Sunday, December 30, 2018

The Latin Distinction Between Divine Mercy and Divine Justice

Another instance where it is used.

Church Life Journal: Does the Mass Say Christmas Is About Justice? by John O’Callaghan

And yet, Christ is called the "Sun of Justice" or better, the "Sun of Righteousness" (Malachi 4:2). And that is the solution to the Latin difficulty...

Friday, December 28, 2018

More on PCED

NCReg: Farewell Pontifical Commission ‘Ecclesia Dei’? by Edward Pentin
The Vatican body aimed at keeping traditional Catholics united with the Successor of Peter looks likely to be suppressed, but sources suggest it could actually be a positive development.

"This book review will be online soon"

La Nouvelle Revue Théologique : The pneumatology of Jean Corbon's theology of the Eucharist and divinization. A Theology of divinization through gratuitous self-giving
NRT 140/3 (2018) p. 518
Reviewer : de Longcamp
Koovayil S.J., The pneumatology of Jean Corbon's theology of the Eucharist and divinization. A Theology of divinization through gratuitous self-giving, coll. ÉPOC 3, Beyrouth, CERPOC, 2016, 17x24, 336 p.. ISBN 978-614-8019-20-3

Thursday, December 27, 2018

John Lamont on Infallibility, Again

the original article, linked at this blog here

Rorate Caeli: Follow-up Article - Paul VI: The Infallibility of Canonizations and the Morals of the Faithful

The question of what role in which the bishop of Rome acts when he solemnly canonizes someone is not addressed. I don't think it was addressed in the previous installment either. He rather presumes the "traditional" Latin opinion in his article, when he speaks of the Church Universal (in relation to the bishop of Rome), rather than the patriarchate of Rome.

Canonisation, as they addressed it, took two forms; equipollent canonisation, and formal canonisation. Equipollent canonisation happens when a Pope decrees the universal veneration of a person to whom devotion has existed since time immemorial, and whose holiness and miracles are recorded by historians who are worthy of belief. Formal canonisation happens when a Pope decrees the universal veneration of a person whose heroic virtue and miracles have been established by a juridical process undertaken by the Holy See.

And so does he presume a Vatican I definition of papal infallibility? It would seem so:

This argument fails to grasp the nature of an infallible definition. In order for a papal teaching to be infallible, it is not enough for it to say that it is infallible; it has to actually satisfy the conditions for an infallible statement. Such statements must be exercises of the teaching authority of the Apostolic See, and they must definitively and finally bind all the faithful to assent to the assertions that they are making. In the case of an infallible truth that is divinely revealed, the faithful are required to believe (credere) the truth that is being taught. In the case of an infallible truth that belongs to the secondary object of the infallible magisterium, the faithful are required to hold (tenere) the truth that is being taught. The term ‘belief’ is used for divinely revealed truths, not because truths belonging to the secondary object of the magisterium do not also need to be believed to be true, but to underline that divinely revealed truths must be believed with an act of the theological virtue of faith.

What sort of reform?

CNA: The Siena Option: What one saint did in the face of a troubled Church

If there was already a problem with how Latins understood the authority of the bishop of Rome at the time of St. Catherine, it would seem that this fundamental problem was not addressed.

An aside: The clergy as other "Christs" -- can this be developed in a way that would find grounding in the Byzantine tradition?

God Is with Us (Greek)

The "Maranatha Mantra"

promoted by Fr. John Main, OSB (!)

Maybe its defenders can argue that this is just another form of centering prayer, a higher form of Christian prayer but if it is, how can it be employed by beginners? It is certainly different from the Jesus Prayer, in which one does not empty one's mind of all content... Eastern monastics must have a field day with Westerns promoting centering prayer.

Wednesday, December 26, 2018

God is With Us

The Papal Paper War

Papal social encyclicals...

On Being Catholic Modern by James Matthew Wilson

But some theological opinions are better argued than others...

Monday, December 24, 2018

Except... aren't there other things in contemporary Latin popular piety that should be corrected first?

An apologist for Pope Francis.

NCReg: Popular Piety and the Our Father by Peter Brown
COMMENTARY: Pope Francis’ recent suggestion can serve as a great moment to spotlight the true meaning behind this foundational prayer of the Church.

In Anticipation of Tomorrow

Sunday, December 23, 2018

Saturday, December 22, 2018

TOB and Catholic Feminism



Will there be any surprises in this podcast?

How much time on this earth?

Benedict XVI looks more and more fragile with every public photo.





Edward Pentin post

Matthew Hazell Reviews Yves Chiron's Book on Bugnini

Thursday, December 20, 2018

The Mess Was Predicted

NCReg: Confusion Over Holy Communion for Protestant Spouses by Edward Pentin
Pastoral guidelines allowing the practice in some cases is predictably causing chaos and “great harm” to the Church, says Cardinal Gerhard Müller.

Wednesday, December 19, 2018

Tuesday, December 18, 2018

Pontificating

But upon what basis in Sacred Tradition?

CNA: Pope Francis: Through virtue, political life can be a form of charity

May God Grant Fr. Rutler Many Years!

CWR: Pope Francis’ new comments on the death penalty are incoherent and dangerous by Fr. George William Rutler
Pope Francis says that his innovative teaching “does not imply any contradiction” of the Church’s tradition but, one has to say reluctantly, it indeed does.

Who is the Ancient of Days?

Academia.edu: Interpreting the Ancient of Days (Text)

Sunday, December 16, 2018

Axios

Eternal Memory!

Whose Tradition?

And where? What are the sources? Is this celebrated liturgically or only only a theological opinion?

"Not without reason has the Tradition referred to her as the Spouse of the Holy Spirit."

What are the sources for this?

Mary, Herald of the Dawn and Spouse of the Spirit by Peter M.J. Stravinskas
The Rorate Mass inserts us ever more deeply into the Advent season, all the while uniting us to the pre-eminent Woman of Advent, the Mother of the Messiah.

The Annual List by CWR Contributors of the Best Books

CWR: “The Best Books I Read in 2018” by CWR Contributors
CWR editors and contributors share their favorite reads from the last year.

More from Tallis Scholars



Scott Hahn on the Lord's Prayer

Thursday, December 13, 2018

Fr. Alexander. Eternal Memory!




And who will lead this charge?

NCReg: Pope’s Homosexuality Comments Could Encourage Discussion at Abuse Summit by Edward Pentin
The issue has so far been avoided by those preparing for the event, but now is highlighted in the wake of Francis’ recent forceful remarks about the problem.

Maike Hickson on Robert Spaemann

LifesiteNews: Renowned German philosopher who criticized Francis for ‘splitting’ Church dies by MAIKE HICKSON

Major Archbishop Shevchuk Has a New Book

Sandro Magister: Wars of Religion. Because in Ukraine the Most Ecumenical Are the Greek Catholics

Lyceum School in Cleveland

NLM: A High School Choir Sings Two Pontifical Liturgies in One Day - Lion and Ox

See also Tom Piatak, Faith of Our Fathers, Living Still

Tuesday, December 11, 2018

Sister Vassa on the Fathers

Part 1

Two on Synodality

CWR Dispatch: A short defense of authentic synodality by Dr. Adam A. J. DeVille
Prior to the conclusion of Vatican II, synods were not thematic conferences discussing boutique interests of some group or other. Far from it.

Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick reacts to the same essay by Charles Pecknold: Synodality or Supremacy: Orthodoxy and Rome

A Review of an Important Book

Can You Baptize Without Baptism? Review: The Ecclesiological Renovation of Vatican II by Fr. Peter Heers - reviewed by Fr. John Cox

Monday, December 10, 2018

Thursday, December 06, 2018

In Other Words, Dependent Rational Animals

Church Life: The Advent Corrective to Locke’s Lonely Liberalism by Sofia Carozza

Fr. Joseph Marquis on St. Nicholas

Not Forgotten



How goes the reform of the Legionaries of Christ?

More on Human Dignity

Disgraceful

By What Competence?

Sandro Magister: Francis, Absolute Monarch. Behind the Scenes of the New Italian “Our Father”

Meanwhile, as of December 5, in his Wednesday general audiences the pope has begun a cycle of catecheses precisely on the “Our Father.’ It will be interesting to listen to him when he gets to the petition he wanted to have retranslated.











Feast of St. Nicholas

Holy Nicholas, Pray for Us!







A New Book from Ed Feser

Coming Soon: Aristotle's Revenge: "My new book Aristotle’s Revenge: The Metaphysical Foundations of Physical and Biological Science will be out early next year from Editiones Scholasticae."

Wednesday, December 05, 2018

Annibale Bugnini Reformer of the Liturgy by YVES CHIRON

English translation now available from Angelico Press.
NCReg: Archbishop Viganò Addresses Dispute With Brother Over Family Inheritance by Edward Pentin
In a statement issued through his lawyers, the former apostolic nuncio to the United States and recent whistleblower calls reports accusing him of “fraud,” “theft” or misappropriation of funds “unfounded.”

"No Comment"

Tuesday, December 04, 2018

Eastern Catholic Patriarchs Meeting in Baghdad



Crux: Middle East Catholic leaders: Bear witness in turbulent world
NCReg: Confronting Troubling Questions Ahead of February Bishops’ Meeting
EDITORIAL: Time is short for concrete actions and authentic reforms. We cannot afford another missed opportunity.
The Editors

Mixed Marriage

OCA: “Mixed Marriage: An Orthodox History” offers fascinating study of marriage and the Church
(via Byz, TX)

Another Book by a Latin on the Papacy

Of course it is another Protestant convert who is one of the authors...

CWR: New book clarifies beliefs and corrects misunderstandings about the papacy by CWR Staff
“Very few know the biblical foundation for the office of pope,” says Stephen K. Ray, co-author of The Papacy: What the Pope Does and Why It Matters, “or the manner in which a pope is elected. What is his job? Can he ever be challenged or corrected?”

“Armastus Maksimos Usutunnistaja ja Gregorios Palamase teoses. Kuidas mõjutab armastus pedagoogikat”



Related:

Monday, December 03, 2018

Sunday, December 02, 2018

CWR: Cardinal Müller’s seeks to thread the needle, but misses the canonical mark by Christopher R. Altieri
The idea that airing dirty laundry is what harms the credibility of the Church is part of the problem. Arguably, it is the problem.

Friday, November 30, 2018

«Άγιος Ανδρέας: ο Πρωτόκλητος Απόστολος, σε δύο αναγνώσεις» 14-9-2018

Holy Andrew, pray for us!



Old School is Better than New School

CWR: Memorization and Catechesis: What really works? by Nicholas Senz
Too many catechists have neglected to teach the meaning of the key words of our faith, only to lament that the children do not understand them, and then declare that they must be set aside.

Thursday, November 29, 2018

Reflecting the Dominant Latin Ecclesiology Regarding the Role of the Bishop of Rome...

CWR Dispatch: Cupich and Scicluna hit their talking points, but are silent on key problems by Christopher R. Altieri

Throughout recent interviews, both Cardinal Cupich and Archbishop Scicluna convey a persistent attitude of denial regarding the role of the bishops in the ongoing crisis.

What Would He Say About the Modern Roman Canonization Process?

John Henry Newman, conversion, and the papacy by Dr. Adam A. J. DeVille

Symbol of the Western Captivity?

Is that how the Russian Orthodox view Solovyov/Soloviev?

Church Life: Solovyov’s Russia and the Catholic Church by Andrew Kuiper

Wednesday, November 28, 2018

But Cupich must be OK since the "American Church" doesn't like him!

So let's have him be on the organizing committee!

CWR Dispatch: The Vatican obfuscates even while preparing for February meeting on abuse by Christopher R. Altieri
One would have to be blind not to see the infiltration of clerical ranks — even in the episcopate, even in the Roman Curia — by active homosexuals for whom their collars are little more than cover.

Where's the Official English Translation?

CWR: The Youth Synod and the birth of the Synodal Church by Thomas R. Ascik
The Synod of Bishops concluded a month ago, but the final document—in which “synodality” is by far the major and most clearly laid out theme—has still not been translated.

Confusing an Ecclesial Issue with a Political One

If those in east Ukraine wish to secede, why force them to stay through violence?

CWR Dispatch: Ukraine, the Ecumenical Patriarchate, and Post-truth: An Orthodox Perspective by Fr. Cyril Hovorun
Right from the start of the 2014 events, we in Ukraine experienced the Russian version of post-truth. And over time, we developed some expertise in discerning where truth stops and post-truth begins.

Monday, November 26, 2018

Crisis: 50 Years of Effete and Infertile Liturgical Culture Is Enough BY ANTHONY ESOLEN
Last Sunday I was away from home; this normally means trouble. It means I do not attend Mass at the chapel of Saint Thomas More College, which is where I teach, [...]

Sunday, November 25, 2018

Friday, November 23, 2018

More Potential Pastoral Problems?

In connection with this post.

If the sacraments of initiation are limited to those infants whose parents are ready and willing to bear the responsibility of educating them, then will the children of those who have not been initiated be left out? Will their parents be judged by their brethren as being inadequate Christians? In order to avoid this problem, should the sacraments of initiation therefore be given to all infants, even if the parents are less than able to provide a proper formation for their children? Or should they be delayed for all children until they attain the age of reason, or after that point, when they are able to choose the faith and profess it? The question of "maturity" or intentionality in faith and how the sacraments of initiation are related to it is perhaps one that needs to be asked not only by those in the patriarchate of Rome but by the members of the other patriarchates as well.



Hart on Translating the NT Greek

Church Life: Spirits, Souls… Tunics? by David Bentley Hart
I do not pretend to have any firm conviction regarding the argument I intend to advance here; but I do find myself haunted by a curious suspicion I find...

Thursday, November 22, 2018

Theology of Baptism

and theology of the authority of the Church...

Parts 1, 2, and 3 of Vatican II and Crisis in the Theology of Baptism" by Thomas Pink (via Peter Kwasniewski)

Re: the importance or necessity of exorcism -- is the accompanying theology of "sovereignty" of the devil over the unbaptized an established part of the Faith, or is it just a theological opinion? And how should it be understood?

Aidan Hart Video

Tuesday, November 20, 2018

Holy Edmund, Pray for Us!

Pravoslavie: ON THE FEAST OF ST. EDMUND, KING AND MARTYR
Commemorated November 20/December 3

They took the corpse and head, set them in a hastily-built hut-chapel and immediately miracles began. A light was seen over the tomb, the blind and the sick were healed. Miraculously the head became joined to the body, with only a red scar marking the place of the cruel cut between torso and head. Local people came as pilgrims to venerate Edmund's relics, which remained intact and incorrupt.
CNA: Russian icons, spiritual masterpieces on display at Vatican

Introduction to the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham

Saturday, November 17, 2018

Vatican I: Loss and Gain with Papal Governance of the Catholic Church

A panel discussion featuring John W. O'Malley, SJ (Georgetown University), Russell Hittinger (University of Tulsa), and Joseph Mueller, SJ (Marquette University), held on October 13, 2018 at the University of Chicago.

Friday, November 16, 2018

Sandro Magister: Synodality Up in Smoke. Exercises of Pontifical Monarchy in the United States and China

A Coup? Sounds like Fake News.

Rorate Caeli: De Mattei: The “Viganò case” and the “impasse” of Pope Francis

The Institution Is the Problem

Because it does not live like a community with mutual responsibility and accountability among its members.

The Smoke of Satan provides clear, concise analysis of the episcopal crisis by Gregory J. Sullivan
Philip Lawler ably depicts the tumult that has brought us to this point and he provides a larger context for the collapse of episcopal authority.

What Are Legitimate Responses to Transgressions of the Limits of Authority?

Or if there is no legitimate authority to begin with? This essay does not address those questions.

Church Life: Why Is Christian Citizenship a Paradox? by Émilie Tardivel-Schick

Youth Ministry?

Church Life: Discipleship Isn’t as Exciting as Youth Ministry Makes It Seem by Timothy O'Malley

My adaptation of Fr. Giussani’s method of education involves three dimensions: provocation, hypothesis, and verification. This method of catechesis depends on the authority of a teacher who knows his or her students, who is capable of serving as an authentic source of authority and love. It is an approach that is long-term, requiring the building of a relationship over years.

The first dimension of this method is provocation. Provocation is not equivalent to getting someone’s attention. Too often, the large events discussed above, get someone’s attention. They provoke an experience of social solidarity that is unparalleled. But the “event” fails to provoke additional questions—it stands as an experience apart from life.

Giussani’s understanding of provocation is different. The human being has been made to ask ultimate questions. What is the meaning of life? What is love? What is authentic friendship? For Giussani, each human being has this religious sense, this orientation to the ultimate that sin has not destroyed.

But, the human person also has been taught to not ask such questions. We embrace ideologies that make it impossible to wonder, to ask questions that matter. We do not ask about the meaning of life, about the nature of love, or what constitutes real friendship. Instead, we simply live our day-to-day lives, a kind of practical atheism whereby only the visible and tangible matter.

The goal of provocation is to reawaken the young person to asking questions. A good teacher provokes not through emotional manipulation but daring to ask the ultimate questions to the student. Students want to talk about the nature of love. They want to discuss friendship. They want to be provoked.

Big events can be aids to provocation. They may allow the student to enter into the kind of liminal space where they do ask the big questions. But, it is not the “event” that is the telos of such formation. It is the moment of provocation, the moment in which the student asks, “What is the meaning of life?”

Christian provocation has two key dimensions. First, provocation is always grounded in the scriptures. It is Jesus Christ who is the answer to the human heart’s deepest longings. It is the God-man, fully human and fully divine, who provokes in us the ultimate question: What does it mean to be human, now that God has dwelt among us? A “big event” approach to ministry cannot attend to the one-on-one conversations that are necessary for good provocation.

Second, provocation emphasizes beauty, silence, and contemplation. Provocation is an inward awakening, for every person has to ask the ultimate questions on his or her own. Too often, big events in ministry overwhelm the young Christian, functioning almost as a saturated phenomenon, taking away all capacity for wonder. We need to allow space for the young person to work on his or her inner life, to encounter the ultimate questions that are always present in the human heart, if only we listened. Who am I? What is my destiny? Learning to attend to these questions is not simply a task of the young adult but an essential task of Christian maturity.

Thursday, November 15, 2018

Blueprint by Robert Plomin

The MIT Press

Nature’s Egg and Seed Plan by James Thompson
ggose: generalist genes of small effect

The Proper of Time in the Post-Vatican II Liturgical Reforms

Sacrifice?

OrthoChristian: JEWISH EVANGELISM: THE RELIGION OF ISRAEL AS PREPARATORY, NOT FINAL by Fr. Lawrence Farley

This difference is difficult to exaggerate. The religion described in the Hebrew Bible took it for granted that God’s presence, forgiveness, and blessing were accessed through the offering of sacrifice, at first on the altar which was part of the portable shrine carried by the Levites, and then at the immovable Temple built in Jerusalem.

Wednesday, November 14, 2018

Not Sola Scriptura

Pravmir: Why Do Orthodox Christians Need Holy Fathers? Isn't the Bible Enough?

The Public Face of the NuChurch



another vid

LifeSite: Fr. James Martin: Pope appoints ‘gay-friendly’ bishops, cardinals to change Church on LGBT

More Polemics?

THE IRON STANCE OF ST. JOB OF POCHAEV by Stanislav Minakov

But St. Job of Pochaev, the abbot of the Pochaev Lavra, stood unwavering in the faith, and with iron steadfastness struggled against the Uniates who had left Orthodoxy for the protection of the Roman pope. St. Job was strong in spirit and faith, and it is not in vain that such multitudes of people from all over the world come today to his holy relics, which lie in a reliquary near the cave where he prayed on the Pochaev hill.

And as for the Uniates (Greek Catholics), it’s the same now as it was four hundred or so years ago—don’t trust them any further than you can throw them.[1] As if it were not not enough that they raided and seized the churches and parishes of our canonical Church, which after the far-reaching Bishops’ Council in Kharkov of 1992 began to be called the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, but in an unprecedented act, the first in history, under Ukrainian president Yushchenko, they built their cathedral church on the left bank of the Dniepr, in Darnitsa. During the “Euro-Maidan” revolution they actively carried out their “prayer protest” in the Maidan square, to the point that certain Uniate “priests” called for the murder of “Moskals” [anyone associated with Moscow, i.e., Russians], Communists, and others. Apparently the Greek Catholics took part in a neo-Nazi, neo-Banderite [followers of Stepan Bandera] coupe in Ukraine as if the whole country belonged to them, allowing them to sharply increase their expansion into Eastern Ukraine, to the canonical territory of Orthodoxy, where they had previously been only during the German fascist occupation.

Monday, November 12, 2018

What would Malachi Martin say?

Sandro Magister: From Martini To Bergoglio. Toward a Vatican Council III

Stuff for St. Martin of Tours





What Are the Consequences of This Bad Latin Pastoral Practice?

Namely, delaying Confirmation until after First Communion...

What are the consequences of administering Confirmation to non-adults after they have already received "First Eucharist" years earlier and have been receiving Eucharist regularly up to the point of receiving Confirmation? There were bishops who were aware of this problem and raised the alarm in the 19th ce according to Maxwell Johnson, but it seems little has been done to address this problem.

First, it does seem incongruous for Christians who have not completed Christian initiation to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit if they have already been receiving the Holy Spirit through the Eucharist (assuming that it is correct to characterize one of the effects of the sacrament thusly). Moreover, that also assumes that it is possible for those who have not received Confirmation to nonetheless derive the full benefit from receiving from the Eucharist. But is there any evidence that God "compensates" for what is lacking in the Catholic Christian who has not been fully initiated, so that the Eucharist is fully efficacious for the Christian? Or is the reception of Eucharist for a Catholic Christian who has not been fully-initiated fruitless, as it would be for someone in the state of mortal sin or a non-believer? Is it the case that the Church does not actually have the authority to admit a Christian who has not been fully initiated to (the reception of) the Eucharist? That is to say, that not only is it sacramentally not possible for someone not fully initiated to receive the Eucharist, but there is actually a Divine Law that only one who has been fully initiated cannot receive the Eucharist? Or is this merely a Ecclesial Law (of Apostolic origin)? Or if a Divine Law, is it possible for it to be mitigated or abrogated by the (actions of the) Church? Does God Himself dispense from the necessity of the first two sacraments of initiation to make the reception of the Eucharist fruitful? (If He does, has he revealed this to the Church?)

Let's bring up another concrete example from Latin pastoral practice: Would a dying non-Christian be allowed to receive the Eucharist by a Latin priest before being baptized? I don't think so; if there is only sufficient time for one sacrament, I would think that the preference would be given to Baptism rather than the Eucharist. Couldn't the dying non-Christian just be given the Eucharist if it simply conveys the same grace (e.g. life in Christ) of Baptism? (That they convey the same grace but in different modalities or instantiations or moments of salvation history is is an assumption with which Latin theologians would disagree.) It would seem from Latin pastoral practice that no, a dying non-Christian would not receive the Eucharist unless he had been first baptized. If that is the case, then why should Confirmation be skipped over, except because of Latin custom? The question is whether this is legitimte or not.

Sunday, November 11, 2018

What sort of Latin view?

CWR: The Conversion of the Papacy and the Present Church Crisis by Dr. Douglas Farrow
The reform we need is in the direction of simplicity, transparency, and integrity – what many thought we were getting in Francis, before discovering otherwise – and whatever does not serve directly the task of the successor of Peter should be marginalized or eliminated.

The author lists seven features of the current crisis, including:

seventh, a deliberate plan to use the papacy to dissolve what is left of the centralized, authoritarian Tridentine Church and to overcome the synthesis of Vatican I and II that was attempted, with limited success, by the previous four popes – that is, to generate a decentralized, morally and doctrinally flexible, post-modern Church that is open both to Protestant and to pagan elements, with a vast and welcoming Courtyard of the Gentiles.


The author also responds to Roberto de Mattei. Farrow's view of the papacy appears to be more balanced than De Mattei's (or that of many ultramontanists and Tridentine Roman Catholics) but he nevertheless accepts the definitions of the Council of Florence as dogma, and the status of the Council of Florence as an ecumenical council.

Exactly

Chastek on Feser's defense of retribution

Friday, November 09, 2018

Who Among the USCCB Will Heed This?

First Things: TO THE BISHOPS, BEFORE THEIR GENERAL ASSEMBLY by Jayd Henricks
CNA: Pope and Assyrian Patriarch: Blood of Middle East martyrs is ‘seed Christian unity’

Agni Parthene



Holy Nektarios of Aegina, pray for us!

Adam DeVille Reviews Ecumenism of Blood

CWR Dispatch: Ecumenism of Blood skillfully addresses questions about martyrs-saints, Western-Eastern relations by Dr. Adam A. J. DeVille
Hugh Somerville Knapman, OP, takes on complicated ecumenical issues, while also tracing Catholic understandings of martyrdom, canonization, and Christology.
Church Life: Benedict XVI Beyond the Liturgy Wars by Carolyn Pirtle

For Ratzinger, this process of “rediscovering ourselves” necessitates a setting aside the battles of the current liturgy wars surrounding liturgical music and the discussions it has generated—scholarly and otherwise. Doing so will facilitate a return to “the original source” in exploring connection between faith and music, as well as the role of music in worship: the Bible. In turning to the Psalms in particular, Ratzinger establishes a theology of liturgical music in one verse: “Sing hymns of praise” (Ps 47:8). True to his roots as a theologian who takes the biblical narrative seriously, Ratzinger engages this text in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin in order to arrive at a richer translation. Suffice it to say that singing hymns of praise well entails more than making pleasant-sounding music.

For the psalmist, offering sung praise to God entails singing with an understanding that surpasses mere rationality and transcends into the realm of sapientia, or wisdom, which “denotes an integration of the entire person who not only understands and is understandable from the perspective of pure thought, but with all the dimensions of his or her existence” (Ibid., 98). Ratzinger goes on to say that “there is an affinity between wisdom and music, since in it such an integration of humanness occurs and the entire person becomes a being in accordance with logos [with “reason”]” (Ibid.). It is in singing that the senses and the spirit are integrated into one being, and in singing to God that the being is incorporated into logos.

Christianity takes this understanding one step farther by understanding the Psalms not merely as hymns written by King David, but as hymns that “had risen from the heart of the real David, Christ” (Ibid., 97). Thus, singing “hymns of praise” not only harmonizes the senses with the spirit, but when Christians understand those hymns as having their source in Christ, they are also drawn out of themselves into harmony with the Logos, the Word-made-flesh, as they offer sung praise in and through Christ himself. With this mindset, “Christ himself becomes the choir director who teaches us the new song and gives the Church the tone and way in which she can praise God appropriately and blend into the heavenly liturgy” (Ibid.). In order to offer fitting praise, one must conform one’s song to that of Christ, “who did not regard equality with God as something to be grasped; rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave” (Phil 2:6–7).

Wednesday, November 07, 2018

Two Articles on Gregorian Chant

If true...

what sort of leadership is this? Sounds like high school.

Long-time Vaticanista Marco Tosatti recently claimed (Eng. trans.here) that word has been passed down by papal representatives to bishops not to invite Raymond Cdl. Burke to their dioceses and that, should Burke appear at an event in their churches, they should not even appear with him.

A note on the other kind of schism by Edward N. Peters
Like Catholics admonished to avoid sin and even near occasions of sin so prelates should avoid schism and even actions suggestive of schismatic attitudes.

original

Or, that Christianity might not be discredited?

Titus 2:3-5 (RSVCE)

Bid the older women likewise to be reverent in behavior, not to be slanderers or slaves to drink; they are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be sensible, chaste, domestic, kind, and submissive to their husbands, that the word of God may not be discredited.

ίνα μη λόγος του θεού βλασφημήται

Revd Prof Andrew Louth on 'The Icon and the beginnings of modernism in the Arts'


Tuesday, November 06, 2018

Fr. Taft's Berakah Award Acceptance Speech

Pray Tell: Robert Taft Acceptance Speech: Berakah Award

Fr Nicholas Gregoris Continues His Series

A deeper look at the Final Synod Document raises questions about sources, analysis, emphasis by Fr Nicholas Gregoris
Why so few references to the writings of St. Pope John Paul II? Why no consideration of liturgical abuses? How prevalent is “paternalism”? What does it mean to say young people are “theological fonts”?

The Patriarchate of Rome will refuse to condemn all forms of feminism, and as a result will continue to lose men as members.
Sandro Magister: Gomorrah in the 21st Century. The Appeal of a Cardinal and Church Historian

John O'Malley on Vatican I

Church Life: Vatican I: Loss and Gain in the Governance of the Catholic Church by John W. O’Malley

Monday, November 05, 2018

Sunday, November 04, 2018

A New English Gradual... for the Anglican Ordinariate



Also available: Sunday Divine Worship Missal

Addressing the Mechanical Reception of the Eucharist

and lukewarmness among children.

Even if the traditional Christian initiation for infants is adopted/restored in the West (Baptism, Chrismation, and Eucharist), what should be done by parents to catechize their children? Should there be a "coming-of-age" ceremony, with first confession and a special rite for Eucharist for children, so that they can renew their promises and show their rational acceptance of faith? This idea does not sound right, but I wouldn't be surprised if some were to advocate it.

What then? Those who do have their children initiated have a special responsibility to catechize their children well, and thus they have the burden to make sure that they themselves are properly catechized, rather than relying on others to catechize their children for them. Catechesis through the liturgy should probably be the primary way for doing this, and parents should explain the importance of a feast before Divine Liturgy, or after if necessary. They should be modelling prayer in the temple and at home. And if they do not have the requisite knowledge or prayer life to model for their children? Maybe they shouldn't have their children initiated, unless in danger of death.

"Who's Primus?"

Can Orthodoxy Exist Without the Ecumenical Patriarchate

Saturday, November 03, 2018

Sr. Vassa Larin on Fr. Robert Taft, SJ

One Year Later

LifeSiteNews: One year later, Fr. Weinandy reflects on his groundbreaking letter to Pope Francis

(originally published at the Catholic Thing)

The Problem Is Not Clericalism

Clergy sex abuse on the rise again, and church leaders are ignoring why, sociologist says

Efforts to address clergy abuse must acknowledge both “the recent increase of abuse amid growing complacency” and the 'very strong probability' that the surge in abuse in past and present is 'a product, at least in part, of the past surge and present concentration of homosexual men in the Catholic priesthood.'
NCReg: Synod Reflections From Down Under: Interview With Archbishop Anthony Fisher by Edward Pentin
Dominican archbishop praises the will of those involved to bring young people closer to Christ and his Church, the general mood of the meeting, and the contributions of the young auditors.

Bishop Irenei on Primacy

OrthoChristian: PRIMACY AND IDENTITY by Bishop Irenei (Steenberg)
A Response to ‘First Without Equals’ and the Tragedy of Deficient Ecclesiology

John 20:21-22

Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I send you.” \And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”

If we assume that this correlates to Genesis and other passages in the Old Testament pertaining to the creation of man, and is therefore an act of the new creation, to what does this act of breathing on the apostles correspond? Baptism? (There is an unsettled question as to if and when the apostles were baptized in water.) Or, if they had been baptized in water before the death and resurrection of Christ, a completion of that baptism as Christ had not died and been resurrected yet?

Friday, November 02, 2018

Archbishop Job: Moscow Patriarchate No Longer Exists in Ukraine (via Byz, TX)

Blessed Andriy, Pray for Us!

Fr. Robert Taft, SJ Passes

Eternal memory.



Aleteia
Pray Tell





Eastern Province notice, with a reflection from Fr. John Baldovin, SJ



His comments on the reform of the Roman rite will remain controversial.

NCR Interview from 2011 "Of Liturgy and Life"
"A Jesuit Bridge-builder in Rome"

Eastern Christian Books: Antoine Arjakovsky on Orthodoxy and its Genealogy

Eastern Christian Books: Antoine Arjakovsky on Orthodoxy and its Genealogy

Elder Gregory

OrthoChristian: MEMORY OF THE FOOL-FOR-CHRIST THE ATHONITE ELDER GREGORY, THE ABBOT OF DOCHARIOU MONASTERY by Maxim Klimenko

An Article I Found

and a good follow-up to this post.

Hell and Heaven by PANTELEÏMON TOMAZOS

Assyrian Sacramental Theology

Thursday, November 01, 2018

Fr Nicholas Gregoris on "Synodality"

CWR Dispatch: Synodality, “New Pentecost”, and more: Reflections on the Synod’s Final Document by Fr Nicholas Gregoris
It appears the Final Document has re-defined “synodality” to level the playing field in such a way that the authority of the Synod Fathers may in the future be compromised by the protestations of non-bishops.

What surprised me about the treatment of the Sacrament of Confirmation is that none of the Synod Fathers, to my knowledge, mentioned the idea of adopting in the Western Churches the practice of the Eastern Churches, which celebrate the Rites of Christian Initiation as one single event, whereby the infant who is baptized is likewise confirmed and communicated in the same ceremony. Thus, the ancient order of the sacraments is preserved, according to which the reception of the Lord’s Body and Blood in Holy Communion is in fact the crowning event of the rites of initiation.

παῖς or τέκνον or υἱός

In John 1:12 it's tekna.

1 Cor. 13:11 has nēpios.

CWR: The Solemnity of All Saints and the pursuit of holiness by Peter M.J. Stravinskas

How does one get to Heaven? By being a saint on earth. And how does one become a saint? By living a life of holiness. And in what does holiness consist? Here are seven elements.

Holiness consists in being childlike
Our Lord Himself asserted – unequivocally – “unless you turn and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of Heaven” [Mt 18:3]. But, as you have undoubtedly heard many times, being childlike is quite different from being childish. Saint Thérèse, for example, was devoted to the Holy Child Jesus because she found in Him all the qualities to become a saint herself. What is spiritual childhood, you ask? Her “last words” tell us:

It is to recognize one’s own nothingness, to expect everything from the good God as a child expects everything from its father. It is to be concerned about nothing, not even about making one’s living. . . . I remain a child with no other occupation than gathering flowers, the flowers of love and sacrifice, and offering them to the good God for His pleasure. Being a child means not attributing to yourself the virtues you practice or believing yourself capable of anything at all. It means recognizing that the good God places the treasure of virtue in the hands of His children to be used when there is need of it. . . . but it is still God’s treasure. Finally, it means never being discouraged by your faults, because children fall frequently, but are too small to hurt themselves much.

The pseudo-sophisticates of the two last centuries of blood and violence need to acknowledge that their programs have failed abysmally and that the human capacity for God can only be satisfied when one approaches that God as a child accepts the overtures of a loving father.

Curious if the "last words" are 100% authentic Theresian, or if they were modified by her sister. Unfortunately, in English "children" can have a negative connotation that would not appeal to a man like the word "son" would.
Sandro Magister: New Charges of Homosexuality in the Church. But the Pope Is Silent, and Blames “Clericalism”

Hebrews 12:29 For our God is a consuming fire.

Some reject the idea of hell as a fiery punishment, maintaining that hell is primary a spiritual state, the sinner's own rejection of God (and thus the beatitude that consists of communion with Him). If God is all-loving and good, then why would He need to inflict an additional punishment to this misery that the unrepentant sinner will experience? But if we accept that there is a sensible component to the Divine glory and love that we can experience, and that those who are in beatitude will experience this as a pleasant sensation (the warmth of the sun, to which the warmth of feeling loved by another is compared), then conversely, those who are in hell because they have turned away from God, might they not they also experience the warmth of this Divine Love as something painful, as they have rejected it? Hellfire then would not be a separate punishment, but the sensible consequence of their rejection of God, an unquenchable fire because the sinner has rejected it and the transformation that it would bring to him.

As for purgatory, even if purgatory will end on the Last Day with the resurrection of all who have died, followed by Judgment, perhaps the soul too will somehow experience the Divine Love as a "fire" as a part the purgation process, the removal of any lingering imperfections, which are burned off, while he is heated and transformed in the Divine Love.

Monday, October 29, 2018

Eastern Catholic Bishops Should Boycott

cNA: Synod 2018’s final document shows nuances on ‘synodality’

The synod does not represent the Church Universal.

Archbishop Chaput on the Synod

Too optimistic a view?

SYNOD 2018: SOME CONCLUDING THOUGHTS by Charles J. Chaput
The synod had its problems, but the final document is an improvement over the original instrumentum laboris text.
CWR Dispatch: Observations on the Final Days of the Synod by Fr Nicholas Gregoris
Is the Final Document truly a fruit of the collegiality and synodality, so frequently touted by Pope Francis and his equipe? Or is it something that is presented to the Synod Fathers as a fait accompli?

Sandro Magister, The Final Document of the Synod. The Votes on the Most Controversial Points

David Lantigua on Early Modern Catholic Social Teaching and World Order

From a Flawed Perspective?

A Latin ecclesiology dominates the mindset of the author at least...

Eastern Christian Books: The Ecumenism of Blood

Ecumenism of Blood: Heavenly Hope for Earthly Communion

An imperfect communion with the bishop of Rome, but out of communion with the Church? Questionable.

«Православная энциклопедия» / "Елизавета Федоровна Романова"

Sunday, October 28, 2018

Apparently the Major Archbishop Was in Attendance This Time Around

Strategic Priorities Workshop - Dr. Anthony Esolen

NCReg: The Synod Final Document: A Rush to Judgment by Father Raymond J. de Souza
COMMENTARY: The process employed to draft and approve the final document renders implausible any claim that it is the fruit of mature deliberation by the synod members.

NCReg: Youth Synod Final Document: Five Areas of Concern by Edward Pentin

Saturday, October 27, 2018

CWR Dispatch: History, unchanging truth, and Vatican II by Eduardo Echeverria

The “pastorality of doctrine” approach, of which one can hear echoes in some interventions at Synod 2018, is a form of Neo-Modernism because it expresses merely an instrumentalist view of doctrine.

Thus Confirming Leaks

that the last part of the document would discuss "synodality."

Synod document calls for ‘participatory, co-responsible’ Church

55 Pages, 167 Paragraphs

Youth synod final report released, addresses gender, sexuality

St. Nektarios

Parma Clergy Photo

The Patriarch of Jerusalem is Greek...

Anthony Esolen: Lecture at "Your Imagination Redeemed" 2018

«Осанна» / Елисавета Феодоровна

Friday, October 26, 2018

Almost the End

First Things: LETTERS FROM THE SYNOD-2018: #18
October 26, 2018 / by Xavier Rynne II
The eighteenth in a series of reports on Synod-2018.

Interview with Fr. Gabriel Bunge

OrthoChristian: DOES ORTHODOXY NEED MONASTIC ORDERS? by Schema-Archimandrite Gabriel Bunge, Vasily Tsuper
Schema-Archimandrite Gabriel (Bunge) speaks about Catholic reforms, Orthodox tradition and the most important objective of monasticism

Meanwhile...



Tuesday, October 23, 2018

Someone Is Optimistic about the FInal Document

CWR: Archbishop Stankevics of Riga: “Let us move the accent from sociological issues to faith” by Deborah Castellano Lubov
After welcoming Pope Francis in Latvia some weeks ago, the Archbishop of Riga, Zbignevs Stankevics, is taking part in the Synod in Rome focused on “young people, the faith and vocational discernment”. In this recent conversation [...]
First Things: LETTERS FROM THE SYNOD-2018: #15
October 23, 2018 / by Xavier Rynne II
The fifteenth in a series of reports on Synod-2018.
Fr. Hunwicke: The Beevy Emm, alive and well at Queens

There was one outstanding lecture: a real tour de force by John Caldwell on the Psalter. He made clear that the Masoretic traditions are entitled to no assumed priority over those of Greek or Latin Christianity, particularly with regard to the numeration of the Psalms. (There sometimes appears to be a rather shamefaced attitude to the Vulgate (and Septuagint) numeration; this is completely unnecessary. 'Christianity' and 'Jamnian' Judaism are both descended from a first-century rupture; the unconscious assumption that the Masoretic texts are 'authentic' in a way that Christian texts are not fails to remember the Dead Sea scrolls, not to mention Margaret Barker. This is not a pedantic detail; it goes right to the essential point of difference between Synagogue Judaism and Sacrificial Christianity.)

Study Day with the Plainsong & Medieval Music Society

Divine Liturgy of St. James

A Byzantine Catholic Look at the Orthodox Trouble

Church Life: The Orthodox Schism Under Western Eyes by Chase Padusniak

Church Etiquette

Church Etiquette or Some Things You Should Know while in Church

СЛЕДЫ ИМПЕРИИ - ЕЛИЗАВЕТА ФЕДОРОВНА

Monday, October 22, 2018

A Latin Critique of Ultramontanism

Church Life: A Quasi-Defense of Gallicanism by Shaun Blanchard
First Things: LETTERS FROM THE SYNOD-2018: #14
October 22, 2018 / by Xavier Rynne II
The fourteenth in a series of reports on Synod-2018.

A Comment at CWR

source

Concerning 1572: I correct myself: the date is from 1575 to 1577. The fourth Superior General, Fr. Everard Mercurian, “forbade the reading of certain authors as not in keeping with the spirit of the Society: Tauler, Ruysbroeck, Mombaer, Herp, Lull, St. Gertrude, St. Mechtild, and others.” The position of mental prayer in the Society “eventually was formulated as follows: discursive meditation is the type of formal prayer that is proper to the Society of Jesus; affective prayer and contemplative prayer are foreign to the Jesuit spirit.” (“Christian Spirituality in the Catholic Tradition” by Fr. Jordan Aumann, OP, pp. 203-206) This is a shift away from Ignatius’ training of the first Jesuits and his own spirituality. His “Spiritual Diaries” which show how he himself practiced discernment, were only published less than 100 years ago, and since then there has been an effort to recover the original inspiration of the Founder, but a tradition shut in a cupboard for 350 years is not easily resurrected. There was a similar shift away from traditional prayer at the same time in other spiritual traditions, and the effect it has had on the Church in the past 400 years is far more than I can discuss here. However, a tree whose tap-root has been cut can hardly be expected to flourish, and, far from blaming the Jesuits because they do not measure up to what we expect of them, I admire them for what they have accomplished with the emasculated spiritual formation they have been given. I pray that they may recover the true understanding of the spiritual life bequeathed to them by St. Ignatius.