Blog to discuss the book "The Apocalypse - Letter by Letter: A Literary Analysis of the Book of Revelation" and current events that point to the events described therein.
It is suspicious timing to say the least that Bob Novak comes out with a column claiming that prominent US Cardinals Wuerl and Egan invited pro-choice politicians to Holy Mass and at the same time Cardinal Egan is saying he "warned Rudy Giuliani" not to receive communion. Either Novak is in error or Egan is employing that well-honed skill that the Bishops have perfected - damage control.
Either way, it is a fact that while the Church hierarchy has clearly enunciated that canon law prohibits a public and persistent sinner from Communion, the U.S. Bishops have waffled in their enforcement and once again this year have deferred a definitive statement on the matter until "after the election" as they did four years ago. In doing so, they bring scandal on the faithful, especially those who have toiled for the unborn for a generation, often against powerful interests in government and industry.
The sin of the bishops reminds me of the sin of David who for lust for a woman exposed his own general in battle. The pro-life warriors like Judy Brown of American Life League, Fr. Frank Pavone of Priests For Life, and Fr. Enteneuer of Human Life International, while tirelessly working for the unborn are continually undercut by bishops who are more interested in cozying up to political power and enjoying the trappings of their office than speaking the truth.
The two Cardinals mentioned have questionable pasts themselves as Egan has been linked to the shuttling of sex abusive priests while a bishop in Connecticut and Wuerl likewise while in Pennsylvania was known as "gay-friendly". That such morally weak pastors are less likely to confront the sin of abortion committed by the powerful is no surprise. That the Pope can't seem to persuade them otherwise is the puzzling paradox of our time.
Note: You can expect a slew of articles like this one during the pope's visit timed to dampen any enthusiasm for Catholicism his visit might spur. With that said, the data was collected by the US Bishops and does reflect a lax attitude towards the core teachings of the Church, especially the sacraments.
Study Finds American Catholics Embrace Their Faith, But Not Mass Sunday , April 13, 2008
NEW YORK - American Catholics said in a new survey they were pleased with the leadership of Pope Benedict XVI, ahead of his first visit to the U.S. since he was elected. The study also found intense interest in faith among some young people.
Yet, few parishioners overall said they go to confession, and most believed they could be good Roman Catholics without going to Mass.
The poll, released Sunday, was commissioned by the nation's bishops and conducted in February by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University.
San Francisco Archbishop George Niederauer, head of the bishops' communications committee, was encouraged by the openness to faith in the survey but said it highlighted the need for better religious instruction.
"The challenge for church leaders," he said, "is to help them see what Catholicism really means." Strengthening Catholic identity and observance are central themes of Benedict's papacy, and topics he is expected to address when he travels to Washington and New York starting Tuesday.
In the survey, eight of 10 Catholics said they were somewhat or very satisfied with his leadership. Nearly half a million people sought tickets to his public events in both cities.
The poll found that Catholics born before 1960 — among the most faithful parishioners — and those born since the 1980s have similar outlooks.
For Catholics who attend Mass at least once a month, an overwhelming majority of the young and older generation believe Christ is present in the Eucharist.
Even more, the younger, regular Mass-goers surpass their elders in observing Lent, with nearly all saying they abstain from meat on Fridays and receive ashes on Ash Wednesday. The young people are also more likely to consider devotion to saints very important to their faith.
However, the study found that only 36 percent of the younger Catholics attend Mass at least once a month, compared with 64 percent of the older generation.
Sixty-eight percent of all Catholics surveyed said they agreed that they believed they could be in good standing with the church without going to weekly Mass.
The poll, "Sacraments Today: Belief and Practice Among U.S. Catholics," found that nearly one-third of the nation's 64 million Catholics attend Mass in any given week. That figure has remained the same in the last five years, according to the report.
Thirty percent of the respondents said they go to confession less than once a year and 45 percent said they never go.
Regarding the church's social justice teaching, two-thirds of Catholics said helping those in need is a moral duty for Catholics.
The survey also measured satisfaction with the American church hierarchy. Seventy-two percent of Catholics said they were somewhat or very satisfied with the bishops' leadership, a 14-point jump since 2004, when the clergy sex abuse crisis was still roiling the church.
Note: Emphasis in bold mine. "A devastating and catastrophic mistake"
Priests praise return of traditional Latin Mass; say discouraging its use for so long was an error
Priests in the Bay Area are speaking out in favor of the traditional Latin Mass, telling a secular newspaper the old rite has several virtues nearly lost by the Church.
"For a long time, I have felt that the Mass we're doing today is not as reverent," Fr. Lawrence Goode told the March 13 Oakland Tribune. Fr. Goode offers the traditional Latin Mass at 7 p.m. every first Friday of the month at St. Francis of Assisi Church in East Palo Alto.
Goode has been celebrating the Mass according to Pope John XXIII's 1963 Roman Missal for six months at St. Francis. He told the Tribune that he wants eventually to celebrate the old rite on more occasions. "It helps in my devotion," Goode said. "It makes me conscious of the meaning of what I'm doing. (But) I'm just beginning to get the hang of it." More than 40 people assisted at the Mass on March 7.
The Second Vatican Council, noted the Tribune, never banned the old rite of the Mass outright, "but it was gradually phased out."
"We felt it was wrong to suppress it (the old Latin Mass)," Fr. William Young, who resides at Most Holy Redeemer parish in San Francisco's Castro district, told the Tribune. Fr. Young says the traditional Latin Mass at the Chapel of the Most Holy Rosary in San Rafael. The chapel is located on the grounds of the St. Vincent School for Boys, a residential treatment center for emotionally troubled young men. Fr. Young told the newspaper that suppressing the rite "was a devastating and catastrophic mistake."
"We were determined to do all we could to keep it from becoming something for antiquarians to study," said Fr. Young.
The San Rafael Mass is, currently, the only regular Sunday celebration of the traditional Mass in the archdiocese, which includes San Francisco, San Mateo and Marin counties, with an estimated 425,000 Catholics.
Fr. Young, who was ordained in 1976, said that before Pope Benedict XVI's motu proprio last July freeing up the celebration of the old rite, "to celebrate it would constitute disobedience and disloyalty. Rome allowed the impression that the Mass was forbidden to continue."
"The old Mass attempts to create a sense of the transcendent and the sacred," Fr. Young told the newspaper. "It attempts to create an experience that is totally discontinuous of ordinary experience."
Another priest interviewed by the Tribune, Msgr. Bruno Peschiera, celebrated the traditional Mass in Rome for ten years. "There is a great devotion," he said. "You see the respect for the Eucharist and for the things that happen at the altar."
Sixty-four-year-old Joan Favero of Santa Cruz told the Tribune the Mass is "just part of life. I don't think it's important to actually be part of the Mass as far as answering in English. Worshipping God is why we are there. Any other type of community or social activity can be after Mass."
I apologize to my frequent visitors for not posting or writing much the last few days. I've had a bit of writer's block. Or rather, the ideas and news articles have come so fast and furious lately that I haven't had time to thoroughly read them all and pick the ones most relevant to the Apocalypse.
But what has really been on my mind is the complete collapse of the Catholic way of life as seen through the prism of the local parish. I was contemplating that during the Triduum when we are at our supposedly most solemn. On Holy Thursday, a cell phone was vibrating in someones pocket behind me. It belonged to someone in the choir. On Good Friday, the Missal says to leave Church silently. But instead, I heard the usual chatter about every meaningless topic people could think of.
As a child, both before and shortly after the "reforms" a Church was a holy place, a sacred place. When you entered, even as a child, you knew to be quiet and respectful. You wore decent clothes there, especially on holy days. And you reverenced the priest, never questioning his holiness.
Now, the priest is treated like one of the gang. The building is almost constantly abuzz with chatter. The genuflect is hardly ever seen. The altar service is almost completely female now. Once reserved for young men who could later hear a call to the priesthood, now it's a social club for girls and boys have no interest. The same holds true for the foot washing on Holy Thursday, the initiation to the priesthood that Christ performed for his apostles. Now it's some sort of social status, missing the whole point of "the greatest among you must serve the least".
The pews are emptier now. So are the seminaries. Birth control is no longer enumerated as a sin in public. It has taken its toll. Homosexuality has compromised the priesthood even though only a small minority of priests practice it.
I went to confession on a Saturday in Lent at a fairly large parish. My wife and two of my seven children went with me. We were the only people there at first. As we left a very elderly couple arrived. That was it. As a child I remember long lines for confession on almost any Saturday. I remember a missal with words in Latin on one page and in English on the next so you could follow along. I remember an altar rail that we knelt at as an altar boy held a patten under our chins and the priest placed the host on out tongues.
I feel like I switched to a strange religion somewhere along the way, a protestant one. I long for the one from my childhood, the one where everything was sacred. Will I ever see it again?
I have to believe with all my heart that we are in a time when "the Sun is darkened and the moon does not give its light". Divine truth is no longer being taught. Strange doctrines have replaced it - radical feminism, environmentalism and relativism. Man has become his own God.
I also remember how full the churches were right after September 11, 2001. Catholic churches. People know the truth deep down. It is written on our nature. But we are being mislead and deceived. The time is drawing near when a false prophet, The False Prophet, will lead many away from the Church of Peter. And a leader will unite most of the world in a kingdom opposed to all the Church has taught for two millenia. And the only obstacle left will be the pope. And he will be assassinated shortly after his difficult election.
It's all in the book. And it seems more true today than when it was given to me a few years ago.
It's snowing today, hard. And the wind is blowing too, up to 40 mph. Since it's Sunday, there aren't any school closings but across the bottom of the television screen is a long list of church closings. The Methodists, Assembly of God, Unitarians, Lutherans, Episcopalians and a whole long list of others. Many Catholic Churches also cancelled religious education classes.
But my wife pointed out something interesting. No Catholic Masses were cancelled. You see, the sacrifice of the Mass goes on no matter what. From a purely logistical sense, it's not a problem for the Priest. He lives there. And, no, they aren't putting parishioners at risk. There was an overflow crowd at the vigil Mass last night long beforethe snow began to fall.
The fact is, you don't cancel the Sacrifice of the Mass. It would be imprudent to dis-invite the Savior of the world because of weather. All it requires for Christ to become truly present in His Church is a Priest to say the Mass. Nobody else need be there. So no matter what the weather, the Mass goes on.
How unfortunate for the separated brethren that the customs they have created are of so little consequence.
