A Disenchanted Dream – “This week during the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity Anglicans were not only invited to conduct Choral Evensong in St Peter’s Basilica, but the Archbishop of Canterbury celebrated a communion service in a Catholic Church in Rome.” Christian Unity and the Anglicans (Fr. Dwight Longnecker)
The Fundamental Problem with FS – “How is one to explain the self-contradiction of Francis in that his 2021 document on this topic explicitly forbids what his 2023 one now permits?” To bless, or not to bless? That is the question! (What We Need Now)
Nominalism – “William of Ockham – the fourteenth-century Franciscan friar, philosopher, and theologian – has become the favored whipping boy of a certain brand of Catholic scholarship and apologetics.” The Complications of Bad Philosophy (The Catholic Thing)
They Will Come – “In the world of classical education, including the Catholic sector, the challenge is logistical. . . . The challenge is to find enough personnel to meet the demand and justify the donations.” Catholic Schools: Control Your Own Destiny (First Things)
The 1 percent – ‘The elite are out of touch’ is hardly headline news — except when we get some concrete data on just how out of touch they are, as we did this month. America’s elites are living in a bubble — and here’s the data to prove it (Mercator)
A Worldly Mission – “The Church under Pope Francis has become infiltrated by the strange ideological connotations found among communist-sympathizing Liberation Theologians.” Pope Francis Is the Pope He was Waiting For (Crisis Magazine)
Fr. Alfonso Benito López – “A 40-year-old man has been arrested by police in Spain on suspicion of murdering Fr. Alfonso Benito López, an 80-year-old priest who was found dead in his apartment, on Tuesday, 23 January.” Suspect arrested over killing of Spanish priest (The Pillar)
Gender Transitioning Increases – “Rates of gender dysphoria have soared in every state bar one over the past five years, according to new research.” How rates of gender dysphoria have soared in every state except one since 2018 – with children now making up one in five diagnoses (Daily Mail)
Decline in Ethics – Americans’ ratings of nearly all 23 professions measured in Gallup’s 2023 Honesty and Ethics poll are lower than they have been in recent years. Ethics Ratings of Nearly All Professions Down in U.S. (Gallup)
Pumping Iron – “What was once painful now breeds growth. Pain becomes glitteringly purposeful, like a kaleidoscope—and is transformed. It is transfigured. The pump feels good.” Getting the Pump On the resurrection of the body (Harper’s Magazine)
Jimmy Lai – “The political show trial of Jimmy Lai now underway in Hong Kong will almost certainly end in his conviction and a lengthy or even life sentence.” Rename the Chinese Embassy’s address to honor a Hong Kong hero (The Hill)
Incidents of Abuse – “As many as 9,355 children are estimated to have suffered sex abuse in Germany‘s protestant churches since the end of the Second World War, a new study has revealed.” More than 9,000 child victims are feared to have been abused in German Protestant church sex scandal going back decades – but number may be ‘tip of the iceberg’ (Daily Mail)
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Re #1 – A disenchanted dream
For further insight from another ex-Anglican priest, check out Catholic Unscripted #51.
I’m afraid that we live in a papally-induced schizophrenic Catholic Church emblematic of the division Francis’ papacy has given us. Let me illustrate: If an Anglican “priest” converts to the Catholic faith and applies to a bishop for admission to the Catholic priesthood, he must be ordained a priest of the Catholic Church because the Catholic Church does not recognize Holy Orders of the Anglican ecclesial community. That said, we now have our Pope handing over one of our Catholic Churches for a “Communion Service” with an Anglican clergyman conducting it whose Orders we don’t recognize as valid. But then again, this is a Pope who believes that homosexuals can be “coupled” and that their “coupling” can be blessed.
Lord, forgive us our sins and spare us from the rot we now have in this papacy.
@ A Disenchanted Dream
Compared to hollow gestures, Fr. Longnecker writes of the Ordinariates whereby adrift Anglicans can join the Catholic Church. Too bad the alternative agenda is to house-share with the Anglican “ecclesial communions” (as in lacking the Apostolic Succession and valid ordinations), as both they and the Catholic Church seem to have divided themselves from the morality and universality clearly upheld by continental Africa.
Might one draw instructive parallels with the 5th-century African (!) St. Augustine and the DONATIST schism?
@ The Fundamental Problem with FS
The author ponders the contradiction between the earlier prohibition of “blessings” and now what is enabled under FS. But, wait, what contradiction(?); there no longer is such thing as contradictions! One simply invents a novel category of non-blessing for “irregular” couples of all sorts. Not a contradiction, but a “gradualism,” and was intended and even signaled all along!
The now-Church is easily mistaken for a big-tent carnival act with a full menu of shell games such as this, and the entry fee is two for the price of one…
As for the announced release of a new document on “human dignity,” what might be the difference between this shell and the “TRANSCENDENT human dignity” defended in Centesimus Annus?
@ Nominalism: the Complications of Bad Theology
Casey Chalk recounts how “nominalism” is an acid destroying any access to universals like human nature. The new twist today is to avoid explicit writings as from Ockham and, instead, to exercise a false dichotomy of the “concrete” versus the so-called and DISPOSABLE “abstractions” of clericalists (meaning those other guys).
@ Decline in Ethics
The ratings of 23 professions continue to sink.
What might we discern here about the seemingly unrelated and German Der Synodal Weg?
The Spanish philosopher Unamuno credited Luther for “establishing the religious value of the civil occupation, of shattering the monastic and medieval idea of [only] the religious calling….” So, today we have the lost vocation not only of sacramental “marriage” but also all of the professional callings in the secular domain.
Meanwhile the homogenized der Synodal Weg RELAPSES from Luther’s differentiation and fostering of different kinds of vocations (very plural!) into a combined permanent council, confined within the “church,” of the ordained and laity and probably even with female priest-facsimiles.
This “church” detached from the universal Catholic Church whose Second Vatican Council affirmed both the sacred and secular domains as fields for personal vocations (Gaudium et Spes).
Anne Hendershott’s piece about Bergoglio (“Pope Francis is the pope he was waiting for”) is one of the best analyses of this dark chapter of Church history that I have yet seen.
The author taps into the recent recrudescence of Jesuitical arrogance and decay that day harkens back at least to the middle of the last century.
She names names and cites thinking that deeply resonated with me, since I attended a Jesuitical high school in the sixties.
Let us pray that during the next conclave the participants dedicate themselves to two propositions:
First, that no Jesuitical shall ever again be chosen to occupy the chair of St. Peter.
And, second, that all non-Italians do not make good popes. (This might have seemed like a worthwhile heuristic after the last two papacies, but both John-Paul and Benedict had other traits that recommended them apart from their non-Italian origins.)
Until then, all we can do is hold fast to the faith as it was given to us by our Savior.
And pray for His long-suffering Mystical Body.
On The 1 percent – Which 1 percent?
FOX NEWS suggests that The 1 percent Democrats rely on Democrat voters “always coming home” but that they -The 1 percent Democrats- are easily swayed by pivotal issues and cave to pressures. Spotted by Ilhan Omar.
But FOX also suggests that young voters have had the experience of inflation and stupid war and rotten policies; and are not likely to vote in on straight party line.
FOX’s 1 percent theme, “No go to Joe.”
https://www.msn.com/en-us/video/news/ilhan-omar-warns-biden-he-could-lose-muslim-young-votes-in-2024-he-needs-to-listen-to-these-voices/vi-BB1hw4ED?t=0
Something else, one might look at is the Free Press video on American Miseducation that is on the Power Line Blog. The cascading destruction of values at what is termed elite universities this video shows is truly disturbing. However I think is totally missed in the video is that this feverish anti behavior started with the long an ongoing destruction of Traditional Christian Churches and Institutions.
@ Decline in Ethics
Car salespeople remain at the top of the dishonesty list as probably most of us agree from personal experience. Tragically and humorously clergy are well below veterinarians. Perhaps it’s why so many clergy own dogs and cats, a Freudian desire to humanize, subliminally learning ethics from honest, simple minded creatures.
All told, scanning the lists shows the trend of honesty, the measure of ethical awareness, in the sense of compliance since we’re all responsible for our dishonesty, villainousness. From a priest’s perspective then it’s not lack of knowledge of good and evil. We’ve become like the crew/passengers of a torpedoed ship, when the captain announces, Every man for himself!
Considering why refers to the torpedoing of the ship. We’ve developed a penchant to destroy what we’ve accomplished due to avarice, the competitive desire to better oneself at the cost of others. Needless to say, but say I must it’s loss of faith in that God, Christ, who is emblematic of good. Thankfully there are havens, the church parish a refuge. Our difficulty is transmitting the good found exclusively in the divine presence of the Holy Eucharist to a savage environment. Men [and women] who care less. What does the present Church provide the hapless? Tend to the sinner as le hero blese. Ingratiate the wounded, fallen, sinful warrior with bundles of empathy. Call to conversion? Too abrupt and rude. Our ethics comparable to our justice system that regularly releases criminals after arrest.
Catholic Christianity in numbers and doctrine, in divine institution and presence has the means to conceivably turn the tide. Sadly. Not on this Pontiff’s watch.
Father, your words make great sense. From my very limited knowledge and intelligence please may I put.forward the following conundrum? The church teaches the real presence. If this is to be believed, then Christ can actually be really physically encountered. Most people outside the church find that astounding to the point of awe. However the same.church closed its doors to the sick, dying and wounded. It instructed people to stay at home, content themselves with Mass on screens. This against a backdrop of never ending abuse. Now we have the dubious message of blessing all types of strange arrangements. Who in their heart can blame any thinking person for thinking, actually I trust none of them anymore? I will read the gospel and try to live as Christ directed and no longer subject myself to a church that now implements the will of the government?
Monica, follow the true observation of the Catholic faith represented by men such as Cardinal Gerhard Mueller, Cardinal Sarah, Cardinal Burke. In hindsight the Church did make a terrible mistake based on limited knowledge of a deadly virus. There were priests who nonetheless continued to bring the eucharist to people during the Lockdown, some still offering Mass for their parish. Attend Mass. Our witness with the community of believers pleases God. Ignore what’s obviously ill conceived opinion. Our Lord present in the Eucharist is our greatest gift. Christ will bless and strengthen you. My prayers for you during this crisis.
By all costs, do NOT jump ship (the barque of Peter) into the turbulent waters. As messed up as it is right now (agreeably!) the answer is not to leave Mother Church and her much-needed sacraments that give us the grace to persevere all things until Heaven bids us. Keep the Faith and STAY with the church!!
@ Mor on the Fundamental Problem with FS
It is said that God blesses everyone. Like, man, take a look at how Christ accompanied (!) to two thieves on Calvary….
Where Luther edited the Letter of James to delete this thing about “works,” now we have Fernandez editing even the Gospels. Regarding the penitent thief and under the new dispensation, Christ blessed not him but the “couple”!
As in Orwell’s “Animal Farm,” the farmer’s wording posted over the barn door did the “gradualism” thingy, transitioning from the Ten Commandments to, literally, “four legs good, two legs bad”!
I’ll second Brineyman’s recommendation of Anne Hendershott’s article, “Pope Francis is the pope he was waiting for”, in Crisis Magazine.
And I’ll repeat my recommendation of Anglican Unscripted (British, articulate, highly-informed and up-to-date, no beating around the bush, a light in the darkness).
Re: Pope Francis Is the Pope He was Waiting For (Crisis Magazine)
Here is a piece that shows utter ignorance about the rich tradition of biblical and magisterial (Catholic Social Teaching: CST) teachings on social justice that Pope Francis simply and faithfully carries on promoting and applying today in his Petrine Ministry. The writer obvously comes from this sector of the Catholic Church that indeed keeps the CST “the Church’s best kept secret.” It remains a secret for many of these Catholics because of ignorance or resistance to it. Here the author demonizes the advocacy for social justice and uses the typical communist/socialist scare tactic to keep the faithful from getting interested and learning about and applying this integral element of the faith. Catholics who hold this understanding of Catholicism most often only see sexual sins but are blind to social sins. The bedroom sins (or virtues) but not the boardroom sins (or virtues) of peoples are singularly focused upon so much and made the gauge of one’s Catholicity. Who is deemed worthy and deserving or not to receive the sacraments is measured by the bedroom sins or virtues. The faithful, full and whole Catholic view entails a balanced complementarity of both these concerns: the sexual and the social sins and virtues. To be focused only on one make the faith incomplete, if not false. We find this neglected element of social justice in our Catholic faith dramatically highlighted in the prophet Isaiah’s declaration that “the Lord is a God of justice” (Isaiah 30:18). On this matter, here’s a significant reminder from the prophet’s message from God about making sure that our concern for the propriety of our spiritual life, prayer and liturgical worship (for example, Vetus Ordo or Novus Ordo?) is nothing compared to God’s primary requirement whether we have fulfilled social justice (that is giving active care and voice to and in helping the lost, the least, and the last) first before offering our praises and worship to God: “When you spread out your hands, I will close my eyes to you; Though you pray the more, I will not listen. Your hands are full of blood! Wash yourselves clean! Put away your misdeeds from before my eyes; cease doing evil; learn to do good. Make justice your aim: redress the wronged, hear the orphan’s plea, defend the widow” (Isaiah 1:15-17).
We read: “Catholics who hold this understanding of Catholicism most often only see sexual sins but are blind to social sins.”
a strong case should be made that intellectual sins above the belt–curiously overlooked!–are more serious that sins below the belt.
Gosh, Deacon Dom, I have to say, you sound quite rigid and judgmental here in your characterization of Catholics whose views differ from your own.
Could it be you’re one of those ideological backwardists our Bergoglian father warns us about?
Employing the whataboutism method: the author of the article is openly dislaying her intellectual sin of not only having a different view from the papal and magisterial teaching but especially in rigidly and judgmentally resisting and dissenting from it.
@ The Fundamental Problem with FS
Fr Stravinskas asks, How can the 2023 document on blessings contradict the 2021. Easy. Selective progress. As when asked about the infamous 351 high demolition footnote His Holiness responded, What? I don’t remember it. Selective progress has similarity with selective memory. Whatever works.
Here in upstate NY we have open season on deer. Hunters can shoot any size, age. Even Bambi isn’t safe. Similar to the blessing document, exquisitely written to narrow blessings for persons, rather than the same persons who are practicing homosxuals. Why is it that almost everyone on the planet pretends to see through this, as if the document were really intended to announce Open Season for Blessings, wherein one and all, from homosxuals, fornicators, pathological liars, adulterers, garden variety bad guys and gals you name it are now targets for being blessed by the Catholic Church? Why, the scandal of it all.
Correction – Catholic Unscripted. Sorry.
(not to be confused with Anglican Unscripted).
@ A Worldly Mission
Henderschott gives us a well researched account of the theological profile of Pope Francis. Indeed everything he represents today is what he had aspired for the Church. “Boff proposes an ecclesial revolution that would lead to the end of the Catholic Church as we have known it for two thousand years” (Julio Loredo NCReg 2020). Former Franciscan priest, Brazilian theologian Leonardo Boff allegedly said when hearing that Jorge Bergoglio was elected, Good! He’ll destroy the Church.
However fine an account Ms Henderschott provides there’s another story behind the story of the Jesuits in S America and Liberation Theology. There were abuses of the lower class by those that held power, Somoza a despot. John Paul II might have better handled that scenario than simply condemning that theology. Perhaps along the lines of his successful approach to Poland’s Solidarity.
Francis I indicates he’s more than a socialist ideologue. There’s that undisguised messianic posture that exceeds intellectual ideology because his efforts aim at a complete transformation of our sense of good and evil. If his efforts were simply ideology as in secularist socialist ideology he would halt where the retention of natural law principles are useful for cohesion and governing, as we find during the Soviet system of Marxism. Pope Francis reaches the depths of what it means to be man created in God’s image by lowering the barriers to natural law. Sexuality and its expression are essential to that image of God. As are the primary moral behaviors that identify justice, our doctrine of repentance and conversion.
Our mission as clerics, especially priests who assume by ordination likeness to Christ is to be clearly on the side of Catholic Christian tradition. We’re facing what may well be, what likely is the battle for our salvation.