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Category Archives: Catholicism
A Blessed Solemnity of All Saints to you all!
On this Solemnity of All Saints, Rocco Palmo of the Whispers in the Loggia blog has a wonderful quote from Pope Benedict XVI on becoming saints. It’s not a long quote, only about 6 paragraphs, and well worth reading. As Mother Angelica put it on the introduction to her Mother Angelica Live program: “We’re all called to be great saints. Don’t miss the opportunity!”
Fr. S at Clerical Reform has some Food for Thought
The semi-anonymous Fr. S at the highly recommended Clerical Reform has given those of us called to the life of a diocesan priest some Food for thought based on an anti-Catholic image put out by the Minnesota DFL Party. While the image is inexcusable, Fr. S’s reflection hits a little too close to home with the admittedly high standards for living that most priests have for themselves. Sadly, I’ve fallen into the same trap with the nice car, computers, electronics, and hobbies. Mea culpa and with God’s grace, may I do better in living a life of poverty.
“We’re a nonconformist parish”
Before the convention last night, a parishioner at a parish in the diocese described their parish as a “nonconformist” parish. This wasn’t said in any sense if disappointment, but rather pride that the parish would rebel against the bishop’s request that we were discussing.
Sadly, the idea of not conforming to the guidance of the bishop is all too prevalent in this diocese, passed down from the priests through the parishes to the individual parishioners. Instead of acting and believing as members of the Body of Christ unified under the bishop, these parishes and parishioners act as rebellious teenagers doing and saying whatever they want without regard to the wisdom and guidance given out of love by the faithful priests, bishops, and Holy Father in union with the tradition of the Church.
As Catholics, we need to be in union with our bishops. Instead of seeking to be nonconformist, we need to seek Our Lord’s will that we all be unified as one Body under the bishop, who is the local shepherd charged with our protection and guidance. Nonconformism is simply another name for human pride. Unity under the bishop, especially when we might disagree with him, is another name for humbly seeking God’s will.
“Do you think that I have come to establish peace on the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division.”
With the recent announcement of 24 new cardinals at an upcoming consistory, one name in particular is standing out as being particularly “divisive”: Archbishop Raymond Burke, prefect of the Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura. Archbishop Burke is known for being particularly outspoken in defense of Church teaching, and has caused major waves throughout the United States, especially in the Archdiocese of St. Louis, for his willingness to challenge those who would dissent from the traditional teachings of the Church.
Interesting, then, that the Gospel reading for today’s Mass would include Our Lord saying, “Do you think that I have come to establish peace on the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division.” The Church’s teachings are divisive, because the Truth is divisive. It divides those who would follow Christ from those who would follow the ways of the world. The Church’s teachings are Truth, not just “a truth” or “my truth”, but the Truth revealed by Christ, through whom the world was created. By following the Church’s teachings, we are following Christ Himself. If we dissent from Church teachings, we are dissenting from Christ Himself, even if we claim to be following His teachings. Speaking for myself, I would rather follow Christ, even if I commit the worldly sin of being “divisive”.
Fr. Barron comments on the Depressing Pew Forum Study
Much digital ink has been spilled over the recent study by the Pew Forum showing the lack of knowledge by Catholics and Mainline Protestants about their own faiths. Fr. Robert Barron, professor at Mundelein Seminary in the Archdiocese of Chicago and guiding force on the Catholicism project, contributes his thoughts to the discussion:
NEWSFLASH!!! Catholic Church full of hypocritical sinners!
I know this is going to be a shock for many people, so you might want to sit down. Ready? OK, here it is: the Catholic Church has people who are (*gasp*) SINNERS! Yes, it’s true!
How do I know, you might ask? Well, it’s rather simple: I’m a Catholic and a sinner. Not only that, but they actually made me a priest! Yes, I know, scandalous that a sinner like me – and I am a sinner – was named a priest. Apparently, Anne Rice thinks so:
For those who care, and I understand if you don’t: Today I quit being a Christian. I’m out. I remain committed to Christ as always but not to being “Christian” or to being part of Christianity. It’s simply impossible for me to “belong” to this quarrelsome, hostile, disputatious, and deservedly infamous group. For ten …years, I’ve tried. I’ve failed. I’m an outsider. My conscience will allow nothing else.
You know what, maybe we should just follow her lead and bail from the Church. After all, why would we want to associate with a bunch of hypocritical sinners? In fact, let’s take it a step further:
In honor of Anne Rice, I’m never using banks again, because some people steal. (Tom Wilson via Twitter)
All sarcasm aside, sounds absurd, doesn’t it? It sounds as absurd as leaving Christianity because Christians are sinners. Yes, Christians are sinners, because all humans are sinners. We all are! Every single solitary one of us! If you think you aren’t, let’s start with the sin of pride, shall we? How about being selfish and self-centered? Yes, those are sins, and we all have to deal with them every day of our lives. We have to face sin in our lives during our time here on earth, both personally and communally.
Does this mean that people in the Church are “quarrelsome, hostile, disputatious, and deservedly infamous”? Absolutely! It also means we have liars, thieves, cheats, adulterers, and all other sorts of scandalous characters who may even be the little old ladies and gentlemen who attend daily Mass at parishes throughout the world. What Anne Rice fails to see is that the Church is “a hospital for sinners, not a museum for saints.” Every single member of the Church, with the exception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, throughout Her 2000 years of existence has been a sinner. Does that mean the Church should have never existed? No, quite the opposite! The Church exists precisely because we are sinners in need of Jesus’ guidance and forgiveness. The Church does not exist to make us feel good or cater to our whims and fancies, but to educate us with Our Lord’s teachings, offer His forgiveness when we fail to live up to those teachings, and feed us with the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus, the Son of God. Without the Church, we poor sinners would be completely lost and wander through this world just as the Israelites wandered through the desert for 40 years.
And what about Anne Rice’s statement, ‘I remain committed to Christ as always but not to being “Christian” or to being part of Christianity’? By the very definition of “Christian”, you can’t follow Christ without being a Christian. The word Christian means “follower of Christ”. If you follow Christ, you are a Christian, period!
How about this idea of leaving the Church to follow Christ? I’m not going to spend the energy to refute that faulty logic, because it starts with a false premise of the Church and Christ’s purpose for establishing Her. Instead, I’ll let the Curt Jester take that one. In short, you leave the Church, you leave Christ. She claims that her conscience won’t allow her to remain in the Church. I would argue that she’s operating with a poorly formed conscience, and needs to have it properly formed through the teachings of the Church.
So, is the Church full of sinners? Yes, and we should rejoice that Christ gave us the Church to lead us through our sinful lives to His salvation!
Hitting for the Sacramental Cycle
With my new assignment, I’ve been joking that I’ve “hit for the cycle” in my first month. For those unfamiliar with baseball, a batter who hits for the cycle gets a single, double, triple, and home run in a single game. Since starting here in Malta on July 1st, I’ve baptized an infant, had a wedding, performed Anointing of the Sick, and had a funeral. This means in my first month here, I’ve performed the rites that nearly all Catholics receive throughout their lives.
Sadly, for many Catholics, these are the only rites they receive, not making regular attendance at Mass or reception of Confession a part of their lives. While they may be Catholics by baptism and Confirmation, they do not practice their faith. When challenged on their lack of practice, they might say something like, “I don’t need to go to church to find God,” or, “I’m a good person. I’m fine with God.” For those who seek to follow Our Lord and realize that being a “good person” is not enough, these phrases sound like trite excuses justifying laziness and pridefulness, with good reason. Sadly, this isn’t an isolated problem, but infests the Church throughout the United States and the rest of the so-called developed nations.
The challenge for us as Christians is to open these lukewarm souls to the fire of the Holy Spirit without coming across as condemning and turning them even farther from God. As Christians, we must pray for those souls and seek to cooperate with Our Lord in calling them back to His Church. We also must seek to always invite these lost souls into a deeper relationship with Christ and His Church. We do this first and foremost through our example of life, but we also must be willing to reach out and invite them to join us. Of course, approaching someone and extending the invitation is not a comfortable action, but Jesus didn’t promise us comfort in this life. Are you willing to get uncomfortable and invite someone to step beyond merely “hitting for the cycle”?
Introduction to the New Translation of the Roman Missal
Tonight, as part of an ongoing adult education class, I spoke for about an hour and a half on the new translation of the Roman Missal which is coming down the pipe within the next year to year and a half. Hopefully, it’ll be a benefit to all my readers and doesn’t contain too many heresies.
Introduction to the New Translation of the Roman Missal
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“If it comes from God…”
Notice how relevant to the Church today is the speech by Gamaliel in today’s first reading:
When we look at the history of the Church, there have been more scandals than we can ever imagine. Heresies, murders, political intrigue, illicit children by popes, you name it. For 2000 years, we fallen humans have done our best to destroy the Church from within. Never mind the attacks from the media, we have done enough by permitting the abuse of children by those who have promised celibacy should be enough to destroy the Church.
Even with all the scandals, and no period in the Church’s history is free from them, the Church still exists, spreading the Gospel of Christ to the whole world. As Gamaliel said, “if this endeavor or this activity is of human origin, it will destroy itself.” If the Church were merely a human organization, such as the Masons or the governments of the world, the massive weight of hypocrisy and scandal would have destroyed it years ago.
We can be assured that the Church was established by Jesus and is supported to this day by the Holy Spirit through the rest of Gamaliel’s statement: “But if it comes from God, you will not be able to destroy them; you may even find yourselves fighting against God.” The Church is a divine institution, made up of imperfect humans, and is sustained by God through the authority of the Pope and faithful bishops in union with him. God will not allow the Church to disappear from the earth until that day when Our Lord Jesus Christ returns from the dead. The Church and Her members will undergo periods of cleansing and persecution, as I believe we are now entering, but will be all the stronger for it.
Today, please take time to pray for those who have been hurt by sexual abuse by priests and bishops, especially those children who have seriously harmed. Also, on this birthday of our Holy Father Benedict XVI, let us pray for him, that he may have the courage and guidance by the Holy Spirit to lead the Church out of this horrific scandal.