The quotable Fr. Rutler

Whether you agree or not, you're likely as I to find this an amusing provocation: Fr. George W. Rutler, "Benedict XVI: Pope as Prophet" (Crisis, August 25, 2014):

Should the God of Love call Benedict first to his heavenly home where humility’s only advertisement is the peace which passes all understanding, may Francis or another successor of Peter, declare Benedict a Doctor of the Church. Of one thing we may be certain: like the bold prophet Jeremiah, the benign prophet Benedict will never say in this world or from the next, “I told you so.” Reality has said that already by events more than words.

[Hat tip to JM]

"Cheesy rad-trad pulp horror fiction"

The courier arrived in a tux with a wax-sealed letter on a silver tray, his black limo running outside. Beside the letter was a poured glass of Laphroaig 18 year single malt. Neat. How he knew my palate I couldn't tell you. But the letter was from Guy Noir - Private Eye, my underground correspondent I keep on retainer in an Atlantic seaboard city that knows how to keep its secrets.

From the letter's contents, I inferred that he must have been drinking when he wrote it. If he wasn't, he should have. Scrawled across the top of the page in black ink clearly written with a quill were the words "Windswept House." Then the letter itself, in his flowing and florid hand:

I hate to be glum. And I would love for someone -- anyone? -- to weigh in with a convincing counter to this piece that delivers propositional punch and visceral evisceration. Yes, it is reactionary. Those Rad Trads at Christian Order, I know.... It makes Malachi Martin’s novel scenarios seem like cheesy pulp horror films from our high schools days, doesn’t it? And yet, it all seems as believable as not. Salt Lake City has its own seagull monument, but I don't think it really fits with something like this:


“In late January 2013 a dove of peace released by Benedict was viciously attacked and taken out by a seagull. Weeks later and more ominously, within hours of the papal resignation two huge lightning bolts struck the dome of St Peter's. The following January, two white doves of peace were chased and hacked within an inch of their lives by a big black crow and a seagull after their release by Francis, as a huge Angelus crowd looked on in horror. And once again the minor portent was soon magnified, when a 21-year-old man was crushed to death after a massive iron cross erected in 2005 in honour of John Paul II collapsed, just a week before that problematic pontiff's canonisation.”

Read on: http://www.christianorder.com/editorials.html

So. Anyone like to provide something snappy and upbeat to help our poor, depressed correspondent? Is this a job for ... Superman? Mark Shea? David Armstrong? Anything better than a sparkling sing-along with Monty Python's "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life"? or Bobby McFerrin's "Don't worry, Be Happy"?

Egoism: Me, myself, and I

"Follow your passion. It will lead you to your purpose."

-- Oprah Winfrey

"Follow your constellation and you cannot fail to reach your port of glory."

--Brunetto Latini (in the Seventh Circle of Hell)

"The pre-Conciliar practice was much sounder"

Boniface, "Alternatives to Conventional RCIA" (Unam Sanctam Catholicam, August 26, 2014).

Anyone who has been through the program of RCIA, with almost no exceptions, can tell you that he is 200% right. RCIA actually deters some Christians from becoming Catholics, in many cases not because their understandings are too "Protestant," but because the RCIA's presentations are too "Protestant," if not "New Age" or "Care Bear" fluff.

The author notes:

First of all, it must be noted that there is really no legitimate way to "get rid" of RCIA. The Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults is mandated from the highest levels of ecclesiastical authority and there is no Diocese in the West where it is not pushed by the local Ordinary. Attempts to abolish or ignore RCIA will be met with stern resistance from even the most traditional minded bishops.

Then, along the way, this characteristic admission:

We can see at once that from a pastoral perspective, the pre-Conciliar practice was much sounder.

As an afterthought, I cannot help thinking the photograph posted at the top of his article was quite intentional, given the subject and his subsequent defection from the Faith.

[Hat tip to JM]

The "striking clarity and uncompromising straight-forwardness" of the Pope

Boniface, "The Great Pius X" (Unam Sanctam Catholicam, August 20, 2014), uncompromising even when, by today's standards, doubtless "incomprehensible," not to mention controversial.

[Hat tip to JM]

Extraordinary Community News: EWTN Bus Tour Report

"I will go in unto the Altar of God
To God, Who giveth joy to my youth"
Tridentine Community News (September 7, 2014):

Over 110 people participated in Prayer Pilgrimage’s August 25-29 bus tour to the American South. Pictures tell the story better than words. Our first stop was the new Fathers of Mercy Chapel in Auburn, Kentucky. Built in 2008, the chapel is designed in a traditional style, with a High Altar, Communion Rail, and elaborate artwork throughout. The adjacent photo shows the High Altar set up for the Tridentine Mass which was offered as part of the tour.


Two churches were visited in Nashville, then it was off for two days at EWTN. The first day was spent at the expansive Shrine of the Blessed Sacrament / Our Lady of Angels Monastery in Hanceville, a rural town one hour north of Birmingham, Alabama. Mother Angelica’s nuns live here. Five wealthy families donated the over-$50 million it cost to build this magnificent complex, a true shrine to Catholic tradition. The main church is the site of televised Benedictions and Extraordinary Form Masses. Our tour group had a Tridentine Mass in the lower level church, where the crypts of the nuns are located.


The next day was spent at EWTN network headquarters in Irondale, a suburb of Birmingham. We were given a backstage tour of the production facilities and attended a broadcast of the EWTN Live talk show. Apparently our group was one of the larger pilgrimages the network had seen. This author took the opportunity to meet with network executives, who conveyed their support for the continued production of Extraordinary Faith.

Our next stop was Atlanta, where we visited the Cathedral of Christ the King, a rare Cathedral located in a posh suburb. Mass in the Extraordinary Form was offered at downtown Atlanta’s Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. A surreal moment was experienced at the Peachtree Mall food court: The city was host to an enormous comic book and gaming convention, with hundreds of attendees walking around town in costume as various superhero characters. How often does one see a group of Latin Mass fans dining alongside Wonder Woman and Spider Man?

On Friday we traveled to Cincinnati, Ohio and its Windsor-like neighbor across the Ohio River, Covington, Kentucky. Mass in the Ordinary Form was offered at the artistically ornate Mother of God Church, with its colorful murals depicting the Joyful Mysteries of the Holy Rosary.


The last stop was St. Francis de Sales Church, designed by the same architect behind Detroit’s St. Joseph Church. Like St. Joseph, St. Francis’ High Altar is five steps up rather than the usual three, with an enormous and elaborate reredos.




We hope you can join us on a future inspirational pilgrimage!

Tridentine Masses This Coming Week

• Mon. 09/08 7:00 PM: Low Mass at St. Joseph (Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary)
• Tue. 09/02 7:00 PM: High Requiem Mass at St. Benedict/Assumption-Windsor (Daily Mass for the Dead)
• Sun. 09/14 9:30 AM: High Mass at St. Josaphat – (Exaltation of the Holy Cross) – Sunday Tridentine Masses return to St. Josaphat and will no longer be held regularly at St. Joseph Church

[Comments? Please e-mail tridnews@detroitlatinmass.org. Previous columns are available at http://www.detroitlatinmass.org. This edition of Tridentine Community News, with minor editions, is from the St. Albertus (Detroit), Academy of the Sacred Heart (Bloomfield Hills), and Assumption (Windsor) bulletin inserts for September 7, 2014. Hat tip to A.B., author of the column.]

Tridentine Masses coming to the metro Detroit and east Michigan area this week

Tridentine Masses This Coming Week

• Sun. 09/07 9:30 AM: High Mass at St. Joseph, Detroit (13th Sunday after Pentecost)
• Sun. 09/07 9:30 AM: High Mass at Assumption Grotto, Detroit (13th Sunday after Pentecost)
• Sun. 09/07: No Mass at Chapel of the Academy of the Sacred Heart, Bloomfield Hills -- Mass will resume at the Academy as usual at 9:45 AM on Sunday, September 14.
• Sun. 09/07 2:00 PM: High Mass at St. Benedict/Assumption-Windsor, Canada (13th Sunday after Pentecost)
• Sun. 09/07 4:00 PM High (or Low) Mass at All Saints Catholic Church, Flint (13th Sunday after Pentecost)
• Mon. 09/08 7:30 AM: High or Low Mass (varies) at Assumption Grotto, Detroit (Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary - 2nd class)
• Mon. 09/08 7:00 PM: Low Mass at St. Joseph, Detroit (Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary - 2nd class)
• Mon. 09/08 7:00 PM: Low Mass (usually) at Assumption Grotto, Detroit (Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary - 2nd class)
• Tue. 09/09 7:30 AM High or Low Mass (varies) at Assumption Grotto, Detroit (St. Peter Claver - 3rd class)
• Tue. 09/09 7:00 PM: High Requiem Mass at St. Benedict/Assumption-Windsor, Canada (Daily Mass for the Dead)
• Tue. 09/09 7:00 PM: Low Mass (usually) at Assumption Grotto, Detroit (St. Peter Claver - 3rd class)
• Wed. 09/10 7:30 AM: High or Low Mass (varies) at Assumption Grotto, Detroit (St. Nicholas of Tolentino - 3rd class)
• Wed. 09/10 7:00 PM: High Mass at Assumption Grotto, Detroit (St. Nicholas of Tolentino - 3rd class)
• Thu. 09/11 7:30 AM: High or Low Mass (varies) at Assumption Grotto, Detroit (Ss. Protus and Hyacinth - 4th class)
• Thu. 09/11 7:00 PM: Low Mass (usually) at Assumption Grotto, Detroit (Ss. Protus and Hyacinth - 4th class)
• Fri. 09/12 7:30 AM: High or Low Mass (varies) at Assumption Grotto, Detroit (Most Holy Name of Mary - 3rd class)
• Fri. 09/12 7:00 PM: Low Mass (usually) at Assumption Grotto, Detroit (Most Holy Name of Mary - 3rd class)
• Sat. 09/13 7:30 AM: High or Low Mass (varies) at Assumption Grotto, Detroit (Saturday of Our Lady - 4th class)
• Sun. 09/14 9:30 AM: High Mass at St. Josaphat, Detroit (14th Sunday after Pentecost)
• Sun. 09/14 9:30 AM: High Mass at Assumption Grotto, Detroit (14th Sunday after Pentecost)
• Sun. 09/14 9:45: High Mass at Chapel of the Academy of the Sacred Heart, Bloomfield Hills (14th Sunday after Pentecost)
• Sun. 09/14 2:00 PM: High Mass at St. Benedict/Assumption-Windsor, Canada (14th Sunday after Pentecost)
• Sun. 09/14 4:00 PM High (or Low) Mass at All Saints Catholic Church, Flint (14th Sunday after Pentecost)

Charles James' critique of Bernard Lonergan

[This is hopefully the first in a series of critical readings of Nouvelle theologians that we hope to offer. Suggestions are welcome.]

Charles James, "Falling Into Subjectivism" (New Oxford Review, September 2003). Charles James, a convert from Anglicanism, is an Associate Professor of Philosophy, Academic Dean, and Provost at St. Patrick’s Seminary in Menlo Park, California.

In a breathless article published in Crisis magazine (Feb. 2003), Michael Novak canonizes Jesuit theologian Bernard Lonergan (1904-1984) as the St. Thomas Aquinas of our time. But Novak’s applause is so loud that the reader may overlook a vital point: Lonergan’s Kantianism gets the best of his Thomism, forcing him into the dead end of subjectivism. Lonergan’s philosophy rests ultimately on human experience rather than on a sturdy philosophy of being.

Novak is not alone in his praise of Lonergan. Workshops on Lonergan’s thought are held all over the world. He is studied in major seminaries in the U.S., Canada, and Latin America. Boston College has long been a teaching center for his theology and philosophy. The Lonergan Research Institute in Toronto is busy publishing an edition of Lonergan’s writings on theology, philosophy, economics, education, and religion. The Institute’s scholarly journal, Method, is devoted to international Lonerganian research. There are even plans to create an icon of Lonergan!

Why do Novak and others offer such obeisance to Lonergan? First, for many theologians, the most attractive aspect of Lonergan’s thought is the new foundation he offers them. For theologians who long ago jettisoned the Thomistic philosophy of being, Lonergan offers a new grounding for theology. He seems to give us a new apologetic. Faced with the myriad of theological methods, he appears to provide a systematic and comprehensive approach to theology. Yet this new foundation is flawed in its fundamental structure. Second, he expresses his theology in the jargon of existentialism and phenomenology, the current lingua franca of the intellectual elite. Intent on communicating with contemporary intellectuals, many Catholic theologians replace the traditional language of Catholic philosophy with this new jargon. However, their flawed method keeps them from reaching their laudable goal. What they gain in communication they lose in substance. The language of experience never substitutes for the language of being. Third, although Lonergan uses the language of contemporary philosophy, he maintains many Thomistic terms. However, these terms are re-defined in order to support his experiential theory of knowledge. Let me focus on two of Lonergan’s central terms.

The monumental creativity of Lonergan’s thought revolves around his notion of “insight” and “conversion.” Insight was the central idea of Lonergan’s magnum opus, Insight: A Study of Human Understanding (1957). This is the work mentioned in Novak’s article which impacted him so significantly as a theology student in Rome. He tells us that he and his fellow seminarians were “abuzz with the impending publication of Insight….”

The other central term is “conversion.” In his 1972 work Method in Theology, Lonergan displays a more obvious subjectivism as he tries to validate Christian doctrines by an appeal to the experience of conversion. Is it because Method so clearly betrays Lonergan’s false starting point that Novak fails to mention this work? Certainly Method has had a greater impact on theology than Insight. In Method Lonergan uses his experiential notion of conversion as a criterion of truth in theology, clearly basing doctrine on the weak foundation of a religious experience. Does the reluctance to compare Insight and Method, to read them together, bespeak an unease that Lonerganian theologians have with the intensified subjectivism of their master’s later work?

Lonergan’s work is of a piece. Certainly there is development and corrections are made, and certainly his entire corpus represents innumerable subject areas. Yet when read together one sees that Insight and Method share a common root. Method only develops and centralizes the experiential starting point of Insight. Method applies the notion of insight to the religious life by giving it a criterial importance in theology. The Lonerganian notion of conversion is religious insight writ large. It is easy to overlook the subjectivist consequences of Insight, as well as the weak philosophical roots of Method, if these books are not read together.

Mistaken for satire: Tom Reese's suggestions for liturgical renewal

Who Needs Comedy Central?

In a recent email, a reader referred me to the following article, which, he said, he first mistook for satire. "I gather he's serious," he added.

Thomas Reese, "A suggested agenda for the new prefect for Congregation for Divine Worship." Excerpts (emphasis added):

With a vacancy at the head of the Vatican's Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments, Pope Francis has an opportunity to restart liturgical renewal, which was stalled BY the papacies of Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI.

The purpose of liturgical reform is not only to translate old Latin texts into good English, but to revise liturgical practices to allow people to celebrate their Christian faith in ways that better fit contemporary culture.

The former prefect, Cardinal Antonio Canizares Llovera, has been appointed archbishop of Valencia in eastern Spain. His conservative liturgical views were more in sync with those of Pope Benedict than of Pope Francis. Canizares, who was appointed prefect in 2008, supported expansion of the Tridentine Mass (aka the Extraordinary Form), and in his most recent letter said that the kiss of peace should be done with greater sobriety.

The good news is that Francis is no fan of the Tridentine Mass. Yes, he did say Mass in Latin in Korea, but that was because he did not know Korean, and they did not know Italian or Spanish. As archbishop of Buenos Aries, Argentina, he forbade the Tridentine Mass in his archdiocese until Pope Benedict mandated that it be available throughout the universal church whether bishops wanted it or not. Francis has never celebrated it (he was ordained in 1969) and never will. He hopes it will fade away.

Nor is he happy with the push for literal translations, including translating pro multis as "for many" rather than "for all." As a result, the Vatican push for new Italian, German, and other translations has been put on hold.

Francis also prefers a simple liturgical style and has no qualms about breaking liturgical rules for pastoral reasons. For example, as pope and as archbishop of Buenos Aries, he washed the feet of women on Holy Thursday even though the rules say that males (in Latin, viri) are to have their feet washed.

More recently, in Korea while saying Mass, he wore a butterfly pinned to his chasuble in honor of the Korean "comfort women" who were sex slaves to Japanese soldiers during World War II. That is a liturgical no-no.

The bad news is that there is no indication that liturgical renewal is a major priority for Pope Francis. In Argentina, progressive intellectuals criticized him for his support of popular devotions. The poor he so loved in the slums of Buenos Aires were more likely to turn out for a procession or devotion than for the Eucharist. They did not connect with either the old or the renewed Eucharist. Hopefully, this disconnect will lead him to look for a prefect who is more interested in what works pastorally, especially with the poor, than in what either conservative or liberal ideologues want.

... A more intelligent and pastoral approach to liturgical change would include three things: centers for liturgical research and development, market testing, and enculturation.

What is needed are centers for liturgical R&D where scholars and artists can collaborate with a willing community in developing new liturgical practices. Seminaries and universities with liturgical scholars are obvious places for this, but some parishes might be willing to be beta sites for new practices, especially if they were allowed to give feedback.

... Trying out different settings for the kiss is an ideal project for the centers for liturgical research and development, as are the other suggestions I give below.

One of the reasons for moving the kiss of peace is that it would open up space for a more expansive rite at the breaking of the bread prior to Communion. This would require bread that actually looks like bread.

It just keeps getting "better and better." Read on >>

[Hat tip to C.G.-Z.]

Dutch euthanasia expert: "We were wrong -- terribly wrong, in fact"

A Dutch expert on euthanasia has not only stopped supporting the death practice and the euthanasia law for which he campaigned, but he has made the reasons for his about-face public -- something usually frowned upon in Dutch circles.

Professor Theo Boer held a unique position for seeing how the country's euthanasia/assissted suicide law, enacted in 2002, actually worked. For nine years, Boer, a medical ethicist was a mamber of one of the five Dutch regional review committees charged with investigating all reported euthanasia and assisted-suicide deaths for the government to see if each case complied with the law.

In an article Boer submitted to London's Daily Mail -- in the hope of persuading Britain's House of Lords not to pass an assisted-suicide law -- Boer said he and his colleagues were "terribly wrong" when they concluded five years after the Dutch euthanasia law took effect that there was no "slippery slope" associated with that law. Starting in 2008, the numbers of induced deaths began increasing 15% each year. By 2012, the euthanasia review committees recorded 4,188 deaths (compared to 1,882 in 2002), and Boer expects the reported annual death count to reach 6,000 this year or next year at the latest.

"Euthanasia is on the way to become a 'default' mode of dying for cancer patients," he wrote, and there's been a sharp increase in the deaths of people with psychiatric illnesses or dementia, and those simply suffering from grief, loneliness, or age. "Some of these patients could have lived for years or decades," he explained.

There have been other undeniable signs of a serious ethical slide due to the law. One example he cites is the "End of Life Clinic," established by the Dutch Right to Die Society (NVVE), that sends out teams of euthanasia doctors to end the lives of those who have been denied an induced death by their own doctors. These mobile doctors, Boer wrote, do not have an established relationship with patients, having only seen them three times before terminating those patients' lives. NVVE is also relentlessly campaigning for a "lethal pill" for anyone over 70 years of age.

According to Boer, the Dutch law "sees assisted suicide and euthanasia as the exception," but "public opinion is shifting towards considering them rights, with corresponding duties on doctors to act." A new law being drafted would place added pressure on doctors who refuse a death request to refer the patient to a "willing doctor." "Not even the Review Committees, despite hard and conscientious work, have been able to halt these developments," Boer wrote.

Finally, Boer implored Britain's Parliament not to pass the assisted-suicide bill currently being considered before looking closely at teh Dutch experience, suggesting that "the mere existence of such a law is an invitation to see assisted suicide and euthanasia as a normality instead of a last resort." "Once the genie is out of the bottle," he wrote, "it is not likely to ever go back in again." [Boer, "Don't make our mistake," Daily Mail, 7/9/14]

[Hat tip to Rita Marker, in Patients Rights Council Update, pp. 1, 6]

Doldrums: Ralph McInerny's sardonic account of contemporary philosophy

Christopher Blosser, "Ralph McInerny, on Continental and Analytic Philosophy" (Against the Grain, September 2, 2014):

From Ralph McInerny's A Students Guide to Philosophy (intercollegiate Studies Institute, 1999) -- a hilarious accounting of the development of philosophy, and how we got into the mess we are in today. Suffice to say he doesn't mince any words, and I'm sure he had as much fun writing it as I did reading it).

From its beginning, medieval education sought to establish a modus vivendi between faith and reason. This remained true in the thirteenth century. The recovery of philosophy had to be accommodated to the theology based on Scripture. For one brief shining century everything cohered. Faith and reason fully complemented one another. The range of reason was what Plato and Aristotle thought it was. The human mind could know the divine and know that the soul was immortal. Christianity had an ally in the life of reason, and vice versa. It did not last.

Soon thinkers in the name of faith began to devalue reason and eventually the mind had only language to play with. Nominalism and the Reformation effectively dismantled the medieval synthesis, paving the way for modernity. Descartes spoke of a tree of knowledge and the quest for method sought a new systematic integration of the different sciences, but philosophy became progressively more isolated from the natural sciences and mathematics. The turn from the world to the mind as the primary concern of the philosopher led to a succession of theories purporting to establish the a priori conditions for thinking. But the distinction between being and being known blurred to the point where to be and to be thought were identical. What would unify the enterprise of human thought was no longer a connection among the sciences, but an understanding of why we think as we do.

The last great effort of idealism is phenomenology. The return “to the things themselves” disappointingly became a concern with the constituting acts whereby objects become objects (i.e., the conditions of presence), and what had seemed a realism became one more effort to tease from the structure of our mind the character of its objects, to anticipate experience, to turn thinking into a kind of thing-ing that generates its own object. This alteration of the program of phenomenology caused the recently canonized Edith Stein to part company with Edmund Husserl.

Phenomenology, like drugs, is addictive. Imagine finding sentences like the following meaningful: “In fact, after Nietzsche had brought to an end and completed all the possibilities—even inverted—of metaphysics, phenomenology, more than any other theoretical initiative, undertook a new beginning.” (Jean-Luc Marion) It would be more accurate to say that philosophy, both Continental and analytic, succumbed to Teutonic gurus who uttered gnomic pronunciamentos. The influence of a Heidegger and a Wittgenstein can be difficult to comprehend, yet these are the two most influential philosophers of our century. Each proclaimed himself to be a new beginning. Ezra Pound, in his Cantos, sought to produce lines like the uneven ones in the remnants of Sappho’s verse. Some modern philosophers aspired to write pre-Socratic fragments. The style was aphoristic, arguments were scarce to nonexistent, a mood was induced or an attitude produced which ruled out questioning. Nietzsche was tolerable because the madness had no method. In Heidegger, Nietzsche is given credit for having brought metaphysics to an end, whatever that might mean. Heidegger is the first post-metaphysical thinker. He must be; he tells us so. Wittgenstein sought to redefine philosophy, yet boasted in old age that he was a professor of philosophy who had never read Aristotle. One would have bet on it.

There is little sign that the influence of Heideggerian and Wittgensteinian gnosticism is abating. Like a fever, it will have to work itself out. Meanwhile, academic philosophy is in the doldrums, light-years distant from the questions that alone can justify it. If one could make sense of the claim that all -- all! -- the possibilities, inverted or not, of metaphysics had been brought to an end and completed by mad Nietzsche, one might agree or disagree. But what would either mean? It is best to heed Jeeves’s remark to Bertie Wooster. “You would not like Nietzsche, sir. He is fundamentally unsound.”

It may seem a relief to turn to analytic philosophy from the polysyllabic breathlessness of Continental philosophy. But this is to turn from Heidegger to Wittgenstein, the one as enigmatic as the other. The linguistic turn, like the transcendental turn, aims at putting philosophy /in any traditional sense out of business. The seemingly straightforward desire to establish the meaning of meaning has not met with success. So we are back at the beginning; philosophy in the twentieth century, like philosophy in the sixteenth, is still trying to get started.

Its present state is obscure, its past nonexistent, and its future nothing worth waiting for. To say that modern philosophy has abandoned classical and medieval philosophy is simply to accept its self-description. Since this has still not led to anything, perhaps it is time to question the wisdom of the abandonment.

David Wood's "Answering Muslims" website: from exposing Jimmy Carter's promotion of Sharia to Muhammad, Cross-Dressing, and the London Muslim Patrol

Some of us have seen this face before. I encountered him first back when the U.S. first got involved in Afghanistan and Iraq. But a reader recently sent me the following video in which David Wood takes to task Jimmy Carter's promotion of Sharia for the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), reminding me of just how incisive his analyses can be. Have a look at this video for yourself, and then take some time to explore his other more recent (and earlier) posts. (Click on above link for his site, Answering Muslims)


In fact, sometimes, David Wood can get downright brazen, as when he dons women's clothing to make a point about Muhammad, Cross-Dressing, and the London Muslim Patrol. Don't be deceived by the bizarre apparition of David Wood dressed thus. He's in dead earnest, and making a strategic point. See if you can see what it is.

[Hat tip to L.S.]

What happened to Mother Angelica, EWTN, and Catholic media about 15 years ago

Don't misunderstand this as an attack on EWTN, which reportedly has good programs, although, not having a TV, I haven't been privy to them. Rather, this is the back story on what happened to Mother Angelica when she began openly criticizing corruption in the hierarchy, and what subsequently happened at EWTN after Mother Angelical was forced to retire as head of the network of which she was herself the founder.

Turn up the volume when you come to the part where Mother Angelica herself is speaking [beginning at 3:54 on the time marker]. It's well worth taking a good listen.


Sequel [Mother Angelica speaks beginning at 8:39 on the time marker]:


Yet another sequel [Here is Mother Angelica on a roll. The question to ask yourself is: who does she mean by "you" and "your" in here severe denunciations here? Amazing.]:


Related: C. A. Ferrara, EWTN: A Network Gone Wrong(Good counsel Publications, 2006). [Here, too, you shouldn't understand this as an attack on what is clearly good in EWTN programming, but an expose of what happened when Mother Angelica was forced out in 2000.]

Unbelievably bad popes who can strengthen one's faith in Christ's promises and the Church

Dr. Howard P. Kainz, Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at Marquette University and former executive member of the American Catholic Philosophical Association, offers an eye-opening review of a book by James Hitchcock, History of the Catholic Church: From the Apostolic Age to the Third Millennium(San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2012).

His review, "The Church: God Writing Straight with Crooked Lines" (New Oxford Review, July-August 2014), is substantial and full of fascinating detail. The excerpts about some of the historical popes alone are enough to bolster the confidence of anyone concerned about rocky periods in Church history. Here are several excerpts:

Celibacy was eventually mandated in the eleventh century to prevent family dynasties — even in the papacy. For example, in the sixth century, Pope St. Hormisdas was the father of Pope Silverius, and Pope Felix III was the grandfather of Gregory the Great....

... In the ninth and tenth centuries, corruption of kings and clerics was common. Charlemagne married five times, had six concubines, and forced his daughters to have their children out of wedlock in order to avoid potential political entanglements with his sons-in-law. The institution of the papacy was often in disarray. For example, Pope Stephen VI ordered the body of his predecessor, Pope Formosus, to be exhumed and tried for violations of Church law; Formosus was found guilty, stripped of his vestments, and desecrated. Later that year, Stephen himself was strangled in prison. Bribery was common. Benedict IX paid to become pope in the eleventh century, but later resigned on the condition that he receive his money back. The general picture by the fifteenth century was not very pretty. As Hitchcock observes, “Pope Sixtus IV (1471-1484), a Franciscan who was notoriously immoral in his private life, set out to make the papacy a feared military force, placed his nephews in important principalities, and arranged their marriages with an eye to effecting strategic alliances. He supported a plot to assassinate the Medicis, the ruling Florentine family, who were to be killed at Mass by two priests…. Pope Alexander VI (1492-1503) was a Spanish cardinal, a member of the Borgia family, [and]…became one of the most notorious of all the popes, the worst since the tenth century.” Hitchcock adds that the future Pope Pius II came from a background of pornographic authorship.

... Popes themselves conflicted with one another: In 1570, for example, Pius V excommunicated Queen Elizabeth; but a few years later Pope Sixtus V declared that she was an admirable woman. The Church hierarchy was sometimes involved in criminality; for example, some cardinals in the sixteenth century tried to poison Pope Leo X, who got wind of the plot and executed their leader. Leo’s unfortunate decision to recognize the right of the king of France to nominate bishops caused problems of authority for the following three centuries.

... In the fourteenth century there were three claimants to the papacy — Urban VI, Clement VII, and John XXII — which helped give rise to the conciliar movement, so that cardinals could depose popes in such cases. But this “solution” turned out to be a vicious circle, since councils are customarily called by popes. In the twelfth century, Peter Abelard, famous for his romantic affair with Heloise, eventually became a reforming abbot whose monks tried to poison him. And in the sixteenth century, some unlikely popes began to lead the way to reform. As Hitchcock writes, “Papal support for the reforming impulse in the Church began with Paul III, who led a scandalous life. He fathered children, and his ecclesiastical career flourished primarily because of his aristocratic Farnese family connections and the fact that his sister had been one of Pope Alexander VI’s mistresses. By the time of his election, he had undergone a change of heart, although he still used his office to favor his children.” But the Church was unable to head off the very different approaches to “reform” carried out by Luther, Zwingli, Calvin, and others. So the Council of Trent was called to stem the disruptive tides, beginning with the Protestant Reformation.

Many such councils have been called in the hope that they would clear up ambiguities and differences once and for all. But, as Hitchcock observes, the history of Church councils would lead us to a different conclusion. The fourth-century Council of Nicaea left unresolved the question of Christ’s divinity. The fifth-century Council of Chalcedon seemed to make Constantinople and Rome equal sees. And Trent opened up with disputes that seemed to portend similar or even worse ambiguities. For starters, France boycotted the proceedings, leaving mostly Italian bishops, along with a few other European bishops. Pope Paul IV opposed the Council as a threat to papal authority, causing a hiatus. But as Trent resumed under the aegis of Pope Pius IV, acrimonious national and doctrinal factions developed, leading to some ambiguity in the final decrees. For example, Christ was declared to be present “whole and entire” under both species, bread and wine, and frequent Communion was encouraged; but the “frequent Communion” recommended for seminarians was once a week, and for nuns once a month. Disputed questions about justification and the relation of grace and free will were left unresolved. And Mass in the vernacular was prohibited, even though, as we saw above, Latin was first chosen because it was the vernacular.

... About a third of the Council Fathers at Vatican I were either opposed to the declaration of infallibility or wanted to attach conditions to its announcement. A lingering problem was that, in the past, two popes had dabbled in heresy — Pope Honorius in the seventh century accepted monothelitism, and Pope John XXII in the fourteenth century supported (but later recanted) the doctrine of “soul sleep” before the Last Judgment. So the condition of “speaking ex cathedra” was finally emphasized, to take into account the possibility of occasional papal infelicities.

Read the whole article >> Hitchcock's conclusion is a good bit more upbeat and optimistic than many would seem to be the blogosphere these days. But as Kainz says, by way of conclusion, "Perhaps the sedevacantists in our midst, by boning up on Church history, warts and all, might realize that her present state is miraculous -- not the work of men, but of God, who writes straight with crooked lines." And how crooked those lines have been for those willing to examine them! As I have oft contended, the better versed one is in Church history, the more one's faith, counter-intuitively, is bolstered by the miracle that is the Church.

"Abp. Cordileone Leading by Example"

Gregory Dipippo, "Abp. Cordileone Leading by Example" (New Liturgical Movement, August 29, 2014):

The Summer 2014 issue of The Latin Mass magazine has an interview with Archbishop Cordileone titled “Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone Leading by Example,” and an accompanying article titled “San Francisco’s Archbishop Cordileone and the Traditional Latin Mass.” The interview and the article give additional details beyond those that were previously available about the encouraging initiatives Archbishop Cordileone has been taking since he was installed, including steps to make the Extraordinary Form of the Mass more widely available in the San Francisco archdiocese and to improve the quality of liturgies in the Ordinary Form.

If you don’t subscribe to The Latin Mass magazine, you can read the full interview and article by clicking here. You might consider subscribing. As stated on their website, its editors are committed to “developing The Latin Mass journal into the intellectual arm of Catholics working for the return of the Church to tradition and authentic organic development.” It is informative, intelligent, and positive in its approach.

Some excerpts ...

His Excellency Salvatore Joseph Cordileone was installed as Archbishop of San Francisco on October 4, 2012 at the relatively young age of 56. During the year and a half since then, the energetic, articulate, and personable Archbishop Cordileone has taken several encouraging steps to make the traditional Latin Mass more widely available in his archdiocese. The archbishop has also taken several other initiatives to promote more-reverent liturgies in the Ordinary Form of the Roman rite, which will also be touched on in this article.

As he expressed in a recent interview elsewhere in this issue (see “Archbishop Cordileone Leading By Example”), the archbishop hopes that educating clergy and laity and exposing them to the beauty and majesty of the traditional form of the Mass will help make it less of a contentious issue and help enable it to be restored to a regular place in the life of the Church. His goal is also to make sure that Catholics in the San Francisco Bay Area come to better understand their liturgical tradition so they will be able to worship well in both forms of the Roman Rite.

Behind all of his work on the liturgy is his belief what he called the Benedictine vision, which is a shorthand phrase he uses to refer to the teachings of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI on renewal of the sacred liturgy. ....

Read more >>

[Hat tip to Sir A.S.]