Pope's true liturgical reform?

New Catholic, "The True Reform of Pope Ratzinger" (Rorate Caeli, January 14, 2010) says that The New Theological Movement has published a partial translation of the interview given by Antonio Cardinal Canizares-Llovera to Il Foglio, and published on January 9, 2010. In what follows, I offer only the noted highlights:

... After a year at the helm of this Congregation, I experience and sense with greater force every day, the necessity of promoting in the Church, in every continent, a strong and rigorous liturgical impulse. An impulse which revivifies that most rich heritage of the Council and of which the great liturgical movement of the 19th and first half of the 20th century - with men like Guardini, Jungmann and so many others - rendered fruitful the Church at the Second Vatican Council. There, without any doubt, stands our future and the future of the world.... Only a Church which lives the truth of the liturgy will be in a position to give the one thing which can renew, transform and recreate the world: God and only God and His grace.

... I believe that the Motu Proprio has a most important value for its own sake, for the Church and for the liturgy. ... the Motu Proprio is not a step back or a return to the past. It is to acknowledge and receive, with simplicity, in all its fullness, the treasures and inheritance of the great Tradition, which has in the liturgy its most genuine and profound expression. The Church cannot permit herself to prescind, to forget or to renounce the treasures and the rich inheritance of this tradition, contained in the Roman Rite. It would be a betrayal and a negation of her very self.... Obviously, the Motu Proprio has to be seen with the reading and interpretation one makes or would make of the Second Vatican Council. When one reads the Council and interprets it with the key of rupture and discontinuity, he understands nothing of the Council and he completely distorts it.

The great contribution of the Pope, in my opinion, is that he is bringing us closer to the truth of the liturgy, with a wise pedagogy, introducing us to the genuine 'spirit' of the liturgy (the title of one of his works before becoming Pope). He, before all else, is following a simple educative process which seeks to move toward this 'spirit' or genuine sense of the liturgy, to overcome a reductive vision which is still very entrenched. As Pope, he is the first to put into practice his teachings, so rich and abundant in this area. As his evocative gestures which accompany the celebrations at which he presides, move in this direction. To accept these gestures and these teachings is a duty which we have if we are disposed to live the liturgy in a way corresponding to its very naturalness and if we do not want to lose the treasures and liturgical inheritance of the tradition.... ... in the liturgy one touches that which is most essential to the faith and the Church ....

Pope on the SSPX and Anglicans

New Catholic, "Pope on the SSPX and Anglicans" (Rorate Caeli, January 15.2010):

VATICAN CITY, 15 JAN 2010 (VIS) - Participants in the annual plenary assembly of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the president of which is Cardinal William Joseph Levada, were received this morning by the Holy Father. In his address to them he highlighted the fact that their dicastery "participates in the ministry of unity" which is primarily entrusted to the Pope through his "commitment to doctrinal fidelity.

"Unity", he added, "is first and foremost unity of faith, upheld by the sacred tradition of which Peter's Successor is the primary custodian and defender....

he goal of a shared witness of faith among all Christians "represents, then, a priority for the Church in all periods of history. ... In this spirit, I trust particularly in your dicastery's commitment to overcoming the doctrinal problems that still persist in achieving the full communion of the Society of St. Pius X with the Church".

Benedict XVI then went on to thank the members of the congregation for their efforts towards "the full integration of groups and individuals of former Anglican faithful into the life of the Catholic Church, in accordance with the provisions of the Apostolic Constitution 'Anglicanorum coetibus'....

Ex-Lutheran pastor who became a Byzantine Catholic priest

Sees Byzantine church a “perfect marriage” of Eastern traditions and unity with pope

Patricia Coll Freeman, "Ex-Protestant at home in Byzantine Catholic Church" (Catholic Anchor, Archdiocese of Anchorage, January 9, 2010):

A former Lutheran pastor from Northern Michigan now heads St. Nicholas of Myra Byzantine Catholic Church in Anchorage.

On Oct. 31, Father James Barrand, 52, succeeded just-retired pastor Father Mike Hornick at the little, dome-topped church, where an ancient Catholic liturgy is celebrated everyday. Father Barrand is quick to explain that he got to the icon and incense-filled church with the help of ancient guides — the Early Church Fathers — who chanted the same Divine Praises in the first centuries of the church as he does now.

... As with many Protestant denominations, Father Barrand explained, Lutherans think they must “restore” the church to “its pristine shape before the corruption – as they saw it – of the Middle Ages. So they very much encourage people to go back to the Fathers. So I did.”

But in examining the writings of those closest in time to Christ and his Apostles, Father Barrand discovered the church Christ founded was the Catholic Church ...

Read the rest of the article here. Interesting story, especially if you know a lot of Lutherans.

[Hat tip to M.L.]

People who can't seem to find themselves

A friend and I have been discussing the widespread contemporary phenomenon of, as he puts it, "selves-who-are-not-selves-because-they-are-only-into-themselves," a pathology that seems to afflict not only teenagers and twixters, but purported adults who never seem to grow up, and men and women in a mid-life malaise (or life-long funk) who endlessly seem to be changing not only their toe nail varnish, but their careers or spouses or religions in search of their 'authentic' selves, that je ne sais quoi animating an I-just-need-to-be-'honest'-and-be-'me' goose chase that leaves little but broken relationships and families in its wake. The same phenomenon is found among politicians and celebrities who endlessly reinvent themselves through the spin of public media. When their heads stop spinning, will they know which is 'image' and which is 'original' anymore? All of which raises some interesting questions about the 'self.'

Just today, on that very Walker-Percian theme of the elusive self, my friend sent me the following brilliant review by Steven Greydanus of that classic film, A Man for All Seasons(1966) -- one of the 15 films listed in the category of "Religion" on the Vatican film list. Greydanus writes:

Who are you, in the end? What, if anything, defines you? What is it that makes you you?

Don’t tell me about your job, your family, your hobbies or interests. All of those are hostage to circumstance, subject to change. Given the right price, the right circumstances, you could leave your job. Your family could be taken away from you, or you from them. Important as these things may be, they are, in principle, transitory. Is there anything in you that is not transitory, not hostage to circumstance, not subject to renegotiation or compromise?

Is there anything, for instance, that you could never, ever bring yourself to do, regardless of the price, or whatever pressure might be brought to bear upon you? And if there is nothing like that — if you are infinitely malleable, capable of becoming, under the right circumstances, anything at all — then are you really anyone at all? Do you have an identity, a self? Or only a particular configuration under present conditions?

A Man for All Seasons is the story of a man who knows who he is. The 1966 film (there is also a 1988 Charlton Heston made-for-TV version), which won six Acadamy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Actor (Paul Scofield), is brilliant and compelling, steely with conviction, luminous with genuine wisdom and wit. The screenplay, well adapted by Robert Bolt from his own stage play, is fiercely intelligent, deeply affecting, resonant with verbal beauty and grace. Scofield, who for years starred in the stage play before making the film, gives an effortlessly rich and layered performance as Sir Thomas More, saint and martyr, the man whose determined silence spoke more forcefully than words, and who then spoke even more forcefully by breaking it.

Quick-minded, urbane, meticulous, cheerful, admirable, and humorous, Thomas More rises to the rank of Lord Chancellor of England before falling out with King Henry VIII over the King’s plan to end his marriage to Catherine and marry Anne Boleyn. When the English bishops break with Rome and Henry is declared "Supreme Head of the Church in England," More, a pious Catholic, can no longer in conscience serve as chancellor, and gives up his high office, income, and great household. To preserve his freedom and protect his family, he also gives up his political and public life, trying to keep a low profile.

But Sir Thomas is too well known to drop out of the public mind, and his silence is widely construed as disapproval, becoming a source of private anxiety and public embarrassment to Henry. What ensues is a riveting cat-and-mouse game, a fox hunt with More as the wily and elusive fox using every trick in the book to elude the king’s hounds baying for his blood. Literally in the book; More is a brilliant lawyer, and his defense is a legal one: if he maintains his silence he cannot be accused of opposing the king.

But presently that is no longer enough, and More must give up his freedom and property in order to save his neck. And when even that is not enough, to preserve his integrity More lays down his neck. All this, because there is something he will not do: He will not swear under oath that he accepts the King’s title and new marriage.

"When a man takes an oath," Sir Thomas explains to his daughter Margaret in a crucial scene, "he’s holding his own self in his hands. Like water." He cups his hands. "And if he opens his fingers then — he needn’t hope to find himself again. Some men aren’t capable of this, but I’d be loath to think your father one of them." (There is a moment, later in the film, when another character does precisely what More is incapable of; prompting my wife to murmur, "Splash!")

All this is foreign to our post-Clinton era, when the ability of celebrities and politicians to reinvent themselves is widely regarded as a basic survival skill, and getting or holding onto power or fame is the highest good. When a brilliant and charismatic lawyer becomes his country’s highest ranking government official, and is then accused and tried for a crime, we do not expect him to be so concerned about perjury that he chooses to sacrifice his career, income, holdings, freedom, and eventually his life. We find it more practical to suppose that, when push comes to shove, people say or do whatever in in their own best interests.

Unless, of course, you happen to want to really commit yourself; unless it is vital to you on some point that you be taken at your word. To be doubted then — to be told that your most solemn assurance is empty, that you are incapable of vouching for the point in question — it’s like being told that you are no one at all, that you have no character, no identity, no soul.

There is, in fact, a character to whom More tells this very thing: Richard Rich, a superficial young man who in the end has a hand in More’s undoing. Rich wants a job in court, but More, knowing Rich’s lack of character, will not put him where he’ll be tempted. Rich begs and pleads, finally professing fervently that he "would be faithful." More looks him in the eye and says deliberately: "Richard, you couldn’t answer for yourself even so far as tonight." And that night Rich proves More right. He’s a kind of reverse type of St. Thomas: As More’s integrity leads to waning material fortunes but increasingly heroic virtue, Rich’s lack of substance causes him to rise rapidly in wealth and status as he becomes increasingly corrupt.

The performances are uniformly excellent. Wendy Hiller brings unrefined dignity to Thomas’s wife Lady Alice, a simple woman who doesn’t understand her sophisticated husband or the invisible threat that gathers round him, and masks her concern with defiance. The film doesn’t mention it, but Alice was More’s second wife, married only four months after the death of his first wife to be a mother to his children. Intellectually they have nothing in common, yet they have come to love one another fiercely; and Alice’s final lines in the Tower invariably bring tears to my eyes.

This is a great film. I believe it is the most profound cinematic depiction of the life of any saint. The fact that it was written by a non-Christian to me only makes the compelling power of More’s faith and virtue more apparent: Here is a man whose inner light is so radiant that the very unbelievers are drawn to pay tribute to it. (The same might be said for Joan of Arc, who so dazzled that crusty old skeptic Mark Twain that he wrote her life story and loved it best of all his works — despite the fact that she, a medieval French peasant Catholic girl, embodied everything that he, an 18th-century freethinking Southern gentleman, was bound to disdain!)

In fact, the spirit of St. Thomas and the beauty of his speech have been captured in part by incorporating some of More’s own words. "For the rest," Bolt wrote in his preface to the play, "my concern was to match with these as best I could so that the theft should not be too obvious." He succeeded.

Related: A Man for All Seasons (Paperback)(stage play)

[Hat tip to K.K.]

The Blessing of Epiphany Water & Chalk – Part 2 of 2

Tridentine Community News (January 10, 2009):

The Blessing of Epiphany Water, continued

Exorcism Against Satan and the Apostate Angels

We cast thee out, every unclean spirit, every devilish power, every assault of the infernal adversary, every legion, every diabolical group and sect, by the Name and power of our Lord Jesus + Christ, and command thee to fly far from the Church of God and from all who are made to the image of God and redeemed by the Precious Blood of the Divine Lamb +. Presume never again, thou cunning serpent, to deceive the human race, to persecute the Church of God, nor to strike the chosen of God and sift them as wheat +. For the Most High commands thee, + He to Whom thou didst hitherto in thy great pride presume thyself equal; He Who desireth that all men might be saved, and come to the knowledge of truth. God the Father + commandeth thee! God the Son + commandeth thee! God the Holy + Spirit commandeth thee! The majesty of Christ commands thee, the Eternal Word of God made flesh, + Who for the salvation of our race, lost through thy envy, humbled Himself and was made obedient even unto death; Who built His Church upon a solid rock, and proclaimed that the gates of hell should never prevail against her, and that He would remain with her all days, even to the end of the world! The Sacred Mystery of the Cross + commands thee, as well as the power of all Mysteries of Christian faith! + The most excellent Virgin Mary, Mother of God + commands thee, who in her lowliness crushed thy proud head from the first moment of her Immaculate Conception! The faith of the holy Apostles Peter and Paul and the other apostles + commands thee! The blood of the martyrs commands thee, as well as the pious intercession + of holy men and women!

Therefore, accursed dragon and every diabolical legion, we adjure thee by the living + God, by the true + God, by the holy + God, by the God Who so loved the world that He gave His Sole-Begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish, but shall have life everlasting – cease thy deception of men and thy giving them to drink of the poison of eternal damnation; desist from harming the Church and fettering her freedom! Get thee gone, Satan, founder and master of all falsity, enemy of mankind! Give place to Christ in Whom thou didst find none of thy works; give place to the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church which Christ Himself bought with His Blood! Be thou brought low under God’s mighty hand; tremble and flee as we call upon the holy and awesome name of Jesus, before Whom hell trembles, and to Whom the Virtues, Powers, and Dominations are subject; Whom the Cherubim and Seraphim praise with unfailing voices, saying: Holy, Holy, Holy, the Lord God of Hosts!

The cantors sing the following Antiphon and Canticle:

Antiphon
Today the Church is espoused to the heavenly Bridegroom, for in the Jordan Christ washes her sins: the Magi hasten with gifts to the regal nuptials, and the guests are gladdened with water become wine, alleluia.

Canticle of Zachary Luke 1.68-79
Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, * for He hath visited and redeemed His people,

And hath raised up the Abundance of salvation for us * in the lineage of David His servant.

Thus He foretold by the mouth of His holy prophets * who have been from times ancient;

That we might be saved from our enemies – * from the hand of all that hate us.

Now is granted the mercy promised to our fathers, * remembering His holy covenant;

And the oath which He swore to Abraham our father * that He would extend to us;

That we, delivered from the hand of our enemies, * might serve Him without fear,

Living in holiness and righteousness * before Him all our days.

And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest, * for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways;

To give knowledge of salvation to His people – * the remission of their sins,

Through the bounteous mercy of our God * in which the Orient from on high hath visited us,

To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, * to direct our feet into the way of peace.

Glory be to the Father. * As it was in the beginning.

Or instead of the above, the “Magníficat” (Luke 1. 46-55) may be chosen. At the end of either, the Antiphon given above is repeated. Then the celebrant sings:

℣. The Lord be with you.
℟. And with thy spirit.

Let us pray.
O God, Who by the guidance of a star didst this day reveal thy Sole-Begotten Son to the Gentiles, grant that we who now know Thee by faith may be brought to the contemplation of Thy heavenly majesty. Through the same Jesus Christ, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, eternally.
℟. Amen.

The Blessing of the Water
℣. Our help is in the name of the Lord.
℟. Who made heaven and earth.

From here on the Exorcism of Salt and the prayer that follows it; the Exorcism of Water and the two prayers that follow it; the Mixing of the Salt and Water; and the Concluding Prayer are the same texts as the standard Blessing of Holy Water that was printed in the October 5, 2008 edition of this column.

The celebrant then sprinkles the people with the blessed water. Lastly, the “Te Deum” is sung.

The blessed water is then given to the faithful who will use it to bless the sick and their homes.

[Comments? Please e-mail tridnews@stjosaphatchurch.org. Previous columns are available at www.stjosaphatchurch.org. This edition of Tridentine Community News, with minor editions, is from the St. Josaphat bulletin insert for January 10, 2009. Hat tip to A.B.]

Q & A: Brit Hume

The former news anchor for Fox News explains why he told Tiger Woods to turn to the Christian faith. Interview by Sarah Pulliam Bailey (Christianity Today, posted 1/07/2010 10:31AM):

Fox News analyst Brit Hume received backlash this week over his suggestion that Tiger Woods should turn to Christianity.

"Tiger Woods will recover as a golfer. Whether he can recover as a person, I think is a very open question," Hume said on the show Fox News Sunday. "The Tiger Woods that emerges, once the news value dies out of this scandal, the extent to which he can recover, seems to me, depends on his faith. He's said to be a Buddhist. I don't think that faith offers the kind of forgiveness and redemption that is offered by the Christian faith. So my message to Tiger would be, Tiger, turn to the Christian faith and you can make a total recovery and be a great example to the world."

The former news anchor says he became serious about his Christian faith about 11 years ago, when his son Sandy committed suicide at age 28. Hume spoke to Christianity Today about his faith and the criticism in response to his suggestion to Woods.

How would you respond to people to people who are criticizing you?

I certainly expected this. I'm nowhere near the first Christian to be mocked for his faith. It is simply a fact of life that the two most explosive words in the English language appear to be Jesus Christ. You don't even need to say them if you speak openly of Christianity. Faith engenders a tremendous reaction, a lot of it positive and a lot of it negative.

It seems like you've moved from anchoring news to more opinion, is that right?

I'm a senior political analyst. I do more analysis and commentary now. I do almost no anchoring anymore. I'm semi-retired. I only work 100 days a year.

Would you say you've moved out of objective journalism?

In a way, yeah. This was a panel segment where journalists give their analytical observations. We were doing predictions. We were discussing a whole range of issues including sports and entertainment. The first show of the year, we do that on Fox News Sunday. That's how the subject of Tiger Woods came up.

Were you surprised by the reaction?

I was surprised at the extent of it, but not the tone of it. I expected there to be some very strong criticism and some very strong, favorable response.

Can you tell me more about how you became a Christian?

I grew up in a Christian family and I went nine years to an Episcopal boys school. I've always been, at least on paper, a Christian. It wasn't until my son died 11 years ago that I began to get serious about it. His death was devastating. I was shattered. Yet through all of that, I had this feeling that God would save me, that he would be there for me, that I was in his hands, and that I was going to be okay. It really happened.

Fox News was not the dominant channel that it is now. It was a fledgling cable news channel with very little viewership. I had been there about a year after being a correspondent at ABC News. I was not an anchor there except on weekends. I'm better known now than I was then. The news of my son's death was a big story in Washington but it wasn't a big story around the country. Yet, in the weeks after his death, I began to receive expressions of sympathy from all over the country and other parts of the world.

My secretary and I were sending out notes to people that said, "Thank you for expressing your sympathy." We sent out 973 sympathy notes in a matter of weeks. I read them all. My mailbox would be stuffed with them night after night. I'd weep over some of them. Some of them were prayer cards, some of them would tell me a tree had been planted somewhere. I felt that I was seeing the face of God. I felt people's support and love. To me it was a miracle. I've been trying to face up to the implications of believing in Christ and believing in God ever since.

If Hume had recommended that Tiger Woods sacrifice a chicken or eat bats' heads, it would have engendered comparative little reaction. What does that tell us?

[Hat tip to J.M.]

"Change" in America Pol Pot-style

This throwback to the 1982 Documentary on the Weathermen Underground, "No Place To Hide," seems ludicrously alarmist today and would be laughable if the personae involved were not highly educated graduates of respectable liberal institutions of higher learning like Columbia University. Which, in turn -- although I'm quite sure nobody in our current government gives serious mental space to such nonsense -- nevertheless gives pause, especially to those versed in history and in the dictum of George Santayana that those who do not know history are doomed to repeat it.



Related

• Michelle Malkin, "The Interpol Question"
• "Whither Sovereignty?" (Threats Watch)

[Hat tip to B.W.]

20 + C + M + B + 10

Epiphany of Our Lord (1st Class Feast).

Fr. Mark, "Epiphany Blessing: Christus mansionem benedicat" (Vultus Christi, January 6, 2010), writes:

For those of you who keep the Epiphany of the Lord on the traditional date of January 6th, and for those of you who haven't yet blessed your houses for the Epiphany, here again is the traditional blessing from the Roman Ritual with a little explanation of it.

Epiphany Inscription Over the Doorway of the Home

20 + C + M + B + 10
The letters have two meanings. They are the initials of the traditional names of the Three Magi: Caspar, Melchior and Balthasar. They also abbreviate the Latin words Christus mansionem benedicat. May Christ bless the house.” The letters recall the day on which the inscription is made, as well as the purpose of blessing.

The crosses represent the protection of the Precious Blood of Christ, Whose Sacred Name we invoke, and also the holiness of the Three Magi sanctified by their adoration of the Infant Christ.

The inscription is made above the front door, so that all who enter and depart this year may enjoy God's blessing. The month of January still bears the name of the Roman god Janus, the doorkeeper of heaven and protector of the beginning and end of things. This blessing "christens" the ancient Roman observance of the first month. The inscription is made of chalk, a product of clay, which recalls the human nature taken by the Adorable and Eternal Word of God in the womb of the Virgin Mary, by the power of the Holy Spirit.

To bless your home this Epiphany, first read the Prologue of Saint John's Gospel, followed by the Our Father, and the Collect of the Epiphany; then write the inscription for this year above your front door with blessed chalk.

Related:

For more on this, see our post, "The Blessing of Epiphany Water & Chalk - Part 1 of 2" (Musings, January 3, 2010).

First Transgender Presidential Appointee Fears Being Labeled 'Token'

Russell Goldman in ABC News Politics, January 5, 2010.

Post-American Prez losing post-Western allies

Former Harvard Law School Professor Harold Berman referred to late twentieth century developments in the crisis of the Western legal tradition as "post-Western." By that he meant that what constitutes the "West" (as in "Western Civilization") is not a geographical concept, but a cultural one, and, as he amply demonstrates in his book, Law and Revolution: The Formation of the Western Legal Tradition (1983), what gave the "West" its decisive character was not Greece or Rome or ancient Israel, but the Medieval and Catholic Corpus Christianum, which adopted the legacies of those earlier traditions as its own. In other words, a "post-Western" culture is one that has lost touch with its own historical identity.

This is nowhere more apparent than in contemporary politics, whether one looks at the European Union, which couldn't bring itself to reference the term "Christian" in defining European history, or the United States, where the current administration seems hell bent on defining "Western" tradition out of the meaning of American politics.

A good illustration of this point may be seen in Gideon Rachman's article, "America is losing the free world" (Financial Times, January 4, 2010). Mr. Obama is losing the loyalty of erstwhile Western allies, not only because he himself no longer represents the "Western" legacy; but also because these erstwhile allies (like Brazil, South Africa, India, and Turkey) no longer share the traditional American litmus test of "democracy" as an inviolable assumption and trust. Gone are the dependable alliances following the Second World War. O Brave New World!

Francis A. Schaeffer used to say that he never dreamed he would live to see Western culture "go down the drain" within a single generation in his own lifetime. He died in 1984. The year itself is prophetic in its Orwellian overtones. What would he have said if he lived to see 2010?

Al Gore declares CODE RED on global warming threat

• East Coast Faces Deep Freeze; Florida Oranges Threatened...
• CHILL MAP...
• Iowa temps 'a solid 30 degrees below normal'...
• Peru's mountain people 'face extinction because of cold conditions'...
• Beijing -- coldest in 40 years...
• World copes with Arctic weather...

[Hat tip to M.N.D.]

'Avatar' and Hollywood's religion of choice

A great review of the film, Avatar, by Ross Douthat, "Heaven and Nature" (New York Times, December 20, 2009):

... “Avatar” is Cameron’s long apologia for pantheism — a faith that equates God with Nature, and calls humanity into religious communion with the natural world.

... Indeed, it represents a form of religion that even atheists can support. Richard Dawkins has called pantheism “a sexed-up atheism.” (He means that as a compliment.)

... the human societies that hew closest to the natural order aren’t the shining Edens of James Cameron’s fond imaginings. They’re places where existence tends to be nasty, brutish and short.

Indeed, in that one scene the night before the final battle when Jake comes to the Tree of Souls alone under the cover of darkness, he prays to Eywa, the mother goddess who subsists beneath all life forms and their healing energy. There is something reminiscent of a Fundamentalist evangelistic film at this point, where the agnostic protagonist hesitantly approaches the precincts of divinity, saying something like "I don't know if you're there or not, but if you can hear me ..." A Fundamentalist Christian trope, which would be sneeringly laughed out of Hollywood, thus becomes a token of high reverence when Jake prays to the life force of ... a tree. The perversity ... The perversity ...

[Hat tip to E.E.]

Missionaries needed to bring the light of Christ to pagan Holland

Sandro Magister, "In Holland, There's No More Room for the Child Jesus. Or Then Again, There Is" (www.chiesa, December 30, 2009): "Churches that are no longer churches, but condominiums, stores, or mosques. A Catholicism in danger of disappearing. A reportage from Amsterdam with an interview with Cardinal Simonis: 'We have to start over from the beginning'"

Magister notes that Dutch and Flemish Catholicism seemed to be in solid shape until 50 years ago, strong in its traditions, active in mission. One of its symbols was Fr. Jozef Damiaan de Veuster, or Fr. Damien (1840-1889), an apostle to the lepers on an island in the Pacific, who was proclaimed a saint by Benedict XVI last October 11.

But then, just a few days ago, before Christmas, another great symbol of this Catholicism died at the age of 95 in Nijmegen, Dominican theologian Edward Schillebeeckx, Flemish by birth, Dutch by choice; though, unlike Fr. Damien, he reflected the trajectory of deterioration of Dutch Catholicism.

Magister's article is not about these two Catholics, as such, but about the wider disparity of the earlier strength of Dutch Catholicism and its current decline to the point of cultural oblivion. Interested in some New Evangelization? Here's your mission field. Don't expect it to be as easy as evangelizing pagan natives in the manner of St. Francis Xavier, however; for having already traversed a cultural trajectory of Christianity, and believing themselves to have tried it and found it wanting, the Dutch will be found hardened against the Christian prescriptions for their cultural and personal maladies.

Dave Barry on 2009, year of 'hope' and 'change'

"Dave Barry's year in review: 2009" (Dave Barry, December 26, 2009):

It was a year of Hope -- at first in the sense of "I feel hopeful!" and later in the sense of "I hope this year ends soon!"

It was also a year of Change, especially in Washington, where the tired old hacks of yesteryear finally yielded the reins of power to a group of fresh, young, idealistic, new-idea outsiders such as Nancy Pelosi. As a result Washington, rejecting "business as usual," finally stopped trying to solve every problem by throwing billions of taxpayer dollars at it and instead started trying to solve every problem by throwing trillions of taxpayer dollars at it.

... BAD NEWS: The economy remained critically weak ...

... GOOD NEWS: A lot more people were tweeting....

... DECEMBER: ... President Obama, after weeks of pondering what to do about the pesky war situation he inherited, announces a decision -- widely viewed as a compromise -- in which he will send 30,000 additional troops to Afghanistan, but will name their mission "Operation Gentle Butterfly."

For this and much, much more, read the rest of the article.

The Blessing of Epiphany Water & Chalk – Part 1 of 2

Tridentine Community News (January 3, 2010):

In the Extraordinary Form, each year before the Feast of the Epiphany, water and chalk are blessed using beautiful rituals:

The Blessing of Epiphany Chalk

℣. Our help is in the name of the Lord.
℟. Who made heaven and earth.
℣. The Lord be with you.
℟. And with thy spirit.

Bless, + O Lord God, this creature chalk, to render it helpful to men. Grant that they who use it with faith in Thy most holy Name, and with it inscribe upon the entrance of their homes the names of Thy Saints, Caspar, Melchior, and Baltassar, may through their merits and intercession enjoy health of body and protection of soul. Through Christ our Lord.
℟. Amen.

The chalk is sprinkled with holy water.

The Blessing of Epiphany Water


The celebrant, vested in white cope, comes before the altar, preceded by acolytes bearing the processional cross and lighted candles. A vessel of water and a container of salt are prepared.

The Litany of the Saints is sung, during which time all kneel. After the invocation "That Thou wouldst grant eternal rest, etc.," the celebrant rises and sings the following two invocations:

℣. That Thou wouldst bless + this water.
℟. We beseech Thee hear us.
℣. That Thou wouldst bless + and sanctify + this water.
℟. We beseech Thee hear us.

The cantors continue the litany. The celebrant then says the Pater Noster silently until:

℣. And lead us not into temptation.
℟. But deliver us from evil.


Psalm 28

Sacrifice to the Lord, ye sons of God; * bring to the Lord the offspring of rams.

Offer to the Lord praise and honor, offer glory to His name; * worship the Lord in His holy court.

The voice of the Lord booms over the waters, the God of majesty hath thundered, * the Lord rules over tempestuous waters.

The voice of the Lord hath power, * the voice of the Lord hath splendor.

The voice of the Lord breaketh the cedars, * the Lord doth shatter the cedars of Lebanon.

And scattereth them to skip like a calf, * while His beloved gambol like the young of bison.

The voice of the Lord spreadeth flame into lightning; the voice of the Lord maketh the desert to tremble; * and the Lord shall shake the wilderness of Cades.

The voice of the Lord frighteneth deer to calve untimely, and strippeth bare the forests, * and in His heavens all sing: “Glory!”

The Lord is enthroned upon the flood, * the Lord shall reign as King forever.

The Lord will give strength to His people, * the Lord will bless His people with peace.

Glory be to the Father. * As it was in the beginning.

Psalm 45

Our God is refuge and strength, * a Helper in sorrows which often beset us.

Hence we fear not, though the earth be shaken * and the mountains sink in the midst of the sea;

Though the waters thereof should roar and foam, * and the mountains quake from its breakers.

Gay billows of the river gladden the city of God; * the Most High hath sanctified His dwelling.

God is in the midst of the city, it shall not be disturbed; * God will help it at earliest dawn.

The heathen were afflicted, and kingdoms brought low; * God spoke, and their land was dissolved.

The Lord of hosts is with us, * the God of Jacob is our protector.

Come ye and behold the works of the Lord, what desolation He hath wrought on their land! * He endeth wars through the boundaries of the earth.

He breaketh the bow and destroyeth weapons, * and shields He burneth in fire.

And He spoke: “Be still, and see that I am God! * I will be exalted by the heathen, I will be exalted by my own.”

The Lord of hosts is with us; * the God of Jacob is our protector.

Glory be to the Father. * As it was in the beginning.

Psalm 146

Praise ye the Lord, for it is good to laud Him; * joyful and worthy praise becometh our God.

The Lord rebuildeth Jerusalem, * and will gather the exiles of Israel.

He healeth the heart-broken, * and bindeth up their wounds.

He knoweth the number of stars, * and calleth all by name.

Great is our Lord and great His power, * His wisdom infinite.

The Lord raiseth up the meek, but the wicked He humbleth to the dust.

Sing ye to the Lord in thanksgiving; * praise our God on the harp;

Who covereth the heavens with clouds, * and prepareth rain for the earth.

Who maketh grass to grow on the hills * and herbs for lower creatures.

Who giveth to beasts their food, * and to little ravens that cry unto Him.

He placeth no trust in the strength of a steed, * nor doth man’s fleetness please Him.

The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear Him * and in them that trust in His mercy.

Glory be to the Father. * As it was in the beginning.

(To be continued next week)

[Comments? Please e-mail tridnews@stjosaphatchurch.org. Previous columns are available at www.stjosaphatchurch.org. This edition of Tridentine Community News, with minor editions, is from the St. Josaphat bulletin insert for January 3, 2009. Hat tip to A.B.]