. Care must be taken to ensure that the area set aside for the reservation of the Eucharist is worthy and distinguished. The place for eucharistic reservation and its furnishings should never be temporary, makeshift, or difficult to find.

§ 250 § In some renovated churches it is possible to remove older altars and tabernacles. When there are good reasons for not removing the altar, an alternate site for the tabernacle may still be considered. In some churches an area that previously housed a side altar or some devotional space might be an appropriate space for reservation, assuming that it meets the other requirements set forth in the General Instruction of the Roman Missal. In other situations, the only appropriate place for reservation will be in the sanctuary itself and on the former main altar. In these instances, a balance must be sought so that the placement of the tabernacle does not draw the attention of the faithful away from the eucharistic celebration and its components.204 On the other hand, the location must provide for a focus on the tabernacle during those periods of quiet prayer outside the celebration of the Eucharist.

§ 251 § Ordinarily, there should be a sufficient distance to separate the tabernacle and the altar. When a tabernacle is located directly behind the altar, consideration should be given to using distance, lighting, or some other architectural device that separates the tabernacle and reservation area during Mass but that allows the tabernacle to be fully visible to the entire worship area when the eucharistic liturgy is not being celebrated.

§ 252 § When a place is chosen for the tabernacle and the former tabernacle can be removed from an existing altar without damaging the altar or the setting, this will be beneficial and will help to prevent confusion among the faithful.

— Built of Living Stones

With respect to the placement of the tabernacle, the instruction Inter oecumenici (26.9.1964) par 95, which implemented the decisions of Sacrosanctum concilium, states quite clearly that the Blessed Sacrament be reserved on the high altar, a possibility envisaged also by Eucharisticum mysterium (25.5.67) par 54.
— Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, 12 June 1996

Speaking only for himself on an issue that has created much controversy over the last 30 years, Cardinal Schoenborn said he believes the tabernacle — “this marvelous place where Jesus is present” — should be placed “in the center of the church. I come from a country where baroque is very widespread. A baroque church is entirely oriented to the altar and the tabernacle, and the reality of his presence on the altar and in the tabernacle is inseparable.”
— Eucharist ‘deepest mystery of our faith’

The tabernacle of the Most Blessed Sacrament [should be] located in a central or at least prominent place in our churches. It is the centre of our attention and prayer. The October 2005 Synod of Bishops emphasised this point (cf Prop., 6, 28, 34). In some of our churches some misguided person has relegated the tabernacle to an obscure section of the church. Sometimes it is even so difficult for a visitor to locate where the tabernacle is, that the visitor can say with truth with St Mary Magdalene: “They have taken my Lord, and I do not know where they laid him” (Jn 20:13).
--Cardinal Francis Arinze, April 2006

A Chorus of Bishops:

Cardinal James Hickey (Washington, DC): “I would like to second the position of those who favour the centrality of the tabernacle in the sanctuary. I think this is for several very important reasons. First of all, it makes it possible for us to reinforce our belief in the Holy Eucharist and the Real Presence by the way in which the Blessed Sacrament is greeted as the people come in, make a genuflection; as they keep a prayerful silence before the Mass begins ...

“I think we should return to a position of the tabernacle that will make it possible for the people to pray before the Blessed Sacrament before Mass, and also for them to keep that sense of prayer when they realise they are in the Eucharistic Presence of the Lord ... I hope we will not be the captives of architects, who may or may not share our Catholic faith, and who may or may not accept the fullness of our Eucharistic teaching”.

Cardinal Francis George (Chicago): “There has been no issue, I think, that has caused us so much pastoral concern - in the renovation of old churches particularly - as where the tabernacle is to be placed in the rite”.

Archbishop Theodore McCarrick (Newark): “I have always had this concern about the placement of the tabernacle ... It seems to me that ninety percent of our people come into church only on Sunday mornings. And if the Blessed Sacrament is nowhere to be seen in the body of the church, they will be missing something very, very important in their spirituality and in the theology. So I would hope that when the revisions are made, and this document is developed, that we would find once again opportunity to underline what the Code [of Canon Law] of 1983 asks us: that the place be prominent and conspicuous. In the Archdiocese of Newark, no new church is allowed to be completed without the Blessed Sacrament being visible to the vast majority of the congregation . . . .”

Bishop Sean O'Malley (Fall River): “If we review what has happened in the last thirty years, the changes have come fast and furious. The Communion rail has been taken away, the Eucharistic fast from midnight, the frequent Confession as a preparation for Communion, the genuflection before the Blessed Sacrament. Changing all of these signs is changing the meaning in people's minds, and I think so much of what has been said about the centrality of the tabernacle indicates the great worry among the bishops about people's faith in the Eucharist ... Even what we have done with the Holy Days, in changing them in, I think, a very arbitrary way, has been very damaging to the faith of our people.”

Archbishop James Keleher (Kansas City): “In the archdiocese where I am fortunate to be the archbishop, we never build a church where the tabernacle is not placed visibly in the front ... And if you recall ... when we built the beautiful chapel at the conference centre, in the beginning the tabernacle was, may I say, hidden behind a very decorative wall. But rising resentment in the episcopal body forced it to be taken down, and I think that was a very wonderful move.”

Archbishop Michael Sheehan (Santa Fe): “I think we've all experienced in our Church in the last thirty years a lessening of devotion to the Eucharist in many places, a loss of the sense of the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist; and the sense of the sacred has suffered. And I can't help but believe that placing the Eucharist in a separate chapel, that often is practically hidden, and sometimes very small, has not been a part of why we have a crisis with regard to belief in the Real Presence of Christ. I think that when we take the Eucharist away from the place where the people come for Sunday Mass we tend to lessen their belief. And I think that 'out of sight, out of mind' is truly what is happening often ...

“I hope that the document that we are dealing with, in the area especially regarding the location of the tabernacle, will be even more open towards having the Eucharist placed prominently, so that people experience in their prayer life the presence of the Eucharist.

“I think, too, that the documents that have been mentioned by the other bishops - the documents from Rome - seem to be less and less interested in that separate chapel . . . .”

Archbishop Justin Rigali (St Louis): “The Blessed Sacrament so often, without regard for the structure of the church or for local custom, has been relegated to places that are neither prominent nor worthy nor beautifully decorated . . . .”

Archbishop Elden Curtiss (Omaha): “I think the basic problem with the document [under discussion -- Domus Dei] is this liturgical development that has taken us towards emphasis on the assembly and away from the Eucharistic species.”

Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua (Philadelphia): “If I took a survey of the people in Philadelphia, it would be overwhelming that when they walk into a church, they want to see the tabernacle immediately.”

See also Henry Hardinge Menzies, God in a box

Fiat voluntas howardi.

Seating

2006-04-18T13:57:00.000-07:00

Our Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in New York City is a 19th-century neo-Gothic church built in the shape of a cross. At present the sanctuary is in the chancel, and the nave and transepts are filled with pews all facing in the same direction. The choir sings from the rear of the chancel, in front of a rectangular box that houses the speakers of the electronic organ. If, as is proper, the celebrant and the people symbolically faced east (in our cathedral, this would actually be west), they would be praying (not preaching) to the choir. The high altar, like the communion rails, was removed decades ago; parts of old high altar now make up the present altar, which stands in the chancel near the sanctuary steps. The tabernacle is, unsatisfactorily for worship, at the farther side altar in the north transept. The baptismal font is in the south transept. The high pulpit, used in “extraordinary” times is to the right (looking from the nave) of the sanctuary. A large speaker box looms high on the left.

When Bishop Howard Hubbard gets his way (as under Canon Law he will), the sanctuary will be extended into the nave, the altar placed at the crossing, the choir and the organ made more prominent in the chancel, pews or chairs in the transepts turned to face the altar, pews or chairs in the nave placed from near the foot of the new sanctuary to perhaps halfway or farther down the nave, and an immersion baptismal font positioned in the center of the nave, perhaps halfway between the sanctuary and the front doors. If there are no permanent pews or chairs going back to the choir loft, the sometimes empty floor (possibly a place for a labyrinth), might have different arrangements of chairs, tables, etc., depending on the occasion. I don't remember from the drawings I saw where (or if) the high pulpit might be. The large speaker box high on the left side will be gone. The tabernacle will have its own separate chapel. The church will be more comfortable, brighter, safer, more energy-efficient, more accessible to people of recognized disabilities than it is now. Attendance, and with it, collections will rise. There will also be more frequent concerts and other preformances. The new sanctuary will make a good stage, provided the altar is movable or not too large. The renovated cathedral will be a great success.

If one considers the cathedral church layout as a cross on which lies the body of the church, the present configurattion has the sanctuary as the head, the nave and transepts as the body (undifferentiated because the pews all face the same way), and the choir occupying the area of the hair, the organ box being a kind of cap. The choir loft would be part of the body and would afford a glorious view of the interior, except that it is no longer used by choir or congregation, since access is difficult and, besides, the pipe organ no longer speaks. (Perhaps the only more glorious interior view would have been that afforded to the celebrant raising the host or cup to God at the former high altar and looking at the figure of the Holy Spirit high above him.)

In the new configuration, the altar will be at the heart, the choir and organ at the head, the congregation at the left and right arms and trunk, the baptismal font in the center of the pelvis. The area of the legs will be part of the body or not, according to the occasion. I don't know if the choir loft will be part of the body. The organ committee, of which I am a member, will probably recommend a large gallery organ and a smaller chancel organ. The bishop may well nix the larger (if not both) of the organs as being unaffordable. Certainly, if, as seems likely, the floor will be “multipurpose” towards the back of the the church, the choir loft will often seem separated from the body. It may be a case of commencing with bad theology and finishing with bad anatomy. But a temporarily legless church, with a temporarily altar'd heart, and a temporarily piped or electronic head will still be alive, ready to hear, Talitha cumi, when this generation is dead and buried.

Seeing the Choir during Easter

2006-04-17T19:13:00.000-07:00

The General Instruction of the Roman Missal does not have much specific to say about where the choir should be during a Mass:

The Arrangement and Furnishing of Churches for
the Celebration of the Eucharist

I. General Principles

. . .

294. The People of God, gathered for Mass, has a coherent and hierarchical structure, which finds its expression in the variety of ministries and the variety of actions according to the different parts of the celebration. The general ordering of the sacred building must be such that in some way it conveys the image of the gathered assembly and allows the appropriate ordering of all the participants, as well as facilitating each in the proper carrying out of his function.

The faithful and the choir should have a place that facilitates their active participation.

The priest celebrant, the deacon, and the other ministers have places in the sanctuary. Seats for concelebrants should also be prepared there. If, however, their number is great, seats should be arranged in another part of the church, but near the altar.

All these elements, even though they must express the hierarchical structure and the diversity of ministries, should nevertheless bring about a close and coherent unity that is clearly expressive of the unity of the entire holy people. Indeed, the character and beauty of the place and all its furnishings should foster devotion and show forth the holiness of the mysteries celebrated there.

. . .

The Place for the Choir and the Musical Instruments

312. The choir should be positioned with respect to the design of each church so as to make clearly evident its character as a part of the gathered community of the faithful fulfilling a specific function. The location should also assist the choir to exercise its function more easily and conveniently allow each choir member full, sacramental participation in the Mass.

313. The organ and other lawfully approved musical instruments are to be placed in an appropriate place so that they can sustain the singing of both the choir and the congregation and be heard with ease by all if they are played alone. It is appropriate that, before being put into liturgical use, the organ be blessed according to the rite described in the Roman Ritual.

What is clear is the the celebrant and the other ministers have places in the sanctuary or at least near the altar, while the choir is a part of the gathered community of faithful. An exception would be the cantor, who like the lector and the acolyte assists the celebrant and who in performing his function faces the people “from the ambo or from some other suitable place” (GIRM, 138).

Built of Living Stones: Art, Architecture and Worship adds details affirming that apart from the “cantors and song leaders&rdquo, the choir and other ministers of music “are most appropriately located in a place where they can be part of the assembly”, and only if “occasions or physical situations . . . necessitate” should the choir “be placed in or near the sancuary” and “in such circumstances, placement of the choir should never crowd or overshadow the other ministers in the sanctuary nor should it distract from the liturgical action”:

The Place for the Pastoral Musicians

§ 88 § Music is integral to the liturgy. It unifies those gathered to worship, supports the song of the congregation, highlights significant parts of the liturgical action, and helps to set the tone for each celebration.108

§ 89 § It is important to recognize that the building must support the music and song of the entire worshiping assembly. In addition, "some members of the community [have] special gifts [for] leading the [assembly in] musical praise and thanksgiving."109 The skills and talents of these pastoral musicians, choirs, and instrumentalists are especially valued by the Church. Because the roles of the choirs and cantors are exercised within the liturgical community, the space chosen for the musicians should clearly express that they are part of the assembly of worshipers.110 In addition, cantors and song leaders need visual contact with the music director while they themselves are visible to the rest of the congregation.111 Apart from the singing of the Responsorial Psalm, which normally occurs at the ambo, the stand for the cantor or song leader is distinct from the ambo, which is reserved for the proclamation of the word of God.

§ 90 § The directives concerning music found in the General Instruction of the Roman Missal and the guidance offered by Music in Catholic Worship and Liturgical Music Today112 can assist the parish in planning appropriate space for musicians. The placement and prayerful decorum of the choir members can help the rest of the community to focus on the liturgical action taking place at the ambo, the altar, and the chair. The ministers of music are most appropriately located in a place where they can be part of the assembly and have the ability to be heard. Occasions or physical situations may necessitate that the choir be placed in or near the sanctuary. In such circumstances, the placement of the choir should never crowd or overshadow the other ministers in the sanctuary nor should it distract from the liturgical action.

During Easter Triduum celebrated at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, the choir was placed near the far end of the sanctuary by necessity, since the cathedral's only organ, an electronic Rogers, is there, along with its console, where sat the organist / music director.

I observed the following:

1. The choir seemed much more placed with the ministers than placed with the congregation, being even farther from the congregation than the ministers, wearing robes like the ministers, and like the concelebrants seeing the back of the celebrant, who faced the people. The choir also received Communion apart from the congregation. This was in contrast with the lectors, who were dressed in regular clothes and were placed in the pews except for the one lector who was currently reading.

2. The choir outnumbered the ministers, were very visible during the whole of each of the liturgies, and though very well behaved, were noticeable by their turning of pages, wiping of noses, etc.

3. The organist / music director was conspicuous by the waving of his hands to lead the choir’s singing. This, however, did not distract from the liturgical action except at those moments when the congregation was not singing, and no significant liturgical action was occuring in the sanctuary.

A word about choir lofts and balconies: they apparently do not separate their occupants from the rest of the congregation. Indeed, some of the congregation prefer to be there. On Easter Sunday, we went to visit Dot at the St. Joseph Provincial House in Latham. The Easter Vigil and the Easter Sunday Mass there are very popular—too popular in the eyes of the sisters. One thing they did this year was to post signs asking the attendees not to go up to the choir loft (no longer used by the choir) like the year before, where they took up places that many of the sisters are used to having. The preference of some church goers for balconies is confirmed in our experience at other churches with balconies. And I came across this in a piece about the 1963 tracker organ in the Memorial Chapel at Harvard University:

For a while it seemed the best place [for the new organ] would be the gallery but the idea was vetoed. “The services were so well attended, that the gallery was often full. Placing the organ there meant the loss of seats.” Instead, the difficult decision was made to place it in front of the Palladian window at the east end of Appleton Chapel.
—A Manual Labor of Love

It may be doubted that everyone in the gallery was there because they could not find a place below.

Voces

2006-04-17T16:59:00.000-07:00

Where we worship shapes our prayer and how we pray shapes the way in which we live. Using metaphorical equations to design the worship arena my hope in any project is that the congregation will be transfigured by the very space it is helping to create or transform. I believe that places for worship become sacred when the celebrations of life-cycle events occur there. In this sense the building is designed primarily to house the assembly and its worship of God. It is not an object of devotion by itself nor is it a temple to honor the deity. The fundamental blueprint for the building is found in the memories and hopes of the community. This is why participation of the congregation in the building or renovation journey is extremely important.

The time honored ingredients of a worthy place for worship include stories of faith, pilgrimage pathways, transforming thresholds, intimate settings for personal prayer, art work that prompts works of justice and seating plans that engage the community in the public rituals. To evoke a sense of the sacred the building must be designed with attention to detail, scale, proportion, materials, color, illumination and acoustics. All art and furnishings must be of the highest caliber afforded by the community. Sensitivity to ecological and economical factors cannot be overlooked.

Memory and imagination are the main tools in any worship space project.

— Richard S. Vosko, Ph.D., Philosphy

If the Liturgy appears first of all as the workshop for our activity, then what is essential is being forgotten: God. For the liturgy is not about us, but about God. Forgetting about God is the most imminent danger of our age. As against this, the liturgy should be setting up a sign of God's presence.

Yet what is happening, if the habit of forgetting about God makes itself at home in the liturgy itself, and if in the liturgy we are only thinking of ourselves? In any and every liturgical reform, and every liturgical celebration, the primacy of God should be kept in view first and foremost.

— Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, Liturgy should be God-centred

The believer who takes part in liturgical worship will do so all the more correctly and single-mindedly the more sincerely he is able to detach himself from his own personal desires. In personal prayer he may obey the promptings of his heart. In liturgical worship, however, he must open himself to a different kind of impulse which comes from a more powerful source: namely the heart of the Church which beats through the ages. Here it does not matter what his personal tastes are, what wants he may have, or what particular cares occupy his mind. All this he must leave behind and enter into the powerful rhythm of liturgical rites. It is precisely by this abandonment that he experiences the most important effect of the Liturgy — the detachment and liberation from the narrow self.
— Romano Guardini, The Art of Praying (Sophia Institute Press, 1994 [1957: Prayer in Practice]. Guardini distinguished three interrelated kinds of prayer: liturgical prayer, personal prayer, and popular devotion.

. . . no sacramental rite may be modified or manipulated at the will of the minister or the community. Even the supreme authority in the Church may not change the liturgy arbitrarily, but only in the obedience of faith and with religious respect for the mystery of the liturgy.
—Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1125

Theatre Ideas

2006-04-17T15:22:00.000-07:00

Scott Walters abandons blogging.

A World Poor in Spirit

2006-04-17T13:44:00.000-07:00

The Western world is at present poor in spirit. Romano Guardini wrote in The Art of Praying:

Sunday. . . is the day of God and, for this reason, the day of man. Its meaning has been largely forgotten. . . .

In former days people regularly read the family Bible. Through its pages the great events and figures of the redemption entered into their personal lives. Nowadays that intimate relationship has largely disappeared. . . .

In earlier days, the very layout of the living space of the community was an important factor in creating a well-ordered religious life. Indeed it may be said that the faith dictated the spatial order of the life of the community. . . . This order has largely disappeared.

The normal routine and events of everyday life themselves provide proper opportunities for religious observance. In former ages these daily events were imbued with religious significance which found appropriate expression. Little of this still remains. . . .

The church building itself is no longer (in Guardini’s words) “the house of the Father in which we are at home” but “only . . . the place of communal worship,” where (in my words) the worshipers are better accommodated than the worshiped—at least in theory, for in reality the worshipers desire to worship is scorned: as in the history of Communism, when the dictatorship of the proletariat turned out to be rule by apparatchiks, so in the Church the mystical body of Christ is manhandled in the name of the people by idealogues, originally and probably still well-meaning but now and certainly followers of Dostoevsky’s Grand Inquisitor, except that in the Catholic Church, the Pope, who truly worships the Father, is much less influential than the Party Chairman was, and the Church itself, unlike the militant Muslim and the heedless consumer, little threatens the wider world.

In short, as Dom Armand Veilleux said, “Christendom”—“Whether we like it or not, whether we are nostalgic or not, that phase of history is finished and every effort to restore it is bound to be a pathetic failure.” This is not necessarily bad news, if it is news at all. If Western Culture is, as Jacques Barzun wrote, in a period of decadence, then it is not surprising that the Western Church experiences that decadence. It is our cup. It leaves plenty for Christians to do, including suffer, for the greater glory of God.

The present world is poor in spirit. The present answer is not, I think, “Get rich!” Dom Armand says, “We should not try to invent new symbols with the hope that they will speak to today’s men and women.” He even thinks that the entire sacral world of ritual activity is lost forever, gradually being replaced by a recognition of:

the symbolic value of everything we do in our daily life and of everything around us. . . . Many authentic Christians nowadays are very attentive to practice the Gospel values in their daily life — in their family life as well as in their professional life — but are not interested any longer in what we call “religious practice”, like going to Mass on Sunday.

This is perhaps more pie in the sky than the kingdom of heaven. But Dom Armand is right in saying that “Good practices are not created or invented. They are born from life.” That is (in what is only verbal contradiction), they are true creations and inventions, because their mother is life.

Blessed are the poor in spirit.

Active Participation

2006-04-17T13:41:00.000-07:00

Looking at the priest has no importance. What matters is looking together at the Lord.
Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, The Spirit of the Liturgy

Here “looking together” means priest and congregation looking together.

See also Guardini: Looking as a Liturgical Act.

Easter Wings

2006-04-16T06:16:00.000-07:00

Larks:

Easter Wings

Lord, who createdst man in wealth and store,
Though foolishly he lost the same,
Decaying more and more,
Till he became
Most poore:
With thee
Oh let me rise
As larks, harmoniously,
And sing this day thy victories:
Then shall the fall further the flight in me.

My tender age in sorrow did beginne:
And still with sicknesses and shame
Thou didst so punish sinne,
That I became
Most thinne.
With thee
Let me combine
And feel this day thy victorie:
For, if I imp my wing on thine
Affliction shall advance the flight in me.

—George Herbert

Circles for an Easter Vigil

2006-04-15T05:51:00.000-07:00

Welcoming Caryl Johnston into the Catholic Church

“It was a beautiful Easter Vigil service last night — my sponsor, a life-long Catholic, said she had never experienced anything so beautiful. The historian John Lukacs attended, with his wife — he brought me a dozen red roses. I was deeply touched. Some friends came over to my apartment afterwards and we had a real celebration — it was great! Wine, food, wit, and conversation!”

Circles for Good Friday

2006-04-14T04:59:00.000-07:00

Circles for Holy Thursday

2006-04-13T03:31:00.000-07:00