Today, Bishop Michael Warfel, bishop of the Diocese of Great Falls-Billings, sent a letter to parishes for inclusion in this weekend’s bulletins. In this letter, Bishop Warfel responds to the media attacks against the Holy Father’s handing of the sexual abuse scandal. One of my confreres posted the letter on his blog. Instead of reposting it here, I encourage you to visit Fr. Leo’s blog and read the letter there.
If you’ve been following the Catholic blogosphere, you likely know all about the New York Times accusations against Pope Benedict and the responses from many quarters of the Church. Instead of rehashing all that, I want to encourage all Catholics to join in praying this prayer for the Pope originally posted by Fr. Z at his What Does the Prayer Really Say blog:
V. Oremus pro Pontifice nostro Benedicto.
R. Dominus conservet eum, et vivificet eum, et beatum faciat
eum in terra, et non tradat eum in animam inimicorum eius.
[Ps 40:3]Pater Noster…, Ave Maria….
Deus, omnium fidelium pastor et rector, famulum tuum
Benedictum, quem pastorem Ecclesiae tuae praeesse voluisti,
propitius respice: da ei, quaesumus, verbo et exemplo,
quibus praeest, proficere: ut ad vitam, una cum grege sibi
credito, perveniat sempiternam. Per Christum, Dominum
nostrum. Amen.V. Let us pray for Benedict, our Pope.
R. May the Lord preserve him, and give him life, and make
him blessed upon the earth, and deliver him not up to the
will of his enemies. [Ps 40:3]Our Father, Hail Mary.
O God, Shepherd and Ruler of all Thy faithful people, look
mercifully upon Thy servant Benedict, whom Thou hast chosen
as shepherd to preside over Thy Church. Grant him, we
beseech Thee, that by his word and example, he may edify
those over whom he hath charge, so that together with the
flock committed to him, may he attain everlasting life.
Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Right now our Holy Father is under serious attack. The attacks will likely get worse, so I highly entreat you to pray this prayer daily, in front of the Blessed Sacrament if possible.
I have to wonder if I’m the only one who sees the irony behind the health care bill, which most major pro-life groups and the USCCB view as dramatically expanding abortion coverage, being passed the Sunday before what is arguably the most pro-life feast of the liturgical year? In this Solemnity of the Annunciation, we celebrate that moment when Our Lord became incarnate in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Note that we don’t celebrate the first trimester of His Incarnation, or the point of viability of His Incarnation, but we celebrate His Incarnation at the very moment of His conception by the power of the Holy Spirit. This feast, which has been celebrated since at least the 5th Century AD, points to an indisputable biological fact: at the moment of conception (AKA fertilization by those supporting birth control), the embryo is a unique human child with a distinct DNA pattern.
Sadly, the laws in the United States and many other developed nations throughout the world fail to recognize this scientific fact, instead choosing to treat the developing child as a “clump of cells” no different from a cancerous tumor. These laws promote the view that abortion is just a routine surgery, like removing a questionable tumor from your arm, with no moral consequences. As a result of laws permitting abortion, a child in the womb has zero human rights until it is “wanted” by the mother.
Today, on this Solemnity of the Annunciation, dedicated as the International Day of the Unborn Child by a number of pro-life groups, let us continue to pray that these unjust and inhumane laws may be overturned and viewed for the abominations that they are. Let us also pray for those who have been hurt by abortion: the children killed directly, and those who were harmed physically and psychologically by abortion.
Edit: this evening, after posting this entry, I saw a post by Twitter user Luke_181 which linked to a website called The Great Prayer Project – End Abortion. If you want a concrete way to pray for the end of abortion, this is it. Pick a couple 20-hour time slots a week and spend that time in prayer. I’m not going to say “Please consider”. Instead, to quote the old Nike slogan: “Just do it!”, and join me in praying for the end of abortion.
As Fr. Schnippel of the blog Called by Name says at the end of his post:
And remember, it’s Manhood Sunday, as only real men wear Rose!
Amen!
Every year about this time, priests in some regions start gathering for the nearly ubiquitous Penance Services. These services are often in the evenings, and contain the Liturgy of the Word with a short reflection or homily and an examination of conscience. Then, if the service is run properly, the gathered priests will disperse to various parts of the church for private confession and absolution. After a short closing prayer once all confessions have been heard, assuming anyone is left other than the priests, the people disperse to their homes and priests to their parishes.
In themselves, the penance service can be a good thing, encouraging those who may not regularly receive the Sacrament of Confession. However, I’ve been seeing a trend, at least in this diocese, that regular use of Confession has all but been lost. I’ve spoken to parishioners who feel that the only time they need to confess their sins is when the parish has its Lenten or Advent penance service. These penance services have all but replaced regularly scheduled opportunities for confession in many parishes.
In contrast to this view, we need to be receiving the Sacrament of Confession more often, not less. Canon Law requires that all Catholics over the age of reason (generally about 7 years old) have to confess their grave sins at least once a year. To truly grow spiritually and receive the benefit of the graces that come from confession, we need to confess more frequently. I usually advise lay people that once a month is a good idea, even if they do not have grave sin on their souls.
Of course, this is where I run into problems with the mindset behind penance services. If Catholics regularly confessed their sins, a penance service would be another opportunity to receive the sacrament, and to do it in a communal manner. The practice I’ve been seeing is to consider the two penance services a year to be sufficient. Of course, this leaves a large part of the year in which the Sacrament of Confession isn’t being received. It usually works out that they will attend the Advent service in December and the Lenten service in March, but will not receive the Sacrament of Confession between the start of April and the end of November.
What can we do instead of penance services to overcome this two times a year mindset? First, I’m working to increase the amount of time I’m easily available for hearing confessions. Before and after daily Masses and scheduled times throughout the week, I will be in the church, if not the confessional itself, for the purpose of hearing confessions. My hope is by making the sacrament readily available, more Catholics will avail themselves of it.
Second, I’ve preached on the Sacrament of Confession before, and will continue to do so on a regular basis. In fact, that’s how I conclude my homily this week. In recent years, catechesis has suffered within the Catholic Church in the United States, and many Catholics may not be aware of the need for regular reception of the Sacrament of Confession. This is especially serious if they have grave sins on their soul which they have never had the opportunity to confess.
The Sacrament of Confession should be an important part of any Catholic’s life, but has seemed to diminish rapidly in importance. Sadly, I don’t see penance services helping this situation. Instead they appear to accelerate the problem.
As Catholics, we believe that Our Lord Jesus Christ and His mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary, have regularly appeared to various saints throughout the world. Many of those apparitions have been approved by the Church and continue to feed and strengthen the faith in Our Lord throughout the world.
Sadly, there are also supposed apparitions which have been either discouraged or outright discredited. Recently, one such “apparition” was declared by the bishop of Cleveland, OH, to be without supernatural origin. In response, the “seer” of this “apparition” (and yes, I’m putting them in scare quotes on purpose) published a message which speaks of disobeying the local ordinary.
If you want to know whether an apparition is valid or not, look at how the visionaries respond to criticism from their bishops. In every legitimate apparition where this has occurred, Our Lord and the Blessed Virgin Mary have counseled the visionary to remain faithful and obedient to the legitimate Church authority. In fact, obedience to local ecclesiastical authority is a requirement for approval of an apparition. It becomes 100% crystal clear that this is a fraud when a “visionary” reports that he or she has been told by Our Lord or Mary to disobey the bishop or pastor. Our Lord would never ask for disobedience against the authority of bishops which comes from Him, and Mary would never go against the will of her Son.
As a priest, my advice would be to avoid any apparitions which have been disapproved by their local ordinary, even if there’s some question to whether the bishop’s decision was the appropriate one. Devotion to approved apparitions is a good and laudable action, and I would highly encourage all Catholics to learn about the legitimate apparitions, such as Our Lady in Lourdes and Fatima, the Our Lady of Guadalupe image, and the Divine Mercy. In these apparitions, among many others, Our Lord and Mary encouraged the visionaries to obedience. May we be willing to be obedient as well.
Update: Patrick Madrid answers on EWTN’s Open Line radio program regarding the “good fruits” at Medjugorje.
Update 2: More on Medjugorje: Note the position of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in the last three paragraphs.
Fr. Cranky comments on the blessings provided in the Book of Blessings. As part of the conversation, my favorite blessing from the Rituale Romanum was brought to mind:
Bless, + O Lord, this creature, ale which by thy power has been produced from kernels of grain. May it be a healthful beverage to mankind, and grant that through the invoking of thy holy name all who drink thereof may find it a help in body and protection in soul. Through Christ our Lord. Amen. (English translation by Rev. Weller)
Of course, this should only be used in moderation.
(Edited to remove links to Fr. Cranky’s blog, which is currently locked.)
As I reflected on today’s readings, I was really struck* by how simple the Gospel really is. In the readings today, Our Lord sums up the Gospel message in one sentence: “Repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand.” (Mt 4:17) Likewise, St. John sums up how to live as the Gospel demands in one sentence in his First Letter: “we should believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another just as he commanded us.” (1 John 3:23) That’s it. Everything else that we believe as Christians builds on those two sentences. Our prayers, devotions, liturgies, doctrines, and dogmas come out of those brief statements.
So, why is the Catechism of the Catholic Church so big? Simple, we keep finding ways to screw up this simple message, and need to be corrected. If we all repented of our sins, did as Our Lord commanded, and loved our neighbors as ourselves, the Catechism would be about as long as this blog post. Since we keep trying to find loopholes or exceptions to the rule, we need more guidance. Hence the 900+ pages in the Catechism.
* NB: I never start a homily like this. It’s bad homiletics, as it should be implied in your preparation. For a blog post, one needs to set the scene that brought up the post.
From Pope Benedict (via Parish the Thought):“Wherever applause breaks out in the liturgy because of some human achievement, it is a sure sign that the essence of liturgy has totally disappeared and been replaced by a kind of religious entertainment. Such attraction fades quickly – it cannot compete in the market of leisure pursuits, incorporating as it increasingly does various forms of religious titillation.”
Yes! Yes! Yes! A hundred times yes! The Mass is not a concert, but is the worship of God. The music should lead us to praise God, not the musician.
While I’m in a Blogging mood, I want to throw out a pitch for an excellent book written by one of my professors at Mundelein Seminary. Dr. C. Colt Anderson, who has since moved on from the seminary to a better job elsewhere, is the author of The Great Catholic Reformers: From Gregory the Great to Dorothy Day
In his introduction, Dr. Anderson notes that the Church is constantly in need of reform, and all of us are called to be a part of that reform. To this end, he offers ten major reformers within the history of the Church who were able to accomplish much in the way of reform while still remaining in unity with the Church.
In my opinion, for a reform movement to be valid, it must remain within the unity of the Church, and must not enter into dissent. A danger in any reform movement is to consider its opinions and positions as above the Church. We can see this operating in many of the reform movements like Call to Action or FutureChurch, but is also prevalent in more “radical traditionalist” movements that are sedevacantist.
I’m only about 20 pages into Great Catholic Reformers, but I’ve already found it to be an inspiring and interesting read. Dr. Anderson is a great professor, willing to challenge much of what we held as seminarians, and is also a great author who is willing to do the same for his readers.
