October 19, 2014 Church

Obedience

Finer words on the matter of obedience have surely been penned before, particularly as it relates to the Blessed Virgin Mary’s Psalter, the Holy Rosary. Out-of-synch with the recommended practice of recitation though I was, in praying the Joyful Mysteries this morning it occurred to me — and I assume many others long before my time — that each mystery carries several models of obedience, natural and supernatural alike. Indeed, the first Joyful Mystery — the Annunciation — opens with St. Gabriel carrying out his divine duty by announcing to a Jewish maiden that she, who was immaculately conceived, would bear the Savior of the world. In an act of obedience far more profound than St. Gabriel’s, the young virgin declares, Fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum. One might also extend their meditation on obedience in this mystery to the very obedience of the natural order itself to the will of God. For it was not by a man that our Queen and Mother conceived, but by the Holy Ghost.

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October 17, 2014 Eastern Catholicism, Eastern Orthodox Church

Viewing the Lines Accurately

Isidore_of_Kiev

In my earlier post, “Weekly Reading,” I made mention of Metropolitan Hilarion Alfeyev’s (Russian Orthodox Church (ROC)) recent comments to the ongoing to the Catholic Church’s “Extraordinary Synod on the Family.” Instead of staying on point concerning the need for Catholics and Orthodox to hold a common front against modern secular culture, the good bishop of Russia used his address to attack the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC) — a common theme for Russian prelates these days (see, e.g., here and here). An Orthodox friend of mine humorously likened Hilarion’s words to “a drunken best man saying something wildly inappropriate during the toast.” The Catholic web-log The Rad Trad posted a facetious agreement with Hilarion’s call to abolish “Uniatism.”

Regrettably, however, there still exists an unfortunate number of traditional Catholics (and some neo-Catholics) who have no compunction about fawning over the ROC and “Neo-Holy Russia.” Granted, there are some wonderful things about the ROC, particularly its liturgical patrimony and iconographic tradition. I have known — and still know — a good number of fine folks who belong to either the ROC or one of its “relative churches.” They may not see eye-to-eye with me on ecclesiastical and theological matters, but they are far from being promoters of xenophobia and bigotry. That’s true of many Orthodox Christians I know. As such, I want to make clear that when I write of the missteps, nay, idiocy of the ROC, I do not intend it as a swipe against faithful Orthodox believers. At the same time, however, it is necessary to make clear that the ROC is not a friend of the Catholic Church and will not be a friend of the Catholic Church until such time as it ceases its mad assault against our brethren in Ukraine. While we should hope and pray for the day when East and West, including the separated Oriental churches, are one, that is not a license for false romanticism. The ROC has drawn its line in the sand. Catholics now know where it stands without question. Are we sure we know where we stand?

October 17, 2014 Uncategorized

Ius Honorarium

As some of you may recall, prior to the first incarnation of Opus Publicum there was Ius Honorarium, which I wrote under the handle “Venuleius.” While that blog reflects a rather different period in my life, some of the contents may be of interest to my current readership. As such, I will be occasionally posting — unedited — pieces from my old blog with the caveat that some of them do not reflect views I currently wish to defend.

October 16, 2014 Church

In These Strange Times

As expected, I have engaged in well over a dozen “Synod Talk” threads, e-mail exchanges, and conversations. Because Michael Voris did not invite me to accompany him and Church Militant TV to Rome, I have no “inside information” to give. I don’t even have a compelling analysis to offer of what has been reported in the secular and Catholic media. There’s simply not enough time to read it. It may take months, perhaps even years, to know exactly what transpired at the “Extraordinary Synod on the Family,” including all of the events leading up to it. Perhaps Roberto de Mattei will pen The Extraordinary Synod: An Unwritten Story someday. For the moment, what I do know is that the Synod is not an “event” which can be dismissed lightly. Even if the conservatives “win the day” (whatever that means in this context), poison is flowing throughout the Corpus Mysticum. Doctrinal changes are off the table, but “practical reforms” in the name of “the pastoral” will remain in play indefinitely. As we have seen play out since the Second Vatican Council, a shift in praxis becomes a de facto shift in doctrine. We can scream “The doctrine still exists!” until we’re blue in the face, but that hardly means it matters.

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October 16, 2014 Spirituality

St. Gerard Majella

Allow me to take a moment away from “Synod Talk” to wish all of you a blessed Feast of St. Gerhard Majella, a lay brother of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (Redemptorists) and the patron saint of mothers and expectant mothers. While the General Roman Calendar assigns St. Hedwig to October 16, the Redemptorists traditionally celebrated this day as a II Class Feast for St. Gerard. Further information about the life of St. Gerard, along with special prayers and devotions to him, is available online here.

The Sons of the Most Holy Redeemer (Transalpine Redemptorists) on Papa Stronsay have relics of St. Gerard which they make available to mothers in distress or those who have difficulty conceiving. More information on how you can acquire a relic for yourself or a friend is available from the Sons’ website here.

October 15, 2014 Church

Undignified, Shameful, Completely Wrong!

Cardinal Gerhard Mueller, head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, has given us a new slogan for the “Extraordinary Synod on the Family.” In Italian, the Prefect’s words read, “Indegna, Vergognosa, Completamente Sbagliata.” Fr. John Hunwicke has furnished us with a Latin translation: Indigna, Inverecunda, Omnino Falsa.

Use one or use the other. Use them all. Every battle needs a cry. Ever banner needs a slogan. Remember dear Catholics: On the day of your Confirmation (Chrismation), the Holy Ghost came into your soul and made you soldiers of Jesus Christ. You must not be silent. You must not give way to indifference or despair. Pray for an end to this despicable Synod. Pray for good shepherds like Cardinal Mueller. And above all pray that the Pope recalls his duties as the heir of St. Peter and comes out on behalf of the Truth. He is the Vicar of Christ, not God’s oracle. It is his duty to defend the Church, not let the wolves run wild.

October 14, 2014 Church, Eastern Orthodox Church

Orthodox Glibness Toward the Synod

In certain corners of the Internet, along with the half-dozen geographic locales where they are still thought to exist, certain Orthodox Christians are smiling bright over the troubling “first fruits” of the Catholic Church’s ongoing “Extraordinary Synod on the Family.” (If you want to peek into the rotten basket, go here.) They’re smiling because right now it appears as if the Church is on the cusp of contradicting itself, of falling into the chasm which opened up at the First Vatican Council when the dogma of Papal Infallibility was solemnly defined. Nothing could be further from the truth — and they know it.

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October 13, 2014 Church, Theology

Choice Cuts From the Synod

I know I wrote that I was not going to discuss the ongoing “Extraordinary Synod on the Family” — a promise which I found impossible to keep. At the time it seemed prudent, especially since, much to Cardinal Gerhard Mueller’s chagrin, the first rule of Synod Club is you don’t talk about Synod Club. (This rule does not apply to media outlets being leaked tainted liberal tidbits on a daily basis.) Now the mid-synod report is out and, well, I think, in the interest of trying to hold fast to my previous pledge of omerta, I’ll let the document speak for itself with some choice cuts. (H/T to Mr. Milco of Ursus Elisei for yanking some of these out.)

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October 12, 2014 Theology

Belloc on Scholasticism

For Sunday, how about a lengthy block quote from Hilaire Belloc?

Incidentally, I may say that the position of the Papacy is misunderstood when it is regarded as a despotic authority acting capriciously. It is part and parcel of the Catholic Church, defining and guiding—not inventing—doctrines, and identified with the general life of Catholicism. Catholics act as they do, not because one individual has taken into his head to give them orders on a sudden, but because they are in tune with the whole spirit of the Catholic Church, of which the Pope is the central authority.

As an example of the misunderstanding, I may quote the attitude often taken by Non-Catholics towards the advice given by Leo XIII and subsequent Popes in the matter of Scholastic Philosophy. “Pius X,” we are told, “ordained that a philosophy which flourished in the thirteenth century should be the philosophy of the twentieth,” and this attitude is compared to that of an American fundamentalist denying the conclusions of geology. All that is out of focus. No such thing was ever “ordained.” Cardinal Mercier’s great revival of scholasticism at Louvain was approved and commended, and its study warmly supported. But no Catholic is bound to accept that particular system or its terms. I may say in passing that anyone who does adopt it seems to me wise, for it derives from Aristotle, the tutor of the human race, and it represents the highest intellectual effort ever made by man; nor is there conflict between it and evidence, nor any reason to believe that our own particularly muddled time with its disuse of reason is philosophically superior merely because it comes last. But scholasticism is only a human system of thought; it is not a revelation; and the idea that it could be thought equivalent to the Faith or that the Papacy was here imposing it as of Faith could only occur to one wholly unfamiliar with the ancient and abiding Religion of Christendom.