Interpreting the Moral Law
4. This kind of question requires from the teaching authority of the Church a new and deeper reflection on the principles of the moral teaching on marriage—a teaching which is based on the natural law as illuminated and enriched by divine Revelation.
No member of the faithful could possibly deny that the Church is competent in her magisterium to interpret the natural moral law.
Ahhh... and yet it seemed, whether they could or not, that many, even those charged with teaching orthodoxy did exactly that, at least as regards this instance of interpreting natural moral law.
Not perhaps in so many words -- I deny the Church's competence to interpret natural moral law.
More that, the Church has said something in a manner that seems to comply with the manner in which She hitherto taught definitively and yet I deny that what She said is true or correct.
It is in fact indisputable, as Our predecessors have many times declared, (l) that Jesus Christ, when He communicated His divine power to Peter and the other Apostles and sent them to teach all nations His commandments, (2) constituted them as the authentic guardians and interpreters of the whole moral law, not only, that is, of the law of the Gospel but also of the natural law. For the natural law, too, declares the will of God, and its faithful observance is necessary for men's eternal salvation. (3)
In carrying out this mandate, the Church has always issued appropriate documents on the nature of marriage, the correct use of conjugal rights, and the duties of spouses. These documents have been more copious in recent times. (4)
Special Studies
5. The consciousness of the same responsibility induced Us to confirm and expand the commission set up by Our predecessor Pope John XXIII, of happy memory, in March, 1963. This commission included married couples as well as many experts in the various fields pertinent to these questions.
Now in this, I believe from what I have read, Paul VI, of equally happy memory, was a bit more... progressive, than say, the MSM. Is it possible that in covering the story none of the American TV networks, in interviewing members of the commission and other lay-people aired the thoughts of any women?
Its task was to examine views and opinions concerning married life, and especially on the correct regulation of births; and it was also to provide the teaching authority of the Church with such evidence as would enable it to give an apt reply in this matter, which not only the faithful but also the rest of the world were waiting for. (5)
When the evidence of the experts had been received, as well as the opinions and advice of a considerable number of Our brethren in the episcopate—some of whom sent their views spontaneously, while others were requested by Us to do so—We were in a position to weigh with more precision all the aspects of this complex subject. Hence We are deeply grateful to all those concerned.
The Magisterium's Reply
6. However, the conclusions arrived at by the commission could not be considered by Us as definitive and absolutely certain, dispensing Us from the duty of examining personally this serious question.
This seems only right. Surely no one on the commission believed they themselves, even should they have been unanimous in their conclusions, were appointed to teach magisterially, or that the Holy Father was bound to accept their opinion, as if they were infallible?
This was all the more necessary because, within the commission itself, there was not complete agreement concerning the moral norms to be proposed, and especially because certain approaches and criteria for a solution to this question had emerged which were at variance with the moral doctrine on marriage constantly taught by the magisterium of the Church.
Consequently, now that We have sifted carefully the evidence sent to Us and intently studied the whole matter, as well as prayed constantly to God, We, by virtue of the mandate entrusted to Us by Christ, intend to give Our reply to this series of grave questions.
II. DOCTRINAL PRINCIPLES
7. The question of human procreation, like every other question which touches human life, involves more than the limited aspects specific to such disciplines as biology, psychology, demography or sociology. It is the whole man and the whole mission to which he is called that must be considered: both its natural, earthly aspects and its supernatural, eternal aspects. And since in the attempt to justify artificial methods of birth control many appeal to the demands of married love or of responsible parenthood, these two important realities of married life must be accurately defined and analyzed. This is what We mean to do, with special reference to what the Second Vatican Council taught with the highest authority in its Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the World of Today.
God's Loving Design
8. Married love particularly reveals its true nature and nobility when we realize that it takes its origin from God, who "is love," (6) the Father "from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named." (7)
Marriage, then, is far from being the effect of chance or the result of the blind evolution of natural forces. It is in reality the wise and provident institution of God the Creator, whose purpose was to effect in man His loving design. As a consequence, husband and wife, through that mutual gift of themselves, which is specific and exclusive to them alone, develop that union of two persons in which they perfect one another, cooperating with God in the generation and rearing of new lives.
The marriage of those who have been baptized is, in addition, invested with the dignity of a sacramental sign of grace, for it represents the union of Christ and His Church.
This, it seems to me, is the crux of the matter -- that Christ is our Bridegroom, and in the words of the old hymn, He is a "spendthrift lover" in every way, He would put no limits on the issue of His love, the children of that union, does He? (contra those sects that dare to assign a specific and finite number to the "Saved.")
Who among the children of God is so greedy that he wishes to keep Father's love all to himself? (Although I do recall a priest of the archdiocese of Los Angelese being quoted saying something truly boneheaded in print, something about not really wanting more converts, because after all, they didn't have the priests to minister to them, right? And there is the cranky British blogger who doesn't recognize his little brothers and sisters in those he described as "boat people...")
Universalis, your very own breviary in pixels...
Sunday, 13 July 2008
A symphony of ‘brothel music’
Damian Thompson never fails to intrigue.http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/reviews/r0000318.shtml
I admit that listening to Messiaen is sometimes a profound, transcendent, religious experience, (ooh, deep and high at the same time?) ... and sometimes it just makes me feel inferior, like my mind is inferior, my musicianship is inferior, my very EARS are inferior, "What the heck IS that that everyone else gets and I just don't ??!?#?%?^??!"
I don't know this piece :
There can be no serious competition for the title of the most Catholic composer of the 20th century. Olivier Messiaen was incapable of writing so much as an advertising jingle without calling it Dance of the solar system as the Archangels sing the Five Glorious Mysteries to the Infant Jesus as He contemplates the face of the Virgin.I'm being facetious, but you get my point. Well, two points, actually. Messiaen - whose centenary falls this year - was as ostentatiously Roman Catholic as it is possible to be, judging by the titles of his works. Vingt regards sur l'enfant-Jésus, La Transfiguration de Notre Seigneur Jésus-Christ and so on. Yet, if you listened blind to the Vingt Regards, not knowing their beautiful subtitles, would you guess that this was Catholic music? Every note the great French composer wrote was infused by his faith, yet some of it sounds not just secular but non-Catholic. It really is as if he had given a jingle a sacred title.The Turangalîla-Symphonie is a case in point. This 10-movement score is a hymn to "a joy that is superhuman, overflowing, blinding, unlimited". It is the love of God, but filtered through the passion of Tristan and Iseult and expressed in a Hawaiian cocktail of top-heavy harmonies, shaken and stirred by exotic polyrhythms. If Debussy, living in retirement in Bali, had been commissioned by Hitchcock to write a film score and then Lenny Bernstein had tinkered with it, Turangalîla might have been the result. The Art of Fugue it ain't. Pierre Boulez called it "brothel music", which was a bit of a nerve, as he was studying with the composer at the time. Yet I knew what he meant, even listening to the fine performance given by the Amsterdam Concertgebouw under Neeme Järvi at the Barbican. Alex Ross, in his history of 20th-century music, The Rest is Noise, describes one of the work's piano chords "played as a slow, slinky arpeggio, in the manner of a cocktail-lounge pianist". Which was exactly how Jean-Yves Thibaudet played it and - not wanting to be rude - exactly what he looked like. His (lilac?) shirt was opened almost to the waist, revealing gold neckwear; apparently he was dressed by Dame Vivienne Westwood. Somehow one doesn't expect a pianist who models himself on Sacha Distel to negotiate Messiaen's barbarously complex, literally fist-pounding cadenzas with such refined intelligence. But this was a performance every bit as satisfying as Pierre-Laurent Aimard's with the Berlin Philharmonic on Teldec. More so, in places. Where the score limited him to a single repeated right-hand note, Thibaudet produced a display of calibrated dynamics that carried us through an entire spectrum of colour. Indeed, in the "Garden of Love's Sleep", his delicate meanderings achieved the improvisatory quality of Alfred Cortot, than which there can be no higher praise for a French pianist. (Cortot playing Turangalîla? It's an intriguing thought but, given the savage demands of the solo part, perhaps not.)The other solo instrument in the symphony is the ondes martinot, whose 1940s electronic wail was slightly subdued in this performance. No bad thing: it reduced the flavour of a freak show that can spoil this work. Järvi's direction occasionally lost focus _- but given that he was standing in for Mariss Jansons at almost zero notice, he achieved miracles. Is Turangalîla a masterpiece? It comes close, and would come closer if it was 10 minutes shorter. Is it Catholic? I'm not sure, but Messiaen would certainly have said so.
I admit that listening to Messiaen is sometimes a profound, transcendent, religious experience, (ooh, deep and high at the same time?) ... and sometimes it just makes me feel inferior, like my mind is inferior, my musicianship is inferior, my very EARS are inferior, "What the heck IS that that everyone else gets and I just don't ??!?#?%?^??!"
I don't know this piece :
There can be no serious competition for the title of the most Catholic composer of the 20th century. Olivier Messiaen was incapable of writing so much as an advertising jingle without calling it Dance of the solar system as the Archangels sing the Five Glorious Mysteries to the Infant Jesus as He contemplates the face of the Virgin.I'm being facetious, but you get my point. Well, two points, actually. Messiaen - whose centenary falls this year - was as ostentatiously Roman Catholic as it is possible to be, judging by the titles of his works. Vingt regards sur l'enfant-Jésus, La Transfiguration de Notre Seigneur Jésus-Christ and so on. Yet, if you listened blind to the Vingt Regards, not knowing their beautiful subtitles, would you guess that this was Catholic music? Every note the great French composer wrote was infused by his faith, yet some of it sounds not just secular but non-Catholic. It really is as if he had given a jingle a sacred title.The Turangalîla-Symphonie is a case in point. This 10-movement score is a hymn to "a joy that is superhuman, overflowing, blinding, unlimited". It is the love of God, but filtered through the passion of Tristan and Iseult and expressed in a Hawaiian cocktail of top-heavy harmonies, shaken and stirred by exotic polyrhythms. If Debussy, living in retirement in Bali, had been commissioned by Hitchcock to write a film score and then Lenny Bernstein had tinkered with it, Turangalîla might have been the result. The Art of Fugue it ain't. Pierre Boulez called it "brothel music", which was a bit of a nerve, as he was studying with the composer at the time. Yet I knew what he meant, even listening to the fine performance given by the Amsterdam Concertgebouw under Neeme Järvi at the Barbican. Alex Ross, in his history of 20th-century music, The Rest is Noise, describes one of the work's piano chords "played as a slow, slinky arpeggio, in the manner of a cocktail-lounge pianist". Which was exactly how Jean-Yves Thibaudet played it and - not wanting to be rude - exactly what he looked like. His (lilac?) shirt was opened almost to the waist, revealing gold neckwear; apparently he was dressed by Dame Vivienne Westwood. Somehow one doesn't expect a pianist who models himself on Sacha Distel to negotiate Messiaen's barbarously complex, literally fist-pounding cadenzas with such refined intelligence. But this was a performance every bit as satisfying as Pierre-Laurent Aimard's with the Berlin Philharmonic on Teldec. More so, in places. Where the score limited him to a single repeated right-hand note, Thibaudet produced a display of calibrated dynamics that carried us through an entire spectrum of colour. Indeed, in the "Garden of Love's Sleep", his delicate meanderings achieved the improvisatory quality of Alfred Cortot, than which there can be no higher praise for a French pianist. (Cortot playing Turangalîla? It's an intriguing thought but, given the savage demands of the solo part, perhaps not.)The other solo instrument in the symphony is the ondes martinot, whose 1940s electronic wail was slightly subdued in this performance. No bad thing: it reduced the flavour of a freak show that can spoil this work. Järvi's direction occasionally lost focus _- but given that he was standing in for Mariss Jansons at almost zero notice, he achieved miracles. Is Turangalîla a masterpiece? It comes close, and would come closer if it was 10 minutes shorter. Is it Catholic? I'm not sure, but Messiaen would certainly have said so.
Apologies, (and aid implored,) for my Inept Apologetics
I’ve been having a conversation with a poster named Jonathan on a thread below. http://scelata.blogspot.com/2008/07/synod-in-york-approves-women-bishops-in.html
Terrific, because it’s making me think about things like the things I think I think… I mean, really THINK about them….
I'm moving it to its own thread because.... oh, because it's about to move off the front page and then I won't be able to find it anymore than I can find anything IRL on desk or console or bedside swath of floor that currently holds about 23 books and 8 magazines.
And to invite anyone wishing to school me to do so.
Anyway, corrections to my Catholic Theology of the Liturgy for Dummies, my logic and my grammar welcomed.
.................................
He: Ultimately I am interested in the unity of all Christians, not only in all Catholics.
I: Amen to that! I would go a step further, I am interested in the unity of all mankind.
Protestants, after all, used to be Catholics in an era when the word Cathoic was as universal as its meaning suggests.
That was why I asked about which was more primary, the Gospel, or the liturgy, since far more common ground is felt between all Christians regarding the former than the latter.
If you mean “primary” in the chicken or the egg sense, I would say clearly the Liturgy -- it is from the Liturgy, ortho-praxis, that we draw the faith and strength to go out and live the Gospel. In the words of the Church, the Eucharist, and its celebration is the “source and summit” of the Christian faith.
Ultimately to me, Christian belief, and how it transforms moral praxis in the real world (to the end of saving the world) matters more than the specifics of worship (which I see more as an aid and support to belief and an expresive outlet for ones feelings of dependency on and gratitude to God).
I like that phrase, beautiful!
I do not see Worship as the primarily important thing..because of its intrinsic potentiality for being a focus of dissension amongst Christians. It shouldn't be something which, in arguments relating to its minutae, should fragment and divide Christians.
After all, God is not a narcissist. He doesnt need our worship for himself. In my opinion, he is not like an insecure, vain Roman Emperor, hungry for our reassuring praise for himself, and so for that reason full of demands that it be expressed in this way and not in that way. Yes he accepts our praise and is glad to receive it since it keeps our focus on him, with all the positive consequences for us and our World that that entails.
Yes, the Liturgy which He has given us is not for His benefit but for OURS.
What is most important to him is that we as Christians love one another and be the light in the World that we can be.
I disagree only in that the FIRST law is “Love God” (and I believe the Liturgy is the means God gave us in which to love Him,) and the one that is like it is SECOND.
So it is from loving God, and expressing and increasing that love in the Liturgy, that we become empowered to love our neighbor.
Can we do the latter without the former?
Sure.
But why would we try?
I can probably program my new phone without resorting to the instructions.
But someone who knows a whole lot more about the phone than I will ever know has been kind enough to provide me with the instructions, and they’ll make it a helluva lot easier.
If I have most of the basic instructions but am missing a page, it’ll make it that little bit harder.
Well, the Liturgy is the Instructions.
In the Catholic view, the Liturgy’s purpose is two-fold -- 1) the worship of God, and 2) the sanctification of the faithful.
The better we do the first, the better it will accomplish the second in us. And our going out to “love one another and be the light in the World” will evidence it.
Still, that said, I do not doubt the value and virtue of public acts of worship according to ordered and uplifting forms,and that some can be better, richer and more beneficial than others.
Anyway, I need to look into the history and meaning of transubstantion some more.
Honestly, it is not something I ever had any trouble with. I was raised Catholic, very devout, very intelligent Catholic parents, but in an era of atrocious formal catechesis.
In adolescence with typical adolescent cynicism, and interest in proving that I was altogether cleverer than any ooooold person could possibly be, I went through wondering and doubting all received wisdom, wondering and doubting if there was a God, wondering and doubting if He had had a Son Who was True God and True Man named Jesus , wondering and doubting if He had established a Church, wondering and doubting if the Bible was inspired… by the time I resolved those in my mind and got to specifics about the Real Presence, I really had no doubt.
If nothing else, the fact that Jesus didn’t run after those who had left Him muttering “This is a hard saying….” yelling, “No, wait fellas, it’s a METAPHOR, nobody’s really gonna eat my flesh,” convinces me.
Personally, for the sake of history and tradition, I see no problem with acccepting The Bishop of Rome as First amongst equals, as long as it is a real equality that is being meant.
I cant help suspecting that if Jesus had wanted Uniformity over Unity he would have chosen just one disciple to pass on his legacy, not 12.
Good line! And I agree. I think a multiplicity of Rites was intended.
“The” Liturgy is many Rites, and I rejoice in them all.
But I think it is vital that they not be human fabrications.
I’m not sure if the Anglican view is in line with the Byzantine or Roman in this, but as I understand the Catholic viewpoint the Liturgy is not something we do -- it is something given to us. When it develops organically it is the work of the Holy Spirit on the Body of Christ.
When a committee makes crap up it is a deformation.
God so loved the world that he did NOT send a committee.
I just read a review by Alcuin Reid http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/reviews/r0000319.shtml of a new book by Laurence Hemming called Worship as a Revelation: The Past, Present and Future of Catholic Liturgy that I think might be very pertinent to this.
Terrific, because it’s making me think about things like the things I think I think… I mean, really THINK about them….
I'm moving it to its own thread because.... oh, because it's about to move off the front page and then I won't be able to find it anymore than I can find anything IRL on desk or console or bedside swath of floor that currently holds about 23 books and 8 magazines.
And to invite anyone wishing to school me to do so.
Anyway, corrections to my Catholic Theology of the Liturgy for Dummies, my logic and my grammar welcomed.
.................................
He: Ultimately I am interested in the unity of all Christians, not only in all Catholics.
I: Amen to that! I would go a step further, I am interested in the unity of all mankind.
Protestants, after all, used to be Catholics in an era when the word Cathoic was as universal as its meaning suggests.
That was why I asked about which was more primary, the Gospel, or the liturgy, since far more common ground is felt between all Christians regarding the former than the latter.
If you mean “primary” in the chicken or the egg sense, I would say clearly the Liturgy -- it is from the Liturgy, ortho-praxis, that we draw the faith and strength to go out and live the Gospel. In the words of the Church, the Eucharist, and its celebration is the “source and summit” of the Christian faith.
Ultimately to me, Christian belief, and how it transforms moral praxis in the real world (to the end of saving the world) matters more than the specifics of worship (which I see more as an aid and support to belief and an expresive outlet for ones feelings of dependency on and gratitude to God).
I like that phrase, beautiful!
I do not see Worship as the primarily important thing..because of its intrinsic potentiality for being a focus of dissension amongst Christians. It shouldn't be something which, in arguments relating to its minutae, should fragment and divide Christians.
After all, God is not a narcissist. He doesnt need our worship for himself. In my opinion, he is not like an insecure, vain Roman Emperor, hungry for our reassuring praise for himself, and so for that reason full of demands that it be expressed in this way and not in that way. Yes he accepts our praise and is glad to receive it since it keeps our focus on him, with all the positive consequences for us and our World that that entails.
Yes, the Liturgy which He has given us is not for His benefit but for OURS.
What is most important to him is that we as Christians love one another and be the light in the World that we can be.
I disagree only in that the FIRST law is “Love God” (and I believe the Liturgy is the means God gave us in which to love Him,) and the one that is like it is SECOND.
So it is from loving God, and expressing and increasing that love in the Liturgy, that we become empowered to love our neighbor.
Can we do the latter without the former?
Sure.
But why would we try?
I can probably program my new phone without resorting to the instructions.
But someone who knows a whole lot more about the phone than I will ever know has been kind enough to provide me with the instructions, and they’ll make it a helluva lot easier.
If I have most of the basic instructions but am missing a page, it’ll make it that little bit harder.
Well, the Liturgy is the Instructions.
In the Catholic view, the Liturgy’s purpose is two-fold -- 1) the worship of God, and 2) the sanctification of the faithful.
The better we do the first, the better it will accomplish the second in us. And our going out to “love one another and be the light in the World” will evidence it.
Still, that said, I do not doubt the value and virtue of public acts of worship according to ordered and uplifting forms,and that some can be better, richer and more beneficial than others.
Anyway, I need to look into the history and meaning of transubstantion some more.
Honestly, it is not something I ever had any trouble with. I was raised Catholic, very devout, very intelligent Catholic parents, but in an era of atrocious formal catechesis.
In adolescence with typical adolescent cynicism, and interest in proving that I was altogether cleverer than any ooooold person could possibly be, I went through wondering and doubting all received wisdom, wondering and doubting if there was a God, wondering and doubting if He had had a Son Who was True God and True Man named Jesus , wondering and doubting if He had established a Church, wondering and doubting if the Bible was inspired… by the time I resolved those in my mind and got to specifics about the Real Presence, I really had no doubt.
If nothing else, the fact that Jesus didn’t run after those who had left Him muttering “This is a hard saying….” yelling, “No, wait fellas, it’s a METAPHOR, nobody’s really gonna eat my flesh,” convinces me.
Personally, for the sake of history and tradition, I see no problem with acccepting The Bishop of Rome as First amongst equals, as long as it is a real equality that is being meant.
I cant help suspecting that if Jesus had wanted Uniformity over Unity he would have chosen just one disciple to pass on his legacy, not 12.
Good line! And I agree. I think a multiplicity of Rites was intended.
“The” Liturgy is many Rites, and I rejoice in them all.
But I think it is vital that they not be human fabrications.
I’m not sure if the Anglican view is in line with the Byzantine or Roman in this, but as I understand the Catholic viewpoint the Liturgy is not something we do -- it is something given to us. When it develops organically it is the work of the Holy Spirit on the Body of Christ.
When a committee makes crap up it is a deformation.
God so loved the world that he did NOT send a committee.
I just read a review by Alcuin Reid http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/reviews/r0000319.shtml of a new book by Laurence Hemming called Worship as a Revelation: The Past, Present and Future of Catholic Liturgy that I think might be very pertinent to this.
Catholic Radio, and Proof of America's Moral Decline
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/13/nyregion/13catholic.html?hp=&pagewanted=all#
I don't have satellite radio, nor is it the sort of thing I am ever likely to have, and even if i did "The Catholic Guy" doesn't sound like someone to whom I'd listen, but it's hard to argue with this kind of moral clarity:
On a recent show, [Lino] Rulli declared that America was in moral decline. “And the proof of the moral decline,” he added, “is that people are choosing to watch Leno over Letterman.”
I don't have satellite radio, nor is it the sort of thing I am ever likely to have, and even if i did "The Catholic Guy" doesn't sound like someone to whom I'd listen, but it's hard to argue with this kind of moral clarity:
On a recent show, [Lino] Rulli declared that America was in moral decline. “And the proof of the moral decline,” he added, “is that people are choosing to watch Leno over Letterman.”
Saturday, 12 July 2008
Selective Quoting
I am always curious when in a news report on a topic as subtle and nuanced as this one is bound to be, we are given some words within quotation marks and others, presumably paraphrased from the speaker's actual words, without. Or are they the writer's interpretation of what the speaker must have meant?
Benedict XVI chooses his words with infinite care -- did he really pray that there are no more schisms and fractures "within the Anglican community," as this AP story says?
I would prefer to see what his actual words, or at least a good translation of his actual words, were.
I can't even tell from anything I have so far read what language he was speaking, or whether he was answering a specific question -- anyone know where a more thorough transcript might be found?
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5g9buQdWtnu48dQqfEnZzFTkasgrwD91SCF1G0
Benedict XVI chooses his words with infinite care -- did he really pray that there are no more schisms and fractures "within the Anglican community," as this AP story says?
I would prefer to see what his actual words, or at least a good translation of his actual words, were.
I can't even tell from anything I have so far read what language he was speaking, or whether he was answering a specific question -- anyone know where a more thorough transcript might be found?
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5g9buQdWtnu48dQqfEnZzFTkasgrwD91SCF1G0
Well, maybe...
After all, I am a Catholic, I beleive in redemption.
I am starting to soften in my attitude toward curmudgeonly blogger Gerald Warner
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/gerald_warner/blog/
Yes, yes, his blog on refusing to pick up any Anglican "boat people" was unforgivable, but this, is priceless!
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/gerald_warner/blog/2008/07/10/cappaphobia_mental_disorder_afflicting_progressive_catholics
The stress of modern life is generating new kinds of mental illness, sometimes taking the form of irrational fear of certain objects. The latest example is an obscure disorder called cappaphobia. It is caused by cappa magna choralis and chiefly targets the elderly, many of whom may already be suffering from dementia.
I first came across this clinical condition when shown a samizdat publication issued by a beleaguered group of progressive Catholics from an address in King Street Cloisters, which atmospherically evokes a huddled catacomb. A letter to the editor began: "Seeing Cardinal Castrillon Hoyos vested in a cappa magna in Westminster Cathedral was a chilling experience."
An accompanying photograph, without even the health warning "May contain some flash vestments", illustrated the offending garment, a long train of scarlet moire silk being worn by Cardinal Castrillon at the celebration of the Tridentine Mass in Westminster Cathedral on June 14. The acute allergic reaction this vesture produces among cappaphobics should not be underestimated.
The cappa magna, a ceremonial cloak for cardinals and bishops, was first regularised in 1464. In 1952 Pius XII, in a misguided fit of radicalism, shortened the cardinalitial cappa from six yards to three. That moment marked the beginning of the Church's downward trajectory. In 1969 Paul VI, in an orgy of vandalism reminiscent of the burning of patents of nobility in the French National Assembly in 1789, abolished the winter ermine hood on the cappa, along with the cardinals' galero hat, the red tabarro cape, buckled shoes and just about everything that compensated for the sacrifices Catholicism imposes on the faithful.
Now Benedict XVI, by resuming the ornamental half-sleeves on his soutane outlawed by Paul VI, has effectively signalled the repeal of the drabby sumptuary laws of 1969. This places cappaphobes at high risk of exposure.
This gave me visions of the L.O.U.S. sputtering with outrage, should a biretta ever enter her line of sight.... perhaps that is why God, who draws straight with crooked lines allowed the emergence of double-knit vestments, like the It's A Small World set -- because cappaphobics are probably NOT allergic to polyester!
I am starting to soften in my attitude toward curmudgeonly blogger Gerald Warner
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/gerald_warner/blog/
Yes, yes, his blog on refusing to pick up any Anglican "boat people" was unforgivable, but this, is priceless!
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/gerald_warner/blog/2008/07/10/cappaphobia_mental_disorder_afflicting_progressive_catholics
The stress of modern life is generating new kinds of mental illness, sometimes taking the form of irrational fear of certain objects. The latest example is an obscure disorder called cappaphobia. It is caused by cappa magna choralis and chiefly targets the elderly, many of whom may already be suffering from dementia.
I first came across this clinical condition when shown a samizdat publication issued by a beleaguered group of progressive Catholics from an address in King Street Cloisters, which atmospherically evokes a huddled catacomb. A letter to the editor began: "Seeing Cardinal Castrillon Hoyos vested in a cappa magna in Westminster Cathedral was a chilling experience."
An accompanying photograph, without even the health warning "May contain some flash vestments", illustrated the offending garment, a long train of scarlet moire silk being worn by Cardinal Castrillon at the celebration of the Tridentine Mass in Westminster Cathedral on June 14. The acute allergic reaction this vesture produces among cappaphobics should not be underestimated.
The cappa magna, a ceremonial cloak for cardinals and bishops, was first regularised in 1464. In 1952 Pius XII, in a misguided fit of radicalism, shortened the cardinalitial cappa from six yards to three. That moment marked the beginning of the Church's downward trajectory. In 1969 Paul VI, in an orgy of vandalism reminiscent of the burning of patents of nobility in the French National Assembly in 1789, abolished the winter ermine hood on the cappa, along with the cardinals' galero hat, the red tabarro cape, buckled shoes and just about everything that compensated for the sacrifices Catholicism imposes on the faithful.
Now Benedict XVI, by resuming the ornamental half-sleeves on his soutane outlawed by Paul VI, has effectively signalled the repeal of the drabby sumptuary laws of 1969. This places cappaphobes at high risk of exposure.
This gave me visions of the L.O.U.S. sputtering with outrage, should a biretta ever enter her line of sight.... perhaps that is why God, who draws straight with crooked lines allowed the emergence of double-knit vestments, like the It's A Small World set -- because cappaphobics are probably NOT allergic to polyester!
Fervent Theologian at Work
An article from the Chicago Tribune http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-italy-mass_spolarjul13,0,2932343.story
I like this: In some ways, it is less invasive. It lets people pray freely.
What I sense is there is a lot of silence and people are very concentrated. During the mass, I can feel the concentration.
I have written before that I am not a "traditionalist" per se, but only by default. If one could consistently find celebrations of the missa normativa that draw rather than drag one in, where there was enough silence to concentrate the Traditionalist movement would not have been able so easily to gain adherents. (I am NOT saying that that is a bad thing.)
Well, let us hope that Pope Benedict's aims of symbiosis between peoples and rites proceeds on apace!
(I also like this description of PapaRatz - Pope Benedict, a fervent theologian. Yes! That is precisely what he is!)
'A greater sense of the sacred'
With pope's blessing, Latin masses reborn in Rome, drawing pilgrims anew
By Christine Spolar Chicago Tribune correspondent
11:24 AM CDT, July 12, 2008
ROME — In the cool recesses of Santissima Trinita dei Pellegrini church, a Roman Catholic rite steeped in Latin has been reborn in this country.Three priests, garbed in lace-trimmed white and golden robes, take to the altar as a band of brothers every Sunday, their backs to worshipers, their eyes on the mass at hand.Dozens of people dutifully follow a service studded with long silences and soaring choral song. Many women have pinned lace mantillas to their hair. When parishioners, young or old, seek the sacrament of communion, they move quickly to kneel, with mouths humbly open.A celebration at Santissima Trinita dei Pellegrini is a visit to your grandfather's mass—and that is exactly the chain of devotion that Pope Benedict XVI wants honored and maintained.
The 16th Century church, located near the lively Campo dei Fiori in Rome's historic district, was built about the same time that Latin liturgy was formalized. It now bears the distinction of being the first large parish in Rome to be granted free rein to celebrate the long-gone liturgy known as the Tridentine rite.
Pope Benedict's rolePope Benedict signaled last year that he was loosening restrictions on the Latin mass, which had essentially been swept away with the 1960s reforms of Vatican II. His desire, church officials said, was to give "greater access" to all the church's traditions.
Part of the legacy of the Second Vatican Council was a rethinking of the liturgy to include more robust participation of parishioners and most notably to end the use of the ancient language of Latin—which was seen by some to limit understanding—and allow people to participate in their native language. Pope Benedict, a fervent theologian, now appears to be rethinking the loss of some traditions.
By June, with the Vatican's help, this Rome church —The Most Holy Trinity of the Pilgrim church, in English—was designated a personal parish within the local diocese and, as such, open to any Catholic who shared the new mission of reinvigorating the Latin-laced rite.
The Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter, which for years had celebrated the traditional liturgy as a religious group, was given the authority to launch the old-made-new-again mass.
"Some people say there's a greater sense of the sacred and the transcendental when they hear the mass in Latin," said Rev. Joseph Kramer, who leads the grander services on Sunday as well as daily evening masses. "In some ways, it is less invasive. It lets people pray freely.
"What I sense is there is a lot of silence and people are very concentrated. During the mass, I can feel the concentration. There's no one talking and no one fidgeting."
For some believers in the heart of this Catholic country, the new parish is a blessing to their long-held desire to keep the faith with the liturgy of their childhood. Only a few people after mass said they had trouble following every word. The church helps out a bit: Missals are printed, side by side, in Italian and Latin.
Unlike in the modern liturgy, the priests barely interact with the public. They don't face parishioners—a big visual change from the modern service—and repeat their prayers in near solitude. Still, even younger observers left the service touched by its intimacy. "There's just more solemnity to this," said Roberta Tantalo, a 27-year-old elementary school teacher.
Alessandra Petruccioni, 40, rode a train for a half hour from her suburban home into Rome for a chance to pray in Latin. She was smiling broadly after a mass that resounded with an a cappella finale of Salve Regina.
"I grew up with this as a child and I wouldn't change it for any other mass," Petruccioni said.
A nod to conservatives
Some American parishes, while amenable to the Vatican reforms, were more likely to look for ways to accommodate traditionalists. Some parishes in Chicago and New York, for example, have for years designated services for parishioners who wanted the old mass. Six parishes in the Chicago area currently offer Latin masses.But Italy's clergy were less inclined to buck a firm Vatican line. It was not until 1992 when a small group of priests, the fraternity now in charge of Santissima Trinita dei Pellegrini, were approved to celebrate a Latin mass on a regular basis at a smaller Rome church.
But Petruccioni said even that fell short of a full-service parish to serve her needs.
"I like this now because this is a real parish, and we can have all the sacraments," she said. "We've had 40 years of decline in the church, and I am so glad that this pope is here, to again make people obey."
Pope Benedict's new approach appears to have broader goals. A top Vatican official this spring indicated that the pope's interest in the Latin mass was also meant as an olive branch to an ultraconservative group, the Society of St. Pius X, long opposed to the modern liturgy.
The society and the Vatican share a tumultuous past. The late Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre founded the society in 1969 as a rebuke to the reforms of Vatican II. The Vatican later excommunicated Lefebvre after he consecrated four bishops without Vatican approval.
Pope Benedict, it is said, is hopeful of bringing the conservative group back to the Vatican fold and sees giving new life to Latin as a sign of reconciliation.
'A living phenomenon'
For Kramer, such lofty Vatican aims are far beyond his immediate concerns to build a healthy congregation. This summer, Kramer said, he sees a few more pews empty when the weather is nice. The beach always claims a few summer souls, he said wryly.
Still, Kramer feels that Santissima Trinita dei Pellegrini will have a strong allure. Still graced with sculpture and paintings from the 16th and 17th Centuries, the church reflects the best times of Catholic civilization and consideration, Kramer said. (The altarpiece in particular, "The Holy Trinity" by Guido Reni, is a riveting piece of spiritual art. The entire church is a modest museum in its own right and a sanctuary from the busy city.)
"It's part of that time, what brought millions of pilgrims to Rome in hundreds of years ago," Kramer said. "With the old liturgy, we can be part of a living phenomenon."
I like this: In some ways, it is less invasive. It lets people pray freely.
What I sense is there is a lot of silence and people are very concentrated. During the mass, I can feel the concentration.
I have written before that I am not a "traditionalist" per se, but only by default. If one could consistently find celebrations of the missa normativa that draw rather than drag one in, where there was enough silence to concentrate the Traditionalist movement would not have been able so easily to gain adherents. (I am NOT saying that that is a bad thing.)
Well, let us hope that Pope Benedict's aims of symbiosis between peoples and rites proceeds on apace!
(I also like this description of PapaRatz - Pope Benedict, a fervent theologian. Yes! That is precisely what he is!)
'A greater sense of the sacred'
With pope's blessing, Latin masses reborn in Rome, drawing pilgrims anew
By Christine Spolar Chicago Tribune correspondent
11:24 AM CDT, July 12, 2008
ROME — In the cool recesses of Santissima Trinita dei Pellegrini church, a Roman Catholic rite steeped in Latin has been reborn in this country.Three priests, garbed in lace-trimmed white and golden robes, take to the altar as a band of brothers every Sunday, their backs to worshipers, their eyes on the mass at hand.Dozens of people dutifully follow a service studded with long silences and soaring choral song. Many women have pinned lace mantillas to their hair. When parishioners, young or old, seek the sacrament of communion, they move quickly to kneel, with mouths humbly open.A celebration at Santissima Trinita dei Pellegrini is a visit to your grandfather's mass—and that is exactly the chain of devotion that Pope Benedict XVI wants honored and maintained.
The 16th Century church, located near the lively Campo dei Fiori in Rome's historic district, was built about the same time that Latin liturgy was formalized. It now bears the distinction of being the first large parish in Rome to be granted free rein to celebrate the long-gone liturgy known as the Tridentine rite.
Pope Benedict's rolePope Benedict signaled last year that he was loosening restrictions on the Latin mass, which had essentially been swept away with the 1960s reforms of Vatican II. His desire, church officials said, was to give "greater access" to all the church's traditions.
Part of the legacy of the Second Vatican Council was a rethinking of the liturgy to include more robust participation of parishioners and most notably to end the use of the ancient language of Latin—which was seen by some to limit understanding—and allow people to participate in their native language. Pope Benedict, a fervent theologian, now appears to be rethinking the loss of some traditions.
By June, with the Vatican's help, this Rome church —The Most Holy Trinity of the Pilgrim church, in English—was designated a personal parish within the local diocese and, as such, open to any Catholic who shared the new mission of reinvigorating the Latin-laced rite.
The Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter, which for years had celebrated the traditional liturgy as a religious group, was given the authority to launch the old-made-new-again mass.
"Some people say there's a greater sense of the sacred and the transcendental when they hear the mass in Latin," said Rev. Joseph Kramer, who leads the grander services on Sunday as well as daily evening masses. "In some ways, it is less invasive. It lets people pray freely.
"What I sense is there is a lot of silence and people are very concentrated. During the mass, I can feel the concentration. There's no one talking and no one fidgeting."
For some believers in the heart of this Catholic country, the new parish is a blessing to their long-held desire to keep the faith with the liturgy of their childhood. Only a few people after mass said they had trouble following every word. The church helps out a bit: Missals are printed, side by side, in Italian and Latin.
Unlike in the modern liturgy, the priests barely interact with the public. They don't face parishioners—a big visual change from the modern service—and repeat their prayers in near solitude. Still, even younger observers left the service touched by its intimacy. "There's just more solemnity to this," said Roberta Tantalo, a 27-year-old elementary school teacher.
Alessandra Petruccioni, 40, rode a train for a half hour from her suburban home into Rome for a chance to pray in Latin. She was smiling broadly after a mass that resounded with an a cappella finale of Salve Regina.
"I grew up with this as a child and I wouldn't change it for any other mass," Petruccioni said.
A nod to conservatives
Some American parishes, while amenable to the Vatican reforms, were more likely to look for ways to accommodate traditionalists. Some parishes in Chicago and New York, for example, have for years designated services for parishioners who wanted the old mass. Six parishes in the Chicago area currently offer Latin masses.But Italy's clergy were less inclined to buck a firm Vatican line. It was not until 1992 when a small group of priests, the fraternity now in charge of Santissima Trinita dei Pellegrini, were approved to celebrate a Latin mass on a regular basis at a smaller Rome church.
But Petruccioni said even that fell short of a full-service parish to serve her needs.
"I like this now because this is a real parish, and we can have all the sacraments," she said. "We've had 40 years of decline in the church, and I am so glad that this pope is here, to again make people obey."
Pope Benedict's new approach appears to have broader goals. A top Vatican official this spring indicated that the pope's interest in the Latin mass was also meant as an olive branch to an ultraconservative group, the Society of St. Pius X, long opposed to the modern liturgy.
The society and the Vatican share a tumultuous past. The late Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre founded the society in 1969 as a rebuke to the reforms of Vatican II. The Vatican later excommunicated Lefebvre after he consecrated four bishops without Vatican approval.
Pope Benedict, it is said, is hopeful of bringing the conservative group back to the Vatican fold and sees giving new life to Latin as a sign of reconciliation.
'A living phenomenon'
For Kramer, such lofty Vatican aims are far beyond his immediate concerns to build a healthy congregation. This summer, Kramer said, he sees a few more pews empty when the weather is nice. The beach always claims a few summer souls, he said wryly.
Still, Kramer feels that Santissima Trinita dei Pellegrini will have a strong allure. Still graced with sculpture and paintings from the 16th and 17th Centuries, the church reflects the best times of Catholic civilization and consideration, Kramer said. (The altarpiece in particular, "The Holy Trinity" by Guido Reni, is a riveting piece of spiritual art. The entire church is a modest museum in its own right and a sanctuary from the busy city.)
"It's part of that time, what brought millions of pilgrims to Rome in hundreds of years ago," Kramer said. "With the old liturgy, we can be part of a living phenomenon."
Our Lord, the True Solomon, both Builder and Cornerstone
From St Augustine's discourse on the Psalms in today's Office of Readings:
(It struck a chord, [struck a cord?] with all the thoughts of Unification running through my head -- not to mention tension over the programming, or lack thereof of G753)
Because Solomon had built a temple to the Lord – a prototype and an image of the future Church, the Lord’s body, which is why the Gospel says Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up – because the Solomon of history had built that temple, our Lord Jesus Christ, the true Solomon, built a temple for himself. The name ‘Solomon’ means ‘Bringer of Peace’, and our Lord, the true Solomon, is the true bringer of peace, which is why the Apostle says He is our peace, who has made both into one. He is the true bringer of peace, who has taken two walls coming from different directions and joined them through himself, becoming the cornerstone that unites them: the believers who come from the people of the circumcision and the believers who come from the uncircumcised. He has made one Church from the two peoples, he has become their cornerstone and their peacemaker. [emphasis mine]
So because the historical Solomon, son of David and Bathsheba, king of Israel, was prefiguring this peacemaker when he built the Temple, Scripture takes care that you should not think that he himself was the peacemaker. Scripture shows you another Solomon, by beginning a psalm with the words, Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labour in vain. So the Lord builds the house, the Lord Jesus Christ builds a house for himself. Many labour to build it, but if he is not the architect, in vain have its builders laboured.
Who are they who work at building it? They are everyone in the Church who preaches the word of God or administers the sacraments of God. We all rush around, we all labour, we all build; and before us, others rushed, laboured, built; but unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labour in vain. For this reason, when they saw some of the people fall, the Apostles, and Paul himself, said: You and your special days and months and seasons and years! You make me feel I have wasted my time with you. Because he knew that he had been built up by the Lord from within, he wept over these others because he had worked among them to no avail.
We speak in public, but he builds inside. How well do you listen? We can tell. What do you think of it? He alone knows, who sees your thoughts. It is he who builds, he who gives advice, he who instils fear, he who opens the understanding, he who directs your perceptions and leads you to faith; and yet we too work, as labourers in the harvest.
(It struck a chord, [struck a cord?] with all the thoughts of Unification running through my head -- not to mention tension over the programming, or lack thereof of G753)
Because Solomon had built a temple to the Lord – a prototype and an image of the future Church, the Lord’s body, which is why the Gospel says Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up – because the Solomon of history had built that temple, our Lord Jesus Christ, the true Solomon, built a temple for himself. The name ‘Solomon’ means ‘Bringer of Peace’, and our Lord, the true Solomon, is the true bringer of peace, which is why the Apostle says He is our peace, who has made both into one. He is the true bringer of peace, who has taken two walls coming from different directions and joined them through himself, becoming the cornerstone that unites them: the believers who come from the people of the circumcision and the believers who come from the uncircumcised. He has made one Church from the two peoples, he has become their cornerstone and their peacemaker. [emphasis mine]
So because the historical Solomon, son of David and Bathsheba, king of Israel, was prefiguring this peacemaker when he built the Temple, Scripture takes care that you should not think that he himself was the peacemaker. Scripture shows you another Solomon, by beginning a psalm with the words, Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labour in vain. So the Lord builds the house, the Lord Jesus Christ builds a house for himself. Many labour to build it, but if he is not the architect, in vain have its builders laboured.
Who are they who work at building it? They are everyone in the Church who preaches the word of God or administers the sacraments of God. We all rush around, we all labour, we all build; and before us, others rushed, laboured, built; but unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labour in vain. For this reason, when they saw some of the people fall, the Apostles, and Paul himself, said: You and your special days and months and seasons and years! You make me feel I have wasted my time with you. Because he knew that he had been built up by the Lord from within, he wept over these others because he had worked among them to no avail.
We speak in public, but he builds inside. How well do you listen? We can tell. What do you think of it? He alone knows, who sees your thoughts. It is he who builds, he who gives advice, he who instils fear, he who opens the understanding, he who directs your perceptions and leads you to faith; and yet we too work, as labourers in the harvest.
Friday, 11 July 2008
Making Enemies
http://www.typepad.com/t/trackback/7791/31052558
This is a little story, via Mary Jane, the music director I wish I were , that I think everyone should read.
The moral, in the opinions of this Aesop, is two-fold -- there is a lot of Good out there, which must not bee mad the enemy of the Best.
And other human beings, made in the image and likeness of God are not your enemies in this -- they are your patients!
How to Make Enemies
Yesterday I was chatting with a friend about various things theological. Before I go any further, let me assure you that this friend is a devout and intelligent Catholic, active in her parish and in one of the new movements. The conversation came around to the Extraordinary Form and the Novus Ordo and the Motu Proprio. Chris doesn't particularly care about one form of the Mass versus another; she wants a respectful and correct celebration. At the same time, she appreciates that others feel differently. However, she pointed out that some seem to be intent on working against their own interests. Her example:
One day recently, a lady in her parish stopped her with the words, "Do you support the Latin Mass or do you hold it in contempt?" Chris was justifiably annoyed at this all-or-nothing approach. And let me just summarize the rest of her comments on this encounter by saying it didn't leave her favorably impressed with EF supporters.
I know that there are decades of residual anger out there. And in places where the availability of well-celebrated Masses is seriously limited, that's understandable.
This my-way-or-the-highway style can also be found in the church music world: Gregorian or bust! And the causes are probably the same - decades of weak music poorly performed. (And yes, I know there's lots of contemporary music that can be beautifully executed.)
At the same time, don't jump on the wrong folks. We'll just end up annoying them rather than convincing them.
This is a little story, via Mary Jane, the music director I wish I were , that I think everyone should read.
The moral, in the opinions of this Aesop, is two-fold -- there is a lot of Good out there, which must not bee mad the enemy of the Best.
And other human beings, made in the image and likeness of God are not your enemies in this -- they are your patients!
How to Make Enemies
Yesterday I was chatting with a friend about various things theological. Before I go any further, let me assure you that this friend is a devout and intelligent Catholic, active in her parish and in one of the new movements. The conversation came around to the Extraordinary Form and the Novus Ordo and the Motu Proprio. Chris doesn't particularly care about one form of the Mass versus another; she wants a respectful and correct celebration. At the same time, she appreciates that others feel differently. However, she pointed out that some seem to be intent on working against their own interests. Her example:
One day recently, a lady in her parish stopped her with the words, "Do you support the Latin Mass or do you hold it in contempt?" Chris was justifiably annoyed at this all-or-nothing approach. And let me just summarize the rest of her comments on this encounter by saying it didn't leave her favorably impressed with EF supporters.
I know that there are decades of residual anger out there. And in places where the availability of well-celebrated Masses is seriously limited, that's understandable.
This my-way-or-the-highway style can also be found in the church music world: Gregorian or bust! And the causes are probably the same - decades of weak music poorly performed. (And yes, I know there's lots of contemporary music that can be beautifully executed.)
At the same time, don't jump on the wrong folks. We'll just end up annoying them rather than convincing them.
Hymns for the Pauline Year
(H/T to Hymnography Unbound (the New Ephrem) )
Canticanova -- have I mentioned HOW great Gary Penkala's site is? in addition to being the publishers of always worthy music, he provides marvelous liturgical planning aids, articles, etc. http://canticanova.com/index.html
It's great. It's GREAT -- has a terrific article listing music appropriate for celebrating the Pauline Year.
And this list of hymns related to Paul's Epistles:
http://canticanova.com/articles/misc/art7bb1.htm
from Romans
4:20-21 — The God of Abraham Praise
5:1-5 — Blessed Feast of Blessed Martyrs [also 8:17]
6:3-11 — I Know That My Redeemer Lives
6:4-5 — Christians, Lift up Your Hearts
6:4, 9 — We Know That Christ Is Raised
6:5-11 — Christ Is Alive!
8:14-17 — In Christ There Is No East or West
8:15-16 — At the Name of Jesus
8:15-16 — Our Father by Whose Name
8:18-39 — There's A Wideness in God's Mercy [also 11:33-35]
10:15 — How Shall They Hear the Word of God
14:17 — The Kingdom of God from I Corinthians
1:15-20 — We Know That Christ Is Raised
1:18 — Sing, My Tongue, the Song of Triumph
1:18 — Lift High the Cross
3:11 — Christ Is Made the Sure Foundation
3:11 — O Christ, the Great Foundation
3:13-15 — Come, Ye Thankful People, Come
5:18-20 — God Is Working His Purpose Out
9:1-18 — Forth in the Peace of Christ
10:16-17 — Gift of Finest Wheat
10:17 — Lord Christ, the Father's Mighty Son
11:23-26 — God with Hidden Majesty
11:23-26 — I Come with Joy to Meet My Lord
11:23-29 — Draw Us in the Spirit's Tether
12:4-11 — Come, Holy Ghost
12:4-11 — Veni Creator Spiritus
12:27-31 — God Is Here! As We His People
13 — Not for Tongues of Heaven's Angels
13:2-8 — Ubi caritas
13:12 — Love Divine, All Loves Excelling
15:14-19 — This Joyful Eastertide
15:20 — Sing with All the Saints in Glory
15:20-28 — Come, Ye Thankful People, Come
15:25 — Christ Is the World's Light
15:51-54 — Alleluia! the Strife Is O'er
15:55 — Christ the Lord Is Risen Today
from II Corinthians
3:18 — Love Divine, All Loves Excelling [also 5:17]
4 — Thy Strong Word Didst Cleave the Darkness
4:5 — God Is Here! As We His People
5:17 — O Christ, the Great Foundation
6:2 — O Sun of Justice
9:10-14 — Come, Ye Thankful People, Come
9:10-14 — Now Join We to Praise the Creator
13:11 — The God of Abraham Praise
13:13 — May the Grace of Christ Our Savior from Galatians
2:19 — Alleluia, Alleluia, Give Thanks
2:20 — I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say
3:28 — In Christ There Is No East or West
4:4 — Hark! the Herald Angels Sing
5:22 — For the Fruits of This Creation
5:22 — When God the Spirit Came
6:14 — When I Survey the Wondrous Cross
from Ephesians
1:9-11 — God Is Working His Purpose Out
1:18-19 — The Church of Christ in Every Age
1:9-23 — Holy God, We Praise Thy Name
2:11-18 — Christ Is the World's Light
2:19-23 — O Christ, the Great Foundation [also 4:5-7; 5:25-27]
2:20-22 — Christ Is Made the Sure Foundation
3:5 — Awake, O Sleeper, Rise from Death [also 5:14]
3:15 — Our Father by Whose Name
4:1-6 — In Christ There Is No East or West
4:8 — The God of Abraham Praise
5:8-10 — I Want to Walk As A Child of the Light
5:14 — Wake, O Wake and Sleep No Longer
5:27 — Love Divine, All Loves Excelling
6:9 — For the Fruits of This Creation
6:10-12 — Christ's Church Shall Glory in His Power
from Philippians
2:1-18 — Lord of All Nations, Grant Me Grace
2:8 — Hark! the Herald Angels Sing
2:9-10 — All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name
2:9-10 — The God of Abraham Praise
2:10-11 — Creator of the Stars of Night
2:10-11 — Look, O Look, the Sight Is Glorious
2:10-12 — At the Name of Jesus
3:7-11 — When I Survey the Wondrous Cross
4:4-5 — Rejoice the Lord Is King from Colossians
1:16 — Ye Watchers and Ye Holy Ones
1:18 — Christ the Lord Is Risen Today
3:11 — In Christ There Is No East or West
3:12-21 — Our Father by Whose Name
3:13-14 — Forgive Our Sins
3:16 — Come, Rejoice before Your Maker
3:16 — When in Our Music God Is Glorified
from I Timothy
1:5 — O for a Heart to [Praise] My God
1:17 — Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise [also 6:15-16]
6:12 — Faith of Our Fathers
from II Timothy
2:12 — The Head That Once Was Crowned with Thorns
2:19 — How Firm a Foundation
2:22 — O for a Heart to [Praise] My God
4:3-7 — Faith of Our Fathers from Philemon
1:20 — O for a Heart to [Praise] My God
makes me think ... how SWELL it would be, since Hymns Are Not Going Anywhere, if someone with Penkala's skill and sensibilities were commissioned by the USCCB to provide a really good scriptural index of hymn texts.
The ones in GIA's seem pretty feeble to me, (though I can't actually give you examples of the reason for my disappointment just now; and one for the Episcopal 1940 would be a treasure; and cyberhymnal just isn't very complete, I think because most hymn texts have only a single scripture allusion listed?)
Anyway, a really great one would be... great. (the poverty of my vocabulary is astounding een to me....)
Sort of apropos of this, I'm trying to make my own psalm index for where, (between the 3 year lectionary cycle, 1 year most everything else cycle, the multitudinous possibilities for EVERYTHING between Gradual, Simplex, English spoken antiphons, etc., etc., etc.,) various hymns, anthems and psalm setting in our choir's rep might be a better liturgical fit that, oh, say... the official diocesan anniversary ditty, Sing a New Church Into Being.
And while, instead of pipe dreams, I'm smoking crack and having pipe fantasies and hallucinations, how about if the USCCB commissioned the New Ephrem to either research and choose/assign, or WRITE suitable hymn texts to correspond to every proper?
Directory? We don' need no stinkin' directory...
Canticanova -- have I mentioned HOW great Gary Penkala's site is? in addition to being the publishers of always worthy music, he provides marvelous liturgical planning aids, articles, etc. http://canticanova.com/index.html
It's great. It's GREAT -- has a terrific article listing music appropriate for celebrating the Pauline Year.
And this list of hymns related to Paul's Epistles:
http://canticanova.com/articles/misc/art7bb1.htm
from Romans
4:20-21 — The God of Abraham Praise
5:1-5 — Blessed Feast of Blessed Martyrs [also 8:17]
6:3-11 — I Know That My Redeemer Lives
6:4-5 — Christians, Lift up Your Hearts
6:4, 9 — We Know That Christ Is Raised
6:5-11 — Christ Is Alive!
8:14-17 — In Christ There Is No East or West
8:15-16 — At the Name of Jesus
8:15-16 — Our Father by Whose Name
8:18-39 — There's A Wideness in God's Mercy [also 11:33-35]
10:15 — How Shall They Hear the Word of God
14:17 — The Kingdom of God from I Corinthians
1:15-20 — We Know That Christ Is Raised
1:18 — Sing, My Tongue, the Song of Triumph
1:18 — Lift High the Cross
3:11 — Christ Is Made the Sure Foundation
3:11 — O Christ, the Great Foundation
3:13-15 — Come, Ye Thankful People, Come
5:18-20 — God Is Working His Purpose Out
9:1-18 — Forth in the Peace of Christ
10:16-17 — Gift of Finest Wheat
10:17 — Lord Christ, the Father's Mighty Son
11:23-26 — God with Hidden Majesty
11:23-26 — I Come with Joy to Meet My Lord
11:23-29 — Draw Us in the Spirit's Tether
12:4-11 — Come, Holy Ghost
12:4-11 — Veni Creator Spiritus
12:27-31 — God Is Here! As We His People
13 — Not for Tongues of Heaven's Angels
13:2-8 — Ubi caritas
13:12 — Love Divine, All Loves Excelling
15:14-19 — This Joyful Eastertide
15:20 — Sing with All the Saints in Glory
15:20-28 — Come, Ye Thankful People, Come
15:25 — Christ Is the World's Light
15:51-54 — Alleluia! the Strife Is O'er
15:55 — Christ the Lord Is Risen Today
from II Corinthians
3:18 — Love Divine, All Loves Excelling [also 5:17]
4 — Thy Strong Word Didst Cleave the Darkness
4:5 — God Is Here! As We His People
5:17 — O Christ, the Great Foundation
6:2 — O Sun of Justice
9:10-14 — Come, Ye Thankful People, Come
9:10-14 — Now Join We to Praise the Creator
13:11 — The God of Abraham Praise
13:13 — May the Grace of Christ Our Savior from Galatians
2:19 — Alleluia, Alleluia, Give Thanks
2:20 — I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say
3:28 — In Christ There Is No East or West
4:4 — Hark! the Herald Angels Sing
5:22 — For the Fruits of This Creation
5:22 — When God the Spirit Came
6:14 — When I Survey the Wondrous Cross
from Ephesians
1:9-11 — God Is Working His Purpose Out
1:18-19 — The Church of Christ in Every Age
1:9-23 — Holy God, We Praise Thy Name
2:11-18 — Christ Is the World's Light
2:19-23 — O Christ, the Great Foundation [also 4:5-7; 5:25-27]
2:20-22 — Christ Is Made the Sure Foundation
3:5 — Awake, O Sleeper, Rise from Death [also 5:14]
3:15 — Our Father by Whose Name
4:1-6 — In Christ There Is No East or West
4:8 — The God of Abraham Praise
5:8-10 — I Want to Walk As A Child of the Light
5:14 — Wake, O Wake and Sleep No Longer
5:27 — Love Divine, All Loves Excelling
6:9 — For the Fruits of This Creation
6:10-12 — Christ's Church Shall Glory in His Power
from Philippians
2:1-18 — Lord of All Nations, Grant Me Grace
2:8 — Hark! the Herald Angels Sing
2:9-10 — All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name
2:9-10 — The God of Abraham Praise
2:10-11 — Creator of the Stars of Night
2:10-11 — Look, O Look, the Sight Is Glorious
2:10-12 — At the Name of Jesus
3:7-11 — When I Survey the Wondrous Cross
4:4-5 — Rejoice the Lord Is King from Colossians
1:16 — Ye Watchers and Ye Holy Ones
1:18 — Christ the Lord Is Risen Today
3:11 — In Christ There Is No East or West
3:12-21 — Our Father by Whose Name
3:13-14 — Forgive Our Sins
3:16 — Come, Rejoice before Your Maker
3:16 — When in Our Music God Is Glorified
from I Timothy
1:5 — O for a Heart to [Praise] My God
1:17 — Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise [also 6:15-16]
6:12 — Faith of Our Fathers
from II Timothy
2:12 — The Head That Once Was Crowned with Thorns
2:19 — How Firm a Foundation
2:22 — O for a Heart to [Praise] My God
4:3-7 — Faith of Our Fathers from Philemon
1:20 — O for a Heart to [Praise] My God
makes me think ... how SWELL it would be, since Hymns Are Not Going Anywhere, if someone with Penkala's skill and sensibilities were commissioned by the USCCB to provide a really good scriptural index of hymn texts.
The ones in GIA's seem pretty feeble to me, (though I can't actually give you examples of the reason for my disappointment just now; and one for the Episcopal 1940 would be a treasure; and cyberhymnal just isn't very complete, I think because most hymn texts have only a single scripture allusion listed?)
Anyway, a really great one would be... great. (the poverty of my vocabulary is astounding een to me....)
Sort of apropos of this, I'm trying to make my own psalm index for where, (between the 3 year lectionary cycle, 1 year most everything else cycle, the multitudinous possibilities for EVERYTHING between Gradual, Simplex, English spoken antiphons, etc., etc., etc.,) various hymns, anthems and psalm setting in our choir's rep might be a better liturgical fit that, oh, say... the official diocesan anniversary ditty, Sing a New Church Into Being.
And while, instead of pipe dreams, I'm smoking crack and having pipe fantasies and hallucinations, how about if the USCCB commissioned the New Ephrem to either research and choose/assign, or WRITE suitable hymn texts to correspond to every proper?
Directory? We don' need no stinkin' directory...
Happy Feast Day...
.... to our beloved Holy Father, Benedict XVI.
Patron of Eurose, appropriately enough (as PapaRatz may be the man who saves Europe...)
http://christdesert.org/Saint_Benedict/index.html
Saint Benedict was born around the year 480 in the district of Nursiain Umbria, central Italy. He is regarded as the "Father of Western Monasticism" and is "Co-patron of Europe" along with Saints Cyril and Methodius.
As a young man, Benedict was sent to Rome for studies but left after a short stay, desiring to dedicate his life to God. He went to live in an isolated place near Subiaco, not far from the ruins of Emperor Nero's summer villa, about fifty miles from Rome. Today the cave is the celebrated shrine called "Sacro Speco" (The Holy Cave) and is one of Europe's most beautiful sanctuaries. At Subiaco, Benedict lived a life of solitude and prayer for about three years with the support from a monk named Romanus. Benedict's time as a hermit was interupted for a short period when he became the superior of a group of unruly monks. Ultimately unhappy with his guidance, they tried to poison him. He then withdrew to the cave at Subiaco once again.
Eventually, Benedict's sanctity attracted disciples and in time, twelve small monasteries were established around Subiaco, with Benedict as the spiritual father of them all.
Around the year 530 Benedict left Subiaco with some of his sisciples for Monte Cassino, halfway between Rome and Naples, where he began a single, close-knit community on a mountain top. There he remained until his death around the year 547. Is was at Monte Cassino that Benedict completed his "Rule for Monks," basing it on earlier monastic literature as well as his own original material. Today, the "Rule of Saint Benedict," as it is commonly called, is considered one of the most important factors in the development of Christian Europe. In time, the Rule became the norm for all monks and nuns in the West. During his lifetime, the monastery at Monte Cassino grew and a foundation was made south of Rome, at Terracina. The monasteries at Subiaco continued as well.
Benedict had a sister, Scolastica, who was consecrated to God from her youth and died shortly before her saintly brother. Both of them were buried at Monte Cassino in the oratory dedicated to Saint John the Baptist. Saint Scholastica's feast day is on February 10th and Saint Benedict's is on March 21st and July 11th. The March date is generally considered to be the date on which he died.
The life of Saint Benedict is found in "The Dialogues" written by Pope St. Gregory the Great some forty years after Benedict's death. It is not a biography as we know the genre today, but the details supply us with a basic outline of the life and times of Saint Benedict. Among the titles given to Saint Benedict over the centuries are the following: "Messenger of Peace, Architect of Unity, Teacher of Culture and Civilization, Father of Western Monasticism, Herald of the Christian Faith, and Father of the Whole of Europe." Today, Benedict's disciples, both men and women, can be found on every inhabited continent of the world, leading lives dedicated to "Prayer and Work," as the holy father Benedict taught in his rule and by his life.
Patron of Eurose, appropriately enough (as PapaRatz may be the man who saves Europe...)
http://christdesert.org/Saint_Benedict/index.html
Saint Benedict was born around the year 480 in the district of Nursiain Umbria, central Italy. He is regarded as the "Father of Western Monasticism" and is "Co-patron of Europe" along with Saints Cyril and Methodius.
As a young man, Benedict was sent to Rome for studies but left after a short stay, desiring to dedicate his life to God. He went to live in an isolated place near Subiaco, not far from the ruins of Emperor Nero's summer villa, about fifty miles from Rome. Today the cave is the celebrated shrine called "Sacro Speco" (The Holy Cave) and is one of Europe's most beautiful sanctuaries. At Subiaco, Benedict lived a life of solitude and prayer for about three years with the support from a monk named Romanus. Benedict's time as a hermit was interupted for a short period when he became the superior of a group of unruly monks. Ultimately unhappy with his guidance, they tried to poison him. He then withdrew to the cave at Subiaco once again.
Eventually, Benedict's sanctity attracted disciples and in time, twelve small monasteries were established around Subiaco, with Benedict as the spiritual father of them all.
Around the year 530 Benedict left Subiaco with some of his sisciples for Monte Cassino, halfway between Rome and Naples, where he began a single, close-knit community on a mountain top. There he remained until his death around the year 547. Is was at Monte Cassino that Benedict completed his "Rule for Monks," basing it on earlier monastic literature as well as his own original material. Today, the "Rule of Saint Benedict," as it is commonly called, is considered one of the most important factors in the development of Christian Europe. In time, the Rule became the norm for all monks and nuns in the West. During his lifetime, the monastery at Monte Cassino grew and a foundation was made south of Rome, at Terracina. The monasteries at Subiaco continued as well.
Benedict had a sister, Scolastica, who was consecrated to God from her youth and died shortly before her saintly brother. Both of them were buried at Monte Cassino in the oratory dedicated to Saint John the Baptist. Saint Scholastica's feast day is on February 10th and Saint Benedict's is on March 21st and July 11th. The March date is generally considered to be the date on which he died.
The life of Saint Benedict is found in "The Dialogues" written by Pope St. Gregory the Great some forty years after Benedict's death. It is not a biography as we know the genre today, but the details supply us with a basic outline of the life and times of Saint Benedict. Among the titles given to Saint Benedict over the centuries are the following: "Messenger of Peace, Architect of Unity, Teacher of Culture and Civilization, Father of Western Monasticism, Herald of the Christian Faith, and Father of the Whole of Europe." Today, Benedict's disciples, both men and women, can be found on every inhabited continent of the world, leading lives dedicated to "Prayer and Work," as the holy father Benedict taught in his rule and by his life.
Prefer nothing to CHRIST
Belatedly, RIP, Jaroslav Vajda
http://www.couleenews.com/articles/2008/05/27/news/poet.txt
ST. LOUIS — It wasn’t until the Rev. Jaroslav Vajda was nearly 50 that he began to pursue the craft that would leave his name etched in history. Or at least the hymnal.OK, so maybe you’ve never heard of Jaroslav Vajda (pronounced VY-dah), but that’s because you probably don’t write or publish hymns.Vajda, of Webster Groves, Mo., died last week at the age of 89, and left the world of hymnody — the art of composing of sacred songs in praise of God — very different from when he entered it.“He was more or less the dean of hymn writers in North America,” said Carl Daw, executive director of the Hymn Society in the United States and Canada at Boston University.Vajda, who dealt only with the lyrics of a hymn, wrote or translated the text of more than 200 hymns that appear in almost 50 hymnals representing Christian denominations around the world. In 1988 the Hymn Society made him a fellow, “the highest honor we can give people,” Daw said.A hymn writer is a poet, and some noted poets — William Wordsworth, for instance — have written hymns.Vajda “was the poet laureate of the hymn world,” said Mark Lawson, president of MorningStar Music Publisher in Fenton, one of Vajda’s publishers.Lawson said the “hymn explosion” that began in the 1960s and 1970s was led mostly by British hymn writers until Vajda came along.“He was the one who started making this American version of hymns, putting language together in a new way,” Lawson said. “In the American church, there had been a lot of gospel songs, but in terms of the liturgical tradition, in the liturgical church, he was a new voice.”Liturgical music takes its cues from the order of a worship service and church calendar. Lawson said Vajda loved the liturgical calendar and wrote hymns to complement it. “He’d write baptism hymns, Epiphany hymns, Lenten hymns,” Lawson said. “He worked along with the seasons of the church year, and he infused churches with new things to sing.”Some of Vajda’s Christmas hymns, including “Before the Marvel of This Night” and “Where Shepherds Lately Knelt,” are favorites at churches around the world.Vajda was born in Ohio, the son of a Slovak Lutheran pastor. At 18, Vajda began translating Slovak stories and poetry.“His interest in hymn writing came through his translation work,” said Barry Bobb, choral director at Lutheran High School South, who worked with Vajda at Concordia Publishing House in St. Louis. “He wanted American churches to experience Slovakian church music.” Writing his own hymns in English was the natural next step. Daw said Vajda was an innovator who “pioneered a whole area of recent hymnody.”“He was very impressionistic and focused on images as opposed to writing in complete sentences,” Daw said. “The best example is ‘Now the Silence’ from 1969, a hymn with no punctuation where every line begins with the word ‘now.’ “Another famous Vajda hymn, “God of the Sparrow, God of the Whale,” was a revelation because, again, there was no punctuation, “and he built power by an accumulation of many powerful phrases one after the other,” Daw said.
ST. LOUIS — It wasn’t until the Rev. Jaroslav Vajda was nearly 50 that he began to pursue the craft that would leave his name etched in history. Or at least the hymnal.OK, so maybe you’ve never heard of Jaroslav Vajda (pronounced VY-dah), but that’s because you probably don’t write or publish hymns.Vajda, of Webster Groves, Mo., died last week at the age of 89, and left the world of hymnody — the art of composing of sacred songs in praise of God — very different from when he entered it.“He was more or less the dean of hymn writers in North America,” said Carl Daw, executive director of the Hymn Society in the United States and Canada at Boston University.Vajda, who dealt only with the lyrics of a hymn, wrote or translated the text of more than 200 hymns that appear in almost 50 hymnals representing Christian denominations around the world. In 1988 the Hymn Society made him a fellow, “the highest honor we can give people,” Daw said.A hymn writer is a poet, and some noted poets — William Wordsworth, for instance — have written hymns.Vajda “was the poet laureate of the hymn world,” said Mark Lawson, president of MorningStar Music Publisher in Fenton, one of Vajda’s publishers.Lawson said the “hymn explosion” that began in the 1960s and 1970s was led mostly by British hymn writers until Vajda came along.“He was the one who started making this American version of hymns, putting language together in a new way,” Lawson said. “In the American church, there had been a lot of gospel songs, but in terms of the liturgical tradition, in the liturgical church, he was a new voice.”Liturgical music takes its cues from the order of a worship service and church calendar. Lawson said Vajda loved the liturgical calendar and wrote hymns to complement it. “He’d write baptism hymns, Epiphany hymns, Lenten hymns,” Lawson said. “He worked along with the seasons of the church year, and he infused churches with new things to sing.”Some of Vajda’s Christmas hymns, including “Before the Marvel of This Night” and “Where Shepherds Lately Knelt,” are favorites at churches around the world.Vajda was born in Ohio, the son of a Slovak Lutheran pastor. At 18, Vajda began translating Slovak stories and poetry.“His interest in hymn writing came through his translation work,” said Barry Bobb, choral director at Lutheran High School South, who worked with Vajda at Concordia Publishing House in St. Louis. “He wanted American churches to experience Slovakian church music.” Writing his own hymns in English was the natural next step. Daw said Vajda was an innovator who “pioneered a whole area of recent hymnody.”“He was very impressionistic and focused on images as opposed to writing in complete sentences,” Daw said. “The best example is ‘Now the Silence’ from 1969, a hymn with no punctuation where every line begins with the word ‘now.’ “Another famous Vajda hymn, “God of the Sparrow, God of the Whale,” was a revelation because, again, there was no punctuation, “and he built power by an accumulation of many powerful phrases one after the other,” Daw said.
Thursday, 10 July 2008
La plus ca change....
http://www.catholic.net/RCC/Periodicals/Dossier/0910-96/article2.html
In support of the thesis:There was a lot of mangled liturgy prior to Vatican II
This emphasis on the substantiality of the Eucharistic Presence, however, absolutely necessary as it was to preserve the Faith of the Church, could lead to an imbalance at the expense of the Eucharistic action. To take an extreme example: some places the laity, while Mass was going on, socialized outside in the churchyard until the time of the Consecration. Then a bell was rung to call them into the Church to see the Host elevated, after which they quickly returned to the yard and to their gossip!
Clearly, it is an improvement that today many socialize in the pews, during the consecration and don't allow their gossip to be interrupted by.... well, let's just say there's good reason not to ring those pesky bells at the elevation.
You know, the Panglossives (who masquerade as "Progressives") of the more learned stripe love to insist that in the bad olld day of Medieval spirituality, people ran from church to church, just to see the consecration, without ever assisting at Mass, (the un-learned type like to cite the old ladies saying rosaries during Mass in the Bad Old Days.)
I suppose the get it from Jungmann.
But I've never seen or heard of any primary source that verifies this being cited.
I would buy it, or at least think it plausible if they said "ran from altar to altar" since private Masses at multiple side altars in a large church or cathedral make the activity feasible.
But they always say "the faithful used to run from church to church" and I just don't believe it, (beside making me think they all picked it up at once, the opinion was officially issued to them via one article in Modern Liturgy, or the OCP quarterly, or Fred Moleck's column.)
How many towns or cities had numerous churches near enough to each other to make this possible? and how many world-class sprinters were there about?
Having said all that, it really is a good article by a Dominican priest, you should read it.
In support of the thesis:There was a lot of mangled liturgy prior to Vatican II
This emphasis on the substantiality of the Eucharistic Presence, however, absolutely necessary as it was to preserve the Faith of the Church, could lead to an imbalance at the expense of the Eucharistic action. To take an extreme example: some places the laity, while Mass was going on, socialized outside in the churchyard until the time of the Consecration. Then a bell was rung to call them into the Church to see the Host elevated, after which they quickly returned to the yard and to their gossip!
Clearly, it is an improvement that today many socialize in the pews, during the consecration and don't allow their gossip to be interrupted by.... well, let's just say there's good reason not to ring those pesky bells at the elevation.
You know, the Panglossives (who masquerade as "Progressives") of the more learned stripe love to insist that in the bad olld day of Medieval spirituality, people ran from church to church, just to see the consecration, without ever assisting at Mass, (the un-learned type like to cite the old ladies saying rosaries during Mass in the Bad Old Days.)
I suppose the get it from Jungmann.
But I've never seen or heard of any primary source that verifies this being cited.
I would buy it, or at least think it plausible if they said "ran from altar to altar" since private Masses at multiple side altars in a large church or cathedral make the activity feasible.
But they always say "the faithful used to run from church to church" and I just don't believe it, (beside making me think they all picked it up at once, the opinion was officially issued to them via one article in Modern Liturgy, or the OCP quarterly, or Fred Moleck's column.)
How many towns or cities had numerous churches near enough to each other to make this possible? and how many world-class sprinters were there about?
Having said all that, it really is a good article by a Dominican priest, you should read it.
Wednesday, 9 July 2008
Would he at least toss'em a life preserver?
I find this unutterably sad, and if this Gerald Warner person actually said anything so stupid and uncharitable he is an osteocraniite.
Oh, stop pussy-footing around, he's a jackass.
And the reprehensible behavior of the bishop toward an Anglican Use parish described in the article sounds all too credible.
Ugly, just ugly...
http://www.virtueonline.org/portal/modules/news/article.php?storyid=8588
Many Roman Catholics Misunderstand Orthodox Anglo-Catholicism
by William A. Wheatley
Special to VirtueOnline 7/9/2008
Yesterday's newspapers carried articles reporting that the General Synod of the Church of England approved the creating of female bishops. This morning's newspapers carried articles reporting that conservative Church of England bishops have been in talks with Rome regarding the possibility of taking themselves and their flocks into communion with.
Many Roman Catholic clergy, particularly those who did seminary in the 1960s, do not understand why anyone would want to be in communion with the Pope and not be Roman Catholic.
In particular, a recent article by Gerald Warner, "The Barque of Peter Should Not Pick Up Anglican Boat People," is a case in point. He writes,
The news that Anglican bishops have had private talks with the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith is a provocative development. Any collective negotiation suggests that these disgruntled prelates envisage the possibility of some kind of corporate adherence to the Catholic Church.
The barque of Peter should immediately hoist the signal: not wanted on voyage." The tag line under the header to his article states, "Gerald Warner is an author, broadcaster, columnist and polemical commentator who writes about politics, religion, history, culture and society in general. If it is an exaggeration to say that he believes the world has gone to the dogs, it is only a slight hyperbole.
He proceeds to argue that they would be poor converts - that Anglicans do not possess all the fundamentals of the Catholic Faith, do not possess a true church, and that therefore organic union should be opposed.
He posits that their faith is defective because they have long served alongside female priests, despite the infallible declaration by the Pope in 1992, "We declare that the Church has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women and that this judgement is to be definitively held by all the Church's faithful." He argues that Anglican clergy have long "accepted" the existence of female priests in their church, and are only now moving to approach Rome because female bishops are in the works for the Church of England. This proves, in his view, that their move is "church politics and not conversion."
Many Roman Catholics don't understand us "bitter" Anglicans "clinging" to our guns and religion - and especially to our liturgy. They think that if someone is going to be Catholic, the only way is the Roman way. From their viewpoint, you're either an Anglican, in which case you are part of a pseudo-church, or you are Catholic, in which case you're part of the only True Church (although they would admit that the Eastern Orthodox churches are legitimate Churches, they would argue that the Orthodox are out of communion with, and therefore not a part of, the True Church. It's sort of a Roman Catholic "exceptionalism." They're happy to receive "converts" from the Anglican world, but do not consider them to be "returning" to communion.
They don't understand that we are already Catholic in our faith and just want to restore communion. From their view, the purpose of ecumenism is so that those outside the Roman Catholic Church will come to sufficient understanding of Roman Catholicism to be able to convert from their non-churches and their non-Catholic faith to the One True Church and the Catholic Faith. These same prelates tend to be the ones who are modernist in tendency.
The conservative Roman Catholics, on the other hand, admire the Anglican liturgy for its beauty, just as they admire the Tridentine Mass for its beauty. They admire the conservative Anglo-Catholics for their steadfastness to the Catholic Faith and encourage us to re-establish communion with Rome so we can serve as an example of good English-language liturgy and good conservative theology to the English-Speaking Roman Catholic world.
I have some history in this matter. I studied in Roman Catholic Seminary in the 1960's, but was expelled because my idea of reforming the Roman Catholic Church didn't square with that of the faculty, many of whom were openly homosexual. ...
I discovered that there was a parish of Anglican liturgical use in the Roman Catholic diocese, prospering under the Pastoral Provision established by Pope John Paul II. I became a very happy member of that parish, having become utterly frustrated by the lack of good liturgical practice in the Latin Rite parishes near my home.
... Under the Pastoral Provision, a former Episcopal Parish that becomes a Roman Catholic Parish of the Anglican Use falls under the jurisdiction of the local Roman Catholic Bishop, who may not be friendly. In at least one case with which I am familiar, the local bishop accepted the "conversion" of the parish because he had to, but refused to give it the status of a parish, keeping it as a "mission." He moved the priest to a Roman Catholic parish, put in one of his own priests as pastor for the mission, and required the use of Rite II, the modern-language English rite used in the Episcopal Church that corresponds almost verbatim to the Roman Rite used in US Roman Catholic parishes. He further required that mass be said facing the people, generally made it into a mission that bore no resemblance to what we think of as good Anglican liturgy. The mission withered away, and then he didn't have to deal with it any more.
....There is no "Pastoral Provision" for Anglicans outside the United States. It has not worked that well in the United States because many U.S. Roman Catholic bishops oppose it, thinking it will draw the faithful away from liberal Roman Catholic theology and "feel-good" Roman Catholic liturgies that lack doctrinal content and ritual solemnity. Thus we have the Traditional Anglican Communion in talks with Rome, and we have the newly-revealed group of Church of England bishops and clergy in talks with Rome. It might be possible for something akin to a Uniate Rite to be established within which Anglican liturgical practice can continue, unimpeded by local Roman Catholic bishops, and in communion with Rome. Many conservative Roman Catholics think this would be a good thing. Obviously, Gerald Warner does not.
END
Oh, stop pussy-footing around, he's a jackass.
And the reprehensible behavior of the bishop toward an Anglican Use parish described in the article sounds all too credible.
Ugly, just ugly...
http://www.virtueonline.org/portal/modules/news/article.php?storyid=8588
Many Roman Catholics Misunderstand Orthodox Anglo-Catholicism
by William A. Wheatley
Special to VirtueOnline 7/9/2008
Yesterday's newspapers carried articles reporting that the General Synod of the Church of England approved the creating of female bishops. This morning's newspapers carried articles reporting that conservative Church of England bishops have been in talks with Rome regarding the possibility of taking themselves and their flocks into communion with.
Many Roman Catholic clergy, particularly those who did seminary in the 1960s, do not understand why anyone would want to be in communion with the Pope and not be Roman Catholic.
In particular, a recent article by Gerald Warner, "The Barque of Peter Should Not Pick Up Anglican Boat People," is a case in point. He writes,
The news that Anglican bishops have had private talks with the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith is a provocative development. Any collective negotiation suggests that these disgruntled prelates envisage the possibility of some kind of corporate adherence to the Catholic Church.
The barque of Peter should immediately hoist the signal: not wanted on voyage." The tag line under the header to his article states, "Gerald Warner is an author, broadcaster, columnist and polemical commentator who writes about politics, religion, history, culture and society in general. If it is an exaggeration to say that he believes the world has gone to the dogs, it is only a slight hyperbole.
He proceeds to argue that they would be poor converts - that Anglicans do not possess all the fundamentals of the Catholic Faith, do not possess a true church, and that therefore organic union should be opposed.
He posits that their faith is defective because they have long served alongside female priests, despite the infallible declaration by the Pope in 1992, "We declare that the Church has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women and that this judgement is to be definitively held by all the Church's faithful." He argues that Anglican clergy have long "accepted" the existence of female priests in their church, and are only now moving to approach Rome because female bishops are in the works for the Church of England. This proves, in his view, that their move is "church politics and not conversion."
Many Roman Catholics don't understand us "bitter" Anglicans "clinging" to our guns and religion - and especially to our liturgy. They think that if someone is going to be Catholic, the only way is the Roman way. From their viewpoint, you're either an Anglican, in which case you are part of a pseudo-church, or you are Catholic, in which case you're part of the only True Church (although they would admit that the Eastern Orthodox churches are legitimate Churches, they would argue that the Orthodox are out of communion with, and therefore not a part of, the True Church. It's sort of a Roman Catholic "exceptionalism." They're happy to receive "converts" from the Anglican world, but do not consider them to be "returning" to communion.
They don't understand that we are already Catholic in our faith and just want to restore communion. From their view, the purpose of ecumenism is so that those outside the Roman Catholic Church will come to sufficient understanding of Roman Catholicism to be able to convert from their non-churches and their non-Catholic faith to the One True Church and the Catholic Faith. These same prelates tend to be the ones who are modernist in tendency.
The conservative Roman Catholics, on the other hand, admire the Anglican liturgy for its beauty, just as they admire the Tridentine Mass for its beauty. They admire the conservative Anglo-Catholics for their steadfastness to the Catholic Faith and encourage us to re-establish communion with Rome so we can serve as an example of good English-language liturgy and good conservative theology to the English-Speaking Roman Catholic world.
I have some history in this matter. I studied in Roman Catholic Seminary in the 1960's, but was expelled because my idea of reforming the Roman Catholic Church didn't square with that of the faculty, many of whom were openly homosexual. ...
I discovered that there was a parish of Anglican liturgical use in the Roman Catholic diocese, prospering under the Pastoral Provision established by Pope John Paul II. I became a very happy member of that parish, having become utterly frustrated by the lack of good liturgical practice in the Latin Rite parishes near my home.
... Under the Pastoral Provision, a former Episcopal Parish that becomes a Roman Catholic Parish of the Anglican Use falls under the jurisdiction of the local Roman Catholic Bishop, who may not be friendly. In at least one case with which I am familiar, the local bishop accepted the "conversion" of the parish because he had to, but refused to give it the status of a parish, keeping it as a "mission." He moved the priest to a Roman Catholic parish, put in one of his own priests as pastor for the mission, and required the use of Rite II, the modern-language English rite used in the Episcopal Church that corresponds almost verbatim to the Roman Rite used in US Roman Catholic parishes. He further required that mass be said facing the people, generally made it into a mission that bore no resemblance to what we think of as good Anglican liturgy. The mission withered away, and then he didn't have to deal with it any more.
....There is no "Pastoral Provision" for Anglicans outside the United States. It has not worked that well in the United States because many U.S. Roman Catholic bishops oppose it, thinking it will draw the faithful away from liberal Roman Catholic theology and "feel-good" Roman Catholic liturgies that lack doctrinal content and ritual solemnity. Thus we have the Traditional Anglican Communion in talks with Rome, and we have the newly-revealed group of Church of England bishops and clergy in talks with Rome. It might be possible for something akin to a Uniate Rite to be established within which Anglican liturgical practice can continue, unimpeded by local Roman Catholic bishops, and in communion with Rome. Many conservative Roman Catholics think this would be a good thing. Obviously, Gerald Warner does not.
END
Potential Rewards of Re-unification
With any luck -- now cut that out! no luck, with Grace, by the power of the Holy Spirit, one of the benefits of receiving faithful Anglicans homeward, romeward, would surely be exposure to and, dare one hope? even some incorporation of their rich liturgical traditions, their well crafted vernacular prayers, their words expressing the ineffable Word -- this, from the Book of Common Prayer, is a perfect example:
Prayer for Church Musicians and Artists
O God,
whom saints and angels delight to worship in heaven:
Be ever present with Your servants who seek through art and music to perfect the praises offered by Your people on earth;
and grant to them even now glimpses of Your beauty,
and make them worthy at length to behold it unveiled for evermore;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
(Incidentally the much-maligned, and not undeservedly, NPM has suggested the use of this prayer in the past. Credit where due...)
(Also credit to Lyn the Organ-ic Chemist, via whose blog I was reminded of the prayer)
Prayer for Church Musicians and Artists
O God,
whom saints and angels delight to worship in heaven:
Be ever present with Your servants who seek through art and music to perfect the praises offered by Your people on earth;
and grant to them even now glimpses of Your beauty,
and make them worthy at length to behold it unveiled for evermore;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
(Incidentally the much-maligned, and not undeservedly, NPM has suggested the use of this prayer in the past. Credit where due...)
(Also credit to Lyn the Organ-ic Chemist, via whose blog I was reminded of the prayer)
Tuesday, 8 July 2008
How'd ya do on your SATs?
I'm way past the age of worrying about the answers to multiple choice questions like "x is to y, as z is to BLANK" but I'm starting to think that ineptitude at such analogies is the driving force behind the downfall of civilization.
http://ww3.startribune.com/kerstenblog/?p=460
Katherine Kersten, of the Minneapolis-St Paul Star Tribune has an interesting piece on the reaction to (newish) Archbishop Nienstedt's suppression of the (legendary) St Joan of Arc's "Gay Pride" prayer service.
People, most people, or at least too many people, think pride's opposite number is "shame".
No.
It is HUMILITY.
(As someone sorely lacking in this virtue, and sorely aware of the lack, and actively practicing to remedy the lack, believe me, I recognize it.)
(Although perhaps that very claim of such knowledge is evidence of the lacuna...)
http://ww3.startribune.com/kerstenblog/?p=460
Katherine Kersten, of the Minneapolis-St Paul Star Tribune has an interesting piece on the reaction to (newish) Archbishop Nienstedt's suppression of the (legendary) St Joan of Arc's "Gay Pride" prayer service.
People, most people, or at least too many people, think pride's opposite number is "shame".
No.
It is HUMILITY.
(As someone sorely lacking in this virtue, and sorely aware of the lack, and actively practicing to remedy the lack, believe me, I recognize it.)
(Although perhaps that very claim of such knowledge is evidence of the lacuna...)
Am I the only...
... one who LIKES puppets?
(I mean, of course, the only Catholic-blogger-with-an-interest-in-liturgy-who-skews-toward-the-preferences-and-practices-associated-with-orthodoxy...)
Yes, I like them.
I remember, I saw a swell Mystery Play at Rockefeller Chapel a few years ago that featured puppets, and dancers and mime and silhouettes and flying thangs and what all... what's the beef with puppets?
Mind you, I like puppets, and mariachi, and spit takes, and S'mores, and fireworks, and rare-to-medium-rare rib eyes, and dead-pan comedy, and intimacy with my husband, and ice hockey, and giving babies raspberries on their bellies, and dachshund, (okay, wiener dog,) races, and dark rum -- none of which have a place in a liturgical setting, needless to say.
So what's with the piling on about puppets at the Congress in Quebec?
(I mean, of course, the only Catholic-blogger-with-an-interest-in-liturgy-who-skews-toward-the-preferences-and-practices-associated-with-orthodoxy...)
Yes, I like them.
I remember, I saw a swell Mystery Play at Rockefeller Chapel a few years ago that featured puppets, and dancers and mime and silhouettes and flying thangs and what all... what's the beef with puppets?
Mind you, I like puppets, and mariachi, and spit takes, and S'mores, and fireworks, and rare-to-medium-rare rib eyes, and dead-pan comedy, and intimacy with my husband, and ice hockey, and giving babies raspberries on their bellies, and dachshund, (okay, wiener dog,) races, and dark rum -- none of which have a place in a liturgical setting, needless to say.
So what's with the piling on about puppets at the Congress in Quebec?
Has the Western World gone mad?
Is there more to this story, or is there really this much stupidity?
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1031784/Schoolboys-punished-detention-refusing-kneel-pray-Allah.html
Schoolboys punished with detention for refusing to kneel in class and pray to Allah
By Daily Mail Reporter
04th July 2008
Two schoolboys were given detention after refusing to kneel down and 'pray to Allah' during a religious education lesson.
Parents were outraged that the two boys from year seven (11 to 12-year-olds) were punished for not wanting to take part in the practical demonstration of how Allah is worshipped.
They said forcing their children to take part in the exercise at Alsager High School, near Stoke-on-Trent - which included wearing Muslim headgear - was a breach of their human rights.
One parent, Sharon Luinen, said: "This isn't right, it's taking things too far.
"I understand that they have to learn about other religions. I can live with that but it is taking it a step too far to be punished because they wouldn't join in Muslim prayer.
"Making them pray to Allah, who isn't who they worship, is wrong and what got me is that they were told they were being disrespectful.
"I don't want this to look as if I have a problem with the school because I am generally very happy with it."
Another parent Karen Williams said: "I am absolutely furious my daughter was made to take part in it and I don't find it acceptable.
"I haven't got a problem with them teaching my child other religions and a small amount of information doesn't do any harm.
"But not only did they have to pray, the teacher had gone into the class and made them watch a short film and then said 'we are now going out to pray to Allah'.
"Then two boys got detention and all the other children missed their refreshment break because of the teacher.
"Not only was it forced upon them, my daughter was told off for not doing it right.
"They'd never done it before and they were supposed to do it in another language."
"My child has been forced to pray to Allah in a school lesson." The grandfather of one of the pupils in the class said: "It's absolutely disgusting, there's no other way of putting it.
"My daughter and a lot of other mothers are furious about their children being made to kneel on the floor and pray to Islam. If they didn't do it they were given detention.
"I am not racist, I've been friendly with an Indian for 30 years. I've also been to a Muslim wedding where it was explained to me that alcohol would not be served and I respected that.
"But if Muslims were asked to go to church on Sunday and take Holy Communion there would be war."
Parents said that their children were made to bend down on their knees on prayer mats which the RE teacher had got out of her cupboard and they were also told to wear Islamic headgear during the lesson on Tuesday afternoon.
Deputy headmaster Keith Plant said: "It's difficult to know at the moment whether this was part of the curriculum or not. I am not an RE teacher, I am an English teacher.
"At the moment it is our enterprise week and many of our members of staff are away.
"The particular member of staff you need to speak to isn't around. I think that it is a shame that so many parents have got in touch with the Press before coming to me.
"I have spoken to the teacher and she has articulately given me her version of events, but that is all I can give you at the moment."
A statement from Cheshire County Council on behalf of the school read: "The headteacher David Black contacted this authority immediately complaints were received.
"Enquiries are being made into the circumstances as a matter of urgency and all parents will be informed accordingly.
"Educating children in the beliefs of different faith is part of the diversity curriculum on the basis that knowledge is essential to understanding.
"We accept that such teaching is to be conducted with some sense of sensitivity."
The teacher has been temporarily suspended.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/2264139/Teacher-suspended-for-'punishing-children-who-did-not-pray-to-Allah'.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1031784/Schoolboys-punished-detention-refusing-kneel-pray-Allah.html
Schoolboys punished with detention for refusing to kneel in class and pray to Allah
By Daily Mail Reporter
04th July 2008
Two schoolboys were given detention after refusing to kneel down and 'pray to Allah' during a religious education lesson.
Parents were outraged that the two boys from year seven (11 to 12-year-olds) were punished for not wanting to take part in the practical demonstration of how Allah is worshipped.
They said forcing their children to take part in the exercise at Alsager High School, near Stoke-on-Trent - which included wearing Muslim headgear - was a breach of their human rights.
One parent, Sharon Luinen, said: "This isn't right, it's taking things too far.
"I understand that they have to learn about other religions. I can live with that but it is taking it a step too far to be punished because they wouldn't join in Muslim prayer.
"Making them pray to Allah, who isn't who they worship, is wrong and what got me is that they were told they were being disrespectful.
"I don't want this to look as if I have a problem with the school because I am generally very happy with it."
Another parent Karen Williams said: "I am absolutely furious my daughter was made to take part in it and I don't find it acceptable.
"I haven't got a problem with them teaching my child other religions and a small amount of information doesn't do any harm.
"But not only did they have to pray, the teacher had gone into the class and made them watch a short film and then said 'we are now going out to pray to Allah'.
"Then two boys got detention and all the other children missed their refreshment break because of the teacher.
"Not only was it forced upon them, my daughter was told off for not doing it right.
"They'd never done it before and they were supposed to do it in another language."
"My child has been forced to pray to Allah in a school lesson." The grandfather of one of the pupils in the class said: "It's absolutely disgusting, there's no other way of putting it.
"My daughter and a lot of other mothers are furious about their children being made to kneel on the floor and pray to Islam. If they didn't do it they were given detention.
"I am not racist, I've been friendly with an Indian for 30 years. I've also been to a Muslim wedding where it was explained to me that alcohol would not be served and I respected that.
"But if Muslims were asked to go to church on Sunday and take Holy Communion there would be war."
Parents said that their children were made to bend down on their knees on prayer mats which the RE teacher had got out of her cupboard and they were also told to wear Islamic headgear during the lesson on Tuesday afternoon.
Deputy headmaster Keith Plant said: "It's difficult to know at the moment whether this was part of the curriculum or not. I am not an RE teacher, I am an English teacher.
"At the moment it is our enterprise week and many of our members of staff are away.
"The particular member of staff you need to speak to isn't around. I think that it is a shame that so many parents have got in touch with the Press before coming to me.
"I have spoken to the teacher and she has articulately given me her version of events, but that is all I can give you at the moment."
A statement from Cheshire County Council on behalf of the school read: "The headteacher David Black contacted this authority immediately complaints were received.
"Enquiries are being made into the circumstances as a matter of urgency and all parents will be informed accordingly.
"Educating children in the beliefs of different faith is part of the diversity curriculum on the basis that knowledge is essential to understanding.
"We accept that such teaching is to be conducted with some sense of sensitivity."
The teacher has been temporarily suspended.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/2264139/Teacher-suspended-for-'punishing-children-who-did-not-pray-to-Allah'.html
40th Anniversary of Humanae Vitae
On July 25th of this year we will commemorate the fortieth anniversary of one of the most important documents of the 20th century, Paul VI's Humane Vitae, On [the transmission of]Human Life.
Many people date the crisis that has undeniably affected the Faith, and the practice of it from the encyclical's promulgation.
I think, rather, we might date the crisis from the observance by the Faithful of disobedient, callous, unfilial and even heretical greeting the document received from, (and from the publicity given to the the manner of greeting by,) those they trusted to know better, from whom they had a right to expect orthodoxy, but by whom they did not see it displayed.
A good time to re-read it....
ENCYCLICAL LETTER
HUMANAE VITAE
OF THE SUPREME PONTIFF PAUL VI
TO HIS VENERABLE BROTHERS THE PATRIARCHS, ARCHBISHOPS, BISHOPS
AND OTHER LOCAL ORDINARIES IN PEACE AND COMMUNION WITH THE APOSTOLIC SEE,
TO THE CLERGY AND FAITHFUL OF THE WHOLE CATHOLIC WORLD,
AND TO ALL MEN OF GOOD WILL,
ON THE REGULATION OF BIRTH
Honored Brothers and Dear Sons, (hmmm... "and daughters" would have been nice. But we must take into account Pope Montini's day)
Health and Apostolic Benediction.
The transmission of human life is a most serious role in which married people collaborate freely and responsibly with God the Creator. It has always been a source of great joy to them, even though it sometimes entails many difficulties and hardships.
The fulfillment of this duty has always posed problems to the conscience of married people,
(an refreshingly honest observation) but the recent course of human society and the concomitant changes have provoked new questions. The Church cannot ignore these questions, for they concern matters intimately connected with the life and happiness of human beings.
I.
PROBLEM AND COMPETENCY OF THE MAGISTERIUM
2. The changes that have taken place are of considerable importance and varied in nature. In the first place there is the rapid increase in population which has made many fear that world population is going to grow faster than available resources, with the consequence that many families and developing countries would be faced with greater hardships. This can easily induce public authorities to be tempted to take even harsher measures to avert this danger. There is also the fact that not only working and housing conditions but the greater demands made both in the economic and educational field pose a living situation in which it is frequently difficult these days to provide properly for a large family.
Also noteworthy is a new understanding of the dignity of woman and her place in society, (certainly welcome, after his seeming failure to recognize this in his greeting) of the value of conjugal love in marriage and the relationship of conjugal acts to this love.
But the most remarkable development of all is to be seen in man's stupendous progress in the domination and rational organization of the forces of nature to the point that he is endeavoring to extend this control over every aspect of his own life—over his body, over his mind and emotions, over his social life, and even over the laws that regulate the transmission of life.
New Questions
3. This new state of things gives rise to new questions. Granted the conditions of life today and taking into account the relevance of married love to the harmony and mutual fidelity of husband and wife, would it not be right to review the moral norms in force till now, especially when it is felt that these can be observed only with the gravest difficulty, sometimes only by heroic effort?
Moreover, if one were to apply here the so called principle of totality, could it not be accepted that the intention to have a less prolific but more rationally planned family might transform an action which renders natural processes infertile into a licit and provident control of birth? Could it not be admitted, in other words, that procreative finality applies to the totality of married life rather than to each single act? A further question is whether, because people are more conscious today of their responsibilities, the time has not come when the transmission of life should be regulated by their intelligence and will rather than through the specific rhythms of their own bodies.
I think His Holiness spells out the situation, and the aspects of the matter that need addressing nicely, succinctly.
Many people date the crisis that has undeniably affected the Faith, and the practice of it from the encyclical's promulgation.
I think, rather, we might date the crisis from the observance by the Faithful of disobedient, callous, unfilial and even heretical greeting the document received from, (and from the publicity given to the the manner of greeting by,) those they trusted to know better, from whom they had a right to expect orthodoxy, but by whom they did not see it displayed.
A good time to re-read it....
ENCYCLICAL LETTER
HUMANAE VITAE
OF THE SUPREME PONTIFF PAUL VI
TO HIS VENERABLE BROTHERS THE PATRIARCHS, ARCHBISHOPS, BISHOPS
AND OTHER LOCAL ORDINARIES IN PEACE AND COMMUNION WITH THE APOSTOLIC SEE,
TO THE CLERGY AND FAITHFUL OF THE WHOLE CATHOLIC WORLD,
AND TO ALL MEN OF GOOD WILL,
ON THE REGULATION OF BIRTH
Honored Brothers and Dear Sons, (hmmm... "and daughters" would have been nice. But we must take into account Pope Montini's day)
Health and Apostolic Benediction.
The transmission of human life is a most serious role in which married people collaborate freely and responsibly with God the Creator. It has always been a source of great joy to them, even though it sometimes entails many difficulties and hardships.
The fulfillment of this duty has always posed problems to the conscience of married people,
(an refreshingly honest observation) but the recent course of human society and the concomitant changes have provoked new questions. The Church cannot ignore these questions, for they concern matters intimately connected with the life and happiness of human beings.
I.
PROBLEM AND COMPETENCY OF THE MAGISTERIUM
2. The changes that have taken place are of considerable importance and varied in nature. In the first place there is the rapid increase in population which has made many fear that world population is going to grow faster than available resources, with the consequence that many families and developing countries would be faced with greater hardships. This can easily induce public authorities to be tempted to take even harsher measures to avert this danger. There is also the fact that not only working and housing conditions but the greater demands made both in the economic and educational field pose a living situation in which it is frequently difficult these days to provide properly for a large family.
Also noteworthy is a new understanding of the dignity of woman and her place in society, (certainly welcome, after his seeming failure to recognize this in his greeting) of the value of conjugal love in marriage and the relationship of conjugal acts to this love.
But the most remarkable development of all is to be seen in man's stupendous progress in the domination and rational organization of the forces of nature to the point that he is endeavoring to extend this control over every aspect of his own life—over his body, over his mind and emotions, over his social life, and even over the laws that regulate the transmission of life.
New Questions
3. This new state of things gives rise to new questions. Granted the conditions of life today and taking into account the relevance of married love to the harmony and mutual fidelity of husband and wife, would it not be right to review the moral norms in force till now, especially when it is felt that these can be observed only with the gravest difficulty, sometimes only by heroic effort?
Moreover, if one were to apply here the so called principle of totality, could it not be accepted that the intention to have a less prolific but more rationally planned family might transform an action which renders natural processes infertile into a licit and provident control of birth? Could it not be admitted, in other words, that procreative finality applies to the totality of married life rather than to each single act? A further question is whether, because people are more conscious today of their responsibilities, the time has not come when the transmission of life should be regulated by their intelligence and will rather than through the specific rhythms of their own bodies.
I think His Holiness spells out the situation, and the aspects of the matter that need addressing nicely, succinctly.
Extra, Extra! Read All ABout It! Some Jews Don't Believe Jesus Christ Is Lord!
And some non-Jews do.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/06/world/middleeast/06stone.html?hp=&pagewanted=all
Daniel Boyarin, a professor of Talmudic culture at the University of California at Berkeley, said that the stone was part of a growing body of evidence suggesting that Jesus could be best understood through a close reading of the Jewish history of his day...[Uh, yeah... unless of course He was God, in which case there would be a better way of "understanding" Him.]
...It was in Cathedra that Israel Knohl, an iconoclastic professor of Bible studies at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, first heard of the stone, which Ms. Yardeni and Mr. Elitzur dubbed “Gabriel’s Revelation,” also the title of their article.
Mr. Knohl posited in a book published in 2000 the idea of a suffering messiah before Jesus, using a variety of rabbinic and early apocalyptic literature as well as the Dead Sea Scrolls. But his theory did not shake the world of Christology as he had hoped, [Poor thing]
partly because he had no textual evidence from before Jesus.
When he read “Gabriel’s Revelation,” he said, he believed he saw what he needed to solidify his thesis, and he has published his argument in the latest issue of The Journal of Religion.
Mr. Knohl is part of a larger scholarly movement that focuses on the political atmosphere in Jesus’ day as an important explanation of that era’s messianic spirit.
I'm not quite sure why this article brought out the usual anti-NYTimes invective in comboxes.
It seems a straight-forward and unbiased bit of reporting on a scholarly conversation about and perhaps disagreement over a 1st century Jewish artifact.
Note that the driving force behind the conversation sought to shake up the world of "Christology" not "Christianity."
One does wonder about such a person... imagine a member of the Flat Earth society devoting his academic life to Magellan.
Interesting obsession.
It goes back to the old statement about Jesus's significance.
Either Jesus was the Son of God and the most important figure and His Incarnation the most important event in the history of all mankind, of all creation---- or He wasn't and He simply couldn't matter less, and let's move on, shall we?
I suspect that this man has terrified himself by discovering that in his heart of hearts he knows the former proposition to be the true one.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/06/world/middleeast/06stone.html?hp=&pagewanted=all
Daniel Boyarin, a professor of Talmudic culture at the University of California at Berkeley, said that the stone was part of a growing body of evidence suggesting that Jesus could be best understood through a close reading of the Jewish history of his day...[Uh, yeah... unless of course He was God, in which case there would be a better way of "understanding" Him.]
...It was in Cathedra that Israel Knohl, an iconoclastic professor of Bible studies at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, first heard of the stone, which Ms. Yardeni and Mr. Elitzur dubbed “Gabriel’s Revelation,” also the title of their article.
Mr. Knohl posited in a book published in 2000 the idea of a suffering messiah before Jesus, using a variety of rabbinic and early apocalyptic literature as well as the Dead Sea Scrolls. But his theory did not shake the world of Christology as he had hoped, [Poor thing]
partly because he had no textual evidence from before Jesus.
When he read “Gabriel’s Revelation,” he said, he believed he saw what he needed to solidify his thesis, and he has published his argument in the latest issue of The Journal of Religion.
Mr. Knohl is part of a larger scholarly movement that focuses on the political atmosphere in Jesus’ day as an important explanation of that era’s messianic spirit.
I'm not quite sure why this article brought out the usual anti-NYTimes invective in comboxes.
It seems a straight-forward and unbiased bit of reporting on a scholarly conversation about and perhaps disagreement over a 1st century Jewish artifact.
Note that the driving force behind the conversation sought to shake up the world of "Christology" not "Christianity."
One does wonder about such a person... imagine a member of the Flat Earth society devoting his academic life to Magellan.
Interesting obsession.
It goes back to the old statement about Jesus's significance.
Either Jesus was the Son of God and the most important figure and His Incarnation the most important event in the history of all mankind, of all creation---- or He wasn't and He simply couldn't matter less, and let's move on, shall we?
I suspect that this man has terrified himself by discovering that in his heart of hearts he knows the former proposition to be the true one.
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