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.

ADVENT 2009

We have come to the end of a liturgical year. The cycle is complete and once more a new Liturgical year opens with the season of Advent, a word from Latin origin meaning “coming”. And for us Christians of course this is the coming of the Lord, the miracle of the incarnation, another Latin word meaning to take on flesh. This is because the awesome act of God, the creator of the universe, of all that is visible and invisible, who stands outside his creation in unlimited freedom and power, taking the form of a human being, sharing with his creation the frailties, weaknesses and humble condition of the flesh.

Imagine that! To give us an idea of the immensity of God’s act is to think of a human being taking the form of an ant and sharing with the ants their anthill. Except that in the case of God the difference is incomparably and infinitely greater than the between the ant humans. At least we and the ants share a carbon based, genetically encoded fleshly constitution. God is spirit and his greatness is so vast that is unfathomable for us humans. Think of it, God created the universe, trillions and trillions of stars, galaxies in which our earth is less than a grain of sand in the beach. This same God created the genetic code; governs the atoms, quarks and other infinitesimal particles. This is power and greatness in an unthinkable scale.

Just like a play writer or a novelist creates his work, so God did create our destinies. And yet He chooses to come down, to humble Himself to become a human, a man born of a young girl in a specific time and place. He who is outside time and space enters these dimensions in the form of a man. He who has complete and absolute power will be limited by a human body that will be hungry, tired, limited in scope of action. He who has no beginning and no end, who was there present at the Big Bang and will be there present when the universe ends, eons and eons of existence, He became mortal in the flesh and blood form of a the man Jesus.

Why did God choose to do this? That is a mystery. But we know that God gave us freedom and that He will not force His will on us. I guess He could have thundered and announced His presence (well actually He did at Mount Sinai and yet the Jews rebelled any way). He could have intervened directly in our affairs (well actually He has done this too, repeatedly). But we are such a stubborn lot that none of this things will suffice to make us choose what is good. Jesus recounts in one of his parables how Abraham tells the rich man in hell who begs him to raise the dead so they can warn his brothers of their impending lot, just like his, in hell forever; And yet Abraham tells him that they already have the Law and the Prophets, surely they will not even listen to someone rising from the dead. So God sends Jesus, to announce God’s Kingdom of mercy and love. Jesus enters humanity to form a group of frail, weak humans and send them like yeast in the dough, to ferment the whole batch and transform the world. Jesus, God’s own son, indeed God in the flesh, enters history to transform it. And yes, he even rises from among the dead knowing full well that many will not even believe this.

God’s redemption through the death of His son is another great mystery. But we are told in God’s word that this death paid a debt owed by all humankind. The heavy debt of our sins paid in full so that from now on it will only take an act of the will; repentance and faith in Jesus to obtain God’s mercy. By entering into space and time, God in Jesus will now take us out of space and time into everlasting life. Just as He became low, suffered and died and then rose, so he allows us now to be exalted, to be taken up into a new dimension where death no longer will exist, where suffering will end. Just as He became a human so now he will make us into gods. Not gods in the idolatrous sense or to be compared to God, but gods in the sense that once redeemed and entering this new dimension, our bodies will become new, full of life, eternal, outside time and space. All we need to have this is Jesus himself, having faith in Him and living for him. Our small sacrifice here on earth has already been paid in full by Jesus to ensure our entrance in the glorious dimension of what we know as “heaven”.

This season of Advent when we re-live the time of expectation that Israel had for the coming of the Savior, we need to reflect, to think hard about our lives. We need to measure our faith, our behaviors, and our response to God. In times past Advent was actually a “small lent”, a season for austere recollection and sacrifice, a time to give and to give up. The Church, that group of people left here on earth by Jesus to transform it, reminds us that in this season of expectation and anticipation we need to think about those others who have less than we do and invites us to give them some of what we have more. Advent is a time for quiet expectation and thoughtful judgment of our shortcomings so that when the time comes we can rejoice in the coming of our Savior.

As this New Liturgical Year starts, may we think about our sins, repent, change and live for our Lord in those he entrust to us. And then when the time comes, may we rejoice in his coming and the Great Good News of his birth among men.

The Bishop, The Conressman and Catholic Teaching

There has been a controversy in the last few weeks between Bishop Thomas J. Tobin of Rhode Island and Congressman Patrick Kennedy who represents the same state in the U.S. Congress.

The controversy at issue has escalated because of the Congressman’s public and harsh criticism of the Catholic Church for not supporting abortion in the Health Care bill initiative initially in the U.S. House of Representatives and now in the U.S. Senate.

In view of Patrick Kennedy’s public criticisms and responses, Bishop Tobin has answered the accusations publicly, even when the initial request from the bishop from the congressman to refrain from communion was originally issued privately in 2007. Kennedy chose last week to divulge this request from the bishop publicly.

The basic issue is that Bishop Tobin has asked Representative Kennedy to refrain from taking communion because of his support for abortion in general and in particular his push to have it inserted into the healthcare reform and funded with taxpayer’s money. In addition Representative Kennedy supports other legal initiatives in favor of homosexual marriage, embryonic stem cell research, cloning and other stances that in direct opposition to the doctrine and beliefs of the Catholic Church.

The issue here is not weather Rep. Kennedy or any other elected politician should obey any religious leader’s order to vote one way or another; the issue is that if the congressman chooses to vote for abortion or any other issue at odds with his Catholic faith he in all effects breaks communion with his Church and commits a grave sin in accordance with Catholic doctrine and law. Patrick Kennedy is free to vote his conscience, but he is not free to do so and still consider himself a Catholic in good standing and partake of the Lord’s body and blood in the Sacrament of the Eucharist.

Catholic doctrine teaches that a mortal sin precludes one from the privilege (and communion is always a privilege and not a right) of communion. In order for the person to come back for communion he or she needs to repent, that is change their course, make a confession (which is the external expression of penance and contrition for the sins made and the lawful authority of the Church to forgive). Procuring an abortion, helping someone get an abortion, cooperating in the sinful structure of power that has legalized and supported abortion are all mortal sins that automatically set the person apart from communion.

In the end the person alone is responsible to make the decision to abide or not by the commandments and instructions of his or her faith. No power in the United States is going to make Mr. Kennedy or any other politician vote against his or her own conscience. Yet at the same time they should not expect to have the cake and eat it too. If you choose to vote against the teachings of your Church, do not expect this same Church and indeed Christ, to take you back without condition.