Catholic Identity Conference Synopsis

... by Boniface over at Unam Sanctam Catholicam (September 22, 2013), in case you missed it, like me.

Michael Matt with "objective arguments for Catholic tradition, arguments that still maintain the validity of the Novus Ordo while pointing out that the equal validity of the new and old liturgy does not mean strict equality" -- arguments already "laid down in their basics by Fr. Ripperger and summarized here by my at-large co-blogger Anselm."

John Vennari on "precision language," noting that in Catholic tradition one spoke about man's "struggle between two 'kingdoms', the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Satan (or, per St. Augustine, the City of God and the City of Man)," a struggle between cities "in irreconcilable conflict," such that "to be saved, one must be translated from the Kingdom of Satan to the Kingdom of God." He contrasts this "precise language" with the more diluted notions of the "Civilization of Love" versus the "Culture of Death."

Michael Voris on the same-sex crisis within the church, presenting a "crosscut view of several dioceses around the country," including his own Archdiocese of Detroit, from which he related a story told him by a local priest "who stated that he refused to attend the Archdiocesan Christmas parties anymore because 'he was sick of getting introduced to priests' boyfriends.'" Not unique to Detroit, certainly, but a problem.

Boniface adds: "As a side note, I want to mention that during the intermission, my friend and I had the opportunity to buy Michael Voris a drink and sat chatting with him in the lounge for over an hour. He was wonderfully down to earth, gentle, extremely humble, and not at all the bitter demagogue he is reputed to be."

Chris Ferrara on Thomistic philosophy's relation to quantum physics and it's quandary concerning the "indeterminacy of matter," which, he suggests, could be illumined by Aristotelian hylomorphism and its view of matter as pure potency (lacking form to actualize it) at the quantum level but possessing stability at the classic-Newtonian level because of the form imposed on matter by God in the creation of things after their own kind. (Boniface relates that they discussed "Austrian economists" afterwards with Ferrara, who called them "slippery fellows.")

James Vogel spoke about the state of things between the SSPX and Rome, bringing up recently-discussed points relating to Archbishop Athanasius Schneider and Walter Cardinal Kasper.