Rumors have been rife since last summer that this pope will issue a document that frees priests to offer the holy sacrament of the mass according to the mass of John XXXII, variously known as the Tridentine mass, the mass according to the missal of 1962, or the Latin mass. This last name is unfortunate (see my previous clarification) since the current mass may be offered in Latin and the documents of the Council and from Rome indicate that Latin should be the normal language of the mass.
This rumored document is typically characterized as a motu proprio (Latin for "on my initiative.")
Benedict issued his Apostolic Exhortion, Sacramentum Charitatis on Tuesday. The Latin tittle translates as "Sacrament of Love." Scott Hahn's students might make a case for "Covenant of Love."
Some were disappointed the motu proprio was not issued. None of us should be disappointed in the new Exhortation.
Thursday, March 15, 2007
Benedict on Ignatius
Benedict continued with his second general address on the Apostolic Fathers. AsiaNews.it headlines "Pope: Ignatius of Antioch, the irrepressible desire of Christians for Unity." You can read the full text in english on the Vatican website.
Monday, March 12, 2007
The Case Against Global Warming
Has global warming become more polemical politics than science? That is the case made by filmaker, Michael Durkin. I am not a good judge of how accurate his argument is, but his review of recent paleoclimatic ages is great.
The video is supplied by Google.
The Great Global Warming Swindle
1 hr 15 min 56 sec - Mar 9, 2007
Average rating:
(3171 ratings)
Description: Are you green? How many flights have you taken in the last year? Feeling guilty about all those unnecessary car journeys? Well, maybe there's no need to feel bad. According to a group of scientists brought together by documentary-maker Martin Durkin, if the planet is heating up, it isn't your fault and there's nothing you can do about it. We've almost begun to take it for granted that climate change is a man-made phenomenon. But just as the environmental lobby think they've got our attention, a group of naysayers have emerged to slay the whole premise of global warming.
The video is supplied by Google.
The Great Global Warming Swindle
1 hr 15 min 56 sec - Mar 9, 2007
Average rating:
(3171 ratings)Description: Are you green? How many flights have you taken in the last year? Feeling guilty about all those unnecessary car journeys? Well, maybe there's no need to feel bad. According to a group of scientists brought together by documentary-maker Martin Durkin, if the planet is heating up, it isn't your fault and there's nothing you can do about it. We've almost begun to take it for granted that climate change is a man-made phenomenon. But just as the environmental lobby think they've got our attention, a group of naysayers have emerged to slay the whole premise of global warming.
Saturday, March 10, 2007
Grandma and Censorship
Peggy Noonan gets to the heart of the issue when she argues that "Our political discourse needs less censorship and more self-discipline. " Today's column addresses the week's two flaps: Ann Coulter's suggesting John Edwards is a "faggot" and Bill Maher's saying we would have been better off with Dick Cheney dead.
Wielding her usual scalpels, words of pith and clarity, she cuts through the hypocrisy of political polemics. Specifically, she uses grandma's "That's not nice" to cut to the heart of the issue.
"We should forbid less and demand more." Read on.
Wielding her usual scalpels, words of pith and clarity, she cuts through the hypocrisy of political polemics. Specifically, she uses grandma's "That's not nice" to cut to the heart of the issue.
"We should forbid less and demand more." Read on.
Thursday, March 08, 2007
Benedict on Clement
On St. Clement of Rome
Benedict XVI used his Wednesday address to talk about Clement, fourth bishop of Rome and martyr to Christ. Having finished discussing the apostles, he is now using his weekly addresses to discuss the apostolic fathers.
The Pope speaks to pilgrims in St. Peter's Square each Wednesday. John Paul the Great used these Wednesday addresses over a two year period to expound his theology of the body. The new Waldstein edition and translation is out.
Why the Apostolic Fathers
Benedict told the pilgrims, "Now, we will turn our attention to the Apostolic Fathers, that is, to the first and second generation of the Church after the apostles. This way we can see how the Church's path started in history. St. Clement, Bishop of Rome during the last years of the first century, is the third successor of Peter, after Linus and Anacletus. The most important testimonial of his life is that written by St. Irenaeus, bishop of Lyon until 202. He asserts that Clement 'had seen the apostles … had met with them,' and 'still had their preaching in his ears, and their tradition before his eyes' (Adv. Haer. 3,3,3)."
"The Church Has a Sacramental, Not a Political Structure"
What is the church? Benedict tells us that "St. Clement['s letter to the Corinthians] underlines that the Church has a sacramental structure, not a political structure. God's actions that come to us in the liturgy precede our decisions and our ideas. The Church is above all a gift of God and not a creature of ours and therefore this sacramental structure not only guarantees the common order but also the precedence of the gift of God that we all need. "
As Cardinal Ratzinger, Benedict warned the church that it was incrreasingly perceived more like a multinational corporation that the body of Christ.
You can read the whole address and his comments to the English speaking pilgrims on zenit (www.zenit.org )
Benedict XVI used his Wednesday address to talk about Clement, fourth bishop of Rome and martyr to Christ. Having finished discussing the apostles, he is now using his weekly addresses to discuss the apostolic fathers.
The Pope speaks to pilgrims in St. Peter's Square each Wednesday. John Paul the Great used these Wednesday addresses over a two year period to expound his theology of the body. The new Waldstein edition and translation is out.
Why the Apostolic Fathers
Benedict told the pilgrims, "Now, we will turn our attention to the Apostolic Fathers, that is, to the first and second generation of the Church after the apostles. This way we can see how the Church's path started in history. St. Clement, Bishop of Rome during the last years of the first century, is the third successor of Peter, after Linus and Anacletus. The most important testimonial of his life is that written by St. Irenaeus, bishop of Lyon until 202. He asserts that Clement 'had seen the apostles … had met with them,' and 'still had their preaching in his ears, and their tradition before his eyes' (Adv. Haer. 3,3,3)."
"The Church Has a Sacramental, Not a Political Structure"
What is the church? Benedict tells us that "St. Clement['s letter to the Corinthians] underlines that the Church has a sacramental structure, not a political structure. God's actions that come to us in the liturgy precede our decisions and our ideas. The Church is above all a gift of God and not a creature of ours and therefore this sacramental structure not only guarantees the common order but also the precedence of the gift of God that we all need. "
As Cardinal Ratzinger, Benedict warned the church that it was incrreasingly perceived more like a multinational corporation that the body of Christ.
You can read the whole address and his comments to the English speaking pilgrims on zenit (www.zenit.org )
Wednesday, March 07, 2007
Justin Martyr
April 14th is the traditional feast date of Justin Martyr. It is currently celebrated June 1st in the Roman rite.
He was the first great Christian apologist: a rhetorician for Christ.
Rhetoric is the art of speaking persuasively using logic and appealing to the emotions to persuade your audience. Its end should be the truth. It contrasts with polemic, the use of emotional speech to rally one's supporters and excoriate one's opponents. A polemicist does not care to persuade his opponents.
Rhetoric is the art of free men: it is a necessary ingredient of a free republic. Polemic is the art of demagoguery; its prevalence is the symptom of empire, where men are no longer free.
Thursday, March 01, 2007
Getting "a lot of Christians with their knickers in a knot"
We finally discovered the true purpose of biblical scholars and journalists!
The Discovery Channel is airing Sunday (a/k/a the Lord's day) a sensational story claiming to have found ossuaries that once held the bones of Mary, Joseph, Jesus, His "wife" Mary Magdalene, and two other members of the family. The highly paid strategists at the Discovery Channel have apparently decided that they are in the same business as the tabloids at the supermarket checkout counter.
The Wall Street Journal's David Hall found last Tuesday’s quote of the day in Laurie Goldstein's coverage of this momentous event:
“’A lot of conservative, orthodox and moderate Christians are going to be upset by the recklessness of this,’ said Ben Witherington, a Bible scholar at Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, Ky. ‘Of course, we want to know more about Jesus, but please don’t insult our intelligence by giving us this sort of stuff. It’s going to get a lot of Christians with their knickers in a knot unnecessarily.’”
Tying our knickers in knots! So that what biblical scholars and journalists are for! That’s a mystery that has baffled me for decades!
(If you are too embarrassed to ask: "knickers" are what you wear under your pants or skirt. An Aussie friend of mine, who was rather a rake, one confided in me that "Sheilas that don't wear knickers are more fun." I have no personal knowledge with which to judge whether his generalization be true or false. He was a sort who rather enjoyed testing such hypotheses: a line of research I neither recommend nor condone.)
The Discovery Channel is airing Sunday (a/k/a the Lord's day) a sensational story claiming to have found ossuaries that once held the bones of Mary, Joseph, Jesus, His "wife" Mary Magdalene, and two other members of the family. The highly paid strategists at the Discovery Channel have apparently decided that they are in the same business as the tabloids at the supermarket checkout counter.
The Wall Street Journal's David Hall found last Tuesday’s quote of the day in Laurie Goldstein's coverage of this momentous event:
“’A lot of conservative, orthodox and moderate Christians are going to be upset by the recklessness of this,’ said Ben Witherington, a Bible scholar at Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, Ky. ‘Of course, we want to know more about Jesus, but please don’t insult our intelligence by giving us this sort of stuff. It’s going to get a lot of Christians with their knickers in a knot unnecessarily.’”
Tying our knickers in knots! So that what biblical scholars and journalists are for! That’s a mystery that has baffled me for decades!
(If you are too embarrassed to ask: "knickers" are what you wear under your pants or skirt. An Aussie friend of mine, who was rather a rake, one confided in me that "Sheilas that don't wear knickers are more fun." I have no personal knowledge with which to judge whether his generalization be true or false. He was a sort who rather enjoyed testing such hypotheses: a line of research I neither recommend nor condone.)
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