The Lord’s descent into the underworld

At Matins/the Office of Readings on Holy Saturday the Church gives us this 'ancient homily', I find it incredibly moving, it is about Holy Saturday, about what Christ did through his Cross in the hiddeness of the tomb.

After my mothers death I bought this 17/18th cent Russian icon of it

Christ crashes through the world of the created order, tramples down the gates of Hell grasps hold of the hands of our first parents and leads them and the just in a great Conga into heaven which his crucifixion has accomplished. In the icon you can see Moses with the tablets of the law, above him John the Baptist and other prophets on the other side behind Adam and Eve and other prophets are the holy kings David and Solomon.

Something strange is happening – there is a great silence on earth today, a great silence and stillness. The whole earth keeps silence because the King is asleep. The earth trembled and is still because God has fallen asleep in the flesh and he has raised up all who have slept ever since the world began. God has died in the flesh and hell trembles with fear.
He has gone to search for our first parent, as for a lost sheep. Greatly desiring to visit those who live in darkness and in the shadow of death, he has gone to free from sorrow the captives Adam and Eve, he who is both God and the son of Eve. The Lord approached them bearing the cross, the weapon that had won him the victory. At the sight of him Adam, the first man he had created, struck his breast in terror and cried out to everyone: “My Lord be with you all.” Christ answered him: “And with your spirit.” He took him by the hand and raised him up, saying: “Awake, O sleeper, and rise from the dead, and Christ will give you light.”
I am your God, who for your sake have become your son. Out of love for you and for your descendants I now by my own authority command all who are held in bondage to come forth, all who are in darkness to be enlightened, all who are sleeping to arise. I order you, O sleeper, to awake. I did not create you to be held a prisoner in hell. Rise from the dead, for I am the life of the dead. Rise up, work of my hands, you who were created in my image. Rise, let us leave this place, for you are in me and I am in you; together we form only one person and we cannot be separated. For your sake I, your God, became your son; I, the Lord, took the form of a slave; I, whose home is above the heavens, descended to the earth and beneath the earth. For your sake, for the sake of man, I became like a man without help, free among the dead. For the sake of you, who left a garden, I was betrayed to the Jews in a garden, and I was crucified in a garden.
See on my face the spittle I received in order to restore to you the life I once breathed into you. See there the marks of the blows I received in order to refashion your warped nature in my image. On my back see the marks of the scourging I endured to remove the burden of sin that weighs upon your back. See my hands, nailed firmly to a tree, for you who once wickedly stretched out your hand to a tree.
I slept on the cross and a sword pierced my side for you who slept in paradise and brought forth Eve from your side. My side has healed the pain in yours. My sleep will rouse you from your sleep in hell. The sword that pierced me has sheathed the sword that was turned against you.
Rise, let us leave this place. The enemy led you out of the earthly paradise. I will not restore you to that paradise, but I will enthrone you in heaven. I forbade you the tree that was only a symbol of life, but see, I who am life itself am now one with you. I appointed cherubim to guard you as slaves are guarded, but now I make them worship you as God. The throne formed by cherubim awaits you, its bearers swift and eager. The bridal chamber is adorned, the banquet is ready, the eternal dwelling places are prepared, the treasure houses of all good things lie open. The kingdom of heaven has been prepared for you from all eternity.

A homily for Good Friday

"and there they stripped him of his clothes"

At the Solemn Liturgy today I was struck by your absence, and yet of the mysterious presence of the whole Church. 

Today. we who are not poor during this time of pandemic have suddenly discovered how poor we really are, and how fragile we and our world are.

We have been stripped of so much which a month ago we felt could never be taken away; liberty, friends, community, some of us live with death or sickness a little too close for comfort 

especially those in the healthcare services but also others who have to work at this time so we can eat. and if necessary travel. 

Still we are in a far, far better place many people; refugees and migrants are an obvious example. 

But we have been stripped of something so very important to us, the sacraments and the Sacred Liturgy and the consolation of our brothers and sisters in the faith.

We are in similar position to those saints who left everything to become solitaries in the desert or the forests far from other human beings. 

The word 'monachus', from which we get 'monk', means 'one alone'. For us Catholics the desert and the experience of the solitary hermit is important.

In the Eastern Rites the newly baptized receive the monastic tonsure, a reminder that all the baptized share in the contemplative life.

Monastic life is important, the priest who is ordained to offer Mass alone everyday of his life and to pray alone, has always been regarded as the highest form of Christian living.

Now, for us even the sacraments are taken away, how blessed we priests are not only to offer them but to receive them not only for ourselves but on your behalf and yet for all Christians the only thing that matters,

the most important thing in the Universe the very centre of all being is Cross of Jesus Christ Our Lord.

I pray the when we come out of this experience we will have learnt to be alone and naked before the Crucified who died alone and naked for us.

For by His Cross and by his Cross alone are we saved.

Cardinal Biffi on the Antichrist

",,,,  the Antichrist presents himself as a pacifist, ecologist and ecumenist. He ... seeks the consensus of all the Christian confessions, conceding something to each one."
"The crowds follow him, except for tiny groups of Catholics, Orthodox and Protestants. Chased by the Antichrist, they tell him, 'You have given us everything except for the one thing that interests us, Jesus Christ,'"

"Today, in fact, we run the risk of having a Christianity that puts Jesus with his cross and resurrection into parentheses,"
"There also are relative values such as solidarity, love for peace and respect for nature. If these are given an absolute value or uprooted from or placed in opposition to the proclamation of the fact of salvation, then they become the basis for idolatry and are obstacles on the path to salvation."

Prayer and Reality

 

"It is not the healthy who need a physician but the sick"

Jesus is supposed to be our Saviour but most of us think we are just fine and we don't need Salvation or a Saviour, in fact the idea of Salvation especially for modern Western Christians is incomprehensible nonsense. We think of ourselves as capable of saving ourselves, or friends, the Church, the World, it is the ultimate blasphemy.

For Orthodox the foremost prayer is Kyrie Eleison, Lord have mercy, in the West it is the Church's addition to the Angelic Salutation, the Hail Mary, "Pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death"

Acknowledging our need for mercy because of our sinfulness is fundamental prayer, expressed so well the Western posture for prayer: kneeling before God.

Prayer demands humility and self knowledge. The traditional Lenten disciplines of almsgiving and fasting strips away our pride and leaves kneeling before our Saviour and Lord.

Fasting and Reality

Let's be realistic about fasting, it makes you tetchy, even murderous!

Jesus was "driven" into desert to face hunger and temptation not for an intimate prayerful experience. if anything fasting makes the mental effort of prayer much more difficult.

I asked a wise old monk why Recreation was reduced to just half an hour during Lent in his monastery, "There are nice pious reasons about giving more time for prayer but the reality is it stops us from losing our temper and tearing out one another's throats". He said history is littered with monks who murdered their abbots during Lent.

Fasting sifts the soul leaving the chaff clearly visible, it shows what is really in the soul when pretending is no more.

We might like to pose like some beautifully dressed, bejeweled and masked Venetian lady during Carnivale but as soon as Ash Wednesday and the penance begins shows herself pockmarked and wrinkled stripped of pretense.

Fasting helps to reveal our true selves, to discover the beam in our own eye, it reveals the blindness that so often makes a good confession and open honest prayer impossible. . 

Almsgiving and Reality

Almsgiving means giving to the poor, its easy nowadays, we do it by clicking on a screen.
In the past it meant going out to the find the poor or letting them into our comfort zone, it meant being disturbed by them, seeing, smelling their poverty for ourselves and even risking our safety in our encounter with them.

Giving alms to the sick could well risk catching their sickness or coming home with fleas or worse. Almsgiving is about solidarity with the poor but also education of the rich.

There is an element of reminding us of the fleeting nature of our existence and the turn of the wheel of fortune. I met a wealthy businessman from Mosul, ISIS came, he fled and ended up with nothing in a refugee camp in Jordan, "not even my dignity", and now lives with his family in tiny room as an impoverished exile in Brighton. We might think that our wealth protects but it is an illusion but war, economic collapse, even illness can change everything. Poverty can reveal the gracious prince as a vicious beggar, sickness can reveal the sweet and benign old man as a self obsessed God cursing beast.

Remember Chrysostom: If we give from our excess we are doing nothing but returning what we have grabbed for ourselves, almsgiving is about giving from your necessities.

The late Father John Edwards SJ used to say: you can tell where your heart is and what is important to you by looking at yout bank statement.

Ultimate Reality

A thought I might blog for Lent.

Cardinal John Henry Newman said: "Conscience  is the first of the Vicars of Christ." 

"This means that Catholics have a duty to tell the truth, to recognize it even when it hurts" Joseph Ratzinger Jesus Christ Crucified is the ultimate reality.

We run away from this reality.

It is lies that seem to be basis of the present scandals in the Church; lies that men like McCarrick live, lies that covered up for abusers or "defended" the Church but left her exposed to villification.

Lies are the basis of politicking, and we have far too much of that it the Church.

For a Pastor to be caught lying destroys trust not only in him but in the Church and ultimately in Jesus Christ and the Gospel of Salvation. A lying pastor is a destroyer faith.

Lent is time for us to turn from falsehoods to reality; taking off the carnival masks and embracing the Cross of Jesus, lies are a way of fleeing the Cross and refusal to take hold of reality.

He is not dead but sleeping

Yesterday a kind Orthodox priest who used comment on this blog telephoned to check I was alright, in a very pastoral way I suppose to check I was still alive.

This post is to prove to anyone else who might be interested that I am indeed alive.

I hate priests who seek sympathy by discussing their health problems, ordinary people have to carry on regardless ....

...but since my heart problems I have been up and down, generally more down than up, my condition and drugs make me very sleepy and tiedd to my home, I have received the great grace of falling asleep during meetings. I am also more stupid than I used to be, I haven't been able to read a book for months, I can't concentrate.

I have had a tremour in my left hand for years but it has got worst and made celebrating Mass correctly more difficult and uncomfortable, I am always anxious about spilling the Precious Blood or shaking with the ciborium and cutting food is a bit difficult too. Because I'm a bit unstable on my feet I fell downstairs awhile ago and damaged my back, I no longer need to say Mass seated behind the altar, I hated that, but it has added to the discomfort, to the point where saying Mass hurts. Saying Mass facing East is a boon but nowadays the reason is not just the theological-historical, but that it stops people seeing me wince and fumble with the host, it's a vanity thing!

I am very grateful to my priest and lay friends, especially the Traditional and Orthodox ones for their support, and kindness.

Keep me in your prayers, and pray God gives the grace to joyfully offer it up.

PS. I have just published some comments that have been hanging around for over 3 months - sorry

The Cross is a Choice for Heaven or Hell

The Cross is about the vulnerability of God, it is about God placing himself into our hands.

In the Crucifixion God is scourged, spat upon, crowned with thorns, nailed to the Cross and left to die.

Upon the Cross the ultimate battle, is revealed the terrible truth of God, the all powerful becomes all weakness, Life himself submits to death, the sinlessness is overcome by sin. Fallen man who has fought with God from his beginning now enters the final battle.

Before us is set the incredible power of man, he can and does crush God, remove from existence, expel him from the earth he had created.

Before us is set the love of God, that he for love of us is willing to be defeated. For us Immortality becomes mortal.

The doctrine of Hell is essentially about freewill. Man can choose to embrace God for all eternity or to reject him, to say 'yes' or 'no', we can choose between life and death. In a very real way we are made like God himself, we are eternal.

On the Cross God shows himself powerless but we are never powerless, God removes his choice by choosing to love us. God accepts us with utter love and we are called to make a decision of accepting or rejecting him. Catholic theology never teaches God or his Grace is irresistable. In each of our acts we can either reject or accept God.

We can be in the crowd which shouts Hosanna - 'Save us' as we follow Jesus in the great sacrificial procession from misery (Bethany means 'House of Misery) to be at peace with God (Jerusalem means 'the View of Peace') or we can be in that other crowd which rejects him and shouts "Crucify him" and does crucify him.

The choice is eternal because we are eternal, we can choose God which is Heaven or Hell where the pain is our own decision to reject God.

Heaven and Hell are both a single moment but an eternal moment.

That letter from the Pope Emeritus

I am surprised that few people have reacted to the Secretariate for Communications fake news presentation of the Pope Emeritus' letter to Mons. Viganò in which left out  is significant sections. It adds to the sense of chaos and corruption in the Holy See.

Ratzinger is Newman-like in his precision also happily leaves his readers to think more deeply about what he has written.

Here are my first thoughts on translation on Sandro Magister's blog.

 

Rev.mo Signore
Mons. Dario Edoardo Viganò
Prefetto della
Segreteria per la Comunicazione it is striking that a Secretariate should produced such edited release of this letter
Città del Vaticano 

7 febbraio 2018 it was written one month before its release on Francis' 5th anniversary, and was treated as an endorsement which it obviously is not.

Reverendissimo Monsignore,
I thank you for your courteous letter of January 12 and for the attached gift of the eleven small volumes insubstantial? light weight? edited by Roberto Repole.
I applaud this initiative which is intended an initiative which is a good idea but .. to oppose and react to the foolish prejudice according to which Pope Francis would be only a practical man devoid of particular not general, or over any other type of formation  theological or philosophical formation, to suggest Pope Francis does not have a philosophical or theological framework for what he does would indeed be foolish while I would be solely a theoretician of theology who could understand little of the concrete life of a Christian today. could this 2nd clause about Benedict himself be more important than than the first 
The little volumes he repeats demonstrate, rightly so, that Pope Francis is a man of profound philosophical and theological formation, he was formed in profound philosophy and theology but it is formation (yet again) not Magisterium or present grasp of the faith and they therefore help in seeing the interior continuity ???  Edward Pentin asked Abp Ganswein to explain, he hasn't yet, it could simply mean he contains "Popeness" St Pius IV had an 'interior continuity' from Rodrigo Borgia between the two pontificates, albeit with all the differences of style and temperament. much of Benedict's life has been about promoting "Continuity" especially of the post-Concilliar Church with Christ and the Patristic Church and the Church of his more recent predecessors.
Nonetheless, I do not feel that I can write a brief and dense theological page about them these books in particular? because for my whole life it has always been clear that I would write and express myself only on books that I had also truly read. and yet they are 'little books' Unfortunately, even if only for physical reasons, he has lost sight almost completely in one eye I am not able to read the eleven little volumes little again in the near future, all the more so in that I am under other obligations to which I have already agreed. I have better things to do, what are these other 'obligation'?
I am sure that you will understand, and I extend to you my cordial greeting.
Yours
Benedict XVI

Viganò's presentation has shown the amateurish relativistic and untrustworthy nature of its Communications Secretariate.

There is certainly need for reform there if the Vatican is to be trusted.

"Let you yes be yes and your no be no", is something forgotten in the Vatican.

3rd Sunday of Lent - Sermon notes "On Orthodoxy"

For forty days Jesus dwelt in the wilderness.
The wilderness was the very opposite of the Paradise, the walled garden God had created for man. The wilderness was the place of thistles and thorns, of chaos and disorder, wildness and confusion, it was a God-less and God-forsaken place, the place wild and dangerous animals, the place of demons and devils.

The God-Man, driven by the Spirit, goes into the wilderness not just to be alone but to begin a war against confusion and disorder, against the demon's and devils which will reach its triumph of the Cross, when God's Kingdom is exulted. He goes into the wilderness to cleanse it for at the end of his stay there the angels come to minister to him there.

The cleansing of the Temple, in today's form comes from John's gospel, it is at very beginning of his Gospel, chapter 2. It is used as a kind of preface to John's Gospel  -the other Gospel's use it as a preface to Holy Week. In John's Gospel it becomes a statement of Jesus' mission - to bring right worship or it could be translated as orthodoxy- ortho doxa - 'right glory/teaching' to the world to save it from heterodoxy - other glory/teaching.

Jesus cleanses the Temple to purify it. The Temple of course was a metaphor for or a model of the cosmos, like pagan temples. Indeed some have suggested Jesus' teaching about the destruction of the world was actually about the destruction of the Temple. Jesus himself of course compares his body to the Temple, "Destroy this temple and in tree days I will raise it up." "He was speaking of the sanctuary that was his body"

Disorder, heterodoxy or heresy, confusion are not of God. Moral confusion is not of God, hence in the first reading God gives the 10 Commandments, the first and foremost, "You shall have no gods before me", it is introduced by God saying "I brought you out of the house of Egypt, the house of bondage, of slavery". Out of the place of superstition, immorality, moral confusion and relativism. Hence the absolute necessity to follow the Commandments which are not about slavery but liberation in God.

Orthodoxy right worship is freedom. St Paul will tell Christians that they too are the Temple (of the Holy Spirit). Cleansing our Temple is a fundamental to being a Christian. Believing rightly is absolutely necessary to acting rightly, towards Gad and man. Knowing/understanding our Catholic faith is necessary for our Salvation. Wrong belief goes with wrong living, hetrodoxis goes with hetropraxis.

The Good Shepherd leads us into truth, he makes the lost, the found, those in darkness are led into the light, the wounded have their hurting healed.

Lent is the time when Holy Church commands to cleanse the Temple of our heart by recognising our sin, our unorthodoxy, in the light of the Commandments, in the light of the Gospels to confess all our serious sins in the Sacrament of Penance so that we might be purified to receive the Risen Christ in a truly worthy state.

Where is the Vatican going?

With scandals like gay drug parties in Vatican palaces, bishops running major dicasteries who put suggestive murals into their cathedrals, monsignori who get caught in lifts with their boy friends being promoted one has to ask where is the Vatican going? Maybe the other questions are, where are we being taken and wo is taking us there?

And now the new Vatican postage stamp

DARE WE JOIN THE DOTS?

DARE WE JOIN THE DOTS?

• Pope calls Chilean abuse victims spreaders of calumny and says no evidence/proof has been given him.
• Despite Cardinal O'Malley personally giving the Pope a letter offering evidence.
• Now it seems the CDF made a recommendation that Bishop Barros should be removed.
• The Pope personally removed from the CDF 3 priests concerned with investigating child abuse.
• .When Cdl Mueller asks the Pope for an explanation, he is told 'I am the Pope' and the audience ends.
• Scicluna, the CDF abuse prosecutor, had already been 'promoted' to be Archbishop of Malta
• Since the end of last year the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors has been allowed to fall into abeyance.
• He has surrounded himself in the Council of 9 with those who have denied abuse like Cdl Maradiaga who described the abuse crisis as a 'Jewish media conspiracy' or more to the point Barros' defender and the Chilean Archbishop Emeritus of Santiago Francisco Javier Errázuriz Ossa, known locally as "the Sandbag" because of his failure to act on abuse.
• He has also honoured notorious coverers up of  abuse like Cardinals Daneels and Mahoney, who seem to have been prominent in his election.
• During this Pontificate aberrant sexuality seems to be promoted.
• The report produced on the 'Gay Mafia' seems to be ignored.
• Accounts of his own handling of abuse in Buenos Aires seem to be mixed.

Pictures of yesterday's Papal audience: Reuters

Fr. James Mawdsley

Thanks to Fr Z for posting this video of an interview with Fr. James Mawdsley of the Society of St Peter. As a young man he was imprisoned in Burma for 14 months (1999-2000) for his work for human rights. Whilst at universitry he seems to have been fascinated by 'truth' and tried to understand human suffering. In prison he met Christ and after his release the Traditional Mass, he was ordained two years ago and works in Warrington. He speaks so eloquently of The Mass and how it inspires the celebrant to humility and to awe in the presence of God.

This is very beautiful interview, in part because he portrays a priest who lives in the mystery of  God and glimpses it but doesn't understand. Father says at one point that he is glad of obedience because left to himself he mucks things up.

As a young man I was impressed in the interviews he gave after his release by his desire for truth, almost two decades on it has brought him daily to bow down before the altar of the Living God.

If you are priest, especially, watch the video, it is refreshing in its humility and the things he is trying to say. Maybe one of tyhe differences between those who say the ancient Mass is that it demands humility.

Pray for Fr James that the good work God began in him may be brought to completion

Peronism and Corruption

I had a lesson in Peronism from an Argentinian waiter recently, in Argentina he was a PPE graduate.
Peronism, he said, was the most corrupt form of politics, because you could be a Communist, or a Facist, or a Capitalist, the only thing that mattered was support for Peron, post Peron any other head of State. It is a remnant of 1920/30s Facism, where the will of the Fuhrer or Il Duce was all that mattered. Right or Wrong, Good or Bad, Custom or Tradition, Law or Morality or anything else pale into insignificance and have no validity compared to the Will of the Leader.


Therefore the ideal is to be as close as possible to the Leader, failing direct proximity the next best thing is to be close either to those who are close to the Leader or those know, or claim to know, the mind of the Leader. Under such a system moral automony is reduced to slavery because is no mral compass, such abstracts as Right and Wrong are of no importance. All that does matter is Dux Vult. If the leader is somewhat erratic that doesn't really matter, it just means his followers have to be closer and listen even more intently and it could be that what was the Leader's will last year or even this morning, might not be so now, or his will expressed to A might be the complete opposite of what was expressed to B.

To the Peronist the old elite, who based their authority on intellectual expertise or their understanding, or knowledge, even their fidelity to the law must be supplanted, nothing other than the leaders will matters. They represent an alternative authority, and therefore a possible alternative source of power, and certainly a source of evaluation and criticism. Peronism hates intellectuals, they are always totally arbitary and concerned with what is expedient, what adds to or deepens the leaders power.

Nowaday's everyone identifies the rule of Francis as in some sense Peronist, it is popular conclusion, I identified it at the beginning of his reign, if somewhat positively, as appealing to the ordinary man and trying to make the Papacy 'popular', that was a bit naive of me, it is actually Peron's Peronism, essentially about making the leader powerful.

The trouble with Peronism as my waiter friend explained is that far from being a cure for corruption it becomes a source of it  The corruption  in the Vatican is based on nepotism and patronage, it is the old Italian thing as dominant in Rome as it is in Palermo; X has done me a favour, therefore I will do a favour for Y who, will do you a favour, in return for you helping Z, who will then be indedted to me. Peronism thrives on this because relations with the leader, rather than integrity, honour or honesty, are all that matters. It does indeed reduce everyone to slavery because personal integrity is always subject to whatever the leader wants. North Korea is perhaps the Peronist ideal or at least the reductio ad absurdum.

What is hated are upright men of integrity, those who are approved of are the servile and weak and those who are either stupid, indebted in some sense or lack integrity, who are therefore always and corruptable, one could list a huge number of Papal courtiers who fit into this category

In his recent comment in Chile on Bishop Barros and his denouncing Barros' accusers of being callumnious liars, the Pope quite rightly says bring me evidence and I will act; proof is just and innocence should be presumed. The problem is of course that in other situations he has removed bishops on mere rumour or gossip, as in the case of the Bishop of Ciudad del Este.

In the English speaking world the norm is if a priest or bishop is accused of sexual abuse he is suspended until he is exonerated, the burden of prove is on him, not his accuser. In Italy Francis has a reputation of extending "mercy" to the friends of friends of sexual abusers such as Fr Mauro Inzoli, suspended by Benedict, then rehabilitated by Francis, then suspended again when he was convicted and imprisoned. His own record on sexual abusers in Buenos Aires is reportedly not quite a shining example, it compares very poorly to Cardinal Pell's, even in the 1980s. It is a very Peronist way of acting, where due process or good practice is over-ridden according to the leader's will or friendships.

The same could be said of the 'wedding on the plane', due process, ritual, law seemingly ignored for the sake of what many might see as a stunt.

The Papal award to Liliane Ploumen or the praise of Emma Benino can be seen in Peronist terms; what matters is not Catholic belief but what is political expedient. It is good thing in the eyes of the world, or just his friends to praise or honour famous women, after all they might be pro-abortion but they are anti-trafficking and anti-violence against women.


The latest action of asking Chinese 'underground' Catholic Bishops to stepdown in favour of State appointees is indeed a Peronist act. The orthodoxy, the past suffering and loyalty of such bishops and their people counts for little compared with rapprochement with the Chinese Government. The message sent to the world is that in its relationship with the world everything the Catholic Church once believed is up for grabs, almost as if what is most desired is a Papal visit to China and the status in might bring the Holy See and the Pope personally.

Imagine: Pastoral Opportunities

"If he were a priest in my diocese I would ensure he was suspended, and at his age retired from a public liturgical or pastoral function", was the reaction of a certain Vicar General to the Pope's 'marriage' of the Chilean couple after I placed on social media, "Next Thursday 3-4pm, in Waitrose gin aisle, I shall marry anyone who turns up, everyone welcome".

I wasn't serious but the Vicar General was, he more or less followed Ed Peter's line that the marriage was very likely invalid, pastorally he believed it very dangerous. In his diocese he said, that there were at least a few priests and deacons who were likely to follow the Pope's lead and marry couples who turned up at their front door, without paperwork, such as proof of freedom to marry, or even of baptism, and without much, if any preparation.

But it would be easy to look at this negatively, to speculate that someone was starved of attention when he was a child, the example of our Holy Father offers endless possibilities. Imagine!

Every diocese should have an Office of Liturgical/Pastoral/Canonical Imagination

Imagine if you lived in theatreland in London or New York and had priests competing with jugglers and street magicians, offering free marriages whilst people waited for tickets.
Imagine the Marriage of Figaro with real Marriages!
Imagine, Romeo and Juliet actually getting married!
Imagine, a two for one offer at your local supermarket! Two couples at one go.
Imagine the possibilities for an airport chaplain, you could marry people as they waited to check-in, or as they wait for luggage at the carousel.
Imagine the mass weddings that could take place at the next Glastonbury Rock Festival



Imagine, in my diocese, a traffic jam on the M25 near Gatwick, a priest wandering up and down in cope and a high viz jacket offering weddings to all and sundry.

the newly ordained 

Everywhere should be seen as a pastoral opportunity, every situation is rich in them.

But why stop at Marriage? I could offer no-fuss baptisms on Brighton beach in the summer. The vocations crisis could be ended by a bishop inviting anyone to come forward who wants to be ordained, think Glastonbury, and just do them then and there, priests will be coming out of that bishops ears.




Maybe the reason there are so few young people at this Chilean Mass with Pope is that they had all been married before he arrived and had gone off to the pub for the wedding breakfast!


courtesy of Gloria TV

Beyond Amoris Laetitia

There are some diocese in the UK where even a liberal reading of  the Pope's letter to the Argentinian bishops on Amoris Laetitia's opening up of the reception of Holy Communion would be regarded as oppressively conservative.

In one UK diocese if an annulment procedure fails the couple or the Catholic party are sent to see a priest who has been given the 'faculty' not only to 'accompany' them but with a meeting or two, then to admit them to the reception of Holy Communion. This has been going on in  one instance I know of for thirty years. 

Does this happen elsewhere?

Pastoral Letters and Sermons

Having celebrated the Octave of Christmas, now we come to the season of the Pastoral Letters from bishops. It is a venerable tradition, that demands a high standard, the Pastoral Letters of  Apostles form part of scripture, the letters of early bishops form an important part of the Tradition. Bishop's letters are meant, as much as sermons, to change lives, probably more so because they come from a successor of the Apostles.

A correct Catholic understanding of the Liturgy of the Word sees the readings and most especially the Proclamation of the Gospel, not as a teaching moment but as theophany, a revelation of God himself. What follows the Gospel is analogous to what follows the offering of the Eucharistic Sacrifice; the distribution of Holy Communion. The Sermon or Pastoral Letter is an action, like Communion, which makes the Lord available to God's people, in a sense 'distributing' him or inserting him into the lives of his people. Sermons and Pastoral Letters are not about information but about Salvation, about feeding with God himself.


I heard of one US diocese where it is customary for a television to be placed on the Altar, sometimes in front of Tabernacle and for bishop to speak directly - well through the electrical machinery - to the people. There seems to be a lot of theological muddle here, not least that the whole point of having priests is that they are ordained to stand in the place of the bishop, celebrating the sacraments in communion with him and speaking in his name, and on the joyous occasion that the bishop should consider is important enough to write to his clergy and people they actually speak his words because the priest (or deacon) on these occasions is the bishop's logothete. He is the sign, not only of Christ but of the Bishop.

It is 'reprobate' to use recorded music in the Sacred Liturgy, even more so is it reprobate to use recorded speech or film, even a bishop's speech. Few would ever dream of playing a recording of even the Pope's or someone else's most brilliant words in the Liturgy. Though I did hear of an Italian priest who at his daily Mass used a video of the Pope's Casa S Marta sermons until his bishop stopped him. In Argentina, apparently, a priest had Communion Services in which he recorded himself preaching and saying the prayers until the moment of Communion when a lay person went to the tabernacle, having been put on pause he was switched on to conclude with the post Communion and blessing, all on the TV.

One bishop who eventually resigned in disgrace issued an outrageously heretical Pastoral Letter on the Sacrament of Penance, following complaints from a few clergy and a greater number of laity the Nuncio, Abp Mennini, made him write again and because this was not much better, he was made to do it, a third letter, this time with a bit of help, the Archbishop gave after that.

Pastoral Letters, like sermons can do a great deal of good, although many people tend to suffer from fatigue listening to Father week by week Pastoral Letter are supposed to be heard. An elderly priest said it was a Pastoral Letter from his Archbishop, '... on those young men who stop their ears to a call from God' it made him listen to God, and eventually offer his life to work on the Missions. He said, 'when I eventually told Archbishop Amigo, he called me a 'traitor' as he had written the letter to promote vocations for his diocese, not for the missionaries'.


One of my parishioners is a student from Portsmouth, whenever bishop Egan writes, he is delighted and presents me with a copy. He writes powerfully, not just to inform but to change minds and soften hearts, to increase the faith of his people, to share is own faith and ultimately to save. It is very sad when the faithful find their own bishops' Letters so faithless and shallow, so lacking in learning and so uninspiring that there is a groan when it is announced.

Unfortunately we clergy, bishops and priests, are often boring people out of the Church or undermining faith through sheer tediousness! We can easily demonstrate how sterile our own faith is.

A Happy and Blessed Christmas to you all

The wealth of Cardinals

I am glad Cardinal Maradiaga has responded to his critics.

I asked a friend who is involved with the Curia, why some Cardinals seem to be so wealthy, some still seem to have palaces, some occupy whole floors of prestigious buildings or have huge appartments within the Vatican. Some like Ratzinger rather shockingly for others took no fees whatsoever, except the money which came in through his writings and his official salary, I am told Cardinal Burke acts similarly, others like Cardinal Marx and the Germans receive what is in effect a government salary and have their often large expenses paid by their dioceses. Some are immensely wealthy in their own right or like Cardinal Count von Schönborn are from still wealthy princely or aristocratic families.

I asked my friend, who is away from Rome and therefore felt able to speak without being overheard, why a Cardinal might need such great wealth.  His answer, "Nephews were alway expensive". He meant not necessarily gay friends or even real nephews, (though a former Secretaty of State's nehew got huge sums for restoring buildings and erecting the crip in St Peter's Square) but that in Italy there is a lot of nepotism and Cardinals are still expected to act as patron and ease the way of families or individuals dependant on them.

He went on to say. "Papal elections cost; pre-election parties cost; fulfilling pre-election promises cost!" He wasn't quite alluding to the mule trains of Cardinal Borgia being so long and laden with so much silver that his election inevitable.

Things are less blatant now but there are lots of costs such as visiting fellow Cardinals, entertaining in Rome or abroad, after an Election a Cardinal's main role is to look for the next Pope, this means travel and comparing notes with the brethren. I don't know if US Cardinals and Bishops still stay in London's Dorchester or the Savoy or if they still travel 1st Class everywhere, I know they and others still eat in Rome more exclusive restaurants but many are elderly and have health needs.

In the frenetic time after a Papal death or resignation there are formal meetings, the Congrgations, but then there are informal meetings, receptions and dinners to sound people out or for the more politically minded to encourage votes for one's favourite, these tend to be more than a glass of wine and rubber chicken.

All is done within the rules, I am sure, but Rome is founded on promises and obligations, so it is not unlikely for a more politically astute Cardinal to say to a brother, if you can  help get X elected Pope then I will be Prefect of the Congregation for ... or President for the Commission for ... and we will be able to help with your project for a seminary, university, hospital, school, cathedral, clergy pensions or even your favourite charity.

I don't know many details but many of those around Pope John Paul II and various Cardinals welcomed the visits of Marcel Maciel, not because he distributed wads of cash but on at least one occassion there was a van that unloaded a consignment of  laptops with the Papal stemma on them which were distributed Vatican employees, favourites and even favoured seminarians.

The merk of Rome isn't blatant corruption or suitcases of money changing hands, though it is there, as is money laundering, drug trafficking and prostitution, it is much more about, "I know a man who can do this for you, if you will do this for a friend of mine to whom I owe a favour because he has done that for me or my another friend's dear sick aunt". It is an open door to organised crime and other evils. Perhaps it is the vice of often men who want to good and yet easily get drawn into a world that is full of evil, churchmen are particularly easily drawn into its filth.

Unfortunately such corruption is not limited to Rome.

One of the few who remained friends with Cardinal Law said of him before his death. "He was a good and kindly man who really loved and cared for his priests and his diocese in an exemplary, even saintly way, the problem was he loved them more than he loved the victims of abuse".