Bishop Schneider on the Minor "Ministries"

Guest Article: Bishop Athanasius Schneider on the Significance of Minor Ministries in the Sacred Liturgy https://t.co/oBFzgXOQom pic.twitter.com/H7tieyG4D1

— NLM (@NLMblog) January 20, 2021

See also this exchange between Fr. Peter Stravinskas and Nicholas Senz Confusion twice confounded: On the motu proprio Spiritus Domini by Peter M.J. Stravinskas

Pope Francis and expanding lay ministries: A response to Fr. Stravinskas by Nicholas Senz

Ministry and the importance of words: A response to Nicholas Senz

Spiritus Domini, papal authority, minor orders, and ministry

"But JP2!"

Pope Francis just the consequence of that problem which is Latin ecclesiology/Roman claims about primacy.

Confusion twice confounded: On the motu proprio Spiritus Domini by Peter M.J. Stravinskas

pic.twitter.com/aKlHGEo6xG

— Ortho.Bro ☦️ (@bro_ortho) January 11, 2021

A Latin Essay on the Presbyterate

Crisis: What You Can Do to Help Our Priests by Fr. Peter M. Stravinskas

The priesthood of Jesus Christ, in which every Christian priest shares, is the source of holiness in the Church and the impetus for all evangelization. Through the ministry of the priest, Christ’s lay faithful are nourished with the Word of Life and the Bread of Life; their sanctification makes possible the sanctification of the world.

and

The reverence and respect of the Catholic faithful for their clergy is directed, then, not toward the man himself but toward Christ who is the Priest of the new eternal covenant and toward the priesthood any man derives from Him and shares with Him.

Latin notions of the presbyterate (and its conflation with the priesthood of Christ) and sacrifice, and some clericalism probably are sufficient to explain the resistance to the "priesthood of the faithful" as being "Protestant."

Participatio Actuosa

LSN: Catholics have a ‘right’ to good liturgy in accordance with Church’s ‘tradition and discipline’ by Peter Kwasniewski
The Catholic Church teaches that there is such a thing as a 'right to liturgy.'

Catholics have a ‘right’ to good liturgy in accordance with Church’s ‘tradition and discipline’ https://t.co/W5Moz0bQGy

— LifeSite Catholic (@LSNCatholic) May 17, 2020

[T]he generic concern for “active participation” in the liturgy eclipses the centrality of the specific and infinitely greater good of the Eucharistic sacrifice enacted by the priest on behalf of the people. Just as the right to life is unequivocally and primordially located in the right of each baby human to be born, so too the right to liturgy refers most of all to the right to “offer the holy oblation in peace” (as our Byzantine brethren say), to see and to experience the liturgy as the work of Christ in and for His Church, not as my or anyone else’s product.

There is no worship without people worshipping.

In the Catholic world, the “sign of peace,” the proliferation of lay ministers invading the sanctuary and handling the precious gifts, and execrably bad post-Communion songs, conspire to distract us from the miracle that has just occurred and prevent us from praying most fruitfully in union with Our Lord and with all the other members of His Mystical Body.

Maybe some progressives cite those as being examples of active patricipation, but they're not.It's rather a straw man argument.

We are given our natural life in order to acquire supernatural life, and this we are given for the sake of rising up to God in prayer and divine praise.

This is active participation.

[B]eing pro-liturgy does not mean getting as many lay people involved in as many ministries as possible.

Again, this is not what is generally meant by active participation among the proponents of the Latin liturgical movement of the 20th ce. Kwasniewski should be writing better than this.

This article by a Latin traditionalist is slightly better:
Participatio Activa & Participatio Actuosa by Andy Milam

But whether it's of the readings during the readings service or of the singing by the scholar or choir, listening without comprehension is not listening -- it's hearing. Intelligibility is important for both prayer and listening.Conscious activity that is without comprehension of the prayers or texts may be piety or devotion, but it's not participation in the liturgy. Participation dependent upon a lay missal with a translation into the vernacular may be possible for a few, but it probably isn't possible for all, and it won't be possible once the extra resources that enable the printing and purchase of such missals begins to dwindle.

The above essay does cite Msgr. Richard Schuler as an authority on actuosa participatio, as does Fr. Peter Stravinskas in a guest essay for NLM in 2016 (part 2).

Authorities  like Colman E. O’Neill, O.P. equate participation [in the liturgy] with offering the Sacrifice of the Mass and receiving the Sacrament[s]:

(It is) that form of devout involvement in the liturgical action which, in the present conditions of the Church, best promotes the exercise of the common priesthood of the baptized; that is, their power to offer the Sacrifice of the Mass with Christ and to receive the sacraments. It is clear that, concretely, this requires that the faithful understand the liturgical ceremonial; that they take part in it by bodily movements, standing, kneeling or sitting as the occasion may demand; that they join vocally in the parts which are intended for them. It also requires that they listen to, and understand, the Liturgy of the Word. It requires, too, that there be moments of silence when the impact of the whole ceremonial may be absorbed and deeply personalized.

While O'Neill does say that the laity should join vocally in the parts which are intended for them (but should they understand to what they are responding, and their own responses), and even concedes that they should understand the Liturgy of the Word, he does identify participation with the exercise of the common priesthood of the baptized, and it would be easy on the basis of that identification alone one could say that comprehension is not at all necessary, as some Latin traditionalists may do. Does one need to understand the texts of the Mass in order to offer it and to receive the Sacraments? Not at all. I think O'Neill's equating of the two is problematic for another reason, that he misunderstands what the common priesthood of the faithful is, as it is dependent upon the dominant Latin opinion of what makes the Eucharist a sacrifice. But more on that in another post.

Something I need to review.

CWR: Genesis, Covenant, and Salvation History by Peter M.J. Stravinskas

One of the unique aspects of the Genesis narratives is that the sacred author(s) have such a profound consciousness of divine election that they see the beginning of the Hebrew people as flowing very naturally [...]

What Would an Byzantine Response Be?

CWR: Celibacy, Chastity, Same-Sex Attraction, Priesthood: Some Necessary Distinctions by Peter M.J. Stravinskas
In the hyper-sexualized society we Christians inhabit, chastity is as counter-cultural today as it was for the early Christians in the decadent Roman Empire.

Fr. Stravinskas refers to this article: “Celibacy and Priests with Same-Sex Attraction” by Ryan M. Williams.

“The Church has always counseled against ordaining those who have same-sex attraction.” On the surface, that would seem to be the case, but a bit of history and psychology might be helpful here. It is undoubtedly true that “the Church has always counseled against ordaining” not “those who have same-sex attraction” but those who act out that attraction. Indeed, “homosexuality” and/or “same-sex attraction” are modern concepts. Prior to the nineteenth century, those categories cannot be found. What made one be considered a homosexual was the fact that one engaged in homosexual activity. Does a man with same-sex attraction who marries a woman contract a valid marriage in the eyes of the Church? Canonical praxis would suggest an affirmative response, which is to say that his “orientation” may make his marriage to a woman more difficult but not necessarily impossible.

Are there however unresolved psychological issues that lie at the origin of the same-sex attraction, which would be an obstacle to effective ministry? This is not a question of a modern "identity" but rather of whether one is psychologically healthy -- even if it is a relative standard (and not the same as holiness or virtuousness) it would seem to be a necessary foundation for public ministry.

(As for the counter-example of the man with SSA who marries a woman -- could not the existence of SSA be later cited as a ground for an annulment, should "things not work out"?)

A Reform of the Reform?

The version of Fr. Peter M.J. Stravinskas: Liturgical Vision vs. Liturgical Visions: Vatican II, Pope Benedict XVI, Cardinal Sarah
Why I believe that the loss of the sense of the sacred is the primary reason why we have lost millions of Catholics to faithful worship.

Much of it a Latin traditionalist could agree with.

Over and above that, for a universal Church (in an age of high mobility), the ability to worship in a common language is most important. How many of you have gone on a business trip to Tokyo, for example, finding yourself attending Sunday Mass in Japanese (which I presume most of you do not know)?

So why should the Japanese have to suffer through Latin just so that a few tourists and legal residents can benefit from hearing something familiar?

Also, the patriarchate of Rome is not the Universal Church. And there is no reason why the patriarchate of Rome should have just one language, when it has jurisdiction over such a disparate group of ethnic groups and cultures. Latin could be a lingua franca for clerics, or bishops, but all of the faithful?

There should have been a greater move towards inculturation for peoples who did not speak Latin or Latin-derived language/Romance language, and this should have been part of the initial missionary effort. (To the Germanic tribes, for example.) Even if the project to develop a native hieratic language took some time as the local Churches discerned for those gifted with the intellectual ability and calling to undertake such a task, it still should have been a priority prominent in the minds of missionary bishops.

What is the significance of kneeling? It is at one and the same time the posture of humility and adoration. Benedict was fond of quoting St. Augustine who declared: “Let no one receive who has not first adored.” The external sign of kneeling helps to safeguard the sacrality of the action of receiving. Admittedly, the Churches of the East (both Catholic and Orthodox) receive standing, however, so much else in their liturgies emphasizes the transcendent that there is little danger of obscuring that dimension.

One can ask whether in the Latin psyche adoration has been separated from liturgical worship due to the rise of Latin "Eucharistic devotion."

But Very Little Overt Resistance in the Form of Affirming Traditional Discipline

CWR: “Ecclesial reception” in the Era of Francis by Peter M.J. Stravinskas

Out of more than 5,000 bishops in the universal Church, I don’t think we can consider supporters of the problematic practice of permitting divorced and remarried Catholics to receive Holy Communion as constituting “reception”.

St. John the Forerunner

The first guide for Advent: St. John the Baptist by Peter M.J. Stravinskas

Silence bespeaks expediency, complicity, and cowardice, and John the Baptist never kept silent, for even in the womb he announced the truth of Christ (cf. Lk 1:44).

Old Testament Saints

Fr. Hunwicke

Fr. Peter Stravinskas on the Holy Maccabees

One Against Changing the Discipline

CWR Dispatch: The Amazon Indult? by Rev. Peter M.J. Stravinskas
For the sake of argument, let’s say that an indult were granted to the beleaguered bishops of the Amazon, can one suppose that it will end there? History teaches otherwise.

Prof. Kwasniewski Responds to Fr. Stravinskas

CWR Dispatch: On “mutual enrichment” and “Universae Ecclesiae”: A response to Fr. Stravinskas by Fr. Albert P. Marcello, III
While the incorporation of additional Mass formularies is indeed foreseen by "Summorum Pontificum", great care should be taken in ensuring that these new euchological texts be harmonious with the ethos of the 1962 books.

What can mutual enrichment do that a proper reform can't?

Either avenue will be opposed by Latin traditionalists.

CWR: How the ordinary form of the Mass can “enrich” the extraordinary form
In Summorum Pontificum, Pope Benedict hoped the celebration of the extraordinary and ordinary forms of the Mass would be “mutually enriching.” So what healthier elements of the ordinary form might benefit the extraordinary?
By Rev. Peter M.J. Stravinskas

CWR: Henri de Lubac's observations of Vatican II offer prescient perspective by Rev. Peter M.J. Stravinskas
Volume Two of de Lubac's "Vatican Council Notebooks", recently published Ignatius Press, is filled with endless detail, much drama, and many surprises.

CWR: Martin Luther's Revolt: A Psychological Examination By Peter M.J. Stravinskas
Several of the key moves in Luther’s life were made as a rebellious answer to the authority he encountered at the time, including entering the monastery and founding his own church.

CWR Dispatch: William Byrd and the beckoning of beauty by Peter M.J. Stravinskas
Style and class have been banished from most Catholic sanctuaries in our land – and we are all the poorer for it. The transient, the ephemeral, the cheap have replaced the beautiful, the uplifting, the inspiring.

NLM: Participatio Actuosa in the Current Magisterium: Guest Article by Fr Peter Stravinskas (Part 2)
Gregory DiPippo

NLM: Participatio Actuosa in the Current Magisterium: Guest Article by Fr Peter Stravinskas (Part 1) by Gregory DiPippo

CWR: Behind the Scenes at Vatican II by Peter M.J. Stravinskas
The first volume of Henri de Lubac's "Vatican Council Notebooks" (Ignatius Press, 2015) is filled with detailed and often surprising accounts of conversations, disputes, and key figures at the Council