The Poisoned Cup of Betrayal

Wednesday of Holy Week (A)

Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP

St. Joseph Church, Ponchatoula

Judas Iscariot is one of three souls Dante condemns to the ninth circle of Hell, the circle reserved for traitors. He spends eternity being gnawed on by one of the three heads of the Devil. That Judas is a traitor is indisputable. He betrayed his friend and teacher, Jesus, to the men who plotted against him. For 30 pieces of silver and with a kiss, Judas sends Jesus to Pilate and the cross. Why Judas betrayed his friend is up for speculation. A quick read of the gospel story seems to point to greed. Judas was a thief. He stole from the disciples' common purse, robbing his brother-students of contributions made by the faithful. It's possible that Judas' greed joined forces with his nationalism and both pushed him to betray Jesus b/c he felt that Jesus had betrayed his promise to claim the Judean throne in a bloody revolution. Or maybe Judas was destined to betray Jesus and simply acted out his scripted part in the Passion drama. Figuring out the psychological motivations of the living is difficult; doing so for the long-dead is impossible. What we know is that Judas sold his friend and teacher for a price. He lived just long enough to regret that bargain. Whatever we may think of Judas, his betrayal of Christ brings home one hard truth: even our most faithful friendships are poisoned when we bargain with the Devil.

Everyone involved in the plot against Jesus understands that they are plotting against an innocent man. They distort his teachings. They find witnesses to lie about his actions. They knowingly accuse him of crimes he did not commit. Even Pilate knows that he's innocent, but he takes the politician's route of irresponsibility and dumps the decision to execute Jesus onto the mob. And the mob—cheering Jesus on Monday and screaming for his execution on Friday—knows nothing more of the man or his mission than what they've heard on the street. He's a blasphemer, a revolutionary, a fraud. They betray Jesus and their own religious heritage by finding him guilty w/o the trial that their traditions demand. All of them—the Pharisees, the scribes, the chief priests, the Romans, the mob, and even his own friends—all of them make a bargain with the Devil and suffer from the poison he injects into their souls. For each of them the poison is slightly different but no less deadly. At the moment they seal the deal with the Enemy, they become enemies of God.

And that's the Devil's ultimate goal: to increase the ranks of God's enemies. He lead a third of the angelic host into Hell. From the Pit, he tempts and taunts and tries his best to make us believe that it is possible for us to become gods w/o God. He will use silver to tear one away from Christ's friendship. He will use anger and vengeance to tear away another. With subtle compromise and accommodation he will gather many more. Most of us don't have it in us to be a Pilate or a Judas. But how many of us have the makings of a Mary or a Martha? We don't have to be Pilate or Judas to betray the Christ. Nor do we have to be Mary or Martha to be his faithful friend. When the crisis moment comes, when our enemies enter the garden and ask, “Aren't you a friend of the man from Nazareth?”, all we need do is set our faces like flint and tell the truth. Let the sword fall, or the cell door close, or the gag choke our voice. Let come what will. But tell the truth. Anyone who bargains with the Devil, anyone who closes a deal with sin lives just long to regret it. And that's just long enough to be too late.

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A Rant about "The Borgias"

I caught the fourth episode of Showtime's new costume drama, The Borgias last night.  From a production-values standpoint, it was very nicely done.  Not quite as lavish as their last effort, The Tudors, but still favorably comparable.

One glaring error was their treatment of the Dominican friar, Girolamo Savonarola.  Fra. Girolamo was a fiery Florentine preacher who railed against the political and moral corruption of the papacy of Alexander VI (Rodrigo Borgia). 

The Good Dominican Friar is introduced preaching in a pulpit wearing something that looks like a Benedictine habit belted with a cord!  Throughout the episode, he is referred to as a member of a mendicant Order but the Order is never named.  He appears a couple of times in the same habit.  One of the pope's enemies visits Savonarola in his cell at the priory and they talk beneath a huge painting of OP saints and blesseds--all wearing historically accurate OP habits. 

Savonarola was sent to Florence in 1482.  He was 30 years old.  He was executed at 48 years old. In the episode, he is portrayed by an actor in his late sixties. 

Another error:  the pope's son dresses a spy in a habit identical to Savonarola's and sends him to watch his father's chief enemy in the College of Cardinals.  The cardinal ends up in a confessional with the spy.  When the spy flubs the rite, the cardinal asks the spy to identify his Order.  He responds, "I am a member of the Mendicant Order of St. Benedict."  Ugh. 

My complaint is less about the specific errors than it is about the general inability/unwillingness of these productions to get Church Stuff right.  How hard could it be to google "Savonarola" and figure out the details of the OP habit, his age, and the name of his Order?

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Coffee Cup Browsing

A quick review of the new HBO series based on the first novel in George R. R. Martin's Fire & Ice saga, The Game of Thrones.  If you read a lot of fantasy, you will like Martin's novels.  They are long on plot/character but the supernatural elements are muted.

On the disappearance of the anti-war Left.  Why aren't those protesters screaming and foaming at the mouth in front of the White House like they did from 2003 to 2008?  

Fr. Z. gives us an amusing rendition of a Children's Mass. . .in Latin.  This is not at all improbable!

Prof. Jacobson marks the beginning of Passover with a repost of his 2009 article on the role of Christian America in the defense of the Jewish people.

On the U.N. prostituting itself to one Big Solution after another in order to increase its power and influence:  ". . .apocalyptic rent-seeking is an institutional feature of the UN. . ."

Soon. . .

Calvin & Hobbes quotes. . .these are great!

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Choose: Mary or Judas?

Monday of Holy Week (A)

Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP

St. Joseph Church, Ponchatoula

Yesterday—Palm Sunday—began for us a week-long remembrance of a series of outrageous events that precede Jesus to his death on the cross. Entering Jerusalem on a donkey and hailed as a king by the crowds, Jesus goes on to visit Lazarus, Mary, and Martha in preparation for the Jewish feast of Passover. Today's outrageous events in the family's home foreshadow Good Friday's execution and reveal the hearts of two of Jesus' disciples: the devoted heart of Mary and the traitorous heart of Judas. Defying religious law, social convention, and good fiscal sense, Mary uses a pint of expensive perfume oil to anoint Jesus' feet. She compounds this outrageous act with another: she uncovers her hair and uses it to dry the oil from his feet. Mary's devotion shocks Judas who protests the anointing, arguing that the oil should be sold and the proceeds given to the poor. Since he was stealing from the disciples' treasury, his real concern, of course, is for his own pockets not the poor. Judas' traitorous heart is a sharp contrast for Mary's devoted heart, and we learn from the contrast the ultimate worth of extravagant love when weighed against the pretenses of faked charity. With his indignant outburst, Judas pretends to care about the poor. But it is Mary who exemplifies the proper attitude of a beloved disciple. While she points toward Jesus' death and burial by anointing him, Judas actually brings about his death by betraying him. Our Holy Week question is: will you be a Mary or a Judas the week before Easter?

By almost every measure that we hold dear, Mary's anointing of Jesus' feet is outrageously wasteful, an over-the-top act of devotion that would likely set even the most extravagant among us to wonder about her sanity. That jar of oil was worth a year's wages! And she just dumps it on Jesus' feet! We have wonder if Lazarus and Martha tried to stop her, or did they just look on in horror along with Judas? Jesus doesn't object. When Judas sputters his outrage, Jesus says, “Leave her alone.  Let her keep this for the day of my burial. You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.” What is it that Mary is supposed to keep for Jesus' burial? Maybe there's a bit of the oil left, or maybe he's referring to Mary's devoted heart, her extravagant love. There will always “the poor” among them for them to love and serve, but he will be with them for only a few more days. It is Mary's deeply rooted charity that will survive his death and that charity will serve the poor far longer than Judas' coin.

Our practical natures might be tempted to side with Judas on the question of whether or not to sell the oil and give the proceeds to the poor. Even though he's stealing from the treasury, surely Judas is right to object to the waste of the oil. Even if he steals half the money from the sell, a lot of poor folks can be fed from half a year's wages. Surely that's a better use of the oil, a more efficient way of being charitable. Judas' motives for wanting to sell the oil should not be allowed to taint the final goodness of the righteous goal of feeding the hungry. And if this were a story about the most efficient means of handling a common purse, then Judas would be right. Unfortunately for Judas, this is a story about Jesus' impending death and who marks his passing with the proper devotion and respect. Mary's love leads her to the cross with Jesus. Judas' greed leads him to betrayal. Mary's love binds her to a life of discipleship. Judas' guilt hangs him with a rope and ends his life in suicide. Mary lives on as an example of servant-devotion; Judas died as an example of what happens when we allow selfish expediency to rule our hearts. 

This week we remember the outrageous events leading up to Jesus' execution. We can follow Mary's example or Judas' example. Will you love exuberantly, or you will pretend to love and betray your Christ?

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Cheer him! Crucify him!

from Palm Sunday 2007:

The Mass

Palm Sunday: Phil 2.6-11 and Luke 22.14-23.56

Fr. Philip N. Powell, OP

St Luke Church, St Paul Hospital and Church of the Incarnation

Paul says that Jesus, emptying himself, took on the form of a slave and became one of us to die as one of us for all of us. We can cheer all we want. Wave palms all we want. No one here will ask Jesus to let his cup pass. No one here will volunteer to hang on that cross and let Jesus go free. Are we cowards? No. We know that Jesus must die so that we might live. The certainty of his death is the only possibility of our eternal life. Only he is Son of God, Son of Man; fully human, fully divine. His death pulls us down into the grave and his rising again draws us up with him. Everything that needs to be healed will be healed. All repairs will be made. Nothing will be left broken or hurt.

But today, just today, knowing what we know about his journey from here to the tomb, even still we must cheer and whistle. And wave palms. And shout “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” And we want so much to grab the tail end of his departing scene and pull it back, just yank it back to the garden or the roaring sea or the mountaintop or the desert or to any of the dozens of place where we sat with him to listen to God’s wisdom, to see the radiant glory of his love for us.

We want him anywhere but here in Jerusalem. He rides to the cross, ya know? And we must cheer. We must cheer because later we will shout, “Crucify him! Crucify him!” What did we forget between our cheering him into the city and our heckling him to the cross, between our exuberant welcome and our jeering blood lust? To be Christ we must follow Christ. Who wants to follow Christ to the cross? Who wants their flesh torn and bleeding? Who wants the thorns of a mocking crown piercing their scalp? I deny him. I do not know him. No, I’m not his disciple. Never heard of him, never met him. Who? Who? No, sorry, doesn’t ring a bell.

We’ve come too far for that now, brothers and sisters! That desert was forty days long. Along the way we dropped coffee and tea, booze and cigarettes, TV and shopping, email and chocolate. We dropped gossiping, nagging, sex, meat, cussing. We picked up extra hours of prayer, daily Mass, weekly confession, spiritual reading, volunteer hours, being nice to little brother and sister, obeying mom and dad, obeying husband or wife, extra money in the plate on Sunday. The devil bought out his best temptations to show us our weaknesses and sometimes he won and sometimes we won. But he knows and you need to know if you don’t already: God wins all the time, every time, for all time! And He has given us Easter to prove it. But now…if you will be Christ you must follow Christ. Walk right behind him. Feel the stones. Wipe the spit. Hear the curses and jeers. Taste the salty iron of blood. See the cross on his shoulder. And know that he carries for you the only means of your salvation. The sacrificial victim carries his own altar to the church of the skulls.

How far will you follow?

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Coffee Bowl Browsing

Q:  Father, where have you been the last few days???  A:  My doctor doubled one of my BP meds and it made me a bit lethargic.  Actually, it almost zombified me!  I'm adjusting. . .

Modernism, Pius X, and contemporary progressive Catholicism. . . 

Koran-burning is condemned; Bible-burning is required.

Useless U.N. scrubs eco-disaster predictions from its website. . .

Ah well, maybe HancAquam will make next year's list!

On the sacrificial nature of the Mass. . .

The Oh-So-Tolerant Left in Madison, WI. . .CAUTION:  obscene language!  Apparently, folks, this is what democracy looks like.  More like mob-rule.

Nanny State nannies targeting gripers in airport security lines.  I hope they never learn to read minds. . .I'll be in some serious trouble!

The much-lauded youth catechism is becoming something of an albatross. 

B.O. to Catholics, "You are the enemy."

Translation:  "Yea, I owe you money and you ain't never gonna see it."

He cut himself not-shaving?

Boycott whipped cream!!!

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Thanks for the book. . .

My thanks to the kind HancAquam Book Benefactor who sent me Fr. Congar's book,  True and False Reform in the Church.  The invoice had no name or return address on it!

You are in my prayers. . .God bless, Fr. Philip

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Coffee Bowl Browsing

Looks like that Historic Budget Deal B.O. and the GOP are pushing is really just more smoke and mirrors.  Figures. 

150 "Catholic" colleges have ties to Planned Parenthood.   If one book by one theologian can get the attention of the USCCB Cmte on Doctrine, then 150 Catholic colleges frolicking with the nation's largest baby-killer ought to stir up a little action.

Several more Catholic colleges participate in a conference aimed at "Creating an inclusive environment in higher education for LGBTQ students and studies.”  NB:  you may find some of the language offensive. 

"Lady Gaga provokes Catholic ire". . .which is EXACTLY what she was hoping to do.  Much like the predictable dissent from the Catholic Left, the whole point of "courageously challenging the hierarchy blahblahblah" is to get the hierarchy (or its surrogates) to yell and scream at you publicly so your CD/book/concert sales increase.  No such thing as Bad Publicity.

Excellent survey of the common myths surrounding the Crusades. . .if you have relied on movies, TV, and popular history for your Crusades info, you don't know much at all!

A report from two Philly shrinks on those 21 priests suspended b/c of abuse allegations:  "The result of the investigation was that the charges were not substantiated against many of those 21 priests. Then, these priests were notified and there was no disruption of their priestly ministry. The failure of the Archdiocese to communicate these facts to the public is difficult to understand. The public falsely believes these priests are guilty."   

 

Chicago's "Fr. Hollywood" pitches a fit and threatens to leave the Church if he doesn't get his way.  Methinks someone needs a time-out and a nap.   

Someone is experiencing Pants Issues.

Men vs. Women. . .the first joke is the best!

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Judging vs. Being Judgmental

5th Week of Lent (M)

Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP

St. Joseph Church, Ponchatoula

What's the difference between “making a judgment” and “being judgmental”? In ordinary English usage, we “make judgments” all the time. We judge the distance between cars when driving. We judge the amount of salt we use when cooking. We make a judgment about how much money we can spend this month on books. If making these sorts of judgments makes us judgmental, then we are in some serious trouble. “Being judgmental” is something far more dangerous than just deciding which pair of shoes to wear to work, or whether or not to have another cup of coffee. Ordinarily, we say that someone is “being judgmental” when it becomes clear that he or she is prone to accusing others of sin, collecting evidence against them, pronouncing a guilty verdict, and then demanding a harsh sentence for their sins. We usually say that this self-appointed judge and juror is “being judgmental” even if the person he or she is accusing is obviously guilty of sin. In other words, the fact that the accuser is right about the accused in no way lessens our sense that the accuser is “being judgmental.” We hear all the time that we shouldn't be judgmental, that we shouldn't condemn sinners for their sin, or even say out loud that this or that act is sinful. Our gospel scene this morning would seem to indicate that none of us is virtuous enough to call sin sin; that none of us is nearly holy enough to pass judgment on another. Cast the first stone, you who have no sin!

I'll confess right now: I won't be throwing any stones. But does the fact that I won't be throwing any stones b/c of my sin prevent me from making decisions about whether or not someone else has committed a sin? Let's hope not. I'd be worthless in the confessional and useless as a spiritual director. And not only that but it would be difficult for me to carry out my baptismal duty to seek and execute justice when an injustice threatens God's peace. If we are not careful, we might allow our fear of being called “judgmental” poison our sense of justice by making us indifferent to suffering. How can I condemn the brutal rape and murder of women and children in the Sudan w/o “being judgmental”? How can I call child prostitution sinful if my sense of justice is crippled b/c I fear being thought of as judgmental? If I can't throw stones, how can I seek justice for those who suffer b/c of the sins of others?

Jesus is extraordinarily subtle in his handling of the woman accused of adultery. He sees the whole scene laid out before him very clearly. His enemies are trying to trap him. If he condemns the woman w/o a proper trial, then he stands guilty to violating the Law. If he frees her, he is guilty of violating the Law. What does he do? He chooses not to play the game his enemies have laid before him. Instead, he tests the woman's accusers to see if there is anyone among them worthy of serving as a proper judge, “Cast the first stone, you who have no sin.” No one throws a stone b/c no one wants his or her life examined for worthiness. No one wants to be measured by the standards the Pharisees are using to measure the accused woman. Once all her accusers have fled, Jesus says, “I do not condemn you. Go and sin no more.” He doesn't recuse from passing judgment. He doesn't say that she is innocent of sin. Nor does he say that adultery isn't a sin. He judges her act, calls it sinful, and grants her mercy. And this is exactly what we are charged with doing: calling sin sin and then freely granting mercy to the sinners. We do this b/c the standards we use to judge others will be used to judge us. We do this b/c when we are sinned against, we want the sin to be named and condemned. But in order to fulfill our baptismal vows, we must free the sinner with mercy. How else can we make God's mercy known? How else can we hope to stand before the crucified Christ and give him thanks for our freedom from death?

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Dummies Guide to Catholic Zombies

[A bit long-winded this morning. . .]

5th Sunday of Lent (A)

Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP

St. Joseph Church, Ponchatoula

Brothers and sisters, I bring you some dramatic news this morning! While we have been enjoying this weekend's Strawberry Festival, reports have come in from all over the world that the dead walk among us. They've been sighted in all the world's major cities, shambling around dressed like the living, pretending to be the living, doing the ordinary things that the living do. They are difficult to spot since their demeanor is easily confused with those who still cling to life. They go to work, eat their family meals; go to school, church, the grocery store; they even attend festivals, mimicking the behavior of the still-living festival-goers. The media have given these deceased mimic a group name. They are called simply, “The Dead.” If a more specific label is called for, they attach a prefix, “the Irish-American Dead,” or “the Jewish Dead,” or “the Muslim Dead.” Personally, I find these labels unhelpful and rather boring, so I've decided to refer to them as Zombies. So, yes, Zombies walk among us, and more specifically, Catholic Zombies walk among us and pray among us and go to communion among us. In fact, there are probably several right here this morning! Otherwise normal looking, normal sounding Catholics who shamble around in their living bodies without a living spirit. What animates them, what gives them the appearance of being alive is uncertain. What is certain is that they are truly dead, and that their bodies are a walking grave. What can be done for these poor spiritless creatures? They must be freed from what binds them to the grave; freed from the walking death of sin.

In the story of Lazarus' resurrection, we have an abridged version of the Dummies Guide to Catholic Zombies. This handy guide helps us to identify, diagnose, and treat those among us who appear to be alive in Christ but are actually long dead to his spirit. Of note in the Guide is the warning on page 23 that calls our attention to an uncomfortable truth: “The Catholic Zombie virus is virulent and unpredictable. It can infect anyone at anytime. It attacks the Catholic's sin-immunity response system, replicating its viral disobedience-DNA and leaves the spirit of Christ defense network incapable of properly responding to temptation. No one is immune. Even the holiest Catholic is susceptible to infection and re-infection.” As a start to the recovery process, the Guide refers both the infected and their care-givers to John 11.1-45, the story of Lazarus' resurrection, and to Romans 8.8-11, Paul's short treatise on the relationship between the spiritually dead and Christ. These two passages make it clear that the truly living—those who live in Christ, body and soul—live b/c they dwell in the Lord's righteousness, believing wholeheartedly in the Lord when He says to them, “O my people, I will open your graves and have you rise from them. . .Then you shall know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves and have you rise from them, O my people!” Working backwards from cure to disease, the Guide reports that those most susceptible to infection by the Catholic Zombie virus are those who allow their Christ defense network to become weakened through inattention to personal prayer, the sacraments, good works, and holy reading. Working from disease to cure, we can see that the best treatment for the Zombie Catholic is personal prayer, the sacraments, good works, and holy reading. In other words, the best treatment is prevention.

To get a better grip on how we can prevent the spread of the Catholic Zombie virus more effectively, let's look at Lazarus' resurrection story and tease out exactly how prevention works. Probably the most obvious tact to take in preventing the spread of the virus is to ensure that everyone around you knows the basics of good spiritual hygiene. For example, when Lazarus' sister, Martha, asserts to her brother's physician, Jesus, that Lazarus would rise again on the last day, Dr. Jesus says, “I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.” After this brief revelation, Jesus asks Martha, “Do you believe this?” She responds, “Yes, Lord. I have come to believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, the one who is coming into the world.” So, the first step to prevention is a profession of faith in the Christ, the Son of God. By believing in the Christ, who is the resurrection and the life, we can bolster our resistance to the Catholic Zombie virus and ward off the onslaught of temptations that comes from doubt. 

Another step in good spiritual hygiene is obedience to the Christ. The Guide points out that obedience is not a matter of mindless compliance with rules and regulations. Obedience starts by trusting Christ's wisdom and believing in the promises of his Father. Listen first, then act. Lazarus emerges from his tomb after having been dead for four days. Martha, Mary, and the disciples all play essential roles in his resurrection by obeying Christ. Jesus says to the disciples, “Let us go to back to Judea.” And they do. He asks to see Mary. And she runs to him. He asks to see Lazarus. And they take him to the tomb. He orders the tombstone removed. They obey. He cries out, “Lazarus, come out!” And he does. Finally, with the newly resurrected Lazarus standing before him, Jesus says, “Untie him and let him go.” We know that Jesus' intervention here works as prevention b/c John reports, “Now many of the Jews who had come to Mary and seen what he had done began to believe in him.” Belief in the Christ is the first step in preventing the spread of the zombie virus! With belief comes repentance and with repentance comes the overwhelming mercy of God. Once we have come to depend absolutely on God's mercy, obedience to His Word is not only no longer a burden, it is a privilege—a privilege that inoculates believers against the weaknesses of doubt, anxiety, and pride. 

The final step in good spiritual hygiene is hope in the resurrection. The Lazarus story contains a very odd scene. Jesus is informed that Lazarus is sick and on the verge of death, John reports, “. . .when [Jesus] heard that [Lazarus] was ill, he remained for two days in the place where he was.” His friend is deathly ill and Jesus decides to hang around Bethany for two days. Hardly the reaction we would expect. Later on, Mary chastises Jesus for the delay, saying, “Lord, if you had been here,

my brother would not have died.” The Jews who went with Mary to visit Jesus, upon seeing Jesus weep for the grief of the sisters, say, “Could not the one who opened the eyes of the blind man have done something so that this man would not have died?” Why did Jesus delay visiting his dying friend? To instill in his disciples the virtue of hope, to bolster in them an immunity to the despair that death often brings. When he first heard that Lazarus was dying, Jesus says, “This illness is not to end in death, but is for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” Lazarus' resurrection from the tomb serves to show the disciples (and us) that death is not an end for the believing soul. The hope of life after death renders the Catholic Zombie virus inert. With a deeply held hope in Christ, we too will hear him order us out of the tomb and tell our family and friends, “Untie him and let him go.”

The Catholic Zombie virus is deadly. It can kill the spirit of Christ in us and leave us to walk among the living and the dead. The best treatment is prevention. Personal prayer, the sacraments, good works, and holy reading. But none of these are effective without a firm belief in the Christ, a willingness to obey his commands, and the good habit of hoping upon the resurrection. If you are dead inside, take heart, b/c the Lord has promised, “O my people, I will open your graves and have you rise from them. . . I will put my spirit in you that you may live. . .thus you shall know that I am the LORD. I have promised, and I will do it, says the LORD.”

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One more thanks!

Many thanks to the HancAquam Book Benefactor who sent me Saved from Sacrifice by Mark Heim.

There was no return address on the invoice, so I don't know who sent it!

God bless, Fr. Philip Neri, OP

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On Non-essential Gov't Spending

The Essential Question:

Source: Newsbusters

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Vatican Two: True and False Reform

Questions in the Creed class led me to do a little research on the history of the reforms/renewals initiated by the Second Vatican Council.  Keeping in mind the principle that "the winners write the histories of battles,"  there is a big battle going on to get the history of VC2 right.  The "winner" for the last thirty years or so has been the work of Giuseppe Alberigo of the so-called "Bologna School." Alberigo and his followers argue that the Fathers of VC2 initiated a rupture with previous councils and started "something new."  Recent work by historians and theologians challenge the dominance of the "hermeneutic of rupture" and argue, along with BXVI, that VC2 must be interpreted through a "hermeneutic of continuity."

In a 2003 First Things article, Avery Cardinal Dulles reviews a book written in 1950 by Fr. Yves Congar, OP.  Cardinal Dulles gives us a handy summary of the principles of ecclesial reform.

Here are a few excerpts of the lengthy article:

More than a decade before Vatican II the French Dominican Yves Congar wrote a book with the title True and False Reform in the Church. The work was considered controversial in its day, but has, I think, been vindicated as thoroughly orthodox. It is still in my opinion the most searching theological treatise on our subject. Drawing to some degree on Congar’s fine exploratory work, I should like to suggest a number of principles by which reform proposals in our day might be assessed.

1) According to Congar, “the great law of a Catholic reformism will be to begin with a return to the principles of Catholicism.” Vatican II, echoing his words, taught that “every renewal of the Church essentially consists in an increase of fidelity to her own calling” (UR 6). . .

2) Any reform conducted in the Catholic spirit will respect the Church’s styles of worship and pastoral life. . .A truly Catholic reform will not fanatically insist on the sheer logic of an intellectual system but will take account of concrete possibilities of the situation, seeking to work within the framework of the given.

3) A genuinely Catholic reform will adhere to the fullness of Catholic doctrine, including not only the dogmatic definitions of popes and councils, but doctrines constantly and universally held as matters pertaining to the faith. In this connection cognizance will be taken of the distinction made by Vatican II between the deposit of faith and the formulations of doctrine. . .

4) True reform will respect the divinely given structures of the Church, including the differences of states of life and vocations. Not all are equipped by training and office to pronounce on the compatibility of new theories and opinions with the Church’s faith. This function is, in fact, reserved to the hierarchical magisterium, though the advice of theologians and others will normally be sought.

5) A reform that is Catholic in spirit will seek to maintain communion with the whole body of the Church, and will avoid anything savoring of schism or factionalism. St. Paul speaks of anger, dissension, and party spirit as contrary to the Spirit of God (Galatians 5:20). To be Catholic is precisely to see oneself as part of a larger whole, to be inserted in the Church universal.

6) Reformers will have to exercise the virtue of patience, often accepting delays. Congar finds Luther especially lacking in this virtue. . .As Newman reminded his readers, there is such a thing as a good idea whose time has not yet come. Depending on the circumstances, Church authorities may wisely delay its acceptance until people’s imaginations become accustomed to the innovation.

7) As a negative criterion, I would suggest that a valid reform must not yield to the tendencies of our fallen nature, but must rather resist them. Under color of reform, we are sometimes tempted to promote what flatters our pride and feeds our self-interest, even though the gospel counsels humility and renunciation. . .

8) For similar reasons we must be on guard against purported reforms that are aligned with the prevailing tendencies in secular society. . .In our day the prevailing climate of agnosticism, relativism, and subjectivism is frequently taken as having the kind of normative value that belongs by right to the word of God. We must energetically oppose reformers who contend that the Church must abandon her claims to absolute truth, must allow dissent from her own doctrines, and must be governed according to the principles of liberal democracy.

False reforms, I conclude, are those that fail to respect the imperatives of the gospel and the divinely given traditions and structures of the Church, or which impair ecclesial communion and tend rather toward schism. Would-be reformers often proclaim themselves to be prophets, but show their true colors by their lack of humility, their impatience, and their disregard for the Sacred Scripture and tradition.

You can read the entire article here.  It is well worth your time!

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More is required to believe

4th Week of Lent (S)

Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP

St. Joseph Church, Ponchatoula

Almost from the moment that John the Baptist starting preaching the imminent arrival of the long-promised Messiah in the person of the Jesus, those with the most to lose by his appearance, namely, the Pharisees and scribes, started throwing bombs at Jesus' ministry. The Pharisees and scribes know the scripture; they know the prophecies concerning the Anointed One and his role in Jewish history; and they know that the Messiah will inaugurate the “destruction of the temple,” that is, the dissolution of the burdensome and tedious religious laws that form the foundation of their political power among God's people. From a purely human perspective, we can sympathize with Jesus' opponents b/c his arrival among them marks the beginning of the end of their world. Not only does Jesus' preaching and teaching constantly challenge their authority as religious leaders, his ministry threatens as well the very delicate civil peace that the Pharisees and scribes have established with the Roman occupiers of Judea. Jesus rides a very dangerous tide that sweeps him onto the scene as both heretic and insurgent, an enemy of the Temple and the Empire. Despite the danger he poses to the status quo, some among the Pharisees (e.g. Nicodemus) listen to Jesus and hear the Spirit speaking through him. Even the temple guards fail to arrest him, reporting to their bosses, “Never before has anyone spoken like this man.” The power of Jesus' public ministry lies in the fact that he establishes his authority on the prophetic tradition of the Old Covenant and brings that tradition to its fulfillment in his words and deeds. Truly, he is the Christ!

In the reading from John's gospel, we hear the Pharisees rejecting that the notion that Jesus is a prophet based on their belief that he is from Galilee, “The Christ will not come from Galilee, will he? Does not Scripture say that the Christ will be of David’s family and come from Bethlehem, the village where David lived?” Because some believed Jesus to be the Christ and others do not “a division occurred in the crowd because of him.” The Pharisees make the division worse by calling those in the crowd who support Jesus of being “accursed” b/c they do not “know the law.” Even in first century Judea, the experts allow their alleged knowledge to deceive them! And when Nicodemus, a Pharisee himself, questions his colleagues on their hasty judgment and their violation of the law of evidence, the Pharisees dismiss his objections by questioning his motivations rather than his arguments, “You are not from Galilee also, are you?” Obviously, dirty tricks in politics and religion are not a modern invention. Of course, the Pharisees reject Jesus b/c they mistakenly believe he is from Galilee. Or, they claim he is from Galilee so that he fails to meet the scriptural requirement that the Messiah be born in Bethlehem. Regardless, they are wrong and they are wrong b/c they place knowledge above faith, what they think they know above what they ought to trust.

What's the point of this gospel story? With what we think we know, we can either accept or reject that Jesus is the long-promised Messiah. Knowledge is always true by definition, but it is also always incomplete. Coming to accept Jesus as the Christ is not only a matter of assessing the facts and drawing the proper conclusion. What's required for faith is the wonder of the temple guards who confess to their bosses, “Never before has anyone spoken like this man.” What's required is the surrender of our mistrust, our anxiety, and our sin. Knowledge secures belief but only trusting in the Lord brings us to salvation. The Psalmist does not cry out, “O Facts, my gods, b/c of you I assent to the evidence!” He cries out, “O Lord, my God, in you I take refuge.”

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Coffee Bowl Browsing

The Associated Press suddenly remembers that they are actually the media arm of B.O.'s re-election campaign and scrubs offendive presidential quote from all their on-line stories. 

Seminarians air some "dirty laundry" about Ireland's national seminary, Maynooth.  NB.  this is just one side of the story.

The sad state of Spain. . .under an anti-Christian leftist gov't the Church struggles to teach the faith.

Fascinating discussion about why the Catholic laity seem reluctant to evangelize.  My favorite excuse so far, "It's the priests' fault!"  Oh yea???  Get a blog.

Dominican friar sets up shop in the mall. . .this sounds like a great idea!

Neo-pagan Witch to Roman Catholic parishioner.  Sounds strangely familiar.

Here's a 2012 campaign poster that might actually tell the truth. . .hehehehe.

Annulments or "declarations of nullity" are NOT Catholic divorces.  In just the few months I've been working in a parish, I've seen several couples come back to the Church after annulments. 

U.K. atheist and scientist wins prestigious Templeton Prize.  Professionally Aggrieved Professional Atheists freak out.  Sounds like someone I'd like to be friends with.  I mean, if Richard Dawkins doesn't like you, you must be a great guy.

A difficult question to answer:  "Students often want to know which orders are 'faithful to the Magisterium' -- meaning the Vatican and core Catholic doctrines -- and which are not."  Within any given religious Order or congregation there are provinces/monasteries that may or may not follow the ethos of the larger body.  Difference among Dominican provinces can be pronounced.  You have to do your homework!

Just 6 pages of BOCare = 429 pages of regulation.  At that rate, BOCare will get us about 150,000 pages of regulation!  How many bureaucrats will each page require?  Too many.

This is some serious pig wrasslin'

On the perils of reincarnation

I've had days like this. . .

Giving a whole new meaning to phrase "a loafing dog."

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