Thursday, August 30, 2018

The Usual Suspects

Fr. Z: “Gay” Parade in Rome with @JamesMartinSJ and a bishop close to the papal inner circle


The Truth About Cardinal Müller's Dismissal?

Lifesite: Pope dismissed Cdl Müller for following Church rules on abuse cases

The Latin "Progressives" React...

Not going to bother to look for other examples...

America Magazine: Viganò's accusations: What we know and what questions they raise

Cupich Cries

CNA Cupich says interview edited unfairly and Full text of Cardinal Cupich NBC Interview

Fr. Rutler on Tattooing

The Morality of Tattooing BY FR. GEORGE W. RUTLER

There was a time, not in the hoary past, when tattoos were an indulgence of louche members of the demi-monde, as observed by Alexandre Dumas. They seem to have become [...] Read more articles The Line Between Holiness and Madness in Ron Hansen’s Mariette in Ecstasy Modern artistic treatments of religious life tend to share a few assumptions: first, that there is something sinister in a life of vocation, and secondly, that those who choose such a life must have some degree of psychological or emotional disturbance motivating them. If these stories feature a nun, priest, or monk as a protagonist, […] View more from the Standard Bearers View more from the Civilized

Wednesday, August 29, 2018

How Much of This is St. Augustine, How Much is Just Latin Theology?

Orthodoxy, worship, and Saint Augustine by Matthew Tsakanikas, STD
Doctrine exists for worship and not simply for itself. Doctrine apart from worship is barren.

Does this escape "functional Unitarianism"?

Thinking with the NuChurch Instead?

CWR Dispatch: Fr. James Martin is not thinking with the Church by Fr. Steve Mattson

What Fr. Martin writes and says seems guided more by GLAAD than by God, and is more aligned to the thinking of the World than the Word.

Christianity in Ukraine explained in 35 minutes by Right Rev. Dr. Andriy Chirovsky



A Defense in Which Modesty Is No Longer Primary

OrthoChristian: In Defense of Women Who Adhere to Tradition and Wear Headscarves

Is it a good angle for approaching the issue? Shouldn't modesty for the sake of the woman, and also for the sake of her brothers in Christ, be important?

Speculation about Luficer

Why Was Lucifer in the Garden? by Seraphim Hamilton

Adam was destined to be exalted above the angels, and Lucifer could not bear it. Envy incited him to deceive Eve, thus bringing about his own fall from glory.

Tuesday, August 28, 2018

Yes, the Problem is "Clericalism"

Rorate Caeli: De Mattei: “I will not say a single word about this”

Tsar Nicholas II Conference

Russian Faith: International Conference Honoring Tsar-Martyr Nicholas II

Cupich Must Go

CWR Dispatch: Cardinal Cupich: “The Pope has a bigger agenda”
CNA: Cupich dismisses Viganò claims as a ‘rabbit hole’

First Things...

WHY FRANCIS MUST SPEAK by Gerald E. Murray
The question prompted by Viganò’s account of his personal interactions with Francis, must be answered.

WHY WE STAY, AND THE VIGANÒ TESTIMONY by George Weigel
Archbishop Viganò's testimony deserves to be taken seriously, not peremptorily dismissed or ignored.

WHAT FRANCIS KNEW by Philip Lawler
Viganò's letter implicates Pope Francis in the very behavior he denounced while in Ireland.

More on the Viganò Testimony

Viganò issues new statement, documents to clear his name of false charges

A who's who of the Viganò testimony

October Is Around the Corner...

And Edward Pentin asks: Have Synods Become Vehicles for Legitimizing Heterodoxy?

Edward Pentin Comments on Archbishop Gänswein’s Comments

Archbishop Gänswein’s Comments Were Correct and We Stand By Our Reporting by Edward Pentin

Monday, August 27, 2018

Bishop Schneider Responds

Fr. Z: PODCAzT 167: Reflection of Bp. Athanasius Schneider about The Viganò Testimony

NCReg: Reflection on the ‘Testimony’ of Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò by Bishop Athanasius Schneider
Ruthlessness and transparency in detecting and in confessing the evils in the life of the Church will help to initiate an efficient process of ...

Beginning of a Trend?

Or will "conservative" American Roman Catholic theologians continue to be silent about the latest regarding Pope Francis?

Scott Hahn on Vigano letter: ‘It seems like a good time to pray like never before’

In Response to the Smear Campaign

CWR: Archbishop Viganò responds to criticisms of handling of 2014 Nienstedt investigation by Carl E. Olson

The former nuncio to the U.S. flatly denies assertions that he ordered a stop to an investigation of then-Archbishop John Nienstedt of St. Paul and […]

"Two or Three Witnesses..."

Former nunciature official: 'Vigano said the truth'

Sunday, August 26, 2018

The Weekend Bombshell

Former United States Nuncio on the McCarrick Scandal: "Francis Knew. He Should Resign"

Related: OP-ED - "The McCarrick Affair: The Pope knew. Here is why he must resign." Francesca Romana at RORATE CÆLI - by Aldo Maria Valli August 26, 2018 [Rorate note: journalist Aldo Maria Valli is probably the best-known Vaticanist in Italy, since for many years he commented on the papacy in the main Italian television network RAI1, and also for RAI 3.] “Bishops and priests, abusing their authority, have committed horrendous crimes to the detriment of their faithful, minors, innocent victims,

Thursday, August 23, 2018

Product of the Consilium

Catholic News Agency: Just the Facts?

Or the facts with an ideological slant?

Fr. James Martin critiques ‘homophobic’ pastors at WMOF

From this article can one know what the official teaching of the Roman Catholic Church is regarding homosexuality and homosexual behavior?

Should This Be Called [Roman] Catholic Integralism?

In Defence of Catholic Integralism by Thomas Pink

Is it necessarily bound up with acceptance of the modern nation-state?

Wednesday, August 22, 2018

One "Reunion" Council and Two...

ecumenical councils? What did the decrees of Florence really say about the papacy? Something for me to look up, presumably in Denzinger.

From a comment:

I would advise those who have difficulty with Pope Francis’s teaching on the death penalty to follow the guidance of the CDF given in Donum Veritatis, 27-31. Some of Dr. Peters’ comments about the ordinary papal magisterium need clarification because they could be interpreted as challenging the universal ordinary teaching authority of the Roman Pontiff, which is affirmed by three ecumenical councils: Florence (D-H, 1307); Vatican I (D-H, 3064), and Vatican II (Lumen Gentium, 22 and 25).

2021

Tuesday, August 21, 2018

Who Is Protecting James Martin, SJ?

CWR Dispatch: Whither the Church on “sensitivity” to homosexuals? by Thomas R. Ascik
To what degree does the campaign of American Jesuit Fr. James Martin become the agenda for parishes in the Catholic Church throughout the world?

There's no Space in the Curriculum?

If Latins seminarians and graduate students aren't even going to learn Latin any more, they should at least learn Greek in its place.

Schema-Archimandrite Tikhon (Murtazov)

OrthoChristian: “IT’S BETTER TO SIN BY LOVE THAN BY STRICTNESS” The Memory of Schema-Archimandrite Tikhon (Murtazov)

Monday, August 20, 2018

The Absence of Leadership and Pastoring

It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a bureaucrat to enter into the kingdom of heaven.

First Among Equals? Or the Final Arbiter?

One more thing from Ed Peters's essay on the change in the CCC:

But that’s where confusion sets in: while popes can, in a singleextraordinary act, assert something with infallible certitude sufficient to bind the faithful in belief or morals (Canon 749 § 1), no pope can, by a single ordinary act, assert something with anything like the equivalent force for Christian consciences.

If infallibility seems to be logically required for the Pope to arbitrate two disputing claims regarding dogma (and even that may be more of a practical, linguistic preference rather than a question about the reality being signified), or for the pope with a council to teach definitively (if infallibility is necessarily guaranteed only with respect to the act of teaching, and not also with the act of reception by the Christian faithful), then does it entail that the pope is infallible when he speaks alone, even if he has supposedly "consulted" the bishops of the world? If the Pope has no divinely sanctioned role as a "universal" teacher, and his role with respect to the Church Universal is limited to his cooperative role with respect to other bishops, speaking collectively as a body, then how can it be claimed that his "extraordinary" acts as a "universal" teacher (even if "taught" by Vatican I) are infallible? Where is the justification in the historical exercise of the office of the bishop of Rome in the first millenium for this?

Sunday, August 19, 2018

What if?

Could the split of the Protestants have been prevented if the Latins had first reconciled with the Eastern Chalcedonian Christians ealier, and instead of elevating scholastic theological opinion as dogma at Trent, written the decrees differently?

Then we wouldn't have a problem about bishops endorsing practically unconditional intercommunion with Protestants.

The Intercommunion Proposal of the German Bishops is Unbiblical by Brian Kranick


Why Pope Paul VI Should Not Be Canonized

Paul VI on liturgical reform Editor

Pope Paul VI In view of the canonization of Pope Paul VI, the pope of liturgical reform, in October, Pray Tell is occasionally publishing some of his most significant statements on liturgical reform. This helps us understand the Church’s understanding of liturgy, and also reflect on how far we have to go in implementing the teaching more fully!

Saturday, August 18, 2018

A New Setting




Latin Traditionalists!

Ed Peters on the Recent Change to the CCC

The death penalty debate and the Church’s magisterium by Edward N. Peters
I regard the liceity of the death penalty as having been established with infallible certitude by the Church’s ordinary magisterium.

The ordinary magisterium, one must see, takes a long, long time, to develop; it requires repetition and consistency over many generations, this, not simply on the part of popes but also by the bishops around the world, and even incorporates, to some extent, the lived acceptance of teachings by Catholic pastors, academics, and rank-and-file faithful through time.

This however applies to the theologoumena of the Latins as well.

"The Spirit of Vatican 2"

How not to design a church: Liturgical Music and Design: Jesuit Ministry in Slovenia by Bruce Morrill

Another Byzantine Jesuit

I still need to read his essay on marriage/divorce.



Misc.

Thursday, August 16, 2018

Ah, But What Sense of Sacrifice?

If the Chinese notion of "sacrifice" is not the same as that of the Israelites or the Apostles and Church Fathers, then maybe it is a good thing not to be associated so much with it, even though inculturation in other ways may be necessary. (Is the Chinese notion of "sacrifice" the same as that of other pagans, i.e. the offering of something to the Divine?)

Doxologia

Axios! Archon Mousikodidaskalos

You Could Guess from the Headline that Opus Dei Is Involved

Life of Spanish chemistry professor shows ‘holiness is in the ordinary’

Wednesday, August 15, 2018

More Reaction to the Zenit Article with Fr. Rosica

‘Francis Is A Dictator Pope — Thank God’ By ROD DREHER • August 14, 2018,

The Icon of the Dormition







The Importance of the Septuagint

Russian Faith: Why Don't These Bibles Match? - Psalm 14 According to the Apostle Paul Some Bibles read differently. The KJV and NIV readings are shorter, while the OSB reading is considerably longer. But which reading is correct? Have the KJV and NIV removed words from this Psalm, or has the OSB added to it? Fr. Joseph Gleason

Monday, August 13, 2018

CWR: Natural No Maas: The disintegration of the concept of all law in Luther by Timothy J. Gordon

Classical Protestantism is a voluntarist form of Christianity, such a radically different view of human and divine will that it must be differentiated from non-voluntarist Catholicism not only as a different sect, but as a fundamentally different worldview.

Saturday, August 11, 2018

Thursday, August 09, 2018

CWR Dispatch: Edith Stein’s wisdom for a new century by William Doino, Jr.
A new anthology offers many insights into Stein’s thinking on faith and mysticism, Church-state controversies, the role of women, relations between the sexes, racism, suffering, and other topics.

«Οι Πατέρες και η έννοια της Παράδοσης» - π. Andrew Louth - Ακαδημία Θεολογικών Σπουδών Βόλου





Wednesday, August 08, 2018

The Scharfenberger Proposal

CWR: The Current Crisis and the Order of the Laity by Dr. Adam A. J. DeVille

Bishop Scharfenberger’s call for “an independent commission led by well-respected, faithful lay leaders” is far superior to Cardinal Wuerl’s proposal and reflects a much better understanding of the laity and the nature of the Church.
If the Patriarch of Rome has overstepped the limits of his authority regarding the Church Universal, is it appropriate to break communion with him? Is it sufficient to ignore his claims and commands if they are not legitimate? Or does there need to be a more severe censure in order to alert him of a problem?

Friday, August 03, 2018

A Mess for the Ruthenians

CNA: Bishop Olmsted named apostolic administrator of Arizona-based Byzantine eparchy

Cardinal Zen on Pope Benedict XVI's Liturgical Theology

Martin Mosebach on Pastoral Clergy

Modern Russian Relief Icons

Fr. Z: “HEY! Wait for me!” Latin of change to CCC 2267 about capital punishment now available.

Eastern Christian Books: Liturgical Subjects and the Byzantine Self

Eastern Christian Books: Liturgical Subjects and the Byzantine Self

Eastern Christian Books: Exploring Gregory of Nyssa

Eastern Christian Books: Exploring Gregory of Nyssa

CNA Article on the Change in the Catechism Re: Capital Punishment

Catholic News Agency: Pope Francis and the death penalty: a change in doctrine or circumstances?

Sex, Sex, Sex

CWR: The theological roots of the present crisis by Fr. D. Vincent Twomey, SVD
An ambiguous attitude to “human sexuality” on the part of “mainstream” moral theology led in time to bishops effectively turning a blind eye to sinful behavior among clerics.

Another Byzantine-Rite Jesuit?

Fr Andrij Hlabse, SJ, Ordained to the Priesthood

Knowing God: The Practical Importance of St. Gregory Palamas by Fr. John Boddecker


Thursday, August 02, 2018

Pope Francis and Capital Punishment

CNA: Vatican Changes Catechism's Teaching on Death Penalty, Calls It Inadmissible

The word "inadmissible" is sure to generate discussion about why that particular word was used -- Bergoglio's sidestepping the question of whether he is contradicting previous Roman teaching on the liceity of capital punishment, and turning it into an absolute prudential judgment with which "reasonable" people should not disagree? Or is it really a synonym for intrinsically immoral?


What do the other apostolic churches teach about capital punishment?

Wednesday, August 01, 2018

"Christ Our King and God"

How old is this expression in the Byzantine rite? Is there a danger of understanding the kingship of Christ, as used in the Byzantine tradition, by referring to the human analogate as primary, rather than the Divine analogate? (As there may be such a danger in the Roman rite, especially with the Feast of Christ the King? See the comments of Fr. Bouyer in Liturgical Piety.) The Word is to rule in our lives, by ordering our actions and infusing us with Divine Love -- and human kingship is to be in accord with this.