What is the Church for?

"What is the Church for?" was on a poster that appeared on my Church noticeboard, there was apparently some course going in Westminster.
It is a pretty fundamental question, but rather a modern question,  it seems to betray a modern obsession for function. A better question would have been "What is the Church?" If that was the question then scripture would tell us, it is the Bride of Christ, the Temple of the Holy Spirit, the Body of Christ. It is the whole esse versus agere being, doing thing.
My old Spiritual Director used to pose this question, 'Are you a human doing or are you a human being?

Christianity is not about what Christians 'do' but what Christians 'are'. The Great St Athanasius, who comes from the grreat school of African monasticism, which emphasised the encounter of Man with God, is concerned about first what God 'is' but from this -not secondarily to it but part of it-  is, what Man has become in Christ, hence his opposition to the deadly doctrine of Arianism and consequent emphasis on theosis or divinisation.

"The Son of God became man, that we might become god", [the second g is always lowercase since man can never become a God] indicates the concept beautifully. II Peter 1:4 says that we have become " . . . partakers of divine nature." Athanasius amplifies the meaning of this verse when he says theosis is "becoming by grace what God is by nature" (De Incarnatione, I)

Socialism, Communism, Marxism, Nazism even, stresses the function of the human person, the degree of his contribution to society, what he is for, Christianity had stressed the more basic point, what he is, hence Christianity sees value in non-productive human persons.

This touches a great deal on much that is happening in the Church today, including the liturgy, and I think separates the two forms. The New Rite is easily seen as functional: it builds community, it teaches, it catechises, it involves the faithful, it celebrates, it mourns,  it presents the Church of today, it is easily adapted, whereas the Old Rite simply is. It is unchanging, unwieldy, unadaptable; the only function it really has is worship, whereas with the New Rite worship is, or often seems, subsumed by every other concern.

It is worth remembering that God, when asked by Moses who shall I say sent me is told to tell the people it was, "I am who I am". God is ultimately not defined by his function only by what He is.

Danish gay couples given right to marry in Church

Frightening article in the Telegraph: Gay Danish couples win right to marry in church.

The country's parliament voted through the new law on same-sex marriage by a large majority, making it mandatory for all churches to conduct gay marriages.
....
Under the law, individual priests can refuse to carry out the ceremony, but the local bishop must arrange a replacement for their church.

I am sure at first most Catholic clergy will refuse and bishops will not comply but down the line, in two or three years, what will happen, and if this law were introduced into England, or the rest if Europe?

Meanwhile in Chelmesford...

Tuam: a more nuanced approach

I commend Tim Stanley's blog post What happened at the Tuam children's home was a human tragedy, not a Catholic one.

It is good that the reality is coming out now but the Catholic Church bashing headlines have already done their damage.

Kissing

I am very fond of kissing, I can understand the Holy Father's penchant for it, at least for baby-kissing. In fact in the OF there just isn't enough of it. It is one of the things about the Old Rite, one never turns from the altar without a farewell kiss, and one never receives anything as a priest without it being kissed and the hand that receives it is kissed too; it is everything from hats to thuribles and spoons - it is a bit strange when it comes from someone with a beard or stubble - except for a few odd religious orders, the Roman Rite should be a clean-shaven Rite! For priests and those on the sanctuary kissing is de rigueur.

One of signs Henry and St Thomas Becket were not reconciled after the latter's exile was that Henry always required a Requiem Mass to be celebrated whenever the two were together so he didn't have to kiss Thomas, the custom then, I think, was a  mouth to mouth kiss.

When the Swine 'Flu epidemic was carrying off thousands to the throne of judgement, Their Lordships recommended that we avoid physical contact and desist from shaking hands at the Sign of Peace, which of course is the way in which this ancient gesture is supposed to be offered in E&W. Being of a liberal disposition I rather like the Sign of Peace, so obedient to the diktat of avoiding skin on skin contact we introduced the old form of the amplexus; the celebrant placing the unjoined fingers of both hands on the shoulders of the recipient and the recipient placing his hands under the elbows of the giver. I think it expresses more perfectly the Peace of Christ than the mundane handshake, it strikes me as ridiculous for passionately in love couples to offer a limp handshake, in our culture it something which signifies a dodgy deal between car salesmen, unlike the French we are not a hand-shaking race. I can certainly understand the dislike of people for this venerable sign to become a hippy love-fest, does anyone remember the time when the Rite was so extended we actually used to accompany it by singing a ditty? I really hate it when this Rite is over extended or becomes a time to get small children on the sanctuary to hold hands.It is not because I object to Christians loving one another but because at that stage of the Mass in both forms the Mass is so fast-moving that the Sign of Peace and the expression of communion amongst us it signifies immediately moves on to Communion with Christ. It is just a preparatory Rite. Thus in the OF here immediately after the MC or server has received the Sign of Peace we begin the Agnus Dei.

I know many people really hate the Sign of Peace but before you rant about your prejudices read the FIUV Position Paper: the Kiss of Peace, it is quite short.

Tuam

Tuam adds yet another horror to the huge list of Irish Church scandals. I can't, I don't want to defend them, I find it disgusting and unsettling but the question that comes to my mind is, do these scandals arise because these institutions were Catholic or because they were Irish?

It is either that Catholicism was dysfunctional, or Ireland was dysfunctional, the other possibility is that Irish Catholicism was particularly dysfunctional. The other possibility is that what is revealed is done in a sensationalist way, to do as much damage to Irish Catholicism as possible.

Religious men and women do not exist in a vacuum, they are in the world but the they are not suppose to be of the world. I remember an Irish Mercy Sister, now dead, saying to me when I asked why she had come to England in the 1930s to pursue her vocation saying, 'Because in Ireland we had nothing, you English left us with nothing, except our faith and our poverty. The Irish State expected the Sisters and Brothers to deal with the people it itself was unable to deal with, with no resources, except what they could beg in Ireland itself'. She herself had left school at thirteen, her family survived on money sent by her father who did seasonal farm work in England and older brothers who had emigrated to England and America. Her mother brought up the family, whenever the father returned there was another pregnancy, she as child was barefoot and often hungry, it was only when she became a Sister she had shoes all year round. 'My mother and the older girls would go hungry so the boys and the younger children could survive', she said, it seems as if half her brothers and sisters had died in childhood. I remember asking her why the boys were fed in preference to the girls, her reply was interesting, 'The boys needed to be strong in order to swing a shovel, it was our investment in our future!'

A Geriatric Pope

I thought this was a rather sad picture, it appeared in a German paper, presumably it was taken by a Vatican insider. I presumed that had Benedict remained in office he would have become disabled more quickly. I find it sad that a Pope can't grow old and infirmed in private but still remain Pope.

Being Pope should be something that someone in their nineties could do. It is the modern era that demands a physically able Pope. I rather like to think that the old  Sedia Gestatoria was really a disability aid for ancient decrepit geriatric pontiffs and those monsignori surrounding the Pope were really care assistants enabling him to walk with failing limbs and to read with failing eye-sight. It is worth remembering that one of those monsignori historically had the honour of carrying and assisting at the papal commode.

I have a recollection of the diary of a young Englishman visiting the Vatican in the reign of Pius IX or perhaps Leo and he gives the impression that the Papal Court smelt rather like a nursing home, he speaks of Cardinals with prostate problems.

The principle of subsidiarity - that a higher authority should not do what a lesser authority can do more effectively - was very much part of my post-VII theological formation. I, like many, had hoped that this Papacy would be 'smaller', that the Pope would be more like a bank manager than a superstar. The objection some might have is that Vatican I defined that the Pope has 'Ordinary, Immediate, and Episcopal jurisdiction' everywhere in the Church - the good Fr Hunwicke has something to say on this.

Perhaps this Papacy, working on the Italian, 'fat Pope, thin Pope', principle will lead the Cardinal Electors next time round to ask quite what a Pope is for. He is not the Church's media representative, he is certainly not the setter of theological trends that Catholic neo-Cons used to want to the point that theology changes with each Pope, he is not an innovator who can take the Church back to Year Zero, dismissing 2,000 years of the Church's history, which is what Liberals seem to suggest he should be. What he, is the centre of communion, ultimately he is the judge of who is communion with the Church, in that he sets the limits - de-finition - of her Communion.

Benedict's resignation separated the Office from the man, Francis seems to be trying to identify himself more as the Bishop of Rome and rather sparingly speaks of himself as 'Pope'. The media clamour for a big Papacy of dynamic gestures but the trend amongst theologians is to shave it down, on the principle that less is more.

An Irish Hermitess

Several people have sent me links to this RTE video about a Irish hermitess. As with all hermits I not am sure whether she is mad or prophetic. In many ways she reflects the true tradition of Celtic spirituality: prayer and penance but also that rather solitary idiosyncratic Irishness which tends to extremes but is still deeply rooted in the memory of the past.
A comment on the video says:

This documentary was produced in 2003. It tells the story of a hermit nun, Sr Irene, who, with the local bishop's blessing, built a small hermitage for women on the West coast of Ireland between 1992-95. Around 1995 she was given special graces. With spiritual guidance from a local traditional Catholic priest and in view the crisis in the modern Church, she returned to the Holy traditional Mass and teachings prior to Vatican II. Always remaining faithful to her vows, she nevertheless found it increasingly impossible to have easy access to the traditional Sacraments. With so few priests offering the Latin Rite Liturgy in Ireland, it was rarely celebrated in her private oratory. With no regular Mass, like minded candidates were not encouraged to join her. In 2003 she therefore made the difficult decision place the the Hermitage on the property market. It was sold in 2012 and Sr. Irene moved to Athlone in the heart of Ireland within walking distance to the Tridentine Mass where she continues her life of prayer and sacrifice in her new "Holy Family Hermitage". To this day she remains faithful to the unchanging Magisterial of the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church.

Does anyone know what has become of her? There is a website, it appears she is still alone, as she has moved to Athlone, I presume she is affiliated to the SSPX.
I must admit I find her fascinating, and challenging.