A Dialogue about Abortion

Little Catholic Bubble: Answering Michelle: I don't think you want all babies aborted

From a favorite blog by Leila Miller a dialogue with a young atheist woman on abortion.:

Answering Michelle: I don't think you want all babies aborted

After my last post, Michelle (a friendly young atheist) left a comment which deserves a whole post in response. Her words are in red, and my comments are in black.

To those saying that the Obama administration views pregnancy as a disease: 


Before you go on, let me just say that it's hard not to conclude this. If fertility/pregnancy is not a disease, disorder, illness or pathology, then why are health insurance companies now forced to provide free contraception and morning-after pills to all? What "disease" is being "cured" or "prevented" if not pregnancy? This should elicit a short medical answer, not a long philosophical one like the one you are about to give….


consider this rough analogy. Most of you have probably seen the show Extreme Home Makeover, where families in need are given a fancy new house (and I think sometimes a car as well), one that even the richest families would probably be lucky to have. 


Yes, I used to love that show! "Bus driver, move that bus!" (Screams, excitement, tears!!) Good times watching with the family. :)


It's a feel-good sort of show, and you're always left with the impression that despite all of their problems, their lives are finally looking up and everything is going to be fine. 

Yes, that's the illusion that "feel good" TV shows leave us with. We Americans like to "feel good", and it sells. Definitely an hour of escapism (and envy!).

But think about the taxes and the maintenance the house will require that they probably can't afford, and how the money spent on the house could probably have better gone towards addressing whatever problem (medical, financial, whatever) was originally plaguing them.

Yes, exactly! Building folks a big house and and providing lots of material things cannot solve the underlying problems that families in crisis face. Thank goodness there are real people in real life who do provide real help, every single day: Catholic Charities, the Societies of St. Vincent de Paul, crisis pregnancy centers, Catholic hospitals and shelters, etc. Real help, real solutions.


Saying that Obama's insistence on contraception means he necessarily considers pregnancy to always be a disease (and babies to always be a punishment) 

Did I say "always"? I don't think I did. There are plenty of babies that Obama does not see as "punishments". And then there are the others. For example: 


Obama thinks these baby girls were worthy of love and life. 
Obama thinks that this this baby girl was not.

He celebrates the "wanted" babies while ardently supporting the legal killing of 53 million other "unwanted" babies. Heck,he even notoriously voted more than once to let born babies die alone and without care should they survive a late-term abortion. (This was no mere academic exercise for him, as he knew from first-hand testimony what was occurring in his own state.)

In the pro-"choice" world, there are plenty of valuable children, worthy of love and life. But there are plenty of children with no value, who are worthy of neither love nor life. 

So, for Obama, I'm guessing that pregnancy is not a disease when it's wanted, and babies are not a punishment when they are wanted.

Wanted = Good
Wanted = Valuable

is the same as saying that I'm heartless for recognizing that getting a big new house is not always the best thing for a family. 

Not the same thing at all. Look...

These are not heartless:


"It is not good for this family to get a big new house."
"It is not good for children to be conceived out of wedlock."
"It is not the best thing for this drug-addicted battered woman to raise a child."


But this *just might* be considered heartless:


"Because this is not a good time for this woman to have a child, the child must die."

See, the "not heartless" statements don't imply or necessitate that someone has to die as a solution to the unfortunate situation. But the "heartless" statement does. Big distinction.

Just as big new houses are, under the right circumstances, a wonderful thing, so are babies.

Michelle, are you really comparing houses to babies?

Catholics don't believe that houses have the same moral standing, rights and dignity as human beings. I hope you can see that distinction.

Say a teenage mother's conservative parents would disown her if she gave birth out of wedlock,

Whoa, wait. Why do you make "conservative" parents the heavy? I know plenty of conservative parents, and I have seen how they react when children come to them with news of an unplanned pregnancy: Many tears, but also love and support for child and grandchild. I also know several liberal mothers who coerced or forced abortion on their pregnant daughters. So, why not just say "parents"? Sorry, but that is a pet peeve, as if conservative parents are heartless meanies while liberal parents are kind and loving. 

ruining all her chances of a healthy, normal life thereafter 

Seriously? Ruining all her chances of a healthy, normallife, thereafter? Utterly, totally hopeless? How on earth can one possibly know or predict such an outcome? We can't predict that outcome anymore than we can predict someone being hit by a car tomorrow and being paralyzed for life. And even that scenario wouldn't equate to a "ruined" life. But, okay, let's go with your impossible hypothetical:

- is the baby still a wonderful blessing? 

Yes.

If the baby's born to a drug addicted mother who can't and won't even provide for the baby's most basic needs?

Yes. Please get the mother help, and if she truly can't care for the child (who already exists!), then it's time to help her with an adoption plan.


If the pregnancy threatens the life of the mother?


Yes. (Ask Becky how she feels about that one, since she's going through it right now.)


I know, it's not a black-and-white moral standpoint, and what constitutes good circumstances for a baby will change from person to person. 


Right, but you're not talking about good circumstances for conception, you're talking about killing a baby. I think Nicole C. got right to the heart of it:

I get so tired of hearing the argument surrounding good and bad circumstances to "have a baby", when what we're really arguing is acceptable circumstances to have an abortion. Please remember, when a woman is pregnant, she already HAS A BABY. As Mark Crutcher would say, "The question is, will she have a live baby or a dead one?" 

So, you see, I think you are confusing two different things.

I get it, Catholics don't like that sort of moral ambiguity. 

Actually, it's more that Catholics "don't like" the willful killing of innocent human beings. What you call "moral ambiguity", I would call "attempting to justifying an immoral act".

Sometimes, "moral ambiguity" = "moral relativism"

But saying that pregnancy is either always a blessing or always a curse, or a baby is always a gift or always a punishment, is silly at best. 

I never once put it in those terms, that liberals think pregnancy is "always a curse" or babies "always a punishment". So, I am not sure where you are getting that? 


However, it's not "silly" to believe that all babies are a blessing. They are. They are all equally valuable, and they areall worthy of love and life. To hold any other position is dangerous -- to say the least.

Please, give us some credit and don't ascribe such simplistic ideas to liberals/pro-choicers/whoever.

I never did ascribe those ideas to you or other pro-"choicers". Like I said, I have no idea where you are getting that. Of course you love and cherish some babies.

If I were to get pregnant at this point in my life, it would undoubtedly be an enormous punishment. 

Who would be punishing you? The baby? And what would the punishment be for? I truly don't even understand this statement. 

At the same time, though, my cousin recently had a baby and I was excited about the baby the moment I heard my cousin was pregnant. 

Because in your mind, the baby had that elusive quality that made him valuable and worthy of love: "Wantedness"

Or was it something else that made the baby worthy of your love? I'm interested.

It's not an "either you love babies or you want them all dead" sort of thing, 

Right, and I never said that, so we are good.

and I'm offended every time someone suggests that liberals think babies are worthless drooling monsters that all should have been aborted.

I'm glad that's never been said to you here, then. Has someone elsewhere said these things to you? That you thinkall babies should be aborted? That's outrageous if so.


I'm on vacation and won't be commenting after this (blame icky Internet Explorer that won't let me post, plus the fact that abortion debates always, always, always turn ugly whenever I get involved). 

It's not exclusive to your involvement, Michelle. Abortion debates necessarily include discussion of the actual act of abortion, which by its very nature is horrifically ugly. The stuff of nightmares, really. So yes, abortion debates are never pretty. We are discussing the willful killing of innocent children, some of whom are shredded in the womb, some of whom are dismembered, and some of whom are burned alive with saline, and some of whom are stabbed in the neck and have their brains sucked out while still living. Most of whom are thrown out as garbage, labeled "medical waste". Ugly, indeed. 


But did you think the reality of abortion could be sugarcoated? I realize that's what the "choice" and "women's rights" euphemisms are aiming for: Pleasantness. Our own atheist commenter MaiZeke has said with confidence, "Abortion involves only one person: the woman."  How it eases the mind to believe this, when it's the "non-person" being extracted and eviscerated. It makes us feel all warm and fuzzy inside, and we can sleep well at night, because there is no "person" being killed in an abortion. Just a pregnancy being "terminated".

I hope my points made sense, even if you don't agree. 

Some of them didn't make sense, which is why I wanted to flesh them all out here and give you a chance to respond. Thanks for you willingness to dialogue honestly, and I hope to hear from you after your vacation!


Blessings to you, Michelle! I've always enjoyed our discussions.

Gay candidate in trouble for justifying his lover's pedophilia

David Norris's Irish presidency chances marred by mercy letter | World news | The Guardian

"His campaign has been badly damaged by his links to Yizhak. When the Israeli was accused, and later convicted, of the statutory rape of a Palestinian boy in 1992, Norris wrote a letter claiming his former partner was a "good and moral person".

Wait a second, I thought Irish politicians were furiously indignant because Catholic priests that abused kids were protected by the bishops; are they indignant in this case?

Budget Reform: Opportunity Knocks

Catholic Culture : On the Culture : Budgetary Reform: Opportunity Knocks

"Catholic leaders, who ought to have charity (which is in most ways the opposite of government-mandated programs) as their first concern, have in my lifetime been characterized by an almost wholesale inability to think outside the Statist box when it comes solving human problems."

Read it all in the link above.

US debt problem visualized: Debt stacked in 100 dollar bills

US debt problem visualized: Debt stacked in 100 dollar bills

You have to see the link above, it is a graphic representation of the U.S. debt and how politicians have taken us to the brink.

Beckhams a 'bad example' for families because he has too many kids!

Beckhams a 'bad example' for families | Life and style | The Observer

Fundamentalist environmentalists criticized  football star Beckham for having four children (three in the picture and one on the way) and say he is a "bad role model" because his large family (large? My grandma's family was large at 15). These fundamentalist environmentalists who pander "tolerance" are not very tolerant of Beckham and others with large families because "their carbon footprint". Oblivious to their own racial suicide and the fact that they are committing to oblivion their own "genetic footprint" we can at least rest assured that in a few years these rabid environmentalists will have no heirs to carry their "carbon footprint" jihad.

Read the article from the Guardian U.K. on the link above.

Extra, extra! Religion reduces crime

Catholic Culture : On the Culture : Give me that Old Time Religion…to reduce crime

"Professor Byron began his article by noting that if the studies generally showed the opposite—that religion or church-going contributed to crime and delinquency—the press would be all over the story, and a Federal commission would doubtless be established to make sure Americans were officially notified that religious practice is deleterious to your social health.

Funny how it doesn’t work the other way."

A propose of the mad man killing rampage in Norway the above article is an interesting reminder of something we all knew; religion actually decreases criminal tendencies in people. Now of course secularists, pagans, atheists will be touting the Norway horror as an example of "Christian" terrorism. Never mind the mad man is also a Mason (does this mean that Masons and masonic ideas are a breeding ground for terrorists?, no of course). What do you think?

Jesus is a fable, says dissident Australian priest

Catholic Culture : Latest Headlines : Jesus is a fable, says dissident Australian priest

“There is no corroborating evidence for the existence of a person called Jesus,” he told the AAP news agency. “The Gospels must not ever be taken literally. Scripture scholars tell us that.”

“I do not believe in worshipping God,” he continued. “Whatever God is . . . that God does not need to be worshipped.” Peter Kennedy, Catholic priest.  

This is not surprising, even for a supposedly Catholic priest. These are the fruits of the school of "Higher Criticism" and the so called Catholic scholarship. This priest takes the whole thing to its logical conclusion. I hope and pray that this man repents and comes back to a belief in Christ. But he is not alone, there are many like him who are supposed to be pastors of souls but no longer believe and lead others away.  Read the rest of the story in the link above. 

Bible Wars

Gender Debate: SBC Pastors Denounce NIV | Christianity Today | A Magazine of Evangelical Conviction: "Southern Baptists have asked their denomination-owned retail chain to stop selling a best-selling Bible translation, saying it contains errors when it comes to language about gender."

The Catholic translation New American Bible "NAB" issued a new version this year now known as the "RNAB" for Revised New American Bible. While the translation is OK even though awkward in many instances, the commentary notes are totally in line with the ideas of contemporary "Higher Criticism". Too bad there is no Catholic group that is willing to be critical of our new translation as the baptists in the story above.

Life by Euthanasia

Life by Euthanasia | Catholic Exchange: "f you have an organ transplant in Belgium, there is a small chance that you will owe your life to someone else’s death by euthanasia."

Welcome to the brave new world. Euthanasia is a fact in some European countries and it has been happening in a very concealed way in the U.S. I wonder how many elderly, severely disabled persons, terminally ill patients and others have been starved and dehydrated to death by zealous medical personnel. Read the link above.

Bikinis a Bad Idea

http://marysaggies.blogspot.com/2011/07/facebook-bathing-suits-bad-idea.html "A note to young women on Facebook, from a guy who works with young men struggling with pornography...you might look good in your bathing suit, but if you were able to see yourself through 20 year-old male eyes, which are struggling to see you as a human and not an object, you would never post that pic. Just a thought." Check the rest of the post at Aggie Catholics linked above. 

Real Swimwear

I think wearing bikinis is not a good idea anywhere any time. Young Catholic girls should not offend the virtue of modesty and provoke the vice of lust in men. Older women should be aware of the decaying state of their bodies and spare the spare tire to the rest. Going to the beach virtually naked is a very vulgar development of contemporary culture.

From the "In the Light of the Law" website blog http://canonlawblog.blogspot.com/:

From the "In the Light of the Law" website blog http://canonlawblog.blogspot.com/: 

"A note on proposals to require priests to violate the seal of confession

Concerning recent Irish and Australian proposals to require priests who, through their ministry in sacramental confession, learn the identity of child sexual abusers (or of any other malefactors, for that matter), to disclose such information to civil authorities, I have little to say because, well, because there is little to say, canonically, at any rate. Such proposals, even if they become law, will have absolutely no effect on a priest’s obligation to preserve the seal of confession.Absolutely none.

The seal of confession is a not creature of civil law, rather, it rests on divine law and is articulated by canon law (see cc. 983 and 1388). Because the state has no authority over the seal of confession, it can exercise no authority over the seal by way imposing, regulating, or revoking it, in whole or even in part.

What states can do, and indeed what enlightened states in fact do, is to accommodate the seal of confession within theirs laws (typically, in their laws of criminal evidence procedure). The benefits to states making such accommodations are many, and the “benefits” of disregarding the seal can be shown, upon a few moments’ consideration, to be nugatory, but such prudential points are better made by others. I speak only as a canonist, and I write only to say that any civil laws attempting to break the seal of confession would have no force whatsoever against the sanctity of the seal of confession." + + +

The Irish and Australian proposals are an affront to the freedom of religion.  As Mr. Peters says above any such law would be null and void for a Catholic priest since the seal of confession is above any human law.  Even if the absurdity of this proposal would become real, who would confess knowing that his confession would not be secret?  

The Spanish Civil War 75 Years Later

"(T)he Spanish Civil War witnessed the “most extensive and violent persecution of Catholicism in Western history, in some way even more intense than that of the French Revolution.”

“More than 6,800 Catholic clergy were slaughtered, including 13 bishops, more than 2,360 monks and friars, 4,172 diocesan priests and seminarians, as well as 283 nuns. Thousands of churches were destroyed.

Most of the intense killing occurred in the first six months of the conflict, but by the end of the war about 20% of the nation’s Catholic clergy was dead."

Read more: http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/spanish-civil-war-75-years-later/#ixzz1T8UJgtI1



Most of what the communists wanted to do in Spain in 1936 is being done now under the Socialist government.  The writers of the article included here fail to mention the role of Germany in the war, in all fairness. 

Diaconal Ordinations at the Benedictine Abbey of Sainte-Madeleine du Barroux

Diaconal Ordinations at the Benedictine Abbey of Sainte-Madeleine du Barroux

Deacons ordained in the Traditional Rite (pre-Vatican II), the photographs show a beautiful liturgy. I am not sure, but I think these are transitional deacons. Notice the tonsure of the men.

Obama Administration Certifies “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” | CitizenLink

Obama Administration Certifies “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” | CitizenLink

“Mr. Panetta is beginning his term as defense secretary by letting down military men, women and families who were led to believe that their views would be heard and respected,” she said. “Instead, trusting personnel who participated in the 2010 surveys and focus groups in good faith were misused as props to create the impression that military people ‘don’t care’ about this issue.”

Those Catholics who voted for President Obama and wanted to compartmentalize issues can now see how he is ideologically committed to the homosexual agenda, one of the many issues where he stands in direct conflict with Catholic doctrine. The homosexual juggernaut is rolling over 98% of the population to benefit the desires of 2%. Read the article here:  http://www.citizenlink.com/2011/07/22/obama-administration-certifies-%E2%80%9Cdon%E2%80%99t-ask-don%E2%80%99t-tell%E2%80%9D/    

The New and the Old and unity of worship.

New Oxford Review

"The liturgy has become a polarizing force in the Church — rather than the great unifier it is meant to be. The release of Universae Ecclesiae, the Vatican’s instruction on the proper implementation of Summorum Pontificum, proves that Pope Benedict XVI is not unfamiliar with the animosity and defensiveness that plague contemporary liturgical discourse. One can glimpse its intensity in the letters section of our May issue (see the entries under the header “Liturgical Reform & the ‘Protes­tantization’ of Catholic Liturgy”). There is, it seems, increasing entrenchment on both sides of the liturgical divide that separates New Mass and Latin Mass absolutists; reconciliation is a long way off." From the Oxford Review Magazine online. 

I do not necessarily agree or disagree with the article.  I has some interesting points, for example the fact that with two Latin rites (two masses) are now recognized side by side.  Is this good?  How about the unity of worship.  Is the coexistence of two forms of the same mass dividing the Church?  I personally go to the Latin Mass, even serve in it as an acolyte.  But I can understand that having two rites with people attending each one not really relating to the other can be divisive. Check the link New Oxford Review.  What do you think?

Suspended priest sells $750 ‘Catholic Nuptial Mass’ for gay couples | LifeSiteNews.com

Suspended priest sells $750 ‘Catholic Nuptial Mass’ for gay couples | LifeSiteNews.com

The only thing I can say is that the rhetoric is rather ridiculous. The Catholic Church has no power to make anyone do anything against their will. The only power structure that can impose morality these days is the government who is protecting, encouraging and celebrating the homosexual agenda.

Two dead as explosion rocks Norway; shots fired at youth camp - The Globe and Mail

Two dead as explosion rocks Norway; shots fired at youth camp - The Globe and Mail

The bloody trail of terrorism continues to claim more victims.

PEPSI IS USING ABORTED BABIES CELLS FOR EXPERIMENTS ON ARTIFICIAL FLAVORS

fROM THE WEBSITE OF ALL AMERICAN LIFE LEAGUE.

"PRO-LIFE GROUPS: BOYCOTT PEPSI FOR USING ABORTED FETAL CELL LINES

Thursday, May 26, 2011 - By Leslie Tignor

Pro-Life Groups Call for Pepsi Boycott over Aborted Fetal Cell LinesContact: info@cogforlife.org Phone: (727) 483-9251

(Largo, FL) Scores of pro-life groups are calling for a public boycott of food giant, PepsiCo due to its partnership with Senomyx—a biotech company using aborted fetal cells in the research and development of artificial flavor enhancers.

PepsiCo is funding research and development—and paying royalties—to Senomyx, which uses HEK-293 (human embryonic kidney cells) to produce flavor enhancers for Pepsi beverages.

Senomyx boasts it has over 800,000 unique flavors for foods. The human tongue recognizes only 5 (salty, savory, sweet, sour and bitter). But cells expressing certain proteins produce a chemical signal when flavors are introduced, which determines if it is the proper flavor.

While the aborted fetal cells are not in the product itself, Debi Vinnedge, president of Children of God for Life—the group spearheading the boycott—noted, “There are many options PepsiCo could be using instead of aborted fetal cells.”

The revelation—a potential public relations nightmare—motivated Campbell Soup to sever all relations with Senomyx.

However, PepsiCo continues its business relationship despite the abortion connection. The company drew public ire earlier this year when it responded that “collaboration with Senomyx is strictly limited to creating lower-calorie, great-tasting beverages for consumers.”

When pressed further, PepsiCo attempted to pacify angry consumers with a form letter response insinuating it had been accused of conducting aborted fetal tissue research. The duplicity again drew public outrage.

Bradley Mattes, executive director of Life Issues Institute, said, “While aborted fetal cells aren’t actually in the product itself, the close relationship is enough to repulse most consumers. To our knowledge, this is the first time a food product has been publicly associated with abortion.”

The pro-life groups noted that additional companies collaborating with Senomyx will be targeted for boycott next. Seewww.cogforlife.org/senomyxalert.htm for more information.

Pro-life organizations are asking the public to boycott all PepsiCo drink products and encourage consumers to contact PepsiCo management requesting that the company sever all ties with Senomyx. Consumers are also encouraged to contact Campbell Soup and thank those responsible for responding to pro-life concerns.

Jamie Caulfield, Sr. VP PepsiCo, Inc. 700 Anderson Hill Road Purchase, NY 10577 (914) 253-2000 Email form: http://cr.pepsi.com/usen /pepsiusen.cfm?time=5189878

Edmund M. Carpenter, Chair, Corporate Development Campbell Soup 1 Campbell Place Camden, NJ 08103-1701 1-800-257-8443 Email form: http://campbellsoupcompany.com /Feedback.aspx

Pro-life groups joining Children of God for Life in the boycott to date are: Life Issues Institute, American Life League, Concerned Women for America, Colorado Right to Life, American Right to Life, Sound Choice Pharmaceutical Institute, ALL Arizona, Central Nebraskans for Life, Pro-Life Waco, Houston Coalition for Life, Mother and Unborn Baby Fox Valley, Womankind, Billboards for Life, Movement for a Better America, Defenders of the Unborn, Focus Pregnancy Help Center, Idaho Chooses Life, EMC Frontline Pregnancy Centers of NY, Four Seasons for Life, CREDO, Life Choices, STOPP Dallas, CA Right To Life, Human Life Alliance, International Right to Life Federation, Operation Rescue and Pro-Life Nation".

New Instructions on the Latin Mass

PONTIFICAL COMMISSION ECCLESIA DEI

 

INSTRUCTION

 

on the application of the Apostolic Letter Summorum Pontificum of

HIS HOLINESS POPE BENEDICT XVI given Motu Proprio

 

I.

 

Introduction

    

    1. The Apostolic Letter Summorum Pontificum of the Sovereign Pontiff Benedict XVI given Motu Proprio on 7 July 2007, which came into effect on 14 September 2007, has made the richness of the Roman Liturgy more accessible to the Universal Church.

 

2. With this Motu Proprio, the Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI promulgated a universal law for the Church, intended to establish new regulations for the use of the Roman Liturgy in effect in 1962.

 

3. The Holy Father, having recalled the concern of the Sovereign Pontiffs in caring for the Sacred Liturgy and in their recognition of liturgical books, reaffirms the traditional principle, recognised from time immemorial and necessary to be maintained into the future, that "each particular Church must be in accord with the universal Church not only regarding the doctrine of the faith and sacramental signs, but also as to the usages universally handed down by apostolic and unbroken tradition. These are to be maintained not only so that errors may be avoided, but also so that the faith may be passed on in its integrity, since the Church's rule of prayer (lex orandi) corresponds to her rule of belief (lex credendi)."

4. The Holy Father recalls also those Roman Pontiffs who, in a particular way, were notable in this task, specifically Saint Gregory the Great and Saint Pius V. The Holy Father stresses moreover that, among the sacred liturgical books, the Missale Romanum has enjoyed a particular prominence in history, and was kept up to date throughout the centuries until the time of Blessed Pope John XXIII. Subsequently in 1970, following the liturgical reform after the Second Vatican Council, Pope Paul VI approved for the Church of the Latin rite a new Missal, which was then translated into various languages. In the year 2000, Pope John Paul II promulgated the third edition of this Missal.

        

5. Many of the faithful, formed in the spirit of the liturgical forms prior to the Second Vatican Council, expressed a lively desire to maintain the ancient tradition. For this reason, Pope John Paul II with a special Indult Quattuor abhinc annos issued in 1984 by the Congregation for Divine Worship, granted the faculty under certain conditions to restore the use of the Missal promulgated by Blessed Pope John XXIII. Subsequently, Pope John Paul II, with the Motu Proprio Ecclesia Dei of 1988, exhorted the Bishops to be generous in granting such a faculty for all the faithful who requested it. Pope Benedict continues this policy with the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum regarding certain essential criteria for the Usus Antiquior of the Roman Rite, which are recalled here.

 

6. The Roman Missal promulgated by Pope Paul VI and the last edition prepared under Pope John XXIII, are two forms of the Roman Liturgy, defined respectively as ordinaria and extraordinaria: they are two usages of the one Roman Rite, one alongside the other. Both are the expression of the same lex orandi of the Church. On account of its venerable and ancient use, the forma extraordinaria is to be maintained with appropriate honor.

 

7. The Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum was accompanied by a letter from the Holy Father to Bishops, with the same date as the Motu Proprio (7 July 2007). This letter gave further explanations regarding the appropriateness and the need for the Motu Proprio; it was a matter of overcoming a lacuna by providing new norms for the use of the Roman Liturgy of 1962. Such norms were needed particularly on account of the fact that, when the new Missal had been introduced under Pope Paul VI, it had not seemed necessary to issue guidelines regulating the use of the 1962 Liturgy. By reason of the increase in the number of those asking to be able to use the forma extraordinaria, it has become necessary to provide certain norms in this area.

Among the statements of the Holy Father was the following: "There is no contradiction between the two editions of the Roman Missal. In the history of the Liturgy growth and progress are found, but not a rupture. What was sacred for prior generations, remains sacred and great for us as well, and cannot be suddenly prohibited altogether or even judged harmful."

 

8. The Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum constitutes an important expression of the Magisterium of the Roman Pontiff and of his munus of regulating and ordering the Church's Sacred Liturgy. The Motu Proprio manifests his solicitude as Vicar of Christ and Supreme Pastor of the Universal Church, and has the aim of:

1. offering to all the faithful the Roman Liturgy in the Usus Antiquior, considered as a precious treasure to be preserved;
   
2. effectively guaranteeing and ensuring the use of the forma extraordinaria for all who ask for it, given that the use of the 1962 Roman Liturgy is a faculty generously granted for the good of the faithful and therefore is to be interpreted in a sense favourable to the faithful who are its principal addressees;
   
3. promoting reconciliation at the heart of the Church.
   

 

II.

The Responsibilities

of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei

 

9. The Sovereign Pontiff has conferred upon the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei ordinary vicarious power for the matters within its competence, in a particular way for monitoring the observance and application of the provisions of the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum (cf. art. 12).

 

10. § 1. The Pontifical Commission exercises this power, beyond the faculties previously granted by Pope John Paul II and confirmed by Pope Benedict XVI (cf. Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum, artt. 11-12), also by means of the power to decide upon recourses legitimately sent to it, as hierarchical Superior, against any possible singular administrative provision of an Ordinary which appears to be contrary to the Motu Proprio.

    § 2. The decrees by which the Pontifical Commission decides recourses may be challenged ad normam iuris before the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura.

 

11. After having received the approval from the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei will have the task of looking after future editions of liturgical texts pertaining to the forma extraordinaria of the Roman Rite.

 

III.

Specific Norms

 

12. Following upon the inquiry made among the Bishops of the world, and with the desire to guarantee the proper interpretation and the correct application of the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum, this Pontifical Commission, by virtue of the authority granted to it and the faculties which it enjoys, issues this Instruction according to can. 34 of the Code of Canon Law.

 

The Competence of Diocesan Bishops

 
 

13. Diocesan Bishops, according to Canon Law, are to monitor liturgical matters in order to guarantee the common good and to ensure that everything is proceeding in peace and serenity in their Dioceses, always in agreement with the mens of the Holy Father clearly expressed by the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum. In cases of controversy or well-founded doubt about the celebration in the forma extraordinaria, the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei will adjudicate.

 

14. It is the task of the Diocesan Bishop to undertake all necessary measures to ensure respect for the forma extraordinaria of the Roman Rite, according to the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum.

 

The coetus fidelium (cf. Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum, art. 5 § 1)

 

15. A coetus fidelium ("group of the faithful") can be said to be stabiliter existens ("existing in a stable manner"), according to the sense of art. 5 § 1 of the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum,
when it is constituted by some people of an individual parish who, even after the publication of the Motu Proprio, come together by reason of their veneration for the Liturgy in the Usus Antiquior, and who ask that it might be celebrated in the parish church or in an oratory or chapel; such a coetus ("group") can also be composed of persons coming from different parishes or dioceses, who gather together in a specific parish church or in an oratory or chapel for this purpose.

 

    16. In the case of a priest who presents himself occasionally in a parish church or an oratory with some faithful, and wishes to celebrate in the forma extraordinaria, as foreseen by articles 2 and 4 of the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum, the pastor or rector of the church, or the priest responsible, is to permit such a celebration, while respecting the schedule of liturgical celebrations in that same church.

    

    17. § 1. In deciding individual cases, the pastor or the rector, or the priest responsible for a church, is to be guided by his own prudence, motivated by pastoral zeal and a spirit of generous welcome.

§ 2. In cases of groups which are quite small, they may approach the Ordinary of the place to identify a church in which these faithful may be able to come together for such celebrations, in order to ensure easier participation and a more worthy celebration of the Holy Mass.

 

18. Even in sanctuaries and places of pilgrimage the possibility to celebrate in the forma extraordinaria is to be offered to groups of pilgrims who request it (cf. Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum, art. 5 § 3), if there is a qualified priest.

 

    19. The faithful who ask for the celebration of the forma extraordinaria must not in any way support or belong to groups which show themselves to be against the validity or legitimacy of the Holy Mass or the Sacraments celebrated in the forma ordinaria or against the Roman Pontiff as Supreme Pastor of the Universal Church.

 

Sacerdos idoneus ("Qualified Priest") (cf. Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum, art 5 § 4)

 

20. With respect to the question of the necessary requirements for a priest to be held idoneus ("qualified") to celebrate in the forma extraordinaria, the following is hereby stated:

1. Every Catholic priest who is not impeded by Canon Law is to be considered idoneus ("qualified") for the celebration of the Holy Mass in the forma extraordinaria.
   
2. Regarding the use of the Latin language, a basic knowledge is necessary, allowing the priest to pronounce the words correctly and understand their meaning.
   
3. Regarding knowledge of the execution of the Rite, priests are presumed to be qualified who present themselves spontaneously to celebrate the forma extraordinaria, and have celebrated it previously.
   

 

21. Ordinaries are asked to offer their clergy the possibility of acquiring adequate preparation for celebrations in the forma extraordinaria. This applies also to Seminaries, where future priests should be given proper formation, including study of Latin and, where pastoral needs suggest it, the opportunity to learn the forma extraordinaria of the Roman Rite.

 

22. In Dioceses without qualified priests, Diocesan Bishops can request assistance from priests of the Institutes erected by the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei, either to the celebrate the forma extraordinaria
or to teach others how to celebrate it.

 

23. The faculty to celebrate sine populo (or with the participation of only one minister) in the forma extraordinaria of the Roman Rite is given by the Motu Proprio to all priests, whether secular or religious (cf. Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum, art. 2). For such celebrations therefore, priests, by provision of the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum, do not require any special permission from their Ordinaries or superiors.

 

Liturgical and Ecclesiastical Discipline

 

    24. The liturgical books of the forma extraordinaria are to be used as they are. All those who wish to celebrate according to the forma extraordinaria of the Roman Rite must know the pertinent rubrics and are obliged to follow them correctly.

 

    25. New saints and certain of the new prefaces can and ought to be inserted into the 1962 Missal, according to provisions which will be indicated subsequently.

    

    26. As foreseen by article 6 of the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum, the readings of the Holy Mass of the Missal of 1962 can be proclaimed either solely in the Latin language, or in Latin followed by the vernacular or, in Low Masses, solely in the vernacular.

    

    27. With regard to the disciplinary norms connected to celebration, the ecclesiastical discipline contained in the Code of Canon Law of 1983 applies.

 

    28. Furthermore, by virtue of its character of special law, within its own area, the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum derogates from those provisions of law, connected with the sacred Rites, promulgated from 1962 onwards and incompatible with the rubrics of the liturgical books in effect in 1962.

 

 

 

29. Permission to use the older formula for the rite of Confirmation was confirmed by the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum (cf. art. 9 § 2). Therefore, in the forma extraordinaria, it is not necessary to use the newer formula of Pope Paul VI as found in the Ordo Confirmationis.

 

30. As regards tonsure, minor orders and the subdiaconate, the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum does not introduce any change in the discipline of the Code of Canon Law of 1983; consequently, in Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life which are under the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei, one who has made solemn profession or who has been definitively incorporated into a clerical institute of apostolic life, becomes incardinated as a cleric in the institute or society upon ordination to the diaconate, in accordance with canon 266 § 2 of the Code of Canon Law.

 

    31. Only
in Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life which are under the Pontifical
Commission Ecclesia Dei, and in those which use the liturgical books of the forma extraordinaria,
is the use of the Pontificale Romanum of 1962 for the conferral of minor and major orders permitted.

 

Breviarium Romanum

    

32. Art. 9 § 3 of the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum gives clerics the faculty to use the Breviarium Romanum in effect in 1962, which is to be prayed entirely and in the Latin language.

    

The Sacred Triduum

 

    33. If there is a qualified priest, a coetus fidelium ("group of faithful"), which follows the older liturgical tradition, can also celebrate the Sacred Triduum in the forma extraordinaria. When there is no church or oratory designated exclusively for such celebrations, the parish priest or Ordinary, in agreement with the qualified priest, should find some arrangement favourable to the good of souls, not excluding the possibility of a repetition of the celebration of the Sacred Triduum in the same church.

    

The Rites of Religious Orders

 

34. The use of the liturgical books proper to the Religious Orders which were in effect in 1962 is permitted.

    

Pontificale Romanum and the Rituale Romanum

 

    35. The use of the Pontificale Romanum, the Rituale Romanum, as well as the Caeremoniale Episcoporum in effect in 1962, is permitted, in keeping with n. 28 of this Instruction, and always respecting n. 31 of the same Instruction.

 

 

The Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI, in an audience granted to the undersigned Cardinal President of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei on 8 April 2011, approved this present Instruction and ordered its publication.

 

 

 

Given at Rome, at the Offices of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei, 30 April, 2011, on the memorial of Pope Saint Pius V.

 

 

 

William Cardinal LEVADA

President

 

 

 

Mons. Guido Pozzo

Secretary

Nihilismo en Ciudad Juarez

Es difícil tratar de decir algo sobre el baño de sangre que ocurre en México, específicamente en Ciudad Juárez. No es solamente una guerra brutal y sádica entre pandillas de narcotraficantes, sino una descomposición social de la cual emana la pestilencia corrupta e inmunda del cadáver de la fabrica social mexicana. Es difícil tratar de decir algo ante las visiones de tremenda brutalidad y desalmada crueldad que no solo afectan a criminales que hacen su modus vivendi del tráfico de drogas, sino que también toca todos los ámbitos de la sociedad. A las horripilantes ejecuciones se unen la extorción generalizada, el secuestro que en muchas ocasiones resulta en el asesinato, en el robo a mano armada, la violación, la intimidación. En fin, la desintegración del orden social y la imposición de la ley de la selva; una sociedad a expensas del brutal capricho de cualquier salvaje gorila que quiera empuñar una arma y tenga la voluntad de usarla sin miramiento.

¿Qué pasa en Ciudad Juárez? ¿Por qué este horrible resquebrajamiento de la fabrica social? En Ciudad Juárez el rostro horrible del caos y del nihilismo aparecen en toda su espantosa brutalidad. La crueldad demostrada por los asesinos rebaza ya hasta la lógica malvada del crimen. Esto ya no es solamente una “guerra” entre pandillas o entre estas y las autoridades. Los síntomas van más allá. La crueldad demostrada por ejemplo en la masacre de los jóvenes adolecentes de hace algunas semanas, o en el caso del hombre al cual le fue mutilada la cara y la piel de su rostro cocida a una bola de fútbol demuestran una enfermedad, una deformación del espíritu que rebaza a la simple empresa criminal. Estas personas matan a hombres, mujeres y niños sin miramiento, sin tocarse el corazón en lo más mínimo. Podemos ver a la maldad en su más cruel expresión, la maldad pura, la maldad desencadenada, la maldad real y escalofriante.

Ciudad Juárez es una sociedad en estado de shock. Los habitantes de la frontera juarense sufren del síndrome de shock post-traumático común entre las tropas que regresan de zonas de combate como Irak o Afganistán. Toda una población ha sido no solamente traumatizada por la sangrienta violencia, sino que ha sido sometida a un secuestro comunitario de miedo e intimidación, un verdadero terrorismo de nuevas dimensiones que tiene a toda la sociedad como rehén. En Ciudad Juárez los buenos no ganan y los malos han impuesto su reino de sangre. Es tanta la carnicería, el crimen cotidiano a que los habitantes de esa ciudad son sometidos que parte del shock incluye la de-sensibilización que trae como consecuencia una acostumbramiento a la violencia diaria, una insensibilidad que hace pensar que esta es la manera en que las cosas funcionan, una normalidad por decirlo “anormal”.

Cuando se confrontó al criminal de guerra Adolf Eichmann la abogada a cargo de su prosecución criminal dijo ser sorprendida por la “banalidad” de la personalidad del criminal. No era un “monstruo peludo” con colmillos, ojos desencajados y rojos. No, Eichmann era una persona común y corriente, alguien que en la calle no hubiera llamado la atención. La personificación del mal en la persona cotidiana, en el vecino de enfrente. En Ciudad Juárez las bestias no son tampoco monstruos horripilantes en su aspecto físico (aunque lo sean en su aspecto mental y espiritual), sino que se trata en su mayoría de hombres jóvenes, hasta adolecentes que pudieran ser cualquier hijo de vecina; pudieran ser el primo, el hermano, el amigo. ¿Quiénes son estas personas, estos asesinos, estos inmisericordes criminales? Son estos jóvenes violentos y desalmados, los hijos del pueblo, la cosecha de la sociedad en sí misma. Es lamentable decirlo, pero quizá debamos vernos en el espejo. Puede resultar que hemos visto al enemigo, y el enemigo somos nosotros mismos.

Durante muchos años en México la ley fue negociable y mercadeable. Durante muchos años la ética nacional fue la mordida y la corrupción. Durante muchos años se toleró al crimen y la corrupción siempre y cuando fuera “controlable”. Durante muchos años se disimuló una construcción nacional aparentemente normal, pero que en realidad tenía como fundamento una fabrica política manufacturada con el entendimiento fraudulento, el cohecho, la deshonestidad, la imposición de un sistema viciado por el relativismo moral y la falta de rectitud. En los puestos policiacos se puso a personas de una honestidad que cuando menos era cuestionable y en muchas ocasiones eran ellos mismos hampones. La filosofía era que los hampones con licencia podrían controlar a los hampones sin permiso y meterlos al “redil”. Durante muchos años los funcionarios públicos se corrompieron al aceptar dinero y componendas con el hampa porque de esta manera podían asegurar la “tranquilidad pública”, un esquema que es muy tentador, sobre todo cuando la violencia se dispara como lo ha hecho ahora, pero que al final de cuentas tan solo ocasiona una metástasis cancerígena de la corrupción social.

Esta corrupción no solo toca a los gobernantes y funcionarios públicos, sino que se extiende a toda la sociedad. En una sociedad donde tan solo unas cuantas familias controlan la gran mayoría de la riqueza y excluyen de sus fuentes de influencia a la mayoría de la población por medio de la corrupción, es natural que los que están fuera del circulo del poder económico y político busquen una movilidad social negada por el sistema económico corporativo y coludido entre las esferas del poder económico y las esferas de gobierno. El resultado de décadas de un sistema político y social oligárquico basado en la corrupción y reforzado por medio de un sistema educativo mediocre, relativista y tan corrupto como el resto de la tela política y económica, el resultado, repito, son generaciones enteras que han crecido no solamente fuera de la esfera del progreso económico, al cual solo pueden recurrir unos cuantos, sino que son generaciones que han sido “educadas” por un sistema que no solamente ha fallado en instruir lo elementos más básicos de una educación, sino que ha dejado un hueco moral en la mente de los egresados de las instituciones educativas.

Al relativismo moral propagado por la “educación materialista científica” y por un sistema viciado por la corrupción, se une el machismo ancestral mexicano y a una tradición violenta. Una sociedad a la cual fue negado los fundamentos morales y religiosos que pongan límites a la conducta, dando como resultado una personalidad vacía de cualquier principio moral ha producido el “nuevo hombre” creado por un sistema corrupto y relativista moralmente. Es este el “nuevo hombre” que, excluido de la movilidad social que ve desfilar ante sus ojos por medio de los medios masivos de comunicación, decide que el también quiere tener una suburban, relojes rolex, botas nuevas, mujeres, licor y sexo, quiere participar en la “buena vida “que el materialismo moral le propone como el ultimo bien, un materialismo tanto del socialismo de izquierda como del capitalismo de derecha. El materialismo “científico” se ha transformado en un materialismo craso y animalesco. Este “nuevo hombre” excluido de la “sociedad bien” encuentra en el trafico de drogas y en el crimen ocupaciones que le permiten acceso a complacer sus deseos y al dinero en cantidades fabulosas. La injusticia social que significa la desigualdad económica y social, que evita la movilidad social legítima se combina con una formación educativa mediocre, relativista y prosaica nula de todo contenido moral que ha contribuido en moldear un desastre social de proporciones mayores.

La solución no son más policías, soldados, armas y planes estratégicos. La solución no es el combate abierto en las calles. La solución no son más cárceles. La solución no son más muertes y venganza. Por muchos policías que se pueda entrenar y pagar, aun cuando fuera uno por cada esquina de la ciudad, no evitaría que la corrupción moral que ahoga a la sociedad se desparramara de todas maneras. El individuo tiene que auto-regular su conducta por medio de un ordenamiento espiritual y mental interno. Cuando este ordenamiento moral no existe, todo lo demás se desata por ende, lo cual se combina con un sistema de justicia viciado precisamente por esta falta de ética y moralidad para que se pierda todo límite a las conductas más bajas. El resultado de de décadas, quizá siglos de relativismo moral están a la vista; sembramos lo que cosechamos.

Es verdad que el consumo de drogas en Estados Unidos es el contribuidor principal a la guerra por controlar los mercados ilegales. Es verdad que el gobierno ha fallado a través del tiempo. Es cierto que no hay un sistema policiaco honesto y eficaz. Pero también es cierto que la crueldad demoniaca y la maldad espeluznante que se han presentado no son justificadas por ninguno de los factores anteriores. La orgia de sangre y violencia es el resultado no de una falla técnica o táctica. Es el resultado de la bancarrota moral de una sociedad que ha perdido su orientación y ha envenenado el alma de sus miembros. La solución no es fácil ni rápida. El mar de sangre y la tempestad de violencia que se han desatado no terminaran de la noche a la mañana. Hasta que confrontemos la realidad espiritual del problema que confronta a la sociedad mexicana no habrá soluciones. Se han necesitado generaciones enteras para llegar a este punto en la vida del país. La desmoralización de la sociedad no se ha logrado de la noche a la mañana; ha sido una obra de mucho tiempo y se necesitará mucho tiempo para sanar lo que aqueja a la sociedad.

¿Cuál es la solución? La solución es el regreso a la moralidad cristiana que se ha abandonado. Es la reconstrucción de una base moral que se abandonó hace ya muchos años. La solución es la conversión individual de cada uno de nosotros para establecer una sociedad más justa y menos materialista. La solución no es eliminar a los “malos”, sino transformar una sociedad que por mucho tiempo tuvo su fundamento practico en la corrupción, la mordida, el disimulo, el abuso y el materialismo. La solución radica en todos y cada uno de nosotros, en nuestra transformación. Como diría San Pablo en una de sus epístolas, que el que roba ya no lo haga y viva del trabajo de sus manos.