After Vatican II [1975-2050]

Just discovered (from a reader) this website with an abundance of research and writing on it about the Church. I still haven't "vetted" it for content (though I already see some things with which I disagree), and I don't know much about the author, Fr. Tom Richstatter, O.F.M., beyond what is published in this short bio (though it looks like he teaches classes on this material), In any case, it looks interesting. There's doubtless a lot here worth reading and knowing.

The "Index Page" for the website alone shows the extent of research and writing the site offers. Below are a couple of charts and commentary displayed under a tab somewhere on his website entitled "Chapter d30 After Vatican II [1975-2050 CE]":

Cultural and Theological Context

James D. Davidson (in an article "Alienation in the Catholic Church Today" p 22 in Robert J. Kennedy'sReconciling Embrace [Liturgy Training Publications, 1998]) states that Catholics who experienced their formative years during the 1950's and 1960's witnessed the following changes:

Item	Pre-Vatican II	Post-Vatican II
Liturgical Language	Latin	English
Liturgical Music	Gregorian chant	Folk
Liturgical Instruments	Organ	Guitar
Morality	Emphasis on Sexual Purity	Emphasis on Peace and justice
Ethics	Natural Law Ethics	Consequentialism (An emphasis on the context and consequences of behavior)
Faith	Faith is obligation	Faith is personal choice
The World	Other-worldliness	This-worldliness
Catholic Identity	Particularism (the superiority of Catholicism)	Ecumenism (an emphasis on how much Catholicism has in common with Protestant denominations)

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Moving the Furniture

At a gathering of parish leaders on January 19, 2002 from St. Mary's Parish, Evansville (one of the parishes mentioned in Excellent Catholic Parishes by Paul Wilkes) we discussed the metaphor of "moving the furniture."  The theological concepts we hold are something like furniture in a room.  Sometimes when we introduce a new piece of furniture, the old ones need to be rearranged.  Applying this to the arrangement of our "theological furniture" before and after the Second Vatican Council we found several key items have been "moved."  These changes are summarized in the the following table:

Item	Pre-Vatican II	Post-Vatican II
Jesus	Divine	Divine and Human
God	Transcendent	Transcendent and Immanent
Grace	Thing / Quantitative	Personal Relationship, Process
Sacrament	Thing Administered Received Gives Grace	Celebration Act of Worship Reveals who God is Builds Church
Baptism	Takes away original sin	Makes one "Another Christ" Makes Church Makes Disciples/Ministers
Church	Institution Pope, Bishops, etc. Them	Body of Christ People of God Us
Bible	Protestant Book	Our story Faith witness
Eucharist	Sacrifice Good Friday	Meal Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Easter Sunday Meal : Sacrifice :: Sacrament : Union with God
Sin	Breaking the law Disobedience	Not loving God & neighbor Failure to grow
Confession	Telling sins to the priest	Reconciliation Public act Worship and Praise Celebration of God's Mercy Aid in human forgiveness and reconciliation
Priest	One set apart from	One in the midst of
Earth	Exile Boot camp	Incarnational Theology - The place of our salvation - God's dream for a harmonious, reconciled garden

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Sacraments Yesterday and Today

How is our thinking about sacrament and sacraments different than it was 50 years ago (pre Vatican II)?  What are the principal changes in sacramental theology during the past 50 years?  Once again I refer to the "tip of the pistol" metaphor.  What are those often unseen changes that have big implications.  Often the really important changes are not the most noticeable, not the things that the people in the pew would name as the "big changes."   I list what I have come to consider the 10 most important.  The following list is not in any particular "order of importance." 

1.  Anabatic / Katabatic   Before the Constitution on the Liturgy the anabatic dimension of the sacraments was not emphasized; the sacraments were primarily to "give grace" (the Katabatic movement) rather than considered primarily as acts of worship by the community.  The primary thing is not what we get, but what we give:  worship, praise, and thanksgiving to God.

2. Private to corporate and personal.  When the emphasis is on "what I get" from the sacraments, it's easy to think of sacraments as something administered to an individual. When we think of sacraments primarily as acts of corporate worship, liturgical worship is the act of the entire Body of Christ. This is why sacraments are always (ideally) celebrated by the worshiping community (at Sunday Eucharist).

Eucharist, at least the celebration of the Eucharist (1) when not separated from merely "receiving Holy Communion" is usually seen as a public act. The (2) Sacrament of Holy Orders and the(3) Sacrament of Confirmation are, with increasing frequency, celebrated in the midst of the Sunday worshiping community. The initiation of adults takes place at the Easter (Vigil) with the worshiping community. More and more, infant (4) Baptism and the (5) Anointing of the Sick are celebrated at Sunday Mass.  (6) Marriage is celebrated during the Eucharist, but is often not with the worshiping community but with the circle of friends who often are there not to worship God but only as friends, honoring the couple.   (7) Reconciliation seems to be the last sacrament to find its a public context.

3. Anamnesis   Anamnesis is another fundamental tip of the pistol change. Eucharist no longer "repeats"  or "re-presents" or "reminds" us of the passion death and resurrection of the Lord, but through anamnesis -- Liturgical Remembering we become mystically present to these events. This mystery of presence is one of the fundamental changes that is not been preached or taught sufficiently during the past 50 years.

4. Mysterion    The metaphor of the seven Shoeboxes. Another "invisible" but very important change has come in seeing sacraments not so much as seven distinct actions, but as the manifestation of God's loving plan for creation, beginning with Christ himself, the body of Christ, the Church, gathered to celebrate Eucharist, the other sacraments, the liturgical year and liturgy of the hours, indeed all of creation is sacrament of -- revelation of -- God's Trinitarian love. Key to this understanding is the Primacy of Christ.

5. Grace   I believe another major change comes in the understanding of grace: the movement from grace as a thing which can be quantified and classified, to the understanding of grace as God's love, God's Holy Spirit. This change is multiple implications which are important for our spiritual life and for our theological understanding.

6. The role of the community   Another fundamental tip of the pistol change is our understanding of who administers, or better, who celebrates the sacraments. Formerly the priest administered, performed, the sacramental act. Today, we understand that the worshiping community is the primary celebrant of the sacraments. The community is led, coached, by the presiding minister, who therefore always praise in the first person plural, "we", to which we give our consent, our Amen. I often think of this basic change as: Formerly I said Mass for the people, now I say Mass with the people. A tiny change, a preposition grammatically, but this tiny change represents an entirely new orientation on my part when I am leading the congregation. Until this change is more widely understood (which today it is not) people will still wonder why we are baptizing an infant during the Sunday Eucharist. "I don't even know that baby. What does the baptism have to do with me?" It has everything to do with you. The sacrament is not merely "for" the baby; it is for the entire community.

7. Mind/Body/Spirit   A new understanding of the human person. My former sacramental theology viewed the human person in more static, Aristotelian categories. The human being was composed of body and soul. The body came and went; the soul was immortal and consequently the soul was the important part. Ministry was about saving souls. And the soul was viewed in more static categories. You were either Catholic or you weren't. You were in the state of grace, or out of it. You were either married or you weren't. Today I view the person as an integral composite of mind body and spirit. Faith is a journey. Conversion is a process. These are very important tip of the pistol changes.

8. Minister of the Sacraments   Sacramental roles formerly sacraments were administered usually by the priest and received, by an individual. Now we see that the sacraments are celebrations of the community, the minister-celebrant is the parish, coached by the priest. In the recipient is also the parish.  I'm reminded of the description of sacrament by Soren Kierkegaard:  "Many Christians tend to view the minister/priest as the actor, God as the prompter, and the congregation as the audience. But actually, the congregation is the actor, the minister/priest merely the prompter, and God the audience." (Soren Kierkegaard. Purity of Heart Is to Will One Thing, New York: Harper & Row, 1956, pp 180-181. Quoted in Erickson, "Liturgical Participation" Worship 59 (1985) p 232.)

9. Sacred Scripture Another element which I believe is very important is the realization of the role played by sacred Scripture in our understanding of sacrament. Formerly Scripture and sacrament seemed unrelated. Sacrosanctum Concilium stress the importance that sacred Scripture plays in the liturgy. 

SC #24. Sacred scripture is of the greatest importance in the celebration of the liturgy. For it is from scripture that lessons are read and explained in the homily, and psalms are sung; the prayers, collects, and liturgical songs are scriptural in their inspiration and their force, and it is from the scriptures that actions and signs derive their meaning. Thus to achieve the restoration, progress, and adaptation of the sacred liturgy, it is essential to promote that warm and living love for scripture to which the venerable tradition of both eastern and western rites gives testimony.

SC 51 (Cp 2 Eucharist). The treasures of the Bible are to be opened up more lavishly, so that a richer share in God's word may be provided for the faithful.  [Flannery's translation:  "... so that a richer fare may be provided for the faithful at the table of God's word."]  In this way a more representative portion of holy Scripture will be read to the people in the course of a prescribed number of years. 

Our current Lectionary for Mass contains 14% of the Old Testament and 71% of the New Testament (85% of the Bible); whereas the Missal of 1963 (the Missal in use before our current Lectionary) contained only 01% of the Old Testament and 17% of the New Testament (18% of the Bible).   Often when people speak of the Ordinary Form of Mass and the Extraordinary Form of Mass they say "The difference is that the one is Mass in English and the other is Mass in Latin" without realizing that there are deeper, but less noticeable, changes also.

10. Viewpoint   A very far reaching change has occurred "under the iceberg" regarding what the very word "sacrament" implies. Formerly it referred to "something we receive" now it refers to "something we are" (to use a phrase I learned from Prof. Ken Himes).  I am reminded of the article by the President-Rector in The Raven last week. Speaking of Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament he remarked that we are each a monstrance.  "We are monstrances too. We share the task, like the vessel, of bringing the face of Christ to bear upon a world so in need of his visage."  We are visible signs of invisible grace, signs of God, Doors to the Sacred.

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To Think About

Do you think the spirit of the Second Vatican Council is being implemented today? Why or why not?   [A participant in this class once wrote:   "Thank you, Holy Spirit, for the Second Vatican Council.  But where is the next step, Spirit? Your gentle breeze isn't moving on to gale force winds. This freshness is rapidly becoming stagnant air.  Soon the smog will cover us all and we won't remember why we got into this boat to begin with. Some will hide in the bottom of the boat and construct a plan to build a more seaworthy vessel. Some will look to the sky and begin to cry. Some will curse you for meddling in a situation where you don't belong. Some will become paralyzed and do nothing. But the remainder will leap overboard, put their foot into the water and start walking toward the shore.  Please be ready with breakfast."  [R. Cavanaugh, summer 1993]

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Copyright: Tom Richstatter.  All Rights Reserved.  This page was created by Fr. Thomas Richstatter, O.F.M.  Every effort has been, and is being made to acknowledge sources when the ideas are not my own.  Any failure to comply with the United States Copyright Act (Title 17, United States Code) will be corrected immediately should I become aware of it.  This site was updated on 11/11/10 .  Your comments on this site are welcome at  trichstatter@franciscan.org

Is it time to move beyond Vatican II?

An excerpt from a recent church bulletin in Windsor, Canada:

So much justification for departures from orthodox Catholic teaching has been proffered in the name of Vatican II over the past 50 years, that one can become numb. In recent years questions have started to arise as to how long Vatican II can serve as a motivating force. The circumstances that brought about the convocation of the Second Vatican Council are no longer the driving factors in contemporary Catholic life. Nowadays we are facing new challenges: Dramatically falling Mass attendance, an aging Catholic populace without adequate replacement from the young, a lack of priestly and religious vocations, declining standards for liturgy and sacred music, and so forth. Ecumenism and relations with our Protestant brethren must no longer be primary concerns when Catholics themselves do not sufficiently understand their own faith. The old justifications have become tired, while the growth of traditional liturgy, the devotional life, Latin Mass communities, and the authentic fellowship found therein have become concrete examples of how Catholicism can flourish when it is presented and lived in all its fullness.

These notions have been articulated thoroughly and thoughtfully by Fr. Hugh Somerville-Knapman, OSB, a Benedictine monk and priest in England, in a blog post, Vale Vatican II. One excerpt:

“It happened over half a century ago, was conditioned by and directed to the world of the 1960s, a world that has changed beyond recognition as of 2017. It described itself as a pastoral council, and it sought to repackage the teaching, life and worship of the Church to suit a world in flux. For this very reason the Council was necessarily going to have a best-before date. That date has been passed. The sad thing is that its milk turned sour very soon after packaging.”

The full post is here: https://hughosb.com/2017/09/25/vale-vatican-ii-moving-on/

[Hat tip to A.B.]

Fr. Perrone: a father's worry over his children's spiritual future

Fr. Eduard Perrone, "A Pastor's Descant" (Assumption Grotto News, October 29, 2017):

A priest is rightly called father because he has a spiritual progeny, his people, a family he was given through mother Church. Being a parent of sorts, the priest has duties toward his children, to provide for them in the things of the spirit. Dispensing the sacraments and imparting instruction through preaching and teaching are the most necessary of his duties. As parenting in its ordinary sense entials more than ensuring that basic necessities are met, so the priest-father has more to do than fulfillment of the fundamentals of pastoral care. Among these extras is his parental duty to worry. No parent worthy of the name passes his days without anxiety for the welfare of his children. Their good health, proper education, safety, and that personal security which makes for happiness are surely among things parents often worry about in regard to their children.

So do I, a spiritual father, worry about my parishioners' spiritual welfare. In particular, I have spiritual concern over what may happen to them in the times ahead. The present moment may be secure enough, but the prognosis is not good. Every good parent does his best to get his children off to a good start in the early years of his children's lives. The time inevitably comes when children become young adults and must fend for themselves in a highly troubled world and amidst "a crooked and perverse generation" (Phil 2:15). Looking ahead I do not see good days for the Church. While there are some signs of betterment for Christians in American society, these are tenuous and fragile. In our beloved Church, signs are less promising for a restoration of stability and clear doctrine. Moral permissiveness and equivocation in teaching seem to be getting the upper hand as the pope and many bishops, theologians, and a number of priests teach ambiguously or even outright falsely, giving grave scandal. It pains me even to mention this yet I'm aware that my people cannot be unmindful of at least some of what's been said and done due to professional and social media. Best efforts have been made to 'put a good spin' on what's been happening from the highest to the local parish levels of the Church. A time comes, however, when the obvious conclusions must be drawn and one must come to grips with the harsh reality of a Church already sharply divided over what is authentic Catholic teaching on moral living and ecclesiastical discipline. And here my parental worry kicks in. How will my parishioners fare if and when a schism (rupture) breaks out in the Church and one must make a declaration of where one stands? What principles will be employed in making that decision? Social pressure to conform? The measure of one's own evil tendencies? The bad example of some of the hierarchy? I think of the heartbreak of Christ when He asked: "Will you also leave Me?" or the foreboding in His rhetorical question: "When the Son of Man comes again will He find faith on earth?" Sadness grips me when I hear the blatant lies being spread about doctrine and right morals. My predecessors in this parish and I have tried to do our paternal duty towards our spiritual children in teaching the truth and encouraging our people to live by it. This must be an ongoing task for the priest, especially in view of the mighty leftist propaganda. The natural tendency in nature is towards dissolution rather than towards betterment, unless a counterforce is exerted. In other words, things by themselves don't get better and better but rather progressively worse when unattended. With the present weak leadership in the Church and the corruptive influence of the media, that needed force is not to be presumed.

The disciples once asked our Lord, "Will only few be saved?" Divine Wisdom did not give a direct answer. The incertitude over the outcome of salvation ought to stir up some salutary worry. While the true Church cannot die and while Christ will ever remain with it until time's end, there is no surety of any particular person being among the saved. And so, I will worry and pray for my parishioners.

I must set aside these dark ruminations to speak of some upcoming dates. Wednesday this week will be All Saints Day, a holy day of obligation. Masses will e at 6:30, 9:30, noon, and 7:00 p.m. Thursday is All Souls Day. Masses will be offered in the morning at 7:30, 8:15, 8:00, 10:00, 11:00, 11:30 and 7:00 p.m. Everybody should participate at Mass on that day -- or better, at several Masses, praying for the dead. (Communion may only be received up to two times per day, but one may assist at Mass without any limit.) Visits to the cemetery with prayers for the dead during the first eight days of November may gain aa plenary indulgence for them.

Get yourselves ready to engage in the annual parish Forty Hours Devotion,a time for the whole parish to adore the Blessed Sacrament. Every individual in the parish ought to spend at least an hour in the church during the time of November 10-11. More on this next week.

Benedict's Compendium, the CCC, and YouCat compared

An erudite reader sent me this yesterday:

In my usual scavenging I came up with a copy of YouCat. It is truly awful. When I compared it with Benedict's 2006 Compendium of the Catechism, I immediately recognized how good Benedict's work is. It is theological throughout and hangs together as an integrated text. Its language is clearer than YouCat. When you compare "transubstantiation" or "passions" Benedict wins.

Recently Robert Hickson released a damning indictment of the CCC which Fr. John Hardon did not want published while he was still alive. Hardon claimed that the final text was not Catholic. The French firebrand Abbe Georges de Nantes published a book damning the 1992 catechism listing 12 heresies he found therein. When Benedict's Compendium appeared in 2006, his newsletter the Catholic Counter Reform declared that Benedict's work corrected all of the errors in the 1992 catechism.

There is an excellent doctrinal critique of YouCat at Faithful Answers website. It is regrettabble that the Compendium was published by the USCCB as an official document and has never received the circulation it deserves. Ignatius Press should publish it in a more popular format and remove YouCat from circulation. YouCat panders to youth trying to be hip and dumbs down its theology. It is a true horror.

[Hat tip to Sir A.S.]

"The Download - Advice for Seminarians"

This is just a "Trailer." I've seen the original half-hour-long discussion which is interesting and, on the whole, quite helpful, with a some notable insights.

"Has the Church Effectively Abandoned the Great Commission?" - The Mark Shea and Christopher Ferrara debate (video)

The monthly men's Argument of the Month Club (AOTM), hosted in the basement of St. Augustine's Catholic Church in St. Paul, MN, regularly draws huge crowds. Crowds of men. Certainly part of the draw is the ample food (lots of barbecue) and beer. But the more significant fact is that men are drawn to serious intellectual questions concerning the Church and the Catholic Faith.

Recently AOTM hosted a debate between Christopher Ferrara (right) and Mark Shea (left) on the hot-button question "Has the Church Effectively Abandoned the Great Commission?" And AOTM has decided, for the first time ever, to publish a video of the debate: HERE it is, with a brief introduction by Kent Wuchterl, the President of AOTM, who is just a regular guy who likes to shoot some of his videos in his garage (not to worry: the garage wasn't the venue for the debate). Enjoy. And DONATE something, if you feel so led. It's a good cause.

[Hat tip to Sir A.S.]

Hour-long Catholic critique of the Alpha program

Some people aren't going to like this at all. "The Tyranny of Emotion" (Mic'd Up, January 29, 2016) includes a discussion with Michael Hichborn of the Lepanto Institute about the Alpha program being implemented in many places and notably in Detroit; and Dr. Jay Boyd, who offers an in-depth discussion of Sherry Waddell's Forming Intentional Disciples with some cautions.

The upshot seems concisely expressed in the question: why are Catholics embracing these 'watered-down' and 'protestantized' sorts of programs when excellent Catholic alternatives exist, such as Servant of God, Fr. John Hardon's Marian Catechist Apostolate, now under the sponsorship of Cardinal Burke? Not to mention all the hazards of emotionally-charged low-information evangelization with potentially misleading components. Food for thought. One can hardly say "food for feeling," can we!

Update: William J. Cork, D.Min., "Is ALPHA for Catholics??," offers a fairly detailed outline and critique of Alpha, arguing that it promotes (a) an individualistic Christianity, (b) a congregationalist ecclesiology, (c) an evangelical perspective on the sacraments, as well as (d) a charismatic agenda. The author concludes:

Despite the commendable intent of Alpha to evangelize the unchurched by facilitating an initial encounter with Jesus Christ, we must conclude that even with a Catholic supplement, it remains deficient, and cannot be recommended for Catholic use. Alpha does not fulfill the expectations for Catholic catechesis and evangelization, and presents what Catholics must see as an impoverished and distorted Gospel. It is not "basic Christianity," but is Charismatic Protestantism. To tack Catholic elements to be tacked onto the end, especially issues of Church and Sacrament, denies the integral nature of Christian revelation.

"Contracepting Clergy" and the neglect of robust catechesis of children

Recalling this video from last year's October Synod, one of our west coast correspondents writes:

Michael's Vortex on contracepting clergy is truly outstanding. The word that must not be spoken. Perhaps the biggest mistake of Vatican II and the post Council was the shift from child to adult catechesis. While the entire West was reacting to the cultural explosion brought about by the pill, the catechesis of children (at which the Church excelled) was called off for the sake of a misguided rationalism insisting that only critical adults should be catechized. What folly! The one group immune to the sexual revolution thus denied formation in the faith.

[Hat tip to Sir A.S.]

Fr. Perrone: (1) join in my prayers for your salvation; (2) speak up at the archdiocesan synod on why local churches are closing

Fr. Eduard Perrone, "A Pastor's Descant" (Assumption Grotto News, November 22, 2015):

The Forty Hours Devotion was well attended last weekend. I was pleased with that because I know this to be a time of grace, of spiritual benefit for the parish generally, and for the individuals and families that made their way to the church to adore the Lord. Sorry if I sounded threatening or self-pitying in last week’s lamentation over a poor turnout the year previous. Perhaps people were becoming spoiled over the easy availability of Eucharistic adoration time and thus dismissing the opportunities given to them (you should know that at one time the Church actually discouraged frequent exposition of the Sacrament lest the people become blasé over this Wonder of wonders); or perhaps they were becoming mindless of the true and real Presence of the incarnate Son of God there and saw no point in making visits to the Blessed Sacrament. My own experience of the Forty Hours has been rewarding: a time of self-abandonment to Christ in as humble manner of outpouring myself before Him as I can muster. In return, I emerge from the time of adoration fortified and refreshed. Those who came to adore the Lord must surely have experienced something of the same.

This thought leads me to a couple of pastoral points to make. The first of which concerns your spiritual welfare, which remains my most important preoccupation, apart from the salvation of mine own soul.

When I make my prayer intentions, I beseech God that He would save the souls of all my family, relatives, parishioners, and friends–all of those to whom I have a relationship in some way. In doing this I attempt to draw upon the pastoral clout I have before God by virtue of the holy priesthood which He deigned to grant me. It’s a kind of bargaining power with the Almighty, for such is the given position of the priest as a mediator between God and humanity. The priest’s particular concern, of course, must first be with those to whom he has some particular relationship of kith, kin, or post. In the last you are represented. I ask the Lord that “none of them be lost, not even one,” an echo of the words our Lord prayed to His Father before the Passion. It’s a bold thing I ask for, I know. As an individual, I’m asking a huge favor: not for the salvation of one or another soul, but for all those the Lord has given me, whom He has put in my path. Were I to ask to possess the entire created universe I would be asking for less than for the salvation even of one soul, and yet there I go about making such an entreaty to God–I who am nothing. There is the priestly office given me–so unworthy–which gives me that right, duty and obligation to pray, to intercede for the spiritual (and temporal) good of those who are ‘mine.’ This is all the more astonishing in view of the fact of my own sinfulness, an objection which Saint Paul anticipated. The priest “is appointed by God to act on behalf of men in relation to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. He can deal gently with the ignorant and wayward, since he himself is beset with weakness. Because of this he is bound to offer sacrifices for his own sins as well as for those of the people” (Hebrews 5:1-3). Without this assurance I, “beset with weakness,” might not be so daring as to ask so much. I beseech God that the wills of my people (“all those You gave me”) might be conformed to the will of God. Is this foolishness? I continue to pray daily in this way in the hope that I may be granted my prayer. I realize, however, that only you individually hold the key to your salvation, and that no one–not an angel, nor a devil, nor even God Himself–can take possession of one’s soul. This is that fundamental human freedom each one possesses personally, a gift of God which is inviolable. The motive of my writing can thus be discerned. I want you to join me in my prayers for you. Otherwise, my petitioning power will be void. Only you can move that lever that lifts you from your sinful selves unto God. Only you can say that salutary Yes to Him. I will continue to pray for you as I have been doing. Perhaps God will grant my fervent wish. Doing this together is, I would say, invincible.

The other pastoral matter concerns an upcoming Archdiocesan Synod to be held next year. You may already be weary and perhaps wary of synods in view of the rather embarrassing and ineffectual gathering under that name of the bishops in Rome last month. (I have not hesitated to share with you my discontent and disappointment over it.) This local, diocesan synod aims to address a problem that the Archbishop foresees for the local Church. All the bad moves that have been made–that have been enforced–through bad, faulty teaching and preaching, and through deliberately planned catechetical ignorance are now coming up for the payoff. The prospects are, I suppose, that in the not too distant future our parishes will be nearly devoid of worshipers. How can it be otherwise? If our Catholic people now live just like Pagan Everybody Else; and if their children do not even know that the grievous crimes they so frequently commit are mortal sins, and that the Communion they receive mindlessly and unworthily is really, physically the divine Presence of Christ and, further, that Christ Himself is indeed God–if they are ignorant of these most basic things, how then can they be expected to take their places in the pews of our churches? Would they have valid reasons for being there? (I mentioned only some of the grave circumstances that have created this problem. One must also consider the depopulation of Catholics as the inevitable outcome of the practice of contraception by many married Catholic people: more mortal sins committed and unconfessed, more planned ignorance of the people on the part of priests who have withheld the truth about this or who have out-and-out lied to them about this matter.)

I think that our Grotto people ought to speak up at this Synod and do the diocesan church a big favor. I’ll be writing about this again soon to solicit your co-operation. If the diocese is not interested in listening to us, the fringe people, the token 'traditional Catholics,' fine. But maybe we–maybe you–can have an impact on the future of the Church in the archdiocese of Detroit. God’s will be done.

Fr. Perrone

Catechesis and the Average Catholic

Ever wonder what the “average American Catholic” looks like?

The reference to this piece in the New Oxford Review was sent to me by Guy Noir - Private Eye, who quite rightly asserts that the Sheen quote at the end is worth the whole piece!

“In religious matters, the modern world believes in indifference. Very simply, this means it has no great loves and no great hates; no causes worth living for and no causes worth dying for. It counts its virtues by the vices from which it abstains, asks that religion be easy and pleasant,…dislikes enthusiasm and loves benevolence, makes elegance the test of virtue and hygiene the test of morality, believes that one may be too religious but never too refined. It holds that no one ever loses his soul, except for some great and foul crime such as murder. Briefly, the indifference of the world includes no true fear of God, no fervent zeal for His honor, no deep hatred of sin, and no great concern for eternal salvation.”— Fulton J. Sheen

Fr. Perrone on the Importance of Intellectual Catechesis, Sacred Tradition, & Prayer in Knowing Christ

Fr. Eduard Perrone, "A Pastor's Descant" [temporary link] (Assumption Grotto News, April 26, 2015):

A few things converge in my mind, leading to the subject matter here.

In our home school classes on Wednesdays we are attempting a bold enterprise: a course in Christology. That would be quite an undertaking for anybody. For high school students, it’s a near impossibility. I knew that in proposing the study in the first place but I wanted to see how far we could go. The central problem in general is that theological study, especially of the Catholic kind, presumes a grounding in philosophy and familiarity with its terminology. This is not something easily to be had and cannot be compensated for by improvised explanations of the moment. In musical terms, it would be like attempting to play a piano concerto when one had not first learnt the fundamentals of piano technique. One can, without the preliminary studies, grasp some things, but a great deal must be left undone. Was it then a foolish attempt to have a course in Christology for high schoolers? My purpose was to make known some of the complexity involved in trying to grasp divine things–in this case, the study of Christ–to expand the mind, if you will. Religious studies in a number of parishes are reduced to reading bible stories and to some sentimental aspects of religion (usually religious enthusiasm). This is a great impoverishment because the mind seeks to understand, and in the Catholic tradition there is a great deal to be understood. The Church would have a lot to impart to questing minds about many things in our faith. Too often, however, our kids are not taught even the basics of the faith in catechetical instruction, an omission which leaves them high and dry when they mature and begin to ask the deeper questions about faith only to find little or nothing in their mental store to lead them to a an understanding. The result is proved by the stats. Kids drop out of going to Mass and often leave the Church on account of the conjunction of two factors: 1) the awakening of adolescence, which causes an interior rebellion against the moral teachings of God and the Church leading to question the force both of their consciences and the moral authority of anyone, parents or priests, over them, and 2) the lack of solid religious instruction in the basics of the faith that should have been implanted in them in their youth through catechetical instruction.

Another matter which stirred me to write is reading a critical review of a very prominent Protestant theologian’s work on Christ. He makes some very basic errors where a good grounding in the Catholic tradition would have led him to truth. Here we see that the stored wisdom of Mother Church would have been a guiding light to the unfortunate man had he been well prepared to approach the daunting subject of Christ with the advantage of a Catholic background. 

The third influence pressing upon my mind to write is the experience of Christ that can be gained only through prayer. Where human ignorance is necessarily presumed in trying to grasp, comprehend, encompass God—an impossibility in the full sense, since God must remain beyond the capabilities of any finite intelligence—and where the dizzying experience of concupiscence tends to divert one from the paths of humble submission to God, the discovery of the Person of Christ through prayer secures a personal possession of Christ that can’t be had by religious instruction and moral discipline alone. Prayer is the indispensable means for spiritual maturity. One who does not pray is lost, both in the sense that he is consigned to meandering through life without the security of God’s friendship and in the ultimate sense of everlasting confusion in the next life.

The conclusion is inevitable. Unless one prays with humility, regularity, with perseverance, and with love for Christ, he can neither know Him in any deep sense nor remain in a state of grace. Possession of Christ is a need that is satisfied through the sacraments and through personal prayer. If you’re not doing these things, you will be lost, mentally, morally, and eternally.

Fr. Perrone

"I didn't think people spoke like this anymore. Ever."

Our underground correspondent we keep on retainer in an Atlantic seaboard city that knows how to keep its secrets, Guy Noir - Private Eye, sent the following (emphases his):

Compare this exchange to the memorable lines of America's leading Bishop:"Good for him," Dolan said. "I would have no sense of judgment on him," Dolan continued. "God bless ya. I don't think, look, the same Bible that tells us, that teaches us well about the virtues of chastity and the virtue of fidelity and marriage also tells us not to judge people. So I would say, 'Bravo.'"

Read on...

LETTERS in May 2015s FIRST THINGS

The Two Shall Become One Flesh: Reclaiming Marriage” (March) is a clear articulation of the importance of marriage in Christian theology and the need for churches to remain faithful to Christian teaching. But for all that it gets right, the piece contains one line of argument that Christians should be on guard against. The authors write, “Christians have too often been silent about biblical teaching on sex, marriage, and family life.” It goes on, “In a few matters, we do not speak with one voice: We hold somewhat different views about the morality of contraception, the legitimacy of divorce, and clerical celibacy.” ­Finally, later: “An easy acceptance of divorce damages marriage; widespread cohabitation devalues marriage. But so-called same-sex marriage is a graver threat, because what is now given the name of marriage in law is a parody of marriage.”

Taken together, these quotes represent a dangerous line of argument, because same-sex marriage cannot be abstracted from the wider background of marital collapse enabled by widespread divorce and contraception. This is true both as a matter of principle and of prudence.

As a matter of principle, any argument against same-sex marriage that invokes the reproductive end of sex necessarily implicates contraception. Contraception frustrates reproduction no less than homosexual sex does. Therefore, to say that the morality of contraception is merely questionable but the morality of homosexual sex is clear is internally incoherent. And it’s not just pure logical consistency at stake, either. The Christian intellectual tradition has the sweep and grandeur of the Cathedral of Notre Dame; it is a space of cavernous beauty and monumental profundity. Anyone who takes even a step inside is immediately struck by the sense that something important happens here. You cannot separate the discussion of gay marriage from the full scope of Christian sexual ethics without limiting this sweep and grandeur.

As a matter of prudence, prioritizing the wrongness of same-sex marriage over divorce or contraception (or even masturbation) only serves to reinforce the claim that Christians are motivated by some kind of anti-gay animus when they defend traditional marriage laws. The best defense against that charge is an equally vocal concern for all the threats to marriage, and all varieties of sterile sex.

Many of the leading writers on gay marriage have spoken well about the need to limit no-fault divorce, and are clear about their moral opposition to contraception. Indeed, “The Two Shall Become One Flesh” makes several gestures in the direction I outlined above. For instance, the authors write, “Christians are implicated in this decline. Evangelicals and Catholics are more likely to divorce than they were fifty years ago. Moreover, Christians have adopted to no small extent the contraceptive mind-set that in society at large has separated sex from reproduction and so weakened the centrality and attraction of marriage.”

But these statements coexist with the ones I quote at the start of this letter, and that creates an ambiguity that has bedeviled the marriage movement. The authors contend that Christians have often been silent on marriage. When it comes to gay marriage, this is simply not true. The debate over gay marriage has consumed the nation for several years, and there has been no lack of Christian voices expressing the Christian view. That Christians are “anti-gay” seems to be one of the few “facts” this country knows about us. But when it comes to divorce and contraception, we have not always raised clear objections. The uneasy relation this document bears to those issues does not really correct that silence. It dances around it.

The escape clause hear round the world ...

The underground correspondent we keep on retainer in an Atlantic seaboard city that knows how to keep its secrets, Guy Noir - Private Eye, just about lost it again.

Writing about a new post by D. G. Hart, a Calvinist who, he says, "continues to needle Catholics," he writes:

DG Hart continues to needle Catholics. He also continues to sound more sane and more Catholic than most Catholic commentators posting these days. At least in my book. The Gospel is NOT proclamation of a done deed, but the propostion of an offer to accept. Hence the momentousness of evangelization. Versus the commonly perceived triviality of the New Evangelization. I guess the new voices would have us believe Francis Xavier died on an island off of China telling people there they were already "mercy'd" and could chill. Somehow I doubt he would be down with that. But then he was blessed with not just holiness but also with basic common sense. Just saying... More pastoral pearls from the New Media false messiah that is John Allen's CRUX...

Here's Hart:

Don’t listen to the polls but only to Jesus except when he teaches about what will become of Jerusalem:


Q. Recent polls indicate that some 70 percent of Catholics in the United States (and 66 percent in Ireland) do not believe in the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, but rather a symbolic presence.

I happen to be one of them. I am Jesuit-educated, and I have written to my pastor with my question but have been greeted with stone silence. If these polls are even halfway true, why is this elephant in the room never addressed or even mentioned in church? Are we all condemned to hell for this belief? (Duxbury, Massachusetts)

A. The beliefs of the Catholic Church are not determined by plebiscite. That is to say, what is fundamental in determining the core content of the Catholic faith is not how people feel, but what Jesus said. And for that, we go to the sixth chapter of John’s Gospel.

Jesus has just multiplied the loaves and the fish to feed 5,000 people, and the crowds are in awe. The very next day, Jesus says something that turns out to be very controversial (Jn 6:35, 51): “I am the bread of life … the living bread that came down from heaven … and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.” People are shocked and ask: “How can this man give us (his) flesh to eat?” (Jn 6:52).

Even his followers are horrified. Christ has every opportunity to pull back and explain. “Wait,” he might have said, “I was only speaking figuratively.”

Instead, he presses the point, watching as people start to drift away: “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him” (Jn 6:54-56).

Later, at the Last Supper, Jesus reaffirms this teaching in language that is virtually identical.

Polling data varies widely regarding this teaching. The National Catholic Reporter, for example, found in a 2011 survey that 63 percent of adult Catholics believe that “at the consecration during a Catholic Mass, the bread and wine really become the body and blood of Jesus Christ.”

But as I said at the start, polling data is largely irrelevant, except to this extent (as your question suggests): If a fair number of Catholics do not subscribe to a long-held and central article of faith, the Church should doubtless do more to proclaim and explain that teaching.

As to your last line, about the consequences of not believing, one thing is certain: No one is going to hell who sincerely  follows the dictates of his own properly formed conscience [Huh?! This is as obscure as the annulment doctrine . Just what constitutes salvation anyway, 'good' intent? Most apparently so.] So why worry about that? Why not focus instead on determining what Jesus taught?


So bishops should teach what the Bible teaches or [should] church members [...] follow their [own properly formed] consciences? No wonder the polls’ results and authority.

Rhetoric and reality: Caving

A reader writes:

• 2004 - "Pell explains no reply to lesbian cousin" (Catholic News, March 4, 2004): "Cardinal George Pell has told The Bulletin magazine that he failed to reply to letters seeking acceptance from his lesbian second cousin Monica Hingston because he felt cornered and wanted to avoid an argument."
• 2005 - "The Cardinal's Cousin" (Ozfille's Blog, April 17, 2005): "A former nun and lesbian, Sister Monica Hingston confronts the Catholic Church’s attitude to homosexuality, by making public a letter to it’s leader in Australia, Cardinal George Pell, who also happens to be her cousin.... Last year in the Melbourne Age, Monica Hingston asked her cousin Cardinal George Pell to look her in the eye and call her 'corrupt, debased, vicious, vile and wicked'."
• 2013 - Then the capper, “Who am I too judge…”
  
  "It’s all clear to me. Is it clear to you? OK, good, now, help me summarize it!: As someone who has dealt with this up-close-and-personal, the current state of dialog is close to insulting. People who have sacrificed much no that 'the Church's teaching' [as people actually hear it] is anything BUT clear, and judgement is an urgent necessity. Our leaders may be unwillingly complicit, but make no mistake -- they are encouraging mortal sin. The Pope, The Vatican -- they have in fact forfeited the normal high ground."

Strong words. Sobering words. Call for prayer and penance.

The war for the minds of our children: will you watch from the sidelines?

“The class-war of the future will be a war of intellectual classes and the conquest will be the souls of the children.” For effective soldiering, we must give our minds to the study of both minds at war, Christ’s primarily, but the world’s too....To think we can do this by giving it as much of our free time as we can comfortably spare is foolishness. Paul would have delighted in Rudyard Kipling’s phrase, “There’s no discharge from the war.” Unless we see it as of that urgency, we may as well stay on the sidelines while others fight for the souls of the children. —F.J. Sheed, Theology and Sanity,Pg.13.

[Hat tip to JM]

"How My Parish Youth Group Helped Me Leave the Catholic Faith"

Jennifer Fitz (Patheos, January 8, 2015):

How do you really get kids to leave the faith and commit mortal sins? Our parish used the “everything’s fine” method:

• Run an active youth group with lots of activities and good attendance.
• Make sure your leaders are real friendly and well-meaning.
• Teach enough of the faith that everyone is sure the kids are getting good Christian formation.

Then you have to do a few things ... Read more >>

Second-generation Hispanic immigrants being seduced from Church in droves ... by "Americanization"

Pew Research Foundation found that 67% of U.S. Hispanics identified themselves as Catholic in 2010. By last year the percentage dropped to 55%. At this rate, by 2020 (six more years), barely 1/3 of Hispanics in the U.S. will be Catholic. Mr. Voris suggests that the reason for this is that Hispanic immigrants no longer find two things when they arrive in the U.S. that their ancestors would have found: (1) a basic public consensus concerning traditional morality, and (2) a strong (if small) Church.

"Tradition and the Young: Christ makes all things new"

"Tradition and the Young: Christ makes all things new" (Rorate Caeli, March 22, 2014):


A beautiful video (press on CC or captions for subtitles in English) produced in response to a newly-released anti-Catholic German motion picture entitled Kreuzweg (Way of the Cross). As Rorate says, "the wine of Tradition is always permanent and always new, it is always ready to fill new wineskins with love for Christ and His Church.... May Christ bring all traditional-minded Catholics together: the true Way of the Cross (Kreuzweg) is filled with joy and hope."

[Advisory and disclaimer: this video is produced by the German District of the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X (FSSPX): see Rules 7-9]

"On this Sunday let us pray for the Shepherds of the Church"

Pope Francis, on this fourth Sunday of the Easter season, preached on the image of the Good shepherd from the Gospel of John ("On the Good Shepherd," ZENIT, May 11, 2014). Notable excerpts:

May the Lord help us shepherds always to be faithful to the Master and wise and enlightened guides of the people of God entrusted to us. I also ask you, please, help us to be good pastors. Once I read something beautiful about how the people of God help bishops and priests be good shepherds. It is a text of St. Caesarius of Arles, a father of the first centuries of the Church. He explains how the people of God must help the shepherd and gave the following example. When the calf is hungry, he does to the cow, to the mother, to get milk. The cow, however, does not immediately give it to him: it seems that she is keeping it for herself. And what does the calf do? He knocks against the cow’s udder with his head so that the milk comes out. It is a beautiful image! “So you too,” the saint says, “must be like this with the shepherds. Always knock at their door, at their heart, so that they give you the milk of doctrine, the milk of grace and the milk of leadership.” And I ask you, please, to importune the shepherds, to disturb them, all of us shepherds, so that we can give you the milk of grace, of doctrine and of leadership. Importune [us]! Think of that beautiful image of that calf, how he importunes the mother so that she gives him something to eat.

In imitation of Jesus, every Shepherd “will sometimes go before his people, pointing the way and keeping their hope vibrant. At other times, he will simply be in their midst with his unassuming and merciful presence. At yet other times, he will have to walk after them, helping those who lag behind” (“Evangelii gaudium,” 31). May all shepherds be like this! But you must importune the shepherds, so that they give you the guide of doctrine and grace. (Emphasis Rorate's)

[Hat tip to Rorate Caeli]

How to "attract" young people to Mass: STOP TRYING! (Please!)

Romano Guardin wrote Meditations Before Mass. Thomas Howard wrote If Your Mind Wanders at Mass. And Marshall McLuhan wrote The Mode in Which We Go To Mass.

Wait. That last one... No, he didn't. But "Bad Catholic" all but channels McLuhan in this reflection. Communication Theory is a discipline dominated by liberal assumptions. Completely. This blogger engages it to reach a conclusion completely counterintuitive to the current Catholic mindset from the very top on down:

Here then, have my unauthoritative, probably-hyperbolic, unspecific but nevertheless believed and possible answer to the question of how to attract young people to the Mass: Stop trying.

[From our correspondent, Guy Noir - Private Eye]