Paul Zalonski – Page 490

Friends for Lunch: Fr Vincent, fscb visits Connecticut

The occasion for gathering for lunch was the brief visit of our friend, Father Vincent Nagel, FSCB. Cristina graciously opened her home and prepared a tasty lunch. Father Vincent is a California native and a member of the Missionary Fraternity of Saint Charles Borromeo (FSCB), a fraternity of priests of pontifical right founded on the work of Communion & Liberation; the priests serve in Denver, Washington, DC, Rome, Moscow and a host of other places. The fraternity is growing by God’s grace!

Father Vincent currently works in the Holy Land as the personal assistant to the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Archbishop Fouad Twal. The visit was a wonderful opportunity to connect with friends and to hear a few brief stories on the situation in the Holy Land: this is particularly important for us to see how Christ works in our reality today. Many thanks to Cristina who labors hard for meetings of friends like this one!

Medjugorje & 2 popes

On the premise that the faithful require the truth, I am still wondering about the authenticity of the apparitions of the Blessed Mother at Medjugorje, especially with how one pope dealt with the cult and how the current pope is dealing with it. At the end of July I posted a question about the possibility of the apparitions being a hoax with the reduction to the lay state of the Franciscan priest who promoted the apparitions. With 30 million+ pilgrims since the messages were revealed, there seems to be some continued interest among the Church, Mariologists, and the faithful. I think we all need the discernment of the Church.

The day before the octave day of the Assumption an interview regarding the Medjugoje appearances was posted. Matt Abbott makes some interesting known.

After reading what Abbott’s article, I wonder if the lack of a more swift ecclesial judgment on Medjugoje’s validity whether this is a good example of justice delayed is justice denied.

Saint Bartholomew

Almighty and everlasting God, Who has given us this day a reverent and holy joy in the feast of Thy blessed Apostle Bartholomew, we beseech Thee, grant unto Thy Church ever to love that which he believed and to preach that which he taught.

The historical facts regarding the Apostle Bartholomew are murky: his real name is unknown, he’s not mentioned in the Fourth Gospel and only curiously listed in the Synoptics but is closely connected with Nathaniel and Philip, where he preached the Gospel after the Pentecost is speculated, the manner of his death is obscure and even his relics are “thought by some” to be in Rome in a church named for him. But some of the relics are in Frankfurt and others in Canterbury.

Regardless of all this, the Church honors Bartholomew as an apostle of Jesus Christ who gave his life for the Good News.We honored him in a liturgical memorial for ages and we continue to do so today asking for his intercession before the Throne of Grace.

Today let us offer a prayer for the Church in Armenia and for Francis Cardinal George, archbishop of Chicago whose titular church in Rome is Saint Bartholomew on the Island and for tanners.

Rimini Meeting 2009: follow it NOW

Hey!!! Follow
the progress of the 30th Rimini Meeting working under the theme of Knowledge is always an event.

Particularly
fascinating to me are the photos of the events which speak a 1000 words.
Remember to keep the Meeting in your daily prayer to the Holy Spirt: It’s
an opportunity to meet Christ!

Given the hard and beautiful of work that has
transpired over three decades in putting the Meeting together, a 2-part video
presentation takes us through the highlights. See 30 years of the Rimini
Meeting: A Review —part 1
and part 2.

If
you care to watch some of the Meeting on TV
if you can manage Italian and Spanish.

Take a look at what’s on deck for the
program and notice the variety of speakers… the program can
be found here which I recommend your perusing.

Pope Benedict XVI
said at the Angelus: “Today the 30th edition of the ‘Meeting for
Friendship Among Peoples’ has opened in Rimini, [Italy], taking as its
title ‘Knowledge Is Always an Event.’ In addressing a cordial greeting to those
who are taking part in this significant gathering, I hope that it will be a
propitious occasion for understanding that ‘[k]nowing is not simply a material
act, since … [i]n all knowledge and in every act of love the human soul
experiences something ‘over and above,’ which seems very much like a gift that
we receive, or a height to which we are raised’ (Caritas in Veritate, No.
77).”

Franciscans cultivate possibilities for change for addicts

Some of our brothers and sisters have found themselves in a downward spiral that could end in premature death if a fundamental change doesn’t happen: getting & remaining clean. It’s easy to pontificate about the necessity to get and stay clean “or else,” perhaps even trying brow-beat someone into change hoping to trigger a desire to live more healthily. None this works. The simple thing is to allow God’s grace to work and to have a clean environment to live and work, to provide competent professional help and to make opportunities available for substantive change to happen. One more ingredient in my book that’s essential and a non-negotiable is the spiritual. Prayer, spiritual direction and fidelity to the witness of the Church goes to the root level of human desires and happiness given us by Divine Providence. But we have to admit that unless a drug addict wants to change her life no amount clever argument or cute programing is going to matter. If a person doesn’t take his human heart (his desires) seriously, including his need of happiness, then there is little we who aren’t captured by addiction can do.

The Franciscan Friars and Sisters of the Atonement have opened their friary, St Christopher’s Inn, in Garrison, New York for drug habilitation for the homeless. The Franciscans have developed a culture of life for those who are vulnerable and weak and hoping to live differently.

Last Sunday (August 16) the NY Times ran an article about the work of a farm sponsored by the friars and sisters along with the laity who collaborate to make change possible. The setting is an organic farm where the slow yet determined life of plants provide the metaphor for conversion: ground prepared, seeds planted, soil and plants watered, hoed, weeded and hoping for a harvest.

Please read the article and watch the video clip provided therein.

The Pastoral Companion 4th edition, revised & updated

Canon law isn’t the most scintillating subject for most
Catholics, even for priests, but it’s a necessary science in our ecclesial existence. I am happy to let you
know that the fourth edition, revised and updated, of Dr. John Huels’ The
Pastoral Companion, has been published by Wilson & Lafleur of Montreal in
the Gratianus Series.

A link to the Table of Contents at the above link will demonstrate the topics covered. It seems to me that all pastoral ministers need this book.

It’s on the website, www.wilsonlafleur.com, on the link
for “new releases” or just follow the link above which may be easier.

The author was a professor mine at the University of Notre Dame and is quite good in his scholarship and pastoral insight.

Funny, my 1000th post is on a book on canon law.

Newtown, CT Knights dedicated new space: Moritz Hall

On Saturday August 16th Bishop Lori blessed the grounds of
the new Council 185 Meeting and Storage building which will be named Moritz
Hall.

The Moritz Hall derives its name from PGK Len Moritz who has been a major
force assuring completion of this four year project.

The hot day was part of a
Saint Rose of Lima (Newtown, CT) hosted Fan the Fire Youth Rally. Over 600 teens from all
over the diocese spent the day participating in renewal, witness and
confession. The day ended with a sunset Mass celebrated by Bishop Lori,
Monsignor Robert Weiss and a host of concelebrants. Vivat Jesus!

Queenship of Mary

Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me
according to your word.

Father, you have given us the mother of your Son to be
our queen and mother. With the support of her prayers may we come to share the
glory of your children in the kingdom of heaven.

From the encyclical Ad Caeli Reginam of Pope Pius XII in 1954:

“We [Pope Pius XII] are
convinced that this feast will help to preserve, strengthen and prolong that
peace among nations which daily is almost destroyed by recurring crises. Is she
not a rainbow in the clouds reaching towards God, the pledge of a covenant of
peace? “Look upon the rainbow, and bless Him that made it; surely it is
beautiful in its brightness. It encompasses the heaven about with the circle of
its glory, the hands of the Most High have displayed it. “Whoever,
therefore, reverences the Queen of heaven and earth – and let no one consider
himself exempt from this tribute of a grateful and loving soul – let him invoke
the most effective of Queens, the Mediatrix of peace; let him respect and
preserve peace, which is not wickedness unpunished nor freedom without
restraint, but a well-ordered harmony under the rule of the will of God; to its
safeguarding and growth the gentle urgings and commands of the Virgin Mary
impel us.”

Pius XII wrote a stunning treatise on the Queenship of Mary showing
how through the millennia Mary was honored with the title of “Mother of God” and
therefore theologians and preachers have accorded her the title of Queen of Heaven
and Earth.

Read the entire encyclical of Pope Pius XII, Ad Caeli Reginam (1954)
and pray the prayer of consecration to the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed
Virgin Mary as proposed by the pope.

A Solemn Act of Consecration to the Immaculate Heart of
Mary

Most Holy Virgin Mary, tender Mother of men, to fulfill the desires of the
Sacred Heart of Jesus and the request of the Vicar of Your Son on earth, we
consecrate ourselves and our families to your Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart, O
Queen of the Most Holy Rosary, and we recommend to You, all the people of our
country and all the world.

Please accept our consecration, dearest Mother, and
use us as You wish to accomplish Your designs in the world.

O Sorrowful and
Immaculate Heart of Mary, Queen of the Most Holy Rosary, and Queen of the
World, rule over us, together with the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ, Our King.
Save us from the spreading flood of modern paganism; kindle in our hearts and
homes the love of purity, the practice of a virtuous life, an ardent zeal for
souls, and a desire to pray the Rosary more faithfully.

We come with confidence
to You, O Throne of Grace and Mother of Fair Love. Inflame us with the same
Divine Fire which has inflamed Your own Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart. Make
our hearts and homes Your shrine, and through us, make the Heart of Jesus,
together with your rule, triumph in every heart and home. Amen.

Venerable
Servant of God Pope Pius XII

American “nun” controversy?

Not sure about you but I am getting a bit annoyed by some of the oxygen being sucked out of the “Catholic newsroom” by the multiplicity of stories of how unhappy the many sisters’ congregations are that there is a Vatican sponsored visitation of active religious sisters which is focussed on the charism of the particular order and the living the charism today AND a second visitation being done to know what the sisters are teaching and practicing in their convents and schools when it comes to the Catholic faith. The apostolic visitation wants to see what needs to be done to help the active religious order (vs the monastic ones) so that they live their vocation and thrive. The second visitation is to see what Catholic character of the orders; that is, what content is being adhered to. Some religious orders of sisters don’t teach the Catholic faith as it is proposed by the Church especially when it comes to sotieriology & Christology, and ecclesiology & sacraments. So, what do the sisters follow in terms of the path set out by Christ and the Church when it comes to unicity of Jesus Christ, the Church as a sacrament unto salvation and the ordination of men to Order? Do they hold so rigidly to their own opinions so as to reject any fidelity to the faith as it has passed down from the Apostles? Some will undoubtedly see doctrinal questions interference and dealing too much with money, power and fame and not to the “true nature of what Christ wanted” or what the Vatican 2 Fathers wanted.

As one of the sisters whose group is suspicious of the Vatican investigation says, “I can’t believe where this doctrinal visitation is coming from.”

Read the accounts of what these sisters think about Vatican II, the sacred Liturgy, social justice, the ordination of women, faith and reason, contraception & abortion, etc. Many of the advocate dissent from the Magisterium, feminist liturgies, questionable ethics in the fields of sexuality and medicine, ordained women, and a Protestant ecclesiology, etc. The doctrinal visitation has nothing to do with whether Sister Mary John is wearing the habit or living in community; it has little to do with the great work the sisters did for education, hospitals and parish life. There are plenty of good examples of sisters’ groups who follow the Gospel, the Church and their Order’s charism and who have a solid sentire cum ecclesiae but don’t wear habits or live in large convents for very good reasons approved of by the Church. The categories of “liberal” vs “conservative” are neither accurate nor useful here. Likewise, it is not about a power struggle of right-thinking bishops over left-leaning sisters. It is about the fidelity to the teachings of Christ and the objectivity of the Church.

Like the Jesuits who often see themselves as the loyal opposition to the Church, and by holding this ideology even privately, the numbers of men entering the least Society are dwindling. So too, the women religious who want to remake the Catholic Church in their own image and likeness will sooner than later die a horrible death–their charism will be dead. But what I don’t understand is why forfeit the charism over these matters. Why allow the charism of Mother McAuley and countless others die because of false thinking?

The NPR story “American Nuns Question Vatican Scrutiny” is the latest in a series articles that are in my opinion pure pablum about the perceived confusion over what the various groups of sisters believe and how they act. It’s true that we live in a very secular society and post-Christian attitudes reign, but a new synthesis of our faith which dismisses some key elements of doctrine seems out of control. When key elements of the belief system are absent you start rejecting core Catholic belief and you have little to hold ship together. Vatican II didn’t ask the people of God to re-think the Catholic faith to make it relevant to today’s standards, it asked the people to allow the Catholic faith to re-think who they are and how to act as disciples of Christ in preaching His Good News. A vastly different stance.

New website for the Roman Missal

The US Bishops’ Committee on Divine Worship launched a new website today (on the liturgical memorial of St Pius X, no less!!!) that pulls together tons of info on the proposed new translation of the Novus Ordo Mass. The aim of the website is to educate us on the forthcoming Roman Missal. All I can say at the moment: THANKS BE TO GOD! What I’ve seen of the work on the this website looks pretty good and I look forward to more. Poke around…and familiarize yourself with what the Church is proposing in terms of praying the Mass. Notice that we are no longer calling the “big red book used at Mass by the priest” the “sacramentary” but the Roman Missal. The first step is a good one.

The Roman Missal