Cleansing Fire

Defending Truth and Tradition in the Lay-Run Roman Catholic Diocese of Rochester

Archive for December, 2011

Pascal: “Errors must deserve hatred and contempt”

December 29th, 2011, Promulgated by Ben Anderson

Dave Armstrong posted some really great material by Blaise Pascal today in two separate posts:

Ridicule and Sarcasm Regarding Sin and Absurdity Sanctioned by God (Argues Blaise Pascal); Many Biblical Examples Provided

Blaise Pascal on Biblical and Theological Paradox, and Heretics’ Miscomprehension and Consequent Resort to False Dichotomies

They are both short and well worth the read, so I’d encourage you to click the above links… but for those really short on time, here’s a couple snips I enjoyed:

For, fathers (since you will force me into this argument), I beseech you to consider that, just in proportion as Christian truths are worthy of love and respect, the contrary errors must deserve hatred and contempt; there being two things in the truths of our religion—a divine beauty that renders them lovely, and a sacred majesty that renders them venerable; and two things also about errors—an impiety, that makes them horrible, and an impertinence that renders them ridiculous. For these reasons, while the saints have ever cherished towards the truth the twofold sentiment of love and fear—the whole of their wisdom being comprised between fear, which is its beginning, and love which is its end—they have, at the same time, entertained towards error the twofold feeling of hatred and contempt, and their zeal has been at once employed to repel, by force of reasoning, the malice of the wicked, and to chastise, by the aid of ridicule, their extravagance and folly.

Do not then expect, fathers, to make people believe that it is unworthy of a Christian to treat error with derision. Nothing is easier than to convince all who were not aware of it before, that this practice is perfectly just—that it is common with the fathers of the Church, and that it is sanctioned by Scripture, by the example of the best of saints, and even by that of God himself.
…
The source of all heresies is the exclusion of some one of these truths; and the source of all the cavils brought against us by heretics, is their ignorance of some one of these truths.
…
And it usually happens that, being unable to perceive the relation of two opposing truths, and believing that the admission of the one involves the exclusion of the other, they adhere to the one and renounce the other; and fancy that we do the contrary. Now this exclusion is the source of their heresy, and the ignorance we have shown them to labour under, the ground of their cavils.
…
Therefore it is that the shortest way to prevent heresies is to instruct men in every kind of truth ; and the surest way to refute them, is to declare it as universally. . . .
…
The error they all fall into, is the more dangerous, from each pursuing one truth: their fault is not in adopting falsehood, but in not embracing the countervailing truth.

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Does “sexual orientation” have a place in your parish’s mission statement?

December 28th, 2011, Promulgated by Ben Anderson

Does “sexual orientation” have a place in your parish’s mission statement? Fr. Joseph Marcoux of St. Catherine of Siena Parish in Ithaca seems to think so:

We are so pleased that you chose to celebrate with us this weekend. We warmly invite you to active participation in our liturgical celebration. Please feel free to approach one of our Ministers of Hospitality if you are in need of any assistance. No matter what your present status in the Catholic Church, your current family or marital situation, your past or present religious affiliation; no matter what your personal history, age, background, sexual orientation, gender, race or color; no matter what your self-image or self-esteem: YOU are invited, welcomed, accepted, loved and respected at St. Catherine of Siena Church in Ithaca, New York.

Another curiosity I’ve had is, “why do parish’s have mission statements?” Aren’t we all Catholic? As Bishop Hubbard recently lamented:

There is also a growing congregationalism, wherein parishioners fail to appreciate the relationship of their parish to the diocese and to the Church universal.

A few years back, before I left my geographic parish because the priest removed himself from full communion with the Catholic Church by endorsing the ordination of women, I remember he made a big deal out of a huge weekend event in which the parish would define its mission statement. I didn’t have time to devote a whole Saturday (and I believe Friday) to such a silly ordeal, but if I would have had my say it would have gone something like this:

O my God, I firmly believe that you are one God in three divine persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. I believe that your divine Son became man and died for our sins, and that he will come to judge the living and the dead. I believe these and all the truths which the holy catholic Church teaches, because in revealing them you can neither deceive nor be deceived.

And if you think Fr. Marcoux is happy to warp the truth only in his own parish in order to tailor to the LGBT community in, you’d be mistaken. See his bulletin article here on the diocesan wide push.  In fact, in hind sight, I would bet that my previously mentioned priest was pushing behind the scenes to get such wording into my previous parish’s mission statement.

And here is the bulletin article articulating the change to the mission statement:

Fr. Marcoux was also one of the three co-authors of the Rochester priest protest against the Church’s language toward homosexuals and also an alleged butt-baptizer.

DISCLAIMER: There are ways to interpret Fr. Marcoux’s words to be inline with Catholic teaching. Certainly we should be welcoming to all people and meet them where they are and gently invite them on a path towards full communion with the Church.  Those who struggle with SSA who are in full communion should be treated just like anyone else.  However, in our confused society and pro-gay agenda diocese, when one speaks of inviting homosexuals to full/active participation in the liturgy without clearly stating that practicing homosexuals should refrain from receiving communion, it’s highly suggestive that you are actually supportive of their lifestyle and their agenda.

 

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Bishops Hubbard and Clark reflect on their recent ad limina visit

December 26th, 2011, Promulgated by Ben Anderson

Both Bishop Hubbard (of Albany) and Bishop Clark (Rochester) wrote of their recent ad limina visit in their local lapdog papers. I started writing commentary to Part 1 of Bishop Hubbard’s series a few weeks back and intended to do more, but time has slipped away and I don’t think I’ll get much more in the near future. So I’ll offer just a few quick thoughts and snippets, but mostly just wanted to share the links so you can go read them for yourselves. I wish to thank both bishops for writing of their experience and sharing it with their respective flocks. It makes me feel a part of something bigger. Bishop Hubbard’s articles especially are very detailed and he even provides a good deal of background for those of us who don’t know Rome all that well. The specific parts I’ll comment on are what is relevant to this blog, not necessarily the most important or interesting parts, so it is what it is. Please don’t think I’m just casting aside all the good information they shared. There’s also probably some interesting tidbits that I’m skipping over because of time, so please feel free to share your own insights in the comments.

First the links:

Bishop Hubbard’s “Rome Diary” (part 1, part 2, part 3)

Bishop Clark’s two part series:

Part 1: Hopes, concerns shared with pope
Part 2: Liturgies, meetings, catching up with friends highlight trip

and the snippets [my comments in red]

Bishop Hubbard

…the council [Vatican 2] called for [interesting insight into how Bishop Hubbard views the council]:

• to shift from the Mass and sacramental celebrations all in Latin to the vernacular, with the altar now facing the congregation and greater lay roles and involvement;

• the shift from a hierarchical model of the Church – where the role of the clergy and religious was to teach, govern and sanctify and the role of the laity was to be taught, ruled and sanctified – to the “people of God” understanding of the Church, where the primary sacrament is not ordination or the vowed life but baptism, with its emphasis that all the members of the Church are called to holiness and ministry within their respective states of life; [I hear this frequently that lay Catholics prior to the council weren't called to enter into a life of holiness.  Perhaps I'm just skeptical, but is that really true?  I don't know, I wasn't around then.  I'm sure some of you were - what's your thoughts?]

• the change involving our understanding of religious liberty and the call for dialogue and prayer with our Protestant, Jewish, Muslim and other brothers and sisters of various religious traditions; and

• the emphasis of the Church not to be aloof from the political and economic life of society, but to seed it with the Gospel message and the Church’s social teaching.

[I find it interesting that most of the challenges the Church faces today are excesses (and perversions) of the above points.]

…

In citing the challenges we face, some bishops mention an anti-bishop mentality which is quite prevalent in the United States. Those on the far right believe bishops are too tentative in the exercise of authority and those on the left believe them to be bullies. There is also a growing congregationalism, wherein parishioners fail to appreciate the relationship of their parish to the diocese and to the Church universal.

[to be clear, we are NOT anti-bishop here at Cleansing Fire... we are pro Catholicism (every last bit of it).  Note above where Bishop Hubbard states the shift away from the hierarchy's duty to govern.  Those who expect the bishops to do something about radically progressive professors teaching in diocesan schools of Theology and Ministry ought to understand that the bishops who give voice to dissidents don't see it as their responsibility to correct them or do anything about it.]

On parish closings
Our next visit was to the Congregation for the Clergy, where Cardinal Mauro Piacenza serves as the prefect. Strange as it may seem, the Congregation for the Clergy is the first Court of Appeal when a parish is closed, merged or reconfigured.

The cardinal stated that his Congregation, along with the Congregation for Bishops, will soon be publishing a study on the restructuring of parishes. He underscored how there must be extensive consultation with parishioners to be affected, and with the Presbyteral Council, before any decisions can be made.

Cardinal Piacenza also emphasized that the assets of the closed parish must remain within the local community, and, if a parish or school are converted to other uses, insofar as is possible, they should be made available for social or charitable purposes.

This discussion was of great interest to the bishops present, because six of our seven dioceses in New York State are or will be involved extensively in making difficult decisions through the process of pastoral planning.

Cardinal Piacenza indicated that his Congregation is preparing another instruction on the merger of parishes, highlighting the role that the ordained priest must play in whatever reconfiguration takes place. [!!! perhaps someone IS reading our letters!]

He pointed out that a weakened sense of the meaning and importance of Christian worship can only lead to a weakened sense of the specific and essential vocation of the laity to imbue the temporal order with the spirit of the Gospel. [junk masses lead to junk Christians]

Part 2

I must also confess that I responded twice to the greeting, “The Lord be with you,” with, “And also with You,” instead of, “And with your Spirit,” which the new translation calls for. I expect it will take a few months before overcoming the tendency to respond almost automatically with the phrases to which we have become accustomed over the past 40 years and gain familiarity with the new responses.

I’m with you, Your Excellency. I almost got it right on Christmas… almost, but not quite. And I had only been doing the old translation for about 8 years.

…
Afterwards, I joined Robert Mickens, a regular columnist for The Tablet, a Catholic newspaper of London, whose accounts of Vatican news I have enjoyed immensely over the years.

A quick googling of Fr. Z’s site turns up a few results. For those who think Cleansing Fire is some renegade blog who trashes their spiritual leaders, go read what Robert Mickens has to say about our Holy Father. His Excellency doesn’t seem to mind such talk, so I’m sure he wouldn’t mind some good, healthy, dialogue from the other side.

…
Cardinal Levada spoke about the Pontifical Commission “Ecclesia Dei,” which also comes under his jurisdiction. This commission seeks to ensure that the Tridentine Latin Mass, which was celebrated prior to the liturgical changes of the Second Vatican Council, be available to those faithful who desire what is now an extraordinary form of the Mass.

We bishops expressed our belief that this provision is sufficiently available within our respective dioceses.

A 1PM mass in the ghetto is “sufficiently available”?

Bishop Clark part 2:

The sessions were cordial and constructive in many ways. It was clear that the people with whom we met are well-informed and care deeply about their areas of competence, and certainly are committed to the service of the church.

Yet I felt that, with a couple of exceptions, they and we bishops — because of our differing day-to-day experience — did not have the kind of meeting of the minds about the matters at hand that would have made the sessions more rewarding for all concerned. Without question we share the same ideals and have the building of the Kingdom as our common goal. The difference may be that, because our friends in the several offices deal with the whole church, they speak of these commonly held values and goals in more general ways than we bishops. Our day-to-day pastoral task is to help the people in our respective dioceses to live the values and ideas in the demanding, complex environment of today’s world.

All that said, I think that our visits were important. They are reminders that we belong to a vast and varied community of faith; that it is foreign to our tradition to think of an individual Catholic, a parish or a diocese standing alone, as not needing to be connected to that larger communion. At our best, we are beautifully interdependent, called to learn and grow through what we share in our communion of faith.

I confess that the visits were a healthy reminder to me to be extra careful in what I ask of or expect from my coworkers in the Lord’s vineyard. We too share the same deep values of our Catholic tradition. Our common goal to build up the Kingdom is the same. The visits remind me that when I call coworkers to focus on a particular project or cause I need always to understand that it can’t and won’t always happen at the same time, or in the same way or with perfect results. Life just doesn’t work that way. Yes, it’s important for me to call the community together to common and important purposes. It’s no less important to encourage and support everyone in the effort, and to be happy with the good fruit of everyone’s honest effort.

This is purely speculative, but it sure seems like Bishop Clark’s “healthy reminder” is a way for him to rebuke the way he was addressed in Rome? What do you think?

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The Great Feasts: Icon Of The Nativity of Our Lord

December 24th, 2011, Promulgated by Bernie
This entry is part 1 of 10 in the series Great Feasts

Previously in this series: here, here, and here

(Click on picture to view a larger, sharper image.)

Novgorod school, attributed to the 15th c., 17 x 21 inches

The Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ

Troparion

Your Nativity, O Christ our God, Has shone to the world the Light of wisdom! For by it, those who worshipped the stars, Were taught by a Star to adore You, The Sun of Righteousness, And to know You, the Orient from on High. O Lord, glory to You!

Kontakion

Today the Virgin brings forth the Transubstantial, And the earth offers a cave to the Unapproachable One! Angels with shepherds glorify Him! The wise men journey with a star! Since for our sake the Eternal God was born as a Little Child!

The figure of the Blessed Mother is usually the first thing people notice in this icon. The figure is normally near the center of the design and is often the largest. In most traditional nativity icons the All Holy Virgin reclines on a portable bed of the kind Jews used while traveling. But, in some icons she sits upright on the bed. The second thing noticed by most people is the black –always black– cave also located somewhere near the center of the design. Thirdly, people notice that Mary and the dark cave are surrounded by ‘scenes’ or episodes from the story and placed in a somewhat barren, rocky or uncomfortable landscape. Finally –and almost overlooked—people see the tiny wrapped figure of the Christ child lying in the manger inside the cave. That wrapped child lying on top of the manger in a dark cave always reminds me of Christ wrapped in a death shroud and laid out on a stone tomb in a sepulcher.

Of course, the Christ child is the intended center of the icon. The small white shape of his swaddling clothes contrasts with the dark shape of the cave as “a spiritual light shinning forth in the shadow of death that encompasses mankind… The black mouth of the cave in the icon is, in its symbolic meaning, precisely this world, stricken with sin through man’s fault, in which ‘the Sun of truth’ shone forth.”1 The uncomfortable landscape might remind us of the wilderness of the Exodus story. There, the Israelites were fed with manna bread from heaven. Here, God Himself has come down from heaven to be the bread of eternal life, the Eucharist.  He is also the sacrificial Lamb laid upon the altar of the wood manger, symbolic of the altar of the wooden cross.

Mary’s posture always suggests underlying dogmatic beliefs. In the Nativity of Our Lord icons her pose can vary in two ways and they address either the Divine or human nature of Jesus.  In some icons of the Nativity of Jesus, Mary is half-sitting, alert and attentive to the child which suggests a lack of the usual suffering associated with child birth. In that case the virginity of Mary and the Divine nature of the child are emphasized. However, in the highlighted icon for this post the humanity of Christ is emphasized through the listlessness and languor of Mary’s reclining pose. Her fatigue suggests that the Incarnation indeed took place in Mary’s womb and she has now brought him forth into the wider world. It was not just all an illusion as the heretical Nestorians taught. God did take on human flesh and become human.

Mary gazes down toward Joseph who sits in the bottom left corner confused and troubled, pondering the improbability of it all. His figure is not part of the mother and child grouping for he is not the father. The devil in the guise of an old shepherd stands before him sowing doubt that the virgin birth is possible. He suggests that if the infant were truly divine He would not have been born in a human way. In the person of Joseph, the icon discloses not only his personal drama, but the drama of all mankind, the difficulty of accepting that which is ‘beyond words or reason’, the Incarnation of God.2 The scene reminds us of our own personal struggles with faith. But Holy Mary looks on in compassion and loving concern –not just at Joseph but even at us in our times of temptation and doubt.

In the bottom right corner two midwives Joseph rounded-up and brought back to the Mother of God are depicted about ready to bathe the baby. Like any other human new-born the Son of God has become subject to the necessities of human life. Often the basin appears like a baptismal font3 or a large chalice which reminds us of the ‘cup’ of the passion from which the Lord will drink.

The angels of the Gloria are at the top of the icon. Messengers as well as worshippers they usually appear with some of them looking up toward heaven glorifying God and some looking down toward man to whom they bring good tidings.4Among the shepherds is usually one playing a flute or reed-pipe, joining the shepherds’ own human music with that of the heavenly strains of the angels. Like the shepherds some of us enjoy communion with heaven while engaged in our daily work while others of us, more sophisticated and learned, are like the Magi in the left side of the icon who “have to accomplish a long journey from the knowledge of what is relative to the knowledge that is absolute, through the object (like the star) that they study.”5

The ox and the ass stand next to the manger and contemplate the Christ Child demonstrating that even the dumb animals can recognize the Creator when He chooses to reveal himself:6 “The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master’s crib; but Israel does not know, my people do not understand.”7

Finally, from the top of the icon Divinity pierces into the natural world in the form of light beams emanating from the star of the Magi (or from the orb of heaven) illuminating the Child Jesus in the crib. As the story in the Apocryphal gospel of James goes, Joseph and the midwives, when they returned to the cave, were blinded by a bright light shining forth from the grotto, a light so bright that “they could not bear it”;8 as the bright light of the Transfiguration would blind the apostles on Mt. Tabor.9

_________________________________

1 Leonid Ouspensky and Vladimir Lossky, The Meaning of Icons, Crestwood, (St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1989) p 157. The thought, however, comes from a homily attributed to St. Gregory of Nyssa.

2 Ouspensky 160

3 Solrunn Nes, The Mystical Language of Icons, (Grand Rapids, William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2004) 43

4 Ouspensky 159

5 Ouspensky 159

6 Nes 43

7 Isaiah: 1, 3

8 James 14, 11

9 Nes 43

Book suggestions:

The Meaning of Icons, Vladimir Lossky and Leonid Ouspensky,  (St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1999)

The Mystical Language of Icons, Solrunn Nes,  (Grand Rapids, William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2004)

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A Blessed Christmas To All Our Readers

December 24th, 2011, Promulgated by Gen

I had been trying to decide what to share with you for Christmas, and in the middle of my decision-making, the following was sent to me by a friend. It is really quite beautiful, and I think you will all enjoy it.

A most sincere “Merry Christmas” to all, from your friends at Cleansing Fire.

“Christmas” by John Betjeman

The bells of waiting Advent ring,
The Tortoise stove is lit again
And lamp-oil light across the night
Has caught the streaks of winter rain
In many a stained-glass window sheen
From Crimson Lake to Hookers Green.

The holly in the windy hedge
And round the Manor House the yew
Will soon be stripped to deck the ledge,
The altar, font and arch and pew,
So that the villagers can say
‘The church looks nice’ on Christmas Day.

Provincial Public Houses blaze,
Corporation tramcars clang,
On lighted tenements I gaze,
Where paper decorations hang,
And bunting in the red Town Hall
Says ‘Merry Christmas to you all.’

And London shops on Christmas Eve
Are strung with silver bells and flowers
As hurrying clerks the City leave
To pigeon-haunted classic towers,
And marbled clouds go scudding by
The many-steepled London sky.

And girls in slacks remember Dad,
And oafish louts remember Mum,
And sleepless children’s hearts are glad.
And Christmas-morning bells say ‘Come!’
Even to shining ones who dwell
Safe in the Dorchester Hotel.

And is it true,
This most tremendous tale of all,
Seen in a stained-glass window’s hue,
A Baby in an ox’s stall ?
The Maker of the stars and sea
Become a Child on earth for me ?

And is it true ? For if it is,
No loving fingers tying strings
Around those tissued fripperies,
The sweet and silly Christmas things,
Bath salts and inexpensive scent
And hideous tie so kindly meant,

No love that in a family dwells,
No caroling in frosty air,
Nor all the steeple-shaking bells
Can with this single Truth compare -
That God was man in Palestine

And lives today in Bread and Wine.

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“Do you know God?”

December 23rd, 2011, Promulgated by Mike

Last Memorial Day weekend Father John Riccardo of the Archdiocese of Detroit was invited to address the congregation of Kensington Church, a large, non-denominational, Protestant “seeker” church located in Troy, Michigan.

With some concern that it might be a bit over their heads, I showed this talk to my 7th and 8th grade religious ed kids a couple of months ago.  As it turned out I needn’t have worried.  I was impressed by both their level of attention and how much they got out of it.

Father Riccardo is introduced by Kensington’s Senior Pastor, Steven Andrews.

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Long lines for Confession at BK

December 20th, 2011, Promulgated by Mike

A reader with children attending Bishop Kearney Junior/Senior High School reports that the school offered a Communal Penance service last week, followed by individual confession with a priest.

Students, of course, were not required to celebrate the sacrament, yet a large number chose to do so.  It took more than two hours for all to be heard.

The Faith would appear to be alive and well at BK.

HT/ CathMom

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King of Kings and Lord of Lords

December 19th, 2011, Promulgated by Mike

The Holy Cross Church Choir presented a concert of Lessons and Carols yesterday afternoon.  This clip is from the finale …

 At the reception which followed one woman was heard to quip, “That concert was so good I thought for a moment I was in a Protestant church.”

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An Actual “Dialogue Homily”

December 13th, 2011, Promulgated by Gen

This video is from the Diocese of Raleigh’s home-school Mass, and shows Bishop Burbidge engaging in a dialogue homily with the children. You’ll notice that, unlike one of the lay-given homilies in Rochester, this is given 1. by a bishop 2. to children 3. to teach them about the faith. No lay women in albs. No sanctimonious politicking about women’s ordination. It just goes to show you how some in our midst delight in warping and bastardizing the Faith to such an extent that is barely even faith at all, but rather a shameless show of self-promotion.

Pray for all of our bishops, and all those who lead parishes (licitly or illicitly), that they might learn to love the Church as it is, and not as they would personally have it.

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Gay Affirming Catholic Churches in Rochester, NY

December 7th, 2011, Promulgated by Ben Anderson

According to gaychurch.org:

Gay Church is a web site dedicated to ministering to the gay and lesbian Christian community (GLBT) and friends of our community. We feature one of the largest gay and lesbian affirming Christian church directories and bulletin boards in the world.

If you look at the listings for New York State, you’ll find a few Roman Catholic churches on the list in Rochester:

Church of the Assumption
Church of the Blessed Sacrament
Corpus Christi / Spiritus Christi
St. John the Evangelist (Humbolt St.)
St. Mary’s Downtown
St. Monica

If your parish is on this list and you think it’s a mistake, please contact me and/or gaychurch.org and we’ll see if we can get it off. If you’re proud that your parish is on this list, could you please explain how the term “gay and lesbian affirming” is consistent with Catholic sexual morality?

AS ALWAYS THE BIG DISCLAIMER: People who struggle with same sex attraction (or any sin for that matter) are no less Christian than anyone else based on that fact alone. Certainly we must be considerate and pastoral to people of all stripes so as not to be a stumbling block on their journey to live out the Gospel of Jesus Christ. However, in our modern society, we must be very careful to explicitly state that loving all people equally is not the same thing as condoning the homosexual lifestyle or the homosexual agenda.

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Two extremes: Altar dogs and Altar rails

December 5th, 2011, Promulgated by Ben Anderson

Fr. Michael Bausch (Transfiguration, Pittsford – supporter of Fortunate Families) recounts in the parish’s Oct 30th bulletin some of the Masses he experienced during his sabbatical. He begins describing positive Masses he attended/celebrated, then he goes into two extreme examples of negative experiences. The first one is clearly off the wall. The second, on the other hand, seems to describe the way the Holy Father offers the Mass.

“Then again, in my opinion, some presiders allowed their personal preference to overshadow the fact Roman Catholics believe the Eucharist is a celebration of the entire community; not something the presider does in isolation.
…
Then there is the other side of the story. I also ‘attended’ Masses where the presider over personalized the Liturgy. In one parish the priest was very “folksy” and included his dog in the celebration. The dog sat next to the presider’s chair and the end of Mass it retrieved the hymnal from the book stand. At the other end of the extreme I attended Mass where the Priest sat with his back to the people [aka - facing God], refused to participate in the sign of peace, had at least 10 large candlesticks on the Altar blocking everyone’s view and recently reinstalled the altar railing and a raised pulpit.”

So it seems Fr. Bausch is placing a traditional, reverent liturgy like that being promoted by the Pope as an extreme alongside dog altar servers.

It looks like the Holy Father’s uses 7 candles.  I believe that’s called the Benedictine arrangement.  If you have more info on that – please share in the comments.

This is why I don’t like spectrums. Catholicism is not a spectrum. When people start defining spectrums, they usually assume that’s it’s best to fall somewhere in the middle. The problem with this is that it doesn’t really matter what everyone else is doing. What’s right is right and what’s wrong is wrong even if that puts you all the way at one end of the spectrum. All too often, you’re considered “balanced” and “level-headed” if there are 50% of the people on either end of you – even if that means you believe about 50% of the CCC and follow about 50% of the GIRM. If you happen to simply be Catholic (which, by the way, requires believing 100% of the CCC), you are considered a right-wing nut-case.

To give the benefit of the doubt to Fr. Bausch, perhaps there is more to this story than he shared. Perhaps the priest was truly rude in his refusal to sign the peace. But perhaps he simply not do an overabundant dog and pony show that we often see in our masses? According to the GIRM:

Chapter 2: The Structure Of The Mass, Its Elements, And Its Parts

The Rite of Peace

82. There follows the Rite of Peace, by which the Church entreats peace and unity for herself and for the whole human family, and the faithful express to each other their ecclesial communion and mutual charity before communicating in the Sacrament.

As for the actual sign of peace to be given, the manner is to be established by the Conferences of Bishops in accordance with the culture and customs of the peoples. However, it is appropriate that each person, in a sober manner, offer the sign of peace only to those who are nearest.

I’ve heard it said that the typical part of the rite of peace where the priest tells everyone to shake hands and hug is actually optional. I’ve been at masses where the priest verbalizes his peace to the congregation and that’s the end of it. Personally, I think that’s just fine, but quite honestly I’m not a liturgist, so I don’t know what’s required.  If you have more info on that – please share.

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Last Friday’s “Rosary for Priestly Vocations”

December 5th, 2011, Promulgated by Bernie

Here are some video clips (see links, below) from last Friday’s Rosary for Priestly Vocations, sponsored by the Knights of Columbus of Saint Damien of Molokai Council 11411 and held in the evening at Our Mother of Sorrows Church in the town of Greece. I attended as a member of Council 11411 and did the best I could to record with my simple camera, which is not a camcorder. These Vocation Rosaries do not draw large crowds although there are several faithful participants at every service. It’s too bad really, because they are so very beautiful. The Knights have been sponsoring the Rosaries for several years, now; maybe four or five years (I’m not sure). There are usually at least four each year held in different locations around Rochester. Father Alexander Bradshaw , the pastor at Mother of Sorrows presided at this latest one and Father Winfried Kellner read from scripture and offered reflections on each of the mysteries of the Rosary.  D.J. Fiorito, a member of the Saint Damien of Molokai Council and chief organizer for the prayer service, offered an introductory reflection on praying for vocations. He has been involved with the Vocation Rosaries since they began, even before becoming a Knight. Fiorito is planning on entering the seminary next year.

Part 1 Rosary for Priestly Vocations

Part 2 Rosary for Priestly Vocations

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Deacon Michael Piehler Protesting in the Diocese of Arlington

December 3rd, 2011, Promulgated by Ben Anderson

In the NCReporter, Deacon Michael Piehler of Transfiguration Pittsford made the trek down to Arlington Virginia to PROTEST a pastor’s decision to have boys alone serve at the altar in his parish (which the priest is well within his right as pastor to do). Read about it here:
Fishwrap rakes up some muck in the Arlington altar girl dispute

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How low can the NCReporter go? (or 10 years of fake Catholics and fake priests)

December 3rd, 2011, Promulgated by Ben Anderson

The NCR’s poster parish has an article written about them [my comments in red]

Ten years later, controversial New York church still thrives [yes, that "church"]

Ten years after her historic [fake] ordination, Mary Ramerman rarely makes it into the papers anymore [the thrill of being a rebel only lasts so long]. Watching her minister as a [fake] priest today, it may be hard to believe that she was at the center of a highly publicized, painful battle between the diocese of Rochester, N.Y., [and Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger] and the parish then known as Corpus Christi [I believe it's clustered now, but the Roman Catholic Church still bears that name, does it not?] in the late 1990s.

Back then, Corpus Christi was a Roman Catholic parish on the fringe. Led by Fr. Jim Callan, a charismatic priest with a radical commitment to the poor and marginalized [and also a hatred of the rich and any system that allows for people to be rich.  aka - Occupy Wall Street], the church was known for taking risks [Certainly the corporal work they do for the poor is a good thing - no one will argue that.  It should be noted that there are many people and organizations within the Catholic Church right here in Rochester that do amazing work for the poor as well.  It's not like Spiritus has a monopoly on helping the poor.].

They invited everyone to Communion, they blessed the unions of gay and lesbian couples (though never on diocesan property) and they allowed Mary Ramerman, the parish’s lay associate pastor, to preach and to stand with Callan at the altar during the Eucharistic prayer. Eventually, she was also invited to raise the chalice during the consecration. [in other words, they stopped being Catholic]
…
“I have found it so immensely freeing to not have to hang on to that mode of thinking that says, ‘We are Catholic, you are not Catholic,’” [if you don't care whether or not you are inline with Catholic teaching, then you are not a Catholic] Ramerman told me in an interview earlier this week. “When I became free of that system, it opened up such a greater understanding of God and the people around me.”
…
Ramerman says, “In the structure of the church, the sacraments are very important to what a [real] priest does, and I’ve found that’s even more important than I thought it would be.”

“I think I’ve grown in my understanding of the role of the [fake] priest,” Ramerman reflects. “Fundamentally, my role is to love people and to [trick people into thinking I have the authority to] forgive people. I don’t think there is anything more powerful than when I do that [there certainly is a spiritual power at work here]. And if I don’t do that well, it is harmful to people. They need to know that they are loved and they need to know that they are forgiven.” [only God and those He gives authority to are capable of forgiving sins.]

Ramerman admits that Spiritus is sometimes criticized for being too traditional. [this is when it's starts getting funny]

“They ask me, ‘Why do you wear an alb?’ or ‘Why do you allow people to call you reverend?’” she said. “Given our size, we can grow quickly in terms of preaching or social action, but other areas, like changing these traditions, have to move a lot more slowly.”

Spiritus currently has 1,500 active parishioners, including 250 families, with 1,100 people attending one of the parish’s three weekend Masses every week. They are the largest non-Roman Catholic-identifying congregation in the country. [got that?  This is somewhat misleading.  They aren't the largest non-Roman Catholic congregations in the country - they are the largest fake-Catholic congregation in the country.]

This is part one of a two-part series. The next part will be published Wednesday, Dec. 7. [we'll be waiting]

This story is just so sad all around.  I’m not sure what’s more sad:

1) The fact that a publication can identify itself as Catholic and publish an article like this without explicitly stating that this church is not Catholic and this woman is not a priest.  Will any bishops come out and explicitly condemn this publication?

2) The fact that many souls are being led astray.  Quite honestly, though, I’m not sure how many of these souls weren’t already lost.  Remember, many of them weren’t Catholic to begin with.

3) The fact that it’s possible that Fr. Callan’s masses are valid and thus the body, blood, soul, and divinity of Our Lord is defiled on frequent occasions.

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“And with your spirit. And with your spirit. And with your spirit.”

December 2nd, 2011, Promulgated by Ben Anderson

There’s been so much hype about the new translation and I can’t believe it’s finally here.  To prepare, I watched videos, listened to lectures, read about it, etc.  Last week it finally came.  Our parish has mass cards to help us out.  So I’m staring directly at the mass card, completely conscious of the fact that the new translation is finally here and the priest says, “The Lord be with you”, and I say, “And also with you… shoot!”.  It was my first time, so I cut myself some slack.  I wasn’t the only one having a hard time breaking the habit.  Today I went back to mass and was ready this time.  ”And with your spirit.  And with your spirit.  And with your spirit,”  I mumbled on my way to mass.  The moment came and I don’t think I did any better than my first time.  A couple weeks of screwing up wouldn’t be so bad, but I fear unless I don’t do something more proactive I’ll drag this transition out way too long.  ”I’ve got to fix this”, I thought.  The geek in me came up with a grand plan of making a long audio clip that was mostly silence, but would randomly speak, “The Lord be with you” so I could train myself.  Ideally this plan would have some way of shocking me if I didn’t say the right words.  Then reality hit and I realized I didn’t have time to create such a system, so I asked my wife to randomly say “The Lord be with you” to me and scold me appropriately.  (note: there are times when a wife can fulfill the duties of the computer).  Hopefully this will help.

The real reason for this post is I wanted to ask you - what are doing to kick the habit?

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NY Bishops “in the principal’s office”

December 1st, 2011, Promulgated by Ben Anderson

Below is snippets and some comments on a CNS story entitled “Archbishop Dolan says N.Y. bishops impressed with ‘ad limina’ process“. Can you imagine any bishop saying it wasn’t a positive experience? Now I’m glad it was a positive experience, but I sincerely hope that the our Holy Father pressed these bishops to change things for the better. This particular article doesn’t address same-sex marriage and certainly doesn’t go into detail about the discussions, so make of it what you will.  The fact of the matter is that none of us know what happened behind the scenes and that’s alright.  It’s good for the parties involved to be able to speak privately, but we must remember the way the bishops tell us about their conversations with the Holy Father and Roman Curia officials might be very different from the actual conversations.  Nevertheless, you may wish to attempt to read through the lines.

He said one specific piece of news the group took away from the weeklong visit was that the Vatican’s Congregation for Clergy is preparing a document that it hopes will offer “crisper and cleaner and more consistent” guidelines on parish closings and mergers, both for the bishops and for the faithful who sometimes appeal a bishop’s decision.

…
“Sometimes people’s perception of the Holy See is that its job is to protect the power structure of the church and to protect the bishops and clergy. Well, they also are very sensitive to the rights of God’s people,” he said. [that's nice, but I continue to think about Raymond's comment. To answer your question, Raymond, no, I have never received a response. I have received a response from Bishop Clark the two times I've written him. I received a stock response from Archbishop Dolan simply stating he received my letter. I have not received a response from anyone else (and I've sent out a good amount of letters)]

The archbishop said the bishops were impressed with the curiosity and sincerity of the Roman Curia officials. Education officials, for example, had some probing questions about the costs of church-run schools, their level of support among Catholic parents, and the arguments against state support of such schools. [I hope the Roman Curia officials are getting input from more than just the bishops on all of this.  My children will be reaching school age in the next few years.  Perhaps the Roman Curia would like my input on why I will not be sending my children to diocesan run schools.  They'll get a different answer than I'm sure Bishop Clark gave.]

Using data from the apostolic visitation of U.S. seminaries in 2005-2006, they noted shortcomings cited in the seminaries of New York state and asked the bishops what they had done to improve the situation.

“That’s a call to accountability, that’s a check — and that’s not bad,” Archbishop Dolan said.

“It’s good for us, every once in a while, to be in the principal’s office,” he added with a laugh. [!!!]

 

Along these lines, Hopefull posted a link to a LifeSiteNews article in the comments. What’s better than the actual article is the comment that Hopefull left:

Does the Pope have any idea what has really been going on in Rochester NY? Does anyone have any evidence to offer that he is taking any action there? How can a Fr. Charles Curran not be allowed to teach any longer in Catholic universities but still address the faithful in the parish pew? How can priests in the Rochester Diocese still be raising the question of women’s ordination in their church bulletins (as recently as 3 days ago when the pastor of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton parish, Fr. Wm. Spilly, raised it after receiving an award recognition from Call to Action? How can the bishop have appointed so many women to act as pastoral administrators of parishes, with priests “reporting” to those women? How can dozens of priests be listed as contributors to Fortunate Families, which is “proud” of their gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered children’s life styles? Where is the financial accountability for the assets of so many closed churches and schools? If there is any evidence that any of this is being addressed, it is certainly subtle. A clean-sweep new Bishop is desperately needed, as soon as possible!

One more note… As ScottW pointed out, Rich Leonardi is back in the blogging world with his new site Over the Rhine and Into the Tiber.

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