I am not sure traditional Catholics are any more open than their liberal brothers but I suppose that at least traddies know rather than invent the rules. As Belgium authorities are raiding archiepiscopal palaces - though the victims of incest can be overlooked in basements for years - and in England there seems yet another possible location for the Newman bbeatification whilst cost rise and even those of us most enthusiastic about the papal visit are beginning to wonder where the whole thing is being steered or whether it is being hi-jacked by those most antipathetic to the Holy Father.
The whole issue of scrutiny, of transparency, of accountability, even of the "active participation" seems to come to mind. "Saying the black and doing the red", not just in the liturgy but in life seems important. Holiness and transparency seem to go together, yet today's Church seems to be more about obfuscation, media manipulation, secrecy, cover-up, spin, unfortunately all that comes from the top.
21 comments:
I am sure, the Holy Father spoke of the future of Catholicism and said that it would be greatly slimmed down, but those still there would be strong. I mean, literally, these days, one needs to be either hot or cold. I am a simple Catholic, not always a good Catholic, but I know where my particular strength comes from. Our Lady. Father Corapi said, whenever you are unable to see the way forward, do a month's novena to Our Lady, saying the simple prayer, "Immaculate Heart of Mary, I place all my trust in thee." I can easily place my trust in Our Lord's Mother, she has never, ever, let me down. I don't know how I know this, but I know she loves us. She particularly loves her priests, who are her sons. She told me that. I'm a relative nobody, by the way, but she did tell me that, and therefore these days, when I see a priest, I see a child of Mary. I have given her, my five sons, for her good keeping. She prays for mine, and I pray for hers. The year of the priest doesn't ever end for me, it's ongoing, until my mortal frame stops, and maybe even after that, God willing. Sweet Jesus, save all souls, especially those in most need of Thy Mercy. Pray the Rosary, it's power FULL!
Yes I see now that the latest venue suggested for the beatification ceremony will be Cofton Park in Birmingham. At least that sounds more upmarket than a disused factory car park!
I wish the authorities would hurry up and make their minds up.
Wednesday's Gospel carried the warning, "beware false prophets", and "by their fruits you will know them".
Could it be that the present sorry lack of faith, vision, commitment and leadership by so many of the Hierarchy, with regard to the Papal visit and so many other aspects of our Catholic life, is but the fruits of the Modernist, Secularist - call them what you will - prophets, who endeavoured to hi-jack the Second Vatican Council and its aftermath?
Just a thought.
Sometimes one wishes that the Pope had a more medieval way of dealing with those who were not 100% in line.
I really don't understand the Newman hooplah - I thought the Pope disapproved of these stadium-style events, and was anxious to return to a less centralised model for canonisations and the like. I'm certain Newman himself would have hated it. Really, what is the point?
Seeing this broken glass reminded me. In one of the charity shops I have seen some nice moulded glass bowls, 1960s Swedish suitable for use as a lavabo basin instead of the cut glass one we have at the moment. I think they were originally meant for fruit salad or something like that.
Would you like me to send one?
"Transparency " I so LOVE that word! Well you get it on my blog!
Phys,
Yes
Richard,
I don't think the first paragraph is helpful to those you list.
Perhaps Chris Patten can teach the Bishops a thing about accountability. As unelected Governor he made a point of resonding to questions as if he had been elected and was accountable to the legislators.
The sorry story over the Papal visit deserves answers that we do not seem likely to get. Similarly the parish closure programme in Leeds deserves explanation. By contrast Leeds seems to have saved its adoption agency, why not others?
Of course bishops are answerable to God as are the rest of us. But as we pay them they owe us some account of their actions.
Actually most traditionalists I have met aren't really traditional in any meaningful sense at all and are not therefore all that transparent either.
For example, why have the traditional feast of Sts Philip and James when you can have Joe the Worker instead?
Pat,
I don't follow your "logic".
Ah Patricius - always yapping on about liturgy but always blinded to the issue at hand.
Most traditionalists I have met seem to equate tradition with 1870 - 1962 and forget the tradition of two thousand years.
In one sense, yes, Independent, since the tradition of 2000 years clearly includes a married episcopte and priesthood (not just a diaconate). But,just keep in mind, the novus ordo is not part of that 2,000 years tradition. Neither is liberal democracy - whether ecclesiastical or secular.
+ Wolsey.
Oh, and talking about transparency, it's ridiculous talking about transparency in relation to secular - liberal democratic regimes. Liberal democracy was born of the masonic lodge - one of the least transparent institutions in history. It should be overthrown in a bloodstained and humiliating inverted version of the Great Terror of the French revolution.
Tradition is not about jumping back to some arbitrary point long ago. It is an ongoing process which builds successively on the recent past which in turn was a development of the past before that.
Sometimes it is necessary to strip away unnecessary accretions but this has to be done with caution. What may seem unnecessary may have been added for good reasons which do not become apparent until they are taken away.
One of the troubles with the very recent past is precisely that it looked to the very distant past and apparently unnecessary accretions have turned out to have had a good reason for their presence.
The tradition of 1870 - 1962 is the tradition of two thousand years.
Unlike now there was no rupture with what had gone before in that period.
I would suggest Volpius Leonius that you have a look at Eamon Duffy's "Faith of our Fathers" which shows just how diffuse and ambiguous is the concept of tradition. Accept my apologies if you have already done so. Physiocrat tells us clearly the difficulties of discerning true from false or unnecessary accretions.
I think that Bishop Butler on Vatican I makes clear that 1870 was to many as much a rupture as 1962 and resulted in far more secessions especially in Germany,and it has undergone many attempts to interpret it. Newman's interpretation was not that of Manning, Ward or Faber, indeed it seems much nearer to that of Pope Benedict and indeed if I understand him correctly Fr Blake.
Tradition is often invoked by those who just do not want to change.
Moretben -
The Holy Father announced that, as a general rule, he would not celebrtate beatifications, but he specifically made an exception in the case of Cardinal Newman, whom he is known greatly to admire.
Although he has been known to question the celebration of Masses for vast crowds, he has let it be known that his reason for breaking his own rule and coming to England for the purpose of beatifying Cardinal Newman personally is to enable the maximum number of the faithful to participate.
It seems ironic, to say the least, that those who are usually most vociferous in equating 'full, conscious and active participation' with having a job to do are the very same people most anxious to limit the opportunites of the faithful to welcome the Holy Father and participate in the liturgies he will celebrate.
Is there in Brighton any institution for the treatment of those obviously obsessed by violence and killing and with serious delusions regarding jews and freemasons?
People who express bizarre opinions are not necessarily suffering from mental illness and to treat them as if they were could lead to the sort of thing that happened in Soviet times when opponents of the authorities were locked away in mental institutions.
It is also the case that the bizarre and improbable claims may actually be at least partially true.
It is notoriously difficult to get a diagnosis and treatment for someone with a mental illness unless the authorities are involved.
I know of someone who is obviously suffering from a genuine condition and has been convinced for the past 15 years that MI5 have been trying to kill him with microwaves, to the point that he covered the walls and windows of his room with metal sheeting and walks around holding a baking dish over his head. He has also got into the stuff about Jewish masonic plots which seems to go with this territory. The cause in this instance may be a serious head injury at the age of seven.
Despite being arrested several times, all attempts to get him into treatment have failed.
What treatment as is available is of limited value as the drugs are not very good and of course have to be taken. Many of the homeless people in Brighton are suffering from serious mental illness but such is Care in the Community.
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