Saturday, May 07, 2016

CWR Blog: Why is this non-Catholic scholar debunking "centuries of anti-Catholic history"?
An interview with Dr. Rodney Stark, sociologist and author of "Bearing False Witness"
May 07, 2016 03:21 EST
Carl E. Olson
Rorate Caeli: De Mattei - The current crisis in the context of Church history

Roberto de Mattei
Speech, Roman Life Forum 2016
May 6, 2016

Thursday, May 05, 2016

Chiesa: Instructions For Not Losing the Way in the Labyrinth of “Amoris Lætitia”

Intentionally written in a vague form, the post-synodal exhortation allows two opposite ways out. A Dominican theologian indicates the right one here. As in a little catechism, for the use of priests and faithful

The Resurrection of Christ Orthodox Cathedral in Tirana, Albania?



youtube
Michael Harrison
2014 announcement of consecration

Wednesday, May 04, 2016

Chiesa: Jews. The Discord of the Four Brothers

They celebrated Passover together, but then they went their separate ways again. The four subgroups of the Jews of Israel analyzed for the first time in depth by the Pew Research Center in Washington

Christus Victor

Archbishop Demetrios

The Prayer Rule of the Theotokos

Tuesday, May 03, 2016

Thomas Choe Yang-Eop

The Conclusion of Fr. Andrew's Series on Pentecostalism

St. Mary Magdalene

A Taxonomy of Latin Catholics

Christian Order: On Doctrinal and Moral Disorders Abiding in the Church
Father John A. Hardon's 1990 Commentaries on the “Revised Draft” of the Catholic Catechism

Part 2

Was Fr. Hardon a Latin traditionalist? Perhaps not liturgically, as the author of the above recognizes. (I am not sure if Fr. Hardon had a published opinion on the EF.) But theologically, he was conservative and probably upheld some form of neo-scholasticism in addition to Thomism. As one can see, he criticizes certain points of the CCC based on the Council of Trent (accepted by Fr. Hardon as an ecumenical council) -- the same sort of mindset exhibited by Latin traditionalists which would criticize the judgment that the Liturgy of Addai and Mari, lacking an Institution Narrative, is invalid.

What should we call the position held by Fr. Hardon, Latin traditionalists, and probably many "conservative" Latin Catholics as well? Tridentine Latin Christianity?

Monday, May 02, 2016

Fr. Raymond Gawronski, SJ



I had not seen any photos of him celebrating Divine Liturgy in the Byzantine rite until now.

The Mysterious Mystery

Something written for the local Latin diocese on mystagogy. I saw a longer version two weekends ago in Palo Alto. In both versions the notion of "mystery" is related more to the Vatican I usage than to its use by St. Paul, especially the referent or denotation. I've seen plenty of RCIA/catechetical material using the word Mystery but not giving an explanation of what is meant by it, and this is rather disappointing though not surprising -- the expected renewal of theology at the popular level did not happen after Vatican II, despite all of the groundwork that was laid for it before the council. While God's love is a part of the Christian Mystery or the Mystery of Christ (or the Mystery of the Cross) -- not "Paschal" Mystery -- one is missing out on the kerygmatic proclamation that should be entailed by the use of the word if one focuses solely on His love or mercy.

Bouyer on the neologism "Paschal mystery"
The Christian Mystery

Friday, April 29, 2016

Chiesa: The German Option of the Argentine Pope

Cardinal Kasper and the progressive wing of the Church of Germany have gotten what they wanted. On communion for the divorced and remarried, Francis is on their side. He made up his mind a while ago, and has acted accordingly

A Story with Many Facets

Our Lady of the Mount Anjara, Jordan - New Icons of the Mysteries of the Rosary, and a Miraculous Weeping Statue

The continued presence of the Roman rite in the Christian Near East; the IVE trying to get on the good side of Pope Francis; and the icons -- how acceptable would they be to an Eastern Christian, Byzantine or otherwise?

St. Elias Monastery

Eastern Christian Books: Nicholas Denysenko on Liturgical Reform

Eastern Christian Books: Nicholas Denysenko on Liturgical Reform

Liturgical Reform after Vatican II: The Impact on Eastern Orthodoxy is another book from Fortress Press.

Related:
Fr. Lawrence Farley, Altar Girls

I now see one way in which Nicholas Denysenko is associated with Pray Tell....

Thursday, April 28, 2016

The Real Presence

Not Just Scotland

CWR: Once deeply Catholic, modern Scotland needs a theological revival
From Saints Mungo and Margaret to writer George Mackay Brown, the Catholic roots of Scotland run deep, despite post-Reformation neglect.
By Tracey Rowland

On a recent trip to Scotland Bishop Gilbert of Aberdeen asked me whether I was familiar with the Scottish writer George Mackay Brown. I had to confess that I had never heard of him. A few days later I was rummaging through second-hand book stores searching for everything and anything by Mackay Brown.

Chastisement

With all our wealth and leisure, shouldn't we expect Latin clergy to be more knowledgeable in the "sacred languages" (and the Church Fathers) than their medieval predecessors. And yet most seminaries have no requirement for Latin or Greek (much less, Hebrew and Aramaic). What good is all of the economic advantages that the Western world has?

PhD programs still expect doctoral students to be trained to read texts in their original languages. Why shouldn't a more sizable number of Latin clergy be able to do so with respect to sacred scripture and the documents of the Church and the writings of the Church Fathers? Should we take the lack of standards as evidence of God's judgment?

Monday, April 25, 2016

Chiesa: Indissoluble Marriage? Yes, But For the Chosen Few

Not only the doctrine of the Church, but the very words of Jesus on marriage are now reinterpreted in the most varied of ways. According to the biblicist Silvio Barbaglia, in the Gospels absolute indissolubility applies only to couples living as brother and sister “for the kingdom of heaven”

But Is it Aristotelian Enough?

Another attempt at reconciling evolution with the science of nature that turns out to be too facile?

Bishop Schneider Seeks Clarification on Amoris Laetitia

letter (in Italian) (via Fr. Z)

Iconography Tutorials by Julia Bridget Hayes

at ikonographics (via Byz, TX)

Fr. Andrew on Pentecostalism, Continued

Saturday, April 23, 2016

Papal Message to the 39th National (Italian) Convention of Groups and Communities for Renewal in the Holy Spirit

More from Fr. Andrew on Pentecostalism

Maybe a Counterpoint

Situating Luther

The Catholic Thing: Reflections on “Amoris Laetitia” by Fr. Gerald E. Murray
NLM: The Office of Vespers as Sacrifice - Guest Article (Skyler Neberman)
Gregory DiPippo

John Henry Newman Center of Higher Education Interview with Bishop Athanasius Schneider

(via Rorate Caeli)
On Thursday I was reminded of this post... 1 Timothy 2:12 and 1 Corinthians 14:34.

At least Latin traditionalists wouldn't have women as teachers in their seminaries and colleges, respecting older social norms, the distinction of sex roles based on sex differences.
And the Two Become One Flesh by Veronica A. Arntz

A questionable interpretation of the parable of the wedding feast.
Lastly, through this improper reception of the Eucharist, we come to the wedding feast without the proper garment. In one of Christ’s parables, a king is hosting a marriage feast for his son, and after many of those invited rejected the invitation, the king brought in any from the streets who would come. Among these, however, “He {the king} saw there a man who had no wedding garment; and he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless” (Matthew 22:11-12). This man was thrown “into the outer darkness” because he did not come properly dressed (Matthew 22:13). Thus, when we approach the Lord without having gone to the sacrament of Confession, and receive him unworthily, we are likewise approaching the wedding feast of the Lamb without the proper garment. Here, we see the eschatological purpose of the Church: if we do not participate in the Church with the right end of Heaven in mind, then we are doing a disservice to the Body of Christ. How will we be able to respond to the invitation to come to the “Spirit and the Bride” at the end of time, if during our whole lives as Christians we were not properly prepared to receive him? (Revelations 22:17). For the ultimate end of the Body of Christ is to enter the Mystical Body in Heaven, and to do that, we ought to be properly prepared to be part of the Body, and to receive the Eucharistic Body.

Is HPR so hard up for submissions that it is publishing essays by college seniors? (Even if that college is WCC.)

Our understanding of Christian marriage or natural marriage is dependent upon our understanding of the Church and its relation to Christ? Aristotle and Cicero, cited at the beginning of the essay, had no knowledge of the Mystery of Christ. One can just as easily say that the marriage crisis is due to the loss of faith, but what Christian trying to live in Christ doesn't realize that already?

More on Theosis

Andrew Louth's chapter in Partakers of the Divine Nature.

Introductory course: Apophasis & Theosis

Protestants Returning to Theosis

Carl Mosser:




Trinities podcast episode 59 and episode 60

The Byzantine Anglo-Catholic: Incarnation and Theosis

Inhabiting the Cruciform God: Kenosis, Justification, and Theosis in Paul’s Narrative Soteriology
Eerdman's - Google Books

"The Retrieval of Deification: How a Once-Despised Archaism Became an Ecumenical Desideratum" by Paul Gavrilyuk

Friday, April 22, 2016

English Translation to Be Published by Ignatius Press?

CWR Blog: Vatican liturgist: “We are administrators, and not the masters, of the sacraments” by Alberto Carosa
Msgr. Nicola Bux has a new book out in Italian on the sacraments, and several prominent churchmen were present for its official release.
CWR: Five Serious Problems with Chapter 8 of Amoris Laetitia By E. Christian Brugger
The most controversial section of Pope Francis' apostolic exhortation is fraught with problematic arguments and dubious moral theology—and gives the German bishops all they want.


For Catholics who feel weary about the abuse that the Christian family has lately suffered at the hands of militant secularism, Pope Francis’ post-synodal apostolic exhortation Amoris Laetitia (AL) has many encouraging things to say: e.g., its forthright assertion that “no genital act of husband and wife can refuse” the truth that “the conjugal union ...
CWR: The Church in Crisis: Roots and Realities By Carl E. Olson
The crisis in Catholicism today, argues Fr. Martin R. Tripole, S.J., author of a detailed study of the Enlightenment and its continuing influence, is "a crisis of abandonment of fidelity to Christ’s Church and its teachings".

Fr. Martin R. Tripole, S.J., is professor emeritus of theology, Saint Joseph's University, Philadelphia who earned an S.T.D. from the Institut Catholique in Paris, France. He is the author of Church in Crisis: The Enlightenment and Its Impact upon Today's Church (CUA, 2012), and has published numerous essays and boo...
Dawn Eden gives an update.

And she will be employed at a Roman Catholic seminary, apparently.
The Imaginative Conservative: The Catholic Enlightenment: A Forgotten History by Bradley J. Birzer

The Catholic Enlightenment: The Forgotten History of a Global Movement by Ulrich L. Lehner

"Modern" Art and Icon Painting

Insight Scoop: New: "Called to Be the Children of God: The Catholic Theology of Human Deification"

Thursday, April 21, 2016

David Solomon to Retire

DoJ

Bergoglio's Populism

Chiesa: “The People, Mystical Category.” The Political Vision of the South American Pope

An essay by Professor Zanatta has come out in Argentina and Italy, on the “populism” of Francis. The thread that ties together his visit to Lesbos and his affinity for the anti-capitalist and anti-globalization “popular movements”
Catholic World Report: Building bridges through filmmaking By Jim Graves
Dustin Kahia hopes his new production company—which has just released its first film—will engage the culture through “a different form of evangelism.”


Wednesday, April 20, 2016

Does Pope Francis Weaken or Illustrate the Case for Papal Infallibility?

Though the article is written by Christopher Ferrera, it does include the views of other Catholics who are critical of Amoris Laetitia, not all of whom are Latin traditionalists. Amoris Laetitia: Anatomy of a Pontifical Debacle

Why Amor and Not Caritas?

Besides the parallel with the title of the recent Apostolic Exhortation, but in that context, would caritas be better there as well? The consequence of the Church of Rome falling away from Greek?





Meanwhile, How are the Indian Syriac Churches?



Jesus Youth

An Issue Central to Inculturation

More from Fr. Thomas Hopko

Tuesday, April 19, 2016

As Opposed to the Eternal Word?

Buon compleanno



For Documentation









Axios!

Metropolitan Anthony Bloom on Prayer

More on St. Mary of Egypt

Front Porch Republic: Just War Doctrine Doesn’t Need an Update by Marc Mason

According to a “first of its kind” Vatican conference co-hosted by the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace and the international Catholic peace organization Pax Christi there is no such thing as a “just war.” The participants in this conference go further than this and say that the Catholic Church’s “Just War” doctrine developed by theologians from as far back as St. Augustine must be rejected. They argue that the Church’s just war doctrine has too often been used to justify unjust wars and they go on to argue that the “powerful capabilities of modern weapons and evidence of the effectiveness of nonviolent campaigns make it [just war doctrine] outdated.” The hope of the conference attendees is that Pope Francis will consider writing an encyclical or some other “major teaching document” that will reorient the Church’s teaching on just war doctrine.

Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace
Pax Christi International
Pax Christi USA

What examples of (successful) nonviolent campaigns are they citing? And how many of those took place in countries where those ruling did not have some remnant of Christian conscience or were otherwise unwilling to do what it takes to suppress those movements?

Saturday, April 16, 2016

Robert Royal and Fr. Gerald Murray on Amoris Laetitia



(via EWTN)
For the white knights to consider: if having women in positions of authority (such as teaching) in the Church is ok then having a seminary where the staff is 100% women should be the best step towards progress and greater inclusiveness and participation of women. But if it isn't, why not?

Not that I expect the white knights to be able to think coherently about this.

Friday, April 15, 2016

Centesimus Annus

Eternal Memory





Parts 2 and 3.

The New Apostolic Exarch for Greece

Making Reparation

Fr. Z: Intense new image of the Sacred Heart and your Act of Reparation (ACTION ITEM!)

ACTION ITEM!
On that note, because of the awful confusion that we have experience over the last week, I ask you all earnestly to pray the classic Act of Reparation that the great Pius XI released in 1928 in Miserentissimus Redemptor.

The prayer here.

Making reparation and expiation for the [supposed] sins of others... does such a mindset distort agape?
NLM: The Solemnity of St Joseph, Patron of the Universal Church 2016

Established back in the high days of Roman pretensions, when Pius IX thought he could legislate such matters to the Church Universal. Is it uncontroversial to say that (apostolic) Christians have always believed that the Theotokos has a special relationship to the Church? Is the same true of St. Joseph?

The Status of Amoris Laetitia

Amoris Laetitia is "non-magisterial"? Not so fast ...
in which the author reminds us:
During this speech, which he addressed to the Synod Fathers, Francis made clear that at the end of the Synodal process, he intended to pronounce authoritatively: "the synodal process culminates in listening to the Bishop of Rome, who is called upon to pronounce as "pastor and teacher of all Christians," not based on his personal convictions but as a supreme witness of “totius fides Ecclesiae” (the whole faith of the Church), of the guarantor of obedience and the conformity of the Church to the will of God, to the Gospel of Christ and to the Tradition of the Church."

Several points, not directly in response to the above:
1. Where does the synodal process, as it is outlined by Pope Francis, in evidence during the first millenium? (Reception or non-reception of canons is not the same as making a pronouncement.)
2. Some have distinguished an (extraordinary) synod from an ecumenical council -- I saw a link to one such article, but I can't find it at the moment. I won't attempt to guess what is says.
3. Even if the synod is more of a consultative body, the pope is still claiming to exercise his own ministry over the Church Universal with the apostolic exhortation (even if it is of a lower authority than other papal documents). Even if he has the authority to do so, what can He do but witness to the unchanging Tradition of the Church with respect to "Faith and morals"? As for being a universal pastor, especially over other bishops and their clergy, the practical, prudential, and legal limits of this may be in dispute.

Three Tiny Notes on Amoris Laetitia

Antonio Socci: There has been a coup in the Church
Let us rebel against “the dictatorship of relativism” which is destroying Catholicism and our civilization.

De Mattei - The Post-Synod Exhortation, Amoris laetitia: First reflections on a catastrophic document guest piece by Roberto de Mattei

Related:
NCReg: ‘Amoris Laetitia’ and the Constant Teaching and Practice of the Church
REGISTER EXCLUSIVE: Cardinal Burke says a post-synodal apostolic exhortation, ‘by its very nature, does not propose new doctrine and discipline, but applies the perennial doctrine and discipline to the situation of the world at the time.’
by CARDINAL RAYMOND BURKE

Cardinal Burke’s Exhortation Response Leaves Faithful Wanting
When Europe demands that religions become ‘liberal’
Debate surrounding Islam in the European Union has wider implications for religious freedom.

(via The Catholic Thing)

Someone Will Say Its Alien Technology

Yahoo: Mystery of Nazca, Peru's Puquios: Purpose of Ancient Holes Finally Solved By Satellites

Elder Paisios

Thursday, April 14, 2016

"Post-Conciliar" Reformers

Attempting a human, top-down reform.

The Liturgical Reform and the ‘Political’ Message of Vatican II in the Age of a Privatized and Libertarian Culture by Massimo Faggioli

And then there's Anthony Ruff, OSB: Don’t Miss It: Faggioli on Liturgy Reform and the Rest of Vatican II
Perhaps this test case, which comes from me and not Faggioli, helps make the point: Should women be admitted into the sanctuary and be allowed to exercise liturgical ministry? There was a prohibition of this before Vatican II. But now women are acolytes, lectors, commentators, cantors, lay Eucharistic ministers, and so forth.

Let this change be emblematic of the many changed relationships brought about by the council. The move, broadly speaking, is from authoritarian subordination to (at least increased) collaboration and dialogue. The unreformed liturgical practice that overemphasizes clergy over laity, and lay men over lay women (only boys can be servers) made perfect sense in the larger context of authoritarian subordination in other aspects of the church’s life. The church then related to the modern world and secular states in a stance of privileged superiority (or sought to). Same with Catholic truth and other positions – error has no rights and religious liberty is rejected. Ecumenism? Heretics and schismatics are called back to the one true church, which already possesses within itself all the unity intended by the Lord Jesus. True equality between men and women, between husband and wife? No, not really.

So one version of liberalism over another... sounds familiar?