Amy's Back Blogging

Amy Welborn is back blogging at Beliefnet with Via Media, she says her new blog will be along the lines of Open Book which was one of the most in depth of Catholic Blogs, she says it will cover a wider variety of topics there than on Charlotte was Both.

Sacerdotalicide!

Interpolations in the Mass I am told are pretty frequent, I personally try not to do it, but I heard this about a few months ago when I happened to drop into a London church during Mass:

.... and so with all the angels and saints we sing...

You'll find the Holy, Holy on page... of your hymn books. It is in Latin but it means exactly what we normally sing, or say in English, although of course we should be singing it. While we are singing it let us try and imagine ourselves with all the angel and saints in the presence of God and the whole Church, because in a very special way at Mass here today we echo what is happening in heaven with our Lord. Anyhow it is page ...., if you are my age you probably can remember it without a book but do sing up. We used to sing it every week didn't we? OK everybody, number ....
Sanctus...

I am so grateful I am a priest, I don't know what I would do if I had to put up with this every week, you can only murder so many priests.

Bishops by acclamation

At the beginning of the 20th century the Pope appointed directly slightly more than 750 0f the worlds bishops, the remainder, the majority were appointed by emperors, kings or governments, or in some very few cases by local chapters of canons.

The practice of the first centuries was to elect bishops by popular acclamation of the laity and the clergy, local bishops ratified his election by participation in his consecration or at least by having his name inscribed on their diptychs. The Popes involvement was minimal and passive, but the bishop would pray for the Pope in the canon of the Mass, invoke its twenty-four saints, perhaps adding more according to long held local custom. Out of devotion, filial piety, he himself would either go on pilgrimage or send some of his clergy and leading laymen to the City of the Two Apostles, taking with them their bishop's portion of the Romefeoh or Peter's Pence. At the heart of this relationship the local bishop and the local Church shared the faith of the Bishop of Rome. The role of the Bishop was essentially to be the faithful bearer of tradition. For the most part heresies and aberrations of discipline were dealt with on a local level, first of all by the bishop himself or the metropolitan, or a local synod, brothers corrected brother. Only when this failed, or when there was serious doubt, or the need for an appeal, was there recourse to Rome.

It strikes me that the ideal way of electing a bishop today is by acclamation of the clergy and people. Though he should have an eye to the larger picture a bishop is primarily responsible for the people of his local Church, working in a paternal collaboration with his clergy for the salvation of the souls entrusted to him.

This is wonderful in theory of course but imagine the type of disaster that we would have today if the local church actually did elect its bishop. First of all the break down in catechises has meant that no-one is quite sure what exactly the Catholic or Christian faith is. The chaos that we see in some parts of the Church, for example, the toleration of the Archbishop Bathersby of Brisbane for twenty-four years of invalid baptisms and the open altar of Sr Mary's, the extraordinarily odd liturgies in the diocese of Linz, confusion over the divinity and uniqueness of Christ in much of India, the breakdown of marriage and teaching on sexuality in much of Europe, the diversity of understandings of theology and practice in the US, ranging from Fabian Bruskewitz to Roger, Cardinal Mahony and even in England we see the evident tensions between the doctrines of the Roman Church and what we see on the ground.

Wagner Affair

The Vatican Website carries this announcement:

Il Santo Padre ha dispensato il Rev.do Mons. Gerhard Wagner dall’accettare l’ufficio di Vescovo Ausiliare di Linz (Austria).

The Holy Father has dispensed the Reverend Monsignor Gerhard Wagner from accepting the office of Auxiliary Bishop of Linz (Austria).

The whole Wagner incident poses interesting problems for the Pope. The rejection of his nomination followed uproar in the Austrian media and the uber-liberal diocese of Linz. The Austria hierarchy with Cardinal von Shoenberg felt obliged to join the fray demanding the Holy See take better advice and listen to the local Church.

The trouble is Linz is out of control, it seems to offer its own unique brand of Catholicism, and desperately needs someone like Wagner, who will bring into it some mainstream Catholicism. It can be disputed whether the Pope actually bothers about the appointment of auxiliary bishops, but mutterings around Rome have suggested if this appointment can be overthrown what other decisions will the local Germany/Austria Churches reject.

Germany/Austria is in the unique situation where being a Catholic depends not on practice, or even belief but the paying of the Church Tax. The Church is supported therefore through the state, hence the German Chancellor feels she has a right, even a duty to lecture the Pope, and local officials expect to be able to decide on Church policy and appointments. In certain parts of Germany/Austria, it is no wonder "We are Church" is a serious force within or in opposition to the mainstream Catholicism, no wonder too why in the Nazi period the Church, with a few glorious exceptions, became supine to the State rather than offering it a moral compass.

New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan

Time Magazine has a piece on the new Archbishop of New York, I am trying to think of an English/Welshman who might have similar qualities for Westminster.

Fast Facts:

• Born on Feb. 6, 1950, the oldest of five children. In 1964, he entered St. Louis Preparatory Seminary South in Shrewsbury, Mo., and graduated from Cardinal Glennon College with a degree in philosophy.

• Ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of St. Louis on June 19, 1976. He earned his doctorate in American-church history at the Catholic University of America in Washington in 1983. His dissertation was on Archbishop Edwin V. O'Hara, a founder of the Catholic Biblical Association of America.

• In 1987, was appointed to a five-year term as secretary to the Vatican's diplomatic mission in Washington. (He speaks fluent Italian.) He returned to St. Louis in 1992 and was appointed vice rector of Kenrick-Glennon Seminary.

• In 1994, was appointed rector of the Pontifical North American College in Rome, where he also taught at Pontifical Gregorian University and the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas.

• Wrote a book in 2000, Priests for the Third Millennium, which is used in some seminaries in the U.S. Composed mainly of a series of lectures he gave while in Rome, it lays out the challenges currently facing Catholic priests and seminarians.

• Named auxiliary bishop of St. Louis in 2001 after another priest, former Archbishop Rembert Weakland, resigned after acknowledging that the archdiocese paid a $450,000 out-of-court settlement to a man who claimed Weakland had sexually assaulted him.

• In Milwaukee, has received good grades for reaching out to young people (occasionally over a beer or two) and recruiting new seminarians; the Milwaukee archdiocese expects to ordain six men in 2009, as opposed to just one ordination a few years ago.

• A Herculean fundraiser, helped his archdiocese avoid bankruptcy amid the lawsuits that followed the priest sexual-abuse scandal. He effectively closed a $3 million budget deficit in 2008 and also started a fundraising campaign that he claims has raised $57.5 million in pledges, more than halfway to its goal.

• Knows only a bit of Spanish, the mother tongue of one-third of Catholics in the New York City Archdiocese.

Quotes By:

"I come before you in awe, and I admit some trepidation knowing that I've got an awful lot to learn."
— Addressing the diocese at a news conference following a Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral in Manhattan
Los Angeles Times, Feb. 24

"This is the time we priests need to be renewing our pledge to celibacy, not questioning it."
— Responding to claims that celibate commitment is to blame for clerical sexual abuse
New York Times, Sept. 5, 2003

"I'd prefer a bit of Jameson's, but milk will do."
— Responding to a woman's inquiry on how the Archbishop takes his coffee
New York Times, Feb. 23

"Does it haunt me? Yes, it does. And I'm not afraid to admit that."
— On his handling of the sex-abuse scandal, calling the issue the most challenging of his tenure in Milwaukee
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Feb. 24

"I've already learned how to order a hot dog from the cart outside the cathedral."
— On getting used to his new hometown
New York Daily News, Feb. 23

"Happiness attracts."
— On his strategy for increasing recruitment to the priesthood
New York Times, Feb. 23

Quotes About:

"He gives religion a good name."
— Monsignor Thomas J. Shelley, a priest and a historian at Fordham University who has known the Archbishop for 25 years
New York Times, Feb. 23

"A choice for the center-right with a human face."
— John L. Allen Jr., the National Catholic Reporter's veteran Vatican correspondent on Archbishop Dolan's appointment
The Times Online, Feb. 23

"He is with Rome on the big issues and on the little ones. But he does not do so in a dictatorial fashion."
— William J. Thorn, journalism professor at Marquette University in Milwaukee
New York Times, Feb. 24

"I was at the vespers when he was installed, and there's a party where the bishop knocks on the door. Most do it timidly — tap, tap. Not him — bang, bang! It echoed through the cathedral and let everyone know that Timothy Dolan was there."
— The Rev. Steven M. Avella, a history professor at Marquette University in Milwaukee

Pope Asks for the Prayers of Angels

[Christ], who did not sin and cannot sin, submits Himself to the test and due to this is able to share in our infirmity (cf. Hb 4, 15). He lets Himself be tempted by Satan, the enemy, who opposed the salvific project of God in favor of men since the beginning.



Almost in passing, in the brevity of the account [of the Temptation], before this obscure and dark figure which dares to tempt the Lord, appear the angels, luminous and mysterious figures. The angels, the Gospel says, "served" Jesus (Mk 1, 13); they are the counterpoint to Satan. "Angel" means "envoy". Throughout the Old Testament we find these figures who, in the name of God, aid and guide the men. ...



The angels serve Jesus, who is certainly above them, and His dignity is proclaimed here in the Gospel in a clear, though discreet, way. In fact, even in a situation of extreme poverty and humility, when He is tempted by Satan, He remains the Son of God, the Messiah, the Lord.



Dear brothers and sisters, we would remove a notable portion of the Gospel if we forgot these beings sent by God, who announce His presence among us and are a sign of Him. Let us call upon them often, so that they may support us in the effort to follow Jesus to the point of being identified with him.


Let us ask them, in particular today, to watch over me and my coworkers in the Roman Curia, who this afternoon, like every year, begin the week of spiritual exercises. Mary, Queen of the Angels, pray for us!
Benedict XVI

Angelus

March 1, 2009

Hello Kazakhstan

Looking at the sitemeter this morning I noticed I had a visitor from Kazakhstan. It is a bit a difficult to keep track of who comes and goes I only get to see the last hundred visitors, most are from the the UK, or Europe, quite a few from North America, not that many from Africa but Kazakhstan is a bit exotic.