Friday, September 30, 2016

Dr. Jude Dougherty on Aristotle



1P5: Another Catholic Scholar Raises Objections to Amoris Laetitia - "Deliberate Ambiguity"

Wearing an Eastern Epitrachelion







Edit.

More on the church, which is rather Latinized.

Francis Meets Ilia II



Are you kidding?



The Orthodox already believe they are the one true Church! The same Neocatechumenal Way whose liturgies would be scandalous to the Orthodox. The hubris.

The Catholic Register: Brampton's St. Elias rises out of the ashes by Jean Ko Din

There is No Mean...

Between the Latin traditionalists and those who would seek to remake the Roman Church in accordance with their ideas. The mean used to be occupied, perhaps, by those in the Ressourcement movement, but what influence do they or their successors have now?

Benedict XVI Admits Qualms of Conscience about Vatican II

They think the old ways of thinking and praxis would restore the patriarchate of Rome.

The Kerygma



And his version of the Jesus prayer...

Georgia's Expectations for the Papal Visit



Benedict XVI

Thanks Be to God!

NLM: Consecration of St. Elias Church This Weekend

The Election

of a new superior general...

Divine Liturgy

Thursday, September 29, 2016

And what new things did he have to say about migration?



What are the economics behind married priests in the Roman rite?

1P5: Tosatti & Magister See Married Priests on the Horizon

Only possible where there is a financial base to support priests with families (large parishes) or parishes that have a "full-time" celibate priest and pastor and one "part-time" married priest who has a regular day job; or perhaps older men who have already served deacons will be ordained to the priesthood.

William Cavanaugh, "What Do I Want? Augustine and Milton Friedman on Freedom of Choice"

A Definitely Rome-Centric Viw of the Church

Crisis needs to reconsider what sort of Catholicism they want to offer if they want to remain relevant: Putting the “Roman” Back in “Roman Catholic” by Michael De Sapio
Ecumenical Patriarchate: SYNODALITY AND PRIMACY DURING THE FIRST MILLENNIUM: TOWARDS A COMMON UNDERSTANDING IN SERVICE TO THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH (via Byz, TX)

The New Serbian Orthodox Bishop of Eastern America

Tuesday, September 27, 2016

The Theotokos

The Document on Synodality and Primacy

Synodality and Primacy during the First Millennium: Towards a Common Understanding in Service to the Unity of the Church - Panorthodox Synod
Rorate Caeli: Interview with Peter Kwasniewski in Czech Newspaper RC Monitor, on Liturgy, Music, Philosophy, Traditionalism
The Dispatch: Politics and the inherent dilemmas of “liberal democracy”
Instead of the primacy of the contemplative order, modernity elevates the practical order to be supreme. With this abandonment of “being,” it is action that becomes man’s fundamental earthly endeavor.
September 23, 2016 01:30 EST
Brian Jones
The Catholic Herald: Tug of of war over Amoris by Fr. Mark Drew
Catholics are divided over how far Francis wants to change Church teaching regarding the remarried. But does he even have the authority to do so?

Also from Fr. Mark Drew:
The new Orthodox-Catholic agreement is a landmark – but there’s a long way to go
The Joint Commission for Theological Dialogue announced a substantial agreement but healing the historic schism still requires plenty of work

Saturday, September 24, 2016

A Curia in Need of a New Mission

Or is one needed if it is no longer necessary for curial officials to produce documents?

Fine-Tuning the Process?

Opus Dei: Loving God's Will

September 27 is the second anniversary of the beatification of Blessed Alvaro del Portillo. Here is a new installment in the series "Praying with Alvaro del Portillo."

Eastern Christian Books: Primacy and Synodality in Orthodoxy and Catholicism

Eastern Christian Books: Primacy and Synodality in Orthodoxy and Catholicism

Fr.Hunwicke: The Tome of S Leo

Hm!

Fr. Hunwicke: Bishop Fellay and Mutual Enrichment

It is very much to the Holy Father's credit that, apparently, he has lowered the doctrinal bar for reconciliation, in line with the interesting remarks made by Archbishop Pozzo ... who had (or has a friend who had) clearly been diving into the Conciliar archives and unearthing formal statements made in the aula about the non-binding status of certain documents. And the Pope's statement that he had not spoken infallibly when he performed certain recent canonisations must help reconciliation. Obviously, a formula of canonisation does not fall within the parameters of Pastor aeternus; additionally, there is significance in the changes Pope Francis made in the rites of Canonisation.
Dominican Liturgy: Early Modern Reforms of the Traditional Dominican Rite.

The Wisdom Commentary Series

From Liturgical Press, of course. How many Catholic publishers will survive the cratering of the American economy remains to be seen, but I hope LP is one of the first to go, given its support of heterodoxy.

Friday, September 23, 2016

The Jesuit Archive in Rome

Chiesa: Not Enough Celibate Priests? Make Way For Married Priests

This is the remedy being considered by Cardinal Hummes and Pope Francis for regions with a scarcity of clergy, starting with the Amazon. But there were also few missionaries in 17th-century China, and yet the Church flourished. It’s all in “La Civiltà Cattolica”

Wednesday, September 21, 2016

Ignorant of their own rite and what was deemed normative... the commentators over at Pray Tell with respect to sung liturgy. What is the blog and the head blogger doing to dispel the ignorance? Apparently little.

Why Chant is Good for Children by Timothy P. O’Malley
NLM: Historical Recreation of a 15th Century Mass by Gregory DiPippo

A Conference with a Focus on the West?

A Moderate?

The standard framing of any practical issue... conservative, progressive, moderate... as if moderate were the mean between two (vicious) extremes.

Communion of Love: Thomas Merton and Liturgical Reform by Gregory K. Hillis

Merton was probably right about active participation (and its relation to scale); but did he have any clue about what was coming with respect to changes in prayers and texts?

Baptism

Henri de Lubac

Tuesday, September 20, 2016

The New Creation

Contemporary Orthodox Elders

Fr. Amorth Has Passed Away

CWR Dispatch: Why the death of Fr. Gabriel Amorth is such a loss for the Church
We need men who fear nothing except God standing up against the deconstructionists and dissenters who claim that all that happened prior to 1965 in the Church was an embarrassment.
September 20, 2016 01:01 EST
Brian O'Neel

The Boston Pilot
CNA
Aleteia



Whom to Follow?

The Chief "Liturgist"



Monday, September 19, 2016

An OK Icon





The Spirit of Assisi?





Chiesa: With Bergoglio the “Spirit of Assisi” Triumphs. But Ratzinger Is Ruining the Party
Francis reruns the encounter with men of all religions inaugurated by John Paul II thirty years ago. But the objections of the cardinal prefect of doctrine back then are still alive. And even more radical

The Nativity of the Mother of God...

Something More Sensible

From Fr. Anthony Ruff, OSB: Gregorian Melodies with Vernacular Hymn Texts: A Proposal

I wouldn't reject every proposed liturgical reform issuing from his keyboard. As for his credibility as an authority though...

Related: Another Gregorian hymn suggestion

The State of RCIA in the US?

Pray Tell: Non Solum: RCIA in Practice

Of Limited Rhetorical Value

Unlikely to change minds in Opus Dei.

NLM: Reclaiming St. Josemaría Escrivá for the New Liturgical Movement by Peter Kwasniewski

John O'Malley, Again

This time on Vatican II.

Sunday, September 18, 2016

Saturday, September 17, 2016

How many pre-Christian Semitic cultures had the custom of veiling prepubescent girls in addition to women? (What was the rationale?) Or is this a custom found only inIslamic societies?

Kyrie Eleison



Inculturation and Conservatism

Where is the balance?

Prayer...

Friday, September 16, 2016

The Divine Agape

Chiesa: How Ratzinger Sees Francis: “He Is the Man of Practical Reform”

The reigning pope as described by his predecessor: “So different from how I had known him.” And also very different from him

Thursday, September 15, 2016

We Are? Or Adam and Eve?



Reader's Services

Archbishop Demetrios

Hermitage of the Holy Cross

Harmonizing Codes of Canon Law

Dominican Foundation: The Thomistic Institute at NYU

I would hope a video or podcast is forthcoming.

Cluny Media Reprints The State in Catholic Thought

Nomocracy in Politics: “Heinrich Rommen on the Community and the State,” By Bruce Frohnen

Cluny Media

John O'Malley on the Council of Trent



Could a liberal Jesuit (not necessarily Fr. O'Malley) conceptualize and theologize without a Vatican I conception of the papacy (and its relation to Sacred Tradition) even though he may dissent from certain papal teachings? After all, to what does he appeal, if not some version of Sacred Tradition? Even if its his own opinion masquerading as Sacred Tradition.

Ableson Religious Reconciliation Lecture Featuring Dr. William Cavanaugh

Wednesday, September 14, 2016

The Forefathers' Sin

CWR Dispatch: On the Buenos Aires directive by Edward N. Peters
If some pastors, after "Amoris Laetitia", were already being told by irate parishioners that ‘Pope Francis says you have to give me Communion’, what might they expect in the wake of his sweeping approval of this Argentine interpretation of AL?
September 13, 2016 03:10 EST

Exaltation of the Holy Cross





Eastern Christian Books: Will Cohen on Sister Churches

Eastern Christian Books: Will Cohen on Sister Churches

Indignation

Monday, September 12, 2016

PNAC Mag

Confirmed as Authentic?

The documents leaked to Rorate Caeli -- officially made public now?



Ironic, given that he said this:

Liturgical Architecture

Crux Now: American elected new abbot primate of Benedictine order by Cindy Wooden

Abbot Gregory Polan of Conception Abbey in Missouri has been elected the new Abbot Primate of the worldwide Benedictine order, an office designed to represent the Benedictines at global meetings and to promote the unity of the order's various abbeys and priories.

St. Sophia

Ferrera on Vultum Dei Quaerere

CFN News: Francis Attacks the Cloistered Convents, Ominous Power Grabs – Part III (via Pertinacious Papist)

But the Latin traditionalist is stuck in his conception of Papal authority:

Yes, of course, the Pope has plenary power in the Church. But this Pope pays no heed to the limits on that power enunciated by the very Pope he unexpectedly replaced under such mysterious circumstances...

Would Benedict XVI agree that the Pope has plenary power in the Church? Or would he be more nuanced in his exposition of what that means?

Not Warning Non-Catholics about the Consequences of Not Entering Into Full Communion

Prudence, and not an endorsement of indifferentism...

or just meeting people where they are and not attempting to displace Divine Providence by assuming the burden of bringing about the full conversion of someone else, unless one is so aided and moved by the Holy Spirit.

Sunday, September 11, 2016

How to pray the “Cursing Psalms” against our enemies

Rather than talking about "Divine Justice" (as an analogue to human retributive justice) as Pius Parsch does in his introduction to the breviary, wouldn't it be better to talk about punishments/chastisements/etc. in relation to Divine Mercy or Righteousness?

Can God will an evil (or punishment) to a sinner for its own sake, without willing the further good of conversion or penitence, or just as a means to maintaining good order or discipline or to prevent them from doing greater evil, for the sake of others only? Or does sin suffice as its own punishment?

Wolfhart Pannenberg

Thinking of getting the English translation of his Systematic Theology.

The Achievement of Wolfhart Pannenberg by Michael Root

New and more determinative for his later theology is its thoroughgoing trinitarian character. In a way similar to some other recent theologians—most notably, in their different ways, Karl Rahner and Karl Barth—Pannenberg does not begin with a discussion of God as one and of the divine attributes, both understood without reference to God as triune, but begins with God as Trinity and allows that understanding to frame both the presentation of God’s unity and the elaboration of the divine attributes. Against that background, God’s act of creation is presented as analogous to the differentiation of the Son from the Father (hence, creation is through the Word) and salvation is participation in the life of the Trinity (an idea more familiar to Catholic than to modern Protestant theology).

He passed away in 2014.
Wolfhart Pannenberg—In Memoriam by Philip Clayton

The Strange Legacy of Theologian Wolfhart Pannenberg by Fred Sanders
He vehemently defended the Resurrection but denied the Virgin Birth. He was hugely influential but leaves few disciples. What you need to know about the German giant who died this month.


A Good One to Repost

Saturday, September 10, 2016

Is this the response to the petitioners requesting clarification?

Rorate Caeli: For the record: Pope Francis confirms Amoris Laetitia allows communion for adulterers

Cardinal Parolin, Again





Did the previous Secretaries of State receive the same amount of coverage from Vatican Radio News?

Fr. Lombardi on Benedict XVI's Latest

Beautiful Photo

ORPR Russian Orthodox Youth Camp

Nicholas Denysenko on the Nativity of the Theotokos

Pray Tell: A Holy Birth: The Nativity of Mary

Fr. Louis-Marie de Blignières on Chapter 8 of Amoris Laetitia

Rorate Caeli: Extensive Article on the problems of Amoris Laetitia -- English translation of the French original

Related:
Catholic Conclave: Sexual revolution in the Vatican. John Paul II Institute stormed and humiliated
CWR The Dispatch: Why Pope Francis is wrong about extending mercy to creation and the environment by Carl E. Olson
I am increasingly convinced that this papacy, for all of its strengths, weaknesses, and oddities, could well be known, down the road, as the Papacy of Sentimentality.

Being a Byzantine Jesuit

By Cyril Pinchak, SJ

The Legacy of Conrad Baars

2012: Remembering Catholic Psychiatrist Conrad Baars by Jim Graves
Sue Baars reflects on her father’s contributions to psychiatry and the Church.

Catholic Psychotherapy Association
From 2010: Free Catholic psychotherapy workshops available via teleconferencing

Is it integral to monastic or religious life as such?

the use of liturgical texts in Greek, Latin, Church Slavonic,or Syriac/Aramaic? How much of Coptic is intelligible to the average Coptic Christian?

Is it the case that the use of such languages is not essential to monastic life and to most forms of religious life -- except those religious communities that seek to specialize in learning Greek/Latin/etc. for the sake of study, knowing the roots of their theological tradition, and theological dialogue. Indeed, to have certain orders or religious houses dedicated to the study of important texts in their original languages would be of great service to the Church, I would think. For them, to be so familiar with the language that they are able to pray (and converse) in those languages would be an ideal standard, and this could be a component of their identity or charism.

ΓΕΝΗΘΗΤΩ ΤΟ ΘΕΛΗΜΑ ΣΟΥ



Thursday, September 08, 2016

In Good Shape or Bad Shape?



An Icon of the Theotokos

The 12 Great Feasts

The Nativity of the Theotokos

Adam's Sin

What of Cardinal Parolin?

How will history judge him when this pontificate is a memory?



Not a Latin!

Metaphysically Problematic



If he's not speaking literally, it's very sloppy.

Then again, perhaps we should blame the one who is doing the tweeting for Pope Francis. The Latin version seems better:

Previews of Benedict XVI's New Book

Benedikt XVI. bricht sein Schweigen (English translation at Catholic Conclave)

"SZ": Benedikt XVI. kritisiert in neuem Buch katholische Kirche in Deutschland (English translation)



The Catholic Thing: Pope Francis in Conciliar Context by Howard Kainz

OAJ Interview with Seraphim O'Keefe

Religious Freedom and the Security State

Wednesday, September 07, 2016

Guardian of Scripture

Chiesa: Ecumenists Out of the House. But Inside It’s a Melee

Big smiles with Constantinople and Moscow. But a heavy hand with the Byzantine oases in the West. The emblematic cases of the Italo-Albanian dioceses and the monastery of Grottaferrata

Eastern Christian Books: Between Sanity and Sanctity

Eastern Christian Books: Between Sanity and Sanctity

Tuesday, September 06, 2016

CWR: Pope Francis, Henri de Lubac, and the Decentralizing of Church Authority
The Holy Father wants to enhance the authority of episcopal conferences. But one of his theological lodestones warned of the dangers of such an approach—dangers come to fruition in countries such as Germany.
By Dr. Samuel Gregg

Monday, September 05, 2016

Mother of God

Saw a print of the archangel "Uriel" hanging on the wall of the parish residence yesterday; I didn't think it had been sanctioned but maybe it's an older print.

From 2002: Vatican bans rogue angels

Saint Hermione

Neo-Gothic FSSP Temple in Denver

NLM: Completing the Gothic Aesthetic of a Parish Church by Peter Kwasniewski

I like the sketches; the interior looks like it will be colorful... but I can't still identify with neo-Gothic.

Sunday, September 04, 2016

For the Record



How much (supernatural) prudence is required for the discernment of whether someone has entered into the glory of God or not, as opposed to the movement of the Holy Spirit? It makes sense to me for this to be left in the hands of the local bishop, who might have more of a familiarity with the person in question, or at least with the local cult of that person, as opposed to using a bureaucratic means of assessing that person's holiness. It also makes sense for that person to be adopted into the local liturgical calendar first, and then adopting that feast in the universal calendar of that rite, after the cult has spread, etc. But do bishops no longer have that "authority" to change the local liturgical calendar? Or is it a right that they can reclaim for themselves from the bishop of Rome?

Does a patriarch have sole authority over the liturgical calendar for his region or "particular Church" or rite?

How much of the average Latin Catholic's judgment concerning the sanctity of a person is shaped by that person's exposure through the mass media, a form of "marketing" as it were, rather than by personal familiarity with that person, or knowing someone who is familiar with that person? Should the opinion of someone shaped solely by mass media be taken into consideration in assessing the state of the cult? What role does faith play in the private or public judgment of individuals of someone else's sanctity? Plenty were told Fr. Maciel was a saint and believed it.
Ecclectic Orthodoxy: Prayer of Saint Aidan

MacIntyre Has a New Book

Cambridge University Press: Ethics in the Conflicts of Modernity

Thinker Behind the “Benedict Option” Appears to be Taking a Neo-Marxist Turn

Friday, September 02, 2016

Too Much?



St. George Orthodox Church in Sydney, NSW, AUS?

Following Francis and Bartholomew




Pravmir: Praying Without Ceasing by Priest Ernesto Obregon
Praying without ceasing - how on Earth am I supposed to do that?
Prvamir: The Church-Slavonic Text of the Service to St Jonah of Hankow is published (ROCOR)
The "subjective turn" or the "interior turn" -- what distinguished devotio moderna and successive trends in Western spirituality from classical and patristic forms of prayer?

Can we really begin learning about prayer with mental prayer, skipping over vocal prayer? How can mental prayer be separated from a formation in lectio divina and liturgical prayer? (Would that be an accurate characterization of the emphasis of much of popular, contemporary Latin spirituality?) Meditations divorced from the liturgical cycle?

A Beginner’s Guide to Mental Prayer

Published by Ignatius Press at the beginning of this year: The Contemplative Hunger by Fr. Donald Haggerty. (Introduction at Insight Scoop.)








The Remnant: World Youth Day: Vatican Venue for Sex Education by Michael Matt
Tuesday, August 30, 2016

So the Vatican has ramped up its preoccupation with sex. As has been widely reported here and elsewhere, they've now got their very own sex-education program up and running. Published by the Pontifical Council for the Family, “The Meeting Point: The Adventure of Love,” purports to bring young people up to speed on the question of sex and chastity. And who better to do that than those paragons of virtue over at that Vatican.

Byzantine New Year

NLM: Byzantine New Year by Gregory DiPippo

Related: On Behalf of All



CWR: Cardinal Raymond Burke on Life, Truth, Mother Teresa, Islam, and Cardinal Sarah
Speaking to reporters from Rome about his new book, the American prelate goes on record about Christians and Muslims (they don't worship the same God) and Cardinal Sarah (“I agree with him completely...").
By Carl E. Olson

In a wide-ranging international teleconference call on Monday with media members, Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke spoke in detail about many timely topics. These included the priority of standing up for life in addressing poverty and other social ills, the witness and message of Mother Teresa, essential differences between Christianity and Islam, and the recent controversy over remarks by Car...

Eastern Christian Books: Images of Deification

Eastern Christian Books: Images of Deification

Thursday, September 01, 2016

“Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development"

Fr. Z: Pope Francis creates a one new Dicastery out of four, which will be suppressed



Rorate Caeli

More lecturing of civil governments and states to come. Though some might think that the consolidation of 4 into one might mean that the output would be less. But don't underestimate what can be done in a bureaucracy?