Tridentine Masses coming to metro Detroit and East Michigan this week

Tridentine Masses This Coming Week

• Sun. 08/17 9:30 AM: High Mass at St. Joseph, Detroit (Tenth Sunday After Pentecost)
• Sun. 08/17 9:30 AM: High Mass at Assumption Grotto, Detroit (Tenth Sunday After Pentecost)
• Sun. 08/17 9:45 AM: High Mass at Chapel of the Academy of the Sacred Heart, Bloomfield Hills (Tenth Sunday After Pentecost)
• Sun. 08/17 12:30 PM: High Mass at Immaculate Conception, Lapeer (Tenth Sunday After Pentecost)
• Sun. 08/17 2:00 PM: High Mass at St. Benedict/Assumption-Windsor, Canada (Tenth Sunday After Pentecost)
• Sun. 08/17 4:00 PM High (or Low) Mass at All Saints Catholic Church, Flint (Tenth Sunday After Pentecost)
• Mon. 08/18 7:30 AM: High or Low Mass (varies) at Assumption Grotto, Detroit (St. Agapitus)
• Mon. 08/18 7:00 PM: Low Mass at St. Joseph, Detroit (St. Agapitus)
• Mon. 08/18 7:00 PM: Low Mass (usually) at Assumption Grotto, Detroit (St. Agapitus)
• Tue. 08/19 7:30 AM High or Low Mass (varies) at Assumption Grotto, Detroit (St. John Eudes)
• Tue. 08/19 7:00 PM: High Mass at St. Benedict/Assumption-Windsor, Canada (St. John Eudes)
• Tue. 08/19 7:00 PM: Low Mass (usually) at Assumption Grotto, Detroit (St. John Eudes)
• Wed. 08/20 7:30 AM: High or Low Mass (varies) at Assumption Grotto, Detroit (Ss. Hippolytus and Cassian)
• Wed. 08/20 7:00 PM: High Mass at Assumption Grotto, Detroit (Ss. Hippolytus and Cassian )
• Thu. 08/21 7:30 AM: High or Low Mass (varies) at Assumption Grotto, Detroit (St. Bernard of Clairvaux)
• Thu. 08/21 7:00 PM: Low Mass (usually) at Assumption Grotto, Detroit (St. Bernard of Clairvaux)
• Fri. 08/22 7:30 AM: High or Low Mass (varies) at Assumption Grotto, Detroit (St. Jane Frances de Chantal)
• Fri. 08/22 7:00 PM: Low Mass at St. Joseph, Detroit (St. Jane Frances de Chantal)
• Fri. 08/22 7:00 PM: Low Mass (usually) at Assumption Grotto, Detroit (St. Jane Frances de Chantal)
• Sat. 08/23 7:30 AM: High or Low Mass (varies) at Assumption Grotto, Detroit (Immaculate Heart of Mary)
• Sun. 08/24 9:30 AM: High Mass at St. Joseph, Detroit (11th Sunday after Pentecost)
• Sun. 08/24 9:30 AM: High Mass at Assumption Grotto, Detroit (11th Sunday after Pentecost)
• Sun. 08/24 9:45 AM: High Mass at Chapel of the Academy of the Sacred Heart, Bloomfield Hills (11th Sunday after Pentecost)
• Sun. 08/24 12:00 Noon: High Mass at St. Albertus, Detroit (11th Sunday after Pentecost)
• Sun. 08/24 12:30 PM: High Mass at Immaculate Conception, Lapeer (11th Sunday after Pentecost)
• Sun. 08/24 2:00 PM: High Mass at St. Benedict/Assumption-Windsor, Canada (11th Sunday after Pentecost)
• Sun. 08/24 4:00 PM High (or Low) Mass at All Saints Catholic Church, Flint (11th Sunday after Pentecost)

Rod Dreher on why the Latin Mass is treated worse than child rape

Rod Dreher, "Is The Latin Mass Worse Than Child Rape?" (American Conservative, July 13, 2014):

Michael Brendan Dougherty writes in praise of Pope Benedict XVI for establishing that the Tridentine Mass (also known as the “Latin Mass,” or the “Old Mass”) is always and everywhere licit. The papal ruling came in a document titled Summorum Pontificum. MBD says — rightly in my view — that even nonbelievers ought to be grateful for the old mass’s comeback, because it has inspired so much beautiful art over the centuries. In his 1980s book Once A Catholic, the writer Peter Occhiogrosso interviewed a number of prominent, or semi-prominent, people who are or who once were Catholics, about their life in the Church. One of the most surprising things about it when I read the book as a brand-new Catholic was how many people interviewed in the book — even an ex-Catholic like the avant-garde rock musician Frank Zappa — missed the old mass.

Anyway, MBD, who is himself a Traditionalist, writes that the pope’s intervention did not save his parish:

Summorum came too late to save that community in Poughkeepsie. In the New York Archdiocese as then ruled by Cardinal Edward Egan, the offense of saying this Mass and publishing tracts in its favor was treated as a far more serious crime and scandal than clerical pederasty. Cardinal Egan suspended my Poughkeepsie priest, and effectively exiled him from the life of the church. Priests who knew about the situation observed darkly that if he had raped children instead of saying this Mass, his career would have been better off.

The modus operandi then was that these Latin Mass people — “the crazies,” as they were called in the archbishop’s office — should be contained in Saint Agnes in midtown Manhattan or in a few obscure parishes along the Hudson River. Egan was all too happy to see that Poughkeepsie parish closed and the building sold. He smudged us out like a penciled mistake.

This is a provocatively stated point, but nevertheless a sound one. The current cardinal archbishop of New York, Timothy Dolan, had a South African priest sent packing after he had the temerity to defend the Latin mass community in a homily (partial transcript here), and now threatens to shut down Holy Innocents, the parish where NYC has its only daily Latin mass. Meanwhile, Cardinal Dolan tolerates things like the “Pre-Pride mass”.

Why does Cardinal Dolan consider the Latin mass a greater threat than a mass said as part of a Gay Pride festival? It’s mind-boggling. As you know, I’m no longer Catholic, and never was a Traditionalist Catholic, but for the entire time I was a Catholic communicant, I never understood the fear and loathing so many within the Catholic institution had for the Latin mass.

By the way, under the plan Cardinal Dolan is considering, Holy Innocents parish will be merged with nearby St. Francis of Assisi parish — which hosts the Pre-Pride Mass. Priorities, I suppose.

UPDATE: Dominic, a reader and former Catholic seminarian, says in the comments thread:

There is a very visceral attachment to this era of boundless optimism by some of the people who lived through it or participated in it which is very unfortunate and will not be gotten rid of until they’re gone.

I think he’s really put his finger on something important, perhaps the most important thing about the ideology that cannot tolerate the Latin mass. It stands as a rebuke to the entire postconciliar project. To be clear, you can certainly support the Council and the Latin mass. When I was a Catholic, I did both (though I did not attend the Latin mass). But the endurance of the Latin mass, and its rebirth in the hearts of Catholics too young to have been raised in it (so they cannot plausibly be accused of nostalgia), is intolerable because it challenges the ideological optimism of the conciliar mindset. That strikes me as a plausible explanation. You? [emphases added]

[Hat tip to JM]

Better homes and papal gardens

Views from the Left, the Right, and In between!

• Peter Steinfels, "Archbishops Playing House" (Commonweal, August 5, 2014)
• Mario Tosatti, "The Cost of Frugal Living: The Pope, Square Meters, and Demagoguery" (Rorate Caeli, July 27, 2014)
• Adam A. J. DeVille, "The Proletarian Snobbery of CNN" (Catholic World Report, August 11, 2014).

[Hat tip to JM]

Damian Thompson on the Pope's hatred of Vatican corruption

Damian Thompson, "The Pope and ‘paedophile cardinals’: another clue that Francis is at war with the Vatican" (The Spectator, July 18, 2014), just in case you missed it -- which concludes, amazingly:

So why did Francis go back to Scalfari? I reckon the uncheckability of the quotes suits him fine. He can express his views that the Vatican is crawling with fawning backstabbers and that sexual perverts are over-represented among the clergy right up to the level of cardinal – yet leave himself diplomatic legroom by allowing for the possibility that he’s been misquoted. He is a Jesuit, after all. So is Lombardi, but it’s obvious who is being more Jesuitical here.

The background to this is the Pope’s war on the Vatican. I think he hates the place. And it’s interesting that he’s placed enormous power in the hands of Cardinal George Pell, who is also full of contempt for its greedy placemen. My guess is that the reforms, when they come, will be savage. (emphasis added)

[Hat tip to Sir A.S.]

"Mutual Submission" in John Paul II: G.C. Dilsaver's critical-constructive analysis

G.C. Dilsaver is the author of the fine book, The Three Marks of Manhood,(2010) with an Appendix on "Mutual Submission," which, according on one reader, "respectfully takes Pope John Paul to task for what he considers a failure to correctly exegete the Epistle to the Ephesians.

Dilsaver also has a fine earlier study entitled "Karol Wojtyla and the Patriarchal Hierarchy of the Family: His Exegetical Comment on Ephesians 5:21-33 and Genesis 3:16" (Christian Order, June/July, 2002), which I just came across today.

I know this issue is now considered "controversial," largely as a result of the feminist movement since the 1970s (rather than new exegetical discoveries, I would argue). Interesting, to say the least.

If you're looking ahead for birthday or Christmas gifts for appropriate friends and acquaintances, you might consider Dilsaver's gem along with Steven Goldberg's 1971 classic, The Inevitability of Patriarchy: Why the Biological Difference Between Men and Women Always Produces Male Domination.

[Hat tip to Sir A.S.]

Blessed John Henry Cardinal Newman's prospective feas day

Today is August 11th, the anniversary of Cardinal Newman's death in 1890. I'm assuming that when he is canonized, this will become his feast day.

Darwinism and Darwin: "A Dull Plodder"

Terry Scambray, in "A Genius for Destructive Change" New Oxford Review (May, 2014), reviewed Paul Johnson's Darwin: Portrait of a Genius. Interesting review.

In response to Scambray, Laszlo Bencze writes the following letter to the editor, "A Dull Plodder," in the current issue (July-August 2014):

As Terry Scambray makes clear in his review of Paul Johnson’s Darwin: Portrait of a Genius (May), Charles Darwin was hardly the scientific giant of present-day adulation. In fact, flattery of Darwin has reached its apogee now that he is often called the greatest scientist of all time, the man who had the “best idea” in the history of mankind.

Yet the truth, as Scambray points out, is that Darwin was very much a man of his time — and a dull plodder at that. He spent eight years writing a four-volume study of barnacles. Yet, oddly enough, barnacles are never mentioned in The Origin of Species. Why? Was it impossible to discern evolutionary evidence in these complex and obscure creatures he knew so well? Instead, he devoted almost every bit of his magnum opus to tedious examples of artificial selection in domestic animals. He brushed away the glaring advantage of artificial over natural selection with rhetoric along the lines of “I see no reason why” natural selection might not have fashioned the eye or any other organ or living thing. For such schoolboy ineptitude he was roundly criticized by his contemporaries, all of whom are now consigned to history’s dustbin, regardless of their skills and biological competency.

As for Darwin having honestly formulated his theory based on slowly accumulating evidence, his own private notebooks reveal that as early as 1844 he proclaimed that he would “transform the ‘whole [of] metaphysics.’” We will not find such words in the works of Newton, Pasteur, or Einstein. Perhaps they were not genius enough.

Scambray wisely warns against laying “yet another coat of bronze to the iconic figure of Darwin.” It’s too bad Paul Johnson felt he had to take on the role of literary foundry man.

Needless to say, defenders of the reigning orthodoxy, like Arthur M. Shapiro (in the same issue), were not happy.

Hapless doublethink

Elliot Bougis, in "A follow-up on the Ecclesiology of Doublethink…" (July 16, 2014), wrote:

Hapless is the word of the hour.

When the first Scalfari interview hit the press, there was a rush among Catholics to gainsay it as inaccurate and biased. When, however, it came to light that the interview was by and large a faithful reporting of what Francis said to Scalfari (“the overall ‘trustworthiness’ of the Scalfari interview”), given further credibility by being published both in L’Osservatore Romano and on the Vatican website amongst Francis’s papal magisterium, the strategy morphed into defending, by any means necessary, the pope’s reported comments as technically (and even “deeply”) orthodox.

As always, however, facts get in the way of good intentions. If it feels like a disinformation campaign, ladies and gents, it probably is. Eugenio Scalfari submitted the text of the first La Repubblica interview to Pope Francis for review. This has been attested by Fr. Rosica and John Allen, and it has never been denied by the pope himself. (As we’ll see presently, all we have on that front is one Italian journalist’s hearsay against Scalfari’s own claim to the contrary, and, unlike Scalfari, that journalist has not been welcomed three times for a papal interview.) Fr. Lombardi has also stated that the interview was by and large faithful to the pope’s thoughts and words, yet, crucially, Lombardi could only know this is true if he consulted Pope Francis on the matter (or, as is the case, if he knew that Pope Francis had approved the text before it was published). As John Allen wrote on 5 October 2013:

Pressed by reporters on the reliability of the direct quotations, Lombardi said during an Oct. 2 briefing that the text accurately captured the “sense” of what the pope had said, and that if Francis felt his thought had been “gravely misrepresented,” he would have said so.

. . .

In any case, the crucial question is this: if we are to attribute the removal of the interview from the Vatican website to Francis’s misgivings after it was published, then why are we not to attribute its sudden republication on the website to him as well?

[Hat tip to JM]

Do we live in "exile" from our culture?

Carl R. Trueman, "A Church for Exiles" (First Things, August, 2014):

We live in a time of exile. At least those of us do who hold to traditional Christian beliefs. The strident rhetoric of scientism has made belief in the supernatural look ridiculous. The Pill, no-fault divorce, and now gay marriage have made traditional sexual ethics look outmoded at best and hateful at worst. The Western public square is no longer a place where Christians feel they belong with any degree of comfort.

... Evangelicalism has largely wedded itself to the vision of America as at heart a Christian nation, a conception that goes back to the earliest New England settlers.

For Roman Catholics, the challenges of our cultural exile are different. Rome has somehow managed to maintain a level of social credibility in America, despite holding to positions regarded as intolerable by the wider secular world when held by Protestants. Her refusals to ordain women or sanction the use of contraception do not seem to have destroyed her public reputation. But if, for example, tax-exempt status is revoked for educational and social-service nonprofits opposed to the increasingly mandatory sexual revolution, the Church will face a stark choice: capitulate to the spirit of the age or step out into the cold wasteland of cultural and social marginality. When opposition to gay marriage comes to be seen as the moral equivalent to white supremacism, it is doubtful that the Roman Catholic Church will be able to maintain both her current position on the issue and her status in society. She too will likely be shunted to the margins.

Elsewhere—in France and in Poland, for example—Rome has, of course, proved resilient in much worse circumstances. Yet in America, in recent history, she has no real experience of the ignominy of marginalization from which to draw strength. The Know-Nothing era was long ago. It seems to me most Catholics today are very comfortable in, even jealous of, their place in mainstream America. They may not buy patriot Bibles, but Catholicism’s institutional footprint is so large—and Catholic theological (and emotional) investment in it so significant—that the temptation to preserve the Church’s place in society will be very great. This preservation will require compromise, even complicity, and it will very likely blur the clarity and undermine the integrity of Christian witness.

Read more >>

Great questions. How to respond ... ?

[Hat tip to JM]

Extraordinary Community News

"I will go in unto the Altar of God
To God, Who giveth joy to my youth"
Tridentine Community News (August 10, 2014):

Fr. Patrick Bénéteau Appointed Vocations Director for the Diocese of London, Ontario

Bishop Ronald Fabbro has appointed longtime friend of the Tridentine Mass Fr. Patrick Bénéteau as Vocations Director for the Diocese of London, Ontario. In 2010 Fr. Patrick celebrated two Masses in his first month as a priest in the Extraordinary Form. He continues to assist our local Latin Mass communities, most recently serving as Subdeacon for last Sunday’s Solemn High Mass at Assumption-Windsor.

Fr. Patrick intends to hold informational talks during the upcoming months for those men in our Latin Mass communities interested in learning more about the path to priesthood. One will most likely be held after a Sunday Mass at Assumption-Windsor; details will be posted in this column when plans are finalized. Another is planned for the London, Ontario Latin Mass group. This is eminently fitting, as Extraordinary Form communities are a rich source of vocations, locally and globally.

Your prayers are requested for those men from the St. Benedict Tridentine Community at Assumption Church in Windsor who are studying for the sacred priesthood: Deacon Brother John Tonkins (Canons Regular of the New Jerusalem), James Murphy (St. Peter’s Seminary, London), and Kaisar Marogi (Dominicans), as well as for recently ordained Fr. Joe Tuskiewicz.

Ordinations for the Institute in St. Louis

On Tuesday, August 5, His Eminence Raymond Cardinal Burke ordained four priests for the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest at St. Francis de Sales Oratory in St. Louis, Missouri. The ordinations were carried out according to the Traditional Rite, as is the custom for the Institute. Faithful from across the continent attended, including Juventútem Michigan chief Paul Schultz, whose Harvard classmate Francis Altiere was one of the ordinandi.

The Archdiocese of St. Louis published an article and some beautiful, crisp photos of the event here:

http://stlouisreview.com/article/2014-08-06/four-ordained

Americans who pursue a vocation with the Institute must learn French, for that is the language in which seminary classes are taught. This fall, Lansing’s Paul McKown and former Ann Arbor resident Marcelo de Oliveira will be entering pre-seminary formation for the Institute in Wausau, Wisconsin. A large portion of their training, of necessity, will be learning French.

In the Press

The Institute ordinations garnered an article in the St. Louis Post Dispatch about the growing appeal of the Extraordinary Form:

http://www.stltoday.com/lifestyles/faith-and-values/ordinations-signal-growing-popularity-of-latin-catholic-mass/article_a8a85b5b-b340-538b-80c7-a3dce8a2131e.html

Mention has also been made in several publications and blogs about the growing trend for newly ordained priests to celebrate their first or second Mass in the Extraordinary Form. We witnessed that trend locally in June, with Fr. Joe Tuskiewicz and Fr. Ryan Adams, both newly ordained for the Archdiocese of Detroit, celebrating Tridentine Masses within their first month of ordination. Clearly the classic form of Holy Mass has an appeal to more than a few members of the current generation of priests.

Oakland County Latin Mass Association Receives Tax-Free Status

In July the Internal Revenue Service simplified the regulations for small non-profit entities to obtain 501(c)(3) charitable status. What was formerly a multi-month process filled with complex paperwork requirements has become a relatively easy procedure, with quick government approval now possible.

One of the first entities to take advantage of these new rules is the Oakland County Latin Mass Association. Contributions to the OCLMA, which administers the weekly Sunday 9:45 AM Tridentine Mass at the Academy of the Sacred Heart in Bloomfield Hills, are now tax-deductible. A bonus: The IRS has permitted all contributions going back to the first Mass in May to be considered deductible.

Special thanks to OCLMA president Cecilia Lakin for noticing the change in rules and jumping right on them.

Indulgenced Prayer for the Dead

Every Catholic should commit to memory this short prayer for the Poor Souls in Purgatory, which has been enriched with a Partial Indulgence applicable only to the Souls in Purgatory. Imagine the relief we could obtain for the Suffering Souls if we all got into the habit of praying this prayer a few times every day:

Réquiem aetérnam dona eis, Dómine, et lux perpétua lucéat eis. Requiéscant in pace. Amen.

Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace. Amen.

Tridentine Masses This Coming Week

• Mon. 08/11 7:00 PM: Low Mass at St. Joseph (Ss. Tiburtius & Susanna, Virgin & Martyrs)
• Tue. 08/12 7:00 PM: Low Mass at St. Benedict/Assumption-Windsor (St. Clare, Virgin)
• Fri. 08/15 12:00 Noon: High Mass at St. Edward on the Lake, Lakeport, MI (Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary) – Annual Lake Day festivities for young adults age 18-35 follow the Mass, organized by Juventútem Michigan
• Fri. 08/15 7:00 PM: High Mass at Assumption Grotto (Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary)

[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 August 10, 2014. Hat tip to A.B., author of the column.]

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

Tridentine Masses This Coming Week

• Sun. 08/10 9:30 AM: High Mass at St. Joseph, Detroit (Ninth Sunday After Pentecost)
• Sun. 08/10 9:30 AM: High Mass at Assumption Grotto, Detroit (Ninth Sunday After Pentecost)
• Sun. 08/10 9:45 AM: High Mass at Chapel of the Academy of the Sacred Heart, Bloomfield Hills (Ninth Sunday After Pentecost)
• Sun. 08/10 12:30 PM: High Mass at Immaculate Conception, Lapeer (Ninth Sunday After Pentecost)
• Sun. 08/10 2:00 PM: High Mass at St. Benedict/Assumption-Windsor, Canada (Ninth Sunday After Pentecost)
• Sun. 08/10 4:00 PM High (or Low) Mass at All Saints Catholic Church, Flint (Ninth Sunday After Pentecost)
• Mon. 08/11 7:30 AM: High or Low Mass (varies) at Assumption Grotto, Detroit (Ss. Tiburtius & Susanna, Virgin & Martyrs)
• Mon. 08/11 7:00 PM: Low Mass at St. Joseph, Detroit (Ss. Tiburtius & Susanna, Virgin & Martyrs)
• Mon. 08/11 7:00 PM: Low Mass (usually) at Assumption Grotto, Detroit (Ss. Tiburtius & Susanna, Virgin & Martyrs)
• Tue. 08/12 7:30 AM High or Low Mass (varies) at Assumption Grotto, Detroit (St. Clare, Virgin)
• Tue. 08/12 7:00 PM: High Mass at St. Benedict/Assumption-Windsor, Canada (St. Clare, Virgin)
• Tue. 08/12 7:00 PM: Low Mass (usually) at Assumption Grotto, Detroit (St. Clare, Virgin)
• Wed. 08/13 7:30 AM: High or Low Mass (varies) at Assumption Grotto, Detroit (Ss. Hippolytus and Cassian)
• Wed. 08/13 7:00 PM: High Mass at Assumption Grotto, Detroit (Ss. Hippolytus and Cassian )
• Thu. 08/14 7:30 AM: High or Low Mass (varies) at Assumption Grotto, Detroit (Vigil of the Assumption)
• Thu. 08/14 7:00 PM: Low Mass (usually) at Assumption Grotto, Detroit (Vigil of the Assumption)
• Fri. 08/15 7:30 AM: High or Low Mass (varies) at Assumption Grotto, Detroit (Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary)
• Fri. 08/15 7:00 PM: Low Mass at St. Joseph, Detroit (Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary)
• Fri. 08/15 12:00 Noon: High Mass at St. Edward on the Lake, Lakeport, MI (Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary) – Annual Lake Day festivities for young adults age 18-35 follow the Mass, organized by Juventútem Michigan
• Fri. 08/15 7:00 PM: Low Mass (usually) at Assumption Grotto, Detroit (Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary)
• Sat. 08/16 7:30 AM: High or Low Mass (varies) at Assumption Grotto, Detroit (St. Joachim)
• Sun. 08/17 9:30 AM: High Mass at St. Joseph, Detroit (Tenth Sunday After Pentecost)
• Sun. 08/17 9:30 AM: High Mass at Assumption Grotto, Detroit (Tenth Sunday After Pentecost)
• Sun. 08/17 9:45 AM: High Mass at Chapel of the Academy of the Sacred Heart, Bloomfield Hills (Tenth Sunday After Pentecost)
• Sun. 08/17 12:30 PM: High Mass at Old St. Patrick's, Ann Arbor (Tenth Sunday After Pentecost)
• Sun. 08/17 12:30 PM: High Mass at Immaculate Conception, Lapeer (Tenth Sunday After Pentecost)
• Sun. 08/17 2:00 PM: High Mass at St. Benedict/Assumption-Windsor, Canada (Tenth Sunday After Pentecost)
• Sun. 08/17 4:00 PM High (or Low) Mass at All Saints Catholic Church, Flint (Tenth Sunday After Pentecost)

Reconciling Judas: Evangelizing the Theologians

Straight from Guy Noir, with whom I agree entirely when he says: "One of the best essays I've read in a long time -- but then, I can't remember reading anything by Edward T. Oakes that I haven't appreciated and benefited from." Though more could be said, it's an insightful analysis of the state of the Church and how we got there.

Edward T. Oakes, "Reconciling Judas: Evangelizing the Theologians" (CatholicCulture.org):

In 1968, a professor of theology at the University of Regensburg wrote a modestly sized treatise on the Apostles' Creed called Introduction to Christianity. Its impact, however, was anything but modest, for the book so captivated Pope Paul VI that he made its author archbishop of Munich (and later cardinal, one of his last appointments to the college); and just a few years later, the new pope, John Paul II, summoned the same man to Rome to head the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. His name, of course, is Joseph Ratzinger.

Not many books have changed history, but this one certainly did, not just for the author personally but also for the wider Church. For it would be hard to exaggerate the influence of this bookish Bavarian, not just on John Paul II (perhaps the most influential pope in history) but on Catholics worldwide through the cardinal's role as doctrinal overseer and enforcer of magisterial orthodoxy. What made the book itself so remarkable was not just its deft use of the Apostles' Creed to explain Christianity to the lay reader or its acute analysis of unbelief and the secular mind. An even greater virtue of the book was the future cardinal's keen analysis of why the promising spirit of Vatican II failed to bring about a reunited Christianity and a re-Christianized Europe.

According to Ratzinger's analysis, post-Enlightenment Christianity in Europe had been conned into adopting an evangelical strategy too superficial in its approach and too intimidated by Enlightened objections to Christian doctrine. He illustrated the reasoning behind this anemic strategy with a parable, one that Soren Kierkegaard once recounted about a fire that breaks out backstage right before a circus is set to perform. In panic the stage manager sends out one of the performers — a clown as it happens, and naturally already in costume — to warn the audience to leave immediately. But the spectators take the clown's desperate pleas as part of his schtick; and the more he gesticulates the more they laugh, until fire engulfs the whole theater. This, said Kierkegaard, is the situation of Christians: The more they gesticulate with their creed, the more laughable they seem to their skeptical neighbors, until the world becomes engulfed in the flames of war and mutual hatred — a hell on earth as prelude to the hell after death. If only these Christian clowns had first thought to change out of their goofy costume, he implied, the theatergoing world might have been spared. Read more >>

[Hat tip to JM and C.B.]

"Schizophrenic Catholicism" - a serious problem

Sometimes I have referred to this problem as that of a discrepancy between "word and deed," at other times as the problem of "dishonesty in advertising." No matter what we call it, it's a toxic problem.

A tragic sense of life ...

So often lately, I'm overcome with the sheer oppressive weight of the news in this country, the world, and the Church. Especially world news lately has me feeling nostalgic for the innocent days of my childhood following the Second World War when my parents brought me from China and Japan to visit my relatives in the United States. I can remember visiting my uncles and aunts on farms in Iowa and ranches in Idaho. What a different world it was. Our president was Dwight D. Isenhower. Gas prices were around 22 cents a gallon. Strangers greeted one another on the sidewalk in towns. I discovered Five and Ten Cent stores, covered dish church dinners, and banana pudding. There was a sense of hopefulness in the country. All that's water under the bridge now. Gone. T

The Brave New World we live in? Obama? Abortion as "health care"? Same-sex so-called "marriage"? The loss of the U.S. border with Mexico? Syrian Middle Eastern Christians beheaded or crucified? The plight of Chaldean Christians in Iraq? Troubles in the Ukraine? Relations with Russia? Israel, Palestine, and Iran? The silent apostasy of western Christians? Not so comfortable. Yet as my spiritual director used to tell me, it's such times as these that offer opportunities for growth in clarity and sanctity.

Memento mori. Oremus et pro invicem.

Ann Coulter, Missionaries, and Archbishop Lefebvre

Our underground correspondent in an eastern seaboard city that knows how to keep its secrets, Guy Noir - Private Eye, just sent me the link to the following article by Albert Mohler, "Are Christian Missionaries Narcissistic Idiots? — A Response to Ann Coulter" (AlbertMohler.com, August 7, 2014), in which Mohler responds to some wild-eyed remarks by the indomitable Ann Coulter about an Ebola doctor who was flown back to the United States (“Ebola Doc’s Condition Downgraded to ‘Idiotic.”).

Noir commented: "I am not sure what I think of this: I tend to think both all three have points. I also think Coulter is always hysterical.

"But it also raises the larger question, is there still such a thing as Catholic missionaries? I really don't think so. Also makes me think of this rather moving trailer."

The video he linked to was this:


[Hat tip to JM]