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Alexia Kelley, the founder of Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good, was the religious outreach director for the Democratic National Committee during the Kerry campaign. Network, a Catholic social justice lobby founded by a group of 47 Catholic sisters in 1971, which lobbies Congress on everything but abortion. Bill Donohue has written recently about both organizations as part of the Catholic Left "boxed in by abortion." In my view, the Convention for the Common Good was going to be nothing more than an extended diatribe against President Bush, the Republican Party, and John McCain. If this had been an invitation to a real discussion before open minds, I would have been happy to attend, but I was not interested in providing "bi-partisan" cover for their convention "platform," wholly in conformity with the Democratic Party.
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The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life has released a new report, titled "U.S. Religious Landscape Survey," that analyzes data culled from interviews with over 35,000 adult Americans pertaining to religious affiliation. The news isn't good. Over a quarter of adult Americans have left the religion in which they were raised, the Survey found, and if one counts "shifts among Protestant denominations," writes Neela Banerjee in The New York Times (Feb. 25), "then it appears that 44 percent of Americans have switched religious affiliations" -- that is, about half of our countrymen. Evidently, the permanent things in life can no longer be said to be permanent: Americans are divorcing themselves from their religions almost as often as they divorce themselves from their spouses. What a fickle lot! CLICK HERE FOR FULL STORY
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The Roman Catholic bishop of Richmond was told that a diocesan charity planned to help a teenage foster child get an abortion in January and did not try to prevent the procedure. Bishop Francis X. DiLorenzo "was told erroneously that everything was in place and there was nothing he could do to stop it," said Steve Neill, Bishop DiLorenzo's communications officer. "He is very apologetic about the whole episode. "It is very awkward, it is very embarrassing. A human life was taken. He certainly has not taken it lightly in any way. He is clearly opposed to abortion."
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Demanding what he calls greater "transparency and accountability" from the controversial religious order known as Legionaries of Christ and their associated lay movement, Regnum Christi, Archbishop Edward O'Brien of Baltimore has directed both groups to disclose all activities within his archdiocese, and to refrain from one-on-one spiritual direction with anyone under 18. The ban on counseling minors, O'Brien said in an interview with NCR on Wednesday, is related to concerns that the Legionaries and Regnum Christi practice "heavily persuasive methods on young people, especially high schoolers, regarding vocations."
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The story speaks for itself, as reported by the Sydney Morning Herald: "World Youth Day organizers in Sydney, Australia, have altered the traditional pattern for the Stations of the Cross in a bow to ecumenical and inter-religious sensibilities" (May 29, 2008). The Stations, billed by WYD organizers as "a key spiritual and evangelical moment of the week," will take place in Sydney on July 18. Six stations removed, two combined, to total 13 - not 14. During this "evangelical moment," only eight of the traditional Stations of the Cross that Catholics have made since the earliest days of the Church have remained intact. Instead of 14 Stations, now there are 13. Six of these were changed completely; two (Stations 10 and 11) were combined. The texts were also shortened and changed, based entirely on the New Testament.
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(CCI NOTES: We are not taking sides in the liturgical debate and present this article for readers seeking to understand the 'traditionalist' views on the liturgical liberties taken with the new Mass, and how they came to be.) How exactly does the traditional liturgy of the Roman Rite fail to manifest clearly the nature and purpose of its parts and the connection between them? Which parts of the Mass have been "added with little advantage" over the past 2,000 years? Which parts are "duplicated" - any part involving a repeated prayer or gesture, or only some repeated prayers or gestures? Which parts have "suffered loss" or must be restored to "vigor"? And what is the "substance" of the rites which should be preserved during all the revisions suggested, but not specified, by this norm? The Council provided no answers to these questions. It simply turned the Roman liturgy over to the Article 25 "experts" for their decision, as approved by the Pope. The only standard given for their work is, incredibly, whatever "may seem useful or necessary". The result, of course, was the Mass of Paul VI.
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American humorist Samuel Clemens (a.k.a. Mark Twain) tapped into a fundamental human foible when he observed: "God created man in his own image and man, being a gentleman, returned the favor." Mankind, it seems, can never leave what is, as is. As we see it, everything in God's good creation needs our creative input before it can be considered "good enough" for either God or man. Hence, there will never be a shortage of innovative solutions to problems that really don't exist. The bulletin of a parish in the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown, Pennsylvania, recently advertised a special children's eucharistic Holy Hour that included a new mysterious new component. The ad stated that children should come to "partake in songs and prostrations." Having taken part in eucharistic adoration for many years with my young children, always emphasizing the proper etiquette - double knee genuflection, kneeling with back straight in the pews, sitting properly, praying the mysteries of the Rosary - I was annoyed by yet another scheme from the commissars of the New Liturgical Order, and somewhat curious as to what the new wrinkle was all about.
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He may not have been thinking about it at the time, but Pope Benedict, in the course of his recent U.S. visit may have dealt a knockout blow to the liberal American Catholicism that has challenged Rome since the early 1960s. He did so by speaking frankly and forcefully of his "deep shame" during his meeting with victims of the Church's sex-abuse scandal. By demonstrating that he "gets" this most visceral of issues, the pontiff may have successfully mollified a good many alienated believers - and in the process, neutralized the last great rallying point for what was once a feisty and optimistic style of progressivism. The liberal rebellion in American Catholicism has dogged Benedict and his predecessors since the Second Vatican Council of 1962-65. "Vatican II," which overhauled much of Catholic teaching and ritual, had a revolutionary impact on the Church as a whole. It enabled people to hear the Mass in their own languages; embraced the principle of religious freedom; rejected anti-semitism; and permitted Catholic scholars to grapple with modernity.
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Last week the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life released a study on the changing religious habits of Americans. Among many things, the researchers found that the Catholic Church has experienced the greatest net loss in membership. We asked 34 prominent Catholics from various backgrounds to answer the question, "Why Are So Many Leaving the Catholic Church?"
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When I was a child, in my catechism classes I learned that if by some absurdity the Catholic Church would loose one of her five distinctive notes - One, Holy, Catholic, Apostolic and Roman - she would cease to be herself. Now then, the policy that we are witnessing in the post-conciliar Church regarding the conversion of the Anglicans seems to frontally deny the Apostolicity of the Catholic Church. How can the Catholic Church be consider Apostolic if she refuses to convert those who desire enter her bosom?
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Australia's Catholic Bishops have discussed a survey that reveals many Catholics have stopped attending Mass because they feel the Church is irrelevant to their lives. News of discussion of the research project was included in the news briefing that followed the Bishops' plenary meeting in Sydney earlier this month. The briefing was released on Friday. The research project on Catholics Who Have Stopped Attending Mass reached its conclusion with a final report to the Bishops, outlining four key recommendations for pastoral focus. The Bishops commissioned the research in 2004 in an effort to explore some of the reasons why people who had been active in Church life are ceasing to attend Mass and engage in parish life.
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I don't know how many different ways this can be stated, but, after several attempts have evidently fallen on the deaf ears of our critics, I suppose one more try can't hurt: It is our opinion that Pope Benedict's motu proprio has little to do with mere appeasement of traditional Catholics and much to do with rectifying the crisis of Faith in the Church by resolving the crisis in liturgy. The Pope's initiative is, it seems to us, as much about saving Europe and the Americas from death by drowning (in a sea of militant secularism) as anything else. As we've maintained all along, this thing is bigger than any of us.
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The Vatican's Vox Clara Committee has announced that the new English translation of the Roman missal is expected to be ready by the end of 2009. This follows a meeting in Rome over the past few days, under the chairmanship of Sydney's Cardinal George Pell. Catholic News Service reports that Vox Clara Committee hopes missal translation completed by 2009 it was the first time they have set a specific date.
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Forgotten to recycle any newspapers or tin cans recently? Feeling guilty because you neglected to carbon offset your flight to somewhere, anywhere, outside England this summer? The Roman Catholic Church is at hand with a new line in "green confessions" to help eco-sinners to find forgiveness. Dom Anthony Sutch, the Benedictine monk who resigned as head of Downside School to become a parish priest in Suffolk, will be at the county's Waveney Greenpeace festival this weekend to hear eco-confessions in what is thought to be the first dedicated confessional booth of its kind. Vested in a green chasuble-style garment made from recycled curtains, and in a booth constructed of recycled doors, he will hear the sins of of those who have not recycled the things they ought to have done and who have consumed the things they ought not to have done.
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CCI NOTES: This is an interesting summary of changes to the Mass over the centuries. To link to the PDF file, CLICK HERE
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"Catholics Have Become Mainstream America," says a July 9 report issued by the Ventura-based Barna Group. The report was derived from nationwide telephone surveys by Barna between Aug. 2006 and Jan. 2007. The survey interviewed 4,014 adults, 18 years of age and older, among whom were 876 people who identified themselves as Catholics. Catholics are mainstream says the report, because they are "virtually indistinguishable from people aligned with other faith groups - except in the area of faith." Though 68% of Catholics surveyed described their religious faith as very important in their life, only 44% said they were "absolutely committed" to it (compared to 54% "of the entire adult population.") Among "faith-oriented behaviors," Catholics were 20% less likely to share their beliefs with people of other faiths" but were 16% more likely to have attended a church service or 8% more likely to have prayed in the week prior to the survey.
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"My point is a simple one: No one, no single ecumenical council, not even the Pope himself, has the authority to either contradict or compromise the constant teachings and traditions of the Church, as handed down to us from the Apostles. No degree of "wishful thinking" or even "wishful wording" from the likes of Fr. Rausch can ever change that. To those who are foolish or arrogant enough to try, St. Paul warns: "But though we or an Angel from Heaven, preach a Gospel to you besides that which we have preached to you, let him be anathema" (Gal 1:8)."
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Earlier this month Pope Benedict XVI released a letter relaxing restrictions on celebrating the Latin or Tridentine mass used by the Roman Catholic Church for centuries prior to the Second Vatican Council. The provisions become effective Sept. 14. That by no means, however, signals any change in the way mass currently is celebrated, said Bishop David Zubik, head of the Catholic Diocese of Green Bay, who on Wednesday was named as new bishop of the Diocese of Pittsburgh. "The normal way of celebrating the mass, the way we have been celebrating the English mass for the last 40 years, is not being changed," Zubik said. "It is the ordinary way mass has been celebrated, is being celebrated and will continue to be celebrated into the future." (CCI NOTES: No punishment, no crime; no enforcement, no law)
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Matt Abbott reports, "I appreciate good dancing, but, quite frankly, it's disgraceful to see any dancing take place during the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Here's hoping the motu proprio is released soon." Abbott also reports that this boogie session (I can't call it a Mass) was celebrated for the Sisters of St. Francis of Mary Immaculate on June 16, 2007, at 10:30 a.m. The presider was Father Charles Faso, O.F.M. with the intention of providing some sort of outlet for liturgical dance. Before you take your family to liturgical dance party, you may want to look at the pictures provided by Mr. Abbott... (not for minors)
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Pope Benedict is coming under mounting criticism from his former German theologian colleagues who liken the Catholic Church's doctrinal office, which the pontiff once headed, to a 19th century censorship bureau. Its censure in March of Father Jon Sobrino, a leading liberation theology proponent, prompted an appeal for a thorough overhaul of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), the modern-day successor of the Inquisition. "The structure of the CDF must be reformed," Peter Huenermann told Reuters by telephone from Tuebingen, Germany. (CCI NOTES: By reformed, Peter means neutered and de-Catholicized.)
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As most reading this already know, Father Fessio has been given his walking papers from AMU because of "irreconcilable differences over administrative policies and practices." according to the carefully worded, unattributed statement. Although it is not yet known exactly what brought his removal about, it is known that Father Fessio was not at all pleased with the liturgical direction AMU had taken. He felt that healing Masses were an abomination and having such gross modernistic types of liturgy did not fit the bill that the founders of AMU sold to investors, potential students and other interested parties. The more traditional/orthodox minded faculty, staff and students blame much of the modernistic mindset and initiatives on President Nick Healy, a dedicated "praise and worship" Charismatic.
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Ebbing faith is not the only reason for the abundance of disused churches. The atheist communist regimes of the 20th century, war and demographic shifts have all played a part. Take Transylvania's grand "fortress churches," which once served the region's large German-speaking community, descendants of settlers from the west who came to Romania in medieval times. Mass emigration since the 1970s has reduced the population to just a few thousand, and Gypsies have often repopulated the deserted villages. "The new residents just don't have the financial capacity or the emotional need to look after these churches," says Csilla Hegedus of the Transylvania Trust, which is seeking to preserve the buildings. The government's not much help. "The Ministry of Culture gives us what it can, but in countries emerging from the poverty of communism, it's difficult for them to give all that's necessary," says Hegedus.
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The statement was recently completed by IARCCUM, and is scheduled to be published by the Commission as soon as a Catholic commentary to accompany the document has been completed; an Anglican commentary has already been prepared for publication. The text was made available to the Joint Standing Committee of the Primates and the Anglican Consultative Council and to the Anglican Primates, currently meeting in Tanzania. The Primates were also presented with a copy of the agreed statement of the International Commission of the Anglican-Orthodox Theological Dialogue, entitled The Church of the Triune God. Through these two texts, Anglican leaders were able to look at the recent results of important international dialogues with which the Anglican Communion is currently engaged. Both of these texts address the theology of the Church, and given that the Anglican Primates are currently discussing the nature of the Church, it was felt that the dialogue documents had something to contribute to those discussions... We hope that when published, Growing Together in Unity and Mission invites a good deal of discussion, and that it will be a helpful instrument on the long journey towards full communion which has been the stated goal of Anglican - Roman Catholic relations for the past 40 years.
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"Faithful priests need to persevere and not be discouraged. Bishops need to be loyal and courageous. The laity needs to pray every day for the Church and they need to stop giving their money where liturgical abuses abound. The SSPX needs to come home. And Pope Benedict the XVI needs to act - and act now... If the present state of emergency continues and nothing is done about it, massive closing of parishes will continue, entire dioceses will disappear, and a smaller and purified Church will emerge from the rubble. However, in the meantime, the suffering that my seminary rectory prophetically spoke about more than twenty years ago will continue."
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There is a new momentum building in the Church which could be directed to bringing about this new, creative "reform of the reform". Part of that momentum comes from a widespread disgust at what was described recently as "aisle-dancing and numbskull jogging for Jesus choruses at Mass". The days of embarrassing, maudlin and sentimental dirges such as "Bind us together Lord" and "Make me a channel of your peace" may indeed be numbered. Are we seeing the end days for overhead projectors, screaming microphones and fluorescent lighting and their concomitant music, complete with incompetently strummed guitars and cringe-making, smiley, cheesy folk groups? It is clear, therefore, that Vatican II did not abolish choirs, the great choral tradition, Gregorian chant, organs, prayerful liturgy, or even Latin. In fact as the documents make clear here, all these things are positively encouraged. So who did abolish them?
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LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- The nation's Roman Catholic bishops signed off Thursday on a new English translation for the Mass that would change prayers ingrained in the memories of millions of American parishioners. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops voted at its biannual meeting for a new translation after a brief but vigorous debate over several small changes in wording. The 173-29 vote on the Order of the Mass was aimed at satisfying Vatican calls for a translation closer to the Latin version.
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ROME (CNS) -- Liturgical changes implemented after the Second Vatican Council could be perfected, said the new secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments. No one is in favor of making changes for the sake of change or even for nostalgia, said Archbishop Albert Malcolm Ranjith Patabendige Don, the secretary, during an April 27 discussion about the direction the priest faces during Mass.
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Hand-holding is the sort of thing that wouldn't draw a bit of notice in, say, an evangelical service. But we Catholics have a long history of arguing about the right ways to worship (Latin Mass or guitar Mass?). Certainly there are weightier issues facing Catholics: how to respond to the institutional failures revealed by the abuse scandal; who should be allowed to enter the priesthood. But nothing illuminates the divide between old-school Catholics and their more touchy-feely brethren quite like the postures and practices on display in church each week.
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If you are looking for imminent medical advances using stem cells, it is necessary to support research that relies on adult stem cells and those from umbilical cord blood. The latest headlines from Korea may suggest otherwise, but human treatments using stem cells derived from killing cloned human embryos are still a long way off, if they ever arrive at all.
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His first act was the inauguration mass of his pontificate. Benedict XVI is a pope of the great tradition of the liturgy, with the eucharist at the center. It is a tradition of liturgical texts, rituals, and music - and symbolic places.
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CCI NOTES: When Oregon Catholic pro-life activist Carolyn Wendell began working with Voice of Catholics Advocating Life (VOCAL) she probably didn't expect that one of her major obstacles would be the Catholic Church itself. Unfortunately, more and more Catholics like Wendell are running into fierce opposition from the chancery mafia as they try to expose AMCHURCH's silence on abortion and homosexuality.
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Oregonian Barbara Anderson recently published a website report to Catholic Citizens of Illinois how two "Catholic Charities" groups use taxpayers' money to undermine and violate our laws. "Time was when the poor widow in the pew gave her mite, assured that she was helping someone even more vulnerable than she was. That is no longer true, as the money being given may or may not end up feeding the poor, clothing the naked, etc. Two of the "Catholic" charities sanctioned by the bishops have become circuitous routes leading to unexpected ends."
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The former is a theologian and cardinal, the latter is superior general of the Jesuits; both have the reputation of being progressivist. But their most recent declarations are a cold shower for the Church's left wing. Within the Vatican curia, only one cardinal is capable of holding his own with Joseph Ratzinger on his turf, that of advanced theology. It is Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity.
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It is said that a society can be judged by the way in which it treats its young and its elderly. If this is so, and it certainly is, then what can be said of the "renewed" Church which has failed to teach the Faith to its children (most Catholic grade-schoolers have trouble with the Hail Mary, let alone an entire rosary), which has victimized its young men (or covered for priests who did so), and which is now in the business of denying the sick and dying their deathbed requests? What are they so afraid of? That their habit-less nuns, altar-less sanctuaries, congregation-less churches, priest-less parishes, and vocation-less seminaries are signs that the end is near for them? Is this why they resent tradition-minded Catholics enough to lord it over them whenever possible, even those lying on their deathbeds? It would seem so.
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...in an update to our earlier posting on this site, the Austrian Kath.net news service - which had a journalist at the press conference - directly contradicts The Tablet. It says: "[Bishop] Grab of Church stressed during the press conference, that "no priest shall be hindered to preach, and that no lay people are allowed to give a homily."
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Proposals by Swiss bishops to allow lay theologians to give sermons and Protestants to receive Communion have met with the approval of the Curia in Rome, Bishop Amedee Grab, president of the Swiss bishops' conference, said this week. The Swiss church is having to cope with a shortage of priests and in an effort to deal with the crisis its bishops' conference has come up with controversial plans to make greater use of the laity serving as pastoral assistants. The Swiss bishops' conference has now declared that the assistants (who hold university degrees in theology) are to be allowed to preach during Mass and baptise whenever a priest was not available.
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Are the seasonal or common psalms appropriate for special occasions? Certainly there are many that sound beautiful or are emotionally very moving in the proper setting. I believe they should be used judiciously though. Are music ministers or liturgists and pastors entitled to disagree or favor these alternative psalms? Certainly, but by the same token they might be convinced to stand by the assigned Psalm of the day, with adequate consideration or catechesis about their importance, appropriateness and need in the liturgy. Perhaps a remedy would be to sing the Psalm of the day in Gregorian chant, satisfying the guidance of Sacrosanctum Concilium. It might also lead to more easily intoned singing and lend a more prayerful and peaceful atmosphere to the parish liturgy.
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I notice that you celebrated the feast of Christ the King and the Assumption. That sounds very Catholic. But, no, since Anne Walter and Jeanne Tessier Barone gave the respective homilies on those feast days, you can't be. Only clergy may give the homilies at Mass. So you surely must be Episcopalian. I did note however Jeanne Barone's snide comment about Cardinal Ratzinger so perhaps you are anti-Catholic Episcopalians. I'm only curious now why you bother to have Call to Action and Voice of the Faithful meetings in your parish. You've already achieved most of their dissenting goals.
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"Our liturgies are completely faithful to the reforms of Vatican II," was one of the more concise responses from my pastor years ago. It was only some time later that I would realize how right he was. Initially, his brevity was somewhat disappointing given the work put into the case I presented to him. For I had become a self-taught scholar of "liturgical abuse" and arming myself with Inaestimabile Donum, other documents from the Congregation for Divine Worship (CDW) and selected Q&A responses from some of the more conservative Catholic periodicals, I thought I had presented what was an incontrovertible case.
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The Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, held from 1962 to 1965 at St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, had as its objectives to seek the renewal of the Catholic Church and to modernize its forms and institutions.(1) Unfortunately, during and after the Council, the Zeitgeist - the German term for "spirit of the age" - was largely responsible for the decline in certain key aspects of the Catholic Church in the U.S. These aspects are the number of priests and religious, weekly church attendance by its members, and the state of Catholic marriage. The Zeitgeist also fostered the rise of dissident Catholic organizations and individuals who have often misrepresented the teachings of Vatican II in order to promote their own agendas.
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A liturgical crisis has been brewing for a long time. Back in 1973, Archbishop Robert Dwyer of Portland Oregon, wrote: "Sincere Christian men and women in their thousands and millions are reacting against the impoverishment and degradation of the liturgy, as they are reacting against so many displays of enfeebled or uncertain leadership." (Catholic Priests' Association Bulletin [England]. Vol. I and II, 1973, p.42). Since then, the crisis has deepened. Abuses are pandemic.
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In addition to his other endeavors, the well-known Catholic writer Thomas E. Woods, Jr. has authored several books recently, ranging in topics from contemporary Catholicism to American History. His latest work, the recently reviewed The Church Confronts Modernity: Catholic Intellectuals and the Progressive Era, discusses the efforts of American Catholics in the early decades of the 20th Century.
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The American Life League expressed outrage Thursday over a financial donation the Immaculate Heart of Mary sisters in Michigan made to Emily's List, the nation's largest political network dedicated solely to election pro-abortion women to public office. The sisters claimed they made the donation in order to help women in the political process.
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Except for a courageous handful, America's wimpish Roman Catholic Bishops won't say this, but I will: A significant number of proclaimed Catholics in this country are no more Catholic than the most secularized of their fellow Americans. Yet the media insists on labeling them as being members of a church whose doctrines they dispute and whose disciplines they reject. It is members of this group whose dissent from the most vital teachings of the Church draws huzzahs from the neo-paganists who dominate the mainstream media today.
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Nearly three-quarters of Catholics oppose the idea of church leaders denying Communion to politicians whose public positions on abortion and other topics contradict church teachings, according to a new Pew poll. The Pew Research Center for the People and the Press and Pew's Forum on Religion and Public Life found in a poll conducted in early August that 72 percent of U.S. Catholics believe it is improper for church leaders to deny Communion to Catholic politicians whose views on abortion and other life issues go against church teachings.
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New figures show the U.S. Catholic population continues to grow. The number of deacons serving them is on the rise, but the numbers of priests and religious brothers and sisters are down. The long-term slide in church marriages continues. The 2004 edition of the Official Catholic Directory showed some drop in the number of U.S. Catholic colleges, high schools and elementary schools and in the number of students attending them, but slight increases in the number of elementary and high school youths served by parish-based religious education programs.
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Dietrich von Hildebrand lamented the changes after Vatican II, saying that "the Holy Bride had been desecrated." His widow Alice added that "he was referring to the 'abomination of desolation' of which the prophet Daniel speaks."(See "Present at the Demolition," Latin Mass Magazine, Summer 2001). Dr. Hildebrand opposed the changes in the Roman Rite as is evidenced by his statements, "Truly if one of the devils in C.S. Lewis' Screwtape letters had been entrusted with the ruin of the liturgy, he could not have done it better" (The Devastated Vineyard). Then in Satan at Work, Hildebrand wrote, "With the new Children's Mass, issued by the evil spirit of the liturgical reform, Archbishop Bugnini, the victory of collectivism, naturalism, and horizontalism comes drastically to the fore" (p. 26).
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If you thought you'd heard the last of Gabe Huck, you're wrong. He has a lengthy essay in the National Catholic Reporter (Jan. 16, 2004) on the state of liturgical renewal. What he says is revealing about his understanding of what liturgical renewal is all about. But he also says some provocative things about Vatican II's Sacrosanctum Concilium (SC), the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy. Huck posits a sharp - seemingly unbridgeable - chasm between the "pre-Vatican II" Church and the "post-Vatican II" Church. Huck admits that "We [liturgical reformers] made a lot of mistakes.... But how could we not make mistakes? There was so little experience to draw on." In other words, the previous 1900 or so years of liturgical tradition counted for nothing, or nothing much.
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Says founder Michael Gilleland, "No matter where you go to Mass on Sunday in the United States, it's difficult to escape the music of Marty Haugen and David Haas. I for one am sick and tired of hearing their banal ditties everywhere, and in desperation I have founded this Society for a Moratorium on the Music of Marty Haugen and David Haas, or SMMMHDH for short. The Society is awaiting pontifical approval from the Holy See as a pious sodality."
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In retrospect, it seems that Pope Pius IX was clearly on target in criticizing those who were liberal and Catholic more than 150 years ago. Sadly, the same criticism continues to exist. The one major difference today is that liberal Catholics are in the vanguard of leadership in the current public criticism of their own religious faith.
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And now, my church has become a bastion of hypocrisy, mired for two nightmarish years in a monumental, devastating, unending sex abuse scandal. When our saintly, beloved pope speaks, the world snickers, his moral authority undermined, his own house in disarray. And, in his twilight, this great man must bear the burdensome reality that he let this one get by him; his 25-year legacy of holiness stained by the worst scandal in modern church history. Our church transformed into a war zone; our battlefield littered with wounded souls; our priesthood offered up on a platter for sexual predators to devour.
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"Arguing with Fr. Fessio about whether or not Ave Maria's design reflects the historical tradition of Catholic church architecture, is like debating the appropriateness of whitewashing Michelangelo's murals in the Sistine Chapel. Yet Fr. Fessio not only defends his project as consonant with tradition, he is so bold as to call it "essentially Gothic." In fact, Fr. Fessio says he hopes critical discussion will center around the question of "whether what we are developing is a legitimate expression of the Gothic style." I can answer that one right now: no-and you're not even close." - Michael Rose, Editor, Cruxnews.com
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The unfolding of the tragic dissolution of the Catholic Church in America today is truly frightening in its scope and depth. The scope encompassing both the spiritual (faith) and the temporal (morals) with the depth revealing real corruption and mendaciousness of certain bishops entrenched at the top. To date, no less than eight American bishops have resigned or retired under circumstances connected to sexual abuse accusations. Furthermore, investigations (still far from complete) now reveal that while four percent of the priesthood were involved in incidents of sexual abuse, two thirds of all the U.S. Bishops actively participated in covering up these criminal acts.1 Compounding this travesty, many of these bishops reassigned these criminals, thus proliferating the assaults on innocent victims. Who comes to being the greater responsible - the degenerate or those in authority who loosed them to prey even further upon the innocent? To ask the question is to answer it.
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Since the publication of Malachi Martin's WINDSWEPT HOUSE (Doubleday, 1998) early this summer, everyone who has read it is asking the same question: Is it all true? The brilliantly conceived and elegantly written novel presents Vatican City as a nest of intrigue, where the Holy Father is cautiously temporizing as disloyal cardinals subvert his Papacy and scheme with government and business elites in London and Brussels to advance the New World Order. Believing that the Church must be a key player in the New World Order - primarily for financial reasons - and that Catholic doctrine on key issues must be "moderated," "transformed," or simply dropped in order for the Church to be accepted as a player in the new power structure, the Pope's unfaithful cardinals plot to isolate John Paul II.
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Church buildings are being constructed like theatres. Instead of a pulpit, the focus is a stage. Some feature massive platforms that revolve or rise and fall, with colored lights and huge sound boards. Shepherds are giving way to media specialists, programming consultants, stage directors, special effects experts, and choreographers. The idea is to give the audience what they want. Tailor the church service to whatever will draw a crowd. As a result pastors are more like politicians than shepherds, looking to appeal to the public rather than leading and building the flock God gave them.
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In this era of neo-pagan Modernism, experimentation with the rubrics (i.e. rules) of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass have resulted in many abuses. In addition to priestly experimentation, even some Archbishops and Cardinals promulgate pastoral letters directing parish priests to implement liturgical changes at odds with the official Church rubrics. Some of these abuses are so serious that they actually invalidate the Mass, which then greatly deprives the soul of Grace and the sacrificial benefit of Eucharistic Jesus. Such loss of Grace for both the faithful laity and priest may result in loss of the Catholic Faith and further descent of this world into pagan darkness. Strong words to be sure, so read The Power of the Mass article to appreciate how important the Mass truly is as evidenced from Church teachings and many great saints. Simply put, without the Mass all would be lost - literally. This article will explain the common liturgical abuses today and which of those invalidate the Mass.
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"While the storm grows, we will see who is who. We have waited for the "form" and it has been provided many times and now in more serious form in the Instruction. We have been given clear laws again and again. We have a new edition of the Missale Romanum with its rubrics and GIRM. We have a newly restructured ICEL and the Vox Clara Committee. We have our Holy Father's teachings and his encyclical Ecclesia de Eucharistia. With our new Instruction we have a full toolbox. It is now time to bring form to the chaos."
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It helps first of all to place this Instruction at its origins. At the Solemn Last Supper Mass on Holy Thursday in St Peter's Basilica, on April 17, 2003, the Holy Father signed and gave to the Church his fourteenth encyclical letter, Ecclesia de Eucharistia. In this beautiful document Pope John Paul II states, inter alia, that the Holy Eucharist "stands at the center of the Church's life" (no. 3), that "it unites heaven and earth. It embraces and permeates all creation" (no. 8), and that it "is the most precious possession which the Church can have in her journey through history" (no. 9). For the full letter, see EUCHARIST
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Catholics who appeal to the "spirit of Vatican II" and claim to be following their consciences when they ignore Catholic teaching on issues of vital public importance would be wise to revisit what the council actually said. What did Vatican II teach about conscience? The council's Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World (Gaudium et Spes) defines conscience "as man's most secret core, and his sanctuary. There he is alone with God, whose voice echoes in his depths. By conscience, in a wonderful way, that law is made known which is fulfilled in the love of God and one's neighbor" (16).
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Compare the Vatican's treatment of the schismatic bishops of the so-called "Patriotic Catholic Association" (PCA) of Red China, created by Mao Tse-Tung in 1957 to replace the true Catholic Church, which that monster had driven underground. Since 1957 the PCA has consecrated not four, but one hundred bishops without a papal mandate, many of these during the reign of John Paul II. These schismatic prelates are required by the regime in Beijing explicitly to renounce any allegiance to Rome and to promote the Red Chinese population control policy of compulsory contraception and, when that fails, forced abortion. These illicit bishops thus promote mortal sins and gross deviations from the infallible teaching of the Church on faith and morals.
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The Vatican is not just worried about relations with Jews. It is even more so with regard to losing faith in the historical realism of the four Gospels. It fears a revival of an ancient heresy - Marcionism - which eliminated politically incorrect pages from the Bible...
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WORSHIP IS NOT AN ARTFORM, it is the most profound propitiatory sacrifice of Jesus the only begotten Son of God who on the cross of Calvary offered himself up to God the Father and re-presents Himself to us in an unbloody way each time we partake of Christ's body and blood at Mass. We need more quiet and stillness of worship as we once had in our ancient Latin Rite, so that we may contemplate this supernatural, sacrificial mystery. We don't need more movement, noise and distraction which would accompany dancing at Mass. This is about Jesus' sacrifice as God the Son not about our narcissistic, humanistic dance! We should be a "Cult of God", not a paganized cult of man.
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John Paul II has convoked a worldwide Synod of Bishops, from Oct. 2-29, 2005, to reflect on the Eucharist. The theme of the 11th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops will be "The Eucharist: Source and Culmination of the Life and Mission of the Church," the Vatican press office said today. The Pope dedicated his last encyclical, "Ecclesia de Eucharistia," to the Blessed Sacrament. In No. 10 of that encyclical, he explains that the document was necessary because, although "the liturgical reform inaugurated by the [Second Vatican] Council has greatly contributed to a more conscious, active and fruitful participation in the Holy Sacrifice of the Altar on the part of the faithful," unfortunately "alongside these lights there are also shadows."
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"Today, there are 9.2 million Latino Pentecostals or charismatics in the United States - more than the number of Jews or Muslims in the country. The conversion movement - taking place in the US and beyond - is a shift from the Catholic identity long associated with Latin America. The appeal for new immigrants here is multiple: Services are more expressive, they are typically given in an immigrant's native tongue, and they focus on the individual. The emphasis on social and financial mobility is also appealing. "Protestant churches have a great impact on changing individual lives," says R. Stephen Warner, a professor of sociology at the University of Illinois at Chicago."
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"In accordance with the structure of each church and legitimate local customs, the Most Blessed Sacrament should be reserved in a tabernacle in a part of the church that is truly noble, prominent, readily visible, beautifully decorated, and suitable for prayer. The one tabernacle should be immovable, be made of solid and inviolable material that is not transparent, and be locked in such a way that the danger of profanation is prevented to the greatest extent possible. Moreover, it is appropriate that, before it is put into liturgical use, it be blessed according to the rite described in the Roman Ritual."
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It's been a difficult two years, or four decades for the Catholic Church depending on your vantage point. For traditional Catholics, there is no satisfaction gained by 'I-told-you-so-ing' regarding the devolution and decline of the Catholic faith, especially since the "renewal" and "moderinization" imposed by the Second Vatican Council. Pope St. Pius X saw "modernism" as the greatest threat to the Catholic Church in its 2000 year history. He defined modernism as "the synthesis of all heresies". To combat this all encompassing heresy from inflicting the Church he, by virtue of his Apostolic Authority, ordered all clergy, teachers of theology and seminarians to take the "Oath Against Modernism". This oath was the litmus test by which Catholic Orthodoxy was measured. The oath was taken from 1910 to 1966. It was abolished one year after Vatican II ended. If you are wondering why this oath was abolished, you may want to read it in the context of the last forty years, and you might start to understand why.
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A new English translation of the Mass would in a sense carry Catholic worship back to the future, employing vocabulary and syntax closer to the original Latin and thereby fostering a liturgical style reminiscent of the era before the Second Vatican Council (1962-65). While Rome has repeatedly insisted on more traditional texts in recent years, the new translation, produced by the International Commission on English in the Liturgy -- ICEL -- is the first application of these principles to the Order of the Mass, the key prayers in the preeminent Roman Catholic act of worship. For this reason, it has been much anticipated by liturgical experts and church officials.
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As soon as I heard of Ken Jones' Index of Leading Catholic Indicators,1 I had an intense desire to purchase a copy. The 113-page paperback book contains statistics relating to all aspects of Catholic life: Catholic education, religious orders, Catholic practice and belief, seminarians, nuns, and diocesan priests. Having read the Index, my compliments go out to Mr. Jones. Like myself, Mr. Jones is the father of seven young children, so I understand the sacrifice it was for him to take the time to bring this important information together. He has done an excellent job of presenting clear, irrefutable, unbiased, and undeniable raw data pertaining to the crisis in the Church, and he also provides some important analysis of that data. It is important work, and it is solid evidence supporting what many of us have known for a long time. For the full story, see Springtime Decay
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A long-awaited new document on the Eucharist, delayed by high-level disagreements within the Vatican, will soon be made public. The document will not contain any striking innovations, CWN has learned. The new document, which was promised by Pope John Paul II (bio - news) when he released his encyclical Ecclesia de Eucharistia in April 2003, has been expected for several months. In September, the Italian monthly Jesus published what it claimed was the text of a draft version of the document, and reported that the draft had been rejected because it was deemed excessively conservative.
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Whether Catholics have been leaving their church since widespread allegations surfaced nearly two years ago that clergy members had sexually abused minors is an ongoing question of great concern for the future of Catholicism in America. Indeed, the situation prompted TIME magazine to ask on the cover of its April 1, 2002, issue, "Can the Catholic Church Save Itself?"
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CCI NOTES: We get lots of letters at CCI, and a surprising number are from parents who have gotten up and walked out of so-called Teen Masses. I'd normally quote them, but all the letters are the same. The barely recognizable "Mass" is overwhelmed by bad music, usually rock, always loud, and lacking just about all dignity and reverance. Below are three articles - two from the Pope and one from from Peoria's Bishop Jenky - to be printed out and brought to your Teen Mass coordinator.
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Everything now appears to be in place for an accurate and beautiful English translation of the new Roman Missal "third typical edition" -- three years after its General Instruction first appeared, and after the failure of a massive revision of the English version in use since 1974.
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Buried deep within the 16 final approved decrees of the Council was ambiguous language, time bombs, deliberately planted to be used later when these decrees were interpreted and implemented. Several prominent prelates tried to raise a warning cry during the Council, but their warnings seemed preposterous: change the Mass into a service that Protestants could accept, abolish Latin as the official language of the Church, altar girls, standing for Communion, take the focus off God and place it on one another? Never.
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Wide-ranging questions on the Liturgy were answered by Cardinal Francis Arinze at a conference in July sponsored by the Apostolate for Family Consecration. The question and answer session followed Cardinal Arinze's talk on the meaning of the Eucharist. The cardinal, who has headed the Vatican Congregation for Divine Worship and Discipline of the Sacraments since last October, has addressed these summer conferences, held at "Catholic Familyland" in Bloomingdale, Ohio for a number of years. A portion of this summer's session, transcribed by AB from a videotape kindly supplied by the Apostolate for Family Consecration, is presented here.
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"In the end, the Church provided a place for the aesthetics of the late 1960s, but without liberalizing in any other sense. Compared with Episcopalians, say, or Methodists, the Roman Catholic Church's official stands on other matters changed the least: Neither abortion nor birth control would be approved, and women never became priests.""Because Vatican II had given the folkies permission, aesthetic changes were almost entirely decoupled from politics. The hierarchy retained its tight, conservative control on what Roman Catholics were supposed to believe, even as the iconography of liberalism -- the sandals, guitars, and hugging -- seized the day, easily."
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Zenit reports today, "Four decades after the liturgical reform carried out by the Second Vatican Council, it is right to examine the way it has been implemented, in order to relaunch it, says Cardinal Angelo Sodano." Huh? Did he say "relaunch?" Gee whiz Cardinal, we barely survived the first wave of reforms. With vocations at an all time low, scandals abounding, fewer than one of four Catholics attending Mass, and 70% of all Catholics believing the Eucharist is "symbolic," we couldn't agree more that the post-council liturgical trainwreck be "rexamined." But Sodano's solution is a surprise. Obviously, he's concluded that Catholics don't get it, so it's time to "relaunch" the reforms. This is like Coke deciding to relaunch "New Coke" (which was a classic marketing disaster) because consumers just didn't get it the first time around. Anyone who suspsects that "conservatives" are in control of the Vatican is kidding themselves...
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As the papacy of John Paul II sets, the crisis in the faith includes a growing gulf between traditonal Catholics and so-called "neo" Catholics over the stature of Vatican II, and the traditional teachings of past popes against Modernism, Communism, and athiestic/agnostic cults like Free Masonry. Unfortunately, the rhetoric in this debate has become increasingly hostile on both sides. In addition to Meisel's article, we are providing von Alice Hildebrand's rebuttal, Leo XIII's St. Michael prayer origins, and Pius X's oath against modernism. The oath was discontinued by Paul VI in 1962. The St. Michael prayer was dropped after Mass too. Traditional Catholics at the Remnant and Catholic Family News support re-establishing these prayers, while 'neo' Catholic periodicals are largely silent on the issue. CCI will continue look at the widening divide, and we would appreciate your thoughts on this at INFO@catholiccitizens.org
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"The connection between radical changes in the liturgy and widespread disobedience to the church's teaching on contraception is the most serious moral problem in the church today, according to Fr. Ignacio Barreiro. Fr. Barreiro, director of the Rome office of Human Life International, spoke to over 50 people on "The Mass of All Times" at St. Mary Help of Christians Church on Aug. 2. Prior to the lecture, Fr. Barreiro celebrated a Tridentine, or Latin, Mass for the group. The gathering was sponsored by the St. Gregory the Great chapter of Catholics United for the Faith."
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"Informed sources in Rome are reporting that the Holy See will release an important document on the liturgy in October or November, the ACI-Prensa news service has reported. According to the report-- which has not been confirmed by the Vatican-- the new text will be the document to which Pope John Paul II (bio - news) referred in his encyclical Ecclesia de Eucharistia, when he said that new juridical norms concerning the liturgy would soon be forthcoming from the Roman Curia.
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"The first hymns to go should be hymns that teach heresy. If hymns are more than liturgical filler, hymns that teach ideas contrary to Christian truth have no business in the liturgy. "Ashes" is the prime example here: "We rise again from ashes to create ourselves anew." No, we don't. Christ creates us anew. (Unless Augustine was wrong and Pelagius right). (CCI Editors Note: Augustine was right, but it's been suggested that the bishops, priests and Protestant advisors at Vatican II responsible for the creation and selection of these hymms may have believed Pelagius was right.)
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