A blast from the past

Way back in the mid-1980s when he sat for a lengthy interview with Vittorio Messori, which became The Ratzinger Report, then-Cardinal Ratzinger said:

"What is hopeful at the level of the universal Church- and the Church in the Western world- is the rise of the new movements into being, but which have sprung spontaneously from the inner vitality of the faith itself. What is manifested in them - albeit subdued- is something like a pentecostal movement, of the Cursillos, of the movement Focolare, of the neo-catechetical communities, of Communion and Liberation, etc. Certainly all of these movements also give rise to some problems. They also entail greater or lesser dangers. But that happens with all living beings. I am now, to an increasing degree, meeting groups of young people in whom there is a wholehearted adhesion to the whole faith of the Church, young people who want to live this faith fully and who bear in themselves a great missionary élan."

Prior to this lengthy statement, he said, quoting San Carlo Borromeo: "the Church of today does not need any new reformers [or reforms, programs]. The Church needs new saints."

In a February 2007 Q&A session with his pastors after he became bishop of Rome, the Holy Father told them "not to extinguish the charisms. ... If the Lord gives us new gifts, we must be grateful even if they are difficult. It is good that they arise without an initiative from the hierarchy. They result from grassroots initiatives...[that] come from on high, in other words from the gifts of the Holy Spirit" (underlining emphasis added).

He went on to say that the Church "is the body of Christ, and hence a spiritual body, as St. Paul says. The Church is not an international organization; she is not an executive body or an organ of power. Nor is she a social agency, though she does undertake social work, but a spiritual body."

Another brief note on theology and dogma

This brief series of three reflections began with my post last Saturday, resumed yesterday, and ends today. It sounds a bit like the old poem about Solomon Grundy, but anyway...

"The theological Fathers of dogma have almost without exception failed to escape being condemned by dogma, either because it went beyond them, or lagged behind their theology. The Apologists, Origen and Augustine may be cited in support of this." (Harnack, History of Dogma, Vol I, pg. 19). The same could be said of St. Thomas Aquinas. Closer to our day, prior to the Second Vatican Council, Henri DeLubac, and, to a lesser extent, Hans Urs Von Balthasar both ran afoul of the magisterium, the former being officially silenced from 1950-59. In 1960, just a year after having the ban lifted, in a move so typical of Papa Roncalli, who left his academic post and joined the Vatican diplomatic corps when, as a young priest, he fell under the suspicion of being a modernist, DeLubac was named by the Pontiff as a consultant to the Preparatory Theological Commission for the upcoming Vatican Council. He went on to serve as a peritus during the council and, after the council, was named by Pope Paul VI a member of the Vatican’s International Theological Commission.

Closer to our own time, Edward Schillibeeckx, whose research, though deeply rooted in the history of dogma, sought to utilize the methods of contemporary theology, frequently found himself on the defensive, as he delightfully chronicled in his short book, I Am A Happy Theologian. All of this does not mean that everything is up-for-grabs, as some suppose. Rather, it means coming to know revelation more fully (it is properly discovered because it is already "there") is a long, slow process.

John Henry Cardinal Newman

Harnack goes on to point out that we want to ignore these facts "by hypostatizing the ecclesiastical principle or the common ecclesiastical spirit, and by this normal hypostasis, measuring, approving or condemning the doctrines of the theologians, unconcerned about the actual conditions and frequently following a hysteron-proteron" (pg. 19). By "hypostatizing" I take Harnack to mean that we seek to the routinize the charisma of these daring thinkers and bold synthesizers by co-opting their thought into "the common ecclesial spirit" by acting as though this is what was always believed and taught, when it demonstrably is not- it is for demonstrating these disparities that Schillibeeckx, for example, got into trouble, whereas "hysteron-proteron" means to putting the latter before, meaning to get things wrong way 'round.

Something like this is happening with the recent debate, which began with Benedict’s pontificate, dating to his first Christmas address to the Roman Curia in 2005 about whether Vatican II represented anything new in the history of the church, that is, any ruptures, or tectonic shifts in the ecclesial plates. John O’Malley, in his insightful and very accessible book, What Happened at Vatican II, deals with this very well from the perspective of those who contend new things flowed from the council. Sandro Magister, writing from Rome, chronicles this debate, more or less taking the opposite view, that of continuity, on his indispensable website Chiesa, like in his most recent post on the subject "Benedict XVI the 'Reformist.' The Prosecution Rests".

I think Fr. Giovanni Cavalcoli, OP gives the best short response to the conundrum posed by Harnack when, in a response to a traditionalist critique by David Werling addressed to those, like Cavalcoli and historian Roberto de Mattei, in whose defense the friar is writing, who defend, not the much ballyhooed "hermeneutic of continuity," but what Pope Benedict actually called for in his Christmas 2005 speech, a "hermeneutic of renewal in continuity": "Analogical thought makes it possible to understand how a concept, while still remaining identical to itself, can however at the same time develop, progress, explicate and clarify itself. This is typical of all vital phenomena, from the biological level to the spiritual. Because of this, Blessed John Henry Newman compared dogmatic or theological progress to the development of a plant, which grows and develops while still remaining itself. A five-foot oak tree is still itself even when it has reached one hundred feet."

"Thus," Cavalcoli concludes, "the doctrines of Vatican II must not be viewed as a disowning or rupture with the previous magisterium, but as a confirmation and explication of them. In other words, with Vatican II we know better those same truths of faith that we knew before."

Theology and dogma: getting things right way 'round

“Dogmas arise, develop themselves and are made serviceable to new aims; this in all cases takes place through Theology. But Theology is dependent on innumerable factors, above all on the spirit of the time; for it lies in the nature of theology that it desires to make its object intelligible. Dogmas are the product of theology, not inversely; of a theology of course which, as a rule, was in correspondence with the faith of the time. The critical view of history teaches this: first we have the Apologists and Origen, then the councils of Nicea and Chalcedon; first the Scholastics, and the Council of Trent. In consequence of this, dogma bears the mark of all the factors on which the theology was dependent. That is one point. But the moment in which the product of theology became dogma, the way which led to it must be obscured; for, according to the conception of the Church, dogma can be nothing else than the revealed faith itself. Dogma is regarded not as the exponent, but as the basis of theology, and therefore the product of theology having passed into dogma limits, and criticizes the work of theology both past and future” (Adolf Harnack, History of Dogma, Vol.1, trans. Neil Buchanan from the third German edition, pg. 18).

In a footnote Harnack points out that with his above-given observation “begins the ecclesiastical theology which takes as its starting-point the finished dogma it strives to prove or harmonize, but very soon, as experience has shown, loses its footing in such efforts and so occasions new crises.”

Indeed, something of the issue Harnack raised with his observation about the relationship of dogma to theology and of theology to “all the factors” that influenced the exposition of that theology at the time it was articulated, not least among which are the presumptive metaphysics and the language that arises from it, was expressed by Bl. John XXIII, who was also a church historian, in his address to open the Second Vatican Council: “The substance of the ancient doctrine of the deposit of faith is one thing, and the way in which it is presented is another. And it is the latter that must be taken into great consideration with patience if necessary, everything being measured in the forms and proportions of a Magisterium which is predominantly pastoral in character.”

Harnack went on write "that theology gives expression only to the form of dogma, while so far as it is ecclesiastical theology, it presupposes the unchanging dogma, i.e., the substance of the dogma" (History of Dogma, Vol. I, pg. 18). In the end, "dogma...must at all times take up an ambiguous position towards theology, and ecclesiastical theology a corresponding position towards dogma; for they are condemned to perpetual uncertainty as to what they owe each other" (ibid). Thus, it seems to me that Harnack, who was a Protestant, by noting this circularity, demonstrates two things- the need for there to be a deciding and mediating authority in the church, what Newman unabashedly called "the Catholic principle," and for that authority not to be arbitrary, that is, willing to meet the expressed need of Newman's ultramontanist English contemporary and fellow convert, Cardinal Manning, who remarked that he would like nothing better than to find a new infallible papal statement in each morning's newspaper.

A thought on today's beatification of Bl. Pope John Paul II

For me the personal holiness and heroic virtue of Karol Joseph Wojtyla are evident to anyone who has eyes to see. I guess if people want to be parochial and get worked up about what he would no doubt dismiss as so many bourgeois concerns, that is, choosing to focus on a couple of trees, thus failing to notice the majesty of the forest, they are certainly free to do so. I mean, it's not like Hitch didn't make a few worthwhile observations in his otherwise brutal "take" on Bl Teresa of Calcutta. Few people have changed the whole world for better, done more to usher in God's kingdom, than Bl. Pope John Paul II.

Like the late, great Dominican theologian, Yves Congar, I, too, have concerns about popes beatifiying and canonizing other popes. However, when the voices of literally millions of the faithful shout out repeatedly, "Santo Subito!", there is a very different dynamic. According to the way saints have traditionally been made, he was a saint then and there. So, while still only beatified, not canonized, all of this constitutes so many formalities, which only affirm the reality of what already is definitively. The heroic virtue and courage of Bl. Pope John Paul II immediately and dramatically affected for the better the lives of hundreds of millions.

Looking at another example, do you really think Archbishop Oscar Romero is not already a saint?

Jesus, I trust in you

Going to church, what's at stake?

Some Christians suppose that their decision not to go to church represents a kind of higher, purer, spirituality, a more authentic, or mature form of Christianity than does going to church. The Scriptures are not silent on the matter of our need to gather together. As both of my readers know, I have been reading and re-reading The Letter to the Hebrews over the last half of Lent. The primary concern of the unknown author of this letter, which is the best Greek composition among the books and letters that comprise the Christian Scriptures, is the danger of apostasy, of falling away from the practice of Christian faith, leaving the assembly, the ekklesia, the church. The falling away addressed is not the result of persecution, but an apparent weariness of the demands of Christian life, along with a growing indifference on the part of many early Christians. In my study, I have been grappling with some pretty demanding passages that we ignore at our own peril.

For example in chapter ten, the author takes up the issue of attending church, as it were:

Let us hold unwaveringly to our confession that gives us hope, for he who made the promise is trustworthy. We must consider how to rouse one another to love and good works. We should not stay away from our assembly, as is the custom of some, but encourage one another, and this all the more as you see the day drawing near. If we sin deliberately after receiving knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains sacrifice for sins but a fearful prospect of judgment and a flaming fire that is going to consume the adversaries. Anyone who rejects the law of Moses is put to death without pity on the testimony of two or three witnesses. Do you not think that a much worse punishment is due the one who has contempt for the Son of God, considers unclean the covenant-blood by which he was consecrated, and insults the spirit of grace? (10:23-29- underlining emphasis mine)

I do not hesitate to employ Scripture in this way. After all, if the word of God is not perennially relevant, then what good is it? My use, however, does not amount to a kind of tin-eared literalism, of which there is far too much, especially in the U.S. But just as the answer to legalism and formalism is not antinomian laxity, so the answer to biblical literalism is not the outright refusal to acknowledge what holy writ hands on to us just because it is demanding.

We understandably wince at so-called "hellfire and damnation" passages, such as this one. Indeed, fear is not much of a motivator. The argument, you should go to church or risk going hell, is not convincing to most people, as negative arguments are never as strong as positive ones. I certainly don't think any effective parish effort aimed at bringing people back to church will consist of billboards, handbills, and home visits that state: Come back to church or be consigned to hellfire. With that said, such outreaches must be driven by our concern for the destiny of those to whom we are reaching out. If not, then why bother?

A few chapters further along the author instructs the church to "[s]ee to it that no one be deprived of the grace of God, that no bitter root spring up and cause trouble." (12:15) Indeed, many who are away have had bad experiences in church, the ever-present sexual abuse scandal being a persistent and sobering reminder of this reality. Many more just stopped going and, discerning that their presence was not missed, have just stayed away.

So, we must resist the temptation to be micro-focused on hellfire, on the negative. Scripture always urges us to look at the bigger picture. Hence, the call in Hebrews is to Christian maturity. It is easy to miss in the above passage the positive, namely rousing "one another to love and good works," which is what we do when we gather together in communion to receive the grace we need to become Christ-like. Let's not forget that Christ is really and truly present to us in a four-fold way in the liturgy. The very first way He is really present is by our mere gathering together in His name. This reality St. Augustine referred to as the totus Christus, the total, or complete Christ- His Body (us), gathered together with Him as our head (priest). Another of the four ways Christ is really present, then, is in the person of the priest, who leads our worship to the Father in persona Christi capitis- in the person of Christ the head.

We must not fail to notice that even this forthright section of the letter ends with a positive exhortation, calling us to remember our faithfulness and the joy of faith, even in hardship:

Remember the days past when, after you had been enlightened, you endured a great contest of suffering. At times you were publicly exposed to abuse and affliction; at other times you associated yourselves with those so treated. You even joined in the sufferings of those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, knowing that you had a better and lasting possession. Therefore, do not throw away your confidence; it will have great recompense. You need endurance to do the will of God and receive what he has promised. "For, after just a brief moment, he who is to come shall come; he shall not delay. But my just one shall live by faith, and if he draws back I take no pleasure in him." We are not among those who draw back and perish, but among those who have faith and will possess life (10:32-39- underlining emphasis mine)

Another aspect of going to church that cannot be overlooked because it is fundamental, is the fact that it is precisely at Mass where we encounter the Lord. Pope Benedict XVI, in the second volume of his life of our Lord, writing about Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem captures this perfectly:

The Church greets the Lord in the Holy Eucharist as the one who is coming now, the one who has entered into her midst. At the same time, she greets him as the one who continues to come, the one who leads us toward his coming. As pilgrims, we go up to him; as a pilgrim, he comes to us and takes us up with him in his "ascent" to the Cross and Resurrection, to the definitive Jerusalem that is already growing in the midst of this world in the communion that unites us with his body (Jesus of Nazareth: Holy Week- From the Entrance into Jerusalem to the Resurrection, pgs 10-11)

Who wants to miss out on that? As Annie Dillard wrote about going to church in her book Teaching a Stone to Talk: Expeditions and Encounters: "Does anyone have the foggiest idea of what sort of power we so blithely invoke? Or, as I suspect, does no one believe a word of it? The churches are children playing on the floor with their chemistry sets, mixing up a batch of TNT to kill a Sunday morning. It is madness to wear ladies' straw hats and velvet hats to church; we should all be wearing crash helmets. Ushers should issue life preservers and signal flares; they should lash us to our pews."

Prepare ye the way of the Lord. Prepare ye the way for the kingdom

Going to church: it’s important because it’s not about you

I recently read an article in which the author seemed surprised that so many young people find church boring. The surprise was confirmed by ”googling” some variant of "church" and "boring," which apparently yielded millions of returns, most of which are posted by young people who are either made to go to church, or who experience a strong parental expectation that they will attend church and face parental disapproval if they do not. For anyone who currently has teenage children, or who has had teenagers or even for those of us who simply recall being a teen, perhaps the greatest hallmark of this period of life, at least in Western societies, which invented adolescence, is truly believing that it is all about you. Hence, one of the greatest challenges adults have is to show young people that while they are important and have value beyond their wildest imaginations, true happiness is not found in being selfish, but by being selfless, in imitation of Christ. Going to church is an invaluable means to this end. Of course, it is not the only means, but it is an indispensable one. Studies show that the best predictor as to whether a person will continue attending church as an adult is if s/he grew up going to church, whether they were bored or does not seem to be a factor. Attending church during one’s teenage years seems to be particularly crucial for practicing one’s Christian faith as an adult.

So, might I humbly suggest that, at least from a Christian perspective, going to church is not primarily about you? I mean, if all we’re proposing is indulging the already self-indulged, then we are beaten before we begin. Sure hikes are nice. I find spending time in nature very spiritual, but it is not a substitute for going to church. In my experience, nothing becomes more quickly outdated and irrelevant than fervent attempts to be relevant, to be hip, to be with “it”. This is not an excuse to be slackers when it comes to our corporate worship of God. After all, God is deserving of the very best we have to offer in music, in devotion, in the churches we build to God’s greater glory.

In a world of constant and rapid change, more than ever, we need stability. I very much like the way I once heard Archbishop Niederauer address this very issue in a homily. He said that people frequently shared with him their preference for going golfing, skiing, boating, hiking, or even working in their yards on Sunday to attending Mass. His reply, which I paraphrase, was beautiful because it was a simple call to discipleship: Jesus did not say, “Go golfing in memory of me,” “Go boating, skiing, hiking, to the mall, or out to brunch in memory of me.” Rather, Jesus said “Do this in memory of me.” As he spoke those words of Christ he made a sweeping gesture around our beautiful Cathedral here in Salt Lake City. He went on to say how none of the things people often prefer to going to church were bad things, on the contrary, they are good things, but they are made better, that is, more meaningful by our participation in the liturgy in faithfulness to Christ’s summons. You see, it is both/and, not either/or. Likewise, dealing with the issue of church and boredom is also a both/and proposition. We certainly need to find ways to help young people see the importance, the vitality, the beauty, the importance of going to church, but we will not succeed by trying to come up with something new every time a young person, or a group of young people complain that church is boring. Another aspect of this that I will but mention in passing is tradition, which is not stultifying and static, but life-giving and dynamic. I guess my plea is not to throw the baby out with the bathwater.

As a Catholic, the liturgy is the rock to which I cling in the rapids of life. Last New Year’s Eve I was waiting for a Mass at which my oldest daughter, who is fourteen, was singing in the choir, to end. For some reason I made a conscious decision not to attend this liturgy, opting instead to do some work in my parish office. Nonetheless, I desperately wanted to be there at the end of the Mass when the choir sang the Te Deum. You see, my Dad had just been diagnosed with the cancer that over the course of the next few weeks would take him from us. I was hurting and sad, but I felt a deep need to give thanks to God at the end of a difficult year, which I recognized as a great grace from a loving Father. I walked into the church, removed my hat, knelt and joined my heart to this beautiful hymn, being sung in Latin no less. The church was not full (it seats 1,100), but there was a decent-sized congregation, maybe two hundred people. The choir was comprised of all young people most of whom were probably bored. But I know these kids and I know that if I could ever express to them how much I needed what they offered to God that night on my behalf they would agree it was worth it to be there on New Year’s Eve, delaying their plans, their parties, their fun. I am certain that I was not the only one in the church that night who had this need. This is but one example of how going to church is not about you, one that shows why it is so vitally important that you go.

Meum cum sim pulvis et cinis

"Go, therefore and make disciples..."

Prompted by my recent and unexpected immersion in the Jesus People Movement of the '60s-70s and Trip D's recent reflection on how many deacons are too many, today I came across what just might be the best thing on evangelism I have ever read, by Pastor Jake Kircher, who serves as Youth Pastor at Grace Community Church in New Caanan, Connecticut. In an article that appears in Relevant magazine, he asks whether Christians have gotten evangelism wrong by making the church building the locus of evangelization.

While he writes from an Evangelical Christian perspective, I think much of what he writes is very relevant to Catholics. I mean how often do we hear that we need to lighten up the liturgy in order to make it accessible for people, or update it to keep up with the times? In my view, there is nothing more outdated and seemingly irrelevant than a lot of what we now, anachronistically, call contemporary liturgy. Our preaching often falls prey to these kinds of ideas, too. No biblical exposition for Catholics! Why do exegesis when we can pile stories on top of stories in an effort to make the same point repeatedly, namely that we must be nice at all costs? This also permits us to avoid those challenging readings, the ones that really hit us where we live, calling us to repent! As C.S. Lewis once asked, does conversion wrought by our encounter with Christ make you a nice person, or a new person, being made day-by-day into His likeness? The two are not always, nor even often, mutually exclusive. However, Lewis goes on to note: "It is when we notice the dirt that God is most present to us: it is the very sign of his presence." This is true because it makes plain our need to repent, that is, to change, which deep human desire, borne from our great need, is the basis of all authentic evangelization. Back to the point Kircher is trying to make, he asks whether our attempts at "relevant evangelism" are ultimately self-defeating.

Pastor Jake notes that it is weird that very often evangelism revolves around programs that happen at church. This seems to defy the whole notion of evangelism, which requires Christians to "take it to the streets," as it were. Kircher cites Jesus' Great Commission, given in the last chapter of Matthew, in which the Risen Lord says to the eleven, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go..." (28:18-19) As Catholics, every Mass (except some Life Teen masses from years ago, which serve as a great Roman Catholic example of the kind non-evangelizing evangelism at which Kircher takes aim) ends with a dismissal, wherein the deacon or the priest dismisses the congregation, the ekkelsia, the assembly, with one of the following formulae: "The Mass is ended, go in peace"; "Go in the peace of Christ"; "Go in peace to love and serve and the Lord." It is not unusual to hear this- "The Mass is ended, go in peace to love and serve the Lord and one another." In any form, these are unmistakable calls to evangelize, to take Christ to the world, which needs Him so badly!

This is a good context to mention how fond I am of two of the three dismissals in the new English translation of the Roman Missal: "Go and announce the Gospel of the Lord" and "Go in peace, glorifying the Lord by your life." It always helps to remind ourselves that word "Mass" refers specifically to being dismissed, or, in the words of Jesus from Matthew, "Go..." What are we sent to do? To "make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you." (28:19-20a)

This young pastor wisely goes on to point out that the idea of evangelism as drawing non-believers, or fallen-away believers, to a meeting in a church building reveals a very defective understanding of what it means to be Christ's Body, the Church. Instead, Kircher insists, Jesus calls us "to be an attraction outside of the church walls." The Lord wants "to shine through us where we all work, live, play, shop and do life together." To properly understand the distinction between the priesthood of all believers, which is clearly set forth in Scripture (see 1 Peter 2:5; Romans 12:1-2), and the ministerial priesthood, we have to understand that a priest's ministry is primarily, if not exclusively, in and to the church, while the rest of the baptized mostly exercise our ministry outside the church, that is, in the world, revealing that there is also a diaconate of all believers, through which Christ calls us to render diakonia, that is, authentically Christian service to others.

We have to get over the notion "that sharing the Gospel should be left for the professionals" because, by virtue of our baptismal profession, we are the professionals! I like the way Kircher underlines the absurdity of the notion that evangelism should be exclusively left up to the clergy. I tweak his statement to put it in a Catholic context- "You want your friend to know Jesus? Why don’t you bring them to our next parish retreat, lecture, or even Mass where he can hear it straight from our parish priest!" Jesus did not work this way!

Indeed, as Kircher notes, the Lord "didn’t set up a tent somewhere and invite everyone to come out for a revival every Friday night. Instead, He went out to where the people were. He sent His disciples out, untrained and confused as they all were, to spread His message. The Church began, not because everyone was invited to an outreach, but because the disciples were out living life together when the Holy Spirit moved through them." (Acts 2)

There is a lot more I could write about this article, but I want you to read it for yourself, assuming that you are a disciple of Jesus Christ. If you are a follower of the Lord, then you take His Great Commission seriously, even seeing it as your baptismal vocation, for which you received a fuller outpouring of the Holy Spirit in Confirmation, a task you are strengthened for each time you participate in Eucharist before being sent forth to accomplish it. In addition to pointing to our continuity through time and space, this being sent is what we mean when we say the church is apostolic.

Kircher ends with this lovely exhortation/observation:

Evangelism is not something we are supposed to do; it’s something we are supposed to be. If we ourselves have been immersed into the character and values of Christ, then by simply living our lives, we are immersing others into that same Jesus. It is theologically incorrect to say that evangelism isn’t your thing and that you only do it once a month at the outreach event. It is something we all should do every day

Meum cum sim pulvis et cinis

Hierarchy update

The Holy See announced today that Bishop Robert Vasa, who, until today, served as bishop of the Diocese of Baker, Oregon, will become coadjutor to Bishop Daniel Walsh for the Diocese of Santa Rosa, California. Bishop Walsh turns 75, the canonically mandated age at which bishops must submit their resignations to the pope, in October 2012. Most often a coadjutor is appointed at the request of the retiring bishop, particularly if he is considering retirement before reaching 75, which he can do for serious reasons, such as declining health.

With this move the number of vacant Latin Rite dioceses increases to 5: Baker, OR; Salina, KS; Fresno, CA; Joliet in Illinois; Rapid City, SD. The Ruthenian archeparchy of Pittsburgh also remains vacant.

There remain eight ordinaries serving past age 75- Justin Cardinal Rigali archbishop of Philiadelphia; Bishops Boland of Savannah, GA; Sevilla of Yakima, WA; McCormack of Manchester, NH; Bruskewitz of Lincoln, NE; Galeone of St. Augustine, FL; Zipfel of Bismarck, ND; Gettelfinger of Evansville, IN.

Speaking of coadjutors, in February Cardinal Mahony of Los Angeles turns 75 and will likely be succeeded by his coadjutor Archbishop Gómez at that time. Bishop Thomas Doran of Rockford, Illnois also turns 75 next month.

I can't write too many of these without drawing attention to the very valuable service provided by the Catholic Hierarchy website and blog, which is worthy of your support.

Hierarchy update

Today it was announced that the Holy Father accepted the resignation of Bishop Joseph Adamec as the bishop of Altoona-Johnstown, PA, upon having reached the canonical age limit for bishops. It was also announced that Judicial Vicar of the Diocese of Erie, PA, Mark Bartchak, was named to succeed to Bishop Adamec. Bishop-elect Bartchak is 56 years-old and was ordained a priest back in 1981.

With the changes in Pennsylvania, there remain 4 vacant Roman Catholic dioceses in the U.S.: Salina, KS; Fresno, CA; Joliet in Illinois; Rapid City, SD. The Ruthenian archeparchy of Pittsburgh also remains vacant.

With Bishop Adamec's retirement, there are now eight ordinaries serving past age 75- Justin Cardinal Rigali archbishop of Philiadelphia; Bishops Boland of Savannah, GA; Sevilla of Yakima, WA; McCormack of Manchester, NH; Bruskewitz of Lincoln, NE; Galeone of St. Augustine, FL; Zipfel of Bismarck, ND; Gettelfinger of Evansville, IN.

Looking ahead to February, both Cardinal Mahony of Los Angeles, who already has a coadjutor in the person of Archbishop Gómez, and Bishop Thomas Doran of Rockford, Illnois will turn 75, which will require them to submit their resignations to Pope Benedict XVI.

Hierarchy update

UPDATE: Yesterday it was announced that Bishop Ronald Gilmore of the Diocese of Dodge City, KS resigned and that Pope Benedict XVI named John Balthasar Brungardt, priest of the Diocese of Wichita, KS, as the new bishop of Dodge City. Bishop Gilmore resigned at age 68 due to reasons of health in accordance with Can. 401 §2, which states that "[a] diocesan bishop who has become less able to fulfill his office because of ill health or some other grave cause is earnestly requested to present his resignation from office." Bishop-elect Brungardt is 52.

For obvious reasons, I am posting the picture below of The Cathedral of Our Lady of Guadalupé, which is the mother church for the diocese of Dodge City

Given the one-for-one swap (i.e., a bishop retiring and new bishop being named, not transferred from elsewhere), this move does not affect the number of vacant sees in the United States.
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The Holy Father has accepted the resignation of Archbishop Eusebius Beltran of Oklahoma City, who served more than a year beyond the mandatory canonical retirement age for bishops, which is 75. His successor is Archbishop-designate- Paul Coakley, who until today served as the bishop of Salina, Kansas. Coakley is 55.

With Bishop Coakley's transfer there are currently 4 vacant Roman Catholic dioceses in the U.S.: Salina, KS; Fresno, CA; Joliet in Illinois; Rapid City, SD. The Ruthenian archeparchy of Pittsburgh also remains vacant.

With Archbishop Beltran's retirement, there are nine ordinaries serving past age 75- Justin Cardinal Rigali archbishop of Philiadelphia; Bishops Boland of Savannah, GA; Sevilla of Yakima, WA; McCormack of Manchester, NH; Adamec of Altoona-Johnstown, PA; Bruskewitz of Lincoln, NE; Galeone of St. Augustine, FL; Zipfel of Bismarck, ND; Gettelfinger of Evansville, IN.

Maranatha

Hierarchy update

Bishop John Steinbock, the bishop of the Diocese of Fresno, California, passed into eternity today. May he realize the Hope for which he devoted his life as a priest and a bishop. He announced back in August that he was suffering from lung cancer, which was the cause of his death. He was rushed to the hospital last night and passed early this morning surrounded by family and friends. He was 73 and his death leaves the Diocese of Fresno without a bishop.

Bishop Steinbock

Back on 1 December, the Holy Father accepted the resignation of Trenton, New Jersey bishop, John Smith. He is succeeded by his coadjutor, who was ordained back in June, Bishop David O'Connell, who was formerly the president of the Catholic University of America.

These events leave three Latin Rite dioceses vacant: Fresno, CA; Joliet in Illinois; Rapid City, SD. One Eastern Rite vacancy, the Ruthenian Archeparchy of Pittsburgh.

There are currently two Roman Catholic archbishops, His Eminence Justin Cardinal Rigali, archbishop of Philadelphia, PA and His Excellency Eusebius Beltran of Oklahoma City, OK, serving past 75. There are eight bishops serving past the age that the Code of Canon Law requires them to submit their resignations to the Holy Father (i.e., 75): Boland of Savannah, GA; Sevilla of Yakima, WA; McCormack of Manchester, NH; Adamec of Altoona, PA; Bruskewitz of Lincoln, NE; Galeone of St. Augustine, FL: Zipfel of Bismarck, ND; Gettelfinger of Evansville, IN.

Maranatha

"Where is the world conscience?"

Last Wednesday, 10 November 2010, the President of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Francis Cardinal George, OMI, archbishop of Chicago, wrote a letter to President Obama urging him to take measures to protect all Iraqis, especially endangered miniorities, like Christians in the wake of recent attacks.

Dear Mr. President:

The October 31 attack on the Syrian Catholic cathedral in Baghdad that killed 58 and wounded 75, together with the recent wave of bombings in Iraq’s capital, are grim evidence of the savage violence and lack of security that has plagued the Iraqi people, especially Christians and other minorities, for over seven years. Some reports even indicate that the October 31 attack may have been more extensive and the failures of security more egregious than originally thought. Enclosed you will find a press release by the Most Reverend Yousif Habash, Bishop of the Eparchy of Our Lady of Deliverance of Newark for Syrian Catholics.

In the recent Synod of Bishops on the Middle East in Rome, the bishops from Iraq spoke of the terrifying situation facing Christians and other minorities in that country. They recalled murders, kidnappings, bombings, and naked threats that have forced many Christians from their homes and businesses. Ironically, just two weeks before the October 31 attack, Archbishop Athanase Matti Shaba Matoka of the Syrian Catholic Church in Iraq, whose cathedral was the site of the October 31 attack, addressed the Synod: “The invasion of Iraq by America and its allies brought to Iraq in general, and especially to its Christians, destruction and ruin on all levels. … Seven years have passed and Christianity is still bleeding. Where is the world conscience? All the world remains a spectator before what is happening in Iraq, especially with regards to Christians.”

Archbishop Matoka’s strong words remind us of the moral responsibility that the United States bears for working effectively with the Iraqi government to stem the violence. Prior to the war, our Conference of Bishops raised grave moral questions regarding the possibility of U.S. military intervention in Iraq and warned of "unpredictable consequences." The decimation of the Christian community in Iraq and the continuing violence that threatens all Iraqis are among those tragic consequences.

Our troops have served with bravery and distinction, and we welcome the end of U.S.-led combat in Iraq; however, the United States has so far failed in helping Iraqis to develop the political will needed to deploy effective strategies to protect the lives of all citizens, especially Christians and other vulnerable minorities. More must be done to help ensure that refugees and displaced persons are able to return to their homes safely. Having invaded Iraq, our nation has a moral obligation not to abandon those Iraqis who cannot defend themselves.

The murderous attack on innocent Christians gathered for worship witnesses to the need for the United States to redouble its efforts to assist Iraq as our engagement enters a new phase. At a minimum, our country must strengthen its work with Iraqis and the international community to: enable the Iraqi government to function for the common good of all Iraqis; build the capacity of Iraq’s military and police to provide security for all citizens, including minorities; improve the judicial system and rule of law; promote reconciliation and the protection of human rights, especially religious freedom; rebuild Iraq’s shattered economy so that Iraqis can support their families; and assist refugees and internally displaced Iraqis.

To meet its moral obligations to the Iraqi people, it is critically important that the United States take additional steps now to help Iraq protect its citizens, especially Christians and others who are victims of organized attacks. Thank you for your kind consideration of this urgent request.

Sincerely yours,

Francis Cardinal George, O.M.I.
Archbishop of Chicago
President

How many more reasons do yo need to fast, to pray, to give alms and live in solidarity with our brothers and sisters as we prepare again to celebrate the Nativity of Our Lord in safety and security? Alms for the Iraqi Church and all the churches of the Middle East are best given through the Catholic Near Eastern Welfare Association, a cause worthy of your support all the time.

The Psalm-prayer for this evening (Monday, Week I of the Psalter), expresses well our concern for our endangered sisters and brothers:

Lord God, you search the hearts of all, both the good and the wicked. May those who are in danger for love of you, find security in you now, and, in the day of judgment, may they rejoice in seeing you face to face. Amen.

All holy men and women, pray for us, especially the recent martyrs of Baghdad

We need to live in solidarity with our Eastern Catholic brothers and sisters

Sandro Magister's summary of the recently concluded Special Synod of Bishops on the Church in the Middle East far exceeds any other brief yet comprehensive account of this important gathering I have read. He begins by citing a very important demographic statistic, namely that "that in comparison with the twelve million faithful of the ancient Eastern Churches who today live between Egypt and Iran, there are now about seven million living elsewhere." This number living in what is often called by Eastern Christians the diaspora constitutes roughly 37% of members of these ancient apostolic communities. Further, more Christians leave everyday. CNN reported over the weekend that Syriac Archbishop, Athanasio Dawood, speaking from London (Syriac Christians are not Orthodox, a mistake frequently made by the media who wouldn't know that Chaldean Christians are Catholics), called on Syriac Christians to leave Iraq for their own safety. He went on to harshly criticize the Iraqi government, accurately in my view, for doing little or nothing to protect Christians in Iraq, be they Syriac, Orthodox, or Chaldean Catholics.

Magister observes that at the synod most of the participating bishops were careful and diplomatic when speaking about the situation of their flocks, but the representative of the Chaldean Patriarch in Jordan was courageous enough to speak the truth, which is that there is "a deliberate campaign to drive out the Christians. There are Satanic plans by extremist fundamentalist [Islamic] groups against Christians not only in Iraq, but in all the Middle East." This is very much in line with some extemporaneous remarks of the Holy Father made at the beginning of synod:

"Concerning this battle in which we find ourselves, of this taking power away from God, of this fall of false gods, that fall because they are not deities, but powers that can destroy the world, chapter 12 of Revelations mentions these, even if with a mysterious image, for which, I believe, there are many different and beautiful interpretations. It has been said that the dragon places a large river of water before the fleeing woman to overcome her. And it would seem inevitable that the woman will drown in this river. But the good earth absorbs this river and it cannot be harmful. I think that the river is easily interpreted: these are the currents that dominate all and wish to make faith in the Church disappear, the Church that seems no longer to have a place in the face of the force of these currents that impose themselves as the only rationality, as the only way to live."

Perhaps the most important thing to emerge from the synod is the dire need for Eastern Catholic Churches to work more closely together. Plans to do just this were set forth in several of the forty-one propositions that were given to the Holy Father for inclusion in his post-synodal exhortation, which will likely take a year to produce. A Year of the Bible to be simultaneously observed by the Eastern Catholic Churches is one concrete example.

More urgently, it is important to focus "[t]he attention of the whole world... on the tragic situation of certain Christian communities of the Middle East which suffer all manner of trials sometimes even to the point of martyrdom." Hand-in-hand with this is the creation of a commission "entrusted with the study of the phenomenon of migration and of the factors behind it so as to find ways of stopping it." Most concretely, the "1. the creation of a commission of cooperation between the Catholic hierarchs of the Middle East, which will be responsible for the promotion of a common pastoral strategy, better understanding of one another's traditions, inter-ritual institutions and joint charitable organizations; 2. the organisation of regular meetings between Catholic hierarchies of the Middle East; 3. the sharing of material resources between rich and poor dioceses; 4. the foundation of a priestly association, Fidei Donum, for the mutual assistance of eparchies and Churches."

As a member of Communion & Liberation, one of the so-called New Ecclesial Movements, proposition seventeen takes on much importance. It recognizes that the Movements "are a gift of the Spirit to the whole Church," but they arise from within "the Western tradition" and are "increasingly present in the Churches of the Middle East." But it is necessary for members of these movements, in order "to build up the Church" and "to live out their own charism" to take "into full account the culture, history, liturgy, and spirituality of the local Church." In order to do this the Eastern bishops ask that "these movements... without delay to start working in union with the bishop of the place and to follow his pastoral instructions. It would be desirable for the Catholic hierarchy of each country of the Middle East to work out a common pastoral position on the movements in question, their integration and pastoral activity." Indeed, it seems prudent to require this of these ecclesial movements if their charism leads them to be present and active in the Middle East. In nowise should New Ecclesial Movements be a means of Latinizing Eastern Christians!

Writing about my own Movement, we sometimes become so fixated on what happens in the West that we fail to be in solidarity with our brothers and sisters who are undergoing what can only be described as bloody martyrdom. Large ecclesial Movements can and should do more to bring attention to the plight of the Churches of the Middle East and render assistance, especially the assistance of helping these Churches to remain present in their lands of origin.

Further, it was proposed that Eastern Catholic patriarchs be granted jurisdiction over their whole Churches, whether in their land of origin or overseas. For example, the Maronite patriarch should have papal-like jurisdiction over the Maronite Church everywhere in the world. Eastern Churches should be allowed to send and ordain married priests to minister to communities anywhere in the world. Eastern Churches should be allowed much more autonomy in appointing bishops. Finally, Eastern Patriarchs should be included in conclaves to select a new pope "ipso facto" and "without the necessity of receiving the Latin title of cardinal." This would mean no superannuation at age 80, due to the fact that, like the pope, patriarchs serve until death. This, at least it is hoped, would allow the pope "a new form of the exercise of the primacy inspired by the ecclesial forms of the first millennium." "All of this," Magister points out, is to help bring "the positions of the Catholic Church closer to those of the Eastern Orthodox Churches" with regard to the exercise of papal primacy.

Many bishops also brought up the absolute necessity, even in these difficult circumstances, for the Church to reinvigorate its missionary mandate. The Chaldean "archbishop of Tehran, Ramzi Garmou, delved even deeper into this need. After saying that 'a new missionary impulse' is vital 'to knock over the ethnic and nationalist barriers that threaten to asphyxiate and make sterile the Churches of the East,' he recalled 'the fundamental importance of monastic life for the renewal and reawakening of our Churches.'"

Finally, the always problematic issue of Israel. In short, Eastern Christians need to stop their reactive hostility to Israel and to see in militant Islam the greatest threat to individual Christians and to their churches.

All holy men and women, pray for us

Hierarchy update

The Holy See announced today that Bishop Gerald Noonan, previously an auxiliary bishop for the Archdiocese of Miami, is the new bishop of the Diocese of Orlando Florida, succeeding Archbishop Thomas Wenski, who left Orlando upon being appointed archbishop of Miami. Bishop Noonan is 59 and was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Miami at age 32 back in 1983.

Bishop Noonan's appointment leaves only two vacant Latin Rite dioceses in the United States: Joliet in Illinois and Rapid City, South Dakota. However, there are currently eleven ordinaries serving past the canonically established retirement age of 75. The only Eastern Catholic ecclesiastical jurisdiction in the U.S. currently vacant is the Ruthenian Archeparcy, based in Phliadelphia. This see was vacated in June when Archbishop Basil Schott, O.F.M. passed away.

Veni Sancte Spiritus, Veni per Mariam

Hierarchy update: Consistory called for November

After almost a year of speculation, the Holy Father made the official announcement today at his Wednesday audience that he will hold a consistory on 20 November 2010. At this consistory Pope Benedict will create 24 new cardinals of the Holy Roman Church. I weighed in with some speculation last November in a post The Sacred College of Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church.

Of note and special concern to me is that one Eastern Rite patriarch, Antonios Naguib, Patriarch of Alexandria of the Copts in Egypt, will be created a cardinal. Unlike the Maronite and Chaldean patriarchs, who, while members of the Sacred College, are superannuated, that is, they are over 80 and, hence, unable to participate in any conclave to select the next pope, Patriarch Antonios, at 75, is eligible to participate in a conclave should one occur in the next four years or so. It is interesting to note that one of the items being discussed at the Synod of Bishops on the Middle East currently being held in Rome is allowing the patriarchs of Eastern Churches, who do not resign at age 75, but, like the pope, can serve until death, to participate in conclaves regardless of age and without having to be members of the College of Cardinals. When one is created a cardinal he becomes a member of the clergy of Rome. Needless to say, creating an Eastern patriarch a cardinal of the Holy Roman Church is ecclesiologically complicated and not always well-received in Eastern Catholic circles, not to mention puzzling to our Orthodox friends.

Chaldean Patriarch Emmanuel III Delly, being created a cardinal November 2007

Two prelates from the U.S. are among those who will don red in November: Archbishop Raymond Burke, Prefect of the Apostolic Signatura, which is something akin to the canonical supreme court and Archbishop Donald Wuerl of Washington. D.C. Neither Archbishop Dolan of New York nor Archbishop Gomez of Los Angeles were on the list this time around. In the case of Dolan, his predecessor, Cardinal Egan, has not yet reached 80 and Gomez remains coadjutor to Cardinal Mahoney in Los Angeles, who will not turn 80 for more than 5 years.

Also on the list is Archbishop Reinhard Marx, who, as archbishop of München und Freising, leads the church formerly led by the Holy Father himself, prior to his being summoned to Rome in 1981 by Pope John Paul II. I am still waiting for an English translation of the 2008 book written by Marx, who is a sociologist, Das Kapital:A Plea for Man.

Barring any untimely deaths, the creation of 20 new cardinals on 20 November 2010 will raise the number of electors for a potential conclave to 121 until 26 January 2011, when Cardinal Panafieu of Marseille, France turns 80, at which time the number of electors will be 120, the number specified in the Apostolic Constitution, promulgated by Pope John Paul II in 1996, Universi Dominici Gregis. A number Pope Benedict, unlike his predecessor, has been keen not to exceed.

As has become customary, the Holy Father has named four men cardinals as something of an honorarium, all of them entering the Sacred College already having turned 80. Staying with the precedent established when the great Dominican theologian Yves Congar was created a cardinal by Pope John Paul II, the two of these men who are not already bishops will not be ordained to the episcopacy.

Veni Sancte Spiritus, Veni per Mariam

Hierarchy update

Today it was announced that Bishop Gustavo Garcia-Siller, M.Sp.S., who currently serves as an auxiliary bishop in Chicago, will be the next archbishop of San Antonio, Texas. He succeeds Archbishop Gomez, who was named coadjutor to Cardinal Mahony in Los Angeles in April of this year. Bishop Garcia-Siller is a member of the Missionaries of the Holy Spirit, a religious order of Mexican origin founded in 1914.

With Garcia-Siller's appointment there are now three Latin Rite dioceses in the United States that are vacant: Orlando, Florida; Rapid City, South Dakota; Joliet in Illinois. Additionally, there are ten ordinaries serving past the canonical retirement age of 75- Justin Cardinal Rigali of Philadelphia and Archbishop Beltran of Oklahoma City, along with Bishops Boland of Savannah, GA; Smith of Trenton, NJ; Sevilla of Yakima, WA; McCormack of Manchester, NH; Adamec of Altoona-Johnstown, PA; Bruskewitz of Lincoln, NE; Galeone of St. Augustine, FL; Zipfel of Bismarck, North Dakota. Bishop Gettelfinger of Evansville, Indiana will turn 75 on 20 October. Bishop Smith of Trenton, NJ has a coadjutor in place in the person of Bishop David O'Donnell, who will succeed him once the Holy Father accepts his retirement.

Veni Sancte Spiritus, Veni per Mariam

Hierarchy Update

The Holy See announced this morning that Bishop James Sartain, who had been the bishop of the diocese of Joliet, Illnois, will become the next archbishop of Seattle, replacing the retiring Alexander Brunett, who is beyond the mandatory retirement age of 75.

With this change, there are now nine bishops serving beyond 75: Justin Cardinal Rigali, Philadelphia, PA; Archbishop Eusebius Beltran, Oklahoma City, OK; Bishops Boland of Savannah, GA; Smith of Trenton, N.J.; Sevilla of Yakima; McCormack of Manchester, N.H.; Adamec of Altoona, PA; Bruskewitz of Lincoln, NE; Galeone of St. Augustine, FL. Bishop Smith of Trenton will be replaced by his coadjutor. Two bishops will reach the mandatory retirement age by the end of October: Zipfel of Bismarck, N.D. and Gettelfinger of Evansville, IN.

There are four vacant Latin Rite sees: San Antonio, TX, Rapid City, SD, Orlando, FL, and Joliet in Illinois.

"I want to be a man of the Church."

"I want to be a man of the Church. I do not want to be called by the name of some founder of a heresy. But in the name of Christ, and to bear that name which is blessed on earth. It is my desire, in deed as in spirit, both to be and to be called a Christian.

Origen

"If I, who seem to be your right hand and am called presbyter [for me διάκονος] and seem to preach the word of God, if I do something against the discipline of the Church and the rule of the Gospel so that I become a scandal to you, the Church, then may the whole Church, in unanimous resolve, cut me, its right hand, off, and throw me away"- Origen.

This quote by the great Origen is the epigraph to Hans Urs Von Balthasar's Origenes: Geist und Feuer, or, Origen: Spirit and Fire .

Christ's institution of the Eucharist

Another salient quote by His Beatitude Maximos IV from one of his interventions at the Second Vatican Council:

"Christ offered the first Eucharistic Sacrifice in a language which could be understood by all who heard him, namely, Aramaic. … Never could the idea have come to them [the Apostles] that in a Christian gathering the celebrant should read the texts of Holy Scripture, sing psalms, preach or break bread, and at the same time use a language different from that of the community gathered there … because this language [Latin] was spoken by the faithful of that time, Greek was abandoned in favor of Latin. … Why, then, should the Roman Church cease to apply the same principle today?"

"...compatible with the unity of faith and love"

His Beatitude, Maximos IV Melkite Patriarch 1947-1967

"We have, therefore, a twofold mission to accomplish within the Catholic Church. We must fight to ensure that Latinism and Catholicism are not synonymous, that Catholicism remains open to every culture, every spirit, and every form of organization compatible with the unity of faith and love. At the same time, by our example, we must enable the Orthodox Church to recognize that a union with the great Church of the West, with the See of Peter, can be achieved without being compelled to give up Orthodoxy or any of the spiritual treasures of the apostolic and patristic East, which is opened toward the future no less to the past"- Patriarch Maxios IV Sayegh during one his interventions at the Second Vatican Council. From the very first session, in which he refused to speak Latin, addressing the Sacred Assembly instead in French, and addressing their Beatitudes, the Patriarchs before the Cardinals of Holy Roman Church, more than anyone, he set the tone for the Council.