Thoughts that make me restless in the middle of the night

The highly Latinized new missal, that will soon be imposed on the English-speaking world, is clearly a major step backwards toward a broader use of Latin in parish liturgies.

In a parish near the place where I grew up in Michigan, most week end liturgies are now in Latin. When a close relative (president of the parish council) complained about the imposition of the Latin liturgy by the new young Legionnaires of Christ pastor, he was asked, by the pastor, to resign and leave the parish. That’s what he did. No solution, really.

Major seminaries are already training future priests to preside at Latin masses.

Coming soon from Rome, and from Rome-focused bishops, will be more liturgical directives that will stress: the “traditional piety” behind communion on the tongue, a re-clericalization of Eucharist as a “priestly act,” and to help people “better focus on God” we can expect more masses at which the presider stands with his back to the congregation (so that people do not distort his contemplation of God).

New York’s Archbishop Timothy Dolan is already laying foundations for a new anti-Obama campaign — getting ready for the next presidential campaign. The theme this time will be that Obama is anti-marriage and pro gay.

We can expect to see Rome’s best dressed cardinal, Raymond Burke, putting on his own anti-Obama boxing gloves, once again, with new assertions that Obama is anti-life and a baby-killer.

Philadelphia’s Cardinal Justin Rigali is having his own sleepless nights these days. He continues to assert no sexual abuse cover-ups and no recent re-assigning of pedophile priests in his archdiocese. The cardinal’s credibility is pretty low.  Can we expect a major pedophile explosion in Philadelphia…just as we saw a few years ago in Boston? Is the Vatican already preparing a safe and comfortable refuge for Rigali in Rome? Just as it did to punish Boston’s Cardinal Bernard Law?

Roman Catholics in the United States are leaving the church in an historic and major exodus. Ten percent of today’s adult Americans are former Catholics.

Trying to Avoid the TRUTH in Philadelphia

Just Won’t Work Anymore

On 21 January 21 the Philadelphia Grand Jury issued a Report on sexual abuse by Roman Catholic priests. According to Clerical abuse campaigner Richard Sipe, it the clearest and most complete account of the pattern and practice of the Catholic Church in dealing with priests who abuse minors and their victims.

The noose is getting closer to episcopal necks as investigations get more objective and the pattern of abuse in the system is laid out. Children are still endangered precisely because cardinals know exactly what their vicars do and vicars do exactly what their boss wants.

The Philadelphia Grand Jury released what has been termed a “sordid”  report on clergy sex abuse, some examples:

         Fr. Charles Engelhardt, 64, an Oblate of St. Francis de Sales, is accused of orally sodomizing and molesting a 10-year-old altar boy in 1998 in the sacristy at St. Jerome Parish in Northeast Philadelphia.

         Fr. Edward Avery, 68, an Archdiocesan priest who was defrocked in 2006, is charged with the same offenses against the same boy. And this boy’s sixth-grade teacher at St. Jerome School, 48-year-old Bernard Shero, is accused of orally and anally sodomizing the then-11-year-old in the back of the teacher’s car.

         Fr. James Brennan, 47, an Archdiocesan priest, is accused of forcing his penis into the buttocks of a 14-year-old former parishioner when he was in the priest’s bed. At the time, the summer of 1996, Father Brennan was on leave from Cardinal O’Hara High School. In 1997, he was returned to active ministry and assigned to St. Jerome Parish.

         Importantly, Monsignor William Lynn, former Vicar for clergy is charged with endangering the welfare of children by allowing priests to continue to work.

Bishops and cardinals use an elaborate system of denial to cover their tracks.

Chancery offices are filled with people who will take the “fall” for their boss.

Boss Rigali

There have been priests accused and convicted of child rape before, but what is very significant for the entire church in the U.S. is that the supervising priest in Philadelphia, Msgr. William Lynn, is indicted for the endangerment of children.

Monsignor Lynn’s boss, Cardinal Rigali was on the defense immediately once the report became public and he claimed, “there are no archdiocesan priests in ministry today who have an admitted or established allegation of sexual abuse of a minor against them.” This of course is very strange.

The Philadelphia Grand Jury Report traces 37 credibly accused offenders who are

STILL in ministry.

It’s not just the Liberty Bell that’s ringing in Philadelphia….

This weekend we have a bit of a flashback to an earlier posting about Cardinal Raymond Burke. One of my readers, a good friend in London, suggested that I re-post an earlier piece about the former Archbishop of Saint Louis and  recently-removed Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura.

Cardinal Burke has become a strong critic of theologians, like Cardinal Walter Kasper, who would would argue that change has been and must be an important part of Catholic belief and practice. Burke is in fact a strong defender of what I would call “flashback Catholicism”……..more anchored in the late medieval past than the third millennium.

Flashback Catholicism is at the heart of the storm, now blowing through the Vatican — and certain foreign outposts with flashback archbishops like Philadelphia — as “progressives” battle “conservatives;” and people like Cardinal Raymond Burke accuse the Pope Francis of fostering confusion about church teaching.

Catholic chaos? A Catholic crisis? Or just maybe Catholicism at an historic crossroad? The challenges are there and they are very real. Writing in the New York Times this week, James Carroll phrased it this way: “The joyful new pope has quickened the affection even of the disaffected, including me, but, oddly, I sense the coming of a strange reversal in the Francis effect. The more universal the appeal of his spacious witness, the more cramped and afraid most of his colleagues in the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church have come to seem.”

Carroll’s solution is, I suspect, the only real solution for the growing Catholic dilemma: “…(a) Such retrieval of the centrality of Jesus can restore a long-lost simplicity of faith, which makes Catholic identity — or the faith of any other church — only a means to a larger communion not just with fellow Jesus people, but with humans everywhere. All dogmas, ordinances and accretions of tradition must be measured against the example of the man who, acting wholly as a son of Israel, eschewed power, exuded kindness, pointed to one whom he called Father, and invited those bent over in the shadowy back to come forward to his table.”

But now…….another kind of Burkean flashback:

Looking Sharp for Jesus

Best Dressed Cardinal in Rome for 2011

Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke

February is World Fashion Month. It is with feelings of great emotion that I announce that Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke — born and raised in Wisconsin, USA — has won the 2011 “Look Sharp for Jesus Award.” The judges found him one of the best dressed members of the Roman Pontifical Court. There is of course no cash connected with this award because — well — we just don’t think he needs it after what his threads cost all of us in the church.

Raymond Leo Burke — “Ray” to most of us — was born June 30, 1948. Heck,  John Greenleaf was already riding his tricycle when little Ray was in diapers…… Ray is the current Cardinal Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura. That’s a big job for a big man.  Ray previously served as Archbishop of St. Louis (2003–2008) and Bishop of La Crosse (1994–2003).

Aside from his judicial expertise and his great fondness for the medieval liturgy of the Council of Trent, Ray is quite the party boy in Rome. Wherever he goes, people stand in awe at his expertly crafted and tailored episcopal dress.

Various young ecclesiastics around the world — and no small number of seminarians at the Pontifical North American College in Rome — are saving their pennies to “dress like Ray when I become a bishop.”

Here is a  quick consumers guide:

You need a big hat — called a mitre. Ray has quite a collection.

This colorful head cover is one of Ray’s favorites. “THE hat” for special occasions, like going out with the Pope. It cost Ray only $8,340.

On less formal, but certainly still very  important occasions, the Cardinal Prefect prefers his simple gold bonnet. This one below was a great buy at $1,042.

But a mitre does not make a bishop…or a cardinal…..Pontifical GLOVES do the real trick.

These beauties — great in a suddenly unexpected  Roman snow storm or for shoveling snow back in Wisconsin — were a great buy at $1,390.

Forget the Rome-Based Theological Monologue

Invite Your Colleagues to IMAGINE THE FUTURE,  by

Listening to the Voice of the People on the Street

*****

A Five step program for listening to the people on the street

and formulating a contemporary pastoral theology:*

1. Let theological knowledge emerge from the study of what is nontheological.

Reflection on other kinds of experiences in daily life, in politics, in sports, in the arts, etc. and other forms of knowledge (including the sciences, philosophy and literature) are crucial to the formation of our theological imagination. They connect us to CONTEMPORARY REALITY.

2. Let the nontheological understanding of religions and cultures inform theology.

By focusing on questions of human meaning, identity and purpose in other disciplines,  we can better understand the contexts in which faith arises: philosophy, history, literature, sociology, psychology, anthropology, economics and the arts. No single discipline has a corner on the truth….just as no single institution knows it all.

3. Let theological insights be gleaned through inter-religious dialogue.

An understanding of Christian faith through a study of the texts, rituals, ethics and doctrines of others can lead to a deeper understanding of our own tradition.

4. Let the lived experience of  impoverished and marginalized men, women and children be our touchstone for theological learning.

Firsthand learning from exposure to the worlds of poor and marginalized people (e.g. battered women, orphaned children, persons who suffer from stigmatizing diseases, and the like) can lead to a transformation of hearts and an opening of minds. This transformation of hearts and opening of minds opens our eyes to the Sacred.

5. Let the God-mystery stand as the horizon for all learning

God is disclosed in the human even when the human cannot find or refuses to find God.  God as mystery stands as the finality of all activity, even the most “godless.”

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

* Thanks go to Paul G. Crowley, S.J., a theology professor,

and chair of the religious studies department at Santa Clara University.

He wrote an excellent article in AMERICA MAGAZINE (7 February 2011) titled  “Tomorrow’s Theologians.”

US Catholic (the magazine) has applauded Father Anthony Ruff, OSB

for his speaking out about the liturgical translation

US Catholic deserves congratulations as well!

Now let’s get this ball really rolling……

(See lead paragraph below.)

+++

Bravo, Father Anthony Ruff, OSB

Friday, February 4, 201

By Bryan Cones

Finally a national-level liturgist has refused to any longer be a part of the translation fiasco. Father Anthony Ruff, OSB of St. John’s Abbey in Collegeville, Minnesota has long provided on his PrayTell blog a forum for people to discuss the coming translations and had been scheduled to deliver several talks on the new Missal’s implementation in
preparation for its Advent 2011 debut. He has withdrawn from those engagements in an open letter to the U.S. bishops. (More coverage from America magazine here.)

Observe – Judge – Act

 

Some developlments that will have implications far into the new decade….

PHOENIX

Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted of Phoenix declared that St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center, can no longer call itself a Catholic hospital
because of a dispute over whether a procedure performed at the hospital last year was a direct abortion.

“Though we are deeply disappointed, we will be steadfast in fulfilling our mission,” said Linda Hunt, President of St. Joseph’s. “St. Joseph’s hospital will remain faithful to our mission of care, as we have for the last 115 years. Our caregivers deliver extraordinary medical care and share an unmatched commitment to the wellbeing of the communities they serve. Nothing has or will change in that regard.”

“Consistent with our values of dignity and justice, if we are presented with a situation in which a pregnancy threatens a woman’s life, our first priority is to save both patients. If that is not possible we will always save the life we can save, and that is what we did in this case,” said Hunt. “We continue to stand by the decision, which was made in collaboration with the patient, her family, her caregivers, and our Ethics Committee. Morally, ethically, and legally we simply cannot stand by and let someone die whose life we might be able to save.

INDIANAPOLIS

Pope Benedict XVI named a former aide to disgraced Cardinal Bernard Law of Boston as auxiliary bishop of Indianapolis, making him the heir apparent
for Indiana’s largest Roman Catholic diocese. Indianapolis Archbishop Daniel Buechlein’s response was asked if he and his new auxiliary bishop have known each other a long time. The archbishop replied: “We met over the phone…”

The 52-year-old Christopher Coyne was Law’s spokesman in 2002, when the sexual abuse scandal erupted in the Boston diocese. Law resigned months after a judge unsealed court records in January 2002 that showed he had allowed priests with confirmed histories of molesting children to continue working in parishes.

David Clohessy, executive director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, condemned Coyne’s impending elevation to bishop. “It’s irresponsible and callous for the Pope to promote one of disgraced Cardinal Bernard Law’s top aides to be a bishop. It’s thumbing your nose at the hundreds of men, women and children who were sexually assaulted by Catholic clergy in Boston and Indianapolis,” Clohessy said.

NEW YORK CITY

Taking to his blog , Archbishop Timothy Dolan, wrote a piece entitled “Why we need the Catholic League, praising the right-wing Catholic group’s figurehead Bill Donohue. Dolan frames Donohue as a noble defender of the Church from anti-Catholic attacks, but ignores Donohue’s controversial history–only acknowledging that “some may take occasional issue with his style.” But the criticism of Bill Donohue isn’t just about style, it’s about substance too. Specifically, his track record of offensive, untrue and stridently partisan statements raise many questions as to whether the top American bishop should be endorsing him.

Donohue’s problematic past includes promoting discredited links between pedophilia and homosexuality to scapegoat gays for the Church sex abuse
crisis, blaming sex abuse victims for their abuse, calling Catholics he disagrees with “termites” and accusing them of disloyalty, and stoking anti Semitism and anti-Muslim bigotry.

DUBLIN

A 1997 letter from the Vatican warned Ireland’s Catholic bishops not to report all suspected child-abuse cases to police – a disclosure that
victims’ groups described as “the smoking gun” needed to show that the church enforced a worldwide culture of covering up crimes by pedophile priests. The newly revealed letter, obtained by Irish broadcasters RTE and provided to The Associated Press, documents the Vatican’s rejection of a 1996 Irish church initiative to begin helping police identify pedophile priests following Ireland’s first wave of publicly disclosed lawsuits.

The Vatican has now announced that this is all a big misunderstanding. Maybe a case of Teflon cassocks as well as Teflon consciences?

VATICAN – Probably the Biggest Red Flag of All

Pope Benedict has announced that his predecessor will be beatified on 1 May 2011. Pope John Paul II was a tragic pope of great contradiction.
The tragedy lies in the discrepancy between John Paul’s commitment to reform and dialogue in the world and his return to authoritarianism within the church.

It was especially John Paul’s ecclesiastical authoritarianism that contributed to the greatest tragedy of his papacy: the sexual abuse of thousands of children. John Paul II perpetuated a poisonous  environment in which priests were permitted, often repeatedly, to sexually abuse children as long as the criminal behavior was kept secret. All to protect the public imlage of the Church.

“It is clear to an objective bystander that John Paul II was the leader of the Vatican’s cover-up of sexual abuse by clergy,” said Anne Barrett Doyle, co-director of BishopAccountability.org. “The facts that have come to light should absolutely delay the current effort to canonize him.”

Santo Subito should be delayed ad Multos Annos….

BRUSSELS

A Pontifical Mass will be celebrated by Archbishop André-Joseph Leonard, Primate of Belgium. The Mass will take place on the 30th of January at 6:30 p.m. at the Church of Minimes (Minimenstraat 62, 1000 Brussels). In November, Léonard established in this church a new FSSP mission in Brussels. This will be a unique occasion in Belgium as it will be the first Tridentine Mass celebrated by a Primate of Belgium in more than 40 years.

The F.S.S.P. consists of priests and seminarians who intend to pursue the goal of Christian perfection according to a specific charism, which is to offer the Mass and other sacraments according to the Roman Rite as it existed before the liturgical reforms that followed the Second Vatican Council. Thus, the Fraternity uses the Roman Missal, the Roman Breviary, the Pontifical (Pontificale Romanum), and the Roman Ritual in use in that year, the last editions before the revisions that followed the SecondVatican Council.

On January 5^th, Pope Benedict appointed Archbishop Léonard to the Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelization along with, among others,  Cardinal William Levada, from the CDF; and Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York. Maybe the New Evangelization will be in Latin as well…

LOUVAIN

In it’s one hundred and fifty-fourth year the American College of Louvain will be closed in June 2011. One of two – and the oldest – of seminaries operated under the auspices of the  United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, the American  College will be closed by the USCCB in June. Latest developments about this unexpected shut-down indicate that very few people believe – even in the halls of the USCCB headquarters in Washington DC – that the official reasons for closing – funding problems and decreased enrollment – are the reasons.

Louvain theologians contributed greatly to the documents and vision of the Second Vatican Council. Perhaps current  US bishops no longer consider Vatican II and a Louvain education worthwhile. They have clearly jumped on the nineteenth century conservative bandwagon to suppport the North American College in Rome….

The Journey of the Magi

T.S.Eliot 1927

“A cold coming we had of it,
Just the worst time of the year
For a journey, and such a long journey:
The ways deep and the weather sharp,
The very dead of winter.”
And the camels galled, sore-footed, refractory,
Lying down in the melting snow.
There were times we regretted
The summer palaces on slopes, the terraces,
And the silken girls bringing sherbet.
Then the camel men cursing and grumbling
And running away, and wanting their liquor and women,
And the night-fires gong out, and the lack of shelters,
And the cities hostile and the towns unfriendly
And the villages dirty, and charging high prices.:
A hard time we had of it.
At the end we preferred to travel all night,
Sleeping in snatches,
With the voices singing in our ears, saying
That this was all folly.

Then at dawn we came down to a temperate valley,
Wet, below the snow line, smelling of vegetation;
With a running stream and a water-mill beating the darkness,
And three trees on the low sky,
And an old white horse galloped away in the meadow.
Then we came to a tavern with vine-leaves over the lintel,
Six hands at an open door dicing for pieces of silver,
And feet kicking the empty wine-skins.
But there was no information, and so we continued
And arrived at evening, not a moment too soon
Finding the place; it was (you may say) satisfactory.

All this was a long time ago, I remember,
And I would do it again, but set down
This set down
This: were we lead all that way for
Birth or Death? There was a Birth, certainly,
We had evidence and no doubt. I have seen birth and death,
But had thought they were different; this Birth was
Hard and bitter agony for us, like Death, our death.
We returned to our places, these Kingdoms,
But no longer at ease here, in the old dispensation,
With an alien people clutching their gods.
I should be glad of another death.

+++

Adoration of the Magi

Hieronymus Bosch

1495

+++++

My very best wishes for Christmas 2010 and the New Year 2011.

Another Voice returns in early January.

John W. Greenleaf